"Okay, see, what happened was—"

"They don't care, Jaden." Yubel's voice was ripe with frustration, even when it was just in Jaden's head.

"I don't care, Mr. Yuki," the cop echoed, sighing as he stood up in his seat, his head nearly banging into the singular light fixture that hung in the tiny room.

"How can you not care!" Shouting, Jaden pulled against his cuffs as he rattled the table. "Pariah is out there, and if we don't do something, he's going to—"

"Mr. Yuki, you're being charged with malicious destruction of property, for the demolition of the 23rd Kaiba Dome, and—"

"Really more an arena than—" Jaden was silenced as the cop slammed the table.

"Malicious destruction of property and over a thousand counts of attempted murder." The officer's patience was obviously running thin. "If convicted, you're looking at multiple back-to-back life sentences. Now, you can work with me here or—"

A sharp noise rang out of the officer's earpiece, making him pause as he reached up for it.

"Yes?" he answered, a louder more parsable noise quickly following. After a few moments, he nodded. "Understood."

Looking down at Jaden, the cop glared.

"Wait here," he said, before turning and leaving the room promptly. A moment of silence followed.

"I don't understand why you don't just let me break your bonds," Yubel said then, ending the quiet.

"Look, if I can get the cops to listen to this Pariah stuff, then maybe they'll just forget that I wrecked an entire building," Jaden replied, fiddling with his cuffs. "I'm not interested in being on the run permanent—"

The door opened again, making Jaden's gaze jump to meet the intense blue eyes awaiting him.

"Kaiba! Oh man, am I glad to see you," Jaden began, breathing a sigh of relief. "You basically own the police in Domino. You can get these bogus charges—"

Without saying a word, Kaiba slammed the chair across from Jaden away, planting his hands on the table soon after.

"What the hell are you doing, Yuki!" he shouted, making Jaden flinch as the fury of a dragon bored down on him. "I expected you to hold onto the Sacred Beasts, not use them as weapons of mass destruction!"

"Okay listen, I know you're mad, but see there's this guy named Pariah, and—"

"I gave you those cards with something I don't give often, Jaden. Trust. I don't trust anyone easily but myself and my brother." Seto was obviously not interested in hearing about the Pariah situation, as he continued his tirade at Jaden's expense. "But I trusted you with those cards. And what did you do with them? You made a fool of yourself, at my expense!"

That made Jaden pause from what he was going to say next.

"How do you think this would've played out if I didn't step in, Yuki?" Kaiba asked, continuing as he reached into his pocket to pull out a remote. With a click, the table between the two became a screen as a scene played before Jaden's eyes. It was a recording of him, clear as day, summoning Raviel and destroying that arena. "Look at you, unable to control your cards, letting them run away from you, and ending the match before its conclusion. It's a disgrace!"

"Look, I'm sorry for wrecking the building okay? I won't use the Sacred Beasts inside anymore," Jaden pleaded, earning an even more angry look from Kaiba.

"This isn't about the buildings, Yuki! This isn't about me, this is about you!" His voice was practically a roar in itself. "You're never going to make something of yourself if you don't shape up. And as someone who's invested too much into you, I will not allow that!"

"What the heck are you talking about?" Confusion tinged Jaden's question. "Aren't I just holding the Sacred Beasts for you? What do you care what I 'make of myself' or whatever?"

It was at that point that Kaiba paused— as if a thought crossed his mind and was quickly buried with another glare. Yet before that, there was a look to him, one Jaden could just about catch.

It was… caring.

"Do you even know where the Sacred Beasts are?" Kaiba asked then, moving the discussion along as he stood straight and crossed his arms. That question made Jaden pause.

"In my bag, obviously!" he answered, attempting and failing to reach for his bag in the corner. "Stupid cuffs…"

Grunting, Kaiba reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a set of cards and laying them out on the table.

Jaden gasped at the sight of them.

