Sekhmet: Here's where the plot kicks in.

Susano-o: Yay plot!

Sekhmet: Finally. What it only took 16 episodes? We won't keep you any longer, on with the show!

Duel 18: Active Volcanoes are Bad and Other Obvious Facts of Life

"'Captain Gold' attack Dio with you Golden Experience Kick!" Rose muttered in her sleep as her fake mask started to slip off her head. Yuko meanwhile was trying with great paranoia to preserve her notes, as nothing thus far had tried to ruin them for once.

"Your attempts to win were Muda Muda Muda Muda!" Rose yelled as she started shaking around in her seat like she was trying to do a victory dance. Yuko shoves the arm she was propped up on, causing her to face plant into the desk.

"Ah shit!" Rose yelled as she flailed around half deliriously, inadvertently smacking Yuko's water bottle and sending the contents flying all over her notes.

"Not again!" Yuko cried, performing damage control on her notebook.

"What was that for?" Rose asked checking her face to make sure her sunglasses were still in place and her nose wasn't broke, in that order.

"Class is almost over, figured you'd wanna be up for that." Yuko said, water dripping onto her head from her book.

"But was that really the best way to do it!" Rose asked as she frantically scrambled to make sure her sunglasses weren't broken while at the same time not taking them off.

"It's the only way I know how!" Yuko exclaimed.

"If you two are quite done," Professor Banner said with a smile. "I believe Chancellor Sheppard needed to speak to you."

"Whatever it was I plead the fifth," Rose responded.

"I'm a good noodle!" Yuko said instinctively.

"Clam it you two," Chazz snarked. "Just go already."

"Actually Chazz," Banner said. "He needs to see you as well."

"What did I do?" Chazz asked shocked. "I'm a good noodle too!"

"And Bastion, and Alexis," He finished not listening to Chazz's freak out.

"What the hell?" Rose asked as they all stood up. "Oh man this is not gonna go well," She muttered standing up and cracking her neck.

"What did you do?!" Yuko thought, trying to recall any brushes with authority recently.

"Psst," A student said from behind her. "What did you do?"

"I don't know!" Yuko replied, her nervousness very evident. The student looked an awful lot like Kaiba, actually.

"Well you'd better figure it out before your brother gets called in," Kaiba responded with a joking smirk. "I doubt he'd want to know his sister is a rule breaker."

"I'm a good noodle!" Yuko whined, not actually realizing who it was in her panic.

"Yuko come on," Rose said grabbing her arm. "Stop talking to Sato Kiba already, we gonna go deal with this shit already."

Yuko reluctantly followed, incredibly nervous.

…

"So wonder what Sheppard needs us for," Rose asked with her hands behind her head.

"Logically, if we're all being called in then we're not in trouble," Bastion said calmly. "I haven't done anything against the rules since our little excursion with Yugi's deck."

"I can't remember anything recently either." Yuko said.

"I umm...well…" Rose said scratching her head.

"What did you do?" Alexis asked with a dark smile.

"Nothing!" Rose said waving her hands defensively. "It's just, you know how I am," She said with a small chuckle.

"Come on you dorks," Chazz said speeding up. "I want to get this over with before I get gray hairs."

…

When the five finally found themselves near Sheppard's office, they were surprised to meet Dr. Crowler, Zane, and Midori approaching from the other side of the hallway.

"Heyo!" Rose said with a wave. "You guys got called in too?"

"Yep," Midori said with a wave back. "Do you know why we're here?"

"Nope," Rose shrugged opening the door. "Guess we'll find out."

…

"Three Sacred Beasts?" Yuko asked confused.

"Yes, and due to their immense power and colossal might, they were hidden here." Sheppard explained. "When Rome and Egypt were in a state of constant war, the Sacred Beasts were the Romans' answer to the Egyptian God Cards. However, they were dangerously powerful, so when the wars ended, they were sealed away to prevent their misuse. They say if these cards ever saw the light of day again, they would wreak havoc on the modern world. Cities would collapse, light would fade, souls would fall. Our world would be no more."

"Oooh sounds awesome," Rose said with an evil smirk.

"No," Alexis deadpanned making Rose sigh.

