The True Slifer Red

Chapter 7

-Jaden-

Leaning back in his chair he sighed as he listened to the 'scary' story that Syrus was telling them as they sat around the Slifer Red cafeteria having guy's night with himself, Syrus, Bastion, and Syrus' old roommate Chumley who was a decent enough guy. "Seriously Sy?" he asked with a grin as his friend finished the story, overdramatically acting out the end of it "Water's not all that scary.".

"Dirty swamp water?" Syrus tried weakly before frowning and slumping down onto the table, "You're right, only a chump would be scared of something like that.".

"Or a Chumley." Bastion said with a smirk at their fourth member who was against the back wall, pale and shaking.

"Still, mid level scares for a mid level monster. But now it's my turn," he said with a grin as he reached for the top card of the deck they were using "I hope I get a high level…and it's a level one." He said with a sigh as he thought about what he could use.

"You lucked out there Jade," Syrus said as Chumley hesitantly walked back over "you hardly have to scare us at all with that low card.".

"I know," he said with a sigh as he mentally admitted that it was probably a good idea as he had been thinking of sharing the story of the things his old duel spirit, Yubel, used to do to people "but I think I might have something."

"Oh?" Bastion said with a raised eyebrow "I'm all ears then.".

"Well it's less a story and more…of a memory," he explained as he nervously pulled out his deck and began to shuffle the cards around, idly hearing a few of the duel spirits within calling out "from when I was really young, back before…" he trailed off as he remembered the car crash that had killed his parents before shaking himself "Anyway," he continued, hoping the others wouldn't notice his slip up "I was really young and every day I would hear these voices but I'd only hear them late at night, when I was trying to sleep and no one else in the house was awake. At first, I had assumed I was dreaming but when I moved about and noticed that I felt the pain in my leg from where it had been hurt earlier in the day, I knew I was awake. As I focused more and more on the voices they began to sound less and less vague and soft and more and more like an actual being trying to communicate with me. I could practically feel them, just waiting behind the door of the next room so, like any little kid, I decided to check it out. I opened the door slowly, peering inside my 'playroom'…but there was nobody there, nobody and nothing…except my cards.".

"And?!" Syrus urged, his three friends staring at him, eager to find out more.

"And that's it," he said with a shrug "that's the end of the story."

"That's it?" his friends asked as they sighed and slumped in their chairs.

"Well…mostly it," he admitted as he stopped shuffling his deck and flipped over the top card to reveal Slifer "ever since I got Slifer…ever since I met the King of Games…those voices have been coming back, louder and stronger than ever…none more so than the Egyptian god who fights beside me."

Before the others could respond a new voice laughed, in what sounded like a bad villain impression, "Hey, I want to join in on the fright fest." The person said happily as he nearly fell out of his chair, looking up at a smiling Professor Banner.

"You kind of already did!" he said as he tried to slow down his racing heartbeat.

"We're kind of on the edge of our seats here!" Syrus exclaimed as his friend clutched the table "Or at least we were.".

"T-totally not lischus." Chumley stammered out near the back wall, the large Slifer having knocked over several tables to try to escape Banner.

"Hey," he said looking around "where's Bastion.".

"Up here." A rather embarrassed sounding Brit called out as he looked up to see his friend clutching one of the beams on the roof.

"Damn," he said blinking "Bastion can jump.".

"Well, it's all good," Syrus said as they tried to get Bastion down "feel free to join. All you have to do is draw a card and, the stronger a monster it is the scarier the story has to be."

"That sounds easy enough." Banner said happily as the man drew and flipped over his copy of Five headed dragon.

"Jaden!" Syrus yelped "Why did you put that in there?!"

"That's a level twelve monster!" Chumley said in horror as Bastion fell down from the rafters.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed now." A very pale Syrus said, moving as if to get up when Banner did the creepy laugh again.

"What's wrong?" the man asked "Don't you want to hear about your dorm's history?"

"Alright," he said, wondering if this had anything to do with why Alexis had freaked out about the dorm at first, Chancellor Sheppard having refused to tell him "spill."

"Several years ago," Banner explained "that dorm was abandoned when several students went missing within it.".

"W-where'd they go?" Syrus asked nervously.

