Written on 8/10/2012
"Did you hear!?" One of the students clamored as all diversity of colors crammed into the lobby to see what the special matchup was today. On the screen, the image of Crowler's face was on the bottom left corner, announcing the name of the two individuals, "Willlowe from the Girl's Obelisk Blue is going to take on Melody!"
"Melody? From Ra Yellow?"
"Didn't you hear? Apparently someone robbed her from her deck! From what's going on, they think Willowe is the suspect for the whole fiasco!"
"Man, Willowe is going to kill that Ra Freshman!"
"I don't know about that," Another interjected as he contemplated the Ra's situation, "Melody did survive three weeks of Ms. Chung's hellish class, so she does have a chance to win!"
Those were some of the things that Melody picked up on when she entered the lobby and noticed the bulletin notice. The students made room for her to pass and the Dark Magician Girl look-alike was staring at the name impassively.
Willowe.
How was she suppose to feel when she saw the name of the girl who made her life hell for the past few weeks?
The girl who stole her Dark Magician.
Angry? That would be the normal response, but for reasons unknown she can't get mad at her. She probably would have been if it was the first week, but now? She...doesn't know.
"Sorry," Melody snapped out of her thoughts when Ms. Chung stood next to her. "I tried my best to kick her out, but -"
"Ms. Chung, you did more than enough."
And frankly she did. Melody knew that a teacher's duty is to help a student in need, but Ms. Chung took that ideal a step further. The Ra Headmistress stayed with her and comforted her through hard times. The woman rallied up the DAS and even implemented a spy to catch the perpetrator. She even got back her deck and her Dark Magician. Words can't express just how thankful she is to the woman.
It's probably all of those that's made Melody just feel nothing when Willowe's name appeared in front of her. Melody already have what she lost, so this duel was really unnecessary in her opinion...
"I guess this duel would give me closure." Melody finally said, "Win or lose, it won't matter in the end."
"It won't?" Ms. Chung questioned. The Spell-Caster duelist shook her head, "It's not like I'm hell-bent on revenge. Was I upset? Yeah. But then you helped me through this whole ordeal and got my deck back. I gained support from my friends and thought positively on this situation. In the end, I'm just over this whole thing."
The Korean-American professor looked at her student and chuckled. "Unbelievable. I would have thought that you would have thrown a tantrum for not seeing that trash of a Obelisk packing up her bags and leaving."
"All over a deck of cards?" Melody questioned, "Sure I may have some emotional attachment with them and, like I said, I was upset when these guys took my deck away from me. But really, in the end, they're just cards." She reasoned, "Are they really worth the drama that I had to endure these past few weeks?"
"Depends on each person," Ms. Chung explained. "Some people can take life seriously without them, some can't." She slung an arm around the Ra Freshman and pulled her into her bosom. "I'm proud that your taking this stance maturely. Not many people can think straight after all this."
"I have a great teacher."
"Oh shut up, your making me blush." The teacher whined. "But I'll take that into consideration."
"I thought you don't like favoritism?"
"Hey, complements and kissing up are two different things." Melody giggled. This was one of the things that she liked about Ms. Chung, she somehow finds a way to see things in a rather blunt way. A professor that doesn't see things with sugars and rainbows. That's Ms. Chung for yah-
"Hey!" The temperature around them dropped a few degrees as Willowe sauntered over to the two. Melody stared apathetically as the Sue, the girl who made her miserable for almost a month, stared at the monitor.
Penalty Duel
Obelisk Blue Freshman:
Willowe Emerald Crowvile Heineken Aurora Montana-Dew Denashia Wolfhunter the Third
VS
Ra Yellow Freshman:
Melody Hikari
"I was growing impatient, but..." Willowe's smirk grew as she stared at the name on the monitor. "...at last, it's finally time for me to put myself into the ultimate test."
"The ultimate test?" Melody questioned, "You beat Zane, how am I suppose to be the 'ultimate test'?" The dragon-theme duelist huffed in with annoyance, already feeling antagonized by the fact that she need to answer, in her opinion, Melody's 'stupid' question.
"You've been under Dr. Chung's tutelage, and from what people are saying, you are her star pupil-"
"I don't have a star pupil." Julia interjected, a caustic glare stabbed right at the Obelisk. "I treat everyone in my class equally and unbiasedly. For those who do good in my class, I simply complement them on their ability to understand the material. That's all, nothing more nothing less."
"In any case." Ignoring the Ra Headmistress, much to Julia's ire, Willowe arrogantly flicked her hair to the side. "Even with Dr. Chung's help, it won't do you any good. Trust me when I say this, by the end of this duel, I'll show you how much of an overwhelming difference there is in our strengths!"
Melody blinked, "To be honest with you Willowe, I frankly don't give a damn anymore. You want to show everyone just how good you are, that's fine. I mean you beat Zane, one of the top duelists in our school."
Willowe's ego inflated as soon as Melody said that, but the Ra was far from done. "But if you win, it won't really hurt me by the long run. Because everyone knows that I'm going to go against someone good. So it'd be really embarrassing if I were to somehow beat you." That balloon of pride instantly popped.
"Think about it, a Ra Yellow defeating an Obelisk Blue who toppled one of Duel Academy's best duelist." Melody shrugs nonchalantly, "Not only are you leaving the Academy, but your going to leave the Academy knowing a 'second-rate' duelist bested you at your own game."
No more words were exchanged, but the two still held their gaze with one another. Willowe egotistically scoffed before walking off. As soon as she left, Melody's couldn't help but to laugh. At first, the Ra never gave the Obelisk a second thought. In her perspective, Willowe was just someone that she simply just cross paths with, and just say 'hi'. Even though she beaten Zane last week, she wasn't an enemy of her's...
That is, until she took her deck; and because of that all this shit happened.
"You know what Ms. Chung? I think this duel might be something I'm looking forward towards."
"From the tests we went through, and from what you told me, it looks like your just having a deficiency of vitamin A." Fonda explained to her student. "Just get some sleep, eat some eggs, or just put on a slab of butter on your toast for the next few days and you should be fine."
Another day in the nurses office, with Fonda masking her dander with a smile as she waved off another student back to his class. Once the door shut, the woman slouched on her seat with a groan. In about an hour or so, Melody and Willowe will duel to see what will happen with the latter's fate. All member's of the faculty are blaming on her for the decision, but she was never thumbs up for kicking a student out of their school and banning them from ever coming back.
Their school policy is to accept those with potential and train them to become amazing duelists. If that's the case, then why become hypocritical and ban them from coming back to the school? They're young and stupid, did the teachers forget that they were once like that? Young and stupid? She knew that even Crowler had his moments when he was a teen.
After all, he did blab on his faults when the staff had a get together for a couple of drinks.
So it was just stupid for them to just kick out a student for just stealing one freaking deck!
Written on July 7th 2013
A.K.A = What kind of fucking mentality did I had last year?
"Penny for your thought?"
"Aren't you suppose to be teaching?" Fonda questioned, not bothering to look at Julia. The Ra Headmistress, to her credit, didn't bat an eyelash as she flopped onto the bed.
"Self-study, they'll need it for tomorrow's test." Julia shuffled in the bed, much to the nurse's ire. "I just made that bed!"
"Well, remake it." Julia bit back, "It's not like you have anything else to do, except to screw over my student-"
"Willowe did not deserve to be treated like this!"
"Bullshit," the Ra Headmistress kicked back up, "Her and those other Obelisk Blue took it far when they decided to take my students deck!"
"That's just it!" Fonda argued back, "You don't care if what Willowe did was morally right or wrong, your showing favoritism towards your house-"
"And you're not?" The gender-bended duelist retorted. "Look, whatever Willowe's motives are, it's going to end one way or another-"
"You're making this into a god damn witch hunt!"
