I GOT FOURTEEN REVIEWS LAST CHAPTER! WOOHOO!
Thank you to TRAINER RUSS, bobmanv2.0, Lord Destroyer, EndlessNight025, SuperNeos2, DarkZorua100 BALTO1, decode9, iloveyugiohGX93, JxA fan 2000, reven228, a1993, Kamen Rider Sting and Vanishing Raptor for reviewing the last chapter. You guys are the greatest!
And a huge thank you to EndlessNight025 for being an awesome beta-reader!
Lord Destroyer: Arina is already going to be paired with someone but Bastion will be paired with an OC in Season 2. While I do like Tigershipping (Bastion/Tania), it won't be in this story.
I hope that you enjoy this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.
25
Knowledge and Courage
The morning sun was beginning to rise in the sky, shedding early morning rays of light upon the sleeping island. One student was not sleeping; Bastion stood on a cliff overlooking the undulating waves of the sea before taking a deep breath and doing a few morning stretches as well as clearing his head before he could think about something else, more importantly what was going on, on the island with the Shadow Riders.
Ever since Kasumi defeated Camula, things have been eerily quiet, too quiet. When the next Shadow Rider arrives, it may be my turn to duel and, with two of the ten Spirit Gates open, it's more important than ever that I be prepared, Bastion thought before he reached into his pocket and pulled out his own Spirit Key; the thin string that was attached to it was attached to his belt loop so that he didn't lose it. He looked at the key for a moment before opening his blazer and looking at the six decks he carried around on a vest.
One deck was the one that was used against Chazz when he dueled the former Obelisk for a chance to get into the blue dorm, but he had five others; each fitting one of the six attribute of monster cards. He had used his Water-attribute deck against Chazz, but his others were Fire, Earth, Wind, Light, and Dark.
Good thing I'm well equipped, he thought before he pulled out one of the decks and looking through it; he recognized most of them, but there was one that he didn't. It was a small girl with a yellow lamb on her head and pink hair in a white dress, carrying a golden wand: White Magician Pikeru (A: 1200/D: 0).
Bastion raised an eyebrow when he spotted the card. "Where on Earth did this card come from?" he wondered as he studied the card before he looked around and then looked back at the card, shaking his head. "Silly distraction," he muttered as he placed the card back into his deck. "Nothing distracts me."
"You sure about that, Bastion?"
Bastion jumped and probably would have fallen off the cliff had he not quickly changed the direction in which he jumped; he lost his balance, however, and landed hard on his back.
Kyle raised an eyebrow at his fellow Ra lying sprawled on the ground.
"Kyle, you almost knocked me off the cliff. What are you doing here?" Bastion said, sitting up.
"I'm meeting Alexis and Zane at the Lighthouse, but I saw you talking to yourself and wondered what you were doing up this early," Kyle said with a shrug. "But, seriously, are you really positive that nothing distracts you? I mean, everyone is distracted by something."
"Not me," Bastion retorted, getting to his feet.
"Not you what?"
Bastion jumped again and, again, lost his balance before falling as an amused Kasumi walked to Kyle's side. "Gah! How can you walk so quietly?" he exclaimed.
Kasumi chuckled. "Jaden thinks I'm part ninja, but I guess I just walk quietly," she said.
"Why are you up this early anyway, Kasumi?" Kyle asked curiously.
"I was visiting Raiden and he dared me to give Jaden a wake-up call," Kasumi said.
"Actually, I was planning on waking Jaden and the others up, too," Bastion said.
"Much as I'd like to join, I have to meet my cousin and Zane. I'll see you later," Kyle said before he walked off.
"Well, let's go wake up my brother," Kasumi said cheerfully.
. . .
At the Slifer Dorm, Jaden, Syrus and Chumley were fast asleep, snoring away on their bunks while Yubel was floating off to the side, watching with a curious gleam in her eyes as Bastion and Kasumi made their way into the dorm room.
'Do I want to know what you're going to do, Kasumi?' she asked.
'I think you'll find it funny, creepy fiend girl,' Shire said from where she was floating above Kasumi's right shoulder.
'Stop calling me creepy,' Yubel snarled. 'I have a name you know.'
"Guys, if you keep arguing, you're going to wake Jaden up before we get the chance to do so," Kasumi said and, when Bastion gave her a look, she shrugged. "My duel spirit's arguing with Jaden's. Ready?" She pulled out a card from her deck and placed it on her disk and Celestia appeared at the same time that Barrel Dragon appeared.
"Ready," Bastion said.
"Fire!" The two declared at the same time and Barrel Dragon unleashed a shot that echoed through the room like a gunshot while Celestia unleashed a beam of light that exploded with a boom.
With a yelp, all three Slifers woke up at the exact same time and fell off their beds in unison, nearly on top of each other.
"Hit the snooze button," Chumley said with a groan.
"More like snooze trigger," Syrus said.
"That's getting up with a bang," Jaden grunted and, when the three of them heard laughter, they all turned as one to see their Ra and Obelisk friends standing nearby, turning off their duel disks.
Jaden's eyes landed on Kasumi and he growled, "What the hell, Kasumi?"
"Raiden told me to do it!" Kasumi said defensively. "Besides, we wanted to get you up in time for class."
"But it doesn't start 'till noon," Syrus protested.
"Well, that's even better," Bastion said, confusing the Slifers. "We can do some daybreak dueling exercises!"
"What?"
. . .
"One, two, draw! One, two, draw! One, two, draw!'
Jaden was currently doing a dueling exercise that Bastion had come up with along with Syrus and Chumley. Kasumi had gotten out of it by stating she had a homework assignment she needed to finish and needed to check on Raiden and then had quickly bolted before Jaden could remember Kasumi always finished her homework ahead of time.
He yawned. "Yeah, this was worth getting up for," he muttered.
"Quiet, you'll make me lose count," Syrus hissed.
'I think you lost count a long time ago,' Yubel mused.
Jaden had and was really just going through the motions, not even bothering on keeping count.
Chumley looked over at the card Syrus had just drawn and took the Slifer's hand so that he could get a better look. It was a monster card with a red-haired girl with an orange halter-top covered with black stripes and little cat ears on her head carrying three drums around her waist.
"Hey, isn't that Thunder Nyan-Nyan?" he asked.
Syrus smiled as he pulled his arm back from Chumley. "Yeah, it is. I got her a little while ago," he said with a little blush. "I sorta have a card crush on her."
"A card crush. That's so lame, Syrus," Chumley said before he pulled out a card and showed it to the spiky blue haired Slifer. "Check out mine."
Syrus laughed a little at the Dian Keto the Cure Master card. "Yeah, that's great, Chum, real pretty," he said.
"I know," Chumley said, withdrawing the card. "It so totally reminds me of my real girlfriend back home, her name is Sally…no, wait, Adrianna."
Jaden raised an eyebrow.
Syrus glanced at him. "Hey, Jaden, you have any card crushes in your deck?" he asked.
Jaden, who gave up continuing his exercise—he really had no idea what number he was on anyway—before he shrugged. "A few. They bring me loads of luck," he said, thinking about a few of the card crushes he had.
"I beg your pardon?!" Bastion snapped, causing the three Slifers to jump and turn as he glared at them.
"I thought we were training here," he snapped. "And training, gentlemen, does not include standing around and talking about birds!"
"Did he say 'birds'?' Syrus whispered to Chumley.
"Ya now what? I'm starting to think that Bastion doesn't have a card crush," Chumley murmured back.
"A crush on a card?! Of course not. That's just illogical, irrational, and ridiculous," Bastion snapped before a memory of White Magician Pikeru appeared in his mind. He quickly shook his head, coming back to his senses and forgetting about the card.
"Look, let's just get back to our dueling exercises, all right?" he said with a sigh.
Syrus nodded. "Sure but I do have plans to play Solitaire with Thunder Nyan-Nyan in about fifteen minutes," he said as he held up the card.
"What?!" Bastion exclaimed, causing Syrus and Chumley to fall over, startled.
"You'll be breaking that date and, soon, breaking a sweat," Bastion said firmly as his hand went back to his duel disk. "Now, gentlemen, back to our duel training."
Syrus groaned as he climbed to his feet. "That means the dog house for me. Nyan-Nyan hates it when I cancel on her," he said.
Jaden glanced at his roommate. "Somehow, I think she'll understand," he said.
"You think?"
Chumley nodded. "Totally, it's not like she's a real girlfriend like Sally, er, Adrianna."
Jaden sighed but returned to his drawing exercises, though he was still unsure of what number he was on. He was also plotting on how to get back at his brother for that wake-up call, once his brother got better.
. . .
