The rest of the day passed by with a subtle buzz of activity once Zane was safely escorted to the infirmary by Professor Crowler and Ms. Hibiki. Syrus was in the infirmary with Jaden minutes after, sitting by his brother’s bedside with an empty, vacant look while Jaden stood beside him and shuffled his deck over and over again. Despite this being the first key that had been lost, the atmosphere was as if they were on their last one.
And Phil, Phil could feel that. He could feel that, and he could continue to feel that for the rest of the day up until the moment he stepped outside late in the evening to continue his ceaseless wandering of the academy.
However, this time, there was a slip of paper clutched in his hand. It was worn from being folded and unfolded multiple times as its contents were read, considered, and read again.
‘Phillip. I found a clue to Zane’s defeat. Hibiki and Crowler are too busy guarding the infirmary and patrolling the dorms. I need a second set of eyes, and you seem to have a good head on your shoulders. If you wish to help me wake those two from their comas, meet me at the abandoned dorm.’
‘Your teacher, Bernardello’
Phil had studied every single word the Italian man had written on the note that was given to him earlier by a fellow Ra Yellow student he couldn’t quite remember the name of. Even Lumina’s interest was piqued once she saw how hard Phil was studying the message.
“Are you sure, Phil? I hardly believe that guy would ask a student for help instead of another teacher. Could this be a trap?”
Phil glanced back at her as he closed the door to his room and took in the evening air. “I’m counting on it.” He eventually replied as he patted a certain place on his Ra Yellow jacket, one that was somewhat lumpy due to one of the many deck boxes that was attached to the inside of it. “I’m fucking counting on it.”
Phil checked the straps on his duel disk one last time as he stepped down the hallway. He did not knock on Bastion’s door, nor did he head over to the Slifer dorms, where Jaden was hosting a sleepover, nor over to the Obelisk dorms to get Chazz or Alexis. Each footstep only took him closer and closer to the forest and the abandoned dorm within.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“I’m sorry, but the number you dialed does not exist. Please re-enter it and try again.”
Ms. Hibiki slammed the phone back into its cradle on Nurse Fontaine’s desk. “Still no answer! Just where is that man?”
Nurse Fontaine flinched from the noise while she double-checked Zane’s vitals. “Isn’t he on patrol?”
“Yes, but the phone should at least be taking me to the answering machine. I don’t like this, Fonda. “
“Here, let me try.” Nurse Fontaine said with a shake of her head. The dial tone sounded again, until it was suddenly interrupted by a loud, violent ‘cracking’ sound that saw Nurse Fontaine wrenching her ear away from the phone with a pained expression. The noise itself was loud enough that even Ms. Hibiki could hear it.
And then, an ominous ‘cawing’ sound drew their attention from the hissing and spitting phone, to the window. Perched on the ledge, looking at them with an almost human-like hunger, was a crow. Or at least, what they could only assume was some sort of crow, because it was definitely no owl and it was far too dark for any other bird. It had not even a single feather on its body, instead being clothed in what Nurse Fontaine registered in disgust as human flesh. Every movement of its spindly legs screamed unnaturalness, and its throat pulsated with awkward jolting movements that were only broken up by the faint, hoarse screaming sounds coming from its mouth.
Nurse Fontaine stepped back in horror at the sight, but Ms. Hibiki advanced. She… she vaguely recognized that voice.
“Chumley?” She eventually asked as the crow’s mouth widened for a second and she caught a glimpse of the boy’s distinct nose.
“Ms. Hibiki!” The boy, who was somehow inside the crow’s mouth despite the creature being much smaller than a grown man, screamed. “Help! I don’t want to be a human grilled cheese sandwich!”
Without missing a beat, Ms. Hibiki ran towards the window, only stopping right before the glass as the crow took off in a violent flutter of wings into the air towards the roof of a nearby building.
“Fonda! Keep trying to get ahold of Crowler! Call Bernardello too, tell them to get over to the dorms ASAP and check to make sure no one else is missing! Send them to the roof of the library when they’re done!”
Nurse Fontaine nodded frantically as she picked up her desk phone, threw it aside when she couldn’t hear a dial tone, and lunged towards a different phone on the nearby wall.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Chazz watched from the shadows as Ms. Hibiki sprinted out of the infirmary like all the devils in hell were on her heels. He hadn’t ever seen her run that fast, not even when Phil had started that food fight in the cafeteria after they had gotten back from the tournament. Chazz frowned, and then a bolt of realization struck him as he saw the very same flesh crow that Alexis had described fly onto the roof of the library and disappear. He glanced back to the infirmary, and then looked toward the doors Ms. Hibiki had disappeared into.
