The DGA Chronicles Season 1: Beginnings - Chapter 21: Aftermath

First topic message reminder :

Well, I wasn't going to at first, but i decided to try my hand at fanfiction after all. I may not have time to update as frequently as I would like, so please do not nag me about it. Although I'm technically the main character, will try to include as many people as i can in the story, but keep in mind that DGA didn't start in DGA, and our partership is even further along so it may be a while for most people here. Hope you guys like it!!!!


Hey, my name is Harper7000, but call
me Harper. My life has been... Nuts, to say the least. I'm not even sure where to begin. Well... I guess the beginning is a good a place as any to start.

The year is 2510. Over the last 500 years, much has changed. In 2460, there was an excavation of Seto Kaiba's original mansion in New Domino City, and while doing so they discovered Kaiba's original virtual video game technology, the one that the Big 5 tried to trap him in. But after a few years of enjoying the video game, people theorized that if their entire minds could be uploaded to a video game, what's to stop them from uploading it to some sort of virtual universe where they could live forever? As a result of this idea, most people of the world now spend most of their lives in the vast virtual world known as Pseudospace, instead of the real world. Here, anyone can do basically anything he or she ever wanted (for a small monthly fee paid to Kaiba Corporation of course). Kaiba Corporation (KC) was of course te richest company in both worlds, and Seto Kaiba II (the descendant of the original Seto) was considered by most to be President of Pseudospace. No one cared who ruled the real world. People only stay in the real world long enough to eat, sleep, and other such things. Also, for some reason, people in Pseudospace insist on being called by odd-sounding nicknames instead of their real names :P. 
But a shift to the true "digital age" could not stop the shadow games... The game dubbed "Duel Monsters" by Maximillion Pegasus was still popular in Pseudospace, and still played an important part in significant events, if not more so than before. Seto encouraged dueling to solve problems instead of actual wars. But, since there are no actual countries anymore, and a universal language is used in Pseudospace, wars were almost non-existent. Instead, Dueling Schools have became more and more popular, and there are many, many of them. But the ones who truly dominated the dueling world are Turbo Duel Academy (TDA), Dark Armed Dragon (DAD), Advanced Duel Academy (ADA), and the academy founded and still run by Pegasus's descendants, Toon World Academy (TWA). These academies constantly battled each other in friendly (or unfriendly) wars to see which of them is the greatest. Nations were at peace, and people did things they had only dreaamed of before Pseudospace.

However... Not all was well in the universe. Back in the real world in Los Angeles California, a world away from everyone else, two cloaked men stood talking on top of a deserted building. They wore black hoods and capes that obscured their faces and form.

Cloaked man 1: "why do we have to meet here anyway? It's a dump, no one even likes the real world anymore!"
Cloaked man 2: "that's exactly the point, no one will overhear us."
CM 1: "true, but it doesn't mean I have to like it..."

They stand silently for a while, cloaks flapping in the cold wind. Soon, other cloaked men joined them, and they all went inside the building. Inside, there was a vast room containing 20 or so Pseudopods, the sleeping pods where a person's mind was uploaded into Pseudospace. A man awaited them there. He wore the same cloak as the others, but his hood was thrown back. However, a black mask with red markings obscured his entire face. One of the cloaked
men who had entered addressed him.

CM 1: "so, when will we finally be able to take the revenge that you promised us on our enemies?"
Masked man: (smiling) "in a way, now. Haha, I have found a way to make our opponent's lives a living hell and they will have no idea how to stop it. However... We must wait for now on killing them. It is said that there will come a duelist who has the power over light AND darkness, the master of all decks, the one who is prophesied to be the greatest duelist of them all. For my plan to reach it's peak, I need him first."
CM 2: "ha! I don't even think he exists! He's just a legend."
MM: "oh, he exists all right, but even HE does not realize who he truly is yet. The day he is at his full potential will be THE LAST day for our enemies... But enough of that, we have to proceed with our plan, there are ways to torture our enemies until that day. Turn on that Psedopod."

The pod he had indicated had been hooked up to some sort of machine with a metal ring wide enough for 2 people to walk through

MM: "this, my friends, is a gate to a different dimension. If all goes well, it will open a portal to the spirit world."
CM 3: "oh yeah? what if all DOESN'T go well?"

The masked man turned to face him menacingly
MM: "that's a risk we'll have to take... Turn it on."

Next time: Chapter 1: "A Fateful Duel Pt. 1, Assault of The Ancient Gear Dragon!" 

Yep he's my favorite card and my duel spirit in this story. I may make them slightly shorter... Idk, I don't plan it that way, it just happens xD. Here's the next chapter:
The DGA Chronicles Season 1: Beginnings - Chapter 5: Rescue Cat To The Rescue! The Mighty Shining Flare Wingman!

Harper woke up the next day feeling pumped and ready to duel, as well as learn more about dueling from the pros.   He'd spent a considerable amount f time on the Rescue Cat deck last night, and he was ready to test it. Harper walked with Fallen King into the dining hall.
Harper: "So, how'd YOUR Rescue Cat build go?"
Fallen: "We'll see I suppose haha. I think it'll be great though, it just needs some playtesting and tweaks."

At the table, Harper sat between Fallen and a Blackrose Violet named Richlik123. Across from them were 2 new students that had tested early in the morning. One wore a blue duel disk and the other a red one. TheStardust student had hair reminicent of Sora from Kingdom Hearts, it was spiky, it stood out everywhere, and he had plenty of it. His hair was brown, but it had blond streaks here and there. The Archfind Student had what you would call emo hair, it went over his ears, he had long bangs, and he had dyed it black. He looked anything but emo however, and so was the Stardust. They seemed to be perpetually grinning at some hidden joke. Harper addressed them.
Harper: "So, how do you guys like the academy? And what's your names?"
Stardust Student: "Haha, my name is Metamaniac, and this is my best friend Blight."
Blight: "This academy is the best thing since Pseudospace... And we just got here! Think how cool it'll be when we see everything this place has to offer!"
Metamaniac: "Well, I need to get some dueling in too haha!"
Richlik: "I'll duel you..."
Metamaniac: "Um... Well... I was hoping for someone more challenging..."
Richlik: "Why does everyone say that?! I duel just fine!!"
Harper: "It's cool man, I'll duel you."
Richlik: "... Really?"
Harper: "Sure! What, Stardusts aren't allowed to be friends with Blackroses here? Haha."
Richlik: (looks glum). "Well, it's more of an unwritten rule..."
Harper: "Rules were meant to be broken."
Richlik: (smiles). "Well, I'll see you after class then!"

At the staff table, Yuri Bakura stood up from his chair and grabbed a microphone.

Yuri: "Attention students! Before we start off this semester's classes, I have a few announcements to make. Here at DUA we want you to have the best experience you can. We have an extremely skilled staff team that will help you to improve, and plenty of classes, but please do not abuse these privilages. Deal kindly with each other, no calling each other noobs or that sort of thing, do your best to help. There are a few other ground rules. Do not ask to be a staff member, if we need more staff we will let you know. If you do not like your rank, do not complain to us about it, you may retest 1 month after yor initial test, NO EXCEPTIONS! Do not, under any circumstances enter into any of the nearby caves in the surrounding area. They are very dangerous structurally. This is not a joke, several people who went exploring into the caves never came back."
Blight: (whispering) "They can't be THAT structurally dangerous..."
Fallen: "From what I hear, that's not the reason. Yuri didn't always own this land. The last academy that was here supposedly left because of some strange rumors about those caves. Some people that went exploring in them were literally never seen again... They didn't even find their bodies in rubble or anything, they just dropped off the face of the earth."
Metamaniac: "Sounds like fun!"
Harper: "Sounds like trouble..."

Metamaniac exchanged a mischievious look with Blight... That couldn't be good. But meh, Harper thought, the rumors about weird things happening were probably just that: rumors. But then he remembered... He'd found Rescue Cat in one of the surrounding caves. THAT definately wasn't normal.

Richlik: "So, will you guys watch me and Harper duel?"
Fallen: "Sure."
Metamaniac: "Ha! Like we'd really miss duel action. As if... We'll be there bro. (the bell rings). Well, time for class!"

Later...

Harper and an Archfiend Red named Ray1500 emerge from DUA's mainframe building. The mainframe building was where all the classes were held, where the dining hall was, and where the staffs slept. Behind the mainframe was the duel arena used for testing and matches.

Ray: "You ready to for some dueling in Harper?"
Harper: "Yep! I'm dueling a guy named Richlik today!"
Ray: "Isn't he a little below your level? I mean, he's a Blackrose right?"
Harper: "I try not to judge anybody by appeareance, because you never k ow when a person's heart will give them strength."

Ray gave Harper a weird look.

Harper: "What? So I'm philosophical today, so what? I used to think I could beat just about anybody, but people here have already proved me wrong."
Ray: "How bad could Richlik really be? He's a blackrose, geez!"
Harper: "Whatever man. (looks around the duel arena). Hey, where's Meta an Blight?"
Fallen: "We're not sure, probably off exploring or something."

As it was mid-afternoon, it was still sunny out, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. For some reason, people kept gathering and gathering to watch Harper and Richlik's duel, until there were at least 30 people, including Yuri, the owner of the academy. When finally Richlik walked into the arena, ge had a crowd waiting or him.

Yuri: "Attention duelists! This is the first duel of the semester, as well as the very first official DUA arena duel of the year. Please give the duelists your full attention and respect as you watch. On one side, from Stardust Dorm, we have Harper7000!"

A surprising amount of cheers erupted forth for Harper. Apparently simply being a Stardust made him popular.

Yuri: "And on this side, representing Blackrose Dorm, we have Richlik123!"

A few Blackroses cheered, but most people booed Richlik. Harper noticed that Ray was one of them. He gritted his teeth.

Yuri: "Ready... Set... DUEL!"

(Lp. Harper:8000, Richlik:8000)

Richlik: "I go first! Draw! I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman (atk:1600), and set 1 card face down. Your go."

Harper looked at his brand new cards. Hm... What to do with them?

Harper: "I summon Flamvell Firedog in attack mode (atk:1900). Firedog! Attack his Sparkman!"

Harper's flaming dog pounced up high into the air and smashed Sparkman into pieces.

Harper: "Now, since my firedog destroyed your monster, I get to special summon one fire monster with 200 or less defense from my deck. And I choose Flamvell Magician (atk:1400)! Now..."
Richlik: "Not so fast! I activate Torrential Tribute! Now both of your monsters are destroyed!"

Richlik revealed his trap, a card with artwork of a raging wave of water... But nothing happened.

Richlik: "Wha... What's wrong with this thing?!"
Yuri: "Hahaha, I'm afraid you cannot activate Torrential Tribute right now Richlik. Don't you know that you can't activate trap cards during the damage step?"

A group of spectaters busted out laughing at Richlik. One shouted: "you noob!". Richlik's face got redder, but he ignored them.

Richlik: "Fine then. Continue."
Harper: "Well then, I attack directly with Magician (6600). Now, I go to main phase 2. I tune my Magician and my Firedog together! Clustering stars come together to form a new miracle! Become the path it shines upon! Synchro summon! Stardust Dragon!!!"

With a thunderous roar, a huge blue and silver dragon appeared and blasted it's wings in a gust of wind. (atk:2500)

Harper: "My battle phase is over, so I end my turn."
Richlik: "Draw! Ugh, I set 2 cards and end."
Harper: "I activate Heavy Storm, destroying all your traps."
Richlik: "Grr..."
Harper: "Stardust dragon! Shooting sonic!! (4100)"
Richlik: "My draw! (smiles). I activate future fusion, with it, I send Elemental Hero Ocean and Elemental Hero Clayman of the grave. Now in 2 turns, I can fusion summon Elemental Hero Absolute Zero! Now, I discard King of The Swamp to add Polymerization to my hand. Now, I activate Polymerization to fuse my Elemental Heroes Wildheart and Necroshade to form Elemental Hero Necroid Shaman (Atk:1900)! But that's not all... Now I activate Miracle Fusion! By removing my King of The Swamp and Sparkman from play, I get to summon Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman!"

A very big, very bright Hero emerged, and spread it's wings high (atk:2500)

Harper: "All that just to summon a monster with the same strength as mine?"
Richlik: "That's where you're wrong. My Shining Flare Wingman gains 300 atk for ever Elemental Hero in my graveyard. Since there's 4, that brings him to 3700 atk!
Harper: "What?! No!"
Richlik: "Oh yes... And the best part is, when Wingman destroys a monster in battle, your monster's atk points come from your life points! Now, attack Stardust Dragon! (4300. You too Necroid Shaman! (2400)"

Harper was stunned. He was about to lose, badly! And to a stupid Blackrose! He had better be good enough to beat this loser
Rescue Cat suddenly appeared at his shoulder. He meowed sadly at him. Looking into his eyes, Harper found it hard to hate Richlik... He even started to feel bad for him.

Harper: (whispering) "He has feelings too huh?"

Rescue Cat meowed happiy. Harper decided that it didn't matter who won, As long as he and Richlik had fun.

Harper: "Well Rich, that was amazing! But this duel isn't over yet! Draw"

It was Rescue Cat. Harper almost laughed.

