Chapter 2: A Rival Appears!
Hikaru and the Professor practiced dueling techniques until the day of the Academy Pick-Up. Many students were boarding the boat that took them to the Academy. Hikaru had a trunk of his stuff in there. He saw the big boat. It looked like it had around 18-20 floors. Hikaru remembered the conversation he had with his father the previous night.
"Son, are you nervous about going to Duel Academy?"
"Not really. Another school, another adventure. This should prove to be an interesting one, seeing as that I have the one-of-a-kind deck."
"You do know that duelists from all over the world applied to enter this school. You're not scared about those people either?"
"There's people coming from other schools too? AWESOME!" I can't wait until I get there."
"Well, tomorrow, I'll drop you off by the boat. Try not to get in any trouble. I'm already in trouble for testing you with Chancellor Trellington's permission…"
Hikaru had a ticket in his hand. He walked up to the boarding dock and then he showed his ticket to the ticket collector. He told Hikaru that his boat's room number was 750, on the seventh floor. Hikaru thanked him and then walked on the ship. When he first saw the ship, he was surprised. There was a crystal chandelier in the middle of the room. Other students were walking around. There was an arcade, gym, little shops, and everything else you could think of. The boat was a mini-version of paradise. He looked at a sign that indicated that he was on Floor 11. He went to the elevator and then walked pressed the down button. He thought to himself, Duel Academy, here I come!
He walked into his room. He saw a new duel disk. He rushed over there and opened the box. He sniffed the new odor and then sighed.
"I love the smell of new Duel Disk in the morning." said Hikaru. He strapped his new Duel Disk on and then looked at his map in his room. The Dueling Decks were 16 and 17. He rushed to the elevator and pushed the 16 button. Halfway to Floor 16, the door opened. A boy in a red blazer appeared. He had small oval glasses, glistening emerald eyes, and forest green hair. He was also a slim boy.
"Hello, my name is Kioshi Takagawa. How are you doing?" asked the boy when he entered the elevator.
"I'm doing fine and yourself?" responded Hikaru politely.
"Good, so, what's your name, where are you going?" asked Kioshi anxiously.
"In order, my name is Hikaru and I'm going to floor 16." answered Hikaru.
"Why don't you have your academy blazer on?" asked Kioshi.
"My blazer's in my room. After I duel a bit, I'll change back." said Hikaru.
"I'll accompany you to the Dueling Decks. Maybe we can catch a sneak peek of one of the Raviel Duels." said Kioshi. They both awaited the path to the 16th Floor. Once they finally reached it. They saw many people sitting down and a duel was commencing. A blonde duelist was just beginning his turn. Hikaru saw that he had Archfiend of Gilfer (ATK: 2200) on the field. The other guy was left with nothing.
"I'll begin my move," said the blonde duelist. He had a German accent.
"Now, I'll summon Archfiend Soldier! (ATK: 1900) Now, I attack your life points directly with my monsteurs!" decalred the blonde duelist. The two fiend monsters shot blasts of dark energy from their palms. The opposing duelist was on their knees. They had lost the duel.
"And that's the game!" said the blonde duelist. He was quite big and had blue-grey eyes.
"That was an awesome duel, dude!" said Hikaru to the blonde duelist. He also had a yellow blazer on.
"Why thanks. Now… I guess no one else wants to duel…" said the duelist. Hikaru stopped and jumped right in front of him.
"I want to duel you…um… what's your name?" exclaimed Hikaru.
"My name is Mike Tyhone, Hamon Yellow Champion! And what's your name?" said the duelist named Mike.
"Oh yeah, my name is Hikaru Amyilius!"said Hikaru. Mike looked shocked.
"Hikaru… you… you use the legendary Gladial Beasts don't you?" asked Mike.
"Yeah, how did you know that?" asked Hikaru.
"I've read about your parents. They said that there were retiring from the Pro League circuit and passing on the legendary Gladial deck to their son. Their son's name was Hikaru. But how did you get the last name of Professor Amliyius is very peculiar… very strange indeed." explained Mike.
"Well, Professor Amliyius adopted me as his child. He taught me some stuff that even I didn't know about. So, are we to duel now?" said Hikaru.
"Yes, we should perform for audience." said Mike.
Both duelists went to their appropriate places and activated their duel disks. They both drew five cards.
"DUEL!" yelled both players.
Mike: 4000
Hikaru: 4000
"I'll play Gladial Beast – Hoplomus in defensive position! (DEF: 2100) Next, I'll set two cards face-down and then I'll end my turn!" played Hikaru. His hippo in armor appeared, defending itself with its shields.
"I'll begin my turn with a rather cool spell card. Activate, DARK WORLD LIGHTNING!" played Mike. The arena turned dark and then lightning struck one of HIkaru's face-down cards.
"You see, Dark World Lightning allows me to destroy one face-down card on the field and then I can discard one card from my hand. So, I think I'll discard my Goldd, Wu Lord of Dark World." explained Mike. He sent the card to the graveyard and then face-down exploded. Then his graveyard slot glowed a bright golden color. Hikaru was shielding his eyes from the bright light.
"Oh yeah, I forgot that when Goldd is sent to the graveyard by a card effect, in this case, Dark World Lightning, I can special summon it to the field. So come forth Goldd, take the offensive position!" continued Mike. The fiend in golden armor appeared. He carried a golden spear and pointed it towards Hoplomus.
"Now, I declare the attack of Goldd, Wu Lord of Dark World against Hoplomus! Dark World Spear!" yelled Mike. The fiend thrusted its spear at the Gladial Beast. Unfortunately, a vortex stopped the attack and Mike looked at Hikaru's reversed card.
