Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.
Chapter One
Sunlight steamed through the red curtains that shielded the eyes of the three roommates.
BEEP BEEP BEEP.
Syrus rolled over. Unfortunately, he was lying close to the edge of his bed, so he ended up rolling off the bed. Luckily for him, he landed on Jaden who was half off his bed.
“I activate my spell card!”
“Dueling in his dreams again.” Syrus rubbed his head, getting to his feet. “What woke me up?” BEEP BEEP BEEP. “Oh, that’s right.” Syrus picked up his PDA and turned it on. Zane appeared on the screen.
“Sy, meet me at the docks at ten o’clock. I would like to spend time with my little brother.” The screen blinked off. The message slowly sunk into Syrus’s head.
‘Zane was calling me. He wants to spend time with me.’ Syrus was jolted awake when the last line of Zane’s message sunk in. ‘What time is it?’ A look at the clock told him it was nine fifty. A panicked look entered Syrus’s eyes. ‘I’ve gotta hurry or I’m gonna be late.’
Syrus threw on his Slifer Red uniform and headed toward the door. He opened it just as Jaden said, “I use Polymerization to fuse-” Syrus closed the door before Jaden could finish, but he didn’t care. He was on Cloud Nine because his brother wanted to spend time with him.
AT THE DOCK
Zane spotted Syrus running his way six and a half minutes later. Zane smirked. ‘Sy slept in as usual.’
Syrus ran up to his big brother, panting. “Sorry, Zane. I slept in.”
“Obviously.”
“Knowing you, you were up at the crack of dawn.”
“I was up at seven thirty.”
“Same thing,” Syrus said with a smile.
The two brothers then fell into a comfortable silence as they watched the ocean. After a few minutes of this, Zane spoke up. “What would you say to a duel?”
“With who?”
“Me.”
“Me duel you?”
“I want to see how much you’ve improved since first arriving here.”
“Uh, sure. Where?”
“Right there.” Zane pointed to the grassy area just beyond the dock. “Right now.” They stepped off the dock and onto the grass. They activated their duel disks.
“Duel,” they chorused.
“I’ll start,” Zane said as he drew a card. “I play Proto-Cyber Dragon in attack mode and place this face down.”
“My turn.” Syrus drew a card. ‘Okay. His Proto-Cyber Dragon has 1100 attack points. My Patroid can beat it. “I play Patroid in attack mode. I use its special ability to see your face down card.” Zane’s face down card flipped up to revealed the spell card Mystical Space Typhoon. “I attack with Patroid. Siren smasher!”
Patroid destroyed Proto-Cyber Dragon, dealing Zane 100 points of damage. “Well done, Little Brother. You remembered Patroid’s special ability.” Zane drew a card. “Don’t let it go to your head. With my field clear, I can play Cyber Dragon. Cyber Dragon, attack Patroid. Strident Blast.” Syrus took 900 points of damage. “I place two cards face down.”
Syrus drew his card. “I play Mystical Space Typhoon. The middle card is destroyed.” The card splintered. “I play Gyroid in defense mode.”
Zane drew his next card. “I attack Gyroid. Strident Blast.” Gyroid was destroyed. “I activate Monster Reborn and bring back my Proto-Cyber Dragon. I activate the spell card Photon Generator Unit. This card allows me to sacrifice my two Cyber Dragons to bring out the Cyber Laser Dragon.”
Syrus got nervous. ‘I don’t have anything that I can summon right now that can beat 2400 attack. So, here goes.’ Syrus drew his card. ‘Soul Exchange. Wait! I can use that to summon my UFOroid to the field. I’ll sacrifice his Cyber Laser Dragon for my UFOroid and attack him directly. That’ll impress Zane.’ Syrus stuck the card into his duel disk. “I activate the spell card Soul Exchange!”
Just then, the lights on Syrus’s duel disk blinked on and off in rapid succession.
“Oh no!” Syrus exclaimed.
“What the-” Zane started. Before Zane could finish his line, there was an explosion.
Syrus groaned and put a hand to his head. ‘That hurt! Oh, is my disk and card all right?’ He looked down. ‘Well, everything seems to be okay. What the-. There’s Zane’s Cyber Laser Dragon on my duel disk!’ It was then that Syrus noticed his jacket. ‘This looks like Zane’s jacket!’ His reflection caught his attention. He crawled over to the water’s edge and peered in. A teenager with teal hair and eyes wearing an Obelisk Blue Uniform peered back at him. Syrus spun around to see if Zane was behind him. Not seeing him, Syrus looked back into the water.
