I was originally going to post this chapter last Monday, but this week has just been crazy for me, and I didn't get the time to work on this chapter. I then said I would post it before Saturday on my profile, but I was too tired yesterday and needed to rest. That being said, I hope that I can finish my next chapter sooner than I finished this one.
This chapter introduces Bastion. I've changed his personality and character from the manga and anime. I don't know what you guys will think of him, but he will play a big role in the conflict with the Shadow Riders. He won't appear again until the seventh chapter, but he will have major involvement in every chapter after.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy, and please review to tell me what you think.
Bastion Misawa watched the computer screen closely, jotting something down on the small, blue notebook in front of him. He then pressed a button on the keyboard, pausing the video he was watching. His eyes then turned to the Duel Monster cards in front of him, organized into different piles. He rearranged the piles, before playing the video again.
"Alright, Flame Wingman attack that Ancient Gear Golem!" A winged creature with a red dragon's head for one of its arm became engulfed in flames. Flame Wingman charged towards a giant made of gears and metal with a single red eye shining through the rust that covered it.
Skyscrapers surrounded the two monsters, extending towards the dark skies.
A man in a blonde ponytail and a blue blazer let out a high-pitched shriek in panic, as the hero collided with the golem in front of him, causing it to break down into scraps of metal. Meanwhile, the boy in front of the winged creature smirked.
The boy wore an unbuttoned black jacket and a red shirt underneath, extending two fingers towards the blonde man.
"Gotcha…But it was a fun duel."
The video ended there.
The boy went by the name of Jaden Yuki. He was a Slifer Red student, meaning that Jaden had the lowest possible rank in the school. Nevertheless, Bastion could not deny his talent.
Jaden had managed to beat the man in the video, Vellian Crowler. Crowler was a renowned professor who was well known for his exceptional dueling skills. Even so, Jaden had won. That wasn't the only thing that had impressed Bastion.
Jaden had also defeated Chazz Princeton, a three time junior national champion, who had not lost in the past three years. Chazz had defeated countless opponents over the years, and Bastion was one of the unfortunate victims.
Bastion had started dueling in his third year of middle school. He had never taken an interest in dueling, and preferred to spend his time on other hobbies such as physics and computer programming. He had never really understood how professional duelists got paid millions of dollars just to play a card game. It wasn't until Dr. Zweinstein, a ten time Nobel award-winning physicist who Bastion highly respected, had won his tenth Nobel Prize for his discovery of the Quantum Duel Theory that Bastion began to take an interest in the card game.
He researched the world's most popular card game, and was intrigued by what he had found. It wasn't the scientific aspects of dueling, which Zweinstein had discovered, that intrigued Bastion. It was how unpredictable a duel could be. There was an element of surprise in dueling, unlike physics and computer programming. Anything could happen, and he enjoyed doing everything he could to prepare for every possibility that a duel holds. The stronger his opponent the more challenging it was to prepare to beat them.
He enjoyed a challenge.
Despite his lack of experience, Bastion had used his strategical prowess surpassed those of even the most seasoned duelists. He always carried six decks of cards with him, but he would only use one. The other five was like an inventory of cards. He would add cards from the inventory and take away cards from the deck, depending on his opponent's strategies which he would study beforehand. He had developed different decks to counter opponents with different dueling styles, and started to compete in tournaments.
He had reached the finals of the Japan's junior national championship with less than a year's experience in dueling. Many had labelled Bastion a prodigy, but there was nothing prodigious about his tactics. He would analyze his opponent's style and strategies beforehand, and create a deck to counter them.
The prodigy had studied his opponent for the finals, Chazz Princeton, thoroughly. Bastion had analyzed all of Chazz's duels, and had created a deck to counter Chazz's strategies which usually revolved around his ace monster Light and Darkness Dragon.
To Bastion's dismay, Chazz did not use Light and Darkness Dragon for his third national championship. He used a different deck than he had in other tournaments, which consisted of Ojama cards and the Armed Dragon archetype.
Bastion noticed that this new deck was not as strong as his old one. He predicted that Chazz would end up using Light and Darkness Dragon in the finals. Bastion figured that any rational person would use their best possible deck to maximize their chances of winning, especially in the biggest duel of the tournament. Thus, the prodigy decided to use the deck he had created to counter Light and Darkness Dragon. He had predicted wrong.
His prediction was flawed, and he ended up losing the duel. Bastion's deck's sole purpose was to counter Chazz's old deck, and would not fare well against any other decks. Perhaps if Chazz had used his old deck, Bastion would have won.
Perhaps if Chazz had used his old deck, he would have beaten Jaden. Chazz's old deck was stronger, and Jaden didn't have a deck designed to neutralize it. Not that it mattered now. He had lost to Chazz, and Jaden had beaten him.
Regardless, Bastion recognized Jaden's talent and ability. He took it as a challenge. He was watching clips of Jaden's duels in the academy's video room, and creating a deck to neutralize Jaden's hero deck.
Bastion reviewed the notes he had taken on Jaden's strategies in his small, blue notebook. He smiled to himself, before placed the notebook down on the table in front of him. He played the video again, watching intently.
He always liked a challenge.
"I can't believe I'm spending my Friday with this." Syrus groaned to himself. He was currently in the academy's video room; he was supposed to pick up disks that contained footage of yesterday's practical exams for Miss Hibiki. By reviewing the disks, Miss Hibiki could evaluate the dueling skills of her Slifer Red students, and tell them what to improve on.
Syrus had initially asked Miss Hibiki why she didn't trust Jaden with this task. She then reminded him of how much of a lazy bum Jaden could be. He didn't argue; it was true. Jaden was a talented duelist, but he wasn't the most hardworking student.
He looked in front of him to see rows of computers. The computers were on the top of white tables, and a line of black armchairs stood in front of these tables. The room was empty, as expected. There was no reason why anyone would hang out in the video room, especially on a Friday. They would have to be a complete social recluse to waste a perfectly fine Friday afternoon in here.
There was a giant screen attached to the wall on his right, looming over a wooden desk. On top of the desk was a cardboard box, which was labelled 'Slifer Practical Exams.'
'That was easy.' Syrus thought. The disks weren't difficult to find at all. They were probably in the box. He walked towards the desk, holding the box in his hands.
The Slifer then heard a sudden noise reverberate through the room. He yelped in shock; he barely held on to the box in his hands, before processing the noise and noticing that it sounded familiar. It was Jaden's voice?
"Gotcha…But it was a fun duel."
Syrus walked slowly to where the noise had come from. It seemed to be coming from one of the computers in the far corner of the room.
As he got closer, he noticed a boy in a Ra Yellow jacket with neatly flushed back black hair. The boy didn't seem to mind the yelp that Syrus had let out earlier, and he seemed to be jotting something down a small, blue notebook.
"Uh, e-excuse me." Syrus stammered weakly. He made a mental note to practice public speaking on his free time; he wasn't very good at talking to anyone who he wasn't familiar with.
The boy put the notebook down, before slowly turning his head towards the Slifer. The Ra Yellow looked at Syrus with quizzical black eyes.
"So you were the one who screamed." The boy said simply, closing the notebook.
"Y-yeah…What are you doing here anyways?" Syrus asked.
