CHAPTER 7: A Spiral of Negativity
Monday
Time 10:00
Red Hat and his friends were at the tennis court, with Red Hat practicing alone against one person, while Jaden and Syrus played against Jasmine and Mindy.
"In short, we're here to learn how to duel. What does tennis have to do with dueling?" Jaden wondered.
"Well, they have a lot in common. The turns and the speed and the heavy play." Mindy responded as she hit the ball with her tennis racket.
"Well, in this case…" Jaden jumped up hitting the ball really hard. But unfortunately he had hit her badly, and she was sent to another part of the field, towards Alexis.
"Move over Alexis!" Jaden yelled as the ball headed towards her. But someone ran towards her, pushing the ball away.
Unfortunately, the ball went against the least suited person at the moment.
"Call me Dr. Crowler!" The director of the Obelisk blue dormitory was refereeing another game. When at that moment the ball hit him full in the face.
"I have the feeling it's not going to end well for Jaden." Red Hat thought, letting out a last-minute laugh for the scene.
The Slifer with the red hat walked over to the group to make sure everything was okay, though after seeing the person who had helped Alexis he wished he hadn't.
"Are you okay? Do you want me to take you to the infirmary?" The boy asked Alexis trying to give what for him was a bright smile.
Mindy and Jasmine immediately fell in love with this guy, they even had heart eyes.
"That's okay, thanks." Alexis thanked.
As soon as he looked at Alexis face, that boy's face turned red.
" Ehm, do you need me to carry you to the nurse? " Alexis asked him.
As soon as the boy came to his senses, he decided to walk away from Alexis as he bragged about his tennis skills.
" I don't know Alexis well, but I don't think she would ever like a guy like that." Red Hat thought.
" Blymey, that guy is weird. " Jaden commented as he approached the group.
The worst then came with the voice of someone who didn't like it very much. "Jaden Yuki!" Crowler yelled after them, his face red with rage with black right eye. "You come with me, NOW!" Crowler picked up Jaden and brought him along.
Red Hat worried about his friend decided to follow them secretly.
Jaden found himself in the nurse, along with Miss Fontaine treating Crowler eye, with Red Hat eavesdropping from behind the door.
"I'm really, really sorry." Jaden apologized. "Is that okay?"
"No, your apology is still not enough." Miss Fontaine took Crowler's head and turned it in his direction, to treat his eye. "You have to put more force into it. Some of my vertebrae are completely blocked." He yelled in anger.
"You know Dr Crowler, I witnessed the accident and I can tell you it wasn't Jaden who hit you, excuse me." Fontaine tried to defend the student, from Crowler who had an exaggerated reaction towards him as usual, while placing an ice pack on his eye.
"No, I'm not sorry. Because all the action started with Jaden! And rest assured I saw it with my own eyes!" Miss Fontaine knew Crowler didn't like Jaden, but until now she couldn't believe it. "Or at least with one." He said pointing to his eye. A bead of sweat dripped from the back of her neck.
Red Hat who was listening to the whole speech from behind the door, began to get more and more angry with Crowler.
"He's a Cyclops." Jaden mumbles under his breath.
"Can you repeat what you said, Slifer?!" Crowler said turning to him.
Red Hat, hearing the joke, laughed as softly as he could.
"Look, if you want to punish me, I promise I won't play tennis again. I don't like it anyway." Jaden said.
"You don't like tennis huh?" Cowler asked as he approached Jaden suspiciously. "Then I can't think of a better punishment for your crime. I'll force you to play, having our captain supervise you. He'll fix you in a heartbeat."
"No please, I said I'm sorry." Jaden said as he was already shaking at the idea of the effort he was about to have.
"Yes, of course, and you'll be sorry even more." Crowler yelled at him.
Hearing that they were about to leave, Red Hat hurried away from the door.
Meanwhile, Crowler brought Jaden back to the tennis court, where he was training an Obelisk, who was the same person who had helped Alexis before. "Harrington Rosewood, do you want to come here." Crowler called.
"Dr. Crowler, do you need anything?" asked Harrington.
"This Slifer needs some punishment, you should supervise him to get him back in shape." Crowler said.
"Okay, I got it all. It's been a long time since I've done this. You don't have to worry, I'll take care of it."
"Very well, make sure you teach him a lesson." Crowler said before walking away. But then he came up with one of his revenge ideas which made him smile a lot to take revenge on the other Slifer who had humiliated him. He turned again to Harrington. "Ah, one more thing Harrington. There's another Slifer I'd like you to deal with if you ever see him. You'll recognize him easily, he always wears a red hat. If you see him punish him too."
"Don't worry, if I see him I'll be sure to teach him a lesson."
"Very well, in the meantime I'll leave Jaden in your hands." Crowler said as he left thinking that he would be able to get rid of the two Slifers.
It had been almost two hours, at the tennis court, Harrington was serving Jaden some fastballs that he couldn't catch.
