Chapter 9
Into the Shadows
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Loud Noises!
Card Names/Info
[Slifer Red Dorm, Duel Academy, 10:30 P.M.]
"Help me! Not the water! Anything but the water!" Syrus yelled.
"Aw, water isn't so scary." Jaden said with a small laugh.
"That's not too scary at all." Yuuchi said with a straight face.
Syrus, who was making a pose as if he was drowning, looked at the two shocked. "It was dirty, swamp water?" He said unsure. Jaden just snickered while Yuuchi shook his head at him. He then sighed and put his head on his hand. "Oh, you're right. Only a chump would be scared of that." He said, not noticing that Chumley was behind him shaking and Lori was gripping onto Yuni's arm, both of them acting like they wanted to hide.
All six teens were currently in the Slifer dorm's mess hall. After our main trio were finished with studying for the night, the three had headed downstairs only to find Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley in the dark room with lit candles telling scary stories. Jaden had invited them to sit and join them which they accepted, though Lori was a little reluctant, and with how hard she was clutching Yuni's arm, she now knew why.
They all sat at a table facing each other with a pile of monster cards in the middle that each person would draw from. The higher the level on the monster, the scarier the story they needed to tell.
Jaden stared at the two scared students after what Syrus said before going to draw a card. "Mid-level scares for a mid-level card. But me… I hope I get a high level!" He said before showing that he drew Sinister Serpent, a 1 level monster.
Syrus and Lori both sighed at this. "Oh, you lucked out." Syrus said as Chumley came back to sit at the table. "You hardly have to scare us at all with that low card."
Jaden placed the monster in the discard pile next to the deck. "Well, I think I have a story that'll do the trick." He said before placing his elbows on the table and laying his head on his hands. "Well, it's more like a memory. You see, back when I was a little kid, I used to hear sounds. But I'd only hear them real late at night…" He started as everyone leaned in, curious about where the story was going.
"I used to think I was dreaming, but then, one night I woke up to see my closet glowing and I heard the sounds coming from inside. They sounded like voices, but not ones I recognized. I went to check it out, but every time I did there was nothing. Nothing there at all...except my cards…"
Everyone stared at Jaden before Syrus spoke up. "And?" He asked, waiting for the rest.
"And that's the end of the story." Jaden said smiling.
Everyone leaned back or laid their head down in disappointment. "That's it?" They all asked.
Jaden laughed a little at their reactions before looking off. "But want to hear something strange?" He asked. "Lately, I've started hearing them again." He said while thinking about his Winged Kuriboh card.
While the others looked at Jaden with looks of confusion and concern, Yuuchi was curious. 'I bet I can guess what those voices are.' He thought as he looked over at the spirit of Winged Kuriboh flying around the room. "Why do you think it stopped?" He asked him.
Jaden looked at Yuuchi before thinking really hard, it almost looked like it was painful for him to try to remember. "Huh, I'm not really sure. It just stopped one day I guess." He said with a shrug.
Yuuchi just nodded at the boy before going to grab a card since it was his turn next. So far, he had drawn twice, and each card was below level 4, which he was fine with since he wasn't great at coming up with stories. He then drew the top card and revealed it to be Insect Queen which was a level 7.
"Oh no." Chumley said as he and Lori started to get worried at how scary the following story was going to be.
Yuuchi shrugged as he put the card in the discard pile. "I don't think I can make a story that's too scary." He said nonchalantly to which Chumley and Lori released a sigh of relief.
"Come on, you got this. Just make a story about something you think is scary." Jaden said to him.
Yuuchi hummed as he thought about what to say for a while. "When I was younger, I was terrified of monster spirits…" He muttered, making everyone around him look at him curiously. "I remember some people saying how cards have spirits and how you should always treat your cards well, but I was a kid and never really believed them..." He said as he stared at the lit candle in front of him.
"But then…One night, I saw one...and it terrified me." The others could see the small amount of fear in his eyes as he spoke. "It shot its demonic, clawed hand out of the card, reaching out to grab anything in reach. I couldn't move for the longest time. Then after that night, for a whole year, I was scared of cards. Just seeing one made me want to scream, and I even locked my own cards away." His gaze lowers and stares intensely at the stack of cards on the table. "Deep down, I'm still afraid of them. Every time I summon a monster, a part of my mind goes back to that night. I fear them because I know it's possible that one day a hand could come out of a card and grab me. But I worry more about what would happen next. Would it pull me in? Would it take over my body? Would we fuse and become some sort of amalgamation-"
"Ok ok! You can stop now!" Syrus said while hiding his head in his shirt as if it would protect him. Chumley was visibly shaking, and Lori was clutching Yuni's arm so tightly that Yuni was slowly losing her feeling in it. Yuni herself even looked a little scared at the boy's story. Yuuchi blushed a little in embarrassment and stuttered a quiet "Sorry".
Jaden was the only one who seemed to be fine and smiled at Yuuchi. "Now that's a story! See, I knew you had it in you." He said completely unfazed.
"Hahahahaha! Hey, I want to join in on the fright-fest!"
Everyone jumped or fell out of their seat from the sudden appearance of the dorm headmaster Professor Banner holding his cat Pharaoh standing next to their table. Yuuchi, Jaden, and Syrus were trying to stay in their seats. Yuni and Lori had both screamed, though Lori's was louder by a big margin, and Chumley looked as if he was going to run through the wall to try to get away from the intruder.
"You just did!" Syrus yelled.
"We're kind of on the edge of our seats here!" Jaden said while turning to the professor.
Yuuchi went to help his friends up and back into their seats, while trying to calm himself down. While he did this, Jaden and Syrus invited their headmaster to join in and explained the rules to him. Professor Banner took a seat and drew the top card which was revealed to be Five-Headed Dragon.
"Whoa, that's a level 12 card." Jaden said causing Syrus and Lori to try to leave before Banner could even begin his story.
Professor Banner chuckled. "What's wrong you two? Don't you want to hear about the abandoned dorm at the end of the island?" He asked, peaking Jaden's interest.
"Abandoned dorm?" He asked.
"Yes. No one talks about it, but there was once a special dorm set at the edge of the forest. It was shut down after several students mysteriously went missing." Banner explained ominously, sending chills down some of the teens' spines.
"What happened to the students?" Yuni asked with Syrus nodding a little.
Banner smiled. "Well, that's the mystery of it, but the rumor was that it had to do something with shadow games." Now Yuuchi's interest peaked as he heard that.
"Thanks, you can stop now!" Chumley yelled while hiding behind an empty table.
Banner ignoring this continued. "You see kids, shadow games are duels played with powerful mystical items."
"The Millennium Items." Yuuchi cut in.
Banner nodded at the boy as Jaden spoke to Banner. "I've heard about those, but it's not true." Banner laughed at this.
