The Old Switcheroo

As we already know, the winter break was officially over. The weather was as sunny and warm as usual and the students and faculty were back in classes. The students listened the lectures very well... with the exception of Jaden, Syrus and Chumley, who were sleeping through the class... as usual. Andrew glanced at them, shaking his head.

'Falling asleep in class again. Some things never change.' He then started to remember about the story they told him and Jenny. 'I gotta admit though, those crazy adventures are actually more exciting than classes...'


Flashback

"Jaden. How are you guys?" Andrew asked. "You weren't all too bored here, were you?"

"Well, let's just say our winter break was in high spirit." Jaden said jokingly.

His two roommates groaned.

"Come on, Jaden. I've had enough of spirits for a long time." Syrus complained.

Andrew and Jenny blinked.

"Um, what are you guys talking about?" Jenny asked.

"Did something happen here?" Andrew added.

The Slifer trio and Michael looked at each other before turning to their two friends. "Boy have we a story to tell you."


A few minutes later

"No way! So Torrey and his friends brought the spirit of Jinzo to life?" Jenny asked with a shocked tone.

"And you dueled him with your soul at risk?" Andrew asked equally shocked.

"Yup, pretty crazy, right?" Jaden said as he smiled sheepishly.

"More like scary." Chumley muttered under his breath, loud enough for Syrus to hear who agreed.

"It was one heck of an experience, that's for sure." Michael commented.

"Sounds like you guys had a greater adventure than me." Andrew remarked.

"Really? What have you been through?" Syrus asked, making the others look at him with curiosity.

"Well…"


A few more minutes later

"Wow. So you came across a bully who picked on two kids and took him down in a card shop tournament?" Jaden asked, being amazed by Andrew's story.

"Yeah, that's right." The Ra students replied.

"Sounds like one of your daily good deeds." Jenny said jokingly, making Andrew laugh.

"At least you had to fight a bully instead of a ghost." Syrus said.

"Well, now we can at least chill out here at the academy in peace." Jaden said.

"If you are including studying, then sure." Jenny remarked, making the brown haired hero duelist face fault.

Flashback end


'... But now it's back to same old same old.' Andrew thought as he focused on the lectures


After the classes were over, Andrew and Jenny were walking in the hall, talking to each other.

"We sure have been through so much this year." Andrew said.

"Yeah, no joke." Jenny replied. "I still can't believe Jaden dueled an evil duel spirit."

"I know, right? And to think that Jaden risked his own soul to duel him. It kinda reminds me of that shadow duel against Kang."

Due to hearing Andrew mention that, she couldn't but shudder. "Don't remind me. I still haven't gotten over that."

"Sorry."

"Hey, Andrew!" Someone called out from behind. They turned around to see Shiori approach them.

"Shiori? What brings you here?"

"Well, I wanted to ask you if you want to duel me." He proposed.

Andrew blinked. "I don't really mind dueling you, but why?"

"I want to improve my dueling skills, so I need to test some new cards I added to my deck."

He nodded understanding. "Sounds okay. Alright, I accept your challenge."

Shiori smiled gratefully. "Great. Then I'll meet you at the docks about one hour. See ya." He then walked away.

"Sounds like Shiori got a surprise for you." Jenny remarked. "Nervous?"

"Not really." Andrew shook his head. "It's just some dueling practice. If he's going to test his new cards, I better prepare myself as well." He was about to head to the Ra Yellow dorm, but not before turning to Jenny." Well, I'll see you later." He then walked away.

"Yeah, see ya." She replied as she waved at him.


Andrew was in his dorm, sitting at his desk and looked over his cards.

"Let's see here…" He muttered to himself. "If I take this trap card from my deck, I should replace it with this spell card. And maybe I can add this monster to my deck." As he rearranged his deck, Phantom Magician appeared from his card.

"I can see you're working hard here." The skeletal spell caster said.

"Yeah, if Shiori is going to test his improved deck, I need to do my very best against him."

"Sounds good. Do you have a place for me in your deck?"

Th Ra student smiled at him. "Of course. I'll always have a place in my deck for you."

The duel spirit nodded. "Thank you, Andrew."

"No problem, partner."

The duel spirit decided to let Andrew arrange his deck in peace and disappeared.


Andrew sat there for a while, planning a few more strategies before placing the deck in his holder.

