Duel and Unusual Punishment

Early in the morning, before the sun had risen, a grey fog hung over Duel Academy like a blanket. Though one could see through it, visibility was nevertheless quite reduced. And since it was still quite dark, the lighthouse pierced through the eerie darkness. At the moment, someone was walking to the docks. It was Alexis. She walked in silence , the only sounds coming from her footsteps. Before she reached the lighthouse, she noticed someone standing near it. That person was an Obelisk blue boy. He had dark blue hair, eyes of a lighter shade and a stern expression on his face. He was someone Alexis knew.

"Zane?" The named boy just stood there, staring at the sea with his arms crossed. "Hello?" Alexis approached him. "What are you doing out here?"

"Nothing." He replied in a neutral voice. "I just felt like being alone."

"You know, I thought once your brother enrolled here, you'd feel like that less, not more."

"Well maybe that's because my brother shouldn't be here." He stated bluntly.


Later that day, after the sun started to shine its morning light, Andrew was heading out for his usual morning training. For now, he was running around campus for some warm up. He was running until he came to the Slifer dorm. It was then he suddenly heard the sound of a vehicle. He turned around and saw an army style truck driving on the road towards the Slifer dorm."

"What's that? I better hide and see what's going." He said before hiding at the corner of the building.

When the truck stopped in front of it, a dozen or so men hopped out of the canvas covered back. They were all dressed in black and gray military like suits, with flat hats on their heads and round dark sunglasses. As they marched up the stairs to the second level, Professor Banner walked out of his room with Pharaoh at his feet. He wore a loose gray shirt, pants, blue slippers and was rubbing his eyes in attempt to rid himself of his tiredness.

"Aren't you kids getting a little old to be playing war? Come on you guys, how about a nice, quiet game of charades? Huh?" He looked up to see the soldiers rapidly ascending the steps. "Oh no! It's the Disciplinary Action Squad! They only show up when a student is in serious trouble. And they're headed towards Jaden's room."

Unbeknownst to Banner, Andrew heard what he said. He was really shocked by this. 'No way! Could it be that someone told them about the incident at the abandoned dorm?'


Inside the mentioned room, Jaden, Syrus and Chumley were all sleeping very peacefully, not to mention all three of them were snoring. It was nothing more than relaxing, that is until someone knocked loudly on their door.

"Open up. Open this door right now or we'll bust it down." Someone said from outside.

All three boys stirred a little, but only Jaden sat up on the edge of his bed. "Oh, is that so? (yawn) You and what army?" He asked doubtfully.

"The Disciplinary Action Squad Army." The voice answered.

"Huh? Disciplinary Action Squad?"

Jaden stood up and opened the door and on the other side stood a gray haired woman dressed in a green uniform with a beret and a cape. There were also two men standing behind her dressed in similar uniforms, plus sunglasses.

"You must be Jaden. And that must be Syrus." The light blue haired boy woke up when she mentioned his name. "You're both under campus arrest."

"Huh? What'd we do?" Jaden asked.

"That will be made more than apparent at the interrogation." She informed them.


"What!? Suspended?" They said at the same time.

Jaden and Syrus stood in wide a circular room inside the academy building. They were facing three television screens. The one on their right showed the woman who'd brought them from their room, in the center was Chancellor Sheppard and in the left one was Dr. Crowler.

"That's what I suggest." The woman spoke. "You trespassed into the abandoned dorm. An anonymous letter from one of our faculty members confirms it. You must be punished so an example is set for all the students."

"But what kind of example are we setting?" Crowler spoke. "That we are a bunch of hard hearted tyrants? I say we arrange something more sporting."

"Sporting? What do you mean by that?" Jaden asked.

"Well Jaden, of the top of my head, how about… you partner up with Syrus in a tag duel? Win and you're cleared. Lose and you're expelled."

"A tag duel?" Jaden smiled at the idea. "That sounds sweet."

On the other hand, Syrus was more worried about the conditions of the punishment. "B-but Jaden, he said expelled."

"Chancellor, I believe they have accepted the conditions."

