Disclaimer: While Jesse doesn't have his own theme per se, he shares one with Jaden in Duel Links, funnily enough. For a better experience, feel free to turn on a little music for the vibes!
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links - Jaden Yuki / Jesse Anderson Theme
Chapter 27:
"- Jesse Anderson, representing North Academy and reigning as its current Tzar!" Doctor Crowler announced as Jesse made his way into the arena, a squad of North Academy students cheering him on from behind.
"And his opponent, the one representing our illustrious Central Academy …" Crowler grumbled into the microphone but got back on track when Chancellor Sheppard threw him a look, "will be Jaden Yuki the- … who wrote this?! I refuse to read this out loud!"
But his protests were for naught, as Sheppard coughed loudly, with the rest of the staff backing him up nicely. "Urgh … the Red Hero of the Slifer dorm and one of our top first-year students …" the Doctor finished, clearly not happy. "Gentlemen, viewers, you know the rules." With his piece said, he stormed off loudly.
"Now that's a statement. So, there are other first-years at your level?" Jesse laughed in question and readied his duel disk.
Jaden rubbed the back of his head and joined his opponent's laughter. "Yeah, the others are crazy good. If you got the time, you should definitely duel them too."
"I'm looking forward to it, but let's get our duel out of the way first!"
"Yeah man, that's the spirit! Get your game on!" Jaden grinned and took the first turn. (Jaden 4000 / Jesse 4000)
"Let's start with a classic: I summon Elemental HERO Sparkman!" Jaden announced as he slapped down the card. The blue and gold hero appeared with the bright flash of a blue lightning striking down into the arena and stood confidently with his arms crossed (1600/1400). "That's it for now."
"Talk about a flashy entrance." Jesse replied. "But I'm afraid flashy is what we do best. Come on out; Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus!" In front of him, a massive, round sapphire materialized, only to break apart and scatter into fine dust. With a loud neigh and the flap of its wings, the white Pegasus spread its wings adorned by sapphires on its wings and horn (1800/1200). As the crowd – especially the girls in attendance – cheered for his monsters' entrance, said monster slammed its hooves down on the ground.
A chunk of what appeared to be a ruby rose from the ground behind his monster, and when he saw Jaden's confused expression he explained. "When Sapphire Pegasus is summoned, I get to put one Crystal Beast monster from my deck into my Spell-and-Trap zone. In this case I chose Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle."
"Man, you weren't kidding when you said you're good at being flashy." Jaden laughed and looked at the ruby. "I wonder what you're gonna do with that."
"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough. But first we'll have to deal with your sparkly hero: Sapphire Pegasus, attack his Sparkman!" Jesse ordered.
'Alright, let's do this.' Jesse's monster hummed in response and took flight, crashing into Sparkman from above with his hooves and shattering his image. (Jaden 3800 / Jesse 4000)
"Aww man." Jaden groaned good-naturedly. "But wait, this one talks too?"
"And he won't be the last." Jesse laughed and gestured for Jaden to continue.
"Now I want to see what else you got in that deck of yours even more." Jaden laughed as he drew. "Guess I'll have to bring a bit more power for that first. Here comes Elemental HERO Wildheart!" With a loud thud, the dark-skinned hero touched down into the arena, his muscles flexing and highlighting his tribal tattoos as he drew his massive blade (1500/1600).
Jesse tilted his head. "I'm afraid you'll have to bring a bit more than that, Jaden."
"Don't you worry about that, because I got just the right card for this!" Jaden countered. "Wildheart isn't just wild, he's also got a heart blazing with courage: I activate H – Heated Heart, which lets me boost one of my monster's attack points by 500!" A blue and blazing 'H' appeared on Wildhearts chest, surrounding the hero's weapon with flames (2000/1600). "Now he's packing more than enough. Wildheart, attack his Sapphire Pegasus!"
The two monsters clash resulted in the destruction of Jesse's monster, but instead of simply vanishing it reformed into a broken-down sapphire and took place beside the ruby. (Jaden 3800 / Jesse 3800)
"Eh?" Jaden voiced in confusion.
