The King of Copycats

It was another day at the card shack, and it happened to be many people there today. Why? Because they were to buy some tickets to something special. And among those people were Andrew, Bastion and Syrus standing in line for them.

"Whoa, the tickets are selling quick." Syrus noted.

"Naturally. Considering what they're for, it's no wonder why everyone wants to buy the tickets." Bastion responded.

"Yeah, no kidding." Andrew added as he eyed on the posters on the walls. Those posters were showing a young man wearing a blue jacket. He had purple eyes, and spiky hair in multiple colors. Most of it was black with some red. And there were some blonde bangs on the front. "I mean, it's not every day you get the chance to see the dueling deck of the King of Games: Yugi Moto." He said while smiling.

"I know, right? It feels like an honor to see the deck that Yugi used to earn so many awesome victories." The small Slifer said.

"Come to think of it, you once told us you live in Domino City, just like him, right?" The intelligent Ra asked the masked hero duelist. "Have you ever met him in person?"

"I'm afraid not, but I've seen some of his duels while watching TV. I've never seen anything like it before."

"Indeed. Every time he got cornered by a seemingly flawless move of his opponent, he always managed to draw exactly the card he needed to turn things around."

"Almost like he was controlling his deck." Someone spoke up from a small distance in front of them. The trio turned to see Shiori walk up to them.

"Hey Shiori." Andrew greeted him. "You came here to buy a ticket too?"

The ritual duelist smirked. "Already done." After giving him his response, he held up the ticket he bought."

"That's good." Andrew replied. "I came here to buy two tickets."

Shiori blinked. "Why two?"

"Jenny had to help Miss Fontaine with something, so I decided to buy a ticket for her as well."

Shiori smirked at his words. "You don't say."

"And as for me, I'm going to get a ticket for Jaden since he's getting late too." Syrus added.

And so, the trio kept waiting until they could buy tickets. And after Bastion a ticket of his own… "Next please!" Andrew and Syrus walked up to the counter where Miss Dorothy and the counter girl were selling tickets. "Andrew, Syrus, how may I help you?"

"We need four tickets, please." Syrus spoke up.

"Jaden and Jenny couldn't make it, so we'd buy tickets for them." Andrew added.

"Isn't that sweet?" Dorothy asked while smiling. She then picked up four tickets. "And luckily for you two, these are the four last ones. And since no one else here is about to buy any…"

"WAIIIT!" A voice called out. They all turned to see a Ra Yellow student with spiky brown hair run through the crowd and in front of Andrew and Syrus.

"Oh, Dimitri. What's up?" Andrew asked.

After catching is breath, the boy now named Dimitri spoke up. "I wanted to buy a ticket. There must be one ticket left at least!"

"I'm sorry, but these two bought the last ones." Miss Dorothy apologized.

Dimitri growled and looked at them. "Why do you guys have two tickets each? Who's the other two for?"

"They're for Jaden and Jenny." Syrus replied.

"They couldn't make it, so we bought them for them." Andrew added.

"Oh yeah? Well tough break for them! Give me one of those tickets!"

"All right, calm down everyone." Everyone turned to see Shiori walk up to them. "Since you want a ticket so badly Dimitri, how about you three settle this in a duel?"

"What? You mean two against one?"

"No. You choose either Andrew or Syrus to duel for their second ticket, and the winner gets it. How about it?"

Dimitri grinned. "That sounds great. And my opponent will be…" He paused before he pointed at the opponent he chose. "Syrus!"

"W-what!? Me?" The blue-haired Slifer said, feeling he caught on something bad.

"That's right little man. With the new deck I built, you won't stand a chance!"

"Don't underestimate him, Dimitri." Andrew said. "Syrus is pretty tough for a Slifer. You saw how he and Jaden took down the Paradox brothers."

"Yeah, but that was a tag team duel. He won't last long in a single duel." Dimitri gloated.

"Fine, let's duel!" Syrus said, surprising everyone.

"Syrus?" Shiori asked.

"I'm tired of people talking to me like I'm a weakling. I'll show them!" The little Slifer said."

"That's the spirit." Andrew praised.

"A Ra versus a Slifer?" One student whispered.

"This'll be over quick." Another one said.

"For that Slifer, or Dimitri?" A third person asked.

All students spread out to give the duelists some space.

"I wonder what kind of duelist Dimitri is." Shiori said.

"I haven't seen him duel, so I have no idea." Andrew replied. "Do you know anything about him, Bastion?"

The intelligent Ra crossed his arms. "Well, let's just say Dimitri is not the most creative duelist around here."

The other two Ra's narrowed their eyes.

"What do you mean by that?" Shiori asked.

"You'll see."

"DUEL!"

Syrus: 4000

Dimitri: 4000

"I'll start!" Syrus declared while drawing his sixth card. "I summon Gyroid in defense mode!" The blue, cartoonish helicopter monster appeared on the field. (ATK: 1000 DEF: 1000 3) "And that's all."

"Let me show you how it's done." Dimitri drew a card while speaking, but his voice changed.

"Huh? Did he change his voice?" Shiori asked.

"What's with that?" Andrew added.

"That's part of his dueling style." Bastion said. "Just watch."

"For my first move I summon Ancient Gear Soldier in attack mode." A human like mechanical monster with a machine gun on its right arm appeared in front of Dimitri. Anyone could see the working gears of it. (ATK: 1300 DEF: 1300 LV: 4)

"An Ancient Gear monster." Shiori noted.

"Wait, the only person I know who duels with a deck full of that kind of monsters is Dr. Crowler." Andrew said.

"That's right. Now you see why Dimitri is talking like Dr. Crowler. Because he's a duelist who studies other duelists and copy them."

"That explains the whole thing." Shiori replied.

"Attack! Rapid Fire Flurry!" At Dimitri's command, Ancient Gear Soldier took aim at the helicopter monster and fired a bunch of bullets. The helicopter endured the assault and survived.

"Sorry, but my Gyroid can survive being destroyed in battle by the first attack."

"Fine, I'll just end my turn with two facedowns." Two facedown cards appeared at Dimitri's feet.

"My turn! Syrus drew his next card. "I summon Steamroid in attack mode!" The cartoonish steam locomotive appeared next to the helicopter. (ATK: 1800 DEF: 1800 LV: 4) "Now Steamroid, attack his Ancient Gear Soldier!" The locomotive blew its whistle and moved forward. "Oh right, when Steamroid attacks another monster, his attack points are increased by 500." The monster blew its whistle again as it grew stronger. (ATK: 1800-2300) It then ran over Ancient Gear Soldier.

Dimitri: 4000-3000

After that, it returned to Syrus' field. (ATK. 2300-1800) "I end my turn."

"My turn then." Dimitri drew his ext card. "First I activate Pot of Greed, and in case you didn't pay attention in class, this lets me draw two cards from my deck." After Dimitri drew his two cards, he smirked. "And now I activate the spell card Raigeki. This lets me destroy all monsters on your side of the field."

Syrus gasped as the spell card appeared and unleashed a big stream of electricity, destroying his monsters like it was nothing.

"And then I activate the spell card Premature Burial. All I have to do is pay 800 life points so I can summon a monster from my graveyard."

Dimitri: 3000-2200

"So welcome back, Ancient Gear Soldier." The human like machine monster appeared once again. (ATK: 1300 DEF: 1300 LV: 4) "Now attack with Rapid Fire Flurry." Now it was Syrus' turn to suffer the bullets from the monster's machine gun. He held up his duel disk as a shield.

Syrus: 4000-2700

"Now it's your turn, little Slifer."

"Okay, here goes." Syrus looked at the card and smiled. "All right, I activate the spell card Mystical Space Typhoon. Now I can destroy one spell or trap card on the field, like your Premature Burial." The spell card created a whirlwind that blew Dimitri's spell card away. "And without your spell card, your monster is gone." After that being said, Ancient Gear Soldier shattered into pixels. "And now I summon Jetroid in attack mode!" The red, cartoonish jet plane appeared on the field. (ATK: 1200 DEF: 1800 LV: 4) "Now, attack him directly!" The jet plane flew over to Dimitri's field and tackled him.

Dimitri: 2200-1000

"And that ends my turn."

"Hey, Syrus is on a roll today." Shiori said.

"Yeah, he has gotten better since that tag duel." Andrew added.

"It seems like it." A voice spoke up from behind. They turned around to see a certain blue-haired Obelisk girl.

"Hey Jenny." Andrew greeted.

"How long have you been there?" Shiori asked.

"I just came here. So why is Syrus dueling that Ra Yellow?"

"Well, you see…" Andrew started to say but was interrupted by another voice.

"Hey, what's up? Is it Eggwich day?" The person who asked and approached them was Jaden.

"No Jaden, just a little lunch time tussle." Bastion replied.

