CHAPTER 20: Sibling Rivalry
Saturday
Time 7:15
It was another morning at the Duel Academy. It was quite peaceful on the island... well, except at the Slifer Red Dorm.
" Aaaah! I can't take it anymore! The Chazz shouldn't live like a Slifer rat!" Chazz sat up on his bed. " I used to be an Obelisk Blue! Jacuzzi tub, turndown service... a week of renovations and this place still isn't livable!" His bed was so big it took up the most of the room he got since his return to this school. The room also contained a couch and a plasma TV. The rest of his belongings was still unpacked in several boxes littered all across the floor.
While Chazz was having his breakdown, Ojama Yellow popped out of his deck case. " Hey boss, you sound stressed." He flew up to Chazz's shoulder. " Oh yeah, just look all this pressure building up."
" You!" Chazz snapped at him. " If you wanna be helpful, get lost!" That words caused Ojama Yellow to cry loudly, letting tears fall. He flew around as Chazz tried to swat him. " And if you wanna to see pressure..." He managed to hit the spirit by smashing his palms together, causing him to disappear. " Alright, finally. Some peace and quiet..."
" What's up?"
Chazz yelped in surprise and turned to glare at Jaden, who was standing at the entrance, along with Syrus. " Evet hear of knocking?!"
" We did, but... your door is way over there." Syrus answered while pointing to the unbolted door which was laying against the wall near Chazz's open entrance.
The statement caused Chazz to form an embarasse look on his face, which Jaden and Syrus laughed at. The embarassment was quickly replaced by annoyance. " Not funny."
" Yeah, I guess not." Jaden said. " So let's go for fun." And without hesitation, the two Slifer quickly took off their shoes, jumped over the couch and started jumping on Chazz's bed while he was unwillingly bouncing along with them.
" Hey! Get off my bed! It's not a trampoline!"
" By the way..." Jaden spoke up.
" ...the Chancellor…" Syrus continued.
" ...wants to see you!"
That made Chazz forget about all his frustrations, despite still being forced to bounce around. " Sheppard? What for?"
" Oh, just something about the fate of Duel Academy."
Time 7:30
Meanwhile, Red Hat and Blair were heading towards the entrance of the main building.
" I can't believe you woke me up so early. You could have let me rest some more, it was still a long time before the start of lessons." Red Hat said with an annoyed tone.
" I tell you all the time. It's not healthy for you to sleep so much, just as it's not healthy for you to eat sandwiches from the card shop every day." Blair replied.
" Okay, okay, I get it. Let's not start this story again, I had to eat the breakfast in the canteen because otherwise you would have continued to torment me with this story." Red Hat said with a bored tone.
Blair shook her head at what he said. " Sometimes I just don't know what to do with you." Blair said as she noticed Red Hat holding some cards in his hand. " Are you working on your deck?" She asked.
" That's what I'd like to do, but the cards I get aren't really playable or much useful." He replied.
" Here we go again with this attitude. You know you should try to relax and try to have fun when you duel, a bit like Jaden does." Blair said.
" As if I care what other people think of me." He replied.
" Here we go again with your usual aggressive attitude." Blair commented rolling her eyes. " And then I don't understand why you complain so much about the cards that come out of booster packs. Even if some cards aren't very powerful I don't think it gives you the right to complain so much."
" I only do this to show how seriously I take duels. Take for example most of the people in the Obelisk Blue dorm. They don't enter the Duelist Academy even because of their skills, but because of the influence of their families, or they buy themselves the entrance to the best dorm with their money. They believe they are on top of everyone while they duel even worse than others I've seen, not even being able to accept their loss to someone from a dorm lower than them who they immediately accuse of cheating or blame on their deck. People like this can only understand this the hard way, demonstrating who is truly the strongest, which is why I always try to improve my decks and my plays to always move forward." Red Hat explained.
Blair looked at him after what he said and felt like there was something he wasn't saying. " While I can partially understand your reasoning, I don't feel like you're doing the right thing. Can you tell me something? Have you always been like this?" She asked.
Red Hat didn't respond immediately, as memories of his past flashed through his mind. The memories that he didn't like to remember and that he tried to forget. " Well I'm not the same duelist I was as a child. I was like most people when I was starting out even though I had someone who taught me duel monsters. But at some point things changed, people who wanted to become better duelists abandoned what they had before to try to become stronger. From then on I wanted to change myself too. I wanted to prove how seriously I took duels and demonstrated that I was strong." Red Hat said with a hard expression. " And I'll prove it to her too." He thought.
" From the way he talks about it, I'm not surprised he can't stand the Obelisk Blues since they acted the same way from the way he talks about it." Blair thought but then she noticed his expression. " But because he seems very angry, sad and disappointed by the way he talks about it."
At the same time without Red Hat and Blair realizing it, Aussa and Hiita were also there in spirit form who had listened to the entire conversation.
" Blimey, he sure has been through a lot." Hiita admitted.
" Yes, and what he went through is influencing his way of being, the type of mentality he has is not healthy. Not with people or with cards." Aussa said.
" Mana really gave us a difficult task." Hiita said with a sigh. " Do you know we should intervene for this?"
" We have to do it." Aussa replied, adjusting her glasses. " After all, we are his partners. It's our job to help him."
" Yeah, you're right." Hiita said smiling at her friend's response. After this they both disappeared.
After a few seconds Red Hat noticed that Jaden, Syrus and Chazz were approaching them. " Hey, Jaden!" Red Hat called him.
" Oh, hey guys!" Jaden waved as he headed towards them followed by the others.
" Why are you here? Is it unusual to see you here so early?" Blair asked.
" Basically Chancellor Sheppard wanted to talk to Chazz and asked us to take him to him." Syrus explained.
" Why would Sheppard want to see Chazz so suddenly?" Red Hat asked.
" We don't know. He just said he wants to see Chazz." Jaden said. " Hey, why don't you two come with us too?"
Red Hat and Blair looked at each other before nodding. " Yes, why not, we didn't have anything better to do anyway." Red Hat replied.
" So are you done chatting?" Chazz said in an annoyed tone. " In case you forgot, Sheppard wants to see me. So if you want to stay here, go ahead." He said before starting to walk again.
" How obnoxious." Blair said.
" And you haven't seen the worst yet." Red Hat said.
" We better go. Hey, Chazz! Wait!" Jaden said as he started running followed by Red Hat, Blair and Syrus.
