I'd like to thank Yay899, CelestiasDisciple, and Duster Dawnhorse for their prereading of this chapter.

I wasn't normally one for intruding on private conversations. I would have much rather gone straight back to my room after my late-night deli run. But given I knew what was going down tonight, and I had every intention of intervening, I couldn't help but overhear a bit of Zane and Alexis' conversation. Granted, I already knew about the conversation from the TV show, so I wasn't particularly surprised by the events. I just felt scummy for listening in on what was meant to be private.

I mused a bit on my status as a dimensional traveler with near-perfect metaknowledge to distract myself. Dangerous, it was, to have delusions of grandeur about what I could manipulate. These were not cardboard cutouts or puppets dancing to their strings. They were real people. Campy, dramatic, regularly ridiculous people, yes, but people nonetheless. And yet here I was, thinking I could play a god amongst men.

Well, arrogance had always been a flaw of mine.

"Didn't I warn you about interfering with the flow of reality?"

I craned my head to see Apple floating above me, arms crossed.

"Oh, you're a mind reader now? Or maybe this just proves you're a figment of my imagination."

"Please. It wasn't hard to figure out what you were planning given you are prone on a cliff overlooking two innocent people."

"Now you're making it sound like I want to assassinate them. And Alexis is too cute to assassinate."

"She's fifteen. You're twenty-one."

"I'm fourteen here!"

"Mentally, you're twenty-one. And we both know you wanted to use a word very different from 'cute.'"

"Please don't make me sound like a pedophile. Besides, does that look like a fifteen-year-old body to you? Hell, look at you! Ain't you just a girl? You're way too developed for a girl."

The two of us settled into uneasy silence. I really didn't want to consider the physical/mental age gap different right now. Or ever, really, but I suppose I would have to confront that at some point.

Luckily for me, the two were on the move, no doubt at the sound of Syrus' failed escape, and that was my cue to start running for the scene too.

Our paths intersected, and Alexis regarded me curiously. "What are you doing here?"

"Deli run," I gave as in the way of a non-answer.

"But the deli is on the other side of the island."

"Deli run."

She shrugged, and inquired no more.

A tragedy in two acts was unfolding before me, and the actors were two brothers — which made it all the more poetic.

"About time you decided to drop out."

Syrus had, true to canon, attempted to flee the island on a hastily constructed raft, and been caught by Jaden and Chumley. Harsh words were exchanged, and Jaden had challenged Zane to a duel.

I could have left it all to play out as it had in canon. The world would have been no worse off.

And yet, I had some strange pity for Syrus. Poor kid would eventually grow into a great duelist and great... well, man was perhaps a stretch for someone graduating high school, but a great young adult. But the kid shouldn't have to wait so long to overcome his fear. I hoped what I was about to do wasn't going to traumatize Syrus, but he needed a bit of a kick to get his growth started.

I chased him down after the huddle had dispersed. "Sy! Let's talk."

He seemed unsure, but followed me as I pulled him aside.

"You're going to duel Zane tomorrow, not Jaden."

"What!?" He bolted for the group, but I pulled him back.

"Hey! Hear me out here."

"I can't duel Zane! I'd lose on the first turn."

"Well, unless he's playing Plant FTK or Exodia FTK, I'm pretty sure you'll at least live to see turn two. And that's not my point. We all know you're a bad duelist."

"Yeah, so why should I duel Zane?"

"Because the point here isn't to beat Zane. You don't even need to come close. But you do need to practice keeping your cool while facing someone much better than you."

"And how will I do that?" I knew Syrus was beyond skeptical about the practicality of my advice.

"My suggestion: Talk out loud. If he's really as good as you say, he already knows what you're thinking anyway, so thinking out loud will only help you. Take it slow. You're not at a tournament, so you can't be penalized for slow play."

He nodded along, but still seemed unconvinced.

"And this is most important of all: Keep it simple. Someone once taught me an invaluable piece of advice. When you duel, you have two goals: make your life simple and your opponent's life complicated. Now, let's be real. What does Zane's deck do?"

"Uhh... summon Cyber End Dragon with Power Bond and win in one turn?"

"Does he use a lot of traps?"

"No, not really."

"Does he use a lot of monsters with annoying effects?"

"No, but they do have lots of attack points."

