Last Time

"Then join us Rei. Stand by our side. Reach into yourself and give up your energy...embrace the darkness." Shou's voice was smooth, imitative of Darkness, the first of the Seven Stars, Darkness.

"Come to us Rei." He added.

"Rei, please don't do it for me...do it for yourself! Run!" Judai pleaded.

"See Rei? He's afraid now. He's afraid of what will happen when you see the truth. When you stop thinking about him." Shou smirked. "Come, Rei." He beckoned the girl.

Rei nodded slowly, as she walked over to the zombified teen.

Shou took Rei's Death-Belt in his hands. "My sweet love, please join me."

She nodded, following her boyfriend's actions.

"Now close your eyes Rei. Feel your energy wash out and as it does you will be reborn!" Shou closed his eyes as he reached out to Martin and established contact.

As the 2 did this, Rei moaned softly, feeling Martin absorb her duel energy...

"Yesss Rei, rid your self of it. Let go." Shou whispered, purring as he spoke the word 'Yes', thus adding an extra 's' to it.

Judai dropped to his knees. "No...Rei...no." Once again the Osiris duelist was broken.

Rei nodded, her once bright chocolate-brown eyes becoming an almost inhumanly vacant dull brown shade as more and more of her energy was sucked away.

Shou opened his eyes slowly as he gazed away from Rei over to Judai. A lazy smile spread across his face. His swelling lip took away from the appearance of the newly reborn evil duelist, but there could be no mistaking the hateful glee that was dancing across his eyes. "Delicious!" he exclaimed. "Rei. How do you feel?"

She gave a slightly dark smile. "More stronger than I've ever been..."

End Flashback

"Feels glorious don't it?" Shou asked sinisterly, his voice full of cruel, inhuman pleasure.

"Yes...yes it does..." She breathed in deeply as though being as she were gave off an extremely sweet aroma.

"One by one, Judai. Those you have deceived are waking to your treachery. One by one. Until finally it will be you. You. Alone." Shou laughed wickedly.

"He's right Judai. Duel...duel me Judai...duel..." Rei moaned, grinning darkly.

A teardrop fell from Judai's eye and rolled down his cheek. Just when he thought it couldn't get worse, it did. Despair hung over him like a thick blanket.

"Duel Judai....duel...duel..." Rei droned.

"Come on, Judai. Your girlfriend wants to duel." Shou smirked

"Judai...duel...duel me..." Another voice came. Slowly the form of the zombified Manjoume came into view…

Judai sighed. He was weary. He was broken. Judai looked up to see Manjoume's face come into the dim light of the cavern-like hallway they were in. 'Just keeps getting worse.' Judai thought to himself.

"Duel...duel....duel us Judai...become one of us..." Rei and Jun chorused.

Shou scowled. "One of us?" The little bluenette wasn't certain if this was what he wanted or not. "If Judai becomes one of us, then he'll be around all the time. I'll have to look at him...remember how he was." He mused aloud. For the first time since his conversion, he was uncertain. He gave Asuka a questioning look.

"Wait...that's right..." Asuka murmured, growing confused herself.

"We don't want him...do we?" Shou asked, turning his head sideways towards Asuka.

"No...I don't think so...but how else can we take over the Academia..." She wondered.

"What do we do?" Shou asked quietly, almost like his old unsure self. His mind turned. He didn't know. Judai needed to be defeated. That was true, but if he was defeated he would become one of them, and to him that was unacceptable.

Martin could feel that his control of the school was almost complete. He extended his senses outward to the Duel Zombies. The entire Academia was almost his.

He went from Zombie to Zombie, smiling when he came across the newly converted. Martin stopped, however, when he came across Shou and Asuka. He allowed these to have more of a personality than the bulk of the student body...the better to hurt Judai. Martin sensed their confusion. To take control of the school, Judai would have to join the ranks true, but...and idea came from deep inside him. "No. He doesn't need to be converted. Once I have the faculty, I can simply have him expelled!" Martin smiled. "That will add just another nail to Judai's coffin." He murmured aloud.

He sent out his will to Shou and Asuka. "Break him. He's not worthy for us. Hurt him!" He ordered, speaking to them through telepathy since he wasn't there in person, not yet anyway…

"Of course Martin-sama..." Both Shou and Asuka answered.

Judai stood, his head still bowed.

"Martin-sama?" Asuka asked, bowing respectfully.

"Break him. Leave him beaten." Martin answered.

"With glee!" Shou said as he bowed.

"We will, but I'm curious, why do you want to hurt him so badly?" She asked.

Martin clenched his deformed fist. He sent out a wave of pure hatred that slammed into the Duel Zombies like a bolt of lightning. Martin spat as he reached deep down inside. "Because he hurt me so much!" His mental voice was raw.

"But you've never known him before this year." Asuka reasoned.

Shou cocked his head. "That is a good question, my dark queen. You make a good point, my love."

"So how can he have hurt you before...?" She wondered.

Judai, who had been expecting another quick attack, looked towards the people he once knew. They seemed to be standing there, swaying slowly. Even the constant drone of 'Duel. Duel' from Rei and Manjoume had stopped.

Seeing he had a brief chance, Judai bolted.

Martin paused. Why did he hate Judai so? Sure, the Osiris teen was one of the top duelists in the school, if not the top. It wasn't that. Was it? He looked deep inside and found that it did not matter why he hated Judai. It just was that he did hate the teen Osiris child.

Perhaps letting them have more control over their actions might not have been the best idea. Martin shook his head. No, letting them remain a shadow of their former selves would wound Judai. He gathered up his will. "Don't question me." He said to Asuka and Shou.

"We're just curious, Martin-sama." Asuka answered, bowing in apology.

"My reasons are my own. You both have your own reasons for hating him." Martin responded calmly.

"He's right Asuka my love." Shou cooed sweetly.

"Yes this is true." Asuka agreed.

"I mean do we really need him?" Shou asked her. "Once the school falls, he has nothing."

"Well nothing except that stupid hairball Duel Spirit." Shou's face turned into a cruel smile.

"Duel spirit?" She asked, momentarily confused.

"You know that some cards contain Duel Spirits, right?" He asked, and before she could respond, he continued.

"Well, that loser boy has one. Silly little thing from what I'm guessing." Shou gave a snort as he thought of the adorable winged fairy-like monster. "Winged Kuriboh. Oooh, I'm terrified!" Shou cackled darkly.

"What a dork..." Asuka chuckled.

Shou gave an evil little giggle. "Come to think of it, doesn't he look like he's wearing a Kuriboh on his head?" He continued giggling for a moment.

She laughed a bit. "Actually yes."

"So let's get rid of the pest!" Shou gleefully turned around to where Judai was. His eyes grew even bigger as he looked around for his former friend. "No! He's escaped!"

He turned towards Manjoume. "Where did he go?!" Shou was enraged.

Manjoume pointed down the left hallway.

"After him!" Shou growled. He didn't wait for the others as he sprinted down the hallway.

Manjoume and the other Duel Zombies quickly followed…

To be continued…