A/N: Story idea, concept and story credit go to JohnnyD2. All characters Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and any other company licensed and owned characters and concepts are property of their respective owners and we do not own them!
A/N: Cards from both the manga and the show are used.
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Duel Dimensions Chapter 8
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"Awwwwwwhhhhnnnn!" Ash lazily and loudly yawned. It was his first day of class in the Duel Academy and merely 2 minutes had passed before he slouched in his chair, appearing bored beyond fathom. One elbow rested above the concave desktops and his hand cupped the side of his face. Earlier this morning, Ash was rather excited to start learning more about this new game of Duel Monsters to him. Syrus, his newly appointed roommate, supplied him with an extra suit of the Slifer Red uniform. It was was two sizes too small for Ash, so he ended up appearing a lot younger than he already was. But he could at least move around in it a little, and he could breathe, so he decided to deal with it until the order for his proper size was filled.
He gave Misty a quick call before getting dressed for the day. She had been spending the night in a hotel in Domino City- Mokuba's treat. After the call, Ash then proceeded to send her text messages until his teacher arrived for class. Now, it hadn't been more than five minutes and the new student was falling asleep and doing a poor job of fending it off.
"Awwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnn" he yawned again, slouching even more. He already knew about what was being taught from Misty and Flamvell Baby the other day. He knew about setting trap and spell cards and setting monsters in defense mode negates any LP damage unless a card description states otherwise. He didn't have to listen to this—despite the fact that he was playing like a complete newbie just yesterday, not knowing what a flip effect was and all.
"Psst...Ash...you're falling asleep...!" a worrisome Syrus cautioned, nudging the somnolent youth with his elbow, "Wake up, class just started!"
"Muhhh... But I can't help it!" Ash returned in a rather loud whisper. It was so audible, that it snagged the attentions of both Chazz and Alexis, who were sitting 4 seats away in separate rows. The arrogant teen slid his obsidian eyes over in Ash's direction and made a face that suggested he was far superior to yet another student and duelist. Then he returned his full attention back to the lesson at hand, even though he was all too familiar with the content of the lecture as well. He wondered when he'd get some kind of challenge out of this school and upon thinking of it, he glanced down in the row in front of him where Alexis sat. The sandy blonde gave no more than a slight head turn in Ash's direction so only a flicker of her profile was granted to him. And that was more than what Chazz got to see. His eyes contracted as envy settled in. How dare this sporadic new student be given more of Alexis' beauty than he, the Chazz, received? And to make things worse, Ash wasn't even paying any attention to her!
A snap clicked in his ears. Looking down, he realized that he had broken his writing utensil in half. "...Why won't she look at me like that?" Chazz whined under his breath, "She's never looked at me that much...!" he complained, distraught, "Maybe if I beat him in a duel, she'd watch me then...!" he declared, and while his plight was soundly made to himself, his determination was unnoticed by the oblivious Ash and even more ignored by Alexis.
"Ash...!" Syrus nudged him again, but the boy just could not keep his eyes open. Sleep overtook him and his head drooped to the desk face first. "Oh no you don't!" Syrus exclaimed, starting to shake Ash by his shoulder, "Wake up wake up wake up!"
"Zzzzzzzz"
"Ash-!" the turquoise-haired teen pouted. He was used to Jaden doing something like this, but now his new roommate was doing it too? Whenever Jaden fell asleep in class, there were only two things that would wake him up; one was the mention of food, namely a burger, in his ear and the other was to tickle him. Syrus and Ash had just met the other day, and it seemed rather rude to lay your hands on someone who was basically a stranger, no matter how nice or cool they seemed. But it would seem that he would have to break a few boundaries today.
Cutely, he shut his eyes and poked a finger to Ash's rib. The sleeping boy didn't budge. Dumbfounded, Syrus stared at Ash, then glanced to the front of the class. The teacher still droned on giving his lecture without any care to the effect his voice had on his students. If he wasn't paying attention then...
