Dai was sitting with V-Mon and Renamon high up in the stands as they watched the Slifer and Ra gym class playing baseball, Jaden being red hot on the field.
He was up to bat when Bastion ran in late and was given the place as pitcher.
What surprised the Digidestind and digimon was the fact that the Ra male has just thrown three balls and got the Slifer King out.
"Oh my Ra." Dai gasped as V-Mon's jaw was dropped wide open and Renamon was concerned over her partner's pride being in question.
After that, Jaden was then pitcher and kept throwing the ball so that the yellow team just walked to their bases.
"What's he doing?" V-Mon asked confused.
"He's being stupid, that's what." Dai said as she leaned back in her seat with her arms crossed.
"Huh?" her dragon asked.
"Jaden's pride has been questioned. He wants to face Bastion to settle a score between them." Renamon explained as she kept to the shadows as always.
As Bastion walked up to bat, there were flames of friendly rivalry burning from him and Jaden as the challenge was set.
Jaden didn't hold back when he threw the ball and Bastion gave the ball one hard whack with his bat, making it sail over out of the field and hit Crowler while he was walking by.
"Ohhhh!" Dai and V-Mon exclaimed at that knowing Jaden would be in trouble, but it would be worth it to know that Crowler had gotten his just deserts.
"That was sweet!" Agunimon cheered as Grumblemon stood beside him with his Master's cell phone, recording what had happened.
The duo of Miracles ran down to go meet up with the Slifer duo to see what would happen next.
"Uh, heads up!" Jaden cried as Renamon appeared in the shadows watching over him, ready to attack Crowler if she needed to.
One of these days she would.
Crowler got up from the ground and the Slifer King, Queen and Syrus yelped at the cross dressing man's face, the baseball stuck in his eye.
"YOU?! Well, of course! Who else could cause such intense pain?" Crowler yelled.
"Now that's keeping your eye on the ball." Syrus said as he hugged V-Mon to him for protection.
"Sorry. It was-"Jaden said.
"My fault!" Bastion called as he ran over.
"I was the one who hit the ball." He said making Crowler look at him in shock, all trace of anger fading away.
"Of course! Here I was struggling to find a new accomplice and here smacks me right in the face. Well, the eye actually, but that's besides the point." The Obelisk teacher gushed making everyone give him strange looks while the fox's eyes glinted in anger.
"Dr. Crowler, accept my apologies." Bastion said bowing his head.
"NO! NO! NO! NO!" Crolwer yelled with his arms crossed in an X in front of his chest.
"I've been meaning to have my contacts refitted for ages and now I have the perfect excuse…and perfect new protégé." He said.
"This guy's insane." V-Mon whispered.
"All right you three, you caused enough trouble! Now shoo! SHOO! SHOO!" Crowler snarled at the Slifers, the baseball falling from his eye.
"All right, but that was foul, Bastion. Bye!" Jaden called as he, his cousin, friend, partner and the dragon ran off from the teacher and Ra student.
The next day, Bastion came to the Slifer dorm to find the trio and asked them for some help as payment for bailing them out.
"All right, so it wasn't a foul, Bastion." Jaden said as the group walked to the Ra dorm, V-Mon and Viximon being carried by their partners.
"Over the center field fence usually isn't." Syrus said.
"I play like I duel." Bastion said as he showed them his bat that had writing on it.
"With formulas. See, I find that science, statistics, geometry; they play a role in everything that we do in life." He explained.
"Wow. I never looked at it that way." Jaden said.
"So you have a formula for everything, Bastion?" Syrus asked.
The black haired male laughed as he led the group to his room.
"And here we are." He said opening the door and the Slifers gasped at all of the writing that were decorating the walls and ceiling.
"And where's that?" the boys asked.
"My lab, my workshop, dorm room. That area is for traps." Bastion said pointing out one of them.
"That's for spell cards and that's, well, you get the idea."
"Dude, I am so introducing you to Izzy. He would love to meet you." Dai said as she looked around the place.
"Izzy?" he asked curiously.
"Friend of mine from my home town." She said.
"Anyway, most of these I've memorized and you see, I'm running out of room, so…" he said.
"So what?" the Slifers asked.
"So, mind helping?" Bastion asked with a grin as he pulled out a bucket and mop.
