C.3 - Heroic Combat
Out on the concrete outside the Slifer Red dorm building, a place that was more comparable to a rusty shed than an expensive boarding school. The concrete had markings across it for a duel in white painted strokes, which he and Chazz stood across from each other on.
The field was lit up by nearby electric fluorescent lamps attached to the building. Pressed up against the railing to the second floor, he could make out both of his friends Chumly and Syrus looking down at him with worried expressions. He could also just barely make out some doors to the dorms slightly ajar.
Were others watching secretly? no need to be shy about it. The more the merrier.
"It's time I squash this pathetic rumour." Chazz snapped, finally saying something instead of just glaring like they had been since they left his dorm room.
They raised a fist up and quickly played a round of Roshambo, which Chazz won, letting him choose to take the first turn of the duel.
"Alright." He replied with a grin on his face that he couldn't keep down. "I've been wanting another duel with you ever since we had to cut our last one short. Now let's go!"
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Chazz huffed as he levelled out his Duel Disk towards him. Jaden mimicked the gesture.
Then at the same time they both shouted out. "It's time to duel!"
"Be careful Jay!" Syrus warned him from above. "He pushed you pretty far in your last duel."
He nodded at that. If he'd made a wrong move during their last duel, he had no doubt that Chazz would've torn into him and won that duel.
"I draw!" Chazz shouted out. Adding a card to his hand before reaching for a different card on the rightmost side of his hand. "Let's begin this duel right, I summon Shadowknight Archfiend!" Rising from the shadows on the floor a massive fiend made from bones and what appeared to be muscle tissue appeared, towering behind Chazz. (A:2000/D:1600)
"Next, I'll set three cards face-down and end my turn."
He couldn't help but whistle at that. "Sweet opening, a 2000 power monster and three whole mystery cards? You're coming at me hard Chazz."
"No more half-measures!" Chazz growled. "There won't be any question of who is better."
"We'll see about that." he replied slyly before drawing from his deck. "I'll activate the spell card E-Emergency Call! Which lets me add any Hero monster from my deck to my hand, i'll use it to grab Elemental Hero Sparkman to my Hand, i'll then use Polymerization to mix it with my Elemental Hero Clayman to make a new hero."
The two monsters disappeared into a vortex before being replaced with a new hero, with a large hulking frame made of golden armour with white accents, a large energy source in the centre of their chest.
"Appear!" Jaden called out. "Elemental Hero Thunder Giant!"
"No!" Chazz shouted suddenly, with enough force that it started him and the audience watching. "Trap activate! Solemn Judgement!"
An old man bathed in divine light appeared by Chazz's side before they swung an arm towards the Thunder Giant, causing them to fade from the field.
Once the old divine man disappeared Chazz was taking deep heaving breaths.
"Hey… Chazz, are you alright?" Jaden asked out of concern.
"Just continue your turn or surrender right now. I don't care which at this point." The Obelisk Blue prince hissed at him.
From the balcony above he could hear his buddies talking to each other.
"Chumly, Chazz isn't looking alright…" Syrus muttered.
"Yeah, i may not be as big of a duelling expert as a sandwich expert, but was it really that smart to play that risky with your life points so soon in a duel?"
"Huh? Oh yeah!" Syrus seemed to realise what Chumley was getting out. "By using that legendary trap card, he just paid half of his life points! And that archfiend, isn't it gonna eat another chunk of his life points at the start of next turn? Chazz will basically be down nearly three quarters of his life points and Jay won't have to lift a finger."
Jaden couldn't help but mentally agree. Sure, he was now down a fusion monster which… Today really wasn't his day when it came to his fusion monsters being easily destroyed. But also, Chazz's play was pretty risky.
"I'll activate O-Oversoul, reviving my Elemental Hero Clayman and summoning it in defence mode. Now it's your turn Chazz." (A:800/D:2000)
"At the end of your turn!" Chazz called out. "I'll activate my last two trap cards, Solemn Wishes and the Life-Absorbing Machine. Now I'll draw." The Obelisk blue Prince did so, only to be showered in sparkling rain as he did. "Since I drew a card, Solemn Wishes grants me 500 life points."
Chazz (2500LP)
"Now I enter my Standby Phase and when I do, my Archfiend Shadowknight forces me to pay 900 of my life points!"
