Chapter Four: Jaden vs Dr.Crowler
To say that everyone in the arena was shocked would be an understatement, the fact that this applicant was not dueling a proctor, but instead a seasoned duelist and a teacher at Duel Academy, was astonishing. The Obelisk goons were chattering amongst themselves.
"Wow, I can't belive Dr. Crowler is dueling him personally instead of a proctor. This Jaden guy must be pretty special."
Chazz growled in anger, and if he was being honest, slight envy. 'He shouldn't be!' It took quite a bit of will to keep that thought in his head. What made this guy so special that he was dueling someone as elite as Dr. Crowler just for his exam?
Victor, Pitt, Jane, Syrus and Bastion were watching with anticipation and intrigue. Bastion was the first to comment. "Well, this is quite unexpected."
Jane nodded in agreement. "Indeed, I wonder why Dr. Crowler wants to duel Jaden personally.
While the others thought Jaden was recieving special treatment, Victor had a feeling that the good doctor wasn't doing this for any noble reason.
Back on the field, as Jaden put his deck in his Model One duel disk, Dr.Crowler instead had an entirely unique setup. His duel gear was split into two pieces, the base, which was what held the deck, and kept track of the Life points, was strapped to his chest. The duel board, where the cards in play went, was entirely separate, and held with a handle. Dr.Crowler reached towards his chest, and activated the device. "Duel Vest, ON!"
Jaden couldn't help but take notice of Dr. Crowler's duel gear. "Hey, sweet setup there teach, how do I get fancy duel tech like that?"
While he didn't like Jaden, Crowler never was one to shy away from showing off whenever possible. "Why, thank you. This duel coat was custom made for me personally. Skill and prestige have their perks."
Jaden smiled confidently. "Well, when I graduate Duel Academy, maybe I'll get fancy duel tech like your's."
Crowler smirked. "Now now, young scholar, you musn't get ahead of yourself, before you think about your future after the academy, you must first get into the academy."
He then thought to himself. 'And I intend to make sure that doesn't happen.' Both duelists took the familiar stance, before the duel began.
"Let's Duel!" "Let's Duel!"
Dr. Crowler LP:4000
Jaden Yuki LP:4000
As Jaden looked at his starting hand, while he was confident with every card in his deck, he knew the smartest play he could make right now would be to build a strong defense.. "I summon Elemental Hero Avian in defense mode!" Elemental Hero Avian,Level 4,WIND,Warrior,ATK:1000, DEF:1000. "Then I'll throw down a facedown. Get your game on!"
Dr.Crowler scowled, he didn't like this slacker's carefree and overly joyful attitude. "Yes, very good. I'll start things off nice and easy with the spell card, Confiscation. With this card, I pay 1000 Life Points, and in exchange I can look at your hand and send one card of my choosing to the graveyard." As he said this, holograms of Jaden's cards appeared in front of Dr.Crowler.
"Ah, I see you're playing it safe, not that I expect a naive rookie to have any good cards. But this one might be troublesome, so I send your spell Monster Reborn to the graveyard." Jaden was forced to discard the spell, but Crowler wasn't done yet.
Dr. Crowler LP:4000-3000
"Next, I'll set two cards facedown. Now I activate the spell card Heavy Storm. This destroys every spell and trap on the field!" Powerful winds blew across the field, forcing all facedown cards to be revealed before being destroyed. Jaden's facedown was the trap Draining Shield. Dr.Crowler had two traps of his own, which were destroyed.
Jaden spoke. "Whoopsie! Did you forget that you had facedowns?"
Crowler smirked. "No, I did not. The two cards that I had were trap cards called Statue of the Wicked. When they are destroyed, Fiend Tokens are summoned two my field, one for each trap."
The crowd reacted to Crowler's move with surprise. Statue of the Wicked was an advanced technique, that card couldn't possibly be in a test deck. Dr.Crowler was clearly using his personal deck. This confirmed Victor's theory, Dr.Crowler was dueling Jaden without holding back, which proctors are supposed to do. The only thing he couldn't figure out was why. Was this really just because Jaden was late? If so, that was ridiculous, he was late because of his train being delayed, he had no control over that!