"I was convinced I was here to play tennis, not run like a crazy." Jaden said exhausted as he tried to catch his breath. Harrington tossed him another ball. "Blimey, that guy is a mastiff." He added as he tried to catch this ball too.
Harrington approached the field net, while Jaden tried to get some rest. "You have to suffer to win. You have to sweat to make your muscles grow. Real champions don't rest. So hurry up if you want to win the race."
"You made yourself clear, Harrington. Stop this list of proverbs. All right, I get it."
"Hey, you don't speak in first person if you're part of a team. This is the most important rule of tennis. Keep that in mind."
"But if we're playing singles." Jaden answered him.
"Don't be funny. Get up, we still have to practice our forehands and backhands. Maybe with a hundred dribbles you'll be able to play decently. You understand. Now move!" Harrington ordered.
At that moment Harrington did not notice that Syrus, Jasmine and Mindy were behind him.
" I get it, this guy is a nut. This cliches, this crazy practicing. " Syrus sayed.
"You know, he is a bit obsessive." Jasmine agrees with Syrus.
"I wish he would obsess over me." Mindy added who was really into the boy.
After several tennis balls tossed by Harrington, Jaden finally managed to hit one, but fell to the floor in exhaustion.
The tennis ball landed at Lexi's feet and she picked it up. She started walking towards the field, ignoring Harrington who was hitting on her to go to Jaden.
Needless to say, Harrington grew jealous of the conversation between the two. "Hey, time out. You can't talk to a girl like Alexis. So stay away from my little Obelisk pixie." He said in jealous rage.
"I see Crowler has found someone else to use to torment Jaden." Said a voice from behind everyone present. They turned to see that it was Red Hat speaking as he walked towards them.
Alexis didn't feel surprised by the presence of the troubled Slifer. "Oh no, I predict trouble already." she thought.
"Hey Red Hat, how long have you been here?" Jaden asked.
"Enough to see this idiot act like a tyrant." He answered, turning to Harrington.
"Hey, what did you call me?!" After a few seconds, Harrington took a good look at him, he recognized him from the description Crowler had given him of the other Slifer that he would have to punish if he met him, he started smiling at that point. "Well, well, look who we have here. You're the other Slifer Crowler asked me to line up."
Red Hat completely ignored his threats. "As if someone like you could ever scare me. I'm only here to deal with conceited Obelisk blues like you."
Harrington rejected her words completely. "Do you seriously think you have a chance to beat me, Slifer? Please, you just can't hold a candle to someone like me. "
"Funny, I was about to say the same thing. Look, I've heard a lot of Obelisks saying they were able to defeat me, but they were wrong and I destroyed them all from first to last." Red Hat answered amused.
"Okay, that's too much. First you come here and now you try to humiliate me in front of Alexis. Well, time to flex your muscles!" said Harrington putting on the duel puck.
"Okay, let's see if you can hold on longer than the others." Red Hat answered putting on his duel disk too.
The group had seen everything from how it came to a duel. "Okay, I'm not surprised, I knew if Red Hat was here, he would end up dueling him too." Syrus commented.
"It seems that Red Hat has come at the right time to help me with Harrington. Him don't care if he ends up in trouble." Jaden said as he joined the group. "However, now I want to duel with Harrington." He added, while everyone shed a drop of sweat for his comment.
Alexis, on the other hand, was serious about the situation. "Red Hat I understand you want to help Jaden, but you really have to do it this way." He wondered in his mind.
DUEL
Red Hat: 8000 LP
Harrington: 8000 LP
" I go first. I draw!" Red Hat draws
Hand 6
" I activate Graceful Charity. So I draw three cards, then I discard two. (discards D.D. Warrior Lady and Sangan). I set a monster facedown, then I set a card facedown and end my turn. "
Hand 4
"What, that's all? Alright, it doesn't matter I'll still win. I draw!" Harrington draws.
Hand 6
" I play the spell Service Ace! I'll explain how it works, now I choose a card from my hand, you have to guess if it's a monster, a spell, or a trap. If you guess right, everything is fine, but if you're wrong, you lose 1500 life points." Harrington explained.
"I say the card you chose is a spell card." Red Hat replied.
Harrington smiled smugly. "Are you sure? Can you still change your mind?"
"I said it's a spell card! So hurry up!" Red Hat replied, who seemed to be getting impatient.
Harrington showed the card he had chosen, which was LaLa Li-Oon. "it's a monster. who looks like we found another thing you're bad at huh. Anyway, now we'll put this card away and let loose the big stroke, Service Ace! Good luck returning this shot pal. " A beam of light was shot from the of Harrington card and aimed at Red Hat.
Red Hat: 8000 – 6500 LP
"If he thinks he can beat me with so little, he's very wrong."
" 15 to 0. And to complete the set I set a card facedown. Your service."
Hand 3
"Perhaps the rumors about Harrington aren't all false?" Alexis had wondered.
"What are you referring to, Alexis?" Jaden asked listening to her friend.
