A/N: Story idea, concept and story credit go to JohnnyD2. All characters Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and any other company licensed and owned characters and concepts are property of their respective owners and we do not own them!

A/N: Cards from both the manga and the show are used.

A/N: This is technically chapter 6 in this saga. The first 5 chapters were written by Charlot-Sweetie on Deviant Art with the same title of "Duel Dimensions". In those chapters, Misty and Ash had acquired their own Duel Spirits in their own world. Misty meets with Blizzed while Ash runs into Flamvell Baby. Then they were transported to the YGO world. Out of safety, Ash leaves Pikachu behind, bit it follows after him anyway. They face off against each other in a duel, where Misty teaches Ash how to play the game as best to her knowledge at the time. Afterwards, they enlist Chazz's company and they have a little talk about the differences in their worlds and the duel spirits. While speaking with him, Mokuba finds them and asks for Misty to follow him and meet with Seto about something relating to Pokemon. Ash and Misty branch off, with Ash leaving with Chazz to attend the Duel Academy. And this is where I picked up the task of continuing the story for Johnny.

OoO

Duel Dimensions

Chapter 6

OoO

"Wooow! This place is amazing!" Ash fervidly exclaimed. Once they reached the dorm in a few short hours, his awe escalated to heightened levels and is excited eyes darted in every direction around him while they absorbed every sight, "It's HUUUGE! How can you sleep at night?"

Faintly amused at Ash's boyish enthusiasm towards something as minor as the main hall of a dorm, Chazz gave the other a partial smile. While one's dwelling arrangements were important to one's status to Chazz, he had never seen anyone be as pleased to step foot in the hall with Ash's level of surprise. Not even Jaden showcased Ash's intensity. That bothered him slightly, but not in a negative sense. It just seemed now that he had two Jadens to deal with instead of one. Such "joy" that was going to be. He only hoped this guy wasn't as such a terrible loser like Jaden was at dueling.

"Anyway, Ash, was it? This is where you'll be staying while you attend this school," Chazz concluded, arms crossed. The shorter youth could not stop devouring his surroundings so much, Chazz began feeling the need to leave before the boy's eyes started to salivate.

"Really? This is so awesome!" Ash cheered, raising an energetic fist, "Thanks, Chazz! Do you mind if I have a look around? And where's the cafeteria?" he wondered, glancing around, peeking over Chazz's shoulders as if doing so would allow him to see one appear out of thin air. A puzzled frown inched across the darkly clad male's lips and he made a haughty sound, " Do as you like, Ash. But I'm not here to babysit. I've gotten you here and now my job is done. If you need anything, ask around. Or if you REALLY need anything, tell one of this pipsqueaks around here to inform the Chazz some newcomer needs help. Got it?"

"You got it, Chazz!" Ash replied. He was rather accustomed to people speaking that way to him, but he could take it. Besides, if Chazz were to challenge him to a Pokemon battle, he'd shut him up rather quickly. With short nods, the two of them turned on their heels and went their separate ways. It wasn't until the prized student was nearly out the main door when Ash paused to ask, "Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?"

OoO

About thirty minutes had passed while Ash traveled about the Slifer Red dorm. He saw much that excited him, and even more that startled him. As he observed the vast, lengthy halls, his mind began to drift back to memories of his hometown and how his life was there. His life before he met any of the friends he's made, like Misty. For a brief moment, he wondered how things fared on her end.

"Thinkin' about that hot chick again?" Flamvell Baby's distinct voice spoke up. The fiery infantile spirit floated next to Ash's shoulder with its little arms crossed over its chest as if his comment was as casual as asking one of the weather. Ash opened his mouth to answer, when he stopped himself, as well as his steps. Half mortified, and half shocked, Ash turned to the spirit and gave a very awkward expression, "What? MISTY? A hot chick?"

"So what if she is hot? And since you didn't answer me, I guess you were thinkin' about her. Right?"

A hush fell on Ash's lips and they dimmed to a small o shape. Then he began to stammer, "W-well, of course I'd think about her! She's a friend of mine! Don't you have friends that you think of?"

"Yeah, I've got friends. I don't only take care of myself BY myself, you know! I AM a baby after all. Haven't you noticed? "

"Well, yeah!" Ash agreed, starting to walk again. He kept his eyes on the duel spirit and gestured with his hands to aid in illustrating his points, "I've made a lot of friends since I left Pallet Town, but I've never met one like you before."

