Academy Island: ?, Night…
Somewhere within a remote corner of the island, a hidden facility was stationed. It's been there for who knows how long and was very much active, even more so that night. Something had broken out and alarms were sounding throughout the building.
"Code red, I repeat code red!"
Men in suits and scientists were running around in search of something, or they were grabbing tranq guns.
"We must hurry." One of the security guys readied their gun. "The specimen can't be allowed to escape."
Said specimen was a monkey with some tech helmet and a duel disk who was rushing for the elevator. The doors opened to reveal a guard with a gun, but the monkey was already scrambling atop him to get out the hatch on the top.
He took the elevator up and climbed the ropes once it stopped before busting through a skylight. The monkey was officially out of the building, and he did not waste a second before escaping into the night.
Duel Academy: Morning…
The next morning, Chazz walked out of the school with a bag. After his loss to Topher, the demotion was official, and his brothers disowned him. Come the next morning, 'movers' were brought in to take back practically everything they'd ever bought him.
All he had left to his name was the bag on his back, a blue blazer he should have given back in exchange for a yellow one, a duel disk, and his cards. While a great deal of those cards had been bought with his brothers' money, they saw no value in them. After all, Chazz lost with them.
They must be no good. None of that even mentioned the fact he was cut off from all the Princeton accounts and contacts. Who needed them or this academy? He had Seto Kaiba's phone number. Upon calling the man, Chazz had been asked what he planned to do…
"Lousy academy." Chazz cast one last look back at the building. "I've been cut off from my family…" Though it was more the loss of money than his brothers that impacted him. "…and demoted. Not to mention laughed at. Well, I've had it!"
He walked away from the building since Seto Kaiba had already arranged something for him. A new opportunity. It was bound to be better than whatever Duel Academy could offer him now. Never mind the fact this was really his only path left.
Class
With the suspension duels behind him, Kai could finally get back to simply worrying about keeping his grades up. Of course, as good as Duel Academy was for him, things couldn't be that simple. Syrus ran through the doors and straight to Jaden.
"Jaden, it's awful!" The vehicroid user exclaimed. "Chazz is gone!" That certainly drew attention. "I know Chazz has been a pain in the past, but what if he's in danger? He might need help."
"You're right, Sy." Jaden stated.
"I'll stay here to get you guys notes." Chumley voiced.
Greg nodded. "I'll be sure to tell Professor Banner what's happening, he should be arriving soon."
"Alright, thanks guys." Jaden grinned as he stood. "Let's go Sy."
Alexis, Jasmine, Mindy, and a reluctant Topher watched the pair leave.
Kai sighed as he patted Bastion's shoulder. "Mind taking notes for me, just one more day?"
Bastion smiled. "I got you covered."
Academy Island
Jaden and Syrus snuck out of the school by crawling through a hole in the wall. Once out, the pair stood and dusted themselves off.
"You know, the school does have regular doors." Alexis' voice rang out, startling the Slifer pair to the point they screamed.
They were caught by Alexis, Jasmine, Mindy, Kia, and Topher.
"Oh, hey, Alexis." Jaden greeted. "We were just…uh…getting an early start on our homework."
"Yeah, right." Alexis voiced sarcastically. "You were going to look for Chazz, and we're going to help you."
"Since when do any of you care about Chazz?" Jaden asked.
"Chazz is an Obelisk Blue, and we look after our own." Alexis stated.
"Don't go lumping me in with that." Kai stated. "I'm not so eager to get over what the guy said, but I do care enough about you guys not to let his decisions hurt any of you."
"Can't say I exactly have that level of attachment to any of you, it's only been a couple of days since you dragged me in." Topher shrugged. "That said, I still want a duel from that one. Good enough reason to make sure he doesn't go missing."
"Eh, good enough for me." Jaden stated.
The two Slifers and five Obelisks then took off through the woods to look for Chazz.
Later…
The group of seven were calling out for Chazz to come out of hiding before a certain someone got annoyed.
"That's it…" Alexis shouted out at the top of her lungs, "CHAZZ, YOU LITTLE TOAD, YOU BETTER SHOW YOURSELF RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IF THIS IS A TRICK, YOU BETTER HOPE WE DON'T FIND YOU!"
"Yeah, that'll bring him out." Jaden commented sarcastically.
"From my experience, the fact she insulted him would bruise his ego." Topher shrugged. "If he's around, he should be coming along any second now."
