Okay people, it's time for another chapter of Kamen Rider GX! Oh, and I thank Zodiac–Aries, and Duelist of Dawn for helping me on this chapter. So, let's go!
Disclaimer: Same thing.
Chapter 7: For Syrus's Sake
It was another day at Duel Academy as Jaden walked into the card shop and down on a table filling out a form of some sort. "I can't believe this Zane guy… It's because of him that Sy's got no confidence at all. If my big bro told me that I wasn't good enough to use a good card, I'd be insecure too. But now… that's all gonna change." He paused his writing and tapped his cheek with his pencil. "I wonder… do you spell Zane with two N's? Man, these Duel Request forms are a drag…" Oh course, Jaden was too busy filling out the form, that he didn't notice Crowler creeping up behind him.
"Duel Request form?" Crowler reached over Jaden's shoulder and swiped the form away, scanning it. "Planning a duel eh? Against who?" His eyes bugged out and he smirked. "You must be joking…"
Jaden reached out, wanting to take back his form. "No, not really. I'm gonna take Zane on in a duel to boost Syrus' confidence for our upcoming tag team match." He explained.
"Ah yes, the big tag team duel… the one where if you both lose, you'll both be expelled?" Crowler said as he shook his head. "And you say that dueling Zane will prepare you for the match? Well that's too bad, because there will be no duel!" Jaden watched in horror as Crowler ripped his Duel Request form to bits and pieces, laughing as he did so.
"Look, it's not you, it's me. I'm sorry, but I just can't use you in my deck anymore. I gotta make room for another Koala…" Chumley sat on a tree branch, his deck spread out before him, and a Des Koala card in his hand. He looked at the deck, the card and nodded. "Yeah… fifteen oughta be enough."
"Lousy Dr. Crowler…"
"Huh?" Chumley wondered as he looked up to see Jaden walking coming close to Chumley's tree.
"Where does it say that those Duel Request Forms need to be filled out in triplicates? And with a #8 pencil?" Jaden asked himself as he stopped and crossed his arms not understanding what Crowler told him earlier. Just then some of Chumley's card fell on top of Jaden and Chumley started falling down until he held on hanging like a sloth. Jaden looked up to see where the cards came from and he saw Chumley too. "It's either a giant sloth, or it's just Chumley."
"Hey, Jaden…whaddup?" Chumley greeted, clinging onto the branch. Jaden looked down at his feet and saw the cards Chumley dropped. He bent down to picked up the cards. He couldn't help but laugh, "Chumley, there's like… a zillion koala cards down here!"
"Yeah, they so rule…" Chumley smiled. "Wanna have a pick–up duel against em?"
"Hey… a pick up duel!" Jaden smacked himself in the head. "Why didn't I think of that? Thanks Chumley!" He turned back the way he came and started to run off.
"Where are you going?" Chumley yelled.
"The Obelisk Blue Dorm!"
"Why are you going there?!"
"A pick–up duel against Zane!"
"The Zane?!" Chumley then lost his grip on the branch and fell down.
Meanwhile…
Kurogasa was in his room looking over his deck, checking each card adding in or taking out a few spells or traps of his deck while the Rider spirits looked on. Today he wore a black shirt with a gold Hibiki logo on it. He wanted to be ready for the upcoming expulsion duel. He needed to be, or else it's bye–bye Duel Academy. And speaking of expulsion duels, he was thinking about Jaden and Syrus's upcoming tag–team duel, but it was mostly about Syrus. Sure, his self–confidence definitely needed a boost, but it won't do that, unless he somehow, someway comes to terms with his brother.
"What's on your mind Kurogasa?" Shinji asked as he watched his duelist fix his deck.
"Nothing, just thinking about Syrus and his issues," he replied.
"Ah you mean he doesn't have any," Tsukasa stated. "Just like Wataru before he became badass." Said Rider gave him a pointed glare but said nothing.
"It just doesn't make any sense. I mean what kind of brother tells his little brother that he's not good enough to play a card?" Kurogasa asked confused at the logic.
"Obaachan said this," Souji started to speak, "One cannot truly understand a dish unless one tastes it."
"Uh… what?"
"I think Tendou–san is saying don't judge a book by its cover," Haruto explained. "Maybe you should talk to Zane first to hear his side of the story."
"Hmm… I… guess it doesn't hurt to try." Kurogasa said as he got his deck and duel disk and got up from his seat. "But first, I'm gonna have a talk with Syrus. And see if I can get him to come with me so we can talk this out." And with that, Kurogasa left his room.
Back with Jaden, he planned on entering the Obelisk Blue dorm and taking on Zane in a duel to help with Syrus's confidence… at least, he planned on doing that, but that plan didn't go to effect because he was pushed to the ground by a couple other Obelisk students. This was gonna be no easy task. Dusting himself off, Jaden glared at the two Obelisk boys that barred his way. "What's your problem?" He demanded.
The first Obelisk, a boy with spiky brown hair shook his head, "I don't have a problem, but you're gonna have one soon if you don't beat it, Slifer Slacker!"
His friend, a boy with short black hair nodded. "Yeah, Zane wouldn't even waste his time with you. You're probably still wet behind the ears from Pre–Duel school!"
"Am not!"
And he shouldn't have said that too, because at that point, the first Obelisk boy emptied out a large bucket of water at him, soaking him from head to foot. The Obelisks laughed at the sight and started to walk off. "Now, you are…"
"We will duel, Zane… one way or another…" Jaden growled.
The sun was setting and Kurogasa headed over to the Slifer dorm, when he got to the top of stairs he saw Chumley and Jaden, the latter drying off with a towel. "What happened to you?" Kurogasa asked.