"Ash, wake up!" Syrus tried again, this time shoving all his fingers to Ash's rib and rapidly moving them. Ash's body jolted for a moment, and he made a sound. But instead of opening his eyes, he just turned his head, muttering nonsense, "But I don't wanna get ice cream from there, Misty..."
Syrus blanched from the mention of a girl's name in Ash's sleep. Did Ash have a girlfriend back home of something? Or maybe she was his sister? Either or, the idea of Ash talking about a girl had him feeling much meeker than usual. But he didn't have a chance to continue pondering on that thought when the flash of a large book flew past his line of vision and hit Ash squarely upside his head.
Needless to say, THAT woke him up.
With a shout, Ash lifted his head and frantically looked around, "HEY!"
"That's what you get for falling asleep, loser!" Chazz retorted with a sharp tongue. In actuality, he was just jealous that Ash mentioned Misty after being shown attention by his crush. It wasn't fair! And of course, in addition to his displeasure, his beautiful dueling queen tossed another look Ash's way. "Shh!" Mindy, the girl next to her scolded, raising a finger to her lips, "You're, like, disturbing the class!" she yielded. Her friend on the other side of Alexis nodded and also shushed Ash. But Alexis spoke not a word. Her granite eyes fluttered briskly over Ash, studiously. Then she glanced behind her to Chazz, causing him to instantly freeze in whatever he was doing. Then she rolled her eyes and shook her head before giving the teacher her full attention again.
"..." Syrus blinked. He observed Alexis' behavior and Chazz's devastation. Poor guy. The number one female duelist hardly ever gave Chazz the time of day when he did almost all he could to impress her. And from seeing how difficult it was for someone as suave as Chazz, that made Syrus think he even had much less of a chance. But who cared about girls right now anyway? He had notes to take. And now that Ash was awake, he could share his with him. With a bright smile, he turned to his roommate, "Wanna share..." he trailed off immediately from the sight of Ash laying face down atop the desks again—softly snoring away.
Syrus frowned cutely, then slapped a hand to his forehead, "I give uuuup!" he whined. While Ash got in his beauty sleep, Flamvell Baby floated above his head without much passion. He would have fallen asleep from the lecture as well. And since Ash was napping and Syrus couldn't see him, he had no reason to say anything. It crossed his mind to go up to the teacher and bother him—possibly making the class think a ghost was haunting them or something. But the idea merely crossed his mind and he continued doing absolutely nothing and nearly being bored to fiery tears.
"Okay class, now we're going to cover the concept of Synchro Summons. Now that you've understood the basics of Duel Monsters, I can move on to a more intermediate lesson, " the instructor announced in a dry monotone. At these words, Flamvell Baby perked up and clamped onto Ash's shoulder, "Hey! Hey wake up!" When Ash gave no answer, the infant clobbered him upside his head with a tiny fist. Ash immediately leapt up with a start, "UWAAAH!" he shouted, then lost his balance and fell over onto the floor.
Of course, all eyes were on him, even Alexis'. "Uh—um!" Ash stammered, blinking nervously. With a bashful laugh, he rubbed the back of his head and waved to the teacher, "Um... sorry about that! I uh... kinda just fell out of my-"
"..." The teacher blankly stared at him. The expression unnerved Ash and he made an uneasy sound before simply slipping back into his seat and chuckling a bit as if nothing had happened and he hadn't disrupted the entire class. After observing Ash sit back down, and allowing murmurs and snickers to cross throughout the room, the teacher continued on with the lesson.
"All right class, now I'm sure you know that all Monster cards have star levels, correct? These stars are one of the main key elements of initiating a Synchro Summon," he instructed, and pointed to an impressively sized computer screen behind him. At the press of a button, a level 3 Junk Synchron appeared. The class gave various sounds of awed commentary from the view of such a new and odd looking monster.
