YuGiOh! GNext Chapter 4: Blaze of Glory!, a yu-gi-oh gx fanfic

Disclaimer: All official Yu-Gi-Oh! GX characters & cards are property of VIZ, Shonen Jump, and Konami.

This fic a joint project with one of my friends, Comic Master Alpha.

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EPISODE 1-04

Blaze of Glory!

Classes had been in session for a week now and students were looking forward to their first weekend of the year. Whenever they weren't in class, they would be discussing their plans with their friends. The group of four was no exception. When their classes for the day were finished, they all gathered at the Ra Yellow dorm. Mikey made note of his surroundings while they were there. It was a nice building and very comfortable. The common room was a lot bigger than the one at the Osiris Red dorm and had more couches and a bigger television. Just inside the dorm entrance was a human-sized statue of Sun Dragon, God of Ra. When they went up to Coltyn's room, the two Reds were amazed by what they saw. It was at least double the size of their room back at the Red dorm. In one corner was a double with a yellow quilt and in the opposite corner was a large, nice desk with a computer sitting on its surface. A window with yellow blinds looked onto the area right out front, which indicated the location of Coltyn's room. There was also dresser with a mirror, next to which were the black-haired teen's empty suitcases. On top of it were several of his personal belongings. A set of coat hooks were mounted onto the wall near the door and a mechanic's repair kit sat on the floor beside the desk.

"This is nice," Mikey complimented.

"Thank you," replied Coltyn.

"I noticed that you don't have your own bathroom, either."

"No, I don't. We have common shower room for each gender per floor."

"Well it's certainly better than ours," Max commented.

"Yeah," Mikey agreed, "At least you guys get to stay indoors. At our dorm, we have to walk outside to get to the showers and back. Last Thursday it was so cold in the morning I thought my nipples would freeze off."

"Do you guys have a laundry service, too?" inquired Sammie.

"Yeah. We just drop our clothes into the provided bags and leave it outside our doors for the dorm staff to take care of it," answered Coltyn. He walked over to his bed and sat down cross-legged with his back against the wall. "Anyway, we came here for a reason, did we not?"

"That's right!" Sammie took a seat on the edge of the bed while Max got the desk chair, leaving Mikey to sit on the floor.

"So what do you guys have planned for the weekend?" Sammie asked the others.

"Well Miss Frost holds a service on Sunday mornings, so naturally I'm going," Mikey answered, "Other than that, I'm just going to study."

"You're more boring than watching cement dry," Coltyn responded dryly.

"This coming from the guy who is as plain as white paper. But, you're not the first to say that about Mikey," Sammie replied, a smug smirk on her face.

"Colty-boy's right," Max said, addressing Coltyn by the nickname he came up for him, "You need to learn how to loosen up more."

"With you as a roommate I'm not surprised he is uptight. Don't drop the soap in those showers, Mikey!" Coltyn joked, causing Mikey to turn nearly the same color as his jacket.

"Hey!" blurted out Max in offense.

"But I digress," Coltyn continued, "I say we dedicate this weekend to teaching Mikey how to enjoy life more. All in favor?" His own hand shot up immediately along with Sammie's and Max's.

"Wait. Don't you guys have other plans?" asked Mikey, trying to fend off his friends from meddling in his affairs again.

"Mikey, we're on an island with nothing but a school," Sammie stated, "What could we possibly have better to do?"

"Well, there's..."

"I'm sure there's a beach somewhere on this island," Max interrupted. Coltyn replied by stating that that option would be best saved for a hot day.

"Well, is there anything going on at all this weekend?" the redhead inquired.

"I know that campus rec is open every day," Sammie pointed out, "but Mikey's only good at basketball. He sucks nut at any other sports."

"Gee, thanks."

"I'll go check the calendar." Coltyn got off his bed and shooed Max off his chair. He sat down at his desk and logged into the Duel Academy website on his computer. "Okay, I've found something. First there's a student-hosted game show like event happening on Saturday. On that same day, there's a barbecue and at night there's going to be an Unreal Tournament party. Sunday night is movie night."

"What movie?" Mikey asked out of curiosity.

"This week it's Transformers," answered Coltyn.

"I liked that movie," Mikey thought out loud.

"Then that's what we'll do!" Sammie announced.

"Now we just need to figure out what we're going to do for the rest of the weekend," said Max. Coltyn did a Google search and quickly found something.

"Here's a list of what high school level boarding school students do on their weekends," he informed the others as he wheeled himself away from his screen for everyone to see.

