Field of Screams Part 3

Chancellor Sheppard was standing in his office, looking through the window at the raging storm outside, punctuated by an occasional flash of lightning. "Two of the seven gates have already been unlocked…" He muttered to himself.

He looked over his shoulder as the monitor sitting on his desk whirred to life, showing a dark figure wearing a mask with tubes hanging around it. "**You disappoint me!**" The person spoke. "**Your excellent duelists only excel in losing. Why don't you just give up and surrender the six remaining keys?**"

"It's not over." Sheppard replied. "And If I know my students, they'll never give up! No matter what the odds! I mean, after all, they've come to this island to be champions."

"**And they'll end up as victims. My vampire is ready to feed again.**" The figure chuckled darkly and then the screen went blank.

In the infirmary, Alexis was sitting next to her brother's prone form, hoping for him to get better, even if little to nothing had changed so far. All the others who occupied beds were sleeping as well. The blond girl turned her attention towards Jaden, seeing him twist and turn in his sleep. "Jaden… get well. After all, with my brother still unconscious and Zane's soul stolen, we'll need all the help we can get to fight the shadow games and that vampire Camula."

Down at the edge of the lake, Chazz and Bastion were standing in front of the unrolled carpet, while Syrus and Chumley were pushing and pulling along a reluctant Slifer headmaster, who was carrying his feline companion.

"Come on, Professor Banner." Syrus begged. "You have to duel that vampire! I mean, you're a shadow games expert!"
"Yeah." Chumley agreed. "Not only that, you're the only one out here that's wearing garlic aftershave."

"I can't duel!" Banner protested. "Who will take care of my cat? Pharaoh has a very specific diet!"

"Don't worry about it. This is clearly a job for Chazz Princeton."

Bastion turned away. "If you mean feeding the cat, I think you're right."

"The cavalry's here!" Alexis announced as she came towards the group in a small motorboat. She stopped next to the red carpet and stepped out in the shallow water.

"We still have Jaden."

"And we have a plan to defeat her." Kaoru added.

"What's up?" Jaden asked.

"For the last time, you can't!" Syrus said.

"Yeah, you're still hurt, slacker." Chazz pointed out.

"It's true." Bastion admitted.

"You have any better ideas." Ryan remarked.

"I'd nominate Arisa but Camula would just hold me hostage." Kaoru said. "Besides Atticus gave us some advice. Alexis, would you care to explain."

(Flashback)

"You're finally awake!" Alexis exclaimed, then pulled off her brother's oxygen mask.

"Alexis… I need to tell you something. It's about the vampire, Camula. You can't defeat her like all the others."

"But why not?"

"Her necklace. It's a shadow charm that gives her the power to steal others' souls. I'm sure you've seen her use it already." Atticus looked at his glowing medallion half. "But you can stop her with another charm."

"If we can stop her from stealing souls, we can duel her with all our might," Alexis explained. "Instead of just standing scared."

"Doesn't scare me." Chazz muttered.

"Sure you aren't." The Davis doll said.

"We'll fight fire with fire." Kaoru said. "Using our own charm."

"Compliment of Atticus." Jaden indicated both halves hanging from his neck.

Everyone walked across the red carpet and into the dark and forbidding castle. "Alright Camula!" Jaden called out when they reached the room where Zane had been defeated. "I'm here for my friends' souls and I'm not leaving until I get em!"

The vampire woman came out onto one of the balconies. "Actually, truth be told, you're not leaving here ever again. Not a single one of you!"

They all went up the stairs to the walkway and Jaden went over to stand on the balcony opposite the Shadow Rider. "Alright Camula, get your game on!" Both duelists started up their disks and drew their starting hands.

Jaden: 4000

Camula: 4000

"And I mean on high! Cause when someone duel my pals and turns their souls into dolls, it puts me in a bad mood!"

"And let me tell you something. I don't care."

"Maybe this will change your mind. I summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman." Jaden's water hero appeared on the field.

Elemental Hero Bubbleman: 800/1200

"Since he's alone on my field, I can draw two cards. One of which I'll play now. Polymerization. Bubbleman, fuse with Avian and Sparkman to create, Elemental Hero Tempest." The three named monsters became a flash of blue, green and yellow light, which formed a shining orb, from which emerged the powerhouse winged hero.