"Alright, that should be enough." He concluded. "Now, what time is it?" He took a look at his watch and then...

"…"

"…"

"WHAT!?" Andrew shouted as he jumped off the chair. "Only 5 minutes left before I need to meet up with Shiori! I'm going to be late!" And then he dashed out of his room.


Meanwhile, Jaden, Syrus and Chumley were walking around on campus. They were just about to reach the Ra Yellow dorm.

"Man there's nothing like sunshine and fresh air. I could just sit down and take a nap." Jaden said.

"But you kinda did that during class, didn't you?" Syrus asked, making Jaden scratch the back of his head while smiling sheepishly.

"But then again, that's what all three of us did." Chumley pointed out.

"True. Hey let's go and see if Andrew wants to hang out with us." The brown-haired Slifer suggested as he walked to the entrance. But before he reached the door, it suddenly slammed opened and Andrew came out running.

"Damn I'm going to be…"

BONK!

He was in such a hurry, he didn't noticed Jaden until he bumped into him, causing both of them falling down to the ground. As a result, both of them dropped their deck holders.

"Ow. Did someone get the number of that truck?" Jaden asked jokingly.

"Ouch. What just happened?" Andrew asked before he raised his head and saw the person in front of him. "Oh, Jaden. Sorry for bumping into you like that."

"Nah, it's cool. Don't worry about it." Jaden assured him. "But, what's the rush?"

Andrew looked at his watch and stood up. "Long story short, I'm going to duel Shiori and I'm going to be late." He said as he quickly stood up and took up one of the deck holders. "So I need to hurry. See ya!" The Slifer trio watched as he ran off.

"So Shiori asked Andrew for a rematch." Syrus realized.

"Yeah, sounds like it." Chumley added.

"That sounds great. Maybe we should check it out." Jaden suggested. Before he got up, he noticed the other deck holder. "Oh my cards." He picked up and was about to attach it to his belt, but saw it was opened, revealing the deck inside. "Huh?"

"What is it Jaden?" Syrus asked.

The hero duelist took out the deck and looked through it and was surprised by the cards he saw. "Hey, that's Lady Heat, Woodsman and Ice Edge. These are Andrew's cards."

"What? But didn't he pick up his deck holder?" Chumley asked.

It was then Syrus widened his eyes. "But if that's his deck, then that would mean…"

"Andrew picked up my deck!" Jaden exclaimed comically and started to run in the same direction as Andrew. "Come on, let's go!"

"Jaden, wait up!" Syrus called out as he and Chumley ran after him.

"Why do we have to run?"


Andrew was running as fast as he could, until he reached his destination: the docks. While catching his breath, he looked around to see if he could find Shiori. But for some reason, he couldn't find him anywhere.

"Hm? I wonder where Shiori is?" He wondered. He then suddenly heard the sound of running footsteps from a distance. He turned to the direction of the sound and saw Shiori approaching him.

"Hey Andrew. Sorry I'm late. I was working on my deck and lost track of time."

Andrew held up his hand and assured him. "It's okay. I actually did the same thing. So are you ready?"

The ritual duelist smirked as he activated his duel. "I am more than ready. The question is, are you ready?"

Andrew returned the smirk and activated his own duel disk and inserted 'his' deck into it. "Oh, I'm definitely ready. So let's get this started."

Both duelists walked up and took their positions.

"Alright…"

"Let's duel!"

Andrew: 4000

Shiori: 4000

Both duelists drew their starting hands.

"Okay, I'll start things off." Shiori announced while drawing his sixth card. "First I summon Armored Zombie in attack mode." A zombie with a puckish green skin, wearing a red wooden samurai armor rose from the ground and held up its sword. (ATK: 1500 DEF: 0 LV: 3) "Then I'll end my turn with a facedown card." The card appeared behind the zombie.

"Then it's my turn. Here goes." Andrew drew his sixth card. 'Now let's see.' He thought as he looked at his hand. But then, he noticed a certain card on his far right. 'What the!? What is this!?' The card he noticed was none other than… 'Winged Kuriboh?' Indeed it was. The very monster card that only Jaden would have. The spirit of that card appeared in front of Andrew.

"Coo."

'I don't get it. Why are you here? You are always in Jaden's deck. So why are you in my...' He stopped at mid sentence when he suddenly remembered something.