"Are you comparing your past friendships to us?" the child spoke, slipping Ash a sideways glance while he returned his eyes ahead of them.

"Yeah, why not? You don't want to be my friend?"

In response to this, the child smacked Ash upside the back of his head.

"Ow!" Ash cried, clutching the back of his head in his hands, "Why'd you do that Flamvell Baby?"

"To avoid a silly question like that!" he proclaimed and went to hit Ash again, but this time the youth dodged out of the way. Facing the spirit entirely, Ash made it a point to give a haughty laugh with his hands on his haunches, "Ha! I dodged ya this time!"

"But now you're really gonna get it! Look over there!" he nodded in front of himself, which was behind Ash. The dark haired boy raised his brows in interest and was about to turn but he stopped himself at the last minute, "Oh, no way, not this time! I am not getting tricked by you!" He grinned. At the boy's ignorance, Flamvell Baby groaned and rolled its eyes, "Fine," was all he said.

"What? 'Fine'?" Ash echoed, dropping his arms to his side, "Is that all you have to say?"

"Nope."

"Then what?"

"Have a nice trip," the fiery phantasm chortled, crossing his arms.

"Huh?" Ash questioned, raising his brows. Before he could understand what the warning meant, a loud cry of "UUUUWAAAAAAHHHH!" expelled from him as he literally tripped over a stray object in the hall and collapsed to the floor in a heap.

"I told you!" Flamvell Baby noted, shaking his head, then rolled his eyes.

"Guuuhhhhllll!" Ash whined, slowly starting to get up. Surprisingly, the floor wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. Looking over his shoulder, his eyes shrank in size as they beheld the reason why. When he fell, he took a prisoner along with him!

"Ouch ouch owww! You're heaavvvyyyy!" a squeaky voice griped from under Ash. Quickly, the youth scrambled to all fours to get a better look at who he accidentally toppled. "Ahhh! I'm REALLY sorry about that! Uh..."

"Syrus..." the softer voice spoke up. Cutely, he adjusted his glasses and peered up at Ash. A lucid sliver of an apology glimmered in his eyes, "I wasn't watching where I was going. Sorry I bumped into you..."

"Ash! Ash Ketchum. Nice to meet you, Syrus!" Ash offered in robust politeness. Then his features became sheepish and he rubbed the back of his head, "At least it would have been nice if I hadn't fallen on you...!"

"Ha... yeaaah..." Syrus trailed off. His attention drifted about Ash's form out of curiosity. He hadn't seen this guy before. As his vision traveled downwards, he noticed a scattered mess of Duel Monsters cards on the floor near Ash's knees. "Oh no!" he shrieked, rising to his knees, "Are these YOUR cards?"

"Huh?" Ash wondered, then gave an exclamation when he noticed the condition they were in, "Help me pick them up, would you?" Ash pleaded to the spirit. From the urgent, and familiar, timbre in his voice, Syrus eyed Ash with wide, dubious eyes. He was almost certain Ash wasn't speaking to him so forwardly in that tone, but he was the only one he saw. Uncertain, he parted his lips, "Um..."

"C'mon why won't you help me?" Ash continued, glancing in the direction of the Flamvell Baby. The annoyed spirit shook his head. Then he kicked Ash in the head with his little limbs, to which Ash reacted to with a recoil, "What do I look like? Your maid? You're the one who dropped them! It's your fault! You should take better care of your deck! You have one of ME in there!"

"Exactly! So the least you can do is help me get them!"

"Make me!"

"I can't touch you!"

"Your problem!"

"Awww Come ooonnn Flamvell Baby!"

"Keep it down!" the spirit warned, taking a swing at Ash again, "Not everyone can see duel spirits like you and your friend!"

"Awhah?"

"Look!" he pointed out, grasping Ash beneath his chin and forcing his face in Syrus' direction. The turquoise-haired boy double blinked slightly. A far off bemused look hung in his large gray eyes.

"Uh oh!" Ash panicked a bit, looking guilty of overstepping a forbidden boundary as if he had swallowed half of Cleavland without giving a reason why. After an awkward silence, Syrus' distant appearance began to melt away and an encouraging smile took its place, "If I had to guess, I'd say you can see duel spirits, am I right?"

