Duel Academy: Gym, Last Day of the 1st Week…
It was Saturday, the last day of a Japanese school week. In their previous lesson, Crowler told the class they'd be meeting in the gym with their duel disks rather than the classroom for this lesson. Just like with any class they shared, Kai and Bastion ended up sticking together.
"Care to wager a guess what the good doctor wants us here for?" Bastion inquired.
"This early in the year, I'd wager he's looking to evaluate our skills on the battlefield." Kai voiced. "Though, given what I've seen of the man this week, I can imagine it won't solely be to enrich our education. At this point, I've learned to get the most out of what he does do."
As they continued to conversate, Kai gazed around the room. Rather recently, Jaden, Syrus, and Greg seemed to have gotten Chumley to start coming to class. In fact, they were here before practically anyone.
"Clearly, Jaden worked out we'd be dueling." Kai smiled.
Directly across from them, Kai spotted Alexis standing with Jasmine and Mindy. He ended up meeting the harpie user's gaze, so he gave a nod of acknowledgement. She smiled and gave him a little wave back. It wasn't long before Crowler entered the room.
"Okay everyone, gather around." The ancient gear user called out. "I don't want to waste time." Once everyone gathered, he proceeded. "Today, you will be dueling each other, so I can evaluate the knowledge you possess. I encourage you to use every skill in your arsenal."
Alexis raised her hand, and the good doctor was all too happy to answer one of his Obelisks. "Dr Crowler, didn't duel preparatory or the practical exam serve to test our abilities?"
"You make a fine point; however, I do not believe them to be a true test of your skills." Crowler replied. "Students may not have had the chance to express themselves in the way they desired, or some may have just gotten lucky."
He shot a dirty look towards Jaden, who merely smiled back obliviously. "Roughly three weeks from now, there will be a promotion exam for freshmen to re-evaluate dorm placements. Depending on your performance, you may find yourself rising or falling in the dorm structure.
This exercise will also serve as training towards that event, and your opponents will be selected at random." Crowler produced a box filled with paper slips. "We have nine arenas so 18 of you will be playing at any one time. Try to duel quickly as we have limited time. Let's begin."
Crowler drew two slips at a time, and those would be the pair that dueled. Within the first matchups, Bastion was called to face a Slifer, Jasmine was drawn against an Obelisk male, and Syrus was lucky enough to duel a fellow Slifer. All three managed to defeat their opponents.
Bastion had the easiest time of it, but Jasmine was no slouch while Syrus' was extremely close. During Syrus's match, he kept taking glances towards Jaden as if the hero duelist held all the answers to his game. All the while, Crowler walked around the gym making notes.
He seemed to take great satisfaction in watching his Obelisks duel whereas he didn't bother to hide his disdain towards the Slifer students as most of them struggled. After a match ended, he would call for the next two students to come forward.
"Chazz Princeton and Gregory Evans, please come forward." Crowler called.
Greg wasted no time in walking over to the newly empty field where he then stood waiting as Chazz strolled towards him. Rather than his usual, confident demeanor, the Obelisk was staring at Greg with a look of confusion yet familiarity.
"Something about this situation seems vaguely familiar." Chazz thought.
It was the way this opponent stood, as though he was prepared to do battle yet giving off a relaxed demeanor at the same time. He'd faced someone like this in his first year at prep school, but this couldn't be that person.
From what I last heard; he went onto win some powerful fusion deck." Chazz finally came to stand across from Greg. "The Gladiator Beasts, which utilize contact fusion. Someone with a deck like that couldn't be a Slifer Slacker." He ultimately dismissed his confusion and assumed his confidence. "Looks like I got the luck of the draw since taking down any Slacker no trouble."
"No matter what blazer one wears, it's unwise to write off your opponent." Greg countered.
"Yeah, whatever." Chazz scoffed. "Let's just get this over with already."
"Let's Duel!"
