Formula For Succes
Today was a bright day at Duel Academy. Some students were sitting in classrooms, while other students were taking part in gym class. The students in the gym class were playing Baseball. The match was between the Slifer Red and Ra Yellow dorm. The Slifers were up the bat, while the Ras were in the outfield. All the guys were currently wearing white and blue gym clothes. They also had bandanas tied around their arms, with colors based on their dorms. In other words, The Slifer boys with red bandanas and the Ra boys with yellow bandanas. The Slifers had a 3-0 lead. There were two outs and the second and the third were bases loaded. And right now, a certain Slifer student was up to bat. The one playing catcher for the Yellow team is none other than the Masked Hero duelist, Andrew Wilson! And the one up for bat, was the Elemental Hero duelist, Jaden Yuki!"
"Jay, keep your eye on the ball!" Syrus coached.
"That could be tough. After all, the ball is gonna be going over the rafters. He'll score, then he'll score, and then all up score will have a six round lead."
"You're more than welcome to try. Jaden." Andrew replied as he prepared himself. "All it takes is three strikes, and you're out!"
"Oh yeah? Then bring it on!" Jaden challenged.
Andrew was about to throw… "Hold on! Time out!" Everyone looked in the direction the voice had come from and they saw Bastion running to the field. "Sorry, I was deep in some attack point quantum mechanics and lost track of time." He explained to his teammates.
"Can you throw?" One of them asked.
"Sure."
"Well, we need a fresh arm."
"Pitcher change!" One of the students called out. Andrew left the field for Bastion to take the mound.
"This is no written exam, Bastion" Jaden called out. "I hope you know what you're doing!"
"Oh trust me, Jaden." Andrew grinned confidently. "If I know Bastion correctly, then he did all the calculations for this."
"I believe Andrew is right, Jaden." Bastion said, getting ready to throw. "Now get ready for some heat Jaden, this one's coming in red hot!"
"Then bring it on!"
Bastion didn't wait for the signals as he launched a fast ball, straight down in the middle. Jaden missed and Andrew caught it.
"Strike one!" As for the other two throws...
"Strike two!"
"Strike three, you're out!" Jaden was struck out.
"Aww nuts!" Jaden shouted.
"I warned you." Andrew said, taking off the catcher's gear. "And if you think his pitching was good, just wait until you see him knock it out of the park." He left for the sidelines to wait for his turn to bat.
"We'll see." Jaden said as he took the pitcher's mound, and Syrus took Andrew's place as the catcher.
At the bottom of the ninth, Jaden already struck out the two first batters. But then strangely enough, he started to get sloppy. He threw so badly for the next three batters, with Andrew being the third, that they walked to the bases.
"Time!" Syrus called. "Jaden, what's going on? You've got two outs and now you walked the last three batters."
"Pretty slick, huh?"
"Slick?" All the Slifers asked.
"Yeah, how else would I get a chance to pitch Bastion?" Jaden revealed.
"What? So then you walked all those guys just so that you could get even with Bastion?" Syrus said in realization.
"Nah. I don't want to just get even, I want to get ahead. Hey, you hear that Buddy? You're going down!"
"Down the base path perhaps." He replied confidently as he stood prepared for Jaden's pitch. The Slifer players went back to their places. "Now then, give me your best Jaden. I don't want to hear any excuses, after I wallop it right out of the ballpark. That is if you can manage to get the baseball over the plate of course."
"Game on!"
"Game over soon."
"Now here's some fight for ya!" Jaden swung his arm back and threw a fast ball straight over the middle of the plate. To his surprise though, Bastion was able to hit the ball and send it flying in the distance.
At the same time as this was happening, Dr Crowler was walking by himself nearby. He was contemplating the results of his schemes to get Jaden expelled. "The Paradox Brothers couldn't beat Jaden! Chazz couldn't beat Jaden! I need to find someone who can beat … AHH!" His ranting was interrupted by a ball straight to his left eye, causing him to fall over into a pile of sports equipment.
"Heads up!" Crowler popped out of the pile and saw Jaden and Syrus. When the two Slifers realized who was hit, they freaked out.
"YOU!? WELL OF COURSE! WHO ELSE COULD CAUSE SUCH INTENSE PAIN!?" He screamed furiously.
"Now that's keeping your eye on the ball." Syrus commented, as Crowler had the ball lodged in the eye.
"Sorry." Jaden said. "It was…"
"My fault." Bastion came up to them. "I was the one who hit the ball."
"Bastion? Of course." Crowler said, his mood completely changing as he heard Bastion. He turn around as he spoke up. "Here I was starting to find a new accomplice and here it smacks me right in the face. Well the eye actually, but that's really beside the point."
"Dr Crowler, accept my apologies." Bastion said, bowing in respect.
"No, no, no, no! I've been meaning to have my contacts refitted for ages and now I have the perfect excuse." Crowler said, trying to be nice. "And the perfect new protégé." He muttered the last part.
