Searching for Chazz

Jaden woke up to find something curled up at his feet. He looked towards the end of his bed and saw professor Banner's cat Pharaoh asleep at his feet. After Banner's body was discovered yesterday Jaden had decided to take care of his cat.

Jaden carefully got out of bed so as to not wake up Pharaoh. Syrus was already awake and ready for the day.

"Hey Sy, what lessons have we got today?" Jaden asked as he got dressed. Syrus sadly looked to the floor.

"We were supposed to have a class with professor Banner, but-" He said, unable to finish his sentence.

Jaden sighed. He had told both Syrus and Chumley about professor Banner and they had taken the news quite badly.

"So I guess we should just get to class and see what's going on then." Jaden said.

Jaden and Syrus met Chumley in the dining room. He seemed to be just as depressed about their first lesson as Jaden and Syrus were. The other Slifer students still didn't know about what had happened to Banner but Jaden was sure that Chancellor Sheppard would tell them all his fake story today.

"Hey guys, where's Chazz?" Syrus asked, breaking Jaden out of his thoughts. Jaden looked around the room but he couldn't see Chazz's black coat anywhere.

"Maybe he went to class early again?" Jaden suggested.

After breakfast Jaden, Syrus and Chumley all headed to class. When they got there they found that the classroom was full and Chancellor Sheppard was sitting in Banner's chair.

"Is that everyone?" Sheppard asked as the three sat down. Sheppard stood up. He was holding a paper in his hands and all of the key keepers knew what was written on it.

"Children, I am sorry to inform you but professor Banner will no longer be teaching at Duel Academy. I am sad to say that yesterday professor Banner boarded a boat to visit the mainland and that boat sadly sank." Sheppard said. Many of the students were shocked at this while the key keepers were rolling their eyes.

"I regret to inform you that professor Banner did not survive." Sheppard said. Some of the children had tears in their eyes upon hearing this.

"I can assure you that we will find someone to fill the hole left by professor Banner, but until then all of professor Banner's lessons will be cancelled." Sheppard continued.

"Now I hope that you all will take this time to mourn for our dear friend and remember the good times we had with him. Thank you." Sheppard finished and then he left the room.

After Sheppard left all of the children started to gather their things and leave the classroom. As everyone started to leave Jaden noticed that he still couldn't see Chazz anywhere.

Jaden approached Ryan who was putting his books up.

"Hey Ryan, have you seen Chazz today?" Jaden asked.

"Why would I know where Chazz is? He lives in your dorm now." Ryan answered.

"Well I haven't seen him all day, I was just wondering if you knew where he was." Jaden said. Hearing this got Ryan's attention.

"When did you see him last?" He asked.

"I guess it'll have been right after we found, well you know." Jaden answered.

Ryan stood up and turned to Alexis who was just putting her bag on her shoulders.

"We have a problem." Ryan said.

"What's wrong?" Alexis asked as she walked over to them.

"Chazz is missing. No one's seen him since yesterday." Ryan told her.

"Do you think that it could be the last Shadow Rider?" Alexis asked.

"After yesterday's events, I wouldn't rule it out." Ryan answered.

"So what should we do?" Jaden asked.

"We should check the route Chazz used last night, there might be something there." Ryan said.

A few minutes later Ryan, Jaden, Alexis, Syrus and Chumley were all walking along the path Chazz used every day. They were all looking in the trees and bushes for any clues on what could have happened to Chazz.

"Do you think that Chazz is okay?" Alexis asked Ryan.

"Possibly, we have to find him first." Ryan answered.

'I just hope that Chazz doesn't end up like professor Banner.' Alexis thought.

Suddenly everyone heard Syrus scream at the top of his lungs. Everyone ran to where Syrus was searching and they were all shocked at what they saw.

Chazz was laying face down in the grass a little off the path where no one who wasn't searching would have seen him. Everyone became worried when they saw that Chazz wasn't moving.

Ryan walked over to Chazz and checked to see if he was still alive.

"He's breathing." He placed two fingers on Chazz's neck.

"But what happened to him?" Syrus asked.

"I can't be certain, but we need to get him to the infirmary." Ryan answered as he started to lift Chazz off the ground.

"Somebody give me a hand." He said and Jaden walked over to help.

The group brought Chazz to the infirmary. Atticus was both shocked and worried when he saw the unconscious Chazz.

As soon as they explained to Nurse Fontaine that they had found Chazz unconscious outside she immediately began to perform tests to see what was wrong.

"So, what's wrong with him?" Alexis asked.

"I'm not sure. He seems healthy, other than the fact that he's unconscious, but I can't find any reason for it." Fontaine said.

The group waited for Nurse Fontaine to leave to check on another student before they said anything.

"So any idea on what happened?" Jaden asked.

"I might have one." Ryan stated. Alexis and Atticus both nodded showing that they had the same idea.

"Why, what happened." Jaden said.

"His soul's been removed from his body." Ryan explained.

"What, so you think that it was a Shadow Rider." Jaden said.

"Most likely." Ryan replied.

"Well that means we have to find this guy and take him down." Jaden said.

"Just one problem, we have no idea where to look." Ryan remarked.

"But then what are we supposed to do?" Jaden asked.

Ryan thought about it for a moment.

"At the moment we wait. No one travels alone and if we find anything suspicious then we call the others immediately." He said.

"What, you just want to wait for this guy to attack us." Jaden stated.

"There's not much to do. We have no idea who this last Shadow Rider is where to find him." Ryan replied.

"Well I'm not going to just sit here and let more of my friends get hurt." Jaden said as he stormed out of the room.

"Jaden wait." Syrus called out as he and Chumley ran after him.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Alexis asked.

"I don't know, I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid." Ryan answered.