Level Rising: Dark Times
By Copper Thrice
Chapter 3
The motorcycle sped out of Rome and onto the outskirts of the famous town. Along old, gravel roads Jake watched the scenery pass by.
He'd wanted to visit a foreign country for a while now.
He just wished it was because of a vacation or school trip not…
The motorcycle turned and stopped near a cave that opened into a large, rocky hill.
"We're here," Odion said as he stepped off the bike and pulled of his helmet.
"Yeah," said Jake taking off his helmet and working the kinks out of his back.
The two dragged the bike off to the side and hid it amongst some brush. Then they entered the cave.
After walking for a few minutes, they came to a torch-lit hollow in the cave. Inside they found the dark-skinned, Egyptian siblings, Marik and Ishizu. The two of them had been Gravekeepers for an ancient, powerful pharaoh a few years back. Now they were free of their family's duty and had recently come to the aid of Jake.
"Ah, Odion, Jake, you're back," said Marik, looking up from an ancient scroll.
"It is good to see that you are well," Ishizu said rising from her seat. "I had sensed trouble in the city."
"Where's your duel disk?" asked Marik looking at Jake's arm.
"Oh, it got shot and I had to toss it," said Jake sitting down.
"Again?" asked Marik, "Didn't that happen to your last disk a month ago."
"Yeah, these Saar-Kel guys are dangerous," said Jake leaning back. Then he sighed. "Saar-Kel," he thought, "An organization that's only apparent purpose is to make my task tougher."
"Did keep you from obtaining the crystal?" Ishizu asked.
"Nope, got it right here," Jake held up the clear crystal. Ishizu's eyes widened a bit.
"It is good that you have obtained it," She said, "May I see it?"
"Sure," Jake said. Ishizu carefully picked up the crystal and set it down on her make-shift table. She held her hands above the crystal and began to recite an ancient spell.
The crystal lifted into the air a few inches above the table and gave off a faint glimmer.
Ishizu closed her eyes and remained silent as she probed the crystal with her mind.
"I hope you don't mind me saying this, but…" said Jake to Marik, "Your sister's kinda weird."
Marik chuckled and crossed his arms. "Trust me, this is probably the least weird thing you'll see while you're with us."
"Ah," said Jake.
It was a good thing that Jake had met Ishizu, Marik, and Odion. They had met a few weeks after Jake had played in the GX tournament.
Jake had gone to KaibaCorp headquarters in Japan with in order to secure a flight to Rome. While there he had his first run-in with Saar-Kel…
A few months ago…
"Woah," Jake thought as he saw the massive KC Tower.
"Are you coming or what," Asked Cain Derrel, Jake's unofficial guardian and KaibaCorp businessman. Cain was a stout man, who almost always wore a suit and tie. Despite his tough demeanor, Jake and Cain had gotten along quite well during the past few weeks. In fact, it was because of Cain that Jake even entered the GX tournament. The result of Jake's victories in the tournament had actually improved Cain's standings in KaibaCorp and the two had actually gotten invited to the KC headquarters.
"Are we really meeting Seto Kaiba in person?" asked Jake.
Cain nodded, "This really is an honor for any KaibaCorp worker or…" Cain grinned at Jake, "Representative. He does want to speak with you, though."
"Oh," said Jake enthusiastically.
"I also sent in my report on what you told me about the monsters," Cain lifted his shoulders. "I only mentioned it in my original report, but then Mr. Kaiba wanted any details about your 'monster stories' and, well, I asked you about them on the copter and sent him that."
"Oh," Jake said less enthusiastically
.
The two met with the receptionist and then took an elevator to the 30th floor of the Tower. Mr. Kaiba's office was on the top below the roof.
When Jake stepped out of the elevator, he didn't know what to expect out of Mr. Kaiba.
What he saw was a guy, about four or five years older than Jake, sitting at a large desk wearing a white suit and reading from a small book. His hair was brown and combed back and he had a greater-than-thou demeanor.
As the two walked into the room, Seto looked up and set down his book.
"I see you have arrived," Seto said sitting up in his chair and laying his hands in front of him.
"Mr. Kaiba, sir," said Cain, "It's an honor to meet you in person."
Seto turned to Cain, "You picked a good candidate for the tournament, Derrel. You may leave." He said coldly.
Cain opened his mouth to say more, he was obviously disappointed that he couldn't stay.
Seto glanced at Cain, who got the hint, nodded, and left.
"Sit down," said Seto motioning towards a chair near his desk.
Jake nodded and sat down.
"You've done pretty well for yourself," said Seto, "You may not have won the tournament, but considering you once failed the Duel Academy entry exam… It's a major improvement."
