"Chazz joined what?" Michael asked after the others filled him in on what happened the previous night. Hassleberry said it was a group called "The Society of Light", and he had been going on about it since this morning. Michael assumed Chazz dueled Sartorius and lost, Lily confirming that he left his room without his ring that night.

Syrus asked what they should do, and Michael said to keep an eye on Chazz but to act normal. Alexis asked if Jaden was doing okay, and Michael told her Jaden would reach his destination by sundown. Meanwhile, Sartorius was performing another tarot reading, trying to make sense of why Jaden hadn't fallen under his control when he lost to Aster.

"How could Jaden have eluded me? The cards will reveal the answer," he said to himself, but as he shuffled his cards, one of them fell onto the floor, but it landed diagonally. Sartorius noted its position was strange, but when he picked up the card, he saw it was the Reaper of Souls. "This card represents rebirth when upside down and destruction when right side up, but it landed in neither position. What could this mean?" he wondered as Aster walked into his office.

Aster said they had a problem, and Sartorius said he wished Aster would knock before coming into his office before asking what the problem was. Aster dropped a newspaper on Sartorius' table, and the front-page story was about Michael's challenge to Aster the night before. "He's ruining me with this. If I don't do something about this, it could mean the end of my career," Aster lamented.

Sartorius encouraged Aster to duel him, but in his mind, the gears were turning. "This is perfect. If Aster defeats him, I can turn one of the top-ranked pros to my side, not to mention Jaden's most valuable ally," the man thought to himself before pointing to another table in the room, saying Michael's manager sent a contract for Aster to sign before the duel.

"I won't back down from him. If he wants a duel, he'll get it, and I'll get his deck," Aster said as he pulled a pen from his pocket and signed the contract without even bothering to read it. That night, Jaden was resting on the boat when it stopped abruptly. He sat up and saw he was just floating in the middle of the ocean.

"This is the place? Hope you know what you're doing Michael. And I really hope this works. I just wish things could go back to the way they were last year, back when I could see my cards and losing a duel didn't mean losing my mind. If this doesn't work, I'll never duel again, and then who knows what'll happen," Jaden said to himself.

Suddenly there was a bright flash in the sky. Jaden looked up and saw what he thought was a shooting star, but it changed direction and crashed into the water next to his boat, causing him to lose consciousness. When he woke up, he was lying on a beach. His first thought was Alexis' scarf, and he immediately checked his arm, seeing that the piece of fabric was still wrapped around him.

Jaden let out a sigh of relief looking out at the ocean, assuming he had floated back to Duel Academy, but that theory died when he turned to the side and saw what looked like the planet Jupiter. "If that's Jupiter, then where am I? What even happened? Wait, now I remember, that meteor hit my boat. Wait, that means I must be dead! When Michael gets here, he is so gonna get it," Jaden said to himself, but then he heard someone ask him why he thought he was dead.

Jaden looked out at the water, but the only thing he could see were some dolphins jumping around. Jaden asked who talked to him, and one of the dolphins swam towards the beach, looking Jaden straight in the face. "I did. Welcome, Jaden Yuki," the dolphin greeted, and Jaden said he was surprised there were talking dolphins in heaven.

"You're not dead. You're on Io, one of Jupiter's moons, in Neo Space," the dolphin corrected before he jumped out of the water and onto the beach, revealing he had a humanoid body. Jaden said that was unexpected, but the dolphin man said Jaden's arrival wasn't, and that his name was Aquos, and he was a resident of Neo Space, and that they had been waiting for him.

Jaden asked why they were waiting for him, and Aquos told him that he was the only one who could help them. "You see Jaden, the universe is a gentle world of darkness that nurtures life, but now the universe is threatened by the Light of Destruction. Which is why we have been waiting for you, the one who wields the power of the Gentle Darkness," Aquos answered, and Jaden said he was aware of that, but he couldn't duel.

"It's a long story, but to sum it up I got hit by the Light of Destruction, and I can't see my cards anymore," Jaden informed, but after he did, a strange spacecraft came down from the sky and landed on the beach. "It looks like we'll have to solve your dueling problem quickly," Aquos said. Jaden asked what it was, and Aquos told him it was an emissary of the light, and Jaden had to face it.

"Love to, but I don't even have a deck with me, and even if I did, I can't see my cards to duel," Jaden informed, and Aquos said he may have more luck with the deck in the device that crashed on the beach with him, pointing towards a crashed satellite on the beach. Jaden walked up to the satellite and a panel slid off, a capsule rolling out. He opened the capsule and found a deck of cards inside.

"You can do it Jaden, just remember why you duel," Aquos said as a hatch on the underside of the ship opened and a strange mechanical being came out of the ship. "Alright, time to get my game on!" Jaden shouted before a duel disk appeared on his arm, fully charged and ready to duel.

Jaden: 4000 LP

Alien: 4000 LP

Jaden drew his starting hand, but the cards were blank just like his own deck. He turned back to Aquos, who just nodded reassuringly. "Okay, I draw," Jaden said as he started his turn. He looked at the card he drew and it was blank like the others, but suddenly, it glowed and changed into a card he thought he recognized.

"Wait a minute. Time out! I need to check something," Jaden said before he ran to the satellite and brushed off some of the sand, revealing the logo for the Kaiba Corporation. "I remember, the contest Kaiba Corp had when I was a little kid," he said to himself as he thought back to that day.