"Yes, that is what most people say. But I find that most stories…Well, they generally have to come from somewhere." He said while adjusting his glasses. At that moment, Pharaoh let out a big yawn, causing Banner to stand up. "Well, I think that's my cue to get back home. Don't stay up too late." He said before leaving the mess hall.
"Good night."
"Later." The group said.
Syrus turned to Jaden after Banner had closed the door. "You know, there was this creepy building I saw in the forest once..." He said nervously.
Jaden smiled and turned to his friend. "Ah, sweet! Then you lead the way for us tomorrow night." He said happily, shocking Syrus.
"If by "Us" you mean "you", then yeah. Because I'm not going anywhere near some haunted place!" Lori said while standing up. Chumley who had walked back over to the table nodded his head fast in agreement with her. "You know what? I'm gonna head to bed now before you guys give me more nightmares with your stories." Lori said as she headed for the door and said goodnight to everyone before heading up the outside stairs.
Yuni and Yuuchi then stood up as well. "You guys probably shouldn't go." She told the boys while grabbing her bag. "This is a place where people went missing, and it's probably off limits anyway. It would be better to just stay safe, ok?" She asked them.
Jaden sighed. "Ok…"
Yuni smiled at the boy. "Alright then. Good night guys." She said while heading out of the door with Yuuchi walking behind her.
Right after Yuni left, Yuuchi got to the door and stopped for a moment before looking over his shoulder at Jaden. "Tomorrow night, right?" He asked, causing Jaden to smile at him and Syrus and Chumley to sigh. None of them knew that Professor Crowler was outside by the window and had heard their plans. He would then come up with a little plan of his own.
…...
[Some City, Japan]
"Nooooo!" A man screamed before falling to the ground unconscious.
"Rest in peace, in the shadow realm." A tall man in a trench coat said in a deep voice. He turned off his duel disk and chuckled as he adjusted the mask that covered the top half of his face, before walking down the alley where another man was waiting.
The second man was shorter than the other and wore a mask that covered the bottom half of his face. He ran a hand through his black hair and looked over at his partner walking towards him. "Any challenge?" He asked in a smooth voice.
"None at all." The tall man responded. Suddenly, the man's ringtone echoed through the alley. He pulled out his phone from his pocket and turned away from his partner to answer. "Speak…..Duel Academy?...Tomorrow night?... I'll be there." And with that he hung up the call. "Come on, we have more business to attend to." He said to his partner before turning around to walk out the alley, with the shorter man following suit.
….
[Duel Docks, Duel Academy, 12 A.M.]
The next night, Crowler stood on the docks patiently waiting for the two men he had hired to arrive. He then heard the sound of footsteps behind him and turned around to see two cloaked men walking up to him. "So, you're the ones they call the Shadow Duelists." He said with a smile.
The tall man stopped in front of Crowler with fog spilling out of his briefcase. "Our opponents call us many things, but most of which are hard to discern through their shrieks of sheer terror." He spoke. "But enough small talk, what's the job?"
Crowler stopped smiling and stood a little straighter at the man's deep voice and serious tone. "I want one of you to frighten someone so intensely that he leaves the academy and never comes back. The other I want to keep the other students distracted. Up to the challenge?" Crowler asked the two as the fog reached his feet.
"Of course. We never turn our backs on a challenge." The man said as his partner nodded.
Crowler, wanting to test this, tried to move behind the cloaked man only to see that he was looking right at him. He tried this several more times and each one had seemed as if the man was always facing Crowler.
"My my. You ARE good." Crowler said after trying and failing to get behind the man.
"We're better than good." The shorter man said as he turned to walk away.
"And we'll prove it. Not just by scaring this someone. But by banishing him to the shadow realm." The big man said ominously.
Crowler looked confused for a moment before giving a small smile. "Well, all right, if you insist." He said before giving them the description of Jaden.
…...
[Dark Forest, Duel Academy, 12:20 A.M.]
"I mean, you could look at it as being lost. Or you could say we've found a couple places where it's not at." Jaden said as he, Yuuchi, Syrus, and Chumley were walking through the forest with flashlights looking for the abandoned dorm. So far though, they hadn't found anything but trees, sticks, and the occasional wildlife.
"Yeah?" Chumley spoke up. "Well, we've been finding these places for over an hour now, but then again, I guess it could be worse for Sy."
"Huh? For Sy?"
"Yeah, we could be near a lake of dirty swamp water~" He said jokingly before chuckling to himself.
Syrus and Chumley started to bicker with each other about bathing and not cleaning bathtubs, while Jaden turned to Yuuchi. "So, Yuuchi, what made you want to come out here looking for some old building with us?" He asked. "I mean, Lori declined, and Yuni didn't think it'd be a good idea to go. I never would've thought you would do this without them being here…No offense." He said with a small smile.
Yuuchi, who was moving his flashlight around the forest, didn't seem to be offended at all. "If what Professor Banner said was true, then that means that somewhere on this island there were supernatural things happening." He said with some excitement creeping into his voice. "I want to investigate this to see if it's real or not. So, I hope we can actually find it."
"Cool! The night's still young so we have plenty of time to find it!" Jaden told him with a toothy grin.
The group of four continued walking for another 15 minutes before finding a trail, and after following it for a while, Yuuchi spoke up.
"You guys see that?" He asked while lifting his flashlight down the trail in front of them. Luckily, the full moon peaked out from behind a cloud, shining some light down and revealing a small amount of a big building.
"Yeah! I bet I can guess what that is!" Jaden said happily while Syrus and Chumley just sighed nervously.
The group sped up a little as their potential destination was in sight and soon reached a rundown gate with two pillars. They saw there was a "Keep Out" sign hung up with some wires and was hanging in between the two pillars but realized that this sign would do little to nothing to actually keep anyone out.
"Hey, check this out." Jaden moved his flashlight to the ground in front of the left pillar, revealing a red rose laying in front of it. It was obvious to everyone that someone had placed the flower there.
"Check out what's behind it." Syrus said, bringing everyone's attention to the old, dusty, deteriorating building.
"The old dorm!" Jaden said.
"And probably lots of ghosts too!" Chumley said, already getting scared.
While Jaden assured the two that there was no problem and no ghosts, Yuuchi pulled out a small notebook from a bag he had brought with him. He started writing down some notes on the building and the surroundings, making sure to include the rose in his detail.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a stick breaking to the groups right, scaring Syrus and Chumley, and causing Yuuchi and Jaden to quickly shine their flashlights in that direction. What they shone their lights at were a pair of long legs that belonged to the Obelisk student Alexis.
"Oh, hi Alexis." Jaden said simply while Chumley and Syrus were holding onto him painfully.
"What are you doing here?" Syrus asked while not letting go of Jaden's arm.
Alexis walked up to the boys. "That's funny. I was about to ask you guys the same thing."
