Chapter 43

Ryan was heading to the main building for class. He had science with Professor Banner. He reached the classroom and took a seat. There weren't many other students in the classroom at the moment although that wasn't surprising. Ryan was usually one of the first to arrive.

After a few minutes some of the others arrived but they were still missing more than half the class. Even Jaden had arrived and he was usually always late to class.

It was at this point that Professor Banner entered the room.

"Okay class, today we will be learning about-" He said but stopped abruptly when he saw that so many students were missing.

"Where is everyone?" He asked.

"Did Crowler set up another surprise test and forget to tell us?" Ryan asked.

"I doubt it. I'm sure I would have heard about that from someone." Bastion said.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen Syrus or Chumley all day." Jaden recalled.

"Well I suppose we'll just have to start the lesson without them." Banner said as he started his lesson.

1 hour later.

Everyone left the classroom except the key keepers who stayed behind to discuss where everyone was. The entire group thought that something seemed very strange. No one else had showed during their lesson.

"Is it just me, or does something seem strange about this?" Alexis asked Ryan.

"You're not the only one. Something isn't sitting well with me." Ryan answered.

"I think that we should look around the school and see if anyone else is missing." Bastion suggested.

Everyone searched the school and found that over half the students were missing as well as Dr. Crowler.

"Okay this is weird." Ryan said.

"Do you think it's the next Shadow Rider." Bastion whispered while making sure that there was no one else nearby.

"At this point, it's very likely." Ryan said.

"Jaden, haven't you tried calling Syrus?" Alexis asked.

"Hey, that's a great idea." Jaden said as he pulled out his PDA. The rest of the group seemed to be frustrated that Jaden hadn't tried this already.

Jaden called Syrus and was relieved when he answered his PDA.

"Hey Sy, I was wondering where you are. I didn't see you in class today." Jaden said. Syrus said something that seemed to upset Jaden.

"Of course I noticed you were gone, we're friends after all." Jaden said. Syrus said something and Jaden sighed.

"I know and I'm sorry, I just didn't want to put you in any more danger." Jaden said.

The rest of the group had no idea what Jaden and Syrus were talking about.

"Just ask him where he is." Ryan whispered wanting to get this over with.

"Oh right. Hey Syrus, where exactly are you?" Jaden asked.

Jaden became confused by what Syrus said next.

"Wait, why are you there?" Jaden asked. Syrus said something and Jaden became more confused.

"Okay then, I think that we'll just come down and see for ourselves." Jaden said as he hung up.

"So what did he say?" Bastion asked.

"Syrus said he's to the south of the island with all the others. He said that they're building a coliseum for some lady." Jaden said unable to believe his own words.

"What." Several members of the group said at once.

The group arrived at the southern part of the island and found that Syrus had in fact been telling the truth. He and all the other missing people were putting the finishing touches on a huge coliseum.

"Guys, do you have any idea what's going on here?" Jaden asked.

"No, but I intend to find out." Ryan said as he walked towards the coliseum followed closely by the others.

The group entered the coliseum and found Crowler putting some bricks into place.

"Crowler, what's going on?!" Ryan shouted causing Crowler to drop a brick onto his foot.

"Don't take that tone with me, young man." Crowler winced as he held his acing foot.

"What's happening?" Ryan asked sounding even more annoyed than before.

"This nice woman came to the island and asked us to build her this coliseum in exchange for some rare cards." Crowler answered as he got back to work.

"What woman?" Bastion questioned.

"That would be me." A voice said. Everyone turned around and saw a very muscular woman with dark red hair and blue eyes. She also had a scar going down the right side of her face and she was wearing a black glove with a golden eye in the center.

"Ms. Tania we've just about finished your coliseum." Crowler said as soon as he saw the woman.

"Yes excellent, this will make the perfect battle ground." The woman named Tania said.

"Battle ground for what?" Chazz asked. Tania smiled.

"For when I defeat you and the other key keepers." She said pointing to the spirit key around Chazz's neck. Crowler stopped working and a look of horror appeared on his face.

"But that means you're a Shadow Rider." He said.

"Yes I am, now do you want your payment or now." Tania said but Crowler had already run away.

"Oh well, no big loss there." She said. Tania spent the next few minutes giving all the students rare cards as payment for building the coliseum.

"Okay, now that that's out of the way which of you four will be my opponent." Tania said, looking at the group.

"There's five of us." Alexis said.

"You don't count. I don't want to duel a woman." Tania said, clearly offending Alexis.

"Now, which of you boys will it be." Tania said as she studied the four boys.

