Yay! Time to accomplish making another chapter! And this time, it'll have a bit of Atticus x Fem! Jaden and Zane x Fem! Jaden! Honestly, there should have been more Zane duels with Jaden, and there should have been more Atticus duels instead of most of them just him goofing off! That's one of the problems I had with the anime, but yeah!
Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh series, only the OCs!
"Miss Dorothy! Seconds, please!" called out Jaden, holding up an empty bowl for Dorothy to fill it with.
"Me, too! Me, too!" cheered Hassleberry, shoving his empty bowl forward for Dorothy.
Dorothy, who was often in charge of the cooking for the Slifer Red dorms, smiled and nodded. "Alright! You both eat quite a lot!
"Of course! Today, I need to duel in high spirits, too!" said Jaden.
"Yeah! An energy supply is necessary! Plus, your cooking is SOOO good and irresistible!" complimented Hassleberry.
While Hassleberry and Jaden were happily receiving seconds from Dorothy, Syrus barely touched his lunch as he stared down at it in lament. It was clear he was sadden by something and was in deep thought about it.
As Hassleberry and Jaden sat back down to resume eating, the door to the dining hall opened, revealing Chazz in the flesh. Not even acknowledging the other occupants in the dining hall, Chazz took a seat at one of the tables closest to him, yet farthest from Jaden and the others.
Dorothy walked towards Chazz and laid down his tray of food on his table. "Here you go, Chazz! Just as I thought, black does suit you better!"
"Yakinori and kelp soup, singed sardines and sargassum? The same as ever," said Chazz, giving Dorothy a thankful expression of gratitude for preparing the food. "Thanks, Dorothy."
"The same to you," replied Dorothy happily.
"Yeah, yeah!" chimed in Hassleberry. "Black is definitely way more your color! We don't need a white-colored emo hanging around!"
"Yeah, I'm just going to take that as a compliment and make you thankful I'm not rubbing your face against the wall right now," Chazz said to Hassleberry irritably.
"Whatever the case is, I'm just glad that Chazzy's back to normal!" cheered Jaden happily, throwing a fist bump into the air. "Chazz, show them the strength of the Slifer Reds in Genex!"
"Yeah! I'm rootin' for ya, too!" Hassleberry cheered, mimicking Jaden.
"You're in Yellow, remember? Why would I want your cheers, dork?" stated Chazz before looking behind his shoulder for Syrus. "Both you, and Syrus."
Normally, this would be the part where Syrus would chime in with his best friends, Jaden and Hassleberry, but right now, Syrus didn't even seem to be paying attention to what was happening. Rather, he was still sitting down at his table, playing with his food nonchalantly as he stared off into the distance.
Noticing that Syrus was acting abnormal, Jaden approached him cautiously. "Uh...Sy? Is everything alright?"
Syrus sighed, shaking his head. "Yesterday, I heard the Ra Yellow students spreading a rumor. They said they saw my brother coming to the school in a helicopter."
"Your brother? As in, Zane?" asked Chazz, surprised.
Hassleberry was just as surprised as Chazz. "The scary guy that used to be the #1 duelist here at this school?"
Jaden, however, expressed her excitement, as always. "Wow! That's awesome! That means that I'll get to duel him! Yeah! I'm gonna get my game on!~"
"Jay!" blurted out Syrus, standing up with an expression almost as though he wished to stop her.
"Hmm? What's up, Sy?"
But he couldn't. Syrus couldn't just say that he didn't want Jaden to duel his dangerous and possibly mentally unstable brother. Because no matter what he'll say, Jaden would still be excited and choose to duel Zane no matter what. She'll probably just ignore his warnings and go ahead with the duel. That's just the kind of person she is.
Kind, cheerful, always excited for a duel no matter who the opponent is or whether or not she'll win the duel, but most importantly...
Dangerously oblivious.
Syrus knew he couldn't let Jaden duel Zane no matter what. Insults, Jaden can easily handle like she handles Chazz on a daily basis. As bad as it sounds, Syrus has no problems with Zane insulting Jaden because Jaden wouldn't take it seriously, although he prefers if his older brother didn't. What he's more worried about is his brother's actions, since he heard that his opponents don't get away...unscathed.
All the more reason why he can't ever, EVER, allow Jaden to duel Zane. Maybe he shouldn't have opened his mouth about the rumors he heard.
