Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

"...Amon, are you listening to me?"

Hearing the voice on the other end, Amon Garlem realized that he had been daydreaming while reporting the intelligence he had gathered, and immediately apologized, "Sorry, Eike, I spaced out. Could you tell me where we were?"

“As we just mentioned, you made a ‘fourth kind of contact’ with a supernatural being in another world—codenamed ‘Elf Yubel’.” Not face to face, the girl in military uniform, Eko, was talking to Amon through a receiver, while she was currently inside a sealed submarine.

(Actually, I personally think that Eike doesn't look very good, especially after the hat is removed from her hairstyle.)
Unlike the other timeline, because Amon was captured and disappeared by Professor Cobra and Yubel during the "Duel of Exposure," Eko, who had been in communication with him as a spy, and the support forces did not take any radical action out of caution due to his disappearance.

Furthermore, because of Hayato's presence, Yubel dared not squander his power too recklessly during the spatial transfer, and only precisely covered the Duel Academy Island without affecting the sea. The spy submarine under the Garham Foundation was not transferred to the other world.

The private troops under the Gallamy Corporation on the ship did not land on the island. It was precisely because of this action that they, who took different actions than those in the original timeline, ultimately achieved the same result of not being affected.

However, even if they manage to land, the information they obtain may not be as much or as significant as what Amon alone could acquire. The information on the existence of the Pokémon world, the powerful application of dueling energy, and the magical power of card Pokémon alone would be enough for the Gallam Foundation to study for decades or even centuries.

Not to mention, Amon not only participated in battles against spirits using Duel Monsters cards, but also personally experienced the power of spirits—it would have been even better if he hadn't been chosen by [Yubel] to be a puppet.

“Zero-type contact refers to distant sightings, first-type contact refers to close-range sightings, and contact where a part of the human body touches a related object or leaves a trace is called second-type contact. Direct contact with an unknown entity is third-type contact.” Amon paused, then said somewhat uncertainly, “Fourth-type contact generally refers to contact with unknown life forms through means that humans cannot understand, such as telepathy, but this is not recognized by researchers.”

"My situation could probably be considered as experiencing a 'fourth kind of contact'."

"It's a pity that during this experience in another world, there was a possibility of contact with an unknown civilization—that is, a 'fifth kind of contact'. However, those harpies only recognized Hayato Kobayashi and not any other humans. I also didn't have the strength because of the influence of that 'Yubel'."

"Understood, relevant information has been recorded." Aike recorded the information that Amon had collected. No one knew when information such as "the existence of a clan of card spirits of the Harpy" would come in handy, but it was never a bad thing to collect it.

"However, this mission may end in failure, which is quite unusual." Amon recalled his purpose in coming to the Duel Academy headquarters and felt somewhat helpless. His initial target was the infamous "Three Phantom Demons," after all, it involved the death of the founder of Shadowmaru Medicine, and compared to other cards that only existed in rumors, the "Three Phantom Demons" definitely had the veracity of the rumors about their powerful abilities.

His second target was Professor Cobra, or more precisely, the Yubel that Professor Cobra possessed. However, he did not expect that Professor Cobra was not Yubel's master, and that the truth was quite the opposite. He also did not expect that Yubel's power was excessively strong, even to the point of being able to travel between worlds.

The Gallam Foundation is not the only organization in the world that collects Duel Monster cards with special powers. In the years that Amon has been active as a spy, he has encountered more than ten "colleagues", including some of the international government level.

However, the phrases "too many monks and too little porridge" and "too many wolves and too little meat" don't even begin to describe it. Compared to the numerous real forces, cards that truly possess special power and are not merely rumored to have great energy are extremely rare. More often than not, after fierce competition with peers, one finally manages to obtain a card only to find that it is just an ordinary card. For example, Amon had just fought with American agents before this operation, but only managed to snatch a useless "Lion Wizard".