"You look like a big strong man, but do you think you can handle me." Tania said pointing to Bastion.

"I'm prepared to handle anything." Bastion said as he opened his jacket to reveal his six decks.

"Impressive. I personally have two decks, one is of knowledge and the other is of courage. Which one would you prefer." Tania said as she held out two decks.

"I choose the deck of knowledge." Bastion said as he placed one of his decks into his duel disk.

"Be careful Bastion. Who knows what types of tricks she might try to get your soul." Jaden said.

"Who said I wanted his soul." Tania said. Everyone was confused by this.

"What are you talking about?" Bastion asked.

"Allow me to explain. I don't want your soul, I want you." Tania said. This only confused the group further.

"I come from the Amazoness tribe. A tribe that is all women, so if I want a husband then I have to find one." Tania explained.

"Wait, you want to marry Bastion." Alexis said.

"Only if he proves himself worthy of me." Tania said.

"So I get fireballs thrown at me and Bastion gets a date. How is this fair?" Ryan asked.

"Sorry but I won't be marrying you any time soon." Bastion said as he activated his duel disk. Tania placed her deck into a large duel disk and activated it.

"I'll go first." Tania said.

"I summon Amazoness Archer in attack mode and I think that's all for now." She added.

'Not a very smart move for the deck of knowledge.' Bastion thought.

Amazoness Archer ATK 1400 DEF 1000 LV4 EARTH Warrior.

Bastion started his turn.

"I summon Oxygeddon in attack mode and I'll use him to attack your monster." Bastion said. Oxygeddon destroyed Amazoness Archer.

Oxygeddon ATK 1800 DEF 800 LV4 WIND Dinosaur.

Tania LP 4000 - 400 = 3600

"I see that you're the type of man that likes to take charge. I like that." Tania said winking at Bastion. Bastion blushed and then shook his head to try and refocus his mind.

"I end my turn." He said.

Tania's turn started.

"I use the effect of Amazoness Spy. By revealing one other Amazoness monster in my hand I can special summon her." Tania said as she revealed Amazoness Paladin in order to special summon Amazoness Spy in attack mode.

Amazoness Spy ATK 800 DEF 1200 LV3 EARTH Warrior.

"Now I'll normal summon Amazoness Paladin in attack mode and my Paladin gains 100 attack points for each Amazoness monster I control including herself." Tania said.

Amazoness Paladin ATK 1700 DEF 300 LV4 EARTH Warrior.

Amazoness Paladin ATK 1700 + 200 = 1900

"Now my Paladin attack your monster." Tania ordered. Oxygeddon was destroyed by Amazoness Paladin.

"Now Amazoness Spy attack him directly." Tania ordered. Amazoness Spy attacked Bastion directly.

Bastion LP 4000 - 100 = 3900

Bastion LP 3900 - 800 = 3100

"What's Bastion doing? He usually plans for things like this." Jaden said.

"He's a strategist and a planner. He usually altered his deck for every opponent he faces, but he's never dueled Tania before and is going in blind." Ryan said. He was beginning to doubt that Bastion was a good choice to be a key keeper.

Bastion's turn started.

"I summon Hydrogeddon in attack mode and use him to attack your Spy." He said as Hydrogeddon attacked and destroyed Amazoness Spy.

"And when Hydrogeddon destroys a monster I can summon another one from my deck." Bastion explained as another Hydrogeddon appeared on his side of the field.

Hydrogeddon ATK 1600 DEF 1000 LV4 WATER Dinosaur.

Tania LP 3600 - 800 = 2800

Amazoness Paladin ATK 1900 - 100 = 1800

Tania smiled.

"When Amazoness Spy is destroyed by battle I can add one Amazoness monster from my graveyard back to my hand." She said as she added Amazoness Archer back to her hand.

Bastion was clearly annoyed by this.

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

"Face down. Aw are you planning a surprise for little old me." Tania said causing Bastion to blush again.

Tania started her turn.

"First I'll summon Amazoness Archer in attack mode, then I'll use the effect of Amazoness Baby Tiger. This card can be special summoned from my hand or graveyard when I summon an Amazoness monster." Tania explained.

Amazoness Archer ATK 1400 DEF 1000 LV4 EARTH Warrior.

Amazoness Baby Tiger ATK 500 DEF 500 LV2 EARTH Beast.

Amazoness Paladin ATK 1800 + 200 = 2000

"That's not all, my cute little baby tiger gains 100 attack points for every Amazoness card in my graveyard and I'll also equip my Amazoness Archer with Amazoness Heirloom." Tania said.

