Overseas Champions The Overseas Champions are four duelists from four separate branches of Duel Academy who debut in the third season of the Yu - Gi - Oh ! GX anime . They were enrolled into the original Duel Academy in order to increase the school ' s expanding influence . The champions are the star duelists from their respective schools and therefore allowed to stay in the Obelisk Blue Dorm . These highly - skilled duelists serve as allies to Jaden Yuki and his friends , except for one , who eventually becomes a major antagonist of his own volition . History . Anime . Arriving shortly after the start of the school year in the third season , they are introduced , along with Professor Thelonius Viper , to the students and faculty . Soon after , one of the champions , Jesse Anderson , is selected by Viper to duel Jaden Yuki in a exhibition match , after which Viper introduces the concept of Survival Duels to the student body . During the Survival Duels , the champions act on their own agendas , with both Jesse and Jim Crocodile Cook becoming friends with Jaden and his group . Axel Brodie acts as Viper ' s agent during this time , before being betrayed by him , and later joins Jaden ' s group . Adrian Gecko attempts to discover what Viper ' s true goal is , and sabotage his operations . With the student body falling due to the Survival Duels , both Jaden ' s group and Adrian attempt to stop Viper . When Duel Academy is transported to another dimension , the four champions assist Jaden in engaging Marcel Bonaparte ' s Duel Ghoul s , though Adrian still has his own agenda . They work to find a way to obtain the " Rainbow Dragon " card and return home . They succeed , though Jesse is left trapped in the alternate dimension , and Adrian willingly stays . When Jaden attempts to return to the alternate dimension to rescue Jesse , both Jim and Axel accompany the group . After Jaden ' s fall to darkness and possession by the Supreme King , Jim and Axel work to save him from himself . Jim falls at Jaden ' s hands , but Axel successfully DRAW s with the The King and frees Jaden , at the cost of his own life . After that , Adrian reveals himself and defeats Aster Phoenix , revealing his ambitions to become the monarch of the dimension . Jesse also reappears , though he is now possessed by Yubel . Adrian challenges Yubel for authority over the dimension , but is defeated and absorbed . At the season ' s end , the four champions return to Duel Academy alive , save for Adrian . In the timeskip between the third and fourth season , the three remaining overseas champions returned to their respective branches . Later Axel and Jesse would return to Duel Academy to assist Jaden with stopping Nightshroud . Jim presumably remained at South Academy . Manga . The four champions appear in the manga version , though they all hail from Duel Academy ' s American Branch this time . Jim is immediately revealed as an antagonist and agent of Tragoedia . Tag Duels are set up between the American Duelists and Duel Academy ' s students , but the teams of Jim and Axel and Jesse and Adrian lose to the teams of Syrus Truesdale and Chazz Princeton and Alexis Rhodes and Bastion Misawa , respectively . Through Principal MacKenzie , Tragoedia offers Adrian a place in the Pro League and gives him " The Despair Uranus " , one of the " Legendary Planets " . Unaware of Tragodeia ' s influence over MacKenzie , Adrian accepts , but is defeated by Jaden without ever realizing he was being used . Jesse has previously appeared to be friendly to the protagonists , but reveals that he , to is aligned with Tragoedia during a duel with Syrus . Jim , Adrian , Axel and Jesse all possess one card from the " Legendary Planet " series .