After Celina carried Yumi back to their dorm, he finally came down from his Berserker Soul high. The chaos had faded, leaving behind the same composed, calculating duelist she knew. Still, she had to admit, that was the first time she'd ever seen someone overkill an opponent even after their Life Points hit zero.
All because he kept drawing monster cards.
"No wonder you kept a card like this in your deck," Celina muttered, handing Berserker Soul back to him. "Your Ace and other monsters have exactly 1500 ATK. It's the perfect setup."
The two of them were now seated on the floor, surrounded by open deck boxes and scattered cards. They were checking each other's builds, occasionally trading or commenting on combos. Celina had noticed that while Yumi's deck was spell-heavy, the few monsters and traps he included were ridiculously efficient. Seven to ten monsters, four traps.
"How much would you trade me this for?" Celina asked, holding up one of Yumi's trap cards: Transaction Rollback.
It was a rare gem, a trap that allowed the user to pay half their Life Points to activate one of their opponent's normal traps. Even more absurd, it had a graveyard effect too. By banishing it and paying half your LP again, you could activate a normal trap from your own graveyard instead.
To most duelists, cutting your LP in half just to use a trap sounded insane. But Celina had learned from her older brother, a Pro Duelist, that even a single Life Point was enough, as long as you could still draw.
"No can do," Yumi replied flatly, taking the card from her hand and slipping it back into its deck. "I only have one copy."
Despite her casual request, Yumi wasn't the type to hand over a card just because a girl asked nicely. He'd fought for everything he had, scraping, trading, grinding through tournaments, according to Celina's words, Yumi was as light as a feather.
It couldn't be helped; he was severely malnourished, and most of his strength was pushed into creating cards.
He only ever traded duplicates or cards he no longer used.
"If you're looking to trade," he added, opening up one of his card boxes labeled Box #6, "I've got a few spares you might like."
He slid three cards across the table toward her: Necro Fusion, Card of Demise, and Fusion Tag.
Celina raised an eyebrow.
Necro Fusion was a Normal Trap that let you Fusion Summon using monsters in your graveyard by banishing them. The only downside: it can't attack that turn. Still, not bad.
Card of Demise was a powerful draw engine, letting you draw until you had five cards in your hand, but you had to discard your entire hand during the End Phase of your fifth turn since activating it.
And Fusion Tag? It let a monster you controlled take on the name of a Fusion Monster in your Extra Deck. For a deck like Lunalight, which stacked upgrades on top of previous fusions, that was game-changing.
Celina studied the cards carefully. While Card of Demise was the most obviously powerful, the other two felt tailor-made for her deck.
"Alright," she said reluctantly, "I'll take these. What do you want for them?"
Yumi could tell from her tone that she wasn't confident she had anything worth offering in return, not after seeing the scope of his collection.
Later that night, while the two continued playing and testing cards under their dorm room lamp, a jellyfish-headed student rushed from the Slifer Red dorm, darting through the darkness toward the Obelisk Blue girls' dorm.
A short while later, Yumi's Effect Veiler, his spirit card, returned and calmly relayed the news: Jaden had just finished a duel with Alexis on the lake and emerged victorious.
Yumi gave a small nod. That meant the story was still following the anime's main beats.
Yumi had always known what was coming. He knew the threats that loomed in the future. That's why he'd been preparing ever since the moment he got his first deck.
He refused to be just another background student waiting to be slaughtered by the final boss AOE attack.
Instead of standing on the sidelines, watching from afar, he had chosen to be a player, to step into the game and change its course.
And while others dismissed Duel Monsters as nothing more than a game, or in his parents' case, a childish obsession, Yumi had seen it for what it truly was: power.
His parents never understood that. So he left, and he never looked back.
...
Yumi had already become a well-known figure in the Slifer Red dorm as the strongest duelist in Slifer Red, mainly because he kept running around and dueling any student who was willing to duel him.
By the end of the second week, Yumi had already dueled nearly every student in Slifer Red, except the ones too weak to be worth his time.
"Are you excited?" Yumi asked with a smirk, standing across from the jellyfish-headed boy who had finally agreed to duel him.
"Of course I am!" Jaden grinned. "I'm getting to duel the strongest Slifer Red."
Finally, Yumi was able to lock down Jaden Yuki and have a duel with him, the previous attempts to drag his ass out for a duel was meet with the strong resistance of their friends.