"You see, my Counter Trap card, Negate Attack, well negates your attack!" explained Hikaru simply. Mike began to chuckle while the people watching the duel were seriously glued to the moves that both players were displaying.
"Hmm… I'll end my turn by setting down a face-down card!" declared Mike. HIkaru began to sigh and drew a card. He thought to himself for a moment and began to make his move.
"Now, I use my spell card, Armaments of the Gladial – Manica! This card can be equipped to Hoplomus and prevents it from being destroyed as a result of battle! Now, I switch Hoplomus in attack position and declare an attack against your Goldd!" declared Hikaru. The hippo charged at the fiend, but the staff it newly received protected it from being destroyed. Hikaru's life point counter dropped down significantly.
Hikaru: 2400
"So Hikaru, have you finally lost your mind and decided to give in to my strength or something, because it seems like you're trying to give up." said Mike. HIkaru began laughing.
"For someone who claims that they've done their research, you know nothing about my plan. I can swap a Gladial Beast that battled during this Battle Phase and then special summon another one from my deck. Now, I swap Hoplomus for Gladial Beast – Spartychus! (ATK: 2200) Also, if you're wondering where that equip spell card went, it went back to my hand. Because of its effect, I can return it to the hand whenever a GLadial Beast is returned back to the deck! And so now, I equip Manica back onto Sparthychus, allowing it to be impervious to battle destruction. And with that, I end my turn." played Hikaru meticulously. Kioshi was rooting for him in the background. Others who were watching were surprised at how calm Hikaru was, even though his life points were much lower than Mike's.
Mike drew a card and then looked at the field. He thought to himself, I know that he has that Manica equipped to his monster. However, that doesn't mean that I can't inflict some damage onto his life points. This should be an interesting segment of our duel.
"I'll begin the round with Dark World Dealings. This allows us both to draw a card and then forces us to discard a card. So I draw, and I discard Sillva, Warlord of Dark World!" played Mike. Both players drew and discarded. However, after Mike discarded his card, his graveyard slot glowed a bright silver. Soon, a fiend, like Goldd, except in Silver armor appeared with a silver spear. (ATK: 2300)
"Now, Goldd, Sillva, attack Spartychus with Dark World Spear!" declared Mike. Both of the fiends hurt the Gladial Beast, but its Manica weapon protected it. Hikaru took more damage and then fell onto the ground.
Hikaru: 2200
"I think I'll end my turn." ended Mike without haste. Hikaru drew a card and then analyzed his hand.
"Now, my dinosaur will learn the true meaning of power. I summon Gladial Beast – Secutor! (ATK: 400) Now, I can Gladial Fuse Spartychus and Sectuor in order to form Gladial Beast – Geordias! (ATK: 2600)" played Hikaru. The dinosaur warrior fused with another lizard in armor. The dinosaur appeared, with velvet black armor. It had a gigantic axe and it roared with a large tenacity.
"Now, Geordias, destroy Goldd!" declared HIkaru. The Gladial Beast raised its sharp axe. It sliced off the head of Goldd and its axe became stained with green blood. Mike was thrown back by the power of the attack.
Mike: 3700
"Also, Mikey boy, I can inflict damage to your life points equal to the defense power of my monster whenever it destroys one of your monsters. So say bye to 1500 of your points!" added Hikaru. The Gladial punched Mike in the face, knocking him halfway across the room.
Mike: 2200
"Whoa.. they're both tied. GOOD JOB HIKARU!" yelped Kioshi. Hkaru looked back and gave him a thumbs-up.
"Just because you took down one of my monsters doesn't mean you're winning this duel! I use my face-down spell card. Gateway to Dark World! This card allows me to special summon from the graveyard a Dark World monster card! So Goldd, come forth!" played Mike with a serious tone. Goldd reappeared and with a vengeance it came. Hikaru was smirking. He knew that Mike couldn't take down his monster because it was too strong.
"I think I'll throw down two face-down cards and end my turn!" ended Hikaru. Mike drew a card angrily from his deck. He smiled.
"Now, I attack your monster using Goldd! And next, I'll use my Shrink card, reducing Geordias' power in half (ATK: 1300)!
"I use my trap card, Solemn Judgment, by paying half of my life points, I can negate the activation of Shrink , and Goldd is destroyed!" countered Hikaru. An old man came and destroyed the Shrink spell, Mike's fiend was destroyed and then he felt the consequences as he did before.
Mike: 0400
Hikaru: 1100
"It's over… I won this game-" began Hikaru
"Sillva, attack Geordias, and I use my second Shrink card!" declared Mike. Hikaru, along with everyone in the room was shocked. The silver-armored fiend stabbed the once powerful dinosaur. Hikaru was knocked down from the force of the attack.
Hikaru: 0100
"Turn end!" declared Mike. Hikaru drew. He smiled.
"I use my-" began Hikaru before the hologram system shut off. They heard the PA System.
"Attention Students, all of you are to report to the main deck for the Academy Banquet. Attention all students, please report to the main deck, floor 18, for the Academy Banquet. Thank you. All duels are to stop, and all students are to be in their blazers." said the person over the PA System. Mike and Hikaru deactivated their duel disks.
"Looks like I would have-"
"Lost."
"How so?"
"You see, next, I was gonna summon Sorcerer of Sparkta, followed by the activation my Gladiator's Assault spell card. This card would have summoned Gladial Beast – Laquer from my deck, with 2100 points. Also, since I special summoned a monster, you lose 500 points, ending the duel." explained Hikaru. Mike was shocked. One more turn is all Hikaru needed to defeat him.
"Well, I guess we'd need to still finish our duel to settle who is really the best duelist. It seems like a rival appears for me and I need to take him down!" said Mike. Kioshi, Mike, and Hikaru walked down to the Academy Banquet, closer to Duel Academy then they ever thought.