For some reason, Yuki believes I should be the one to keep Honest's card.
I knew that brunette would lead me to trouble, but to think he would get me involved in a world I never knew existed was, well, annoying. I have far too much on my plate as is, but now I must deal with a living card ghost?
"I apologize for my living quarters. I do try to clean it up when I can."
"There is no need to apologize, Lady Konami."
Hey, look! It's the Lady Bastard!
"Do not call me Lady," I realized my mistake and coughed into my mouth. "Forgive me, a slip of the tongue there. Call me what you wish."
"I'm sorry if I offended you in any way, Wilona." The ghost angel bowed—it has occurred to me that I am not reacting as much as I should to something that odd—but I prefer being called that anyway.
"There's no need to apologize. You didn't know." I sat down and placed his card on my desk. I fished for an empty notebook and a pen. "Now, you said you were looking for who?"
The ghost angel described to me the poor man named, Yusuke Fujiwara. I found myself relating to this former Obelisk Blue senior. He lost both of his parents and was left alone with nothing but his friend Honest. However, Yusuke put him away before never seeing him again. Rhodes said that there were more missing students besides that of her brother, perhaps he was one of them? Honest wanted to see his friend and master again, which I understood.
Perhaps more than I wanted to...
But we had a bit of trouble as Honest wanted to find him right away. That meant going back to that occult house, which I wanted to be nowhere near at that hour. I was able to convince him to at least stay and rest up a while and find out things past before making his move. Honest thanked me for the conversation before vanishing, making me almost believe I had gone crazy for the past some hours.
This is all Yuki's fault. I'm supposed to have blackmail leverage over him and yet he still gives me grief! He is far more trouble than he's worth. I am seriously entertaining the idea to feed his audio to Dr. Crowler and washing my hands off him.
Even though it was late, I heard someone rapping on my chamber door.
I walked to it and opened it, not expecting the devil himself to be standing behind it.
"Hey, Wilona!"
"Yuki." I glared.
His smile lowered as he noticed my eyes. "You okay? I came to check up on ya."
As much as I would love to respond with biting sarcasm, I know Yuki enough to realize he would take it seriously. "I have a busy life as is, and now you're dumping Honest's problems on to me?!"
He at least had the decency to look ashamed after I said that. "Is he that bad?"
One of the most annoying things about Yuki is that he's always so blasted sincere sometimes. "No, he's just worried for his lost friend as Rhodes is for her brother. I'm just frustrated, confused, and tired. Please don't let it get to you." I sighed and put a hand on my head to somehow mitigate the headache I already had.
"I never got to say this a while ago, but good job protecting the others during the duel." That caught me off guard as I looked back at him. "I was worried for them, but thanks to you running ahead, I was able to get my head back in the game. I also owe my win to you too."
I found my body leaning at the doorway. "I was under the impression you had fun during your duel to the death."
"Well, I did," Yuki, I swear! "But I was able to with you watching my back."
The way this boy's brain works! Still, I appreciate him being thankful. "You shouldn't be thanking me. I was lucky, and it was all thanks to Pharaoh and Honest."
I raised my brow when I saw Yuki smiling wider than before. "What's with that smile?"
"You told me more than once that you didn't think of yourself heroic. You just proved yourself wrong tonight."
"I," Not another word came out of my mouth. When I felt my cheeks heat up, I closed the door in front of his face. "Goodnight, Yuki!"
"Goodnight, Wilona." What is wrong with that boy!? How can he say that with a happy tone in his voice as if I didn't slam the door in his face!? Why isn't he normal!?
... And why is it so bloody hot all of a sudden!?
God, I wish that boy would leave.
[Tag Force: Heroes and Villians]
That is not what I remotely meant.
"How is it," I paused, still in disbelief at what I heard. "That only Yuki and Truesdale are threatened to be expelled when there were five of us there that night?"
"I tried to get Chancellor Shepperd to put me in the tag duel instead, but it didn't work." Huffington, with all due respect, I don't see you as much of a step up compared to Truesdale.
"Same with me," Rhodes folded her arms. I am glad she's finally here in the club, but the annoying thing is that she isn't here to join, but rather see how Yuki and Truesdale are doing. A small part of me hopes by even coming here she'll warm up to joining officially.
"Guys there's no need to worry." I despise how Yuki is taking this all in stride. I also loathe how he technically had been in worse situations than this and has a legitimate reason to be calm! "Me and Syrus can handle the tag duel just fine!"
"How can you say that, Jay!?" Truesdale, on the other hand, could use even five percent of Yuki's optimism. If only there was a way to leech it off him and stuff it in the smaller boy.
"Don't worry, buddy! I got expert Tag Duelers to help out!"
