Disclaimer: see chapter one
Chapter 48: Making the Grade Pt. 3
"Dark Roc (ATK: 2900), Dark Harpie Lady 1 (ATK: 1800) and Dark Harpie Lady 2 (ATK: 1800), Direct Attack!" Catherine (CLP: 3000) commanded as her monsters went for the kill and took out her opponent as his Life Points went down from 4500 to 0.
Kagome was dueling an opponent from Slifer Red. She had 1500 Life Points and no monsters or face-downs, while her opponent had 3000 Life Points and Invader of Darkness on the field and no face-downs. She knew that she had to think of something or she'll lose, "Watashi no time, draw!" Kagome drew her next card and smile, when she looked at it.
Her opponent noticed the smile and wonder what she was up to.
"I activate the Spell Card, Light Bond!" Kagome announced, "Now by fusing the Cyber Angels that's in my hand, I can create, Cyber Twin Angel!"
A vortex appeared on Kagome's field and the two angels were sucked into the vortex. The monster that was emerged onto Kagome's field was an angel with four wings, two at each side wearing a white sundress and a cybernetic wand (ATK: 2800), "Now thanks to Light Bond, my angel's attack doubles!"
Kagome's angel double for several seconds as her attack skyrockets (ATK: 2800) – (ATK: 5600), "Now my angel attack his Invader of Darkness, with Double Celestial Blast!"
The angel powers up the tip of her wand and fires two pink electrical blasts at the attack hits Invader of Darkness. Her covers her eyes and steals a glimpse of his monster getting blown away (?LP: 3000) – (?LP: 0300), "I'm still standing," the Slifer sneered
Kagome narrowed her eyes, "Not for long, because my Cyber Twin Angel can attack again!"
"Oh come on!" the Slifer yelled as Kagome's her angel blasts her attack at him and hits on impact. The Slifer screams as he falls onto the ground (?LP: 0300) – (?LP: 0000)
While this was going on, Ryoko had her arms crossed on her chest, waiting impatiently for her opponent, 'Where is this guy…' she thought
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Uh! Guys, you think that this is necessary," Syrus asked, with wary, as he was being carried by the arms by Yusuke and Kari, "I mean I'm gonna lose, I just know it."
"How could you know that you'll lose, before you duel?" Yusuke replied with a question
"Your opponent is at Field 4, that's where you'll be dueling at," Kari said.
They made it to the field and spotted the designated field, "No way!" Syrus gawked, as the Urameshi twins lets him down.
His opponent had turned around to meet with him, who was no other than Ryoko, "You're kidding!" she said.
"You're my opponent!" they yelled in unison, pointing at each other
"Hey Kari, I think we should leave before things get ugly," Yusuke suggested.
"I'm with you, bro." The twins walked away from the two Slifers, who were glaring at each other.
"Of all the Slifers I have to duel, I get stuck with Santa's Little Helper!" Ryoko insulted
Syrus snorted, "Better that than an annoying little bug!" He insulted back
"The only one, who's little around here, is you!" Ryoko readied her Duel Disk, "Duel Disk on!"
Syrus lifted his Duel Disk as well, "Duel Disk on!"
After the Duel Disks were activated, the Life Point meter went to 8000.
"I may be imagining it, but I think both Syrus and Ryoko have it in for each other." Jaden said.
Yusuke snorted, "You should have seen them in junior high." He said, "They wouldn't stop arguing at all."
"Boku no time, draw!" Ryoko said, drawing. After looking at her cards for a moment, she pulled one out, "I activate the Spell Card, A Legendary Ocean!" the playing field gets flooded and an underwater castle and city appears behind Ryoko, "Next, I'll summon 7 Colored Fish in attack mode!"
A multi-colored man-eating eel appeared in front of Ryoko and growling at Syrus, (ATK: 1800), "Thanks to my field card, my fish gets stronger!" (ATK: 1800/DEF: 0800) - (ATK: 2000/DEF: 1000) "Next, I'll place a face-down and end my turn."
"Boku no time, draw!" Syrus called, drawing his sixth card. He briefly overviewed his hand before selecting a card. "I'll start by summoning Steamroid in attack mode!" He slammed the card onto his disc and a large, cartoonish train appeared on his field. It stood on his hind wheels and blew its whistle (ATK: 1800). Just then, Steamroid was surprised as rust came upon him (ATK: 1800/DEF: 1800) – (ATK: 1600/DEF: 1600), "Hey what's going on with Steamroid!?!" Syrus yelled.