"Fine. Then I'll arrange some opponents."

"Oh now Chancellor. Don't you fret about that. I'll take care of all the particulars for the event."


Later on, Chumley went to the Chancellor's office after hearing about the conditions Jaden and Syrus were placed in.

"You wanted to see me Chumley?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to tell you th-that… I was at the abandoned dorm too. And I-I should be the one to duel with Jaden."

"No. It should be me." They turned to see Alexis walk up to the desk, the automatic door closing behind her. Chumley was definitely not expecting Alexis to come here. And neither did Sheppard. "Listen, they were at the dorm helping me."

"Duh, that's bogus. Alexis, it was so totally my fault. I led them to the abandoned dorm, cuz I wanted to check out its uh… abandoned cafeteria."

Sheppard was a little amused by hearing Chumley's excuse.

"Fat chance Chumley. Please Chancellor, just let me be his partner."

"No, you can't." A voice spoke up from behind. Alexis and Chumley turned around to see Andrew enter the room with a serious look on his face. And once again, the chancellor was surprised to see another student interrupt them like that. "There's no way you can be his partner. Jaden and the others entered the abandoned dorm because I wasn't able to stop them. I trespassed into that dorm as much as them. So if anyone should team up with Jaden for the tag duel, it's me. Please Chancellor, let me be Jaden's partner."

Sheppard found their attempt to help Jaden and Syrus so admirable, that he couldn't help but smile. The boys had real good friends. But as the Chancellor, he still had to keep some authority. "Look, I realize the stakes are high. But the team up has been set. Syrus is Jaden's partner and I'm sure that he'll do fine."

Andrew, Alexis and Chumley looked at each other, all of them thinking that it wasn't going to be easy, at least not for Syrus. This was going to be a hard punishment.


At the Slifer dorm, Syrus was waiting for Chumley. In the meantime, Jaden was sitting at the desk, going through his deck. At the moment Chumley entered the room, Syrus latched onto him.

"Oh? So did he say yes? Oh please tell me that he said yes." He pleaded. "If I'm Jaden's partner, I'll get us both expelled."

"I tried Syrus. I even lied and told the chancellor I was the one who led you into the dorm."

"Hehe. Well, you did lead us into its cafeteria." Jaden said, still going through his deck.

"Hey, why aren't you worried Jaden?" Syrus asked. "Aren't you afraid that I'm gonna get us kicked out?"

"Nah. I wouldn't want any other partner."

"What? Are you nuts?"

"Look, Syrus… we're gonna go in there, duel our best and win the match. Know why?"

"Hm?"

"Cause you and I are gonna work out our kinks right now. Now go and grab your deck buddy. Cause we're gonna duel."

"Uh…"


Andrew was walking around the campus, feeling frustrated about the situation. He should have been chosen as Jaden's partner instead of Syrus. Because there's no doubt that Crowler was planning to match them up against duelists with great skill.

"Dammit. If only I was teamed up with Jaden. I don't want two of my friends getting kicked out of here." He muttered.

"Andrew?" A voice called out.

He turned around and saw Alexis and Jenny walking up to him.

"Oh. Jenny. Alexis. What's up?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Jenny replied with a concerned look in her face. "Alexis told me what happened. She told me that you and the others tried to convince Sheppard to have someone else to team up with Jaden."

Andrew let out an almost heavy sigh. "Yeah, that's right. Because if Jaden and Syrus fail the upcoming tag duel, the'll be expelled. I don't want to see two of my friends getting kicked out of here."

Jenny placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I know how you feel. We all do. But we can't just give up that easily." She gave him a cheerful smile. "None of us might be able to team up with Jaden, but we can still help, don't you agree?"

Andrew was surprised that she was so positive, but then smiled back. "You're right. We should be able to help them any way we can. Jaden and Syrus can win if they do their very best."

Alexis nodded. "I agree. How about we see what they're doing."

"Yeah, good idea."

With said, they headed to the Slifer dorm.


Once they arrived, they saw Chumley looking over the edge of the cliff.

"Hey, Chumley!" Andrew called out, making him turn around.

