Nightshroud

Ryan, Alexis, Bastion, Jaden, Chazz, Crowler and Banner were all walking through the halls of the main building. All the lights were off making the building seem a little creepy, knowing that they were all targets for the Shadow Riders only made it worse.

Jaden, Chazz and Crowler were all wearing their spirit keys on the outside of their shirts in order to show them off while Ryan, Alexis and Bastion had placed their spirit keys on the inside of their shirts in the hopes that the Shadow Riders wouldn't notice them.

Soon the group reached the exit.

"Okay, Jaden and Chazz come with me." Banner said as he led the two back to the red dorm.

Crowler turned to Ryan and Alexis.

"Are you sure you two will be alright walking back alone?" He asked.

"Don't worry about us, you just worry about getting Bastion back to his dorm." Alexis said.

"Okay, just watch each other's backs." Crowler said as he and Bastion left.

Ryan and Alexis started to walk back to their dorms.

"So do you think that these Shadow Riders are as dangerous as Sheppard made them out to be?" Alexis asked.

"With the fact that Sheppard was too afraid to walk us back to our dorm, I'd say yes." Ryan answered.

"Do you think we can beat them?" Alexis asked. Ryan let out a sigh.

"Well you, me and Zane should be okay. I'm not too sure about the others though." He admitted. Alexis chuckled.

"I know, Crowler's a terrible duelist no matter how much he denies it." She said.

Ryan and Alexis continued to walk down the path. However unbeknownst to either of them, there was someone watching them from the shadows. The hidden figure smiled as he saw that the two were alone and far away from any help.

They continued walking when suddenly the hidden figure appeared before them in a cloud of smoke.

"Greetings, I see that Kagemaru was right. That coward Sheppard did give the spirit keys to his strongest duelists." He said.

"Who are you?" Alexis asked, trying to sound intimidating.

"Why how rude of me not to introduce myself. I am Nightshroud, first of the Shadow Riders." The figure said.

Nightshroud had dark brown hair that reached past his neck. He was wearing a long black coat with a gold trim and he was also wearing a black dragon mask that covered most of his face.

"I must say that it is a shame that you two were chosen to be key keepers, because now I will have to destroy you both." Nightshroud said.

"Not if you're destroyed first." Ryan replied.

Nightshroud looked at him with great interest.

"I see much darkness within you boy. I feel you could become much more powerful if you would only embrace it instead of locking it away." He said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Ryan told him.

"Are you just going to stand there and talk about darkness, or are you going to duel." She said trying to change the subject.

"As you wish." Nightshroud said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pendant that the two realized was the other half of the pendant that Jaden received from the Gravekeeper's chief.

"You're the other person who defeated the chief." Ryan said looking at the pendant.

"So someone else has defeated the Gravekeeper's chief. He must be getting sloppy." Nightshroud said.

Nightshroud held the pendant above his head and there was a blinding flash of light. When Ryan and Alexis could see again they saw that they had been teleported to an arena surrounded by lava.

"What? Where are we?" Alexis asked.

"This is the island's volcano, I thought it would be the appropriate place for you two to meet your ends." Nightshroud said.

"Now then young man, you have sparked my interest so I think I will begin with you." Nightshroud said as a black duel disk appeared on his arm out of nowhere.

"Hold on a second, who said that you get to choose who you duel." Alexis said, seemingly annoying Nightshroud.

Nightshroud raised his left arm and Alexis was thrown back by an invisible force and almost fell into the lava. Before she recover, a steel cage appeared around, trapping her inside.

"I'm afraid that you are in no position to argue, but don't worry I will kill you next." Nightshroud said.

Ryan unbuttoned his jacket and threw it to the side. He then placed a pair of finger-less gloves on his hands.

"You won't even get a opportunity to duel her." He said.

"We will see about that my boy. Let us see if Obelisk Blue is truly the strongest dorm in this school." Nightshroud said.

While the two got ready to duel Alexis pulled out her phone and sent a text to Sheppard asking for help.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but no one will be able to reach us in here." Nightshroud said, noticing what Alexis was doing.

The duel began and Nightshroud took the first turn.

"I play a monster in defense mode and end my turn." He said.

Ryan's turn started.

"I summon Iron Knight Gearfried in attack mode." He said. Ryan and Alexis could tell simply by looking that Geafried wasn't a hologram, it was clearly a real monster.