"I'm sure there's a perfectly logical reason for Chazz's disappearance." Jasmine said calmly.
"Yeah, like maybe he snuck out to get me flowers." Mindy gushed. "My Chazz-y is so romantic."
"Romantic?" Kai questioned.
"Yeah, not the first word that comes to my mind for the guy either." Topher agreed.
"You like Chazz?" Jasmine asked. "Last week, it was Greg. Who's next, Chumley?"
"Well, he does have muscles." Mindy replied.
Alexis seemed to notice something. "Shh..."
"What is it?"
"Something's moving." Alexis answered.
Everyone followed her gaze to see something rustling in the bushes.
"Chazz-y?" Mindy questioned.
"All right, game's over." Jaden stated as they all walked towards the bush. "We found you."
Suddenly, something leapt from the bush, scaring the group and plowing into them. There was a scuffle for a good few seconds before the thing absconded into the woods. The group got up, after the 'brawl'.
"Not Chazz." Topher stated.
"Not human either." Alexis added.
"What was that?" Jasmine asked.
Suddenly, three men wearing suits burst forth from the unbeaten path. One of them was wearing sun glasses and holding a gun.
"Great, what's going on now?" Kai asked.
Before they could focus on that, the group heard a scream. It was at that moment they realized someone had been taken from them.
"Mindy!" Alexis exclaimed.
Everyone looked to the trees where they saw a monkey leaping away with Mindy in his arms. Jasmine was the first to take off after her friend, followed immediately by Alexis who was then followed by the guys. Before any of them could have left, the men in suits already had.
Cliff
Mindy always wanted to be swept off her feet, but it was with the caveat of being whatever guy of the week she fancied, not some monkey. The Obelisk frantically tried to tell the monkey to set her free to no avail, and it continued all the way to a cliff with a tree.
After landing at the tree, Mindy hung on to the primate for dear life. "Don't let me go!"
The men in the black suits caught up to them first.
"Take aim and fire!" The short one commanded.
"Sir, I can't shoot him without harming the girl." The man holding the gun spoke up. "As much as we need that monkey back, harming a girl would put us in a lot of hot water."
It was then that the other Obelisk and Slifers arrived.
Jaden noticed what the primate was wearing, aside from the weird helmet and harness. "Hey, that monkey's wearing a Duel Disk, or a strange-looking banana."
"That's no banana or an ordinary monkey." The short old man turned to the group. "His name is Wheeler, and he's a trained duelist."
"A dueling monkey!" Jaden exclaimed, interested in the idea.
"Jaden, focus up." Kai reminded. "Captured friend, remember?"
"Somebody help me!" Mindy cried.
"If what we're hearing is correct, then he should be capable of comprehending the stakes of a duel." Jasmine stepped forward. "Hey, Wheeler?" It was strange talking to a monkey, but the harpie user already decided to try. "I challenge you to a duel!"
"I know Mindy is in trouble, but I was going to challenge the monkey." Jaden muttered.
"You can have a go some other time." Kai whispered back.
Wheeler stared at the Obelisk female.
"I think you got his attention, Jasmine." Alexis stated.
"If I win, you let Mindy go." Jasmine declared. "If you win, we let you go, including the suits with the guns."
The guys in question growled at that, they couldn't afford to lose a valuable specimen.
"Jas, where does that leave me!?" Mindy cried.
"Just trust in me Min because I'm going to get you out of this." Jasmine assured. "So, what do you say Wheeler?"
Wheeler nodded as he set Mindy down before leaping onto a rock. He screeched as the Duel Disk flicked on.
"How can he understand her?" Topher questioned.
"Maybe all that training also taught Wheeler how to understand human speech." Alexis theorized.
"I have a clear shot." The man with the gun said as he took aim.
"No, wait." The old man said. "This could be the field test we've been waiting for."
"All right, time to duel." Jasmine stated.
"Duel!" Came a digitized voice from Wheeler's helmet.
"It can talk?" Sy asked, just as flabbergasted as the rest
"Please, that would be completely unrealistic." The old man said. "The helmet reads his mind and talks for him."
Wheeler laughed, as far as the helmet went, and both players drew their initial hands.
(Jasmine 4000/Wheeler 4000)
"Here goes!" Jasmine drew. "I'll summon Birdface(LV 4/1600/1600)." A large, brown bird wearing blue armor appeared. "I'll call my turn there."