"Yes dear," Rose muttered crossing her arms. "So why do you need us?"

"Seven duelists called the Shadow Riders covet these cards. And I'm afraid one of them is already here. He arrived late last night." Sheppard answered. "The cards are held behind eight Spirit Gates, each unlocked with a special key. We will protect them by protecting the keys. They lie in this box, one for each of you to guard." He pulled out a small black box and set it on the desk.

"Why do we need us to guard them?" Bastion asked. "Won't these keys make us targets?"

"It's true that guarding the keys will make you targets. However, they cannot just take the keys by force. An ancient edict declares that the keys will only work if they are won in a duel. Thus, I've gathered the best duelists we have to take up this challenge and fight the good fight." Sheppard explained.

"So the fate of the world rests on a children's card game?" Rose asked raising an eyebrow.

"It happens more often than you think. My brother and his friends saved the world five times in a single year when I was eight, all with Duel Monsters." Yuko said.

"...How?" Rose asked in shock.

"Ancient Egyptian magic and sheer luck, mostly." Yuko said.

"Moving on," Sheppard said. "If you want to back out I won't blame you, these Shadow Rider's play for keeps," He said opening the box, which contained what looked like a puzzle made of eight pieces. "So who wants to save the world?"

After a long pause of people looking back and forth at each other, Yuko was the first to pick up a piece. "My brother fought against similar evils, and now it's time to do my part." She said.

"I'm in too," Midori said taking her piece. "I would never let my student fight a battle I wasn't prepared to fight myself."

"I too accept." Zane said with a respectful nod towards Yuko as he also took a piece.

"It would be my honor," Bastion said grabbing on too.

"Can't have you four showing me up," Alexis quipped as she took one too. Chazz simply hummed in agreement as he took one as well.

"How could I refuse," Crowler said with a joking smirk. "The fate of the world our very lives are at stake," He said taking one. "And if I said no I wouldn't get this very posh piece of jewelry."

"Well good to see you're doing it for the right reasons," Sheppard said taking this a bit more seriously.

"Jez practically twist my arm why don't you all," Rose smirked with a fake chuckle as she grabbed the final piece. "Guess it's time to get started, where is this Shadow Rider, ancient edict didn't say anything about breaking his shins before we duel him," She said cracking her knuckles.

"Rose, please." Yuko said.

"This isn't a tournament, this is a war," Sheppard said gravely. "You could be attacked at any moment, please be on your guard."

…

"So that's the jist of it," Rose said as she showed her piece to Chumley and Syrus.

"Aren't you guys worried?" Syrus asked looking around nervously.

"Yeah I mean creepy shadow guys looking to beat you so they can destroy the world, that's pretty intense," Chumley said gravely.

"Well, I mean we've faced similar threats before. Remember that Titan guy?" Yuko said.

"And that time we fought against Jinzo when he was trying to steal souls," Rose reminded them.

"I'm sorry," Midori said with 「Menacing」smile. "When did this happen?" She asked.

"Yeah this seems like something I would be interested in." Yuko said.

"Oh yeah, door smashing Torrey and his dumbass friends summoned Jinzo and he tried to consume their souls to become physical," Rose explained dismissively. "I duel in and won, no big deal."

"You lost your legs!" Syrus yelled. "They turned transparent and you couldn't walk!"

"I was fine," She deadpanned.

"You had a complete freak out!" Syrus countered before Rose kicked his chair out from under him.

"I. was. fine." She said darkly before standing up. "I'm going back to our room, see you two later," she said stepping over Syrus to leave, making sure to slam the door behind her.

"Yeah I should get back too. I gotta take care of something." Yuko said.

"I'll go back too then, easier if we all stay together," Midori agreed.

"Ok," Syrus said standing up. "Night you guys."

"Yeah night," Chumley said crawling into his bunk.

"Night." Yuko said. It was only a short walk back to the girls' dorms, the group really wasn't in much danger. "I'm gonna use the bathroom, I'll meet you guys in the room." Yuko said.

"Ok," Midori nodded. "I'm going to go talk to Rose," She signed.

