Disclaimer: I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.
Alexis pov
As soon as Ben and I walk into the dining hall I can feel the tension. An almost tangible amount of rejection directed at Ben. I walk off towards Mindy and Jasmine hoping there isn't any incident.
Unfortunately as soon as I reach them someone in the crowd shouts out that Ben doesn't belong here in Obelisk. After that more and more students start voicing their agreement. Ben seems unfazed at first then he nods almost imperceptibly. I see Dr. Crowler trying to quell the out rage when suddenly Ben speaks.
"Alright you think I don't belong here." He says talking over the crowd. " Well clearly the school does but since so many of you have a problem with it let's settle this with a duel."
He points to Rodney who first spoke out against him.
" I'll take you on. If you win I'll accept a demotion to Ra Yellow, but if I win then you drop this for tonight. Assuming that this is okay with you Dr. Crowler." He boldly declared.
Seriously it was sad he felt he needed to put on this little show just to prove he belonged here.
Crowler having little choice in the matter if he didn't want to deal with a bunch of unruly students agreed and everyone moved back a little ways and formed a circle around the dueling pair, I ended up squished in between Mindy and Doctor Crowler near the center of the circle .
Rodney went first and summoned out a powerful monster with 2400 attack points and set three cards.
Ben's turn began with him asking the audience to allow him to entertain them as he drew for turn. He then proceeded to destroy all of Rodney's face downs with heavy storm. He then declared that he would call out the star of the show and activated Polymerization fusing Imaginary Actor with a card I'd never heard of to create some sort of Cyborg Snake. He then boosted his monster's attack points and revealed its choice effect to weaken Rodney's monster and attack twice.
" Cyborg type. I see." I heard Dr. Crowler mutter. Hearing that I remembered why Ben seemed familiar, he was the winner of the youth regional tournament seven years ago where the other finalist who'd beaten me turned out to be cheating.
" Double Venom Strike." Ben declared giving a mocking bow as his monster attacked and ended the duel.
"My apologies for the short show." He finished in a joyful tone with a smile on his face.
After the duel some students seemed to be upset with the results and began protesting once more.
" Silence." Dr. Crowler's voice rang out over the crowd. "The agreement was if Mr. Poole won this matter would be dropped for the rest of the evening. Now the next person to speak on this matter tonight will be dropped to Ra Yellow, do I make myself clear?"
After that dinner was a quiet affair. Most of the students seemed to still be shooting glares at Ben. Upon reaching my dorm I realized that there is no way Chazz would let his apparent grudge with Jaden go. Exiting the dorms without getting caught is fairly easy, Ms. Fontaine goes to bed early since she teaches gym and is the school nurse. As I make my way towards the Obelisk duel arena I notice campus security patrolling. I'm just about to turn a corner when suddenly someone grabs my arm and covers my mouth.
I bite down hard on the hand even as I'm spun around to face my attacker. Who turns out to be Ben who lets go of my arm and raises his fingers to his lips to indicate that I needed to be quiet before removing his hand from my mouth. He beckons me to follow him and sets off down a different hallway. I follow him a little ways before he stops and looks around.
" The way you were going would've led you straight towards a security team." He said while grabbing his left hand tightly. " They just passed through here a little bit ago. Now why are you out of bed at this hour? "
Oh that's why he stopped me the way that he did. Now I felt kinda bad for biting him so hard.
" I realized that Chazz would probably try to have his match against Jaden now." I said, " I snuck out so I could go watch the match."
" Lovely we're up for pretty much the same reason." Ben said looking around for a moment as if deciding something. Once again he nodded almost imperceptibly before continuing. " Let's go we'll have to take a somewhat scenic route to avoid getting caught by campus security but it should be doable even with two people."
What followed was a very abnormal route to get to the arena. If I wasn't in such good shape I doubt I would have been able to keep up with Ben as he led us up one of the emergency ladders and through a window or two before we arrived at the arena.
Walking in it seemed as if the duel had already started.
"What's Chthonian Polymers stuff?" Came the voice of Zane's little brother.
" Chthonian Polymer is a nasty trap." I explained gently, " It allows you to take control of an opponent's fusion monster by sacrificing one of your own creatures."
" Oh no Jaden just summoned a fusion monster." Syrus said.
Chazz sacrificed his Reborn Zombie to gain control of Jaden's Flame Wingman. Jaden looked shocked at this development.
" How did Chazz know to play that?" Syrus asked.
" Jaden is playing an Elemental Hero deck." Ben explained, " Much like the number two pro duelist Koyo Hibiki. Elemental Heroes are known for their fusion capabilities and Chazz is very familiar with how the deck operates."
