Chapter 22: Chazzed and Confused
As Haru and the rest of the crew get ready for the upcoming event, we shall turn our attention to the goings on of a certain spiky haired former Obelisk, now sitting on a partially submerged yacht in the middle of the ocean. The Obelisk formerly known as the Prince of the Obelisk dorm, Chazz Princeton sat with his Duel Disk in between his legs and a half empty water bottle at his side.
Though he was alone, it didn't stop him from continuously ranting to himself about his loss to Bastion at the second Promotion Duel.
"Lousy scrubs. It's all their fault," he grumbled, as his eyes moved to stare at his disk." Doctor Crowler, Bastion… and especially Haru."
"How can I be the scrub if even with Crowler's help you couldn't beat me?" Chazz looked up to see the hallucination of Haru that had been keeping him company since the boat started to sink. Haru would every so often pop out of nowhere to supply Chazz with a sarcastic remark or two.
"Quiet!" Chazz snapped. "Or I'm going to wipe that ugly smirk right off your face."
"You're just mad because I'm right," the hallucination smirked as he appeared laying next to the former Obelisk.
Chazz grabbed his Disk and placed it on his arm. "If only I could duel you one more time to prove how much better I am! That's all I want."
"Really? Because I would want to get off this boat before it sinks, but I guess we see being stranded differently," Haru laughed.
Chazz growled at this before waving his hand through the image to disperse it. "Shut it." He heard a small beeping noise as his disk's power run out.
Shaking his head Chazz began to laugh as he leaned up against the railing behind him. "Stranded?" He reached for his water bottle. "Please I'm not stranded. I'm perfectly fine." He unscrewed the cap and lifted the bottle to his lips, expecting the water inside to quench his thirst. Instead he was met with nothing.
Chazz shook the bottle in front of his eyes and sighed. "Possibly a little thirsty though."
"You know what I'm thirsty for Chazz? You to quit your bitching." The image of Haru snarked, now below him.
"I thought I told you to shut it" Chazz growled as he chucked the water bottle at the image. To his horror it sailed right through and into the water below. Rising to his feet he attempted to fish the bottle out of the water, but suddenly lost his footing, sending him into the murky depths below. As he sank further down hundreds of air bubbles began to rise to the surface. He then noticed a dark form heading towards him.
'I'll get you for this slacker!' Chazz screamed internally as his vision began to darken. 'I'll get you for this'.
And with that his body slumped as everything went completely dark.
"Hey….Hey Boss, rise and shine!"
A small glowing orb floated around the unconscious former Duel Academy student, weaving left then right in front of his face.
'Up and at em Boss! Helloooo." The orb came to a stop above the boys head.
"Cmon wake up!" It said again smacking the boys face to no avail "Looks like I'm going to have to perform my wake up dance -Gack!"
Chazz grabbed the glowing ball, irritated by the sudden light and irritating voice. Tightening his grip the ball popped. Opening his eyes he looked around to see himself not in the water or on a boat. Instead he was laying on a cold metal floor with seaweed dangling overhead along with fish flopping around nearby.
"About time you woke up," a voice said from the far end of the room.
Chazz groaned as he sat up. "Whats going on?" He glanced over at the source of the voice and found a silver haired boy in a wetsuit spearing the fish that currently flopped around the floor. "Better yet who are you?"
"Name's Luke," the boy said giving him a small salute. "I was out spearfishing and I found you on what was left of your submerged ship. I managed to pull you on the submarine I was using as my base of operations but…"
"What?" Chazz frowned, "Spit it out."
"Your cards diddn't fare to well" Luke nodded towards the sopping wet pile that used to be Chazz's deck now sitting in front of him.
"Great" Chazz growled. "First I lose my spot, then my boat and now my deck is there anything more that can be taken from me?"
"Chin up spiky hair, maybe this is the universe telling you to start over from scratch" Luke said. He pulled a card from a backpack he had stored in the corner. "Here this card might just be what you need," he tossed the card to Chazz who caught it.
Chazz looked up at him then down at the card and almost facefaulted. The card was a monster with only 1000 defense and no attack, depicting a small yellow humanoid with eyestalks wearing red bikini briefs. Its name was Ojama Yellow. "What is this? You gave me a no name" Chazz snarled raising his arm to toss the card aside.
"I have a feeling that card will change your life spiky," Luke smiled.
Chazz looked at him with a look of disbelief on his face, "First off the names Chazz not Spiky, and second I'm content to think you're mocking me right now with this card."
"Actually I'm not, I think it will be just the thing you need to get your revenge on Haru."
"How do you know that name?"
Luke snorted. "You have a bad habit of talking in your sleep my friend, and from what I heard this Haru fellow must have laid the smackdown on you real bad."
"He was just lucky that's all…" Chazz scoffed looking away.
"Lucky eh?" Luke smirked, "You always run away from just luck?"
"Man this guys got you down pat. You may be wearing the Blue uniform but you sure do turn yellow quickly" The hallucination of Haru appeared beside him.
Chazz growled at the hallucination, then turned to his savior. "That's it nobody calls Chazz Princeton a coward!"
"You sure do talk a big game but I have yet to see if you can really back it up" Luke said dumping the fish into a plastic container beside him.
"In the end none of that matters. I'm rich" Chazz said climbing to his feet. "And I'm willing to buy the best cards to win."
"And that there is your problem Chazz" Luke shook his head. "No amount of money can make you the best, you have to earn it." He tossed his backpack over his shoulder and picked up the container of fish. "But I think your going to learn that real soon" He gave him a salute. "See ya."
