Happy New Year everyone! So far my poll is going pretty well. This story (as of Jan 1) is in the lead with 4 votes, so it's getting the first update of the new year!
After this update, I'll probably work on my other fanfics for a bit so there might be a gap in updating between chapters four and five.
With that off my chest, let the next installment begin!
I don't own SpongeBob SquarePants (You'll figure it out later. Don't worry. I'm not nuts) I also don't own GX. I wouldn't be writing GX fanfictions if I did – it would be kind of pointless…I only own my OCs, and they aren't even that important (well some of them are…but I'm done ranting now).
Chapter 5
(Remember from Chapter 3 I had told you that as long as one of the duels in this story aired on TV, I would only put the end of the duel in the chapter? Well, I'm only putting the end of the next bunch of duels in the chapters because it takes so long to type it all out. Happy reading!)
Professor Viper sat at his computer in the old abandoned lab. The lab was situated in the thick of the forest on the island, far enough from the academy that students wouldn't wander in unexpectedly.
"My bio-bands are working perfectly. I gained so much energy from Jaden and Jesse's match; I've never dreamed it possible. However, I might just turn up the absorption rate to get the energy faster. After all, my time is short," Viper said aloud, "Of course, that will bring up some unwanted side-affects among the students…"
After typing a few short commands, a screen showing every current duel came up. Some students were doing well, whether winning or not, they were producing high results. Some students were dueling well, not exceptional, but not terrible; and select two or three Slifer students were continuously losing.
Hmm, they have one more chance at redemption – or those three can say good-bye to Duel Academy, thought Viper. His eyes then fell on the duel between Axel Brodie and Jaden Yuki. Excellent. Axel is doing exactly what I had told him. He's making Jaden put forth his best. Attack after attack, Jaden's duel spirit is phenomenal. And once I gain enough duel energy from the bio-bands, I will then be able to harness all of the energy. Everything is going according to plan…
Alexis was in her dorm room, flipping through her dueling deck with Atticus watching TV.
"Atticus, don't you have duels to prep for?"
"Well, yea, but I don't feel like doing it now. A pop star in the making always has to keep up-to-date with the current celebrity trends!"
Alexis rolled her eyes, "Oh, right. Getting married to an actress you really don't like so you can be in a scandal in a week and divorce at the end of the next. How exciting is that…"
"No, sis! I mean keeping up with music styles and trends, and the latest fashion! Can't go on stage wearing something from 100 years ago, right?"
"You can, if your style of music is from the early 1900s."
"That's not what I mean, Lexi."
"And what makes you think watching cartoons is going to help your dream of becoming a pop star duelist?"
"Hey. C'mon, Alexis! There's nothing wrong with a little SpongeBob!"
Alexis looked up from Scape Goat and looked her brother square in the eye, "In my room, there is no SpongeBob. Got it?"
"Aw, why not? What's wrong with SpongeBob?"
The SpongeBob on TV did his signature laugh.
"Everything. I hate SpongeBob, so change the channel or turn it off."
"I would have thought that you, Lex, of all people, would appreciate a good cartoon." Atticus pouted, but changed the station. Alexis sighed and went back to her deck.
It was another three minutes of silence before Atticus interrupted her, "Come look, Lexi! Aster's on TV!"
Alexis looked up to see Sartorius, along with Aster, leaving a doctor's office. Although the camera flashes from the media made it a little hard to see, Alexis could tell the duelist was walking on his own two feet again.
"Look, Atti! He got his crutches off!"
"Yup, and you know what that means, right? The Pro Dueling channel is going to get real good!"
Axel looked at Jaden's side of the field. This kid's got guts, he thought. He's got no monsters, hardly any life points, and he's talking about winning? Most duelists would have thrown the towel five rounds ago, but not Jaden. I see why Viper's so interested in him now. He's got an infinite-like amount of spirit. Every time I knock him down, he comes right back up even stronger! But this time…I'm going to be ready for him. All I have to do is reinforce my playing field. "I put down two facedown cards and that's all."
Jaden smiled, "I was hoping you'd say that, Axel!" Jaden drew a card, " I summon Elemental Hero Wildheart! And because he's immune to traps, your Fire Wall can't stop him.
"You think so? Then bring him on."
"You've got it!" Jaden then commanded his monster to attack.
Axel watched Wildheart come closer. Now's my chance! If I activate my trap called Volcanic Force, then I'll be able to win the duel! …Wait! I can't! Axel looked behind Jaden, where he could see a monitoring device. Axel knew Viper would be monitoring the duel, I gave my word to Viper I wouldn't focus on winning!
Axel pointed to his facedown card, "I activate Wild Fire. I give up 500 points and Blaze Accelerator, to destroy all monsters on the field."
"Aw man!" Jaden watched his Wildheart shatter.
