Another time jump? Hurray! What was I thinking...
Chapter TwentyNo Rest for the Weary
The end of the year came, and things couldn’t have been going better. Karen and I were back together. We never even talked about it, it just happened. We both knew that we’d made mistakes, and we silently accepted that and moved on. Plus, Karen and Ria could be around each other now without trying to kill each other, which put far less strain on mine and Karen’s relationship.
When time came for final exams, I took them all without sleeping through anything, and I passed with flying colors, as usual. When the inevitable request to move up to blue dorm came, the same request that had come after every exam since my transfer to Osiris Red, I accepted. Karen and I were in each other’s lives again. She filled me in on some of her ideas, and I have to say, they were good. She was in the process of trying to make card placement into an important mechanic for the first time since the Duelist Kingdom tournament, and she was toying with a completely new type of monsters based on tuning sound waves, that could be summoned by synchronizing the levels of lower level monsters with the level of the higher level monster being summoned. I was impressed, and I told her that, but she seemed convinced that neither idea would ever go anywhere.
During that time of getting reacquainted, Karen, of course, wanted to hear what I had been up to, but I wouldn’t tell her. I had my reasons for refusing, and Karen seemed to understand that, because she didn’t pry.
Naturally after the school year came break. Thomas and Ria each went home, but Karen and I stayed on the island. We had a lot of catching up to do, and we wasted no time. By the time school was about to start up again, it was like we hadn’t spent the majority of the year apart at all.
“Hurry up,” Karen urged me as we made our way toward the school building. “Thomas and Ria both said that they’d wait for us by the Kuriboh bench. If you hold us up anymore we’ll all four be late to orientation.”
I up-played my lazy walk, “But I don’t wanna go to school.”
“Oh suck it up,” Karen responded in jest.
We approached the school, and we found ourselves lost in a crowd of students, both new and old. I only recognized a few of them, but as usual they were easy to tell apart, as only returning students were wearing uniforms.
“Look at all of these people,” I remarked.
“Yeah,” Karen agreed. “There’s definitely more people here than went to the school last year, not to mention the ones already inside. Duel Academy is becoming popular.”
“If only people knew what kinds of things went on here,” I said, “they’d feel differently.”
“Probably,” Karen replied, “but there really isn’t anything we can do about that. From what you told me, Chancellor Kagemaru and Professor Sheppard were right. This place is needed. We can only hope that all of the danger has passed. In fact, I bet nothing sinister will happen all year.”
We reached the courtyard, nearly swept away by the crowd of people pouring through the doors. I could see Thomas and Ria up ahead. They didn’t seem any different, except that Thomas was talking, and Ria was actually listening. It was weird.
“There they are,” I said, pointing. “Hey Thomas! Ria!”
“Oh hey!” Tomas responded, sprinting over to meet us, Ria close behind. “You wouldn’t believe my summer!” he began.
“Yeah, I bet,” I interrupted, but Thomas didn’t get the hint.
“Yeah,” he continued. “I entered in the regional tournament in my area and I won! It was tough. I had to face this one guy with a warrior deck, then this one girl with a machine deck, and then…”
Needless to say I started tuning him out right about there.
“Wow,” said Ria, “chico can talk.”
“You’re just noticing this?” I asked as the four of us made way toward and then through the open doors.
“I never paid him enough attention,” she answered.
“…And finally I ended up having to face this other girl in the finals who used a different kind of machine deck. She used stuff like ‘Super Roboyarou’ and ‘Emes the Infinity’, and she kept on making her monsters stronger and stronger, but she didn’t have any way to protect against burn damage, so I won! It was mostly pretty easy, and it rocked! That means I’m a regional champion until next year!”
“So where is orientation this year,” I asked, still ignoring the motor-mouthed Thomas, “the arena room, or the auditorium?”
“Good question,” said Karen mockingly, “and I can see why you’d have to ask, what with everyone heading toward the auditorium and all.”
We followed the crowd into the auditorium and were lucky enough to find four seats together about half way up.
“Has anyone seen Kagemaru yet?” Ria asked.
“No,” said Karen. “His speech today is going to be his first public appearance in months.”
“It’s weird,” I added. “Kagemaru is supposed to be a really strong Duelist. I get that he’s super old, but you’d think he’d be more involved in the goings on at his school.”
We sat in (relative) silence for several minutes. Ria pulled some earphones and an MP3 player out of her pocket and started ignoring the world, while Karen and I talked amongst ourselves and Thomas talked to no one. He paused momentarily from his monologue to announce, “Hey, there’s Kagemaru!” before he continued.
Karen, Ria, Thomas (subconsciously, maybe), and I watched as the elderly man made his way to the podium, Sheppard at his side. The entire room quieted so much that even Thomas followed suit, and everyone waited.