"Awaaw!" Ash exclaimed. He blinked and exchanged glances with his spirit before returning his eyes to Syrus, "Y-yeah! How'd you know? Can you see them too?"

"Not at all! But I wish I could," he smiled wistfully, "My best friend Jaden can see them too! Gosh... to be able to see and interact with something like that... I hope that someday I'll be able to see a duel spirit of my own..." he surmised. A creeping sense of sadness ghosted over that smile but was gone before Ash could blink. He was about to ask about it, when Syrus silently scooped up the spilled cards and packed them into a neat pile in his hands. "Here you go," he stated gently, handing Ash the deck. Hesitantly, with constant glances given between the gesture and Syrus' face, Ash took the cards and clutched them in his hand.

"Say, Ash... Right?"

"Huh? Yeah? What is it, Syrus?"

"Could we please have a duel?" the smallish male asked, clasping his hands together above his head in a pleading gesture. Ash and Flamvell Baby exchanged glances again, then Ash returned his attention to Syrus with an enthusiastic nod, "Sure thing!"

"Great!" Syrus chirped, standing to his feet. Ash followed suit. "Actually, I have an exam coming up that I really need to pass this time. I know we just met and all, but do you think you could help me practice for it?"

"Huh? Me? I just started playing the game! I know I'll make some really dumb mistakes!"

"Oh, like I've never made any mistakes when I've dueled! I think we'll both do just fine! Especially you, Ash!"

"Aww you're flattering me! But all right! Let's go! Uh... where are we gonna go?"

Syrus giggled, and pointed above him, "The roof! We'll have plenty of room to duel there!"

"Okay!"

"Haha, last one there is a rotten Mystic Egg!" Syrus called over his shoulder as he scampered off. With a laugh, Ash moved his thumb across the edge of his nose and took off after his new friend.

OoO

Whisking winds billowed through their hair and clothing as they stood on opposing sides. Both equipped with their respective duel disks, the two of them announced the initiation of one of the greatest milestone of their lives.

"DUEL!"

"I'll begin this round!" Syrus called. He drew for his turn and glanced over his first hand. He now held a Cyber Valley, Future Fusion, Vehicroid Connection Zone, Different Dimension Reincarnation, Bottomless Trap Hole and a Shuttleroid. His eyes fluttered over the cards he was going to use this turn as he plucked them one by one and showed them to Ash before he played them on the duel disk. "First! I'm setting a card face down!" he claimed, setting the Bottomless, " Next, I'm summoning Cyber Valley (ATK 0/ DEF 0 ) face up in attack mode!" Granted, it wasn't the greatest play. The most he could get out of it on his next turn was a card draw if Ash attacked with a monster, but he wouldn't be gaining a hand advantage from it. He'd break even. But, on the other hand, card draw was something that could help him right now.

Seeing the monster's attack and defense, or rather lack thereof, Ash blinked in surprise, then laughed a bit, "Hey Syrus! Not to sound mean, because I'm just learning how to play this game too, but, you put a monster with no attack points onto the field in attack mode!" Then he shifted his eyes swiftly over to the baby as he whispered, "It IS called attack mode again, right?"

Instead of verbally replying, the tiny spirit brought a finger against its lips and shushed Ash. Then he pointed to Syrus, causing Ash's attention to travel over to the other duelist. The oceanic-haired teen gave Ash a calm, but knowing look that showed he meant business, "I'm not learning how to play this game anymore. I've been a duelist for sometime now. But I can tell from the look in your eyes that you've just started. So I'll go a little easy on you," then his tone heightened as he resumed his turn, "I play the spell card Future Fusion. It allows me to go through my deck and discard fusion material monsters listed on a fusion monster," he explained, going through his Extra Deck and withdrawing Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill. He flashed it to Ash, then sifted through his deck for the necessary material monsters and sent them to the Graveyard, "By my next standby phase, if Future Fusion doesn't get destroyed that is, I can Special Summon my Jumbo Drill to the field by my 2nd standby phase!"

"Uhhh" Ash drawled, glancing to the baby. Understanding the gist of his gaze, the spirit sighed and crossed his little arms, "Yes, I'll help you! Somewhat...!"

Ash made a face from that remark. But some help was better than none.

"I'm done with my turn!" Syrus announced.

