It was obviously the purpose of the Shadow to set up for the confrontation between John and Karen so that I could force a big progression of their relationship. Here we finally get to see the other reason for it's existence. That's right, so that John can get a Big Damn Hero moment!
Chapter SeventeenThe Darkness Returns
School was pretty uneventful in the days following orientation. In fact the most exciting thing to happen for months was the official announcement of the dorm name changes which came on the first day of classes. With more relatable names now assigned to the dorms, several rivalries began to pop up among the dueling students. Thankfully few design students became involved, so I didn’t feel pressured to waste my time. Ria, of course, got really into it before she finally burned out a couple months in. I guess there’s only so many times that you can tag the Ra Yellow dorm with Obelisk-themed graffiti and break into the Ra Yellow dorms to exchange students’ yellow jackets with torn up red ones before you get bored.
Anyway, as I said, design students didn’t really get caught up in the rivalries, or at least no one I knew did. I just did my best at school and focused on getting better. By the end of first semester, I was able to test out of most of my courses and move up to the next level. As much as I missed John, one good thing could be said about him being gone: I had a lot more time on my hands, time to focus on my studies without any drama. I was happy.
Really, I was.
Still, every time I even suspected that John might be around, I couldn’t help looking for him, almost obsessively. I mean, what if he never came back?
So maybe I wasn’t quite as happy as I’d thought at the time.
The next part of our story began one day nearly three quarters of the way through our second year. I was in my advanced card art and mechanics course, working on a painting of a landscape for a study on Field Spell cards. I was putting on the final details when my instructor walked by.
“Very good work on the tree line,” he said, “but you really should have more coherency. What kind of monster would benefit from a clearing in the woods?”
“Well,” I answered, “I was thinking of a dual effect, where warriors would get a benefit in the clearing in the center of the field, while forest-dwellers would gain a benefit from the forest along the edges.”
“Hmm,” the professor replied, “interesting. It reminds me of the earliest holographic duels, when the old Expert Rules were still common and the environment was an important part of game-play. I look forward to seeing your finished project.”
I smiled, full of pride, “Thanks.”
The instructor turned to walk away, but he stopped when I jumped up out of my seat, suddenly startled by a strange shock from my Soul of Imagination.
“Are you alright?” the instructor asked.
“Oh,” I answered, “yeah. I, uh, suddenly don’t feel well. Can I go see the nurse?”
The instructor’s kind eyes wrinkled with concern. “Of course you can,” he replied, but I barely heard him. I was already out the door running.
The Shadow was back.
I ran full speed through the halls until I found Ria’s and Thomas’ classroom. They had Advanced Duel Tactics together this period. I knew I’d need their help, so I stood outside and got their attention through the door. It only took them a few minutes to both get themselves excused from class.
“What’s goin’ on?” Ria asked. “I was actually takin’ notes today.”
“I’ve been watching out using my Soul of Imagination,” I explained as I led my friends quickly down the hall, “just in case something else happened, and it’s back!”
“What’s back?” Ria demanded.
“The Shadow,” I answered, and I saw her eyes go wide.
“The Shadow?” Thomas asked, his voice uneasy. “You mean the killer Shadow from last year that tried to eat me?”
“Tried to eat us,” Ria corrected, regaining her composure. “And what’s the big deal? Johnny beat that thing last time. He’ll beat it this time too.”
“John was only able to beat that thing because his Soul of Darkness protected him. I’ve seen it happen before. He’s invulnerable to all but the very most powerful shadow-based attacks. The Shadow in its incomplete form couldn’t touch him, but we have no idea what form the Shadow will have taken this time. John might not be protected from its attacks anymore. Besides, we don’t even know for sure that John knows about the Shadow’s return.”
We reached the lobby of the building, “We can’t take the risk. We have to try and overpower this thing and make sure it doesn’t get free. If it does, it could be catastrophic.”
“Where is it?” Ria asked.
“Same place as before,” I answered, walking toward the doors, “the old honors dorm. We have to get there now!”
“Wait,” said Thomas, backing away. Ria and I stopped and faced him. “I can’t do this. That thing freaks me out.”
“But Thomas-,” I began.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and he turned and ran.
I looked at Ria. She seemed pained, but she looked at me and asked, “What are we waiting for?”