The group then got to work painting over the green walls with white paint, the digimon even helping out, Bastion watching them in interest, but shrugged it off as Jaden was working on the ceiling, standing on the very top of the ladder.
"Check it out. I'm Michelangelo." Jaden joked.
"Get it? 'Cause I'm painting on the ceiling." He said as he stumbled on the ladder and fell off, everyone watching in worry.
"Jay!" Dai cried out as Viximon hopped up.
"Viximon digivolve too…RENAMON!"
The fox jumped over and caught him in her arms, Bastion's eyes wide in shock at the sight he beheld while the brush the child of Darkness held hit Syrus in his the face.
"Are you all right?" Renamon asked her partner.
"Yeah, I'm good, Rena. Thanks." Jaden said as he stood up, smiling at his partner.
Good. Then you do realize; this means war, Jay." Syrus said as he turned to them with paint all over his face and hair.
"Now look, Sy, it was an accident!" Jaden cried as the boy picked up a bucket with the paint and threw it at the duo of Darkness, but they ducked down and the paint splattered over Bastion, Dai and V-Mon.
"It's on!" the dragon cried throwing his brush down as he pumped his fists.
A paint war was then started, but then after it was all done, the group all were covered from head to toe in paint and the room was done.
"Well, now that that's over, would you mind telling me what happened to your pets?" Bastion asked.
"How can they talk and how did they evolve?" he asked.
"We're digimon, short for digital monsters." Renamon explained being the only one who was paint free.
"We digimon are partnered to human children called the Digidestinds, like Jaden and Daisuke as you can see." The fox said.
"Dai is the child of Courage, friendship and Miracles." V-Mon explained.
"Some Digidestinds have Crests, Dai has three. Jaden has one too. He's the child of Darkness, but that power isn't evil." The dragon continued with the explanation.
"I see. That explains a lot." Bastion said as he nodded.
"Well, since we're done here, let's get cleaned up and then go eat." He said.
"Ladies first." He said nodding to Dai as she picked up her dragon and then went off to the bathroom, the boys standing guard as she showered.
After they were all done, they went off to the elaborate dining hall and were served a semi-fancy meal.
"I don't think I've ever had so much fun painting. Hey, you're all right, Bastion." Jaden said as he stuffed his face with the food.
"Yeah and so is Ra Yellow's food." Syrus said to the male as he turned to them from the chef's with a platter.
"Oh, you flatter us. But I'm sure it's not that much better than Slifer's." he said setting the lobster down on the table.
"Trust me, the closest we get to lobster is our dorm cat's breath." Jaden said.
"Yeah, normally it's me helping Banner cook a simple meal of shrimp, rice and vegies." Dai said as Renamon calming ate with her chopsticks and V-Mon stuffed his face.
"Speaking of bottom dwellers, what were you talking to Crowler about back at the game?" Syrus asked.
"Actually, he wants me to test to be in Obelisk." Bastion said as he sat down to eat with his friends.
"Are you serious?" the cousins asked.
"Is that why you were cleaning up your room?" Syrus asked.
"You're switching dorms?" the dragon and fox asked.
"Uh…" Bastion said unsure of what to say when he saw the excitement on their faces.
"Well, you deserve it. Congrates, Bastion." Jaden said.
"I'm happy that you at least worked hard for it instead of paying your way in." Dai said.
"Once again, you flatter me." Bastion said with a small blush of embarrassment.
"I saw you duel during the entrance exams. You kicked that duel proctor's butt. You'll totally pass Crolwer's test and be an Obelisk Blue." Jaden said.
"And we can say we knew you when." The Slifer males said.
"Well, thank you." Bastion said.
"You're welcome. Now, if you'll excuse me." Jaden said as the two boys went back to scarfing down their food, the two females either laughing or sighing.
"Daisuke, I just had a thought." The Ra said making her look at him.
"What's up?" she asked.
"Those monsters in your deck. Are they…?" he trailed off.
"Yeah, they're digimon. The Legendary Warriors' spirits were turned into cards by Pegasus and the cards were given to me because they called out to me. We all bonded and I'm their…Master I guess you can say." She said turning around and lifted the back of her shirt up.
Bastion's face lit up in a bright red blush, but he shook it away when he realized that she was showing off the colorful symbols on her back.