Jaden looked to see what was happening. "A duel?" He turned to left to see the Ra student. "Well, who's trowing down?"

"Well on the left is Dimitri."

"I've never heard of him." He turned to right. "And who's the other… huh? Syrus!"

"Hey there, Jay." The little Slifer.

"What's going on, Sy?"

"A high stakes duel. Check it out." Syrus pointed to the wall with the posters, making Jaden turn to that direction. "Yugi's deck is going on tour. And the first stop is Duel Academy. Isn't that the coolest?"

"Yeah, it is. The original King of Games' deck? To see with my very own eyes?" Jaden said, staring longingly at the posters, a happy look on his face.

"Yeah, so if I win this, I get… uh, uh hello?" Syrus called out as he waved his hands in front of Jadens face. "Aw man, I was afraid this would happen."

"Looks like Jaden's off the planet." Andrew commented.

"Can you blame him? It is Yugi Moto's deck we're talking about." Jenny replied.

"Yugi's deck, here. I can't believe it!" Jaden said with an excited tone. "It's a piece of history. All it's been through."

"Yeah, just think about it." Syrus said. "It's the deck he took with him to Duelist Kingdom. Where he defeated Pegasus, the guy who invented Duel Monsters."

"Don't forget Battle City, where he used it to beat Seto Kaiba." Andrew said.

"And Marik too." Shiori filled in.

"I know." Syrus replied. "The way he used those Egyptian God cards? Aw man, so amazing. Of course, the deck's not going on tour with the Egyptian gods, but it will have... all the other classics! I can't wait! It's gonna be the neatest thing ever! We have to go! We gotta go!"

"I'm with you, Sy. So what are you doing dueling? Let's go get tickets."

"Jaden, that's why Syrus is dueling. Because there's only one ticket left." Miss Dorothy said, holding up the ticket in question. "And whoever wins, gets it. Can you imagine a duel with a better prize than that?"

"Uh…" Jaden eyed Syrus. "Yeah, one with two tickets."

"Two tickets? Why Jay? Did you want to bring a third person? I mean after all, I got my ticket already. See?" Syrus showed his own ticket.

Jaden gasped and grabbed him with a smile on his face. "You're dueling for me?"

"Of course, Jaden. And I'm gonna win."

"Aw, so I'm left out?" Jenny asked disappointed.

Andrew smiled at her. "Actually, you're not." Jenny looked at him confused while he reached into his pockets and pulled out his two tickets, making her gasp. "I knew you couldn't make it, so I bought your ticket for you. Here." He handed her the ticket.

The fairy duelist smiled brightly, and before Andrew knew it... she gave him a tight hug. "Oh thank you so much! You're so sweet!"

This caused Andrew's face to turn almost as red as a Slifer Red jacket. "Umm... no problem." He stammered.

Jenny realized what she did, and let go of him, but not without turning a little red herself. "Umm… yeah." She mumbled.

"Aw, isn't that cute?" Shiori commented with a teasing grin on his face.

That made the blush on their faces getting redder, but that didn't stop Jenny from giving him a glare. "Shut it."

"Let's finish this." Syrus declared, getting their attention as he returned to his side of the dueling field.

"You're a pal, Sy. Good luck." Jaden called out.

"My turn." Dimitri said as he drew his next and smiled. "And I play Heavy Storm. And that young scholar will destroy all the spell and trap cards on the field."

"Huh? That sounds familiar." Jaden noted, a little thrown off by hearing Dimitri's voice.

"It should." Bastion replied. "Dr. Crowler played the same move on you."

"Oh yeah. What a coincidence."

A gust from Dimitri's spell destroyed his two facedown cards, making two golden fiendish tokens appear in a fog. "And now I'll sacrifice the two Wicked Tokens that were created and summon forth, the legendary Ancient Gear Golem!" The two tokens were replaced by a monster that looked similar to Ancient Gear Soldier. But this one was without a gun, and it was gigantic. (ATK: 3000 DEF: 3000 LV: 8)

As the giant monster rose up on the field, Jaden stared at it and couldn't help but remember his duel with Crowler. 'This is total Déjà vu.' He thought.

"Attack, Mechanized Melee!" At Dimitri's command, the golem pulled back its right arm to swing it forward.

"Not so fast!" Syrus interrupted. "Cuz, when Jetroid is attacked, his ability activates. An ability that lets me play a trap. Like this…" He held up a card from his hand. "Magic Cylinder!" A pair of red cylinders appeared between Syrus' monster and the golem. "It takes Mechanized Melee, and put it in reverse!"

"Time out!" Dimitri said, shocked. But it was too late. The golem already swung its arm, releasing a transparent version of its fist which entered one cylinder, and came out of the other one that sent it right back at Dimitri, who fell to his knees.

Dimitri: 1000-0000

"Yeah! That's how you duel!" Syrus cheered.

"Sweet moves!" Jaden complimented. "You sent that Golem to the junkyard. Way to go!"

"It was easy. I've already seen you how you beat Dr. Crowler's, and since Dimitri copied his deck, I knew exactly what to do." Syrus laughed a little. "Oh, I almost forgot." He went to the counter and grabbed the ticket he dueled for. He then went back to Jaden and gave it to him. "Here's your ticket Jaden."

"Sy, you're the best."

"All right everyone, the show's over!" Dorothy spoke up, rising from her stool. "So get back to class!"

As the crowd dispersed, Dimitri heard some of the jabs aimed at him

"Another stunning performance by Dimitri."

"As a Ra Yellow, he should have destroyed that Slifer loser."

"Guess copying great duelists and being one are two very different things."

"What a joke."

"Really, it's a wonder he's still here."

Bastion, Andrew and Shiori looked from side to side, seeing the crowd get thinner and thinner and then turned to Dimitri, smiling.

"Well then, I think that's about the worst of it." Bastion said.

"Yeah, they had been losing duels too, so they should know better than talk like that." Shiori noted to the ones talking.

"At least you're doing your best in dueling." Andrew added.

"Sure, until the next time I lose!" Dimitri said angrily with his normal voice. "Well I've had it!" He then ran out.


Later that night, Dimitri was alone in his dorm room, sitting at a desk. He had bunch of books and notebooks stacked in front of him. He thought back to his duels and how many times he lost. "I don't get it. Doesn't make sense!" He muttered angrily, throwing his books and notebooks off his desk. "I watch, and I study, and still I lose!"

Papers fluttered while the Ra seethed in anger. They had formulas and equations that would allow Dimitri to earn some respect from Bastion. "Crowler's deck... it was just as useless as all the rest! Kaiba's or Zane's... it doesn't matter matter who I copy, I always just lose! What is there left to do? After all, if copying the greatest duelists in the world won't help me win, what can?"

As if to answer his question, a poster of Yugi fell down to his desk. As soon as he noticed it, an idea crossed his mind. "Of course, it's so obvious. Becoming the greatest duelist."


Meanwhile, Jaden, Syrus and Chumley were relaxing in their dorm room. Chumley was laying down on his bed as he listened to Syrus' story about his duel.

"… and then I said, 'No you don't Dimitri, cuz I'm putting your Mechanized Melee in reverse'... like that, but cooler. Right Jay?"

They both turned to see Jaden sitting at the desk, staring at his Winged Kuriboh card. "Wha?"

"Jaden, you've been staring at your cards all night. What's up?" The smaller Slifer asked.

"Yugi's deck. I just can't get it out of my head."

"Why?" Chumley asked.

"Why?" Jaden turned around to face his friends. "Why do you like grilled cheese? Look, I can't wait another second to check out those legendary cards. So who's up for going with me to the exhibit right now?"

Chumley appeared to like Jaden's idea. "While they're setting up? Hey, that's an idea. I mean, then we'll avoid the rush."

Syrus frowned. "Wait, so I dueled to get that ticket for you, and you aren't even gonna use it?"

"Syrus, we'll be the first in line tomorrow too." As the blue-headed Slifer glanced away, Jaden poked him on his right cheek playfully. "Come on~."


Meanwhile, Andrew and Shiori were in the former's dorm room, sitting on the floor and discussed about Dimitri. Clearly, they were concerned about him.

"I feel bad for Dimitri. I can't imagine how frustrated he must be about this." Shiori said.

"Yeah, me neither." Andrew replied. "Dimitri has dueling talent, that's for sure. But he can't get far by copying another duelist's deck and strategies. I mean, just because you have the same deck as the one you're copying, doesn't mean that makes you as good as that person. I should know, I had it pretty tough the time when I dueled you and accidentally used Jaden's deck."

"But his deck is kinda similar to your own deck, so you did pretty good."

Andrew stood up and looked through the window. "Yeah, but the point is in order to become a true duelist you must build… huh?" He stopped at mid sentence as he noticed something outside.

"What's wrong?" Shiori asked curiously.