"I'm surprised Jaden hasn't come storming in here, ready to chew me out for that little stunt I asked you to do," Raiden commented from where he was resting on his bed. He was gradually regaining his strength with each passing day and Ms. Fontaine said it would not be long before he would be well enough to leave the infirmary, despite his lack of memories. Atticus was able to stay conscious for a lot longer than he had when he was first brought to the infirmary, but he was still a little weaker than Raiden at the moment. Raiden was still convinced it was because he had been missing longer, but he didn't know for sure.
"I think he knows you're still recovering, but I have no doubt he's gonna try to get you back once you're back on your feet," Kasumi said.
"Probably," Raiden said with a chuckle before he raised an eyebrow and added, "Shouldn't you be getting to class?"
"I just came to let you know what happened and check up on you, but if I'm late, I'm late. Professor Banner is pretty lenient about tardiness," Kasumi said as she stood up. "See you later, Raiden."
"Have a good day, Little Mist," Raiden said and Kasumi smiled before leaving the infirmary.
. . .
As she had expected, Professor Banner said nothing about Kasumi walking in a few minutes late. Alexis noticed and raised an eyebrow. "What happened?" she asked. Normally, Kasumi was never late to classes.
"I just went to talk to Raiden," Kasumi said with a shrug. "He kinda asked me to let him know what happened after I woke up Jaden this morning so I did that before I headed here."
"Do I want to know?"
Kasumi chuckled and explained what happened to which Alexis giggled. "And your brother asked you to do that?" she asked.
Kasumi nodded. "He always does things like that back home and I guess he only asked me to do it because he wasn't strong enough to do it himself," she said. "But the way he's acting suggests that, despite his lack of memories, he's really recovering from what he went through, which is good."
Alexis smiled sadly. "I wish Atticus was recovering as quickly," she said softly.
"It'll be okay, Lex. I'm sure he'll recover soon."
"I hope so."
At the front of the lecture hall, Banner was frowning at the sight of so many empty seats as he ran his fingers through Pharaoh's fur. "There are certainly a lot of absences today. Perhaps there's a bug going around," he said.
None that I've heard of, Bastion thought as he looked at the empty seats. There's definitely something strange in the air, well—his eyes went to Syrus, Jaden and Chumley, who were fast asleep after their early-morning exercises—besides all that snoring.
The door hissed open and Banner glanced toward it as a young lady dressed in a yellow jumpsuit walked forward, holding a duffel bag.
"Can I help you?" the Headmaster of Slifer asked.
"Well,"—the lady leaned in close to him—"do you recognize this bag?" she asked quietly.
Banner looked at it. "Yes, it belongs to one of my students. Why?" he asked.
While the woman whispered something else to Banner, Jaden woke up fully before looking at the other Key-Keepers after he noticed what was going on in front of him.
Something's up, he thought.
. . .
After classes were over for the day, Jaden, Kasumi, Chazz, Alexis, Arina, Kyle, Bastion, Banner, Syrus and Chumley walked through the woods, Jaden was frowning as he scanned the area. "Wonder why that pack was left all the way out here?" he said.
Bastion nodded. "Indeed. Also, where the owner of the pack is right now?" he said.
"I hope that no one is hurt," Banner said.
"Could they have gone camping or hiking and just forgot about it?" Kasumi asked curiously.
"Doubtful," Jaden said.
"Could they have gotten lost?" Syrus asked.
"That is even less likely. Everyone should know the island pretty well by now," Bastion said.
After what felt like hours of walking, the group left the forest and entered a large clearing; what was in the clearing was enough to stop them in their tracks. A large stone and wooden structure loomed against a small cliff nearby, casting a shadow over the clearing. It was a large coliseum like one would see from Ancient Rome.
"Where did this come from?" Jaden wondered aloud.
Bastion frowned. "I'm going in," he said and took off ahead of the others.
The group followed him into the large building and stopped as soon as they were inside. Inside, stone seats encircled the floor, tiered like that of a stadium and pillars decorated the interior of the coliseum. However, that was not what caught the attention of the group. About a dozen Academy students from every dorm were in different areas of the coliseum, hauling large stone blocks or working with ropes to drag the heavy-looking stones around.
Syrus pointed at one of them. "That guy's from class," he said.
"Him too," Chumley said, pointing to another student.
"All of the missing students were guys, now that I think about it," Arina murmured.
"Oh my," Banner murmured.
Chazz scanned the area before his eyes landed on a particular worker; his jaw dropped and his eyes widened in shock. "Crowler?!" he exclaimed.
Everyone, at Chazz's surprised—or horrified; it was hard to tell—shriek, looked to see Crowler attempting to move a large block of stone with a crowbar.
"What are you doing here?" Kyle asked curiously.
Crowler looked at them with a proud smile. "A man's work!" he declared.
"A man's work?" Banner echoed, holding his chin thoughtfully. "My, they must've been running very short on men."
Kyle bit his lip to keep from laughing; Kasumi didn't bother and just started laughing, which caused Crowler to glare at her, but she ignored it as her laughter died away.
A roar sounded and the group looked ahead to see a large tiger standing in front of the, teeth bared in a snarl.
"Oh damn," Kasumi muttered.
The tiger roared again and launched himself at the group, causing them to scream and run toward a large pillar on the other side of the arena. None of them desired being the tiger's next dinner.
Banner looked behind him. "First a coliseum, now a tiger. What's next? A gladiator?" he shouted as he followed his students into climbing up the stone pillar.
"Actually, I think she prefers the term of Amazon," Crowler shouted over the tiger's growling.
"Amazon?!'
"Guys, over there," Arina said, pointing to where a tall muscular woman stood behind the tiger; she had long dark red hair in a high ponytail at the top of her head that reached down to below her waist. She was dressed in a dark-blue tank top with green pants and a double buckled belt. She also had golden ankle bracelets and an elbow-length glove on one arm and a wrist-length glove on her right arm with studded knuckles; her left hand also had various wings on it as well as a golden gauntlet, similar in design, but smaller than Kasumi's, around her forearm. Her eyes were teal and she had two scars crossing diagonally over her left eye. On her arm was a duel disk that vaguely resembled a silver blade with laced edges.
The woman jumped off the ledge she had been standing on behind the tiger and smiled. "I must say, thanks to your friends, I've finally been able to finish my glorious arena," she said.
"Arena for what?" Jaden asked curiously.
The woman smirked, petting the tiger, which was about as tall as her. "Dueling, of course," she said.
The missing students and Crowler suddenly lined up a short distance away and the woman pulled out a stack of envelopes before walking over to them, smiling brightly.
"Job well done," she said. "Who would've thought that Duel Academy students were such good laborers?" She handed out an envelope to each student. "Now, as promised, here's your payment. Some rare cards, which, I might add, are very well deserved. Until next time, my friends."
Crowler held out his hands expectantly when the woman got to him. The woman just looked at him. "What do you want?" she asked.
"Why, I want my rare cards," Crowler said with a slight smile. "I did work like all the rest, you know."
The woman scoffed. "I don't think so."
"What?! Why not?!" Crowler demanded.
"Because, well, to tell you the truth, I find you to be repulsive and I don't think you deserve some rare cards."
"Why you…" Crowler started forward only to stop as the Tiger—Bass—stepped forward, growling loudly.
Crowler bolted from the arena, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Kasumi snickered.
"What's going on?" Jaden asked as the group climbed down from the pillar.
The woman chuckled as she turned to face them. "I'm setting up the stage, Key-Keeper, for your vanquishing. I'm one of the Shadow Riders," she said. "Tania, the Amazon."
"Uh oh," Jaden murmured.
'A member of a race of all female warriors as a Shadow Rider? Well, this will be interesting,' Haou murmured. 'Strange, she looks somewhat…familiar, and yet it's impossible.'
'She does, but that was a long time ago, maybe a relative or descendent?' Yubel said.
Jaden glanced at Yubel with a raised eyebrow, but she just shook her head. 'I don't know how to explain it, Judai,' she said and said nothing more.
"A Shadow Rider, oh man," Syrus said.
"You mean 'oh wo-man'," Chumley said as he walked up beside him and Alexis. "Amazons are a warrior race of all females."
Alexis whistled. "Wow, you go, girl," she said.
Arina and Kasumi nodded in agreement.
Tania nodded a little. "Now that the battleground is complete, it's time that we battle. Now,"—she looked at the group of students—"which of you big, strong men will it be?" she asked with a teasing smile before she glanced briefly at Alexis, Arina and Kasumi. "After all, I'd never harm a sister."
"Hey, don't do us any favors," Alexis retorted.
"Hey, at least that means three of our keys are safe, though," Arina pointed out.
"True."
"So who wants to be the first one to duel and lose?" Tania challenged, looking back at the boys.
"Right here," Jaden said, stepping forward.
