Black and Red
You have no idea how much of a trial it was to get this chapter done. I'd better get some reviews for this...
Companion stories to this one include Gold and Silver. Please read it as well since the plot isn't complete without it.
Okay, as far as transcribing goes, I took major steps back, but you know what, in my defense, I thought I was going to have to transcribe most of these duels. Anyway, I took the show's dialogue from Hidden Eyes Telling Lies by Queen of Briannia. Again, it wasn't taken maliciously, so don't gut me for it, okay?
This chapter has three names. The first two are (roughly) the English titles of Episodes 10 and 11, the Japanese translating to "Judai [Jaden] and Sho [Syrus]! Tag Duel, Part 1" and "Judai and Sho! Tag Duel, Part 2", and then the next one is my own personal dub for the chapters, "Unexpected Results".
I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, "Want You Gone" from Portal 2, or "Colors" by FLOW. I wish I did though...
Chapter Ten/Eleven: "Tag Team Trial, Parts One and Two" or "Unexpected Results".
Chazz was trying desperately to figure out what he'd done wrong the last time he'd seen Sora. Okay, we dueled and I beat him, but that can't be it, I usually defeat him without too much trouble, we both know I'm the better duelist out of the two of us. That would mean the source came from something I did before our duel… but what is it? More importantly, how am I supposed to redeem myself if I don't even know what I did?
"That Slifer slacker's made a fool of me for long enough!"
Silver eyes widened. Of course! Sora did want to keep the slacker here, along with the little hobbit, and he always does like it when I'm nice to someone without any ulterior motives… I guess I could give this a shot. He strode forward, ignoring the fleeing Slifers and instead approaching the muttering teacher. "Doctor Crowler."
The man wheeled around impatiently. "Ah, Chazz, how may I be of service?" he asked, giving a gracious smile.
"You can put me in that tag team duel against Jaden and Syrus, that's how." He stood straight, trying to look every inch the intimidating Princeton that he was.
The effeminate blond pretended to look surprised. "You?"
"That's right," he replied confidently, "this time I know I can beat him and send him packing." If Zane can beat him, then so can I! I won't be second-rate to some Slifer now that I know an Obelisk can beat him! He ignored the notion in his mind that, in spite of Jaden being a fairly good duelist (the fact that he was a Slifer when he was able to defeat opponents much tougher than himself had made it fairly obvious that he was kept in the red dorm only by his own choice), he couldn't quite manage to condone the idea of his brother dating the perky brunet, again the idea flying in the face of the fact that he had considered the other as a potential boyfriend before Zane handed him his defeat. Chazz would be damned if he admitted he was wrong without good reason!
"Sorry, but you'll be sitting this duel out, Chazz," Crowler sneered.
"Huh?" Chazz blurted in surprise, blinking. The Princeton charm had never failed to get him what he wanted, even if it was only something he just handed right to his twin.
"Don't get me wrong," the man continued as if the ravenet hadn't interrupted, "your skills are admirable, but I'm afraid I'm not taking any chances on this one. If Jaden loses here, he'll be expelled from the Duel Academy once and for all, which is why he'll be facing the greatest tag duelists in the world." Thus said, he turned on his heel and strutted off like the vain peacock he was.
The look on Chazz's face was not too far from that of a cat some innocent sap (most likely one of Alexis's dumb-ass friends) shoved in a washing machine and put the settings on cold water, extra rinse. His imaginary tail twitching spastically behind him with his anger, he stalked over to the duel arena, hoping to get a seat where he wouldn't have to conceal so much of his inner debate. As much as he didn't want to admit it to himself, he didn't want Jaden to leave the academy… and it wasn't just because Sora was fond of him.
"The Tag Duel will begin in just a few moments, and remember, these are test conditions! This is a sudden expulsion match!"
Sora rolled his eyes at the announcer's over-enthusiasm, settling himself beside Chazz and scanning the crowd for Bastion, unable to contain a tightening of his jaw when the Obelisk girl Alexis sat down beside the other Ra, who had accepted that the redhead was allowed to deal with his own seating arrangements for the duel. Noticing where his twin's eyes were going, the ravenet couldn't help but ask "Jealous, Sora?"
The redhead jolted, his silver eyes wide as he refocused on his brother. "N-no," he stuttered, blushing.
