Chapter 25: Ghassan's Deal

A young girl with long blue hair was dueling against Jaden on the rocky shore near the Slifer Red dorm. On Jaden's side of the field was Elemental Hero Flame Wingman (2100/1200), and a face down card. The girl had a facedown card, and an XYZ monster. A young woman with long orange hair, a white robe, and a scepter accompanied with a white owl. Syrus, Chumley, Alexis, Zane, and Ghassan were watching the duel from the cliff.

"Go Flame Wingman! Destroy Blair's Minerva The Exalted Lightsworn (2000/800) with Infernal Rage!" Flame Wingman shot a plast of fire from it's arm, destroying the monster. (Blair 4000-3900) "And now, Flame Wingman's ability activates! When it destroys a monster by battle, you take damage equal to the destroyed monster's attack points!"

The girl gasped before Flame Wingman blasted even more flames at her. (Blair 3900-1900) "I activate the effect of my Minerva! When she's destroyed by battle, I send the top three cards from my deck to the graveyard." Blair excavated the top three cards from her deck. "Then, for every Lightsworn card sent there, I can destroy a card on the field!" Blair shown the three cards she excavated. "The three cards that go to my graveyard are Felis Lightsworn Archer, Wulf Lightsworn Beast, and Pot of Avarice. So I get to destroy two cards on the field!" Jaden gasped in shock.

"No way!" Syrus yelled.

Two orbs of light materialized where Minerva used to be before. "I destroy Flame Wingman and your facedown card!" The orbs morphed into spears and shot towards the two cards. Flame Wingman was impaled in the chest, letting out a scream before exploding, while the second spear of light destroyed Jaden's face down Mirror Force. "And that's not all. With the effect of my Wulf Lightsworn Beast (2100/300) and my Felis Lightsworn Archer (1100/2000) if they're sent from the deck to the graveyard, I can special summon them!" A white, anthropomorphic wolf wielding a gold halberd and a green haired cat-like woman wielding a gold bow appeared on Blair's sife of the field.

"I guess I'll end my turn with a facedown." Jaden said.

Damian walked next to the five spectators. "Made it. How many turns passed so far?" He asked.

"About three." Ghassan answered. "Jaden has 3600 life points, Blair has 1900. Though she has the upper hand right now."

Damian looked at the field and raised an eyebrow at the monsters Blair was using. "Lightsworns?"

"You know them?" Chumley asked. "They have a bunch of neat effects, but a lot of the time, she has to keep sending cards from her deck to the graveyard."

"But apparently, even that can work out for her. Not only did she get rid of most of Jaden's field on his turn, but she special summoned two monsters by sending them to the graveyard." Alexis said.

Ghassan leaned into Damian's ear. "Let me guess, that Lightsworn deck is one of your decks you sold online?" He whispered. "She had an XYZ monster in that deck after all."

Damian shook his head. "I'd rather try to tutor Jaden then be caught dead using a Lightsworn deck. It must be another deck Industrial Illusions made when they sped up card production."

Blair was looking up at the cliff for a little while before turning back to Jaden. "It's my turn!" Blair drew a card from her deck. "Felis, attack Jaden directly!" The archer aimed her bow at Jaden.

"Not so fast! I activate my trap card, A Hero Emerges! When you attack, you have to choose one card in my hand, and if it's a monster, I get to special summon it! Otherwise, it goes to the grave." Jaden shown the back of his three cards to Blair.

"Alright then...the one on my right,"

"Lucky me! You chose my Elemental Hero Bladedge" (2600/1800) The golden clad warrior appeared on Jaden's side of the field.

"I don't think so. I activate my Vanquishing Light! By sacrificing a Lightsworn I control, I can negate the special summon of a monster you have and destroy it! I sacrifice Felis!" Jaden gasped as the archer started to dissolve into light before shooting itself toward Bladedge, destroying it in an explosion. "Wulf, attack Jaden directly!" The Lightsworn jumped in the air and slashed Jaden as it came back down. (Jaden 3600-1500) "I end my turn with another facedown."

Jaden drew. "I activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards." Jaden drew two cards from his deck. "Sweetness. I activate The Warrior Returning Alive to add my Sparkman back to my hand."

"She used her Minerva to destroy it before you got here." Ghassan told Damian.

"Next, I activate Polymerization to fuse my Elemental Hero Sparkman with my Elemental Hero Clayman." Thunder Clouds started to appear above. "Come on out, Elemental Hero Thunder Giant!" (2400/1500) The yellow armored golem appeared on Jaden's side of the field. "And thanks to my Thunder Giant's effect, when he's special summoned, it can destroy a monster you control whose original attack points are lower than it's own!" A ball of electricity was being built up by the monster.

