Chapter 5: Erased
In the field behind St. Lilum Duel Academy, Jaden was in a dire situation. Though he still had 2500 life points, his opponent, Chikaru Minamoto, had summoned a very evil and powerful monster, The Wicked Eraser. Jaden knew that the Eraser was what had been corrupting Chikaru’s mind, causing her to manipulate the student council presidents of Miator and Spica to go against each other, and to push Lilum students to train until they dropped. All so she could fulfill the twisted desire to essentially conquer the academies of Astaea Island. The worst thing about The Wicked Eraser was that Jaden could sense that it somehow had the power of a God Card.
This had forced Jaden to call upon the power of the Supreme King and Yubel that was within him, causing his right eye to glow orange and his right eye to glow teal. The change in Jaden’s eyes had shocked Chikaru, as well as two of Jaden’s tour guides, Kizuna and Remon. Jaden’s third tour guide, Kagome, on the other hand, was not at all to see Jaden’s eyes change. After all, she had already sensed the power within Jaden, and had even seen Yubel with her own eyes.
“Hmph, I don’t know what kind of powers you claim to have,” Chikaru said as a confident smile returned to her face, “but they’re no match for the power of my Eraser. I end my turn.”
“We’ll see about that!” Jaden proclaimed as he drew his next card.
“What kind of weird duel is this?” Kizuna asked.
“I don’t know, but I kinda hope that Jaden wins.” Remon answered. “Because President Chikaru’s monster is really scary!”
“First I activate Convert Contact!” Jaden announced. “By sending Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin from my hand and Neo-Spacian Air Hummingbird from my deck to the Graveyard, I can draw two more cards!”
Jaden hoped that the two cards he drew would be enough to help him defeat The Wicked Eraser.
“Next I activate Fake Hero!” Jaden announced. “This card lets me Special Summon an Elemental Hero monster from my hand. So I summon Elemental Hero Neos!”
Jaden’s ace monster appeared on the field.
“2500 ATK points, a powerful monster to be sure.” Chikaru observed. “Unfortunately, because you now have three monsters on your side of the field, my Eraser’s ATK becomes 3000 again.”
“I’m not done yet!” Jaden announced. “Now I play, Miracle Contact!”
“Miracle Contact?” Chikaru asked with a raised eyebrow.
“By returning monsters listed on a Neos Fusion monster from my field and Graveyard to the deck, I can summon that monster!” Jaden explained. “So I Contact Fuse Neos, Air Hummingbird, and Aqua Dolphin to summon Elemental Hero Storm Neos!”
Air Hummingbird and a light-blue humanoid dolphin appeared briefly on the field next to Neos before all three monsters jumped high into the sky, completely disappearing from sight. A moment later, Neos returned in a different form. Much of Neos’ body was covered in aqua-blue armor, complete with a helmet that gave Neos’ head a bird-like appearence. The parts of his body suit that were visible had turned dark-blue. A large pair of wings grew from Neos’ back. Three blades extended from the armor on both of Neos’ wrists.
“So now the ATK of our monsters is even.” Chikaru observed.
“Not for long!” Jaden proclaimed. “I activate the ability of Storm Neos, which is to destroy all Spell and Trap cards on the field!”
With one flap of his wings, Storm Neos sent out a storm of wind that shattered all of the Trap cards that were on the field.
“Now that my sealed Trap cards are gone, the ATK of your Wicked Eraser drops to 1000!” Jaden explained.
“So it does.” Chikaru calmly confirmed, the confident smile never leaving her face.
“Storm Neos, destroy The Wicked Eraser!” Jaden commanded. “Typhoon Slash!”
Storm Neos made a slashing motion with his right arm, sending a blade of wind that decapitated The Wicked Eraser. The attack had reduced Chikaru’s life points from 4000 to 2000. Kizuna and Remon cheered as the Eraser’s head hit the ground, but soon Jaden noticed that something was wrong. The Wicked Eraser’s body had not shattered. Suddenly, black blood started pouring from the Eraser’s neck, spilling on to the ground and creating a huge puddle. The puddle continued to grow and spread over the field. The body and head of the eraser suddenly started to sink into the pool of blood.
