A New Duelist Legend

by AngelOfBlades

The Assault on Duel Academy: As East Duel Academy is under siege from the forces of the dark, unexpected heroes my rise... and fall. The games are over. The war has begun.

10. Dark Designator

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

A/N: Yes! Finally a chapter that I enjoyed writing! I love being evil! Oh, also, the OC in this chapter, as well as her deck, were both submitted to me by Black Death X. Thank you. And, with that, on with the fic!

Yu-Gi-Oh GX - A New Duelist Legend

Chapter 10 - Dark Designator

Nighttime. The Slifer Red Girl's Dorm. Tsukanna was silently leaning on the railing just outside the room that she shared with Rita, deep in thought. She sighed.

"I may not like it," She thought to herself, "But orders are orders."

"Hey Tsukanna," Rita said, emerging from their shared room, "It's 9:30. Lights out."

Tsukanna looked over her shoulder. "I'll be there in just a minute, Rita."

"Alright..." Rita replied, "I just don't want you to get in trouble for staying out too late."

Tsukanna smiled. "I know. And, like I said, I'll just be a minute."

Rita nodded and walked back in.

Tsukanna waited a few minutes before cracking open the door. She peeked into the room and saw that Rita was already asleep. She quietly closed the door again and walked off into the night.

On a remote corner of the island, a cloaked figure seemed to materialize out from the shadows under the treeline. The figure reached into it's cloak and pulled out a small clock.

"Twelve midnight exactly." The figure said.

Right in front of the figure, a ball of hovering blackness appeared in the air. Out of it stepped a familiar person in a long coat and a blue-eyed mask. The ball disappeared behind him.

"Report." Nightshroud said.

"Well," The figure replied, "I have found several likely candidates."

"How many exactly?" Nightshroud asked.

"So far, eight separate signatures within the range we're looking for." The figure continued, "However, I'm having trouble tracking down their actual identities. The handheld scanner only has a range of about twenty meters, is very imprecise, and can't be active for long."

Nightshroud sighed. "I know. Our techs are working on a better one, but it's slow going. Have you managed to identify any of them yet?"

"Actually," The figure said smugly, "Yes."

Nightshroud cocked an eyebrow. "So quickly? With that piece of junk?"

The figure nodded. "It was more luck then anything else."

"If you know who she is," Nightshroud asked, "Why haven't you engaged her yet?"

"I'm going to tomorrow night." The figure replied, "It took our techs two days to get a constant, unnoticeable hack into the school's computer system. I just found out earlier today."

"Very well." Nightshroud said curtly. "I'll return tomorrow night. I hope you have news."

The figure bowed slightly. "Of course."

Nightshroud tapped a hidden button on his wrist, and, a few seconds later, another sphere of darkness appeared before him. He walked into it, and after a couple of seconds, it vanished.

The figure smirked. "Tomorrow, it begins."

"Man..." Jaden said, his head on his desk, "I hate getting up early. Why can't the morning start in the afternoon instead?"

"It wouldn't help." Bastion replied, "Then, the time which was formerly called the 'morning' would just be called something else, and you'd still have to wake up at the same time."

Jaden just stared for a second. "Huh?"

Bastion sweatdropped. "Never mind." He looked around for a moment. "Although, on the subject of tiredness, it seems particularly prevalent this morning. Even Tsukanna looks exhausted."

Jaden looked forward, and indeed, Tsukanna, who never looked tired in the mornings, looked like she was about to fall asleep.

"Huh." Jaden said, "I wonder what's up. She's been acting off ever since she dueled Zane."

Later, Tsukanna was walking to her next class, still yawning. "I stayed up way to late last night..."

"Yes," A voice behind her said, "Lurking does tend to keep you up late."

Tsukanna turned, a frown on her face. "Hello, Zane."

The blue-haired Obelisk was as stone-faced as ever. "Hello, Tsukanna."

"What do you want?" Tsukanna asked, "And what do you mean, 'lurking'?"

"Well," Zane replied, "There have been reports of a mysterious figure lurking around in the middle of the night."

"And what, pray tell, does that have to do with me?" Tsukanna asked.

"Maybe nothing." Zane responded, "But I just want you to remember," His continued, his eyes narrowing, "I'm watching you."

Tsukanna turned around and walked off. "I need to get to class."

Zane just stood for a moment before walking off in the opposite direction.

Past this point, we'll leave our familiar characters. The rest concerns someone we have yet to be introduced to.

"Hey, Sarakara!" A voice called.

The person being called to, Sarakara Alana, turned. She was a first-year Ra Yellow with a decent degree of potential. She had loose red-brown hair down to the base of her spine, and slightly slotted amber eyes.

