See? Much faster update than last time. XD Now to keep this up... Enjoy this next chapter! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh GX, their characters, and cards, but I do own my OC's and this storyline.

Chapter 8: Mind Games

3. The dice revealed a 3. Linda sighed a breath of relief as Karen started raging.

"WHAT? DAMN IT! HOW DID THAT NOT WORK?"

"Holy cow, calm down. It's not like your life was at stake with that roll!" Linda responded to Karen's outburst.

Linda's short moment of relief, however, was replaced with searing pain as the first fire dart struck her for 500 life points. Linda's scream reverberated a wide radius as Water Dragon came to stop at a reasonable distance from the duel.

"LINDA!" exclaimed Jesse and Jaden as the second dart triggered another scream of pain, extracting an additional 600 life points. The third dart came shortly after, igniting one last anguished scream.

Despite still being alive with 200 life points, Linda appeared far from alive at that moment. She was laying face first on the ground, unmoving. Jaden took a step forward before he was stopped by Jesse.

"What?"Jaden exclaimed irritably, obviously not pleased with being stopped from helping his friend.

"I know what ya're thinking Jay, and I will want to help just as badly as ya do, but we have to have faith that Linda will pull through and make a final stand." Jaden sighed in frustration, but nodded his understanding in Jesse's statement.

"HA, I guess that did finish you off despite your remaining life points!" Karen shouted gleefully. However, her short moment of triumph did not last as Linda showed signs of life. Slowly lifting herself inch by inch, Linda gathered herself into a crouching position. Her clothes were mildly tattered and her skin revealed scorch marks, slowly steaming smoke. Despite this defeated appearance, Linda's eyes contrasted everything pre-mentioned. Her eyes shined with hope and determination to end the duel with an ending that only seemed fit to only her.

"I'm – not done – by a long shot –" Linda gasped.

"Gah! Why are you still alive!" yelled Karen in anger.

Regaining her composure despite her body's protest against every movement, Linda replied smartly, "My life points aren't gone, are they? I think that would be the logical reason why I am. So do you end your turn or not?"

"Fine, go then."

Linda

200

Cards in hand: 0

Cards face down: 0

Monsters on field: 0

Field Spell: The Sanctuary In The Sky

Graveyard: 8

Royal Knight – ATK 1300, DEF 800

Fairy Archer – ATK 1400, DEF 600

Spirit of the Harp – ATK 800, DEF 2000

White Magician Pikeru – ATK 1200, DEF 0

Dunames Dark Witch – ATK 1800, DEF 1050

Kaiser Sea Horse – ATK 1700, DEF 1650

Warrior of Zera – ATK 1600, DEF 1600

Archlord Zerato – ATK 2800, DEF 2300

Karen

1600

Cards in hand: 0

Cards face down: 0

Monsters on field: 0

Field Spell: None

Graveyard: 7

Chthonian Soldier – ATK 1200, DEF 1400

Science Soldier – ATK 800, DEF 800

Dark Blade – ATK 1800, DEF 1500

Darknight Parshath – ATK 1900, DEF 1400

Twin-Sword Marauder – ATK 1600, DEF 1400

Swordstalker – ATK 2000, DEF 1600

Removed from play: 1

Necro Gardna– ATK 600, DEF 1300

Darklord Zerato – ATK 2800, DEF 2300

Both sides of the field were wide open. Only The Sanctuary in the Sky was left on the desecrated field.

"I draw!" Linda said as she pulled the card back and moved her arm in a forward arc until she could see it.

"What is it?" questioned Karen desperately as the expression she caught sight of from Linda brought thoughts of her worst fear for the moment. Defeat.

"I activate the spell card, Monster Reborn!" shouted Linda victoriously. She held the card up like the pinnacle of a temple. The card shined lustrously as a pinwheel of light brought back the solemn Warrior of Zera.

"What, no! I can't lose! The degree of punishment will be too great!" shrieked Karen.

"You staked your life on this duel. If you can't accept the consequences, then you never should've initiated this duel in the first place. Now Warrior of Zera, wrap this up! Vengeance of the Warrior!"

