The Dark Scorpions

Four figures were gathered together in a dark cave late at night, with nothing more than a single candle for illumination. "We've been waiting for this day a long time, and now it's here." One of them spoke, likely a young boy by the sound of his voice.

"I know." An older man with a deep voice agreed. "It's hard to believe the boss is actually coming."

"Of course he's coming." A woman said. "After all, all of the pieces are finally in place."

"They will be, once we enact the plan at least." Another guy pitched in.

"There's no stopping the Dark Scorpions now!" they all proclaimed in unison.

Several days later, Alexis and her brother were standing together in one of the main building's hallways, the latter absentmindedly staring out the window as the former watched him with a melancholy look on her face.

"Hey, Alexis." Jaden greeted as he walked up to her alongside Chazz, Professor Banner and an unfamiliar man dressed in brown with a detective hat. "How's Atticus holding up?"

"So-so. He's doing alright, but… he's not really improving, and he still can't remember much of what happened. Anyway, what brings you all over?"

"The law, actually." Banner looked to the other man who tipped his hat to the young girl, drawing attention to his golden, eye-like eye patch.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. I'm detective Zaloog."

"Okay…"

"You see, Alexis, since two of the seven spirit keys have already been by the Shadow Riders, and the fate of the world rests on protecting the remaining six, the academy thought it best to call in the police." Banner explained.

"I guess it makes sense."

"Okay… By the way, where is your key, Lex?" Jaden inquired.

"Right here around my neck." She answered, pulling out the cord holding her spirit key.

"Same here." Chazz pitched in.

"Yeah, me too." Jaden said.

"Ditto."

"Oh my, that's exactly what I was afraid of." The detective spoke up. "You may think that's where it's safest, but it's not. You see, all the Shadow Riders have to do is find you and they find your key. That's why I suggest hiding your key somewhere."

Following Zaloog's suggestion, he, the Key-Keepers and Banner were in Chazz's room, where Chazz himself was stuffing his spirit key in a pair of socks deep in one of his drawers. "Nobody will think to look here."

"Just be sure to keep it a secret, Chazz." The detective reminded him.

"Hey, who's that?" He exclaimed as a sudden noise was heard. The source of it turned out to be a big man with a scar over his right eye who was painting the railing outside.

"That's just Gorg," Jaden reassured him. "He's the janitor around here."

A few minutes later, everyone was gathered in Jaden/Syrus/Chumley's room. "There, the junk drawer." Jaden declared as he deposited his spirit key inside the aforementioned drawer full of odds and ends.

"Good, no one will ever them mixed in with so much clutter." Zaloog noted.

The sound of someone fiddling with the doorknob prompted Jaden to rush to the door and open it fast, only to be met with a spiky haired Slifer boy on par with Syrus in terms of height.

"Well, who is it?" Zaloog demanded impatiently.

"Hey C.K." Syrus greeted the boy as he and Chumley passed by. "You lost again? Your room's next door, remember?"

"Oh yeah, thanks." He said before running off.

"C.K's a new transfer student." Chumley explained. "He's kind of on the slow side. I love dueling him."

Next stop was the Obelisk Blue girls' dorm, where Alexis placed her spirit key inside a jewelry box. "Well, this is where I keep all my other valuables, so I figure it's as good a place as any."

"My box is broken, and yours has a lock, so it's probably safer to put my key in with yours," Christine said.

"Nice work." Zaloog complimented as the blunette girl added her own key.

"Oh, I'm sorry." A brunette woman sporting a long white coat with a stethoscope around her neck apologized as she walked into the room. "I, um, I didn't mean to disturb you all."

"Who is this?" The detective asked, apparently suspicious.

"She's Meanae, the school nurse, no one to worry about." Alexis said dismissively

Ryan placed his within a safe in his room.

A man in a uniform with a matching hat walked past in the hallway, drawing the detective's attention. "Hey, who's that!?"

"Oh, that's just Cliff, the security guard." Banner reassured him. "If anything, he'll make things even safer."

"Well, I suppose we can all go to sleep soundly now." Banner said with a yawn.

"Yes… quite soundly." Zaloog agreed. "Now you should all get to bed. It's been a long day."