Sarakara smiled. "Hi, Emily." Emily Bridges was another first year Ra. She had green eyes, and wore her light purple hair short, barely touching her shoulders. The two of them were roommates.

School was out, and the two if them were heading back to their dorm room. They both had a rather long paper due then next day, and neither of them had started yet.

"So," Emily said, "Chosen a topic yet?"

Sarakara sighed. "No, not yet."

Emily giggled, and Sarakara growled. "Well, it's not like you've started!"

Emily giggled again. "I least I've chosen a topic!"

Sarakara just grumbled.

About twenty minutes later, the two of them arrived back at the Ra Girl's dorm. They walked up to their room, and went in. As might be expected, the room was a mess. What was probably a little less expected was the fact that half of the room was full of cat things. Cat posters, cat plushies, cat everything.

Sarakara sighed. "To bad I can't do that paper about cats..."

"Well," Emily said, "I guess you'll have to think of something else, won't you?" She pushed all of the crud off of their desks. "Now, let's get to work!"

Later that night, they were both making good progress... but had hit a small snag.

"WHERE IS IT!" Sarakara yelled frantically, digging through her backpack.

Emily sighed. "How could you possibly have forgotten your notebook?"

Sarakara looked at the clock. "It's past 10:00. I'll have to sneak out and get it."

"Are you crazy?" Emily said, "If you get caught-"

"I'll be back soon!" Sarakara said, already out the door.

Half an hour later, Sarakara had retrieved the precious notebook, and was taking a shortcut through the woods when she came to a clearing. She looked up. "It's so cloudy, I can't even see the moon... I'd better get back before it rains."

"I'm afraid that's going to be quite impossible." A feminine voice behind her said.

She whirled around to face a figure in a hooded black cloak. All she could see of the figure was the bottom half of her face.

She shivered involuntarily. "W-who are you?"

The figure smirked. "That's hardly important, now is it?" She pulled a duel disc out from under her cloak, which she tossed it to Sarakara. "What is important is that we're going to duel. Right now."

Sarakara caught the disc, but didn't put it on. "Why should I duel you?"

The figure partially parted her cloak, revealing a pitch-black duel disc was already in place on her right arm. "Why wouldn't you? Unless you're scared, little girl?"

Sarakara's eyes blazed. "Scared? I'm not scared!" She attached the disc to her arm and slammed her deck in. "If you want a beatdown, I'll be happy to give it to you!"

The figure smirked and reached into her cloak, and took out a deck. She was about to place it in her disc, when she paused. "..no"

Sarakara growled. "There's no way you're getting out of this!"

"Actually," The figure said, "I am rethinking my choice of decks." She replaced the deck she was holding and took out another one. "That deck is simply something I made to blend in. I'll use my real deck for this duel." The figure placed the deck in her disc and activated it. "Shadow Disc, on."

Not noticing or caring that the figure had called her disc something different, Sarakara activated her disc as well. "Duel Disc, on!"

As they both drew their starting hands, the figure grinned manically. "The challenge has been accepted." She raised her left hand into the air. "Let the Shadow Game begin!"

?LP: 8000

SLP: 8000

"W-what's going on?" Sarakara said, as they were surrounded by an infinite void in all directions.

"Simple, little girl." The figure said. "This is a Shadow Game! Whatever happens here, happens for real. And if you lose... well..." The figure grinned again. "You don't want to lose."

Sarakara shook her head and bared her teeth, rage banishing fear. "Whatever kind of game this is, I'll still crush you! I'm going first!" She drew a card and slammed in onto her disc. "I summon Stalking Tiger in attack mode!" A large, orange tiger appeared on her field. It roared threateningly at the figure Sarakara was facing. (1800/1400)

"How cute." The figure said mockingly, "Are you done?"

"No!" Sarakara replied, "First, I set a card facedown!" Sarakara slid another card into her disc, and it appeared behind her tiger. "Now I'm done."

"Good." The figure said, drawing. "I was getting bored."

Sarakara growled.

The figure smirked. "Getting a little riled up, are we? You really should stay calm during a duel." The figure placed her whole hand on her disc. "I set one monster facedown in defense mode, and five spell/trap cards." The six facedown cards appeared on the stranger's field, and she signaled the end of her turn.

"I draw!" Sarakara yelled, pulling a card off of her deck.

"No," The figure replied, one of her set cards flipping. "You don't. I activate my trap, Drop Off. This card forces you to discard the card you just drew."

Sarakara grimaced as she slid the card into her graveyard. "That was my Pot of Greed, too.."