A fearful expression enveloped Karen's face as Warrior of Zera charged forward for the ending blow. A dull thud echoed faintly as contact was made between the monster and Karen.

Eyes wide with disbelief, Karen fell to the ground muttering, "How could this have happened?"

"And that's how you take care of business," stated Linda as she grinned from the other side of the duel. She looked toward Karen to see the last part of her body disappear.

"Linda! That was an amazing duel!" Jaden declared from the sidelines.

"Yes," agreed Jesse with a pause before resuming, "But what was with her disappearing act at the end for?"

"That was no act Jesse. She challenged me to a duel which staked our lives as the consequence of losing," responded Linda curtly.

"What? Why would she? Did you even know her?" spouted Jaden.

"Only a little bit, but that still perplexes me on why she would go as far as to initiate something that extreme."

Just then, Linda started to sway.

"Woah, watch it there Linda. Don't exert yourself too much after that duel," said Jaden. Linda nodded in agreement and sat down to catch a breather.

"HA, don't get too caught up in your drama. You still remember our deal, eh?" interrupted Bastion from the side. Jaden paled at the mention while Jesse nodded in acknowledgment. Linda, however, showed signs of confusion, relief, and happiness all at once.

"Wait, Bastion? I haven't seen you in forever! Are you alright?" questioned Linda.

"Bastion?" asked Bastion in confusion before catching on. "Oh, of course, you still seem to be clueless. Well, I don't have the time to fill you in right now. It's time to fulfill a bargain!" At that moment, Bastion seemed to flash. Jesse felt a jolting sensation in his head as he began to feel the loss of control of his body.

'Don't fight it. It will only weaken you later,' sounded a distant voice in Jesse's head. With that statement, the transition was complete. Nothing different seemed apparent to everyone else besides the fact that Bastion started to collapse.

"Bastion!" Jaden exclaimed worriedly.

"Haha, oh yeah!" yelled Jesse triumphantly. "That was way too easy."

Jaden spun on him, demanding, "What have you done with Jesse?"

Footsteps echoed in the distance as two silhouettes could be distinctly seen. Eventually, Alexis and Telfair entered the fray.

"Where's the duel?" asked Telfair. He turned toward Linda saying, "I know I saw The Sanctuary in the Sky field spell."

"The duel's over obviously," Linda answered, still on the ground resting. "And yes, I did play that card. I was dueling a person named Karen."

"Why were you dueling in the first place?" inquired Alexis.

"I was attacked by her. She demanded for a duel and I accepted, putting our lives at stake. The reason why she initiated all this? I have no clue."

"Woah there! You guys have Bastion!" exclaimed Telfair happily, changing the topic.

"And I have Jesse!" responded Jesse.

"Wait, what do you mean you have yourself Jesse?" asked Alexis.

"For the last time, I'm not Bas– wait, I mean Jesse!"

"Huh?" replied Telfair and Alexis bluntly, obviously confused.

"Ugh, due to your stupid friend's request, I must explain myself." Jesse sighed. "Have any of you heard of the Unious Stones?"

"Nope, never heard of them," Telfair answered. Everyone else nodded their head in agreement.

"Are you serious? Never mind then. I'll put it like this; I right now have done a takeover on your friend's body. I dwelled in Bastion's body during the time before you two arrived," continued Jesse, pointing at Alexis and Telfair.

"K, so what did you mean when you said something about a request?" wondered Telfair.

"Ah, an unfortunate drawback with this power. Before I can take over someone, they are given two requests. The requests, however, cannot prevent control."

"Oh, so you're not the standard foe, huh?" Alexis thought out loud.

"Yeah, he's a coward! Using others to do his horrible deeds!" stated Telfair bravely.

"I'm a coward, eh? It doesn't matter what you think! I'm going to vanquish you all now! I don't need a takeover on anyone else."

"Vanquish us? What do you mean by that?" Telfair inquired. The next action Jesse displayed answered his question.

"I summon Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger!" With that statement, Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger appeared.

"What the hell? You can do that here?" Telfair exclaimed in surprise.

"Following up, I summon Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth!" Just like before, Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth appeared.

"Jesse, you alright there? What do you need us for?" trumpeted Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth.