"Oh who cares," Chazz quipped to himself, waving the new Tuner type monster away, "It's just another effect monster"
As if the teacher could hear him from his distance in the room, he looked in Chazz's direction, "And for those of you who may think at a first glance that this...Tuner monster is a regular Effect Monster, you are both wrong and correct. While it does have an effect, for the purposes of Synchro Summoning, it is only considered to be a Tuner. What these Tuners do is allow you to Synchro Summon. You can't do it without one." He pressed another button and a Quillbolt Hedgehog popped up alongside the Junk Synchron. "Notice the total level of stars these two have. The Junk Synchron was 3 stars while the Quillbolt Hedgehog has 2. Now, how many stars does that total?"
"Fiiiiiiiiiiive" the class drawled at the same time Chazz jeered, "Seventeen. Seriously, what do you think?", and Ash answered with a hesitant: "Uhhm 5?"
"Correct," the teacher replied with a nod. The reason I ask you is in order to perform this summoning, you NEED the EXACT amount of stars for it, no more and certainly no less. These two cards here are only one example. There are many different Synchro Monsters that require more than 5 stars to summon. And I've even heard of a level 4 Synchro Monster.
"One thing to keep in mind is you man use as many number of Monster cards that you like as long as it equals the exact star amount and at least one of them is a Tuner type. Some of them will ask for a specific card that is needed for the summon while others may require any monster type and any Tuner type. As long as you are able to read, you should be fine, " he continued, looking Ash's way. The dark-haired boy felt a rush of apprehension tingle up his spine from being picked on. To this, Flamvell Baby laughed. There was no way the teacher could have known about Ash's and Syrus' duel the other day where Ash was a victim of not reading himself, but the thought alone was still amusing. And sad.
With the click of another button, the Junk Synchron and Quillbolt Hedgehog moved closer to the other with the addition of a plus sign placed in between them. An equal sign materialized, then then image of a level 5 Junk Warrior came into view. Many of the students leaned forward in their seats in amazement of this new monster and commented on its white boarder.
"Whoa, it's white?" Chazz questioned aloud.
"Woooow, hey that's really cool!" Ash exclaimed, and glanced to Syrus, "Isn't it?"
"Yeah!" Syrus chirped and adjusted his spectacles, "I'd love to be able to play a card like that!"
"Yeah, me too! It's so awesome! I wanna Synchro Summon right now!" Ash added enthusiastically.
"You should learn how to play the game right first!" Flamvell Baby snapped.
"What? Hey! I won last time, didn't I?"
"Ash..." Syrus pouted, giving sulking an all new aspect of cuteness. Here he was, someone who had been dueling for years ending up getting owned by someone who had never heard of Duel Monsters until a few days ago. It was embarrassing to say the least. And from the way Ash was arguing back and forth into thin air, Syrus figured he was talking to his duel spirit again. Jealousy wavered over his eyes briefly before he shut them and forced a bashful smile, "Come on Ash, you're still new to the game. We all are to some extent! Becoming more comfortable with the basics can really help you in the long run!"
"Listen to the pipsqueak, kid!" the spirit jested.
"Huh?" Ash wondered, risking a glance over to his roommate. Syrus returned his look with a worrisome gaze, then shrugged. Without another word, Ash whipped out a piece of notebook paper and began scribbling a series of questions down for Flamvell Baby to read. After scanning over some of them, Flamvell crossed his arms and snorted, "Why don't you ask your teacher that?"
"Jaden!" Syrus suddenly shouted, rising from his seat. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked the newcomer's way. He seemed a little winded, his clothes a little ruffled, but his features were bright and vibrant as ever. In truth, after Jaden's run-in with Palkia, his outfit was ruined. He was able to change his clothes before arriving. He didn't want his friends to worry for no reason when he was still alive. Even the teacher seemed a tad intrigued by his arrival. Just as he was about to scold him for being late to yet another session, the bell rang, telling of the 10 minute break in-between class periods.