"We heard about the abandoned dorm and wanted to check it out." Jaden explained as Yuuchi was looking at the pillars and still writing in his notebook.
"Well, that's not very smart." Alexis responded. "Don't you know that kids have a way of disappearing around here?" She said with a serious tone.
"Ah, come on. That's just some urban myth."
"No, it's not. Believe me, I know." She said, getting Yuuchi's full attention. "Why else would the academy make this place completely forbidden? They catch you here, and they'll expel you guys." She said seriously.
Jaden however wasn't fazed or deterred by her warning. "Yeah, ok, so then why are you here?" He asked slyly.
Alexis clenched her fist. "I have my reasons, that's why!" She yelled at him, startling all the boys.
"Whoa, no need to snap. We're just here to look around, but we'll stay out of your way. Don't worry about it." Jaden told her.
Alexis turned her back to them and started to walk away. "Look, it's just that…One of the kids who disappeared here…was my brother." She revealed, making the group gasp and look back at the rose on the ground. When they turned back, Alexis had already left.
"If Alexis' brother really disappeared.." Syrus said.
Yuuchi looked over at the building. "Then the rumors are true, and something did go on here."
Syrus shook a little as he looked at the probably haunted building. "I say we go back!" He said.
"Yeah? Well I say we go in!" Jaden responded before jumping over the small sign, with Yuuchi following right behind him. Chumley watched the two go off for a while before looking back at the dark forest and quickly moving to join the two. "See ya in a few Syrus. Don't disappear on us." Jaden joked with a small chuckle as they reached the front doors to the looked around nervously and soon ran to catch up with the group.
As the group went inside the dorm, they never heard the quick scream that came from the woods.
…...
[Abandoned Dorm, Duel Academy, 12:43]
The four boys had been looking around the cobweb ridden dorm for a while now. Nothing had been too out of the ordinary, the place still had some old furniture in some rooms, pictures of students, and a broken wooden coffee table in a hallway. As the looked closer at the walls, they were revealed to have hieroglyphics drawn onto them. Both Yuuchi and Jaden noticed that among the glyphs, the 7 Millennium Items were there as well.
"This is so fascinating." Yuuchi said as he moved his hand along the symbols. "I need to record this." He then pulled out his PDA and made sure to get all of the walls for him to look back on later.
"AAAHHHH!" A loud scream rang through the building, getting everyone's attention.
"That sounded like Alexis!" Syrus said as they all turned to the deep hallway.
"Let's go!" Jaden said, as they all started running to find the girl. After running down some hallways they came to a big room with stairs that led down to a lounge, where all the furniture had sheets thrown over them.
"Alexis?" They called out as they went down the stairs. They ran around the room before Jaden found a card on the floor. He picked it up and saw that it was one of Alexis' cards. They then noticed that in a small corner of the room there was a door that led to a rock tunnel.
"She has to be down here." Yuuchi said as they all ran down the tight tunnel. They soon reached a crossroad with a path going left and the other going right. They looked down both paths, but there was no way of knowing which way Alexis had gone down.
"Alright! Syrus and I will go to the left!" Jaden said while pointing at the left tunnel.
Yuuchi nodded and looked down the right one. "We got this one then." He said before running into the tunnel with Chumley behind him.
They were running for about a minute, going deeper and deeper into the cave until the entered a large stone cave. "What is this place?" Yuuchi asked while looking around. Chumley ran in shortly after, trying to regain his breath. The cave had stone statues of animals etched into the walls and the floor had a weird spiral-like design that the two boys didn't recognize.
"Finally, someone showed up." A voice said.
Yuuchi and Chumley both looked towards a boulder and saw a person on top of it now sitting up. It was revealed to be a black haired man with brown eyes and a black mask covering the bottom half of his face, wearing a trench coat that covered his body.
The man looked at both boys before sighing. "I've been waiting patiently for who knows how long, just to be the distraction." He said disappointedly.
Yuuchi frowned at the man. "What are you talking about? Who are you? Where's Alexis?" He asked while looking to see if she was hidden somewhere in the cave.
The man jumped off the boulder and landed a few feet away from Yuuchi. "You can call me Swarm. Oh and don't worry, she's around here somewhere, and safe…for now." He said ominously.
"Tell me where she is. Now!" Yuuchi demanded angrily.
Swarm tossed his coat off, revealing him to be wearing a sleeveless red shirt, black pants, and a big circular golden necklace with a triangle in the middle of it with five spikes hanging off of it. "I can tell you, but only if you beat me in a duel. If you're up to it." He said while brandishing his green spider-like duel disk and smirking behind his mask.
Yuuchi growled before taking his bag off and taking out his duel disk. "Let's do this." He said as he readied his deck and disk.
Chumley nervously moved back to try to see if he could sneakily look for Alexis in the cave as the two synced up their duel disks.
"Duel!" They yelled.
"I'll take the first move." Swarm said as he drew. "And I'll start by activating an effect during my standby phase." He said while revealing a monster card. "I activate Golden Ladybug which lets me gain 500 life points and all for the low price of keeping the monster revealed in my hand." He explained as he now had 4500 life points already.
"But don't worry, I'm a nice guy, so I'll activate the spell card Upstart Goblin. This card gives you 1000 life points and lets me draw a card." Swarm said before drawing again. "Next, I'll set a monster face down and then I'll set two more cards." He said as three face down cards appeared on his field. "Go ahead kid."
Yuuchi said nothing as he drew a card and looked at his hand.
Return of the Samurai
The Six Samurai - Nisashi
Marauding Captain
Reinforcement of the Army
The Six Samurai - Yaichi
Return of the Six Samurai
"I'll activate the spell Reinforcement of the Army, to grab a level 4 or lower warrior monster from my deck. So, I'll choose Hand of the Six Samurai." He said as he added his monster.
"Next I'll summon Marauding Captain in attack mode." A blonde man carrying two swords and dressed in armor jumped onto the field.
Earth | Warrior | Lvl 3 | ATK: 1200 | DEF: 400
"And since he was normal summoned, I can use his effect to special summon a level 4 or lower warrior monster from my hand, and I'll choose to bring out The Six Samurai - Nisashi in attack mode as well." The symbol of the Six Samurai appeared on the floor before the tall, green armored man jumped out of it.
Wind | Warrior | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1400 | DEF: 700
"Now, Marauding Captain will attack your face down monster." Yuuchi said as the man ran at the card which flipped up revealing it to be a small pink worm with needles coming out of its head. The captain slashed the worm in half destroying it.
"My Needle Worm's effect activates when it's flipped face up. Now you must send the top five cards of your deck to your graveyard." Swarm said calmly as Yuuchi's deck glowed for a moment before sending out the top five cards, which Yuuchi put in his grave.