"See, Zane is keeping his game simple. He doesn't worry about all the strange things his opponent does. He summons big monster and punches his opponent in the face for game. Now, is he doing a lot of different things? Yes, but the ideas he's using are simple.

"So play like that. You and I both know you're not ready to play decks designed to make your opponent's life complicated. So keep your life simple. Be mindful of the attack points of Zane's monsters, know what can beat over them, and play to bring those monsters out. Don't get flustered with mere possibilities. Focus on one goal, one way to work, and play with that in mind."

Syrus continued to nod as if he was following, but he seemed a bit out of it. Again, doubts floated to my head. Maybe I was throwing him too far into the deep end. Maybe I should have him duel me, instead.

But I was in too deep into my crazy, life-manipulating scheme to back out now. Putting my hand on his shoulder, I lifted his chin with my other hand. "Hey. You can't lose here. If you lose to Zane, well, no one will be surprised, and if you win, it'll be huge. There's only up from here."

Syrus, however unconvinced he still was, smiled.

The two were all set to duel. I looked at Syrus, still standing with us in the peanut gallery. Perhaps he had chickened out.

"Sorry, Jaden, change of plans." All eyes turned to him as he stepped forward, and for a moment he faltered. But he took a deep breath, steeled himself, and walked right next to Jaden. "I'm dueling Zane."

A collective "What?!" came from everyone but Zane and I. For a brief moment, Zane locked eyes with me before turning back to his brother.

"Syrus, you can't be serious! Just leave this to me."

"It's okay, Jaden. I have to do this. For me. Even if I fall flat on my face, and humiliate myself, and make myself feel even worse... I have to do this. For me. And for you. But mostly for me. I think."

Syrus could have worded it better, but it seemed he had gotten the point.

Zane wasn't going to let Syrus duel so easily. "You were just about to drop out yesterday, and now you want to duel the top duelist of the school? Get real."

"I..." Again Syrus hesitated. For a moment, he found the ground, the sky, anything more interesting than his brother.

"Come on. There's no way you can face me. Do you honestly think you stand a chance against me?"

"N-n-no..."

I looked at Jaden. Now, of all times, would be the time for Jaden to rally Syrus. But Jaden was strangely silent, only looking as Syrus even as Syrus looked to him for encouragement. Had Jaden been so surprised he'd been stunned into silence? Or had Jaden so looked forward to dueling Zane that he didn't want Syrus to take his place?

Come on, Syrus, I thought. You can do this.

"W-w-well..." Syrus continued to struggle to muster his courage. I wanted to encourage him myself, but I didn't want to out myself as the one behind this. If I did, it would be for naught. This was Syrus' chance to show he could stand on his own, win or lose.

Of course, I had hoped Jaden would be a little more supportive of Syrus in his decision. Jaden's silence here was really making this harder than I anticipated.

"Fine!" All eyes turned to Zane as he huffed and loaded his duel disk. "You need a little reminder of your place? I'll be happy to give it to you."

That was surprising. I hadn't expected Zane to agree to duel Syrus now. To Syrus' credit, he didn't back down at Zane's challenge. Still slightly trembling, he stood up tall (well, taller) and readied his own duel disk.

"Duel!"

Duel Start - Syrus Truesdale versus Zane Truesdale

Turn 1 - Syrus

Syrus - 4000 LP, 5 Cards in hand

Zane - 4000 LP, 5 Cards in hand

"Since this was your idea, why don't you go first, little brother?"

"O-oh, okay. I draw!"

Meanwhile, Jaden had rejoined the peanut gallery. "Man, I have to say, I'm surprised. I didn't expect Syrus to challenge Zane, especially after everything he's said about him."

"You're not upset you're not getting to duel Zane, are you?" I chanced.

"Well, I was pretty stoked about dueling him, but I'll get another chance. Besides, if Syrus can do this, it'll be just as good for his confidence."

"But if he loses badly, it might be much, much worse," I heard Alexis mutter. I shot her a disapproving look, and she gave a skeptical look back at me.

"Fair enough," I said, with a small shrug.

Much to my chagrin, when I turned back to the duel, Syrus still hadn't made a single move. He was looking over his cards, stressing over what to do.

"C'mon, man, remember what I taught you..." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alexis look at me, curious, but when I turned to her, she looked away.

Whatever had caused Jaden to hesitate in supporting Syrus' decision to duel, it had no bearing on Jaden's support for Syrus now. "You can do it, Syrus! Show your brother you belong here." That got a smile, small as it was, out of Syrus. He took a deep breath, and finally started to play the game.

