The duel academy hot springs was one of the areas Harry had yet to visit in his time on the island so far. Alexis had mentioned it once during one of their poker games but he hadn't thought twice of it. Thus, it was understandable that it was the woman in question who had shown up at his dorm room that morning, two days after that very long night, and demanded that he come along with her for some rest and relaxation.

He hadn't protested. In fact, he didn't do anything at first given that she had barged into his room in the early hours of the morning and started rifling through his clothes to find something suitable for a hot spring. When he had gotten out of bed and showered, his clothes had been thrown into the bathroom along with a shout for him to hurry up.

It really wasn't like her to be so bossy. Harry thought to himself as he lounged in the water. Once he was dressed, she had grabbed him by the hand, a bag in her hand containing his trunks, a towel, and his deck. It really was a symbol of their friendship that her taking his possessions didn't even occur to him.

Looking to his left, he saw her on the poolside lying in the sunlight that poured through the glass ceiling. Despite it being the first week of winter the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky. Outside was cold, but that was why they were called hot springs. In the absence of a world ending threat, dangerous duels, or an existential crisis, his thoughts travelled to the dream he had not so long ago.

Alexis was his best friend. He knew this. It was the words that sprung to mind whenever he thought of her. But he had never considered her, or anyone for that matter, in terms of physical attraction.

When he was twelve he was thrown from one world into another and stripped of his powers. When he discovered new ones in their place he was also adopted by the wealthiest man in the world. For three years after he had been tutored, trained, and raised so that he would have a place in this world as the son of Pegasus. It hadn't been easy, people tried to get to him many times for his connections, his power, and even his cards. So needless to say, despite the love he was showered with these past three years, he hadn't had many friends.

Then he had come here.

Alexis he recognized of course. He thanked every deity he knew to exist and many he wasn't sure of that he had made such an impression on her those years ago. The two had become close so easily that it frightened him. But he rolled with the punches and loved every second of it.

Then there were the others, Zane, Jaden, and Syrus. Three who simply accepted him and included him whenever Alexis dragged him out of his seclusion. He felt a kinship with Jaden, who no matter what happened, no matter how bad things got, he tried to see the best in things and enjoy it all.

"Cannonball!" A voice shouted to his left. Since it was decidedly masculine he knew it wasn't Alexis and so ceased his dead man float in favour of diving underneath the water. Seeing Chumley dive beneath the water to join him, he smiled. The Slifer reds were always fun company, even if they didn't know the meaning of the world chill. Rising from the water and wiping the excess water from his face, he blinked twice before his eyes focused. Seeing Chazz sitting upon one of the rock formations, alternating between looking at Alexis in her one piece bathing suit, and glaring at Chumley, who had splashed him with his spectacular dive he smiled again and waved his hand causing water so rise up from behind him before collapsing, the pressure forcing him into the water. The effort of doing that little prank caused his body to fill twice as heavy. While his powers were recovering, using them felt much more taxing than usual.

"I'd give that dive a seven out of ten Chumley." He told the koala enthusiast. "I didn't get to see the execution, but the dive, recovery, and splash zone" He motioned to the sputtering Chazz, "more than made up for it."

Looking around he saw Jaden sitting with his legs dangling in the pool while Syrus floated next to him, holding onto a floating ring to stay up. Jaden was currently looking nothing like his usual self. What should have been a cheery smile and a splash war was instead replaced with sulking and a frown.

"Is something wrong with Jaden?" He asked Alexis as he pulled himself from the water. Chumley and Syrus had initiated a game of keep away from Chazz who, in his infinite wisdom, had decided to wear his towel so close to the pool.

"Syrus said he's been having nightmares lately." She told him as she sat up. Harry admired her body out of the corner of his eye as he contemplated Jaden's condition. "Every night since Nightshroud he's woken up in the middle of the night and gone for a walk. Syrus said sometimes he doesn't come back till dawn."

"Why did he tell you this?" Harry asked curiously.

