“There he is!”
Phil’s head whipped up into the air as soon as he heard Chazz’s voice. Progress to the infirmary had been excruciatingly slow, with Phil having to place his shoulder under Raizou’s arm to help him walk. Bastion and Chazz rushed over without any further words, with Chazz looping Raizou’s other arm over his shoulder to help carry the boy’s weight.
“Infirmary?” Chazz muttered the word, half a question and half a sigh of resignation at this point. Raizou was pretty obviously injured.
Phil nodded in confirmation and began to explain before Bastion could finish forming the question in his head, the concerned expression on his face doing all the talking.
“I was having my coffee and this dude ran past the window. I wanted to get you guys, but I was worried he would disappear by the time we would have gotten back. He definitely was possessed, his memories of that time apparently felt like nightmares instead of reality, and winning the duel snapped him out of it. Oh, and Raizou spouted off the same garbage about the Light and that seer guy. He also said something about how we’re all going to die and that they’re after Jaden’s half-key. It’s nothing to do with the Sacred Beasts, I already checked.”
Bastion nervously adjusted the straps of his duel disk as he sent a glance around the otherwise empty quad. “Wonderful. Exceptional work with finding Raizou, though I am docking several points for recklessly dealing with the problem yourself. I wonder, since this happened almost as soon as you were alone, is this a sign of you being unlucky with the timing, or lucky that you saw Raizou in the first place?”
“Heh, maybe both. At least I’m not the one with the headache of keeping that key safe.” Phil drily replied, causing Bastion and Chazz to grimly laugh, with even Raizou contributing a few pained chuckles to the situation.
“You know we’ve got to warn Jaden, right?” Chazz said once the laughter from Phil’s gallows humor ceased. “Before this, we weren't sure if that key was anything special, but now we know.”
“Aye.”
“Indeed.”
Phil and Bastion spoke different words with the same meaning at the exact same time, sharing a knowing look immediately afterward.
"Once we get this guy to Nurse Fontaine, we'll do precisely that," Bastion said. “It’s too imperative that Raizou gets to safety. If we can convince the good nurse to let one of us stay for extra security, the better, but either way I would prefer that at least two of us deliver the message.”
Chazz caught onto the meaning behind Bastion’s words quickly and he nodded knowingly.
“Just in case any of those cultist nerds try to stop us along the way.”
“Then whoever’s not dueling can sprint off toward Jaden or assist in the game.” Phil finished. “I don’t know what the key will do when it’s complete, but it’s important enough that the cult poisoned Crowler to take him off the playing field while they search.”
The boys remained silent for the rest of the slow journey to the infirmary, each digesting the information in their own ways. Phil’s gaze remained locked to the horizon and to the buildings in the distance, while Chazz clenched and unclenched his free hand over and over again. Bastion’s sharp eyes constantly roamed around the vicinity, watching every bit of movement until he was sure it wasn’t a potential threat before switching to the next. Raizou simply hung his head, grimly focusing on putting one foot in front of the other, the motions clearly taking great effort despite the majority of his weight being supported by Phil and Chazz.
Eventually they reached the infirmary, the door opening after a single knock. Nurse Fontaine’s head poked out, her initially annoyed eyes sharpening up into alarm once she took a good look at Raizou. Without another word she ushered the boys into the small building, directing Phil and Chazz to ease Raizou into a nearby bed while she dipped into a drawer near her desk to withdraw a handful of first-aid supplies.
“Tell me.” Nurse Fontaine briskly demanded, sending the words right to Phil while she efficiently began to lay out supplies for treating Raizou.
Phil glanced out the window, noting with some surprise that the broken window, the one he and Bastion had patched with a spare wooden pallet from the maintenance building last year, was still boarded up. Even the rough drawings they’d made with markers were still there. Even though she could have gotten it replaced at any point in time during the summer… it was still the way they’d left it. With how the piece stuck out against the other, more normal windows nearby, it almost seemed like a crappy art project some overly proud parent tacked on the front of a refrigerator.
“He was possessed and challenged me to a shadow duel. I won.” Phil got right to the point, speaking the words in a short, no-nonsense tone. A rush of air sounded as Nurse Fontaine sucked her breath in, but she eventually blinked and nodded.
“I see.”
Silence followed, broken only by a few grunts of pain as Fontaine probed Raizou’s injuries, her brows becoming more furrowed each second. Once she finished, Nurse Fontaine turned away, gently picking her office phone off the receiver to dial a number.
“Yes, Midori? It’s Fonda. Could you head over to the infirmary when you get a chance? There’s been a shadow duel. I think it involves the same threat you and Vellian were guarding against.”
