Hey all, I really do hope you're enjoying my story so far.
I'm adding this little authors note mainly because I'm curious if I should add a certain archetype and keep a character around.
Anyone who's read the previous chapter knows that I introduced the eldest of the Hyoudou siblings: Yuri. And I've been thinking of adding synchro monsters into the mix, as they were pretty much the only thing I enjoyed about the 5D's series. If you would like to see Yuri stay around, or just see him from time to time, and see a few synchro monster in the future let me know. Until then, please read, review, and above all enjoy.
"Sounds like you two have been busy." Yuri began. The three siblings were taking a walk around the island, while Yuki and Yumei explained everything that happened at the Abandoned Dorm. "So Bakura really came back. Guess I was right in making Mahad promise to come back."
"That's only part of the problem." Yuki said, explaining what happened in the aftermath of the two Shadow Games. How their friends Jaden and Cyrus were the only ones whos admittance at Duel Academy was on the line, and that the head of the school wasn't budging on switching out Cyrus for either of the twins, or anyone else who was at there that night. And that Sheppard had allowed Yuki to keep the new Millenium Ring.
"Okay, well for that last one. I think the headmaster thinks you can handle using the ring." Yuri said, before letting out a small huff of laughter. "Either that, or he's crazy."
"I say he's crazy." Both twins said in stereo, which made their elder brother laugh.
"Okay, well as for the other thing, someone's seriously got it out for your two friends." Yuri sighed, once he had stopped laughing. "I'll try and look into that."
"Which raises another question." Yumei began. "What are you doing here? We thought you were in a tournament in America."
"Which is why I'm here." Yuri replied. "The tournament is over … I won."
"You what!?"
"I won." Yuri laughed, pulling a folded up poster out of his jacket pocket. Once folded out, the poster showed a picture of Yuri shaking hands with Maximillion Pegasus, a large first place trophy behind the two, filled to the brim with new and rare cards. "So I thought I'd stop by and surprise you two."
'Well done old friend.' Mahad's spirit said, manifesting from the ring around Yuki's neck.
"Hey guys…" Yumei said, pointing towards where she saw Chumley standing on the edge of a cliff by the Slifer dorm. The siblings walk had taken them from the Obelisk dorm to the Slifer dorm without anyone really paying attention to where they were walking.
"Hey Chumley." Yuki said in a slightly nervous tone as he approached the heavy set Slifer. "What are you doing?"
"Jaden and Cyrus are about to duel." Chumley replied, pointing down to where Jaden and Cyrus were standing with their duel disks ready.
"Smart idea." Yumei said, walking up beside her twin. "Get to know one another's deck before the tag duel."
"Hey guys!" Chumley called down to his two friends. "Just remember this is a practice duel for your upcoming tag match, so go easy on each other!"
"I don't think Jaden knows how to go easy." Everyone turned around, to see that Alexis had joined their little group.
"Whadda ya mean?" Chumley asked.
"I mean I know Dr. Crowler isn't going to get a bunch of pushovers." Alexis replied. "Both Jaden and Cyrus need to be at their best, because if they're not, they'll be expelled."
Yuki felt his cheeks flush, obviously remembering the kiss Alexis had given him several days ago.
"Alright Cy, get your game on buddy! And let's have some fun!" Jaden said, activating his duel disk.
"Yeah, fun. Might as well have some fun before we get kicked out of here." Cyrus mumbled.
"What was that?"
"Oh, ah, nothing."
"Then let's duel!"
"Yeah… yeah, let's duel." Cyrus sighed, activating his duel disk.
Jaden-LP 4000
Cyrus-LP 4000
Jaden drew his sixth card. "Here I come Cy, I'll summon Elemental Hero Avian in attack mode!" Jaden smiled, as his green suited winged warrior appeared on his field. Atk-1000 Def-1000
"Huh, so Jaden uses Elemental Heros." Yuri mused, as Jaden placed another card in his duel disk.
"And I'll throw down a face down, and call it a turn." Jaden said, while inserting his face down card into his duel disk. "Your move Cy."
"Let's see…" Cyrus mused, as he drew his sixth card. 'Oh, my Patroid has enough power to take Avian down!'
"What'cha smiling for?" Jaden asked, still smiling. "Get something good?"
"Uh, yeah I think so. I summon Patroid in attack mode!" Cyrus' monster resembled an old timey police car with an odd cartoonish theme. It had a police cap on its roof, big eyes, and its wheels stuck out like arms and legs. Atk-1200 Def-1200
"Now attack! Siren Smasher!"
"Not so fast Cy, I have a trap! Negate Attack!" Jaden's face down card flipped up, and canceled out Cyrus' attack.
"Aw man, I should have known that was a trap." Cyrus groaned.
"Cyrus walked right into that one." Yumei sighed.
"This isn't good." Alexis said. "There's no way they'll last in the tag duel if they play like this."
"He just needs to think his moves through is all." Yuri said, catching Alexis' attention.
