The New Chazz

Though more than one of Duel Academy's residents has asked themselves where in the world Chazz was, none of them really knew the answer. And as it happened, at the moment, the Obelisk Blue boy in question hardly knew himself. His family's yacht on which he'd left Academy Island was now somewhere in the middle of an unknown body of water, with a layer of mist surrounding the area. Its rear had also sunk down a little, although it was currently immobile. Chazz himself was sitting on the deck, his back against the railing, while he cursed his predicament.

"Lousy scrubs. It's all their fault. Dr. Crowler, Bastion, Jaden."

In his mind he could see a vision of Jaden next to him.

"Hey Chazz." The Jaden illusion spoke up. "Come on, let's go! Get your game on!"

"Quiet!" He shot back. "I'm gonna wipe that ugly grin right off your face."

"Hey, take your best shot."

"If only I could." He picked up his duel disk, put it on his arm and activated it. "One more duel, that's all I want."

"Really? That's all you want? I'd want not to be stranded."

Chazz swung his arm with his duel disk at his vision of Jaden, the power then fading away. Chazz started to laugh a laughter that could have been perceived as a little insane. "Stranded? I'm not stranded, I'm perfectly fine." He picked up a water bottle and put it to his mouth, but only a drop came out. "A little thirsty maybe."

"Know what I'm thirsty for?" The imaginary Jaden asked. "Another duel where I beat you." Chazz growled angrily at this. "I'm downright parched for it."

"Duel this!" Chazz flung the water bottle at the result of his imagination. "Oh no!" He cried out, then tried to reach out for it, but doing so caused him to go overboard and fall into the water. "I'll get you for this, slacker." Chazz thought to himself, before being overcome by unconsciousness.

"Hey! Hey boss." A strange new voice called out. "Rise and shine. Up and at em. Helloooooo! Come one, wake up! Alright, guess I'll have to do my wake up dance." His eyes still closed, Chazz swung an arm at the source of this new voice and batter it away.

A drop of water then fell on his cheek, causing him to open his eyelids. "Good morning young duelist," someone else spoke.

Chazz took into account that he was in some rounded metal cylindrical structure. He took note of the fact that it was rather damp inside and that there was water on the floor. He then looked at the figure who had spoken. The individual was sitting down opposite him, wearing an oversized coat, gray gloves, a mask that hid all his face and had what looked like a trail of seaweed like scarves covering him.

"What's going on?" The obelisk boy asked. "Or better yet, what're you?"

The person chuckled lightly at him. "I'm the person who saved your life. And for now, that's all you need to know."

"Hey, wait a sec!" Chazz looked at the duel disk on his arm, seeing that the deck slot was empty. "Those are my cards," he indicated the dueling cards the person held in their hands. "Give em back right now!"

"Oh! Certainly, how very rude of me. Here you go." But instead of giving them back to Chazz, he dropped them into the water at his feet. "Whoopsie!"

"You jerk!"

"Relax." He tossed Chazz another card which he caught in his hand. "This card more than makes up for it."

"Yeah, well it better. What!" He said upon seeing the card. It was a monster with the image being a small yellow creature with flimsy arms, legs and its eyes at the tip of a pair of stalks. Slobber dripped from its wide open mouth and it wore a red bikini bottom. It was labeled as 'Ojama Yellow'. "Some no name monster! This stinks!" He went to throw it away.

"Stop!" The other person said. "That is the card that will change your life."

"Gimme a break."

"Gimme a break."

"I'll give you something far better. Another change to beat Jaden."

"How do you know about him? Tell me."

"You talk in your sleep. And from what I heard, it sounds like this Jaden beat you badly in a duel."

"Pff, he's just lucky, that's all."

"Lucky? Do you often run away from just luck?"

"He's got you there, Chazz," Jaden's voice said in Chazz's mind. "You may be wearing blue, but you turn yellow fast."

"That's it! No one calls Chazz Princeton a coward!"

"Talk is cheap young duelist."

"That may be, but I'm rich. And I'll spend whatever it takes to be the best there is."

"That's just your problem. No amount of money can buy you that. You must earn it… if you can. That is precisely what we're going to find out. Good luck, young duelist." Water then began to drop from the ceiling, flooding the whole room. "Remember to hold your nerves," he said as he began to walk away.