Ms. Hibiki’s imperceptible voice replied with words Phil couldn’t quite make out from where he leaned against an empty bed.
“No, please don’t drop everything.” Fontaine replied. “Yes, that kid is involved. He’s fine, his opponent is not. I have it under control for now.”
Fontaine sat the phone back down on its receiver and let out a soft sigh.
“Phillip, Bastion, Chazz, well done in getting your friend here. Please, head back to the dorms. Midori is on her way.”
“Roger that boss.” Phil nodded farewell to Raizou and slipped out the door with his friends, not even bothering to ask if one of them could stay behind. If Ms. Hibiki was on her way, then there was no need to worry. All they could do now was warn Jaden and catch everyone up with the new development.
"Say, Phil," Bastion looked over to him while the three students picked their way across the campus to the dorms, "it must have been quite the duel. You being gone for an overly long time was only one of the factors that brought us to worry. I could also feel, all the way in Professor Stein's classroom, the earth trembling. I could even hear faint sounds of frogs croaking."
Phil nodded in understanding. “Ah. And I’m one of the two people on the island that plays frogs. Yeah that was probably me. The duel got pretty crazy and my deck popped off like you would not believe.”
“Your frog deck?”
“Mostly.” Phil noncommittedly shrugged. “It’s quite a bit different than the other one you saw me use. I’ll show you once all this bullshit is over.”
“I will look forward to that.”
In all reality, Phil knew quite well that the contents of his Paleofrog deck would hardly matter after this if all went well. If the Light was destroyed, and if Jaden really was able to make amends with Yubel…
If those two things happened, he could say anything he wanted to after that, because he’d finally be going home.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“- and then we left. That’s all she wrote.” Phil finished explaining from where he leaned against the wall of the nearly empty classroom. The three boys had made a beeline to where they rightly assumed the rest of the group would be, managing to catch Alexis, Princess Rose, and Jaden on their way out of Professor Stein’s class. Syrus and Chumley were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the pair had already left for the Slifer Red dorm so Chumley could grab more supplies for his grilled cheese business – with his sandwiches selling like hotcakes, Chumley was almost constantly under threat of running low on ingredients. Quite frankly, Phil was damn proud of his friend. The money wasn’t even going toward anything wasteful; every penny was put in a safe box to eventually fund a career in card design. Chumley had a goal and he was efficiently working his way toward it.
“How is it you have such a knack for finding trouble all by yourself?” Alexis shook her head in exasperation. “Only you and Jaden are that good at such a troublesome skill.”
“Sir Phil was simply being a truly gallant knight.” Princess Rose complimented, taking a handkerchief and wiping a tinge of blood off the corner of Phil’s mouth. “Seeing off the rapscallion that offended this princess, such a dashing display of chivalry. As expected of a landed knight.”
“Landed… knight?” Phil asked in confusion.
“Yes. Landed knight.” Rose smiled, tying the handkerchief around Phil’s arm just above his duel disk. “You have land, Sir Phil. I would be delighted to show you during the next school break.”
“Huh.”
At this point, Phil truly could not tell for sure if she was just completely off her rocker or if she was utterly serious. Still, Rose was a nice enough girl, so he kept his thoughts to himself and ignored Chazz’s muffled snorts of laughter. Lumina, meanwhile, was also laughing, except there wasn't anything muffled about it, and she was doubled over from the force of her amusement.
“There.” Rose backed off and nodded in satisfaction. The handkerchief was less simply tied to his arm and more like forming a Gordian knot that Phil wasn't even sure could be cut through with a sword in the traditional 'gordian-knot-begone' way. Perhaps he could ask D.3.S. Frog to eat it? Though, maybe he better not. He’d feel bad if Rose took that personally. “A knightly favor. May it grant thee luck in the battles to come.”
"Yeah, more battles." Jaden lightly knocked the back of his head against the wall. "Dang. More duels sound sweet and all, but I could do without the whole life-or-death thing. It really drags things down, ya' know? Just give me an honest and fun duel any day. No one getting hurt, just two duelists having fun.” He slipped the half-key out of his pocket and turned it around in his hands over and over again. “It’s crazy that all these bad people want this little thing. Now I get why the dude who gave me this half-key was so freaked out.”
“A MacGuffin key to some unnamed doomsday device.” Phil sighed. “Heavy, isn’t it? In a metaphorical way, I guess. The actual key is probably super light. Don’t worry Jaden. You’re strong and we’ve got your back in this.”
“Yeah.” Alexis patted Jaden’s shoulder. “And it’s not just us. Ms. Hibiki is also on the lookout, and I’m sure Professor Crowler will be up and raring to go in no time. Professor Banner’s a good guy again, and Phil found Raizou before it was too late. As long as we duel as hard as we can, we can do this together.”