Flashback

Jaden was looking up at a TV screen watching the Kaiba Corp broadcast. "We at Kaiba Corp are preparing to create new duel cards, but first we need card image submissions from young children. The chosen designs will be turned into cards, placed in a time capsule, and launched into space. For this grand-scale project, to create new duel cards by subjecting them to the tides of the cosmos, we require the unrestricted imaginations of you kids, so give us everything you've got!" Kaiba challenged, and Jaden was so excited he went straight home and began working on his own designs.

End Flashback

"Which means these are the cards I sent in. I don't get the complicated parts, but this is really exciting," Jaden said as the cards glowed for a moment, and Jaden could clearly see all of them. "That's right. The cards you designed were received, then imbued with the breath of the universe we expel, and created new duel monsters. Incidentally, your opponent looks rather mad, so maybe you should return to the duel?" Aquos suggested.

Jaden realized he had forgotten he was in the middle of a duel and ran back to face his opponent. "Darkness that smothers the universe. A peaceful ocean of darkness. Dark matter, which sparks life. A light which burns all, the expansion of entropy, and then heat death. That will mark the end of the universe!" the robot shouted. Jaden didn't know what the machine was talking about and summoned his Chrysalis Dolphin in defense mode.

Level 2/Water/Fish

ATK 400/DEF 600

Jaden ended his turn, and his opponent drew before discarding two cards, explaining they had to do so to summon Candelato, the Beast of Light.

Level 12/Light/Beast

ATK 0/DEF 0

Jaden was surprised it had no attack points for being a level twelve monster, but the robotic duelist explained that Candelato gains 1000 attack points for every card in his hand, pointing out that he still had three cards in his hand.

Candelato: 0-3000 ATK

Jaden was worried, but the robot informed him Candelato can't attack the same turn it's summoned before ending his turn. "Okay, my move! I summon Dandylion in defense mode," Jaden declared.

Level 3/Earth/Plant

ATK 300/DEF 300

"I remember drawing these two as a kid. They were the kinds of 'friends from outer space' I imagined. That's right. In my imagination, I played so many fun games with my friends. But maybe at some point, I forgot the freedom and excitement from those days…" Jaden thought to himself before his opponent asked if he had any other moves to make, Jaden saying he didn't and ending his turn.

The alien informed Jaden that since Candelato was on his field, he wasn't allowed to draw during his draw phase before ordering Candelato to attack Dandylion. Candelato opened its mouths and sent a wave of purple energy at Dandylion, destroying it. "Big mistake. When Dandylion is destroyed in battle, it leaves behind two fluff tokens on my field," Jaden explained as two dandelion seeds with faces appeared on his field.

Level 1/Wind/Plant

ATK 0/DEF 0

The alien ended his turn, and Jaden started his, activating Pot of Greed, drawing a new spell and a new monster. "I understand now Aquos. I understand the concept of the deck," Jaden said as he turned to his new friend. "That's right Jaden. The unfettered heart you used to create those cards links your universe to ours. Be the bridge between us, wielder of the Gentle Darkness," Aquos encouraged.

"Alright, I play the spell Contact! This card lets me send all Chrysalis monsters on my field to the graveyard to summon the monsters written in their card text. So I send Chrysalis Dolphin to my graveyard to summon Neo Spacian Aqua Dolphin!" Jaden shouted.

Level 3/Water/Warrior

ATK 600/DEF 800

"At last, the door between our universe and Neo Space has opened, and through that door steps a brand-new hero. I sacrifice my two fluff tokens to summon Neo Space's own hero, Elemental Hero Neos!" Jaden declared.

Level 7/Light/Warrior

ATK 2500/DEF 2000

"This is amazing! I haven't been this excited about dueling since I was a kid! It's the best!" Jaden exclaimed, but the alien said his excitement was illogical, as Candelato had more attack points than Neos. "I guess I'll have to change that. I activate Aqua Dolphin's special ability. By discarding one card, I can look at your hand and pick a monster in it, and if there's a monster on my field with more attack points than it, your monster is destroyed, and you take 500 points of damage. Go, Sonar Wave!" Jaden shouted as Aqua Dolphin sent a beam of sound waves at the alien's cards, revealing his Different Dimension Dragon, which only had 1200 attack points, causing it to be destroyed.

Alien: 3500 LP

Candelato: 3000-2000 ATK

Jaden activated Aqua Dolphin's effect again, revealing the alien's DD Crazy Beast with 1400 attack points.

Alien: 3000 LP

Candelato: 2000-1000 ATK

"And as they say, third time's the charm," Jaden said as Aqua Dolphin revealed the last card in the alien's hand, that card being a DD Scout Plane, which had 800 attack points.

Alien: 2500 LP

Candelato: 1000-0 ATK

"Now Neos, attack Candelato with Cosmic Crush!" Jaden ordered as Neos jumped into the air before delivering a diving punch to Candelato, destroying both it and the robot.

Alien: 0 LP

Winner: Jaden

"That seemed too easy. I'm guessing there's more?" Jaden asked, and Aquos confirmed that it was just the beginning before telling Jaden that he and the other residents of Neo Space would fight by his side until the end. Suddenly Jaden felt dizzy, and he collapsed onto the beach. When he woke up, he could see the academy's hot spring building in the distance.

"Was it all a dream? Well, dream or no, it was exactly what I needed," Jaden said to himself, but he then heard a noise and turned around to see two dolphins in the sea behind him. He then looked at his deck and saw the card for Neo Spacian Aqua Dolphin in it. Jaden realized it wasn't a dream, and Aqua Dolphin's card came to life for a moment. "Of course not. Your new deck is infused with the power of Neo Space. As long as you have it, I shall be by your side as your ally and your friend," Aquos assured, and Jaden thanked him for his help.