Chapter 25 – Copycats and Fangirls

"Is this a joke?"

Rex stared directly in the face of…himself?! No, this other Rex wore a yellow jacket. They stared defiantly into each other's eyes, mirroring each other's movements as they tried to sidestep each other.

"Rrr…" The two growled in unison. "CUT THAT OUT! Just how long do you plan on mimicking me?!"

The fake Rex tried and failed to contain his laughter. "Pretty good, huh?"

The real Rex stared in stunned silence as the copycat threw off his hat and wig, revealing his real spiked brown hair.

"Imitation is truly the sincerest form of flattery," the boy said. "I love what I do and I do what I love!" And from seemingly out of nowhere, he immediately put on an untidy blue wig and spectacles which were close to fall off his nose. "Here's our favorite pipsqueak…" He switched to a spiked black wig. "…Mr. Emo-King…" And a mushroom shaped brown wig. "…And my personal favorite, the hero duelist! How sweet is that?!" And back to his normal hair. "I, Dimitri Kagurazaka the copycat duelist, have mimicked several faces and voices on this island, and with an ever-growing collection of cards, I have flawlessly copied their decks as well!"

"SHUT UP AND TURN ON YOUR DUEL DISK!" Needless to say, Rex was already fed up with the guy, who totally flinched when Rex yelled at him. Rex was so angry he looked as though he would explode.

"You could just say please." Dimitri frowned and activated his duel disk. "Where's the exam proctor anyway?"

"I'm right here." Hugo arrived on the scene, nearly out of breath. He slicked back his oddly streaked hair and straightened his sunglasses. "Well, Mr. Raptor, we meet again. And so soon, I might add."

Rex groaned. I'm surrounded by idiots.

"Anyway," Hugo continued, "I will be your exam proctor for today. You might not see it behind my glasses, but I'll be watching you both very carefully for any foul play."

"That's fine by me," Rex said, slipping his one more card into his deck. Wait 'til he sees this!

"Very well, then," Dimitri said, also slicking his hair back and putting on a pair of sunglasses.

"You may begin when ready."

Both duelists set their Life Points to 4000 and drew five cards. Rex examined his hand and grinned. Nice. Sabersaurus on the first draw! I'll wipe him out in no time. Now, let's see what else I've got…

------------

Elsewhere, down by the beach, Mokuba was not a happy camper. That was evident by the grimace on his face and the twitch of his eyebrow. Instead of actually playing the game, Jasmine spent half the time flirting with him and making childish moves. Mokuba still had 4000 Life Points as well as two Thunder Dragons on the field in Attack Mode and one card face down. Jasmine had 2000 Life Points, no monsters, and two face down cards on the field. Even the exam proctor, an old man with long graying hair and a blue coat, was getting fed up with Jasmine's antics.

"Jasmine, tell me again why you're not taking this duel seriously."

"I'm very serious!" Jasmine shouted. "It's just…" She couldn't bring herself to finish and started giggling again.

Mokuba closed his eyes and put his hand to his temple. Does my brother ever go through this mess?

----

Meanwhile, back in Domino City…

The phone on Seto Kaiba's desk rang and rang. Kaiba pressed the speaker button and heard lots of shrill screams on the other end. "What is it?"

"Sir!" Roland yelled amongst the screams. "There's a large group of young women here to see you!"

"Tell them I'm busy." That's all Roland heard before Kaiba hung up. And sadly, that's the last Kaiba would hear from Roland for the remainder of the fiscal year.

----

"All right," Jasmine said, suddenly full of gusto. "I've had my fill of fun. It's time I get dueling for real! Draw!" Jasmine drew a card from her deck. "I play Injection Fairy Lily (400/1500) in Attack Mode!"

Lily took the form of a small girl in a skimpy nurse's outfit, holding a syringe about as big as her body. Lily took the time to wink at Mokuba, making him groan again.

"Looks like my monster likes you too!" Jasmine said happily. "But that's nothing compared to what happens next. If I pay 2000 Life Points, then my Fairy's attack strength increases to 3000 during the damage step!"

"But all you have left is 2000," Mokuba protested.

"Not exactly," Jasmine said, raising one of her facedowns. "I activate the spell, Emergency Provisions! Now, I can ditch a face down card and increase my Life Points by 1000."