"Pretty, isn't it? When my Crystal Beast monsters get destroyed, I can place them into my backrow instead of sending them to the graveyard." Jesse explained with a bright smile.
"Hard to get rid of I see. Then I better throw down a face-down before I end my turn!" Jaden matched his smile.
"You haven't seen half of it." Jesse took a look at his cards before he picked one. "And thanks to you putting my Pegasus back in his crystal I can activate this: Crystal Beacon!" The ruby and sapphire began to glow and where their lights overlapped a small crystalline rift opened. "If I have two or more Crystal Beast cards in my backrow, I get to special summon one Crystal Beast monster directly from my deck! Welcome another Sapphire Pegasus!"
Out of the opened portal pranced a second Pegasus (1800/1200), only to repeat the same motion its predecessor did. This time, an overgrown emerald appeared beside the other gemstones. "But I'm not done just yet; next I summon Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger!" With a mighty roar, the next Crystal Beast broke out of its crystal, its striped body adorned with blades coming out of its head and legs (1600/1000).
'Already time for the big hitter?' The tiger mused as he looked back at Jesse.
"We can't make it too easy for our new friend now, can we?" Jesse chuckled, even more so when he saw Jaden's bright eyes from seeing yet another duel spirit. "Now, get in there, Topaz!"
"Good thing I prepared this: Hero Barrier!" Jaden announced and flipped his set card. A contraption flew in front of Wildheart and started spinning, successfully stopping the attack and throwing back the other monster. "This neat card stops your next attack as long as I have an Elemental HERO on the field!" Then the gadget vanished and left him wide open.
"Seems like it does so only once, though. Sapphire, get him!" Jesse pointed out and continued his attack, this time being able to destroy Jaden's monster. (Jaden 3500 / Jesse 3800)
Up in the stands, Bastion looked to his left at his fellow card savant Blake. "There aren't many cards that allow one to summon directly from the deck as far as I know. And I have never seen these Crystal Beast cards before."
"Unsurprising" Blake replied and took a loud sip through the straw of his drink, comfortably laying back in his seat. "The archetype is a one-off, similar to the Blue-Eyes. It was a tournament prize handed out by Maximillian Pegasus, and it appears that Jesse is the one who won it." He'd been surprised when he saw Jesse of all people enter the arena, then again, there was no name that came up to him in regards to the North Academy. While that meant that Jaden and Jesse met two years earlier, considering those two's personalities it could only be a good thing in the long run.
"Makes you wonder if Pegasus is playing favorites with his one-of-a-kind decks. I believe not even you could replicate that, Dimitri." Bastion mused with a hint of annoyance.
To his left, Dimitri was already looking up the cards on his PDA. "Yeah man, no chance. There are super rare cards like Doctor Crowlers Ancient Gear cards, and then there's cards on par with the Blue-Eyes."
"It does seem a bit unfair." Alexis added from the row above them. "But just because one has rare cards doesn't mean they'll instantly win."
"It does take more than that." Bastion nodded along all too quickly. "Yet these Crystal Beasts seem to have on fatal flaw: Their reliance on having its monsters in its backrow."
When the girls above and the Slifer boys in front looked at him expectingly, he sighed and explained. "Aside from the effect of Sapphire Pegasus, it appears that all the monsters need to be destroyed on the field first in order to activate certain cards. Not only that, it cramps the user's backrow, which makes it hard to play around traps or even having enough space to activate a spell."
"At least the Crystal Beasts are all low-level monsters, which makes getting them out a little easier." Blake added, his eyes on the duel rather than the people not looking at him. "But they lack attack power, with their best option being the tiger and Equip spells." 'That is if he doesn't have the big one …'
"So, low level monsters and reliance on setting up the backrow. That should be easily beatable with high enough attack points as well as Spell and Trap destruction." Bastion surmised.
"My thoughts exactly." Blake agreed. "But maybe that Jesse guy got some surprises up his sleeve. I doubt Jaden would have a problem otherwise once he gets to fuse monsters."