"Huh?"
Crowler had forgotten that Jaden and Syrus were still there. "All right you two, you caused enough trouble! Now, shoo, shoo shoo!" He growled as the ball fell off, revealing his black eye.
"Fine." Jaden said. "But that was foul, Bastion. Bye!" He and Syrus then ran off.
"Never mind those two. Slifer Slackers." Crowler said. "It's time you started consorting with those more your class, don't you think? It's time you start consorting… with me."
Later on, the students, including Andrew, were waiting for the class to start since Crowler was still talking with Bastion. Shiori was sitting right next to him
"Hey Andrew, do you know what Crowler is talking to Bastion about?" The ritual duelist asked.
"No, I have no idea. When I went over there to see what was taking so long, Crowler was walking with him out of the field."
"But that's strange. Because as far as I know, he was always looking down on the students from the lower ranks."
"That's true." Andrew agreed.
They then heard the arrogant voice of Chazz from one of the top seats.
"Yo, foot rub and ice tea, now."
"Get it yourself." One of three Obelisk Blue boys standing nearby said.
"What was that?" Chazz snapped.
"Doesn't he know?"
"Guess not."
"Know what?" Chazz asked.
"Chazz, where do you think you're sitting?" Another Obelisk Blue boy asked, walking up to him.
"My seat."
"Sorry, but that's not your seat anymore. Now move!"
"What are you talking about? Of course this is my seat. It says so right here." Chazz looked at the spot where he'd had his name tag, but was surprised to see that it was missing.
"Sorry Chazz, but you were moved way over there." The Obelisk pointed to a seat towards the bottom near the Ra Yellows. And it was in front of where Andrew and Shiori were sitting.
"What? I don't wanna to look at his ugly back!" Shiori said.
"Same here." Andrew agreed.
Chazz wasn't so pleased either. "No way! This is all wrong! I don't belong over there with those losers!" It was then that Dr Crowler walked into the classroom. "Dr Crowler, tell everyone this is a mistake. Tell them I belong up here!"
"But you don't. And you haven't since you lost that one duel to oh… who was it now? Ah yes, I remember, Jaden Yuki... A SLIFER! Which is why tomorrow you will duel Bastion Misawa, and if you lose to him as well, you two will switch dorms."
"You mean… I'd become a Ra Yellow duelist!?"
"Yes, very good." Crowler said, even applauding in amusement. "Now if you could only duel as well as you listen."
Chazz growled in embarrassment and ran out of the room, the other students' laughter following him. "I WON'T BE A RA!"
"Switching dorms? So that's why Bastion was talking to Crowler." Shiori thought.
"Yeah." Andrew added. He was then thinking about it. 'But that doesn't seem like the kind of thing he would capitalize on. He would rather get there by himself, not by taking down others. But still, I'm glad that Bastion was given such an opportunity.'
Since they were free after gym class, Jaden, Syrus and Bastion headed to the Ra Yellow dorm.
"Alright alright, maybe it wasn't a foul, Bastion." Jaden said, talking about the earlier baseball game.
"Jaden, over the center field fence usually isn't." Syrus added.
"Look, I play like I duel, with formulas." Bastion showed a baseball bat with a bunch of formulas written on it. "See, I find that science, statistics, geometry, they play a role in everything that we do in life."
"Wow, I never looked at it that way." Jaden admitted.
"So, do you have a formula for everything, Bastion?"
The Ra student laughed a little at Syrus' question. He led them into the Ra's dorm, which the two Slifers thought certainly looked better than theirs. Bastion led Jaden and Syrus to his dorm room. "And here we are." He said as he opened the door.
When they entered, the two Slifers let out a gasp. The walls and ceiling were covered with equations and formulas. "And where's here?"
"My lab, my workshop and also my dorm room." He pointed to wall next to his bed. "That area is for traps." He then pointed to the ceiling above his desk. "That's for spell cards." Finally he pointed to another part of the ceiling. "And that's well… you get the idea. Most of these I've memorized. And as you can see, I'm running out of room. So…"
"So what?" The two Slifers asked
"So" He held up a mop and paints bucket. "Mind Helping? I could use a couple extra hands. Especially since Andrew's still in class."
"Sure." The three set out to whitewash the walls of Bastion's dorm room.
"Check it out, I'm Michelangelo." Jaden said as he painted the ceiling while standing on the stepladder. Syrus and Bastion laughed at his joke. "Get it? Cause I'm painting the Ceilinnng!" Jaden lost his footing and his hold on the brush. The brush went flying right into Syrus' face.
"You do realize… this means war, Jay." Syrus said with his face covered in paint.
"Ah!" Jaden panicked. "Now look Sy, it was an accident." But Syrus ignored him and picked up a bucket of paint with intention of throwing its contents at Jaden in retaliation.