'Wait a sec…'


Flashback

After he bumped into Jaden, he quickly stood up and picked up one of the deck holders from the ground.

Flashback end


'…Did I accidentally pick up Jaden's deck?' He thought disbelieved. As if he heard his question, Winged Kuriboh nodded to him. 'Oh great, and I worked so hard on preparing my own deck for this.'

While Andrew mentally complained at this, Shiori noticed the troubled expression on his face. 'Andrew doesn't look very happy.' He thought. 'I wonder if the starting hand he got is bad?'

Andrew stood there for a moment, being in deep thought. 'What should I do?' He could have told Shiori that he took Jaden's deck by mistake. But then again, the reason Shiori wanted to duel was to test some new cards. So maybe it wouldn't be so much trouble if Andrew used Jaden's deck. It is a deck full of heroes after all, so he might be able to use it almost as well as his own deck. 'I guess it won't hurt.' Andrew thought as he made his decision, making Winged Kuriboh nod in approval.

"Okay, I summon Elemental HERO Sparkman in attack mode." The golden armored hero appeared in a flash of electricity. (ATK: 1600 DEF: 1400 LV: 4)


As Andrew summoned the electric hero, Jaden and the others arrived and stopped at a few meters behind him.

"There they are. And it looks like the duel has already begun." Jaden realized.

"So we didn't make it in time." Syrus said.

"Well so much for all that running." Chumley added.

"I guess Andrew is going to use my deck, huh?" The brown-haired Slifer student said.

"Well, never thought we would see you guys here." A female voice spoke up from a distance. The Slifer trio turned to the direction the voice came from and saw Alexis and Jenny approaching them, the former being the one who spoke up.

"Oh, Alexis, Jenny. What are you two here?"

"Well, what do you think?" She asked rhetorically. "We decided to watch the duel."

"Aren't you guys here to watch as well?" Jenny asked.

"Actually, we were hoping stop Andrew before the duel started." Syrus replied.

"What do you mean? Why trying to stop him?"

Jaden gave the girls an embarrassed look. "Well…" And gave them 'his' deck holder.

Jenny, who raised an eyebrow took it and opened it. When she looked at the cards inside of it, she gasped. "Wait, these looks like Andrew's cards. Why do you have them?"

"Andrew was kinda in a hurry and bumped into me. And he um... kinda picked up my deck holder by mistake."

Now it was Alexis' turn to gasp. "So you're saying Andrew is dueling with your deck?"

"As a matter of fact… yeah."

The girls then had their attention on the duel.

"But then, Andrew might have some trouble if he's using someone else's deck." Jenny stated.

Jaden on the other hand shrugged. "Nah, I think he should be fine." Everyone was a little surprised by his statement.

"What do you mean, Jaden?" Chumley asked.

"Well, even though it's my deck, it's at least similar to his own."

Syrus nodded in understanding. "That's true. I mean, both of you uses hero monsters. So it shouldn't be that difficult for Andrew to use your deck."

"That may be." Alexis said. "But that's a deck you created Jaden. So the question is, how will he do with a deck that's not created by him?"


"Sparkman, attack Armored Zombie with Static Shockwave!" The shot a blast of electricity from his right hand at the samurai-like zombie.

Shiori: 4000-3900

"I place one card facedown and end my turn." A card appeared behind the hero.

"Not bad." Shiori complimented as he drew card. He looked at it and smiled. "But I'm about to do something better. First I activate my trap card…" He pointed at the facedown that revealed itself. "…Birthright. This trap card lets me summon a normal monster from my graveyard. Of course, there's only one monster in there, so…" Armored Zombie jumped out from the trap card and landed on the field. (ATK: 1500 DEF: 0 LV: 3) "And next, I'll play the equip spell Amulet of Ambition and I'll add it to my Armored Zombie." The amulet that appeared around the zombie's neck was golden and shaped like a star. It also had a big eye in the middle. "Now attack his Sparkman!"

Andrew widened his eyes as the zombie ran towards the hero. "But why? Your monster is weaker than Sparkman."

"That's why I equipped him with the Amulet of Ambition. I can only equip it to a normal monster, like Armored Zombie. And if it battles a monster with a higher level, it's attack points are increased by 500 x the difference in levels."

