26 Chapter 23

-- A Couple of Minutes Later --

Jesse was running down the hall with a comb in his hand,

"OH I wish someone had told me this was gonna be on TV, I would have gone to a barber," he shouted before hearing someone else, from the bathroom,

"It's No Use! It's No Use! Damn It! Damn It! Win! Win! I'm not our family's underachiever…" He heard Chazz talking to himself

"Chazz…" Jesse muttered, during the past month they had grown to be close-ish friends, after all, excluding the Chancellor Chazz was the only person Jesse knows that can also see Spirits.

-- A Couple of Hours Later --

"Ladies and Gentleman, thank you for coming all this distance, today we will be having a three vs three duel between Central and North Duel Academies," Crowler said as he stand on a duel stage, in front of hundreds of students from both academies, while the camera's were filming him. "The first representative of North Duel Academy is Jesse Anderson," there was a large cheer from North Duel Academy as Jesse made his way to the stage, he raised his hand up and smiled brightly, "And, his opponent is, this kid,"

Jaden face faults at his introduction, but manages to laugh it off,

He comes up to the stage and smiles at Jesse, but then he notices a pink cat appear next to Jesse,

"Jesse, are you alright, you are shaking," the cat said

"I am shaking in excitement, he managed to beat Chazz after all, and Chazz has managed to draw against me," Jesse said

"Eh? You have a spirit?" Jaden asked out loud,

"Wait, you can see her?" Jesse asked

"Yeah, I can, I have a spirit partner too," Jaden said as Winged Kuriboh

"Kuri Kuri,"

"That is awesome, I knew I liked you for a reason," Jesse said with a smile before both of them activated their duel disks and drew 5 cards,

Turn 1 (Jesse)

"Draw," Jesse said as he drew his sixth card and subsequently summoned it,

"I summon Crystal Beast Emerald Turtle in defense mode," Jesse said as he summoned his monster,

-- In the stands: Chazz's Brothers (Slade and Jagger --

"Is that-"

"Yes, yes they are, it seems this is the kid Pegassus gave those cards to instead of selling to us,"

"Do you think we should acquire them after this duel?"

"No, Pegasus is too powerful of a man to antagonize, it would be for the best to avoid that trouble,"

"*sigh* Unfortunately, I have to agree, but I do wonder, if he has THAT card,"

-- Back In Duel --

"Hey turtle, get ready for a fight will you" Jesse conversed a little with his monster, receiving weird looks from majority of the audience, who only saw him talk to a standing still hologram,

"I then set a card, and end my turn," he said as he set a card and ends his turn, "Let's see what you can do Jaden," he said with a smile

Jesse: 4000 x4

Turn 2 (Jaden)

"Draw," Jaden draws his favorite spell card and couldn't help but grin, "I activate Polymerization, to fuse Elemental Hero Burstinatrix and Elemental Hero Avian from my hand, to summon" he said as his two monsters appeared on the field and swirled together, only to come out as "Elemental Hero Flame Wingman,"

Elemental Hero Flame Wingman - Level 6/Wind/Warrior - 2100/1200

"Go Jaden!" Syrus and Chumley who were sitting next to Konami, Alexis, Bastian, and Wisteria shouted,

"Now-"

"Wait a second Jaden, you activated my Trap Card, Triggered Summon. When you special summon a monster to your side of field, this card allows both of us to summon a level 4 or lower monster directly from our hands," Jesse said and they both summoned a monster

Elemental Hero Sparkman - Level 4/Light/Warrior - 1600/1200

Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle - Level 4/Wind/Beast - 1400/800

"Alright then, Flame Wingman go, attack his Turtle," Flame Wingman flew and slashed through the Emerald Turtle, destroying it,

-- In The Stands: Friend Group --

"Alright! Now Flame Wingman's super power will deal damage to Jesse," Syrus said with a large smile on his face,

"No it won't," Konami said

"What do you mean?" cyan haired boy asks, receiving the answer from the only Ra Yellow around,

"Because Crystal Beast is a special archetype, where monsters go to Spell & Trap Zone instead of the graveyard, and Jaden's monster needs to send them to graveyard for its effect to work. The archetype was only a rumor, I am flabbergasted that it was true, and Pegasus has given it to someone," Bastian said, "There is a rumor of a special monster, if Jaden's opponent has THAT card, Jaden may be in trouble,"

Konami shook his head at that, "That is not the problem Bastian, the main problem Jaden faces now, is the unusual synergy of Jesse's deck, it is different from any type of deck Jaden has played against before, unless he can adapt, he will lose,"

"Jaden won't lose," Syrus said, "He'll win for sure,"

Konami just shook his head once more and looked at the field with great interest, this was the first time he was seeing someone duel with a deck full of Spirit Partners,

-- Back In Duel --

"Ha Ha Ha, I suppose you won't take damage then, but I suppose your monsters will still be destroyed, go Sparkman, Shockwave!" he said and Sparkman threw a bolt of lightning and destroyed Cobalt Eagle, sending it to Spell and Trap Zone as well, "I then set a card, and end my turn," Jaden said as he set a card

Jaden: 4000 x1

Turn 3 (Jesse)

"You're very good Jaden, and I can tell that your monsters really have a connection with you," Jesse said "But you will have to do better than that, draw" he drew his card and was quite happy with it, "I summon Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat in attack mode,

Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat - Level 3/Earth/Beast - 1200/400

"And now, I'll activate Crystal Beacon, as long as I have 2 or more Crystal Beast cards in my spell and trap zone, this card allows me to special summon one Crystal Beast monster directly from my deck, and I think I have the perfect one," he said as he special summoned his monster.

Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger - Level 4/Earth/Beast - 1600/1000

"So you called upon me, huh? Wise choice," the tiger spoke and Jesse laughed

"Okay Topaz Tiger, attack Sparkman," he said and then Jesse's tiger destroyed

"But they have the same attack points," Jaden stated matter of factly

"Then it is a good thing he gains 400 extra attack points when he attacks monsters," Jesse said and his Tiger became slightly bigger and bite through Sparkman,

Jaden LP: 4000 => 3600

"And now, Amethyst Cat attacks you directly thanks to her special effect, but her attack points are halved," he explained and the cat jumped over Flame Wingman and slashed through Jaden,

Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat - Level 3/Earth/Beast - 600/400

Jaden LP: 3600 => 3000

"I set a card and end my turn," Jesse said with a grin on his face and set a card,

Jesse: 4000 x2

The two duelist looked at each other with burning hot passion… for a good duel.