(Greg 4000/Chazz 4000)
"I'll take the first move." Chazz declared "I'll start by activating Polymerization to fuse Dark Blade and Pitch-Dark Dragon from my hand. Fusion summon Dark Blade the Dragon Knight(LV 6/2200/1500)." A dark knight riding atop an even darker dragon appeared. "I'll then set one card face down and end my turn."
"Then, it's my move!" Greg drew. "I'll start with Gladiator Beast Comeback."
Chazz immediately took note of the name. "Wait, is he really…"
"Thanks to this spell, I can special summon any Gladiator Beast I wish from my grave or hand provided they are a different type from the ones I control." Greg continued. "Granted, I don't have any in my grave, but I also control no other Gladiator Beast.
This means, I'm free to special summon any of them that reside in my hand. One such beast I have is Gladiator Beast Augustus(LV 8/2600/1000)." A hulking, scaly Winged Beast in strong armor appeared.
"Oh, that is quite the monster." Bastion noted.
"Yeah, it sure it." Kai agreed.
"I remember you!" Chazz suddenly called out.
Greg stopped his present play as he looked at Chazz with a raised eye brow. "What?"
"I dueled you at some competition between our prep schools." Chazz stated. "Even in defeat, you took it in stride." He smirked. "Looks like your poor performance then denotes where we ended up now. What, did you end up dropping out after that event?"
"Oh, I hadn't even realized I'd met you before." Greg shrugged. "Not that it's any of your business, but I graduated."
"Wait." Syrus went wide eyed.
"What is it, Syrus?" Jaden asked.
"I thought the fact he had such an advanced summoning method and powerful cards was strange when the two of you dueled; however, I simply wrote it off." Syrus explained. "With this new context, we wouldn't have seen Greg duel in the practical exam if he came from a duel prep."
"If that were the case, you'd be in Obelisk rather than Slifer." Chazz proceeded.
"When I applied, I added in notes about how I'd prefer to take the practical exam." Greg voiced nonchalantly. "Failing that, I wrote how I'd prefer to start from the bottom and work my way up. Given I am wearing red, you can reason which happened."
Crowler was stunned. "Is what he's saying true?"
"How about that?" Kai smiled. "It's unconventional, but his reasons are probably as he says."
"How do you figure?" Bastion inquired curiously.
"Because he never said anything to us." Kai reasoned. "If he were out to make a statement, he'd be talking about this situation any chance he gets."
"Like anyone would choose that." Chazz scoffed.
"Believe what you like while I get back to the duel." Greg stated. "Due to Gladiator Comeback, Agustus can't be destroyed by battle. Now, he'll destroy that fusion monster of yours."
Agustus rushed forward and slashed his sword through Dark Blade the Dragon Knight, destroying him (Greg 4000/Chazz 3600).
"I activate my face down Chthonian Blast." Chazz growled. "When a face up monster I control is destroyed and sent to the grave, this card destroys the monster on the field with the lowest ATK. Your Agustus is the only monster, and we'll then both take damage equal to half his ATK."
Agustus exploaded as the shockwaves washed over both duelists (Greg 2700/Chazz 2300).
"I could still normal summon, but I see a better path forward." Greg nodded. "Alright, I'll end my turn."
"You sit there and claim you graduated duel prep?" Chazz scoffed. "Let me show you what a real graduate can do." He drew. "First, I activate Pot of Greed to draw 2 cards. Then, I'll follow it up with Graceful Charity, allowing me to draw 3 more cards before discarding 2.
"With my hand sorted, I'll activate Double Summon to conduct two normal summons this turn. I'll first summon Chthonian Soldier(LV 4/1200/1400)." A warrior in black armor with a large blade appeared. "He won't stick around for long.
I sacrifice him to Tribute summon my Mefist the Infernal General(LV 5/1800/1700)." A fiend in all black armor and atop a black armored steed appeared. "He'll now launch a direct attack at you, Slacker!"