"It is said that Harrington is on par with Zane in dueling skills." Alexis explained.
"What?!" Syrus was shocked to hear this statement. " If Harrington is on the same level as my brother, I don't think Red Hat has a chance of winning. "
"I wouldn't worry at all. Red Hat is a very strong duelist, I'm sure he can win." Jaden reassured Syrus. "Aside from that, I wish I had dueled him. It would have helped me prepare for a rematch against Zane." Jaden last statement stunned everyone.
Alexis quickly recovered her composure after Jaden's words. " Indeed, Jaden is not wrong. Red Hat may be considered a troublemaker by all, but his dueling skills are better than most at the academy. I wonder if he's on his same level, although it is still too early to tell. "
Without any of them noticing anything, Red Hat had managed to hear most of the speech, a certain part was the one that interested him the most. "Who is Zane? Jaden seems to get quite excited hearing about him.
"So Slifer, do you want to serve or what?" Harrington said teasing Red Hat.
" Here I am. I draw. "
Hand 5
" I activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards. I then flip my facedown monster, Magician of Faith (Atk: 300 – Def: 400). its flip effect is activated. Graceful charity from my graveyard, return to my hand. But I will play it immediately, as before I draw three cards and then discard two (discards D.D. Warrior and Jinzo). I banish D.D. Warrior Lady and Sangan from my graveyard to special summon Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning (Atk: 3000 – Def: 2500) ". The appearance of Red Hat ace monster left the audience speechless.
"I still have a hard time believing that Red Hat has a card like this." Alexis commented.
"Don't tell me, I'd like to know where he gets them." Syrus added.
"It's a sweet monster! Maybe I should challenge Red Hat before Zane." Jaden said very enthusiastically.
"How the hell can a Slifer like you own such a rare card." Harrington said now in a panic at the sight of the Red Hat monster.
" Wait to amaze yourself, the best is yet to come. I activate Monster Reborn to summon Jinzo from my graveyard (Atk: 2400 – Def: 1500). " The cyborg monster has appeared on the Red Hat side of the field. " Now that Jinzo is on the field the effect of the trap cards will no longer have an effect, if you were hoping that I didn't notice that you wanted to use your set card you were wrong. "
"What?! This can't be true, this isn't really happening?!" Harrington, panicked now.
"Now I play Limiter Removal, so until the end of the turn Jinzo attack points are doubled (Atk: 2400 – 4800 – Def: 1500) Magician of Faith, Jinzo attack him directly! " Both monsters followed suit, charging their attacks to hit Harrington.
Harrington: 8000 – 7700 – 2900 LP
"Black Luster Soldier give him the final blow! Chaos Sword Slash!" The knight gathered strength in his sword which began to glow before striking Harrington.
Harrington: 2900 – 0 LP
Harrington was now on his knees. "I can't have lost in front of Alexis eyes. It can't be true."
Having said this Harrington ran away in tears. "But did he really think he had a chance with Alexis?"
"You were amazing Red Hat." Jaden complimented Red Hat as he walked up with him followed by Syrus.
"Thanks Jaden." After these compliments, Red Hat wanted to ask the friend a question about before. "Jaden can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, just ask."
"During the duel I heard you mention someone, you said his name was Zane. I was wondering who he was."
"Zane is my older brother." Syrus replied. "He's a Obelisk blue, and he's also the strongest duelist in the entire academy." He added.
"That's the truth, Zane is very strong. When I dueled him he beat me." Jaden added.
The last part of what Jaden said got a lot of attention from Red Hat. "Did he beat you?"
" That's right. But even though I lost, I have to say it was one of the best duels I've ever had."
Red Hat couldn't believe it. He thought he and Jaden were the best in the academy. And instead he discovered that there is someone much stronger than Jaden.
"Well how about we go back to the dorm now." Jaden suggested. His friends nodded in response, so the Slifer trio walked off the tennis court, leaving Alexis and her friends behind.
"That boy is really a savage." Jasmine complained.
"Yeah you're right, that Red Hat is really mean." Mindy agreed.
Alexis sighed at their complaints. "He's a rather complicated person. Leave him alone, it's better." Having said this, the trio of girls from the Obelisk blue also went back to their dormitory.
As the boys returned to their dormitory, Jaden decided to ask his friend a question to satisfy his curiosity. "Hey, Red Hat, I was wondering. All the cards you have are very rare, where did you find them."
Red Hat was thinking about what to say, he didn't really like remembering his past. At Jaden question the memories he tried to forget came back to him. He chose first how to answer him. "I've been collecting these cards since I became a duelist, others I've won in local tournaments where I live, that's all I can tell you. "
"Forgive my curiosity, but why did you want to become a duelist?" Syrus asked him now.
Red Hat knew sooner or later they would ask about his background, so he had to be careful what he said. He trusted Jaden and a little Syrus in his way, but preferred to forget. "Because of my father, he was a very strong duelist, he taught me everything he knew."
