First thing's first, this story is now officially eighteen chapters long instead of nineteen and that is primarily because of some things my beta-reader pointed out. (And, frankly, I suppose I'm getting to the point in which I just want Kaage to die already) so the next chapter shall be the showdown between Kaage and Jaden and the following chapter will be where I tie up any loose ends, kinda like an epilogue of sorts.
Anyway, I hope I did this chapter justice. I changed some things based on what my beta-reader suggested but I'm not that great with actual fight scenes (though I'm getting better at duels so that's good ^_^).
Thank you to DarkZorau100, EndlessNight025, sophhascoconuts, KiritoKirigaya-SAO, decode9, iloveyugiohGX93, Sorcerer of the Stories, a1993 and Kamen Rider Dragon Knight for reviewing the last chapter. You guys are the greatest.
And, as usual, a HUGE thank you to EndlessNight025 for being an awesome beta-reader! Seriously, I doubt this story would have gotten as good a reception it has without her input (and her help in pointing out things that I otherwise don't seem to notice when I'm writing). So yeah, huge thank you to her.
I hope that you enjoy this chapter (even if it's not quite what you're expecting) and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.
16
Revenge, Part IV
Kasumi stirred and blinked open her eyes, finding herself lying on a stone floor. She pushed herself to her feet and looked around, noticing she was the only one in a building, though she wasn't entirely sure where she was. She was pretty sure it wasn't the same place where Alexis and Kyle had fallen though. At least, it didn't look like it. She turned to the other end of the large warehouse floor as Kaage walked into the open, smirking.
"I'm not going to duel you," Kasumi said softly.
Kaage smirked. "What're you gonna do instead? Burn me to a crisp with your powers like you did with your parents?" he mocked.
Kasumi flinched. "How...?"
"I know all about the fire that destroyed your home and killed your parents and how you were the only survivor. You killed them," Kaage said.
"I...I...no, it wasn't on purpose," Kasumi said quickly.
"Sure it wasn't," Kaage said dismissively. "Not that it matters now. They're dead after all."
"How...How did you even know about that?" Kasumi demanded.
Kaage raised an eyebrow, looking amused. "You told your precious brother," he said.
"You were spying on us?"
"Really? This shocks you?" Kaage shook his head, chuckling to himself. "Have you not been paying attention the past few days?"
Kasumi glared.
"I'm actually rather surprised those friends of yours don't see you as the freak you are," Kaage mocked. "A freaky little girl who killed her parents."
"I...I..."
"What's to stop you from killing your friends or your brother? You didn't care when you killed your parents, why should you care about them at all?"
"I do...I do care...I love them..."
"But do they love you? How could anyone love a freaky killer like you?" Kaage mocked.
"I...I didn't mean...to," Kasumi stammered out, tears appearing in her eyes.
"Doesn't mean you didn't do it? You murdered your parents. You're no better than me," Kaage sneered.
"I...No, I am...You kill for no reason...I...it was an accident," Kasumi protested, trembling.
Kaage shrugged. "Whatever," he said. "I really don't care whether you killed them on accident or not. Doesn't matter to me at all. Now, are we going to have this duel or not?"
"I...I won't duel you," Kasumi said firmly.
Kaage chuckled. "What makes you think you have a choice? Your precious brother Raiden didn't have a choice," he said, fingering the crystals that hung around his neck, though Kasumi noticed only eight were light up, the same number that had been lit up after Kyle fell.
"Raiden? What happened to him?" she demanded, glaring at Kaage.
Kaage's face twisted into a scowl. "The bastard beat me," he growled.
Kasumi frowned, confused. "Then how are you still here? And why aren't those souls released?" she asked.
"Because it wasn't a Shadow Duel," Kaage said dismissively, still looking furious. "And it was his own fault for being too trusting. Hn, I said I would release all the souls I took if he beat me—didn't really think he would, mind you—but I never had any intention of doing that."
"Where is my brother?" Kasumi demanded.
"Probably in the morgue by now," Kaage said.
"What?!"
"You heard me," the psychopath said with a smirk. "After all, when one is stabbed and doesn't get any medical attention, that's generally where they end up." Though that pretty much meant that I had to find a new place to deal with this little bitch since the last place is a crime scene now. Good thing I got rid of any evidence I might have left behind, he thought.
"You...You...stabbed him!" Kasumi cried, eyes wide with shock and her hands clenching into fists, nails digging into her palms.
