Amnael's Endgame

Chazz's eyes stirred a bit before they opened, and when he was fully awake, he found himself inside an oddly colored bubble. "Where am I?" When he looked around, he noticed some more bubbles. He even noticed someone inside the one that was closest to him. "Who is that?" After a moment, he got a clear vision on this person. It was someone who was laying down, and Chazz recognized her instantly. "Alexis?"

He glanced at the other bubbles and recognized the people inside them. "Shiori? Jenny? Michael? And Atticus too? What the... Where on Earth am I?" At that moment, his attention was dragged into a bright light from the side. He turned to find the source, but was really shocked. Directly ahead of him, was the planet Earth itself! It sat there in the void of space as Chazz watched from his bubble. "Actually... let's make that... Where off the Earth am I?"


Meanwhile, back on Earth, Jaden, Andrew, Syrus, Chumley and Xander looked around, glancing at the eight pillars of light surrounding the Academy island.

"What's going on around here?!" Chumley questioned, holding Pharaoh in his arms.

"Yeah, those 8 laser beams of light just shot out from nowhere." Syrus said.

"Uh oh!" Jaden said as he was struck by a realization. "You know what? I don't think they shot out from nowhere!"

Andrew turned to him, having the same thought. "You don't think..."

"Yeah, I think they shot out from the spirit gates!"

Andrew turned back to the laser beams. "If so, then all 8 of those beams of light indicate that 8 of the 10 spirit gates have been unlocked!"

"The question is... how were they unlocked?"

"I'll tell you how!" Jaden and Andrew looked down at the cards Jaden held in his hand. Ojama Yellow was looking up at them from the safe confines of his card. "Those last Shadow Riders are vicious!"

Jaden looked back up. "You mean they took them all down? Chazz, Alexis and Banner?"

Andrew gritted his teeth. "Even Shiori, Michael and... Jenny!"

"But then, that would mean that..." Xander trailed off, realizing what this meant.

"That everyone's lost but Jaden and Andrew!" Syrus turned to the others. "They have the final keys!"

"Oh man, these last Shadow Riders must be really good." Chumley commented.

"No joke..." Syrus turned to Jaden and Andrew. "Let's get out of here! Those guys are definitely looking for you two so they can unlock the final spirit gates! You have to hide immediately, before you end up like all the rest!"

"I'm not gonna hide, Sy!" Jaden replied.

"You wha...?" Syrus was shocked by the answer.

"Look, our friends need out help, and we're gonna give it to them! We have no choice!"

The smaller Slifer couldn't argue with that. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Besides, we don't gave to worry about those Shadow Riders finding us. Because I'm planning to finding them first!"

"Uh, when you say I, you don't mean we, do you?" Chumley asked nervously.

"You better believe I do." Jaden nodded. "After all... it all comes down to this! Everything we've been working for! And I want you guys to be there when we beat those guys and save the world!"

Chumley and Syrus turned to each other and nodded.

"Don't worry, we will." Xander replied. When he turned to Andrew, he noticed that he had a concerned look on his face. "What's wrong, Andrew?"

"This isn't right?" He simply said, getting everyone's attention.

"What do you mean?" Jaden asked.

"You guys keep saying Shadow Riders, as in plural. Like there's more than one left."

"What's wrong with that?" Chumley asked.

"Think about it. Originally, there were 12 Shadow Riders that came after the spirit keys. Nightshroud, Death, Camula, Black Thorn, Tania, the Black Knight, Kang, Jonathan, The Dark Scorpions, Abidos, and Titan. Up till now, we defeated 11 of them. Which means... there should be only one Shadow Rider left."

"That's true!" Syrus agreed.

"Then there's more than one left?" Xander questioned.

"It's true!" Ojama Yellow said, getting Jaden and Andrew's attention. "There were two Shadow Riders. A mean guy wearing a black mask and someone wearing a red cloak!"

"Who could those guys be?" Jaden wondered.

"I don't know anything about this masked person." Tethys appeared and spoke up. "But Jenny and I ran into the one with the red cloak."

"Really?" Andrew asked.

Tethys nodded. "And there's something you should know about this person..."


Meanwhile in a dark room, deep under the Abandoned Dorm, the masked Shadow Rider was standing in front of some kind of coffin. His red cloaked ally was standing right next to him. He let out a dark laughter as he spun around and held up his arms. "All has gone according to plan! All that remains is the endgame, where Jaden and Andrew will face a dueling trial unlike anything they've ever seen!"

As he said that, the floor in front of him lit up with a big, familiar glowing circle with a dot in the middle, which became brighter and brighter...


And then, an even bigger version of the glowing symbol briefly appeared right above the dorm building.


A large bolt of lightning fell from the sky and collided with a large tree, snapping it in half. As it fell, Jaden and the others ran out of the way before it came down on them, screaming.

"What the..." Andrew muttered.

"Um... timber?" Jaden said.

"That was way close." Syrus added.

"You're telling me." Xander replied.

"Huh?" Andrew turned to the scorched trunk. At that moment, the familiar glowing symbol appeared. "Hey, look!"

"The Mark of Amnael!" Chumley said, recognizing it.

The glowing mark lingered on the trunk for a moment before it disappeared, and reappeared a few feet away. Then it went away again and came back, this time, even further away.

"It's like... it's trying to lead us someplace." Syrus noted.

"Not lishus."

"Finding this guy'll be easier than I thought." Jaden said. "Come on, let's go!" At that, the boys ran after the glowing mark. And it led them all the way to an all-too-familiar place: The Abandoned Dorm.


Once inside, the gang was walking through a hallway, with Syrus and Xander holding a flashlight in their hands, lighting the way.

Jaden looked around. "Should have known. The Abandoned Dorm was where all this started. Makes sense it would end here."

"Anyway, come on guys, let's keep moving!" Andrew urged.

And right after he did that, a flash of lightning and the loud booming of thunder interrupted the eerie calmness of the old dorm, startling the group. Pharaoh was so frightened that he leapt out of Chumley's arms. "Pharaoh!" Chumley called out. But the ignored him and bolted down the hallway.

"Aw great." Syrus muttered.

"Well, we'd better go get him." Jaden said.

"Terrific." Xander said sarcastically before they all ran after the cat.

"Pharaoh!" Jaden called out.

"Wait up!" Syrus called out.


Some time passed, and the boys found themselves walking through a dark corridor supported by wooden beams. "Pharaoh!" Chumley called out, but there was no trace of the cat. "This is so not cool."

"Huh?" Xander noticed something on his right. He focused his flashlight on it so everyone could see. There was a hole, revealing a passageway. there was also some kind of prints on the floor. "Look, a passageway, and Pharaoh's paw prints!"

"Well, we can't fit through that." Syrus said nervously. "Guess we'll have to turn around."

"Yeah, right Sy." Jaden replied sarcastically.

"Come on, this way!" Andrew said as he and the rest of the gang squeezed through the hole and walked down the new passageway. After a while, they reached the end of it, where they found a doorway.

"That's weird." Jaden commented. "This door's never been here before."

"So let's ignore it!" Syrus suggested nervously.

"Sounds good to me." Chumley agreed.

"Then you two can just stay right here." Xander suggested sarcastically.

Jaden and Andrew stepped through the hallway with the rest of the gang right behind them and they found themselves in a very large and very dark room.

Xander and Syrus shined their lights around the room. The floor was covered in dust, and there were some kind of strange equipment everywhere. But one thing that caught their eyes were three, large, stone tablets straight ahead of them. Each of them depicted a horrifying looking monster, somewhat similar to each of the Egyptian Gods... but they looked different.

"This place looks like some lab from a horror movie." Jaden cracked.

"So where's the mad scientist hiding?" Chumley whimpered.

"Not sure, but you know, if he's where my gut tells me he might be..." Everyone turned to Syrus for a moment before they saw what he was pointing his light at. "I'm gonna need a change of shorts!"

"A coffin!" Jaden gasped. True to his words, it was a coffin standing propped up against the wall.

"Or a refrigerator box..." Chumley suggested hopefully.

Syrus nodded. "Yeah, that's it..."

Jaden started walking to it.

"Hey, wait Jaden!"

"Stay back!"

But he ignored Chumley and Syrus' protests and approached the coffin. "Andrew, come and give me a hand here!"

Andrew hesitated for a brief moment before nodding. "Okay." He then walked over to him before both of them pushed the lid of the coffin away, and with a loud thud, the lid connected with the floor, letting the boys see what was inside the coffin.

"A mummy." Jaden muttered, looking over the corpse.

"What's a mummy doing here?" Andrew wondered.

"More like what are we doing here?" Syrus countered, holding onto Chumley out of fright.

"Yeah, I'm with Sy on that one." Chumley agreed.

Xander walked over to the coffin and looked inside. "This is getting creepier by the minute.

"Hey, wait a sec..." Jaden leaned in a bit and it was then he noticed something. "Give me your flashlight, Xander."

The mechanic got a little nervous by his tone before handing it to him. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong is this mummy looks familiar!"

"Huh?" Andrew blinked before he leaned in. When he did, he got a good look the mummy's outfit and appearance. The mummy wore a long lab coat, a dress shirt with a tie, light colored pants, square glasses of its dry skin, and its long black hair lay peacefully of over its coat.

"There's only one way to be sure..." Jaden then reached over and pulled away the left side of the mummy's coat. Underneath the fabric was one word, sewn into the fabric of the mummy's shirt.

BANNER

Andrew gasped in horror. "No...!"

"It can't be..." Xander muttered in disbelief.

"It is him..." Jaden said. "...Professor..."

"What do you mean?" Syrus asked.

"This is... or was Professor Banner." Jaden said, pointing at the corpse.

