Dragon-X: The Dimension of Dragons

by Fantasymaker76

The First Year of Duel Academy is over and the Summer Holidays are here. But an Old Enemy returns to steal the Old God Cards and use their power to take over the world. The team must band together again on another adventure to defeat them and recover the Old God Cards, an adventure which would take them to a whole new world.

15. The Freemen

The Freemen:

In an old ruined castle in the middle of a forest, a huge meeting was taking place. The castle was mostly ruined with crumbling towers but there were underground tunnels which made this place the perfect hiding place. This old castle had once been a fortress for the Dragon Faction during their Empire to control the minor factions of the forest but ever since the fall of the Faction, the castle had fallen into disrepair since no one claimed it.

Now several members of the Venatori were now using this place as their base of operations in the region. These members were not very high in ranking as many of them had just been recruited and were not even direct members of the cult, they were just working for them.

They were a group that called themselves the Freemen, they were groups of people from the Faction War who were tired of the Fighting and had deserted their army to form their own group. This had allowed the group to form a large army which the Venatori wanted to use and so they had infiltrated their ranks using two of their High Ranking members to take control of the group to use for their own purposes. Gordian had been sent to take over the Spellcaster users and had been able to place many members under their control except for the leadership while Duhaime became a leader in the army itself.

The leaders were now meeting inside the ruins to discuss their plans. The only leader who was not there was Gordian since the Elder One needed him at the moment.

"We have found a temple in the Northern Woods but we cannot get inside" Duhaime growled, he was a large muscular man who looked strong enough to left a man into the air.

"It's not our fault that those ruins are sealed!" a man wearing armour that had the Warrior Faction crest chipped off. This was General Maliphant, the leader and founder of the Freemen "And you're forgetting that I'm in charge here. I built this group not you!"

Duhaime narrowed his eyes "And you're forgetting that my commanders are the only ones keeping you supplied and we can easily pull our support away" that got Maliphant to stop.

The third person in the room was a woman who wore armour as well, this was Costeau, one of the members who lead the operations "Gentlemen" she stated "We know that we need to deactivate these Wards to get inside these ruins. Our soldiers are capturing people from the villages in this area and I got word that a small group from a refugee camp were captured recently. Auguste is currently planning an attack on this camp but we've had word that Fairbanks is leading them"

Maliphant snorted and then spat on the floor "Fairbanks, what a disgrace of a man, he had good blood in him and he chose to be with the trash. Well then he can join them."

Costeau looked at him Even so, Fairbanks in popular with his people and he's a skilled Duellist. He's already defeated a number of our soldiers who we sent to get him."

Duhaime looked at her "His time will come soon" he hissed "But right now, we have to get the prisoners ready to use for the Ritual to open the ruins"

Maliphant looked at Costeau "I want you to go over to the Mines and prepare the prisoners for transport"

"It will be done" Costeau stated "Soon we will have those ruins plunder for relics."

…

Jaden groaned as he stretched his body. After Fairbanks had let them spend the Night at his camp, they'd all been giving a Sleeping bag to sleep in and for Jaden, Alexis and Chazz; it was the worst night of their lives. Jaden had been use to sleeping in a bed, even the not so comfortable ones back at the Slifer Red Dorm at Duel Academy. For Alexis and Chazz, it was even worse as they had much more comfortable beds in their rooms. None of them had ever slept in a Sleeping bag on the hard floor so they didn't get a good sleep. Aristide had slept in sleeping bags before when he had got on visits to ruins to search for Card ideas when he was a card designer so he had a batter sleep and Avexis was still young and had been made to sleep rough when she had been captured by the Shadow Riders.

Jaden looked at Alexis and Chazz who had also woken up "Morning, how did you sleep"

"Very badly" Chazz groaned "Worst night of my life"

Same here" Alexis stated "But there's not much we can do, I doubt there are comfortable beds around here

Aristide woke up and looked at them "Well at least we're all still together" he stated "And now we can speak with Fairbanks and find out what's going on around here."

