In order to learn what happened to his friend and dueling instructor, Bryce, Felix has to take on another friend named Hank in a duel. Hank promised to tell him everything he knows if Felix wins, but Felix has to give a card he doesn't have if he loses. The duel has just started with Felix having all his life points with Gladiator Beast Laquari at 1800atk points and Hank had 3000LP with Chaos-End Master at 1500atk points. However, Hank also had an active trap called Skilled Drain. That one card has managed to block the Gladiator Beasts' ability to switch around. That means they can't activate their own unique abilities.
"Well, Felix? What do you plan to do now that your Gladiator Beasts can't use their full power?" Hank said.
"I guess we'll find out. There's no way I'm losing this duel." Felix claimed as he placed two face-downs on the field. "I'll place these down and end my turn."
"My turn!" Hank said as he drew his next card. He knew what he had to do, but he wished it didn't have to be like this. "I'll start by summoning Mad Archfiend to the field!" He summoned out another monster with it having 1800atk points, but that was a strange choice.
"An archfiend? Why do you have that card when you use a light or fairy deck?" Felix questioned.
"It's because the monster I plan to summon requires one light monster and one dark monster." Hank claimed. "Let me show you. I tune my level three Chaos-End Master with my level four Mad Archfiend." He started up the synchro process as his angel turned into a circle and came around Mad Archfiend. Mad Archfiend was digitized with that one circle becoming seven. The beam shot through, but what came through it was a shocker to all the witnesses. "I synchro summon Malevolent Dark Angel!" The card that Felix was searching for has now been played as it appeared on the field with 2800atk points.
"Malevolent Dark Angel?!" Felix said as he couldn't believe it.
"That's the card that Felix was told about, isn't it?! The one that belongs to the guy he said is responsible for what happened to Bryce!" Kent claimed.
"Hank has that card?! This makes things interesting!" Yukina said.
"Hank, why do you have that card?!" Felix said. He might know why, but he's hoping to be wrong. "Don't tell me... Don't tell me you're the one responsible for what happened to Bryce!"
"I told you that the truth has a way of coming out during a duel. That's one of the things Bryce taught you." Hank said. Now that the cat is out of the bag, it was time for the truth. "As you might remember, Bryce and I were looking for ways to start our own business. It was just the two of us, and we had to build it from scratch. It was tough, but it all began to change when we were given this great offer." Hank never forgot that moment. The moment where everything changed. "One day, we got an offer that could help start our own company. It was just the offer we needed, but Bryce turned it down." The opportunity they were offered would have been a chance of a life time. That's why Hank was surprised when Bryce turned it down. "He thought it was shady, and wanted to earn it instead of it being given to him. I thought he was being paranoid and crazy. I tried to take what we had to take the offer, but he tried to stop me. We ended up dueling for him to stop me, but then...things began to get out of hand...and you know the rest."
"How could you?!" Felix called.
"It was never meant to escalate that far, but I had to do it for our vision. Now look at things. I've turned into a successful business. If he would have listened, things could have gone differently." Hank said as he clearly had regrets, but thinks his actions could be justified. Are they? "I'm sorry, Felix, but I must do this! Dark Angel, destroy Laquari with Evil Shine!" His monster formed an orb of black light and fired it at Felix's monster. It ended up being destroyed and Felix's life points dropped to 3000. "So now that you know the truth, give me the card! Stop lying! I know you have Gladiator Beast Domitianus! I don't want to hurt you, too!"
"No way. This isn't about learning the truth anymore." Felix said as he couldn't believe had the nerve to ask for such a thing. "This is for Bryce!" He claimed as he was fighting for justice now. "It's my turn!" He drew his next card and kept fighting. "I'm activating Magical Mallet! With this, I'm sending all three cards in my hand back to my deck, so that I can draw new cards!" He returned everything he had in his hand and drew new cards. "I set a monster and that ends my turn."