"And just who are you?" The Obelisk female asked curiously.
"Oh that's right, we haven't officially met. I'm Yuki and Yumei's older brother. I'm Yuri Hyoudou." Yuri held his hand out.
"O-oh… I-i'm Alexis Rhodes." Alexis sounded slightly flustered, as she shook Yuri's hand.
Down below, Cyrus was sitting on the ground, drawing small designs in the dirt. "Dirt is just the greatest thing."
"Come on Cy, you just made one mistake." Jaden said, trying to get his friends attention.
"Yeah, coming to this school…" Cyrus replied glumly.
"That's not true. You just forgot to use Patroid's special ability. He let's you take a peek at your opponents face down cards once per turn." Jaden said.
"Yeah, I know I'm no good! I don't belong here." Cyrus replied in the same glum tone.
"Woah, hold on!" Jaden sounded worried for his friend. "I didn't mean that!"
"I know Jaden." Cyrus said after taking a deep breath. "It's just that…"
"You're right, I shouldn't butt in. We're opponents right now, and from now on we should act like it." Jaden said, drawing his next card. "Alright, I summon elemental Hero Sparkman!"
Sparkman, a old and blue armored hero appeared on Jaden's field next to Avian. Atk-1600 Def-1400
"Now Sparkman, attack Patroid! Static Shockwave!" Sparkman's attack blasted the cartoonish police car away.
Cyrus-LP 3600
"Now Avian, attack directly!" Avian's attack ended up knocking Cyrus to the ground.
Cyrus-LP 2600
"Can I crack up now?" Cyrus asked, laughing slightly. "I just got nailed on both our turns. I can't win."
"Of course you can Cyrus!" Alexis called down. "Believe in yourself!"
"Come on Cy, Even if you lose, at least try!" Yuki said.
"They're right Cyrus!" Chuley called down. "I mean duh, that's the first thing they teach you in freshman dueling class. I know, I had to take it twice."
"Wait what?" Yumei asked, turning to face the heavy set Slifer. "That's the easiest course at the school. How did you fail?"
Cyrus took a moment to let those words sink in. "They're right! Not only am I dueling for myself, I'm dueling for Jaden too. And the best thing I can do now, is to take him down!" Cyrus had a determined look on his face, pulling himself back up.
"There we go." Yuri smiled. "Off the ground, and back on his feet."
"Alright, here we go!" Cyrus, said drawing his newest card. 'Okay, I don't have a monster that can stand up to Jaden, so I'll have of think of another strategy.' Cyrus thought, looking over his hand. "Okay, I play Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw two more cards." Cyrus pulled two more cards off the top of his deck, both were spell cards. Pollymarization, and the other made him let out an audible gasp. 'Power Bond!'
'Huh, going by the look on his face, Cy must have drawn a sweet card!' Jaden thought excitedly.
'Powerbond is like Pollmarization only better. If I summon a machine-type monster with it, it's attack strength will be doubled. Oh well, I'm not good enough to use it … not according to my brother anyway…'
Cyrus thought back to a time before he'd entered Duel Academy. When he and Zane were younger.
'I'll never forget that day. It was back in grade school, and I was dueling a really mean bully. It was my chance to stand up to him, and prove that I couldn't be pushed around.'
Bully-LP 1900
Cyrus-LP 1600
A younger looking Cyrus was dueling a much larger boy. He had Gearfried the Iron Knight, and a face down card on his field, and Cyrus had his Steamroid and Gyroid on his field.
"Alright, you're going down!" Cyrus said, drawing his next card which happened to be Power Bond. 'Alright, Power Bond! The card Zane gave me! I'll win for sure now!'
"Quit stalling you little pip-squeak!" The bully growled. "You're gonna lose anyway, so let's get this over with!"
"That's what you think, this duel is mine!" Cyrus replied.
"Yeah right, the only thing that's gonna be yours is a good butt-kicking!"
"I'm not scared of all your threats! Do you hear me? I'm not scared of you anymore! You know why? Because I'm about to take you down!"
"STOP!" A voice shouted.
Cyrus was caught off guard, in the middle of his big moment, and fell to the ground. "Who said that?"
A taller boy with a dark blue uniform and hair soon approached the two. A younger version of Cyrus' older brother. "Zane?"
Ane walked up to the bully, handing him a card. "This duel never happened. Got it?"
The bully looked at the card, and smiled. "Nice card. You got yourself a deal."
"What are you doing Zane?" Cyrus asked, standing up. "I was about to win with the card you gave me."
"No you weren't Cyrus." Zane replied sternly. "And If I had known you were going to misplay it, I would have never have given it to you in the first place."
"Misplay?" Cyrus asked confused. "I wasn't gonna misplay it."
"Yes you were. There was a face down on your opponent's field." Zane replied, pointing to the mentioned card, which turned out to be Spellbinding Circle.
"Spellbinding Circle?" Cyrus gasped.