Chazz (1600LP)
"But that doesn't really matter as much, since my Life-Absorbing Machine will heal me for half of the life points I paid since my last standby phase. Meaning I get back half of the 2000 points I paid for Solemn Judgement." A channel of light shot out from Chazz's trap card into him, healing him of the damage he'd inflicted to himself, at least partially.
Chazz (2600LP)
Chazz just grinned before reaching for a different card in his hand. "I'll play Pot of Greed, which makes me draw 2 more cards and by doing so activates Solemn Wishes."
He drew and thus became doused in another shot of holographic rain. (3100LP)
"Now let's try this, I'll summon the Archfiend Soldier!" A caped fiend then emerged on Chazz's field. (A:1900/D:1500)
"Another strong monster, but not stronger than my Clayman's ironclad defences." Jaden couldn't help but brag.
"By saying that you've only set yourself up for disappointment." Chazz declared before playing another card. "Say hello to the Axe Of Despair! Which i'll be Equipping to the Shadowknight. Bumping up his attack points to a level where Seto Kaiba would be nervous." (A:3000)
"Sure, if you say so." Jaden shrugged back.
"Whatever, that doesn't matter." Chazz hissed, apparently not even believing in his own outlandish statements. "What I do know though, is that my Shadowknight can inflict piercing battle damage, though any damage it does will be halved. So even though your Clayman is in defence mode, it certainly won't be defending you!"
The Shadowknight Archfiend disappeared into the shadows beyond the duel court, only to then materialise behind Clayman and jam its sword deep into its back, causing the elemental hero to be destroyed.
Jaden winced as the holographic from his destroyed monster whipped past him. (3500LP)
"Next, Archfiend Soldier will attack you directly, go already!" His Soldier obeyed his command and leapt forward, landing a flying knee into Jaden's chest before jumping back to Chazz's field.
"Oof, solid hit there." Jaden replied with a grin. (1600LP)
"I don't pull my punches, dweeb." Said Chazz as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Yeah, that's why I liked our last duel, you really knew how to give me a hard time." Jaden chuckled. "Duelling you is always fun, I gotta say, looking at the field right now. I have no idea how I'm supposed to win against this, but that only excites me."
"Hmph." Chazz sniffed. "Yeah, well, who cares. Just continue already."
"Just sayin' Chazz." Jaden chuckled again before drawing from his deck. "Now get ready for this."
He then slotted a spell card into his Duel Disk. "I activate the spell card, Fusion Recovery, giving me back my Polymerization, as well as Elemental Hero Sparkman." He explained as he added said cards from his grave to his hand. "Next, I'll play my own Pot Of Greed. Which lets me draw two more cards!"
"Now we play Polymerization and hopefully, this time it'll work." Jaden said as he looked pointedly at Chazz.
The prince of Obelisk scoffed before looking away, clearly having nothing that could stop Jaden's next fusion.
"Great! Now I'll take Sparkman and Bladedge in my hand and bring them together to summon Elemental Hero Plasma Vice!" (A:2600/D:2300)
The silhouettes of Jaden's monsters appeared briefly over them before disappearing into a vortex and leaving a new monster to return, crashing into the floor like a meteorite. As the light faded it revealed the blue and gold spandex as well as the massive armour around their arms, with blades extending past it's elbows.
The hero then turned its head up to look at the fiends and Chazz, who flinched at the stare levelled at him.
"Next, I'll use their effect, discarding this card from my hand, I can target any attack position monster on the field and destroy it. Plasma Vice, set your sights on that axe wielding Shadowknight."
Plasma Vice nodded before flashing forward and shoulder tackling the fiend into the floor, causing it to drop its axe, embedding it against the concrete.
"Ha! Wait a second." Chazz interrupted. "Since my Archfiend was targeted by a card effect, I get to roll a die, and if it's an odd number, then your effect is negated!"
"It could do that?" Jaden realised too little too late.
A six-sided holographic die appeared before Chazz who then kicked it hard, sending it flying up into the air before coming back down and landing at Jaden's feet, revealing the number six."
Jaden clenched his fist and pumped it high into the air. "It's even, that means my effect isn't negated."
Chazz just growled. "Dumb luck!"