I looked to Rhodes when Yuki said that. It so happened that she did the same thing. The only pair in the isle that we knew fit that description was...
"Here we are!" Grace threw her hands out as she and her sister entered through the club doors. "The Tyler Sisters are here to help!"
The blonde twin strode in. "We got your message, Jaden. Of course, you'd pick help from the best tag duelists in the school!"
It was then I noticed Rhodes' had a glare on her face. "Best? Didn't Wilona and I beat you two?"
Gloria returned with a leer. "I seem to recall Prez saving your sorry, fat butt multiple times."
And that was my cue to step in before the two started summoning their fists in attack mode. "Alright, enough! As loathe as I am to admit it, Yuki made a smart move." I ignored the indignant 'hey' that escaped from the Slifer Red's mouth and continued my point. "The Tyler Sisters are the most experienced in tag duels. If anyone in this isle can help the two, it's them."
"And that's why you're the Prez, Prez!" Grace was quick to throw a hand up in the air. "Come on, let's get our game on!"
"Hey! That's my phrase!"
I rolled my eyes, but I admit I am curious to see where this goes.
[Tag Force: Heroes and Villians]
Eventually, we made our way up the roof to practice tag dueling.
The Tyler Sisters stood in one end with the Slifer Reds on the other.
"Okay, listen up!" Gloria screamed across the roof. "Tag duels are rare, so their rules are new. Professor Crowler set up one, which means it's different than the one we had with them." Gloria pointed to me and Rhodes sitting down on a bench. I was between Rhodes and Huffington.
"Different? Different how?" Truesdale put a hand on his chin.
"For one!" Grace took over. "Two duelists share one field! That means two duelists have to share 5 monster zones, 5 trap, and spell card zones. And the really interesting part? You also share life points!"
"Share life points?" Yuki repeated.
"Yep! For the sake of explaining, you're the Red Team and we're Blue Team. Red Team has 8000 LP and Blue Team gets 8000. The first to zero loses. So like, basically a normal duel but a little longer." Grace continued.
Gloria then spoke up. "That's the basics, but here comes some of the advanced stuff. Because you guys share your field, your duel disks can read what your partner placed down in Tag Team mode." Gloria tapped on the orb of the Duel Academy Duel Disks. "And you can activate the effects of your partner's monsters and spell and trap cards if they let you!"
"Usually they let each other do that!" Grace added in.
It was at that moment the twins primed their duel disks. "But since we know you two aren't good with lessons, we'll just skip straight to the duel to show you!"
Yuki was more interested in this part than the teaching part of the tag duel. "Now you're speaking my language! Come on, Syrus, let's get our game on!"
Truesdale wasn't as ready, but he did activate his duel disk.
"DUEL!"
Red Team: Jaden and Syrus: 8000 LP.
Blue Team: Grace and Gloria: 8000 LP.
"I'll start it off!" Grace drew a card from her deck, her enthusiasm being second to that of Yuki's.
Turn 1: Grace. Cards: 6.
The silver-haired twin didn't waste any time before placing a monster on her duel disk. "I summon Amazoness Swords Woman in attack mode!"
[Effect Monster/EARTH/Warrior/Level 4/Attack:1500/Def:600]
"Then I put a facedown card and end my turn."
"Okay! I get that means it's still a duel!" Yuki pumped his fist before looking at the smaller boy. "You should get this turn, buddy!"
Truesdale looked past behind him, hoping there was another more competent tag duel partner that his friend was referring to.
Even though no one was behind him, he hoped that the empty air would say yes.
"Alright, let's do this." He didn't even look remotely ready for it.
Turn 2: Syrus. Cards: 6
"I summon Drillroid in attack mode!" It occurred to me that I never thought of Truesdale's deck until now. I didn't even realize when I dueled him back during the exams. Toon-like vehicles?
[Effect Monster/EARTH/Machine/Level 4/Attack:1600/Defense:1600]
Truesdale pointed to... oh no. He doesn't know, does he?
"I attack your Amazoness with Drillroid!"
"Syrus, wait!" Rhodes screamed out too late as his monster went in and stabbed his drill into the Amazoness, making her hologram shatter like glass.
Grace pointed back. "My monster's effect activates! All battle damage is reflected back to my opponent!"
"What!?" The sword left behind by Grace's monster flew up and stabbed right through Truesdale.
Red Team: 7900 LP
Blue Team: 8000 LP
"I didn't know that!" Truesdale already looked like he was going to beat himself more than the hologram. "I'm sorry, J."
"Hey, don't sweat it, Sy! We still got this! Are you done with your turn?"
"Yeah... I am..."
"You're gonna have to show more spunk than that! Now it's our turn again!" Gloria cried out as she drew a card.
