Cyber Vampires

Camula was sitting in a hot bath topped with rose petals. She was drinking from a wine glass filled with blood.

'That old man was a pathetic duelist. However I feel that the others may be much stronger, especially whichever one of them defeated Nightshroud.' She thought as she took a sip of blood.

Camula snapped her fingers and a swarm of bats flew down from the ceiling and landed around her bath.

"Find the key keepers, observe them, study them, learn every card they keep in their decks and then report back to me." Camula ordered.

The bats all immediately obeyed Camula's command and flew out of the castle to find the six remaining key keepers. Camula smiled as she took another sip of blood.

'Soon the vampire race shall rise again.' She thought.

All of the remaining key keepers were currently in their rooms working on their decks. Unbeknownst to all of them they were all currently being spied on by Camula's bats.

The sudden loss of Dr. Crowler had caused the school to fall into a state of confusion. Chancellor Sheppard had tried to cover up what was really happening by telling everyone that Crowler was on an important business trip, but despite his best efforts many lessons had to be cancelled since they had no one to cover for Crowler right now.

Just as the key keepers finished preparing their decks Camula's bats flew away to return to her castle and inform their mistress about her opponent's decks.

Later that day all of the key keepers including Syrus and Chumley had gathered in the infirmary to tell Ryan what had happened last night and to discuss what they should do next. The sun would be setting in less than an hour meaning that someone would soon have to duel Camula.

"Dr. Crowler was defeated, huh." Ryan commented after the others had told him about Crowler's loss to Camula.

"Yeah and look what she did to him." Chazz said as he showed Ryan the doll that was once Dr. Crowler.

"How exactly dangerous is Camula?" He asked.

"I'm not sure. She seemed to have only been toying with Crowler when she beat him." Alexis said.

"If what you say is true, she's a lot more dangerous than you think." Ryan commented.

While the others were talking about Camula, Jaden noticed the pendant on Atticus's nightstand. Jaden picked up the pendant and saw that it looked extremely similar to the one that he had gotten from the Gravekeeper's chief and was currently wearing around his neck.

Out of curiosity Jaden tried to put the two pieces together and to his surprise they fit together perfectly. Jaden quickly tried to take the two halves apart again before anyone noticed but they seemed to be stuck. Jaden quickly put the now complete pendant into his pocket and hoped that no one would notice what he had done.

"What we should be talking about is who's going to duel her next." Chumley said.

"I think Ryan should duel her. After all he beat the first Shadow Rider."

"Are you crazy?! He's still injured, there's no way he can take another shadow game in his condition." Alexis said.

"Why don't I duel her, I'm always ready for a game." Jaden said with a smile.

"Would you mind taking this seriously Jaden. We're dueling for our lives after all." Ryan told him.

"I'll duel her, I'll make her pay for what she did to Crowler." Chazz said.

"Don't be ridiculous Chazz. This situation clearly calls for someone with brains." Bastion said.

"Hey, are you calling me dumb." An aggravated Chazz said.

"No, I'm just saying that you lack the ability to think." Bastion said.

Chazz grabbed Bastion by the shirt.

"Take that back you repulsive Ra!" He shouted.

"Let go of me you drop out." A slightly worried Bastion said. The others quickly pulled Chazz and Bastion apart before they could hurt each other.

While everyone was busy keeping Chazz and Bastion apart, Zane silently slipped out of the room.

'It's pointless for me to waste my time here, I'll deal with Camula myself.' He thought as he walked towards the building's exit.

"Guys stop fighting, this won't get us anywhere." Syrus said as Bastion tried to break out of his hold.

"Syrus is right, we should focus on fighting the Shadow Riders, not each other." Alexis added.

Chazz and Bastion calmed down and everyone let them go.

"Okay, so which one of us will face Camula?" Bastion asked while he took some deep breaths.

"I don't know, who's got the best deck to take down a zombie deck." Chumley said.

"Hey guys, where's Zane?" Syrus asked. Everybody looked around the room and realized that Zane was gone.

"He was here a moment ago." Ryan said.

"Where could he have gone?" Jaden asked.

"Wait you don't think that he might have gone to duel Camula." A very worried Syrus said.

"Don't worry Sy, I'm sure Zane wouldn't do something like that." Jaden said, although the others didn't look as positive as he was.

"Maybe we should go to Camula's castle just to be sure." Bastion said.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Syrus said as he ran out the infirmary door followed closely by the others.