"That's enough." Bastion said. "Give me that paint." Syrus threw the paint at Jaden who abandoned the stepladder and jumped off of it, causing the paint to miss and splash Bastion right in the face. Jaden and Syrus burst into laughter. "Funny is it?" Bastion smacked Jaden's face with a rag. That got Jaden steamed who immediately fought back with his paint brush.
It was pretty much a paint war after that.
After having terminated their little skirmish, the boys washed up and managed to finish painting Bastion's room. After that, the Ra Yellow student invited Jaden and Syrus to the Ra Yellow cafeteria where they saw Andrew and Shiori eating together. "Hello there." Bastion greeted his fellow Ra students.
"Oh hey Bastion." Shiori greeted back.
"Hey Bastion." Andrew greeted. "Oh, I see you brought Jaden and Syrus with ya."
"I had them help out in painting my room, so I'm treating them to dinner."
"Well then, grab some food and join us!" The ritual duelist asked.
"And who are you?" Jaden asked the blonde boy.
"Me? I'm Shiori Koizumi."
The Slifer made an expression of recognition. "Oh, I've heard about you. You're that ritual duelist who challenged Andrew, right? From what he told me, you really gave him some fight."
The blonde boy grinned sheepishly. "I sure did. But the best duelist won in the end. Anyway, how about you guys grab some food?" He offered.
And just a few moments later, the two Slifers were sat in front of the three Ra students and were chowing down like it was an eating contest.
"I don't think I've ever had such a good time of painting." Jaden said as he shoved a piece of fish into his mouth. "Bastion, Andrew, Shiori, you guys are alright."
"Yeah and so is Ra Yellow's food." Syrus agreed.
"Oh, you flatter us." Bastion said as he brought own tray over to sit down. "But I'm sure it's not that much better than Slifer's."
Jaden and Syrus' eyes bugged out upon seeing the lobster on his plate. "Trust me, the closest we get to lobsters is our dorm cat's breath." Jaden remarked.
"Really?" Shiori asked, astonished at the comment. "That makes me wonder what you guys get to eat. This academy's got you living like bottom dwellers."
"Speaking of bottom dwellers, what were you talking to Crowler about back at the game?" Syrus asked.
"Actually, he wants me to test to become an Obelisk." Bastion answered.
"Are you serious?" Jaden asked.
"Is that why you were cleaning up your room?" Syrus asked
"Cause you're switching dorms?"
"It's true." Andrew spoke up. "Shiori and I heard it from Crowler himself."
"Well you deserve it, congrats Bastion." Jaden smiled.
"Again, you flatter me." Bastion said, trying to endure the praise.
"You're good. I saw your duel during the entrance exams." Jaden said, referring to the mentioned duel Bastion had...
Flashback
On the field in front of the proctor were two defensive monsters known as Gear Golem the Moving Fortress (ATK: 800 DEF: 2200 LV: 4) and Big Shield Gardna (ATK: 100 DEF: 2600 LV: 4). On Bastion's field was a monster known as Vorse Raider. There was also a facedown card behind it.
Bastion revealed his facedown card; a trap card known as Ring of Destruction. When that happened, a metal ring with grenades appeared and attached itself around Vorse Raider's neck. The ring exploded and destroyed the monster, causing both players to take damage equal to its attack points.
Bastion: 3200-1300
Proctor: 1900-0000
Flashback end
"You kicked that duel proctor's butt. You'll totally pass Crowler's test and be an Obelisk Blue. And we can can say we knew you well." Both Jaden and Syrus said the last part.
"Well thank you."
"You're welcome. Now if you excuse me…" As the five students dug into their respective meals, Bastion just looked at them with a sad smile on his face.
Meanwhile in the Obelisk Blue boys' dorm, Chazz was sitting on the couch in his room, talking with two men shown on the television screen in front of him. Both wore suits and ties and had a stern look on their faces. The one on the left had brown hair, while the other had black hair and a little goatee. Those two happened to be his older brothers, Slade and Jagger. "Got it Chazz?" Slade asked.
"Yeah." He replied unenthusiastically.
"I can't hear you."
"I said yes, I understand."
"Well you had better. The Princeton Brothers have a plan. Your brother and I are following through our ends of it."
Jagger spoke up. "And you had better be following though with yours Chazz. Come on, just think of it little bro. The world of politic, finance and duel monsters. If we control them all, then we will control the entire world. So be the best. The future of the Princeton family depends on it. It depends on you." The screen then shut off abruptly.
'Be the best?' Chazz thought to himself. He got up and looked through the window. In the distance he could see Jaden and Syrus. 'How can I be the best with lucky punks like those guys out there?' He then saw Bastion walk up to them before all three of them took off down the path that led to the Slifer dorm. 'What is this? Bastion's heading off to the Slifer dorm for the night. Then his dorm will be all empty.' That gave Chazz an idea.