Harper: "I summon Rescue Cat!" (atk:300)
Richlik: "THAT'S your big comeback? You've got to be kidding me."
Harper: "He may not look like much, but he has a special ability. You see, I can send him to the grave to special summon 2 level 3 or lower beasts from my deck."

Rescue Cat blew his little whistle, and then faded away. 2 portals opened, and out came a wolverine with sharp claws, and a koala chewing leaves.

Harper: "I tune my X-saber Airbellum and my Des Koala to synchro summon Brionac, Dragon of The Ice Barrier!

Another big dragon appeared, and as it did, it snorted, and its breath froste around it. Then it roared (atk:2300)

Harper: "I activate his special ability! I can discard any amount of cards to return the same numbre of cards from the field to your hand. So I discard 2 to return your Shining Flare Wingman and your Necros Shaman to your extra deck! Next i activate Rekindling, which lets me special summon as many fire monsters with 200 ir less def from my graveyard. I summon Firedog ad Magician, and i tube them together to form Colossal fighter! Brionac, attack! (2800). And Colossal Fighter, your turn!"

(Lp. Harper:2400, Richlik:0)

A lot of the people watching jeered at Richlik, but Harper walked I've to him and shook his hand.

Harper: "That was really close dude! Good game!"
Richlik: "Just go away!"

Richlik ran off away from the duel arena. Just as suddenly, a panicked-looking Archfiend ran in.

Archfiend Student: "Mr. Bakura! Mr. Bakura! Something terrible has happened!!!"
Yuri: "What's wrong?!"
AS: "It's Vhoan, the Blackrose Violet Leader. He... He's been murdered sir"

Meanwhile...
Richlik was silently crying in one of the hallways of the DUA mainframe.

Richlik: I try my best, but I always fail!! Why do they have to hate me so much?"

Richlik punched the wall in frustration, but this only hurt his hand, and made him sob more.

???: "A pertinent question."

Richlik turned to face the mysterious speaker. It was a man wearing a black cloak and hood.

Richlik: "Look pal, if you're here to..."
Cloaked man: "No, no, I'm not here to make fun of you. I'm here to help you. Aren't you tired of being picked on all of the time because of your rank? What would you say if I told you I could make you better than any of them?"
Richlik: "... Go on..."
CM: "You would has to give up everything if you want this, perhaps even your own concious mind at times."

Richlik thought for a moment.

Richlik: "I'll do whatever it takes to crush those jerks."

The cloaked man smiled.

CM: "Heh heh... Good."

Next time - Chapter 6: "Hell Breaks Loose!"

Wow so freakin awesome Harper i just read you last 3 chapters and they are simply amazing!
You have excellent plot keep it up i am really interested to read the rest of the story

Good chapter. The dialogues are not old fashioned and thats good. Im waiting to see what will happen in the caves. Im sure there wll be an epic dark duel in there.
I see you remember Stardust Dragon's chant.

Thanks guys :). At first I thought no one was reading these in SDA bc I wasn't getting any topic reply emails, but then I realized I wasn't getting ANY topic reply emails, even for
stuff that had indeed been replied too. o_O weird. Anyway, here's the next chapter.
The DGA Chronicles Season 1: Beginnings - Chapter 6: Hell Breaks Loose

Harper ran as fast as he could down a hallway inside DUA, with Yuri Bakura dashing right alongside him. They turned the corner sharply, and found Scorpion there waiting for them.

Yuri: "Where is Vongola?"
Scorpion: "He's with Vhoan... Or rather, he's with what's left of Vhoan."
Yuri: "What happened?!"
Scorpion: "We're not entirely sure WHAT happened, but apparently one of our students attacked him and killed him."
Harper: "Who would do that?!"

Scorpion was silent for a minute.

Scorpion: "Our 2 new students, and 2 other Archfiend Students have been acting really out of character today, and have been remarkably violent to their fellow students and destructive to property as well. We don't know what's wrong with them or what's causing it, but we're 95% sure it's one of them."
Harper: "Our 2 new students? You mean Blight and Metamaniac?!"
Scorpion: "That's them. Yuri, at least one of them is for sure still inside DUA property, and he was sighted near here. We need to do, something, like capture him."
Yuri: "But... How?"
Scorpion: "You tell me! You're the headmaster!"
Yuri: "Ah... Well, um... We could, ah, try to take them by force."
Scorpion: (rolls eyes) "Let's go then. Harper, you may want to stay inside, this could get ugly."
Harper: "No, I'll stay with you, you may need more help. What if all 4 gang up on you."
Scorpion: "You know what? I should say no, but i really wouldn't mind the help. This isn't a tea party though, people are being intentionally murdered... There's no guarantee that you'll be safe."
Harper: "I'll be fine! Just let me come, please?"
Scorpion: "Whatever, you can come. But don't say I didn't warn you."

Meanwhile...

Ray was pacing back and forth across the Archfiend Red dorm. After the startling news at Harper and Richlik's duel, Vongola-x had told the dorm leaders to round up all the students and return them to their dorms until further notice. But apparently, Vongola didn't want to bother himself to tell everybody what was going on. Ray knew from what the Blackrose Violet student had told Yuri that someone had died... And Ray wondered what could have possibly happened. Was this just a rivalry between students? Was it not really a murder, and just an accident? Were they under attack by mercenaries? There were lots of different possiblities that came to Ray's mind, and each was worse than the last.

Ray: "Enough of this! I've HAVE to know what's going on!!"
Mizara: "Cool off Ray. Vongola will come and get us when it's all over. Until then we will wait here patiently."
Ray: "Oh yeah? Well how about he comes and gets YOU? You can be babysat by Vongola if you want, but I'm out of here."

Ray was still shouting at Mizara as he was opening the door and walking out, so he wasn't looking where he was walking as two rough hands shoved him forcefully back inside.

Ray: "What the...?!"

Two bulky men stood outside the Archfiend Dorm with their arms crossed. They wore black cloaks and hoods that obscured their faces, and on their arms they wore gray duel disks. Between them stood a man also wearing a black cloak and hood, but  wearing a gold duel disk.

Ray: "What's your problem?! Let me through!"

The one in the middle threw back his hood. It was Richlik.

Richlik: "I'm afraid I can't do that. See this?"

He held up his arm with the gold duel disk on it.

Richlik: "Yuri Bakura has made me temporary administrator. Now you will listen to me, not the other way around. Now, you will all stay here until I say otherwise."
Ray: "That's bull, why would he appoint you? You can't duel and no one likes you!"

The two cloaked men simultaneously kicked Ray violently in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain and collapse onto his hands and knees.

Richlik: "I would not insult me if I were you."
Mizara: "Easy Richlik. We'll stay here, if that's what needs to be done."
Richlik: "Good. These gentleman will make sure of that."

Richlik gestured to the 2 cloaked men, as well as 6 other identically dressed men that were wandering around close by.

Richlik: "I have other matters to attend to. Make sure to... Behave."

And with that, Richlik threw his hood back up and headed off in the direction of the caves.

Meanwhile...

Harper, Scorpion, and Yuri walked quickly to Tino's mansion, near the caves where Harper had found Rescue Cat. Vongola was waiting at Tino's house. Tino was not there however, as he was with the other Stardust Blue students in lockdown.

Vongola: "There you guys are! One of the renegades are around here somewhere, I'm just not sure where." (Vongola looked at Harper). "What's Harper doing here?"
Scorpion: "He's here for extra backup if we should happen to need him. Besides, for now, he's safer with us than if we send him back to the blue dorm by himself."
Vongola: "So be it. But on one condition. Harper, if we SHOULD need you for anything, I need to know you will be totally reliable."
Harper: "Sure, whatever."
Vongola: "No, really... take it seriously. You have to be able to follow orders. Like if I am about to be killed, and I tell you to escape, you WILL escape. Or if I need you to duel a renegade and put your life on the line, you must do so. Do you agree?
Harper: "... Yeah. I do."
Yuri: "Okay then. Harper, you are for all intents and purposes a staff member atm. If you help us a lot I may consider you permanently becoming staff."
Harper: "Sweet!"
Vongola: "Okay, we're all really happy for you Harper. Now we should really..."

Vongola was interrupted by a loud explosion near the caves. He, Harper, Scorpion, and Yuri ran toward the direction of the sound. In front of one of the caves, an Archfiend Student lay crumpled and smoldering on the ground. Standing over him was Metamaniac. But... He seemed different. Instead if blond streaks in his hair, there were white streaks, and his brown hair seemed darker. His eyes were now a gold color, and the shadows cast by Harper and the others seemed to be attracted to him in some strange way.

Vongola: "Metamaniac!! Stand down, now!"

Metamaniac narrowed his eyes. He spoke, and his voice sounded heavily distorted and more metallic.

Metamaniac: "I am Soulreaver! Never fear, your destruction will be next." (he notices Harper). "Harper..."

In an instant, Metamaniac drew a card from his deck, and activated in on his duel disk. A huge ball of flame suddenly appeared out of nowhere and shot towards Harper. Before anyone could do anything to stop it, Rescue Cat appeared in front of Harper and shielded him from the blast.
Apparently, Harper was still the only one who could see Rescue Cat, because they didn't notice it lying injured and slightly smoking on the ground. Harper knelt down next to it.

Harper: "Are you alright?!"

Rescue Cat meowed weakly. Harper grimaced. At least it was still alive. Harper stood up and faced Metamaniac.

Harper: "What the %&@# is wrong with you?! I though we were friends, and now you're trying to kill me?!"

Harper activated his duel disk and rushed forward, but a hand on his shoulder softly but firmly pulled him back. Harper turned around. It was Scorpion. He took out a deck from the deck box on his belt, shoved it in his duel disk, and activated it.

Scorpion: "Don't worry man, I got this."
Metamaniac/Soulreaver: "It's settled then. You will be the next to fall!"
Scorpion: "I don't know what is with you jokers, but it ends here and now. No one messes with my students and gets away with it."
Scorpion/Soulreaver: "Duel!"

Next time: Chapter 7: "Soulreaver."

W00ts nice chapter man :D I can't wait to see how Scorpion67 duels Soulreaver guy and possibly kicks the **** outta him.Also:


Vongola:Take this seriously Harper,people are being intentionally murdered here.

(Then I accidentally skipped 2 lines in reading)


Harper:SWEET!

Another nice chapter Harper keep up the good work and upload the next soon :P

Shock: thanks and LOL! That's hilarious
redgar: thanks :)

The DGA Chronicles Season 1: Beginnings - Chapter 7: Soulreaver

*Dueling update*
(Lp. Scorpion67:8000, Metamaniac/Soulreaver:8000)

Scorpion: "I'll go first skunkhead. Draw! I summon Green Gadget."

A vaguely humanoid machine appeared on the field, but instead of a torso it had one big gear (1400).

Scorpion: "Now, with his effect, I can add Red Gadget from my deck to my hand. I set 1 card face down and end my turn.
Soulreaver: "Heh... How pathetic. Why even bother summoning such a weak monster? I thought you were supposed to be good at this game."
Scorpion: "Just wait and find out. A friend of mine once challenged me to make a competitive deck out of these little guys. I didn't fail them."
Soulreaver: "We'll see about that. Now, it is time to witness TRUE power! I summon Gladiator Beast Retiari in attack mode!" (1200)

Scorpion: "And... HOW exacty is that better than Green Gadget?"
Soulreaver: "I'm not done. Since there is a Gladiator Beast on my side of the field, I can special summon Test Tiger from my hand! I activate the effect of my Test Tiger! By tributing him, I can return a Gladiator Beast from my field back to my deck, an then special summon a new Gladiator Beast from my deck, and it is treated as being summoned by the effect of a Gladiator Beast. I return Retiari, an special summon Gladiator Beast Beastiari!

An armored humanoid, yet birdlike creature came to the field. It blew its wings, and a gust of wind blew forth. (1700).

Soulreaver: "I activate Beastiari's effect! When he is summoned by the effect of a Gladiator Beast, I can destroy one spell or trap card on the field!"

Beastiari blew its wings harder, and created a whirlwind that hit Scorpion's facedown card and destroyed it. It was the trap card Dimensional Prison. Soulreaver extended his hand out.

Soulreaver: "Now, Beastiari, attack his pitiful Gadget! (Scorpion:7700). Since my Beastiari attacked or was attacked this turn, I return him to the deck to special summon Gladiator Beast Laquari from my deck! His effect now activates, raising his original attack points to 2100!"

Yet another humanoid beast appeared. This time, it was a tiger-like creature with fiery darts floating behind it.

Soulreaver: "I set 2 cards facedown and end my turn."
Scorpion: (yawning) "Well, if you're quite done summoning all the monsters in your deck, I think I'll go. Draw! Haha, too bad for you! I activate Smashing Ground, which destroys the monster on your field with the highest defense points. For all the summoning you did, you still only have 1 monster on your field, so I destroy your Gladiator Beast."

The ground exploded underneath Laquari's feet, and Laquari exploded as well.