"Wait, the Sacred Beasts? How do you have them?!" He practically jumped out of his chair, prompting Kaiba to unlock his cuffs with a press of a button. With one movement, Jaden grabbed his bag and looked inside, finding his supplies and— "A hole?"

Clear as day to Jaden's eyes was a perfect card-shaped hole. A burnt-out hole.

"Shortly after the incident began," Seto explained. "We recorded the Sacred Beasts falling out of your bag."

"Burning out," Jaden corrected under his breath, as he picked up the three legendary cards and gave them a look.

"Whatever," Kaiba grumbled before turning. "Do us all a favour, Yuki, and patch the holes in your stuff."

And with that, Kaiba opened the door—

"Your charges are dropped. Get in trouble again and I won't bail you out."

—And left, leaving the exit open for Jaden to follow.

"Awww heck yeah! Seto 'get out of jail free' Kaiba to the rescue!" he cheered, scooping up his stuff and following behind. "Now I just gotta find where Pharoah and the gang are and we—"

Jaden stepped out of the interrogation room, finding not the police station as he expected, but instead a lavish conference room of a Kaiba Corp building. The giant 'KC' on the ceiling wouldn't let Jaden forget that.

But Jaden wasn't interested in the logo on the ceiling, but the people underneath it.

"Guys!" A wide grin shot up on Jaden's face as he saw the Duel Academy crew gathered at the end of the long conference table, turning at his call. "Oh man, are you guys a sight for sore eyes! How the heck did you get here?"

Jaden turned as he ran up to his friends, walking backwards and looking to the door he just exited from. The sign above it read 'maintenance room,' almost giving Jaden a chuckle, if it weren't the fact he'd been locked up in there for an hour.

"Jaden!" Syrus called out, rushing to meet him halfway. "We were so worried about you!"

"You gave us a real scare there, Sarge," Hassleberry followed up, as Jaden approached. "First disappearing into the sky like that, and then getting captured by enemy troops!"

"You mean the police?" Alexis suggested, raising a brow.

"Same thing," Hassleberry asserted.

"Yeah, that's a long story," Jaden threw out as he slowed in his approach. "But listen, we got bigger things to deal with. There's a dude called Pariah and—"

"We already know, Jaden," Jesse interrupted, pulling a confused look from Jaden.

"You do? But, how?!"

"Because you're not the only one with inside knowledge, Yuki." A familiar voice called that out, making Jaden's eyes widen as he turned. The gang parted from their tight grouping, revealing a new arrival at the end of the conference table.

"Chazz!" Jaden ditched what little sense of formalities he had as he practically tackled Chazz in his chair, sending his rival into hysterics.

"What the heck are you doing!"

"Dude, we've been worried sick about you, where have you been!" Jaden shouted out, half in excitement and half in relief as he tried hugging the resisting Chazz. Giving up on that venture, he disconnected from his friend and gave him a once over. "And, what the heck are you wearing? I thought my clothes were patchwork, yours are next level, dude."

Scoffing, Chazz continued patting off any dirt he might've gotten off Jaden, which was impressive considering it seemed like his coat was carrying a lifetime supply already. In truth, Chazz looked absolutely destitute, his clothing full of holes and scratches, covered in dried mud and leaves and god knows what else.

"Hiking four hundred miles isn't exactly a walk in the park, Jaden," he said with a gruff bark.

"Hiking? What the heck were you pulling a me for?"

"Do I have to go over this whole thing again?!" Chazz asked as he retook his seat, Jaden taking the seat across from him.

"Seems so!" His answer came with a laugh that just drew a sigh from Chazz.

"Okay, see, what happened was—"

A Few Weeks Ago…

The rattle of Chazz's train was both his greatest aid and worst enemy on the quest for sleep. Its gentle rhythm and warm vibrations could be called a lullaby, pulling him closer and closer to a quiet rest. Yet every time, just before he would doze off, a sharp shake of the train cart would keep him secured in the land of the conscious.