"Alright, wait on talking to her cause I want in on this talk of its about the Shadow Games." Yuko said, and closed the stall to the outhouse.

"Ok," Midori said leaning against the stairway. "I'll wait for you here then." A few minutes later, Yuko finished her business and joined Midori back in their room.

"You go first," Midori said walking up the stairs. "She may react better to you asking."

"Alright." Yuko said opening the door. "So, first time fearing for your life?" She asked, coarser than she meant for it to sound. Behind her Midori face-palmed. "Subtle as an atom bomb," She muttered.

"Fuck off," Rose snarked from her buck.

"It's inevitable that the Shadow Riders will use them. It's in their name. But the only people who lose Shadow Games are those who can't keep up. And you can definitely keep up. Besides, like you said earlier, the fate of the world rests on a children's card game. One that you're really good at. You shouldn't be worried." Yuko said, trying to explain.

"Yeah well you've never had your legs disappear from beneath you and a fucking demon doll actually cut you with it's axe," Rose growled. "It was fucking horrifying, we should just shove these Shadow Riders into the volcano and be done with them."

"I wish that were an option too. There are only two ways to beat a Shadow Game: Defeat the opponent or kill them. That being said, I highly doubt anyone's gonna die, least of all you." Yuko said.

"Yeah right," Rose snarked standing up. "In case you didn't notice I've been fucking terrible my last few duels, one of these times I'm gonna lose and then shit will really hit the fan."

"You're not terrible. You're not gonna lose." Yuko said.

"I nearly lost to fucking Harrington!" Rose snapped getting in Yuko's face.

"Rose you really need to calm down," Midori said grabbing Rose's shoulder and hauling her back before stepping between the two to keep them apart. "We're all worried, pitching a fit about it won't help, sit down so we can talk about this, you too Yuko, we don't need you two coming to blows over this."

"But you didn't!" Yuko said.

"-But I still nearly lost!" Rose yelled. "One lucky fucking draw has saved my ass way to much, my luck is gonna wear out soon and now I'll be bringing the rest of the world down with me!" She finished before shoving her way past the two and out the door, slamming it hard behind her.

"That won't happen." Yuko muttered.

"Let her go," Midori said with a sigh. "She is right, we've never had duels with these kind of stakes, I wouldn't have expected her to crack under the pressure though, give her some time to recuperate and then we can talk."

Yuko said nothing, climbed into her bunk, and let out a muffled scream of frustration into her pillow.

"Yuko calm down we don't need you freaking out too," Midori said patting her back. "Look Rose is inherently a good person, she won't abandon this fight, we're all scared, she just knows first hand what these shadow games can do and it's worrying her."

Yuko's anguished screams turned into sobs, and then stopped all together. "She can't lose, because the good guys always win."

Midori sighed. "Yes, but at what costs?" She asked. "Everything has a price, and we're all wondering what it will be."

…

Alexis fiddled with her key as she walked to the red dorms, knowing four of the keys were in that dorm she decided to see if she could bunk up with Rose, Zane and Crowler could handle things on their own and she would see about getting Bastion to join up tomorrow, but for now she was the only one in the female blue dorms and an eerie feeling that she was being watched had refused to go away since she got back. "I'd rather deal with her snoring," She muttered as she scanned the woods beside her.

The sound of a stick cracking behind her made her spin around, a man in a black trenchcoat with a small mask covering his face stepped out. "Hello there," He said with a smirk and a laugh.

"Who are you?" Alexis asked taking a step backwards towards the red dorms.

"You may call me Nightshroud," He said taking a step towards her. "And I'll be the one taking that key from you," He explained.

"So you're the first Shadow Rider," Alexis deduced. "Well then, you'll probably expect me to duel you," She said smiling. "-But I choose option B!" She yelled taking off running towards the dorms, as Rose and Sheppard had said, this wasn't a tournament, so two or more of them could duel one of these guys at once and no one would say otherwise, a tactic she was more than prepared to take advantage of.

Nightshroud chuckled as he watched her run. "You can run but you can't hide," he laughed as his pendant, a metal circle with the Roman symbol for 'Supremacy of God' in the middle glowed with an ethereal light and he did a few short range teleports to stay behind Alexis, making her paranoid as it looked like she wasn't getting any farther away from him.