"Well, luckily for you, you can attend the second half of the class, " he stated.
"Hey, good lookin' out, teach! I owe ya one!" the brown-haired youth exclaimed, giving the instructor a wink and a thumbs up.
"Jaden!" Syrus called, waving frantically to his friend with both arms as if he were trying to flag him down.
"Who's Jaden? Is he your buddy or something?" Ash questioned curiously, turning to Syrus.
"My best buddy. He's a slacker in school, but he's the only best friend I've got! Come on, you should meet him!" he announced, already running towards his friend.
"H-hey wait up!" Ash called, following after Syrus. As they ran off, Chazz watched them with crossed arms, "Losers..." he huffed, yet despite himself, he made his way down to where the trio gathered.
"JADEN!" Syrus whined, throwing his arms around his friend, "Where have you been? Are you all right?"
"Whoa! Hey, I'm fine, bro! I missed you too, man...!" Jaden joked, gently moving his concerned friend away from him, "Listen, I didn't wanna worry you, but I ran into this really cool guy would you'd never believe!" he continued, then glanced to Ash. Then his eyes flickered up to the unamused Flamvell Baby above his shoulder, "Oh? And speaking of cool guys, what's your name?"
"Me?" Ash wondered, pointing to his nose, "I'm Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town! I'm a Pokemon trainer!"
Both Jaden and Syrus blinked, one after the other at the strange words he spoke and the unorthodox title he referred to himself as. "A Pokemon..." Jaden trailed off.
"Trainer?" Syrus picked up, tilting his head to the side in inquiry, "I remember you saying you were out of town, but-"
"OH I JUST REMEMBERED!" Jaden suddenly exclaimed, dramatically grasping his head with both hands, "That guy I met...he said his name was Palkia!"
Both Ash and the Flamvell Baby jumped, "PALKIA?" the echoed in unison.
"Yeah! He got me out of a jam!" Jaden enthused, giving all 3 of them eye contact, "He even gave me my duel disk back! I'm glad all my cards are safe. I thought I'd totally lost Neos back there!"
"Wh-what happened? Was it the only Pokemon? Did it say anything to you? Did you fight it? Did you capture it?" Ash questioned; each one leading him closer to Jaden until he was clutching the lapels of his outfit for dear life.
"Whoa whoa! We just met, bro! First Syrus, and now you too? I guess I'm cool and all, but touching like this is for the ladies only!"
"Sorry!" Ash apologized and quickly released his grip, much to Jaden's relief, "It's just, Palkia is a Pokemon from my world! I've never even gotten to see it but you have! You gotta tell me everything you know! That Pokemon is said to be able to manipulate time and space along with Dialga!"
" Palkia?" Syrus wondered, "And Die...Dee... Daa..."
"Dialga," both Ash and Jaden corrected in unison. From hearing them speak so confidently about the same thing although they were complete and utter strangers, Syrus shrank away from them a bit meekly, "Oh... uh... my bad..."
"It's ok, bro!" Jaden smiled radiantly to his friend, "So, how did you get yourself a Duel Spirit?"
"Huh? Uhhhhhhhhh" Ash trailed off, glancing to the baby with a wary expression as if the wrong words tumbled out of his mouth, he'd get smacked in the head by whim. Mocking innocence, the baby gave Ash a pure look—but Ash couldn't tell which extreme that "purity" was aligned with. "Is something wrong?" Flamvell Baby asked, feigning a delicate tone. Needless to say, this utterly creeped Ash out. With a laugh, the fiery eidolon took it upon himself to answer in place of Ash, "He got on my nerves so much, I figured I'd stick around to bother him for my own amusement. Nah, actually it was for a better reason than that, believe it or not. He has something he has no idea about..."
"? What's that Flamvell Baby?"
"I just said you didn't know, didn't I! You don't know what you don't know!"