Sarakara selected another card from her hand and placed it on her disc. "I summon Cub of the Pride in attack mode!" A small lion cub appeared next to the larger Tiger. It gave a small roar. (1300/800)

"Now," Sarakara continued, "If all the monsters on your side of the field are in defense mode, Stalking Tiger can attack you directly! Staking Claw!" The large tiger leapt at the figure, who just smirked.

"I will chain three of my set cards to your attack!" The figure called, three cards flipping up. "The first is the Continuous Trap Shady Pawnshop, which I will explain when it's relevant. The second," She continued, "Is called Memory Dart. It forces you to randomly discard a card from you hand." A small dart flew out of the second activated card, which pierced a card in Sarakara's hand, sending it to her graveyard. Sarakara gasped. "My field card!"

"My last trap," The stranger continued, "Is Shift, which changes the target of your attack to my facedown monster." The leaping tiger pivoted slightly in the air and landed on the set monster, which briefly revealed itself to be a young Egyptian boy in a brown cloak before shattering.

The stranger smirked again. "The monster you destroyed was my Tomb Robber's Pickpocket. Whenever he's destroyed, a random card from your graveyard is added to my hand."

"What?" Sarakara yelled as a card shot out of her graveyard, and into the figure's hand.

"Now," The figure said, "The effect of Shady Pawnshop activates. Whenever one of your cards is added to my hand, I draw a card." The trap card flashed, the figure drew again.

"Now you're stealing my cards?" Sarakara yelled, "I'll rip you apart! Cub of the Pride, attack!"

The figure just smirked again. "I first activate Call of the Haunted to revive my Tomb Robber's Pickpocket." The trap flipped up, and the cloaked Egyptian boy crouched on the figure's field. (600/400)

Sarakara growled. "I cancel my attack."

"You can't." The figure said arrogantly, "Because I activate my Staunch Defender trap, forcing all of your monsters to attack my Pickpocket!"

Sarakara gasped, and her lion cub pounced on the Pickpocket, shattering it instantly.

The figure smirked. "Now, his effect activates again." The other card shot out of Sarakara's graveyard and into the figure's hand. "As does the effect of Shady Pawnshop." She continued, drawing another card.

"Are you quite done?" The figure asked. Gritting her teeth, Sarakara nodded.

"Excellent." The figure smirked, drawing. "First, I believe I'll activate the Pot of Greed I stole from you." The figure slid the card into her disc, and the laughing pot appeared. The figure drew twice more, and it shattered.

"Of course," The figure said, holding up the Pot of Greed card, "This goes back to your graveyard. The card shimmered and vanished, returning to Sarakara.

"Next," the figure said, still grinning. "I believe I'll get rid of this useless field card."

Sarakara gnashed her teeth. "It's not useless!"

"It is to me." The figure replied, "Well, mostly. I activate another Spell, Soul of Greed." A green spirit with the Pot of Greed's face appeared. The figure tossed the field card to it, and the spirit ate the card. "By removing a card in my hand from the game, I can now draw three more cards." The figure drew again, bringing his hand to a grand total of seven cards, and Sarakara's removed from play slot shone as the field card appeared in it.

"Hmmm..." The figure said, "So many way to crush you... I believe I'll summon Tomb Robber's Bandit in attack mode." The figure placed the card on her disc, and an Egyptian man in a brown desert cloak and a black mask appeared on her field, brandishing a curved sword in both hands. (1500/1400)

"Now, I'll attack!" The figure called, "Tomb Robber's Bandit, attack Cub of the Pride!"

"I activate Threatening Roar!" Sarakara called, "Now, you can't declare any attacks this turn!"

The figure smirked. "Very well. I will set three cards facedown, then finish my turn." The set cards shimmered into existence next to the figure's continuous card.

"Then it's my draw!" Sarakara called, pulling another card off of her deck.

"Once again," the figure said, one of his traps flipping, "I activate Drop Off." Sarakara growled and placed the card into her graveyard.

"Also," the figure continued, "I activate another trap. This on is called To Steal the Sleeping's Breath." She smirked. "I may activate this trap when you discard a card. The discarded card is added to my hand." The card flew out of Sarakara's graveyard and into the figure's hand. Shady Pawnshop flashed again, and the figure drew.

Sarakara ground her teeth. "I summon Liger in attack mode!" A massive lion with darker stripes appeared on Sarakara's field next to her other two monsters. It roared loudly. (2000/1300)

Sarakara smirked. "Nice, isn't he? He can only attack if I have another beast-type monster on my side of the field, but I don't think that'll be a problem."

The figure sniffed derisively. "Nice? Hardly. That fleabag doesn't stand a chance."

Sarakara's eyes flared. "Fleabag? Liger, rip his Swordsman to shreds! Feral Pounce!"