"He better not." To the surprise of everyone, Chazz chimed in from even further up. "If he lost to that flamboyant clown from the north, it would reflect horribly on our academy." His eyes weren't on any on any of them, rather on the several crystals on Jesse's side of the field. He seemed unnerved by or maybe even jealous of what he saw.
"And even more so on you, because you lost to Jaden?" Blake poked at him without looking up, but the dismissive grunt was enough of a reaction for him to snicker.
"He won't be at the top for much longer, and neither will you." Chazz stated flatly.
"Looking forward to a rematch. You duel better with those dragons of yours than you did before from what I've seen."
"Chazz isn't the only one looking for a rematch, you know." Bastion said with a smirk. "I've had time to adjust my deck, and I'd love to see how it matches up to yours now."
"Count me in. Since we and Jaden are the top first-year duelists, we all should duel against each other more." Alexis added. "We even have a key to a private arena, if Blake is willing to share?"
"Only if you bring snacks."
The three of them shared a laugh, but then Syrus got their attention back on the duel. "I think Jaden found a way to get over those two monsters."
"My turn, I draw!" Jaden announced and happily looked down on the card he drew. Just what he needed. "You already got so much stuff on your field, Jesse. I think I have to pull out the big guns now, so allow me to turn up the heat! I summon Elemental HERO Blazeman!" A fireball fell formed in front of Jaden and out of it came the armored form of Jaden's new hero, blazing in flames befitting of its name (1200/1800).
"While Blazeman doesn't have the highest attack power, he sure does have a strong effect! When he's summoned, I get to add one Polymerization from my deck to my hand!" He continued and received the card from his duel disk. "Let me show you what I got: I activate Polymerization to fuse Elemental HERO Necroshade and Elemental HERO Heat from my hand to summon Elemental HERO Nova Master!" The two heroes briefly appeared in their dark-skeletal and burning-red glory respectively, before they entered the fusion swirl. Out of it strode a tall hero clad in red and yellow, with a flowing red cape behind him and flames dancing in his hands (2600/2100).
Jesse shielded his eyes at the flames. "Didn't expect you to be so literal about the heat. Gotta admit though; that guy looks pretty tough."
"That he does, and I'll show you what he can do. Nova Master, attack his Topaz Tiger!" The fiery hero enlarged the flames on his hands and shot forth a large fireball, which instantly returned its target into its crystal form and into the backrow. (Jaden 3800 / Jesse 2800) "Not only does Nova Master pack a punch, whenever he destroys a monster, I get to draw a card. Pretty cool, huh?" Jaden finished.
"Yeah, and you put me in quite the situation with that. Lucky for me, I have lots of resources to spend." Jesse said as his grin went wider. "First, I activate Rare Value. With my backrow so full, I gotta make some space. So, since I have two or more Crystal Beasts there, you get to choose one of them to send to the graveyard and in exchange I get to draw two more cards."
"Oh man, multiple choice is the worst …" Jaden lamented and looked at his options. "I think I'll go with my gut feeling and take your Sapphire Pegasus. Can't have you fill your ranks up again." The sapphire split in two and vanished, allowing Jesse to draw more cards.
"I get you, too many options sure make it hard to decide. I won't have much to choose for this next card, however." Jesse announced with some theatrical flair as he deftly used his next card. "Here comes Crystal Promise! This allows me to summon one Crystal Beast from the Spell and Trap zone!"
"But you got like three different monsters in there-" Jaden tried to argue with a confused look.
"That I do, but there's only one choice to make: Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle!" The ruby shattered and released the small kitten-like monster which landed at the feet of the remaining pegasus, earning them several "Aww's" from the audience. "And here's why she's the only choice: When Ruby gets special summoned, I get to special summon as many Crystal Beast monsters from my backrow as possible! So welcome back Topaz Tiger and say hello to Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise!"
The other crystals shattered as well, and while the tiger returned with a loud roar, the tortoise leisurely waddled next to its companions with its emerald-ridden shell on its back (600/2000). "And of course, I can't forget this little guy; Crystal Beath Amber Mammoth!" Whereas the tortoise and carbuncle were small and calm, the mammoth loudly stomped onto the arena in its massive form, the amber on its forehead shining as brightly as the gems of the other monsters.