Soon enough, Chazz was ejected from a sub, propelled through the water, and thrown onto an ice bank. "Crazy kook!" he said to himself. "My attorney will be in touch with him." He then took not of his new surroundings. He was one a plain of ice. The terrain around was rough, with mountains in the background and uneven ends all around. A large building was in the distance, just at the edge of a icy path. "Well, at least I'm back in civilization… well, kind of. This place is low rent. No problem, one call and I'm outta here." He started to walk towards the building at a moderate pace. "Only question is, do I have them send the plane, or the chopper?" Finally after walking all the way, Chazz arrived at the building he'd seen from afar. "Not a bad place. Course, my pad is bigger." He went to the tall wooden double doors and knocked on them. "Open up! Let's go! Is there anybody there? Hello!"

"They're home," someone spoke from close by. Chazz looked to his left and saw a balding man sitting on the ground in front of a small fire. He wore glasses, a worn brown coat and black pants, and a pair of sturdy boots. "But you'll need 40 cards for them to let you in. I'm afraid that's just the way it works at North Academy."

"North Academy? So this is the school that's Duel Academy's arch-rival then."

"That's right. Here, take a seat with me, friend. I could use some company." Chazz walked over and sat down next to him. "After all, I've been here a long time. How it works is there's cards hidden all over. In glacial crevices, on ice cliffs… It's kind of a test. Find 40, and they'll let you in."

Chazz noticed the cards in the man's duel disk. "So how many do you have?"

"I've actually managed to find 39 cards, but it took every last bit of energy I had to do so. I'm too worn out to look for the last one."

"Great, then you don't need the other 39. Here, I'll buy them off you." Chazz pulled a bill out of his blazer pocket and held it out. "Here, take it."

"NO! Besides this fire and tattered clothes, these are all I have. They're priceless."

"Fine, I'll find my own." He stood up and started to walk away.

"Good luck then, young duelist. In this barren wasteland, you'll need it."

The following times that passed were some of the hardest Chazz had ever been through. Throughout most of his life, he'd always been able to have whatever he wanted given to him, or simply buy it himself. The 40 cards he sought were not merely handed over to him. He climbed icy walls, trekked across windy plains, swam in cold water, and was submitted to other such tests. "I can't believe I have to fetch 40 cards just to get North Academy to open their stinkin doors for me. Talk about a school that's hard to get into," he muttered as he climbed up a rough surface.

He went on like this for quite a while, grumbling along the way. But finally, he returned back to the entrance with the cards in his possession. "I see you've been busy doing nothing." He commented upon seeing the balding man still sitting at his fire."

He stood up upon seeing Chazz. "You're back! Did you find them? Did you find 40 cards?"

"Of course." He held up his disk to show him.

"Well, congratulations then. Guess you'll be moving onto better things. But don't worry about me, I'll be fine here. Well, until the winter comes around anyway."

"The winter?"

"Oh yes, these are summer months right now. Quite pleasant actually. And the fall's nice too. Only about 30 below. After that it tends to get a little nippy. But listen to me, I'm sure you want to get on your way."

"Ah, quit your whining already, would you baldy? I lied. I didn't just find 40 cards, I found 41. And extra one so you could come in too."

"You mean, I get to enter? Really?"

"Yeah, yeah. Get over it. Now take your stinking card. Don't make a big deal about it, okay?" he said as he took out Ojama Yellow. But when he tried to give it away, his arm refused to cooperate.

"You gonna give it to me or not?"

"My hand, I can't let go."

A transparent version of the monster emerged from the card and floated in front of Chazz.

"You can't give me away." It said. "We're pals, chums, best friends forever. You know, BFF."

"Huh? We are not!" He shot back.

"What's going on?" The man asked.

"Don't you see it?"

"See what?"

"Aw boss, you're the only one that can see me."

"Go away!"

"Look, if we're gonna be partners, you need to stop being so uptight."

"You're not real, get lost."

"Get lost? Funny you should say that. I have two brothers who're lost. We really otta find them for our deck."

"Quiet. On second thought, that was the wrong card." Chazz put Ojama Yellow back in with the others and pulled out a random card. "Here, take this."