The figure grinned. "I activate my trap, Human Shield." The Tomb Robber darted to the side and, in it's place appeared a small, immensely cute pink kitty. It meowed cutely. (0/0)

"What?" Sarakara said, "My Adorable Kitty?"

The figure smirked. "Human Shield can only be activated when you declare an attack on a Tomb Robber on my side of the field, and I have one of your monsters in my hand. The attack is canceled, and I immediately special summon one of your monsters from my hand. Then that monster battles with the monster that attacked. Also, I summoned it in attack mode."

The Liger pounced on the tiny kitty, which meowed with fright before it was shattered into pixels. Sarakara expected the figure's life points to drop... for just a second, until her body felt like it had been raked by the Liger's claws.

?LP: 8000

SLP: 6000

"Oh," The figure said, almost as an afterthought, "Did I forget to mention that you take the damage that results from the battle instigated by Human Shield?"

Sarakara struggled to her feet. "Bitch..."

The figure grinned cruelly. "Hurts, doesn't it? I told you, this is a Shadow Game!"

Sarakara growled. "I can still tear you apart! Stalking Tiger... wait, what happened?" Looking at her Stalking Tiger, she discovered that it's eyes had been replaced with large hearts, and it was staring into space. (1800/1400)-(0/1400)

The figure grinned again. "I almost forgot. Before you attacked Adorable Kitty, I used it's special ability to reduce the attack power of your Tiger to zero."

Sarakara clenched her fist and looked at the last cards in her hand. "These can't help... not now at least." She grimaced. "I end my turn."

"Very well." The figure said, drawing. "First," the figure continued, "I'll activate the spell Tomb Robbery!" She slid the card into her disc, and Tomb Robber's Bandit darted forward and ran past Sarakara's monsters and snatched a card out of her graveyard. He then dashed back and handed the card to the figure, who added it to her hand.

The figure smirked. "Tomb Robbery allows me to forfeit the attack of one of my Tomb Robbers in order to take a card from your graveyard." Shady Pawnshop flashed, and the figure drew again.

"Now I'll activate the card I took - Pot of Greed!" The figure said, chuckling. The green pot appeared again, and the figure drew, bringing her hand up to six cards.

"Hmmm..." The figure spent several seconds considering her cards. "I think I'll now summon Tomb Robber's Trapspringer in defense mode." Another Egyptian man in a brown cloak and black mask appeared, this one with a set of thieves' tools in his belt. (400/1000)

"Lastly," The figure said, "I'll set these three cards facedown. And with that, I'm done."

"Good!" Sarakara yelled, practically ripping a card off of her deck.

"In response to your draw," The figure said, "I'll activate Zero Gravity! This trap switched the battle mode of all the monsters on the field!" The trap flipped up, and all the monsters on the field floated for a second, before they all landed, crouching in defense mode.

"And then," the figure continued, "When you move to your standby phase, I'll activate Theft of Dreams!" The figure's second trap card flipped up, and a strange mist gathered on the field. "Theft of Dreams can only be activated when all monsters on the field are in defense mode, and then allows me to draw one card from my deck for each monster on my side of the field in defense mode." The figure then slid two cards off of her deck.

"Of course, that's not all it does." The figure continued, "It then lets me draw one card off of your deck for each of your monsters in defense mode." Two cards flew off of Sarakara's deck and into the figure's hand. The figure then drew twice from the effect of Shady Pawnshop.

"Lastly," The figure finished, "You get the same effects." Sarakara frowned as she drew twice, and two of the figure's cards appeared in her hand. When she looked at one of them, her eyes widened. "That's... monstrously powerful..."

The figure smirked. "From the look on you face, you got one of my better cards." His last set card flipped up. "It won't help you, though. I activate Stealing from Thieves! This card returns every card in your hand that belongs to me to my hand." The two cards faded and reappeared in the figure's hand.

Sarakara grimaced. "I got some good cards... but he's got a ten card hand! And one of those two he took back from me is really powerful..."

"It's your move, little girl." The figure said mockingly, "Or are you to scared to make one?"

Sarakara roared, "I'M NOT SCARED!" She slammed a monster from her hand onto her disc. "By paying 800 life points, I can special summon Swift Cheetah from my hand!" A fierce-looking cheetah appeared on Sarakara's field. It flexed it's claws and growled. (1500/1300)

?LP: 8000

SLP: 5200

"Next," She growled, "I'll tribute my Swift Cheetah and Cub of the Pride to summon King of the Pride in attack mode!" The two named monsters vanished, and were replaced by a massive golden lion, easily three times the size of a normal lion. It let out a massive roar. (2600/2000)

"And now," Sarakara continued, "I activate Heart of Lions! To active this card, I need to discard a card from my hand!" She slid one of her last cards into her graveyard. "This card allows me to tribute a beast-type monster on my field to summon another one from my hand! I choose Mother of the Pride!" The Stalking Tiger roared and vanished, and was replaced by a massive lioness, only slightly smaller then King of the Pride. (2200/1900)

"And that's not all!" Sarakara continued, "When Mother of the Pride is summoned, I can special summon any number of beast-type monsters from my graveyard, as long as their combined levels don't exceed five! So, I special summon Adorable Kitty and Black Cat!" The same super-cute pink cat from earlier appeared next to mother of the Pride, along with a small, black cat. (0/0), (1000/500)

The figure chuckled. "Spirited, but unimpressive. Don't you have any good moves to make?"

