A/N: This fic is something I've been working on for a while. I thought I had a decent plan for this, but two extra characters snuck into this chapter alone and messed it up *mentally wails*. Anyway, the first chapter is complete (and Ch 34, previously 33, but that's beside the point).

(Hopefully) this will have bimonthly updates sometime during the second week of the month; every other month, I hope to update Before the Seal is Broken. (Now how many months you think my muses will leave me in peace this time?)

Anyway, as far as the AU goes, it's one of those "dump the Frontier characters into another verse", but with my own touches. It took quite a while for a Battle Royale to show up in GX after all. :D A Battle Royale, for those of you who aren't familiar, is a three way duel, where each of the three people are separate teams, unlike a 2-on-1 where it's, as the name suggests, two people against one. Alliances can be formed/broken but not trusted in a Battle Royale; as Osamu says, it's "to each their own". Osamu is an OC btw, though cookies for anyone who can guess who he's – somewhat loosely – based off.

Year I: From Obscure Shadows
Chapter 1 – The Arrival at Duel Academy! Battle Royal Open

Zoe clicked her tongue in impatience, being careful not to drop her chin again. She'd done that not five minutes past, and the nauseating metallic taste still clung to her pallet. Still, the habit was a difficult one to overcome, particularly when her companion was excruciatingly slow in selecting a card.

Considering he had next to no strategy to speak of, Zoe had to wonder exactly what Takuya thought about for so long, though it never amounted to anything substantial. My bet's a monster, she said to herself. Probably 1400 attack points or more…or raised to that level with a spell. But even if Takuya's monster didn't surpass her Sonic Shooter, the odds of him playing a monster in defence mode were slim.

Not that it really mattered, because whatever monster he could play in defence, it wouldn't surpass the attack points of Slate Warrior once she activated its flip effect. Granted, she thought, Slate Warrior's 400 defence points are a bit of a problem. Knowing Takuya though, he'd go for her attack mode monster – though, either way, she was pretty sure she'd won.

Still, even an inevitable victory wasn't definite, and it was grating to wait for Takuya to make his move. 'Would you hurry up already?' she sighed, shifting in her seat, careful not to knock down her cup of cola. The liquid was shaking slightly as it was, due to the plane's movement, and she'd much rather sip at it until arriving at Duel Academia Island instead of spilling it over her lap.

'I'm hurrying,' Takuya muttered, nibbling the edge of a pocky stick as he regarded his cards. 'This one…or that one?'

'Uurgh.' Zoe groaned. 'Choose already, or I'm going to choose for you!'

'Fine, fine.' Takuya tapped each of his two cards in turn, then selected the right one. 'I summon…Solar Flare Dragon!'

1500 attack points, Zoe thought. That was 200 more than her Sonic Shooter – but Takuya had ignored her face-down card.

'Now, attack Sonic Shooter!'

'Ego Boost!' Zoe cried, drawing a few passing glances as she flipped over her quick-play spell card. But the curiosity passed soon enough; the other students-to-be were playing games of their own, or reading, or simply staring out the window, and no-one payed too much attention to their particular duel.

Except Takuya, who had brought his head too close to her cup of cola for comfort, trying to read the text on her card. 'Here I wish we had enough space to use the duel disks,' he muttered, as Zoe handed the card over and seized her toppling cup with the other hand.

'Me too,' Zoe said after a pause, deciding to reconsider her reprimand. Her somewhat air-headed friend would forget it anyhow.

'Let's see…' Takuya frowned at the card. '"When a monster declares an attack: target one face-up monster on the field; it gains 1000 attack points until the end phase." So what does – oh.'

It hit him in a rush then, and he took his Solar Flare Dragon off the table with a groan. 'How much damage is that?'

'800,' Zoe replied, doing the math in her head. 'Honestly, I'm surprised you passed the written portion of the exam.'

'Well…' Takuya rubbed his hair. 'It was mostly luck, and I didn't get that great a score you know.'

'I can see that.' The boy was in Slifer Red after all, though the fact that he got in had to say something. 'But I didn't do that well on my written exam either, and I got into Ra.'

'It's not like they have a Slifer Dorm for the girls,' Takuya pointed out. 'I wonder if that makes it easier or more difficult for girls to get in.'

'More difficult of course,' Zoe snorted. 'If we perform at your level, we won't get a square inch of the Academy.'

'I guess that's true…' But Takuya didn't dwell on it; it wasn't his problem anyway, and it wasn't as though Zoe's 69 in the written portion had kept her from getting into Ra Yellow. 'Anyway, that's it for my turn – seeing as my other card is another Solar Flare Dragon.'