Meanwhile, at the Slifer dorm, Jaden and Bastion were sound asleep in Jaden, Syrus and Chumley's room. Since there were no spare mattress and three bed bunks couldn't accommodate four guys, Jaden pulled his mattress onto the floor and he and Bastion were sleeping on it. Both of them were snoring right now, as Chumley and Syrus looked down at them.
"Hey Sy, what's that Ra doing here?" Chumley asked.
"He painted his room today," Syrus explained. "So we let him crash here."
"But Syrus, he's a Ra Yellow. What if he wakes up and wants to duel one of us, or make fun of one of us? How do you know we can trust him?"
"Relax Chumley, he's cool. He's one of Andrew's friends, so we can trust him. Also he let us eat at the Ra meal hall."
"Oh, he can have my bed if he wants."
At the Ra dorm early in the morning, before the sun had risen, Andrew had just woken up and dressed up for his usual morning training. He was about to leave, when he suddenly heard someone walking outside. He slowly opened the door and looked outside. "Huh?" To his surprise, he saw Chazz walk up to a desk standing up against the wall next to Bastion's dorm room. 'Chazz? What's he doing here?' To answer his question, Chazz opened one of the drawers and took out what appeared to be a deck of duel monster cards. Andrew knew for an instant that it was Bastion's deck, and Chazz was trying to steal it. "Hey!"
"What the…?" Chazz jumped as he saw Andrew stepping out of his dorm room. He then made a break for it.
"Stop! Get back here!" Andrew chased after him. The chase led to the docks, where Chazz stopped, and so did Andrew. "You won't get any longer."
"That's fine," The Obelisk boy replied. "Because here's exactly where I need to be." He then took Bastion's deck, and then… threw it in the ocean. Andrew gasped as Chazz laughed. "Now there's no way anyone will take MY spot away from me!"
Andrew gave him a hard glare. "I can't believe you would do something like that."
Chazz scoffed. "So what? I deserve to be the best at this academy. And I'll do whatever it takes to become the best."
"And you think throwing away your opponent's deck makes you a strong duelist?" Someone spoke up from a distance. They turned to see Michael walking up to them with a stern look on his face. He was dressed in his Obelisk uniform with his duel disk on his arm. "If that's how you treat your opponents, then you're more lowly than I thought."
"Michael?" Andrew said.
"What are you doing here?" Chazz demanded.
"I saw you sneaking out from the dorm, and decided to see what you were up to. With that said, I won't let you trash someone else's deck and get away with it."
"Hmph. Are you actually defending a Ra Yellow? I can't believe someone like you could be an Obelisk."
"At least I earned my place in the blue dorm because of my hard work and determination. You on the other hand are just a spoiled rich boy who would rather use rare cards and harass lower ranked students without taking time to improve yourself."
Chazz was now very pissed by Michael. "That's it! No one talks to me like that! If you're so tough, then bring it." He challenged as he revealed his duel disk.
Michael was about to activate his duel disk, but Andrew stopped him. "Hold on a second Michael. Let me handle him."
The purple haired Obelisk boy was a little surprised by this. "Are you sure?"
"I am. The cards in the ocean belongs to one of my Ra Yellow friends. If anyone should teach Chazz a lesson, it's me."
After seeing the determination in Andrew's eyes, Michael gave him a smirk and his duel disk. "Alright then, he's yours."
Chazz scoffed. "Whatever, that won't change anything." He said.
"DUEL!" The players activated their duel disks and drew their initial hands.
Andrew: 4000
Chazz: 4000
"You better be ready, because I won't hold anything back." Andrew declared and drew his sixth card. "I'll start with the spell card Polymerization and fuse Elemental HERO Ocean and Elemental HERO Shadow Mist to create Elemental HERO Absolute Zero." The two named monsters sucked into a fusion vortex and came out as the white armored and ice cold warrior. (ATK: 2500 DEF: 2000 LV: 8) "And next I activate Shadow Mist's special ability. As soon as she's sent to the graveyard, I'm allowed to take a HERO monster from my deck and add it to my hand. I choose Elemental HERO Lady Heat, and I think I'll summon her to the field right now." The white and orange clad female hero appeared beside the icy warrior. (ATK: 1300 DEF: 1000 LV: 4) "And to end my turn, I activate her special ability. During my end phase, you take 200 points of damage for every Elemental HERO on my side of the field." Lady Heat conjured a fireball in her right hand and threw it at Chazz.