Scorpion: "Next, I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your left facedown."
Soulreaver: "No! Not my Mirror Force!"
Scorpion: "Now I summon Thunder King Rai-oh in attack mode! Thunder King, attack him directly with Royal Lightning! I set another card facedown and end my turn." (Soulreaver:6100)
Soulreaver: "My draw! I activate Book of Moon, which flips your Thunder king facedown. Now I summon Gladiator Beast Darius! Darius, attack his Thunder King Rai-oh!"

A humanoid beast appeared, and this time, it had the head of a horse and hooves. It attacked into Thunder King and destroyed it since thunder king had only 800 def.

Soulreaver: "Since my Darius attacked this turn, I can return him to the deck to special summon another Gladiator Beast from my deck!"
Scorpion: "Yeah, yeah, sing a new song."
Soulreaver: (ignoring Scorpion) "And I summon... Gladiator Beast Equeste! (1600). Now with his effect, I can add a Gladiator Beast from my grave to my hand, so I take back Laquari. I end my turn."
Scorpion: "My move! I activate Fissure, which destroys the lowest ark monster on your field, which would be Equeste since he is the only card on your field."
Soulreaver: "@$&%! How many of those things do you have?!"
Scorpion: (winking) "Enough to beat you, that's for sure. Now I summon Red Gadget (1300), and then with his effect I can add Yellow Gadget from my deck to my hand."

Scorpion took out his deck and began looking through it. When he came to a Yellow Gadget, he paused. An image of a beautiful girl with blond hair flashed through his mind. She looked to be about 19 or 20, although she could have been older. It was hard to tell because she still had that vibrant girlish look about her. She wore a happy smile, and seemed to smile directly at Scorpion through his mind's eye.

Soulreaver: "Are you going to stand there all day or duel?"

Scorpion realized that he had been staring at the card for almost a full minute. He quickly added Yellow Gadget to his hand.

Scorpion: "Uh... yeah. Now, since your field is once again empty, I attack you directly with my Red Gadget!" (Soulreaver:4800)
Soulreaver: "Stop attacking me with those weaklings!"
Scorpion: "It suits you that I would. I end my turn."

Soulreaver scowled at this, as he did, the sky around them began to get cloudy and darker, even though it was still the afternoon.
Soulreaver: "My move! I draw! Now, I summon Gladiator Beast Samnite in attack mode!"

A humanoid tiger appeared in a flash of light and snarled at Scorpion.

Scorpion: "I play my trap, Bottomless Trap Hole!"

Just as Samnite hit the field, a hole appeared beneath it and it fell for miles, endlessly under the earth. Then the ground covered itself back up.

Soulreaver: "ENOUGH!!! NOMORE WILL YOU SO FLIPPANTLY DESTROY MY MONSTERS!!! NOW YOU WILL DIE!!"

As he yelled maniacly at Scorpion, Soulreaver's golden eyes turned a glowing red color, and the sky around them became entirely dark. Dark lightning crackled around them, and shadowy mist permeated the air. As Soulreaver spoke again, his voice seemed even more distorted and evil than before.

Soulreaver: "Heh heh heh... Now... We will duel with our lives on the line. Hahahahaha!! I activate Monster Reborn!! Now I can bring back my Gladiator Beast Equeste from the grave! EQUESTE! KILL HIM!!"

Equeste's eyes burned a hateful red. It leapt up in the air and slashed down with immense force on Scorpion's chest.

Scorpion: "AAAAUUUURRRRGGHHH!!!!"

He collapsed instantly, holding his bleeding chest. How could that damage have been REAL? Scorpion blinked back tears and inspected his wound. Thankfully, the cut wasn't that deep, but it did make Scorpion extremely shaken up. Sure he, like everyone else, had heard the legends of the Shadow Games, but he had never imagined that they were actually real, much less that it was even possible to hold a Shadow Game in a virtual world like Pseudospace. (Scorpion:6100).

Soulreaver: "With Equeste's effect, I return him to the deck to special summon a Gladiator Beast from my deck. I summon Gladiator Beast Secutor in attack mode! (400)

Soulreaver gave an evil smile.

Soulreaver: "I end my turn. Make your move... If you have the strength."
Scorpion: "M-My... Turn. Draw. Red Gadget, attack his Secutor!"
Soulreaver: "Heh. I activate my facedown, Waboku! This turn, I take no damage, and my monsters aren't destroyed as a result of battle. But since my Secutor still battled your monster, I can return him to special summon 2 Gladiator Beasts from my deck!"
Scorpion: "2?!"
Soulreaver: "That's right! Now, I special summon Gladiator Beast Murmillo, and Gladiator Beast Retiari. With Murmillo's effect, when he's summoned, I can destroy 1 of your monsters!"

Red Gadget exploded.

Soulreaver: "And thanks to Retiari's effect, I can remove a card from your grave. And I choose your Thunder King Rai-oh!"
Scorpion: "Grr... I set one card and end."
Soulreaver: "My turn! I summon Gladiator Beast Laquari from my hand! Now, your destruction is at hand!!! CONTACT FUSION! I fuse my 3 Gladiator Beasts to summon GLADIATOR BEAST HERAKLINOS!!"

A gigantic beast appeared that resembled Laquari, but more muscular and heavily armored. It bore a scale-like shield, and a brutal-looking spear. (3000). Soulreaver pointed at Scorpion.

Soulreaver: "Heraklinos! Destroy him!!"
Scorpion: "I activate Dimensional Prison!"
Soulreaver: "Nice try, but by discarding a card from my hand, Heraklnos can negate all of your spells and traps and destroy them!"
Scorpion: "ALL of them?!"
Soulreaver: "That's right! Now, take THIS!"

This time, Scorpion tried to block the attack by covering himself with his duel disk. It did take the brunt of the hit, but it sent him flying backward, and he slid for several feet across the grassy ground, and landed with a crunch. (Scorpion:3100).

Vongola: "Scorp!"

Vongola attempted to run up to Scorpion's side, but aflash of dark lightning shocked him away like a forcefield. Scorpion moaned, and slowly got up.

Scorpion: "D-draw..."

He smiled.

Scorpion: "I summon Doomcalibur Knight in attack mode (1900). Next, I set 1 card and end my turn."
Soulreaver: "Haha! Draw! Heraklinos, attack his Doomcalibur Knight!
Scorpion: "I activate Mirror Force!"
Soulreaver: "Ha! You're a slow learner. By discarding this card, I can negate Heraklinos's destruction!"
Scorpion: "And that's where MY monster's effect kicks in! You see, when an effect monster's effect activates, I tribute Doomcal and he negates the effect and destroys the monster!"
Soulreaver: "What?!"

Heraklinos swung its spear at Doomcalibur Knight, but Doomcal just threw his own spear at Heraklinos. It hit Heraklinos in the neck, and it made a huge explosion which destroyed them both in a burst of flame.

Soulreaver: "You'll pay for that! But we're just at a stalemate now, neither of us have monsters. I end."

Scorpion took another look at the Yellow Gadget in his hand, and once again, the image of the girl passed through his mind.

Scorpion: (murmuring): "This is for you."
(out loud): "I summon Yellow Gadget in attack mode (1200), and with his effect, I add Green Gadget from my deck to my hand. Next, I activate Monster Reborn, and the monster I choose to bring back is... Gladiator Beast Heraklinos!!"
Soulreaver: "WHAT?!?!"

The air churned with dark power around Soulreaver in response to his fury, but there was nothing he could do. He had no cards on the field.

Scorpion: "Attack! Gladiator Beast Heraklinos!"

This time, Soulreaver was the one that was sent flying, and he landed on his face as he slid across the grass. (Soulreaver:1800). Soulreaver moaned slowly and managed to spit out:

Soulreaver: "I'm... Not... Dead yet."
Scorpion: "That's where you're wrong! I activate the quickplay spell, Limiter Removal! This spell doubles the atk of all machine monsters on my field until the end phase, bringing my Yellow Gadget to 2400 atk! Yellow Gadget, attack and end this!!!"

The small machine jumped across the playing field and punched Soulreaver in the face. He went flying back and landed on his knees. Then the shadows started to surround him. As te lightning crackled, Soulreaver screamed a horrible, screeching scream as his very life was drained out of his body. He collapsed to his knees, and fell over on his face.
Finally, the shadows started to dissapate, and the clouds pulled back to reveal that it was about 5:00 in the afternoon. Scorpion also collapsed to his knees. Harper, Vongola, and Yuri ran over to Scorpion's side.

Harper: "Scorp! All you alright?"

Scorpion nodded slowly.

Scorpion: "It hurts a lot, but I can still duel."

Yuri gave him a stern look.

Yuri: "Listen Scorpion, you're hurt. You need to go get some medical attention! Walk back to the academy and stay there with Tino. We'll take care of the other 3.
Scorpion: "A-are you sure?"
Yuri: "Remember, Harper is helping us. There's 3 more of them, and 3 more of us. It's a no brainer!"
Vongola: "It's a no brainer alright. What if we fail? We need to let the authorities know about this, they've killed people already, and nearly killed Scorp too. How DID he almost kill Scorp anyway?! A harmless duel shouldn't physically harm ANYone. There must be some kind of glitch in the system. Whether there is or not, Seto Kaiba needs to know about this."
Yuri: "I have no idea wha's going on, or where it comes from, so maybe Seto COULD help. The problem is, we don't know where he is! Or for that matter, we don't know where the other renegades are! What if they catch us on the way out of DUA? Or worse yet, what if they escape WITH us into the rest of the world?"

For a few moments, everybody was silent, torn by indecision.

Harper: "Well... Why doesn't one of us just leave Pseudospace and come back in? I mean... When you enter Pseudospace, you can appear anywhere you want, so why not arrive at Seto's office? That way, we can tell him while keeping the renegades here."

There was a stunned silence.

Vongola: "That... Might actually work. I guess I didn't think about it because of the new update to Pseudospace a few days back."
Yuri: "Yeah, since we can sleep here now, nobody even goes back to the real world anymore. I don't see why we COULDN'T though..."
Vongola: "I'll go."

He opened a hatch on his duel disk, and revealed a red button. When it was pushed, it severed a person's connection to Pseudospace, and they woke up in the real world. Vongola pressed the button and...
Nothing happened. They were trapped.

Next time: Chapter 8: "Stuck In Psedospace!" 

Took you a while but it surely deserved it!

The chapters are getting all and better keep it up!

The DGA Chronicles Season 1: Beginnings - Chapter 8: Stuck In Pseudospace!

Vongola: "What the... Why didn't it work? I should be back in the real world by now!"
Yuri: "I guess... since we can eat and sleep here now, none of us can go back. We're stuck here."

Everyone was silent as the implications of what Yuri had just said sunk in.

Harper: "But what if we fail against the renegade duelists?! This isn't a video game world anymore guys! If we die in here, we die for real!"
Yuri: "I KNOW what could happen Harper, but what choice do we have?! We can't do anything about it!!"

The tension in the air was so thick it was almost visable.

Vongola: "*sigh*... Well, first things first, we need to regroup with the rest of the academy and let them know the situation. They may panic, after seeing what Soulreaver can do, I think we need all the help we can get. Who knows... Soulreaver could be their WORST duelist."
Scorpion: "Way to think positive..."
Vongola: "I'm just stating the possibilities Scorp."
Yuri: "Um, what should we do with HIM anyway?"

Everybody's eyes turned to the fallen Soulreaver, who was still lying crumpled on the ground where Scirpion left him. Vongola cautiously approached him and put 2 of his fingers on his throat.

Vongola: "He still has a pulse, which means he's still alive. But the question is, is he Metamaniac or still Soulreaver? I don't think we can take that chance."
Yuri: "Well we're not going to KILL him, that's for sure. Especially in cold blood."
Vongola: "Good point... So what DO we do with him then?"
Scorpion: "Let's just bring him back to the academy with us. I don't like the idea of an insane psychopath hanging out with us, but the guy's in a coma, and besides, like the saying goes, you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer. If he still IS Soulreaver, at least he won't be running around free."
Yuri: "Good point. Harper, Vongola, can you carry Meta? I'll help Scorpion so he can walk."

Yuri swung Scorpion's arm around his shoulder, while Harper grabbed Metamaniac's feet, and Vongola his arms. The group slowly made their way back to DUA from the caves. At last, they arrived at the center of DUA, where all of the main buildings were. There was the Main Building, with all the classrooms, the dining hall, and staff dorms inside of it. Across from the main building was the hospital. Yuri, Scorpion, Vongola, Harper, and the unconcious Metamaniac headed inside the hospital. 
As they entered a nurse saw them and immediately called for a stretcher for the 2 injured men. When they got to a hospital room, they laid Meta in one of the beds and hooked him up to machines that monitered his pulse and breathing patterns.
Yuri unswung Scorpion's arm from his shoulder, and Scorpion feebly staggered to one of the other beds and almost fell over. Vongola and Harper tried to help him, but he waved them away.

Scorpion: "I'm fine. I'll stay here and watch Meta."
Yuri: "You sure?"
Scorpion: "Yeah. Besides, I can't duel for a day or 2 anyway, I may as well be doing SOMETHING useful."
Yuri: "Very well then. Vongola, Harper, there are 3 Stardust students that I left at Tino's mansion, and some Archfiends that I left in one of the Red Dorms. The rest of the students are in the main building. Go quickly, get the students that aren't here, and bring them to me in the main building, and we'll explain the situation to all of the students there at once. They have a right to know that they're in danger. I'll stay with the students at the Main Building until you return."