"Hey, Boss! You havin' trouble sleeping?" And then, to make matters worse, an absolutely ear grating voice joined along.

"Maybe we can sing you a lullaby!" Make that two voices.

"Oh, singing! I love singing!" And just like that, Chazz was three for three on voices that made him wish he was traveling on the bottom of this train. At least in that case he wouldn't have to listen to these freaks.

"Can you three can it!" Chazz shouted, shooting up from the seat in his private room and swatting at the ethereal forms of the Ojamas with his hands. The three ugly spirits scattered like flies, avoiding their boss's passionate, albeit harmless attack. "Can't a guy get some beauty sleep over here! Not that you three have any idea what that is!"

"Ah jeeze, that's mean boss!" Ojama Black whined, peaking his stupid head over the edge of the table.

"Don't mind him, Black. He's just craaaanky he's gotta do all this traveling!" Yellow's voice was like a continuous scream, contorting itself into words. Words that unfortunately rang true.

"Stupid Kaiba, announcing some dumb tournament when I'm on the other side of the country," Chazz whined as he perched his chin on his hand, looking out the window to the dark landscape they passed by. "He better actually play in this one. Cause I'm abouta give him a piece of my mind!"

"You tell 'em, Boss!" Green called out next, bumping his head against the bottom of the table rather than peaking over it. Chazz groaned.

"How about I tell you guys to take a hike!" he shouted, sending the Ojamas back under the table again. "I've had enough Ojama screeching for a lifetime!"

The universe wasn't feeling too kind towards Chazz it seemed. For the moment those words left his mouth, the whole world was set to make him eat them.

A portal, a small one, appeared suddenly in the air in front of Chazz. And before he had a chance to even say 'what', two forms— One red and one blue —fell out onto the table, the portal closing after them a moment later.

"Huh?!" Chazz stumbled to his feet, rubbing the tiredness from his eyes as he tried to recover.

"Who the heck are you!?" Ojama Yellow screamed, followed quickly by Black and Green.

"I think we're safe here, Red."

"Where da heck is here, though!"

When Chazz opened his eyes, he found not just his usual three ugly freaks of nature, but now five, with his usual three cowering in the corner.

"Who the heck are you!?" he screamed, repeating the call of Yellow from moments ago.

Without much haste, the blue one turned to face Chazz, its taut thin eyes and tight clammy blue lips sending a disgusted chill up his spine.

"I'm Ojama Red!" the other one screamed for no good reason, rushing to the blue one's side and butting heads with it.

"And I'm Ojama Blue," the first answered.

And like that, Chazz felt himself going light-headed, as the two figures before him stood clear in the moonlight.

Two?! Two more Ojamas?!

"Whoa, wait, you guys are Ojamas?" Green asked, his earlier cowering seemingly gone as he approached the two new arrivals.

"We haven't seen any other Ojamas in years!" Yellow went even farther, nearly walking up to them. "How're things back in Ojama Country? I bet it's as Ojamazing as usual!"

"There's an Ojama country?" Chazz wasn't sure to be surprised or resigned to his fate. "Just— No! I have enough little nightmares to deal with, I don't need the five for three deal!"

Chazz lunged for Blue and Red, causing them to scatter just out of his grasp as he collided with the table.

"Boss!"

"Yeah, run away! Get out of here you ugly— Ah!" Chazz screamed as he felt Ojama Red chow down on his butt. "Get off of me!"

"You should treat us better," Blue spoke simply. It seemed he was the talker of the pair. "We're refugees you know."

"Wait, refugees? From what?"

Chazz yelped as he just about tore Red off of him, lifting the red menace up by his scruffy yellow neckerchief.

"If it's a country of Ojamas, I think everyone there counts as a refugee from annoyance," Chazz grumbled as he shook the resisting Ojama Red.

"From who else? Pariah," Blue answered, making Chazz pause from his ill-fated attempts at poking the rampaging Ojama he held.