"Oh !" Syrus nodded in realization.
Chazz taunting Jaden drew my attention back to the duel. Jaden summoned Elemental Hero Clayman in defense mode and ended his turn. Chazz then summoned his Chthonian Soldier and used Flame Wingman to destroy Clayman. Then he attacked Jaden directly with Chthonian Soldier.
" Are you starting to know your place at the academy?" Chazz cruelly taunted Jaden as he ended his turn with a facedown. " Maybe you were somebody back home but here in the big leagues you're nothing but a pathetic little amateur Slifer Slime."
Jaden was looking down as his shoulders began to shake. All of the sudden he looked up and began laughing with a big grin on his face.
"Oh this is too fun." Jaden said with an upbeat tone. "Just what I came here for. I mean the trash talking, the action, it's all so great."
Jaden proceeded to summon Elemental Hero Sparkman and used it to destroy Chthonian Soldier. Chazz revealed Chthonian Soldier's ability to inflict the damage he took to his opponent. Jaden set a card and ended his turn. Chazz on his turn immediately declared an attack with Flame Wingman on Sparkman. Only for Jaden to activate a trap.
"It's Mirror Gate." I remarked.
" What's that mean?" Syrus asked.
" It means that Jaden is still in this." Ben explained, " Mirror Gate switches control of two monsters in battle. Looks like Jaden will be taking back Flame Wingman."
I complimented Jaden on his impressive move while scrutinizing Ben from the corner of my eye. He seemed awfully knowledgeable about Hero cards for someone who used mostly monsters I'd never heard of.
Chazz however wasn't going to go down easy. He activated his Chthonian Blast to destroy flame Wingman and deal 1050 points of damage to Jaden. Then Chazz revived his Reborn Zombie with Call Of The Haunted and sacrificed it to summon Memphis The Infernal General.
"Not bad." Jaden and Ben said in unison. Though Ben seemed disappointed almost as though he was expecting something else.
" Chazz's ability to pivot has always been mildly impressive." Ben remarked.
" You seem to know a lot about Chazz." I commented. That was the second time Ben had made a comment implying a history with Chazz.
" Let's just say Chazz and I go way back." Ben said
"Not bad. You're something else Slacker, you know that." Chazz said, " Acting all confident but your lousy monsters won't get you out of this jam."
Jaden appeared to mutter to him self as he drew his next card. All of the sudden I heard a door open and close from down the hallway.
" Guys we got company, Campus security if they find us all in here we'll be seriously busted." I announced.
" What, why? We're all students here after all?" Jaden asked.
" The rules say no off hour arena duels." Ben answered.
"Chazz knows that but let me guess he didn't tell you." I say with just a hint of exasperation at Chazz's behavior.
" Well well Slacker, looks like you lucked out this time." Chazz said as he turned around.
" What are you talking about the match isn't over." Jaden questioned looking annoyed for the first time.
" Yeah it is." Said Chazz as he was walking away. " I've seen what I came to see. You're a sorry duelist, you beating Dr. Crowler was just a fluke."
" Jaden we've got to go." Syrus told his fellow Slifer.
Ben and I led the two Slifers out of the arena through a back passage and ran out of the building. Once we got outside of the building we stopped to catch our breaths.
" This stinks! " Jaden exclaimed, " I had that guy on the ropes."
" You certainly are stubborn Jaden." I said with a touch of fondness in my voice. I would likely act the same if my duel had been interrupted.
" Only about my dueling." Jaden replied smiling.
" Hey, thanks you guys for showing us that back way out." Syrus said.
" No problem." I said to him before turning to Jaden, " I'm sorry you didn't get to finish your duel with Chazz."
" It's ok, I know how it would have ended anyway." Jaden said.
" Really because from where I was standing it looked like it could have gone either way." I point out.
" It really couldn't have." Ben interjected.
" Yeah, he's right especially after I drew this." Jaden said holding up Monster reborn.
"Actually I meant if Chazz had taken you seriously he would have beaten you." Ben said surprising me and Jaden. " Chazz had Call Of The Haunted set for the entire game. If he had used it during the battle phase where he had Flame Wingman and Chthonian Soldier on the field then he would've beaten you when he played Chthonian Blast on his next turn."
"True but he didn't do that so it's a loss." I pointed out.
" Yeah, I suppose you're not wrong." Ben said before turning back to Jaden. " I believe I called playing the winner. Feel free to challenge me anytime Jaden."
" Awesome. I can't wait to take you on." Jaden said excited by the prospect of dueling Ben.
After that we all split up and headed back to our respective dorms.
Author's Note:
Well again I don't really have much to say here. Let me know what you guys think of the chapter.