That certainly shocked Syrus and Chumley. "Wait! He's the mummy?" The smaller Slifer asked as they walked over to the coffin and looked inside.

"No way! Professor Banner couldn't have mummified this fast!" Chumley denied. "I can't even make beef jerky in the amount of time he's been missing!"

"So then you think it's a fake?" Jaden asked.

"It's gotta be!" Xander said. "This thing can't possibly be Professor Banner, right?"

"Wrong!" A new voice spoke up, startling the gang while the lights in the large room turned on. "That is the body of the one you know as Professor Banner..."

"What the...? Who is that?" Jaden asked as he and the others turned around.

An evil chuckle was heard, getting their attention. They found the source and saw a tall figure standing right in front of the stone tablets. This person was wearing black pants, a tan hooded cloak, a black mask and balaclava over their face, while a dark grey version of a Duel Academy duel disk occupied their left arm. "The final Shadow Rider."

"That's the one there!" Ojama Yellow pointed out as he appeared. "He's one of the duelists who took down Chazz and he's really good. But you gotta beat him to get Chazz back! You just gotta!"

"It's true, Jaden." The Shadow Rider said, as if he heard the duel spirit. "To get any of your friends back, you'll have to beat me... Amnael."

"Amnael?" Andrew repeated.

"As in 'The Mark of Amnael' Amnael?" Jaden asked.

"That's right, and I have your friends right here." Amnael reached into his garb and pulled out a strange book with a golden eye symbol. "And if you cannot defeat me, you will be joining them. All of you."

"Hm?" Andrew noticed something near a corner. "Who's there?!"

Everyone followed his gaze and saw another person stepping forward. They couldn't tell who it was since this person was wearing a red cloak, with their hood and bandana hiding their face.

"Huh? Who on earth is that?" Xander questioned.

"Beats me." Chumley replied.

Andrew narrowed his eyes. "This person..."


Flashback

"And there's something you should know about this person." Tethys said. "When Jenny and I faced the red cloaked duelist, they took us down with a certain monster."

"What kind of monster?" Andrew asked curiously.

"Well..."


Earlier, when Jenny dueled the red cloaked duelist

"What they summoned was a fusion monster."

A fusion vortex behind the red cloaked duelist. They then held up two cards, making two monsters appear before they entered the fusion vortex. A flash of light was released from it before something emerged from it.

"When the monster appeared, I could sense its familiar power." Tethys stared at the fusion monster, trying to make it out, despite how dark it was. A moment later, she was able to see... A tall warrior in white and bleu armor. "It took me a moment to recognize that monster..."


"...It was Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman." Tethys finished.

Andrew gasped and widened his eyes.

Flashback end


'Could this person be who I think it is?' Andrew thought, frowning while stepping forward. "Is that you... Clover?"

"Huh?" The boys gave him a bewildered look.

"Clover?" Xander repeated.

"For real?" Syrus asked.

"No way." Chumley said in disbelief.

Amnael chuckled while raising his left hand. When he did, the stranger removed their bandana slowly while pulling back their hood. When it was done, the whole gang gasped when they saw that this person was Clover indeed. However, she had a stoic expression on her face and her eyes were dull and lifeless.

"No." Xander said in horror.

"It really is her." Jaden said with narrowed eyes.

"Clover?" Andrew called out.

But no response came from her. But Andrew noticed something appear on Clover's forehead. It was a smaller version of The Mark of Amnael. He then gave Amnael a glare. "What have you done to her!?"

"Well, I didn't feel like to waste so much time to take down the rest of you key keepers, considering the big number of you people. So, I simply got myself... an assistant." Amnael pulled something else out of his garb. It was a stone amulet that had the same mark on. "I even gave her this shadow charm, which allowed her to capture her fallen opponents and transfer them to my book."

Andrew just got angrier. "Give her back... right now!"

"Sorry, but the only way for you to get her back is to defeat her in a duel."

"But what about Professor Banner?" Jaden spoke up. "How do we get him back, or is it too late?"

"It was always too late. It's best that you forget the one you knew as Banner. He is no more."

"What do you mean no more? What is this? I want to know just what you've done to Professor Banner!"

"And why did you come after him?" Andrew asked angrily. "He wasn't even a key keeper, so why did you mummify him?"

"To understand everything, you must do just one thing. And that is... duel and defeat me. Only then will the truth be revealed." As Amnael spoke, he held up the strange book. "Only then will this tome and the secrets it holds be unlocked. Will you accept this challenge? Will you face me?"

"No, I don't think so." Chumley said.

"Uh, he's talking to Jaden and Andrew, Chumley." Syrus replied.

"Of course I'll face you!" Jaden ran onto the middle of the floor.

Andrew followed suit. "In that case, I'll take Clover!" At that, he activated his duel disk.

Clover simply stepped forward and activated her own duel disk.

"Be careful, guys!" Xander called out before he, Syrus and Chumley moved away from the mummified teacher.

"Let's throw down!" Jaden cried out, turning on his duel disk.

Amnael pulled back his hood to reveal a mane of shocking white hair as his duel disk turned on. "Prepare yourselves."

"I've been preparing for this ever since you Shadow Riders first showed!" Jaden declared as he and everyone else drew their opening hands.

"Clover, hang on!" Andrew called out. "I'll save you!"

Andrew: 4000

Clover: 4000

Jaden: 4000

Amnael: 4000

"Alright, time to throw down!" Jaden declared. "Cuz we're getting our friends back, no matter what it takes, Amnael!"

"Is that so? But what if you do not possess what it takes?" Amnael inquired. "Because to beat us, you have to reach a whole new echelon of dueling expertise." He then turned to Clover. "Now we begin!"

Clover drew her sixth card. "I summon Axe Dragonute in attack mode." She said with a neutral tone in her voice as the familiar axe wielding dragon rose up on her field. (ATK: 2000 DEF: 1200 LV: 4) "I place one card facedown and end my turn." A card appeared near her feet.

"My move!" Andrew drew his sixth card and looked over his hand. 'I don't have a monster strong enough to take down that dragon. In that case...' He took another card from his hand. "I place one card facedown..." A card appeared near his feet. "...and summon Elemental HERO Shadow Mist in defense mode!" The black armored female warrior appeared and kneeled down in front of him. (ATK: 1000 DEF: 1500 LV: 4) "That's it for now."

Clover drew her next card. "I activate the trap card, Final Attack Orders." Her facedown card flipped up. "As long as this card remains on the field, all our face-up monsters must remain in attack mode."

"What!?" Andrew turned to his hero monster, who stood up on her feet.

"And next, I'll sacrifice Axe Dragonute in order to summon Strong Wind Dragon." The axe wielding dragon vanished in a flash of light, from which the big, muscular and blue green dragon emerged and took its place. (ATK: 2400 DEF: 1000 LV: 6) "And since I sacrificed a dragon type monster, Strong Wind Dragon absorbs half its original attack points." The dragon roared as a green aura surrounded it. (ATK: 2400-3400)

"Damn!" Xander muttered worriedly.

Clover held up another card. "Next I activate the field spell, Savage Colosseum." Everyone suddenly found themselves inside a towering, sinister coliseum.

"What is this place?" Andrew asked.

"With this field spell in play, any monster in attack mode is forced to attack." Clover explained. "And now, Strong Wind Dragon, destroy Shadow Mist!" The big opened its maw and exhaled a strong whirlwind that swallowed the female hero before she shattered into pixels. The attack even pushed Andrew, causing to fall down on the floor.

Andrew: 4000-1600

"Andrew!" Xander exclaimed.

"Are you okay?" Jaden asked.

"I-I'm fine:" Andrew stood up. "And I'm sure I'll be better, because with my Shadow Mist sent to the graveyard, I can take a HERO monster from my deck and add it to my hand." He searched through his deck until he found the card he wanted and took it. "Then I activate the trap card, Hero Signal!" His facedown card flipped up. "With this, I can summon another Elemental HERO to the field. And I choose Elemental HERO Woodsman!" The green-skinned, wooden hero appeared. (ATK: 1000 DEF: 2000 LV: 4)

"I'll get something as well." Clover interjected. "After the damage step in each battle, the attacking monster's controller gains 300 life points." A faint blue aura surrounded her.

Clover: 4000-4300

"I place two cards facedown and activate the spell card, Mirage of Nightmare" Two cards appeared near her feet, followed up by the named spell card.

"Not good." Jaden muttered.

"You should be more focused on our duel, Jaden." Amnael spoke up, getting his attention. "Because I'm about to make my move." He drew his sixth card and revealed it. "And I activate the spell card, Chaos Distill!" A huge, reddish metal pot rose up behind him, smoke billowing out of the metal hoses.

"What is that thing?" Syrus asked.

"Oh yeah, like I'm gonna know." Chumley replied sarcastically.

"Due to its effect, all of my cards that would normally go to the graveyard this duel will instead be removed from play." Amnael explained.

Jaden frowned. 'Why would he want his cards removed from play?'

"Now I'll activate my second spell card. Steel Lamp!" As soon as Amnael held up the named spell card, it was instantly absorbed into the metal pot. "And when Chaos Distill is on the field, I can use Steel Lamp to summon Alchemy Beast - Salamandra the Steel!" From a bursting pillar of flames, a big, metallic dragon appeared on Amnael's field, roaring. (ATK: 500 DEF: 500 LV: 3)

"You see, Alchemy Beasts can't be summoned in the normal manner, but they can wage direct attacks against you." Amnael explained as he held up two more cards. "Which is a big problem for you, because with these two spell cards: Bronze Scale and Lead Compass, along with Chaos Distill, I can now summon two more Alchemy Beasts: Ouroboros the Bronze and Leon the Lead!"