"My turn, my turn." Wheeler drew. "Draw." Through his helmet, he scanned the monster. "Berserk Gorilla(LV 4/2000/1000)! Attack mode! Attack mode!" He placed his card on the field, making a large gorilla appear before him. "Activate Poison Fang. Beast attacks, you take extra 500 life points of damage. Now Gorilla attacks Birdface!"
Berserk Gorilla slugged Birdface off the field (Jasmine 3600/Wheeler 4000). A sickly green aura then washed over the harpie user (Jasmine 3100/Wheeler 400)
"When Birdface is destroyed by battle and sent to the grave, I can add any Harpie Lady I wish from my deck to my hand." Jasmine declared.
"Now, end turn." Wheeler stated. "I make monkey out of you! You! You!"
Jasmine groaned.
"Jas, stay focused on the duel." Alexis called out. "Don't lose your cool."
"You got this." Kai added.
Jasmine drew. "I'll now summon Harpie Channeler(LV 4/1400/1300)." A woman with red hair and black wings appeared. "First, she'll count as Harpie Lady while on the field or in the grave. Beyond that, this girl's got one great effect, provided I discard 1 Harpie card from my hand."
She did just that. "Now, I can special summon any Harpie monster I wish, from my deck, in face up defense position. I choose Harpie's Brother(LV 4/1800/600)." A tall, shirtless man with red wings and spiky black hair appeared.
I'll then activate Monster Reborn to return Birdface(LV 4/1600/1600) to the field. Now, I construct the overlay network with my three level 4 monsters. Xyz summon Harpie's Pet Phantasmal Dragon(R 4/O 3/2000/2500)." A thin, red dragon appeared.
"That monkey is in trouble now." Alexis noted.
"Why?" Syrus asked.
"Just watch because that Xyz is one of the tough ones." Kai stated.
"This dragon is permitted to attack your life points directly." Jasmine declared. "Go, Phantasmal Fire Blast!"
An ethereal breath of flames washed over Berserk Gorilla, leaving it in tact while the monkey duelist took a significant loss in life points. (Jasmine 3100/Wheeler 2000).
"Alright, Wheeler lost 2000 life points." Syrus cheered.
"Wheeler is just standing there now." Topher noted.
"Is he giving up?" Jaden asked.
"Oh please." The old man said. "He just made one mistake, that's all. Back at the lab, if he made one mistake, we would punish him for it." The kids gasped. "No, he won't make mistakes again, he'll just get better."
"Top secret, sir." One of the suits whispered.
"Oh right, never mind..."
"Wheeler, are you giving up?" Jasmine asked again.
"Never surrender, never surrender!" Wheeler screeched.
"Alright, I'll end my turn." Jasmine informed. "During each of my End Phases, I'm required to detach 1 overlay unit from my dragon." Harpie's Pet Phantasmal Dragon(R 4/O 2/2000/2500). "Your move."
Wheeler drew his next card and utilized his helmet to scan it. "I summon Key Mouse(LV 1/100/100)." A small mouse with keys and locks on it appeared. "Mouse will give Beserk Gorilla a tune up to Synchro for 5.
Synchro summon! Synchro summon Thunder Unicorn(LV 5/2200/1900)." A blue unicorn with a golden mane appeared. "Effect, I can select one monster you control and make it lose 500 ATK for every beast-type monster I control until the End Phase."
"That's not going to happen." Jasmine declared. "In fact, you can't single out any one Harpie monster for an effect or attack."
"No attack! No attack!" Wheeler was in disbelief. "Thunder Unicorn, attack Phantasmal Dragon!" The synchro monster did not budge an inch. "No attack! Set one card, your turn! Your Turn!"
"That is one scary Xyz monster." Syrus stated.
"Alright, my draw!" Jasmine declared, only to be interrupted by monkey noises. "Wheeler?" She looked to her opponent, but he hadn't made those noises since he started talking. "If it's not him…" She gasped upon looking to her right. "Over there!"
Everyone looked and saw about a dozen monkeys hiding behind a rock.
"Uh-oh, more monkeys!" Syrus exclaimed worriedly.
"Looks like a whole tribe of them." Topher noted.
"Is that why you escaped?" Jasmine turned back to her opponent. "Wheeler, did those men snatch you away from your family?"
Wheeler nodded. "Must win! Miss friends, miss family!"
"Wheeler, I know you want to be free." Jasmine stated, solemnly. "I can't just let you have it at the cost of losing my friend, so I'll have to play Harpie's Feather Duster to destroy that back row of yours."