Julia rolled her eyes, "Fonda-"
"I thought you were better than this!" Fonda snapped, "I respect you Julia, for helping other students outside of your dorm, but to go to the extent to expelling a student?! She paid her dues and she's sorry-"
"-for nothing."
"Damn it! Will you just for one second stop thinking so narrow-minded and listen to what I have to say?!" Julia eyes narrowed before getting off the bed.
"I think I heard enough." She finalized as the Ra Headmistress stomped towards the door.
"So that's how it's going to be?" Fonda demanded, "Your either with me or against me? Is that how you're going to see everyone as now?"
Julia left that answer lingering in the air as she stepped out of the room with the door hissing behind her back.
Four PM. That was the time that the two were suppose to be on the stage, in front of their whole peers.
Melody rose up from an elevated platform wearing a duel disk. It was the standard Ra Yellow Duel Disk. In front of her was her opponent. Her card thief. Willowe.
"Alright Willowe," The proctor began, "If you lose this duel, you will be black-listed without any question, do you understand?"
"Yes sir." She replied back respectfully.
"If both of you understand the circumstance of this duel then my conditions are simple. I want a nice, clean, match. If I see any outside source to cheat for this duel, the individual that is holding the said source will be disqualified. Understand?"
"Don't worry ref." Willowe smirked as she took out her deck out of her deck box. "I'll guarantee that this match won't last for long." she inserted her deck in the deck slot and the duel disk went from standby to active.
"Really Willowe?" Alexis murmured. "Is she really going to be this cocky after what's on the line?"
"I don't know what she has up her sleeves," Zane replied, "but I can assure you that it's nothing too pretty."
"Look, can we just get started?" Melody crossed her arms, her deck already set into the disk as ready for battle.
"Oh come on Melody," Willowe sighed harmoniously. "Can't you get into the spirit of the duel?"
"I can." The Spellcaster duelist got out. "The question is if you can hold the candle of my fire?"
"Oh it's on…" The girl snapped back. Both duelists drew their starting hand.
"THEN DUEL!" The proctor announced as the numbers shot up as the two drew their cards.
Willowe: 8000
Melody: 8000
"I'll be nice and let you go first," Willowe announced, "After all, your going to need it after the butt-kicking I'm going to lay on you."
"Wow 'butt-kicking'? What, too afraid to use the word 'as-"
"Just duel already!" The proctor demanded as Melody drew from her deck. Eyes darting from left and right, she gave a brief nod before starting off the duel by pulling the card second from the far right.
"First I'll summon Magical Exemplar in attack mode!" An archaic rune circle slowly sketched itself on the ground, as black contrasted the white duel tiles. The circle rosed up in the air, as a jet of light funneled down. Six feet off the ground, a body slowly shimmered into existence; a turquoise-colored spellcaster with dark raven hair stepped out of the light, her face showing nothing but peace as she outstretched her hands meditatively.
Magical Exemplar
Attack: 1700
Defense: 1400
"Then I activate the continuous spell card, Arcane Barrier!" Magical Exemplar points over at a vacant Spell/Trap spot, before slowly raising her hand. As if she was telekinetic, as her hand rose higher, a statue emerged from the ground. The statue was carved as the classical old wizard with a wizen beard, carrying what appears to be a magical staff.
"With that, Magical Exemplar's effect activates!" Suddenly two light colored orb formed around her as the two began to circle around the mage. "When a spell card is activated, Magical Exemplar gets two spell counters for her!"
"So what?" Willowe rolled her eyes. "You brought out some magical balls for your monster, that won't make any differences-"
"It will once I get this rolling, but for now, I'll set three cards face down and end my turn."
Julia, who was sitting next to most of her students, nodded her head. "That's right Melody, keep up with the tempo of the battle and you'll be fine." She murmured, mentally memorizing the two set cards she set before ending her turn. If she gets the timing right, then she should be fine winning this duel, without much difficulties.
"Ms. Chung," Sarai began, "Nothing against you or anything, but you think Melody could beat her?"
"What are you talking about?" Jenny questioned, "Melody is totally going to kick that girl's butt!"
"But she did beat Zane." Kia whispered quietly, "That's not really an easy feat."
That's whats worrying the teacher at this moment. If what Zane said was true, and that this girl beat him with one card, then...
"No," Julia finally answered, "It won't be easy for Melody, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have a chance to win. Right now, as her friends, we need to believe in her and cheer her on to win."
"Right!" Sasha agreed amiably, Ace sleeping comfortably in her arms. "The last thing Melody needs right now is for us to abandon her! We need to cheer for her success!"
"Shamu..."
"...Haleigh, that's not Melody's name-"
"Shamu. Shamu. Shamu. Shamu." Julia would have interjected there, but watching Haleigh waving her arms up and down like that really made it hilarious to watch.
"Finally!" Willowe drew and smirked, "Right, first I summon Lancer Lindwurm in attack mode!" The card, holographically, appeared as a blur sped past from the card. It circled around the battle arena before, suddenly, halting on the field. It's back turned to it's master, the creature was spinning it's staff-javalin with one hand as it outstretched it's long neck at the spell-caster. Magical Exemplar actually took a step back when the dragon roared at the woman as it pointed it's weapon at the woman.
Lancer Lindwurm
Attack: 1800
Defense: 1200
"But wait! There's more! I activate the search card - Terraforming!" suddenly the surrounding turned black and white as Willowe took out her deck and looked through the stack to find her field spell. "This card allows me to take out one field spell from my deck and add it into my hand, and the card I pick - and activate - is Rising Air Current!" Before their eyes, the colors was quickly splashed onto the rather boring - picturesque - scenery as a more pastoral arena flourished on the field. The two were standing on a field of grass, but the most noticeable change was the huge blue sky above them; with thin white clouds and a hawk flying in the background.
"This field spell card, although drops my monster's defense power by 400, increases my monster's attack power by 500!" Lancer's mouth quirked into a rather scary smirk as it took itself to the sky.
Lancer Lindwurm
Attack: 1800 + 500 = 2300
Defense: 1200 - 400 = 800
"Now attack!" Lancer Lindwurm twirled it's javalin wildly before throwing it - with deadly precision - at the defenseless spellcaster.
"I don't think so! I activate my quick-play! Book of Moon!" Suddenly the lance stopped before it touched the spellcaster's worried face before being shot back at the dragon. With amazing agility, the dragon not only managed to dodge it, but grab it midway before changing into a card; the rather large duel-card fluttered down onto the ground, facedown.
"Wait," Syrus voiced out as he stared at the magic card, "How could Melody activate that spell-card from her hand, and on Willowe's battle phase!?"
"That's because it's a quick-play spell card." Bastion explained as if it answered everything. It did for most people.
"A quick what?" Jaden was even more confused than Syrus, "Isn't spell cards just spell cards?"
"Not entirely." The three were one row below Julia's row as she observed the match meticulously. "Quick-Play spells, nicknamed as Instantaneous spell cards, can be activated from the player's hand during any Phase of their turn; hence the title 'Instantaneous'. They can also be activated during the opponent's battle phase."
"I...kind of get it..." Jaden scratched his head sheepishly as Sarai pondered on a way to explain it easily.
"A good example is MST, or Mystical Space Typhoon." Syrus opened his mouth before closing it quickly, "I get it! That's why people would always set that card facedown! That spell card could destroy any spell or trap card on the field, and on anyones turn!"
"Now your getting it!" Sarai nodded her head.
"You might have stopped me this round, but your just delaying the inevitable." Willowe threateningly warned, not marring her rather beautiful face. "I'll set two cards facedown and end my turn."