Andrew gestured him to look through the window. "Take a look at this."

The ritual duelist stood up and walked up to him to take a look through the window. It was then he was surprised to see a certain grey-haired Ra Yellow student sneaking away. "Bastion? What's he doing out there this late."

"I don't know, but let's find out." Andrew declared as he and Shiori quickly left the room.


Just outside the exhibit room, two security officers had just finished up and were talking Crowler. "All right Mr. Crowler-"

"Doctor." The Obelisk headmaster corrected.

"Dr. Crowler, we're finished setting up. Here's the key to the display case and the exhibit hall." One of the men said.

The other one gave him two keys on a chain. "Thanks again for letting us off early. We'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning for the big opening. Have a good one Mr… uh Doctor... "

"Night, sir." The two officers walked away.

"Yes, good night, good night." Crowler said while barely holding back his laughter. "Quite a good night." He then made his way down the hall with posters of Yugi on the walls. "After all, how many evenings can one say that they are in the presence of greatness? Of the world's most famous dueling deck." He opened the doors and closed them behind his back. In the middle of the room was a display case with a mini-pedestal inside it. But when Crowler got closer, he noticed something was wrong with it. The glass case was broken with a jagged hole on one side. And as for Yugi Moto's dueling deck... "It's not there?"


Meanwhile, the two guards were making their way down the halls. "You know, I didn't know he was a doctor."

"I didn't know he was a dude."

They walked by a corner were the Slifer trio was hiding. They emerged from there and quietly ran the opposite way down the hallway.

"Hurry up, Chumley." Syrus whispered as the group made their way to the exhibit hall, towards the exhibit hall.

When they neared the entrance, they saw another person coming to the same spot. "Whoa, Bastion?" Jaden asked.

"Jaden?" As all three of the Slifers assembled, Bastion laughed a little. "Fancy meeting you here. Taking a sneak peek at the deck."

"I guess great minds think alike." Jaden said.

"You don't say." Someone spoke up behind Bastion. The group turned around to see Andrew and Shiori smiling at them, the former being the one who spoke up.

"Andrew. Shiori. You guys came to look at the deck too?" Syrus asked.

"Actually, we saw Bastion sneaking around and decided to find out what's going on." Shiori said.

The intelligent Ra laughed sheepishly. "Well, you guys caught me redhanded. But it's not like you two would have no urge of take a sneak peek either, right?"

Andrew shrugged. "Touche."

"AAAHHH!" A shriek echoed down the hallway at that moment, making everyone look towards the doors at the end.

"Did you hear that?" Jaden asked.

"Sure did." Syrus replied.

"Someone's in trouble." Chumley said.

"Let's go help her." They all ran at Bastion's suggestion and barged into the room. Crowler jumped at their entrance. He was standing at the display case, but the deck was missing. "Crowler?"

"The display case." Jaden noted.

"He stole Yugi's deck." Chumley said accusingly.

"Why'd you do it Dr. Crowler?" Syrus asked.

The Obelisk Headmaster waved his left hand and shook his head. "No wait! I…"

"Let's get Chancellor Sheppard." Andrew suggested as everyone was about to leave...

"NOOOOO!" But they were knocked down by Crowler.

"Hey, hands off!" Shiori said as he kicked Crowler's hands off his foot.

"I know this looks bad, but believe me, I didn't steal the deck!" Crowler pleaded.

"Then who did?" Bastion asked.

"You were the only one here, Dr. Crowler." Chumley pointed out.

"Standing right next to the case." Syrus added.

"Then search me! Please! Go ahead, go ahead!"

After a brief deliberation, Jaden spoke up. "You know, it could be cuz I don't wanna search him. But I think that I actually believe what Dr. Crowler say."

"Yes, yes. You're not so dim after all." The Obelisk headmaster said, relieved that Jaden believed him.

"If that's true, that means the real thief is still out there." Andrew said as they all got up.

"Then we better split up and look for him." Shiori added.

Crowler smiled with tearful eyes. "Yes, good call! We must find this wrong-doer, this pillager! And when I say 'we' I mean you."

Andrew couldn't help but roll his eyes at that statement, but didn't say anything. He just started his search, just like the others.


On the coast, on a large outcropping of rock, Dimitri stood there in the moonlight with a green scarf around his neck. He was looking at he cards he stole. "And it's done. Now that I have the greatest deck, I'll be the greatest duelist." He said as he pulled his scarf away from his grinning face.

It was at that moment Syrus decided to show up after he noticed Dimitri here. "Hey! Someone just stole Yugi's deck. Know anything?"

"Stole? What do you mean?" Dimitri turned around while speaking in s deeper voice. And apparently he had a picture of the Millennium Puzzle on his black shirt. "This is my deck. If you don't believe me, why don't you go ahead and let me show you, right here, right now!" He tossed Syrus a duel disk.

The small Slifer let out an 'Aw man' before both of them activated their duel disks.


Meanwhile, Jaden, Andrew, Chumley, Shiori and Bastion met up at the bridge that connected the island to the docks.

"The dorms are clear." Bastion reported.

"So are the Classrooms."Chumley added.

"Shiori and I didn't find anything at the docks." Andrew filled in.

"I couldn't find anything either." Jaden said.

They all then heard a yell from nearby.

"That was Syrus!" Jaden said as he and the others ran in the direction the yell came from.


Syrus was laying on the ground as Dimitri smiled triumphantly.

"Ah yes. It's good to be the King of Games." He laughed loudly in his deep voice as the others showed up.

"Syrus, what happened?" Jaden asked while kneeling down to his friend.

"He has it… Yugi's dueling deck." Syrus slowly sat up.

Jaden gasped at his words.

"And he beat me with it."

"All right you thief! You've had your fun! But now it's over! Hand over the deck right now, Dimitri!" Jaden demanded

"Hmph, Dimitri?" He scoffed.

"Yeah!"

"I'm afraid that you're mistaken. I'm Yugi. Dimitri's just some child who would study other people's decks, then copy them. You see, with these cards, I'm not copying the King of Games…. I truly am the King of Games! And if you want this deck back, you'll have to prove I'm not."

"Okay, that's absurd." Andrew commented, making the others nod in agreement.

"You've really gone off the deep end. Still, I never back down from a challenge."

"Good, so let's go." Dimitri had his duel disk ready.

"Jaden!" Syrus tossed him the duel disk he'd used. He strapped it on his arm, inserted his deck and activated it.

"Get your game on!"

"It's time to duel!"

Jaden: 4000

Dimitri: 4000

"All right, here I come! First off..." Jaden drew his sixth card. "I play Elemental HERO Burstinatrix in defense mode." The red clad female hero kneeled down in front of him. (ATK: 1200 DEF: 800 LV: 3) "And that'll do."

"Will it?" Dimitri asked he drew his next card. "I fuse Gazelle, the King of Mythical Beasts and Berfomet to create Chimera, the Flying Mythical Beast!" Two monsters appeared in front of the image of Polymerization. One of them was a lion-like beast with a horn of its forehead and black mane. The other one was a winged beast with four arms and two horns on either side of its head. They were then sucked into the fusion card, making a new monster appear. It was a four legged creature who's two heads had the faces of its fusion materials, with white wings and a tail that was a snake. (ATK: 2100 DEF: 1800 LV: 6)

"Uh oh, this isn't gonna be pretty." Jaden commented as his friends gasped.

"Now go, attack! Pulverizing Pounce!" The Chimera leapt forward and pounced at Burstinatrix.

"Syrus, you just dueled this guy. Got any advise on how to beat him?" Chumley asked.

"None. I tried everything, but nothing worked."

That response caused the koala duelist gasp as if frightened. "So then what are you saying, Syrus? That Jaden doesn't have a chance here?"

"I'm saying against Yugi's deck, that's a possibility."

"It's more than that." Bastion spoke up. "You see, Dimitri's a copycat duelist. So in order to defeat him, you must exploit the failings of whoever he's copying. As you did when you first dueled Dimitri, Syrus. You knew he was copying Crowler's deck, and you knew what its weaknesses were. That's how you won. But the problem is now he's copying Yugi, a duelist who's weaknesses are not so well known. That is if he has any at all. You see, there is no set formula on how to beat the King of Games. So therefore, there is no set formula on how to beat Dimitri now."

"Well, that's just great." Shiori commented sarcastically.

Andrew however had a determined look on his face. "Even if Yugi's deck doesn't have any weaknesses, that doesn't make Dimitri unbeatable. I still believe Jaden can win this."

"All right, so you like fusing monsters, do ya?" Jaden asked as he began his next turn. "Well then, you'll love this. Elemental heroes Sparkman and Clayman, combine to create, Elemental HERO Thunder Giant!" The two named monsters appeared for just one second before merging into the big yellow armored man. (ATK: 2400 DEF: 1500 LV: 6) "And now I'm gonna use his special ability. It lets me destroy a monster who's original attack points are less than his own." The giant shot a blast of electricity from his palm which caused Chimera to roar in pain before it exploded.