Sarakara clenched her teeth. "We'll see what you think of this! King of the Pride's special ability activates now! First, it increases his attack by 200 for every other beast-type monster on my side of the field, then it increases the attack of all the other beast-type monsters on my side of the field by 100 times their level!" King of the Pride let out a massive roar, which was echoed by all the other monsters on Sarakara's field, and their attack skyrocketed. (2600/2000)–(3400/2000), (2200/1900)–(2700/1900), (2000/1300)–(2400/1300), (1000/500)–(1300/500), (0/0)–(200/0)

The figure just chuckled again. "I'm still unimpressed."

Sarakara growled. "King of the Pride, crush him! Proud Roar!"

The figure just smirked and snapped her fingers. "I activate the special ability of Tomb Robber's Trapspringer. By tributing him, I can activate a trap from your graveyard. I choose Threatening Roar!" The Trapspringer vanished, and the trap appeared in his place. It let out a massive roar that stopped King of the Pride cold.

"Rrggggghhh..." Sarakara clenched her teeth and growled again. "End turn."

The figure snapped another card off of her deck, bringing her hand up to eleven cards. "Very well... I suppose I could stop holding back so much, if you really want me to."

Sarakara just glared.

The figure smirked. "I'll start by activating the Spell card known as Hand Tribute. I can remove monsters in my hand from the game to summon more powerful monsters without needing to tribute anything." He held up two cards from his hand, which vanished into Sarakara's removed from play slot. "I'll just remove these ones that I got from you."

Sarakara growled again. "I'm gonna crush you..."

The figure just grinned. "Little girl, you don't stand a chance." She held up a card in her hand, and placed it onto her disc. "This is the monster I summon using Hand Tribute. Tomb Robber's Grandmaster in attack mode!" The monster which appeared on her field was a grizzled old Egyptian man in a desert cloak. He had short grey hair and a short grey beard. He had an assortment of tools on his belt, and had a scimitar in one hand and a curved dagger in the other. (2400/2600)

Sarakara snorted. "That thing's no match for King of the Pride!"

The figure sighed. "Why does no one ever seem to realize that summoning a weaker monster in attack mode generally means that it's controller has a plan?"

Sarakara just snarled. "Even if he can power it up, Adorable Kitty will reduce it's power to nothing!"

"Now then," The figure continued, "I'll activate the spell Kidnapping. This spell returns one monster on your field to my hand. I'll have it target Adorable Kitty."

"Hold it!" Sarakara yelled, "In response, I'll use Adorable Kitty's ability to make the attack of your Grandmaster zero!" The small kitty purred cutely, and the grizzled Tomb Robber's eyes were replaced with big hearts, and it stared at the kitty. (2400/2600)–(0/2600)

"Regardless," The figure said, "Your monster is mine again." A bandit sprang out of the figure's spell, grabbed Adorable Kitty, and shoved it in a sack. He then ran back to the figure's side and presented the bag to the figure, who withdrew the Kitty's card from in and placed it in her hand. The removal of one of Sarakara's monsters also weakened King of the Pride. (3400/2000)–(3200/2000)

"And don't forget," The figure continued, "The effect of my Shady Pawnshop." The trap flashed, and the figure drew again.

"Hmmm..." The figure tapped her chin. "I think I'll just set four cards facedown, and shift Tomb Robber's Bandit to defense mode." The four cards shimmered onto the figure's field, and the Bandit knelt defensively behind his sword. The figure smirked. "I end my turn, and the effect of your Adorable Kitty ends." The Grandmaster shook his head for several seconds, regaining his focus. (0/2600)–(2400/2600)

"Then I draw!" Sarakara yelled, pulling another card off of her deck. She slammed it onto her disc. "I activate Cat's Love! Now I draw one card for each face-up monster on my field with 'Cat' in it's name, and King of the Pride, Mother of the Pride, and Liger are all considered to have 'Cat' in their names! Therefore, I draw four cards!" The monsters on Sarakara's field all purred in unison, and Sarakara slid four more cards off of her deck.

