My Little Duel Academy
Chapter 4: The Promotion Exam
The school in my opinion is very clever. I’m a week in now, and in three days’ time, my promotion exam will begin. Of course there would be another duel, but my opponent I do not know yet. The system works like this. Precisely ten days into the new school year, the school hold duels with people of a similar level to your entrance exam grade. The winner moves up; the loser stays where they are if they deal over 2000 points of damage and moves down if they can’t. It means that those who fluked their entrance exam get the proper grade they deserve, and similarly to those moving up. I admit I was lucky against Zane, hopefully I deserve my place.
I’m two days from the exam, and I now know who the two figures were on those consecutive nights and both the same person. I ran into Jaden after class, he was pumped up and rather spirited. I said that I saw someone running past my dorm at night on the day we got there and he responded well. Apparently he was duelling with an Obelisk called Chazz but he doesn’t seem the type to duel him so I dismissed it. Jaden then talked about the day after. He said that he had to save Syrus; which I didn’t believe but I decided to go with it and to top it all off, he had to duel Alexis Rhodes in order to not be handed in! That was even more absurd from my point of view. If what he said was true, he seemed to be a better duellist then a Slifer.
One day from the exam and the partner’s list is up. My name was at the top of Ra, and I didn’t want to duel him; Bastion Misawa. He was just amazing in the entrance exam; he nailed his duel with his proctor and looked to have calculated every possible attack. I wasn’t happy with this but in order to go up, I would need to have a good duel.
The exam doesn’t start until three but a helicopter has just arrived, stashed with rare cards. I won’t be going for them, my deck doesn’t support most of them, and all the average duellists though are racing by me to the card shop to get them. I saw Syrus earlier, he seemed worried but I don’t like prying in other people’s business.
I get an early start time. In fact, we get duel court 1, the second biggest out of all of them. I was waiting for the call, and it came fifteen minutes later.
“Alex Harris, duel court 1. Bastion Misawa, duel court 1.” I was nervous, and looking at him from the other side of the hall, he had no fear. I felt Isolated as I stepped onto the court, and the crowd cheered for Bastion. The school wanted an upset. The duellist that beat Zane to lose to a fellow Ra. All eyes in the room would be fixed on this duel; centre court would be just a side show. I faced Bastion, to which he replied,
“I’ve never seen a deck like yours, and you barely used any cards against Zane, but I think that you’re just another theorem to be cracked.” I was a little unsure on what to say back, he thought he found a weakness, but I wasn’t letting him explore it. The disks were ready, the stage set, the duel about to commence, and I had the first move.
“I’ll take the lead!” I shouted uncharacteristically. My hand was good and I could put him into some bother.
“I’ll start by playing the continuous spell card known as Poison Joke! And it isn’t any joke, every one of my standby phases that it is out on the field, I can place a counter on it, and your monsters lose 100 attack points for each counter.” Blue flowers sprouted up all over Bastion’s side of the field, only about ankle height but tall enough at least. It looked like a daffodil yet more rounded in the centre.
“Next I’ll summon Lyra the Dreamer in defence mode!” The green unicorn jumped up and sat on a park bench. To everyone’s surprise, it sat just like any other human being, the defence, 2000. The unicorn not fazed by much but gazing out into space.
“I end my turn.”
“My turn and I’ll draw.” He said. He studied his cards with intrigue as I stood and watched.
“I summon Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands in attack mode!” The monster arose, almost rabid, human like in appearance but savage as an array of arms swiped out. It had 1400 attack points and an ability to boot.
“Seeing as I normal summoned Manju, I can add one ritual spell card or ritual monster to my hand, so I’ll add the spell card Ritual of Lithmus to my hand!” Manju grabbed into his deck, tossing out Ritual of Lithmus and placed it delicately into his hand.
“I’ll end my turn with two face downs. You’re move.” I knew about some of his cards, I had seen his entry exam, and this was the very same deck. For someone as calculated as him, this surprised me seeing as his deck could have been altered. My turn now and I had many options at my disposal.
“I switch Lyra the Dreamer into attack mode!” The card vanished and she stared, horn illuminating a light green. Her flank was now showing, a lyre upon it. The attack strength was 200 which puzzled Bastion up until I made my next move.
“I summon Fluttershy, Element of Kindness in attack mode!” The yellow pegasus hovered lightly above her card before crouching low. Her eyes obscured as her pink mane fell in front. Her wings were folded into her sides and her flank consisted of three pink butterflies. Her attack points lay at 700 and she looked worried. I, on the other hand, wasn’t.
“I use Fluttershy’s special ability. Once per turn, I can switch the attack and defence points of all monsters on the field until the end phase. Bastion gave a wry smile to this news. Fluttershy had doubled in strength to 1400 and Lyra had multiplied her attack points by ten to 2000. Manju had its attack points slashed to 1000.
