I FOUND IT. MY FIRST EVER YUGIOH FANFIC! I lost the memory card. But here it is. There's ill humor and ygotas one liners. Anyways, please enjoy.

Chancellor Sheppard had called all the student body down to the assembly over the intercom. The students were whispering their own private conspiracies as to the real nature of the sudden assembly. Only a single boy, in his Slifer red jacket was quietly snoozing away in hi seat, a pair of fake eyes drawn on to his eyelids.

"Jaden, JADEN!" Shouted the rather small boy, who's bright blue hair was sticking up in random directions in an almost Goku like style.

Jaden gave a stifled yawn and began rubbing his eyes, smearing the ink all over his face causing him to take the image of a gay clown. "What's up Syrus?"

"They're starting" he yelled, pointing to the stage, where Doctor Crowler was walking towards the mike in a fashion that might suggest he was about to proclaim himself king.

"Attention Duellists! We will be having a new teacher here for the year. He was a well known professional duellist not long ago. I think. Anyway we hope you can treat him with the same courtesy and respect you show to the other teachers. He will come and introduce himself to you now."

Jaden watched as Doctor Crowler moved away from the mike and made way for the man who was walking on to the stage. He had long white hair and a pale complexion. His eyes looked soft and kind and he came across as very young. No older than twenty. As he looked at him, Jaden couldn't help but feel that the man looked rather familiar.

"Hello," said the man, in an extremely British accent whilst reaching for the mike. "My name is Ryou Bakura. I hope we can get along."

Jaden didn't see a glimpse of the new teacher again until the following Tuesday. He was filling in for history class as their usual teacher was stuck down a hole in the forest. And for once in his life Jaden actually began to find the lesson interesting and was even going as far as to listen to the teacher.

"The origins of duel monsters can actually be traced back over 5 millennia ago, to ancient Egypt. This was actually discovered by a man named Arthur Hawkins, who found in carvings on a stone column with similar patterns to a duel monster. It seems that the ancient Egyptians played a very similar game, except with stone tablets, rather than cards. According to legend, the game was used as a punishment for the wicked, as well as a means for amusement. It was called a shadow game. Also this was a game that could only be played by the pharaoh and his court. Altogether only seven people at a time were known to be allowed to play this game. Ah yes, I believe your name was miss Alexis."

Jaden looked over to see Alexis with her hand up.

"Sorry sir, but it's been bothering me for a while now. Have I met you before, because you seem quite familiar?"

"I'm sorry; I don't recall meeting you before," replied the new teacher, a quizzical look on his face.

"He used to be a professional duellist, remember," Shouted down Chazz, "You probably just saw him on TV."

Yes that was it, thought Jaden. But when? No sooner had the thought entered his head a girl shouted "When was the last time you appeared on TV professor".

"Oh well let me think," Replied Ryou, turning red slightly at being called Professor. "The battle city Quarter finals, I think".

The whole room turned silent. Jaden was awestruck. The battle city finals was over ten years ago. There's no way the new teach could have been duelling back then, he'd be ten, twelve at the oldest. How could a child get into the finals of a children's card game tournament?

"Hey teach", shouted Jaden "How old are you exactly"

"I became twenty-nine this September 2nd", he replied.

Here was a shock gasp of 'no-way' and 'he can't be that old'.

Jaden however, was still confused about Ryou's earlier remark. There's no way that he would forget such an important duel like the battle city finals, even if it was only the quarter finals. And then he remembered. A maniacal laughter, threats of the shadow realm. And all those creepy eye's that had made him shiver behind the sofa for two hours before his dad fished him out with a trading card tied to a pole. But no. There were some differences. The teacher standing before him had less spiky hair and was kind and modest, and didn't make him wet the bed, and didn't look like he'll kill you for looking at him wrong. From what he could remember of that duel, the duellist had been pure evil, and radiated confidence of a level that could only be matched by that of the king of games himself, or Kaiba. No actually, Kaiba's on screen ego dwarfed the confidence of the king of games.

"Hey teach, who was your-"

But before he could finish the sentence, the bell rang, and the new albino teacher made straight to the door, and was gone before Jaden had a chance to leave his seat. Although an uncountable number of fan girls bound after him, with even more waiting outside. Jaden could only guess that this was why he was running. He must be used to it, he thought.

"Well at least he had a good life," sighed Jaden, before turning to leave the classroom with Syrus and Alexis in toe and Chazz running down the stairs whilst screaming for Alexis (in particular) to wait up.

Ryou had been given professor Banner's old bedroom, meaning he'd be sleeping in the Slifer dorm.

Professor Banner's room hadn't been used in a few years and it had developed its fair share of cobwebs since then.

Perfect, thought Jaden. He could finally ask who he'd duelled against. That night Jaden and Cyrus sneaked down stairs to The Slifer heads room, and give a quick nock on the door. The door opened a crack and a single brown eye could be seen from within the room.

"Hi teach, we came to give you the official Slifer dorm welcome!" cried Jaden in an over enthusiastic voice.

"Oh," replied the eye, and the door opened to reveal Ryou Bakura. "I have to say that's jolly nice of you. I was scared you might be some more fan girls. They've been chasing me all bloody day. My poor sensitive legs couldn't take anymore running. It's worse than that time I was chased through a cave by a giant rock. Although it turned out to be a bloon, but that's beside the point. Anyway, come on in. I've just finished making some muffins. Perhaps you'd like some tea as well."

Yep, thought Jaden. This guy's defiantly British. Jaden and Syrus walked into the room, and barely recognized it. It was so… clean! Everything had been dusted off and polished and hoovered and washed and scrubbed and god knows what else. It must have been quite a feat to get the mouldy, pealing wooden walls to sparkle. Ryou noticed where the two young students were looking.

"Don't touch the walls, the paint is still wet," he said.

"Hey sir," began Syrus, giving the white haired man a wide eyed look, "are you a good duellist."

The new teacher fixed the teacher with a strange look of confusion. And then he started laughing.

"What me. No! Ha ha ha. I just stick to history and baking muffins. And tea. Muffins and tea. Sometimes ancient muffins."

He set about heating up the kettle and handed a muffin to Jaden.

"I heard you were an incredible duellist though. Why are you in Slifer red?"

"Ah," said Jaden, "It's kind of like this. Ginger's, losers and fat guys get put in red, regardless of their skill. Ultra smexy people are automatically put in Obelisk blue whilst anyone else is separated by their duelling skill. Take Syrus for example. He recently lost his virginity to what he thought was the dark magician girl spirit when he was drunk, but was actually a tree. Hence he got promoted to Ra yellow, and then Obelisk blue when he managed to make a name for himself in the GX tournament."

"Right," said Ryou, looking at the young kid strangely as if to say, are you on drugs? "I must have missed out that part in the academy rules leaflet."

Jaden stared at the laughing teacher, not knowing he was joking. A thought came to his head.

"Hey teach, how about a duel, you and me."

"Wha, what! A duel. Me. No. I couldn't." Sputtered Ryou in a quick chain of words. "I'm no good. Honestly. I can't even beat Kuriboh in ultimate master's addition 2006. "

"I'm stuck on battery man c," said Syrus.