Sarakara grinned. "Once again, I'll pay 800 life points to special summon Swift Cheetah!" Sarakara's life points dropped lower, and another of the cheetahs appeared on her field, flexing. The addition of another monster rose King of the Pride's attack points again. (1500/1300)–(1900/1300), (3200/2000)–(3400/2000)

?LP: 8000

SLP: 4400

"Now, I tribute the Swift Cheetah to summon Pouncing Jaguar in attack mode!" A large jaguar appeared next to Sarakara's other monsters. It roared in unison with them. (2100/1500)–(2700/1500)

"And I activate his special ability!" Sarakara called, "Sealing the effects of one monster until the end of this turn! I choose Tomb Robber's Grandmaster, even if I don't know what it does!" The Jaguar roared, and the Grandmaster shook slightly, backing up in caution.

"Next," Sarakara continued, "I activate Purring, a spell which I can only play if I have a cat on my field! The attack of all your monsters is reduced by 1000!" The Black Cat started purring contentedly, and both of the figure's monsters yawned drowsily. (2400/2600)–(1400/2600), (1500/1400)–(500/1400)

"Lastly, I play the Continuous Spell Bounty of the Hunt! Whenever a beast-type monster on my field destroys a monster, this card gains a counter, and for each counter on it, the attack of beast-type monsters on my field is raised by 300!" The spell flashed, and a small, feral-looking alter made of rocks, sticks and bones appeared behind Sarakara's monsters.

"Not that I'll need that power boost!" Sarakara called, "King of the Pride, attack Tomb Robber's Grandmaster with Proud Roar!" The massive lion roared, and a sonic blast approached the Grandmaster.

The figure smirked. "Haven't you learned anything? I activate a card you should be familiar with - Human Shield!" Sarakara gasped as the Grandmaster dove to the side and was replaced by Adorable Kitty, once again in attack mode. It mewed tinily before the massive roar shattered it, and Sarakara was knocked back by a massive shockwave. (0/0)

?LP: 8000

SLP: 1000

The figure began examining her nails. "Is this really all you've got? You're on your last legs, and you haven't touched me. Hell, I don't think I've even attacked you yet."

Sarakara clenched her teeth so hard her gums almost stared bleeding. "You..."

The figure smirked. "What about me?"

Sarakara's eyes were swallowed in black, and a black aura sprang up around her body. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

The figure just grinned as Sarakara's body released a torrent of energy. "Finally it emerges... her darkness..."

Sarakara's eyes, which were blazing with dark energy, examined the field for a moment. Then her voice dripping with malice, said. "I'll end my turn." As the she ended her turn, the attack of the figure's monsters went back to normal. (1400/2600)–(2400/2600), (500/1400)–(1500/1400)

The figure laughed. "Yes... this is much better... now I can stop holding back even more!" The figure slid another card off of her deck, and slipped it into her disc. "I'll simply set this card facedown, then end my turn." The facedown shimmered into the place of the one used up last turn.

"That was your move?" The shadow-Sarakara said sarcastically as she drew, "Pathetic." She slammed the strange, black-bordered card into her disk. "I activate the Shadow Card known as Dark Rebirth!" All the cards on her field vanished, her life points shot up to max, and her deck shuffled itself and spat out five new cards. "The effect is fairly obvious."

?LP: 8000

SLP: 8000

The figure just snorted. "A Shadow Card that resets your side of the duel. How original."

"Silence!" Shadow-Sarakara yelled. "I'll rip you apart! I pay 1600 life points to special summon two Swift Cheetah!" Shadow-Sarakara's life points dropped, and the two cheetahs reappeared on her field, although they were swiftly replaced. (1500/1300)x2

?LP: 8000

SLP: 6400

"Now," Shadow-Sarakara continued, "I tribute them to summon Shadow Beast - Dark Lion in attack mode!" A massive black lion with hellishly glowing eyes appeared on Shadow-Sarakara's field. It roared with bloodlust. (3000/2500)

"Shadow Beast - Dark Lion also deals damage through defense!" Shadow-Sarakara yelled.

The figure sighed. "Can't you do anything original? I've seen this a million times before."

"See how original you think this is!" Shadow-Sarakara screamed. "Dark Lion, attack with Darkness Roar!"

The figure snorted. "You're hardly more competent then you were before. I activate two of my traps." Two of her four set cards flipped up. The first is called Plundering the Tomb. It takes one monster card from your graveyard and adds it to my hand." Shadow-Sarakara's graveyard spat out the card, and the figure caught it, along with a card from the top of her deck, due to the effect of Shady Pawnshop.