As soon as he finished his sentence the room they were in began to flood with water. Chazz placed the card he had received into a pocket on his blazer as he watched Luke wade across the water.
"Oh yeah remember to hold your nose…."
The room was soon completely engulfed in water, and just as the former Obelisk began to ponder how the situation could get any worse, he noticed a hatch open above him. Pushing off the metal plating below him he shot out of the hole and into the open water surrounding him. Just as he was about to lose the last remainders of his air supply he reached the waters surface and flew into the air with a loud gasp.
He didn't stay airborne long as his body made contact with something cold and solid that knocked the new supply of air he had just accumulated out of him completely. He sat up and flinched as he felt the pain suddenly rear its ugly head. "You lunatic! I'll make sure my attorney hears about this."
After rising to his feet and having a quick look around Chazz was quite surprised by the environment. The surrounding area was covered in ice and snow. He figured he was either really far north or south. Off in the distance a tall building overshadowed the surrounding landscape.
"Ha…..at least I'm back with civilization" Chazz grinned as he made his way towards the building. "Well if you could call this place that with how low maintenance it is, but that's no problem". He adjusted his collar to cover his neck from the barrage of cold wind that was currently attacking him. "The better question is, once I find a phone should I ask for the plane or the copter?"
The former Obelisk walked for what seemed like twenty minutes, and as he neared the building he noticed that it was surrounded on all sides by a stone wall. In the middle of the stone directly in front of him was a wooden door. Stopping just a few feet from the door he looked up observing the architecture. "Not bad, my pad is still bigger though" he bragged.
Chazz walked up to the door and began to pound on it, "HEY OPEN UP! LET'S GO! ANYONE HOME? HELLO?"
"Oh they're home…. They just require a forty card deck in order to let you in."
Startled Chazz turned to see a figure huddled up near a small fire to the right of the wall. He was a balding man with small tufts of brown hair on the back of his head, along with short stubble on his chin. He wore a tattered brown shirt and torn jeans, as well as a duel disk on his arm. A tiny pair of glasses rested on his nose to round up the pathetic look.
"That's just the way it works here at North Academy."
Chazz frowned at the tattered man. "This is North Academy? Duel Academy's arch rival…"
The man nodded, "That's right, Here take a seat i could use some company". He moved over a few inches and patted the ground next to him. "I have been here for quite a while after all".
Chazz eyes him, "What's the deal with this forty card rule?" He asked sitting down beside him.
"Think of it as a test" He smiled, "Scattered around us are glacial crevaces, and inside those are duel monsters cards. Find forty cards and they'll let you in"
"Arent duel monsters cards made out of paper? Wouldn't being next to frozen water damage the cards?" The hallucination of Haru pointed out.
"Hmm…" Chazz glanced down at the deck that was nestled into the man's disk ignoring the spectral image,."How many did you manage to get so far?"
"Well to be honest I've only been able to find about thirty nine out of the forty" He sighed, looking down at his deck. "I used every ounce of strength my body could muster to find all of these, but I'm too tired to find that last card."
Chazz chuckled; since he had one card he could easily get in with this strangers other thirty nine. He ruffled through his blazer and pulled out a credit card. "Listen old man, I'll buy those cards off of you since you don't seem to be using them, Go ahead take it" He offered the card.
The man looked at him horrified, clutching his deck close to his chest to defend it, "No! Besides the fire and my tattered clothes, this deck is all I have left. They're priceless to me!"
Disgusted, CHazz rose to his feet, "Fine I'll get my own cards! It can't be that hard" As he walked into the wilderness the man behind the fire watched him leave.
"Good luck young duelist. In that barren wasteland," He turned back to the fire and rubbed his arms for warmth, "you'll need it."
So, Chazz searched the icy wasteland, searching for the thirty nine cards he needed to enter the academy and get his phone call, accompanied only by his thoughts and a very annoying hallucination.
He climbed in and out of icy crevices.
He pulled himself up onto large cliffs.
He swam through freezing cold water, to get everything he needed to move forward.
'I can't believe the shit I have to go through just to get into this school' he thought looking around for more cards, 'Why the hell did they make it this hard to get in?'.
After what seemed like hours of searching, And through the aching of what seemed to be every part of his body, Chazz walked back to the front door, where the man was still sitting, huddled next to the fire.
"I see you've been busy doing absolutely nothing," Chazz snarked.
Surprised, the man rose to his feet and walked over to him. "You're back! Did you find all forty cards?"
Smirking, Chazz held up his disk. "Was there any doubt?"
The man nodded, "Good for you then. I suppose you'll be moving onto bigger and brighter things now." He lowered his glasses and rubbed his eyes for a moment, "Don't worry about me though, I'll be alright… until the winter months come anyway…"
"Winter?" Chazz raised an eyebrow. "Sure seems like winter to me"
"No," the man shook his head sadly. "These are the summer months. It's quite lovely during the summer, and the fall is pretty nice to, only about thirty below to be honest."
'Who the hell puts a school in these conditions?' Chazz thought.
'Kaiba' the spectral Haru smirked. 'Duh'.
The man held his arms and began to rub them again for warmth, "After that it gets a little bit nippy."
"Uh huh…"
"But listen to me," the man shook his head. "I'm sure you'll want to get on your way..."
Chazz rolled his eyes, "Oh quit your whining already, would ya old timer?"
"Huh?" the older man looked at him.
Smiling, Chazz held up his deck of cards, "I lied about how many cards i found before. I didn't just find forty I found forty one," he tapped his deck. "An extra one so you can come in too".