Alexis was about to leave the infirmary as well when she heard the sound of a mattress creaking. She turned around and saw that Ryan was sitting on his bed and putting his shoes on.

"Ryan what are you doing? Nurse Fontaine said that you can't leave the infirmary for another week." Alexis said.

"I'm aware, but I want to see how dangerous Camula is for myself." Ryan said as he put his jacket on and then lowered his shirt to cover his bandaged torso.

Zane was standing outside Camula's castle. The sun had almost set meaning that Camula would be ready to duel at any minute.

"Look there he is." A familiar voice said. Zane looked over his shoulder and saw Syrus along with everyone else running towards him.

"Zane, what are you doing here?" Syrus asked.

"I'm waiting to duel Camula." Zane said in a very matter of fact way.

"Zane are you sure about this? I mean you saw what she did to Crowler." Jaden said.

"Unlike him I don't intend to lose." Zane replied.

Before anyone could say anything else the sun set and everyone heard Camula's voice come from her castle.

"Well, I'm pleased to see that you have all come here to face me, it saves me the trouble of looking for you all." She said.

The doors to her castle opened but Camula did not appear.

"Come inside children, I would much rather defeat you in the comfort of my own home." Camula's voice said.

Without any hesitation Zane started to walk towards Camula's castle.

"Zane wait, what if this is a trap." Syrus said, but Zane ignored him.

"Come on guys, we'd better follow him." Jaden said as he and the others followed Zane into the castle.

The inside of the castle was decorated with a diamond chandelier, the carpet was blood red and there was a staircase leading to the second floor. Standing at the top of the staircase was Camula watching everyone.

"You must be Camula." Ryan said. Camula looked at him and seemed to only just now realize that he had been absent last night.

"Yes, and who might you be?" Camula asked.

Camula's eyes caught sight of the bandages on Ryan's hands.

"Tell me young one, did you receive those injuries from Nightshroud." She said. He didn't answer although Camula didn't need him too.

"I see, well perhaps Nightshroud didn't go down as easily as I thought." She said.

"If you're finished, I'd like to get this over with." Zane said. Camula looked at Zane and smiled.

"Of course, I can't wait to get my fangs into your lovely neck." She said as she walked down the stairs.

"As always the prey should go first." Camula said. She knew that Zane's Cyber Dragons would have an advantage if he went second.

"It won't make a difference." Zane said as he activated his duel disk.

Zane started his first turn.

"I summon Cyber Dragon Vier in attack mode and when this card is on the field it's name becomes Cyber Dragon." He said. Cyber Dragon Vier also gained 500 attack and defense thanks to it's effect.

Cyber Dragon Vier ATK 1100 DEF 1600 LV4 LIGHT Machine.

Cyber Dragon Vier ATK 1100 + 500 = 1600 DEF 1600 + 500 = 2100

"Next I activate Polymerization to fuse Cyber Dragon Vier with the Cyber Dragon in my hand to create Cyber Twin Dragon." Zane said as Cyber Twin Dragon appeared on the field. After this, Zane ended his turn.

Cyber Twin Dragon ATK 2800 DEF 2100 LV8 LIGHT Machine.

"It would seem Zane wants to end this duel as quick as possible." Ryan said.

"Let's just hope that he doesn't try to win too quickly." Bastion remarked.

Camula didn't seem to be intimidated by Zane's monster at all as she started her turn.

"I activate Allure of Darkness. This lets me draw two cards but I have to banish one DARK monster from my hand." She said as she banished Vampire Baby.

"First I'll summon Vampire Lady in attack mode and now I'll activate the field spell Vampire Kingdom. This card will give all of my zombie monsters 500 more attack points during the damage step." Camula explained.

Vampire Lady ATK 1550 DEF 1550 LV4 DARK Zombie.

"What's Camula thinking? Her monster has nowhere near enough attack points to beat Cyber Twin Dragon." Syrus said.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Alexis said to herself.

"Next I'll activate Overpowering Eye. This card will let one of my zombie monsters with 2000 or less attack attack you directly this turn. Now Vampire Lady attack him directly." Camula said. Vampire Lady bypassed Cyber Twin Dragon and attacked Zane directly gaining 500 attack points from Vampire Kingdom.

Vampire Lady ATK 1550 + 500 = 2050

Zane LP 4000 - 2050 = 1950

Vampire Lady ATK 2050 - 500 = 1550

"Now Vampire Lady's effect activates, forcing you to send a card from your deck to the graveyard and I choose spell." Camula said. Zane sent Photon Generator Unit to the graveyard.