Plasma Vice then jumped in the air, performing a backflip before punching down into the archfiend again, this time destroying it and the axe beside it.
"Now we battle! Plasma Vice, strike down the Archfiend Soldier!"
The golden hero then clapped its hands together, creating an electrical shockwave that travelled forth and destroyed the soldier, sending Chazz's life points down as a result. (2400LP)
"With no more monsters on your field, guess I'll have to set these two cards and call my turn quits right there." He quipped as he ended his turn.
Chazz breathed out as he drew another card. "Alright… since i drew a card, Solemn Wishes triggers again giving me 500 more life points, then Life-Absorbing Machine triggers after that. Granting me half of the life points I had paid during my last turn. Meaning I gain another 450 life points."
Chazz (3350LP)
"Now, I'll Normal Summon my Desrook Archfiend!" A skull walking around on spinal cords like tentacled legs appeared behind Chazz, the field was nearly as large as the dorm building. Though despite that, he could see that that monster isn't as tough as it seemed. (A:1100/D:1800)
"Next, I'll use Creature Swap, forcing each of us to give a monster we control to our opponent."
Jaden looked up towards his Plasma Vice. "Um… I don't think this is a fair trade?"
"That's the point moron and it's not like you can choose not to do it, so give it here!" Chazz pointed out impatiently.
"Ugh… fine." Both Chazz and himself walked across the centre of the duel court to exchange their monsters, before placing their new monsters on their duel disks.
"Hah!" Chazz grinned cockily before pointing at Jaden. "Now look who's got the stronger monster! Battle!"
"Wait just there Chazz, as you enter the battle phase, I'll activate my set card, De-Fusion. With this I can return any Fusion Monster on the field to the Extra Deck, then if I have its fusion materials in my graveyard, they get to pop out onto the field and Chazz. It was my Fusion Monster, so of course I still got the materials in my graveyard."
Plasma Vice leapt forward across the field only for a portal to appear in its path. It was too late for the hero to change their trajectory and they fell into the portal, coming out on the other side as a pair of monsters instead which stopped in their tracks and turned around to stare Chazz down.
Elemental Hero Sparkman (A:1600/D:1400)
Elemental Hero Bladedge (A:2600/D:1800)
Now he had three monsters while Chazz had none.
"I'm not done yet!" Chazz declared before swiftly moving to his Main Phase two. "I'll set one last card face-down and end my turn."
"I'll Draw!" Jaden called out. As he did the massive Desrook standing behind him began babbling incoherently. Which made him look behind himself in concern. "What's he on about?"
"He's an Archfiend." Chazz answered. "See, these cards force their controllers to pay life points to keep them on the field. Desrook is about to make you pay 500 points right now."
"Do I have to?" Jaden asked before sighing at the trouble.
"Yes!" Replied Chazz exacerbated. "It's not optional!"
Just like that Jaden's Life Points began to tick away until the monster's babbling stopped. (1100LP)
Jaden turned back around to face Chazz, a grin on his face. He didn't have much else he could do this turn so he quickly moved on to the battle phase. "Let's go, Desrook, let's see what you got. Attack Chazz directly!"
Desrook moved, kicking up dust clouds as it raised one of its spinal column legs up high above until it almost blocked out the moon before stomping it down on the ground besides Chazz before retracting its leg back.
Chazz (2250LP)
"Bladege, finish this!" Jaden shouted.
"I won't allow it!" Chazz counter before gesturing to his set card, "Say hello to your brand new Dimensional Prison!" As the trap card revealed itself a split in reality opened up, reeling an endless cosmos of stars and purple nebulas.
"I'll chain my face-down!" Jaden cried out, revealing his own trap card. "Elemental Recharge, which gives me 1000 life points for each Hero Monster i control. I have two, so that's 2000 points."
Jaden (3100LP)
The portal then broke open wider and swallowed up Bladedge before promptly closing.
"I still have one more guy left! Say hello to Sparkman, Chazz!" Jaden's last monster hovered upwards, gathering electricity in their hands before chopping their hand down to deliver a lightning bolt directly at Chazz's chest.
Chazz did little more than wince at the strike and grit his teeth as his life points lowered. (650LP)
"Ah!" Jaden sighed out his excess excitement. "So close," He then nodded. "Alright then, I'll set this monster face-down and then end my turn."