"YES, I'm perfectly fine. You two deal with these fools right now!" commanded Jesse.

"Mammoth, something is definitely wrong with him," said Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger.

Crystal Beast Mammoth nodded in agreement, but asked, "What do we do Tiger? Follow Jesse's command?"

Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger shrugged and said, "I guess we have to. I hope Jesse knows what he's doing."

"Oh crap, this is bad!" exclaimed Telfair.

"You think?" Linda added.

"What the hell! I should've joined them in the portal! The Chazz could've been the greatest addition to the group!" Chazz fumed back in their dimension.

"Yes, we get it Chazz," responded Axel. "Now could you talk about something else instead of ramble on about the same topic from a few hours ago?"

The group had concluded to return to the café they were at originally. Everyone sat around glumly, especially Atticus. At that moment, the door of the café shot open, revealing Arielle.

Marching up to the server, she asked loudly enough for the group to hear, "Have you seen a person named Jaden Yuki around here?"

Everyone in the group turned to look at her in surprise.

"Hey you! What do you know about the Sarge?" shouted Hassleberry. Arielle looked back at him with a confused expression.

"Oh, he means Jaden. Sorry about tha–," said Syrus midway through an apology until Axel interrupted.

"What do you know about Jaden?"

"Oh, Jaden was the knight in shining armor that brought me out of danger. I wanted to know where he was to properly thank him and maybe spend some time with him as well," answered Arielle casually.

"Oh, that makes sense. Anyone would want to hang out with Jaden. He's such a great person!" Syrus remarked proudly.

"You got that right Private Truesdale," agreed Hassleberry.

"Hey, how about you join us for lunch uh…" began Atticus.

"Arielle's the name," filled in Arielle.

"Right, Arielle. Join us for lunch, would you?"

"Of course! It'd be the second best thing to eat with Jaden's fiends."

Arielle laughed and joked with the group the whole lunch, seeming to fit in. Chazz, however, eyed her suspiciously from the other end of the table.

"Something seems odd about her…" Chazz muttered to himself quietly.

"Yeah, I agree boss! She should be here talking to you since you're the best!" chimed in Ojama Yellow only to receive a swipe from Chazz.

"No one asked you!" shouted Chazz out loud. The group turned to look at him, perplexed.

Jaden watched on in horror as the Crystal Beasts made their way towards them. Behind him laid Bastion unconscious. Telfair and Alexis were a few feet left from him. Linda was on his right, making an effort to stand up to face their new trouble.

Just then, something occurred to Jaden. "Wait! I thought we made a deal where you wouldn't hurt my friends!"

Jesse looked on in amusement. "Yes, you did say that. But I'm not the one hurting your friends. Jesse is."

"What? That's not fair!" Telfair exclaimed.

"It's perfectly fair. It's not my fault his wording wasn't great enough to do what he hoped to achieve."

"Here's condition number one from me then: I want you to stop your onslaught with Jesse's body," demanded Telfair. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Jesse called back both Crystal Beasts due to Telfair's request.

"That was close. Good going Telfair," complimented Alexis. Turning towards Jesse, she continued, "My condition number one is: what is your real name as the person controlling Jesse?"

Sighing again, Jesse answered, "Psycrosis."

Linda followed up next demanding, "Now to my first condition. I want you to tell us the extent of your ability."

Turning to face Linda, Psycrosis responded, "God, I forgot you were here too. Fine, I guess I have to comply. For a takeover to occur, I have to be able to see my target and be within a radius of 1,000 meters. So that basically means my first takeover has to be fairly close to my target. If you're within 30 meters of me though, you are immune to the effects of takeover. However, once I've taken over someone, I can take over another person I see from whom I host at the moment. Of course, I still have to be within 1,000 meters. Of course before a takeover, I have to give them two conditions beforehand. There is a one hour limit to declare your conditions though, or else your ability to give those out are taken away and I can instantly takeover. And as you already know, your conditions can't prevent a takeover. The moment after your second condition is spoken, I have the liberty to exercise my ability on you."