"Uhm, thank you… sir," Jake added.
"However, what I want to talk to you about now are the strange things that have been going on at MY academy." Said Seto, "I've gotten Shepherd and Derrel's stories, but you actually dueled at the time and Derrel mentioned monsters were involved. Tell me what happened with you."
"You'll, uh," started Jake, "Probably think I'm nuts."
"Try me," Seto replied.
And so, Jake described his little adventure through the GX tournament. Seto sat, giving Jake his attention.
When Jake finished, Seto left his chair and stood in front his office's huge window. A few moments later, he spoke again.
"A few years back, I would have dismissed your story as nonsense, but…" Seto turned to Jake, "Things have been happening in the last few years that help to change my mind."
Seto sighed, "The finding of the Beast-Emperor cards and the Society of Light are only recent events. You see—"
Suddenly, Seto was interrupted by the sound of the elevator door opening. Jake turned to see a man wearing a dark blue cloak and top hat, enter the office.
"Who're you and how did you get in here?" asked Seto coldly.
"My name is of no importance," said the man, "I am a Messenger of the Saar-Kel."
"I'll ask once again," said Seto taking a few, fearless steps towards the man. "How did you get in here? I'm pretty sure I told the receptionist to keep out riffraff like you."
"It does not matter how I came," said the Messenger, "I have come to deliver a message…" He pointed at Jake, "To you."
Jake was immediately confused. "Wha?"
The Messenger drew his arm out of his cloak; on it was a Battle-City type duel disk. "You are not to mess in the affairs of that you do not understand. I challenge you and when I win, your deck will be destroyed."
"Excuse me," said Jake, "I'm not accepting ANY type of challenge that puts my deck on the—"
Suddenly, the Messenger pulled a black amulet out of his pocket and it was surrounded by an evil aura. A wave of dark energy surrounded the office and enclosed all three of the occupants in an oval ring of black energy.
"What the…" said Jake looking around.
"Weird…" thought Seto, "this looks similar to the Ring of Orichalcos from a few years back. I wonder…"
"What the crud's going on?" Jake yelled at the Messenger.
"My amulet was blessed by my Lord Saar Mok-Dell, the One gifted the Cursed One himself!" said the Messenger, "It prevents anyone from leaving the entrapment until a duel is fought and finished.
Jake grit his teeth. This was way out of his league. Dark rings, Messengers, something called a Cursed One. This was too much for him to understand, but he did know one thing…
Jake reached for his Deck Pouch on his hip. He opened it and then realized something.
He left his duel disk in the car outside. Jake's shoulders drooped in self disappointment.
"Think fast," said Seto, he then threw his personal disk to Jake. Jake caught it and held it in his hands.
"Woah," said Jake holding the sleek, lightweight duel disk.
"Show me a good match," said Seto sitting in his desk chair. Jake nodded and put his deck into the duel disk.
"Duel," the two said simultaneously.
Jake: 4000
Mess.: 4000
"I'll start," said Jake, "I summon my Horus, the Black Flame Dragon LV 4 (1600/1000) to the field!"
A hologram of a waist-high, silvery, bird-like dragon appeared in front of Jake. It turned its head and gave a small squeak at Jake.
"Yeah, good to see you too," said Jake, "Lets take this guy!" The dragon gave a small roar and faced forward.
"Next, I'll set a face-down card and end my turn." Said Jake as a hologram of a face-down card appeared next to his feet.
"My turn," Said the Messenger, "I play me Remove Trap spell card. It allows me to view your face-down and, if it is a trap, destroy it." The face-down card flipped up to reveal a Magical Cylinder trap card. It was immediately destroyed.
"Next I will discard a card in my hand in order to use my monster's ability," said the Messenger, placing a card of his own in the Graveyard. "Now I can Special Summon my The Tricky (2000/1200)!"
A hologram of a metallic humanoid with a blue cape and a question mark symbol on his chest appeared.
"Now, I'm going to repeat that move by discarding another card from my hand to summon another The Tricky!" The Messenger summoned another metallic monster from his hand.
"Oh, boy," said Jake surprised. Horus opened its beak and gave a small, scared chirp.
"Now, monsters, attack him!" yelled the Messenger. The two Trickys rushed forward and one grabbed Horus with one hand and his other sprouted a curved blade. In a single swipe, Horus was destroyed.
Jake: 3600
Mess.: 4000
Then, as Horus faded, the other monster attacked Jake directly, with another swipe of a curved blade.
Jake: 1600
Mess.: 4000
"Hm," thought Seto, "This kid's in a mess. Like to see if he can pull out of it."