They all soon found Fairbanks who was talking with several of his followers "So they've been taken then?" Fairbanks asked

One person sighed "I'm afraid so" he said "Gertrude and several others were captured while looking for supplies."

Fairbanks sighed "This is troubling" he said "Gertrude was the only one who could get us supplies. I guess we'll have to be more cautious with supplies." He then looked at the ones who came back "You've deserved a rest and you'll need it." They then left leaving Fairbanks alone.

Now that Fairbanks was alone, Aristide approached him and Fairbanks noticed them "So I guess you're wondering what's going on around here?" he asked

"We are" Aristide stated

Fairbanks sighed "Since this forest has been isolated from most of this world, the war between the Spellcaster and Warrior Faction hasn't affected this area that much. But recently, deserters from both sides decided to form their own group call the Freemen. We don't know much but we know that they've been in contact with some kind of group that has interest in the ancient ruins around here. The Freemen have located some ruins just north of here but are unable to enter since they're sealed. But they plan to perform a Ritual to unseal them but to do that, they need blood and they've been raiding the villages of the forest for victims." He then looked around "All these people are refugees from these attacks. Many of them have lost family members but we're unable to fight back. We just lost a small group who went out looking for supplies so now we're running low on them"

Aristide looked at Fairbanks "Do you have any idea where these Freemen took your captured people?" he asked

Fairbanks sighed "We haven't been able to scout the area because our scouts often don't return. But I know this region and I would say that the best place is the old mine not far from here. Apart from the ruins and this place, the only other areas of interest are the old mine, a small village which has been abandoned due to the attacks and an old abandoned fort."

Jaden looked at Aristide "Maybe we can go to this mine and help these people who have been captured."

Fairbanks gasped and shook his head "I cannot ask you to risk your lives for people you don't know. I can't have more blood on my hands"

"But we can't just leave these people" Jaden stated

"Jaden's right" Chazz agreed "Besides, maybe these Freemen have information on the Venatori and Solona"

Aristide looked at them and then at Fairbanks "We can't just let your people get hurt after you let us spend the night here. We'll go to these mines and we'll help your people if they're there" he then looked at Avexis "But would you mind looking after Avexis here, I can't bring her with us"

Fairbanks nodded and then he took Avexis from Aristide. Avexis was a bit shy but a smile from Aristide managed to get her to agree "Clara can look after her, she's good with children."

"That's good enough" Aristide stated "Now we should go and find this mine" he then led Jaden, Alexis and Chazz along the path to find the old mine.

...

In another part of the forest, Theorn groaned as he got up. He had been given a comfortable bed in one of the tents that was made of animal fur and quite soft. When he was fully awake, he left the tent to see if he could find Lanaya, the leader of this group who had given him a place to stay and she had knowledge on the Venatori. He eventually found Lanaya who was looking over the river where the camp was.

Lanaya looked over as Theorn approached "So now that you're awake, I guess you would like to know about the Venatori?"

"I don't know much about them" Theorn admitted "But I do know that they're searching for seven powerful cards"

"You mean the 7 Old God Cards" Lanaya stated

That caught Theorn by surprise "Wait, you mean you know these cards?" he asked

"I do" Lanaya answered "This forest is home to some of the ruins from the Dragon Faction. It was like an empire with seven powerful kingdoms, one for each Old God. During the war that the Dragon Faction faced, the Zombie and Fiend fighters stole the Old God cards from their temples and used them against the Dragon Faction. Only one card was not taken by them but it wasn't enough to fight the remaining ones. That's what caused the downfall of the powerful Dragon Faction. The Venatori are said to be the remains of these groups that fought the Dragon Empire. After they were defeated before, the Old God cards were said to have been taken back to their old temples and then sealed."

"And I've heard that the Venatori currently hold some of the Old God cards now" Theorn sighed

Lanaya looked worried "If they manage to get all seven Old God cards, then they would have the power to take over the world." She gasped "It's a good thing that the location of the Old God that they never got before is lost in time. It could be anywhere." Lanaya then looked at her "And you talked about a friend of yours, why did the Venatori take her?"