Turn 3: Gloria. Cards: 6
The blonde twin shared a look with her younger sister. Without a word, the two had a conversation as if they had telepathy.
"I activate the face down, Amazoness Willpower! This allows me to special summon my sister's destroyed monster!" Gloria pointed over and soon Swords Woman returned to the field in attack mode. "But I use this moment to fuse her and Amazoness Queen in my hand to bring out Amazoness Empress!"
It was hard not to notice both Rhodes and me wincing at the name. Soon the familiar monster made her appearance that was equal parts brutish and elegant.
Amazoness Empress
[Type: Fusion/Effect Monster/Sub-Type: Warrior/Attribute: EARTH/Level: 8/ATK: 2800/DEF: 2400]
"What!? A powerful fusion monster on her first turn!?" Huffington shifted his weight so fast, the bench the rest of us were sitting on moved up.
I shared a look with Rhodes. We both knew how powerful that monster was.
"Now, Empress! Destroy his drill!" Gloria went on the offensive, not even considering that this was supposed to be a practice duel.
The powerful monster launched herself faster than she looked. With grace, she cleaved a metal creature in two as if it was butter. The two Slifer Reds had to shield themselves from the smoke after the toonish vehicle died.
Red Team: 7900-1200=6700
Blue Team: 8000
"I'll play one face down and end my turn!" As Gloria said this, the trap card she activated from her sister shattered since it's original monster was already gone.
Turn 4: Jaden. Cards: 5.
"This is awesome!" Of course, Yuki would be excited at the prospect of fighting powerful monsters.
"Jaden, we have an empty field!" Yuki's partner was quick to look down. "And it's all my fault!"
"Hey, chill, Sy! We totally got this! I believe in you!" There it is again: when he can say such things as if it was the truth itself? How does he do that? "Now, I draw!"
He looked down at his cards and a smile appeared on his face. "Alright, I start off by activating Graceful Charity! I draw three cards and discard two!" Yuki did so, and his smile only grew when he saw the cards on his hands.
The brunette posed dramatically. "I activate Elemental Hero Necroshade's ability! When he's in the graveyard, I can summon a high-level Elemental Hero without a tribute!"
Yuki was indeed an excellent duelist if he could even use discarded cards to this extent. "I summon Elemental Hero Bladedge in attack mode!"
[Type:Effect Monster/Sub-Type: Warrior/Attribute: EARTH/Level: 7/ATK: 2600/DEF: 1800]
This new hero of his looked more like a mecha from a boy's show than an actual hero. Huh, a mecha with muscles. Oh wait, what did Yuki just play?
"Now I activate the Spell Card: Necro Spirit*! By Banishing Necroshade from the graveyard, I can turn your monster's attack points to zero for this turn!"
"What!?" The twins and pretty much everyone screamed at the ability of Yuki's card.
A shadowy figure appeared behind Yuki and launched itself at the Empress. Despite the fusion attempting to ward away the shadow, everyone saw the points of the monster hit zero as the shadow overcame her.
"Go, Bladedge! Golden Jet Slash!" Yuki punched the air as his Hero-no wait, Mecha disguised as a hero used jet propulsion feet to jettison and basically uppercut the amazoness. Wait, where was the slash in that?
Red Team: 6700
Blue Team:8000-2600=5400
"Lichious!" I may not have interacted much with people as I should have, but I clearly don't recognize whatever Huffington beside me is saying. "Jaden turned it all around in one turn! Hey, wait, why is the Empress still on the field?"
"Because Empress has an effect that prevents all Amazoness monsters from being destroyed in battle or card effects," Rhodes added from my other side.
"What!?" Truesdale heard her from where we were. "A monster that can't be destroyed and prevents others of the same archetype from being destroyed!? They had a card like that!?"
"I know!" Sometimes I wish I could smother Yuki in his sleep with how inhumanly excited he gets. "Your monster is totally sweet, Gloria!"
"Aww, flattery will get you nowhere," For the first time, I've never seen Gloria look genuinely happy. Why was she happy? "But I have to admit, the move where you used a discarded card to such great effect made me impressed!"
"Come on, we can both do better than that! Show me what you got!" Yuki pointed with a confident smile.
"You sure know how to sweet talk!" Did-Did she just wink?
"I don't know what you mean by sweet talk, but if it's about dueling, I can do so too!" Yuki—stop. Stop.
To my surprise, I felt the bench creak. The reason why this was a surprise was that it wasn't Huffington, but Rhodes who gripped the bench to the point where we could all feel it straining under her grip. Why was she glaring?!
Then I heard Huffington whisper. "Why does J get all the..." I didn't hear his last words since Yuki spoke up again.
