A Card's Heart
Ojama Yellow and Winged Kuriboh get into a fight with a classmate's duel spirit and it snowballs from there…
A/N: This was originally going to be Ch 4 of Chazz Princeton: Spirit Ambassador but it got kinda long so I decided to make it a separate fic...and then I hit writer's block because duels are hard to write only to get inspired by a somewhat hilarious duel I had in Duel Links the other day.
I am really glad to have finished this and to be back to this ficlet series. A huge thank you to everyone who read and reviewed/faved my other fics. They really inspired me to come back to this!
It's growling again. It has its narrow bright blue eyes fixated on Chazz and stalks the nearby desk as though it will pounce.
Which it's welcome to try, except, it's a duel spirit and can't actually do anything, so Chazz ignores it and keeps his gaze to the front of the room where Dr. Crowler drones on and on.
"Uh, Boss?"
Ignore it, Chazz tells himself and refuses to react to Ojama Yellow's ethereal red briefs pressing against his cheek. He's in class. He's surrounded by other students. He doesn't see anything. Ojama Yellow is only making things worse for himself by not disappearing. If the blue cat-like thing pounces on him, it's his own fault.
Chazz isn't entirely sure what that monster is. It's a blue crystalline creature that resembles either a cat or a fox, and if Chazz were lucky, it would only be looking his way because its diet featured Ojamas.
But Ojama Yellow keeps insisting that the monster is hissing at Chazz specifically, and he wiggles anxiously unsure of what to do.
Ignore it, Chazz tells himself more sternly this time. It can't touch him so it's not his problem.
But he can't ignore the Kuriboh appearing in front of him. He thinks it's Jaden at first, waking up early from his 4th period nap, but it turns out to be the actual Winged Kuriboh that floats up from the sleeping student in front of him and looks at Chazz curiously.
Go away, Chazz mouths to the furball, but instead of listening, it floats over to the side to get a better look at the growling blue fox-thing.
"Kuri?" it asks. Chazz doesn't speak Kuriboh, but Ojama Yellow apparently does and replies,
"Y-Yeah, I think so too."
Think what? Chazz hates himself for almost asking, for almost acknowledging the hallucination that is most definitely not playing out in front of him. But the low growls behind him suddenly change to angry yowls, and Winged Kuriboh leaps back with a startled cry.
Winged Kuriboh's cry has a similar effect to the lunch bell in that it immediately rouses Jaden from his nap.
"Huh? Winged Kuriboh?" Jaden mutters sleepily as he sits up. This also gets Syrus's attention, but Chazz doesn't care about Syrus. He does care about Jaden, who can't read the atmosphere for the life of him, and who rubs the sleep from his eyes and looks up at his duel spirit, who, unlike a certain other irritant, never materializes without good reason.
Predictably, Jaden's gaze goes from the winged furball to the blue fox-thing, and predictably, he doesn't ignore it.
"Woah, what's that?" he asks excitedly. Syrus looks as well, despite not being able to see anything anyway.
Turn around, Chazz wills them. Or at least don't talk to me.
"Hey Chazz, look over there! There's a spirit a couple of desks behind you!"
"I don't see it," Chazz whispers firmly. "There's nothing there."
"No, it's definitely there," Jaden insists. "I think it's trying to get your attention. Hey there, little guy." Jaden waves at it. The growling stops but Chazz can still feel its icy glare.
"H-Hey, Jaden, be careful," Ojama Yellow warns quietly.
"Kuri!" Winged Kuriboh agrees.
"Why, what's wrong?" Jaden takes in his partner's wary form. "Aw, did that spirit scare you Winged Kuriboh? It's okay." He reaches for the furball in a comforting gesture, completely oblivious to the increasing number of drawn confused stares. To them, it looks more like he's raising his hand in class (despite facing the wrong way), which is unfathomable in its own right.
And at that moment, the fox-thing jumps.
Not even Chazz can ignore the resulting chaos.
It lunges at Winged Kuriboh, batting the brown furball like a lint ball, and scowling viciously as it bites and claws at him, all while Jaden jumps up alarmed and Ojama Yellow lets loose a piercing shriek in Chazz's ear.
"Winged Kuriboh!" Jaden yells. The fox-thing shoved Kuriboh a distance away making it difficult to reach him immediately, not that Jaden can do anything even if he did go over. "What's going on?"
"That spirit is really mad," Ojama Yellows cries shaking like a leaf. The fox-thing lets go of Kuriboh and turns to Chazz's duel spirit, jumping for it next. Ojama Yellow ducks to the side and breaks into a run, but the spirit is faster and catches up immediately.
"Boss, help!" Ojama Yellow cries.
"I'm not seeing this. I'm in class," Chazz states, even though class has long been disrupted as everyone's eyes are on Jaden crawling onto the desk in order to get out to the aisle faster. Crowler looks as if he's about to snap his duel disk in half.
