Yo! If you wanna give the duel an extra stressfull undertone, consider having this neat OST run in the background ~: "C&C Renegade - Dogfight"

Chapter 28:

To say that Bastion had never seen his friend like this would be an understatement. He'd seen him get angry before, mostly directed at their peers in Obelisk Blue, and usually with a hint of annoyance. He'd seen him stunned before when they did their study sessions, whether that was because of his own explanations he didn't know. While Blake had been embarrassed too, those moments were few and far between. Like finding a simple mistake in his calculations.

But now? Now it looked like Blake was caught in between shell-shocked and ready to kill, switching between the two rather visible states with every passing second. How someone could be as vile as to do something as dishonorable as destroying someone else's cards was beyond him. This wasn't the time to ponder about that, however. Blake's promotion duel would happen in just under an hour, and with his friend being rightfully out of it someone had to keep a cool head.

"Bright, call Professor Satyr. He needs to know about this and call security; someone must've broken into Blake's room." Bastion said firmly as he took his eyes of his friend and looked at the rest of their group. It took Bright a few moments but she eventually nodded, pulled out her PDA and moved a bit away to make the call.

"Yuma, go and see if you can catch someone from the staff in the main building and get them here. Boys, gather up all the cards." The rest of them nodded one after the other and did as they were told.

Bastion checked the time, which was starting to run out. It looked like they were all shocked for quite a bit, there wouldn't be much time to organize a new deck. While he'd understand and support it if Blake was trying to postpone the duel, he knew this wasn't going to happen. Looking over, Blake was standing still, his fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white. His eyes were closed now, as he tried to focus on breathing rather than exploding.

He had to make a double take when he looked over to the Slifer boys picking up the rest of the cards. Jaden looked down on the ripped halves and Bastion could swear he saw his eyes be golden instead of brown. But when he blinked, they were the same brown as always. Must've been the stress, people's eyes didn't just change color.

"Professor Satyr is on his way and will notify both security and Chancellor Sheppard." Bright, having finished her call, voiced from behind him.

"I-I think we got all of them." Syrus added, with Chumley carrying the cardboard box filled with destroyed cards.

"But there's no way he can duel with these. And if he can't duel, he'll automatically lose." Chumley pointed out with a grimace.

"He will be able to duel, I'll make sure of it." Bastion stated matter-of-factly. While they might not be anywhere as good as Blake's deck had been, he had several decks in reserve. There was no way he'd let Blake go down without a fight.

When Yuma came back out of the building with Doctor Crowler in tow, he took a deep breath. "But before that we'll have to tell the teachers what happened here."

Jaden only shook his head. "Who'd do such a thing?"

Shinji had a hard time keeping the swagger out of his walk and the grin off his face. The news was spreading like wildfire, which meant that everything went according to plan. That meant his victory was at hand, and with said victory his favor with Kami. With her support he'd have no trouble staying in Obelisk Blue, and surely she'd enough pull for his father to keep his job as well. The best thing? None of what had happened would be traceable back to him

Getting idiots to do what he needed to be done was easy. Not only that, but those he had chosen would serve as perfect misdirection. A grumpy third year Ra student had access to the Ra dorms and could go to Blake's room without arousing suspicion. The guy was unhappy that a first year would get promoted before him, which would spread the blame over to their dorm as well. One of Chazz Princeton's former cronies made sure the elite Obelisk students didn't look any less guilty. That's the one he'd send to rip up the cards. Not only that, it pointed fingers at one of the biggest elitists to be responsible as well, even if that might've changed a bit.

And with the mysterious, and ridiculously tall, middleman acting as a contact between them, he himself was safe and hidden behind his scapegoats. The blame hadn't been the important part about his plan, however. It was the fact the target was the most paranoid student on campus.

He'd observed Blake for a long time. It was a necessity; how else could he make sure their soon-to-be queen would be safe? Especially from a low-class ruffian like that. The guy never put away his deck, at least that's what he'd thought at first. Obviously, he couldn't break into his room at night when he was there. That couldn't just go horribly wrong, it would've left enough time to prepare a back-up deck even if it succeeded.

The missing piece in his masterplan had occurred to him only recently. While the only classes they needed their decks was during Doctor Crowler's, those classes happened every day, so naturally everyone had their decks with them. But there was one subject they couldn't. One subject that happened to be before break most of the time, as it was today; Sports.