"Tried to get Zane out of the Blue Dorm to come duel me, but these other Obelisks threw me out and then threw a bucket of water at me." Jaden grunted.
"Typical at what those Obelisks duel…" Kurogasa shook his head.
"What are you doing here?" Jaden asked as he shook the towel deep into his hair.
"I was thinking of having a talk with Syrus, and see if I can try to get his confidence back up. I plan on dueling Syrus too and then after that, find his brother and talk things out."
"Think that'll work?" Chumley asked.
"It's worth a shot." Kurogasa said.
"Hmm… alright, we'll try it." Jaden opened the door to his dorm room and the trio stepped in. Jaden, Kurogasa, and Chumley noticed Syrus was still in bed, wrapped up in his blanket.
"Why's Syrus sleeping in the middle of the day?" Kurogasa asked.
Jaden nudged the bundle, "C'mon Syrus get up! This is ridiculous, even Chumley got up today!"
"Yeah, lousy bladder…" Chumley muttered under his breath.
But when Jaden pulled away the blankets, he only saw the bed was empty, "Hey… where is he?"
"Hey look…" Chumley found a note that fell out of the cover. "He left a note…" He then read it out loud…
"Dear Jaden, I'm leaving Duel Academy. Don't try and stop me, it's for the best. I'd only be holding you back if I stayed…"
"Oh damn…" Kurogasa muttered.
Jaden snatched the note and looked it over, then crumpled it up. "Syrus's not going anywhere! Not on my watch!"
Chumley nodded. "Yeah, let's go stop him… after dinner."
"Chumley!" Kurogasa and Jaden scolded. Jaden ran out the door, while yelling. "Not after dinner! Now!"
"Aw c'mon, tonight's grilled cheese day!" Chumley whined.
"You can make those any time, now c'mon! If you don't hurry and help us look, it'll be Syrus's last day!" Kurogasa yelled as he ran out the door as well. When he got out, Jaden was already out of sight because he left running. Kurogasa went down the stairs and started running off as well. The Riders Spirits appeared floating behind him. "Everyone, Syrus has gone missing! Spread out and find him! He couldn't have gotten too far." Every one of them nodded and ran off to different areas of the island. The spirits that had forms that can fly searched the air, while Kabuto and Faiz used their speed to cover more ground. Kurogasa himself was running along the coast. His eyes were searching for his friend. 'Where are you Syrus?' He thought worriedly.
Zane stood at his usual spot on the lighthouse dock, looking at the sunset, thinking about some things again. Hearing footsteps, he turned to see Alexis come up to him. Zane turned back to the sunset as Alexis came to his side. He glanced at Alexis, "Any news or trace yet?" He asked quietly.
She shook her head, "No… I can't believe he's still gone. I looked everywhere for a new sign, but I always come up empty–handed…"
Zane folded his arm. "Don't worry about it, you'll find him, just don't give up."
"I know. And I've got Kurogasa to help search too."
"Kurogasa… the one with the Kamen Rider cards right? You said something about his dad making them and then he disappeared."
"Right, and he also dealt with someone who had cards that he thought weren't finished. Not to mention it still got him in trouble with the faculty…"
"That means he's a threat to someone who also had ties to those cards and his family…"
"Yeah… Speaking of family…" Alexis looked at Zane. "I saw your brother the other day."
"Oh did you now."
"Yeah, he lost at a practice duel with Jaden Yuki. Your name came up too, Zane… but not in a good way…"
"The big, bad, brother, huh?" Zane didn't even blink at this. "So what? He wants to scold me now?"
"Actually… he wants to duel you." She replied.
"Alexis!" A voice called. The two Obelisks turned around to see Kurogasa running towards her and bent down with his hands on his knees catching his breath.
"What's up?" Alexis asked.
"Have… you seen Syrus?" Kurogasa panted as he looked up at her. "He's… gone missing…"
"What?!" Alexis gasped. Zane scoffed a bit at this.
"He left a note to Jaden saying that he's leaving Duel Academy, and not to go after him, saying it's for the best or something like that…"
"And it is…" Zane spoke up. "He never belonged here…"
"What the heck's that supposed to mean?" Kurogasa growled towards the Senior Obelisk. But then the Kamen Rider Duelist's eyes widened. "Wait… are you–"
"You seem to be catching on quick. That's right. I'm Syrus's brother. Zane Truesdale." The Kaiser introduced. "And you must be Kurogasa Kururugi, the one with the Kamen Rider cards I've heard about."
"What of it?"
"I've heard a lot about you and your duels. You've been causing quite a storm as of late."
"Is that so."
"Stay back, Jaden!" Zane, Kurogasa, and Alexis heard the voice and followed the noise and saw a small raft floating behind a couple of rocks near the docks, along with a large tuft of light–blue hair.
"It's Syrus!" Kurogasa recognized as he now ran over there. And he saw Jaden ready to stop Syrus from going. As Kurogasa ran over there, he watched as Syrus tried to push off in his raft, only to be stopped by Jaden jumping onto it, and in the process, making it split apart, sending the two of them into the water.
Syrus came to the surface, arms flailing. "Help me! I can't swim!" He yelled.
"And you were about to set off into the ocean?!" Jaden cried as Syrus wrapped his arms around his neck. "That makes a lot of sense!" The two of them then suddenly under the water, with Kuriboh watching from above as Chumley raced to help them.
"I'm coming, guys! Hold on!" He yelled before jumping into the water. Chumley opened his eyes to see that he was halfway out of the water and halfway in. He felt the ground and blinked. "It's shallow…" As if they heard him, Jaden and Syrus rose from under the water, completely soaked wet.