"It's true I barely escaped that one," Melody admitted as she drew, "But that doesn't mean it can happen again! I activate the spell card Pot of Greed! Because I activated a spell card, my Magical Exemplar gets two more Spell Counters!" Two more orbs emerged as the six orbs orbited around the mage; meanwhile Melody drew two more cards from her deck. "Next I activate my continuous trap card, Pitch-Black Power Stone!"
Magical Exemplar motioned over to the far right of the Spell/Trap field as a giant orb emerged. In the center of the giant orb, an upside down triangle was ensign on the orb, with intricate patterns on the golden triangle.
"This card allows me to set one Spell Counter on anything on my field. I'll start by setting my first Spell Counter onto my Arcane Barrier!" A light colored orb flew out of the rather massive sized power stone, shrinking by a third, as it flew towards the statue. "Now I activate the spell card, Foolish Burial, in order to send one card from my deck to my grave!" The orb count increased again as eight orbs protectively surrounded Magical Exemplar.
"Just what is Melody doing?" Dimitri, one of Ra's well known students, asked as he watched the match with confusion. "Why isn't she summoning anymore monsters on the field? She should be planning on getting rid of that facedown card and Willowe's monster."
"As much as I don't want to ridicule her, I have to agree." Brier pitched in, "She has the opportunity to take Willowe down significantly, but isn't doing so, what's her goal?"
"I wouldn't count her out just yet," The two were above a row from Julia, who overheard everything, "Remember, Spell Counters are a pain in the ass to deal with when their are high numbers of them. Currently Melody has around ten or so in her field." She observed the final facedown card.
"If I'm right about that facedown card, she's about to bring out one of her aces right now."
"Are you done?" Willowe asked, clearly bored with the whole ordeal. "Unlike you, the rest of us don't have the luxury to waste our time with your nonsense."
At this, Melody smirked. "Don't you know Willowe? A Magician always takes his time to give a show to his audience before some magical happens!" She the pressed the button on her duel disk, that was above the set card, "This is my second act! Bringing a hero back from the grave! I activate my trap card! Miracle Restoring!" Underneath the Power Stone, a pedestal emerged from the ground. The Power Stone began to glow in a myriad of colors, with sparks surrounding the orb.
"By removing the remaining two Spell Counter from my Pitch-Black Power Stone, I can bring out one of my awesome assistant from the grave!" The stone began to crack, as well as the pedestal underneath it.
"I summon from the grave Buster Blader in attack mode!" The stone exploded as a sword flew into the air before stabbing into the ground. The smoke from the blast surrounded one side of the arena as the audience heard metallic stomps echoing the room. From the smoke, a tall warrior - clad in purplish blue armor, adorned with sapphire jewels - walked out to the sword. Gripping it with one hand, like King Arthur pulling out Excalibur, the knight pulled the buster blade from the ground before positioning it with his other hand, ready for battle.
Buster Blader
Attack: 2600
Defense: 2300
"Impressive." Alexis admired. "In just two turns, Melody summoned a rather powerful monster onto the field."
"Not only that, but in just that turn Melody unconditionally made this in her favor. Most of Willowe's deck contain dragon, and if she even summons one onto the field, it'd just make Buster Blader stronger." Zane observed critically.
"I think this year just got more interesting, don't you think Alexis?"
"Attack-"
"I don't think so!" Willowe stopped her, "I activate my facedown card, Threatening Roar!" the two stopped midway as a mountainous roar froze the two in place. Buster Blader trembled before stepping front of Magical Exemplar, protecting her from whatever the heck that made that roar. Melody frowned while Willowe gave her a smug look.
"I'll set two cards facedown on the field before ending my turn." Empty handed, Melody wearily glanced over at her opponent as she drew with four cards in hand.
"First I'll activate the spell card, Double Summon, this card allows me to summon twice in this turn! So first I'll flip my Lacer Lindwurm back into attack mode!" The javalin wielding dragon flipped form his card and roared; only for Buster Blader to take a step forward.
"Did you forget Willowe? My Buster Blader's effect increases his attack power by 500 for every dragon on the field, including yours!"
Buster Blader
Attack: 2600 + 500 = 3100
Defense: 2300
"Don't worry, you won't be seeing Lancer for long! Because I'm going to sacrifice him!" The said dragon flew up into the sky, vanishing underneath the faux-sunlight. "In order to summon Strong Wind Dragon in attack mode!"
Melody and her monsters covered their faces as a powerful gust burst in the room. From underneath the sunlight from which Lancer Windwurm flew, another dragon emerged. This one was rather larger than the former. From the Mach cone that surrounded the dragon, it missile down to the ground with a sound-breaking crash. Debris and dust-cloud covered the crater made by the dragon as Melody heard a rather loud stomp.
Unlike Buster Blader's walk, this one was a deafening echo as each stomp made sent chills in everyone's back. Finally the dragon stepped out of the crater, and boy was it big. The dragon skin coating was teal, it's body frame was pure muscle, as each step it made, everyone could see the muscle moving in definition. It tattered, yet majestic, wings complemented it's image as the beast roared with pride.
Strong Wind Dragon
Attack: 2400
Defense: 1000
The roar shook Melody out of her shock,
"Don't forget! Since you summoned another dragon onto the field Buster Blader gets an additional 500 attack points!"
Buster Blader
Attack: 3100 + 500 = 3600
Defense: 2300
"Like that'll matter." Melody blinked, what was she talking about? Her dragon's power is by far weaker than her Buster Blader, why would she ignore that fact?
"I don't get it." Sarai began, "What so special about that dragon? I mean, sure it's a bit more powerful than the Lancer Windwurm, but I just don't see whats so important about it..."
"It's not what Strong Wind Dragon's attack power that makes it ferocious in battle," Jenny cleared up, "It's what he can do that makes him scary."
"What he does?" Syrus blinked.
"Strong Wind can't be destroyed in battle with a monster that has the same attack points as him." Sasha cleared up for the confused duelists around them. "So you're monsters have to be stronger than he is in order to destroy him."
"Not only that, but Strong Wind Dragon has another crazy effect." Kia further went on, "When Strong Wind is Tribute Summoned by Tributing a Dragon-Type monster like Lancer Lindwurm, it gains the attack points equal to half the attack points of the Tributed monster."
"Since Lancer was 1800, Strong Wind gets a 900 point boost." Haleigh summarized monotonously. "There's also the fact that Strong Wind is a Wind Attribute monster, meaning it get's a 500 point boost cause of the field spell."
"Meaning he gets a total of 1400 point boost." Bastion's eyes widened at the number, "If my calculations are correct, that means Strong Wind Dragon's attack power is 3800!"
"Let's not forget about his final ability." Julia added in as the Osiris Red students around gapped.
"Theres more!?" Syrus vocalized, "Just how may effect does this guy have?!"
"It's nothing big," Sasha shrugged, "His last effect is to pierce through the enemy's defenses." Everyone who weren't Julia's students sweat-dropped, including Bastion and the other Ra students around.
"Piercing effect is a pretty big deal Sasha." Chumley deadpanned.
Strong Wind Dragon
Attack: 2400 + 900 + 500 = 3800
Defense: 1000 - 400 = 600
"N-No way!" Melody gasped.
"Oh yes way! And even if your Buster Blader gets some power from my monsters, there's not a chance that you'll be able to stop this!" Strong Wind roared as it flapped it's wings once before soaring into the sky. "Now my dragon! Attack-"
"I don't think so! I think it's time for my third act of the show! I activate my facedown, Magical Hats!" Suddenly two of the four hats covered both* Magical Exemplar and Buster Blader as the other two hats flopped onto the field. The hats circling around rapidly before stopping and lining up in fours.