Time 7:45
The gang arrived at Chancellor's office, where he was sitting behind his desk. Banner was there as well, sitting on a couch against the wall with Pharaoh on his lap.
" I have some urgent news, Chazz." Sheppard spoke up.
" Finally, my new bed arrived?" Chazz asked.
" Cool." Jaden grinned. " What do you say we go and jump around on it?"
" Guys, it's better if you let him talk." Blair said.
" This isn't about your living arrangements." Banner answered.
" Yeah? Then what?" Chazz asked.
Sheppard's face fell a little. " Well... someone is trying to... buy out the Duel Academy. And this someone plans to get rid of all theachers and students and shut this place down forever."
" Shut it down?!" Chazz repeated.
" No way!" Blair gasped.
" Are you kidding?!" Red Hat said.
" Why?" Jaden asked.
Sheppard folded his hands and leaned forward into his desk. " Without us, they can control... the entire dueling world. But fortunately, our owner has given us a sporting chance."
Flashback
An intimidating man in a white trench coat stood in his office, with his back to the two man in suits who wanted to buy Duel Academy. " You heard me right. It's not about the money, it's about the cards. I will only sell you my academy if you prove your worth as a duelist, and beats one of my students in battle."
Flashback end
" It comes down to one duel." Banner stated.
" Let me! I'll whoop this guy!" Jaden said, determined to beat whoever this business creep was.
" No! the duelist is already chosen." Sheppard explained.
" Well, who's it gonna be?" Jaden asked.
In response to the question, Chancellor Sheppard looked at the person in question, Jaden, Red Hat, Syrus and Blair followed his gaze realizing who it was and were shocked.
" Is this a joke? The chosen duelist is Chazz?!" Said Red Hat who didn't like how things were going.
" For some reason, they asked for him specifically." Banner said as he got and walked over to a TV screen on the wall with Duel Academy logo, where a loud beeping noise was heard. " I believe this is them now."
" On screen." Sheppard ordered.
" Yes." Banner then pressed a button on the controls below, and everyone was surprised to see two familiar faces appear on the screen.
" It's Chazz's brothers?!" Syrus piped up.
" That figures." Jaden muttered.
" Oh no, not the two of them again." Blair said remembering the last time they both saw them.
" As if the situation wasn't bad enough right now, it's now gotten a lot worse." Red Hat muttered.
" Lousy scrubs! What are you up to!?" Chazz demanded.
" Come on, Chazz. Don't you know?" Slade asked. " Jagger?"
" Same thing." He added.
" Complete world domination!" They both said.
" Remember?" Slade asked. " It was our little family project."
" Your project, maybe." Chazz retorted.
" Yeah, well now it pretty much has to be, huh Chazz." Slade said.
" That's right! Because you couldn't pull your weight!" Jagger agreed. " Thanks to my efforts and those of Jagger we managed to take control of the political and financial world. But since you failed to conquer the world of Duel Monsters you ruined our plan. So now Slade will be the one to do it for you."
" So I'm dueling Slade?" Chazz asked.
" You'll take him easy, Chazz!" Syrus encouraged.
" Totally." Jaden added. " I mean, your brothers are just amateurs, there is no way you could lose to them. You guys better rethink your business strategy, this one stinks!"
" Jaden's right! Chazz will wipe the floor with the two of them!" Blair added.
Red Hat meanwhile was lost in thought. " There is something that doesn't convince me. They seem too sure of themselves."
Slade and Jagger laughed at them. " No it doesn't, because there are a few conditions." Slade explained as he showed a briefcase full of rare Duel Monster cards. " First, I get to use all these rare cards. The same rare cards we gave you Chazz and you refused to use. And there is one other thing." He closed the briefcase. " During our duel, you're only allowed to duel with monsters that have less than 500 attack points!"
" What the...?!" Chazz glared at them.
" 500?!" Syrus gasped.
" You can't be serious?!" Blair gasped.
" You can't expect he to duel with a condition like that." Jaden protested. " Say no, Chazz!"
" I don't understand what they're worried about. Even with the conditions they've imposed, it's not impossible to create a deck in this state." Red Hat thought.
" It's to late!"
Flashback
" Very well." The owner of Duel Academy spoke. He looked over his shoulders, with his brunette bangs covering his eyes. " I accept those terms. Now leave."
Flashback ends
" So it's already been decided." Slade said.
" It can't be." Blair said worriedly.
" This isn't fair!" Jaden protested.
" No, it's not." Slade replied. " But then that's the point!" With that said, the older Princetons laughed triumphantly before the screen turned off.
" Guess we should go pack up." Chazz said before turning and leaving.
" Chazz, hold up, you can win this!" Jaden encouraged him.
" For real!" Syrus added.
" We can help you with this!" Blair said.
" You're wrong, there's no way I can. Or let you help me." Chazz replied as he left Sheppard's office. " Duel Academy is through." As Jaden, Syrus, and Blair followed, Red Hat sighed before following them too.
For some reason, the news spread through the entire school. And as a result, the students talked about it. As he walked through the hallway, he heard some of the things they said.
" This is terrible!"
" There's Chazz!"
" This whole mess is totally his fault!"
" I heard that he's already accepted defeat!"
" Think about it. If his brothers win then this place will be his too."
" Of course he wants probably wants his brothers to win."
" We should never let him back here!"
" Yeah totally."
" Well, you know what I think?" Jaden's voice spoke up.
Chazz turned around and saw him standing behind him, a calm, but serious look on his face.
" I think you're all dead wrong! I know Chazz can win this duel! Because I've dueled him myself! And duelists don't come much tougher!"
Chazz scowled. " Yeah, I know! That's exactly the problem, Jaden!"
" What's that mean?" Jaden asked.
" Honestly Chazz, you're not making any sense." Bastion commented, as he and Alexis came up to him.
" Bastion's right." Alexis said. " Being tough is usually a good thing, Chazz."
" In my book." Bastion added.
Chazz lowered his head. " Enough is enough, you can't understand."
" Stop being so stubborn." Red Hat commented as he joined them along with Blair. " I don't understand what you're worried about, even with your brothers' conditions for the duel you can still modify your deck even according to their rules."
" I don't see why you're making such a fuss. Jaden says you're very strong as a duelist so I don't see why you're worried." Blair said.
" And that's exactly the point." Zane said as he joined them all. " It's true that Chazz is strong, but for this very reason he can't duel, am I wroing?"