Chazz didn't immediately draw his next card. A low silence fell over the duel court. Silent except for the sound of Chazz's tired breathing that is.
After a few moments of nothing happening Jaden relaxed his stance a little.
"H-hey man? Everything alright?"
After a second of hesitation Chazz seemed to snap back to attention. "Yeah, of course I'm alright." He shouted back at him, gripping both of his hands tightly. Balling them into fists. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I dunno." Jaden shrugged. "You just look, man i dunno."
"What? What is it, stop meandering and just say it. It can't be anything more stupid than what I've already heard today!" Chazz snapped at him.
"It kinda looks like you're afraid to draw your next card…" Jaden mentioned casually.
"Hah!" Chazz laughed at that. "What do I have to be afraid of, huh?"
Jaden could mentally list a few things, but he didn't have to as Chazz just continued ranting.
"No cards in my hand, no monsters on my field while you've got three! Hah! That next card of mine has to be something cause I NEED to win this!" Chazz then opened one of his tightly balled hands and flattened it out before reaching for his deck and quickly drawing the top card off of it in a wide arc.
Jaden noted how Chazz held his pose, not quite looking at it yet. There was a slight shake, he noticed, he nearly missed how Chazz's hand shook due to how small it was.
He decided not to say anything. It seemed like Chazz was really… on edge in this duel, honestly, he should've noticed sooner that all of this wasn't just because of the Obelisk Blue student's standoffish personality. Though, he could probably be let off for not noticing that, he's only really met Chazz once or twice before this.
"I can win this." He heard Chazz whisper from across the field. "I can do this. I can win this. Come on! Come on!" After the short chant Chazz twisted his wrist to make the card visible to himself.
As he did Chazz's expression changed. From one of barely contained fear…
To a bright smile.
He slotted the card into his Duel Disk immediately. "I activate the spell card! Card of Sanctity! With this we're both forced to draw until we have six cards in our hands!"
"Woah!" He replied as both player's decks glowed with golden lights. "Way to go, what a draw man!"
Chazz wasn't paying enough attention to snark at that reaction or at his Solemn Wishes triggering a second time this turn, he was too busy drawing six cards. Once both of their hands were filled Chazz looked back up at him, looking as confident as he usually looked. "Get ready Slacker, cause this turn, the tables are turning!"
Chazz (1650LP)
Chazz then played another spell. "Monarchs Stormforth, which will allow me to Tribute a monster on your field for one of my monsters, so say goodbye to Sparkman, because I'm using them to summon my Skull Archfiend Of Lightning!"
A flash of lightning crashed down from above and incinerated his Lightning wielding hero. It seemed not even their control over that element was enough to protect them from the wrath of this new monster. A second blast of lightning came down like a pillar of light on Chazz's field revealing a monster that resembled the king of game's Summoned Skull in appearance.
Bones and muscle tendons, a skulled head with crooked horns, vast bat-like wings flapping behind it and nearly kicking up a windstorm as it stayed aloft. (A:2500/D:1200)
"Next, I'll play Double Summon to Normal Summon Shadow Slayer from my hand." An assassin crawled out of the darkness on both of its arms and legs, its green hood pulled back, revealing a bovine's skull that twisted unnaturally in its socket. (A:1400/D:200)
"Now let's battle! First up is my Skull Archfiend, who will attack and destroy your Desrook Archfiend!" The massive archfiend growled, a sound that sounded like crackling volts, it then stretched an arm out towards Desrook and called down a lightning bolt from the sky to engulf them."
Jaden's Life points dropped as he staggered back from the power of that attack. When the lightning faded, all it revealed was a pile of ashes that blew on the wind. (1700LP)
"Now Shadowslayer will attack you directly!"
"Huh!" His eyes widened as the Assassin disappeared into the darkness around the court.
"You heard me!" Chazz insisted. "This is possible because you only control a defence position monster and nothing else."
Jaden's eyes then widened at the end of the explanation and he spun around just in time for the Shadowslayer to leap at his face, causing him to jump in fear.
Jaden (300LP)
"Finally," Chazz said with a cheer to his tone as he set down two cards into the back row of his Duel Disk. "I'll leave you a couple surprises and end my turn."