Magical Hats x2
Attack: 0
Defense: 0
"Let's gamble a bit, you have a fifty fifty chance of hitting one of my two monsters in this hat, but be warned, you also have a chance to get a nasty surprise in my other two hats!"
"I think you haven't done your homework Melody!" Willowe smirked. "Strong Wind Dragon has a piercing effect! It doesn't matter if your monsters are in defense mode or not, you still take damage!" To prove a point Willowe points over to the second to the last hat on the right.
"Strong Wind! Attack the hat, third from your left!" The dragon nose-dived, fist aimed at the defenseless hat. With a powerful punch, the hat exploded! The backlash was so devastating that it sent Melody off her feet.
"MELODY!" Her friends watched in horror as she tumbled down the stairs of the arena.
Melody: 8000 - 3800 = 4200
Willowe: 8000
"Time out!" The proctor called out as he and some of the faculty members rushed down. Julia wasted no time, the moment she saw Melody fly into the air, she was out of her seat. Rushing down, the Ra Headmistress leaped over the barricade and rushed to her fallen student.
"Melody- oh god, she landed on her head!" Fonda was already in action, quickly trying to stop the bleeding on Melody's head.
"What setting was the duel mode on!?" Julia demanded, glaring at the poor proctor as he quickly answered her question.
"The usual DN-5, but-"
"IF IT WAS ON FUCKING DN-5, MELODY WOULDN"T HAVE FLOWN LIKE THAT!"
"Calm down Julia," Fonda reprimanded, "Screaming at the ref isn't going to help us-"
"MY STUDENT HAS THE FUCKING CHANCE OF BRAIN DAMAGE! DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!"
Soon the students were murmuring one another as Melody slowly stirred, "Ms. Hikarii, are you alright?" Melody to her credit slowly opened one of her eyes and get a shaky nod.
"Listen Melody," Julia's voice toned down, though it was still laced with frustration. "You can call off the match, we can reschedule and-"
"N-No..." The Ra student immediately responded. "I-If I reschedule..."
"Listen! You landed on your head! Your head!" Julia emphasized, "Your probably delirious from the impact, I-"
"Ms. Julia. I was wrong." The Ra Headmistress stopped in her track. "I-I was wrong about everything. This match does mean something to me. The deck of cards that was stolen from me. They did mean something to me!" She sobbed. "I know it's not going to be good for me in the long run if I continue with this match, but I need to win right now! I can't pull out now!"
"Melody..."
"My family. They help me make this deck! My mom took me to watch Yugi summon his Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl! That's where it all started! This deck does mean something to me! I can't just turn my back on that! If I back out now, it'll be like spitting on everything that I did to get here!"
"...alright then." the professional side of Julia emerged as she looked down at Melody, "Are you able to continue Melody Hikari? If so, then stand."
Rolling over on fours, the spell-caster duelist pushed herself off the ground. Her hands on her knees, she pulled herself up and took a step. Then another, and another. Each step, the students couldn't help but to applaud as the Ra duelist finally reached to the arena. Taking in deep breaths she stood tall and gave Willowe a smile.
"Sorry, landed pretty hard on my face."
"I was worried," Willowe began, "that you might have actually given up. Props to you, now can we get going?"
"Sure- but not before I activate this!"
Julia looked at the proctor. "I want you to check over the systems after this match." The man nodded as Julia walked over to one side of the arena to observe closely at Melody, just incase she falls over again. As she leaned back onto the wall, everyone watched as a twister blew up from the ground before sucking up one of Willowe's set cards.
"W-What?"
"You activated my trap, Wild Tornado!"
"B-But you didn't set any trap cards on the field! How did you-"
"What do you mean I didn't set any trap cards?" Willowe stopped and quickly glanced over at the hats. "I told you, if you didn't choose correctly, a nasty surprise was waiting in the hats?" She pulled Wild Tornado off her duel disk, "Wild Tornado needed to be set in order for it's effect to be activated, it didn't say where it had to be set."
"Y-You..." Willowe's expression changed to exasperation and anger.
"Are you done?" Melody's opposition glanced at her hand and cursed. "I set one card facedown, and end my turn."
"Is Melody going to be alright?" Brier asked, worried about her condition as much as any other Ra students would.
"She'll be alright." Dimitri immediately said, "There's no way she'll lose here."
"You ok?" Brier questioned, it wasn't exactly Dimitri's style to actually get pumped up with something. Usually he'd be seen acting in some sort of façade, so it's relatively rare to see his own 'face'; and to be actually seriously about something...
"I'm just pissed off that she needs to duel against Willowe. That Obelisk should have been kicked off the moment she was caught stealing her deck!" Brier nodded his head. That's actually a good point. It doesn't matter how pretty or how good you are here. Do something like stealing, and your off.
She also stole from the Ra Yellow, so now it's personal for everyone in Ra Yellow.
"It's my move!" Melody drew, slightly staggering, as she glanced at her card. "Because your battle phase ended, Magical Hat is now dispelled!" The hats popped out of existence as Magical Exemplar and Buster Blader emerged in a flash. "Now I activate the spell card, Card of Sanctity, in order to fill up our hands with six cards!"
As Willowe drew four cards from her deck, Melody drew her first card. Then second. Then third.
With each draw she made, Melody's smile widened. After reaching her sixth card, her was laughing. "Alright! Time to change my luck around!" She announced as she points over at Magical Exemplar who has ten orbs floating around her.
"First thing's first, let's get a monster out here ASAP! I activate Magical Exemplar's effect! By removing seven spell counters off of her I can special summon a level seven spell-caster from my hand!"
The orbs around the passive spell-caster flew off of her as the seven orb began to connect itself into another rune circle. Like how Magical Exemplar was summoned, the rune shot a jet of light below it as a figure began to form underneath it. "With Magical Exemplar's effect, I summon onto the field: Endymion the Master Magician!"
From the pillar of light, a hand shot out; and with a powerful, but a quick wave of the hand, extinguished the light with a grunt. If the audience thought that Buster Blader looked majestic then Endymion was just simply god like in his form. His form nearly giant over most of the monsters on the field, including Buster Blader.
A solidified rune circle laid on his back, as the spell caster carried a rather massive staff, the head shaped in a spiked crescent moon. Each of the purple spike on the head glowed briefly before fading. The catalyst ball that float in the center of the staff was a reminiscent of the Power Stone that Melody conjured out earlier. If the weapon of choice wasn't enough to be impressed, his armor would. Large, beautiful and majestic would be the words to describe his armor as the spell-caster wore the usual robe dressed for most other spell-casters.
Endymion the Master Magician
Attack: 2700
Defense: 1700
"I activate Endymion's effect! Once per turn, I can send one magic card from my hand to the grave in order to destroy one card on the field!"
"B-But that would mean..."
"Ladies and Gentleman, say goodbye to Strong Wind Dragon for being an amazing volunteer!" Discarding one Allure of Darkness to the grave, Endymion's staff shined brightly; almost as bright as the orbs surrounding Magical Exemplar. With one swish of his staff, a fast moving tachyon like blade sliced through Strong Wind Dragon; splitting the dragon in two.
"Which leaves you defenseless! Go!" The three charged up their own attack as the two spell-casters fired off their own powerful attack while Buster Blader charged. Once the spells struck Willowe directly, the swordsman jumped before cleaving down the duelist directly. The field disappears as Melody grinned. That should be enough to-
Melody: 4200
Willowe: 1000
...what?!
"That was way too close." Willowe announced as she looked at Melody with a vicious smirk. "Thank god I activated this before anything bad happened."
Activate what? Melody searched the field for the source of her sudden life point increase. The combine number of her monsters should have reduced her life points to zero! So how is she-
"No..."
