Author's Note: There's going to be a small reference to my previous story, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Strawberry Crisis in this chapter. Again, it's not important to understanding the story. It's just something mentioned to connect the stories to the same continuity.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (or Strawberry Panic).
Chapter 6: The Light of Ishtar
Reggie headed down the halls towards Principle Mackenzie's office, something that she did not want to be doing. In fact if it had been up to her, she wouldn't have come back to her old academy at all. But a decision like that hadn't been her decision for years, just like many other things in her life. Reggie finally reached the office and opened the door without bothering to knock. Her father was sitting behind the desk, and standing next to him was Electra. Hatred flared up within Reggie upon seeing that wretched woman's face.
"Ah, Reggie. So glad you could come." Principle Mackenzie greeted.
"It's not like I had a choice." Reggie coldly pointed out as she shut the door behind her.
"Oh come now, my dear little Reggie. Do you always have to make this so unpleasant?" Electra asked. "I would've thought that after all these we'd be friends by now."
"Will you just tell me what you both want already?" Reggie asked.
"Very well. We need you to eliminate Jaden Yuki for us." Principle Mackenzie explained. "The time of the master's revival has drawn very near. If our young visitor isn't eliminated soon, he could cause problems for us."
"What's the big deal about some bush league pro duelist?" Reggie asked. "Sure he beat David. Hell, David it had it coming if you ask me. But why are the two of you so worried about him?"
"Oh, you needn't worry yourself about that." Electra assured her. "But it's very important that you deal with him right away. And I remind you, Reggie that you're in no position to say no to your father or to me. You are merely the instrument of our will."
"You don't have to remind me about that." Reggie told them as she headed for the door. "I'll take care of it."
"Good girl. I knew we could depend on you." Electra told her as Reggie left the room.
It took every once of restraint Reggie had not to slam the door behind her. Though if it had been up to her, she would've slapped Electra across the room. She hated that woman, and she had grown to hate her father as well. Not that he had been much of a father to her ever since the day Electra showed up. Yet despite her hatred for them, Reggie had to do what they asked. Ever since that day, she had been their slave. But perhaps she had finally found a way out.
Though her father and Electra didn't say why, there had to be a reason why they both wanted Jaden out of the way. The only reason for that would be if he posed some kind of threat to them. Perhaps he had some kind of power that they couldn't deal with. Reggie realized that if she could somehow take that power for herself, she would be the one in control and not Electra and her father. She would be free for the first time in years. Knowing what she had to do, Reggie went off to go find Jaden.
Atticus roamed the halls of the academy until he found the office where Alexis was working. Alexis was sitting behind a desk grading papers. Atticus noticed how small the stack was, so he decided that it would be a good time for them to have a little talk.
"So this is where they have you locked up." Atticus spoke, nearly startling Alexis. "I've been looking all over for you."
"Oh, hi Atticus." Alexis greeted. "Sorry that we haven't really talked all that much since you've been here."
"That's fine. It's not like I've really been going out of my way to see you either." Atticus pointed out. "I've sort of been working on something else for the last few days."
"Trying to put the moves on Mac again?" Alexis deduced.
"You know me too well, sis." Atticus confirmed as he went over and sat on the corner of her desk. "She's still giving me the cold shoulder, but you know how persistent I am."
"Well I'm glad the reason is because you've been chasing some girl and not because of the way I acted after Jaden's duel with David." Alexis replied.
"Speaking of Jaden, just what is going on with you two?" Atticus asked. "Are you mad at him because he hasn't kept in touch with you?"
At this, Alexis sighed. "…I guess I am a little bit mad at him about that, but it's not like I really kept in touch with him either. I've just been real busy with my work here."
"But there's something else, isn't there?" Atticus assumed. "Is it because you've gotten tired of him trying to figure out how he feels about you? Because I think he's finally done that."
"It's just… I think Jaden and I have grown apart." Alexis explained. "He and I are just too different now."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Atticus asked.
"…Look, I'd really prefer if we didn't talk about this." Alexis told him.
"Fine, forget I even brought it up." Atticus agreed. "Just being a nosey brother. Now how 'bout you take a break from grading those papers so we can go have lunch?"
"Sounds great." Alexis agreed.
Jaden had spent a few hours that morning asking some of the students if they knew of anyone using the kind of cards that Trent and Mick had used against him. As Jaden thought, none of the other students knew anything about it. It was clear that whatever he was up against was good at keeping itself hidden. And he was no closer to finding a way to bring back Sophie and the other missing students. After asking what seemed like the sixtieth academy student he had run across, Jaden decided to take a break and sat down on a bench on the grounds.
As Jaden pondered his next move, Sheila walked up to him. "Hi Jaden. Any luck?"
"Afraid not." Jaden grimly replied. "I don't suppose you've been able to find anything."
"Well I did ask about that guy Trent you dueled when you got here." Sheila informed him as she sat next to him on the bench. "Some of the people I talked to told me that he started acting a little different from normal about three weeks before you showed up."