"When you declare a direct attack, Gladiator Beast Noxious(LV 5/0/1000) can special summon himself from my hand, and I'll do as such in defense mode." Greg declared as a bipedal, leopard appeared kneeling before him. "Now, your attack is redirected to him.
"A minor road block!" Chazz declared.
General rushed forth atop his steed and swung his axe down on Noxious who coated his body in purple energy to withstand the attack (Greg 1900/Chazz 2300).
"What!?" Chazz exclaimed.
"I'm afraid Noxious is more of a roadblock than you think as he cannot be destroyed by the battle that results from his own effect." Greg declared.
As General returned to his field, Chazz pointed at him. "My monster isn't done with his effects either. Even though that overgrown housecat survived, the fact he still inflicted damage to you means one card from your hand goes at random."
A black aura washed over the cards in Greg's hand before settling on the one to the far right.
"Noxious isn't done either, far from it." Greg discarded the selected card before looking at his opponent. "He was special summon through the effect of a Gladiator Beast, meaning I can send any Gladiator Beast I wish from my deck to the grave.
Additionally, as most Gladiator Beasts do, they can return to the deck and tag out a replacement. Noxious, tag out!" The leopard turned into purple particles which flowed into the deck. "In his place I summon Gladiator Beast Dimacari(LV 4/1600/1200)." A bipedal ox appeared.
"Say what you will about Chazz, he's decently skilled." Kai noted.
"Indeed, for a moment there even I was uncertain whose turn it was as they rapidly exchanged effects." Bastion voiced.
"Whoa, Greg is just going off." Jaden grinned. "This is one sweet duel!"
"My Mefist is still stronger." Chazz scoffed. "I'll set this last card in my hand and end my turn. Your move, Slacker."
"Who has the stronger field can change from turn to turn, even move to move." Greg drew. "It can even be impacted by one simple card, such as Gladiator Beast Battle Gladius. This can equip to a Gladiator Beast and grant them 300 more ATK. I only have one monster at present."
Gladiator Beast Dimacari(LV 4/1900/1200 effect).
"I activate my set Threatening Roar." Chazz declared fiercely. "Now this turn, you can't initiate an attack."
"Very well." Greg glanced at his hand. "I'll set one card before turning it over to you."
Chazz drew. "I sacrifice General to summon Chaos Betrayer(LV 6/2000/2000)." A gray, multi armed and multi bat winged fiend appeared. "He'll destroy Dimacari!" Betrayer shot purple lightning, destroying Dimacari (Greg 1800/Chazz 2300). "That's all I got."
"My turn!" Greg drew. "I activate Gladiator Beast United, enabling me to conduct a Contact Fusion from among the Gladiator Beast in my hand, grave, or on my field. Considering all you got is that monster, I'll send Gladiator Beasts Spartacus and Andal from my hand.
I call forth the ultimate dino of the Gladiator Beast. Contact Fusion, Gladiator Beast Gaiodiaz(LV 7/2600/1500)." A muscular, bipedal dino wielding an axe appeared. "This is the end! Gaiodiaz destroy Betrayer with Prehistoric Slash!"
Gaiodiaz rushed forward and slashed clean through Betrayer, destroying him (Greg 1800/Chazz 1700).
"Your math is wrong, just what I'd expect from a Slacker." Chazz retorted.
"Check again." Greg countered. "As Jaden's Wingman doles out damage for the ATK a monster it destroyed has, Gaiodiaz doles out damage for the DEF of any monster he destroys."
Chazz went wide eyed as he looked at Gaiodiaz standing before him. "This was all just a fluke!"
"Dueling is all about luck and skill." Greg countered. "Luck is what cards you get while skill is how you use what your deck deals. Before this ends, I went to duel prep; however, I presently wear the blazer of a Slifer, and this Slifer just won! Gaiodiaz, finish this!"
Gaiodiaz slashed down at the Obelisk, depleting the rest of his life points (Greg 1800/Chazz 0).
Chazz collapsed to his knees. "Nooooo…"
Greg disengaged his duel disk and walked back to Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley.
