Chapter 46: The Duel Camp
"Thank you all for coming to this event. After talking with West and North Academy, we all agreed that this would be a good way to both develop the skills of our students, and strengthen the bonds between our schools." Sheppard said in the gymnasium. He, Fontaine, and Crowler were in front of the key keepers, Damian, and Adrian. Crowler was in a wheelchair, still injured from the Shadow Duel against Damian.
"Whatever gets us out of classes." Ghassan muttered.
Alexis raised her hand. "So, is this going to be some sort of tournament?"
"Not quite." Fontaine replied. "Several of West and North Academy's best students will be partaking in a training camp. They'll undergo both physical and dueling exercises in order to improve their abilities."
"Wait, then why are they coming here to Central Academy?" Chazz asked.
"West and North Academy requested our school to host the camp. They'll be staying here in Central Academy for about a week." Crowler answered. "And we figured that it would make a good opportunity for our students to learn about the techniques of different schools."
"So, they'll be here for Duel Monsters Spirit Day in the weekend?" Adrian asked.
"Correct. As you probably guessed, the reason we agreed to host this event isn't only for the sake of developing the bonds between our schools. It's to train you all for the upcoming battle against the Invader of Darkness' forces, not to mention the remaining Shadow Riders." Sheppard said. "You'll need to be able to adapt against any unexpected dueling strategy that may come your way."
Without even needing to look at their faces, Damian could tell that the Key Keepers were wondering why Sheppard allowed him to partake in the event. Damian himself wondered it as well. A single cut caused by Damian's powers, and it would cause a massive incident. Was Sheppard just hoping for Damian to not use his powers? This was easily one of the dumbest decisions Sheppard made, and that was saying something. Not like Damian was complaining. Dueling powerful students from other schools easily beat being under house arrest.
"I must say, hearing about the merger between West and North Academy is still quite a bit to take in." Bastion whispered.
"My brothers want to sink their teeth in as many Dueling Academies as possible. They probably won't stop with just merging with West Academy." Chazz said.
Soon, the doors to the gym opened up. Everyone turned their heads and saw six students walk in, led by a West Academy professor. Damian, Ghassan, and Adrian immediately recognized three of the guests walking in. The first one being the professor who was leading the students.
"Chancellor Sheppard. Thank you for holding this event for our students." The professor said. He was a tall, slightly dark skinned man with a muscular build, and black hair that was very pointy at the front. Thelonious Viper. One of West Academy's top professors. And as Ghassan and Damian remembered, the first main villain of Season 3.
"Professor Viper! Welcome!" Sheppard greeted.
The two gave a respectful bow to each other before Viper turned to the Duel Academy students and scanned the Central Academy students. "So, these six are the best duelists in your academy?"
"Not all of them. Due to certain circumstances, three of our best students are unfortunately unable to partake in the event." Sheppard said.
"Three? Jaden's missing, Zane's in a coma...who's the third?" Ghassan whispered. Chazz immediately elbowed him in the gut. "What was that for?"
"Try having some tact." Chazz told him.
"The third person is my brother. Atticus." Alexis answered.
That explained it, though Ghassan would have appreciated a simple explanation alone. He gave a silent glare at Chazz before turning to the students of West and North Academy while Viper started talking to the students as a whole. It was some boring stuff about fighting spirit or crap like that. Probably had to do with his evil plan.
Ghassan couldn't really tell which student belonged to which school with a few execeptions. One student was a boy with shaggy teal hair and wearing a blue and white jacket with frilled cuffs. The other was a muscular dark skinned student whose hair was in dreadlocks. He was also wearing a sleeveless vest over a red tank top, and had a gold necklace around his neck. Jesse Anderson and Axel Brodie.
Damian recognized one more student than his brother did. A musuclar young man with a goatee. Czar. He was North Academy's former top student, not counting Jesse, before Chazz took him down.
Damian then took a look at the other three students, two boys and a girl. The first unknown boy was around his height, with tanned skin, and slightly messy brown hair. He was wearing a white t-shirt and khaki shorts. The second boy was dark skinned and had a shaved head, and was about as tall as Czar. He was also comewhat muscular, though not as much as Czar or Axel. He was wearing a grey tanktop and blue jeans. The girl had light brown skin and long dark hair. She was easily the shortest of the guest students, only being a few inches taller than Syrus from the looks of it. She was wearing a green tanktop and white shorts. From the looks of it, West Academy didn't have any dress code. Ironic considering how, with Viper as the head professor, it was probably the most disciplinarian of the Duel Academies.
"Now, everyone. Before we begin, you can have some time to explore the campus to your liking and get to know the students of Central Academy. Return here in an hour." Viper said. He walked towards the exit of the gymnasium, picking up a briefcase along the way.
"Huh. No Bio-Bands?" Damian whispered to Adrian, Ghassan, and Scott.
"Bio what now?" Scott asked.