"Then how come you were a professional duellist," asked Jaden, deciding to leave out that he had gotten to Raviel, lord of Phantasm's.

"Hum," replied Ryou, obviously caught out.

"How about this," said Jaden. "If I win you have to tell us who your opponent was in the battle city finals. If you win we'll never try to get you to do something you don't want to again. Deal."

Jaden stretched out his hand.

Outside the Slifer dorm, two duel disks lit up in the night cast a glow on the field around them.

"It's time to get your game on!" shouted Jaden in his annoying, over the top voice. "I'll start." He drawed a card from his deck and gave a grin in Ryou's direction. "I summon elemental hero avian in attack mode!" The green creature appeared on the field in front of him in a gale of feathers.

"Then I'll throw down two face downs. Your turn!"

Ryou looked uneasy. He drawed a card from his deck with shaking hands, and looked relieved when he saw the card that he drew. "I activate pot of greed," he murmured."This let's me draw two more cards." He drawed two more cards from his deck. Looking at them he couldn't help but smile. I summon my headless knight in attack mode." The knight slowly materialized. "Next I'll activate heavy storm. This destroys all spell and traps on the field."

"Wow," shouted Jaden. "I thought you said you weren't good at this."

Ryou gave a weak smile. "Knight, attack his Avian."

The knight ran at the green man with wings and cut through him, dealing Jaden 450 points of damage. The bar measuring Jaden's life points dropped to 3550. "Next I'll set a face down card."

A permanent smile had appeared on Ryou's face now.

"My move," screamed Jaden. "I activate miracle fusion! This lets me fusion summon the Avian in my grave yard with the bursinatrix in my hand. This lets me summon my Elemental hero flame wingman." The black and green monster appeared.

"Now attack!"

The monster flew towards the knight.

"Activate trap card, negate attack," mumbled Ryou. The face down card flipped face up. A vortex appeared in front of wingman preventing its attack.

"Damn it," shouted Jaden happily. "Alright it's your move!"

Ryou gave another smile and drawed a card

I activate my tribute to the doomed magic card. Now I can send a card from my hand to destroy your wingman." The multi coloured wing man exploded.

"No way!" shouted Jaden.

"Next I summon my Archfiend soldier."

The monster appeared on the field next to the knight.

"Now both my monster's will attack you directly."

Both monsters pulled their blades and slashed at Jaden, whose life points dropped to 300.

"Next I'll play a face down card and end my turn."

"My move!" shouted Jaden enthusiastically. "I activate my own pot of greed to draw two cards. Next "I activate magical stone activation to return my miracle fusion. Next I activate it using the wingman in my graveyard and the Sparkman in my hand to summon shining flare wingman!"

The shining monster burst onto the field in a ray of light.

"Now I activate my mystical space typhoon to destroy your face down card!"

The card disappeared in a swirl of wind.

"Now I summon my bubble man and activate the domino effect that Aster gave me. And since there was no cards in my hand when I summoned bubble man I get to draw two cards. Now shining wing man destroys his knight!"

The wingman swooped in and destroyed the knight, dropping Ryou's life points down to 2650.

"Next by activating domino effect I can sacrifice my bubble man to destroy your soldier"

Both creatures exploded.

Next my wingman's ability activates making you take damage equal to your knight's attack power"

Ryou's point's dropped to 1200.

"Next I set a face down card. Your move teach!"

Ryou drawed his next card and the expression on his face changed to shock. The smiling face from a second ago was changed to one of terror. He began clutching at his head in a panic. He played a monster face down while still, clutching his head, calming down shortly afterwards, although he was breathing heavily.

"I, I, I set a card face down on my side of the field and end my turn"

Jaden looked at his teacher and his face changed to one of sadness.

"Wingman, attack."

The wingman destroyed Ryou's monster and with its effect Ryou imploded and his life point dropped to zero.

"Teach, I'm disappointed. You shouldn't throw a match. That's just no fun. Also the fan girls stole your copy of ultimate master's addition and you defeated every single spirit over one hundred times, so don't go telling me your stuck on Kuriboh." said Jaden with a sad look on his face. And with that, he walked of, Syrus jogging behind him, leaving Ryou on his knees.

The next day Syrus was telling Alexis about the duel Between Jaden and Ryou.

"Jaden only had 300 points left. But he didn't give up. He summoned his shining wingman. And I was all like super special awesome, and Jaden was all like attack! And Ryou was all like…Oh, hey Jaden."

The Slifer student sat down next to his blue haired dwarf of a friend and the large breasted girl with shoulder length blond hair he was talking to.

"Syrus was just telling me how you challenged the new teacher to a duel a bit in a heart beat," said Alexis. "That was fast. You didn't even give the guy a day till you floored him."

"I didn't beat him, he threw the match," said Jaden with a groan, remembering the events of the night before. Come to think of it he hadn't asked about his opponent in the quarter finals either.

Ah well, he could ask him later. It's not like anything of significant importance that could make him forget is going to happen soon anyway. Jaden looked back at his two friends. Alexis was raising an eyebrow whilst Syrus was gasping (he hadn't heard Jaden's last words the night before).

"Why would he do that," she said, her big blue unblinking eyes stuck fast on Jaden's own.

"I don't know. It looked like he was afraid to use a card," Replied Jaden, staring back.

Alexis looked quizzical at this remark. "Why would he be afraid?"

That's what Jaden wanted to know. He had spent the whole night trying to figure it out but the only thing he had managed to come up with was that the card contained something that Ryou really didn't want to see. Either that or he had suddenly come about with a severe case of indigestion that had caused him to go into a spasm and unknowingly play the wrong card.

"Anyway did you hear about the stolen cards?" asked Alexis, changing the subject, but keeping her ocean blue eyes fixed on Jaden.

Jaden perked up at this. "Stolen cards?"

"Yeah. Some people have reported that they saw this robed guy who was super strong. When he beat his opponents they lost consciousness. And when they lost he stole cards from their decks. He's stolen over 50 cards now. And he's beat about 7 kids. None of them have woken up."

Awesome, just what he needed to take his mind of things. Some new super villain trying to kill everyone with children's trading cards. There's been a lot of those around lately.

"Where can I find him," squealed Jaden excitedly, not noticing the sudden hush that dell across the room.

"Hum, how about on the stage," squealed Cyrus, his oversized finger pointing in a Nazi fashion to the stage.

Jaden looked up at the stage to see a black robed, shadow clad figure. His face was completely covered in bandages so that not even his eyes were visible. His black and brown coat looked old and dirtied. On his left wrist he wore an old fashioned KC duel disc. Protruding from his cloak were long strands of silvery white hair and on his chest was a shining gold ring with a pyramid inside and dangling spikes. A golden eye was visibly glowing on his forehead as well.

"Where is the teacher for this class?" said the figure.

His voice sounded familiar but Jaden just couldn't quite tell where he'd heard it before. It was cold and cruel and without a hint of sanity. It was also once again, diabolically British.

"What's with all the British people lately," he mumbled.

"I'm right here," came the high pitched reply to the figure's earlier question.

Doctor Crowler was marching up to the stage, his blue duelling blazer flowing out behind him, and the dodgy duel disk he wore was attached to his chest.