"Wake up!" Alexis yelled as she entered the red courtyard. "The Shadow Rider is here!" She yelled. Yuko was fast asleep, so she didn't hear Alexis.

"What?" Midori muttered as she woke up, a light sleeper by nature. "Alexis is that you?"

Alexis run up the stair of the female dorm. "Guys he's here!" She yelled banging on Midori's door. "Wake up!"

"Oh no," Nightshroud laughed as he appeared behind her to pin her to the door. "You're not doing that, you're gonna have to duel me personally," He laughed before teleporting them away in a bright light that woke everyone in the dorms up.

"I don't even care!" Yuko mumbled, still asleep somehow.

Midori ripped Yuko covers off. "Wake up!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. "We've got to go find Alexis right now!"

Yuko jolted awake, knocking her head on the supports above. "You didn't have to drill that far to get the demon outta my brain!" She said, still half asleep.

…

When the light faded, Alexis found herself on a blue floating platform above the volcano's very active core. She barely had time to ask why she was here when a dragon shaped column of fire ripped its way out of the lava, did a couple of loops, and cascaded onto the platform, revealing Nightshroud, cackling madly.

"Fine, if you want a duel, you've got one." Alexis muttered.

"Indeed, but your key isn't all that's at stake here. If I win this match, your soul is sealed into this card." He said, holding up a card encapsulated in black energy. "If you win, it's my soul that gets sealed. But let's be real, I'm not losing."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Alexis said, activating her duel disk. Nightshroud did the same.

"Let's duel!" (LP: 8000)

"I'll go first. I draw!" Alexis declared. "I couldn't have started with a better hand." She thought. "I activate 'Machine Angel Ritual' and tribute 'Etoile Cyber' and 'Blade Skater' to ritual summon 'Cyber Angel Benten!'

The two monsters briefly appeared on the field before becoming light and warping up into the sky. Descending from the sky was a blue jumpsuited figure with two fans on a chain. (1800/1500)"Next I activate 'Ritual Weapon' and equip it to Benten, giving her an extra 1500 attack and defense points." A crossbow like implement appeared on Benten's arm. (1800-3300/1500-3000) "I place one card face down and end my turn."

"My turn." Nightshroud said, drawing. "I set a monster, then place one card face down and end my turn.

"I draw!" Alexis declared. "'Cyber Angel Benten'! Attack his facedown monster!"

Benten shot a bolt from its crossbow into the facedown 'Troop Dragon', shattering it to bits.

"Whenever 'Troop Dragon' is destroyed by battle, I can summon another to the field thanks to his special ability!" Nightshroud declared. Another 'Troop Dragon' appeared on the field.

"Funny you should mention that, because my 'Cyber Angel Benten' also has a special ability. When she destroys a monster and it's sent to the Graveyard, she inflicts damage equal to its original defense points."

Benten raised its fan and kicked up a gale at Nightshroud. (LP: 8000-7200)

"I end my turn." Alexis said.

"I draw!" Nightshroud declared. "I activate the trap 'Call of the Haunted' to bring back my first 'Troop Dragon', though he won't be around for long. I now Tribute both of my monsters to summon "Red Eyes Black Dragon!"

The two dragons disappeared and in their place, born from a twisting and twirling column of fire, was a dragon matching its name. (2400/2000) "And now I can play this, the spell card 'Inferno Fire Blast'! It lets me dish out 2400 points of damage directly to you!

'Red Eyes Black Dragon' wound up a fireball and spit it directly at Alexis.

"I activate the trap card 'Spell Shield Type-8'!" She declared, and the trap flipped up. "I'll discard a spell card to use it's second effect and stop your 'Inferno Fire Blast'!" A Shield came up and blocked the fireball.

"Tch. I place one card face down and end my turn." Nightshroud said.

"My turn then." Alexis said, and drew. "Just what I needed." She thought. "I activate another 'Machine Angel Ritual', and tribute 'Mind on Air' and 'Cyber Petit Angel' To ritual summon 'Cyber Angel Dakini'!"