"He used it to resurrect Yubel back in Season 3." Ghassan explained. "He probably just doesn't have them up and functional yet."
The four noticed Axel walk up to them. "Umm...can we help you?" Scott asked.
Axel silenty pointed a finger directly towards Adrian. "Umm..." Adrian began to say. He always remembered Axel was intense, but this was new.
"Axel!" A voice said. The west academy student with a shaved head ran up to Axel and put his arm down. "So sorry for that. He has a habit of pointing to who he thinks is the strongest potential opponent."
The brown haired boy walked up to them. "Seriously, you gotta stop doing that man. It's embarassing."
Damian and Ghassan were surprised that these guys seemed so...normal. With Viper as the most respected professor, and Axel eventually becoming the top student, they figured the majority of West Academy was made up out of ultra intense, no nonsense duelists like them.
"Hmph." Axel turned around and left towards the locker rooms.
The student with a shaved head turned around. "I'm Ali Bilal. This is James Lassiter. The one who just left was Axel Brodie."
"Guess he's going through that freshman phase of wanting to prove himself." Damian said.
"Yeah...he has a tendency to be more dramatic than necessary."
"No kidding. You know I saw him dangling himself over a cliff one night." James said.
"Not this again. You were seeing things." Ali replied.
"I'm telling you, it's the truth!"
"Or you smoked one too many." Ali and James started to exit the gymnasium, continuing their conversation
"Hmm...maybe that was more than just a simple quirk. Think Axel might be in the same sitch as you?" Damian asked Adrian. "If so, he'd definitely take notice of you being in Central Academy instead of East Academy."
"And notice the absence of Jaden." Ghassan added.
Adrian didn't say anything, walking towards the exit as well. Chazz took note of this and turned to Alexis. "You think Adrian's working with those three?"
"Hard to say. He does talk with them a lot. But Adrian's not from the same world as them, so what reason would he have?"
Alexis made a fair point. Still, part of Chazz wished Adrian was working for that Light of Destruction thing so it would give Chazz and excuse to kick Adrian's ass.
"It's been a long time, Chazz." Chazz turned ariund and noticed Czar walk up to him. "I take it Central Academy's been treating you with the respect you deserved."
"Heh. You know that's the truth. How are my dictator brothers running North Academy?"
Czar paused but then gave out a smile. "Please. Compared to the old ways of North Academy, it's a frolic through a meadow."
"Probably 'cause it wasn't much of a school back then." Alexis said. "Did you guys even have classes?"
"Feh. We were taught how to duel, and partook in physical activity. That's all that was needed." Czar turned to the door Viper exited from. "That makes having Viper as a professor my favorite part about the merger. He knows how to push one to the limits."
"Wait, you guys also take West Academy courses as well?" Chazz asked.
"Da. North Academy's only professor was Chancellor Foster. The Princeton Brothers didn't view him as nearly enough, so while they hire more professors, several West Academy professors are also teaching for North Academy as well. We share a building with them, so it's no big issue."
Chazz was surprised. From the sounds of things, the Princeton Brothers taking over North Academy was actually for the best. Then again, with the kind of place North Academy was before, having it actually function like a school would be a massive improvement by default.
Czar offered a hand to Chazz. "I look forward to when I can face you using your true deck."
Chazz smirked as he clasped hands with Czar. "And I'll be happy to take you down all oever again."
Czar broke the handshake and headed towards the locker rooms.
"Howdy! You're Chazz Princeton, right?"
Chazz and Alexis noticed Jesse walk up to them. "Let me guess. You're the North Academy student who I never got to see?" Chazz asked.
Jesse nodded. "The name's Jesse Anderson. I heard you did a good job repping North Academy during the School Duel."
Chazz scoffed. "Yeah, that I didn't win."
"Stop sulking about that Chazz. You didn't lose either." Alexis told him.
Suddenly, the spiritual image of a creature climbed onto Jesse's shoulder. A four legged, light blue rodent-like creature with four ears, glowing red eyes, and a red gem as the tip of it's tail. In the center of it's forehead was a tiny red gem as well. "Is that a...?"
Suddenly, the three Ojama Brothers materialized next to Chazz. "Whoa! This new guy has a duel spirit too!" Ojama Black pointd out.
Jesse widened his eyes before smiling. "Hey! Ya'll have spirit partners too?"
Alexis realized that Chazz and Jesse must be seeing duel spirits from the other. She then shook her head. "Only Chazz. I can't see Duel Spirits."
"Ah. Still, I wasn't expecting to see other Duel Spirits here! How long have you had those guys?"
Chazz looked around. There were still a fair amount of students in the gymnasium. Thankfully nobody seemed to be listening to the conversation with Jesse, but still, talking about duel spirits would probably make him look insane. "We'll talk about this somewhere else. I'm not gonna risk looking like a nutjob."