Huh, Sora has a crush on the Ra genius… Chazz mused to himself, his fingers tapping against his arms. Odd, he's never really liked anyone since that one boy he dated, Benito Devlin… "Whatever you say, Sora."
"Send in the accused!" the announcer cried, causing both Princetons to look down towards the arena; no one sat near the Obelisk, the elder's best death glare doing enough to force the others to keep their distance even though no one particularly recognized the redhead with the dark blue jacket (Chazz lent his brother an Obelisk uniform jacket so that no one would figure out he was sitting next to his twin in Ra), "Syrus Truesdale and Jaden Yuki!"
At the sight of the pair, the brunet looking not the least bit concerned for the future that was hanging in the balance, he felt a surge of anger that had him throwing his foot against the seat in front of him, startling his two lackeys but not his twin. Sora knew Chazz had some problems with his temper, most of them a result of his overprotective nature to compensate for the authority figures in their lives not giving a damn about them. "You Slifer slackers," the ravenet hissed, "it should be me taking you out! But I guess as long as someone does it…"
"Chazz!" Sora cried in shock, silver eyes wide. Could… could I have been wrong about his feelings for Jaden?
He flushed, looking down and letting his hair cover his pink cheeks. "Sorry," he muttered, his silver eyes focused on his hands. "I'm just really pissed that Crowler wouldn't let men help keep them here, especially since I've heard he hired professionals to take them down."
Sora softened, patting his shoulder reassuringly. "At least you tried," he offered, giving a forlorn smile. "It's better than what I did." I completely forgot about taking it up with Crowler to be honest… He shook his head at the memory that popped into his head, that of how it felt to be curled up in Bastion's bed as the slumbering genius draped an arm possessively over his stomach, fighting off a blush. "Still, if what you say is true, this should be interesting." He leaned back in his seat, content to be a spectator for once and trying to ignore the red flashing in the corner of his vision. I'm not going there today, no I'm not, I'm just going to sit here with my brother and watch his love interest duel and not indulge in the fantasy I created when I was five and I had nothing other than Chazz, who was gone all the time!
It was going to be a long duel.
"Now without further ado, allow me to introduce our guest Tag Team duo!" Crowler announced, his arm raised as two men in kimonos flipped out onto the stage in a stunning display of gymnastics. "The Paradox Brothers!"
Sora sighed. "You might want to look into that transfer," he muttered wryly, talking over the brothers. "With those opponents, I'd be surprised if they win."
"Uh, I've never heard of these guys," Jaden commented.
"Me neither," Syrus replied, "Maybe this Tag Match won't be so bad."
"Perhaps," Crowler stated, "After all, they haven't dueled in ages and their last opponent was a child. I believe he went by the name of Yugi something…"
"Hey Chumley! Looks like you're gonna have a whole lot more room in your dorm now, your friends are toast," the ravenet called mockingly to the obese Slifer, regretting the words the instant they fell from his lips. He didn't want to be mean to Jaden, but his brothers had a lot of influence in the school, and if they caught wind that he was gay, things wouldn't end well for either Princeton twin.
Since Sora had never been one for listening to the prattle of card effects, he pulled out his earphones, listening to the mechanical tunes of "Want You Gone" instead of the Paradox brothers' introductions. If he wanted to know an effect so badly, he could always look it up on his PDA.
Sora winced as Gate Guardian took the field, biting his lip. Things aren't looking good… he despaired, looking at across the ring to see Bastion and Alexis conversing closely. His jaw tightened as his silver eyes narrowed, furious at the thought of his friend with the girl Chazz was using as his cover. At the sudden flash of red across his peripheral vision, he closed his eyes tightly, pushing his anger back to a pinprick in the corner of his mind. A distraction, he thought desperately, I need a distraction. "Hey Chazz, remember that time when we were little and I accidentally pushed Slade down into a patch of mud in a pig pen at one of those fairground petting zoos?"
The Obelisk chuckled. "What about it?"
"I'm trying to remember… was he about to call me a bitch or a bastard before Jagger fell on top of him and knocked the wind right out of his stomach?"
Chazz laughed at that. "I think it was actually to call you a brat," he corrected, glad to see the cheerful sparkle back in the other's silver eyes. He had never seen Sora so angry before, so the fact that he had pushed aside that outsurge of emotion was a reassuring thought to the elder Princeton twin and he settled back to continue watching the match while keeping an eye on Bastion and Alexis out of the corner of his eye. If there was one thing he would not stand for, it was his younger twin getting hurt when he could prevent it.