"I was watching video footage of a duelist who I plan to beat with the deck I just made." He explained pointing at the pile of cards in front of him.
"A duelist? You mean Jaden?" Syrus questioned, as he remembered hearing Jaden's voice earlier. The boy must have been watching video footage of Jaden's duels.
"Yes." He nodded awkwardly, before unbuttoning his yellow jacket.
"Why would you want to duel Jaden?" Syrus noticed that there were three red pockets on the right side of his jacket's interior and three others on the left side. They were all shaped like a deck of cards, and the boy shoved the pile of cards on the table into one of the pockets. Did this guy have six different decks?
"I enjoy a challenge," The boy then put the blue notebook into the pockets of his black pants, and then got off his chair. "Who might you be?"
"I'm Syrus. What's your name?" The blue haired boy answered.
"It's Bastion Misawa, but you answered my question incorrectly." Bastion Misawa? Wasn't that the guy who would get the highest score on every exam? How was he only in Ra Yellow?
"What do you mean?" A puzzled expression dawned on the Slifer's face.
"I wasn't asking for your name. I was asking about your relation to Jaden." Bastion added loftily.
"I'm his friend."
"How did you become his friend?" That was a strange question. It was even stranger how Bastion had said the word 'friend,' so mockingly. Did Bastion not believe that he was friends with Jaden?
"We're roommates?" Syrus suggested.
"Then you must take me to your room at this instance." Bastion deadpanned.
Syrus's mouth hung wide open, unsure of how to respond. Who was this guy? Why did he want to go to their room?
"I'm sorry?"
"I must study Jaden's living habits in order to get a deeper understanding of his habits as a duelist." Bastion stated, as if what he said was not creepy at all.
Syrus didn't understand Bastion. He was so socially awkward; it was like he had never spoken to another human being in his life. The Slifer wasn't the one to talk though; he had talked to many people in his life and he was even more socially awkward than Bastion was at times.
"Uh, I don't think I can, because I have other plans." Syrus lied, "I told my friend, Chumley, that we would go to the beach together."
"If you're trying to tell me that you can't take me to your room, because you have to interact with other people, you are a worse liar than you let yourself believe." Bastion continued, "First of all, my observations tell me that you tend to stammer a lot, and get scared easily based on your little scream from earlier. These are all signs of a socially awkward person. Socially awkward persons do not interact with other persons. Thus, there are two possibilities that lead to the conclusion that you are lying. A) Chumley is not your friend, and you are just using his name to make your lie more believable. B)Chumley is an imaginary figure that you fabricated to give yourself the illusion that you have friends. I support the latter possibility."
Syrus's face grew red with a mixture of embarrassment and anger. Chumley wasn't his imaginary friend! He was real. Who was Bastion to tell him that he was so socially awkward that he needed to make imaginary friends for himself?
"Chumley happens to be my roommate!" Syrus argued, "And I am not socially awkward!"
"You also said Jaden was your roommate and your friend. Yet, you are unwilling to take me to your ro-"
"I'm not 'unwilling.' I told you I have plans!" Syrus interrupted, "And do you know how creepy you sound? You want to study Jaden's 'living habits.' What in the world does that even mean?"
"You are unwilling to tak me to your room. I conclude that Jaden isn't really friends with you. If he was, he wouldn't mind you having me over. I assume Jaden only tolerates your presence, since you are roommates. You don't want Jaden to think any lesser of you, so you don't want to bother his peace by inviting an unexpected guest into the room," Bastion was really getting under Syrus's nerves.
"He won't mind! Chumley won't mind either! In fact, you can come over right now to see for yourself that Chumley is a real person and that Jaden is my friend!" Syrus shouted.
"Again with the Chumley thing? He's not real, Syrus. He's, in layman's terms, your imaginary friend." Bastion pursed his lips, in a way that made Syrus's blood boil.
"Well, are you coming or not?" Syrus huffed, walking towards the door of the video room.
Bastion smirked. 'Idiot.'
"Jaden, can you rub lotion on my back?" Mindy asked in a bubbly voice, holding up a white squeeze bottle for the boy. There was not a single cloud in the sky, as the sun shimmered brightly on the golden sand of the beach. She had her white bikini on, and didn't want her skin to dry; that would be disgusting.
That wasn't the only reason she wanted Jaden to rub lotion on her back. She had a crush on the Slifer to put it bluntly. She first noticed Jaden when he defeated Crowler in the entrance exams, and simply thought that the boy was cute. However, they had been spending a lot of time together in the past few weeks. Her shallow obsession over his looks was replaced by feelings for the brown-haired boy.
There was a problem, though. At times, Mindy felt like she was competing for Jaden's attention with her best friend Alexis. When Jaden and she hung out, Alexis was always there with them. At times Mindy felt like she was a third wheel.
Mindy would try extra hard to flirt with the boy, while flirting with him just came naturally to Alexis; it was like the blonde girl would do it unintentionally. Well, Mindy hoped Alexis did it unintentionally. She had told her friend how much Jaden meant to her, and Alexis had decided to give the two of them space. It still didn't make Mindy any less jealous of her friend though.
Despite her best efforts, it seemed that Jaden did not have a clue, and was the most thick-headed guy she's ever met. How many more 'subtle' hints did she have to drop for him?
Her other friend, Jasmine, would avoid hanging out with them when they were around Jaden. Jasmine had said that Mindy's efforts to flirt made her cringe in embarrassment, and wanted to pretend as if she had nothing to do with Mindy.
"Uh, sure thing!" Jaden answered. He was wearing black swim trunks; he had his shirt off which was a plus for her. Her knees felt weak as she stared at how toned his body was; it was pretty impressive for only a first year student. He didn't seem to pay attention to her staring at him; Jaden was too busy opening up the bottle and covering his hands with lotion, "Turn around."
Mindy grinned, as she turned her back to him. She leaned forward on her white beach chair, turning to the chair on her right, expecting Alexis to shake her head or groan at Mindy's antics. However, the blonde girl in the turquoise bikini didn't seem to notice Mindy at all; the blonde girl's hazel eyes were looking at the horizon, as if she was in deep thought.
She looked at her friend worriedly. Was something bothering her? Did it have something to do with Atticus? Atticus, Alexis's brother, had been missing for the past few months, and Mindy knew that it was hurting her. Alexis had bottled up her pain from losing her brother, and refused to have anyone help her deal with it. It wasn't until her duel with Jaden that she felt comfortable enough to share what she was going through with her friends.
The concern on her face dissolved, as she felt Jaden's arm wrapping around her bare waist. He leaned in closer to her, gently rubbing his hands on her back. Her face flushed, as she breathed quietly, but heavily. It was good thing her face was turned away from him, or Jaden would have seen how much of an idiot she looked like.
She could feel his breathing down her neck, as his arms moved around her waist. They felt muscular, and she felt comfortable around his arms.
There was a moment of silence around them, and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of the waves kissing the shores of the beach and the seagulls flying over them.
"Jaden." She said his name softly.
"What's up, Mindy?"
"You missed a spot." She giggled, inwardly squealing at the way he said her name.
She was enjoying this.
"Syrus! Why is this guy going through our closet?" Chumley exploded from the top bunk. He was in the middle of his Friday afternoon nap, before Syrus and his new friend, Bastion, interrupted him. Well, he wasn't quite Syrus's friend. Syrus had insisted that they were not even close to being friends.