'Has been a while for so many of us to be out at the same time.' The mammoth stated with an eager tone.
'Indeed, it has. I wonder if we'll see the rest too.' The tortoise added in its grandfatherly voice.
Carbuncle mewled along happily, while the tiger looked back at Jesse. 'That's a strong guy over there. Let me at em!'
Jesse hummed at that and looked at his cards, then at the field, before calmly counting something on one hand.
Jaden was instead flabbergasted at the sight of the small army of Crystal Beasts. "Oh man, it's been ages since I last had to deal with a field that full!" That sentiment was shared with some of his fellow students, the loudest being Syrus who cried out at the scene.
"Yeah, I think I'll try that …" Jesse finally said. "Sorry for the wait, just wanted to make sure of something."
"Hey, no worries, man. As long as we can have a sweet duel, I don't mind waiting a bit." Jaden responded with anticipation.
His opponent laughed at that. "Glad we agree on that, then let's get back on track!" He pulled another card from his hand. "I activate Crystal Release! This card can only be equipped to a Crystal Beast monster and raises its attack points by 800! In this case, I choose Sapphire Pegasus!" A bright glow lit up the gems on Jesse's monster, which in turn emitted a blueish aura that enveloped its whole body (2600/1200).
"Wait, that makes him as strong as my Nova Master!" Jaden realized.
"Exactly! Battle phase: Sapphire Pegasus, crash into his Nova Master!" Jesse commanded, and before he even finished his sentence his monster was already at the opponent. The fight was brief but fierce, with flames and blue lights clashing against each other, before both monsters were destroyed. Of course, Jesse's pegasus returned to its gem-state, but the light from his Equip spell remained.
"When Crystal Release gets send from the field to the graveyard, I get to put another Crystal Beast in my backrow! Here comes Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle!" Another gem settled down on Jesse's side of the field, this one with a different tint of blue. "But I'm not done just yet; I've got a whole squad of monsters ready to go at you!"
Jaden chuckled nervously as his opponents' monsters bore down on what was left of his field. First Topaz Tiger destroyed his Blazeman, making good use of the attack power boost it got from its effect (Jaden 2800 / Jesse 2800), before the mammoth (Jaden 1000 / Jesse 2800), tortoise (Jaden 3800 / Jesse 400), and finally carbuncle (Jaden 100 / Jesse 2800) attacked him directly and reduced his lifepoints to a measly 100. He breathed out a big sigh of relief when he realized that he was still in the game.
"To end my turn, I activate Emerald Tortoises effect, which lets me put one of my monsters that has attacked this turn into defense mode. I'll set a face-down too." With that, his carbuncle rolled itself together in a defensive position (300/300), and whatever good field state Jaden might've had last turn was gone.
"Phew, and here I thought I was the one packing heat. Your crystals aren't just pretty to look at, they're also kicking butt!" Jaden exclaimed in excitement as he drew his next card.
"Thanks! My buddies sure are an awesome bunch!"
"They are, but so are mine." Jaden proclaimed with a wide grin as he chose his next card. "You know how it is; if someone's in need then there's a hero ready to help them. I activate A Hero Lives! In exchange for half my lifepoints, I get to summon a level 4 or lower Elemental HERO straight from my deck! (Jaden 50 / Jesse 2800) Good thing I only have so little left." Jaden laughed. "And this hero will surely help me out of this mess; I summon Elemental HERO Bubbleman!"
A rain of bubbles descended from the ceiling, before it dispersed and revealed the blue-clad hero kneeling protectively in front of Jaden (800/1200). "When Bubbleman gets summoned and I have no other cards on the field, I get to draw two cards!" Jaden explained and pumped his fist as he saw his next cards. "I'll keep my turn nice and short. I activate Mirage of Nightmare and throw down a pair of face-downs. Back to you, buddy."
Jesse drew, but before he could do anything, the mirage on Jaden's field glowed. "And to make sure I have enough cards next turn, Mirage of Nightmare lets me draw until I have four cards in hand." Jaden said and happily filled up his hand.
"Mighty confident you'll get another one, I see." Jesse chuckled. "And don't you have to throw all of them away anyway?"