"I set one monster, one facedown, and end my turn."

Turn 2 - Zane

Syrus - 4000 LP, 4 Cards in hand

Zane - 4000 LP, 5 Cards in hand

"You took all that time, only to set a monster and a facedown? I know pre-schoolers who can duel better than that. It's my turn! Draw!"

With only a few moments of contemplation, Zane sprung into action. "First, I'll activate Mystical Space Typhoon, to destroy your facedown." As the whirlwind struck Syrus' facedown, it flipped up to reveal it as Bottomless Trap Hole before it burst into shards.

"Next, because you control a monster and I don't, I'm allowed to summon Cyber Dragon without tributing!" True to his word, in a flash of light, Cyber Dragon sprung onto the field.

Cyber Dragon (2100 ATK/1600 DEF)

"And since I still have my normal summon, I'll summon my Cyber Soldier of Dark World!"

Cyber Soldier of Darkworld (1400 ATK/1200 DEF)

"Cyber Soldier of Darkworld, go attack that facedown."

The heavily-armored warrior lumbered over and raised its arms, pointing them at the face-down monster, and opening fire. As the bullets struck the card, it flipped over to reveal a Gyroid.

Gyroid (1000 ATK/1000 DEF)

Weathering the storm, Syrus replied, "Once per turn, Gyroid can't be destroyed by battle! So my monster is safe."

"It's a good thing I have another monster, then. Cyber Dragon, Evolution Burst!"

A stream of white energy flowed from the gaping maw of the mechanical dragon, and Gyroid faded away in its wake.

"Next, I'll activate Different Dimension Capsule. I'll banish one card face-down, and I'll get to add it to my hand two turns later. Finally, I'll set one card, and end my turn."

Turn 3 - Syrus

Syrus - 4000 LP, 4 Cards in hand

Zane - 4000 LP, 2 Cards in hand

Now Syrus was shaking again. "Uhh, okay. I'll draw."

Chumley, while not shaking, was clearly just as worried. "Not 'licious. Syrus is right back where he started."

Worse, really, I thought to myself. He'd spent two cards for no payoff, and he was facing off a sizeable beatstick in Cyber Dragon, and one potential disruption in that facedown. (Small blessing, I supposed, that he didn't have to worry about handtraps.)

"What's my... what did he call it? Win condition? Yeah, I need to remember my win conditions..."

"Talking to yourself again, little brother?" Despite his words, I could tell Zane was intrigued. No way Syrus would have gotten an idea like win conditions on his own, or even through what the entry-level school material would have discussed. Again, Zane looked at me, but I said nothing.

"Alright... My win condition was make Steam Gyroid as soon as possible, and destroy as much as I can. If I can't destroy something with Steam Gyroid... Well, I'll worry about that later."

Syrus looked back to his hand. "If I summon Steamroid now, I could destroy his Cyber Dragon! But, next turn, he could destroy my Steamroid with his Cyber Soldier. But I could destroy Cyber Soldier more easily than Cyber Dragon, and now I have the chance to take Cyber Dragon out!"

Zane regarded his brother with crossed arms. "Very perceptive. But I think you've forgotten something."

"Huh? Oh, right, that facedown. Oh. Oh no. Umm..."

Now this was an interesting development. I didn't expect Zane to help his brother in this duel, not even in a backhanded manner. Zane had, to my memory, always been the type to support someone by throwing them into the deep end of the pool to force them to learn how to swim. Perhaps, now dueling Syrus, he was starting to change his mind on his methodology.

"Can I do anything about that facedown? I... I don't think I can. And... what did he say? If you can't do anything about it, play like it's not there."

Syrus closed his eyes, and took a deep, bracing breath. When he opened them again, they were filled with determination. Well, more determination than normal, anyway.

"I summon my Steamroid in attack position!"

Steamroid (1800 ATK/1800 DEF)

"And now, I'll attack your Cyber Dragon! Go, Steamroid! Run a train over that oversized robot snake!"

"Did you forget? Steamroid only has 1800 attack points, while Cyber Dragon has 2100. Your monster will lose."

"No, but you forgot that Steamroid gains 500 ATK whenever it attacks. So that gives it... it gives it..."

"2300 attack points!" Alexis helpfully finished. "That's more than Cyber Dragon's!"