Syrus and Celina have to drag them away before of the many time they almost miss classes, and when Class ended, Jaden vanished to hunt food while Celina dragged Yumi off to chase Pharaoh, the cat seems to be taking a liking to him.
Their search usually ended in disaster, being chased by Professor Banner, getting detention for trying to steal his cat. Celina laughed through it all because the one overseeing them was Professor Banner, so she got to play with the cat sitting on Yumi's head.
But now, finally, he had Jaden right in front of him.
Yumi smirked, hearing this.
In the GX anime storyline, Jaden is considered the strongest Slifer Red in history, being the only one in Duel Academia to graduate as a Slifer Red. Currently, Yumi is the strongest Slifer Red, although Jaden still hasn't reached his final level at the end of GX yet.
In Yumi's eyes, Jaden was undoubtedly the strongest Slifer Red in history.
And now...
The Strongest Slifer Red in History versus The Strongest Slifer Red of Today.
"DUEL!" x2
[Jaden, LP 4000]
[Yumi, LP 4000]
"I'll go first!" Yumi declared, drawing his opening card. "Draw!"
"I activate Spell Card- Take Over 5!" A glowing spell appeared on Yumi's field. "I send the top five cards of my deck to the graveyard."
He swiftly sent them into his graveyard, not even blinking.
"Then I'll set three cards face-down," Yumi said, sliding them into place with precision. "Turn end."
"My turn!" Jaden said with excitement, placing his fingers on his deck. "Draw!"
"I'll activate Polymerization!" he shouted, holding the card high like a signature move.
"Thanks. I'll be taking that," Yumi interrupted with a sly grin. One of his face-down cards flipped open. "Quickplay Spell- Bounce Spell!"
"Huh? What does that do?" Jaden asked, blinking in confusion. He wasn't used to people interrupting his Polymerization like that.
This was one of the spells used by Yami Yugi in his final duel with his AIBO. Yumi, after recognizing the power of this card, decided to reprint it and added it to his own deck.
"It lets me target one of your Spells and activate it on my side." Yumi said with a smirk, already knowing that Jaden would play this card. "And I choose your Polymerization!"
Jaden blinked again. "Wait, you're using my Polymerization?"
"Correct." Yumi answered simply as Jaden's spell flew toward Yumi's side and activated.
"If that really is the case, then." Jaden continues, pulling out two monsters in his hand, and Yumi also does the same.
Both duelists revealed the cards in their hands.
"I fuse Elemental HERO Avian and Elemental HERO Burstinatrix from my hand!"
Identical monsters appeared on both sides of the field, a green-winged warrior in bird-like armor, and a sleek, crimson-and-gray female with long silver hair.
"Wait, what!?" Syrus exclaimed from the sidelines, his jaw dropping. "Why does Yumi also have Avian and Burstinatrix!? Where's Raye!? Where's the stunning beauty, Raye?!"
He'd grown used to seeing Sky Striker Ace - Raye in nearly every one of Yumi's duels and had grown quite fond of her many forms.
Celina glanced at him with a deadpan look. "You're more excited about Raye than the duel?"
Speaking of which… she'd overheard that someone had started a "Raye Fan Club." She thought of checking it out since the name sounded familiar, only to get distracted when Pharaoh walked by.
"Fusion Summon!" both duelists called out at the same time as their monsters leapt into the swirling vortex of Polymerization. "Elemental HERO...
Flame Wingman!/Burst Wingman"
Twin fusion monsters landed on the field. Despite using the same monsters, two different fusion monsters appeared.
On Jaden's side stood the classic hero: muscular green body, a white angelic wing on his left, a long red tail, and a dragon head for a right arm.
[Elemental HERO Flame Wingman, 2100 ATK]
On Yumi's side, however, was something different. While the base form resembled Flame Wingman, there were key differences; his body had the same green shade, with his arms and legs being crimson, he also had a long red tail, and instead of a single wing, two blazing wings spread from his back.
[Elemental HERO Burst Wingman, 2100 ATK]
"WOW! A new Elemental Hero!" Jaden was excited by the new HERO appeared on the field. "But... how did Avian and Burstinatrix create Burst Wingman?"
"That's the power of Elemental HERO, even if I use Avian and Burstinatrix to fuse again, I could still create four more different fusion monsters," Yumi said coolly.
