Chapter 43: The Geniuses' War of Cards and Minds

Damian was excited. Like usual, he was lying on his bed in his dorm room. Ever since being placed under dorm arrest after crippling Crowler in a Shadow Duel, he didn't have much of anything to do. But soon, he'd finally get to be able to duel again.


"Remember class, this Saturday will be the Promotion Exam for March." Sartyr said to the class. "Naturally, I expect all of you to study your hardest, and do your best."


Due to the deal he made with Sheppard, exams and Shadow Riders were the only times Damian was allowed to duel. And classes and meals were the only time he was allowed to leave his dorm. The exam would be the first fun thing he'd get to do in half a month.

Suddenly, Damian heard a knock on the door. "Door's unlocked." He told them.

The door opened up. Entering the room were Scott, Ghassan, and Adrian. The two security guards who were in front of Damian's room seemed to have let them in. "We need to talk." Adrian said.

"Agreed. But how'd you get security to let you in?"

"Challenged them to a duel and brainwashed them with The Light's power." Scott answered.

"You know, if people in this world just refused duels more often, things would be way harder for us." Ghassan said.

"I hear that." Damian replied.

Adrian closed the door to the room and turned to the three. "According to Chazz, Jaden's stuck in another dimension. Without him, reviving the Sacred Beasts will be far slower for us, and we won't be able to take his Gentle Darkness. We need to get him back."

"Yeah, but on the other side of the coin, Jaden was the biggest threat to The Light of Destruction. With him gone, destroying this dimension will be far easier." Ghassan countered. "Should we really try to get Jaden back? The Sacred Beasts' awakening will be slower sure, but it's not like it'll be stopped entirely."

"Remember, The Light told us that even in timelines where it got rid of Jaden, people like Aster or Yugi stopped it." Scott said.

"It's true." The Light said inside the heads of Ghassan and Scott. "As questionable as it seems at first, we ironically need Jaden Yuki right now. Awakening the Sacred Beasts will be the most effective way to increase my power."

"We could have known this before we spent an entire semester trying to get Jaden expelled for you, you know." Ghassan told The Light.

"Plans change. Gecko's proposal seems to be the best option at present."

"Having another talk with The Light?" Damian asked his brother.

Ghassan turned to Adrian. "Why are we even telling him this though? He's betrayed The Light, remember?"

"But he wants to awaken The Sacred Beasts, just like we do." Adrian replied.

"That said, we need to get an answer from you. Do you have any loyalty to that Duel Spirit, Invader of Darkness?" Scott asked.

Damian raised an eyebrow. "No. I can't even see Duel Spirits. Why do you ask?"

"Chazz told us that Jaden wouldn't be released unless The Invader of Darkness is taken out. Otherwise, he could awaken The Supreme King."

"The Invader of Darkness is what led you to basically blow our cover." Ghassan pointed out. "And is the reason why you changed so much."

Damian realized why the three of them were in his room. It wasn't just to let him know about their next goal. It was to brainwash, or even kill him if they thought he would serve The Invader of Darkness. "Well, like I said. I don't know The Invader of Darkness. I don't have any real loyalty to him. So if he needs to die, I'm fine with it."

"...I believe him." The Light of Destruction decided.

Ghassan took a mental sigh of relief. "He's in the clear."

"Good." Adrian said. He didn't want to have to kill Damian so soon.

"Still, how are we gonna find The Invader of Darkness anyway?" Scott asked. "Are we going to have to just hope Chazz, Chumley, or Belowski see him as a Duel Spirit?"

Damian stood up. "Maybe he'll materialize on Duel Monsters Spirit Day."

"Duel Monsters Spirit Day?" Scott asked.

"Oh yeah. There was a filler episode in Season 1 about it where Jaden dueled Dark Magician Girl." Ghassan remembered. "It's basically like a Cultural Festival, but Duel Monster centered of course."

"And most importantly, it's the one day where Duel Spirits can freely materialize in our world." Damian added.