Steamroid (1800 ATK/1800 DEF - 2300 ATK/1800 DEF)

Steam puffed out of the little engine that could — could destroy Cyber Dragon, that is. It crashed right into the mechanical dragon, and the dragon let out a screech as it burst into sparkles.

Zane, implacable as ever, did nothing as his life points went down.

Zane LP 4000 - 3800

"I'll throw down a facedown, and end my turn. Your move, big bro."

Turn 4 - Zane

Syrus - 4000 LP, 3 Cards in hand

Zane - 3800 LP, 2 Cards in hand

"Finally. I draw."

Again, Zane only took a second to decide his course of action. (Frankly, I envied him. I could take minutes to decide on my next play — much to the chagrin of many an opponent who threatened to call a judge over slow play.)

"I'll summon my Proto-Cyber Dragon."

Proto-Cyber Dragon (1100 ATK/600 DEF)

Alas, that was all it took for Syrus' confidence to fade again. "Uh oh. Now he can attack Steamroid for 100 damage, and then attack me directly with Proto-Cyber Dragon for 1100 damage."

I made a mental note to give Syrus a lesson on mental resilience later.

"You're right, I could do that. But I could also do something much worse."

"W-w-worse?"

"You see, Proto-Cyber Dragon is treated as regular Cyber Dragon while it's on the field. And that means I can use the Polymerization in my hand," he said, as he revealed the card, "with the Cyber Dragon in my hand."

Slamming the Polymerization into the duel disk, the signature swirl of fusion drew the Proto-Cyber Dragon, a ghostly image of the normal Cyber Dragon imposed over it, and the regular Cyber Dragon together, twisting and intertwining them together. And with a flash of light, out burst Twin Cyber Dragon.

Cyber Twin Dragon (2800 ATK/2100 DEF)

"That's... that's bigger than any monster in my deck!"

"Then I hope you have a Plan B, little brother. Because not only is Cyber Twin Dragon indeed stronger than any monster in your deck, it also gets to attack twice per turn. But first things first. Cyber Soldier, destroy that pathetic toy train!"

"But Steamroid has 1800 ATK. That's more than Cyber Soldier's 1400."

"Don't tell me you forgot your own monster's effect. Steamroid loses 500 ATK when it is the one being attacked."

Steamroid (1800 ATK/1800 DEF - 1300 ATK/1800 DEF)

"And that means you take 100 points of damage."

Syrus LP 4000 - 3900

"Now, Cyber Twin Dragon, attack directly!" The machine raised its first head, opened its mouth, and breathed out lightning.

"Not so fast! I'll activate my trap, Call of the Haunted! I'll summon my Gyroid from my Graveyard!"

Gyroid (1000 ATK/1000 DEF)

"No matter. I'll just destroy your Gyroid instead." The Cyber Twin Dragon let out another beam, slamming the cartoon helicopter and rattling Syrus and his life points.

Syrus LP 3900 - 2100

"Remember Gyroid can't be destroyed by battle once per turn!"

"And you should remember Cyber Twin Dragon gets two attacks each battle phase!"

Another wave of energy came forth, this time from the dragon's second mouth. Gyroid couldn't withstand the second blast, and was destroyed.

Syrus LP 2100 - 300

"I end my turn."

Turn 5 - Syrus

Syrus - 300 LP, 3 Cards in hand

Zane - 3800 LP, 0 Cards in hand

"This is bad. Sy is just barely holding on." Chumley seemed to shrink, fingertips nervously touching.

Alexis wasn't any more confident. "And I'm not sure there's a card in the entire game that could turn this around for Syrus, let alone in his deck."

Jaden wasn't buying it. "Come on, guys, where's your confidence? You can do it, Sy! Turn this duel around. It's not over until the last card is played!"

"I'm all for encouragement, but can Syrus really do something here?"

"Let them have this, Lex." I elbowed her gently. "Even if Syrus doesn't or even can't win this duel, he needs to know Jaden has his back in the tough times."

Again, she seemed unconvinced, but didn't reply.

"Besides, Zane is out of cards. He'll draw one, get his card from D.D. Capsule, that's it. If Syrus can take out this Cyber Twin Dragon, he might have a shot."

"Whatever happens, it all hangs on this next draw."

All eyes turned to Syrus as he rested his fingers on his top card.

"I... draw!"