"I- huh?"
For nearly three minutes, Ash and Jaden talked very brightly about the time-shifting Pokemon and Jaden's encounter with him. Syrus and Chazz listened in, but could only input inquiries and absurdities respectively. The only one who gave Jaden's story a hint of interest besides Ash was Alexis. Her two flighty friends walked by without a care in the world, but stopped at the doorway because their idol had. The inspiring duelist eyed the 3 with caution. The things they were saying sounded absurd. Boys. They hear something that sounds remotely cool to them and their minds get them carried away. Silently, her attention shifted to Ash, skimmed over Chazz and settled on Jaden. He always came to class late, when he did show up for class, but he wasn't that bad of a duelist. He must not have been to gain her attention.
"Alexis?" one of her admirers asked in a stuck up drawl, "Don't tell us you're believing those boyish stories are you?"
"Yeah, c'mon, lets go exchange make-up tips with our dueling divas," The other stated, flicking her hair over her shoulder.
"Yeah sure..." Alexis flatly agreed. Happily, her two friends looped their arms with hers and walked with her out the door. She tossed one last look over in the boys' direction before leaving. Her eyes met with Jaden's jubilant features for a moment before the frame of the doorway separated him from her line of vision.
"Hey, did you two hear about that teacher that's been cheating other students out of duels?" Jasmine questioned, lifting a finger to her angular locks and twirling a portion of them around it. Both Mindy and Alexis rolled their eyes and crossed their arms while making their way down the hallway. "Yeah I've heard," Mindy stated with a frown. She moved her eyes over to Alexis, "You?"
"Yeah, me too. It disgusts me that someone, a teacher of all people, would stood that low. Are they that afraid of losing? They deserve to be kicked out of this school!" Alexis continued, "Someone like that gives this school and the students a bad reputation. Someone should stop him."
"Like who, you? Or maybe that Slifer you like?" Jasmine groused, sucking her teeth and scrunching her face in a haughty way. It was as if the very form of the idea of Jaden in her mind and on her lips was some sort of contamination she wanted to be rid of as quickly as possible. She couldn't understand what such a great duelist like Alexis would see in a thing like that Slifer.
"Hey, that's not funny!" Alexis retorted in a firm tone. With a sigh, she turned away from the two girls and shook her head. Fortunately for her, with her back turned, they couldn't see the faint blush feathered over her cheeks, "And anyway, if I dueled him, it wouldn't be sense enough for him to quit. We need someone to get under his skin...someone to annoy him out of robbing our other classmates...we need someone like..." she trailed off; her mind teeming with thoughts of a certain Slifer Red duelist that was never much of the studious type but always had a smile on his face.
"Chazz?" Jasmine chimed in curiously.
"That cutie with the glasses that always sits behind us in class?" Mindy wondered, looking at her nails, "Too bad he's so short..."
"What? You mean that wasn't a GIRL?" Jasmine cried out in disbelief.
The two with common sense exchanged looks, then ran a hand through their hair. "No, he's not a girl! Anyway, Jasmine... if we're all going to talk, let's hurry before the next part of class starts, okay?" Alexis sighed.
"You got it! Besides, I need to go and thoroughly moisturize my wrists. My duel disk is too tight...It's been chaffing my skin again...!" Jasmine whined as she followed the two of them down the brightly lit corridor. As they did, one of the faculty members stealthily crept by them...
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Once the break ended and class resumed. About 4 minutes in to the second session, with Ash, Jaden and Syrus on the verge of falling asleep, one of the teachers entered the class and whispered something to the instructor. "What? More students were cheated out of their duels? Who is this teacher that is supposedly doing this?" he blurted out.
From hearing that Jaden ad Ash perked up, leaving Syrus to nearly fall out of his seat. "What? There's a cheating teacher on the loose? " Jaden perked up.
"Hey, let's go track him down!" Ash chimed in, "Someone's gotta do it! Let's go, Jaden! Syrus!"