Nurse Fontaine … Professor Fontaine … whatever she's called, had a strict dress code during her lessons, so everything else would be put into lockers. This included their decks and duel disks, obviously. It also left a brief window to get his hands on Blake's cards, or, well, his lackeys' hands. The problem with that as well as the dorm rooms was the fact that only the owners and staff could unlock them, either via PDA or security card. And since this was Kaiba Corp tech, there was little to no chance hacking into it. Even less so without being noticed.

But there hadn't been any need to. He'd purposely made a lot of errors during class this morning so he'd be held back before the next. Using the easily distracted mind of Professor Banner, he'd borrowed the babbling buffoon's security card. From there on out it was smooth sailing.

With his opponents ridiculously strong deck gone, as well as his back-up cards and little time to get new ones, there was no way he could duel. Alright, maybe his friends would lend him some cards, but even then, it wouldn't be his own. And everyone knew that a duelist could only perform at their best with their own cards. Not only that, whatever friends that scum had were already distancing themselves from him. It was the two Ra girls that helped him get the rumors started, after all. Not that they knew; they'd just been too loud when discussing vital information about their apparently criminal friend.

He hadn't spread all the information in the rumors, though. He'd kept the juiciest part for himself, just in case he really needed to hammer down his opponent publicly when he tried to duel against all odds. The facts were disturbing, probably not even true, but considering what everyone already heard about? It wasn't too farfetched, not against someone already disliked by a good number of people. Maybe it was even enough to get Blake out of school entirely. Who would want what was basically a confirmed criminal in their school, after all?

When he reached the arena, the stands were full of whispering and pointing students. On the other side stood a colorful group made up of his opponent and his two remaining friends, Bastion and Jaden, as well as Professor Satyr and Doctor Crowler. The later seemed to be appalled by whatever he's talking about with the other professor. The Slifer tried to act as a moral support, as did the other Ra as he handed Blake a deck.

So, he'd duel despite everything? That's fine. Let him disgrace himself in front of the whole school, made things even better. He couldn't help but gulp when his eyes met Blake's, a sudden chill running down his spine. If stares could hurt, then the barely hidden fury in Blake's amber eyes would've surely killed him on the spot. Shinji was certain that his opponent knew it had been his doing, but there would be nothing he could do about it. There were no traces that led back to him, no accusation would hold any value.

If Blake wanted to duel so bad, then he'd get it. He'd finally crush him with the new deck his father had been telling him to use. Now he would've done so earlier, he just liked his dragons more. But the sheer power and versatility this new deck offered would keep whatever badly built deck his opponent would be using in the dirt. And in the off chance that wasn't enough … then another defaming rumor would surely do the trick. He was prepared, the enemy demoralized, and his own power heightened. There was no way he could lose.

"Are you sure you want to do this? There's no shame in doing the promotion match another time." Bastion asked his friend after he's done talking to the professors.

"Yeah, man." Jaden chimed in. "You know how most of the guys in Blue are too. Don't you think it'd be better to just stick to your dorm?"

"No, it's necessary." Blake mumbled as he took a quick glance over the deck Bastion had given him. "Nor will I give that shithead the satisfaction of succeeding. Bastion, what the hell is this?"

"But wouldn't it be even worse if you lost to him instead of standing down?" Jaden tried to argue, but it fell on deaf ears.

"My Dark attribute deck, why?" Bastion answered. "It's the one suiting you most from my attribute decks, it relies on Trap cards too."

"Okay, and what in Ra's name is a Litmus Doom Swordsman?" Blake continued, his eyebrow raised in genuin confusion.

"Your boss monster, of course. Since it's a Ritual monster it'll be easier to bring out and its safe from any traps your opponent might have."

Blake took a deep breath. "But … forget it. I guess I can make it work somehow …" He then proceeded to slip a card into the deck before putting it into his duel disk.

"If we had more time then-" Bastion began.

"If we had more time the whole spiel wouldn't have mattered in the first place." Blake spat out. "And that little fuck is going to pay for it."

"I'm sure once security has the footage and traces gathered everything will be fine." Bastion reassured.

"And don't forget that these guys are top Kaiba Corp security. They'll get the guy no matter what!" Jaden added and clapped Blake on the shoulder.

They were interrupted by Doctor Crawler walking onto the stage, which was their sign to split up. Bastion and Jaden went to the front row of the stands where their friends kept them some seats free. There they were greeted by the mixed emotions.

"This is ridiculous." Bright stated flatly, for some reason she was visibly uncomfortable. "This whole thing should've been postponed until after the investigations are done."