" I don't understand what Zane is referring to?" Red Hat thought as he thought back to the last words he said, his eyes widening in realization. " Don't tell me Chazz doesn't have the cards to duel."
" What do you mean?" Syrus asked.
" What I mean Syrus, is that his deck isn't built with monsters that have less than 500 attack points." Zane replied.
" Wait, hold on. Are you telling me Chazz doesn't have the cards to duel?" Blair asked.
Jaden looked at Chazz. " Wait, so then..."
" My cards are all too powerful." Chazz said. " Cuz of that condition my bros set up, my deck is useless. All I got left... is him." He held up his Ojama Yellow cards, earning disbelieved gasps from all the students around him.
" What? Just him? You can't make a deck with one card!" Jaden stated.
" He may not need." Everyone turned around to see Banner sitting nearby on a stairingway, holding Pharaoh. " This is but a rumor. But given the circumstances, it may be worth investigating. Now, supposedly, my students... deep in the woods, sits a very old within this well, lay a great many cards. You see, they were discarded there by duelists who believed them too weak to ever use in their deck. Of course, the spirits of all this cards are quite angry for being left behind."
" Oh yeah? Well the Chazz has a feeling they're going to be perking up real soon. Cuz I'm gonna to find that well and enlist some new monsters for my deck!" Chazz declared.
The announcement earned him some cheers from the students.
" You're the man Chazz!"
" Alright."
Everyone seemed to be celebrating, or at least everyone except Red Hat.
" First they blamed him because they thought he would lose the duel on purpose, and now they idolize him, even though I understand that this situation is serious, in my opinion this behavior is pathetic. Oh well, this doesn't concern me." Red Hat thought as he looked like he was about to leave.
" Don't you think you should stay and help him out?"
A voice told him making Red Hat stop as Aussa and Hiita appeared in spirit forms.
" They seem to have the situation in hand so I see no reason to stay." Red Hat said.
" Look, as much as I don't like acting the same way as her, I think you should do what Aussa says. You could help that guy even if you don't like him." Hiita said.
" With your help he would have a better chance of winning." Aussa added.
" I said before, this doesn't concern me. Besides, Jaden will definitely want to help Chazz, so there's nothing to worry about." Red Hat said.
Hiita sighed. " Stubborn as ever."
" There you go, making the same mistake again." Aussa said.
" What do you mean?" Red Hat asked.
Aussa adjusted his glasses before speaking. " You remember why Mana wanted us to meet. It's because you let your anger cloud your judgment, you can deny it all you want but you're still doing it, even now." She explained.
Red Hat sighed as he remembered the first encounter he had with his two Duel Spirits. " Where do you want to go?" He asked.
" Take for example how you treat the cards you can get, by complaining that they are weak because of how you use them, it's the same behavior of you also treat others in the same way. Now I'm not saying that some of these people don't deserve it even if they treat others badly or for the fact that some cards are not useful in certain situations, but you can't continue to carry on like this. You should try as that friend of yours said, you should let yourself go a little. By doing this not only do you hurt others but you also hurt yourself without realizing it." Aussa explained.
" What she's trying to tell you is she's worried about what might happen to you if you keep this up." Hiita said.
A few seconds passed before Aussa began speaking again. " Look, I'm not saying you have to change, that's a choice that's yours alone to make. What Hiita and I want and you don't let your hate guide you, we know you're better than that." She said with Hiita nodding in agreement.
Red Hat wanted to respond to what they were telling him, but he understood that they were starting to worry. He sighed at this. " Okay, I'll see if I can help Chazz."
Aussa smiled at this. " I'm glad to hear you say that."
" Yeah! And then if he becomes unbearable like the others you just have to kick him." Hiita laughed.
" Hiita, this is an inappropriate thing to say in this case." Aussa sighed at her friend's joke before turning to Red Hat. " In that case we'll leave you to your own tasks." She said before she and Hiita disappeared.
" It's going to be a long day." Red Hat thought before walking away.
Time 12:00
After the announcement of Chazz's duel against Slade, today's classes had been cancelled. Meanwhile, Chazz was walking down a dirt part in the forest, with a backpack over his shoulder. He was hoping to do this alone, but he was being followed by Jaden and Red Hat.
" Hanging out with the crew in the schoolyard. Yeah! Finding trouble never..."
" You know..." He turned and glared Jaden and Red Hat. " You guys don't have to follow me everywhere."
" Yeah but who's going to look out for you if you get jumped by angry duel spirits." Jaden replied. " I mean, the whole Academy is counting on you, Chazz."
" I came because of the story of this well that Banner told us made me curious, and I want to see if it's true." Red Hat added.
" Gimme a break." Chazz turned around and started to walk again. " Like Banner said it's probably just a rumor any..." He was interrupted when a half dozen white, ghost-like creatures appeared in midair, floating around them while moaning loudly. " ... or not."
" I really can't see duel spirits, except Aussa and Hiita." Red Hat thought.
" Whoa! Those things really don't look too friendly." Jaden commented.
" Please, they're harmless. Look..." Chazz scoffed. Three of the ghosts floated downward and passed through one of the boys each, although they didn't feel any pain.
"Nothing happened." Jaden said.
" Course not." Chazz replied. " Remember, these are weak spirits. Kind like the annoying roommate I got crashing in my deck." The trio ignored the angry spirits and kept walking. Some time later, they came to a clearing where they found the remains of an old well.
" Oh, look! There's the well!" Jaden pointed out.
" What tipped you off? The big hole in the ground?" Chazz asked sarcastically. Once they reached the hole, Chazz pulled out a rope ladder from his back pack and tied it to a trunk before throwing down to the hole. The trio climed down and reached the bottom, whick was like a big cavern. And they could see a BIG number of cards laying around on the stone floor.
" Check out these cards." Jaden said, looking around.
" I can't believe they just throw away their cards like it's nothing, at least I put them in my binder even if I don't use them." Red Hat said as he looked around.
Chazz kneeled down. " It's just like Banner said."
" You could build a weak deck in no time with these." Jaden said.
Red Hat looked around as he saw many cards. " Some of these cards would be good for making a proper basic deck. I still can't believe there are idiots who throw away cards like that." He said. In that moment the spiritual forms of Aussa and Hiita appeared.
" You remember what your professor told you earlier, cards are thrown here because they are deemed weak and useless by their duelists." Aussa said.