"And now Vampire Kingdom activates. Since you just sent a card from your deck to the graveyard I can send a Vampire monster from my deck to the graveyard in order to destroy one of your cards, and I choose Cyber Twin Dragon." Camula said as she sent Vampire Sorcerer to the graveyard in order to destroy Zane's Cyber Twin Dragon.

"Oh no, what's Zane going to do now." A very worried Syrus said.

Zane started his turn.

"Since you control a monster and I don't I can special summon Cyber Dragon from my hand." He said as Cyber Dragon appeared on the field.

"Next I'll normal summon Cyber Dragon Zwei." Zane added.

Cyber Dragon ATK 2100 DEF 1600 LV5 LIGHT Machine.

Cyber Dragon Zwei ATK 1500 DEF 1000 LV4 LIGHT Machine.

"Now Cyber Dragon attack Vampire Lady." Zane ordered. Vampire Lady gained a 500 attack boost from Vampire Kingdom but this wasn't enough to save her and she was destroyed by Cyber Dragon.

Vampire Lady ATK 1550 + 500 = 2050

Camula LP 4000 - 50 = 3950

"Next I'll attack you directly with Zwei." Zane said as Cyber Dragon Zwei attacked Camula directly.

"Now I end my turn." Zane stated.

Camula LP 3950 - 1500 = 2450

"That won't save you." Camula said as she started her turn. "I activate the effect of Vampire Sorcerer. By banishing this card from my graveyard I can normal summon a Dark Vampire monster without a tribute." Camula explained.

"And I think I'll summon Shadow Vampire in attack mode and when this card is normal summoned I can special summon a DARK vampire monster from my hand or deck and I choose Vampire Dragon." Camula said as she summoned Vampire Dragon from her deck.

Shadow Vampire ATK 2000 DEF 0 LV5 DARK Zombie.

Vampire Dragon ATK 2400 DEF 0 LV5 DARK Zombie.

"Vampire Dragon destroy his Cyber Dragon." Camula ordered. Vampire Dragon attacked and gained a 500 attack boost. Cyber Dragon was destroyed.

"Luckily for you, since I used the effect of Shadow Vampire this turn I can't attack with any other monsters, but my turn's not over yet." She said.

Vampire Dragon ATK 2400 + 500 = 2900

Zane LP 1950 - 800 = 1150

Vampire Dragon ATK 2900 - 500 = 2400

"Now I use my two level 5 monsters for an XYZ summon. I summon Crimson Knight Vampire Bram and now I'll use Bram's effect. By detatching one XYZ material I can special summon a monster from your graveyard and I'll take that Cyber Dragon I just destroyed." Camula said as Cyber Dragon appeared on her side of the field to join her Crimson Knight Vampire Bram.

Crimson Knight Vampire Bram ATK 2400 DEF 0 RK5 DARK Zombie.

Cyber Dragon ATK 2100 DEF 1600 LV5 LIGHT Machine.

Zane's turn started.

"First I'll use Zwei's effect. By revealing one spell card in my hand Zwei's name becomes Cyber Dragon until the end of this turn." Zane said as he revealed Cyber Revsystem.

"Next I'll summon Cyber Dragon Drei in attack mode. When this card is on the field it's name becomes Cyber Dragon, and when it's summoned I can make all Cyber Dragons LV5 until the end of this turn." Zane explained.

Cyber Dragon Drei ATK 1800 DEF 800 LV4 LIGHT Machine.

"Now I'll use my two level 5 monsters to XYZ summon Cyber Dragon Nova and now I'll use Nova's effect. By detatching one of it's XYZ materials, I can summon a Cyber Dragon from my graveyard." Zane said.

Cyber Dragon Nova ATK 2100 DEF 1600 RK5 LIGHT Machine.

Cyber Dragon ATK 2100 DEF 1600 LV5 LIGHT Machine.

"Finally I'll use Cyber Revsystem. This card lets me summon a Cyber Dragon from my graveyard and I choose Cyber Dragon Drei." Zane said.

Cyber Dragon Drei ATK 1800 DEF 800 LV4 LIGHT Machine.

"Now I'll use Nova's second effect. By banishing one Cyber Dragon that I control I can give Nova a 2100 attack boost." Zane said as he banished Drei.