The bald man gasped, "you mean… I get to enter? Really?"
"Yeah, yeah." Chazz fanned out his deck to look for something he could part with. "Just shut up and take your card."
It took a moment but the former Obelisk finally settled on a single card. He plucked out the card he had been given by Luke earlier, grinning. "Here." He held it out, but as he did, he felt his arm veer off to the left. He tried again but this time it veered off to the right.
The bald man looked at him with curiosity. "Are you going to give it to me or are you just playing around?"
"Its my hand!" Chazz gripped his wrist, the hand with the card moving around as if it had grown a mind of its own, "it won't let go!" in a puff of smoke, Ojama Yellow appeared as a duel spirit in front of him.
"You can't get rid of me, Boss!" We're pals, buds, best friends forever! You know, BFF!" the spirit cried.
Chazz's eyes widened at the appearance of the creature, "Like hell we are!"
"What's wrong" The man asked. "Are you ok?"
"Don't you see it?!" Chazz hissed, looking at him.
"See what?"
The creature giggled and floated to Chazz, shaking its bikini clad butt in his face. "Aw Boss, you should know you're the only one who can see me."
Chazz looked at the little creature, not liking the idea at all, "Go away!"
"Sorry boss" the creature floated to the other side. "If we're going to be amigos, you have to stop being so uptight."
'You're not real! Just like him." He pointed towards the hallucination, and swatted at the monster with his other hand, "So get lost."
"Get lost? Funny you should say that," the yellow being flew behind Chazz's head. "I have four brothers who got lost. We oughta find them for your deck…"
With a grunt of exasperation Chazz shoved the card back into the deck, making the creature disappear. "Be quiet!" Noticing the man was staring at him like he was crazy, Chazz plucked another card out of his deck and held it out. "Sorry, That was the wrong card. Take this"
"Uh sure, thank you. Whatever you say," the man murmured, taking the card. "I really appreciate this Mr….?"
"The names Chazz Princeton and don't you forget it, it's the name of your savior after all." He looked the guy over one more time. "On second thought, do forget it. I don't need people associating you with me" he walked back to the campfire and sat down arms behind his head, "Now go ahead and get inside. The Chazz likes to make his own entrance."
"Yes of course! Thanks again!" the older man said, gratefully.
As the guy passed through the doors, Chazz sat on the ice his eyes glued to the fire. "Thanks for nothing… I really only found forty cards, and now I'm short one".
'Man that old guy was really laying it on thick, can't believe you decided to do something nice for once' spectral Haru said appearing in a seated position next to him.
"Yeah I know right" Chazz agreed before catching himself, he turned towards the hallucination and punched it. "SHUT UP!" That's when he noticed something, A card called Chaos End lay beside him, just inches away from his right leg.
"Wow Chazz could this be? Good Karma?"
Chazz snatched up the card from the ground and headed towards the door. He looked up, holding his disk up in the air after inserting the last card. "Alright, open the door! I got your forty card deck right here!"
A few seconds passed until a five count of energy beams shot down from the doorway and connected to his disk, as if scanning the contents. Then Chazz's disk sprang to life, its power source now back at full power. The giant doors creaked loudly as they opened. Walking through quickly Chazz took in his surroundings. There was only one street, and on each side was a row of wooden buildings.
"Looks sorta like one of those old westerns," Spectre Haru commented looking around. "Strange that with this being a school there's nobody around as far as I can see"
"So this is North Academy?" Chazz said out loud ignoring him yet again. "What a dump."
As he walked towards the center of the academy, he heard the sound of glass breaking causing him to turn to see the bald man getting thrown out of one of the buildings and onto the street. Without thinking he ran to the man's aid and knelt down beside him. "You ok pops?"
The older man groaned as he laid on his back, turning towards Chazz. "What- What happened?" he moaned.
"You got the North Academy welcome, that's what happened!" A deep voice answered, followed by a laugh.
Chazz looked up to see rough looking teenagers filing out of the building the man had been thrown from, each wearing their own duel disks. Blinking he looked around to see even more surrounding the two of them in similar garb. Looking back at the building he noticed a heavyset boy emerge from the doors, who Chazz assumed was the leader. He was flanked by four other duelists and wore a orange and black vest along with a goatee. The boy sat down in a rocking chair in view of the duo.
"Now, it's your turn," the large boy chuckled; pointing at Chazz, "Think you're up to the challenge, new guy? Do ya?"
Chazz scowled, "Who are you exactly?" he asked looking him over.
"I'm the guy who runs the grounds around here so the higher ups don't have to worry about it. People call me the Czar." The large boy looked at the older man. "Your friend there just went through a little hazing ritual: the 50-Man Duel Gauntlet."
"50 man what now?"
"Duel Gauntlet," the Czar repeated. "It's how we rank students around here. Why don't you go tell him how it works, Ed?" He asked of a nearby duelist, a kid of short stature with a long strand of hair sticking out.
Ed nodded and fixed the two newbies with a smirk. "See, you gotta duel fifty students…"
"You start off with the lowest rank and work your way up." one of the four who currently stood around the Czar, a boy named Rick, added.
The third, a boy named Rau nodded. "When you lose, that's your rank"
"Unless you don't lose," another of the four around the Czar a boy named Steve added, before looking at the Czar.
The Czar grinned jerking his thumb towards himself, "I'm number fifty, once you beat me you get to take on one of the two pillars of this academy."