"It was glorious," Kaage purred, eyes alit with sadistic pleasure. "Hearing him scream like that, all that blood..." He trailed off, still grinning,
"You twisted sadistic little bastard!" Kasumi screamed and lashed out, a burst of fire shot forward and slammed into Kaage, sending him flying into the same stack of crates he had flown into the last time Kasumi had lashed out like that.
Kaage, pushing the crates off him, smirked at Kasumi. "Oh so this is how it's going to be, eh? Fine," he said and lashed out. The Shadow Charm on his wrist glowed and shadowy tendrils shot out and crashed into Kasumi, sending her flying into the wall.
She gasped and fell to the ground, wincing as she lifted her head to glare at Kaage, flames coiled around her fists and her arms, though she didn't feel any pain. She didn't feel anything beyond her desire to avenge her brother's murder and take out this psychopath once and for all. The flames continued to coil around her arms and her eyes burned green fire as she got to her feet.
She unleashed another blast of fire that Kaage dodged by jumping off to the side, smirking at her as a box caught on fire nearby. "Is that the best you can do?" the psychopath mocked and slipped off into the shadows to avoid the next burst of flames that Kasumi tossed at him.
Kasumi whirled around, hands alit with flames as she tried to find Kaage. There were too many shadows in the place, with the exception of the fire that was burning nearby, though, and Kasumi knew that Kaage was using that to his advantage. It was obvious that Kaage knew how to do things with the powers given to him by that Shadow Charm that Kasumi didn't think he could do.
How, though?
Kasumi didn't know.
But then she didn't exactly stop to think about that matter for very long as she was suddenly sent flying into a pile of crates as a shadowy tendril struck out of a nearby corner and struck her in the chest and then another hit her in the face before she could get up, causing her to cry out in pain and surprise.
She couldn't see a thing!
She winced as she scrambled out of the pile of crates and lifted her head, struggling to see but, for some reason, she couldn't. It was as if that second blast of shadow had, somehow, blinded her.
"This is fun," Kaage's voice echoed all around her. "I would have rather dueled you, but I suppose this works just the same. And I have the advantage now. Good luck hitting me now that you can't see me."
Son of a bitch, Kasumi thought furiously and turned around, straining her ears to try to hear anything that could indicate where Kaage was since she couldn't see a thing. Her arms were still warm as her fire powers activated. She supposed she could just set the whole place on fire but she didn't want to risk any nearby buildings, for one, and she didn't doubt that Kaage would find a way to make sure she couldn't leave—and she couldn't exactly see where the door was anyway—for another.
She honestly didn't even know what she was doing. She was just acting on pure instinct.
Hopefully, it would be enough.
'And I am here to help you.' That soft feminine voice that had first spoken to Kasumi during her and Jaden's duel against Kagemaru echoed in her head. 'We can get out of this together.'
W...Who are you? Kasumi thought, recalling that this presence—this alien but at the same time familiar presence—never did answer that question with an actual answer the last time she spoke.
'A friend, as I have already told you before. Behind you,' the soft voice whispered and Kasumi whirled around before unleashing a blast of fire that caused a curse to sound, though it didn't sound again when Kasumi tossed another blast of fire in that direction.
He's fast, she thought.
'He is using the Shadows to his advantage,' the soft voice whispered.
Kasumi was about to reply when a tendril shot out and tripped her, sending her sprawling into the ground. She whirled around and lashed out with a wave of fire, guided by the presence who was speaking to her, that must have hit Kaage because there was a shout of pain followed by a crash.
Jumping to her feet, Kasumi gazed around. "You may have the advantage, Kaage, but that doesn't mean you have this fight won." She was trying to sound confident, since she was starting to get really worried. She could feel the heat—that wave of fire must have set something else on fire. She really hadn't been thinking about that when she lashed out—and she still couldn't see a thing.
"You are too confident, little bitch," Kaage snarled in response and Kasumi yelped as another tendril of shadow struck her and knocked her off her feet.
"So are you," Kasumi retorted. "Why don't you fight me without using these tricks of yours? Afraid to lose to a girl?"
"Ha, like I would lose to you, bitch," Kaage retorted.
On the command of the voice in the back of her head, Kasumi whirled around and lashed out with another burst of fire at the same time that a burst of shadow surged toward her. She was sent flying into the wall, but the crash that sounded at the other end of the building told her that she had hit her target as well.