Right after lunch, Jaden was more than eager to track down Zane and challenge him to a duel. Hassleberry followed Jaden to witness her duel with Zane, and Syrus followed to make sure that Jaden doesn't even get the CHANCE of dueling him.
Syrus desperately glanced around, trying to find a good opponent, ANYONE, that might be around as the trio began their search for Zane. One unfortunate thing about having strong and good reputations for dueling is that people tend to avoid dueling you in order not to face humiliation and not to lose their valuables. In this case, their Genex medals.
As such, whenever they did see someone, they immediately recognized Jaden and ran away in a split second. Syrus understood their feelings quite well, as he was quite the coward last year, but just this once, he wanted a certain brute-headed person to go ahead and challenge Jaden! It may not stop her from her quest of finding Zane, but it would at least slow down her efforts!
If this continues, then, Syrus may as well duel Jaden himself!
Although, he really wants to avoid that outcome, if necessary, he'll have to duel Jaden. There is...a very, VERY low chance of him winning, though, but the end goal was to make her not duel Zane, if possible!
'This is it!' thought Syrus, gripping his arms tightly as he moved forward, doing what needs to be done. 'This is for your own good, Jay! I'm sorry, but I can't let you duel my big brother! I'll have to duel you and do everything I can to win, if I-!'
"Hey!"
"Huh?"
Turning around, the group saw a young man with brown hair dressed in black clothes waving over to the group. He didn't appear to be a student from Duel Academy, based on his own clothing and older appearance, though Syrus wouldn't admit that he was secretly jealous of how handsome the young man appeared to be. Perhaps he was another one of the Pro Duelists that came to this island?
"Would one of you please duel me? I haven't had much luck getting a good duel during my time here," the young man said, smiling.
Although he was jealous of how attractive the man was, Syrus mentally apologized for the young man that would soon be a scapegoat. 'Forgive me! I don't have anything against you, sir, except for your good looks, but in order to keep Jaden safe, I must do this!' he thought.
"Ah! Jaden! Why don't you duel him? He's offering!" Syrus encouraged, patting Jaden on the back.
"Yeah! You know what? I'll do that! I'll definitely duel this guy! Get your game on, mister!" Jaden said, activating her duel disk. "Oh, by the way, I never caught your name! My name's Jaden! Jaden Yuki!"
"Oh, you can call me Alex! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"Great! Then, let's get started!"
As Jaden and the Pro Duelist named Alex dueled, Syrus didn't really pay attention to the duel, as he knew Jaden would win. Instead, he pulled Hassleberry over to the side to talk privately to him.
"Hey! What gives! I wanted to see Sarge dueling that-!"
"Hassleberry, I really need your help!" hissed Syrus frantically. "Look, I know we probably don't...get along...that...well-"
"That's an understatement," said Hassleberry, crossing his arms.
"Let me finish, buttmunch!" Syrus made sure to lower his sharp tone and looked to see if Jaden heard him. Luckily, she was so invested in the duel, that she barely paid any attention to either him or Hassleberry. "Sorry, sorry! I'm just...I'm really anxious right now!"
"Why? Jay's obviously gonna win."
"I'm not worried about the guy she's dueling right now! I'm more worried about her dueling Zane! I...I don't want her to duel Zane!"
Hassleberry's eyes widened at Syrus' confession. "Sy…?"
"If this had happened last year, I wouldn't have objected!" continued Syrus. "But this year, my big brother's changed so much! And now, I...I...!"
"Now! Burstinatrix! Attack him directly!"
Hassleberry and Syrus turned to see one of Jaden's Monsters, Burstinatrix, unleash a flare attack that depleted the last of Alex's Life Points, defeating the young man. He was so exhausted and fatigued from the duel, he collapsed to his knees, softly panting as he started taking a breather.
Jaden - 3200 LP
Alex - 0 LP
Winner: Jaden
"And that's game! Let's duel again sometime!" cheered Jaden, giving out her signature hand position.
A slight thunder crashing sound caught her attention as she noticed that it suddenly became darkened. The dark, stormy clouds covered the skies, and judging from the thunder sound earlier, it looked as though it was going to become a thunderstorm soon, except that wasn't the case. No, the cause of the skies darkening was due to a dark presence as Jaden looked up at the base of the academy's volcano and saw a familiar-looking dragon.