Zoe glared. 'You're telling me,' she said slowly, 'that you spent five minutes trying to decide between two cards that are exactly the same?'

'Well, no…' Though he subconsciously inched back into his chair. 'They're not exactly the same, but – ' Zoe glared again, and he diverted: 'It's your turn.'

Zoe drew a card, then slapped down her Winged Sage Falcos. 'That's 1700 attack points,' she said, 'plus the 1300 attack points of Sonic Shooter, and another 2300 from my face-down monster.' She put a finger under the card to flip up.

'2300?' takuya repeated. 'Just where did you get a monster under level 5 with that kind of attack power?'

'I didn't,' Zoe replied, revealing Slate Warrior. 'But Slate Warrior's flip effect adds 400 attack points to its original 1900. So the total damage you'll receive from this battle phase is – ' She paused for a moment to do the mental arithmetic. '5300 points.'

Takuya had 4700 life points left, so that was the end of their mock match. 'And I didn't even get to see Alector, Sovereign of Birds,' he grumbled to himself, collecting his cards and looking through the rest of his deck. 'And where the heck's my ace?'

Zoe picked up her own cards and shuffled her deck. Alector wouldn't have been any good to her anyway, as she needed her opponent to have two monsters of the same attribute on their field for her to be able to special summon it. On the other hand, Takuya's Fire King High Avatar Garunix was far more easily summonable. Except he hadn't played a single Fire King monster during the entire duel, wasting even his UFO Turtle's effect to summon out Firebird – which might have worked, if he had weaker winged beasts as bait. It would have worked even better with her, considering she always had trouble remembering effects of cards she did not frequently use: a problem far easier to handle with the holographics of the duel disks than the duel mat they were using now.

'Oh, there it is.' Takuya cheered when he found his card. 'Geez, I almost wondered if I had left it at home. God, if my little brother found it –' He shook his head, catching sight of the Academy island in the process. 'Oh, look, we're almost here.'

'Your head's in the way,' Zoe quipped, but obligingly leaned forward to take a look. 'And look. No-one's saying we're a couple.'

'Huh?' Takuya either hadn't heard or hadn't understood her words.

'Never mind.'

The announcement came up over the inter-com: 'Now approaching Duel Academy Island. Please return your seats to their upright position and refasten your seatbelts…'

Takuya stretched, feeling a little cramped from the flight. Zoe on the other hand looked well at ease beside him.

'It's not my first flight, you know,' she said in amusement, eyeing him as he rolled his neck. 'I fly to and from Italy at least every year after all; I'm a born flyer.'

'I guess there's some advantage to that,' Takuya said with a grin, himself having only sat on a plane once before. 'Glad I had you to keep me company.'

'Oh, so I've been reduced to a simple baby-sitter?' Zoe asked. 'Granted, I am three months older than you…'

'Please don't start,' Takuya groaned, who had gotten enough of that when they'd attended the same middle school in Domino City. 'Anyway, where are we supposed to go?'

'Uhh…' Zoe checked her PAD. 'Welcome Ceremony's not until tomorrow morning, so I suppose we're just supposed to settle into our dorms, have the welcome dinners and then have an early night.'

'That's it?' Takuya asked, disappointed; he'd been hoping with a more flashy greeting by the island upon which he would be boarding for the next three year. 'Oh well…where are these dorms anyway?'

'Well…' Zoe fiddled around with the PDA a little, looking for the inbuilt map feature. 'Mine's just over there.' She pointed down the short track road just ahead. 'Yours is on the Cliffside; just take that road there.' She pointed to the left one, which curved off and was hidden by some trees.

Takuya followed the finger. 'A bit far, isn't it?'

Zoe shrugged. 'You're saying that as if I've been here before.' Which she hadn't. 'Doesn't look too far on here, and look on the bright side. No roads to almost get yourself killed crossing.'

'That's true.' Takuya was glad for that, considering he had a habit of not looking when crossing the street, and getting cars and trunks tooting their horns at him as a result. 'Though I was hoping –'

He stopped at the look his friend gave him. 'Don't tell me you were hoping we'd be roommates.' Zoe rolled her eyes. 'Seriously Takuya, not only are we in separate dorms, but we're a girl and a boy.'

'I know that! I just meant –'

Then Zoe caught him off guard with her smile. 'I'm glad we got in together though,' she said. 'Even if we're in separate dorms, there's plenty of times we'll be seeing each other. Much more than back home I'd say – though I don't know how much time this place is going to suck out of us.'

The wind blew past, and Zoe subconsciously clutched her skirt before realising it clung to her legs. 'Huh? So these short skirts don't ride up in the wind?' She twisted a little, taking a better look as to how it fit. 'I wonder what material it's made up of; I should get my other skirts like this as well – though preferably longer.'