"Yours truly," Chazz added, joining the Slifer.
"I'll duel you," Bastion said.
'I'm all for it," Kyle said.
Banner just nervously stepped away from the Amazon, hoping no one would notice him.
Tania looked at them. "Hmm, if this is really the best you have to offer then I guess I'll pick"—she pointed at the third duelist—"you."
Chazz, Jaden and Kyle looked at Bastion, who was smiling a little.
"Well, I guess you can't win 'em all," Jaden said as he, Chazz, and Kyle rejoined the girls and Banner.
Tania and Bastion walked towards each other, leaving enough room between them for the duel.
"What's your name?" the Amazon asked.
"Bastion," Bastion replied. "Bastion Misawa."
"C'mon, go get her, pal," Jaden called as he and the rest of the group took up seats in the stone stands.
"Don't go easy on her because she's a girl," Syrus shouted.
Chumley gulped. "She's not like a girl I've ever seen," he said.
"All right, let's do this," Bastion said as he opened his blazer to reveal his six-deck vest. "The only question is which deck shall I use?"
Tania grinned. "Really? I have that problem, too. I have two decks." She held up two separate decks before adding, "One is the deck of Knowledge while the other is the deck of Courage." She titled her head to the side. "Why don't you go ahead and pick which one for me to use?'
"Fine then," Bastion said, looking at the decks for a moment. "I'll pick the deck of Knowledge."
"Why am I not surprised?" Kasumi mused.
Tania chuckled, inserting the deck into her duel disk. "Nice choice," she said.
"Thank you, but it's not nearly as nice as the choice I'm making for myself," Bastion said before he took out the middle deck on the left side of his vest. "I select my Earth-attribute deck," he added before slipping the deck into his duel disk.
"Let us begin," Tania said as she turned on her duel disk. "Don't worry, this isn't a Shadow Game."
"Beg your pardon?"
"You heard me," Tania said before she moved giddily from side to side. "I want you, Bastion. It's like this: my tribe is all women. So, to marry, I gotta shop around."
"To marry?!" Bastion exclaimed, gawking at her.
"That's right, so let's do this," Tania said, winking at him with a smile.
Kasumi leaned toward Alexis. "Aren't you glad Jaden wasn't picked?" she murmured.
"Jaden would've won anyway so it's not like it would've mattered," Alexis murmured in response.
"Still."
"Duel!" Tania and Bastion declared as they drew their opening hands.
Tania: 4000
Bastion: 4000
"I'll start this duel," Tania said as she drew her sixth card. "First, I'll summon Amazoness Swords Woman in Attack Mode."
Almost as soon as Tania placed the card on her disk, a battle cry sounded and a muscular dark-skinned woman with wild red hair and a curved sword in her hands appeared (A: 1500/D: 1600).
Tania then slipped a card into her disk before adding, "I'll also place one card facedown and end my turn."
"I'm up then," Bastion said, drawing his card. "I summon to the field Magnet Warrior Sigma Plus in Attack Mode."
A strange orange monster with a staff with crackling orange energy on either side of it and a pentagonal-shaped shield on his arm with a plus-sign on it appeared (A: 1800/D: 1500).
"Now, Magnet Warrior, attack that Amazoness," Bastion said, pointing to the Swords Woman. "Lode Stone Baton Bash.'
The Magnet Warrior raised his staff and crackling orange energy shot forward before colliding with the Swords Woman, causing her to shatter.
Tania: 4000
Bastion: 3700
Syrus frowned when he saw that. "Why did Bastion just lose Life Points?" he asked.
Tania smiled. "That's due to my Amazoness' effect. Bastion took all the Battle Damage that I would have received from the attack of his Magnet Warrior," she explained.
Chumley shook his head. "Bastion walked right into that one," he said.
"That's not like him at all," Alexis said with a nod.
"Or maybe it is," Jaden said, leaning forward. "Sure, Bastion has fewer Life Points at the moment, but Tania has fewer monsters. Smart move."
'Yes, but I doubt it's going to remain that way for long,' Yubel said, eyes fixed on Tania's facedown.
"Yes, at least, until I play my facedown card," Tania declared as her card flipped up. "It's called Pride of Tribe. This Trap Card activates whenever an Amazoness is destroyed and it lets me summon another one from my deck. Who's the smart one now?"
Another Amazoness Swords Woman appeared on her field (A: 1500/D: 1600).
"You see, you miscalculated with that last move. After all, now we have the same amount of monsters, but not the same amount of Life Points.
Bastion looked at her and took a deep breath before he slipped a card into his disk. "Fine. I'll place a card facedown and that will suffice," he said.
"That will suffice?" Tania said with a dreamy expression on her face. "Say it again. It sounded so cool."
Syrus turned to Jaden. "Y'know, I think it's been a couple of years since Tania's been with a guy, Jay," he said.
"Years, Sy?" Jaden echoed with a shake of his head. "Try decades, this chick is man-crazy."
Bastion smiled. "I'm quite flattered, but I'm well aware of what you're trying to do. You're trying to distract me, but I'll tell you right now, my dear, it's not going to work. I'm too focused."
"Oh, are you? We'll see about that," Tania said, drawing a card. "I play Amazoness Blowpiper in Attack Mode."
A dark-skinned woman with long purple hair with a blow pipe in her hands appeared (A: 800/D: 1500).
"And I activate my Trap, Magnet Force Minus," Bastion declared, revealing his Trap. "When this card is activated, it equips onto your monster and that monster gains a negative magnetism and becomes what's known as a Minus monster. And, from there, it gets interesting you see, two monsters of the same charge, well, they're not allowed to engage in battle with each other. But a minus and a plus, if they're out, they must fight."
Tania frowned. "So, since Amazoness Blowpiper is a Minus monster…" she began.
"And my Magnet Warrior is a Plus monster, it's on," Bastion said as sparks flew between the two oppositely charged monsters. "You've heard that old quote 'opposites attract'. Well, I'm afraid it's true."
"I know. After all, just look at the two of us," Tania said with a smirk.
"Oh, stop it," Bastion said, looking annoyed.
"Stop it? Why don't I just stop you from winning this battle instead? Go, Amazoness Spellcaster." She inserted her card into her disk before adding, "Now, one Amazoness monster and one monster you control switch their original Attack Points with each other."
The Amazoness monster straightened as her power increased (A: 800-1800) while Magnet Warrior seemed to droop (A: 1800-800).
"This is bad," Syrus moaned.
"No joke, it's bad," Banner said. "Now Bastion's monster is outmatched."
"Amazoness Blowpiper, attack," Tania ordered and her monster attacked, blowing a dart out of her pipe that struck Sigma Plus in the chest, causing him to shatter.
Tania: 4000
Bastion: 2700
"And now my Amazoness Swords Woman will attack you directly. Go, Amazon Slash Attack," Tania ordered and Bastion winced as the Swords Woman's blade cut through him.
Tania: 4000
Bastion: 1200
"But how?" Bastion said, stunned by the turn of events. "That's the second time she's been able to outsmart me."
"I guess we know where our kids are going to get their smarts from," Tania mused.
"What?! Our kids?! We're enemies! Rivals!"
"During this duel, we are but, afterwards, we'll be betrothed to each other. Just think about it. You'll be Mr. Tania the Amazon Woman."
Kasumi sighed. "Wow, she's either really in love with Bastion or she's a damn good actor," she said.
"I stand by my previous statement; she's man crazy," Jaden said.
"You're relentless," Bastion said with a sigh. "Truly, are you that smitten with me?'
"I prefer 'in love'," Tania said.
"You hardly know me."
"I know enough, my little sugar booger."
Keep your cool, Bastion, Bastion thought to himself angrily. She's just trying to distract you. Like those silly card crushes distract Syrus and Chumley. But you've always been above all that. An image of White Magician Pikeru appeared at that moment in his mind and Bastion gripped his head with both his hands. "No! Get out! I'm above all this."
The gang of friends sweat-dropped at this.
"Bastion sure is acting weird," Jaden commented.
"Love works in mysterious ways," Syrus said.
"Quiet!" Bastion shouted, sending Syrus falling onto his back from the sudden yell. "I'm not in love." And I'll prove it by taking Tania down. "My turn," he said before he drew a card. "And I activate Magnet Conductor Plus! This card allows me to add a Plus monster from my Graveyard back to my hand so come on back, Magnet Warrior Sigma Plus."
He retrieved the card from his Graveyard before he added, "But he won't be staying around for long because he and Magnet Warrior Omega Minus in my hand are going right back to the Graveyard so that I can summon Conduction Warrior Linear Magnum Plus Minus!"