"Chazz? You all right?" one of his lackeys, the one with the blue hair, asked, not quite used to the idea of the ravenet Obelisk indulging in expressions of mirth. Like a prey animal, Sora went still beside his brother, hoping that if he made no movements, he would avoid notice. He was wrong, his bright red hair had gotten him noticed from the start, but neither boy commented on the disguised Ra since they were under the impression that Chazz would strangle them with their own intestines if they said anything about it.
/Kuriiiii!/
Sora's eyes widened as his head shot up, focusing on Jaden and the little ball of brown fluff with white wings beside him. Even more importantly, Jaden smiled at it and quipped, "I know, I don't think they got it either."
Could… could he see them too? Might I not be insane like they claimed I was? The copper-haired Princeton bit his lip, glancing over to where his duel spirit had been earlier only to find the red-cloaked spirit gone. "Figures," he muttered darkly to himself.
"What was that?" Chazz asked, looking over at his twin.
"Nothing," Sora reassured, leaning back against his seat and returning his attention to the duel.
Drillroid's attack destroyed Defense Wall, which gave Sora reason to cheer even if Chazz snickered. "Those two must've forgotten that Defense Wall automatically intersects any attack," he chortled.
"No way!" Sora protested, eyes gleaming. "Jaden's facedown has to count for something, and I bet he's got something up his sleeve!"
"Nice work wasting your attack there, slacker," Chazz snorted, his own way of appreciating and condescending the move. Sure, it had been impressive, but indeed no more than show, which was something Chazz himself did not condone in a deck.
Sora grinned at the sight of his card. "I activate the card Emblem of Dragon Destroyer!" he yelled, watching as the fancy gold appeared on the field. "This allows me to add one Buster Blader from my deck or my Graveyard to my hand!" He then smirked. "Now I sacrifice my Luster Dragon and my The Dark: Hex-Sealed Fusion in order to summon him to the field!"
Chazz's own smirk grew at the sight of the intimidating warrior. "Nice creature," he complimented. "Such a shame he'll be a waste." He waved his hand, revealing his trap card. "I activate the card Ring of Destruction! This will destroy your Buster Blader and end the duel!"
Sora's eyes watered and he tried not to scrub at his eyes, his appearance more like a doll than his twin's own gangly limbs. "Meanie!" he yelled, scampering away throughout the hallways of the large mansion to the table where Slade was working on his homework, the littlest Princeton clambering up into his eldest brother's lap in a search for comfort. "Slade, Chazz is being mean again!"
The teen sighed, setting his pencil down but turning his attention to the little redhead. "What did he do this time, Sora?"
Said redhead pouted. "He told me my Buster Blader was a waste and then used its destruction to make me lose!"
"I didn't mean it that way, Sora, honest!" Both boys looked up to see Chazz panting, his mess of hair falling into his silver eyes as he had run after his twin. "I was trying to make you see that if you had used your Fusion Sage and gotten out your Dark Paladin, you would've won!" He had approached during his speech, the two twins now within arms' length when Slade subtly slid the youngest boy into Chazz's embrace, where he happily buried his face in Chazz's collar to try to hide a sniffle as Jagger paused in the doorway from where he'd gotten a glass of water before attempting to finish his geography reading, not wanting to disturb the peaceful scene. No matter what happened, the Princetons were siblings and they did love each other, even if they didn't say it aloud.
As UFOroid took the field, Sora's cell phone went off, the sounds of "Colors" by FLOW accompanying his little yelp at the feel of something vibrating against his thigh. He flashed Chazz an apologetic smile as he fished it from his pocket, climbing the stairs and ducking into a quiet alcove. "Benito!" he hissed, "I thought I told you not to call me on this number!"
He heard laughter on the end, along with the thrum of the bass to some damn club song. "Sì, sì, but come on, little guerriero, Mystic said you were a very interesting place, and dai, do you really expect me to resist, il mio amor?"
"Don't call me that!" he growled into the phone, "I'm not yours, and I don't love you anymore!" A thought occurred to him then. "Benito, are you drunk?"
"Mmmm, forse?"