Even the Gallam Foundation, after a "marine disaster" that affected several countries and nearly destroyed the world a few years ago, started preparing to collect Duel Monsters around the same time as other foundations in various countries. However, after so many years, all they have accomplished is to retrieve a few fragments of cards from the sea and barely piece together half of the incomplete card "The Sealed Exodia".

Amon had already experienced firsthand just how powerful Yubel and the "Three Phantoms" were during his time in the other world, especially the final battle between Judai, Johan, and Yubel, where the power of the [Chaos Phantom - Amitel] was unforgettable.

The cards' power was good news, because it meant they wouldn't have to make a wasted trip for a few scraps of paper like before; but the overwhelming power also made it impossible for them to acquire those cards.

Moreover, both the cards of [Yubel] and the "Three Phantom Demons" have been left in another world. How could Amon and his companions, who have returned to the human world, possibly obtain them again? However, this also made Amon completely give up and abandon the idea of ​​obtaining those cards. To be honest, even he didn't really want to face Yubel. Without any special power to protect himself, he didn't want to be bewitched and controlled again.
Listening to the only sound of the other person's even breathing through the receiver, Eike realized that Amon had once again lost focus during the conversation. This was an extremely rare occurrence for Amon, who had been a spy for many years, carrying out infiltration missions with an excellent success rate, and was even considered an "ace" in the elite spy unit "Galem Boys".

But instead of reminding Amon again or expressing her dissatisfaction with this point, she suddenly said as if she realized something: "Speaking of which, Amon, you didn't say how you got rid of the control that we'll call 'mind control' back then, did you? This information might be useful when collecting other cards in the future."

To prevent Amon from becoming suspicious, Eike, who was only curious about the first half of the sentence, added the second half to make amends.

“That’s true.” Amon wasn’t wary of Eike, after all, she was not only the captain of his support team, but also his childhood friend who had grown up with him since they were young. He had absolute trust in Eike. “However, it’s a pity that my method of getting rid of the control is not replicable, because I didn’t get rid of the control myself, but was rescued by someone else. The person who rescued me was Jaden Yuki, a student from Duel Academy.”

"When I asked him about it afterward, he couldn't explain how he did it either. He just said things like, 'Trust the cards, just trust them.' But I feel it's more likely that his cards themselves possess special power—like the [Wisdom Stone Alchemist] card."

"Duel Academy Special Battle Power, Jaden Yuki?" Although she said she was going to record the information, Eko's movements had actually slowed down considerably. She was more focused on listening to Amon's voice on the other end of the communication, sensing his mood and emotions as he spoke. "Tell me a little, Amon. Or you can tell me about your feelings in that world." Amon didn't mind, assuming that Eko thought this information could be collected for his own use. So he recounted his experiences in the Pokémon world from a different perspective, not as an intelligence agent but as a duelist who had personally experienced the adventure. In this retelling, Amon also recalled the strange feelings he had during those brief but memorable days.

As Amon's mindset shifted, Eike, who had been listening to his narration, noticed it immediately. She calmly stopped taking notes, and after Amon said, "That world is quite vast, vast enough to accommodate anyone's ambition," she suddenly asked, "So, Amon, do you want to go to that world again?"

"..." Amon was silent for a few seconds, as if he hadn't heard what Eike said, or as if he had heard Eike but hadn't been able to shake off the relaxed mood he had just been in. After a long while, he finally spoke, "Why did you bring this up, Eike?"

"Of course there are many reasons, Amon. In order to obtain the Duel Monster cards that are confirmed to be real, and to get either the 'Three Phantom Demons' or that 'Yubel' card, returning to that world is necessary, right?"

Aike suddenly realized that she had almost inadvertently revealed her purpose in a moment of impulsiveness, and hurriedly started to find reasons and try to make up some words that could convince Amon.

