Chapter 7: Synchro Circulation

(Damian 2000/Chazz 2200)

The students watching the duel stared at the monster behind Chazz in amazement. With the obvious exceptions of Scott and Ghassan, none of them have seen or even heard of a Synchro Summon before. On Chazz's side of the field was Infernity Doom Dragon (3000/2400) , an activated Phantom Hand, and a set card. On Damian's side of the field was F.A Sonic Meister (2100/1000 LV 7) and an activated F.A Dead Heat. Damian felt a mixture of excitement for the duel and fear for the consequences that might occur in the future. "Huh. Never saw that monster before." He lied.

"Wasn't expecting you to." Chazz replied.

Ghassan clenched his fist. "Damian..." He growled.

Scott turned to Ghassan. "Wait, this is Damian's fault?"

"One of Damian's decks was an Infernity deck, remember? He hasn't used it in years, so he probably gave it to Chazz to win some brownie points with him."

"But didn't Chazz say he bought the deck online?" Scott asked.

"I'm very confused about what you two are talking about right now. Damian seemed to be just as unaware of these Infernities as everyone else. How could he have been the one to sell it?" Bastion responded. Ghassan and Scott realized that they forgot to whisper.

"...That's a very good point. I must have remembered wrong." Ghassan laughed nervously.

"So, you gonna attack my Sonic Meister? Because remember, I still have my F.A Dead Heat. And if I'm lucky, it'll give Meister enough levels to surpass your dragon.

Chazz snorted. "I've got something better. I activate the effect of my Infernity Doom Dragon. Once per turn, if I have no cards in my hand, I can choose one monster you control and destroy it, dealing half it's current attack points as damage to you."

"What?!" Damian yelled, pretending to be shocked.

"I use Infernity Doom Dragon's effect to destroy your Sonic Meister! Infernal Flame Blast!" The black dragon's eyes lit up before Sonic Meister became covered in flames, exploding soon after. (Damian 2000-950) "Luckily for you, my Doom Dragon can't attack the turn I activate this effect. I end my turn."

Damian drew. "I activate Graceful Charity. You know the drill. I draw three cards, and then discard two." Damian did exactly that. "Next I activate the effect of my F.A Test Run from my graveyard. I destroy one F.A card I control and special summon an F.A from my deck. I destroy F.A Circuit Grand Prix to special summon F.A Hang On Mach (0/1800)." The race arena around them crumbled. "Since Circuit Grand Prix was destroyed by a card effect, I can add an F.A. card to my hand." Damian searched through his deck to add a card to his hand before a man riding a futuristic blue hoverbike appeared. Electricity started to build up from Hang On Mach's engines (0-1200/1800)

"Please. You'll need your monster to be level 11 for it to be stronger than Doom Dragon." Chazz stated.

"That's the idea. I activate the field spell I added to my hand, F.A City Grand Prix." The area around them started to morph again. The ground morphed into a blue virtual landscape with similarly colored virtual skyscrapers rising above. Parts of the landscape split, making way for a racetrack. "With City Grand Prix, my F.A's gain two levels during both the main phase and battle phase. In addition, they can't be targeted with card effects." Damian doubted this would mean anything though. Nowhere on Infernity Doom Dragon's effect description did the word 'target' appear. "And Hang On Mach gains an extra level due to his effect." (1200-2100/1800 LV 7)

"Still not enough to take down my Doom Dragon." Chazz stated.

Damian smiled. "Remember how I activated my F.A Downforce from the graveyard when I defeated your flunky?" Chazz's eyes widened. "I remove my F.A Downforce from play to make Hang On Mach gain two extra levels. And due to his effect, he gains a third level." (2100-3000/1800 LV 10)

"Now they have the same amount of attack points." Scott said.

"True, but remember. Chazz has a second copy of Infernity Patriarch in his graveyard after he summoned Doom Dragon." Bastion pointed out. "He can remove it from play and prevent Doom Dragon's destruction."

"Battle phase! Hang On Mach, attack Infernity Doom Dragon!" The hoverbike charged at the dragon.

"Did you forget about the Infernity Patriarch in my grave?" Chazz asked.

"No. I remember it. I activate the effect of my F.A Dead Heat!" Two futuristic roulette spinners, each divided into six sections, appeared. One above Damian, and one above Chazz.

"What's up with this?"