A large gold and dark-purple monster appeared on the field with electricity surrounding it; it had large dark-purple cannons on his arms, pointed at Tania (A: 2700/D: 1300).
"That's a mouth full," Kasumi commented.
Jaden nodded in agreement.
"Now, after I place two cards facedown, I activate Magnum Plus Minus' Special Ability," Bastion said as two facedown vertical cards appeared at his feet. "It adds half the Attack Points of one other Plus or Minus monster on the field to its own Attack Points, so I'll take half of your Blowpiper's Attack and add it to Plus Minus."
Red electricity erupted from Blowpiper and surrounded the Conduction monster (A: 2700-3100).
"Now, Warrior Linear Magnum, attack Amazoness Blowpiper with Polarizing Pulverizing Blast," Bastion ordered and the monster unleashed a blast of red electricity that arced across the arena to strike Amazoness Blowpiper, causing her to shatter. (Warrior Linear Magnum A: 3100-2700).
Tania: 1700
Bastion: 1200
Tania smiled and giddily moved from one foot to another in place. "What a move," she exclaimed. "No wonder I'm in love with you and, sweetie, because I do, I have to beat you." She became serious and drew a card.
"Amazoness Swords Woman, attack his Magnum Plus Minus," Tania ordered and her Swords Woman started forward.
"What? But it'll just get destroyed," Syrus said with a frown.
"Yeah, but Bastion will take all damage that Tania would've taken," Alexis said.
"Oh no, if this attack goes through, Bastion'll lose," Arina said uncertainly. "I hope he has a trick in his shirt."
"What?" Chazz looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Don't you mean up his sleeve?"
Arina, a faint blush on her cheeks, nodded. "Yes, I did," she said.
This is it. I better think fast or this duel'll be over real fast, Bastion thought before he pressed a button on his duel disk. "Sorry, Tania, but I play my facedown." One of his facedowns flipped up. "Power Off! Now, my Plus Minus monster reverts back to the two monsters that originated him."
Plus Minus split into two separate Magnet Warriors-one was the orange monster with the orange shield that had a plus on it while the other was a purple monster with a spear-like arm, as Swords Woman's sword would have struck, causing the blade to strike the ground between the two (Magnet Warrior Sigma Plus A: 1800/D: 1500) (Magnet Warrior Omega Minus A: 1900/D: 800).
"No fair," Tania protested.
"Tight move," Jaden called.
"Yes, I agree," Bastion said as he closed his eyes and nodded.
"I guess I'll just get you next turn," Tania said softly as she placed another card on her disk. "And with Amazoness Paladin on the field, you can be sure that I will."
An Amazoness with long, wavy blonde hair in a tan hooded cloak with bronze handless gauntlets on her forearms, carrying a longsword in her hand appeared (A: 1700/D: 300).
"With Paladin on the field, she gains 100 extra Attack Points for every monster on the field that has Amazoness in its name," she added as her Paladin's Attack increased (A: 1700-1900). "Next, I'll place two cards facedown and end my turn."
At least she's concentrating on her dueling and not on me, Bastion thought as a bead of sweat rolled down his cheek. "All right, my move now," he began.
"Speaking of moving, sweetie," Tania said as she looked at Bastion longingly and chewed on a thumbnail. "I think it's best that you move in with me, you know, after we get married? Oh, we'll have the coziest home sweet home."
Bastion blinked, taken back by her words.
"Oh, I'm sorry, am I distracting you again?" Tania smiled before twiddling her fingers and adding, "With all this talk about how handsome you are and how much I love you?" She giggled before adding, "There I go again. I should stop."
Bastion took a step back, a faint blush starting to appear on his cheeks as he rested a hand on his chest.
"I simply can't help myself," Tania cried. "I'm head over heels."
Bastion's face went from serious to dreamy. "Yes, me too," he murmured.
"Any barf bags on this flight?" Jaden muttered.
"Oh man, Bastion's getting all flushed and sidetracked," Syrus said with a shake of his head.
"He needs to snap outta it," Kasumi said before she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Bastion, snap out of it!"
"My turn," Bastion said, ignoring Kasumi, before he drew a card, the blush remaining on his face. "I summon Magnet Warrior Sigma Minus in Attack Mode."
A large blue and cream-white monster with green gauntlets and a green flat helmet appeared (A: 1500/D: 1800).
"Next, I activate my facedown: 100,000 Gauss. You see, I can activate this when I have a Minus monster and a Plus monster on my field. This lets me switch one of your monsters to Attack Mode and drain that monster of 800 Attack points. Since all of your monsters are in Attack Mode as it is, I'll just drain Amazoness Paladin." Paladin was surrounded by an aura as her Attack decreased (A: 1900-1100).
"That's sweet. Now Bastion has all the monsters beat. This duel is in the bag," Jaden said.
'I don't think so,' Yubel said and Jaden glanced toward Tania, who was smirking. He suddenly had a bad feeling.
"I would think so, too, if not for my facedown card: Dramatic Rescue." She pressed a button on her duel disk and her Paladin vanished. "By returning one monster from the field to my hand, I can summon a different one." She placed a card on her duel disk before saying, "You're about to see that this one is very different. I summon Amazoness Tiger in Attack Mode."
A large, pale-yellow tiger similar to the one that had been with Tania earlier appeared, a scar ran over one of its eyes, permanently leaving it closed (A: 1100/D: 1500).
"Don't try catching this tiger by the toe, because she gains 400 extra Attack Points for every Amazoness on the field."
Her tiger growled as her attack increased (A: 1100-1900/D: 500).
"Also, while this card is out, you're not allowed to attack any other Amazoness except it," Tania added.
"He has no choice?" Alexis echoed. "He has to attack that Tiger?"
Simple, Bastion thought as he looked at his monsters. I'll use Omega to take care of Amazoness Tiger and then use Sigma Minus to take out Swords Woman. Then I'll attack directly with Sigma Plus. That will be enough to knock out the rest of her Life Points and win this duel.
"Fun duel, my dear, but I'm afraid that it's about to be over," Bastion said before he pointed at the tiger. "Go, Magnet Warrior Omega Minus, attack and tame that Amazoness Tiger."
Tania chuckled as the Magnet Warrior strode forward. "You must be distracted because you would've seen that I have a Trap. Go, Amazoness Archers."
Bastion stared at the Trap Card, stunned.
"Sorry, hun, but now all your monsters lose 600 Attack Points and they're all forced to wage battle," Tania added.
A bunch of archers appeared and launched a volley of arrows at the three Magnet Warriors, draining their power (Sigma Plus A: 1800-1200) (Sigma Minus A: 1500-900) (Omega Minus A: 1900-1300).
Syrus groaned. "But if that happens, he'll be forced to attack that Tiger," he said.
"And it has more Attack Points than any of them," Jaden added.
"He walked right into a Trap," Chazz growled. "What was he thinking?"
"That's the thing. I don't think he was thinking," Arina said softly.
Kasumi nodded in agreement. "All that love talk must have gotten to him," she said.
Tania looked at the Magnet Warriors who were forced to wage battle and leapt at her tiger. "Now, Amazoness Tiger, show Bastion that opposites don't just attract, they attack. Sic 'em with Fang Frenzy," she ordered.
Moving so fast she was almost a blur, the tiger leapt at the Magnet Warriors and tore into them with her fangs and teeth and the arena was surrounded by a thick cloud of smoke as the Magnet Warriors shattered.
Tania: 1700 WINNER
Bastion: 0
Bastion looked at her and smiled. "I'm…all yours," he murmured before falling face first into the ground; his key was briefly visible under him before it vanished.
"Bastion!" Jaden shouted and leapt over the wall before running toward his friend.
Tania looked behind her. "Oh, Bass," she called.
The large tiger roared and started to chase the others towards the gates; the gates were just closing as they were leaving and Kasumi, who couldn't run that fast, was forced to roll under the gate to avoid getting crushed by it or getting trapped in the arena.
Jaden ran back to the gate and gripped the bars. "Bastion!" he shouted.
"Bastion, are you all right?" Kasumi called.
Tania walked up to the gate and smirked at the remaining Key-Keepers. "Sorry, but Bastion and I are gonna have our honeymoon, so get lost," she said before she walked away.
Jaden growled. "This isn't over! You hear me!" he shouted, knowing full well that the Amazoness heard him.
. . .
That night after Bastion's defeat, his screams of agony could be heard from the coliseum as Jaden and the other remaining Key-Keepers gathered around a small campfire several yards away from the gates.
Alexis sighed, poking at the fire. "I hate to hear Bastion suffering like that and not being able to help," she said.
"No joke," Chazz said with a nod. "They've been dueling all night and, from the sound of those screams, it sounds like Bastion's been losing all night."
"How long can this go on?" Banner wondered.