"The second Trap is called Hostage Negotiations." The figure continued, "And, by simply returning one of your monster cards from my hand to yours, I immediately end your turn." The figure threw the card back to Shadow-Sarakara, who caught it, and Dark Lion stopped short.

The figure drew her card, then looked at Shadow-Sarakara. She frowned. "Her darkness is already beginning to recede. I expected her to be weak, but not that weak... damn."

The figure frowned. "This is a waste of my time."

Shadow-Sarakara growled. "Well then, let me kill you, and you won't have to worry about it!"

The figure snorted. "Hardly. I'll just have to win as soon as possible." The figure gestured. "I'll start off by switching Tomb Robber's Bandit into attack mode!" The cloaked Bandit got up off of his knee, and raised his sword threateningly.

"Next," The figure continued, one of her set cards flipping up. "This: Shrink!" The massive Dark Lion shrunk down to half it normal size, becoming a lot less impressive. (1500/2500)

Shadow-Sarakara gasped.

The figure grinned cruelly. "Tomb Robber's Grandmaster, attack! Destroy Dark Lion!" The Tomb Robber dashed forward and easily slashed the lion's throat, shattering it instantly, as well as knocking Shadow-Sarakara onto her back.

?LP: 8000

SLP: 5300

With the destruction of Dark Lion, the aura around Sarakara faded, and she returned to normal. She stood up, groaning and rubbing her head. "What happened...?"

"What happened," The figure said tersely, "Is that you're still losing this duel! The effect of Tomb Robber's Grandmaster activates now, adding any monster he destroys in battle to my hand!" A card shot out of Sarakara's graveyard, and the figure caught it and added it to her hand, then drew from the effect of Shady Pawnshop.

Sarakara blinked. "What's going on? Where did my monsters go?"

"Pay attention," The figure replied, "And maybe you'll figure it out. Tomb Robber's Bandit, attack!" The bandit ran forward, but instead of slashing her, he held his sword to her throat, his other hand out as if demanding something.

"What's he doing?" Sarakara asked.

"He's a bandit." The figure replied, "He doesn't want your life, he wants your money, so to speak. In game terms, that means, by giving him one of the cards in your hand, he deals no damage this attack."

Sarakara gulped and handed him one of the cards in her hand. The bandit ran back to the figure's field and gave her the card. "The card you gave him is added to my hand." The figure said, "And, of course, I draw from Shady Pawnshop." The figure drew again, giving her a total of six cards.

The figure held up two of her cards, and slid them into her disc. "I'll just set these facedown and end my turn." The two cards shimmered into existence as Sarakara shakily drew.

"Okay," She thought to herself, "I've got three cards in my hand and nothing on my field. She's got two monsters, that Shady Pawnshop, and three facedown cards. To top it all off, I feel weak as a kitten..."

She shook her head in an effort to clear it up, which failed. Instead, the sudden movement nearly made her fall down. "Gotta keep it together..."

"Okay," She called, "I summon Lioness of the Pride in defense mode." A tawny golden lioness appeared on her field, and it curled up defensively. (1900/1400)

"Next," Sarakara continued, "I'll pay 800 life points to special summon Swift Cheetah in defense mode." The cheetah again appeared on her field, although, like the Lioness, it was curled defensively. (1500/1300)

?LP: 8000

SLP: 4500

"I'll set a card on my field, then end my turn." A single card appeared on Sarakara's field behind the Lioness, emptying her hand.

As she drew, The figure sighed. "I had hoped you'd have enough power to be worth my time, but it appears you don't."

"Take that back, you..." Sarakara began, before she lost the rest of the words in another wave of dizziness.

The figure sighed again. "That's exactly what I mean. I'll begin the turn by activating a spell called Stealing Secrets." She slid the card into her disc, and Tomb Robber's Bandit dashed over to Sarakara's field and grabbed her facedown card, then threw it back to the figure, who caught it, added it to her hand, and drew from Shady Pawnshop.

"As you probably guessed," The figure explained, "It adds a facedown spell or trap card on your field to my hand."

Sarakara just stood there, holding her head.

The figure snorted, and slid another card from her hand into her disc. "Now, another spell. D. D. Cannon allows me to remove any number of cards in my hand from the game. For every two removed, I can destroy one card on the field." A massive, high-tech cannon appeared on the figure's field, and she threw the three of her own cards, and one of the cards she had taken from Sarakara into it. The cannon fired twice, destroying both of Sarakara's monsters.

The figure grinned, and the two monsters on her field vanished. "I tribute both of my monsters to summon someone you're probably familiar with..." In their place, another man in a desert cloak appeared. Except for the cloak and one eye, however, his entire body was covered in leather wrappings, giving him the appearance of a black leather mummy. His wrappings were covered with blood-red runes, and his single visible eye glowed red. (0/0)

Sarakara's eyes widened. "I-it's that monster that he sent to my hand..."