Meanwhile, Zane opened his eyes, which landed on his jacket sleeve. ‘Red?’ Zane raised a hand to rub his eyes, but that hand ran into a pair of glasses. He took them off and immediately his vision blurred. He put the glasses back on and everything came back into focus. ‘What’s going on? I’ve always had perfect vision. He reached up, took a hold of a lock of hair, and pulled in down in order to get a look at the color. It was sky blue! “What the-” Zane put his hand to his throat. He sounded like Syrus! His now-imperfect eyes landed on his body kneeling next to the dock. ‘If that’s my body over there and I’m over here, that means…fuck.’ Realization hit Zane like an attack from his Cyber End Dragon.
(AN: From now on, I’ll refer to them by whoever’s soul it is).
Upon hearing his voice, Syrus turned around. “Zane?” Syrus put his hand to his throat. He sounded like Zane! “What happened to us?”
Zane stood up. “Isn’t it obvious, Sy?” Syrus stood up and walked over to his brother, stumbling all the while. Zane rolled his eyes. “Your card malfunctioned causing our souls to switch for an indefinite amount of time.”
“Oh! Zane, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to! I didn’t know! I-”
“Sy, stop,” Zane sighed. ‘First of all, I don’t apologize.’ “It’s not really your fault.”
“But it was my card!”
“True, however, you did not know that this would happen.”
“Well, what do we do now?” At this question, Zane looked pensive. Syrus noticed this and said softly, “I’ve never looked like that before.”
“That’s it, Sy. We need to act like each other until we can figure out how to fix this.”
“You mean we have to sleep in each other’s dorms?”
“Yes.”
“That means I have to put up with Crowler.”
“Deal with it. So, there is no show of emotions-”
“Except with Alexis,” Syrus cut in.
“Except with Ale- what? Where’d you hear that?”
“I’m very observant, Zane. Besides, to be you, I’ll have to display confidence.”
“Yes and if you are not sure what I would say, don’t say anything.”
“To be me, you have to show emotion and not a lot of confidence. You have to be real friendly with Jaden and Chumley. I also call Jaden ‘Jay’ and root for him in almost every duel.”
“I noticed the rooting, Sy.”
“Oh, by the way, I have the middle bunk.” Syrus walked toward the Obelisk Blue dorm, leaving Zane wondering what he meant.
Chapter Two
Zane shook his head as he walked to the Slifer Red dorms. All the sudden, he heard, “Hey, Sy!”
Before he could turn around, he felt an arm go around his neck and a weight on his back. Catching the sight of red and putting it together with the voice, he sighed inwardly. Putting on a smile, Zane said, “Hey, Jay!”
“Where were you?”
“Zane called me out to the docks. He wanted to spend time with me.”
“He did? What’d you guys do?”
“He wanted to duel.”
“Did you duel?”
“Yes and he beat me. However, I pulled some moves that might have impressed him.”
“Aw, man! I would have liked to have seen those moves.”
“I can try and see of I can pull some of them off again.”
“I doubt your brother would want to duel you again so soon.”
“True, but I was thinking more along the lines of dueling you.”
“Sy, are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Usually, you don’t want to duel me.”
‘How would Syrus answer that?’ Zane couldn’t think of anything, so he decided to stall. He scratched his cheek in true Syrus fashion. “I…uh…”
“Aw, never mind, Sy. Get your game on! I’ll start!” Jaden drew his card. “I play Elemental Hero Burstinatrix in attack mode and place one card face down.”
Zane nodded and drew a card. ‘Syrus needs a new deck with better cards.’ “I play Jetroid in attack mode.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
“All right. I play Elemental Hero Sparkman in attack mode. Sparkman, attack Jetroid.”
“I use Jetroid’s special ability. When you decided to attack, you activated my trap.”
“What trap? You don’t have any face downs!”
“That’s Jetroid’s special ability. I can activate a trap card from my hand once you declare an attack. So, I activate Magic Cylinder. Sparkman’s attack is directed at your life points.”
“1600 points of direct damage. You have gotten better.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah.”
Zane smiled a little and drew his next card. “I switch Jetroid to defense mode and play I Steamroid in attack mode. I activate the spell card Mystical Space Typhoon. Your face down card is destroyed. Steamroid attack Burstinatrix. Plus you get 500 points of direct damage from Steamroid’s special ability.”
“You have gotten better. I’ve got to step up my game.” Jaden drew. “I activate Polymerization to fuse Sparkman with the Bubbleman and Avian in my hand to make Elemental Hero Tempest. Attack Steamroid.”
Zane took 1000 points of damage plus the extra 500 from Steamroid’s special ability. “I draw. First, I sacrifice Jetroid for UFOroid. Then, I play Change of Heart on your Tempest. Now, I activate the magic of Power Bond to fuse Tempest and UFOroid to create UFOroid Fighter.”
“8000 attack?”
“UFOroid Fighter, attack Jaden directly.”
Jaden – 0000
Zane – 2500
“Sweet move, Sy.”
“It was, wasn’t it?”