"It's totally not 'licious, but the academy's rules are clear." Chumley chimed in from the side, already nervously chewing some snacks.

"I doubt there's ever been a case like this, I do agree though." Bastion said as he sat down.

To his surprise, it wasn't Jaden who sat down next to him, however. "To think someone like that dares to call himself duelist, much less duel at all. Disgusting." Chazz scoffed. "Not just that, but you must be blind not to see who's responsible for this. What's taking the staff so long?"

"Yeah, man! What's Sheppard doing?" Jaden added from the next seat.

Slifer and Obelisk student shared a brief look before they looked down into the arena where the duel was about to start. Bastion nodded along, ignoring the weirdly cute cooing-sound he heard near Jaden and instead focused on the duel.

"- but as academy rules state, there's no delaying a promotional duel. Duelist, take your positions!" Doctor Crowler finished explaining the situation and moved out of the duel field. It was clear that the man was unhappy about the situation, but there's nothing he could do. Well, except for giving the audience even more to talk about.

"Last chance to chicken out." Shinji said with a barely contained smirk. "Not like you had a chance to begin with, but using some random deck your friend made? You're just begging me to beat you."

Blake rolled his shoulders before he looked at him. "A deck you can beat me with hasn't been invented yet."

How he still had the nerve to talk back like that eluded Shinji, but it only made the certain outcome of this duel sweeter. "Oh, I think it has been. For a while now, actually. I just waited for the perfect time to pull it out."

"Keep telling yourself that." His opponent responded and drew for the first turn. (Blake 4000 / Shinji 4000)

Blake grimaced before he started with a classic T-opening.

"That's all? A set monster and a backrow? Let me show you a real turn!" Shinji mocked. "You should be grateful; I chose your impossible little promotion match to debut the best cards my father ever designed. At least you get to say you were the first to lose to them before I became the next Kaiser and-"

"Shut the fuck up and play your damn card." Blake growled.

"Language!"

Shinji wanted to shout back but composed himself. There was no need to get riled up by a beaten down dog, not when his moment of victory was this close. "Behold! I summon Gladiator Beast Dimacari in attack mode!"

Various murmurs went through the audience as the tall purplish grey minotaur appeared, both of surprise and confusion – it was a never-before-seen archetype after all. The monster was outfitted with silver armor pieces that made it clear that this monster was in fact a gladiator, if its battle-hungry demeanor wasn't indication enough (1600/1200).

While Shinji listened to and looked up at the faces of the other students with glee – even his lovely queen was clearly surprised – it was his opponents' reaction that made him pause. Well, that and the sudden flickering lights all around.

First looking at the monster in front of him in disbelief, Blake's visage hardened as his eyes turned towards him. "Where the fuck did you get those cards?!"

"Language, student! I won't say it another time!" Came the bellowing voice of Chancellor Sheppard, who was only spared a brief glance.

"Lost your hearing together with your cards?" Shinji chided. He might've not expected a reaction like this, but he wasn't going to turn down the opportunity. "I already told you; my dad made them. Even got a fat bonus on top of his promotion for them."

His opponent was about to retort but a loud cough from Chancellor Sheppard killed whatever words he had in his mouth.

"Why don't I show you how they work? Dimicari, attack his set monster!" His monster rushed forward and flipped card in front of it over with its horns before delivering a devastating punch onto its revealed target. That it wasn't destroyed irked him just a little.

"Spirit Reaper cannot be destroyed by battle." Blake announced flatly as the zombie fixed its ruffled purple cloak with a sick cackle (300/200).

"Che, a cheap card for a cheap duelist. I don't need to destroy your monster by battle, though." Shinji paused dramatically as his own monster returned to his side of the field. "After my Gladiator Beast battles, I can return it to the deck and special summon 1 other Gladiator Beast from there!" It took him a while to look over the many options he had. He had used these cards only two times before, and there were way too many effects to keep track off! Eventually he managed to find the one he's looking for.

The huge minotaur raised its hand and clapped it against a new monster as they tagged out. This one was more akin to a blue merman, the shell-turbines on its shoulders keeping it floating above ground. (800/400)

"And here comes the best part: Every Gladiator Beast has a special effect that activates when it gets summoned by another Gladiator Beast!" He continued. "My Gladiator Beast Murmillo gets to target and destroy one face-up monster. Say goodbye to your little reaper!"

The merman threw back its head before spitting out a high-speed water bullet that crashed into and destroyed its target before crossing its arms confidently.