"And I challenge you to a duel," he screamed triumphantly, pointing a figure at the figure. If I catch this guy I might get a promotion, he thought.

"My sentiments exactly," said the figure, activating his duel disk in a brisk motion. "But I must warn you. This is a shadow game. Also didn't your boyfriend ever tell you it's rude to point?"

Crowler's face started to boil until it was a very deep red.

"I'm a man you idiot!"

"I know."

Crowler's face dropped into the look of a man whose spirit had been truly broken.

Jaden couldn't see his face but something in the figure's voice let him know he was smiling.

Oh great, thought Jaden, thinking back to the figures earlier remark. Another shadow phony. Does this guy know Titan? Maybe they have a shadow worshipers club. That explains the ring on his chest, another fake millennium item.

"I'll go first," barked Crowler with a sneer. "I summon my ancient gear statue, and then activate machine duplication."

Upon placing down the spell card two more statues appeared to accompany the first one.

"Next I activate their ability. When all three are on the field I can sacrifice them to summon as many Ancient gear Golems as I can from my hand," he yelled whilst holding up the two golem's in his hand.

Two large rusty and decrepit Golems appeared on the field, each with an attack reading of 3000.

"Next I play a card facedown. Your move."

The figure drawed.

"I activate snatch steal. This lets me take control of your golem. Next graceful charity let's me draw three cards and discard two. Now one of my favourites the change of heart to take your other Golem." Both golems appeared on the figures side of the field, leaving Crowler open.

"If I'm not mistaken trap cards cannot be activated in response to Golems attack. Both of you, CRUSH YOUR FORMER MASTER!"

The two golems pummelled Crowler into the ground. When they withdrew Crowler had no more life points, and he was unconscious. The figure strode over to Crowler and took his deck into his hand, slowly shuffling through and takes the three golems and some other cards. The class was too stunned to move. Even Jaden was speechless. The figure Strode off stage and seemed to disappear. No one moved. They just stared at Crowler's broken body. And continued to stare until the bell.

The teachers had tried searching for the robed figure all over the school but all they had found was a few dropped cards and the discarded robe. They carried on searching. They stopped Ryou, Zane (Who was doing retakes for the pure purpose of duelling Jaden) and even the chancellor to ask if they'd seen anyone suspicious walking past. The next day some bad news was delivered to the students. Doctor Crowler. The guy who tried to get several students expelled for no adequately explained reason showed no signs of brain activity. In medical terms. He was brain dead.

"Oh bugger!"

Professor Ryou had shut his finger in the draw again. Ever since people told him about the stolen cards, he had begun to act strange, frightened even. Crowler was still brain dead but considering what happened last year and the year before no one doubted that he would be up and about again in no time. There was just one thing that bothered Jaden. Had that really been a shadow game. He'd never experienced a true one before. Sure there was the whole incident with Titan but he had been a hired fake. So what was that duel he saw? Why was Crowler a half stiff? And why was professor Ryou shivering like a five year old who'd just been told there's a Vampire Genesis under their bed.

The Card thief incidents began to pile up. Three weeks since it started and there were now over 30 students who were even more brain dead than in Duel theory lessons. Kids were starting to be sent home. The Chancellor was speaking of closing down the school for a bit. Ryou seemed absolutely terrified. Weather that was because of the card thief or the dozen fan girls hugging him and telling him it's going to be alright, nobody knows.

Jaden was searching the woods for the thief. He always seemed to find strange deluded or homicidal people in the woods so he figured that was the best place to look. After a solid five minutes of tree spotting, Jaden decided to rethink his strategy. Then he heard a terrified scream. That sounds interesting, he thought, and ran to see what was going on. He reached an opening in the woods, but when he got there Chazz was lying on the floor, seemingly unconscious, his cards spread all over the place. And next to him was the cloaked card thief. But his bandaged face had become loose and a single chocolaty eye was visible along with a flash of white hair. But he quickly covered his face again.

"Who are you," yelled Jaden.

The figure fixed him with what Jaden could only assume to be a glare.

"Ignorant mortal. You think I have to explain my Identity or purpose to you. If you really wish to know then defeat me in a duel," growled the figure.

"Alright cool. But do I have to refer to you as figure. It's kind of dull," said Jaden.

"I supposed your right," agreed the figure. "Call me spirit."

Nut job thought Jaden.

"I think that today I will make the first move," said Spirit. "I summon Archfiend soldier in attack mode"

The horned fiend appeared on the field in a blaze of glory and gazed at Jaden with pure loathing.

"Next I set two face down cards. It's your move."

"One question first," said Jaden. "Are you British?"

"No, I'm Egyptian."

"Oh"

"Why"

"You sound British."

"On with the duel," cried the spirit. But Jaden fixed him with a stare.

"Why. So. British."

"I'M NOT FUCKING BRITISH YOU SLIFER JERKOFF!" bellowed Spirit.

"Anyway it's my turn," cried Jaden cheerily, even though one of his friends was more or less dead on the floor beside him. "I'm going to start with my fake hero magic card. This lets me summon Elemental Hero Neos in attack mode."

The white and blue Martian burst onto the field apparently coming down from space. "Next I summon Neo spacian humming bird!"

The pink birdy alien flew down and landed next to the Martian.

Now I use contact fusion in order to summon Air Neos." The two monster's flew into the sky next to each other before touching and bursting into a ray of light, leaving only a pink winged Martian behind. "Next I equip it with instant Neo space."

"You got all up in your summoning you didn't notice me activate my bottomless trap hole," groaned the spirit.

Jaden groaned. He'd wanted this to be serious but he'd already screwed up. The spirit had even forgotten to proclaim this a shadow duel.

Air Neos fell down the whole and gave a final Martian scream.

"Damn it. I set a card. Your turn."

"I think it's time we took this duel to the shadow realm," said Spirit in a happy sing song voice.

And all of a sudden the field was swamped in a purple fog that made Jaden truly feel that he was experiencing a proper shadow game. Night shroud's idea of it didn't even come close to what he could feel right now.

"Also this shadow game has strings," said spirit. "Connecting you to your monsters. Every time one of your monsters is destroyed you will feel the same amount of pain. Don't worry though you'll lose this turn. And now I play my earl of demise by sacrificing my archfiend."

The general disappeared to be replaced with the zombie earl.

"Next I play monster reborn. This lets me re-summon my Archfiend soldier. Now I flip my dust tornado to destroy your face down card."

The card flipped and disappeared.

"Now to finish with the black pendant to raise my earl's attack by 500! Now attack both of you. Finish the duel!"

Both the monsters attack Jaden. The blades pierce and Jaden let's out a scream of agony and drops to his knee's as his life points drop to 600.

"That's not right," cried Spirit. "You should of lost."

Jaden looked up panting. "The card you aimed at with dust tornado was emergency provisions. I activated it and gained 1000 points. And now it's my move."

Jaden struggled to his feet and drawed a card with shaking hands. He had never played a proper shadow game like this before. It felt like he'd really been cut open. He didn't know how the spirit was doing this, but he knew one thing. It wasn't fun. He looked at his hand as his vision became shaky. The cards were blurry and were getting darker. He couldn't make them out and his legs were getting weak. Jaden was back on his knees and he heard Spirit walking towards him slowly. And he was laughing. Jaden fell down to the floor and felt Spirit's hands reach for his deck as he passed out.

