Jaden's spirit friends soon appeared to help out, and one of them threw what looked like a fireball into the tournament which terrified a lot of the people. Atticus was surprised how fast that worked.
"I hope this scares off Pegasus," Yugi smiled. "That way, he won't be crushed by that building."
"Right. Then he and the future of Duel Monsters are safe." Yusei added.
"Thanks, Yubel." Atticus said to the spirit.
"You're quite welcome, God of Strength." Yubel told him.
"I think not!" A dark voice called out.
Eventually, a portal opened up to show the mysterious masked man from before.
"You listen here!" Yugi glared. "We know what you're up to, and we're not gonna let it happen! Got it? So why don't you just make it easy on yourself, and go back to wherever it is you came from?"
"Where I came from is why I'm here," The masked man replied before removing his mask in front of them. "Perhaps it's time we get acquainted. The name is Paradox."
"What do you mean where you came from is why you're here?" Atticus asked Paradox.
"I doubt that you've heard about me, in fact, I've very much certain that you haven't," Paradox replied. "After all, I don't come from any eras of your time. I come from the future."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Yusei scoffed.
"Forget him, he's just trying to waste your time." Jaden replied.
"We don't care about your backstory, we're just keeping our world safe!" Yugi added.
"And that means we're taking you down in a duel." Atticus added.
"Oh, is that so?" Paradox chuckled. "Too bad, nobody thought to keep me safe, or those I loved, and now I will finally have my revenge. I will rid the world of what caused all my pain and suffering. That is why I am here, because I've realized something about this game you love so, this Duel Monsters, the world would be a far better place without it. The monsters, the spells, what good has come from it? True, you've all saved the world many times over with your precious cards, but against adversaries who are using the same cards to destroy it."
"So you're blaming Duel Monster cards for what happened to your time period?" Atticus glared. "Newsflash: the future hasn't happened yet, so thanks for the warning, but nothing is ever written in stone!"
"I didn't expect you to understand." Paradox scoffed.
"Let's get this duel started." Atticus glared as he got his duel disk on and put his deck into it.
"You senseless dolts!" Paradox glared. "Don't you see? Instead of trying to stop me, you four should be trying your best to help me! I told you, where I come from is the reason that I am here. Where I come from is a doomed future."
"No... Our future is a bright one." Yusei replied.
"It's not," Paradox defended. "It is a desolate place, so desolate I could no longer bear to see it through my own eyes. I took to wearing a mask, and it was through this filter that I finally began to see, to see why things had ended this way, and the answer was Duel Monsters. So what better way to destroy this virus than by traveling back to the beginning and not letting it spread? Time-Travel is no easy feat, but where there's a will, there's a way, and there was a will!"
'This guy is hopeless.' Atticus thought to himself.
"But don't you realize?" Yusei glared. "You're not just wiping out Duel Monsters, but people too! You're destroying everything and everyone ever touched by the game!"
"Of course I realize that, Yusei," Paradox replied. "As a matter of fact, that's what I'm looking forward to the most."
"What?! But that's heartless!" Atticus glared.
"You're one sick puppy!" Jaden added.
"Maybe the game's not perfect, but it's created more good things than bad!" Yugi called out.
"Besides, didn't you hear what Atticus said?" Yusei helped, defending his cousin's argument about the future.
"We still have a chance to change the future for the better." Atticus told Paradox.
"Well, then, it seems we have a difference of opinion, and since I doubt any more words will settle our impasse, perhaps we should seek to settle it another way." Paradox replied.
"If you're saying you want a duel, bring it on then, Paradox!" Yusei glared.
"Fine then," Paradox smirked. "I think it fitting to destroy the four of you with the very cards that you're trying to save."
Atticus glared as he knew this duel would be intense.
"And so, we had to d-d-d-duel!" Atticus's voice narrated.
"Atticus, do you always have to say it like that?" Darla's voice replied.
"Yes, it sounds cool." Atticus's voice smirked.
"Anyway, continue." Patch's voice said.
Paradox soon powered up his Duel Runner and stood up as it transformed like a robot on the show, Transformers.
"Whoa." Atticus said.
"Paradox! Get ready to get your game on!" Jaden smirked as his eyes seemed to flash red and green in each eye.
"You're going down, Paradox!" Atticus glared as his duel disk was ready.
"I'm right behind ya, Atticus!" Yugi agreed with his old friend who was his newest ally. Yugi's millennium puzzle soon glowed.
"Your twisted time crusade stops here!" Yusei glared as his mark began to glow. "Let's rev it up!"