Jesse, Alexis, and Chazz were seated in the Slifer Red cafeteria. Due to a combination of the majority of the students having classes as well as the low quality of the majority of the Slifer Red dorm's food, Chazz had a feeling it would be empty, and sure enough, it was.
"Wait, the Crystal Beasts?!" Chazz asked in shock.
Jesse nodded. "You heard of them, huh?"
"Yeah. Legendary creatures based off gemstones carried by Julius Caesar. My brothers tried to buy those cards from Pegasus for my deck a few years before I came to Duel Academy, but he turned them down."
"So, how come you have them?" Alexis asked Jesse.
"After I won a tournament in Europe before I came to North Academy, Pegasus invited me to talk with him in private. That's when he shown me the Crystal Beasts."
"From what I heard, the Crystal Beasts didn't look like actual cards, right?" Chazz asked.
Jesse nodded. "They were all covered in a jewel casing. But when I held them, they started to crack away. The Crystal Beasts were calling out to me." The spiritual image of Ruby Carbuncle appeared on Jesse's shoulder. "And that's how I met my spirit partners!"
"Sounds like you get along with them really well." Alexis said.
"Sure do! They've been with me through thick and thin."
Alexis knew it was time to ask the important question. "So, have you ever heard of a duel spirit called The Invader of Darkness?"
"Can't say I have. How come?"
"Promise to keep it a secret?" Alexis asked. Jesse nodded. "This weekend, during Duel Monsters Spirit Day, we expect him to attack the school."
"Huh?"
"It's a long story, but apparently he's been leading an army and conquering Spirit Worlds. And when he found out about how he can take form on Duel Monsters Spirit Day, our world is on his list too." Chazz said. "You have duel spirits of your own, so do you think you'd be able to materialize them to fight back his forces?"
"Huh. Well, I know for a fact that duel spirits can take form on Duel Monsters Spirit Day. But if we can fight off an army? That's a whole different story."
Alexis turned to Chazz. "Come to think of it, I don't think you ever told me what your duel spirit was. Maybe it could help as well. Is it one the Armed Dragons?"
Chazz widened his eyes. He was hoping he would never have to reveal who his spirit partners were. "Well...not exactly..."
"It's those three little fellers! The Ojamas, right?" Jesse spoke up.
On cue, the transparent image of Ojama Yellow, Green, and Black showed up. "Thaaaat's right!" They all said simultaneously.
Alexis was surprised. "Huh. Didn't think you'd use those monsters, Chazz. Your decks usually prioritize raw power over anything else."
"Yeah. Which is why I don't use them." Chazz replied.
Now Jesse was surprised. "Wait, what?"
"Why would I? They have no attack points, low defense points, and no effects to take advantage of." The Ojamas slumped in sorrow at Chazz's words.
Jesse frowned. "So what, don't think you can make use out of cards just because you find them weak?"
"Don't give me that. I became the top student of North Academy with a cobbled together deck where none of the monsters have more than 1500 ATK. I know how to make use out of the potential of weak monsters. But they can never hope to be as useful as powerful monsters."
Jesse closed his eyes and sighed. "Gotta say, I'm more than a mite disappointed. Never thought I'd see someone neglect their own spirit partners." Jesse stood up.
"Jesse, wait-" Alexis began to say.
"It was nice meeting you." Jesse turned around and walked away.
"What's his problem?" Chazz asked.
"Chazz, how many times are you going to do this? First Adrian, now Jesse. You can't keep being a jerk to people who we're asking for help."
"What did I do? All I did was call it like it was."
Alexis put a hand over her face. "You idiot. I can't even see duel spirits and even I can tell what you did wrong. He just talked about how much of a bond he has with his duel spirits. How do you think he's gonna react to someone disrespecting their own spirit partners?"
"Alexis, if you could see these guys, you wouldn't remotely blame me."
Adrian peeked past a wall. Viper was walking through the hallways of the Obelisk Blue dorm. Most likely on his way to make a brief stop at his temporary living quarters. Adrian stared at the briefcase Viper was holding.
'Yubel. I doubt she has anywhere close to enough energy to resurrect, but there's no way I can ignore this opportunity.'
Adrian continued to tail Viper from a far. Soon, Viper came across a door and opened it. That must have been the room he was staying in.
Adrian turned around and walked off. He marked the location. Now he just needed to wait.
Ghassan, dressed in the school's gym clothes, was dueling against one the brown-haired West Academy student, James. On his side of the field was Jurrac Herra (2300/1500) and two facedown cards. Ghassan had one card in his hand.
On James' side of the field was a facedown monster, the continuous spell Toll, the continuous spell Wave-Motion Cannon, and the continuous spell Kaiser Colosseum. He had two cards in his hand.
(Ghassan 2600/James 4000)
"Jurrac Herra, attack James' face-down monster!"
Due to the effect of Toll, Ghassan had to pay 500 life points to declare an attack. (Ghassan 2600-2100) Herra charged at James' facedown, ready to slash through it.