" Here there are cards like Scapegoat or Magician of Faith that have their uses with their effects." He said as he continued to look around. " There's also a Relinquished card here, who in their right mind would throw away a card like that and say it's weak?" Red Hat said.
" The thing that makes this very sad is that I can sense the spirits within these cards and feel a lot of negative emotions from them right now." Aussa commented.
" They don't deserve it! They shouldn't be here just because their duelists think their cards are weak and blame them for their defeats!" Hiita said frowning angrily.
" I understand what you're trying to say Hiita, I bet a good portion of these cards come from the guys in the blue Obelisk dorm, but even if that's the case most people here only think about getting cards with higher attack strength, believing that is enough to win duels." Red Hat said.
At that moment Aussa turned towards a corner of the cave where there were more papers with a confused expression.
Red Hat noticed. " Hey, Aussa. What's going on?"
" It's just that I noticed the presence of spirits on that side." Aussa replied, pointing to a part of the cave.
" If as you say here are the duel spirits of these cards it shouldn't surprise you."
Aussa shook his head. " No, it's not that. It's just that these presences seem familiar to me." She answered.
" Now that you point it out, they look familiar to me too." Hiita said.
Red Hat headed towards the indicated point of the cave followed by the two charmers. There he found some cards and picked up. One depicted a type of marmot with one horn and bat-like wings. Another card appeared to depict a small, reptilian-like humanoid figure with light green skin and large gray claws. On the third card there was the image of a small dragon with a serpentine body, with only two wings on its back. The last card depicted an orange fox with a small flame on its tail. Looking at those cards Red Hat recognized them. " Wait, I recognize them. This is Archfiend Marmot of Nefariousness, Gigobyte, Fox fire, Petit Dragon."
Hearing those names, the two charmers with him opened their eyes wide at hearing them. They approached him to see.
" I can't believe they were here." Aussa said.
" To think they were in a place like that, near us." Hiita agreed.
At that moment, the spirit forms of the four cards appeared, appearing happy near the two charmers. Archfiend Marmot of Nefariousness went over Aussa's shoulder, while Firefox jumped over Hiita's shoulder. The two spellcasters seemed happy to see them, Red Hat seemed confused by their behavior. " Um, can someone explain to me what's going on?" He asked.
" These are our familiar." Hiita replied.
" A familiar?" Red Hat asked confused.
" A familiar is a spirit with which we have a very strong connection." Aussa replied, adjusting her glasses. " This is my familiar. Archfiend Marmot of Nefariousness."
" This is my familiar instead, Fox Fire!" Hiita said proudly. " The other two are the familiar of our two friends." She added, pointing to Petit Dragon and Gigobyte.
Red Hat looked confused before something occurred to him. " Wait, you said that as I am now I can only see you two as duel spirits. So how is it possible that I can see them?" He asked confused.
" This is because our familiars are sort of connected to us. And being the only duel spirits you can see, this allows you to see them as well." Aussa replied, adjusting her glasses.
" I see." Red Hat said listening to them.
" But I never expected that we would find them in this well." Aussa said.
" They must have been thrown here like all the other papers." Red Hat said.
At the mention of them left in the well, the four duel spirits seemed to become sad.
" How dare they do something like that!" Hiita shouted angrily. " Wait until I get my hands on those idiots and I'll show them!"
" You won't do anything at all, Hiita. Also I remind you that we can only manifest as spirits, we cannot interact directly with humans." Aussa explained. Hiita looked away from her, but she was still frowning.
While Red Hat observed the two charmers, his gaze passed to the four cards in his hand and he decided to take them.
" What are you doing?" Hiita asked confused noticing this as well as Aussa.
" Well, I don't think you two want them to stay here, so I'll bring them with me so at least they'll be close to you." Red Hat replied.
Hearing these words, the duel spirits made sounds of joy, making Aussa and Hiita laugh a little as well.
" Well well, then you have a kind side too." Hiita joked.
" See, it didn't take that long to let go a little." Aussa added laughing.
" Cut it out you two." Red Hat said picking up the cards and regrouped with Jaden and Chazz.
It was at that moment that two duel spirits popped out of their respective cards. They were rather small, wearing matching red bikini briefs. One of them was black with a chubby body, sharp teeth, and a large nose. The other one was green with a muscled body, a single eye in the middle of his forehead and long tongue sticking out of his mouth.
" In case you knuckleheads haven't notice, this is private property!" The black spirit pointed out.
" Yeah, that's telling them." The green spirit agreed.
" What?" Jaden and Chazz said in unison and turned to the spirits.
Red Hat had been watching their reaction. " They must be talking to the spirits in the cards. They can see them at difference of me. Well, that maybe make it ease." He thought.
" Numbskulls like you ditched us here, so... we don't want you here!"
" Yuk, yuk, yuk, yuk, yuk, yuk!"
" These two... are a few cards short for a deck." Chazz said awkwardly.
" Hey!" The black spirit shouted, glaring at him. " Who are you calling short, Chowdaheadz?!"
" Yeah!" The green spirit added with a glare.
" Listen, we didn't leave you here, but somebody did, cuz you're weak!" Chazz said.
" It's true!" The black duel spirit said sobs.
" We're weak!" The green spirit cried. Both of them hugged each other in order to comfort the one and other.
" Give it a rest! I'm sorry okay!" Chazz said.
The other weaker spirits began to sob loudly as well.
Both of Jaden and Chazz covered their ears, trying to block out the sobbing and whining, while Red Hat had no problems since he could only hear Aussa and Hiita but not the other spirits.
" Nobody wants us do they?!" The black duel spirit sob.
" What's the racket?" Ojama Yellow said appearing on his head.
The two spirits stopped crying as they looked at Ojama Yellow with an incredulous look.
" Is that..." The black spirit said.
" Yes." The green replied.
" Black? Green? Is that you?" Ojama Yellow asked in disbelief.
" Our lost brother! Ojama Yellow!" They cried happily.
" My brothers!" Ojama Yellow said jumping off from Chazz head.
" Welcome back!" They greeted as he was spun around over and over by the two of them with joy.
" Whoa! What a family reunion." Jaden commented.
" Yeah, maybe a dysfunctional one." Chazz scoffed and turned back to the ladder. " I'm going." He said surprising everyone.
" Going? But why, Chazz?" Jaden asked.
" Indeed. We couldn't have come all this way with nothing." Red Hat said.