"Each mark stands for one of the ten Warriors. The bonding was painful, but it was totally worth it to have such great guys and gals at my side." Dai explained as she tugged her shirt back into place and faced the Ra.
"I see. And you can communicate with them whenever you wish. Were one of them responsible for Crowler's…accident at the tag match?" he asked.
"That was me and Grumblemon. We're just terrible together." V-Mon snickered as his partner smiled and kissed his head.
"Yes you are but I love you guys anyway." She said.
"Hey, I just thought of something." Jaden said.
"Where are ya gonna stay when your room is drying?" he asked.
"I'm not quite sure, really." Bastion said.
"Well, I have a plan then. you're staying with us. I'm sure Chumley will be fine with it." Jaden said with a confident smile.
"I wouldn't want to be a bother." Bastion said.
"You won't be. If Jaden is fine with it, then please feel free to come with us." Renamon said.
"If you think that's a good idea." Bastion said.
After the group was done eating they all walked back to the Slifer dorm to get some sleep so that they could cheer on their Ra friend when he took his test the next day.
"Night guys." Dai called to the males and fox as she and V-Mon went into her room, the boys waving at her as she went to bed.
The next morning, Dai and V-Mon were woken by the sound of banging.
The girl growled in annoyance as she threw off her blankets and stormed over to the door and threw it open.
"I swear, if Crolwer sent another crony of his to get Jaden expelled, I am calling our family lawyer and falling a restraining order filled against him!" she raged, but it soon died away when she saw Dorothy was the one making all the noise.
"Dorothy, what're you doing here?" she asked curiously as V-Mon hopped up onto her back, looking at the woman.
"Oh, it's just terrible." The woman said sadly as Jaden opened the door, dressed in his uniform.
"Oh, what is it, Ms. Dorothy?" he asked.
"I was at the docks unloading some goods near the shore, then I saw them." She said confusing everyone.
"Cards tossed everywhere!" she exclaimed.
"Tossed?!" Jaden asked as he ran out, the others all following him, even Dai despite her underdress of only her black mid-thigh shorts and white spaghetti strapped shirt, Kazemon grabbing her SLifer jacket, socks, shoes and belt with her cards, D-3 and D-terminal.
They all made it to the lake and were shocked to see that there were mant cards floating in the water or sunk in the shallow ends.
"That's Ring of Destruction." Jaden said.
"And Force Raider." Syrus said.
"Bastion…these are all of your cards." Jaden said feeling angered that someone had done this.
"It's my own fault. This deck was in the desk I moved to the hallway yesterday when we were painting." Bastion said.
"Who would do something like this?" Syrus asked.
"Someone who doesn't want you to advance to Obelisk Blue, that's who." Jaden said as his eyes flashed dark gold and were pupil less; Renamon confused by it and wondered if she were seeing things when his eyes returned to their chocolate brown color.
"I mean, this was your deck and it's totally ruined. Oh man, what in the world are you gonna do now, Bastion?" the child of Darkness asked as he faced his friend, Syrus, Dai, Dorothy, Renamon and V-Mon all giving him questioning looks.
"Your promotion exam is in less than an hour." He said.
Bastion kept quiet as he was deep in thought, but then the group all ran off to the arena to deal with this issue.
"Bastion, you've made it." Crowler said as he and Chazz stood there waiting on him, but were frowning at the sight of the three Slifers and the over grown fox and dragon with them.
"Oh and I see you've brought some friends." Crolwe said distastefully while Chazz smirked.
"I hope you duel better than the company you keep." The black haired Obelisk said.
"This coming from the guy who lost to one of the members of this company is ironic." Dai said glaring at the male as he did the same.
"Wait a sec. Chazz is your test opponent, Bastion? Then he must be the one that tossed your cards." Jaden said as he and his cousin glared at the black haired male, their digimon hissing at the Obelisk.
"Pardon?!" Crolwer asked.
"I don't know what he's talking about Dr. Crowler. I didn't do a thing." Chazz protested.
"Oh, is that so?" a female voice asked making everyone turn to see the Kaiser and Obelisk Queen had arrived on the scene.
"Zane? Alexis?" Jaden asked.
"I saw you, Chazz. This morning by the water. You dumped them in and ran off." Alexis said making everyone but Zane gasp while Chazz started sweating.