"That's right, a very powerful trap card. Once it's played, the targeted monster can't attack, or change its battle position. You would have summoned a monster with Power Bond, but this trap would have stopped you, making you take Power Bond's effect at the end of the turn. You weren't thinking Cyrus. You didn't take into effect the face down, or Power Bond's after effect. Sure you know how to use Power Bond, but there's more to dueling than just that." Zane said, which made Cyrus drop to his knees.
"Just holding this card gives me chills." Cyrus muttered. "And what did Zane mean? That using it isn't enough…"
"You alright over there Cy?" Jaden asked, snapping Cyrus back to reality.
"Yeah, I'm fine … Okay, I'll play Pollymarization, and fuse Steamroid and Gyroid, to summon Steam Gyroid!"
The two monsters were sucked into a vortex, and a new monsters emerged with Steamroid's body, and Gyroids fan blades. Atk-2200 Def-1800
"Alright, it's time to go loco-motive! Steam Gyroid attack Avian with Train Twister!" Cyrus' cartoonish monster spun it's propellor blades, which created a powerful twister that destroyed Avian.
Jaden-LP 2800
"Had enough Jaden?" Cyrus asked, and to his surprise, his friend began laughing.
"Have I had enough? Come on Cy, you know the old saying. No pain, no gain. And with what I have planned, you're gonna get a lot." Jaden said, still laughing as he drew.
"Now I'll play my own Polymarization, and fuse Sparkman and Clayman! Meet Elemental Hero Thunder Giant!" The skies darkened, thunder rumbled, and a bolt of lightning crashed down in front of Jaden, with the large Elemental Hero emerging seconds later. Atk-2400 Def-1500
"This doesn't bode well for Cyrus." Yuri said. "That monster Jaden summoned can destroy any monster who's original attack is lower than its own."
"Guess practice is ending early for Cyrus." Alexis sighed, as Thunder Giant destroyed Steam Gyroid with its effect.
"Aw man… I'm defenseless." Cyrus groaned.
"Yeah you are! Now I'll summon Elemental Hero Burstinatrix in attack mode!" Jaden smiled, calling out the female hero. Atk-1200 Def-800
"Alright, Thunder Giant, Burstinatrix, attack directly!" Jaden said, before his monsters destroyed what was left of Cyrus life points.
Cyrus-LP 0000
"That's game!" Jaden smiled, giving his signature two finger salute. "Great duel Cyrus!"
"I don't know, I didn't put up much of a fight." Cyrus groaned.
"What are you talking about? Sure I was able to pull through in the end, but you pulled off some sweet moves yourself. Although… I am wondering what that card you didn't play was." Jaden said, taking a look at Cyrus' hand, which ade his eyes go wide. "Power Bond? That's a sweet card! You could have won if you played that … Which makes me wonder why you didn't."
"Because my brother said I'm not good enough to play it." Cyrus sighed, taking his cards back. "And it's obvious he's right. It's also obvious you won't be able to win with me as your rag partner." He said before running off.
"Hey Cy, wait!" Jaden called, before Chumley took off after him.
"Guess this wasn't Cyrus' day." Yuki sighed walking up to Jaden, being joined shortly after by his two siblings and Alexis.
"I guess practice doesn't always make perfect." Alexis said. "At least not with Cyrus."
"I don't get it." Jaden frowned. "Cyrus is a cool guy, but he doesn't see what I see. He has a problem believing in himself, and he has this awesome spell card, but he doesn't use it because his brother told him not to."
This news made Yuri frown. "He doesn't sound like a very good brother to me. Especially if he says that."
"Uh guys…" Alexis said, getting everyone's attention.
"Something wrong Alexis?" Yuki asked.
"Yeah… that brother of Cyrus' goes to this school, and you've probably heard of him." She said.
The three students shared a look of confusion, and shook their heads at the same time.
"Hello? Third year Obelisk Blue, and the best duelist on campus. Zane, and he's as good as his reputation. Maybe even better." Alexis explained.
"Wait… Zane 'Kaiser' Trusedale is Cyrus' older brother?" Yumei asked wide eyed.
"Well he doesn't sound very good to his little brother." Jaden frowned. "I wonder what happened between them…"
"Jaden don't pry." Alexis warned.
"I'm not gonna pry. I'm gonna duel!" Jaden said, his frown vanishing.
"Jaden!" There was an exasperated note in Alexis' voice. "You're not listening. Nobody duels Zane."
"They do when their tag partner is not up to snuff because of him. I'm gonna duel to see if I stack up to the best!" There was a detirmined look in Jadens eyes.
"Give it up Alexis, he's not gonna stop." Yuki sighed, shaking his head.
"Then go get him Jaden." Alexis said, smiling.
"He's not the only one who wants a piece of this guy." Yuri said, his arms crossed. "I think I'm gonna give the so called best at the school a piece of my mind about this whole situation too."
"Looks like Zane is gonna have a lot on his hands." Yumei sighed.