Ryoko shook her right index finger, teasing the blunette, "My Ocean is making it weaker that's why," she replied, "All Machine-Type monsters on the field gets weaker by 200 points."
"Why you?" Syrus sneered, glaring at Ryoko, "That's it! Steamroid, attack that fish with Steam-Power Smash!" The powerful train blew its whistle again and began charging 7 Colored Fish, steam pouring out its sides (ATK: 1600) – (ATK: 2100).
"Hey what's the deal, Pipsqueak!?!" Ryoko yelled, "Why did your train get stronger than my monster!?!"
"While attacking, Steamroid gains 500 extra attack points!" Syrus replied, "Fish sticks anyone!"
"You'll have to put a hold on that order," Ryoko hits a switch on her disc, and a trap flipped. "I activate Gravity Bind, now no monsters with more than 3-stars can attack as long as this card's out on the field. Sorry!" After stopping its attack, Steamroid turned back to Syrus's field and crashed (ATK: 2100) – (ATK: 1600).
"Boku no time, draw," Ryoko slid a card off of her disc and added it to her hand, then she examined her cards. She nodded. "I sacrifice my 7 Colored Fish to summon Levia-Dragon-Daedalus!"
After the multi-colored fish disappears, a huge sea monster appears and roared (ATK: 2600/DEF: 1500) – (ATK: 2800/DEF: 1700). "Then, there's my monster's special ability, now by sending A Legendary Ocean, I can destroy all cards on the field, except for my sea-monster."
Syrus gasped, "Uh oh!"
"That would mean that Syrus will be wide open for a direct attack!" Yusuke said.
As soon as Ryoko sends her Field Spell Card to the Graveyard slot, water came swirling into a tornado and destroyed everything, with the exception of Levia-Dragon-Daedalus (ATK: 2800/DEF: 1700) – (ATK: 2600/DEF: 1500).
Syrus took a step back in shock, realizing that he's in big trouble.
"Now Levia-Dragon-Daedalus, attack with Tidal Surge!"
The sea monster powers up a yellow blast in its mouth and blasts it at Syrus. The blunette screams as he is hit by the blast head-on (SLP: 8000) – (SLP: 5400).
Ryoko placed a triumph grin on her face, "That ends my turn!"
"Boku no time, draw!" Syrus immediately slipped another card off of his deck. When he saw it, his face brightened. "I activate my Graceful Charity Spell Card!" he said, "Now I can draw three new cards, as long as I discard two cards from my hand!" Syrus drew three cards and discard two to the Grave slot. When Syrus surveyed his hands, he was shocked at the card that was at the far left, 'Oh no…' he thought.
Ryoko noticed something with the little blunette and wondered if he drew something that would win the duel.
Syrus eyed the card with anxiety and wondered if he should play it or not. He finally made his decision, "I activate Polymerization, along with Cybernetic Fusion Support! By trading in half of my Life Points (SLP: 5400) – (SLP: 2700), I can fuse Drillroid, Submarineroid and Steamroid to summon Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill!"
Steamroid, a cartoonish submarine and a cartoonish monster with drills on his nose and hands, with tank wheels were all pulled in a vortex and came out as a huge monster, whale-shaped with a drill as a nose and tank wheels appeared in front of Syrus (ATK: 3000).
Ryoko took a step back in shock, "3000 attack points," she murmured.
"That's not all," Syrus said, "Next, I'll activate Fusion Weapon! This can only be equipped to fusion monsters and my Jumbo Drill fits the bill!"
Jumbo Drill's drills began to rotate and becomes powerful (ATK: 3000) – (ATK: 4500), "In case you hadn't figured it out yet," Syrus said, "Fusion Weapon increases to attack points of the monster it's equipped to by 1500! But it doesn't stop there, now I activate the Spell Card, Limiter Removal. Now all Machine-Type monsters' attack points are doubled and guess what type Jumbo Drill is!"
Jumbo Drill's drills are spinning even faster than ever (ATK: 4500) – (ATK: 9000), "Now Jumbo Drill, attack Levia-Dragon-Daedalus, with Drill Power Punch!"