'Huh. This must be the replacements for actual die rolls.' Damian thought. "Due to Dead Heat's effect, whenever an F.A monster does battle, these roulettes spin. If you land on a higher number, my F.A gets destroyed automatically. But if I land on a higher spinner, my F.A gains 4 levels..."

"Meaning that it gains 1200 attack points." Chazz finished.

"1500 technically. Hang On Mach would already gain a level since I activated the effect of an F.A trap effect." (3000-3300/1800 LV 11) "Now, let's see what happens!"

Both of the roulettes spun at high speeds. A few seconds later, they started to slow down before stopping at the same time. On Chazz's roulette was a 3. On Damian's a 5. "Looks like I won the spin. Meaning Hang On Mach gains 4 levels." An enormous amount of electricity shot out of Hang On Mach's engines as it bolted towards the dragon (3300-4500/1800 LV 15)

"Hold on a minute! In Duel Monsters, the level cap is 12!" Bastion yelled in confusion.

"F.A. monsters can go past that. Hell, one F.A in particular gets an additional effect only at level 13." Damian replied. 'Hang On Mach is unaffected by the effect of a monster with a lower level than it. Even if he uses Infernity Patriarch to survive, he won't be able to use Doom Dragon's effect on my monster.'

"I activate my trap card, Prideful Roar!" Chazz stated. An aura started to glow around him. "I take the difference between our monster's attack points as damage." (Chazz 2200-700). "In exchange, during the damage calculation my monster adds the difference between the monsters attack points to his own, with an additional 300."

The same aura started to glow around Infernity Doom Dragon (3000-4800/2400) before it slashed through Hang On Mach as it charged towards him. (Damian 950-650)

"Geez! You're way harder to take down than everybody else I dueled at this school. This is becoming more fun by the minute!" Damian set a card facedown. "I end my turn." The aura around Infernity Doom Dragon faded (4800-3000/2400)

Chazz drew. "I activate the continuous spell Wave-Motion Inferno. As long as I have no cards in my hand, all Infernity monsters I control gain an extra 400 attack and defense points." Fire started to surround Infernity Doom Dragon (3000-3400/2400-2800). "Now, attack directly!"

The monster flew towards Damian, ready to slash him. "I activate the effect of my F.A Dead Heat. When you declare a direct attack, I can special summon an F.A monster from my deck. I summon my F.A Auto Navigator (0/0) in defense mode." A virtual image of a chibi girl with yellow hair appeared in between Damian and the dragon.

"Unlike my other F.A monsters, Navigator doesn't gain attack points equal to her level. But when she's summoned, I can add an F.A field spell to my hand ." Damian added a second copy of F.A City Grand Prix to his hand.

No point in using Doom Dragon's effect on a monster with no attack points. "Doom Dragon, destroy that pipsqueak." Infernity Doom Dragon slashed through F.A Auto Navigator. "I end my turn."

Damian drew. "I gotta say, I don't think I'll be able to beat you unless I start using my own Synchro monsters."

"Of course you can't beat me. But you put up a good fight for a...did you just say you have your own Synchro monsters?"

"I guess there's no harm done in it now that people already know about Synchro monsters." Scott told Ghassan.

"Wait, you knew about these Synchro monsters?" Bastion asked. Ghassan smacked Scott on the head.

"I summon F.A Whip Crosser (0-1200/1000). Thanks to my City Grand Prix, it's a level 6 now." (1200-1800/1000 LV 6) "Next I activate the effect of the F.A Pit Stop from my graveyard. By removing it from play I can special summon an F.A monster from my graveyard. I pick my Auto Navigator." The holographic chibi girl appeared on Damian's side of the field.

"I take it you sent that Pit Stop card to your grave with Graceul Charity. And thanks to your field spell, she gets two extra levels, right?" Chazz asked.

"Right on both questions. I tune my level three F.A Auto Navigator to my level 6 F.A Whip Crosser!" Auto Navigator transformed into three green circles. Whip Crosser revved up the engines before driving through them. As the monster started to dissolve into light, Damian knew that it was the perfect oppertunity to do the thing he's been wanting to do the most ever since he was transported to the dimension.

"Gathering bonds weave a greater force! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon!" A green flash emerged before an enormous futuristic car carrier emerged. "Rev up your engines, F.A Motorhome Transport! (0-2700/3000 LV 9)" Damian felt like could die without regrets now. He's fantasized about doing a summon chant for years.

"You gonna make your move or what?" Chazz asked.

