Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.
Author's Note (10/5): Wow. Fixed a couple errors in Chapters 6 and 7 regarding my faulty subtraction. Should be fine now.
CHAPTER 6 – THE SEMIFINAL DUEL, PART 1
Chazz may be a complete jerk, but he sure was a talented duelist. Either that or Tyranno still had a great deal to learn about strategy. While Tyranno relied a bit too much on the brute force of his dinosaur monsters, Chazz was truly impressive, dismantling him quickly with his rather unorthodox combination of Ojamas and machines. It was like Chazz was capable of playing two decks at the same time, and he utilized it to near perfection. Spells like Ojama Delta Hurricane and Frontline Base simply overwhelmed Tyranno's side of the field, scoring Chazz a trip to the Semifinals. I applauded their efforts, truly impressed with Chazz's ability. He was to face the winner of the duel between Jaden and Bastion, which was the next duel to be played, so Chazz stepped down from the dueling ring, pointed to the sky, and grinned as the audience started his "CHAZZ IT UP" chant.
I leaned back in my chair lazily, wanting to get up there again and face Alexis. After studying her choice of monsters, I had assembled a quick gameplan in my mind. While Jaden was laying the smackdown on Bastion with his Elemental Hero Flame Wingman, I was switching a few cards between my deck and side deck, in preparation for my Semifinal match against Alexis.
A round of cheering caught my attention, and I looked up to see that Jaden had been the victor. I looked over toward Chazz, who was now grimacing and mumbling something about "beating down that slacker". I made my final changes to my deck and stood up with the rest of the tournament participants to congratulate Jaden on his berth in the next round.
"Well you've certainly performed better than an average duelist would with an Elemental Hero deck," I complimented him. Jaden just grinned confidently.
"That's why I'm the best duelist here, duh!" he laughed as Chancellor Sheppard announced the start of the tournament semifinals. Once again, I was to be in the first duel of the round.
"The Semifinals of this opening day tournament is about to begin!" Sheppard bellowed proudly. "We have another exciting matchup between an Obelisk and Slifer: hoping to avenge the defeat of her brother is the Queen of Obelisk Blue, Alexis Rhodes!"
The crowd cheered loudly as Alexis stepped up into the dueling ring, getting a number of whistles from the boys in attendance. Sheppard continued his introductions.
"Hoping to go two-for-two at Duel Academy, following an amazing one-turn victory over Atticus Rhodes, Alexis's opponent is the Silver Slifer, Alistair Rhein!"
Damn it all to hell. Now even the CHANCELLOR was calling me the Silver Slifer. I had a feeling it was going to be a long year. I ascended the stairs onto the stage, stepping into the dueling ring and studying Alexis's expression. Her casual friendliness was gone, and her beautiful smile was wiped off her face.
…Wait, did I just say that?
Anyway, her demeanor now was like a completely different person. She had become determined, stern, and calculating – like nothing would dare separate her and victory. I, of course, had other plans. I heard more whistling from the crowd, and soon realized that the GIRLS were now whistling. The fangirl stampede replayed again and again in my mind, threatening to throw off my game. I shook my head and met Alexis in the center of the arena as we exchanged and shuffled each other's deck. We shook hands and returned to our positions as the teachers watched with great interest from the first two rows of seats.
"Seems you're next on my hit list," I joked. "Going to last longer than your brother?"
"I think you should be asking YOURSELF that," Alexis shot back, surprising me. I grinned and chuckled as she switched her dueling device into battle position.
"Well, well," I teased. "Someone's feisty today." Alexis just glared at me harshly as I too readied my dueling device. "Shall we?"
I saw a faint smirk appear on her lips as she nodded. "Let's."
"DUEL!"
Alexis 4000 – Alistair 4000
We each drew five cards as our Semifinal match commenced, the crowd cheering on whichever duelist they wanted to win.
"Ladies first," I said delicately. Alexis didn't hesitate to accept, and drew a sixth card as I looked on. She took a moment to examine her hand, likely formulating a strategy to prevent the one-turn kill I had executed against her brother mere minutes ago. I guess she really didn't believe me when I claimed it was a lucky draw.
"I start by summoning my Etoile Cyber (1200 / 1600) in attack mode!" Alexis declared, placing a monster card from her hand onto the dueling device. I watched as a female humanoid monster materialized on Alexis's side of the field, donning a red jumpsuit and blue ribbons that circled her arms. Having seen that monster once before, I had a faint idea what she was about to do, but unknown to her, I would be prepared.
"I'll also lay two cards face down for later," she added as two face-down holographic cards shined and appeared into view between Alexis and her monster. "Your turn, Alistair."
I drew the top card of my deck and glanced at it. It wasn't anything ground-breaking, but certainly useful.
"I'll play one face-down, and then call Breaker the Magical Warrior (1600 / 1000) to the field!" I countered, as another humanoid appeared on the field, this one on my side and wearing dark red and gold armor with embedded blue crystals, carrying a sword and shield. Shortly afterward, my set trap card appeared face-down behind it. "And now I activate Breaker's ability, allowing me to destroy one spell or trap card on the field!"