Two more fiery pillars erupted from the floor, from which two more monsters appeared. One of them was a long, dark-brown serpent with six yellow eyes, three on each side of its head. (ATK: 500 DEF: 500 LV: 3) The other one looked like a four-legged, ancient creature from myths, its mane mostly yellow with a part of it being dark grey. (ATK: 500 DEF: 500 LV: 3)

Amnael chuckled while inserting a card into his duel disk. "I'll now end with a facedown."

Jaden gritted his teeth. "Three monsters in the very first turn?"

"That is correct. And if you think that is impressive, just wait until you see them attack!"

"I'm not gonna give them that chance!" Jaden swore as he drew his sixth card. "I summon HERO Bubbleman!" From a torrent of water, the white caped hero in blue armor appeared, looking proud. (ATK: 800 DEF: 1200 LV: 4) "And since he's the only one out, I get to draw two more cards... and I got the feeling they're gonna be some sweet ones!" He drew his extra cards and grinned. "It's good to be right! I activate Bubble Blaster!" The large water cannon appeared before Bubbleman caught it and then placed it on his shoulder. (ATK: 800-1600) "Fire! Bombarding Bubble Barrage!" The water hero fired a large bubble.

"That is one bubble that I'm afraid I must burst." Amnael interjected and waved his arm to his facedown card that flipped up. "I activate a trap! Elemental Absorber! With this card, I can remove a monster in my hand from play to negate the attack of your monster, as long as they both have the same attribute!" A trange looking metal device appeared on the field, four spikes covering the top of it while one spike was on the bottom, making the device look like a twisted version of a spinning top.

"That's not good." Jaden commented.

"No, it's not... not when the card I remove from play is Aqua Spirit!" Amnael held up the named card before it disappeared. And then, the metal device spun in place before a blue triangle appeared in front of it. And when it stopped spinning, one of its spikes glowed with a blue light. After that... a wall made of water appeared and absorbed the huge bubble.

"No, my attack..."

"Has been stopped." Amnael finished and drew his next card. "And it's my turn now! Go, my Alchemy Beasts, attack Jaden directly!" He ordered. "Salamandra the Steel, let loose Flame Shot of Ore!" The dragon spat out a torrent of flames that engulfed Jaden. "Now, Ouroboros and Leon, attack as well!" The snake spat out a blue stream of energy from its mouth while the lion fired off a hail of sharp metal scales, making Jaden cry out in pain.

Jaden: 4000-2500

"Jaden just got clobbered!" Syrus moaned.

"Hang in there, Jaden!" Chumley called out. "He's only got one card left in his hand! If you can hold on through this turn, you'll have the upper hand, and he'll be the one who's on the ropes!"

But Amnael chuckled. "Is that what you think?"

"Uh oh."

"You should have paid better attention in class. Perhaps then you would have known that against my Alchemy Deck, things are not what they seem." Amnael held up the remaining card in his hand. "I activate the spell card, Black Process - Negledo! When Chaos Distill is on the field, and there are no cards in my hand, this card allows me to remove all Alchemy Beasts on the field from play, and then draw two new cards per Beast!" The three Alchemy Beasts were swallowed by flames before shattering into pixels.

"No way!" Andrew muttered as he watched this.

"So then you're taking out your own monsters!?" Jaden questioned, not believing that his opponent would do this to his own cards.

"That is the way of the Alchemist... destruction and rebirth. But I assure you, if you are destroyed here, there will be no rebirth for you. Now then, since I removed three Alchemy Beasts from play, I get to draw six cards!" Amnael drew a new hand. And then, he grabbed three of them. "And now, let's play some of them! I activate Tin Spell Circle, Mercury Hourglass and Silver Key! Much like the first three cards that work well with Chaos Distill, these three spell cards let me summon three new Alchemy Beasts! So I'll bring out Eatos the Tin, Echeneis the Mercury and Moonface the Silver!" The three spell cards were absorbed into the metal pot.

And then, from three new pillars of flames, three new monsters appeared. The first one was a bird made of shiny metal. (ATK: 500 DEF: 500 LV: 3) The second monster was a four-winged whale with three metal horns coming out of its snout. (ATK: 500 DEF: 500 LV: 3) And the third one pretty much looked like the actual moon with giant legs. (ATK: 500 DEF: 500 LV: 3)

"Alright, now it's my turn!" Jaden drew. "Go, Elemental HERO Clayman!" His trustworthy stone warrior appeared, flexing its arms. (ATK: 800 DEF: 2000 LV: 4) "Next Ill play the spell card, Mud Max!" Everyone watched as large, go-kart like car roared onto the field. As soon as it appeared, Clayman hopped into it. "This puts Clayman into overdrive to the tune of 300 extra supercharged attack points!" (ATK: 800-1100) "Oh, and guess what, Amnael? I'm gonna use all of them right now to run over your life points! So hit it, Clayman! Put the pedal to the metal and attack!" At his command, Clayman sped towards Amnael.

"I activate the effect of Elemental Absorber!" The Shadow Rider held up one of his cards. "By simply removing The Rock Spirit from play, I can negate the attack of the earth attribute monster!" His device spun around again until another triangle appeared in front of it. This one was upside down yellow with a strip near the bottom. And as soon as one of its spikes glowed yellow, large rocks grew out of the ground, getting in the way for Clayman.

'Oh man. It's like he has a card to cancel out every attribute monster in my deck!' Jaden thought worriedly.

"Looks like Jaden's in a pickle." Andrew muttered before turning to Clover. "And so am I. But still... I won't give up!" He drew his next card.

"The effect of Mirage of Nightmare activates." Clover spoke up. "During your standby phase, I get to draw until I have four cards in my hand." She drew her extra cards.

'And I bet one of her facedown cards is Emergency Provisions.' Andrew thought with narrowed eyes."I activate Woodsman's special ability! During my standby phase, I can take a Polymerization from my graveyard or deck and add it to my hand." He searched through his deck and took the card he wanted. "Next I summon Elemental HERO Solid Soldier in attack mode!" The purple warrior in silver armor appeared. (ATK: 1300 DEF: 1100 LV: 4)

"And with this guy summoned to the field, I can bring out another HERO monster from my hand, as long as it's level 4 or below. So here comes Elemental HERO Stratos!" The turbine winged hero appeared from a whirlwind. (ATK: 1800 DEF: 300 LV: 4) "And he's got a special ability! As soon as he's summoned, he can destroy one spell or trap card for every other HERO monster I have. So with Woodsman and Solid Soldier, I can destroy up to two cards...

"I activate the trap card, Damage Diet!" Clover interjected and revealed one of her facedown cards. "Then I activate the spell card, Emergency Provisions!" Her other facedown card flipped up. And then, to Andrew's shock, the coliseum vanished, along with all of Clover's remaining spell and trap cards. "For every spell and trap I send to the graveyard, I gain 1000 life points."

Clover: 4300-8300

"But merely sending the trap card to the graveyard doesn't negate its effect. Thanks to Damage Diet, all damage I'll take this turn will be halved."

Andrew gave her a look of disbelief. 'Great. So not only did she draw extra cards and increase her life points with a big amount, but she also made it that I can't cause much damage. And on top of that, Stratos' ability has been wasted.'

"I warned you, boys." Amnael spoke up. "To be triumphant, you will need to use your cards in a way you've never used them before. You will need to become better duelists than you've ever been. If not, you will join your friends."

"Oh, we'll be joining our friends, alright! When we free them!" Jaden replied.

"Then you had better 'get your game on', because you have already fallen far behind, and you're about to fall even further. Observe!" Amnael drew his next card, looked at it and revealed it. "I activate the spell card, White Process - Albedo! And thanks to it, I can now summon Golden Homunculus!" Everyone watched as a huge pillar of fire poured out of the earth. Something big came from within. It was a gigantic, golden golem that was slowly revealed as the fire faded. (ATK: 1500 DEF: 1500 LV: 6) "Forged in fire, Golden Homunculus doesn't work like any other card you've seen. You see, he gains attack and defense points that are equal to the number of cards that I've removed from play and then multiplied by 300! So, since I have removed 13 cards so far, his points are increased by 3900..." (ATK: 1500-5400 DEF: 1500-5400) "...and your life points are about to become zero!"

"No!" Andrew gasped as he and the others watched this worriedly.

"It is over, Jaden, and I was expecting so much more from you. Attack, Alchemy Beasts! Sonic Shears! Screaming Stream! Shockwave Slivers!" The three Alchemy Beasts let loose a mixture of a raging fire blast, high-pressured water and glowing scythe-like blades that connected with Jaden real hard. He cried out before falling down to one knee.

Jaden: 2500-1000

"Jaden!" Chumley cried out.

"He got nailed!" Syrus whimpered.

"This is bad!" Xander added.

"But I'm not finished yet!" Amnael raised his arm. "Now, Golden Homunculus, attack! Stone Shard Storm!" The golem roared and fired shards of its golden form that rained down on Clayman until a big explosion occurred.

"Oh no! Jaden!" Andrew cried out.

"You are beaten." Amnael simply said...

"Hahahaha!"

