Chapter 3: The Woman Prince
The morning had begun like the previous one. Jaden woke up in his guest room in the head mistress’ mansion and got dressed. The maids had once again given Pharaoh some of the fancy cat food he had eaten the previous day. Jaden knew that his feline companion would be rather depressed about going back to the dry food usually provided to him once they left the island, whenever that would be. Jaden left his room and descended to stairs of the mansion, and once again, he was greeted by Pegasus’ aid, Croquet.
“Ah, good morning Mr. Yuki.” Croquet greeted. “I’m sorry to say that Mr. Pegasus is once again unavailable today.”
‘What a surprise.’ Jaden thought sarcastically to himself.
“However, Mr. Pegasus has arranged for you to have a tour of Spica academy.” Croquet explained. “Your tour guides have already arrived.”
Just like the previous morning, Croquet stepped aside to allow Jaden’s female tour guides to step into view. It was a different pair of girls though. Both of them were wearing Spica uniforms and duel disks. One of the girls had long black hair and brown eyes. The other had long blond hair that curled a bit, and a pair of pale-blue eyes. Jaden noticed that the blond girl seemed a bit nervous.
“You Jaden Yuki?” the black haired girl asked.
“That’s me.” Jaden replied
“I’m Yaya Nanto.” The black haired girl said, introducing herself. “This is my friend, Hikari Konohana.”
“H-Hello.” The blond girl said nervously. Jaden waved back in response.
“We’ll be your tour guides for today.” Yaya explained.
A few moments later, the trio had left the mansion, and was on their way to the Spica grounds.
“So, have you been enjoying your stay on the island Mr. Yuki?” Yaya asked.
“I guess so.” Jaden replied. “And please, call me Jaden.”
“No problem.” Yaya responded. Jaden noted that dropping formalities did not seem to be a problem for the black haired girl. “Well, here we are! St. Spica Duel Academy!”
The three momentarily stood outside of an immense white building with a light-blue roof. After Jaden had sufficiently taken in the site, the three went in. The interior of Spica was not all that different from Miator. The walls were a different color, and the classrooms were laid out differently, but other than that, it seemed like the same basic design.
“Spica was the second duel academy formed on the island,” Yaya explained, “but you probably already knew that. Dueling is the specialty of Spica academy, but we also have various sports clubs like tennis and horse back riding. We also have a choir, which Hikari and I happen to be a part of.”
Jaden nodded his head in understanding. While it did seem weird to him for a duel academy to have a choir, he liked that Spica had a few athletic activities. It actually reminded him of his old academy a little. A little while later, the trio was back outside, where Jaden saw a few of the tennis courts, and a few outdoor dueling arenas. A few of the arenas were being used. Jaden wanted to stick around to watch, but it seemed that Yaya had other plans.
“C’mon Jaden, there’s one more place we have to show you.” Yaya insisted. “We still have to show you there horse riding grounds.”
“Why do I have to see that?” Jaden asked in confusion.
“Well, the trip isn’t actually for you. You’re just kind of an excuse.” Yaya explained with a sly tone to her voice. “We’re actually going there for Hikari.”
Hikari, who had been silent for most of the tour, gasped a bit in surprise.
“Oh come now my little Hikari, why do you think I volunteered us to give Jaden a tour of the academy?” Yaya asked Hikari, sounding a little more devious than before. “It’s all been so you can meet the prince.”
“Prince?” Jaden asked, more confused than before.
“That’s right!” Yaya answered. “Amane Ohtori, Spica’s strongest duelist, and a champion horse back rider.”
“…I see.” Jaden replied, still rather confused. He couldn’t figure out how an all girl duel academy could have a male student.
“Hikari has been dying to meet the prince.” Yaya explained. “She has kind of a crush.”
“Y-Yaya!” Hikari whispered as she tugged on her friend’s arm in an attempt to get her to shut up.
“I get it.” Jaden said with a smile, though he still couldn’t understand how a boy could be enrolled in an all girl academy.
After a few more minutes of walking, the trio had reached to riding grounds of Spica. There, an unexpected site greeted them, two Miator students who were all too familiar to Jaden.
“Nagisa, Tamao, what are you two doing here?” Jaden asked as he waved to the two girls in greeting.
“Oh, hello Mr. Yuki.” Tamao greeted
“Hi Jaden.” Nagisa greeted enthusiastically. “We’re here to see the prince that Tamao told me about earlier.”
