Hey everyone, Ray here, bringing the intro this time around. A little surprise for those that have been sticking with us, this is one of two chapter updates for June's release. Sort of a way to make up for the late update I put beforehand. So this and 37 will be posted, hopefully you guys will enjoy them both. Also, we will be including Pendulum Summoning to our series, but they will be hopefully put on Year Four. Here's hoping we can all make it there, so just stick with us and we'll get there together. We'd like to once again give a shout out to our Beta, Eneko95, and her continuous support in our work.

With that out of the way, let's get to the next duel shall we?

Chapter 36

War of The Planets

Nature's Strings

Part I

Slifer Dorm

Kanoa's Room

Like most other teachers' rooms, the one Kanoa slept in was a bit larger than the average dorm room. His was the most homey (some would say barebones), with a simple wave-print wallpaper and a surprisingly comfortable carpet the color of wet sand. Since he wasn't in charge of technology, he just had a standard desktop and two-monitor setup, though he had splurged for an ergonomic office chair. Sometimes he took "power naps" at his desk.

Tonight though, said teacher was in his bed, wearing a white muscle shirt, sweatpants, and a peaceful smile. He curled a bit closer to a body pillow for warmth.

Soon however, his peaceful sleep would come to a quick end.

A sudden pounding on the door startled him from his slumber, causing him to fall out of bed and land on the floor face first. He managed to get on his back, looking up at the ceiling as he rubbed his eyes to clear his vision from the dust.

"Please let that just have been me falling," he muttered to himself, yawning loudly. It wasn't his reckless moving as a second round of pounding hit his door.

Kania sighed, getting up from the floor and dusting himself off before putting on his slippers. He rubbed the back of his head to sooth the pain while walking to the door, unlocking it and opening. In front of him was a fully dressed and very upset looking Meryem, glaring daggers at him.

The two simply looked at each other in awkward silence for a few long, long seconds. Then Kanoa attempted to break the tension.

"You know, I had this dream before, only you were in a beautiful grass skirt and bikini top and had a tray of Kalua pig with rice-"

Meryem swiftly punched him in the stomach, and Kanoa fell to his knees with a gasp.

"Gah… What made you think you could start the conversation with that?" she asked, shaking her hand slightly. "I've been up entirely too long updating the mainframe and rules are being broken on top of that. I do not have time for your subconscious fantasies, Kanoa."

"What rules?" Kanoa got up with a groan, holding his stomach. "And where'd you learn to hit like that?"

"I shouldn't have to remind you that students are not allowed to spend the night at a dorm aside from the one they were assigned to without special permission. Especially young women, given that teenage boys are hitting puberty at their age."

Kanoa fully woke up after hearing that, looking at her with confusion.

"Whoa, whoa, back up a bit," he replied. "I know the boys are going through their… routines, as all guys do, but I would never have allowed the girls to stay without talking about it with you. If they didn't go back to the Ra Dorm afterwards, then it's likely they fell asleep while watching some holiday movies I let them borrow."

Meryem pinched the bridge of her nose. "Do you know how irresponsible it is for you to have gone to bed before ensuring that they left?"

"I trust my students, Meryem. I'm sure they would've likely told the girls to leave if they saw that it was almost curfew. They probably just fell asleep and weren't looking at the clock. And before you say it, another girl from my dorm is with them, so it's not a Slifer Boys' Club"

"Just…" She sighed in resignation. "Just take me to where they are so I can make sure they're okay."

Kanoa sighed and moved past his colleague, closing the door behind him as the two began their trek towards the common area in silence.

Eventually, they made their way to their destination, finding that the TV had been turned off yet none of the students were there or sleeping.

Kanoa felt Meryem glaring at him, but was more focused on the DVDs still spread out on the coffee table and the floor.

"That's strange," he began. "Nick would've given the DVDs back if he was going to bed. He's good about getting stuff where it's supposed to be. Not to mention the girls would've let me know they were heading back."

"I assume you didn't bother to check their rooms before turning in?" Meryem added with a disappointing tone.

"They're my students, Mery, not my prisoners. They've always been reliable since they got here and they haven't caused any trouble."

"Kanoa, that trusting attitude is going to get you in trouble someday. I know you want to believe the best of your kids, we all do, but they're still teenagers. They're going to get in trouble no matter how trustworthy they are."

He just rolled his eyes. She really hadn't changed since they were students together. She still thought the worst of everybody and barely ever let people in. Granted, Kanoa still believed that people had good reasons for what they do and that had sometimes backfired on him, but he'd come out all right so far.

'There's got to be more to this than just those kids breaking the rules,' he thought. 'Wonder what else she's worried about…?'

After a few seconds of silence, Meryem had an idea as she pulled a small tablet from her back pocket and tapped the screen a few times. Then she smiled and showed him what she'd been looking for.

