Chapter 4: The Heartless

Down in the well of the lost cards, the monstrous form of a being that used to be Jason Takanohana stood victorious over the defeated Chazz Princeton, who now laid lifeless on the ground. Reason for this condition was Jason stealing Chazz's heart, which made Jason grow more powerful and more frightening by appearance, now having fangs replacing his side teeth, his hair becoming longer, darker and sticking up in certain points, his eyes now had a ghastly red glow and his clothes were replaced by a purple scaly outfit with a symbol of a black heart with a red X in it. He cackled madly looking at his own arms in satisfaction.

"My body just keeps on getting better and better…" He thought. "And who do I need to thank for it? Oh yes. That incompetent fool Vexen! Ha! I was cooped up in that fool Jason's heart from the day I was born, never getting an entrance, just sitting within his heart, watching all his foolishness. But that's now changed. Thanks to that old geezer I am now free and free to do what I like most! Stealing the ultimate seven hearts of the most powerful duelists in the world! Now with three of them in my grasp, there is nothing the remaining four will do! After that this whole world will be covered in darkness! I will rule this world as the ultimate entity, an entity of the darkness that is Oblivion!" With that he let out another crazed cackle. "Now to shed myself of this foolish name… now what would suit me the most of all, an entity of Oblivion… Oblivion… yes, that's perfect… Obliviex!"

The entity now calling himself Obliviex looked down at Chazz's empty body and smirked.

"Looks like this world no longer needs you Chazz." He pointed his hand at Chazz. "Why don't you go wait in darkness until I unleash it all upon this realm of light?"

With those words said, Chazz's body was covered in darkness and disappeared in an instant.

"Now I will claim the ultimate of all hearts, after that, the final three will fall like leaves of autumn." He looked up to the now uncovered entrance to the well. "Jaden Yuki, you're next."

-

Up above on the ground, Jaden, Syrus, Bastion and Hassleberry met up in a forest path, having not found any trace of the black hooded man they were searching.

"So you didn't find anything either huh?" Jaden asked.

"Unfortunately, nope." Hassleberry replied. "Not even a peek of anything black."

"Aw man," Jaden groaned. "But where're Chazz and Jason?"

"Beats me, I didn't see them?" Syrus replied.

"Knowing Chazz, he probably got himself and Jason lost." Bastion said. "Figures, now we're going to have to look for them as well…"

"Well if we're going to find anything or anyone today, maybe we should start with those two." Jaden figured. "They went north so…"

"Jaden! Jaden!" Came a frantic, high-pitched scream.

In reflex, Jaden looked to the direction of the noise, which was exactly where Cahazz and Jason had headed. Instead of Chazz or Jason, it was the three Ojama brothers flying towards him, seeming to be in panic from the looks on their faces.

"Hey, where's Chazz?" Jaden asked Ojama Yellow.

"It's terrible Jaden!" The yellow humanoid yelled.

"Absolutely horrifying!" Ojama Green added.

"And downright awful to boot!" Added Ojama Black.

"Umm, Jaden, who are you talking to?" Bastion asked concerned, not having the ability to see Duel Spirits.

"What's horrifying? Where's Chazz and Jason?" Jaden asked again.

"He got boss! That Jason guy beat boss and did something to him!" Ojama Yellow yelled in panic.

"What?!" Jaden gasped. Jaden's Duel Spirit Winged Kuriboh appeared on Jaden's shoulder and it seemed to be looking at something angrily.

"Did someone say my name?" Asked a gloomy voice all of a sudden.

In an instant standing between the group was Jason, who seemed paler than usual and had black lines under his eyes. But his eyes however did not seem anywhere human, making everyone look up at them in terror.

"Agh! It's him! Run for your lives!" Ojama Yellow yelled and disappeared in a puff of smoke along with his two brothers.

"J-Jason?" Jaden took a slow step towards what he thought was Jason. "I-is it true? You're the cloaked duelist?"

"Say it ain't so…" Hassleberry prayed.

Jason in turn closed his eyes and chuckled.

"No… Jason is gone…" He whispered. His eyes suddenly opened and glowed crimson red and his teeth became bared, only his side teeth were once again fangs. "And Obliviex is here!!!" He bellowed out with a mad smile on his face.

Everyone stepped back in fear as a dark red aura burst from beneath what used to be Jaden and his clothes transformed into a purple scaly outfit with a black heart on his chest with a red X in the middle. His hair also became longer and rose up to appear spikier than usual.

"Great Scott!" Bastion gasped.

"What is he?!" Hassleberry asked in terror.

"Your hearts will soon be mine!" The being calling himself Obliviex yelled and the entire surrounding was suddenly surrounded by darkness. Everything the eyes could see was covered in eerie blackness. Strangely, even without light, everyone could see each other perfectly.