“You too, huh?” Jaden replied.
“You know these girls?” Yaya asked.
“Yeah, they were my tour guides yesterday.” Jaden explained. “Plus I ran into them on my first day on the island.”
The four girls took a few moments to introduce themselves to each other. Jaden was glad to see that the students from the different schools actually could get along. Suddenly, everyone’s attention was captured by the sudden sound of a galloping in horse. Jaden blinked a few times to make sure that he wasn’t seeing things, but it was soon clear that his eyes weren’t lying. Out on the field, was a young man riding a white horse. The young man had rather short, blue hair, and was wearing a riding outfit. Jaden thought that the rider did indeed look like a prince.
As the group watched from the fence, the rider noticed them and suddenly stopped. It seemed that the prince noticed that he had an audience, of which one of its members, namely Jaden, looked very out of place on an island filled with all girl duel academies. The prince’s horse trotted slowly over to the assembled group. Once close enough, the young man dismounted and walked over to the fence where Jaden and the others were standing.
“Uh, hi.” Jaden greeted a bit nervously. “My name’s Jaden Yuki. I’m kind of a visitor here on the island. It must be interesting being the only boy in an all girl school.”
“Um, I wouldn’t know.” The blue haired rider replied in a voice that, though rather low and a bit husky, was clearly female.
Jaden took a closer look at the so-called “prince” and discovered that, while the person standing before him had a decidedly masculine appearance, was clearly a girl. Though it was a little hard to tell with the riding outfit. A look of embarrassment quickly appeared on Jaden’s face. Jaden could hear Yaya snickering behind him, but Yubel, who had appeared next to Jaden, holding her sides in uncontrollable laughter, quickly drowned her out. It was one of those times when Jaden was glad that he was the only one who could see and hear Yubel.
“Don’t worry, you’re not the first person to make that mistake.” The tomboy chuckled. “Why do you think I’m called a prince? I’m Amane Ohtori, it’s nice to meet you.”
Jaden nervously shook Amane’s extended hand. He could not believe that he had made such an embarrassing mistake, and Yubel wasn’t helping.
“Well, I see that you’ve returned safely Prince Amane.” A new voice said, getting everyone’s attention, everyone’s except for Yubel’s. She was too busy laughing at Jaden’s blunder.
Everyone turned to look at the source of the voice, and found that it belonged to a Spica student with long blond hair. Jaden recognized the girl all too well, because he had seen her the previous day during his tour of Miator. The girl was Spica’s student council president, Shion Tomori.
“I trust things went well at the Atalanic Tournament?” Shion asked Amane.
“They went fine.” Amane replied in a tone that indicated that she was not pleased to see Shion.
“Splendid. Ah, I see that you’ve met the visiting pro-duelist, Jaden Yuki.” Shion observed. “You might be interested to know that Mr. Yuki defeated the Etoile a couple of nights ago.”
Amane looked at Jaden in surprise.
“You defeated the Etoile?” Amane asked Jaden.
“Yeah, but it wasn’t much of a victory.” Jaden replied, remembering how Shizuma didn’t even try to beat him. Although everyone around him took the comment as false modesty. Everyone except Nagisa and Tamao, who had remembered what Miyuki had said during her duel with Jaden.
“No need to be so modest Mr. Yuki. It was an amazing accomplishment.” Shion commented. “Although it would be interesting to see how well you do against Spica’s own prince. I’m sure all of the students at Spica would love to see the two of you duel.”
Amane sighed heavily, as she knew what Shion was tying to do. Jaden could also easily figure out the motives of Spica’s student council presient.
“In fact, rumor has quickly spread that the two of you will be dueling quite shortly in one of Spica’s outdoor arenas.” Shion explained.
“And I suppose you’re the one who started this rumor.” Amane observed.
“What makes you think I started it?” Shion asked in a tone that was far too innocent. “In any case, it would be a shame for you to disappoint your fans Prince Amane.”
Amane sighed heavily in defeat. She knew that there was no way out.
“Alright, let me change and get my duel disk.” Amane said in a defeated tone. “Sorry to put you in this position Mr. Yuki.”
“No problem, I’m looking forward to it.” Jaden said enthusiastically. “And please, call me Jaden.”