"I end my turn by placing three cards face down! And by now, your monster's attack points return to normal!" Jaden pointed and the shadow lifted, returning Empress to her full strength.
Grace quickly spoke up. "Okay! In a tag duel, it cycles back to me!" She reached for her deck. "This is how tag duels cycle, now we can get to the serious part!"
Turn 5: Grace. Cards: 4+1
"Now it's time to bring out my best monster!" Truesdale gave a small 'eep' when he heard that.
"I fuse Amazoness Paladin and Tiger to bring out Amazoness Pet Liger!"
Amazoness Pet Liger.
[Type: Fusion/Effect Monster/Sub-Type: Beast/Attribute: EARTH/Level: 7/ATK: 2500/DEF: 2400]
"Wait, that's a pet?!" Truesdale took a step back as the pet in question was the size of five Truesdale's put together.
"Isn't he just the cutest?" Grace had a different definition of cute compared to that of Truesdale. "He's also got some special abilities! Like with him on the field, my opponents can only attack him before any other Amazoness Monster."
"What!? We can't even get to Empress, and she's preventing us from destroying anyone!?"
"I know! Sweet right?!" And here comes my scheduled 'Yuki Headache' again.
"I have to admit since both of them are using the same Archetype Deck, their synergy is amazing." Rhodes folded her arms while looking in the field.
Grace continued her turn despite all the side commentary. "Liger has more abilities! When he attacks, he gains 500 attack points which will put him to 3000 attack points during the battle phase!"
"Why are your fusion monsters so good!?"
"Your fusion monsters are so cool!"
It spoke volumes that I knew who said what at the same time, even if I looked away at the moment.
Grace pointed forward. "I attack Bladedge with Liger!" The fearsome beast ran for the gold hero, but Yuki pointed to one of his face downs.
"I play the face down, Invincible Hero*! This Continous Trap can be equipped to an Elemental Hero, and as long as it's up, it can't be destroyed by battle! In exchange, it can no longer attack!"
Grace pointed. "But you still take damage!"***
Liger unleashed a powerful swipe on Bladedge, causing the hero to back under pressure.
Red Team: 6700-400=6300
Blue Team: 5400
"And I'm not done! Empress hasn't attacked yet!" The Amazoness seemed a little too eager to get vengeance on Yuki's golden hero. She kneed the stomach of the hero with enough force to make his armor look like it was made of cardboard and not steel.
Red Team: 6300-200=6100
Blue Team: 5400
"I'll end my turn by putting down two facedowns!" A rather simple turn, but it's clear the Tyler Sisters have the advantage even if the Slifer's Life Points are ahead slightly. Yuki has a knack for dueling against the odds, but the problem still is that this training isn't for him.
Turn 6: Syrus. Cards: 5.
It was for Truesdale. He was shivering against the monsters of his own allies. How much more will he break if his opponents show monsters of even greater caliber than that of the twins?
"Come on, Sy! We can win this!"
"Yeah, Syrus!" Grace was nice enough to pitch in after Yuki. "I'm sure you won't hold Jaden back at all!"
I found it hard to see when I found my palm covering my face.
"Grace, you don't say it like that!" Gloria screamed before the silver-haired twin tried to cover her mouth.
"I-I uh didn't mean it like that!"
When I removed my palm, I saw Truesdale already drawing his next card. I noticed he seemed surprised with what he drew, but then he put it back in his hand. I and everyone was worried for him, but I noticed he looked up and there was a fire in his eyes I never saw before.
"I play Roid Power*! This quick-play spell card allows me to banish roid monsters from my hand and graveyard to special summon a high-level roid monster equal to the level of the banished monsters from my deck! I banish Drillroid and Jetroid, both level 4 monsters, in order to special summon Armoroid!"
Truesdale brought out an actual giant robot. I retract all comments I made to Yuki's Bladedge at this moment.
Armoroid
[Type: Effect Monster/Sub-Type: Machine/Attribute: EARTH/Level: 8/ATK: 2700/DEF: 2000]
"There we go, Sy! That's totally what I'm talking about!" Yuki, and by proxy, the rest of us were relieved to see Syrus able to pull off a great move.
"I hate to rain on your parade," Gloria folded her arms. "But that new monster isn't impressive since Liger and Empress are stronger with their abilities, and they can't be destroyed."
"I know, but I'm not done! I activate Polymerization!" Was this it? Did Truesdale hit his stride?!
"I fuse Armoroid and Stealthroid in my hand to bring out a new monster!" Truesdale raised a card and a black jet monster flew up into the air and attached itself on the back of Armoroid. I felt like I was watching those old Gundam cartoons as the two mechanical monsters transformed into a sleeker black robot with jet wings. "Come on out, Armoroid: Stealth Mode!"