"What do you mean you're not seeing this? Ojama Yellow's in trouble too!" Jaden yells, over the sound of shrill crying and cat-like yowls.
"Save me, Boss! I have zero attack points!"
"Uh, switch into Defense Mode," Jaden suggests.
"I don't think that's going to help in this case."
"Then, uh…Chazz, come on! Help me out here!"
"Kuri!"
"Um okay, let's see…Er, down boy? Heel? Shoo?"
"Booooooss!"
Ojama Yellow's increasingly pitiful sobs, which combined with Winged Kuriboh's now angry squeaks and Jaden's lame attempts at pulling one figment of his imagination off another, finally force Chazz to turn his head to the absolutely cartoony sight of the blue fox-thing floating in the air with Ojama Yellow in its jaws, shaking him like a dog did a stuffed toy, while Winged Kuriboh floated nearby pathetically trying to punch the creature with its stubby paws. And Jaden stood in the middle of the aisle with his hands raised as if to grab them.
"Can't you just, like, go back into your card or something?" Jaden asks.
"I'm trying," Ojama Yellow cries.
Pitiful. Too pitiful.
"Hey scrubs, can't you two do something?" Chazz quietly pulls out the other two Ojama cards and turns them towards the commotion. Ojama Black and Ojama Green peek out of their cards with wide eyes, then immediately go back in, yelling out half-baked excuses.
Typical.
Ojama Yellow cries out again and that snaps Chazz's last nerve.
"Oh for the love of—"
Chazz grabs a textbook and follows Jaden's lead of crawling over the desks to get to the aisle. He may not be able to physically touch a duel spirit, but swatting around the Ojamas taught him that they don't just unflinchingly phase through solid material. With that lesson in mind, he shouts, "Wake up, Slacker!" and swings the textbook in an arc, smacking Jaden (hard) on the arm before coming down onto his real target, the rabid fox-thing's head. It yelps in alarm and drops its prize. Ojama Yellow takes the chance to scurry behind Chazz. Winged Kuriboh follows, and the two of them cower behind him as he stares down the angered blue fox-thing.
He almost wins the staring match too, except that Mount Crowler finally erupts with a loud, outraged,
"JADEN! CHAZZ! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU TWO ARE DOING? GO STAND IN THE HALLWAY!"
"Man! What was that little guy's problem?" Jaden whispers later in detention. Because, of course, that outburst warranted a detention. A week's worth of them even, as Dr. Crowler was absolutely livid when he finally called them into the emptied out classroom, and raved about respect and focus and his PhD and therapy and a whole bunch of other things Chazz didn't care about for a full ten minutes that could have been better spent getting lunch, before finally ending it off with a sentence of two hours afternoon detention every day for the next week.
This, despite Chazz insisting that the whole mess was Jaden's fault and he'd only smacked him with the textbook to wake him up from his nightmare. Because that's what it was, Chazz claimed, and stomped on Jaden's foot when he tried to protest. Crowler seemed to buy it at least, so hopefully the other students did too.
Chazz supposed the punishment could have been worse, except Crowler wasn't the head of their dorm and thus his authority over the two of them was limited. Chazz had never been more relieved to be a Slifer than at that moment, and he hated himself for it thoroughly.
"I can't believe he just, like, lashed out like that," Jaden continues, completely ignoring Chazz ignoring him. "What do you think, Chazz?"
"Hn," Chazz grunts and turns the page of the card catalogue spread out in front of him. He picked out a few from the library earlier, to quietly leaf through while in detention and play innocent when the teacher on duty glared their way and snapped at them to be silent.
"I don't even know what monster that was," Jaden laments. "Do you, Chazz?"
"No," Chazz answers tersely, and rustles the catalogue pointedly. Jaden doesn't notice.
"Are you sure? It seemed awfully fixated on you."
"I'm sure."
"But, seriously! Can you believe it attacked Winged Kuriboh like that?" Jaden moans again and takes the card out of his deck. The card looks the same as ever, but the duel spirit that floats out is battered and covered in bandages. "How are you doing, buddy?"
"Kuri…" Winged Kuriboh replies sadly.
Chazz glances over and rolls his eyes. Drama Queen.
"Don't worry. We won't let it get away with this," Jaden assures the spirit.
"We?" Chazz asks.
"Of course. Ojama Yellow's a victim too."
At the mention of his name, Ojama Yellow appears, covered in bruises and bandages as well, and leaning against a little wooden crutch.
"Woah, you look awful," Jaden says.
"It looks worse than it feels…I think," Ojama Yellow says quietly.
"Do you know why it attacked like that though? One moment it was just sitting there and then BAM!"
"SHH!" The teacher hisses. Jaden and Chazz freeze in place until he looks away again, and turn to Ojama Yellow to let him speak.
"It was sorta growling and hissing before that," Ojama Yellow tells him. "You were asleep."
"How long was it there?"
"All morning," Chazz answers this. "And it would have kept on sitting there too if someone didn't draw attention to it."