Before they left, Ryan shot a look at Cliff. Something about the security guard rubbed him the wrong way. He was going to remove his Spirit Key from the safe later.

One by one, while the key-keepers were sleeping, their spirit keys were snatched up by the shadowy figures, then brought them all to an underground chamber, hoping to unlock the Sacred Beasts. However, even after inserting the stolen keys into their slots, the pedestal upon which the keys now sat still had but four glowing segments.

"It's done." The leader declared. "All the spirit keys are ours."

"So why aren't the gates opening?" The woman asked, frustrated.

"Yeah, that's the only way we can get those Sacred Beast cards." The older man reminded them.

"We must have to do something else." The boy piped up.

"And I'll bet those children know what. So much for doing this the easy way."

Over in his room, Chazz was enjoying a peaceful night's sleep when his slumber was disturbed by a light shining across his face. Eyes blinking open, he was treated to the sight of Jaden waving his arms and apparently talking to him, though he couldn't hear a thing.

"Uh, moron?" He addressed him, pulling a pair of plugs out of his ears as he sat up on his bed. "See these little things in my ears? They're ear plugs. Now start over."

"Our spirit keys are gone!" Jaden exclaimed.

"Yours too, Chazz! Look!" Jaden added, pointing at the broken down door.

"What in the-!? No, it can't be!" Rushing over to the drawer where he'd hidden his hey, he quickly saw that it had been pulled out and emptied of its contents. "It's gone! But how?"

"Those things in your ears… they make it so you can't hear doors being kicked in!" Jaden shot back.

"The Shadow Riders." Chazz and Jaden said at the same time.

"Come on, we have to tell everyone!" Jaden declared.

Soon after the fact, the remaining Key Keepers were gathered in Chazz's room.

"So all your keys are gone too?" Chazz asked.

"You see, Jaden!? And they weren't wearing ear plugs!"

"We'll figure this out." The lot of them turned to look in the direction the voice had come from, seeing the detective standing in the doorway with Gorg, Cliff, C.K, and Meanae.

"I rounded up some suspects to help get to the bottom of this most serious crime."

"So you'll question them?" Alexis inquired.

"In due time, but I'd like to pose you all a few questions first."

"Sorry." Chazz butt in. "But this is a job for Chazz Princeton." At his request, the new arrivals stepped into the room and sat down before he began. "Now, everyone who knew where those keys were is in this room, which means the thief has to be here too."

"Now that you mention it…" Alexis spoke up. "I did see a press-on nail on my bedroom floor."

"That sounds like a very promising clue, Lex." Chazz said. "So where's this press-on nail now?"

"I, uh… kinda threw it in the garbage."

"The garbage? Well, there goes that lead."

"Yeah… guess I goofed."

"Wait a minute." Kaoru said. "The keys were safe up until this point which probably sounds like someone new has taken them."

"You know… there was a hole in the wall of our room." Jaden mentioned.

"And let me guess, slacker, you've already sealed it back up, right?" Chazz asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well, um… kind of."

"Wow… you guys are really something."

"Hey, thanks. We do what we can."

"He was being sarcastic." Ryan emerged from the shadows, key around his neck.

"Why do you still have your key?" The group asked.

"Something felt off about Cliff, the security guard. So prior to getting ready for bed, I removed this from the safe in my room."

"I'll tell you who: He did it!" Chazz said, pointing at Cliff, "and him…" then C.K, "and him…" then Gorg, "and her!" then Meanae.

"And you're basing this on what?" C.K piped up.

"Yeah, you heard everyone." Meanae shot back, shaking off her nervousness. "There's no proof. You've got nothing on us."

"Oh, don't I?"

"Look, how about I ask the questions here?" Zaloog interjected.

Chazz merely smirked at this and pulled out his three Ojama cards from his blazer. "How about we hear from them? You see, when we hid each of the spirit keys, I hid one of these cards with them. The three of them are kind of my eyes and ears when I'm not around. And in my dorm room I had all of these watching you." He grabbed the stack of cards he'd previously acquired from the abandoned well and flicked them between his hands, though he ended up dropping them on his bed. "Look, the point is, they all saw who did it!" Chazz finished, pointing at the accused as his three Ojama spirits appeared floating in mid-air.

"*Caught ya red handed!*" Black exclaimed.