We turned toward the doors once again, and we ran.
We dashed through the woods, branches smacking and cutting us. One hit my cheek, slicing deep enough that it stung, but I didn’t care.
This forest is even thicker than it looks from the courtyard, I noticed. I’ve been to the old dorm, and even I’m having trouble finding it in here. Could the dark magic coming from the building be changing the forest and making it more hazardous?
After running for several minutes and wondering if the dorm was even still standing, we arrived. The building was already overgrown with brush and vines. But more surprising than that, everything seemed normal. Nothing looked remotely out of place. No sign of the Shadow anywhere.
“It couldn’t have escaped from the building yet,” I said.
“How do you know that?” Ria asked, looking around nervously.
“I just know,” I replied. “My Soul can feel it. The portal that connects the darkness to our dimension is bound to the place where it was opened, and so is the thing summoned through it. The Shadow would have to be in its complete form to escape. At least that’s what I feel.”
“Is there a chance that you magic fashion accessory could be wrong?” Ria wondered.
“I don’t know,” I answered, wondering the same thing myself. “It’s never been wrong before.”
“Well I don’t see anything here,” Ria announced, sounding annoyed.
That’s when the ground began to shake, and smoke began to pour from the cracks around the windows and doors of the lifeless building. The dark smoke, shadows made tangible, took on the form of tentacle-like arms that lashed out angrily.
“I told you,” I said grimly. I activated my Duel Disk and placed a card, “I summon the ‘Dark Magician Girl’!”
There was a flash, and the beautiful young sorceress appeared at my side, springing into action, blasting lashing shadowy arms apart one after the other. The arms reacted to her presence and lashed at her. She avoided them, destroying one arm after another, but for each arm she destroyed, another formed from the darkness.
“There’s magic all around here,” I told Ria. “You should be able to summon a monster.”
No answer.
I looked over at Ria, turning away from the battle. Ria was frozen in fear, a look of shock on her face. A stray arm moved to strike her, snapping her out of her daze, but there was no way for her to stop it herself. Responding to my desire to save my friend, my sorceress moved to block the arm, and was hit. She dissolved into shadows and joined with the tentacle. I felt the Shadow grow stronger. I looked down at the card on my Duel Disk. It was blank, the monster spirit gone from it.
No!
The many arms undulated, moving to strike a final blow, but by now Ria was prepared. “Summon,” she declared, “‘The Ultimate Fighter’!”
The powerful martial artist appeared, launching itself into battle against the shadowy arms, punching and kicking them apart in a flurry of motion. “Look out,” I told her. “It completely absorbed my monster. It might want yours too.”
I pulled two card from my deck, “I open the door to ‘Toon World’ and call out the ‘Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon’!”
Nothing happened.
What?! Somehow, when it absorbed my monster, it blocked me from using any more magic!
Just then Ria exclaimed, “No!” Her monster was hit and absorbed into the Shadow as well, and I sensed its power rise even further. I felt a rumbling in the air, and I heard a voice in my mind, I have almost enough energy. My emergence is at hand! If there are no more monsters to absorb, humans, I will absorb you!
The arms reached for me and Ria, but a moment before they would have hit, they burst into flames and burned up. The flames lingered, slowing the arms’ regeneration, but not by much.
“Sorry I’m late.”
I turned toward the source of this newest voice.
“Thomas?”
“Tommy!” Ria cried, practically jumping up and down with relief.
“Thomas,” I said, “It absorbed our monsters, and we can’t summon any more.”
“Then it’s a good thing I got here when I did,” said Thomas, as the arms finished healing. “‘Ignis’,” he called, and the lingering flames came together and formed the spectral fire beast, its many eyes glowing. “Light it up, ‘Ignis’,” Thomas commanded. ‘Ignis’’ flame tail spread out, burning up most of the arms, but one manages to avoid the blaze long enough to snake its way toward ‘Ignis’’ main body, scoring a hit. ‘Ignis’ and his flames became a part of the arm.
“What are we gonna do now?” Thomas wondered. I didn’t answer. I expected the arms to attack us, but instead, they retracted back into the building. I heard a deep, wicked, deliberate laugh echoing from within the structure before us, and I knew what had happened. With the absorption of ‘Ignis’, the Shadow had finally absorbed enough energy to become whole.