Half an hour later, Jaden was at one of Spica’s arenas, awaiting his opponent. A large crowed had already congregated. Among the crowed of course were Yaya, Hikari, Tamao, and Nagisa. Much of the audience was made up of Spica students, but there were quite a few Miator students as well. Suddenly, the crowed facing Jaden parted, allowing Amane to enter the arena, wearing her Spica uniform and duel disk. Though Amane still had a masculine appearance, it was much easier to tell that she was a woman. Shion followed close behind and took a position just outside of the arena.
“Let the duel begin!” Shion declared.
With those words, both Jaden and Amane activated their duel disks, there life points set at 4000.
“I’ll start this off!” Amane declared as she drew her first card. “I set one monster on the field and end my turn!”
With only one set monster on Amane’s side of the field, Jaden began to wonder if the current duel would be a repeat of his duel with Shizuma. After all, Amane was pressured into the duel, why should she take it seriously? Jaden decided to just go ahead with the duel.
“My move!” Jaden declared as he drew a card from his deck. “First I activate Polymerization! I fuse together Elemental Hero Avian and Elemental Hero Burstinatrix to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!”
A winged man in a green furred costume and a grey haired woman with light-grey skin, wearing a red bodysuit and gold helmet appeared on Jaden’s side of the field before leaping into a small vortex in the sky. Emerging from the vortex was a new warrior who was mostly green and black. A slightly deformed white wing grew out of the left side of the warrior’s back. The warrior’s right arm was red and had a dragon’s head instead of a hand. The warrior also had a red dragon’s tail.
“Not only does Flame Wingman have 2100 ATK, but when he destroys an opponents monster by battle, my opponent takes damage equal to the destroyed monster’s ATK!” Jaden explained.
Barley audible whispers could be heard from the crowed. Many of the audience members seemed amazed that Jaden had summoned such a powerful monster so quickly. Amane’s expression remained calm however.
“Flame Wingman, attack Amane’s facedown monster!” Jaden commanded. “Flame Shoot!”
Flame Wingman shot a blast of fire from his dragonhead arm, hitting the facedown card on Amane’s side of the field. When the fire and smoke cleared however, Jaden was surprised to see a monster still on Amane’s side of the field. The monster in question was an elf warrior wearing minimal armor and a purple cape. The warrior was in a crouched position, holding his sword up to block the attack of Jaden’s hero.
“That’s a nice monster.” Amane commented with a smirk. “Too bad my Obnoxious Celtic guardian can’t be destroyed in battle by monsters 1900 or more ATK.”
The crowed cheered that Amane’s monster wasn’t destroyed. Jaden smirked a bit, thinking that perhaps Amane was going to put some effort into the duel after all.
“Fine, I’ll lay down a facedown and end my turn!” Jaden announced as he placed one more card in his duel disk.
“I guess it’s my turn.” Amane declared as she drew a new card. “First I switch Celtic Guardian to Attack Mode. Then I equip him with Lightning Blade!”
The elf warrior’s sword transformed into a sword with a larger blade that crackled with electricity.
“Lightning Blade increases the ATK of the monster it’s equipped to by 800 points.” Amane explained. “So my Celtic Guardian’s ATK rises from 1400 to 2200.”
Again the crowed cheered for Amane. They were all excited that Amane had a brought forth such a powerful monster.
“Celtic Guardian, attack Flame Wingman!” Amane commanded. “Lightning Slash!”
Celtic Guardian slashed Flame Wingman across the chest, shattering him into triangles of golden light. The strike reduced Jaden’s life points from 4000 to 3900. The crowed cheered at the destruction of Jaden’s monster.
“I activate my facedown card, Hero Signal!” Jaden announced. “When one of my monsters is destroyed by battle, I can Special Summon an Elemental Hero from my hand or deck. So I summon Elemental Hero Wildheart from my deck!”
Jaden’s loyal jungle warrior appeared on his side of the field.
“Well, I guess I’ll end my turn.” Amane announced.
“My move!” Jaden announced. “First I activate Fusion Recovery! This card lets me return Polymerization and a Fusion Material monster from my Graveyard to my hand! So I return to my hand one Polymerization, and Elemental Hero Avian to my hand!”
The crowed watched Jaden expectantly as he added the cards to his hand.
“Next I activate Polymerization and fuse Avian and Wildheart to summon Elemental Hero Wild Wingman!” Jaden announced.