"*Certainly did!*" Green pitched in.

"*You're so busted!*" Yellow added.

"Who told you what?" Zaloog asked, confused.

"Really, I'm lost." Meanae declared.

"Where are these so called witnesses." The four wondered, looking around the room and seeing nothing.

"Well maybe you can't see them, but I can!" Chazz reminded everyone. "And I know they're behind this, detective!"

The aforementioned detective suddenly let out a sinister chuckle at this. "You're mistaken. It's not just them, it's me too."

"WHAT!?" The key-keepers exclaimed in surprise.

"That's right, my children, all of us are in on it. Together, we are the criminal rig known as… the Dark Scorpions!" For emphasis, Zaloog and the others then pulled off their outermost garments, revealing that they were all dressed in matching dark brown muscle shirts and boots with red pants.

"Sorry, never heard of you."

"Of course you haven't." Zaloog replied. "We've been deep undercover at your school for years now, waiting for our chance to grab those keys. And now the Scorpions finally have them."

"So?" Chazz spoke up. "To use them, you'll still have to beat me in a duel. So bring it on!"

"Why you?" Jaden objected. "I'll duel."

"I'll take them on." Alexis jumped in.

"Hey, you've all had your shots, now let the Chazz do his thing."

"Of course, that's it." Zaloog realized. "That's why the keys didn't work. We have to beat them in a duel."

"Got that right! So let's go, Shadow Rider!"

A few minutes later, Chazz and Zaloog were standing opposite each other outside of the Slifer dorm, each with a duel disk on their arm and at the ready. For their part, the rest of the Shadow Riders were behind Zaloog, each carrying their own weapon while the Key-Keepers stood behind Chazz. "Duel!"

Zaloog: 4000

Chazz: 4000
"I'll win this…" Zaloog declared as he started the duel, drawing his sixth card. "… as easy as I stole your keys. First, I'll summon Golem Sentry in defense mode." A stone doorway with thick arms appeared before the Dark Scorpion, wielding a large pole ax.
Golem Sentry: 800/1800
"Next I place a card face-down. That'll do for now."
"My turn! I play the spell Fiend's Sanctuary. With this card, I can summon a Metal Fiend token to the field." A short creature made of dark grey metal orbs connected together in two crossing lines appeared on the field. "And now I'll sacrifice my fiend token to summon Armed Dragon LV 5." The token then disappeared to make way for Chazz's dark and red dragon.
Armed Dragon LV5: 2400/1700
"Now go, use those arms to destroy that Golem. Spiked Spinner!" The brutish looking dragon spun its arms in a rapid whirlwind as it quickly made its way to the other side of the field, obliterating Golem Sentry upon contact. "And for my next move: I'm gonna place two face-downs, then I'll use my dragon's ability. And it's a big one." Chazz's dragon vanished as he placed its card in the graveyard, only to be replaced by its evolved form.
"And for my next move: I'm gonna place two face-downs, then I'll use my dragon's ability. And it's a big one." Chazz's dragon vanished as he placed its card in the graveyard, only to be replaced by its evolved form.
Armed Dragon LV7: 2800/1000
"You see, at the end of a turn when Armed Dragon LV5 wins a fight, I can trade him in for a level 7."
"Level him up all you want, it won't matter." Zaloog shot back. "And you're about to see why. First, I play Pot of Greed. It lets me draw two more cards from my deck." The Shadow Rider smiled as he got a look at his new cards. "Just what I wanted: The one and only Don Zaloog! And when I say 'one and only' I really mean it, because, my children, I am him." Placing the card on his duel disk, he then stepped on the field himself.
Don Zaloog: 1400/1500
"Not just me," Zaloog interjected. "With Mustering of the Dark Scorpions… I can summon all the Dark Scorpions that are in my hand. Now, Scorpion, roll call!"
"Rolls? Who's got the rolls?" Gorg wondered cluelessly, as he and the other Dark Scorpions joined their boss on the field.

Dark Scorpion - Gorg the Strong: 1800/1500

"Where are the rolls?"
"He means say your name, Gorg. I'm Meanae the Thorn."
Dark Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn: 1000/1800
"I'm Cliff the Trap Remover."
Cliff the Trap Remover: 1200/1000
"I'm Chick the Yellow." C.K announced, jumping up high.
Dark Scorpion - Chick the Yellow: 1000/1800
"And together we're the Dark Scorpions!"
*'Losers.'* Chazz thought to himself.