"Kuri Kuri!"
"Winged Kuriboh says it was already looking for an opportunity to attack," Ojama Yellow translates. "He thinks Jaden reaching up to him was the last straw."
"The last straw?" Jaden asks.
"Kuri."
"Oh, I see," Jaden says and nods thoughtfully.
"See what?" Chazz demands. Not everyone spoke Kuriboh.
"It was jealous," Ojama Yellow says.
"Of what?"
"Kuri." Winged Kuriboh points to Ojama Yellow.
"Of that?" Chazz exclaims in surprise, earning another "Shh!" from the teacher. He can think of a number of reasons why someone would be jealous of himself, or Jaden, or even Winged Kuriboh. But Ojama Yellow?
"It was jealous of you too," Ojama Yellows tells the furball, before turning back to Jaden and Chazz. "Specifically, its jealous that you two keep us in your decks."
"You're cards. Where else are we supposed to keep you?" Jaden asks.
"Apparently, its partner keeps its card in his pocket as a good luck charm," Ojama Yellow says. "He never plays it."
"Must be a worthless card then," Chazz remarks at the same moment that Jaden exclaims, "That's awful!"
The two of them look at each other, Jaden confused, Chazz unimpressed.
"You don't agree, Chazz?"
"I don't. No one should have to keep a certain card in their deck."
"But the card wants to be played."
"And the duelist is supposed to know that?"
"Well, yeah. If his bond with the card is strong enough to have a duel spirit appear, he should."
"Duel spirits appear for a variety of reasons," Chazz counters. Not that he's much of an expert in this field, but he has met more than his fair share of them, and he's pretty sure he hasn't "bonded" with any of them. "And it's moot either way if the duelist in question can't even see it."
"We don't know that. Maybe he's like you and pretends he can't."
"And he just let that insanity play out in class? Jaden, trust me, no one is that much of a prick."
"Kuri, kuri," Winged Kuriboh says. Jaden smirks.
"Heh, good one, pal."
Chazz turns to Ojama Yellow.
"He said "Except you"," the duel spirit translates. When Chazz glares at him, Ojama Yellow adds, "Well you did pretend not to see anything for a while, Boss."
"Yeah. And I put a stop to it in the end. You're welcome, by the way." He aims the last comment at the Kuriboh, who just stares.
"You didn't have to hit me though," Jaden grumbles.
"Yes, I did."
"Yuki, Princeton, is there a problem?" the teacher snaps at them once again from the front of the room.
"Er, no, no problem, Teach," Jaden says. "Just, uh, reflecting. On our behavior. And stuff." As far as excuses go, that one is almost passable. Chazz is impressed.
"Well do it silently, or I'm going to separate you two."
Or you could just do it already, Chazz thinks irritated. He didn't sit next to Jaden by choice, and nothing short of teacher-mandated separation would actually get the slacker to leave him alone.
Jaden does quiet down though and leans his head against his forearm absently, while Chazz finishes skimming his current catalogue and opens up the next one.
On the third page of the new one, he finally sees it.
"There!" he whispers and elbows Jaden in the side. "I found it."
"Found what?" Jaden leans in as Chazz moves the catalogue between them and points to a card on the page. A blue crystalline cat-fox-thing.
"This is the spirit, I'm sure of it," he says. Winged Kuriboh and Ojama Yellow hover over their heads for a better look as well.
Chazz's finger points to a monster called "Freezing Beast". A 4-star Aqua Union monster with 1500 attack points and 1000 defense points that could equip to a Burning Beast and doing so would allow it destroy a face-up Spell or Trap after a battle.
If Chazz was to describe it, he'd say "decent", but ultimately, it's nothing special and he doubts he'd use one either.
"Looks like a sweet monster. I bet it'd be fun to face." Jaden is, of course, the exact opposite.
"Yeah, summon a bigger beatstick, and it goes bye-bye. Real fun."
"But it's effect—
"—requires it to be equipped to another card," Chazz interrupts and scans the page quickly before moving his finger down to the card in question on the bottom row. That card has identical stats and effect, albeit for face-downs, he notes.
"I see…" Jaden has a look of deep thought on his face, which Chazz finds extremely dubious. "Hey Chazz, can I borrow this catalogue?"
"Knock yourself out."
Chazz doesn't know what he's up to, but if it's going to resolve this little spirit problem, he's welcome to take point.
Jaden is not in class the next morning, but Freezing Beast is, and, once again, has its eyes fixed on Chazz as he sits down. Ojama Yellow, sans bandages, appears on his shoulder briefly, but Chazz swats him away immediately, determined not to have a repeat of yesterday's incident. He doesn't reappear.
It's almost comical how this is what it takes to keep Ojama Yellow out of sight. But Chazz doesn't like the other spirit staring him down and growling at him either. He knows better than to count on Jaden on something important, but part of him is disappointed at his classmate's absence, if only because he can't make it Jaden's problem when Jaden isn't actually present.