"Jason! What happened to you?!" Jaden asked in fear of what happened to his new friend.

"I told you fool, Jason is no longer, and I Obliviex take his place in this world." Obliviex retorted. "And you Jaden, you will duel me right here and now, so that I may take your heart!" Obliviex demanded as he activated his Duel Disk.

"My heart?" Jaden asked, bringing his hand to his chest.

"Yes, your heart." Obliviex nodded. "I already took your friends Alexis's and Chazz's hearts and now its your turn!"

"But that's impossible!" Bastion cut in. "Cutting out a person's heart can't be done with keeping the person alive just like that!" Bastion explained. "Alexis was alive and she had everything intact!"

"That's because I don't mean your organ you fool." Obliviex replied sternly. "I mean your essence as a person and a duelist Jaden. Now fight me so that I can collect your heart and the remaining three I still need."

"W-what a re you talking about?" Jaden stuttered, stepping away from Obliviex.

"You heard me Jaden!" Obliviex said. "You see, there are seven hearts of unique power that belong to seven chosen duelists who could overcome darkness itself, like the Shadow Riders for instance. But instead of your soul, I want what keeps you bind to the realm of light, your heart, your understanding of good and evil, your passion for dueling itself!"

"How can you know all of this?!" Syrus asked, though shivering, still managed to make full sense of his words.

"A wise geezer who gave me life told me." Obliviex replied. "You see, by releasing the darkness within the heart of Jason Takanohana through his memories and sob story of his 'dear' departed sister, it stirred the darkness enough to release it and overcome his light, giving me complete control over this body, which I evolved through absorbing the hearts of the seven chosen duelists. First was Jason himself, but his heart already became mine when I was born, then came Alexis and then Chazz."

"Y-you hurt my friends!" Jaden yelled in anger. "Give them back their heart Obliviex! Leave them out of this!" He continued swinging his arm in frustration.

Obliviex chuckled at Jaden's threats. "Fool, the only way I'll give back their hearts is if you defeat me. And after I've caught the most powerful of the seven hearts, the remaining three of Bastion Misawa, Tyranno Hassleberry and Zane Truesdale will fall to my grasp even sooner! After I have all seven, I will continue devouring the hearts of the weak and plunge the world into darkness for all eternity! And I will be the ultimate being, the only being capable to live in darkness, a Heartless!" Obliviex cackled once again after his long speech.

"Wait," Bastion stepped up. "If you want to get to Jaden, you will have to get through me." He said stepping in front of Jaden.

"And me, ugly!" Hassleberry ran up in front of Jaden as well.

"Guys, wait…" Jaden tried to speak.

"Jaden, if Hassleberry and I duel him first, even if we just lose, you will stand a much better chance when we reveal anough of his deck structure." Bastion explained, but his words did nothing to sink into Jaden's head.

"No!" Jaden snapped. "He's after me and I'll deal with him!" He insisted. "I don't want to loose you guys along with Chazz, Alexis and Jason!"

"But Sarge, we…" Hassleberry tried, to persuade Jaden.

"But nothing. Guys, I'll take him down right now." Jaden said. "Just trust me."

Bastion and Hassleberry looked at Jaden, surprised of his sudden outburst. But before they could continue persuading Jaden to let them duel in his place, they saw something ion Jaden's eyes. Determination, some which no one they'd seen could possess. After thinking it over, Bastion and Hassleberry stood down.

"Alright then, he's all yours Jaden." Bastion said.

"Go get back our buddies Sarge, we're countin' on ya." Hassleberry also said while stepping aside.

"Oh yea, time to throw down!" Jaden said with a determined voice while activating his Duel Disk.

"About time too, I was starting to get bored." Obliviex said, still keeping his sadistic smile on his face.

"Alright Obliviex, the wagers are set. You win, you get my heart, but if I win, you give my friends their hearts back!" Jaden reminded the being of darkness demandingly.

"Very well Jaden. Let's begin then." Obliviex drew five cards. "But since your heart's so well on the line, I'll even let you go first."

"Alright then, my draw!" Jaden drew a card. "I first summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman!" Jaden summoned a monster with 800 attack points and 1200 defense points. "And because Bubbleman's the only monster I have out, I'm allowed to draw two more cards from my deck!" Which he did. "Sweet, I equip my Bubbleman with Bubble Blaster, giving him 800 additional attack points! I'll then play a facedown and end my turn."

"Well, that went pretty well don't cha think?" Hassleberry asked.

"Yes, because with Bubble Blaster, Bubbleman's attack points were doubled to 1600 and he can survive one battle against a stronger monster of Jaden merely sacrifices the Blaster." Bastion agreed.