So as they left the hospital, Vongola and Harper headed off to Tino's mansion, while Yuri entered the huge double doors of DUA.

Yuri Bakura:

The main building was dark, that was the first thing Yuri noticed as he walked inside. All the lights had been dimmed, and all the windows had been shuttered. Nobody walked the halls either; Vongola had ordered them to stay in the dining hall, so that was where they were. The groud floor of DUA was the classroom floor, but it was also home to a huge staircase, the main one in the builing. It was huge and ornate, with gilded handlrails and pictures of famous duelists and duel monsters on the side of the staircase itself. The stairs led downward, to the dining hall, but also upward, to the Staff Dorms. He was about to descend the stairs to see the students, but then he distinctly heard a thumping noise. Yuri was positive the noise had come from upstairs.

Yuri: (thinking) "That's odd... There's no staff in the building except for me... Who could possibly be up there?"

Instead of going to the dining hall, Yuri went UP the stairs, to the Staff Dorms. He poked his head into the hallway containing the different rooms. Weird... There was nothing unusual here... Wait. The door to Yuri's own room was open. Yuri entered and saw a man in a black cloak and hood inside.

Yuri: "Hey! Who are you, and why are you in here?!"

The man turned around. He removed his hood and revealed himself to be Richlik. He wore a golden duel disk on his arm, just as Yuri did.

Richlik: "What? You don't recognize me Yuri? How sad."
Yuri: "... Richlik? What are you...?"

Yuri noticed the golden duel disk on Richlik's arm. His eyes widened.

Yuri: "... Why do you have...?"

Richlik smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. It was the smile of a predator who had found his prey.

Richlik: "Yuri, Yuri... The time has come for ME to shine. And you're going to help me." 

Harper7000/Vongola-x:

As Harper and Vongola entered Tino's mansion, they immediately saw Tino, Fallen King, and another Stardust Blue named Jalice Dakari sitting on the couch.

Vongola: "Guys, we need to go. Something bad has happened, and we need everyone in the Main Building."
Fallen: "What's going on?"
Vongola: "I'll explain when we get there. Yuri wants everyone to be there when he explains."

They walked outside, where Mizara and the rest of the Archfiends were already waiting. Even though only Harper and Vongola knew what was going on, somehow everyone knew that it was no time to make jokes, so no one spoke as they walked solemnly back to the Main Building. 
Vongola shoved the huge double doors open, and everyone filed downstairs into the dining hall. Approximately 70 people were waiting there, and as they entered, all eyes were on Harper, Vongola, Tino, Fallen, Jalice, Mizara, and the Archfiend students. All in all, there were about 80 people in the dining hall... Everyone in the entire school, except for Scorpion, Metamaniac, Richlik, and the rogue duelists. Vongola, Harper, Tino, and Mizara climbed the steps to the stage where the main table was. Vongola, Tino, and Mizara took their seats at the table, and Harper tenatively took Scorpion's seat. He nervously twisted his necklace. The pendant on the necklace was a small, shiny silver cross, with ancient-looking writing on it. Oddly enough, Yuri wasn't there yet, which left them sitting there akwardly while the students waited for an explanation. Vongola leaned over and whispered to Harper.

Vongola: "Do you think we should go ahead, or...?"

Harper had almost forgot that he, as a new staff member, had a say in the proceedings.

Harper: "Um... Well, if Yuri isn't here, he must be busy with something or other. And the students are getting restless, so... You should probably go ahead."

Vongola nodded, and stood up. He walked around the table and stood facing the audience of duelists around him.

Vongola: "Yuri Bakura is busy, so he is not here right now, but it's time you all know what's going on."

He paused.

Vongola: "4 of our students have gone rogue. We gave witnessed them attacking, and even killing other students. We have already apprehended 1, but in the process, he temporarily put Scorpion67 in the hospital. We have this under control, but I need to make this absolutely clear for all of you: DO NOT ENGAGE THEM! They are extremely dangerous, they've even found some way to hurt and kill people simply by dueling them. Scorpion (when he recovers), Yuri, Harper, and myself will defeat these criminals, and we can all get back to our regular schedule and not have to worry anymore.

Vongola stopped talking for a minute, so his message could sink in. There was a burst of chatter at his announcement, and people's expressions looked extremely afraid and worried. However, it seemed to Harper that they still had quite a bit of trust in Vongola and his ability to beat the renegades.
Vongola cleared his throat.

Vongola: "There's one more thing though. I must ask you NOT to panic, but... We are unable to return to the real world at this time."

Suddenly, there was a lot more chatter than before.

Vongola: "Quiet, quiet! Now listen: there's nothing to be afraid of. As you all already know, Seto has updated Pseudospace so that we don't have to leave. We can "eat" and "sleep" here the same as we can in the real world. And as long as you use common sense and stay out of the way of these renegades, no one will be hurt."
???: "And can you 've absolutely sure of that?"

Vongola, as well as everybody else, turned to look at the speaker. It was Richlik. He wore a black cloak that billowed around him as he walked down the aisle of the tables. His messy hair seemed heavily grayed, which was somewhat disturbing, as he hadn't had ANY gray in his hair a few days ago during his duel with Harper. Richlik was flanked by 4 of the mysterious cloaked and hooded men, and they stood next to the stage as Richlik ascended the stairs to the stage and stood next to Vongola.

Richlik: "Be honest Vongola. You have no idea what you're dealing with. Kaiba Corporation has the most advanced mainframe in Pseudospace, not to mention the entire world. There's no way that someone could have hacked the base system so that they could hurt people in duels without Seto immediately knowing. The same reasoning applies for the fact that we can't leave. Seto would never trap us here, and there's no hacker good enough to keep us from leaving. There's something more going on than you realize."

Everyone was deathly silent. No one talked back to Vongola, but... In a way, Rich was right. Mizara stood up from his seat.

Mizara: "Look... Richlik... I don't know what you're trying to accomplish here, but you're just causing confusion and doubt. Besides, you're not staff, you're not even supposed to be up here... I'm asking you nicely to please sit down at your table so we can figure this mess out."

Richlik smiled.

Richlik: "I'm not supposed to be up here huh? Well what about THIS?!"

Richlik flung aside his cloak to reveal his golden duel disk: the sign of an administrator.

Richlik: "Yuri made me an Administrator before he left to stop the renegades at those caves. I think at first he meant it to be temporary, but it's turned into something much more than that... Now that he knows the truth."
Vongola: "The truth? WHAT truth?"

Richlik turned to face Vongola, his expression serious. Then he faced the crowd again.

Richlik: "All of you, I'm sure, have hear of the legendary King of Games, Yugi Mutou. We all know about his legendary win at Battle City. What you DON'T know is that in addition to dueling for his title, he was dueling to save te world. The runner-up, Marik Ishtar was a Shadow Duelist, similar to the "renegades" that are causing us so much trouble. He became possesed by an alternate personality, and used the power of Darkness to win duels and inflict terrible punishments on those who lost to him. In all reality, the game of Duel Monsters is a clash of Dark powers. The game we all know and love actually began thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt, where they dueled with REAL monsters. They were called the Shadow Games. The true power of those duelists came from the Shadow Realm, which was a different dimension made of Darkness and suffering. From there, they gained the power to summon duel monsters from their world. Over half a century ago, Maximillion Pegasus I recreated the duel monsters into cards, where their spirit resided. However, only a duelist infused with Dark power could make a regular duel a Shadow Game, which would make the monsters real, and inflict a Penalty Game on the loser. Up until now, as a virtual world and not the real world, Pseudospace has kept us away from the evil duelists and monsters of the Shadow Realm. But now, this virtual world is starting to become entertwined with the Shadow Realm AND the real world. This explains why Scorpion was physically hurt in his duel, and why we can't leave Pseudospace. Part of the real world is IN Pseudospace, so we can't leave it."

Richlik paused to let his words take effect. 

Richlik: "But darkness isn't necessarily something to fear; the King of Games himself used it to win gainst Marik and other evil duelists. Darkness by itself isn't inherently evil. These so called "renegades" however are Shadow Duelists, duelists that have been overrun with evil spirits from the Shadow Realm. The spirits give them tremendous skill and power, but as long as WE learn to harness darkness, we can easily beat them at their own game."

There was absolute silence. Everyone had been transfixed by Richlik's speech, but they didn't know what to think about it. No one was sure whether to clap, laugh, or cower in fear. Tino put his head in his hands, and then looked back up.

Tino: "Richlik... There have always been rumors about such things... Even really convincing rumors. But I honestly do think they're just that: rumors. No offense, but the idea is really out there."

Richlik opened his mouth to answer, but there was a huge explosion at the entrance of the dining hall, and all heads turned to the sound. There, standing among the wreckage of te double doors, was Gladiator Beast Heraklinos. Soulreaver stood beside it, with blue lightning crackling on his fists. There was a dark mist pulsing around Soulreaver and Heraklinos, even more so than before.

Vongola: "Oh. Crap."

Soulreaver extended his hand, and Heraklinos swung its spear and tried smash one of the tables, and its occupants, to pieces. Thinking quickly, Vongola whipped out a card from the top of his deck and slapped it onto his duel disk. Blackwing Armor Master burst forth, and took the hit instead of the table. However, Armor Master was sent flying, and he hit another table and overturned it. Harper noticed that Armor Master was undamaged, and Vongola seemed fine, and he remembered Armor Master's card effect from his duel with Vongola. Perhaps it had a similar protective effect in reality as well.
   In any case, Armor Master wouldn't last forever, and all the students were panicking. They all ran from their seats in completely different directions, although the majority seemed to be crowding around the stage, which was furthest spot away from Soulreaver and Heraklinos.
   Amid all of the chaos and running, Richlik calmly descended the stairs, cloak swirling and approached the Shadow Duelist. Heraklinos swung again and smashed an empty table this time. Soulreaver noticed Richlik approaching, and he extended his hand towards him. Dark lightning shot out to kill Richlik, but he extended his own hand and intercepted the bolt of lightning. It melted into his hand and then he quickly closed the distance between him and Soulreaver and held his hand open above his head. The dark lightning hit Soulreaver and he screamed in pain as he was fryed and shocked by his own dark lightning. The lightning seemed to be focused on Soulreaver's heart. After a few seconds, There was a spherical burst of dark energy from his heart, and he collapsed. Behind him, Heraklinos faded and dissapeares. Richlik turned to face everybody.

Richlik: "Do you believe me now?"

Everyone was submissively silent, waiting for Richlik to tell them what to do. They were impressed, to say the least.

Richlik: "To harness the Dark Power I spoke of, we need these."

He held up his right hand, and Harper noticed that he wore a bronze, gilded bracelet with strange runes carved into it.

Richlik: "These are Shadow Charms, they let a duelist control Darkness and be protected from Darkness to some extent. However, even though I have a Shadow Charm, I can't do this alone, we still need to beat the Shadow Duelists in a duel before I can seal the spirits inside of them. Clearly, changes need to be made to the academy so we can do this... But unfortunately..."

Richlik looked at the floor, as if he didn't want to say what was unfortunate.

Richlik: "Unfortunately, Yuri Bakura is unwilling to make these changes. Apparently this was more than he had bargained for; so he has left us."
Vongola: "LEFT us?! You mean he gave up and ran away?!"
Richlik: "I hate to say it, but that's exactly what happened. DUA is without a headmaster. DUA is leaderless."

Richlik let his words sink in. The unspoken question on everyone's mind was: "what do we do then?"

Richlik: "But... We do not have to BE DUA anymore. We can evolve into something much better. We can learn the Dark Arts. We can learn what is supposedly forbidden. We can become... unstoppable."

Still, no one spoke. They were transfixed by Richlik's words.

Richlik: "We will have the same ranks and staff members, but with a new headmaster, one who can control the Dark: me."

Richlik gestured to the 4 cloaked men.

Richlik: "These men have taught me all that I just related to you, and more. They can also help us in our new, greater, academy. So... Who is with me?"

Even after all that had been said, all the students were still silent and unmoving. They were afraid of Soulreaver, afraid of Richlik's power, angry at Yuri's apparent betrayal, and confused about their loyalties. They simply didn't know what to do. Vongola walked down the steps of the stage and stood next to Richlik. At first it looked like he would punch Richlik, but then he broke into a smile and clasped Richlik's hand into a handshake.

Vongola: "Let's take them down."

Next time: Chapter 9: "Forbidden Arts Duel Academy."

AWESOME.

HOLY CRAP FANTASTIC :O

Harper its really good. there is some things i didnt did but its ok its even more fantastic :) and about the dark duels i said it was cool.

Everyone: thanks for the positive comments guys, please keep them up! ... Or negative comments, should I write badly haha.
richlik: thanks or being a good sport lol. Some people
would be mad that they're a bad guy, but it's just a story, and pretending to be evil is fun. I'm a villain in winduct's story haha

Here's te next chapter, sorry for the wait

The DGA Chronicles Season 1: Beginnings - Chapter 9: Forbidden Arts Duel Academy

Richlik, Scorpion, Vongola, and Harper were all crowded inside Yuri's old room for a staff meeting.