"Wait...is that...Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon?!" exclaimed Jaden, shocked.
"Jaden!" both Syrus and Hassleberry cried out, rushing up to her. "What's going on?!"
"I dunno...But I do remember that Monster! It's the same one that I fought about a year ago! Against Atticus...When he was Nightshroud...when he was...part of the bad guys...OH CRAP!"
Realizing what the re-appearance of Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon meant, Jaden made a break for it, heading towards the volcano with Syrus and Hassleberry trailing behind her. Jaden could only pray that what she was seeing was some sort of illusion, or perhaps somebody else besides Atticus had a Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon.
Meanwhile, at the duel site somewhere on the outskirts of the volcano, Atticus was currently dueling against Zane with the two of them getting serious in their duel.
On Zane's side of the field, his Life Points were significantly lower than Atticus', who were practically at full HP ever since the start of their duel. However, Zane possessed a strange, yet strong-looking Monster on his field named Cyberdark Horn, who was equipped with Megamorph to increase his power. Additionally, it seemed to be further boosted by one of his special abilities, which was to equip 1 Dragon-Type Monster in the Graveyard and gain Attack Points equal to that Dragon-Type's Attack Points. And the Monster being equipped to Cyberdark Horn happened to belong to Atticus' Red-Eyes Black Chick.
Cyberdark Horn - (DARK/Machine) - LV4 - (2400/800)
On Atticus' side, he had the advantage in terms of Life Points, and in addition, he had the most powerful Monster in his deck right on the dueling field; Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon.
Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon - (DARK/Dragon) - LV9 - (2400/2000)
Zane - 1600 LP
Atticus - 4000 LP
"By sending my Red-Eyes Black Dragon to the Graveyard, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon's Attack Points increase by 300 for every Dragon-Type in my Graveyard!" announced Atticus as an aura of darkness started seeping out from his duel disk, or more accurately, his deck.
Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon - (DARK/Dragon) - LV9 - (2700/2000)
"Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, destroy Cyberdark Horn!"
Flames filled with raw darkness burst out from Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon as the firey attack hit Cyberdark Horn and utterly annihilated him in a literal blazing glory...until the smoke cleared and the Machine-Type remained unharmed, though Zane's Life Points still took a hit.
Zane - 1300 LP
Atticus - 4000 LP
"Using Cyberdark Horn's effect, he's free from being destroyed by allowing Red-Eyes Black Chick to take the hit," explained Zane.
"But because Red-Eyes Black Chick returns to my Graveyard, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon's Attack Points further increase by 300 again!" said Atticus.
Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon - (DARK/Dragon) - LV9 - (3000/2000)
"I now activate the Quick-Play Spell, Super Rejuvenation! During the End Phase of the turn this card is activated, I get to draw 1 card from my deck for each Dragon-Type Monster that I discard from my hand and/or Tributed this turn!" Having said that, Atticus merely discarded 1 Dragon-Type Monster from his hand, thus allowing him to draw 1 card, as per the conditions of Super Rejuvenation. "I end my turn!"
Once he did, Atticus grimaced silently as he could hear crackling laughter from within himself. It was the darkness coming from Nightshroud, who had continuously haunted him, practically urging the young man to bring out the full extent of darkness and use it to wipe out Zane, yet Atticus still held on strong for both of their sakes.
"My turn, draw!" shouted Zane. "I switch Cyberdark Horn to Defense Mode, and then I summon Cyberdark Edge in Attack Mode."
Cyberdark Edge - (DARK/Machine) - LV4 - (800/800)
"When Cyberdark Edge is Normal Summoned, I can select a Level 4 or lower Dragon-Type Monster from any of our Graveyards and equip it to him. And just like with Cyberdark Horn from before, I'll be taking that Red-Eyes Black Chick of yours and equip it to my new Monster so he can get stronger!"
Digging out Red-Eyes Black Chick from the Graveyard with his mechanical tendrils, Cyberdark Edge practically probed the small dragon, thus absorbing and adding more power to the newest Monster.
Cyberdark Edge - (DARK/Machine) - LV4 - (1600/800)
Because of the loss of one Dragon-Type Monster in Atticus' Graveyard, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon gains a power loss and loses 300 Attack Points, weakening the mighty dragon.
Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon - (DARK/Dragon) - LV9 - (2700/2000)
"And now Cyberdark Edge's ability activates! By reducing the Battle Damage in halve, he can attack your Life Points directly!"
Cyberdark Edge - (DARK/Machine) - LV4 - (800/800)
Hovering above Atticus, Cyberdark Edge rapidly flapped his mechanical wings, sending forth strong winds that threw Atticus back flying onto his back.
Zane - 1300 LP
Atticus - 3200 LP
"I set a card and end my turn."
Feeling the power of Nightshroud slowly overwhelming him, even Atticus struggled to stand up and draw one card as his turn began. "M-My turn! I activate the Spell, Dragon Heart! I can't Normal Summon nor Set this turn, but in exchange, I get to send 3 Dragon-Type Monsters from my deck to my Graveyard and then select 1 Dragon-Type Monster I control to gain 1000 Attack Points for the rest of this turn! Obviously, the Monster I choose is Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon!"
Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon - (DARK/Dragon) - LV9 - (3700/2000)
"A-And, thanks to three more Dragon-Type Monsters being added to the Graveyard, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon's Attack Points increase by 300 each, giving him an additional 900 Attack Points boost!"
Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon - (DARK/Dragon) - LV9 - (4600/2000)
Atticus yelled in pain as he felt the darkness from Nightshroud's influence further corrupting him, making him lose more and more control of himself. Yet, his strong will allowed him to continue onwards; his unwillingness to allow Zane to venture further into the darkness and to save his best friend from the darkness itself.
"Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, attack Cyberdark Edge and end this duel!"
Enhanced through Atticus' efforts as well as negatively corrupted by Nightshroud's darkness, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon rose higher in the air and released a roar as he prepared to attack.
At that moment, Jaden, Syrus, and Hassleberry arrived at the base of the volcano, where they were about to witness the conclusion of the duel. It was clear in their expressions that they were surprised as to who the opponents in the duel were; Atticus dueling against his friend, Zane.
Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon fired a very powerful fire blast at Cyberdark Edge, causing the Machine-Type to erupt in flames as Cyberdark Edge's special ability activated, allowing Red - Eyes Black Chick to take the blow instead, leaving Cyberdark Edge unscathed. Additionally, because Red-Eyes Black Chick was destroyed, he was returned to Atticus' Graveyard, thus allowing Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon an additional 300 Attack Point boost.
Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon - (DARK/Dragon) - LV9 - (4900/2000)
"Even though Cyberdark Edge isn't destroyed, you still must take 3000 Points of Damage!" reminded Atticus. "It's over, Za-"
"If you think that raw power is all I gained while becoming stronger, then you've sorely underestimated me," stated Zane coldly. "I activate my Trap, Power Wall!"
To everyone's shock and horror, Zane took out most of the cards in his deck...and just tossed them in the air, as though they were both a shield and nothing but disposable garbage to him.
"W-What are you doing?!" exclaimed Jaden loudly, feeling anger and horror rising up within herself, curling inside her stomach in a disgusting and frustrating manner that she's never felt before. Even an oblivious person like her could see that such an act was extremely disrespectful towards one's deck.
What was just as bad as Zane's disrespectful action...was the sadistic smirk on his face, almost as if he actually enjoyed throwing his card around like that. "Power Wall can be activated if I take Battle Damage," he explained in a nonchalant manner. "Any sending any number of cards from my deck to my Graveyard, the damage is reduced by 100 for each one. I jus threw out 30 cards, so that means I receive 0 Battle Damage."
Stunned, Atticus was left speechless, and it took a while for him to find his voice. "Zane...you...I knew you were corrupted, but I didn't think you'd go so far as to throw your own cards away like trash-! You're...you're that deeply bound by darkness? No...now, even the purest of all light can't forgive such an transgression as this-GAAAAAAAH!"
Zane's disrespectful action proved to be the final trigger for Atticus to lose control at long last, causing the darkness within him to take control of him as the darkness that had been building up inside was released, surrounding his entire body. The mask of Nightshroud came into view before appearing over Atticus' face, thus revealing that Nightshroud had taken full control of Atticus' body now.