"Hmm. If The Invader of Darkness or any of his forces would launch an attack on our world, it would be on that day." Adrian said.

"So, we're just gonna have to wait?" Scott asked.

"We'll definitely need to prepare as well. Day after the exams, we'll discuss plans."

Ghassan took a sigh. "God, we've been trapped in this dimension for nearly 7 months now, and from the looks of things, it'll still be a while until we get back. Our parents are gonna give us an earful."

"Not necessarily. Depending on when I return you to your dimension, it might only be a few seconds." The Light said in Ghassan and Scott's head.

"So, time moves faster in the Yu-Gi-Oh world than our world?" Scott asked.

"Not quite. The time flow between your dimension and this one don't have a linear pattern with each other. Sometimes, only a few minutes have passed in your dimension as we're speaking. Sometimes, millennia have passed."

"What's The Light saying about our time flow?" Damian asked. He couldn't hear The Light, but he figured that must have been what Ghassan and Scott were talking about.

"It's a Jeremy Bearimy." Ghassan told him.

Damian snapped his fingers. "Got it."

"What...what does that even...forget it." Adrian reacted.

Damian then turned to Adrian. "To change the subject, the whole school is looking forward to your field exam."

"Oh yeah. A lot of students are gossiping about who you'll be facing. During the February exam, you two were the only freshman to get perfect scores in both categories." Scott said.

"Aren't the opponents randomized?" Ghassan asked. "It could turn out to be all for nothing."

"Nah. It's for sure gonna be those two on Saturday." Damian said. "This school is addicted to making a spectacle through it's students. And the only two students who got perfect scores in both the written and field exams last month? No way Sheppard and Crowler will turn down an opportunity to set up a duel between the two of them."

Adrian turned around and headed out the door. "As if I care about that when we have more important matters."

A massive lie. When February's exam results were put up, Adrian was startled that someone tied with him for the highest score. Ever since he transferred to Central Academy, Adrian aimed to become it's best student, just like how he was the champion of East Academy. While Adrian knew it would take some time before being seen as the best student dueling wise, he was tantalizingly close to being viewed as the best student academically. However, last month revealed that there was a hurdle who Adrian initially thought nothing of. Bastion Misawa. The former Ra Yellow student, and master of equations.


"Umm...run that by me again Bastion?" Chumley asked. He and Bastion were currently in the card shop, Bastion holding a deck in front of Chumley.

"In exchange for your copies of Des Wombat, I'll trade you my entire Monarch deck. It's a splendid deal for you!"

"Ok, but...why?"

"The order I placed for them has been delayed to next week, long after the exam! I need Des Wombat as soon a possible if I'm to perfect my counter against Adrian!"

"But...I don't really care about having a Monarch-" Chumley began to say.

Bastion grabbed Chumley by the shoulder and started shaking him rapidly. "Then I'll throw in my Magnet Warrior deck as well! And Six Samurais! And Satellar Knights! And my Water Dragon deck! All of them yours! Please, just give me your Des Wombat!"

"Gah! Knock it off man! You're freaking me out!" Chumley pushed away from Bastion. "Look, I appreciate the offer, but the only deck I'm interested in running is my Australia deck."

Bastion gritted his teeth in frustration. "Blast it..."

"I'm surprised you're able to be so focused on the exam anyway. Did you forget what Chazz told us last week? Well, you guys to be more specific."

Bastion was well aware.


"Chazz! You're back!" Damian exclaimed. Like what Belowski predicted, Chazz appeared in the forest, brought back from whatever dimension he was in. Chumley and Syrus still unconscious on the ground."

"With you, Syrus, and Chumley back, now we just need to wait for Jaden." Alexis said.

Chazz clenched his fist. "Jaden's not coming back for a while."

Adrian widened his eyes. "What?"

"What makes you say that?" Scott asked.

"He failed his test. The only way to get him back is to find and take out a Duel Spirit." Chazz explained. "The Invader of Darkness."