It was revealed to have been Sakuretsu Armor, and as that didn't target, Phantasmal Dragon would have been destroyed. "Now, Phantasmal Dragon will attack you directly with Phantasmal Fire Blast!"
An ethereal breath of flames washed over Thunder Unicorn, leaving it in tact while the monkey duelist lost the rest of his life points (Jasmine 3100/Wheeler 0). Wheeler's helmet showed a picture of a sad monkey with the words "LOSE" over it.
"Wheeler, can I have my friend back?" Jasmine asked.
Wheeler picked Mindy off the tree and put her on the ground. She got up and rushed to Jasmine while Alexis rushed forward to join them. The three girls embraced, glad to be back together.
"Thanks for saving me Jasmine." Mindy stated gratefully.
"I was just the first to offer." Jasmine smiled.
"What about Wheeler?" Alexis asked.
They turned and stared at the monkey, who was looking like he lost his best friend.
"I know he kidnapped me, but even I think it deserves more than being somebody's needle poking experiment." Mindy voiced.
"All right, you flee-ridden failure." The man with the gun spoke as all three of them approached. "Let's go."
Suddenly, they stopped, and everyone turned to see a battalion of the Disciplinary Action Squad rushing onto the scene. They swiftly surrounded the three men and rushed as a coordinated unit to the point the man with the tranq gun couldn't even consider pulling the trigger.
"What is the meaning of this?" The short man asked.
"I believe that's my question, Hiser." Mokuba Kaiba stepped onto the scene, approached the three men, and leveled a glare their way that rivaled what Seto could give. "Who was it that gave you permission to run any sort of experiments on this island? Was It Kagemaru?"
Kagemaru was the person who jumped to Mokuba's mind first since he was essentially an equal partner with Seto for this academy. He was the only other person, aside from Seto, who could arrange a facility like that openly without a Kaiba finding out.
"It was your brother, Seto Kaiba." Hiser answered, confidently.
"Oh really." Mokuba pulled out his phone. "Here, let's see what he has to say. I have him on speed dial."
It only took two rings before Seto picked up and was put on speaker phone. "Mokuba?"
"Bro, know anything about a secret facility on Academy Island that's been torturing animals to turn them into duelist?" Mokuba asked. "I'm here with Head Scientist Hiser and his men, they're saying you approved this."
For just a second, there was silence which led Hiser to look rather smug; however, that was quickly dashed by what Seto said next. "Hiser, what proof exactly do you have that I okayed anything of the sort?"
"Sir, we have your signature." Hiser answered.
"Mokuba?" Seto asked.
"I've been on this since we caught sight of their experiment on the cameras." Mokuba replied. "The facility has been seized, as of now everyone involved is in custody, and I've had programs running to download all the information to the satellite. It should arrive to you shortly.
Suddenly, the three suits were shaking.
"Good work Mokuba." Seto voiced. "Have them transported with all the others, and I'll ensure they're met with the proper authorities. Oh yeah, you and your men are fired Hiser."
Having Seto's signature opened the door wide to quite a few potential suspects behind this, but they would get to the bottom of this.
"Should have realized long before this point, Hiser." Mokuba ended the call. "Seto Kaiba would not put children at risk, nor would he sign off on illegal activity."
"We didn't…We thought." Hiser tried.
"Save it." Mokuba turned away from him. "I suggest you and your men cooperate. That's the only way you'll find leniency."
"Seto Kaiba wanted to teach aliens how to duel!" Hiser tried, dredging up something the blue-eyes user did in the past.
Something about that sounded familiar to Jaden, but he couldn't quite place why.
"You think teaching and torture are one in the same?" Mokuba shook his head. "Look, I can tell you think my brother is crazy enough to go along with this, but it wouldn't surprise me, with the things I've seen, that there are aliens out there.
That's beside the point, and a cheap excuse. Animal testing is a felony, and after this, the island will be combed over. As I said, you'd do best cooperating to your fullest for any form of leniency." He looked to the squad. "Take them away."
The men obeyed, taking the suits out of the area. After the men left, the kids removed the armor from Wheeler until all he was wearing was the Duel Disk. The humans then watched as Wheeler was reunited with the other monkeys.
"It's like a family reunion," Syrus commented.
"Hey Wheeler, let's duel sometime." Jaden called out.
Wheeler let out some monkey sounds while waving.