"Where are we going to do shopping here?" Mikey asked, "The only stores on this island are the school store and the card shop."

"I think the card shop would be a good idea," Sammie said, "After all, Mikey, you've only got a starter deck. If you ever hope to get anywhere here, you're going to need your very own deck."

"You don't even have your own deck?" Coltyn asked in disbelief, his mouth slightly agape and eyebrow arched.

"I'm just not all that into Duel Monsters," was Mikey's reply, shrugging with little concern.

"Then why the hell are you here in the first place?" The brunet pointed toward Sammie.

"Okay, so we've got movie night and shopping," Sammie summarized, "What else can we do?"

For the next hour, the four friends stayed in that room planning out their weekend together. Several ideas were tossed around. Some were rejected while others were mutually agreed upon and even more engaged further debate. But in the end, things worked out for everyone and a rough schedule had finally been drawn up.

"So are we all agreed on this?" Mikey asked as he tapped a pen in his hand to the paper.

"Yes," answered Coltyn, leaning back in his computer chair and drinking from a juice box.

"Definitely!" replied Sammie, throwing her fist into the air in excitement.

"Abso-tivley, posi-lutley! It's totally FABULOUS!" Everyone just stared at Max after his response. Mikey scooted away a few inches.

"So we meet at the Red dorm," Mikey confirmed, "Come on, Max. We have to get back. It's going to take us a while to get back to our dorm from here."

"Okie-dokie!" Max got up and grabbed his bag before following Mikey out. Sammie went after them, leaving Coltyn by himself in his room.

ooo

On Saturday morning, everyone gathered outside the common building of the Osiris Red dorm. With it being the weekend, nobody was required to wear their school uniforms so Mikey was happy wearing his casual wear of blue jeans, a white T-shirt with some band logo on the front, and a red button-up short-sleeved shirt overtop. Prior to the friends' get-together, he waited inside the common room playing some Wii Sports with Max, who had on white pants and a pink polo shirt. Coltyn arrived early in blue jeans and a black muscle shirt along with a deck box attached to his belt and Sammie later arrived right on the dot in her usual casual dress of jeans and a black and white blouse.

"Well now that we're all here, let's get the weekend started!" she announced. Their first stop was the card shop. Mikey, quite frankly, could not believe just how many boosters that store sold.

"I haven't seen these packs in years!" Max exclaimed as he took a box down from one of the shelves.

"They retired that series long ago," Coltyn informed him.

Besides boosters, the store also sold tins, starter decks, structure decks, and individual cards. There were also card sleeves, protectors, and binders made especially for children's trading cards. Behind the counter was a large sign that said: 'We trade cards too'.

"That's a good idea," Sammie noted after reading the sign, "Maybe you can trade away all your useless cards here for some better ones, Mikey." Mikey took out his deck and shuffled through his cards. She was right; compared to the decks everybody else appeared to run at this school, his was pitiful by comparison.

"What are your trade-in values?" he asked the person behind the counter, a slightly portly girl with her braided hair slung over her left shoulder that tangled every now and then with her grandmother's glasses.

"We have a list of each card's value," the store clerk explained, "Then you can trade your cards in for store credit equal to that value and use that credit to get any cards with a total price up to an equal value."

"Considering the cards you have, I don't recommend it," suggested Coltyn, "Starter deck cards barely have any value at all. On top of that, they only come with the bare minimum of forty cards. Once you make a trade, you're going to be short. Best to just wait until you get more cards first before you decide to trade. But speaking of cards..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his student card.

"I'll take two packs of Blaze of Glory." The clerk grabbed two packs of the bright orange and red booster and tendered them into the register. Coltyn then swiped his card through and keyed in his student ID number. Once the transaction was complete, he took his new boosters and opened them.

"What did you get?" Sammie and Max asked excitedly.

"Nothing, that I don't already have," was the answer as he thumbed through the cards, "Wait, here's a new one! Goka, the Pyre of Malice." Coltyn put his cards away and the others resumed their shopping.

Once they were done, they left the shop. With nothing much really going on for the moment, the four of them just hung around until it was time for the barbecue. Grills and tables had been set up right outside Duel Academy itself with students lining up for a chance to get some free meat. Mikey enjoyed his cost-free cheeseburger, potato chips, and pop, as did everyone else with their food.

"I bet high schools on the mainland don't have stuff like this," he said after swallowing a mouthful.

"Not free barbecues, at least," replied Coltyn.