Bastion sighed. "I remember. Believe me Chumley, I'm concerned for Jaden's well being. But there's nothing we can do about that right now until we gather more information about that Duel Spirit."

"I guess you have a point. I feel really bad for Sy though. He hasn't went out of our dorm room in days."

Bastion nodded. "It's no surprise he took the news so harshly. He was hurt the most by Zane's coma, and now he suddenly hears about Jaden's disappearance."

Chumley and Bastion stood in silence for a little bit. "Is it a bad time?" A familiar voice asked. Chumley and Bastion turned their heads and saw Adrian Gecko walk up to them.

"Oh, what's up Adrian?" Chumley asked.

Adrian reached into his pockets and got out a card. "I'm here to offer a trade, Chumley. I'd like your copies of Des Wombat."

"I tried the same thing. But Chumley will only-" Bastion began to say.

"Deal." Chumley said as he reached into his deck.

"What the?!"

Adrian smiled as he gave the card to Chumley. As Bastion took a look at it, he realized why Chumley accepted the deal. A Koala Fusion Monster, Koalo-Koala. A card that fit the Australian theme of Chumley's deck.

"Man, I can't wait to use this guy in Duels." Chumley said. Chumley got out three copies of Des Wombat and gave them to Adrian.

Bastion turned to Adrian. "Do you have a strategy relying on Des Wombat as well?" Bastion asked.

Adrian chuckled. "You'll just have to find out the day after tomorrow." Adrian turned around and walked away, looking at the cards he got from Chumley. 'Des Wombat. A monster that prevents any card effect damage from being dealt to the controller. I won't use it myself, but I'm glad I prevented Bastion from getting it.

Game Theory. Most commonly used amongst business competitors, this study is the model of strategic interaction amongst decision makers. In simple terms, through the decisions made by other players, one determines what would be the best course of action to take. Adrian has studied these fundamentals for years, even writing a section about it in his thesis of Duel Theory in the previous timeline. So naturally, Bastion's attempts to obtain Des Wombat have led to Adrian calculating on what deck to use.

'If Bastion wanted this monster so badly, then it's no question. He's made preparations against a burn strategy. Even if he doesn't have Des Wombat, it's most likely that he has other cards to defend himself from effect damage like Spell of Pain or Energy-Absorbing Monolith. That means I wouldn't be able to use Natural Disaster or Poison Cloud to the best of their abilities. It also doesn't help that several of my Cloudians destroy themselves when they're in defense mode, something Bastion could easily exploit. It's official. I can't risk using my Cloudians in the duel against him. Good thing I have Scott and Damian to give me decks of theirs."

However, Adrian Gecko wasn't the only one applying Game Theory. 'Adrian has without a doubt found out that I was building a Counter-Burn deck. However, I have backup plans.' Bastion thought to himself. 'I highly doubt the deck he'll use against me will rely on burn damage as heavily now that he saw my conversation with Chumley. This throws a wrench into his primary strategy. Unfortunately, now I don't know what deck he'll use, making it harder to construct a counter-strategy. I can assume that I'll need to make a different deck now.' Bastion walked out of the card shop as well.


Alexis was sitting at a table in the library, flipping through a textbook. It was a bit harder for her than usual to study due to what Chazz told her a few days ago. Her concern for Jaden was constantly on her mind.

"Alexis. We need to talk."

Alexis looked up from her book and saw Chazz on the other end of the table. "Hey Chazz. Is this about the exam on Saturday?"

Chazz shook his head. "It's more important than that. It's about the void me and Jaden were sent to by that D.D Survivor Duel Spirit."

Alexis widened her eyes then got a bit annoyed. "Wait, so you didn't tell us everything about what happened there?"

"If I did, then odds are we'd all have been attacked right then and there."

Alexis' glare lessened. Looks like Chazz had a reason to conceal the truth. "You mean by Damian?"

Chazz closed his eyes. "Honestly, Daman's the one we have to worry the least about." Chazz sat down at the table. "You're the only one I can trust with this Alexis. You can't tell anyone this, understood?"