Jaden didn't like sitting around and waiting; waiting was not his strong suit, especially not when his friend was in trouble. "We gotta do something," he said.
"Yeah," Chumley and Syrus agreed as they also stood up.
A low rumble sounded, coming from the direction of the coliseum and everyone looked towards it. Syrus moved behind Chumley. "What is that?" he asked.
The rest of the group watched as Bastion slowly walked away from the coliseum gateway looking thoroughly wiped out as if he taken an emotional beating.
"Bastion?" Jaden ran to his friend, followed by the rest of the group. "Bastion, are you okay?"
Bastion fell over, but Jaden caught him before he could hit his head.
"What happened to you in there?" Syrus asked, standing over him, concerned.
"I think Tania broke up with him," Kasumi said. "I mean, why else would she just let him leave after everything she said yesterday?"
"Is it true, Bastion? Did she dump you?" Jaden asked.
"Yes, I'm crushed," Bastion said with a nod.
"You're not crushed, you're lucky," Chazz said.
Banner frowned. "I don't understand. She was so smitten with you yesterday," he said.
Bastion sighed and looked up at the sky. "I know, we were to be married," he groaned, causing everyone to look at him with surprise in their eyes. "But she decided I wasn't duelist enough."
Flashback
Bastion fell to the ground; the last of his Life Points going down to zero.
Tania glared at him. "You're not worthy, beat it," she snapped.
Bastion gasped; eyes wide with surprise.
"I need someone, someone who is at my level," Tania murmured before she turned away from Bastion.
Groaning, the Ra sat up and watched the Amazon walk toward the inner archway. "My love," he whispered.
End Flashback
"I wasn't good enough for her and she's left me forever. She said she wants a champion, a duelist who can give her a match that she'll always remember," Bastion murmured.
'Now that definitely sounds familiar,' Haou murmured.
'Mmmhmm,' Yubel agreed.
What are you two talking about? Jaden thought.
'This only seems familiar, Judai, but it's impossible for what we think to be true, since that was a very long time ago, but I have my suspicions and, until those suspicions are confirmed, it may be best to leave it be,' Yubel said.
While Jaden was thinking about what Tania had to do with his past life's self, the rest were thinking about Bastion's words as the Ra got to his feet and wandered back to his dorm.
. . .
That afternoon, Bastion was standing near the large window in one of the halls of Duel academy, gazing at the island; the images of the Amazon still in his mind, coupled with the memories of his duel.
He sighed. Tania, he thought as he thought about the entire duel that happened the day before and how smitten with him Tania seemed to be.
Bastion pulled himself from his memories before resting a hand on his head. "Oh, Tania," he whispered.
A few feet away from the Ra, Alexis and Jaden were watching him.
"He's still not over her," Jaden said softly.
Alexis nodded. "Yeah, I've never seen him like this. I had no idea he had fallen that hard for her," she said.
Jaden nodded in agreement before looking at Alexis. "It's kinda freaky that Bastion, of all people, is doing that over a girl," he admitted.
"Yeah, it's odd, but I guess it can happen to anyone when ya think about it," Alexis said.
Jaden nodded. "Yeah," he said before he looked back at Bastion before an idea came into his mind. "I think I got an idea on how to break him outta this."
"How?"
Jaden smiled. Now, I just hope it works, he thought.
. . .
Bastion entered the Obelisk Duel Arena before stopping when he saw a crowd of people waiting for him; Jaden, Kasumi, Alexis, Kyle, Arina, Chazz, Syrus, Chumley and even Zane were looking at him.
He scowled. "What do you lot want?" he asked.
"A duel to cheer you up. How about it?" Jaden suggested, holding up a deck.
"I can't, it's too soon," Bastion said, slowly shaking his head.
"Aw, c'mon, you gotta move on, Bastion," Jaden said.
Bastion glanced at him. "I just can't duel, not without my Tania," he said.
Kasumi frowned. "I hate to say this, Bastion, but she's probably dueling someone else right now," she said.
"Now she wouldn't. Not my Tania," Bastion objected with a shake of his head.
"Oh, gag me," Chazz muttered under his breath.
"You don't understand. We had passion!" Bastion snapped.
"Say what?" Jaden frowned in confusion.
Bastion looked at the ceiling, smiling dreamily as he thought about the Amazon. "When I first dueled Tania, there were fireworks between us. You saw how our cards danced that dangerous Duel Monsters' dance together. It was beautiful, majestic and if I can't have that feeling when I duel, then"—his shoulders slumped—"my life dueling, it's all finished." He looked away.
"But, Bastion, she's a Shadow Rider," Zane reminded him. "We have a world to save. We need you!"
"Yeah, you may have lost your key, but I know you can still help us out," Arina pointed out.
"Arina's right, Bastion," Alexis said gently.
Bastion sighed. "Sorry, as much as all of you require my deck, but until I prove to Tania that I'm a worthy man, my dueling days are through, now and forever," he said.
"All right, that's it. I'm gonna go to the bathroom and hurl," Chazz muttered.
Jaden titled his head to the side. "If you're that determined, then just go and ask her for a rematch," he said.
"A rematch?" Bastion echoed, blinking.
"Yeah, don't take no for an answer. In fact, I'll back you up if ya want."
. . .
Tania was seething in anger, pounding on her chest as she growled furiously. "This island has nothing but weaklings. I need a worthy partner, someone who isn't intimidated by my power." She punched a nearby wall and then jump-kicked the ceiling, sending chunks of rock falling to the ground and scaring the living daylights out of her tiger.
"If that duelist can't find me, then I'll find him," Tania growled before she made her way to the exit with Bass just behind her, the ceiling falling to the ground as soon as she left the room.
. . .
Jaden was in his room, examining the card that Yubel had just told him he was ready to use; it was one of his more powerful Evil HEROES and Jaden was unsure if he was as ready as Yubel thought he was. He knew that Yubel was confident in him, though, so he decided that he would risk it and added it to his extra deck; if worse came to worst, Haou was there to make sure nothing bad happened, well, life threatening, anyway.
A knock sounded on the door and Jaden looked up, as did Syrus and Chumley who were on their beds.
Jaden got to his feet before walking over to the door and opening it to find Bastion standing in front of the door. "Bastion, what are you doing here?" he asked.
"The rematch. Why aren't you ready yet?!" Bastion demanded.
Jaden blinked. "You mean, now?" he echoed.
. . .
Jaden and Bastion ran toward the coliseum with the rest of the gang behind him, including Crowler.
"Couldn't this have waited until morning?" Jaden asked.
"No, Tania!" Bastion shouted.
"Wait up! Not…fast…like…you…guys," Syrus gasped as he and the others caught up with them; Kasumi rested her hands on her knees, taking deep breaths to calm herself before she pulled out her inhaler and took a few puffs of it, glad she had thought to bring it with her just in case she would have to run. She normally didn't need it, but then she normally didn't run that far or that fast.
"Thought you two could use the extra help," Alexis said before glancing at Kasumi, concerned.
"I'm…okay," Kasumi wheezed.
Jaden eyed his sister, concerned.
"I'm okay," Kasumi insisted, holding up the inhaler she had brought with her.
Jaden nodded before smiling at Alexis and the rest of the gang. "Thanks, guys," he said.
A growling sounded and the group looked to the side, startled.
"Tania," Bastion said, stepping forward with his duel disk at the ready.
Tania, stepping out into the open, shook her head. "Can't you take a hint? I already dumped you, don't you remember?" she snapped.
"He wants a rematch," Jaden said.
"He can't have one," Tania said with a scoff before looking at Jaden curiously. "But you seem quite brave."
"I'm here for my friend," Jaden said calmly.
Tania chuckled. "He already lost. I duel you or there's no duel at all," she said.
Jaden smirked. "I'm game, but I'll do it for Bastion," he said.
Everyone just stared at Jaden in surprise.
"What?!" Chazz exclaimed.
"Oh no," Alexis murmured before narrowing her eyes at Tania.
Kasumi smirked. "Afraid you're gonna lose your fiancé?" she whispered.
Alexis blushed. "Shut up," she snapped back.
The Lightsworn duelist chuckled. "Jaden'll be fine, Lex," she said.
. . .
Everyone else moved to the sidelines while Jaden and Tania stood in the middle of the coliseum, streaks of pale moonlight bathing the arena in light. Tania held up her two decks. "You know the rules, you lose the duel, you lose your Spirit Key and your single status. Meaning, you move here to this arena with me and become my husband forever," she said.
Chazz glared. "Slacker, you better know what you're doing," he growled.
"He'll be fine," Kasumi said.
"I'll be fine, guys," Jaden called to his friends. "By the time I'm done, Bastion'll know that you don't have to be in love to duel with passion."