"Pariah? Who the heck is—"

The whole train shook, sending Chazz toppling to the ground and the Ojamas flying.

"What the hell was that!?" Stumbling to his feet, Chazz rushed to the window, pulling the curtains aside and looking out to the dark desert canyon they were passing by. Nothing out of place. He could see lights going on in the train carts ahead of him. They felt it too. "What exactly did this Pariah guy want—"

Chazz's train cart was slammed to the side, sending him flying into the wall as the quintet of Ojamas screamed again. The windows were thrown open, curtains blown away as the room descended into pure pandemonium.

And from Chazz's position, pinned against the wall of the train cart, he had a first-class view of the cause of this chaos.

Riding alongside the train at blistering speeds was the silhouette of a man on a horse. Trails of cloth whipped in the wind behind the rider, sharp silver horns glistening from their helmet in the pale moonlight.

Chazz opened his mouth to call out the dark assailant, but he was laid silent when the rider turned to face him, and empty blackness welcomed his gaze instead of eyes.

Without a word, the rider raised his arm into the air, calling forth a dark pool of energy at his side. And then, with a call that was like the crack of a whip in the relatively silent night, the rider spoke.

"Dark End Dragon, end this!"

A burst of energy fired from the rider's side, slamming into Chazz's cart and sending it flying away from the rest of the train. In short order, it began to plummet into the canyon below, disappearing from sight moments later.

And then, so did the rider.

Chazz rubbed a crick in his neck as his story came to an end, going over the last few important details as they came to mind.

"Thankfully, that guy sucks at killing people and Ojamas make for good airbags," he explained, with a half proud grin. "So I survived and—"

"Lying doesn't suit ya, boss!" Popping into sight from behind Chazz's head, Ojama Yellow arrived, chastizing his boss. "You survived cause we Ojamas saved ya!"

As if on cue, Green and Black joined him, followed by two more surprising additions, Blue and Red. The quintet spun in circles around Chazz's head, pulling a heavy growl out of their boss.

"Yes, we—"

"Did! We saved—"

"Da boss, and—"

"Will you five can it!" Chazz swung into the air, hitting all five Ojamas and sending them flying across the room, grabbing a giggle from the rest of the Duel Academy crew in the process. "Anyways, that's basically everything. Apparently, Pariah took over Ojama Country a few weeks ago and Ojama Red and Blue were the only ones who could escape to warn us."

"But if Pariah attacked all the way back then, why did no one know he was coming?" Jaden asked then, sitting forward. Chazz huffed.

"It's Ojama Country," he answered. "You think anyone would care to notice if that place was burnt to the ground?"

"Good point," Jaden said with a sigh, falling back into his seat. A silent moment passed "Hey."

"Hm?" Chazz looked up from his grumpy crossed-arm look.

"I'm happy you managed to make it." A familiar smile crossed Jaden's face. "It wouldn't be a tournament without ya, bud."

Chazz's frown disappeared as he chuckled.

"Don't thank me. I wouldn't have even made it into the building without some help," he explained.

"Hm?" Jaden cocked an eyebrow as he heard the door to the room slide open. "Help? From who—"

"Eh! It's you!"

Before Jaden could get another word in, or even turn, he found himself tackled to the ground, the room descending into a storm of screaming in the process.

"Youz think you can drop a building on Joey Rockin' Wheeler and get off scot-free! Not on your life, bud!" The impromptu arrival of Joey Wheeler would usually have left Jaden giddy with excitement. However, all the tight grip around Jaden's neck left him with was the feeling of oxygen deprivation.

"Get off him, man!" he heard Atticus scream, as the rest of the Duel Academy crew finally jumped into action, the shock leaving their systems.

Hassleberry and Jesse each took Joey by an arm, just barely managing to tear him away from a quickly asphyxiating Jaden. Just in time too. A few more seconds of that and Jaden might've been done for.

"Lemme go! Dat kid owes me a duel and a new arena to boot!" Joey roared, as Alexis and Atticus joined in restraining him.