"But everyone loses!" A boy near Chazz scoffed. "Like your friend here. He lost the first match he was challenged to!"
"And now he's been chosen for toilet duty" another added.
Chazz rose to his feet, a look of confidence on his face, "So I just have to win fifty times to face one of these so called pillars? That's all?"
"Easier said than done newb!"
Chazz glared at the duelist who said that, "The name's Chazz. Chazz Princeton! And soon," he glared at them all, then pointed at the Czar, "Your Czar will fall and a Princeton will rise to take on your strongest duelists."
"Then let's go!" Czar shouted, and snapped his fingers.
The rank 50 duelist approached and activated his duel disk. "The names Jeff, and like your friend there all you're going to be doing is swabbing the toilets after I'm done with you."
DUEL!
Both players started drawing their opening hands.
Chazz:4000
Jeff:4000
"Me first!" Jeff shouted, drawing his sixth card. "I'll start off with Vorse Raider in attack position!" an armored fiend wielding a sickle like weapon appeared on his side of the field.
Vorse Raider level 4 (1900/1200)
"Lucky for you I can't attack on the first turn, so that's all for the time being!"
"Come on, that's it?" Chazz scoffed drawing his sixth card. "First, I play Hinotama to deal a good 500 points of damage directly to you!" A shower of fireballs cascaded down onto the north academy duelist as he shielded his eyes with his arm.
Jeff:4000-3500
"You just got lucky!" Jeff shouted.
"Alright let's see if you feel that way when I summon KA-2 Des Scissors in attack position" A blue chrome Crab-like machine appeared. It had six legs and two big metal pincers with a KA-2 logo imprinted on both of the claws.
KA-2 Des Scissors level 4 (1000/1000)
"Ha! That's all you have from your prolonged period out on the ice?" Jeff laughed as the rest of the students followed suit. "This will be over quick!"
"Oh please you won't be able to do crap after I activate this." Chazz shot back before inserting a spell into the zone beneath Scissors. "I activate 7 Completed to give my monster 700 attack points!" A red 7 appeared and attached itself to the robot crab giving it a stat boost.
KA-2 Des Scissors level 4 (1000-1700)
"Yawn…" Jeff mocked.
"Now comes Limiter Removal to double the attack of my machine!" A red aura surrounded the blue monster as its systems seemed to overload with power.
KA-2 Des Scissors level 4 (1700-3400)
"Take out his Vorse Raider!" Chazz commanded as the robot scuttled up to the fiend and crushed it between its pincers.
Jeff:3500-2000
"Ha! Nice try, but I'll crush you my next turn, since Limiter Removal destroys the machine monster it was used on at the end of the turn." Jeff reminded him.
"Not exactly, since Des Scissor's effect activates!" Chazz grinned. "When it destroys a monster via battle, you get hit with 500 damage for every level your monster has.
Jeff gasped, "That means…."
"Your time is at an end!" Chazz nodded. "Now Des Scissors use Toxic Haze!" The machine spewed forth a white mist as the student from North Academy collapsed to the ground.
Jeff:2000-0
"Looks like it's my turn then" the 49th ranked duelist said stepping into the position across from Chazz, not allowing him to savor his victory.
No one at north academy thought that Chazz had even a small chance of going as far as he had with the deck of mismatched cards he had in his arsenal, as a matter of fact they thought that his first victory was a mear fluke. That changed however as soon as Chazz began to move up the ranks with little to no effort whatsoever, silencing the spectators and leaving a path of unconscious bodies in his wake.
Chazz smirked as he finished off the first of the four duelists that he had observed standing around the Czar, "And another one bites the dust."
The three remaining duelists around the Czar watched as Chazz finished off the first of their comrades.
"You must think your really impressive" Steve the shortest of the three called.
"But beating the weakest of us four, along with all of those amateurs doesn't prove anything." Rau, the boy with short black hair and a long bang hanging over his right eye, added.
"You still have the three of us to contend with if you want to get through to duel the Czar and the pillars," Rick the heavy set kid said from behind the Czar's rocking chair.
Chazz rolled his eyes and pointed his finger at the Czar followed by each of the remaining students. "This is taking too long. I'll take on the four of you all at the same time." He made a gun motion with his hand and smiled. "That is if you can handle me."
"Like we would let you duel the Czar" Rau said stepping forward only to be stopped by the Czar raising his hand, "Boss?"
"If he wants to lose so badly why not let him take on the four of us?" The Czar said. "Those two don't have to be bothered by someone like this guy, plus if we win we have a decently powered underling to cement our power in this school." He got up from his chair and pulled out a duel disk and the trio followed suit before they all filled out into the street.
"Try not to cry after the beatdown were about to give you," the Czar taunted.
Chazz scoffed at that but said nothing as he activated his Disk, and his opponents did the same. "Duel!" The five yelled in unison.
Steve:4000
Rau:4000
Rick:4000
Czar:4000
Chazz:4000
"The first turns mine" Steve declared as he drew his first card. "Rise Marauding Captain!" they watched as a warrior with ear length blonde hair and wearing a set of rusty knight armor appeared on his field.
Marauding Captain level 3 (1200/400)
'But dont think thats all I'm going to do, since Marauding Captain was normal summoned i can special summon another warrior type monster, so I think I'll choose a second Marauding Captain to back him up".
Chazz and his little yellow duel spirit watched as the three underlings summoned the same warrior over and over again until six Marauding Captains stood shoulder to shoulder, ready for an attack to come their way.
