Chapter 51: A New World Order

As the gang stepped through the gate, they found themselves in a new world once more. As opposed to never ending darkness that surrounded them in the previous world, here they were bathed in seemingly eternal sunlight. Instead of jagged slabs of rock, their feet rested on a sea of clouds.

"I gotta admit, I kind of like this."

"Yeah, me too. I almost want to stay here."

"Well, we can't, so let's find the gate and get on home!"

"Halt! Who goes there?"

A chubby angel swooped down, looking none to happy to see intruders outside his gate. Jaden tried to approach him and diffuse the situation.

"Hey there, sorry about that. Listen, we're new here, so-"

"You lot are trespassing on sacred ground! If you wish to make it out of here alive, you must go through me!"

Jaden was about to grab his duel disk when Hassleberry pushed him aside.

"Leave this guy to me, Sarge. I'm itching for a duel."

"Be my guest."

"I don't care who duels me, you'll all fall just the same!"

"Well then, put your cards where your mouth is!"

DUEL!

Absorbing Kid: 8000

Hassleberry: 8000

"Since you're the intruder, I'll go first. I summon my Melitel, Sage of the Sky (1600/1200) in attack mode! Next, I'll set three cards face down and end my turn."

"Is that all? Sabersaurus, front and center!"

"I activate my trap card, Forced Back! Now your monster's summon is negated and sent back to your hand!"

Hassleberry groaned as his dinosaur disappeared.

"Ah man, I'm getting some serious Deja vu right now."

"Since a Counter trap was activated, Meiltel's effect grants me 1000 more life points."

Absorbing Kid: 9000

"Fine then, I activate Jurassic World!"

"And I activate Magic Drain! Care to discard any spell cards to keep it?"

Hassleberry examined his hand and shook his head, leaving the Jurassic jungle to vanish.

Absorbing Kid: 10,000

"Well, at least I can still do this. I special summon Gilasaurus in defense mode, then I'll set one card face down and end my turn."

"Before I begin my turn, I activate my trap card Aegis of Gaia! This grants me 3000 life points!"

Absorbing Kid: 13,000

"Now, I summon my Majestic Mech-Ohka (2400/1400) in attack mode!"

"Hold up, that monster requires a triubte! What're you trying to pull?"

"My monster needs no tribute because of its effect. Now, I activate Smashing Ground to destroy your Dinosaur! Now my fairies, attack his life points directly!"

Hassleberry could only raise his arms in an attempt to defend himself before the two fairies rammed into him, nearly knocking him off his feet.

Hassleberry: 4000

"Hassleberry, are you okay?"

"Just fine, Sarge! It'll take a lot more than that to keep me down."

"I'll end my turn, and due to Ohka's effect he must go to the graveyard."

"Good, because its time for a comeback! And to start, I summon Sabersaurus to the field. Attack his Sage!"

The dino lowered his head and charged, ramming the sage and destroying it.

Absorbing Kid: 12,700

"Alright, finally got some damage in! I'll end my turn with one card face down. How do you like me now?'

"I don't, because this duel is now over! First, I activate the field spell Sanctuary in the Sky!"

A large temple rose out of the ground behind him, towering over them all.

"Next, I activate my spell card Celestial Transformation! This allows me to summon any Fairy type monster in my hand, but in exchange its attack points are cut in half and it'll be destroyed during the end phase of my turn. Come forth, The Agent of Judgement-Saturn (2400-1200/0)!"

"Big deal! My Sabersaurus has more attack points than it."

"That won't matter for long, because I'm about to end this duel! I activate Saturn's effect! Since I have more life points than you, and The Sanctuary in the Sky on my field, I can tribute her to deal you damage equal to the difference!"

"No way! That's over 8000 points of damage!"

"Hassleberry doesn't have nearly enough life points left!"

"Say goodbye, intruder!"

The Agent turned into a bright light, which launched itself at Hassleberry and exploded, surrounding his side of the field in a cloud of smoke.

"Hassleberry!"

"Next time you'll think twice before-huh?"

