Here's the next chapter of this story. Now, this is where the top 128 duelists are finally revealed. I will try to have the real plot be focused as much as possible, because the competition is only a subplot. Jaylin isn't forgetting about the whole Abandoned Dorm thing going on.
Also, I have been working on making a picture of Jaylin on deviantart. Here's the link to it {hp : /fav. me/d6pq9o0} I know you can't copy and paste it, so just type in the link at the link bar, don't add the spaces, add two "t"s between the h and p. I may make another Yugioh DA picture on deviantart. I will let you guys know when I do. If you wish to do a fan comic or fan art picture based on this story, let me know and put out the link of this story there too. Review please!
It had been four weeks since the competition started and all of the competitors turned in their Duel Score Chips. The students chosen to be part of the official competition were to report to the auditorium early before the rest of the student body were to appear at the assembly. Each of the 128 students competing were required to change into their dueling outfits, which they were all to be using in every competition.
A bulk of the students kept their school uniform, since it was more convenient and wanted to represent their school and dorm. Though, there were a number of students that had their own dueling outfits. Jaylin sat at the edge of the duel stage arranging her deck. She had on her dueling outfit: Yugi's old tank top that reached right above her bellybutton, her Slifer Red vest, black jeans, white tennis shoes, a deck belt around her waist, and a red headband over her head.
Jaylin placed her deck back into her deck pocket on her belt, then stood up on the duel stage, looking around for her friends. She noticed Zane appearing in the outfit he wore on every competition he's ever participated: black shirt, black pants with red designs, a black trench coat with silver at the edges and an unbuckled belt hanging down, a deck belt around his waist, and black leather boots.
"I was wondering when you were going to start wearing that," Jaylin teased Zane with a smirk up her lips.
"I was partly hoping you would be wearing pink overalls," Zane smirked.
"Very funny," Jaylin replied grimly, then showed her smirk again. "Actually, I just might wear pigtails next year just to irritate you." Zane shot her a glare.
"Don't."
"At least with your outfit, you're ten times more creative with mixing your Duel Academy outfit with your own, compared to half these guys," Carl stated, walking toward Jaylin and Zane. Carl wore a navy blue elbow-sleeved shirt with a yin and yang symbol in the middle, which was over a white undershirt shown at the bottom, light blue jeans, casual high heel sandals, a white deck belt around her waist, and black fingerless gloves. She wore some eyeliner, navy blue eye shadow, some earrings at the back of her ears, and a touch of lip balm.
"Like your outfit, Carl," Jaylin complimented.
"Thanks. I figured you would."
"Hey girls!" Alexis called out. She was wearing a white collared shirt with a black bow tie, an unbuttoned blue suit over the white collared shirt, a long blue skirt that reached over her knees, tan pantyhose, a black deck belt around her waist, and black high heels. She had a pearl necklace around her neck, some white pearl earrings, and hardly any makeup on her face.
"I'm not sure if I should call you a yuppy or a Kaiba Corp. employee without the name tag," Jaylin teased.
"Cute."
"Hey ladies, what do you think of The Chazz's official outfit?" Chazz asked in a braggadocious manner. He wore a dark purple shirt, black pants, a black deck belt around his waist, brown shoes, and a black trench coat that was unbuttoned.
"Well, I'll be honest, you look like you're copying Zane's trench coat," Jaylin replied, which made Chazz's eyes widen, looking at his trench coat, and then looking at Zane's. "Other than that, maybe add some eyeliner and you'll officially be the emo duelist."
"Not a bad idea," Alexis smirked in agreement before the girls all laughed.
"Laugh all you want, but I'll be the duelist to make all the ladies swoon."
"Unless you can surpass the sexiness of Jesse Anderson, I clearly doubt that," Jaylin disagreed.
"Girls," Chazz muttered darkly. "Speaking of the devil, how's it been with you and your new boyfriend?"
"We weren't really officially boyfriend and girlfriend and it kinda didn't work out. Though, it was a good try."
"Poor Belowski," Carl said as Jaylin shrugged.
"Alright everyone, I need you all to stand on this stage as the rest of the students find a place to sit! You are allowed to sit down, if you wish, though I want you all to stand up when I say! Does everyone understand!?" Chancellor Shepard announced.
"Yes, Chancellor Shepard!" Everyone replied.
"Great! Let's make this assembly an exciting one and be sure to make yourself presentable!"
Everyone began climbing onto the duel stage, then sitting down cross-legged. Very soon, the Duel Academy students began appearing and finding places to sit. The teachers had to guide the crowd of students to their seats to fill up the auditorium. Jaylin sat with Alexis and Carl, waiting for Chancellor Shepard to begin presenting the 128 chosen duelists competing in the competition.
Chancellor Shepard announced the chosen 128 duelists competing, naming every single one of them in alphabetical order. It took a while to name all of them, but they were eventually named and everyone applauded for all of them.
