Syrus Going Up - 6

***

Today was a weekday, and the sun hadn't yet risen.

I was nestled comfortably in bed, with Dark Magician Girl resting on top of me, her presence bringing absolute comfort. It took some time getting used to, but now her gentle movements beneath me were soothing. Despite whatever the hell she was doing to me in my sleep.

Suddenly, the silence of the room shattered with the creak of the door, jolting me awake. I pretended to be deeply asleep, keeping my eyes shut tight. The door had opened quietly, but the footsteps that followed were anything but subtle.

Gradually, I heard the curtains being drawn aside, though it was still dark outside, with the sun just beginning to rise. Then came the sound of the window being opened, letting in a gentle breeze along with the aroma of warm food.

Unexpectedly, footsteps approached closer, followed by abrupt silence. Alexis stood before me, hands on hips, staring down.

'Alexis, what are you going to do now?' I couldn't help but think that while trying to stop smirking, pretending to be asleep, not daring to open my eyes. At this point, it's a game, and I love playing games like this.

Dark Magician Girl, on the other hand, was in a deep sleep despite moving under the covers.

Immediately, I felt my cheeks being pulled because Alexis had long caught that smirk on my face while I was pretending to be asleep.

"If you're awake, then don't pretend to be asleep," Alexis scolded.

Even my attempts at snoring didn't fool her.

With a sigh, Alexis approached the small fridge beside our bed. After a quick rummage, she took out a bottle of Calpico.

Alexis twisted the cap off the Calpico and took a sip, her eyes still locked on me. "You know," she began, "if you keep pretending, I'll just keep waking you up earlier and earlier."

Reluctantly, I opened one eye and peeked at her, then slowly sat up, trying not to disturb Dark Magician Girl. "Alright, alright. I'm up," I grumbled, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"Morning," I mumbled. As I moved to get out of bed, Dark Magician Girl stirred, letting out a small sigh. I gently shifted her so I could stand, and she settled back into the blankets, still fast asleep.

Alexis watched with a soft smile. "She's really attached to you, huh?"

"Yeah," I said, looking down at the sleeping figure with fondness.

Alexis shook her head, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips. "Why do you always have to make things difficult for me?"

I gave her a look of confusion. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? Why are you making things difficult for me?"

Upon hearing that she pulled my ear. Yep yep yep yep. I'm getting up now and getting ready for breakfast.

After I refreshed, I went ahead and woke up Dark Magician Girl, and we headed to the dining room for breakfast. I took my sweet ass time eating, even though Alexis urged me to hurry up so we could get good seats to watch Syrus duel.

'Crazy, Alexis wanted us to go watch Syrus duel?'

"Can't we just stay? Won't it be recorded? We can watch from here," I suggested lazily, walking to the living room and reaching for the remote. Alexis followed me, looking unimpressed.

I turned on the television and scrolled through channels until I found the dueling stadium's camera feed. The stadium was filling up with students.

"It's so early. Why are people so eager to watch this?" I complained, flipping channels to find a better angle.

Alexis was shocked when she saw the TV. "Wait, since when could we watch duels like this? I didn't even know about it!"

"Do you not mess with TVs? Official duels are recorded so that they can be played back. Naturally, this also means there are cameras there that should be streamable," I explained nonchalantly as I sat down. But Alexis was still standing.

"We should really be there to cheer Syrus on," she insisted, arms crossed and foot tapping.

I rolled my eyes at her persistence.

Just then, the TV showed Syrus entering the stadium, looking a bit nervous. The Insect Princess, on the other hand, seemed confident, her insect-themed deck ready for action.

"Well, would you look at that, we're late. Can't be helped. Yep, can't be helped." I breathed out an exasperated sigh before taking a glance at Alexis who seemed to have her eyes closed and a vein throbbing on her forehead.

"That's because you took your time eating!" She grabbed my arm, trying to pull me up, but I wouldn't budge.

With a sigh, I glanced at the TV once more and then spotted a safe spot. Feeling a bit frisky, I gave Alexis a light slap on her ass, wrapped my arm around her waist, and clasped my hands together. In an instant, I teleported us to a designated spot I had set earlier.

***

The duo eventually made their way towards Jaden and the others and took their seats next to Jaden, and surprisingly Chazz also managed to join in time.

"I completely forgot you could do that," Alexis muttered, before shooting Gojo a glare.

"For the record. I don't do that just for anyone. Consider yourself special…" Gojo said, pausing for a moment. Then he turned to her with a shit eating grin and added, "You are my special~"

She started pinching Gojo's thigh as retaliation for what he did before.

While that was going on Chazz held an envelope.

Now this got us curious. I wonder what is in the envelope.

"Letter of resignation or something?" Gojo asked.

"Not a chance. This is from Syrus and there is his card inside." Chazz answered.

Shrugging. Gojo leaned back into his chair and watched the duel unfold.

***

Syrus's duel was announced throughout the intercom and lots of students around the island were still running around to come see it.