"Hey."

"What are you doing out here?" Alexis asked.

"Well, Jaden and Syrus are about to duel."

"Oh, you mean like practice?" Jenny asked. "Not a bad idea."

Chumley nodded, before looking down to his below. "All right you guys. Remember this is just practice for your upcoming tag team match, so go easy."

They noticed that Jaden had an excited smile on his face while Syrus on the other hand looked nervous.

"Of course, I'm not sure Jaden even knows how to go easy."

"That's probably a good thing." Alexis said.

"What do you mean?" Chumley asked.

"It means I know Dr. Crowler and he's not going to match them up against any pushovers."

"Both Syrus and Jaden are going to need to be at their very best." Jenny said. "Because if they're not, they'll both be expelled."


"All right Syrus." Jaden spoke up, waving towards his friend. "Get your game on buddy. And let's have some fun."

"Sure, fun. I guess we might as well squeeze some in, before we get kicked outta here." Syrus spoke in a saddened voice and was looking more at the ground.

"What was that?"

"Oh, uh. Nothing."

"Then let's duel."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's duel."

Jaden: 4000

Syrus: 4000

"Here I come Syrus." Jaden drew his sixth card. "Sweet! I summon Elemental HERO Avian in attack mode." The bird like green hero appeared on Jaden's field. (ATK: 1000 DEF: 1000 LV: 4) "And I'll also throw down a facedown. Your go."

"All right, let's see." Syrus looked over his hand and smiled when he saw the card he drew. 'Ooh. My Patroid's attack can beat Jaden's Avian.'

"Hey, what's that smile about? You got something?" Jaden called out to him.

"Uhh, well um, yeah I think so. Patroid, attack mode." The monster that appeared was rather… interesting. It looked like a police car from an old kid's show, complete with big eyes, and a police hat on its roof, its wheels sticking out like arms and legs. (ATK: 1200 DEF: 1200 LV: 4) "Go, Siren Smasher!" The comic vehicle got down on its tires and drove towards the opposing monster with its red light and a siren blaring.

"Not so fast! Iv'e got a trap. Negate Attack." The trap card unleashed a strange vortex that forced Patroid backwards, away from Avian, leaving him safe this turn."

"Aww man, I should've guessed that your facedown was a trap."

"Duh, Sy walked right into that one." Chumley felt something rubbing itself against his leg. he looked down and saw Banner's cat Pharaoh and picked him up.

"This isn't a good sign. There's no way they'll stand a chance in the tag match if Syrus plays like this." Alexis commented.

Syrus was sitting on the ground and made small designs in the dirt. "Oh boy. Don't you think that dirt is just the coolest Jaden?"

"Sy, don't crack up yet. You just made one mistake. That's all." Jaden tried to reassure Syrus.

"Yeah. Coming to this school."

"No Sy. You just forgot to use Patroid's special power is all. He let's you check out one of your opponent's facedown cards once per turn. You could have seen my trap."

"Yeah. I know I'm no good. I don't belong here."

"Looks like Syrus has some serious confidence issues." Jenny remarked.

"Whoa! Slow down there. I didn't mean anything like that." Jaden said, surprised at his friend.

Syrus lowered his head. "I… I know you didn't Jaden. I know you were just trying to help. It's just that…"

"No look, you're right. I shouldn't butt in. We are opponents right now. And from here on out, we otta act like it. Game on." Jaden looked at the card he drew. 'All right. Syrus is in for a shock'
"I summon Elemental HERO Sparkman in attack mode." The blue, gold armored hero appeared next to the other. (ATK: 1600 DEF: 1400 LV: 4) "And now, I'll have my Sparkman attack Patroid." Sparkman formed a ball of electricity in his hands which he turned into a short lance. He held it in one hand before tossing it straight at the police car's center.

Syrus: 4000-3600

"And now, Avian, attack Sy! Windstorm Strike!" Avian leapt into the air and flapped his wings, creating a gust of wind which hit the short Slifer, followed up by a diving fist that knocked him down on his back.

Syrus: 3600-2600

"Last I'll trow down a facedown. And that's it."