"Understood. But...why are you trusting me alone?"

The spirit of Ojama Yellow popped up next to Chazz. "Because boss is in looooove!" The Duel Spirit teased.

Two more duel spirits appeared next to Chazz. One was a small green creature with a single large eye, and a long tongue constantly sticking out. The other was a small purplish black creature with a cleft chin and large nose. Both were wearing the same bikinis as Ojama Yellow. "Dawwwwww!" They both yelled.

Chazz swatted the Duel Spirits away. After Chazz came back, he met some guy called Belowski or whatever. He could see Ojama Yellow, and told him that his brothers, Ojama Green and Ojama Black, were in the well. Chazz decided to get them in order to get Ojama Yellow to shut up about his brothers. But now, he had three times the headaches.

"Umm...Chazz?" Alexis asked.

Chazz suddenly remembered Alexis' question. "I've known you the longest. Plus, you were suspicious of Ghassan, Damian, and Scott before any of us. Anyway, remember after Damian beat Crowler? He said something to Scott about getting them back home without The Light."

Alexis nodded. "Yeah. Then we found out that those three are from another dimension apparently. But Scott and Ghassan said they didn't know what he meant by The Light."

"That's the thing. They're lying about that. When me and Jaden were taken to that void, we were told about something called The Light of Destruction."

"Light of Destruction?" Alexis repeated.

"Yeah. Now, this is when things get crazy."

"Crazier than what we already found out?"

"This Light of Destruction thing. It's trying to destroy our dimension. And apparently, Jaden has some power to counter it called the Gentle Darkness or something. But turns out, Jaden's the reincarnation of some tyrant, and if things go badly, it'll take over Jaden's mind."

Alexis covered her mouth to prevent herself from yelling. She needed time to take everything in. "That's why we Jaden can't come back until The Invader of Darkness is taken out. Just like with Damian, it can corrupt Jaden."

Chazz nodded. "Ghassan and Scott tried to get Jaden expelled at least twice."

"My duel with Ghassan, and then the tag duel." Alexis remembered.

"Bingo. Add that with Damian talking about The Light to Scott, and how Jaden's apparently the natural enemy of this Light of Destruction and it can only mean one thing."

"Those three work for The Light of Destruction." Alexis pieced together.

"Yeah. But now, Damian's gone rogue from those three and is trying to awaken the Sacred Beasts to get the three of them back to their home."

Alexis put a hand over her forehead as she pushed the textbook away from her. Studying with all this on her mind would be basically impossible. "I can't believe it...but it's the only way everything makes sense. Them telling you to lie about who set up the tag duel, Gagagigo telling Damian about fake friends, this talk about The Light...those guys are trying to get our world destroyed."

"D.D Master told me how The Light can brainwash people to it's cause. So we can't tell anybody else about this unless we're sure they're not brainwashed."

Alexis nodded. "Alright. But if Jaden has some power to counter this Light of Destruction, then it's even more important that we get him back. We need to find and defeat Invader of Darkness. The question is, how are we going to do that?"

"We'll have to track down D.D Survivor and wring the info out of him. Problem is getting him to talk."

Alexis was disappointed how that was Chazz's only answer, but she didn't hold it against him. Evidently, even though Chazz can apparently see Duel Spirits, that didn't mean he could automatically bring them to his location.

Alexis then snapped her fingers. "I have an idea. Chazz, you have Duel Spirits with you right now, right?"

"Unfortunately."

Alexis smiled. "Then I think getting into contact with D.D Survivor will be easier than we think."


Ghassan was sitting at a desk in Adrian's room, eating steak while looking at a textbook. Adrian was looking out the window. "Alright. Next question." Ghassan said, swallowing a piece of steak. "What is Schroeder Corp?"