Spirit walked up to the unconscious boy that lay before him and looked at his hand. He gave a dissatisfied grunt and waved his hand, causing the immediate disappearance of the purple fog.

Grabbing the boy's deck, he searched for the card he was looking for. When he found it he slipped it into his pocket, before smiling down at the young boy in the red jacket who was sprawled out on the floor.

"Not this one eh," he said, before walking off and disappearing into the shadows of the night.

Jaden opened his eyes to the sight of his friends standing around his bed. Alexis and Cyrus were crying and Bastion was smiling, though his eyes were puffy. Jessie was there too and he was grinning so much Jaden couldn't see the corner of his mouth. "Jaden, you're alive!" he screamed.

"Sure but why are you here," said Jaden.

Well when I heard my best bud was in a medically induced coma, I just had to run over and see ya."

Jaden blinked and suddenly realised.

"WAIT, A COMA!"

"Sure you've been gone for two weeks," said Jessie.

Jaden gaped open mouthed.

"Yeah, and the spirit hasn't been caught yet either. Wonder why they started calling him spirit. It was just after you were found that people started calling him that," pondered Jessie.

"Anyway," said Alexis, "Chancellor Sheppard duelled Spirit too. He's in the bed over there. Most of the students have gone home. They're going to close down the school."

"And most of the teachers are down too," said Cyrus, "The only ones left are Professor Ryou and the nurse. All the others have either been defeated or ran for it.

"Oh," said Jaden, turning his head to his left with a sigh, and saw one of the last people he expected to be tucked up.

"A-Aster," cried Jaden.

"He went down shortly after you. Said he's the only one who's allowed to beat you. We found him near the Slifer red dorm. Almost his whole deck was stolen," said Alexis sadly.

"And there's more," said Bastion. "All of the other patients here are only in the same state as Crowler. You're the only one to wake up. You would have sooner, but the nurse said you were in agony so it would be better to induce a coma for now,"

"W-Who is he," croaked Jaden.

It didn't take long to find out

Jaden learned that the total population of the school awake was about 13 people. These people included himself, Alexis, Cyrus, Bastion, Jessie, Dorothy, Blair, the nurse, Zane, Ryou, Atticus, Bonaparte and Fujiwara. This is what they thought until they found both Atticus and Fujiwara, both face down and their cards strewn around in different places. Two of the strongest and most elite duellists Jaden had ever known and they had both been taken out at the same time. And it didn't help that his Neos had been taken. They took both of them back to the nurse only to find her slumped on the floor. There were now only nine left at Duel academy. Bonaparte fell down from a corner. Guess there was only eight.

Jaden was awestruck. Spirit had taken down two of the most powerful duellists in the school. He was knocking them of one by one. But if he had defeated two of the three geniuses of duel academy, then there was only one left. In this school there was only one duellist that could be considered a threat. Duel academy's former top duellist who just so happened to be on the island and someone who Jaden had never truly defeated. The only person left was Cyrus's older brother Zane Truesdale.

"We have to find Zane," said Jaden, "before Spirit does."

The wind swirled around the two duellist's feet. The air was cold and the atmosphere tense. Zane Truesdale was staring down the opponent that stood in front of him. And for the first time in a long time, he felt fear. Darkness was radiating from this man. Darkness so strong it made his own look positively radiant. He could tell that whatever duels he'd had in the past and the challenges he'd overcome, this was going to be the greatest of them all.

"Are you the one who's been causing my younger brother so much grief?"

The cloaked figure said nothing. He simply stared at him from beneath the bandages that covered his face.

"I challenge you to a duel," said Zane, dropping his case. The wind lifted his black trench coat and blew back his hair as if to emphasize his challenge. "But this time, we play by my rules."

Reaching down to the case he opened the catch and revealed the shock collars that he stored inside.

"We each wear this. Whenever we take life point damage, we'll take a shock that'll leave you wishing you were wearing rubber. Not there, but you get the point."

Spirit appeared to be mulling it over, his hand on his chin. "Fine, but just to make it more interesting

This will be a shadow game," chirped spirit. "The loser will be lost to the shadows for eternity."

Spirit thrust his arm forward and activated his old Kaibacorp duel disk. Zane did the same with his up-to-date disk. Zane threw spirit a collar and they both connected them to the duel disks before locking it around their necks..

"I guess I'll start," said Zane. "I summon my proto cyber dragon in attack mode. Next I activate polymerization in my hand to summon the cyber twin dragon!"

The twin headed cybernetic dragon rushed on to the field in a blaze of glory and let out a mighty roar that echoed around the academy.

"Next I'll play two faces down cards and call it a turn."

"I activate my graceful charity magic card," said spirit. "This means that by sacrificing two cards from my hand I can draw three more."

The spirit smiled.

"I activate my heavy storm magic card!"

The hurricane began to blow but before it could reach Zane's cards he activated a trap card.

"Magic jammer. By sacrificing the remaining card in my hand your card is negated and destroyed."

The hurricane disappeared, and the spirit smiled.

"Then now I'll summon my tribe infecting virus."

But a hole appeared under the monster and Zane revealed his other face down card trap hole.

"Did you really beat all those other duellists," asked Zane.

The spirit chuckled.

"I'll set a face down card. That's all."

Jaden and the gang were running to the duel beyond the clearing. They already knew who was duelling. Only one monster gave a roar like that. They arrived just in time to see Zane launch an attack with his Cyber twin dragon.

"With the Cyber Phoenix I just played, you can't target machine monster with trap cards. It's over."

The attack hit spirit dead on. The explosion was huge and Cyrus, being a midget, was lifted off his feet and thrown back. They could all hear the electric shock that was now doubt inflicting mass pain on spirit right now. But then they heard something they didn't want to hear.

"Ku ku ku."

The smoke cleared. The bandages had come loose and the cloak had blown off. White hair was sticking up in horns and dark rimmed eyes could be seen staring out from beneath the bandages.

"R-r-r-Ryou," cried Jaden meekly.

"Wrong," bellowed the Spirit. "My name is Bakura."

"But that's Ryou's last name," cried Cyrus.

"Is there a rule against having the same name you Ra forsaken dwarf," smiled Bakura.

"Anyway, reveal trap card damage condenser. With this I summon Zorc the dark one to the field!"

The huge muscled monster appeared, and for the second time Zane felt scared. Not just of Bakura, whom he recognised as Yugi Muto's opponent in the quarter finals of the Battle city tournament. But the monster, who's dark aura left Zane chocking on his own breath. Not only that, Bakura had taken the full force of his shock collar, and came out laughing. But all the same, Zorc's attack strength was only 2700 while his twin dragon was 2800. And it still had one attack left.

"Attack," he shouted.

"Activate quick play magic card rush recklessly," roared Bakura.

Zorc's attack strength soared to 3400 and he hurled a ball of pure darkness at the stream of energy coming towards him. The ball pushed the beam all the way back to the dragons mouth and imploded inside causing the dragons imminent destruction, and the loss of 600 of Zane's life points, as well as a shock to his system.