"Maybe?" the redhead snapped before he sighed, massaging his brow. "Look, Benito, just hang up and go back to your room and sleep this off until you're done with your hangover. You don't want to lose Mystic in the city, now do you?"
"Mmm, you're right, ma belle. Arrivederci, il mio amor!"
Sora sighed as he snapped his phone shut. No matter how carefree he sounded, Benito never called him unless there was something important involved. Of course, due to the fact that the Italian was drunk, there was no hope of extracting that information from him until he sobered up, which wasn't likely until the hangover was pounding against the other male's temples.
Tapping a single combat boot against the floor, he decided he'd spend what was left of the duel with Bastion and started off, coming back into the arena to see that the duel was over, obviously to the Slifers' triumph as Jaden and Syrus celebrated delightedly. He watched Chazz sneer and stalk off, his two lackeys running after him, before turning his attention back down towards the arena in time to see Jaden smile at the Paradox brothers and say, "And you guys? Let me just say it was a great honor, and if you ever want a rematch, just holler."
"Well said, Jaden, and I'm sure it will be even better written," the Chancellor stated from the sidelines, making the brunet Slifer pale and freeze. "That's right, I'd like a five-page report. I want to read all about what you learned while dueling the brothers and how it helped you realize that trespassing in the Abandoned Dorm was wrong."
"Aw," Jaden muttered, his face quickly turning into that of a kid who didn't get what he wanted on Christmas morning, "talk about a bummer."
"How about ten pages then?" the man stated cheerfully, "and single spaced too."
"I'll make sure they get it done, Chancellor," Professor Banner assured, Pharaoh letting out a contented meow from his arms.
"Aw, how can I write ten pages? I've never even read that much!" Jaden lamented, turning his back on the teacher, his hands in his hair. After a moment, he turned back around, a strange look on his face as he grumbled. "Ten whole pages, that's practically a book!" Syrus tried to stop the brunet, but he continued in his little fit. "My life is so over." He slumped over. "I don't even know how to spell Paradox Brothers! And do all their parts have to rhyme? Aw, this is gonna take forever!"
Bastion and Alexis were clapping when Sora came in, but he didn't bother to feel the least bit guilty as he swooped in on his fellow Ra. "Come on, you're coming with me!" he grunted, not giving the mathematician time to react before he was yanking him off in the direction of the yellow dorm.
"Hey!" the Brit protested as soon as he managed to figure out what was happening, "Sora! What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" The redhead didn't respond, instead merely tightening his grip on the other's sleeve. "Sora!" Bastion desperately thought back on his actions, trying to figure out what was bothering the gamer; he could only think of one. "Sora, are you jealous that I was sitting with Alexis?"
To his surprise, the smaller Ra stopped dead, nearly causing him to run into him as he seemed to be fighting back a blush. He hadn't expected to hit the nail on the head then, but it appeared that his shot in the dark had hit the bulls-eye. "Sora," he murmured softly, making no attempt to pull his arm from the other's grip now, "you do know that there's room in my heart for more than one person, right?"
He heard the younger Ra give a harsh sniffle. "Yeah," he replied roughly, his gaze turned to an innocent patch of grass, "I know." If he saw any of the sparkles on the redhead's cheeks, he said nothing of it, allowing Sora the opportunity to rejoice in the notion that in spite of his behavior, he still held a place in Bastion's heart.
Okay, Benito is entirely my own design, but honestly, he's pretty fun. He'll also play a large part in the next chapter (so look out, Bastion and Chazz, your position as Sora's MVP is under fire!). However, his Italian goes as follows (and don't quote me on this, I'm not Italian):
Sì- Yes
guerriero- warrior
dai- come on
il mio amor- my love
forse- maybe/perhaps
ma belle- my pretty
Arrivederci- Goodbye (formal)
Bastion: ...
Chazz: *groans* Please, just shoot me now.
Jaden: *bounces up* If you review, we'll give you a picture of Chazz when he was little.
Chazz: HEY, GIVE THOSE BACK! *tries to kill Jaden for taking his pictures from where he'd hid them*
Jaden: GAH! *runs for his life*
Bastion: *is the real one with the pictures* ... You know, these are downright scary. I mean, the idea of Chazz as a small child is downright shocking...
... *is too busy drooling over pictures of younger teenage years to answer*
Last edited: 10/20/2011