The facedown monster revealed itself, an upside down pink-blob like creature. "Sorry, but you just attacked my Marshmallon (300/500). It can't be destroyed by battle, AND when you attack it while facedown, you lose 1000 life points!" James said.
(Ghassan 2100-1100) "Arghhh! Fuck that stalling ass deck of yours!" Ghassan yelled.
"Hey, if it works, it works."
"Don't act like a child if you can't break through your enemy's defenses." Viper told Ghassan.
"Ugh. I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Ghassan said.
"I must say, your students are quite interesting, Viper." Crowler said. "Very rarely do students at Central Academy use mill or stall decks so effectively."
"There are various different ways to win a battle. I make sure my students experiment with different strategies during my courses before they pick one that suits them most." Viper said. He then turned to a duel field where Alexis and Axel were dueling, Alexis also wearing gym clothes.
(Alexis 1500/Axel 700)
"Thanks to the effect of my Cyber Prima (2300/1600), all your face-up spell cards are destroyed!" Alexis yelled.
Axel grunted as his Firewall and Tri-Blaze Accelerator shattered into pieces. He comtrolled a small red serpentine-like creature with a long tail and wings shooting out it's scaly arms Royal Firestorm Guards (1700/1200). He also had one facedown remaining.
"Now I activate my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your facedown card."
"Sorry, but that doesn't stop me from activating it. I activate my continuous trap card Blaze Accelerator Reload! " Axel yelled. "By discarding a Volcanic monster, I get to draw a card." Axel did exactly that. Suddenly, the transparent image of a three-headed bullet-like reptile appeard.
Alexis gasped. "You drew into it again?!"
Axel nodded. "Thanks to Firestorm Guards. And since I sent Volcanic Scattershot (500/0) to the graveyard, you take 500 points of damage." The creature shot forward towards Alexis. (Alexis 1500-1000)
"And since Scattershot was sent to the graveyard by a Blaze Accelerator card, I send two more copies of them from my deck to the graveyard, destroying all your monsters and doing 1000 more points of damage to you." Axel finished.
A circle of flames surrounded Cyber Prima. Soon, the flames engulfed the monster, causing her to explode. From the flames, the spiritual images of two more Volcanic Scattershots appeared, and shot through Alexis, causing her to fall to her knee. (Alexis 1000-0)
Axel deactivated his duel disk. He then immediately started to run laps around the gymnasium.
"He...he knows he only has to do that if he loses, right?" Crowler asked.
"Let him be. He does this regularly." Viper said.
Alexis walked up to the teachers. "So, thst's 4 laps for me, right?"
Fontaine was about to reply before Viper walked up to her. "How many life points did Axel have left when he won?"
"700."
"Then that means you have five laps to do in total." Viper said. "One for every 500 points he had remaining."
Alexis nodded and started running laps.
"Professor Viper, I'm not against combining dueling with exercise, but this could easily cause the students to over-exert themselves if the opponent leads by too many life points." Fontaine told him.
"If they're your best students at the academy, then they need to be able to push themselves to the limit. Otherwise they'll never reach their full potential."
James drew. "Now that another one of my standby phases has passed, my Wave-Motion Cannon will be able to do 1000 points of damage to you if I send it to the graveyard." One cue, the futuristic cannon next to him built up energy.
"That means all James needs to do is send it to the graveyard, and he wins." Bastion said, taking a sip of water. He just won against his opponent, Czar, who used a powerful Monarch deck. Thankfully, Bastion's own experience with the deck gave him the edge he needed to win the duel.
"These overseas students are no slouches." Damian said. There weren't quite enough duel fields set up in the gymnasium, and there were already an uneven amount of Central Academy Students to Overseas Students during the exercixse. Damian, Chazz, Jesse, and the female West Academy student were waiting for their turn to duel at the bleachers. Czar, Alexis, Scott, and Axel were running laps, the latter seeming to do it just for the exercise considering how he won his duel. Ghassan was struggling against James, and Adrian was dueling against Ali, who just flipped up a Needle Worm, forcing Adrian to send cards from his deck to the graveyard.
"I send Wave Motion Cannon to the graveyard in order to do 2000 points of damage to you!" James declared. The cannon fired a blast of energy at Ghassan.
"I activate my quickplay spell, Spell of Pain! This negates the damage that would be done to me, and sends it back to you instead!" Ghassan yelled. For a card that he seen used approximately 0 times in the real world, Spell of Pain was proving to be a massive help in the anime world. It helped how it was capable of reflecting battle damage as well in the anime, not just effect damage.
The blast of energy curved around and blasted James backwards. (James 4000-2000) "Not bad. I activate the continous spell card Mass Driver!" A differently shaped futuristic cannon rose up next to James. "By sacrificing a monster, I can do 400 points of damage to you. Next I summon Malice Doll of Demise (1600/1700) in attack mode."
"A dangerous combo." Bastion said.
