Chapter 93: Chazz: I’ve Already Seen Through Your Strategy!

"Fair warning: your read on my deck is a little out of date."

Rowan shook his head and reached for the top of his deck.

"My turn. Draw!"

"What do you mean, out of date?" Chazz's expression flickered, then soured as the implication landed. "Don't tell me you switched to another new deck."

"Let me show you exactly what this new deck can do."

Rowan glanced at the card he'd drawn. A smile crossed his face.

He placed it on the duel disk without ceremony.

"Defense position. Ojama Red!"

"Nuisance!"

A tinny mechanical chirp rang out alongside a flash of light, and a squat, goggle-eyed little creature popped into existence on Rowan's field, crouching in guard stance. It was wearing a red speedo and looking aggressively ridiculous about it.

Ojama Red. Level 2. Light attribute. ATK: 0. DEF: 1000.

"Ojama... Red?"

Chazz stared. In the stands, Alexis, Bastion, and Jaden all did a double take.

"He summoned a monster with zero attack points," Chumley said, sounding genuinely confused.

And not just any zero-attack monster. The Ojama family was famous for being completely useless in combat. If the person playing it were anyone other than Rowan, they'd have started looking for signs of a deliberate throw.

"The thing is," Bastion said slowly, his expression shifting into something distinctly uneasy, "because it is Rowan playing it... a zero-attack Ojama monster somehow makes me feel like this deck is going to be absolutely horrifying."

The memory of past trauma passed visibly across his face.

Around him, Alexis, Kaiser Zane, Jaden, and Professor Crowler all nodded without a word. Unanimous, immediate, involuntary agreement.

If Rowan was playing something that looked this harmless, it was because something terrible was about to happen.

"Hmph." In the front row, Slade Princeton let out a short laugh. "Those things are worthless. Zero attack across the board. Even someone outside the dueling world has heard of Ojamas. Absolute bottom-tier."

"And our little brother's opponent decided to bring them," Jagger Princeton added with theatrical sympathy, shaking his head. "It's practically charity. Handing the win over gift-wrapped. Though I suppose winning too easily has its own complications."

"Is this your new deck?" Chazz called across the field, already smirking. "Or did you swap to something with a built-in excuse because you knew you were going to lose to me?"

He was sure he had Rowan figured out.

This was clearly the act of someone who didn't want to admit they were scared of losing to Chazz Princeton, Lightning of...

"If that's what you want to think, we could always make it interesting the same way we did before."

Rowan spread his hands with an inviting tilt of his head.

He was looking at Chazz the way a farmer looks at a particularly well-fed sheep standing directly in front of a gate it doesn't know how to open.

There was no bigger mark in this school. He was genuinely considering suggesting Chazz and Jaden form a duo.

"Take the bet!" Slade called from the stands with full confidence. "The Princeton name backs you. Whatever it costs."

"Fine! Deal!" Chazz pointed across the field. Some part of him had registered a flicker of wrongness when Rowan smiled, a faint shadow falling across his instincts. He ignored it. "I'm taking back every win you ever got off me!"

He could've sworn he heard something just then. A tiny, tinny little voice near his ear, like a mechanical chirp, warning him. It sounded a lot like the Ojama spirit he'd picked up at North Academy. He ignored that too.

"Then let's continue. Ojama Red's special effect activates upon Normal Summon. I can Special Summon up to four 'Ojama' monsters from my hand."

Rowan's smile widened.

"Right now Ojama Red is the only monster on my field and I have four remaining monster zones open. So that means I can invite the rest of the family."

The little red creature on the field opened its mouth.

Out of that mouth came Ojama Yellow.

Ojama Yellow opened its mouth.

Out came Ojama Black.

Then Ojama Green popped out of Black's mouth, and finally, Ojama Blue popped out of Green's mouth!

They nested out of each other like the world's most absurd set of matryoshka dolls, until Rowan's side of the field was occupied by five squat, goggle-eyed creatures in colorful speedos, all crouched in defense position across their oversized card silhouettes.

"Two cards set. Turn end."

Rowan placed his two remaining hand cards face-down and passed.

"Hmph. Trying to build a defensive wall out of trash monsters?"

Chazz set his hand on his deck, smirk firmly in place.

"You'll see soon enough that those things mean nothing against the Armed Dragon."

He drew with a full sweep of his arm.

"My turn. Draw!"

"Let me show you what a Level monster actually is, Rowan!"

He pointed at the small orange-yellow dinosaur crouched on his field.

"During my Standby Phase, Armed Dragon LV3's effect activates! I send it to the Graveyard to Special Summon one Armed Dragon LV5 from my hand or deck!"

"Rise up! Armed Dragon LV5!"

An orange-yellow beam erupted from beneath Armed Dragon LV3, swallowing it entirely. The light thickened, then collapsed.

In its place stood something considerably more imposing: a full-armored dragon in deep crimson and gunmetal black, broader and taller and visibly angrier than its predecessor, occupying the field with the kind of presence that suggested it had opinions about everything in its vicinity.

Armed Dragon LV5. Level 5. Wind attribute. ATK: 2400. DEF: 1700.

Rowan privately categorized this as a Pokémon evolution and moved on.

"Rowan, the moment you filled your field with those defense-position Ojamas, I saw exactly what you were doing!" Chazz announced, satisfaction ringing through every word.

"You're building a wall with those worthless monsters and planning to chip away at my Life Points through trap cards buried in the back row. That's the whole plan, isn't it."