Jaden waved him off. "Eh, it'll be fine."
"Don't complain to me if it doesn't, 'cause I believe I'll get you this turn." Jesse said confidently and filled up his monster zone once more. "Come on out; Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat!" The purple crystal broke and revealed a pink, short-haired cat not much smaller than the tiger, a metallic bow holding a large amethyst decorating her front (1200/400). "But before I go on the offensive, I switch my Emerald Tortoise to defense mode. Wouldn't want to lose my whole field to a Mirror Force now, would I?"
'You're late!' The tiger growled.
'A lady is never late; she arrives precisely when she's needed.' The cat responded with a roll of her eyes.
'Who cares? The gangs all here!' The mammoth added, gesturing his tusks behind them where the pegasus and eagle waited in their crystal forms.
'That we are.' The tortoise added as he withdrew into his hard shell (600/2000), only for carbuncle to jump on top of him with another mewl.
'Then it's time to end this. Jesse, let me at em!' The tiger roared.
Jesse shook his head at the antics of his spirits, and even Jaden couldn't help but snicker, especially when Winged Kuriboh appeared beside him and waved at the Crystal Beasts. Despite being outnumbered five to one, Bubbleman gave Jaden a thumbs-up, one that he returned.
"Alright. Topaz Tiger, attack his Bubbleman!" Jesse ordered, and the beast sprung into action. With a vicious swipe of its momentarily enlarged claws (2000/1000), the tiger tore apart its target. Then, a large signal beam erupted from Jaden's side of the field, projecting a large 'H' into the air.
"Since you destroyed my Bubbleman, I get to activate Hero Signal! This lets me summon a level 4 or lower Elemental HERO right from my deck." Jaden announced and took a brief look over his options before he settled on one he had fond memories off. "Let's see if you can get past this guy; I summon Elemental HERO Woodsman!" A tree sprouted in front of him, and out came the muscular green hero who held up his wood-encased right arm protectively (1000/2000).
"Hm, that one sure is a tough nut to crack. Lucky for me, I don't have to go through him." Hearing that, his cat sprung into action. "Amethyst Cat can attack my opponent directly, at the cost of doing only half as much damage as she normally would. But since you have only 50 lifepoints left, I think it'll be enough."
"You would be right, but I'm not done just yet! I activate Emergency Rations! By sending Mirage of Nightmare to the graveyard, I get 1000 lifepoints!"
Just as his attacker jumped over his monster, the remaining cards in his backrow ate each other up (Jaden 1050 / Jesse 2800) and gave him enough to endure this attack. (Jaden 450 / Jesse 2800)
"That was one hell of a play, Jaden. Can't say I ever had this much fun in a duel!" Jesse expressed, despite his two feline monsters grumbling at not having finished the duel.
"Hey, I'm having the time of my life too! Let's see if we can pump this up even more!" Jaden nodded in agreement. "I draw, and when I have Woodsman on the field, I get to add one Polymerization from my graveyard or deck to my hand!" The bark on Woodsman's shoulder parted and shot a green beam straight at Jaden's duel disk, where he took a card from his deck.
"Let me show you what other cool heroes I got! First, I activate Polymerization to fuse Elemental HERO Avian and Elemental HERO Burstinatrix from my hand to summon one of my favourites: Elemental HERO Flame Wingman!" The familiar heroes in green and red heroes appeared before fusing together in what most students would call Jaden's ace monster. Flame Wingman deftly landed in front of Jaden, its draconic arm and white wing crossed in front of it (2100/1200).
"But I'm not done just yet! You might remember the monsters I used to summon my Nova Master. My Elemental HERO Necroshade has a pretty neat ability when he's in the graveyard; it allows me to summon a level 5 or higher Elemental HERO without tributing once!" Jaden continued and slapped down another card. "Here comes Elemental HERO Bladedge!" The translucent form of Necroshade appeared on the field and dispersed into energy. Energy that turned a bright green, and with a bright flash, the gold-clad hero took his place besides his fusion colleague, mimicking its pose with his arms crossed (2600/1800).
