At the red dorm

Syrus had doubts that he would be a good partner for Ash during the discipline duel.

He went to find the black-haired Obelisk at his dorm.

When he got there he was greeted by two Obelisks.

"What's a Slifer Slacker doing here?"

"He's here to see me." The two turned after hearing a voice and spotted Ash looking down at them.

"Do you have a problem with that?" The two blues then left Syrus and Ash alone.

"I...I'm going to leave Duel Academy." Syrus told him.

"What for?" Ash questioned back.

"I don't feel like I should be here." He confessed. "I'm going to run away."

Syrus was dead set on doing that and then ran as fast as he could away from Ash.

'What's going's on?' He thought to himself after watching Syrus run off.

"Look, it's not you, it's me. I'm sorry, but I just can't use you in my deck anymore. I gotta make room for another Koala..."

Chumley sat on a tree branch, his deck spread out before him, and a Des Koala card in his hand. He looked at the deck, the card and nodded. "Yeah...fifteen ought to be enough."

"You can't have more than three copies of a card in your deck." Ash pointed out.

"Oh hey Ash." Chumley looked down to see Ash staring up at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Do you have a idea where Zane is." He answered. "I'm going to duel him."

"The Zane?!" This time, Chumley did let go of the branch and he fell from his safe spot.

"The duel to decide whether I stay at Duel Academy or leave is coming up." He explained. "Let Syrus know about this. He'll want to see our duel and hopefully gain some valuable information."

He then walked off and returned to the Obelisk Blue dorm.

Two other Obelisk Blues stood in front of the dorm.

"Where's Zane?" Ash demanded.

The two blues poured water on him in response to his demand.

This action was noticed by Alexis, who was passing by.

"Hey Alexis can I ask you for a favor?"

Alexis raised an eyebrow. "Okay sure what is it?"

"Can you get me a duel with Zane?"

Alexis stares at Ash in shock. "Are you sure about this, he's the best here?"

Ash stared at her seriously. "I'm sure."

She could tell that he was dead set on dueling Zane.

"I'll see what I can do." She told him.

"Thanks." Ash told Alexis thanks for her efforts.

Later

Jaden and Chumley were hanging out at the red dorm.

They weren't aware Syrus was trying to leave Duel Academy on a boat.

They then stepped into their room and noticed Syrus was in bed, wrapped up in a blanket.

Jaden nudged the bundle. "Come on Syrus, get up! This is ridiculous, even Chumley got up today."

"Yeah, lousy bladder." Chumley muttered.

Jaden pulled back the blankets only to find out the bed was empty.

"Where did he go?" Jaden asked Chumley.

"Look at this." Chumley found a note that fell out of the cover and read it out loud.

"Dear Jaden, I'm leaving Duel Academy. Don't try and stop me."

"Not if I can help it Syrus." Jaden was determined to stop him from making a big mistake.

"Let's find him after dinner." Chumley said.

"Not after dinner! Now!" Jaden ran out the door, yelling.

Ash joined them for the search.

"It's grilled cheese day." Chumley whined.

Jaden went back and grabbed Chumley by his blazer. "If we don't hurry up, it'll be Syrus' last day."

"So long Duel Academy... Syrus muttered and sniffed, wiping away a tear, "Hope the others do well..."

"Syrus! Come on, where are you!" Jaden yelled, stopping at the edge of a small cliff. A soft hooting sound made him look down at his deck and he saw that it was glowing. He was about to ask what was going on, when another hooting made him turn to the side. There, on his shoulder, Winged Kuriboh sat. "Oh it's you..."

Chumley wheezed as he caught up with him, "So...hungry...hearing...voices..."

Jaden watched as Kuriboh floated into the sky. "Can you find Syrus?" He asked. Kuriboh nodded, hooting again before taking off.

"Stay back, Jaden!" Syrus yelled.

Syrus tried to push off in his raft, only to be stopped by Jaden jumping onto it, and in the process, making it split apart, sending the two of them into the water.

Syrus came to the surface, arms flailing.

"Help me! I can't swim!" He yelled.

"And you were about to set off into the ocean?!" Jaden cried as Syrus wrapped his arms around his neck. "That makes a lot of sense!"

