Yu-Gi-Mon
Legendary Crusaders
Animaster: Yo, we're back! Time for third chapter! This one's by me. Now, last time, Finn and Cole participated in their entry exams for Duel Academy, and both managed to defeat their opponents. But now that they're in, will they form a friendship, or become enemies?
Hotrod: Yup this is gonna be one battle packed episode! So enjoy!
000
Episode 3
Friends of Rivalry
It was late at night in Celadon City, but at Duel Academy, five people were still debating business amongst themselves. Located in the middle of the city, Duel Academy was a large site, built on a three kilometre squared patch of land, complete with trees, grass, the dorms, and the main building. On the top floor of the main building was the head office of none other than the renowned Professor Samuel Oak, the Chancellor or Principal of the Academy.
The Chancellor himself was in the office now, sitting behind a large desk made of oak wood, to suit his name. On the desk was a computer, pens, and a sheet of paper that he was going down, ticking off names. Also in the room were four others. A tall skinny bald man with a white moustache and lab coat named Blaine was standing next to an incredibly large man with huge muscles, wearing an army shirt. This man was known as Lieutenant Surge.
Sitting in a chair near Oak's desk was a fourth man, though an incredibly feminine one. He had a large blue coat, and was wearing purple lipstick, as well as long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. It was so long that it reached down to his waist. Waylon Chronos was generally dislike by the other professors, but was still a respected member of the school, although he had received a number of warnings for bad conduct.
The fifth person was a woman. She had on a black and purple, tight-fitting dress, and purple high heels. Topping her head was flaming red hair, and she wore large-framed glasses. Her name was Lorelei. She was leaning against the wall; arms folded, with her head bowed and eyes closed.
Chronos was speaking. "Axel will do well in Articuno Blue, right Lorelei?"
"I'm sure he will, Waylon," replied the red-head. She seemed rather bored.
Oak ran his finger down the list. "Now, where were we?" he muttered absent-mindedly. "Oh yes!" Grabbing a pen, he placed a small letter A next to the name Axel Goldberg on his list, and then directed his gaze to the next entry on the list.
"What about this Cole Harding?"
Surge grinned wildly. "Ah, he did well on his written test, and even dampened Blaine's fire in his duel. Definitely a Zapdos Yellow candidate, I think."
"Not so fast," said Blaine, raising a finger. "I want to monitor this boy myself. He really has something. Let's put him in Moltres Red for now."
"What?" chuckled Surge. "Are you kidding me? The kid's easily good enough to be a Zapdos, no need to put him in the lowest dorm when he doesn't have to be."
"I sense something in him," said Blaine. "I want to teach Cole personally, see where he gets his motivation from. I can't do that if he's in your dorm, Surge."
"Now, now, you two!" warned Professor Oak. "Save your squabbles for when it counts. I also think that Blaine should look after Cole. After all, you have the most experience out of all us."
Blaine smiled triumphantly at Surge, who gave a curt nod. "Fine, but with his skill he'll advance to Yellow before the year is out!"
"Well, that's that one done," sighed Oak. "One more to go, then we can knock off. Oh my, it's almost eleven o'clock! Let's finish this quickly." He looked at his list, recording a small letter M next to Cole Harding's name as he did so, and read out the next, and final, person on the sheet. "Finn Jackson, what did we make of him? Say, wasn't he that boy that defeated you, Waylon?"
Chronos bristled angrily. "That brat!"
"He's a Yellow as well. He's got a good head and a sharp mind," said Surge, and Blaine nodded in acceptance. Chronos stood up sharply, knocking his chair over backwards as he did so.
"Absolutely not!" he screeched. "That slacker humiliated me in front of the whole congregation!"
Lorelei spoke again, raising her head and opening her eyes.
"You humiliated yourself, Waylon," she said wearily. "If you hadn't insisted on duelling the kid for a tiny interruption he made, then you wouldn't have lost so badly to him. It was your own fault."
"It was not!"
"Was so," smirked Blaine.
"Shut up, Blaine. If this slacker has to be here at the Academy, then he's starting from the bottom! Put him in with the Moltres Morons!"
Blaine stepped forwards angrily. He and Chronos had an old rivalry. "My dorm is not full of morons, Chronos. In fact, the only moron in the entire Academy is you."