"Those are some strong monsters you got there, Jaden." Jesse admitted as he took in the two new heroes.
"Sure do, and they got some pretty cool effects too." Jaden replied. "Bladeedge, attack his Ruby Carbuncle!" The golden hero nodded and crouched slightly, before dashing forward in a burst of speed and its arm-blades extended.
He was interrupted, however, as the little kitten got surrounded by a spherical barrier of sorts. The blades crashed against the barrier and streams of rainbow-colored light pushed the attacker back. "Not so fast. I activate Rainbow Path! By sending one Crystal Beast from my backrow to the graveyard, I can negate one of your attacks!" The cobalt on Jesse's side crumbled and vanished. "Not only that, it allows me to add one very special monster to my hand: Rainbow Dragon!"
"That sounds like a pretty cool monster if you ask me." Jaden nodded in excitement. "I hope I'll get to see it, but before that my Wingman attacks your Topaz Tiger!" The two heroes switched out, and Flame Wingman raised the flaming maw of his right arm before it shot out a torrent of red-hot flames. They didn't reach their intended target, however, as the mammoth stepped in front of the tiger and took the hit instead.
"While Amber Mammoth is on the field, I can change the attack target from another Crytal Beast to him." Jesse said and watched as the smooth amber reformed behind his other monsters. (Jaden 450 / Jesse 2400)
"And when my Flame Wingman destroys a monster, he inflicts damage to my opponent as high as that monster's attack points!" Jaden pointed out, just as another stream of flames was shot from his monster. (Jaden 450 / Jesse 700) "I end my turn with a face-down."
He looked over to Jesse, and saw him practically shaking with excitement. A feeling his monsters seemed to share. "Well Jaden, I must thank you for this amazing duel. Not only were you a great opponent, you also got me to the point where I can finally do this."
While happy about hearing his opponent enjoyed himself as much as he did, Jaden tilted his head. "Do what?"
"This! I activate Crystal Blessing! This lets me put up to two Crystal Beast monster from my graveyard into my backrow. But since I already have one pegasus ready and waiting, I'll just take my Cobalt Eagle." Jesse began, and with a bright shine, the cobalt reappeared on his side of the field. "Now I have all seven Crystal Beast monsters on the field. All of them can witness what comes next." The monsters in question all lowered their heads as the crystals on their bodies began to shine, as did the whole bodies of those in the back. "And when that's the case I can summon the leader of the Crystal Beasts, my strongest monster!"
Jaden felt the air rush past him as Jesse held his card up high, his open jacket bellowing in the updraft that followed. Winged Kuriboh bounced excitedly in front of Jaden, and even his two heroes inclined their heads towards their opponents. "By having exactly seven Crystal Beast with different names on my side of the field or in the graveyard, I get to special summon Rainbow Dragon!" Each of the Crystal Beasts released a beam of colorful light from their crystals, all of them coming together in the air above them. A bright explosion of colors produced a rainbow that slowly took form, snaking its way around Jesse's side of the field. The rainbow light slowly turned into the form of a massive, serpentine dragon with bright white scales, a set of large white wings on the top half of its body and with a smaller set of golden wings right underneath, with one final set of wings near the tip of its tail. Along the sides of its body rested the different crystals that represented the beasts required to summon it, and with a loud roar the massive dragon looked down on the field (4000/0).
The whole arena was stunned into silence at the majestic form of Jesse's strongest monster, even Jesse himself. After a few seconds, Jaden blurted out a loud "Woah", which got his opponents mind back on track.
"I must thank you once again, Jaden. This is the first time I got to summon him. But while I'm thankful and happy about this achievement, I believe our duel must end." Jesse said with a light-hearted tone before he gestured up to his monster. "Rainbow Dragon, attack his Flame Wingman!"
The dragon slowly opened its maw, and the hero braced itself as it did the same. A brilliant white stream of light erupted from the dragons' mouth, easily drowning the red flames that tried to push against it. Flame Wingman's form was eclipsed by white light, before the stream ended with nothing of the hero remaining. Jesse was about to clap his hands at the duels end, when he noticed that the monsters had remained on the field. Confused, he checked the lifepoint counter.