"Kaiser's little brother is dueling? Bro, we are going to miss out on it at this rate!" Students of all colors ran to the duel stadium to quickly get a seat and watch the duel.

"I heard he is dueling a blue. Isn't he screwed?" One mob asked another and then they started a long discussion until the duel started.

~

Chancellor Crowler and vice chancellor were talking their own things waiting for the duel to commence.

"This is quite the attention, no?" Jean with his arm crossed.

"Of course it is. That's the whole plan. This is Zane Trusdale's little brother after all. He is a subject worthy of talk."

***

As Syrus dueled the woman on stage, Gojo couldn't help but notice her presence.

"I've never seen her before, but I'm starting to understand why they call her the insect queen. She even styled her hair to match. Too bad I'm not into bugs. She does look nice, though." Gojo remarked.

Turning to face Alexis, he added with a grin, "But you look way hotter. After all, you have no competition."

"Well, that's because you never bothered hanging out with other Obelisk students," Alexis retorted, glaring at Gojo. She didn't like how Gojo looked at Missy, the insect queen.

"Oh? And you do?" Gojo countered, raising an eyebrow as he faced her.

"Yes."

"Jasmine and Mindy doesn't count."

"Woah, you call them by their names now?" Jaden spoke up in shock.

"Shut up Jaden." Gojo replied.

Alexis shrugged, maintaining her cool demeanor. "Of course, I make it a point to know my classmates, unlike you."

"Knowing them and hanging out with them are two completely separate things." Gojo shrugged.

"I will have you know I hung out with a lot of people." She retorted.

"Wow. I am totally jealous. I always have to make an effort to hang out with other people," Gojo nonchalantly and sarcastically said, even though some students and teachers in the academy always begged for his attention.

"That is bullshit if I ever heard it. Now, can you two zip it? The duel is starting," Chazz snorted.

"Fine, whatever," Gojo shrugged as Syrus and Missy kicked off their duel.

Down below, Syrus and Missy exchanged words, but Alexis and I were too absorbed in our own conversation to catch what was said.

Thankfully, Tyranno, sitting in front of us, was paying attention and filled us in on the gist of their conversation.

Turns out, Missy is a Zane Truesdale dick rider (Die hard fan and devoted supporter). So, not much else needs to be expanded on that. Except she would be given a free pass into the Duel World League when she turns pro and if she defeats Syrus here. It's the same path Zane took. So basically, she's banking on that connection.

Missy started off her turn with summoning an insect monster in defense position with 2000 defense points.

"Prickle Fairy. This monster prevents other insect monsters from getting destroyed by battle unless you destroy this one first." Missy explained.

"It's a perfect card for anyone who uses an insect deck," Alexis said out of nowhere, her eyes fixed on the duel in amazement.

??? I have never heard of this card in my entire yu-gi-oh! career. The fuck is this card?

With one monster in defense mode, Missy ends her turn…

'That settles it. I'm going to sleep. Miss me with that sorry ass duel.' Gojo started dozing off while Alexis continued to pinch his thighs.

"It's my turn now! Draw," Syrus exclaimed, drawing a card and promptly playing "Shield Crush," obliterating Missy's Prickle Fairy insect card.

With Prickle Fairy out of the way, Syrus swiftly summoned Steamroid in attack mode, attacking directly at Missy.

Her life points took a hit, plummeting to 2200, while Syrus stood strong at 4000.

The crowd erupted with cheers for Syrus, Jaden and Alexis were especially cheering for him. Seeing this momentum Syrus was getting cocky, like really cocky, and he ended his turn without setting any face-down cards, boasting in front of his opponent.

Naturally this irked Missy; she began her turn by drawing a card, then swiftly began setting up her own strategy on the field.

At the end of it all, what followed was a hard-earned victory for Syrus. Despite his cocky demeanor, he managed to pull through against Missy's insect deck.

Missy couldn't end the game during her turn when she set up a board and when it was When it was Syrus's turn, he drew the card he needed to stall, then executed a reversal after nearly facing defeat.

Missy - 0LP

Syrus - 700 LP

***

With Syrus emerging victorious, the group followed him to the red dormitory and celebrated at Chazz's place. It was there that Syrus dropped the bombshell: he was planning to move up to Ra Yellow.

"You are moving up to Ra Yellow?" Alexis asked in shock.

Damn, even she didn't think Syrus would move up above Slifer. If I were Jaden's roommate, I wouldn't be too keen on advancing either. I mean, the main protagonist was right there! But they didn't know. It's tough being in the know.

"Don't you care what happens to the red dorm, Syrus?" Tyranno asked.

Jaden, however, offered words of encouragement. "Go for it, Sy."

From the railings above, Jaden was observing the scene.

"Bro," Syrus muttered, recognizing the significance of the moment.

"I get it," Jaden nodded in understanding.

"You're going to yellow so you can get even better, right?"

"Yeah," Syrus confirmed.