Zane's cyber phoenix was still in attack mode and he had no cards left in his hand. There wasn't anything he could do for now.

"I end my turn," he said.

"And now it's time to end this," shouted Bakura.

"I summon my headless knight in attack mode. Zorc, slay his phoenix."

One hurled orb of darkness later and the phoenix was destroyed. Zane's life points dropped to 1900.

"Now headless knight attack!"

The sword swiped through Zane and lowered his points straight to 450. A second shock made Zane buckle.

"I set a face down card, and it's your move wanker."

Zane struggled to draw his next card, but when he did, a smile appeared on his face.

"I activate overload fusion," he shouted. "By sending the five machine monster's (magic jammer's effect sent a monster from Zane's hand providing the fifth.) That currently reside in my graveyard, I summon chimeratech over dragon!"

The five headed cyber dragon burst onto the field with an attack total of 4000.

"My dragon's attack point's are equal to the amount of monsters used to summon it, times 800. Also it can destroy attack monsters on the field equal to that amount! Now attack!"

The burst streams shot down at Bakura's monsters.

I activate my trap card magic javelin," barked Bakura. "Now I gain 4000 life points, equal to your monster's attack. His life point's shot up to 5200 just before his monsters were destroyed, taking out 3850 of Bakura's life points, bringing him back down to 1350. The electrical surges were visible on Bakura, but he didn't flinch, or even show any sign that he felt anything from the collar at all.

Zane swore under his breath. "It's your turn," he said.

"Excellent," said Bakura. "I activate premature burial. This means that by lowering my life points down to 550, I re-summon Zorc the dark one."

A hole opened in the ground and a disfigured hand reached out, grasping on to the side and hauling the grotesque mass of muscle that was Zorc back into the duel."

"Now I activate his ability. I role a dice and anything other than 1 or 2 means the destruction of all your monsters! Three, four or five means the death of just one of them, and six will result in a self destruction."

The dice landed on four.

"Guess this duel is mine!" laughed Bakura as the darkness that radiated from Zorc obliterated the five headed dragon.

"Now attack!"

Zorc hauled a dark energy ball that flew towards a cursing Zane and made contact. The group watched as Zane's eyes widened, but his face never changed. He remained unafraid. The explosion was huge and sent Zane flying through the air glowing electric blue and landed with a thud, his life point count at zero. Bakura laughed again, walking towards Zane, reaching for his deck, as Zane's eyes slowly shut, and he fell into the shadows with his final thought. British bastard.

Bakura picked up the unconscious Kaiser's deck and shuffled through, until he found the underworld cards he was looking for. Taking them out he slipped them into his pocket, before turning to face the group of people staring at his back. All of them were gawping at him in shock and horror. He had, after all taken down one of the most respected duellists in the academy. He flashed them a fanged grin before saying "I guess I should introduce myself. I am the thief king Bakura. So glad to make your acquaintance."

The other's simply stood there, staring at him still in shock.

"I challenge all of you to participate in my own little game."

He pointed off towards the shore.

"I've destroyed every form of transport on the island except for one small dingy. If you can defeat me, I will return the souls of all your friends. But if you lose, you will all remain here and rot as mindless flesh, whilst I return to domino city and wreak havoc. Cheerio."

With one last grin, Bakura ran into the bushes, waving as he went and laughing in his British accent.

The group stood stock still.

"We're going to find Ryou," said Jaden after a while. If Bakura really wasn't Ryou, he should still be in his room back at the dorm. The group strode of in that general direction, not noticing the strange man with long blond hair and a golden rod.

At three O'clock in the morning, the gang finally decided to have a break from searching for the strange albino boy they suspected of half massacring their friends. They decided to go back to the obelisk dorm, as that was the best place to get some decent grub. They all sat around the main dining table chewing down Blaire's home cooked meal (Unsurprisingly, Jaden's seemed to be stocked with a lot more than anyone else), whilst discussing what course of action they should take next. Syrus exclaimed he was tired and went to bed. The others continued talking for a while and their eyes began to get droopy. There were a few yawns and also snores (Jaden had fallen to sleep half way through his eighth bowl of noodles).

"Argggggggg," an almighty scream rang out through the dorm. And they all recognised it as the scream of a certain small blue haired duellist who liked toy vehicles.

Jaden sprang awake and they all ran upstairs and straight into Syrus's room, and were extremely surprised to see an extremely effeminate, young, blond haired man yawning and stretching on Syrus's bed. He rubbed his eyes and turned to look at the group of teenager's.

"Hello, my name is Marik Ishtar, but most people call me Malik. I have no idea why. They just kind of do. Anyway I'm looking for a Ryou Bakura, can you help me?"

The teenagers continued to stare at the strange man. And stare. And Stare. And Stare. And Stare.

The man began to look uncomfortable.

"What is there something on my face?"

The group continued to stare in sheer amazement of something they weren't quite aware of, but were amazed none the less.

"You're Marik Ishtar, the guy who duelled Yugi in the finals of battle city."

"No, I'm the local milkman. OF COURSE I'M MARIK FUCKING ISHTAR. DIDN'T I JUST SAY THAT?"

Syrus asked the question the rest of the group were wondering. "Why are you in my bed?"

Marik looked at the little boy, and Syrus seemed to recoil

"When I got here there was no one on this whore of an island. I got tired and decided to go to the huge shiny white and blue building. To my surprise I found beds and decided to go to sleep."

"Are you gay," said Jaden.

"No, what the fuck gives you that idea."

You were sleeping in a guy's bed and you've still got Syrus's boxers on your head."

Marik's gaze turned upwards to the fabric that was cuddling the top of his head.

"Oh, so that's what you were all staring at."

An hour later Marik, or Malik had joined the group of young teenagers for tea and stolen food from the obelisk dorm's kitchen. They had decided that listening to Marik defending his sexuality for almost twenty minutes had made them hungry. Once they had sufficiently stuffed themselves (Marik and Jaden having an eating contest, which resulted in both participants flat on their back) Marik chirped up with a question for the group of young teens.

"Where has everyone gone? I thought this was a school."

Jaden stared at the dumb blond and turned over multiple answers in his head, deciding which was the most believable, and which were down right horrifying. Eventually he decided that he would choose the least frightening answer which he could think of.

"They're all brain dead in the infirmary."

"Ah, Bakura was it," chuckled Marik.

The group of teens stared at the chuckling blond.

"How did you know that?"

It turned out Marik was already aware of Bakura and his shadow games. He had come here to help out his old friend Ryou, who had spent his entire life running from the Bakura which had been tormenting the school. Jaden thought back to how Ryou had shivered whenever he heard about the thefts and how he had been so nervous he shut his hand in his desk at least thirty times. At the time he thought he was just scared of the fan girls. But now he knew why he had seemed so on edge. Why he seemed so worried. He still couldn't figure out why he was so British though.

"So I need one of you to defeat Bakura and in a shadow game and send his immortal ass to the shadow realm," concluded the smiling blond fuzz ball.

Jaden could see an instant problem with this plan. One that their new Egyptian friend had failed to pick up on.