"Hey! You guys okay?!" A voice called. The three Slifers looked up to see Kurogasa on a nearby path a short ways above them.
"Yeah, we're fine Kurogasa!" Jaden called back.
Syrus rubbed his arms and glanced at his roommate, "Why did you come after me, Jaden?" He said, shivering, "I stink…"
"Well, the shower's a lot better than the ocean." Jaden laughed a little.
Syrus looked away. "They'll assign you a new tag team partner. Just let me go and you'll have a much better shot of winning the match without me…"
"Syrus, listen to yourself!" Kurogasa shouted. "Jaden needs you for the upcoming tag team match, and you're just gonna bail out on him just like that?! Look, I know you're not confident in your dueling skills, I understand. That's why you have friends like Jaden, Chumley, and I to help you out! Jaden's not giving up on you and you can bet that I'm not giving up on you!"
Jaden walked in front of him. "Yeah Sy, Kurogasa's right. And besides, that's just your brother talking! You gotta believe in yourself!"
"You gotta believe me!" Syrus sobbed. "I'm a lost cause…"
"He is right, you know…" A cold voice interjected. All the Slifers and Ras looked to see Alexis and Zane coming up to Kurogasa looking down on the Slifers.
"Guys, meet Syrus's brother, Zane…" Kurogasa muttered.
"That's Zane?" Jaden asked as he looked straight at the Senior Obelisk.
"You dropping out, little brother?" Zane asked.
Syrus nodded slightly. "Uh…yeah, kinda…"
"Hmph…" Zane closed his eyes and turned away. "It's about time…"
That remark made Syrus lower his head, feeling worse than he already did before. He turned away to floating logs that once made the raft. Jaden watched Syrus and shook his head, "He's wrong, Syrus…" But all he heard from Syrus was a loud sniffling sound. This got Kurogasa and Jaden angry.
"What kind of brother are you?!" Kurogasa growled turning to him.
"Yeah, you're his big brother, how can you say that?!" He demanded.
"Because I know him." Zane said simply. Alexis gasped at the comment and made Kurogasa growl in anger even more.
"Yeah, I bet you know it all, huh? But you're wrong and I'm gonna prove it right now."
"No Jaden!" Kurogasa suddenly making Jaden look at him in shock, until Kurogasa said, "We are gonna prove it right now. Let's duel, Zane! Jaden and I vs. you. 8000 point game with Jaden and I sharing the points." Syrus, Chumley, and Alexis gasped at this with Jaden grinning.
"Even better!" Jaden said liking the idea as well. "So whaddya say Zane?"
Syrus turned to his friend. "Jaden… Kurogasa…"
Zane raised an eyebrow. "Duel a Slifer and a Ra?" He thought out loud before smiling. "Sure… why not? It's been awhile since I went slumming."
Jaden grinned, "Then get your game on!"
"He's good. Jaden, Kurogasa, don't do it!" Syrus pleaded.
"I'm sure he's good, Syrus." Jaden replied. 'I'm also sure that this will help Sy's confidence problem… without hurting mine.'
"And I'm not gonna take this lying down when your brother's talking down on you like that." Kurogasa added.
It was now night time, and the stage was set at the docks. With Jaden and Kurogasa on one side and Zane on the opposite with the spectators on the sidelines.
"This should be interesting." Alexis said. "The best Slifer and Ra against the best Obelisk."
"Alright Zane, get ready to lose!" Kurogasa said as he took his deck out of his deck box. "Henshin!" He said placing the deck in the deck slot and the duel disk went from standby to active. Jaden and Zane activated their duel disks and both players drew their starting hand.
"DUEL!"
Jaden/Kurogasa: 8000
Zane: 8000
"I'll start things off!" Jaden declared drawing his sixth card. "I summon Elemental Hero Avian in ATK mode!" The green feathered hero appeared (3/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000). "And then I'll throw down a facedown while I'm at it." He said as a reverse card appeared on the field.
"That's all huh? Okay." Zane said as he drew his sixth card. "For my first move, I summon Cyber Dragon!" A metallic dragon rose from the ground and curled up behind its master. (5/ATK: 2100/DEF: 1600)
"No way!" Jaden exclaimed, "How were you able to summon a Level Five monster on your first turn?"
"I can play the Cyber Dragon because it's my first turn, Jaden." Zane explained. "With no Monsters of my own on the field, and one on yours, it requires no sacrifices. Now I play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your facedown card."
Jaden's facedown was blown away by a miniature tornado. "Well that was fast…"
"Not as fast as your Life Points will go down. Cyber Dragon, attack Avian with Strident Blast!" Zane commanded. The metallic dragon rose and let out a stream of fire, engulfing Avian completely.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 6900
Zane: 8000
Syrus watched silently as his friend was already on the track of losing this duel. 'I tried to warn them that Zane was good…'
"Next…" Zane held up a card. "I'll activate the Spell Card, Different Dimension Capsule!" He declared as a strange looking Egyptian sarcophagus with a clock emblem in the center appeared. "This allows me to take a card from my deck, place it into the capsule, and in two turns, add it to my hand." Jaden watched as the capsule opened up, letting the hologram card inside and closing before sinking beneath the ground. "Wow…" He said, as he wiped the end of his nose. "That's gotta be the best card of his entire deck. I can't wait to see what comes outta there!"
'I can…' Syrus thought miserably. 'Cause it's not gonna be pretty…'
"I'll end my turn there…" Zane said. "Let's see what your Kamen Riders can do Kurogasa."