"Got it. Draw!" Ash proclaimed, then drew for the turn. His hand was full of monsters: Flamvell Archer, Flamvell Firedog, Flamvell Guard, Flamvell Grunika, UFO Turtle, and on his draw, Rigorous Reaver. "Hmmmmm" Ash pondered and his brows furrowed in serious scrutiny. The Firedog seemed pretty strong; he figured he should play that. "All right! I play-!" Ash began, sending his eyes to his opponent as he extracted his card for the turn, "Flamvell Firedog!" he exclaimed, slapping the card down on his disk. However, the monster that appeared was not Flamvell Firedog! Instead, it was the Flamvell Guard (ATK100/ DEF2000)... in attack mode!

"UWAAAHH!" Ash cried upon realizing his folly. His scratchy voice grated into both the baby's ears as well as Syrus'. The soft-eyed teen cringed a bit, then forced a small smile, "Erm... Sorry to say this Ash, but next time, I think it would be a better idea for you to actually look at the cards as you play them... Otherwise you may end up playing the wrong one... like now!"

"Ahhh! Can I take it back?"

"NO!" Flamvell Baby vociferated, rolling his eyes, "This'll make you pay attention to your plays! Now, continue!"

"Glll..." Ash groused. With a sigh, he ended his turn. While he could have attacked, it may have been a better idea not to, to be wary of Syrus' face down. Besides, after his little folly with summoning the wrong card, Ash didn't feel much like attacking anyway!

The short teen eyed Ash unsurely, then drew for his turn: Shuttleroid. During his standby, he brought his Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill( ATK 3000/ DEF 2000) to the field in attack mode. Then, he normal summoned the Shuttleroid( ATK 1000/DEF 1200 ). "Well... Ordinarily, I'd scold you for that, but, since you're new to this game, I'll let that one go... So... I won't attack and let you have another chance."

"Hey, that's great! Thanks Syrus! Um let's see... " Ash wondered as he drew into a Book of Moon. First, I should turn my guard (ATK 100/DEF 2000 )into defense mode... and then I'll set a card face down.. " he speculated, setting a Spiritual Fire Art- Kurenai. His dark eyes glanced to the baby and he asked out the corner of his mouth, "Um, how does this card work again?"

"Can't you read?"

"Yeah, but I don't understand how to use it!"

"But you still set it anyway? All right all right, I'll explain it in terms for you to understand. While you have a monster on your side of the field, you can activate this trap to sacrifice the monster and send it to the graveyard. Your opponent takes burn damage equal to the monster's attack points. Got it?"

"Ummm I think so... Since I just switched my guard to defense mode, I could activate it now right?"

"No not now! You just set it! You have to wait until after you turn is over before you can activate it!"

"Uhh ok," Ash drawled. He summoned the Flamvell Firedog( ATK 1900/ DEF 200 ) in attack position, to make up for his misplay the previous turn, and set the Backfire. Excitedly, Ash pumped a fist in the air, "All right! I think I've gotten the hang of this now! Flamvell Firedog! Attack Syrus' Cyber Valley!" At Ash's command, the ebony creature howled, then leapt into the air to attack. As it reached the coiled metallic frame of the Cyber Valley, Ash flipped his Backfire trap card.

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT, I SAID!" Flamvell Baby shouted, smacking Ash in the head, "YOU JUST SET IT THIS TURN! YOU CAN'T ACTIVATE IT IN THE SAME TURN YOU SET IT UNLESS THE CARD SAYS SO! And it DIDN'T!"

"WAAAHHHHHH!" Ash wailed, foolishly trying to shield his head from the baby's onslaughts. Even Syrus had to snicker a bit from this, albeit sheepishly, "You know Ash, if this were a tournament, that misplay would have gotten you a disqualification... But since this isn't something that serious...I'll let that one go too... But that's the last one I'll give you. And also because of that misplay, I know what card you have down! But your Firedog still destroys my Cyber Valley."

As he spoke this, the canine gave a ferocious roar before taking a large bite out of the metallic snake. The creature gave a high pitched cry, then dissipated from the field in a collaboration of sparkling lights.

"All right! You take damage from that!" Ash proclaimed.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Ash, but, the effect of my Cyber Valley is when it's attacked, I can remove it from play and draw a card!" His warm eyes glanced to the card he drew off Cyber Valley's first effect: Carrieroid. That would always come in handy.

