Chapter 3: New forms of summoning

(Alexis 3300/Ghassan 1200)

"Well? It's your move." Alexis told Ghassan. On her side of the field was Cyber Prima (2300/1600) and a set card. On Ghassan's side of the field was Jurrac Guaiba (1700/400), Jurrac Velo (1700/1000), and Jurrac Dino (1700/800).

"You sure about this man?" Scott whispered. "You were always telling us that using Synchro and Xyz monsters would draw attention to us."

"We already drew attention to us with this duel. Besides, if I win, our mission's accomplished." Ghassan eyed the face down card on Alexis's side of the field. 'I didn't draw anything that can destroy that card, and I don't want to risk it losing me the game.' "I overlay my level 4 Jurrac Guaiba and my level 4 Jurrac Velo!"

"Huh?" Jasmine reacted.

"Overlay?" Mindy wondered.

Above the lake on Ghassan's side of the field, a swirling vortex opened. Alexis was stunned "Wh-what's going on?!"

"Is this some kind of fusion or something?" Jaden asked.

Jurrac Velo and Jurrac Guaiba both turned into beams of light that went into the vortex. "No, but similar principles. Multiple monsters combining to form a new one. I Xyz Summon, Evolzar Laggia (2400/2000)!" A beam of light was shot from the portal, before a green, six-winged dragon appeared on Ghassan's side of the field. Two orbs of light moved around the monster, leaving a trail behind them as they moved.

"Ik...seez?" Jaden asked.

"What kind of monster is that!?" Syrus yelled.

"Next, I sacrifice my Jurrac Dino to tribute summon Jurrac Hera (2300/1500) in attack position!" Jurrac Dino disappeared, and in it's place, a bi-pedaled yellow and green dinosaur with two small cannons attached to it's back. Fire danced on it's back, tail, and feet. "Evolzar Laggia, destroy Cyber Prima!" The dragon flew towards Cyber Prima, getting it's claws out.

"I don't think so. I activate my trap card Double Passe! When you attack a monster of mine, I can make it a direct attack instead. In exchange, my monster gets to attack you directly as well."

"Alright! She won this duel then!" Mindy cheered.

'Looks like Xyz summoning was the right call after all.' "I activate the effect of my Evolzar Laggia!" The two orbs that circled around the monster disappeared. "By detaching two Xyz materials from this card, I get to negate and destroy a spell or trap card that you activated."

"What?" Alexis turned to see that the hologram for her Double Passe card started to burn to ash.

"And since the trap was negated, the attack still goes through." Laggia grabbed Cyber Prima by the throat, lifted her up in the air, and breathed fire on her, destroying Cyber Prima as she screamed. (Alexis 3300-3200) "Now, Jurrac Hera, attack directly!" Fire built up in the two cannons on Jurrac Hera's back before it launched two fireballs at Alexis, causing her to fall to her knees. (Alexis 3200-900) "I set a card end my turn."

Alexis panted a bit. 'What...what IS that monster? Xyz monsters aren't any type of monsters I heard of. And it can negate my spells and traps whenever I activate them?' Alexis shook her head. 'No. He specifically said he had to detach things called Xyz materials to activate that effect. I don't know the full details about this summoning method, but I'm willing to bet that the materials were those two monsters that went into the vortex.' Alexis took a look at Evolzar Laggia. 'It doesn't have those balls of light around it anymore, so there's no way he'll be able to use that effect again.'

"Gonna take your turn or what?" Ghassan asked.

Alexis stood up. "My turn. I draw!" Alexis took a look at the card she just drew and immediately activated it. "I activate the spell card, Card of Sanctity!"

"You'll banish all cards on your field and in your hand just to draw two cards?" Scott wondered.

"Um...no? With Cards of Sanctity, both me and my opponent draw until we have six cards in our hand."

"I guess that's the effect in the anime." Ghassan whispered to Scott. Scott shrugged. It's been years since they watched any of the Yu-Gi-Oh anime.

