A quick note: I recommend reading "Duel Academy" first, but it is not necessary. Character introduction and development are primarily what you'll be missing without it. This arc is more exciting and plot-driven.
Chapter 1: Budding in the Snow
After only three weeks away from school, Bryan and Matt already missed the place. It hadn't changed since they left, but they certainly had. After jointly winning the Limitation Duel Monsters Tournament and using a small portion of their winnings on new cards, they both upgraded their decks to accommodate new strategies. Now they both felt even stronger than before.
"How's it going?" a soft voice asked when Matt got to his room and started unpacking.
He turned to see Kasumi standing in the doorway. Whether because he thoroughly missed her over the last month or because Kas looked absolutely stunning in her blue sweater, Matt dropped his stuff in place to go greet her more physically.
"I'm so glad to see you," he said, giving her a big hug.
"Apparently," she said, a little stunned by his reaction. Sure, he agreed to go out with her, but he never showed this much interest before. And aside from the few, ten-minute phone calls they shared, he hardly even tried to contact her, leading to her hesitation. "Were you that lonely over Christmas?"
"I had Bryan, but he doesn't smell as great as you do."
She laughed and finally returned the hug. "Well, it's nice to see you, too. I probably don't need to ask this question, but how'd the Limitations Tournament go?"
"We won."
"We? I thought tournaments usually end in a single victor."
"For whatever reason, the last duel was a Tag Match between the tournament's organizer, and Bryan and me. Bro and I have no problem sharing the honor, so we didn't really argue it."
"That's noble of you," she joked, "splitting the fame that goes with winning an international tournament."
"If it's with Bryan, I don't mind," he answered, reminding her that Bryan was practically his brother. "But that's enough about me. How are you doing, gorgeous?"
She chuckled at the nickname and blushed brightly. "I'm great. I spent Christmas with my family, including my older brother who's a professional duelist."
"Oh, yeah? That's cool."
"He says I'm stronger now. He thinks I could be in the Blue Mansion next year."
Matt smiled at her and said, "I'll bet you will. What else did you do?"
"Well…" She gently placed her hand around Matt's. "I missed you just a little bit." She hoped being coy would intrigue him. She was right.
Matt packed lightly, so he spent much of the day helping others in the dorm move stuff into their rooms, and helped some of them move furniture around. He wasn't quite as strong and useful as Bryan, but he was capable of bunking a pair of beds with little help.
Actually, Matt got a new roommate for this semester. Darius Mantzios, a twenty-four-year-old freshman, was promoted to be a Red Dorm, boys' floor prefect because the position was empty since Bryan left to become a Guardian Dueler. Darius's final exam scores during the previous presented him as a duelist strong enough to be a prefect; his own roommate dropped out of the Academy over the winter break, and so the administration decided to put him and Matt together.
Darius hardly spoke a word, making him a rather odd choice as an advisor to other freshmen. He wasn't silent to be intimidating, but because he was raised to believe that one without something important to say shouldn't speak—a concept Matt sometimes had difficulty comprehending. He was of Greek descent, complete with an olive complexion and silky, black hair. He was fairly tall and of a decent build, the result of genetics and being an active baseball player as a kid and joining an intramural football team on campus. He rather enjoyed playing the game and actually met both Matt and Bryan during a heartbreaking loss of 28-27, but he held no grudges, and in fact, he looked forward to joining his friends again for an intramural softball team during this spring semester. He wasn't especially fond of the slower pace of softball after getting used to the rigorous, almost cutthroat baseball games he used to have with kids in the neighborhood, but he did like the fact that he was a lot less likely to break his nose a second time with this much higher level of civility.
As was their custom, the Duel Academy kitchen staff prepared a feast to celebrate the return of the students. Matt invited his new roommate to join him in eating with the Guard Trio and friends, but Darius respectfully turned him down and joined his group of intramural sports friends from the previous semester, much to Kasumi's dismay; she playfully tried to make Matt jealous by letting him know how hot his new roommate was. The theme of the feast was spicy foods to counter the cold weather outside. They even had one table few dared to approach.
