(Just quickly: this chapter will involve Jaden, Alexis and Chazz in their point of views. Enjoy!)

Jaden POV

I stood in front of the Chancellors head office, slightly hesitant to knock on the door and enter. It was really hard to do so when I just kept on thinking back to the last time I spoke to Sheppard, back in my time. He was there to thank me on the behalf of every other student for saving them.

But before that, it was when I handed in my drop out forms, which meant that I was quitting the Academy and leaving forever. He was shocked and confused by my choice, but at the time I was so desperate to leave so that my friends could be safe from all the danger that came to them because of me. I never thought about what everyone else felt when I left and it proved to be my second biggest regret.

I was considering on knocking the door, but I just couldn't. I was so nerve racked that I couldn't even move my arm to knock the door. Just then, Crowler came around the hallway corner and saw me standing in front of the chancellors office.

"And what do you think you're doing here, Mr Yuki?" he said in a stern voice. "Aren't you suppose to be at your dorm getting settled in?"

"I have a meeting with Chancellor Sheppard," I said, looking back at the door. "But I'm not sure if he's in or not."

"Have you considered knocking?" Crowler asked sarcastically.

Before I could answer that, he knocked on the door. "Chancellor, you've got a Mr Jaden Yuki out here. He says he's got an meeting with you."

Just then, the door opened and there stood Sheppard in his dark red suit, his hands behind his back. He looked just as I remembered: friendly, yet firm when he had to be when things got serious. I was okay with that, since things got pretty serious in my third year and he was there to convince me back.

He looked at me, and smiled. "Hello. You must be Jaden. I'm Chancellor Sheppard, Headmaster of the Academy."

I shook his hand nervously. "Good to meet you, sir."

He frowned at me. "You look a little nervous, Jaden. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'm alright," I said quickly. "Just...a little out of my comfort zone being here, that's all."

"Well, not to worry," Sheppard said with a kind smile. "I'm sure Dr. Crowler and the rest of the staff will be able to make sure you're settled in no time."

Unless Crowler tries getting me expelled again, I thought in annoyance.

Sheppard waved me into his office, and I walked inside. I immediately sat down in front of his office desk while he sat behind it, grabbing a folder that had my name on it. Student Profiles, I suddenly thought. The Academy staff had several profiles on most of the students - if they had a special needs case or something like that. My dad thought that I had some form of schizophrenia, since I always told him that I could see Duel Monster spirits, which he didn't believe of course. Then came the time when I told my mom that I couldn't handle the nightmares of seeing Yubel burning, and I knew that it would get worse. It got so bad that I had to go under several operations in order to make my memories of Yubel dormant; an act that I now regret to this day.

Jeez, even thinking about gives me a headache. But at least I know that it's in the past now. I can see spirits because of the Gentle Darkness powers I inherited from the Supreme King. Plus, I knew everyone in my time believed my story.

I tried explaining the whole story to my parents who I met before I went on my adventures, but my dad still wouldn't believe me. He passed it off as me being delusional and paranoid. Heh, he never changes.

Only my mom believed me when I told her. She always knew that I was special, and always thought that my dad was being too harsh on me. He just simply refuses to understand me at all.

Come to think of it, I haven't thought much about my mom. If I remembered correctly, she gave me enough money to last two days before I could enter the Duel Exam. I guess that I could give her a call when the meeting with Sheppard is over.

"Well, based on your profile, you're definitely quite the case," Sheppard said, looking through my most of the folder containing information of me. "A huge fan of Duel Monsters, and judging by your duelling history and records, quite the opponent. A user of the Elemental HERO's... but according to Dr. Crowler, you use a wider range of cards, is that true?"

"Yes sir," I nodded. "It's not just HERO's I use in my deck. I also use cards that I personally designed, and are approved by Industrial Illusions and KaibaCorp respectively. They're known as the Neo-Spacians, and I can use them to fuse with my signature card Elemental HERO Neos without the use of Polymerization."

"Remarkable," Sheppard said with a smile. "May I see this deck?"

I nodded, bringing out my deck and placing it on the desk. Sheppard started looking through it, looking at each card with a twinkle in his eyes. Crowler stood over his shoulder, peeking at my cards intensely.

"Like he's gonna find a way to beat your deck," Yubel sarcastically said to me in her astral form, looking at Crowler with a look of amusement.

"Incredible," Sheppard finally said, handing my deck back to me. "A wide range of strategies in one deck. No wonder why my associate lost to you so quickly."

Crowler went red faced, and I thought that he would blow a gasket right there and then, but he quickly calmed himself down.

"Sir, with all due respect, I just duel for the fun of it," I honestly told him. "I came here only to learn how I could improve myself. I just hope that it pays off."

"I assure you Jaden, that you will indeed learn how to improve your duelling skills here," Sheppard said. "But judging by what it's said here in your profile, I'm not surprised if you rise to become one of the top students here."

I smiled. Sheppard had always been like an elderly grandfather to me. I mean, Banner filled in the role as second father since he hung out more with me than my dad ever did, but Sheppard helped me out big time throughout my time at Duel Academy. "Thanks sir. I appreciate it."

The chancellor nodded. He looked at the clock on his wall. "Oh, look at the time. You best get back to your dorm. I'm sure Professor Banner will be wondering where you are."

I nodded, before getting to my feet and started towards the door. I was about to grab the door handle when—

"What about Atticus and Yusuke?" Banner said telepathically to me. "Shouldn't we try and ask about them? This could be our chance to try and find them."

"We got to play this out, Banner," I thought back to him. "We'll find Atticus and Yusuke in our own way. But for now, let's just wait until the time is right."

"Is there something wrong, Jaden?" Sheppard asked at his desk.

I shook my head, smiling. "Nothings wrong, sir. See ya'."

I opened the door and walked out.
============
"How was the meeting?" Syrus asked me when I got back in.

I shrugged. "It was alright I guess. Sheppard seems like an okay kind of guy." I collapsed onto the vacant coach. "Man, I'm beat."