"Oh man, if I had known how bright this duel would be I would've brought some sunglasses!" Jaden laughed, ecstatic at the sight of the dragon. "But we're not done just yet. When your dragon attacked, I activated a trap called Elemental Recharge. It gives me 1000 lifepoints for every Elemental HERO on my field, which were three before Flame Wingman got sun-bathed." True to his word, the numbers matched up. (Jaden 1550 / Jesse 2800)
"You really are something else, Jaden. But alright, let's see if you can best my dragon. Before that though …" Jesse rolled his wrist, and Amethyst cat once again hit Jaden with her claws. (Jaden 950 / Jesse 2800)
"Ouch! Alright, I'm you're going down!" Jaden drew another card and hummed in thought for a moment. He looked at Rainbow Dragon, then at Jesse, and smiled. "I think I have an idea. If your big monster shines like that, I'll just have to follow suit. I activate Miracle Fusion! This allows me to fuse monsters from my field or graveyard by banishing them!" Instead of the orange and blue swirl of Polymerization, a white swirl with a faint yellow 'H' in the middle appeared on Jaden's side of the field. "And for this I chose Flame Wingman and Sparkman!"
The fusion of these two monsters appeared to be much like Flame Wingman, only that its whole body was covered in sleek silver armor, highlighted by lines of glowing gold, and with a set of two similarly armored wings, as well as a helmet that hid its head. Where once was the red dragons maw now was a normal arm outfitted with a large gold and silver bracer (2500/2100). "Please welcome my favorite hero; Elemental HERO Shining Flare Wingman!"
Jaden could hear his friends clap and shout, but his eyes were set on the field. "While he doesn't seem to be much stronger than the original, Shining Flare Wingman gets a boost from all his fallen comrades, so he can be the shining hero to save the day!" Behind the new hero appeared the form of all the heroes in the graveyard, all sharing their power resulting in a mighty glow to surround their target. "Shining Flare Wingman gets 300 attack points for every Elemental HERO card in the graveyard which are eight at the moment." (4900/2100)
His opponent could only stare at the glowing monster that eclipsed even his mighty dragon. Seeing as there was no point to wait, Jaden acted. "Shining Flare Wingman, attack his Rainbow Dragon and end this duel!" The golden lines running along the hero's armor began to glow, as did its wings when it rose from the ground and charged at the mighty beast. Hero and dragon weaved around each other as they clashed, but something changed when Jesse called out.
"Your hero gains power from his allies, but so does my dragon! I activate Rainbow Dragons effect: I send all Crystal Beast monsters I control to the graveyard, in exchange my dragon receives 1000 attack points for every one of them!" The four beasts remaining on the field turned back into their crystal state, before the crystals broke and their energy got absorbed by their leader. While the gems along the dragon's body began to light up one after the other, Jaden still had one card he could play.
"But a hero always rises to the challenge! I activate Battle Fusion from my hand! This grants my Shining Flare Wingman a boost in power equal to your dragons' attack until the end of the battle!" As the dragon began to power up, its original power was used to strengthen its adversary as well. Both monsters rose to new heights of power; Rainbow Dragons crystals shining brightly and surrounding the beast with a rainbow hue (8000/0), while Shining Flare Wingman's whole body shined in a bright mix of silver and gold (8900/2100). The two forces clashed once more, rainbow-colored light against pure white fire, and the whole arena shook when the hero's flames finally overtook the dragon's breath. With a blinding flash of light, the battle was won, and so was the duel. (Jaden 450 / Jesse 0)
The inter-school match between Central Academy and North Academy was over, and not just a huge success with the students. According to Zane, the two headmasters were so impressed by the performance of their students that they agreed – something that was rare between the two of them apparently – to release the footage of the duel to the public. Blake was sure it must've reached far and wide, the online response was massive and positive at least. Some even compared Jaden to a former pro duelist who'd used Elemental HERO's himself, stating that he wore the same colors and had some of the heroes this former pro also used. The name eluded him, but Blake was sure Jaden would tell him all about it. Maybe he'd even done that before, he should make sure to remember it this time.