"Nice ability. Now let me show you mine. When Chimera is destroyed, I'm allowed to summon back Berfomet from the graveyard." The four armed monster appeared again, kneeling down and crossed two of its arms. (ATK: 1400 DEF: 1800 LV: 5)

"Yeah, well he won't be back for very long. Thunder Giant, attack! Voltic Thunder!" Once again, the giant shot a blast of electricity which made the defending monster explode, just like Chimera. 'That ability saved his life points from taking a big hit. That deck's living up to the height.' Jaden thought.

"Man, no damage at all." Shiori noted.

"Yeah. That Chimera is a good monster to counter cards like Thunder Giant." Andrew added.

Dimitri began his next turn. "All right, for my turn I place one card facedown." A card appeared at his feet. And play… this!" He held up a spell card. "Monster Reincarnation. Now by discarding one card, I get back one monster from my graveyard." He discarded a card from his hand and took back the monster he chose. "Gazelle, the King of Mythical Beasts, return!" The uni-horned beast appeared on the field. (ATK: 1500 DEF: 1200 LV: 4) "And now…" Dimitri held up another spell card. "I activate the magic card Swords of Revealing Light!"

Jaden and everyone else watched as dozens of swords of light rained down upon the field, surrounding his field. "Hey, what's happening?"

"Not your attacks, that's what. For three turns your monsters are useless."

"Three turns? I've gotta find a way to break that spell." Jaden drew a card and looked at it before he placed it on his duel disk. "Go, Dark Catapulter!" The animal like knelt in front of him. (ATK: 1000 DEF: 1500 LV: 4)

"What a lishus move." Chumley said. "Dark Catapulter has a special ability that will let Jaden destroy Dimitri's sword spell card."

Dimitri smirked. "Yes, but not until next round, and Catapulter won't be around that long. Because I have a trap card out!" His facedown card flipped up. "Dark Renewal. It activates when you make a summoning. Now by sacrificing one of your monsters, as well as one of my own, I can bring back a spellcaster monster from the graveyard."

"It's too bad you don't have any there then." Jaden replied. "By my count, the only two monsters in your grave are Chimera and Berfomet."

"Then you may want to double check your work. Remember when I played Monster Reincarnation?"

Jaden gasped at what Dimitri said.


Flashback

"Now by discarding one card, I get back one monster from my graveyard."

Flashback end


"Oh yeah."

"Now to bring back that spellcaster." Dimirti declared as a red and gold coffin appeared. "All right. Gazelle, Catapulter, make some room for the one, the only..." The two named monsters turned into streams of light which flowed into it. The coffin then closed itself. "My friend, Dark Magician!" It opened up, from which emerged the legendary spellcaster from Yugi's deck. He was clad in purple robes and wielded a turquoise staff. (ATK: 2500 DEF: 2100 LV: 7)

"I am star struck." Jaden said, amazed by the monster's appearance. "The Dark Magician like the headliner of Yugi's entire deck!"

"Think he'll give an autograph?" Syrus wondered.

"I wish I brought my camera." Chumley added.

"Never thought I would see Yugi's ace monster in action so close." Andrew admitted.

"If it wasn't for Dimitri being a thief who took it, I would have been more amazed." Shiori added.

'Well played. I doubt Yugi could have done it better himself.' Bastion thought. 'Dimitri's copying him perfectly. And that's not good for Jaden.'

"Well Thunder Giant. You may not be able to attack yet, but you can still defend. And that's exactly what I'm gonna have you do, buddy." The giant man crossed his arms and kneeled down. "Your go, Dimitri!"

"That's Yugi." Dimitri reminded him as he drew his next card and inserted it into his duel disk. "And I choose to play the magic card, Thousand Knives." A multitude of glowing knives appeared in the air on Dimitri's field. "And when I activate it with Dark Magician on the field, they can be used to destroy anyone of your monsters." The purple clad spellcaster pointed his staff forward, making all the knives to hit Jaden's fusion monster.

"Jaden's Thunder Giant just got cut down to size." Syrus moaned.

"Size zero cuz he's gone." Chumley pointed out.

"This is bad." Andrew commented.

"Still star struck?" Dimitri asked. "Well, let's see how you like getting struck, by your star. Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!" The magician created a ball of magic energy from the tip of his staff and fired it at Jaden. He cried as the ball made contact.

"Oh no!" Syrus cried out.

"Jaden!" Chumley called out.

Jaden: 4000-1500

"That hurt." Jaden said.

"Give up." Dimitri called out."

"Never!"

"That's the spirit. Never give up. Always believe in the Heart of the Cards. That's what I say."

"Oh please." Shiori moaned.

"Yeah yeah. The Heart of the Cards, sure." 'It's his cards I'm worried about.' Jaden thought. 'Either I beat him, or we lose them.'

"Come on, Jaden. Don't give up." Andrew encouraged him.

'Alright Jaden, time to get your game on.' He thought as he drew his next card. 'Here goes something...' He took a card from his hand. "I hope. Wroughtweiler in defense mode!" The mechanical dog sat down in front of him. (ATK: 800 DEF: 1200 LV: 3) "And that's it."

"Well well. There may be no known blueprint to defeat Yugi. But Jaden's still trying to design one," Bastion noted. "And if my hunch is right, what he's planning might work."

"Don't forget, with Swords of light out, you can't attack." Dimitri reminded Jaden as he drew a card. "But I can. Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!" The magician fired another ball of magical energy at the mechanical dog.

"Hey, congrats. You just activated Wroghtweiler's special ability. You see, once he's sent to the graveyard, I get to bring back and Elemental HERO and Polymerization." At that, Burstinatrix and the spell card in question came out of Jaden's graveyard.

"Way to play. You really show promise." Dimitri praised.

Not that Jaden really appreciated it. "This guy's really starting to bug me." He said as he drew a card. "Rise Burstinatrix!" The red clad female hero kneeled down in front of him, once again. (ATK: 1200 DEF: 800 LV: 3) "Then I'm gonna throw down a facedown and call it a turn." A facedown card appeared near his feet. 'Burstinatrix is tough, but she's still no match for Dark Magician. There's only one monster in my deck right now that has more attack points than him. Elemental HERO Bladedge with 2600.' He glanced at the named that was in his hand. 'Either I summon him, or I lose this duel.'

"Well it's been three turns now." Bastion pointed out.

"Then that means no more Swords of Revealing Light." Chumley added.

"Jaden, do you hear that? The spell's over. You can attack next turn." The swords of light disappeared.

"That's assuming that Jaden even has a next turn." Dimitri scoffed as he began his turn. "Dark Magician, attack Hero Burstinatrix!"

"Not so fast, Dimitri!" Jaden interrupted him. "I play a trap, A Hero Emerges! And it activates as soon as you declare an attack. Now you have to pick a card at random from my hand, and if it's a monster, I get to summon it to the field. Now choose."

"So be it. I choose the far left."

That made Jaden smirk. "Good choice... for me that is." He held up the card that was picked. "Come on out, Bladedge!" The golden armored hero appeared. (ATK: 2600 DEF: 1800 LV: 7)

"Yes, with Bladedge on the field, Jaden can stand up against the Dark Magician." Shiori cheered.

"And every other monster in Yugi's deck." Bastion added. "After all, with no Egyptian God cards, that Dark Magician is the strongest card Dimitri has."

"Which means Jaden has the upper hand now." Andrew said.

However, Dimitri laughed a little, confusing his opponent. "Sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear your friends. They're quite wrong."

"What?"

"It's true that Dark Magician is the strongest monster card in my deck, but as duelist, you must know that it's rarely just about the card, it's what you do with it. And what I'm going to do is play this…" A spell card appeared on Dimitri's field. "Dedication Through Light and Darkness." Dark energy surrounded it and extended towards Dark Magician, engulfing him before the card absorbed him. "It takes Dark Magician and turns him into something even more powerful. The legendary, Dark Magician of Chaos!"

"Of Chaos?" Syrus parroted.

"Boy that doesn't sound good." Chumley commented.

"Yes, well it's not." Bastion replied. "It's one of the mightiest creatures you'll ever see."

"That's right, and I'm about to unleash him on you, Jaden. Chaos Magician, rise!" The monster that appeared was a blue-faced man wearing a tight, black suit with red rings around his arms and legs. He was also wearing a wide headdress with the same colors as his suit. He had long black hair and carried a pointed black staff that was larger than the Dark Magician's. "Now just by successfully summoning him, I can bring one magic card from my graveyard to my hand." The card he took back was Monster Reincarnation. "Oh, and in case you haven't done the math yet, Bladegde doesn't have the most attack points anymore. Chaos Magician does!" (ATK: 2800 DEF: 2600 LV: 8)

Syrus and Chumley gasped at the number of points.