Chronos turned bright red, but before he could retaliate, Oak interfered.
"Pack it in, you two! Blaine, would you mind accepting the boy in your dorm, for the sake of ending this argument?"
Blaine nodded. "I'd love to. And you know?" he added, looking at Chronos. "I can't wait to see him advance all the way to Articuno Blue!"
"Blaine!" said Oak sharply. "Stop that, before Waylon challenges you to a duel. I think he's getting pretty close."
And the Chancellor wasn't wrong. Chronos was seething; his teeth were bared and sweat was pouring down his face. Blaine smirked. "Don't get your duel coat in a double knot, Waylon."
"Well, that's settled then," said Oak. "Finn goes in Moltres Red." He picked up his pen for the final time and placed another M next to Finn's name, below Cole's. "Those two can go in the same dorm room," he murmured to himself, and added a double-headed arrow next to the names, pointing to each other. Sighing again, he stood up. "Alright, gentlemen, Lorelei. Let's all go home. We've all got a big day tomorrow."
000
Cole grunted as he dragged his massive suitcase along the large dirt path to his dorm. To make it worse, the sun was beating down heavily on the back of his unprotected neck. To his relief, Cole saw the dorm he was to stay in was near. It was two-storeys, with a small wooden staircase leading to the second floor. As far as dorms go, it was moderately sized, though looked a little run down. The red roof was a nice touch though.
Upon entering the Duel Academy, they had been handed a package and an envelope. Inside were instructions of where to go from there and what dorm they were in. Also in the package were three jackets. All of them were identical, red with long sleeves. Cole had slipped one of them on immediately, and followed the instructions to go to his dorm and unpack. After an hour, enough time to settle in, the students were to head to the main building for further orientation.
Cole pulled out the envelope again as he reached the front of the dorm, and looked at his room number. Scanning the lower floors and not seeing room 8, he realised with a sinking feeling that his room was upstairs, and began the arduous journey of dragging the massive suitcase up the staircase.
Five minutes later, Cole opened his door. It was devoid of people, though he apparently had room-mates, as there was a triple bunk-bed, three desks, three wardrobes, and what a surprise, three chairs.
Cole turned around as he heard a voice behind him. "Nice room, eh? We must be room-mates. The name's Finn."
It was a boy with spiky black hair. As Cole looked at him, he recognised his new room-mate as the kid that he had accidently bumped into at the trials, on the way to his duel. Finn also seemed to have remembered Cole.
"I'm Cole," he said. "No luggage?"
"Why bother?" answered Finn. "There are already new clothes for us in the wardrobes."
"Oh," said Cole, staring at the heavy case he had dragged all the way to Duel Academy, and felt rather silly. An awkward silence settled over them as they suddenly realised what had to be decided.
Finn stared at Cole, and narrowed his eyes suspiciously, completely certain that the other boy was thinking exactly what he was thinking. Cole stared back, also sizing up his opponent.
"I call top bunk!" they both yelled at the same time. Finn was the quicker, he bounded forwards and tried to zip up the ladder and claim the prized position for himself, but Cole wrapped his arms around Finn's waist and bundled him to the floor, before trying to get up the ladder himself. Finn, not about to give Cole the satisfaction, reached up and seized his ankle, yanking him back down. Cole fell right on top of Finn, his elbow colliding painfully against one of the desks.
At the feeling of pain, Cole rolled over onto his knees on top of Finn and laced his fingers around his throat, shaking him. Finn responded by pounding Cole's stomach repeatedly, gurgling through the vice on his windpipe.
Suddenly, the door crashed open, and an old man walked in. Neither boy noticed or cared. Blaine stepped forwards, and though undoubtedly on the wrong side of 65, he effortlessly dragged Cole off Finn and slammed him down onto the floor.
"What the hell are you hooligans doing?" he bellowed. "You're both 15 years old, get a hold of yourselves!"
Cole stumbled to his feet, and Finn mirrored his actions.
"Professor Blaine, sir," said Cole breathlessly. "I got here first, and called dibs on the top bunk."
"What a load of bull!" cut in Finn furiously. "I called it first, and you know it!"
"Yeah, right! I finished my sentence at least half a second before you did!"
