Hey guys, I'm posting the next chapter sooner than expected. It's shorter, but it might answer a few more of your questions and if it doesn't...you'll just have to keep waiting, cause I'm not giving anything away...at least not for free. Anyway, enjoy. :)

Chapter 7:

Semi-Finals

Pearl's dreams were restless. She tossed and turned, trying to escape, but she was tied down with something and could barely move. She watched fearfully as blank faces moved around her. Their talk was indistinctive, yet somehow she knew that she had to get away. One of the men turned something on that made a terrible ringing noise. Pearl screamed and suddenly found herself sitting up in the hotel room she shared with Jaden and the phone ringing. Jaden was closest and rolled over to grab it. Pearl checked the time. 8:00 a.m., almost time for them to leave for the fair again. Pearl took a deep breath and attempted to slow her heart rate as Jaden thanked the lady on the phone and hung up.

"Good morning," he said to Pearl.

"Morning," Pearl attempted. Her voice sounded calm to her, despite the fact that she was trembling. Hopefully Jaden wouldn't notice.

"So, do you want first dibs on the shower?" Jaden asked, seemingly unaware.

"Ya, ya I would," Pearl said. So she did and tried to figure out how to deal with her nightmare beneath the hot water. She knew exactly what it was and she also knew that if she didn't calm down, not only would she not be able to focus on her duelling, but she also ran the possibility of losing control. So as she stood in the shower, she began to practice the breathing exercises that Jaden had taught her.

Meanwhile, Jaden sat on his bed with Pharaoh and his deck, arranging cards for the upcoming day. As he did, Professor Banner and Yubel appeared beside him. Jaden ignored their presence for a minute as he finished sorting his cards, but finally they became an undeniable distraction.

"What's going on?" Jaden asked, keeping his voice low so Pearl wouldn't hear.

"Come on Jaden, even you're not that dumb," Banner said.

"Glad you have faith in me, professor," Jaden said.

"You know what I mean, Jaden," Banner said.

"Pearl is clearly struggling with nightmares," Yubel said. "Yet here you are not trying to console her or figure out what's wrong."

"It's pointless to ask questions you already know the answer to," Jaden said. "It took a while, but she's most likely dreaming about her time in the lab. I don't know what they did to her, but it didn't leave just physical scars."

"It's to be expected," Banner said. "She is still so young and to go through a trauma like that at this age can affect the rest of her life."

"You're not going to ask her about it?" Yubel questioned. "She needs your help, you told me yourself."

"She does," Jaden agreed. "However, it's far too soon to be talking about the lab right now. I know what trauma can do to a person. I went through that. I locked myself in my room in the dark for almost two months after we got back, trying to figure out exactly what happened. That's what she's doing now; trying to come to grips with the various tests she went through. Thing is, if you try and talk to her before she's ready to answer, who knows what kind of effect it could have on her. She needs to learn to accept what happened before I talk to her."

"But she needs your help now. She obviously wants it since she's not locking herself up in the dark like you did," Yubel said.

"True, but that's because, as scared as she is with her abilities, she's more afraid of being alone," Jaden said. "She wants to be around people she can trust, people who understand her and after being deprived of that for years, who can blame her. As much as she's afraid of hurting someone she cares about, she's more afraid of being left alone."

"Jaden, you can't be there for her always," Banner said. "She'll need to learn to conquer her fears in the end."

"I did, didn't I?" Jaden asked. Yubel and Banner shared a look. They both knew all too well that, while Jaden could easily put on a brave or goofy façade, he still had his regrets and his fears and also had nightmares on occasion. Still, Jaden learned to cope with them and live with them, despite his desire to redeem himself.

"Don't worry," Jaden said. "When she's ready to open up, she will. I'm not going to push her into something that she's not ready for." Yubel and Banner disappeared then as Pearl exited the bathroom, seemingly refreshed and smiling.

"You're turn, Jay," Pearl said. Jaden grinned at his nickname. Pearl noticed and thought she might've said something wrong. "I'm sorry, do you not like to be called by a nickname?" she asked.

"No, no, it's just that, my friends from Duel Academy always called me that," Jaden explained. "I was just lost in memory for a moment."

"When did you last see them?" Pearl asked, sitting on her bed.

"About a year and a half ago," Jaden admitted. "I've been travelling a lot so visits are a no go."

"You must miss them," Pearl said.

"All the time," Jaden agreed. "But I know I'll see them again sometime soon, when I'm not busy fixing problems or helping people."

"How many people do you help?" Pearl asked, curious.