Syrus sat up, smiling slightly. "Can I crack up now? I just got nailed on both of our turns. I can't win."

"Of course you can win Syrus!" Alexis called out to him. "You just have to believe in yourself!"

"Yeah! We know you got more tricks in your deck! I know you got some good combos with your machine cards.!" Andrew added.

"They're right Syrus! Don't give up!" Jenny jumped in.

"I mean, duh Syrus! That's the first thing they teach you in freshman dueling class! I should know, I had to take it twice!" Chumley shouted.

Andrew looked at him with a raised eyebrow. 'Took it twice, huh. I wonder what year he's in now.'

"They'r right. I can't give up the match so soon. Especially since I'm not just dueling for myself, but for Jaden as well." He got up straight as he spoke. "And the best thing I can do for him right now would be … to take him down."

"Come on Sy, you can do this!" Jenny said.

"Totally. We believe in you. You just gotta believe in yourself, duh!"

Alexis giggled and looked at Chumley. "You know Chumley, you're pretty good with words of encouragement."

"Huh?" Chumley was surprised by the comment before smiling. "Yeah, well I got all kinds of books of self motivation. For some reason my dad keeps getting them for me."

"Yeah, I wonder why." Jenny said. "Anyway, at least Syrus is playing in the duel now rather than the dirt. Nice job."

"Thank you."

"Now the question is, how will he play?" Andrew asked.

"All right." Looked at the cards in his hand. 'I don't have a monster that can take on Jaden right now, so I'll have to use a different strategy.'
"I'm throwing down the spell card Pot of Greed. And now I'll use its magical charm and then draw two additional cards from my deck." Syrus drew his two cards and was very shocked to see one of the cards he drew. "Huh?!"
'Powerbond!?'

'Judging by Syrus' face, he must have just drawn a sweet card.' Jaden thought.

"Powerbond's like Polymerization… but better." Syrus muttered to himself. "Whatever machine type fusion monster I summon, it's attack points are doubled. But oh well, I'm not good enough to play a card this strong. At least according to my brother."


Flashback

'I'll never forget that day. It was back at grade school and I was dueling this really mean bully. It was my big chance to stand up to him, to show him that I couldn't be pushed around.'

Syrus: 1600

Bully: 1900

A younger version of Syrus was facing a big sized boy. Syrus had two monsters on his side on the field. One of them was Steamroid; A red and black steam train with the same cartoonish features as Patroid. The other monster was Gyroid; A blue helicopter that also had the same cartoonish features. On the bully's side of the field was a facedown card and a black armored warrior type monster known as Gearfried the Iron Knight.

"All right, you're going down." Syrus drew his next card and was very happy at his luck. 'Awesome, Powerbond. The card my brother gave me. I'll win for sure now.'

"Quit your stalling ya little pipsqueak. You know you're gonna lose. So let's just get it over with." The bully barked.

"Yeah that's what you think. But you're wrong. This duel's mine."

"Yeah right. The only thing that's gonna be yours is a severe butt-kicking."

"Sorry, but I'm done being scared of all your nasty threats. Do ya hear that? I'm not afraid of you anymore. Know why? Cause I'm gonna be the one who takes you down."

"STOP!" A voice interrupted.

Syrus was surprised by the interruption and fell to the ground. He sat up and looked behind him. "Hey, who said that? Huh?" The person who interrupted them was a boy with dark blue hair, wearing a blue school uniform. This boy was a younger version of Syrus' older brother… "Zane?"

He walked up to the bully and held out a card. "This duel never happened, got it? Just take this and walk away."

The bully looked at the card and smirked. "Nice card. You got yourself a deal." He took the offered card and walked away.

"What're you doing Zane!? I was about to win this duel with the card you gave me."

Zane didn't even turned around to face him. "No Syrus, you weren't."

"Huh?"

"And I would have never given you that card had I known that you would misplay it like you were about to."

"Misplay? I was not!"

"You were! This was the facedown card that your opponent had on the field, Syrus." He kept his back to Syrus all along as he talked and as he showed him a certain trap card.