"My turn." Obliviex drew a card. "I play Dark Blade in attack mode! And I also equip him with the Sword of Dark Destruction, powering his attack points by 400, but decreasing his defense points by 200." With that Dark Blade's right-handed sword was switched with a smaller green bladed sword. "Then I attack your Bubbleman! Destroy him Dark Blade!"

Dark Blade leapt at Bubbleman, swinging its newly acquired sword down at Bubbleman, breaking his Bubble Blaster into bits.

"Sorry bro, but by sacrificing his Blaster, Bubbleman isn't destroyed." Jaden added.

"Don't forget you still loose life points since my Dark Blade has 2200 attack points!" Obliviex reminded.

With that Jaden's life points dropped down to 3600.

"I finish the turn by playing a facedown." Oblixiex added.

"Alright, here I go." Jaden thought as he drew a card. Looking at his hand, he instantly got a great idea. "Alright, now I play Polymerization, in which I fuse together my Bubbleman with Elemental Heroes Avian and Sparkman to create Elemental Hero Tempest!" in only two turns Jaden managed to summon a monster with 2800 attack points. "Now look who's on top of the game Obliviex! Tempest, attack his Dark Blade with Glider Strike!"

Tempest fired a blast of energy from its right hand's cannon, which made Dark Blade explode, dropping Obliviex's life points to 3400.

"Now's your turn Obliviex! Do your worst!" Jaden threatened.

"If you knew my worst you fool, you'd regret ever saying that!" Obliviex retorted as he drew a card. "I first play Monster Reborn from my hand to bring back Dark Blade, but he won't be around long, for I sacrifice it and summon White-Horned Dragon!" Obliviex now summoned a red, sleek dragon with a white blade-like horn on its head. It's attack power was only 2200 though.

"What was the point of that?" Syrus asked. "That dragon's not strong enough against Tempest."

Bastion in turn gasped after remembering the new dragon that Obliviex played.

"A good point Syrus!" Bastion replied. "White-Horned Dragon has a special ability which allows Jason… I mean Obliviex to remove up to five spell cards in Jaden's graveyard to boost its power by 300 times every card he sends."

"Correct, that in turn makes my dragon's power 2800, equal to Tempest." Obliviex remarked. "But since he's not strong enough yet, I play a card facedown and let Jaden have a go."

"That's music to my ears buddy." Jaden said as he drew his next card. "I summon Neo-Spacian Dark Panther in attack mode!" Jaden summoned one of his special Neo-Specian card, this one being a black panther wearing a purple cape that had 1000 attack points and 500 defense points. "When I summon Dark Panther, he can take the form of any creature on the field, and I choose your White-Horned Dragon!" With that Black Panther's body reshaped to look like White-Horned Dragon, gaining all of its powers in the process. "Then I attack White-Horned Dragon with Black Panther to destroy them both!"

"That's where you're wrong fool!" Obliviex retaliated. "I play my Interdimensional Matter Transporter to send your feline friend out of the game for the remainder of this turn."

"Okay then, I attack White-Horned Dragon with Tempest instead!" Jaden retorted.

With that Tempest soared towards the dragon, pulling back its claw-equipped left arm.

"Fool, they'll destroy each other!" Obliviex sneered.

Tempest collided with White-Horned Dragon, which in turn blew white fire from its mouth, resulting in an explosion. After the smoke died down, Obliviex was surprised to see Tempest still standing while his dragon was gone.

"What?!" Obliviex gasped.

"You forgot about my Tempest's special ability." Jaden spoke. "By sending one card from my side to the field to the graveyard, like my Feather Storm I had out, I can keep Tempest from being destroyed. So now it's your turn Obliviex." With that, Jaden's Dark Panther returned.

Obliviex growled in anger as he drew his next card. "You'll regret that Jaden Yuki!" He yelled. "I summon Lord of Dragons in attack mode!" Obliviex played the infamous dragon protecting creature. "Then I play Pot of Greed to draw two more cards and then I activate Flute of Summoning Dragon!"

"Oh, no!" Syrus gasped. "With that, Obliviex can special summon two dragons from his hand!"

"That's right little man! And the cards I chose are Luster Dragon #2 and Kaiser Glider!" Obliviex summoned two dragons, each with 2400 attack points. Luster Dragon #2 was the same Jason used against Chazz during their welcoming duel, and Kaiser Glider was a small dragon wearing golden armor. "This will hurt me a little, but it's worth it!" Obliviex pointed at Tempest. "Kaiser Glider, attack Tempest!"

Kaiser Glider roared and glided, ramming head first at Tempest. Tempest retaliated by blasting the dragon into ashes with its cannon, but before that Kaiser Glider blew out a fireball, which struck Tempest and made him disappear.

"What the?!" Jaden asked in shock.