At this point, Blaine completely lost interest, and stared at the opposite wall with a bland expression. Finally, the shouting stopped, and both boys looked at him expectantly.
Blaine looked at them each very carefully, and both of them withered under his gaze.
"It's settled," he said, and turned to leave. "Neither of you get the top bunk." And then he closed the door behind him.
"But...what?" gasped Finn at the door. Cole turned to him, outraged.
"This whole thing is your fault!"
"Me? How exactly is this my fault? If you hadn't of grabbed me, I'd be up there right now, having the time of my life!"
"Why you? It should be me up there, having the time of my life."
Outside, Blaine stopped as he heard another loud, though not altogether unexpected crash from the room he had just vacated. Giving a large, exaggerated sigh, he turned and opened the door to see the exact same scene that he had just broken up. This time, Finn heard the door opened, and ceased his punching to give Blaine a large, unconvincing smile of innocence. Cole also stood up quickly, brushing himself off, and acted casual.
As Blaine looked at them, he almost smiled. The old man wasn't angry, in fact, he was rather amused. The two boys fighting reminded him of when he was a teenager.
"Fortunately for you two, there is one way to solve this little problem of ours."
000
"Ok...Finn, Cole...you know the rules. Let the duel begin!"
Finn opened his deck case hanging from his belt, pulled out his deck and slotted it into his Academy Duel Disk so smoothly it was obvious that he had practised the move hundreds of times before. The second his cards entered the Disc, the blue orb on top of it flashed, and the arms of the card slot extended out. Twenty metres away, Cole mirrored his movements, perhaps even more fluently.
They were duelling in front of the Red dorm. It was a big open space clearly designed for duels, and surrounding it, except for the path leading in different directions, were shrubs and trees. Blaine himself stood up on the balcony, watching them.
Before the match, Blaine had flipped a coin, and Finn was to go first. The boy wasted no time, drawing his initial five cards, and then another, to begin his turn.
Finn: 4000
Cole: 4000
"Hmm...Perfect. Let's start this off with my spell card, Unown Swarm! With this, I can add two Unown straight from my deck to my hand. And I choose Unown L and Unown N! After that, I'll summon L to the field."
A funny looking black creature in the shape of the letter L appeared in front of him. Cole grimaced.
"It's you. Everybody at the trials was talking about the "Unown kid". You beat Professor Chronos, didn't you?"
Finn grinned. "Yep, that's right. I toasted the Prof. And if you've heard of me, then you'll know that my pokemon are unstoppable in battle."
"We'll see about that. Now get on with your turn."
"Rightio! That bunk is mine. Every Unown gains 200 attack and defence points for each Unown on the field, including itself. So L's attack points shoot from 1000 to 1200. And I'm not done yet! Now I activate this spell card, Unown Force. Now L gets another 500 attack points!"
"Crap," muttered Cole, as Unown L's attack rose to 1700. "He's got a strong monster on the field already. I've got no monsters in my hand that can beat that Unown, so I'd better go on the defence."
"But I'm not done yet," announced Finn. Now L's special ability activates, giving me 500 Life Points every turn. Now for a face-down, and now it's your turn."
Finn: 4500
Cole: 4000
Cole drew his card, and after adding it to the others, placed another one sideways on his Duel Disc.
"I summon Mankey, in defence mode!" he declared. "And now I activate Tongue of the Lickilicky, so I can draw two more cards from my deck. And I'll activate one of them now! Evolution Stone! Mankey, evolve!"
Finn gasped as Mankey glowed white and grew larger, until a Primeape was in its place. The small holographic box next to it showed off its 2600 attack points.
"No way!" gasped Finn. "A monster that strong already?"
"Primeape, attack!"
"Ha! You activated my trap! Unown Saviour! Now I can summon Unown S from my deck in defence mode to save L from Primeape's attack!" said Finn. Primeape swung its fist, but suddenly the shape on an Unown S blocked it. S exploded.
"And now you activated its special effect," said Finn. "By destroying S, I can summon any Unown from my deck. So come on out, Unown I!"
Primeape fell back to its place in front of Cole, who watched, annoyed, as Finn summoned yet another Unown to his field. L's attack points rose again to 1900, and I's original 2200 points rose to 2600...equal to Primeape.
