Chapter 36
"I'll go first. Draw!"
Jaden pulled his opening draw with full confidence, glanced at his hand, and immediately committed to a play.
"I summon Elemental HERO Clayman in defense position!"
A faint shimmer passed over the field, and a heavy, grey clay figure materialized in front of him.
It crossed its arms and dropped into a low, braced stance, solid and immovable.
Elemental HERO Clayman Level 4 / EARTH ATK 800 / DEF 2000
"Turn end!"
"That's what I'm talking about! First turn Clayman with 2000 defense, that's Jaden for you!"
Syrus cheered from the sidelines, doing his best hype-man impression.
Alexis and her two friends didn't have much to argue with either.
A 2000 DEF monster on the opening turn was, by most standards, a reasonable wall against early aggression.
Rowan was the only one who looked at Jaden's empty back row and felt nothing but unease.
One monster.
No traps. No set cards. And he's calling it a turn.
That wasn't a defensive opening.
That was an open invitation. He'd be lucky if even Chazz's first wave couldn't punch through it.
"A garbage pile of second-rate hero cards. Let me show you exactly how outclassed you are."
Chazz wasted no time.
"My turn. Draw!"
He snapped a card onto his Duel Disk without hesitation. "I summon V-Tiger Jet in attack position!"
A burst of electric light crackled across the field. A mechanical tiger materialized, yellow and blue, jaws open in a roar as it landed.
V-Tiger Jet Level 4 / LIGHT ATK 1600 / DEF 1800
"Next, I activate the continuous spell Frontline Base. Once per turn, I can special summon any Level 4 or lower monster directly from my hand."
The spell card took shape on the field in front of him.
"And I special summon W-Wing Catapult in attack position. Come on out!"
A blue mechanical wing unit emerged from the light, sleek and angular.
"Now I combine W-Wing Catapult with V-Tiger Jet!"
The two machines locked together in an instant, one above the other, snapping into a single unified frame like a combination sequence straight out of a mecha anime.
Rowan watched and couldn't help thinking of the classic line.
I'll form the head. I'll form the rear end.
"Special fusion summon. VW-Tiger Catapult!"
The combined machine touched down on Chazz's field with a burst of exhaust flame, yellow and blue plating fused into a single imposing form.
Chazz's smirk widened.
VW-Tiger Catapult Level 6 / LIGHT ATK 2000 / DEF 2100
"That's the rare VWXYZ Union combo! The one President Kaiba himself has been known to use!"
Alexis straightened up, voice carrying genuine surprise. She'd recognized it immediately.
"But Chazz's deck didn't have anything like that in it before."
"Someone handed him those cards recently."
Rowan didn't move from the wall. "Right before this."
The small Kuriboh spirit perched on his shoulder gave a quiet "Kuri, kuri" in agreement, invisible to everyone else present.
Rowan remembered how the original story went. The mushroom-haired professor had done exactly this.
He'd disguised himself and swept up every new card that had arrived at the Academy's shop at lunch, then funneled the best rare cards to Chazz as a tool to take Jaden down a notch.
A petty little revenge scheme.
Things had shifted slightly because of Rowan's presence. He was now Crowler's primary fixation.
But on this particular detail, not much had changed.
It wasn't hard to guess that Bastion, Rowan's own upcoming opponent, had probably received a similar care package.
Alexis looked over at him for a moment, then followed his gaze toward the edge of the arena below, where Crowler was lurking in the shadows with a poorly concealed grin plastered across his face.
"Ohohoho. Yes, yes, Chazz, just like that. Finish off that Slifer Red dropout in one clean sweep!"
Down on the platform, Jaden's expression had shifted. There was genuine surprise on his face.
A fusion monster summoned without Polymerization. A special method he'd never seen used against him in person before.
"Oh, you think that's surprising? We're just getting started, Jaden!"
Chazz raised his Duel Disk arm with a crooked grin.
"I activate VW-Tiger Catapult's monster effect. By discarding one card from my hand, I can change the battle position of any monster you control."
He slid a card into the graveyard slot.
"I discard one card and switch your Elemental HERO Clayman to attack position."
"What?!"
Jaden's grey clay defender, arms still crossed, was yanked upright by an arc of electricity and snapped into a standing, open stance.
Attack position.
"It can do that?!" Syrus went pale from across the room, voice dropping to a shaky murmur.
"If Chazz attacks Clayman now with only 800 attack points..."
The situation had flipped in a single effect.
What had looked like a safe opening suddenly wasn't.