Apparently, Bastion wanted to analyze Jaden's living habits, because they were supposedly related to Jaden's habits as a duelist. This guy wanted to study literally everything about Jaden just to beat him in a duel. When Chumely asked the Ra Yellow why he was so obsessed with beating Jaden, Bastion argued that he wasn't obsessed; he thought Jaden would be a challenging opponent, and it was only natural he did everything in his power to try and win. He had said that any rational person would behave like he did.
Chumley was already weirded out by how creepy Bastion was. Things only got worse, when the Ra Yellow had opened up their closet that the three Slifers had shared, and started poking at various objects inside it.
"Do not worry. I will be done soon." Bastion said, eyeing the boy at the top bunk, "Say, does your name happen to be Chumley?"
"Yeah, how did you-"
"I would like to apologize to you, Syrus." Bastion spoke, "It seems that Chumley is very much real. It was an honest mistake"
"An honest mistake?!" Syrus fumed.
"What the hell do you mean by that?"The older boy boomed, clueless as to what the two boys were talking about.
"Will you tell him or should I?" Bastion asked, holding Jaden's gym strip in his hands. He then sniffed it, before throwing it on the ground and holding his nose in disgust.
"What's wrong with you?!" Syrus cried. He didn't understand why Bastion would sniff another man's gym strip.
"Well I do have my share of flaws. For one, if I'm deprived of oxygen, I'm likely to die." Syrus grit his teeth, growing more and more restless at Bastion's lack of tact.
"What the hell did you mean by Chumley is 'very much' real?!" The koala shaped boy expressed once again.
"Syrus told me that he couldn't take me to his room, because he had plans to go to the beach with his 'friend' Chumley." Bastion mockingly emphasized the word 'friend' once again. "I, being the reasonable and observant person I am, noticed how socially awkward Syrus is. I figured that with his personality it would be difficult for him to make 'friends,' unless they were imaginary. Thus, I assumed that Chumley was just a name Syrus used to make his excuse more believable, or that he was imaginary. An honest mistake."
"How is that an honest mistake?!" Chumley demanded, "Have you ever seen anyone who actually has imaginary friends?!"
"Pokemon Crystal, huh? This guy only has four badges, and he's played the game for twelve hours. Pathetic." Bastion had Jaden's Game Boy Color in his hands. He then lifted his eyes from the screen to stare at Chumley, before addressing the older boy's question. "According to certain surveys, parental neglect causes lonely children under the age of nine to fabricate the illusion that they are loved through the creation of imaginary friends."
"Does Syrus look like he's nine years old to you?" Chumley roared.
"I said under the age of nine you oaf, and of course Syrus is not that young, but he is lonely. I noticed that came in the video room all by himself, before he found me." Bastion corrected, before bouncing Jaden's basketball on the vinyl flooring.
"I was picking up something for the headmistress!" Syrus yelled, "I didn't go there to to hang out all by myself!"
"Yes and positrons are not anti-matter." Bastion scoffed sarcastically, continuing to bounce the ball.
"Stop doing that!" Syrus added. Their dorm room was located on the second floor, and the noise of the basketball would probably reverberate into the floor beneath them, "There's a room below us!"
"Oh please, Syrus. It's a Friday. What kind of deadbeat loser spends their time in their dorm rooms on a Friday?" Bastion challenged, eyeing Chumley, before telling himself, "As expected, the basketball is flat, and does not have enough air in it."
Chumley clenched his fists. That was it. At first he was slightly irritated at the boy's behavior and quirks, but now Bastion had looked down on him. He was never the patient type, and would get angry easily. He was going to give this tactless Ra Yellow a piece of his mind. So what if he spent his Friday napping? There was nothing better to do anyways.
Bastion then took a DVD case out of the closet, as his eyes widened. There was no way this DVD was authentic; there was precisely only thirty copies in the world. How did Jaden have his hand on it?
The Ra Yellow was so focused on the disk case that he didn't notice how red Chumley's face was turning in rage.
"Get out!" He hollered, pointing aggressively towards the door, "It's my room! I won't have a stupid nerd like you waste my time!"
"Might I suggest anger management classes?" Bastion deadpanned, "Also I believe that you are contradicting yourself. A nerd is classified as a highly intelligent person, yet you said I was a stupid nerd. By saying this, you are implying that I am a stupid highly intelligent person, which doesn't make any sense. Does it?"
"OUT!" Chumley growled.
"Syrus, I think your roommate is suggesting that I should leave." Bastion stated.
"You think?" Syrus was getting just as frustrated as Chumley.
"I will choose to stay, as it's only a suggestion. Besides, it's not like he can do anything to make me leave. By the time he gets out of that bed, it'll probably have been a couple hours. It's not like Chumley's obesity will go away without exercise and medication."
"I'm going to kill you," Chumley breathed, as he slowly began to make his way out of his bed.
"I am done here. I found out everything about Jaden that I needed to, and I can confidently say that he cannot beat me."
"Well, you're just a cocky piece of shit, aren't you?" Chumley made his way down the ladder of the triple bunk bed. It took him a considerable amount of time, because of his weight.
"I will leave." Bastion said, as Syrus let out a heavy sigh of relief loud enough for Bastion to hear. "But I'm taking this DVD with me."
"Bastion, even a tactless moron like you, must have morals." Syrus cried out, "You can't just steal the Duelist Kingdom DVD. It's not even Jaden's. He borrowed it from someone."
The Ra Yellow had exited the room, and Syrus had followed him. After they were out of the room they could hear Chumley screaming, along with the sound of wood snapping and glass breaking. It seemed that the older boy was taking out his anger out on inanimate objects.
They were on the deck outside Syrus's room, standing behind a wooden railing.
"I intended to return it to you, once I finished watching it." Bastion continued, "I figured that since you didn't have a TV in your room; you had no use for the DVD at the moment."
"There's a TV in the lounge room downstairs!" Syrus exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, but I prefer to watch the DVD in my own room, where it is quiet. I predict that the lounge room will be noisy and occupied by unintelligible Slifers." Bastion pursed his lips, causing Syrus to clench his fists tightly to stop himself from lashing out at the Ra Yellow.
"You're saying that we Slifers are unintelligible?" Syrus grit his teeth, breathing heavily in anger.
"Yes and no." Bastion answered, "It would be foolish to assume all Slifers are unintelligible just like it is foolish to assume that all rectangles are squares. However, I can tell from my observation that some Slifers are very unintelligible."
Bastion then pointed towards the door of Syrus's dorm room. Chumley was still roaring in rage, and more objects seemed to get broken.
"I will watch the DVD in my room, despite your kind suggestion to watch the DVD in the lounge room"
"I wasn't suggesting that!" The Slifer groaned.
"Very well, I guess that settles it. My room it is." Bastion declared, making his way to the wooden stairs at the end of the deck.
"You can't just leave with the DVD!" Syrus stood in front of Bastion to stop him in his path.
"I suppose you're right. It would be rude just to leave you here alone. You invited me to your room, so it would be impolite not to return the favor. How would you like to join me? It's not like you have any plans or anything." Bastion explained.