Andrew gasped. "And since Sparkman is a level 4 monster, he is 1 level higher than Armored Zombie."

Shiori nodded while smirking. "And that gives him enough power to take him down." As the zombie got closer, the amulet glowed with a red light, making him stronger. (ATK: 1500-2000) With a swing of his sword, the zombie defeated Sparkman. Andrew held his left arm in protection due to the explosion the attack caused.

Andrew: 4000-3600 (ATK: 2000-1500)


The spectator cringed.

"Ouch." Jaden commented.

"That wasn't good." Syrus said.

"Not for Andrew that is." Jenny added.


Andrew recovered and pointed at his own facedown card. "I activate my trap, Hero Signal." A ray of light emerged from the named trap card, shining an 'H' in the sky. "Now I can summon a level 4 or below Elemental HERO from my hand or deck. And I choose, Elemental HERO Clayman." The stone warrior kneeled down in front of Andrew. (ATK: 800 DEF: 2000 LV: 4)

"Building up some defense, are we? In that case, I'll build up some defense of my own by summoning Battle Footballer in defense mode." A new monster appeared on the field, kneeling down in front of Shiori. It was a man wearing football paddling and a helmet that hid his face. (ATK: 1000 DEF: 2100 LV: 4) "And with that, I end my turn."

"My move." Andrew drew a card. "I activate Pot of Greed. This spell card lets draw two cards from my deck." He drew two cards and smiled at what he got. 'This should do the trick.'
"I summon Elemental Burstinatrix." The red clad female hero appeared from a pillar of fire. (ATK: 1200 DEF: 800 LV: 3) "And now I play a field spell card, Skyscraper." He inserted the spell card into his duel disk, making tall city buildings appear around the duelists and spectator.


"Sweet! Looks like Andrew is going to kick things up a bit." Jaden said excited.

"Yup, that's exactly what I would have done." Chumley said.

"Well, that wasn't a bad move." Alexis admitted.


Shiori looked around, apparently surprised by the field spell Andrew just played. 'I knew that Andrew's deck was similar to Jaden's, but I never thought he actually had this card as well.'

"Now then, due to the effect of my field spell, if the monster my Elemental hero battles with has more attack points, it gains one thousand extra attack points." Shiori gasped at this. "And since Burstinatrix has the same level as your Armored Zombie, Amulet of Ambition won't be triggered. Now Burstintrix, attack his Zombie with Flare Storm!" The female conjured a fireball in her left hand… (ATK: 1200-2200) …and threw it at the zombie, causing an explosion. Shiori held up his arms in protection.

Shiori: 3900-3200

"Not bad, Andrew." Shiori complimented as he recovered from the blast.

Andrew smiled. "Thanks, Shiori. I end my turn."

"Back to me then." Shiori declared as he drew a card. "Alright, now I summon Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands." The grayish human-like creature with many hands appeared next to the footballer. (ATK: 1400 DEF: 1000 LV: 4) "And as you know, his entrance allows me to use his special ability. Now I can take a ritual monster or spell card from my deck and add it to my hand." He explained as he took out a card from his deck and held it up. "And I think I'll use it right now. I play the spell card Final Ritual of the Ancients. This spell card lets me sacrifice monsters with a total level of 8 or higher, like my two level 4 monsters Battle Footballer and Manju." A large stone slab rose up right behind the two named monsters. It had a monster's carving etched on it. The carving suddenly glowed with an ominous purple aura. The two monsters were then absorbed into it.

"And in there place, I get to summon Reshef the Dark Being." At those words, the carving cracked and then shattered, releasing a blinding veil of light that soon took form. When the shape was decided, the light crumbled away to reveal its physical form. Three orbs stood beside each other, colored blue, yellow and red. Several large pieces of stone hovered around them in the shape of body parts, a pair of arms and a skirt-like pedestal underneath while upper torso, shoulders and head floated above. Together they formed a massive, regally-formed giant. (ATK: 2500 DEF: 1500 LV: 8)

"Oh my god." Andrew commented, being shocked by the monster's size.


The others watching this were as shocked as him.

"Whoa! That's big." Jaden pointed out.

"Aw man." Syrus gasped.

"Incredible." Jenny said.


Andrew stood there, staring at the giant monster, feeling intimidated by its size and appearance.

"Well, Andrew? What do you think of my monster?" Shiori asked.