Chazz: 4000-3600
"Heh, not bad, Andrew." Michael commented
"Please, that's nothing compared to what I have in store for you." Chazz said, drawing his next card. "First I activate the spell card Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw two cards from my deck. Then I activate the spell card Tribute to the Doomed. By discarding one card from my hand, I can destroy one monster on the field. Your Absolute Zero goes bye bye." A bunch of mummies erupted from the ground and dragged down the icy hero. "Now I can take you down without triggering your zero's ability. I summon X-Head Cannon." The humanoid machine with its twin cannons appeared. (ATK: 1800 DEF: 1500 LV: 4) "Then I'll play the spell card Frontline Base, which allows me to summon a level four or below union monster from my hand, like Y-Dragon Head." The red dragon machine appeared beside the first machine monster. (ATK 1500 DEF: 1600 LV: 4) "And now I activate the spell card Premature Burial, allowing me to summon a monster from my graveyard by paying 800 life points."
Chazz: 3600-2800
"So now I'll bring back the monster I discarded earlier, Z-Metal Tank!" A yellow machine shaped like a tank's tracks appeared aside the others. "(ATK: 1500 DEF: 1300 LV: 4) "And now I'll combine them in order to form XYZ-Dragon Cannon." The dragon lost its wings and set itself on the tank, while the other machine dropped on top of it. (ATK: 2800 DEF: 2600 LV: 8) "And thanks to his special ability, I can discard the last card in my hand to destroy your monster." As soon as Chazz discarded his last card, he fusion machine charged up its cannons and fired them at Lady Heat, taking her down into pixels. "And now you're totally defenseless. Dragon Cannon, direct attack!" Andrew braced himself as the fusion machine launched another cannon blast in front of him.
Andrew: 4000-1200
"And now it's your turn, not that you can do anything about it."
"We'll see about that." Andrew drew his next card. "I summon Elemental HERO Blazeman." The red armored fire hero appeared. "And he's got a special ability; I can take a Polymerization from my deck and add it to my hand. And I'll use it right away. So I'll fuse Blazeman with Avian and Ice Edge from my hand so I can summon a new hero." The three named monsters merged together. "I summon Elemental HERO Core." The new monster was a man clad in a white armor with red lines and gems. (ATK: 2700 DEF: 2200 LV: 9) "I place one card facedown and my turn."
"Heh, is that all you got?" Chazz asked mockingly. He then drew his next card. "That monster won't save you from my Dragon Cannon's wrath, especially since I can discard a card to activate its special ability again." He discarded his card and the massive machine aimed at Andrew's monster. "Now fire!" The machine loaded up its cannons again and launched another blast at Andrew's monster. "And now you're defenseless." He said with a smirk on his face.
"Do you wanna bet?"
"Huh?" Chazz was confused by Andrew's question, until he noticed something floating in air in Core's place; A big red jewel. And then it started to glow brightly with a red light. It was so bright that both Chazz and Michael covered their eyes. Eventually, the light died down. When they opened their eyes, they saw a certain white armored warrior standing in front of Andrew. (ATK: 2500 DEF: 2000 LV: 8)
"Absolute Zero!" Michael exclaimed.
"What!?" Chazz was more surprised than him. "Where did he come from? How did you summon him?"
Andrew chuckled a bit. "This was actually possible, all thanks to you."
"Say what?"
"My Core has a special ability; when he's destroyed and sent to the graveyard, I'm allowed to summon a level 8 or lower Elemental HERO fusion monster from my graveyard."
Chazz could hardly believe it. 'It can't be! That Ra reject planned this all along!'
"So, are you going to attack me?" Andrew asked.
The black haired Obelisk boy just growled.
"I'll take that as a no." He said and drew a card. "I activate the trap card Call of the Haunted. This lets summon a monster from my graveyard, and I choose Elemental HERO Ocean." The aquatic hero appeared beside the ice cold warrior. (ATK: 1500 DEF: 1200 LV: 4) "And with him out on the field, I can activate his special effect. During my standby phase, I can take a HERO monster from my field or graveyard and return it to my hand. The one I choose is Ice Edge." The named card ejected from his duel disk, and Andrew placed it in his hand. "Oh, did I mention Absolute Zero has another special ability? He gets 500 extra attack points for every other water monster on the field, like Ocean." The white armored hero was suddenly surrounded by a strengthening aura. (ATK: 2500-3000)
"3000 attack points!?" Chazz exclaimed.
"Yes, and for my next move, I summon Elemental HERO Ice Edge." The kid with spiky armor appeared on the field. (ATK: 800 DEF: 900 LV: 3) "And since he's a water attribute monster, my Absolute Zero gets even stronger." (ATK: 3000-3500)
"No way!"
"Oh, this is gonna hurt." Michael commented.
"Absolute Zero, attack his Dragon Cannon with Raging Blizzard!" The icy hero created a powerful blizzard and froze the giant machine solid. And just a couple of seconds later, the monster shattered, causing a cold windstorm to blow over the Princeton.
Chazz: 2800-2100
"And now I'll have my two other heroes attack you directly." The aquatic hero used his trident to stab Chazz ,and then the icy kid gave him an ice cold punch in the face, causing him to fall down.
Chazz: 2100-0000
"No! There's no way I was defeated by a Ra!"