"And how in the name of Kuriboh do we do that?" asked Jaden with a growl. "The Bastard took my Neos. And you don't have Ra anymore because you lost it to Yugi. How exactly do we beat him?"

The Egyptian didn't seem surprised at these questions.

"It's quite simple," he replied. "We challenge him to a children's card game and win."

"But our cards..." began Jaden.

"Isn't there a deck of cards that belongs to the current king of games locked in the basement? I know it went on tour but it's been here for three friggin years now. It practically belongs to the school so there's no harm in using it."

The Slifer boy remained silent.

What was the worst that could happen. Besides this was for the good of the school. And as long as they put it back, no one would be any the wiser.

"Alright, fine," said Jaden.

He turned to his friends. "You guys go and get the key to the basement in Crowler's office. We'll go get the key to Dorothy's store."

Cyrus gave an aggravated yell and Aleixs took him by the hair and dragged him of in the direction of Crowler's office.

"Right, we need to go to Sheppard's office to get the key to the store," said Jaden.

They both rushed off. In the shadows, a certain albino gave a fanged grin.

It took them ten minutes to get to Crowler's office (Why did the bastard have to have so many stairs.)

And another fifth teen to search his office for the key. Then another ten to reach the store again. Jaden was expecting the others to have gotten the key already, but they weren't there. Jaden got busy with unlocking the store. He was surprised to find that the store was already open. He pushed the shutter up and went inside, followed closely by Marik. The shutter closed with a loud clang behind him. Feeling around on the wall he found the light switch and flicked it, causing the room to be filled with light, and there in the middle of the room, was Bakura, grinning his pretty British face off.

"Looking for something," said Bakura, holding up a deck of cards.

And there, at the front of the deck, was the card Jaden really didn't want to see. The Dark Magician. Bakura had gotten too Yugi's deck first.

"How did you," started Jaden.

Bakura held up the basement key.

"But Cyrus and Alexis are-."

"In the shadow realm I'm afraid."

Bakura gave an evil grin and Jaden felt a shiver down his spine.

"All of them?"

"All of them."

It didn't make any sense. How did Bakura have time to grab the key, defeat all his friends, and make it back down in time to steal the deck?

"How did you beat them so quickly," asked Jaden.

"Simple," said Bakura giving an evil chuckle. "I duelled them all at once."

Jaden's mouth dropped open. Was it possible to defeat them ALL at once. Those were the strongest duellists in the academy. Even Cyrus could duel at a professional level when he wanted too.

Bakura placed the game king's deck in his pocket.

"I, for one don't think the good guys should stoop to the bad guy's level by stealing other people's cards. This is supposed to have morals, correct. Although in all fairness, I think they went out of the window when this fic began. I'm also pretty sure I just broke the fourth wall, but no matter.

"There's one thing I want to know," said Jaden.

"What?" replied the crazy albino.

Jaden took a deep breath.

"If you're not British why do you sound like it?"

Bakura's face filled with rage. Jaden could swear that steam was coming from his ears. His face was flushed red and he was glaring straight at Jaden.

"Because Ryou is British."

"Well, how does that effect you?" asked Jaden.

"It just does."

"But hoooow?" moaned Jaden.

Bakura drooped his head. Then steadily looked back up until he was at eye level with Jaden.

"Look, just shut you're bloody mouth, get out your bloody trading cards, put them in your bloody duel disk, and let me have the pleasure of sending your bloody soul to the bloody shadow realm so you can play with Marik's evil alter ego and his bloody army of knife wielding kittens."

Bakura said all this in a quiet voice, gradually growing louder, the result of which was a shocked Jaden.

Marik stepped forwards. "I'll duel you."

"Well if it isn't my old bitch," snarled Bakura. "What the bloody hell are you doing here?"

Bakura's gaze was enough to make any normal man flinch, But Marik simply strode forward.

"I'm looking for you," He said. Marik swung his arm forward and his old duel disk activated, the two separate blades swinging in to place. "So let's get this duel started."

Jaden watched in awe. It was like something from the battle city finals. Both duellists seemed about even but now and again one would suddenly start winning. This time it was Marik's turn.

"I activate A deal with dark ruler! Now I can special summon my Berserk Dragon! "

A large zombiefied dragon shot out of the ground and roared so loudly that Jaden had to cover his ears.

"My dragon can attack all three of your monsters. Now attack!"

The dragon gave an almighty roar, and shot off three fire balls simultaneously. Each one struck one of Bakura's monsters, destroying them and dropping Bakura's life points down to 200. Jaden looked at Marik. He still had 2400 life points. There was no way he could lose.

"Well I think it's time for you to lose," grinned Bakura.

"And how do you propose to do that, chuckle nuts," replied Marik. "Right now you're just a harmless Kitty.

"I'll tell you how I'm going to do it," said Bakura, "WITH MY GIANT ROCK!"

Bakura activated a magic card and a giant rock rose up from behind him.

"OH MY GOD A GIANT ROCK," said Marik, "IT'S A ROCK SND IT'S GIANT! So, what's it doing?"

"This giant rock magic card is known as 'The Stone of the Forbidden Past'. It allows me to special summon a monster from either players graveyard. And I choose my Earl of demise.

The Zombie earl erupted from the rock.

"So basically it's just a knock off of monster reborn" said Marik dully.

"No, actually," said Bakura. "For starters I have to pay half my life points."

Bakura's life points dropped to 100.

"And for another thing it allows me to pick one monster from either players grave yard and increase my earls attack points by an amount equal to the selected monsters attack points for one turn. And I pick Your Masked Beast Des Gardius!"

The Earls attack points rose to 5300 with a scream.

"Now my faithful creature, ATTACK!"

The Earl lunged forwards and slashed Marik's creature in two. The blow sent shockwaves through the air causing Marik to throw his arms up, whilst he was propelled backwards. His life points dropped down to 100.

"I'm still hear kitty."

Bakura Grinned. "Not for much longer, I activate my ectoplasmer magic card. This extracts the soul of my monster and fires it straight at you."

The Earl turned into a white cloud and propelled itself at Marik. It caught him a glancing Blow in the chest, sending him sailing through the air whilst his life points hit zero.

"Damn you fluffy. I'll be back, and when I do I'll make you roué the day you crossed me!"

Marik landed and instantly shut up. Bakura's face cracked into an insane grin, which quite pleasantly showed off his twinkling eyes.

"Well, that was fun, who's next?"

Jaden was scared. Really scared. So scared not even the annoying squeaks of his winged Kuriboh could make him feel any better. He could feel himself shivering. Marik had played an amazing duel, but even he'd lost. All his friends had been taken down. He was the only one left. The only company for miles was a demented psychopath who wanted his soul. There was no one to help him.

Then came a loud meow, and a large, fat Brown cat with black strips jumped down next to Jaden.

"Oh look, a kitty," said Bakura.

Jaden looked down at Pharaoh the cat. The cat gave a burp, and a golden light shot from his mouth. The light grew bigger and eventually became a ghostly form of a man with glasses and long black hair.

"Professor Banner!" cried Jaden.

"Jaden my boy," smiled the professor. "How are you?"

"Not good," replied Jaden. "My best cards been stolen and if I lose this duel I lose my soul, and this guys beaten everyone else in the academy. Got any suggestions?"