On the other side of the stadium, third year student Zane Truesdale and first year student Alexis Rhodes had been watching the duel with great interest.
"Well, this confirms it. Dr.Crowler is using his personal deck. And with two tokens on the field, I have a feeling we're about to see his so called 'legendary' monster." said Zane.
Alexis shook her head. "I can't believe Crowler is going this far over some random rookie, it's not fair."
Zane looked at her. "You're too naive. If this guy can't handle the unexpected then he shouldn't be enrolled at Duel Academy. Think of this as preparation for what's to come, if he want's to go pro, he'll need to get used to dueling powerful people."
Back on the field, Crowler made his next move. "Now, I'll sacrifice my two Wicked Tokens... Come Forth, Ancient Gear Golem!" As the two tokens were removed, in their place stood a towering metal behemoth, menacing and larger than life. Ancient Gear Golem,Level 8,EARTH,Machine/Effect,ATK:3000,DEF:3000.
Pitt stood up from the bench and was practically jumping up and down with excitement. "Woah! So cool! I've never seen a monster that big before! Not in person anyway."
Jane nodded. "It sure is impressive, although I feel bad for Jaden, having to face that thing."
Bastion concurred. "Indeed, Ancient Gear Golem is a mighty monster, but it's effect is what is most dangerous about it."
Dr.Crowler made his move. "Ancient Gear Golem, attack! Mechanized Melee!" The Golem swung it's mighty fist, smashing Avian to pieces, what shocked everyone was when Jaden took damage from the attack, even though Avian had been in defense mode. "Surprised, young scholar? That would be my Golem's effect. When it attacks a monster that's in defense mode, you still take damage like if it were in attack mode."
Jaden Yuki LP:4000-2000
However, rather than feeling intimidated, Jaden was actually impressed. "Wow, you're really good, Teach. I've never had this much fun learning before!"
Dr.Crowler wasn't expecting to be complimented by Jaden. He still didn't like the Slacker, but he took it anyway. "Yes, well I'm quite an excellent teacher, thank you. Your turn."
Jaden looked at his hand, he had three out of the four cards he needed to win this duel. He needed to buy more time, and he had a feeling that a monster of his wanted to help him out.
"I summon Winged Kuriboh in Defense mode. Your turn, Teach."
Winged Kuriboh, Level 1,LIGHT,Fairy/Effect,ATK:300,DEF:200.
Crowler had to admit, he had never seen this monster before. He was familiar with how the normal variant of Kuriboh worked, he assumed that this one was similar in that it's effect was activated from the hand, and was thus unsure why Jaden summoned it to the feild. Regardless, Crowler was sure his Golem could handle whatever it was.
"Golem, Attack! Mechanized Melee!" The Golem smashed Winged Kuriboh to pieces, yet this time Jaden didn't lose any Life Points. Crowler growled with frustration, assuming it was a glitch with Jaden's duel disk. "Check your gear, your Life Points didn't change."
However, Jaden just smiled. "My gear is fine, on the turn Winged Kuriboh is destroyed, I take zero damage."
Crowler was surprised, he had no idea that Winged Kuriboh's effect would be so vastly different from the standard Kuriboh. "Fine, I guess the flying hairball bought you more time. But it won't matter. My Golem will defeat any monster you put in it's path, you won't win!"
Jaden took his turn, and drew a card... which just so happened to be the last card he needed to win. "Okay, first I activate the spell card, The Warrior Returning Alive! This lets me pick a warrior monster in my graveyard and add it to my hand, so I'll add Elemental Hero Avian. Next I activate the spell, Polymerization! This lets me Fusion summon a monster using monsters from my hand or my field to bring them out. From my hand, I fuse Elemental Hero Avian with Elemental Hero Burstinatrix, Fusion Summon... Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!!"
Elemental Hero Flame Wingman,Level 6,WIND,Warrior/Fusion/Effect,ATK:2100,DEF:1200.
Flame Wingman was an impressive looking monster, Victor would freely admit, but it's attack was nowhere near strong enough to destroy the Golem, not by itself anyway.
"Okay, what's Jaden's plan? He has to know that Flame Wingman cant beat the Golem, so why bring it out?"