"But that's what just happened." Michael replied. "This is what you get for cheating."
Chazz growled and stood up. "Hmph. No matter. The deed is already done. Without his deck, your nerdy friend won't be able to duel me." Andrew and Michael watched as he ran off. What Chazz didn't know however, was that Alexis and Jenny where standing nearby and witnessed the whole thing.
Later in the morning, Jaden, Syrus and Bastion were awoken by the sound of someone pounding on the door. "Jaden! Jaden, wake up!"
Jaden got up and opened the door, revealing the card shop owner, Dorothy. "What is it Ms Dorothy?"
"I was at the docks unloading some goods near the shore, then I saw them… cards tossed everywhere!"
"Tossed!?" The three boys gasped at this and took in the direction she'd told them.
When they arrived, they found Dorothy's claims were correct, a bunch of cards were scattered among the water.
"That's Ring of Destruction!" Jaden pointed to the named trap card.
"And Vorse Raider!" Syrus saw the monster card.
"Bastion, these are all of your cards." Jaden identified.
"It's my own fault." Bastion. "This deck was in the desk I moved to the hallway yesterday when we were painting."
"Who would do something like this?" Syrus wondered in disbelief.
"Someone who doesn't want Bastion to advance to Obelisk blue." Someone spoke from behind. The group turned to see Andrew approach them.
"Andrew? What are you doing here?" Jaden asked.
"I was about to tell you guys about the cards in the water, that is until I saw Ms Dorothy notice them and ran to you. So I waited here to tell you the whole story about this."
"So you know who did it?" Syrus asked.
"Yeah, I do…" And so, Andrew told the group about the whole incident. When he was finished...
"No way! I can't believe Chazz would do something like that." Jaden said.
"I'm afraid that's the case." Andrew replied.
Jaden looked at Bastion. "What in the world are you gonna do now, Bastion? Your promotion exam is in less than an hour."
"Don't worry about that." He assured him. "I have a plan."
The four boys arrived at the main dueling arena, where Crowler and Chazz were waiting. "Bastion, you made it." He greeted him. When he noticed the other boys, he frowned. "Oh, and I see you brought some friends.
"I hope you duel better than the company you keep." Chazz smirked.
"Well I believe he's way better than you, Chazz," Andrew replied with a glare. "Especially since you were cheating by tossing his cards into the ocean."
"Pardon?" Crowler asked.
"I don't know what he's talking about Dr Crowler, I didn't do a thing." Chazz denied.
"Oh, is that so?" They all turned to see Zane, Alexis, Jenny and Michael standing in the entrance. "We saw you Chazz, this morning by the water, when Andrew chased you to the docks, you dumped those cards into the water." Alexis said. "I normally wouldn't snitch, but you don't mess with someone's deck."
"Yeah, no joke. That's low, even for you." Jaden said.
"Oh come on, who's to say I wasn't throwing away my own cards?" Chazz said, still lying. "I guess Bastion and I just have similar decks, that's all."
"You're lying Chazz, we saw you!" Jenny argued. "Especially after Andrew beat you in a duel."
"No one calls me a liar and no one calls me a thief!" Chazz snapped. "You don't have any proof that I threw Bastion's cards away or that I dueled someone earlier."
"Fine, then you're not and we don't," Bastion said. "Let's just have our duel, shall we?"
"But how?" Jaden asked.
"A good duelist always has a spare deck, or a few of them." Bastion unzipped his yellow jacket. "After all you saw all of my formulas. Well they were for all my different dueling decks!" He opened up his jacket, revealing six pouches each containing a deck of duel cards in it. "And each one of them is as powerful as the next."
Chazz grimaced, as he saw from keeping Bastion from taking the exam had failed. "Yeah well you could go ahead and have your six stinking decks, cause all I need is this one. Now let's start."
Bastion nodded. "I thought that you would never ask, Chazz. Duel disk on." He activated his duel disk and inserted one of his decks. "You're just a problem to be solved, Chazz, a theorem to be cracked. You're finished."
"So bring it on!"
"DUEL!"
Bastion: 4000
Chazz: 4000
"Hope you're ready. Cause here comes the hurt. I summon Chthonian Soldier." A warrior wearing pieces of dark armor and holding a curved sword appeared in front of Chazz. (ATK: 1200 DEF: 1400 LV: 4) "Then a card facedown and that'll do it for now." He concluded after a facedown card appeared behind his monster.
"Oh will it now?" Bastion asked.
"Sounds like Bastion's got something up his sleeve." Jaden commented.
"He works quickly." Alexis said as she and the other Obelisk walked up to Jaden, Syrus and Andrew.
"Bastion's smart, he'll win this." Andrew said.