Am I in any danger? She thought to the voice, since the voice was the only thing that could see anything.
'Right now, no but try to control just how much power you put into the fire or else you will set the place on fire. We can win this fight together however, Kasumi,' the voice whispered in the back of Kasumi's head.
Kasumi nodded, though she did wonder how to not put too much power into the fire, eyes scanning the area as her hands lit up with flames. She knew that it probably wasn't a good idea to trust a voice in the back of her head but, right now, the presence attached to that voice was the only reason why she was able to use her powers as she has been. She had never really thought about using her powers before; she had only ever wanted her powers to go away, but now...
Now they were her only weapon against Kaage.
. . .
"What hit me?" Chazz groaned as he lifted his head off the floor of the Jaden's hotel room. The lights that had gone out only moments before were now back on and Chazz could see Atticus, Arina, and Jaden stirring nearby. But, looking around, Chazz noted that someone was missing.
Where's Kasumi? he thought as he got to his feet and helped Arina up.
"Where's Kasumi?" Atticus asked, using the bed to get to his feet and then stretch out a hand to help Jaden up.
Jaden was growling, golden eyes glaring up at the ceiling. "Kaage," he hissed.
"Where do you think he took her?" Arina asked.
"Possibly the same place he took Alexis," Atticus suggested.
"Honestly, that's doubtful. He went back there twice. I doubt he'll go back there a third time," Chazz said with a shake of his head.
"Then where could he have taken her?" Jaden asked.
"I don't know," Chazz said with a frown.
Jaden pressed his lips together and then reached for his duel disk and his deck.
"What do you plan on doing?" Arina asked.
"I'll find her," Jaden said coolly. "And I'll find Kaage. He's messed with my family and my friends long enough. This time, I'm taking the fight to him."
"Where will you look first, Slacker?" Chazz asked.
Jaden sighed and gazed up at the ceiling, trying to think of some way to find his sister. He was surprised that Kaage didn't tell him where he could find his sister though, like he did with Alexis and Kyle.
He led the way out of the room with Chazz, Arina and Atticus hurrying after him. They only just barely got into the empty lobby when Jaden's phone rang. Frowning, Jaden removed it from his pocket and answered it. "Hello?" he said, pausing near the entrance to the hotel.
"Jaden," his dad's voice sounded on the other end and Jaden frowned because his dad sounded very worried and a bad feeling went through him.
"What is it, Dad?" he asked.
There was a moment of silence, then: "Raiden's in the hospital, Jaden," Kaede said finally.
"What?!"
"What is it?" Atticus asked.
"No one knows exactly what happened," Kaede explained. "They said that they received a 911 call from some woman who found Raiden, though the woman wasn't there when they showed up. He was badly wounded, Jaden. The doctors are doing all they can to help him though, Jaden. I'll let you know if there's any change in his condition."
"All right, Dad, Jaden said and hung up after that.
Raiden was badly hurt? Oh, I really, really hope that the doctors will be able to help him. I can't lose him, he thought. Raiden was always there for Jaden. He was the one who comforted Jaden whenever he had nightmares; he was the one who basically took care of Jaden whenever their parents weren't home; he was the one who Jaden just got back only a few months before.
He couldn't lose his brother again.
"Jaden? What's going on?" Arina asked.
Jaden glanced at his friends and his foster brother. "Raiden's in the hospital," he said quietly. "Dad says he was badly hurt but the doctors are doing all that they can to help him. I just gotta hope everything they do will work."
Arina gasped and Atticus's eyes went wide while Chazz narrowed his eyes.
"I'm so sorry," Arina whispered. "What...What happened?"
"They don't know," he admitted, a few tears fell from his eyes and he hastily wiped them away. "They say that they received a 911 call from some woman who found Raiden and that he was badly wounded when the paramedics finally showed up."
"Woman who found Raiden?"
"She wasn't there when they showed up, so I don't know," Jaden said, feeling rather numb with the knowledge that his brother was badly hurt. A part of him wanted to break down into tears while another part wanted to find the bastard who did this to Raiden and rip his head off, since he was sure Kaage Naka had something to do with it. After all, the man was a psychopath who had stabbed someone Jaden cared about before.
"Who would do that to Raiden, though?" Atticus said with a confused frown.