Avian reappeared briefly on the field as both he and Wildheart leaped up into the fusion vortex. Emerging from the vortex was a version of Wildheart with Avian’s wings, along with a set of tail feathers, and talons for hands and feet. A large tribal marking in the shape of a bird was on the hero’s chest.
“Now I activate Wild Wingman’s effect!” Jaden announced. “By discarding one card from my hand, I can destroy one Spell or Trap card on the field! The card I choose to destroy is Lightning Blade!”
Wild Wingman flapped his wings, creating a huge gust of wind that shattered Celtic Guardian’s sword. The elf warrior’s original sword reappeared in his hand.
“Not bad,” Amane commented, “but your new hero has 1900 ATK, making him too strong to destroy my Celtic Guardian.”
“That’s where this card comes in, De-Fusion!” Jaden explained as he played another Spell card. “I split Wild Wingman back into Avian and Wildheart!”
The fused hero split back into his two original forms. Jaden knew that Wildheart’s 1500 ATK made it just strong enough to destroy Amane’s Celtic Guardian in battle while getting around the elf’s effect. Avian on the other hand only had 1000 ATK, which wasn’t strong, but could do a fair amount of damage with a direct attack.
“Wildheart, attack Celtic Guardian!” Jaden commanded. “Wild Slash!”
Wildheart slashed the elf warrior across the chest with his sword, destroying it and reducing Amane’s life points to 3900. The crowed gasped as Amane was left open to a direct attack.
“Now Avian, attack Amane directly!” Jaden commanded “Featherbreak!”
Avian shot Amane with a barrage of feathers, reducing her life points to 2900.
“That ends my turn!” Jaden announced.
“That was an interesting move.” Amane commented. “My move!”
The crowed watched Amane expectantly, as did Jaden.
“First I summon Marauding Captain in Attack Mode!” Amane announced.
An unshaven warrior in armor and a red cape appeared on Amane’s side of the field.
“Now I activate Marauding Captain’s effect and Special Summon Mataza the Zapper from my hand in Attack Mode!” Amane announced.
A dark haired warrior in green samurai armor carrying a sword appeared on the field.
“Next I equip Mataza with Fusion Sword Murasame Blade!” Amane announced.
Mataza’s sword suddenly fused to his hand.
“Not only can Murasame Blade not be destroyed by card effects that destroy Spell cards, but it increases the equipped monster’s ATK by 800 points.” Amane explained. “That means Mataza’s ATK rises from 1300 to 2100.”
The crowed again cheered at how Amane had brought forth such a powerful monster.
“Now I equip Marauding Captain with Divine Sword-Phoenix Blade!” Amane announced. “This card increases Marauding Captain’s ATK fro 1200 to 1500!”
The regular sword of Marauding Captain was replaced with a sword that had an ornate handle in the shape of a bird.
“There’s one more thing I should probably explain.” Amane mentioned. “Mataza the Zapper can attack twice in the same Battle Phase.”
The crowed was absolutely thrilled by this news.
“Mataza, attack Wildheart!” Amane commanded. “Swift Slash!”
With incredible speed, Mataza slashed Wildheart across the chest, destroying the jungle hero. The strike reduced Jaden’s life points to 3300.
“Mataza’s not finished yet.” Amane reminded Jaden. “Mataza, attack Avian with Swift Slash!”
Mataza quickly cut down Avian, reducing Jaden’s life points to 2200.
“Now Marauding Captain, attack Jaden directly!” Amane commanded. “Phoenix Blade Slash!”
The unshaven warrior slashed Jaden across the chest with his sword. The strike reduced Jaden’s life points to 700. This caused the crowed to go wild. Jaden was becoming excited as well. Amane was indeed a strong duelist, and she was trying with all her might to defeat Jaden.
“Wow, you’re pretty good!” Jaden commented.
“Thanks.” Amane replied. “I end my turn.”
“My move!” Jaden announced as he drew his next card. “Because he’s the only card in my hand, I can Special Summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman in Defense Mode!”
A warrior in blue armor, a white cape, and grey water tanks on his back appeared on Jaden’s field.
“Because I summoned Bubbleman while I had no cards in my hand or my side of the field, I can draw two more cards!” Jaden explained as he drew two more cards from his deck. Jaden looked at the cards and smirked. “Next I Normal Summon Neo-Spacian Air Hummingbird in Attack Mode!”
