Duel to Stay

After the dueling practice, Solona continued to prepare her deck ready for the upcoming duel. The Expulsion Duels would be in two days but Syrus was still having confidence problems and he still believed that he would hold Jaden back and get him expelled. But now there was another problem for Solona. It was still the weekend and they didn't have school and Solona was with her friends in the Ra Canteen when Bastion came over to the table.

"I'm sorry to interrupt." Bastion apologized. "But I just had word from professor Banner, he has a message for Neria."

"What does Banner want with Neria?" Theorn asked

"Well apparently, Chancellor Sheppard wants to see Neria." Bastion answered

"Why?" Neria asked

"I don't know." Bastion said

So Neria went to Sheppard's office to see what he wanted. When she arrived, he saw Sheppard looking grim.

"You wanted to see me Chancellor?" Neria asked

"I do." Sheppard said. "I'm afraid there's some bad news. We got a call today and someone wants you to come home."

"What!" Neria almost shouted. "But why?"

There was a bleep on the phone. "Well I believe this is them now." Sheppard said and he answered the phone and an image on the screen behind Sheppard. There were two middle aged people, one was a cruel looking woman with long auburn hair and the other was a man with blond hair. Neria knew who they were.

"Mum, Dad?" Neria said

"That's right girl." her mother, Eva said "We want you to come home and give up this foolish game."

"I thought I told you two that I was done with you!" Neria growled. "You tried to take away the one thing I loved and then you tried to force me to do something I didn't want to do. Well I'm not coming home and you can't make me!"

"Watch that attitude young girl!" Her father growled. "We've been able to arrange a Duel, win and you can stay, lose and you come home."

"All right!" Neria growled. "But after I win, I never want to hear from you again!" Neria then stormed out of the room.

...

Solona, Daylen and Theorn were in the Yellow Canteen as they waited for Neria to arrive. She had been called to the Chancellor's office for some reason and now they were waiting for her to come back, when she arrived, Theorn noticed that her eyes were fuming.

"Neria?" He questioned. "What happened?"

"It's my parents." Neria answered. "They want me to come home and I thought I told them to leave me alone."

"What's going on though?" Daylen asked

"Well when I got to the Chancellor's office, my parents contacted him and made him agree to a duel to allow me to stay in Duel Academy." Neria answered

"What would your parents want you to come home?" Solona asked

Neria sighed. "My parents are only working class." She said. "They want me to stay with them so they can run the small corner shop we own. I didn't want that so after my Mom tried to tried to throw my deck away I left, now they want me to return."

"Well you shouldn't do something just because they want you to." Theorn said. "I always followed my heart."

"Well as soon as I win I'll be saying here and then I never want to see them again." Neria added

"Don't get cocky." Daylen said. "But I'm sure that you will win against whoever they sent."

"But take no chances." Solona said and then she reached into her blazer pocket and pulled out two cards. "Take these, they might help you and they go well with your Lightsworns."

Neria took the cards in thanks.

"Thanks Solona." She said.

**Later:**

Later that day, the duel was to be done. Neria's parents had flown to Duel Academy and were sitting near Dr Crowler and Sheppard. Solona and her friends sat with Jaden along with Bastion, Syrus and Chumley. Alexis and Zane were on the balcony watching over the duel. Solona was with Daylen, Theorn, Kallian, Sereda and Faren. Aedan joined them soon afterwards.

"Jaden's in a bad mood." Aedan said

"Why's that?" Solona asked

"He tried to use a duel request form to duel Zane and Crowler tore it up." Aedan answered.

"He sure is desperate to Duel Zane." Daylen said

"He sure is." Theorn agreed.

Neria stood on the dueling field and she watched as her opponent came onto the field. She widened her eyes when she saw who it was.

"Vaughan Kendells?" she said with disgust. Neria's opponent had short auburn hair and a shaved beard, his eyes were filled with arrogance.

"Yes Neria." Vaughan said. "It's me again."

"I thought I showed you never to underestimate me when I beat you in that tournament." Neria said

"Well now I can make you pay for humiliating me." Vaughan said

Aedan watched Neria's opponent. "Uh Oh, I know this guy."