The figure grinned cruelly. "You already know his effects, so I won't bore you with them." The figure pointed at Sarakara. "You lose." A massive blast of red light sent Sarakara flying ten feet through the air, as well as sending her life points plummeting to zero.

?LP: 8000

SLP: 0

As the Shadow Game subsided, the figure walked up to Sarakara, who lay trembling on the ground. "I win. So I set your punishment." She grinned sadistically. "You're useless to me. But your power is another story." The figure raised her hand. "I believe I'll take that. Penalty Game!" A burst of black light exploded from Sarakara's chest. After a moment, it subsided, and Sarakara fell still, her eyes blank.

The figure reached down and picked up a small black gem from Sarakara's chest. She chuckled. "At least I got something out of this." As the figure laughed over the fallen form of her opponent, it began to rain.

11:30 that same night, Izumi, the de facto headmistress of Slifer Red, was awakened by a loud banging on her door. "Ms. Kojima! Wake up!"

Izumi sleepily walked over and opened her door, and was greeted by the face of Tsukanna, soaked by the rain, carrying the prone form of Sarakara over her shoulder.

"Tsukanna?" Izumi asked, "What's going on?"

"I saw this girl lying at the edge of the woods near the dorm, and I couldn't wake her up!"

Tired or not, Izumi immediately shifted to 'responsible mode'. "I'll help you carry her to the infirmary."

After a ten minute trip, five minutes waking the nurse, and another ten minutes of examination, the nurse had reached an inevitable conclusion.

"She's in a coma." The nurse said to Izumi and Tsukanna, who were both bundled up in blankets after running through the rain.

"What?" Izumi asked, "How?"

The nurse shook her head. "I don't know. There doesn't seem to be any sort of physical trauma that could cause such a thing." She sighed. "There's nothing we can do for now. I'll inform Chancellor Sheppard, and see what he wants to do."

On a far corner of the island, Nightshroud's watch beeped, signaling 1:00 am.

"Dammit!" He said, "Where is she?"

"Here." Said the figure, walking out of the bushes.

"Where were you?" Nightshroud yelled, "I've been waiting in the rain for an hour!"

"I apologize." The figure said, "I was delayed."

Nightshroud growled. "Fine. Did everything go according to plan?"

The figure shook her head, the movement barely perceptible within her hood. "No. Unfortunately, she was far too weak for our purposes."

Nightshroud sighed. "Did you at least get her power?"

This time, the figure nodded, and tossed the crystal to Nightshroud. He looked at it for a moment, then sighed again. "Far too weak indeed."

He once again hit a hidden button on his wrist, and a sphere of blackness appeared in the air in front of his. "I'll bring this back to headquarters. Continue searching."

"Nightshroud," The figure asked, "Do you have any idea why they want these children so badly?"

Nightshroud snorted. "Only the Council knows. Do you want to ask?" With that, he walked into the sphere, which vanished behind him.

The figure chuckled. "It seems my hunt continues. Perhaps one of these whelps will actually be a challenge..." With that, the figure melted into the shadows.

New Cards: Once again, two original decks. Same deal as last time, tell me in an email or review if you want a full list of their effects. Well, I will put one here, because I like being mysterious.

Made by Me: Shady Pawnshop, Memory Dart, Tomb Robber's Pickpocket, Soul of Greed, Tomb Robber's Bandit, To Steal the Sleeping's Breath, Human Shield, Tomb Robbery, Tomb Robber's Trapspringer, Theft of Dreams, Stealing from Thieves, Hand Tribute, Tomb Robber's Grandmaster, Kidnapping, Dark Rebirth (Sarakara's Deck), Shadow Beast - Dark Lion (Sarakara's Deck), Plundering the Tomb, Hostage Negotiations, Stealing Secrets, D. D. Cannon

Dark, Effect Monster - Spellcaster, Level 10, (0/0)

Image: A man wrapped in black leather straps, which are covered in crimson symbols. He has a single glowing red eye, and is wearing a brown desert cape.

Made by Black Death X: Stalking Tiger, Cub of the Pride, Liger, Adorable Kitty, Swift Cheetah, King of the Pride, Heart of Lions, Mother of the Pride, Black Cat, Cat's Love, Pouncing Jaguar, Purring, Bounty of the Hunt, Lioness of the Pride

Next Time: The year's already a quarter over, and you know what that means: A dueling test! Of course, almost everyone's going to fail the written part, and Jaden's certainly going to pass the duel, so we're not worried about those. We'll look at someone a little... smaller. Actually, two someones. Don't miss "Super Junior Confrontation"!