"I gotta admit, it looks very impressive." He commented.

Shiori smirked. "If you think Reshef's appearance is impressive, just wait until I activate his special ability. To use it, I must discard a spell card from my hand." While explaining, he discarded one of the two remaining cards from his hand. And then, the three light orbs in front of the stone giant started to unleash light waves over the field.

Andrew then noticed something strange with Burstinatrix. She slumped her shoulders and seemed to have an empty look on her face. But what happend next made Andrew shocked; Burstinatrix flew up in the air and landed right in front of Reshef.

"What's going on!?"

"In exchange for a spell card, I can take control of one of your monsters once per turn."

"Okay, that's even more impressive."

"And I'm not done yet. I activate my Card of Demise, which means I get to draw until I have 5 cards in my hand." Shiori drew five new cards and saw what he got. "Well well. Looks like I get to summon another Ritual monster." He inserted one of the cards he drew into his duel disk, making a certain spell card appear on the field. "I activate the spell card Emblem of the Awakening."

Andrew narrowed his eyes. "So you're going to summon Cú Chulainn the Awakened."

"That's right, all I have to do is sacrifice monsters with a total level of 4 or higher. From starters, I sacrifice your Burstinatrix." The familiar multicolored emblem appeared above her. "And I also sacrifice my level 1 monster Djinn Disserere of Rituals." Another monster appeared next to Burstinatrix. It was a chubby fiend with dark purple skin, wearing a blue helmet with golden lining. It was also holding a big shield that had a skull-like emblem on it. The skull had a red jewel on its forehead. (ATK: 200 DEF: 200 LV: 1) The two monster were absorbed into the multicolored emblem. "Now come forth, Cú Chulainn the Awakened!" The emblem glowed brightly for a moment and was now around the neck of the heavy-armored, spear wielding warrior. (ATK: 500 DEF: 1000 LV: 4)


"500 attack points?" Chumley wondered.

"I don't get this at all." Syrus said.

"But based on Andrew's reaction, that monster must be more dangerous than it looks like." Jenny replied.


"Now I activate his special ability. Once per turn, I can take a normal monster from my graveyard and remove it from play. After that, Cú Chulainn absorbs all of that monster's attack points. I remove Armored Zombie." The moment Shiori took the named card from his graveyard, the spirit of the zombie monster appeared. It was then absorbed into Cú Chulainn's emblem, giving him extra power. (ATK: 500-2000)

'This is not good.' Andrew thought.

"And next, I'll activate the spell card known as Ritual Weapon." A golden crossbow appeared on Cú Chulainn's right arm. "This card can only be equipped to a level 6 or below ritual monster. It gives that monster 1500 attack and defense points." (ATK: 2000-3500 DEF: 1000-1500)

"Whoa!" Andrew gasped.


"What!? 3500 attack points!?" Syrus exclaimed.

"That's incredible." Jenny said.

"No wonder why Andrew had trouble of defeating him last time. What a sweet move." Jaden said, being obviously amazed by this.


"Now it's time for some action. Reshef the Dark Being, attack his Clayman with Ancient Blast!" The stone giant merged its three light orbs together to create a big orb of golden light. And then, the orb fired a powerful beam which destroyed the stone hero. "Now Cú Chulainn, attack him directly!" The armored warrior held up his right arm and shot Andrew with the crossbow. He was struck by an arrow made of light energy and fell onto the ground.

Andrew: 3600-0100

Andrew stood up and brushed off some dust. "Well done. Looks like your cards are working good so far." He complimented.

"Thanks. And I plan to bust out some more. I end my turn." Shiori said before he frowned. 'But still, something's not right here. The way Andrew is playing right now is not he usually play. Sure, he may still have used his Elemental heroes so for, but it feels like he's using a different dueling style or something.'

"I draw." Andrew drew a card and looked at his hand. 'Okay, this might be tough, but I can still turn this around. Alright then...'
"First I summon Winged Kuriboh in defense mode." The furry duel spirit with white wings appeared on the field. (ATK: 300 DEF: 200 LV: 1)

'Now he summon Winged Kuriboh?' Shiori wondered.

"Then I activate the spell card Mirage of Nightmare." The continuous spell card appeared in front of him. "Then I'll end my turn with two facedown cards." The cards appeared right next to it.