"I set two cards face-down and end my turn. Ready to surrender yet?" Shinji pocked at Blake. He saw, almost heard, him grinding his teeth. If he'd known this deck would bother his nemesis so much, he would've used it earlier!

Blake drew and looked skeptically at the face-downs. "I summon Mad Dog of Darkness, then attack your Murmillo with it." In front of him a monster befitting of his title appeared. A dog with glowing red eyes and sickly yellow-brown fur, looking as rabid as they come (1900/1400). It took only one glance at its opposition before it charged wildly ahead, ready to tear apart its opponent.

It was stopped by a protective sphere generated by several diamond-shaped shields the size of a basketball. "I don't think so! I activate Defensive Tactics, which makes my monsters indestructible by battle and any battle damage I take 0 till the end of the turn. I need a Gladiator Beast to activate it, but that's hardly a problem. After that, it goes back to the deck too, just to the bottom of it."

Shinji grinned when Blake loudly clicked his tongue and was about to move on, when his Murmillo tagged out with another new monster. "And since my Gladiator Beast battled, I get to shuffle it back into the deck and summon another one! Meet Gladiator Beast Laquari, whose attack becomes 2100 when summoned by the effect of another Gladiator Beast." The blue merman was replaced by a orange bipedal tiger, whose battle gear and surrounding weapons were shining in a bright red fire as they empowered him with their flames (2100/400).

"And he won't be the only one waiting for you on my turn; I activate my face-down; Double Tag Team! When I special summon a Gladiator Beast monster, I get to special summon another level 4 or lower on top of that from my hand or deck!" Next to the tiger a green bird-like man appeared, equipped with silver and grey armor all over its body and wings, along with some red plumes on its head and bracers (1500/800)

"Lucky for you, my Gladiator Beast Bestiari doesn't get to activate its effect like this, but there's something way worse coming for you." Shinji announced with a laugh while Blake ended his turn with another two face-downs.

"Get ready for this; my Gladiator Beast can fusion summon without the need for a Spell as long as they're together on the field! I combine Laquari and Bestiari to summon Gladiator Beast Gyzarus!" The monsters engaged in what looked like lethal combat, until the avian managed to get the upper hand and subsequently took the armor and energy of the other one as their original cards returned to the deck. Out came what was essentially Bestiari in a heavier, darker armor (2400/1500).

"This guy not only packs a stronger punch; he also targets and destroys up to two cards when he gets summoned! Let's thin out your backrow, shall we?" The new monster raised both its wings and shot out greenish sickles of wind which both impacted and destroyed a card each, but not without setting off a chain reaction. Out of the middle of the field erupted a blue torrent of water, flooding away both the freshly fused gladiator and the mad dog.

"Torrential Tribute. No big monster for you." Blake barked with a slight smirk.

Shinji gritted his teeth at that, but he wasn't done just yet. "You might've gotten my bigger monster, but I haven't summoned anything else this turn. I summon Gladiator Beast Andal! Andal, show him who's boss!" The one-eyed humanoid black bear (1900/1500) charged forward and hit home with nothing to stop its attack, drawing first blood for this duel. (Blake 2100 / Shinji 4000)

"Since it's a Normal monster, it doesn't get to tag out. Lucky you."

'You ain't gonna be so smug when I punch your face in, asshole.' Blake thought as he drew, pointedly ignoring the flickering lights above the arena. The urge to just walk over and do exactly that was getting stronger every time the guy opened his mouth. He might've gotten rid of a big threat considering what else that fusion could've done if it had remained on the field, but he was on the back foot.

It was clear that the deck Bastion gave him had been made earlier in the year, as it compared in no way to his newer Zombie deck. While the gimmick of the ace monster the deck was playing around could be problematic for regular decks around this time, pitting it against what would be one of the best decks in the format was a lost cause.

'Why switch decks now of all times? The dragons would've been easily dealt with.' What irked him more than the change in cards was the cards his opponents chose to use. Especially since those were supposed to be his cards. It was getting progressively harder to keep his mouth shut, or else this duel would end with Sheppard having him dragged out of the arena. 'But now I know where the cards are and who's responsible for me never getting them. Surely Katherine can find some dirt on this guys' deadbeat father, then he'll get what he deserves for stealing them.'