"What the...?" He trailed off when he suddenly heard the laughter coming from Jaden, who was revealed when the smoke cleared. What was also revealed that Clayman wasn't destroyed, just his go-kart. (ATK: 1100-800)

"Hate to disappoint you, but I'm still here." Jaden grinned as he held up a certain card. "Know why? Because when you attacked, I used the effect of my equip spell, Mud Max." As he explained, he slid the card into his graveyard slot. "Now by destroying, your attack's cancelled out! But hold on, Amnael, there's something else... someone rather, cuz I also get to summon an Elemental HERO! And I'm bringing out Avian!" The green clad and feathered hero appeared right next to Clayman. (ATK: 1000 DEF: 1000 LV: 3)

Andrew sighed in relief. "Glad you survived that one, Jaden." He then turned to his childhood friend. "As for you, Clover, I hope what I'm about to do will wake you up!" He held up a card from his hand. "I activate Polymerization and fuse Stratos and Solid Soldier!" The two named heroes were absorbed into a fusion vortex. "I summon Elemental HERO Gaia!" From a flash of light, the black armored giant appeared. (ATK: 2200 DEF: 2600 LV: 6) "And since he was fusion summoned, he can absorb half of your monster's attack points!" The giant held up his right palmed and absorbed green energy from Strong Wind Dragon. (ATK: 3400-1700) (ATK: 2200-3900)

"Nice." Xander said with a smile.

"And that's not all." Andrew continued. "My Solid Soldier's effect kicks in. After he's sent to the graveyard by the effect of a spell card, I can summon another level 4 or lower HERO monster from my graveyard in defense mode. And I'll bring back Shadow Mist!" The black armored female hero appeared again. (ATK: 1000 DEF: 1500 LV: 4) "And because she was special summoned, I can take a 'Change' card from my deck to my hand." Andrew fanned out his deck and took a card. "And I think I'll use it right away! I activate the spell card, Mask Change! And with it, I'll change my Elemental HERO Shadow Mist into Masked HERO Anki!" The female hero was swallowed by a pillar of light. And when it died down, the hero in jet black armor was standing in her place. (ATK: 2800 DEF: 1200 LV: 8)

"Sweet!" Jaden said.

"And now I activate the spell card, Mask Charge!" Andrew held up the named card. "With this, I can take two cards back from my graveyard. A HERO monster, and a 'Change' card." Mask Change and Stratos came out from the graveyard slot before Andrew put them in his hand. "And now, battle time!" Masked HERO Anki, destroy her Strong Wind Dragon!" The black armored hero dashed forward and landed a right hook on the dragon's chest, sending it flying before it exploded.

Clover: 8300-7750

"Now Anki's effect activates! After destroying a monster in battle, he lets me take a 'Change' card from my deck and add it to my hand." Andrew fanned out his deck and took the card he wanted. "And next up is Woodsman!" The wooden hero charged toward Clover and punched her, making her stagger.

Clover: 7750-7250

"And now, Gaia, your turn!" The giant hero raised his right arm and slammed the ground so hard that it created a shockwave that knocked Clover over, making her fall down.

Clover: 7250-5300

"Clover, talk to me!" Andrew called out.

The redhead slowly got up on her feet and faced him. Her face was still the same.

Andrew frowned. "Guess that didn't work. Fine! I'll be sure to beat you! And it's still my turn!" He held up one of his cards. "Once again, I activate the spell card, Mask Change! And this time, I'll use it to change Woodsman into Masked HERO Dian!" The wooden man transformed into the masked hero in silver armor with blue cape. (ATK: 2800 DEF: 3000 LV: 8) "Now attack her directly!" Dian charged forward with her sword ready. Clover simply held up her duel disk to block it.

Clover: 5300-3900

"Wow! Even though Clover's damage is halved, that's still a lot of damage Andrew caused." Syrus commented.

"No joke." Chumley replied.

"And I'm not finished just yet! I still have the card Anki gave me." Andrew held up the card in question. "I activate the spell card, Form Change! Now I can take one of my HERO fusion monsters back to my fusion deck and let another Masked HERO with the same level take its place! So now, Gaia, time to transform!" At that, the giant hero's body glowed brightly and then shrunk until he was about the same size the other hero monsters. "Now I summon Masked HERO Goka!" The glowing died down and revealed the masked hero in red and black armor. (ATK: 2200 DEF: 1800 LV: 6) "This guy gains 100 attack points for every HERO monster in my graveyard, and I've got three." (ATK: 2200-2500) "Now attack with Inferno Kick!" The hero ignited his right foot before dashing forward and delivered a spin kick that made Clover skid back a bit. But she recovered quickly and still had the emotionless expression on her face.

Clover: 3900-2650

"Nice!" Xander cheered.

Andrew smiled and inserted a card into his duel. "And with done, I'll end my turn with a facedown."

"Sweet moves, bro!" Jaden complimented.

Amnael simply watched this. "Impressive..."

"Hey, eyes on me!" Jaden called out. "Cuz I'm not done!" He drew his next card. "Next I'm gonna play Elemental HERO Burstinatrix!" The red fiery heroine appeared between Bubbleman and Clayman. (ATK: 1200 DEF: 800 LV: 3) "Now let's use some of these monsters! Go, Avian! Attack with Quill Cascade!" Avian leapt into the air, flapping his wings to fire a barrage of feathers at Eatos.

"Go, Elemental Absorber!" As his device spun around, Amnael held up a card. "I remove Garuda the Wind Spirit to negate your attack!" A green right-side up triangle with a line near the top appeared briefly before the device stopped spinning. And then, a third spike on the top glowed with a green light before a veil of whirling air appeared in front of Eatos, blocking Avian's attack. "And, since another has been removed from the game, the attack points of Golden Homunculus increase!" (ATK: 5400-5700 DEF: 5400-5700)

"Yeah, yeah! Now go, Burstinatrix, attack! Flare Storm!" The red heroine conjured some dark fire from her hands before thrusting her right hand and launched a fiery stream.

Amnael held up another card. "I remove Spirit of Flames to negate your attack! Go, Elemental Absorber!" His device spun again as a red triangle appeared briefly. And when it stopped spinning, the fourth spike glowed red before Burstinatrix's attack was stopped by a wall of flames. (ATK: 5700-6000 DEF: 5700-6000)

"Aw man." Syrus muttered worriedly. "Nothing's getting through to damage."

"I know." Chumley replied. "That Elemental Absorber keeps canceling out his attacks."

But Jaden grinned. "It's cool. I guess I'll just have to use something else other than my Elemental Heroes then." He plucked a card from his hand. "So I'm gonna play Burst Return! See, when Burstinatrix is on the field, this card lets me return all other Elemental Heroes back to my hand! So, time to come on back, guys!" At that, Avian, Clayman and Bubbleman vanished from the field and appeared in Jaden's hand. Jaden smirked before taking another card from his hand. "And next I'll activate the spell card, Burst Impact!"

Burstinatrix was now engulfed by a fiery aura. "Oh yeah! Now all monsters out other than Burstinatrix are destroyed, and the you take 300 points of damage for each of them! Now go, Burst Impact!" The aura intensified and became a pillar. And inside that pillar, conjured a ball of glowing energy. As she tossed it, it grew bigger as it flew over to Amnael's field. And then, a whole bunch of explosions erupted, covering the field with smoke as Amnael's monsters were destroyed. Amnael yelped in pain as his life points decreased.

Amnael: 4000-2800

And then, a large crack was formed on his mask.

"Yeah!" Chumley cheered.

"Alright! Way to play, Jay!" Syrus cheered before to Chumley and Xander. "I knew that he'd turn this duel around sooner or later."

"You and me both." Xander nodded.

"Meeeooow." That sound made them look down and saw Pharaoh standing near them.

"Pharaoh! You here to help cheer Jaden and Andrew on?" Syrus smiled and picked him up. "Oh, great! You can watch with me!"

Pharaoh mewled angrily and slashed Syrus across his face with his sharp claws. The poor, blue-haired Slifer cried out in pain and dropped the cat, who bounded away... heading straight to Amnael."

"What!?" Andrew exclaimed.

"No, Pharaoh!" Jaden called out. "That guy's dangerous!"

But as surprised as everyone was when they watched the cat run over to Amnael, they were even more surprised when the cat purred and rubbed up against his boot.

"Um, Pharaoh?" Jaden looked confused.

And so did Andrew. "What in the world...?"

Syrus stared at the cat. "W-what's going on?"

"But Pharaoh's never that friendly with strangers!" Chumley pointed out.

"Not even a little." Xander added.

"They're right." Andrew said his eyes widened in realization.

Jaden turned to the Shadow Rider. "Then, Amnael..."

"Is not stranger to Pharaoh... or to you." Amnael finished, reaching up to his mask.

Everyone watched as he slowly took it off. Some of them gasped upon seeing his face.

"It can't be!" Syrus said in disbelief.

Chumley could hardly believe it either. "Professor Banner?"

The very person who was standing in front of them, holding the book that held their friends captive, was the head of Slifer Red! There was no mistake. The glasses were the same. The hair was the same style, even though its color was different. And the face was definitely the same, despite the presence of thick veins here and there.

Professor Lyman Banner was the final Shadow Rider!

"But that's impossible!" Xander muttered.

"Wait!" Andrew glanced between that Banner and the corpse that the gang assumed was Banner. "If you're Banner, then who's that mummy?"

Amnael, or rather, Banner chuckled as he bent down and began to pet Pharaoh. "That mummy is also me." He looked at them all as he picked up the cat. "Oh, my children, there is more going on here than you can possibly imagine... but the truth will be revealed soon enough."

Andrew frowned. "But... but Professor Banner... are you saying that..."

"You're behind all of this?" Jaden filled in.

"Of course." Banner smirked. "But before I defeat you, I may as well tell you the whole story."

Jaden shrugged. "Hey, I'm all ears."

Andrew narrowed his eyes. "Fine, then tell us."

"Like you two, I was once a young duelist with unlimited potential. I scoured the world in search of the rarest and most powerful cards. Finally, my travels led to the ultimate prize: A lost tomb, hidden and buried in an ancient desert. Within was a duelist's dream. For it held the very first... duel cards!"


