Alright, here we are back again with this story...finally. Been quite a while with this one I suppose, but hey, here we are breaking into the big ol' 30 chapters with this, booyah.
Standard opening here to let you guys know, If you want to read ahead in advance, with the Big P fucking me over, you'll need to head over to my subscribestar. You can find it under 0jordinio0, no spaces in their search bar, simple enough. There's a bunch of advanced chapters up there already. A few for this, The Scaped(which isn't up here yet, Systematic Shinobi, Beyond Critical, Systematic Shinobi: Multiverse Mayhem, Dragon Tale, A failed Future(another one not up here yet), Systematic Huntsman, Stacking The Deck, Power, A Scottish Dragon In This Wonderful World, Bleached Invader...and a bunch more shit, in fact, the next chapter for this on Subscribestar is the big boom boom shakalakakakakaka. Aka, Yarden and Alexis having their first horizontal tango together, the boom boom clap, the big jiggle under, the dipstick in the curtains. The clap clap clap.
..Yeah I'll stop.
And anyway, beyond that, if you just wanna toss cash my way for whatever reason, I've got a Ko-fi simply at /Jordoz.
Anyhoo, let's get on with the big ol' chapter 30! Well, technically twenty nine since one of the chapters on here are an info authors note thing with card updates, but whatever!
As was typical of Zane and his aloof attitude, he led Yarden to an out of the way spot where they could talk alone without anyone overhearing them.
That being the roof of Duel Academy where they could more or less behold the entire island.
It was quite the view actually.
"You know we have class right?" Yarden pointed out. Like, he didn't especially mind skipping a class or two, but he hadn't exactly planned this out.
And he'd rather skip on a day where they'd be doing actual work, and not today that was going to be pretty much free periods to chill all day.
"And you wonder why Jasmine called you a nerd," Zane rolled his eyes, crossing his arms, "Don't worry teachers pet, Crowler will have excused us for this period, not that it'd matter for today anyway."
"I'll punch you, I really will." Yarden deadpanned.
"Press x to doubt." Zane smirked at him.
This bastard, that was a saying he picked up from him!
For a moment after that, neither of them said anything. And they just let silence hang in the air between them.
Finally though, after nearly ten seconds, Zane was the one to speak up, "So the Cyber Dark Dragons, huh?" he said.
"Yup." Yaden shrugged, and he felt as the dragon spirits attention was roused. Zane after all, would have been their wielder if he hadn't come along.
Not that he could handle them. For all Zane actually had a rather powerful duel spirit in the Cyber End Dragon as his partner, he couldn't actually behold the spirit.
It was not that he didn't have the ability to do so, he could see the spirit as a child after all, and it was the metallic dragon itself that chose Zane and taught him how to use it.
But Zane had become far too logic oriented, far too rigid in his approach to things. He'd unknowingly closed off his own ability to perceive the duel spirits.
If he hadn't, and kept same as he was as he was now, instead of becoming the masochism king of bdsm, it was highly likely he would have been actually capable of wielding the Cyber Dark Dragons without hurting himself, almost killing himself really.
And in the end he'd done permanent damage to himself, and would never be capable of a real intense duel again come the end.
A horrible way to end his career and lose out on the thing he loved most in life, duelling.
Zane snorted, "It's like pulling teeth with you, huh?" he shook his head, "Fine I'll get right to the point. How do you have the Cyber Dark Dragons? As far as I'm aware, only one set of the cards exist, and they were locked away for being dangerous for some reason. Chancellor Sheppard wouldn't even let me see them, never mind use them. And well, forgive me for being blunt and sounding a little petulant Yarden, but you have zero ties to the Cyber Style school like me, nor are you the successor of the style like me."
"Does it bother you?" Yarden smirked at him.
"A little bit," Zane nodded before shrugging, "Mostly I'm just confused, but I did work quite hard to get to my position. I had to travel to Tibet and climb to the top of Mount Everest just to be accepted into the Cyber Dojo, and I trained atop there for over a year and had to beat out every other candidate to get the top position."
Yeah, Yarden wasn't going to lie, that was a bit weird.
And hardcore.
It showed just how seriously people took duel monsters in this world though. It wasn't just some card game.
"Fair enough," Yarden nodded, "Well there's two reasons why I have them over you. The lesser of the two, is simply that despite being Cyber Dragons of a sort, they aren't at all compatible with your Cyber Dragons, they thrive in a dragon deck, not a machine one. You'd need to change your entire deck to get any use of them."