"Whew, that was scary." Jaden chuckled before raising his Duel Disk up to his chest and drawing from it. "But your Card Of Sanctity gave me cards just like it did with you. Now let's have some fun and what better way then with a Fusion. I'll play Polymerization Fusion the Avian and Wildheart in my hand in order to summon Wild Wingman!"
A bulky tattooed winged man appeared on Jaden's field, only for the ground beneath it to shatter and hands coming up around his monster, sending it tumbling dragging into the darkness below.
"I say no." Chazz said with a smile. "You've triggered another of my traps, Bottomless Trap Hole. Which destroys and banishes a monster you summoned with 1500 or more attack points."
"Ah." Jaden nodded his head in understanding. "Well… there goes that plan, but I'm not finished yet." He definitely wasn't done yet. still had four cards in his hand to work with. "Say hello to Monster Reborn, which I'll use to summon back my Elemental Hero Avian!"
"I'll chain my second trap card, Big Burn! I can only use this one when you interact with your graveyard. Now I banish all monsters in both players' graveyards!"
"You're joking!" He called out as his graveyard slot burst with flames.
He had to remind himself it was just a hologram and his cards weren't literally being burned. He looked up across the field to Chazz's Duel Disk which was also set alight with holographic flames, which lit up the Obelisk Blue prince's grinning face in an ominous glow.
"You don't have this Jaden, I win!"
"Not yet!" He shouted back as he sent his nullified Monster Reborn to his graveyard. He still had a couple more cards to work with here. "I'll flip summon my face-down card, take the spotlight, Elemental Hero Knopse!"
His set card jumped up and a new monster emerged, though it didn't look like a lot of his other cards. Instead it looked like a plant with cartoon eyes, a cape made of grass whipped in the wind behind it. (A:600/D:1000)
"What… in the Egyptian God Cards name is that…" Chazz asked out of utter bafflement.
"It's Knopse." Jaden answered cheerily.
"That explains literally nothing." The Prince of Obelisk deadpanned.
"Be careful Chazz, who knows what'll happen if you underestimate Knopse. Don't make the same mistakes I did" He said with a grin. "But before I give them a chance to shine, I'll set a card and then activate this spell. R - Righteous Justice. Which allows me to destroy spell or trap cards up to the number of Elemental Heroes i control and since i control one, i'll target my own card."
With that his set Feather Shot exploded.
"Okay, now you're just confusing me…" Chazz responded. "Have you just given up?"
"Far from it!" He retorted, "Because now with R - Righteous Justice in my graveyard, I now have the right cards to use my last spell card. I Banish H - Heated Heart, E - Emergency Call, R - Righteous Justice and O - Oversoul in order to activate HERO Flash!"
"Huh, i know how three of those cards got there but…" Chazz muttered to himself.
"Yeah, I've used O - Oversoul and E - Emergency Call earlier in the duel, as well as R - Righteous Justice right now. But I had to discard H - Heated heart to use Plasma Vice's effect, so you probably didn't see it." Jaden then shrugged. "Either way, Hero Flash lets me summon any Hero Normal Monster from my deck, so I'll choose. Elemental Hero Burstinatrix."
His fire Elemental Hero appeared on his field, brandishing fireballs in each of their hands.
"That's not all it does, it also allows my Normal Monsters to attack directly this turn." He then pointed forwards. "Battle! Strike him Burstinatrix!"
His monster leapt up fire and clapped her hands together, sending out a cone of flaming sparks over Chazz, who raised an arm up to protect his face from the embers.
Chazz (450LP)
The prince of Obelisk shook their head before glaring back at Jaden, teeth bared. "So what, now you've got nothing. That little plant of yours is an Effect Monster iIcan see that much."
"But have you seen what their effect is?" Jaden asked with a knowing grin.
Chazz paused for a moment.
Then they began to slowly shake his head from side to side. "No…"
Jaden then pointed forwards. "Elemental Hero Knopse-"
"No, no, no"
"-Attack Chazz directly!"
The little plant hero skipped forward, Chazz's monsters tried to reach down and attack it, but the little hero was too small and managed to roll out of their grasps and through between their legs until it had a straight shot at Chazz.
It began running directly at him. Once it was close it then jumped up and winded up a haymaker.