"Um, hello? Right here," Gojo interjected, his tone giving off self-importance. As if he was the only answer to getting better. Everyone brushed off his egotistical remarks.

With pinpoint accuracy, Jaden tossed a card to Syrus, who caught it effortlessly. It was the Powerbond card that he gave to Chazz to hold on before in an envelope. But Chazz passes it to Jaden during their duel.

"My brother told me to become a proper duelist, worthy of this card. But at some point, I started relying on it." Syrus explained as he looked at this card.

'Isn't that more of a reason you should still be using it?' Gojo pondered.

"So from now on, I need to improve on my own terms." Syrus slowly walked up to Jaden.

"So, I won't use this anymore." Syrus held the card trying to give it back to Jaden.

"Then keep it as a good luck charm. After all, it's the only bond you have connected with Zane, right?"

"Give it your best, Sy." Jaden smirked.

Bastion walked up.

"Guess we'll be rivals now, Syrus," Bastion announced happily.

Wait, he was here?

"Oh, you're here, Bastion!" Syrus was shocked. Yeah, that's the reaction I was also giving off.

"I've been here the whole time!" He replied angrily.

***

Afterward, there was a small celebration party in Chazz's room. As the sun began to set, Syrus went ahead to see Chancellor Crowler to get himself situated in the Ra Yellow dorm. We waved goodbye as we watched him go.

"I'm going to head back too, CYA!" Gojo announced before he took off, flipping everyone off as he left.

With the group scattering, everyone headed to their own dorms and rooms.

Meanwhile, Alexis lingered, Gojo's departing figure before turning in a different direction. She reached into her pocket, pulling out the Society of Light letter Gojo from his table. She double-checked the location for the meet-up and set off.

Naturally this did not escape from Gojo's eyes. After all, he has his keen perception (thanks to his six eyes), and he noticed Alexis venturing into the woods alone at night, yet again. He couldn't help but shake his head. "Again with this shit?" he muttered. Knowing what Dark Magician Girl would do to him if anything were to happen to Alexis, he made the decision to discreetly tail her.

Speaking of Dark Magician Girl, she was off somewhere, playing with other duel spirits with Arahime.

With a resigned sigh, Gojo decided to tail her discreetly. Today was not just his day it seems.

***

Sartorius sat there, gnawing on his thumb, trying to work out on the next move. He had everything planned out perfectly, every little detail sorted. But there was one thing he couldn't control: Satoru Gojo.

Gojo was what you call a wildcard, defying all conventional predictions. Whenever Sartorius tried to foresee events of Gojo, his powers faltered. His hands and arm shook, his tarot cards flew everywhere, and he got goosebumps all over. That's when he realized Gojo was a serious problem.

He knew Gojo had some serious backup too. Getting involved with him could incur the wrath of Seto Kaiba, Yugi Muto, Maximillion Pegasus, and Ishizu Ishtar. Honestly it was easy to think the solution to his problem was quite literally ignoring him. But it wasn't possible due to plans of Light of destruction. Plus, his supernatural powers were fading slowly from overuse.

So ignoring Gojo wasn't an option and he knew he couldn't manipulate him. But maybe he could recruit him? Sounds good in theory, doesn't it?

Most of Sartorius's time was spent alone, playing with Tarot cards and predicting the future. What used to be a once or twice daily ritual is now being repeated hundreds of times a day.

Things worsened when Aster Phoenix returned, defeated by Jaden. That was fine because it was part of the plan. But when the news came that Gojo had beaten him in one turn, Sartorius's arm trembled at the news.

"Shit… No, fuck. What should I do?" Sartorius, with both hands pressed to his face. He had even made a custom tailored invitation for Gojo but that was ignored. It was a genuine invitation without any case of brainwashing or manipulation (self-proclaim).

Then he had a sudden idea: why not have every student in the academy join Obelisk White? It was an exclusive rank he had established for the academy island, and Seto Kaiba had given it his approval beforehand. Initially, he had intended to keep it secretive, but now it seemed unnecessary since the plan appeared foolproof. It would trend naturally, drawing others in, and the best part? It was a free rank upgrade! Plus, if Gojo joined, they would be unstoppable. With two top-ranked duelists on his side, victory for the light of destruction was practically guaranteed.

Luckily Sartorius had some brainwashed duelists in academy island of all colors ahead of time. All he had to do was begin the plan. His first targets? The closest allies of the academy's most formidable duelist. A sinister smile spread across his face.

Pulling a card from his tarot deck, he visualized how things would play out. Unlike before, his arms didn't shake as much this time. The cards and deck stayed firm, not spilling everywhere.

"It worked this time," he muttered, a sinister smile emerging through his sweat as he looked at the card he drew. The Chariot. The meaning of flawless victory.

Sartorius's plan was in motion. He called all of his brainwashed duelists, instructing them to recruit more students into Obelisk White. Word spread quickly about the free rank upgrade, and students eagerly joined, enticed by the promise of power and prestige.

However, if only he knew, his prediction ability would only work on the true residents of this world.

***