"And since I banished Drei it's effect activates, now I can target my original Cyber Dragon and prevent it from being destroyed this turn." Zane explained.

Cyber Dragon Nova ATK 2100 + 2100 = 4200

"Cyber Dragon, attack that revived Cyber Dragon." Zane ordered. Zane's Cyber Dragon attacked and destroyed Camula's Cyber Dragon. However thanks to Drei's effect Zane's Cyber Dragon was not destroyed.

"Now Nova attack her Crimson Knight Vampire Bram." Zane ordered. Bram gained a 500 attack boost but was still destroyed.

"After that I end my turn." Zane said. Because his turn was over Cyber Dragon Nova's attack returned to normal.

Crimson Knight Vampire Bram ATK 2500 + 500 = 3000

Camula LP 2450 - 1200 = 1250

Cyber Dragon Nova ATK 4200 - 2100 = 2100

Camula started her turn.

"Since Bram was destroyed last turn I can special summon him in defense mode during my standby phase." She said as Bram returned to her field.

Crimson Knight Vampire Bram ATK 2500 DEF 0 RK5 DARK Zombie.

"Oh no, what's Zane going to do if Camula attacks with something." Syrus said.

"Don't worry, Zane still has another Cyber Dragon on the field. If Camula does anything he can just banish it to give Nova another 2100 attack boost." Bastion said.

Camula had a sinister smile on her face.

"I activate the spell card Illusion Gate." She said. A strange, sinister looking gate appeared behind Camula. Everyone was confused, none of them had heard of this card before.

"In order to activate this card I must offer it a soul and if I lose the duel the soul will be taken by the gate." Camula said.

"She's going to give up her own soul." A surprised Ryan said.

"Who said I was offering my soul." Camula said as she touched the choker around her neck. The choker started to glow brightly suddenly spectral hands appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Syrus pulling him towards the gate.

Syrus tried to break free from the hands hold but to no avail.

"If you defeat me, then your little brother will be sacrified to the gate." Camula said. Zane's face turned to shock and horror for the first time since anyone here had known him.

"Piece of..." Ryan said in anger. Everyone looked like they were ready to murder Camula with their bare hands.

"Now that Illusion Gate has it's sacrifice it's real effect activates. First all monsters on your side of the field are destroyed, then I can summon a monster from your graveyard ignoring it's summoning conditions so I think I'll summon your Cyber Twin Dragon." Camula said as all of Zane's monsters were destroyed and Cyber Twin Dragon appeared on her side of the field.

Cyber Twin Dragon ATK 2800 DEF 2100 LV8 LIGHT Machine.

Zane looked at his duel disk.

'Since Nova was destroyed by a card effect I could use it's final effect to summon Cyber End Dragon from my extra deck and win the duel, but if I do that then Syrus will be sacrificed to that gate.' He thought.

"Zane don't worry about me, just win this duel!" Syrus shouted although there was clearly fear in his voice. Zane reached for his graveyard to activate Nova's effect but then he pulled his hand away.

Cyber Twin Dragon launched it's attack and Zane closed his eyes accepting what was about to happen. The attack hit and reduced Zane's life points to 0.

Zane LP 1150 - 2800 = 0

The hands holding Syrus released him and he ran over to Zane.

"Zane why did you do that? I'm not that important." He said with tears in his eyes. Zane said nothing.

"It doesn't matter why he did it, what matters is that I won." Camula laughed as her choker glowed brightly. Suddenly Zane disappeared and was replaced with a doll version of himself that flew into Camula's hands.

Camula gently caressed the face of the doll with her fingers.

"Don't worry, I'll cherish him forever." She said as she licked her lips.

"Now then children, would you kindly leave my home." Camula asked.

"No way, I'm taking you down right now." Jaden said sounding unusually serious.

Camula now looking rather annoyed snapped her fingers and multiple snarling black wolves emerged from several side rooms.

"Remove these people from my home, my pets." Camula said and the black wolves immediately began to run at the group with the intent to kill.

"RUN!" Several members of the group screamed as everyone ran from the wolves and fled Camula's castle. As soon as everyone was outside the doors of the castle shut by themselves and locked everyone outside.

"Now what are we going to do?" Syrus asked.

"Wait. After all she'll make her presence known tomorrow night. That's when we end this, once and for all." Ryan answered.

Everyone quickly walked away from Camula's castle. All of them had depressed looks on their faces and felt a sense of hopelessness knowing that they had lost their strongest duelist.