"How can you eat that?" Cary asked Bryan. "It burns my nose all the way over here."
"I'm not as shocked that he can eat it as the fact that he's on his fifth serving," Andy laughed.
"What can I say?" Bryan asked. "I have high metabolism and a leftover can of Febreze."
"Lucky for us," Dave poked. Lucy added to his point a heavily sarcastic comment about how lucky she was to meet him.
In the middle of dinner, Dr. West made the announcements regarding events over the break. Among the many announcements, David Strickland was offered positions with no fewer than six professional dueling clans effective the moment he graduates. Andrew Yoon was offered positions by two of the same dueling clans plus two more. Justin Nussbaum was offered a job working for Kaiba Corp. Gaming as a tech analyst. And of course, Bryan Knight and Matt Luther were joint champions of the Gathas Limitation Duel Monsters Tournament.
"What did you guys win?" Justin asked Bryan and Matt.
"A lot of money," Bryan answered. "And that big trophy sitting in the main lobby of the administration building. Plus we both got brand new Duel Disks courtesy of the owner of the owner of the Denkard hotel and casino."
Matt proceeded to explain their theory about the tournament invitation. "We think Leona Moxley invited us because, as students, we were such major underdogs that she and some investors could clean up gambling on us."
"Isn't that illegal?" Andy asked.
Bryan shrugged. "Probably. But it's not like they inflated the odds against us or rigged the duels. We were legitimate underdogs who happened to be good enough to win the tournament."
"Well, I didn't exactly sit at home and twiddle my thumbs all through Christmas," Cary commented, eager to make herself known. "I've been practicing. I think I can beat you guys now."
"You realize we won that tournament against a lot of rich, internationally renowned duelists, right?" Matt confirmed. "I didn't gloss over that or slur my words, did I?" Cary glared back and Kas smacked Matt on the arm for being so heavily sardonic.
"I think Cary's good enough to take one of the god cards," Kas posited. Cary thanked her for the vote of confidence.
Lucy asked, "You're not thinking of coming after me again, are you?"
Cary shook her head. "Don't worry. I don't want one of them now. With you guys out of the way and Matt ineligible this semester, I'm going to make sure I get to be in the spring School Duel. I'll come after a god card at the end of the semester when four of you guys graduate."
"That's actually a really good strategy," Justin told her. "And because we don't have to worry about you making us move out, you can pick our brains all you want and get some training in how to use the god cards." Andy and Dave just smiled, knowing that Justin only wanted to spend more time with Cary.
"You're going to join us in the Guardian house, right?" Bryan asked his sworn brother.
Dave spoke up first. "No, he's going to wait until the end of the semester, just like Cary." He motioned toward the OTK badge on Matt's jacket and said, "He's going to spend some time as a one-turn duelist for a while. If he quits now, he doesn't get to put his membership on his resume."
Matt grinned and nodded. "That's true, plus I really don't want to kick any of you out of the house, anyway. I could probably take Lucy if I really wanted to, but then she and Bryan would both be all upset with me…"
Lucy made a face and said, "Plus, you only beat Elijah. You and I haven't dueled yet. You don't know that you can beat me." And she honestly believed she was still better than he was despite his track record. He just grinned in reply.
"What kind of stuff do you do as an OTK guy?" Lakisha asked.
"Give him a day, at least," Bryan commented, referring to the fact that Matt hasn't been a member of Team OTK for a day on campus yet—just the last day of a semester and the evening before the first day of the new semester.
"We're going on a camping trip soon," Matt described. "This weekend, I think. Supposed to be a fun way to force us to spend time together and get to know one another."
"How many people are on the team?" Lakisha asked. Matt told her the team had six members, plus him. "That sounds like a lot of fun."
"That sounds cold," Kasumi countered. "Sleeping outside in the snow? No, thanks."
"We use sleeping bags," Matt explained defensively. "Plus, I was going to ask if you'd come with me. I think you would be a nice choice to share a sleeping bag."
Kasumi blushed, still new to the fact that she and Matt were becoming a couple. "I don't think so. It'll be way too cold for me, and we haven't been on a real date yet."