"Yup!" Jaden beamed and fist-bumped everyone in turn, even Princess Rose, who looked somewhat confused as to what the gesture meant.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
At nearly the same time Phil was catching everyone up on the Raizou situation, Syrus was busy helping his pal Chumley get some extra grilled cheese supplies while happily chattering away over the larger boy’s plans to convince Maximillion Pegasus to hire him as a card designer, with that being the sooner the better.
“Oh man and it’s gonna be so cool!” Chumley giggled in joy, putting away the half-finished card in its special box so he could load up his hands with a small portable cooler full of cheese.
“I bet.” Syrus agreed. “Even the name is super cool. ‘Ayers Rock Sunrise’. Mega cool. I might have to spin up a cool little beast deck just so I can use it when Mr. Pegasus adds it to the game!”
Chumley laughed and shook his head bashfully. “It’s not a surefire deal yet. Hopefully, but not yet.”
“Naw.” Syrus waved his hand in the air. “You’ve got thi- oh, someone’s outside.” Funny enough, Syrus recognized that someone almost instantly. The boy looked rather worse for wear, but the grey tuxedo, the pompous attitude, and the slick hair were still all there.
“Aster Phoenix?” Syrus mumbled. Chumley put down his cooler and cautiously readied his duel disk.
“You know that dude? Is he cool, or is he… you know…” Chumley worriedly questioned.
Syrus peered out the window. Aster Phoenix hadn’t noticed either of them yet. The boy was walking around the Slifer Red dorm, fairly close to the room Syrus and Chumley were in, but he didn’t seem to know for sure where he was going. The look of mild uncertainty on Aster’s face told Syrus that for sure.
“I… don’t know. He dueled my big brother in Domino City over the summer.” Syrus explained. “A bit of a jerk during the duel, but he lost and left without being a super jerk.”
“And now he’s here.” Chumley concluded. “Walking around ol’ Red.”
“Yuppers.”
Syrus flinched as Aster eventually seemed to make a decision, walked up to their door, and knocked. He turned to Chumley.
“Should we answer? I bet he wants Jaden. He probably heard how good our bro is and came here to see for himself.”
“Like everyone else who’s tried.” Chumley shrugged amicably and opened the door before Syrus could protest. “Yo.”
Aster Phoenix paused mid-knock, blinking in surprise at the door opening. He glanced around the room, looking at both of the occupants before speaking.
“Jaden… Yuki?”
Chumley shook his head, smiling expectantly as Syrus’s guess was instantly proven right.
“Nope. Our big bro’s out. Dunno when he’ll be back, but do you wanna buy a grilled cheese while you wait?”
Aster’s lip curled with distaste. “No, I would not. No matter. The two of us are fated to duel. Destiny shall bring us to meet. Thank you for your time. Good day.”
As abruptly as he’d arrived, Aster Phoenix turned around and left. Chumley shrugged, muttering something about the boy being both a jerk and somewhat polite at the same time. Meanwhile, Syrus stood in the open doorway and stared at Aster’s retreating back. There was something… bothering him. It was made up of a little bit of what Phil had said about that weird cult, a little bit about how Aster Phoenix acted and what he said back in Domino, and a little bit about how Aster was looking for Jaden.
Was Aster simply looking to test himself against Jaden in the same way he'd thrown himself at Zane? Or were Phil's suspicions correct, and Aster was a part of that cult? Syrus’s heart leaped up to his mouth at the thought of it. It wasn’t purely fear. Certainly, fear was still present, but the other emotion Syrus felt was rather uncharacteristic of him.
It was anger. Anger that if Phil was right – and considering Bastion also agreed with his fellow Ra Yellow, Phil most likely was right. If Phil was right, then Aster Phoenix had attempted to brainwash Syrus's big brother that day in Domino City. Not only that, but following that line of thinking, then Aster Phoenix was on his way to try the same thing on Jaden. On Jaden! On Syrus’s other big bro! They weren't blood-related, obviously, but they were the next best thing!
Those emotions caused Syrus to do something he would never have done if this had been during the previous school year.
“HEY! PHOENIX!” Syrus, though he was a rather small boy even for his age range, puffed out his chest, stepped out of the room, and bellowed the words at Aster Phoenix.
The teenager in the grey tuxedo froze, standing still for a few heart-pounding moments before slowly turning with a look of mild irritation on his face.
“What?”
Syrus took several deep breaths, forcibly steadying his shaking limbs with each one that passed through his lungs. Then he pointed at Aster and pointed at himself.
“You want to get at my bro? Then you’ve got to go through me first.”