The monsters briefly appeared on the field before making the same maneuvers as the last summon. This time, a four armed blue woman in yellow and orange armor wielding two swords and a staff appeared. (2700/2400)

"When she's ritual summoned, I can make you send one of your monsters to the Graveyard. Usually it would be your choice, but since the only monster you control is 'Red-Eyes Black Dragon', there's only one monster you CAN give up." Alexis explained. Nightshroud grumbled as he sent his monster to the Graveyard. "Now 'Dakini', Attack him directly!" Alexis ordered. 'Dakini' raised her swords and slashed Nightshroud. "And you too, 'Benten'! 'Benten' raised its fans and kicked up another whirlwind. (Nightshroud LP: 7200-1200) "Finally I place one card face down and end my turn." Alexis finished. "I hope this plan I have works, I don't have a hand left to work with."

"I draw!" Nightshroud shouted, and when he saw the card he pulled, he cackled madly. "It's over! I summon 'Red Eyes Black Chick'!"

A large red egg phased through the floor of the arena, and out popped a small 'Red Eyes Black Dragon'. (800/500)

"But this is only the beginning! I sent this face up card to the Graveyard to summon another 'Red-Eyes Black Dragon'!"

The baby dragon was whisked away, and another well described dragon took its place. (2400/2000)

"But I'm still not done! By tributing my 'Red-Eyes', I can summon your death! The one and only-"

"No." Alexis interrupted him flippantly.

"What do you mean No?!" Nightshroud balked.

"I activate the trap card 'Solemn Judgement'! By giving up half my Life Points, I can negate the summon of whatever you were about to bring out and destroy it." She said. (Alexis' LP: 8000-4000)

"But-But that means...!" Nightshroud said, realizing that he was fucked.

"It means that I win." Alexis said, drawing her card. "'Dakini'! Attack him directly!" She declared. With one final swipe, Nightshroud was defeated. (Nightshroud's LP: 1200-0. Winner: Alexis.)

…

While Alexis was dueling for her life, Rose was walking around the forest grumbling to herself about how insane this was, until she felt the nearby volcano shake and belch out a huge cloud of smoke. "What the-?" Rose yelled as she felt her key start to violently shake. "Oh shit shit shit," She muttered pacing back and forth as she started pulling at her hair. "Fuck it all!" She yelled running towards the volcano. "If I die I swear to Ra my ghost is going to haunt all your asses for the rest of eternity!" She yelled climbing up the path towards the top, when another giant shake sent a blast of fire into the air. "Son of a fuck!" She yelled as a small ball of opaque energy appeared near the edge of the volcano, where is dropped a battered Alexis and masked man before disappearing. "Alexis!" She yelled running over to the two.

…

By now, the rest of the group had canvased the entire island looking for Alexis with no avail. They were about to give up when the volcano started belching smoke and fire in an incredibly ominous way. Needless to say, they took the hint. The group converged on Alexis and Nightshroud moments after Rose got to them.

…

"Alexis! Alexis baby please wake up!" Rose yelled shaking her lightly. "Come on wake up!"

"Rose," Alexis muttered as she shifted slightly. "It hurts," She whined.

"Hang on," Rose said picking her up and putting her on her shoulder.

"There you are, what happened? Who's that?" Yuko asked, panting from her run up the volcano.

"That's Nightshroud," Alexis said reaching down to pick up a card with a chained up mask on it. "Or at least, what's left of him."

"Yuko come help me," Midori ordered walking over to the still unconscious Nightshroud. Yuko followed tentatively, like she was gonna poke him with an imaginary stick. "Come on I doubt he's a threat anymore," Midori said grabbing him under his arm. "Now help me, he's practically dead weight." Yuko helped her carry the man as best she could.

"Wait!" Alexis suddenly yelled trying to get closer to the man and pulling his head up, tears

came to her eyes as she looked at him. "I-It can't be," She sobbed grabbing the man in a hug.

"You know him?" Yuko asked confused.

Alexis turned his head slightly to show everyone a face they recognized from their time in the abandoned dorm. "Oh my Ra," Midori whispered wide eyed.

"I-It's Atticus, It's my brother," Alexis sobbed pulling him into a hug.