"He told Zane. Zane didn't know what to do." She sat next to him, their legs dangling in the water, their feet touching every once in and a while. Harry smiled. She had taken every opportunity to be close to him since she lost her powers. When she wasn't with her brother, she was with him. She never let go of either of them as if she was afraid she was going to lose them if she did.

"Think I should talk to him?"

Alexis shrugged her shoulders. "Everybody has tried. He won't really talk though."

Harry placed his hand over hers and gave it a squeeze before standing. "Guess it's time for me to do it then." He grabbed his towel and dried his arms before reaching underneath and pulling his deck and Alexis's duel disk from her bag.

"Harry what are you doing?" She asked as he put it on and began walking towards the Slifer. Guessing internally what his intentions were, she quickly stood and grabbed her own towel, wrapping it around her waist and running after him. Harry meanwhile, waved his hand pulling Jaden's duel disk and deck from his bag in the locker room into it as he neared the Slifer.

"Jaden," Harry called once he was with earshot. "I would like a word." Beckoning, he began walking to a rocky clearing designed for sunbathers who didn't want to be anywhere near the pool. Looking behind him he was pleased to see the glum Slifer following. Once they had reached the clearing, he threw the duel disk to Jaden, who caught it on reflex but looked confused.

"You and I are going to duel."

You could hear a pin drop. The Slifers in the pool no doubt noticing their friend's distraction had stopped their antics while Alexis was silent in anticipation. Jaden was the second best duelist in the school, undefeated so far by all except Zane. The red jacket he normally wore was only due to poor grades and one Doctor's spite but his skills were undeniable. Harry meanwhile, duelled rarely, and so despite his perfect grades, wasn't a contender for the top duelist. But everyone who had seen him duel, and those who knew just who he was, knew that he was probably the most skilled duelist on the campus.

"I don't really feel like it Harry." Jaden said solemnly, but didn't put his duel disk down.

Harry smiled sympathetically but lowered his own disk and walked forward. "I know you don't."

Walking forward, he saw the spirits running past them towards the portal. Chumley and Chazz saw them too, but they didn't know why it was happening. Jaden, who was facing Harry, didn't see a thing. Harry knew exactly what was going on. It was why he was without his spirit companions. He had wanted alone time with Alexis, so he had sent them off to enjoy the spirit realm. Since the barriers would be so thin at this time, he knew exactly what he had to do.

Placing his hand on Jaden's head, it began to glow causing them both to fall to their knees. One incapacitated, the other winded. Standing once more, Harry ignored the shocked cries of the others as he picked the other duelist up bridal style before running and jumping into the pool.

"God I love magic portals" Harry said as he appeared in his clothes. Jaden, still unconscious, didn't reply. Looking around, Harry knew he was nowhere near the spirit festival. Seeing a low level spirit staring at the two in shock, he smiled. "Hi there, would you be so kind as to go get Kaibaman for me?" He asked the spirit who ran off in fear. He knew the spirit would do exactly what he asked, although it wouldn't be doing it because he asked.

Kaibaman was an interesting duel monster. Weak, low levelled, but one of the most skilled duellists in the spirit realm due to literally being Seto Kaiba in duel monster form, he was the protector of this section of the spirit realm. The Dark Magician, both of them, loved coming here. Mahad loved having someone to talk to who wasn't a fifteen year old boy with all of the gifts that entailed. The current incarnation did it solely to annoy the duel spirit.

"We really are the same soul." Harry summarised his thought process as he watched the others stumble through the portal. "Hey guys!" He greeted them cheerfully as if he hadn't just kidnapped one of them and dragged them through a magic portal.

"You. Explain. Now." Alexis was the first to recover from her shock and, being the closest to Harry, was the only one comfortable enough to order him around.

"Hmm? Oh I read his mind." Harry whispered to her once she got closer. "He's afraid that he can't protect his friends. Seeing Syrus kidnapped once and nearly kidnapped a second time, Doctor Crowler losing his soul, even if it was only for a few hours. He's scared of duelling because he never thought it could be so dangerous, and he's afraid of failing."

Alexis blinked. "You can read minds?" She asked with a blush remembering that she had been checking him out during their alone time in the hot springs.