Aster snorted with laughter. “You?”
“Me.” Syrus sternly replied. “Or are you too scared to duel a Truesdale after my brother whooped your butt in the middle of Domino City in front of dozens of cameras? Or are you going to show me that you have what it takes to duel my bro? He’s the strongest duelist of Slifer Red, after all. Everyone knows that.”
Aster’s face constricted and Syrus could almost swear he could hear the faint sounds of grinding teeth from where he stood.
“Fine. And once I thrash you six ways from Sunday, I’ll turn your ‘bro’ into fodder. Then Mr. Sartorius will have no other choice than to take me back after I defeat the boy he’s oh so concerned about! And you know what I’ll say? I’ll make him say ‘please’! Because that’s what he gets for tossing me away like dust in the wind!”
Now he’d done it. The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and as Syrus watched Aster Phoenix stalk across the sidewalk toward him like a bloodthirsty tiger that hadn’t eaten in months, he was really starting to regret his words.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
Chumley patted him on the back. “Wow. Talk about some crazy cool lingo you just spouted off. Come on Sy, you’ve got this! I’ll make a grilled cheese extravaganza for you if you win! I’m talkin’ all the works! Heck, we can get the boys and make it a beach party! I can see it now, Syrus Truesdale defeats the pro duelist Aster Phoenix, the Truesdale brothers showing once and for all that they are invincible! Unbeatable! Unstoppable!”
It was a good thing Chumley didn’t seem to notice Syrus’s legs shaking. Neither did Aster, as a matter of fact, but Syrus chalked that up to the pure, undiluted rage that was clearly leaking out from Aster’s entire body.
Syrus: 4000 Aster: 4000
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Like bro always says, it’s time to get my game on! I’ll go first!” Syrus defiantly declared. At this point those words were more of an attempt to shake off his fear than something that would put Aster Phoenix at a pause. “I summon Gyroid (1000/1000) in defense position, then I throw down a facedown and end my turn!”
As soon as Syrus began his turn, the always-reassuring cartoonish blue helicopter took center stage. Though its stat block wasn’t much to call home about, Gyroid was still a reliable machine that had watched Syrus’s back in many a duel.
“Look, already you disappoint me Truesdale. Roids? Seriously?” Aster sneered. “Your brother is a powerful duelist with staggering foresight. I have a hard time believing you’ll measure up to the bottom of his boots. I draw, and I summon Destiny Hero – Drawhand (1600/800)! Equipping the spell Cyclone Blade to him, I move into my battle phase! Drawhand, annihilate Gyroid!”
A tall man in a grey suit not unlike the one worn by Aster Phoenix walked confidently out of the darkness, one hand holding some sort of shield that appeared to be made out of three large blades, while the other hand pointed toward Gyroid, miming a finger gun being shot. Not even a second later Gyroid staggered to the side with smoke pouring out of its exhaust – but the plucky machine was still standing!
“Heh, I think I forgot to mention,” Syrus shakily grinned, “Gyroid’s effect is pretty neat. The first time he would be destroyed by battle each turn, I can just ignore that. Plus, you activated my trap card! Since you declared an attack while the only monsters I control are roids, I can use Supercharge’s effect to draw two cards!”
“Feh.” Aster sucked in a deep breath. Already, just two turns into the game, and the aura of rage brought about by Syrus’s words before the duel was beginning to fade as the tuxedo-wearing teenager mastered his emotions. “That means Cyclone Blade does not have a target to destroy any longer. No matter. I place one card face down and end my turn.”
“My turn!” Syrus shouted while Chumley let out a wild cheer from the window of the dorm room. “Check out this new addition to my deck! I discard Dragonroid to add one non-wind roid monster from my deck to my hand. That’ll be Steamroid. Then I activate my special fusion card, Vehicroid Connection Zone! By sending Steamroid, Drillroid, and Submarineroid from my hand to the graveyard, I can fusion summon just the monster I need to drill a hole through your defense! Show ‘em what you’re made of, Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill (3000/2000)!”
A goofy pink and purple drilling machine rumbled onto the field, its tank treads spitting up clouds of dust that billowed into the sky as it approached. About half the machine was in the form of a giant silver drill that spun threateningly into the air, behind which a pair of cartoonish eyes glared at Syrus’s opponent, full of fighting spirit.
“I switch Gyroid to attack mode. Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill, clear a path through Destiny Hero – Drawhand! Gyroid, be prepared to strike after that!”
Aster braced himself to withstand the wind whipped up as the gigantic drilling machine pierced right through the head of Drawhand, but as soon as the monster faded away, he flipped over his face down card.