"No! I want the DVD back." Syrus asserted; all traces of his wimpy demeanor were replaced by restlessness and frustration at Bastion's lack of tact. Frankly, he didn't want to be alone in the same room with a guy who sniffed other people's gym strips.
"Are you sure? Don't you think that you should take refuge in my room, until koala boy calms down? Chumley will probably break every bone in your body to take out his anger, if you go back to your room. I strongly recommend that the boy should take anger management classes; the statistics prove how effective they can be." Bastion lectured.
Syrus turned his eyes to the door; the noise wasn't getting any quieter, and Bastion wasn't getting any less stubborn "Fine, but after you're done watching I want it back."
"My pleasure," Bastion grinned, walking down the stairs, as the Slifer followed from behind him.
Syrus just hoped that Chumley would clean up his mess after he was done.
"So Jaden, do you want to go for a swim?" Mindy cooed, leaning her head against her arm, but she got no answer, "Uh, Jaden?"
Jaden then got off his chair, and walked in front of Alexis's beach chair. His expression was one of concern: concern that seemed to distract him from what Mindy had just said.
"What's up Jay?" Alexis asked, noticing the boy standing in front of her.
"Can I talk to you? Alone?"
"Why are you so quiet today?" Jaden questioned. They had momentarily left the beach, and the shining sun was replaced by the shade of the woods. He still had his swim trunks on, but he had put on his Slifer Red jacket. Even though the jackt was unbuttoned, he was not completely topless.
A slight rush of air breezed through the white jacket that she wore over her turquoise bikini. "Is that a problem? I don't have to talk to you twenty-four seven Jay, if I don't want to."
"No need to get so defensive." Jaden replied; they had left Mindy on the beach, but promised her that they would return in a matter of minutes. Jaden had a pretty good idea of what was bothering Alexis. If he was right, it would take more than a couple minutes to discuss it, "Is it about him?"
"I told you I'm getting better. Atticus is gone, but I'm trying my best to stay strong. I have really supportive friends to help me get through it." She smiled half-heartedly at the Slifer.
"I mean Chazz." Jaden said, causing Alexis to grimace. It had only been a day since Jaden had defeated Chazz, and the Obelisk was reported to be missing. There was also a report of a missing rowboat, and many assumed that Chazz had left the island on this boat. They had called for a search party to look for him, but they were unable to find him.
"I still can't believe you beat him," She shook her head in disbelief.
"If it wasn't for Winged Kuriboh, I probably would have been screwed." Jaden chuckled.
"How do you even have that card in your deck? I thought there was only one copy of it in the world and it was Koyo's card." Alexis wondered out loud.
"Koyo gave it to me…" Jaden said quietly after a while, he would not meet her eyes. "You know how I told you about how I became so depressed after my friend fell into a coma? Well, my friend was Koyo."
Alexis frowned, before pressing her hand against Jaden's chest. It turned out that she didn't know everything about the brown-haired boy. Even the optimistic and the happy-go-lucky duelist had scars. She looked at him softly, putting her other hand on his chin. She lifted his face, forcing him to meet her eyes.
"It's not your fault that Koyo ended up like that…" Jaden looked dejectedly into her hazel eyes, knowing that this wasn't true. It was his fault. It was nothing but his fault.
The two of them stood in silence for a while, before Jaden managed to find himself.
"I guess you're right." He lied, before he changed subjects lamely, "I hope Chazz is alright."
Alexis's face twisted, "The sad thing is I told him I wouldn't leave his side, and that I would be there for him, but he left anyways. It upsets me how little I meant to him."
She sighed heavily, leaning against Jaden's chest, as the boy wrapped his arms around her. It was his turn to comfort her now.
"He believed that he lost everything, and on top of that he lost to you. He's probably so hopeless…He might think that he has nothing to live for; I just hope that he doesn't-"She couldn't finish. The more she thought about it, the more it seemed likely. Chazz had gone all the way to the middle of the ocean on a rowboat. It was definitely deep enough, and they hadn't found him yet. It was possible that he had enough of his miserable life and-
"Hey, don't think like that." Jaden expressed, bringing her close to him.
"I can't Jaden!" Alexis choked back tears, "I can't lose anyone else. Losing my brother is enough."
"I don't think Chazz would just kill himself like that. Not when he told me he wanted to get revenge on someone. He wouldn't kill himself without settling things with that person." Jaden reassured her, desperately hoping that he was right.
"Revenge? Why would he want revenge, and on who?" She breathed.
"I don't know, but he told me he gave up everything for revenge; he was changed by how much he wanted revenge…He said he wouldn't be able to find peace, until he destroyed this person." Jaden recalled.
Was that why he changed? That must have been why Chazz was so hateful; it was because of how much he wanted to get revenge. She had always thought that his parents' murder was what caused Chazz to be so angry all the time. Alexis then put the two and two together. It couldn't be. Did he want to destroy the person who murdered his parents? Did he know who this person was?
"That still doesn't explain why he left!" Alexis lamented, "What was he thinking going off on his own like that?"
"I don't know." Jaden leaned his head against hers, "But I hate seeing you so upset."
"It's funny how you only care about me when I'm upset." She pouted.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, wincing at her choice of words. He was just trying to comfort her.
"You don't give me enough attention, because your too busy flirting with Mindy!" She pushed herself away from him, crossing her arms, "Sometimes I feel like a third wheel, when I hang out with you guys."
"Alexis." Jaden said, "I don't see Mindy like that. She's just a friend."
"Well it didn't seem like that when you were rubbing lotion on her back." Alexis argued. She didn't know why she was getting so heated. Why did it matter if Jaden and Mindy had feelings for each other? Mindy had already told her that she did.
"Well I was doing her a favor as a friend, and I thought you didn't even notice. You were too busy looking at the sky and worrying about Chazz." Jaden defended himself.
"Of course I'd notice! I could hear Mindy giggle like an idiot every five seconds."
Jaden shook his head, before a sudden smirk formed on his face. "Were you jealous?"
"Of course not!" Her face flushed, "I'm just mad, because it seems like you two are spending more time together, and leaving me out of things."
"I'm sorry if you felt that way Alexis." Jaden's tone shifted to a more sincere one, "I think that she's really friendly and outgoing, but I don't have feelings for her. Even if I do they're not very strong, and I can't see a future with her as anything but a friend."
Unbeknownst to Jaden, Mindy had hid herself behind one of the trees in the forest, listening into their conversation. She found it hard to breathe once she had heard Jaden say that. She bit her lips fiercely, as she quietly walked back to the beach.
It hurt her to hear him say that.
Syrus didn't understand how Bastion hadn't been kicked out of his room yet.
The green walls of his room were covered with lines and lines of black ink. The lines consisted of equations and notes that stretched all the way around the walls. This had to be some form of vandalism.
With the exception of the walls, his room was organized very neatly. The way his bed was made, it seemed like no one had ever slept on it before. The table across his bed was dust free, and a single laptop was placed on top of it. To right of the table was bookshelf; every book fit perfectly. There was no room for any more books, and removing a book would cause the others to topple.
Bastion moved the laptop from his desk and placed it on top of his bed. He then lifted his table, turning it towards his small black TV. He took a small, blue notebook out of his pocket and placed it on the desk, before sitting down on a black armchair.
Syrus took a seat on the stool next to the boy.
"What's up with your walls?" Syrus asked Bastion, trying to break the awkward silence between them.