Harry chuckled, not having a clue about those thoughts. "No, Winged Kuriboh told me." He pointed over her shoulder.

"Winged Kuriboh?" She asked turning around mid sentence only to see the aforementioned duel spirit hovering right behind her. A moment of silence followed as she processed what was happening. "HE'S SO CUTE." She screamed in delight as she grabbed the duel monster from the air and began to cuddle it.

"She's adjusting to her situation very well." A voice said to Harry's left. It was exactly the same as his creator. Kaiba preferred not to think about the spiritual side of duel monsters. But one had to admire the man who was powerful enough and skilled enough to create his own duel spirit just from creating a card. As he spoke, screams of shock and terror could be heard further away as the other Slifers realised what was going on.

"I think I may have normalised her to this level of strangeness." Harry hypothesised as he looked at his best friend coo at the adorable ball of fluff that was Winged Kuriboh. "But she's not normally this, girly."

"What do you want, brat?" Kaibaman asked, not wanting to discuss female emotions with his, creator's honorary nephew.

Not really in the mood to mess with an incarnation of Kaiba, Harry pointed to Jaden. "I want you to duel him, and beat him." Seeing the expression on the duel spirit's face, even underneath the mask, he clarified. "He's having trouble adjusting to shadow duels, and has developed a fear of failure."

Kaibaman nodded seeing the issue; a fear of failure was good. So long as someone remembered that failure wasn't necessarily the end.

"And to deal with his feeling that he can't protect anyone," Harry continued. "I'm going to be your prisoner while you do it." Shrugging his shoulders, he put his wrists together and watched as purple energy wrapped around them, binding them together.

"And what's in it for me, brat?" The duel spirit asked, he would do it anyway, but he was curious how far Harry was willing to go for his friend.

Harry narrowed his eyes, but snapped his fingers inside the chains of his own making and watched as a rainbow of light appeared in his hand. It drew the attention of Alexis, who was making sure the others were okay, forcing her to take in the situation.

"Harry!" She screamed seeing him in chains. Running to help him, she was dragged over by an invisible force instead, landing next to him.

"Nice rescue Alexis" Harry joked as he shook hands with Kaibaman, still bound in chains. "But just sit with me and watch the show." Snapping his fingers once more, he fell to his knees from exhaustion and laid his head in her lap.

As Jaden awoke, he began to take in his surroundings. One thing he knew for sure was that this wasn't the hot springs. Back in his clothes, with his duel disk on his arm he stood from the ground and saw that Harry was also lying on the ground with his head in Alexis's lap and purple chains around his wrists, the latter stroking the top of his head and whispering.

Behind him he saw Syrus, Chumley and Chazz each surrounded by duel monsters though they looked reasonably fine. Noting that he was the only one conscious to have a duel disk he readied himself to protect the others.

And finally, looking back towards Harry, he saw that there stood a final humanoid shape standing over his friend. When the man turned to face him, Jaden couldn't help himself. "Kaiba?" He asked in a loud breath.

"Kaibaman, Slacker." Chazz spoke for the first time. "We ended up here; next thing Wonder Boy is unconscious after a conversation with him." Not knowing that it was all part of a plan, Chazz spoke with anger, he didn't know why Harry jumped into the pool with Jaden, but the thought was pushed from his mind by the events that had happened after.

"What did you do to my friend?" Jaden shouted in confused anger at the duel spirit. "Did you bring us here?" He continued as more questions. "Are you a shadow rider?"

"So many questions," Kaibaman chuckled. "But if you want answers, and more importantly, if you want your friend back unharmed, you had better win my challenge." Raising his arm, a replica of Kaiba's blue eyes white dragon duel disk could be seen. "From the looks of you, you won't back down, but I sense fear. Are you brave enough to face these?" Drawing the first three cards he turned them to Jaden.

Jaden couldn't help the feeling of fear that overtook him upon seeing the three Blue Eyes White Dragons in the hands of the duel spirits. But as he looked past him and saw Harry on the ground he knew he didn't have a choice.

"I accept your challenge Kaibaman!"