Both Alexis and Ghassan drew until they both had six cards in their hand. Alexis looked at the cards she just drew. "Perfect! I activate the spell card, The Warrior Returning Alive! With this card, I get to add one Warrior monster from my graveyard to my hand. I choose my Blade Skater."

Ghassan thought for a bit. 'Why would she be so excited to bring that card to her hand? I forget, is it a fusion material or something?'

"Next I activate, Polymerization!" That answered Ghassan's question. I fuse my Etoile Cyber and my Blade Skater to fusion summon Cyber Blader (2100/800) in attack mode!"A woman with long blue hair and a red visor appeared.

"I get it. Using your Cyber Blader as a wall since it can't be destroyed by battle. But that won't last forever."

"Who said anything about using it as a wall? Didn't you notice that she's in attack mode?" Alexis asked.

Ghassan shrugged. "I figured you just messed up. After all, both of my monsters have more attack points than her."

Alexis smirked. "Maybe normally. But it's apparent that you didn't do enough homework on Cyber Blader."

"Huh?"

"It's true that Cyber Blader has an ability which prevents it from being destroyed by battle, but that's when you only have one monster on your field."

"So what happens when I have two then?" Ghassan asked.

"When you only have two monsters on your side of the field, Cyber Blader's attack points double!" Cyber Blader (2100-4200/800)

"Uh-oh." Scott said.

"Now Cyber Blader, attack Jurrac Herra with Whirlwind Rage!" Cyber Blader began to spin around before charging at Jurrac Herra.

"I activate my quick-play spell, Mystik Wok" A giant pot over a fire appeared on Ghassan's side of the field. "With this card, I tribute one monster on my side of the field, and gain life points equal to either it's attack or defense points. I tribute my Evolzar Laggia to gain 2400 life points!" Jurrac Laggia flew inside the pot before dissolving in the boiling water. (Ghassan 1200-3600).

Alexis gritted her teeth. "And with only one monster of your side of the field, Cyber Blader's attack points go back to normal." Cyber Blader (4200-2100/800)

"Bet you're regretting attacking now, aren't you?"

"Actually Ghassan, she can call off the attack." Scott told him.

"...What?"

"They're called replays. If the amount of monsters on the opponent's side of the field changes, unless an effect specifies otherwise, the attacking target can be changed, or the attack can simply be called off." Alexis explained.

"Wait, really?" Jasmine asked.

"Huh. Never knew that." Mindy said.

"Wha...ok, it's understandable why I don't know that, but you two are in Obelisk Blue! How come you don't know that?!" Ghassan asked the two.

"Oh, girls are assigned to Obelisk Blue by default." Jasmine answered.

"...What?"

"Yeah. Unless she chooses to live in a dorm like Slifer Red or Ra Yellow, any student whose a girl is automatically placed in Obelisk Blue." Mindy confirmed. "It's a lucky break for me and Jasmine since we're not the best at dueling." Ghassan twitched a little bit.

"Anyway, I set a card face down and end my turn." Alexis stated.

Ghassan drew a card. "I summon, Jurrac Aeolo (200/200), in defense position!" A tiny spiked lizard like creature that looked like it just hatched from an egg appeared on Ghassan's side of the field. It's body was a mixture of black, blue, and yellow.

"Cybler Blader's attack points double now that there's two monsters on your side of the field again." Cyber Blader (2100-4200/800)

"That's not gonna be the case for long. I tune my Level 6 Jurrac Herra with my Level 1 Jurrac Aerolo!

"Tune?" Syrus asked.

Jurrac Aeolo and Jurrac Herra both went into the air. Aeolo dissolved into light, before turning into three green circles. "Get ready to see another new form of summoning." Jurrac Hera went through the cirles, before dissolving to light as well. Soon, a large green flash occured before a large blue and red dinosaur with a flaming head and flaming tail emrged from the flash "I synchro summon the level 7 Jurrac Giganoto (2100/1800)!"

"Cyber Blader's attack points go back to normal now." Scott stated. Cyber Blader (4200-2100/800)

Jaden, Syus, Mindy, and Jasmine were starting in amazement about seeing yet another summoning method they never heard about prior. "Ok that's GOT to be some kind of fusion summoning." Jasmine claimed.