Flashback

Clad in an explorer outfit, and holding a torch, Banner was inside a tomb, where he found three stone tablets... The same ones that was right behind him today.

"Like Pegasus, years before, I sought out their powers. But the tomb was cursed and science had no answer to the magic, which ravaged my body."


Inside the very lab where everyone was today, Banner was standing at a table with a bunch of bottles and canisters full with chemicals. In frustration, Banner broke one of those filled bottles.

"I tried everything, but soon, I realized there was only one thing to be done." Banner coughed some blood into his mouth. "I had no choice but to create a new body."


"Therefore, I used alchemy to create a homunculus, an artificial life form and placed my soul inside of it."

Banner watched over a grayish body that floated inside a big tube.

Flashback end


"Uh... say what?" Chumley stared, confused.

"Placed your soul... inside a new body?" Xander repeated slowly in disbelief.

"But this new body is only temporary. It won't be long before I'm nothing... but a pile of dust in the wind." As he spoke, Banner lightly scratched his right cheek, causing it to crack like it was a very old vase.

"Hold on! Just wait a sec!" Jaden interrupted. "You're saying... you're a clone!?"

"And you dragged everyone into this? Alexis, Chazz, Michael, Shiori, Jenny... and even Clover?" Andrew added.

"And to live, I need the power of these cards..." Banner referred to the stone tablets behind him. "The three divine Sacred Beasts!"

Andrew clenched his right hand in anger. "Even if you end up destroying the world in the process? Sorry, Banner, we can't let you do that!"

"Too late. Once you lose, the cards are mine."

Jaden lowered his head. "Then I won't duel."

Andrew frowned and turned to the Slifer. "Jaden, don't you think about quitting. I know how you feel. I understand you don't want to do this, but we've come too far to turn away."

"How right you are." Banner agreed as he bent down and let Pharaoh. "After all, your friends remain my prisoners. If you walk away, their souls will become mine... for eternity! You have no choice, you have to duel me! Pretend it's your final exam!"

"Well then..." Jaden looked up again. "Bring it on!"

Andrew: 1600

Clover: 2650

Jaden: 1000

Banner: 2800

"I believe..." Banner drew his next card. "It was my turn... with Chaos Greed!" He held it up. "It works like this: if there are no cards in my graveyard, and if four of mine are removed out of play, I'm allowed to draw two times!" He drew his extra cards, looked at them and inserted them into his duel disk. "And both draws are placed facedown. Your turn, Jaden."

Andrew then focused on his duel. He watched as Clover drew her next card.

She looked at it before revealing it. "I activate Polymerization."

Andrew's eyes widened. "Uh oh!"

"I fuse Buster Blader and King of the Swamp together in order to summon Dark Paladin!" The familiar purple armored warrior and slimy head with a pair of arms appeared before getting sucked into a fusion vortex. And then, the greenish spellcaster that resembled Dark Magician emerged from it, with his blade ready. (ATK: 2900 DEF: 2400 LV: 8)

Andrew gritted his teeth. "Oh no! That's one of Clover's most powerful monsters. He gains 500 attack points for every dragon type monster on the field and in the graveyard."

The spellcaster glowed with a green bluish aura. (ATK: 2900-3900)

"That's not good." Xander commented nervously.

"I summon Exploder Dragon." A familiar, blue dragon carrying a bomb appeared next to Dark Paladin. (ATK: 1000 DEF: 0 LV: 3) "And now that I have another dragon in play, Dark Paladin grows stronger." (ATK: 3900-4400)

Andrew gasped.

"Now, Dark Paladin, attack Masked HERO Goka!" The paladin raised his blade as it glowed with purple energy. He then swung with it, sending an energy wave.

"If that hits, Andrew's finished!" Chumley pointed out as he and the others watched this.

"I activate my trap! Blast with Chain!" Andrew's facedown card flipped up. "By equipping this card to a monster, I can increase its attack strength by 500 points. And I'll add it to Goka!" The red and black armored hero glowed with a fiery aura. (ATK: 2500-3000) And right after his power increased, the energy wave connected with him and an explosion occurred. Andrew cried out and fell down to one knee.

Andrew: 1600-0200

"Exploder Dragon, attack Dian!" The dragon took flight.

"But Andrew's monster has more attack points." Syrus pointed out.

Xander grimaced. "True, but when that dragon attacks, Clover doesn't take any damage, and after it's destroyed, Andrew's monster is destroyed as well."

And to prove Xander's points, the silver armored hero leapt into the air and stabbed the dragon with her sword. The dragon cried out and dropped the bomb on her. The explosion it made destroyed both of them.

"Andrew, are you alright?" Jaden asked, concerned.

Andrew stood up slowly. "I... I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Just focus on Banner."

"Got it." Jaden nodded and turned to the former teacher. 'Banner doesn't have any card in his hand, but with his Elemental Absorber chillin on the field, he can nix any of my attacks. If I ever needed a lucky draw, this is it!'
"So here goes something!" He drew his next card and looked at it. "I play my spell card, Pot of Greed!" He then drew two new cards and looked at them. "Next I'll summon Elemental HERO Clayman!" The stone hero appeared again. (ATK: 800 DEF: 2000 LV: 4) "Then I'll activate my Clay Wrap!" The spell card appeared and released a slimy wrap that covered Clayman's body.

"And, with my Polymerization," Jaden held up his spell card. "I'll fuse Clayman with Burstinatrix to create HERO Rampart Blaster!" After the two named fusion materials entered the fusion vortex, the big, armored female hero appeared, shield and blaster at ready. (ATK: 2000 DEF: 2500 LV: 6)

"But wait! Now Clay Wrap gets destroyed." Syrus pointed out.

"So why'd he play it in the first place?" Xander questioned. "That would be a waste. So why?"

Jaden smiled to him. "I'll tell you why. The Clay Wrap card, when it goes to the grave, I get to take out one of Professor Clone Dome's spell or trap cards. And now, I think I'm gonna do just that! Destroy Elemental Absorber!" Banner held up his arm to protest himself as his spin top looking device exploded.

"Lishus!" Chumley cheered. "Take him, Jaden, you got him on the ropes!"

Banner coughed a little before speaking up. "Quite Impressive. Ah, but I'm afraid it will take a whole lot more if you want all your friends back."

"You want more? Rampart, take him to it!" The armored female hero shot some missiles.

"You fool! It is I who will take you off to the Great Beyond! I activate Macro Cosmos!" One of Banner's facedown cards flipped up. And then, Chaos Distill started to heat up and shake. "This allows me to remove Chaos Distill from play, and now, I'll be removing you from this world!" And then, the pot exploded in a very bright explosion.

Everyone covered their eyes as the entire room was engulfed with a blinding white light. After what seemed like forever, the explosion died down and the white light went away. Everyone lowered their arms and opened their eyes.

"What the hell?" Was all Andrew could say as he and the others were stunned at what they were seeing. They were no longer in that lab underneath the Abandoned Dorm. Instead... they found themselves in the vastness of space!

Banner smiled at their reaction. "The power of Alchemy flows through me. It has broken our earthly bonds and taken us here!"

"Well, it's not gonna shake me!" Jaden said, his focus coming back.

"Then perhaps this will, Jaden." Banner held up a card. "Due to Macro Cosmos, I can summon this card! Helios - The Primordial Sun!" A strange creature appeared on Banner's field. Its head was replaced with a small sun, while its body... didn't look like it had much physical features, and was wrapped up in gauze like a mummy. Everyone could by its... figure that the monster was feminine. (ATK: ? DEF: ? LV: 4)

Andrew blinked. "Undetermined strength?"

Banner nodded. "That's right. You see, Helios gains 100 attack and defense points for every monster that has been removed from the game. So with 11 monsters being removed so far, that's 1100 points for Helios." (ATK: ?-1100 DEF: ?-1100)

It was then that Jaden and Andrew saw a bunch of oddly colored bubbles come out of nowhere, floating behind their former teacher. After a moment, they could see what was inside those bubbles... or rather, who.

"Chazz!" Jaden called out as he saw the black clad Slifer banging on his bubble prison. He then noticed two others, each of them lying in a bubble unconscious. "Alexis! Atticus!"

Andrew was focused on the three other bubbles, where he saw some unconscious people he recognized all too well. "Shiori! Michael!" He then gasped when saw the third person. "Jenny!"

"They can't hear you." Banner said. "They're my prisoners now, like you will be, for all eternity!" He reached into his robes and pulled out the strange book. "This tome is your destiny now! Soon you will be locked in its pages! Prisoners! Pathetic footnotes to my saga to my ascension to greatness. Don't you see, children, you cannot beat me. You don't have what it takes. You and your friends are finished. I paid for this book... with my flesh and blood. I won't lose it to a Slifer Red Slacker!"

"Hey, are you forgetting all the matches I've won!?" Jaden retorted.

But Banner smirked. "You were just a pawnsin my little game. All your matches were... fixed, so you would be given keys and have to face me!" He opened his eyes to reveal startling red eyes glaring at them all. "You see, you are nothing but a loser, Jaden!"

Andrew growled. "All of it? The Shadow Games and everything? It was all just a big setup to make Jaden seem like a great duelist so he could get a spirit key to protect?"

"Correct!" Banner nodded. "And as for you, I've been studying your matches since you arrived the Academy. And with the skills you posses, you're a greater threat than Jaden. And because of the limit of my new body, I don't have the strength to take on both of you. That's why I took control of Clover's mind. Her skills and insight of your deck and strategies made her the perfect candidate to take you down!"

Andrew just even angrier. "Why you... just you wait! You're going down!"