"A German weapons development company that switched focus to game development when it's current president, Zigfried von Schroeder, took over. They developed a virtual dueling system, the Battle Box and tried to present it to Industrial Illusions, but were too late since Pegasus already chose the Dueling Arenas presented by KaibaCorp. They then hacked into KaibaCorp's system during the championship hosted at Kaiba Land in an attempt to bring down KaibaCorp. After Zigfried's plan was stopped, Schroeder Corp was on the brink of going out of business, but was saved by partnering itself with Industrial Illusions." Adrian answered.

"Damn. That's way more detailed than what I was expecting. I always just call them 'German KaibaCorp'. Also, fun fact. That Battle Box idea? That was actually what was used before Duel Disks in the manga version. If those existed in the anime version, Schroeder Corp would have gotten quite the lawsuit."

If Adrian had any thoughts about that, he didn't show it. "Next question."

Ghassan flipped through some pages in the textbook. "Name the five executives of KaibaCorp who who-"

"Gansley Oshita, Adrian Randolph Crump III, Johnson Oka, Nezbitt Ota, and Leichter Daimon." Adrian interrupted.

"Yup. Heh. Kinda weird how the names for most of these guys are a mixture of English and Japanese. I guess because the dub didn't give most of them last names."

"You were a lot more serious when I first met you."

Ghassan shrugged. "Somebody had to make sure Scott and Damian were focused. Now that you're here, you can have that responsibility now." He ate another piece of steak. "But also, this literally isn't important to our mission in anyway. You getting top score on this monthly exam isn't exactly gonna help us destroy this world or power up The Light. I'm just here because you said you'd let me have Obelisk Blue food if I helped you review."

Adrian clenched his fist. "Stop saying that as if I don't know. I'm more than aware that this doesn't affect our mission."

"So why do you care? Seriously, you basically demanded Scott to give you one of his decks. What's up with you?"

Adrian didn't answer. "I'm going to take a walk. I'll be back in half an hour."

Ghassan shrugged. "Cool if I use your TV then?"

"Go ahead." Adrian walked out of his dorm room and headed down the stairs.

'He's right. I don't get why I'm so heated over this.' Adrian thought. He opened the door of the Obelisk Blue dorm and walked towards the beach. 'It's not like getting the highest scores will benefit our goals in any way.'

However, deep down, Adrian knew why this was such an important matter to him. Ever since he was saved by the Gecko Family, Adrian was thrust into a competitive world. He, Echo, and countless other children were all raised together in a facility that would determine which child would be officially adopted, while the rest would simply serve as workers. Be it in sports, academics, or Duel Monsters, Adrian competed against countless other children, and rose to the top. He felt obligated to repay the Gecko Family after they saved his life, and this conviction led him to be chosen to become the heir to the family. It looked like Adrian's efforts would finally pay off.

Until the birth of Shido that is. With the Gecko Family family providing a biological son, all of Adrian's efforts were for naught. He would no longer be the heir. In an instant, he went from being so close to running the Conglomerate, to becoming someone who meant nothing to them anymore. Adrian vowed to spend his life serving the Gecko Family to the best of his abilities after that. But truthfully, his desire for power never went away.

Adrian chuckled to himself. 'Once again, I'm so close to becoming Number One. But an unexpected roadblock is in my way.' Arian reached the beach 'I refuse...I refuse for that to be taken away from me again!'

"DON'T STEP ON IT!" A voice yelled.

"Huh?" Adrian looked down and saw that multiple long equations were drawn in the sand. Adrian turned his head and saw Bastion drawing in the sand with a stick.

"Really now, you almost undone an hour and a half of work just like that."

Adrian raised an eyebrow. "I knew you had a thing for drawing equations, but seriously?"

"I ran out of paper. And space in my dorm room."

"But seriously? On the beach?"

"I'm not a fool Adrian. I made sure that it was far away enough from the water so that it wouldn't be washed away."

Adrian shook his head, not bothering to pursue the subject further. "So, let me guess. The equation is about what deck I'll use tomorrow, right?"

"Indeed." Bastion drew in the sand for a few more seconds. "And I just put the finishing touches on it. I know what to expect from you now, Adrian."

