"It's my turn, I draw! From my hand I activate the Equip Spell Card Trickstar Magicarolla! I can target 1 Trickstar monster in my graveyard and special summon it by equipping it with this card! What's more, is that every time the monster equipped with this card inflicts effect damage to you, I can special summon a Trickstar from my hand! I target Trickstar Lycoris and special summon her in defense mode! Next, I activate my Trap card Gift of Greed! This card forces my opponent to draw 2 cards! And Lycoris's effect now activates! Each time you add a card to your hand, you take 200 points of damage! Next, my field spell Trickstar Light Stage activates, inflicting 200 more points of damage! And finally, Dark Room of Nightmare activates, inflicting a total of 900 damage to you! Add it all up, and you're taking 1500 points of damage! (Jason LP: 5100) And since my lycoris inflicted damage to you, I can special summon my Trickstar Candina from my hand! (Atk: 1800, Def: 400) With that, I end my turn!"

"Not bad Janice, but this duel is just about over now. It's my turn, I draw!" "Not so fast, did you already forget about Lycoris? You're taking another 1000 points of damage thanks to my combo!" (Jason LP: 4100) " I didn't forget, I just chose to ignore it since it won't matter soon. From my hand, I summon Shiranui Solitaire! (Atk: 500, Def: 0) I activate his effect! I can tribute 1 zombie type monster I control and special summon 1 zombie type tuner monster from my deck! I sacrifice Shiranui Solitaire and Special Summon Shiranui Spectralsword from my deck! (Atk: 800, Def: 0) I now tune together my Level 2 Shiranui Spectralsword with my Level 6 Shiranui Samuraisaga! Materialize oh master of combat, ruler of all warrior spirits, and lord of the samurai! Strike down your foes with your mighty blade of hellfire, SYNCHRO SUMMON! SHIRANUI SHOGUNSAGA! I activate Shiranui Shogunsaga's effect! I banish my Shiranui Samuraisaga from my graveyard in order to transfer his attack points to Shogunsaga! (Atk: 5500, Def: 0) From my hand, I now activate the Spell Card Raigeki, Destroying all of your monsters and breaking your combo!" "Not quite! Trickstar Candina's effect now activates! When my opponent activates a spell or trap card, they take 200 points of damage! And thanks to my Field spell and Dark Room of Nightmare, that's a total of 1000 points of damage!" (Jason LP: 3100) "Now to battle! Shiranui Shogunsaga, attack her directly! Shiranui Style, Hellfire Sword!" Shogunsaga's sword bursts into bright red flames, as he jumps into the air, swinging it over his head and bringing it down, cutting through me with a lancing, burning pain so intense it feels as though I'm being burned all the way down to my soul. "AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGGHHH!" I cry out in pain, falling to my knees, staring up at the sky. (Janice LP: 800) "And with that, I set 2 cards and end my turn. Now that my turn has ended, Shiranui Shogunsaga's attack points return to normal. (Atk: 3000, Def: 0)"

I stay as I am, simply staring up at the sky, thinking back to the first time I met Jason. The first words he said to me, were nothing but encouragement, telling me I had the potential, and not to beat myself up about how I wasn't any good. If it weren't for him, I probably would've gone back home and given up dueling. He saved me that day, and now, I feel as though it's my turn to save him from whatever mess he's gotten himself into now. I struggle to my feet and look over at him, seeing the fire in his eyes, the excitement, it fills me with the determination to win. "I might be low on Life Points, but if there was one thing I learned from you, it's that the duel isn't over till it's over! It's my turn now, and this draw will determine everything! I draw!" I look at the card, and my smile widens even more. "From my hand, I activate the spell card, MONSTER REBORN! This allows me to select 1 monster from either player's graveyard and summon it to my side of the field! I summon Trickstar Candina in attack mode! (Atk: 1800, Def: 0) Next from my hand I normal summon Trickstar Nightshade! (Atk: 100, Def: 0) Appear my circuit of dreams and hope! Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning conditions are 2 or more 'Trickstar' monsters! I set Trickstar Candina and Nightshade in the arrowheads and Link summon! Appear, Link-2 Holly Angel! (Atk: 2000) From the graveyard, Trickstar Nightshade's effect activates! When she is used as material for a Link summon, I can special summon her back to my field! Now Holly Angel's effect activates! When a Trickstar monster is normal or special summoned to a zone she points to, you take 200 points of damage! And with the rest of my combo, that totals up to a 1000 points! (Jason LP: 2100) But I'm not done there! Appear my circuit of courage and determination! Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning conditions are 2 or more Fairy type monsters! I set Trickstar Holly Angel and Nightshade in the arrowheads! Appear, Link-3 Trickstar Foxywitch! (Atk: 2200) Trickstar Foxywitch's effect activates! When this card is special summoned, you take 200 points of damage for each card you control! Counting the 4 cards in your spell/trap zone, and Shiranui Shogunsaga, that's a total of 5! So that's 1000 points of damage! (Jason LP: 1100) But it doesn't end there! Trickstar Light Stage deals you 200 more! (Jason LP: 900) And finally, Dark Room of Nightmare's effect activates, inflicting 600 points of damage! (Jason LP: 300) Now to battle! Trickstar Foxywitch attacks Shiranui Shogunsaga!" "Well Jan, it's been fun, but this is where it ends it seems." Jason says with a satisfied smirk on his face. "You're right about that Jason, it ends here! I activate Trickstar Carobein's effect from my hand! By sending her to the graveyard when one of my Trickstar monster battles, I can have it gain attack points equal to its original attack! So Trickstar Foxywitch's attack doubles! (Atk: 4400) Game Over Jason!" (Jason LP: 0)