"Fine, but now Nisashi will attack you directly. Go, Wind Style Strike!" Yuuchi commanded. The armored mad raised his two sword hilts as green energy blades formed on them and ran at the masked man. He raised his blades before cutting the man across his chest twice, lowering his life points to 3100.
"Now I'll set two cards face down and end my turn there." Yuuchi said as Nisashi came back to his side of the field.
"That was 'licious." Chumley said quietly as he was moving some rocks to see if maybe there was a hidden passage somewhere with Alexis being in it.
Swarm smirked behind his mask. "Not bad kid, you seem to be a good duelist." He said before grabbing the golden necklace around his neck. The eye on the necklace started glowing, brightening the cave they were in before the ground began to shake a little. "But let's see how you do under more pressure. Because now, this duel is a shadow game!" He announced as a dark fog started to appear.
"What?!" Yuuchi asked as the fog surrounded his and Swarm's feet. He looked at the necklace that had stopped glowing and his eyes widened at it. "Wait a second..Is that the Millennium Ring?! B-but how do you have it?" He asked.
Swarm chuckled as he let go of the necklace. "I have my ways. So, allow me to show you the way to the shadow realm!" He yelled.
Above the two duelists on the ceiling of the cave, a glowing yellow symbol of an eye that was the same as on the Millenium Items appeared, as if it was watching them.
"It's my turn now, draw!" Swarm looked at the card he drew before revealing the Golden Ladybug in his hand again. "And once again I'll use my monster's effect to gain 500 life points." He said as he went back up to 3600.
"Now I'll start by using the spell Pot of Greed to draw two more cards." He said as he drew two more times. "And then I normal summon Skull-Mark Ladybug." A small dark blue ladybug with a skull and crossbones symbol on its back appeared on the field and hissed at Yuuchi.
Earth | Insect | Lvl 4 | ATK: 500 | DEF: 1500
"But don't be too scared by it, because now I'll activate my trap card Torrential Tribute to destroy all monsters on the field!" Swarm said as his trap was flipped up. The card glowed before shooting out a big blue ball of fire in between the monsters which exploded and lit all three monsters on fire, destroying them all in seconds.
Yuuchi covered his face from the intense heat of the flames as he looked at Swarm, shocked that he would just destroy his own monster like that.
"And since my Skull-Mark Ladybug was sent to the graveyard, I can use its effect to gain 1000 life points." Swarm said as his life points went up again. "I'll then banish both of my insect monsters from my grave, to special summon-" He took his only two monsters in his graveyard out and put them away before slamming a new monster from his hand onto his duel disk. "Doom Dozer!" He finished.
The cave shook, causing some rocks and stalagmites to fall from the top of the cave, before a huge pink and black centipede clawed out of the ground and roared at Yuuchi.
Earth | Insect | Lvl 8 | ATK: 2800 | DEF: 2600
"Now Doom Dozer, attack him directly! Doom Digger!" Swarm yelled while pointing at Yuuchi. The giant insect roared before digging into the ground and disappearing, before digging out right next to Yuuchi and slashing him with its multiple legs.
"Aaahh!" Yuuchi screamed as he got knocked back a few feet but stayed standing. His life points fell down to 2200 as he slowly walked back up.
"Now my Dozer's effect activates. Since it inflicted battle damage, you have to send the top card of your deck to the graveyard!" Swarm explained as Yuuchi's deck sent out the top card. "With that I'll end my turn." He finished.
Yuuchi went to draw a card, but as he did, he looked at his left arm which now had no bicep anymore. All that was there was his hand down to his elbow and his shoulder with an empty space in between them. "What's happening?!" He said with fear in his voice.
Swarm laughed at the boy's reaction. "You're paying the price of the shadow game! The lower your life points get, the more the shadows take from you!" He explained with a laugh as the ground shook again and the dark fog seemed to get thicker, but neither seemed to notice this.
Yuuchi kept looking at his hand, frozen as he tried to keep his fear in control.
"Young master." The voice of Grandmaster of the Six Samurai called out. Yuuchi looked over to his right to see the transparent spirit of his monster appear. "I don't believe this to be a shadow game as he claims. I can't sense any darkness coming from him or the necklace." He said calmly before turning to Yuuchi. "You must steel yourself, and not let fear take over. A friend needs you." He said wisely before disappearing.
Yuuchi looked at his disappearing arm before looking back at the man. He took a deep breath to calm down and then slowly nodded his head.
"Yuuchi!" Chumley said as he ran back over to the boy. "I can't find Alexis anywhere around here." He said nervously.
Yuuchi clenched his hand upon hearing this and turned to Chumley. "Ok. Go back and take the other route to check in with Jaden and Syrus. Maybe they've had better luck." He told him.
"But what about you?"
Yuuchi turned back to Swarm. "I can handle this guy. Just hurry." He said.
Chumley looked at Yuuchi nervously before slowly walking away and leaving the cave.
"So, you think you can win, do you?" Swarm asked rhetorically. "I'd love to see that."
"Alright then. I draw!" Yuuchi said as he drew Sakuretsu Armor. "I'll summon my Hand of the Six Samurai in attack mode."
Fire | Warrior | Lvl 3 | ATK: 1600 | DEF: 1000
"Then I'll activate the trap card, Return of the Six Samurai to special summon a Six Samurai monster from my graveyard that will be destroyed during the end phase." Yuuchi explained as graveyard glowed before a card came out. "So I'll bring back a monster you made me mill from my deck earlier, Spirit of the Six Samurai!"
A set of empty purple armor appeared onto the field before a humanoid figure made of blue flame appeared inside the armor, making the spirit wear it.
Earth | Warrior | Lvl 3 | ATK: 500 | DEF: 500
"And since I now control another Six Samurai monster, I can use the effect of Hand of the Six Samurai to tribute a Six Samurai monster I control to destroy a monster you control, and that'll be your Doom Dozer!" Yuuchi said as the cloaked woman ran at the giant bug.
She pulled out her hidden blade and jumped high into the air before stabbing it in its chest, and sliding the blade down as she fell. The insect screeched in pain before falling over and exploding.
"No!" Swarm yelled as he watched his monster get cut.
"Now go, attack Swarm directly!" Yuuchi told the woman, who then ran to the man and stabbed him in the stomach with her blade.
"Graah!" He grunted as his life points went down to 3000.
"I'll set another facedown and end my turn there. Make your move Swarm.
The man's eyes narrowed and looked towards the exit of the cave. 'Damn it Titan, hurry it up!' He thought. His goal here was to try to stall for as long as he can until Titan had beat Jaden, whether he wins the match or loses doesn't matter. But trying to keep a match at a stalemate was harder than it sounded, especially when one duelist is trying to win. Swarm looked at his deck briefly. 'This is why I had to be the distraction though, my deck is more built for drawn out duels than his is. I just need to hold him off for now. The other guy who left doesn't seem to be a problem at all, but if this kid goes, it might be trouble.'