It was the surveillance camera footage for Slifer dorm, showing all six students leaving with their Duel Disks at the ready.

"That doesn't…" Kanoa began, a bit too shocked to finish his thought before looking at Meryem.

"Get dressed. We've got some students to find."

He took a deep breath and let it out in frustration before walking back to his room, getting ready to follow his co-worker on what would be a crazy Christmas eve expedition.

Main Academy Building

Wind gently blew through the front of the building, the sound echoing faintly. In the daytime, the conversations from passing students could make it much harder to hear any one person due to the area's acoustics. Of course, there was always something unsettling about being in or outside an empty building at night as well.

Though tonight it wasn't empty, as Laura had made her way there from the building and stairs leading towards the path that went towards the forest itself.. She looked around, hoping to find any sign of the others if they also managed to get transported to where they were.

Unfortunately, she was all alone.

After the explosion, she'd found herself standing in between two rows of lockers, disheveled but fortunately not hurt (and still wearing her Duel Disk). Her first thought had been to look for a security guard and try to explain what had happened, but then her second thought had reminded her that she'd be more likely to get in trouble for breaking curfew than convince them of her story.

Making matters worse, her phone wouldn't turn on properly. It just displayed the dreaded low-battery symbol. Her Duel Disk worked, but none of its features would help her find everyone else too much.

So she'd walked down the halls until she found a door leading into the entryway.

"Dang it. I really hope everyone is ok…"

At this point, her best bet was to head back to the Slifer Dorm and see if anyone had safely made their way there.

Though given that their enemy's trap had failed to capture them, Laura had a niggling suspicion that the dorm wouldn't be any safer. It was easy to imagine them scouring the island for her and the others, probably not asking a lot of permission or forgiveness.

Her assumption turned out to be true as the mark given to her began glowing slightly, prompting her to look at it in confusion. Despite not fully understanding how it worked, she could somewhat sense its intention.

Something was coming, and it quickly revealed itself when nearby bushes rustled, like someone was trying to pass through them.

With only seconds to think, Laura decided to hide herself, just in case it wasn't a friendly face that would appear. She ended up hiding behind one of the pillars on the path, sitting still and trying to quiet her breathing just in case.

After a few seconds, the rustling stopped and someone cursed loudly. Laura carefully edged around the pillar to get a better look.

She saw a blonde in black robes looking around like she'd dropped a contact lens. Then she growled and shot an orb of darkness from her hand into the forest.

'Welp, if I didn't know she was a bad guy I sure do now.' Laura pulled herself back against the pillar as soon as she heard the explosion.

"Damn rats! We almost had them!" the stranger shouted. Laura didn't know why the woman sounding like she was yelling into a fan gave her chills, but it did. "We were that close and then their stupid marks ex machina'd them out! This is why I told that idiot we should've just used the—!"

Laura abruptly sneezed. The shadow ball had stirred up just enough dust, or maybe she had, for her system to react appropriately.

Tauni stopped midway through her thought and looked around, trying to pinpoint where the sound had come from. Another sneeze came out, and her gaze landed on the pillars lining the path.

She smiled like a shark closing in on a hapless seal, and slowly walked towards her target. "Hmm hmm-hm-hmm… Someone forgot to take their allergy meds today, huh? Our targets really shouldn't pick such idiotic allies. But then again, my job wouldn't be as fun if they actually had, so I guess it evens out."

Laura frowned but otherwise managed to keep herself calm.

Her hunter continued forward as she got closer to where Laura's general area was. She stopped momentarily, looking at each one of the pillars. Tauni knew that just as their dark power could shield them, the Gate and Key's power shielded their presence as well. She was essentially playing hide-and-seek with her enemy.

"There's no point to hiding or fighting back, you know?" Tauni added, inspecting behind each pillar while talking. "We have superior power, superior skill, and superior numbers. Our Mistress is all-powerful while you guys are just pitiful, half-baked kids with no idea how to use whatever small assets you have.

"Make the smart decision: Join us, serve the Mistress and all your heart's desires will be fulfilled. Nobody has to get hurt, you'll get pretty insane magic training, and I'm sure she'll be merciful since you saw reason. Plus you'll be serving someone actually, demonstrably better than you, and we all know how rare that feeling is in real life."

The Ra student clenched her fists and resisted the urge to jump out and smack Tauni. She liked people and helping them, sure, but she wasn't about to bow to someone who acted like they were better than everyone else. Especially not if that person had tried to capture her and her friends for God knew what kind of purpose.

When she didn't get a response one way or the other, Tauni focused her power into her hand again, releasing another dark bolt at a pillar. It exploded into a pile of rubble, and the pieces scattered all over the area near Laura herself.

