It was Aster's turn to duel Jaden.

"Let's duel!"

Both their life points went immediately to 4000.

"If you don't mind, I'll go first." said Aster.

Aster drew his card.

"I activate the spell card Destiny Draw! By sending Destiny Hero Malicious to my graveyard, I can now draw two more cards!"

Aster drew his cards.

"Next I activate the spell card D – Spirit, this lets me special summon a level four or lower Destiny Hero from my hand, and I choose Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude!"

(ATK: 1400 DEF: 1600)

"Now I'll activate his special effect, I take a look at the top card of my deck, and if it's a normal spell card, I send it to my graveyard and can use it on my next turn."

Aster showed Jaden his card.

"It's Pot of Greed, so I can use it on my next turn. For now I activate the spell card Over Destiny, this lets me summon a Destiny Hero whose level is lower than that of one of the Destiny Heroes in my graveyard, and I choose Destiny Hero – Disk Commander!"

(ATK: 300 DEF: 300)

"Next I'll remove the Destiny Hero Malicious in my graveyard from play so I can special summon another one from my deck!"

(ATK: 800 DEF: 800)

"Now I'll sacrifice all three of my in play monsters in order to summon Destiny Hero – Dogma!"

(ATK: 3400 DEF: 2400)

"And I guess I'll leave it at that."

"Typical Aster, he managed to summon one of his best monsters on his first turn, so I guess I'll just have to bring out one of mine." thought Jaden.

"Don't forget, due to Dogma's effect you lose half your life points!"

(Jaden: 2000)

"I can see he's trying to settle the score, but I'll show him who the real heroes are."

Jaden looked at the cards in his hand and then looked at his fusion deck.

"Let's see… Decisions, decisions… Which Hero should I use?"

Just then a certain card caught Jaden's eye.

"Oh course, time to test out the new guy. Okay Aster, I play Polymerization to fuse together Elemental Heroes Clayman and Voltic to summon Elemental Hero Gaia!"

(ATK: 2200 DEF: 2600)

"Quite the looker isn't he, but that's nothing compared to his super power."

"And what would that be?"

"Well, it's like a monster card version of the spell Riryoku. During the turn he's summoned I can take half the attack points of one of your monsters and add them to his own."

(Dogma: ATK: 1700)

(Gaia: ATK: 3900)

"Gaia, attack his Destiny Hero Dogma!"

Gaia jumped over and pounded Dogma into submission.

(Aster: 1800)

Now that Jaden's turn was over Gaia's attack points dropped to their original value.

(ATK: 2200)

"So Jaden's managed to turn the tables, but this duel is far from over."

Aster drew his card.

"First I activate the spell card Pot of Greed and draw two new cards, next I'll play the field spell Clock Tower Prison!"

Aster's clock tower rose up out of the ground.

"Next I'll lay this card face down, now I'll summon my Destiny Hero – Dread Servant."

(ATK: 400 DEF: 700)

"Thanks to his special effect I can now place one clock counter on my Clock Tower Prison."

The hands on Aster's Clock Tower moved to three o' clock.

"And I guess I'll leave it at that."

Jaden knew he had to hurry before the hands on that clock reached midnight.

"Don't forget, during your standby phase I get another clock counter."

The clock hands moved to six o' clock.

"Okay… I summon Elemental Hero Woodsman!"

(ATK: 1000 DEF: 2000)

"Now I'll attack with Gaia!"

Gaia pounded Aster's Dread Servant, but his life points were untouched.

"Looks like you forgot about my face down, Eternal Dread, with it I can automatically place two clock counters on my clock tower prison, and since I have four I don't take any damage. And now that you've destroyed Dread Servant I can use his special effect to bring my Clock Tower tumbling down, and thereby releasing Destiny Hero – Dreadmaster!"

The tower collapsed and Dreadmaster emerged from the smoke.

(ATK: ? DEF: ?)

"Now I can summon two Destiny Heroes from my graveyard, and I choose Diamond Dude and Disk Commander!"

(ATK: 1400 DEF: 1600)

(ATK: 300 DEF: 300)

"And since I special summoned Disk Commander from my graveyard, I can now draw two cards from my deck."

Jaden knew that during the turn Dreadmaster was summoned he couldn't destroy any of Aster's Destiny Heroes, and even if he attacked it wouldn't deal any damage.