"I sacrifice Malice!" The killer ventriloquist dummy dissolved into light and went into the cannon. The cannon then launched a blast of energy at Ghassan. (1100-700)
"And Malice can resurrect itself on your next Standby Phase if it's sent to the graveyard due to a continuous spell effect, right?" Ghassan asked.
James smirked. "Bingo. And as a heads up, Mass Driver doesn't have a one per turn limit. Anyway, I end my turn."
"Meaning on James' next turn, Malice will return to his field, and then James can sacrifice both it and Marshmallon for game." Chazz said.
"And due to Kaiser Colosseum, Ghassan can't have more monsters than James does so long as James controls one, so he won't be able to Synchro or Xyz summon." Bastion added. "Many people use Mass Driver to sacrifice as many monsters as possible, but James smartly chose to leave Marshmallon on the field so that Kaiser Colosseum's effect will still remain. AND have it serve as a wall."
Damian looked in interest. For fodder, these West Academy students could certainly put the pressure on.
Ghassan put his hand over his deck. 'I REALLY don't want to run 8 laps in a row. I need to draw the right monster right now.' Ghassan took a breath. 'My heart is beating so fast. Why? This duel isn't important at all. But...I just don't want to lose.' "DRAW!" Ghassan drew a card, took a look at it, and smiled. "I sacrifice Jurrac Hera to activate Big Evolution Pill! By sacrificing a Dinosaur monster I control, I can summon any Level 5 or higher Dinosaur monster without tributing!"
Jurrac Herra dissolved into light. "Now, I summon Jurrac Titano!" (3000/2800) Rising up was the volcanic T-Rex. "Now, I activate my facedown card, Jurrac Impact! When I control a Jurrac with 2500 or more attack points, all cards on the field are destroyed!"
James gasped as a meteor descended from above. When it collided, a massive explosion occured. "Not bad. But you gave yourself a clear field. Next turn, Malice, can attack you directly."
"I don't think so." Ghassan said. The dust cleared up, revealing Titano was still standing. Above it was a dress that was burning away. "I activated Forbidden Dress' effect. By lowering a monster's attack points by 600, it can't be targeted or destroyed by card effects."
James groaned. "Ah man."
"Jurrac Titano (3000-2400) finish him off!" Titano built up energy in it's mouth before hurling a massive fireball at James. (James 2000-0)
"That means you're running five laps, Lassiter." Viper told him.
James reluctantly started running laps around the field as Ghassan walked back to the bleachers. "Man. That was the hardest duel I had against a rando." He muttered to himself. "And he didn't even have an Extra Deck."
Scott came back after finishing his laps. "Phew. Done."
"Who did you lose to again?" Damian asked.
He tilted his head over to Ali. "Mill decks are a pretty bad matchup for me."
On Adrian's side of the field was Natural Disaster, a facedown card, and two Cloudian Tokens. He had 3 cards in his hand. On Ali's side of the field was Morphing Jar (700/600), Needle Worm (750/600). He had 2 cards in his hand.
(Adrian 4000 Cards: 15/Ali 2800)
"I activate Card of Sanctity. Both of us draw until we have six cards in our hand." Ali said.
"Fine by me. I don't mind having more resources." Adrian said. Both Adrian and Ali replenished their hands. (Adrian 15-12)
"Now I activate Card Destruction. We both sendas many cards as possible from our hands to the graveyard. Then we draw as many cards as we discarded."
Adrian discarded his entire hand before drawing six more cards. (Adrian 12-6)
"Nice. I activate Book of Lunar Eclipse. I discard a card and then I can flip two face-up monsters on the field face-down. I discard Electromagnetic Turtle to switch both my Needle Worm and Morphing Jar into defense mode." The two monsters switched to face-down defense position. "Next I activate Gravekeeper's Secret. In order to declare an attack, you'll need to send the top card of your deck to the graveyard. I end my turn."
Adrian drew a card. (Adrian 6-5)
"Damn. Adrian is in a terrible position right now." Scott said.
"Yeah. If Ali's next turn passes, he can just flip both of those monsters up and he wins." Ghassan said.
"That's not all." Alexis said. She sat down on the bleachers, having finished her final lap. "If Adrian wants to attack, he'll need to send a card to the graveyard. Meaning he'll only have 4 cards in his deck. Needle Worm and Morphing Jar would force Adrian to either mill or draw 5."
Ghassan widened his eyes in realiztion. "Adrian wouldn't have enough cards in his deck. So if Adrian attacks, he still loses."
"Ali's mill strategy made him one of the few A ranked students of our Academy." The girl from West Academy suddenly spoke up. She was looking at her nails with a bored expression.
"A-Ranked?" Damian asked.
"West Academy has it's own ranking system." Bastion explained. "While Central Academy uses dorm placements, and North Academy has a hiearchy within the indivdual students, West Academy assigns a letter grade based off duel performance."