"Spellbinding Circle?"

"That's right. A very powerful trap card. And when it's sprung, the monster that it ensnares can neither attack or change its battle mode. So you would have summoned your fusion monster with Powerbond and its attack points would have been doubled. But then Spellbinding Circle would have prevented you from attacking with him and then you would have been left taking a hit to your life points at the end of your turn for having used Powerbond."

What Zane said was 100 % correct and the truth was really painful for Syrus. He struggled to prevent himself from crying.

"You weren't thinking Syrus. You didn't take into account the facedown card and you didn't take into account Powerbond's adverse special effect. Sure, you may know how to use the card, but there's more to dueling than simply that."

Flashback end


"Just holding this card again gives me the chills." Syrus muttered as his mind returned to the present. "And what did he mean that knowing how to use it wasn't enough."

'Syrus sure is struggling with his move.' Jaden thought. "Hey! You alright there Sy?"

Syrus' eyes snapped open and he shook off his feeling. He put his Powerebond back and pulled out a different card. "I'm gonna play this spell card, Polymerization." The light and dark blue swirling fusion vortex appeared over Syrus. "And I'll use it to fuse together the Gyroid and Steamroid that I have in my hand to create, the Steam Gyroid." The two named monster were sucked into the vortex. The results came out as gray machine shaped mostly like the steam train, but with helicopter blades around its 'waist'. (ATK: 2200 DEF: 1600 LV: 6) "All right Steam Gyroid, it's time to go locomotive. Attack, Train Twister!" The monster rotated its blades rapidly, creating a tornado funnel that rose high into the air and curved around before slamming into Avian. The winged hero struggled for a few moments before hearing a loud whistling sound. Steam Gyroid emerged its head from the whirlwind a repeatedly struck Avian with its rotating blades.

Jaden: 4000-2800

"All right! Gotcha. Had enough practice?"

Syrus was surprised when he realized that Jaden was laughing. "What are you talking about, have I had enough? Sy, you know the old saying; no pain, no gain. And with what I have planned, you stand to gain a lot. You may be one of my best pals, but now we're rivals. And…" Jaden looked at the cards in his hands. "I got the cards to treat you like one. Brace yourself! Now, I activate the spell card Polymerization. Elemental HERO Sparkman and Elemental HERO Clayman unite." The two named hero monsters flew up into the darkened clouds overhead. When they did, a number of lightning bolts struck the ground. "And here he comes, the Elemental HERO Thunder Giant!" The tall, yellow armored electric hero descended from the sky. (ATK: 2400 DEF: 1500 LV: 6)


As Jaden's monster appeared, Pharaoh jumped out of Chumley's arms.

"That cat's got the right idea." Alexis commented.

"Oh please. It's just another monster Alexis." Chumley replied.

"No, it's more than just that Chumley." Andrew said. "Thunder Giant can destroy one monster on the turn he's summoned if that monster's original attack points are less than his own."

"Really? Guess practice may be getting out early for Syrus then."


"Ok Thunder Giant, take out Steam Gyroid!" Jaden ordered his electric hero.

Thunder Giant pointed one finger at the clouds and a thin stream of electricity shot out from it. And then, a shower of bright needles rained down upon Steam Gyroid, hammering it hard and fast. The cartoonish machine let out a panicked whistle before being wiped off the field.

Syrus lowered his arm as the smoke cleared. "Aw man. That leaves me defenseless."

"Yeah it does." Jaden replied as he held up a certain hero card. "But I'm not done yet. Burstinatrix, I summon you in attack mode!" The red-clad heroine appeared on the field and flew around Thunder Giant before stopping in mid-air. (ATK: 1200 DEF: 800 LV: 3) "Now comes the double tag attack. Thunder Giant, Voltic Thunder!" Electricity appeared in the giant hero's hands which he sent at Syrus. He screamed as his body became a current of high voltage power, the electricity coursing through him, knocking him to his knees.

Syrus: 2600-0200

"Now Burstinatrix attack! Flare Storm!" The female hero created two fireballs in her palms and hurled them at the kneeling Syrus, knocking him on his in the process.