"Now, we will be charting on who is competing against whom! Starting tomorrow, each of these fine duelists will be given a schedule on whom they will be competing against! We will begin with the first round of duelists! We will be starting the first round at 3:30! Each of the duels will continue until 8:00! Each duel has a thirty minute time limit! If the duel goes over the time limit, the duelist with the highest amount of life points is the winner of that duel! It will be set to the normal Duel Monsters Rules! If any of you wish to watch the competition, the auditorium is open for you to watch the play!" Chancellor Shepard announced as the audience applauded.
Everyone was dismissed and the 128 duelists began preparing to leave. Though, Chancellor Shepard and Dr. Crowler began talking with each other, seemingly to agree on something.
"Jaylin! Alexis! Bastion! Syrus! Zane! Carl!" Dr. Crowler called as the six duelists appeared out in front. "Chancellor Shepard and I need you to appear in the Main Office with Ronda as soon as you can."
"Okay!" Jaylin replied, knowing that this was serious.
Syrus wore, as his dueling outfit, a sky blue long sleeve shirt over a pale yellow short sleeve and unbuttoned jacket, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes. Bastion wore his Ra Yellow uniform with gray tennis shoes and a white shirt under his uniform jacket. The group of friends gave each other glances, wondering what Chancellor Shepard and Dr. Crowler would need them for. They could tell, from Jaylin's facial expression, that this seemed to be very serious.
Jaylin text Ronda about Chancellor Shepard and Dr. Crowler needing her and everyone else to meet them at the office. They all arrived at the Main Office as soon as they could, Ronda in her Slifer Red uniform and everyone else in their dueling outfits. To their surprise, Professor Banner was inside the office too, holding his pet cat Pharaoh.
"Is this about what's going on at the Abandoned Dorm?" Jaylin asked.
"I'm afraid so. Something happened last night that I think we should warn all of you about. That incident with you breaking into the Abandoned Dorm made Nightshroud angry and vows revenge. Several of the guards, patrolling the Abandoned Dorm, began disappearing. One of them came to us and told me that Nightshroud is planning to attack this school, mainly you, Jaylin," Chancellor Shepard warned.
"When is Nightshroud planning to attack?" Zane asked.
"We're not sure, but we need you all to keep a lookout for them. I called Mr. Kaiba about this and he says that, for now, to use the reinforcements we do have on hand. Kaiba was informed of your training, thanks to Jaylin, and he believes you're good enough to keep Nightshroud and whoever he's sending at bay until he figures out what to do with this," Chancellor Shepard replied.
"Are you sure there's nothing else you can do?" Alexis asked worriedly.
"From what I can see, their powers are dangerous, but not too dangerous for us to take on. You will be having some sort of guidance with you, being that I doubt if Jaylin's father would be happy if you kids went into this alone," Professor Banner replied, petting his cat. Everyone's, except the Truesdale's, eyes widened, not really expecting Jaylin's father to be somewhat involved with this.
"Yet he was fine with us breaking into the Abandoned Dorm," Zane spouted out sarcastically.
"He was guiding us, Zane," Jaylin pointed out.
"Right."
"Your father also advises you to keep in contact with him, just in case the worst should happen," Chancellor Shepard ordered.
"On it! We'll also train up, after leaving here, to be extra prepared," Jaylin promised.
"Good. Make sure that you all have close contact with each other. I will have Professor Banner guide you all, since he's one of the only teachers familiar with this kind of stuff."
"Great idea! We'll put your cell phone number on our contact list," Jaylin promised as everyone put Professor Banner's phone number on their contact list on their cell phones.
Everyone was nervous, since hearing the bad news from Chancellor Shepard and Dr. Crowler. The first thing that Zane and Syrus did, besides changing into their everyday clothes, was train. They would punch and kick each other like they were in a fighting match. Syrus quickly jumped and hooked his legs around his brother's waist while trying to reach for the wrists. Zane used his fists to pound against Syrus' legs before they came loose and Syrus fell on the ground on his back. Zane made the first punch, which Syrus pushed away quickly, trying to make a firm kick with his right foot, which his brother instantly grabbed.
"Looks like you guys are getting better!" Jaylin cried out as the brothers stopped their training and faced her. "I think all of you guys are ready to get a taste of dark powers."
"What do you mean?" Syrus asked.
"I mean I'm going to see, if you can hold yourself in facing a real Shadow Game. This one won't be like the ones you saw and closer to the one you witnessed Atem and I playing. Professor Banner will be the one to conjure up a Shadow Game, since he's got better control and I have absolutely no control at all," Jaylin explained.
"I don't know about this, Jaylin," Zane replied, showing furrowed eyebrows. He knew now that not all Shadow Games were dangerous and sometimes can be fun, but he still felt nervous of facing one again.
"You need to face one before you start going against Nightshroud's version of a Shadow Game. Your body is trained and now you just need to learn how to handle facing one. If not, you'll never stand a chance against real dangerous Shadow Games, if you can't avoid it," Jaylin explained as the brothers gave nervous glances. She smiled. "I'll let Ronda go first. She's more than ready."