"Yu-Gi-Oh!" Yugi called out as he changed himself as he was now The Pharaoh. "I have just one thing to say to you, Paradox," he then glared to the villain. "It's time to duel!"
"Let's go!" The boys all chanted together.
All four boys soon activated their Duel Discs. Yugi and Jaden soon glared at Paradox in reply.
"Kick butt!" Darla's voice cheered.
"Darla!" Emily's voice scolded.
"What? I said 'butt'." Darla's voice replied.
We soon shown two Atticus's and two Yusei's as Atticus was going to show the rest of the story the rest of the way as it would be like a movie for the others.
"Whoa!" Darla gasped, rubbing her eyes.
"Mom, could I have some more?" Atticus smiled. "Storytelling really works up my appetite."
"Me too?" Yusei added.
"Of course, boys." Emily giggled.
"So we're gonna be watching what happened in the duel?" Patch asked his owner.
"That's what it looks like," Atticus replied. "Right after seconds."
"Well, I'm pumped!" Darla smiled. "Maybe this'll be great as my own adventures!"
"It sure will," Atticus smiled back. "Plus I thought that showing the rest of what happened would be easier than telling."
"Not to mention more fun." Darla beamed to her big brother.
Emily soon served seconds and they all settled in to watch the duel for themselves like they were actually there like Atticus and Yusei were.
They each had lifepoints of 4,000.
"I'll go first, and I think I'll start by activating the field spell: Malefic World." Paradox smirked.
"I have a bad feeling about that." Past Atticus said.
"Don't show any weakness." Past Yusei told his cousin.
Paradox's Duel Runner soon flashed black and it seemed like they were in the middle of the space-time continuum.
"Never fails," Drell commented as he made a random appearance as he scrubbed his back while taking a bubble bath. "Get in the tub, then someone rips a hole in the time-space continuum."
"MY EYES!" Past Atticus yelped from seeing Drell in the tub.
Luckily, Atticus covered Darla's eyes before she could see Drell in the tub. Drell soon disappeared before anything else could happen.
"I'm gonna have a hard time washing that out of my brain..." Past Atticus muttered.
"What just happened?" Jaden asked.
"Malefic World!" Paradox smirked. "Now instead of drawing a card during my Draw Phase, I'm allowed to add a random Malefic monster from my deck directly to my hand. Next, I'll send Cyber End Dragon from my extra deck to the graveyard which means Malefic Cyber End Dragon now appears!"
Soon, a dark robotic three-headed dragon appeared on the field after the first one disappeared.
"Uh, does anybody have any idea what this malefic thing is all about?" Past Atticus asked.
"It's not some 'thing'," Paradox smirked. "It's the type of deck I use, a type from the future. One of the many advantages of time travel."
"Guys, didja see how he just summoned a Malefic version of that dragon?" Past Yusei asked Atticus and Jaden.
"Uh-huh! Just by banishing the regular version of Cyber End to the graveyard. That's all it took!" Jaden replied.
"So in other words; by getting rid of the monster's good version he can give life to it's bad." Past Atticus said.
"It seems that Paradox truly does see only the dark side of Duel Monsters." Yugi replied.
"Yes, Yugi, and I'm going to use it to defeat you all!" Paradox smirked. "But, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I end my turn with one facedown."
"Listen, Jaden... Yugi... Atticus, we know what's at stake here," Yusei spoke up. "Our friends, our very future, it all hangs in the balance, it all hinges on this duel. It's true; we may have all just met and may not know each other's duel styles and strategies, but even so... right now... We have to fight as one. All our skills, all our past experiences, let's use them. Let's focus all of them to this one common cause!"
Jaden, Past Atticus, and Yugi all nodded in agreement.
"Agreed, Yusei, and I think you should be the one to start us off." Yugi told him.
"Right... Here we go!" Past Yusei replied as he soon got ready. "First I play the spell card, 'Reincarnation of Hope'. By sending two monsters to the graveyard now, we can draw a monster card later.
Yusei's two discards are Sonic Chick and Quillbolt Hedgehog.
"Fool, don't you realize there won't be a later for you, or your friends?" Paradox snorted.
"Well, right now I'm summoning Junk Synchron," Past Yusei told him as he summoned a monster which seemed to look like a robot wearing an orange-like uniform with a white scarf before summoning a pink chick with running shoes and a collar. "And since I was able to summon him; I can summon a level two or below monster from my graveyard Sonic Chick fan your feathers in defense mode."
"This is getting so exciting." Darla smiled.
"Oh, and the excitement doesn't stop there," Atticus smiled back. "He still had one Duel Monster card effect to activate."
