6
"Talking"
'Thoughts'
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"Please enter." The headmaster said as he heard knocking on the door.
Robert Cross entered the Chancellor's Office and almost scowled when he noticed the Obelisk teacher's presence.
'Not what I expected to see in my free time.' He thought to himself. 'And what's he doing here?'
The blond teen glanced at the third person in the room. Although he was exuding an inposing aura, Robert could see some kind of acknowledgement flashing briefly in the older teen's eyes.
"It's good for you to join us, Mr. Cross." Shepherd smiled. "We're very impressed by the duels."
"Maybe you, Chancellor." Crowler huffed. "All I've seen was a mockery of what this school stands for."
"And that's a bad thing?" Robert asked innocently.
"I think that's enough." The Chancellor sighed as his deputy was glaring daggers at the laid back teen.
"We would like to hear your thoughts as the remaining duels take place." The man motioned Robert to take a seat.
Not shying away from the offer he sat down at the other side of the desk, clearly not wanting to be next to his teacher.
"Is there anything in particular you want to know, sir?"
"Would you entertain this man's curiosity and say how did you come up with that strategy?" Shepherd asked.
"I'm afraid I've to decline." He winked. "It's a trade secret after all."
"I've tried." The man chuckled. "It was quite a novel idea. And you used rather forgotten by many cards.
"I think that's one of this games beauty, sir." Robert replied. "Using overpriced beat sticks just becomes stale after a while."
"Is that jealousy I hear." Crowler huffed.
"I'm not jealous that my parents don't make a living by underpaying their workers." Robert remarked.
"How about we return to the TV." Shepherd said with a drop of sweat falling from his forehead. "They should be starting any moment now."
Meanwhile at the Gymnasium.
"The 15 minute break is up." The head judge announced.
"Would the last 4 pairs please enter their respective duelfields?" Her colleague with a mohawk asked for the players to gather.
"Wish me luck, guys." Jaden almost ran in excitement towards the duelfield.
"I'll be immensely disappointed if you fail, Jaden." The jolly teen almost stumbled hearing Syrus's attempt at mimicking Robert's threatening tone.
"That wasn't half bad Sy." Jaden replied sweating. "I'll make sure to let him know."
Syrus paled. 'What was I thinking!?'
"He wouldn't snitch, would he?" He asked Chumley.
The rotund teen shook his head. "We haven't known each other for long, but... I'll eat a grill sandwich at your wake."
"No!"
Jaden was the last one to arrive at the field. Alexis was waiting next to the judge with her deck already prepared for shuffling.
"Sorry for the wait." The teen exchanged his deck with hers. After a few cuts they regained their cards back.
"Don't make me regret this match." The girl said with little haughtiness in her voice.
"You betcha." He replied without a care in the world. "I've been waiting to duel you."
"Really?" She was surprised. "How so?"
"I've heard you were a good duelist." He grinned. "And I wanted to check it for myself."
"And I'll see if your win with Crowler was a fluke." With that remark she turned and headed towards her corner.
Seeing as the both duelist finally took their respective spots the judge raised his hand.
"Remember the rules?" They nodded in agreement."Then let the duel begin!"
"Duel!"
"Duel!"
Jaden LP 4000
Alexis LP 4000
"I draw." Alexis went first. "I summon Cyber Petit Angel(*2 A300 D200) in Attack Mode."
A small round mechanical pink doll with wings spawned on the field. It had a small white halo above its head.
"When its successfully summon I can add one 'Cyber Angel' monster or Machine Angel Ritual from my deck to my hand. I choose Machine Ritual." She shuffled through the deck and placed the card in her hand.
"Next I'll Ritual Summon using Cyber Petit Angel and Blade Skater from my hand." As she place the ritual spell on her duel disk a small fiery cauldron appeared on the field.
"Using two monsters as sacrifices I bring forth you, Cyber Angel Idaten (*6 A1600 D2000) to the field!"
From the churning mystical flames a majestic warrior shot forward. With extreme grace she landed on Alexis's part of the field in Defense Mode.
"When she is successfully Ritual Summoned I can add to my hand 1 ritual spell card from either my deck or GY. I choose Machine Ritual from my GY."
"Sweat moves Alexis!" Jasmine shouted from the stands.
"Show him your love!" Mindy giggled.
"Say what now?" Syrus on the sidelines overhead what the blonde's friend was shouting.