‘Buddy system, dudes. That’s the best way we can minimize the problem whole soul-stealing thing these Shadow Riders are trying.’
Chazz thought over Phil’s words in his head. Like it or not, the boy often made sense. Doubly-so if he was bouncing ideas around with Bastion. However, that put him at a crossroads. Waste time going over to the Slifer dorms to get the guys? Or head to the roof to back up the professor. Chazz took a whole two seconds to think the problem over. Buddy system. I should get a buddy. Ms. Hibiki doesn’t have a buddy.
He nodded to himself in satisfaction as the problem resolved itself like a final puzzle piece slotting into place, walking toward the library doors to join the professor on the roof. Perhaps the show up there would be particularly interesting. Ms. Hibiki was the sister of a world champion, after all, and a person that Koyo Hibiki had publicly said he could never beat.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bastion strolled down the hall towards the Slifer Red dorm in his pajamas with his sleeping bag and duel disk. It was a calm, cool evening, one that Bastion could easily appreciate due to the gentle glow of the stars and full moon poking out of the chilly night sky. He took a deep, refreshing breath of the cool air. If it weren’t for the circumstances, he wouldn’t mind at all just sleeping outside for a bit. All-in-all though, the sleepover should be fun enough. Especially if he could successfully prevent Jaden and Phil from bouncing off each other and doing something stupid and/or dangerous.
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A blur of motion filled his peripheral vision faster than Bastion could even react.
“What the he-“ were all the words he could get out before a snarling white tiger burst out of the bushes, grasped his foot in its mouth and dragged him off the path in one clean movement toward the forest.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Professor Crowler lifted the golden circlet that the Egyptian man had dropped on the ground up to his eyes.
“Our third shadow charm…” He mumbled to himself. Frankly speaking, the duel had been much easier than he had first imagined when the group of terrifying mummies had escorted him from his office to the golden yacht that was somehow floating around inside the abandoned dorm, even though there wasn’t a speck of water to be seen and the hallways should have been nowhere near large enough to fit the giant boat. From what Crowler had heard from Alexis Rhodes and Marco, he had expected a brutal duel that would bring him to his limits as a duelist when he realized that another Shadow Rider had appeared.
Yet, Crowler hadn’t even needed to summon his ace monster, Ancient Gear Golem, to deal with the so-called ‘undefeated duelist’. It was not until the man, Abidos the Third, had broken down crying as his Pharaonic Protector (900/0) was destroyed by Crowler’s Ancient Gear Soldier (1300/1300) that Crowler understood what was really going on.
Abidos the Third, known as the one duelist that never saw defeat, only had that title because his servants were too scared to beat him. Heck, Abidos had even thought that direct attacks were illegal moves until Crowler had gently reminded him that it hadn’t been like that for years. Not since Duelist Kingdom, at least!
In a way, it was almost like Crowler was educating a wayward student that still held a wellspring of potential. He wasn’t like those slackers from the Slifer dorm, since once Abidos realized his own weakness, the man had stood up with his back straight and challenged the professor with his strongest monster. No, Abidos the Third was more like a student from the bottom tiers of Ra Yellow. He had a strategy, a monster with mid-tier attack points, and at the very end, he faced his defeat like a man should. On his feet, facing forward, taking the attack of Ancient Gear Beast (2000/2000) that was equipped with Ancient Gear Tank for a 600 attack point boost (2000/2000 -> 2600/2000) without flinching or running. Vellian Crowler was no barbarian. He could respect the man’s grit, even if his skills as a duelist were slightly lacking.
Then, as Abidos the Third succumbed to the conditions of his own shadow duel, the man who was once undefeated asked with unsteady, pained breathes if he could someday come back to the island, but this time as a student.
‘Why yes, yes of course you may. If you have any issues in filling out the application forms, please do give me a call. I would be more than happy to help you.’ Crowler had responded kindly. There was no sense in being rude to a defeated enemy, of course, and Abidos really hadn’t displayed much malice during the duel anyways.
That brought Crowler back to his study of the shadow charm. And… to the familiar figure that emerged from the shadows clapping his hands with over-exaggerated motions like he had just seen the end of a particularly moving play.
“Well done. Well done indeed, Big C.” Bernardello said with a smirk as he advanced to face Crowler.
Crowler frowned. “Marco? Your assistance is welcome, but I can handle myself. You should have stayed behind and patrolled the dorms. The Shadow Riders are getting bolder and bolder each night. Who knows when they could strike and start dragging the students out of bed!”