"No!"
And delivered it straight into Chazz's gut, making the teenager double over, before just toppling down onto one knee.
Chazz (0LP)
Chazz punched the ground with his free hand as the holograms all around him faded.
Jaden was about to approach Chazz and offer his thanks for the duel when both his friends from the balcony started cheering for him. As he looked up to see them, he noticed that there were definitely more Slifer Students out of their dorms looking down at them.
"You did it Jay!" Syrus called out to him.
"Yeah man!" He called back, waving his hand over his head. "That duel was amazing."
"I think you're the only one." Chumly added before looking down and off to the side.
Jaden looked back and saw Chazz walking away without a word. He's seen zombies move with more energy than Chazz was doing right now.
"He's really not doing well today, is he?" He asked out loud.
"I dunno Jay." Syrus responded. "He broke into our dorm basically, honestly I'm kinda glad he's gone. Now I can catch my beauty sleep."
"Mine too." Chumly added.
"Hm…" Jaden hummed. "He's making me concerned, I'm gonna ask him if he's okay."
"You've asked him that plenty of times already, Jaden. He's told you off all those times, what's gonna change now?" Syrus pointed out to him. "Just leave it. If Chazz is gonna complain about losing or whatever, he can do it with his own friends."
"I'm still gonna ask." He said before waving again at his friends and walked off after Chazz.
"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you!" Syrus called out to him one last time.
For someone who was shambling like a zombie, or whatever the duelist equivalent of a zombie was, It was taking some time to catch up to Chazz. He'd made it all the way to the intersection of the pathway that led to all sorts of places on the school campus.
He looked down each road, only to just spot Chazz going over a hill on one of the paths, weirdly enough it wasn't the path that led to the Obelisk Dorms. Was he headed down to the rocky beach?"
Jaden kept running and eventually made it to the rocky beach, or well… it was more like a cliff in reality. There were stairs carved into the rock with metal slick railings attached to the rock that lead all the way down to where the rocks met the ocean.
The scent of the sea was especially strong here but unlike most other places where the ocean met land on this island, this one was uncharacteristically quiet. Almost deafeningly so.
Chazz was already halfway down the stairs.
He went down the stairs, two at a time until he finally got within a couple metres of Chazz just as they both reached to the rocky bottom of the cliff. The gravel crunching under their shoes.
That sound was what alerted Chazz to look behind him.
"What do you want?" The prince of obelisk asked. Their tone sounded tired. Not mad, or angry. Just tired. I'm so tired.
"Just wanted to talk to you, I didn't get to thank you for the duel. That one was super close."
"I don't want to hear you bragging." Chazz admitted before turning their head down slightly.
Waves washed against the gravel beach.
"I'm not, you're a good duelist. It was fun man."
"I don't care." Chazz snapped at him before continuing to walk down the beach.
Jaden's expression grew complicated for a moment before evening out a second later. He then rushed to walk alongside Chazz. Once he'd caught up. "Why are you acting like this, it's weird. Especially compared to our last duel."
"Oh." Chazz said in a sarcastically sweet voice. "I wonder what could've changed between now and then?" He then growled out. "Did you even listen to me? I told you why I challenged you."
"It's just a duel."
"Maybe to you!"
Chazz then stopped walking.
"Do you want to-"
"No!" Chazz instantly cut Jaden off.
There was silence between them for another extended moment.
Chazz was the one to break it first by moving, his shoes crunching against the gravel as he trotted to the cliff's wall and slunk his back down against it, taking a seat.
"I don't want to talk about anything with you." Chazz mumbled haphazardly.
"Okay." Jaden shrugged before taking a seat where he had stood on the gravel.
"I don't care how much you annoy me, I'm not talking to you."
"That's alright, you don't have to tell me anything."
"Hm? Then why are you still here Slacker."
"Just to make sure you're alright."
"Why do you care…" Chazz sighed before pinching at his eyes from the tiredness.
"I mean… why shouldn't i?" Jaden asked right back.
"Oh I can think of a few reasons. Like, the fact we don't know each other." Chazz pointed out.
"We're acquaintances."
"Hardly, we know eachothers names and that's it." Chazz insisted. "We don't know each other."
"That's all the more reason I should care then, because then we'll become acquaintances."