"It's finally over huh. Heh heh, not too shabby there Jan, not too shabby. I'm honestly a bit surprised. You were actually able to hand me my first loss. I couldn't be prouder." Jason says, slowly standing up from his kneeling position, a small smile of pride on his face. "Shut up, I didn't ask for you to be proud of me. All I want now is some answers. Starting with what made you up and abandon us like that. It had better have been important, or I'm going to kick your ass right here and now." I say angrily. Jason's smile disappears, and he looks away for a moment. "Tell me Jan, what do you know about the 6 dimensions?" I groan, sensing that there's going to be a story behind this. "There are 6 dimensions that the Xeno Force is sworn to protect. First, there's the Origin Sector, from which all the other dimensions originated. Second, is the Fusion dimension. Third, the Synchro dimension. Fourth is the Xyz dimension. Fifth is the Pendulum Dimension with all of it's unique dimensions included. Finally, there's my home dimension, the Link dimension. These 6 dimensions make up the universe as we know it, and the Xeno Force is tasked with patrolling the timelines of each dimension, ensuring that no timeline deviates from its natural course." I say, repeating the same thing that was drilled into my head in basic training. "You are only partially correct in that statement Jan. While those 6 dimensions are all that you know about, there was a 7th dimension. A dimension that has been lost to time. A dimension that was destroyed by the same people sworn to protect it. And I was the one who destroyed it." Jason says, still not looking up at me. I'm speechless for a moment, struggling to regain my composure. "What do you mean you're the one who destroyed it?! And that's assuming I believe your crazy story! I've never heard of a 7th dimension, or a dimension ever being destroyed for that matter!" I say exasperated. Jason lets out a faint sigh and finally looks me in the eye, showing me that they're full of sorrow and regret. "Like I said, of course you haven't heard of it. It's name was erased from any and all records, and it's denizens were all but killed off in a great purge. Only a few of them managed to escape with their lives, and one of them was Haos. All that stuff she was spouting off before about me destroying her home was true. Back then, I was a rookie like you, and I got assigned a top secret mission straight from the top brass themselves. The mission was to go in and put down an insurgency that was threatening to disrupt the timeline of that world. Little did we realize that the so called 'insurgency' included the entire population of that dimension. We were shown a picture of the uniform the insurgency would be wearing, and so we went in and eliminated everyone we found with that uniform. Women, Children, Old and young, none of them were spared. I don't remember very much after that, it's all a blur really." Jason explains, taking a more comfortable position. "None of that answers my question though. Why did you leave, and without telling me or Miss Ryoko what was going on? We could've helped you, or done something about it!" I say frustratedly. "That's just it Jan, you couldn't have done anything. Neither of you could, this is something that I needed to do on my own. My sins are mine and mine alone. No one else needs to bear my burdens as their own." A loud beeping sound interrupts us and Jason looks at his watch. "Well, it seems my time here is up. I'll see you round Jan." He says, waving goodbye. "Hold it, where do you think you're going?!" I say running after him. He jumps off the roof and into the alley below, disappearing without a trace. "Damn it! He stalled me for time! Stupid son of a bitch! I should've known he was up to something." I growl angrily. A spark of light catches my eye, and I spot a card lying on the ground, with a note laying next to it. I walk over and pick up the note, reading it to myself.

"Dear Jan, sorry I had to leave like that, but I had a time limit for how long I could see you guys. The others here still don't trust me yet, and I can't say I blame them after all I've done. I'm just glad they've accepted that I want to try and fix what I did. But that's beside the point. I'm glad I got to see you again. You've grown up a lot in these two months we've been apart, I'm just sad I couldn't be there to witness it myself. Oh btw, if you ever see that Conor kid again, give him the card you find with this note. I banned him from the keeper's shop, and even though I know he's probably broken his promise, I still found a card that would help his deck a bit. Who knows, maybe I'll find something for you too someday. Take care of yourself Jan, I'll be seeing you around.

-Jason

"That son of a bitch." I sigh as I fold the note and tuck it away into my pocket, switching my radio back on. "Let's call it a night, I don't think he's gonna show."

To be continued….