At some point, Chazz finally decides enough is enough and turns around, facing the spirit directly. He's not stupid enough to start talking to his delusions out loud, so instead he beckons the spirit over with his hand. It's Mr. Stein's class, so everyone nearby who could see him do this is either asleep or about to fall asleep.
The spirit tilts its head curiously and relaxes its posture, before jumping down the rows and sitting down in front of Chazz's desk.
"Look you," Chazz whispers. "Enough is enough. I don't care what your problem is, but you need to stop this hissy fit."
The spirit stares, its tail twitching dangerously.
"Remember that guy with the furball yesterday? He's heard about you and actually wants to help. So you can just disappear now and go haunt him."
The spirit looks over to Jaden's empty desk, then back to Chazz and growls something. Chazz doesn't speak Freezing Beast either.
"It says it wants your help specifically, Boss," Ojama Yellow translates. He appears on Chazz's head, hiding behind the spikes of black hair. "It says the other guy doesn't get anything."
"So you're a little smarter than you look," Chazz remarks. "But still dumb if you think that's going to make me help. You want to be in your owner's deck, right? Well, tough. I've seen your stats and I wouldn't put you in mine either."
"Uh, Boss, let's not make the monster prone to violence angry, shall we?" Ojama Yellow squeaks and hides as Freezing Beast gets into a fighting stance, growling viciously.
Chazz doesn't back down.
"You're not actually there. What are you going to do me?" he says evenly. It glances up at Ojama Yellow briefly, then growls at Chazz.
"And don't think I won't smack you with a book again if you do try something," he warns.
"No, Boss, it says it wants to know why you keep me in your deck since my stats are worse than its and I'm an ugly, bad-tasting—Hey!" Ojama Yellow's fear is forgotten and it leaps down onto the desk and points at the Freezing Beast angrily. "I'll have you know that Chazz and I have been through a lot together and he loves me and cherishes me and—
"Say another word and I'll throw you into the well," Chazz snaps, a little too loudly, causing Mr. Stein to briefly looks his way, but he doesn't do anything else. He never does.
Chazz waits for him to resume his lecture, before turning to the Freezing Beast. "Ignore that," he tells it sternly. "It's not in my deck by choice, believe me."
"Boss!" Ojama Yellow cries. "How can you say that!"
"But the little bug-eyed freak has gotten me out of a few tight spots, I'll admit, and I did go through all that trouble of getting support cards that make him more than just a flimsy meat shield, so I may as well use him. Besides, winning with such a handicap in my deck keeps things interesting."
"I can't tell if you're defending me or insulting me…"
"Insulting you. But that's just me. I don't know what sort of third-rate duelist you belong to, but if he needs you as a "good luck charm", his deck must be pathetic enough without adding in another useless monster."
It's probably counterproductive to keep insulting the spirit, but as it continues to be so aggressive and unreasonable, Chazz finds his own temper flaring.
"It says it won't leave you alone until you help it." Ojama Yellow leaps back onto Chazz's shoulder. "It may not be able to touch you, but it promises not to give you a moment's peace."
"So it's blackmail now," Chazz scowls, and weighs his options. He could let it carry out its threat and continue to badger him. He's built up some tolerance to pesky duel spirits and can probably hold out long enough for it to get bored. But with Jaden sitting in front of him, it may be hard to ignore entirely, and Chazz definitely does not want to establish himself the reputation of a freak who talks to invisible card spirits (more so than he already has, no thanks to Ojama Yellow).
He could wait until Jaden reappears with whatever idea he seemed to come up with, but Chazz has no clue what this plan is, and he doubts it'll be anything helpful anyway. It's Jaden, after all.
His other option is to help. He doesn't like being press-ganged into it, but it is probably the quickest and most efficient way of making this problem disappear. But what does the spirit even want him to do? Walk up to its owner and tell him he has a duel spirit that really wants to be included in his deck? To the point of assaulting other duel spirits out of jealousy? Chazz can't do that. One, it'll make him look crazy and two, it's a betrayal of his principles. He is firmly of the belief that people should build their decks however they want and be allowed to use—and not use—whatever cards they want. Sentiment and "bonds" have no place in any of this.
And they're definitely not why he continues to find ways to include the Ojamas in his various decks.
He's missing something important, he knows it.
"Hey, you," Chazz says to the Freezing Beast, "what sort of deck does your guy use, anyway?"
The spirit growls a response which Ojama Yellow translates to "Spellcasters."
Chazz nods. So this guy really wouldn't fit in then.
"Next question, did he ever use you in his deck?"
The spirit nods.
"Oh? What kind of deck did he use then?"
Ojama Yellow gathers that it was a deck cobbled together from various booster packs and trading with friends. He didn't start focusing on any one theme until he started taking dueling seriously. Chazz gets that. That's how it is for most people.
"So then, once he turned to Spellcasters, he never went back?"
Again, the spirit nods.
"What happened to all his other cards?"