"Oh no!" Andrew exclaimed.

"2800?" Jaden noted.

"Yes, now watch them all in action! Scepter Strike!" The new magician fired off a crackling orb of magical energy that slammed into Bladedge, thus destroying him.

Jaden: 1500-1300

"Just face it. This deck and I fit perfectly. Always have, always will."

"Not if I can help it." Jaden retorted. 'Of course, to be honest, I don't know if I can. Against the King of Games, getting your game on, may not be enough.'

"Jaden's in deep trouble." Syrus commented.

"Unfortunately Syrus, that's the understatement of the year." Bastion replied. "Look what he has to contend against. The Dark Magician of Chaos, full life points, the King of Games' deck. The trouble isn't deep. It's subterranean."

"There's still a chance for Jaden to win this." Andrew remained confident. "We have to believe in him."

"I gotta get my game on." Jaden said to himself. "Not only does this guy have Yugi's deck, but he thinks he's Yugi. And the only way I'm gonna set him straight is by beating him." He then smirked. "Well, always did want how I stacked up against my idol. Guess this could be as close as I get. My turn!" He drew a card and it turned out to be… "Winged Kuriboh."

"Coo."

"Are you sure? This could get rough, and we are going against your old master's monsters."

"Coo." The duel spirit gave Jaden an eye smile.

"All right then, I play my pal Winged Kuriboh!" The winged fur ball cooed as it appeared next to Burstinatrix. (ATK: 300 DEF: 200 LV: 1) "And while he's chilling in defense mode, I'll also throw down a facedown." A card appeared behind his two monsters.

"Winged Kuriboh? Good to see you. Of course…" Dimitri said as he drew a card and looked at it. "There is nothing quite like the original." He played the card he drew. "Say hi, Kuriboh." The wingless mirror version of Jaden's monster appeared next to the spellcaster. (ATK: 300 DEF: 200 LV: 1)

"Two Kuribohs?" Syrus wondered.

"What are the odds you get to see that?" Shiori added.

"But first things first, Jaden. Dark Magician of Chaos, attack Burstinatrix!" The named magician dashed forward.

"Ha! I've got a trap, Super Junior Confrontation!" Jaden's facedown card flipped up. "Yeah, I know what you're thinking, sounds kinda weak, doesn't it. Well, that's just the point. This trap calls off your magician's attack and forces both of our weakest monsters to do battle. Weakest in points that is. So it's gonna be your Kuriboh against mine."

"A hairball battle royale." Chumley commented.

The original Kuriboh flew towards Jaden's field and tackled his winged counterpart. "You got off easy, but next turn you won't. I end with a facedown." A facedown card appeared on the field at the same time as Kuriboh returned to Dimitri's side.

'Winged Kuriboh took one for the team there.' Bastion thought. 'Losing Burstinatrix would have put Jaden in a tight spot.'

It was then Phantom Magician appeared beside Andrew. "Your friend may be behind a little, but he's still in this duel."

Andrew nodded. 'This won't be easy, but I know Jaden can win. As long as he believes he can.'

"My go." Jaden announced. "And I play Pot of Greed. It lets me draw two cards." He looked at them. "And they're two sweet ones. Hope you like playing with bubbles, cuz I'm summoning Elemental HERO Bubbleman!" The water appeared, his cape fluttering behind him. (ATK: 800 DEF: 1200 LV: 4) "And I'll play a field spell, one you might need a hard hat for. Skyscraper!" As as Jaden inserted his field spell, tall buildings rose around both duelists.

"What the? What's the meaning of these buildings?" Dimitri exclaimed.

"Meaning? To kick your butt, Dimitri." Syrus said.

"That's right. Cuz here an Elemental HERO gains a thousand attack points if it's weaker than the monster it's attacking."

"But, that would mean that…" Dimitri realized.

"You're in trouble, especially since I'm gonna play this too: the equip spell, Bubble Blaster!" A large bazooka like weapon with a water reservoir appeared on Bubbleman's shoulder. "And this thing packs some pop, 800 points worth. Plus if Bubbleman ever gets attacked, Bubble Blaster takes the hit for him. Now to give him those extra points…" (ATK: 800-1600) "And now, to use them!" The water hero fired a large bubble from his weapon at the furry monster on Dimitri's field.

"Let's go, Bubbleman! Clean that Kuriboh's clock!" Syrus cheered.

"But which Kuriboh?" Dimitri asked with a smirk.

"Uh oh." Jaden said.

"I play the magic card, Multiply." The moment his facedown card flipped up, Kuriboh shattered into pixels and was immediately replaced by four copies of him.

"What the…?"

"Now there are four of them!" Syrus exclaimed.

"That's correct. By sacrificing one Kuriboh, I can now summon Kuriboh Tokens on all opened spaces in my monster card zone." (ATK: 300 DEF: 200 LV: 1) x4 "Of course, your blast is still in play, but its significance has been deflated."

"Fine, then I'll just end my turn by throwing down a facedown." Jaden concluded as he placed a facedown card.

"Very well." Dimitri drew his next card. "And I'll throw this, the magical Card of Sanctity. It forces each of us to draw until we both have six cards in our hands." Both duelists drew their extra cards. Dimitri glanced at one of his own and smiled. "Excellent, I drew the monster Watapon." The monster card had the picture of a cute little, white puffball with antennas. (ATK: 200 DEF: 300 LV: 1) "You see, if Watapon is drawn to my hand by the way of magic, trap or monster effect, I can summon it to the field. But still, he won't be out for long. Because now I'm going to sacrifice him and bring out…" The white puff appeared for a moment before it was replaced by a different monster. "Dark Magician Girl!" It was a young and beautiful woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She even had a slight blush on her cheeks. She wore a blue magician's hat, robe and boots with a pink mini-skirt and carried a a small scepter. The spellcaster spun gracefully as she made her appearance. (ATK: 2000 DEF: 1700 LV: 6)

"Wow, she's even cuter in person." Jaden remarked.

"The Dark Magician Girl…" Syrus was blushing.

"Um, are you okay Syrus?" Shiori asked as he waved his hand in front of the smaller Slifer's face, who didn't react at all.

"She has both beauty and brawn." Dimitri spoke up. "You see for every Dark Magician in the graveyard, she gains 300 attack points." The female magician was temporarily surrounded by a pink aura. (ATK: 2000-2300) "And o the subject of Dark Magicians, don't forget about this one. Dark Magician of Chaos, attack!" The powerful magician fired off a blast of magical energy that was blocked by Bubbleman's blaster. (ATK: 1600-800) "Now what he started, she'll finish. Dark Magician Girl, Dark Burning Attack!" The female magician raised her scepter and shot a sphere of pink magic at the water hero.

Jaden: 1300-0800

"The Heart of the Cards are indeed powerful, aren't they Jaden?"

"All right, so you got me with a couple good shots. Now it's my turn." The Slifer said while scratching his nose.

"Your turn?"

"Yeah, that's right." He drew a card. "To return the favor and with this card I just drew, I'll be able to return it and then some." A familiar green clad hero with white wings appeared on the field, following up with Polymerization which was flipped up. "I fuse Avian and Burstinatrix to summon the Elemental HERO Flame Wingman!" They there combined to form Jaden's headliner. (ATK: 2100 DEF: 1200 LV: 6) "But I'm not done. Next I play The Warrior Returning Alive. It lets me bring back a past warrior monster, like Sparkman." The electric hero appeared next to Flame Wingman. (ATK: 1600 DEF: 1400 LV: 4) "And don't forget Skyscraper is still out, which means Flame Wingman gets an extra thousand attack points in battle." (ATK: 2100-3100)

"But wait! 3100 attack points!" Dimitri said in realization. "That's-"

"Yup, enough to take out your magician, either one. But since I have a soft spot for the girl, we'll start with him." The fusion leapt in the air, his body covered an flames, and dove down at the Chaos Magician, slamming into him and destroying him.

Dimitri: 4000-3700

"Oh yeah! And I also have Wingman's super power. It causes you to take damage to your life points equal to the attack points of your destroyed monster."

Dimitri: 3700-0900

"Take that!" Chumley cheered. "Yugi, Dimitri, whatever your name is!"

"Way to play Jay! Nice work!" Syrus added.

"That's more like it" Shiori cheered.

"I knew he'd make a comeback." Andrew said smiling.

"Crazy! I'm beating Yugi's deck!" Jaden said.

'Simply remarkable.' Bastion thought. 'Dimitri is dueling just as the King of Games would, yet Jaden is staying competitive, winning even. Sure, he was a bit overwhelmed at first by Yugi's deck, but now he's really turned things around. Who knows, maybe one day his deck will be going on tour right beside Yugi's, assuming he can win it back that is.'