"That was a close one." Jasmine said. "If the Vice Chancellor hadn't showed up, Wheeler would have been taken."
"Wouldn't put it past those guys to snatch up his whole family." Topher stated.
"How did you find us, sir?" Alexis asked.
"Very early in the morning, we caught Wheeler on cameras near the academy." Mokuba stated. "Not long after, I saw former Head Scientist Hiser and his men chasing him. Been working on this whole situation since then while attempting not to disrupt the students."
He shot the seven students before him firm glares. "Turns out, I'd received a call from Professor Banner that seven of his students were missing because, according to their friends, they went looking for Chazz Princeton.
That saw me speeding things up. Next time, you children should think about asking a teacher rather than skipping school. In accordance with that, you are to serve a weeks' detention with Banner for this."
"A week of detention!" Jaden exclaimed, as the others didn't seem thrilled either.
"Price for skipping class, given the reason." Mokuba stated. "Now, let me tell you what happened to Chazz. This morning, he boarded a lone boat and sailed off."
They didn't need to know it was a Kaiba Corp. mini yacht.
"Well, that's a shame." Jaden said.
"He did make things interesting." Syrus added.
"My Chazz-y." Mindy sighed.
"I'm sure he'll be back again someday." Jaden was quick to cheer up. "After all, good rivals are hard to find."
"Comparatively, class is far easier to find." Mokuba interrupted. "Speaking of which, get marching because you seven got your first detention and a lot of work to make up."
The kids groaned as they were led back to the school.
Slifer Dorm: Night…
"Hey, you up for a rematch?"
It was a simple sentence but one which carried a great deal of weight for Kai. Things became so busy with the whole abandoned dorm/suspension duels that the war challengers user had put a pin in tackling the stipulations Zane set forth. Now, he was determined to wait no longer.
It was time to get working on them once again. In the spirit of that, he challenged his first of two people he had to rematch before he could then take on Zane once again. Kai soon approached the Slifer dorm, having decided the her user would be his first match.
Sure, he already beat Jaden in that practice tag duel they had; however, he didn't consider that a fulfillment of the stipulation personally. Nothing against Greg or Syrus, but the war challengers user wanted a solo victory. Kai found the hero user waiting for him on the steps.
Upon seeing the Obelisk, Jaden stood and gave him a grin. "Hey man."
"Jaden." Kai nodded. "I know it's kind of late. Thanks for agreeing to this on short notice."
"It's no problem." Jaden nodded. "I've been kind of itching to see what I can do solo against this version of your deck. Anyways, all the other guys have already hit the hay, so let's take this back where we had our first duel."
Kai nodded. "Let's go."
The pair walked down together to the rocky beach below the Slifer Dorm. Jaden's had quite a few great duels down there, one of which being his first duel against Kai. Back then, those Heroics were something else alone.
Now, Kai had War Rock monsters and seemed to have developed a lot more as a duelist from that first duel they had. Jaden couldn't deny a level of excitement over seeing what this duel would bring. Soon enough, the pair were situation.
"Let's Duel/Get your game on!" Kai/Jaden declared.
(Kai 4000/Jaden 4000)
"I'll take, the first move!" Jaden drew. "Sweet! I'll start with Graceful Charity allowing me to draw 3 cards provided I then discard 2. I'll follow that up by setting a monster and throwing down a face down. Your move."
"Here goes nothing." Kai drew. "Firstly, I'll be nabbing home field advantage with War Rock Mountain." The scenery shifted, putting the duelist atop a mountain with a red sun nearby. "Just activating this lets me add any War Rock I wish from my deck to the hand.
This field has more to it, but I'll put a pin in that as you control a monster while I control none. That means I can special summon Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd(LV 4/1800/300)." A purple armored warrior, wielding a halberd, appeared.
With my normal summon, I'll bring out War Rock Wento(LV 4/1800/1800)." A green haired, female archer appeared. "Now, I enter the Battle Phase, and Mountain allows me to special summon a War Rock from my hand for controlling no monster or only warrior-type monsters,"
"Oh, you're about to have three monsters in one turn." Jaden chuckled good naturedly. "Man, you really aren't holding back."
"Against you, I can't afford to. Anyways, I now summon War Rock Meteoragon(LV 7/2600/2600)." A white-haired warrior in red and gold armor and with two blades appeared. "Now, I hope you're ready Jaden because it'd be a shame for this to end now."