"Gladly! My turn! Draw!" Kurogasa declared drawing his sixth card. 'Nice.' Kurogasa thought looking at the card and in his hand. Out loud, "I'll start off with Double Summon allowing me to summon twice this turn! So now I summon Kamen Rider Blade and Kamen Rider Hibiki in ATK mode!"
Two silhouetted men appeared. The first one placed a card in his Blay Buckle and wrapped it around his waist. A pulsing noise could be heard until he said, "Henshin!" He then pulled a lever and the card flipped over showing a red rectangle with a gold spade symbol on it.
TURN UP
Blue energy came out of the belt and formed a vertical rectangle of energy. It also showed a picture of a beetle with a spade on it. The vertical rectangle of energy went towards the second silhouetted man, with the latter simply walking through it. When the transformation was complete, out came Blade (4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1400).
The second silhouetted man pulled out a small tuning fork and flicked it, making a ringing noise. "Henshin." The man placed the tuning fork near his forehead and a small gold head of an oni appeared. His body suddenly burst into purple flames for a few seconds before it dispersed to reveal Hibiki (4/ATK: 1800/DEF: 1650).
"Then I'll Tribute both of my Kamen Riders to Special Summon them in their final forms from my Hand. So come on out Kamen Rider Blade – King Form and Kamen Rider Hibiki – Armed Form!" Blade equipped himself with the Absorb Rouzer and placed on his left arm. The Rider drew his sword and turned it over so the handle was facing him. Pulling it open it revealed thirteen playing cards inside. Picking out two, he closed the sword again. He then inserted a card into the Rouzer.
ABSORB QUEEN
Once that happened, he took the other card and slid it along the Rouzer.
EVOLUTION KING
The Caucasus plaque then appeared and covered the Rouzer which was blue, with a gold spade in it. In that spade was a gold beetle and in the blade was red spade. Then electricity crackled throughout his body and then the thirteen cards came out, enlarged and surrounded him. As that happened, Blade started to change form and after that, the cards went on his new armor with emblems of animals on his arms and legs. He was now in blue and gold armor with a large blue spade and gold beetle in the middle and his helmet looked like he was wearing a crown to make him look like a king. With it, a large sword called the King Rouzer appeared in his hand (8/ATK: 2600/DEF: 2400).
As for Hibiki, he took out a small saber like sword called the Armed Saber. As he got in a stance, red crimson flames engulfed Hibiki and suddenly small discs of different colors started to come out of nowhere but then turned small animals of hawks, gorillas, wolves, crabs, lions, eagles, you name it. They started gathering towards Hibiki and attached themselves changing into armor piece by piece, until finally the flames dispersed revealing Hibiki in crimson red armor and his face mask is a samurai like shield and his horns expand a bit. (8/ATK: 2500/DEF: 2300).
"Whoa… He's going all out on the first turn." Syrus gasped.
"When Kamen Rider Blade is in King Form while staying on the field Jaden and I can draw two cards every round since we're sharing the field!"
"And Kurogasa increased both his and Jaden's chance of drawing a good card." Alexis added.
"Now I'll have Kamen Rider Blade – King Form attack your Cyber Dragon! Do it Kenzaki!"
"Hai, Kurogasa!" Kenzaki said as five cards came out of the Kamen Rider and got them in his hand. He then placed each card into the King Rouzer sword.
SPADE TEN
SPADE JACK
SPADE QUEEN
SPADE KING
SPADE ACE
ROYAL STRAIGHT FLUSH
The holograms of the cards appeared in front of him in that order leading to the metallic dragon. He ran towards it passing each through each hologram card. When he got through the last one, he slashed at it destroying in an explosion.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 6900
Zane: 7500
"And now I'll have Kamen Rider Hibiki – Armed Form attack you directly!" Kurogasa declared next. Hitoshi then took his Armed Saber as he fire glowed around the blade and the fire extended to be long. He then charged towards Zane and slashed at him with Zane not flinching at all.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 6900
Zane: 5000
"And now that we're in Main Phase 2, to replenish my hand, I'll play Card of Sanctity, allowing all of us draw until we have six cards!" Kurogasa continued. Kurogasa drew his full six while Jaden and Zane drew two. "Finally, I'll place a facedown and end my turn! And with the end of my turn, Hibiki's effect activates! During the End Phase, you get dealt 400 points of Damage for every Kamen Rider in my Graveyard. I have two so you lose 800 Life Points!" Hibiki puts away his Armed Saber drew out his taiko sticks from his back, and sent fireballs at Zane hitting its mark with the latter still not flinching.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 6900
Zane: 4200
"Lishus! He's got strong Monsters to defend himself and Jaden and he got Zane near the half way mark!" Chumley cheered.
"Not bad." Zane commented as he drew his card to make his hand at seven. "Now that my field is empty again, I can bring out another Cyber Dragon…" Another metallic dragon appeared in front of Zane (5/ATK: 2100/DEF: 1600) "…or better yet, two!" Zane held up a card. "I play the Spell Card, Monster Reborn! With just one Monster in my Graveyard, you can guess who I'm bringing back!" He said as his disk glowed and his first Cyber Dragon was revived, standing next to his second one (5/ATK: 2100/DEF: 1600). "But neither would be here for long…" Zane took another card from his hand, Polymerization. "In present form anyway. Dragons unite!" He commanded as both monsters swirled together into a black void, "Cyber Twin Dragon, emerge!" From the void, a new monster appeared. It had the heads of both Dragons, but the body of one, each head with a different circle of color. One yellow and one blue. (8/ATK: 2800/DEF: 2100)
"Twin Dragon?!" Chumley stared at the new creature gaping, "One was tough enough already!"