Chazz scoffed and folded his arms across his chest. "Can you really not think of anyone?" he asked.
"Kaage," Jaden growled, the urge to find the bastard and rip his head off was getting stronger. "For him to stoop this low to get revenge on me..." He trailed off. He's dead the next time I see him. I'll kill him for sure this time, he thought.
'You don't know that it was Kaage, though,' Yubel pointed out, sounding very worried.
Haou scoffed. 'Who else could it have been?' he retorted.
"Speaking of Kaage," Arina said quietly, "what about Kasumi?"
"You don't think...would he really...?" Atticus trailed off.
"If that bastard touches a single hair on my sister's head..." Jaden trailed off furiously before he turned and stormed out of the hotel, determined to find Kaage. If he harmed Kasumi, and was responsible for what happened to Raiden—though Jaden didn't doubt that he was—then Jaden would kill him; that was all there was to it.
And no one, not Yubel, not his friends, no one would stand in his way.
Now, if only he could figure out where Kaage had taken her...
. . .
'She's pretty good,' Dark Shadow mused as Kaage pushed himself away from the wall that he had been thrown into because of that stream of fire from the little bitch. He, not bothering on responding to his ally's words, slipped into the shadows and used them to quietly circle Kasumi as the blue-black haired looked around for him, though she was still blinded, hands glowing with flames.
I need to catch her off guard, he thought.
'What exactly do you plan on doing?' Dark Shadow wondered aloud. 'Kill her like you did Raiden Yuki?'
Hn, I did just want her soul, but her life would work just as well. It did with Raiden Yuki, it will do with her, Kaage thought with a sadistic smirk and, tapping into the powers the Shadow Charm gave him—and the powers that Dark Shadow was lending him—he attacked once again, sending Kasumi flying. She crashed into the ground, rolling to a stop before pushing herself to her hands and knees, gasping, her blue-black hair framing her sweat-covered face.
She's tiring, Kaage mused, watching as Kasumi pushed herself to her feet and unleash another wave of flames that caught Kaage—he wouldn't have been able to dodge that wave if he wanted to—sending him skidding backwards.
"Hn, what was that? That was pathetic," Kaage taunted.
"You're not doing much better," Kasumi retorted.
"Oh? You want me to do better? All right then. I'll start taking things more seriously now," Kaage said with a smirk and chuckled at the shocked look on Kasumi's face. She actually thought I was being serious? Ha, I've been toying with her this entire time, he thought, reaching for his deck and searching for any cards that he could use against her. The Shadow Charm made it so that he could conjure up Shadow Duels, but it also allowed him to use Dark Shadow's powers, and Dark Shadow had the ability to bring monsters, their attacks, and card effects to life.
He fingered one of the cards he just drew and his Shadow Charm glowed. "Let's see how you handle this," he said with a laugh as the card glowed along with the Shadow Charm. "Oh this is definitely more fun than an actual duel."
Meanwhile, in another part of the building, Kasumi was frowning at the laugh that echoed around her. He hasn't been taking this fight seriously and now he's laughing? What is he planning? She thought as she got to her feet.
'Dodge!' the voice shouted and Kasumi quickly jumped out of the way; she wondered what exactly it was that Kaage was doing.
She found out when what felt like actual lightning struck her before she could dodge out of the way, knocking her off her feet.
Gasping—damn, that hurt as much as that attack from Hamon—Kasumi pushed herself to her feet. "How did you do that?" she demanded, pain filling her voice.
"I told you, I'm taking things seriously now," Kaage said.
Kasumi growled. That didn't answer her question and she knew Kaage knew that. She released another blast of flames.
'Dodge!' the voice hissed.
Kasumi quickly duck out of the way as the flames were tossed right back at her, though it still hit her arm, causing her to cry out in pain as the flames burned her skin. Just because she could use flames didn't mean that they didn't hurt her; it was only when she was using them that they didn't hurt her.
She didn't know why that was, though.
'It's because you haven't learned enough to have complete control over your abilities,' the soft voice said in the back of Kasumi's mind.
"You're using the cards in your deck," Kasumi realized. "Sounds like you're cheating, to me."
"Hn, call it what you will. I'm simply using what I have at my disposal to my advantage," Kaage said with a snicker.
Kasumi growled. Now what am I supposed to do? she thought.
"Face it, bitch. You're as good as dead." Kaage laughed.
