Trouble on Academy Island

by silentanner90

Jaden, Alexis, Aster, Bastion, and Chazz are entered into a unique tournament that pits them against the best Student Duelists of the world. Can they handle it? Also, what's up with those two American boys? Zane and Atticus are along for the ride too. R&R

11. Triple D, Part 5

Trouble on Academy Island, Episode 11: Triple D, Part 5

Previously in Trouble on Academy Island…

Much of the previous chapter was filled with a dream of Zane's that gave him what he called "the killer instinct", or the ability to ruthlessly dismantle an opponent when need be. (One life taken and two more on the line falls in the "need be" category.) When Zane awoke, he declared (in different wording) that he would no longer sit idly by and allow Tanner to treat lives without importance. As the duel stands, both Zane and Tanner have 4000 LP. Tanner has Different Dimension Gate and Silent God on the field, while Zane's side of the field is empty. It's Zane's turn.

Meanwhile, Hassleberry ingeniously defeated Crowler, winning a trip to Africa with Syrus, Mindy, and Jasmine. Sheppard warned them that they were not to interfere with the tournament, no matter what happened to their friends, and on that note, they went off to pack for their trip.

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­"Hardball, huh?" Tanner smirked at the notion of Zane dueling with passion. "Do you know what hardball is? Let's see, you're from Japan, so you should be familiar with baseball. Hardball is baseball played to its fullest, baseball played as if your life, or lives of those you care about are on the line. I can see this being applied to dueling, especially with Rhodes having just died as a result of my superiority, but you…"

Zane cut him off. "Tanner, how could you truly live with yourself taking life so lightly? You… you… just… killed another human being over a card game. And you can stand there contently, lecturing me on how I can't play hardball, even though this duel can be called as such because someone died due to your dueling superiority? You can stand there comfortably with two other people chained to a rooftop while your little brother stands near them, ready to take their lives once this little screen on a hunk of metal has only a zero staring at me? And then what after that? Are you going to take my life too, just because that screen showed up zero? Why? Why are you willing to take four lives over a card game? Is it because you want to prove yourself superior to everyone else? Is it because you want to test your limits? Is it because if any of us live through this, you won't be able to stay out of jail for stealing some 50 pieces of paper from Seto Kaiba? Or is it something else? Please, enlighten me, though it won't matter much, because when

I defeat you, I'm getting you arrested for more than just theft ASAP."

Tanner stood unmoving. "It's your turn, Truesdale. Just get it over with already."

Zane shot a cold stare at Tanner, then drew. "I'll throw three face downs and end."

Tanner: 4000

Zane: 4000

Tanner drew. "What a waste of a speech. Time to lose. Silent God, attack him."

Zane did not budge. "Right, because I'd play three face downs, but not one could protect me. Genius thinking there. I activate Negate Attack."

"Didn't hurt me, did it? So I have to say I was safe there."

"Really? What if I had Magic Cylinder face down? You're slipping, Tanner."

"You don't have the skills to draw a card like that, so I wasn't worried. I'll throw two face downs and end."

Zane drew, and Tanner smiled. "On your Standby Phase, Truesdale, I activate Demon's Upbringing. I'm sure you know the drill. I pay 1100 LP to Special Summon Silent Demon to the field. Then, I pay 500 more LP to use Silent Fusion (works similarly to Contact Fusion) to fuse my monsters, creating the ultimate Duel Monster, Silent Ultimatum! It can't be destroyed as a result of battle, though I have to pay 300 more LP each turn I want to keep it on the field. Good luck with saving your life now."

Zane chuckled. "Seems like luck is on my side then."

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The helicopter had just taken off, carrying four excited duelists to Africa. Mindy and Jasmine were gossiping, of course, and Hassleberry and Syrus were bursting with excitement.

"I bet Serge hasn't even lost a duel yet!" Hassleberry exclaimed.

"Jaden? No way. I don't think any of them would lose that quickly. They're all really good." Syrus replied.

Mindy got up and walked to the cockpit door, which was shut and locked, so she knocked. "How much longer? I need something comfortable to sit on."

The pilot chuckled. "Sweetie, we're going to Africa. You have a long time in that seat."

Jasmine shot up. "Africa! We wouldn't have come if we knew it was that far! Great; now we're stuck in a helicopter with these two for hours." Mindy nodded.

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Zane was smiling. "This Standby Phase isn't over. I activate Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying your spell. That returns Silent Sorcerer and Cyber Dragon to the field. Now that I have 15 cards in the grave, it's all over.

"I activate Exchange of the Spirit. By sacrificing 1000 LP, I swap our graveyards and decks. That means I have all but my Cyber Dragons in my graveyard. With 22 machines in my grave, I activate Overload Fusion! Including the Cyber Dragon on my field, that gives the Chimeratech Overdragon I'm summoning a grand total of 18400 ATK. How's that for Hardball, Tanner?"

"Slightly impressive," Tanner replied.

It seemed as though Jaden and Alexis were attempting to cheer, while Essen reacted similarly to Tanner.

Zane stood still. "That's all you can say when you've lost? Fine. Overdragon, attack."

"Not so fast, Truesdale. I activate Ultimatum's Hidden Power! By sacrificing 2000 LP, I can power up my Silent Ultimatum by 600 ATK for each Silent in my grave. I have 23, so that's 13800 more ATK, giving him a grand total of 18800! You're out of luck, buddy."

"Shit. That backfired. I'll throw a face down and end."

Zane knew that this would be last turn, no matter what. And he couldn't even rely on a monster. His strongest one was sitting in his graveyard, plus he didn't have too many strong monsters left in his deck. Tanner had to make a mistake.

Tanner: 400

Zane: 2600

"I draw," said Tanner, smugly. "Now I'll summon my Silent Sorcerer, and as a precaution, attack with it first to dispose of your trap card."

