Centaur Jaden Chap 2 (Patreon)

Chap 2 Duel Exam and Placement

With the written tests finished, it was time to prepare for the practical exam. Duel proctors were assigned to students based on their written scores. Everyone was looking forward to seeing who was gonna duel the boy with the highest score. Most students only got into Obelisk Blue be it connections or going through Duel Prep School, but the student with the highest score if they passed the practical exam they got to join the elite ranks.  

Duels began, a boy named Bastion had the duel in the bag, the proctor thought he had Bastion on the ropes, to the point of giving him a multiple choice question. Bastion had his own answer, it cost him some life points but it won him the duel. By using Ring of Destruction on his own monster he was able to destroy his opponent’s life points.  

Syrus held onto the green marble Jaden had given him. ‘Let’s do this!’ he was actually able to do well during the practical exam. ‘I did it, I did it!’ he mentally cheered. He thought clearly and didn’t panic, and was able to use his cards well. He stared at the little marble, and brought a hand to his lips. ‘That was my first kiss to.’ he thinks, his heart fluttering. ‘I hope we’ll be able to see each other at Duel Academy.’

Jaden was waiting for his turn to duel, but he was enjoying watching the others. The exams were ordered by the written scores, test decks selected based on the written score. Dr. Crowler was overseeing this exam, and he was the dorm adviser for Obelisk Blue. “Doctor Crowler, we’ve completed the other exams, all that remains is the student who scored a perfect score on the written test.”  

“Excellent, I wanted to test this one myself.” he says standing up.  

“Which test deck shall you be using?” One of the examiners asked.  

“Oh I have that covered.” he planned on using his own deck for the exam. ‘I must test the student myself to see if he’s worthy of being in Obelisk Blue.’  Getting the top score on the exam was impressive but Crowler didn’t let just anyone get to the high status of Obelisk Blue, they were perfection, they were the ultimate class. ‘I can’t allow some riff raff to enter, I’ll see if he has some talent, if not I’ll fail him.’ he chuckles.  ‘Now let’s see what this boy has.’  

-x-

“Man, when is my duel gonna start?” Jaden frowns. Watching everyone else duel had gotten him all excited.  

“You still haven’t dueled yet?” Syrus came up to him.  

“Nah, guess they wanted to save the best for last.” he says with a smile.  

“Well you certainly have confidence.” Bastion took a seat near him.  

“Thanks, I saw your duel, you might just be the second best duelist here.” Jaden tells him, making the stoic male turn.  

“Second best then you must be the one that scored a perfect on the written exam?”  

“Yep that’s me.” Before the talk could continue…

“JADEN YUKI TO THE DUEL AREA, JADEN YUKI TO THE DUEL AREA!” came over the PA system.  

“Looks like I’m up, I’ll see ya around then.”  

“Jaden wait...” Syrus wanted to return the good luck charm to him, but Jaden was surprisingly fast.  

“I hope your friend duels as good as he says.” Bastion crosses his arms, seeing who he would be dueling against.  

“Did you really think we were friends.” Syrus blushed, twiddling his fingers happily. “Wait, why?” he snapped out of his little happy daze.  

“Just look who he’s dueling.” Crowler stood ready, with his fancy duel vest. Even Jaden was impressed with the tech, the greatest warrior Centaurs were said to wield great gear, having the power to use it. The kid dueling Crowler gave people some pause of shock, as he didn’t look to be the type to have gotten a perfect score on the written test.  

Some of the prep students shared the same thought. ‘Could he have cheated, he doesn’t look too bright.’  

“He’s up against Crowler, we’ll see if he’s worthy of Obelisk Blue or not.” Chazz Princeton says.  

“I trust you are ready young scholar?” Crowler asked.  

“Yes I am, let us begin, Prepare For Battle!” Jaden calls and draws his cards. The battle cry shocked Crowler.  

“How odd, quite let’s duel!” he activated his duel vest.  