"They are vinyl walls. You have the same walls in your room, so it is strange of you to ask me that." Bastion then turned his attention to the television screen in front of him.
"I mean, why is there writing on it?" Syrus sighed; he should have expected that kind of answer from Bastion.
"I use the walls to stimulate mock duels. The equations are usually the subtraction of life-points, and the notes are acronyms for card names." Bastion explained. His eyes then narrowed, observing the screen closely. The DVD had just started and first scene was the duel between Yugi and Weevil. He was studying this. He then began to jot something down on his notebook. It seemed that Bastion was always observing and analyzing whatever he thought was important.
"Why can't you just stimulate mock duels in your notebook?" Syrus wondered. He found that there was no reason to vandalize these walls.
"There are countless possibilities in a duel, and if I tried to write them down in a notebook I would run out of space."
"Wouldn't you run out of space on the walls too?" Syrus challenged.
"I just paint over them once I run out of space, wait for the paint to dry, and start writing again."
"But how would you remember what you had before you painted the walls?"
"I just remember." Bastion stated simply.
"Do you have a photographic memory or something?" Syrus questioned. Surely, Bastion would forget something with all those equations and notes that he had to memorize. But then again, Bastion was always ranked first for written exams. Bastion had aced the Duel Mechanics Test that Syrus had got a zero on and many other exams after that. Syrus recognized Bastion's name as the one at the top of the list for test results. This was for pretty much applicable for every written exam; Bastion was always first. Was that the secret to his success? His memory?
"No. I just find it easier to remember things when I can write them down and visualize it in front of my eyes."
"But still, you have a crazy memory. No wonder you've aced every test." Syrus then frowned. He had always thought that Bastion was an Obelisk Blue student; even though he had never met Bastion, he had figured that the genius's insanely high test scores would guarantee him a place in the school's highest ranked dorm.
"I see that you are aware of my test results." Bastion stated plainly, without any pride or satisfaction, "I deduce that you recognized my name from the list of test results that Crowler releases every exam."
"Yeah…" Syrus replied, "Bastion, if your test scores are so high, then wh-"
"Why am I not in Obelisk Blue?" The boy finished for the Slifer.
Syrus was taken aback by how Bastion had read his mind like that. He nodded, without saying a word.
"I'm not a very good duelist." He answered, "My scores for practical duels are really low."
'If you're not a very good duelist, then why did you claim that you could beat Jaden you cocky prick?' Syrus wanted to ask him. Instead, he said, "But you study dueling so hard, how can you say that you're not a good duelist?"
"I don't study dueling. I study how to duel specific opponents, and design a deck to counter their dueling style and strategies. I am nearly unbeatable, when I can study my opponents before I duel them. In practical exams, I don't know what kind of cards the evaluators will use. Without a dueling style and strategy of my own, I tend to duel poorly in these tests." Bastion sighed.
"Wouldn't it be better if you had a set strategy and style that you used for every duel?" Bastion had a very weird way of doing things.
"My way is effective. When I am able to study my opponents beforehand, I almost never lose." Bastion had included the word 'almost,' because of his defeat to Chazz a few months back. Although Chazz hadn't used the deck Bastion hoped he'd use, he had still studied the Princeton boy.
"I guess you can't fix what's not broken. If it works it works." Syrus shrugged, before his tone shifted to one with more agitation, "But is it really necessary to study Jaden's 'living habits?'"
"Yes it was. I was able to find out something about him that made me certain that I can beat him."
"How?" Syrus cried.
"First of all I noticed that his bed wasn't made. His gym strip smelled like shit. I then noticed that he had played a video game for a long time, without making much progress. He also had a flat basketball, and he had placed the Duelist Kingdom DVD in the closet." Syrus still didn't understand.
"I don't get it."
"Well, it's because you are a simpleton." Bastion pursed his lips loftily, causing Syrus for the hundredth time that day to want to hit him. "All of things I just said is a result of his laziness. Jaden is a talented duelist, but he only relies on his talent to win. He is too lazy to try and improve himself."
Syrus wanted to yell at Bastion, defending Jaden and telling the Ra Yellow that his friend wasn't lazy, but he had agreed with Bastion. Jaden was very lazy; even though he said that dueling excited him, he didn't really try to improve his dueling skills. He simply dueled, without the long-term goal for self-improvement. He was too lazy to do laundry and wash his gym strip. He was even lazy, when he played video games. His avatar wandered aimlessly, without a clear goal in his mind. Jaden never put in the effort to pump up the basketball, and he wasn't very organized, even putting such a rare DVD in the mess that was their closet.
"Even if he is lazy, how do you know that you can beat him? He's still very talented." Syrus argued, "What if your counter strategy doesn't work?"
"It will." Bastion smiled lightly, remembering all the work he had done to analyze Jaden's strategies. He had very little to work with, because Jaden had never dueled competitively and did not have too much recorded duels. The only two duels that Bastion had to work with were the Slifer's duel with Crowler, and his duel with Chazz for the promotion exams. There was no video footage of Jaden's duel with Chazz, but Bastion had watched that duel in person along with the rest of the first year students and he remembered every single detail. "I'm sure of it."
He had done everything he could.
Midori Hibiki walked very carefully; she didn't want any sand to get in her white ankle boots. Her head rotated around her neck, looking for Jaden. He had told her that he was going to the beach with his friends, and he hadn't been responding to her text messages either. She assumed that he had put his phone away to enjoy this sunny day.
She was only in a white tank top and a red skirt, yet she was already short of breath. She wanted to relax and enjoy herself at the beach as well, especially because it was a Friday. The week was over, but she still had her responsibilities as a teacher. She planned to watch the footage of yesterday's promotion exams to evaluate the dueling skills of her Slifer Red students. That way she could tell them what they could improve on.
She had sent Syrus to pick up the disks from the video room, but he had been gone for more than an hour. Syrus's task should have taken way less than that. Perhaps, Syrus had forgotten about his task and went to the beach with his friend Jaden, Midori figured.
A small crab crawled around her feet, causing her to jump. She bit her lips, carefully taking a few steps backwards. The crab crawled towards her; she had the urge to step on it to stop it from moving, but she didn't want to send this poor little crab to its death.
Sighing, Midori cautiously reached for the crab, her face wincing, as she resisted the urge to scream. She held the crustacean skin between her fingers, which had made her feel uneasy. This uneasiness was replaced by relief, once she tossed the little creature into the ocean and far away from her. She would have to wash her hands sooner than later though.
The familiar feeling of crustacean skin against hers suddenly returned to her, as she felt something crawling down her back inside her tank top. She screamed, as her hands frantically reached behind her to knock the crab out of her tank top and off her back. As she desperately flailed her arms, she could hear the sound of someone laughing behind her.
Once she had managed to knock the crab out of her shirt and back on to the ground, she turned in the direction of the laughter, and she saw the familiar, devilish boy.
"That's not funny Jaden!" Midori glared at him, her hazel eyes refusing to waver.
"You should have seen your face!" Jaden guffawed, holding his stomach with his arms.
She then pushed him on to the sand aggressively; she started to kick sand on to him, as he covered his face with his arms, continuing to laugh.
"You stupid troll." She glowered, trying to get as much sand on to his face as possible.