Pharaoh, who was lying on the coach, immediately sat on my lap, purring loudly once more. I just smiled, and stroked the cat.

Syrus sat down on the floor, bringing his deck out and spreading it out on the table in front. I knew he used the Roid Deck, but it still makes me smile at how he can improve his duelling skills. He briefly held Power Bond, without even looking at it, and placed it to one side, not picking it up again.

"Man, I wished that I could be able to duel," Syrus sighed. "And I hope my opponent isn't too tough, otherwise I'll never get through the Academy."

I thought about it, until I remembered that today was the day when I would duel Chazz. I smiled a little at that. But then again, do I want to duel Chazz? The first time it happened was because it was an ante duel, but I'm starting to get the feeling that it would be quite different.

"You know what, Sy?" I said, standing up and attaching my duel disk to my wrist again. "You want a improve, I'll help ya'."

Syrus's eyes widened. "What, you're gonna teach me?"

I smiled. "You can say that. We'll sneak into the duelling hall, and get our game on there. Sounds alright to you?"

Syrus thought about it, then nodded before getting all his cards together. "Let's do it."
=========
"Why is your duel disk differently coloured than all the others?"

Me and Syrus were about a few corridors away from the duelling field before he asked me that question. I looked down at my duel disk—it was the same basic colour as all the other duel disks, but it had several red hues on it: the outline of it was trimmed in scarlet red; the graveyard section was red and the centre piece was wrapped around in a ruby his colour.

"I kind've got it customised some time ago," I said, remembering when I got back from the Dark World Dimension and received the duel disk. "If I'm gonna duel, then I'm doing it in style."

Syrus seemed to buy it. "You're a little strange, you know that? I can't put my finger on it but... it feels like I've seen you somewhere before we met."

I didn't look at him, but I did frown on that last part. "I don't know what you mean."

"I can't explain it," the light blue haired duellist said. "I just keep getting random images and thoughts, all of them containing you. Almost like... Like we've known each other in a different time or something." He smiled. "I'm sure it's nothing. Besides, how weird would that be? I barely even know you, but yet somehow I feel like I've known you for years. Now, let's get to the duelling field! Race ya'!"

He ran onwards ahead of me, leaving me walking slowly as I followed him. I kept on thinking about what he said, and it completely shocked me.

"How did he know that?" the Supreme King demanded, his arms crossed as he appeared, a stunned look on his face. "How can he know we've actually known him in our own time? That should be impossible."

"Maybe with Jaden being here in this time causes some sort of temporal disturbance," Banner reasoned, his hand under his chin. "The more changes to this timeline he makes, and the slight change in behaviour might cause some sort of memories from the students we know in the future to somehow merge with the ones in this time."

"Does that mean they might actually remember who I really am?" I asked them. "Everyone who we all know in our time... All of their memories are somehow merging with the ones in this time? If that's true, then this is bad."

"By how do you mean?" the Supreme King asked.

"Well, if all of my friends can remember who I am, then that means every enemy I faced will as well," I said, the sense of dread I felt about facing my enemies again returning to me. "That means that Nightshroud will know about me being back in this time to stop him, and when he does, it's bad news for us."

The Supreme King fell silent after that. He must've thought the same thing as I did, since me and him share the same thoughts and feelings. He knows all too well what facing Nightshroud is like—I knew I didn't think about it back then, but I felt him when I first fought Nightshroud when he controlled Atticus.

Shaking my head and clearing my thoughts for now, I started following Syrus towards the duel arena, which happened to be right at the end of the hallway in front of us. Knowing exactly what was going to happen, I started prepping my duel disk as I continued walking, placing my deck into the deck holder.

It looked just as I remembered: the whole room was built like a massive stadium—four massive seating stands surrounding a duelling field with holographic projectors surrounding it on each corner. Today, it was designed for the Obelisk Blue students—blue banners were hung up on the banisters above the stands.

I was about to step onto the duelling field, when I was stopped by two Obelisk Blue students—in other words, Chazz's cronies.

"Hey!" one of them barked out rudely. "What do you think you're doing here, punks? This field is reserved for the Obelisk's today. Get out of here, before we report you!"

"Oh boy," Syrus said, backing away until he hid behind me like a little toddler. "Uh, Jaden? I think we should do as they say."

I scoffed, before stepping onto the duelling field, my arms immediately crossed over my chest. Syrus and Chazz's cronies looked at me in shock, stunned that I would have the balls to ignore them and stand on the duelling field.

I looked at the two Obelisk Blue students, giving them a hard look. "I don't take orders from two of Chazz's cronies. And if you think you can tell me what to do, then you can go right on ahead and screw yourselves."

The biggest of the two looked as if he was gonna rush at me and slam his fist in my face, but the other guy stopped him. "Wait a minute: aren't you the guy that won against Crowler, and tied off against Yugi back in Domino City?"

Without saying a word, I curtly nodded.

The big guy immediately stopped trying to rush me, and stood back. Instead, he yelled back over his shoulder. "Hey, Chazz! That new Slifer guy is in here! The one that duelled against Yugi!"

Instantly, I looked to his right, and Chazz appeared. He looked slightly surprised to see me here, but he maintained it with a cocky look. His hair was styled up, and his Obelisk Blue jacket was wrapped tightly around him like a straitjacket.

"Well, well, well," he smirked. "If it isn't the newest Slifer Slacker. I'm slightly disappointed that you haven't duelled against me when we arrived. Battling against a guy who could tie off a duel with the King of Games would be interesting indeed. And I thought you were gonna lose as well, but you somehow managed to tie with him."

I took no notice of that snark remark. Instead, I turned to face forwards, looking into thin air. "The only slackers in this room are your two buddies, one of which needs to sort his anger tantrums out drastically."

The big guy growled, his face going red as a tomato. If I looked more closely, I could actually see steam coming out of his nose and ears.

Chazz chuckled, looking at me with an mocking amazed look. "You are something else, you know that Slacker?" He looked at my duel disk. "By the looks of things, you're here to duel someone. Anyone in particular?"