"But unlike you, Jaden," said Axel, "I'm not alone, because I can summon a Wild Fire Token!" Sorry, Viper, but I have no choice now but to win. His defenses are gone and I've dragged this out as long as possible, and now it's time to end this! Axel then spied Jaden's lone facedown card, that's been there for what seemed like an eternity. Wait! If I'm right, his card will save him the duel.
"Axel, it's been fun, but the duel is mine!" Jaden activated his facedown card, "I play Elemental Mirage! Now I can bring back an Elemental Hero! And if its attack points are higher than your Fire Token, then you're out of luck! Now I bring back Elemental Hero Wildheart! Now show him what you've got!"
As the Fire Token was destroyed, Axel's lifepoints dropped from 300 to zero. You've got what you wanted Viper,thought Axel. Jaden's used all his power.
As Axel's bioband lit up, he knew immediately something was wrong. His eyes widened as he put a hand to his chest. Something's not right here! What have you done, Viper? He lowered himself to one knee to steady himself. Jaden, on the other hand, collapsed. Syrus, Jesse, and Hassleberry, who were all watching the duel, rushed to Jaden's side and brought him to the infirmary.
"So what happened to him exactly?" asked Ms. Fontaine. She looked at her test results.
"Jaden was dueling, and then he just plain collapsed!" exclaimed Jesse.
Ms. Fontaine shook her head. "Impossible! No one falls into complete unconsciousness from a duel!"
"Well, it was getting intense," said Syrus.
"But still," said the nurse, "it doesn't add up. He must have a pre-existing condition."
"Hey, what's up?" asked Jaden, as his eyes opened, "Why are you all staring at me?"
"Jaden! You're awake!" cried Syrus.
"Yea, Sy. So are you. What's the big deal?"
"Oh Jaden! I'll never leave your side!" Syrus cried. Jesse and Hassleberry looked at each other, and then back at Jaden, as Syrus continued, "I'm going to make sure I have an eye on you 24 hours a day, seven days a week! I'm going to make sure nothing like this ever happens to you again!"
Jaden laughed, "Yea, that's nice!" Jaden closed his eyes and nodded off.
Syrus began to flip when Ms. Fontaine put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Relax, he's only sleeping!"
Syrus laughed nervously, "Oh. I knew that."
"Something must be done," said Crowler, walking through the halls of Duel Academy, "Professor Viper is scaring the students!"
"That's our job!" nodded Bonaparte.
"We should do something!" Crowler looked determinedly at the shorter co-Vice Chancellor.
"Absolutely!"
"And since your smaller, you can talk to Professor Viper!"
"Excusez-moi!?[1 I see no reason why you can't do it yourself!"
"Well, I…I…I'm very busy!"
Bonaparte rolled his eyes, "Please. You're no busier than anyone else. Besides, you're closer to the Chancellor than I am. It would be more convenient if you talked to Sheppard."
"Well, I…eh…I know! We'll go together!"
"It's about time you thought of something intelligent, Crowler."
Bonaparte began down the next hall, "I think that Viper should be removed. He can't change all of the rules. Right Crowler?" He looked about. "Crowler?" He looked behind. Crowler was running the other way. "Where are you going?"
"I think I smelled fondue in the staffroom!"
"Oh, well that's – hey! The staffroom doesn't have a fondue pot! Get back here you big baby!" Bonaparte, although handicapped by his rather short legs, took off after his companion.
"Hey, Boss?" asked one of the 'henchmen' [2, Smith, "Why aren't you going after all other duelists that made your life miserable? Why only a few?"
"As much as I would like them all to pay, and pay dearly," said Thorn, flipping through a magazine, "I don't want to police to make the connection. By killing a few, and having their relationships with me nowhere near each other, the blame is off of me."
"Well, what if we did it for you, the way we were going to originally, before we hooked up with you?" asked another of the ten, called Drake.
"What do you mean?" asked Thorn, putting down the periodical.
"What we mean," said Jack, the leader of his group, "is that before we were caught, we made a plan for our business. We were going to take duelists with one-of-a-kind cards, kill them our own way, and then dispose the bodies with a note and empty duel-disk. If we do enough of those people in-between your own fun, the public may be distracted from you and more focused on us. If we take some of the ones on your list, and other random duelists and sprinkle them together, the order may be random enough that the police can't put the individual pieces together."
"I like it," said Thorn, after a moment's pause, "But leave the few I was going to do myself to me. I'll do those when I'm ready. And make sure you hit the Circuit hard. The Leagues won't know what had hit them."
"We can start whenever."
"Whenever you like," smirked Thorn, "just make sure Phoenix is mine. If you wish, you can scare him, make him frightened, but I will let you know when you can officially collect our young friend."
