Chapter Three: The Next King of Games?
For the first time all day, Jane felt at ease. She had been worried about a lot, first it was getting to the exam on time, then it was actually passing her test duel. And finally it was worrying her friends might not pass their own tests, the ordeal with Pitt certainly didn't help. But now that was all over, she and her friends had passed, and they were finally able to fully relax and enjoy the last duel of the day. The last applicant was a boy named Bastion Misawa. From what Jane had learned, not only was Bastion the number one ranked applicant on the written exam, he was also in the top of his class at a very prestigious private school. And as Pitt would routinely point out everytime he made a clever move, Bastion was a very talented duelist. Jane hoped that duel academy would be full of talented duelists like Bastion. Any further thoughts were interupted by someone shouting from behind her.
"Look Out!"
"Aaaaaaaaahh!!"
Jane, Victor and Pitt all turned around to see someone falling down the stairs next to the stands. They were rolling down and clearly panicked. Without hesitating, Victor and Jane jumped out in front of the person in an attempt to catch them. With their combined effort, they managed to catch the person, who they then helped to their feet. "Are you okay?" asked Jane.
The person who was falling, a bespectacled cyan-haired boy, no taller than Pitt, managed to compose himself. "Yeah, thanks to you two. Sorry if I caused any trouble."
Victor shook his head. "Nonsense, you needed help, so we helped. What happened to you anyway?"
The boy looked behind him, towards the top of the arena where the exits were. "Some jerk said I got in his way and shoved me. Thankfully you both caught me before I fell too far down."
Victor frowned "That guy sounds like an ass. Sorry that happened to you."
This time the boy shook his head. "I probably was in the way. Although I don't think hurting me was the appropriate response, I see why he might've been mad."
Victor was going to rebute the boys self-depricating statement, but Jane spoke before he could. She knew that Victor meant well, but something told her that they should take a different approach to how they responded. "Well, we're glad you're okay. My name is Jane, that's Victor. What's your name?"
"Oh, my name is Syrus, Syrus Truesdale."
Jane gestured to the bench where she and Victor were sitting. "Well Syrus, would you like to sit with us? We were going to watch the last duel before leaving."
Syrus was surprised that someone wanted him to hang out with them, especially someone whom he had just met. "Really? Well, if you truly don't mind. Sure, thank you!"
Victor and Jane sat back down, scooting over to make sure there was room for Syrus to sit with them. While Pitt was normally laser-focused on anything and everything duel related that was happening around him at any given moment, he took notice when his two best friends got up and ran off suddenly. So when they returned with an unfamiliar person, he wanted to know what had happened. "Hey guys, what happened, and who's this?"
Jane looked over towards Pitt. "Sorry about that Pitt, this is Syrus, and he needed some help. We invited him to sit with us. I hope you don't mind."
Pitt was about to respond, when he finally took full notice of Syrus. Specifically, he noticed that Syrus was roughly the same height as him. Pitt responded energetically with a toothy grin.
"Of course I don't mind. If he needed help then I'm glad he got it. Plus, It's always nice to meet an equally vertically-challenged duelist."
Victor smirked "Actually, I'm pretty sure Syrus is a few inches taller than you, so you'll probably still be the shortest duelist at the Academy. Heheheh!"
Pitt got visibly agitated and Syrus nervously chuckled, but before anything could come of Victor's joke, Jane forced Pitt to sit back down, and the four of them continued to watch Bastion's duel. All the way through to the end.
*Bastion's Duel*
Bastion LP:3200
Proctor Shades LP:1900
Despite the life points difference, the proctor didn't seem at all concerned. In fact, he was speaking in a rather cocky manner. "All right Applicant, Multiple Choice! You've got two monsters staring you down with impenetrable defense. Do you: 'A.Throw in the towel', 'B. Face Defeat', or 'C. Run home to Mama'?"
Bastion somewhat understood why the proctor was cocky. He had two cards on his field, but they were very good defense cards. One was Big Shield Gardna, which had 2600 DEF Points, the other was Gear Golem the Moving Fortress, which had 2200 DEF Points. Bastion himself only had one monster on the field, Vorse Raider. It had 1900 ATK Points, which was quite good for a Level Four monster, but was not strong enough to destroy either of the proctor's monsters. However, Bastion had been saving his facedown card for just such a scenario.
"I'll go with 'D. None of the Above'. I activate my face down, Ring of Destruction! This allows me to destroy one monster I controll, and then we both take damage equal to that destroyed monsters attack points."
The proctor was not expecting a move like this. "B-but that means..."
Bastion smiled "Indeed, this duel is over!" As Bastion spoke, a metal ring with grenades strapped to it appeared around Vorse Raider's neck. It then exploded, destroying Vorse Raider.
Bastion LP:3200-1300
Proctor Shades LP:1900-0
Despite his defeat, the proctor was impressed with the applicant's dueling skills. "Nicely done, Applicant. The panel and I are in agreement, It's clear why you placed #1 on the written exam, and your dueling skills certainly live up to expectations. Welcome to duel academy."
Bastion bowed out of respect, before exiting the duel field.
Back in the spectator stands, Victor and company weren't the only ones watching the duel. On the opposite side of the field, not too far above the Duel Panel, sat three teenagers wearing blue blazers. The boy on the left looked over to the one next to him. "Pretty sweet duel, huh Chazz?" The one on the right also looked at the one in the middle, named Chazz. "Yeah, I guess the rumors about him being some sort of wiz kid were true, huh Chazz?"
Chazz scoffed, "Please, he's nothing. We are at the top of our classes at Duel Prep School. We didn't even need to take the exams to get into the top ranking dorm, Obelisk Blue. We're the best, and I, Chazz Princeton, am the best of the best!"
"Chazz!!"