"What is he talking about, Jay?!" Syrus shouted out, taking a stand between Jaden and his assailant.

"I, uh—" Jaden hacked as he recovered from the attack, stumbling to his feet. "Might've committed some, uh, light terrorism."

The whole room, aside from the ravenous Joey, went silent as they turned to stare at Jaden.

"I didn't mean to! It was an accident!" he shot out in defense.

"How do you accidentally commit terrorism?" Zane said, more accusing than asking. "You're the reason that arena collapsed?"

"Oh god was that you? I thought you were joking!" Alexis followed up, as the story of the arena began to connect with the rest of the room.

"See!? Now lemme go you buncha punks!" Joey demanded, nearly breaking through the tight grips of the Duel Academy crew.

A sigh filled the air then as Chazz stood up, taking Syrus's spot in between Jaden and Joey.

"Calm it down, big guy. Jaden's with me," he said, crossing his arms. That made Joey pause for the first time since he arrived at the scene, blinking as he looked between Chazz and Jaden. "He's the one I told you about, who can help with Pariah."

"He is?" Going limp, Joey slipped out from the grip of the four, easily sidestepping them as they nearly fell over. "Well, why didn't you say so!"

"Do, you two know each other?" Jaden looked back and forth between Chazz and Joey as they gave each other a knowing nod.

"He's the one who helped me get in here, numbskull," Chazz explained, retaking his seat. "I arrived in Domino a few hours before all that crazy stuff went down and managed to warn him."

"Lil did ah know that he'd end up bringin' me straight to youz." Joey walked straight towards Jaden, raising the tension in the room as they all thought he might attack again. "I don't knowz what's goin' on with dis Pariah deal, but—"

Joey came to a stop at an uncomfortably close distance to Jaden, standing nearly chest to chest with him.

"When dis is over, you still owes me a rematch. And ah ain't gonna go easy, capiche?" Joey wasn't that much taller than Jaden, but right now he towered over his opponent, for a moment resembling more an unclimbable mountain than a man.

But where most people saw an impossible task, Jaden saw an opportunity.

A crisp grin took his face, as he took a half step back and offered his hand up.

"Is that a promise?" he asked, not pulling a reaction from the far more serious Joey at first.

Soon, however, Joey's true feelings broke through, as a goofy cocky grin replaced his stoic frown.

"It's a threat." With that, Joey took Jaden's hand and the two had a shake in understanding.

A figurative sigh of relief took the room as the two separated, Joey taking a seat at the conference table and facing the rest of the gang.

"All these years and you're still finding new rivals, Jay," Syrus said under his breath, as everyone returned to their spots around the table.

"It's like I always said, Sy. I've got a punchable personality." Jaden took his spot with a confident sneer, spinning in the office chair once before coming to a stop. Despite how much of a day today had been, Jaden Yuki was still cool as a cucumber.

"You never used to say that!" Syrus huffed, earning a mischievous snicker from his friend.

"Alright, can it, you twoz. Dere's only room for one clown in dis class, and it's me, capiche?" Joey cut in, crossing his arms. His patience was already running thin. "So, what're we doin' now? Just waitin' for somethin'?"

"Trying to out-clown Jaden's a bigger challenge than dueling him," Alexis muttered under her breath before she cleared her voice and spoke up. "Kaiba told us to wait for some more help to arrive. Whatever that—"

"Ah salamu alaykum!" A voice from the door cracked across the room, cutting Alexis off as the whole room turned.

"Frigging timing," she muttered, getting up from her seat to see the arrivals for herself. To call them surprising would be an understatement.

It's not every day you get multiple Battle City Finalists in a room together.

Marik Ishtar swaggered his way into the room with a confident gait, followed by the far more reserved entrances of his older siblings, Ishizu and Odion. Ishizu barely managed to say hello herself before Marik continued, looking over the room and raising a brow.