"Fine, I draw!" He said as he looked at his new card and nodded slightly. "First I'll activate my Golden Ladybug again." He said, revealing the card and gaining 500 life points, putting him back at 3500. "Then, I'll set a monster and another card face down.." He "T" set his cards before grabbing another card in his hand. "And I'll activate the continuous spell card, Insect Barrier and end my turn." He said before crossing his arms.
Yuuchi looked at the spell card warily. "What's the spell card doing?" He asked Swarm
"It's not doing anything." He said simply without moving.
Yuuchi gave him a skeptical look as he drew his Six Samurai Yariza. "I summon The Six Samurai - Yaichi in attack mode." Yuuchi said as a man in yellow glowing armor holding a bow came out of a six samurai symbol on the ground.
Water | Warrior | Lvl 3 | ATK: 1300 | DEF: 800
Swarm opened his eyes and flipped up his new set card. "I activate my continuous trap card, DNA Surgery. First I declare a monster type, and this card makes all face-up monsters on the field become that type." He explained. "So I declare, insect."
After he said that, both of Yuuchi's monsters began to shake a little, before two bug-like arms grew from their back and antennas from their heads.
"And now my Insect Barrier can do its thing! It prevents you from declaring an attack with insect monsters!" Swarm told Yuuchi. 'This should buy Titan some more time.' He thought.
Yuuchi frowned at this, realizing that he wouldn't be able to deal any more damage. "Fine. I'll just use Yaichi's effect to destroy your facedown card." He said as Yaichi readied his bow, and shot an arrow at Swarm's card, revealing it to be Needle Ceiling before it exploded.
"I'll just end my turn there then." Yuuchi said.
Swarm drew for his turn and gained another 500 life points from his Golden Ladybug. "I flip summon my face down monster, which is Swarm of Locusts." He said while a literal swarm of locust appeared from the card.
Dark | Insect | Lvl 3 | ATK: 1000 | DEF: 500
"This monster's effect activates when it's flipped summoned, and it lets me destroy one spell or trap you have!" Swarm said as the locusts flew over to his set Sakuretsu Armor trap and started eating the card, destroying it in the process.
"And guess what? It has another effect which allows me to set it face down again!" Swarm said as his monster disappeared since it was flipped back down. "And I'll end my turn there."
Yuuchi looked at the continuous spell and trap on Swarm's field. 'I need to get a card that'll deal with either of those, I won't be able to end this quickly with them stopping me from attacking.' He thought before drawing another Six Samurai Yaichi.
"Maybe I can't attack, but I can at least stop you from destroying my spells and traps." Yuuchi said. "I'll activate my Hand of the Six Samurai's effect, tributing my Yaichi to destroy your Locusts." He said while sending his monster to the grave. The woman ran at the facedown card and jabbed her sword into it, causing the locusts to screech before being destroyed.
"With that, I'll end my turn." Yuuchi finished.
Before Swarm could start his turn, the entire cave shook even stronger than the last two times. More rocks started to fall from the ceiling as the two duelists did their best to stay on their feet.
"I-is this an earthquake?" Yuuchi wondered out loud as he was swaying, while Swarm just tried to lean against the giant boulder he was on earlier for stability.
Suddenly, the fog that was around them turned a deep, almost black shade of purple and swirled around the two before sealing in a giant sphere, scaring them.
"What...What's happening?!" Swarm yelled, wondering if Yuuchi understood what was happening. The two looked around only to find nothing but an empty dark purple space around them that shifted and swirled.
"The Shadows hunger for a soul...Only one shall survive..." An ominous voice called out. Yuuchi and Swarm looked around trying to find where the voice was coming from but couldn't find anyone. "You and the other one are playing with forces you can't even begin to comprehend...and you shall pay the price...This duel will now continue in the Shadow Realm!" The voice said.
As the voice spoke, balls of gray goo and purple shadowy figures started to appear inside the bubble, surrounding the two and staring at them intently with their red glowing eyes, waiting for them to continue their match.
"N-no. But my necklace isn't even the real thing!" Swarm shouted at the entities who said nothing. "Just let me go, please!" He pleaded to no avail.
Yuuchi looked at them and could feel himself trembling, as the sight of these shadow creatures brought back bad memories. He wanted to run, but how could he get past them? Even if he did get past them, where would he go? As much as he didn't want to do this, the voice spoke clearly to them about how only one of them would survive this. Yuuchi looked at the scared man, trying his best to negotiate with the spirits.
'Only one will survive…' He thought to himself as he looked down at his deck as he thought about Yuni and Lori. 'I can't die here…not like this.' He turned to Swarm. "We're not getting out of here." He said, causing Swarm to turn around to him. "We have to finish this duel."
"Are you crazy!? Do you understand that this could be it for you!?" He spoke erratically.
Yuuchi closed his eyes and clenched his feet for a moment, before opening his eyes and giving Swarm a determined yet sad look. "May the best duelist win." He said somberly.
Swarm looked shocked. He looked back and forth between Yuuchi and the spirits before cursing under his breath and slowly dragging himself over to the spot across from Yuuchi.
"Alright…let's do this." He said.
…...
"This is delicious. You always make the best pancakes mom." Yuni told her mother with a smile. Aria smiled back at her daughter and ruffled her hair before taking her seat at the table.
"Haha, thanks sweetie. I try my hardest to make them as good as possible." She said trying to be humble.
"I agree with Yuni, these are great." Said the small baby sitting in a booster seat. Yuni turned to smile at her uncle Reborn who was currently eating the pancakes with his student Tsuna sitting next to him.
"My mom is the best cook I know and trust me when I say that these are on par with the things she makes." Tsuna said before stuffing another pancake in his mouth, getting syrup around his mouth. There was some giggling that followed this, and Yuni turned to look at Kyoko and Haru laughing at Tsuna's messiness.
"He must be really enjoying them huh, Yuni?" Kyoko asked her, still giggling behind her hand. Haru was leaning over the table trying to clean the syrup from Tsuna's face with a napkin, much to his embarrassment as he tried to dodge her attempts. Yuni laughed and nodded in agreement with Kyoko.
"You should make sure to teach him to use some table manners Reborn." A tall blonde man holding a newspaper told the baby. "Especially when the princess is at the table." He said while nodding towards Yuni.
Aria looked at the man. "It's fine Gamma. Plus, if I recall, you weren't so neat after having my cooking for the first time either." She teased, causing him to blush a bit before moving his newspaper up to try to hide it. Everyone at the table laughed at this, including Yuni.
Yuni looked around the table and smiled. The morning sun was shining through the window as she sat at the head of the dining table, enjoying breakfast with friends and her family all together. She loved everyone here at the table and loved every moment she got to spend with them.