She found it, she found the reason why Willowe didn't fall.
"...Emergency Provisions."
"What's that?" Syrus asked, seeing the holographic card of various provisions in the card.
"Emergency Provisions." Surprisingly it was Jaden that answered that question. "It's a quick-play spell card that gives you a 1000 life points for every spell and trap cards removed off of your field."
"But there weren't-" Syrus stopped.
"The field spell," Bastion provided for the Osiris student. "regardless where it's place, it's still consider a spell card. She chose to destroy her field spell in order to save herself from losing this match."
"Not much I could do..." Melody murmured, as two more orbs floated around Magical Exemplar - making it five orbs circling around - before setting three cards facedown, "I'll end my turn with that." She finished, while watching Willowe draw her card. "Sorry girl, but its time to finish this match! I'll start by activating this card, Painful Choice!"
"Painful what?" Willowe smirked while continuously drawing her deck, "I draw five cards, all you have to do is to pick one from my hand. After that, I get to keep that one card that you chose and send the rest to the grave." The girl then laid all five cards onto her duel disk revealing them to Melody.
The Ra duelist looked at her choices.
One Luster Dragon.
One Dodger Dragon.
One Solidarity.
One Monster Reborn.
One Strong Wind Dragon.
Melody eye's lingered at the card. She can't allow her to summon that monster, and she doesn't know if there are other monsters in her hand that'll she could summon. The Ra duelists could chose the Luster Dragons, but what if she has a card in her other five hand that she could use to make her miserable...
No dragons, and no chance of allowing her to summon dragons.
"I'll let you hold onto Solidarity!" Willowe blinked.
"Are you sure that's you're final choice?"
That old trick? She's going to make her psyche out of her initial decision? Theres no way she'll change now! With that in mind, Melody gave her a definite nod. Not only won't she be able to keep any of her dragons, but those three dragons is going to increase her Buster Blader's attack power by 1500.
With a shrug, Willowe pulled the spell card into her hand as she sent the rest to the grave. Not only increasing Buster Blader's attack power immensely, but also adding another two orbs onto Magical Exemplar.
Buster Blader
Attack: 3600 + 1500 = 5100
Defense: 2300
Seven orbs. She might have a- wait...why is Willowe smirking?
"I was hoping you wouldn't chose one of my dragons! Because now I can use this!" From the ground a mirror emerged. A rather familiar looking mirror in Julia's opinion. It wasn't seconds when a red dragon slowly flowed behind the reflections of the mirror, confirming Julia's fear on what the mirror was.
"Dragon's Mirror..."
"Dragon's Mirror? That doesn't sound all too good." Sasha nodded, answering Sarai's question no-verbally.
"Think of it as Polymerization," Jenny explained further, "The only difference is that the summoning conditions have to be from the grave rather on the field."
"So...what exactly is she trying to summon?" Haleigh interrogated, with that same monotonous tone that she carried. "I can't really think of a fusion summon that involves with Luster Dragon, or any of the dragons that are in her grave."
Surprisingly the answer came from the back.
"There's one dragon that she can summon," Chazz answered, coming from his dorm as he glanced at Willowe pulling out the cards from her grave. "If she's going to summon what I think she's going to summon..." Chazz clenched his fists.
"...let's just hope that Melody took Ms. Chung's lessons seriously. Because if she didn't, then there's a good chance she might lose this match."
Two more orbs popped around Magical Exemplar as the mirror began to crack. "I remove from my grave all five dragons, in order to summon my Five-Headed Dragon!" The mirror grew in size as a firey head - that reminded the audience of the fiery dragon on Salamandra - slowly emerged from the mirror; after that a sea serpent, then a metallic one, a dark colored one, and the last one was a golden dragon with spikes atop its head. The body emerged, revealing that the five heads were attached to one body. When the behemoth of a dragon finally pulled itself from the mirror, it bellowed; making Melody take a step back.
Five Headed Dragon
Attack: 5000
Defense: 5000
"Oh, and since my dragons are removed from the grave, I think your Buster Blader's attack power drops back?" Like that, Buster Blader's aura slowly wisp to nothing.
Buster Blader
Attack: 5600 - 2500 = 3100
Defense: 2300
"Now! Five Headed Dragon! Attack! Destroy Endymion with Quintuple Inferno!" The five opened their maws as each began to form their own attack. The Salamandra head was forming a fiery blast, the Water Dragon was forming a hydro cannon and such on. In perfect synchronization, the five launched their own attack, annihilating the master magician in a furry of powerful blasts. The backlash of the blast nearly tore Melody's blazer right off as her hair blew wildly.
Willowe: 1000
Melody: 4200 - (5000 - 2700) = 1900
"I'll set three cards facedown and end my turn." Melody, smoothing out her now ruined uniform, looked at her remaining monsters and at Endymion. Luckily for her, she could summon back Endymion and end this craziness once and for all. "My turn, and I activate Magical Exemplar's effect! By removing seven orbs, I can summon back Endymion in-"
"I don't think so! I activate my trap card, Bottomless Trap Hole!" Melody watched in horror as one of her strongest monsters fell into the pit hole that suddenly formed underneath the mage. She turned away, as she listened to Endymion's cries of agony before the hole closed up. "Now not only is Endymion is destroyed, but you can no longer summon that monster. Oh and while we're at it, let me activate my second face down Aegis of Gaia! This card allows me to gain 3000 life points!" Behind Willowe, Gyakutenno Megami floated behind her as a bright green aura surrounded the girl.
Willowe: 1000 + 3000 = 4000
Melody looked at her hand and back at the field, then up at the score board. Julia watched as Melody's face changed instantly to hopelessness. She had nothing. Check mate. Throw in the towel. Etc. Etc.
...but not on her watch.
"Melody!" The Ra snapped her attention to Julia as the Ra Headmistress points at her life points. "I don't see your LP at zero! What the hell are you doing, looking like your already defeated?"
"B-But Ms. Chung! I can't do anything!" Melody reasoned. "She has a monster that's way more powerful than mine and...and..."
"So what?" Julia questioned. "Does that mean there's nothing you can do about it?" Julia walked towards the arena, both her hands slamming onto the edge of the ring. "You have a handful of cards in your hand! What the hell did you do while I was teaching? Make a strategy with those cards damn it!"
Melody opened her mouth but was instantly cut off with Julia pointing at her deck. "You have one card in your hand, you still haven't drawn, and you still have 1900 LP, your only 2100 LP behind that Obelisk Bitch. So what the hell is the problem?" Melody looked at her, before back at the monster. "Melody! The fat lady isn't done singing yet, so do yourself a favor, pull your balls out of your purse and KICK HER ASS!"
Although it wasn't much, Melody was looking at Julia with a rather new light. As she stared at the Ra Headmistress, weeks of torment that she went through surfaced in her memories. Her friends that helped her find her deck. But most of all...
"That's right," The Dark-Magician girl look-a-like whispered. "No matter what happened, you were always there for me." Melody looked at her deck that rested in her duel disk. "Even now, when everything looks all too hopeless, you're by my side, helping me along the way."
A droplet landed on Buster Blader's card. Tears soon dropped from her eyes. "You never gave up on me. Ms. Chung. Not even for one second. Even when it was just a slim chance that we would have found my deck, you nevertheless kept on searching for the deck. Even when I needed help on some things, you never brushed me off. You spent extra hours in class to help me out..."
Quickly wiping away the tears, a new look was on the spell-caster's face. "You never gave up on me! I won't let you down Ms. Chung!" She put a hand on her deck, "I won't give up! Not now! Not ever!"
"Oh just go already!" Willowe cut in as the two glared at the girl. "In case you two haven't noticed, I have a match to win!"