"Sparkman, attack! Sparkstorm!" The electric hero brought his hands overhead and thrust them forward, firing a stream of electricity, destroying one of the Kuriboh Tokens. "Next I'll throw down two facedowns and use the spell card Emergency Provisions. Now by sacrificing one those facedowns, I get back a thousand life points." The spell card removed one of the facedown cards that was placed on the field.

Jaden: 0800-1800

"Sweet, don't you think?" 'But not as sweet as what's about to happen. I mean, one more attack and I'll have beaten the King of Games' deck.'

"Your friend is doing well." Andrew's duel spirit commented.

'That's Jaden for ya.' Andrew replied.

"Jaden, he's all yours! You've got him!" Syrus cheered.

"You have nothing, my deck is prepared for all contingencies!" Dimitri roared as he drew his card. "First I'll switch Dark Magician Girl to defense mode." The female magician kneeled. "Then I'll activate, Spider Web." A white string came from the spell card and reached for Jaden's graveyard. "It allows me to take one of the cards you sent to your graveyard last turn and place it directly into my hand. And soon, it will go directly into my life points." The string deposited the chosen card in Dimitri's hand. "Because I chose Emergency Provisions. Next I'll place two cards facedown, then I'll activate the spell card Monster Reincarnation. And next I'll make three sacrifices…" The spell card he just played, along with the two facedowns disappeared. "Which lets me play Emergency Provisions."

Dimitri: 0900-3900

"Finally, thanks to Reincarnation, I'll take back the Kuriboh I just lost. So, did you follow all of that?"

"Not a word of it." Syrus spoke up.

"Well, I did." Shiori said.

"Me too." Jaden added as he began his turn. "Sweet moves. But they won't save you from the Flame Wingman! Skydive Scorcher!" The green and red hero dive bombed Dark Magician Girl. "And don't forget his super power, you get hit for damage equal the attack points of the Dark Magician Girl." the hero landed in front of Dimitri and blasted him with fire from his dragon arm.

Dimitri: 3900-1600

"Good thing I padded my points last turn."

"Yeah? Well, good thing I have a couple of attacks left. I'll use the spell card De-Fusion. Now Flame Wingman, de-fuse!" The fusion monster turned back into his fusion materials. (ATK: 1200 DEF: 800 LV: 3) (ATK: 1000 DEF: 1000 LV: 3)

"My, Jaden's impressing more and more every turn." Bastion said amazed. "What skillful play. Now he'll be able to attack with each monster separately."

"Avian, attack! Talon Hair!" The winged hero at one of the tokens and raked it with his taloned foot. "And now Burstinatrix, Flares Storm!" The female hero formed a fireball in her hands and threw it at the remaining token.

"Now that's how you duel." Syrus cheered.

"Lishus. One one more attack and he'll nail Dimitri's life points." Chumley said.

"Yes and with Sparkman on the field, his next attack will be right now." Bastion replied.

"Which means Yugi's deck will be saved." Andrew said.

"And Jaden is about to be one few guys who beat it." Shiori added.

"Now Sparkman, Spark Storm!" The golden and blue hero fired another stream of electricity.

However, Dimitri wasn't worried at all. " Sorry, but you're forgetting about someone… Kuriboh." As he held up the card in question, the furry monster appeared in front of Dimitri to take the hit.

"What the?"

"By discarding Kuriboh, I don't take any damage from Sparkman's little firework display. Good thing Monster Reincarnation let me bring him back from the graveyard last turn."

"Oh yeah. My bad."

"Thank you Kuriboh." Dimitri said, glancing at his duel disk. "That move takes me back to our duel against Seto Kaiba at Battle City. Those were some good times, weren't they old friend?"

"Battle City? This guy is getting crazier than earlier." Shiori commented.

"I mean, what's next? Duelist Kingdom?" Syrus added.

"Sy, just smile and nod, smile and nod." Chumley said, a little weirded out by Dimitri's antics.

"Now then, let's continue this, for Kuriboh. His fall won't be in vain." Dimitri drew a card and smiled at what he got. "Perfect. The Heart of the Cards has served me again. I remove one dark monster and light monster from my graveyard." At that, Kuriboh and Watapon appeared in front of him.

"Pause and rewind. You're removing them why, Dimitri?" Jaden asked.

"I've never seen this. Is it a summoning?" Syrus wondered.

"Nah, there's no way." Chumley replied.

Bastion let out a gasp. "You're wrong. There is a way. There are two monsters that can be summoned like this. Two rare cards of such power, duelists have scoured the world to add them to their collection."

"The Envoys!" Andrew figured.

"No way!" Shiori gasped.

"You've heard of them?" Bastion asked.

"Yeah, I've even heard that Seto Kaiba himself summoned one of them in a duel against a man named Ziegfried. That monster was Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End. A monster with an ability that made it so very powerful that it's been outlawed in official duel monsters tournaments. I don't remember the name of the other card, but from what I've heard, that monster card has power comparable to the Chaos Emperor, but hasn't been forbidden from the tournaments. I've also heard people saying that the card is so rare that there might not be any of them left."

Dimitri smirked. "Oh, well they're wrong, because I have one right here! Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning!" The two tiny monsters flew into a swirling vortex and were replaced by a warrior. He had a dark-blue armor with golden linings, a curved blade, and an almost triangular shield with the same coloring as the armor. (ATK: 3000 DEF: 2500 LV: 8)

"So then Yugi really did have that card. I always thought it was just a rumor." Jaden mentioned, enthralled by the soldier.

"I'm afraid not. This card has been a part of my deck for a long time. But I only take him out for... special occasions. Like now! Luster Blade Attack!" The warrior the air with his sword, projecting a flurry of smaller ones that cut down Avian.

Jaden: 1800-0800

"Ngh, that hurt." Jaden said.

"Well that was just the beginning. Now I'll show you the true power of this card. You see, if the Black Luster Soldier is able to destroy a monster in battle, he's allowed to attack again."

"No way!" Jaden exclaimed.

"Aw man. Now I'm starting to see why monsters like these are outlawed." Syrus whimpered.

"And now, Black Luster Soldier, end this!" The warrior dashed towards Burstinatrix with his swords at the ready.

"He's through! Jaden's life points cant withstand another hit." Bastion pointed out.

"Jaden!" Andrew shouted.

"It's over!" Dimitri said triumphantly.

"Not yet! I play the card Hero Spirit!" The spirit of Avian emerged in front of Burstinatrix and blocked the attack.

"What's this?"

"It's not the end of the duel. Cuz if a hero is destroyed and I play Hero Spirit, I can turn all the damage received from your monster to zero."

"Fine then. I'll just finish you off next turn. The Heart of the Cards will see to that."

'He may be right. Yugi's deck is just so powerful. I thought I could win, but now I don't know.' Jaden thought worriedly.

It was then Andrew's Phantom Magician went over to Jaden and Winged Kuriboh appeared.

"Coo."

"Jaden, you can't start thinking like that. You can still win this." Phantom Magician.

"But how? He's got the Heart of the cards on his side."

Winged Kuriboh shook its body as if saying no.

"You're wrong Jaden." Andrew said. "Just think about it. There's an obvious reason why Dimitri doesn't have the Heart of the Cards."

"What do you mean? I mean, come on, that's Yugi's deck." But it was then Jaden gasped as it dawned on him. 'Wait a sec. That's it! That's Yugi's deck. There's no way the Heart of the Cards can be on Dimitri's side. The Heart of the Cards comes from believing in your own cards, not someone's you stole.'

"That's right." Phantom Magician said while Winged Kuriboh nodded.

Jaden smirked. 'And I believe in my deck. So if the Heart of the Cards is on anyone's side, it's on mine.' He gave Andrew a thumbs before drawing his next card. "Sorry Dimitri, but I believe."

"What?"

"I activate Silent Doom! This very handy spell card allows me to summon one monster from my graveyard in defense mode. So come on back, Avian!" The green hero appeared in a kneeling position. (ATK: 1000 DEF: 1000 LV: 3) "Next I'll play this." Jaden held up another spell card. "It's called Double Spell. Now by discarding one spell card from my hand, I can use one spell card from my opponent's graveyard. If you need more info, just look in the official rulebook under the heading, 'How'd I lose'."

"Sounds like Jaden's got something planned." Bastion noted.

"So I'll discard this and help myself to your Polymerization." Jaden discarded a card and made Dimitri gasp as the spell card he wanted came out of the graveyard. "Now I'll fuse Avian and Burstinatrix to create my deck's headliner one more time. The Elemental HERO Flame Wingman!" After the green and red heroes merged together, the Wingman came out of the fusion vortex and landed on the tip of the tallest Skyscraper. "And since my Skyscraper field card is still out, he gains an extra 1000 attack points." (ATK: 2100-3100 ) "Now Flame Wingman, attack Black Luster Soldier with Skydive Scorcher!" The hero dove down and slammed his flame covered dragon arm into the warrior monster.

