Sacred Beasts Unleashed

The group followed the helicopter to a strange location. They found themselves facing a large circular plate made of stone and and placed around this plate are seven large pillars.

"What is this place?" Jaden asked.

"This is where the Sacred Beasts were sealed away." Sheppard explained. He seemed very worried.

"Look, the spirit keys." Syrus said. Everyone looked up and saw the seven spirit keys floated just above the stone plate, then each key flew away and embedded itself into one of the pillars.

Suddenly there was an intense rumbling that caused some members of the group to fall over. Then a stone pedestal rose up from the center of the plate and on this pedestal sat three duel monster cards.

"The three Sacred Beasts. They've been freed." Sheppard said. He was on the verge of having a heart attack.

"Not if I can help it." Ryan was about to run up and grab the cards.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice said from the helicopter. The helicopter descended until it landed just outside of the plate, then an extremely old man in a wheelchair got out and made his way towards the Sacred Beasts.

The old man looked extremely frail and perhaps also sick. He looked like he would break his own legs if he so much as attempted to stand. He was very thin and had a long white beard that was rather unkempt and he was wearing a breathing mask on his face that was connected to a tank of oxygen.

"Kagemaru what are you doing here?" Sheppard asked.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm here to collect the Sacred Beasts." The old man said as he reached the pedestal.

"Stay away from the Sacred Beasts. I don't want to hurt you, but I will." Ryan warned Kagemaru.

"I don't think that you will be able to do that." Kagemaru said as he raised his right hand which had a golden ring with a eye symbol on it sitting on his index finger.

Suddenly everyone felt a powerful force push them back. It was as if there was a barrier between them and the stone plate. Clearly that ring on Kagemaru's finger was a shadow charm.

"Kagemaru please don't do this." Sheppard pleaded. However this did little good as Kagemaru ignored him and picked up the three Sacred Beast cards from the pedestal.

"I would like to thank whoever it was that activated all of the keys for me. You saved me a lot of trouble." Kagemaru said as he held the cards in his hands.

"Chazz, you're gonna pay for this!" Ryan shouted.

"Me, but it was Alexis who defeated me and activated the keys. If anything it's her fault." Chazz said. Suddenly Alexis slapped him across the face.

"None of this would be happening if you hadn't stolen the keys in the first place." She shouted.

"This is no time to be fighting among ourselves. We have to stop Kagemaru now." Zane said.

"Right, we'll make Chazz pay later." Ryan replied.

Kagemaru was looking at the Sacred Beasts hopefully. It was as if he expected them to do something.

"Why isn't it working? Why aren't you rejuvenating me?" He asked the cards.

"Hey guys, it looks like the Sacred Beasts aren't working." Jaden said.

Suddenly Kagemaru heard a voice in his head. It took a few seconds to realize that it was the voice of the Sacred Beasts.

"Yes, yes I understand." Kagemaru said.

"It seems that the Sacred Beasts require a sacrifice to fully regain their powers. Luckily any of you will do." Kagemaru said.

"What? This guy is going to sacrifice one of us." A panicking Syrus said.

"Don't worry, he'd have to defeat you in a duel first." Sheppard said.

"So can't we just run now?" Chumley asked.

"Run if you like, but even without the Sacred Beasts at full strength I can still cause untold destruction to this island." Kagemaru explained.

"So the only way to stop the Sacred Beasts is if one of us defeats him in a duel." Bastion said.

"That is correct, and I think that I'll duel the short one." Kagemaru said, pointing to Syrus.

"What? Why would he choose Syrus? He's probably the weakest duelist here." Chazz said.

"That's exactly why he wants Syrus. He's looking for an easy opponent." Zane said.

"There's no way I'm letting you duel Sy. If anyone's going to duel, it's going to be me." Jaden said.

"I disagree, I'll only let the short one pass through the barrier. It's not like you can do anything about it." Kagemaru said.

Ryan then held the emerald tablet up.

