Trouble on Academy Island, Episode 10: Triple D, Part 4
Previously in Trouble on Academy Island…
Syrus survived the attack by Crowler's dragon with help from Hassleberry, but shortly thereafter, Napoleon summoned his Toy Emperor and defeated Syrus. Crowler then tried to bend the rules and suspended Syrus, but Chancellor Sheppard showed up with Jasmine and Mindy in the nick of time. Hassleberry was backed into a corner at first, but pulled himself out of it by taking out Napoleon. As the duel stands, Hassleberry is losing by 2800 LP with an attack that will finish him heading right for his monster.
Meanwhile, on the hotel's roof, Tanner played a card called Word of the Silents. Zane activated Future Fusion, sending two of his Cyber Dragons to the grave. Essen then summoned one of his strongest monsters, Exxod, Master of the Guard, but was soon defeated anyway. Four turns later, Tanner's Word of the Silents card showed its worth by summoning Silent God to the field. He proceeded to remove all of Zane's monsters from the field and attacked Atticus's Red-Eyes. The chapter ended with this: "Zane stood stiff, knowing that there was nothing he could do. The blast came at full speed disintegrating Red-Eyes, but it didn't stop there. It continued through to Atticus, hitting him hard. Hard enough to knock him off the roof and end his life."
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Or so he thought. Zane went to the edge of the roof only to find Atticus lying on a balcony. He was unbelievably lucky, even though he seemed to have broken a leg and was lying in a growing pool of blood. From what Zane could tell, he was unconscious.
"Tanner, I need to go down there and get him. I'll finish you when I get back." Zane said, a grim, though relieved, look on his face.
"You'll finish now, Truesdale. I'm not waiting around for you."
"Make me."
Zane then jumped off the roof, landing on the balcony a story below. Atticus had landed on an abnormally large balcony three more stories below, and Zane had to think quickly, because Atticus was losing blood, and fast.
Then it hit him: his duel disk was activated! He quickly summoned his Infernal Dragon and jumped on, floating down to Atticus. When Zane got off his dragon, he inspected Atticus more closely. He had a huge gash on his left elbow and his left leg was indeed broken. It seemed as though Atticus had used his left side to brace himself for impact. Zane cautiously turned him over to see the source of the blood puddle. Atticus had a huge cut down his spine where the blood was escaping from and part of the spine was protruding from the cut. He would likely be paralyzed.
Zane lay Atticus across his dragon's back and began floating back to the roof when he realized he'd left Jaden and Alexis chained to the ground with only Tanner and Essen around and no one likely in earshot. When Zane reached the roof, his fears proved true: Alexis and Jaden were gone. Essen was too, meaning he had done something with them.
Zane set Atticus down, not knowing what to deal with first. His best friend was dying, and for all he knew Alexis and Jaden were dead already. He had to worry about Atticus first and foremost.
He threw Atticus over his shoulder, and removing Infernal Dragon from the field, he put his Duel Disk in the loaded position. Zane proceeded to ignore Tanner, who was standing across the roof, smirking, and broke threw the door to the hotel, sprinting down multiple flights of stairs until he reached the floor Duel Academy students were staying on. Zane knocked on a door marked 302; it was Aster's room.
After a few knocks, Aster opened the door quietly. He rubbed his eyes, seemingly disgusted that Zane would knock on his door at almost 5:00 A.M.
"Zane, it's 5:00. What reason could you possibly have for waking me up this early?"
Zane did not answer, but it would've proved worthless anyway; just as Aster had finished asking the question, a grim look etched itself on his face. He now knew why Zane had knocked on his door: there was a dying person slung over his shoulder. Zane went inside and set Atticus down on Aster's spare bed.
"You need to get him to a hospital, and quickly." Zane turned to leave.
Aster was unsatisfied. "How'd this happen? And what's so important that you can't do it yourself?"
"No time to explain," Zane said curtly, then walked out.
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Crowler: 3200
Syrus: 0
Napoleon: 0
Hassleberry: 400
Hassleberry remained stiff as Crowler's chimera charged towards his dinosaur.
Crowler laughed. "I have this won. Say goodbye to a month of school!"
Hassleberry merely smiled. "Did you really think you could beat me that easy, Crowler? I activate Magic Cylinder! Now you lose 2300 LP!"
Crowler grunted. "I'll end my turn."
Crowler: 900
Syrus: 0
Napoleon: 0
Hassleberry: 400
Hassleberry stared at his hand. He had only two ways to win, having no strong monsters in his hand: either get lucky and draw a strong monster, or draw an equip card strong enough to win it.
He drew, hoping for the best. "Well, well, well," he said, staring at his drawn card, "looks like I'll be able to pull this off after all. I activate the equip card Malevolent Nuzzler on my Sabersaurus. That powers it up to a whopping 2600 ATK, enough to beat your Gadjiltron Chimera."
Crowler laughed. "Even if you defeat my beast, you still won't survive past next turn. Too bad, you had me scared for a split second."
"I know you're probably bluffing, but either way, I'll attack. Sabersaurus, attack Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera!"
Crowler stood, unmoved, as he took the hit and his LP dropped.