"No clue, probably averages out to about fifteen a month," Jaden said. Pearl was surprised as Jaden looked thoughtful. "You know, I should get paid for this job!" Pearl chuckled.

"Who on earth would pay a runner like you?" she asked. "For goodness sakes, you blew up a military base!"

"Wasn't the first one," Jaden said. "I could be…a secret agent! Ya, that's totally a job I could do!"

"Except for the secret part. You're way too loud," Pearl said.

"Am not, I got you out of a secret lab," Jaden said.

"You tripped the alarm as we were getting out!" Pearl protested. "Can you even hack a computer? Or disable an alarm system? Maybe turn off all of the security cameras?"

"Sure, all you have to do is find the off button, right?" Jaden asked. Pearl face-palmed herself and started laughing.

"Just take your shower Jaden," Pearl said.

"Hey, that's Yuki," Jaden said, in the bathroom doorway. "Jaden Yuki." Pearl chuckled as she took out her deck and Jaden closed the door. Pharaoh hopped up on her bed and meowed at Pearl. Pearl grinned at the large tabby.

"I don't know how you do it, Pharaoh," she said. "That boy is such a simple minded person. It's almost unbearable."

"I heard that," Jaden called from the bathroom. Pearl chuckled as she began to arrange her deck for the day.

One quick breakfast and a short cab ride later, Pearl and Jaden found themselves back at the Annual Casper Fun Fair Grounds. By the looks of it, several new attractions had been brought in, but the popular ones remained, naturally. This time Jaden and Pearl weren't in a race against time to make it to the duel ring in the center of the park for their next pairing. Just like the day before, Jarvis Phool stood on the main platform with his cheesy game show host smile wearing a purple suit with a black tie and black leather shoes. At exactly ten o'clock, he addressed the pack of duellists before him…or maybe a flock…or a herd.

"Welcome back to the semi-finals," Mr. Phool said. "By the end of today, only six of you will be left for the finals tomorrow. Duellists, turn your heads toward the screen and watch as your pairs are revealed thanks to our computer's randomization program." Everyone watched in anticipation as their pairs were revealed as well as their locations. "Good luck to you all," Mr. Phool said.

"Sweet, I'm in the miniature village," Jaden said.

"Lucky, I get to start in Ye Olde Town," Pearl said.

"That should be fun," Jaden said. "Are you ready?"

"You bet," Pearl said. "See you in the finals."

"Good luck to us both, cousin," Jaden said. Pearl waved as the two of them separated and headed to their starting arenas. At exactly ten forty-five, everyone was facing their opponent ready to duel.

"All duellists to starting positions ready?" Mr. Phool asked over the P.A. "On your mark, get set, duel." And just like that the duels began.

It should come as no surprise that Jaden and Pearl began excelling through the ranks of the tournament. Many spectators watched as these two supposed cousins won duel after duel. Many others were excelling too, and while the journey was ended for some, more moved on, leaving only the strongest duellists to continue. The regular spectators weren't the only ones keeping close watch on the duels. Another shadow moved, silent and unseen by the many spectators, who were too focused on the duels to pay any attention. This shadow was only interested in two duellists – namely Jaden and Pearl. The man made sure to take careful notes on each one: how they duelled, their cards, strategies, personality and so on. What intrigued him most was not Jaden, but the girl he travelled with. She didn't seem like much of a threat, but there was certainly something different about her.

"Perhaps a closer look would help," he thought. "She must be warned anyway." This man nodded to himself and prepared to head off to Pearl's next duel location and wait for the perfect opportunity to approach and ask. Luckily for him, the location of her next duel would give him a much needed advantage.

Pearl looked around at all the reflections within the Hall of Mirrors, a popular attraction due to its maze like layout making it difficult to maneuver unless you knew your way around. Pearl was in her final turn against her opponent and about to win.

"Alright Seraphinite," Pearl said, indicating her fusion monster. "Take out his Alien Warrior and end this!" Seraphinite complied and easily took out the opponent's monster to win the duel. "Good knight," Pearl said to her opponent. It was something she had begun saying at the end of her duels and she thought it worked nicely as a pun.

"Guess I lost," her opponent said. "Good work."

"You too," Pearl said. "Keep practicing boy."

"See you," the boy said. With that he left down a marked path that led the duellists inside. Pearl waited for her next location to be given to her as she had learned to do and found out that she was going to be on the train zoo tour. Before she could exit the Hall of Mirrors – or Maze of Mirrors if you prefer – she noticed a shadow move and felt something that was different about the room.