"Plus, they rely on having monsters in the graveyard," Yarden added, "I basically use the graveyard as my second hand so that isn't really a bother, but for you, you'd need to set up a style revolving around tossing your monsters in the graveyard just to supe up the Cyber Dark Dragons, and that isn't you mate."
Quite frankly, Yarden remembered Zane's deck revolving around the Cyber Dark Dragons. It was abysmally trash. It had less synergy than the first mish mash deck he used when he ended up here.
The only reason he managed to do anything at all with that janky deck was because of both Cyber End Dragon and Cyber Dark Dragon backing him up.
It might have sounded hypocritical of him to lay it out like that because he used his spirits to draw, but the difference was, Zane didn't even believe in the existence of those spirits. He just assumed it was all him.
"…That makes it seem like they're not even part of the Cyber style at all, what is the point of them then?" Zane narrowed his eyes suspiciously, before sighing and shaking his head, "Well, that's one reason I suppose. What's the other?"
In response, Yarden's gaze turned fully serious, "The second point is the most important, they are dangerous, especially for a guy like you," he said bluntly, "It's not strength, or mental fortitude or anything that makes them dangerous for you though, it's simply the fact that you've cut yourself off. You can't even even see what you have right now, who supports you full heartedly. How could you handle one who doesn't want to support you because you can't even comprehend that they exist in the first place?"
Frankly, Yarden definitely wouldn't be content to support a guy who just used him as he pleased and didn't take any of his thoughts or desires into account, especially more so with a person who didn't even know he existed.
There was three reasons why Cyber Dark Dragon obeyed him. One, he was strong. Cyber Dark Dragon didn't have the power to overpower him mentally spiritually. And on top of that, he had all his other spirits, a few that were on the same level or stronger even backing him up.
The second reason, was it was beneficial for Cyber Dark Dragon to work with him. Because by being with him, and bonding with him, just like his other spirits, their combined power would cycle in a circle. Theirs would flow into him, and his would flow back into them, making not only their combined power that much greater, but their individual power grow over time.
And finally, he could see and understand Cyber Dark Dragon. And he could give it what it wanted. It wasn't locked away in some box with him, it was free to roam, and got to fight in duels as it desired.
Zane stared at him blankly for a moment, before sighing and palming his forehead, "Duel spirits, huh?" he mused, then stared him in the eyes, "You're saying the reason why I'm not worthy to inherit them as the successor of the cyber style, is because I don't believe in a childish fairy tale? And can't see these so called spirits?"
"That's the problem," Yarden snorted at him, "It's not that you can't see them. Because you do have the power and the ability to do so. It's that rigidness you built up that's blocked you off from being able to though. Putting aside whether you believe in them or not. Lemme ask you this, how would you feel about a guy completely ignoring your existence, full on blocking your existence to them out, yet at the same time using your abilities and power for their own benefit?"
"Really?" Zane rolled his eyes, "That's how you're doing this? Fine, I suppose I would be quite angry and frustrated, at least I imagine so."
"Exactly, who wouldn't?" Yarden nodded, "Whether you believe me or not, duel spirits exist. Both Cyber End Dragon and Cyber Dark Dragon are duel spirits. Cyber End Dragon is content to support you, but Cyber Dark Dragon has desires you simply can't provide for with the way you are now."
It was entirely possible for Yarden to prove they existed right here and now. After all, he was well capable of manifesting any of the duel monsters that had become his ba.
The question was, should he?
"And because you can, Chancellor Sheppard deemed you worthy?" Zane raised an eyebrow.
"Fuck no," Yarden snorted, "Zane you've met me. Why on earth would you come to that conclusion. I just blackmailed Sheppard into giving them to me."
"…Eh?" Zane blinked, and just stared.
Stunned silent for once at the blunt admission.
"Just like Cyber Dark Dragon, there's things Sheppard needs," he continued with a shrug, "I just happened to be in a position to find out what, and offered my services in return for the Cyber Dark Dragons."
"That sounds like a trade, not blackmail." Zane deadpanned.
"Nah it was definitely blackmail, I had all the power in that discussion and a lot of leverage," Yarden smirked back at him, "But that's basically it. That's why I have them, and you don't."
"Is that so?" Zane rolled his eyes, "Fine then, I don't suppose then you can provide any proof towards these claims you have about duel spirits and what not?"
Hmm, he he could, but he was going to hold off for a while.
"Oh I could, but I won't," Yarden shrugged, "The simple matter of forcing you to change your opinion and beliefs isn't going to help that much to be honest. Hypothetically, how do you think Cyber End Dragon would feel if you could finally see it, but not because you wanted to or believed in it, but because someone else forced you?"