"I won't be going down that easy." Jaden returned.
"Let's see how true that is." Kai declared. "I'll attack your face down monster with Assault Halberd. When an Earthen warrior-type monster declares an attack, Wento can grant them an extra 800 ATK, until the end of this turn, at the cost of 800 of my life points."
Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd(LV 4/2600/300 effect) was imbued with a green aura (Kai 3200/Jaden 4000). "Not to mention Meteoragon grants all War Rock monsters an extra 200 ATK, until the end of your turn."
War Rock Meteoragon(LV 7/2800/2600 effect)
War Rock Wento(LV 4/2000/1800 effect)
"I activate my set Negate Attack." Jaden declared. "Not only is this one attack stopped, but it's now the end of your Battle Phase."
"Alright, you should know by now what I'm going to do." Kai grinned. "I build the overlay network with my two level 4 monsters. Xyz summon Gagaga Cowboy(R 4/O 2/1500/2400) in defense mode." A cowboy with twin guns appeared kneeling before his duelist.
When he's in defense position, I can detach one overlay unit to dole out eight hundred life points of damage." One of Gagaga Cowboy(R 4/O 1/1500/2400)'s overlay units flew into his gun and he fired on the opposing duelist (Kai 3200/Jaden 3200). "I'm confident ending my turn there."
"Then, it's my turn." Jaden drew and grinned. "I activate Miracle Fusion. By banishing materials from my field or grave, I can Fusion summon any Elemental HERO I wish. I'll banish the Wildheart I set with the Bladedge I discarded through Graceful Charity. Fusion summon Elemental HERO Wildedge(LV 8/2600/2300)." A warrior with some gold armor appeared.
"Not bad Jay, but that monster is two hundred ATK shy of beating Meteoragon." Kai voiced.
"That's why I'm giving him H – Heated Heart." Jaden declared. "For the rest of the turn, he'll have 500 more ATK and can deal piercing damage." Elemental HERO Wildedge(LV 8/3100/2300 effect) burned with aura. "This HERO himself can attack all monsters you control once each per Battle Phase. Wildedge, start with Meteoragon."
As useful as getting in 800 more life points would be, Kai opted to protect his War Rock. "I activate the last effect of my field spell." The field vanished as he removed it from its zone. "If a warrior I control would be destroyed, I can send this to the grave instead."
Wildedge clashed with Meteoragon, who managed to hold his ground. "That's not all as my War Rocks battle effects are quick effects. That means he'll gain another 200 ATK until the end of your turn."
War Rock Meteoragon(LV 7/3000/2600 effect) managed to repel Wildedge as a few sparks from their clashing metal rushed past the war challenger's user (Kai 3100/Jaden 3200).
"You're Meteoragon might stick around, but I still have that attack for your Gagaga Cowboy!" Jaden declared.
Wildedge lept at and sliced Cowboy down, destroying him with this time embers rushing past the war challengers user (Kai 2700/Jaden 3200).
"I'll throw down this face down before calling my turn there." Jaden declared.
War Rock Meteoragon(LV 7/2600/2600)
Elemental HERO Wildedge(LV 8/2600/2300)
"My draw!" Kai looked at what he got. "This will do. I summon Heroic Challenger - Morning Star(LV 4/1500/1300)." A blue and brown armored warrior, wielding a morning star, appeared. "No matter how he's summoned, I can add 1 Heroic spell/trap from my deck to my hand.
The card I added was Heroic Call allowing me to special summon any warrior I wish from my hand or grave. I'll welcome back Heroic Challenger – Assault Halberd(LV 4/1800/300). Meteoragon will battle Wildedge, and that means he gains 200 ATK until your end phase."
War Rock Meteoragon(LV 7/2800/2600 effect) glowed with a red aura as he clashed once more with Wildedge.
"I activate my face down Elemental Recharge." Jaden declared. "For every Elemental HERO I control, this card grants me 1000 extra life points."
Jaden was showered with green particles (Kai 2700/Jaden 4200). Then, Meteoragon won the battle with Wildedge, striking the HERO down in one, fell swoop (Kai 2700/Jaden 4000).
"Morning Star and Assault Halberd will both follow up with a direct attack." On Kai's orders, the two warriors charged forward, and their weapons sliced through Jaden (Kai 2700/Jaden 700). "When Halberd doles out battle damage, I can add 1 Heroic card from my deck to the hand.