"That's it? I'm afraid you'll never win like that. My turn!" Hank said as he drew his next card. "I summon Meltiel, Sage of the Sky!" He summoned out an angel-like figure with it having 1600atk points. "Dark Angel, destroy his monster!" His Dark Angel attacked and blasted Felix's monster with it being Test Ape.
"Thanks for that. You just activated Test Ape's ability, and since he's in my graveyard instead of the field, his ability can't be negated." Felix said. "I'm now free to summon a level four or lower Gladiator Beast from my hand! I summon Gladiator Beast Darius!" He summoned out a new Gladiator Beast with it resembling a horse and had 1700atk points.
"But now that triggers Dark Angel's ability." Hank said with Felix surprised. "When you activate your monster effects, you lose 400LP!" Dark Angel fired a series of black lights at Felix and his life points dropped to 2600.
"Hold on! I thought Skill Drain blocks all of monster abilities!" Kent said.
"Unless... Dark Angel isn't affected by traps!" Yukina realized.
"Traps don't work on that thing?!" Felix said.
"Very perceptive of you." Hank said. "That's right. Traps aren't going to work on Dark Angel. With that said, I'm activating the Card of Discard spell. I just simply pay 500LP and then I can select one card in your deck to go to the graveyard." He said as his life points dropped to 2500. "I already know what card to get rid of: Gladiator Beast Murmillo!" This wasn't looking good for Felix as he was forced to discard that card. "I know you're planning to destroy my Skill Drain, and the moment you do is when you'll try to bring out Murmillo to use his ability to destroy Dark Angel. I can't let that happen."
"And you can't stop me!" Felix said as he drew his next card. "I'm equipping Darius with Gladiator Beast's Battle Halberd! Your hunch was right!" Darius was given a halberd and Felix was ready to take action. "Darius, take down Meltiel!" Darius attacked Meltiel as he took the halberd and slashed right through it with Hank's life points dropping to 2400. "Now the affects of my halberd activate, allowing me to destroy your Skill Drain!" Darius slashed right through Hank's trap and it was destroyed.
"Awesome! Now Felix can switch his Gladiator Beasts around again!" Cindy said as that was good.
"Yeah, but Dark Angel is still a problem." Yukina claimed. "Every time Felix activates his monster's special abilities, he's going to take damage. Felix isn't out of the woods yet."
"Since the battle phase is now over, Darius returns to my deck and I can summon a new Gladiator Beast can take his place!" Felix said as he switched his monsters around. "Come on out, Gladiator Beast Vespasius!" He summoned out another beast with it having 2300atk points. "When Vespasius is special summoned, all my monsters gain 500atk points!" Vespasius gained even more power with it rising to 2800.
"You just caused Dark Angel to strike again, twice for both monster effects!" Hank said. Dark Angel blasted Felix again with his life points dropping even more to 1800.
"That might be the case, but at least our monsters are now even." Felix said. "Since we've also reached the end of this turn, my halberd returns to my hand." He claimed as he took his card back.
"My turn!" Hank said as he drew his next card. "I activate Half-Shut! With this spell, your monster loses half of it's attack points, but can't be destroyed this turn!" He said with Vespasius' power dropping to 1400. "Dark Angel, attack!" Dark Angel unleashed it's attack again and blasted it against Vespasius. Vespasius wasn't destroyed, but Felix's life points did drop to a mere 400.
"No! Felix has only 400LP left! If he switches Vespasius out now, he's going to lose!" Cindy said. Felix was in trouble now. He just can't fully utilize his deck's power.
"I assume you won't switch out Vespasius, so I end my turn." Hank said. "I'm sorry about this, Felix. I didn't want you to know the truth, but at the same time, I knew it would come out."
"If that's the case, why did you let it happen in the first place?" Felix questioned.
"I never wanted any of this, but I knew after that duel that it was too late to turn back." Hank said.
"Quit feeding me your excuses." Felix said as he was only getting angrier. In fact, that anger was forming some sort of dark aura around him that Yukina noticed. "I refuse to lose for Bryce! You were the one that betrayed him! You betrayed us! All for what?! You claim Bryce was just being crazy and paranoid, but maybe that wasn't the case. You knew him better than anyone, but I can say that Bryce didn't want to sell out. He wanted to make his mark on his terms in a way he can be proud of. Sure, you took the deal and became a great business man, but you betrayed your friend to do that! How can you be proud of how you did things?"