"Hmm," said the professor. "I do have one."

"What?" asked Jaden.

"Turn around, face the gate, and run for your life."

Jaden gawped at the professor. "Everyone's soul depends on this I can't just run."

"Well, in that case, you're screwed," shrugged the professor.

Jaden gave a sigh. He was on his own with this after all. He turned and looked at the grinning albino staring back at him.

"What does all this get you," he asked, with a frown.

Bakura stared back at him. He put his finger on his chin and looked up at the ceiling as if pondering the question.

"Nothing really, just bored," he replied with a grin.

"Well couldn't you have done something else?" asked Jaden.

Bakura gave him a mad grin. "What else is there to do? There's nothing more fun in this world than a shadow game. When your opponent gives in to the despair of their loss, it's visible on their face. It's like a stimulus. Like candy, it's oh so sweet; it sends shivers up my spine, THE GREATEST THRILL!"

Bakura began to laugh madly. He sounded insane; the laugh was dark and covered Jaden in a shroud of fear. The sound went straight through Jaden's soul and seemed to squeeze it. Bakura stopped laughing, and his face simply became a grin of pleasure as he eyed the fear that was displayed on Jaden's face. "It's also good for getting rid of annoying brats like you."

Bakura stood forward and thrust his arm out. "So shall we get started with the card game then," he said. His grin was one that seemed to just radiate madness and it made Jaden shiver. He put his arm forward and both duel disks activated.

"Duel," said the two duellists at once.

"I'll start off this shadow game with my Gilgarth in attack mode," said Bakura, summoning the metallic creature to the field. Next I activate delinquent duo. By paying a thousand life points we both select a card from your hand and send it to the graveyard, although I have to pick randomly."

Bakura picked Emergency Provisions, and Jaden pick his neo spacian air humming bird. It's not much use without neos, he thought.

"Next I activate the continuous spell card, Card of Safe Return. Now whenever a monster is special summoned from my graveyard, I get to draw a card. I'll also set a face down card. Let's see what you can do."

Jaden drawed the top card from his deck. It was winged Kuriboh. The monster on the card seemed to wink at him. "I'll play a face down card. Next I place down two face downs," he said. "It's you move."

Bakura grinned. Is that the best you can do? He drawed a card and grinned. I activate my pot of greed spell card. This lets me replenish my hand with two new cards. And what excellent cards they were. Now I sacrifice my Gilgarth to summon my Earl of demise in attack mode." The earl rose up

"Next I activate the magic card ectoplasmer. With this on the field we have to destroy a face up monster at the end of every turn. Now my earl. Destroy his face down card." The earl slashed at the winged Kuriboh, destroying it.

"I have no other monster to attack you with so its effect is meaningless," said Bakura. "But now my ectoplasmer activates, destroying my earl and delivering 1000 damage directly to your life points."

Jaden threw his arms up as the white smog hit him. He keeled over in pain as his life points dropped to 3000.

"That will end my turn."

Jaden stood up straight again. "That. Hurt." He said.

"This is a shadow game, where the monsters are real and losing has a few more draw backs," replied Bakura.

Jaden quickly drawed his next card. "I summon the Elemental Hero Sparkman in attack mode!"

The blue hero rushed onto the field and stared down Bakura. "Attack directly!" Shouted Jaden.

"Sorry, close but no cigar," Said Bakura. "I activate my trap card Call of the Haunted. With this I can special summon my Earl of Demise back to the field, and also let's me draw a card with my Card of Safe return Magic card."

The zombie earl shot out of the ground forcing the Sparkman to retreat.

Bakura grinned at the pouting slifer student.

"Care to try again?"

"I end my turn," said Jaden. "Due to your ectoplasmer my Sparkman is turned into a fog cannon ball."

Sparkman became the fog like substance, shooting at Bakura and dropping his life points to 2200 as Bakura reeled backwards.

"My Draw," said Bakura, swiping the card from the top of his deck. I activate my contract with a dark master. Now by sacrificing the Dark Necrofear in my hand I summon Zorc the Dark Master!"

A dark hole opened above Bakura's head whilst the bulky creature slowly crawled out. Stepping onto the field it gave a roar.

"Now Zorc, Attack him directly with Dark chrome pulse!"

The creature shot its signature move at Jaden.

"I activate my magic arm shield," said Jaden happily. Now I can pull your Earl of Demise in front of the attack."

The shield grabbed the arm and pulled it in front of Jaden just before the attack landed. The attack blew the Earl to a dozen pieces and the force of the blast sent Jaden sailing through the air and landing on his ass painfully. His life points dropped down to 2300.

"Well in that case I activate my mystical space typhoon to destroy my ectoplasmer," snarled Bakura.

"My move," screamed Jaden happily, forgetting his fear despite his cracked ribs. "I summon Elemental hero Stratos! This lets me add another elemental hero monster to my hand. I pick my Elemental hero Blade edge. Next I set one face down card. That ends my turn."

"You'd sacrifice your monster just to add a weakling to your hand," laughed Bakura. "You're even more pathetic than I thought. Zorc, destroy this weakling, now."

Zorc shot his traditional dark energy ball at the monster.

"I activate my Mirror Gate," Cried Jaden happily. "This swaps our monsters for the battle."

The two monsters suddenly swapped sides. Zorc's attack connected and destroyed Stratos dealing 900 points of damage to Bakura and dropping his life points down to 1300. The force of the attack sent Bakura skidding backwards, but he managed to keep his footing.

"Nice play," he said as Zorc reappeared on his side of the field. "It's your move."

Jaden drawed his next card and then jumped in the air. "I might just win this after all."

I activate my own pot of greed magic card. So now I draw two new cards."

Jaden drawed his cards and gave one of the biggest grins of his life. "I activate polymerization. Now I fuse together my Blade edge and my wild heart to create Elemental Hero Wild edge!"

The monster appears on the field.

"Now I activate my face down card, legendary sword. This increases my monsters attack points by 300. Go, destroy Zorc!"

The monster lunged forward, slicing the creature in two. Bakura's life points dropped down too 1100.

"Your move," cried Jaden happily.

"I draw. First I activate a second card of safe return. Next I activate my monster reborn card. This summons Zorc back to the field."

The monster rose from the ground, ready to fight again. This also let's me draw two more cards.

Now I activate my monsters special ability. Allow me to explain. If I roll 1-5 your monster will be destroyed. But if I roll a six, my monster is destroyed. So lets go."

The giant dice appeared in the middle of the field. It rolled, and rolled, and then it stopped. On a six.

Bakura's monster was destroyed. Jaden punched the air, and pointed a v for victory sign in Bakura's

General direction. "Looks like I win this duel," said Jaden.

Bakura grinned. "Yes well looks can be deceiving. I activate my 7 magic card. Now I sacrifice all three of my continuous magic cards to summon my Hammon, Lord of Striking Thunder!"

The gigantic creature emerged onto the field. And gave a roar that shook the heavens. Thunder reigned down around the monster scorching the floor. The monster's head crashed through the ceiling leaving a large whole in the roof as the thunder demolished the rest of the store, leaving Jaden with a pretty nice view of the stars.