Iron Knight Gearfried ATK 1800 DEF 1600 LV4 EARTH Warrior.

"Now Gearfried, destroy his monster." Ryan ordered. Gearfried attacked and destroyed Nightshroud's monster which was revealed to be Red-Eyes Baby Dragon.

Red-Eyes Baby Dragon ATK 1200 DEF 700 LV3 DARK Dragon.

"Excellent work. When Red-Eyes Baby Dragon is destroyed it allows me to summon a Red-Eyes monster from my deck." Nightshroud said as a Red-Eyes Black Dragon appeared on his side of the field. "It also allows me to equip my new monster with the Baby Dragon you just destroyed, granting the adult Red-Eyes 300 more attack points."

Red-Eyes Black Dragon ATK 2400 DEF 2000 LV7 DARK Dragon.

Red-Eyes Black Dragon ATK 2400 + 300 = 2700

Ryan looked at the Red-Eyes in frustration.

"I place a card face down and end my turn." He said.

Nightshroud drew his card.

"I summon Red-Eyes Retro Dragon in attack mode, now I will attack your monster with the original Red-Eyes." Nightshroud said. Red-Eyes attacked.

Red-Eyes Retro Dragon ATK 1700 DEF 1600 LV4 DARK Dragon.

"I activate the counter trap Negate Attack. This now ends your battle phase." Ryan said. "And next I activate Shadow Spell. This lowers your Red-Eyes Black Dragon's attack by 700 and prevents it from attacking."

Red-Eyes Black Dragon ATK 2700 - 700 = 2000

"Clever. I activate the spell card Foolish Burial. This will let me send a card from my deck to the graveyard. Now I end my turn." Nightshroud said as he sent Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon to the graveyard.

Ryan's turn started.

"I normal summon Breaker the Magical Warrior." Because Breaker was normal summoned he gained a spell counter and 300 attack points.

Breaker the Magical Warrior ATK 1600 DEF 1000 LV4 DARK Spellcaster.

Breaker the Magical Warrior ATK 1600 + 300 = 1900

"Next I equip Breaker with Mage Power. This increases it's attack and defense by 500 for every spell or trap on my side of the field." Ryan explained.

Breaker ATK 1900 + 1000 = 2900 DEF 1000 + 1000 = 2000

"Gearfried attack Retro Dragon." Ryan ordered. Red-Eyes Retro Dragon was destroyed. "Now Breaker, attack Red-Eyes." Breaker the Magical Warrior attacked and destroyed Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

Nightshroud LP 4000 - 100 = 3900

Nightshroud LP 3900 - 900 = 3000

Because Red-Eyes was destroyed Shadow Spell also went to the graveyard reducing Breaker's attack and defense by 500.

Breaker ATK 2900 - 500 = 2400 DEF 2000 - 500 = 1500

Nightshroud didn't seem to mind that he just lost a large portion of his life points. In fact he seemed to be focusing on Ryan more than he was the duel.

"Strange, I can still sense a darkness within you, but you don't seem to be able to access it at this moment in time. How disappointing I was hoping that you would have presented me with a challenge." Nightshroud said.

Nightshroud's turn started.

"I'll begin by activating the spell card Monster Reborn to special summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon from my graveyard." Nightshroud said.

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon ATK 2800 DEF 2400 LV10 DARK Dragon.

"Now I'll use Darkness Metal Dragon's effect to summon a dragon from my graveyard. Be reborn Red-Eyes Black Dragon." Nightshroud said.

Red-Eyes Black Dragon ATK 2400 DEF 2000 LV7 DARK Dragon.

"Red-Eyes Black Dragon destroy Breaker." Breaker and Red-Eyes were destroyed. "Now Darkness Metal Dragon attack Gearfried." Darkness Metal Dragon attacked and destroyed Iron Knight Gearfried.

Ryan LP 4000 - 1000 = 3000

He felt an intense pain as his life points dropped. However he remained standing.

"I see this isn't your first shadow game, impressive." Nightshroud said.

Ryan drew his card.

'Perfect.' He thought as he looked at what he drew.

"I activate Swords of Revealing Light. This will prevent you from attacking for three turns. Now I set a monster face turn and end my turn." He said.

Nightshroud started his turn.

