Chapter 3: Rau's Destiny (Part 1)
Rau walked back to his dorm room and slept the rest of the night peacefully after his exciting duel, and win, against Drake at the Obelisk Arena. When he woke up, he sleepily went into his private bathroom, took a shower, and then came out in a towel, suddenly awake. He got dressed and ready for his second day at his new home away from home. "Well, looks like I'm part of this school now." Rau said to himself as he looked at his deck, out his deck in his deck holder on his belt, and walked out his door. Rau closed his door and proceeded to go down the hallway towards the dining area.
After a while, Rau walked into the dining area where he smelled the great smell of pancakes for breakfast in the morning. Rau walked up the exquisite dining area to the counter as he picked up a tray and went down the line, continually getting more and more delicious food to put on his plate for breakfast.
As he was looking for a place to sit down and eat, he heard a familiar voice call out to him, "Hey Rau, come sit over here."
He turned around and found the source of the female voice. "Oh, hey Chelsea, what's up?" Rau asked. It was then that he realized that there was another girl sitting with her at the same table. "Who's this Chelsea?" Rau asked next as he sat down.
"Oh, this is Maile, and she's in my dorm room. Maile, this is my friend Rau. Rau, this is Maile." Rau and Maile said hi to each other as the three pf them ate together for the rest of the meal. After all of them had finished, they proceeded to walk to the Obelisk Blue common room. Rau then left to go to his room and get ready for the day, as the two girls did the same.
As Rau walked into his first class of the day, Dueling Theory with Mr. Peterson, he noticed that both Chelsea and Maile were in his class as well. He also noticed that the rooms were split into three sections. The bottom was for the Slifer Reds, the middles area was for the Ra Yellows, and the top area was for the Obelisk Blues. He walked over to Maile sat, down and said to them, "Hey guys, I guess we have the same first class."
Maile turned around and said, "Oh hey Rau, yea I guess we do. That's actually really cool, now I know two people in one of my classes."
Rau nodded as he leaned forward to look past Maile and waived at Chelsea, as Chelsea waved and smiled back at Rau. Rau then turned back to Maile and asked, "So, what's going on Maile?"
"Oh, I heard that there was something the teachers are going to show us some movie or recording of a duel. It's supposed to be really cool. I wonder who's gonna be dueling though." Maile explained to Rau.
"Excuse me, may I have your attention please, as you may have heard, we are showing you a live video feed of the first Professional Duel Monsters Tournament of the year. With the first round match being between Aster Phoenix and the newest professional duelist in the league, straight out of Duel Academy: Zane Truesdale!" The entire room erupted into applause, including Chelsea, Maile, and Rau. Everyone impatiently waited for the long awaited duel to commence, and when the two players finally yelled 'DUEL!' to each other, the stadium, and classroom, erupted into applause.
The duel went on for a long time, and was very even most of the way through it all. Later on, during the end of the duel, Zane was at 300 life points while Aster was down to his last 100. Zane had just summoned out his 'Cyber End Dragon' and was about to attack Aster's 'Elemental Hero Shining Phoenix Enforcer' when Aster played 'Destruction of Destiny' which is a trap which allows him to put 5 cards from his deck into his graveyard. Putting 4 E-Heroes in the graveyard boosted Shining Phoenix Enforcer's attack points to 4700, Aster ended it with a counter attack from the Shining Phoenix Enforcer. Zane's life points dropped to 0, and everybody, including the teachers, gasped as Zane dropped to one knee.
"No way, Zane actually LOST a duel?" The entire classroom was murmuring to themselves. Just then the tv reporter was asking Aster some questions, "Mr. Phoenix, what will you be doing now that you have added another victory to your undefeated streak in the pro league?"
Aster turned to face the camera and replied, "Well I hear that there is another Cyber Dragon duelist at the famous Duel Academy and I'm going there very soon to challenge him to a duel, I figure if I can beat one Cyber Dragon duelist, why not beat another. You know who you are duelist so be ready for me, cause you and I are gonna duel!"
Everyone started asking other classmates if they used a Cyber Dragon deck and they all got the same answers, "No." However, no one knew that the Cyber Dragon duelist was Rau. "No way," Rau mumbled to himself. He was being challenged by the number 1 duelist in the world.
"Do you know who this other Cyber Dragon duelist is Rau?" Rau nodded his head to Maile. "Well then, who is it?" Maile asked impatiently.
"It's me." Rau said, and Maile and Chelsea, who was right next to Maile, both gasped in surprised. "Yeah it's me, I have to face the Aster Phoenix and prove that I'm better than he thinks." Rau said standing up.
The bell rang as Rau, Chelsea, and Maile all left for the Obelisk common room. Rau was in a deep train of thought when Maile came up next to him. "Hey man, it's gonna be alright. I know you can beat this dude, just believe in your-self and your deck and you'll come out on top. Maile reassured him.
