Mary Shelly: I busied myself to think of a story that would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature… and awaken… thrilling horror… one to make the reader… dread to look around… to curdle the blood… and quicken the beatings of the heart.
"Is everything ready for tonight my dear Elizabeth?"
"Yes… Bruno, Heather, John, and the others are in position… Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"It's necessary my dear… by the time they find out our true intentions it will already be too late… Oh… one more thing… I believe you've been looking for this card…"
Elizabeth caught it and her jaw dropped, then she started jumping like a school girl.
"I've been looking for one of these all my life! Where'd you get it?!"
"From a friend of mine who owed me a big favor… Now go finish the preparations… the show starts in ten."
When Elizabeth left the room, he went over to the organ and played five seconds of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, then he started to play something entirely different, and he sang along.
"All around a mulberry bush, the Obelisk chased the slacker. The slacker thought 'twas all in fun. SPLAT goes the slacker! MWAH HA-AH-AH AH, LAUGH WITH ME! MWAH HA-AH-AH AH!!!"
The class reunion was taking place in the Obelisk Blue dorm, Jaden and Alexis had left Sakura with Blair, Hassleberry, and the others while they attended. While there Jaden and Alexis were bombarded with questions about the events that happened a year ago by their fellow alumni, a topic they didn't like talking about.
"Okay, we all know they had a close call with Jobs, now leave it alone!"
"Thanks Chazz."
"Don't mention it."
Suddenly the lights went off all across the island and people started to scream.
"What's going on?"
"Emergency generators!"
At that moment the lights came back on, and every monitor on the island showed the image of a woman with long curly pale blonde hair.
"Students, teachers, faculty, and my fellow alumni I have an important announcement to make… This is Elizabeth Beaufort, the girl with the crazy ambitions for those of you that don't remember… I'm here to tell you that Academy Island is now under our control…"
"What is she talking about?" asked Syrus.
"Before I forget I have one question for you all… Where is Jaden Yuki?"
Jaden stepped up.
"I'm right here… what do you want?"
"Oh no, it's not what I want… it's what he wants."
The screen moved so that it showed a silvery robot.
"It's! It's! It's!!! Who is this?" asked Mindy.
"It's Zero from the Mega Man X franchise!" said another one of the alumni.
"No it's not; it's the terminator."
"You're both wrong, it's the transformed Cooler from the Dragon Ball Z movies!"
At that moment Jaden heard Yubel hissing angrily, then the robot spoke in a raspy mechanical voice.
"I can see you don't recognize me Jaden… but that should be no surprise… not after what you did to me."
"Do… I know you?"
"Maybe these will refresh your memory…"
The robot held up four spell cards, Jaden didn't think much of it at first, but then he and the others realized what they were.
"No! It can't be!" exclaimed Jasmine.
The spell cards the robot was holding were Rushed Production, Machine Insurance, The Spoils of War, and The Hyper-Death Ray. At that moment Jaden immediately rushed to his wife's side.
"You're not Billy Jobs!" said Chazz "We watched him die!"
"Hee-hee-hee… I know… but thanks to the efforts of my dear Elizabeth here… a part of me survived…"
The robot took off the metallic helmet on the top of his head, revealing a brain in a dome filled with liquid underneath.
"EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!!!!" exclaimed just about everyone in the room.
"Yes Jaden, EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!!!! This is all that's left of me after you caused me to fall into the pit, or do you not remember? Roll the clip!"
A disk rolled across the screen, then Billy slapped the transparent dome that was his forehead.
"Now please put the disk in the machine, and press play."
The screen displayed a recording of the incident when Jaden dressed in the Supreme King's armor broke out of Billy's cage, running up to him and tearing of his helmet, and then caused one of the rockets on Billy's colossal robot exosuit to fire at the ground making it collapse, it ended with Billy being overcome by the crocodiles.
"Okay… Why would you record that?" asked Alexis.
"What's so weird about it? You have videos of weddings and births."
"So you have the night off and invite a few friends over so they can watch you snuff it?" joked Jaden.
"Ha-ha very funny… But I'll be the one who has the last laugh tonight slacker."
"If you lay one hand on Alexis or my daughter…"
"HA-AH-AH!!! I don't care about your wife or your precious offspring Jaden."
"You don't?" they all said surprised.
"Death has a way of changing a person's priorities… This is about revenge, plain and simple… I'll bet you're expecting me to immediately challenge you to duel to the death between the two of us… but why should I have all the fun?"
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that in order to prove you're worthy to duel me, you'll have to run the little gauntlet of opponent's I've arranged for you."
"Me prove myself worthy to duel you? You seem to have forgotten that I beat you twice. And who says I want to duel you anyway?"
"Because Jaden, thanks to the bombs my men have planted all over the island, I'm ready right now to blow you all sky high… If anyone tries to get on or off the island… you all die. Make no mistake Jaden, I'm in control of Academy Island… you're not going anywhere I don't want you to…"
"You crazy son of a…"
Chazz didn't finish his sentence because Billy was holding up some kind of remote.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you Chazz? Never insult someone who can end your life with the push of a button."
"What do you hope to gain from all this?" asked Jaden.
"I already told you… revenge!"
"But if you don't care about Alexis anymore, then what the heck does taking revenge on me mean to you?"
"Simple, I'm obsessive compulsive… And it's because of you Jaden that I'm just a brain in jar on a robot body… sure thanks to the efforts of my dear Elizabeth here I was saved from eternal damnation… but I can hardly call this living… Never again will I brush a rose against my cheek, feel the soft fur of a small kitten, or interfere with a woman sexually."
"Billy, you never did any of those things." said Elizabeth.
"Well I would have done one day… Anyway Jaden it's all up to you… are you willing to play my little game or not?"
Jaden thought of all the innocent people Billy had brought into this mess, the students, the faculty, his fellow alumni, his friends, his wife, his little girl.
"Okay Bill… I'll play."
"Excellent, now if you don't mind I'll tell you the rules…"
"You make the rule?!" said Syrus "You'll only break them!"
"I'll take care of you later Truesdale… Now as I was saying Jaden… All you have to do is face my little gauntlet of duelists one at a time… each victory will bring you one step closer to me, but lose even once and… well I'll leave that to your imagination… Follow these simple rules and no one gets hurt… Are you ready for your first duel? Good… He's waiting for you at the Slifer red dorm, and I suggest you duel your hardest… the whole island, and the world will be watching."
At that moment the screen changed so that it showed and the others staring at it.
"I think he was serious when he said the whole school would be watching."
"You know it's a trap." said Chazz.
"Of course it is… But Billy Jobs coming back from the dead, so he can threaten to blow up my alma mater and my little girl along with it and get away with it?… I don't think so."
(To be continued)
New illustration available on deviantart!
Mecha-Billy!
and keep your eyes open for Jaden's first opponent, it will be on deviant art before the chapter is posted.
