LEVEL RISING
Pt. 2 by Copper Thrice
I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX
That night, Jake couldn't get any sleep. "Something's wrong with Ellie, I know it." Jake thought. He turned his head to see his deck beside him. So many memories flooded into him…
In a small room, two kids played Duel Monsters on the carpet.
"And your Life Points go to zero." Said a fourteen year-old girl with auburn hair.
"Aw, man, I lost again…" said a younger Jake. "Why do I keep losing, Ellie?"
"Well," Ellie said crossing her arms and thinking. "For one thing, your deck doesn't have a Flow."
Jake shot her a confused look. Ellie sighed.
"You see, a Flow is a style of dueling or what strategy your deck has to it." She said.
"Well, I have one. I summon really good monsters and boost em with spells then bash my opponent," Jake replied holding up a fist.
"Yeah, yeah," Ellie sighed, "But a deck isn't just good cards, you need strategy and a back-up strategy. You also need cards you can trust."
Jake rolled his eyes, "'Cards you can trust', you sound like some kind of overdramatic anime.
Ellie bent over to pick up her cards, "I know it sounds overdone, but for some reason it really works, at least for me." She held up her index finger, "Here's an idea: Find a type of card that you really like and build a deck around it. All the best duelists do that."
"Hmmm…" Jake said crossing his arms, then an idea struck. "I have an idea, I'll build my deck around—"
It was a few months later that Ellie found Jake outside of the Duel Compound. She was wearing her new Academy duel disk and the yellow blazer of the Ra Yellow. She walked slowly over to the depressed Jake.
She sat down next to him and they sat in silence for a while.
"I blew it," Jake finally said, "I failed the Duel Exam."
"Yep, but ya know,"Ellie said leaning back. "I've never seen you duel so well. It was amazing. I thought it was the best I've ever seen anyone duel!"
"Yeah…"Jake said, "Except I lost…"
"Well, don't get yourself so down." Ellie said putting a hand on his shoulder.
Jake jumped and turned to see her smiling.
"Tell ya what," Ellie said taking her hand off Jake, "I'll try to send e-mails a lot about the academy, okay?"
Jake nodded and smiled, "Alright, but if you get into a bind I'll do my best to help out, alright?"
Ellie laughed, "Okay," she said, "It's a promise."
Jake got up from his bed and grabbed his deck. He knew what he had to do.
"I keep my promises," he whispered. I'll go to Duel Academy, somehow.
Jake pulled out his deck, looked through it, and smiled.
"A few changes and I'll be ready," He whispered.
"C'mon," Jake said to the KaibaCorp front desk lady, "There's gotta be some way to get me to Duel Academy!"
"I'm sorry," she said, "But there is no way to enter the Academy, the year's already started."
"C'mon, please! I gotta go there! This is important!" Jake yelled, leaning across the desk. The receptionist backed away from him.
"Leave before I call security," She said coldly.
Jake sighed; it wouldn't do him any good to get arrested, so he left.
Before he got out the doors to the compound, a voice yelled after him.
"Hey, kid, wait!" said a man wearing a suit and tie. Jake stopped and turned around.
The man caught up to him and spoke, "My name is Cain Derrel. I run this section of KaibaCorp and I've been looking for someone like yourself."
Jake shot him a confused look.
"You see, the Duel Academy is about to host its first Generation X tournament and the best duelists from across the world will be there." Cain said. "And if you're good enough, I might consider placing you as my companies' representative."
Jake blinked. "Wow, that's convenient," he thought.
"Uhm, sure," he said aloud.
"Now not so fast," Cain said stopping him short, "First you have to defeat our current rep in a duel." Cain snapped his fingers and a tall, beefy man with a briefcase came over to them.
"Okay," Jake said, "Who's the rep.?"
"Me," said Cain handing Jake a Duel Disk from the briefcase.
"DUEL" said the two as they went to different ends of the front desk room. The receptionist sighed, it was one of those days.
C: 4000
J: 4000
"I'll start," Cain said drawing his hand. "I set a card in defense mode and place a card face-down. That's my turn." A holographic image of a card appears in front of Cain sideways and then another on appears near his feet set normally.
"Alright," Jake said as he drew. He had to hand it to Cain, he was very calm about this duel. "I summon Mystic Swordsman LV 2! (900/0)" A short warrior with tan armor and a katana appears. "His ability allows him to destroy a face-down monster that he attacks regardless of points. Now, Swordsman, attack his face-down!"
"Sorry, kid, ain't gonna happen," Cain said grinning. " I activate Skill Seal. It's a trap that has me pay 1000 LP and all effects from effect monsters are negated." It was then that Cain closed his eyes tightly, like he was in pain or something.