"Crap! It's that guy I dueled before! Nightshroud!" exclaimed Jaden, realizing the situation had just taken a turn for the worse. "Does that mean if Zane loses, I have to duel that guy again?"
For the first time since Jaden and her friends arrived, Zane swiftly glared at Jaden, as though what she said just now was an insult to him, which indirectly was. It was as though Jaden was saying that Zane would lose, and for Zane, losing meant that he was weak, and he did NOT want to be seen as weak.
Zane wasn't the only person to focus on Jaden. Nightshroud did as well as he sent a menacing smirk towards Jaden. "Oh, once I'm done with this fool, you're next. I still have to take my revenge on you for beating me."
"...You know what? I think I'm gonna vote for Zane this time," admitted Hassleberry. "I was gonna cheer on Atticus, but it looks like it's much better rootin' for Zane now."
"...Y-Yeah," agreed Syrus.
"I activate the Spell, Dragon's Gunfire! As long as I have a Dragon-Type Monster on my field, I get to activate 1 of two effects. Inflict 800 Points of Damage to you, or select 1 Monster with 800 or less Defense Points and destroy it. I choose the second one! Now, burn Cyber Dark Edge!"
Zane was completely unfazed at the destruction of his Monster, not caring and expecting such an action, but having a slight interest in Nightshroud taking over Atticus' body because he could prove more of a challenge than Atticus ever could.
"I end my turn," said Nightshroud as the effect of Dragon Heart expired, returning Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon's Attack Points back to normal.
Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon - (DARK/Dragon) - LV9 - (3900/2000)
"You may have evaded Battle Damage, but that was a stupid and reckless move you pulled off. Now, you have only 3 cards left in your deck. You really didn't think things through, did you?"
Zane had no interest in retorting Nightshroud's words as he drew his card. "I activate my Continuous Trap, Call of the Haunted! I Special Summon Cyber Dark Edge in Attack Mode!"
Cyberdark Edge - (DARK/Machine) - LV4 - (800/800)
"Your weak-ass Monsters are nothing in the face of my Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon," commented Nightshroud.
"Who says I'm using them to attack you? I now Normal Summon Cyberdark Keel!" said Zane.
Cyberdark Keel - (DARK/Machine) - LV4 - (800/800)
"And now, I activate the Spell, Polymerization, to fuse Cyberdark Keel, Cyberdark Horn, and Cyberdark Edge in order to Fusion Summon Cyberdark Dragon!"
A fusion of all three Cyberdark Monsters resulted in the appearance of grotesque, twisted version of all three Monsters combined into one slim but deadly dragon.
Cyberdark Dragon - (DARK/Machine/Fusion) - LV8 - (1000/1000)
"Wow, exchanging a weaker Monster for a slightly stronger, but still weak Monster. How pathetic," insulted Nigthshroud.
"Cyberdark Dragon's effect activates," announced Zane, baring a dark smirk himself. "When he's Special Summoned, he gets to equip 1 Dragon-Type Monster from either of our Graveyards."
"So what? If you're still thinking of gaining control of my Red-Eyes Black Chick-"
"Please! You'd think I'd use that weakling? No, I'm aiming for bigger game, and this effect no longer applies to JUST Level 4 or lower Dragon-Type Monsters. Now, it exceeds far past that! So now, I'm stealing your Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"
Nightshroud grunted in irritation as he was forced to relinquish the Red-Eyes Black Dragon in his Graveyard, watching the absorption process as Cyberdark Dragon gained loads of power from taking in Red-Eyes Black Dragon's power. In size comparison, Red-Eyes Black Dragon looked much more smaller than Cyberdark Dragon, proving how powerful Cyberdark Dragon truly was.
Cyberdark Dragon - (DARK/Machine/Fusion) - LV8 - (3400/1000)
Due to the loss of yet another Dragon-Type in Nightshroud's Graveyard, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon loses yet another 300 Attack Points, but still proved much more stronger than Cyberdark Dragon.
Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon - (DARK/Dragon) - LV9 - (3600/2000)
"Impressive. I'm beginning to understand why this Monster's so powerful. But he's still only slightly weaker than my Monster. I'll crush him in my next turn," promised Nightshroud.
"Cyberdark Dragon has other effects," explained Zane. "For every card in my Graveyard, he gains an additional 100 Attack Point bonus for each."
"What?!"