"You're not going to win anything Willowe!" She drew her card, and grinned. "Ladies and Gentleman, I'm sorry about the earlier performance, but it's time to bring in my fourth act! For this act, I'll need a volunteer!" Magical Exemplar gave her a rather cheerful smile as she stepped forward. "Thank you, ma'am! Now with my volunteer in place, I'll activate my facedown card: Magical Dimension!"
"NO!" Willowe panicked as a body-casket shimmered behind Magical Exemplar. The spell-caster showcased herself to the crowd as she snapped her fingers to open the iron-maiden like chamber. Stepping in she waved before shutting the casket shut. "Now watch as Magical Exemplar is swapped with the legend himself!"
The casket opened as the figure hopped out of the coffin. In an impressive acrobatic feat, the shadowed spell-caster landed on the top of the casket. Soon the audience were roaring; the girl were fan-girl squealing and the boys were cheering in craze. Even Zane couldn't help but to applaud at the sight of the new monster.
Who was it?
Why this spell-caster was someone that nobody could forget, for this man was fair-skinned and tall. But that wasn't what made him recognizable. No it was his remarkably, shiny, purple-hair that flowed from his helmet that resurfaced childhood memories from everyone in the stands. This young man was clad in his signature purple robes with his equally signature green staff that the figure held loftily in his hand.
"...Ladies and Gentleman, I give you: DARK MAGICIAN!"
Dark Magician
Attack: 2500
Defense: 2100
Giving a flirtatious smile, which drove nearly every single girl in the audience wild, the spell-caster gave a bow before jumping high off the casket.
"But wait! That's not all everyone! Now watch as Dark Magician make this dragon vanish!" Suddenly a rather large drape covered the dragon as the spell-caster landed in front of the covered dragon. Like a good illusionist that would perform in front of an audience, Dark Magician showed the audience that there was nothing in his sleeves or that there were any trap doors underneath the floor.
Tossing his scepter to Buster Blader, he picked the drapery with his two hands and tugged. The students gasped as the Five-Headed Dragon, even with it's form visible underneath the rather large curtain, vanished the moment the spell-caster pulled. Twirling it, the drape shrunk in size before it transformed into a small white handkerchief. Finally, he threw the hanky into the air, when it suddenly changed into a dove!
Everyone, including the faculty and Julia, applaud at the show. Dark Magician, the sexy debonaire he was, bowed. Buster Blader throwing his scepter back as he leaped back to Melody's side.
"Not that it was cool and all, but what just happened?" Syrus asked, "That Five-Headed Dragon was waaaaaay more powerful than Dark Magician; how did he defeat it?"
"It wasn't Dark Magician Syrus," Bastion cleared up, while still clapping his hands at the show. "It was the effect of Magical Dimension."
"Huh? I thought that only summoned the monster?" Jaden wondered, before he whistled loudly with most of the students.
"It does, but it also has a secondary effect. When the spell-caster is summoned through this process, you have the chance to destroy one face-up card on your opponent's side of the field. Guess which one was face-up the entire time."
The sad part was that it only stayed there for one turn, where as a weaker monster like Magical Exemplar stayed there for most of the duel.
"You..." Willowe couldn't find the word to express how she felt, nor could she find the word to curse out Melody. One of her more powerful monsters in her deck, just destroyed in one turn! The humility that course through her body! The embarrassment!
"Let's not forget! I haven't conducted my battle phase just yet! Attack-"
"I don't think so! I activate Negate Attack!" That wasn't a popular choice, in fact Willowe found herself being boo'ed by the students as Dark Magician lowered his staff with a frown.
"Oh well, I'll end my turn here with one card face down." Willowe's fist clenched in frustration, this match wasn't suppose to take this long! Not even Zane lasted this long for her! So why the hell was she not winning?!
"You think your all that?! You're nothing! You're just a nobody that no one bothers knowing about! I'll forever be remembered here, while you'll be forgotten through time and-"
"Will you just shut up!?" Surprisingly it was Melody that screamed at Willowe. Julia, during her time with Melody, never actually seen the smaller girl snap.
To be honest, it was rather scary to look at her pissed off.
"All you do is whine and moan about how things aren't going in your way. All you do is tell your stupid little sob story and complain about how it was suppose to be 'like this' or 'like that'. Well guess what?! Nothing's fair in life! You think your the only one with a crappy life? Some of my friends that I made here have it worse than you! Some of these guys here are so broke that they have nothing to do but study almost 24/7 so they could maintain their GPA above average to keep the scholarship that was granted to them! Their families can't support them and some of them don't even have a family! You think you have it tough? Try putting on their shoes and experience what they go through, cause honestly? Listening to you cry about your dead family, although sad, is rather pathetic! At least the people here have the decency to keep their drama to themselves!"
Note to self, don't piss Melody off.
"What do you know?" Willowe snapped. "My mom-"
"I don't care what happened to you in your past! I don't care what happened to your mom or your dad!" Melody cut her off, "Right now what I care about is winning this duel, and quite frankly, your pissing me off with your mind off of the game!"
"...my mind off of the game?" Willowe began to chuckle. "Oh but you see, little girl, I'm just getting started!" Melody's opposition drew her card. "You want me to go all out? Fine! First I'll activate the spell card, Pot of Greed! With it, I'm able to draw two more cards from my deck." Quickly skimming over her new cards she slid one into the spell/trap slot.
"Next I activate the spell card, Dimension Fusion! By paying up 2000 of my life points, I can Special Summon as many of my removed from play monsters onto the field!"
Willowe: 4000 - 2000 = 2000
In a furry of light, all five dragons she removed from the grave emerged onto the field.
"Hey did you forget? With all those dragons on the field, my Buster Blader gets a major attack boost!"
Indeed, as the spirit of the six dragons that were summoned by Willowe flowed into Buster Blader. His armor shining more brightly then ever as the knight held his sword in front of him like the picture, ready for battle.
Buster Blader
Attack: 2600 + 6(500) = 5600
Defense: 2300
"Oh I know, but that won't matter in the end." Willowe pulled three of the dragons off of her duel disk before sliding them into the grave. "I sacrifice three of my dragons that are on the field! In order to summon my most powerful monster!" one of the Strong Wind Dragons, Luster Dragon, and Dodger Dragon quickly changed into some sort of energy as the three began to merge into one.
"I summon Victory Dragon, in attack mode!" A blinding flash of light, and a thunderous howl were the only two thing that Melody as well as the other students registered while they tried to find their visions once more. Once the blur began to clear up, Melody couldn't help but to gasp. The dragon in front of her was actually bigger than the Five-Headed-Dragon! Another thing that made this monster eye-catching was it's color scheme. Sure Five Headed Dragon had a gold-colored dragon, but the dragon in front of Melody was armoredin gold!
Piercing emerald eyes glared down at the trio, as Victory Dragon snarled ferociously in front of them.
Victory Dragon
Attack: 2400
Defense: 3000
"Zane?" Alexis stared at the elder Truesdale. There were a few times that Alexis had ever seen any reaction on Zane, but this was the first time she've seen such expression on the older brother's face.
Pure fury.
"That monster..." he spat, hands crushing the railing in front of him. How could he forget? Like the Egyptian God Cards, Willowe sacrificed three dragons before summoning that thing. He didn't know. How could he have known? That monster was a complete anomaly in his eyes the first time he saw it; and because of that it costed him dearly.
It costed him the match.
"Thats it!" Bastion pointed the golden dragon that emerged from the ground. "That was the one that defeated Zane!"
"That dragon?" Syrus looked at the monster with bewilderment. "I mean, sure it looks cool and all, but I don't see it beating Zane anytime."