"Mistake, Tanner. I lose the 1600 LP, but you're done. My card's Nightmare Wheel, paralyzing your Ultimatum. It can't attack, plus you lose 500 LP during each of my Standby Phases. Last I checked, you can't take that hit. I won, Tanner. You have no cards in your hand and no face downs on the field."

Jaden and Alexis tried to smile through their gags. They had been saved.

Tanner looked dejected. There was nothing he could do. "I end my turn."

Tanner: 400

Zane: 1000

"Draw. My Standby Phase hits now. You lose 500 LP, and that's what I like to call game, Tanner; you lose."

Zane smirked. "By the way, you said I didn't have the skills to draw Magic Cylinder? Well, you were right. But I drew something just as good. Oh, and if I can't play hardball, then you must be in Little League."

Tanner: 0

Zane: 1000

Tanner looked up. "You stole my catchphrase, you bastard."

"I knew it sounded familiar. Now then, release my friends. I won the duel."

"Oh come on, Zane, I stole a deck from Kaiba Corp. It's not like I play fair. I'll let them live, but I'm taking the key. Break them out yourself."

With that, Essen and Tanner went back into the hotel, smug as ever.

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Seto Kaiba smirked. "My suspicions were right, Mokuba. Morganis stole the cards. He just admitted it."

Mokuba Kaiba was 25 now, and was basically a copy of Seto, except for his darker hair. "Should I head over and arrest him? You haven't slept in days trying to figure this out."

"No," Seto replied. "I'm gonna let him finish with the tournament. I'll arrest him after the finals to show everyone what happens when they cross Seto Kaiba."

"Fine, do what you want. I'm going to bed."

Seto sighed. His plan had worked. By leaving no referees around, he was able to find out if the thief was in the tournament. "Perfect," he said no one in particular.

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Zane couldn't figure out how to break out Jaden and Alexis, so he merely untied their gags and their hands.

Alexis hugged Zane. "You saved our lives, Zane." She immediately broke down crying, and Zane couldn't think of anything to say; her brother had been murdered in front of her just moments earlier.

After a minute or so, Jaden had had enough. "Zane, can you get us out of these chains already?"

Zane quickly backed off of Alexis, who was still crying. "You know, you could feel some sympathy."

"Why? What happened?"

"Are you serious? Atticus was killed."

"Really? Holy crap! I fell asleep for most of the duel."

Zane sighed. "I should've guessed."

Jaden turned to Alexis. "I'm really sorry, Lex."

Alexis looked up. "Thanks, Jay. Zane, it's like 5 AM. Can you get us out?"

"I would if I had the key. Tanner took it back to his room… what about my duel disk? It's probably hard enough to break it."

Zane slid his disk under each of the chains, and he broke them off Jaden and Alexis, leg by leg. They each thanked Zane, and walked to the edge of the roof.

Jaden pointed to the sky. "Atticus, I promise you that I will win this tournament and take down Tanner! No one will beat me!"

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(1) Negate Attack

Counter Trap

Activate only when an opponent's monster declares an attack. Negate the attack of that 1 monster and end the Battle Phase.

(2) Demon's Upbringing

Ritual Trap

Pay 1100 LP after activating this card to Ritual Summon "Silent Demon".

(3) Silent Demon

11/Dark/Fiend/Ritual/Effect/3900/3500

This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Ritual Summoned by the effect of "Demon's Upbringing". When you have no other monsters on the field and this monster is summoned, destroy all of your opponent's monsters.

(4) Silent Ultimatum

12/Light/Divine-Beast/Fusion/Effect/5000/4000

This card can only be Fusion Summoned when you give up 500 LP and both "Silent God" and "Silent Demon" are on you side of the field. You must pay 300 LP each turn to keep this monster on the field. This monster can't be destroyed as a result of battle.

(5) Mystical Space Typhoon

Quick-Play Spell

Destroy 1 Spell or Trap Card on the field.

(6) Exchange of the Spirit

Normal Trap

You can only activate this card by paying 1000 Life Points while there are 15 or more cards in your Graveyard. Both players swap the cards in their Graveyard with the card(s) in their Deck. Then, shuffle the card(s) in each new Deck, and put it on the Deck Zone.

(7) Overload Fusion

Normal Spell

Remove from play, from your side of the field or your Graveyard, Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on a DARK Machine-Type Fusion Monster Card, and Special Summon that 1 Fusion Monster from your Fusion Deck. (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon.)

(8) Chimeratech Overdragon

9/Dark/Machine/Fusion/Effect/?/?

"Cyber Dragon" 1 or more Machine-Type monsters
This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. When this card is Fusion Summoned, send all other cards you control to the Graveyard. The original ATK and DEF of this card are 800 x the number of Fusion Material Monsters used for the Fusion Summon of this card. Each turn, this card can attack as many of your opponent's monsters as the number of Fusion Material Monsters used for the Fusion Summon of this card.

(9) Ultimatum's Hidden Power

Quick-Play Spell

Sacrifice 2000 LP to power up a Silent Ultimatum on your field by 600 ATK for each "Silent" card in your grave.

(10) Silent Sorcerer

4/Dark/Spellcaster/1600/1200

(11) Nightmare Wheel

Continuous Trap

Select 1 monster on your opponent's side of the field. As long as this card remains face-up on the field, the selected monster cannot attack or change its battle position. During each of your Standby Phases, this card inflicts 500 points of damage to your opponent's Life Points. When the selected monster is removed from the field, destroy this card.

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I don't know if it was apparent, but Tanner calls Zane by his first name after the duel. This is his form of respect.

Next time, Round 2 begins with a very tired Jaden taking on Bastion. Can he fulfill his promise to Atticus?

Next Chapter: Fire, Reignited, Part 1

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