"Really, if so can you introduce me to duel him please." Jaden asked excitedly after hearing that Red Hat had a father as a duelist who he thought was very strong.
"I don't think it's possible Jaden. My father has retired by now, he doesn't duel anymore." Red Hat replied.
"Oh, what a shame." Jaden replied sadly from the broken wish.
" It doesn't bother you about what everyone thinks about you." Syrus asked.
"To be honest I don't care at all. If I'm aggressive it's only because most people don't take duels as seriously as I do. Take the Blue Obelisk for example, they act like they're the best for their position than those that they don't even earn on their own, but that they buy with their own money. That's why I prefer to stay at Slifer red, it may be considered the lowest dorm in Duel Academy, but for me, it's by far the best." Explained his thought Red Hat.
"You may say it. Our dorm may not be as luxurious as the others, but it sure is fantastic." Jaden replied wrapping his arm around Red Hat. "But Red Hat, you should learn to have fun, when I see you it seems to me that you are full of rage. Duels are made for fun, and so that all the challenges become exciting." Jaden added.
Hearing what Jaden was trying to tell him, even Red Hat couldn't help but smile at his friend's words. " I'll try. "
With that said the trio returned to their dormitory.
Tuesday
Time 00:00
During the night, a duel was taking place in the forest. The person dueling was a Obelisk blue that was pushed to the ground with all of its cards spread out. He raised his head to look at his opponent against which he had lost. He was a very large person, almost like a giant, he was wearing a lot of Obelisk blue jackets with sunglasses.
"I'll take this." The huge figure said as he picked up one of the Obelisk cards. "You were lucky you only lost one card tonight." The Obelisk was frozen with fear. "Next time take it out on someone your size."
Wednesday
Time 11:00
In the main building of the Academy a group of three Obelisks were talking to each other.
" They told me he showed up again last night. "
" I heard it too. Those who saw it said it was huge. "
"Hey guys, what's going on?" Jaden asked as soon as he arrived.
As soon as they saw that Red Hat was with him, the three Obelisks ran away.
"I really can't stand those three idiots. Who do they think they are." Jaden said.
"But look how unpleasant they are. They speak ill of us and leave without saying goodbye." Syrus added.
"Guys, those were talking about the Duel Giant." Chumley revealed.
"The Duel Giant?" Jaden asked confused.
Red Hat and Syrus were confused by this too.
"Yeah. He's a giant dude who is challenging and beating all the students in the Obelisk blue dorm. The scariest thing is that he only shows up at midnight." Chumley explained.
"Wait, I heard this story." Syrus interrupted. "He also takes the cards." He added.
" Yeah, He makes them duel with an ante. You know when you bet your best card, if you lose you have to hand it to him. "
"But isn't that illegal?" Syrus asked.
" Yes, in fact he duels in disguise. He's wearing the jackets of the Obelisks that he beats. "
Red Hat was silent as he listened to the whole story. "I don't think the cards he gets from those idiots will do him any good. With most of my dueling I haven't seen anyone use cards that interest me." He thought.
After a few seconds, a very disgruntled Dr Crowler passed. "It's a nightmare. First that Slifer with the red hat making fun of the whole Obelisk blue dorm! And now on top of that there's this Duel Giant stealing cards! If Chancellor Sheppard found out he'd fire me!" He yelled. As he walked he saw that there was a handful of Slifers, including the two who had caused him much trouble. "Jaden and Red Hat." It was then that another of his crazy ideas occurred to him. "Wait, this might be the solution. Oh, Jaden, I've been looking for you."
"Something's wrong here. He's never nice to us." Syrus asked suspiciously.
"Would you like to have no more homework for the rest of the year?" Crowler asked him.
"No more homework?" Jaden asked.
" It would also apply to Syrus, but you should do something for me. So what do you think?"
Red Hat pulled down the peak of his hat. " This is certainly one of his traps, otherwise why ask us. "
"Well, that's fine with me." Jaden replied.
"Wait a minute, what should we do for him?" Syrus asked concerned.
"Nothing complicated. Let's just say it's some kind of school trip." Crowler said with a smile on his face.
"I love school trips." Jaden answered excitedly.
" I love grilled cheese. But sometimes it depends on who serves it to me." Chumley answered, also suspicious.
" So where is this class trip taking us? " Jaden asked.
"Around the campus. I need you to duel and expose the guy who organizes the illegal duels. You know who I'm talking about. The one they call the Duel Giant." Crowler answered him.
"Yeah the one who makes fun of his dorm." Jaden commented.
Hearing those words Red Hat I try to keep from laughing very hard. " I could not have used better words to describe them. "
Crowler was about to yell at him, but pulled away at the last moment. "Well, that fact doesn't matter. Good luck." At that moment Crowler bolted away with a smile on his face. "This plan is perfect. If Jaden comes back with this duelist I'll get them both expelled for having an illegal duel. I'll get rid of him first, then I'll think about that other Slifer, I'm a genius."