"I summon Hydrogeddon in attack mode. Rise, Hydrogeddon!" A geyser of brownish water erupted in front of Bastion. When it settled, there was a watery dinosaur monster of the same color with an amphibian tail. (ATK: 1600 DEF: 1000 LV: 4) "Now attack Chthonian Soldier with Hydro Gust. Destroy him!" The brownish dinosaur let out a blast of water from its mouth that destroyed the opposing monster.
"Thanks, you just activated my Chthonian Soldier's special ability!" Chazz announced. "It causes you to take the same amount of damage to your life points that I did."
Bastion: 4000-3600
Chazz: 4000-3600
"Not bad." Zane commented.
"Bastion sure walked right into that one." Jaden said.
"I activate a special ability also. You see Chazz, when Hydrogeddon successfully destroys a monster in battle, I'm allowed to immediately summon another Hydrogeddon from my deck. So rise, Hydrogeddon." A geyser erupted next to water dinosaur, from which appeared a duplicate of it. (ATK: 1600 DEF: 1000 LV: 4) "And my battle phase still continues, which means I can now wage a direct attack against you Chazz. So go Hydrogeddon, Hydro Gust!" The second monster fired a blast of water at Chazz, knocking him down in the process.
Chazz: 3600-2000
"Whoa, didn't see that coming." Andrew commented.
"No joke." Michael agreed. "Even with Chthonian Soldier's ability, he was able to cause so much damage in one turn."
"You'll pay for that." Chazz said as he got p on his feet. "I activate my trap card Call of the Haunted. With it, I can summon one monster from my graveyard. And the monster I summon is… that's right, Chthonian Soldier!" The dark armored warrior rose from the grave. (ATK: 1200 DEF: 1400 LV: 4) "Next I'll activate the spell Inferno Reckless Summon. It allows us both to summon in attack mode, any monsters from our deck, hand and graveyard that are the same as the monsters we already have on the field." Two more Chthonian Soldiers appeared beside the first. (ATK: 1200 DEF: 1400 LV: 4) x2 And a third Hydrogeddon was summoned on Bastion's side of the field. (ATK: 1600 DEF: 1000)
"It makes no sense." Alexis said. "It doesn't matter how many of those Chazz brings out, they still don't have enough attack points to beat those Hydrogeddons."
"Not by themselves they won't." Jenny said as Chazz took a card from his hand.
"I activate the equip spell card Chthonian Alliance. The monster equipped with this card gains 800 attack points for every monster that has the same name as him. That brings his attack points for total to…well you're the math nerd, you can figure it out." The soldier on Chazz's left was surrounded by a dark energy and grew three times its normal size. (ATK: 1200-3600) "Attack, Chthonian Soldier!" The super powered Chthonian Soldier swung its blade through one of Bastion's Hydrogeddons, taking out a chunk of his life points.
Bastion: 3600-1600
"Oh no!" Jaden exclaimed.
"Ohh, not good." Andrew said.
"Bastion's life points have gone down by more than half." Syrus said. "He's losing the duel."
"Bravo, good show." Bastion drew his next card, hardly affected by his large loss of life points. "But it will be short lived. Rise, Oxygeddon." A Pteranadon made of green air appeared from an Oxygen geyser. (ATK: 1800 DEF: 800 LV: 4) "Now attack one of the 1200 attack points Chthonian Soldiers with Vapor Stream!" The hovering monster spat out a blast of air that destroyed one of Chazz's weaker monsters.
Chazz: 2000-1400
"Forget?" Chazz sneered. "When my soldier's destroyed, you take the same damage as me. Some Wiz kid you are."
Bastion: 1600-1000
"My turn's not through. Next, my Hydrogeddon attacks another of your soldiers!" One of the two water dinosaurs destroyed the weaker soldier.
"That damage is still all going back to you, loser!"
Chazz. 1400-1000
Bastion: 1000-0600
"Aww man, why does Bastion keep attacking? He's only hurting himself." Syrus moaned.
"Nah he's fine." Jaden assured Syrus.
"Bastion's playing smart." Zane added. "The Chthonian Soldier with the equip magic card has 3600 attack points. Bastion would have to summon an incredibly powerful monster to destroy him. Unless however…" The giant lost most of its height and power. (ATK: 3600-2000)
"Wait, I see, unless he takes out the other Chthonians, and lowers the big one's attack points." Syrus realized.
"Right Sy, so if Bastion's gonna beat that thing, he's gotta give up some life points." Jaden said.
"It's just what they say; No pain, no gain." Michael added.
"Last I place a facedown card and that will do for now." A facedown card appeared at Bastion's feet.
"Will it?" Chazz taunted and drew a card. "I wouldn't be so sure, Wiz Kid. I'm sacrificing Chthonian Soldier and all the cards in my hand in order to summon Infernal Incinerator. Didn't see that coming, did ya?"
"Infernal Incinerator?" Bastion asked with a shocked tone.