"Now I'll play a trap." Zaloog announced. "You see, on the first turn that all the Dark Scorpions are out, this trap allows each of us to attack you directly. And for every one of those attacks, you lose 400 life-points. Now let im have it! Dark Scorpion Combination!"

"Take this: Thorn Whip!" Meanae announced, lashing out with her whip.

Zaloog followed up by grabbing a pair of pistols from his belt and firing two shots. "Double Blast Attack!"

Cliff then struck with his dagger. "Scorpion Slice!"

Chick ran up and swinging his hammer. "Mallet Mash!"

Gorg then finished by bringing down his mace. "Hammer Hammer!"

Chazz recoiled as he was struck by their collective attacks, letting out a small cry of pain as the Dark Scorpions ran back to their side of the field.

Chazz: 4000-2000

"Uh, this isn't a great way to start a duel," Jaden reminded Chazz as his life-points dropped.

"There's more too," Zaloog butt in. "Because now that we've inflicted battle damage, our special abilities go into effect against you."

"Say what?"

"That's right, so first a monster on your field must return to the top of your deck." Gorg announced, at which Armed Dragon LV7 vanished.

"Next, a card on your field returns to your hand." Chick pitched in, forcing Chazz to grab one of his face-downs.

"There's more." Cliff spoke up. "The top two cards on your deck? They go straight to the grave." Again, Chazz was forced to comply, getting rid of his Armed Dragon and Level Up."

"Then one random card in your hand is destroyed." Zaloog added, discarding the Slifer's Masked Dragon."

"And finally, a card with 'Dark Scorpion' in its name can be added to our hand from the graveyard." Meanae said.

Zaloog then grabbed the trap he'd just played. "And I'll pick this, Dark Scorpion Combination: The card that started it all. And now it'll end it all."

"Hang tough, Chazz, you can beat these guys!" Jaden encouraged.
"Uh, hello? Of course I can. Now be quiet, and let the Chazz do his thing. I play the trap, Level Bond. Now you get to draw two cards, and I get to summon a level monster from my graveyard without paying a dime. And I choose Armed Dragon LV7!" Chazz's dragon let out a loud roar as it re-appeared on the field.
Armed Dragon LV7: 2800/1000
"Him again?" Zaloog growled unhappily as he picked up his two cards. "You give me no choice but to play two face-downs and end my turn."
"This should be interesting…" Jaden commented as Chazz took his turn.

"First, my Armed Dragon LV 7's effect activates. Now by sending one monster card from my hand to the grave, monsters you control with equal or fewer attack points than my discarded one are destroyed. And the card I'm discarding is Despair from the Dark, 2800 attack points!"

"Hold it, I play a trap: Retreat of the Dark Scorpions. Now all Dark Scorpions on the field retreat to my hand." Zaloog and the others quickly ran off the field to avoid destruction.

"Fine, I'll attack you directly. Armed Dragon, go get im! Dragon Sonic Sphere!" Chazz's dragon then launched a ball of energy from its hand at the Dark Scorpions' boss, scoring a direct hit.

Don Zaloog: 1200

"How dare he strike the boss like that?" Cliff said, affronted.

"Don't worry, we'll get him back!" Meanae assured him.

"I place one card face-down and end my turn."

"One lucky move, that's all," Zaloog scoffed, drawing his next card. "But it won't matter, it ends here! Once more, I summon myself, Don Zaloog." The duelist/duel monster walked onto the field again.

Don Zaloog: 1400/1500

"Then I'll play Mustering of the Dark Scorpions. Welcome back, team."

"Sorry, but they're not back yet." Chazz interrupted. "I play Ojama Trio."

The Dark Scorpions attempted to join their boss, only to find their side of the field crowded by Ojama Black, doing push-ups, Ojama Green, picking his nose, and Ojama Yellow, sitting down with a mug of steaming liquid.

Ojama Tokens: 0/1000

"Wait a sec." Cliff spoke up. "Why are they on our field?"

"So that you all can't be." The Slifer duelist explained. "See, Ojama Trio creates Ojama tokens, and they take up three of your monster slots. And as a bonus, when destroyed, you lose 300 life-points."