I looked at Syrus, who was looking worried at me. I smiled confidently at him, before I turned my gaze towards Chazz. "You'll get your answer, when you stand on the opposite side of the duelling field."

Chazz looked confused at me, before his eyes widened and he burst out laughing. He did that for a full twenty seconds. When he finished laughing, he saw me looking at my watch, before I looked up at him again.

"You finished laughing?" I sarcastically said.

Chazz sneered. "What makes you think that you could stand up against me? I've been at Duel Prep School for three years before I enrolled here. I was the best in my year. As an extra bonus, I mostly have ante duels, where the winner wins their opponents best and rarest card. An amateur duellist like you wouldn't last a minute in a duel against me."

I'll admit, I did feel a spark of annoyance. The Supreme King once told me that my inherited powers of the Gentle Darkness would sometimes be triggered by emotions that grow way too extreme. I've learnt how to control the emotions, and it was very rare that something like that would happen, but now that I was facing Chazz again, and listening to him calling me an amateur... it was seriously pissing me off.

In answer to his snark comment, I activated my duel disk and it blazed to life with a dark red aura, making Chazz and everyone else step back in surprise. I could feel my eyes change colour again—that of the colour of Yubel's eyes.

"Well then, if you're so confident that an 'amateur duellist' like me wouldn't stand a chance against a disgrace of a student like you, then I dare you to duel against me," I said with a slight growl. "I'll show you exactly what I can do, so you better get your game on Chazz Princeton. That is if you have the guts to do so?"

Chazz, who was a moment ago shocked, now looked mad. Back in my timeline when I duelled against him, he would snap at me and see how well I took the pressure of duels that had my enrolment here at the Academy on the line. He set up his duel disk, and slammed his deck into the holder.

"No one calls me a disgrace," he snarled. "I'm Chazz Princeton, the second best duellist here at the Academy! You'll pay for calling me that, Slacker."

I glared at him. "We'll see about that."

"Hey, what's going on here?"

I looked sideways to see that Alexis had entered the arena room, looking bewildered as to what was going on. She wore her full Obelisk Blue attire, though she still had that fleecy jacket on. She took in the appearance of me and Chazz, and noticed that our duel disks were primed and ready to go. Her eyes widened, and she turned towards Syrus, who still looked conflicted.

"Syrus, what's going on?" she asked in worry. "Please don't tell me that those two are duelling?"

Syrus nodded sadly. "Chazz started it, but Jaden got a little carried away. We came down here because Jaden and I both agreed to duel each other, so that he could help me out. But now it's turned into a full scale duel against him and Chazz."

Alexis looked back at me, a worried frown on her face. "Jaden, are you sure you're gonna be alright in this duel?"

In answer, I gave her a rebellious smirk and a thumbs up, before turning towards Chazz.

"GAME ON!" we both screamed.

Jaden: 4000 LP
Chazz: 4000 LP

"Winners first," Chazz said, drawing his five cards before drawing his sixth. I could see how smug he looked, when he saw the cards in his hand. Plus, I knew what cards he had as well—so well, that I could practically see what they looked like, even though they were facing Chazz.

"I summon Reborn Zombie in defence mode!" he bellowed.

That rotting, skeletal looking monster of his appeared in front of him, growling and looking vicious as ever.

(Reborn Zombie - 1000/1600)

"Next, I place one card facedown," Chazz added, still looking smug. "That ends my turn. Let's see what you got, Slacker."

I felt my anger spike, but it quickly vanished. Knowing what I had to do to shut this guy up, I looked down at the floor blindly, delving into my own mind.

"Supreme King," I thought loudly in my head.

I opened my eyes, seeing the vast dark room that the Supreme King had locked me up in. I saw all the vast mirrors that floated around me, showing me images of the duel that I was having with Chazz.

"Yes, Jaden?" my alter ego asked, appearing in front of me, his dark clothing almost blending into the shadows of my mind.

I bowed my head slightly, and smirked slightly. "How would you like to have this duel? You can take over."

The Supreme King raised his eyebrows, so I knew I caught his interest and attention. "Really? You're allowing me to take over and duel Princeton? Are you sure this is a wise course of action? You told me that we needed to wait before we revealed ourselves to everyone else. And besides, I'm not sure this excuse of a duellist can stand up to me. You know how tough I am; I don't show my opponents any mercy."

"I know," I said. "Believe me, I know. And that's why I'm letting you duel. I know you haven't had a duel in a while, so I'm letting you have a chance here. Plus, I want you to teach Chazz a lesson that he must remember. It's your choice, Your Majesty."

My alter ego pondered this for a moment, before an evil looking smile appeared on his face. "Alright then, I'll take over and show him what REAL duelling is all about for me and you."

I nodded, closing my eyes once more and letting my darker self take over.
=========
Alexis POV

I watched Jaden as he closed his eyes. I had to admit that this guy surprised me—first he duelled against Crowler, and won in his first turn. Then, he duelled against Yugi and drew against him. That made me realise how strong a duellist he really is. He looked so at ease, like he belonged up there on the duelling field. It made me frown at how calm he was being right now. He wore that look when he duelled against the King of Games, but I knew right there and then that Chazz wouldn't be easy either. The guy had a powerhouse deck that defeated many students so far.

"What are you waiting for, Slacker?" Chazz mocked with a smirk. "Are you wondering now why you decided to duel me? Why you're now stuck in this mess you created? Thinking about giving up already? I wouldn't blame you if you did."

I was about to scold Chazz for that mean comment, to remind him that Jaden duelled against Yugi and that made him tougher than Chazz. I was actually about to say it until—

"Shut your mouth."

I looked over at Jaden, a look of surprise on my face. His voice had changed slightly—it sounded harsher, deeper and slightly monotone. Then to both mine and Syrus's horror, deep black shadows and smoke surrounded him completely, swirling and snaking around his legs, torso, chest, arms and head, until it completely engulfed him, obscuring him from my sight.