"Ah." Mokuba raised an eyebrow as Jasmine's Life Points rose to 3000. "So you're not just ditzy, huh?"

"Nope. I'm going to be as tough as Alexis Rhodes someday," Jasmine said with a fire in her eyes.

Alexis, huh? Mokuba thought. Looking back, Mokuba realized that Alexis hadn't even looked at him half the time during the dance. She just kept staring at…

"Now, let's activate my Fairy's special ability!" Jasmine dropped her Life Points to 1000 and Lily's syringe grew bigger and bigger in her hands, increasing her attack points to 3000.

"Time to take your shots, sweetie! Attack the left Thunder Dragon!"

Lily jumped on her syringe and took to the sky like a rocket. Lily sailed back down with the speed of a bullet. But Mokuba wasn't having that!

"I activate…"

Back in the woods…

"Let's get your DNA Surgery out of the way!" Torrey had activated a Spell card known as Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Weevil's trap card. The Insect parts that had sprouted from Torrey's Despair from the Dark (2800/3000) had receded back into its body. "Since that's gone, my monsters are no longer insects. And your Barrier can't do a thing."

Weevil's eyes widened. All that was on his field was his Insect Barrier, a face down card, and his Cocoon of Evolution (0/2000). And only 700 Life Points to spare.

"Now, let's make this interesting," Torrey continued. "I'll add the Equip Spell, Fairy Meteor Crush. You might know this already, but with this spell attached to Despair from the Dark, it can cause damage even if your monster is in Defense Mode."

"I know how it works!" Weevil shouted. "I've seen it a million times!"

"Good." Torrey nodded. "Then you know what happens next! Despair from the Dark, attack his Cocoon! Dark Hand of the Dead!"

Weevil could only watch in horror. His face down card was Option Hunter, but since his Cocoon had zero attack points, it was useless! Despair from the Dark extended a hand from its shadowy body and swiftly tore through the cocoon and the insect inside. As Weevil's Life Points dropped to zero, he fell back and his glasses fell off.

"You're better than I thought, Weevil," Torrey said, deactivating his duel disk. "It's been a while since my Life Points have dropped past 2000. But that's beside the point. I'd like you to consider joining the séance club. I assure you that it could do you wonders."

Weevil merely shrugged and put his glasses back on, not bothering to get up yet. No one would know that Weevil was only crying on the inside.

"Oh, and let me know what happens with your new 'bandage'!" Weevil froze at Torrey's comment. Even through the duel, he still wouldn't forget about Sara sucking on his fingers. Perhaps that was the reason he lost?

"Séance club, huh?" Weevil heard that familiar giggling voice coming from his duel disk. "Hmph."

------------

"How the heck did we tie?!"

That was both Jaden and Blair. Through some strange circumstances and a few choice trap cards, both duelists somehow got their life points dropped to zero both at once. Even Professor Autumn was dumbfounded. The two stared at each other breathing heavily before Blair stood up straight and brushed some dust off her uniform.

"You got lucky this time, Jaden," Blair said, smirking. "Next time, I'll beat you for real!" She deactivated her duel disk and headed to the dorm without hearing a word from Professor Autumn. Autumn, however, turned to Jaden.

"Well, I got to see plenty of explosions, so that's a plus. I'll give you and Blair your grades in two days."

But Jaden merely sat down in the dirt and slumped on his right arm. "Man…she's gotten way better."

That's when Jaden noticed Syrus' skinny, long legs walk past him. "Hey, Sy! How'd your exam go?"

Syrus looked back and shrugged. "Mm…I did okay."

Elsewhere, Dr. Crowler was getting very irritated as Mindy and Ichigo weren't even dueling, but wasting time talking about the dance and their dates. Honestly, there are too many fangirls on this island! He then started to cry silently. Why don't I have fangirls?!

And thus, the exams finally concluded. As scheduled, the students would receive their grades in two days…

Duo-san: Remember, there's no such thing as "plotholes" in my fics. In the next chapter...oh my...

Jaden: What is it?

Duo-san: Apparently, Chancellor Sheppard has to be hospitalized after getting slashed up by a knife.

Sheppard: What?! That's not good at all! You'd better have a good explanation for this!

Duo-san: Just a little thing called "plot" sir.

Rex: We actually have a plot?

Duo-san: Oh hush. The next chapter is called: She Strikes

Jaden: She? She who?

Duo-san: Patience...