The girl nodded, still not facing them. "I'm Amira. The only A ranked sophomore of West Academy. Ali's a senior."
"And I take it Axel's the only A ranked freshman?" Damian asked.
Amira shook her head. "He's easily the best freshman in the school, but he's still only B+ rank. Still, I can easily see him surpassing us."
Damian got the message. Axel wasn't quite as skilled a duelist yet here as he was in canon. Not like it mattered. If there was one thing all the Obelisk Blue students taught him, it was that school rank didn't mean shit in this world. All it mattered was if you were important or not. As far as Damian was concered, Axel and Jesse were the only students at the camp who were worth dueling.
Adrian took a look at his hand. "Like I predicted. The resources you gave me are going to be your downfall. I sacrifice both of my sheep tokens in order to summon my Cloudian-Eye of the Typhoon (3000/1000)!" The two tokens dissolved into light before a storm cloud generated from up above. Revealing itself was what seemed to be a living cyclone with a giant red eye.
"That must be Adrian's ace." Bastion said.
"Fat lot of good it'll do him. He can't attack or else he'll lose the duel." Chazz said.
"Does he have a Raigeki in his hand?" Damian wondered.
"Maybe, but Ali would be able to negate the attack with the Electromagnetic Turtle in his graveyard, so Adrian couldn't end the duel this turn." Alexis replied.
"I activate Magical Stone Excavation. I discard two cards to add a spell card from my graveyard to my hand." Adrian did exactly that. "Now I activate the spell I added, Exploding Cloud! I destroy a monster I control and take damage equal to it's attack points!"
"Huh? Why would he do that?" Ghassan asked.
"Because he has the same spell you just used in your duel." Bastion surmised.
"I activate my facedown card, Spell of Pain! This reflects the damage that would be done to me to you instead!" Adrian yelled.
Ali gasped. Eye of the Typhoon began to shine with energy before exploding, harsh winds blasting Ali backwards. (Ali 2800-0)
"That's 12 laps, Bilal!" Vuper ordered.
Ali groaned and stood up, beginning his laps around the gymnasium.
"That's the risks of running a deck that doesn't focus much on damage during Viper's courses." Amira said. "The more life points the opponent has if you lose, the more laps you have to run."
Adrian walked up to Crowler, Fontaine and Viper. "Thank you for offering me the opportunity to partake in the Duel Camp. But I need to leave now."
"Are you sure? You only had one duel. And this might offer you the opportunity to see less typical dueling styles." Crowler said.
"I can always come back on another day. For now, I have some work to do."
"Fine. You may go." Viper said.
Adrian gave a quick bow before heading towards the exit. ''I wasn't expecting to be stealing Yubel's arm so early, but I'm not going to complain. Sorry Viper. But your plans are ending a lot sooner than before.'
Viper took a look at the clipboard he was holding. "Anderson. You'll be dueling against Chazz Princeton. Bays, you'll be dueling Damian Abunura."
Czar walked up to Chazz, having finished his laps for losing to Bastion. "This'll be an exciting duel. The two greatest prospects of North Academy facing off."
"Hmph. Just means I get to take the asterisk off the title of best North Academy duelist." Chazz said.
"You aren't even in North Academy anymore. Why does it matter?" Alexis asked. Chazz ignored the question.
Jesse got off the bleachers and walked towards the dueling field, giving a polite yet unenthusiastic nod to Chazz.
Damian was disappointed that Chaz would be the one to duel Jesse, while he had to go through fodder. But a duel between Jesse and Chazz seemed like it would be a lot of fun. Depending on how quickly Damian won, he might get to pay more attention to it.
Fontaine looked at Damian and Amira as they walked towards their dueling field.
Fontaine was talking with Sheppard in his office. "Chancellor Sheppard, are you sure this Duel Camp is a good idea?"
"With the Shadow Riders, the Invader of Darkness, and eventually Damian Abunura, our students will need to be prepared to handle anything thrown at them. Introduced to the tactcis of West Academy's top students may be the best form of training for them yet."
"I agree about that, but it's about letting Damian partake in them. Isn't he supposed to be under house arrest, and only be allowed to duel during exams?"
"Since the Key Keepers were unable to have field exams this month, their overall performance in the duel camp will be the equivalent of that."
"But he might put the other students at risk his Shadow Powers." Fontaine said.
"Don't worry. Damian seems to have control over when he can make his duels turn into shadow duels. If there's any sign of him using his powers, put a stop to it immediately and call security."
Crowler nodded, but both he and Fontaine still looked worried.
'Why would Sheppard even allow the risk of Damian starting a Shadow Duel in the first place?' Fontaine wondered.
"I share your confusion, Fonda." Crowler whispered, seeming to tell how she was feeling based off her face. "However, regardless of Sheppard's intentions, this may help Damian rediscover his joys of dueling. And that it's not meant to be a tool to hurt people."
"But still..."