"What in blazes?!" Chazz exclaimed, stepping back slightly, all trace of smugness replaced with a look of shock. "What is this? Are you playing some sort of card?"

"No, Chazz Princeton," Jaden said in that darker voice of his. The shadows were slowly beginning to dissipate. "Let's just say that there's been a quick change in duellists."

The smoke cleared, and Jaden appeared in a completely new attire—his clothes had turned completely black: his jacket, his jeans, his trainers and duel disk all pitch black. He lifted his head to face Chazz, and he opened his eyes. I gasped in horror at what I saw, both my hands covering my mouth in shock.

His eyes... they were the most evil and sinister pair of yellow eyes I have ever seen. They were very old eyes, holding a large amount of knowledge, but at the same time holding a very dark look. The were the eyes of a person who has truly grown dark.

"What the hell?!" Chazz exclaimed again, looking alarmed at the drastically new and evil look to Jaden. "Who and what are you, Slacker?!"

Jaden smirked, his eyes glowing. "The one who rules the twelve dimensions: the SUPREME KING!"

As he shouted that last part out, a forceful and powerful wind blew across the entire field, making me cry out as I shielded my face with my arms as it blew towards me and Syrus, who screamed against the howling wind. Chazz's friends were blown backwards into the stands, while Chazz himself struggled to stand upright, yelling over the wind, barely managing to keep himself firmly on the spot.

Jaden however looked unbothered by the wind, his jacket and hair rippling wildly. The effect of the wind on his jacket and hair made him look powerful, to the point where it suited him in a wild way.

"Something tells me that Jaden isn't all he says he is," Syrus whimpered as he stood behind me, as the winds finally died down.

"I think you might be right," I said, looking worriedly in Jaden's direction.

"What in the world was that all about?" Chazz demanded, looking at Jaden in shock. "All that wind... Did you cause all that? The Supreme King? What?! What on earth are you even talking about?!"

Jaden placed a hand on the top card of his deck, glaring at Chazz. "Enough talk. You wanted a duel, and now you've got it Princeton. I draw!" He drew his card, and I quickly noticed that the card was engulfed by a dark aura, something that made me completely uncomfortable. "To start, I'll play a rather fiendish spell card of mine: Dark Fusion."

I looked at his card, which appeared in its holographic form on the field. On the image, it showed two of his Elemental Heroes surround by a dark gold aura, with a shadowed figure in the background.

"What does that do?" Chazz questioned in a wary tone.

"With this card, I'll merge Elemental HERO's Avian and Burstinitrix together to form... Evil HERO Inferno Wing!" Jaden sharply said.

His winged demon looking lady appeared from the ground in a blaze of blue fire, screeching in a bloodthirsty manner.

(Evil HERO Inferno Wing - 2100/1200)

"Oh god," I said in a uneasy voice. "So Dark Fusion takes two good HERO's, and turns them into an evil one?"

"Precisely, Alexis Rhodes," Jaden said without even looking at her. "My deck is the counterpart of Jaden's Elemental HERO's. And in this duel, you'll find out how different both our decks are."

I looked at him in shock. "Wait: you're not Jaden? If you're not him, then who are you?"

Jaden finally turned to look at me, smiling. For once since his transformation, that smile looked almost kind—in a dark way. "You'll find out soon enough. I owe it to Jaden anyway. But for now..."

He turned to look at Chazz again, the smile on his face vanishing. "...I need to teach this worm a lesson. Inferno Wing, ATTACK!"

His monster screeched once again, raising both of its arms, shooting a pulsing dark blue ball of fire towards Chazz's monster.

"Hate to disappoint you, Your Majesty," Chazz said quickly, all traces of mockery and smugness gone, "but I activate my facedown trap card known: Chthonian Polymer! With this, by sacrificing my Reborn Zombie, I can take control of your monster!"

Jaden looked at Chazz... and then chuckled softly. To me, it sounded way too creepy. "Not going to happen. On the turn that they're summoned via the effects of Dark Fusion, my Evil HERO's can't be affected or destroyed by any spell or trap cards you might activate. Which means that activating that trap card of yours was POINTLESS!"

"Say what?!" Chazz demanded with wide eyes, and cried out in terror as his trap card exploded with a small explosion.

"Destroy his monster with Infernal Rage!" the dark version of Jaden roared to his own monster.

The blue flames collided with Chazz's monster, making it explode on the spot.

Chazz groaned as the flames licked him slightly, his Life Points dropping by five hundred points. He actually looked shocked at that. "What the—?! Hey, what gives?! Why did my Life Points go down just now?!"

Dark Jaden snorted. "Her special ability: if your monster has less defence points than the attack points of my monster, the difference gets dealt to you as damage. Buts that's the least of your worries—it's her second ability that you should be concerned about."

"Second ability?" Chazz frowned in worry.

"You lose more Life Points: when my Inferno Wing destroys a monster, you lose Life Points depending on your monsters attack or defence points—whichever one is higher. Since your Reborn Zombie had more defence points than it's attack points, you take sixteen hundred points of damage."

"Say what?!" Chazz screeched. "That's an unfair advantage!"

"That's the price you pay when you underestimate someone like me, Princeton," Jaden glared at Chazz. "NOW FEEL THE HEAT!"

Chazz screamed in pain as flames shot right up his body. The sound was awful, and the sight of seeing Chazz being scorched was too much to see. It only lasted about six seconds before the blue flames vanished, and Chazz fell to his hands and knees, panting heavily.

Jaden: 4000 LP
Chazz: 1900 LP

Dark Jaden crossed his arms over his chest, a small smirk on his face. "So tell me, Princeton: this victory you spoke of—how certain of it are you now?"

I couldn't believe what I was seeing: from what I could figure out, Jaden had some sort of spirit take over his body, and was using it to cause some serious damage to Chazz, who has already lost more than half his Life Points. If this kept up, then Chazz was in dire trouble.

"Supreme King," I called out, hoping I would get his attention. "Listen to me."

