Chapter 55: No Pain, No Gain

Dennis sat in his cell, alone in complete darkness. He'd expected, and hoped, to be carded after his loss to Yuri. After all, that's what happened to losers, and after everything he's done he deserved it. But it seems fate wanted to torture him more, so instead he was thrown in this cell, his duel disk taken away, leaving him only with his deck. The only time he saw any daylight was when the guards threw in his food, which was barely enough to keep him sustained.

Suddenly, the door to his cell was flung open, and two guards marched in and dragged him to his feet.

"Get up. You have a duel to get to."

"A duel? What-"

"Shut it."

The guards dragged him through the prison complex before throwing him onto the floor of a dueling arena. When Dennis picked himself up, he found himself standing in the middle of the colosseum used for training, with the entire student body glaring down at him. Across from him was a surprisingly familiar face

"I know you, you're Chumley Huffington."

"And you're Fresh Meat!"

Upon closer inspection, Dennis realized just how scarred the boy was. When he knew him before, he was burly, but now he was rail thin. Dark bags were under his eyes, like he hadn't slept in days.

"My god, what happened to you?"

"Worry about yourself, punk!"

At last, two guards walked up and strapped a duel disk to Dennis's arm, which was chained to the ground to prevent him from running. Strangely though, they also put collars around his neck and arms.

"What are these for?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

Unbeknownst to Dennis, The Professor was watching him from behind the mirror, along with a man in dark cloak and top hat.

"For your sake, this had better not be a waste of my time, Shroud," The Professor warned. "Dennis is of too much value as a spy to be carded."

"Oh, I assure you Professor, I'm more than capable of teaching him how to behave," Shroud said with a dark smirk. "I've yet to come across a student I couldn't mold into the perfect soldier. Given the proper amount of time, that is."

"Yes, well I question your…methods…"

"With all due respect, Professor, it was those very methods that made Hell Kaiser who he is today. And he is only one of my many success stories."

He pointed towards Dennis's opponent.

"Take Mr. Huffington there, for example. When he first came to me, he couldn't win a duel to save his life. Now he's been winning duel after duel."

"I see…"

"Trust me Professor, we'll rid Dennis of his rebellious streak yet."

DUEL!

Chumley: 8000

Dennis: 8000

"I'll start by setting one monster face down, and one card face down! Your move."

"So much for a big start. Let me show you how a star kicks off the show! First, I'll summon Performage Fire Dancer (1400/1200) in attack mode! And since he was normal summoned, I can add Performage Hat Tricker from my deck to my hand. And since there were at least two monsters on the field, I can special summon it (1100/1100)! Now, with these two monsters I build the overlay network and Xyz summon! Come on out, Performage Trapeze Magician!"

The crowd booed as his ace appeared, but Dennis tuned them out.

"Now I'll detach one overlay unit to allow my Magician to attack twice this turn! Trapeze Magician, swing in and destroy his face down!"

Trapeze Magician lept into the air, grabbing a glowing trapeze bar to propel himself into the face down monster, which revealed itself to be a Des Koala (1100/1800).

"Thanks for that, because when Des Koala is flipped up, you take 400 points of damage for each card in your hand."

"Not today! When I would take effect damage, I can special summon Performage Flame Eater (1200/1600) from my hand to make the damage zero!"

A black ball emerged onto his field, stopping the spectral form of Des Koala from reaching his master.

"Though my new friend does come with a slight draw back, I'm afraid. When he's summoned, we each take 500 points of damage!"

Chumley: 7500

Dennis: 7500

Dennis thought he felt a brief jolt of pain, but ignored it.

"Now Trapeze Magician, give the audience an encore!"

Trapeze Magician swung back around, kicking Chumley off his feet.

Chumley: 5000

Then, to Dennis's horror, Chumley began convulsing as electricity ran through his body.

"What…What's going on?"

With a pained grunt, Chumley forced himself to his feet, panting heavily.

"Never…you mind…about that…"

"I end my turn with one card face down. Since Trapeze Magician used his effect this turn, he has to bid us adieu."

"You could've attacked with Flame Eater! Why didn't you?"

Dennis said nothing, leaving Chumley seething in rage.

"Fine, whatever. You'll regret it, because I activate the spell card Ancient Rules! Come on out, Big Koala (2700/2000)! Next, I'll use Wild Nature's Release on him, giving him 2000 extra attack points (2700-4700). Smash his Flame Eater!"