The man accepted it thankfully. "Sure, whatever you say. I really appreciate this, Mr…"

"The name's Chazz Princeton. And don't you forget it. Actually, do forget it. I'd rather not have people associate me with you." He walked to the fire and sat down with his back against a rock. "Now go ahead and go inside. The Chazz likes to make his own entrance."

"Oh yes, certainly. Well, thanks again."

"Thanks for nothing," Chazz mumbled as the balding guy went it. "I really only found 40 cards. Now I'm one short."

Again, a vision of Jaden appeared beside him. "I always knew you were a nice guy."

"Shut it!" He said angrily and punched at the vision. He then looked down and saw the spell card Chaos End lying on the ground in before him.

"And when you do something nice, nice things happen."

After having sat at the fire for along enough, Chazz decided to get up and stand in front of the doors to the school. "Alright, open the door, I got your 40 cards right here." A few strands of light were then shot down from the door frame's ceiling. They hit Chazz's duel disk, which then turned on, now being recharged. That was followed by the twin doors opening inwards, allowing for Chazz to step into a place that looked like an old town in the far west. The doors then closed behind him

"This is it? North Academy? What a dump," he commented as he wandered around. He then happened to notice someone get thrown out of one of the shacks off to the side. He ran up to them and saw the man who'd gone in before him. "Hey, baldy, you okay?"

"What happened?"

"He got the North Academy welcoming is what happened." Chazz looked up and saw a bunch of boys standing close by. They all wore darker colored coats with a 'N' sewn on, and they had duel disks on their arms. "And now it's your turn," one of them spoke up. It was a muscular guy wearing a short coat and sitting in a rocking chair. He spoke with a Russian accent. "And now it's your turn. Think you're up to the challenge, new guy? Do ya?"

"Who're you?"

"I'm the guy who runs things around here. They call me Czar. You friend just went through our little hazing ritual. The fifty man duel gauntlet."

"Fifty man what's it?"

"Duel gauntlet. It's how we rank students round here. Why don't you go ahead and explain it to him how it works Kyle?"

A smaller kid with black hair and a dark blue jacket spoke up. "See, you gotta duel fifty students."

"Yeah, you start with the lowest ranked and you work your way up." The one who'd just spoken had flat brown hair, a thin moustache and lighter blue jacket.

"When you lose, that's your rank." This one had long brown hair, glasses and a white blazer.

The other one wore a brown coat, had spiky greenish hair and a serious expression on his face. "Unless you don't lose…"

"Then you duel me, number 50." Czar finished.

"But everybody loses." Some other kid said. "Like your friend here. He lost the very first duel he had. Guess who's on latrine duty now."

"Huh! So all I have to do is win fifty times? That's it?"

"Easier said than done, rookie!"

"That name is Chazz, Chazz Princeton. And soon, your Czar will fall. And then, the Princeton will rise."

For the first duel, Chazz found himself facing against a kid with an Elvis like hairdo. They started their disks, and drew their starting hands.

Chazz: 4000

Elvis Kid: 4000

"My move." Chazz announced. "I summon Flying Kamikiri #1 in defense mode." A human sized green bug with orange eyes, four arms and wings crouched down in front of him.

Flying Kamikiri: 1400/1100

"And that ends my turn."

"What a joke!" His opponent said. "I Play Polymerization. So I'll fuse Witch of the Black Forest with Lady of Faith to summon, Musician King." The monster that appeared was a yellow spiky haired man, wearing black pants, his torso bare and a red guitar strapped around him.

Musician King: 1750/1500

"Now attack that bug." The musical monster strummed his guitar, creating sound waves that blew apart the insect monster.

"I play my Kamakiri's effect. When it's destroyed in battle, I get to summon a wind attribute monster from my deck with up to 1500 attack points. And I'll choose another flying Kamakiri #1." A second copy of the first monster appeared on Chazz's field.

"I'll place one card face-down and end my turn."

"Good. Now I'll remove from play the Flying Kamakiri #1 in my graveyard so that I can summon Garuda, the Wind Spirit." A human figure appeared beside the insect, safe that it has an eagle's head and wings."

Garuda, the Wind Spirit: 1600/1200

"Then I summon Yomi Ship." The next monster was a simple and small wooden boat with a cabin in the middle. "Now, Yomi Ship, attack his Musician King."