Crowler: 0
Syrus: 0
Napoleon: 0
Hassleberry: 400
Crowler looked down at his LP counter in shock. "This stupid thing is broken! I have 600 LP left!"
Hassleberry smiled. "Everything's exactly right, chief. I must've forgotten to tell you that I activated Rush Recklessly from my hand right before the attack, which would give Sabersaurus 3300 ATK. Sorry about that. Well, fair is fair, tell Sy and I where Jaden is."
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Zane opened the door to the roof, but now Essen had returned. Zane walked over to Essen briskly.
"Where the hell are Jaden and Alexis?"
Essen chuckled. "Let's just say, duel Tanner, and if you're lucky, they'll be okay."
Zane charged at Essen. "You smug jackass, tell me where they are!"
Tanner responded from behind Zane this time. "Maybe you should finish our duel and Essen will be kind enough to tell you."
Zane wheeled around to face Tanner, seething with rage. "Was I talking to YOU?!"
"Do I care?"
"That's it." Zane proceeded to rear back and punch Tanner in the face. Hard.
Tanner stumbled backwards, taken aback. "Save the cheap shots for the duel, Truesdale." He was completely calm, even with the blood streaming from his cheek.
"There is no duel! You put three lives in danger, and one of them you likely took. And all you can talk about is a card game?" Zane had calmed down, more surprised than angry at this point. "How about I speak your language? Tell me where my friends are, or I'll kill your brother."
"You won't do it, Truesdale, you're weak. You've always been weak. That's why you can't win a duel: you don't have the killer instinct that I have. You'll never win a duel against someone with it if you don't have it, and you'll never beat me."
Zane dropped to the floor. (Zane's thoughts follow.) "I don't have it, Tanner's right. I would never kill Essen, I can't take a life. But Alexis, Jaden, and Atticus might very well die, and I need to exact my revenge, even if it means going against my beliefs."
"Are you ready to continue our duel so I can finish you off, Truesdale?"
"No, I have more important things to worry about." He walked over to Essen and picked him up by the collar. "Last time. Where are they?"
"Finish your duel."
Zane walked over to the edge of the roof and dangled Essen over the ledge. "Where did you say they were?"
At this, Tanner tapped Zane on the shoulder. He wheeled around, and Tanner grabbed Essen. Tanner then decided to pay back Zane by punching him in the gut.
"Long live the king," Tanner said obnoxiously.
Zane stumbled backwards, but had nowhere to step, and fell from the roof.
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Crowler was still in shock that he had lost the duel. "Like I'd ever tell you."
Sheppard grew angry. "Crowler!"
"I mean, I'll put you and your friends on the next flight to Africa to see everyone duel in the secret tournament."
Syrus jumped up. "Secret tournament? Awesome!"
Sheppard lowered his head. "Not really, Syrus. This tournament is very dangerous, and I feel badly that I subject your friends to this risk, but I'm sure Mr. Kaiba has everything under control."
Jasmine and Mindy ran out of the auditorium, likely to pack, gossiping all the way.
Sheppard turned to Syrus and Hassleberry, who had joined him in the stands. "I had hoped to tell the girls this too, but you can relay it on the way. By no means are any of you to interfere with anything going on in the tournament. Understand?"
"But what if someone's in trouble?" Syrus protested.
"The others can help. If Mr. Kaiba finds out that any of you interfered, the school will be greatly penalized. So no interfering whatsoever. Got it?"
Hassleberry stood at attention. "Yes sir!" Syrus nodded and the two went off to pack.
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As Zane was falling, he could not help but think of how weird things had gotten since Atticus's fall. Why was there such a huge balcony? How did he ride a Duel Monster hologram? None of it mattered now, because he was falling to his death.
Then, he heard a voice. "Truesdale, make your damn turn already." It was Tanner's.
Zane opened his eyes. He was back on the roof, and along with him were Alexis and Jaden (still tied up) along with Essen. It had all been a dream.
Zane knew what was coming next. He walked over to the edge of the roof to see Atticus's body on the ground, many stories below. Atticus was truly dead. This realization was a hard truth. Zane's best friend truly was dead, but his dream had brought about a change in him: Zane now knew what it felt like to have the killer instinct.
Zane walked back to the duel, slowly, but confidently, a changed man. "Fine Tanner, it's my move, and the fun's over. Atticus's death will not be in vain. I'm playing hardball now."
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(1) Magic Cyliner
Normal Trap
Negate the attack of 1 of your opponent's monsters and inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster's ATK.
(2) Malevolent Nuzzler
Equip Spell
Increase the ATK of a monster equipped with this card by 700 points. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard, if you pay 500 Life Points, this card returns to the top of your Deck.
(3) Rush Recklessly
Quick-Play Spell
Target face-up monster gains 700 ATK until the end of this turn.
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So, what'd you think? I worked hard on this idea. The thing with Zane was that he's such a cold person, and I wanted to create a new side to him, and the dream sequence, I thought, was able to usher one in. So no one asks, the stuff in Duel Academy really happened, so Hassleberry actually won.
Can Zane's new "killer instinct" bring him to victory? Find out in the final installment of this duel!
Next Chapter: Triple D, Part 5
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