THE OBELISK BLUE DORM
Syrus walked into the corridor, feeling more than a little scared. He wasn’t quite sure why. Maybe it was because his soul was still a Slifer’s. Just then, an Obelisk Blue students that Syrus had seen around Zane spotted him. “Hey, Zane.”
‘What would Zane say?’ He gave the Obelisk a half-nod. He flashed Syrus a thumbs-up and kept walking. After about a minute, Syrus turned around and walked out of the dorm. ‘It’s harder to get lost outside.’ As Syrus walked, his thoughts were centered on his brother and how he was doing. He was so lost in thought that he had not noticed that he had entered the girls’ area of the dorm. In fact, he still hadn’t noticed until he heard a sigh. ‘That was a feminine sigh.’ He then noticed the steam. ‘Uh oh! It’s the girls’ hot spring!’
The sole occupant of the hot spring felt someone staring at her. She turned around and a smile crept onto her face. “Zane. What are you doing here?”
“I…um…” Syrus stared at Alexis, who had stood up at that moment. She climbed out of the hot spring, fixing her towel as she went, and walked over to Syrus. She gave him a sweet smile and threw her arms around Syrus’s neck, resting her head on his shoulder. Not even realizing Syrus didn’t return the hug, Alexis stood on her tip-toes and kissed him on the lips. She broke the kiss, and Syrus said, “I…uh, just remembered. Dr. Crowler wanted to talk to me. So, I’ll see you later, Alexis.” He turned on his heel and ran.
Alexis stood there, dumbfounded. “Zane would never run from me, and he’d usually call me ‘Lex’ or ‘Lexi.’”
MAIN CAMPUS
Jaden and Zane were walking around aimlessly when three Obelisk Blue students came to a stop in front of them, causing Jaden to crash into them.
“Watch where you’re going, Slifer Slacker!”
“Don’t call him that!” Zane exclaimed.
“Would you prefer if we called him Slifer Slime?” One of the Obelisks pushed Zane hard enough to knock him off his feet. “Know your place, Slifer Sludge!”
“Yeah! Off the island.”
“Slackers like you don’t belong here.”
Zane sat there, dazed. ‘Is this how some of the Obelisks act when I’m not around?”
“Leave him alone!” Jaden yelled.
“C’mon, guys. Picking on Slifers is too easy.” The trio of Obelisks laughed and walked away.
“Sometimes I’d like to tell the Obelisks off.” Jaden sighed. “C’mon, Sy.” Jaden held his hand out, but Zane didn’t take it. “Sy?”
MEANWHILE…
Syrus was walking down the corridor, trying to shake off the feeling of Alexis’s kiss. Suddenly, three laughing Obelisks passed him and he heard part of their conversation.
“…Slifers…crashed…don’t belong…pushed…”
Syrus put it together and walked up to the Obelisks. “You were picking on Slifers?”
“Zane?” The three Obelisks were suddenly very interested in the floor.
“That is as good an admission as any. Who were they?”
“We don’t keep up with Slifers.”
“Describe them.”
“Well, one had brown hair and a haughty attitude.”
“The other one had sky blue hair and glasses.”
Syrus’s eyes narrowed at the last description. “The Slifer with glasses is my little brother. What did you do to him?”
“We kind of pushed him and said that he didn’t belong here.”
Syrus got mad hearing that. “Leave them alone.”
“Sure.”
“Whatever you say, Zane.”
The three Obelisks ran off from Syrus, leaving him fuming. As he hurried off his thoughts were on Zane. ‘It’s one thing to push and insult me, but it’s another to do the same to Zane. He’s never had to deal with it.” It didn’t take long for Syrus to find Jaden, who was shaking his brother’s shoulder.
“Sy? C’mon, Sy. Snap out of it.”
Syrus stepped over to the pair and asked, “Jaden, what happened?”
“Well, there were three Obelisks hanging out in the hall and I accidentally crashed into one of them. They called me the usual insults and Sy told them not to call me that. His comment got him pushed and insulted. They also told him that he doesn’t belong here. It was all my fault and Sy just got caught in the middle of it.”
“All right. I will take care of Syrus. You can continue on your way.” Jaden nodded and walked off. Syrus looked around and, seeing no one, knelt down next to Zane. “Zane? C’mon, big Bro. Snap out of it.”
“Don’t belong here.” Zane repeated in a faraway tone.
Syrus involuntarily winced. ‘So that’s what’s bothering him. Thanks to my card he goes from being the big man on campus to the bottom of the barrel.’ “Of course you belong here, Zane. You’re the number one duelist. The one that doesn’t belong here is me.”
That snapped Zane out of the trance. “No, Sy. You do belong here.”
“Zane! Syrus!”
Both Syrus and Zane turned and saw Alexis coming toward them. Syrus blushed a little and whispered to Zane, “Alexis hugged and kissed me about ten minutes ago.”
