The lead in to the final Duel of the War of the Planets arc! How exciting. Feels a bit like we're running up to a season finale. Maybe that's just us? Regardless, please continue to read and enjoy. And, as always, thanks to our Beta reader, Eneko, for helping us be as polished as we are.

Sorry we have been silent regarding updates, real life has been heavy and we haven't had the chance to fully focus on this. Little more on that after the chapter. Thank you again to those who have kept up with us and enjoy.

Chapter 45

Recollection At Dusk

(Night)

(Duel Academy)

(Forest)

Hours had passed since the two teachers had begun looking for their students, and all they had to show for it were dead ends and grass stains on their shoes. Even the stars were starting to give up by now, slowly fading out as the sky and ocean grew brighter.

From where Kanoa and Meryem currently stood, however, sunrise just meant slightly better lighting. It would be an hour or so yet before the light reached the Academy building proper.

Kanoa poked at Meryem's tablet a few times. Upon looking up to see yet another abandoned patch of forest, he collapsed under a tree like an exhausted puppy.

"We've been running around all night and every lead goes nowhere!" He groaned. "This is feeling like a wild goose chase."

"I feel your pain." she sighed before grabbing the device from him. "I have to wonder if this thing really is defective. I hope it's not, I can't deal with any more disasters today…"

Her colleague looked back and saw the same frustrated look he likely had. Part of him was surprised as she always learned how to hide her emotions well.

It was the first time she genuinely didn't attempt to conceal how much the situation was taking its toll.

"I'm sure your tablet-slash-the tracker app is working," Kanoa said. "But now that I think about it… even if we're just following residual signals, it's weird that we aren't finding any other signs of life. Like the kids just vanish into the ether or something."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Meryem questioned.

"You've been getting pings just a few minutes apart from each other, right? I'm pretty sure you or I would know if one of our students was running a One Turn Kill deck," Kanoa pointed out. "Plus, if the duel signals are still strong enough for your tablet to find them, we can't be more than a few minutes away from each fight ourselves. How long does it take for those things to fade again?"

Meryem quickly pulled up the tracker logs and looked through them. Her eyes widened after a moment: Kanoa was right. The timestamps for each signal were all very close together. Too close together for how long they'd been outside.

"Son of a bitch… we've been played," she remarked, handing the tablet back to her collegue.

Before he could process what she'd just said, she'd already taken a strange device from her pocket and was digging into it with a small screwdriver and a scraper.

"Uh, should I know what that thing is? And do you always have a dentist scraper on you?" Kanoa asked.

"I do, actually. Works great for clearing paper jams and more delicate fixes," she explained. "This is a bug finder I've been work shopping recently. Some of the more tech-savvy students have learned how to rig up Disk-sized jammers to help them in Duels. Either screwing with their opponent's system or just making the automatic shuffler skip a card or two.

"Combine that with what we got from the tracker, and now you see why we haven't found anyone. Someone has set up jammers to give off false signals of duels, only to stop after a set number of times. Hence why it looks as though each Duel finished within minutes of each other."

Kanoa nodded. "That also explains the lack of life signs. So… how will this help us find the kids?" he asked.

Meryem put her tools away and turned on the bug tracker. The little device let out a high-pitched whine, getting louder or softer depending on where she pointed it.

After a few more test sweeps, one bush made the tracker squeal especially loud. She shut it off and pulled the branches apart.

"Not bad for a first field trial," she remarked, picking the culprit up to show Kanoa.

In her hand was a small bluish-black square with what looked like runes etched onto it and an old-style phone antenna.

"Now that we have the source, with a little time and inspection, we may be able to break its program and locate our students properly. Kanoa, turn your phone flashlight on?"

Before her plan could be attempted however, a huge light pillar shot up from the beach.

"Looks like your new toy gave us another advantage. If that's not a Duel effect I'll eat my socks." Kanoa chuckled. "Come on, we've got some students to catch!"

She rolled her eyes, pocketing the device before following her coworker at a run towards the destination.

Beach

The professors paused just after hitting the sand to catch their breath. The pillar blinked out of existence, revealing five familiar-and clearly exhausted-students huddled together on the beach. Barclay, Sera, and Atsuko in particular looked like they'd been through a wringer. Takashi looked half-asleep but nothing more serious.

Kanoa let out a sigh of relief.

"Laura!" Nick shouted, bent over the final student's prone body. "Laura, can you hear me? Wake up! Come on…!"

Meryem strode forward at that, ignoring Kanoa's surprise and the other six unconscious students lying nearby. She moved the panicked redhead aside and pulled out her phone. Requesting a security and medical team wasn't easy with one hand, but she'd be damned if she let one of her students bleed any longer for her own convenience.