The soldier was wrapped in a ball of fire which then exploded in a cloud of smoke. A giant fiend salamander appeared with the top half of Chthonian Soldier on its forehead. (ATK: 2800 DEF: 1800 LV: 6)
"Better break out your calculator, cause if you can't find a formula to beat this guy this turn, you're toast."
"I think Chazz is a little overconfident right now." Andrew commented.
"I know." Jenny replied. "During your duel, he wasted so many cards from his hand, he didn't have anything to give his monster some back up, just like he's doing now."
"Face it Bastion, you don't stand a chance against the Infernal Incinerator." Chazz said. "Especially since his attack points increase by 200 for every monster you have out on the field." (ATK: 2800-3400)
"That thing has 3400 attack points!?" Jaden said in surprise. "That means no matter which monster receives the attack, Bastion's finished!"
"Now, Infernal Incinerator, attack with Firestorm Blast!" The giant monster launched a stream of fire from its mouth at Oxygeddon.
"Bastion!" The students watching cried as the attack neared his monster.
"I activate my trap, Amorphic Barrier." A wall of ice rose up around Bastion's monsters, blocking the attack. "When I have three or more monsters on my side of the field, this trap negates my opponent's attack and ends the battle. But nice try, Chazz."
"Hah, so what? One turn, that's all it buys you, then you'll be all mine."
"I'm afraid there won't be a next turn."
"What?"
"You heard me, and I activate the spell card Bonding H2O. I sacrifice two Hydrogeddons and one Oxygeddon and summon Water Dragon!" The three monsters turned into geysers that combined to form a serpentine-dragon made of water that let out a cry as it appeared. (ATK: 2800 DEF: 2600 LV: 8) "And since the number of monsters on my side of the field decreased, Infernal Incinerator's attack points decrease." (ATK: 3400-3000)
"Doesn't matter, my monster's attack points are still higher than yours." Chazz smirked.
"Better double check your work, because I've already done all the math."
"All the math?" Crowler asked in surprise. "You mean that…"
"Bastion's had all this planned out since the very start!" Jaden realized.
"I thought as much." Andrew said while smiling.
Water Dragon created a tidal wave that crashed into Infernal Incinerator, washing away all its strength. (ATK: 3000-0) "No, his attack points!" Chazz cried out.
"Indeed, that's Water Dragon's special ability." Bastion explained. "You see, when he's out on the field, the attack points of fire attribute and pyro type monsters automatically becomes zero. Now Water Dragon attack! Tidal Blast!" The blue dragon fired a stream of water from its mouth, wiping out Infernal Incinerator, knocking Chazz off the stage and dousing the arena in water.
Chazz: 1000-0000
"A well played duel Chazz," Bastion said when the water receded." But not well enough."
"Pure luck." Chazz replied. "You drew a lucky card and stumbled into the win. That's all!"
"Perhaps, but luck favors the prepared. And I was prepared to beat you with a half dozen other cards as well. Sorry, you would have lost the duel one way or another. But deny it if you want, just like you denied throwing my deck into the ocean."
"Yeah, prove it!"
"Well, if you insist. Here, a card I fished out." Bastion held out the Vorse Raider card. Everyone noticed that there were some math equations on the card's face. "With the formula I wrote on it. I suppose you could have written it, but then the math would have probably been wrong and it's not. Plus…" He looked back to Andrew. "I also had one of my fellow Ras track you down to the docks, and you lost to him as badly as you did to me. Chazz, you stole, you lied, you cheated, you lost. You deserve to be demoted."
"This can't be!" Chazz said disbelieved.
"I just hope I don't need to hear his complaints from the Ra dorm everyday." Andrew joked, earning a giggle from Jenny.
"Bastion Misawa," Crowler said. "Congratulations and welcome to Obelisk Blue."
"No, I must decline that invitation."
"What? But what for?"
"When I first arrived at the academy, I decided I will only enter Obelisk Blue when I became the number one student in the freshman class." Bastion turned his attention to Jaden and Andrew. "Jaden, Andrew, out of all the new duelists, I think you two are the best."
"Hey thanks!" Andrew said.
"Does that mean you want to settle this right here?" Jaden asked. "I mean seeing you guys duel really made me want to get my game on."
"Sorry, but not now."
"Huh? Why not?"
"Because I have a lot of work to do before I duel either of you. Many formulas to write, theorems to solve, equations to balance. You're good duelists, and I planned to be ready."
"Smart move." Jaden commented.
"He didn't have to prepare for me." Chazz growled. "He won with just one day's notice."
"Don't worry, soon my dorm room will be filled with new strategies, then we'll duel. Just be prepared for it to turn out like that ball game. You know, the one yesterday when our team beat yours."
"You just keep dreaming Bastion. Baseball's a past time, but dueling's my life!" Jaden said.
"And just because we're in the same dorm, doesn't mean I will go easy on you." Andrew added.
"Until then, pal." Jaden said.
"Alright, until then it is." Bastion said.
Another chapter done. Until next time.