"Hmm..." Darla smiled as she seemed to enjoy this so far.
"That chick looks like a cartoon" Patch chuckled.
"Yeah, it does, reminds me of Bean the Dynamite from old school Sonic the Hedgehog." Atticus agreed with him.
"Next I'll play Quillbolt Hedgehog's ability from my graveyard; an ability that, since I have a tuner monster already on the field, allows me to summon my Hedgehog straight to the field, but it won't be around for long, nor will any of my other monsters," Past Yusei then continued. "At least not in their present form. 'Cuz I'm tuning them all together! Just as Yugi, Jaden, Atticus, and I are combining our might, these three have now combined theirs! I summon forth, the synchro monster, Junk Gardna!"
"Whoa!" Past Atticus smiled.
"Synchro-what...?" Yugi muttered.
"I dunno, but I like it!" Jaden smiled before giving two thumb's up. "Too cool!"
"I place two cards face down, and end my turn." Past Yusei soon said.
"That was amazing." Patch smiled.
"It sure was." Atticus smiled back as he took a sip of his drink.
"How truly pathetic If that's the best you can do then you all might as well just give up here and now," Paradox sneered with a smirk. "Your decks are no match for mine, not since I snatched Yusei's Stardust Dragon!"
Past Yusei clenched his teeth, glaring; just the mention of that is both wound and threat.
"It's my move," Paradox continued with a smirk. "And with it, I'll show you a beast of true might. I send Rainbow Dragon from my deck to the graveyard, which, as you saw before, I can summon Malefic Rainbow Dragon!"
An Aurora Borealis was shown on the field before another Malefic Dragon appeared.
"Pretty..." Darla whispered from the lights.
"How dare you!" Jaden glared to Paradox. "Leave my pal's card outta this!"
Past Atticus soon started to realize why Paradox stole all those cards.
"Why do you think I was time-hopping in the first place?" Paradox smirked to the group. "So I could collect the cards I would need to destroy Pegasus! But 'til that time comes, I'll use them to destroy the four of you! Malefic Rainbow Dragon, attack! Spectral Surge!"
A blast of a rainbow light was soon shot from Malefic Rainbow Dragon's mouth.
"I play Junk Gardna's ability! And with it, your dragon's about to get switched into defense mode!" Past Yusei proclaimed.
Malefic Rainbow Dragon's prismatic attack struck Junk Gardna's thick shield, and is absorbed; it folds its wings in defense mode.
"Ha!" Past Atticus smirked at Paradox before remembering Malefic Cyber End Dragon. "Oh, crud..."
"Fine, then. You stopped one of my Malefic dragons, but as you recall; I have two out! Malefic Cyber End Dragon, attack!" Paradox soon called out.
"I thought maybe you forgot about that." Past Atticus sweat-dropped with a nervous smile.
"Well, I didn't." Paradox smirked.
Malefic Cyber End Dragon soon fired three fireballs at Junk Gardna, destroying it instantly and which sent Past Yusei flying.
"Yusei!" Past Atticus panicked for his cousin.
Past Yusei grunted and groaned when he ended up on the floor.
"Are you okay?" Yugi asked.
"Say something, pal!" Jaden added.
"I'm all right." Past Yusei muttered as he now had 2,600 life points.
"Whew." Past Atticus sighed.
"Well, you won't be," Paradox smirked to Past Yusei. "When your lifepoints run out, because in a Malefic duel you don't just lose the match, you lose your soul!"
"Just like with the Pyramid of Light." Past Atticus gasped.
"I play Junk Gardna's second ability! When it's destroyed, it switches one of your monsters into defense mode, and next I play the trap, 'Miracle's Wake'!" Past Yusei soon glared to Paradox. "It allows me to wake up a monster from my graveyard that was destroyed this turn!"
Junk Gardna was soon seen coming back on the field as it was in defense mode.
"I'm sorry... I lost us some points there." Past Yusei said to the others.
"Don't be sorry, Yusei." Yugi replied.
"Totally! You just fended off attacks from two super-tough monsters!" Jaden added. "Way to go!"
"Yeah, Yusei, you did great." Past Atticus added.
"Thanks, guys. I did my best." Past Yusei replied.
"Against a deck that is stacked with the best cards throughout all of time, that's all we can do, and that's what we're going to have to keep doing to win this duel!" Yugi then proclaimed.
"That's right." Past Atticus nodded.
Jaden and Yugi also nodded in agreement.
"In my time travels, I've listened in on some of your past 'pep talks', but that, was by far your most pathetic!" Paradox scoffed. "I place a card facedown, and end my turn."