"That's the mystery of it," Banner said happily "but rumor has it, that it had something to do with the shadow games.".

At that he slammed his hand down onto the table, "Are you telling me that someone was actually dumb enough to play around with those damn things?" he demanded as Banner and the others blinked at him in confusion "Were they insane?!"

"Ah!" Banner said in realization "You learned of these from Yugi Moto, yes?".

"Yeah, I learned of em," he said with a scowl "and I'm guessing the shadow arena that was used has something to do with the locked off basement of the dorm."

Before he could continue Pharaoh let out a loud yowl, "Well I believe that's my cue to get back home," Banner said, rising up from the stool "goodnight boys."

"Are these Shadow Game things real Jaden?" Chumley asked once the teacher was gone.

"Yes Chumley," he said as he stared at Slifer's card "they're very real and very dangerous. If you lose a Shadow Game you don't just lose the duel…you lose your soul as well."

"Y-your soul!" Bastion said in horror "You can't be serious!"

"I have seen forces in this world so dark that they would haunt your darkest nightmares and bring fear to those monstrosities," he said coldly as he remembered all the things that had happened when the duel spirit of Yubel went crazy "and I have felt powers beyond the mortal plain. Still, I want to look through the dorm some more to find out more about this stuff. Chumley, you feel like spending the night at our dorm to help me find more details about this stuff?".

"A-are you sure it's safe?" Chumley asked nervously as he quickly reassured the large boy.

"Of course it's safe," he promised "to initiate a shadow Duel you'd need either an incredibly powerful soul who has ties to the shadow magics, an incredibly powerful shadow arena, or a powerful magical artifact. While there may have been a shadow arena it was probably destroyed when the dorm was abandoned and rebuilt, and even if it wasn't it's locked away."

"Alright," Chumley said with a slow nod "tomorrow.".

Little did they know but Bonaparte was standing outside of the building with a smirk, plotting another way to get Jaden expelled.

The next day he was leading Chumley back to the dorm with the others, "It'll just be us and the girls at the dorm tonight," he told them as he checked his GPS "Chazz is off the island for the weekend due to some sort of important family issue and Zane is spending the night with a few of the Obelisks in the blue dorm.".

"Is that the dorm?" Chumley asked as they entered the clearing that held it.

"Yep," he said proudly "welcome to the-" he was cut off by a loud scream and a crash as he dropped his flashlight and ran inside, "Alexis! Missy!" he yelled, looked around wildly before paling when he saw the droplets of blood leading to the kicked in door that led to the, previously, locked off basement.

Running through the door he charged down the stairs and through what looked like a storage room, seeing stone tablets on the walls depicting the Millennium Items and pictures of the students who, he assumed, vanished a few years before. Continuing he leapt down a flight of stairs and charged through what looked like a mine shaft, hearing the pounding footsteps of his friends behind him, as he slid to a stop in a massive stone cavern, the girls tied up at the back while a mask wearing man in a large trench coat waited for them.

"Give…them…back…" he snarled, hate coursing through his body as he stared down at the man who had kidnapped his two friends feeling a strange power bubbling up within him as Alexis and Missy tried to scream at him to run through their gags.

"Not unless you beat me…in a shadow game!" the man declared as he snarled and readied his duel disk. "Not so fast," the man said before he could activate it "I've heard about you and your undefeated dragon deck with your god card…you are forbidden from using them against me. If you do so anyway then I shall send their souls to the shadow realm, and you'll never see them again."

Growling he removed his water deck and showed Slifer to the bastard before handing the cards to a furious Bastion, "There," he demanded "happy?"

"I'll only be happy once I get your soul," the kidnapper said with a dark laugh "now choose a new deck and let us begin."

The moment he took another step forward the room began shaking as the carved seal in the floor, which he hadn't noticed, began to glow with a golden light and shadows crept down the walls, "You made a big mistake here bub," he growled as he felt the duel spirits of Slifer and the Cyberdarks roar out, the dragonss rage matching his own as their spirits became visible even to the others as it encircled the duel arena, his opponent looking about in fear, a false Millennium Puzzle falling from the man's hands "you challenged the holder of an Egyptian god to a shadow game…when I have more shadow magic than nearly anyone else alive."