Jess laughed and pointed out, "I think he's only asking you to sleep with him in the purely literal sense of the word. The idea is that sharing a sleeping bag conserves body heat. My cousins and I used to do that all the time when we went camping."
Kas was still convinced that sleeping in the snow would leave her colder than she could handle.
"That's fine," Matt said. "I'm not going to force you to go."
"I thought you two would be doing all kinds of stuff only one of you wants to do just to be together, like watch football or go shopping," Lakisha commented.
Matt grinned and motioned in the direction of Bryan and Lucy, who were practically sharing a seat. "We're not yet to their level, the one where you spend an hour every night on the phone even amidst an international duel tournament."
"I had to check up on him," Lucy joked. "You know how Bryan can be when surrounded by beautiful, exotic women. Or even women with pulses." Bryan acted as if he was offended by that comment, but nobody bought it; given his behavior when he first met Cary, Erica, and Kas, Lucy's caution was well founded and Bryan accepted it. He had no intention of cheating on her, but he was fond of the saying, "Being on a diet doesn't prevent you from looking at the dessert menu."
Andy took the conversation back to spoils everyone got for Christmas, almost everyone getting lots of new cards, some getting new computer equipment, lots of clothes, and even some sports memorabilia.
That evening, as they got ready for bed and classes the next morning, Cary brought up the camping subject with Kasumi again. She wanted to convince Kasumi to go so she wouldn't sabotage her own relationship before it even started.
"I get so cold," Kas told her. "I have thin skin without a lot of fat, and camping means not moving around. That's the only reason I don't want to go."
"That's fair," Cary replied. "Do you mind if I go?"
This certainly caught Kas's attention. She felt like her throat closed and her heart stopped beating, right before it started beating way too quickly. Did she really just hear her roommate—her best friend—say she wanted to spend the night with her new boyfriend?
Cary was quick to intercept any misinterpretations. "Matt's also worried about being really cold and I love camping; those are the only reasons he even asked me. I really don't think he's even slightly interested in me, and I know I'm not interested in him."
Kas tried to say she didn't mind, but her eyes told a completely contradictory story.
Cary suggested, "Why not just go with him? I know you're worried about the cold, but just go anyway. It really is a lot of fun, plus you get to use a cute guy to stay warm. And don't forget, a large part of dating is doing stuff you don't necessarily want to do just so you can be with each other. Go camping with Matt, and later you can force him to watch chick flicks or go shopping with you."
Kasumi considered the idea all week. Then late Friday evening, she found herself in the woods wrapped in three sweaters and a heavy coat, bearing close to a bonfire and overlooking a lake as it reflected the moonlight across its calm surface. She listened as Matt told the members of Team OTK about the tournament—how he won a round with a two-turn Dark Magician move—and about his new deck. He was looking forward to the opportunity to show off the cards he got with a portion of his tournament winnings. He put in two more OTK strategies and potential for more given the right circumstances.
In a quick demonstration duel Matt had against one of his teammates, he demonstrated one of his new strategies. Laura set a monster and a card, but Matt already had a strategy set up. He played One for One and discarded Catapult Turtle from his hand to summon Magical Scientist (1/300/300) from his deck, then he played Monster Reborn to revive Catapult Turtle (5/1000/2000). He proceeded to pay 7000 LP for Magical Scientist's effect, bringing to the field three copies of Aqua Dragon (6/2250/1900), two copies of Sanwitch (6/2100/1800), and two copies of Dark Flare Knight (6/2200/800). Using Catapult Turtle's effect, Matt offered each fusion monster as Tributes to inflict half the AP as damage against Laura. When that ended, he further offered up Catapult Turtle itself to end the duel. Matt 8000: Laura 8000 – 1125 – 1125 – 1125 – 1050 – 1050 – 1100 – 1100 – 500 = 0.