"We'll see about that." Banner turned to Jaden "Now on with the duel!" Banner's other facedown card flipped up. "I play Planet Alignment!" The planets around them suddenly lined up with Helios, and everyone could see, as well feel, the air around them become all distorted. It caused everyone to see things in a very, very strange way.

This effect even affected Banner as his face swirled around and his voice changed from its normal tone to a distorted deep voice when he spoke. "This card is so powerful... that it actually warps space and destroys all your monsters, while dealing you 300 points of damage!" Rampart Blaster let out a strange scream before exploding into nothingness. Jaden winced as he felt the distorted effect.

Jaden: 1000-0700

As he recovered, the planets returned to their normal places and the air went back to normal. "Well, guess I'll just throw down a facedown." He concluded and inserted a card into his duel disk.

Andrew was concerned for Jaden but had to focus on his duel. "I draw!" He drew his next card and looked at it. "I activate Pot of Greed! So now I..."

"I activate Dark Paladin's effect!" Clover interrupted and took a card from her hand. "By discarding one of my cards, I can negate the activation of spell card and destroy it." The Paladin glowed with a purple aura. Andrew's spell card did the same before it shattered into pixels.

He clicked his tongue. "I never thought he could do that."

At that moment, Clover's graveyard slot glowed. "I activate the effect of Card of Compensation. After I send it from my hand to the graveyard, I get to draw two cards." Clover drew.

"In that case, I summon Elemental HERO Stratos in defense mode!" The turbine winged hero appeared and kneeled down. (ATK: 1800 DEF: 300 LV: 4) "And thanks to his special ability, I can take a HERO monster from my deck to my hand." Andrew fanned out his deck and took a card. "Then I'll switch Anki to defense mode." The black armored hero crossed his arms and kneeled down. "That's it for now."

Clover drew her next card and revealed it. "I activate the spell card, Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two cards." She drew her extra cards. "Then I activate Card Advance. This lets me take a look at the 5 top cards of my deck and place them back in any order I want." She drew 5 cards, looked at them and the rearranged them before putting them back. "And I also get to tribute summon 1 monster in addition to my normal summon this turn. "First I summon Elemental HERO Wildheart." The familiar tribal hero appeared. (ATK: 1500 DEF: 1600 LV: 4)

Andrew frowned upon seeing the card he gave her long ago.

"Next I'll sacrifice him in order to summon White-Horned Dragon." The tribal hero vanished in a flash of light before the familiar red dragon with the long, white horn appeared with a roar. (ATK: 2200 DEF: 1400 LV: 6) "And now its special ability activates. As soon as it's summoned, up to 5 spell cards in your graveyard are removed from play, and for each one of those cards, White-Horned Dragon gains 300 attack points."

Andrew gasped as Polymerization, Pot of Greed, Mask Change, Form Change and Mask Charge came out of his graveyard slot before getting absorbed into the dragon's horn. (ATK: 2200-3700)

Xander grimaced. "And now that she has another dragon type monster on the field, Dark Paladin gets even stronger!" (ATK: 4400-4900)

"Now go, my monsters! Destroy his heroes!" At Clover's command, Dark Paladin another energy wave that wiped out Anki, while White-Horned Dragon shot a bolt of lightning and zapped Stratos until he shattered into pixels. "I end my turn."

"Oh man." Jaden muttered as he watched this.

"Looks like your friend doesn't do well, Jaden." Banner commented, getting his attention.

"Don't count him out just yet!" Jaden retorted. "Just go!"

"Very well. My turn now." Banner drew his next card. "And I play a spell card. One that is mouthful!" He held it up. "Yellow Process - Kitolenics! But it's also a handful one, Jaden! For with it, I can sacrifice Helios - The Primordial Sun for Helios Duo Megistus..." In a flash of light, Helios changed into a new monster. It looked similar to the original, but it was fatter. And its head, which was still a small sun, had second sun that was even smaller and orbiting it. (ATK: ? DEF: ? LV: 6) "...and for each and every monster card that has been removed from play, megistus gains 200 attack points! That's 12 cards, so that's 2400 extra attack points!" (ATK: ?-2400 DEF: ?-2400) "Now attack! Solar Singer!" Everyone watched as the mummy like monster's body was covered by a swirling mass of fire.

"Jaden?" Syrus called out worriedly.

"I should've brought some sunscreen." Chumley commented.

The fire launched itself straight towards Jaden's field. "I play my trap!"

"His trap?" Xander repeated.

"A Hero Emerges!" Jaden's facedown card flipped up. "Now you get to pick a card from my hand, and if it's a monster card, then I get to summon it." He held up his hand of three cards.

Banner scoffed. "One card? It won't save you." He looked at Jaden's cards and pointed to one. "The center one!"

Jaden smirked. "Nice pick... at least for me! You chose one of my favorites! Elemental HERO Bladedge!" The golden hero with jet wings appeared. (ATK: 2600 DEF: 1800 LV: 7)

"Alright!" Syrus cheered.

"Now that's what i'm talking about!" Xander added.

"And he's got more points than you!" Jaden said confidently.

Banner didn't seem to be bothered. "Perhaps... but even so, I continue my attack!"

"No way!" Jaden couldn't believe what he just heard as his hero monster flew straight through the flames and landed a punch on Megistus, making her explode. banner winced and covered himself with his arms for a moment.

Banner: 2800-2600

He then looked up. "And now I will activate her ability. You see, Jaden, if she's destroyed, she is immediately resurrected... with an extra 300 attack points!" The evolved version of Helios appeared again. (ATK: 2400-2700) "Now, Helios Duo Megistus, attack again with Solar Singer!" Duo Megistus was once again engulfed with a mighty blaze that launched itself, blasting Bladedge into pieces.

Jaden: 0700-0600

Jaden looked up after the blast. "You planned that! You wanted me to destroy her!"

"Yes, because now, she can destroy you!"

"My turn!" Andrew drew. He looked over his hand. 'What can I do? Clover's got two powerful monsters, and one of them lets her discard a card from her hand and negate a spell card.' Andrew glanced at her hand and saw the one card she was holding... Wait! One card? Andrew's eyes widened. 'I got it!' He held up one of his won cards. "I activate the spell card, The Warrior Returning Alive! Now I can take a warrior type monster back from the graveyard!"

In response, Clover slid her one card into her graveyard slot. "I'll use Dark Paladin's effect to negate your spell card."

Andrew's spell card vanished. But he smiled. "Good, because now I summon Elemental HERO Blazeman!" The flame headed in red armor appeared. (ATK: 1200 DEF: 1800 LV: 4) "And thanks to his special ability, I can add a Polymerization to my add." He took the named card from his deck. He then looked over his hand again and noticed that he held Wynn's card. The duel spirit appeared next to him.

"Andrew, let me help!"

He nodded to her. "Right! And now I'll use Polymerization to fuse Blazeman with Wynn the Wind Charmer from my hand in order to summon Elemental HERO Great Tornado!" The fire hero entered the fusion vortex, along with the green-haired girl. And then, the green, black and yellow armored wind hero emerged. (ATK: 2800 DEF: 2200 LV: 8) "And now, thanks to Great Tornado's special ability, all your monsters lose half of their strength! Go, Downburst!" The hero thrusted his right palm and created a powerful gust that made Clover's monsters to skid back a bit. (ATK: 3700-1850) (ATK: 4900-2450) "Now attack her Dark Paladin with Supercell!" The hero thrusted his right palm again. This time, it created a cyclone that sent the paladin flying before he exploded.

Clover: 2650-2300

"I end my turn."

Jaden then began his turn. "I summon my Bubbleman!" The white caped water hero appeared again. (ATK: 800 DEF: 1200 LV: 4) "And cuz he's alone, I get to draw 2 extra cards and put them in my hand!" He drew his extra cards and then held up another card from his hand. "Next I play Fusion Recovery! This lets me return Clayman and Polymerization to my hand." He took the named cards from his graveyard and held up the spell card in question. "And now I fuse Bubbleman and Avian together to create..." The two named heroes entered the fusion vortex. "Oh yeah! Elemental HERO Mariner!" From the vortex came a new hero with long black hair and a blue mask covering his eyes. He was dressed in a small tunic, carrying silver anchors on his arms. (ATK: 1400 DEF: 1000 LV: 5)

"And next, I'll throw down a couple of facedowns..." Two cards appeared near Jaden's feet. "And, I'll play Mariner's special ability! See, if I got any spells or traps on my field, the HERO Mariner... he gets to attack you directly! So go get him! Anchor Aweigh!" Mariner leapt into the air and launched one of his anchors, striking Banner who cried out in pain.

Banner: 2600-1200

Banner smirked. "Impressive. Perhaps you are not the loser I thought you were."

"I'm a loser?" Jaden asked, frowning. "At least I know how to use moisturizer."

"All you ever do is make jokes. That's why you won't be a great duelist. You lack the discipline, the strength! Look at me! At my power! It's cosmic... you cannot defeat me! You'd be better off joining me... yes, as my servant perhaps. What do you think?"

"Thanks, but I've got enough friends already."

"And Jaden, very soon... you'll be joining your friends in Oblivion! Just watch!" Banner drew his next. "Megistus, attack that Mariner!" For the third time, Duo was soon covered by flames and propelled itself at Mariner.

"No way, not this time! I'm playing my facedown card! Mirror Gate!" One Jaden's facedown cards flipped up. After that, even as the attack ensued, both Mariner and Megistus switched places in half a second.

"Whoa!" Xander said.

"Did you see that?" Syrus asked. "Their monsters traded sides..."

Jaden grinned. "Got that right. So now Mrs Tall, Fried and Fiery is battling on my team!"