"And, I just so happen to have 37 cards in my Graveyard. Care to guess how many Attack Points my Monster will get?"
Jaden realized another reason why Zane activated Power Wall, besides reducing the Battle Damage to 0. "You sent those 30 cards into the Graveyard just for this!"
"Why?!" shouted Syrus. "It's an arrogant tactic! You're disgracing your opponent! That's not...That's not what the old Zane would have done!"
"Cyberdark Dragon's Attack Points increase by 3700!" said Zane, now wearing a malicious grin filled of lustful power.
Cyberdark Dragon - (DARK/Machine/Fusion) - LV8 - (7100/1000)
"This is the power of the Underworld deck! Cyberdark Dragon, destroy Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon!"
Instead of a common fire breath attack that all dragons normally would unleash, Cyberdark Dragon assaulted Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon with a high-piercing shriek that coursed throughout the entire volcanic area, forcing Jaden, Syrus, and Hassleberry to cover their eardrums as Nightshroud was taken aback by the powerful sonic boom; the mask symbolizing his darkness quickly fading away and allowing the original owner of the body, Atticus, to regain control as Nightshroud vanished.
A mental, internal conflict formed between Zane and Atticus as Atticus struggled to regain control of himself, in which he was slowly succeeding as the influence of Nightshroud started fading away as time passed. During that time, Atticus learned that Zane was not being possessed by darkness, but that he was seeking strength from within darkness, somewhere where the light can't reach, all for the sake of victory. Before Atticus could ask why victory was so important to Zane, he found himself pulled back to reality and back to full control of his body as the duel came to a close from Zane's latest action.
Zane - 1300 LP
Atticus - 0 LP
Winner: Zane
"Atticus!" cried out Hassleberry and Jaden as they rushed towards him once they saw him fall down to his knees. "Are you alright?!"
"Don't...don't worry," assured Atticus, standing back up. "Nightshroud is no longer inside of me."
Glaring at Zane, who was calmly deactivating his duel disk and taking out his deck which included the cards he threw away so casually before, Atticus knew he had to know why and how Zane from a respectful duelist to some...some malicious, power-hungry duelist that he is right now. As proven by their duel, even if he was temporarily taken over by Nightshroud, Atticus knew he needed to become much more stronger than before if he was going to get through to Zane through his terms, which meant beating him the next time they dueled.
"Hey, Zane! You won, so here, catch!" Atticus tossed his Genex Medallion at Zane's feet, but he merely ignored it and started walking away, much to the surprise of everyone.
"I'm not interested in such a cheap trinket. As long as victory is in my hands, that's all I need."
Jaden noticed Zane glancing at her and tilted her head. "...What? Why are you looking at me?"
"...Nothing. Normally, I would challenge you right now, Jaden, but right now, I can tell that you're still weaker than me, so I'll save you the face of humiliation for another time."
Zane continued his way, not bothering to even so much as glance at his younger brother, Syrus, who was deep in thought with a stern look on his face. In truth, another reason why Zane hadn't bother to duel Jaden right there and then...was because of Syrus.
Even though Zane had taken a quick look at Jaden, he hadn't expected...such intensity arising from Syrus. A killing aura didn't come from Syrus, but one of fierce protectiveness and determination that Zane himself had never seen before, and it was directed fully towards him, as though warning him to back away.
Zane knew of Syrus' little crush on Jaden, It was so painfully obvious. He always had crushes on cute girls, but it seemed that Syrus was quite serious in this crush of his. So serious, it seemed that Syrus was more than willing to challenge him while defending poor innocent Jaden.
And for the first time ever, Zane was actually intrigued into dueling Syrus. Much more than facing Jaden at the moment.
Later...
"Okay, so what was it you wanted to talk to me about, Truesdale?" Hassleberry questioned Syrus once the two of them were alone.
"I..." Syrus glanced around to see if anybody else was in the area, and luckily, nobody else was. "We...we have to stop Jaden from dueling Zane!"
"Hmm? Uh...I don't get it. Why?"
"Are you serious? Did you not see what he just did to not only Atticus, but to all of his other opponents?! He...he put them down! He injured them! I heard that some of the duelists he dueled were not only critically injured, but crippled to the point of them never picking up a duel disk ever again! If Jaden...If Jaden duels Zane, then...she'll lose!"
