Chapter 6
Crowler sat in his office, with three boys in front of him; the masterminds behind the coup. Each of them was writing up a long, pointless strategy to defeat pro league duellist Seto Kaiba, analysing his flaws, his strengths, and what the strategy would depend on.
They had been scrawling in silence for an hour in the near pitch black, the room lit only by a dim lamp in the corner of it. Though the window was open, the moonlight could not even flicker past the window, as the academy was positioned so that Crowler's office faced away from the moon at this time.
"Have you slackers learnt your lessons yet?" Crowler hissed "I have a PhD in duelling; you can't kidnap me!"
"We weren't trying to kidnap you!" Damien repeated for the seventh time that evening "We were just trying to teach that slacker Michael a lesson!"
"Are you trying to mimic me?" Crowler yelled in anger
"No we'd need a girl for that." Damien muttered under his breath, though Crowler seemed to notice anyway.
"How dare you? You'll be in detention for the rest of the year if you insult my face again, and say it looks girly!"
"But we were talking about the hair." Damien muttered, confused by Crowler's ignorance.
"No, no! Don't pretend. I've heard you kids, making fun of me for having a girly face."
Damien decided that he should quit while he was ahead, and went back to the work. Just as he was a line further in, however, there was a low, thudding knock from the door, leading on to the otherwise silent corridor.
"Who could that be?" Crowler mumbled "Calling at this hour. It's rude to be this late!"
As he talked, the dim light flickered, and wind rushed in through the window, as if they were in a horror movie. Again, the dull tap sounded, and a shiver ran through Crowler's spine, as he stepped towards the door slowly.
He stepped on a loose plank, and a sharp creak echoed throughout the room, causing Crowler to squeal and leap in to the air.
"You! You want to make fun of me! You open it!" Crowler snapped at Damien, who smirked, wanting his own back at the teacher for throwing them all in detention, even though the Chancellor had been understanding.
"But, sir, what's the problem? You're already nearly at the door, why aren't you opening it? Are you scared? If you're scared, then how can I manage to cross the massive room unscathed? I mean, I don't even have a PhD!"
"Just do it!" Crowler yelled, as the knock continued, impatiently
"Ok." Damien smiled as he walked across the room, and jumped hard on the squeaky plank, causing Crowler to fly on to his desk. Then, he proceeded to the door, and opened it without even a flicker of cowardice.
"Hello. Who's there?" Damien laughed, unable to see anything in the murky corridor.
"Maybe Banner was right about duel spirits!" Crowler muttered, and then let out a large scream as a portrait of Banner that had been in his desk floated out in front of him.
"You killed me!" came Banner's voice, causing Crowler to shrink in fear.
"No! No! You aren't dead!"
The portrait dropped, and Richard and Rory burst in to a fit of uncontrollable laughter, falling on their backs and clutching their sides. Crowler scowled, and turned back to the door.
"I am the messenger." Came a rasping, hollow voice in response to Damien's question. "I have come to warn you. You are all in grave danger."
The thought was obviously too much for Crowler, who put his hands over his head, and ducked under his desk.
"By the end of tonight, a war shall begin, for your souls." The messenger continued. "The enemy is marching, and you must be ready. The syndicate is coming."
"Why? Who are the Syndicate?" Rory asked, standing up and walking over to stand beside Damien.
"A group of men who seek the ultimate power of darkness. They seek to summon a dark spirit, which will lay waste to civilisation as we know it."
"Sounds just like freshmen year, doesn't it Richard?" Rory smirked to his friend, who was joining the others.
"Who leads this Syndicate?" Richard queried
"A man named Supotco. While spying, I never saw him."
"But who are you?"
"I am the messenger?"
"The messenger of what?"
"The messenger of doom, should the Syndicate succeed."
"Show yourself!"
The man walked out of the shadows, shorter than they imagined from the dark voice. He was wearing old-fashioned clothes, and had long grey hair, accompanied by a similar beard. On his arm was a duel disk.
"Hey, Gandalf's started duelling!" Richard smiled, to a look of astonishment from the others in the room.
"I shall Duel your Professor." The messenger rasped, ignoring Richard's comment.
"No." Crowler said, pulling his arms further over his head.
"Of course!" Damien and Rory yelled, lifting Crowler to his feet and dragging him to the messenger. "He has a PhD, and a legendary monster! There's no way you can beat him!"
Crowler pulled his arms from his head, now that he knew he had been outsmarted. "Fine."
"We duel with 4000 points." The messenger muttered, shuffling his deck. "And by the time this match is over, you shall realise the danger that you are in. As my deck moves as quickly and dangerously as the syndicate."
"Please." Crowler laughed, shaking off his fear. "You shall never get close to winning."
"Fine then." The messenger snorted. "I summon my Dark Elf in attack position, and lay 1 card face down."
A large elf with jet black robes appeared, its eyes glowing red as it cackled. (2000/800).
Rory, Richard and Damien gasped, and Crowler sighed. "It's time you learnt a lesson. I start by setting a monster in defence, and then I play ancient gear castle."
A blank card appeared in front of Crowler, and then a large castle with gears and mechanisms bursting from it rose from the ground behind him. One of the cogs began to turn.
"Stop there!" the messenger yelled, flipping his face-down card. "I activate my trap, destiny board!"