Jumbo Drill used its drills to dig into the ground and speeding under to get to Levia-Dragon-Daedalus. Ryoko could feel the ground shaking to her surprise, Jumbo Drill came out and destroys the sea monster. Ryoko grimaced (RLP: 8000) – (RLP: 1600)
"Syrus took out more than Ryoko's Life Points!" Kelly said.
"But Limiter Removal's little side effect comes in now," Yusuke said.
"I play one card face-down and end my turn!" Syrus said as a card appears on the field. As expected, Jumbo Drill self-detonates and was destroyed into pieces, leaving Syrus with no monster out. Syrus looked at the card that was in his hand and knew that he didn't need this card now.
Ryoko wondered what Syrus was looking at. Could he have had a way to finish her off at this turn but didn't use the card? "Boku no time, draw!" Ryoko ripped a card from her Deck, in anger. If Truesdale had a card in his little hand that could have finished the duel now, then she would have been now mad, "I activate Premature Burial! Now at the cost of 800 Life Points (RLP: 1600) – (RLP: 800), I get to summon a monster from my Graveyard to field and I choose Levia-Dragon-Daedalus in attack mode!"
The sea monster ripped from the ground and roared (ATK: 2600), "Next I summon Mermaid Knight in attack mode!"
A mermaid in battle garments appears, swing her sword wildly and had her shield ready (ATK: 1500), "Now my monsters there's a little guppy meal with your name on it, attack!" she commanded, pointing at Syrus.
The monsters rushed in for Syrus. Mermaid Knight slashed Syrus with her sword (SLP: 2700) – (SLP: 1200) and pressed the button of his Duel Disk. The card was flipped up, "You've activated my Trap Card, Magic Cylinder!"
Two cylinders appears in front of Syrus, "Now the attack gets redirected back at you!" he said.
"Sorry not going to happen, Truesdale," Ryoko said, sliding a card from her hand to the disk, "I activate Trap Booster, now by sending a card from my hand, I can activate a Trap Card from my hand and I choose Trap Jammer and it cancels out your Trap, Shorty!"
The cylinders was destroyed and Syrus took on Levia-Dragon-Daedalus's attack head on (SLP: 1200) – (SLP: 0000). Syrus was thrown off his feet and crashed onto the ground, from the impact.
"Poor Syrus," Kagome said.
"He did do his best, though." Yusuke said.
Syrus sat up and felt a harsh grab onto his wrist and was pulled up onto his feet. Syrus looked at Ryoko, who was holding his wrist firmly and searched through his hand. When she found what she was looking for, she fixed her glare to Syrus, "You mean that you had this card in your hand and you didn't play it!" she barked, squeezing Syrus's wrist hard.
"Ouch, hey what are you doing!?!" Syrus yelped and tried to pull from Ryoko's grip, but no avail, "Let me go! You're hurting me!"
Ryoko ignored, Syrus's plea of pain, while squeezing harder, cutting off Syrus's blood flow, "I don't care! Why didn't you play it!?!" she yelled, "Why didn't you play Power Bond, you little twerp!?!" Ryoko stared Syrus harder than ever, "You could have won with that card."
Syrus tries to get the grip loose, "Stop it," he murmured, as he felt tears coming from his eyes in pain.
Just then, Yusuke, Jaden, Kelly, Kagome, Kira, Bastion and Kari came in and loosen Ryoko's grip on Syrus's wrist for the blunette to get his wrist away and rubbed it.
"What the hell's going on?" Kari asked.
"He had a card in his hand that could have got the duel in his favor!" Ryoko replied, pointing at Syrus.
The twins looked at Syrus, "Is that true, Sy?" Yusuke asked.
"It's just that I'm not good enough to play that card, according to my brother!" Syrus barked as he made a run for it.
"Hey Syrus!" Yusuke and Jaden ran after the blunette.
Ryoko was still angry that Syrus threw the match, because of what his brother told him. Of all the time that she's known Syrus Truesdale, she never got along with him, they end up in arguments, and they fight. But never had she ever seen Syrus like this at all.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Later in the day, the Dorm results for the exams were posted up on a bulletin board in the middle of the hallway. There was a large crowd around it, making it near impossible to see the scrap of paper.
"Move it." A steely voice bit through the ruckus and babble. Everyone who recognized the voice immediately parted to let the speaker through. Sure enough, there was Zane Truesdale, along with Hikari Urameshi, Alexis Rhodes, a Ra and eight other Slifers that weren't well known yet.