Armoroid: Stealth Mode*
[Type: Fusion/Effect Monster/Sub-Type: Machine/Attribute: EARTH/Level: 9/ATK: 3000/DEF: 2500]
"Syrus! Buddy! I knew you could do it!" I could tell Yuki's excitement was infectious. All of us were amazed to see Truesdale summon this majestic creature.
Truesdale himself looked happy. They could pull this off after all! "Armoroid: Stealth Mode has a special ability! He can negate all monster effects for two whole turns!"
"What!?" The Tyler Sisters cried out as Armoroid's new form unleashed an EMP that seemed to affect not only the Tyler Sister's monsters but Yuki's as well.
"I activate Roid Limiter Removal*! This specialized card works like the common Limiter Removal! I can double the attack of all machine monsters for one turn! But instead of being destroyed, my Roid monster switches and locks itself into defense position for two turns and has defense points halved!"
ATK: 3000+3000=6000
"6000 attack points!?" Grace was the first to point out that huge number.
I was proud of Truesdale. He even cracked a genuine smile, and for a second, he looked like Yuki would in his duels.
"Go, Armoroid! Attack Liger!" Truesdale pointed as the giant robot—all that build-up for some rocket punch?
"That is the coolest attack I've ever seen!" Of course, Yuki likes it.
"I reveal my face down!" Grace pointed down as the card lifted up. "Rising Energy! This card allows me to discard one card and a monster gains 1500 attack points! I choose Liger!"
Atk: 4000
"That's still not enough!" Syrus pointed before the giant robot punched the liger into the ground. The impact of the attack caused everyone to shield themselves.
Red Team: 6100
Blue Team: 5400-2000=3400
"Now, Armoroid: Stealth Mode switches to defense mode for three turns," Truesdale explained as it looked like his robot was overheating. "I'll end my turn with that."
DEF: 2500-1250=1250
Turn 7: Gloria. Cards: 4.
The older twin had a smile on her face. "Not bad, twerp! You actually got spunk!" She drew her card as she said that. "Now we can really begin training!"
Gloria looked over her hand. "I play Monster Reborn to bring back Liger in attack mode!"
The monster Truesdale just destroyed came back to the field, giving off a powerful roar as a replacement for its gasp for life.
"Huh, a strong feline creature coming back to life? Reminds me of a certain lion from a magic wardrobe."
I blinked and started to speak. "D-Did Yuki just make a reference to a novel?"
"I didn't know he read novels." Rhodes sounded as surprised as I was.
"I didn't even know he read books!" Huffington spoke with as much tact as I have come to expect from the Slifer Red Dorms, none at all.
Yuki heard our comments and turned to us with a hurt look on his face. "Hey! I can read books!"
Oh, you've got to be—"Then why the-bloody-hell do you look at the school textbooks like a demon to the bible!?"
It took me a second to realize I stood up from my seat and put the fear of God into the Slifer Reds.
"Get back to the duel! Get back to the duel!" Yuki spoke fast as I took a mental note to remember this slight against me later.
The Tyler Sisters seemed to look at me with... was that admiration? "I now activate another spell card in my hand, Mystical Space Typhoon! I use it to destroy Invincible Hero*! This means your monster can be destroyed this time!"
The card unleashed a storm that destroyed Yuki's continuous trap card.
"Now I activate a continuous spell: Amazoness Fighting Spirit**! If an Amazoness Monster attacks a monster with higher attack points, it gains 1000 extra attack points!" After Gloria said this, the two fusion monsters on their side gained 1000 more attack points because of Truesdale's monster.
ATK: 2500+1000=3500
ATK: 2800+1000=3800
She pointed to the second facedown of her sister. "I reveal the other face down card: the quick-play spell card, Bloody Assualt*!"
"She knew what the other face down was?!" Huffington cried out. "Do twins really have telepathy?"
"I doubt it." Rhodes huffed and folded her arms. "But it does mean those two are very coordinated."
"This card allows all our monsters for one turn to gain piercing effects." Gloria pointed to Truesdale. "Just in case we have people who negate our effects, we each keep a card to cover the other's weakness!"
"Wait," Rhodes leaned in. "They didn't need to even activate that card. After this turn, their abilities would come back. Unless..." Her eyes widened.
"Sy, I've got a bad feeling about this!" Jaden cried out.
"I activate the Equip Spell: Megamorph! If our Life Points are lower than our opponents, the monster equipped will have their points doubled! I choose to give it to Empress!"
ATK: 3800+3800=7600
"Wait!? 7600 attack points!?" Truesdale screamed out.
Gloria pointed to Truesdale's monster. "You're not the only one who can bring out big numbers! Now, Empress! Attack Armoroid!"