"Well, this is an odd assortment," he began, as most of the room looked at him with shock. "Hello! I don't believe we've met? Besides for Wheeler, of course."

"Ay, nice to see ya too, tomb boy," Joey jeered from his seat, as the others got up to greet the new arrivals. Ahead of the pack as always though was the ever excitable Jaden.

"Hey, you've met me!" he called out with a big grin, catching the surprise of basically the whole room.

"Do you just know every Battle City Finalist or something, Jaden?" Alexis asked first, making Jaden resist answering yes. It wouldn't actually be a lie at this point. "Also, wow, hi. Calling me starstruck right now would be an understatement."

That comment was directed to Ishizu of all people, who recognized the spark of excitement in Alexis's eyes. Ishizu had never intended it, but her participation all those years ago in Battle City had been an inspiration for many aspiring young duelists, Alexis especially.

The two shared a knowing nod.

"You know this boy, Marik?" Not to get bogged down in introductions, however, Ishizu continued on.

"It's a long story," he answered, scratching his head as he shook Jaden's hand. "Though I suspect what he and I saw earlier today had something to do with this whole mess."

"What're y'all talking about?" Jesse asked then, looking between Jaden and Marik as the entire party began walking back to the table.

"An even longer story," Marik answered, stepping over the back of a chair and sitting in it backwards. "One we don't even know the end of. For now, let's catch up with something more important. What's been going on?"

Chazz, who up till now hadn't moved from his seat since the Ishtars' arrival, slid straight off it now.

"Do I have to give this story again?!" he shouted out, standing and popping up from beneath the table. "One of you better have recorded me, because I'm not doing it!"

And then, Ishizu said something— Something that left almost the whole room surprised.

"This is about Pariah, yes?" she asked, making Chazz pause from his diatribe and calling everyone's attention onto her. "No need to regale us with the details. We're already caught up."

"How da heck do you know?" Joey said, sitting forward and planting his elbows on the table.

Speaking up for the first time since arriving, Odion answered that question.

"My sister has her sources, ones she guards even from her brothers," he explained, crossing his arms and shutting his eyes. "Though now would be a good opportunity to reveal them."

"In due time," Ishizu answered, a small smile crossing her lips.

"And I thought we were the weird ones," Syrus muttered under his breath, leaning over to whisper it to Hassleberry.

"Due time, shmue time. What's it time for now?" Chazz asked, grabbing the attention of the whole table to him again. "Kaiba said to wait for some help to arrive. Is that everyone?"

"Shmue time?" Alexis muttered under her breath before standing up. As she did so, however, Marik turned in his seat, facing the wall with the entrance to the room. "Well, there's only one other duelist I can imagine Kaiba would want us to wait for, and it looks like he's—"

"Yugi Muto!" Marik called out, ripping away from Alexis the attention of the entire room. Wide eyes whipped to the door once more, heralding the arrival of the King of Games.

"...yep," Alexis finished under her breath, putting on a smile as she turned.

The room was quiet after Marik's exclamation, as the Duel Academy crew was left a bit stunned at the sight of the Duel Monsters Champion, even as he so casually entered the room, one of his hands buried in his pocket. Alexis's earlier comments about being starstruck resonated with them all now.

But if there was one way to deal with meeting your heroes, someone else breaking the ice would surely be it.

"Hey, Yug!" Joey hopped up from his seat, leaving behind the silent duelists and approaching his best friend like it was nothing. Because it was nothing. "Glad you could make it bud, not's that we needed ya or anythin'."

Yugi chuckled at that jab as he exchanged greetings with Joey, oddly enough shaking with his left hand as his right remained in his pocket.

"It's good to see you too, Joey, and the Ishtar siblings as well!" he responded, calling out and giving a nod to the three at their seats. Then his gaze traveled to the unfamiliar faces in the room, and the two familiar ones buried in between them. "You must be the friends of Jaden and Alexis that Mokuba told me about! Thank you so much for your help stopping the threat that attacked the city. I only wish I could've been there to help."