Kanoa on the other hand, did a minor exam of the unconscious students by checking their pulse and breathing, sighing in relief that they were still somewhat OK.

He turned and moved towards Nick, who was in a bit of a shock as his hands were slightly coated in blood.

"Nick, it's OK. Those other students are okay aside from being knocked out," he said gently while placing a hand on his shoulder. "Take some good deep breaths. Focus on what you can feel and hear right now. The sand under you, the waves, my voice…your friends seem like they're all okay too. Campus security and a medical team are on their way, and this'll all be over soon."

It took a bit for the Slifer teen to settle down, though he found it difficult.

"Professor Kanoa… sorry I gave you this much trouble," Nick uttered softly, more to the beach than directly to his teacher.

"I'd be a terrible person and a worse professor if I didn't look out for my students. Sit tight for a bit, okay? I gotta check on the other Slifers, then we can all huddle and tell each other what the heck happened." Kanoa gave a gentle smile before walking over to talk to Meryem.

Nick tried to settle his breathing further. He looked up at the night sky, letting his mind go back to what had gotten him here in the first place.

Earlier

Duel Academy Harbor

Since moving from where he was, Nick found himself trying to find signs of the others, hoping that maybe one got brought with him. Unfortunately, he wasn't that lucky and came up wanting. At the moment, the teen was standing at the border of dirt and concrete along the walking path, finding himself staring at the Harbor. Even for the middle of the night, the harbor was empty. No supply ships, no late-shift dock workers finishing up, nothing but the sounds of the waves and a gentle breeze.

For Nick, he didn't mind the quiet but found it ominous without a single electric light on, not even from the lighthouse.

Shaking his head, the teen walked forward and pulled out his phone, which was completely dead.

"Great," he muttered in annoyance. "The one time I need this dumb thing and it decides to flat line."

He placed the phone back in his pocket and stopped, looking around to see if anyone or anything could be used to help. Unfortunately, not much was around except for closed warehouses and the ocean.

Then he noticed something at the very end of the pier. Someone, he had no idea who in the poor lighting, was standing at the base of the lighthouse.

Before he could move however, Blackwing Armor Master grabbed and spun him around by the shoulder so his back was to the ocean.

"What?" The Slifer student remarked.

His partner pointed at the mystery figure, then looked Nick in the eyes and drew a finger across his throat.

"Yes, I know it could very well be a trap, but it could also just be a prop somebody left here by mistake. Surely even our enemies take breaks once in a while?" Nick looked at Armor Master, then at the lighthouse, then at Armor Master again. "That said… we should probably check just to be sure. At least that way, if you're right we won't be surprised when they attack."

Armor Master shook his head in a resigned way and disappeared.

Nick took a deep breath and tightened his fist, walking forward at a gradual pace, making sure not to make any kind of sudden movement.

After roughly three minutes, the student reached the long pathway leading towards the lighthouse and finally got a better look at what the figure actually was, a living person.

The person stepped forward a bit, revealing a full-length white cloak almost as bright as the moon. What really stuck out to Nick, though, was the person's mask. Seven points like a crown of spiky hair, the central points sapphire blue while the rest were black. A golden drop symbol marked the forehead, and the mask's eyes glowed red.

Nick stopped in his tracks. Glowing eyes didn't typically mean good news, and neither did full-length cloaks. The mysterious person turned towards him and lifted a hand in greeting.

"Good evening, friend. There is no cause for fear, come closer so that we may speak more comfortably." Erhard called out.

"Yeah, no thanks," Nick replied. "I'm sure you're a perfectly nice guy, but with random people showing up to start stuff these days, I won't take any chances."

"We don't want to 'start something.' We wish no harm upon you or your friends," he replied. "We simply need the powers that you and your partner possess, nothing more."

"You know, I've been hearing that for the past four months now, and I still have no idea of the bigger point behind it. Why us specifically? What would you use these powers for, assuming you actually got them?"

The disguised teen scratched the side of his head, almost like he was thinking, before speaking once more.

"A fair question, one that deserves a fair answer after all your trials. Our leader needs your powers to open up a gateway. We're plenty capable, of course, but this gateway spell is beyond our reach."

"Okay… don't suppose you know where this gateway spell leads?" Something about how the strange man talked rang a bell for Nick. The energy coming from him felt familiar as well, but he couldn't quite place it.

Erhard shrugged. "Not in full. Though, even if I did know, I value my job too much to simply give that information away," he said.