"That barrier is about to no longer be an issue." He said.

"Wait, that's Banner's shadow charm. Why do you have it?" Jaden asked.

"Took it from Banner after defeating him. It's a fail safe in the event this conflict wasn't over." Ryan explained.

He placed the emerald tablet against the barrier. Soon the emerald tablet and Kagemaru's ring began to glow brightly. Then in a burst of light both shadow charms exploded and the barrier disappeared.

"Great, now we have to decide who will duel this guy." Jaden said.

"Isn't it obvious. Zane should duel him. He is our best duelist." Crowler said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No, there's only one duelist here who could defeat the Sacred Beasts and that's Jaden." Sheppard said. About half of the group looked at Sheppard as if he was insane, although Jaden seemed to like this idea.

Jaden smiled as he stepped forward.

"Alright old dude, it's time to get your game-" However Jaden was stopped when Ryan struck him in the stomach with his staff.

"I'll handle this." He declared.

Ryan stepped forward and activated his duel disk.

"Ryan Walker, what do you think you're doing?" A furious Sheppard demanded.

"Real simple. This is not my first shadow game. If anyone is capable of surviving this, it's me." He answered Sheppard.

"That little twerp, I should expel him for this." Sheppard said.

"Considering the fact he defeated the last Shadow Rider when Jaden couldn't, let Ryan take him on." Alexis said.

'Jaden has a lot more skill than this boy will ever have.' Sheppard thought.

"I suppose it really doesn't matter who I duel. You won't survive the Sacred Beasts." Kagemaru stated as a duel disk extended from his wheelchair.

"What do you know about the Sacred Beasts?" Ryan asked Sheppard.

"Nothing." Sheppard answered, still annoyed with his actions.

"Oh well, I'll figure out for myself." He sighed.

The duel started.

'Since I have no idea how powerful the Sacred Beasts are, I'll play it safe.' He thought.

"I set a monster face down and a card face down. That will end my turn." Ryan said.

Kagemaru started his turn.

"I summon Chaos Summoning Beast in attack mode. Now I use my monster's effect. By tributing this card, I can special summon one of the Sacred Beasts from my hand. Now I'd like you meet Raviel, Lord of Phantasms." Kagemaru said as Raviel appeared on the field and the pure blue sky turned dark and stormy.

Chaos Summoning Beast ATK 0 DEF 0 LV1 DARK Fiend.

Raviel, Lord of Phantasms ATK 4000 DEF 4000 LV10 DARK Fiend.

Suddenly something began to happen to Kagemaru. He started to breath much easier and his body became less frail. Kagemaru reached up to his face and pulled off his breathing mask.

At the same time Jaden noticed that there was something wrong with Winged Kuriboh.

"Hey little guy are you okay?" Jaden asked. Winged Kuriboh looked very tired, it was as if he was sick.

Ojama Yellow was also showing sings that there was something wrong.

"Boss, I don't feel so good." Ojama Yellow said weakly. Chazz looked at the duel monster spirit with concern in his eyes.

"Now Raviel attack his monster." Kagemaru said. Raviel attacked and destroyed his monster which turned out to be Skilled White Magician.

"Next I'll place a card face down and end my turn." Kagemaru added as a card appeared in his spell and trap zone.

Skilled White Magician ATK 1700 DEF 1900 LV4 LIGHT Spellcaster.

Ryan drew for his turn and was satisfied with what the card was.

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

Kagemaru started his turn.

"I'll attack your monster with Raviel." He said confidently. Raviel attacked and destroyed Ryan's monster which was revealed to be Shaddoll Dragon.

Shaddoll Dragon ATK 1900 DEF 0 LV4 DARK Spellcaster.

"Now Shaddoll Dragon's effect activates. When it's flipped face up, a card you control is returned to your hand." Ryan said as Raviel was returned to Kagemaru's hand.

"It seems the Sacred Beasts aren't that tough." He said.

"I'll end my turn with two face down cards." Kagemaru said.