“First move shall be mine,” Jaden looked at his hand, two monsters, two spells, and a trap, he draws his first turn card and gets another monster. “I summon Centaur #2 Balla!” the red centaur appeared on the field. ATK 1600 “Next I play two cards two end my turn.”  

‘Not the worst opening move, but since I’m using my own deck he’ll need to do better than that...’ His thought was cut off as a barrage of arrows hit him. “What the?”  

“This is Balla’s effect, at the end of each turn he deals 400 points of damage.”  

Crowler 3600

“Not bad young scholar, but now it’s my turn.” he draws. “First I activate the spell card Confiscation, by paying 1000 life points I can send one of the cards in your hand to the graveyard.”  

Crowler 2600  

Jaden gasped as his cards became on display. “I see you use the Centaur deck, I’ve heard it bares power equal to the Harpy deck.” Crowler chose the remaining spell card in Jaden’s hand Monster Reborn. “Next I will play two face downs, before playing Heavy Storm!”  

“Confiscation and Heavy Storm?” Bastion says, his eyes narrowing.  

“What’s wrong?” Syrus asked.

“These are quite the powerful cards, not one you would see in a test deck.” Bastion explains.   

“Oh no!”  

The spell card released a powerful wind destroying Crowler’s cards. The wind rushed towards Jaden’s side of the field. “Not so fast, I activate Storm Shelter!” one of his own spell cards activated, this one being a quick play. “Since you tried to destroy one or more of my face downs this card activates.”  

“Storm Shelter!” the card blocked the effects of Heavy Storm.  

“Since you used Heavy Storm specifically I get to use this card’s second effect allowing me to add a spell card from my deck to the field.” a new card appeared on the field.  

“You may have protected your cards but my play is still perfect.” the destroyed cards allowed him to summon Wicked Tokens which he used as sacrfices to special summon his boss monster. “Now rise Ancient Gear Golem!” The mecha behemoth appeared on the field. ATK 3000  

“I activate my face down, Fairy Shield! For the rest of this turn neither of our monsters can be destroyed by battle, and all battle damage is reduced to 0.” Crowler grit his teeth. ‘He got me again.’

“I see, so you’re a defensive duelist.” he says and calms down. ‘No matter, I can deal with a defensive duelist. I do have my best monster on the field already, and even if he goes into defense mode my monster can still inflict damage. Plus when he attacks he can’t activate any of his spells or traps.’  

“I’ll end my turn.” Jaden draws.  

“My turn, first I summon Centaur #1 Attone.” A blue centaur joined the field, wielding a shield and sword. ATK 1600 “Now that he’s on the field all Earth and Beast Warrior type monsters on the field gain a 400 ATK and DEF boost.”  

Attonne and Balla ATK 2000

Ancient Gear Golem: 3400

Crowler chuckled. ‘What an airheaded mistake all he did was boost my Golem’s power as well.’  

“Next, I play the spell card Pot of Greed!” he draws two cards. Fairy Breath and Nature’s Spear. ‘Alright, everything is in place, now I just gotta hope he takes the bait.’ he sets 1 card face down and ends his turn. Balla’s effect triggers and he blasts Crowler with arrows.  

Crowler: 2200

“Amazing, so far Jaden has managed not to take a single bit of damage.” Bastion says. The audience was surprised, had Crowler been using a test deck, the shock wouldn’t be so high but since he was obviously using his own, the deck of an elite spoke so much more.  

“Go Jaden you can do it!” Syrus cheered.  

“My move,” he draws. He drew his own monster reborn, which was useless as there were no monsters in the graveyard.  

“I activate one of my face downs, Fairy Breath!” a green fairy appeared and breathed all over Crowler’s field. “This negates your monster’s effects until the end of the turn.”  

‘Another quick play spell?’ he smirked. “I see you are a defensive duelist, but you made one mistake you kept your monsters in attack mode, had you used this effect while switching them to defense you’d have saved your life points. Now my Golem attack!” the golem threw a punch only to have it hit with a barrier.  