Damian snapped back to reality. "Thanks to City Grand Prix, my F.A Motorhome Transport is level 11. But I'm gonna be replacing it with the second copy of City Grand Prix I have in my hand." Damian took out the field spell in the field spell slot of his duel disk, and replaced it with another copy of the same spell.

"What was the point of that?" Conklin wondered.

"To have Motrohome gain an extra level, right?" Chazz asked.

Damian nodded as electricity surrounded Motorhome Transport. (2700-3600/3000 LV 12) "Now Motorhome Transport, attack Infernity Doom Dragon!" The vehicle reached towards the dragon with one of it's mechanical claws."Now it's stronger than Doom Dragon even with it's attack boost. Next, I activate the effect of F.A Dead Heat!"

Chazz was surprised by this. "You're gonna risk your monster getting destroyed?"

"If I don't finish you off this turn, you might make a comeback. I'm not gonna risk that." The futuristic roulette spinners appeared above Chazz and Damian's heads. They spun at high speeds. Everybody was eagerly anticipating where they would land on. The 7 seconds it took felt like half an hour to Chazz and Damian.

On Chazz's spinner was a 3.

On Damian's spinner was a 1.

Chazz laughed. "That's what you get for flying too close to the sun! Now your Motorhome is destroyed!"

Damian smiled. "Not quite." Motorhome's mechanical arm grabbed Infernity Doom Dragon. It built up even more electricity around it. (3600-3900/3000 LV 13)

"What the?! How?!"

"When Motorhome Transport is level 11 or higher, it can't be destroyed. By battle or by card effects."

"Interesting. He set up a gamble where he'd suffer no negative consequences either way." Bastion obserbed.

"Do you have to always state your observations out loud?" Ghassan asked.

"It helps me come up with potential counter-strategies better."

F.A Motorhome Transport started to crush Infernity Doom Dragon. (Chazz 700-200) "I take it you'll use Infernity Patriarch's effect?" Damian asked.

Chazz growled. He ejected Infernity Patriarch from his graveyard and put it in his pocket. A burst of energy came from Infernity Doom Dragon, forcing Motrohome Transport to let go. "I set a card. Next, now that Motorhome Transport is level 13, I can bring back an F.A monster from my graveyard. I summon my Auto Navigator from my graveyard in defense mode." Once again, Auto Navigator appeared on Damian's side of the field. "I end my turn." Damian said.

Chazz drew, and looked at the sole card in his hand. "I activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards." He drew two cards from the deck and looked at one of them. "Lucky me. I drew a second copy of Pot of Greed." He drew another two cards. His eyes widened. "Hm hm hm. Ahahahaha! Looks like you were right about me turning things around! Too bad you lost the roulette. I activate the spell card Foolish Burial! This lets me send a monster from my deck to my graveyard. I send my third Infernity Patriarch to the grave."

"Protecting your Doom Dragon just in case eh?"

"Next I activate Harpie's Feather Duster! This destroys all spell and trap cards my opponent controls."

'I don't remember that card being in my Infernity deck. Come to think about it, same for the Pot of Greed and Graceful Charity. Chazz must have put them in there.' Damian thought.

A feather duster shaped like a bird wing appeared in the air. It let out a huge burst of wind at Damian's side of the field. Times like these were where he wished the anime world had a banlist. "Before it gets destroyed, I activate my trap card, Threatening Roar! You can't declare an attack this turn!" From the flipped card, a roar of energy shot out, causing Infernity Doom Dragon to shiver.

The field spell, as well as the activated F.A Dead Heat shattered into pieces. (F.A Motorhome Transport 3900-3300 LV 11) "I activate the effect of my destroyed City to add an F.A card other than City Grand Prix to my hand. I choose my F.A Circuit Grand Prix." Damian added the card to his hand.

"Now that your field spell is gone, I can target your F.A's with card effects again. I activate the spell card Forbidden Chalice. I target one monster on the field. It gains 400 attack points, but it's effects are negated. And now that City Grand Prix is gone, I can target your F.A's with card effects again. I choose your F.A Motorhome Transport!"

Damian gritted his teeth. A challice appeared over Motorhome Transport before it poured water over the monster. It caused the vehicle to short-circuit. (3300-400)

"Huh? Why's it's attack points so low now?" Tofer asked. "Forbidden Chalice makes the monster GAIN attack points."

"Because Motorhome Transport's effect is why it had attack points to begin with. Now that it's effect is negated, it only has 400 attack points." Damian answered. He then turned to Chazz. "And it means that your Doom Dragon won't do enough damage with it's effect to finish me off."