The two of them disappeared beneath the waves, with Kuriboh watching from above as Chumley raced to help them.

"I'm coming, guys! Hold on!" He yelled before jumping into the water.

Chumley opened his eyes to see that he was halfway out of the water and halfway in. He felt the ground and blinked. "It's shallow..."

As if they heard him, Jaden and Syrus rose from underneath the water, completely soaked and gasping for air.

Syrus rubbed his arms and glanced at his roommate.

"Why did you come after me, Jaden?" He said, shivering, "I stink..."

Jaden walked in front of him. "Sy, that's just your brother talking! You gotta believe in yourself!"

"You gotta believe me!" Syrus sobbed, tears leaking and mixing with the sea water. "I'm a lost cause..."

"He is right, you know..." A cold voice interjected.

They look up to see Alexis and Zane on a nearby path a short ways above them.

Zane ignored the trio and looked hard at Syrus, "You dropping out, little brother?"

Syrus nodded slightly. "Uh...yeah, kinda..."

"Humph..." Zane closed his eyes and turned away. "It's about time..."

That remark made Syrus lower his head, feeling worse than he already did before. He turned and made his way to some logs floating nearby from his damaged raft.

Jaden watched Syrus and shook his head, "He's wrong, Syrus..."

All he heard from Syrus was a loud sniffling sound.

Ash and Bastion then came up to them.

"I don't like your attitude right now." Ash told Zane.

"Why would you tell your little brother that?" Ash demanded.

"Because I know him." Zane said simply. Alexis gasped at the comment.

"You think so?" Ash then growled. "Well maybe you're an egotistical jerk!"

The others were shocked to hear this.

"I've never heard anyone speak to Zane like that." Syrus said.

"You're a interesting one." Zane responded.

"And you need to be taught a lesson." Ash replied.

"Let's duel." Ash stated.

"I accept your challenge." Zane responded.

"Oh my." Bastion was shocked to see him face the island's best duelist.

"You don't know who you're dueling." Syrus tried to stop him from facing Zane.

"I don't care." Ash countered. "You deserve a lot more respect."

That night, after the sun had set, Ash and Zane, along with the others, walked to the docks, Ash and Zane carried Duel Disks.

"DUEL!" They both shouted.

"I set a monster and end my turn." Zane said.

"I summon Luster Dragon." Ash brought out a sapphire blue dragon.

"Now attack his face down with Breath of Fire." A dark blue flame headed towards Zane's monster.

"I'll set these face down." Two cards appeared behind Luster Dragon and Ash ended his turn.

It was now Zane's turn and he drew a card.

"Since my field's empty I can special summon Cyber Dragon. Now I play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your face down card." Zane said to his opponent.

"Cyber Dragon, attack Luster Dragon with Strident Blast!" Zane commanded.

"You should've destroyed this. Go Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!" Ash yelled.

The spectators were shocked.

"What is that?" Bastion asked, having never seen that card before.

"Scrap-Iron Scarecrow prevents a attack once per turn." Ash told them.

"I end my turn with a face down." Zane announced.

Scrap-Iron Scarecrow then reset itself behind Luster Dragon.

"Hold on. A trap card isn't supposed to do that." Alexis noted.

"It must not be a normal trap." Bastion pointed out.

"I use Double Summon to bring out Big Shield Gardna, then sacrifice him and Luster Dragon to summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

"Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Everyone, but Bastion exclaimed.

"How did you manage to obtain the Blue-Eyes White Dragon?" Zane asked him.

"You're going to have to beat me to find out." Ash responded.

"Now Blue-Eyes attack Cyber Dragon with Destruction Burst Stream!" Blue-Eyes released a beam of energy from it's mouth, enveloping Cyber Dragon.

"I end my turn." Ash said.

Zane then draws a card.

"First I activate Monster Reborn to bring back Cyber Dragon!" Zane held up a card. "Next I'll activate the spell card, Different Dimension Capsule." He declared as a strange looking sarcophagus with a clock emblazoned in the center appeared. "This allows me to take a card from my deck, place it into the capsule, and in two turns, add it to my hand."

'I wonder what's in that capsule.' Ash thought.

'I can...' Syrus thought miserably. 'Cause it's not gonna be pretty...'

"It's your move." Zane said.