Elemental Hero Tempest: 2800/2800

"Wow!" Syrus exclaimed. "What a way to start the duel!"

"Jaden wants to end this quickly." Bastion stated. "And with Tempest out there, he might just be able to it."

"I wouldn't count Camula out just yet." Chazz said.

"Yes." Banner agreed. "After all, we've seen how strong her cards can be. Especially that Illusion Gate."

"We'll just have to hope she doesn't get a chance to play it." Alexis spoke up.

"And if she does, then let's hope Jaden's Shadow Charm can stop it." Kaoru added.

"Last, I'll throw down two face-downs. Let's see what you got."

"Well, well. If you're in such a hurry to lose, then who am I to complain?" Camula drew her card and smirked. "I play Illusion Gate." The stone archway and door rose up behind the vampire woman.

"It had to be that one." Jaden said sarcastically.

"I'm sure you remember its effects. To begin, all monsters on the field are instantly destroyed. Then I get to summon any monster you've played." Camula's necklace then began to glow a little. "All I need to pay for this, is a soul to the Sacred Beasts, should I happen to lose. Now who's going to be the lucky one?" She looked to the side where the others were watching. The Illusion Gate opened up and black smoke came out of it, surrounding the audience and causing them to cough. "Dear me. This decision is just far too hard to make. Why don't I just put all your friends at stake?"

"What!" Jaden exclaimed. "All of them!"

"Never underestimate the power of the shadow. With this necklace, I can do anything."

"I don't think so." Ryan spoke up, stepping forward. "This says otherwise."

He pulled his sleeve up to expose a glowing birthmark known as a Dragon Birthmark.

"Oh yeah? Well you're not the only one with a fancy piece of jewelry." Jaden then put together the two pieces of the medallion around his neck. As soon as he did so, a bright light began to shine from his medallion. The light from the medallion and the birthmark dispersed the smoke like it was nothing.

"What happened?" Chazz asked.

"The power of her necklace was canceled out." Alexis explained.

"Just in time." Bastion said. "I thought we were all done for."

The Illusion Gate's doors were then closed and Jaden's pendant dimmed down to it's original state. *'Thanks, Atticus.'* Jaden thought to himself.

"No problemo!"

"Looks like if you still want to use Illusion Gate, you'll have to do some soul searching without my friends." Jaden said, turning back to his opponent. "So why don't you just put that cheating card away and get on with this duel?"

"I think not! Illusion Gate, open your doors and accept my soul as a sacrifice!"

"Now, unleash your powers upon the field." The archway's doors opened up once again and shot out a stream of purple energy which grabbed Jaden's hero and pulled him in.

"Tempest!"

"Don't you worry, you'll see him again. But he'll be fighting on my side!" The powerhouse warrior came out through the doorway and stopped in front of Camula, though he had a darker appearance.

Elemental Hero Tempest: 2800/2800

"Next I'll summon Zombie Werewolf in attack mode." The gray furred lycanthrope rose next to the stolen monster.

Zombie Werewolf: 1200/1200

"Now, Elemental Hero Tempest, attack Jaden directly!" Tempest shot out a stream of blue energy at Jaden from his cannon arm.

"I play my face-down, A Hero Emerges. Now you pick a card from my hand. And if it's a monster, I can summon it."

Camula frowned in annoyance at this. "I choose the left one."

"Good choice. For me that is. I summon Wroughtweiler in defense mode." The metal dog crouched down in front of his owner.

Wroughtweiler: 800/1200

The stolen hero's attack then took it off the field. "Since Wroughtweiler was just destroyed in battle, I can take back Sparkman and Polymerization from the graveyard."

"That may be, but it won't protect you from my werewolf!"

"But this will! I play Hero Signal." A beam of light came out from Jaden's trap card, shining an 'H' against the ceiling. "When one of my monsters is destroyed, this lets me summon a level four or lower elemental hero from my deck, like Stratos." The blue hero with jet wings on his back rose up on Jaden's field.

Elemental Hero Stratos: 1800/300

"And his effect lets me snag another elemental hero. And I pick Clayman."

"Grr! I end my turn."

"Looks like Jaden's learned a few new tricks." Chazz commented.