He clicked his fingers and pointed at Zane, "Respect your cards numb nuts," he scoffed once more and narrowed his eyes at the older blue haired boy, "That's a lesson you've parroted around yourself, so don't go forgetting it idiot."
Zane blinked, before-
"Hm." he nodded simply.
The older boy uncrossed his arms, "As you like to say, fair enough then," Zane said, "I suppose I won't get much more out of you than that."
"For now, you can ask again let's see a week or two after the school duel," Yarden shrugged, "Beyond that though, I wanted to ask your advice on a few things."
Zane's eyebrows rose, and a smirk spread across his lips, "I don't know Yarden, my feelings are quite hurt you know. You gave me quite the lambasting there," he pointed out, "I might need to go brood for a few weeks and stare out into the ocean all dramatically emo and stoic like."
"Why would you be cutting down on the amount of time you do that?" Yarden grinned.
"Because I would obviously need extra time to listen to ballads of pain and such things the overly emotional tend to do," Zane shrugged back, "Perhaps I'll switch out my Obelisk uniform for a different colour. Black perhaps? To show off how brooding I am. I do actually have a nice black jacket that could fit that I bought during summer vacation."
Aha!
He did have it!
"Nah, black just wouldn't go with your complexion mate," Yarden shook his head, "You should just give that jacket to me for safe keeping."
"That might be true, but you'll need to grow at least three or four inches before it will fit you," Zane shrugged, "But enough about how short you are kid, what did you need advice on?"
"Well, I suppose I can let you win this round, it's about the only win you'll ever score against me," Yarden laughed, "Anyway, I need some advice on an agency representing me. I've got one picked out that kind of interests me, but wanted some advice on what I should be looking out for in contracts and that kind of thing."
Honestly, he was quite shocked at just who headed the agency. He'd only looked into it because of the name, but seeing who it was headed by, shocked him quite a bit and solidified his opinion to at least meet with them.
After all, he had no idea why Tea Gardner had her own duellist agency that represented pro duellists and such. He was eager however to find out, and he was also very curious why she wasn't a dancer or something like she'd initially planned to be.
"That, I can help you out with for sure, I had to navigate that quite a bit myself before I found a decent one," Zane nodded, "Is that all?"
"Nah, one more thing," Yarden shook his head, "How would I go about getting a motorcycle delivered to this island?"
Once more, Zane stared at him blankly.
When classes ended for the day, Yarden made his way back to his dormitory alone.
Jaden had ran off somewhere before he could even ask him about hanging out, and he wasn't really that close to Chumley or Syrus. Jasmine and Mindy had some remedial classes they needed to take to keep their credit scores up as members of Obelisk Blue.
Zane was being Zane and disappeared somewhere, probably to brood, or maybe he went to the gym? To work out and then brood. He'd come across him in the gym showers a few times standing under the water and staring up through the spray of water into the ceiling, brooding seriously.
Zane was weird sometimes like that.
And then there was his beautiful, beloved girlfriend Alexis Rhodes.
Who was serving detention after classes as well for getting into a cat fight over him, 'Heh.' Yarden couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him, leaning back on the luxurious, massive green couch within his dorm away from his laptop.
For some reason, the thought that Alexis would get into a fight over him with another girl made him feel all tingly inside and amused beyond words.
God, Alexis was the best.
There was a shimmer in the air beside him as a scantily clad blonde magical girl plopped down by his side on the couch, "But could she rock a pink mini skirt like me? I don't think so." Dark Magician Girl winked playfully, nudging her shoulder against his own.
"Her colour is more blue anyway." Yarden shrugged with a snort. And for sure Alexis was right at home in a mini skirt. She wore one every day to class after all.
God he loved Duel Academy.
Viva la Duel Academy! Seto Kaiba or Mokuba Kaiba, it didn't matter. To come up with such a uniform for the girls they had to be paragons of the male species. He would follow them into hell!
Dark Magician Girl snorted, shaking her head, "So Tea, huh?" she asked, and gave him an almost wistful look.
Yeah, Tea. He'd just finished sending off an email to the Gardner agency that had contacted him and offered to represent him. He had a good idea what to expect after talking with Zane.
Still, it did leave him with a question.
"Do you know what happened with her?" he questioned the gorgeous duel spirit, "As far as I know wasn't she going to go off to become a dancer or something?"