"Albums, traded away, left at home—the usual stuff," Ojama Yellow translates.
"And are they bitching and moaning about this like you are?"
The spirit tilts its head, which Chazz chooses to take as a "No".
"Alright, I get it now," he says with a heavy sigh. He's not entirely sure what he gets yet, but he can feel the gears turning and some semblance of a plan taking shape. "If you want to duel so badly, I'll give you a duel. Go back to your duelist so I can see who it is, and don't bother me again."
The spirit barks something at him, but before Ojama Yellow can translate, Chazz replies,
"After classes let out—or no, I have detention thanks to you, so after detention lets out. And if not today, then tomorrow. Count on it."
The spirit nods satisfied and leaps away. Chazz's eyes follow it to a nerdy looking Ra Yellow student with thick glasses a bob cut. Chazz has no clue who the dweeb is, but he glares at him until they make eye contact, and then he mouths one word.
Duel.
They meet at the duel field after detention lets out. It's later than Chazz would have liked, but he also would have liked to not be in detention in the first place.
"Let's cut right to the chase," Chazz says, not giving the dweeb any chance to ask questions or even introduce himself. "You have a Freezing Beast card that you keep as a good luck charm. Add it to your deck and let's duel."
Freezing Beast appears at the sound of its name and watches its owner expectedly.
Unfortunately, said owner is just a little too inquisitive.
"Um, what?" he says, instinctively covering his jacket pocket. "How did you know about that?"
"An annoying little blue birdie told me," Chazz retorts. "So let's get right to it, because it's late, I'm tired, and I don't want to spend another minute here."
"Er, you were the one who challenged me though?" the student points out. "Shouldn't I be the one complaining? But, uh, we don't have to duel if you don't want to?"
Freezing Beast growls.
"Oh shut it," Chazz snaps at the spirit, but the student is the one who recoils a bit. Chazz then glares at him. "We're dueling. And you're adding that stupid card into your deck. And you're going to summon it. Got it?"
"But, I don't really use that card. See, it's kinda spe—
"Don't care. You're using it."
"But—
"No buts. You don't know what I've been through because of that thing, so beating it senseless to the Graveyard is just what I need right now."
"Um…" the student looks really confused now, but he does take out the card and stares at it uneasily. Chazz can see the gears in his head slowly (very slowly) turning. He can leave, of course. Chazz will keep hounding him though, because his Freezing Beast will be hounding Chazz. He can also give in to Chazz's demands. It would be the sensible thing to do, because it would mean things would get resolved faster.
"Is there any particular reason for this?" the student asks, somewhat hopeful. Probably hopeful that this weirdness has some explanation.
"Would you believe "the card wants to duel"?" Chazz asks mockingly.
The student considers it.
"…No?"
Freezing Beast hangs its head in exasperation and hisses at Chazz.
"I'm working on it," Chazz retorts, and clears his throat, willing himself to calm down a little. This guys seemed a little on the slow and timid side, so a little less attitude and a little more deviousness was needed. "Believe what you want. But I want to duel you, and I want to duel you with that in your deck. So either accept my challenge, or by tomorrow everyone will know you were too afraid to duel against a Slifer slacker."
It's a low blow to himself, Chazz thinks. But it's how far he must sink for the sake of his peace of mind, because nothing riles up Ras faster than being accused of cowardice like this. It's so fortunate that everyone seems to forget how strong a duelist Chazz is when he brings up the red coat.
As expected, the student grimaces and adds the card into his deck.
"I don't know what this is all about," he says. "But if it makes you go away…"
"Good answer." The irony is not lost on Chazz at all.
They take their places at opposite ends of the duel field. It's fortunate that few people hang around the school at this time, and there's no audience that will witness this duel.
He's had all day to think about it, and Chazz thinks he has a plan now. He's come up with a few dueling strategies, but given how these kinds of climactic duels typically go, he expects not to need them. This was going to be a quick and easy victory.
Six turns at most.
"You know…one of us is going to deck out at this rate…"
"It'll be you," Chazz says without missing a beat. "I stuffed my deck to max capacity for this exact scenario."
The field is a pitiful sight to behold with Ojama King and XYZ-Dragon Cannon in defense mode on one side, and three Ojama tokens on the other, with the other two monster zones sealed off completely with Ground Collapse. This isn't a duel so much as a long drawn out torture session, made even worse with someone deciding to use Secret Village of the Spellcasters, only to wind up in a situation where he couldn't summon any Spellcasters and thus couldn't use any spells.
No monsters, no spells. It's nothing short of a miracle that he hasn't surrendered yet.
"Is this fun for you Princeton?" the Ra dweeb—Harry, as he'd finally introduced himself at some point—demands. "First you force me into this bizarre duel, and now you're just pointlessly stalling. You've won, can you just finish me off properly?"
"Okay, first off, I didn't force you into anything," he kinda did, "and second, I'm not stalling pointlessly. You know what card I want you to summon, and I'll clear a space for you when you draw it. And don't get cute and try to summon something else instead. I have face-downs for that."