"You know him?" Daylen asked

"Sadly yes." Aedan said. "He's a bully just like some of the Obelisks. He was a second year but he was expelled from Duel Academy when he tried to assault several students."

"And now Neria's parents want him to force their daughter to come home." Faren said. "And I thought my parents were bad. My parents are just drunks."

Neria and Vaughan drew their opening hands.

**"Duel!"**

**Neria: 8000**

**Vaughan: 8000**

"I'll start this duel off." Vaughan said. "I'll start by summoning Robotic Knight in attack mode." A robot like soldier holding a sabre sword appeared on Vaughan's field (Level 4 Attack 1600 Defense 1800) "And then I'll throw two cards face down and end my turn."

"My turn." Neria said as she drew her sixth card. "I think I'll start with Charge of the Light Brigade, so by discarding the top 3 cards of my deck, I can add 1 level 4 or below Lightsworn monster to my hand so I pick my Garoth Lightsworn Warrior. Also, since my Wulf Lightsworn Beast was one of the three cards sent to the graveyard, its ability allows me to special summon it to the field." The large white cat monster with large claws and wielding a battleaxe appeared on Neria's field (Level 4 Attack 2100 Defense 300) "And then as I haven't normal summoned yet, I summon Shining Angel to the field." A male angel with blond hair and large yellow wings was summoned alongside Wulf (Level 4 Attack 1400 Defense 800) "And now Wulf will destroy your Robotic Knight." Wulf swung his axe and smashed Robotic knight.

**Neria: 8000**

**Vaughan: 7500**

"And now my Shining Angel will attack you directly." Neria added and Shining Angel sent a blast of blue light from his hands which engulfed Vaughen

**Neria: 8000**

**Vaughan: 6100**

"And finally I'll throw one card face down and then end my turn" Neria finished

"My turn, and don't think that this is over yet." Vaughan snarled. "First I activate my face down Call of the Haunted to bring back my Robotic Knight." Robotic Knight returned to the field. "And now I'll sacrifice my Knight to summon his master, the Machine King." The Knight disappeared and was replaced with a large robot (Level 6 Attack 2200 Defense 2000) "And he gains 100 attack points for every machine on the field" (MK Attack 2200-2300) "And now my Machine King will destroy your Shining Angel." Machine King sent out a blast from his arms and destroyed Shining Angel.

**Neria: 7100**

**Vaughan: 6100**

"Then I'll end there with one last face down." Vaughan said

"Oh but now I activate my Angel's effect which allows me to summon Aurkus Lightsworn Druid." Neria said and a Lightsworn monster holding a leather tome appeared on the field (Level 3 Attack 1200 Defense 1800) "And now that it's my turn, I draw." Neria drew a card. "I think I'll summon Garoth Lightsworn Warrior to the field" A male warrior holding a spear appeared on Neria's field (Level 4 Attack 1850 Defense 1300) "And now I'll equip my Garoth with Lightning Blade to increase his attack points by 800) The spear was replaced by a large sword covered with Lightning. (GLW Attack 1850-2650) "And now my Warrior will destroy your Machine King." Garoth charged at Machine King but Vaughan activated a trap "I play my trap card Sakuretsu Armour which destroys your Garoth." A magical black armor equipped itself to Garoth and he groaned in pain before shattering. Now Neria had no monsters strong enough to destroy Vaughan's monsters. "Fine I end my turn which means I have to discard 2 cards because of Aurkus"

"Ha it's my turn again." Vaughan laughed "And I think I'll summon Card Trooper to the field" A small robot with tank wheels and cannon arms appeared on the field (Level 3 Attack 400 Defense 400)

"What's he going to do with that?" Kallian asked in the stands. "It doesn't have enough attack points to take out Wulf or Aurkus."