She grabbed her arms and curled up protectively. Even if she hadn't actually been hit, the hunk of stone landing that close to her was plenty scary. And that didn't even account for the knowledge that her pursuer would in fact kill her if she got caught.

By that point, her pursuer was starting to get annoyed with having to look for her victim, and probably a little bloodthirsty as well. After a few more minutes, Tauni decided enough was enough and went down the row of pillars, blowing up each one she passed by instantly. Eventually inching closer and closer to where her target actually was.

"Last chance… Quit being so stubborn," Tauni announced after another pillar got destroyed. "Accept your loss, no one will be coming to save you. You're all alone here, with me."

Soon, her footsteps stopped right in front of where Laura was at.

With the other pillars on one row of the path reduced to rubble, Tauni knew that either she was there, or she'd managed to escape again. Either way, her patience was done.

Laura covered her mouth with one hand, realizing that she was both out of time and luck. The next few seconds would determine whether she'd be captured or she'd fight back.

As her hunter charged up for another attack, the mark glowed slightly, making her look at it with confusion. In seconds, it communicated something to her, prompting Laura's eyes to widen.

Tauni released her blast in a straight line for the pillar.

But before it actually made impact, Laura scrambled to the side and then jumped out in front, holding out her marked hand as if to catch it.

A bright, sparkling shield popped into existence in front of her and blocked Tauni's attack. It had probably come from her mark.

Though Laura was not prepared for the pain she began feeling through that arm. It felt first like her arm had fallen asleep, and then like someone actually was stabbing it with needles over and over again. Despite the pain, she powered through it and bounced the attack upward into the sky, where it simply shrunk down before disappearing.

Tauni however, didn't care about it as her eyes and sadistic smile focused on her prey.

"Winner winner, chicken dinner."

The pale student yelled out in pain, holding her arm and trying her best not to pass out. It died down as she panted heavily, glaring back at her opponent.

"Who's the idiot now, bitch?!" the Ra student declared in defiance.

"Oho, you've got quite the potty mouth on you, eh?" Tauni laughed. "I'll be sure to get rid of that after I'm done with you. I must admit… I didn't expect that they'd pick the eye candy girl to fight. Those two must've just wanted you to distract one of the guys. Sad really."

Before Laura could reply, the masked girl slammed her glowing hand onto the ground in front of her, sending the darkness into it. Multiple complex-looking magic circles appeared around Laura, and seconds later dark chains burst out of the ground and wrapped themselves snugly around her body. Her shocked cry was cut short by a slightly thinner chain forcing her jaw closed.

Tauni stood up and smiled under her mask as Laura struggled to loosen the chains. The harder she tried, the more snug the chains got, until finally Laura sort of… wilted in pain. Once she stopped moving, the chains around her legs loosened just enough to let her drop to her knees, but no more.

Her enemy let out a sadistic laugh as she walked towards her prisoner. "If these don't illustrate my point, I don't know what will. Even the Gate and Key holders can't break my chains."

The masked girl pulled a curved dagger from behind her back, clearly relishing Laura's shocked expression. She leaned down and touched the blade to the right side of Laura's face. As Tauni spoke again, her blade slowly and almost gently moved down past her carotid artery.

"You may be somewhat interested to know that my first test subjects were also Ra students. Couldn't let my two worthless companions get the best of me, and it's easier to convince someone from your own dorm, especially when they're feeling down and pitiful. Of course, since they're all chumps, I would have made them suffer when they inevitably failed me if I'd had the chance. So before I burn that dorm to the ground and get my hands on your two boy toys, I'll make sure you feel every scrap of that pent-up hatred…"

The knife eventually stopped as Laura could feel it reach to where her bust was, making the pale student try one last desperate attempt to break free. She tried with all her might, not wanting things to end here.

'I can't let her get to them. I'll die before I let Nick or Barclay get hurt!' she thought to herself.

Tauni raised the knife for a stab and Laura closed her eyes in prayer.

'Please… someone, anyone! Don't let me lose them!'

Caught up in enjoying the moment, Tauni didn't notice that Laura's mark started glowing. The light managed to connect with the chains binding the pale student's hands together, turning them into energy which then entered the mark.

Before long, all of the chains disappeared from the Ra student's body, creating a powerful surge of gray light that blinded Tauni. She staggered backwards, dropping her knife as she couldn't see in front of her. Soon enough, a second explosion of light triggered as it expanded outward.

The gray energy eventually engulfed Tauni, then immediately disappeared in a flash and a gust of wind. The now-ruined entryway was quiet again.

?

When the light died down, the girls opened their eyes to an alien landscape. Instead of a forest or wilderness, they were standing on something black and reflective in the midst of a white void. An aurora glowed high above them, stretching for miles across the sky.

Laura looked up in awe, then realized that the chains weren't there anymore with a surge of relief. Even the pain was leaving her, now that she thought about it; wherever she was, the place almost felt like it was healing her wounds.