"My Twin Dragon can attack twice this round! Meaning double the trouble for your Kamen Riders and your Life Points! Twin Dragon, attack! "Double Strident Blast!" His two headed metallic dragon roared and let out two separate blasts, each one hitting Blade and Hibiki and destroying them into pixels.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 6400
Zane: 4200
"I activate the Trap, Call of the Haunted!" Kurogasa countered revealing one of his facedowns. "Since you destroyed my Monsters, I'll bring one of them back. And that's gonna be Kamen Rider Blade – King Form!" Kenzaki returned to the field in King Form.
"I'll place three cards facedown on the field and end my turn." Zane concluded as he placed two reverse cards on the field.
"Cool! Now it's my move! And I'll take advantage of Kamen Rider Blade's effect!" He drew two cards making his hand now at eight. "Sweet, check this out! I play the Spell, The Warrior Returning Alive! This brings a Warrior–Type Monster back to my Hand. And I'll bring back Avian." The card in question came out of the Graveyard and Jaden added it to his hand. "And now I'll use my Polymerization, fusing Elemental Hero Avian and Elemental Hero Burstinatrix!" The said monsters appeared as another dark void appeared overhead sucking the two into the vortex. Several seconds later, a bright light shined.
"Here he is, the Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!" Jaden said as a creature of Avian's wing along with a few of Burstinatrix's colors with a dragon–like hand on the monster's left arm appeared (6/ATK: 2100/DEF: 1200). "And now we're gonna change the scenery around here! I activate the Field Spell, Skyscraper!" Jaden inserted the card into the Field Spell Zone, and the towering buildings and skyscrapers rose up from the ground. All players and spectators were now in the New York City like Field Spell. "And when an Elemental Monster attacks a Monster than itself, then my Elemental Hero 1000 ATK!"
"Lishus! He could take that Cyber Twin Dragon out!" Chumley said liking where this is going. "Take it to him!"
"You heard Chumley, Flame Wingman, take it to him! Attack his Cyber Twin Dragon with Skydive Scorcher!" Flame Wingman flew up and dove towards the two headed metallic dragon with fire coming out of the dragon–like hand and then being enveloped in it.
Elemental Hero Flame Wingman (6/ATK: 2100–3100/DEF: 1200)
"I activate the trap, Draining Shield! This negates your Monster's attack and I gain Life Points equal to its current ATK!" Zane countered as an invisible shield domed over the metallic dragon just in time before Flame Wingman hits it.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 6400
Zane: 7300
"Aw, not lishus…" Chumley groaned.
"That's Zane for ya." Alexis added.
"Well, that's just great…" Kurogasa muttered.
"No worries Kurogasa, we got this! I'll place these two facedowns and call it a turn." Jaden said as two reverse cards appeared on the field. "Gimme your best shot, Zane!" Jaden challenged.
"My best? Alright, you got it." Zane drew his card and watched as the Capsule rose from the dirt, chunks rolling off it.
'Oh no…' Syrus knew what this meant.
"It's been two turns since I first activated Different Dimension Capsule, and now I can take the card I put in it and add it to my Hand." Zane placed the card in his hand. "First, I'll play this De–Fusion card and split up my Cyber Twin Dragon into two separate Cyber Dragons." Zane paused as his monsters divided itself into its original forms (5/ATK: 2100/DEF: 1200), (5/ATK: 2100/DEF: 1200). "Next, I activate the magic of the card I put into the Different Dimension Capsule, the Spell Card, Power Bond!"
"This is bad…" Syrus whimpered as his brother inserted the card into his disk.
"This card allows me to summon a Machine–Type Fusion monster, and with the final Cyber Dragon in my Hand, I can fuse them together to create… the Cyber End Dragon!" The spectators watched in amazement as through a torrent of blue flame, the winged dragon appeared, three heads sticking out of the same body (10/ATK: 4000/DEF: 2800).
"Yeesh…" Kurogasa bugged out. "And I thought Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon was scary enough."
"Thanks to Power Bond's ability, when I summon a Fusion Machine–Type Monster, its Attack Points are doubled!" Electricity crackled throughout the dragon's body as it powered up.
Cyber End Dragon (10/ATK: 4000–8000/DEF: 2800)
"And that's not all! I'll activate Limiter Removal! This doubles a Machine–Type Monster's ATK again!"
"16,000 points?!" Chumley gasped. "No way!" Electricity from the three–headed metallic dragon's body crackled even more dangerously.
Cyber End Dragon (10/ATK: 8000–16,000/DEF: 2800)
"Oh boy…" Kurogasa muttered.
"Just hang in there, guys!" Chumley yelled. "If you can survive the attack, you can win this duel for sure thanks to his Spell Cards effect!"
Alexis nodded. "No they won't. At the end of the turn Power Bond is used, the one who used the card gets dealt Damage equal to the attacking Monster's original ATK Points! If it was a 4000 Point Duel, then yes, but it isn't."
"Cyber End Dragon, attack! Super Strident Blaze!" Zane roared, waving his arm. "Finish this duel!" The three–headed dragon opened up its mouth and fired three huge streams of fire and energy at Flame Wingman.
"Jaden?!" Kurogasa said frantically.
"Relax, we got this! I activate my facedowns!" Jaden declared revealing the facedown, "The Trap, Attack Guidance Armor and the Quick–Play Spell, The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh! First, for Flute of Summoning Kuriboh, I'll activate the latter effect to Special Summon Winged Kuriboh from my Deck!" The angel winged Kuriboh appeared (1/ATK: 300/DEF: 200). "And then Attack Guidance and I'll give it to my Winged Kuriboh!" The grey armor was really big and Winged Kuriboh was small that it fits inside the armor's mouth.