“W-what’s going on?” Jaden asked in a slightly frightened tone.
“When The Wicked Eraser is destroyed, it destroys every other card on the field as well.” Chikaru explained.
Even after the body of The Wicked Eraser sank into the pool of black blood, the blood continued to spread. The blood suddenly reached up and grabbed Storm Neos. The hero struggled in vain to escape as he was pulled below. Jaden’s attention was pulled away from the duel when he heard a terrible scream from where Kizuna, Kagome, and Remon were sitting. He turned to see that the blood had somehow spread over to where the girls were sitting and was starting to engulf them. Jaden tried to run over to the trio to try and save them, but he found that he couldn’t lift his feet. He looked down and saw that the black blood of the Eraser had spread around his feet, and was starting to pull him into darkness. Jaden looked back across the field and saw that the same thing was happening to Chikaru.
“It seems that we are being erased as well.” Chikaru theorized just before she was pulled under.
Jaden heard one final scream from Kizuna just before she, Kagome, and Remon were pulled into the darkness. Jaden struggled with all of his strength to pull against the black blood, but it was no use. He could feel the tendrils of the blood touch the skin of his hands and face. The tendrils felt ice cold, as if it was devoid of life. Jaden was pulled down into the depths.
A moment later, Jaden found that he was standing in complete darkness. He could see no sky, no ground, not a single thing. Jaden looked around in vain for Kizuna and the others, but he could see no one, nothing. Only complete blackness.
“Are you alright?” a concerned Yubel asked as she appeared behind Jaden.
“I think so.” Jaden replied. “Although I have no clue where we are.”
Their conversation was broken when they heard a maniacal laugh close by, though they could not quite tell from where. Jaden could tell however that the laugh belonged to Chikaru.
“This is the true power of The Wicked Eraser!” Chikaru explained. “This is the power that I shall use to bring Lilum to power! Soon, both Miator and Spica will be erased, leaving only Lilum as the supreme academy on the island!”
“Her insanity seems to have gotten worse.” Yubel observed.
“No kidding!” Jaden agreed.
“Since you can’t seem to do anything else, I’ll go ahead and begin my turn!” Chikaru gleefully announced. “First I shall activate, Call of the Mummy!”
It was very faint, but as soon as Chikaru played her Spell card, Jaden could make out Chikaru standing across from him in the darkness.
“Thanks to Call of the Mummy, I can Special Summon a Zombie-type monster from my hand when I have no monsters on the field.” Chikaru explained. “So now I Special Summon Lich Lord, King of the Underworld!”
Chikaru’s monster emerged from the darkness. It was a walking skeleton, brown with age. It wore a very old and tattered red hooded cloak, and on its back was a pair of large, black-feathered wings. Atop the hooded skull of the creature was an ancient crown. In its right hand it carried a long wooden staff with a glowing red gemstone on the top. An eerie red light glowed from the left eye socket of the skull.
“Lich Lord has 2400 ATK points, which is almost equal to the amount of life points that you have now.” Chikaru explained. “Lich Lord, attack Mr. Yuki with Necro Magic Blast!”
The Lich Lord fired a blast of red, spectral energy in the form of a skull from the gemstone in its staff. The attack hit Jaden, and he felt as if the life had been sucked out of him. Jaden was left with only 100 life points.
“I’ll end my turn there.” Chikaru announced.
“It seems that the only way out of this nothingness is to win the duel.” Yubel theorized.
Jaden nodded in agreement as he drew his next card. Despite the darkness, Jaden could see the card he drew. It wasn’t much, but it could at least buy him some time.
“I’ll lay down a facedown and end my turn!” Jaden announced as he placed the card in his duel disk.