"In case you forgot rookie," Rau grinned. "When there are two or more of these cards on the field you can't attack any of them, or any other warrior monster on our fields! Now it's the boss's turn"
Czar smiled as he drew for turn, "First I'll play a copy of Fiend's Sanctuary allowing me to special summon a fiend token to my side of the field!" He declared as the chrome token appeared. "But it doesn't stop there because I'm going to tribute that token to bring out Freed the Matchless General!" Removing the token card from the field The Czar placed a monster in attack position and in a flash an older knight wearing gold and silver armor, with long golden hair, appeared on his side of the field.
Freed the Matchless General level 5 (2300/1700)
"That will end my turn" The Czar informed him. "Show us what you got newb."
Chazz smiled, "About time. I was thinking about taking a nap while you all summoned the same monsters, My turn!" Chazz drew his sixth card, "I'll play two facedowns and one Giant Rat in defense position." A rather large blue furred rodent holding a pure white skull in its paws huddled down into a defensive stance on Chazz's side of the field.
Giant Rat level 4 (1400/1450)
"We gave you a turn to show us all what you're made of, and all you manage to do is summon an overgrown rat? What a joke," Czar chuckled.
Chazz laughed. "Perhaps. After all, he is a weaker card. A card that the old me would never have even thought of using in his deck. But I've learned a thing or two in my time on this barren wasteland. I learned that that life deals you all kinds of cards, and sometimes you gotta make the best of what you got."
"Aw that's so nice of you, Boss! You're talking about me aren't ya?" The yellow spirit asked.
"Actually I wasn't!" Chazz grabbed at the little creature. "You're still as annoying, disgusting and non-existent as ever, GOT IT?"
The four north academy student's faces turned to that of confusion as they watched Chazz scream and swipe his hand at what looked to be Giant Rat.
"You're a disgusting little yellow gremlin and I don't like you, so quit pestering me!'
Even though the Giant Rat wasn't the source of Chazz's anger it seemed to shrink away as it heard its owner's word, feeling a bit self conscious.
"I'd say disgusting is an appropriate term, but yellow?" Steve commented as he drew his card. "Perhaps you should get your eyes checked! Anyway back to my turn!" He inserted a card into one of his spell and trap zones. "I'll start by playing The A forces! This gives all warrior type monsters a 200 point power boost for each warrior currently on the field. That means that all Marauding captains now have a base attack of 2600, and Freed the matchless general's attack rises to 3700." Each of the warriors including Freed raised their swords in the air as their power increased.
Marauding captain level 3 (1200-2600) x6
Freed the Matchless general level 5 (2300-3700)
"Go Marauding captain number 1 smash his rat!" Steve commanded as the first captain ran at the rat and split it down the middle. "Now he's defenseless! Attack him men!" he ordered as the rest of the captains took up an attacking position.
"Not quite!" Chazz yelled, "i activate my Giant Rat's effect activates! It allows me to special summon an earth attribute monster with 1500 or less attack directly to my field!" Slapping a new card onto his disk there was a flash of light on his field, "Come on out Gyaku-Gire Panda!".
With a loud roar a large angry looking Panda with a bamboo stick appeared on his field bearing his teeth towards the opposition.
Gyaku-Gire Panda level 3 (800/1600)
"Aww look at the giant teddy bear" The Czar sneered. "What's he going to do cuddle me to death?"
'He just might" Chazz shot back, "When his ability activates he gains 500 attack for every other monster on the field." As he said this his new monster almost tripled in size.
Gyaku-Gire Panda level 3 (800-4300)
"Hows that for cuddly?" Chazz laughed, "Now comes my facedown, Ring of Destruction!" He paused for a minute as a large ring of grenades appeared and attached itself to his monster. "As you probably know this card destroys the monster it's equipped to and everyone takes damage equal to its attack."
"Why?" Rau questioned. "With that we will all take the damage and it will be rendered a tie."
"Not exactly." Chazz shook his head as he pressed the button on his disk above his second set card. A trap flipped face up revealing something rather similar to ring of destruction but instead of grenades this one was decorated with shields. "I activate my quick-play spell Ring of Defense! Now I take no effect damage from trap cards this turn"
"So that means" The Czar gulped.
"That's right! See ya suckers" Chazz waved, smiling like a madman before his monster exploded, causing not only the warrior monsters on the field to be destroyed, but a large cloud of smoke to engulf the area. Chazz's Gyaku-Gire Panda shielded him from the smoke, and as it parted the former Obelisk looked to see his four opponents collapsed in a heap on the floor.
Steve:0
Rau:0
Rick:0
Czar:0
Chazz smirked as he made his way up to the rocking chair that the Czar formerly called his own and plopped himself down. "Well boys looks like you better call your boss's because i just wiped the floor with you," he called.
Almost on cue someone stolled out of the building the group had exited earlier, wearing a white apron and carrying a skewer with a slightly charred fish on it "Alright boys lunch is ready!". This new person was a tall boy with tan skin and long silver hair pulled back in a ponytail. He stopped and looked down the street, taking a moment to observe each currently unconscious north academy student.
"Yo" Chazz said giving a mocking salute. "You must be one of those two pillars I heard about".
The boy turned and Chazz recognized the face of his savior Luke now outside of his wetsuit. Luke sighed and looked at the skewered fish. "Looks like most of my cooking is going to waste today, You hungry?"
"Starved" Chazz admitted.
"Here then, before we duel you may as well eat" He handed him the skewer, " I'll be right back I have to go get my stuff." He walked back inside.
Ten minutes later Chazz and Luke stood across from each other, Duel Disks at the ready. Luke now wore a black jacket and pants with a green outline on both.