"Come on, let's find this Duel Giant." Jaden said, raising his arm in the air as a sign of encouragement.
"Um, listen Jaden is it too late to say this is a bad idea?" Syrus asked concerned.
"Syrus is right Jaden. Crowler hates you, why should he ask you for help, I bet this is just another of his crazy plans to send you away." Red Hat expressed his thoughts on the situation.
"I know he hates me, but how can I say no to no homework, a field trip and a duel." Jaden replied
"Why don't we say no?" Syrus asked.
"He's right, you can say no for once." Chumley asked.
"Yes." Jaden answered quietly.
Syrus and Chumley groaned at their friend's response. While Red Hat laughed at the answer. " In whatever situation you find yourself, you are always positive. " He was thinking.
"How do we find this guy?" Syrus asked.
Jaden didn't answer the question.
"Wait, don't we have a plan? Let's go from the frying pan into the fire."
"The only thing to do is get to work." Jaden cheered.
After a while, Jaden and the others were looking for traces of the Duel Giant. However, Jaden dragged them into the arena where a duel was taking place between a Obelisk blue and a Ra yellow.
"Jaden, if we keep wasting time like this we'll never find the Duel Giant." Syrus complained.
"You really say, well, that's better." Chumley said.
"It doesn't matter to me that much." Red Hat commented.
"Stop complaining. Let's watch the duel."
The Obelisk blue had Marauding Captain in attack position (Atk: 1200 – Def: 400).
He faced a Ra yellow, as short as Syrus, with green hair. In the field he had Mad Sword Beast (Atk: 1400 – Def: 1200).
Both had very few life points.
Obelisk blue: 200 LP
Ra yellow: 300 LP
The yellow Ra looked at the cards in his hand. "Okay, now I'm playing...".
Jaden, leaning forward, realized that the yellow Ra had a card in his hand that could make him win. "Great. He have Earthquake in his hand. You can tell the duel is over."
"What does Earthquake do?" Syrus asked
"The spell card Earthquake makes all face up monsters switch to Defense Position. He just plays it and then attacks with Mad Sword Beast which deals piercing damage." Red Hat explained to him.
The young Ra yellow was trying to decide the right move to make. " Come on Brier, you put him in trouble. Now win the duel and leave. Forget they're looking at you. Do I use Earthquake to switch his monster to defense position? Or should I already attack him?"
Even Red Hat had become aware of the card in his hand as he watched the duel. "What he is waiting for? He just needs to use Earthquake to win." He wondered in his mind.
"Hey, hurry up. I'd like to finish before the school year." His opponent said getting impatient.
Brier recoiled at his opponent's words.
There were three other Obelisk blues making fun of him.
" What's the matter short stack? You can't see over the cards? "
"Looks like the little baby gonna cry. Do you want to call your mom."
Brier tried to concentrate, despite the constant insults. "Which card is right?"
"You hurry up. I'm tired of waiting." The opponent finished, becoming impatient.
Brier closed his eyes before making his move. " I attack your monster with Mad Sword Beast."
"What?" Jaden and Red Hat were confused by his move.
The Obelisk smiled. " Well, at this point I play my face down card. The trap, Reinforcements which gives my Marauding Captain 500 attack points." The now boosted Warrior charged into the opposing monster.
Brier: 300 – 0 LP
"Too bad, he could have won." Jaden said.
"A classic case of stage fright..." a voice said.
Everyone turned to see who had spoken, to see Bastion next to them standing with arms crossed watching everything.
"Hi Bastion." Syrus greeted.
"That boy is very talented, but he gets scared when he duels in public, like today." Bastion pointed out to them.
Brier was on his knees now, looking as if he were about to cry.
" I didnt think it was possible, but on his knees he's even smaller than he was before! " The victorious Obelisk mocked him with the other three Obelisks laughing of him.
" I think i need some glasses to see him! "
" Better yet, a magnifying glass! "
" Try a mycroscope! "
Hearing all the teasing from Obelisk Blue group, Red Hat felt the anger inside him grow more and more, he clenched his fist as hard as he could to hold back.
As Brier was leaving, the expression on his face became filled with anger so that even jaden had a strange feeling about it. Winged Kuriboh appeared next to him. " Kuri. "
" Yeah, Kuriboh. I felt that too. " Jaden said to his little friend.
" So, what's the crew up to these days? " Bastion asked.
" We're lookiong for a giant. " Syrus replied.
" A giant? "
" Yeah, you know, the one who's been beating all the Obelisks. " Syrus explained.
" Yes, I've heard about this titan. " Bastio answered, also aware of the situation.
Jaden attention shifted to Brier approaching another much larger Ra Yellow. " Hey, speaking of, check it out. "
" Seriously, I mean, just look at the size of that guy. " Syrus pointed out.
" Who? Beauregard? Please, he's no Duel Giant. " Bastion replied.