Theorn looked at her "My friend Solona got her hands on a powerful card. It was a treasured card to her but these Venatori wanted it. Solona refused to give it up and so they took her. But even so, these Venatori had an interest in Solona personally as well and I don't know why."

Lanaya looked at him "Well if you want any clues as to where you can find your friend, you should look to the west of here. The Venatori don't come here personally but they have a group known as the Freemen to do their work for them in searching these ruins and there are many of them in that region. These Freemen have a large presence there so that would be a great place to begin your search"

Theorn looked at her "Thank you for that information." He stated

"I hope that you find your friend" Lanaya stated "And I would like you to have this" she handed Theorn a bag which contained some food supplies and water "It's quite a trip so you'll need supplies to get there"

"Thank you again" Theon stated "Maybe we'll meet again" then Theorn stood up and left leaving Lanaya alone.

Lanaya watched as Theorn leave "I get the feeling that we're going to meet again soon." She said to herself.

...

Aristide along with Jaden, Alexis and Chazz walked along a path until they came to a small cave which did not look natural "This must be the mine that Fairbanks was talking about" Jaden stated

"It clearly doesn't look natural" Alexis added

"We should go in with caution" Aristide stated "This could end up being a trap and we don't want to get caught in it. Since I'm the only adult here, I'll go first."

Aristide led them into the cave with Jaden following first, then Alexis, and finally Chazz. They walked along the tunnels until they came to a large dug out room. The saw that this room had a small wooden building. But at the far side of the room was a cage with several people inside of it.

One of the people inside the cave looked at them. This person was a woman with auburn red hair and a medium build, she gasped when she saw them "Hey wake up, it looks like help has come"

Jaden looked at them "It's alright" he said as he walked over to the cage "Fairbanks sent us here"

"Fairbanks?" the woman gasped "I knew he wouldn't abandon us. My name is Gertrude. Me and my friends here were captured when we went looking for supplies."

Jaden ran to the cage "Don't worry, we'll get you out" he then tugged on the cage door but he couldn't open it "It's locked"

Chazz shook his head "Well the Venatori weren't just going to let their prisoners walk away were they"

Alexis shook her head "Not the time for jokes Chazz" she groaned

Aristide went over to the wooden building and found the key on a desk "Here" he said after he picked it up and threw it to Jaden "You help them, I'm just going to check around here for information"

Jaden caught the key and wasted no time in unlocking the door and then he went inside the cage in order to help Gertrude and the others. Some of them had been in the cage for longer and were weak from lack of food so they could hardly walk.

Alexis and Chazz entered the cage after Jaden and Alexis helped on young man to his feet "I hope that these people are going to be alright" Alexis sighed "It's quite a walk back to Fairbank's camp."

But then Chazz heard a creak and suddenly the cage door slammed closed "No!" Chazz yelled and he ran back to the door but it closed before he could get there. He tried to pull the door open but now it was jammed.

Then Aristide came out of the wooden building with some papers in his hand. He groaned when he saw Jaden, Alexis and Chazz were now trapped "Oh great" he groaned as he put the papers away in a small bag that he had "What did you do"

"They didn't do anything" a voice called and Aristide turned when he heard it.

Gertrude looked fearful "Oh no!" she cried "She's here."

Aristide watched as a tall woman wearing armour and had long blond hair walked in smugly and Aristide narrowed his eyes at her "And who are you?" Aristide demanded

The woman smirked "My name is Costeau, one of the commanders for the Freemen and you are trespassing on my property"

"Your property?" Aristide snapped "You kidnapped these people!"

Costeau smirked "They belong to us now and soon their energy will help us open the ruins and give us access to the power inside" she smirked at seeing Jaden, Alexis and Chazz now trapped "And now we'll have four more prisoners to add"

Aristide narrowed his eyes "You're not using any of us for energy!" he snapped "I suspect that you must know something about my daughter but right now, I have to save these people."

Costeau laughed "Well you'll have to beat me in a duel first" she stated

"That's fine by me" Aristide stated as he activated his duel disk and then Costeau activated hers and they both placed their decks inside and drew 5 cards.