“What happened?” Zane asked in a whisper.
“I froze,” was the whispered reply. “After the kiss, I made up an excuse and ran. Oh and it was at the girls’ hot spring.”
At this point, Alexis came up to them. “What happened, Syrus?”
“A trio of Obelisks picked on me and Jay. Zane came to our rescue.”
“Are you okay, Syrus?” Alexis asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Zane looked up and saw Syrus holding his hand out. Zane took the offered hand and Syrus helped his brother to his feet.
“Now,” Alexis turned to Syrus. “What was that about in the hot spring?”
“You caught me off-guard. Plus,” Syrus looked at the floor. “I was trespassing.”
Alexis was surprised. ‘Zane is never this shy. I guess Syrus is rubbing off on him.’ Then she caught Zane looking at her. ‘I think Zane is rubbing off on Syrus too.’
Zane caught himself staring at Alexis and stopped. “I’m going to go back to my dorm.”
Zane left. Syrus watched him leave. ‘If I know him, he’s going to the dock.’ Syrus continued his walk.
Alexis looked from Zane to Syrus and back to Zane. ‘I’m going to follow Syrus. Something’s up between those two and I’m more likely to get an answer from Syrus.’ Alexis followed sky-blue haired boy, but not too close. Suddenly, he took a turn toward the dock. ‘Why is he going there?’
Chapter Three
Zane stood on the dock, staring out at the midday sun. Alexis cautiously approached him. “Syrus?”
Zane turned and saw Alexis. ‘She followed me.’
“What are you doing here, Syrus?”
“Nothing,” Zane said monotone. He looked up at Alexis with serious eyes.
Their eyes locked and Alexis gasped. ‘I’ve seen those eyes before, but it couldn’t be. Could it?’ “Zane?” At his nod, she asked, “But how?”
“Syrus and I were dueling earlier today. He used the spell card Soul Exchange. Instead of working correctly, it switched my soul and Syrus’s soul. So far we don’t know how to fix this.”
THE MAIN CAMPUS
Syrus saw Bastion walking his direction. “Bastion!”
Bastion stopped in front of Syrus. “Hello, Zane. Is there something you need?”
“Not really.” Syrus scratched his cheek.
“Would you object to a duel with me?”
“Why would you want to duel me?”
“So, I can test my skills.”
“It wouldn’t be much of a test. You would beat me.”
“No. I don’t think I could beat your Cyber End Dragon that easily.”
‘Oops. I forgot.’ Syrus scratched his cheek again; an action which didn’t escape Bastion’s attention.
“Why are you acting like Syrus?”
Syrus adverted his eyes. “Because I am Syrus.”
“How did this happen?”
“Zane and I dueled earlier today. I used the spell card Soul Exchange and the card switched my soul with my brother’s. We don’t know how to fix it yet.”
“I’ll try to postulate a solution. However, I need to be in my lab to do so.”
“I’ll accompany you. I could use a walk.”
THE COURTYARD
Alexis and Zane and Bastion and Syrus spotted each other from across the courtyard. Alexis looked at Syrus and said, “Hi, Syrus.”
Bastion looked at Zane and said, “Hello, Zane.”
Zane and Syrus, both ignoring their companions, exclaimed at each other, “You told!”
“Zane, Syrus didn’t really tell me. I figured it out by watching his gestures,” Bastion said.
Alexis looked at Syrus and said, “Syrus, Zane didn’t tell me either. I figured it out by his tone of voice. You would never be so serious or monotone.”
“Well, I’ve got to go to my lab.”
“Bastion offered to find a cure,” Syrus explained.
Zane and Alexis nodded and Bastion left. As soon as Bastion was out of ear-shot, Zane turned to Syrus and said, “When we fix this, you’re dead.”
“What’d I do?” Syrus squeaked. (AN: Remember this is Zane’s body and voice).
Zane had a look that was something akin to horror, complete with a slight twitch of his mouth. Alexis, on the other hand, started laughing. It was soft at first, but it gradually grew in volume and intensity. Zane looked at Syrus. “You let Alexis kiss you. That’s why you’re dead.” With that, Zane walked off towards the Slifer Dorms.
Syrus shook his head. ‘I’m pretty sure my brother won’t kill me.’ “Alexis, I’m going to lunch.”
SLIFER DORMS
Chumley was shoveling food into his mouth. Jaden was doing the same, but was also distracted. ‘Sy’s not here yet,’ Jaden thought as he looked from the door to the empty place beside him and back again. Chazz walked over to the table and spotted the untouched food tray next to Jaden. “So, Short Stack isn’t here?”
“No, and I’m worried about him. He was acting weird earlier today.”
“Well, you snooze, you loose.” Chazz started to reach for the tray.