After lunch, the four friends headed to the school's rec center. Even though they had all been there before for gym class, none of them had ever visited the building for the sole purpose of having fun. Mikey rented out a basketball and they engaged in a two-on-two game at one of the courts. Sammie and Coltyn were on one team while Mikey and Max made up the other. Five minutes into the game, the brunet scored the first goal.

"Not bad," Coltyn complimented as he walked towards Mikey while dribbling the ball, "But just how good are you?" And with that he faked left before bouncing the ball between his friend's legs and catching it as he came up behind him on his right. Moving ahead a few more feet, he then threw the ball and scored.

"Nicely done, Coltyn." Mikey turned around and retrieved the ball.

Two hours later, they finally left campus rec although half of that time was mostly just Coltyn against Mikey in one-on-one. The latter of the two had to admit that he hadn't had so much fun before during the school year. The others were right; he needed to loosen up more. That night after dinner, Max and Sammie decided to stay in while Coltyn took Mikey to the Unreal Tournament party. The following morning, Mikey attended Miss Frost's service by himself before meeting up with everyone for lunch at the Ra Yellow dorm.

"This is a lovely dining room!" Max exclaimed, "The décor is simply FABULOUS!"

"Then there's the food itself," Mikey said as he enjoyed his soup and sandwich.

"It's nice, sure," Coltyn admitted, "But I'm sure the Obelisk Blue dorm has a much better dining room."

"I can guarantee that," replied Sammie, "It's like a five-star gourmet restaurant."

"Stop, please! You're just going to make me hungry again," Mikey begged, causing everyone else to laugh.

Afterwards, everybody just hung around campus doing various things. As the appointed time for the Sunday movie night came, subjects of their conversation started to move towards the film itself.

"So who do you think will be the villain in Transformers 2?" asked Max.

"I think it's going to be Galvatron," answered Coltyn, "And after that, it'll be Unicron in the third movie."

"You really think so?" asked Mikey.

"My cousins are big Transformers fans."

"Oh. The only Transformers series I ever watched was Beast Wars."

Someone hiding behind the corner was eavesdropping upon the friends' conversation. Jumping out he seemed peeved as he growled at the group. Coltyn calmly got up and walked over to the person.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he demanded.

"You guys really think you know everything about Transformers?" the spy answered with a scowl as his pimply face came into the light.

Great, not another one of these psycho fanatic, thought Mikey. However, Coltyn stayed calm.

"Nobody ever said anything about knowing everything," he replied to the fanatic, "But on the subject of knowing things, who the hell are you?"

"I'm Spike and I'm the world's biggest Transformers fan ever!"

"I've traveled around the world and I've met bigger fans than you," Coltyn muttered.

"That's impossible!" Spike yelled, "No one's a bigger fan that me! Everyone knows that Michael Bay destroyed the franchise with that piece of shit! You are nothing but posers! Nothing but Go-bots in a world of Headmasters, Target Masters, and more!"

"Dude, you really need to get out more," said Coltyn, his voice cold and dry.

"Coltyn, what the heck do you think you're doing?" asked Mikey.

"We've still got three more hours until the movie starts and I'm bored," answered Coltyn before turning back to Spike, "You want to settle this right now?"

"Bring it on Go-bot! I'll trash you like a Junkticon!" Spike took out his Duel Disk from his backpack and put it on.

"Wait a second, Coltyn. You don't have your Duel Disk," said Sammie.

"Yes, I do," replied Coltyn. Reaching up with his right arm, he grabbed onto his left shoulder and pulled off the flesh.

"EW!"

"Gross!" exclaimed Mikey, "Coltyn!"

"It's only artificial skin, guys!" Coltyn assured them. When everybody could finally bring himself or herself to look, they saw that Coltyn's entire left arm was mechanical.

"Is that..." Max began.

"A prosthetic? Yes," answered Coltyn. As he turned to face Spike, his artificial arm suddenly transformed. The outer coverings shifted places until they had formed a complete Duel Disk, while leaving only the hand and the inner frame to maintain the arm.

"Let's do this!" Coltyn slammed his desk into his deck slot.

Coltyn: 4000

Spike: 4000

"I go first," declared Spike as he drew, "I summon Red Gadget in attack mode!" He placed his card onto his Duel Disk and called forth a red robot with a giant silver gear on its back. (ATK/1300 DEF/1500)

"And whenever a Red Gadget is summoned, I get to search my deck for a Yellow Gadget and add it to my hand." Spike searched through his deck and pulled out a monster card. Once he put it in his hand, he shuffled his deck and returned it to its slot.

"Your move."