"Poor guy, didn't even have a chance." Ryouta shook his head.
"The short man could dream." Natsuo nodded. "But he was shot down before it even sailed."
Alexis looked through her cards and decided to place two cards face down.
"Your move, Jaden."
"That Ritual Summon was great, Alexis." He grinned. "However, that won't be enough for my heroes. Draw!"
"Kuri?" The spirit of Kuriboh was comfortably sitting on the teens shoulder.
"You bet it was a sweet draw. I activate Pot of Greed, drawing two new cards. Then I'll play Polymerization."
"Not so fast, Jaden." Alexis revealed her face down. "I activate my trap, Magic Jammer. By discarding a card I can negate your Polymerization from activating."
Meanwhile back at the Chancellor's office.
"You show that menace what he deserves, Alexis!" Crowler watched with unbridled joy.
"Stopping Jaden from fusing is a great play indeed." Shepherd remarked. "Don't you think so, Robert?"
"All this praise for stopping one Polymerization?" He scoffed. "Maybe if he didn't listened to me completely, I would've been concerned."
"You think so highly of him?" Zane Truesdale decided to break his silence for the first time since Robert entered the room.
"Him? Hardly. Jaden if anything has luck on his side. Some would call that talent. " Robert smirked. "However, as much as I like that Kuriboh of a man it's his deck that has potential for overcoming the odds."
"Really?" Shepherd smiled.
"The HERO archetype is very good at spaming monsters once you start the mill going." He replied. "And there's still a lot of place for generic good staples as well." 'At least now after I threw away his stupid once in a blue moon equip cards.'
"Let's see if you're right." Shepherd smiled.
Back at the Gymnasium.
"That wasn't very nice." Jaden said. "Let's see if you have an answer for this. I discard King of the Swamp (*3 A500 D1100) to add one Polymerization from my deck to my hand."
"So my trap card was meaningless?" Alexis didn't like how he circumvented her play.
"Robert told me to play this." He replied. "Now I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon, getting rid of your last face down."
Winds shot out from the played card and mercilessly shredded what seemed to be Mirror Force.
"Ugh." She groaned. 'There goes my contingency plan.'
"With that out of the way, let's get the party started. And what better way then with my brand new friend, Elemental HERO Stratos (*4 A1800 D300)!"
A muscular man with a blue visor and whirling engines on his wings appeared on the field.
"Didn't that card release just two days ago?" Bastion Misawa was watching in the Ra stands. "How lucky of him to find it."
"Yeah, a new wave of support arrived for them." A Ra yellow student nodded. "I wonder if he found the elusive Absolute Zero."
"Nobody was able to find it yet." Another student watched the scene with stars in his eyes.
"I didn't know you like HERO cards Richard." Bastion remarked.
"I'm more of a rare card historian." The boy replied. "A shame I couldn't have been present during at the last tournament visited by Pegasus personally."
"You're talking about the event where he gave the Crystal cards away." His friend Stewart asked.
"Lucky bastard that one." He clicked his tongue. "Some guy called Jesse got them."
"As entertaining as that sounds let's focus on the match, gentlemen." Bastion silenced his dorm mates with a finger on his lips.
Jaden smiled as his new partner emerged. "When summoned I can activate one of his effects. I choose to add one HERO monster to my hand." He explained. "I'll grab Elemental Hero Sparkman (*4 A1600 D1400."
"And now I use Polymerization." Jaden showed two cards. "By fusing Elemental HERO Sparkman and Elemental HERO Clayman I can bring this duel to an end."
Thunderclouds gathered above the duelfield. Lightning flickered within the tumultuous landscapes of grey.
"Take the world by storm, Elemental HERO Thunder Giant (*6 A2400 D1500)!"
A massive bolt of thunder smashed into the ground. From within its rumbling glory a silhouette of a giant could be seen. Suddenly hands ripped through the walls of the thunderous cage, revealing the monster within.
"This doesn't look good." Alexis tried to keep the wind out of her eyes.
"On the contrary, it's smooth sailing from here." Jaden put a card into his GY. "By discarding a card, Thunder Giant can destroy a face up monster who's original attack is lower than its own."
"But that means it can destroy my Cyber Angel Idaten."
"That's right. Thunder Giant, use Thundering Shock and destroy Cyber Idaten."