The delegation from North Academy had left the same day the duel happened, but there were already talks of Jesse doing the same as Zane would later this year in visiting another academy for a few months. Whether that would happen in this year or the next was unclear. Either way, what was clear was that Jaden and Jesse had hit it off, regardless of meeting earlier than regularly. The two of them spend the remainder of the day together for as long as they could, before the headmaster of North Academy had the rest of his students carry Jesse back to their ship so they could finally get going.
That wasn't all Zane had told him, however, as there appeared to be a big topic that Chancellor Sheppard wanted to talk about next week and concerned all the top duelists of the academy. If that wasn't a clear hint towards the Spirit Keys and everything related to them coming up, then Blake didn't know what else could be. It left the offer of Professor Banner in his mind, an offer he'd have to deal with not long after the meeting with Sheppard. But he'd think about that after the day was over.
With the bombastic duel of the day before, Blake almost felt bad about the absolute stomping he'd deliver on his opponent in his promotion match. Almost. He hadn't seen the guy ever since their first lesson with Professor Banner today, who had the guy stay behind due to his poor performance in class, and he didn't show up all day afterwards. Whether he won by dueling or by a technicality didn't matter to him. He'd already put forth Kami to challenge her desired title during their first break, so that matter was settled too. All that remained was taking his sure-fire win, get put in the ridiculously lavish Obelisk Blue dorm, and get paid a huge stack of money for it. With all the rumors about him going around, this sounded like a fair trade to him.
He walked out of the academy's main building on his way to meet Jaden and Bastion to chill out with the crew in the schoolyard before his duel in an hour. Those two were the only ones treating him like normal, while Dimitri and surprisingly Alexis were a bit awkward but at least didn't flat-out avoid him. Jaden was already waving at him as he saw him when Bastion suddenly stopped Jaden by putting his hand on his shoulder. Confused, the boy looked where Bastions other raised hand pointed at, which was somewhere above Blake. Syrus cried out when he looked up as well, which was when something fell onto Blake's head.
Confused and slightly annoyed, Blake moved his hand up to get whatever fell onto him of his head. He frowned when he saw what it was; a ripped up Mystical Space Typhoon card. But it didn't stop there, several halves of ripped-up cards flew down the academy building, causing other students around to pick up or look at them in confusion as well. The others made their way over and looked perplexed at the scene as well.
"Hey, some guy just ducked away from the roof!" Syrus exclaimed and they all looked up where a cardboard box and a few other cards fell down. Blake stepped to the side before he got hit by the box, but it seemed oddly familiar.
Dark Blade, Crush Card Virus, Caius the Shadow Monarch, Allure of Darkness, all ripped in half. The only card that had made it down intact was a copy of Dark Armed Dragon. It was only when Bastion held up these ripped cards that Blake realized what was going on. There would be blood.
Hey everyone, sorry this took so long. As all of you predicted correctly, it was in fact Jesse Anderson. Getting the duel and what happend after it just right took longer than expected! Getting right to the meat of the chapter, Jaden and Jesse had one tight duel. But although I decided that Jesse should have his ace, I believe my version of Jaden would still beat him, if only narrowly. Hope no one is too bumped about this. I also threw in the line of Shining Flare Wingman being Jaden's favorite hero, as Flame Wingman was his initial one and its an evolved form of that card. While he also has Terra Firma, that's not really his card, even if he likes it a lot. What that means for his deck in the future you'll have to see ~
While the chapter got a bit longer this time, I had to add the last bit to properly built up next chapter. And that point is exactly the "big point" I talked about in last chapters AN. I'd say there's a good enough hint in how the story might progress in the following arc that'll take a different angle to how I've seen it done. I won't apolgize if someone cuts themself reading it, although I'll try to keep it as blunt as possible.
And no, neither is there nor will there be another reincarnator, no need to worry about that. While I love how is done in 'Staying in the Background' by Emblemfan1, my vision of this story doesn't include something like that. You should totally check it out if you haven't, though. However Blake, the gang, and everyone's favorite blue-haired rich girl will react to what happened at the end of this chapter, we'll see in the future. Until then, have a good one ~