"You can thank me for teaching him how to do that." Kaoru said. "After all, he's not the only one who has Elemental Heroes you know."

"Clever calculation." Bastion remarked.

"There's more where that came from. I play Polymerization once again. And this time I'll fuse Sparkman and Clayman to summon Elemental Hero Thunder Giant." The two named monsters entered Polymerization's vortex and came out as the giant electric monster.

Elemental Hero Thunder Giant: 2400/1500

"Thanks to his ability, I can destroy a monster whose original attack points are lower than his." Jaden's taller hero extended the palm of his hand and shot out a blast of electricity which fried the lycanthrope. "And since Zombie Werewolf was destroyed by an effect, you can't summon another one. Next, I play the field spell, Skyscraper." The scenery around them changed so that they were standing in a city made of many tall skyscrapers. "Here, heroes gain a thousand attack points in battle if they're weaker than the opposing monster. And since it's on my side, only Thunder Giant's getting a boost."

"Sorry Tempest, but it's for the best. Go, Voltic Thunder." Jaden's biggest hero put his hands together and sent out a wave of power which washed over Tempest.

Camula: 3400

With the unwilling hero gone, Illusion Gate faded away. "Now, Stratos, hit er directly." The winged monster conjured a whirlwind from his wings which blew away a chunk of Camula's life-points.

Camula: 1600

"And that'll be all for now."

'Fool, you have much to worry about! This next turn should prove that!' "I play the field spell, Infernalvania." Skyscraper crumbled into dust and was replaced by the dark, Transylvanian castle.

"Aw man!" Syrus moaned.

"Not lishus!" Chumley added.

"Now I'll discard a zombie from my hand to destroy all monsters on the field." Both Jaden's monster glowed with a red aura, before exploding in a shower of pixels. "Of course, after using it I can normal summon my monster. But that's a small price to pay. After all, I have this. Call of the Mummy. Due to its effect, when there are no monsters on my field, I can summon any zombie I happen to have in my hand. Like Ryu Kokki." The gruesome skeletal creature rose in front of its owner. (2400) "Attack him directly!" The vampire woman's creature opened up its mouth and spat out a bunch of bones which struck Jaden.

Jaden: 1600

"Even if their life-points are tied, the situation is in Camula's favor for now." Alexis noted.

"I end my turn."

"Then I'll play Legacy of a Hero. Since I have at least two level four or higher elemental heroes in the grave, I can draw three cards. Next I'll remove Polymerization and take back Legacy of a Hero all thanks to Elemental Recovery, which means another three cards for me. Then I summon Elemental Hero Lady Heat." A woman dressed in a, orange and white suit with fiery colored hair knelled down in front of Jaden.

Elemental Hero Lady Heat: 1300/1000

"I'll also play O-Oversoul to bring back Avian." The winged green hero knelt down next to his ally.

Elemental Hero Avian: 1000/1000

"Not bad." Kaoru said. "But he'll need more to turn this around."

"What's he thinking?" Chazz asked. "No matter how many monsters he has out, Camula can just destroy them with Infernalvania."

"Even if she destroys her own monsters, she still has Call of the Mummy to summon more." Bastion pointed out.

"No worries." Jaden reassured them. "I've also got this, R-Righteous Justice. Now Infernalvania is history." The Transylvanian castle suddenly collapsed. "One face-down ends my turn. And speaking of which, Lady Heat's effect kicks in. So you get hit for 200 points of damage for each Elemental Hero I control." The heroine conjured a fire ball in each hand and tossed them at the vampire woman, scorching her a little.

"Like I said earlier I loaned Jaden some of my cards for this match." Kaoru said. "I figure a little surprise factor would throw her off."

"That sounds like something a ninja would do." Syrus said. "Are you sure your ancestors were samurais?"

"Yes but some of us were given ninja training." Kaoru said.

Camula: 1200

"You'll pay for that! Ryu Kokki, destroy her!" Camula's skeletal monster opened its mouth and spat out a bunch of random bones.

"Sorry, but I've got a trap, Hero Barrier." A pulsing shield of blue light appeared in front of the heroine, deflecting the incoming attack.

"I end my turn with a face-down card."