A large letter 'F' appeared behind the old man, and lit the room with its eerie glow.
"Fine then." Crowler laughed. "I end my turn."
The message glowed, and its messenger laughed.
"Each time you end your turn while my destiny board is on the field, I can add a new part of my message. And when the message finishes, so do you! And if you can't solve my message before the end, then you will stand no chance against the syndicate."
The messenger pulled a card from his deck, placing it on the field next to his first letter. A bright letter 'I' appeared, and made the message 'FI'.
"Professor, I take it you know the message?" Damien queried.
"No, why should I?"
"It's a famous card. Bakura used it against Yugi Muto during the battle city tournament. The word is-"
"No!" Crowler snapped. "I want to figure it out myself! Now what could it be, fish, fire, fiddle."
"My move." The messenger interrupted, drawing a card. "I tribute my Dark elf to summon the chaos command magician."
A large, green armoured magician appeared, lifting a great sword. (2400/1900). Another gear turned on the castle.
"Now he strikes your face-down monster, cyber jar!"
Crowler gasped, and sure enough, when the magician lowered its sword, a small metal ship appeared.
"And my monster is unaffected by your jar's blitz, so I get to keep him."
The messenger gestured to Crowler, who drew a card, still trying to solve the message in front of him.
"I tribute my gear castle to summon my Ancient gear golem!" Crowler laughed, about to play his monster when his castle burst in to flames.
"I play my mystical space typhoon. So your castle erupts before you can summon that behemoth of yours."
Crowler gasped, and played a different monster instead. "I set this card in defence, and one card face-down."
"Have you forgotten?" the messenger laughed as he drew out a card from his deck. "I play spirit message N!"
"N!" Crowler gasped as the message lit up with a nasty glow, making the word 'FIN' "Hmm, Finland, Find, Fins."
"How does he do that?" Rory whispered in amazement.
"My draw." The messenger grinned. "I discard a card from my hand to summon the tricky. Then I tribute him for a second command magician."
A large jester appeared, with question marks covering him, but was then replaced by a second green armoured Magi. (2400/1900).
"Finally, I tribute them both to special summon the mighty Sorcerer of Dark Magic."
The two magicians vanished, and were replaced by a tall man wearing purple robes over his entire body. He lifted a glowing staff, and a light burst from it. (3200/2800).
"Now he can attack your face-down battle footballer, destroy it, and negate the sakuretsu armour you have set for him with his effect."
Crowler frowned, turning the trap over as the man spoke, and placing it in his graveyard. His armoured android lifted, shattering just as the man had predicted.
"You're cheating!" Crowler groaned. "You cannot know my strategies!"
"The Syndicate will, too. They are ingenious, and will have everything prepared for you. I end my turn."
Crowler drew a card, setting it face-down, and lifting a spell card. "I activate hammer shot. It destroys your monster!"
The messenger looked completely unaffected as his monster vanished. Crowler ignored this, setting a monster in defence.
"My destiny board activates." The messenger muttered "And I add spirit message A to the mix."
The message now shone, reading 'FINA' and awaiting the arrival of its final letter eagerly.
"I set one monster in defence, and leave it to you." The messenger grinned. "But should you end your turn, the game will end."
"No it won't!" Crowler yelled "Because I've figured out your word. The message is Final!"
Damien sighed. "About time!"
"And I play my face-down, dust tornado!" the professor continued. "It destroys your message board, and all of the other messages with it!"
The messenger frowned, as his message vanished, and darkness once more consumed the room.
"Now I tribute my face-down card, the Trojan horse, allowing me to summon my ancient gear golem with only one tribute!"
"Oh dear." Muttered the messenger.
"Next, I attack your defence. And my Golem will deal the difference to your life points. Without your message, you've lost, messenger."
"Wrong. You may think that you have won against the syndicate, but they will secretly have been planning something else entirely. I activate the flip effect of my monster, morphing jar."
Both duellists discarded their hands as the messenger lost 2400 life points. They each drew five new cards, and Crowler laughed.
"I don't see how you have a back-up strategy. You have no cards on the field to help you!"
"Then I activate the effect of all five of the cards I just drew!"
"What?" Crowler muttered, trying to understand.
"I activate the effect of Exodia the forbidden one!"
The three boys and Crowler went silent as they watched a nearly unseen sight. The Messenger turned around all five of his cards one-by-one, and two legs appeared, followed by two arms, and finally a head, creating the ultimate monster, who gathered energy in his hands, and blasted it at Crowler, lowering his life points to zero instantly as the messenger yelled out the words that only Yugi Muto had had the pleasure of saying before.
"Exodia, Obliterate!"
A dark light concealed crowler, and the holograms faded, leaving Crowler on his knees panting. The messenger had disappeared.
"Boys. That man showed me! The syndicate is a real threat! You need to get back to your dorm immediately."
The three friends fled, and ran out across the grass, amazed by the sight that they had just seen. Chatting about it gleefully, they were completely unaware of the binoculars focussed on them. The man holding them dropped silently to the ground from a tree, and began to press closer, lifting an intercom.
"This is reconnaissance, reporting targets one, two and three in motion. Over."
"Roger. Move in for the kill. Over."
Reconnaissance grinned, lifting his duelling deck in to his duel disk, and sprinting soundlessly towards the three unsuspecting students. The Syndicate had arrived.