I did the math in my head while Rhodes shouted it out for everyone, "If that attack connects, they'll lose!"
"Well here goes! I reveal my facedown: Final Fusion!" Yuki declared as he pointed to his trap card. "When two fusion monsters battle each other, both monsters are destroyed and their current attacks are taken out of all player's life points!"
"But that's 10800 points of damage for both sides!" Grace cried out.
Yuki didn't seem to care as the card activated, causing a flash of light that engulfed the entire area—
[Tag Force: Heroes and Villains]
Red Team: 0
Blue Team: 0
DRAW.
As the dust settled, everyone slowly got up from the holographic explosion.
"Why on earth would holograms have a function that simulates something like that!?" Wilona complained as everyone got together.
"That's what's so cool about dueling though!" Jaden cried out before he looked over to the twins. "Tag duels are so awesome! You two really showed how much combo potential me and Sy could do!"
"You weren't bad yourself." Gloria folded her arms and smiled. She sent a look to Alexis before her smile only grew, making the other blonde grit her teeth. "You two are rough around the edges, but you two should be ready by the time Crowler drags you two in."
"Everything's spinning!" Syrus, who fell on the floor, whined out loud. Chumley and Wilona went to help up the guy to his feet.
"Syrus, your last turn was great, buddy! I knew you had it in ya!" Everyone could tell Jaden was only pumped up by this.
Grace looked to her feet and saw a card fallen on the floor. "Ah? Syrus, you dropped a card from that last attack." The silver-haired twin picked up the card and her eyes widened. "Hey, Syrus, was this in your hand the entire time?"
She revealed the card to everyone, showing that it was Power Bond: a powerful spell card that fusion summoned Machine monsters with double their original attack with the price of taking damage equal to the fusion monster's original attack.
Syrus looked panicked, cluing the sharper members of the group that he had that card with him for almost the whole duel.
"Wait a second!" Jaden looked surprised. "Sy! If you combined that card with your Limiter Removal, you would have done some serious damage!"
"I think he might have won the duel for both of you then and there, why didn't you play it?" Gloria added in.
No one expected Syrus to look so... guilty. "I-I can't play that card! My brother says I'll never be good to use that card!"
"Brother?" Wilona repeated out loud.
However, Syrus went up and grabbed the card back from Grace. "I messed up big time! Not only did I fail to do any real damage, but I gave our enemies a chance to reverse One-hit-KO us! In the end, we would have lost if Jaden didn't pull off that last second trap card!" He turned to Jaden with tears starting to form at the corner of his eyes. "If you're partnered up with me, we're sure to lose!"
"Sy, come on, it's not that," Jaden didn't get to finish as Syrus bolted out before anyone could stop him.
"Hey!" Chumley cried out before running after Syrus.
"Well, that was... something." Gloria folded her arms as she watched the event folded.
"That is one way of putting it," Wilona turned to Jaden. "Did you catch what he said about his brother?"
"Yeah," For the first time, the girls saw Jaden do his impression of a scowl. "What kind of jerk of a brother hurts Syrus to the point of not even playing that card? You guys all saw it: Sy really has the makings of a great duelist, but he's being held back by that jerk! Who does he think he is?!"
Wilona recalled something during her tag duel with Alexis and the twins. "Isn't he Zane Truesdale?"
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Both Gloria and Grace turned to their club president in shock. The older twin was the first to speak up. "That shrimp is Zane Truesdale's brother?!"
"Wait, you two know him?" Jaden looked over to the twins with confusion.
"I thought they just shared the same last name!" Grace seemed to defend herself from an argument no one accused her of. "I didn't know Syrus was related to the best duelist in the school!"
"The best?!" The surprises didn't seem to stop for the ace of the Slifer Dorms.
"I admit, he doesn't seem like it," Everyone turned to Alexis as she spoke up. "But Syrus is Zane's younger brother."
Jaden looked downcast when he heard of all of this new information. "Man, I wonder what happened between those two."
Wilona took an observant look to Jaden before she sighed and walked away. "I'm going to help Huffington find Truesdale. I know you're about to do something rash, Yuki, but at least try not to make yourself look more like a fool."
The other girls watch the Club President leave before turning to Jaden. "What did she mean by that?"
"I can't understand her England talk all the time. I don't have any rashes," The Slifer Ace shrugged his shoulders before he pumped his fist in excitement. "But I do have an idea! I'm going to Duel Zane and make him see the error of his ways!"
It was at that moment that the three girls realized what Wilona was talking about.
"Jaden! Zane is one of the best in the school for a reason! People don't mess with him!" Alexis tried to warn him. However, she and the twins started to realize there was no stopping Jaden at this point.