"How did you get that," asked Jaden bewildered.

"I'm a thief you idiot. I friggin stole it from under the bloody school. Also, since one of the cards I used to summon it was 7 I regain 700 life points."

Jaden gawped up at the huge creature.

"Now attack," bellowed Bakura.

A huge lightning blot struck Jaden's monster, shattering it. Jaden's life points dropped down to 1200.

"Also, when Hammon destroys a monster, the opponent takes 1000 points of damage," laughed Bakura.

Another bolt of lightning came down, catching Jaden with a blow to the head. Jaden collapsed as his life points dropped down to 200.

"This is not looking good," said Banner. "Jaden, you've defeated it before you can do it again. Jaden?"

Jaden was still on the ground. His eyes were closed, and he wasn't getting up.

"Don't tell me the fool lost consciousness again," laughed Bakura.

A drop could be seen coming from Professor Banner's forehead. "We are so screwed."

Jaden was crying. He was sitting in the emo corner of his mind, racing through his memories. His duel against Crowler when he first got here. His first loss against Zane. Meeting Aster. The duel against Yubel where he combined the three phantom's into one. Duelling Jessie when he was possessed. Yubel had stopped talking to him. He'd just disappeared. Everyone had just disappeared. They'd all gone. His friends had left him. Even Syrus, who'd always been there. There was no one now. They'd left him all alone. No that's wrong. They'd been taken away. Jaden stopped crying like a baby. He had to get them back. After all, it was so much fun to insult Syrus. But to do that, he had to get up, and kick the ever evil crap out of Bakura.

Jaden opened his eyes too a worried looking Professor Banner's ghost.

"Is sleeping beauty awake now," said Bakura, with a mad grin.

Jaden got to his feet groaning. "Are you trying to make a pass at me, calling me beautiful? Not that it's not true but I don't swing that way. Sorry."

Bakura grin widened. "So you're being mouthy again. Well you know where that got you last time."

"It's my move," said Jaden, drawing his next card. Since I have no monsters on the field I special summon my Elemental Hero Bubbleman. And since there's no cards in my hand, Bubbleman let's me draw two more cards."

Jaden drawed the cards. "Okay Fluffy, I play the swords of revealing light to stop your oversized chicken dead in it's tracks."

The swords of light dropped down through the roof, blocking the large Phantom bird from advancing.

"Let's see what you've got, kitty."

Bakura drawed. "The only kitty around here is that brown lump of shit next to you," he said with a scowl. "I play my graceful charity. This means I draw three cards but discard two. I send my Robbins goblin and 7 to the graveyard. Now I set one face down card and end my turn."

Jaden drawed his next card.

"Sweet," he yelled. Okay fluffy, try this on for size, I activate the philosopher's stone. This let's me add winged Kuriboh back to my hand. The stones shuffled back into my deck. Neat huh."

"It's pathetic," said Bakura.

"Yeah, well I set my Winged Kuriboh in defence mode."

A Round fury ball with wings and a giant pair of eyes appeared on the field and glared at Bakura, which was about as threatening as someone brandishing a pair of Syrus's underwear, which Jaden noticed were still in Marik's pocket.

"Well I guess it's my move." Bakura drawed his next card and grinned. I play Premature Burial. Now by paying 800 life points I can re-summon Dark master Zorc to the playing field."

The dark creature appeared on the field. "It's your move."

Jaden Drawed. And then he grinned. I summon my Elemental hero Alias in attack mode!"

The younger looking version of Neos appeared.

"You're move."

Bakura drawed again.

This game is getting dull, and this is the last turn that I'm obstructed. I simply need to destroy one of your monsters with Hammon to win the duel. Next turn I'll win, and banish you're soul to the shadow realm, forced to play forever with Marik's army of evil kittens."

Jaden gulped. He needed to be able to put of his destruction for this turn. He drawed and was relieved to find Giant truenade.

"I play Giant Truenade," He shouted gleefully. "This returns Premature Burial and my swords of revealing light to our hands."

The truenade repelled the cards back to their owners.

"Since premature burial wasn't destroyed, my Zorc remains on the field," Bakura explained.

"Yeah, but now we have the second coming of Swords of revealing light. Also I activate my neos ability, allowing me to summon him again as Elemental Hero Neos.

Bakura drawed. "I set a face down and pass this turn," He said in a grumpy voice.

Jaden drawed. "I set a face down and your move." Bakura drawed again.

I activate the power of my lightning vortex. With this I destroy your entire set of monster by offering the Raviel in my hand. Next my face down Dust tornado destroys your Swords."

All the mentioned cards were destroyed in a fury of lightning and tornadoes. "Now Hammon, ATTACK!"

The creature roared and cast a beam of lightning straight at Jaden. "Not so fast," he cried. "I activate my negate attack!"

A vortex appeared in front of the bolt of lightning.

"DAMN!" Roared Bakura. "You CAN'T win, just give up."

"No," said Jaden, sticking out his tongue. "It's my move."

He drawed, hoping against all hope that he could draw something to make a turn around.

"I activate my pot of avarice, now I return my Wild heart, Blade edge, spark man, Humming bird and Neos alias back to my deck, shuffle, and then draw two cards.

He looked at his two new drawn cards, and smiled.

"What," said the thief?

"I summon Elemental hero Avian."

The green monster appeared with 1000 attack points."

"And what pray tell is he going to do."

"Win, after I play Special Hurricane! By discarding a card from my hand I destroy all special summoned monsters on the field, which is exactly what those two are."

"But you don't have any other cards in your hand," said the thief.

"You forget, you just destroyed winged Kuriboh. That let's me add Philosophers stone from my deck to my hand. SO now I discard it."

The hurricane swept the field of Bakura's monsters. He had 1000 life points left, and nothing to guard himself.

"Attack Avian, finish off Fluffy!"

Avian launched himself at Bakura.

"Oh Bugger."

Two days later life had returned to normal at the academy. Or at least as normal as it gets. Cyrus was getting taunted by anyone and everyone. Jaden had his Neos back. Zane had left. Marik had gone with him after confessing to Ryou and getting soundly rejected much to the disappointment of the gathering yaoi fan girls. Everyone had woken up after Bakura had been beaten. Bakura returned to being Ryou, who was wondering where in the name of buggeration he was before being half glomped to death by Marik. No one else knew he was really Bakura (the evil one), and Jaden and his friends didn't feel like telling anybody. They just knew that Jaden had defeated Spirit and they'd all woken up. Nothing new really. Although Professor Banner spent quite a while talking to Professor Ryou about the ancient Egyptian artefact that appeared around his neck during his transformations

"Jaden, Wake up you slacker and give me your damn homework," shouted an angry Doctor Crowler. "You think just because you saved the school again, it gives you the right to skip out on homework, well your god damn wrong you little jerk off."

Jaden groaned. Now that everyone was okay again there was nothing exciting to do. No one to compete against.

"Hey, did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"Some guy is going round attacking duellists, and when they lose they don't wake up"

"Is he back?"

"No, I heard that this one has large spiked up hair and holds a golden rod when he duels."

Yep, thought Jaden. Everything was back to normal.

Well, I hoped you liked it. R&R and thanks very much.