The duel spirit laughed as he took his deck, and began to shuffle it. "You don't stand a chance, give up now and I'll let you and the others go, but these two? Are mine."

Jaden growled as he walked the distance to duel and deployed his duel disk.

"No words?" The duel spirit mocked as he drew his cards. "Well then I guess I'll have to go first." Drawing a sixth card, Kaibaman wasted no time and played the first. "I play white dragon ritual, now all I have to do is send my Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands to the graveyard in order to ritual summon my Paladin of White Dragon in attack mode."

The ritual fires began to burn as the spirit of Manju was pulled inside the altar. The flames rose into a pillar of blue fire in the sky before a knight clad in white armour broke through, shattering the spell as he did.

"But my Paladin will now be sacrificed, activating his special ability in order to bring from my deck, the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

Harry could feel Blue-Eyes White Dragon being summoned. The energy of the dragon filled the area pressing against his senses. A blinding light could be seen through his eyelids as the Paladin's body began to grow and crack, light bursting from his frame before finally exploding and leaving the legendary monster in it's wake.

"And finally, I summon myself, Kaibaman, in attack mode." The duel spirit cried as a copy of him appeared on the field.

"He's enjoying the duel." Harry whispered to Alexis as Kaibaman sacrificed himself to summon a second Blue-Eyes.

"How can you tell?" She asked.

"He never overplays like that. Kaiba will show off. But he would never play his entire hand; he feels it leaves him too defenceless. He's going for the kill." Harry told her as Jaden drew his sixth card and began his turn. "Jaden is staring at two Blue-Eyes White Dragons and he hasn't even started. As he is now he has two choices, give in to his fear, or rise above it."

"I draw." Jaden cried as he drew the card. Harry smiled seeing his friend carry on in the face of odds against him. "I play polymerization, fusing my two elemental Heroes Avian and Burstinatrix in order to form Elemental Hero Flame Wingman."

Interesting, Harry thought to himself as he felt Jaden's monster for the first time. This was the first time he had truly seen Jaden duel. The monster exuded the same level of power that Blue-Eyes White Dragon did. He could feel Jaden's desire to protect from his monsters.

"Next I play the field spell Skyscraper."

Harry shifted slightly so that when the buildings rose from the ground beneath him, made real due to the spirit realm, he rose with them leaving him lying on a rooftop with his head in Alexis's lap. Standing, he flexed his wrists and the energy binding them vanished as if it was never there. Making his way to the edge of the rooftop he saw Jaden's Flame Wingman rise from the ground at high speed before plunging down leaving a trail of fire behind him. The monster extended his flaming dragon head of a hand, energy forming into a lance as he speared directly through one of Kaibaman's Blue-Eyes.

"Impressive." He muttered as Alexis came to stand beside him, taking his hand as she neared the edge of the roof. "In one move he's completely turned the tables. Flame Wingman's special ability has left him with less than a thousand life points. He must feel on top of the world right now."

"I can imagine." Alexis agreed with him. "In one turn he's created a monster with more power than the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and left Kaibaman with very few options." As she said this Jaden played a face down and ended his turn. "I bet that face down will stop him from mounting a comeback so easily."

Harry shook his head as he watched Kaibaman draw his card and felt the thrum of power from the top of the roof. "It's a shame he's going to lose."

"This is something to do with that rainbow light when you two shook hands doesn't it?" She asked him. Seeing him nod, her pretty face turned into a scowl as she took her hand away from him and stepped back. "Then why did you put him up to this!" She hissed.

"Because after all that's happened, the school duel, Nightshroud, Camula, seeing his friends kidnapped and tortured and being forced to sit on the sidelines. He's not sure if he has the strength to do what he needs to do to protect them. He's brave. He knows he would do it anyway, but if he fails?" Harry shook his head. "He needs to learn that losing isn't the end."

'How is he going to do it?' Harry thought to himself. He knew Kaiba's deck as well as he knew his own. He had duelled against the man as many times as he had his father and Yugi. But he had never seen him play like this before.