"Now I activate Card Trooper's special ability, I discard the top 3 cards from my deck and then Card Trooper gains 500 for each." Vaughan said (CT Attack 400-1900) "Also, my machine kings gains an extra 100 attack points (MK Attack 2300-2400) "Now my Card Trooper takes out your Aurkus and my Machine King takes out your Wulf." Both of Neria's monsters were destroyed

**Neria: 6100**

**Vaughan: 6100**

"Now it's your move" Vaughan laughed

"My turn" Neria said "I summon Jain, Lightsworn Paladin in attack mode" The female warrior Lightsworn in armor and holding a sword appeared on Neria's field (Level 4 Attack 1800 Defence 1200) "And now Jain will attack your Card Trooper since it's attack points go back to normal" Jain's sword destroyed Card Trooper.

**Neria: 6100**

**Vaughan: 4700**

"And I'll end my turn by placing one card face down." Neria finished

"My turn again." Vaughan said "Now I play monster reborn to bring back my Card Trooper, but he won't be back for long cause I'm going to sacrifice him in order to summon out Jinzo." Card Trooper returned to the field only to be engulfed in a bright light and was replaced by a machine with green armor and a human like face with a brain. (Level 6 Attack 2400 Defense 1500)

"Oh no." Solona said in the stands. "With that now Neria can no longer activate trap cards."

"Now my Machine King has 2400 attack points since Jinzo is out" Vaughan added. "Now Jinzo, destroy her Jain."

'Oh no.' Neria thought. 'Thanks to Jinzo I can't activate my Lightsworm Barrier trap card.' Neria was helpless as a bright red light from Jinzo' eyes zapped Jain and destroyed her.

**Neria: 5500**

**Vaughan: 4700**

"And now Machine King will attack you directly." Vaughan added and Machine King punched Neria in the chest.

**Neria: 3100**

**Vaughan: 4700**

"Now I'll end my turn." Vaughan said. "Make your move cause it's your last."

"Don't think so." Neria said as she drew her card and smiled. "I play the spell card Foolish Burial in order to send my Lyla Lightsworn Sorceress from my deck to the graveyard."

"Why would you do that?" Vaughan questioned.

"So I can summon one of my most powerful monsters." Neria answered. "Since I have 4 lightsworns in my graveyard, Lyla, Jain, Wulf and Garoth, I can now summon my Judgement Dragon to the field." A large dragon with purple scales and red claws appeared on Neria's field (Level 8 Attack 3000 Defense 2600) "And now I activate his effect which allows me to sacrifice 1000 life points to destroy all other cards on the field." Judgement glowed as a bright light engulfed the field and destroyed every card on the field including Neria's face downs and both Vaughan's monsters.

**Neria: 2100**

**Vaughan: 4700**

"And now you're wide open for an attack, so go Judgement, attack him directly with Justice Blast." Neria added and a blast of purple light emerged from Judgement's mouth which engulfed Vaughan.

**Neria: 2100**

**Vaughan: 1700**

"I end my turn there." Neria said

"That was just luck." Vaughan said as he drew a card. "I activate Pot of Greed to draw two more cards and then Graceful Charity to draw three as long as I discard 2. Now I play Monster Reborn to bring back the monster I discarded, Unicycular." A small red mechanical unicycle appeared on Vaughan's field. (Level 1 Attack 100 Defense 100)

'Why would he summon that, it's weak and only has 100 attack points and no effect' Neria thought.

"Now I play the spell card Machine Duplication which allows me to summon a second Unicycular." Vaughan said as a second one appeared. "But they won't be around long as I'll now sacrifice them in order to summon Perfect Machine King." A red and white machine bigger than Machine King appeared Neria's field (Level 8 Attack 2700 Defense 1500) "And my Machine King gains 500 attack points for every machine monster on the field."

"One problem." Neria said. "There are no other Machine monsters on the field"

"Well not for long." Vaughan laughed. "I activate the spell card Clockwork Night."

In the stands, Daylen gasped. "That's not good."

"Why is that?" Faren asked

"With Clockwork Night on the field, all of Neria's monsters become machine types and they lose 500 attack points and Vaughan's machine monsters now gain 500 attack points." Theorn said

As Theorn said, Judgement Dragon became a metallic dragon and lost attack points (JD Attack 3000-2500) "Now my Machine King gains 1000 attack points." Vaughan laughed (PNK Attack 2700-4700) "Now Perfect Machine King will attack your dragon." The two large turrets on Perfect Machine King fired and destroyed Judgement.

