Stacking The Deck - Chapter 29.1 (Patreon)

As was typical of Zane and his aloof attitude, he led Yarden to an out of the way spot where they could talk alone without anyone overhearing them.

That being the roof of Duel Academy where they could more or less behold the entire island.

It was quite the view actually.

"You know we have class right?" Yarden pointed out. Like, he didn't especially mind skipping a class or two, but he hadn't exactly planned this out.

And he'd rather skip on a day where they'd be doing actual work, and not today that was going to be pretty much free periods to chill all day.

"And you wonder why Jasmine called you a nerd," Zane rolled his eyes, crossing his arms, "Don't worry teachers pet, Crowler will have excused us for this period, not that it'd matter for today anyway."

"I'll punch you, I really will." Yarden deadpanned.

"Press x to doubt." Zane smirked at him.

This bastard, that was a saying he picked up from him!

For a moment after that, neither of them said anything. And they just let silence hang in the air between them.

Finally though, after nearly ten seconds, Zane was the one to speak up, "So the Cyber Dark Dragons, huh?" he said.

"Yup." Yaden shrugged, and he felt as the dragon spirits attention was roused. Zane after all, would have been their wielder if he hadn't come along.

Not that he could handle them. For all Zane actually had a rather powerful duel spirit in the Cyber End Dragon as his partner, he couldn't actually behold the spirit.

It was not that he didn't have the ability to do so, he could see the spirit as a child after all, and it was the metallic dragon itself that chose Zane and taught him how to use it.

But Zane had become far too logic oriented, far too rigid in his approach to things. He'd unknowingly closed off his own ability to perceive the duel spirits.

If he hadn't, and kept same as he was as he was now, instead of becoming the masochism king of bdsm, it was highly likely he would have been actually capable of wielding the Cyber Dark Dragons without hurting himself, almost killing himself really.

And in the end he'd done permanent damage to himself, and would never be capable of a real intense duel again come the end.

A horrible way to end his career and lose out on the thing he loved most in life, duelling.

Zane snorted, "It's like pulling teeth with you, huh?" he shook his head, "Fine I'll get right to the point. How do you have the Cyber Dark Dragons? As far as I'm aware, only one set of the cards exist, and they were locked away for being dangerous for some reason. Chancellor Sheppard wouldn't even let me see them, never mind use them. And well, forgive me for being blunt and sounding a little petulant Yarden, but you have zero ties to the Cyber Style school like me, nor are you the successor of the style like me."

"Does it bother you?" Yarden smirked at him.

"A little bit," Zane nodded before shrugging, "Mostly I'm just confused, but I did work quite hard to get to my position. I had to travel to Tibet and climb to the top of Mount Everest just to be accepted into the Cyber Dojo, and I trained atop there for over a year and had to beat out every other candidate to get the top position."

Yeah, Yarden wasn't going to lie, that was a bit weird.

And hardcore.

It showed just how seriously people took duel monsters in this world though. It wasn't just some card game.

"Fair enough," Yarden nodded, "Well there's two reasons why I have them over you. The lesser of the two, is simply that despite being Cyber Dragons of a sort, they aren't at all compatible with your Cyber Dragons, they thrive in a dragon deck, not a machine one. You'd need to change your entire deck to get any use of them."

"Plus, they rely on having monsters in the graveyard," Yarden added, "I basically use the graveyard as my second hand so that isn't really a bother, but for you, you'd need to set up a style revolving around tossing your monsters in the graveyard just to supe up the Cyber Dark Dragons, and that isn't you mate."

Quite frankly, Yarden remembered Zane's deck revolving around the Cyber Dark Dragons. It was abysmally trash. It had less synergy than the first mish mash deck he used when he ended up here.

The only reason he managed to do anything at all with that janky deck was because of both Cyber End Dragon and Cyber Dark Dragon backing him up.

It might have sounded hypocritical of him to lay it out like that because he used his spirits to draw, but the difference was, Zane didn't even believe in the existence of those spirits. He just assumed it was all him.

"…That makes it seem like they're not even part of the Cyber style at all, what is the point of them then?" Zane narrowed his eyes suspiciously, before sighing and shaking his head, "Well, that's one reason I suppose. What's the other?"

In response, Yarden's gaze turned fully serious, "The second point is the most important, they are dangerous, especially for a guy like you," he said bluntly, "It's not strength, or mental fortitude or anything that makes them dangerous for you though, it's simply the fact that you've cut yourself off. You can't even even see what you have right now, who supports you full heartedly. How could you handle one who doesn't want to support you because you can't even comprehend that they exist in the first place?"

Frankly, Yarden definitely wouldn't be content to support a guy who just used him as he pleased and didn't take any of his thoughts or desires into account, especially more so with a person who didn't even know he existed.

There was three reasons why Cyber Dark Dragon obeyed him. One, he was strong. Cyber Dark Dragon didn't have the power to overpower him mentally spiritually. And on top of that, he had all his other spirits, a few that were on the same level or stronger even backing him up.

The second reason, was it was beneficial for Cyber Dark Dragon to work with him. Because by being with him, and bonding with him, just like his other spirits, their combined power would cycle in a circle. Theirs would flow into him, and his would flow back into them, making not only their combined power that much greater, but their individual power grow over time.