“No, I don’t think I need to do that anymore.” Bernardello responded with a light, unconcerned tone as he gracefully removed his Ra Yellow headmaster’s jacket to reveal his usual battered white undershirt. Speckled across the ashen shirt were drops of dried blood, mud, and other sorts of debris that Crowler couldn’t quite recognize. “I’ve figured it all out. No surprises, no more secrecy. I know what kind of piece everyone is on the board. And you, Vellian, are a pawn. I’ve known that for a few years though.”
“What?” Crowler took a step back in confusion. “Marco, what are you talking about? Is this some sort of bad joke?”
Bernardello laughed, the action sounding hollow and empty to Crowler’s ears. “Che peccato. It seems if you dress like a clown long enough, you start to act like one.” He snapped his duel disk to the ready position, and the already shadowy halls of the abandoned dorm took on an extremely menacing vibe. The shadows whispered, gibbering and moaning strange secrets and bizarre truths for those with the ears to hear them, and the mind to withstand them. Wraiths danced between the empty doorways, promising a cold, empty sleep for those caught in their claws.
“A shadow duel.” Crowler whispered in horror. “Marco… what have you done?”
Bernardello chuckled once more. Crowler was used to the man laughing, but the sheer menace his former student had filled that sound with was something that he had never thought possible. “I told you. I know what kind of piece everyone is now. Zane, I was unsure of since he had been gone for so long, but his honor and his brotherly love weakened him. All it took was to threaten poor little Syrus Truesdale’s life, and he crumbled like crackers in a fat man’s bed. And Phillip, I measured his abilities through Dimitri. Not bad, but nothing to write home about. All there is to it now is sweeping the rest of the pieces off the table and into the trash. Only then can the next game be set up.”
It felt like an endless pit of ice was growing in Crowler’s stomach. A never-ending winter that froze over all hope with each word that dripped like poison from Bernardello’s smiling lips.
It took a second for Crowler’s brain to process those words. But eventually, he came to a realization. A realization that the pit of ice took to freeze the rest of his stomach solid.
“You’re with the Shadow Riders.” Crowler confirmed. A frown spread across his face as Bernardello nodded with a grin, almost like he was about to say ‘oh, the idiot finally got it!’.
“I see.” Crowler practically bit each of the words that came out of his mouth. “It seems that I have failed to properly educate you as your former teacher, Marco. Allow me to remedy that!”
Crowler: 4000 Bernardello: 4000
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Soft, gentle knocks woke Jaden and Syrus from their slumber.
“Whoooo is it?” Syrus groggily called out from his spot on the bottom of the bunk bed.
A moment of silence followed, until a familiar voice responded. “It’s me, Professor Banner. Would you boys mind opening up?”
Jaden looked towards the door in curiosity, and then a bolt of realization struck him. “Sy, do you see Chumley around? Bastion and Phil aren’t here either, same with Chazz. I can’t believe we fell asleep waiting for them!”
Syrus frantically looked around the room, tossing Chumley’s sheets aside in his haste. “No! He’s gone!”
The door to their room creaked open, and Professor Banner stepped in. Oddly enough, Jaden realized through his panic, the man was wearing his duel disk. And he was staring right at Jaden.
“Chumley’s busy right now. In fact, they’re all busy right now. How about we take a nice walk on the beach?”
Jaden took half a step back. It was difficult to compare the normally kind Professor Banner with the man in front of them now, with his cold eyes, expressionless face, and readied duel disk. Still, his white hair, glasses, and even clothes were the same as the boys were used to seeing.
“Professor Banner? Is… everything cool?”
Professor Banner smiled a smile that did not reach his cold, unfeeling eyes. “How about we take a nice walk on the beach?”
“I think we’d rather stay here... so we can wait for the rest of the guys and maybe look for Chumley, too.” Syrus said between stutters of fear. Beside him, Jaden carefully grasped his duel disk and nodded in agreement with Syrus.
“Oh, I wasn’t asking.” Professor Banner replied. Then, in less time than it took to blink, the rumbling of the waves on the beach filled the boys' ears. They looked around in confusion, noticing that the walls of their dorm room were gone. In fact, they weren’t in the dorms at all. Somehow, without even noticing, they had appeared on the beach of Duel Academy!
A crisp snap of Banner’s fingers caused the air to thicken. Multiple thick veins bulged on the man’s forehead, to the point that it looked like they were trying to escape from where the veins were trapped under his skin. Another crisp snap of Banner’s fingers caused the sound of the waves crashing onto the beach to be muted. It was as if the rumbling sound was being heard from under a blanket of thick liquid.
“Like I said. A nice walk on the beach. With a duel mixed in the middle, I suppose.”