"Now, I sacrifice Avian and Lady Heat to summon Elemental Hero Bladedge." Both heroes disappeared in a flash of light which materialized into Jaden's golden armored warrior.

Elemental Hero Bladedge: 2600/1800

"Take out that zombie with Slice n Dice Attack!" Bladedge flew at the skeletal creature and sliced it in half with one of its arm blades.

"Now that's how it's done." Arisa said.

Camula: 1000

"I activate the trap, Option Hunter. This increases my life-points by the original attack points of the monster you just destroyed."

Camula: 3400

"Alright then. I'll just throw down a face-down and call it a turn."

"I play the spell, Pot of Greed. Now I may draw two cards." Camula chuckled lightly upon seeing the cards she held. "Jaden… tell me, do you know the only thing worse than a vampire mistress?"

"Not really."

"A vampire mistress with a grudge. I use Call of the Mummy to summon Vampire Lord." The gentleman vampire rose in front of Camula.

Vampire Lord: 2000/1500

"Oh boy here it comes." Kaoru said.

"And now I'll remove him from play to summon forth… Vampire Genesis!" The large purple behemoth took the place of Vampire Lord. (3000)

"Did you see that?" Syrus asked.

"Unfortunately, yes!" Chumley answered.

"That thing has 3000 attack points." Chazz pointed out.

"And a powerful special ability to boot." Bastion added. "Jaden will have his work cut out for him."

"Next I'll use the spell card, Genesis Crisis. Now, every turn, a zombie type monster is transferred directly from my deck to my hand. "Now I play Giant Trunade. This takes all spell and trap cards on the field and returns them to their owner's hand." A whirlwind began to stir on the field.

"I'll just have to play my card first. Flute of Summoning Kuriboh. This lets me summon Winged Kuriboh from my deck." Jaden's furry duel spirit appeared on the field.

Winged Kuriboh: 300/200

Camula frowned as she took back her spell card. "Very well then. With Vampire Genesis, I can discard a zombie to the graveyard and summon another one. It can be any zombie monster, as long as it is a lower level. So I'll be discarding another Vampire Lady to bring back Vampire Bat." The large dark bat appeared next to Camula's other creature.

"Vampire Genesis attack! Crimson Storm!" The vampire giant roared and turned itself into a flow of crimson mist, which caught Bladedge full center and destroyed him.

Jaden: 1000

"Vampire Bat, destroy his Kuriboh." The large bat split into a horde of smaller ones that swarmed over the defending spirit.

"How did she know to attack Bladedge first?" Syrus wondered.

"I'm not sure." Bastion admitted. "Camula knows our decks a little too well."

"So, isn't the villain supposed to tell the charming hero how she did it?" Jaden asked. "Cause I'm all ears."

"You didn't think my bats were just for decoration, did you? They were spying on each and every one of you! And just as they told me the weaknesses of your pathetic friend Zane, they told me yours. You can't win!"

"We'll just see about that."

"The Vampire's in for a huge surprise." Kaoru said.

"So you say. Now, once again I'll activate the magic of Genesis Crisis. And thanks to it, I'll add yet another zombie monster from my deck to my hand."

"Jaden's hanging on, but still, Camula's got way more life-points." Alexis remarked.

"Shadow Charm or not, how could we ever let im duel Camula?" Chazz said. "He's just not at the top of his game. We might as well hand over our spirit keys."

"Be quiet." Ryan demanded.

"There's always hope." Bastion pointed out. "But I'll admit, with Genesis Crisis and Vampire Genesis, there isn't much of it."

"Let's bargain with her." Banner suggested. "Maybe get her in touch with a local blood bank."

"I think this is bigger than that, Professor." Jaden said. "Vampires may crave blood, but I think this one craves our spirit keys a lot more."

"Pathetic mortal." Camula spoke up. "You have no idea what I crave. Centuries ago, vampires were a proud and peaceful race. We lived in harmony with our mortal brothers and sisters. That is, until the dark times… until the war. No one knew who struck first, but the fighting was fierce. Neither soldier nor child was spared the horror as hatred decimated both our peoples. I, the last of my race, had no choice but to go into hiding. For years I slept in a coffin, but one time, a stranger approached, the dark power of shadow coursing through his veins. He offered me a choice, spend an eternity in my tomb, or accept his shadow charm and join his quest for the Sacred Beasts. For each duelist that I would beat in battle, their soul would be mine, which I would use to resurrect my defeated army of vampires. And we would suck our revenge from the bloated vein of humanity!"