Richlik: "Okay, so you're probaby wondering why I called you all here, but it's really quite simple. You have agreed with my plan, that we need to replace DUA wirh a stronger academy, but first things first, we need to know how we are going to run things."
Vongola: "What? I though you said everything will stay the same!"
Richlik: "In a way, they will. You, Scorpion, and Harper will still be staff members. However, I want Forbidden Arts Duel Academy to be stronger and better run than DUA could ever have hoped to be. According to my plan, the basic system of operation will be the same. Administrators will have authority over all dorms and all other staff members. Moderators will be second in command, they will also have authority over all dorms, but Administrators can still overrule them. They also act as Administrators if the Admins are gone. And then there are the 3 Dorm Leaders, who lead their respective dorms."
Harper: "So what's the difference?"
Richlik: "The most notable difference will be that we will learn to use the Darkness ti our advantage. Like i said before, Darkness isn't inherently bad. The King of Games himself used it for good purposes, it's simply the source of all power, not the source of all evil. The only other optional change is that I think we need more staff members to cope with the current situation."
Scorpion: "Who do you have in mind?"
Richlik: "Well, I figured we should get 2 new administrators: one who is primarily a good leader, and one that is primarily a good duelist. For the good leader I nominate TheRuler. He's only in Archfiend Red, but from what I hear, most Reds consider him to be their leader instead of Mizara. Over that even, I've had a lot of conversations with him recently, and i've found him to be extremely intelligent. As for who the "good duelist administrator" should be... Well, i'll leave that up to you 3."

Scorpion and Vongola looked at each other, and then back at Richlik.

Scorpion/Vongola: "Fallen king."
Vongola: "I think he's our best student right now, hands down. He'll be a tremendous help against the Shadow Duelists."
Richlik: "Well that's settled then. Harper will be a Moderator, and we need one more Moderator."
Scorpion: "What about Jalice Dakari? He's a good duelist and a releable guy."
Richlik: "Okay, now there's just 1 more issue... Who will replace Vhoan as Blackrose Leader, now that he's dead?"

Vongola and Scorpion thought for a while.

Vongola: "I suppose Dredor could be a good choice. He's reliable for sure, if a bit insecure and slightly amateurish at dueling. With time, i think he could build up dueling experience and charisma."
Richlik: "Sounds good to me. So we will have 5 Administrators: Me, Vongola, Scorpion, Fallen King, and TheRuler; 2 Moderators: Harper and Jalice; and 3 dorm leaders: Tino, Mizara, and Dredor. Sound good to everyone?"

The other 3 nodded quietly. They were still slightly stung by Yuri's alleged abondonment, but it still didn't feel quite right to them to just take over Yuri's academy. But what else was there to do? He had left and they were stuck.

Richlik: "Now that that's over, I can fully explain the situation. The cloaked men that are with me are members of The Children of The Dark, a society that has been trying to uncover the secrets of Darkness. It has been inactive for some time because of Pseudospace, but as I mentioned earlier, Pseudospace is beginning to overlap with the real world. This brings the power of Darkness back into the mix, so the Children have reformed and have been re-learning their secrets."
Scorpion: "But HOW is Pseudospace overlapping with the real world? That just doesn't make sense to me, we're essentially in a computer program."
Richlik: "I'm not entirely sure either, to be perfectly honest. My best theory is that someone in the real world is pumping information here through a portal. Like if somehow they found a way to operate Psedopods while they're open. If that was the case, they might be able to slowly absorb ALL of the information around it... Until all of the worlds are fused with Pseudospace."

That was a sobering thought, and it silenced everybody. It wasn't as if they had nothing to say, Harper had so many questions about what Richlik had just said. But didn't know where to start.

Harper: "So... Wait... You mentioned that ALL of the worlds will be absorbed. What other worlds are there?"
Richlik: "There are 12 different dimensions total. 11 of them are home to duel monsters, and 1 is for humans. Every so often, humans enter the other dimensions and sometimes are even allowed to stay there. Also, in real duels, duel monsters are summoned from their dimension to wherever a duelist is dueling. Then there is the Shadow Realm. The Shadow Realm is a terrible place where evil duel monsters and even evil humans are imprisoned. Nobody knows whether or not it is one of the 12 dimensions, or something else entirely."
Vongola: "How do YOU know so much about this? I mean, really, last week you were just another student! You've shown me your powers over this "darkness" enough to convince me, but I don't know HOW you can do that."
Richlik: "The Children of The Dark have taught me many things about the universe. They have kept the secrets of Darkness all these years, and now they are revealing them to us."
Scorpion: "Yeah, yeah, that's nice, but we really don't even know who they ARE! How do you know they're trustworthy?"
Richlik: "That's a relevant question. However, I have reason to believe they are... Some reasons I can't talk about, but sufficient to say I've personally seen the truth of what they have told me."

Scorpion clearly wasn't satisfied with the answer, but he said nothing, so Richlik continued explaining.
 
Richlik: "Moving on, the 12 dimensions and Pseudospace haven't fully met yet; if they had, we would be in much worse trouble. Instead, there are small, concentrated spots which share the same space as various other dimensions. Here, in DUA, is one of these spots, particularly around the caves. By all accounts, the Shadow Duelists are staying inside the caves, so to defeat them, we need to explore around in the caves."
Vongola: "Wandering caves alone doesn't sound like a good idea to me."
Richlik: "Nevertheless, it is necessary. But that's no need to throw caution to the wind. The Children Of The Dark have already agreeed to constantly explore the caves, and they will serve as bodyguards and a warning system. Onenif us will always be in the caves with them, and if they come across a Shadow Duelist, they will call whoever is with them in the cavea to defeat him. We can work in shifts and rotate out with each other. For example, Vongola can patrol for 8 hours, and then Harper will patrol for 8 hours."
Vongola: "That should work. Fallen King, Harper, and myself should be sufficient to defeat the other 3 Shadow Duelists. 8 hours will also work, since there are 24 hours in the day. 8 hours times 3 duelists equals 24 hours."
Scorpion: "What about me?"
Vongola: "You're still injured from your last duel. We'll take care of this."
Scorpion: "Fine... Just don't lose! But, uh, Richlik, shouldn't we evacuate everyone from DUA in the meantime?"

Richlik sighed heavily, as if he didn't want to answer.

Richlik: "Unfortunately, before he left, Yuri  electronically locked the gates leading out of the academy. He's the ony one who has the keycard pass, so... Sad to say... we're stuck here."

There was a stunned silence.

Vongola: "Are you kidding me?! Why would he do that to us?!?!"
Richlik: "I have no idea. Apparently Yuri only cared about his own safety. There may be some other way out, but to figure out how to do that would take time... Time we just don't have at the moment. We need to defeat the Shadow Duelists."

There was another short silence.

Scorpion: "So... who gets to explore the creepy cave first?"

All heads turned to Harper, and Harper groaned.

Later...
10 men in black cloaks and hoods followed Harper as he walked into the cave... The Children of The Dark. Honestly, Harper still wasn't sure what to think of the mysterious newcomers, but if they were somehow helping with the whole Shadow Duelist thing, they couldn't be THAT bad... at least in Harper's book. As they walked into the caves, he expected to see an underground lake, like he had when he had found Rescue Cat and his deck, but this cave was different. There were 2 rows of tall, thick pillars that made a path that lead deeper into the cave. The ceiling was strangely tall for a cave ceiling, and the path itself seemed to stretch back forever into the depths of the cave. Every once in a while down the path though, there would be a room that branched off into a different cave. The caves were bigger than Harper had thought. Harper sighed, and picked a random direction to go search, but a cloaked man grabbed his shoulder. 
Cloaked man: "Take it easy. We'll do all the searching, and you can do all the dueling. Sound good?"

The man's voice was gruff and slightly sarcastic, like Harper had somehow insulted him for wanting to help.

Harper: "Whatever. Search by yourself, what do I care?"

The cloaked man grunted, but said nothing as he and the other Children split into groups and went off into the various branches of the cave. Harper found a stone bench on one of the walls and sat down, pleased with himself. He had avoided any kind of work, and now he could kick back and have fun
   4 hours later, Harper was bored to tears. It had seemed fun at first to just let the Children do all the work, but in reality, that only left Harper to sit around and do nothig for a third of the day. His shift couldn't be over fast enough. Eventually, he heard Fallen King's footsteps echo off the stone floor as he approached.
Fallen: "I'm here! Now you can get some sleep while I get some excitement!"

Harper snorted.

Harper: "It's really boring down here, the cloaked guys do all the searching, I just hang around and wait for something bad to happen. Woo."
Fallen: "Haha! Well, you'll get your chance to duel eventually I suppose

Fallen sat down by Harper on the stone bench. Harper, as he often did when he was thinking or bored, began twisting the string of his necklace. The necklace was made of a simple leather string, and the pendant was a bright silver, medium-sized cross.

Fallen: "Where did you get that?"
Harper: "The necklace? An old friend of my father's gave it to me years and years ago. He was the one who taught me to duel, but he died when I was only 6."
Fallen: "Oh! I'm sorry... Do you miss him?"
Harper: "Yeah... It's like... I miss him, but I wasn't old enough to really KNOW him, you know?"

There was an akward silence.

Harper: "So, how's being a new Admin going?"

Fallen sighed.

Fallen: "I don't know man, I like it well enough, thing is, I wouldn't need to be one if Yuri hadn't took off. I really thought highly of that guy... I wonder what happened?"
Harper: "I really don't know. Maybe sometimes pressure just gets to you when you're an Admin."
Fallen: "That's not very reassuring."

Harper smiled, but then he was suddenly thrown into Fallen as a violent explosion rocked the floor. He and Fallen looked at each other. It could only mean one thing: a Shadow Duelist had been found.

Next time: Chapter 10: "The Silencer Has Spoken."

:O i am getting addicted to this great job once again Harper!

Children of the Dark, sounds very sinister, nice name. Withno duels in the chapter, you still made it very interesting. I also like the way you describe the place. Keep it up, im looking forward to see the shadow duel.

Thanks guys :)
The DGA Chronicles Season 1: Beginnings - Chapter 10: The Silencer Has Spoken

Tino was standing in front of a building devoured by deep black shadows. The building seeemed slighty familiar to Tino, but it was much to dark and deformed to see it clearly. A menacing man stood in facing him and in front of the building. He wore a black trenchcoat, and although his face was darkened, Tino could make out his eyes, glowing yellow in the darkness. The man's voice was heavily distorted and metallic, just as Soulreaver's had been.

Dark Man: "I tune my two monsters together! Clustering wishes will bring forth a new shining star... Become the path it shines upon! Synchro summon!! Stardust Dragon!!!"

Stardust Dragon burst forth, and momentarily illuminated the area, but then it staggered, as if in pain.

Dark Man: "No! I will control you!"

Stardust's radiance diminished and turned into what looked like a shadowy infection throughout its body. The Dark Man's eyes seemed to pierce Tino as they burned yellow. 

Dark Man: "Go! Shooting Sonic!!"

The beam hit Tino head on.

••••••••••••••••••••••••
Tino yelled and quickly leapt off of his couch in panic. Scorpion looked over from where he was, sitting in an armchair.

Scorpion: "What's wrong?"

Tino shook his head.

Tino: "Just a nightmare. What's going on?"

Tino knew he had been dreaming, but he had definately heard an explosion, and he knew it to be real.

Scorpion: "It came from the caves... I guess the next Shadow Duelist has arrived."
Tino: "Shouldn't we do something instead of sitting around?"
Scorpion: "I hate to say it, but for now, we just have to trust Fallen and Harper."

Meanwhile...

Fallen and Harper ran at full speed toward the sound of the explosion. As they turned a corner, a Child of The Dark almost hit Harper's head as he was violently thrown backwards. Harper barely managed to duck.
Inside the room was a younger man than Metamaniac. He seemed to be only 14 or 15, but maybe older, it was hard to tell. He seemed younger than Harper, but not quite somehow. He was dressed simply, and his eyes glowed yellow. His mess of a hairdo looked singed, and there were streaks of white in his hair, but despite looking somewhat frazzled, he exuded immense power.
Fallen took a step slowly forward.

Fallen: "... S-Saberw? Is that you?"

Sabre's voice was also heavily distorted, much as Metamaniac's had been. It sounded electronicly layered, and metallic at the same time.

Sabrew: "Hahaha! How foolish you are! The one you knew is long gone... I AM THE SILENCER!!"

As he said this, he flourished his arm in a forward motion, and a rushing wind swept Harper and Fallen off their feet. Fallen quickly recovered and activated his golden duel disk.

Fallen: "How dare you mess with Sabre you demon!! He was a great guy, and one of my friends! I'm going to send you right back where you belong! To hell!"

The Silencer sneered.

Silencer: "Heh! You have no idea what you're up against, do you child? How can a teenager stand up to me, who has endured for centuries?"

Fallen gritted his teeth and bit back a particularly obscene curse word.

Fallen: "You'll find out soon enough."

Shadows whirled around The Silencer's arm, and created a twisted duel disk.

The Silencer: "You will be Fallen all right, by the time I'm through with you."