" Boss isn't a fan of duel spirits. He might, um... decide to leave you two here." Ojama Yellow said to his brothers.
" Leave us?!" They exclaimed.
" Who does he think he is!" Black demanded and turned to Chazz. " Look at me when I'm talking to you."
" I'd do what he says. He gets violent!" Green warded.
" So much for weak." Jaden said.
" You taking us!" They both said.
" And us too!" More spirits gathered in front of the Ojamas. " Don't forget us!"
" Well Chazz?" Jaden asked.
" Well, it can't hurt." Chazz muttered before turning back to the spirits. " Fine, whoever wants to can come with me." Those words made all the spirits cheer loudly, happy to leave the place they are. " But there's one condition." Chazz held up a finger.
" Let me guess." Ojama Yellow replied. " Lots of hugs?" He pounced on him and kissed him on his cheek, causing Chazz to freak out and try to whack him away.
" Hugs coming up, Chazz!" Black and Green called out as they pounced on him as well, freaking him out further.
" Finally! Freedom! Freedom!" The spirits cheered.
As Chazz tried to ward off the spirits while freaking out, Red Hat couldn't help but laugh at the scene. After a few minutes, Chazz collected all the cards from the well, and then they left the well.
" Well, with this we have the cards. Now Chazz you can create the deck for tomorrow's duel." I affirm Jaden.
" Yeah, and I'm better get to work right away." Chazz said as he and Jaden prepared to leave.
But Red Hat instead didn't move and remained still thinking about Aussa and Hiita's speech. He made a decision even though he felt he wouldn't like it. " Wait!" Red Hat called out to them, making them stop.
" Red Hat, what's going on?" Jaden asked.
But the red-hatted Slifer said not a word.
" You understand that we don't have time to spare, right?!" Chazz said starting to lose his patience a little.
But instead of answering, Red Hat took some cards from his deck, leaving the two confused, before handing them to Chazz. This gesture left them even more confused.
" You'll need all the help you can get for the duel, so take my cards." Red Hat said.
Chazz took the cards then.
" You see Chazz. Red Hat also has faith in you and wants to help you out." Jaden said eagerly.
" Whatever, let's go get ready then." Chazz replied ignoring him. With that the trio left the well with the cards they had collected, not noticing that Aussa and Hiita had appeared in spirit form looking happy looking at Red Hat for what he had done before disappearing.
Sunday
Time 10:00
The next day, all the students and faculty members were in the main arena. Jaden, Syrus, Bastion, Alexis, Zane, Red Hat and Blair was sitting together. With the last two still standing a little further away from the others. Chazz and Slade stood face to face on the platform in the middle.
" Ladies and gentlemen." A voice spoke through the speakers. " Today's match determines the fate of Duel Academy! Slade Princeton vs Chazz Princeton! Now are you ready to duel?!"
" If you wanna back out, tell me now." Slade warned Chazz.
" Does this answer your question?" Chazz asked and held up his duel disk.
" Ha!" Slade smirked. " Bring it! Duel!" Slade and Chazz activated the duel disks.
" It's go time!" Chazz declared.
"DUEL"
Chazz: 8000 LP
Slade: 8000 LP
" My turn. I draw!" Chazz draws.
Hand 6
" I set a monster facedown, and I'll set one card facedown. I end my turn." Chazz ends his turn.
Hand 4
" With that attack point handicap Chazz has on him, I bet we'll hear that a lot." Alexis commented.
" Hey with defense points like that, that might be just a good thing." Jaden noted.
" It's my turn. I draw!" Slade draws.
Hand 6
" I summon Luster Dragon in attack mode! (Atk: 1900 – Def: 1600) And now I attack your monster!" The blue dragon shot a jet of flame from its mouth at the facedown monster, which was Catnipped Kitty. (Atk: 0 – Def: 500)
" Thanks for that, doing this you activated my trap, Michizure! Since you sent my monster to the graveyard, now I can destroy your dragon." Chazz explained when a crack opened in the field beneath the blue dragon and he fell into it before it closed.
" One lucky shot, that's all. I set one card facedown. I end my turn." Slade ends his turn.
Hand 4
" It's my move now. I draw!" Chazz draws.
Hand 5
" I set a monster facedown. I set one card facedown. That's all for me." Chazz ends his turn.
Hand 3
" That's all? Then it will be easier than I thought. I draw!" Slade draws.
Hand 5
" I play the spell Graceful Charity to draw three cards and then I have to discards two." Slade draws three cards after choose two of them to discard. " I activate my trap card, Call of the Haunted! I special summon from the graveyard Meteor Dragon! (Atk: 1800 – Def: 2000) Now battle!"
" Don't think I let you do that!" Chazz interrupted him. " I activate a trap card! Go! Threatening Roar! For this turn you can't declare an attack!" From the trap card sound wave were generated which stopped Meteor Dragon.
" I end my turn." Slade ends his turn.
Hand 5
" It's my turn. I draw!" Chazz draws.
Hand 4
" First I play the spell Change of Heart. With this I take the control of your Meteor Dragon." A half-angelic, half-demonic female figure appeared, before walking towards Meteor Dragon and entering him. Soon the dragon crossed over to Chazz's side of the field.
" Nice move." Alexis commented.
" Indeed." Bastion agreed. " Since the monsters in Chazz's deck have less than 500 attack points, one way to get around this would be to take control of your opponent's monsters."
" Now Meteor Dragon attack you directly!" The dragon launched a glowing meteorite at Slade.
Slade: 8000 – 6200 LP
" Now I tribute your monster to summon this monster facedown. With that I end my turn." Chazz ends his turn.
Hand 2
" It's my turn now. I draw!" Slade draws.
Hand 6
" I play Shield Crush! With this I destroy your facedown monster you placed in your last turn!" A larger version of the card materialized on the field, from which a green beam was fired and hit Chazz's facedown monster which revealed itself to be Castle Gate. (Atk: 0 – Def: 2400) " I use Pot of Greed which allows me to draw two more cards." Slade seeing the card he drew he couldn't help but smile. " I'll activate Polymerization, to fuse Lord of Dragons with Divine Dragon Ragnarok in my hand!"
" This isn't good!" Syrus commented.
" With those he can summon..." Zane said.
" Come forth King Dragun! (Atk: 2400 – Def: 1100)" The monster that had appeared on the field was a larger version of Lord of Dragons, with his body from the chest down being a long serpentine dragon tail. He was holding a dragon horns in his hand.