Zane suddenly appeared next to Chazz. Pushing Chazz aside with his left arm, he said, “That’s mine.” Zane sat down beside Jaden and looked at his tray. “What’s this?”
“I know what you mean, Syrus. I thought it was Grilled Cheese Day.”
“What do you mean, Sy? This is lunch,” Jaden put in.
Zane thought fast. “All I meant was I thought we were having grilled cheese.”
“Naw. Now eat up, Sy.”
Zane looked down at the tray and saw soup, rice, four little fish, and some lemon wedges. He looked over at Jaden, who was back to stuffing his face.
“I’ll be getting out of this dump by tomorrow,” Chazz boasted.
“What do you mean, Chazz?” Jayden asked.
“I’ve already gone to Shepard and got his permission to test for Obelisk Blue. I’ll be back where I belong once I beat Zane.”
“You have to duel my brother?” Zane asked.
“Yeah.”
“He’ll beat you with no problem.” Zane took a bite of rice. ‘I’ll have to tell Sy about this.’
OBELISK BLUE DORM
Syrus had been trying to find his way to the cafeteria and was failing horribly. Then, he saw Alexis heading his way. “Alexis.”
“Hey, Zane.”
Syrus leaned in. “I need a favor.”
“What’cha need, Sy?” she whispered, keeping an eye on the Obelisks in the corridor. “Direct me to the cafeteria,” he whispered.
“Your brother didn’t tell you?”
“No.”
“I’ll direct you to your room later on too,” Alexis whispered. Out loud, she said, “Let’s go get lunch, Zane.”
The Obelisks in the corridor got out of the way of the King and Queen of the Obelisk Dorm. Once Alexis led Syrus into the cafeteria, Syrus had to restrain himself from letting his mouth drop open. “This is lunch?”
“What’s wrong, Sy?” Alexis whispered.
“This is so much grander than what we usually have at Slifer.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s nothing like this at all,” Syrus said in astonishment.
“C’mon, Sy,” Alexis whispered. She pulled Syrus to the buffet and they filled their plates.
LATER ON…
Syrus went for a walk before meeting Alexis at curfew. He was enjoying the air when he caught sight of his brother running towards him. Once the brothers were in earshot of each other, Zane exclaimed, “Chazz wants to duel you or rather me!”
“What?”
“Chazz is going to test to be in Obelisk. He said his opponent was going to be ‘Zane,’” Zane said, putting quotes around his name.
“Y-Y-You mean, I have to duel Chazz?” At Zane’s nod, Syrus moaned. He put his hands over his face. “I can’t duel Chazz and win! Even with your deck!”
Zane face-palmed. However, this action forced the glasses up against his face. He pulled the glasses back down to their proper place. “Sy, don’t worry. I have a plan.”
“You do?”
“Yes. Remember when you told me about the supposed Duel Giant.” At Syrus’s nod, he continued, “We’ll do the same thing. I’ll have a radio transmitter somewhere, probably on the inside of this jacket and you will have the earpiece. I will sit directly behind you and tell you what to say and what to play. We’ll beat Chazz fast.”
“All right.” Syrus nodded.
“Now, get back to the dorm. It’s almost curfew.”
“Don’t worry. I have to meet up with Alexis, so she can show me where your room is.”
Syrus walked away, heading towards the Obelisk Blue Dorm. When he got there, Alexis walked over to him and wrapped hr arms around his right arm. “Hey, Zane.”
They walked into the dorm, where some Obelisks were still up. Three of the Obelisks were Harrington, Mindy, and Jasmine. Syrus remembered Harrington from this tennis class. An idea popped into his head. He whispered, “It’s for show.”
He then tilted Alexis’s head up a little and kissed her. Thunderous cat-calls and wolf-whistles followed.
“Way to go, Alexis!”
“You the man, Zane!”
Alexis had to restrain herself from deepening the kiss. ‘This is Syrus. I hope Bastion finds a cure. I miss Zane!’ When they broke the kiss Syrus stole a look at Harrington. He was fuming!
‘That one’s for Jay,’ Syrus thought. Once they were away from the Obelisks and out of their sight, Syrus sighed and Alexis dropped his arm.
“It’s this way, Sy.” Alexis led Syrus to Zane’s room.
“Don’t tell Zane about that.”
“I won’t.” Once they got to Zane’s room, Alexis said, “At least there are no classes tomorrow.”
“No, but I have to duel Chazz.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Chazz was boasting to Jay, Chumley, and Zane that all he has to do is beat Zane in a duel and he’ll be back in Obelisk. Zane said he’d help me beat Chazz fast.”
“Well, that’s good. Good night, Syrus.”
“Night, Alexis.” Syrus went into Zane’s room and promptly fell asleep.