Fallen King/The Silencer: "Duel!"

(Lp. Fallen:8000, The Silencer:8000)

The Silencer: "I'll go first, draw! I summon Armageddon Knight in attack mode (1400). Armageddon Knight's effect activates! I can send 1 dark attribute monster from my deck to my grave. I set 1 card facedown and end my turn!"
Fallen: "That's all? Ha, I expected more from someone who's supposed to be so powerful. I draw! I summon Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth in attack mode (1700)! Amber Mammoth, attack his Armageddon Knight! (Silencer:7700) I end my turn."
Silencer: "During your end phase, I activate Limit Reverse! With it I can special summon a monster from my grave with 1000 or less attack points. And I choose my Yubel!"

A winged fiend appeared onto the field. It was an extremely high level, but had 0 atk and def.

Fallen: "What was the point of that? It doesn't even have any attack points!"
The Silencer: "You'll see. My turn! I discard another Yubel to special summon Dark Grepher from my hand! I use Dark Grepher's effect! By discarding a dark monster, I can send another dark to the grave! Now, I normal summon Hand of Nephthys in attack mode! (600). Next, I activate the effect of Hand of Nephthys! By tributing this card and another monster I control, I can special summon Sacred Beast of Nephthys from my deck in attack mode! (2400). Nephthys, attack his Amber Mammoth! (Fallen:7300)."
Fallen: "Thanks to the effect of my Amber Mammoth, it is sent to my spell and trap card zone instead of being sent to the graveyard."

Amber Mammoth roared in pain, but slowly morphed into an Amber gem that rested beside Fallen King. The Silencer grinned.

The Silencer: "Very well. For my next move, I switch my Yubel into defense mode."

Yubel exploded into several small pieces. Fallen blinked in surprise.

The Silencer: "Due to the effect of Limit Reverse, when the special summoned monster is switched to defense mode, it is destroyed. But thanks to Yubel's effect, when she is destroyed, I can special summon Yubel - Terror Incarnate from my deck!"

This time, a huge, twin-headed dragon appeared, with a bloodshot eye where its chest was. (0)

Fallen: "A level 11 monster! But wait, it doesn't have any attack points either!"
The Silencer: "I end my turn. Due to the effect of my Yubel - Terror Incarnate, all other monsters on the field are destroyed at the end phase."
Fallen: "But wait... The only other monster on the field is your Sacred Beast of Nephthys!"

Yubel roared and its twin heads breathed an inferno of fire that destroyed Nephthys.

Fallen: (thinking) "Why did he go into all the trouble of summoning that thong if he was just going to destroy it? Whatever, in any case, I have to stop that Terror Incarnate."
(out loud) "It's my turn! I summon Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger in attack mode! (1600). Topaz Tiger, attack that Terror Incarnate! When Topaz Tiger attacks, it gains 400 atk during the damage step."
The Silencer: "You fool! My Terror Incarnate cannot be destroyed in battle , and when it is attacked, it destroys the attacking monster and deals damage to you equal to its attak points!"
Fallen: "What?!"

Topaz Tiger leapt at Yubel, but then it seemed confused for a second and turned around. It pounced on Fallen, who barely managed to defend himself with his duel disk. Topaz Tiger exploded on contact with the duel disk. (Fallen:5300). Topaz Tiger's fragments turned into a yellow gem that rested next to Fallen.

Fallen: (breathing heavily) "I end my turn."
The Silencer: "My turn! Draw! Because my Sacred Beast of Nepthys was destroyed by a card effect, it is special summoned during my standbye phase, and then it destroys all spell and trap cards on the field! Since your Crystal Beasts are being treated as continuous spells, they're gone!"

Nepthys reared up and breathed a burst of raging white fire that completely consumed the 2 gems. Fallen vigorously swatted his jacket, which had caugh on fire. The Silencer laughed maniacally.

The Silencer: "Don't you realize?! You can do nothing! If you summon, I will destroy it! If you attack first, I will destroy your monster and make you take damage! If you set a spell or trap, I will destroy that also! Sacred Beast of Nepthys, attack him directly!"

Fallen fell to the ground, fingers tearing into the dirt as he burned in agony (Fallen:3900).

Fallen: "Aaaaaaughhh!!!"
Harper: "Fallen! Pull through, you van do this! Just trust in your deck!"
The Silencer: "It's useless. Your friend has been Silenced forever. There's nothing either of you can do. Due to the effect of my Terror Incarnate, all monsters besides it are destroyed at the end phase. Nepthys once again blew up.

Harper gritted his teeth as he helplessly watched Fallen slowly die among the flames. Suddenly, the silver cross around Harper's deck began to glow brighter and brighter until it was to radiant to look at. As it grew brighter, Harper began to feel more and more strong, and less and less helpless for some reason. He thought of an idea.

Harper: "Fallen! Catch!"

Harper ripped of the necklace that his father's friend had given him and chucked it at Fallen. The swirling shadows tried to grasp it as it flew through the air, but the radiance of the necklace shone through them. Fallen barely managed to catch the necklace as he lay there on the ground, and....
He felt no more pain. He was still on fire, but it had no effect on him. He stared in wonder at Harper, who shrugged. The Silencer glared furiously at Harper.

The Silencer: "Where did you?!?!..."
Fallen: "This is no time for Q and A demon. I'll win for you Harper!! My turn!! Draw!!"

Fallen's face lit up as he saw the card in his hand.

Fallen: "I summon Rescue Cat in attack mode!"

The cute cat appeared above Harper's shoulder, winked at him, and jumped off his shoulder to join Fallen.

Fallen: "Rescue Cat's effect activates! I can release it to special summon 2 level 3 or lower beast-type monsters from my deck. Appear now! X-saber Airbellum, and Crystal Beast Amythst Cat! I'm tuning my level 3 Airbellum with my level 3 Amythst Cat. Frozen lands that are engulfed in ice... Bear witness to the soul of your guardian! Synchro summon! Brionac, Dragon of The Ice Barrier!"

A threatening dragon was dummies behind Fallen, and it breathed icy mist on him, quenching the fire that was burning him. Fallen looked up at Brionac thankfully.

Fallen: "Thanks bro! I activate the effect of Brionac! By discarding a card from my hand, I can return a card on the field to the owner's hand! I choose your Yubel - Terror Incarnate!"

Yubel disappeared into light, and disolved into a card in The Silencer's hand. The Silencer gritted his teeth.

Fallen: "Brionac, attack him directly!" (The Silencer:4400). "I set 1 card facedown and end my turn."
The Silencer: "Have you forgotten Nepthys' effect? Now he comes back, and I destroy your facedown card!"
Fallen: "Not so fast! I activate Bottomless Trap Hole! Now your monster big bad monster is destroyed and remove from play!"
The Silencer: "You dare!?..."
Fallen: "I DO dare!"
The Silencer: "Then you will die! I discard Mystic Tomato, Yubel - Terror Incarnate, and Chaos End Master to summon Montage Dragon! Montage Dragon's attack points are equal to the level of the discarded monsters times 300!"

A gigantic blue, three-headed dragon burst forth in a flash of light. It had huge hands and looked ready to devour Fallen (5400).

Harper: "5400 attack points?!?!"
The Silencer: "MONTAGE DRAGON, ATTACK HIS PATHETIC DRAGON! TRIPLE BURST STREAM!!"

Brionac exploded without putting up a fight, and Fallen looked like he was down for the count. (Fallen:800)

Harper: "Fallen! Don't give up!"

Fallen weakly got up.

Fallen: "My... Turn. I activate Crystal Blessing. This let's me place 2 Crystal Beasts from my graveyard into my spell and trap card zone. Next, I activate Rare Value. My sending a Crystal Beast from my spell and trap card zone to the grave, I draw 2 cards. Yes!! I summon Summoner Monk, and by discarding a card, helets me special summon a level 4 monster from my deck. Appear now! Rose Warrior Of Revenge! Now, I'll tune them together! Synchro summon! Scrap Dragon! Now, Scrap Dragon's effect activates! By destroying one of my cards, I can destroy one of your cards! I'll destroy my Crystal Beast and your Montage Dragon! With him out of the way, I attack directly! I end my turn" (The Silencer:1600)
The Silencer: (thinking) "With all the cards I discarded, I only have 1 more trick left!" (out loud) "I set 1 card facedown and end my turn!"
Fallen: "Wrong move! Scrap Dragon, attack him and end this!"
The Silencer: "Not so fast! I activate my second Limit Reverse, which summons back the Yubel in my grave!"
Fallen: "From my hand, I chain Mystical Space Typhoon! Since your trap is continous, MST will negate it. Scrap Dragon, destroy him!"
The Silencer: "That's not possible!!!! You WILL BE SILENCED!!!!!!!!!!"

As Scrap Dragon lunged at The Silencer,  the shadow duelist shot forth a stream of dark power at Fallen. Scrap Dragon and the burst of energy were accelerating toward their target  at the same rate. 

One of them was going to die.

Next time: Chapter 11: "The Underworld Deck" 

+1 rep excellent once again :)

Thanks redgar! Well guys, I guess you get the next chapter before dga becuaw it's under reconstruction ATM. Enjoy

The DGA Chronicles Season 1: Beginnings - Chapter 11: The Underworld Deck

Scrap Dragon may have been the first to launch its attack, but it simply couldn't match the speed of the dark lightning bolt. Fallen was going to die. He only had time to close his eyes and wince in anticipation as the bolt was about to hit, and...
Nothing happened. Fallen slowlt opened his eyes, and saw a white energy field surrounding him. The silver cross in his hand was burning bright as a mini supernova, and he almost dropped it because of the intense heat it emitted. Within a few seconds, however, the cross started to cool down as the forcefield dropped. Fallen suddenly felt extremely tired, and he stumbled and almost fell. He was dimly aware of The Silencer falling to Scrap Dragon's attack, but then a glaze came over his eyes, and he too collapsed.

Harper: "Fallen!"

Harper rushed over to Fallen and caught him as he fell. He check his pulse.

Harper: (thinking) "Whew! He's still alive!"

Richlik briskly walked into the room, flanked by 4 Children of The Dark.

Richlik: "I heard all the commotion. Did you win?"
Harper: "Yeah, Fallen beat him, but he's been burned badly. He needs to go to the hospital!"

Richlik pointe at 2 of the Children.

Richlik: "You 2, help Harper to bring him to the hospital. I'll stay here and seal away the demon in this one's body."

Harper nodded, and exited the cave, followed by the 2 Children that were carrying Fallen. Richlik waited until they were well out of earshot, and then spoke to 1 of the remaining Children.

Richlik: "Well Captain, did you find it?"
Captain: "No. The Shadow Duelist wasn't guarding the deck you're looking for. I don't think the Shadow Duelists have found it yet, they're probably looking for it too."
Richlik: "No. They DO have it."
Captain: "How do you know?"

Richlik breathed in deeply, and exhaled. The lower ranking Child of The Dark could have sworn that his eyes had flickered to a yellowish color for an instant there.

Richlik: "I... Know, Captain. Let that suffice. I want the underworld deck found quickly, because at this rate, the Shadow Duelists won't be around much longer to distract the others."

The Captain nodded and walked out of the cave with Richlik. The other Child remained standing in the cave, lost in his own thoughts.

Captain: "Hey, you! Come on!"

The other Child shook himself from his thoughts and followed the Captain. He had a lot to think about and a decision to make. For you see... he was not a member of the Children of The Dark at all.

Meanwhile...

Harper: "Will he be okay?"

The doctor shrugged his shoulders.

Doctor: "I honestly don't know. Something was protecting him from the fire, otherwise he would be much worse, but let's face facts... The boy was on fire for at least a full minute. It will take time to heal."
Harper: "Well... Is Scorp healing well?"
Doctor: "He's free to go. The gash on his chest wasn't too bad, we just needed to wait a short while to make sure it wasn't infected. You can see him if you'd like..."

Suddenly, Fallen woke up. He groaned and tried to sit up.

Fallen: "Har...per..."
Doctor: "Fallen, listen to me. You need to take it easy. Lay back down."

Fallen shook his head. He unclenched his fist and handed the silver cross back to Harper.

Fallen: "Thank... Y..."

He closed his eyes and lay back down in bed.

Doctor: "What was that all about?"

Harper didn't want to tell him about the apparently magical properties of his necklace... mostly because, at this point, he didn't know who he could trust. Richlik might have some idea what the neclace really was, but Harper didn't want to tell him about it for some reason. Also, no one else would understand its powers, so it would be pointless to bring it up to te doctor. He decided to lie.

Harper: "Ah... I don't know. He's probably delirious."

The Doctor nodded absently.

Doctor: "Well, make sure to pick up Scorpion on your way out... his impatience is getting on my nerves."

Despite his anxiety, Harper smiled. Scorpion was something else.

Harper: "Will do."

Meanwhile...

Ray: "Underworld deck? What the %&@# is that supposed to mean?!"