"I know the boy well enough. Even when I dueled him, Damian didn't truly enjoy causing pain. Perhaps a low-stakes is exactly what he needs."
Suddenly, a clipboard was placed in Crowler's lap. "Huh?"
"I need to leave again. I'll return shortly." Viper said. Viper once again left the gymnasium.
"What was that about?"
Chazz and Jesse both activated their duel disks.
"Guess we'll see which one of us is the true King of the North." Chazz said.
"I don't care much for fancy titles. I'm just here for a great duel!" Jesse answered. Despite his bad first impressions of Chazz, there was no way he could deny being excited to duel who was considered the best duelist of his school.
(Chazz 4000/Jesse 4000)
"I'll take the first move." Jesse drew a card and took a look at it. "I summon my Crystal Beast - Sapphire Pegasus (1800/1200) in attack mode!" A white pegasus with a sapphire horn, and sapphires in each of its wings appeared.
"So, this is our opponent?" The monster asked. "I heard from Ruby about how he treats his spirit partners."
Chazz raised an eyebrow. "So it is all of the Crystal Beasts."
"Yeah, but it ain't worth it to hold a grudge. Instead, let's show him what partners are about! I activate Sapphire Pegasus' ability! When he's summoned, I can add a Crystal Beast from my hand, deck, or graveyard and put it in my spell and trap card zone. Crystal Calling!"
The horn of Sapphire Pegasus glowed before a large, jagged ruby appeared behind Sapphire Pegasus.
"That's new." Chazz said.
"I set two cards facedown and end my turn."
Chazz drew. "I summon Armed Dragon, the Armored Dragon!" (1900/1400) A green bipedal dragon with red armor descended onto the field. "Turn that horse into glue!"
The dragon flew towards Sapphire Pegasus and slashed through it. (Jesse 4000-3900) "I activate Sapphire Pegasus' other effect! When it's destroyed while in the monster zone, instead of going to the grave, I can place it in my spell and trap card zone!" A jagged sapphire formed next to Ruby's.
"Let's see if that'll do you any good. I activated the effect of Armored Dragon. When it destroys a monster by battle, I can special summon a level 5 or higher WIND Dragon monster from my deck or graveyard, but it can't attack directly this turn. I special summon my Armed Dragon Thunder LV 5!" (2400/1700) A monster looking identical to Armed Dragon LV 5 rose up behind Chazz, but electricity generated around it, and it had a lightning bolt marked on it's stomach.
"Armed Dragon Thunder?" Ghassan asked.
"Recent counterparts to the Armed Dragon monsters." Scott answered.
"Next I activate the effect of my LV 5. By discarding a monster, I can send LV 5 to the graveyard to special summon a Level 7 or lower Armed Dragon."
"Someone sure knows how to bring the heat early." Jesse smiled.
"I send Armed Dragon Thunder LV 5 from my field and Armed Dragon Thunder LV 3 from my hand to the graveyard. Show yourself, Armed Dragon LV 7!" (2800/1000)
"I thought vanilla LV 5 was needed to summon that?" Ghassan asked.
"The Armed Dragon Thunder monsters are treated as having the same names as the original Armed Dragons." Bastion explained.
"When Thunder LV 3 is sent to the graveyard as part of another monster's card effect, I get to draw a card." Chazz drew from his deck, and then got out another card in his hand. "Now I activate my continuous spell Armed Dragon Lightning! Once per turn, I can target an Armed Dragon I control, like my LV 7, and add an Armed Dragon with a lower level than it from my graveyard to my hand. I add my Armed Dragon Lightning LV 5." Chazz ejected the monster from his graveyard and added it to his hand.
"Not a bad combo." A voice said. Ghassan, Scott, Bastion, and Alexis noticed Axel walk up to them. "Armed Dragon LV 7 can destroy all of the opponent's monsters with attack points lower than a discarded monster. That continous spell means he can keep recycling the effect every turn."
"So, Jesse just can't summon any monsters now?" Alexis asked.
"Not if they're lower than 2400." Bastion said.
Ghassan and Scott knew this spelled trouble for Jesse. The Crystal Beasts weren'y exactly known for having high ATK points.
Damian and Amira both activated their duel disks. "I'll end this quick. I wanna see as much as Jesse and Chazz's duel as possible."
"Yeah. It'll end quick alright." Amira replied.
(Damian 4000/Amira 4000)
"I'll take the first move." Amira drew a card. "I summon Sangan (1000/600) in attack mode." A hairball-like fiend with three eyes appeared. "I set three cards face down and end my turn.
James sat next to Axel, having finished his laps. "Well, looks like Amira's in a good position." Axel nodded in agreement.
"Because she has three face-downs?" Ghassan asked.
"You'll see."
Damian drew. "I-"
"I activate my trap card Nightmare Archfiends! I sacrifice a monster to summon three Nightmare Tokens (2000/2000) to your side of the field!" Amira interrupted. Sangan dissolved into light, before three jet-black demons with long spiky blue hair appeared on Damian's side of the field. "When a token is destroyed, you take 800 points of damage."