"Thanks Maile, that really means a lot to me, I mean it." Rau said while looking at his deck. Rau had made up his mind that he would definitely use his new Cyber Assassin cards during this duel, because if Aster is as good as people say he is, then Rau was going to need all the help he could get. "Maile, you're a really great person, you know that? You've always been nice to me since yesterday when we met."
Maile opened her mouth to respond to what Rau had said, but before she could get a word out the P.A. system said, "Excuse me all students. Will Rau Mikabe please report to the Obelisk Arena for a challenge duel, I repeat will Rau Mikabe please report to Obelisk Arena for a challenge duel, that will be all thank you." As Rau was turning around to head towards the arena, Maile said, "Hey Rau?" Rau turned around and Maile gave him a big hug, "That's for saying how nice I was. Hardly anyone says that to me anymore. Now go win your match, I'll be with you in spirit." Maile said.
After walking for a while, Rau finally reached the Obelisk Arena. When he walked in, he saw a familiar white haired face already on one side of the Duel Arena. "Glad you could make it Rau. Let's see if you have what it takes to beat me and my new deck." Aster said.
'NEW deck?! So that must mean that he isn't using his Elemental Heroes anymore.' Rau thought to himself. "Sure thing Aster Phoenix. I'm ready for any challenge you throw my way, I already have an undefeated record of 2-0 in dueling, and after this duel I'll be 3-0." Rau said as he climbed onto the duel platform.
Aster and Rau both walked towards the center of the arena and handed each other their decks to be shuffled. Aster responded while shuffling by saying, "That's not too good, I'm 34-0, and ready to make it 35-0." Both duelists gave the decks back to their original owners and walked back to their separate sides of the dueling arena. The put their decks in their duel disks and the duel disks folded out as they both said, "DUEL!" at the same time, signifying the beginning of the duel.
"I'll start things off here." Said Aster as he drew a sixth card to his hand. "Awesome, I'll start off by playing a magic card known as 'Graceful Charity'. It lets me draw three cards," Aster picked up the top three cards from his deck and added them to his hand, "But then I have to discard two of them." Aster said as he put two of his cards into his graveyard. "Time for the good part, one of the cards I discarded was 'Elemental Hero Necroshade' and his ability allows me once per duel to summon one Elemental hero form my hand to the field, no matter what level it is when he's in the graveyard. Now, I summon my 'Elemental Hero Bladedge' (2600-1800) out in attack mode." Aster said as the golden hero appeared before him. "Now I'll end my turn by playing two cards face down. Go Rau, if you can."
'He started off with one of the best heroes on his first turn, this is going to be tough to win, but I KNOW I can do it.' "DRAW" Rau said as he drew a sixth card. "Now I can special summon my 'Cyber Dragon' (2100-1600) because you have one monster out and I do not." Rau's special metallic dragon appeared on his side of the field. "After laying down this card face down, I will end my turn." Rau said as his face down card appeared on his side of the field.
"My turn, draw." Aster said. "Time to open up this duel, I activate 'Polymerization' from my hand." A swirling vortex opened up behind Aster as the Elemental Heroes Avian and Burstinatrix appeared and went inside of it. "I fuse together my 'Elemental Hero Avian' with my 'Elemental Hero Burstinatrix' in order to create the 'Elemental Hero Phoenix Enforcer' (2100-1200) out in attack mode." From the vortex appeared a figure with two green wings, claws coming off of its right hand, and his face was covered by green hair. "This is the counterpart of Flame Wingman, but instead of dealing you damage equal to the attack points of the destroyed monster, this monster can't be destroyed as a result of battle. Now go and attack his Cyber Dragon my Phoenix Enforcer!"
"Hang on Aster, I activate my 'Attack Reflector Unit' trap card which lets me trade in my Cyber Dragon for a Cyber Barrier Dragon in attack mode!" Rau said as he was about to activate his trap card.
"Not so fast, I activate my trap card 'Trap Jammer'. This card negates and destroys your trap card!" Aster said as his Trap jamming Trap Jammer flipped itself face up, then destroyed Rau's Attack Reflector Unit trap card. "Now I can continue with my attack on your Cyber Dragon!" Phoenix Enforcer flew towards Rau's dragon as they flew together in one big explosion. All that remained of the two monster was Aster's Phoenix Enforcer. "Now I attack you directly with my Elemental Hero Bladedge! Slice N' Dice attack!" Aster said as his Bladedge flew forward and rammed into Rau's gut.
Rau's life points dropped all the way down to 1400, as Aster's life points remained all the way up at 4000. "If this is the best you can offer me in a duel, then I've wasted my time here. Now make your move." Aster said.