“Trap card activate – Destiny Signal! Because my Drawhand was destroyed, I can special summon Destiny Hero – Drilldark (1600/1200) from my deck. Come on out Drilldark, and show off your effect! When he’s summoned, I can special summon one Destiny Hero monster with attack less than or equal to Drilldark’s own. Come on Destiny Hero – Malicious (800/800) in defense position!”
Syrus’s eyes sharpened as soon as the demonic winged hero settled into place next to Drilldark.
“An opening! Gyroid, change of plan. You have higher attack points, so destroy that Malicious!”
Aster remained silent as the cartoon helicopter smashed its rotors into the side of the hero, dissipating it into thin air to leave only a pained groan in its place. Once the dust settled, Syrus placed one card face down and ended his turn.
Syrus: 4000 Aster: 2600
“Hpmh. I admit, little Truesdale,” Aster said as he looked Syrus’s fusion monster up and down with appraising eyes, “perhaps I voiced my disappointment too soon. It is still my destiny to win, but it seems I may be forced to actually try in this bout of ours. Draw card!” Aster finished his short monologue with an energetic shout as his hand snapped a card out of his duel disk.
“I activate the spell card Over Destiny! I target one Destiny Hero monster in my graveyard, that being Destiny Hero – Malicious, and then I can special summon a Destiny Hero from my deck with a level less than or equal to its half of the target! And with the level of six, my best option is Destiny Hero – Disk Commander (300/300). Of course, he won’t be staying for long, because I sacrifice Disk Commander to tribute summon Destiny Hero – Dasher (2100/1000)!”
Aster’s lips curled in a triumphant smile as a black-armored man with wheels for feet raced onto the field.
“But I’m not done yet. See while Dasher is forced to switch to defense position at the end of the battle phase if it attacks, my monster can get pretty big before then. By activating the effect of Destiny Hero – Malicious in my graveyard, I can banish him to special summon another copy of Malicious from my deck. Dasher’s effect can then activate, allowing me to tribute that Malicious in return for an additional 1000 attack points being given to my monster. Obviously, since I run three copies of Malicious, I can banish him from the graveyard again to fetch my third copy to the field in defense position.”
Destiny Hero – Dasher (2100/1000 -> 3100/1000).
Syrus was able to hear Chumley audibly gulp at the sudden attack gain. Quite frankly, he was also quite concerned. His fusion was strong, but Syrus could easily admit the weakness of it was that the monster took a terrible amount of investment to summon, that being three specific monsters and a fusion spell. He still had cards left to use and strategies left to follow, but losing the drill would still hurt bad.
“Battle phase.” Aster Phoenix grinned a sharklike grin and pointed right at Syrus’s fusion. “I don’t remember the ridiculously long name of your monster, but that doesn’t matter. Dasher, remove it from my field please.
Syrus grunted and braced himself against the shockwaves whipped up by the two massive holograms duking it out. For a moment it looked like a close fight, but the battle was settled in one fell swoop through a brutal lariat move thrown out by Dasher, a wrestling move that hit hard enough to crumple Jumbo Drill's nose inwards to destroy the monster. Another much smaller shockwave followed as Drilldark sent its spiral spear through Gyroid's side, though once again the monster avoided destruction due to its own effect. Still, a slight amount of damage pierced through since the helicopter monster was still in attack position.
Syrus: 3300 Aster: 2600
“During my second main phase,” Aster continued, causing Syrus’s face to tighten in alarm upon realizing that his opponent had even more cards to play, even after the terrifying combo earlier that turn. “With it only possessing a measly 1000 defense points, there’s no sense in letting Dasher go to waste. I activate the spell card Polymerization, fusing Destiny Hero – Dasher with Destiny Hero – Malicious to fusion summon Destiny Hero Dystopia (2800/2400)! Come on, Dystopia, show off your effect!”
As a blue and gold hero floated onto the field, Aster began to explain.
“Now that Dystopia was special summoned, I can choose one level four or lower Destiny Hero monster in my graveyard and inflict damage to your life points equal to its attack. My choice will be the strongest available, Destiny Hero – Drawhand!”
Right as Aster finished speaking, the mysterious hero raised both of its hands and causally swiped them through the air. The path its hands traveled trembled, warping into what looked like two floating, void-like circles in the air. A ghostly apparition of Drawhand peered through those circles, fixing Syrus in a deathly glare that quieted the surroundings to all noises aside from the sound of his life point counter dropping.
Syrus: 1700 Aster: 2600
"St-strong!" Syrus gasped. In the course of one turn his life points had dropped past the halfway mark. Not only that but his own fusion was destroyed while Aster causally summoned one of his own, a monster that was only slightly weaker than Jumbo Drill.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Chumley crammed a grilled cheese sandwich into his mouth. It was a habit he’d done his best to shake, but sometimes even now he forgot and started to stress-eat. The duel was all over the place. First his buddy Sy was dominating, but then Aster flipped the table, and now he wasn’t sure what would happen!