"What! You're crazy!" The Elvis kid said. "Your monster won't stand a chance. Especially since I'm activating Metalmorph, and using it on my Musician King." The named monster's apparel changed so that he wore black rocker's clothes, along with spiked bracelets and other gothic things. He gave a long strum on his guitar, sending sound waves that tore apart the wooden ship.

Chazz: 2750

"Sorry, but Yomi Ship has a handy special ability. When it's destroyed in battle, the monster that destroyed it bites the dust as well." A plank from the ship sailed through the air and slammed into the rocker, thus destroying him.

"No way!"

"Now my other monsters can take you out." Both wind monsters flew at Chazz's opponent and punched him hard enough to knock him down.

Elvis Kid: 0

"Who's next?"

"I'm next." The one who'd answered was a boy with black hair, also dressed all in black in a very gothic manner.

"Fine with me. You're going down."

Goth Guy: 4000

Chazz: 4000

"I summon Vorse Raider, in attack mode." A bestial humanoid fiend with a cruel look on its face and a wicked curved blade in its hands appeared on the field. (1900) "That ends my turn."

"I summon Ameba, in attack mode." A blue blob with a few black spots materialized in front of Chazz.

Ameba: 300/350

"Then I'll activate Creature Swap, so we both get the other's monster." The two monsters disappeared and reappeared on the other's field. "And when you gain control of Ameba, you lose 2000 life-points." The little blob somehow spat water at the gothic boy.

Goth Guy: 2000

"Then I'll equip Vorse Raider with Sword of Dark Destruction, giving him another 400 attack points, even if he loses 200 defense." Vorse Raider's weapon changed into a sword with a blood red blade, and a black, evil looking handle. "Now attack." The fiend rushed towards his former master's field and sliced the blob apart with his weapon.

Goth Guy: 0

"Two down. Come on, let's get going."

Chazz continued dueling like he'd just been doing. Playing random cards in a manner that defeated all his opponents within the space of two turns at most. He sped through until the four students standing next to Czar stepped out. "So what?"

"Beating those amateurs doesn't prove a thing."

"You still have to get through the four of us."

"Only then can you duel the Czar."

"Duel each one of you? That'll take too long. How about I take you all on at once?"

"You're on!"

"Mike, Jack, Derick, let's go."

"Duel!"

Mike: 4000

Kyle: 4000

Jack: 4000

Derrick: 4000

"My turn. Come one out, Marauding Captain. The blond, armored warrior stood in front of Mike with a sword drawn. (1200) "And I'm not done yet. When this monster is summoned to the field, I get to bring out another level four or lower monster to the field. And I'll play another Marauding Captain." A monster identical to the first appeared. (1200)

"And so will I." Two of the same monsters took their place. (1200) x2

"Me too." Another pair of them arrived. (1200) x2

"Same with me." Eight identical monsters were now arrayed against Chazz. (1200) Ojama Yellow cried out at the sight. "And in case you'd forgotten, rookie, when there are two or more captains on the field, you can't attack any of them."

"He didn't forget that, he probably never even knew in the first place."

"Good point. And now he'll suffer for it."

"Please, the only way you scrubs could make me suffer is to keep blabbing like that. My turn. I'll place two cards face-down and Giant Rat in Defense mode." A big blue rat with sharp teeth and a skull in its hands crouched down on in front of a pair of face-downs. (1450)

"All you're playing is an overgrown rodent? What a joke!"

"Perhaps, after all, he is a weaker card. One that the old Chazz would've never put in his deck. But I learned something since I got here. Life deals you all kinds of cards. Sometimes you have to make the best out of what you've got."

"Aw, that's so nice of you boss." Ojama Yellow said. "You're talking about me, right?"

"Actually, I wasn't." Chazz said to the spirit. "You're still as annoying, revolting and non-existing as ever!" His opponents stared blankly at Chazz, thinking insane for talking to thin air. "You're a disgusting little yellow gremlin and I don't like you! So quit bugging me!"