"True, but since it's effect is negated, it means it can be destroyed now. So I'll still be getting rid of your strongest monster. Go Infernity Doom Dragon! Infernal Flame Blast!" The dragon's eyes glowed as a fire consumed Motorhome Transport, destroying it. (Damian 650-450) "You got lucky with that Threatening Roar, or you would have been through by now."

Damian was tempted to point out how it was due to luck that Chazz turned the duel around, but he bit his tongue. "My turn. Draw!" Damian looked at the card in his hand. "I sacrifice my Auto Navigator so that I can summon my F.A Turbocharger (0-1800/1500 LV 6)." Auto Navigaor vanished into light before a futuristic, blue and yellow monster truck appeared in it's place.

"Next, I activate the field spell F.A Circuit Grand Prix." The area morphed into the familiar looking stadium that was on the field previously in the duel. "Since an F.A spell card was activated, Turbocharger gains a level. (1800-2100/1500 LV 7)

"Like it matters. My Infernity Doom Dragon has 3400 attack points."

"It'll matter more than you think. I activate the effect of F.A Auto Navigator in my grave. If there's an F.A monster on my field who has a level higher than it's original level, I can special summon her by reducing the monster's level back to normal." Auto Navigator appeared on the field as Turbocharger lost a level. (2100-1800/1500 LV 6) "Navigator would also have her level become equal to the amount of levels that was reduced, but her level was already 1 so...yeah."

"I get it. You're planning for another synchro summon." Chazz said.

Damian nodded. "I tune my level 1 F.A Auto Navigator to my Level 6 F.A Turbocharger!"

Auto Navigator transformed into a single green circle, which Turbocharger went through, dissolving into light as it did. "Lofty rose that buds in a garden of integrity! Bloom here, watered by blue moonlight! Synchro Summon!" A green flash occured before a black dragon with rose petals for wings and long red thorns trailling down it's head appeared. "Come forth, Black Rose Moonlight Dragon! (2400/1800)"

Ghassan called out to his brother. "You don't have to chant every time you synchro summ-"

"Yes. Yes I do."

Chazz scoffed. "I was worried there for a second. But your monster would be weaker than mine even if I didn't have Wave-Motion Inferno out."

Damian shook his head. "Do you really think battle is the only way I can get rid of a monster?"

"Even if it has a card effect to destroy Doom Dragon, I sent a third Infernity Patriarch to my graveyard, remember?"

"Who said anything about destroying it?" Damian grinned.

"Huh?"

"I activate Moonlight Dragon's effect. When it's summoned, I get to target one special summoned monster on my opponent's side of the field and send it to the hand. Or in the case of Synchro monsters, the Extra Deck."

"WHAT?!"

The eyes of Black Rose Moonlight Dragon glowed as a light shined on Infernity Doom Dragon from above. "Play it Black Rose! Moonlight Ballad!" Infernity Doom Dragon transformed into a trail of light before it went back into Chazz's Extra Deck.

"Th-this can't be happening!"

"It was a fun duel. But it's time to end it. Attack Chazz directly! Moonlight Requiem!" Moonlight Dragon opened it's mouth and let out a burst of light at Chazz, blasting him to the ground. (Chazz 200-0) Damian deactivated his duel disk, causing the holograms to disappear.

Chazz gritted his teeth and punched the ground. "Damn it." He growled.

Damian walked up to him. "You did amazing Chazz."

Chazz glared at Damian. "Don't give me pity freshie. You just got lucky. I'll get even next time."

"You're right. I did get lucky." Chazz seemed to be taken aback by Damian's response. "You used a deck you never used before while I used a deck I've been using for months. You didn't have as much time to think about combinations and strategies for the deck as I had with my F.A's. And you still almost beat me. If it wasn't for the lucky spin I got when Hang On Mach attacked Doom Dragon, and a lucky draw of Threatening Roar, there's no way I'd have won."

Chazz chuckled and stood up. "Good to see that you know your place. But I'll give you props Damian, you made for a good test run. Especially for a Ra." Damian and Chazz fist-bumped each other.

"If you want to try out your deck again, I'm more than willing to be your practice partner again."

"Heh. I'll keep that in mind. Later." Chazz walked off. Conklin and Topher, more shocked than ever that somebody of a lower rank could be on such friendly terms with Chazz, followed.

As the small crowd of students dispersed, Ghassan, Scott, and Bastion walked up to Damian. "Well, you sure know how to suck up to Chazz." Scott said.