" What are you talking about, he's gigantic. " Syrus replied.
" Hahahahahaha. But he's no duelist Syrus. He's at the Academy studying to design games not play them. I know him, he can hardly duel. " Bastion explained.
" Games huh, well. "
" Just what I was thinking Kuriboh. "
Meanwhile, Red Hat, still angry about the Obelisks previous treatment, decided that he would take care of it. Thus, he decided to leave the group.
"Hey, Red Hat, where are you going?" Jaden asked as he noticed his friend leaving.
" I have to take care of a personal matter for a moment. Don't worry, it won't take long. "
He answered as he walked away.
"Knowing you, I already know what business you want to take care of." Bastion said, suspicious and thinking he understood what he would do by seeing him angry first.
A few minutes later, in the corridors of the main building, the group of Obelisk blues from earlier were still laughing first.
"Easiest Duel Ever."
"Yes, you are right."
"It was too much fun to see that short stack lose."
"Yeah, that was hilarious."
"Hey, Slifer sludge, get out of our way!" Said the Obelisk who had dueled earlier, raising his voice. But Red Hat wasn't moving where it was.
"You heard, get out of the way and step aside!" She had repeated to him.
"Why don't you incompetents try to move me from here?" Red Hat replied smiling at them.
"What did you call us! How dare you, you a Slifer, disrespecting us elites, you don't know who you're up against." He threatened another Obelisk.
Red Hat only laughed at his attempted threats. "Oh, but I know who I'm dealing with, with a group of four idiots who think they're the best while in reality they're incompetent that even a child could beat." He teased them.
The four Obelisk blues were now really angry. "Listen carefully, we're in a good mood today, so if you beg our forgiveness we might let you go without a scratch." Said another.
Red Hat laughed at his words again. "Apologizing to you losers. I don't even think about it. You four are nothing but idiots who dare to call themselves elite for your potion that you don't even try to earn but buy with your own money. But if you want to prove to me that I I'm wrong, then come forward." He told him as he activated his duel puck.
"That's it! You signed your sentence!" Said the Obelisk who had dueled before preparing his duel disk.
Duel
Red Hat: 8000 LP
Obelisk blue: 8000 LP
" I'll be good for this time, I'll let you start first, as it's impossible that a Slifer like you can beat me." The Obelisk affirms
"You know what, I wanted to tell you the same thing." Red Hat replied teasing his opponent.
Now the Obelisk quartet was furious at him.
" All right, let's not waste time. It's my turn. I draw!" Red Hat draws.
Hand 6
"I start by activating the spell, Delinquent Duo! I pay 1000 life points, now you must discard a random card from your hand, then you must choose another card from your hand to discard." Red Hat explained.
Red Hat: 8000 – 7000 LP
The Obelisk discarded the card at random, then chose one to discard. "It's not a great loss."
" I continue playing Graceful Charity. Now I draw three cards then I discard two. (discards Dark Magician of Chaos and Shining Angel). Now active Monster Reborn. Thanks to this I can special summon from the graveyard onto the field Dark Magician of Chaos (Atk: 2800 – Def: 2600). Its effect when summoned returns a spell card from the graveyard to my hand and I choose Delinquent Duo. " As the card exited the duel disk graveyard slot, Red Hat picked it up again. " I set a card face down and end my turn. " Red Hat ends his turn.
Hand 4
" If you think your monster scares me you're wrong! It's my turn. I draw! " The Obelisk draws.
Before he could do anything, Red Hat immediately cut him off. " I activate a trap. Drop Off! When you draw for the draw phase you must immediately discard the card you drew. "
"Don't think you've put me in trouble." The Obelisk said as he unwrapped the card. I summon Marauding Captain to attack position (Atk: 1200 – Def: 400). Next I play Monster Reborn to summon another Marauding Captain from the graveyard onto the field. " On the field part of the Obelisk there were two identical monsters. " And while Marauding Captain is on the field you can't attack any other warrior monster. With two of the same monsters on the field you just can't attack me. " He boasted.
Red Hat stood silent for his words, head lowered, while the hat covered his face.
"What is it, you're so scared you're speechless." The Obelisk teased him with a smirk on his face.
At that point the other three Obelisks with him also started making fun of Red Hat.
"Look at him he's completely petrified."
"Before he used to put on a lot of airs thinking he could win against us, but now he's going to lose."
" What else did you expect from a Slifer, people like him are hopeless against the elite like us. "
" I'll have a lot of fun humiliating you, but for now I'll finish my turn, I'll think about the rest later." The Obelisk ends his turn
Hand 1
"It's my turn. I draw." Red Hat draw the card, still keeping his head down.
Hand 5
"I activate the Pot of Greed spell to draw two cards." As Red Hat draw, a smile formed on her face as she lifted her head slightly.
"Why are you laughing Slifer Sludge?" Asked the Obelisk confused by his smile.
"I laugh because you're about to lose right now." Red Hat said clearly and loudly to all four Obelisks in front of him.