"Well, it seems like whatever's going on her has been happening for awhile now." Jaden observed. "But that doesn't really get us any closer to figuring out who or what is behind this, or how to bring Sophie and the others back."
"So what do we do now?" Sheila asked.
"I'm to say I have no clue." Jaden replied.
"So this is where you've been, Jaden Yuki." A familiar voice spoke. Jaden and Sheila looked and saw Reggie standing before them. "I've been looking for you all morning."
"What do you want, Reggie?" Jaden asked.
"I've come to challenge you to a duel." Reggie explained.
"Can it wait for another time? I'm kind of in the middle of something right now." Jaden informed her.
"Yeah, I overheard you and your friend talking." Reggie admitted. "You're trying to find out about the missing students. Or should I say, the Sacrifice Maiden cards."
Jaden narrowed his eyes at Reggie and stood from the bench. "What do you know about those cards?"
"Well, I may know how to bring those girls back." Reggie revealed. "But the only way for you to find out for sure is to beat me in a duel."
"And what would happen if I lose?" Jaden asked.
"You'll just have to duel me and find out." Reggie ominously replied. "So what do you say? Are you up for it?"
Yubel appeared to stand next to Jaden. "This has 'trap' written all over it."
"I know. But what if she really does know something?" Jaden quietly pointed out. "I don't think I can pass this up."
"I don't have all day." Reggie told him. "Either make up your mind, or I'm walking away. And you may never find out what happened to those girls."
"Jaden, be careful." Sheila told him as she stood from the bench. "Reggie Mackenzie's one of this academy's strongest students. She's just as strong as David Rabb."
"Actually I'd like to think I'm a little stronger than David, but I'll let that slide." Reggie responded. "So what do you say, Jaden?"
"Fine." Jaden finally agreed as he activated his duel disk. "Game on!"
Reggie activated her duel disk in response and the two of them drew their opening hands. As they prepared to face off, Jaden was sure that Reggie was up to something.
"Ladies first." Reggie declared as she drew her first card. "First I'll set one card on the field. Then I summon Radiant Jeral in Defense Mode!"
Appearing on Reggie's side of the battlefield was some kind of floating machine made of luminous green metal. It had three yellow eyes on the front of its head, and on its back was a pair of glowing white-feathered wings. Floating above and below its body were two large golden halos.
"That ends my turn." Reggie announced.
Jaden drew his first card. "I activate Polymerization! I fuse Elemental Hero Sparkman with Elemental Hero Bladedge from my hand to summon Elemental Hero Plasma Vice!"
Sparkman appeared on the field with a large muscular warrior clad completely in golden bladed armor. The two heroes leapt into a small vortex that had appeared in the air. Moments later a large muscular version of Sparkman dropped down onto the field. He had gold armor covering his upper torso, and his forearms were clad in large gold mechanical gloves.
"I knew you'd do a Fusion Summon the moment you got the chance." Reggie revealed with a smirk. "I activate my face-down Spell card, Demise of the Land! Since you just Special Summoned a monster, I can play a Field Spell from my deck. And the card I play is Domain of Rituals!"
In seconds the surrounding landscape transformed into an all too familiar grey wasteland under a dark cloud-covered sky. Jaden and Sheila saw the same odd castle-like structure in the distance behind Reggie.
"I knew it! You're part of the same group that Mick and Trent were with." Jaden observed.
"I was actually ordered to take you out." Reggie admitted. "But I actually have my own reasons for wanting to beat you."
"And just what reasons are those?" Jaden asked.
"You'll find out soon enough." Reggie told him.
"Yeah? Well it's still my turn!" Jaden reminded her. "Plasma Vice, take down Radiant Jeral! Plasma Pulsation!"
Plasma Vice raised his arms forward and his body began crackling with gold electricity. A sphere of crackling energy began to form between the hero's large forearms. Plasma Vice shot the ball at Jeral, causing the heavenly machine to explode in a flash of flames and smoke. Reggie's life points dropped slightly to 3400.
"I'll lay down a face-down and end my turn!" Jaden announced.
Reggie drew her next card. "I activate a Continuous Spell known as Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen!"
Appearing behind Reggie was what looked like part of an ornate throne room with Roman pillars and a red curtain covering the far wall. There was no ceiling over the structure though. It was though the construction of whatever castle that room was supposed to go with had stopped.
"Thanks to Valhalla, since I control no other monsters I can summon a Fairy-type monster from my hand." Reggie announced. "Descend… Splendid Venus!"
A dazzling flash of golden light suddenly washed out the area behind Reggie. The light died down a little, and floating behind her was a large angelic figure with four white-feathered wings on her back. She had a white mask-like face with a pointed golden helmet and robes that looked as though they were made of golden armor. Her large ornate skirt consisted of several gold plates. In her left hand she carried a long golden staff with a ring at the top that had a cross with a green gem in the center.
"Be careful, Jaden!" Sheila called from the sidelines. "That thing is Reggie's strongest monster!"