"Traditionally here you get to choose which pillar you challenge, but Biggs has a habit of getting a little to much into his work. So I'll be taking you on today"
"Just because you saved me from the watery grave i found myself in earlier, doesnt mean im going to take it easy on you" Chazz told him cracking his neck, "I've come this far so I may as well go all the way"
"I would be disappointed if you did" Luke chuckled. "Let's get down to business shall we?"
"I thought you would never ask" Chazz said activating his duel Disk for the final time.
DUEL!
Luke:4000
Chazz:4000
"I suppose I'll take the first turn" Luke sighed as he drew for turn. "I'll start by playing the spell Summons of the Watchdogs. When activate this spell I can immediately special summon a monster with Makai in its name but it can't attack this turn. I call to arms Makai Knight Sword in attack position." Grabbing the card that had pushed itself out of his deck he placed it on the field. In a flash a muscular man wearing a white jacket, black undershirt and grey pants emerged, he flashed Chazz a cocky smile before crossing his arms.
Makai Knight Sword level 4 (1600/800)
"I'll set two cards and end my turn" He finished as the two holograms appeared in front of him.
"You don't seem like you're all that into this duel" Chazz said drawing his sixth card but scowled at what he saw. Instantly the little yellow spirit appeared over his shoulder causing Chazz to flinch "Not you again."
"Nice to see you to" Ojama Yellow said cheerfully flying around his owners head, "need me to fight a monster for you? Let's do it" The spirits eye stalks turned to look at sword who seemed to be tapping his foot as he waited, "On second thought i think he would end me pretty fast".
Chazz looked at the spirit, then Sword, and smiled mischievously, "I've finally figured out how to get rid of you!" he placed the card on his disk. "I summon Ojama Yellow in defense position!"
Ojama yellow, shook its head as he appeared on the field, "No not me, anyone but me!"
Ojama yellow level 2 (0/1000)
Ignoring the pleas of his duel spirit, Chazz continued by sliding to facedowns into the underneath compartments "I'll follow suit and set two cards as well".
Luke seemed surprised at the arrival of the little yellow monster. "I see you bonded with the card I gave you"
"Well I wouldn't say bonded, it's more like having an annoying squeaky voice in my head at every hour of the day," Chazz shook his head. It took him a minute but an idea dawned on him, "Can you see and hear it too?"
"Yeah it's been sort of a gift and a curse honestly," Luke shrugged. "I picked up your partner there on one of my fishing trips, kept saying he had a purpose in life or something".
"And I found it when you gave me to the boss" Ojama Yellow added giving Luke a thumbs up.
"Well that's enough talking for the time being," Luke said drawing for turn once again. "I normal summon Makai Priestess Gina in defense position," he continued as a black haired woman wearing sunglasses appeared next to Sword. She wore a black and white jumpsuit with a purple jacket with white shoulder pads over it. When she was summoned Sword smiled and placed his palms together in a preying motion before returning to his regular stance.
Makai Priestess Gina level 3 (1200/1500)
"Gina's effect activates allowing me to search for a Makai Armor equip spell, or Makai Armament equip spell" He pulled out a card from his deck and revealed it as a card depicting a golden set of wolf like armor. "I add Makai Armor-Garo Neo and then equip it to Sword" He placed the spell under Sword and the warrior withdrew a golden sword from his belt. Raising it into the air he drew a circle above him and the set of golden armor fell through and onto him. "When sword is equipped with a Makai Armor he gains 500 attack!"
Makai Knight Sword level 4 (1600-2100)
"I'm not liking were this is going boss" Ojama yellow whimpered as he watched the golden warrior let out a roar and the lines on his armor began to glow purple.
"You shouldn't," Luke told the spirit. "I'll activate my set card next, the trap card known as Horror Artifact- Katana. When this trap is activated it automatically equips to your monster switching its attack and defense points and changing its battle position to attack." Chazz watched as a shadow emerged from his opponents card and formed into a katana next to Ojama yellow. The small monster looked at the weapon before picking it up and undergoing a transformation. He now wore traditional samurai garb along with a ponytail as he brandished the sword in front of him. "Additionally your monster is now treated as a Horror monster while equipped with this trap, thus allowing me to activate the power of my equip spell. When a Makai knight monster equipped with Garo-Neo attacks a horror monster it gains an additional 500 attack.
Makai Knight Sword level 4 (2100-2600)
"Without further ado let's battle! Sword take out his Ojama Yellow!" Luke commanded as the golden knight let out a low growl before diving across the field and slashing the tiny monster into pieces.
Chazz:4000-2400
"Now that you've destroyed my monster I'll activate a trap of my own, Pack Mentality!" Chazz declared. "When you destroy a monster with 1000 or less attack, I can special summon a beast type monster from my deck with 1000 or less attack in defense position! And for that I have just the card. Come on out Nimble Momonga!" In a flash of light a flying squirrel with glowing green eyes flew out of nowhere before landing on the field.
Nimble Momonga level 2 (1000/100)
"Very nice," Luke admitte., "Makai Armor spell cards can only stay on the field until the end of the turn their activated, so I'm forced to destroy Garo-Neo" He explained placing the spell into his graveyard. "Your move Chazz".
"And what a move it will be" Chazz grinned as he drew yet again. "I normal summon Key Mouse in defense position!" He patted the card onto his disk as a small purple mouse wearing a collar with a key and lock on it appeared, it also seemed to have a key attached to its fluffy tail as well.