"What? You're bluffing." The Obelisk didn't believe his words at all.
" We'll see about that. But first of all I'll get rid of the last card in your hand. For this I play the spell card The Forceful Sentry. With this card I can look at the cards in your hand to choose one that you have to put back in the your deck and then let you shuffle it. Come on, let me see what you have left."
The Obelisk showed his last hand card, which turned out to be Command Knight.
"Now you have to put that card back into the deck and then you have to shuffle it." Red Hat reminded him.
The Obelisk did as he said, albeit with a very annoyed face. " Even if I have no cards in my hand, I remind you that as long as I have my two Marauding Captains on the field, he can't attack me!" He said in a bold tone.
" For this I play this enchantment card. Lightning Vortex! Now I discard a card so I can destroy all of your face-up monsters." As Red Hat discarded his card, dark clouds began to form above them, a powerful lightning storm that struck both Marauding Captains causing them to explode.
"It can't be!" Said the now shocked Obelisk.
" Now I remove the Shining Angel along with the Apprentice Magician I just discarded to summon my ace monster. I summon Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning (Atk: 3000 – Def: 2500)! "
The group of Obelisk blue were speechless at the sight of the Red Hat monster.
"What? How does a Slifer Sludge like you own such a powerful card!" Asked the Obelisk surprised by his play.
"The best is yet to come. I play the equip spell Megamorph! I equip it to Dark Magician of Chaos and since I have less life point than you it double his attack points (Atk: 2800 – 5600 – Def: 2600). Now you're done. Black Luster Soldier, Dark Magician of Chaos attack him directly! " The two monsters together attacked the blue Obelisk with such force that it caused a huge explosion. After depleting its health points, the Obelisk was on his knees completely exhausted.
Obelisk blue: 8000 – 2400 – 0 LP
"You just got lucky. That's all." Said the newly defeated Obelisk.
"Blame it on luck instead of your bad skills. I'm not at all surprised by your attitude, since all you Obelisks are the same." Red Hat said now not amused.
"Wait a minute. Now I recognize him." Said another Obelisk of the group.
"What are you talking about?"
" This is the Slifer red that is beating all the blue Obelisks! It's Red Hat!" He exclaim now scared causing his companions to become so too.
After being recognized by the group, Red Hat looked away from the Obelisk blue he had dueled with to the other three who were with him. "Now it's yours turn." He told them as he activated his duel disk again. The three feared the situation and also activated their duel disks even though they didn't want to duel him.
Meanwhile, Jaden followed by Syrus and Chumley had left the arena to look for traces of the Duel Giant. But instead they heard loud explosions. They ran to where the noise was coming from, only to find Red Hat dueling and battling a group of Obelisk blues.
"Because I'm not surprised to find him dueling some Obelisk blues." Chumley said.
"We agree on that, I'm not surprised either." Syrus agrees with him.
All four Obelisk blues were exhausted from their duel. At that point Red Hat approached them. "If I see you picking on another student again I assure you that next time it will be worse for you." Red Hat stated, scaring the Obelisks, that they ran away as fast as possible.
"You beat all four of them? You're amazing Red Hat. I wish I could have seen the duel from the start." Jaden said enthusiastically approaching his friend.
"Jaden, you can only see the duel in it all." Syrus said mentally facepalming.
"You didn't miss much Jaden." Red Hat replied.
"Red Hat please answer this. Why are you always mad at the Obelisk blue?" Chumley asked him.
" To show them the reality. The Blue Obelisk always think they are the best, thinking they can pick on anyone without repercussions. As with that Ra yellow before, I couldn't stand their behavior with they and so I decided to give these four a lesson." He answered with words that full of anger.
"So you wanted to duel them because they made fun of that boy?" Syrus said.
Red Hat didn't want to answer that question. He took a few seconds to calm down before turning to Jaden. "Have you found any clues about the Duel Giant?"
"We didn't find anything. So we decided to wait tonight to get him, since he only shows up in the evening. Want to join us?" Jaden asked.
"I'm tired now, so I guess I'll go to my room first and get some rest. But if you find anything, call me on my PDA and I'll come running." Red Hat answered before heading to the dorm.
Time 00:00
Hours had passed, while Red Hat rested on his bed. Until he was woken up by a message from Syrus on his PDA. "Red Hat, we have found the Duel Giant. Jaden is dueling him. We are in the forest." As soon as he finished listening to the message, he grabbed the duel puck and his chaos deck in case he needed it. He ran into the forest to look for his friends.
"I have to hurry and find them before it's too late." Red Hat thought, as he ran anxiously to find his friends.
After running through most of the forest, he found Jaden having won the duel with the supposed Duel Giant. Which turned out to be two, namely Beauregard and Brier. He understood that the two of them were behind this whole story. "Jaden, you've found the Duel Giant. I should have realized he had something to do with this, after what happened today." Red Hat said addressing the last part to Brier.