"Got it," Jack nodded. He and his nine others left.
The next morning, Axel sat in his room in Obelisk Blue. In front of him sat mounds of food.
"There," he said to no one, "the perfect combination of protein and carbs. If my energy isn't back after this, then something is definitely wrong."
After taking a humongous swig of something in an orange bottle, he let out a humongous burp. "I've never felt so run down after a duel…"
"Being sick rocks!"
Syrus and Hassleberry entered the infirmary, "Feeling better, Jay?" asked Syrus.
"You bet!" Jaden picked up another tray of food.
"That was fast," said Atticus. He was sitting backwards on a chair by Jaden's bed.
"Too fast if you ask me," said Hassleberry.
Jaden put down the empty food tray on his bed and grabbed his fifth, but not last tray of food. Immediately, he dug into it.
"You might want to think about coming up for air?" asked Alexis, her hands on her hips.
"Never get between Jaden and five plates of hospital food," said Chazz, shaking his head.
"When are you coming back to Slifer?" asked Syrus.
"Never, Sy! Dorm food is nothing like this!"
Hassleberry looked at the trays greedily, "Can you spare a bite or two?"
"Never!"
"You seem to be fine, Jaden. But I would stay away from doing anything strenuous for the next two weeks," said Ms. Fontaine.
"One question," said Jaden between mouthfuls, "Is eating strenuous?" He downed three entire trays in one swallow, and everyone else stared in disbelief.
Once he was done, Jaden rushed from the hospital, Syrus and Hassleberry behind.
"Keep an eye on him, will you?" Ms. Fontaine asked Alexis, "If he gets tired again, bring him back?"
"Sure thing," smiled Alexis, "We're used to babysitting for Jaden at this point."
"Well, just make sure he takes a nap or two. And no dueling for two weeks!"
"Umm…" Alexis and Atticus shared an uneasy glance. Jaden and no dueling never added up before and it wasn't about to start now.
Jaden, after Alexis, Atticus, and Chazz looked everywhere for him, was under his favorite tree, dueling Jesse. Though there were no duel-disks involved, the two were still laughing and enjoying themselves.
"See? If you would have attacked with this when you activated your spell card, you would have won, Jesse!"
"Yea, but this card's more fun to play!"
"But it cost you the duel!"
"So?"
"I'm guessing you lost, right Jesse?" asked Atticus.
"Yep. It was fun too. One of the best games ever…without a duel disk, anyhow."
"Guys!" Jim and Adrian ran up to the others. Adrian, who reached first, and was out of breath said, "There's something you should see. C'mon!"
"What is it Adrian?" asked Alexis.
"I'm afraid there's been another murder and disappearance, and that's not all, mates," said Jim, "But we'll let you see for yourselves. You see, Adrian and I were watching some Pro Dueling on the Tube [3 and a breaking news story interrupted. I managed to pop a tape in and record as much as I could."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Jaden stood up, "Let's go!"
"But where are we going to watch?" asked Syrus, "there's no TV in the Slifer dorms!"
"Relax, Gents, we can go to my room." Jim led the group into his Obelisk room. Turning on the TV and VCR he played the news story.
"It's a sad day in the world of dueling. Hi, I'm Bridgett Tremaine, with live coverage of this terrible, terrible story. Only a short time ago, Maxwell Simmons, a high-ranking Pro Duelist disappeared without a trace. This seemed immediate following the tragic murder of Katie Bish, another professional duelist. Now, the search for Simmons is over.
"According to Mrs. Simmons, who was leaving her home earlier this morning to go to work, she found her husband, hanging from the tree in her front yard. While doctors are trying to figure out if the hanging is the actual cause of death, police questioned the neighbors to see if they had heard or seen something strange through the night.
"While Mrs. Simmons is unavailable for comment, we will be revealing more on this story when more information is available."
"Oh wow," said Syrus, "That's horrible. Can you imagine, leaving your house, worried sick about your husband's kidnapping, to find him dead pretty much at your front door? I might have died with shock!"
"There's more to the broadcast than this, mates," said Jim, "just wait 'till the commercial is over."
"Hi, I'm Bridgett Tremaine. Welcome back to our Breaking News coverage. As if the death of Maxwell Simmons wasn't enough, three more duelists have disappeared. Investigators are trying desperately to find a link in all of these happenings.
"Last night, Vyctoria Hign was declared missing when nobody at home answered the phone. Hign was at home at the time, recovering from a sprained ankle, which she received when she slipped getting out of her car last week in the rain. Her husband came home to find the front door open, rooms in shambles and his wife gone. Search teams are on the move, but from the past two turnouts, there is the thought of many that she won't return alive. While search teams are optimistic on finding her, family and friends, sadly, are not.