"*Sorry pal*," Black said.

"*Thanks for havin us.*" Green spoke.

"*I just love hot chocolate.*" Yellow exclaimed.

"So we can't come out? No fair." Chick whined.

"I can. Go on boss, do what you have to do."

"Meanae… I'll never forget you for this." Zaloog said solemnly as she joined him on the field.

Dark Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn: 1000/1800

"I play Dark Scorpion – Tragedy of Love. When Don Zaloog and Meanae the Thorn are on the field, I can send Meanae to the graveyard to destroy all your monsters."

Meanae then leapt high into the air, lashing out with her whip, wrapping it around Armed Dragon LV7's neck as an electrical current coursed through, blowing up Chazz's monster but taking her with it. "Avenge me boss, avenge me!"

"I sure will! I attack you directly, Double Blast attack!" Don Zaloog grabbed his blasters and fired at Chazz, further depleting his life-points.

Chazz: 600

"Now my special ability activates, so you have to discard one random card from your hand."

"Actually, it'd be my pleasure, because the only card in my hand is Ojamagic. And when this card is sent to the graveyard… well then, Ojama Yellow, Green and Black all come to my hand." Chazz smirked as he discarded his spell, grabbing his three Ojamas and shuffling his deck when he was done.

"Bring em on, they don't scare me!"

"Yeah, well… we'll see what I can do to change that. My turn… Go, Pot of Greed. Next, I play Polymerization. Scared yet? You will be. Now do your thing, Ojamas!"

"*You got it!*" Ojama Yellow cried out as they all appeared on the field.

"*Time to show these numbskulls!*" Black pitched in.

"*It certainly is!*" Green agreed.

The three Ojamas then jumped up high, causing bright lights and stars to flash as they collided with each other. The result was a huge, round white monster with stalk eyes, wearing red bikini briefs, a green cape and another set of bikini briefs over its head with a small crown over top. "*OJAMA KING!*"

Ojama King: 0/3000

"Now I play the spell card, Ojamuscle." Ojama King strained for a second, causing huge bulking muscles to appear over all its body, then aimed its eyes down at Zaloog's side of the field, where the three Ojama tokens were cheering. "*Ojama tokens, come to daddy!*" He then opened his mouth, scooping up the tokens with his tongue, which exploded into puffs of smoke when dropped into his great maw.

"Ojamuscle destroys all Ojama monsters out except Ojama King," Chazz explained. "And for every one that's destroyed… King gains 1000 attack points. Oh, and since those were Ojama tokens that were destroyed, you now lose 900 life-points." Three explosions suddenly went off next to Zaloog, taking his life-points down to the edge.

Zaloog: 300
"And now King's attack points will rise, to 3000!"

"Now go, Ojama King, attack Don with Flying Belly Flop Drop!" Chazz's monster crouched its legs, then jumped way up into the air, reaching its apex where it shouted: "*INCOMING!*" before falling down on Don Zaloog like a ton of bricks.

Zaloog: 0

"Way to duel, Chazz!" Jaden pitched in.

"Bye bye!" Chazz mocked the defeated duelist.

"No… this can't be… we can't lose." Zaloog muttered as his eye patch glowed, prompting the rest of the Dark Scorpions to run towards him, though they all quickly disappeared in bursts of golden light, leaving only several cards behind.

Chazz then knelled down to where his opponent had been, picking up his eye patch and the card representing him. "Well guys… guess that's one less Shadow Rider we have to worry about."

"But where's Don Zaloog?" Alexis wondered out loud. "And the other Scorpions?"

"Don't know." Jaden answered. "But Chazz seems concerned. Wonder why?"

Later in the night, if one were to look inside Chazz's room, they would've seen the reason for his earlier concern, that being, the horde of duel spirits, including the Ojamas and the newly joined Dark Scorpions.

"*You sure know how to throw a good party Ojama Yellow.*" Zaloog complimented his fellow duel spirit.

"*And we're going all night!*"

"*Hey, where's Ojama King?*" Meanae asked.

"*He comes late, likes to make a big entrance!*"

Chazz put his ears plugs back in and dropped down on his bed, bemoaning his fate. "Why me?"