The penny dropped. 'That's where I know this from! It's the mind-control energy Anakin got hit with! God, that already feels like so long ago…'

"Look, whatever-your-name-is, I can hanker a guess and say you aren't like the others who hurt those students."

"And how, exactly, have you come to such a conclusion?" Erhard asked curiously.

"The others who had to be purified left behind some clue that they were possessed, but the last victim was different," the red-haired teen explained. "That guy's connection to whatever was controlling him broke before we did anything. I'm bringing this up because the energy you're giving off feels exactly like the one that messed him up. So, since I couldn't ask back then, I'll ask you now: Did you break the connection on purpose or are you just bad at mind control?"

"Ha! My colleagues are the weakest of the group." Erhard laughed. "And so what if I did as you said: purposely ended the connection early? That weak pawn was merely a means to an end. With his purpose fulfilled, it was safer to break the spell rather than have a gang of nosy students force the issue."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "Thanks for basically confirming you did it on purpose," he replied. "Look, whatever's on the other side of that gate your boss wants to open, I'd bet good money they won't give you any of it. If you really don't wish my friends and I any harm, then show it by helping us track those guys down. We could certainly use the help."

Erhard shook his head and sighed. "Do you really think people are that easily swayed from one side to another? Once someone gets an idea in their head, gets emotions attached to it, all the evidence in the world can't get them to abandon it. Similarly, mind magic is much easier to set up and maintain on a willing subject. Not that a connection can't be forced…"

The masked person charged energy into their hand and flung it to the sea, causing a powerful explosion.

"It's just less of a hassle if you convince them first. Which you haven't done a very good job of, let me reiterate. One hypothetical statement isn't going to get me to abandon my power and everything I'm working for. I wish I could say I admire your faith in people, but the truth is such feelings will only hold you back. One of these days someone will use that blind trust of yours against you. Whether they stab you in the back or simply trick you into hanging yourself, I can guarantee naivete will get you killed."

"You don't know a damn thing about me," Nick retorted.

Smoke crawled up from the sea and surrounded both him and the masked man.

"I know more about you than you think. Or perhaps, more than you want to admit."

The smoke around Nick swirled higher. Before too long, a ghostly male figure appeared from within it, followed by a ghostly woman.

Nick tightened his hand, causing the key to shine brightly and made both figures disappear immediately. The smoke also disappeared and allowed him to look back to his opponent with a hardened and irritated glare.

"You really shouldn't push me around," he growled. "Else I'll push back."

Out of nowhere, Armor Master appeared behind him and released a strong surge of power. The force was felt by his enemy, who brought up his own energy to shield himself and push back.

Both now struggled in a contest of strength, each trying to overwhelm the other in this conflict. Nick dug deep and pushed his hand forward, causing the key to glow brightly once more and engulf both into a dome of energy with a spell circle surrounding the borders.

Soon enough, the force of their power disappeared and left them staring at one another.

"I fail to see how this puts you at an advantage." The masked man held out a hand. A few moments later, he looked from Nick to his hand and back in surprise. "Why didn't that work? What did you…?"

"A little trick I picked up recently, something to make sure we're both on even grounds," Nick replied as he grabbed his Duel Disk. "Only way either of us walks out is with a Duel."

The solid red with white highlights stood out in the darkness and made the black 'V' appear as an empty space within the Duel Disk.

The masked man sighed again. "Very well, if you insist. I hope you're prepared, magic and Duels have a way of feeding into each other."

More energy leaped from his hand into the spell circle, which turned black. The lighthouse flicked on for just a moment, then off with a faintly audible whine.

"What do you mean 'feed into'?" Nick asked.

"This Duel is going to be much more real than what you've felt before," Erhard replied. "The pain is going to be very real. Let's see how well you can endure before begging to be released."

With that Erhard pulled out his Duel Disk. Nick was surprised to see how ordinary it looked, apart from the semi-translucent purple shell. It didn't seem to match the masked man's dramatic attire and promises. Four teardrop-shaped designs at the top of the disk caught his eye. They were pitch black, and he was sure he'd seen them somewhere before.

"I'm not gonna back down so easily!" The Slifer student remarked as he inserted his deck, causing his construct to appear.

As his opponent's own construct took shape, Nick realized two things. First, that the teardrop shapes were magatama. Second, only one archetype he knew of had that motif.

"Let's Duel!"

Well now, let's see if Nick can handle this or will his opponent take him down? For those who continue to follow along, we truly appreciate it. A heads up also, due to life needing our attention more these days, we'll be changing our update schedule. Either monthly or every two months will a new chapter be posted. We haven't given up on this and we hope you don't either. So stay tuned for our next update, be sure to leave a review, and have a wonderful day.