Kasumi glared. "I'm not out of this fight yet," she snapped. "And I will avenge what you did to my brother!"
"You can try," Kaage retorted.
Kasumi bit her lip. She really didn't know what she could do. She had the power to conjure up and control fire at her disposal, but Kaage seemed to have the power of his entire deck at his; he didn't summon any monsters, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't.
Not only that but she was still blinded and couldn't see where Kaage was. It was only the voice that was keeping her from either landing any hits or dodging Kaage's attacks.
What am I supposed to do? she thought worriedly as she dodged around another burst of purple lightning that nearly struck her. She ducked behind a pile of crates and held out her hands, following the voice's instruction and conjuring up a shield of flames that encircled her.
Then she relaxed against the crates, closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths. She was running out of energy quickly and she didn't know how much longer she would be able to keep dodging Kaage's attacks. The shield should keep her safe but she still couldn't see and that was a large disadvantage.
"You learned a new trick, I see," Kaage growled. "But I can see that you're tiring. Will you honestly be able to keep this up?"
Kaage was right, unfortunately. While Kasumi had managed to keep herself protected with the fire shield, she was starting to get tired and she was pretty sure that if she got too tired then the shield would falter.
"I just have to wait for you to lose your energy and the shield to drop. You don't have much time left, I see," Kaage said and snickered.
Kasumi glowered but the psychopathic bastard was right. She was losing a lot of energy and, already, portions of the shield were giving out, plunging areas of the warehouse back into shadows.
She gritted her teeth and released the shield. She needed to reserve as much of her energy as possible if she was to stand a chance of lasting a bit longer against Kaage.
"So, I was right," Kaage said with a smirk. "But it's time I ended this."
Kasumi narrowed her eyes. Kaage sounded tired as well. He wants to end this because he's losing energy, too, she realized. If I could take advantage of that... She conjured up some more fire around her hands and straining to hear Kaage since she was sure he had moved once the shield was gone and he could.
"Ah, ah, ah," Kaage said and Kasumi gasped as shadowy tendrils suddenly wrapped around her legs, throwing her to the floor. She pushed herself up, struggling to free herself from the tendril's grasps but they were like ropes, keeping her pinned. Tendrils wrapped around her arms, yanking her to her knees and then more tendrils wrapped around her waist, keeping her pinned in the middle of the floor.
"That's much better," Kaage purred.
Kasumi glared, struggling to free herself.
"Don't bother fighting. You're too weakened to have a hope of freeing yourself," Kaage said shortly. "Now then, I do so wonder where your precious little monster of a brother is. Then again, he probably doesn't even know where we are. Perhaps I shall be...nice and let him know where we are." It was clear that he didn't mean to be 'nice' and likely just wanted to get Jaden to show up so that he could hurt him.
"If you hurt Jaden in any way..." Kasumi growled.
Kaage laughed. "You are in no position to be making threats, little girl," he said.
Kasumi was panting now as she watched Kaage pull out Alexis's phone and send a quick message to Jaden. She was exhausted. She had used so much of her energy just trying to keep herself alive against Kaage and trying to take him out at the same time, and now she didn't have enough strength to fight back again.
. . .
Jaden and his friends and family were walking out of the hotel when Jaden's phone vibrated. Narrowing his eyes and pulling it out before reading the texts, which was from Alexis's phone. The messages, itself, was from Kaage and was directions along with a message saying that Jaden had best hurry.
[...unless you want your sister to die.]
Scowling, Jaden stuffed the phone away. "Let's go," he said.
"Where is he?" Chazz asked, running after Jaden.
"He sent me some directions," Jaden said, holding out the phone to Chazz, since he knew he wasn't that great at following directions—and could easily get them all lost—he decided to just let Chazz guide them there.
Which was probably the best thing to do for Chazz was able to easily follow the instructions to find the building. It was an abandoned building near the very edge of the city—they had to take a taxi part way there and then walked the rest of the way—and Jaden could see flames in the windows.
He moved forward, pushing open the door and gazed into the abandoned building. He spotted Kasumi struggling to break free from shadowy chains that kept her pinned to the ground. "Kas!" he shouted.
Kasumi's head lifted up. "Jaden?" she said, sounding as tired as she looked. Kaage was still keeping her blinded and the shadowy tendrils seemed to be preventing her from regaining any energy while she rested.
Jaden, with Chazz, Arina, and Atticus right behind him, started toward Kasumi.