"And with a direct attack, Jaden will win!" Syrus exclaimed.

"I activate my facedown card, Mystik Wok!" A giant cooking pot appeared next to Blair. "I sacrifice a monster I control and gain life points equal to it's attack or defense points! I sacrifice Wulf to gain 2100 life points!" The Lightsworn went into the cooking pot as a blue aura surrounded Blair. (Blair 1900-4000)

"Well my Thunder Giant can still attack directly! Go Thunder Giant!" The monster hurled the ball of electricity at Blair, electrifying her. (Blair 4000-1600) "I'll throw down a face down and call it a turn."

Blair panted a bit before putting her hand on her deck. 'I've been through so much...I studied my absolute hardest , made it through the entrance exam to transfer, and hid my identity as much as I could to get to Duel Academy. I can't let it go to waste.' "DRAW!" Blair looked at the card in her hand. "I activate Charge of the Light Brigade to send the top 3 cards from my deck to the graveyard to add a level 4 or lower Lightsworn monster from my deck to my hand!"

Blair excavated the first card, Judgment Dragon. The second card, Solar Recharge. 'Come on...for this to work I need to have a monster that can special summon itself.' Blair excavated the last card. "Perfect! I sent a second copy of Wulf to my grave, so I can special summon him!" Another copy of the monstear appeared om Blair's side of the field. "Now, I can add the level 3 Minerva Lightsworn Maiden (800/200 and normal summon her!" A young woman with long brown hair and a white robe appeared. "Normally I'd be able to add a LIGHT Dragon monster from my deck to my hand when she's summoned with it's level less or equal to the amount of different Lightsworns in my grave, but the only one I have is in the grave."

Damian raised an eyebrow. She only has one copy of Judgment Dragon? He doesn't even use Lightsworns and even he could tell that was a risky move on her end. Now that he thought about it, barely anybody in the Yu-Gi-Oh anime ran multiple copies of their most powerful monsters. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Damian and Scott's decks have them run 3 copies of whatever the deck's ace is. Yet another difference between their worlds.

"So, what are you gonna do with those monsters?" Jaden asked. "My Thunder Giant is stronger than both of them after all."

Blair smiled. "I tune my level 3 Minerva Lightsworn Maiden to my level 4 Wulf Lightsworn Beast!"

"She can synchro summon too?!" Chumley asked in shock.

"...Why are you surprised? Synchro and Xyz monsters have been regularly distributed by Industrial Illusions for a while." Ghassan pointed out.

"Well...I mean yeah...I guess I'm just not used to them yet."

Minerva transformed into three green circles, with Wulf flew through, dissolving into light as he did. "Oh holy warrior, lend your aid to this maiden in her time of need. Synchro Summon!" A green flash occured before a golden warrior riding a white feathered, seprentine dragon appeared. "I summon the level 7 Michael, The Arch-Lightsworn!" (2600/2000)

"Uh-oh. It's stronger than Thunder Giant." Jaden stated.

"That's not all. Michael has an effect. Once per turn, I can pay 1000 life points to banish one card on the field!" Everybody on the cliff gasped. "Go Michael!" A stream of white energy went from Blair to the sword wielded by the warrior. (Blair 1600-600) The warrior then slashed the air, causing a wave of white energy to shoot at Thunder Giant, causing the Elemental Hero to dissolve in light. "Now, finish Jaden off! Holy Breath!" From the mouth of the dragon, a stream of white energy fired at Jaden, causing an explosion.

"Jaden!" Syrus and Chumley yelled in shock.

"That girl's a powerful duelist." Zane noted.

Alexis nodded. "She traveled countless miles, snuck her way in the school, dueled Jaden...all because of love." She playfully smiled at Zane who scoffed.

The dust cleared up, revealing Jaden and an activated Shrink spell. "Sorry Blair, but I'm not down yet!" (Micheal, The Arch-Lightsworn 2600-1300/2000) (Jaden 1500-200)

Blair was surprised. "Wasn't expecting you to still be standing. Still, you're not gonna beat me. When fueled by love, there's nothing a girl can't do. I end my turn, and Michael's attack goes back to normal." (Michael, The Arch-Lightsworn 1300-2600/2000)

Jaden smiled. "It's not over till the last card is played."

"Jaden has a clear field, no cards left in his hand and is hanging on a thread." Ghassan stated.

"Yup. Looks like it's time for Jaden to win this duel." Damian replied.