The audience gasped at its appearance.
" Oh no! Things aren't going well for Chazz." Blair said scared.
" Relax Blair, the card he played isn't even as impressive as most believe. Trust me because once I had used in a deck and there are ways to get around its effects." Red Hat commented, not at all impressed by Slade's play.
" You better start worrying, because as long as King Dragun is on the field, you can't target my dragon monsters with card effect. Plus it leaves me something else. Once per turn, I can special summon a Dragon monster from my hand. Like this one for example, Luster Dragon #2! (Atk: 2400 – Def: 1400)" An imposing green emerald dragon appeared on the field.
" Two monsters with 2400 attack points?!" Chazz muttered.
" King Dragun, atttack his facedown monster with Fire Scorch!" The human/dragon hybrid pointed his dragon horn at the facedown monster revealing to be Soul Tiger. (Atk: 0 – Def: 2100) " And now, Luster Dragon #2, attack with Emerald Flame attack!" The named dragon spat out a blast of flame at Chazz, causing him to scream in pain.
Chazz: 8000 – 5600 LP
Everyone cringed at this, Red Hat instead was seeign all with a stoic expression.
" He got nailed!" Jaden pointed out.
" Let's hope Chazz can recover quickly." Bastion said.
" I end my turn. Your move, Chazz." Slade said smugly, as he ends his turn.
Hand 2
" My move. Draw!" Chazz draws.
Hand 3
" I play the spell card Graceful Charity. I draw 3 cards then I discard 2." Chazz draw three cards and discards two. (Discards Ceremonial Bell and Charcoal Inpachi) " Now I set a monster facedown. I set one card facedown. That's all for me." Chazz ends his turn.
Hand 1
" That's all? I draw!" Slade draws.
Hand 3
" This'll be easier than I thought. I summon another Luster Dragon in attack mode! (Atk: 1900 – Def: 1600)" Another smaller, blue dragon appeared. "And now Dragun's ability, I special summon Hyozanryu! (Atk: 2100 – Def: 2800)" The diamond scaled dragon rose up between its allies.
" Four monsters?!" Chazz noted.
" I don't even have to commit to you!" Slade taunted. "Dragun, attack Chazz's facedown monster." King Dragun fired another blast at the opponent monster revealed to be Dandylion (Atk: 300 – Def: 300).
" Thanks for that. When Dandylion is sent to the graveyard, I get two Fluff Tokens in defense mode on my field. (Atk: 0 – Def: 0)" Chazz said.
" I'm shaking with fear. I really don't know what to do against those two." Slade teased. " Actually, maybe I know. I'll let Luster Dragon and Hyozanryu attack them!" Both dragons fired a shot from their mouth and destroyed the two Fluff Tokens. " Now Luster Dragon#2 attack him directly with Emerald Flame Attack!" The last dragon on Slade's side of the field fired his shot.
But Chazz smiled at that. " I have some bad news for you. I activate my trap card! Go Dimension Wall! Now the damage that I would have taken from this attack, you take in my place instead!" A wall appeared on the field displaying Slade's image, the attack made contact with the wall and sent it flying back, with Slade then took the damage.
Slade: 6200 – 3800 LP
" This doesn't change anything. I set one card facedown and end my turn." Slade ends his turn.
Hand 0
" My turn. I draw!" Chazz draws.
Hand 2
" I set one monster facedown, then I end my turn by set one card facedown." Chazz ends his turn.
Hand 0
" Chazz is doing well with the cards you found in that well." Syrus commented.
" Yes, that's true. But the deck Chazz is using doesn't just contain the cards we found in the well." Jaden said drawing attention to himself.
" What do you mean?" Bastion asked confused.
" Red Hat gave him some of his cards for this duel." Jaden replied smiling leaving everyone quite surprised by what he said.
" What?" Bastion said surprised.
" Are you saying Red Hat helped Chazz? Voluntarily?" Syrus asked.
" And yes. It's seems that Red Hat also has faith in Chazz, he entrusted his cards to him for this duel." Reply Jaden.
" I don't think that's why, Jaden." Alexis said before moving her gaze towards Red Hat. " But I wonder why he did it. Him and Chazz aren't exactly friends."
" I don't know either. But if Red Hat really helped him then maybe Chazz's chances of winning have increased." Zane said without noticing the smirk he had, seeming a little impressed by Red Hat's attitude.
" I draw!" Slade draws.
Hand 1
" I use King Dragun's special ability, to special summon from my hand Tri-Horned Dragon! (Atk: 2850 – Def: 2350)" Another dragon appeared on Slade's side of the field.
" Now you have five monsters on the field?!" Chazz noted.
" Congratulations, you can add." Slade taunted. "But tell me little brother... How's your subtraction? Especially since I now activate my facedown card. The continuous trap, Dragon's Rage! With this card my dragon's monster can inflict piercing damage. And believe me when I say I have every intention of doing a lot of damage. Tri-Horned Dragon attacks your monster!" Tri-Horned Dragon fired a stream of fire to the facedown monster, revealing to be Unhappy Maiden (Atk: 0 – Def: 100).
Chazz: 5600 – 2850 LP
Slade smirked as victory was his... that is, until he was shocked to see a swarm of tiny, cloaked and masked creature float from the explosion smoke, latching onto all his dragons. " What are these things?!"
" It's multiplication." Chazz replied calmly. " When Unhappy Maiden is sent to the graveyard by battle, your battle phase ends immediatly." The dragons were now surrounded by a dark aura, like they were depressed.
Slade gleared at his younger brother. " So you last a bit longer. It doesn't matter. I end my turn."
Hand 0
" Yeah, wanna bet? My turn. I draw!" Chazz draws.
Hand 1
" I activate Pot of Greed and I draw two extra cards. I set a monster facedown. Then I activate the continuous spell The Dark Door. As long as this card remains on the field, both of us can attack only with one monster on each of our battle phase. I end my turn." Chazz ends his turn.
Hand 0
" Nice try bro. But it's only matter of time before I bust that door down. I draw!" Slade draws.
Hand 1
"Battle, Tri-Horned Dragon attack his monster!" The dragon shot another blast of fire and revealed Charcoal Inpachi. (Atk: 100 – Def: 2100) The flames from the attack managed to reach Chazz and hit him.