As fun as it is to take complete control of a game and toy with the opponent, Chazz finds himself getting more and more frustrated with each dead-end draw. He'll know when Freezing Beast is in Harry's hand. They, Chazz and that stupid spirit that is, had an agreement.
As Chazz had predicted, six turns were all that had been needed for him to execute a winning play. He had his aces in hand, XYZ-Dragon Cannon on the field, and could have wiped out Harry's lifepoints in an instant. It would have been a plain and simple curbstomp duel, except Chazz ran into the huge dilemma that was Freezing Beast hadn't gotten its battle yet. So rather than winning the duel and moving on with his life, he was forced to switch to a stalling strategy as turn after turn passed, and that stupid spirit was nowhere to be seen. The score currently sat at 1000 lp for Harry and 1500 lp for Chazz. And both of those lp counts were due to a careful manipulation of events on Chazz's end.
The whole situation is ridiculous, Chazz thinks, as he draws one card and discards another after ending his turn. He's used to things playing out the way they should, with all of the necessary dramatic tension and resolution, but here he has to actively orchestrate the proper scenario. It's dumb and somehow it's all the spirit's fault too. How the hell had it ended up near the bottom of the deck?
"Alright, it's my turn," Harry says with a worn down sigh. If Chazz was someone who cared, he'd feel bad about this. "I draw."
It's a weak pathetic draw, but Chazz's eyes light up in relief as a familiar ephemeral form leaps out of the card.
"Finally," Chazz says. "About time."
Freezing Beast barks something at him, while Harry just stares at him confused.
"Er, yeah, I drew it," he admits, not sure if he should show the card to Chazz or not. "How did you know that?"
"It's not important," Chazz says. "Hurry up and end your turn already."
Harry does, and Chazz's turn comes up again. The prospect of this farce ending soon fires him up instantly.
"My turn," he declares. "I discard one card to activate XYZ-Dragon Cannon's effect. This lets me remove one card on the field. Now Ojama tokens, who shall I choose?"
"B-boss?" the token Ojama Yellow stammers. "I don't like how you're looking at us."
"You can only pick one right," Black looks around shiftily. "Not it!" He jams his finger at his giant nose hastily.
"Not it!" Green and Yellow immediately parrot and point to their own noses. Except Green doesn't actually have a nose (at least not one that Chazz can see) and by the time he realizes this, it's too late.
The Chazz doesn't normally follow such stupid decision making rituals, but he's in a good mood.
"Aww no nose?" he says mockingly. "Too bad. Ojama Green, you go bye bye."
"Why meeeeeee?" Ojama Green cries as XYZ-Dragon Cannon looms over and blasts him off the field. Harry loses 300 lp for the destruction of the token.
"One down," Chazz says with a smirk. "Turn end."
Finally, it's the moment of truth. Harry draws a card and though the hesitation is clear on his face, he summons Freezing Beast in attack mode. He can't see it, but Freezing Beast lowers into a crouch, eager to pounce. It growls at the two remaining Ojama tokens who scoot to the opposite edges of their cards in fear.
Harry scans his hand and the field, noting that there is absolutely nothing he can actually do and ends his turn.
Finally. Finally!
Chazz practically rips the next card out of his deck, a cruel smile on his face. He doesn't look at it, nor the rest of his hand. Instead he moves his cards into his other hand (it's very important that he has a free hand for the next part) and points dramatically at Freezing Beast.
"So there you go, a pathetic little monster on its lonesome in a deck where it doesn't belong, facing monsters it can't hope to beat. What now? What now, I wonder," Chazz glowers. Freezing Beast eases it's fighting stance and looks up at him with narrow eyes.
"Uh, Chazz? What is it now?" Harry asks, exasperated.
"Now, I'm thinking," Chazz snaps at him. "It's perfectly obvious to me why you keep a weak card like this out of your deck. You're pathetic enough without the extra weight dragging you down. But tell you what, since this card has some kind of value, I'll take it off your hands. In my deck, even the weakest cards are strong."
Freezing Beast yowls at him in surprise, Ojama Yellow and Black babble their oppositions incoherently, and Harry just stares.
"E-excuse me?" he stammers. "I'm not giving you this card!"
"Why not? You're not using it."
"I-It's my good luck charm! You somehow already know that!"
"Only a loser relies on luck to win. Case in point." Chazz gestures to the field.
Harry shakes his head even more vigorously. "No, no, no," he objects. "This card is important to me. I can't ante it. It's like…like if someone made you bet Ojama Yellow. Would you accept that?"
"Sure, why not?" Chazz asks, rolling his eyes. "I'd love the chance to be rid of that pest."
"BOSS!" Ojama Yellow shrieks and promptly bursts into tears. "How could you!"
"But what difference does it make what card I ante?" Chazz continues smugly. "I wouldn't lose."