She'd compensated for that little issue by wearing socks that went up to just above her knees. With the elbow-height gloves that had been an optional part of the uniform, there wasn't much skin showing despite the sleeveless top and short skirt that was the female uniform.

'Beats me,' Takuya said, knowing well enough not to look. He'd seen enough guys get the wrong end of Zoe's shoe for it – and he a few times as well. 'I must say, our uniforms are far looser.'

He just had a red blazer, and could wear whatever he wanted underneath. There were optional shoes as well – but, since they were optional, he'd opted for his usual sneakers instead. The school-issued ones were a little taller, and he wasn't quite used to those. His own were far more comfortable. He noticed Zoe was wearing yellow ones that were presumably school-issued – though, he hadn't seen a girl yet that wasn't wearing either yellow or blue heels. Another thing the guys had more flexibility with.

'I mean,' Zoe continued, 'I know they need to control what we wear a little more tightly than the guys, but aren't these skirts a little too revealing?'

'Please tell me you don't expect me to look and answer that,' Takuya groaned, shielding his eyes.

'Well…' Zoe grinned at that. 'I don't have to worry about your brain turning to mush in any case. Besides, you have seen me in a bikini.'

'That's true,' Takuya accented, but somehow he still got the feeling those heels were going to stamp holes into his face if he dared to look.

'Well…' Zoe brushed her hair away from her neck. 'Shoo; you standing here chatting is going to make us both late. We need to unpack after all.'

'Late for what?'

'Dinner.' Zoe, resisting the urge to roll her eyes again, just pointed up at the sky. Pink streaks were painted across, and the sun was a little dot disappearing behind the treeline that hid the Slifer Dorms.

'A little walk?' Takuya grumbled to himself as he heaved his bag up the steps. 'Zoe, you could have mentioned the entire walk was uphill!' And he'd been hoping to check out the other side of the island before the welcome dinner too.

'Talking to yourself?' a snide voice behind him asked. When Takuya stopped where he was and tried to turn around – an action hindered by the large bag he was carrying – the voice added: 'Do you mind? You're blocking the stairs.'

Takuya grumbled under his breath, but heaved the bag up the last few steps and then turned around. The boy on the steps had his arms folded, but there didn't appear to be any luggage on him.

'Second year, Slifer,' the boy said, almost spitting the second word; apparently, he wasn't very happy with his dorm allocation. 'And I certainly don't need a freshman in my way.'

'Excuse me,' Takuya muttered, dragging his bag across and stopping on the second door. 'Ah, this one's mine.'

'Tch,' came the voice behind him. 'You would be allocated to my room.'

Before Takuya could come up with a come-back to that, the door they both stood in front of opened a crack and a hazel eye peeked out.

'Err…hi,' Takuya said, when the person behind the door said nothing. 'We're…your new roomates?'

'Okay,' the other replied, opening the door fully and backing away. He looked smaller than a typical freshman, and with a face that seemed to suit a girl more than him, but Takuya shrugged it off. His brother had a similar friend, and he was a fierce one if someone got him mad.

His other roommate didn't appear too thrilled though, simply grunting and surveying the room. Whatever comments he had about it, he kept to himself – perhaps wisely, or perhaps afraid it may reveal more about himself than he cared to. The last to come under scrutiny was the bunk, and then he pointed at the one on top. 'I'll take that one.'

'Hang on a sec,' Takuya, who hadn't thought to call dibs on bunks so early, cried. 'There is no way I'm sleeping below someone!'

The other frowned. 'This isn't the time anyway; the freshman welcome dinner is starting soon.'

'Oh, right. But…' Takuya stared at the other, who ran a hand through his head of short black hair. 'Your name?'

'Osamu Makura,' was the flat reply.

Takuya jabbed a thumb at himself. 'I'm Takuya Kanbara.' He looked at the blond. 'And you?'

'I'm Chiisai Sukuzi,' he replied, not with the small voice Takuya had been expected. When nobody said anything for a moment after, he added: 'we should go to the dining hall.'

'Right, lead the way.'

Osamu turned away from them and claimed a drawer, grabbing a bag and extracting a pair of jeans. The other two left him, Chiisai a little more concerned than Takuya. After all, if he was a second year he shouldn't be at the welcome dinner anyway. And Chiisai hadn't gotten a taste of Osamu's attitude – and, since he hadn't said much so far, he mightn't have Takuya's pride either.

There hadn't been much to say for the dorm room, but even less for the dining room. It reminded Takuya of the old lodges where they camped – where the boys had camped, to be more precise. The girls' bedrooms had been somewhat nicer, if only because they'd been faster at claiming them.