"I've got a reason to do so! For Sy! My tag partner can't do his best because of him. Besides! I wanna see how I stack up against him!"
Alexis sighed, but a smile found her way to her face. "Fine, do your best." At this point, all they could do was give him their support.
But Jaden was one thing, what about Syrus?
[Tag Force: Heroes and Villians]
Wilona searched but couldn't find any trace of Syrus. She found Chumley. The man meant well, but he clearly wasn't meant for physical labor.
The green-haired girl had this nasty feeling that Syrus wasn't at the dorms, but where on the island could he be? Luckily for her, she recently learned magic was real. The girl with glasses picked up a card from her duel pockets.
"By any chance, can you fly around and find him for me, Honest?"
"I can do that easily, Wilona." The Angel Spirit cried out before he flew in the air and went towards the northeast end of the isle.
Meanwhile, Syrus was busy not being lost. "Can't I do anything right?!" He fell to his knees and huddled into a ball. "I'm going to get J kicked out of school! How can I do that to my best friend?!"
"Well, considering how I could do the same in much easier circumstances..." Syrus looked up to see Wilona climbing over a tree root. "But I digress. Yuki is right in saying you do have the skill to be in Obelisk Blue, Truesdale. You really should believe in him when it comes to that."
Syrus sniffed and wiped his eyes. "But my brother..."
The smaller boy wasn't expecting Wilona to scoot up to him and sit beside him under the tree. She didn't look at him with harsh or judging eyes, instead, it almost looked like Wilona knew how he felt. "You really look up to him, don't you?"
"Well, my mom says I was born with all the looks!" Syrus tried to say before his face fell. "But it's kinda hard living in the shadow of the perfect older brother." The smaller boy looked up to the sky. "Whatever Zane did, sports, academics, even Duel Monsters, he was amazing and everyone liked him for it."
He looked back down to the dirt.
"I wanted to be like him. But I wasn't."
Those last words hurt more than he cared to admit. "Dueling was the one thing that I really enjoyed. But Zane says I'm not good enough to play it."
Syrus spotted Wilona sigh. "With all due respect, isn't this school specifically for making sure people can learn how to duel properly? Or in my case, get a proper job in the dueling world?"
"But I'm going to get kicked out of this place! Worse is that I'm taking Jaden down with me! He's my best friend and he deserves to be here. Not like me..." Syrus' voice became softer after saying that.
Wilona became silent for a second. She gave a deep breath before asking, "Truesdale, give me an honest answer. Do you really not want to be Yuki's partner?"
The boy was caught off guard, but he answered her. "I-It's not that I don't want to be. I just feel like even you could be a better partner for him."
Wilona gave him a deadpan expression in response to that. "Yuki cares about dueling. He cares about having fun. I have a suspicion if he were to lose, he'd still be smiling as if he won the lottery. Doesn't that sound like him?"
"I mean," Syrus thought about it. Dueling was on Jaden's mind even when sleeping! "Yeah, it does. But what does that have anything to do with being a partner?"
"Because even if you and Yuki get expelled, I can still see both of you enjoying dueling and still being friends." Syrus' eyes widened. The more he thought about it, what exactly stopped them from dueling outside the school? Sure it would suck not being with everyone and not learning more about Duel Monsters, but it's not like they still can't duel outside the school. Heck, maybe Jaden might try and get them to another dueling school.
Syrus did imagine the worse where Jaden blamed him for being kicked out. But the more he thought about it, the more that didn't feel like Jaden at all.
"If anything, Yuki is sad that you are sad, not because you're holding him back. He is not the type of person to befriend people for their skills in dueling alone."
Syrus had to agree with Wilona's words.
"But my brother?"
The red-cap girl gave a much softer expression. "Truesdale, family is important, but they shouldn't be the end-all-be-all of your life. You have to make your choices; you can't have your brother make them for you. He can't tell you to be good for Yuki's tag duel because you have to be good for yourself."
Syrus stayed silent for a moment. "You think I can do it?"
"Yuki would be screaming of your talent atop the heavens if he could." Wilona gave a scoff as she talked about Jaden. "But our words, even your brother's, mean nothing if you don't choose to do it."
Syrus stayed silent, but Wilona liked it a little more than him feeling miserable a few minutes ago.
At that moment, Wilona received an e-mail from her PDA. "Hmm? A message from Rhodes?" She read the message and Wilona stood up, her eyes widened at what she was seeing. "Bloody hell! Get up, Truesdale, we're heading to the docks!"
"Why are we heading there!?" Syrus spoke as he stood up after Wilona.
"Yuki is being Yuki!" Wilona figured she needed to translate her thought process. "Our friend is going to challenge your brother and Rhodes, who I expected to be able to stop him, told him where he usually hangs out at this time!"