"It's just Kaiser Glider's special ability." Obliviex spoke. "You see, when he's destroyed in battle, I can choose one monster on your side of the field and send it back to your hand, or in Tempest's case, back to your Fusion Deck. But unfortunately I loose 400 life points now…" With that Obliviex's life points fell down to 3000. "But it's not so bad as what I'm about to do to you as I attack Black Panther with Luster Dragon #2! Emerald Blaze!"

Luster Dragon #2 blew white fire from its mouth and burned Black Panther to ashes, making Jaden's life points drop to 2200.

"Oh man, now Jaden's in really hot water…" Syrus said afraid, but then his body suddenly felt as if it had frozen in place. All of a sudden he felt intense pain in his chest, making him wince in agony.

"Truesdale?! What's wrong?!" Hassleberry asked worried seeing the look on Syrus's face.

"Syrus?" Jaden wondered turning to look at his friend.

All of a sudden a pink glowing heart came out of his body and his body fell limp. The heart floated towards Obliviex and the heart was absorbed into his hand. At the same time Syrus's body disappeared into the darkness.

"Syrus!" Jaden gasped in horror. "What did you do Obliviex?!" Jaden asked demandingly, sounding as aggressive as he could to hopefully get his point across.

Obliviex's reply first came out as an evil laugh, suddenly black markings appearing under his red eyes. He then said, "I thought I'd intensify the duel a tad. Isn't that such a nice surprise?" Obliviex asked mockingly.

"Leave my friends out of this!" Jaden demanded.

"Fool. The more I do this, the weaker your heart grows and the easier its extraction will be." Obliviex said. "So from now on, for every thousand life points you loose, one of your friends looses his heart to me."

"I thought you didn't need Syrus!" Jaden retorted.

"You seemed to have forgotten when I said I can absorb any heart I want. Of course the heart of your friend Syrus doesn't satisfy me that much. But it's better than nothing." Obliviex said, grinning evilly. "I'll also end my turn by playing a face down."

"I better make this turn count, my friends hearts are on the line…" Jaden thought as he drew his next card.

-

Vexen sat alone in the living room, grinning evilly seeing how successful his creation was.

"Not only did it gain incredible intelligence, but it even figured out how to hurt one's heart." He thought. "The Superior is going to be so pleased with this…"

-

Jaden looked at his hand. In his hand he held: Elemental Hero Neos, Elemental Hero Burstinatrix, Fake Hero, Pot of Greed and Hero Shield.

"Okay, first I play the spell Pot of Greed to draw two cards," which he did, getting a trap card Elemental Mirage and O-Oversoul. "Next I play the spell card Fake Hero. This card lets me special summon one Elemental Hero to my field, but it can't attack. So I summon Elemental Hero Burstinatrix. But since she was special summoned, I sacrifice her to summon my old bud Neos in attack mode!" Jaden summoned one of his best cards Neos, which was a warrior-type, Light attributed monster with 2500 attack points and 2000 defence points. "Then I also play down a facedown. And now I attack Luster Dragon #2 with Elemental Neos!" Jaden shouted.

Neos glided towards Luster Dragon #2. When it was in reach of the large green and blue dragon, Neos flew upwards and brought his hand above his head. With a powerful swing, he split Luster Dragon #2 into two, making Obliviex's life points drop to 2900.

"Nice move sarge! I knew you had it in ya!" Hassleberry commented.

Obliviex growled in anger while he drew a card. "It's not over yet you fool!" He looked at his hand. In it he had Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 and the trap card Negate Attack. "I sacrifice my Lord of Dragons to summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon in attack mode!" Obliviex summoned Jason's favourite dragon, but having only 2300 attack points, it stood no chance against Neos. "And I play a facedown card."

"Jaden might now stand a chance, Obliviex is out of cards!" Bastion said pointing out to Obliviex's empty hand.

"Jaden, now's your chance to take him out!" Hassleberry shouted.

"You got it!" Jaden said as he drew a card. "I now play the spell card O-oversoul, which lets me summon any normal Elemental Hero from my graveyard, and I choose my Elemental Sparkman!" Jaden summoned an Elemental Hero card with 1600 attack points. "Then I attack Horus with Elemental Hero Neos!" Jaden commanded.

Obliviex in turn smirked. "I activate my trap: Negate Attack!"

"Oh no!" Jaden gasped. Now his Sparkman was left open for an attack.

"So Jaden, you want to do something else or shall I begin my turn?" Obliviex asked.

Jaden looked at the two cards in his hand. "Okay, I'll play this facedown and let you go…"

"Great!" Obliviex cheered as he drew a card. "Because now it's gonna get ugly!" He looked at the only card in his hand, but decided to save it for later. "I now attack your Sparkman with Horus! Go Black Flamethrower!"

But Horus in turn didn't move, it just looked down at Obliviex as if not feeling up to the command.

"What are you doing?!" Obliviex yelled. "I said attack!"