He looked down on his deck when he announced his next move. 'You're Bastion's cards, don't let me down now …' "I activate Pot of Greed." He drew the stupid Ritual monster, now he just needed its Spell card. With the level 8 brick on his hand, he at least had the tribute necessary for it, but the odds of drawing that card weren't that high. Unless …

"I set a monster and end my turn." Blake announced. There wasn't much he could do other than hope his opponent wouldn't draw enough damage to end the duel. His remaining face-down was Spirit Barrier, serving the only purpose of boosting his Ritual monster by virtue of simply being face-up on the field. Its own effect didn't serve much purpose, other than nullifying battle damage, so it was dead weight. Of course, his actually useful Call of the Haunted had been destroyed earlier.

He groaned when Shinji activated his next card. "Since I need some other cards to finish you off, I activate Gladiator Beast's Respite! This allows me to shuffle 2 Gladiator Beast cards from my hand into the deck and then draw 3 cards." Of course, he drew that. "Now I summon back a fella I summoned earlier: welcome back Gladiator Beast Laquari!" The tiger man returned (1900/400) and was joined by another smaller and quadrupedal tiger (600/300).

"Since I have a Gladiator Beast on the field, I get to special summon Test Tiger from my hand! This little guy can tribute itself and in turn tag-out one of my Gladiator Beasts to summon another one from my deck! Not only that, the new monster gets full access to its special effects!" The little tiger hopped onto the normally un-taggable Andal and erupted in a small fountain of energy, sending the bear man back to the deck.

"Behold the strongest monster of my main deck: Gladiator Beast Octavius!" A tall avian took the place of the bear, even matching the formers brown color scheme with its feathers. This one was clad in lime-green pieces of armor, with a big metal ring adorned with amber orbs positioned behind its white-feathered head. The taller beast nodded its head to its fellow gladiator before it slightly inclined its head towards Blake in a show of respect.

Blake held his head as its beak moved as if it spoke and the lights flickered once more. He couldn't make out the apparent spirits words through the mix of electric distortion and grinding metal that ringed in his ears, but what little he could make out on the monsters' face at least looked apologetic. 'What the fuck?'

A slice of air destroyed his remaining trap, and while the sudden noises gave him a strong headache, they at least spared him of whatever fuckface over there was saying. Octavius destroyed his set Sangan, which he used to grab a Manju of Ten Thousand Hands so that he could get out his stupid Ritual monster next turn. Whether that was enough remained to be seen. A punch to the guts from Shinji's other monster put his lifepoints dangerously low. (Blake 300 / Shinji 4000)

"Now I shuffle Laquari back into the deck and summon Gladiator Beast Alexander! There's nothing left for you to do, Blake. You had every chance to throw the duel or surrender, but because of your misplaced pride you'll lose without even putting a scratch into my lifepoints!" Shinji shouted before he laughed almost maniacally. The blonde lion gladiator dressed in golden armor repeated the gesture of his avian colleague, but once again no coherent words reached Blake's ears. "I set a card face-down and end my turn. Any last words before this duel is over?"

There were too many swearwords that came to Blake's mind to settle on just one. Instead, he drew his next card with so much spite that it surprised him he didn't rip it on accident. When he saw what it was, he wasn't surprised anymore.

'Let's ruin this little fucks day.' His partner growled

'Spirit Reaper, Mad Dog of Darkness, Sangan. Perfect setup.' Blake realized after he checked his graveyard. 'Pop the backrow, then the monsters, dragon fist to the face. Ritual afterwards for some security, next turn he's down. Can you make it extra painful?'

'Sure! What are you waiting for? Let's fuck him up!'

"Since I have three Dark attribute monsters in my graveyard, I can special summon Dark Armed Dragon from my hand!" He announced with a wicked grin as he slapped down the card and his monster announced itself with a bellowing roar. The sudden drop in his opponent's demeanor and the cheers he got from the side were music to his ears. "Now I activate his effect; I remove one Dark monster from my graveyard from play to destroy your face-down card!"

He watched on as his dragon absorbed the remains of his Mad Dog of Darkness and launched its attack forward, when suddenly a wildly designed chariot first broke through the attack, then through his dragon. His left eye and hand twitched as his comeback was ruined.

This was it. He got him. Not even the ace monster – that somehow survived being torn up? – of his opponent could stand against him. He'd won, eclipsed the bane of his time at the academy in every way.

"Gladiator Beast War Chariot can only be activated while I have a Gladiator Beast on the field. It negates the activation of an Effect monsters' effect and destroys it." Shinji watched on as his opponent stared at the scene in disbelief. Whatever cheers came when the dragon had been summoned died instantly. When he looked to the side he could see Blake's friends grimace, no doubt having realized his loss. Even his queen looked shocked, no doubt because of his flawless execution. She'd be over the moon to have an even stronger, even more loyal duelist by her side. Surely his performance would get him a more physical reward as well.