Jaden drew a card. "Since he's the only card in my hand, I can special summon my Elemental Hero Bubbleman (800/1200) in attack mode!" The monster appeared in front of Jaden.

"Attack mode? Why?" Blair asked.

"Because I might draw cards that'll benefit from Bubbleman being in attack mode. Since Bubbleman's the only card on my field on my side of the field, I draw two cards." Jaden drew two cards from his deck, looked at them, and smiled. "Go Bubbleman! Attack Michael The Arch-Lightsworn! Bubble Blast!"

"WHAT THE?!" Everybody except Jaden, Zane, and Damian reacted. The latter two shared the same thought. 'He has a plan.'

Bubbleman shot a stream of bubbles at Blair's monster, who fired back with a stream of light from it's mouth. "Is this your way of giving up?" Blair asked.

Jaden shook his head. "In my hand, I have the trap card, Soul Union. With it, I can make an Elemental Hero gain attack points equal to an Elemental Hero in my grave."

"But that's a trap card! You can't activate it from the hand!"

Jaden grinned. "I can with my quickplay spell, Bubble Illusion! If I control Bubbleman, I can activate a trap card from my hand! And with Soul Union, I have Bubbleman gain my Bladedge's attack points!"

Blair's eyes widened in shock. "No way..."

Bubbleman glowed with a blue aura (Elemental Hero Bubbleman 800-3400/1200) before his stream of bubbles overpowered the dragon's breath, destroying it. (Blair 600-0) Blair was knocked to the ground. Jaden pointed at her while winking. "That's game!"

"Alright!" Syrus and Chumley cheered. They both headed down the cliff to go to Jaden.

Damian smiled. "Told you he'd win Ghassan."

"Geez, Jaden's luck is absurd."

"Do you really think Jaden's victories are just because he's lucky?" Zane asked.

Ghassan and Damian turned to him. "Well...yeah." Ghassan answered. "Blair had him on the ropes, but then he drew the cards he needed when had none in his hand."

"It's not just because of luck why he won. His spirit and his faith in his deck led to the cards answering him." Alexis stated, overhearing the conversation.

"So...luck."

Zane closed his eyes. "Guess I shouldn't have expected you to understand." Zane and Alexis went down the cliff as well.

"What's up with him?" Ghassan asked.

"Have you never stopped to think why Zane's so interested in Jaden as a duelist?" Damian asked.

"Isn't it because he gave Zane a tough time?"

Damian shook his head. "Zane really didn't have much trouble in his first duel with Jaden. It's because of Jaden's passion for dueling and how he duels based off instinct that Zane was interested into him." Damian looked down at the cliff. Jaden was currently laughing upon finding out that Blair nearly beating him despite only being an elementary school student. "Passion in dueling and belief in your deck won't make much of a difference when dueling in our world. But in the anime world, having enough faith in your cards will lead you to victory 9 times out of 10. Like Zane said, Jaden's deck listens to his faith in them. And they pay back that faith to the best of their abilities."

"So that's why Zane's interested in him?"

Damian nodded. "That and something about Jaden having infinite potential as a duelist. Jaden just naturally draws people towards him with his passion and his dueling." Damian pointed to Blair, looking at Jaden in awe as Jaden laughed. "It's why Blair becomes attracted to him for example. And it's why eventually, Crowler and Chazz are gonna like him even though they won't admit it. He's just a pleasant guy to be around."

Ghassan looked down at the scene as well, saying nothing. Over the past few weeks, to gain Jaden's trust, he, Damian, or Scott have been accompanying Jaden through duels that happened in filler episodes whenever they could. From the tennis player who was crushing on Alexis to Dimitri after he stole Yugi's deck at an exhibit, at least one of them was around. Alexis seemed to stop suspecting Ghassan after he saved Mindy as she hadn't questioned him or Damian all semester.

He then turned to Damian. With Banner being in an alliance with them, Damian was the biggest threat to the group. He was the most likely one to betray them, and unfortunately, he knew about the group's plans seeing as how he was part of it.


"So, we're going to be having discussions about our next moves withou Damian?" Scott asked. He and Ghassan were in Ghassan's dorm.

Ghassan nodded. "If Damian goes traitor, it'll be best if he knows as little about our plans as possible."

"Makes sense, but if he finds out we don't trust him...won't he be MORE inclined to betray us?"

Ghassan sighed. "If he can't understand why it's too risky for him to know everything we'll do..."

Scott's eyes widened before nodding. "Go it. Then that's when I'll add him to the brainwashed students."


Neither Ghassan nor Scott have done any brainwashing yet. But they already have a few ideas for who would be good targets. "The School Duel against North Academy is coming next week. After that, the Shadow Riders will be making their move. It won't be long until our casual days at this Academy comes to an end."