"Don't you dare underestimate it." Once again, everyone in the vicinity were surprised when Chazz spoke up about the monster. "I saw a similar summoning condition back in the entrance exams. It was a monster that kept Ms. Chung alert for the whole battle."
"I remember that!" Jaden pitched in. "It was when Matthew summoned that one fairy monster onto the field! Ms. Chung looked really mad when she saw it."
"If Zane was really beaten by something like that, and if something similar kept Ms. Chung on her toes..." Jenny critically looked at the dragon, "Then there's definitely something up about the monster."
"But wait there's more." Willowe showed a rather familiar looking card to Melody. "Remember how you chose Solidarity for me to keep? Good choice, cause when I activate it, It allows all my dragon monsters on the field 800 attack points!"
Victory Dragon
Attack: 2400 + 800 = 3200
Defense: 3000
Strong Wind Dragon
Attack: 2400 + 800 = 3200
Defense: 1000
Lancer Windwurm
Attack: 1800 + 800 = 2600
Defense: 1200
"Now Victory Dragon! Attack Dark Magician with Victorious Slam-"
"Did you think you were the only one with Negate Attack?" Suddenly the gold-armored dragon found that it's fist couldn't penetrate whatever was covering the spell-caster. Dark Magician merely raised it's eyebrow as the dragon continued to pound on the invisible barrier. Tired of the punches that the dragon exercised, Victory Dragon retreated back to his spot.
"You may have stopped my monster's attack, but you won't be so lucky next time! I'll set two cards face down before ending my turn." But before Melody could draw again, Willowe pressed a button to activate one of her facedown.
"I activate the trap card, Jar of Greed! With it, I'm able to draw one card from my deck." once she pulled the card out from the deck, Willowe's smirk grew. "Look what I got!" She revealed it and to Julia's and to Melody's friends shock: Lighting Vortex. Raigeki was banned early on in the game, so the card industry began to develop other cards similar to Raigeki with small conditions that would allow the card to be legal. One of them was Lightning Vortex.
Lightning Vortex, in short, is Raigeki. The only difference is that the person needs to just discard one card from his or her hand to play out the effect.
"It's over Melody! Even if you destroy one of my monsters on this turn, there is no way you can beat me now!" Willowe announced as she placed the card into her hand. "Just give up now, there's no point in continuing this duel!" To Julia's surprise, Melody didn't even look worried at all. In fact, the Ra student looked rather... disappointed?
"You know Willowe, I pity you. I honestly did." Melody shook her head. "You have all this skill, and yet your so arrogant to see that nothing's over until it's over." The Obelisk scoffed as Melody began to slide a card from her deck. "Sure, you got a card that can possibly defeat me in one turn. Sure, I need to find a way to destroy your monsters as fast as I can. But you know what? If there's one thing you learn from Ms. Chung is this." She pulled the card out from her deck, "There's always a chance to turn this whole thing around."
"Come on." Willowe exasperatedly moaned. "You honestly think you have a chance against me?"
"You saw it earlier. I did gave up during out match." Melody admitted. "When you increased your life points by 4000, and when you had that Five-Headed Dragon out, I thought it was all over. But you saw what happened, after Ms. Chung gave me that pep talk and after I found my resolve to continue with the match, I was able to overcome that obstacle."
"So what? It's not like you can beat me now." Melody flipped the card to her direction, and giggled.
"Wanna bet? I activate the spell card The Lost Athenaeum!" Like the scene from Matrix, shelves shot through the arena, missing all monsters as the shelves shot between them. Once the shelves reached the edge of one side of the arena, it stopped as Dark Magician pulled out a book from one of the shelves. Soon after, like a train, the shelves shot forward, exiting off the stage.
"When a Dark Magician is on the field, I can take one spell card from my grave and add it to my hand!" The book shined in Dark Magician's hand as the spell-caster opened the tome, while a card was being ejected from Melody's grave slot.
"The card I choose is Pot of Greed!"
Dark Magician shut the tome before tossing it into the air. The book popped into smoke as Pot of Greed fell to the ground, exploding on impact. Drawing two cards from her deck, Willowe watched as Melody looked at her two new cards, before smiling. "Great, you got two cards. Doesn't change the fact that you're still going to lose."
"Is that so? I think I made a great investment when I brought back Pot of Greed; cause now I can use this!" Melody pushed the s/t button, which flipped open her second facedown. "I activate Super Polymerization!"
"Super what?"
"Super Polymerization, by discarding one card from my hand to the graveyard, I can fuse my Dark Magician and Buster Blader together as if I activated the regular Polymerization!" Buster Blader threw his sword into the air at the same time Dark Magician launched his spectre like a spear. The two leaped into the air before being consumed by a rather large rune circle.
Melody points up to the Rune, "Bountiful imaginations brings closure to the lost! Champions of Courage and Dreams join forces to create a new horizon. The slumbering legend will once more awaken to be the Champion of Hope once more!"
Lightning crackled underneath the runes as the giant circle segmented into five smaller ones, which lined up into one pillar. Then it happened. The top rune circle shattered as a figure began to fall from the sky. With each rune circle the strange figure passed by, it gained momentum. On the fourth circle, he flipped. His feet pointed at the ground, the fifth circle accelerated him to the ground; landing onto the ground with one knee bent, as if kneeling in front of Melody. Surprisingly, the ground didn't shatter, nor did any bones snapping occurred. The rune circles rained down on top of this new spell-caster like glass as he slowly raised his head.
Remember the reception for Dark Magician? Times that by 5 and that's the estimate of how much the audiences were hyped, especially the ladies. Unlike the Dark Magician, this spellcaster's skin tone was pale-blue. However much his skin was unusual, it did complement his platinum colored hair. The magician's expression was much more serious and severe than that of Dark Magician; but it did bring out a more exotic look on the spellcaster. Also, what was different from Dark Magician was that the spell-caster had dark blue robes and a heavier set of armor than the former. Finally, the scepter that Dark Magician used to wield now sports part of Buster Blader's blade; similar to that of the Japanese naginata.
The spellcaster finally got up as Melody finished her introduction.
"Fusion Summon! Take the Stage: Dark Paladin!"
The paladin, expertly, twirled his bladed staff with ease as he posed himself for battle.
Dark Paladin
Attack: 2900
Defense: 2400
Willowe looked at the Paladin rather snidely as she shakes her head. "So what, you fused your mosters to make a weaker monster. I don't get why you'd sacrifice your Buster Blader for this weakling."
Dark Paladin's eyes narrowed, almost as if he wanted to snark back at the girl. "This weakling, in case you haven't noticed, actually has an effect that you might want to reconsider. Dark Paladin gets 500 for every dragon on the field, and in the grave!"
Willowe still looked bored out of her mind as the spellcaster's power increased more than what Dark Buster used to be.
Dark Paladin
Attack: 2900 + 7(500) = 6400
Defense: 2300
"Next, I equip my Dark Paladin with Bound Wand!" A wand with a ruby-gem head flashed into Dark Paladin's free hand as crimson aura surrounded him. "For every level that's on Dark Paladin, he gets a 100 point boost! Since Dark Paladin is a level eight monster, he gets an 800 point power boost!"
Dark Paladin
Attack: 6400 + 800 = 7200
Defense: 2300
"Something's not right here." Sarai noted, "Willowe isn't all too worried."
"What's wrong about that?" Haleigh asked as Kia quietly observed the match.
"If I was in her shoes," Sasha began. "I would be trembling. A monster with 7200 attack power is nothing to scoff at; especially when the said monster can increase whenever a dragon is either summoned or sent to the grave."