And finally, he could see and understand Cyber Dark Dragon. And he could give it what it wanted. It wasn't locked away in some box with him, it was free to roam, and got to fight in duels as it desired.

Zane stared at him blankly for a moment, before sighing and palming his forehead, "Duel spirits, huh?" he mused, then stared him in the eyes, "You're saying the reason why I'm not worthy to inherit them as the successor of the cyber style, is because I don't believe in a childish fairy tale? And can't see these so called spirits?"

"That's the problem," Yarden snorted at him, "It's not that you can't see them. Because you do have the power and the ability to do so. It's that rigidness you built up that's blocked you off from being able to though. Putting aside whether you believe in them or not. Lemme ask you this, how would you feel about a guy completely ignoring your existence, full on blocking your existence to them out, yet at the same time using your abilities and power for their own benefit?"

"Really?" Zane rolled his eyes, "That's how you're doing this? Fine, I suppose I would be quite angry and frustrated, at least I imagine so."

"Exactly, who wouldn't?" Yarden nodded, "Whether you believe me or not, duel spirits exist. Both Cyber End Dragon and Cyber Dark Dragon are duel spirits. Cyber End Dragon is content to support you, but Cyber Dark Dragon has desires you simply can't provide for with the way you are now."

It was entirely possible for Yarden to prove they existed right here and now. After all, he was well capable of manifesting any of the duel monsters that had become his ba.

The question was, should he?

"And because you can, Chancellor Sheppard deemed you worthy?" Zane raised an eyebrow.

"Fuck no," Yarden snorted, "Zane you've met me. Why on earth would you come to that conclusion. I just blackmailed Sheppard into giving them to me."

"…Eh?" Zane blinked, and just stared.

Stunned silent for once at the blunt admission.

"Just like Cyber Dark Dragon, there's things Sheppard needs," he continued with a shrug, "I just happened to be in a position to find out what, and offered my services in return for the Cyber Dark Dragons."

"That sounds like a trade, not blackmail." Zane deadpanned.

"Nah it was definitely blackmail, I had all the power in that discussion and a lot of leverage," Yarden smirked back at him, "But that's basically it. That's why I have them, and you don't."

"Is that so?" Zane rolled his eyes, "Fine then, I don't suppose then you can provide any proof towards these claims you have about duel spirits and what not?"

Hmm, he he could, but he was going to hold off for a while.

"Oh I could, but I won't," Yarden shrugged, "The simple matter of forcing you to change your opinion and beliefs isn't going to help that much to be honest. Hypothetically, how do you think Cyber End Dragon would feel if you could finally see it, but not because you wanted to or believed in it, but because someone else forced you?"

He clicked his fingers and pointed at Zane, "Respect your cards numb nuts," he scoffed once more and narrowed his eyes at the older blue haired boy, "That's a lesson you've parroted around yourself, so don't go forgetting it idiot."

Zane blinked, before-

"Hm." he nodded simply.

The older boy uncrossed his arms, "As you like to say, fair enough then," Zane said, "I suppose I won't get much more out of you than that."

"For now, you can ask again let's see a week or two after the school duel," Yarden shrugged, "Beyond that though, I wanted to ask your advice on a few things."

Zane's eyebrows rose, and a smirk spread across his lips, "I don't know Yarden, my feelings are quite hurt you know. You gave me quite the lambasting there," he pointed out, "I might need to go brood for a few weeks and stare out into the ocean all dramatically emo and stoic like."

"Why would you be cutting down on the amount of time you do that?" Yarden grinned.

"Because I would obviously need extra time to listen to ballads of pain and such things the overly emotional tend to do," Zane shrugged back, "Perhaps I'll switch out my Obelisk uniform for a different colour. Black perhaps? To show off how brooding I am. I do actually have a nice black jacket that could fit that I bought during summer vacation."

Aha!

He did have it!

"Nah, black just wouldn't go with your complexion mate," Yarden shook his head, "You should just give that jacket to me for safe keeping."

"That might be true, but you'll need to grow at least three or four inches before it will fit you," Zane shrugged, "But enough about how short you are kid, what did you need advice on?"

"Well, I suppose I can let you win this round, it's about the only win you'll ever score against me," Yarden laughed, "Anyway, I need some advice on an agency representing me. I've got one picked out that kind of interests me, but wanted some advice on what I should be looking out for in contracts and that kind of thing."

Honestly, he was quite shocked at just who headed the agency. He'd only looked into it because of the name, but seeing who it was headed by, shocked him quite a bit and solidified his opinion to at least meet with them.

After all, he had no idea why Tea Gardener had her own duellist agency that represented pro duellists and such. He was eager however to find out, and he was also very curious why she wasn't a dancer or something like she'd initially planned to be.

"That, I can help you out with for sure, I had to navigate that quite a bit myself before I found a decent one," Zane nodded, "Is that all?"

"Nah, one more thing," Yarden shook his head, "How would I go about getting a motorcycle delivered to this island?"

Once more, Zane stared at him blankly.