Horus then looked down on the ground, probably trying to tell that it wasn't going to obey. This in turn enraged Obliviex. He opened his right palm a blue fireball forming over it.

"I said attack!" He hollered as he threw the fireball at Horus. The fireball exploded on contact, making Horus collapse off its feet and screech in pain. This horrified Jaden. Obliviex was unlike any villain he'd faced before. Even the last menace Sartorius wasn't as crazy and sadistic compared to Obliviex. Not only had Obliviex already stolen four hearts of Jaden's friends, but now he was abusing Jason's most precious card.

"Obliviex! Stop it!" Jaden demanded.

"Make me Jaden!" Obliviex retorted. "The only thing this overgrown bird is good for is destruction! And when I tell it what to do, it does it without question! You got that Horus?!"

The dragon however still refused to attack Jaden's monster. Now Obliviex was becoming seriously impatient as his right arm was surrounded by what looked like bolts of electricity. He then held his hand out towards Horus and shot out the bolts of lightning onto Horus, making the dragon screech louder. The electricity was putting pain on the dragon so much, that it couldn't continue disobeying. It charged up a ball of black fire in its mouth and fired it a Sparkman. Sparkman burned to nothingness in seconds, causing Jaden's life points to drop to 1500.

"Oh no, that's less than 2000!" Jaden gasped.

As if on cue, Bastion suddenly froze and the same thing happened to him like Syrus. His heart came through his chest and his body disappeared into darkness. The heart was once again absorbed through Obliviex's hand. This time his fangs grew longer and then large demon wings tore out of his back. As he opened them to their widest, it made Obliviex look even more less human.

"Bastion!" Jaden called out to his friend, but it was too late. "No!"

Obliviex in turn let out his malevolent cackle. "Now that Horus has destroyed your Sparkman, he becomes even stronger! Now by sending Horus's level six form to the graveyard, he arises as Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8!" With that, the weaker Horus was lit in black fire. After a few seconds, the flame took shape of a larger form of Horus and the flames erupted off its body, revealing the larger and more powerful Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8. "And what's great about him is the fact that whenever you play a spell card, I can choose to negate its effect and destroy it. Face it Jaden, you've lost this duel! Just think, all because of this, you've doomed the world, you've doomed your friends, you've doomed the light, everything in this realm will become coated in darkness! And it's your entire fault Jaden! Because compared to me you're just a looser!"

"Don't listen to that winged, heart stealing creep Sarge!" Hassleberry shouted. "You can still come out okay with this!"

Jaden looked back at Hassleberry. He smiled and gave a thumbs-up and then turned to look at Obliviex. "It's not over yet Obliviex! Not as long as I have cards in my deck and my friends backing me up!"

Obliviex smirked. "Did you forget your friends now belong to darkness? They can't hear you. Nor do they know you anymore! Once a heart falls to a Heartless, it is lost in the emptiness, it can only be recovered if I am destroyed, but seeing as how this battle has turned out, those hearts will remain lost. But don't worry Jaden, at least you won't remember anything once you fall into darkness."

"Alright then." Jaden spoke. "But it's till not going to end like that." Jaden said as he drew a card. "Because I now summon Neo-Spacian Flare Scarab!"

Neo-Spacian Flare Scarab was a weak monster with 500 attack and defence points and had an ability to gain 400 attack points for each spell and trap card out on the field.

"So what?" Obliviex asked. "None of those monster you have can defeat my Horus, especially on this stage."

"That's what you think, because now I contact fuse my Elemental Hero Neos and Flare Scarab…" Jaden began, but Obliviex interrupted him.

"Did you forget that if you play Polymerization, my Horus will negate the effect and destroy the spell?" Obliviex asked in a belittling manner.

"Normally yea, but Neos and Flare Scarab don't need a Polymerization to fuse because of their special Contact-Fusion ability." Jaden replied with a smirk.

"What?!" Obliviex yelled.

"That's right my tall dark and grim friend." Jaden replied. "Now, Elemental Hero Neos, fuse together with Flare Scarab to form…"

Neos and Scarab fused to create a monster that looked like Neos wearing brown and black armor and had Flare Scarab's wings.

"…Elemental Hero Flare Neos!"

"Well, sorry for the bad news, but that thing only has 2500 attack points while my Horus still has 3000." Obliviex spoke, not sounding a tad impressed.

"Normally again, but he gets 400 more power for every spell of trap card out on the field, so I play two facedown cards, giving him 800 more extra power." Jaden did as he said and Flare Neos's power grew to 3300.

"No!" Obliviex gasped.

"Yeehaw! Take that Obliviex!" Hassleberry said mockingly to the being of darkness.

"Now Neos, attack Horus!" Jaden commanded.

Flare Neos nodded to Jaden and glided towards Horus. Its body was coated in fire and it picked up speed. It flew through Horus, making the dragon explode from the inside and make Obliviex loose 300 life points, now having 2700.