"...You are here to obey…"
All chatter and laughter at the table was gone, and Yuni turned to Tsuna, who had his head down, making it so that she couldn't see his eyes. "What did you say Tsuna?" Yuni asked.
"...It's time to cover the world in shadow…" Kyoko said with her head down too. Yuni turned to her confused and a little frightened.
"W-what do you mean?" She asked, before noticing that everyone's heads were down as well.
"They're much closer than you think."
"Souls will fall."
"The grave keeper must be getting sloppy."
"You're not leaving here ever again. None of you are."
"I'm setting the stage, key keeper."
"How about I ask the questions?"
"You don't want to duel me."
"Don't lump me in with the others. My plans are beyond them."
"I have your friends right here."
"The cards belong to me."
"I won't let you stop me again…"
Yuni shot out of her chair after hearing the last line and turned around. It was as if someone had whispered it directly in her ear, but she found no one behind her. Turning back to the table where everyone had stopped talking but kept their heads down, the light that was shining through the window was replaced by a darker shade of orange that bathed over her and everyone at the table. "I.. I don't understand. What are you guys saying?" She asked as she looked at everyone nervously.
Simultaneously, they all turned their heads to look at her, scaring her more. They all had neutral faces, but all of their eye colors had changed to orange.
"They need you, Yuni." They all spoke in unison. "More than they know."
Get Up.
...
[Ra Dorm, Duel Academy, 1:00 A.M.]
Yuni's eyes shot open, and a gasp escaped her lips. She sat up and looked around quickly, just to see that she was alone in her room. She took a couple deep breaths to calm her fast-beating heart, but even after doing so, something didn't feel right. It was as if she had a constant chill going down her spine, and it felt like there was a low ringing in her ears. 'What is this feeling?' She thought as she got out of bed. She walked over to her mini fridge and grabbed a bottle of water and began to take big sips from it, hoping it might help.
Tnk.
Yuni stopped drinking the water upon hearing the sound, and looked around to see what could have caused it.
Tnk.
There it was again. She quietly walked around the room trying to locate the source of the sound.
Tnk.
Yuni stopped in front of her desk where her yellow jacket was hanging on the chair. She stared at it intently before noticing that the left pocket was moving. It would move as if it was reaching out, before falling limp again, hitting the wooden chair and making the 'Tnk'ing sound. Yuni reached inside the jacket pocket and pulled out what was inside, opening her hand to see the orange pacifier she had made for herself.
She looked at it oddly before it moved to the left, jumping out of her hand before she quickly caught it. "How are you doing that?" She asked the pacifier out loud, before looking to her left outside her window, with the chill getting colder as she did. "Where are you trying to go?" She wondered before looking back at the pacifier.
Suddenly, her hand grew warm, and a wave of nostalgia hit her as she looked at the now dimly glowing pacifier. This was a familiar feeling that she expected to never feel again.
A familiar warmth.
A familiar…flame.
….
[Shadow Cave, Under the Abandoned Dorm, 1:05 A.M.]
Swarm drew for his turn and after his standby phase his life points were at 4500. "I normal summon another Skull-Mark Ladybug." He started as the blue ladybug was brought onto the field. "But I'll be getting rid of it with my spell card Insect Imitation! This spell lets me tribute one monster I control, then I special summon one insect monster from my deck with a level that's one higher than the level of the tributed monster." He explained.
"So, since my monster was a level 4, I can special summon the level 5 insect, Millennium Scorpion!" A giant scorpion dropped to the ground, making it shake. The dark blue scorpion had red gems and golden lining on its body and a big millennium eye on its head that glowed. The shadow people and monsters all looked at the monster and made a weird groaning noise at seeing the millennium eye on its head.
Earth | Insect | Lvl 5 | ATK: 2000 | DEF: 1800
"And don't forget that my Skull-Mark Ladybug gives me 1000 life points when it goes to my graveyard." Swarm pointed out as he now had 5500.
"Now go my Scorpion, attack!" He yelled. The scorpion moved towards the much smaller woman and launched his pointed tail at her, stabbing her through her stomach and dealing 400 damage to Yuuchi, putting him at 1800. The scorpion roared before it brought its tail up to its mouth and ate the woman whole, before growing bigger.
"Since my Millennium Scorpion destroyed a monster, it gains 500 attack points." Swarm explained as the Scorpion clicked its claws at Yuuchi. "I'll end my turn there." He said. After he had dealt damage to Yuuchi, the little globs of shadows inched their way closer to the boy, like a cat about to pounce on their prey, making Yuuchi a little more nervous.
Yuuchi put his hand on the top card of his deck and shivered at the state of his body. Even though Grandmaster had told him that the earlier shadow game wasn't real, it was now, and seeing his body missing pieces of itself scared him. His right leg was missing its calf and there was a gap where his stomach should be, making it look like he was bisected.
'Come on. Give me the cards I need to survive this.' He thought to his deck before slowly drawing the card. Yuuchi looked at it and played it immediately. "I activate Graceful Charity. So, I'll draw three cards and then discard two of them." He said as he drew his cards and smiled a little before sending his second Yaichi and a Yariza to his graveyard.
"I normal summon The Six Samurai - Kamon in attack mode!" He started as the man covered in dynamite appeared onto the field.
Fire | Warrior | Lvl 3 | ATK: 1500 | DEF: 1000
"And now that I control a Six Samurai monster, I can special summon my Grandmaster of the Six Samurai from my hand!" Yuuchi said before the elderly man came to the field with his sword in hand.
Earth | Warrior | Lvl 5 | ATK: 2100 | DEF: 800
"With him on the field, Kamon's effect can activate, at the cost of him not being able to attack this turn, he allows me to destroy one face-up spell or trap you control. So, let's get rid of that DNA Surgery." Yuuchi said before Kamon lit two sticks of dynamite and threw them at the trap, destroying the card with a big explosion.
Swarm gritted his teeth. "That doesn't matter, you don't have a monster that's strong enough to beat my Millennium Scorpion!' He pointed out.
Yuuchi grabbed the last card in his hand. "Maybe not right now, but I will after activating my continuous spell, The A. Forces!" He said while playing his spell. "Now all of my warrior monsters gain 200 attack points for each warrior monster I control!" He told the man as Kamon and Grandmaster gained 400 attack points.
"But if you attack with your Grandmaster, you'll lose your monster too!" Swarm said, trying to dissuade Yuuchi.
"Yeah, I would..." Yuuchi said before flipping over his last set card. "It's a good thing I'm doing this then. I activate my second Return of the Six Samurai trap, and I'm going to summon my Spirit of the Six Samurai again!" Yuuchi said as the fiery monster joined Yuuchi's other monsters.
"But this time, I'll use its effect to have him equip himself to a Six Samurai monster I control." The spirit jumped into the air turning into a pure blue flame before dropping down onto Grandmaster, coating him and his sword in the blue fire. "This gives my Grandmaster an additional 500 attack and defense points, bringing him to 3000." Yuuchi said.