On the table beside him, another grilled cheese slowly continued on the journey to becoming a perfect golden brown, but Chumley hardly noticed.
“Come on Sy! You can do this! Slap that jerk into the next dimension!” Chumley shouted his heart out as Syrus began his turn. He couldn’t do much, but Chumley would be damned to hell and back if he didn’t encourage his buddy. Plus… there was someone Syrus hadn’t noticed yet in the background.
Yes. Watching from a nearby hill, leaning against a tree looking as cool as a cucumber, Zane Truesdale watched his little brother duel with an unreadable expression. Even Atticus Rhodes was there nearby, sitting on a rock with an uncharacteristically sober look. The two of them… looked ready for anything, though Zane didn’t appear to be interested in revealing himself, or interfering with the duel in any fashion.
Chumley gulped. Zane was always stoic, but if Atticus, a normally boisterous guy who was always laughing and always making others laugh, was looking like that? Well… if Aster turned sideways and saw the pair, Chumley wouldn’t blame him for getting nightmares for a month.
He shivered and sent another round of encouragement right toward his buddy around a mouthful of grilled cheese.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Gyroid switches to defense!” Syrus shouted. “Then I throw down a face down and end my turn!”
“Pathetic!” Aster roared back. “And here I was beginning to wonder if you were actually managing to start living up to a tenth of your brother’s ability! I activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards. Come on, Destiny Hero – Captain Tenacious (800/800)! He’ll be in attack position. That won’t be all of course, because now I activate my field spell Dark City!”
Silhouettes of skyscrapers burst onto the field. Each one of them was pitch black, apart from the evenly spaced windows that glowed with yellowish light. On the stone road that wrapped through the middle of the city, a new hero stood, one with a shock of long orange hair who wielded twin spiked shields in an extremely aggressive posture.
“I place one card face down and go straight to my battle step.” Aster sternly commanded with a sweep of his arm toward his opponent. “Destiny Hero – Drilldark, strike at that Gyroid!”
“Not so fast!” Syrus half-squeaked, half-yelled before flipping over a face down card. “I regret to inform you that my Pulse Mines trap card changes all your monsters to defense position for the entire turn!”
Right as Drilldark’s spear was about to hit home, the air rippled and its spear paused right on the tip of a silvery ball thrumming with electricity. As soon as the metal weapon touched the ball, it exploded, sending arcs of blue lightning sizzling across the field and forcing every last one of Aster’s heroes into defense position.
“Radical!” Chumley yelled in a fit of pure joy. “Sy, I knew you could do this! Hit him hard when it’s your turn!”
“Roger that Chum,” Syrus shot back, not bothering to mention the gigantic behemoth of a ball of relief that filled his chest after managing to survive another turn. “I draw! I summon Mixeroid (0/2200) in defense position and use its effect immediately! By tributing my faithful Gyroid, I can special summon one non-wind roid from my deck. Though I don’t know why Mixeroid and Dragonroid both specify ‘non-wind’, most of my monsters aren’t that attribute anyways. In fact, it gets even better! Mixeroid doesn’t care about levels, so I can special summon the super powerful earth-attribute Armoroid (2700/2000) from my deck in attack position!”
Syrus grinned as a massive shuttle flew in from the sky, transforming in midair to reveal a powerful robot with crimson gauntlets that sparked with energy. The robot came to a halt, hovering next to a large green cement mixer that raised a bendy wheel to high-five its fellow sentient vehicle.
Now that his opponent’s fusion monster was forced into defense position, there was only one thing left to do!
“Armoroid, attack Destiny Hero – Dystopia!”
Aster snarled in fury as his defending fusion monster crumbled to dust under the powerful strike from Armoroid, but as his turn began, his expression swiftly stabilized into a grim smile.
“Heh. A fine play. Too bad you failed to remove my Captain Tenacious from the field! See, the thing about the captain is that he lives up to his name – or rather, he forces my other heroes to live up to his name. During my standby phase, his effect activates! Say hello once more to Destiny Hero – Dystopia, back from the dead in attack mode!”
Syrus’s pupils shrunk into pinpricks as the mysterious hero fusion swooped onto the battlefield once more, but Aster wasn’t done yet.
“Wanna know a fun fact? Dystopia was special summoned!” Aster launched into his next play without waiting to see if Syrus actually wanted to know the fun fact. “That means his effect triggers to inflict another 1600 points of damage straight to your life points by choosing Drawhand as the target.”