Surprisingly, he turned around and looked at me with those cold, emotionless eyes of his. It took all my willpower not to look away. I had to get him to let up on the attacks, otherwise Chazz could get seriously hurt. That much was obvious because the attacks, by the looks of them, caused actually damage and pain.

"Please, go easy on the attacks," I pleaded. "I don't know who you are, though if Jaden is alright with you then I'm okay with you. But please, go easy on Chazz. He might be an arrogant jerk, but even he doesn't deserve this kind of pain."

The Supreme King blinked at me, then turned towards Chazz, he was struggling to look up. Then the Supreme King turned back towards me. He nodded slowly.

"You're brave to make demands of me, Alexis Rhodes. Hardly anyone has the guts to give me orders. If push comes to shove, you'd make a great leader. I'm going to keep on duelling Princeton, but since you asked me nicely I'll lessen the damage."

I didn't know what to say. For a moment, I thought that it was Jaden speaking, but I couldn't tell with that monotone voice of his. I looked closely at him... and for a moment, his eyes flickered from dark yellow, to a soft chocolate brown. So that meant that Jaden was watching. I nodded my thanks to the Supreme King, before he turned back towards a struggling Chazz.

Please, I thought to myself, looking at the Supreme King. Please be alright... Jaden.
===========
Chazz's POV

I ground in pain, my clothes smouldering and steaming with smoke from the fire that slackers monster shot at me. I struggled to get to my feet, but I only got to one knee, while I held my duelling arm with my other arm.

Damn, I thought. This guy is tougher than I thought he was. More than half of my Life Points were gone, and he was still on full Life Points. I've never even seen or heard of these types of HERO monsters before.

I looked up at Jaden, or whoever he claimed to be, his black clothes and duel disk the darkest black I have ever seen before, his eyes blazing yellow in the dim light of the arena. He gave me such a sharp look, but I could clearly see amusement in his eyes. I thought it looked pretty sadistic in a way—like he was giving me a 'gut you like a fish' look, but still maintained a calm demeanour.

"Okay, pal," I grunted out a growl, getting shakily to my feet. "I'll admit: I underestimated you big time. In your duel against Yugi, I thought he was going easy on you, but you've proven that you're just as tough as he is. And I can tell that you can pack a lot of firepower in one move. But don't think that I'm backing down—I'm still gonna pulverise you."

Jaden chuckled darkly. "You really do amuse me, Princeton. You know that? Your delusions of thinking that you can beat me are pathetic. If you really want to beat me, then you need to dig deeper, because if you think that you're tough, then you've obviously not met me before."

He looked at his hand. "I set one card facedown, and then activate one of my newest magic cards: HERO's Fiendish Draw!"

He showed me a magic card with the image of a set of six cards, all of them glowing with a purple aura as ghosts came out of them, holding their heads whilst screaming.

"What the heck does that do?" I demanded, unnerved by the picture of his magic card.

"Since I control an Evil HERO on my field, HERO's Fiendish Draw makes us place all the cards we have left in our hands back into our decks," Jaden said in that freaky monotone voice of his. "We then shuffle our decks, and draw until we're holding six brand new cards—a move that's fine by me, since you're already at a massive disadvantage."

I growled, since one of the cards in my hand was my Chthonian Soldier. On my next turn, I would've summoned it to the field and would've raged an all out attack on that Slifer Slacker, but that all changed when he brought out that Evil HERO of his. With its effect, if it would've attacked my Chthonian Soldier, I would've lost the duel. So maybe that card he played might help me out.

I quickly placed all the cards in my hand back into my deck, and then shuffled. "You're gonna pay for that last attack you inflicted on me. Mark my words that when I attack you on my next turn, you're gonna wish you never duelled me.

"Those are big words from a duellist who was screaming like a little girl a moment ago," Jaden scoffed, as he finished shuffling his deck, and drew six cards from his duel disk. "Your threats don't scare me BOY. I've dealt with much tougher and crueler duellists than you, and they all got the same result from me—utterly and completely crushed by ME. Now stop whining like a little brat and continue this duel, without any further bullshit from you." He looked at his newly drawn cards. "I set one more card facedown, and then end my turn. You're up—that's if you're brave enough to draw."

I growled, looking at the cards in my hand, then back up at him. I managed to draw some pretty good cards, thanks to that last move of his. I just hoped that this would work.

No, I snapped to myself in my thoughts. It has to work. He thinks that my moves aren't good enough. Well, I'll show him what I'm made of. He said no more bullshit from me, so that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna give this guy a king sized clobbering so hard, that he'll be wishing he never duelled me in the first place!

"Alright, let the destruction begin!" I shouted, drawing my seventh card. "I activate my Pot Of Greed spell card, letting me draw two cards from my deck. Now I've got seven cards to work with. First things first, I summon Vorce Raider in attack mode!"

The ferocious axe wielding beast-warrior appeared on the field, snarling at the Supreme Kings monster.

(Vorce Raider - 1900/1200)

"Then I activate my Axe Of Despair magic card!" I yelled, showing him the axe of doom spell. "Thanks to this, I can give my Raider an extra one thousand points, more than enough to take out that Inferno Wing of yours! Now that's a power boost!"

(Vorce Raider - 2900/1200)

"Put an end to that Inferno Wing of his, with Axe Slam Attack!"

My monster rushed forward, ready to slash his axe sideways at the Supreme Kings monster, however-

"I activate my facedown trap card: Shadow Illusion!" Jaden roared, his hand stretched out towards his facedown, which popped up and showed the image of a shadowed ghoul protecting another demon looking creature. "With this card, since I control a Fiend-Type monster on my field, I can special summon a Shadow Token with the same amount of Attack Points as your Vorce Raider to take the brunt of the attack!"

In front of his Inferno Wing, a shadowy figure appeared, its mouth full of black pointy teeth and its hands completely taloned and sharp.

(Shadow Token - 2900/0000)

My monster collided with the slackers Token, and both of them were destroyed, reduced to particles.

I snarled. "I won't go down that easily. You might have the toughest monster out, but at least you lose Life Points as well! You see, since Vorce Raider was destroyed with Axe Of Despair attached to it, you take a thousand points of damage!"