"What grand goals you have…" Chazz groaned.
"Hey, we gotta start somewhere, you're a good duelist, of course I'd care about you."
"People would disagree with that." Chazz pointed out next.
"Meh, who cares what they think. I think you're good and I like duelling you, why complicate this even more."
Another extended pause, Jaden passed the time by listening to the coming and going of the waves or by looking up at the clouds passing over the half-moon that's high in the sky at the moment.
Eventually, Chazz began speaking again. "Well, I want to win and I didn't win. That's what I care about."
"You'll win again. Like I said, you're pretty good."
"I need to win titles. I need to become the king of games." Chazz explained.
"Oh, then you'll have competition, I'm going for that too." Jaden pointed out to Chazz this time. A cheesy wide grin on his face.
"You may have beaten me now, but it won't happen again!" Chazz declared, with perhaps the first genuine piece of emotion he's used since they've arrived at this beach.
"See, I can definitely see you as the king of games when you talk like that. I won't make it easy for you though, that crowns gonna be mine."
Chazz huffed haughtily. "That's what they all say, i'll beat you just like everyone else. I'll make everyone see it too, then there will be no doubts about who is superior. I'll keep winning."
"I believe ya." Jaden replied before chuckling.
"Though…" Chazz began, the energy in his tone slowly draining away again. It won't be easy. Especially since I lost tonight. Agh!" The prince of Obelisk then buried their head in their hands for a moment. "Everyone saw our duel tonight too."
"Who cares, just show them how strong you are."
Chazz lifted his head at that. "Yeah… though some people might not get off my back about how I lost tonight."
"Definitely ignore those people." Jaden suggested. "If they're not being helpful then why care about their opinions."
"They're my brothers…" Chazz pointed out.
"Oh…" Jaden replied.
There was a beat of silence before he continued.
"Well, my point still stands."
"What?"
"Look, family can be touchy, I mean take my parents. Nice and normal most of the time, then every so often they'll do something that makes me question whether I'm even safe living in the same house as them. I've seen my own medical reports, I've never forgiven them for the things I saw on there."
"Wait, what?"
"I'm not even in contact with them anymore." He continued to explain. "So in my opinion, if your family is getting on your back. Well… always remember that you owe them nothing."
Chazz just looked away. "I don't think I can do that…"
"Fair… Obviously things are complicated. But even if everyone thinks otherwise, I liked our duel tonight Chazz. I'd love to play again with you soon."
"Hm…" Chazz considered something for a moment. He then answered. "I don't know. After tonight, I'm gonna need to do a lot of heavy lifting to earn back my reputation." He sighed. "It's gonna be a lot of work. I might not have the time."
"Then get help."
"Hm?" Chazz looked over at him. "How do you suggest that? Unless you know a person willing to work at a school."
"Sure, I've got an agent, haven't you heard?"
Jaydden swore that through the darkness he could see Chazz's eyebrow raised slightly.
"Introduce me tomorrow, we'll see what happens from there."
He nodded at that.
After that the conversation just lulled, neither of them said anything nor began to walk away. They just sat there on the beach listening to the waves and looking out at the moonlit clouds above until they didn't feel like sitting around anymore.
They then parted ways without another word.
Ending Notes
This duel went through so many drafts and edits, i had the look through the Elemental Hero lists so much, but eventually i found a way to end this duel that felt fun and also kinda hammers home how close the duel was. Also i got to use Knopse, which is my favourite hero and probably the worst card to exist.
Anyways, at some point through writing this i wanted to Chazz to win, but i changed my mind. For what i want in this story, i wanted Chazz to lose, as much as the boy doesn't deserve the pressure of losing. Simply put if Chazz won then not much would've changed I feel.
But losing gave an oppurtunity for me to craft that scene after the duel. I really liked that seen. It's not much yelling or overly angsty, just two boys talking to each other in the dark. No need for backstories, beyond just a single-line mention here and there. Because all that matters is that they share a moment and take a break from all this stress.
It's probably the most emotional scene i written and I don't know if that's just me or whatever, but i'm really proud of myself.
Also, congrats to readers, you get this chapter before A03 because their thing is down at this exact moment.
Anyways, Feel free to show support by leaving reviews/favs. Have a happy holiday. Okay?