Swarm started to sweat heavily as Yuuchi went to his battle phase. "Now Grandmaster, attack that ancient bug. Quick Draw Slasher!" Yuuchi commanded.
Grandmaster quickly moved in front of the scorpion and drew his sword, making slashes too fast for anyone to see before sheathing his sword back. Once his sword was back in place, deep cuts appeared on the scorpion that then lit on fire, burning the insect with the blue flames and dealing 500 damage to Swarm.
"And since Grandmaster destroyed your scorpion, Spirit of the Six Samurai lets me draw a card." Yuuchi said before drawing a card. "Now I'll activate my continuous spell Six Samurai United and end my turn." Yuuchi said while playing the card he drew. 'Alright, one step closer to leaving.' He thought.
Swarm drew a card and gained his life points from his ladybug. "I'll banish another two insects from my graveyard to special summon another Doom Dozer." He said as the centipede was on the field once more. "Then I'll have him attack your Six Samurai Kamon!" He said, making the centipede run at the man and biting him, causing the man to explode.
Yuuchi's life points went down to 900 as his feet and a portion of his chest disappeared. The shadow monsters got closer, they weren't even 3 feet away from him now and they were looking up at him groaning hungrily from their makeshift mouths.
"And now, your Grandmaster is down to 2800 attack just like my Dozer." Swarm said as he ended his turn. 'It's ok...I'll be ok. Even though I had to change my deck a little, it still has some good attack power. I'm still at 5500 life points too. I can get out of here. All I need to do is….sacrifice a kid…yeah' He thought to himself. 'I can do that…right?'
"All I need is a monster, before I send yours to the grave where it belongs." Yuuchi said quietly before drawing. "And this is close enough. I activate The Warrior Returning Alive to add any warrior monster in my graveyard to my hand." He said while revealing the card to the shaking man.
"So I'll grab another card you had me send to the graveyard, Enishi, Shien's Chancellor." Yuuchi said as his graveyard sent out the monster for him to grab. "And to summon him, all I have to do is banish two Six Samurai monsters from my graveyard." Yuuchi said as he took his Yaichi and Yariza out of his graveyard. "So I'll do that and summon him in attack mode."
Light | Warrior | Lvl 6 | ATK: 2200 | DEF: 1200
"And now, my Grandmaster is back at 3000 attack. So go and slice down Doom Dozer!" Yuuchi said while pointing at the giant bug. Grandmaster made quick work of the centipede, burning it the same way he did the Millennium Scorpion. Seeing this made Swarm let out a small whimper as he took 200 damage.
"Now I get to draw another card." Yuuchi said as he drew a monster. "Now Enishi will attack you directly!"
Enishi grabbed the sheathed sword on his hip and swung the blade at Swarm without unsheathing it, dealing 2600 damage to him bringing him down to 2700 life points. The shadow people that were around Swarm floated closer to him, keeping their red eyes locked on him, making him look at them all with fear.
"Now I'll summon The Six Samurai - Zanji in attack mode, which will put a Bushido counter on my United spell card." He said as a man wearing glowing orange armor and wielding an energy spear appeared on the field.
Light | Warrior | Lvl 4 | ATK: 1800 | DEF: 1300
"I end my turn." Yuuchi said while giving Swarm a sad look. "This duel might be over next turn you know?" He said. Swarm didn't say anything as he started taking big heavy breaths. He pulled his mask down as he suddenly felt as if he wasn't getting enough air and looked down at his shaking hands.
"This was supposed to be a simple job…I didn't even take the girl…We didn't even hurt her…Why does this have to happen to me?..." Swarm muttered with his hand down.
Yuuchi watched the man seemingly having a panic attack, and it pained him that he was making him go through this. But he had a life and friends as well, and he desperately wanted to go back to them.
Swarm after catching his breath, shakily drew a card, gained his life points, and set a monster face down. "That's it." He said quietly.
Yuuchi drew for his turn and immediately went into his battle phase. "Zanji, attack his facedown." The man jumped into the air and brought his energy spear down onto the card as he dropped back down.
The card flipped up, revealing it to be Man-Eater Bug. "When the Man-Eater Bug is flipped face up, I get to target a monster you control and destroy it. So I'm going to target your Grandmaster." Swarm said, looking and sounding tired. "Looks like I'll get an extra turn." He said with some hope.
Yuuchi just looked at him sadly. "No you won't. I activate the quick play spell, Cunning of the Six Samurai to send my Grandmaster to the graveyard and special summon the Six Samurai Kamon in my graveyard." Yuuchi said as his Grandmaster was swapped out.
Swarm gritted his teeth as he heard this. "Now Enishi, Kamon, attack him directly and finish this duel!" Yuuchi shouted. The Chancellor ran up and slammed his sword sheath into Swarm dealing 2800 damage and bringing him down to 400. When Enishi backed away, Swarm looked up to see multiple sticks of dynamite coming at him before exploding and finally dropping his life points to 0.
Swarm fell down to his knees as the monsters on the field disappeared. Yuuchi watched as the creatures around his feet started moving slowly towards Swarm. "..I'm sorry…" Yuuchi said earnestly.
Swarm just nodded his head and let a few tears fall as he saw the shadows closing in on him. "Yeah…me too kid…" He sniffed. "If uh..you ever find my folks looking for me..tell them that I'm sorry…and that I tried my best, but…I made some wrong turns in life.." He told him with more tears falling down his face.
Yuuchi nodded to him as the shadow sphere opened up enough for him to get out of it. "Leave now. Before we decide that we want another soul." The disembodied voice told him.
Yuuchi turned around and sprinted out of the sphere back into the cave he was in, and kept sprinting all the way out of the cave and down the hall. Even with the painful screams of Swarm echoing through the walls, he didn't stop or turn back. He just ran. He couldn't forget about the reason why he was here though. Alexis was still somewhere here, and he and the others had to find her before anything happened to her.
He ran down the left hall that Jaden and Syrus had gone down and soon arrived at another large cave. He first saw Chumley and Syrus, then his attention was brought to the giant purple bubble of shadows in the middle of the room.
"Oh no.." He said, getting the other boy's attention.
"Yuuchi, you're ok!" Chumley said, relieved to see him.
Yuuchi's eyes didn't leave the sphere. "What's going on? Where's Jaden? Did you find Alexis?" Yuuchi asked quickly.
Syrus looked back at the sphere nervously. "Jaden was dueling some guy named Titan who said that he hid Alexis somewhere. Jaden was starting to make a comeback in the duel before this thing suddenly engulfed them both." He explained. "We found Alexis over there in a tomb but she won't wake up, and Jaden and Titan have been in the ball for a while." He said while pointing to a casket designed with bones and claws standing in the corner of the room.