"Well I might!" Harry snaps back. "This card was given to be by someone I love. It's very special to me and even if I don't use it, I still care about it deeply. If you really want one of my cards for winning, pick another one, even my best one. But I'm never giving you this card."
It's the most forceful tone Harry's used throughout this whole encounter, and at some point Freezing Beast had turned to its keeper to listen carefully. It seems almost dog-like at the moment with the way it moves its tail around and whimpers softly.
Ojama Black gives up on attempting to comfort his brother, and looks at Freezing Beast instead.
"Uh, he's saying—
"I know what he's saying," Chazz cuts him off and clears his throat so that the spirit turns back to him. In a voice devoid of all the usual arrogance and bravado, Chazz asks, "Well? Is that enough?"
The spirit lowers its head in approval.
"Alright," Chazz says and looks to his duel disk. Already, he hates himself for this. "I switch Ojama King into Attack Mode. Turn end."
It's a startling move that throws everyone for a loop. Harry stares, Ojama Black and Ojama Yellow babble, Freezing Beast yelps, and Ojama King turns to him as if unsure he'd heard correctly before slowly standing up in all of his 0 Attack glory. XYZ-Dragon Cannon doesn't have a spirit that Chazz is aware of, but even it looks surprised. Somehow.
"What… the hell?" Harry asks skeptically.
"Boss, no! You'll lose!" Ojama Yellow cries.
"He's clearly lost something…" Ojama Black mutters, with a shake of his head.
"Arf!" Freezing Beast chimes in.
"Shut up!" Chazz snaps at all of them. "No tricks, no traps. Go ahead and finish this so I can get dinner. I'm starving."
"I'm not sure how to feel about you just handing a victory over like this…"
"Feel nothing because it's not your victory," Chazz tells him pointedly and looks at Freezing Beast who seems to understand. "It's your move. Do this properly."
Freezing Beast nods and assumes a crouching pose once more.
Harry looks reluctant and eyes XYZ-Dragon Cannon warily instead. But he's not as much of an idiot as a small sore-loser part of Chazz secretly hopes, and takes the victory.
"I attack Ojama King with Freezing Beast."
The spirit lunges and swipes the large white Ojama with its tail. He rolls over to the side before disappearing in a flash and Chazz's life points fall to zero.
It's not a loss, Chazz tells himself as the holograms disappear. It's his victory, despite what the life points say. Harry knows it, and that stupid spirit knows it too.
Yes…the spirit knows it. It's his victory because it's had its fun now and will leave him alone. No more growls behind him, no more Ojama Yellow whining and crying, and no more having to discuss this with Jaden… he claimed to have a plan, but he was completely useless in the end. This victory was all thanks to The Chazz.
He bursts out laughing in triumph, ignoring Harry's concerned "Are you okay?". He's more than okay. There is one less annoying nuisance in the world to bug him. He feels great!
"You, uh, didn't go mad with hunger or something back there, did you?" Harry asks awkwardly, coming over. Freezing Beast hovers over his shoulder also looking pitying.
"Be quiet. I knew what I was doing," Chazz snaps. "You've learned your lesson too, right? You'll leave me alone?"
"When have I ever bothered you?" Harry mutters to himself, but he seems to have caught on that a good number of Chazz rants weren't entirely aimed at him. Over his shoulder, Freezing Beast nods.
"And you," Chazz says to Harry sharply. "You could have attacked XYZ-Dragon Cannon and lost yourself. You didn't actually have to take the victory. You call yourself a duelist? What gives?"
"And now you're criticizing me for it…" Harry sighs. He takes out his good luck charm card and stares at it with a goofy smile. There is a light blush forming on his cheeks. "I thought about it, but…this card is so cute! I couldn't bear to see it get destroyed."
Chazz scowls. "If you tell me that's the reason you don't play it…"
"Oh no, I just couldn't really make it fit in my deck. Um, that's still true, by the way."
"Not my problem anymore." But there is still one thing nagging at the back of his mind. "Who gave you that card anyway? Not that I care or anything."
"My girlfriend," Harry admits shamelessly, the goofy grin growing.
"...What?"
"This was her favorite card, but she doesn't seriously duel. When I got into Duel Academy, she gave it to me. Isn't she the absolute greatest?"
His girlfriend is apparently a favorite topic of his, for Harry is quick shed that timid image from before and launch into a lengthy explanation on all the things that make her so wonderful. Freezing Beast nods along happily, circling around its owner, as Chazz enviously grumbles "Damn Normie" under his breath. That stupid spirit could have mentioned something about this.
The Ojama brothers appear around him once more, Ojama Yellow still crying.
"What? Don't tell me you're that moved by this sap?" Chazz says, long past the point of caring about Harry hearing him talk to his spirits. Harry is too busy gushing about his girlfriend anyway.
"I'm not moved! I'm sad!" Ojama Yellow says. "You said you'd bet me in a duel."
He's still on about that, Chazz groans inwardly.
"I also said I wouldn't lose. So stop crying."
