Chapter 10: Bait

Chazz, Topher, Conklin, and Damian were sitting on a staircase that led to the card shop. Chazz was closing his eyes while sitting on one of the steps to look cool, Topher was patting an upset Conklin on the back, while Damian was talking with Scott over the PDA.

"So, what deck do you think I should use that can work well with a deck of yours Scott?" There was no response. Scott seemed to be thinking about something else. "Um...Scott?"

"Huh? Oh, right. Um...do you have any Dragon decks?"

Damian shook his head. "A lot of decks I use have a couple dragons in them, but either as boss monsters in a deck otherwise unrelated to dragons, or just some dragons in the Extra Deck. Closest thing to a dragon deck I have is my Galaxy-Eyes deck."

Chazz opened his eyes and turned to Damian. "Galaxy-Eyes? What's that?"

Damian turned to Chazz. "Don't worry about it. Just a deck I used from time to time back in America." Hey, he wasn't lying.

Scott thought for a little bit. "Do you still have that Fluffal deck of yours?"

Damian turned back to the PDA and nodded. "Yeah, I still have it. One of the decks on me right now in fact. Do you have a deck that can work well with it?"

"Kinda. Gonna make some adjustments to it. Meet me in my dorm room in two hours." Scott turned off communications.

"Preparing for the tag duel with your friend?" Chazz asked.

Damian nodded. "We're trying to make sure our decks have at least some synergy with each other. That way we can come up with strategies and set up combos beforehand."

Topher continued to comfort Conklin. "Come on Conklin, it was just one bad date. There's plenty of Obelisk Blue gals out there."

"Not like her man." Conklin sighed in sadness. "No girl other than Rie can fill the void."

"What even happened to make the date go so poorly anyway?" Damian asked.

"Well...we got to discussing our decks at one point. I found out that she uses an Insect deck, inspired by top ranking second year at Obelisk Blue, Missy. I wanted to compliment her, so when she mentioned that Missy's signature is a card called Insect Princess, I said 'Missy might be as beautiful as Insect Princess, but you're as beautiful as Insect Queen.' "

"You...do know what Insect Queen looks like, right?" Damian asked.

Water built up in Conklin's eyes. "It didn't cross my mind at the moment. And now..." Conklin began sobbing into his sleeve.

"Sheesh. How can somebody overreact this much over a girl?" Chazz wondered.

Damian fought back the urge to laugh at the irony. "Look Conklin, it was a misunderstanding. Just find her, tell her you didn't mean to offend her, and apologize."

Conklin sniffed and turned to Damian. "Do you think that'll work?"

"Better solution than doing nothing but cry." Chazz said. "If you don't get a grip, it'll be more embarassing to hang around you than Topher."

Topher gritted his teeth, and looked down in annoyance at his Slifer Red jacket. "Never should of made that stupid bet."

Conklin rubbed his eyes. "Ok. I'll try."

"There you are." A girl's voice said. The four turned, and saw a girl with wavy black hair standing at the bottom of the steps.

"It's one of Alexis' friends. I think her name was Mandy." Topher said.

"Mindy. And I wasn't expecting Chazz to be willing to hang out with a Slifer Red."

Topher took a deep breath. "Nearly every day since the school year began, I had to explain this. I'm not a Slifer Red, I'm an Obelisk Blue. The only reason I'm wearing this jacket is because I lost a bet to this asshole." Topher pointed to Damian.

"Hey, you accepted." Damian replied.

"Oh, so you're the guy whose been making a bunch of Obelisks wear Slifer jackets." Mindy realized. "Well anyway, you're the brother of that Ghassan guy right?"

Damian nodded. "What about it?"

"Alexis has been looking for you. She wants you to come alone."

"Come again?" Chazz asked.

Damian could practically feel the envy and anger coming off from Chazz. "Um...I'd rather have Chazz and the other two with me." Damian said. He had a feeling Alexis wanted to ask him about how Ghassan knew about Atticus, so odds are, she'd be less willing to talk about something so personal with others around. This of course could backfire as if Alexis went through with it anyway, it would just make Chazz and his flunkies suspicious of Damian as well, but it was a risk he'd be willing to take if it means he could get out of Alexis's interrogation.

"Well...I'll hit up Alexis to see if she's ok with that." Mindy got out her PDA, and started texting a message.