Haruki Yagawa, currently the senior leader of Team OTK and skilled user of the Judgment Dragon OTK, was looking for someone to take the lead of the team's Duel Academy division upon his graduation and enrollment in the professional dueling league. The second-ranked member of the team, his girlfriend Miyu Kino, was also a senior ready to graduate and move into the professional leagues. Miyu's specialty was the Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth, which she used to swarm the field with fish she could tune into bigger monsters.
Fusayo Yamakawa, a junior, was probably third in Haruki's eyes. Fusayo's strategy was to summon the Ritual monster called Demise, King of Armageddon to destroy all the opponent's cards and then swarm the field with big monsters to finish the opponent in one turn. Fusayo was a talented duelist and a fairly intelligent guy, but he was much too sycophantic to be a leader. He was always sucking up to Haruki to curry favors; even though it worked, Haruki still saw Fusayo as a follower. Brad Nguyen wasn't much better; he was just as much a suck-up, but because his talent fell a bit short of Fusayo's, the two were always at odds with one another when it came to group dynamics. They got along fine when the situation called for teamwork, but that wasn't good enough for a team leader. Brad's strategy centered on the trap called All-Out Attacks, using Ojama Trio to make sure the opponent has weak monsters that are forced to attack Brad's bigger, earth-based monsters.
Laura Gertin was a strict, by-the-rules kind of person, which wasn't always a bad thing, but her constant reminders of school and team policy and her tattling on anyone and everyone who violated a rule in even the slightest way made her incredibly annoying; Miyu could barely stand her, and Haruki would probably have little contact with her if she weren't such a great duelist; Laura's deck focused on Rescue Cat and its ability to summon multiple beasts from the deck straight to the field. There was one rule she had no problem violating, however; she had a thing for Desmond Vele, a sophomore whose OTK centered on multiple Batteryman AA to gain attack points, and was caught by his roommate one time in the boys' room late at night when Desmond was a freshman. That these two didn't seem to notice their hypocrisy was reason enough for Haruki not to leave them in charge.
That left Matt as his first choice for the time being, and Kasumi was already starting to see that. Matt made a lot of jokes and had a tendency toward childish behaviors, but he could be as serious as anyone when it mattered, and he was very clearly talented and adaptive.
When he was finished helping with the firewood, Matt sat down next to Kasumi and put his arm around her shoulder. She was still shivering despite her layers, and so she drew closer as soon as Matt touched her.
"You look like you're having fun," she said with what little smile she could muster.
"I am," replied. "These folks are pretty cool." He watched her shiver. "You look really cold." He put both hands on her arms and started rubbing vigorously to warm her up.
"I can't even feel that," she told him. She turned her head to look him in the eyes for a moment. He was really cute and she loved the attention he was giving her, but it was almost not worth it to be surrounded by snow for a full night. "I'm really starting to hate you."
He just laughed. "That's too bad," he said as his smile softened, "because I'm really starting to like you." He leaned forward and touched his forehead to her hat. She didn't move away, so he touched his nose to hers. Suddenly Kasumi felt her face warm up as she started to blush again.
Matt placed his hand on the side of her head and said, "Maybe you'll feel this." He pulled her close and kissed her. With the ensuing endorphins in flow, Kas felt warm again for the first time all night.
A short and sweet start to Part II. This should be a gentle recap of the main characters so far and an introduction to Matt's new roommate Darius, thanks to tiramisu19. I apologize for the short duel, but that's what happens with a first-turn-kill strategy. Don't expect to see too many more of those; when the duel is so short, it makes it seem unimportant. That happens to be the case in this chapter (I almost didn't even include that much), but in general, I want the duels to curry a little more focus than that.
During this arc, I plan to discuss the Shadow Realm not as it is described in the English anime but as more of a combination of the Japanese anime and my own creative influence (what fun is it to write a story if I don't add my own touch?). There will be plenty of action and background for the characters, and I'll even reveal the cards held by many of the faculty members as they help take on the shadow-infested god cards. I hope you enjoy the show! As always, I accept reader-submitted, original characters. I have this arc planned out pretty well, but your character may still make an appearance or two.
Next up: Don't Shoot the Messenger
Credits:
Darius....tiramisu19
Everyone else....YamiRuss