"Moving into Main Phase 2, I construct the overlay network with my two monsters to call forth the king of wishes. Xyz summon Number 39: Utopia(R 4/O 2/2500/2000)." A gold and white warrior appeared. "That will conclude my turn."
Despite the odds against him, Jaden laughed. "Well, you've upped your game; however, the duel isn't over until the last card is played." He drew. "I'll kick things off this turn by summoning Elemental HERO Bubbleman(LV 3/1000/1400 effect)."
A warrior in dark blue spandex and light blue armor appeared. "No matter how he's summoned, provided I have no cards on the field, I draw two cards. By now, you should recognize this HERO I'm about to form.
I activate Polymerization to combine the Bubbleman on my field with Avian from my hand. I call forth the ice HERO. Fusion summon Elemental HERO Absolute Zero(LV 8/2500/2000)." A warrior wearing white armor appeared.
Kai grinned upon seeing him. "That marks three duels we've had where you bust this guy out."
"Sorry to say he won't be sticking around because I activate a second Polymerization to combine my Absolute Zero on the field with Burstinatrix from my hand. Time to meet the fire hero. Fusion summon Elemental HERO Nova Master(LV 8/2600/2100)." A red, orange, and black armored warrior appeared. "By now, you know the drill."
Kai grinned. "Whenever Absolute Zero leaves the field, he wipes my field of every monster."
All three of Kai's monsters on the field were frozen before shattering.
"With your field wide open, Nova Master will attack you directly." On Jaden's orders, Nova Master fired off flames that washed over the war challengers user (Kai 100/Jaden 700). "With that, I end my turn. Let's see what you got."
Kai found he hadn't stopped smiling. Two separate times, he busted out a field of three monsters before Xyz summoning to shore it up. Every time, Jaden found a way to come back swinging and completely reverse the situation.
"I don't get much of a chance to showcase this element of my Heroics, but they thrive when backed into a corner!" Kai drew. "Because my life points are 500 or less, Heroic Challenger – Morning Star(LV 4/1500/1300) can be special summoned from the grave.
Its effects are negated, so I don't get to add a Heroic spell/trap. Since I control a Heroic monster, whose not level 1, I can special summon Heroic Challenger – Knuckle Sword(LV 1/600/200)." A gold and silver armored warrior, wielding a knuckle sword, appeared.
No matter how Knuckle Sword is summoned, he can target another Warrior monster I control. Then it or that monster becomes the other's level. I'll target Morning Star and grant Knuckle Sword his level." Heroic Challenger – Knuckle Sword(LV 4/600/200 effect).
"Every one of my turns this duel, I've busted out three monsters, and I see no reason to discontinue that now. I summon Heroic Challenger – Night Watchman(LV 4/1200/1000)." A leather armored, blue caped warrior appeared."
"Bring it on!" Jaden replied, his own grin plastered on his face.
"I build the overlay network with all three of my level 4 monsters to call upon the legendary sword of Japan. Xyz summon Heroic Champion – Kusanagi(R 4/O 2/2500/2400)." A red and orange warrior with a glowing orange blade appeared.
"You put in a lot of work to bring him out, but Kusanagi isn't strong enough to beat Nova Master." Jaden declared.
"That is true, but my life points are still 500 or less." Kai held up his duel disk. "That means I can now banish Heroic Call from my grave and target any 1 monster I control. They gain 500 ATK for every Heroic monster I control and currently have attached to an Xyz monster."
Jaden laughed. "You really aren't holding back."
"Couldn't dream of it when facing you." Kai declared. "Roll call, Kusanagi on the field with Night Watchman, Morning Star, and Knuckle Sword as materials means 2000 ATK."
Transparent Morning Star, Night Watchman, Knuckle Sword, and Kusanagi appeared before flowing into Heroic Champion – Kusanagi(R 4/O 2/4500/2400 effect)'s blade, changing it from orange to blue.
"Kusanagi, end this by destroying Nova Master!" Kai declared.
Kusanagi rushed forward and in one stroke of his blade, sliced the HERO down (Kai 100/Jaden 0).
As the holograms faded, the Slifer and Obelisk broke out into genuine laughter.
"Man, that was one sweet duel!" Jaden was giddy. "It bites to lose but it was worth it to have fun like that!"
"Yeah, it was pretty great." Kai approached the Slifer before nodding. "Hey Jaden, you know by now why I've come to Duel Academy, but what's your story?"
"I suppose you could say it's kind of like yours." Jaden stated.