**Neria: 900**

**Vaughan: 1700**

"It's your move." Vaughan said as Machine King's attack points lowered since Judgement was gone (PMK Attack 3700-3200)

'He may have thrown me into the back, but this duel isn't over yet.' Neria thought. "My draw" Neria looked at her card. "I play Pot of Greed to draw two more cards, now I place a monster face down and then a face down and end there." Neria said. 'If he walks into my trap, then my Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter will destroy his Perfect Machine King thanks to his ability and then I can end this duel on my next turn, and I still have my Negate Attack as well.

Vaughan laughed as he drew his card. "I know your plan Neria." Vaughan laughed "That face down Monster is a trap but I'm not going to fall for it, I play the spell card Nobleman of Crossout which banished the card." Neria gasped as Ryko was destroyed. "There's more, since it was a Flip effect, you now have to banish every monster with the same name in your deck." Neria was forced to banish the other copy of Ryko in her deck. "This duel is over." Vaughan laughed. "Now my Machine King will finish this duel. Perfect Machine King, end this duel, attack Neria directly."

"Neria!" All her friends yelled and her parents laughed as now their daughter would be forced to come home but were cut off by Neria's trap card.

"I play a trap, Negate Attack which end this battle and ends the battle phase." Neria said. "That was close."

"It was." Vaughan said. "But on my next turn, this duel is over"

"Then I better not lose." Neria said as she drew a card. "I play Card of Sanctity so now we both draw until we have 6 cards in our hand." Neria and Vaughan drew until they had 6 cards "Now I summon Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner to the field" A blond haired woman appeared on Neria's field (Level 3 Attack 1000 Defense 1000) "And now I use her ability to discard 1 card and summon Lyla from my graveyard." Her black haired Lightsworn appeared on Neria's field (Level 4 Attack 1700 Defense 200)

"Don't forget, both your monsters become Machines and lose attack points." Vaughan laughed as Lyla and Lumina became mechanical robots. (LLS Attack 1700-1200) (LLS Attack 1000-500) (PMK Attack 3200-4200)

"That's about to change." Neria said. "Because I activate Lyla's effect, by switching her to defense mode, your Clockwork Night is destroyed." The spell was destroyed and the monsters returned to normal. (LLS Attack 500-1000, Attack LLS 1200-1700, PMK Attack 4200-2700) "And my monsters won't be around for long, because now I play Polymerization to fuse Lyla along with Raiden Hand of the Lightsworn in my hand to summon my fusion monster, Michael, the Arch Lightsworn." A human warrior dressed in golden armor and riding a white dragon appeared on Neria's field (Level 7 Attack 2600 Defense 2000)

"It's the card I gave her." Solona said

"And now I activate the spell card Shrink in hand to half your perfect Machine King's attack points." Neria added (PMK Attack 2700-1350) "My Michael, destroy his monster" Michael's dragon dived down and Michael thrust the spear he held and destroyed Machine King.

**Neria: 900**

**Vaughan: 450**

"This duel's over." Neria added. "Now Lumina will end this duel, attack Vaughan directly."

Lumina summoned a yellow ball of light and sent it at Vaughan, ending the duel.

**Neria: 900 (Winner)**

**Vaughan: 0000**

"And I win." Neria said and then she looked at her parents. "So now you must hold your end of the deal. Let me make this clear to you, I don't want to hear from you again, it doesn't matter if you disown me because I don't care, I have a new family here, my friends." She indicated to Solona and her friends who smiled.

Neria's mother glared at her. "You're no daughter of mine." She snarled and she left followed by Neria's dad.

Neria then went back to her friends.