IN THE SLIFER DORM
Zane walked into the room and stared at the bunk beds. ‘Syrus said he has the middle bunk. So, who has the other two?’ He looked at the bottom bed and saw Jaden sitting cross-legged shuffling thought his cards. ‘Does this kid do anything that’s not related to duel monsters?’ Zane glanced up at the top bunk and saw Chumley already asleep. ‘Not a good arrangement. It’s a wonder Sy hasn’t been flattened!’
Just then, Jaden looked up. “Hey, Sy.”
“Hey, Jay.” Zane yawned. “I’m going to go to bed.”
“Why? We don’t have to get up early.”
“I know. I just want to make sure I have enough energy to cheer my brother on tomorrow.” Zane climbed the ladder and almost immediately fell asleep.
Chapter Four
SLIFER DORMS, MORNING
Zane had been awake for awhile, just laying there thinking. Then, he heard something from the bunk below him. He leaned over to hear better. Suddenly, a hand sailed up and hit him in the ear.
“I reveal my face down! Transcendent Wings!”
Zane rubbed his ear. “I guess all he does is duel monsters.” He carefully climbed down the ladder and left the room.
OBELISK DORMS, MORNING
Syrus was awoken by someone pounding on his door. “Zane! Get up!”
Syrus groaned. ‘It’s Crowler.’ He covered his head with the pillow.
Crowler opened the door and saw his number one student still in bed. “Zane, why-” He was cut off when a pillow smacked him in the face. He was sputtering when the pillow fell off. ‘Zane was probably up all night. I’ll leave him alone.’
Syrus breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the door click.
AN HOUR BEFORE THE DUEL
Syrus saw Zane standing on the docks. As he approached, he noticed Zane would once in awhile rub his ear.
“Jaden played a trap card, didn’t he?”
“No, he played a spell card.”
“Sorry I didn’t mention about that earlier.” Syrus scratched his cheek.
“I hope you didn’t do that in front of anyone else.”
“Nope! Just Bastion!” Syrus said in a chipper voice.
Zane sweat dropped and held out the earpiece. “Here, Sy.”
“Oh, thanks.” Syrus put the earpiece in after noticing Zane had the radio transmitter hidden on the inside of the jacket.
“C’mon, Sy. We need to get to the arena.”
Zane and Syrus walked to the arena together. When they entered the arena, Zane walked to the stands behind his brother. He ignored Jaden’s calls of “Sy! Over here!”
Syrus shook his head slightly as he walked to his end of the arena.
“Zane. Just the person I wanted to see.” Crowler walked up to Syrus. “I’m sorry about waking you up this morning. I should have realized you had stayed up last night studying. Please forgive me!”
“Very well.” Syrus nodded.
Crowler walked to the center of the arena. “This is a promotion duel between Chazz Princeton and Zane Truesdale!”
“Prepare to duel and lose, Zane, because I will Chazz you up!”
“Duel!” they chorused.
“I’ll start.” Chazz drew a card. “I play Armed Dragon Level Three in attack mode and one card face down.”
Syrus drew a card and Zane looked at his hand. “Play the Cy-”
“I play the Cyber Dragon in attack mode.”
“Play Mystical Space Typhoon to get rid of his face down.”
“I play the spell card Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your face down. Now, Cyber Dragon, attack Armed Dragon Level Three. Strident Blast.”
Chazz lost 900 life points.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Sy.”
“My turn.” Chazz drew a card. “I play Monster Reborn, so come back to the field, Armed Dragon Level Three!” Chazz’s card came back. “But it won’t be here for long. I sacrifice Armed Dragon Level Three for my Armed Dragon Level Five!” His Armed Dragon Level Three was replaced by the Armed Dragon Level Five. “Attack Cyber Dragon!” Syrus lost three hundred points. “Now, I sacrifice Armed Dragon Level Five for my Armed Dragon Level Seven.”
Syrus drew a card. Zane looked at Syrus’s hand. “Play Monster Reborn. Then fuse all three Cyber Dragons together with Power Bond and attack his dragon.”
“I play Monster Reborn to bring back my Cyber Dragon. I activate the magic of Power Bond to fuse the Cyber Dragon on my field with the two in my hand to create the Cyber End Dragon. Now, Cyber End Dragon, destroy his Armed Dragon Level Seven with Super Strident Flame.”
Chazz – 0000
Syrus – 3700
While Syrus and Chazz were dueling, Bastion was sitting in front of his computer screen. He was trying to come up with a cure.
“Maybe this card will work,” Bastion said as he typed in a card’s name. The card popped up on the left side of the screen while ‘Soul Exchange’ remained on the right side of the screen. “Hmm.” He compared the two cards. “That just might work. However, finding the card might prove troublesome.” Bastion left his dorm to tell Syrus his findings. Bastion walked to the Obelisk Blue Dorm with great news. He spotted three Obelisks, all of whom saw him. “I need to speak with Zane.”
“Why?”