Kagemaru cleared his throat, and he began to speak, though he didn’t get very far. “Welcome,” he said, “to the third year of Duel Academy, and what a great year it will-.”
Suddenly he stopped, and his expression grew pained. He turned and stumbled away from the podium. A staff member that I didn’t recognize, a young, attractive and fit woman, ran to his side and helped him out of the auditorium while Sheppard stepped up to finish the Chancellor’s speech himself. I didn’t hear any of it.
Something was clearly wrong with the school’s headmaster, and it gave me a bad feeling.
Sheppard
I fumbled my way through the speech that Kagemaru would have given, doing only a mostly presentable job, and then I made my way as quickly as I could from the auditorium. The school’s newly-hired nurse and gym instructor Miss Fonda Fontaine stepped into stride alongside me.
“Thank you for walking the Chancellor to his room, Miss Fontaine,” I said.
“I’m worried about the Chancellor,” Miss Fontaine replied. “He seems like a sweet man, but he also seems very sick. He said some very unusual things as we were walking. I didn’t understand most of them, but they were definitely strange.”
“Chancellor Kagemaru is just not feeling like himself right now,” I replied. “I assure you that everything is fine. The Chancellor just needs a bit of rest. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to speak with him.”
I walked briskly away from the young woman before she could see the worry in my eyes, and made my way toward the Chancellor’s room.
I didn’t find Kagemaru in his room, so I went to his office where I found him standing by his window, calmly looking out over the courtyard where several students were already making their way toward the dorms. Several, but not all.
“Are you alright sir?” I asked, fearing the answer.
“No, I am not,” Kagemaru answered. He held up three objects, three Duel Monsters cards, and I gasped.
"You retrieved them," I stammered.
"I must have," he replied, "but I do not remember it. I can't put them down, and I can hear them in my mind. I'm trying to block them out they have nearly eroded my will, David. Simply talking to you like this is almost more effort than I can manage.”
“You’ll beat them,” I insisted.
“No,” my friend replied. “Nothing I do is enough. They want something from me, and I don't think I have any choice but to give it to them.”
He turned to me, and I saw real fear in my friend’s eyes. “You must prepare for the coming battle,” he said. “Go to the young man, John, and his friends. Ask for their help. They might be our only hope, for you cannot defeat them alone.”
He turned his back to me again, “No one can beat them on their own. Now go! They are here.”
The shadows in the room began to darken, and they almost seemed to reach toward the place where Kagemaru stood. Without a moment of hesitation, I turned and made my way out of the partially vacated school building, only stopping to pull the fire alarm. In a situation like this, partially vacant just wasn’t good enough.
???
“We emerged too late,” we realized. “Our host managed to warn the other human of our arrival. He has gone to seek help from the ones with powerful magic.”
“We must be careful,” we replied.
“Yes,” we agreed. “The elder human and the other two are inconsequential, but the two with the magical items could be a serious threat to us. We must seek one with power enough to keep them away until our true form can be realized, and with enough darkness in his heart to be subject to our control.”
“Why not use the one we fear, the one the humans call John?” we asked. “No human on this landmass has so much darkness in their heart.”
“His item protects him from our influence,” we answered, “but we have found another, a Duelist who has fought the one we fear and who knows his power. It is ironic that the one whose darkness will save us is one who so believes in justice.”
We laughed in unison as we reached into the mind of the human named Shin, unlocking the dark potential within him.
John
Karen, Thomas, Ria and I were on our way back to Obelisk Blue. We were taking our time, walking close to the forest edge, talking and catching up. It seemed as if Karen’s prediction was on its way to coming true, at least for the first day, when we heard the fire alarm go if in the school not far behind us.
We stopped and turned, and we watched for a couple of minutes as people poured through the doors. None of them seemed worried, but they had clearly been inspired to return to their respective dorms by the alarm blaring around them.
“Well,” I said, “this probably isn’t a good thing.”
“I think it’s okay,” said Thomas. “I don’t see any smoke or flames. Probably just a false alarm.”
“There is no fire,” said a voice from off to our side, “but the alarm is not a false one.”
I recognized the voice immediately and turned to see Sheppard walking briskly toward us, trying desperately to retain his calm appearance.
“It’s a good thing that you four were not too far from the building. I have come to ask for your help.”
“What did you guys get yourselves into now?” I asked, not even trying to hide my distaste.
“You assume that this is the fault of the school staff,” Sheppard replied, “and I don't blame you. The fact of the matter is, you are partially correct. I have a story to tell to the four of you, a story that you will find hard to believe, but that I assure you is true.”
Sheppard folded his hands behind his back and began a slow careful walk along the tree line, back toward the school, “Walk with me, please.”