He watched, unable to hear due to being so far up, as gold coins showered the two players, a trait belonging to the Cards of Sanctity magic card, as both players drew to having six cards in their hand. Harry knew that the five cards that he didn't know about would bring Kaibaman victory.

And sure enough, Kaibaman quickly summoned the King of D., a duel monster resembling the Lord of D. where it not for the three headed Blue-Eyes White Dragon themed guitar in his hand. Using it's special ability, he added the Flute of Summoning Dragons to his hand by discarding the spell card Soul Charge and activated it. As the King played the flute, a second Blue-Eyes joined Kaibaman's remaining one while the armoured behemoth that was Kaiser Glider appeared next to it.

"That's more than enough to summon it." Harry muttered as he watched Kaibaman place one more card, this one causing a silver throne to appear behind him. He recognized it. In fact, he had actually helped design it as a birthday present to Kaiba. It was Return of the Dragon Lords, allowing the third and final Blue-Eyes White Dragon to return to the field. "But you want to end it." Alexis had retaken his hand and was now waiting for the duel to end, silently praying for Jaden to pull through.

But she didn't know what Harry knew. She couldn't feel the powers flowing like he could.

The Egyptian Gods could only safely be played by those chosen, or rather, those who in ancient time were, and would be Pharaoh of Egypt. Kaibaman was neither of these. In fact, the only reason he was allowed to do what he did was because it was Harry who summoned the card, and he was essentially Kaiba in duel monster form.

But he was allowed. And so Harry wrapped his arm around Alexis and pulled her close as the three Blue-Eyes vanished before them and lightning began to strike despite there being no sky above their heads. The ground beneath their feet began to shake. And Harry's blood began to sing.

Obelisk the Tormentor had been played.

The humanoid God towered above the Skyscraper field spell, his bulking frame hidden only slightly by the landscape. Looking down, Harry could see his entrance had knocked his friends to the ground while Jaden had paled and was staring in shock. "I'm sorry Jaden." He whispered. Even Alexis could not hear him over the growls of the deity monster spirit. "But I had to make sure you didn't stand a chance." He didn't even finish the sentiment before Obelisk grabbed Kaibaman's remaining two monsters and absorbed their power to fuel a shockwave that obliterated Jaden's Flame Wingman.

'Be gentle' He projected the thought to the deity using the last of his energy. This last act left him feeling hollow once more as he fought to remain standing. He knew he would not be able to use his powers for some time after this. He had kept just enough to be able to see his spirits. Fortunately, the portal was already open.

Obelisk's Fist of Fate slammed into Jaden, knocking him backwards only to land on his friends who had not been able to stand in the short time. As his life points went from four thousand to zero in an instant. Obelisk began to vanish along with his card in a rainbow light. His red eyes glowed as he projected a thought back towards Harry.

'When the time comes, our cards will not fade.' The god's voice boomed inside his mind as he vanished entirely.

As the skyscrapers sunk back into the ground from whence they came, Harry and Alexis were brought to the ground. Patting Kaibaman on the shoulder as they passed one another, he approached Jaden and offered him a hand up. "Congratulations." He told the Slifer red as they approached the portal home. "You just lost to and Egyptian God. Now what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to get a grilled cheese with Chumley. I'm starving!" He smiled. He had lost. He had felt not only the loss, but the feeling of the Egyptian God pressing down on his body, sending him flying across the cave. But he had gotten back up, and his friends had gotten up with him, ready to keep on going. That was all he needed.

Harry sat on the balcony of his bedroom in the Obelisk Blue dorm staring at a package that had been sent from his father. Alexis stood next to him playing solitaire. Every once in a while she would look up from her cards to see if Harry had opened it before shaking her head on seeing he hadn't. His father had sent it the day he had woken up after their video call. He had sent it to help him which, if he were being honest irked him ever so slightly. His deck was fine; he didn't need any of Yugi's cards or worse, new ones.

But he knew the times were only going to get worse and, as he looked at Alexis who had given up her game to stare at him in turn, he knew he would need every edge to protect her. So he opened the package to reveal the new cards his father had sent him.

"Huh" He muttered as he turned them to show her.