"Oh, I will, and trust me, it'll be a good one." Rau said as he drew another card to add to his hand. "Now I activate a card you should be familiar with, 'Polymerization' to fuse together the remaining two Cyber Dragons in my hand to create the 'Cyber Twin Dragon' (2800-2100) in attack mode." The two dragons went into a vortex that appeared behind Rau, and came out as a wider Cyber Dragon with two heads, necks, and tails. "I'm sure you already know that he can attack twice from Zane's duel with you, so I'll go ahead and attack you twice! First, attack Aster's Bladedge," The first head shot forward a strident blaze attack which incinerated Aster's Bladedge as Aster's life points reduced to 3800, "Now, attack his Phoenix Enforcer!" The final head attack, but this time the Phoenix Enforcer wasn't destroyed from the blaze attack but Aster's life points dropped to 3200. "I'll end by laying down a card face down." Rau said as another face down card appeared on his side of the field.
"Fine then, my draw!" Aster said as he drew a card. "Now, I summon my 'Elemental Hero Sparkman' (1600-1400) in attack mode." Aster said as the hero in gold and blue appeared on the field. "Now I equip it with my 'Spark Blaster' spell card. It allows me to switch your monster's modes three times before it is destroyed." A bluish gun appeared in Sparkman's hand as cords from his forearm connected to the gun. "Now, switch his monster to defense mode Sparkman!" Sparkman's blaster forced the Cyber Twin Dragon to curl up in defense mode. "Now I'll end my turn by playing to cards face down on my side of the field." Aster said. 'Destiny Signal and Hero Signal, either one will work, I just have to chose between the two.' Aster thought to himself.
"My turn, draw." Rau said drawing another card, then taking a card from his hand and putting it into his duel disk. "Now I activate my 'Diffusion' spell card to diffuse my monster into the original 2 Cyber Dragons that were used to make it." Rau said as his Twin Dragon separated into two original Cyber Dragons. "Now I sacrifice one of my dragons to summon my 'Cyber Blast Dragon' (2500-2200) out in attack mode." Rau similar looking Blast Dragon appeared on the field with its cannon sized tail and heavy armor. "Now I attack your Sparkman with my Blast Dragon!" Rau's Blast Dragon charged up energy in its tail then fired a massive ball of energy which destroyed Aster's Sparkman, as well as his life points.
Once Aster's life points were at 2300, after Blast Dragons attack, Rau's dragon attacked Aster again as Aster lost another 1000 life points bringing him down to 1300. "Hey, what happened here. Tell me now!" Aster yelled across the dueling ring at his opponent.
"Be glad to," Rau said with a smug smirk on his face. "Whenever my Cyber Blast Dragon destroys a monster and sends it to the graveyard, then you lose another 1000 life points. I end my turn there Aster. Make your move." Rau said as his turn was done.
Aster: 1300 Rau: 1400
"Ok, first my face down card activates," Aster said as his card flipped itself face up. "Hero Signal' allows me to special summon one Elemental Hero from my deck to the field, and I chose my 'Elemental Hero Bubbleman' (800-1200) out in attack mode." A hero that was blue and had a water tank on its back with a bubble shooter on its wrist appeared on Asters side of the field in its fighting stance. "Now I equip it with 'Bubble Blaster' which gives my Bubbleman 800 extra attack points!" A blue bazooka with a water tank on the top of it appeared as Bubbleman grabbed it and equipped it to himself. "One card face down ends my turn." Aster said as he turned it over to Rau.
"My draw. Now time to get rid of your Phoenix Enforcer. I play another copy of Diffusion to turn your monster back into Elemental Heroes Avian and Burstinatrix." Rau said as the hero split back into its original parts.
"Thanks, now I activate my trap, 'Elemental Recharge'. It grants me 1000 life points for every Elemental Hero out on my side of the field, I count 3 so that's 3000 extra life points." Aster said.
Aster: 4300 Rau: 1400
Rau growled at the fact that his opponent had over 4000 life points. He then saw another Cyber Dragon in his hand and quickly played it. "I summon a new Cyber Dragon, 'Cyber Missile Dragon' (1900-1600) in attack mode." Rau said as his new monster looked like a smaller Cyber Dragon with Missile turrets coming out of its sides. "This buddy can attack all of your monsters once, so say good bye to those life points. Now Cyber Missile Dragon attacks all of your monsters, with Missile Barrage." Cyber Missile Dragon sent tons of missiles at Asters monster as they soon shattered one by one, Avian, then Burstinatrix, then Bubbleman's blaster.
"Hah, nice try but when Bubbleman would be destroyed as a result of battle, the Blaster goes instead of it." Aster retorted.
"I knew that, now Cyber Missile Dragon will still attack it again anyway!" Rau said as once again Cyber Missile Dragon sent missile at Bubbleman as he screamed while shattering into tiny pixels. Aster shielded himself as his life points dropped severely to 2400.
Aster: 1600 Rau: 1400
"You'll pay for that Rau, because now I activate my face down card to bring on out a NEW breed of Hero monsters! It's my 'Destiny Signal' trap card, now I can summon a Destiny Hero to my side of the field!" Aster said before beginning to laugh.
'Wait, Destiny Heroes!?! This definitely can't be a good thing. I've got to stay sharp if I want to beat this guy, and I can always bring on out my new monsters, the 'Cyber Assassins!' Rau thought to himself.
TO BE CONTINUED