"How's that for strategy?" smirked Finn. Cole grimaced. His opponent was dominating him.
"I place these two face-downs and end my turn," he grumbled.
Finn grinned again. "My draw! Now I activate my own Tongue of the Lickilicky. Two cards for me. Next, I'll activate Unown I's ability. By destroying itself, I can wipe out half of your Life Points!"
"That's not fair!" gasped Cole, as Unown I exploded.
Finn: 4500
Cole: 2000
"This isn't looking good..." Cole thought. "He's just as good as they all said he was!"
"Remember Unown Swarm? I hope you do, because I'm summoning the second Unown that I added to my hand...N, in defence mode! And when it's summoned, I can add a spell or trap card from my graveyard to my hand. So I'll get Tongue of the Lickilicky back, which I'll use again to get two more cards!"
N appeared, with a raised total of 1200 defence points. L had briefly dropped to 1700 after Unown I had been destroyed, but now shoomed back to 1900.
"To finish it off, I'll place two face-downs. And because L is on the field, I get another 500 Life Points. Good luck!"
Finn: 5000
Cole: 2000
Cole was sweating. Finn was using his cards like they were part of him. There has to be a way to stop him from using all of those Unowns! I'll just have to use brute force."
"I summon Machop, in attack mode! Machop, attack Unown N!"
Machop didn't hesitate, violently Karate chopping N straight to the graveyard. With 1600 attack points, it obliterated the measly 1200 defence points that N had.
"Now, Primeape, attack L!"
Finn sucked in air as Primeape destroyed Unown L. "Whoops, I should have set up some kind of defence for my monsters..."
Since N had gone, L only had 1700 attack points, and fell easily to Primeape.
Finn: 4100
Cole: 2000
"Now you've got no Unowns left," jeered Cole. "I end my turn."
Finn looked at his cards. He had two face-downs, but neither of them traps, both were spells. But one of them could almost win him this match. But first, a few summonings...
"I summon Unown F! When this is summoned, I can special summon one Unown from my deck to the field that's five stars! And I choose Unown P!"
Both monsters appeared, P on 2100 Life Points and F on 1200.
"But I'm not done yet! Now I activate my face-down spell card, Unown Destruction! By paying half of my Life Points, I can destroy every card on the field except for a single Unown. I choose to save P."
"Not good..." muttered Cole.
With two explosions, Primeape, Machop, and Unown F were destroyed. Both Finn's and Cole's face-down cards fizzled into dust, until the only thing left standing was Unown P, with 1900 attack points.
"P, attack him directly!"
Cole yelled as he was hit by Hidden Power, and fell to his knees.
Finn: 2050
Cole: 100
"This seems to happen to me a lot," thought Cole as he looked at his Life Points, and staggered back to his feet.
"My turn," he said. "First, I summon Torchic, in attack mode! Next, I activate Maximum Evolution Overdrive to evolve it to its final level, Blaziken!"
"There ought to be a price for that card..." thought Finn in fear, as Torchic disappeared and was replaced with its much more powerful evolution, which had a whopping 3300 attack points. "It's way too good."
"Blaziken, attack Unown P!"
Finn shouted out as P was destroyed in a fireball, and his Life Points dropped dramatically.
Finn: 650
Cole: 100
Finn stared in hopelessness at his empty field, and at the behemoth facing him.
"Now for a face-down," grinned Cole. "And I'll give you a hint...don't bother setting a trap or using a spell...it won't do you any good. Looks like this duel has turned around in my favour, huh?"
Finn panicked. By the sounds of it, Cole had a counter to spells and traps. What could he do? Without his usual zeal and confidence, he drew his card, and hope filled him again.
This duel is done, Cole."
"I summon Unown H, in attack mode, and then I'll end my turn."
"Ha!" laughed Cole as he looked at H's 800 attack points, which raised to 1000. "Given up? Well, I'll end this with a bang. First, I summon Chimchar, but he won't be staying for long, because now I'll use Switch Out, to send both Chimchar and Blaziken to the graveyard and halve my Life Points. Now, I can summon this...Machamp!"
Finn: 650
Cole: 50
Finn gasped as Cole's two pokemon vanished, to be replaced by a grey monster with four arms.