"Nope. Synchro summoning. Combine one Tuner monster with one or more Non-Tuner monsters, add up their levels, and special summon a Synchro monster that has the same level of the sum." Ghassan explained. "And now, you're finished."

"Did you forget? Cyber Blader can't be destroyed by battle if you only have one monster on the field. It'll beat Giganoto in a tie." Alexis replied.

Ghassan smiled. "I don't need to destroy Cyber Blader to do damage to you. Jurrac Giganoto's effect activates! For every Jurrac monster in my graveyard, all Jurrac monsters, including Giganoto, gain 200 attack points." The fires on Giganoto grew larger as it let out a roar. Jurrac Giganoto (2100-3300/800).

"Alexis only has 900 life points left." Syrus pointed out. "If she takes the damage, she'll lose!"

"Jurrac Giganoto, finish her off! Molten Burst!" Jurrac Giganoto launched a giant fireball from it's mouth at Cyber Blader. Alexis braced herself before a giant explosion occured.

Syrus looked down in the water, saddened. "She lost J...that means you'll..."

Jaden put a hand on Syrus's shoulder. "Don't get so down already Syrus."

Syrus was confused. "Huh." Jaden pointed to where Alexis's boat was. The dust cleared up, revealing that Alexis was still standing, life points unchanged, behind a transparent barrier.

"I activated my trap card, Hallowed Life Barrier. By discarding a card, I don't take any damage."

Syrus, Mindy, and Jasmine sighed in relief. "She mannaged to last this turn." Mindy said.

"True, but next turn, she's finished." Ghassan stated. "I set a card face down and end my turn."

Alexis put her finger on her next card, and closed her eyes. 'I need to take out that monster this turn. To find out what happened to Atticus...to save Jaden...I have to win this duel.' Ghassan started to worry. He watched enough Yu-Gi-Oh to know that this'll be the game-deciding draw. "DRAW!" Alexis drew the card from her deck, and smiled. "It's over Ghassan. I summon Cyber Gymnast (800/1800) in attack position!" A woman with a white mask and long yellow hair appeared on Alexis's side of the field.

"What's her effect?" Ghassan asked, knowing that she wouldn't be so relieved to draw such a weak monster otherwise.

"By discarding a card, I can choose one monster in attack position on your side of the field, and destroy it." Alexis discarded a card before Cyber Gymnast kicked the air, sending an air slash towards Jurrac Giganoto, destroying it.

Ghassan put his arm up to protect himself from the bulldust being kicked due to the explosion. "Not bad, but you just sealed your fate. I activate my continuous trap card, Kickfire! Whenever a FIRE monster is destroyed by a card effect, this card gains a counter." A small fireball appeared above the activated trap card. "Then, during either of our standby phases, I can send this card to the graveyard to do 1000 points of damage for every counter on it!"

Jasmine and Mindy gasped. "Her two monsters don't have enough attack points to finish him off this turn." Jasmine said.

"Does...does this mean that...?" Mindy began to ask

Alexis wasn't shaken. "Cyber Blader, Cyber Gymnast, attack directly!" The two monsters dashed towards Ghassan, the former kicking him in the side, and the latter in the chin. (Ghassan 3600-700)

Ghassan stumbled a bit, but stopped himself from falling. "Doing as much damage as you can before next turn eh? I can respect that."

"There won't be a next turn." Alexis replied.

"Huh?"

"I activate my quick-play spell card De-Fusion! I return one monster Fusion monster to the fusion deck, and special summon it's fusion materials that are in the graveyard." Cyber Blader dissolved to light before going back to Alexis's duel disk. "I special summon, Etoile Cyber (1200/1600) and Blade Skater (1400/1500)!"

Ghassan's eyes widened when he realized he lost. "No..."

"Blade Skater, attack directly!" The purple and white figure skater made it's way towards Ghassan, before slashing him with one of her arm blades, causing Ghassan to fall on the boat. (Ghassan 700-0) "Looks like I win."