But somehow, he wasn't satisfied. No, crushing Blake in a duel wasn't enough for everything he did to him. Not after the treatment he received from his fellow dormmates every time he lost to him. The attention he stole from him when he became Kami's right-hand man. The audacity to try and take his place in Obelisk Blue. No, just defeating him in a duel wasn't enough. He'd destroy what was left of his image as well.

"Look at that, the mighty Hound reduced to nothing." He began, rolling his hand towards his opponent as he shook his hand. "And you thought you could be an Obelisk? An elite? Don't make me laugh. Someone like you doesn't deserve that honor. No, a criminal like you shouldn't be at this academy in the first place."

The arena was dead silent, safe for the noisy flickering of the lights which became more and more frequent. He had everyone's attention and he was going to use it. "Everyone here has heard the truth by now, Blake. Everyone knows what you are. Do you honestly believe anyone would accept an underground duelist? An illegal duelist?"

He locked eyes with Blake, the other boys eyes narrowing as they burned into him. "Perhaps some goody two shoes do. Maybe some other would've done so too, skeptical about the whole rumor to begin with." Shinji leaned forward. "But while they might accept someone as dishonorable as that, they surely wouldn't accept a murderer."

The silence that followed felt like an eternity, only to be broken by Chancellor Shepards' thundering voice. "That is enough."

"Is it really, Chancellor?" Shinji argued. "Letting a rabid mutt like that run free at the academy? In public at all? Someone who murdered his own parents?"

He looked over to Blake's little friend group, where the loudest sound of shock came from. "The girls that used to hang around you knew. No wonder they distanced themselves from you, as everyone should. Its only thanks to them that we now know what a dangerous filth you a-"

His lights turned out, both because the light flickered once more and because a sudden hit impacted his face and sent him to the floor, landing on his butt. He screamed out in pain and raised his hands to his face, where warm liquid dripped onto them and the taste of iron filled his mouth. Another impact caused a loud cracking sound in his nose and he pushed him onto his back.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the murderous look in Blake's eyes as he winded up another punch. Genuine fear filled him and he raised his arms protectively, but the next one never hit him. Two burly security men restrained his assailant. Despite the size difference it looked like they struggled a lot to get separate them.

The pain was immense, probably the worst he's ever felt in his entire life. But despite that it couldn't overshadow the feeling of absolute victory.

Yo, sorry this took so long, christmas always takes a lot of energy -. We finally know who's responsible for tearing up Blake's cards, how unexpected. To everyone who's been wondering about what happened to the Gladiator Beast cards: there you go. Considering the decks used in this duel - even if they weren't used at their full potential - gettin ga win against the GBs wasn't going to be easy anyways, not that the duel got a clear finish in the first place. For anyone wondering; the deck Blake used was from Tag Force 1 called "Pitch Darkness" with the addition of DAD.

Speaking about duels, I'm very happy to see that apparently everyone like the duel between Jaden and Jesse. It took quite a while and I wasn't sure if Jaden winning would be appreciated, but it turned out fine. The whole "destroying someone elses cards" will be dealt with soon, but whether Shinji will get through with his ploy or not you'll have to wait and see.

There also were some new guest reviews, some of which raised fair points and quite embarrassing mistakes on my part, while others might've read some stuff wrong, like the tag duel against Titan and Panik. Although I'll take partial blame for writing it a bit weird, Panik did in fact have a turn before Blake finished the duel, he just bricked.
To Harvey Porter, who's perhaps rightfully annoyed at the dark and dramtic turn from this and last chapter; don't you worry - this is about the worst and lowest point in the story. If you guys agree with the wrong tags, please let me know, in which case I'll change them to ... Drama/Supernatural I guess?
For Guest2341, hopefully the explanation given this chapter as to just how Shinji got his hands on Blake's cards is enough for you. If it helps; the "mysterious tall middleman" had his hands in there as well. And just who might that be?
And lastly to diablohunter123: was it really? My thought process here is that with Blake's perfected, trusted deck he'd been using for years in the underworld gone, there's room to grow. Especially with his history laid bare, perhaps a way to let go. Well, that and he wanted to try out new decks anyway but didn't get the chance to. And would it really be GX if no one got their cards destroyed?

Anyway, that's it for me and the pre Shadow Riders arc. Took way longer than I expected, but now we're here! To everyone still reading, thanks for doing so and have a happy new year!