"And don't forget its special effect! For every fighting type in the graveyard, it gains 300 attack points onto its original 3200. You can't win, Finn! Hey, that rhymes. Anyway, let's count up the fighting types in my grave! Mankey, Primeape, Machop and Blaziken. That's another 1200 attack points, so now Machamp has 4400!"
Finn gulped.
"It's over! You have no spell or trap cards on the field, and your only defence is that single Unown. Let's end this! Machamp, attack his Unown H and win me this duel!" ordered Cole, and the buffed up Machamp stepped forwards, raising its fist. Finn's teeth were gritted, and he was covered in sweat.
"This is gonna hurt..." he thought, as Unown H disappeared in a colossal explosion. Finn was caught up in the blast, and was blocked from Cole's view by a wall of smoke. Cole watched, his tongue between his teeth, and slowly the smoke cleared.
Amazingly, Finn was still standing, but his head was drooped and his arms were hanging limp, smoke billowing out from the corners of his clothes. Cole punched the air triumphantly. "Yes! I win! That top bunk is mine."
He laughed, long and loud, but was struck dumb when Finn raised his head and spoke.
"Guess again. My Life Points may have hit 0, but I can still activate one last card!"
"You're lying," gasped Cole. "What card could you possibly use now?"
Finn held up his Duel Disk. "The one you just destroyed. Unown H!"
"B-but...it's in the graveyard!"
Finn smiled. "Exactly. By sending H to the graveyard, you activated its ability. When H is destroyed, I can use any trap card directly from my hand, and it can't be negated! And I choose this...Destiny Bond!"
"No, not that!" shouted Cole, panicking, as Finn selected the card from his hand and slotted it into his Duel Disk.
"As I'm sure you know, I can use Destiny Bond when one of my monsters is attacked and destroyed. First, I discard every other card in my hand. After that, the monster that attacked me goes straight to the graveyard, and the damage that I received from the attack is reflected..." Finn whipped up his finger and pointed directly at Cole. "Straight back to you!"
"This can't be happening!" yelled Cole frantically, as a ghost of Unown H reappeared in front of Finn, and began to glow.
Finn grinned. "It can and it is! This duel is over!"
Machamp glowed as well, and it clutched at its heart, then exploded. This time it was Cole who was enveloped by the explosion, and by the time the smoke disappeared, he was hunched over, exhausted.
Finn: 0
Cole: 0
Cole looked up from his kneeling pose to see Finn standing in front of him, holding out his arm. Cole took it, and Finn helped him up.
"You're a pretty good duelist," complimented Finn. "You can have the bunk. We were stupid to fight over it."
"Thanks," answered Cole. "Because we both know I called dibs on it first," he joked.
Finn grinned, and extended his hand again. "Friends?"
Cole accepted the hand, and they shook. "Definitely."
Blaine, still watching from the balcony, smiled.
"Those two will make a good pair."
From afar, a tall girl about the same age as Cole and Finn watched them. She was dressed in a blue and white skirt.
"Those two are good," she muttered. "What do you think?"
A tall older boy next to her, at least 18 years old with silver hair and a blue jacket, answered her.
"They'll do well here. Anyway, that's it for the tour. See you around, Vanessa. Good luck here at Duel Academy."
He turned and walked away. "Yeah..." said Vanessa quietly. "Thanks, Kaiser!"
The older boy, Kaiser, raised a hand in farewell, but didn't look back. Soon, Vanessa followed, heading back to the Articuno Blue dorm.
Meanwhile, Cole and Finn entered their room again.
"Thanks, Professor," they said in unison. As their door closed, Blaine chuckled.
"No problem," he laughed. "No problem at all."
000
Animaster: So they're equally matched at duelling, eh? Good thing Blaine showed up, they would have torn each other apart. Those Unowns are confusing, aren't they? My personal invention.
Oh, by the way, don't forget to review, we love reviews. Onto Hotrod!
Hotrod: Yup I even got confused reading about the Unown… anyways Animaster should've apologised for not updating on Friday but oh well. It was New Years Eve… what were you supposed to do. Anyways please, please, please review! I know you guys added it to your faves! So come on! Spare one or two minutes for us!