"Alright!" Jaden and Syrus high-fived each other.

Jasmine and Mindy stood up, and put their hands on Alexis's shoulders. "That was amazing Alexis!" Mindy coplimented.

"You showed that jerk what you're made of!" Jasmine said.

Ghassan gritted his teeth in anger, and balled his fists. 'Dammit. I was so close to us getting back home.'

Alexis turned to Ghassan. "Don't forget about your end of the bargain." She said sternly.

Ghassan sighed. "I don't know WHERE Atticus is, but I do know that he's alive. I heard that one of the teachers at this academy knows about his whereabouts, but I'm not sure which one." With Ghassan's fuzzy memory about the show, along with him trying to hide details to keep what little cover he still had, it was about as much as info he could give while still honoring his end of the bargain.

Alexis hung her head down and wiped her face with her arm before turning her head back to Ghassan. "I still have more questions for you."

"Yeah, like why were you trying to get me expelled to begin with?" Jaden asked.

Ghassan was trying to think of an excuse when Scott stood up. "That was just a bluff for the most part." He put an arm around Ghassan's neck. "The two of us have heard about how strong you and Alexis are as duelists, and wanted to find a way to duel you guys while making sure you go all oit. The plan was Jaden would duel Ghassan next if Alexis lost to him, and then I'd duel Jaden if Ghassan lost to him."

Ghassan was relieved for the cover his friend came up with. "Yeah. Shame that Jaden didn't get to duel, but it was fun. Sorry about tricking you guys like that."

Alexis was skeptical, but she also tricked Jaden and Syrus into thinking she'd actually report them just to get a duel with Jaden, so it wasn't as if the reason was unbelievable.

"Really? Well next time, don't worry about it. I'm always up for a duel, and there's no way I'd hold back." Jaden smiled.

Scott laughed. "Well, we'll keep that in mind for the future. Won't have to come up with as complicated a plan either."

"One more thing." Alexis turned to Ghassan. "Some of those monsters you used. Xyz and Synchro. I never heard about either of those summoning methods."

"Well, where we come from, they're actually not too rare a summon. Guess that part of the game hasn't arrived around these parts yet" Ghassan answered. Hey, he was technically telling the truth.

"Anyway, we're off. Catch ya later." Scott started rowing the boat away. After it looked like they gained enough distance from them, Scott turned to Ghassan. "You know, for all that talking to me and Damian about not drawing too much attention to ourselves, you sure aren't very good at following your own advice."

"I saw an oppertunity and I took it Scott. If we got Jaden expelled, we could have ran around the campus naked and it wouldn't have mattered in the long run."

"Then you should have busted out the Xyz and Synchros sooner if you were going by that logic. Not wait until it looks like you're about to lose."

Ghassan crossed his arms. "Whatever. We'll find another way to get Jaden expelled from the academy." He then got out his PDA. "I should tell Damian about what happened."

As the boat rowed off, a man in a black bodysuit, and wearing purple lipstick emerged from the water. "So, it looks like I'm not the only one who wants Jaden gone. I'll ask them a few questions of course, but those two could be useful to me in the future." Crowler went back underwater.


It was well past midnight, but Alexis was still awake, typing on her computer. "Nothing about Synchro monsters either. Or even Jurracs for that matter." Alexis continued to type, looking for information about the monsters used by Ghassan during their duel. After about an hour of no results, she stood up. "No websites from Industrial Illusions, KaibaCorp or even Schroeder Corp mention anything about Synchro monsters of Xyz monsters."

Alexis walked towards her window. "Did they steal information from Industrial Illusions or something? Are the cards counterfeit?" Alexis reached her window, and took a look at the sky. "This is weird. And not just for the unseen summoning methods. Those two knew that I'd be dueling Jaden tonight even though I never told them about it. And that Ghassan person knew about my brother. Who are they?"


Crowler's taking an interest in using two of our main characters to get Jaden expelled, and Alexis is growing suspicions about who they are. Not even a week into the academy, and our protagonists are already drawing attention. Hope you guys enjoyed the latest chapter, and are looking forward to the next one.