A pinkish-red humanoid hummingbird with a pair of large white wings appeared next to Bubbleman.
“Now I activate O-Oversoul!” Jaden announced. “This Spell card lets me Special Summon a Normal Elemental Hero monster from my Graveyard! So I summon the card I discarded to activate Wild Wingman’s effect, Elemental Hero Neos!”
In a flash of white light, Jaden’s ace monster appeared on the field.
“Time for a Contact Fusion!” Jaden announced.
“Contact Fusion?” Amane asked in a confused tone.
“That’s right!” Jaden replied. “I return Neos and Air Hummingbird to my deck to Fusion Summon Elemental Hero Air Neos!”
Both Neos and Air Hummingbird leapt high into the air, vanishing fro site. A moment later, Neos reappeared in an altered form. The color of his suit had changed to a pinkish-red, and the horn on his head ha changed to give him the appearance of a bird. Pinkish-red spikes extended from the top of Neos’ wrists, and his hands became more like talons. A pair of massive white wings was on Neos’ back.
“When my life points are lower than my opponent’s, Air Neos gains ATK equal to the difference!” Jaden explained. “This means that Air Neos’ ATK rises from 2500 to 5400!”
The crowed gave out a shocked gasp.
“Air Neos, attack Marauding Captain!” Jaden commanded. “Neos Windstorm!”
With one flap of his mighty wings, Air Neos sent forth a powerful blade of wind that cut through Marauding Captain and hit Amane. The tomboy’s life points were reduced to zero.
“That’s game!” Jaden said as he did his trademark victory pose.
The crowed fell completely silent. Shion stood frozen with an expression of hock and awe on her face. Her plan to make Amane, her champion, look better than the current Etoile had completely backfired. Amane calmly walked over to Jaden with a smile on her face.
“That was a great duel.” Amane commented. “I actually had fun.”
“I had fun too.” Jaden replied a he shook Amane’s extended hand.
The people in the crowed quickly began to leave, until only Jaden, Amane, Hikari, Yaya, Tamao, and Nagisa were left.
‘Oh, Amane, before you go, there’s someone who wants to meet you.” Jaden informed the woman prince as she was beginning to leave. “Her name is Hikari, and I guess she’s a really big fan of yours”
Hikari gasped in shock when Jaden mentioned her name. Yaya gave the nervous blond a gentle shove forward.
“Hello.” Amane greeted as she walked up to Hikari.
“Uh, h-hi.” Hikari replied nervously.
“Wow, that Hikari sure is nervous.” Jaden said quietly to himself.
“What do you expect?” Yubel asked as she suddenly reappeared next to Jaden. “She is meeting her crush for the first time.”
“Her crush?” a confused Jaden asked. “But Amane’s a girl.”
“Oh, I think Hikari already knew that.” Yubel replied. “After all, how could a boy be enrolled in an all girl school?”
“But that would mean… oh.” Jaden said as he realized what Yubel was implying. He did not have a problem with it of course, but it was still a bit of a surprise. “Do you think that Amane is also…?”
“I have a hunch that she might be.” Yubel responded. “In fact, we might be seeing the beginning of a love story.”
* * *
In a remote cave on Atarea Island, Pegasus walked up to where two of his men were standing in front of a large open chest.
“Mr. Pegasus, we’ve confirmed that this chest did hold one of the cards we’re looking for,” one of the men said as Pegasus walked up to them, “but I’m afraid that the card itself is missing.”
“I see.” Pegasus replied as he stopped in front of the open chest. “This is very unfortunate.”
Pegasus and his men finally took their attention away from the open chest when they heard the footsteps of someone else entering the cave. They all turned to see that it was the head mistress of the Astraea academies.
“Mr Pegasus, is it true?” the head mistress asked anxiously. “Are those cards really here?”
“I’m afraid so.” Pegasus said with a worried look on his face. “In fact it appears that one of the cards has already been taken.”
“Oh dear, if one of those cards has fallen into the hands of one of the students…” the head mistress began, but she could not bring herself to finish her sentence.
“This cave is on Lilum grounds.” One of Pegasus’ men cut in. “That means it’s very possible for one of the students attending Lilum to have the card.”
“As horrid as that theory sounds, I hope it’s correct.” Pegasus replied. “Because if the person we’re after has even one of those cards, the consequences would be dire.”