"Come on, it was funny." Jaden didn't seem to mind that there was sand going into his mouth and eyes, as he rolled on the beach in laughter.
"No, it wasn't! I was scared as shit, Jaden!" She then kicked his stomach with her ankle boots, causing Jaden to inhale deeply, before wheezing in pain. "How can you be so immature?"
After a few moments, Jaden brought himself up, only to be pushed down again. He shook his head, getting up for the second time.
"I'm sorry!" Jaden said, putting his arms around her as a peace offering.
"Don't touch me." She knocked him back on to the sand, pouting, "And for the record, you're a fat little fuck."
She pressed her boot against her stomach to emphasize this, as she stuck his tongue out at him.
"I said I'm sorry!" Jaden complained, choking the sand out of his mouth.
"I can push you off a cliff, and be 'sorry,' about it, but it won't fix all your broken bones! You should consider your actions next time." She scolded him.
"You don't have to be such a nag…" Jaden muttered under his breath.
"A nag? Are you kidding me? Ugh!" Midori clenched her fists in exasperation, as her faced burned in anger. "You have some nerve to call me that right now Jaden Yuki."
"I won't do it again. I promise!" Jaden breathed heavily.
"Whatever," She huffed, deciding that she wouldn't talk to him for a couple of weeks after this, "Is Syrus with you?"
"No. I thought he went to pick up the disks for you."
"Well, he didn't so I thought he'd be with you!" Midori exclaimed.
'Well, maybe if you weren't so lazy, you would have got the disks yourself.' Jaden thought, but what he said was, "I can text him for you I just need to get my phone from my bag."
"Well? What are you waiting for you bum?" Midori demanded her eyes fiercely boring into Jaden. "Hurry up, before I kick you where it hurts. I'll make sure you won't ever have babies in your life."
Jaden shuddered, as he instantaneously sprinted for his bag. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to piss off Midori like that.
Mindy sighed, as she watched Jaden get sand kicked on to him by the Slifer Red headmistress from afar. She sat on her beach chair with Alexis next to her, as she watched the poor boy get brutally assaulted.
The black haired girl pouted dejectedly, crossing her arms, as she sat miserably on her chair. She had thought that Jaden was her ideal guy. He was good at dueling, really attractive, and accepted her for who she was. He would never complain or groan whenever she did something outlandish or shallow. Jaden didn't seem to return her feelings, however. It wasn't fair.
"I wonder if Jaden's okay…" Alexis winced, watching Midori's white ankle boots bore into Jaden's stomach. "But he had it coming; if Jaden put a crab into my shirt I'd probably push him into a fire or something."
"Yeah." Mindy replied, as she remembered how Jaden had wrapped his arms around the blonde girl and pulled him closer to his bare chest. Her heart stopped.
"She's really pretty, even when she's angry. It's not even fair." Alexis commented, admiring the headmistress from afar.
"She is." Mindy said quietly, intentionally looking away from Alexis.
"Jaden said that they were really close, almost like brother and sister." Alexis explained, "They fight like siblings too."
"Right."
"Okay, what's going on Mindy? You've been so reserved since we got back. It's not like you." Alexis turned towards Mindy, noticing that the black-haired girl was looking away from her. She frowned at how her friend wouldn't meet her eyes.
"Do you like Jaden?" Mindy said bluntly, "Like have feelings for him?"
Alexis shook her head. This was why she was acting so gloomy? She was a little disappointed in Mindy. They were friends; Mindy had told Alexis that she had feelings for Jaden. Mindy should have trusted her more, and not suddenly assume that Alexis wanted the same guy that she did. Yet, it wasn't like her feelings for Jaden would just go away…
"I don't know, Mindy." Alexis answered, causing Mindy to gasp.
"Oh my gosh, you do. You're unbelievable, Alexis. I told you I really like Jaden." Mindy said fiercely.
"I know, but it's not like I can control if I have feelings for him or not." Alexis argued, "Whenever I'm having a vulnerable moment, he's always there to comfort me, and I feel safe around him."
"You mean like how he was cuddling with you in the woods." Mindy challenged.
"You followed us there?" Alexis asked in disbelief. Did Mindy not trust the two of them to be alone? Did Mindy not trust her at all? It was getting under her nerves. "I thought we were friends, Mindy. Friends are supposed to trust each other."
"Not when they're trying to take your crush away from you!" Mindy retorted.
"He told me he doesn't have any feelings for you, just give it up." Alexis cried in frustration, but as soon as she said those words she immediately regretted it.
The anger in Mindy's face dissolved into anguish, as her face twisted. Her lips trembled, as she struggled to hold back tears. She buried her face in her hands, as her breathing got heavier. "You're the worst!"
The expression on Alexis's face softened, seeing her friend break down like this. She knew how much Jaden meant to Mindy, and it probably devastated her to hear him say that he didn't return her feelings. Mindy began to sob silently, pulling her knees closer to her chest.
"Mindy, I didn't mean that. I'm sorry." Alexis apologized lamely.
"Will you shut up? It's true. I heard him say so himself! I try so hard to get him to notice me, Alexis, and you don't even seem to try at all, but he likes you anyways. It's not fair." She sniffled.
Alexis sighed deeply. She hated seeing the bubbly girl so upset. "Look Mindy, you're very fun to be around and you're always so cheerful. There are so many good things about you that I'd die to have. You can't beat yourself up, just because some stupid guy doesn't like you back. Heck, he doesn't even deserve you. You deserve so much better."
"That's easy for you to say, you're the one he wants…" Mindy pouted.
"No, I mean it! I don't want him to come between our friendship. I'd rather have both you and Jaden as my friends, than lose either of you." Alexis expressed sincerely, as Mindy slowly lifted her head to meet her friend's eyes.
"Promise?" She asked childishly.
"I promise that no guy will ever ruin our friendship. I don't want to lose you," Alexis then grinned cheekily, "Because then I can't tease you about how you called our middle-aged history teacher sexy."
"It was one time!" Mindy defended, as a small smile formed on her face. It was going to be tough for her to get over Jaden, but at least she would have Alexis to help her through it. She imagined how much it would tear her apart to see him with her best friend, and was grateful that Alexis was willing to support her.
She could live with that…for now.
"Shit!" Syrus yelled, looking at the text message that he had just received on his phone.
"It's good to know what you think of yourself." Bastion smirked, as the closing credits of the DVD rolled down the TV screen.
Syrus ignored Bastion's snide remark, as his expression changed to one of concern. Jaden had just texted him. He had said that Miss Hibki was in a sour mood, and she was wondering where the disks were.
Bastion peeked over his shoulder, looking at the text message on Syrus's phone. "So?"
Syrus buried his head in his hands, sighing, "I guess I'll have to go get the disks from my room."
"No, you shouldn't do that. That oaf Chumley probably broke the disks." Bastion shook his head.
"What am I supposed to do then? Go to the beach and explain to her how my roommate broke the disks, because some guy called him obese?" Syrus cried.
"Yes. That's exactly what we should do."
The first thing Syrus did was walk towards Alexis and handed her a DVD case to Jaden's dismay.
"This is for you." Syrus said, "I found it in our closet."
"Thanks Syrus," Alexis answered, before her eyes widened, "Jaden, you told me that you lost it! Have you been hiding the DVD in your closet the whole time?"