"I'm glad you're staying." Solona said

"I'm glad I'm staying too." Neria said

"Well now I guess I should try and stop Jaden from trying to duel Zane" Aedan said

"Jaden's stubborn that's the problem." Daylen said

"Do you think that Jaden could beat Zane?" Kallian asked

"From what I heard from Alexis and Sereda, Zane's a third year and could do well in the pros, he's never lost a duel before." Solona replied

"There's a first time for everything." Faren said receiving a glare from everyone. "What?"

"Jaden may underestimate Zane, he's smart and calculating, he always lets his opponents get the upper hand before pulling out his ace monster to end the duel. This isn't going to be easy for Jaden." Daylen said

...

The next day was hell. First it was Dr Crowler's class and there was a big exam on Dueling. Solona never had enough time to study as she was preparing for her upcoming duel the next day and she still had no idea who she would be dueling. Solona tried her best and as usual, Syrus and Jaden slept through it. Then when the tests ended, Solona did some more reading in the Library about the Venatori but still found little and there was nothing about the Seekers which the second journal described. Then when she left the main hall to go back to the Ra dorm to meet with her friends, there were problems. As she came past the Obelisk Blue Boys Dorm, Solona saw her friend Aedan helping a soaking wet Jaden. She walked up to them. "What happened?" Solona asked

"Jaden here tried to get Zane to come and duel him, other Obelisks pushed him to the ground and one poured water over him. I managed to get him here before he got in even more trouble." Aedan said

"Why am I not surprised." Solona said. "Not every Obelisk is like Aedan or Alexis, many sadly are just snobs."

Well one way or another I will duel Zane." Jaden said

"The first thing you're doing in getting dried up and changing into fresh clothes." Aedan scolded

...

Later Solona was back at the Ra dorm, she was with Neria, Daylen and Theorn. She was worried about tomorrow as if she lost the duel tomorrow, she would be expelled. Solona was more worried about Syrus as he was still having confidence problems. Syrus was worried that he would cause Jaden to lose the duel. Solona knew that Dr Crowler was desperate to get Jaden expelled and would likely get great duellists to duel them so that Jaden would defiantly be expelled.

But while they were talking, someone else came into the canteen, someone who Solona was not expecting.

"Kallian?" Solona said. "What are you doing here, this is the Ra canteen, you could get in big trouble."

"I know but I had no choice." Kallian said. "It's Syrus, he gone."

"Gone?" Daylen questioned. "what do you mean gone?"

"Jaden went to check on Syrus and his bed was empty, there was a note saying that he's leaving Duel Academy. Jaden, Chumley, Faren and I have looked everywhere for him but we can't find him."

"Well we'll come and help." Theorn said.

...

Meanwhile, Jaden was searching the cliffs for Syrus, no matter what he believed, Syrus was a great duellist, he just had confidence issues and needed to believe in himself. He soon found Syrus hiding in one of the caves.

"Syrus" Jaden called. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm making this easier for you." Syrus said. "I'm no duelist, I'm leaving Duel Academy."

"Oh no you're not" Jaden said. "You're a great duelist Sy, you just need to believe in your deck."

"It's not that, I'm a failure, eailer today I learned the truth about the Duel Exam." Syrus said

"What are you talking about, you duelled well and you beat Kallian." Jaden replied

Syrus shook his head. "She let me win, I saw the footage, she had Mirror Force on her field, she choose not to activate it and she let me win."

It was at that point that Solona as well as her friends and Kallian arrived who looked guilty.

"I'm sorry Syrus." Kallian said. "I was only trying to help your confidence."

"It doesn't matter." Syrus said. "I'm a failure."

Then Zane and Alexis came. "So little brother, you want to leave? Well I'm not surprised"

Jaden was shocked that Zane could be treating his brother like this.

"What kind of a brother are you!" Jaden shouted. "A big brother should be helping his brother."

"Jaden stay out of this." Solona said

"Sister's right." Daylen agreed. "This has nothing to do with us."

"Well it does with me, Sy's my friend and I'm going to help him." Jaden said and he looked at Zane. "Duel me Zane."

Zane smirked and agreed while Solona groaned.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." She replied

...

Later, Zane and Jaden were near the Lighthouse as they stood opposite each other. Alexis, Syrus as well as Solona and her friends stood to the side watching.