"So Damian...what's up between you and Alexis?" Chazz asked gritting his teeth. It wasn't the point of the series where Chazz revealed his attraction to her yet, but it was evident to Damian that Chazz had a crush on Alexis.

"I don't know anything about why she wants to talk with me. I haven't talked to her at all during the entire time I've been here." Damian said.

"Didn't you mention that your brother dueled her before?" Conklin asked.

"Yeah, but I wasn't there. Ghassan and Scott told me about the duel."

Mindy stopped texting. "She says that she'll be at the beach and is fine with you bringing company."

Damian's eyes widened. The plan to bring company might have backfired after all. "Gr-great. We'll be there."

As Mindy walked out of the building, Chazz stood up and turned to Damian. Damian noticed that he looked a bit calmer after Damian said he never talked with Alexis before. "Maybe it has to do with you throwing that rock at Zane the other day. She did look pretty pissed about it."

"Hold on, you tried to assault the number one duelist at the academy?" Topher asked.

Damian nodded. "Well, guess we'll find out." Damian stood up and attempted to walk down, but Chazz held an arm in front of him as a signal to stop. "What's the deal?" He though Chazz's envious worries were over.

"I'm the leader here. You walk behind me."

Damian rolled his eyes, but smiled. "Sure thing."


Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley were in their dorm, the latter two going over cards. "Hey Sy, I think this combo will work." Jaden picked up a spell card of his, and one of Syrus's. "If I use Spark Blaster to change an opponent's monster to defense mode, and you use Shield Crush-"

"Then that'll instantly take out a monster they have." Syrus finished.

Jaden grinned. "You got it." Jaden kept going through his cards. "Now, how will we use Power Bond in our duel?"

Chumley turned to Syrus. "Didn't you say you have a monsters that can fuse with Warrior type monsters?"

"UFOroid yeah." Syrus turned to Jaden. "Maybe I can use Power Bond to fuse UFOroid with one of your Elemental Heroes bro."

Jaden nodded. "Yeah, I'm liking that idea."

Before the two could continue, a familiar man with glasses and long black hair entered their dorm. "Professor Banner?" Chumley asked.

"Hello students. I just wanted to drop by to tell Jaden and Syrus that it was decided on who your opponents for the tag duel would be."

"Who are they?" Syrus asked.

Banner shook his head. "I'm not allowed to. To tell you ahead of time would give you two an advantage and give the oppertunity for you to prepare your decks to counter the two specifically. That would hardly be fair would it?"

"Come one! Expulsion is on the line here!" Chumley complained.

"No worries Chumley. It's more fun if their decks are a surprise anyway!" Jaden said.

"However, after finding out who you two are up against, I believed you two could use some help."

"Wait, you're helping us out Banner?" Syrus asked.

"In a sense yes. I'm not really a duelist so I can't help much with deck building. But I AM capable of getting my hands on cards that'l help you out." Banner reached into his pockets and got out a pack of cards, giving it to Syrus.

Syrus opened his pack and looked through the cards. "Whoa! I never even saw these cards before. They'll really help out with my vehicroid deck."

Banner turned to Jaden. "Apologies that I couldn't find any new cards for you Jaden. Hero cards are quite expensive."

Jaden shook his head. "No problemo Banner. Thanks so much for the help."

Banner smiled. "Anything to help out students of mine." Banner walked out of the dorm. 'Jaden Yuki can't leave Duel Academy. Not when he could assist so much in our plan. And I can't have enigmas like the Abunura brothers and Mr Shaeffer risk that.'


Damian, Chazz, Topher, and Conklin made it to the beach. It was the middle of November, so it wasn't quite warm enough to be swimming in the ocean or be lounging in swim suits, but there were still a couple of students playing volley ball, or hanging around at the juice bar. Damian noticed that 2 of the students playing volley ball were wearing Slifer Red jackets while the other players were wearing Obelisk Blue jackets. As Damian passed by, the ones wearing Slifer Red jackets glared at him. 'They must be some Obelisk Blue students I made a bet with.'

"She's not here yet." Chazz stated. "Guess we gotta wait."

"Well, what are we gonna do while we..." Conklin trailed off as he saw somebody sitting at the juice bar.

Topher was confused. "Conklin what's the matt-" Topher looked at who Conklin was staring at. "Oh."

Damian glanced and saw that Conklin was staring at a girl with short orange hair waiting for her order at a table. Must have been that Rie person Conklin was crying about a little ago. "Remember, just clear things up and apologize. It might work." Damian said.