"Uh, I guess I lost it in our closet," Jaden laughed sheepishly, before glaring at Syrus.
"And Miss Hibiki, I'm so sorry I forgot about the disks. It's been a long day. I got sidetracked at the video room when I-"
"I'm Bastion Misawa. Jaden Yuki, I challenge you to a duel. " Bastion exclaimed, randomly interrupting them. Jaden, Mindy, Alexis, and Midori gave him strange looks, as Syrus slapped his face with his palm.
"Uh…Okay, just let me get my duelist dude. I've always wanted to duel on the beach…" Jaden said slowly, slightly creeped out by how the boy was staring at him with an expressionless face. He was taken aback by how the boy had interrupted them so abruptly and inappropriately.
"Syrus, who is your friend?" Midori hissed silently.
"He's not my friend! I met him at the video room, and saw him studying Jaden's duels on a computer. I asked him about it, and we talked for a bit. He wanted to come over to our room, when I told him I was Jaden's roommate. He said he wanted to study Jaden's living habits." Syrus whispered back.
"Something is wrong with that guy. Why is he stalking Jaden? What does he even mean by living habits?" Midori expressed.
"He says he wants to duel Jaden, because he likes challenging himself with strong opponents." Syrus shook his head, eyeing the boy, "He won't leave me alone!"
"Is he checking out my boobs?" Midori was slightly more freaked out by the boy in the Ra Yellow jacket. "Do you think he'll stop bothering us, when Jaden beats him?"
"I really hope so!" Syrus breathed.
"I've prepared to duel you since I saw you beat Crowler at the entrance exams. I was impressed with your talent, and I researched ways to neutralize your strategies." Bastion explained.
"Okay…I didn't even know who you were until today!" Jaden shrugged, "I guess it's kind of cool to have someone admire me so much that they commit their time to beating me."
"It's not cool. It's weird!" Mindy expressed, watching the two duelists get ready to duel, "What's wrong with you?"
"Well I do have my share of flaws. For one, if I'm deprived of oxygen, I'm likely to die." Bastion told Mindy, causing her to groan at how socially awkward he was.
Bastion 4000
Jaden 4000
"I will start." Bastion asserted, drawing and examining his hand: Oxygeddon, Hydrogeddon, Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Seal, Card Destruction, Skill Successor, and Red Ogre.
"I will summon Oxygeddon in attack position." A pterodactyl made of water materialized on the sand in front of them. (ATK 1800/DEF 800)
"I'll set two face-downs and end my turn." Basiton set Skill Successor and Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Seal. Things were going smoothly so far.
Jaden drew, as he studied his hand. It consisted of Elemental Hero Avian, Elemental Hero Burstinatrix, Elemental Hero Bladeedge, Card Trooper, Polymerization, and Death and Rebirth.
"I'll start off by activating Polymerization to summon my favorite hero. I fuse Elementa-"
"I expected as much." Bastion smirked, revealing his trap. "Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell negates the effect of Polymerization and destroys it, if I discard a spell from my hand."
He discarded Card Destruction, before his smirk was quickly wiped off and his face was left expressionless once again.
"You cannot activate any card named Polymerization for the rest of the duel." Syrus looked at Jaden with concern. Jaden relied on Polymerization and fusion monsters as the backbone of all his strategies. Bastion had just taken that away from him. Despite Bastion's lack of social skills, he wasn't lying when he said he had studied all of Jaden's strategies and created counter measures for them.
"Have no fear, Card Trooper's here!" Jaden carried on. A small red robot with a blue base and yellow spherical shoulder pads had formed on the field. (ATK 400/DEF 400)
"Thanks to its effect I send the top three cards of my deck to the grave, and it gets five hundred attack points for each card, and if you do the math that's 1900 and it's strong enough to destroy Oxygeddon!" Jaden sent Elemental Hero Bubbleman, Elemental Hero Necroshade, and Elemental Hero Sparkman to the grave. "Card Trooper, attack!"
"Read like a book." Bastion stated, opening his reverse card. "I activate Skill Successor, so my Oxygeddon gains 400 attack points until the end of this turn."
Bastion 4000
Jaden 3700
"When Card Trooper's destroyed, I can draw a card." Jaden drew A Hero Emerges into his hand.
"As much as I hate to admit it, this creep is actually good." Midori observed; she was surprised that he wasn't in Obelisk Blue.
"Well, he did say he studied all of Jaden's strategies beforehand." Syrus argued.
"Even so, creating a deck to counter someone else's is easy to say, but it's actually really difficult to pull off effectively, especially for someone as talented as Jaden. He must really know his stuff." She then caught herself before she could compliment Bastion even more. He was still a creep.
"Sweet! I couldn't even dent your life points this turn. You're a great opponent." Jaden remarked. Despite the boy's odd quirks, his dueling skills were impressive, even if he had said he specifically designed a deck to stop Jaden's. It would be a challenge to beat him, because Bastion knew almost all of Jaden's strategies. It's a good thing Jaden liked challenges.
"I'll throw down two face-downs and end my turn." Jaden set A Hero Emerges and Death and Rebirth.
Bastion added De-Fusion to his hand on his draw phase, as grinned. Things were going as planned, but he couldn't get arrogant now. He had to execute.
"I summon Hydrogeddon in attack mode." A four legged dinosaur made entirely out of muddy water took its place next to Oxygeddon. (ATK 1600/DEF 1000)
"Jaden's field is wide open! if Bastion's two monsters attack, he'll lose almost all his life points." Mindy cried in panic.
"Somehow I doubt that." Alexis commented. She had realized that whenever things looked grim for Jaden he managed to turn things around. He had proved that with his duel against Chazz the other day.
"Attack Hydrogeddon." Bastion stated coldly, as the streams of water burst out the dinosaur's body.
"Reverse card open!" Jaden smirked, "A Hero Emerges forces you to choose a card in my hand, and if it's a monster I can special summon it."
"I guess if you want to take that gamble I'd be happy to oblige. Since if you only have one monster in your hand, there's only a one in three chance that you will be able to summon it." Bastion then proceeded to choose, "I choose the one on the right."
"I guess it's my luck day, because I summon Elemental Hero Avian in defense mode!" Jaden knew that it wasn't luck though; every card in his hand were monsters, so he would have been able to summon regardless of Bastion's choice. A hero in green fur and sharp long wings kneeled in front of Jaden. (ATK 1000/DEF 1000)
"My Hydrogeddon will continue its attack." The hero was no more. "If Hydrogeddon destroys a monster in battle, I can special summon another Hydrogeddon from my deck!" (ATK 1600/DEF 1000)
"Even when Jaden stops Bastion's attack, he manages to keep piling up the pressure." Syrus lamented. He knew that Jaden had come back from worse scenarios before, but Bastion hadn't even lost a single life point.
"He's always one step ahead of Jaden…" Midori noticed. She wondered how Jaden would bounce back from this.
"My other Hydrogeddon will attack you directly." Bastion asserted calmly, as his second Hydrogeddon got prepared to unleash its attack.