"Let's see how well you take this." Coltyn drew his first card and added it to the others being held in his mechanical left hand before taking another one and playing it, "I summon Fox Fire in attack mode." A small red fox with a flame at the end of its tail was summoned to the field. (ATK/300 DEF/200)

"That's it?" laughed Spike, "That thing's no bigger than G1 Ravage!"

"I'm not done yet," replied Coltyn as he took another card from his hand, "Now since I have another Fire monster on the field, I can Special Summon Goka, the Pyre of Malice. However, once I do so I have to destroy the other monster." A metal urn of sorts appeared on the field and fired a blast of flame that destroyed Fox Fire. As soon as it had, a fiery spirit rose out from the top of the urn and roared. (ATK/2200 DEF/1900)

"Next I remove my Fox Fire from play in order to Special Summon Spirit of Flames." Coltyn took his Fox Fire from his graveyard and placed it into his pocket before bringing out a fiery red demon. (ATK/1700 DEF/1000)

"I should also add that Spirit of Flames gets a three hundred point boost to his attack points during my Battle Phase." Coltyn then pointed forward at Red Gadget, "Goka, attack Red Gadget! Inferno Blaze of Destruction!" Goka let out a hollow roar and conjured several fireballs, which were launched straight at Red Gadget. The red robot was blown to pieces and pieces of scrap metal were sent flying in all directions.

Coltyn: 4000

Spike: 3100

"Spirit of Flames, it's your turn! Fire of Ifrit!" On Coltyn's command, Spirit of Flames leapt up and roared. It surrounded itself with fire before launching itself at Spike in the form of a blazing meteor.

Coltyn: 4000

Spike: 1100

"I'll set one card facedown and end my turn," concluded Coltyn, "Your move."

"Good move, but it won't be enough." Spike drew his card. "I summon Yellow Gadget in attack mode and use its effect to bring a Green Gadget to my hand." He brought out a yellow robot with a two halves of a silver gear on its back. (ATK/1200 DEF/1200) Once he had added the card to his hand, he continued.

"Next I play Tribute to the Doomed. Now by sending one card to the graveyard, I can destroy one of your monsters and I pick Goka!" After Spike sent one card to his graveyard, a mummy rose up from behind Goka, the Pyre of Malice and grabbed it before dragging it down to the grave, "After that, I activate Premature Burial. Now I can bring back a monster from my graveyard by giving up eight hundred Life Points."

Coltyn: 4000

Spike: 300

"And I summon Boot-Up Soldier – Dread Dynamo!" A brown robot with an empty socket in its chest rose up and stood erect before Spike (ATK/0 DEF/2000), "And I should mention that if I have a Gadget on the field, Dread Dynamo gains two thousand attack points. Yellow Gadget, connect to Dread Dynamo!" Yellow Gadget leapt up and connected the two gear halves on its back together before settling inside the brown robot's chest. There was a loud click as it locked in place.

"Dread Dynamo, attack Spirit of Flames! Dynamic Slam!" Boot-Up Soldier – Dread Dynamo cocked back its arm and launched a punch that smashed into Spirit of Flames, killing it instantly.

Coltyn: 3700

Spike: 300

"Yellow Gadget, it's your turn to attack!" Yellow Gadget detached itself from Dread Dynamo's chest and spun straight towards Coltyn. The yellow robot struck its mark and the black-haired teen grunted against the impact despite the fact that the monsters were all holograms.

Coltyn: 2500

Spike: 300

"I'll set two cards facedown and end my turn."

"My turn," Coltyn drew his next card. "I remove Spirit of Flames in my graveyard from play in order to Special Summon Inferno in defense mode." He called forth a giant flame that slowly developed a face upon hitting the field and grinned wickedly, revealing a mass grave of skeletons inside its maw.

"Next I remove Goka, the Pyre of Malice and summon another Inferno," Coltyn continued, "Now I sacrifice both Infernos in order to summon Firestorm Prominence." Both monsters flared up and then suddenly vanished. But then a massive explosion of fire erupted and from it emerged a giant flaming crocodile. (ATK/2000 DEF/1500)

"Finally, I activate my Trap Card, Backfire," Coltyn revealed his facedown. "As long as this card is on the field, every time a Fire monster on my side of the field dies you lose five hundred Life Points. And considering you only have three hundred left, it's something you definitely won't consider. But that's not all. If Firestorm Prominence is destroyed, then all facedown and non-Fire monsters are also destroyed. It's your move."