With Yugi's thanks came a smile, brightening up the room almost immediately. The gang had heard about Yugi's warm demeanor, but this was something else.

The apprehension was dissolved even further as Jaden twirled out from his seat and approached Yugi like he knew him personally. Because, as it was, he kinda did.

"Hey Yugi, it's great seeing you around, bud," he said, a bit of a friendly jeer to his words. "Just wish you could've been around earlier when we were, ya know, saving the world."

Now, Jaden was mostly joking with his comment. It wasn't like anything too bad happened— No harm no foul, right? He was just pulling Yugi's leg, was all.

That fact seemed to go over Yugi's head, as his eyes fell to the ground and his smile disappeared.

"I had, my own thing, unfortunately," he said, finally pulling his hand from his pocket and raising it up for the room to see.

For the room saw that Yugi's hand was covered in gauze.

"W-what happened?" Alexis asked, standing up as Jaden took a step back in shock.

"Right after all those monsters began appearing around the city, I felt cards in my deck begin to call out to me, demanding to be let out," Yugi explained, burying his hand into his pocket and wincing. "It was the God Cards."

A shot rang in Jaden's mind, as he remembered the events of earlier that day— How Raviel practically came alive in his deck, nearly coming out all by itself. And it was right when Yugi summoned his God Card.

"I had to spend the entire time keeping the Gods from summoning themselves." Yugi shuffled in place before stepping forward and putting a hand on Jaden's shoulder. "If they had been summoned while Duel Monsters were real, they could've leveled half of the city."

Finally allowing his stoic look to fall away, Yugi regained his earlier warm smile, bringing some light back to a room of long faces.

"They certainly put up a fight, burnt my hand pretty badly," he said, making light of it as he approached the table. "But I'll be fine— And as long as we all work together to fight this new threat, we'll be fine too! So, why don't we get to work?"

"There's the Yug I know," Joey called out as Yugi took his seat by the Ishtars.

Meanwhile, Jaden remained standing where Yugi had passed him by, his mind lost in thought as the others caught Yugi up with everything.

The God Cards burnt Yugi, just like the Sacred Beasts burnt their way out of Jaden's bag. The six of them were trying to be let out for some reason, just after Yugi summoned Obelisk.

"Or just before Pariah had arrived." Yubel's voice in Jaden's head shook him from his stupor. "Neither possibility is particularly attractive. Either the Sacred Beasts and Yugi's God Cards are going to keep trying to go rogue whenever Pariah attacks, or…"

"Or what?" Jaden said under his breath as he turned back to the table.

"Or your attempt to take that crown from Yugi is going to less be a duel of kings, and more a Battle of Gods." Yubel went quiet for a moment, the familiar silence growing uncomfortable in Jaden's mind. "Thoughts for later. For now, we have more to explain."

"Right." Arriving back at the table, Jaden readied for what would come next, reaching into his deck as he listened in.

"So dat's everything right?" Joey asked, looking between Yugi and the Ishtars. "Some crazy ancient dude tryin' to kill us all? Again?"

A round of nods followed before Jaden cut in, placing his hand on Yugi's chair.

"Wellll, there's one last thing," he said, pulling at Joey's attention in particular. With one movement, Jaden flicked a card out and revealed it to the entire room—

Hermos.

"Eh?!" Joey's jaw practically fell through the table. Confusion like nothing before flashed through his eyes, and he wasn't alone in it. The Duel Academy crew and Ishtars were confused as well, albeit for different reasons.

"Right, that's the card that darn right saved me and Jay from Pariah!" Jesse called out.

"Card? Which—" Yugi came to a sudden stop as he turned in his seat, catching sight of the card in question. "Is, is that Hermos? Joey, that's—!"

Jaden shook his head.

"Yugi, I think you're gonna want to summon the Dark Magician Girl for this one."

End of Intermission 1