Glancing at a line in the intelligence log beside her, she quickly added it to her own words, "And also! Remember the first set of Duel Monster cards with real power that we collected? Those card fragments showed a special reaction not long ago, and we have good reason to suspect that there is a way in another dimension to repair those cards, or even to complete them!"

Hearing this, Amon was also somewhat surprised: "Those fragments? If they are those cards, then for Lord Ptah, I would certainly be willing to go to the Elf World again."

Because of the shocking nature of the new information, Amon misunderstood Eiko's meaning, mistakenly thinking that she was asking him not "whether he wants it" but "whether he is willing to do it".

But after saying that, Amon remembered something: "The problem is that when we went to the Spirit World, it was 'Yubel' who initiated the teleportation, and when we returned to the Human World, it was John Anderson who used his [Ultimate Jewel God - Rainbow Dragon] to do it. They should be left in the Spirit World with the 'Three Phantom Demons' cards now. Even if we wanted to, we couldn't go to the Spirit World again, right?"

In order to confirm Eko's safety and pass on information, Amon left Manjoume and the others after returning to the human world, citing "illness" as the reason. He just missed the chance to learn about the "dimensional fluctuations" and "singularities" from them.

However, the reason he could leave so confidently without fear of missing important intelligence was because he had left a listening device there, which would generally not be discovered by anyone, not even O'Brien—after all, one was a spy and the other a mercenary, and their professions did not overlap at all.

To avoid exposing Amon, the listening device naturally didn't send the signal to Amon, but instead sent it directly to Eiko. She had already learned from Asuka and the others' conversation about the existence of the "Singularity," the way to go to the Spirit World again, and most importantly—that Kobayashi Hayato planned to reopen it and only allow a few people to go there.

“No need to worry, Amon. There is already concrete intelligence confirming that Hayato Kobayashi will lead a group to that world again.” Eko handed the intelligence to Amon. “As long as you use the pretense of ‘rescuing John Anderson,’ you will definitely be able to join the team going to that world.”

“I see. This is a golden opportunity that we can’t miss.” Amon said with a serious expression. “I understand. Even if it’s just to keep my mission success rate from dropping below 100%, I will continue to act. You need to be careful on your end too, Eike.”

"Everything for Gallamy."

Hearing Amon's oath, Eike replied, "Everything for Gallem."

After the communication was cut off, Eike, who hadn't hung up the receiver for a long time, repeated to herself, "Everything for Garlem Amon Garlem."

Amon, who had just hung up the communication, did not rush to Manjoume and the others to volunteer to join the "Spirit World Expeditionary Force." On the one hand, it was because they were not the ones in charge, and the real decision-maker, Hayato Kobayashi, was still on his way back. On the other hand, it was because he did not have a suitable reason to explain why he, who was not acting with them, knew that Principal Hayato planned to return to the Spirit World through the "Singularity."

However, he still thought of a good angle—none other than Jaden Yuki, who, like him, hadn't joined the others since returning to the human world. He couldn't be sure about others, but Jaden Yuki would definitely join Principal Hayato's "expeditionary force"—for no other reason than that John Anderson was his close friend, and he had also learned about the relationship between "Yubel" and Jaden from Eko's account.

Although Jaden fell into a deep sleep after returning to the human world due to exhaustion during the duel, Amon was certain that when Jaden woke up, he would feel immense guilt for his relationship with Yubel and John, and would take on the responsibility for John's sacrifice. He would not miss the opportunity to save John Anderson.

If I go to his place, I can find a suitable opportunity to get the news about returning to the Elf Realm again, and then openly join the "Expeditionary Force".

Without hesitation, Amon took his deck and Duel Disk and left the room, rushing to Osiris-Red Dormitory. Just then, he caught up with Manjoume and the others leaving his new dormitory, seemingly on their way to find Yuki Jaden.
"Are you serious, Sho?!" Judai excitedly pressed down on Marufuji Sho's shoulders, his eyes wide. "There's a way to go back to the Spirit World and rescue John?!" (End of Chapter)