“Oh dear, it looks like you couldn’t draw anything that could help you.” Chikaru said with a tone of psychotic glee as she drew her card. “I know it’s a little pointless, but for my next move, I shall summon Goblin Zombie!”
A skeletal zombie with huge red eyes carrying a sword appeared next to the Lich Lord.
“Well, I think it’s time to end this.” Chikaru announced. “Lich Lord, attack Mr. Yuki directly! Necro magic Blast!”
The Lich Lord shot another blast of spectral energy at Jaden.
“I activate my facedown, Negate Attack!” Jaden announced.
The spectral blast from the Lich Lord vanished into a vortex that appeared in front of Jaden.
“Well, I guess that end my turn.” Chikaru said with a slightly annoyed tone.
Jaden knew that the next card he drew would be his last one, and he prayed that it would be a card that could help him win the duel. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he lost. Jaden looked at the card and breathed a sigh of relief.
“First I play Pot of Greed in order to draw to cards!” Jaden announced, drawing two more cards from his deck.
“Next I play E-Emergency Call!” Jaden announced. “This card lets me add any Elemental Hero from my deck to my hand!”
Jaden knew exactly which Hero to add to his hand.
“Now I activate Ancient Ruels!” Jaden announced. “This card lets me Special Summon a level five or higher Normal monster from my hand! Reappear now, Elemental Hero Neos!”
Jaden’s ace monster reappeared on the field in his original form.
“I equip Neos with Neos Force!” Jaden announced. “Not only does this card increase Neos’ ATK by 800 points, but now when Neos destroys a monster, my opponent takes damage equal to the destroyed monster’s ATK!”
Neos’ right fist began to glow with a bright blue light that illuminated some of the surrounding darkness.
“Neos, cast down the Lich Lord and dispel this darkness!” Jaden commanded. “Force of Neospace!”
With that, Neos leapt into the air and swung his glowing fist into the face of the Lich Lord’s skull. The impact caused an explosion that was so bright, Jaden had to cover his eyes. Across the field, Jaden could hear Chikaru scream in pain as her life points dropped to zero. When the light cleared, Jaden saw that he was back out in the field behind Lilum. The sky was once again calm.
“That was a close one.” Yubel said, causing Jaden to nod in agreement has his glowing eyes returned to their usual brown color.
Jaden looked over and saw that Kizuna, Remon, and Kagome had returned. Kizuna and Remon were clinging to each other for dear life. After a moment, both girls opened their eyes, breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that things had returned to normal. Kagome’s face retained its usual calm expression, but Jaden thought that if Kagome squeezed her bear any tighter, the head would pop off.
“Are you three alright?” Jaden asked from where he was standing.
“I-I think so.” Remon answered a bit shakily.
Jaden turned his attention to Chikaru, who was lying unconscious on the ground. Just as Jaden was about to walk over to the unconscious raven-haired girl, a sudden explosion stopped him. Jaden, Kagome, Kizuna, and Remon coughed from the smoke. As the smoke cleared a little, Jaden could see a masked figure in a black, skin tight body suit standing before him. It wasn’t hard for him to tell that the masked figure was a young woman.
“Who are you?” Jaden asked the masked woman.
“That’s none of your concern!” the masked woman replied. “All you need to know is that I’ve come for this!”
The masked woman held up a card, and Jaden could tell that the card was The Wicked Eraser.
“Wait, you shouldn’t take that card! It’s far too dangerous!” Jaden tried to explain.
The masked woman replied only by throwing another smoke bomb to the ground, causing the cloud of smoke that had already been there to grow thicker. Eventually the smoke cleared, and the masked woman was long gone. Jaden wondered if he should try and go after the girl who had taken the God Card, but decided that he should worry about getting Chikaru and the others some help.