Adrian smirked. "Well I can't say I can predict what your deck will be. But I do know a lot of the cards I can expect from you. Without writing all over my dorm room."

Bastion smirked right back. "Shall we go over our thought processes?"

"Sure. Why not? Your initial deck was definitely an anti-burn deck. You would have used cards to reflect effect damage back to me, transfer them into gaining life points, and of course, stopping me from inflicting effect damage. Your desperate attempt at getting Chumley to give you Des Wombat was a dead giveaway. While your probably revised what your deck would be as a whole, several of the cards you initially planned for made it in. Spell of Pain, Ring of Defense. Maybe even Prime Material Dragon since it would prevent me from dealing effect damage to you AND can prevents card destruction effects. Let me guess. That was going to be the ace monster of your original deck, right?"

Bastion reeled back in shock. "Incredible..." Bastion was quick to compose himself. "But don't think you're the only one who's made deductions. You're obviously not going to be using your Cloudian deck. You'd know that I can easily exploit how several of them can't be placed in defense mode with cards such as Stumbling and Earthquake. Unlike Damian, Scott, Chazz, and of course myself, you've never used a different deck your entire time at Duel Academy, so it's safe to assume the deck you'll be using was made recently."

"Not bad. But I know you've been watching my duels Bastion. Your biggest worry will be my spell and trap cards, so your deck will emphasis specialize in spell and trap removal. In fact, you probably won't have many trap cards in general since you plan on using Royal Decree." Adrian crossed his arms. "Unfortunately, that's about all I have right now. You have so many different decks that it's harder to nail down what strategy you'll use."

"Well done. However, I'm not finished yet. Your new deck will probably have a similar strategy to your Cloudians. You'll have a focus on burn damage and card destruction."

"Why would I do that? You've made preparations for-"

"There will be a focus on burn damage, but it won't be your deck's primary method of damage. You prevented me from obtaining Des Wombat, a monster that prevented me from taking any effect damage. And since you saw my offers to Chumley for it, you knew that it was incredibly important for the deck I originally was intending to make. You know that, while I've made precautions for effect damage, I can't prevent it entirely. Ergo, unlike your Cloudians, your new deck will have many high attack point monsters."

Adrian raised an eyebrow. "Huh. Nice work."

"So, you'll be making a deck that can destroy cards, and can do a balance of battle and burn damage. That narrowed it down quite a bit. However, you seem to favor a weather aesthetic. Not just through your Cloudians, but also due to your usage of cards like Thunder Crash and Natural Disaster." Bastion dramatically pointed at Adrian. "Adrian Gecko! Tomorrow, you'll be using a Windwitch deck in the promotion exam!"

Adrian widened his eyes. He said nothing for a while. Then, he started chuckling. "Hm hm. Heh heh heh. Hahahahaha!"

Bastion felt a bit offended. "Are you saying my hypothesis is that off the mark?"

Adrian slowly stopped laughing. "No. If anything, I was shocked at how you got so much correct out of next to nothing."

"I pride myself on my calculations."

Adrian looked out into the sea. It began to dawn on him how different of an experience this was. In this moment, he wasn't burdened with responsibility. His motive for getting top score tomorrow wasn't to live up to the expectations of the Gecko Family, nor was it to progress any of his plans. For the first time in either of his lifetimes, Adrian would simply be competing for himself.

Adrian turned to Bastion and offered a handshake. "No matter who scores higher in the exam tomorrow, let's be happy for the other."

Bastion nodded and shook Adrian's hand. "Agreed. May the better man win."

A lie. If the other got the higher score, words would be unable to describe the frustration they'd feel.


"Finally..." Ghassan laid his head on the desk. The written portion of the exam was over. Ghassan turned in his packet a few minutes ago. For once, he completed it all the way through.

Scott and Damian walked up to him. "How'd you think you did?" Scott asked.

"Definitely better than all the other written exams. But man was it a pain. Why do I have to write an essay to compare Synchro Summoning with Fusion Summoning? You can explain the differences in like, two or three sentences."