"I see, this is really exciting!" Jaden replied with a happy smile.
"Then I'll activate H - Heated Heart!" He then pulls out another card and places it on his duel disk. "Target one monster I control, and increase its ATK by 500."
A burning aura emitted from Flame Wingman's body, increasing his power.
[Elemental HERO Flame Wingman, 2100 -> 2600 ATK]
"Battle! Flame Wingman attack Burst Wingman!" Jaden ordered, as Flame Wingman jumped forward, flame emitting from the dragon's mouth on his hand as he charged toward the other HERO.
"Burst Wingman's effect activated! I can target one face-up warrior on my field, increase its ATK by 1000 until the end of the turn!"
Yumi shouted, the flame on Burst Wingman's back grew larger as he charged toward Flame Wingman, his body covered in flame.
[Elemental HERO Burst Wingman, 2100 -> 3100 ATK]
The two monsters clashed, creating a loud explosion, and Jaden's Flame Wingman was destroyed. While Burst Wingman falls back to Yumi's side.
"Flame Wingman!" Jaden said, covering his face and blocking the dust rushing toward him.
[Jaden, LP 4000 -> 3500]
"Then, I'll Normal Summon, Clayman in Defense Position!" Jaden said, placing another card onto his duel disk.
[Elemental HERO Clayman, 2000 DEF]
The large clay warrior appeared on Jaden's field with his arms crossed and standing in a kneeling position.
"I'll set two more cards and end my turn."
Left with no more play, Jaden decides to play defense.
"My turn!" Yumi placed his hand on his deck.
"Draw!"
He drew his card, "I'll remove Take Over 5 from my grave, and 'another card' with the same name, in my deck to draw two more cards!"
Looking down at the three cards in his hand.
"Battle! Burst Wingman, attack Clayman!" Yumi ordered.
As the flaming warrior charges toward the clay soldier, flame emits from his body.
"Quickplay spell!" Jaden declared, waving his hand as one of his cards flipped open. "De-fusion! With this, I can de-fuse a fusion monster on the field! And I choose your Burst Wingman!"
Burst Wingman's body glowed before splitting into two.
[Elemental HERO Avian, 1000 ATK]
[Elemental HERO Burstinatrix, 1200 ATK]
The two HEROs jumped aside, avoiding the large clay warrior before jumping back on Yumi's side.
"Not bad." Yumi said before flipping one of his face-down cards.
"Quickplay spell- Quick Fusion! With this, I can perform a Fusion Summon using monsters from my field and hand as material."
This is one of Yumi's special cards, an alternative form of Flash Fusion, carrying the same power and side effect, but this card lets him use monsters in his hand too, instead of just monsters on the field.
"I fuse Avian and Burstinatrix once more!" The two HEROs jumped into the fusion vortex, and the HERO reappeared. "Show yourself! Elemental HERO Burst Wingman!"
[Elemental HERO Burst Wingman, 2100 ATK]
"Go! Burst Wingman, attack Clayman!"
Once again, the flaming hero appeared and struck down the clay warrior.
"Trap open, Hero Signal!" Jaden shouted, activating his other face down. "When a monster I control is destroyed and sent to the graveyard. I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Elemental HERO from my deck or hand."
He pulls out his deck and searches for his monster.
"Show yourself, Bubbleman!"
From Jaden's field, bubbles rose as an armored warrior in high-tech blue armor appeared, kneeling on the ground with his arms crossed.
[Elemental HERO Bubbleman, 1200 DEF]
"Bubbleman's effect activates! Since he is summoned while I control no other card, I get to draw two cards!" Jaden drew his cards.
Seeing that the card was only Hero Signal, and not a Mirror Force. Yumi looked at his hand before placing a card down.
"Then, I'll Normal Summon, Elemental HERO Lady Heat in Defense Position."
Flame erupted on his field, a female warrior with blazing orange hair and dressed in an orange-red and white dress, knelt on his field.
[Elemental HERO Lady Heat, 1000 DEF]
"I end my turn at this moment. Lady Heat's effect activated, inflicting 200 damage to you for each face-up HERO I control."
A heatwave spread out from her, hitting Jaden directly.
[Jaden, LP 3500 -> 3100]
"At the same time, due to being summoned by the effect of Quick Fusion, the Fusion Monster is destroyed."
Burst Wingman exploded and left his field.