Syrus understood but didn't believe what he heard with his ears. "What!?"
[Tag Force: Heroes and Villains]
Today was full of surprises. Out of it all, no one expected Jaden to lose to Zane by such a large margin. Even When Zane lost life points, it felt like he was in control of the duel the entire time. However, what wasn't a surprise was that Jaden was happy about his loss, cluing Syrus that his talk with Wilona wasn't a waste.
Feeling reinvigorated, Syrus felt like he could now give it his all. That was a breath of fresh air for the Music Club. Yet, Jaden felt so pumped up, he challenged the Tyler Sisters to another Tag Duel then and there.
Zane couldn't help but give a small smile before he turned and walked away from the bickering group of first years. He was impressed by that Jaden fellow, and maybe just maybe...
"I don't think I've seen you smile like that in a while." Zane looked to his right to see Seika hiding behind one of the warehouse corners.
"He's not a bad duelist."
"Wow. That's the highest praise I've ever heard you say." The senior female Obelisk Blue Student walked to him and folded her arms. "So, Mr. VP, I think it's time we finally talk about all those paperwork you've been skipping."
Zane, without even stopping his walk or even looking at her, said, "That's not my job."
Seika still walked beside him. "Well, it's my job to make it your job. You do nothing but brood at that lighthouse anyway."
The two kept walking until they were sure they were out of sight of the music club.
"I went over the list of missing again," Seika spoke up when they were both sure no one was listening. "Something bothered me."
"What is it?"
"There was a name I didn't recognize. Does the name, Yusuke Fujiwara mean anything to you?"
Zane stilled, and he didn't know why, but he felt a strange sense of nostalgia. "No, I don't recognize it."
"Me either, I thought I knew all the missing students, but that one I don't." Seika put a hand on her chin. "It's annoying the more I dig in, the more questions instead of answers I'm finding."
"Is there anything else?"
"There is something," Seika looked around. They were on their way back to the dorms and it looked like there was no one nearby. "I contacted one of our old seniors, a friend of that Yumie girl with the flip deck."
Zane recalled decks more than he did people. There was someone last year that used a flip deck. He also recalled Atticus finding her 'cute'. "Why?"
"I was trying to see if there was anything our old seniors found odd about the missing students before they graduated. All of them were just as confused as us, but Yumie's friend, Julia, said that the last time she saw Yumie, she was called to the dorms by a teacher."
"A teacher?" Zane repeated.
"I know, there hasn't been much change in the teaching staff this year, but there are so many teachers here besides the main professors of each Dorm. I don't know how to zero in on the one who called all the students together." Seika smirked. "If a certain Ace of Duel Academy and Vice President were to follow me around and distract more people, I might be able to find out who called everyone."
Zane felt more trouble than his duel from a while ago. He also felt there was something hidden under his friend's explanation.
"Is this your way of getting me to that blasted job?"
"The phrase goes like this, 'Two birds, one stone'. If I knew giving you paperwork would save our friend faster, I would have shoved it all to you at the start of the year!"
Her jokes died down before she looked back at Zane. "Did you tell her?"
Zane thought back to Alexis looking exasperated but happy with all her new friends. A piece of him didn't want to interrupt that. "It wasn't the right time."
Seika rolled her eyes. "You and your 'silent, tough guy' act. Either bring her into the fold or keep her out of it."
The President of the Student Council sighed. "At this rate though, you might want to keep her out of it."
[Tag Force: Heroes and Villains]
A/N: This Chapter was super hard to write. I don't know why, but it was. All I did was buff up Syrus and give him some interesting cards for the future. I've been playing Duel Links, so I hope I get a better idea of how duels could work. Also, I've decided to make more fake cards mostly because making real ones and searching for them is stupidly hard and doesn't always match what I want.
Fun fact: I wanted to mirror ARC-V where Grace had a crush on Yuya but this time instead with Jaden. However, I realized that what I knew of Gloria, with her liking and respecting powerful duelists, I thought she might like Jaden more than her sister. Which would mean Gloria might be interested in Jaden, which Alexis despises. (Oooh! Juicy Drama is fun to write about!)
I had a little fun with Seika and Zane doing detective work while everyone is still going through their crazed adventures.
Honest is going to appear more and I have some interesting ideas for him.
Also, you probably noticed some asterisks. I made them show the following:
*= if a card has this symbol it means I made it up.
**= These cards exist, but they've changed slightly to fit the context of the duel.
***=This is just a reference to ARC-V's many, many "But you still take damage!" meme. I'm not always going to give these three asterisks but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Anyway, I'll see you guys later. I put a lot of work into this story, so I'm not abandoning it now.