"As long as Venus is on the field, all non-Fairy monsters lose 500 ATK and DEF." Reggie revealed. "By the way, Venus is part of the same series of planet monsters as David's Big Saturn. A shame you don't have the Elemental Hero card that's part of that series. I did face this one duelist who had that card though. Her name was Shizuma. She actually ended up beating me."
"Glad to hear Shizuma hasn't lost her touch." Jaden remarked.
"Yeah, well you aren't going to have it as easy." Reggie told him. "I activate the Spell card, War Goddess Light! Since Venus is on the field, I can add a certain pair of cards to my hand. Now I activate one of those cards, a Ritual Spell known as Awaken of Ishtar!"
Two pairs of golden torches lit with blue flames appeared on the ground near Venus. One pair of the torches was in front of the angel while the other two were behind her.
"Normally, I'd have to offer up monsters who's total levels equaled ten or more to perform this ritual." Reggie continued. "But I can also use Venus as the entire tribute. So I now sacrifice Venus in order to summon Splendid Ishtar!"
The flames from the four torches shot up and struck Venus's chest and back. The angelic being exploded in a flash of golden light and bits of her armor flew away in all directions. The light died down a bit, revealing that Venus had taken on a new form. Her long ornate skirt had opened up in the front, revealing long legs with white skin. She wore a pair of red sandals upon her feet. The armored plates of her skirt that remained had turned red.
The red and gold armor that remained on the angel's torso revealed her midriff. Painted on her stomach above her bellybutton in red was the sign of the planet, Venus. Her arms had become bare, save for a pair of golden bracelets with red trim. Venus' original white mask remained, but she had a new red helmet with gold trim and gold-feathered wings on the side. A small green diamond-shaped gem adorned the front of the helmet. Hanging out from beneath the helmet was long shimmering blonde hair that went down to the angel's waist. In her left hand the angel carried an ornate golden spear, and on her left arm was a round red shield with gold trim.
"So that's a Ritual Monster form of Venus." Jaden observed.
"Right. This is an ancient form of Splendid Venus awakened by my Spell card." Reggie explained. "In addition to having 3400 ATK, Ishtar also lowers the ATK of all non-Fairy monsters lose 1000 ATK and DEF. Which means that hero of yours doesn't stand a chance. Ishtar, destroy Plasma Vice! Divine Feather Strike!"
Ishtar flapped her four wings and pelted Plasma Vice with a storm of white feathers that glowed with a fiery golden light. In seconds Plasma Vice shattered into bits of light. Jaden's life points dropped to 2200.
"I activate my Trap, Hero Signal!" Jaden announced. "Because Plasma Vice was destroyed, I can summon another Hero from my deck! I summon Elemental Hero Clayman!"
"I don't think so!" Reggie responded.
Clayman quickly appeared on the battlefield. But as soon as he did, a beam of green light shot down from the gem on Ishtar's helmet. Clayman was struck in the chest by the beam and exploded. Jaden's life points dropped down further to 1400.
"What just happened?" a stunned Jaden asked.
"Since Ishtar was summoned using Venus, she gains an extra effect." Reggie explained. "Once during either our turns when you Special Summon a monster, I can destroy that monster and inflict 800 points of damage."
"This could really be trouble." Yubel observed as she reappeared next to Jaden. "Now Reggie can shot down almost any Fusion Summon you try to do."
"Yeah, and if she plays a card that prevents me from Special Summoning more than once per turn, I'm dead." Jaden quietly responded. "I have to figure out a way to end this quickly."
"It's over for you, now that I have Ishtar on the field." Reggie continued. "And once I beat you, I'll finally have what I'm after."
"And just what is it that you want?" Jaden demanded to know.
"Your power." Reggie explained. "Or whatever it is that you have that makes the ones I work for want to destroy you. Once I beat you, I'll figure out a way to take that power from you, and then I'll finally be free."
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but you're dreaming if you think you can take my power!" Jaden told her. "This duel has only just gotten started! I swear I'm going to take you down!"
"And what will happen if you manage to do that?" Reggie asked with a smug expression. "Don't you remember why we started this little battle? You wanted to find out how to bring back the girls who were turned into Sacrifice Maidens. But if you somehow manage to beat me, I'll just end up like those two students that you dueled. Which means I won't be able to tell you anything."
"And how do I know you're not lying?" Jaden pointed out.
"Trust me, this I'm not lying about." Reggie assured him. "The choice is yours. Either take a dive and maybe find out how to save those girls, or beat me and maybe lose the secret forever. I'll let you decide… hero."
Author's Note: So this story now has its first cliffhanger. The duel in this chapter and the next was a little hard to write due to a few technical issues. Anyway, to go with the theme of this story I ended up making a Ritual Monster for Reggie. It's based somewhat on the ancient war goddess Inana Ishtar (I think I spelled the first name right) who was represented by the planet Venus. At least that's what I remember from the one Art History class I took. If I got that fact wrong, I apologize.
Please review and let me know what you think.