"Yeah! I like the way you think, bro!" Jaden agreed. In contrast to their enthusiasm, Syrus shied away and held up his hands in caution, "I think I'ma sit this one out! I don't wanna lose! I already have a lot I need to study..." he confessed; his eyes trailing over to Ash. He may have lost yesterday, but he was going to do much better next time. He didn't know where his brother was, but he wanted to prove he could be a great duelist.
"Excuse me, teacher!" Ash shouted, standing to his feet. He gave a respectful bow, "May I please be excused from class?"
"Eh? What is your problem?" the teacher asked in a bored voice.
"Uhhh... I think I'm gonna be siiick! It's an emergency!" Ash griped, clutching his gut. With a sigh, the teacher shrugged, "You may go. And take Yuki with you. He seems eager to lend a hand... perhaps in holding your hair back."
Both Ash and Jaden glanced at the other as the comment simmered in their heads. Then they both made grotesque expressions. Ignoring the display the teacher continued, "So Jaden, you may also be excused." He already knew what they were both upto. He had heard of Jaden's reputation in dueling. Someone that reckless would at the least take the vigilante teacher by surprise.
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Ash and Jaden slid into the hallway—shortly after, they discovered the crooked teacher in the conclusion of falling another student. The two of them cut in and Ash ushered the student to the side. Within moments, Jaden confronted the teacher, Professor Ryuga, ready to throw down.
"Allright buddy, it's time someone put you in your place! Get your game on!"
Turning to observe the duel, Ash couldn't help but cringe, "Wow...he actually said THAT?"
"Let's DUEL!" the two combatants initiated.
"I'll go first, if ya don't mind!" Jaden stated, gathering his first hand and drawing for the turn. Elemental Hero Wildheart, Elemental Hero Sparkman, Elemental Hero Ocean, Alternate Fusion, Swamp of the Fallen and a Fusion spell were the options he had to choose from for his first turn. "Allright, I'm gonna throw down my Elemental Hero Sparkman(ATK1600/ DEF 1400) in attack mode! Then, I'ma call it a turn! Your move!"
Professor Ryuga snorted at Jaden's perky dialogue and drew his first card. He glanced at his opening hand of an Ultra Evolution Pill, Don Turtle, Hyper Hammerhead, Mega Thunderball, 2 Hydrogeddon—one of them he drew into. He ended up setting his spell card and playing his Mega Thunderball(ATK 750/DEF 600)in face up attack mode, but did not initiate battle with it.
"Huh?" Ash pondered from the sidelines, "Why did he do that? His monster is weaker than Jaden's Sparkman."
"Just watch," Flamvell Baby stated, keeping its beady eyes on Jaden. The brown-haired youth made a confused expression, then shrugged his shoulders, "That was a weird play. Either you're overconfident or you're trying to bait me into attacking you," he continued, adding his draw to his hand: Shield Strike, "And under normal circumstances, I'd take that bait head on to clear it out the way. But this time, I'ma play it a little safe and summon Elemental Hero Wildheart( ATK 1500/ DEF 1600) to the field!" Jaden called. A tanned well-built hero with a blade strapped to his back materialized into the field and stood proudly next to Sparkman, "He's not effected by traps so if that's what you have face down, he'll be ready for it! Now, it's your move, teach!"
For Ryuga's turn, he drew into his 3rd Hydrogeddon(ATK 1600/ DEF 1000) and growled in disgust. Well now there was no reason to play any of them, he had them all in his hand! But since he needed defense fodder, he put one in face down defense position anyway. But he left his Mega Thunderball in attack position. At this presumed misplay, Jaden and Ash quirked their brows. Either this teacher was doing his best to throw Jaden off guard or he really did have to cheat players in order to win. So far, his dueling was terrible and the term "skills" would only be laughable. And Ash of all individuals would understand.