Dimitri: 1600-1500

"He's gone! My Luster Soldier's gone!" Dimitri exclaimed.

"Don't sweat it. He was never yours to begin with. Besides, if you want to worry about something, worry about Wingman's superpower. It makes it so all your destroyed monster's attack points are dealt as damage to you." Jaden's hero shot a blast of fire from his dragon arm that made Dimitri cry out as he lost the remaining life points.

Dimitri: 1500-0000

"That's game." Jaden gave him his trade mark pose. "And the end of you using that deck."

"I've been beaten…" Dimitri said as he fell to his knees. "Even with my... with Yugi's legendary cards." He said in his normal voice. "What's wrong with me? Why can't I ever win?"

"The answer to that is obvious." They all turned to face the direction the voice came from and saw Zane, accompanied by Alexis and Jenny."

"Hey, you're Zane." Dimitri said.

"Big bro?" Syrus said.

"Why're you guys here?" Andrew asked.

"Why else? To see the deck. but it was gone." Zane replied.

"We snuck into the event hall and saw how the display case was broken into." Alexis explained.

"We figured the thief couldn't have gotten far, so we decided to take a look around." Jenny filled in.

"Which led us here." Zane added. "We found you a while ago, but didn't want to interrupt the duel."

"Kind of you." Bastion remarked.

Jaden's eyes widened. "Wait then, you saw it all? Me and Dimitri? The whole thing?"

"Not just us. Your match attracted quite a bit of attention." Zane looked upwards. Everyone turned to see at least a dozen other students on the cliffs above them.

"Whoa. Uh, hi. Glad you all could make it." Jaden said as they all applauded.

"Man, that Jaden can duel." A Ra Yellow said.

"Do you think he tutors? I'm failing fusion." Another Ra said.

"What now?" Dimitri asked.

"Well kid, the punishment for stealing has always been crystal clear: straight up expulsion. But still, since I think pretty much everyone here enjoyed seeing Yugi's deck in a duel rather than a display case, I doubt anyone will turn you in."

"Don't sweat it, Dimitri. But you gotta tell us. How are you so good with those spellcasters?"

"I'm failing that too."

"What difference does it make? I lost." Dimitri said.

"You didn't lose. That person you were pretending to be did, Dimitri." Jaden said.

"Yugi?"

"No bro, you can never be Yugi."

"Then who was I?"

"Well, you were you, but you weren't. See, when you copy someone, it's not like you're that person. You're you copying that person. Ya know." Jaden looked up. "Yeah, that makes sense, right?"

"Not quite." Andrew commented.

"Let me attempt to interpret for him, Dimitri." Zane said. "You'll never win or lose until you put yourself out there. And that means creating your own deck and your own strategies. Not piggybacking off of someone else's. After all, there is no amount of studying that you can do to be able to use someone else's deck as well as they can."

"Yeah. What Zane said. That's exactly what I meant. I mean, no offense, but just cuz I beat you, it doesn't mean I could've beat Yugi. So how about we put that deck back where it belongs?"

"Yeah, ok."


The next morning, the exhibit hall was with students looking at the posters of Yugi and his deck in the display case. Jaden was smiling as he, Andrew, Shiori, Chumley and Jenny were hanging out together. "Would you look at that. Everything's back to normal, huh?"

Chumley nodded. "Well, I mean, you know, as normal as things get around this crazy place."

"That's true." Jenny said. "Thanks again for the ticket." She told Andrew.

"No problem. I'm glad I could help you."

"So anyway, what's that you've got there, Jaden." Chumley asked, noticing the rolled up poster he held.

"What, this?" Jaden said as he unrolled it. "Just an autographed poster of the King of Games."

"Whoa."

"Yeah, I know. Pretty sweet, right guys?"

"It sure is." Shiori said. "But just so you know, I heard Dimitri. He was still talking in the Yugi voice when he put that deck back. And then he got into the merchandise, and he had a pen." Jaden laughed a little.

"Jaden! Jaden!" All of them turned to see Syrus running up to them.

"What's up, Sy?"

"It's Dimitri. He's at it again."

"You're joking, right?" Andrew asked.

"Umm, no."


The group ran though the forest until they came across Dimitri... only he looked different. He was wearing a Slifer Red jacket, had the same haircut as Jaden, as well as the same shirt and pants.

"I've been waiting for you." He turned around so they all could have a good look at him.

"Uhh, Dimitri, what are you doing?!" Jaden asked as he was obviously weirded out by Dimitri's new look.

"Who's this Dimitri? My name is Jaden, and I'm a Slifer Red. Now… listen, we're dueling, so turn your game on!"

Everyone fell over at those words. Jaden slapped himself in the face. "Its get your game on. Say it right."

"Yeah, whatever. We'll settle it in a duel, so let's throw up... wait I mean, let's throw down. Look, let's just duel. Come on, get your deck out. This is gonna be swell." Dimitri tried to throw Jaden's trade mark pose, only he made an awful attempt.

Which made Jaden even more annoyed. "It's sweet! And you're not even close to doing my pose right!"

"Well what's wrong?" The copycat duelist asked confused.

Everyone sweat dropped as Jaden began to give Dimitri pointers on how to correctly imitate him.

"I want a catchphrase." Chumley said.

"Yeah, I think I just want out of here." Syrus added.

"This is stupid." Shiori commented.

"No kidding." Jenny said. "So how do we convince Dimitri to drop this act?"

"Maybe I can." Andrew suggested as he approached the two Jaden's. "Hey Dimitri."

"It's Jaden."

"Dimitri, Jaden, whatever. You know I'm talking to you. Anyway, I propose that you and I duel. If you win, you're allowed to duel Jaden. If I win, you become Dimitri again and use your own deck. Sounds good?"

"Well that's fine by me." Jaden said.

"Fine with me! I always wanted to see how my heroes handles yours." Dimitri said.

"You mean his heroes." Andrew replied, indicating Jaden. "Let's just get this duel started.

Both of inserted their deck and started their duel disks.

"Duel!"

Andrew: 4000

Dimitri: 4000

"I'll start." Dimitri declared and drew a card. "First I summon Elemental HERO Sparkman." The electric hero appeared in front of him. (ATK: 1600 DEF: 1400 LV: 4) "Then I'll throw down a facedown." A card appeared behind the hero.

"Not a bad start." Andrew commented as he drew a card. "But it's not much compared to Elemental HERO Stratos." The turbine winged hero appeared on the field. (ATK: 1800 DEF: 300 LV: 4) "And thanks to his special ability, I can take a HERO monster from my deck and add it to my hand. Like my Blazeman." He took the named card from his deck and placed it in his hand. "Now Stratos, attack his Sparkman!" The wind hero created a cyclone from his wings that shattered Sparkman to pixels.

Dimitri: 4000-3800

"I play the trap, Hero Signal!" A ray of with an 'H' appeared from the facedown card. "This lets me summon a level 4 or lower Elemental HERO from my hand or deck, like Clayman." The stone knelt down in Sparkman's place. (ATK: 800 DEF: 2000 LV: 4)

"I end my turn with a facedown card." Andrew concluded.

"My turn then." Dimitri drew a card. "And I play the spell card Monster Reborn, and I'll use it to bring back my Sparkman." The electric hero returned to the field. "Next I'll play Polymerization and fuse Sparkman with Clayman to create Elemental HERO Thunder Giant!" The two heroes merged and became the yellow armored giant. (ATK: 2400 DEF: 1500 LV: 6) "And now, since your monster's original attack points are less than his own, Thunder Giant can destroy him." The electric giant shot a blast of electricity from his palm and zapped Stratos until he exploded. "And that leaves you wide open for a direct attack. Voltic Thunder!" The hero shot another blast that went straight towards Andrew.

"I play the trap card, Call of the Haunted." His facedown card flipped up. "This lets me summon back a monster from my graveyard. I resurrect my Stratos." The turbine winged hero appeared once again. (ATK: 1800 DEF: 300 LV: 4) "And once again, I can take a HERO from my deck to my hand. And I choose Elemental HERO Knospe." He held up the card he took.

"Fine, then I'll just attack your Stratos." Again, Stratos was zapped by Thunder Giant.

Andrew: 4000-3400

"That's all for now."