To everyone's surprise, Hassleberry was still standing. What's more, when they looked at the scores, they found something even more shocking:

Hassleberry: 3000

Absorbing Kid: 0000

"What? How?"

"Simple. When you activated your Fairy's effect, I chained my two face downs, Dust Tornado and Life Equalizer. Life Equalizer made both of our life points 3000 since we had a difference of 8000, and Dust Tornado activated afterwards to destroy your Aegis of Gaia. And when that was destroyed..."

"I took 3000 points of damage and lost the duel. Well done, traveler. You may all venture to your heart's content."

With that, the angel flew away, leaving the teens very confused by the whole series of events. Just then, Jaden perked up, sensing something.

"What's up, Jaden?"

"There's a duel going on, I can sense it."

"What? How?"

"I don't know, but follow me!"

And so Jaden took off. With no better option, the rest of the group followed him to a large gate. Sure enough, a duel was just beginning to get under way. On one side was the gatekkeeper, Layard the Liberator, while his opponent was...

"Zane?"

The older Truesdale sibling turned, scowling when he saw his former friends.

"Stay out of this! This is my duel."

"How cute, you have your own cheerleading squad. Too bad they can't help you."

"I don't need any help!"

DUEL!

Layard: 8000

Zane: 8000

"Since I'm in a good mood, I'll let you go first. Try not to waste my time."

"How charming. I'll set one monster face down, as well as one card face down."

"Looks like someone missed my warning. Too bad, because it's the only one you'll get! I summon Infernal Dragon (2000/0) in attack mode! Attack his face down monster!"

The dragon shot a fireball at the monster, which turned out to be a Gellenduo (1700/0) which withstood the attaclk.

"Sorry, but Gellenduo can't be destroyed by battle."

"Humph, so you survive another turn. I end my turn, and since he attacked my Infernal Dragon gets destroyed."

Zane's monster roared as it exploded, taking his last line of defense with it.

"How foolish of you to leave yourself wide open for an attack. Before I draw, I activate Solem Wished! Now every time I draw a card, I'll gain 500 life points.

Layard: 8500

"My Gellenduo counts as two tributes if I use it to summon a light monster, so say hello to Angel 07 (2500/1500)! Attack him directly!"

The Angel fired a beam of light from its headdress, striking Zane right in the chest. Zane merely scoffed, brushing dust off of his blazer in annoyance.

Zane: 5500

"Is that the best you can do? And here I was hoping someone might be able to challenge me."

"Don't be so cocky. Since Angel 07 was tribute summoned, no monster effects can be activated. I end my turn."

"Pathetic. Time for me to end this charade."

"How? You have no monsters on your field."

"But I do in my hand, which is why I activate my Power Bond! Now I fuse the two Cyber Dragons in my hand together to summon Cyber Twin Dragon (2800/2100)! And don't forget, Power Bond doubles his attack points (2800-5600). Attack his Angel!"

One of the dragon's two heads fired a proton blast, obliderating their opponent and blowing Layard backwards.

Layard: 6200

"And since this is Cyber Twin Dragon, he can attack twice per turn, so let him have it!"

The second head opened its mouth, firing off a blast that sent the angel flying right into the gate, causing it bend.

Layard: 600

"I'm...still in this..."

"No, you're not. I activate De-Fusion, separating my Twin Dragon back into the two Cyber Dragons I used to make it (2100/1600 X2). Finish him off!"

The last Cyber Dragon fired once more, this time blowing the gate wide open and sending the poor gatekeeper flying into a wall far off into the distance.

Layard: 0000

Zane powered down his duel disk and marched in.

"Zane, wait!"

Zane stopped, but didn't turn to face them.

"How'd you wind up like this, Zane? You used to respect your opponents, but now look what you've become. What happened to the Zane who sacrificed himself for me back when he dueled Camula?"

"He's gone, Syrus. I'm just not that man anymore. Stay out of my way, unless you want to wind up like him."

With that, Zane marched through the destroyed gate, Syrus watching him go sadly.

"Zane..."