-

"What?!" Vexen yelled after seeing Horus getting blown-up by Flare Neos. "How can this be?! That card isn't supposed to even exist!"

-

"Don't think I'm done yet Obliviex. You see, Elemental Heroes created through Contact-Fusion usually have to return to my deck during the End Phase, but before that I play a field spell card Neo Space!" With that, Jaden opened an extra compartment in his Duel Disk and placed a card inside of it. The blackness around them was replaced by what looked like outer space, but beautiful colours swirled around everywhere. "This field spell increases the power of my Neo-Spacians and Neos by 500 and keeps them from returning to my deck. And now's your turn."

Obliviex looked around him in horror. The darkness he was able to live in was gone and now light surrounded him. It began to feel as if his body began to burn and weaken.

"Y-you…" Obliviex stuttered, but he couldn't say anything. Instead, he drew a card from his deck. Though feeling suddenly weak and sweating like mad, he was able to look at the new card in his hand. Seeing it made the Heartless entity grin in salvation. "You fool… I just drew my most ultimate card!" He showed the card to Jaden, "My Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End!"

"What?!" Jaden gasped.

"That can't be! Those cards aren't available anywhere!" Hassleberry said.

"Well, having an old geezer who researches this game, you can get a few useful things from someone like that." Obliviex replied. "But now I removed Dark Blade and Kaiser Glider from my graveyard out of play to…" Obliviex lifted his hand up to prepare to attach Chaos Emperor Dragon, but his hand suddenly began to shake and stop moving. "W-what the?"

Suddenly a glowing entity appeared next to Obliviex. It appeared to be holding back Obliviex's arm to stop from summoning Chaos Emperor Dragon.

"No! You won't use me for this!" The entity yelled in desperation.

Jaden suddenly realized he knew that voice. Looking closer at the entity, he made out spiky dark and light brown hair, a Ra-Yellow jacket and grey pants.

"Jason!" Jaden gasped.

"What?! Impossible!" Obliviex yelled. "You're supposed to belong to the darkness!"

"That's what you think Obliviex!" Jason retorted. "This field spell weakened your darkness enough for my heart to reach out! And now I won't let you hurt my friends any more than you already have!"

Just then another glowing entity appeared besides Jason and also held back Obliviex's arm. This one was female with blonde hair and wore an Obelisk-Blue girls' uniform.

"Alexis!" Jaden instantly recognized his friend.

Then yet another entity appeared, this one appeared behind Obliviex and pulled on his arm.

"Don't even think about it freak!" The entity yelled.

"Chazz!" Jaden called out.

Two more entities appeared to hold back Obliviex. Jaden could easily tell they were Syrus and Bastion.

"Stop your turn Obliviex or it's going to get more uncomfortable!" Alexis's threatened.

"Jaden, finish him off while he's distracted!" Bastion instructed. "Forget about rules! You have the whole world's future in your hands!"

-

Vexen was practically biting his nails from the incident that was happening on the screen.

"How can this be?!" He asked infuriated. "How can a card emit light that can overpower genuine darkness?! That's impossible!"

Unbeknownst to Vexen, a man wearing the same black cloaked watched in secret. This one had a darker complexion and had long, silver hair. He had a sad look on his face, but in truth, he felt nothing.

"Hearts that can overpower darkness of that calibre…" He thought and turned away. "I guess that's why these people are the chosen ones…"

-

"Jaden, hurry!" Chazz shouted. "He's stronger than he looks!"

"No… I won't loose my one chance…" Obliviex growled. His amr began to move, but jaggedly because of Jaden's friends holding him back.

"Jaden, hurry!" Syrus yelled.

But then Obliviex used his last strength to lift his wings and covered himself with them. It was hard to tell what was going on behind them since his wings covered all of his body. Jaden and Hassleberry were sweating just form wondering which side won, their friends, or the dark powers of Obliviex.

"Guys…" Jaden was feeling more dreadful than before.

Just then Obliviex's wings opened. Much to Jaden's horror, his friends were gone and Chaos Emperor Dragon was attached to Obliviex's Duel Disk.

"Ha! You've all failed the fate of the entire world fools!" Obliviex yelled in triumph. "Arise Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End!"

Dark lightning bolts shot out in front of Obliviex and a rift opened. Out stepped the large and feared Chaos Emperor Dragon, possibly the most powerful card in all of Duel Monsters with 3000 attack points, 2500 defence points and an ability which let Obliviex surrender 1000 life points to destroy all cards on the field excluding Chaos Emperor Dragon and all cards in the players' hands.

"Well Jaden, it looks like its time to come to the darkness." Obliviex sneered. "Chaos Emperor Dragon, take my life points and destroy everything around you! Chaos Destruction!" Obliviex commanded as he dropped his life points to 1700. "Now for every card he destroys with this effect, you loose 300 life points per card!"