Amazoness Baby Tiger ATK 500 + 100 = 600

"Now Amazoness Paladin attack one of his monsters." Tania ordered. One of Bastion's Hydrogeddon's was destroyed.

Bastion LP 3100 - 400 = 2700

"Next I'll attack your other monster with Amazoness Archer." Tania said. Amazoness Archer attacked the other Hydrogeddon despite having less attack points.

"Thanks to my Amazoness Heirloom my monster isn't destroyed, but my Heirloom will destroy your monster." Tania explained as Hydrogeddon was destroyed.

Tania LP 2800 - 200 = 2600

"Now my Baby Tiger attack him directly." Tania said. Amazoness Baby Tiger attacked Bastion directly.

Bastion LP 2700 - 600 = 2100

"But I'm not done yet. Now I'll use the effect of Amazoness Archer. By tributing two of my monsters I can inflict 1200 points of damage to your life points." Tania said as she tributed Amazoness Archer and Amazoness Baby Tiger.

Bastion LP 2100 - 1200 = 900

Amazoness Paladin ATK 2000 - 200 = 1800

"Finally I'll place a card face down and end my turn. Your move, big boy." Tania said. Bastion blushed even brighter than before.

Bastion started his turn.

"I use the effect of Duoterion. By discarding this card I can add a Bonding spell or trap card from my deck to my hand." Bastion said as he discarded Duoterion in order to add Bonding-H2O to my hand.

"Now I'll use my face down card Bonding-DHO. This card allows me to shuffle one Duoterion, one Hydrogeddon and one Oxygeddon from my graveyard back into my deck in order to summon Water Dragon Cluster from my hand." Bastion said as Water Dragon Cluster appeared on his side of the field.

Water Dragon Cluster ATK 2800 DEF 2600 LV10 WATER Sea Serpent.

"And when Water Dragon Cluster is special summoned it stops your monsters from using their effects and reduces their attack to 0." Bastion explained.

"Alright Bastion, finish this duel right now." Jaden said.

Amazoness Paladin ATK 1800 - 1800 = 0

"Water Dragon Cluster attack her Paladin." Bastion ordered.

"Sorry but I'm using my trap card, Amazoness Shamanism. This card will destroy all of my Amazoness monsters and then it lets me summon an equal number from my graveyard in defense mode." Tania said as Amazoness Paladin was replaced with Amazoness Spy.

Amazoness Spy ATK 800 DEF 1200 LV3 EARTH Warrior.

"Water Dragon Cluster continue your attack." Bastion said.

"No!" The rest of the key keepers screamed but it was too late and Amazoness Spy was destroyed allowing Tania to add Amazoness Archer back to her hand.

"What's Bastion doing? Surely he knows that that was a stupid thing to do." Chazz said.

"He's not focusing on the duel anymore." Ryan said noticing just how much Bastion was blushing while looking at Tania.

"Wow look at that. If your attack had succeded then you would have won. I'm really starting to like you." Tania said.

'I feel the same way.' Bastion thought unable to take his eyes off of Tania.

"It's a shame that this duel is over now." Tania said as she started her turn.

"I summon Amazoness Archer in attack mode and since I just summoned an Amazoness monster I can special summon Amazoness Baby Tiger from my graveyard." She added.

Amazoness Archer ATK 1400 DEF 1000 LV4 EARTH Warrior.

Amazoness Baby Tiger ATK 500 DEF 500 LV2 EARTH Beast.

Amazoness Baby Tiger ATK 500 + 400 = 900

"Now my Archer use your effect and end this duel." Tania said as she tributed Amazoness Archer and Amazoness Baby Tiger to inflict 1200 points of damage to Bastion's life points.

Bastion LP 900 - 1200 = 0

Bastion fell to his knees.

"Don't worry my love, you may lose this duel but you get me." Tania said as she walked up to him.

"Hold on, there's no way I'm letting you take Bastion." Jaden said as he climbed down from the stands.

"Do you mind? Bastion and I have a wedding to plan." Tania said as she snapped her fingers and a large tiger jumped down from the other side of the stands.

"Bass, please escort our guests out." Tania said.

The tiger named Bass roared and began to run at the group.

'First wolves, now a tiger.' Ryan thought as he and the others ran out of the coliseum. As soon as everyone was outside a large metal gate came down preventing anyone from getting back in.

"No Bastion, Bastion!" Jaden shouted as he desperately tried to open the gate.

"It's no use Jaden, he's gone." Alexis said.

"But what are we going to do now?" Jaden asked.

"The same thing we did with Camula. Wait." Ryan answered.