The horror of their situation occurred to Alexis, Telfair, Linda, and Jaden. If Alexis, Telfair, or Linda made one more demand, they were free for the taking. The problem was they had less than an hour to figure something out or else their demand chance would become void. Jesse under Psycrosis's control didn't make the situation any better for them either.

Telfair stepped forward after their current situation seemed to sink in. "Alexis, Linda, we have to use our last requests carefully. If we use it and are within sight, we're taken," began Telfair. "You two save yours for when it's really necessary."

"What about you?" asked Linda, fearing the response that she could already anticipate.

"I'm going to use my last one to give you guys a shot at him."

"WHAT?" exclaimed Jaden.

"Telfair, no, there has to be another way we can do this," argued Alexis, trying to talk Telfair out of his daring maneuver.

Telfair only shook his head. "Not a chance. Time's a wasting right now and we have to take action now. We have about forty-five minutes right now before the requests are negated. We best make a move now. The earlier, the more time you can use to initiate a further step."

Jaden and Alexis looked on in silence anxiously, hoping that a new option would present itself. Linda, however, spoke. "Telfair, I hope you know what you're doing. I know there's no way to talk you out of this, so I better have another duel with you some time later!"

Telfair merely turned around to walk towards Psycrosis. Lifting up his arm, he gave a thumbs-up.

"It's time to settle this now Psycrosis!" shouted Telfair. Turning around, Telfair told Linda and Alexis, "You two, see if you can summon a monster that could give you a lift."

Alexis and Linda looked at each other for a second before calling out simultaneously and lifting their cards, "Help me out, Cyber Blader!"

"Let's go, Archlord Zerato!" With those two shouts, the cards both began to shine as both of the said monsters materialized next to their designated owners.

Telfair looked on satisfied and turned back towards Psycrosis. "Now Psycrosis, Request number two: Where are you exactly as in direction, distance, and relative location?"

Gritting his teeth once more as Jesse, Psycrosis answered, "I'm about 700 meters northwest from your exact location. I happen to be in a cave right now at the end of one of a two-way split path."

"Wait, northwest? How the hell are we suppose to know which way is that?" questioned Telfair angrily.

"I dunno, that's your problem. And now you are wide open for the picking!" grinned Psycrosis maliciously as Jesse one last time.

"Oh shit. Linda, Alexis, Jaden, it's all up to you three now!" yelled Telfair before an internal battle started to become externally noticeable. While Telfair struggled mentally, Jesse suddenly started freefalling towards the ground.

"Jesse!" exclaimed Jaden, rushing to break Jesse's fall.

Telfair turned toward the group now, smiling in a sinister way. "Now I've gotten another one of your friends!"

Just then, Bastion started to stir. "Wha–what happened to me? What's going on?"

"Bastion! Are you alright?" asked Jaden worriedly.

"Yeah, just fine, but could someone please explain the situation to me?"

"Not right now Bastion. We don't have the time to spare. Could you do me a favor and watch Jesse for me though?"

"Sure, of course…" said Bastion, a bit confused, which prompted Jaden to lay Jesse down onto him.

Jaden returned to the small huddle between Alexis and Linda. Alexis, after pondering for a moment, began, "We've got to take our chances here. Jaden, you and Linda each pick a random direction to go. I'll go a different direction. Remember, we're looking for a cave. If we can get close enough to Psycrosis, we can take control of the situation." Linda and Jaden nodded in agreement.

"Sorry to break it to you all, but I'm still here," interrupted Psycrosis as Telfair. Lifting a card up, Psycrosis called, "Serve me now, Felgrand Dragon!" A huge silver armored dragon, plated with gold spikes appeared after a dazzling light show. Its silver wings, outlined with gold, spread out to reveal it's menacing red eyes.

"Crap, we better get out of here. Help me out, Neos!" called out Jaden. Neos appeared instantly by Jaden's side. Grabbing onto Neos, Jaden shouted, "Let's get out of here! Head straight Neos!"

"Best follow in suit. Let's head left Archlord Zerato!" remarked Linda.

"I guess we're last. Let's head right then Cyber Blader!" shouted Alexis.