"DUEL!"

Aristide: 8000
Costeau: 8000

"I'll take the first move" Costeau sneered as she drew her sixth card "And I'll start by summoning Mezuki in attack mode" a bull monster standing on two legs and wielding a large axe appeared on the field (Level 4 Attack Defence 800) "Then I will place two cards facedown and then end my turn"

"A zombie type deck?" Aristide questioned as he drew his card and smirked "Since you control 2 cards in your spell and trap card zone, I can special summon Escher the Frost Vassal in attack mode" a man wearing armour made from ice appeared on the field kneeling and floating like he was meditating (Level 4 Attack 800 Defence 1000) "But he won't be on the field for long because now I'm going to sacrifice him in order to summon his master, Mobius the Frost Monarch in attack mode" a large ice armoured monster appeared on the field (Level 6 Attack 2400 Defence 1000) "And since he was tribute summoned, I can destroy both your facedown cards" Mobius sent freezing water from his hands which froze Costeau's facedown which then shattered "And now Mobius himself will destroy that Mezuki" Mobius sent more ice cold water from his hand which surrounded Mezuki and froze him solid in ice and then the bull zombie shattered.

Aristide: 8000
Costeau: 7300

"And now I will end my turn" Aristide finished

"All right" Jaden cheered "Aristide managed to take out her monster and deal some damage"

"But this is not over for your friend yet" Gertrude stated "Costeau has spells that can destroy her opponent's monsters. I've seen her duel before and she's ruthless"

Costeau narrowed her eyes "You may have dealt me damage but you've only just seen the start of my deck" she hissed "And that Frost Giant won't be able to protect you once I play this, the spell card Tribute to the Doomed, now by discarding one card from my hand, I can destroy that Ice monster" Costeau discarded a card and then the ground opened beneath Mobius and then monster hands grabbed him and pulled him underground to his doom. "And now that your monster is gone, I'll now activate my Mezuki's effect in the graveyard, now by banishing him, I can summon any Zombie type monster in my graveyard, no matter the level."

"Then I guess the card you discarded was a Zombie type monster?" Aristide guessed "That's one of the oldest tricks"

"It maybe but it's still a good one" Costeau stated "Now meet a Zombie that has been reborn from the body of an ancient creature. A creature once so great that now they're just legends. Say hello to Red Eyes Zombie Dragon" a dragon monster appeared on the field and while it looked like the Red Eyes Black Dragon, the dragon looked like he had been resurrected from the grave as his head was now just a skull and his wings were torn in places. He looked more like a zombie than a dragon (Level 7 Attack 2400 Defence 2000) "And since I destroyed your monster, I can attack you directly. So now Zombie Dragon, attack him with Inferno Dread Breath" the zombie dragon roared and then fired a blast of blue mist which hissed loudly and then surrounded Aristide causing him to groan.

Aristide: 5600
Costeau: 7300

Costeau smirked at Aristide's pain "This is a Shadow Duel" she stated "So you will feel the pain, now I will end my turn"

Aristide groaned as he got back to his feet and then he drew his next card "Okay, first in order to prevent you from getting me like that again, I play the Countinious spell card March of the Monarchs, now tribute summoned monsters I control cannot be targeted or destroyed by card effects. Next I play the spell card Pantheism of the Monarch, now by discarding a Monarch Spell or trap card from my hand, I get to draw two cards from my deck" Aristide discarded his Strike of the Monarchs and then drew two new cards "Then I can summon Mithra the Thunder Vassal in attack mode" a royal princess wearing a blue and yellow dress along with a metal mask and holding lightning in her hands appeared on the field (Level 2 Attack 800 Defence 1000) "And this is a special summon although you get a Thunder token in defence mode" a copy of Mithra appeared on Costeau's field kneeling down (Level 1 Attack 800 Defence 1000). "And now I can tribute Mithra in order to summon her master, the great Zaborg the Mega Monarch" a large metal golem with lightning in his hands appeared on the field replacing Mithra (Level 6 Attack 2400 Defence 1000) "And when he's summoned, I can destroy one monster on your field and I choose that Token" Zaborg's hands glowed and then he sent a bolt of lightning which destroyed the token.