"I guess, I end my turn!" Ash stated. He may have played badly now, but he was determined to do better. On the start of Syrus' next turn, he drew a Soul Release. That could help later in the game, but for right now, it was useless. His eyes fluttered from the card over to Ash's side of the field. He had his Flamvell Guard( ATK 200/DEF 2000 ) in defense mode and his Flamvell Firedog(ATK 1900/DEF 200) in attack position. There were two set cards, with one of them already had been revealed to be a Backfire trap. If Ash used the Backfire on his next turn, he wouldn't lose much LP. But he couldn't speak the same for Ash from the attack he was going to unleash now.

"Now, I'll normal summon Carrieroid( ATK1000/DEF800 )to the field in attack mode. Next, I'll use my Jumbo Drill(ATK 3000/ DEF 2000 ) to attack your defense position Flamvell Guard!"

Ash double blinked, "Huh? Why would you do that? Why not attack the dog since it's in attack mode? I won't take any damage with a defense position monster, right?"

"With this card, you will! The special effect of my Jumbo Drill is that any monster in defense position that's lower than my drill's attack points, the difference in damage will be dealt to your life points!"

"What?"

"I told you to read" Flamvell Baby shrugged.

Sheepishly, Syrus snickered nervously and peered at Ash over the rim of his glasses, "Sorry Ash!" he apologized as Ash's guard got destroyed by the piercing tip of the drill and Ash lost 1000 LP.

( LP 4000- 1000= LP 3000 )

"Now, for my Second Main Phase, I summon Tankroid(ATK 1500/DEF 1900 ) to the field. My turn's over!"

Now standing at 3000 Life Points, Ash panicked a bit from what play to make next. Dumbfounded, he drew for the turn: Gaia Soul The Combustive Collective. While he could play it and use it's effect, it wouldn't have accumulated enough attack points to defeat Syrus' 3000 ATK monstrosity. Feeling a bit at a loss, Ash scanned over the rest of the cards in his hand and picked the Rigorous Reaver. He then clasped his hand of cards together in a pile and secured them between the edges of his lips-gingerly holding them in his mouth. In one hand, he held the Reaver and with the other hand, he made a vertical fist. He tucked his thumb beneath a fisted finger and placed the Reaver on top of his fist...

Flamvell Baby and Syrus both watched Ash concentrate rather hard on executing this next action. However, Syrus wasn't sure what to think and Flamvell Baby was just staring into space. Then he looked away for a moment and had to take a double take once it finally hit him with what Ash was actually attempting to accomplish. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" The blazing phantasm spat to an innocent looking Ash who had just literally flipped the card—allowing it to land on his duel disk face up in attack position. Innocently, the boy answered, "The card said to FLIP!"

"IDIOT!" the baby shouted, throwing bits of fire Ash's way. With a cry, the youth dodged every shot, "What'd you do that for? I flipped it, didn't I? Now I can get its effect!"

"NO YOU CAN'T MORON! Listen! The way FLIP EFFECT monsters work is you have to SET THEM FACE DOWN FIRST IN DEFEENSE POSITION! If they are attacked, or you manually turn them over on your next turn unless a card specifies otherwise, ONLY THEN will its effect GO OFF! You flip them ON THE FIELD not with your THUMB! Now you've just wasted a card for nothing!"

"I DID?"

From the way Ash seemed to be bantering back and forth to nothing but thin air, Syrus deduced his duel spirit was giving the newbie duelist quite a hard time for that terrible misplay. He couldn't help but chuckle a bit at this, "Um, Ash? Are you... sure you have an idea of how to play this game?" he asked candidly.

"Yeah I do!" Ash enthusiastically shot back. Here he was, on the verge of not only making a complete fool of himself, but he was also on a fast path to losing if he didn't think fast! But since he couldn't really do anything, he ended his turn...and inwardly pleaded for Syrus to not attack the Reaver.

"My turn. Draw," Syrus stated. 'Hmm another Different Dimension Reincarnation?' Syrus thought, adding the card to his hand. "For this turn, because I have Carrieroid, Shuttleroid and Tankroid on the field, I can Special Summon Armoroid from my Extra Deck to the field! The material monsters that I fused to make him now become my new equip monsters! But each time one of them is destroyed or removed from the field, my Armoroid loses 600 of his attack points. But, no offense, it doesn't seem like there's anything you can do to make that happen. Armoroid, attack the Flamvell Firedog!"