"I tribute Red-Eyes Black Dragon to summon Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon. This card will gain 300 attack points for every dragon monster in my graveyard." He said as his new dragon appeared on the field.

Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon ATK 2400 DEF 2000 LV9 DARK Dragon.

Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon ATK 2400 + 900 = 3300

"Now I use Darkness Metal Dragon's effect to revive my Red-Eyes." Nightshroud said as the original Red-Eyes returned to the field. "I end my turn."

Red-Eyes Black Dragon ATK 2400 DEF 2000 LV7 DARK Dragon.

Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon ATK 3300 - 300 = 3000

Ryan started his turn.

"I set a monster in defense mode and end my turn." He said.

Nightshroud drew his card.

"I activate the spell card Cards of the Red Stone. This card lets me discard one level 7 monster from my hand in order to draw two cards, then I can send one level 7 Red-Eyes monster from my deck to the graveyard as well." He said.

Nightshroud discarded Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon, drew two cards and then he sent another copy of Red-Eyes Black Dragon from his deck to the graveyard.

Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon ATK 3000 + 600 = 3600

"Now I'll use Darkness Metal Dragon to revive Black Flare Dragon. Then I'll normal summon Black Flare Dragon so he gains his effects." Nightshroud said.

Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon ATK 2400 DEF 2000 LV7 DARK Dragon.

Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon ATK 3600 - 300 = 3300

A sinister smile crept onto Nightshroud's face.

"Prepare to burn in agony. I activate Inferno Fire Blast, since I control a Red-Eyes Black Dragon this card will deal damage to your life points equal to it's original attack." He explained.

Ryan braced himself as Red-Eyes charged a large fire ball and fired it directly at his head. He covered his head with his hands as the fire ball hit.

Ryan LP 3000 - 2400 = 600

Alexis watched as the fire ball hit him. It created a large wall of smoke making it impossible for Alexis to see Ryan. Slowly the smoke cleared and Alexis saw that he had fallen to his knees.

He was on his knees and glaring at Nightshroud. The fire ball had left him badly burned. There were burns on most of his skin, the worst of which was on his hands and there were large holes in his clothes were the fire had burnt through.

Strangely his duel disk and cards had been completely unaffected by the fire. The only other thing that had been unaffected was his face and head which he had covered with his hands.

Alexis tried to break through the cage and help him. She could tell just by looking that he was struggling to stay on his feet.

"It's your turn, that is if you can even continue the duel." Nightshroud said.

Ryan had dropped the cards in his hand when the fire ball hit. Slowly he picked up his dropped cards with shaking hands.

"I tribute both monsters to summon Buster Blader." He said slowly. Buster Blader appeared on the field and thanks to his effect gained 500 attack points for every dragon on Nightshroud's side of the field and in his graveyard.

Buster Blader ATK 2600 DEF 2300 LV7 EARTH Warrior.

Buster Blader ATK 2600 + 3500 = 6100

"Attack Red-Eyes." Ryan ordered. Nightshroud watched in horror as Buster Blader attacked Red-Eyes Black Dragon. He had expected Ryan to give up after that last attack. Red-Eyes was destroyed.

Nightshround LP 2800 - 3700 = 0

Nightshroud screamed in pain as his life points dropped to 0 and he fell to the ground. All of the monsters disappeared and there was a blinding flash of light. When the light cleared, everyone was outside of the volcano.

Alexis ran over to Ryan, who had taken his staff out of it's bag and was using it as support.

"Look, they're over there." A voice shouted. Alexis looked up and saw several members of the security team running towards them. Clearly Sheppard must've sent them after receiving Alexis's text.

The head of security knelt down and looked at Ryan.

"We need to get this boy to the infirmary ASAP." He said to the rest of the team.

While they led Ryan away, Alexis noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Looking closer she realized that it was Nightshroud lying face down. Alexis felt pure rage run through her body just by looking at him.

Alexis approached Nightshroud and realized that he was still alive but unconscious.

'You, you could have killed Ryan.' She thought. Alexis's hand subconsciously moved towards a large rock.

Nightshroud moaned and rolled over slightly, showing that his mask was gone revealing his face. As soon as she saw Nightshroud's face, Alexis dropped the rock she was now holding in her hand.

Alexis's expression turned from pure rage to pure horror as she stared at Nightshroud's face. It was a face she recognized immediately. Quietly she whispered his name. "Atticus."