"Uh.. ok... Anyway..." Jaden murmured, taking his turn. He drew into a Hero Barrier and set it. He then enabled his two monsters to attack. Sparkman dove for Hydrogeddon while Wildheart threw an axe at the Mega Thunderball causing Ryuga battle damage from it. (LP 4000- 750= 3250)
"Not bad, Jaden Yuki!" the professor retorted in a sarcastic tone so bad, both Jaden and Ash had to cringe from how awful it sounded. "What are you, some kinda reject super villain? Even I have better one liners than that. Now, take your turn so I can throw down a face down!"
"Ouch" Flamvell Baby retorted, scrunching his face while Ash scratched the back of his head, "Wow... that was terrible...!" he laughed low enough that only he and the spirit would hear. Even if Jaden did catch wind of what he said, the jubilant boy gave no indication of being bothered of such accusations. He simply stared warily at his opponent as he drew for his turn. Ryuga glanced at the Cyber Dinosaur and grinned. If the way he played was any indication to how a bad player he was, if Duel Monsters were Poker, he would have given his hand away. Luckily for Jaden, he had seen this type of behavior enough times in his life. He gave a nod towards the teacher's hand, "Looks like you've got yourself a winning card there, huh teach?"
"You could say that, " he chuckled nervously. For his play, he summoned Don Turtle(ATK 1100/ DEF 1200) to the field. Since there were no other copies of it in his hand, he couldn't utilize its effect and activated his Big Evolution Pill spell instead. By doing so, he tributed Don Turtle as cost for playing the spell and special summoned Cyber Dinosaur(ATK 2500/DEF 1900) from his hand. Now for 3 turns, as long as that spell stayed face up on the field, he could Normal Summon or Set dinosaur monsters without tributing. But that wasn't all he did for his turn, He ordered his Cyber Dinosaur to attack Jaden's Wildheart, thus taking a nice chunk out of his life points( LP 4000-1000=3000).
Next, Jaden drew into an Elemental Hero Woodsman. With both Woodsman, Polymerization and Ocean, he could fuse them for a greater monster. With that being one of the game-breaking plays he was waiting for, he went to place the spell down to activated, when his duel disk suddenly spat sparks at him. He recoiled and went to try it again, but it was no good. The system was rigged!
"Eeeheeheeheehee... having problems with your hardware, young man?" Ryuga sneered, wiggling his finger with the ring that controlled the the repel of playing spell cards on every other duel disk but his own.
"Why you dirty cheat! No wonder you have to stoop so low! And dude, gold is definitely not your color. Makes you look paler than you are. Fine, if that's how you wanna do things, I'll switch my Sparkman to defense position and set a monster down in face down defense mode!" he announced, setting his Ocean face down, "It's on you, teach."
"Of course it is," Ryuga grinned, drawing his card for the turn: Smashing Ground. " Next I'll summon Hyper Hammerhead ( ATK 1500/ DEF 1200) and use it to attack your face down!"
"Ah no you don't! I activate my face down trap, Hero Barrier! Your attack just got nullified and my hero got barrier-ed!"
"Thank you for that! Next, I'll play this shiny new Smashing Ground I obtained, destroying your Elemental Hero Sparkman. The one with the greater defense has its benefits towards your opponent, wouldn't you say?" Ryuga claimed, then pointed to his Hyper Hammerhead, "Because Hyper Hammerhead engaged in battle with a monster and didn't destroy it, it bounces it back to your hand, which means, I can attack you directly! Cyber Dinosaur, attack!"
"AGH!" Jaden shouted as he was propelled back first from the dino's severe attack (LP 3000-2500=500). "Ugh... Not bad... for a cheater. But that's fine with me. If you cheat you're not 133t, I'd say!"
"What?" Ryuga questioned utterly flabbergasted by what this hip teenager just sputtered while Ash and Flamvell Baby were shaking their heads and cringing from that terrible line. To this, Jaden laughed lightly while he staggered to his feet, "I know I know... I could've done better, but right now things aren't looking very good for our heroes..."