"I normally wouldn't snitch, but you don't mess with someone's deck." Alexis said.
"Yeah, no joke. That's low for even you." The Slifer King said.
"Ah, come on. Who's to say I wasn't throwing away my own cards?" Chazz retorted.
"I guess Bastion and I just have similar decks, that's all." He said as everyone gave him disbelieving looks.
"Liar!" Jaden said.
"No one calls me a liar and no one calls me a thief!" Chazz said.
"Fine, then you're not. Let's just have our duel, shall we?" Bastion asked annoyed making the Slifer trio turn to him.
"But how?" Jaden asked.
"A good duellist always has a spare deck. Or a few of them. After all, you saw all of my different formulas." Bastion said as he started unbuttoning his yellow and white jacket.
"Well, they were for all my different duelling decks." He said opening his jacket to reveal he was wearing a vest with six different card pouches on them.
"And each one of them is as powerful as the next." He said.
"Huh? Yeah, well you can go ahead and have your six stinkin' decks 'cause all I need is this one." Chazz said as he held up his own deck to show it off.
"Now let's start this." He said.
"I thought that you would never ask, Chazz. Duel disk on." Bastion said as he pulled out his disk and chose one of his decks and placed it in the disk, ready to go.
"You're just a problem to be solved, Chazz. A theorem to be cracked. You're finished." He said.
"So bring it on." Chazz said.
"Duel!" they said.
Chazz had a metal and flame styled deck, but Bastion was using a water style and had the upper hand in the duel and soon enough he won it making his friends cheer for him.
"A well-played duel Chazz, but not well enough." Bastion said as his Water Dragon had finished the attack, the area around the black haired rich brat covered in water.
"Pure luck. You drew a lucky card and stumbled into the win. That's all." Chazz said.
"Perhaps. But luck favors the prepared and I was prepared to beat you with a half dozen other cards as well. Sorry, you would have lost the duel one way or another. But deny it if you want. Just like you denied throwing my deck into the ocean." Bastion said.
"Yeah? Prove it." Chazz said.
"Well, if you insist." Bastion said as he pulled out a card he fished from the ocean.
"Here, a card I fished out with a formula I wrote on it. I suppose you could've written it, but then the math would probably been wrong and it's not. Chazz, you stole it, you lied, you cheated, you lost. You deserve to be demoted." He said making Chazz gasp and bow his head down in frustration.
"This can't be." He said.
"Bastion Misawa, congratulations and welcome to Obelisk Blue." Crolwer said.
"No. I must decline that invitation." Bastion said shocking the teacher.
"What?! But what for?" Crowler asked.
"When I first arrived at the academy I decided I would only enter Obelisk Blue when I became the number one student of the freshmen class. Jaden, of all the new freshmen, I think that student is you and Daisuke is the second." The Ra said smiling to the cousins.
"Hey, thanks. Does that mean you wanna settle this right here? I mean, seeing you guys duel really made me wanna get my game on." The child of Darkness said.
"Sorry, but not now." Bastion said making the duel brunette pout.
"Why not?" he asked.
"Because I have a lot of work to do before I duel you or Daisuke. I have many formulas to write, theorems to solve, corrections t balance. You're both good duellists, and I plan to be ready." Bastion said.
"Smart move." Jaden said as Renamon smirked.
"He didn't have to prepare for me. He won with just one day's notice." Chazz said giving the Ra a dark look.
"Don't worry. Jaden, Daisuke. Soon my dorm room walls will be filled with new strategies and we will have our duels. Just be prepared for it to turn out like that ball game. You know, the one where I struck you out." Bastion said smirking.
"Ohhh!" the duo of Miracles exclaimed.
"Keep dreaming, Bastion. Baseball's a pass time but duelling's my life. Until then pal." Jaden said.
"Right, until then it is." Bastion said.
The flames of rivalry burned around the two boys again while the others stood and watched the two boys as sparks of the challenge crackled between them.
"This oughta be good." V-Mon said.
"AAAAAAHHHHH! THAT THING JUST TALKED!" Crowler screamed and then fainted.
"Hmm. Pathetic." Renamon scoffed as she turned around with a sassy flick of her tail as Jaden laughed at his partner.
To be continued…