Chumley's monster pounced, smashing the magician to pixels.

Dennis: 4000

Before he could say anything, a huge jolt of electricity ran through him, throwing him off his next move.

"These collars…"

"Don't think it's over yet! I activate my trap card, Beast Soul Swap! This returns Big Koala to my hand and special summon another beast, so come on back Big Koala!"

"Shit."

"Attack him directly!"

Dennis wasn't sure what was worse, the giant Koala body slamming him, or the massive blast of electricity coursing through him.

Dennis: 1300

"I end my turn. Now hurry up so that I can crush you!"

Dennis groaned, but forced himself to his feet.

"Alright, my move. First, I activate the spell card, Rank Up Magic Magical Force! This brings back my Trapeze Magician and use him as Xyz material to summon a Rank 5 Spellcaster monster from my extra deck. Come on out, Performage Shadow Maker (2600/1000)!"

"Boo!"

"Traitor!"

"Xyz monsters fit scum like you!"

Dennis ignored the jeers and continued his turn.

"Next, I'll activate the spell card, Rirokyu! This card takes half of your monster's attack points, and gives them to Shadow Maker's (2600-3950) (2700-1350). Attack, Shadow Maker!"

The specter swam forward, cutting Big Koala clean in two with his scissors.

Chumley: 2400

Chumley barely reacted as the collars shocked, unnerving Dennis.

"I end my turn."

"You'll regret that, punk! First, I activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards. Lischious! I summon Des Kangaroo (1500/1700) in attack mode! Now I activate One For One. By discarding a card in my hand, I can special summon a level 1 monster from my deck, like Fusion Parasite (0/0)!"

"So? Neither of them are strong enough to beat my Shadow Maker!"

"They don't need to! When Fusion Parasite is special summoned, I can fuse it with a monster on my field. The only downside is that I can only use it as a substitute for a specific monster listed on the Fusion Monster."

"What?"

"Come on out, Master of Oz (4200/3700)! Attack Shadow Maker and end this duel!"

The giant Kangaroo pounced, punching Shadow Maker so hard that it blew up instantly before continuing towards Dennis, the attack sending him flying.

Dennis: 0000

Dennis howled in pain as the electricity shocked him into unconsciousness. As his mind slipped away, only one thought ran through his mind.

"Why?"

"So Professor, what do you think?"

"Well, it certainly gets…results…" The Professor admitted, rather unnerved by the brutality.

"Oh, that's nothing! Chumley's the weakest of my proteges."

"I see. I leave it in your hands, Shroud, but remember: I need Dennis alive."

"Of course, sir."

As Chumley and Dennis were dragged away, the Duel Academy students filed out.

"Man, was that brutal or what?"

"So what? That's what the punk gets for using Xyz monsters!"

"Yeah, good point."

But one student wasn't so talkative. Sora had watched the whole duel, and was mortified. Is that what Duel Academy did to their rebels now? If that was the case, he'd rather be carded. But he knew better than to speak these thoughts aloud.

"Dennis…"

He wasn't the only one having such thoughts, either. Yuri quickly exited the colosseum, brushing past every other student so that they didn't see the tears in his eyes. That place…he never wanted to think of that place again, yet he was forced to relive all of those terrible memories. And he sent Dennis there.

An hour later, Dennis was back in his cell.

"I'm rather disappointed in you, Dennis."

Grunting, Dennis looked up to see Shroud staring down at him.

"I saw Polymerization in your hand. If you'd used it, you'd have won."

"I'll never use Fusion again. Not after the hell we've brought."

"Boy, I'd rethink my position if I were you."

"And who the hell are you?"

"The only person who can grant you your freedom, if you play by the rules. The Professor has made it my job to rid you of these rebellious thoughts, and that's what I intend to do. Once I'm done with you, you'll be the perfect spy once more."

"No! I won't go back."

Shroud chuckled.

"You still have some fight in you, good. I'll enjoy crushing it, but first…"

He tossed in Dennis's dinner, stale bread with cheese.

"Eat up, you'll need your strength. And by the way, Chumley's enjoying a nice steak right now."

With that, the small window closed, leaving Dennis in darkness once more.

"At least Lulu is safe…"

But he had a feeling his misery had only just begun.

To be continued in Dimension Wars Part 2: Synchro