"That was totally luscious." Chumley declared.
"Yeah, you were great out there." Syrus agreed.
Jaden held up a hand. "Great duel, Greg."
"Thanks, you three." Greg smiled as he hi-fived Jaden.
Crowler had been dumbstruck before realizing how empty the duel fields were looking. "I'll have to check with Chancellor Sheppard about that boy later."
He got back to rattling off names in an instant. As a result, Chumley was paired off with a Ra, Mindy also go a Ra, and Kai dueled a female Obelisk. While the latter two ended up losing their duels, Kai ended his duel with a quick victory.
Eventually, another field opened resulting in Crowler rattling off another two names. "Jaden Yuki and Alexis Rhodes, you're up!" He smiled. "While Chazz lost to potentially a true Slacker, surely Alexis will put that Jaden Yuki in his place!"
"Alright, finally my turn to duel!" Jaden declared happily.
Alexis was satisfied with the outcome as well. While others dueled for fame or power, Jaden seemed to duel simply for fun and enjoyed every moment. While a simple reason, it was an enticing prospect for a duel.
"If Jasmine hadn't been dead set on dueling Kai, I'd had suggested we used him and Syrus to get Jaden down to the dorm." Alexis thought.
In the end, she had let her desire to duel the Slifer fall to the wayside and enabled her friend to duel the heroic user. Despite her desire, the blond couldn't deny how good a mood Jasmine had been in since that duel. In the end, it'd been worth it, but now this was her chance.
Jaden and Alexis took to the open duel field with the former grinning. "Hope you're ready to get your game on Alexis!"
"I'm always ready." Alexis declared as they activated their duel disks.
"Duel!"
(Jaden 4000/Alexis 4000)
"Alright, let's see!" Alexis drew. "I'll start by summoning Etoile Cyber(LV 4/1200/1600)." A red outfitted ballerina appeared. "I'll also play one card face down."
"Time to throw down." Jaden drew. "I summon Elemental Hero Stratos(LV 4/1800/300)." A blue suited warrior, with a wing pack, appeared. "This guy's got sweet effects just for being summoned.
I'll use the first to destroy spells/traps equal to the number of HERO's I control."Stratos blew wind which revealed Alexis' set card as Doble Passe before destroying it. "Now, I'll have him attack your Etoile Cyber!"
Stratos projected more wind strong enough to cut into and destroy the opposing monster (Jaden 4000/Alexis 3400).
"Jaden really is something." Alexis thought. "Anything else?"
"Nah, that's all from me this turn." Jaden declared. "Your move."
"Here I go!" Alexis drew. "I activate The Warrior Returning Alive allowing me to target any Warrior monster in my grave and return it to my hand. Then, I'll normal summon Warrior Lady of the Wasteland(LV 4/1100/1500)." A female dressed in western attire appeared.
That's not all as I'm going to activate Polymerization to fuse my recently returned Etoile Cyber with Blade Skater. Fusion summon Cyber Blader(LV 7/2100/800)." A red and grey woman with a visor appeared. "Now, Cyber Blader will attack Stratos."
The Fusion charged in and struck Stratos destroying him easily (Jaden 3700/Alexis 3400)." My Warrior Lady will follow it up with a direct attack." Warrior Lady fired on the Slifer (Jaden 2600/Alexis 3400). "That's all for now."
"Way to go Alexis!" Mindy cheered.
"Yeah, you got him now!" Jasmine added.
Crowler silently chuckled in enjoyment at what was happening.
"Not bad Alexis." Jaden drew and grinned. "Say, you're smart. Remember back to the quiz Crowler gave us on day one, specifically the question Kai answered on field spells?"
Alexis nodded. "I remember."
"Well, this is an example." A slot opened on Jaden's duel disk, and he placed the field spell within. "Fusion Gate!" A large black vortex appeared above them. "From here on out, the two of us can fuse as many times as we want at the cost of banishing materials."
"Sounds interesting." Alexis declared with a smile.