Key Mouse level 1 (100/100)
"I'll set another card and that's it for me again" Chazz concluded as the set card image appeared and disappeared in front of him.
Luke watched the goings on and smiled as he drew for turn again. Knowing what the new arrival had planned, he decided to play along for the time being. "I'll start my turn by activating Sword's second effect. As long as I have a trap with horror in it name in my graveyard, I can banish it and add Neo-Garo back to my hand." Chazz observed as his opponent's disk pushed out two cards from its graveyard slot removing one from play and adding the second to hand.
"So you're going for a similar move to what you did last turn" Chazz said a bored expression forming on his face, "Show me something different why don't ya?"
"As you wish" Luke said flashing the new arrival a small smile. "I activate Gina's effect to search and add a Makai Armament to hand." Pulling a card from his deck he nodded. "This will do quite nicely I think. I play Makai Armament sniper and equip it to Gena, and I'll follow that up by equipping Sword with Neo Garo once again." The bulky warrior raised his sword in the air once again before being engulfed in the golden armor of a Makai Knight while Gina pulled out a ridiculously long sniper rifle from nowhere.
Makai Knight Sword level 4 (1600-2100)
"Sniper gives a Makai monster the ability to inflict direct damage equal to half their attack every time one of your monsters is destroyed, So I think in this case I'll switch Gina into attack position. Lets battle! Gina attacks your flying squirrel!" On command the Makai priestess took aim with her new weapon before shooting the small rodent in the head destroying it.
"Nimble Momonga' s effect activates allowing me to gain 1000 life points and special summon the other two copies from my deck in face down defense position" Chazz smirked as he was engulfed in a green aura as his life points were replenished.
Chazz: (2400-3400)
"In addition when a beast type monster is destroyed and sent to the graveyard I can pay 1000 life points and special summon this." Chazz slapped a new card onto his disk as a green muscular monster clad in leather armor appeared wielding a large wooden club, "Green Baboon Guardian of the Forest!"
Chazz:(3400-2400)
Green Baboon Guardian of the Forest level 7 (2800/1800)
"So you used Momonga's effect to get yourself a free monster?" Luke asked rather impressed by the move, "But I should remind you do to snipers affect your taking 600 direct damage". He raised his hand as the Makai priestess took aim once again this time directly at Chazz.
Chazz raised his arm to conceal his face from incoming fire as he took the damage.
Chazz:2400-1800
"Now Sword gets his attack and its directed at one of your set Momonga's" The tan skinned youth commanded.
"You would think that wouldn't you?" Chazz sneered, "But my trap has something else to say about that, go Magic cylinder!" As Sword launched into his attack two cylinders appeared in front of him as he went through the one on the right and came out the left delivering a direct attack to Luke instead.
Luke:4000-1900
"Very nice" Luke admitted, "To be honest when we started this duel I wasn't sure if you had what it took to meet me blow for blow, but i'm honestly enjoying this now"
"I feel like I should be insulted that you underestimated me" Chazz frowned.
"Well honestly in my time here there's only been two people who have made it all the way through the gauntlet to face me, one was a fluke and the other was my companion Biggs. So you have to understand that I've grown kinda numb watching so many fail at the gauntlet."
"I suppose that's fair" Chazz admitted.
"But enough of that, I'll conclude my turn and my Makai Armor goes to the graveyard," Luke smiled. "Show me what your new deck is made of".
Makai Knight Sword level 4 (1600/800)
"Oh you don't have to tell me twice" Chazz grinned. After drawing his new card his grin widened. "First I'll flip my two set Momongas face up, then activate this. An equip spell of my own called United We Stand that I'm giving to my green baboon. Now he gains 800 attack for each face up monster I control including itself." The baboon let out a loud roar as its attack power almost doubled.
"I'll have to stop you there. I activate Solemn Judgement! Now by halving my life points I can negate the effect of a spell or trap and destroy it!."
Luke: 1900-950
"Oh really? Then I'll activate my counter trap Seven Tools of the Bandit. Now I pay 1000 of my own life and negate your trap" Chazz countered.
Chazz: 1800-800
"And now my spell is still in play, giving green baboon 2400 attack points," he continued.
Green Baboon Guardian of the Forest level 7 (2800-5200)
"Battle! Green Baboon attacks Sword with Savage Destruction!" The green monster stomped across the field and slammed its club down on the muscular warrior destroying him and inflicting massive damage to its owner.
Luke:950-0
"Well looks like I knocked off one of the top two students eh?" Chazz grinned as the holograms disappeared from the field. "Does that mean I take your title?"
"Something like that" Luke shrugged. "I've sat rather comfortably at the top for quite some time, i sorta forgot what the rules in this case were." He leaned over a bit to look over Chazz's shoulder "Hey Chancellor what do we do in this situation?"
Chazz turned to see the bald man now leaning against one of the posts of the nearby building. "Hold on buddy you must be mistaken" he said a bit confused. "That guy came in with me he's a student here too."
"Chancellor Foster likes to scope out the new recruits before they enter the Academy" Luke explained.
"It helps me get a feel of their character" Foster added. "As for the current situation I think we can make an exception and have you keep your title Luke. After all I think we found our third entrant into the school duel."
"Hold on, I dueled through fifty one people and i have nothing to show for it?" Chazz frowned his expression turning to that of disappointment.
"Quite the opposite my boy, you've become the first ever duelist to become the third pillar of this academy," Foster told him.
"And being in the top three gets you certain benefits that I doubt even duel academy offered" Luke added.