"Wait, what?" Kai asked.
"I have difficulties remembering my younger years, but I recall I used to play duel monsters as a hobby." Jaden informed. "Eventually, I put it away and got into baseball. Played that for a few years until one day receiving an injury which landed me in the hospital.
As luck would have it, that's where I met Koyo Hibiki. He was suffering from heart problems, but even with that, he took the time to teach me everything he knew about the game. We talked about Duel Academy and how I could find tough opponents here.
Before he went in for his operation, he gave his sister his lucky red coat, and I got to hold onto his deck. I don't know what compelled me to do it, but the moment before he was rolled out, I promised him I would one day duel on the big stage…"
"…Unfortunately, he didn't make it." Kai finished for him.
Jaden nodded. "Yeah."
After revealing that, the two of them went silent as they turned their gaze to the stars above. Kai just assumed Jaden was like Jasmine, someone who admired a pro. To learn that deck he first had was Koyo Hibiki's, well it wasn't hard to imagine the guy's sister must have let him keep it.
"Wherever we go when it's said and done, I think Koyo and Varris are watching over us." Kai chuckled slightly. "Given I can't imagine everything I knew about my brother being false, I think he's grinning like an idiot over the duel we just had."
"Yeah." Jaden chuckled. "Koyo's probably right there with him doing the same."
The two of them just shared a good laugh before falling into a comfortable conversation as they gazed at the stars above and the vast ocean that stretched beyond the harbor they could make out in the distance thanks to the lighthouse.
Just giving a tally of the poll question so far between reviews, the poll, and pms: (Duel Academy Guardians:Which deck should Chazz end up with in my story?)
Cipher/Tachyon: 1
Union/Armed Dragon/Ojama: 3
Now, it is common not to have the Wheeler thing tie back into Seto, and I just saw no reason to buck that trend like I have others. For whom Seto at bear minimum becomes by the end of the first anime, I don't see him approving the torture of animals to turn them into duelist. Beyond that, Kai has had his first needed rematch to get back to Zane.
Just so their no confusion, in this reality Koyo Hibiki's Elemental HERO are Jaden's anime Elemetnal HEROs. I know in the manga Koyo had the omni-heroes, but I think they fit in better as a later created deck here to represent the speeding up of the game while Jaden's anime Heroes better suit a pro closer to the start of the ten-year gap between the end of the anime duel monsters and this version of Gx I've been making.
Note: Forgot to include this originally until Threebranch brought it up. I am aware Harpie's Brother is actually Sky Scout; however, Harpies Brother is how I knew him as first. Besides, making him Harpie's brother gives the Herpie's deck a better normal monster than just Harpie's Girl would be.
lcwintersoldier (Ch. 1): One choice is the deck he used in the anime. He used an Ojama/Armed Dragon/Xyz deck. Cipher/Tachyon is a deck I feel Seto might give Chazz here since it is an archtype whose end goals are light dragons with large ATK.
The Duelist of Dawn (ch.18): Yeah, Bakura's doing pretty well for himself now, and Crowler's showing his change. Yeah, Mako and Rex's cards, provided you give Mako Number 4, can actually work really well together. Beyond that, the Umi control strategy I didn't show off here could actually defend Rex as he takes on the roll of the sword.
The Duelist of Dawn (Ch. 19): Ah, but would those avenues get him a duel with a pro quickly? Nah, Jaden's not going to go breaking any more rules...I mean, at least not to getr a duel with a pro. Sneaking out of class here was done to check on Chazz after all. As for the Princeton Brothers, all three actually suffer from this. It's only Chazz who now sees it by proxy of the fact he hasn't succeded in his field like his brothers have.
Charmander17: Your vote has been tallied.
Threebranch: It's the only way he can try to justify his losses, at this point. As for Jasmine, she duels here.
A 'Reincarnated' writer: I'll keep your suggestions in mind.
Vital Info: Glad you've been liking Topher. Honestly, he's been a fun character to write, more than I thought he would be. Bastion and Sadie are more that couple like Jake and Lady Rainicorn, if you know Adventure Time. Sadie and Bastion are essentially those people in the story that when you get to see them together, they don't really have the drama going on. Yeah, Kai does care about his brother, even if there is conflict there.
Just to keep you guys informed, we're still moving; however, we haven't found a place yet, so chapters should continue to come out rather than going on a small break at this time...unless my mom suddenly finds a place.