"Wha? No way! She's the most strongest duelist in the island!" spoke Hassleberry nonchalantly. "What makes you think she'll lose?"
"Well, she wasn't the most strongest duelist at first," explained Syrus. "That title belonged to Zane, who graduated last year. At the end of the school year, there's always some sort of graduation match between a third-year and his or her own choice for a duelist. Zane chose Jaden, they dueled, and he won. After that, he set off to become a Pro Duelist, but...he changed along the way."
"Yeah," agreed Hassleberry. "I think it must have been because of him losing against Aster Phoenix. It was a pretty heavy loss."
"No, that can't be it!" protested Syrus. "My big brother, he's lost a couple of times even while in Duel Academy, like against Atticus a few times! Do you really think one loss would just make him into some sort of...power-hungry guy?!"
"Maybe not, but it was a start for Zane losing so many times after. Maybe losing too many times made him turn into what he is today," theorized Hassleberry, crossing his arms. "A disrespectful bastard who only craves for victory no matter the cost. I mean, don't you remember him tossing out that many cards? He could have just put them into the Graveyard slot like any normal duelist, but no! He had to go to the extreme and toss them out just like that!"
"Yeah...the old Zane would be mortified if he ever saw the current him do something like that," agreed Syrus. "My brother loved and respected dueling. Not the childish-kind of level like Jaden, but more on a mature level. His new attitude is all the more reason why we can't ever let Jaden duel Zane! Look, she's really strong, but right now, I doubt she can take him on! I'd rather she duel Sartorius than him! At least he wouldn't try and cripple Jaden!"
Hassleberry's eyes widened. "Sy…" Both him and Syrus had major crushes on Jaden, and the two of them knew it, hence one of the main reasons for their rivalry. But just right now, Syrus proved just how much he deeply cared for Jaden.
"...But even so, what can we do? We can't keep looking after Jay forever," reminded Hassleberry. "Even if we divide our schedules up. And if Zane's this power-hungry, he'll go after the most strongest duelists, like Jay! Even if we do stop Jaden, Zane might eventually try and track down Jaden on his own!"
"...Then, we'll train!" said Syrus. "We need to train and take on as many duelists as possible if we want to have a chance against Zane!"
"Do you really think we'll have a chance? I mean, Atticus seemed much more stronger than any of us. If he was able to beat him, then what chance do we-"
"We have to try! For Jaden's sake!"
"Feh, you really think you two training is going to be enough? Fine, I guess I can lend a hand."
"Huh?" Hassleberry and Syrus glanced around, wondering where the mysterious voice came from when Chazz suddenly leapt out from the tree branch above them and landed near them. "Gah!"
"Hey, losers. I heard everything. I want in on the training."
"How long were you up on that tree?!" exclaimed Syrus.
"For a while. I was on the lookout for some more duelists and happen to eavesdrop on your conversation. I want in," said Chazz.
"And why should we let you?!" exclaimed Hassleberry.
"1) You guys are weak. 2) I've faced guys that use similar strategies that Zane uses. 3) You guys are weak. 4) Eventually, one of us is going to have to duel Zane. 5) You guys are weak. 6) I'm stronger than you guys. 7) You guys are-"
"OKAY! WE GET IT!" yelled both Hassleberry and Syrus, both having irk marks on their heads from being insulted repeatedly by Chazz's list of reasons.
"Fine. There's one more genuine reason. Aster's training Jaden."
"What?!" Both Ra Yellows shouted. "Why?! And how come he's not training us?!"
"I asked, and he said that Jaden was worthwhile and said that you guys would be more useless. And he couldn't be more right."
"Grrrr! Wait, why didn't Jaden tell us this?" wondered Syrus.
"Probably because she was told not to. Anyways, do you scrubs want to train or not?"
"Alright, fine!" Syrus and Hassleberry shouted, activating their duel disks.
"Great!...Loser has to do the dorm's chores for a week."
"What?! How is that fair?" asked Hassleberry.
"It's totally fair. I'm just giving you guys motivation. Now, let's get to training! We're not going to stop until you bleed out of your eye sockets!"
"...Ewww…."
"Okay, fine. Gross example. We're not going to stop until you start sweating buckets! Now, let's duel!"
Sorry for the long wait, guys! Been busy with a lot of work! Read and review!