Chazz: 2850 – 2100 LP
" I end my turn." Slade ends his turn.
Hand 1
" My turn. I draw!" Chazz draws.
Hand 1
" I set a onster facedown and end my turn." Chazz ends his turn.
Hand 0
" That's all you have?" Slade questioned.
" You can do better?"
" Well, you're about to find out. I draw!" Slade draws.
Hand 2
When Slade drew his next card and looked at it, he chuckled. " Perfect. With this little card, your school is as good as mine. Battle, Tri-Horned Dragon attack his facedown monster!" Tri-Horned Dragon shot another blast of fire and revealed Big Shield Gardna. (Atk: 100 – Def: 2600) The blast from the attack also hit Chazz.
Chazz: 2100 – 1850 LP
" Then I'll lay down a facedown card and end my turn." Slade ends his turn.
Hand 1
" A facedown card?" Alexis noted.
" And my guts say... he's planning to destroy Chazz's door with it." Zane suspected.
" It's my turn. I draw!" Chazz draws.
Hand 1
" I activate my trap card! Dust Tornado!" Slade interrupted him. " With this card I can destroy a spell or trap on your field."
" I have an inkling." Jaden muttered.
" Chazz's Dark Door!" Zane said grimly.
Chazz gritted his teeth as the trap card a tornado that blew his spell card away.
" His one defense is gone!" Bastion pointed out. " Next turn, Slade will attack Chazz with everything!"
Red Hat meanwhile watched the duel carefully. " Looks like you're in a tough spot, Chazz. This is your last chance to make a comeback. Let's see if you have what you need to win this duel."
" Well, bro," Jagger spoke to Slade. " I'd say this school is ours."
" Prepare the wrecking balls."
" Not so fast, bro!" Chazz interrupted. " I activate a second Pot of Greed and draw other two cards. Then I activate my facedown card. The trap, Reckless Greed. With this card I can draw two cards, but my next 2 draw phase are skipped. I play Painful Choice. I know you're little slow, so I'll use small words. I pick 5 cards from my deck, then you choose one of the cards and that card is added to my hand and I send the others cards to the graveyard." Image of five cards appeared above him. The card in the middle was a spell, while the other four were the monsters Copycat, Relinquished, Royal Magical Library and Magician of Faith. " So? What are you waiting for? Pick."
" How scary. Five weak cards from one weak deck. Whatever will I do?" Slade said mockingly. " I'll pick the one card that's not a monster, Thunder Crash!"
Chazz slid the monster cards into his graveyard slot. " Thank you. I was hoping you'd pick that one."
" You were?" Slade asked surprised.
" But more of that about later. Now I play Enchanting Fitting Room!" A curtain appeared in front of Chazz. " I pay 800 life points, And I get to look the first 4 cards of my deck, if between of them there are level 3 or lower normal monsters, I can special summon them and the rest go back to the deck."
Chazz: 1850 – 1050 LP
The curtain opened up and revealed images of four cards. One of them was the spell Snatch Steal, while the other three were three familiar monsters. " Obviously Snatch Steal is no monster, but the three Ojama brothers sure are."
The yellow, green and black spirits came together and yelled " Ta-da!" (Atk: 0 – Def: 1000 x3)
" You are kidding!" Slade scoffed. " Don't tell me. You pinned the hopes of saving your little Academy on these three twerps?"
" That's right. And you're about to see why."
The three Ojamas turned to their master. " Hey boss!"
" Sure, they look funny. They smell real bad, nobody even likes them and they never shut up!" That actually made them angry. " But these guys taught me something important."
" They did?" Jaden and Syrus asked.
" You should eat dessert first?" Green guessed.
" Flies taste great?" Black said after.
" That bathing is optional?" Yellow said lastly.
" That good bros support each other!"
" So I'm not a good bro?" Slade questioned.
" That's right. Which is why I don't feel bad about doing this... I play a spell card!" A card appeared behind the Ojamas. " Now do your thing!"
" Righto, Boss!" They said and jumped up in the air.
" Yellow!"
" Black!"
" Green!"
" Combine!" They put their rear ends together. " Ojama Delta Hurricane!" And they began to spin. The audience were confused at first. But then, the Ojamas spun faster and faster unitl they became an indistinguishable blur. They flew up and surrounded all Slade's dragons until they exploded.
" What happened?" Slade asked in shock. " They're all gone!"
" Thanks to a little thing called brotherly love." Chazz quipped. " Here's how it work, Slade. When the Ojama brothers are on the field, Ojama Delta Hurricane can destroy all your monsters."
" Look who's weak now!" The Ojamas boasted. " Time to take himd out!"
" Oh yeah, and with this. Thunder Crash!"
The Ojamas turned around when the spell card appeared behind them.
" Guys, what's Thunder Crash do?" Yellow asked.
" Don't ask me. I left my reading monacle in the well." Green replied.
Black leaned closer to get a better look at the spell card. "Seems... Chazz deals 300 points of damage for... every monster on his field that he decided to destroy."
Yellow and Green looked at each other nervously. " Did he say destroy?" Once that revelation sank in, All three Ojamas hugged each other and jumped in the air, panicking for what is coming. " No boss! Say it ain't so!"
" Sorry guys. Have to. See ya around." The Ojamas were absorbed into the spell card. " Go! Thunder Crash!" It then fired an electric blast, striking Slade directly.
Slade: 3800 – 2900 LP
" That doesn't mean a thing, got that?!" Slade snapped. " Your deck's still full of weaklings, and mine still full of rare monsters just rearing to tear you apart!"
" I don't think so." Chazz smirked. " Thanks to all the cards in my graveyard, Slade. I summon Chaos Necromancer! (Atk: 0 – Def: 0)" A red-skinned human-like figure appeared, with long black hair, pointy ears and deformed nose. He was dressed in a purple outfit, with a large blue shoulder guard, pointy gold gloves, and a tattered red cape. " Sure, he starts out weak, but he gains 300 attack points for each monster that's in my graveyard."
" Each one!" Sheppard repeated, sitting next to Banner.
" So with 16 monsters in my grave, his attack points are increased to 4800. How's that for weak? (Atk: 0 – 4800 – Def: 0)" Said Chazz.
" No way!" Slade said in shock.
The spirits of all monsters in the graveyard appeared above Chazz's field, surrounded by green flame-like aura.
" Hey, we're back!" Yellow noted.
" So he does love us." Black and Green said in unison.