John calmly shrugged his shoulders. John was a student at FADA and a good friend of Ray's. They had grown up in the same town, went to school together, and both made Archfiend Red when they entered DUA. Recently, John had retested and made it to Blue.
   A week ago, Ray had approached him with a plan. Ray, sceptical guy as he was, had conned John into becoming a spy in the ranks of the Children of The Dark because he didn't trust them... or Richlik for that matter. John hadn't wanted to at first, but later agreed that it was probably for the best to keep an eye on Richlik. Unfortunately, The Children of The Dark weren't big talkers, so he hadn't heard anything interesting whatsoever... Until now. 

John: "They didn't go into much detail. But clearly they're after some kind of powerful deck that's somewhere in the caves... A deck that they don't want us to know about."
Ray: "I knew it! I knew Richlik was up to no good!"
John: "We don't know that..."
Ray: "Why else would he keep it a secret?! Or ally with people that 'know the secrets of darkness'? That doesn't exactly sound virtuous to me."
John: "Okay, okay... you're probably right. I'm just saying we don't have enough proof to jump the gun."
Ray: "Oh, right, so we just let him do whatever he wants and win? Come on!"
John. "WE know he's up to no good, even if no one else does, so we need to stop him. But we don't know exactly what he's doing yet, or how to stop him, so just be patient."

Ray opened his mouth several times as if to say something, and closed it again each time. He couldn't seem to find an arguement. Finally, he spoke.

Ray: "You know what? Fine. If you don't want to warn the others and sit around while Richlik's schemes unfold, go right ahead. I'm out of here."

Ray angrily grabbed his duel disk and his backpack full of clothes and power bars and opened the front door.

John: "Ray, wait!"

Ray ignored John and slammed the door behind him.

Meanwhile...

It was storming outside, and rain pounded on Ray's back as he stomped angrily to the front gate leading out of FADA. As he expected, there were guards there waiting at the gate: Children of The Dark. Next to them stood Richlik. What was Richlik doing out there?

Ray: "Let me by, I want to go home."

Richlik started, surprised as he was to see Ray out in the middle of the night in the rain. He quickly recovered his composure and spread his hands out in a gesture of innocence.

Richlik: "But Ray... You ARE home! FADA is the new DUA, you'll be safe here and learn more about dueling."
Ray: "Yeah... We're really 'safe' Richlik. 'Safe' as in Shadow Duelists running amuck and us being forced to make deals with Satan-worshippers? That's not my idea of safe Richlik."

Richlik's face turned from an friendly expression to one of hatred. His voice took on a dangerous tone.

Richlik: "You should learn some respect. It's not my fault Yuri's students went insane. But despite this, I'm doing the best I can anyway to fix HIS mistake. I even have a plan in place to defeat them."
Ray: "Oh sure, your plan is great... take the Underworld Deck for yourself and use it to rule over us all as a tyrant!"

As soon as he had said this, Ray felt like slapping himself in the face. Idiot! He wasn't supposed to know about the secret deck! Richlik's face turned pale.

Richlik: "How....?"

His eyes narrowed. He turned to a Captain of the Children.
  
Richlik: "Ah... It must be that new recruit of yours. Captain, 'take care' of our little friend here. I have to go exterminate a rat."
Captain: "Yes sir!"

Richlik and the other Children left at a quick pace toward the center of FADA, leaving Ray and the Captain standing in the rain next to the gate. The Captain pulled back his hood and cracked his knuckles.

Ray: "Ha, don't make me laugh. How about I give you a chance... Let's settle this with a duel."

The Captain threw back his head and laughed maniacally.

Captain: "Hahahahaha!! Your chance of survival would be much better if I were to just pound your face in! But I accept your idiotic challenge."

He activated his grey duel disk, and Ray activated his red duel disk.

Ray/Captain: "Duel!"

(Lp. Ray:8000. Captain:8000)

A circle of dark fire appeared around each of them and was quickly quenched by the rain. But its message was clear: the damage in this duel would become real.

Ray: "My turn! Draw! I set 1 monster face down and end my turn."
Captain: "Pathetic! I'll show you the real power of the Children! I draw! I summon Dark Grepher in attack mode! I use his effect: by discarding a dark monster from my hand, I can send 1 dark monster from my deck to my grave. Next, I activate Future Fusion! I target the fusion monster Five-Headed Dragon and send 5 dark-attribute monsters from my deck to my grave. In 2 turns, I'll get Five-headed dragon! But I doubt you'll last een that long... From my hand, i special summon Rainbow Dark Dragon!!!"

A gigantic black dragon towered menacingly above the Captain's head. (4000). Ray suppressed a yawn. The Captain narrowed his eyes.

Captain: "Since i have 7 darks in the grave, i don't need any kind of sacrifice for my ultimate dragon. Feel it's wrath! I attack your facedown with Dark Grepher!"
Ray: "I activate the effect of my destroyed Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu! When he's flipped face-up, I can add an equip spell card from my deck to my hand! And I choose Mage Power!"
Captain: "I couldn't care less! Rainbow Dark Dragon, attack him directly!"

Ray felt like he was being hit by a train as the blast of multi-colored darkness hit him and sent him flying as his life points were cut in half. After a full 30 seconds of groaning helplessly on the ground, he got up.

Ray: "You guys... Weren't... kidding about... the damage being real! My... Turn! I activate Hidden Armory, which let's me add an equip spell from my deck to my hand... And i choose Mage Power! But, due to Hidden Armory's effect, I can't summon this turn. I set a card and end."

The Captain threw back his head and laughed.

Captain: "You just sealed your doom! I can attack you directly again, and even if you could somehow survive that, I would get Five-Headed Dragon next turn! You're finished! Rainbow Dark Dragon, direct attack!"
Ray: "I activate Threatening Roar! You can't declare an attack this turn."
Captain: "Ha! Resorted to stalling, eh? Well, just wait until Five-headed joins the party next turn!"
Ray: "My turn, draw!"

Ray drew, and smiled as he saw what the card was.

Ray: "There is no next turn."
Captain: "What?! I have 8000 life points, and a dragon on my field with 4000 attack points! You're nuts!"
Ray: "I summon Armed Samurai Ben Kei!"

A wily looking samurai in white clothes and leather armor was summoned to Ray's field. (800).

Ray: "I equip Ben Kei with 3 copies of Mage Power! I searched the first 2 and just drew this one! Mage Power gives Ben Kei 500 attack points for every spell and trap I control. Since I have 3 Mage Powers, he gains 1500 attack... For EACH Mage Power!"
Captain: "For EACH of them?! But then his attack would be..."
Ray: "That's right, 5300 attack points! Ben Kei, attack his Rainbow Dark Dragon! (Captain: 6700). Now for the best part: Ben Kei's special ability lets him attack once for each equip spell equipped to him, meaning he can attack 3 times! 
Captain: "What?! That's not possible!"
Ray: "But it is! Armed Samurai Ben Kei, attack his Dark Grepher! (Captain:3100). And finally, attack him directly Ben Kei! (Captain:0)."
Captain: "Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!"

The Captain crumpled under Ben Kei's massive blows and fell in a heap. He didn't move again. Ray calmly walked over to him and rifled through his pockets. After some searching, he found an electronic key, one that unlocked the gates: the way out of FADA. He spoke to the dead body.

Ray: "Thanks. I'll take that."

Next time: Chapter 12: "Prophecy of A King"

I found it a little complicated, maybe because of the names or the lack or colour which i'm used to. I also think its a little too bit or maybe that's because mine are too small.

Pretty good, pretty dark. It would be nice if you described the characters abit or the places. As i can see, your characters are not based on members of this academy.

The story is just great Harper keep it up!!!


@Winduct: The names are from members of DGA.

Winduct: interesting. I thought it was missing something, but I couldn't quite figure out what. Thanks for the helpful suggestions :). Members of SDA will eventually be characters, however I'm following the history of dga, and I'm currently at when we were in fada. As for big chapters... I'll take it into consideration, but I don't plan it that way, it just happens xD
redgar: thanks a lot man! :)

Hey guys! Sorry for the long delay, I've been busy. By the way, Season One Special Edition is in the works! I'm editing, improving, and expanding the previous (and future) chapters of season one. I will fix any inconsistancy in the story, fix any spelling errors, add some more subplot and characters, tighten up dialogue, descibe characters and places more, add colors to names, add pictures of cards, and much much more! If you're a fan of my story, it's a must read! It will also be in one block of story, so you don't have to go through pages of comments to re-read the story. Just remember it doesn't come out until I FINISH season one. Anyway, here's the next chapter:

The DGA Chronicles Season 1: Beginnings - Chapter 12: Prophesy of a King

Harper had guard duty in the caves again that night, and he was sitting on one of the stone benches bear the entrance of the cave. He was a member of the crack unit created to defeat the powerful Shadow Duelists, he was risking his life to be heroic... And he was extremely bored. Sure, the shadow duelists were terrifying, but Harper had nothing whatsoever to do while waiting to duel them. The Children would find the Shadow Duelists for him... or the Shadow Duelists would find Harper.
At least that's what Richlik had said. Harper found himself often disagreeing with Richlik's logic lately. What was the point in letting only the Children of the Dark search for the Shadow Duelists? Harper could search the caves just as well as they could, and waiting around to risk his life was maddening. He supposed Richlik wanted him to be rested, but... There was something off. The Children were a little too sneaky for Harper's liking. They would be having a conversation with each other, but then they would drop to a whisper when he walked into the room. And, truth be told, Harper didn't have the slightest idea how the search was going. He never got progress reports or anything.
Suddenly, Rescue Cat appeared at Harper's shoulder and meowed anxiously.

Harper: "What is it girl?"

Rescue Cat just fidgeted and looked around anxiously, like she heard something dangerous coming their way. Suddenly, Harper felt cold. He slowly stood up. There was some kind of... Presence emenating from one of the nearby cave entrances. He didn't know how he could sense it, but somehow he knew something was there... Something ALIVE. Despite Rescue Cat's anxious meowing, Harper walked toward the entrance of the tunnel where he sensed the presence. With every step, the air was getting colder. A voice like the the rush of a breeze rushed quickly but quietly through the cave tunnel.

???: ".......Haaaarr....rrpp....peeeeerrrrrr........."

At first, Harper thought he was going crazy for hearing voices in his head, but apparently Rescue Cat had heard it too, because she looked petrified with fear as she hovered motionless above him. Despite the situation, Harper smiled to himself. Right... He was judging his sanity off the reaction of a Duel Monster Spirit that only HE could see... That made PERFECT sense.
As Harper walked along the tunnel, the voice mumbled something else, but Harper couldn't make out what it was saying. Something like:
 
"You must........... Your..........................destin...............spirit.....".

Or at least that's all Harper could make out. The voice seemed to be coming from further down the tunnel. Harper took ahold of Rescue Cat and gently tucked her under his arm, then carried her deep into the tunnel with him toward the presence.

Meanwhile...

Deep in the cave tunnels, 2 young men stood silently in a cave room, leaning against opposite walls with their arms crossed. The room had several tunnels leading out of it, and had a pathway leading up onto a raised platform with an altar on it. Even though the men were a several years apart in age and they looked remarkably different in features and style of clothing... Yet they were exactly the same. They both had glowing yellow eyes, and they big streaks of white throughout their hair, but that wasn't the main thing that made them look the same. The expression on their faces were exactly the same. The expression was patient, but hungry, like that of a hunter. They were waiting to destroy something... Or someone. 
A sound came from one of the tunnels, and they both perked up as they heard it.

Knightshade: "He's on his way... Excellent."

The other shadow duelist grinned wickedly.

Shadowdawn: "Leave him to me. You can have fun with the rest of the academy.
Knightshade: "Very well. Are we allowed to destroy them."

Shadowdawn rolled his eyes.

Shadowdawn: "I think you know the answer to that." 

Knightshade nodded.
 
Knightshade: "I know just who i'm going to pick to duel."

He left the room via one of the many side tunnels. Shadowdawn remained standing where he was with his arms crossed, but he spoke to Knightshade over his shoulder. 

Shadowdawn: "Happy hunting."

Meanwhile...

The end of the tunnel was in view. Harper walked cautiously to the end of the tunnel, and peered around the corner. There was a good-sized room there; many other tunnels connected to the room, and there was a path leading up to a raised platform with an altar on it. There were unlit torch holders mounted into the wall on either side of the path. Rescue Cat squirmed in Harper's arms, and he let her go. She floated behind Harper and cowered there behind his head.

Shadowdawn: "Welcome."

The torches suddenly lit on fire, revealing a young man who appeared to be 19 or 20. He had black emo hair heavily streaked with white, and yellow eyes, just like the other shadow duelists. He wore black jeans and a black t-shirt, and had a spiked bracelet on his right arm.

Harper: "... Blight? Is that you?"
Shadowdawn: "It's been a long time Harper. Many things have changed since we last met."

Harper winced as Shadowdawn said his name. It was disconcerting knowing that a demon knew his name.

Harper: "So this is where you've been hiding. I don't suppose you could come along quietly so Richlik can fix you?"

Shadowdawn chuckled softly.

Shadowdawn: "You understand so little of what is happening, it's a little bit amusing in fact. But you will understand... Soon enough."
Harper: "What do you mean?"

Shadowdawn closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Shadowdawn: "... Harper... we're not the REAL threat to you."