At his young master's command, the mechanical being charged forward with fire shooting from its feet and walloped the Firedog with one blow. Ash shielded his eyes from the fragments of light that were left of his monster as its hologram image broke into pieces. As the display subsided, Syrus felt it necessary to explain another aspect of Armoroid's effect, "Also, whenever this card destroys a monster through battle, you take damage equal to half of Armoroid's attack. So instead of 800, you take 1350!" (LP 3000 – 1350= LP 1650)

"Oh yeah! When you destroyed my Firedog, because it's a Fire attribute, I can activate Backfire! And actually have it work this time! So you lose 500 attack points!"

"I sure do!" Syrus agreed, gladly accepting the LP loss (LP 4000-500= LP 3500). Triumphant, Ash laughed to himself. Syrus nodded at this and resumed his turn, "For my Second Main Phase, I'm normal summoning Submarineroid in attack mode. My turn's over with now!"

"Right! Draw!" Ash announced, obtaining a Backdraft trap card on his plus one, "I'm setting one card face down and...putting another one...and another one face down back here..." he surmised primitively, as he placed a UFO Turtle in defense mode and set his Book of Moon and Backdraft. "Uhh I guess I should remove this then..." Ash hesitated, beginning to pick up his Backfire to put in the Graveyard when Flamvell Baby smacked him upside the back of his spiky head again, "That card stays! It has a continuous symbol on it, see?"

"Say wut?" Ash wondered, peering at the card with perplexed uncertainty, "Oh you mean those two zeros meshed together? That's what that means?"

"YES. It means it's a Continuous Trap and doesn't leave the field unless it's destroyed. So each time on your turn, when this card is still here, you can use its effect. Or if it's a trigger effect like this one is, you HAVE to."

"Oh! Well in that case, I'll end my turn! It's your turn, Syrus!"

"Thank you, Ash," Syrus smiled faintly and drew for the turn: A 3rd Different Dimension Reincarnation. His brows raised in confusion from why his deck was giving him these bizarre draws, but he went along with it anyway. After all he had 2 of his fusion monsters on the field at the ready: Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill (ATK 3000/ DEF 2000) and Armoroid( ATK 2700/ DEF 2000 ). He also had a Submarineroid (ATK 800/ DEF 1800 ) ready for action. But instead of attacking Ash directly with it, he decided to have his Armoroid attack Ash's face down UFO Turtle instead. And due to one of Armoroid's special abilities, Ash lost another 1350 of his Life Points (LP1650-1350= LP300) Things weren't looking very good for Ash! And the proud look on Syrus' face boasted a hefty testament to his near win. However, because of UFO Turtle's effect, Ash could search his deck for a Fire attribute monster with attack points of 1500 or less, and fetched a Magna Drago to put into face up attack mode.

On Ash's next turn, he drew A Blazing Inpachi. For his turn play, he normal summoned Gaia Soul The Combustive Collective ( ATK 2000/ DEF 0 ). He could at least take out the Submarineroid with this...

"Wait a minute!" Ash suddenly exclaimed. The other two observed him with their own respective looks of peculierlarity towards the energetic boy as he brought the card he drew close to his face. He murmed to himself the effect over and over until he finally got an idea. His mind played back the words Flamvell Baby said to him about Tribute Summons that dealth with card effects as opposed to summoning a bigger monster.

"All right!" Ash exclaimed, slapping Gaia Soul The Combustive Collective onto the field in attack mode. Syrus' eyes studied the appearing creature. It had the callous flesh of a mutated blister with one leering eye near its apex. This thing looked like it was the regurgitation of some poor partially-digested animal and caused the fair-skinned teen to cringe.

"What is that thing?" Syrus asked, taking a cautios step back. To this, Ash pointed fevorently to the monster with a broad smile on his face, "This here is Gaia Soul The Combustive Collective! Weird name, huh? I can sacrafice upto 2 of my fire monsters in order to increase its attack by 1000 points each! Haha, awesome!" he summarized, sending his Magna Drago and Rigorous Reaver to the Graveyard. From their contribution of spirits, Gaia Soul The Combustive Collective gained 2000 more attack points, giving it 3000 ATK total.

"Yeah!" Ash cheered, "Now I can attack any one of your monsters!"