"Jaden," Kasumi called down into the arena. "If you lose this, I'm gonna tell Raiden and we both know he'll never let you live this down. He still hasn't let you live down the incident…"
"Shut up!" Jaden, knowing what his sister was referring to, shouted, blushing in embarrassment at the memory.
Yubel snickered.
"So, what do you say we start this, hun? I'll be using my Courage deck," Tania said before she inserted the deck into her duel disk.
"Let's do this," Jaden said as he activated his duel disk.
"Let's duel!"
Jaden: 4000
Tania: 4000
"I'll start," Jaden said after they drew their starting hands before he drew a card before looking at it and glancing at his hand. Not much I can do right now, he thought before he picked a card from his hand. "I'll start with Elemental Hero Avian in Defense Mode."
His green, feathered hero appeared before kneeling on the field (A: 1000/D: 1000).
"And that's it for now."
"That's your move?" Tania raised an eyebrow before she shrugged. "Well, I have someone to get rid of your little feathered friend. I summon Amazoness Paladin."
She placed the card on her disk and her blonde warrior appeared on the field in front of her (A: 1700/D: 300).
"And when's she's on the field, she gains an extra 100 Attack Points for every monster on the field that has Amazoness in its name." Paladin was surrounded by light (A: 1700-1800).
"Next,"—Tania held up another card—"I activate the Spell Amazoness Charm. This little spell switches your Avian to Attack Mode and increases his attack by 200." Avian stood up, looking curiously at Paladin (A: 1000-1200).
'She is rather pretty,' Avian mused before he paled. 'Ah, don't tell Burstinatrix I said that.'
Yubel smirked from where she floated just behind Jaden, watching the duel in her semi-transparent state.
With the rest of the group, Chazz frowned. He remembered seeing that particular duel spirit during the School Duel but hadn't thought much of it. Now, he found himself wondering if that Yubel was Jaden's duel spirit. It made sense as she was there during the School Duel and during Jaden's duel against Dark Shadow.
'The creepy lady's back,' Shire said from where she was sitting on Kasumi's shoulder.
'She is rather creepy,' Ojama Yellow agreed.
Chazz glowered at the Ojama who squeaked and quickly returned to the deck and the former Obelisk returned his gaze back to the duel.
Crowler frowned at the move. "I don't get it. Why would she play a card that increases her opponent's attack power?" he asked.
"For the thrill of it. The passion!" Bastion said heatedly.
"So, are we enjoying the night so far?" Tania asked Jaden with a smile. "I hope you're not getting distracted."
Jaden grinned. "I never get distracted in a duel," he said.
Tania held up another card. "Maybe this will make you reconsider. This card is known as Amazoness Arena. When this card activates, we both gain 600 Life Points and it's not just distracting"—a huge metal cage arena surrounded by spikes rose up from the dirt and created a dome over them—"it's captivating."
Jaden: 4600
Tania: 4600
Chazz glanced at the cage. "Wow, she must really be desperate to find a husband if she has to use a cage," he said.
"I'm actually kinda glad I'm not facing her," Kyle admitted.
Tania chuckled as she looked at her cage. "You see, Amazoness Arena is a sacred arena. In here, you don't just fight with your monster, you fight with your soul," she explained as she waved an arm to her cage.
Jaden raised an eyebrow at that. "And just how do I do that?" he asked.
"Oh, you'll find out but, first, Amazoness Paladin, attack Avian," Tania ordered and Paladin shot forward before slicing through Avian's chest, causing him to explode in a cloud of smoke.
Jaden: 4000
Tania: 4600
"Now, you will see the power of my Arena," Tania said. "When our monsters are done, your soul can duel mine. So you sacrifice 100 of your Life Points to take away 100 of mine."
"Well, I don't like hitting women," Jaden said.
"And you shouldn't, but this isn't a fight between us, physically. You see, like I said, our souls will clash," Tania explained.
"Well, okay then," Jaden said with a shrug.
'I'm not getting in the middle of this,' Haou said and retreated into his soul room.
Might be best, the last thing I need is my friends questioning me about you, Jaden thought before his and Tania's souls left their bodies and prepared to fight.
Jaden: 3900
Tania: 4500
"That's weird and cool at the same time," Kasumi admitted.
Both souls of the duelists raced forward and jumped in midair to meet each other; Jaden threw a punch, but it missed while Tania's uppercut knocked Jaden to the other end of the arena.
Jaden: 3800
Tania: 4500
"Jaden!" Syrus gasped.
Jaden's soul climbed back to its feet and then slammed a fist hard in Tania's face, sending her flying back into her body.
Jaden: 3800
Tania: 4400
Tania rubbed her cheek. "Not a bad left hook, kid," she said with a smile.
"What? She's complimenting his attack?" Chazz said, confused.
"Isn't she great?" Bastion said with a sigh.
Chazz gave him a disgusted look.
"Still don't like hitting women, but…" Jaden shrugged as Tania signaled the end of her turn. "My move." He drew a card before glancing at it. Still nothing, but I can work with this, he thought. "And I summon Elemental Hero Ice Edge to my field in Attack Mode."
He placed the card on his disk; the white clad child-hero with the white headdress appeared on the field (A: 800/D: 900).
"Next, I activate Ice Edge's effect, by discarding one card, he can attack you directly," Jaden added before discarding one of his cards and Ice Edge dashed forward before head-butting Tania in the stomach, causing her to wince.
Jaden: 3800
Tania: 3600
"And I'll throw down a facedown and end with that," Jaden said and a facedown vertical card appeared at his feet.
Tania gasped, having had the wind knocked out of her from that last attack. "Not bad. You're my type of guy," she said.
"Uh, Bastion, I think Tania might be falling for Jaden," Banner said, looking at the love-stricken Ra.
"Of course not. She would never leave me," Bastion said.
Kasumi sweat-dropped, as did Arina and Alexis, while Chazz just shook his head.
"My turn," Tania said before she drew a card and smiled. "I placed this facedown and activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your facedown."
A mini tornado spun across the field before crashing into Jaden's facedown and it shattered.
"Now, Amazoness Paladin, attack his Ice Edge," Tania ordered and Paladin shot forward before slicing through Ice Edge, causing him to cry out before he shattered.
Jaden: 2800
Tania: 3600
Tania grinned. "Now, thanks to my Amazoness Arena, it's time we had a rematch," she shouted as hers and Jaden's souls—thankfully, Haou was able to avoid being pulled into the fight on accident—appeared in front of them again.
Jaden: 2700
Tania: 3500
"Not again," Alexis gasped.
"Watch out, Jaden," Syrus called.
Jaden's and Tania's souls shot toward each other and exchanged blows that sent each of them flying to the other side of the arena.
Jaden: 2600
Tania: 3400
"You know, I always thought hitting girls was a bad thing," Jaden mused as he returned to his body, rubbing his cheek.
"Oh, it's a bad thing all right, for you," Tania said with a grin.
Jaden smiled. "Well, it's my turn now," he said before he drew a card. "Let's go with this. I summon Elemental Hero Burstinatrix in Attack Mode."
His red body-suited fiery heroine appeared on the field (A: 1200/D: 800).
"Next, I activate Monster Reborn to bring back Avian," Jaden added and his green feathered hero returned to the field (A: 1000/D: 1000).
"Finally, I activate Dark Fusion to fuse Avian and Burstinatrix into Evil Hero Inferno Wing," Jaden declared, holding out the card before inserting it into his duel disk; his two monsters fused together to create the dark-green winged fiend with the long green claws and the blue V shaped visor over her eyes (A: 2100/D: 1200).
"Good move," Arina said. "But Tania doesn't look concerned."
"Inferno Wing, attack Amazoness Paladin," Jaden ordered.
Kasumi smacked her forehead. "You idiot! You forgot her facedown!" she shouted into the arena as Inferno Wing prepared to attack.
Jaden frowned; he hadn't been worried about the facedown mostly because of Dark Fusion's secondary effect but, judging by the look in Tania's eyes, he probably should have been worried.
Tania chuckled. "The girl's right. I think you remember this little Trap; I activate Amazoness Archers," she declared. "This drains your monster of 600 Attack Points. Not too shabby for a girl, huh?"
Oh damn, Jaden thought; Amazoness Archers didn't target a particular monster when it was activated, even if there was only one monster on the field, and so Dark Fusion's second effect was null and void.
Haou scowled in the back of his mind. 'Make another stupid mistake like that and I'm taking over,' he growled.
And how were you to know that her facedown was a card that could bypass Dark Fusion's second effect? Jaden snapped back.
'He's got a point, Haou,' Yubel pointed out.
Haou scowled.
Inferno Wing was hit by a series of arrows from the archers and her attack decreased (A: 2100-1500).