"I guess I'll just throw down a face down and hope for the best."

"Now I think I'll end this duel, I sacrifice all three of my monsters to summon Destiny Hero – Plasma!"

(ATK: 1900 DEF: 600)

"Now I'll activate his special effect and absorb your Elemental Hero Gaia!"

Plasma absorbed Gaia and half his attack points.

(ATK: 3000)

"Destiny Hero – Plasma, attack and destroy his Elemental Hero Woodsman!"

"Sorry Aster, but you forgot about my face down Hero Barrier!"

Jaden's Woodsman was safe, good thing too, because he was going to need it.

"Since it's my standby phase Woodsman's super power activates, now I can bring a Polymerization from my graveyard back to my hand. Next I activate the spell card Painful Choice, I trust you know what it does?"

"Do I look like some kind of amateur?"

"Well in that case, pick a card. Your choices are Elemental Hero Avian, Elemental Hero Burstinatrix, Elemental Hero Stratos, Elemental Hero Ocean, and Elemental Hero Wildheart."

"Hmm… I'll let you keep Wildheart."

Wildheart went to Jaden's hand, and the other heroes went to the graveyard.

"Thanks, now I can activate Miracle Fusion! I fuse the Avian and Burstinatrix in my graveyard to summon my good old friend… Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!"

(ATK: 2100 DEF: 1200)

"Now I activate the spell card Polymerization so I can fuse Flame Wingman with Sparkman to summon… wait for it… Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman!"

(ATK: 2500 DEF: 2100)

"You know what happens next, now he gains 300 extra attack points for every Elemental Hero in my graveyard."

"Anyone else know how many Heroes he's sent to the graveyard?" asked Hassleberry "I lost track."

"I think its six." said Syrus.

(ATK: 4300)

"Now that's what I call a monster!" said Jesse.

"Now Wingman, attack his Destiny Hero – Plasma!"

Jaden's Shining Flare Wingman blew Plasma away.

(Aster: 500)

"Now thanks to his super power you take damage equal to your destroyed monster's attack points!"

(Aster: 0)

"And that's game!"

Suddenly the light went out and all the girls screamed.

"The fence!" exclaimed Chazz.

The boys all pulled out their guns and turned on their stream lights. They ran up the stairs, but they didn't hear anything.

"Are you girls okay?" called out Zane.

"The power is out and we can't see anything, but we're fine." said Blair.

"Let's check the outside. Girls, stay with Alexis, don't let her out of your sight, if anything bad happens, scream."

The boys looked around outside, keeping their eyes open for any sign of movement.

"Does anyone else smell roasted chicken, or is that just me?" asked Hassleberry.

"It's coming from over there!"

The boys found something smoking by the fence.

"Roasted chicken nothing, what we've got here is a roasted owl."

"So this makes three squirrels, two cats, five pigeons, and an owl." said Jesse.

Alexis had trouble sleeping that night, only this night there was more than just the possibility of Billy attacking that kept her up.

"Jaden… Do you still find me attractive?"

Over the past few months the little bump on Alexis' stomach had grown into a little mountain.

"Lexi, remember this is only temporary, and if it isn't… well I did sign on for better or worse."

They both laughed.

"Jaden!"

"What is it Yubel? Are we under attack?!"

"No, it's the baby, it can hear you!"

"Hear us?!"

"Yes…"

Yubel sounded like she was about to say "he" or "she" but she stopped herself; apparently she didn't want to spoil the surprise.

"It adores you… both of you… It wants to hear Alexis sing."

Unfortunately Alexis hadn't thought of any lullabies, not with all this evil afoot, but it looked like Yubel knew one, she started and Jaden and Alexis followed.

"The night seems endless and scary

The unknown gives reason to be wary

But through it all people who love you are by your side

They'll always be here to nurture and guide

Every seed turns into a flower

Every minute turns to an hour

Every night turns into day

So sleep and dream the night away"

After Alexis had finally fallen asleep, Jaden was still awake. He had won every practice round, but nothing but his pride had been on the line. If Billy found them before the police found him it would be his neck, Alexis' freedom, and the life of their baby that would pay if he screwed up.

"Rest Jaden." said Yubel looking at the little mountain on Alexis' stomach "It won't be long now."