" No! Hold on!" Slade screamed.
" Battle, Chaos Necromancer! Attack with Curtain Call Catapult!" All duel spirits gathered together and formed a single ball of green aura, floating between Necromancer's hands. He then flung his hand forward, sending all spirits at Slade, reducing his life points.
" No fair!" Jagger exclaimed.
" You go bye bye." Chazz declared.
Jaden and the others cheered at this while Slade fell to his knees.
Slade: 2900 – 0 LP
" Chazz did it! Yeah!" Syrus cheered.
" He saved the school!" Jaden added.
Red Hat was quiet. " In the end he won the duel." He thought with no one notice he has a slight smile before starting to leave. " Let's go, Blair."
" But why? Aren't we staying to celebrate Chazz's victory with the others?" Blair asked.
Red Hat simply pointed to where Chazz was. " Wait and see why I want to leave." He replied.
All the students cheered for him as well. Chazz then interrupted them. " Wait! You know the cheer! Chazz... it..."
" Up!" Jaden and Syrus filled in.
" Of course!" Alexis and Bastion said.
" Chazz it up!" Chazz repeated.
" Chazz it up! Chazz it up! Chazz it up! Chazz it up! Chazz it up!"
Red Hat meanwhile began to walk again to leave the arena. " That's why I don't want to stay." Blair sighed before looking at him expecting him to say something like this. " Although it doesn't take away the fact that he won the duel with conditions that were unfavorable for him." He added.
The last sentence Red Hat said left Blair quite surprised, not expecting him to say something like that. But hearing it made Blair smile. " I knew you couldn't be that bad." She thought before following Red Hat to leave the arena.
" Imbecile!" Jagger berated his brother as he left the platform. " How could you lose this?"
" Relax Jagger." Slade muttered and looked over his shoulder. " It's only one duel."
" One duel?! Just listen to them! This 'one duel' has turned Chazz into a hero... and a major headache for us!"
The owner of Duel Academy was standing in his office, looking out the window, while one of his employes informed him about Chazz's duel. " Of course he won. Did you really think I would give Duel Academy to those two? They have a lot to learn about world domination."
Time 17:00
Everything was back to the normal after today. Jaden, Syrus and Chumley were relaxing outside at the Slifer Red dorm. Before noticing that Chazz was coming.
" Hey, isn't that Chazz?" Syrus said before noticing where he was heading. " Where is he going? That's not his room."
" No you're right. That's Red Hat and Blair's room." Chumley replied.
" Let's go and see what he wants to do." Jaden said with the trio of Slifers catching up to him to see what would happen.
Chazz then knocked on the door and after a few seconds it was was opened by Red Hat with Blair behind him and they saw that it was Chazz. " What do you want?" Red Hat asked.
Chazz then took some cards from his pocket and handed them to him. " I just came to return your cards." Chazz said with an annoyed esxpression as Red Hat take them back.
" In the end you used them and they came in handy since you won thanks to them." Red Hat said with a stoic expression.
Chazz looked like he was about to get angry at that statement.
Red Hat then give his back to Chazz as he was about to go back into his room. " Anyway, good job winning that duel and teaching those idiots a lesson and humiling them to their same game." He added.
Those words left Jaden, Syrus and Chumley very surprised. They didn't expect that Red Hat, him of all people who couldn't seem to stand Chazz would actually say something like this. Even though Blair had heard it before she couldn't help but feel surprised again. She and Jaden smiled at this.
" I knew it. Even Red Hat really likes Chazz." Jaden told his two friends.
" Yeah, maybe you're right." Syrus said as Chumley nodded.
Chazz on the other hand had his bored expression again. " Huh, as if I needed your help! I would have done it even without your cards! I didn't needed your help or Jaden's to win against those two good-for-nothings!"
" Sure, keep saying it and maybe you'll start to believe it." Red Hat replied with an amused expression.
Chazz was on the verge of exploding with anger as he seemed to turn so red he almost looked like he was on fire. " Why you little..." He gnashed in anger before returning to his room with a frown.
Red Hat simply shrugged.
Everyone was sweating at this scene.
" Jaden I don't think the two of them will ever get along." Syrus said.
" Yeah, I don't think that will ever happen." Chumley agreed.
Jaden simply chuckled at this. While Blair breathed a sigh of weariness at this.
Time 20:00
Later the night inside a room of the Slifer dorm, Chazz was trying to relax on his bed. However, that was really difficult to him, with all the duel spirits flying and playing around. Especially with the Ojamas brothers chasing each others. Eventually...
" QUIET!" Chazz yelled. " Get out of here! Now! I didn't sign up for this!"
Yellow floated up to him and smiled. " Come on, boss. Those guys just want to be your friends. Now let's go get some pizza. I call extra anchovies!"
" Yeah! Yeah!" Black and Green agreed.
Chazz was getting more annoyed. " I don't want anchovies! And, I don't want any friends, or any roommates, or pets, or... or... whatever it is you guys are!"
" In that case, just call us family!" All spirits agreed to Ojama Yellow suggestion, while Chazz groaned in annoyance as he tried to drown out the noise with a pillow.
Here is the new chapter. Sorry it took me so long to make it. But it took me so long for two reasons. The first, is that I wanted to do Chazz duel against Slade differently from the series. In fact I added to Slades deck some Jagger cards from their deck of Tag Force 1. For Chazz, however, I wanted to put more cards that respected the duel handicap. At the beginning I had thought of having him also use Aussa and Hiita this time, but they have 500 attack points and therefore I couldn't use them since he could only use monsters that had fewer. So I went with giving him more monsters that had more defense points. The second reason was because I thought this point in the series was the perfect time for Red Hat to start of doubting its principles a little. The talk he had with Aussa and Hiita in the well served to lead him to this, and for this that he lent Chazz some of his cards to win his duel to begin to signal a beginning of internal change in him. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to make that Red Hat and Chazz be friends, their relationship will be the same as it always has been. And also the fact that Red Hat hated even more how Slade and Jagger treated Chazz the way they did after the School Duel. That's all for this chapter. As always, if you have any suggestions or want to tell me what you think, let me know in the comments. See you next time.
Now let's move on to the comments.
Guest: Thanks for pointing out the mistake I made with the effect of Silent Magician LV8.
LoliSupremeKing: Thanks for the compliment. And I will keep Blair for a while longer even if I then have to make her come home like in the series.