"Amazoness Paladin, counterattack," Tania ordered and her Paladin shot forward and struck Inferno Wing, causing her to cry out in fury before she shattered.
Jaden: 2300
Tania: 3400
"Why did Jaden rush headlong into that?" Syrus asked.
"I think he got a bit cocky," Kasumi said. "He was probably counting on Dark Fusion's second effect to negate any Spells, Traps or monster effects that target the monster summoned with that card, but since Amazoness Archers doesn't target any monsters, Dark Fusion's second effect didn't work."
"Well, ah well, you win some, you lose some," Jaden said with a shrug, despite his other self who was irritated since he hated to lose—he'd accept loses, but he still hated them—before he smirked and added, "Let's have ourselves a Round Three, shall we?"
Tania smirked as their souls appeared again from their bodies.
Jaden: 2200
Tania: 3300
"Wait, he's using the Arena's effect too?" Alexis said, surprised.
"He may as well, big sis," Kyle said. "So long as he doesn't reach zero, he's fine."
The two souls exchanged blows, sending each other flying to the other ends of the arena again before returning to their bodies.
Jaden: 2100
Tania: 3200
"Not bad, you really duel with passion," Tania said; both she and Jaden were rubbing their faces.
Banner raised an eyebrow. "What is she trying to prove?"
"I dunno, but I've never seen anybody duel or fight with so much zeal," Alexis admitted, astounded as she gazed at Jaden.
Kasumi grinned.
"Shut up, Kasumi."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were thinking it."
Kasumi's grin just widened.
"I end my turn with one facedown," Jaden said and a card appeared at his feet.
Tania drew a card. "Amazoness Paladin, attack Jaden directly," she ordered and Amazoness Paladin went for the attack.
"Jaden!" Syrus gasped.
"Relax. Jay's fine," Kasumi said.
"I activate my Trap, Call of the Haunted, to bring back Burstinatrix," Jaden said and his fiery heroine returned to the field (A: 1200/D: 800).
"Fine then, Paladin, attack Burstinatrix," Tania ordered and Paladin redirected her attack to Burstinatrix, slicing through her and she cried out before shattering again.
Jaden: 1500
Tania: 3200
"Well, looks like we have ourselves another round," Jaden said with a smirk.
Tania grinned. "That we do," she said before their souls appeared again.
Jaden: 1400
Tania: 3100
"This is really starting to get old," Syrus admitted.
Kyle nodded in agreement as the two souls again punched each other before retreating to their bodies.
Jaden: 1300
Tania: 3000
"My move now," Jaden said before he drew a card. "And I activate Card of Sanctity so that we each draw until we have six cards in our hands." They both drew until they had a full hand before Jaden added, "Next, I summon Elemental Hero Heat in Attack Mode."
His red, orange and white armored warrior appeared on the field (A: 1600/D: 1200).
"And like your Paladin, he receives an extra 200 Attack for every Elemental Hero on the field, including himself," Jaden added (Heat A: 1600-1800) before he held out another card and said, "But I'm gonna increase his Attack more by activating O-Oversoul to bring Burstinatrix back to the field."
His fiery heroine reappeared on the field (A: 1200/D: 800) (Heat A: 1800-2000).
Tania raised an eyebrow before she seemed to realize where this was going and she smiled. "Well played," she said.
Jaden smirked. "Elemental Hero Heat, attack Amazoness Paladin," he ordered and his warrior shot forward before slamming a flaming first into Paladin, causing her to shatter.
Jaden: 1300
Tania: 2800
"And yet another round of them punching each other silly," Kasumi mused as Jaden's and Tania's souls appeared before punching each other and returning to their bodies.
Jaden: 1100
Tania: 2600
"Now, Burstinatrix, attack Tania directly," Jaden ordered and Burstinatrix unleashed a blast of fire that slammed into Tania sending her flying to the ground.
Jaden: 1100
Tania: 1400
"Are you all right, Tania?" Jaden called when Tania didn't move to get back up.
"I'm fine. You are good," Tania said, flipping to her feet before grinning.
"Thanks, I think," Jaden said. "I'll throw this card facedown and end my turn."
"My turn," Tania said before she drew a card. "I summon Amazoness Swords Woman in Attack Mode." Her red-haired dark-skinned warrior wielding a sword appeared (A: 1500/D: 1600).
"Next, I equip her with United We Stand, which increases her Attack and Defense by 800," Tania added and her warrior was surrounded by a light (A: 1500-2300/D: 1600-2400).
"Oh my, that's not good. Now it's more powerful than both of Jaden's monsters," Banner said.
"I activate my facedown, Elemental Recharge, which gives me 1000 Life Points for every Elemental Hero I have on the field," Jaden said, quickly revealing his Trap and he was surrounded by a white aura.
Jaden: 3100
Tania: 1400
Tania smiled. "You'll need those, hun, Amazoness Swords Woman, attack Burstinatrix," she ordered and the Swords Woman shot forward before slicing Burstinatrix into pieces (Heat A: 2000-1800).
Jaden: 2000
Tania: 1400
"Now, it's time to go another round," Tania declared as their souls appeared in front of them once again.
"Jaden is probably gonna be sore in the morning," Kasumi said as Jaden dodged Tania's punch but gave her an uppercut; Tania retaliated by headbutting Jaden in the stomach before they returned to their bodies.
Jaden: 1800
Tania: 1200
"Tania's pretty strong, for a girl," Chazz grunted.
"Someone has a crush?" Arina asked curiously.
"What? No way!" Chazz exclaimed and avoided Arina's look, hoping she didn't catch the slight blush on his cheeks. At least, not on Tania, he thought, but didn't repeat that thought out loud. It was doubtful the girl he had a crush on felt the same way; they did barely know each other and, looking back, Chazz realized he was a pretty big jerk before he dropped out of Duel Academy. And the sad part was he knew he couldn't blame his brothers entirely for his actions.
"My turn," Jaden said, drawing a card. "I summon Elemental Hero Clayman in Defense Mode."
His clay warrior appeared before kneeling down on the field, guarding himself with his arms (A: 800/D: 2000) (Heat A: 1800-2000).
"Next, I activate H-Heated Heart to give Elemental Hero Heat an extra 500 Attack Points," Jaden added and Heat was surrounded by an aura of flames (A: 2000-2500).
"What is he planning?" Syrus wondered aloud. "He knows Swords Woman's effect, doesn't he?"
"He should," Kasumi said with a frown.
"Heat, attack Amazoness Swords Woman," Jaden ordered.
"What is he doing?" Chumley asked with a frown as Heat smashed his flaming fist into Swords Woman and she cried out before shattering.
"I'd duck," Tania said and Jaden, knowing what was coming, ducked out of the way to avoid the blade from Swords Woman that came flying at him.
Jaden: 1600
Tania: 1200
Jaden smirked. "Time for another round?" he asked.
Tania smirked as well. "Let's go," she said and, once again, their souls clashed in a punch that sent each one flying once again; Jaden, rubbing his jaw—Kasumi was right. He probably was going to be sore in the morning—signaled the end of his turn (Heat A: 2500-2000).
Jaden: 1400
Tania: 1000
"And now it's my turn, hun," Tania said before she drew a card. "First, I play Monster Reborn to bring back Amazoness Paladin."
Her blonde warrior returned to the field (A: 1700-1800/D: 300).
"Next, I summon Amazoness Tiger to the field in Attack Mode."
Her large, white tiger appeared on the field with a roar (A: 1100/D: 1500).
"This kitty gains 400 Attack for every monster on the field that has Amazoness in its name. She just loves company," Tania added as her Amazoness grew more powerful (A: 1100-1900) (Paladin A: 1800-1900).
"I don't blame her, look how powerful she got," Crowler said.
Alexis frowned. "How about we try to not sound quite so impressed, okay? Besides, it's still weaker than both of Jaden's monsters," she said.
"Amazoness Tiger, sic it to Clayman, Fang Frenzy," Tania ordered.
"Wait, what?" Jaden frowned as the tiger shot toward Clayman who just batted her aside and sent her back to Tania's side of the field.
Jaden: 1400
Tania: 900
"Why did she do that?" Arina wondered.
"I believe she has a plan," Zane said softly.
"My monster still attacked, so my arena still activates," Tania said and Jaden sighed but nodded before their souls once again clashed.
Jaden: 1200
Tania: 700
"Now, since my Amazoness Tiger attacked a monster and it was not destroyed, I can activate this card; Amazoness Trainer. This increases the Attack of my tiger by 400," Tania added and her tiger growled as her power increased (A: 1900-2300).
"That's why she attacked though she knew it wouldn't work," Syrus realized.