Chaos Emperor Dragon charged up a large green fireball in its mouth and prepared to fire it out…

"Not so fast, I play the Flute of Summoning Kuriboh!" Jaden retaliated. "With this card I can special summon Kuriboh or Winged Kuriboh from my deck, so come on out pal! With that Jaden summoned his Duel Spirit partner.

Chaos Emperor Dragon in turn fired the green fireball into the sky, but it split into several smaller fireballs which rained down. They destroyed all cards the players had out or in their excluding Chaos Emperor Dragon. Jaden however didn't loose any points.

"What?! How's that possible?!" Obliviex asked in anger.

"Simple. By destroying Kuriboh, I take now damage for the remainder of this turn." Jaden said. "And since one of my facedown cards was Spell Calling, which has its ability activated when its destroyed. It lets me bring a Quick-Play spell card from my deck and play it facedown.

Obliviex growled. "Fine, but you won't survive anyway, I'll just use this ability again next turn.

Jaden drew a card. "Yes! I activate the spell card I have out, Reverse of Neos. This card lets me summon Elemental Hero Neos from my deck in attack mode and increase its attack and defense points by 1000."

"Well, even if you destroy my dragon, I'll still survive!" Obliviex retorted.

"Yea, which is why I normal summon this, my Neo-Spacian Grand Mole!" Jaden played a creature that looked like a large, brown mole with a drill-equipped collar around its neck. "And since Neos is out with him, I can Contact-Fuse them into Elemental Hero Grand Neos!"

Neos and Grand Mole became combined. They formed a large robotic version of Neos in brown armor and had claws equipped in its left hand and a drill on its right hand. It's attack power however was only 2500.

"I know he's weaker than your dragon, but he lets me send one monster you have out back into your hand…" Jaden explained and pointed at Chaos Emperor Dragon. "And I choose your Chaos Emperor Dragon.

Chaos Emperor Dragon disappeared from the field. This made Obliviex look at the field in shock.

"Now Grand Neos, attack Obliviex directly and end this duel!" Jaden commanded

Grand Neos sped towards Oblivies with its drill-equipped hand held back to prepare for a thrust.

"No! This can't be happening!!!" Obliviex yelled in disbelief. "I am supposed to rule this world as the ultimate being!!!"

Grand Neos thrust out with its drill arm, striking Obliviex point blank in the chest. Obliviex's body began to convulse uncontrollably and his wings started to wither away and the marking under his eyes began to melt off his face. Light burst out from the heart marking on his chest, along with his eyes and his mouth.

"No!!!" Obliviex yelled one last time before he was engulfed by light and everything went white.

-

"Kuri…"

Jaden groaned as he heard a high pitched voice calling out to him…

"Kuri!"

Jaden then felt something small hopping on his head. This stirred him enough to make him open his eyes. He groaned from the inexplicable headache, but managed to get up on his knees.

"Kuri!"

He looked up to see his friend Winged Kuriboh smiling at him happily.

"Kuriboh… What happened?" Jaden asked.

Kuriboh pointed to the side. Jaden looked, at first he was surprised, but then felt very relieved. Lying there on the grass were all of his friends, unconscious or asleep he didn't know, but surely alright.

"Yay! We're so glad you're okay boss!" Jaden heard. He looked to the other side to see Chazz sitting on the ground rubbing his head, his Ojamas floating in front of him happily.

"Ugh, what the heck just happened here?" Chazz groaned.

"Chazz!" Jaden shouted. "You're okay!"

"Jaden?" Chazz looked to the side. "Did you… did you win?" He asked.

"You know it buddy." Jaden said with a thumbs-up.

"I'm not your buddy!" Chazz retorted, but softened just a bit. "Well, thanks, for freeing me and all…"

Just then everyone else began to regain consciousness. Everyone felt groggy and a few had headaches, but otherwise were fine and dandy.

"Jaden, thank you." Alexis said getting up.

"I knew you could do it the whole time Sarge!" Hassleberry said joyfully and gave Jaden a pat on the shoulder.

"What a ride that was, I'm just glad that's over." Bastion remarked, earning a chuckle from almost everyone, except Chazz.

"Wait, where's Jason?" Jaden asked.

"He's over there." Alexis replied pointing to the right.

Jason sat on his knees, rubbing his head. Jaden in turn walked up to him. Jaden extended a helping hand, getting Jason to look up at him. His eyes were back to their Cerulean blue with not a hint of red. His hair and other features were back to normal and his clothes were back the way they were originally.

"Jaden…" He spoke, but rubbed his head again.

"Take my hand buddy, I'll help ya up." Jaden said.

Jason took a hold of Jaden's hand and was helped up on his feet.