Jaylin and her friends walked into the same area where Jaylin and Atem previously had their diaha. Professor Banner stood at the side, while Jaylin came front in center.
"I'll start with explaining about summoning Ka's. Anyone can do this, even those without dark powers; though it can only be done though a Shadow Game, if you're not a dark power user. To summon a Ka, let the darkness flow into your body, then release it. While doing this, you signal your Ka by feeling a wanting desire. It's easier to just give a chanting signal, but you can't use it without summoning them out and giving the wanting signal on your first try," Jaylin instructed. She turned to Ronda. "Are you ready?"
"Yep!" Ronda replied, then Professor Banner walked across from her, placing his cat down. Pharaoh ran off to where everyone was standing and watching on the sidelines. Darkness began emerging from Professor Banner's body, his eyes glowing a slightly brighter red than Ronda's, and engulfed the field between him and Ronda. Ronda flinched, feeling the darkness entering inside her and instantly, her eyes turning into a bloody dark crimson red. It was almost like Atem's crimson eyes, only blacker.
"Are you okay?" Jaylin asked as Ronda took a deep breath and furrowed her eyebrows.
"I'm fine."
"I will make this game simple. We will summon one monster to battle each other and the first player's monster that dies loses," Professor Banner stated. "I will let you go first."
Ronda concentrated on her emotions, giving a wanting desire, while also letting the darkness flow into her heart before releasing it. A monster emerged from her body, giving everyone a gasp, as a female warrior elf with light green skin, black leather armor, black shoes, long black hair in a ponytail, bright blue eyes, and holding a sword and shield in each hand. Professor Banner's monster appeared as some sort of huge steel with an enormous tail, medium-sized wings, and sharp claws on its hands and feet.
"Wow, how did you get your Ka to become a duel monsters card?" Jaylin asked curiously, recognizing the dragon as Alchemy Beast - Salamandra the Steel.
"I did work with Pegasus at one point," Professor Banner replied.
"I suppose that makes sense."
"I guess my monster attacks that... thing," Ronda said as Warrior Elf began attacking Alchemy Beast - Salamandra the Steel, who disappeared suddenly. "Huh?" Then, she felt a hard slap from Alchemy Beast - Salamandra the Steel, causing her to fall on her front and knock the wind out of her.
"You need to figure out your monster's effect. Direct attacks can be the most dangerous attacks in diaha, since it can knock the player's concentration and make the monster instantly disappear," Jaylin instructed as Ronda got up on her hands and knees, then on her feet. "It's probably a good thing that Professor Banner's monster only has 500 Ka points!"
"Okay, how do I know its ability?"
"Talk to your Ka using your mind link. That could probably help."
Ronda began trying to communicate with her Ka monster, asking, 'what's your ability?'
"I am Warrior Elf and my attack doubles when the Ka points of a monster are higher than mine. It would not work on this one, since my Ka points are higher," Warrior Elf replied inside Ronda's mind.
"Okay then... protect me!" Ronda commanded as Warrior Elf began attacking Alchemy Beast - Salamandra the Steel.
"Dodge!" Professor Banner commanded as the steel dragon avoided the attack. "Counter attack!" Alchemy Beast - Salamandra the Steel wiped its tail at Warrior Elf, making her fall for a split second before she got up.
"Attack!" Ronda commanded as Warrior Elf tried to make another attack when...
"Dodge and activate effect," Professor Banner commanded as his monster slapped Ronda from behind and her monster instantly disappeared. "That was a good first try." Ronda took a deep breath, putting her hand onto her chest to gasp for air. She stood up and returned with the rest of the group. "Who is next?"
"I'll go," Zane decided, wanting to get this over with and finally face the dangerous Shadow Game that took away his two closest companions.
"Very well. I will let you go first."
Zane took a deep breath, then closed his eyes to give out a wanting desire. He felt the darkness engulf the field and enter his body, then a monster emerged from him as some sort of machine three-headed dragon with spike wheels and barrel guns for heads. Everyone gasped, especially Syrus, before Zane opened his eyes to see what his dragon was. A smirk appeared across his lips.
'So, what's your ability?' Zane asked in his mind.
"We are Gatling Dragon. We turn each of our barrels, then can start our attacks. Only half of the bullets are in each barrel. If, by the time we begin our attack, one of us shoots and, if there's a bullet we hit, your opponent's monster is instantly destroyed," Gatling Dragon replied.
"I use Gatling Dragon's ability!" Zane declared as the three barrel heads began turning, making everyone stare in awe. The first shot was made and instantly destroyed Professor Banner's monster. The teacher placed his hand across his ribs, feeling the pain of the attack.
"Whoa!" Professor Banner responded, then fixed his glasses.
"Now, something to remember is that the dodge or counter attack move never works when effect moves are activated. You can only avoid those using spells or traps," Jaylin explained. Zane's Ka monster instantly disappeared.
"I have to say Zane, that is one badass monster," Carl smirked, which made Zane show a small smile.
"Who's next?" Professor Banner asked.