Tauni's pain faded away as she got back to her senses, looking around to see where they were. It angered her as she knew that her prisoner had something to do with it and looked over to her.

"Where did you take us?!" She bellowed in demand. "Answer me, you slut!"

Before she could release her powers once again, the dimension shook violently. Like before, the gray light reappeared, this time shining directly onto Tauni. However unlike before, it caused her severe pain and made the dark energy around her disappear. When it stopped, she was now panting heavily, feeling the pain all over her body.

"What the hell?" the pale student remarked, looking at her marked hand. "Did I do that?"

Her enemy soon fell to her knee, shaking off the attack that hit, focusing back on Laura with a glare.

The Ra student's confusion only increased when she saw what happened next.

The diamond shape mark she originally had moved from the top of her hand to the middle of her palm. In a few seconds, the glow returned as it began morphing, changing itself into a new shape she never saw before.

When the light died down, Laura's palm now bore a thick circle shape with skinny petals around the outside. Slightly thicker petal shapes filled the (admittedly small) gaps between petals, and a triple-diamond shape in the center gave her the impression of a sunflower-themed shield as opposed to an actual sunflower.

"That's new," she said, flexing her hand experimentally.

Tauni got up and attempted to use her power a third time. This proved to be a mistake, as the area shook again and a new gray-light construct emerged. It turned into a hand and quickly grabbed her, putting the squeeze on her like a bottle of dish so as it prompted a shout of pain.

The Ra student suddenly realized what was going on. "Guess since this place is one of peace, you can't use your special powers to hurt me!" she said smugly.

Her enemy growled at that remark, but cautiously dispelled her darkness anyway, just in case. As soon as it vanished, the gray hand pushed her to the ground and disappeared.

"Guess you were right," she begrudgingly admitted while standing up. "However, it doesn't change the fact that neither of us are leaving. I'm the only one who can—"

Her sentence got interrupted when a new light shined down onto the masked girl, causing energy to form around her right arm. When it died down, her Duel Disk manifested itself with the Deck she had already inserted in it. "Okay what."

Its initial design was of course similar to an Academy Duel Disk, though with a metallic purple and black paint job and what looked like a classic marionette controller where the control panel would be. The shape was a little more circular than a normal Disk as well.

Before either of them could say anything, a disembodied voice boomed throughout the dimension.

"Duueell…"

Another light shone down in between the girls, this time taking a vaguely male shape. Even though its head looked like the inside of a lightbulb, Laura still got the distinct impression it was looking at her.

This was confirmed when the mysterious being walked up and actually kneeled in front of her. "Uh…?"

The being gently took her hand, and Laura felt a sudden surge of energy inside her. Strangely though, it also felt like someone was gently wrapping her in a big soft blanket.

Eventually, the glowing soon died down as the figure disappeared, leaving Laura alone with a serious look on her face. Whatever was given to her, it filled her with power and knowledge of what was happening at that moment.

"You have no control over this place...Nothing can break the pact between two Duelists. The only way either of us is getting out of this dimension, Elysium, is through completing a Duel," she remarked calmly.

The masked girl looked shocked at Laura's sudden attitude shift. Whatever this place was, it was gonna cause more trouble for her if she didn't go along with it.

"Grr, fine. But don't think this is gonna be an easy win, snow queen!" Tauni responded in a cocky tone.

Her opponent placed her Duel Visor on, despite feeling that she didn't need them, and prepared herself.

Tauni didn't need her visor as her mask had built-in lenses in both of the eye holes, which would allow her to see the holograms. Though like Laura, she also had a feeling that they wouldn't really be needed.

The Ra student soon grabbed her deck, inserting it into the slot and activating her Disk. When it turned on, the hum of her construct activated as it formed out of the open slot on the side of the body.

Laura's was still the same as before, Naturio's paw armor with five armor plates rather than three; one plate per slot in the monster zone. Underneath, five other individual slots appeared on each plate for her Spell/Trap zones.

Tauni's construct, when it materialized, was more disturbing. It took the form of a badly damaged doll's arm with scratches and spikes all over it. Five pieces were torn out of the lower portion, likely for her Spell/Trap zones, and five deeper scratches on the forearm served as the monster zone.

With both of theirs out, the girls took their stance and announced the classic line all Duelists knew.

"Let's Duel!"

Lee here and another duel about to start, Laura vs Tauni! Will Laura win the match? What is this power that Laura's demonstrated? Is it her own power or is this something she's gained through Nick and Barclay? She does have her own symbol... Mysteries to be explored further in the story! (Kalu pig is basically Hawaiian-style smoked shredded pork, if you were wondering.) Thank you for your continued reading, and thank you for putting up with our erratic update schedule. As Ray said, we'll be posting this and 37 so hope you enjoy the next chapter.