"Thanks… Jaden…" Jason said, though wanting to sound grateful, his headache still remained.

"No problem. I'm just glad we got you back." Jaden replied.

"So Jason…" Alexis spoke.

"What made you become that thing?" Alexis asked.

Jason rubbed his head one more time before speaking, "I can only remember at night, some man approached me and he did something to me…" Jason spoke. "Everything then went black and I couldn't escape… I'm very thankful for you rescuing us all Jaden."

"So, any idea who this man was?" Jaden asked.

"I have no idea." Jason replied. "He was dressed in a black hooded cloak and I couldn't see his face. He said something about "serving the Organization"."

"The Organization?" Hassleberry wondered. "Any ideas men… and woman?"

"I've never heard of something as the Organization." Bastion admitted.

"What if they are the ones after our hearts?" Syrus asked.

"I think that's it." Jason said. "He said something about my heart… He said something about darkness inside mine… whatever he meant."

"I think he used your memories of your sister." Jaden said. "Obliviex said that since you brought out what happened to your sister, it weakened your heart enough for that man to manipulate you."

"That might just be it Jaden." Bastion said. "I may believe in science more, but after all I've seen here, it feels like everything denies all logic."

"One more thing." Chazz spoke up. "Where the heck did you get Chaos Emperor Dragon?"

"Yea, and the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon?" Alexis added.

"That man shattered the frame that prize Blue-Eyes was in, but it appears Pegasus must have hidden three fresh copies of Blue-Eyes White Dragon along with Ultimate Dragon into it." Jason replied.

"That figures." Bastion added. "Kaiba and Pegasus have had a grudge against each other for a long time. Perhaps it was to make Kaiba jealous for there being someone else with the Blue-Eyes White Dragons."

"I guess that man gave me the Chaos Emperor Dragon." Jason figured. "But I know one thing."

"What's that?" Jaden asked.

Jason took his deck and searched for the Chaos Emperor Dragon. He took it out of his deck and grabbed it from its middle with both hands.

"This card will never be used ever again!" He growled and tore the card into shreds.

-

"Whoa, uh Vexen? Are you okay?" Demyx asked.

Vexen sat on his couch, but he looked as if he'd turned to stone as he saw the Chaos Emperor Dragon getting torn to shreds.

"Poor guy…" Said Xigbat, now not wearing his hood, revealing to have grey and black hair tied to a ponytail, a large scar on his left cheek and an eye patch on his right eye. "If he had a heart he'd have a heart attack…"

Vexen suddenly sat up and screamed in anger with steam coming out of his ears.

"That stupid brat! He tore up my most valuable card!" Vexen hollered. With that, ice materialized in his hands and in a sudden broke off, revealing a blue, blade equipped shield.

"Uh oh! Hit the deck!" Xigbar yelled as he dived behind the couch. He then reached up and pulled Demyx down with him.

A horrible ranting of words best left unsaid and sounds of things breaking erupted from the living room. All around the mysterious hideout, everyone present there could hear Vexen's yelling.

"Oh bugger, there goes the TV." Said a man with blonde, very short hair and had a short beard growing and had two silver earrings on his left ear.

Another smashing sound emanated form the living room.

"And my bonsai trees…" Said a taller man with long black hair tied in long braids and had very thick sideburns and eyebrows.

The sound of wood breaking emanated next.

"And the coffee table…" Added a much shorter man with messy purplish hair.

A sound of something frail breaking emanated next.

"And my model ship…" Added a very tall, muscular man with short reddish brown hair.

"I sometimes wonder how we stand being around Vexen…" Said the black haired man bluntly.

"Just shut up and get the tools." Said the shortest man.

-

"So, it looks like we've got another menace on our hands." Jaden said looking at the horizon.

"Then I guess we better be ready to fight it." Hasslebery remarked.

"Guys," Jason spoke up. "Mind if I join you? I mean I am just the current Industrial Illusion champion and best in Southern Japan." He grinned playfully.

"Welcome to the team Jason." Jaden said and gave Jason a high-five.

Just then Winged Kuriboh appeared besides Jaden.

"Kuri." It peeped.

"What's up Kuriboh?" Jaden asked his Duel Spirit.

Kuriboh pointed upwards. Jaden looked in the direction.

"Hey Jason, look." Jaden said pointing the same way as Kuriboh.

Jason looked up. His first response to what he saw was a gasp, but he then felt happy. Floating in the sky was Horus in its level four form.

"Looks like you have a Duel Spirit too." Jaden said.

"Yea." Jason nodded.

"I'll help you whenever I can brother…" Jason heard a woman's voice.

"Sheila?" He wondered looking at Horus.

The small bird-shaped dragon nodded and then disappeared. Jason at first was shocked, but he then just smiled.

"I guess I was more than right about sis watching down on me…" He thought.

-