"Don't attack the drill!" Flamvell Baby urged, "If you do, since they share the same attak points, both your blob here and the drill will both be destroyed!"

"Oh... Well... in that case, I'll have him attaaaack... Armoroid! And when he does battle damage, I'll activate Backdraft!After that I'll end my turn!" With that, the grotesque entity teleported to Armoroid and glared at it. A mystical ray from its eye shot out and covered its opponent entirely. After a few flashes, the confined Armoroid was dragged down into the depths of the unknown, and Gaia Soul The Combustive Collective followed suit. Syrus took his second dose of damage for the duel and instead of taking a mere 300 from the difference between the monsters' ATK, he instead took a whopping 3000 thanks to the Backdraft trap card. (LP 3500- 3000= LP 500). With both monsters gone from the field, the roids equipped to Armoroid were destroyed and joined their leader in the Graveyard.

"Excellently played Ash," Syrus complimented.

"Haha, yeah that was pretty cool wasn't it?"

"And now you're down a powerful monster...good job..." Flamvell Baby sarcastically uttered.

"Huh? Oh no! It doesn't come back!" Ash cried. Despite him making possibly another mistake, Syrus took his turn anyway. He recieved a Cyber Dragon on his draw and set Vehicroid Connection Zone as a decoy. He kept 2 Mystical Space Typhoons in his deck, and right about now he was both cursing them and wondering where they were at a time like this! "Jumbo Drill! Attack Ash's Magna Drago!" Syrus shouted.

"Uh um, not so fast, Syrus!" Ash exclaimed, nervously flipping over his Book of Moon. Jumbo Drill instantly paused in it's attack and humbled itself into a rather dflated defense position. It almost appeared as if it had broken down. When a monster is targeted by Book of Moon, it is switched to face down defense mode. When a card is of that status, it doesn't know what of card it is. Any equipments it may have get destroyed from it in this way usually. There are some special exceptions, but none of that mattered for the Jumbo Drill at this moment. Syrus had no choice but to end his turn. Since he already attacked with the drill for his attack phase and nothing else, he couldn't attack again with Submarineroid.

On Ash's turn, he drew into Oil and played it, getting back Gaia Soul The Combustive Collective. He sacrificed his Magna Drago to it to raise its ATK to 3000 and destroyed the Jumbo Drill (ATK 3000/ DEF 2000). At the end of Ash's turn, same as before, the Gaia Soul was destroyed, as described in its card effect. For Syrus' turn, he played it safe by, impatiently, sacrificing his Submarineroid for Tribute Summon his Cyber Dragon. If Jaden or Alexis caught him making a desperate play like that, he'd never hear the end of it until the end of the next school semester. He also set Power Wall and ended his turn. The reason he didn't attack was out of cautiousness of Ash's set cards. He didn't want to run into anything else that would spell major trouble for him again, if he could help it.

When it was Ash's turn, he drew into a Rekindling but played his Blazing Inpachi in attack mode instead for unknown reasons. Perhaps his reasoning revolved around how awesome he thought the card's art looked. Flamvell Baby didn't say a word. He was too astounded to even bother to communicate with this kid right now. He was surprised that Syrus didn't just end it already. While that didn't happen, the aquatic-haired teen activated Bottomless Trap Hole, sending the Blazing Inpachi to its demise. For Ash's Second Main Phase, he played the Rekindling, bringing back Flamvell Firedog (ATK 1900/ DEF 200) and Gaia Soul The Combustive Collective (ATK 2000/ DEF 0 ) as Special Summons. And like before, Ash tributed his Flamvell Firedog to his Gaia Soul, increasing its ATK to 3000 once again. This was becoming a bad habit! Nevertheless, Ash declared his attack anyway.

To this, Syrus activated his Power Wall trap. In a fit of fear, the frantic teen ended up dumping nearly his entire deck into the Graveyard to reduce the damage by 100 ATK points with each card sent. 30 discarded cards later, Syrus was left with 8 cards for his deck. But he had negated the damage entirely. Now, Ash had no monsters on his side of the field, so he Normal Summoned the Flamvell Grunika he had held onto since the beginning of the game.