Damian sighed. "I know, I know. Anyway, thanks for messaging me about the duel. Was neat to see."

"Well, that's not the only reason I messaged you." Ghassan said. He got out his PDA, and showed Damian a message. "Zane wants to speak with both of us tomorrow."


"Wait for me my darling Jaden!" Blair waved to him as the boat was leaving the island. Just like in canon, Zane convinced her that she couldn't stay in Duel Academy as she was still in elementary school.

"Huh?!" Jaden reacted. It was the next morning, and Blair was on a ferry that was leaving Duel Academy. Damian, Ghassan, Zane, Alexis, Jaden, Scott, and Chumley were seeing Blair off at the harbor. "Wh-why me?! I thought she liked Zane!"

"She does like Zane, but apparently she LOVES you." Alexis giggled.

"She must have fallen for you because of your dueling skiills." Damian said. "She's a kid. Her crushes will change quickly."

"Good luck." Zane said. He walked off towards the forest, glancing at Damian and Ghassan. It was his signal to follow them.

Ghassan patted Jaden on the shoulder. "We're off man. Later." He and Damian walked off to follow Zane.

"Me and Chumley are heading back to the dorm bro." Syrus said.

"I'm heading to my dorm too. You make sure to watch until the boat's out of sight. It's your duty as her soulmate after all." Alexis joked. Alexis, Syrus, and Chumley walked off as well, luckilly heading in a different direction from Zane, Damian, and Ghassan.

"Goodbye Jaden! I love you sweetie!" Blair exclaimed.

Jaden just weakly waved back, clearly unhappy with his new situation. Damian chuckled at the situation as he walked away. "Poor Jaden."

A few minutes after the three entered the forest Zane stopped walking. "This is far enough." He turned to the two. "Odds are, you know why I wanted to talk with you two, right?"

Ghassan sighed. He was really regretting revealing that he knew about Atticus to Alexis. It was a reckless choice fueled by trying to get home as fast as possible. "Let me guess, Alexis told you what I told her back when I dueled her, right?"

"Not just you." Zane turned to Damian. "When she dueled you, she could tell you knew about Atticus as well."

Damian sighed as Ghassan turned to Damian in shock. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah. She lied and said that Frightfur Sheep was used by Atticus a bunch of times. I could tell that she was lying, and naturally, the only way I could have known that was if I knew what Atticus's deck was."

"Exactly. So I want to find out how you two know about Atticus and what happened to him. Alexis felt uncomfortable interrogating you any further after you saved Jasmine even though she still has suspicions, but I'm not going to let you just walk away."

Ghassan sighed. "Look, you're not going to believe us. So we'll be on our way."

"If you don't tell me how you know about Atticus, I'll tell Jaden and the others that you set up Damian and Scott to be his and Syrus's opponents at the tag duel." Zane interupted.

Both Damian and Ghassan were in shock, but did their best to hide it. They could lie their way out of this. "What are you talking about? Crowler chose them, not me."

"Enough playing dumb. I know you convinced Crowler to assign those two."

"Where did you hear that rumor?" Damian asked. Zane might have just been trying to bluff a confession out of them. In that case, they had to just keep their poker face.

"I heard Crowler talking to himself about it." Zane said. "The day before yesterday, he was storming out of a classroom Jaden was in. Muttered something about how having to see every day Jaden reminded him that he had to listen to a Slifer Red for nothing. I was curious, so I asked him a few questions about it."

"Ok, let's assume we did that." Ghassan began carefully. "Why would he tell you, a friend of Jaden's, about that and make things harder for the people who are apparently trying to get Jaden expelled?"

"He told me he that he has no further use for you three." Zane answered. "He's apparently going to be using Bastion Misawa, and the transfer student Adrian Gecko as his way to get revenge on Jaden."

'Damn, I'm not sure whether or not he's bluffing. That explanation makes sense.' Ghassan thought. Crowler disliked the brothers for blackmailing him, and humiliating the Obelisk Blue dorm respectively. Makes sense that he'd want to cut ties with him.

'Even if he's bluffing, he could probably convince the others.' Damian thought. 'Would line up with how Ghassan dueled Alexis and said that if he won, she'd report Jaden.'

"So, will I get an answer?" Zane asked.

'Shit, shit, shit! We can't tell Zane the truth! What do we do?' Ghassan thought.

"Simple. Duel him and either make him fall under our control, or absorb his soul." The Light suggested in Ghassan's head.