Before Alexis could even flinch, Breaker slashed his sword through the air, creating a wave of energy that flipped up the trap card on her left and shattered it into pieces. I immediately recognized it as the trap card Hallowed Life Barrier, which was serving as her defense.
"Now, Breaker, attack that Etoile Cyber!" I then shouted. Breaker obeyed and charged at the monster on Alexis's side of the field, until she revealed her other face-down card.
"I play a trap card! Doble Passe!" she countered, as the Etoile Cyber quickly evaded the attack. Instead, Breaker's attack was inflicted onto Alexis directly, causing her to shout with pain as her Life Points were whittled down to 2400. I raised an eyebrow, pretending to be confused.
Alexis 2400 – Alistair 4000
"Double Passe allows me to take your monster's attack instead of my Etoile Cyber, and now in return, she can attack you directly!" Alexis explained triumphantly. "And when she attacks directly, her attack points increase by 500! Etoile Cyber! Attack Alistair directly!"
A perfect prediction.
"I activate my face-down card, Dimension Wall!" I exclaimed, getting a look of surprise from Alexis as a translucent wall of energy erupted in front of each of us.
"With this trap, any battle damage dealt to me from your attack is instead transferred to you!" I exclaimed, getting a look of surprise from Alexis as my flipped up trap card began to emanate waves of energy that formed a translucent wall in front of me. The Etoile Cyber slammed into the wall, triggering a response that created a new wall behind Alexis and blasted her with an equivalent force. I was impressed with her valiance as she determinedly recollected herself after her Life Points again plummeted, leaving her with just 700.
Alexis 0700 – Alistair 4000
"I think I'll just play a face-down card to finish up, and give you a little breather," I concluded merrily, another set card appearing on my side of the field. The crowd was murmuring in wonder, many of them still giving me strange looks.
"Fine," Alexis shot. "My draw."
Alexis drew a card, glanced at it, and immediately played it.
"I activate my Graceful Charity spell card, which lets me draw three, and discard two!" she told me sternly, doing exactly that. "Next I play Fusion Recovery, which returns my Blade Skater and my Polymerization from my graveyard to my hand… and that allows me to play that Polymerization! I fuse Blade Skater and my Etoile Cyber together to form Cyber Blader (2100 / 800)!"
A futuristic looking girl with blue hair and a red-and-blue jumpsuit was formed by Alexis's fusion, which seemed to be some sort of roller blader. How strange.
"That's not all!" Alexis continued. "I also equip Cyber Blader with a magic card: Fusion Weapon!" The Cyber Blader now attained some sort of large laser sword, something that reminded me of light sabers. I blinked a couple of times, realizing that the first hit I took at Duel Academy was going to be a heavy one.
"Fusion Weapon increases my Cyber Blader's attack power by 1500 points! Now attack Breaker the Magical Warrior!" Alexis shouted with vengeance, as the Cyber Blader skated rapidly and elegantly, slashing Breaker across the torso with that laser sword and inciting a ferocious explosion. Everyone in the crowd cheered and gasped in excitement as I shielded myself, straining to keep my footing from the sheer force of the blast. I growled unhappily as my Life Points dropped sharply to an even 2000. It seemed Alexis was going to put up a fight.
Alexis 0700 – Alistair 2000
"I'll play a face-down card and end my turn," she finished. I narrowed my eyes and drew, examining my hand. Before I played anything, however, I had one other matter to attend to.
"By destroying Breaker the Magical Warrior, you triggered this spell card, Last Will!" I exclaimed, flipping up my face-down card. Alexis was quick to act, activating her own face-down card.
"Then I'll activate Magic Jammer!" she said. "By discarding one card from my hand, your Last Will spell is negated and destroyed!"
As she had explained, my Last Will card exploded into fragments of light, its effect negated. I had to admit, she was talented. "Well played," I complimented with a smile. She smiled and nodded back, but her gaze never lightened.
"What am I to do now?" I thought out loud with a grin. I plucked two cards from my hand and confirmed that it would buy me some valuable time. "I'll just play my Skilled Dark Magician (1900 / 1700) in defense mode, and one face-down card. Nothing else I'm able to do, I'm afraid."
Alexis's grin got wider as she drew her next card.
"I won't complain if you want to throw away your monsters to my Cyber Blader," she taunted. "Cyber Blader, attack his Skilled Dark Magician!" The Cyber Blader obeyed and was ready to demolish my Magician when I silently took one card from my hand and slipped it into my coat pocket, a smile creeping onto my face. To Alexis's complete shock, the Cyber Blader was frozen instantly, sparing my monster.
"…What?" she managed to say. "Why did she stop??"
"Oh, that would be my fault," I explained, as the crowd seemed baffled. I removed the card from my pocket and held it up. It was an Injection Fairy Lily.
"But that monster isn't even summoned!" Alexis argued. "How can it-"
"Very simply," I laughed, waving my hand over my face-down card. It flipped up, and upon seeing what it was, I could tell Alexis knew she was going to be in for a long battle.