"My turn then." Shiori declared as he drew a card. (ATK: 3500-2000)

"And now the effect of my Mirage card is activated. During your standby phase, I get to draw until I have four cards in my hand." Since Andrew had one card in his hand, he drew three. "And with that done, I reveal one of my facedown cards, Emergency Provisions." The named spell card flipped up. "By sending a number of spell or trap cards from my field to the graveyard, I gain a thousand life points for every card I get rid of. I send both my facedown card and Mirage of Nightmare." The two cards disappeared and Andrew was surrounded by a healing aura.

Andrew: 0100-2100

"Not bad. You're going to need those points." Shiori said as he looked at his hand and almost frowned that he didn't have any spell card in his hand. "Especially after I take down your Kuriboh. Cú Chulainn, attack!" The warrior dashed towards the furry creature and stabbed him with his spear.

"Since Winged Kuriboh was destroyed, all battle damage I would take this turn become zero." Andrew said.

"Very well." Shiori replied. "To make sure you won't destroy Cú Chualinn, I'll use his special ability again. So I remove Battle Footballer from play and add his attack points to him." The spirit of the footballer appeared and was then absorbed into Cú Chulainn's emblem. (ATK: 2000-3000) "I end my turn.


"Wait. Couldn't he just use Reshef's ability to take control of Winged Kuriboh so he could attack Andrew directly?" Syrus asked.

"In order to use Reshef's ability, Shiori need to discard a spell card from his hand." Alexis reminded him.

"Then I guess Shiori doesn't have any in his hand." Jaden said.


"Then here goes. I activate the spell card Dark Factory of Mass Production. This let's me take two normal monsters from my graveyard and add them to my hand. I choose Burstinatrix and Sparkman." Andrew took the named cards from his graveyard slot and placed them into his hand. "Then I activate the spell card Polymerization. And I'll use it to fuse Elemental HERO Avian and Burstinatrix to create…" The two heroes flew into a fusion vortex and reappeared in the form of… "Elemental Flame Wingman!" (ATK: 2100 DEF: 1200 LV: 6)

Shiori raised an eyebrow. 'Strange. I actually thought he was going to summon his Nova Master.'

"Since I still have Skyscraper in play, my Flame Wingman gets 1000 attack points in battle." (ATK: 2100-3100)

"3100 points!" Shiori said in realization.

"Just enough to take down any of your ritual monsters, and I think I'll start with Reshef the Dark Being. Attack, Skydive Scorcher!" The fusion summoned hero leapt into the air and dove towards the stone giant, with his body being covered in flames. As soon as he slammed into it, the stone giant cracked and fell to pieces.

Shiori: 3200-2600

"And thhere's more than that. Flame Wingman has a special ability. Since he destroyed your monster in battle, you take damage equal to its attack points." Shiori gasped as the hero landed right in front of him. He held up his dragon arm and blasted him with flames.

"Shiori: 2600-0100


"Sweet! Andrew took the lead." Jaden cheered.

"Never thought Andrew would play Jaden's cards so well." Alexis said.

"Let's see what else he can do." Jenny added.


"I summon Sparkman in defense mode." The electric hero appeared once again. (ATK: 1600 DEF: 1400 LV: 4) "Then I'll end my turn with a facedown card."

"Then it's my move." Shiori declared and drew a card. (ATK: 3000-2000) He smiled when saw what he got. "I activate the spell card Trade-In."

Andrew blinked. "What does that do?"

"This lets me discard a level 8 monster, like my Tri-Horned Dragon." He slid the named card into his graveyard slot. "After that, I get to draw two cards from my deck." He drew his two cards and looked at them. 'This could be useful, but first things first.'
"And with another normal monster in my graveyard, I can use Cú Chulainn's ability again. So now I remove my Tri-Horned Dragon." The spirit of the giant blue dragon was absorbed into the warrior's emblem. (ATK: 2000-4850)

Andrew grimaced. 'Ooh. With that many attack points, Shiori's monster can defeat Flame Wingman with ease, even with Skyscraper on the field.' Hen then glanced at his facedown card. 'But at least I'm prepared.'

"Now Cú Chulainn, destroy his Flame Wingman!" The armored warrior dashed at the winged hero.

"I activate my trap card." Andrew's facedown card revealed itself. "Mirror Force. So now your monster is destroyed."