As soon as the three Obelisks were through, the crowd refused to let the Ra and Slifers pass, on account of them being the lowest rank in the school. At the sudden loss of pathway, Kelly lost her balance and fell to the ground with a loud, "Ow!"
Yusuke, Jaden and Syrus knelt so that they were by her side. "You alright, Kelly?" At her affirmative nod, they glared at the people who had denied them access.
"Come on, let us through. We're with Alexis and the others-" Jaden was interrupted by hard-edged voice that could scare the toughest fighters.
"Who pushed her down?" Kari inquired of the crowd coldly. There was a painfully loud hush as no one admitted to doing anything. Staring at the audience with a scowl that promised pain, she walked over to the fallen Slifer and held out her hand to help her up.
Gratefully, she accepted it and pulled herself to her feet, brushing dust off her pants gently. Facing Kari she said, "Thanks. Now let's go check the results."
Kari Urameshi glowered at the pack of persons; they immediately got the message and parted into a little pathway that they could walk across. Kelly did so, and reached Alexis at the board. Kari was right behind her, as well as Yusuke, Ryoko, Kagome, Kira, Catherine, Jaden and Syrus, who seemed to cool down after his argument with Ryoko.
Bastion grinned, "Well, I don't know about you guys but I've got the eight highest score here."
Alexis grinned, "Yes! I got the fourth highest score in the school!" Frowning, she realized that the result was worse than what she normally got. "Wait. Fourth?" Checking the list, she saw that Jaden and Syrus had failed their written exams, but Jaden, Kelly and Ryoko were promoted, "Hey congratulations Jaden, Kelly and Ryoko, you guys were promoted to Ra!"
"A Ra Yellow!" Syrus gawked.
"It must have been from Jaden winning his duel with Chazz Princeton." Kari said.
Zane searched for his name as well. "I have the highest score." He murmured.
Kari found hers quickly. "I'm second."
Kagome scanned her name on the list and formed sharp gasp, "Awesome, I got the sixth highest score in the school!"
Catherine looked at and used her blue eyes to scan for her name, "Yeah right under my name, mate!" she said, "I've got the fifth highest score!"
Kira found hers and was surprised, "I'm have seventh highest score here!"
Yusuke's chocolate brown eyes scanned the paper promptly and he abruptly gasped. Shocked at his current expression, his friends took a look at the results again.
"No way!" Kari gawked
"It can't be…" Ryoko added
"Hey!" Cried out Syrus. "You're in third! That means you get to go into Obelisk, Yusuke!"
The stupefied boy was overwhelmed with congratulations, because in his past life he'd be in dead last if he took the exam. Kari shook her brother's shoulders. "Good job, Yusuke! That means that you, Kagome, Catherine and Kira will be with us from now on!" Zane gave them a curt nod of his head. Jaden and Syrus cheered and did weird looking celebration dances.
Yusuke made a genuine smile on his face. He knew that he will be an Obelisk in the later days of the semester by Dr. Crowler, but third best duelist in the world's prestigous dueling school. He didn't imagine that it could happen to him. Ever since he's met up with Yumi, things have gone very smoothly with him. He doesn't even feel like his old idiot self.
Ryoko twitched her eyebrows, 'How in the world did Yusuke Urameshi, former street thug of our old school and horrible student and duelist, got promoted straight to Obelisk?' she thought, 'It must have been that two turn move that he made in the entrance exams. What's more is that ever since he and Keiko broke up, Urameshi's not the same person as I remembered. He doesn't pick fights or he doesn't skip classes, anymore. He finishes pop quizzes second, after Bastion finishes. Gets praises from teachers, especially Crowler, who seems to hate us, Slifers, so much. He even defeated the Obelisk Blue student, Chazz Princeton, who seem to be one of the best students there, in just one turn. Besides Jaden, he's the best student in our first year class. Was it the break up is that changed him for the better?'
-Syrus's Deck List-
New Cards Used
Cybernetic Fusion Support (S), Drillroid (M), Fusion Weapon (S), Graceful Charity (S), Limiter Removal (S), Magic Cylinder (T), Polymerization (S), Power Bond (S), Steamroid (M), Submarineroid (M), Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill (M).
-Ryoko's Deck List-
New Cards Used
7 Colored Fish (M), A Legendary Ocean (S), Gravity Bind (T), Levia-Dragon-Daedalus (M), Mermaid Knight (M), Premature Burial (S), Trap Booster (S), Trap Jammer (T).