"Well, all right, then, it's my turn to take a crack at ya! Here goes!" Jaden replied before glancing at his card. "Yusei, cool if I piggyback off your play?"
Yusei nodded to that.
"All right, then I play this, 'Polymerization' now fuses Junk Gardna with Elemental Hero Neos that's in my hand!" Jaden then continued. "This is a first- two monsters from different times teaming up together as one! Here comes the best a' both worlds, the Elemental Hero: Neos Knight! Now, Elemental Neos Knight gets a supercharged power, equal to half the attack points of Yusei's Junk Gardna, and ya better believe I'm gonna put that power to good use! So charge, Neos Knight! Vanquish that Malefic Cyber End Dragon! Oh, and uh, by the way? Neos Knight's ability allows him two attacks in this one battle!"
Neos Knight was seen destroying Malefic Cyber End Dragon as it plunged its sword into it before going off to destroy Malefic Rainbow Dragon.
"Two attacks?!" Paradox gasped before seeing Neos Knight destroying Malefic Rainbow Dragon.
"Aw, yeah." Past Atticus smirked a bit cockily.
"A little cocky, aren't ya, son?" Patrick teased Atticus. "I swear, Wart was that way as a teenager."
"You were friends with a guy named Wart?" Darla glanced at her father.
"Yep." Patrick nodded.
"You're not so tough." Jaden told Paradox.
Yubel soon arrived in spirit form. "Well done, Jaden. I've heard of knights slaying dragons before, but not two at once." he then said.
Jaden chuckled out of victory.
"Let's see if you're still smiling after this!" Paradox glared. "I play the trap 'Malefic Tune'! Now, since a Malefic monster has been destroyed, I get to draw two cards from my deck!"
"Fine, then I play four cards face down and end my turn." Jaden told him.
"Nicely played, Jaden," Yugi commented. "You have to tell me; where did you learn to duel with such heart and passion?"
"A little place called Duel Academy, and believe it or not, I usually skip class!" Jaden replied.
"Duel Academy..." Past Atticus repeated out of interest.
"Duel Academy sounds like a cool place." Patch smiled.
"Well! If I were your teacher, I'd definitely give you an 'A' on that last move!" Yugi smiled to Jaden.
"I sure hope the people of New Domino City give me passing marks after this-" Past Yusei smirked.
"It's my turn." Paradox reminded.
"Proceed." Past Atticus replied with a small sigh.
"Thank you," Paradox replied before his deck reshuffled itself. "But instead of drawing, I'll use my field spell to add a random Malefic monster to my hand," he then said as he did just that. "Excellent* Now I have all that I need to win this right at my fingertips; the future will soon be cured of the Duel Monsters plague! I send Stardust Dragon from my extra deck to the graveyard."
And where a dark side of Stardust Dragon soon appeared as the original was sent to the graveyard.
"Now rise up, Malefic Stardust Dragon!" Paradox commanded.
"Oh, crud." Past Atticus mumbled.
Malefic Stardust Dragon appears; its head is still its usual shape, but its eyes glow as cold points of blue and its muzzle is wreathed in blackish-purple steam. Rigid plates of black-and-white pattern armor lock into place over its head, torso, knees, and its wings are a mantle of black and white, without a single wrinkle or a trace of a sparkle. The air around swirls with dark power.
"My Stardust!" Past Yusei cried out.
"Paradox, you snake, what have you done to it?!" Past Atticus glared.
"I've simply introduced it to the power of the shadows, and there's more to come," Paradox smirked. "Next I summon Malefic Parallel Gear. Now, Parallel Gear, tune with my Malefic Stardust Dragon!"
"What?!" Past Yusei gasped.
"You're not the only one here who can synchro-summon, Yusei," Paradox smirked as the gears began to spin before bursting, becoming two black rings which aligned around the Malefic Stardust Dragon. "Behold; as the shadows drip down through the cracks of time, and witness how the darkness pools together: to create pure evil!"
"Not good..." Past Atticus said.
"And next I'll activate its special ability," Paradox continued. "You see, since I synchro-summoned, I'm allowed to bring back a synchro monster from my graveyard straight to the field! So rise once more, Stardust Dragon!"
"Two dragons again...?!" Past Yusei gasped.
"That's right, Yusei, and now, Paradox Dragon reduces the attack points of Jaden's monster, by the attack points of the monster just revived," Paradox replied. "So, Neos Knight, power down!"
"Neos, no!" Jaden gasped.
"Oh, dear..." Darla frowned.