"Not exactly." Shiori replied as he smirked. Andrew was confused by that statement. The trap card created a glass-like wall that appeared right in front of Flame Wingman. But then, for some reason, Cú Chulainn wasn't destroyed by it. In fact, it was the other way around. With stab from his spear, the wall was destroyed by him. Andrew had only enough time to gasp before his fusion monster was stabbed by the ritual monster.

Andrew: 2100-0350

"What just happened? Why wasn't Cú Chulainn destroyed?"

"It's because of Djinn Disserere of Rituals."

"Huh?"

"You see, Djinn Disserere has a unique ability. If he was used for a ritual summoning, the monster that was ritual summoned becomes immune to all trap cards."

"No way!"

"I'm afraid it's true. And with that done, I activate the spell card Double Spell. By discarding a spell card from my hand, I can use a spell card from your graveyard." As soon as Shiori discarded one of his cards, one of Andrew's cards came out from the graveyard slot and appeared on Shiori's side of the field. "And I choose this one, Emergency Provisions. So I send my spell card Ritual Weapon to give myself 1000 life points." The crossbow on Cú Chulainn's arm disappeared. (ATK: 4850-3350)

Shiori: 0100-1100


"Now Shiori took the lead." Syrus stated.

"Yeah. This duel is getting better for every turn." Jaden replied.

"And even more intense as well." Jenny added.


"I end my turn." Shiori said.

"Okay then." Andrew drew a card and looked at it. 'I guess this could help.'
"I summon Wroughtweiler in defense mode." The mechanical dog appeared next to Sparkman. (ATK: 800 DEF: 1200 LV: 3) And that's all for now."

"Then here goes." Shiori drew card. (ATK: 3350-500) He looked at it and smirked. "Looks your in big trouble now, because now I summon Sonic Bird." The bald eagle with the jetpack flew down from the sky and landed on the ground. (ATK: 1400 DEF: 1000 LV: 4) "Now with him summoned, I take a ritual spell card from my deck and add it to my hand. I choose this one; End of the World." He held up the named spell card.


"End of the World? That sounds scary." Chumley commented.

"It is scary as well." Alexis replied. "Because that ritual spell card is much different from any other. Because unlike a spell card that can summon one kind of ritual monster, End of the World has the power to summon one of two special ritual monsters."

"Two monsters?" Syrus asked disbelieved.

"Wow, really?" Jaden asked. The blonde-haired Obelisk girl nodded. "Then let's see which one of those special monsters Shiori will bust out."


"In order to summon my ritual monster, I must sacrifice monsters whose total levels exactly equal to the monster I'm about to ritual summon. So I sacrifice Sonic Bird and Cú Chulainn." Dark clouds materialized right above them. And then, they were struck by a lightning. "Now I summon Ruin, Queen of Oblivion!" In there place an new figure rose on the field. It was a woman with long white hair. She was wearing a red, white and black dress and wielded a red scepter. (ATK: 2300 DEF: 2000 LV: 8)

"Another ritual monster." Andrew pointed out.

"Yup, and just see her power in action. Now Ruin, attack his Sparkman with Blast of Oblivion!" The woman hurled a ball of blue energy from the tip of her scepter at the electric hero.

"That was pretty good." Andrew complimented.

"Shiori chuckled. "Trust me, Andrew. This is just the beginning of Ruin's assault. You see, she has a special ability. If she successfully destroys a monster in battle, she can attack a second time."

"What!?"

"Which means your Wroughtweiler is next." She destroyed the mechanical dog with another blast from her scepter.

"Okay, I'll take it back. That one was pretty good. But at least I get something in return. When Wroughtweiler is destroyed in battle, I'm allowed to take a Polymerization and an Elemental HERO from my graveyard." Andrew took out the spell card and Clayman from his graveyard and placed them in his hand."

"Luckily for you, I can't do anything more. So I'll end my turn.


"This is it. This is the last chance for Andrew to turn this around." Jenny said.

"But can he do it?" Syrus asked.

"Of course he can." Jaden replied. "A duel is not over until the last card is played. He just need the right one to win this."