As he spoke, the truth of his words flowing through him as his bond to Slifer was enhanced by the shadow magics, he felt and saw the shadowy mists rising from his body, "You took my friends," he growled, his voice deepening from the magics "now you're going to pay. I had this deck made in case I was ever stuck in a situation where I was forced into a shadow game so congratulations, you're going lose your soul tonight.".

"W-what's going on?!" the man demanded, "How are you doing this?"

"This is the real deal," he growled as he put his deck into the duel disks as several dark spirits began to circle the arena, sensing the fear and weakness of his opponent "you've faked shadow games before…now let's see how you deal with a real one! I'll go first by setting two cards face down, summoning a monster in face down defense, and then playing swords of revealing light and toll."

"This isn't real," the man denied "I will admit that you put on an impressive illusion, just as good as my own, but I know that 'shadow magic' is a children's story. But I can at least see why I was hired to take you out. Now, my move. I'll start off by summoning Infernal Queen Archfiend and with her on the field, every Archfiend monster I control gains one thousand attack points. Added to that I'll play the field spell, Pandemonium, which not only protects me from having to sacrifice life points for my fiends, if one of my beasts is destroyed outside of battle, it will place another fiend right in my hand. And with that, I'll end my turn."

Scowling he drew "I'll flip up my face down monster 'Big Eye'!" he called out "This allows me to look at the top five cards in my deck and put them in any order I want. With that, I'll end my turn."

"My move," his opponent said "And I'll summon my Terrorking Archfiend, whose attack points are raised by a thousand thanks to my infernal queen, making him an even more fiendish force to be reckoned with. I'll end my turn, and your swords only have one turn left now."

Scowling he drew his card "I end my turn." He said stiffly as the kidnapper laughed cruelly.

"I'll summon my Shadowknight Archfiend," the kidnapper said with a smirk "and end my turn. Thus destroying your swords of revealing light."

Scowling he nodded and drew his card, "I'll set two cards face down and switch big eye into defense mode." He called out "And that's it."

"My move then," the trench coat wearing man said smugly "then I'll attack-"

"And I'll activate my trap, gravity bind!" he called out, "So now, only level three or lower monsters can attack."

"A respite," the man sneered "nothing more. I shall end.".

Sighing, he drew his card and called out, "I end." As his opponent smirked.

"And I plan to end this duel!" the man roared "I'll begin by playing Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your gravity bind and then send in my Terrorking to attack your big eye!". Yelling he felt the wind blow him back slightly as his opponent yelled in pain when Toll sapped life points, "What is this?!" the man demanded, panting "How are you doing this?"

"Like I said," he scowled "this is a real shadow game. Our souls are truly at stake here."

"Enough of your lies!" the man yelled "I attack you directly with Infernalqueen and Shadowknight!"

"And I'll activate scapegoat from my hand!" he countered as he played the quick play spell, "That'll protect me for a while but your life points will still take a hit."

As he spoke the man dropped down with an agonized yell as the life point counter showed that he still had full health while the kidnapper was down to twenty five hundred as Toll required each player to give up five hundred life points to attack. "I end." The Kidnapper growled as he nodded and drew his card, desperate to get what he needed fast.

Seeing his draw, he grinned and called out "I play mystical space Typhoon and destroy Pandemonium! And with that I'll end my turn.".

As he did so the man's life point meter dropped once again, this time going down nineteen hundred points leaving his opponent with only six hundred life points as the man panted, the shadowy beasts at the edge of the seal practically drooling as they hungered to eat the man's soul. Out of the corner of his eye he could see his friends watching in horrified silence as the shadow game ensued and he prayed that their horror was only at the game…and not at him.

"My turn," the kidnapper snarled "and I'll play another Pandemonium card before using my second mystical space typhoon to destroy your Toll. Now, Infernalqueen, Shadowknight, wipe out those tokens!". As the two final sheep were destroyed, he grunted and covered his face to protect himself from the wind. "Terrorking!" the man called out "Attack him!"

"I activate Waboku!" he called out "Thanks to it I take no battle damage this turn."