“That is between Zane and myself.”
“Well, Zane usually doesn’t waste his time with Ra Yellows.”
At the point, Syrus was walking toward the dorm. ‘I think I’ll relax before I visit Bastion.’ When he arrived at the entrance, he saw Bastion and the three Obelisks that pushed his brother yesterday. ‘Zane really needs to talk to those three.’ Out loud, he said, “Bastion. Just the person I wanted to see. Let him in.”
Bastion followed Syrus into the dorm. “I have come up with a solution to that problem you presented to me.”
Syrus could hardly contain his excitement. “Excellent. You can tell me more in my room.” The two of them walked to Zane’s room.
Once Syrus closed the door, Bastion said, “I feel I should warn you that this cure might take awhile to implement.” Seeing that Syrus was confused, Bastion said, “This situation was caused by ‘Soul Exchange,’ right? Well, then to reverse this, the card ‘Soul Reversal’ is needed. That is why it might take awhile.”
“No, it won’t!”
“It won’t?”
“I’ve got that card in my deck. Well, Zane’s got my deck, but you know what I mean.”
“Very good.”
“Go tell Alexis to get Zane and I’ll stay right here.”
Bastion nodded and left to find Alexis. It took him a few minutes, but he found Alexis exiting the Obelisk Dorm. “Alexis.”
“Hey, Bastion.”
“Syrus told me to tell you to get Zane.”
“Huh?”
“I found the cure for their infliction. They need to duel using the card ‘Soul Reversal,’ which is in Syrus’s deck. You need to tell Zane that Syrus wants to duel tonight in Zane’s room.”
“All right, Bastion. I’ll tell him.” Alexis pulled out her PDA and contacted Zane. “Hey, Syrus.”
“I’m alone, Lex.”
“Zane, meet me at the dock. Now.”
“All right.” Zane turned off the PDA. Alexis did the same. She looked over to say something to Bastion but he was gone. She shrugged her shoulders and continued walking to the dock. Once she got there, she waited.
Zane started walking toward the dock and saw Atticus walking in the same direction. “Atticus.” Atticus turned and saw a boy with sky blue hair running toward him. “How have you been? I haven’t seen you around lately.”
“You wouldn’t see me around a lot, seeing as we are in different dorms, Syrus.”
‘Shit. I forgot.’ Zane started thinking fast. Fortunately for him, Alexis was waiting on the dock and saw Zane talking to Atticus.
“Hi, Atticus! Hi, Zane!”
Atticus looked around as they joined Alexis on the dock. “Where’s Zane?”
“Right in front of you, brother.”
“Uh, sis, you need to get your eyes checked.”
“No, Zane and Syrus had a duel and Syrus used the spell card ‘Soul Exchange.’ Instead of working properly, the card exchanged Zane’s and Syrus’s souls. So this is Zane.”
“Do you still have it?” Atticus asked.
“Yeah,” Zane replied, unenthusiastically.
“Can I borrow it?” Atticus’s eyes traveled over to Alexis’s body.
SMACK
“I wouldn’t want your body if it was the last one on Earth!” Alexis exclaimed.
“But you’d probably want Zane’s,” Atticus whispered.
Alexis blushed. “I called you two down here for a reason. I felt like Atticus should know what happened to his best friend and to tell Zane that Syrus want to duel tonight in your room.”
“Why does Sy want to duel?”
“Bastion found a way to fix this. You and Syrus have to duel again, but you have to use the card ‘Soul Reversal.”
“But, Lexi, that card isn’t in Syrus’s deck.”
“He said it was.” Zane pulled out Syrus’s deck and went through it, looking for the spell card. After about a minute searching, he found it. “C’mon, Zane. Let’s go. Sy’s waiting for you.”
“All right.” Zane walked to the Obelisk Blue Dorm with Alexis on his right and Atticus on his left. While the three of them walked to the dorm, Jaden saw them.
‘Sy’s been spending a lot of time with the Obelisks in the past twenty-four hours.’ Jaden sighed. ‘I’ll ask him later.’
Chapter Five
MEANWHILE…
Syrus was lying on the bed with his hands behind his head. ‘I’m going to miss this room, especially this bed.’ At that point, Zane walked in. Before Zane closed the door, Syrus caught sight of Alexis and Atticus in the hall.
“All right, Sy. Let’s do this,” Zane said once the door was closed.
“Duel,” they chorused.
“I’ll start.” Syrus drew a card. “I play the Proto-Cyber Dragon in attack mode.”
“My turn.” Zane drew a card. “I place a card face down and play Drillroid in attack mode. Attack the Proto-Cyber Dragon.”
Syrus lost 500 life points. “My turn.” He drew his card. ‘I’ve got two Cyber Dragons and Polymerization card.’ “I play Polymerization to fuse the two Cyber Dragons in my hand to make the Cyber Twin Dragon. It will attack twice. Now, go Cyber Twin Dragon!”