Syrus: 100 Aster: 2600
“Now onwards to victory! Say your prayers little Truesdale! All my monsters switch to attack position.” Aster shouted triumphantly shouted. “Dystopia, tear through Armoroid! You have just enough attack points to end this duel here and now!”
“Not if a strategy I borrowed from the King of Games himself has anything to say about it, and it does!” Syrus desperately replied. “I activate the effect of Kuriboh in my hand! By discarding the little guy, I can reduce the damage from this battle to zero!”
Aster snorted. “Yet your monster is still destroyed.”
"Yup," Syrus confirmed. "But it looks to me like you don't have anything that can destroy my Mixeroid now that your fusion monster used up its attack.”
"That is true." Aster inclined his head in acknowledgment. "Dark City only boosts the attack points of my monsters by 1000 if your creature has more attack points, which it does not. Very well. I pass my turn.”
Syrus took a deep breath and steeled himself. If he didn’t draw a useful card… then it was over. He just needed to draw. To move his hand toward his deck. Pick up the top card. Add it to his hand.
Why was that so hard?
‘You know, Sy, you say I’m lucky, but I say luck is a part of skill. Pegasus also said that, I think he said that first? Crud! If you tell anyone that line, make sure to give Pegasus credit! It’s not a Jaden Yuki original!’
As always, memories of his bro were encouraging even in the closest of games… but Syrus was never particularly lucky. He was also never particularly unlucky, but he could use some good luck. Otherwise the duel was over as soon as he ended his turn.
‘Hey hey now! A duel’s not over ‘till the last card is played!’
Syrus shook his head and forced his hand to draw a card. It was strange. Even though his bro was off chilling in the quad, waiting for him and Chumley to come back with the good grub, he could almost hear his friend’s encouraging voice in his head as clear as day.
“COME ON!” Chumley roared from the window so loud that the wooden dorm building seemed to shake. “COME ON! BEAT HIS BUTT! YOU CAN DO IT SY!”
Syrus bit back a tiny grin. That was one of the things he loved about his friends. Not only were they super cool, not only did they somehow enjoy being around him (he didn’t know how that had happened!), but… they didn’t care that he was a Truesdale. To his friends, he was just Sy. Or Syrus, depending on who was talking. It was pretty interchangeable some days.
“It’s okay! I’m Syrus! I’VE GOT THIS!” Syrus bellowed back to Chumley with a wild grin. “Check this out! A Pot of Greed of my own!” He added two cards to his hand, and Syrus’s smile thickened with each card he read. “Ehehe. Big bro Zane, I don’t care if you still don’t think I can use this card correctly. Aster Phoenix! Right now I’m gonna show you a little bit of my big brother, and a little bit of Syrus! Truesdale! Chumley, check THIS out!”
An invisible pressure started to build as Syrus slammed a card down onto his duel disk.
“First off, I activate the quick-play spell Cybernetic Fusion Support! While it doesn't allow me to fusion summon on its own, by paying half of my life points, if I fusion summon this turn I can fulfill the requirements by banishing monsters from my hand, field, or even my graveyard!"
Syrus: 50 Aster: 2600
Syrus shrugged. Despite only having fifty life points left, everyone in the area could clearly tell by the look on his face that Syrus was having the time of his life. “One hundred down to fifty. Haha, isn’t that crazy! Anywho, now that I’ve opened up my options for fusion materials to unprecedented levels, let me show you a card you might be somewhat familiar with! I! Activate! Power Bond! By risking everything on this turn, I banish Drillroid! Steamroid! Submarineroid! Gyroid! Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill! Five monsters in total to fusion summon my strongest machine, the crimson robot of destruction and mayhem, Barbaroid, The Ultimate Battle Machine (4000/4000 -> 8000/4000)!”
Aster’s face paled as the gargantuan metal behemoth floated onto the field, but Syrus wasn’t even close to done yet. Even though the attack points doubled through Power Bond’s effect was frightening, Aster Phoenix still possessed a face down card.
“Not only that, but I activate Mixeroid’s effect once more, tributing itself to summon Expressroid (400/1600) from my deck in defense position. Expressroid allows me to add two roids from my graveyard to my hand, those being Armoroid and Dragonroid. Next up I activate Iron Call! This spell card, because I control a machine monster, allows me to special summon the level four Mixeroid back from my graveyard in defense position. Now that I have two low-level monsters on the field and I haven’t used my normal summon yet, I sacrifice Expressroid and Mixeroid to tribute summon Armoroid (2700/2000)!”
“A lot of moves to summon a monster you could have special summoned with your Mixeroid.” Aster observed through narrowed eyes.