"Alright you have my attention now" Chazz nodded, "What kind of benefits exactly?".
"Before we get into all that I feel I should let you know a bit of information you may find interesting" Foster interrupted.
"I'm listening" Chazz nodded.
"Duel academy has chosen its representatives for the upcoming school duel" The chancellor continued, "The singles representative is someone I believe your all to familiar with."
"Well? Spit it out old man" Chazz yelled.
"Haru Yoshida"
Chazz's face went through several changes after this revelation. First to confusion then anger then finishing on a very eerie smile. "So your going to let me be the singles rep for this academy right?" he asked.
Foster turned to look at Luke "Any objections?"
The Makai duelist shook his head, "Biggs and I can take the tag roles. I'm the one he's most comfortable with anyway."
"Looks like you got the job" Foster smiled. "welcome to north academy my boy".
Chazz smile turned into a yawn as he stretched his arms, the fatigue and lack of sleep catching up with him from his time looking for cards.
"Looks like our newest student could use a rest," Foster nodded before turning to look at Luke. Why don't you show him to the higher end lodgings".
Luke nodded and started walking in the direction opposite the gate, and Chazz took a moment to look at the Chancellor before following the tan skinned boy. When he caught up he began to take in his surroundings "So where are we going exactly?" he asked.
"You'll see" Luke grinned.
Twenty minutes later, the two boys found themselves bathing in a hot springs at the far end of the academy. They both sat across from each other with their eyes closed basking in the heat of the water.
"Chazz?"
"Sup?"
"If you don't mind me asking, what caused you to leave Duel Academy in the first place?" Luke asked eyes still closed.
"Oh where to begin?" Chazz sighed as he sank farther into the water. "I was one of the most respected duelists on the island, I couldn't go anywhere without getting recognized".
-Flashback-
"It's good to be on top," Chazz said kicking his feet up on the desk. " Foot rub, ice tea, Pronto!"
"Get it yourself." He heard another Obelisk say.
"What was that?" He growled looking around for the source of the voice. "What idiot dares to talk back to the Chazz?"
"That's not your seat anymore" The Obelisk informed him. "You'll find that you now sit down there". The obelisk pointed towards towards the bottom row that bordered the Ra yellow students.
"No I'm not you idiot, my name tag is right here." He leaned forward in his chair to look for it, but found nothing. The nametag claiming the seat for him and only him was gone. "What the heck?"
"You'll find your new seat down there like I said" his classmate repeated himself.
"No way, there's no way the next King of Games should be sitting with third rate nobodies." The door opened behind them once again as Crowler now supporting an impressive black eye walked in. "Doctor Crowler what's the deal? I don't deserve to sit with the losers".
"Oh I wouldn't go that far Chazz," Crowler smiled. "After all I seem to recall one of those 'losers' beating you, what was his name? Oh yeah Haru Yoshida a Slifer.
-End Flashback-
"I only ever lost once and it was clearly a fluke, but everyone decided that me losing to someone who was at the bottom was a sign that I had lost my touch" Chazz continued.
"Haru Yoshida I'm guessing?" luke asked opening an eye to look over at him.
"Damn right it was, this second rate duelist strolls into the academy like he's hot shit, disrespects the Higher ranked students and a teacher and thinks he can just get away with it without any repercussions" Chazz seemed to be getting agitated at the memories of his old nemesis.
"Oh please" The familiar hallucination appeared beside him in the Hot Springs. "Crowler was out to get me from the beginning, he even helped you by giving you all the newest cards, and you still couldn't beat me. Not to mention you lost to Sarah and Bastion."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Chazz growled under his breath.
"Well the unyielding stench of bullshit flowing out of your mouth must have called me out of retirement" Haru said giving him a smirk.
"You ok over there?" Luke asked opening his eye once again.
"Yeah I'm fine" Chazz shook his head. "Just getting over the fatigue I guess"
"Nice save Chazzy-Boy wouldn't want your new friend to think you're going bat shit insane" the hallucination snickered.
Splashing some water at it Chazz rolled his head to the side to face away from him.
"What brought you to quit and head out on your own?" Luke asked.
"I figured that the place was keeping me away from my full potential, so I put in my withdrawal form and headed out on my yacht to find somewhere to help my skills grow."
"More like stormed off the morning after losing to Bastion, because you couldn't handle your fragile ego being crushed."
"Laugh while you still can Yoshida I'll be back to wipe the floor with you, and prove once and for all that your win was just a fluke and Chazz Princeton is going to be the next king of games."
"Right" Haru rolled his eyes.
"Wow sounds like your really hyped for the upcoming school duel" Luke said, "I should let you know that the singles division this year is separated into two rounds due to East and West academy deciding to join in.
"So I'm not even promised a duel with that Jackass Haru?" Chazz growled.
"Well you better hope he gets past the first round I guess" The Makai duelist shrugged.
"He better not lose! I have to much riding on my revenge match on him." He jabbed at the image that soon disappeared as his arm went through it. "You hear that Yoshida? I'm coming for you with a new deck of my own design!" This comment was not answered by the image however Chazz could see the toothy grin of the Kaiju duelist dispersing into the air around him.
Yo Red here for another author's note along with silver. After 22 chapters we finally made it to the School duel and damn am I excited about it. We will be debuting characters from the mind of Azure dragon of the east (one being Biggs who was mentioned earlier in this chapter along with another who the two of us have been waiting to debut for some time now.) I look forward to it and I hope you do to because from this point onward save for a few episodes it's nothing but plot! Keep it showy my dudes.
-Red