'I get it. She probably has a Mirror Force for if I attack, and do over half my life points in damage right out of the gate.'
"When Sangan's sent to the graveyard, I can add a monster with 1500 or less ATK to my hand. I add my Battle Fader." Amira said.
"Preparing for a direct attack huh?" Damian took a look at his hand, then at the field. The Nightmare Tokens were each Level 6. He could use Auto-Navigator to use one of them in order to summon Dawn Dragster. A Test Run to destroy one set card, and potentially Dawn Dragster's own effect to negate the second one. Battle Fader prevented Damian from OTKing, but he would definitely have the advantage.
"I summon F.A Auto Navigator (0/0) in defense mode." The holographic chibi-girl appeared. "Next I-"
"It's over." Amira interrupted. She went back to looking at her nails. "I activate my two trap cards, Torrential Tribute and Just Desserts."
Damian gasped.
"Should I explain to you what they do?" Amira asked, bored. "Just Desserts does 500 damage to you for every monster you control. And Torrential Tribute destroys all monsters on the field when a monster is summoned. Each Nightmare Archfiend will deal 800 damage to you when destroyed."
"Meaning it's a total of 4400 points of damage." Axel summed up.
A sinister purple energy glowed around the monsters on Damian's side of the field before firing towards him. (Damian 4000-2000) Soon afterwards, a large torrent of water blasted at the monsters. Immediately afterwards, the demons turned to Damian and glowed with a bright light. Soon, they exploded, blasting him to the ground. (Damian 2000-0)
"Told you the duel would end quickly." Amira said. She then walked back to the bleachers.
"Whoa...it's been years since I saw Damian lose in a duel so easily." Ghassan said.
"Amira's an A-ranked student back at West Academy for a reason." James replied. "This is far from the only time she pulled a one-turn-kill on her opponent's turn."
Damian stared at the ground in shock. He couldn't believe it. It was one thing to lose. But he lost to fodder. And so easily at that.
Crowled blew a whistle. "That's 12 laps, Mr. Abunura!"
Damian slowly brought himself up and half-heartedly jogged across the field.
"It might be for the best. Perhaps being humbled will help him snap back to normal." Bastion said.
'Or push him even deeper over the edge.' The Light of Destruction's voice said in Ghassan and Scott's head.
Chazz took a glance at Damian as he running laps. For a split second, he saw something eerily familiar. A sinister red energy was glowing around Damian. And it was larger than before.
Adrian opened the door to Viper's room after having picked the lock. The lights were out. He quietly closed and locked the door before scanning the room. He then saw a briefcase placed next to the bed. 'Bingo.'
Adrian slowly walked toward the briefcase and placed it on the bed. He then started picking the lock on the briefcase. 'I can't believe it's coming so fast. With more of Yubel's power, I'll be able to destroy The Light WAY earlier than anticipated. Or maybe it's his biobands. In that case, we could use them to speed up the awakening of the Sacred Beasts.'
Adrian unlocked the briefcase and eagerly opened it up...it was filled with paperwork.
"What the-?" Adrian asked
"Care to explain to me why you're here?"
Adrian turned around, seeing Viper was in the room. 'When did he come in? I never heard the door open.'
Viper walked up to his chair and sat down. "Breaking and entering, looking into my belongings, and most likely attempted theft. Rather unbecoming behavior of an Obelisk Blue, isn't it?"
Adrian didn't bother trying to come up with a lie. He got out his duel disk and slapped it on. Viper was going to need to die.
"Then again, I guess I don't need an explanation. Let me guess. You were looking for Yubel?"
Adrian widened his eyes. It couldn't be.
"How about this? If you explain to me why you transferred to Central Academy, and why Jaden Yuki doesn't seem to be at the academy, I'll keep quiet about what you did." Viper offered.
"Hold on...are you saying that?"
"It's been a while, Gecko. Perhaps in this timeline, we don't need to oppose each other."
Hey, instead of keeping you guys waiting for nearly half a year, this time the wait was a little less than 3 months! Progress!
I've been waiting to get to this portion of the story for years. Initially the plan was for Damian, Chazz, and Adrian to be invited and flown over to West Academy for the Duel Camp. Give Chazz some more interactions with his brothers, and maybe even have Adrian involved. Meanwhile the Key Keepers would be dealing with the rest of the Shadow Riders back on the Island. However, I felt like I wouldn't have been able to tie it very well into the Invader of Darkness' future invasion that way, so instead, I had it be Sheppard's idea to have the Key Keepers prepare for the upcming battle.
It's been revealed that Viper, like Adrian, has had his mind transferred to a new timeline. Was it by The Light? Or someone else entirely? Why doesn't he have Yubel's arm or the biobands with him? And above all, will he be an ally or an enemy for our protagonists?
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!