Costeau laughed "What was the point of that?" she questioned "our monsters have the same attack points, you made a mistake"

"She's right" Chazz stated from the cage "Aristide should have destroyed that Zombie Dragon"

Jaden looked at Aristide "Aristide would never have made a mistake like that" he stated "there must be more to this"

Aristide smiled "There is more" he claimed "Mithra has another effect, since she was tribute, her other effect activates which allows me to tribute summon again this turn. So now I'll sacrifice my Thunder Monarch in order to summon a monarch more power." The cave filled with yellow lightning "One Monarch is bad but they can get more powerful, just like this one, I summon Zaborg the Mega Monarch in attack mode" Zaborg glowed and then grew taller to form an even bigger golem monster (Level 8 Attack 2800 Defence 1000)

"Wait, that's a level 8 monster so it requires 2 sacrifices" Alexis claimed

"The Mega Monarchs can be summoned by tributing a tribute summoned monster" Aristide stated "And just like the Thunder Monarch, my mega monarch can destroy 1 monster on the field" the more powerful Zaborg sent more lightning which destroyed the Zombie dragon. "And now that your monsters are gone, I can now attack you directly" Zaborg sent a blast of lightning which sent Costeau flying backwards.

Aristide: 5600
Costeau: 4500

"All right!" Jaden cheered "That's how you do it"

Gertrude smiled "Maybe we really do have a chance to get out of here" she stated

Aristide looked at Costeau "I end my turn"

Costeau narrowed her eyes and then she drew her card but there wasn't much she could do, "First I'll play Card of Demise so that I can draw until I hold 5 cards in my hand" Costeau drew until she held 5 cards in her hand "Then I'll summon a monster facedown and then I will place two cards facedown and that will be all" she stated

"I guess that there's not much Costeau can do" Alexis stated

"Don't count her out yet" Gertrude stated "This duel isn't over yet"

Aristide drew his card "I'll start this turn by playing the spell card Pot of Greed which allows me to draw two new cards" Aristide drew two extra cards from his deck "Then I will play monster Reborn which allows me to bring back my Frost Vassal to the field" The Frost Vassal returned to Aristide's field "But he won't be around for long because now I will sacrifice him in order to summon Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch in attack mode" a large red armoured knight replaced the Frost Monarch (Level 6 Attack 2400 Defence 1000) "And now his special ability activates which allows me to discard a card from your hand and if it's a monster, then you lose life points depending on its level so I choose your left card" Costeau discarded her left card but it was the spell card Burial from a different Dimension. But just like my Thunder Monarch, my Firestorm can become more powerful so now I'll sacrifice my Firestorm in order to summon Thestalos the Mega Monarch" a much bigger red armoured knight with spikes on his armour replaced the Firestorm Monarch (Level 8 Attack 2800 Defence 1000) "And I can summon him with one tribute summoned monster" Aristide added "And there's more, just like Firestorm, I can discard a card from your hand and if it's a monster, you lose lifepoints." Costeau only had one card in her hand and when she showed it to Aristide, it turned out to be the monster Doomking Balerdroch which was a level 8 monster. "Since your monster is level 8, you lose 1600 life points but since my Mega Monarch was summoned by tributing a fire monster, you also lose an extra 1000 life points" Thestalos threw two large fireballs at Costeau which made her groan in pain.

Aristide: 5600
Costeau: 1900

"And now my Thestalos will attack that facedown monster" Aristide added and then Thestalos threw another fireball and the facedown monster which was revealed to be Pyramid Turtle.

"Since you destroyed my Pyramid Turtle, I'm now allowed to summon another Zombie type monster from my deck with 2000 or less defence points so now I summon Paladin of the Cursed Dragon in attack mode" a zombie like dragon with a knight sitting on its back appeared on the field (Level 4 Attack 1900 Defence 1200) "I will also play my facedown Dust Tornado to destroy your March of the Monarchs" a large tornado blew Aristide's spell card away.