"But you've lost duels before!" Ojama Yellow reminds him unconvinced. "Remember that time you dueled Jaden and lost? And then that other time you dueled Jaden and lost? And then there was that time you dueled—
"Say I lost to Jaden one more time…" Chazz glowers menacingly.
And speaking of Jaden, his unpleasant voice suddenly echoes in Chazz's ears.
"Chazz! There you are!" He rushes into the arena, a bright carefree smile on his face. "I've been looking everywhere for you!" Then he notices Harry and, more importantly, the duel spirit near him. "And you…whoever you are. I have something for you!"
"Huh?" Harry's snaps out of his love-stupor. "You're Jaden Yuki, aren't you?"
"Yep, and you're the Freezing Beast good luck charm guy," Jaden says.
"Er, why do you know about that? Too?" Harry asks and looks over at Chazz warily. Chazz just shrugs. All he wants to know is where Jaden's been all day and why he's decided to show up now.
"So, listen, you probably won't believe this, but that card in your pocket really wants to be in your deck," Unlike Chazz, Jaden has no problem getting right to the heart of the matter, no matter how stupid it makes him sound. "I've heard that card works really well with another one, so here you are." He takes a card out of his pocket and hands it to the bewildered Harry. Chazz glances over.
"Burning Beast?" He reads and immediately things click into place. "This was your big plan?"
"Yep. Pretty sweet, right?" As if to agree, Winged Kuriboh appears with a happy cheer. "It took me all day to find someone with this card. And then it took forever to find you guys," Jaden sounds almost offended about that. "But here we go. This is for you, bro. Use it well."
"Um…thank you?" Harry seems completely lost now. He reads the card's effect, but completely fails to understand why people are suddenly so obsessed with him playing his good luck charm.
"So, are you guys about to duel?" Jaden glances around.
"Been there, done that," Chazz snaps at him. "The Chazz already settled everything, no thanks to you."
"I missed the duel?" Jaden seems more upset about that than the fact that his efforts were pointless. But he recovers quickly. "Oh well, I'm still game. How about it, dude?" He turns to Harry. "You add that card into your deck and we get our games on. What do you say?"
Harry doesn't know what to say. He looks at Chazz again, but Chazz has already checked out mentally. He's done his part, now he just plans to reap his reward. And get dinner, because he really is starving.
Before he can leave though, the Freezing Beast floats over to him and starts barking something at him. Chazz stares for a moment, then turns to his Ojamas expectantly.
"I thought yous can understand him now?" Ojama Green asks.
"Somewhat," Chazz admits, not entirely sure when he picked up even that much. "What does it want now?"
"Uh, he's saying he wants to duel you again sometime," Ojama Black translates.
"No."
"Oh no, not in a he'll-bug-you-until-you-agree way like before," Green quickly adds. "It's more of a 'if life ever permits it' kinda way. He had fun."
"I'm so glad this is all entertaining for you," Chazz turns to the spirit and retorts. "But Burning Beast or not, you know you're probably going right back into the pocket."
Freezing Beast nods and says something else.
"He's okay with that," Ojama Yellow translates. "Because he's reaffirmed that his owner loves him and cherishes him and just doesn't want him to get hurt. Isn't that sweet, Boss?"
"No."
Freezing Beast barks something at him again and nuzzles against his shoulder affectionately. This time Chazz doesn't need a translation.
"You are not welcome."
A/N: So the other day in Duel Links, I was up against someone using Crowler with Ancient Gears (with me using Chazz + Ojamas). Through a series of events, I had two Ojama Knights in Defense Mode, no Ojama Country, and my opponent had one available monster zone where he had a monster with less than 2500 attack (I think it was around 1900? My strongest monster in this deck w/o Ojama Country's effect has 1800 atk). So we were both stuck and the turns kept passing - he would have decked out first so I would have won through that. But then on his very last possible turn, he drew something that was able to power up his monster enough to defeat the Ojama Knight that had blocked the other zones and summon Ancient Gear Golem (3000 Atk & Piercing Damage. I had 500 LP) And then JUST as he'd declared the attack that would end the duel...Server maintenance began. I haven't checked, but I sincerely hope that still counted as his victory, because that was seriously well played! XD
Anyway, if you made it this far, thank you for reading! I really hope you enjoyed this story because I had a lot of fun writing it and want to keep writing Chazz & Ojamas stories (how ironic that I'm finally posting this as Duel Links is running a "Serious Ojamaless Chazz" event) Also, I hope my attempt at writing around the duel went okay. I can't write duels at all, sorry.
Til next time! :)
(Random side note: for some reason, I imagine Ojama Yellow & Winged Kuriboh having a dynamic similar to Pikachu and Meowth from the Pokemon anime. I'm not entirely sure why...probably something related to Freezing Beast totally looking like an Eeveelution haha)
So, uh, yeah. Thank for reading, hope you enjoyed, and feedback is always really really appreciated!