A red aura appeared around him, but the thing that surprised me was that he looked indifferent to the fact that his Life Points had just dropped. He just glared at me, showing no emotion in any way. And it creeped me out.

"Don't you show any emotion?" I frowned. "I just dropped you to three thousand Life Points. Don't you care about that?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he gave me a dark smirk, and his gold eyes flashed even brighter.

Jaden: 3000 LP
Chazz: 1900 LP

"Man, you're creepy," I shuddered. I looked at my hand, figuring that I had to wipe the field of his monster, otherwise I'm toast. "I activate my Lightning Vortex spell card: by sending one card in my hand to the graveyard, I can wipe out every one of your monsters."

His monster screeched, before exploding into blue flames.

"Then I activate Monster Reborn, which lets me summon back my Vorce Raider in attack mode!"

My monster reappeared on the field once again, snarling as he carried his axe on his shoulder.

(Vorce Raider - 1900/1200)

"Then I end my turn by placing one card facedown on the field. Your move, Your Majesty."

The Supreme King scoffed, drawing a card from his deck, which was now pulsing with a dark aura of power. "Lot of good that move did. With those kind of cards, you won't get very far in the duelling world. You need to step up." He looked sideways at his drawn card. "You want to see what real strength looks like? Then here it is—I special summon Evil HERO Infernal Prodigy!"

A tiny monster with large horns on its head appeared, chuckling out a snarling laugh.

(Evil HERO Infernal Prodigy - 300/600)

"Here's how he work: when I control no monsters on my field, while you do, then I can special summon him from my hand to the field," the Supreme King explained, before picking another card out of his hand. "But he's not going to be around for long, since I'm sacrificing him for something more stronger. Now I'll show you what real power feels like—I summon Evil HERO MALICIOUS EDGE!"

A new looking monster appeared on the field, with three large claws on both of his clenched fists, looking taller than my monster by far, and had huge muscles and giant blade-like wings on its back.

(Evil HERO Malicious Edge - 2600/1200)

"Hang on just a second! That's a level seven monster - you need to sacrifice two monsters in order to summon it!" I exclaimed.

"Two words, Princeton: special ability," Jaden smirked. "You see, when you control a monster on your side of the field, I only need one sacrifice to summon this HERO. And there's more to come - since my Prodigy was sacrificed for a HERO monster, I get to draw one card from my deck."

He drew his card, and judging by the malevolent look in his eyes, it was a good one. "And guess what? It's a nasty little card of mine known as Vicious Claw, which adds three hundred more points to my Malicious Edge. And if you somehow manage to destroy my monster in battle, my Vicious Claw spell card takes the brunt of the damage, saving my monster."

His monster chuckled evilly as one of his clawed fists sparked with a dark purple aura, making me gulp.

(Evil HERO Malicious Edge - 2900/1200)

"Evil HERO, attack Vorce Raider with NEEDLE BURST!"

His monster jumped up into the air, and swiped his fists outwards, sending a volley of claws towards my monster, but I was quick on my toes.

"I activate my Mirror Force trap card!" I shouted, revealing my facedown force field card. "With this, every face-up monster you control is destroyed instead of my monster! Say goodbye, Malicious Edge, and good riddance!"

"Like I said, you foolish mortal," the Supreme King sneered. "Instead of my monster being destroyed, it's my Vicious Claw that takes the brunt of the damage."

His monster jumped back, awaiting orders from its master.

(Evil HERO Malicious Edge - 2600/1200)

"Oh, but that's not all. Since Vicious Claw was destroyed and sent back to my hand, your Vorce Raider gets destroyed, and you take six hundred points of damage!"

"I WHAT?!" I exclaimed in shock as my monster roared and exploded into particles. Just after that, electricity ran up my entire body, making me scream in pain as it snaked up my torso and chest. It stopped, and I fell to my knees, clutching my chest.

Jaden: 3000 LP
Chazz: 1300 LP

I groaned as I tried to stand up, shaking like a leaf. There's no doubt about it: Jaden Yuki, when he's merged with the Supreme King, is the most toughest opponent I've ever faced. He's got more Life Points than me, and his cards are pushing me into a corner. I had only one monster in my hand, but I knew it wouldn't do me any good, so I was pretty much defenceless against him. No good monster cards, no traps, no spells...

The Supreme King smirked. "It's your move, Princeton. Let's see you try and get out of this one."
=========

Alexis POV

This duel was turning out to be pretty close. Chazz was down to his last thirteen hundred points, while the Supreme King was on three thousand. Even though I told him to loosen up on his attacks on Chazz, the Supreme King still fought ruthlessly. It was slightly concerning, because I never would've thought that it would play out like this.

I thought back to the question that lingered in my mind: if Jaden isn't in control of his mind and body, then where was he right now? Was he locked somewhere in his own mind while this dark version of himself took over? Where and when did this happen?

Chazz had gotten to his feet, but he looked in terrible shape. His hair was singed at the edges; his clothes were steaming; and he was panting heavily from that electrical attack. He weakly raised his duel disk, shaking his head as if coming from a small sugar high.

"Not...giving up," he groaned. "I gotta keep...fighting."

Even the Supreme King was surprised. "After all the attack power I just inflicted on you, you still wish to continue the duel? Any other duellist would've called it quits by now. Why do you insist on continuing this duel? You must know you cannot beat me."

"I know that now," Chazz admitted, standing up straighter than before, a look of sheer determination on his face. "But I understand what I'm doing wrong. Now I understand what you meant by teaching me a lesson."

The Supreme King raised an eyebrow, a obvious look of curiosity on his face. But wait: was that...a smile starting to appear on his face just now? "And pray tell - what do you think I've taught you?"

"Duelling is all about trying to become better," Chazz said, looking at his deck. "You're trying to teach me that I've got to stop thinking that I can win all the time, because I can't. You see, that's what I hate most - losing. Failing at something that everyone is afraid of. If I don't win, then I'm nothing."