"M-might?" Conklin asked.

"Well, there's the possibility you'll make things worse. Lord knows how many times I did that when I pissed off a girl I liked."

Soon afterwards, three girls arrived at the beach. Alexis, Mindy, and Jasmine. Jasmine noticed the group. "Alexis, he's here."

Chazz turned to Conklin. "Well, have fun with your girl troubles." Chazz then turned to Damian. "Come on Damian" Damian and Chazz walked off ahead, leaving Topher to be at the side of a beyond nervous Conklin.

"Glad that you came." Alexis said.

"So...why'd you want to see me?" Damian asked.

"I heard you were a pretty good duelist, so I was curious to face you."

Damian knew that couldn't have been why. If it was just a friendly duel, there'd be no reason to initially want him to come alone. Still, just because Damian knew Alexis was lying doesn't mean he'd pass of an oppertunity to duel with a major character. 'Looks like insisting Chazz and his crew came along was the right choice after all.' "Sure! You've been on my 'to-duel' list for a while."

Alexis smiled. "Glad to hear it." 'Looks like he fell for the bait.'

Damian reached into his pockets and got out a coin. "Um...what's the coin for?" Mindy asked.

"Huh? Oh. I've only been using my F.A deck all month, so I decided to use a different deck for this duel."

"Huh. Guess I finally get to see one of your other decks in action." Chazz said. Damian occasionally talked to Chazz about, and even shown him some of Damian's other decks when they hung out.

Damian tossed the coin into the air. 'Heads I use my Fluffal deck, Tails I use my Speedroid deck.' He caught the coin as it came down, and opened his palm. It landed on heads. "Guess I'm using my Fluffal deck."

Damian got out his duel disk, took out the F.A deck currently in it, reached into right side pockets, got out another deck, and put the F.A deck where his Fluffal deck was. "I use a lot of decks, so sometimes I feel like switching it up y'know?" Damian started shuffling his deck.

Alexis shrugged. It's not like she wanted to know what kind of deck Damian used. Eventually, Damian stopped shuffling and put the deck in his duel disk. "I take it that means you're ready?" Alexis asked.

Damian nodded. "Ready when you are."

Finding out that a duel was about to occur, several students turned to watch Alexis and Damian.

(Damian 4000/Alexis 4000)

"I'll go first." Damian drew a card. "First I activate Graceful Charity. I get to draw three cards and discard two." Damian did that. "Next, I summon Fluffal Dog (1700/1000) in attack position." A plush dog with angel wings on it's back appeared on the field.

"Awww. It's so cute." Mindy said.

"I activate Fluffal Dog's effect." The stuffed animal started digging into the ground. "When it's summoned, I can add either any other Fluffal monster or a copy of Edge-Imp sabres to my hand. I'm gonna choose the former and add Fluffal Sheep."

Fluffal Dog stopped burrowing, picked up a card sticking out of the ground with it's mouth, and tossed it to Damian who caught it. The card depicted a yellow plush sheep with yellow angel wings sprouting from the back of it's head. "I set two cards face down and end my turn."

"My turn." Alexis drew a card. "I summon my Etoile Cyber (1200/1600) in attack mode!" A light blue girl with long orange hair and a red leotard appeared on Alexis' side of the field. "I place two cards face down and end my turn."

Damian drew. "I can guess that one of your face downs is Doble Passe. I activate my trap card, Fusion Reserve. I reveal one Fusion monster in my Extra Deck, and then I get to add a copy of one of it's fusion materials from my deck to my hand." Damian got out a card depicting a creepy looking plush sheep with a chain wrapped around it's body. Cymbals and hooks replaced what would be it's ears and legs.

Alexis squinted to read the card from a distance. "Frightfur Sheep...?"

Damian nodded. "One of the fusion materials listed for Frightfur Sheep is Edge Imp Chain, so I get to add a copy of that to my deck." Damian did exactly that, adding a card depicting a demonic looking bundle of chains to his hand. "And then I get to add a Polymerization from my grave to my hand."

"I take it you sent one to the grave with Graceful Charity?" Alexis inquired.

"Kinda. The card is technically Fusion Substitute, but it's name is treated as Polymerization." Damian added it to his hand. "Next, since there's a Fluffal monster on my side of the field, I special summon Fluffal Sheep (400/800) in defense mode." The plush sheep appeared on Damian's side of the field. "Now I activate it's other effect. By returning one other Fluffal monster on the field to my hand, I get to special summon an Edge-Imp monster from my hand or graveyard. I return my Fluffal Dog to my hand to special summon Edge Imp Chain (1200/1800)" Fluffal Dog vanished in a trail of light before demonic bundle of chains appeared in it's place.