"Alright." Ash drew a card. "I use White Dragon Ritual to summon Paladin of White Dragon."

"Then I tribute Paladin to summon another Blue-Eyes from my deck." Ash announced.

"That will end my turn." Ash said.

"But neither would be here for long..." Zane took another card from his hand, Polymerization. "In present form anyway. Dragons, unite!" He commanded as both monsters swirled together into a black void, "Cyber Twin Dragon, emerge!"

From the dark void, a new monster appeared. This had the heads of both Dragons, but the body of one, each head with a different circle of color. One yellow, and one blue. (2800/2100)

"Twin Dragon?!" Chumley stared at the new creature in awe, "One was tough enough already!"

"Next I use Limiter Removal to double it's attack." Zane stated. "Attack both Blue-Eyes with Evolution Twin Burst."

"I use the effect of Rainbow Kuriboh. I'll equip it to Cyber Twin Dragon and while it's equipped, your monster cannot attack." Ash explained.

"Where did he get Rainbow Kuriboh anyway?" Bastion asked.

"Regardless of how he got it, Rainbow Kuriboh just prevented him from losing the duel." Jaden and Alexis commented.

"I've never seen that card before though." Alexis said.

"I use De-Fusion to separate Cyber Twin Dragon into two Cyber Dragons. Then I place two cards face down and end my turn." Zane declared.

"My move." Ash drew a card. "Attack both Cyber Dragons."

"Hold it right there. I activate Magic Cylinder to redirect one of your Blue Eyes attack back at you." Zane countered.

Ash: 1000

"Next I use Negate Attack to stop your second attack and end the battle phase." Zane added.

"I end my turn with a face down." Ash gritted his teeth.

Zane began his next turn.

"I place three cards face down." He announced.

"It's my move." Ash drew a card. "I activate Ultimate Fusion to return the Blue-Eyes on my field and the one in my hand to my deck in order to summon Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

"Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" Alexis, Bastion, Jaden and Syrus exclaimed in shock.

"Where did you get that?" Zane asked him.

"To be honest, I don't even know." Ash admitted.

"Attack Cyber Dragon with Ultimate Burst!" Ash ordered.

"I activate Half or Nothing. You have two choices. Either halve your monsters attack or end the Battle Phase." Zane explained.

"I'll end the battle phase and place one card face down to end my turn." Ash said.

"You tried your best, but it's time to end this duel." Zane drew a card. "Two turns have passed since I activated Different Dimension Capsule and I'll add the card that was banished to my hand."

Cyber End Dragon

LIGHT

Level 10

Machine/Fusion/Effect

ATK: 4000

DEF: 2800

A Fusion Summon of this card can only be done with the above Fusion Materials. If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage.

"If Ash can hold on long enough, he'll win the duel." Alexis said.

'Yeah, but that doesn't matter if you play it right.' Syrus thought. 'And Zane has. I just wish it wasn't at his expense.'

"Cyber End Dragon, attack Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon with Super Strident Blaze!" Zane ordered.

"Don't you know I can still play Scrap-Iron Scarecrow." Ash shot back.

"Not good enough." Zane shook his head. "Go Trap Jammer. This can only be activated during the Battle Phase. Your Scrap-Iron Scarecrow is negated and destroyed."

"Well I still have this." Ash's second face down lifted up. "Ring of Destruction. I target Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and destroy it to end this duel in a draw."

Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon exploded and Ash and Zane's life points dropped down to 0.

"He was on the verge of victory." Alexis and Syrus commented, amazed.

"Unbelievable." Alexis, Bastion and Syrus whispered.

"WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE BLUE-EYES?!" Ash chuckled nervously.

Meanwhile in the Hall of Origin...

Arceus grunted. "The cards I gave Ash may not be enough to protect him or his new friends." He then thought for a moment before an idea came to him.

"Perhaps it's time for Ash to have aid from his closest friend." Arceus then channeled his energy to begin the transportation.

Pikachu was moping over his trainer's disappearance on a bed inside the Ketchum house with Ash's mother Delia looking at a picture of him with a worried expression on her face.

"I hope Ash is okay." Delia said, worried.

She then caught sight of Pikachu disappearing.

"Where did Pikachu go?" She asked out loud.