Andrew at his duel disk. 'Well, I can't say I didn't enjoy this duel. Even though this is just practice for Shiori, it has been excited. Since he used his new cards pretty up to this point, I could forfeit this match now. But practice or not, a duelist should always see the match to its conclusion. So let's see who's going out as the winner.' Andrew drew a card and was surprised to see what he got. He then gave his opponent a smile. "Well Shiori, it looks like this duel is close to end."

The blonde Ra student widened his eyes. 'Sounds like Andrew is about to play something big.'

"First I activate the spell card The Warrior Returning Alive. This lets me take back a warrior type monster from my graveyard and add it to my hand. So I'll take back my Sparkman. And next I'll play the spell card Polymerization and use it to fuse him with Clayman." The two named heroes were absorbed into a fusion vortex.


"Sweetness. Looks like Andrew is going to end this with a bang." Jaden said.

"Lishus."

"Awesome! Way to play Andrew!" Syrus cheered.


"I summon Elemental HERO Thunder Giant!" The yellow, giant electric hero jumped out of the vortex and landed on the ground. (ATK: 2400 DEF: 1500 LV: 6)

"Uh oh. That monster is stronger than Ruin." Shiori said.

"Yeah, he is. But not just by points, he also has a special ability. He can destroy a monster whose original attack points are less than his own."

The ritual duelist gasped. "But then, that means…"

"Your Queen of Oblivion is out of the game." The big fusion monster pointed his finger at the woman and vaporized her with a blast of electricity. "And leaves you wide open for a direct attack. Go, Voltic Thunder!" Thunder Giant gathered electricity in his hands and release it all at Shiori, making the latter cry out and fall onto the ground.

Shiori: 1100-0000

After the holograms disappeared, Andrew walked over to Shiori and held out his hand. "Do you need help."

Shiori looked up and smiled while giving him a nod. "Yeah, thank you." He took Andrew's hand, allowing the latter to help him up. "That was a great duel. You really pulled it off, even with the improvements of my deck."

"Well, it wasn't easy. But it was great."

"But, I'm curious about something. The cards you played, they were quite different from the ones you usually use. For example, you summoned WInged Kuriboh earlier. I knew that your deck was similar to Jaden's, but I never thought you would have that monster as well."

Andrew blinked before he scratched the back of his head, giving him an embarrassed look. "Um, yeah, about that. You see…"

"Hey guys!" Someone called out, interrupting them. They turned to see group who watched the duel approach them. "That was a nice duel." Jenny said.

"Yeah, you two dueled great." Alexis added.

"Totally." Jaden said before he took up 'his deck holder. "Oh and here is your deck Andrew." He gave it to the ladder.

"Thanks." Andrew said he took it. "And I believe this one is yours." He said he gave the brown haired Slifer the deck he had.

Shiori blinked in confusion. "Huh? What's this about?"

The two hero duelists looked at each other before they looked him, smiling sheepishly.

"Well, the thing is…" Jaden started as he explained the situation.


"So you two bumped into each other and dropped your decks, and Andrew picked up your deck by mistake?"

"Yup, that's what happened." Jaden replied.

Shiori couldn't help but laugh. "Well, I thought something was off during the duel."

"At least everything is solved." Jenny said.

"Yeah, but you two should do something to make sure that won't happen again." Alexis suggested.

"Like what?" Jaden asked.

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe write your names on your deck cases or something?" Syrus said.

"Sounds good to me." Andrew replied. "Does anyone have a pen or something?"

"I think I do." Jenny said she reached into her pocket and grabbed a marker pen. "Here." She passed it to him.

"Thanks."

It the two boys a moment to write their names.

"And done." Jaden declared. "Now that that's over, how about you duel me, Shiori?" He asked the ritual duelist.

"What?"

"That duel made me excited, so let's throw down!"

The blonde-haired boy held up his hand. "Sorry Jaden. Not today. I need some rest."

"Oh come on, please. Just one duel." The slifer hero pleaded as he got close to Shiori's face.

"I said no!" He said tried to shove Jaden off.

As the two of them bickered, the others sweat dropped at this.

"I know Jaden love dueling, but this is just childish." Andrew commented.

"Well, that's just how he is." Syrus added.

"Can't wait for even one day to duel someone." Alexis.

The group watched as Jaden and Shiori continued with their bickering.


Alrighty then. That should be enough for now. And my next chapter will most likely be finished some day after Christmas eve and maybe even Christmas day. So until next time, I wish you all a merry Christmas.