Any further boasting from Chazz was cut off by a voice from his left. Chazz and his goons saw another Obelisk student run up to the. He was Lanky,a had short orange hair, and had thin rimmed glasses. Chazz rolled his eyes, he was hoping to have a day without this guy annoying him with incompetence and brown-nosing. "Ugh, what do you want, Harrold? I thought I told you not to bother me until we got to Academy Island. Or better yet, not to bother me at all!"
Harold looked out of breath, which he was. He had been running around the stadium looking for Chazz. While Harrold himself had gotten there early, a long with the Duel Panel and some other Obelisk Students, Chazz and his goons had only arrived recently, not truly caring about seeing the exam duels, instead showing up because they were bored. "Sorry Chaz, but I have to tell you about one of the exam duels. This guy was crazy, he-"
Chazz Interupted "I don't care, Harrold. I just saw the supposed 'Highest Ranking Applicant' duel, and I was severely underwhelmed. If the so-called best couldn't impress me, I highly doubt anyone else could."
Harrold continued. "But Chazz... he won on his first turn!!"
This caused Chazz to raise an eyebrow, and his goons outright gasped in shock. He took a moment to think to himself, before shrugging the whole thing off. "Meh, so what?"
"SO WHAT?!"
Harrold and the two goons were stunned by Chazz's response. Goon One: "But Chazz..." Goon Two: "If he won on his first turn..." Harold: "That sounds like something that..."
All Three: "ONLY THE NEXT KING OF GAMES COULD DO!!"
Chazz grew visibly irritated by that remark. The King of Games was a title held by the best duelist in the world. Before he retired, that title belonged to Yugi Muto, the first King of Games. Ever since Yugi retired, everyone in the world had been trying to reach the same heights as Yugi. If anyone was going to be the next King of Games, it would be Chazz Princeton, no one else! "Do the three of you share a braincell or something?! Some nobody applicant isn't gonna be the next King just because of a one turn win, and I'll give you two reasons why I'm so sure of that. One, the Exam Duels are all conducted with practice decks. The decks all either share cards in one way or another, or have easy to understand strategies. Anyone with a basic understanding of Duel Monsters can beat them. And Two, in a deck of forty to sixty cards, there's always a chance that you'll draw the perfect hand. In simpler terms, he got lucky."
On the opposite side of the arena, Victor ands the others were talking amongst themselves, when they noticed someone next to them. A teenager in a red shirt with a dark grey jacket, and grey slacks. His most noticable feature however, was his brown, almost Kuriboh-shaped hair. "Wow, that last guy really tore it up!"
Syrus looked over at the newly appeared teen. "Yeah, that was Bastion Misawa. He got the highest score on the written exam out of all us applicants."
The brown haired teen's eyes slightly widened "Wow, impressive. So, are you guys all friends?"
Syrus smiled nervously "Aw gee, do I really seem like I'm cool enough to have this many friends? That's a nice thought, but I actually just met these guys and-"
Pitt practically knocked syrus over when he went to playfully embrace him."Yep, this is our new friend Syrus. My name is Pitt, the literal red-head is Victor, and Ms.Serious over there is Jane."
"So, Kuriboh-Head, whats your name?"
"Hah, well, my name is Jaden. It's nice to meet you all. Hey look, it's that Bastion guy."
Sure enough, Bastion Misawa was aproaching the group. "Hello there, I would formally introduce myself, but I couldn't help but overhear you speaking about me, I also heard you all introduce yourselves."
Pitt sighed in relief "Thats good, because I'm not sure how many more introductions I can take today."
Jaden laughed at Pitt's behavior, but he quickly pivoted back to Bastion. "I gotta say, that was a pretty sweet duel Bastion. You're probably the second best applicant here!"
While Jaden's compliment sounded genuine, Bastion was confused. "Thank you for your kind words, but I'm confused. If I'm the second best, who's the first?"
Jaden smiled "Why, I am of course. You happen to be looking at the next King of Games!"
Everyone was surprised by Jaden's statement, most of all Bastion. "Your exam duel must have been quite impressive for you to make such a bold claim."
Jaden sheepishly smiled "Well, I actually haven't dueled yet. My train was delayed so I got here late."
Everyone except Jaden looked at eachother, unsure of how to break the bad news to him. Jane broke the silence."Jaden, Bastion's duel was the last one. Everyone else has already dueled."
ACK! *Jaden fell over backwards*
*With the Exam Panel*
Dr.Crowler was packing up various papers he had marked during the exam duels, when one of the staff members approached him. "I'm sorry to bother you Mr.Crowler, but we have one last applicant here for their exam duel."
Dr.Crowler's eye twitched. "Did you just call me 'Mister'?"
"Im sorry, I'm new here Mrs.-"
"Firstly, I am a man, secondly, I have a PHD in Dueling, and have earned the title of Doctor. Now tell the truant that they'll just have to come back next year."
Despite Dr.Crowlers dismissive take on the situation, the rest of the duel panel tried to convince him to reconsider. It got to the point where he couldn't take their pestering.
"LATE IS RUDE!! I have no time for slackers!" Before he could continue his rant, his phone rang. "Who is this, I'm very busy at the moment- Ah, Chancellor Shepard, how can I... why yes, I am giving every applicant a fair chance... no I did not lash out over being called 'Mister' again... Yes Sir, and a good day to you as well." As the call ended, Crowler growled to himself. He wasn't sure how Sheppard somehow knew he was about to refuse this late applicant his test, but that didn't matter now. If Sheppard wanted this slacker to have his test, he would get it.
"Very well, if the slacker want's his duel, I will see to it personally!"
The loudspeaker rang out. *Jaden Yuki, Please report to Exam Field Three*
"Well guys, wish me luck." Jaden went down to the exam field, where Dr.Crowler was waiting for him.
"All right, test time!"