Yuuchi's eyes widened before he ran towards the ball of shadows. "We have to get him out of there!" He said urgently, as the Syrus and Chumley tried to stop him from getting too close to the sphere. Yuuchi ran up to it, hoping that he could just reach his arm in and pull Jaden out, but as his fingers got an inch away from the sphere, it sent out some sparks of lightning shocking him.
"Aahh!" He yelled as he jerked his hand back. The other two ran up to him to make sure he was ok. Yuuchi looked around for anything that might help them out here. "We can't leave him in there. It's dangerous, his soul is in danger." Yuuchi said painfully as he held his hand.
The other two didn't fully understand what he meant but looked around like him for something that might be able to break the sphere.
"I can break it." A voice called out from the entrance. All three boys turned quickly to see Yuni dressed in some casual clothes walking in. "Or, at least I think I can." She said unsure. All of the guys were shocked to see Yuni here.
"Yuni. How'd you know we were here?" Yuuchi asked before looking down at her chest where the orange pacifier she always wore was shining brightly. "And what's with that?" He asked while pointing at it.
Yuni shook her head. "I didn't know you guys were going to be here, especially after I told you guys to stay away." She said while looking at them disappointedly. "As for..this." She gestured towards her pacifier. "...I don't know, but it's what led me here. Towards this thing." She said as she looked at the shadow sphere.
She slowly walked past the boys and got closer to the orb, making them worry, but she raised a hand to tell them to stay put.
Yuni looked at the dark cloudy sphere for a moment before clutching the pacifier in both of her hands and closing her eyes. She focused on the heat that the pacifier emitted and tried to bring back that old feeling she hadn't used in years. The feeling that let her bring her flames out. 'Come on. Please come out..I need to help my friend.' She thought to herself.
The pacifier in her hands shined even brighter before it burst into the orange sky flames she had in her last life. She opened her eyes and smiled as she lifted the flaming pacifier to the sphere. Sparks of lightning came out to strike her hands before being blocked by the flames and receding. The orb shook for a bit before it started to shrink and open itself up where the flames were at. The others watched in awe as the orb started to destabilize before the big bright fire coming from the little charm Yuni always had with her.
Shortly after opening up, the body of Jaden Yuki fell out with a Winged Kuriboh following after. Yuni took more steps forward, making the sphere shake even more and disappear. As she got to the back of the sphere, another body fell out, revealing it to be an unconscious Titan. The shadow sphere then disappeared completely, leaving behind a shower of orange flames shaped like confetti to fall in the air.
Yuni let out a deep breath and staggered a little before catching her balance. 'I guess using my flames for the first time in this body took a lot of energy' She thought as she wobbly walked over to the group who were getting Alexis out of the casket.
…...
10 minutes later, Professor Crowler was walking through the halls of the abandoned dorm with a flashlight. "Little Jaden must be beaten and paralyzed with fear by now!" He said excitedly. "Come out shadow duelists! I want to hear every last detail!" He called out.
He then heard some shuffling and turned his flashlight down a hallway and saw Titan limping his way out of it. "Ah, there you are. So tell me, just how frightened was Jaden?" Crowler asked with a big smile.
Titan shuffled his way up to Crowler before walking past him. "...He wasn't.." Was all he said as he put his hand on the wall for support.
Crowler turned around shocked and angry. "What do you mean he wasn't?! What did I even pay you for?! And where's your partner?" He asked angrily, making Titan stop in his tracks.
The masked man looked over his shoulder at Crowler. "He's gone…Taken by this cursed place." He said somberly before continuing his way out of the dorm. "Don't bother calling me again. I'm retiring." He said to Crowler's shock.
…...
[Dark Forest, Duel Academy, 1:25 A.M.]
Alexia groaned as she opened her eyes before realizing that she was being carried.
"Well well. Good morning sleepy head." Jaden said with a smile as he looked over his shoulder. Alexis was currently on his back as the group walked through the forest to head back to the dorms.
"Where am I?" Alexis asked as she looked around at everyone. "What are you guys doing?"
"Hold on. What kind of a "thank you" is that?" Jaden asked jokingly. "We're rescuing the damsel in distress after dueling and beating the bad guy that took her." He said with a smile. Alexis' eyes widened as she remembered the tall man grabbing her after she left the abandoned dorm. Jaden remembered something and reached inside his pocket and pulled out the card she dropped along with a picture frame. "We found your card, and this as well." He said while handing her the two things. Alexis widened her eyes at seeing the frame with a picture of her lost brother, as Jaden told her how everyone will help her look for him together.
While Jaden was talking to Alexis, Yuuchi was walking ahead of them silently thinking about everything that had just happened. Yuni noticed the dark look on his face and tapped his shoulder. "You ok Yuuchi?" She asked.
Yuuchi looked at her in the corner of his eye before looking back ahead of him. "No…not really." He muttered. "That place gave me so much stuff to research and think about..but…" He trailed off. Yuni saw the sad and fearful look in his eyes and rubbed his back soothingly.
"It's ok." She said, giving him a smile.
Yuuchi looked at her and gave her a small smile and nodded. "I have so many questions, but I'm tired. So they'll have to wait 'till later." He said as he rubbed his eyes making Yuni giggle.
"Same here."
End of Chapter 9
Author's Notes:
1) This is the longest chapter I've written so far, at 11,295 words (at least). Yay. Though it might be because I was following an actual episode of the anime.
2) This chapter followed episode 5-6 of the anime and added some new elements to it. I decided to have Yuuchi join in since I established earlier that he's in the Paranormal Research Club, so of course he would want to look into a place where people went missing. But obviously he didn't expect the shadow games to make an appearance.
3) I hope you thought Yuni's dream sequence was done well. I couldn't do what I wanted to do with it, but I tried my best to keep it close. My plan was to make it where the words would be overlapping each other, making it more chaotic. But for some reason, even though I've seen people do it before, I couldn't find how to replicate it. So here we are with Yuni's friends and family just giving out cryptic lines. But what do they mean?
4) So if you don't know or remember the anime and what happens in episode 6, Titan gets consumed by the shadows after his loss against Jaden. This was a part of the big decision I needed to make, because in the anime, Titan does show back up later as a Shadow Rider. So what do you think will happen now since I decided to let him live? Will Swarm take his place? A different character from the show? Or someone original? Who knows?(Not me)
5) The second big decision I needed to make was Yuni having her flames. I didn't really want to have characters using flames in this world, but after some thinking, I decided to let Yuni have them for some reasons. One reason is that she comes from a world where she would know how to use them. The second reason, I won't say yet because I would have to spoil something. But just know that Yuni can ONLY use her flames when she has the pacifier, and it does repel shadows/shadow games.
If you have any questions or constructive criticism, feel free to leave a comment. Thanks for reading.