"Okay forgive me for sounding like Mindy or Jasmine, but that is so nasty." Arisa spoke.

"So, if I go down right now… you'll get my key and my soul to start a vampire army?" Jaden asked.

"You're smart for a mortal. Perhaps you'll do us both a favor and just give up. I promise to make it painless."

"Lady, if you think that I'm gonna give up, you really have gone baddy." Jaden looked down at his deck as he got ready to draw. 'Alright, it's down to this.' "Here goes something… Sweet! I'm starting with my own Pot of Greed. Then I'll play Dark Factory of Mass Production. This lets me take two monsters and add them to my hand. Now I activate Fusion Gate." A dark swirling cloud appeared over top of them. "You can forget about Polymerization. This baby lets me fusion summon without it."

"So what?"

"So check out Avian and Burstinatrix. Or should I say, Elemental Hero Flame Wingman." The two monsters in question swirled around each other and formed Jaden's headliner.

Elemental Hero Flame Wingman: 2100/1200

"There's more. I'm fusing Wingman and Sparkman to make something even better."

"Two fusions?" Alexis wondered.

"I summon the Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman." Jaden's two monsters flew into the dark cloud. Then a figure came down, shining so brightly that Camula was forced to shield her eyes. When the light dimmed down, they could see a green skinned man sporting bright white armor all around, with a helmet and a pair of razor like wings.

Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman: 2500/2100

"Flare Wingman?" Camula said, apparently confused by things. "But you've never used that card in your deck before! You must be cheating! You put it in there when I wasn't looking!"

"No, I did." Kaoru replied.

"When did you do that?" Bastion asked.

"Right before we got here." Kaoru said. "I figured Jaden could use it."

"Fine, use him. With just 2500 attack points, he still can't defeat Vampire Genesis."

"Actually, Camula, he will. Cause for each of my heroes that are just chilling away in the graveyard, Flare Wingman gains 300 attack points."

"How many does that add up to?" Syrus asked.

"Let's see…" Bastion muttered. "He's played eleven heroes, minus the three that were removed from play makes eight, times 300 is 2400 more points, added on to the original 2500 is 4900!"

The transparent forms of Jaden's fallen heroes faded into Flare Wingman, giving his attack points a boost.

"My vampire..." Camula began.

"Is about to bite the dust! Shining Flare Wingman, show this lady how we do things back at Duel Academy. Attack Vampire Genesis with Solar Flare!" Jaden's super powered jumped in the air and dove down, striking the purple behemoth with a glowing fist.

Camula: 1700

"Sorry, but it takes more than that to defeat a vampire!"

"That's cool, cause I got more for ya. Flare Wingman's special ability. And it's better than a wooden stake. You get hit for damage equal to your destroyed monster's attack points."

"No! It can't be!" The powerful hero stood in front of Camula and shone with a light so intense that it caused her to cry out.

Camula: 0

"That's game!"

Illusion Gate suddenly rose from the ground behind the defeated vampire woman. It opened its doors and a ghostly hand reached out and passed through Camula, then it closed up again and disappeared. Camula's body faded into dust, at which the Zane doll and her necklace dropped to the ground.

"It's Zane's doll!" Jaden pointed out. It then glowed with a purple aura and grew into the Obelisk in question, though he lay unconscious on the floor.

"Big bro." Syrus, Bastion, Chumley and Alexis rushed over.

Chazz looked down and saw that Davis was normal again and clinging to him. "I'm back to normal."

"What the-? Get offa me!"

"I'm finally out of that stinking pocket!"

The castle suddenly began to shake violently.

"Let's get out of here!" Bastion shouted as he lifted him over his shoulder.

Having gotten out in time, everyone watched from the edge of the lake as Camula's castle crumbled into nothingness. With the last trace of it gone, the gloomy clouds overhead simply vanished, allowing for the sun to shine onto the island.

"At last, the nightmare is finally over." Alexis said.
Bastion gave Jaden Camula's necklace.

"This one at least." Jaden added.