"Yeah, and when Winged Kuriboh, they take zero Damage!" Chumley cheered. The three fire streams of energy reached the armor and destroyed it along with Kuriboh making an explosion. When the black cloud of dust cleared, the Monsters on Jaden's and Kurogasa's side of the field were still there.
"Whew… and I thought that was over." Syrus said in relief.
"And now you pay the price of your Power Bond!" Jaden shouted as Cyber End Dragon was overloading with electricity and power and the three–headed dragon exploded violently.
"Yeah, now Zane's Life Points are taking a huge drop!" Chumley cheered. But when the smoke cleared… Zane was still standing with Cyber End Dragon still there and his Life Points haven't dropped!
"WHAT?!" The spectators gasped.
"That's impossible!" Kurogasa protested. "Your Life Points should've gone down! And how is Cyber End Dragon still alive?!"
"Because I activated my other two facedowns." Zane said as the smoke cleared more to reveal them. "Call of Haunted and Damage Polarizer. Call of Haunted as you know brings back the Monster destroyed. Damage Polarizer activates only when an effect that inflicts Damage is activated. I was able to negate Power Bond's effect Damage thanks to this trap, thus why I didn't lose any of my Life Points. And the second effect of Damage Polarizer is that each player draws 1 card." All players did so. Zane had two, Jaden has three, and Kurogasa had six. "I'll end my turn there."
"My move! Draw!" Kurogasa declared drawing two cards thanks to Kenzaki in King Form making his Hand at eight. 'Alright, I got a somewhat metallic version of Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon staring down at Jaden and I with 4000 ATK and none of our Monster can't beat it.' He thought as he looked at his Hand to consider his options. 'Hmm… alright then, looks like I'll have to use these cards then. Better than nothing.' Out loud, "Alright then, I'll summon Kamen Rider W in ATK mode!" Two silhouettes of people appeared with the Double Drivers. One of them held up a green flash drive. The other held a purple/black one. Both pressed the buttons on them.
CYCLONE!
JOKER!
Both silhouettes then positioned their arms holding the colored flash drives away from each other making some sort of W shape with their arms. "Henshin!" The silhouetted person with the green flash drive inserted it in one of the slots and it disappeared transporting it to the other silhouetted person's slot on the belt. The other silhouetted person placed the purple/black flash drive into the other slot and pushed the two slots to the side making a W shape.
CYCLONE!
JOKER!
A tune started to play as the first silhouetted person faded away as the second one was surrounded by wind and armor started to form around him until it has enclosed completely and now appearing as W (4/ATK: 1800/DEF: 1500). "Saa… omae no tsumi o kazoero!"
"Now I'll activate one of Kamen Rider W's effect. He is both treated WIND & DARK and I'll activate his DARK effect. I can inflict 200 points of Damage for each Monster on my side of the Field. Jaden and I have three since he and I share the Field, so now you lose 600 Life Points!" W ran up to Zane and the flying kick, only to have Zane block the kick with his disk.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 6400
Zane: 6700
"Hey whaddya know? You actually made him flinch." Jaden laughed.
"Now I'll activate the Spell Card, Xtreme Memory!" Kurogasa declared as he played the card depicting a strange mechanical bird like machine. "This allows me to Tribute Kamen Rider W in order Special Summon Kamen Rider W – Xtreme Form! And I'll summon him my Hand!" The card played glowed and the same strange mechanical bird like machine came out of the card. The middle of W begins to glow as the Xtreme Memory absorbs the Cyclone and Joker Memories and attaches itself onto the Double Driver. The Xtreme Memory opens up revealing a spinning X.
XTREME
A fanfare like tune started playing and W rips open the center revealing the prism–colored center. His armor is now 1/3 green, 1/3 white and 1/3 black (8/ATK: 2900/DEF: 2450).
"Whoa, did he literally pull himself apart?" Syrus wondered in amazement.
"Next I'll activate one of his two effects. I'll halve Cyber End Dragon ATK until the end of the turn, but I can't destroy it in battle." Kurogasa said as Cyber End Dragon got weaker.
Cyber End Dragon (10/ATK: 4000–2000/DEF: 2800)
"Alright then, Shotaro & Philip, attack Cyber End Dragon! Bicker Charge Break!" Kurogasa commanded.
"Hai!" Shotaro and Philip said with one voice. W then took out the Prism Memory and inserted it into the Prism Sword.
PRISM!
W then took out the Cyclone, Heat, Luna, and Joker Memories and placed them into the Bicker Shield.
CYCLONE! MAXIMUM DRIVE!
HEAT! MAXIMUM DRIVE!
LUNA! MAXIMUM DRIVE!
JOKER! MAXIMUM DRIVE!
Once that happened, W took out the Prism Sword out of the Bicker Shield and pressed the button on the sword.
PRISM! MAXIMUM DRIVE!
"BICKER CHARGE BREAK!" W said as the energies from the memories in the Bicker Shield went into the Prism Sword and W leapt up and slashed at Cyber End Dragon, making the three–headed metallic dragon roar in pain.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 6400
Zane: 5800
"Now Kenzaki, it's your turn to attack!"