"Fine," the Kidnapper snarled "I shall end.". Sighing he drew a card and simply set the trap face down and ended his turn once again. "Once more Terrorking!" the man ordered.

"And once more I use Waboku!" he called out as he activated the trap, which he had just drawn, and saved his life points again.

"You can't save yourself forever boy!" the man snarled "I end."

"I know," he said with a wince before setting the trap he drew "your go."

"Terrorking!" the man called out "Attack! I doubt he has another Waboku to save him."

"You're right," he growled as the fiend approached "I don't have Waboku…I have mirror force! And because it doesn't target a specific monster your Archfiend's roulette ability won't activate!"

"No!" the kidnapper roared in anger as the lineup of Archfiends were destroyed. "I end my turn," the man snarled "and I'll rebuild my lineup."

"Before your turn ends though," he called out "I'll activate the trap 'fruits of Kozaky's studies! This allows me to rearrange the top three cards in my deck in any order I want!". As he did so he smirked, "I think I'll leave them as is. Now I'll draw and activate Toll!"

"Another one!" the kidnapper yelled.

"I have three in this deck," he said with a smirk "and with their help I'll send you to the shadows."

"My move," the Kidnapper growled "And I'll summon Archfiend Cavalry and end my turn."

Nodding he drew and set his monster in face down defense, "Your move." He called out as the man smirked "I know," the kidnapper sneered "and I'll start out by playing giant trunade! To get Toll out of the way so my Cavalry can attack your monster!"

"You destroyed Witch of the Black Forest," he sneered "now I take a monster with fifteen hundred or less defense from my deck and add it to my hand after showing it to you.".

"Choose your card." The man said calmly.

"Oh, I will," he said with a smirk "and I choose the head of Exodia!"

"Exodia!" the kidnapper gasped in shock "So that's the deck you're running. Well, it won't save you. I play pandemonium again and end my turn."

Nodding he drew and set three cards face down "I end my turn." He called out.

"Do you really think I'm going to fall for a trick like that when I know you have Toll in play?" the Kidnapper asked with a snort "I summon another Infernalqueen and end my turn.". Scowling he drew and set a monster face down before ending his turn. "I shall Summon a second Terrorking and end my turn." The kidnapper sneered as he gulped at the lineup that was building before he set a card and ended.

"Enough of this!" his opponent called out "I play nobleman of extermination and select…that card to be removed from play!". With a wince he saw that the man had selected Toll as the Kidnapper smirked, "And now I attack!"

"Waboku!" he called out, getting a roar of anger as the attack went through and destroyed his sangan. "And like with my witch I can select one monster to add to my hand, only if it has fifteen hundred or less attack." He called out "And I choose the right arm!"

"Very well boy," the kidnapper snarled "your move. Now hurry up so we can end this farce!"

"I play smashing ground!" he called out "And use it to target your Infernalqueen!"

"Let's see who fate supports!" the kidnapper growled but, to his luck, the roulette landed on a three as the Infernalqueen was destroyed. "My move then," the man growled "And I'll attack with my king!"

"And I'll activate Compulsory evacuation device!" he called out as, once again, fate supported him and the Terrorking was returned to the kidnapper's hand.

"Cavalry!" the man spat as he activated Sakuretsu armor to destroy it. "Just take your turn." The man growled.

"I set one card and end my turn." He said, trying to contain his wince before being forced to contain his yell as the kidnapper resummoned Terrorking and both monsters attacked him and lowered his life points down to one hundred.

"Jaden!" Alexis and Missy yelled as he writhed in agony.

"Enjoy your last turn boy," the kidnapper growled "for when it ends so shall this duel and I will enjoy taking your life for the pain you forced me to endure in this fake shadow game."

Panting he stared at his deck, silently praying to the heart of the cards as he drew, "I play pot of greed!" he called out as he played the spell, 'please be something good' he pleaded with his deck before drawing and yelling out in joy. "I summon the five pieces of Exodia! He called out as his opponent paled "I have gathered all five pieces of the puzzle. Now, Exodia, obliterate!"

As his world went white in the fury of Exodia's attack he felt the shadow game end as the darkness receded, his opponent gone and all that was left behind was the man's mask and his deck. Feeling his energy leave him he collapsed back, praying that the girls were alright.