"Other dueling disappearances include Clyde McDowell, a runner up in 'Duel for Donations' Tournament, and Scott Jenkins, who was the winner in the donations tournament. Anyone with information on these disappearances should immediately contact police.
"And now, our final dueling story comes with a little more explosive detail. Literally. We take you live to Estate Drive with Carrie Kink. How are you Carrie?"
The screen changed to a wooded street. Smoke was seen above the tops of the trees. Police, firefighting and medical vehicles were on the scene.
"I'm fine, Bridgett, but for the residents at the Phoenix estate, things were a bit far from okay. As you can see behind me are the gates to Aster Phoenix's home. Or, what's left of it. Bomb squads are ready to move in and find out what caused the explosion that rocked the brand new house to its foundation. I mean that almost one hundred percent literally, Bridgett, there's not much of the place left. Firefighters have gotten the blaze under control, and we are waiting for the police to give the okay signal to come closer."
"Has Aster Phoenix been able to comment at all, Carrie?"
"No, Bridgett, I'm not sure where exactly he is. He might be closer to the house; he may not even be here at all! My crew here is stuck outside the gates until we get the – oh, all right. We just got the signal! Carrie, I'm telling you, none of us have a clue to what's going on, so we're learning with you on this.
"Okay, we're getting some footage of the house to you. Do you see it? Oh, this is terrible!"
"I see it, Carrie."
"The left side of the mansion…it's just gone! There's debris everywhere, oh! Hang on Bridgett, a car just pulled up. Mr. Sartorius, can you comment at all on what's happening?"
"It's Sartorius!" Jaden leaned closer to the screen.
"Hey, Slacker, lean back. Some of us want to watch!"
"I'm afraid I have no idea what's going on," Sartorius wasn't at all facing the camera. He was glancing at the house, "Have you seen Aster at all?"
"Mr. Sartorius, is he even home?"
"No, he's not. He was meeting with Seto Kaiba to talk about something – wait, who is this?" The camera followed Sartorius as he approached a limo stopping outside the gates. Both Seto Kaiba and Aster got out.
"Folks, it seems Aster Phoenix has just arrived on the scene, and it seems Seto Kaiba is with him. Mr. Phoenix!"
"What!?" Aster turned to face Carrie, and before she could ask him anything, said, "No. Haven't the foggiest."
Aster then went to the nearest cop, standing at the patrol car, "Hey! What the hell his going on?"
The cop listened to something on his walkie-talkie and then turned to face Aster. "Bomb squad just reported in. Someone planted explosives on the left side of the house, under what used to be a bush. Do you know why someone would want to kill you, Mr. Phoenix?"
"Well, there is a crazy nut going around killing duelists, isn't there? Other than that, no."
"Someone is obviously trying to kill you, Mr. Phoenix. The police department will gladly send officers for bodyguards."
"That won't be – can you please get that camera out of my face!"
"Bridgett I'll be back with more coverage!"
"Thanks Carrie, now we will keep you posted with these stories as the info comes to us. For those watching, have a good, safe day. This is Bridgett Tremaine, signing off."
"Someone is obviously trying to kill you, Mr. Phoenix. The police department will gladly send officers for bodyguards."
"That won't be – can you please get that camera out of my face!" Aster glared at the reporter.
When she was easily out of earshot, along with the camera, Aster turned back to the cop, "Fine, but they better not be overweight, lazy, donut-eating pigs like half of the police crew."
The cop nodded, "You will be protected by the most respected-officers in the police force, Mr. Phoenix. After each one is given a background check, if you would like to, you may chose your guards."
"Fine."
"Aster, where do you plan on staying?" Sartorius asked. Aster didn't answer.
The pro duelist looked back at his half-destroyed home. "Was there any evidence or something left behind?"
"We still have crews sweeping the grounds."
"What's that?" Aster pointed to the tree closest to the gutted home. Something was pinned to the bark. Aster, stepping around the debris and wreckage, stood at the mysterious object. It turned out to be a piece of cardboard, with a message, written in what looked like blood from first glance, standing out against the board.
You're next, Phoenix.
Dun, Dun, Dun!!!!
The purple button below adores attention, so give it some. Or don't give it some…brownies to every reviewer of this story!
[1 I haven't had a French class in a year, so any I put in; it's going to be as easy-to-follow as possible. Bonaparte there said, "Excuse me!?" But I think you figured that out.
[2 If you remember the ten escapees mentioned in a previous chapter, some were with Thorn when he was describing his plan of Aster's perfect murder. Well, now they have names. I'll put them all up on my profile when I get the chance so for now, here are the names: Jack, Vikter, Hikaru, Akusa, Smith, Drake, Zen, Sparks, Knuckles, and Cliff. A small bio for each one will be on my profile.
[3 In case you didn't know, the 'tube' is TV.
See you next time!