"Okay, now he's just fucking with him," said Sammie. Now it was Spike's turn again, his face contorting with nervousness as a cold sweat formed on his pimply brow. First he drew and then proceeded with his first Main Phase.

"I start by revealing my first facedown card. It's my Call of the Haunted and I'll use it to bring back Red Gadget." As soon as the red robot appeared, Spike searched his deck for a Yellow Gadget and added it to his hand, "Next I summon Green Gadget." This brought out a green robot with a gear as its main body. (ATK/1400 DEF/600)

"Then I activate my other facedown, Stronghold the Moving Fortress. This Trap Card gets Special Summoned to the field as a monster in defense mode as soon as it's activated." Once the card had been revealed, a massive silver robot appeared with three round slots in its chest appeared in a crouching stance. (ATK/0 DEF/2000)

"And here's the kicker!" Spike added, "If all three Gadgets are on the field, Stronghold the Moving Fortress gains three thousand attack points!" Yellow Gadget detached itself from Boot-up Soldier – Dread Dynamo and together with Red Gadget and Green Gadget; they locked themselves into each of Stronghold's ports, giving it a power boost. He then ended his turn.

Coltyn drew his card and looked at it before looking at the situation before him, a large smirk on his face, almost mocking Spike. He knew he could easily win this duel, but he could also tell that this person was an amateur and had no idea how to use his deck properly. He figured he should draw it out a little longer, but then remembered that he and his friends had a movie to catch and getting good seats would be a priority in that case. Knowing this, he pointed forward with his mechanical arm and clenched his fist.

"Firestorm Prominence, attack Boot-Up Soldier, Dread Dynamo! Burning Salamander!" Firestorm Prominence opened its mouth and unleashed a stream of flames at the brown robot, which retaliated by charging toward the flaming crocodile with its punch ready. With both monsters standing at two thousand attack points each, when the attack connected, both monsters were obliterated.

"And since Firestorm Prominence was a Fire monster," Coltyn reminded his opponent, "you take five hundred damage thanks to Backfire! Plus the death of my monster means the death of all of yours." From the remains of Firestorm Prominence, a massive rain of flames shot up and hailed down upon the field, blasting the machines to pieces. Following that was a fiery explosion that blasted up from under Spike and took out his remaining Life Points.

Coltyn: 2500

Spike: 0

"How could I have lost?" asked Spike as he collapsed.

"I think I have the answer to that," said Coltyn as he put his cards back into the deck box on his belt, "Spike, you looked up that deck on the net, didn't you? And then you constructed it based on that. But your one major weak point was that you didn't know how to use it properly."

"What are you talking about?" Spike demanded, "I can so use my deck properly!"

"Uh, no you can't. A Gadget deck would actually be able to beat my Fire deck. But that's only if it's used properly. Yours was poorly used. Spike, you only looked for a powerful deck and the list of cards needed to make it. But you never read up on any of the strategies associated with it. If your goal is to be a Gadget duelist, then you've got some serious work to do. And if you're just a copy duelist, you seriously suck at that too." And with that, Coltyn left and walked back to his friends, not giving the whiny geek a second thought. As he approached, his arm reverted back from Duel Disk mode until it resembled a limb again.

"Okay, that's kinda freaky but at the same time pretty cool," Sammie commented.

"How did you lose your arm anyway?" Mikey asked curiously.

"I'd rather not say," was Coltyn's answer, "I really don't want to have to remember."

"I understand."

"Well come on, everyone!" Max suddenly called out from several feet ahead, "We have a movie to catch and we simply MUST get some fantabulous seats!"

"Oh yeah! That's right. We almost forgot about it!" Mikey ran ahead, "I'll get the popcorn!"

"I'll come with you!" Coltyn called after Mikey as he pulled the artificial skin back over his left arm.

"Max and I will get seats," Sammie offered, "If anyone tries to take them, I'll stab them in the left ass cheek with a ballpoint pen!"

"Why the left ass cheek?" Max asked, his eyebrow arching slightly.

"Because I said so, dammit!" She growled back with a tick.

And so Mikey, Sammie, Max, and Coltyn spent the next few hours enjoying Transformers. After the movie ended, everybody returned to their respective dorms and went to bed. After all, tomorrow was Monday, which meant classes would be up again. As Mikey lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, he smiled knowing that he had enjoyed his first weekend at Duel Academy and he looked forward to anything else that he and his friends may have planned for the future.

Next Friday on Yu-Gi-Oh!: GNext

Things heat up for Mikey when he finds himself dueling for Sammie. Will he succeed? Find out next week on Yu-Gi-Oh! GNext!