"And let me guess. You're gonna fuse those cards now." Alexis stated.

"Well, I haven't normal summoned yet. I normal summon the Fluffal Dog I returned to my hand. And with his effect..." The dog started burrowing underground again, got out a card depicting a row of scissors with demonic pink eyes, and tossed it to Damian. "I add Edge Imp Sabres to my hand."

"Now I activate Fusion Substitute to fuse my Fluffal Sheep and Edge Imp Chain. This card only fuses cards on the field, but hey, you might get to see it's other effect later on." A swirling blue and orange vortex appeared behind in the air. "Chains of destruction, wooled warrior. Become one and reveal a new form and power!" The two monsters dissolved into light before swirling together inside the vortex. "Fusion Summon!"

A flash occured before the same creepy sheep that Damian shown to Alexis earlier appeared on the field. "Reveal yourself chained beast that binds everything! Frightfur Sheep!" (2000/2000)

"That card looks pretty creepy." Jasmine said.

"Yeah, but I still think it's cute in a weird way." Mindy replied.

"When Edge Imp Chain is sent to the graveyard, I can add one Frightfur card from my deck to my hand." Damian got out a card from his deck. "I choose my Frightfur fusion."

'Well, it looks like now's as good a time as any.' Alexis thought. "Huh. My brother used this Frightfur Sheep monster all the time."

Damian looked confused. "What are-" He stopped himself. 'Shit.'

Alexis smirked. 'There's no way he'd be so surprised about a coincidence like happening to use the same card unless he knew I was lying. It's official. Ghassan's little brother knows about Atticus as well.'

Damian composed himself. 'I screwed up. Now Alexis is suspicious of me to. But I can't let the other students get suspicious either. I just gotta play it cool.' "Well, I take it that since you know the effect of Frightfur Sheep, you already know it's effect right?"

It didn't matter if her lie was revealed or not. She got the info she wanted anyway. Still, considering how he seemed to summon that card as a counter to Doble Passe, she could take a guess. "I can't activate traps during the battle phase, right?"

"Not quite. When Frightfur Sheep attacks, you can't activate cards or effects until the end of the Damage Step. Frightfur Sheep, destroy Etoile Cyber!"

The sheep opened it's mouth and let out a blast of energy at Alexis's monster, destroying it. (Alexis 4000-3200) "Now Fluffal Dog, attack directly!" The plush dog charged at Alexis, which was admittedly hard to take seriously with it's cute and derpy appearance.

"Thanks for 'reminding' me about Frightfur Sheep's effect. Then I wouldn't have used this card when it attacked. I activate Mirror Force!" A barrier of light blocked Fluffal Dog's charge, before a burst of energy destroyed both it and Frightfur Sheep. "Now, both of your monsters are destroyed.

"Nice! She took out both of his monsters!" Jasmine exclaimed.

"The cute sheep's gone." Mindy complained. Jasmine frowned and turned to Mindy. "But it's still great that Alexis destroyed it!" She hastily added.

Damian chuckled. "You must have 'forgot' Frightfur Sheep's other effect."

"Huh?"

Damian was really glad that the card game gave a buff to Sheep's effect from the anime. "Once per turn when Frightfur Sheep is destroyed, I can special summon it from the graveyard."

Alexis gasped as Frightfur Sheep re-emerged on Damian's side of the field.

"In addition, when Frightfur Sheep is special summoned from it's own effect, it gains 800 attack points." (Frightfur Sheep 2000-2800/2000) "And the best part is, since it was revived during the battle phase, it gets to attack again!" The sheep opened it's mouth before launching a blast at Alexis, causing her to fall to the ground. (Alexis 3200-400). "I end my turn."

Chazz crossed his arms and smiled. 'This deck of Damian's is pretty powerful. I think it's safe to say that Jaden's going to be getting the boot when he goes up against this deck.' He turned to Alexis, who was picking herself up. 'Still, I'd prefer it if Alexis won. I can live with Damian winning, but he's been making a fool out of Obelisk students for a while. Somebody's gotta put him in his place.'