"I'm guessing that facedown has to do with it." Jenny deduced as she stared at the lonesome card on Willowe's side of the field. "If it's something that'll stop Dark Paladin on his track-"
"Still, she's making it rather obvious." Chazz muttered, "She's practically showing Melody that she could do whatever the hell she wants, that facedown is going to stop whatever it is." The only male Obelisk in the group sighed. "That'll be her downfall."
Everyone turned to Chazz. "Don't forget, Melody also has one facedown card. If anything it's a flip toss on whose facedown is better than the other."
"Now Dark Paladin! Attack with Chaotic Flames!" Twirling the Bound Wand in his left hand, the spellcaster backflipped into the sky. Angling himself so that the enemies are across from him diagonally, he points the wand at Lancer Windrum and fires a barrage of hot crimson flames-
"You fell for it!" Willowe announced gleefully, when suddenly a shield emerged, surrounding the lance wielding dragon as it quickly absorbed the flames like a leech. "I activate my trap card, Draining Shield! I don't think we need an explanation for this!"
Willowe: 2000 + 7200 = 9200
Melody: 1900
"Damn it" Dimitri cursed out loud, "Just when she was finally going to win! It's not fair damn it! Melody doesn't deserve that!"
"Look, as much as I hate to see that happen, Melody did kind of fell for that." Brier countered, though his expression says otherwise. In fact most of the Ra's were bat-shit pissed at the sight of a victory being stolen from their fellow Ra. Not only that, but it was from a girl that stole her deck? Dude that's just not cool at all...
"Thanks for the duel, but I think I'll be taking that victory now." Willowe smiled, "Don't feel bad though, there was no way you could have beaten me. I mean, sure you gave me a challenge but still; it was inevitable for you to lose to me-"
"Seriously? You think you won?"
That even caught Julia off guard. "Mel?"
"Did you honestly think I would waste all that time, buffing up my Dark Paladin, just so that you could get a major Life Point boost? Give me a break." Melody remarked as she activated her final facedown. When Julia saw the picture, her grin was threatening to rip her face into two.
"Melody! You sneaky S.O.B!" Willowe on the other hand didn't catch it.
"Great it's another magic card, so what? It's not like you can beat me now-"
"This magic card is call: Double or Nothing!" Melody cut her off as Dark Paladin transmute the wand into his naginata like weapon. The blade turning bloody red as his eyes flashed with sudden rage. Paladin was now rapidly spinning his staff. The spellcaster was spinning the weapon so fast that it looked as if he was carrying a giant red chakram.
"This card only works when you negate my initial attack. Not only does Dark Paladin gets a second shot at attack you..."
Dark Paladin
Attack: 7200 x2 = 14,400
Defense: 2300
"N-NO WAY!" Willowe, in crude language, was now shitting her pants. "A-AN ATTACK POWER OVER 10,000?!"
"Let's try this again," Melody points over at the row of dragons in front of them. "Take them out Dark Paladin!"
Ceasing the spin, the scepter was now illuminating the color red as the Paladin grasped his scepter with two hands. Bringing it over his head, the spellcaster bellowed out a battle-cry as he swung his bladed scepter downwards. The dragons had no chance as all as a giant, rubescent, crescent wave crashed down onto the three; slicing the three dragons like butter. The wave continued however as it struck Willowe directly; screaming, she was shot off the arena; painfully, skitting on the ground.
Willowe: 9200 - (14400 - 3200) = 0
Dark Paladin scoffed, turning his back onto the fallen duelist before the hologram shut off. Julia watched astonished before breaking into a wide smile and cheering like the rest of the students around the arena.
"You did it!" yelled someone.
Syrus jumped up and pumped his fist into the air, his grin never leaving his face.
"You did it, Melody!" said Jaden.
Professor Crowler stared at the outcome of the duel a smile as well as most of the other faculty members. "Looks like my predictions were right, this year is going to be interesting." Shepard stared at Professor Crowler and grinned. "It sounds like your actually excited for this years batch of students." said Samejima.
Chuckling, Crowler stared at Julia as she made her way to Melody, while the other faculty member were checking up on Willowe. From what they've diagnosed with, it sounds like she was hit hard from that last attack. Looks like she fainted; Julia glanced over at the fallen duelist and back at Crowler. Shaking her head, Crowler pressed the button on a walkie-talkie.
"This is Dr. Crowler, send Ms. Wolfhunter to the infirmary. Once she wakes up, we'll send in a crew to help her pack up." Switching off the walkie-talkie, Crowler turned on the intercom and announced the final verdict.
"With 1900 life points," Crowler began. "The winner of this Penalty Match is Melody Hikarii! Ms. Willowe Emerald Crowvile Heineken Aurora Montana-Dew Denashia Wolfhunter the Third will therefore be expelled from the Academy permanently."
"You're awfully happy today." Fonda commented as Julia played with a card in between her fingers. This particular card however belonged to one expelled student, who was currently in the nurses office to recover from the match. Honestly the Ra Headmistress just wanted to kick her off the Academy ASAP, but she's not that cruel. Sure she burned applications and talked shit to other students, but never did she not allow a student medical treatment.
She's strict, not abusive.
In any case, two of the twenty Match Winners were collected. When she gets the time, she'll have to mail this card over to Pegasus, but for now it's time for a celebration. Oh and brag about Melody's victory over to every single fucking faculty member here. Speaking of which...
"Of course I'm happy." Julia pocketed the card in her blazer. "My girl Melody kicked some ass today! Not going to lie, I was actually thinking that she wouldn't win that match when Willowe pulled out that Draining Shield; but damn was I surprised when Melody pulled that quick-play card! Hell I didn't even know that she had that card!"
The Ra Headmistress stopped and looked over at Fonda, now that she calmed down a bit, Julia did feel kinda bad for berating the Obelisk Headmistress for how she was protecting Willowe through the week. All she was doing was protecting the kid's rights to stay here. If Julia wasn't so strung up on what happened between the two...
"Listen Fonda, about what happened-"
"Dr. Fontaine!" The two stopped in their tracks as both headmistresses looked at the assistant nurse that quickly rushed to the duo.
"Trini? What's wrong?" Fonda looked rather surprised at the sudden arrival of the sophomore as the girl quickly gasped for breath. "I-It's Willowe! Something's happening to her-"
Not wasting any time, the headmistresses rushed to the Nurses Office. For someone whose wearing heels, Fonda was sure hella fast. Julia was barely keeping up with the gal, and before the Ra Headmistress thought of how long it was going to take her to get to the nurses office, the two were already in the-
"Who the fuck is that?" Julia vocalized as she looked at the...well...
...let's just say she ain't Willowe. What was the difference between the two? Well for one, Willowe had massive D tits. This girl? Average B's at best. Not that they're bad looking, I mean they're totally nice to look at. Still, she dropped more than a cup size, so this girl was definitely not Willowe.
The second thing that made her not Willowe was her hair. The bitch that dueled with Melody had hair that almost reached down to her ankle. The girl in front of us? Her hair was long, but it only reached to her shoulders. Not only that, Willowe had brown hair, this chick hair was freaking pink! Whether she dyed it or not, there was no chance in hell this girl was Willowe.
Did I also mentioned that this chick was about two inches shorter than Willowe? She's around the same high as Sasha.
Compared to Willowe's frame, the girl in front of us was rather petite and pale compared to the former.
"Trini, where is Willowe?" The assistant nurse looked rather nervous to answer the question. Fonda repeated the question again, and Trini sighed. "Dr. Fontaine, I don't know how to tell you this...
...but that is Willowe."
Author's Note
So. After a whole year, I've finally returned to this story; just like my Pokemon story.
Well in any case, review, rate, criticize. Do whatever.
See you in the next installment of GX: It Doesn't Mean Generation X!