"Oh, lookie, the little monster has shown up," Kaage's voice echoed around them.
"Kaage!" Jaden shouted. "Let Kas go!"
Kaage laughed and then appeared right behind Kasumi, smirking. "And why would I do that, little monster?" he purred.
"This fight is between us. Stop using others to get at me," Jaden snapped.
"It's more fun that way," Kaage said, running a hand through Kasumi's hair and Jaden growled as Kasumi shivered. "But I think that it's time I got to my little endgame. You seem tired of this game, little monster."
"Let Kas go," Jaden said again.
"Oh, of course, but first, I think I'll do to her what I did to your precious brother," Kaage purred and, grabbing Kasumi's hair, he yanked her to her feet and then, with a knife that no one noticed he had in his hand appeared, he stabbed her in her abdomen.
"Kas!" Jaden screamed as Kaage yanked the knife out of Kasumi's abdomen and tossed the bleeding girl to the ground, releasing her from her shadowy restraints as she did so.
"You're dead! You are fucking dead, you bastard!" Jaden screamed, eyes flaring with golden rage and his powers raging out around him, not that he cared. All he cared about was murdering the bastard in front of him, the bastard who just admitted to being the one to put Raiden in the hospital and the one who just stabbed Kasumi right in front of him.
He didn't even realize he had moved. The next thing he knew, he had Kaage pinned to the ground, the knife that Kaage had used on Kasumi pressed against his throat. Kaage just smirked up at him, eyes alit with sadistic insanity. "Well, little monster? You said you're going to kill me. Do it, though you won't be able to get your precious girlfriend or your friend Kyle back if you do."
Jaden growled, eyes flaring and the urge to kill Kaage was growing stronger. He wanted nothing more than to sink the blade into Kaage's throat, but Kaage's words echoed in his head. He gritted his teeth, fury washing over him. He wanted to kill the bastard. He had the bastard who had caused him grief ever since he first took Alexis from him, but...
Would killing him really prevent him from ever getting Alexis's and Kyle's souls back? Or the souls of those six other innocent people?
Kaage laughed. "You can't do it," he purred. "A killer though you are, you can't kill me and I know exactly why. Because you know you will never get your girlfriend or your friend back if you do. Such a pity, really, that you care about"—he sneered out those words—"your pathetic girlfriend and friend that you can't kill the one who was responsible for what happened to them, despite threatening to do exactly that."
Jaden gritted his teeth, his hand shook and that was all the distraction Kaage needed. With one swift movement, not only did Kaage disarm Jaden but he reversed their positions and now Jaden was the one pinned beneath the psychopath with a knife pressed against his throat.
Jaden glared up at the psychopath while Haou snarled in fury in the back of Jaden's head. 'You should have killed him while you had the chance,' Haou raged.
"So what now, Kaage? You going to kill me?" Jaden demanded.
Kaage leaned forward so that his face was mere centimeters from Jaden. "I want you to suffer," he whispered. "Killing you would be a mercy and I am not planning on being merciful towards you. I want your soul and I plan on taking it from you, ripping it from your body and then killing you. Here's the deal, little monster. You and I are going to have one last duel and when I win, I will claim your soul and your life. The perfect little end to my perfect little game. If you don't agree, I'll simply start killing everyone else around you, though I won't have to worry about killing your little bitch of a sister since she's dying anyway. I'll start with your foster brother and then your father and go from there. Eventually, you will be alone and you will wish that you were dead, or that you had agreed to play by my terms."
Jaden glared but he had no other choice but to agree since, after seeing what he did to Kasumi and what he heard he did to Raiden, he knew that the bastard would do it. "Fine, I'll play by your terms," he growled.
Kaage smirked at him and remove the knife from Jaden's throat. "Good. Then why don't we have a change of scenery?" he murmured, eyes alit with satisfaction. He stood up and then the Shadow Charm around his wrist glowed.
Transporting through the shadows wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, especially not when someone was as badly injured as Kasumi. Chazz, Arina and Atticus had rushed to Kasumi's side right after Jaden had launched himself at Kaage. They were doing their best to stop the bleeding but it didn't seem to be working out so well. In fact, they honestly had no idea how long Kasumi could survive and, of course, Kaage didn't care. However, they all had been knocked unconscious when Kaage transported them using his Shadow Charm.