“Sorry Professor, looks like you forgot about my first face down.” he revealed the trap card.  

“Draining Shield!” Crowler gasped. It took Ancient Gear Golem’s ATK and added it to his life points.  

Jaden: 7400  

‘Centaur combat mount a strong offense to keep your enemy focused, so they don’t see your second strategy.’ spell cards and trap cards were like weapons to centaurs. “My monsters are safe, what do you think of that teach?” he expected praise but instead Crowler got mad. Of course he would, he was being toyed with, his deck was getting bested.  

“What do I think?!” he snapped. “What I think is you can play defensive all you want, but you don’t have a monster in your deck that can topple my Golem, especially since you boosted his ATK as well with your last move. One way or another I will destroy your centaurs and make them into glue!” Crowler’s hand was all but empty, using his best cards to bring out his best monster on his first turn.  

“I will topple him!” Jaden declares. He radiated a powerful aura. “You dare mock a centaur’s pride, we fight with honor and respect our opponents even in defeat.”  

“What nonsense, just make your move.” he shook his head.  

“I will teach you something sensei!” Jaden says and draws. He drew Pot of Honor. “I activate this card Pot of Honor allowing us both to draw 4 cards.”  

‘Four cards what a fool, he’s practically handed this duel over to me on a silver platter.’ they both draw. Crowler got Lightning Vortex. ‘Perfect, now no matter what he does I’ll wipe his field away in one go.’ he also finally gained some monsters he could actually summon. ‘I’ll be able to tear his life points apart.’ he chuckled.  

Jaden’s draw… Dandylion, Giant’s Hammer, Double Summon, and Centaur # 5 Elaine

He could destroy Crowler’s Golem with Giant’s Hammer but that wasn’t good enough, no he wanted to beat him fair and square. Dandylion appeared to him, and agreed with his choice. ‘You ready my friend?’  

“Mew!” he nodded.  

“First I activate the spell card Double Summon, letting me normal summon twice this turn.” he summoned Dandylion first, then summoned Centaur #5 Elaine. The blonde centaur appeared on the field, carrying a shield and a small dagger.  

Crowler chuckled. “It doesn’t matter how many of those pathetic monsters you summon, they still can’t beat my Golem.”  

“Not alone, but together they can!” he plays his the equip spell. “I give Attonne the Equip Spell Nature’s Spear!”  his sword changed into a powerful spear. “Now for each monster that’s on the field he gains 300 ATK!”  

“What?!” Crowler gasped.  

“You should know teach, when dueling it’s not all about the power house monsters its how you use them in combinations with spells and traps. Isn’t that dueling 101?” Crowler grit his teeth. “With three centaur, one Dandylion, and one golem, well that’s five.” energy from the 5 monsters flowed into the spear and it grew, surging with power.  

Attonne ATK 3500

“No way it’s stronger than my Golem!”  

“Go Attonne!” The centaur charges, jumping high before launching the spear. It pierced through the golem, shattering it to pieces. Crowler gasped as his golem collapsed onto him.  

Crowler 2100

“Go get em guys!” Balla and Dandylion charged and dealt the killing blow.  

Crowler: 0

‘Now way, how could I lose, with my own deck!’ his frown twisted into a smirk. ‘It matters not, after all this boy will be joining Obelisk Blue, with his level of skill perhaps I can finally get rid of those slackers...’ he chuckled. While Crowler plotted everyone else was stunned silence.  

Jaden had won sure, but more than that, he didn’t lose a single life point. In truth Jaden’s strategy wouldn’t have worked if Crowler had taken his time to prepare, had he not wasted Confiscation he could have disrupted Jaden’s plan with ease. The duel could have been dragged out, but Crowler instead chose to show off his elite power.  

-x-

With that the results of the practical exam was met with the written exam to decide placement of the students. Outside of the top student, others were placed in Ra Yellow or Slifer Red, but the top student that lucky one got to join the ranks of Obelisk Blue…

To be continued...Chapter 3 Duel Academy Order