A short time later, Jaden had gotten Chikaru, and his three tour guides to the Lilum infirmary. Kizuna, Remon, and Kagome were more or less all right, aside from a little smoke inhalation. Chikaru on the other hand, was still unconscious. Jaden and the others decided to wait around for a while, hoping that Chikaru would wake up. About two hours later, Chikaru finally regained consciousness.
“Where… am I?” Chikaru asked weakly.
“You’re in the nurse’s office in Lilum.” Jaden replied from his seat next to Chikaru’s bed.
“Who are you?” Chikaru asked Jaden.
“I’m Jaden Yuki, the visiting pro-duelist.” Jaden replied. “Don’t you remember?”
“A little, I think.” Chikaru responded. “It’s all kind of a blur though.”
“What’s the last thing you clearly remember?” Jaden asked.
“The last thing I remember was walking through the forest near Lilum.” Chikaru answered. “It was late in the afternoon, and I didn’t have any duties to perform that day, so I decided to take a walk. Maybe pick some flowers. I ended up going deeper into the forest than I’d gone before, and I came across some sort of cave. Against my better judgment, I went in. It was a small cave, but at the end of it, I found a small box, a chest with Lilum’s school seal on it. I took a closer look at the chest. It wasn’t locked. Then I heard a voice speaking to me.”
“A voice?” Jaden asked. Chikaru nodded.
“It was as if it was speaking to me in my head.” Chikaru continued. “The voice said that if I opened the chest, my dearest wish would be granted, and I would be able to achive my greatest desires. I opened to box and found a card inside.”
“The Wicked Eraser?” Jaden asked. Again, Chikaru nodded.
“When I picked up the card, at first it felt like my head was going to explode, but then it passed, and I was overcome by an incredible feeling of exhilaration. I don’t remember too much after that.”
At that point, Jaden could see that Chikaru had become too exhausted to continue talking.
“I’ll leave you alone to get some rest.” Jaden said as he got up. Chikaru nodded one last time before closing her eyes to sleep.
“Is President Chikaru going to be all right?” Kizuna asked Jadne as soone as he was far enough away from the sleeping Chikaru.
“I think so.” Jaden replied. “But I’d sure like to know where that card came from.”
“I believe I can answer that question.” A voice suddenly said. Jaden and the three girls turned their heads to the source of the voice, and saw that it was Pegasus. Pegasus entered the room with Croquet and the head mistress following close behind.
“Mr. Pegasus!” Jaden exclaimed. “You know something about The Wicked Eraser?”
“I’m afraid so.” Pegasus replied with a sad expression on his face. “I’m sorry to have dragged you into this my boy.”
* * *
In an abandoned house deep on the grounds of Miator, a mysterious man sat in a dark room. His only source of light was from a small window, placed high on the wall behind him. The man sat in a chair, looking at a Duel Monsters card that he was holding in his right hand.
“It won’t be too much longer.” The man said to himself.
The only door to the room suddenly opened, and a young woman in a black mask and body suit walked in. The woman took off her mask, but there was not enough light to see her face. Not that the man needed to see her face, for he knew who she was.
“So, how did things go?” the man in darkness asked.
“I have the card.” The young woman responded as she handed the man the card she was carrying.
“Ah, The Wicked Eraser.” The man said as he took the card. “At last, I’m one step closer to achieving my goal. Was it in the hands of the girl you thought it was?”
“The card was being used by Chikaru Minamoto, as I had thought.” The woman replied.
“I see. Was it hard for you to defeat her?” the mystery man asked.
“I was not the one to defeat her.” The mystery woman replied. “Jaden Yuki was.”
“Jaden Yuki?’ the man asked, a little confused. “Ah yes, the visiting pro-duelist you mentioned a few days ago. He must be quite powerful if he was able to defeat the wielder of a Wicked God. Even though it was a wielder who did not know how to fully use the God’s power.”
“I still haven’t been able to find the other two cards.” The woman informed.
“Don’t worry my dear.” The man said reassuringly. “The other two God Cards will reveal themselves soon enough. Once they do, we will have what we need to get what we both desire.”