"Hai!" Kenzaki said as five different cards appeared and got them in his hand. He then inserted them into the King Rouzer sword
SPADE TWO
SPADE THREE
SPADE FOUR
SPADE FIVE
SPADE SIX
STRAIGHT FLUSH
At that point, his regular sword appeared in his empty hand so now Kenzaki is dual–wielding. The cards in question formed in holograms like what happened when Blade did Royal Straight Flush. The cards went in front in order leading up to the metallic dragon and went through each one. When he got to the last one, Kenzaki slashed with both his swords.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 6400
Zane: 5200
"And now I'll have Elemental Hero Flame Wingman attack with Skydive Scorcher!" Kurogasa commanded. The Elemental Hero complied, flew up, and dove towards Cyber End Dragon with fire enveloping Flame Wingman and made its hit.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 6400
Zane: 5100
"Yeah, they're back in the lead!" Chumley cheered.
"I'll place two facedowns and end my turn." Kurogasa said placing two reversed cards on the field with Cyber End Dragon's ATK returning to 4000.
Cyber End Dragon (10/ATK: 2000–4000/DEF: 2800)
"My turn!" Zane announced drawing his next card. "I activate Heavy Storm to destroy all your Spell and Trap cards!" A huge wind storm blew causing the spectators to protect themselves from the wind, especially the girls since they don't want their skirts to be… well… you get the idea. Soon Kurogasa's facedowns and Call of the Haunted was destroyed into pixels and soon as that happened, Kamen Rider Blade was destroyed as well.
"Well that sucks…" Kurogasa muttered.
"Now that you don't have your facedowns to protect you, Cyber End Dragon, destroy Kamen Rider W – Xtreme Form!" The three–headed metallic dragon launched three stream of fire and energy destroying W in the process.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 5300
Zane: 5100
"I then activate De–Fusion to separate it into the three monsters!" Cyber End Dragon glowed then separated, with each head gaining a separate body.
Cyber Dragons (5/2100/1000) x3
"Attack Flame Wingman!" One of the Cyber Dragons breathed fire while Flame Wingman blocked it with its dragon-like hand pushing forward until it got close to the attacking Cyber Dragon and both exploded.
"You still lose life points equal to the destroyed monster's ATK!" Jaden pointed out.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 5300
Zane: 3000
"That may be, but you two are losing a lot more! Cyber Dragons attack Jaden and Kurogasa directly!" Zane ordered. The two dragons then fired a stream of fire and energy. One at Jaden and the other at Kurogasa. Both duelists screamed as the fire got to them and sent them flying back.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 1100
Zane: 3000
"Jaden! Kurogasa!" Syrus cried out.
"Aw man, this ain't lishus…" Chumley groaned.
"Yeah, just one more attack like that and it's over." Alexis said. "Unless they can somehow get back in this."
"I then end with a facedown card." Zane concluded as he placed the last card in his Hand to the field, having it materialized showing the reverse side of the field.
"Ow… even though it's only just holograms that really hurt…" Kurogasa groaned as he slowly got back up. "Jaden I really hope you got something in that deck of yours that can get us back in this game." He said as Jaden slowly got back up as well.
"No worries, I got us covered." Jaden said as he drew his next card. "Sweet! Just what I'm looking for! I play another Polymerization to fuse Elemental Hero Clayman and Sparkman together to form Elemental Hero Thunder Giant!" The two Monsters in questions appeared and a dark void opened up overhead, the two Monsters then went into the portal. A few seconds later, electricity crackled through the dark void and descending down from it was a huge tall man really bulky yellow armor with a blue gem in the center of his chest which electricity was stored (6/ATK: 2400/DEF: 1500). "And now I'll use his special ability of destroying one Monster on your side of the side of the Field whose original ATK is lower than my Thunder Giant's! So let him have it Thunder Giant!" The newly fused Elemental Hero generated electricity from its hands and shot a beam of electricity destroying one of the Cyber Dragons. "And since I still have my attack, Thunder Giant, take out his last Cyber Dragon! Voltic Thunder!" Thunder Giant did the same attack and the last metallic dragon met the same fate like its carbon copy.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 1100
Zane: 2700
"Now I'll take a page out of your book and activate De-Fusion! Separating Thunder Giant into Sparkman and Clayman!" Thunder Giant glowed and split in two, having Sparkman in ATK mode (4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1400) and Clayman in DEF mode (4/ATK: 800/DEF: 2000). "Now Sparkman, attack directly with Static Shockwave!" Sparkman sent a wave of electricity at Zane and took a hit. And he still didn't flinch at all.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 1100
Zane: 1100
"Now they're tied!" Chumley exclaimed.
"They might actually win this!" Alexis added.
'Alexis's right, Jaden & Kurogasa might actually win this!' Syrus thought stunned at how the duel was doing.
"Yeesh… This guy isn't flinching at all." Kurogasa said. "But then again, it's no wonder he's the Kaiser of Duel Academy. I'll admit it, he's good."
"Yeah, he's not worried about anything at all!" Jaden said. "Man, you really are good Zane!"
"Thanks. You and Kurogasa are good too." Zane said. Kurogasa raised an eyebrow at this. 'He's… being nice?' He thought. Syrus was thinking the same thing.
'Huh?!' Syrus thought in surprise. 'Since when does Zane give props?'
"Okay then, I'll call it a turn! Give us what you got, Zane, We're ready for it!" Jaden said.
"I'm sure you two are. A good duelist is ready for anything. Even knowing the difference of using a card and playing a card can make the difference." Zane said as he glanced at Syrus briefly, which Kurogasa noticed, and then he sets his eyes back at Jaden and him. "... and you and Kurogasa play your cards well."
'Mattaku (1)…' Kurogasa scoffed in his thought as he realized it. 'Zane could've at least been a little more straightforward and not be an ice block about it.'
'Knowing how to play a card?' Syrus thought in wonder.