"All right then Zane." Jaden called. "Get your Game on."

**"Duel"**

**Zane: 8000**

**Jaden: 8000**

"I start this duel." Jaden said as he drew his sixth card. "I summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman in attack mode." The blue warrior with water pistols appeared on the field (Level 4 Attack 800 Defense 1200) "And thanks to his ability, since he's the only monster out, I can draw two cards, then I'll equip him with bubble Blaster." A large water Cannon appeared on Bubbleman's shoulders (EHB Attack 800-1600) "Now I'll call it a turn"

"My move then." Zane said simply. "And I summon Cyber Dragon in attack mode." A robotic dragon appeared on the field (Level 5 Attack 2100 Defence 1600)

"Wait, that's a level 5 monster." Faren said "How can he summon it out."

"This is a special summon." Zane answered. "If you have a monster out and I don't, then I can special summon Cyber Dragon. And since I can still normal summon, I summon Cyber Phoenix in attack mode." A robotic bird appeared next to Cyber Dragon (Level 4 Attack 1200 Defense 1600) "And now Cyber Dragon attack Bubbleman." Cyber Dragon let out a burst of light which engulfed Bubbleman but the monster wasn't destroyed.

"Sorry but when Bubbleman is attacked with Bubble Blaster, it's the blaster that's destroyed instead and I take no damage." Jaden said and the Blaster shattered (EHB Attack 1600-800)

"But now my Cyber Phoenix can destroy Bubbleman." Cyber Phoenix let a fire breath which destroyed Bubbleman

**Jaden: 7600**

**Zane: 8000**

"And now I'll activate Different Dimension Capsule, now I select 1 card in my deck and it is removed from play, but in two turns the card is added to my hand." Zane added and then a coffin rose up from the ground and a card went into it before it disappeared.

"That must be Zane's best card." Jaden said to himself. "I can't wait to see what it is."

"It's your move now Jaden." Zane finished

"Sweet." Jaden said and he drew another card. "I activate the spell card Polymerization which allows me to fuse Elemental Hero's Sparkman and Clayman in my hand to summon Elemental Hero Hunter Giant." A blue and yellow warrior with lightning coming from his fists came onto the field (Level 6 Attack 2400 Defense 1500) "And now I activate Thunder Giant's effect which allows me to destroy your Cyber Dragon." Thunder Dragon let out a bolt of lightning which caused Cyber Dragon to overpower and explode. "And now Thunder Giant will destroy your Phoenix" Thunder Giant let out a powerful Electric Storm which destroyed Cyber Phoenix.

**Jaden: 7600**

**Zane: 6800**

"Then I'll throw a face down and end my turn." Jaden finished

"All right" Kallian said "Jaden's winning the duel."

"Don't think this is over yet" Alexis said. "Zane still has tricks up his sleeves."

"My draw." Zane said. "I activate Monster Reborn to bring back my Cyber Dragon." The mechanical Dragon reappeared on the field "And now I activate my own Polymerization to fuse Cyber Dragon along with another in my hand to summon Cyber Twin Dragon." A two headed mechanical Dragon appeared on Zane's field (Level 8 Attack 2800 Defense 2100) "And my Cyber can attack twice so go, destroy Jaden's Thunder Giant." The first head attacked and destroyed Thunder Giant.

**Jaden: 7200**

**Zane: 6800**

"And my Cyber Twin can attack again, so attack Jaden directly." Zane added and the second head attacked Jaden.

**Jaden: 4400**

**Zane: 6800**

"Jaden!" Syrus yelled

"And now I'll throw two cards facedown and call it a turn." Zane finished

"My turn." Jaden said. "And now I play Fusion recovery to recover my Elemental Hero Clayman and a Polymerization from my Graveyard and add them to my hand." Jaden said and the two cards returned to the field. "Now I'll use Polymeriation to fuse Clayman and Avian in my hand in order to summon Elemental Hero Great Tornado." A warrior in green armor and fans at the hands appeared on the field (Level 8 Attack 2800 Defense 2200) "And thanks to Tornado's ability, he halves your Cyber Twin's attack points." (CTD Attack 2800-1400) "And now Tornado will attack your Cyber Twin." Great Tornado sent a large gust of wind at Cyber Twin but Zane activated his facedown card.