"Disgusting, maybe. But little and yellow? Get our eyes checked. Now back to the duel. I play Allied Forces. It gives all warrior type monsters 200 extra attack points for each warrior and spellcaster out on the field. Which means all our Marauding Captains' attack points now become 2800." (1200-2800) x8 "Now go, smash that rat." One of the blond warriors jumped in the air and swung his sword at the giant blue rat.

"He's defenseless, charge in men." The other captains ran towards Chazz.

"Sorry, but I play my rat's ability. Since he was just destroyed in battle, I get to summon an earth attribute monster from my deck with 1500 or less attack points. So come on out, Gyaku Gire Panda." A large panda with sharp teeth and holding a bamboo stick in one of its paws rose on Chazz's field. (800)

"Look at the big teddy bear. How cuddly."

"You may not think so after this. See, panda gains 500 attack points for every single monster on your side of the field. Not so cuddly now, is he." The panda bear growled as it increased in size, dwarfing the warriors. (800-4800) "And next I'm gonna activate a trap, Ring of Destruction." A metal collar with red bombs attached around the panda's neck. "This destroys one monster in attack mode, and then all players lose life-points equal to its attack points."

"But why? We'll all end up with zero life-points."

"I won't. Because I have Ring of Defense." A wheel with four green metal plates attached to the exterior appeared between Chazz and his monster. It then began to spin fast enough to seem like a full circle. "This spell card protects me from the damage I'd take because of my trap. You… go… bye… bye." A large explosion ensued, blowing away all the monsters and knocking down the North Academy students. Chazz remained standing due to his spell.

Mike: 0

Kyle: 0

Jack: 0

Derrick: 0

Two other duelists had seen the gauntlet one was a boy and the other was a girl and they were twins.

"What do you make of him Ken?" The girl asked.

"I'd say that this guy has promise considering he went through the wasteland to get his deck Ritsu." The boy Ken said, "Still we cleared this gauntlet with our own decks and we are strong as it is but it takes skill and resourcefulness as is the way of the ninja."

Ken had short black hair and black eyes.

Ritsu had brown hair tied in a ponytail and green eyes.

They had two completely different decks. Ritsu used Winged Beasts, Harpies and Wind attribute Dragons while Ken used Ninjas.

"Alright, granny." Chazz spoke to Czar. "Outta the rocker. You're up."

Czar stood up from his seat and stood opposite Chazz.

"Yes, and you're going down." He said as he inserted his deck into his disk and started it up. "Cause now it's the Czar against the Princeton. And there ain't no way I'm going to get shot off my throne by you. Get ready for a battle royale."

"Bring it on!"

"Duel!"

Czar: 4000

Chazz: 4000

"Me first." The North Academy student announced. "And I'm going to activate two copies of Fiend's Sanctuary. Now I get two metal fiend tokens." A pair of gray figures made of built up metal balls appeared on the field. (0) x2 "But like you, they won't be staying long. I sacrifice them to summon Zoa." The two featureless tokens disappeared and made way for a larger blue monster that had muscles lining its body, along with horns sticking from its head and an angry expression on its face. (2600) "Next, I'll place two cards face-down and end my turn. Ha! Already my side of the field's stacked. See how it's different with the Czar?"

"But it'll end the same. My turn. Chazz drew, picking up Ojama Yellow. "You again?"

"Nice to see you too boss." The spirit said as it came out of its card. "Need me to fight a monster for you? Let's do it." It got look at Zoa and changed its mind. "Ohhhh, never mind."

"You know, I think I finally found a way to get rid of you. I play Ojama Yellow." The spirit monster appeared on Chazz's field. (1000)

"No please, anyone but me!"

"Then I'll toss two cards face-down and end my turn."

Czar laughed at the layout on Chazz's field. "Time out. Some garbage seems to have blown onto the field. Oh wait, I'm sorry, that's just your monster. Oh well, he's going to be trashed anyway. I play the trap card Metalmorph. And I'll equip it to Zoa." The muscular fiend was covered by a thin film of metallic gray. "And now I'm going to sacrifice Zoa, to summon something even better. The ferocious Metalzoa." Zoa sunk under the ground and another monster emerged in its place. It was even bigger, made entirely of metal, stood on two legs, had large claws, and generally looked like some kind of destructive robot. (3000) Ojama Yellow cringed at the sight of it. "And next I'll play another trap card, Call of the Haunted. Now I can summon back regular Zoa." The smaller blue fiend appeared again. (2600)

"Boy oh boy." Chazz imagined Jaden saying beside him. "Two monster with 2600 and 3000 attack points? What on earth are you gonna do, Chazz?"