"Who's there?" Pearl asked, turning around. The shadow moved again and Pearl followed it, activating her duel disk as she did.

"Show yourself!" she demanded. "I'm warning you."

"Then we both have a similar mission, I see," the man's voice said, seeming to echo through the maze, cold and metallic. He stopped moving, but all Pearl could find were reflections of a cloaked man with a scarf around his lower jaw.

"Who are you?" Pearl demanded, taking a defensive stance.

"One who lived through the most devastating war of my world and lived," the man said. "I am a survivor who has chosen to protect the others who survived." Pearl turned from mirror to mirror, trying to figure out where this man's voice was coming from.

"Why are you here?" Pearl asked.

"I am here to warn you, nothing more," the man said.

"Warn me of what?" Pearl asked. "Are you helping Oberon?"

"Oberon?" the man said confused. Pearl could tell from his voice that his confusion was genuine. "I don't know who that is."

"Then why are you here?!" Pearl demanded. She spun around and found herself face to face with the man and she was startled. Beyond the shadow of his hood, Pearl could only find the glint of one eye on the right side.

"As I said, I am here merely to warn you that the boy you are travelling with is not who he appears to be," he said.

"What do you mean? Jaden has helped me regain my freedom," Pearl said. "How can I not trust him when Jaden's done nothing but help me?"

"Jaden?" the man asked. "Is that the name he goes by?" Then he chuckled, a hollow sound that Pearl feared more than a maniacal laugh and caused her to try and back slowly away from the man. However, this man followed at the same pace.

"In my world he is known by a different name," he said as he stepped forward and Pearl stepped back. "In my world he is known as Haou, the most ruthless warlord to have ever ruled any dimension."

"That's impossible," Pearl said.

"You didn't see the war," the man said. Both of them began to move faster. "You didn't live through the pain. You didn't watch as your family was slaughtered by a king who wanted nothing more than power."

"No," Pearl said.

"You don't have to live with the scars that almost killed you. The same scars that make every day of your life miserable. Painful and miserable scars…memories. You don't have to live with that!" the man shouted. Pearl drew a card and was relieved to see Garnet. However, as she went to place the card on her duel disk, she tripped. The card fell from her hand and she fumbled to grab it and place it on her duel disk.

"Garnet!" she called as her monster appeared in front of her and shot a stream of fire at the mystery man. The cloaked man leapt out of the way and stood back to observe this girl.

"Milady, are you alright?" Garnet asked, helping Pearl up.

"I'm fine, Garnet," Pearl said. The man chuckled.

"So this is it," he said. "This is why you seem different from the others around. You can control the duel monsters as well."

"As well?" Pearl questioned. "What does that mean?"

"I can see why Haou chose you to travel with him," the man continued. With that he reached beneath his cloak, which caused Garnet to tense up, and pulled out a card. Pearl placed a hand on Garnet's shoulder and gazed at the business like card the man held out to her.

"Take this with you, my dear," he said. Pearl carefully stepped forward with Garnet directly behind her and took the card from him. "I have warned you like I intended. If you ever need me, use that card to contact me." Pearl was surprised at the sudden change in his voice. He had sounded so threatening before, but now he sounded gentle, almost caring.

"Why?" Pearl asked. "Why warn me about my friend? Why give me this? Why are you really here?"

"I am here to make sure that Haou does not return," the man said as he began to walk away. "Enough people have suffered his wrath. I don't want to see another one become his prey." With this last sentence he vanished as though he were a specter and was never truly there. Pearl stood there for what seemed like a long time, staring at the card and contemplating his words.

"Milady," Garnet interrupted. "What will we do?"

"I don't know Garnet," Pearl admitted. "That man seemed honest enough, but Jaden has done nothing to hurt us."

"But milady, surely you sense that he is not a normal human," Garnet said.

"You don't need to tell me," Pearl said, remembering the night she'd first met him and saw his eyes change color. "Those eyes were not his eyes."

"So then who's eyes were they?" Garnet asked.

"I don't know yet," Pearl said. She glanced at the card before placing it in her pocket. "I'll keep it for now. It may prove useful, but I'm not ready to accuse Jaden of anything just yet," Pearl decided. She then replaced Garnet's card in her deck and headed off to her next duel, for the first time since meet Jaden, she was unsure what to believe.

So, how'd you like it. Was it good? Bad? Unexpected? Suspenseful? Boring? All of the above? Message me and let me know. Wait for the next chapter when we go into duels with more details! Til then, eat a bagel with cream cheese and think about your place in the universe.