As he said this, Harper noticed behind him, there was a blue, ghostlike figure standing by the altar. The creature was indescript; it had probably had features, but whenever Harper looked closely, they shifted and disappeared, replaced by different features. Shadowdawn didn't seem to realize that it was there.

Harper: "Then... Who IS the real threat?"
Shadowdawn: "You will see... In time, Harper."
Harper: "What are you trying to do Blight?! There was a time when you were a good person! Give up these dark powers and come back with me!"

Shadowdawn paced slowly across the platform. Shadowdawn picked up his black duel disk from the altar and descended the stairs.

Shadowdawn: "The time is today. You will understand now. Come at me Harper... Show me your soul!"

Harper activated his blue duel disk.

Shadowdawn/Harper: "Duel!"

Meanwhile...

Vongola couldn't sleep. He stood with Milkman, a Blackrose Violet student, on top of the wall of FADA. They both stared silently into the night. Milkman started. 

Milkman: "Something's coming."
Vongola: "Where?"

Before Milkman could answer, a young, well-dressed man came walking towards them on the wall. He wore stylish clothes, but he had a blasted look about him because of his white-streaked hair and half of his face was badly burned. He wore an evil expression.

Vongola: "Fouzman? Hold on man, Rich'll fix you, don't worry!"

"Fouzman" smiled wickedly.

Knightshade: "I am Knightshade now. You, Lnoir, the heir to the Vongola name, will be my next victim."

Knightshade stomped the ground and extended his arms to the sky. As he did, dark lightning rained down from the sky and hit the dorms and main building of FADA. Panicked students rushed around, unsure what to do. Milkman leapt at Knightshade, but he batted him aside with inhuman strength and speed. Milkman was launched off the wall and landed with a shout on his arm. There was a snap as he landed. His arm felt broken, but at least he was alive.

Vongola: "Stop this now!!"

The lightning flickered and died. The students of FADA stopped hiding, and started milling around the wall to see what Vongola would do. The other administrators, Scorpion, Fallen King, and TheRuler, ran out to see what all the commotion was about. Richlik, however, was nowhere in sight. The shadow duelist spoke to Vongola.

Knightshade: "I have come to finish off this academy. You are possibly the last line of defense, the best duelist, the heir of the Vongolas. Our duel here will be legendary, and your pain will be immeasurable."

Vongola was afraid, but his eyes showed none of it. No one messed around with his students. He activated his gold duel disk.

Vongola: "I accept your challenge. I won't feel sad at all when you die."

Knightshade laughed, and activated his own duel disk.

Knightshade/Vongola: "Duel!"

Rings of blue fire circled around each duelist, signifying that the damage in this duel would be real. They burned brightly for a few seconds, and then disappeared.

Vongola: "I'll go first! I draw! I summon Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame in attack mode. I set 2 cards face down and end my turn.
Knightshade: "My move! I activate the spell Giant Trunade! This returns all spell and trap card on the field to the owner's hand! Then I activate Dimensional Fissure. With this card, any card that would be sent to the graveyard is removed from play instead!"

There was another flash of dark lightning, and a tear was made through the very sky, opening to reveal a dark city in another dimension.

Knightshade: "Next, I summon D.D. Survivor in attack mode! (1800). But I'm not done yet! From my hand, I activate Emergency Teleport! This allows me to special summon Krebons from my deck. Then I'll tune my two monsters together! Behold, this is the power of authority! Synchro summon! A surprise encounter, Goyo Guardian!"

D.D. Survivor and Krebons fell into the fissure, and it closed on them. A wacky-looking clown appeared in their place. He swung a rope with a blade at the end of it. (2800).

Knightshade: "Now, Goyo Guardian, attack his Shura! (Vongola:7000). I end my turn." 
Vongola: "My tu..."
Knightshade: "Not yet! Now my D.D. Survivor's effect activates. Since he was removed from play from my field, he is special summoned back during the end phase!"

The rift opened again, and D.D. Survivor jumped out and onto the field. Vongola gritted his teeth.

Vongola: "You duel with such power! Are you the leader of the Shadow Duelists?!"

Knightshade threw back his head and laughed.

Knightshade: "Not even close! I'm just here to stall you before you realize the truth!"
Vongola: "The truth? What truth?"
Knightshade: "The truth that our King is about to be reborn! And you can do nothing about it!"

Knightshade laughed again, this time more maniacally. Suddenly, he couldn't stop laughing, and his insane laughter echoed off the walls of FADA and resounded into the night.

Next time: Chapter 13: "Fortune's Fate"

goyo eff - grave - dd fissure on field - something wrong

nice chapter man but don't make ruling mistakes :P

Screw the rules, he has yellow eyes! Haha jk, I was writing too fast, didn't think about it :P

Sorry it took so long for the next chapter, I haven't been on for the last two weeks haha. There's been a slight change of plan, the new chapter will be called "Shadowdawn", and the chapter after that will be "Fortune's Fate". Please comment, I really like comments

The DGA Chronicles Season 1: Beginnings - Chapter 13: Shadowdawn

Life points:
Harper:8000. Shadowdawn:8000

Shadowdawn stood near the top of the steps leading up to the platform with the altar where they were standing, Harper stood across from him on the other side of the altar, and the strange blue, ghostlike creature was standing in the middle, right by the altar itself.
 
Shadowdawn: "I'll go first. I summon Thunder King Rai-oh in attack mode (1900). Next, I activate the field spell Future Visions."

Shadowdawn's voice was completely calm and reserved. As he activated Future Visions, the entire world suddenly turned blurred and looked gel-like, like Harper was looking at the world through a wall of clear Jello. He gasped for air, but found none and fell unconcious. 
   When he opened his eyes, the world was focused again... And he was somewhere else entirely. He was watching a burning city: the biggest buildings in the city had been leveled, and there was no sign of any people. With a start, he realized that it was the Pseudospace version of New Domino City. A lone figure stood on top of the highest buildng left standing, trenchcoat flapping in the wind. Without warning, Harper was somehow launched forward, getting closer and closer to the enigmatic man. Within seconds, he was close enough to start to see his features. His eyes were closed and he had white hair... And for a moment, Harper thought he recognized him.

Harper: "... Are you...?"

The man's golden eyes snapped open, and the world turned black again.

Meanwhile...

Life points:
Vongola-x:7000. Knightshade:8000

Almost the entire academy was watching the duel between Vongola and Knightshade now. But there was a problem: Dimensional Fissure was still on the field, Vongola had two Blackwing- Kalut The Moon Shadow in his hand... And he was not a happy camper. Where the devil were his Icarus Attacks?!

Vongola: "I draw! I activate Pot of Duality, which allows me to reveal the top three cards of my deck, and add one of them to my hand."

Vongola revealed yet another Kalut, Blackwing - Sirocco The Dawn, and Blackwing - Blizzard The Far North.

Vongola: (thinking) "Seriously? Another Kalut?! Blizzard's useless as I don't have a graveyard... Sirocco... Helpful, but not right now unfortunately. But he's the best choice."
Vongola: "I add Blackwing - Sirocco The Dawn to my hand. I set one monster facedown and two other cards facedown and end my turn."
Knightshade: "My move! I set one card face down. D.D. Survivor, attack his monster!"

Kalut was destroyed mercilessly.
 
Knightshade: "Now Goyo Guardian, attack him directly!"

Goyo swung his chain around and around, then swung for Vongola's face. He ducked, but nevertheless the chain wrapped painfully around his throat. Goyo Guardian increased the pressure, and smiled wickedly as if it enjoyed causing him pain. (Vongola:4200). Finally, he let go. Vongola gasped for breath and rubbed his throat. He quickly struggled to his feet, as he didn't want to show weakness in front of his students.

Knightshade: "You aren't putting up much of a fight... Aren't you supposed to be a top-ranked duelist? Or perhaps you're the only Vongola in history to be a noob at dueling?"

Vongola bit his lip in frustration but didn't reply. If argueing with a demon about his dueling skills wasn't insane, Vongola didn't know what was.

Vongola: "We'll see about that. My turn! I normal summon Blackwing - Sirocco The Dawn from my hand! He's a level 5 monster, but since you control a monster and I don't, he doesn't require a tribute. Next, I summon Blackwing - Bora The Spear! Since I control another Blackwing, he can be special summoned from my hand! Now, Sirocco's effect activates. Once per turn, I can add the total ATK of all other Blackwings on the field onto a single Blackwing, but only the selected Blackwing can attack. I choose Bora! Sirocco, lend Bora your strength!"

Sirocco stood behind Bora, and Bora began glowing with energy. (3700).

Vongola: "Bora, attack Goyo Guardian!"

Bora's spear grew huge and Bora spun in a drill-like motion and hit Goyo Guardian head on, causing him to explode. (Knightshade:7100).
Knightshade was thrown backwards from the blast, and almost fell off of the wall that they were dueling on. Vongola grinned. Maybe he could take control of this duel after all.

Meanwhile...

When Harper opened his eyes again, he found himself back in the cave room with Shadowdawn and the blue apparition.

Harper: "What... What just happened?!"
Shadowdawn: "The card Future Visons is special. It has allowed you to see into the future. At different times it may show you different visions, some good, some bad, some soon, some far away."
Harper: "What was that vision of?"

Shadowdawn was silent for a moment.

Shadowdawn: "That was a vision of Darkness. It is a possible future in store for this world."
Harper: "A POSSIBLE future? Hoe many futures are there?!"
Shadowdawn: "Events don't always go exactly as expected. The future is dependant on the choices each and every one of us make."

Harper was silent for a moment. He wasn't sure how likely to happen the future he saw was, but he knew he couldn't LET it happen.

Harper: "Who was that man? You know, on the building? He seemed familiar at the time, I just... Can't place it now."
Shadowdawn: "He's... He is your REAL threat, that's all i will say. But enough of that for now, let us continue the duel. I set a card and end my turn."
Harper: "My go! I summon Flamvell Firedog in attack mode!"

Flamvell Firedog burned bright as he was summoned to the field. Suddenly, however, the air around him warped and disappeared, taking him with it.

Shadowdawn: "Future Vision's effect activates. When a monster is normal summoned, it is removed from play, and we get it back during our next standbye phase."
Harper: "Gr... You could have told me that before..."
Shadowdawn: "You didn't ask."
Harper: "I set one card face down and end my turn."
Shadowdawn: "My move! I summon Fortune Lady Light in attack mode. She gains 200 ATK for each of her levels, and she gains a level during each of my standbye phases. (200)."
Harper: "... But wait, won't she just be removed by Future Visions?"

Shadowdawn smiled.

Shadowdawn: "Exactly."

The air around Fortune Lady Light warped and vanished, taking away Light with it. But suddenly, a rainbow portal opened, and out stepped a taller version of Light. She looked similar, but she was taller, had purple hair instead of white, and dark power surged around her instead of light power.

Shadowdawn: "Fortune Lady Light's effect activates: when she is removed from the field, I can special summon any Fortune Lady from my deck. I chose Fortune Lady Dark. She gains 400 ATK for all of her levels, and right now, she has five, so she has 2000 ATK."
Harper: "I activate Torrential Tribute! Now Thunder King and Fortune Lady Dark are destroyed!"
Shadowdawn: "Do you really think I would let that happen?! I reveal my facedown, Starlight Road! Since Torrential Tribute would destroy two of my monsters, your trap is negated and destroyed!"

A wave of water surged toward the two monsters, but a shining, sparkly road shot through it and evaporated it. He cleared his thoat.

Shadowdawn: "However, I am not able to special summon Stardust Dragon."

Harper blinked, confused at first. Why didn't he have Stardust Dragon? But then he understood... Shadowdawn may have been an ancient demon, but he was using the body of Blight, who was only ranked Archfiend Red. Black Rose Dragon, Red Dragon Archfiend, and Stardust Dragon were academy exclusive cards... People who weren't a part of any kind of academy couldn't have them. In every academy, the students in the top dorm received all three synchros, the middle dorm recieved Black Rose Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend, and the lowest ranking members recieved only Black Rose Dragon. Blight was only an Archfiend, therefore he didn't even own a Stardust. Harper would just have to show him HIS Stardust then.

Shadowdawn: "Thunder King Rai-oh, attack him directy!" (Harper:6100)

High voltage lightning shot toward Harper and hit him full force. Of course, in the back of his mind, Harper knew the damage was going to be real, but he had never dreamed it would be that painful. He writhed and twisted on the ground until the sparks died out. Fortune Lady Dark shot a ball of darkness from the tip of her staff, but it was caught by a thick metal sword. Harper looked up. A man in dark armor and a red cape stood towering above him. He had high, spiky red hair and hefted the sword. The man shimmered, and split into two men: the original, and a ghostlike version of itself. (2700)(1900).

Harper: "Gorz The Emissary of Darkness's effect activates: when I receive damage while a control no cards, I can special summon him from my hand, as well as a token with ATK equal to the damage I took."

Shadowdawn smiled weakly, as if a bit disappointed in Harper. 

Shadowdawn: "Interesting... You can't make a good move without using darkness. So unlike him..."
Harper: "... Unlike who?"
Shadowdawn: "Oh, nobody. It's your turn Harper, show me your full power!"

Next time: Chapter 14: "Fortune's Fate"