The HERO monster gathered energy from its flickering core. Before the opponent's monster could react the towering giant slammed his arm like a hammer, pulverized his target.
"I enter my Battle Phase. And I'll attack you with both of my monsters directly!"
With two head on punches Alexis Rhodes LP points hit zero.
Jaden LP 4000
Alexis LP 4000 -> 0
"And that's game." Jaden grinned.
"The winner is Jaden Yuki." The judge announced.
"Jaden won!" The Slifer dorm cheered.
Silence and expressions of shock prevailed at the Obelisk side of the Gymnasium. They couldn't believe how their rising star could have been defeated so easily.
"This must be a joke." Jasmine finally blurted out.
"He had to cheat, right?" Mindy said hopefully. "Lexy is the best after all."
Myriad of thoughts were going through Alexis's head. 'Was there a way to stop it?' 'Should've I set a monster face down and passed the turn?'
"That was some fine rituals you've played." She was brought out from her inner monolog as her opponent approached her.
"Are you mocking me?" She asked with anger.
Jaden flinched as he saw her hurt expression. "No, I'm not. I just hope we can duel another time so I could see more of your monsters in action."
With a huff she turned around on her heel and left the field, leaving a very confused teenager behind.
"What did I say?" He blinked as the girl was accosted by her friends.
"Well that was short." Robert smirked as he saw the exchange on the screen. "We may even make it in time for our weekly BBQ."
"Is this a joke to you!?" Crowler broke under the pressure of the streak of losses he had to witness today.
"Wasn't that obvious?" The teen waved him off.
"Settle down." Shepherd interjected before it could get heated.
Crowler reluctantly sat back down. "We can't allow for this to continue, Chancellor."
"I have to agree." Robert nodded. "It's unfair for my dorm mates to have such low housing standards compared to those washouts."
"That's not what I meant!" The man wanted to strangle the teen.
"Then what do you want, Dr. Crowler?" Robert crossed his arms. "We're not doing anything against the rules. I've checked."
"Of course you did."
"Easy there, Vellian." The principle frowned in thought. "What are your demands, Mr. Cross?"
"You can't be serious, Chancellor Shepherd." Crowler yelled. "We must not negotiate with such foolishness."
"It's funny you asked." The blond ignored the raging teacher and took out an envelope. "Here I've written some things that you could do for our outstanding performances."
Shepherd took out the enclosed paper and silently read the contents. After a cursory glance he turned back to the teen.
"I was thinking you'd try to overreach." He commented.
"As much as I'd like to push further it would've become a moot point." Robert shrugged. "And I think the things I've written are fair."
"You want the red dorm to be rebuilt!?" Crowler cried after eavesdropping the parchment in the Principal's hand.
"And give everyone their own room. I don't believe that's so hard to ask from an elite establishment like this." He already regretted not having noise canceling headphones. 'Are they a thing at this time?' He wondered.
"We'll talk about this later." Shepherd sighed. "However, that's only if you stop with this kind of behavior."
"With the Mataza deck?" Robert got a nod from the Chancellor. "I've only done it because of him." He pointed at Crowler.
"Since we have an agreement." The Chancellor glared at his staff member to shut him up. "We'll try to get things rolling after the next monthly board meeting."
"If that's all, then I'd like to excuse myself, headmaster." He didn't believe anything would be come to fruition. 'But a man can dream.'
"Of course. Have a good weekend, Mr. Cross."
"Before you leave," Zane approached Robert, "I should thank you for helping out my brother."
"Rather then thanking me, you should just talk to him yourself." Robert replied. "He did win after all."
"You should be glad that our model student even acknowledged your presence, Mr. Cross." Crowler didn't know when to keep silent.
"If you haven't noticed by now, I don't care about authority figures." Robert smirked. "And I didn't help Syrus because he was your brother. I did it because he's my friend."
Robert walked towards the door and opened it slightly. "You should talk to him sometimes. Life doesn't always allow us to repair our mistakes."
Click, the door closed.
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Phew, finally the day ended. So many duels and plot happening in the span of one day.
As fun as it was to overkill the unsuspecting masses with an OTK deck (and easy to write to boot) I'll have to come up with replacements. Not to say a cheating strategy won't come up to smack the public again.
What do you think I should do with Alexis's deck. Should she focus only on rituals, fusions or maybe have a different deck completely?
Thanks for keeping up with the stories and leaving comments and reviews.
Until next time