'It's not that simple! Zane would probably beat me, and Damian doesn't have your power! Damnit, why couldn't Scott be here?!'

"Again, let's pretend the stuff you're saying is true. Why wouldn't you tell Jaden and his friends anyway after you get the answer?" Damian asked.

Zane smiled. "Asking a question like that only makes me more certain you're guilty. But I swear on my honor as a duelist that if you give me a believable answer, I won't tell Jaden, Alexis, or anybody else."

Ghassan's eyes widened. Then he smiled. 'That's right. Zane isn't like Banner. He doesn't view us as enemies. He views us an opportunity to find out more info about his best friend. That's why he hasn't told Jaden the truth yet. So he can have leverage over us. Well, looks like we have leverage over him.' "Alright. Fine. We'll tell you. But not right now."

"Then when? I hope you realize that trying to put it off indefinitely isn't going to work."

"Not at all. We'll tell you about where you can find the truth about Atticus. But for that, there's a favor we want."

'Is he asking for favors? Did he forget that Zane's BLACKMAILING us?' Damian wondered.

"...What's the favor?" Zane asked. Damian's eyes widened.

"We know that next week, the School Duel's coming up. Get our friend Scott to be one of the candidates, and then we'll tell you where you can find out about Atticus."

"How about instead, you tell me now, and then I'll recommend your friend." Zane replied.

"Zane, you have leverage over us. If we don't hold our end of the bargain, you'll tell Jaden that I set up the tag duel. But if we give you what you want, all we have is your word. I'd say this makes things more likely for both sides to be honest."

Zane sighed. "Fine. Tomorrow will be when the student who represents Duel Academy is announced. I'll recommend Scott. But I'll also recommend Jaden. If the faculty listens to my recommendations, the two will duel each other to see whose the representative."

Ghassan shrugged. "Fine by me." 'Scott beat Jaden twice before. He can do it again. Hell, the faculty would probably be less likely to choose Jaden considering how he got suspended back in November.'

"In that case, I'll be off. Tomorrow will be when you tell me about Atticus." Zane walked off.

"He's pretty confident that the school will listen to him." Ghassan stated.

"Well he IS Duel Academy's top student. His word probably holds a good deal of weight." Damian replied. "Still, we're seriously tell Zane the truth? Hell, I don't think he'll even BELIEVE the truth."

Ghassan chuckled. "You didn't notice did you? He initially wanted to know how we found out about Atticus. Obviously, we can't tell him that. But in exchange for him recommending Scott, I offered him a source to find out about Atticus. Doesn't mean that I'll be telling him how we got that info."

"I get it. You're going to tell him about Banner, aren't you?"

Ghassan nodded. "And if all goes well, Zane will take out Banner for us. We won't have to worry about his blackmail, AND we stop him from giving Jaden that Sabatiel card."

"Ok, but what was up with having Scott be the representative for the School Duel?"

Ghassan paused. He was hoping Damian wouldn't ask that question. "Look...we know that Chazz will be the one dueling for North Academy."

Damian's eyes widened. "I get it now. You're trying to have Scott brainwash Chazz, aren't you?"

Ghassan sighed. "If he's a key keeper, and you, Scott, and Adrian are assigned as well, that means we'll have over half of them from the get go. And Chazz would be useful for both his money and his dueling skill. That means-"

"Enough Ghassan. I get it." Damian looked at the ground.

Ghassan put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Look, I get that you were friends with Chazz. But we're going to need to pull all the stops if we want to get home and restore The Light to his full power, ok?"

Damian said nothing. Ghassan sighed again. 'Damnit...I'm pretty sure this is the straw that broke the camel's back. Damian's going to betray us now.' Ghassan clenched his fist. 'Guess I'll have to let Scott know then.'

Damian raised his head. "That's a pretty good plan. Let's go with it."

"...Excuse me?"


More setup and not too much dueling this chapter. Hope the duel between Jaden and Blair at the beginning was entertaining for you guys though. As you guys probably noticed in previous chapters, I had certain characters use more modern decks than what they use in canon. Specifically, Chazz, Bastion, and Blair. I wanted to emphasize how the actions of the boys led to advancements to the game, and figured those three would be the best to show it with as they all have multiple decks in canon. I went with Lightsworns for Blair specifically since that's her default deck in Tagforce 3, which I found pretty cool.

Ghassan's aiming to have Scott brainwash Chazz to join the Light's cause, and Damian seems to be on board with it. Is it just an act, or is Damian actually willing to put personal feelings aside for the group's cause? And with talented potential candidates such as Bastion and Adrian at Duel Academy, will the plan even succeed? Well, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and have a great day!