"Well my Zaborg still has his attack" Aristide added and then Zaborg's fists had lightning in them which he fired at the Cursed Dragon

But Costeau had another trap card "Now that your March is gone, I can activate my facedown Sakuretsu Armour"

"Uh oh" Chazz groaned "That will destroy Zaborg"

A set of black armour appeared on Zaborg which then crushed him. Aristide sighed "Well then I guess I will end my turn by placing two cards facedown"

Jaden looked at Costeau's field "She must be planning something that monster isn't strong and Costeau has no cards in her hands."

"We'll just have to hope that Aristide will be ready" Alexis stated

Costeau drew her card "Now that it's my standby phase, my Doomking Balerdroch returns to the field in defence mode" a large skeleton ghost monster appeared on the field (Level 8 Attack 2800 Defence 2000) "And now I play the spell Card of Sanctity so now we both draw until we hold 6 cards in our hands" Both Costeau and Aristide drew until they held 6 cards in their hands. Costeau then laughed as she looked at her new hand "I like to see how you do with this" she stated "I play the field spell Zombie world" the field changed into a dark landscape filled with dead trees and plants

Chazz gasped "This is not good"

"Why's that?" Jaden asked

"Zombie world changes all monsters on the field and graveyard into Zombie type" Chazz stated as Thestalos changed into skeleton warriors. "But it also prevents either player from tributing summoning except for Zombie monsters."

"But Aristide's deck relays on Tribute summoning" Alexis gasped

Costeau smirked "And now I summon Uni-Zombie in attack mode" a set of zombies that were playing music appeared on the field (Level 3 Attack 1300 Defence 0) "And guess what, Uni is a tuner monster"

"Oh great" Jaden groaned

"Now I tune my level 3 Uni monster with my level 4 Paladin" Costeau smirked and then Uni turned into three rings which surrounded Paladin and turned him into a beam of light "The power of the dragons is reborn, now arise from the grave and show everyone your power" Costeau chanted "I Synchro summon Red Eyes Zombie Necro Dragon" a more ghostly version of Red Eyes Zombie Dragon appeared on the field (Level 7 Attack 2400 Defence 2000) "And while he may not be as powerful, he gains 100 attack points for every Zombie on the field and grave and thanks to Zombie world, all our monsters are Zombies." Everyone gasped as the Zombie dragon roared, Costeau had 7 Zombie cards on her field and grave while Aristide also had 7 so the dragon gained 1400 attack points (REZND Attack 2400-3800) "And then I will play the spell card Stop Defence which switches my Doomking to attack mode" the Doomking then rose and prepared to attack.

Aristide knew that he had to do something otherwise he would lose but he had something that would help him "I play my facedown, Gift of the Mystical Elf, now I gain 300 life points for every monster on the field, since there are 3, I gain 900 life points so I'll just be able to survive" Aristide glowed as he gained lifepoints

Aristide: 6500
Costeau: 1900

Costeau narrowed her eyes "You may survive this but you will feel the pain" she hissed "Now my Doomking will destroy that Thestalos" Doomking blew through Thestalos but then was set on fire and both were destroyed since they had the same attack points.

"And since a zombie monster was destroyed, I'm now allowed to summon another from our graveyards and I choose my normal Red Eyes Zombie Dragon" the large undead dragon appeared on the field "And now both my dragons will attack you directly" Both undead dragons unleashed a breath of foul air which surrounded Aristide causing him to groan in pain and when the smoke cleared, Aristide collapsed and fell face first to the floor.

Aristide: 300
Costeau: 1900

"Oh no!" Jaden yelled "Aristide!"

"Are you alright!" Alexis yelled

Costeau laughed "He is not alright" she hissed "He is feeling the full power of the Shadow Games and soon he will belong to us as will you all."

They all stared at Aristide who was on the floor. Aristide groaned as he tried to get up.

