Chapter 26: The Duel of the Best Friends

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Jaden felt uneasy. 

Not only did he have to face the fact that his old school rival, Chazz, was the secret agent of Nightshroud, but now he had a duel the following day, which entailed duelling and possibly defeating his best friend, Syrus, in order to reach Chazz, assuming Jesse couldn't beat him in their duel. 

"At least we now know who the bad guy is." said Yubel. 

"Yeah." said Jaden sadly. "But he blames me. What did I do? I mean, I beat him in our duels, but he still came out with the better career, and he didn't begrudge me for those victories after we graduated from Duel Academy. He even wrote that he would always be ready for another duel." 

"I sense his darkness comes from a more emotional trauma in his life." said Yubel. 

"Couldn't that just be his brothers disowning him?" asked Jaden. 

"Why would you be to blame for that?" asked Yubel. 

"They disowned him because I defeated him." said Jaden. "He never begrudged me for too long over that. In fact, he seemed to accept he was better off without them breathing down his neck." 

"Then I'm not sure what his problem is then." said Yubel sharply. She was annoyed. 

Jaden wished he could work it out, but in the meantime, he had to prepare his deck for his duel against Syrus. He didn't want to duel his friend. Syrus had already gone through too much. He was tortured by Nightshroud's agents, he had to watch helplessly as Zane sacrificed himself to save him, and then was expected to duel a mere few hours later. And now, Jaden was standing in his way to get revenge. 

Meanwhile, Syrus was going through his deck, and he had his eye on one particular card...the Cyber End Dragon. His brother gave it back to him to use in the battles against Nightshroud ahead. At the time, Syrus never dreamed of the idea that one of the people he'd have to fight to defeat Nightshroud would be his best friend. 

"I have to win." said Syrus. "If I have any chance of getting revenge on those who sent Zane to the World of Darkness, I have to defeat Jaden. I won't let Chazz get away with throwing in his lot with Nightshroud." 

Syrus' blood was boiling at this point, when he heard a knock on the door. He exhaled and went to open the door, but only after looking in the peephole. He had grown more reserved and suspicious after being kidnapped by Zorath. 

Upon the inspection, he saw that the knocker was Jesse. 

He opened the door. "What's up?" he asked a little curtly. 

"Just worried for you." replied Jesse. "Can I come in?" 

"Um, sure." 

Jesse and Syrus sat down together. Jesse watched as Syrus got back to arranging his cards, but he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of Cyber End Dragon. Jesse could see rage and despair in Syrus' eyes. He was afraid of this. 

"You need to control your anger, Syrus." said Jesse. 

"What? What do you mean?" asked Syrus. 

"This." said Jesse. "You look mad with fury. What happened to Zane is clouding your thoughts and actions. You keep thinking negatively, and seeing your friends as the enemy, just to get revenge on one of his agents, whom for all we know, may not fully be in control of his actions. I know you want justice for your brother, Sy, but if you carry on the way you are right now, you might become susceptible to Nightshroud's influence yourself...like Jaden." 

Syrus listened and considered. He was indeed deeply affected by Zane's capture, as well as the abuse he endured from Nightshroud's servants, and he was acting less than his usual self. He wanted revenge, no denying that, but deep down, he knew what Jesse said was true. He had to keep control of himself, or he could end up on Nightshroud's side. 

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