"I activate De-Fusion which separates Cyber Twin back into the normal Cyber Dragons." Zane said and Cyber Twin broke apart and the two Cyber Dragons appeared on the field.

"My Great Tornado can still attack one Cyber Dragon." The gust of wind blew one of the Cyber Dragons away."

**Jaden: 4400**

**Zane: 6100**

"And I'll end my turn by placing one card." Jaden finished

"My turn and since it's been two turns, the card I removed with Different Dimension Capsule returns to my hand." Zane called and the Coffin returned and opened and the card that was in it was added to Zane's hand. "And now I activate my face down Call of the Haunted which allows me to bring back my Cyber Dragon, now I play the spell card Photon Generator Unit, here's how it works, I sacrifice two Cyber Dragons so I can summon the Cyber Laser Dragon." The two Cyber Dragons merged and a large mechanical dragon with a laser at the end of the tail appeared on the field (Level 7 Attack 2400 Defense 1800)

"Why would he summon that?" Faren asked. "It doesn't have enough attack points to destroy Jaden's Great Tornado."

"Yeah but Laser's ability can." Theorn said. "Once per turn, Cyber Laser Dragon can destroy one monster with equal or more attack or defence points than Laser Dragon's attack points."

"The Ra's right, so Laser Dragon, destroy Great Tornado with Blue Lightning Lash." The laser on the tail sent a powerful blue laser beam which caused Great Tornado to groan in pain before exploding. Now Jaden's field was empty."

"Oh and now that your field is empty, Laser Dragon can now attack you directly, go Blue Lightning Blast." A burst of blue light came from Cyber Laser's mouth but Jaden activated a trap.

"I activate my Trap card." Jaden said. "A Hero Emerges, now you select one card in my hand and if it's a monster then I can summon it."

Zane picked. "The far left."

"You chose Elemental Hero Burstinatrix, so I'll play her in defense mode." Jaden said and the black haired, red armored Pyro monster appeared on the field kneeling down (Level 3 Attack 1200 Defence 800)

"Fine them, Cyber Laser, destroy Burstinatrix." Zane said and the Blue Blast destroyed Jaden's monster but Jaden protected his Life points. "It's your move now."

"Man Jaden just saved himself from taking a big hit then." Daylen said

"There's a reason why Zane's the best duelist here." Alexis said

"So unless the card that Zane removed was Photon Generator Unit, Jaden's in big trouble." Solona added

"My move then." Jaden said. "And now I activate Pot of Greed to draw two more cards." Jaden drew two more cards. 'I've got to destroy that Laser Dragon' Jaden thought and then he looked at the cards in his hand and smiled "I activate the spell card Miracle Fusion."

"Miracle Fusion?" Kallian questioned. "What does that do?"

"It's like my Dragon's mirror" Solona said. "It allows Jaden to fuse monsters on his field and Graveyard by removing them from play."

"Solona's right." Jaden said. "So now I fuse my Elemental Heroes Clayman and Bubbleman in my graveyard to summon Elemental Hero Gaia." The black armored warrior appeared on the field (Level 6 Attack 2200 Defense 2600) "And now thanks to his ability, I can half the attack points of your Cyber Laser and add them to my Gaia." Gaia glowed as Cyber Laser lost power. (CLD Attack 2400-1200 EHG Attack 2200-3400) "Now Elemental Hero Gaia, destroy Cyber Laser." Gaia sent one of his fists forward and destroyed Cyber Laser Dragon."

**Jaden: 4400**

**Zane: 3900**

"Now I'll end my turn so my Gaia returns to normal." Jaden said as Gaia's attack points returned to normal (EHG Attack 3400-2200

"My move then." Zane said. "And I activate Card of Sanctity so now we both draw until we have 6 cards in our hands." Jaden and Zane both drew until they had 6 cards in their hands. Jaden smile when he saw the cards in his hands.