Chazz then heard the sound of a splashed liquid. He, Damian, and a few observers turned to the juice bar and saw a drenched Conklin and an annoyed Rie, the latter holding an empty glass. "Pipe down! I'm trying to watch the duel!"

"S-sorry." Conklin stood up and hurriedly walked back to Chazz, Topher following.

"Apology didn't go so hot huh?"

"Well...she didn't punch me in the eye like last night. That's a plus."

Damian turned back to Alexis who finished picking herself up off the ground. "Your move Alexis."

Alexis drew a card, looked at it, and smiled. "I summon Cyber Petit Angel (300/200) in defense mode!" A mechanical version of the round pink fairy, Petit Angel, appeared on Alexis's side of the field. "When this card is summon, I get to add one Machine Angel Ritual to my hand."

"A ritual summon eh?"

Alexis added a card from her deck to her hand and immediately activated it. "I activate Machine Angel Ritual. By sending cards from my hand or field to the grave, I can ritual summon a Cyber Angel with a level equal to them. I send my Cyber Petit Angel and Cyber Prima to the grave." An image of Cyber Prima appeared alongside Cyber Petit Angel before they both dissolved into light. "I Ritual Summon Cyber Angel Dakini! (2700/2400)"

A woman with blue skin, orange armor, and four arms appeared. Two of her arms were holding a bo staff together, a third arm was holding a short sword, and the fourth arm a scimitar. "And now I activate Dakini's effect. When she's special summoned, you choose one monster on your field, and it's destroyed."

Damian smiled. "Hardly have a choice now do I?" Dakini rushed to Frightfur Sheep, and stabbed it with her shortsword, destroying it. "But due to Frightfur Sheep's effect, it's revived after being destroyed." The monster reappeared on Damian's field. "And naturally, it's attack become 2800 again." (Frightfur Sheep 2000-2800/2000)

"He's right. Dakini's effect won't mean anything." Mindy said.

Alexis smiled. "You sure about that? Because Damian said that Frightfur Sheep only revives itself once per turn. I activate Raigeki!"

Damian raised an eyebrow before a bolt of lightning came from the sky and struck Frightfur Sheep, causing it to be destroyed again. "Not bad."

"Now, Cyber Angel Dakini, attack directly!" The monster spun around her bo staff before stricking Damian with it. (Damian 4000-1300) "I end my turn."

"Alright! Way to go Alexis!" Jasmine cheered.

"Kick his ass Alexis!" Two of the students wearing Slifer Red jackets yelled.

"Show that guy what for!" Topher yelled.

"Really Topher?" Conklin asked.

"Come one, we don't even like the guy. We only hang around him because he's with Chazz."

Damian realized he wasn't exactly popular with the Obelisk Blue students. "My turn. Damian drew a card. "I activate my set Toy Vendor." Damian's face down card flipped up before a spherical robot wearing that was filled with capsules and wearing a red top hat rose up. "You won't have to worry about what it does for now. I activate the effect of Fluffal Wings (100/100) in my graveyard." A transparent image of a pair of blue plush wings which had yellow gloves floating in front of them.

"When did he send that card to the grave?" Mindy wondered.

"It was the other card I sent to the grave with Graceful Charity. Anyway, with Fluffal Wings effect, I can remove it from play along with another Fluffal monster to draw a card." Damian removed Fluffal Wings and Fluffal Dog from his graveyard slot and put them in his pocket before drawing a card. "Then, I'm allowed to send a Toy Vendor I control to the graveyard to draw a second card." The robot dissolved in light before Damian drew again. "Finally, when Toy Vendor is sent to the graveyard, I can add either Edge Imp Sabres or a Fluffal monster from my deck to my hand. I choose to add my Fluffal Owl." Damian added said card to his hand.

"Now, I summon Fluffal Owl (1000/1000) in defense mode." A plush owl with reading glasses on it's eyes and angel wings sprouting from it's head appeared on Damian's side of the field. "When this card is summoned, I get to add Polymerization to my hand."

"Another fusion summon I take it?" Alexis guessed.

Damian added the card to his hand. "Bingo. I activate Polymerization to fuse the Fluffal Owl on the field with the Edge Imp Sabres in my hand!" A swirling vortex appeared before the owl and demonic scissors dissolved into light. "Steel claws possessed by demons, sage of the forest, become one and show us a new form and power. Fusion Summon!"