Zane called out, “Reveal face down card Rush Recklessly. It increases Drillroid’s attack points by 700.” Zane lost 3300 life points. “You need better cards, Sy.” Zane drew a card. “I play a monster in defense mode and use Monster Reborn to bring back Drillroid in defense mode. I also play one card face down.” Zane smirked. ‘I just played Soul Reversal.’
Syrus drew a card. “Cyber Twin Dragon, attack with Double Strident Blast!”
The dragon destroyed Drillroid and Magician of Faith. “I get a spell card back from the graveyard.” Zane took out Monster Reborn out of the graveyard. “Now, I play my spell card Soul Reversal!”
Just then, the lights on Zane’s duel disk blinked on and off in rapid succession.
“Yes!” Syrus exclaimed.
‘Here we go,’ Zane thought.
An explosion threw the boys off their feet. Syrus groaned. ‘Did it work?’ He looked at his duel disk. There were no card, but he noticed his sleeve was red. He then brought his hand up to his face and felt glasses. He took them off and his vision instantly blurred. He put his glasses back on and pulled down a lock of hair. It was sky blue. “Yes!’ Syrus smiled. He sounded like himself.
Zane slowly opened his eyes, which landed on his duel disk. The Cyber Twin Dragon was on it. Zane smiled and noticed his sleeve was white with blue accents. He brought his hand up to his face and didn’t feel glasses. He pulled down a lock of hair and saw it was teal. “Finally.” He smiled at the sound of his voice.
“Zane.” Syrus walked over to his brother.
“”It worked, Sy.” Syrus sat down next to his brother, who put his Cyber Twin Dragon card on top of his deck. Both brothers were sitting Indian style.
“Tell me about your day, Big Bro.”
“I dueled Jaden with your deck and won.”
“My deck?”
“Of course. I also pushed Chazz at lunch. I ignored Jaden to help you out at the promotion duel.”
“That’s it? You did a good job pretending to be me.”
“What was your day like, Sy?”
“First of all, you need to talk to those three Obelisks that pushed you.”
“I will talk to them.”
“Okay. I talked to Bastion before he knew and I hit Crowler in the face with a pillow.”
Zane smirked. “I’ve always wanted to do that since I was your age.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I should go talk to Jay. To convince him that everything is okay might take all day.”
“I’ll go talk to those three Obelisks.”
The two brothers exited Zane’s room to be met by Alexis. “Hey, guys.”
“Hey, Alexis,” Syrus greeted.
“Hello, Lexi.” Zane kissed Alexis gently.
Alexis kissed back. When they broke the kiss, Alexis said, “I missed you, Zane.”
They walked to the exit, and Syrus left the group. Alexis and Zane continued on, looking for the three Obelisks. After a few minutes of searching, they found them. Zane approached them. “May I have a word with you three?”
“Uh, sure, Zane.”
“You three need to treat the students in the other dorms with respect. I expect all Obelisks to set a good example.” With that said, Zane and Alexis walked out of the dorm and to the docks.
SLIFER RED DORMS
Syrus was walking to the dorms when he ran into Jaden. “Hey, Jay!”
“Hey, Sy. What’s been with you lately? You’ve been spending a lot of time with Zane.”
‘I should tell him the truth,’ Syrus thought. “Where’s Chumley?”
“In the room.”
“Let’s go in there, so I can tell you both.”
“All right.”
A COUPLE HOURS LATER
“Wait, wait, wait! Let me see if I’ve got this straight. You were Zane and Zane was you. I dueled Zane, but he looked like you, and those three Obelisks pushed Zane and you came to his rescue, but you looked and sounded like Zane.”
“That’s right, Jay.”
“Ahhh! I’ve got a headache!”
Chumley turned to Syrus and asked, “So, Sy, how’s the Obelisk Blue cafeteria?”
AT THE DOCK
Zane and Alexis were cuddling while they watched the sunset. Zane wrapped an arm around Alexis’s waist. Suddenly, an arm wrapped around each of their necks and Atticus appeared between them. “Hey, guys. You should get going. It’s near curfew.”
“Very well.” Zane, Alexis, and Atticus walked to their dorm. Zane walked Alexis to her dorm. “Good night, Lex.”
“Good night, Zane.” Alexis kissed Zane briefly before heading in. Zane in turn walked to his room and fell asleep almost immediately.
IN THE MORNING
Zane was awoken by someone pounding on his door. “Zane! Get up!”
(AN: Crowler doesn’t learn, does he?)
Zane pulled the covers closer to his face. He knew full well that it was Crowler pounding on his door, but he was too tired from the previous day’s events to care. Crowler eased the door open as Zane clenched his pillow with his left hand.
“Zane?”
WHACK