Damian chuckled. "What can I say? I'm a people pleaser. Besides, I wasn't lying when I said he did a good job with a deck he's unfamiliar with."

"You did rather well yourself." Bastion stated. "You have quite the unusual deck...Damian was it?"

Damian nodded. "Yeah. Manipulating levels, going past the usual level cap. I have a lot of fun using my F.A deck."

"So, I have a question. Where did you get your deck from? I never heard of Synchro monsters before."

"Really? They're pretty common where we're from." Damian replied. "We just buy them like any other cards."

"I see. So, where are you three from?"

"...Dueling Academy's in Japan right?" Damian asked.

Bastion nodded."Why's that?"

"We're from America. I guess America got Synchro and Xyz monsters before you guys in Japan did."

"Ik...seez?" Bastion repeated.

"Hey Bastion, it cool if me and Scott speak with Damian in private?" Ghassan asked.

"Well, I suppose, but can I finish asking a few-"

"Thanks roomie!" Scott took Damian by the arm, and led him away alongside Ghassan. When they were far enough away, Scott stopped dragging him. "Alright, you have a few questions to answer."

"Like what?" Damian played dumb.

"Chazz used cards from the 5D's era. In addition to that, it was one of your decks." Ghassan pointed out. "Unless you still have your Infernity deck, it's pretty obvious that you were the one who sold Chazz the deck."

"I never used an Infernity deck."

"Bullshit." Ghassan sternly said. "I lost to that broken-ass deck more times than I can count."

"You call all of my decks broken Ghassan."

"Answer the question Damian."

Damian sighed. "Ok. Over the past month, I've been selling Synchro and Xyz monsters online."

Ghassan pinched the brink of his nose. "How many times are you gonna risk blowing our cover Damian?!"

"Says the first guy who used Synchro and Xyz monsters out of us. Besides, you got it backwards. More people using Synchro and Xyz monsters will cover our tracks."

"Huh?"

"He's right." Scott said. "If more people in this dimension start using Synchro and Xyz monsters, then us using them won't look so out of the ordinary. At worst, people will think we're just wealthy enough to have a bunch of rare cards."

"I mean...we kinda are with all the money I got selling them." Damian replied.

Ghassan shook his head. "Don't you think people will catch on about how all of these unseen cards are being sold at the same place by the same person?"

"Relax Ghassan. I made several alternate e-mail addresses and online accounts to sell the cards. Along with that, some of the people who bought cards or decks I sold are themselves selling it at a way higher price than I offered."

"If other people are selling cards that theoretically shouldn't exist, then I don't think Damian in particular will be standing out as a seller." Scott said.

Ghassan sighed. "Fine. But from now on, you tell me and Scott about your plans on selling cards. Ok?"

Damian nodded. "Anyway, I'm heading off to my dorm. Later." Damian walked off.

"I'll be going to. See ya Ghassan." Scott fist-bumped Ghassan before following Damian.

Ghassan started to head towards the Slifer Red dorm. 'I guess we don't have to worry about using Synchro and Xyz monsters anymore. Still, will Synchro and Xyz monsters being available to the public make things a problem for us?'


A man with a fancy red suit, and long white hair was talking over the phone inside a fancy office. "I talked with every one of my designers. None of their works had anything to do with these X-Y-Z monsters. Let alone design any of them."

"What about the Synchro monsters?" The voice of a young man the phone asked. "Did you find out who was designing them ahead of schedule?"

"No. Though to be honest, I'm skeptical if anybody in the company even was designing Synchro monsters. We entered the alpha phase of Synchro summoning mere months ago. Nobody would have the time to design so many with such little data we have."

"There has to be somebody at Industrial Illusions making these cards. Holograms of these monsters are able to be displayed on duel disks without any problem."

The man with white hair sighed. "Well, looks like we're going to be more active if we want to get to the bottom of this."

"Agreed. I'll have my men interrogate as many duelists who have these monsters as possible. I expect you to do the same Pegasus."

The man with white hair smiled. "You won't have to worry about that Kaiba boy. I always enjoyed playing cops and robbers as a child."


Next chapter came out way quicker than I was expecting. Looks like Damian's plan to make Synchro and Xyz monsters more public as a way to use them without drawing too much suspicion might backfire a fair amount. If Kaiba and Pegasus are led to our protagonists, how will they handle Kaiba and Pegasus investigating them? Only time will tell.