Jane agreed that Jaden was up to something. "I can think of two reasons. One, he has a way to boost it's attack, or two, he is simply trying to take as little damage as possible and brought Wingman out as a shield."
Bastion chimed in. "I would personally say it's the former. Flame Wingman's effect is rather powerful, in that when it destroys a monster by battle, it deals the attack points of that destroyed monster as damage to the opponent. Perhaps we're about to see how Jaden plans to win right now."
"I activate the field spells, Skyscraper!" Suddenly, the field was enveloped with tall buildings, like a bustling city. "Now Flame Wingman, attack with Skydive Scorcher!"
Crowler grinned maliciously, the stress had clearly gotten to Jaden, why else would he make such a foolish move and attack with a weaker monster? "Bring it on! This flimsy Skyscraper field spells hasn't lowered my Golem's attack by one point!"
"You're right, Teach. What it's done is raise my Wingman's attack by 1000! Bringing it to 3100!" Elemental Hero Flame Wingman ATK:2100-3100
Crowler was shocked as his Golem was taken down in a fiery crash. but even more so when the pieces of his monster fell on top of him, burying him in a mound of gears. "AAAHHH!!"
"And now, on top of the battle damage, you take damage equal to Ancient Gear Golem's attack points! That's Game!"
Dr.Crowler LP:3000-2900-0
The arena was silent, before erupting into applause. No one was expecting anything like this to happen, and they were thoroughly impressed.
Bastion smiled as he shook his head. "Of course, Skyscraper, I should have known. Whenever an Elemental Hero battles a stronger monster, Skyscraper gives it an attack boost of 1000."
Jane looked over at Bastion. "Your knowledge of duel cards is very extensive, I'm impressed!"
"Why thank you, Jane. Though I must admit that my knowledge on Elemental Hero monsters is particularly extensive due to studying them specifically. I once considered making a Hero deck of my own, but I decided they did not fit my style of dueling."
Jaden Yuki jumped up and down on the field, celebrating his win. "I made the Academy. I'm in! I'm in!"
Two Days Later, On Academy Island
It was one week before the Academy started it's school year, and the members of the Exam Panel were in the conference room. While they had already decided who would be attending Duel Academy, they now had to decide what dorms the first year applicants would be assigned to, based on their written and duel scores. They went down the numbered list of applicants and voted, each vote had to be a majority, although most were unanimous. One of the members spoke. "Very well, let's get started with the list. Applicant #1, Bastion Misawa, thoughts?"
Dr.Crowler responded. "It's clear that he is smart, but I say he be placed in Ra Yellow. There is a stark difference between being test smart and being duel smart. We shall see which he is in due time." The panel agreed with Dr.Crowler, and marked Bastion as Ra Yellow. "Next, Applicant #2, Lucien Briggs." The consensus was that Lucien was focused, efficient and ruthless, and was placed in Obelisk Blue.
*Time Skip*
"#35, Jane Minta."
Crowler spoke. "Another smart duelist, if she hadn't hesitated so much I would recommend her for Obelisk Blue. Perhaps some time dueling in the Academy will help with her hesitation. I suggest Ra Yellow for Ms.Minta." The Panel agreed and moved on.
*Time Skip*
"#63, Victor Quinn." Some panel members recommeded Ra Yellow due to Victor's Strong Wind Dragon combo. Others thought he got lucky, and that getting caught in the Spider Web field spells showed signs of carelessness. Dr.Crowler was one such person. In the end, by a vote of 4-3, Victor was placed in Slifer Red. The consensus was that Victor would have a chance to prove himself at the end of the first month should he wish to move up to Ra Yellow.
*Time Skip*
Finally, the panel neared the end of it's duties. There were only two applicants left who needed to be sorted. Jaden Yuki, and Syrus Truesdale. "#119, Syrus Truesdale."
Crowler raised an eyebrow. "The sniveling wimp? Slifer Red. It's hard to believe he's the brother of Duel Academy's start student. Now if we are done here..."
"Wait, #110, Jaden Yuki. Clearly he goes to Obelis-"
"SLIFER RED!! END OF DISCUSSION!!"
The panel decided not to fight Dr.Crowler on this, and adjourned.
Next Time... Duel Academy!*