Aristide eventually managed to push himself up and stood up but looked down as Costeau smirked, thinking that he was about to five up "So are you giving in? Just stand down and we will go easy on you"

Aristide still looked at the ground "You know, I remember when the Venatori captured me, they twisted me until I became the mindless Zero who then was used to hurt my daughter." He then looked at Costeau "But I will never give up, the Venatori took my daughter and I will find her. She never gave up on me so I will never give up on her"

Costeau sneered "You are just a fool. This duel is over and I win. I end my turn but why should you carry on. I have more life points and two powerful monsters. You can't summon your Monarchs thanks to my field spell. There is nothing you can do!"

Aristide calmly drew his card and smirked "You did a good move last turn but there is one thing you're forgetting, I also have a full hand thanks to you" he stated as Aristide now had 7 cards in his hand "And your spell card isn't going to be on the field for long because now I play my own field spell, Domain of the Monarchs" the dark field changed into a large fortress and now that Aristide's monsters in the grave were back to normal, Necro Dragon lost some of his power (REZND Attack 3800-3100) "Then I will play my trap card The First Monarch, this trap card becomes a monster" the trap appeared on the field as a very old looking golem "And his attribute becomes one of a monster I discard, so now I discard Edea the Heavenly Squire and he becomes a light attribute. Now he will count as two sacrifices for a Light Attribute monster so now I tribute him in order to summon Ehther the Heavenly Monarch in attack mode" a large Angel Monarch appeared on the field (Level 8 Attack 2800 Defence 1000) "I'm don't have the requirements to activate his ability so now I will play the spell card Double Summon so now I can summon again this turn. But I will now activate the spell card The Monarch's Stormforth, this allows me to tribute one of your monsters instead so now I will tribute that Necro Dragon and replace it with Granmarg the Rock Monarch in attack mode" the Necro dragon vanished and was replaced with a large rock Golem (Level 6 Attack 2400 Defence 1000) "Now Granmarg will attack your remaining Zombie Dragon and thanks to my Domain field spell, he gains 800 attack points when a Monarch attacks your monster" Granmarg glowed as he gained power (GTRM Attack 2400-3200) then the Monarch punched the floor which made the ground erupt from under the dragon and destroyed him

Aristide: 300
Costeau: 1100

"It's over Costeau!" Aristide shouted "Now my Ehther will attack your directly" the Heavenly Monarch swung her staff around and sent a blast of magic which blew Costeau back and onto her back.

Aristide: 300 (Winner)
Costeau: 0000

"All right" Jaden cheered

"He did it" Gertrude sighed in relief "He actually did it"

Costeau sat up and narrowed her eyes at Aristide "You may have defeated me but your friends are not safe yet." She hissed "There are still more of us to defeat and they will..." she was cut off when she felt a groan and then the torches on the wall started to fade which made everyone nervous.

Costeau saw a shadow fall over her and her heart sank "No wait!" she begged "Please give us another chance!" the shadows then surrounded her and she began moaning as her skin began to turn black. "No Master Elder One, please don't, I can do it right I can. Please!" her cries went unheard as her skin began to turn to dust and then Costeau vanished.

The other soldiers gasped as their leader vanished. They did not want to risk the same fate and so they turned and ran for it hoping that they could get away before they were taken as well.

"Wait, what just happened?" Alexis questioned "Where did she go?"

Aristide managed to find a key where Costeau had been before she vanished and she unlocked the cage and let everyone out "That was a Shadow Duel so I guess that the Venatori took her soul for her failure."

"So she's gone?" Gertrude questioned

"For now at least" Aristide stated "But we should get back to Fairbanks before more of them come"

"I agree" Gertrude stated "If we get captured again, we might not be as lucky"

Jaden, Alexis and Chazz helped the other prisoners in the cage and then Aristide led them out of the cave as they went back to Fairbanks to tell him the good news.

Chapter End:

Notes: Another chapter complete and it's the first time we've seen Aristide duel since he was first introduced. This will be the last update of 2018 and I have more plans for my Fanfiction through 2019. The next chapter may take a while because there may be two duels in the story depending on how long the first duel is. Also, I have plans to rewrite parts of chapters 14 and 15 from the original Dragon X chapter; this will be to show why Solona only uses her Blue Eyes cards after that.