The Supreme King lowered his duelling arm, both arms at his sides. The smile was fully there now, a look of happiness that surprised me. And I thought that a smile like that would never appear on a malevolent spirit like that.

"And that's a fear that you need to overcome." I was surprised to hear that his voice wasn't monotone anymore. It was normal...like Jaden's voice was. Suddenly, his eyes were changing from gold to that soft chocolate brown colour that I thought made Jaden look a little bit dreamy. "The fear of losing doesn't derive from your duelling skills. It comes from your lack of faith in your deck. So, you lose a duel - big deal. Heck, I've lost a few duels back in my day. But you know what? If you lose, then you get back up again. Then you do the same thing again. And each time you do so, improve. That's what duelling is all about - bonding with your deck, and making a few rivals along the way, but friends as well. You do that, then you'll be a great duellist in no time."

Chazz looked at Jaden, who was obviously conscious again. The Obelisk Blue student pondered his words carefully, before finally nodding his head slowly. He looked at his deck for a moment, before smiling faintly.

"And that's why you let that...spirit take over?" Chazz asked. "To teach me a duelling lesson?"

"I thought that you'd prefer to duel against someone who understood you better than I could," Jaden said. "Me and him are the same, but with slightly different duelling personalities. He and you have the same duelling attitude, but he was teaching you a valuable lesson: trust in your deck, rather than your skill. And if you lose, then stand up and try again."

I couldn't help but smile at Jaden. He acted so kind and understanding about a duellist. And the way he talked to Chazz...I swear, it was almost like Jaden knew what Chazz was like. Maybe in another time, they were rivals at first but then became friends later on in life. Whatever it is, I was happy that Jaden was finally giving Chazz the duelling advice that he seriously needed.

"Alright, Slacker," Chazz said, looking back at the dark clothed Slifer Red with a smirk. "You told me that you were gonna prove that you're not an amateur. You've proven it. Now it's my turn to show you what I've got. Brace yourself, because I'm giving it all I've got. And if I lose this duel, then I'm going down fighting. So BRING IT!"

Jaden smiled, his eyes going gold again, but this time they weren't even hostile. They showed kindness. "As you wish, Chazz. Its still my go, so I activate the third effect of my Vicious Claw: when it's sent back to my hand, an Evil Token is called over to your field."

A bulky gargoyle monster appeared on Chazz's side of the field, growling deeply and menacingly.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Chazz asked in surprise.

(Evil Token - 2500/0000)

"Absolutely, because now I activate my second facedown trap card: Evil Blast," the Supreme King announced, revealing the trap card that showed an Evil HERO exploding. "With this, I can add five hundred points to that Token, but during each of your standby phases, my trap forces you to give up five hundred of your Life Points."

(Evil Token - 3000/0000)

"Then I end my turn with two face down cards," the Supreme King said, placing two cards in two of his duel disks spell and trap zones. "Now Princeton, let's see what you've got. Try and get out of this."

Chazz nodded, drawing a card. He sighed in relief at the drawn card. "Alright, I activate Card Of Sanctity! With this, we both draw cards until we're holding six of them. So I'll go ahead and draw five of them since I've only got one, while you draw the same amount."

The Supreme King nodded in understanding, drawing his five cards. Chazz quickly drew his five cards and looked like the cat caught the cream.

"Alright, now it's time for things to heat up in here. I play my most powerful monster - I place one card facedown and now, by discarding my entire hand, and sacrificing the Evil Token you gave me, I can therefore summon this: my INFERNAL INCINERATOR!"

"Huh?" the Supreme King frowned.

In answer, behind Chazz, an enormous colossal beast rose up from the ground - when looking at it, it looked like a scorching hot chameleon, with red hues to top it off. Its mouth was wide open, smoke and fire spewing out from it. It eyed the Supreme Kings monster, making Malicious Edge back away in fear.

(Infernal Incinerator - 2800/1800)

"By discarding my entire hand, as well as one of my monsters, I can summon this almighty beast," Chazz explained. "Plus, its attack points rise by two hundred points for every monster that you control. Since your Edge is on the field, that's two hundred points for my monster."

(Infernal Incinerator - 3000/1800)

"Then I play the spell card I placed facedown: Furious Flame!"

The card he placed down earlier appeared on the field, showing an image with a man, screaming as he absorbed the fiery flames of an explosion.

"Thanks to this, if I control a fire based monster, like my Infernal Incinerator, I can therefore increase its attack points by banishing a monster in my graveyard. So, I banish my Dark Blade - which I sent to the graveyard via the effects of my Lightning Vortex spell card - and give its eighteen hundred attack points to my pyro monster, giving it forty eight hundred attack points in total. Now that is what I call power!"

(Infernal Incinerator - 4800/1800)

"Now, attack that Malicious Edge, with Volcanic Rage!"

His monster pooled fire in its mouth, before firing a massive fireball right towards the Supreme Kings monster.

The fireball reached Malicious Edge, completely colliding into it. The monster roared in agony, before it exploded into a massive cyclone of fire. The Supreme King grunted as he lost a large chunk of his Life Points, dropping him down to only eight hundred points.

Jaden: 800 LP
Chazz: 1300 LP

"I'll call it a turn," Chazz said, a smile of relief that he was winning now. "And since my turn is over, the effect of Furious Flame expires, returning my monsters attack to normal."

(Infernal Incinerator - 2800/1800)

To be honest, I thought that Chazz was in the lead too, but once again, I found myself looking at Jaden with a hopeful look. I wanted him to win, and I knew he could.

"An impressive attack," the Supreme King said, looking at Chazz with a slight glint in his eyes. "But don't think that you're out of the woods yet. It's my turn, and I draw." He looked at his newly drawn card, instantly playing it. "I play Pot Of Greed, letting me draw two cards. But then I play my facedown card known as Jar Of Greed, which lets me draw one more card from my deck."