Banner smirked slightly and held up a card. "I play a spell! Grand Convergence!" The planets moved to different places around everyone and the vastness of space around was distorted again. And so was Banner's voice. "Its powerful gravity waves destroy all monsters on the field and deals 300 points of damage to you!" The two monsters shattered into pixels and Jaden cried out in pain because of the distorted effect of the spell card.

Jaden: 0600-0300

"And then, Megistus returns with even more attack points!" Banner laughed as Duo appeared again. (ATK: 2700-3000) "Megistus, attack!" His monster launched another fire attack.

"I don't think so! Go, spell card" Jaden's other facedown card flipped "The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh!" At that moment, Winged Kuriboh appeared in front and took the hit. "See, thanks to my friend, all of your damage this turn goes to zero!"

"Not bad." Banner simply said.

"It gets better!" Jaden drew. "Next i summon Clayman in defense mode!" The stone warrior appeared again. (ATK: 800 DEF: 2000 LV: 4) "Then I'll throw down a facedown!" a card appeared near his feet.

"Yup, that's just what I woulda done." Chumley said.

Jaden gritted his teeth. 'That's all I could do! After all, I just can't seem to beat that Megistus. Every time I destroy it, it comes back stronger!"

In Andrew's duel, Clover began her turn. "I switch White-Horned Dragon to defense mode." The red dragon lowered itself and wrapped its wings around itself. "Then I'll summon Golem Dragon in defense mode." The rock armored dragon appeared. (ATK: 200 DEF: 2000 LV: 4) "I end my turn."

Andrew drew his next card, looked at it and revealed it. "I activate the spell card, Legacy of a HERO! With at least two level 4 or higher Elemental Heroes in my graveyard, I get to draw 3 cards from my deck." Andrew drew his extra cards and looked at them. "Okay, first I summon Elemental HERO Ocean attack mode!" The trident wielding, aquatic hero appeared. (ATK: 1500 DEF: 1200 LV: 4) "Then I activate the spell card, Mask Change II! By discarding one card from my hand, I can send one of my monsters to the graveyard and summon a Masked HERO with the same attribute, but a higher level." Andrew discarded one of his cards as Ocean was engulfed by a bright light. "Now I summon Masked HERO Vapor!" The light died down and revealed the blue and silver armored hero wielding his double-pointed spear. (ATK: 2400 DEF: 2000 LV: 6)

"Now you guys, take down those dragons!" The two heroes charged forward. Vapor stabbed Golem Dragon with his spear, while Great Tornado landed a right hook on White-Horned Dragon, shattering them into pixels. "I end my turn."

"Good, Andrew's one attack away from winning his duel!" Xander said with a smile.

"And she'll be free from Banner's spell." Chumley added.

The former teacher smirked. "I don't know about that." That earned him some confused looks from the gang.

Clover drew her next card and revealed it. "I activate the spell card, Dragon's Mirror." A giant mirror with a golden frame resembling a dragon with wings appeared right behind her. "With this spell card, I can remove monsters on my field or in my graveyard from play and then summon a dragon type fusion monster."

"Huh?" Andrew blinked. "I've never seen Clover use that card before."

Banner chuckled. "That's because I gave her that card. I knew that you would be a strong opponent to her, so I gave her power necessary to destroy you."

Andrew gritted his teeth as he focused on Clover.

"For my fusion summon, I remove these 5 dragons from play." Everyone watched as the 5 dragons Clover used up to this point reappeared together.

"5 dragons?" Syrus whimpered.

"No way..."Xander muttered.

Andrew paled. "Hold on! There's only 1 fusion monster I know that can be summoned this way."

Banner smirked. "That's right, Andrew. My little mind slave is about to release one of the most devastating fusion monsters in the game!"

All 5 dragons were absorbed into the mirror. "I fusion summon... Five-Headed Dragon!" The mirror's glass glowed brightly before something came out of it slowly. Moments later, everyone could see the new monster. It was a massive dragon with the main body being yellow. And like the name suggested, it had 5 heads, and they all had different forms. The first head was completely made of fire. The second head resembled a blue sea-serpent. The third head was beige and had a bunch of spikes on top. The fourth head was simply black. And the fifth head appeared to be made of metal. (ATK: 5000 DEF: 5000 LV: 12)

"I-I don't believe it." Andrew stared at the dragon in disbelief.

"5000 attack attack points?" Jaden said.

"That's right, and once it attacks, Andrew's spirit key will be mine!" Banner declared.

"Five-Headed Dragon, attack his Great Tornado!" At Clover's command, the dragon launched 5 different breaths. A fires stream. A water stream. A yellow energy beam. A beam of darkness. And a bolt of lightning.

"I activate Electromagnetic Turtle's effect!" Andrew declared as the familiar, mechanical turtle appeared and created an electric barrier that blocked the attack. "Good thing I discarded it when I played Mask Change II. By removing it from play, I can end the battle phase."

His friends sighed in relief. "Man, that was close." Chumley muttered.

"I end my turn." Clover concluded.

Andrew looked at her and noticed something shocking. Her expression was emotionless as ever... but streams of tears were running from her eyes. "Clover's... crying?"

Phantom Magician next to him. "I can sense it. It's faint, but I can sense her soul trying to reach you."

Andrew gave her a concerned look. "Clover..."He then got serious. "Just hang on a bit longer. I'll set you free!" He drew his next card and looked at it. 'Battle Fusion? This card increases my fusion monster's attack points with the same amount as its opponent's strength. But...' He frowned and glanced at the dragon. 'That won't be so much useful against the Five-Headed Dragon. It can't take battle damage or be destroyed in battle if the opposing monster's attribute is fire, water, earth, wind or dark. And none of my monsters has the required attribute.' He the put the spell card into his hand. "I switch my two monsters to defense mode and end my turn." His two heroes kneeled down.

Clover drew her next card. "Five-Headed Dragon, attack Great Tornado!" Once again, the massive dragon launched its 5 different breaths. And this this time, they all connected with the wind hero, obliterating him. Clover then inserted a card into her duel disk. "I place one card facedown and end my turn."

"Okay, my move!" Andrew drew.

"I activate the trap card, Nightmare Wheel." Clover's facedown card flipped up. And then, a red aura surrounded Vapor, surprising Andrew. "With this trap card in play, your monster can't attack or switch mode."

"And that's not the worst of it." Xander said grimly. "During Clover's standby phase, that card will deal 500 points of damage to Andrew."

"But he's only got 200 life points left!" Chumley pointed out.

"Aw man." Syrus moaned.

Banner chuckled. "Which means he's about to lose."

"Come on, man." Jaden muttered, glancing at his friend.

"Not if I can help it!" Andrew retorted and looked at the card he drew. His eyes widened. "This is..."


Flashback

Pegasus reached into his three piece suit and grabbed a small, brown envelope he handed over to Andrew.

"What's this?"

Pegasus smiled. "Just a little gift... from Peter boy himself.


Later on, back in the Yellow Dorm on the Academy island, Andrew opened the envelope and pulled out a card. "This is what Peter sent me?" He smiled. "Wow."

Flashback end


'Looks like you saved me there, Peter.' Andrew thought with a smile before holding the card up. "I activate the spell card, Dragoroar!"

"Dragoroar?" Banner repeated, confused.

"What does that do?" Xander wondered.

"First I have to remove 4 of the monsters in my graveyard from play. 1 earth monster..." The spirit of Dian appeared. "1 water monster..." And then Ocean. "1 fire monster..." Goka was next. "And 1 wind monster." Finally, Great Tornado appeared. "And after removing these 4 monsters from play, I can return one card on the field back to its owner's deck. And I choose Nightmare Wheel!" The four heroes merged together and formed a dragon head made of a rainbow colored light. It let out a loud roar that made Clover raise her arms as she skidded back a bit. And then, her trap card vanished, which caused the red aura leave Vapor's body.

"Sweet!" Jaden cheered.

Andrew sighed in relief. "I end my turn."

Banner scoffed as Clover began her turn. "I place one card facedown." A card appeared near her feet. "And then I attack with my dragon!" The massive dragon launched it 5 breaths again, and completely destroyed Vapor. "I end my turn."

"Just as I thought." Banner smirked. "As much as he struggles, Andrew can't defeat Clover's almighty beast."

Jaden gave him a glare.

"Not that you are doing any better, Jaden. My turn now!" Banner drew. "And if you thought Helios Duo Megistus was formidable, just you wait!" He held up the spell card he drew. "I play Red Process - Rubedo! And with it, I sacrifice Duo Megistus and summon Helios Trice Megistus!" Duo was engulfed by flames and vanished. And then, from within those flames, a new monster appeared... which turned out to be a trio of mini versions of Helios - The Primordial Sun. (ATK: ? DEF: ? LV: 8)

Jaden gasped at this.

"Now, Jaden, for every monster removed from play, Trice Megistus gains 300 attack points. And since 13 monsters have been removed from play so far..." (ATK: ?-3900 DEF: ?-3900)

"3900?" Jaden gawked at the trio's strength.

"It's a shame you don't duel as well as you add. Now, Megistus, attack with Phoenix Flare!" The sun-headed trio's bodies were covered completely by incredible flames which combined themselves into an almighty form of a phoenix before ramming themselves into Clayman, destroying him completely.

"I play a trap! Hero Signal!" Jaden's facedown card flipped up and a beam of light appeared from it, showing an 'H' above the field. "Now thanks to this, if a hero gets taken out, then I'm allowed to go search through my deck and then summon another one! And I got just the one! Elemental HERO Sparkman!" The blue, gold armored hero appeared to defend him. (ATK: 1600 DEF: 1400 LV: 4)

"And now that he's on the field, I get to attack again!" Banner said. "That's right, Jaden! Due to Trice Megistus' very special ability!"