We followed, keeping in stride with the older man. I don’t know about the others, but I followed primarily out of curiosity rather than concern. After all, Sheppard still wasn’t one of my favorite people.
“I assume that you all know of the three Egyptian God cards,” Sheppard began.
“Every Duelist knows about them,” Thomas replied. “They were used in the Battle City Tournament, and most Duelists consider them to be the strongest cards in the game. But-.”
“You’re correct,” Sheppard continued, cutting off Thomas’ emerging question. “Every serious Duelist knows of the Egyptian Gods, but few know that the Egyptian Gods have real power, both in a duel and out of one. They are true magical beings, based on creatures that lived in the times of ancient Egypt and were revered as real gods by the Egyptians of that era. Some still think that these beings are gods.”
“That’s loco,” said Ria. “Do you really expect us to believe that the Egyptian Gods are real?”
“No young lady,” Sheppard answered, “I expect you to believe that all Duel Monsters are real. Most are based on creatures that existed millennia ago, and some were made real when their creators’ minds gave birth to inspiration, but they are real nonetheless.”
“Loco,” Ria replied.
“Any more so than the things you have witnessed recently?”
“Well no,” Ria decided, “I guess not.”
“Does this have anything to do with the dark presence I’m sensing in the school?” I asked, showing my hand, and all eyes were on me, and then locked on Sheppard, awaiting his answer.
“Yes,” Sheppard replied, “but I will get to that in a moment.
“You see,” he continued, “when Maxamillion Pegasus discovered the existence of the three Egyptian God monsters and made the choice to transform them into cards, he and his staff were met with great misfortune. The power of the God cards mixes poorly with those who do not possess the magical blood of the pharaohs. Pegasus thought that this happenstance was evidence of an evil nature in those beasts. Unable to destroy the cards, which now housed the power of god-like creatures, Pegasus sought a power great enough to balance the powers of the God monsters.
“It wasn't long after," Sheppard continued, "that ruins were found on this island which seemed to have a connection to Duel Monsters. Thinking it some kind of hoax, the team contacted Pegasus. He assured them that it was a hoax, but then he came here himself to explore the ruins. He discovered an underground temple with tablets inside bearing the images of three beings as impressive as the God monsters. Going on the educated observation that most religious figures have a mirror counterpart, and that these might be the counterparts, and therefor the counters, to the Gods, Pegasus transformed them into cards as well.
"He called them the Sacred Beasts, but the moment that he completed the cards, life began to drain from everything around him. Like the God cards, these new creations proved impossible to destroy. In a desperate bid to stop what he had made, Pegasus brought the cards here. He returned them to that temple underground, and the power of the Sacred Beasts was suppressed. Realizing the mistake that he'd made, Pegasus built a complex seal into the temple, locking the cards away. One of the reasons that this school was built in this place was so that there would always be duelists here to protect the cards and prevent those seeking great power from reaching them.
“Then," Sheppard concluded, "something unexpected happened. The chancellor began to grow sick. His mental and physical health began to fail. One day, out of nowhere, he started to hear the cards calling to him. He thought that the Beasts were talking with him, offering him health and youth in exchange for their freedom. Ever since then he has been resisting their call, but tonight, somehow, after he left the auditorium, he must have made his way down to the underground chamber and retrieved the cards. When I went to see him just now he had them in his hands, but he didn't know where he had gotten them. The last I saw something changed in him. I think the Beasts have seized control of him completely. They'll use his vast collection of cards to create a deck to protect themselves, and then they will drain the dueling energy from every Duelist and Duel Monster on the island until they have recovered the energy lost during all of their time imprisoned beneath the school, and once they have, they will set their sights on the rest of our world. I need you to help me stop them before they can.”
“Us?” Thomas asked nervously. “You mean all of us? Not just John and Karen?”
“I would prefer that all four of you were at my side,” Sheppard answered. “You are four of the strongest Duelists enrolled here, not to mention some of the strongest Duelists that I have ever met. But in the end, it is up to you. I cannot force you to fight, and I cannot blame you if you choose not to.”
“I’m in,” I said. “I still don’t like you too much, Sheppard, but this goes beyond my personal feelings.”
“I’m in too,” said Karen, stepping in close to my side.
“Me too,” Ria declared fiercely. “I’ve been itchin’ for some evil ass to kick ever since I lost out to that Shadow thingy.”
Sheppard nodded, “I thank you all.”
And just like that, all eyes were on Thomas, who for once didn’t seem to have much to say.
“Sheppard called it,” I said. “No one will blame you if you sit this one out.”
Thomas’ face hardened, “No, I’m with you guys until the end.”
I nodded, proud of my friend, and the five of us started walking toward the school. Sheppard, Thomas and Ria were further ahead with Karen and I behind them, but we were together…
…Until the shadows of the forest all around us sprung up, separating Karen and I from the others.
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