Andrew drew a card. "I summon Elemental HERO Blazeman." The flame- headed warrior with red armor rose up on the field. (ATK: 1200 DEF: 1800 LV: 4) "And with him summoned, I can take a Polymerization from my deck and add it to my hand." After he took it from his deck, he held it up. "And I'll use it to fuse Blazeman and Knospe to to summon the Elemental HERO Gaia." The flame-headed hero merged with the flower bud, and in their place stood the black armored giant, staring down at Dimitri's monster. (ATK: 2200 DEF: 2600 LV: 6) "When this guy is fusion summoned, he absorbs half of your monster's attack points for this turn. And there's only one monster on your field." Gaia held up his right palm and absorbed energy from Thunder Giant. (ATK: 2400-1200) (ATK: 2200-3400) "Now Gaia, attack with Continent Smash!" The earth hero raised his right arm and slammed the opposing hero so hard the ground shook.

Dimitri: 3800-1600

"With that, I end my turn with a facedown." A card appeared at Andrew's feet.

"Well, so far Andrew is doing well." Jenny said.

"Yeah. And even though Dimitri's the one dueling, it is kinda cool to see Andrew's deck against mine. That makes me looking forward for the day when we finally face-off." Jaden said.

"You said it." Andrew replied.

"But we are facing off." Dimitri said.

"Not you, the real Jaden. Let's just move on." Andrew said almost annoyed.

"All right then." Dimitri began his next turn. "I summon Elemental HERO Bubbleman." The familiar water hero emerged. (ATK: 800 DEF: 1200 LV: 4) "If he's the only card on my field when he's summoned, I can draw two cards." Dimitri smiled at the two cards he drew. "Swell!"

"I told you, it's 'sweet'!" Jaden snapped.

"First I play Pot of Greed, so I can draw two cards." Dimitri drew another two cards. "And I drew just what I need. The first one is this, Fusion Recovery. This spell card lets me take back a Polymerization and a fusion material monster from my graveyard to my hand." The named spell card, along with Clayman came out of the graveyard slot before he placed them in his hand. "And next, I activate the field spell Skyscraper." Everyone was surrounded by the familiar city-like area. "And why stop there, when I can also play the equip spell Bubble Blaster." Bubbleman was now holding his Bazooka. "This gives Bubbleman 800 extra attack points." (ATK: 800-1600) "And there's more. With Skyscraper in play, he gains a thousand more attack points if the monster he battles with is stronger. Now go, Bombarding Bubble Barrage!" The hero shot a stream of bubbles. (ATK: 1600-2600)

"You triggered my facedown card, Enemy Controller." A video game controller emerged from Andrew's facedown card. "This spell has two effects, and I can activate one of them. I choose the first one, which lets me change your monster's battle mode." The cable of the controller attached itself to Bubbleman, causing the attack to be interrupted. And then, the controller's buttons were automatically pressed in following order: B, up, right, A, right, down. And that caused Bubbleman to kneel down to defense mode.

"Awesome." Syrus cheered.

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

"Nice one, Andrew." Jaden cheered.

"Okay, I'll just throw down two facedowns and play Mirage of Nightmare." Two facedown cards and the familiar continuous spell appeared.

"I draw." Andrew said as he began his turn.

"Hold on! Since your turn begins, my mirage card makes me draw until I have four cards in my hand." Since Dimitri had two cards in his hand, he drew two more. "And then I'll use Emergency Provisions to send Mirage to the grave and regain one thousand life points." His spell flipped and got rid of the continuous spell, making a blue aura surround him.

Dimitri: 1600-2600

"Fine, I'll start my turn by activating the spell card HERO's Bond. With a HERO on the field, I can summon two level 4 or lower Elemental Heroes from my hand. So I'll bring out Elemental HERO Ocean and Heat." Gaia was joined by the aquatic hero and white and red armored man. (ATK: 1500 DEF: 1200 LV: 4) (ATK: 1600 DEF: 1200 LV: 4) "And my Heat has a special ability: he gains 200 attack points for every Elemental HERO on my side of the field." The hero glowed as he became stronger. (ATK: 1600-2200)

"Nice. He got three monsters on the field." Jenny noted.

"Which means Andrew's about to give Dimitri a fierce hero smack down." Jaden added.

"Now Ocean, attack Bubbleman with Big Wave Crush!" The aquatic hero dashed forward and prepared to stab his opponent with his blue glowing trident.

"Nice try, but when Bubbleman can survive by letting his Blaster take the hit." Dimitri's monster use his weapon as shield to block the attack, causing it to get destroyed. (ATK: 1600-800)

"That's okay, I have two monsters left. Now Heat, attack with Burning Fist!" The fire hero ignited his right fist and dashed forward.

"I play the trap card, Hero Barrier!" Dimitri's facedown card flipped up and created a barrier in front of Bubbleman. "Since I have an Elemental HERO on the field, I can negate your attack." Andrew's hero punched the barrier, causing it to disappear.

"Then I'll let Gaia finish him off." The giant hero slammed Buubleman with his right arm. "I end my turn with a facedown card." Another card appeared at Andrew's feet.

"Then here goes." Dimitri drew a card. "And I activate the spell card Polymerization and fuse Elemental HERO Avian and Burstinatrix to create Elemental HERO Flame Wingman." The monster who had defeated Yugi's deck came together against Andrew. (ATK: 2100 DEF: 1200 LV: 6)

"Uh oh. Andrew is in big trouble." Syrus noted.

"Not lishus." Chumley added.

"No worries guys. He'll be fine." Jaden assured them, believing in his friend's skills.

"Then I summon Elemental HERO Clayman in attack mode." The stone hero appeared again. (ATK: 800 DEF: 2000 LV: 4) "And don't forget, thanks to Skyscraper, my heroes gets stronger when they fight against your monsters. Now Flame Wingman, attack Gaia with Infernal Rage!" (ATK: 2100-3100) The fusion hero shot a blast of fire at the giant, thus destroying him.

Andrew: 3400-2500 (ATK: 2200-2000)

"And here's a taste of Wingman's superpower: you take damage equal to your destroyed monster's attack points." Dimitri's monster fired a second blast Andrew who crossed his arms to defend himself.

Andrew: 2500-0300

"Ooh, Andrew's almost out of points." Jenny commented.

"He will be if Clayman's attack becomes successful." Shiori added.

"Now Clayman, attack Ocean with Clay Clobber!" The stone hero dashed forward and pulled back its right fist. (ATK: 800-1800)

"I play my trap…" Andrew's card revealed itself. "Blast with Chain. Thanks to its effect, I can equip it to a monster and give it 500 attack points. So I'll give Ocean a power boost." The hero in question got a certain bomb in his left hand. (ATK: 1500-2000)

"No way!" Dimitri exclaimed.

"That's right, my monster is now stronger than yours." The aquatic hero stabbed Clayman with his trident, causing him to explode.

Dimitri: 2600-2400

"Sweet!" Jaden cheered.

"Nice." Jenny added.

"That was close." Shiori commented."

"Fine, I'll just throw down a facedown." Dimitri concluded as he inserted a card facedown.

"Then it's my turn." Andrew drew a card. "You played well, Dimitri, but not good enough I'm afraid."

"What do you mean?" Dimitri asked.

Andrew smiled. "I'll show you, starting with this." His water hero glowed. "With Ocean on the field, I can take a hero monster form my field or graveyard and add it to my hand. And I think you remember this one." A certain monster card came out of his graveyard slot. "My Elemental HERO Stratos." "The turbine winged hero appeared again. (ATK: 1800 DEF: 300 LV: 4) (ATK: 2000-2200) "And now I'll use his second effect: for every other HERO I control, I can destroy one spell or trap card on the field."

"But then…" Dimitri realized.

"That's right, I can get rid of your field spell and your facedown card." The wind hero created another cyclone that blew Dimitri's facedown card away. Additionally, the field spell tray popping open, making all the buildings disappear.

"Oh no!"

"Oh yeah!" Jaden cheered.

"Nice." Shiori said.

"Let's end this. Elemental HERO Heat, attack Flame Wingman!" The fire hero gave his opponent a fiery uppercut using his Burning Fist.

Dimitri: 2400-2300

"Now Ocean, Stratos, it's your turn." The two remaining heroes dashed forward to attack Dimitri. Ocean stabbed him with his trident, and Stratos punched him.

Dimitri: 2300-0000

"And that's game." Andrew said as the holograms disappeared, but then realized what he said. "Oops, sorry for using your catchphrase Jaden."

"Nah, it's cool." Jaden said.

"Nicely played, Andrew." Jenny praised.

"Thanks." Andrew turned towards. Dimitri. "Well, Dimitri? Will you make your own deck like you promised.

"Yeah, I will." He said.

"Good."

"But I've gotta say, after dueling you with Jaden's deck, I can't wait until you two face-off."

"I couldn't agree more." Andrew smiled as he walked back with his friends. "We better get ready for the day we duel each other, Jaden."

"You got it, bro."


Ooookay, that was a long chapter. But I hope you like it. Until next time.