When Jaden regained consciousness, he realized that he and Kaage had ended up on opposite ends of some arena whereas Chazz, Arina and Atticus, with a bleeding Kasumi between them, were crouched on the platform off to the side.
Kaage smirked at him from the opposite end of the arena. "This is where our endgame shall take place, little monster," he said, duel disk and deck in place on his arm. "We're near the outskirts of Honolulu. I was looking for a spot that was out of the way in which I could destroy you without the police finding out and when I found some allies willing to help, they found this place and paid for this arena to be built."
Jaden scoffed as he got to his feet, noticing that there was a metal cuff around his ankle. "Who'd be stupid enough to work with a psychopath?" he sneered, worriedly flicking his eyes toward Kasumi.
"Why, people who are so focused on world domination that they failed to notice when their new 'ally' was lying through his teeth. I believe you know them, they are your new foster brother's real brothers after all," Kaage said.
Jaden's eyes narrowed. "Slade and Jagger Princeton," he said.
"Those lousy scrubs?" Chazz grumbled. "What the hell where they thinking?"
"Bravo, you figured it out," Kaage said mockingly, clapping his hands in mock-applause and ignoring Chazz.
Jaden scowled. "You know what...I don't care why we're in this predicament or whatever. Let's just get to the duel already," he snapped impatiently. His sister's life was hanging on the line.
Kaage snickered. "But you haven't let me explain what will happen when you lose," he purred. He then pointed upward, ignoring the impatient glare that Jaden gave him, and he followed the psychopath's gesture with his eyes. He saw an anchor hanging there with a box carrying the hook on which was the anchor above it. "You see that anchor. Our chains are connected to it and then there's that box next to your feet," he said, pointing and Jaden turned to see a box next to his shackled ankle with what appeared to be a Life Point counter on it.
"It's simple, little monster. We duel, in a Shadow Game of course, and when one of our Life Point's hit zero, the winner's box will open revealing a key. You will then have thirty seconds to unlock your chains before the anchor drops. I'm pretty sure you can figure out what happens when the anchor drops."
"I already told you I don't care. Let's get this duel over with," Jaden snapped, duel disk whirring to life and inserting his deck. So that I can get Kasumi to the hospital quickly. If I have to tap into my powers in order to do that then I will. Kas, please hang on. I'll try to make this as quick a duel as I possibly can, he thought.
"Then let's begin," Kaage asked, holding out his duel disk as it whirred to life.
Jaden activated his own duel disk and inserted his deck. "I will make you regret everything you've done and I don't plan on losing, Kaage," he said.
"And I don't plan on letting you win," Kaage retorted.
"Let's duel."
. . .
A/n what do you think?
Blaze: well, we have reached the climax and this story is now one chapter shorter than it was previously. Will Kasumi survive? Who will win between Kaage and Jaden?
Bakura: you know the answer to all of those questions
Blaze: I know! (Beams) This chapter was the hardest to rewrite after some very much appreciated constructive criticism from my beta-reader but, once I decided to just cut the story short by one chapter, it was much easier
Bakura: so only two chapters left instead of three?
Blaze: yup. The next chapter is the long-awaited final duel between Kaage and Jaden and the following chapter is where I tie up some loose ends (like an epilogue)
Bakura: and...?
Blaze: and I am undecided whether I shall post the first chapter of White Radiance on the same day that I post the last chapter of Chained or just wait a week and post it during the week that I would have originally posted the last chapter of Chained. What do you guys think? Post the first chapter of White Radiance the same day I post the last chapter of Chained? Or post the first chapter of White Radiance a week after I finish posting Chained? Let me know.
Yuya: okay then
Yuto: what else do you have to say?
Blaze: for this story, nothing, for my Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V story, I'm almost done with chapter two and I've decided to call it Allegiance. It does follow a rather unique OC of mine but also still follows the canon storyline (with some twists along the way because of my OCs presence) so if anyone wants to check it out when I post it, I can PM them when I have the first chapter up.
Yugo: and that has nothing whatsoever to do with this story
Blaze: I already said that, 'Fusion'
Yugo: (glares at Blaze) seriously?! I thought you liked me!
Blaze: I like Yami Bakura too but I still call him Fluffy at times
Bakura: (mutters) better than Florence
Yugo: (scowls)
Yuya: (raises eyebrow) okay then
Blaze: well, I'm off to go watch the new episode of ARC-V. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.