"Winged Kuriboh and Transcendent Wings." Jaden said to himself, 'With these cards I could win the duel.' He thought but Zane smirked.

"I activate the Spell Card Machine build-up, with this card; I can discard two cards to add 2 Machine monsters from the Graveyard to my hand, so I select the two Cyber Dragons." Zane said and his two Cyber Dragons returned to his hand. "And now I activate my spell card Power Bond."

"Oh no, that's Zane's best card." Syrus said

"Now I fuse the two Cyber Dragons I brought back along with a third one I drew thanks to Card of Sanctity so I can summon the all mighty Cyber End Dragon." Zane said and a massive 3 headed robotic dragon came onto the field (Level 10 Attack 4000 Defense 2800) "Of course with Power Bond, I take damage equal to Cyber End's original attack points at the end of the turn but now my Monster's attack points double." (CED Attack 4000-8000)

"8000 attack points." Jaden said shocked

"It's over." Zane said. "Cyber End Dragon, destroy Elemental Hero Gaia and the rest of Jaden's Life points." The three heads opened wide and they all let out a blue blast of light which engulfed Gaia and he exploded

**Jaden: 0000**

**Zane: 3900 (Winner)**

"Jaden!" Syrus yelled and he ran over to him. "Are you all right?"

"I've never felt better." Jaden said and he looked at Zane. "I see why you're the best. I want a rematch sometime."

Zane said nothing and he walked away followed by Alexis.

"Hey Zane, so what do you think?" She asked

"I think my little brother has found the perfect friends." Zane said

When Zane and Alexis were gone, Solona crossed her arms and looked at Jaden "I did tell you that you shouldn't underestimate Zane" She said

"All right then you were right." Jaden said. "But it was still a sweet duel. You should challenge him one day."

"Maybe he's right sis." Daylen added. "You could beat him"

"I would rather wait until I'm ready to duel him." Solona said. "And while this was good we should get back to our dorms, the duels are tomorrow and I need to prepare." Solona then walked off followed by Theorn, Neria and Daylen. Jaden and Syrus went back to the Slifer Dorm followed by Chumley, Kallian and Faren. Syrus was now a bit more confident in himself.

...

Meanwhile, Dr Crowler was in his office, he was looking for someone to duel Solona tomorrow. He had already chosen a group of strong Tag Duellist for Jaden and Syrus' duel but there were so many candidates for the Duel with Solona. Crowler didn't know who to pick. Solona Amell was a good duellist and Crowler wanted to give her a challenge. Then as he was searching on his computer, a new screen showed up.

"What is this?" Crowler wondered

"Greeting Dr Crowler." A voice from the computer said. "I heard that you're looking for a duellist to Duel this Solona Amell, well my friend would be more than willing to do it."

Crowler was about to repay and ask who this was but then his mind cleared and he couldn't think properly. "Yes of course." Crowler said though he wasn't in his own mind. "You'll be perfect."

"My thanks Dr Crowler" the voice said.

...

Back in Domino city, Livius watched as the Spirit of the Elder one appeared. "Well my master, were you successful?" he asked

"Yes Livius, I was." The Elder one said. "We've got the Duel with the Amell girl."

"So master who's going to duel?" Alexius asked

"You shall Alexius, I want you to prove your loyalty to me." The Elder One replied. "But be warned, I'm taking no chances, so take this." The Elder One handed Alexius a duelling card. "Show the Amell the True power of the Old Gods."

"Yes master I shall." Alexius said

"I've managed to get you on the next plane there, Crowler is paying for the flights." The Elder one added. "Now get going."

Alexius left but after he left, Livius turned to him.

"Are you sure we can trust him with this?" Livius asked "You know he's only doing this for his son."

"Well this shall see if he truly is loyal to me." The Elder One replied. "But soon we shall all but one of the Old Gods in our hands, then we'll just have to find the last one. And when we have the Amell girl, we'll see if we can make her one of us, we could use a duelist like her among our ranks." The Elder One laughed and Livius joined in at their master plan.