"Well, I went on my way not long after that to be honest," she shrugged, "From what I know, it wasn't easy to make a living as a dancer, and she ended up mostly getting offers for a different kind of dancing she had no interest in."
Yarden raised an eyebrow, "Oh, is that so?" he hummed, realisation washing over him. A tale as old as time for beautiful girls going to America to become actresses or dancers and the like huh? "Stripper or pornstar?"
What could he say, curiosity got the better of him.
"Offers for both actually from what little I heard," Dark Magician Girl giggled, "So she came back to Japan and after helping Yugi a bit she ended up going full duellist manager, I think she wanted to do it for Yugi but he had no interest and just wanted to open a game store. And Joey didn't want a manager, though he did take Tristan on as a bodyguard."
Well, that was interesting to know.
Even more interesting was looking her up on social media, Tea Gardner represented a few decently big names in the duelling circuit. Rex Raptor, Mako Tsunami, Mai Valentine and a couple others he didn't recognise.
Interestingly, both Tea and Mai Valentine were listed as single on their social media accounts. And had no significant relationship status' in years.
Wow.
Joey and Yugi really dropped the ball there.
"I'll say. I mean, have you seen Tea naked? I have and wowweee!" Dark Magician Girl laughed kicking her legs, "Her boobs are amazing!"
Good to know.
Not information he truly needed to know since he had a girlfriend who had amazing boobs already, but still, good to know he supposed.
He shook his head, "Enough of you." he shooed the duel spirit away, who merely stuck her tongue out at him. He couldn't allow her to distract him, he had things to do.
For instance, deciding on what motorbike he was going to buy and getting into contact with the delivery people Zane had told him about so he could get it to the island safely.
The revolutionary idea of card games on motorcycles wasn't going to revolutionize itself.
Or well, it probably would considering it was a thing in the future but he wanted to patent it and make a crap ton of money off of it.
Plus, it would be a fun project to work on in his free time. Every man needed a hobby. Especially now that one of his hobbies had become a world wide sport and he went to school for it.
Thus it no longer qualified as a hobby.
Leaning over the laptop he browsed through various websites selling motorcycles, and actually it was kind of surreal that he could just purchase one at his age.
Which was only possible because he was an Obelisk Blue student at Duel Academy. The kind of permissions he got were quite frankly absurd. The kind of autonomy that let teenagers purchase helicopters to come to school and air life them into the sky so they could have duels in the sky, in the middle of the night…in the middle of a storm.
Over a lake.
In the dead of winter.
The logic of a world enforced by Kaiba and card games was crazy, but Yarden couldn't deny he loved it.
Just as Yarden was eyeing a black motorcycle with gold trim he liked the looks of, he was interrupted by his door swinging open.
Alexis hip bumped his door shut behind her, an exhausted look on her face, "I have had the weirdest night." she said in leu of greeting, and wasted no time in kicking off her blue boot and sighing in relief.
"Hello to you too love." Yarden replied, sparing her a glance before focusing back on his laptop.
"Don't be a smartass," Alexis rolled her eyes and made her way over to stand behind him, peeking over his shoulder at what he was doing, "Ah that's right. What's this Zane was telling me about you wanting to get a motorcycle delivered here?"
"Just a plan I've come up with," Yarden shrugged, "I'll let you know more if it pans out."
"I dunno," Alexis wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and rested her chin atop his head, "The thought of you and a motorcycle is all I need to know that you're up to something again."
"Can't I just want one to ride around on?" he snorted with a shrug.
"On an island with no roads?" Alexis retorted drily.
Well-
"Fair enough," Yarden replied, grinning, "Alright, how's this? Card games on motorcycles."
He could practically feel it as Alexis rolled her eyes, "Yeah you know what, never mind, I don't want to know what scheme you've cooked up this time." she retorted, pressing a kiss against the crown of his head before pulling back from him and clambering over the couch to plop down beside him.
"Zane is such a gossip, I always knew that cool guy facade was bullshit," Yarden huffed good naturedly and side eyed his girlfriend, "So, why was your night weird?"
"Beyond having to deal with that bitch in detention with me?" Alexis scowled, crossing her arms, "Honestly, who does she think she is? Running her mouth like that and saying she's going to take you from me. I hope that black eye I gave her takes weeks to heal."
He had to withhold a chuckle, "Honestly, flattered as I am over it, hell I love seeing you all territorial and possessive, it's kind of odd coming from you," Yarden pointed out, "You're the one kind of totally okay with me dating your friends as well."
"Okay with it is a stretch," Alexis shrugged and gave a deep sigh, "Look, we both know I have very little idea of what I'm doing here in this relationship."