C: 3000
J:4000
Jake grits his teeth then watches as his Swordsman attacks with its few attack points. The face-down monster appears, revealing a Stone Soldier. (1200/ 2000).
Suddenly, Jake feels a jolt of pain run through his body from his duel disk arm. He clutches his side and sees his LP drop.
C: 3000
J: 2900
"What was that?" He asked looking at his opponent, "What just happened?"
"Well, you see, the newest version of the Duel Disk gives the duelist a jolt of pain depending on how many Life Points they lost." Cain said smiling.
"That's nuts!" Jake yelled at him.
"What, do you want to quit, little boy," Cain mocked.
Jake gritted his teeth harder, "No." he said.
"Then lets continue," Cain said.
"Okay," Jake looked into his hand. "I'll put two cards facedown and end my turn." Two holographic cards appeared below Jake's feet.
"My turn," said Cain drawing. He looked at his hand. "First, I play Fissure, this allows me to destroy your swordsman." Jake's monster disappeared down a virtual hole. "Now I summon a Giant Orc (2200/ 0) and then I'll switch my soldier into attack mode." A huge, muscular, grey orc appeared and the soldier rose from defense with its stone swords at the ready. "Now, I'll have my monsters attack. You see, thanks to my continuous trap, Skill Seal, my Orc doesn't go into defense mode after he attacks because it negates all effects." The two giant monsters ran towards Jake.
"I activate my Negate Attack!" Jake said as a trap flipped up. "Your attack is negated and your battle phase is over."
"Alright, then," Cain said. "I guess I'll end my turn there then."
Jake nodded as he drew a new card. "I play Graceful Charity to draw three cards and discard two." Jake drew and discarded his cards. "Now I summon Horus LV 4 (1600/1000)." A metal bird-like dragon appeared before Jake. "Now I'll have him attack your soldier!" The dragon blew out black fire at the soldier and it disappeared beneath the flames. Cain still showed little sign of pain.
C: 2600
J: 2900
"I can't use my monster's effect to level him up after he destroys a monster, but I'll have to leave him be and end my turn." Jake said giving a grimace. His trap was a bluff and he didn't like to leave his monsters undefended.
"Okay," says Cain, "I summon my Bistro Butcher!" As Cain said this, a man with a blue, goblin face and a hook for an arm and a chef's hat appeared. "Now I'll have my orc attack!" The massive grey Orc raised its club and shatters Horus. Jake feel some pain as LP is drained away from him.
C: 2600
J: 2300
"It's not over yet!" Cain said, "Now my Butcher attacks you directly." The hook arm is a hologram, but Jake feel pain none the less because of the duel disk. "Oh, and when my Butcher deals damage to you, you get to draw two cards. Now, I'm done," Cain said ending his turn, "But I hope you're better than this!"
"I keep my promises," Jake whispered.
"What was that," Cain asked, but Jake just looked him straight in the face. Jake drew his extra two cards and then his draw phase card. He looked them over for a moment and grinned.
"I activate Premature Burial, a spell that has me give up 800 Life Points to bring back a monster from my Graveyard! I bring back my Horus LV 4!" The spell appeared on the field and Jake felt the pain of losing points.
C: 2600
J: 1500
"Now I activate the spell Heavy Storm, it destroys all traps and spell on the field." Jake watched as Cain's trap shattered. "Now I play my Level Up! Spell so my monster is sent to the graveyard to summon…" Jake pulled a card out of his deck and put his dragon back into the graveyard. Out appeared a large, metal dragon with more metal dragon with larger wings than its predecessor. "Horus LV 6! (2400/1600)
Now I summon D. D. Warrior Lady! (1500/1600)" A woman appeared with light armor and a sword. "Now I play my facedown, Mage Power. It gives my Warrior Lady an extra 500 attack and defense points for every spell on my side of the field. Including this new facedown, that's a bonus of 1000 points. Now I'm gonna end this and I'll attack with Horus!" The dragon shot a black fireball at the Orc and it fried. Cain winced, he didn't see that coming.
C: 2400
J: 1500
"Now I'll have my empowered Warrior Lady attack you directly!" Jake watched as the woman made a holographic slice across Cain's chest, but he felt pain none the less.
C: 0000
J: 1500
"Alright," said Cain panting from the shock. "You're in."
Jake smiled as the holograms of his monsters faded.
"Just one thing," Jake asked, "Can you get rid of this stupid pain thing, it kinda bugs me."
"Sure thing champ," Cain said, "By the way, what's the name of your deck's Flow. It's pretty good."
Jake thought for a moment. He hadn't thought about naming his deck…
"It's called…" Jake said as Cain took his duel disc and Jake removed his deck from it.
"Level Rising!"