"My turn," said Jake drawing, "Now I'll activate my Pot of Greed. It allows me to draw two extra cards from my deck." Jake drew his cards. "Now I'll summon my Silent Swordsman LV 3! (1000/1000)"
A young monster, wearing a blue coat and silver armor appeared. In his hands was a large sword, bigger than he was.
"Next, I'll activate my Level Up!," said Jake, "It transforms my monster into its next form, Silent Swordsman LV 5! (2300/1000)"
The monster immediately grew taller and his cloak grew longer as well. As he swung his sword, it immediately grew larger. The Swordsman immediately turned, grinned, and gave Jake a Thumbs-up sign. Jake grinned back and the Swordsman turned back towards the enemy.
"Now, I'll activate my Level Modulation," said Jake, "It allows me to bring back a monster from my Graveyard and you are allowed to draw two cards." The Messenger drew his cards while Jake brought back his Horus dragon in Defense Mode. "Now, I'll attack with my Silent Swordsman!"
The warrior brought his sword up and slashed at one of the Trickys. It dissolved and the Messenger took damage.
Jake: 1600
Mess.: 3700
"Now, I'll place a new card face-down," said Jake, "and end my turn."
"Fine," said the Messenger drawing, "I'll activate my spell card Tricky's Magic 4. I sacrifice my The Tricky and it turns all of your monsters into Tricky tokens. (2000/1200) They are powerful, but unable to attack and they are summoned in defense mode."
Horus and the Swordsman immediately turned into coins with question mark symbols on them.
"Next, I will discard another card from my hand in order to summon my final The Tricky, and then I will summon my Gemini Elf (1900/900) in attack mode."
Another metallic monster was summoned and then twin, elven monsters appeared.
"Now, attack!" The monsters wasted the two token monsters. Luckily, since they were in defense mode, Jake took no damage.
"Aw, man," Jake thought, "Not good."
"My turn," said Jake, "I summon my Armed Dragon LV 3 (1200/900). Then I'll activate my Level Up! and it'll become Armed Dragon LV 5 (2400/1700)"
A small dragon with orange skin pieces of armor on it. It then roared and it became larger, red-skinned and carried a spiked mace.
"Next, I'll play my face-down card Ultimate Offering, It allows me to Special summon one more monster from my hand in exchange for 500 Life Points.
Jake: 1100
Mess.: 3700
"I summon my Silent Magician LV 4 (1000/1000)!" said Jake as a young girl magician wearing a white robe, holding a staff, and wearing a pointed hat. "Now, I'll activate my Spell card Graceful Charity! It allows me to draw three cards as long as I discard two after I draw." Jake drew his cards and discarded two.
"Now that I've drawn, my Magician's ability. She gains 500 attack points every time I draw."
Silent Magician LV 4: (1500/1000)
"Now I'll discard two monsters from my hand with attack points higher than your monster's points and they are destroyed thanks to Armed Dragon's ability."
The dragon opened its mouth wide and breathed heavily inward. A blast of intense fire burst from his mouth and consumed the Messenger's monsters. They were immediately destroyed.
"Now I'll attack you directly," yelled Jake, his two monsters rushed forward.
The Dragon raised his mace high and brought it down.
Jake: 1100
Mess.: 1300
Then as the Messenger grit his teeth, the Silent Magician came from behind him and finished him off.
Jake: 1100
Mess.: 0000
"Ah," said the Messenger stumbling backwards as the dark ring faded. Then he regained his composure and stood in front of Jake and Seto. "Understand this," he said, "If you continue your quest to face my master, you will be faced by the most powerful of his servants. My purpose is done."
He turned to Seto's window and
Ran
Straight
For
It!
Later, after the body of the Messenger was retrieved, Mr. Kaiba had told Jake about some… accomplices of his in Epypt who might be able to help. They were a family of ex-gravekeepers called the Ishtars…
After a few more minutes, Ishizu breathed deeply and the crystal set itself down on the table.
Jake, Odion, and Marik turned to face her as she walked towards them, crystal in hand.
"I am sorry, Jake," she said, "But things are worse than I thought."
"What?" asked Jake.
Ellie was walking back to her dorm next to the Academy's lake when she failed to notice a small figure was watching her.
The figure, hiding in the shadows, was speaking to a black crystal that was in its hand.
"I have found her, Master," said the light, airy voice of the figure. The figure grinned wolfishly, watching its prey enter the dorm.
Well, things are heating up. Saar-Kel's movements are on the rise and Jake's story seems to be on the way to converging with Ellie's again. Watch for future chapters.
-Copper Thrice