"I think you're doing okay." Yarden said, it showed in how comfortable she was around him, how easily she made physical contact and just hugged him just like a moment ago.
"But saying I'm okay with it is a push," she continued on, ignoring what he said. She slumped over on the couch and looked up at him with a frown, "It's your fault for being a big flirt really. Jasmine really likes you, and I don't want her to get hurt. If sharing you makes sure she doesn't get her heartbroken, okay, but saying I'm okay with it is a different matter."
She pointed up at him, "I want you all to myself Yarden."
He wasn't sure what to say really in response to that confession. But he did find his lips quirking up into a smile, "You don't have to share you know," he told her, "I like Jasmine a lot, but you come first."
She smiled back and they fell into a small silence for a few moments, before Yarden decided to break it, "So why was your night so weird?" he asked again.
"You mean besides once again having to shoo off a bunch of guys telling me how much of a bastard you are? How you're not a good person, and a bully and a bunch of other stuff and begging me to dump you?" Alexis raised a brow at him.
"It sure ain't easy being the bad guy." he rolled his eyes.
Alexis laughed, "Aww don't worry, I hear some girls like the bad guys." she winked.
"Oh, is that right?" Yarden smirked, reaching down and trailing a finger up her bare leg.
"Well I'm dating you aren't I?" Alexis fired back, before lifting her legs and dropping her feet in his lap, "But yeah, tonight was weird. Some little girl obsessed with Zane snuck into the school. She raided his bedroom earlier like some kind of weirdo stalker, got found out by Jaden and then it all ended in a duel."
Oh right Blair, he'd totally forgotten about her.
"Oh?" he merely hummed in interest instead of saying anything and took one of her feet into his hands and began rubbing it.
Her feet were so tiny and dainty.
Alexis smiled at his actions and continued, "She duelled with this weird maiden in love archetype I've never seen before, it was kind of interesting…" she trailed off before shaking her head, "Syrus and Chumley were watching the duel as well…and they were weirdly fighting over wanting to date the maiden in love card, it was kind of wiggy."
She frowned, "And…I can't be sure, but for a bit I was sure I heard the card talking, but that couldn't be right…right?" she asked, before shaking her head, "But that can't be right. I've got the duel spirit you gave me and I haven't been able to see it yet at all, so why would I see the maiden in love?"
He honestly didn't know.
"Affinity maybe?" Yarden gave her a grin, "You're a maiden in love after all."
Her cheeks burned, "Is that a thing?" Alexis bounced up quickly, pulling her feet from his hands and gaping a bit at him.
"Dunno, but it got a good reaction from you." he laughed.
"You brat!" Alexis huffed, plopping herself down in his lap and pinching and pulling on his cheeks.
It didn't hurt and amused him more than anything else, "The brattiest." he boasted proudly, before reaching down to cup her full ass through her tiny skirt and give her cheeks a squeeze, and capturing her lips with his own when she gasped.
When he pulled back a few moments later from the kiss, Alexis was panting deeply, before pressing her forehead against his own, "So what's this about you not wanting to take part in the school duel?" she asked, "Zane said you have another scheme up your sleeve."
…Seriously, why was Zane such a bloody gossip?
Duelist Profile: Yarden Odhar
Name: Yarden Odhar
Age: 15
Country of Birth: Scotland
Significant Other: Alexis Rhodes,
Occupation: Student of Duel Academy
Student Dormitory: Obelisk Blue
Current Funds: 200,950DP
Bank Account: £383,388
Bonded Spirits: Ranryu, Decoy Dragon, Rare Metal Dragon, Hundred Dragon, Spirit Of The Breeze, Fairy Dragon, Chaos Necromancer, Soul Tiger, Larvae Moth, Griggle, Outstanding Dog Marron, Catnipped Kitty, Unhappy Maiden, Skull Servant, Archfiend Marmot of Nefariousness, Goblin Calligrapher, Serpent Marauder, Blade Rabbit, Steel Scorpion, Dreamsprite, Relinquished
Abilities: Massively Enhanced Physical Parameters. Enhanced Senses. Increased Growth Rate, Draconic Aura. Enhanced Endurance. Enhanced Recovery Rate. Enhanced Dexterity. Enhanced Bone Durability. Enhanced Healing Factor. Enhanced Reflexes. Enhanced Agility. Enhanced Flexibility. Magic Resistance. Energy Absorption.
Deck(s): Dragon Spirit, Magician Girl, Skull Archfiend, Mish Mash,