Syrus nodded in agreement. “But!” He stuck his finger up in the air as if to interject, “Because Armoroid was tribute summoned this time by sacrificing at least one roid monster, I get to banish all spells and trap cards on the field.”
“But that means-“ Aster shouted in surprise once the meaning behind Syrus’s words fully sank in.
“Yup. Your face down card gets removed from the game.”
Syrus’s grin widened as Aster removed his single face down trap from the game, revealing it to be one of the cards he recognized from Aster’s duel against his older brother.
"D – Counter? Wow, that's pretty scary."
Talk about scary, just seeing the card and knowing what it could have done sent chills down Syrus’s spine. As soon as his fusion monster would have attacked, 8000 attack points or not, Aster could have flipped over the card and instantly destroyed his last hope of winning.
“Battle. Phase.” Syrus ground out. He could feel his heart rate quickening from excitement, and it felt like the tips of his fingers were kind of fuzzy, like they’d fallen asleep and were just now starting to wake up. Sure enough, oodles of adrenaline were pumping through his veins with the situation being reversed in his favor once more. “Barbaroid, display your might! Shake the heavens with your approach and reduce Destiny Hero – Captain Tenacious to nothing but a handful of cosmic dust drifting through the wind!”
Energy thrummed through the air as the ends of the thick metal parts that looked like half-complete mockeries of human arms and legs whirred to life to reveal massive turbines poking out their ends. A blatantly visible aura of extreme power floated around the entire body of the crimson machine while its single orange eye sputtered to life, fixing the comparatively minuscule Destiny Hero in its sights. Aster took an unconscious step backward – and then it was over in a flash. Faster than the human eye could track, one moment the hero was there, the next it was not.
Syrus: 50 Aster: 0
Aster Phoenix released a breath he didn’t even know he was holding as he slumped to his knees on the ground.
“Am… I truly so little that even destiny has abandoned me? My teacher was right to leave in order to find a new champion. If I cannot even defeat the youngest, then what worth do I have as a duelist?”
Syrus fell silent as soon as he heard Aster’s faint words spoken into the bright noon sky. Then, he did another thing he wouldn’t have ever done the year before. Syrus walked up to Aster Phoenix and reassuringly put his hand on his opponent’s shoulder.
“Hey. Zane’s been better than me for my entire life. I’ve always lived in his shadow. He even told me to never use Power Bond again because he didn’t think I could cope with the drawback. You know, the part where in the end phase I take damage equal to the attack my monster gained from its effect? But here I am. I’m in Duel Academy. I’m trying to get better. In fact, I’m better than I was yesterday. And tomorrow, I want to be better than I was today. I don’t know how much better, but even if it’s by a teensy bit, I’ll be happy. What I’m trying to say,” Syrus waved his apologies for the tangent he went off on, “is that all that destiny junk is a waste. I used to think my destiny was to always be worthless compared to Zane. These days, I don’t think that at all anymore. I’m Syrus, he’s Zane, neither one of us is worthless.”
Aster Phoenix remained silent for a few more moments, and then he roughly pushed Syrus’s hand to the side, stood up, and glared at the boy.
"I don't need your middle-school philosophy junk. But…" He nodded at Syrus and held out his hand. "You played well and won with honor. I… thought I'd learned my lesson on the dangers of pride when I dueled your brother, but it appears I needed to be taught it a second time. Good game.”
Syrus let a bright, sunny smile overtake his face and he shook Aster’s hand, though his opponent really didn’t have to grip his hand that hard. Really!
“Yeah! You had me on the ropes for sure! And next time you challenge my brother, I’ll be waiting in line right behind him for a rematch!”
“Yeah.” Aster chuckled, glancing off to the side for some reason and nodding before turning around to face the docks. “I think I have a few things to think about before that. Plus some more training, maybe in those mountains your brother had his transformation in. And I suppose a new manager for my career is in order as well. Syrus Truesdale… I’ll remember your name.”
“Thanks.” Syrus smiled and sheepishly added his own apologies. “Sorry about all my trash talk before the game started. I didn’t need to go that far, it was mean of me. Also… what was that bit about your manager looking for Jaden?”
"Apologies accepted." Aster stiffly nodded. "I don't know for sure what my manager wanted. Only when he read the tarot, as he likes to do, he likened Jaden Yuki to The Fool card and quickly became obsessed with your friend. It is my understanding that he intends to replace me after my failure to win in Domino City. Sartorius Kumar is a strange man.
Then Aster Phoenix walked off without another word to the docks in the distance, and the ferry beyond that. His spine was straight, and his steps were filled with purpose, without even a hint of hesitation to be seen in them.