Syrus: 0200-0000

"And that would be game. That was a good duel there Syrus."

"I don't know about that. I didn't up too much of a fight Jaden."

"What are you talking about? Jaden stopped, a few inches away from Syrus. "Sure, I was able to pull it out at the end, but you made some sweet moves. You otta be proud."

"Yeah." Syrus lowered his head.

"Although I gotta admit, I'm curious about something. What was that one card you drew but didn't play. You looked so excited." Jaden leans down and took Syrus' card to have a look. He was surprised to what kind of it was. "Powerbond!? Why didn't you use it? You would've doubled Steam Gyroid's attack points. You would've had one tough monster. You know, on second thought, for my sake, I'm glad you didn't use it."

"You don't understand. My bro says I'm not good enough to use it. And I'll probably never be." Syrus stood up and snatched the card away. "And it's clear you'll never be able to win the tag team duel if I'm your partner." With that said, Syrus ran off.

"Sy, wait!"

"Sy!" Chumley yelled at him and ran to cut him off at the pass. Andrew, Alexis and Jenny were left alone on the cliff, the scene still playing in their heads.


The waves crashed against the rock as Andrew, Alexis and Jenny walked up to Jaden, who was looking out at the water.

"I guess practice doesn't always make for perfect, huh Jaden. At least not for Syrus, it seems." Alexis reasoned.

"I don't get it. He's such a cool guy. I wish he could just see what I see. That the only thing that's holding him back is himself. I mean, he had this primo card all set to play, but he doesn't use it. And why? Cause some brother of his said not to."

"Whoa, really?" Andrew asked. "Sounds like an awful brother if he's the reason why Syrus never played."

Alexis and Jenny, however, looked at Jaden, their eyes wide at what he said.

Jaden noticed this. "What is it Alexis? Am I missing here?"

Andrew couldn't help but wonder about their reactions as well. "Yeah, was it something Jaden said?"

"Yeah…" Alexis replied. "That brother of his goes to this school. And you've probably heard of him too."

The boys didn't seem to get what she said.

"Um, Sorry. But I don't think I've heard of him at all." Andrew said, as he raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, me neither. Who are you talking about?" Jaden asked?

"Hello!" Jenny spoke up. "Third year Obelisk blue and number one duelist at the academy. He's the big man on campus. Zane! And he really is as good as his reputation."

"Yeah? Well I'll tell you girls, it doesn't sound like he's very good to his little brother." Jaden turned back to the waves. "Man,I wonder what happened between them."

"Jaden, don't pry." Alexis warned him.

But Jaden just grinned and punched his open palm. "Oh I won't pry. I'll duel this guy to find out what's up."

"Jaden! You're not listening." She protested. "Nobody messes with Zane."

'You make it sound like he's untouchable.' Andrew thought.

"Yeah? Well they do when their tag team partner's not dueling up to snuff because of him. Besides, I wanna see how I stack up."

'Well, if he's not going listen to me…' Alexis thought, before giving him a smile. "You go get him Jaden."

Jaden threw his fist int the air. "All right. Look out Zane, I'm coming for you." And with that, he ran off.

"Jaden, sure is confident." Andrew said. "If only Syrus was the same as him."

Jenny nodded. "Yeah, he definitely need some help with that."

"And perhaps I can help you with that." A voice spoke up. The group turned to see a certain Obelisk blue boy with dark purple hair.

"Michael?" Alexis said.

"Yo, what's up?" He greeted with a smile.

"What are you doing here?" Andrew asked.

"Well, I was walking around when I noticed Syrus running away from here with an upset expression on his face. So I decided to come here and see what's going on. When I arrived, I happened to overhear your conversation."

"So you know, huh." Jenny said.

"Yup, and I must say, I'm not really happy about this at all." He said, as he almost looked like he was angry. "With that said, I want to join you and help Syrus with his problems."

Andrew smiled. "Thanks Michael."

He gave him a thumbs up and grinned. "My pleasure."


And Done. Hope you enjoyed it.