"What?" Jaden stared in shock as the trio flared up again.

"Pheonix Flare!" And just like Clayman, Sparkman was blasted by the phoenix shaped fire attack, leaving Jaden wide open.

Jaden looked up through the dying flames, getting really worried for once. 'So I got no monsters, no spells and no traps. And if I am able to summon to the field, that thing can attack me! For once in my life, I don't see how I can win.'

Andrew shared his worry. 'This is bad. Both of us are completely defenseless, while our opponents have one powerful monster each.' He turned to Clover's field and eyed on her facedown card. 'And something tells me that Clover has something that she would use in case I got something to destroy her dragon.' He then looked at his hand. But the question is do I have even have something that can destroy it?'

Jaden stared at Banner and Trice Megistus. 'What can I do? I have no cards in my hand and no strategy up my sleeve. But if I don't win this, me and all my friends will be finished.'

Banner closed his eyes and smirked. "Goodbye, children. This has been quite a year."

"We're not done!" Jaden said quickly but lowered his head. 'Or maybe we are. What if everything Banner said... was right.' As he thought about it, Winged Kuriboh appeared, concerned. 'What if I've been set up from my first day here? Maybe I never was a good duelist. Maybe the professor fixed everything so I'd win all the matches. Chazz... the Paradox Brothers... Alexis... even Bastion. The Academy would think I was great. The wise-cracking Jaden who hardly lost. Crowler and Sheppard would have no choice but to give me a key. A key that held of the world...'

"Jaden." The Slifer turned to Andrew, who had a determined look on his face. "I know this looks very grim. I know that it seems hopeless. But... the Jaden I know... woudl never give up or doubt his dueling skills." He then gave him a smile. "Don't believe what Banner said. I know you're a great duelist. I could tell by watching your matches. And I could especially tell when you and I dueled each other."

Phantom Magician appeared behind him. "He's right. You should believe in yourself. And you should believe in your friends, just as they believe in you.'

At that, Jaden turned to Syrus, Chumley and Xander. 'That's right! I have friends here. Friends who risk their lives for me. Even if I am some pawn, I believe in my friends and I believe in my deck!'

Banner watched Jaden and Andrew closely. 'All of your training... all of your matches have led up to this... this moment of truth. Now make your move... and make me proud.' He thought with a small smile.

Andrew and Jaden looked back at Chumley, Syrus and Xander and they could swear that along with them, they could see everyone else they met. Zane, Crowler, Alexis, Atticus, Bastion, Chazz, Michael, Jenny, Shiori, Matt, Kaito, and Cynthia! Smiling, they turned to each other, nodded and then looked down at their duel disks. With full confidence, both of them prepared to draw.

"Get your game... ON!" Jaden said as they both drew.

Andrew looked at his new card and gave Clover a serious look. "Alright, Clover, time to set you free!" He held his new card up. "I activate Parallel World Fusion!"

"Parallel World Fusion?" Banner repeated.

Andrew suddenly raised the arm with his duel disk up. And when he did, the duel disk fired a small beam of light that created a swirling vortex. And then, from nowhere, Masked HERO Dian and Goka appeared in front of it before getting sucked into it. "With this spell card, I can fusion summon an Elemental HERO by taking some of my monsters that are removed from play and return them to my deck. So with my two Masked Heroes I can create a brand new hero! The incredible Contrast HERO Chaos!" At that, a new monster emerged from the vortex. It was a figure wearing a full body armor with a scarf and holding a knife in one hand. And this monsters armor had an interesting feature. It was split into two different colors. Its right half was black, and its left half was white. (ATK: 3000 DEF: 2600 LV: 9)

"Contrast HERO?" Banner repeated, confused. "That's no Elemental HERO!"

Andrew smirked. "Actually, his special ability makes it so that he's always treated as an Elemental HERO card. And another interesting thing about this guy is this: unlike other monsters, he doesn't have one, but TWO different attributes. Dark and light."

"Sweet." Jaden smiled.

"Now then, the Five-Headed Dragon may be safe from dark attribute monsters, but light attribute monsters are a different story."

"But that hero only has 3000 attack points! That's not enough to defeat it!" Xander pointed out.

Andrew smiled to him. "Don't worry, I got that covered." He then focused on the duel. "Contrast HERO Chaos, attack!" The white and black hero leapt into the air before Andrew held up a card from his hand. "Now I activate Battle Fusion! With my fusion monster now attacking, he gains attack points equal to the opposing monster's attack points!" The hero glowed with a blue aura. (ATK: 3000-8000)

"Wow! 8000 points!" Syrus said in awe.

"Now go!" The hero charged towards the massive dragon.

"I activate a trap card!" Clover interjected and revealed her facedown card. "Sakuretsu Armor! This card destroys your attacking monster!"

Andrew smirked. "I don't think so! I activate Chaos' special ability! During either player's turn, I can negate the effects of a face-up card on the field. So that makes your trap useless." The hero threw his knife, which pierced through the trap card, making it vanish.

Banner gasped at that.

"Now end this with Twilight Burst!" The hero clapped his hands, releasing waves of light and dark energy that enveloped the massive dragon. It roared in pain before it exploded.

At that moment, the glowing symbol on Clover's forehead became brighter as the redhead suddenly clutched her head in pain. She screamed very loudly for a moment before the symbol vanished. And then, Clover stopped screaming and collapsed.

Clover: 2300-0000

"I don't believe it..." Banner muttered in awe. "He actually defeated her."

Jaden smiled. "Nice one, bro! And now it's my turn!" He then glanced at the card he drew. "Ha! Check this out!" He held it up. "It's Miracle Fusion!"

That got Banner's attention. "Miracle Fusion?"

Jaden squinted as his duel disk glowed a bright golden light. And then, Clayman, Burstinatrix, Avian and Bubbleman appeared before swirling around, mixing into one another as a bright, rainbow colored light appeared above Jaden. "Pretty tight, huh? See, Miracle Fusion fuses all Elemental Heroes that are in my graveyard and creates the one and only Elemental HERO Electrum!" The rainbow light faded, and a new monster stood proudly on the field. A big, well built man in shiny, golden armor with a large 'E' in the center of his chest. (ATK: 2900 DEF: 2600 LV: 10) "And Electrum's got one sweet ability!"

Banner gritted his teeth as Electrum glowed brightly. And then, to his shock... all of his removed monster cards were sucked into his deck. "All my monsters! They're returning to my deck!"

"Just the ones removed from play..." Jaden pointed out. "...which means your Megistus' attack points go back down to zero!" The trio's sun heads darkened. (ATK: 3900-0000 DEF: 3900-0000)

"And now, I attack! Elemental Radiant Burst!"

As Electrum glowed even brighter, with a mix of blue and white light, Banner... smiled at this outcome before the hero's shining rays blew Megistus to pieces. He screamed and feel to his knees as the field returned to normal, the gang returning to the lab. His tome fell to the floor and its golden eyes symbol broke into small bits and pieces.

Banner: 1200-0000

As Jaden and Andrew's duel disks turned themselves off, the whole room began to shake violently.


At that moment, the laser beams of light vanished and the eight spirit gates closed. At the same time all the duelists that were held captive Banner's tome returned to the island, one by one. Chazz and Michael materialized, laying against a tree near the spot where they dueled Amnael and Clover. Alexis, Jenny, and Shiori appeared back at the spots they were defeated. And Atticus appeared back in his room, unconscious, just as the rest of them were.


"That's game, Banner." Jaden said as he, Andrew and the rest of the gang approached their former teacher.

"Jaden... Andrew... listen carefully to me, my children. I lied. You won all those other duels, Jaden. I said you didn't to test you." Banner looked up, parts of his face crumbling away. "And Andrew, I'm really sorry for dragging Clover into this and forcing her to duel you. But since she's your greatest rival, I knew that she had what it took to push your limits as a duelist. I did all of this... in order to prepare the two of you for the real evil to come. That is why I became a Shadow Rider. Not to take over the world, but to stop... the one who's truly trying to do. To stop him, by forcing you to become better duelists, so that you could face him, and hopefully, defeat him."

As the former teacher spoke, the boys couldn't help but give him looks of pity.

"You see, the threat's so great, I had to deceive you." Banner gave them a weak smile. "I hope that you can forgive me. And now, my boys, take this." He picked up his tome and held it out to Jaden and Andrew.

"But it's your book." Jaden reached for it and took it by one end.

"It's mine... no longer...and no longer am I... of this earth..." Those were Banner's last words before his whole body crumbled into nothing. All that was left was his robes and a large pile of dust.

"Professor Banner!" Andrew cried out. At that moment, the gang heard something and turned just in time to see Banner's original (and mummified) body become dust as well.

"It's over." Jaden muttered. "He's gone."

"Poor Professor." Andrew said, giving his remains a sad look.

Unbeknownst to the gang, Pharaoh approached the remains of Banner's cloned body, from which a small ball of light emerged. Pharaoh came after it as it tried to leave.

"So what now?" Syrus asked.

"Well, from what Banner said, I guess we should be on the lookout for some terrible evil that wants to take over the world and probably destroy us all while he's at it."

"When aren't we?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, well you got a point there." Chumley nodded.

"No, this is different you guys." Jaden said as he stared at the tome.

"He's right." Andrew nodded. "Banner gave his life to prepare us for this evil that's coming!"

While the boys talked to each other, Pharaoh swallowed the ball of light, making it rest within him.

Andrew had concerned look on his face. 'I just hope we're ready, because whatever we're about to face is gonna be unlike anything we've ever faced before.'


Okay, this chapter became longer than intended, but I hope you guys liked it. Until next time.