A flash of light occured before a giant plush green tiger appeared. It's body was horribly mangled, and stcking out of it's body was a pair of gigantic scissors. Within the toy's mouth was two glowing pink eyes. "Show yourself mystical beast of the jungle that tears everything to shreds! Frightfur Tiger! (1900/1200)"

"Sorry, but Cyber Angel Dakini is way stronger than your monster." Alexis said.

"No, I'M sorry, because that's not gonna matter."

"Huh?"

"I activate Frightfur Tiger's effect. When special summoned, I can destroy cards on your side of the field equal to the amount of fusion materials I used to summon it. I destroy your Cyber Angel Dakini and your face down."

The mangled toy tiger let out a laugh before extending it's scissors towards Alexis's cards. Alexis smiled. "Nice try, but I activate my face down card, Angel Blast!"

"What the...I thought your face down was Doble Passe! Wasn't that why you had Etoile Cyber in attack mode?"

Alexis shook her head. "You came to the conclusion that I set Doble Passe on your own. But Angel Blast's effect activates. When a card effect is activated, if that effect is to destroy monsters, I negate it the effect and the card gets destroyed!" A barrier of bright white light appeared in front of Dakini as the scissor blades were about to reach it before the light shot at Frightfur Tiger, destroying it. "Looks like I ruined your plan."

Damian smiled. He started chuckling before laughing out loud. "I knew that I would have a fun time dueling you. Other than Chazz, you're the only duelist I faced at this school who made me put effort."

Topher gritted his teeth. "Arrogant brat."

"I'm glad you enjoyed the duel. Do you end your turn?" Alexis asked.

Damian shook his head. "Not yet. Remember when I said you might be seeing the other effect of Fusion Substitue? Well here it is!" The duel disk ejected Fusion Substitute from the graveyard, and Damian put it in his pockets. "By removing it from play, I can target a fusion monster in my graveyard, return it to the extra deck, and draw a card. Damian did exactly that. "Now, time to end this duel."

"He's gotta be bluffing." Chazz said.

Damian got out the card he previously added to his hand with Edge Imp Chain's effect. "I activate Frightfur Fusion! By removing from play fusion material monsters from my graveyard, I can fusion summon a Frightfur monster!"

Alexis gasped. "And you returned that Frightfur Tiger monster from the graveyard just this turn."

Damian nodded. "I remove from play Fluffal Owl and Edge Imp Sabres to summon Frightfur Tiger once more!" Frightfur Tiger reappeared on Damian's side of the field. "Now, let's continue from where we left off shall we?" Once again, the scissors sticking out of Frightfur Tiger's body extended as it chopped Cyber Angel Dakini in two, destroying it.

"This isn't good. Now her field's wide open!" Mindy yelled.

"Frightfur Tiger causes all Frightfur monsters to gain 300 attack points for every Frightfur or Fluffal monster on the field, itself included. Not like that'll matter. (Frightfur Tiger 1900-2200) "Frightfur Tiger, attack Alexis directly!" The monster pounched towards Alexis before slashing her with it's claws. (Alexis 400-0)

"DAMNIT!" Topher and the other two Obelisks in Slifer Red jackets shouted.

Alexis stood up. "That was a good duel Damian. Maybe sometime later, we can talk about me setting you up with a duel against Zane."

Damian was about to take her up on that before realizing something. It was a bribe. A duel against Zane for information about Atticus. She already found out during the duel that Damian knew about him, and it was clear that she wanted more info. Still, it would be hard to pass up the oppertunity to duel against Zane. Maybe he could find a way to agree without actually giving her any info.

"I'll keep that in mind." Damian turned around and walked towards Chazz, Topher, and Conklin. The observers started to disperse and get back to their own activities. "Enjoyed the duel?" Damian asked.

"No." Topher said.

"Not bad Damian. You might be the second best first year at this academy, second to me of course."

"Umm...Damian beat you." Conklin pointed out.

Chazz was about to shout at Conklin before Damian swept in. "Yeah. Due to some lucky draws, roulettes, and Chazz using a deck for the first time. He was at a disadvantage, and he STILL almost beat me." Damian wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to score even more points with Chazz. The friendlier he was with him, the more likely he could leech of Chazz's money from time to time.

Chazz smiled. "See? Even Damian gets it." He turned back to Damian. "So, that's the deck you're gonna use in the tag duel against Jaden, right?"

Damian nodded. "I don't know what deck Scott's using, but he suggested I use it, so it must be something that benefits from this deck. I still have about an hour before meeting up with him so maybe-" Conklin immediately covered Damian's mouth.