'That's a good compliment… but even better advice…' Jaden thought. 'Just hope Syrus is listening right now…'
And indeed Syrus was listening. 'Of course! Knowing how to play a card and knowing how to use a card are two totally different things! That's what he meant by what he said all those years ago! I understand it now! I just only wished I had realized it sooner and not at Jaden and Kurogasa's expense.' He realized.
'I think Syrus is gonna be just fine in his tag duel, now.' Alexis thought looking at Syrus.
"It's my turn!" Zane announced, drawing his lone card. "I activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards!" Zane drew two cards. "Then I activate Graceful Charity! This lets me draw three cards at the cost of discarding two from my Hand." Zane drew three cards and discarded two the Graveyard. "Next, I activate my facedown, Call of the Haunted to revive a monster I placed into the graveyard, Proto–Cyber Dragon!" A grey metallic dragon appeared. (3/ATK: 1100/DEF: 600) "Next, I play the Spell Card, Inferno Reckless Summon! I can only activate this when I Special Summon a Monster. Now I can Special Summon Monsters with the same name from my Hand, Deck, and Graveyard in ATK mode!" Two Cyber Dragons returned to the field. (5/2100/1000) x2
"Wait, that's not the same!" Jaden protested.
"Actually, it is… on the field the Proto–Cyber Dragon is treated as the original… now to end this by playing Polymerization to fuse to them together!" The two Cyber Dragon and Proto–Cyber Dragon fused together again and formed a second Cyber End Dragon (10/ATK: 4000/DEF: 2800).
"Crud, he got us…" Kurogasa muttered.
"Cyber End Dragon, attack Sparkman with Super Strident Blaze!" All three metallic dragon heads fired their three streams of fire and energy at the electric hero and was obliterated. The leftover damage came right at both them, hitting them dead on. After the blow, Jaden fell to his knees, head hung low with Kurogasa doing the same only with one knee.
Jaden/Kurogasa: 0
Zane: 1100
"Jaden! Kurogasa!" Chumley yelled.
"I can't believe it… they both lost…" Alexis said staring.
"No!" Syrus ran to his friends. But Jaden lifted his head as Syrus came to him, and smiled at the older Truesdale, "Great duel, Zane…"
"Argh…" Kurogasa said as he sat down Indian style and pouted a bit while crossing his arms being a bit miffed about it. "Yeah, yeah, good duel, I guess…"
Zane chuckled at the two and turned away, then looked back, smiling slightly. Syrus's eyes looked at his brothers and they just stood there for a while. After that while, Zane turned away again, but before he left, he turned his head back to Kurogasa. "Kurogasa?"
"Yeah?" He said looking at Zane.
"I've also heard from Alexis about your father. Good luck in finding him. Hopefully you'll find him soon."
"Uh… yeah, me too. Thanks…" Kurogasa said a bit taken aback. Zane nodded and on that note he walked away, with Alexis following after him.
"So… what do you think?" Alexis asked him, walking alongside him.
Zane retained his usual calm face. "I think Syrus has chosen some good friends…"
"Wow… your brother's got some mad skills, Syrus!" Jaden commented, watching Zane and Alexis leave.
Syrus shrugged. "Maybe, but mom says I got the looks in the family." All the other kids stared at him, speechless, and then began to laugh hard. Syrus laughed too, before stopping.
"Come on… let's go home and work on our decks." Jaden said. "And while we're at it, let's rearrange your deck so that you can use Power Bond." He offered.
Syrus nodded. "Yeah, good idea. Now I know how to play it, not just use it!"
"Well, I guess I'll see you guys later. I gotta work on my deck too." Kurogasa said as he waved off goodbye. As he walked back to his own dorm, his memories replayed the events of what just happened, particularly on the part with Zane said about playing and using a card. "That Zane… he could've at least been a bit more straightforward and not be an ice block about what he's trying to tell Syrus."
"Maybe he does care…" Urataros said as he appeared. "He's just being that one who stands apart from his brother…"
"I don't know…" Kurogasa said a bit uncertain.
"Think from a duelist's perspective; he's justified in not giving advice to anyone…"
"Yeah? Well, he had a weird way of showing it."
Meanwhile…
Crowler was in his office with a laptop on his desk, trying to think of the perfect opponent for Kurogasa. He's already gotten Jaden and Syrus's tag team opponents, but with Kurogasa's opponent, there are too many good ones and he just doesn't know who to pick.
"Think Dr. Crowler, think! Who would be a good opponent for Kurogasa at the expulsion duels?" Dr. Crowler said to himself. And then he was struck with inspiration. "Of course, I just have to look at his duel records of all his duels ever since he got his first duel disk! Crowler, you're a genius!" He then typed more into the computer and soon a Domino City profile of Kurogasa showed up on his screen. He looked up the list of duels and opponents that he went up against during his time in Domino City until he came to Duel Academy. He was searching and searching, until one duel showed up that piqued his interest. "Hmmmmm… this duel happened a few years back during that Neo Rare Hunter incident, and he lost against… oh… how interesting. Oh this is perfect! This will definitely send Kurogasa packing. He'll be so scared, he'll surrender immediately! I think I have found the perfect opponent for Kurogasa's expulsion duel! Hahahaha! Hahahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Oh boy… that can't be good… Who has Dr. Crowler picked for Kurogasa's opponent for his expulsion duel?! Well, you're gonna have to find out next chapter. I've decided to skip the Chumley/Chumley's Dad duel. I felt like it's more of a filler. I just wanna get straight to the point sometimes. So anyways, go ahead and get to reviewing people!
(1) – Good grief