"That's easy, I'm gonna win."

"You know, talking to yourself is pretty crazy as it is." Czar noted. "But thinking you're going to win? Even crazier! Know why? Cause I just watched you duel 49 times. I know your deck. I know you don't have one monster as strong as mine."

*'Maybe, but I know how to make the best out of what I've got.'*

"Alright, Zoa, attack. Glimmer Strike." The blue monster fired off a green colored 'X' from its forehead at the smaller creature, who cried in fear until it was destroyed. "And now that he's been taken care of, Metalzoa's going to take care of you. Hardened Glimmer Strike." The metal monster crossed its arms and swung the outward, creating a larger green 'X' which passed through the former Obelisk.

Chazz: 1000

"The Princeton's place is at the heel of the Czar, and that's exactly where I'm going to put you."

"Don't bet on it. See, I was waiting for you to attack me. Because now I can play, Inferno Tempest. With this card, when I take 3000 or more points of damage, all monsters in both our decks and graveyards, are taken out of play."

"Why would you do that? What are you planning?"

"If you know my deck as well as you say you do, then I'm sure know. And you know that your reign is coming to an end."

"What are you talking about? I have two monsters out, you have none. And now you don't have any in your deck. You've lost. My reign's not over, it's never been stronger. You're about to lose."

"Oh, am I? We'll see. Alright, now Czar, you my friend, are about to get royally crowned, and not in a good way. I play, the spell Chaos End." Cracks began to appear all over Zoa and Metalzoa.

"What's going on?"

"Well that's the magic of Chaos End. When seven or more cards are removed from play it destroys all your monsters."

"No way!"

The Czar's two monsters exploded in a shower of pixels. "And now, I'll play a trap, that's a blast from the past. Return From the Different Dimension." A hole opened in the air above the field. "By paying half my life-points, I'm allowed to bring back as many of my monsters removed from play as possible. Now, come on back everyone." The first monster to drop down was a man wearing a plain gray and blue suit with disks making up his armor and two of them in his hands. Another was a machine with spidery legs, a circular body and lobster like claws. The third was two creatures, one blue, the other purple, with both having white faces, horns coming out of their heads, dragon like tails and wings. The fourth was an undead warrior wearing a full set of armor, a red cape and holding a curved blade. The last was the persistent duel spirit. (1000) x4 (0)

"Thanks boss."

"I meant everyone except you!" The duel spirit began to cry at this.

"No way! Stop!"

"Stop? I don't think so. Now give the Czar a king sized clobbering." The four thousand attack points monsters simultaneously rushed the North Academy student. They hit him all at once and sent him crashing onto the ground a dozen feet back.

Czar: 0

"You go bye bye."

"Well done. You've earned the right to be called the best."

Chazz saw the person from the submarine, except that they were wearing an orange hood on their head which allowed for their red coat to be seen. "It's you. You're the one who rescued me. But how did you get into the school?"

"Why, you let me in of course." He took off the hood, mask and a hat underneath, showing the face of the man who'd been waiting outside next to the fire.

"Wait! Now you're the bald guy?"

"I'm this school's chancellor." He said. "The name's Foster. And the camp outside, that sub out at sea. It was all jus to get to you, young duelist."

"To me, what for?"

"Because you have a gift, Chazz. And I sensed it the moment you took that Ojama Yellow card."

"I hate the stinking card!"

"You might now, but you'll learn. Hopefully in time for the school duel. You see Chazz, you're now the best duelist at North Academy. That means you'll be our representative in the school duel."

"So I'm going up against someone from Duel Academy?"

"That's right. You'll be our headliner in the school duel."

Ken and Ritsu then approach Chazz.

"Hello, my name's Ken and this is my sister Ritsu." Ken introduced himself and his sister.

"We actually want to discuss hard work with you." Ken stated.

"What?" Chazz blinked.

"Trust us, this is going to make you stronger." Ritsu said.

Chazz wasn't sure if that was true, but with the School Duel right around the corner he wasn't going to take any chances.