Psycrosis merely looked on, smirking. "HA, they all went the wrong way! This is way too amusing. I might as well pursue someone right now to spice it up. The question is: who?" After taking a quick second to think, Psycrosis reached a conclusion. "I'll pursue that Alexis girl. That other girl is going to hit the dead end and run out of gas and I feel facing Jaden will not be a smart move for now." Hopping onto Felgrand Dragon, Psycrosis began his pursuit, heading the direction Alexis took off.

A few minutes later, Jaden returned back to the original spot everyone was at. "Well that didn't work out. We ran into a dead end pretty quickly."

"Jaden! Alexis might need your help!" shouted Bastion frantically in his familiar British accent.

"Wait, where's Psycrosis right now anyways?" wondered Jaden.

"That's what I'm getting at! He took off after Alexis!"

"Oh crap, I better get going!" Jaden prepared to take off before realizing he had no clue which way to go. Scratching the bag of his head, Jaden said, "Uh…funny thing Bastion, I don't know which way they went." Sweat dropping, Bastion pointed out the way.

"Thanks Bastion, now I'm off!" hollered Jaden as he took off.

Skating as fast as she could through the air, Cyber Blader shot forward at a lightning pace. Alexis kept her eyes peeled for any signs of an opening like a cave. Cyber Blader continued at this pace until they reached the same result as Jaden.

"A dead end? Looks like we're going to have to back track Cyber Blader," spoke Alexis, slightly disappointed.

"Unfortunately for you, you're not going back!" shouted a voice.

"Who…?" began Alexis until she caught sight of a mighty dragon that turned the corner. Telfair sat on top of Felgrand Dragon, still under the influence of Psycrosis.

"Surprise!"

Alexis started to frown at the unfortunate situation she was placed in. She had her back to the wall and a dragon in front of her.

"Cyber Blader, Skate Blade Slash!" Cyber Blader made a quick move towards Felgrand Dragon and executed her attack successfully. Felgrand Dragon reared back as the attack made contact. Roaring in pain, the dragon turned its menacing red eyes towards Cyber Blader.

"You're not getting with that! Felgrand Dragon, Razor Wing Slash!" The dragon roared before commencing a skydive assault towards Cyber Blader.

"Quick, move to your right Cyber Blader!" Zipping to her right, Cyber Blader avoided the wing of Felgrand Dragon and struck out multiple times at the rear of the dragon.

Psycrosis eyed Alexis with curiosity. "Hmmm, you're better than I anticipated. How about we get things really going? Come out, Tyrant Dragon!" The card flashed with red energy as another enormous dragon made his debut, this one a dark red-orange color with the interior of its wings colored with blue.

"What? Another monster?" Alexis exclaimed in surprise.

"Now you two, Razor Wing Slash and Dragon Flame Burst!" Felgrand Dragon launched into a skydive assault position again while Tyrant Dragon's mouth started to reveal vicious scorching flames.

"Wrath of Neos!" came a voice from a distance. Elemental Hero Neos zoomed at breakneck speed toward Felgrand Dragon and smashed it into Tyrant Dragon. Surprise was written over both of Telfair's, under Psycrosis's influence, and Alexis' face.

"Thanks Jay! That was a close one!" Alexis sighed in relief.

Jaden responded with a charismatic thumbs up. "No problem. You head back and find that cave while I keep Tel–er, Psycrosis busy."

"You got yourself a plan big guy." Alexis flew off once more on Blade Skater to return to their starting point.

"You bastard! How dare you interrupt my fun? I'm going to make quick work of you, and then make that girl suffer even more for your actions!" raged Psycrosis angrily.

Jaden glared back at Psycrosis. "You're not going to hurt Alexis or anymore of my friends for that matter. I won't let you!"

A windy breeze blew serenely along Jaden and Psycrosis. The battle of wits and strength had just begun.

How will this battle between Jaden and Telfair-controlled Psycrosis result? Will Alexis find the actual Psycrosis in time? How's Linda doing? Bastion? Jesse? The Unious Stones are still a mystery to be uncovered? And will Chazz undermine Arielle? Find out next time!

Woot! Another chapter done! :D My eyes are really starting to unfocus from how late I'm staying up to complete this. R&R (Read and Review) please! :D Thanks!