"Please, no more puns!" Ash finally confessed honestly to Jaden, "Just beat this guy!"
Ryuga clicked his tongue, "I end my turn! So much for your grand play. You look defeated already!"
"I never said I was down and out... just a little winded...! I'm fine!" he breathed, glancing at his draw for this turn, "Or should I say I'm 'pine'? I summon Elemental Hero Woodsman to the field in attack mode!"
"Ugh..." Ash, Flamvell Baby and even Ryuga groused, slapping a hand to their foreheads and making rather pained faces. "I'm just glad Syrus doesn't talk like this...!" Ash mumbled under his breath. As he did, he got the mental image of a petite innocent looking Syrus crossing his arms, making random gangster hand signs and gestures while spouting horrible cheesy puns and one-liners. To say the least, and a little to Jaden's credit, the thought was dreadfully horrid. Quickly, his mind shifted back to the duel at hand.
"I'm also gonna set 2 face downs and then end my turn!" He announced, setting Alternate Fusion and Swamp of the Fallen. Glad to be the one to hopefully win this duel, Ryuga drew for his turn. A Frostosaurus would look nice on his side of the field. And thanks to Big Evolution Pill, he could summon it directly without a tribute. Silently, his eyes trailed over to Jaden's side. He had two traps set face down. If they were spell cards, he wouldn't be able to activate them. He decided it better to play it safe and didn't attack for now. He wanted Jaden to dangle in defeat for a little while longer.
Jaden took full advantage of this and played his Elemental Hero Ocean yet again. But he also didn't attack. After setting his Shield Strike, he passed his turn. Ryuga was beside himself with what he thought was another student admitting failure and giving up. With an arrogant laugh, he ordered an attack with Cyber Dinosaur.
"I knew you'd do that!" Jaden exclaimed, "Trap cards activate! Swamp of the Fallen will halve your dino's attack in half!( ATK 2500/2= ATK 1250) While its attack was weakened, the creature still made a beeline for Woodsman who appeared rather doom-embracing at the moment. But Jaden wasn't through yet. "And then, I'll activate Alternate Fusion! And with both Ocean and Woodsman on the field, I can fuse them together to make Elemental Hero Terra Firma!" he shouted, throwing a hand into the air. The two monsters swirled together in a radiant light, merging to form one creature. Once summoned, Terra Firma gave a possessive roar and crossed his arms. Because Cyber Dino was already in process of attacking, it couldn't stop! And it ran right into the powerful 2500 ATK of Jaden's fusion, costing Ryuga 1250 LP and knocking his life point total down to 2000. As a final nail in the coffin Jaden activated Shield Strike. With it, after destroying an opponent's monster, he could deal direct damage equal to his own monster's defense points! And with Terra Firma, a DEF of 2000 was nothing to laugh at...for Ryuga that is. Because now, he had lost!
OoO
After the culprit had been relinquished to the authorities of the school, news of Jaden's courage spread throughout the classrooms in record time. Of course, his modest words were "It was nothing" and instead of having so much of the focus on himself, he relieved it to Ash. By this time, Chazz and Syrus had heard everything and were getting the whole story from Ash and Jaden directly. A certain gray-eyed blonde listened in as well, but from a distance. It wasn't long before her two best friends/admirers ushered her out the door with frivolous chatter of fashion and make up on their fickle lips.
After she left, Jaden paused in his recap and stared aimlessly off into space.
"What is it Jay?" Syrus questioned honestly, already starting to show concern for his best friend.
"Hmm?" Jaden wondered, placing his warm eyes on the smaller male. Then he smiled, "Anyone remember what time it is? I'm starving!"
"Getting a bite to eat sounds great," Ash chimed in, "And if you don't mind, can you tell me all about Terra Firma?"
OoO