"Umm...Conklin?" Chazz asked. "What are you-" Conklin covered Chazz's mouth as well.

"Mind explaining what's-" Conklin gave Topher a look. Topher sighed, and covered his own mouth.

A few seconds later, Conklin took his hands off Chazz and Damian's mouths. "And that's why I'm certain that Rie could beat Missy in a duel anyday." Damian and Chazz looked confused before they noticed the orange hair girl Conklin tried talking to at the juice bar pass by. "Oh, Rie. What a coincidence. We were talking about who the best insect duelist at the school is."

"Give it a rest already." The girl continued walking off.

"Aww. I thought that would work." Conklin hung his head in shame.

"Better luck next time man." Damian patted him on the back.


Scott looked through cards in the deck he intended to use in the tag duel. Bastion wasn't in the room, so it was only him "Damian will be able to use my King of the Swamp to summon Frightfur's if he doesn't have the proper Edge Imp a lot easier now. And since almost all Frightfur monsters are DARK monsters, I can use most of them to summon Starving Venom Fusion Dragon."

"Crafting a deck for your duel against Jaden Yuki?" A voice in Scott's head asked.

Scott knew who the voice was. "Yeah. Making sure that me and Damian's decks will be able to bounce off well with each other."

"Excellent. If Jaden Yuki is expelled, he won't be at the Genex Tournament next year, so he won't be able to stop me."

Scott put his deck on the bed. "So, I wanted to ask you something. Before, you only talked to us in dreams. Now you've been talking to me in my head as if you're my spirit monster."

"Do you remember when you agreed for me to take over in your duel against the fake Shadow Duelist?"

"Yeah..." Scott was embarrassed by the reminder of the duel. Nearly having a mental breakdown down due to some cheap parlor tricks wasn't his proudest moment.

"Ever since then, it led to your mind being less closed off from me. I'm not able to possess you yet, but with you at least, I'm able to communicate with you at any time."

Scott was uncomfortable with the 'yet' that The Light of Destruction said. "So, I take it our minds are more open when we're sleeping or something like that?"

"Indeed. As entities from another reality, it's much more difficult to influence you three, even if I was at full power."

Well, at the very least, the three wouldn't have to worry about the Light of Destruction mind controlling them against their wills. "One more question. This has been on my mind for a long time. How do we know if we can trust you to bring us back to our dimension even if we do what you want?"

"Very well. Allow me to show you why." A flash of bright white light took up Scott's eyes.


Scott woke up. "Ugh...where am I?" Scott stood up and looked around. He was in a large bedroom with a tv and several game consoles in it. "Wait...this can't be right..."

Scott walked towards the bed. "I've...I've seen this room before. It was the room the three of us were in before The Light took us." Scott turned to a cabinet and looked at a picture. Two young children with dark skin were standing together, one with dark curly hair, the other with trimmed dark hair. "I'm...I'm in Ghassan's room. This means that-"

"Indeed. I've brought you to your dimension."

"H-how!? I thought it was too difficult for you to do anything to us!"

"Why do you think that's the case?"

"Didn't you say it was because we're from another reality?"

"That is the reason, but it's not as if I couldn't influence your mind here now that we're in your dimension. The energy it takes for me to bring people across dimensions is taxing. And keeping you in said dimension requires concentration."

"W-wait a minute. You mean that...?"

"Yes. I have to constantly maintain focus to keep you three in that dimension. It's a simple matter to keep you within my dimension while posessing natives of said dimension. But the concentration and energy it'll take to control your minds while still binding you to a dimension at the same time will cause me to break focus."

"And with your hold broken, we go back to our world."

"Correct. Of course, there are several aspects of me still within the other dimension. And now that I have you here, there'll be nothing stopping me from breaking your mind if I so desire. So I'd recommend you don't even think about betraying me to get back to your world."

Scott sighed. The Light read him like a book. "That doesn't mean you'll return us if we do what you say though."

"Do you honestly think I would continue to spend focus and energy keeping you three in that dimension if you have no further use for me?"

The information made sense. Scott still had suspicions, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. "Alright then. I take it you'll be taking me back now?"

"Correct." A flash of white light started to fill up Scott's eyes again.


Alexis has found out how to get information about the protagonists through Damian, and The Light of Destruction revealed more about how he operates to Scott. This was a long run, but I hope you guys found it worth it. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and are looking forward to the next one.