"Just wait until you see the results my deck can make." Jaden declared. "With this field spell in effect, I'll combine Elemental HEROES Sparkman and Clayman. Fusion summon Elemental HERO Thunder Giant(LV 6/2400/1500)." A hulking yellow armored hero appeared.
"That monster is pretty strong; however, I still got two monsters on my field." Alexis declared.
"I know; however, one of Thunder Giant's abilities is that at the cost of one card from my hand, he can destroy any one monster who's original ATK is less than his current ATK." Jaden declared.
"That means he can destroy either one of my monsters!" Alexis exclaimed.
"Exactly." Jaden discarded. "I'll have him destroy Cyber Blader." Thunder Giant surged forth before holding out his hand above Cyber Blader and electrocuting her. "The coolest part about him is he can still attack, meaning your Warrior Lady is destroyed. Go, Voltic Thunder!"
Thunder Giant discharged more electricity at Warrior Lady, destroying her as well (Jaden 2600/Alexis 2100)."
"When Warrior Lady is destroyed by battle and sent to the grave, I'm allowed to Special summon any Earth attributed Warrior-type monster with 1500 or less ATK from my deck in attack position. I choose Cyber Gymnast(LV 4/800/1800)." A muscular gymnast appeared.
"Alexis is going toe to toe with Jaden." Sryus stated stunned.
"At the same time, both sides are running out of steam." Chumley noted. "It'll likely come down to who can't keep up."
"Alright Alexis, all I got left is to set one card." Jaden declared. "Now, I'm turning things over to you."
"My move!" Alexis drew. "First, I'll return your earlier effect." She smiled. "By discarding one card of my own, Gymnast can destroy any one attack position monster you control." She discarded. "Say good bye to Thunder Giant."
Gymnast lept into the air and came down atop Thunder Giant hard, destroying him. "Next, I'll tribute Gymnast to summon Cyber Prima(LV 6/2300/1600)." Another woman appeared, this one with long white hair. "Shame he has no face up spell cards."
"Unless that face down is something noteworthy, Jaden is about to take a lot of damage." Kai noted.
"Now. Cyber Prima will attack you directly!" Alexis declared, resulting in Prima gliding forward before kicking through Jaden (Jaden 300/Alexis 2100). "As it goes to you, your life points are looking fairly low."
"Looks like that set card was a bluff." Mindy stated.
Jasmine grinned. "Alexis didn't fall for it even a second."
Jaden looked to his deck. "All I need is a good HERO monster to go with the one in my hand." He put his hand on his deck. "Here goes!" He drew before grinning. "Alright, all the pieces are in place to end this. I utilize Fusion Gate once more.
Now, I banish the Light attributed Elemental HERO Voltic with Elemental HERO Avian. I'm bringing the light. Fusion summon Elemental HERO the Shining(LV 8/2600/2100)." A radiant, white suited warrior with a golden hoop behind him appeared.
"What a joke." Chazz thought, not speaking aloud so as to draw less attention to himself after his loss to that Slacker. "Like Jaden has a shot of pulling off a win here."
"As impressive a fusion as that is, I'd hardly call three hundred more ATK the end of this duel." Alexis pointed out.
"That's because there's more to this than him." Jaden declared. "On that note, Shinning here gains 300 extra ATK for every Elemental Hero I got chilling in the banished zone. Last I counted, I've got four for a total of 1200 extra ATK."
Elemental HERO the Shining(LV 8/3800/2100 effect)
"Alright, I'll bite Jaden." Alexis crossed her arms. "What else do you have to seemingly end things this turn?"
"It's the card I set on my last turn, Soul Union." Jaden declared. "This trap lets me select 1 Elemental HERO I control and 1 Elemental HERO chilling in the grave. I target the Shining and Thunder Giant. Now, my first pick gains ATK equal to the second pick's."
Elemental HERO the Shining(LV 8/6200/2100 effect)
"6200 ATK!" Alexis exclaimed stunned.