He looked at the nine cards in his hand, his eyes not showing anything, but I swore I saw a glint in them just a second ago. "I activate Monster Reincarnation: by discarding my Vicious Claw spell card to the graveyard, I'm allowed to bring back my Evil HERO Malicious Edge to my hand. Then I play my second facedown card - Rebirth Judgement!"

In front of him, a trap card stood up, showing the image of a man with half his face showing a skeletal figure.

"With this, every monster card in both our graveyards now change its type to any type that I wish, and I'm choosing to change them into Rock-Type monsters."

"Why would you do that for?" Chazz frowned. "That's pointless."

The Supreme King smiled. "Is it? Not after I play this spell card it won't be: Dark Calling!"

A new magic card appeared, with the image of a fiends hand, black smoke coming out of it.

"When this is activated, I'm allowed to banish monsters from my hand and graveyard to summon a fusion monster. That's why I changed all the monsters in my graveyard to Rock-Types, because they're needed for this. So, I banish the now Rock-Type Evil HERO Inferno Wing, with the Fiend-Type Evil HERO Malicious Edge in my hand, to call on my most powerful monster!"

I looked at him in shock. That's possibly the most cleverest move I've ever witnessed. Using cards in his hand and graveyard...a move that probably no one has done or seen before. Now I was starting to see how powerful an opponent the Supreme King was.

His two monsters briefly appeared on the field, only to be pulled into a black vortex, screaming as they were infused together to create something new and big. I couldn't see what it was because it was completely covered in shadow and dark red fire.

"Meet your defeat, Chazz Princeton - I summon Evil HERO...DARK GAIA!" the Supreme King roared.

His monster showed itself with a roar, and I gasped in shock at the appearance.

"Holy shit!" Chazz exclaimed, stepping back in fear. "What is that?!"

It was a six foot tall winged demon, it's face and body all covered in rock with red and amber eyes. It's torso held what looked like molten magma, and its feet and hands were taloned and looking sharp. It's wings were just like its body, but they had more magma qualities than its torso.

(Evil HERO Dark Gaia - 0000/0000)

"This is my most destructive monster," the Supreme King said. "Not a lot of duellists have seen this monster, and I only use it when I really get in a destructive mood. And guess what - I'm in such a mood. But you should worry more about its attack strength than its appearance: Dark Gaia's attack points are the combined total of the two monsters I used to summon it, giving him a grand total of forty seven hundred attack points."

(Evil HERO Dark Gaia - 4700/0000)

"Forty seven hundred attack points?!" Chazz's friends exclaimed in the background, falling on their butts as the attack points of Jaden's monster rose at an astonishing rate. "No way!"

"Forty seven hundred?!" Syrus breathed in shock, which was the first time I heard him speak in the entire duel. He looked at Jaden in amazement. "This is awesome! Jaden - wait, no, the Supreme King is gonna win!"

I looked back at Chazz, who stood horrified by the amount of attack points that Evil HERO had. Since the Supreme King had a monster on his field, his Infernal Incinerator gained two hundred attack points, but that only gave it an attack strength of three thousand. Chazz only had thirteen hundred Life Points left. He had basically lost the duel.

"This can't be happening," he said, looking pale. "I've got nothing left to protect me. No traps, no spells, nothing!"

The Supreme King pointed at Chazz. "Dark Gaia, END THIS NOW!"

His monster rose into the air, a column of fire rising with it. It roared loudly, before its entire body was engulfed in flames, its red and amber eyes glowing. It extended its wings and dived downwards towards Chazz's monster, which screeched.

Jaden: 800 LP
Chazz: 0 LP

Next thing I knew, a bright flash of light and the sound of a massive explosion was heard. I covered my eyes, the light too bright to look at. When I finally did open my eyes, I was amazed at the sight.

Chazz and the Supreme King were in the middle of the duelling arena, shaking each other's hand, a look of pure respect in their eyes. Chazz was smiling again, while the King looked emotionless but I could see the respectful look in his eyes clearly. It amazed me - any race of maliciousness and emotionless behaviour had vanished from his eyes completely.

"You're a challenge alright," Chazz said. "You fight unlike all the other duellists I've faced. But next time, I'm not gonna lose. I'm gonna come back stronger and better, and when I do, you better be ready."

The Supreme King...whose eyes were now returning to the colour of Jaden's, as well as the Slifer Red jacket, nodded in agreement. I couldn't help but smile: Jaden was fully back. At his side however, I could see that the spirit of the Supreme King stood beside him, his arms crossed and smirking at Chazz. I didn't point him out, though I did smile.

"You've got game, Chazz," Jaden said, continuing to shake Chazz's hand. "I respect you for that."

Chazz nodded, before turning around and walking towards his two bodyguards. "Alright you two, lets get out of here!" They rushed down the hall, and turned a corner.

I looked up at Jaden, who was still on the duelling arena. Then to my shock, he groaned, clutching his head and collapsed to his knees.

"Jaden!" Syrus and I cried out, running onto the duelling arena and rushing to his side. I grabbed his shoulders.

"Are you okay?" I asked in concern.

He stiffly nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a side effect that happens when I let the Supreme King take control." He shook his head, like he had a sugar high or something. "Man, I'll never get use to that."

"You had us worried there, Jay," Syrus said, though he was smiling. "But your friend sure did give Chazz the duel of his life."

Jaden chuckled weakly. "That's the Supreme King for you."

I was going to ask him how he and that spirit knew each other, and why they seemed to be sharing a body with each other, but I let it slide for now. For now, I was enjoying being with my two new friends, one of which was lying against me for support while I held him by his shoulders.

Something told me that this year would get more interesting the more it progressed. And you what? I'm looking forward to it.

Whoo! Another chapter down for the GX story! Man, I'm on a role!

Hey guys, for all those who have read my story so far, I just want to say a massive thank you to you all, and I'm pleased to know that I'm now going to get on with the new chapter. The duel between the Obelisk Queen and the Slifer King is about to commence!

And I little side not, today is my nineteenth birthday. Damn, I'm getting old. And I thought my grandfather was getting old! Hahahaha!

Well guys, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter! See ya'!