"My turn!" Syrus exclaimed, drawing his next card. He gave a nervous sigh as he laid eyes on the Kiteroid and hoped it could help him dangle for dear life in some way. Obviously unsettled, Syrus fumbled for his next cards to play. "F-First, I'm going to use Soul Release to remove from play my Submarineroid, Steamroid and Drillroid! Next, I'll play all of my D.D.R.'s. By discarding 3 cards from my hand, I can use each D.D.R. to attatch to Submarineroid, Steamwoid and Drillroid and Special Summon them to the field in attack mode! By doing this, I've filled up my trap and spell zone, but that won't matter from what I'm about to do!"

"What? There's more?" Ash cried.

"Calm down," Flamvell Baby suggested, "He's getting desperate. Just pay attention to what he's doing and even you can pull through this!"

"Hmm!" Ash nodded; equally determined as he was wary, "C'mon Syrus! Show me what you got!"

"That's the plan..." Syrus replied with a certain look in his eyes that cast him in a rather impish light, "Since all the roids on my side of the field are machine s, I can merge them with Cyber Dragon to form the fusion monster, Chimeratech Fortress Dragon(ATK 0/ DEF 0)! And because of its special ability, its attack gets a boost from how many monsters I used to fuse it with multiplied by 1000! So now, it has 4000 attack points! (ATK 4000/ DEF 0 )

"What? No way!" Ash shouted, to which Flamvell Baby reassured him yet again, "Wait for it, Ash! You can still win this!"

"How?"

"Watch...!"

With a shaky hand, Syrus gestured towards Ash. With a wavering bellow, he instructed his giant armored dragon to attack. The dragon gave a robotic hiss before its lengthy body swam through the air and headed directly for Ash.

"Wh-what do I do?" Ash cried, looking around the field. Then, his face down trap card crossed his line of vision. He had forgotten what it was, but in a last ditch resort, he activated it anyway. As he did, a wailing growl erupted from Flamvell Grunika as its image dissipated into a burst of colors and light as it was destroyed. The action was so intense that Ash had to shield his eyes from it.

After the collection of light and rays of photon dimmed, Ash reopened his eyes and his mouth went wide at what he saw. Syrus was on his knees with a look of shock across his features as his dragon broke into seperated shards of itself; each fragment fading away in its entirety. Then ultimately, his Life Points dropped to zero. Ash had won the duel! And by complete fluke!

The trap he played at the last second was Spiritual Fire Art- Kurenai. By sacraficing a Fire monster on one's side of the field, the attack opponent takes damage equal to the total attack of the tributed monster. Since Ash had Flamvell Grunika on the field, and it was a Fire , its sacrafice triggered the effects of the trap to conclude before Syrus' dragon's attack could reach a target. Thus, Ash depleted Syrus' Life Points by 1700, which completely made him the winner. Since the duel was over, Syrus' dragon was destroyed, no longer having a use by its felled master this duel.

"I... lost?" Syrus barely squeaked out. Astonished, he looked to his deck that he had combined his brother's cards along with ones that he preferred and cradled them and his duel disk to his heart. Although he failed winning this duel, he knew deep down that he did not fail his brother. He was going to keep dueling and stay strong no matter what.

"HAHA! Did you see that?" Ash cheered to Flamvell Baby. The smallish spirit merely humphed, "I TOLD you to watch! See kid, even I believed in you. Somewhat..."

"Awww Flamvell Babyyyyyyy!" Ash laughed; his tone suggesting 'You can give me a little more credit than that!' "But without your help, I probably would have lost."

"Yep"

"Huh? AWW! I forgot!" Ash cried, turning to Syrus, who was now climbing to his feet. As the thin youth raised his eyes, he saw Ash standing directly in front of him with a hand outstretched. "Hey, thanks for the duel, Syrus! It was pretty close, wasn't it?"

Syrus' lips parted and he drew in a breath. He wanted to say, "I went so easy on you that I practically let you win!" but instead, he held his non polite words, regardless of the possible truth they may have held and took Ash's hand. The two shared a handshake atop the grounds of their battlefield- parting ways as that of friends.

Starving, Ash left the roof in search for the cafeteria. Silently, Syrus watched him go until his form disappeared from sight. Thoughtfully, the soft-eyed boy drifted his glistening orbs upto the heavens above. With the clouds in his sights, he took this loss as an inclination to take himself more seriously as a person as well as a duelist. Also, one day, he hoped that he would be able to form a bond with duel spirits like his best buddy Jaden and his new friend, Ash.

Fun fun! Ash was a blast to write for lol

-Mel