“Don’t forget the poison joke; your monster loses 100 attack points.” The thousand hands looked less vicious and now a little limp. He might have had two back rows, but with the momentum I had made, I wanted to inflict the first damage.
“Fluttershy, do some handy work for me and destroy Manju with Scream of Frustration!” A sharp piercing filled the building, but was short lived.
“I thought you would pull off a cheap stunt like that, I play my trap, Ring of Destruction. It allows me to destroy one monster on the field and in return, both players take damage equal to its attack points. I choose Lyra the dreamer as the target!” A black ring snugly fitted upon the green unicorn, panic ensued before a massive explosion rocked the hall. Cries of ooh and gasps were sounded all around, both of us had life points halved to 2000, and nobody in this battle would be leaving Ra tonight.
“Say goodbye to the Element of Kindness also! Her ability, I believe states that she is destroyed when all alone on the field.” It was true, I had an empty field. I didn’t have the choice of summoning a monster but I could attempt to salvage something.
“I lay two cards face down. Tell me Bastion, how did you know the adverse effect of Fluttershy?” I asked whilst handing over my turn.
“The internet can find you the right resources that you need.” He said smugly; his wretched smile mocking me constantly, I could see how snobbish he was being, too overconfident.
“I activate the ritual, Ritual of Lithmus!” He was going to end this quickly, “I now send the Vorse Raider from my hand and Manju from the field to the graveyard so the levels equal eight, so I can summon the prized monster of the deck! Arise, Lithmus Doom Swordsman!” He looked like a highway robber from the days of Robin Hood, dressed properly, boots up to the shins. He wielded two swords which looked worrying and kept his eyes behind a mask which only covered the eyes and nose. A cape connected to the back and a boomerang shaped hat was positioned neatly upon his head. His attack points were zero, which didn’t sound good.
“You see, this card is oh so sciencey, it’s like litmus paper, red with acid, blue with alkali. And what better acid is there then a trap; I play my face down, Spirit Barrier! Now if I control a monster, I’m impervious to taking battle damage. And due to the fact that a trap is face up upon the field, my Lithmus Doom Swordsman’s strength rises to 3000!” Gasps rang out as his lips could taste Obelisk.
“You’re forgetting the Poison Joke.” I replied, the strength would be lowered to 2800 but yet, that wouldn’t be enough to save me.
“Lithmus Doom Swordsman, finish her with Dual Blade- Acidic Strike!” I was for it, or so he thought when the swordsman lunged out at me.
“Nice try.” The swords flew straight through me as he smiled with happiness. I had a trick up my sleeve.
“Want to know why you haven’t won? You’re too arrogant. Notice my face down? Of course you didn’t. It’s called Pinkie’s Interrogation, and this spell allows me to destroy one face up spell or trap card on the field, like Spirit Barrier; and with no trap card, no 3000 attack point bonus. The attack did nothing!” He grimaced.
“My move!” I asserted, “I summon Twilight, Element of Magic in attack mode!” The purple unicorn gracefully stepped out of her card, purple mane shifting only slightly. Her eyes were staring him down intently and a six pointed star was on her flank, surrounded by five smaller white ones. Her attack strength was 1700, not enough, yet.
“When Twiley here is normal summoned, I can add one Element monster from my graveyard to my hand, so Fluttershy here will be making a return, bring her back with Empress’s Enchantment!” Light shone from her horn, raising Fluttershy up and into my hand, but she wasn’t going to be used.
“The attack strength isn’t high enough.” Bastion cockily spoke whilst turning his head to one side, it was time I proved him wrong.
“I activate the equip spell, Elements of Harmony! This card can only be equipped to an element monster and that monster gains 800 attack and defence points!” I was practically shouting in his face, which was quite uncharacteristic of me. Bastion reeled back in shock. A tiara made of solid gold arose from the ground, equipping to the horn of Twilight, the jewel pattern was the same six pointed star but in a violet colour. The attack points were now 2500 and this would be my visit to Obelisk.
“Twilight, wrap this up with Dusky Inferno!” The eyes of hers lost sight of the iris or the pupil, just plain white. A stream of silver wind gushed towards Bastion, stunned at the glaring mistake he made in his overconfidence, reeling at the chance he had of being an Obelisk blue student, hurting as he crouched down, life points on zero. He would stay in Ra, the handshake afterwards. The standing ovation by the crowd was a little overwhelming then, Principal Sheppard announced my move up, to the highest dorm in the academy.
I stayed to watch Jaden duel, to my surprise, he was up against Chazz, and I had a feeling that this was one of Crowler’s tests. What took me by surprise was the level ten, Winged Kuriboh when he won. I could finally believe that his skill wasn’t a fluke. That Jaden was talented, and Crowler wanted me to take on this tough opponent.
The party was led by Alexis, Mindy and Jasmine. Fonda Fontaine, my new dorm leader was even having fun. Though, as I drifted off in the early hours of the morning, I realised something. I had earned my place here, and my mission grew ever closer.