"No... It was... It was our dream. I honestly thought it was the chance we needed. I never understood why Bryce turned it down." Hank said.
"Because Bryce believed in what he was doing, but you clearly didn't." Felix said with Hank starting to feel guilty. Just then, Felix's duel disk was reacting to something. Just then, a secret compartment opened up and there was a card in it with the dark aura around Felix disappearing. "What is this?" He took the card and it was just what Hank was wanting. "Gladiator Beast Domitianus! Bryce must have had this stashed away in duel disk for when I might need it. This... This could be just what I need!"
"What's going on? It's your move." Hank said. This card might help, but summoning it will be tricky.
'If I'm going to summon this thing, I need Vespasius on the field with two other Gladiator Beasts. That means I need to draw one now. It's all or nothing.' Felix thought as he hoped he gets the card he's looking for. He drew his card, but it wasn't the one he was looking for. Still, he can use it. "I activate Gladiator Beast's Respite! Both cards in my hand are Gladiator Beast cards, so by returning them to my deck, I can draw three more cards!" He returned the two cards he had to his deck to get three more chances. He drew his cards and hoped for the best with them being just the card he needed. "Perfect! First, I'm activating the trap Trojan Gladiator Beast! Thanks to this trap, I can give control of one of my Gladiator Beasts in my hand! I'll give you Gladiator Beast Andal!" He threw his card over to Hank and Felix's bear warrior emerged with 1900atk points. "But he won't be sticking around on your side because I activate Gladiator Taming! It switches Andal back to my field!" Just as quickly as Andal appeared, Andal switched over to Felix's fear. "I'm also going to summon Gladiator Beast Secutor!" Felix called upon another Gladiator Beast that only has 400atk points. "Now that I have these three, I fuse all three of them together to summon the mightiest Gladiator Beast!"
"You mean you're really going to summon it?!" Hank questioned.
"I am!" Felix said. All three of his monsters turned into energy and started fusing together. "I summon Gladiator Beast Domitianus!" Felix called upon his mighty beast. It emerged in a giant serge of water with it roaring with great might at 3500atk points. All of them were amazed to see such a fierce monster. "What makes Domitianus so powerful is that I can negate the effects of your cards and destroy them. What's more is that I can control who you can attack!"
"Wow! He can really do that?!" Kent said.
"I think so, but how can that help him now?" Cindy questioned.
"We're about to find out." Yukina said.
"I'm not even going to need Domitianus' abilities because I'm ending this now!" Felix said. "I kept this trap in reserve for this moment! I activate Gladiator Naumachia!" He claimed as he played his trap. "By returning Gladiator Beast Laquari in my graveyard to my deck, Domitanius gains Laquari's attack points!" Once he returned that card, Domitanius power increased to 5300. "Domitanius, end this! Attack with Oceanic Fury!" Domitanius commanded the great power of the sea and unleashed a powerful force of water. The waves crashed right into Dark Angel and completely destroyed it with Hank's life points dropping all the way to zero and him losing the duel.
"Felix won!" Cindy cheered.
"Yeah! He showed him!" Kent said. Yukina was in full agreement, but she was worried about something.
'But what was that earlier? It was as if some dark aura was around Felix.' Yukina wondered as she didn't like how that looked.
"Bryce..." Hank said as he dropped to his knees and stared at Bryce's best card with great regret. "Please forgive me." Felix was amazed with Domitanius himself. Now he feels like Bryce is really watching over him.
...
The Cemetery
Felix now has the answers he's been looking for after all these years. He paid one more visit to Bryce's grave knowing the truth now. Now, he's making a new vow as he held his new card over Bryce's grave. Bryce wanted Felix to have this card knowing it would be in good hands. Felix is never going to let anyone take this card from him and will keep Bryce's memory alive with it.