She wasn't the only one surprised by this maneuver.
"While I'm not particularly good at math, even I know 6200 is enough to end this." Jaden grinned. "The Shining, attack with Optical Storm!" The Shining radiated light so powerful it destroyed Cyber Prima (Jaden 300/Alexis 0)." Jaden grinned with his salute. "That's game!"
"Alexis?" Jasmine questioned in shock.
"What just happened?" Mindy questioned in disbelief.
"He defeated Alexis!?" Chazz thought.
"Lucky brat." Crowler thought annoyed. "Too many of my Obelisk lost. This whole period was a bust!"
"Jaden did it!" Syrus cheered.
That got Chumley, Bastion, Kai, and Greg cheering which then cascaded to the other Slifers and Ras joining in.
At that moment, the bell resounded which gave Crowler an excuse. "Alright, that's enough. Please, all of you move back to the classroom."
Hallways
Syrus, Bastion. Chunley, Greg, Jaden, and Kai ended up walking together back to the classroom.
"I must say, you two gave spectacular duels, Jaden, Greg." Bastion stated. "At any point you were disadvantaged, you were quick to turn it around."
"Alexis was one tough opponent." Jaden chuckled as he put his arms behind his head. "Personally, no better way to start a day of classes than with such a duel, in my opinion."
"Chazz presented his own challenges." Greg grabbed his chin. "I think some of those plays were familiar from that duel years ago we apparently had." He shrugged. "Ultimately, I guess he didn't have as strong a presence compared to now."
"Yeah, about what you said during your duel…" Syrus began.
"It's no big deal." Greg waved it off. "I simply made a choice and will stick with it as I pursue my path. I mean, getting to go to a duel prep was great, and I can understand why people take the automatic placement into Obelisk Blue. It just wasn't for me."
"I think your nuts." Chumley stated.
"Maybe." Greg stated. "If I am, I suppose I'd rather be nuts than sane any day."
"Regardless of what any of us take away from this." Kai gave a small smile. "I think it's worth noting we all had fun."
Even Chumley, who lost, couldn't argue that this period was rather enjoyable.
Chancellor Sheppard's Office: After School…
Mokuba was in the office helping Sheppard finish up his paperwork for the day when Crowler stormed in looking rather steamed. "Chancellor Sheppard, did you approve a duel prep student to be in Slifer Red!?"
Sheppard blinked at that as Mokuba glanced his way.
Soon enough, the memory of that application came to mind as he smiled. "Ah, you must be talking about Gregory Evans." He chuckled. "It was an unusual request but one I'm certain Seto Kaiba himself would have approved."
"I could be the judge of that." Mokuba voiced. "What is the deal with this Gregory Evans?"
"For the first time in years, a duel prep applicant requested to either take the practical exam or be placed in Slifer Red as he wants to work his way up." Sheppard voiced. "Given the rules dictate those who put in the work at a duel prep get in automatically, I approved his second request."
"Why would you ever allow such a thing!?" Crowler exclaimed in disbelief.
"It is as he said, Seto would have granted the request." Mokuba nodded. "He did inherit Kaiba Corp, but it was no simple matter. It was even more work to turn it into what everyone knows it as today. What Sheppard did falls well within how Duel Academy should be run."
Crowler could only stare in disbelief. "I…"
He couldn't articulate a counter argument.
"If that is all you wish to speak of, I suggest departing as Chancellor Sheppard and I are almost finished with this paperwork." Mokuba declared. "It is an achievement I'd like to meet as after this point his workload will be normalized."
Crowler sighed and trotted out the room defeated.
While this chapter is a bit shorter than most, I hope the content can make up for that.
Vital Info: Of course, there is a reason this is labeled as solely Yugioh Gx. I don't want to go hoping full force into Arc-V content without first getting to utalize all the characters of GX. That said, I wouldn't be bringing up these things if they weren't going to be explored as the seasons go by. I got plans. As for Kai's deck, he lost to Bastion just the chapter before.