"But what do you want to know, eh..." Brier just raised his head he stopped, seeing in front of him the Slifer who spoke. He wore a red hat, he understood who was in front of him. "You are Red Hat! The red Slifer who beats all the blue obelisks he duels." Brier seemed to have his idol in front of him.
"Apparently you're pretty famous dude." Jaden joked.
"Anyway yes, it's me. I saw how those four treated you today, so after that I went to find them and challenged them to a duel, I beat them up. But my motives are different from yours." Red Hat explained. Jaden and his friends wondered what his reasons might be.
"But, why did you want to do that? Who are you really?" Brier asked him.
Red Hat shrugged at his question. "I'm just a guy who wants to be a very strong duelist, but can't stand people like most Obelisk blues." He replied.
"I only did this to seek revenge on those who made fun of Beauregard and me. That would be the difference between us." Brier wondered.
"Exactly. But you better leave now. I'm sure Jaden didn't mean to hand you two over to Crowler." Red Hat explained to the two Ra yellow, with a nod from Jaden that he agreed. "Now listen to me, I understand that you hate the Obelisk blue, but stop this business of the Duel Giant."
These last words left everyone present surprised, especially Jaden, Syrus and Chumley.
Brier after this speech smiled. " Well, I think I won't have to hide anymore now, I managed to duel in front of someone and I can do it again." Beauregard puts a hand on his friend's shoulder giving him a smile.
"Now get out of here, before Crowler gets you." Jaden suggested to the two.
Before they left, Red Hat spoke to Brier again. "Brier, overcoming your fear has proven you're getting stronger, I know you have the skills to show who you are against the Obelisks. But if you ever need a hand, you know who to call." Hearing those words, Jaden couldn't help but smile, even Syrus and Chumley were happy for this moment, even Beauregard and Brier. "Now go."
"Thank you guys! We owe you one!" Brier shouted as he and Beauregard bolted away.
"Hey, Brier, wait for me!" Beauregard yelled trying to reach his friend.
The group watched the two flee without saying a word, until Syrus decided to break the silence. "Obviously now we have a little problem."
Jaden and Red Hat looked at him confused. "Which one?" Jaden asked.
" Since we can't report them to Dr Crowler, we should start doing our homework again and also make up for the ones we haven't done in this period." Syrus explained.
Upon hearing these words Jaden groaned while Red Hat didn't seem at all upset.
"What are you worried about? The tasks they give us aren't that difficult." Red Hat declared.
"We're not all genius like you Red Hat! I hate homework!" Jaden said complaining.
"Good, then it's time to go back to the dormitory." said Red Hat, as everyone walked back to the dormitory. "This plan of Crowler's failed too. I'm only sorry for what Jaden and the others, as what's gonna happen tomorrow." He thought.
Thursday
Time 9:00
The next morning, Jaden and Syrus had to make up all the homework even the extras, which weren't going to finish anytime soon, it was a huge stack of papers. The two wrote as fast as possible. Chumley watched them from behind, while Red Hat watched from behind the door for Crowler reaction.
" So let me get this straight. You found the Duel Giant, beat him and then he was able to escape! " Shouted Crowler.
" Yep, that's what happened teach. Last i saw, he was headed up a beanstalk or something. " Jaden said.
" And you're saying you didn't duel using the illegal ante rule, but all the other Obelisk did. "
" Did they? I heard they all just kind of lost their cards ... temporarily. "
Meanwhile outside the main building of Duel Academy
A group of Obelisk blues were talking to each other.
" Me too, this morning I found my rare card. "
"Yeah, mine reappeared in the deck."
Everyone was so happy to get their cards back that they didn't realize they were being spied on by Beauregard and Brier who smiled for doing the right thing.
Crowler was quite confused by Jaden statements. " So first you find the Duel Giant, then he escapes? First all of those cards were lost, now they're found? "
" First I have no homewrok, and now ..."
" KEEP WRITTING! "
Red Hat remained hidden without being noticed. "Sorry about that guys, but at least the good news is that Crowler won't be bothering us for a while." With that said Red Hat started walking down the hall.
Here is the new chapter. For this chapter I have merged two episodes for different reasons, I put the Courting Alexis episode because in that episode I really couldn't stand Harrington so I made him duel against Red Hat also for the unfair punishment that Crowler gave to Jaden as if he didn't deserve it. The episode The Duel Giant instead I put it in the story to put that duel with Red Hat against the blue Obelisks who had made fun of Brier I have always hated bullying both in reality and in the series because the Obelisks believed themselves to be the best. For their duel I used a deck that was Hand control themed just to use something different. That dialogue between Red Hat and Brier however was to demonstrate that even though Red Hat has a mostly aggressive attitude he also has a good side, as he told Brier that he had become stronger by overcoming his fear. The final reason why I merged two episodes in this chapter and because the next one will not be connected with the installments of the series, Red Hat will face some special opponents. That's it for this chapter. Let me know what you think in the comments.