“It’s here,” I said. “It’s finally managed to complete its emergence into our realm.”
“Is that bad?” Thomas asked.
“Let me put it this way,” I answered, “we couldn’t beat it when it was attacking us from another dimension.”
“So that’s a yes then.”
The air grew cold around us, and the color seemed to drain from our surroundings. The three of us backed away, stepping closer together. Black smoke started gushing from the building.
“New plan,” I said. “Run!”
We turned to run away, but we were cut off by the shadows, which curved around us. They swirled together, becoming solid, forming a slender creature, blacker that night, with red eyes, and a wide, tooth-filled mouth curled into a wicked smile. Its hands ended in four fingers, tipped with long, sharp, twisted claws. It stood ten feet tall overall, towering above us.
“Going somewhere?” the Shadow asked in a raspy growl of a voice.
“Back off!” I said, stepping in front of the others, doing my best to shield them. The creature only laughed a hissy, raspy laugh.
I’ll give you something to laugh at. I gestured toward the creature, my Soul flashing, and unleashed a wave of nearly invisible magical force that slashed the creature across the chest, opening a deep wound that would have killed a human. The Shadow screeched in pain.
“I said back off.”
But as I watched, the Shadow’s wound closed, as if it had never been there in the first place.
“This is not good,” I said.
“Oh,” the creature announced, “you have no idea. I’m going to peel the skin from your body, girl, and them I’m going to keep you alive long enough for you to watch me eat your friends before I finally kill you.”
I was sure that this time it was over. I tried to attack it with my Soul again, but just like before I couldn't use my magic again after the first time. I had no options left. There was nothing I could do. I was going to die. That’s when a miracle happened. I heard a voice from within the woods that made my heart skip.
“I can’t let you do that.”
In spite of everything, I smiled, John.
The Shadow turned in the direction of the voice, as did Thomas, Ria, and I. We found ourselves looking into dark, empty woods.
No, I thought, not empty
The darkness itself seemed to come alive, forming a human shape. John stepped out of the shadows, his hands in the pockets of his red uniform jacket. He’d let his hair grow out. It was down almost to his shoulders, his bangs hanging long over his eyes.
“Good thing I got here when I did,” said John nonchalantly, “I really don’t want anything to eat you guys.”
He looked over at me, ignoring the Shadow completely, his expression suddenly serious, “You okay?”
I nodded.
“Don’t interfere!” the Shadow roared, slashing its claws at John. He jumped out of the path of the Shadow’s strike and summoned him Dark Disk from the shadows at his feet, separating it into its sword and shield form. He parried a second strike. When his blade touched the creature’s claws, its arm up to the elbow dissolved into darkness, reforming instantly.
“It looks like you’re still made of Shadows,” John noted. “You’re just a little more solid now, and a little quicker to heal. But either way, I can still take you apart.”
“But can you take me apart before I can take you apart?” the Shadow snarled, but I got the sense that it was at least partially bluffing.
I looked into John’s eyes. He seemed confident, but the tiniest bit of sweat on his brow told me otherwise. He was just as worried. Neither combatant was sure they could win a direct conflict. There was only one option.
“Since we both seem to agree that it would be best not to obliterate each other,” John offered, “I propose that we settle this the way we did last time, with a duel!”
“Sounds good,” the Shadow replied. I watched its mouth twist into a wicked smile. I knew then that it had been planning for this. After all, at its current level of power, who knew how powerful a deck it could manifest.
“John,” I began, “the duel-.”
“Don’t worry,” John said, interrupting me, “I know. I’ve got this. You guys get away from here.”
John knew the risks involved in the coming duel. He was taking those risks to give me a chance to escape.
I nodded, offering him my support.
“Alright my fine shadowy fiend,” said John with a confident smirk, “if I beat you in a Shadow Duel, again, I get to decide what to do with you. There are no limits, but if you win, you walk free, unhindered by me or my friends. Agreed?”
The Shadow nodded, still grinning.
The terms for the Shadow Game set, John’s Soul flashed, sealing the deal. Darkness rose up, completely surrounding the combatants.
“Oh no!” I exclaimed.
“What?” Thomas asked.
I reached into my pocket and felt my deck box there, holding one particular card, “I forgot to give him something.”
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