Damian rolled his left arm. "Well, I'm looking forward to the field exam. I haven't dueled in like, two weeks."

Most of the classroom was empty, as expected. The fodder students ran for the card shop in order to get the usual shipment of rare cards the shop gets before each exam. Chazz and Alexis went off somewhere after they turned in their packets, and Syrus was a complete no-show. After the exam ended, Chumley said he'd check up on Syrus and left. The only others ones left were Bastion and Adrian.

"It's almost time for the field exam. You ready?" Adrian asked.

"Always." Bastion answered.

The two stood up and walked towards the exit of the class. Their respective desires to be number one about to clash.

"Bastion Misawa, Scott Sheaffer, Ghassan Abunura, and Damian Abunura. Report to the head office immediately." Sheppard's voice ran over the intercom.

"Huh?" Everyone in the room reacted.

"As field exams are about to go underway, you will not have your field exams this month."

"Must be Key Keeper stuff." Scott said.

"Oh come on!" Damian complained.

Ghassan groaned. "Why couldn't it be the written exam that was nullified?"

Scott shrugged. "It is what it is."

Damian turned to Bastion and Adrian. "Well, I can't be anymore disappointed than those two are."

It was true. Bastion and Adrian looked like they were told their home burnt down. Bastion stuttered. The days of preparation, formulas, hypotheses. All for naught. "But...what about...all the work I..."

Scott walked up to Bastion. "You heard Sheppard. Let's get going."

"No...no! Me and Adrian need to-"

Adrian put a hand on Bastion's shoulder. "It's...it's ok. Be strong."

"Adrian..." Bastion said.

Damian and Ghassan walked up to the two geniuses. "Dude, are you crying?" Ghassan asked Bastion.

"There's always next month. We can settle it then." Despite Adrian's words of encouragement, his voice was full of despair.

"No! We both know that it won't be as satisfying! We need to duel today while the variables are still the same!"

Ghassan and Scott both grabbed Bastion by the arms and dragged him away. "Come on man! We have to go!" Scott told him.

"ADRIAN!"

Adrian turned around, tears silently streaming down his cheeks.

The outcome of Adrian and Bastion's battle. A mutual loss.


"Sheesh dude, if it's that important to you, just duel him later." Ghassan said.

"It's not the same! It's not simply about dueling him, it's a matter of who can get the highest score in the exam!" Bastion shot back.

"Then why not just wait for April's exam?" Damian asked.

"No two duels are completely the same. Especially since me and Adrian will without a doubt be making adjustments, if not using entirely different decks. The outcome of this specific duel, the moment we were looking forward to so much...lost to mystery." Tears began to build up in Bastion's eyes again.

"Dude, you don't even know if Adrian was going to be your opponent for the exam. Give it a rest already." Ghassan told him.

Eventually, the four of them made it to Sheppard's office. "Well, whatever it is, it better be important." Damian said.

"It has to be. Why else would he call for you otherwise?" Scott replied.

The four of them entered the office. "We're here Chancellor Sheppard. What did you-" Ghassan began to say. He then stopped himself.

"I'm glad you arrived." Sheppard said. Already in the room with him were Chazz and Alexis. However, a third figure was there as well. Wearing a strange eyepatch just like the one Jinzo was wearing.

Damian raised an eyebrow. "You must be D.D Survivor, right? You look exactly like the card art."

The Duel Spirit nodded. "I am. And you want to know how you can destroy the Invader of Darkness."


Hope you guys liked the chapter. I figured the characters needed a bit of a breather, so I made this silly little story with Bastion and Adrian. Not often in this story have we seen Adrian simply interact with the cast, so I hope you enjoyed his little rivalry with Bastion. Hopefully, they'll get to duel eventually.

Of course, that wasn't the only things done this chapter. Chazz and Alexis have somehow managed to get D.D Survivor to make negotiations with the Key Keepers. How will things turn out?