"Not so fast! I activate Death and Rebirth. When a normal monster I control is destroyed during the Battle Phase, I can destroy a monster on your field, and bring Avian back!" (ATK 1000/DEF 1000)
"Say goodbye to Hydrogeddon number two, 'aka' the one that was just attacking!" Jaden beamed, before his tone shifted to one of disappointment,"Unfortunately, Avian is forced to attack because of the effect of Death and Rebirth. I guess it'll attack Oxygeddon." The feathered man disintegrated as soon as it made contact with Oxygeddon, while the watery pterodactyl remained in its place.
Bastion 4000
Jaden 2900
"Oxygeddon attack Jaden directly." He was relentless.
"This is not good!" Mindy squealed, overwhelmed by how Bastion had control of this duel since the first turn.
"He's a pretty scary guy. He's scary good too." Syrus commented, causing Alexis to groan at his play-on-words.
"He hasn't lost a single life point either." Alexis pointed out. At the level he was dueling right now, it seemed like he was better than Chazz and she.
Bastion 4000
Jaden 900
"I was right." Bastion asserted.
"About what?" Jaden asked.
"You never had a chance from the start Jaden. I predicted that and it turns out I was right." Bastion explained.
"Hey! You can't just say that. You're the one who made a deck specifically to beat his!" Mindy defended the Slifer.
Midori clenched her fists at the boy's arrogance. She tried to steady her breath, and contained herself from strangling the Ra Yellow. As much of a prick Jaden was to her, she didn't want anyone to disrespect him like that.
"How were you so sure?" Jaden wondered out loud.
"I saw what you were capable of by studying your duel with Crowler, and your duel with Chazz. I also looked through your room."
"How are those two things even remotely related? And for the record, I wouldn't go around saying 'I looked through your room,' to just anybody if I were you. It's a tad weird." Jaden piped.
"Looking through your room, I inferred you were lazy from observations that I had made." Bastion continued, "Such as how nasty your gym strip smelled, since you were too lazy to wash it. And also ho-"
"You smelled my gym strip?!" Jaden freaked.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mindy gave Bastion a nasty look.
"You disgust me." Midori said bluntly.
"This guy needs some serious help." Alexis added.
"I told you it was weird Bastion!" Syrus announced.
"That's not the point!" Bastion shook his head, "My point is that you are lazy, Jaden Yuki."
"He's right, you know," Alexis interjected, even though her face still twisted in disgust at Bastion's questionable action. Jaden would always show up late when they had made plans to hang out, and he never studied for his tests.
"I thought you were on my side Lex," Jaden complained, "You guys don't think I'm lazy do you?"
Mindy looked at the ground, pretending she never heard his question, while Syrus put his hands behind his back and began to whistle. Midori stifled a laugh.
"Okay maybe I'm a little lazy, but what does that have to do with my dueling skills?" Jaden groaned.
"You don't put in the effort to improve. You rely on your talent, so your capabilities are the same every duel. "Bastion claimed, "I guess I should get on with the duel though. I'll throw a face-down and end my turn."
He set De-Fusion face-down; it was almost too easy.
Jaden was taken aback. There was truth in Bastion's words. He never put in the effort to try and become a better duelist; he just relied on his talent to win. He would still have fun dueling and wanted to be a professional duelist, but he'd never try to improve himself. He was lazy and hoped that his talent would take him to the top magically; all he had to do was enjoy his duels until then. Now that he was getting completely hammered by the Ra Yellow, he could see how studying strategies before the duel could help him. His talent wasn't untouchable and couldn't rely on it forever. He needed to put in the work. Even so, the duel wasn't over. He still had something up his sleeves.
"You know what? You're right. I can't just sit around all day being a lazy bum. If I want to get stronger, I need to put in the effort to improve. Thank you for teaching me that Bastion." Jaden said sincerely, before adding less seriously, "Even though you had to sniff my gym strip to figure this out."
"No problem." Bastion deadpanned.
"But this duel is not over yet," Jaden's hand flew across his face, drawing Miracle Fusion. It was just what he needed, "I activate Miracle Fusion! I banish Bubbleman, Avian, and Sparkman in my graveyard to fusion summon Elemental Hero Tempest!"
A winged hero with a cobalt visor over its face and blue armor spread its wings. (ATK 2800/DEF 2800)
"Wait to turn things around Jay!" Mindy cheered.
"When was Sparkman and Bubbleman sent to the graveyard?" Syrus asked.
"They were when Jaden used Card Trooper's effect." Midori told him.
"That was something." Alexis smiled. It seemed like Jaden always found a way to turn things around.
"I knew you'd find an alternate way to summon your fusion monsters, so I prepared this." Bastion activated De-Fusion, "Tempest returns to your extra deck, and you special summon its fusion materials from your graveyard. But you banished the fusion material monsters with Miracle Fusion, so they are no longer in your grave. Thus, you are left with nothing."
"You even countered Miracle Fusion. As frustrating as it is to have all my moves countered like that, I have to admit that you're truly a strong duelist." Jaden grinned, "I will get stronger."
"I look forward to dueling you again after you have." Bastion smiled ever so slightly. He wanted to see Jaden at his best. It was yet another challenge he would have to overcome.
"I use Necroshade's effect in the graveyard to summon Elemental Hero Bladeedge from my hand!" A warrior made of golden blades emerged on top of the sand.
"That's the same combo he used against me." Alexis recalled, impressed with how even though his fusion monster had been neutralized Jaden managed to find yet another way to turn the duel around.
"Let me guess? He sent Necroshade to the grave with Card Trooper's effect." Syrus deducted.
"That's right." Midori beamed at how Jaden hadn't given up yet. He kept trying to find a way. Jaden never gave up when it came to dueling; if he could just put in the work when he wasn't dueling, she was excited to see how strong he would become.
"Bladeedge, attack Oxygeddon!" The warrior blasted towards the pterodactyl, as it prepared to slice it into pieces.
"You're not the only one who can activate card effects from the graveyard." Bastion smirked, "I activate Skill Successor from the grave. By banishing it, my Oxygeddon gains 800 attack points to match your Bladeedge."
The two monsters ended up destroying each other.
"Amazing…" Jaden awed. He was being completely outclassed, but he couldn't help but appreciate how well Bastion had prepared to beat him.
Jaden only had Burstinatrix in his hand, while Bastion only had Red Ogre in his. They both only had one monster card in their hands, but Bastion had one card on his field while Jaden had zero. Hydroggedon stood in front of Jaden, eagerly waiting to end the duel on Bastion's next turn.
"I'll end my turn." Jaden conceded. He was glad that he had met Bastion, despite how much of an oddball the boy was. If he didn't, he wouldn't have never tasted humility.
Bastion drew Water Dragon, not that it mattered. "Hydrogeddon end this."
Jaden lowered his head, accepting his first defeat at the academy. Even though he had lost, the smile on his face remained. He would get stronger.
Bastion 4000
Jaden 0
There you have it. I know I said that I'd answer questions on this chapter from the reviews, but there didn't seem to be any questions so that's that. I don't know when the next chapter will be up but I hope it takes no more than a week. I know I said this chapter would be short, but it took longer than I expected. I don't know how long my next chapter will be, but I think it will be as long as this one or maybe even shorter.
I know I made Bastion way different, but I hope you guys don't think that he's just there for comic relief. He's very competent despite his awkward quirks, and will develop.
Enjoy the rest of your weekends, and as always tell me what I can improve on for the next chapter!