Zane nodded. "A good plan and since Clayman was in Defense Mode, neither monster was destroyed," he said.
"Let's try this again," Tania said before she pointed to Clayman. "Amazoness Tiger, attack Clayman, Fang Frenzy." The tiger pounced before tearing Clayman to pieces with her claws and teeth (Heat A: 2000-1800).
Once again, Amazoness Arena's effect was activated and the two duelists were once again punching each other before retreating to their own bodies.
Jaden: 1000
Tania: 500
"And now, Amazoness Paladin, attack Heat," Tania ordered and her blonde Paladin shot forward before cutting through Heat.
Jaden: 900
Tania: 500
"And, once again, the Arena activates," Tania said with a smirk.
Jaden smiled before he and Tania appeared once again, punched each other and then retreated back to their own bodies.
Jaden: 700
Tania: 300
"And I end my turn with that," Tania said before she grinned. "Playing hard to get? I like that."
Jaden smirked. "I'm loving this duel," he admitted.
Syrus looked at the two of them before smiling. "Ya now, I gotta admit, I'm liking this duel too. It's non-stop action," he said.
"That might be what Jaden's going for. Beat her at her own game," Zane said.
"I guess, unless he's trying to impress her. Maybe this Tania girl is Jaden's type," Chazz said.
"I highly doubt that," Alexis said shortly.
"Someone's jealous," Kasumi said teasingly.
Alexis glowered at her. "I am not," she snapped.
Jaden drew his card and then smiled. "It's time I ended this duel," he said before he held out a card. "First, I activate Graceful Charity to draw three cards and discard two." He drew three cards before discarding Elemental Hero Bubbleman and Negate Attack. "Then, I activate Dark Calling. I'm using it to fuse Elemental Hero Ice Edge and Evil Hero Infernal Gainer, which I discarded when I activated Ice Edge's effect, in my Graveyard in order to summon my newest monster."
"Newest monster?" Kasumi echoed.
Jaden, hearing his sister, nodded as Ice Edge and another fiend monster appeared on the field before they fused together. "Yup, I summon my Evil Hero Dark Ice," he declared as his monsters finished fusing together. In their place was a tall, muscular man. He had a midnight-blue helmet with a clear visor that allowed everyone to see his malice-filled crimson eyes and black, angled shoulder plates with sharp snow-white icicles topping the helmet like a crown. He was dressed in midnight-blue and silver armor with a midnight-blue lined black cape around his neck, silver gauntlets that went up to mid-bicep and a necklace of snow-white icicles around his neck (A: 2500/D: 2000).
'Well, it's about time you used me. Yubel is such a paranoid, overprotective fool,' Dark Ice hissed.
'Be quiet or I will rethink letting Judai use you anymore after this,' Yubel snapped back.
Dark Ice scowled furiously.
"Dark Ice also has an effect," Jaden said, ignoring the bickering duel spirits, while Tania was examining the new monster. "He gains 400 Attack Points for every Water monster in my Graveyard and I have one that I just discarded because of Graceful Charity." Dark Ice grinned as a blue aura surrounded him (A: 2500-2900).
"That is a powerful monster," Arina said. "Because of the monsters needed to summon him, he's almost guaranteed to have almost 3000 Attack every time he's summoned."
Kasumi nodded in agreement. Evil Heroes really do have better effects than their counterparts, she thought. "Unless he uses Dark Calling but since he used Graceful Charity beforehand, he was able to get a Water monster into his Graveyard to boost his monster's attack," she said.
Alexis smiled. "This is it. Jaden's got this duel won," she said.
"And I'm back down to Earth," Bastion said, startling everyone who had forgotten he was there, too engrossed in the duel. "I can duel passionately without being in love. Now, go get her, Jaden, and win this match for us both."
Jaden nodded once before pointing at Amazoness Tiger. "Now, Dark Ice, attack Amazoness Tiger with Dark Icicle Storm and end this duel," he ordered. Dark Ice grinned before raising both of his palms and unleashing a blast of glowing icicles that shot across the field before slamming into the tiger, causing her to yowl in pain and shatter and Tania to nearly get knocked off her feet as a result.
Jaden: 700 WINNER
Tania: 0
"It's over," Bastion said, relieved.
"Never have I seen two duelists fight with such passion," Crowler said with a shake of his head.
Zane looked at Bastion. "So, Bastion, are you still with us, or are you still in love?"
"I'm still in love"—Bastion smiled—"with dueling. I see now where the passion lies once again."
Jaden smiled at his opponent as his monsters vanished…
'Seriously? I was only out for one turn,' Dark Ice complained.
'You complain too much,' Yubel snapped.
Dark Ice grumbled but vanished back into the deck box.
…along with Tania's arena.
"And that's game, Tania," Jaden said, giving the Amazoness a two-fingered salute. "Sweet match. If ya want, we could have a rematch."
Tania sat down before shaking her head. "No rematch. I joined the Shadow Riders to find a husband, a duelist who was worthy of being my husband," she admitted before she looked at Jaden. "But I've discovered that I am not worthy of being with someone as strong as you."
Jaden raised an eyebrow. "Tania?"
What happened next startled everyone, except Haou and Yubel. Tania began to glow, surrounded by an aura of purple light and she fell onto all fours; her hair grew longer and white fur with black stripes began to grow out of her body. Soon, in her place, was a giant white tiger with two scars over its right eye.
"A tiger?!" Syrus exclaimed in shock.
'She has to be a relative. She had the same ability,' Haou murmured.
'That is true and we never did figure out what happened to her,' Yubel said.
Who are you talking about? Jaden thought.
'No one to concern yourself with, Judai,' Yubel assured him.
Jaden frowned at that, but decided not to push; Yubel would tell him when she thought he was ready, if ever, as it was obviously something that had to do with his past life and there was much about his past life he still didn't know; this obviously was one of those things. He knew he would have to know everything about his past life eventually, but Yubel, and even Haou, seemed reluctant to tell him everything.
Bastion rubbed his eyes. "Tania? Is that really you?" he asked.
The white tiger seemed to look straight at him. 'Farewell, Bastion.' Then, she turned and headed toward the exit with Bass right behind her, leaving her black gauntlet that Jaden reached down to pick up.
"Well that's…that I suppose…" Bastion was at a loss for words.
"You sure know how to pick 'em, Bastion," Chazz said, patting the Ra on the back.
"Well, there are other fish in the ocean," Arina pointed out.
"But not too many tigers," Bastion commented, deciding not to correct Arina as it, essentially, made sense anyway.
Jaden was still watching where Tania had been moments before, wondering why Yubel and Haou seemed to recognize Tania, what her connection was to his past life, and when Yubel or Haou would finally tell him everything that he wanted, and needed, to know.
. . .
A/n what do you think?
Blaze: done! Yay! I got this up before Christmas!
Chazz: took you eleven days
Blaze: oh shut up
Jesse: when's the next chapter coming out?
Blaze: probably in January sometime, since Christmas is just around the corner and all
Jesse: ahhh
Jaden: (runs into computer room) HIDE ME!
Blaze: Blair again?
Jaden: (nods)
Blaze: hide in the closet
Jaden: (dashes into closet)
Jesse: ten bucks says he gets lost
Chazz: deal (shakes Jesse's hand) How can you get lost in a closet?
Blaze: (smirks evilly) Here's the OC Evil HERO that I created for this chapter
Evil HERO Dark Ice
Fiend-Type monster + WATER monster
8
WATER
Fiend-fusion-effect
ATK: 2500
DEF: 2000
This card cannot be Special Summoned except with "Dark Fusion". This card gains 400 Attack for each WATER monster in the Graveyard. When this card leaves the field: Destroy all monsters on your opponents' side of the field.
Jaden: BLAZE? I DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET OUT OF HERE! OR WHERE I AM!
Jesse: (holds out hand) pay up
Chazz: (numbly hands over ten dollars) how the hell did he get lost in a closet?
Blaze: (opens door to closet) at least it didn't grow again (goes off to find Jaden)
Chazz: (stares speechless at city inside closet)
Jesse: (smirks before pulling out piece of paper) Question time?
Blaze: (shouts from inside city-closet) yeah!
Jesse: okay. Today's question is: 'What is your favorite band? If you have more than one, just name three that you like. Me? I have way too many bands that I like. Three that I like a lot are Linkin Park, Within Temptation and Dragonforce.'
Chazz: is Blaze running out of things to ask?
Jesse: who knows?
Blaze: (walks out of city-closet dragging Jaden behind her) note to self: give Jaden a map of my city-closet
Chazz: how do you have a city in your closet?
Jesse: it's Blaze. 'Nuff said really
Blaze: wow, long author's note. Ah well. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated. The next chapter will likely not come out until January sometime.