The dining room was clean, and had tables and chairs, but that was about all that could be said for it. Although, Takuya admitted, once he and Chiisai had taken a seat with two more Slifer boys, the constant chatter made the place feel rather homely. Like a huge family – without the family units.

'Don't we have a dorm-master?' he asked.

Chiisai shrugged, though one of the other boys leaned forward conspiringly. 'We have a dorm lady,' he whispered. 'So I've heard anyway. Apparently she's single too.'

'How can she be?' the other asked. 'My brother's in third year, and he says her son should be starting this year.'

The first guy's face fell. 'You're kidding.'

The second just shrugged. 'Just the fact that she's a teacher puts her out of your league,' he pointed out. 'She teaches Duelling History,' he added, for the benefit of all. 'It's somewhat odd to have a female dorm head, considering we're an all boys down, but I guess it doesn't matter with no girls in Slifer.'

'So are boy dorms normally headed by males and girl dorms by females?' Takuya asked. He supposed it made sense, in a manner of speaking.

'Yep,' the only knowledgeable one nodded. 'Slifer's a bit of a funny one, as it only has one dorm, but Ra and Obelisk have always been like that. There used to be another dorm as well – a mixed one called Horakhty, but it was destroyed in a lightning storm.'

At the sudden looks of terror he received, he added: 'Don't worry; they've got protection against that sort of stuff now. The Slifer buildings, despite looking so flimsy, can more than handle the sort of storms we get during the stormy season.'

'It's sort of scary though,' Chiisai said quietly. 'Did anyone die?'

'Well…' The boy bit his lip. 'It's more of an island legend nowadays – this was when the Academy was first built, you know, so no-one really knows. The rumour says a couple of students die, but they don't show up on the records, so…'

'So it was just someone twisting the truth into a horror story?' Takuya asked, with some amusement. Though it wasn't the best thing to hear on one's first night, it sounded like it was mostly a case of bad infrastructure that had escalated into an island legend; if someone had died, surely there'd have been some note of it rather than whispers?

'Oh, is that our dorm lady?'

Takuya twisted around, searching for the person.

'She looks more like someone's grandmother.'

'That's not her; she just runs the café on campus.'

The old lady was talking to someone at the back, both of them half-hidden in the partitions. But when the pair stepped out, it was apparent that the old lady was not their dorm mistress (as apparently they wore the same colours as the dorm they were in charge of, and this woman was in pink) and the boy not one of their own.

In fact…

'What's an Obelisk doing here?' the boy across from Takuya whispered.

But the boy had left before anyone could come up with any ideas – or indeed get a good look at him.

'Did he have light black hair?' the other boy whispered.

Chiisai nodded. 'At least, I think he did,' he amended, ignoring Takuya's: 'how can there be a such thing as light black.'

'Might've been our dorm mistress' son then. No other reason I can think of for someone who's not a Slifer to be here.'

'That's all fine,' Takuya said, 'but where is our dorm mistress?'

The old lady, once she got the students to quieten down and listen, explained that their dorm mistress was on an expedition overseas and no-one knew when she'd be back.

'I'm simply stepping in,' she said, before smacking her spoon on the table when someone turned to their neighbour to whisper some more. 'That doesn't mean I'll be taking any cheek from my students.'

'She might be strict, but she sure can cook,' Takuya commented, letting Chiisai in before him and closing the door. 'Now, I'm ready to turn in for the –'

'On what bed?' Osamu asked bitingly from his place on the desk. 'We still haven't settled that.'

'Give up the top bunk?' Takuya asked, when no-one said anything after that.

'In your dreams,' the other responded. 'Won't you?'

'Nope.' Takuya thought about frowning, but grinned instead. 'I'm not a guy that gives up.'

'I'll believe that when I see you in Ra,' Osamu muttered. 'But if neither of us are going to budge, I propose a Battle Royale.' His face suggested he had another reason for the suggestion, but either the other two didn't notice or they didn't call him out on it.

'Battle Royale?' Takuya asked, stopping short. A duel was far more to his liking than an argument, and somehow the proposal warmed him up to the other immediately. After all, anyone proposing a duel to settle a disagreement couldn't be bad.

'We're at Duel Academia,' Osamu said, as though it was an obvious fact. 'Here, we settle things with a duel.'

'A Battle Royale,' Takuya repeated thoughtfully, eyeing Chiisai, who shrugged. 'Sounds good to me; I'll get the mat and then –'

Osamu rolled his eyes. 'Ever played a Battle Royale on a mat?' he asked. 'Those are two player mats.'

'Right.' Takuya thought for a moment. 'Is there enough room in here to duel using the duel disks?' It seemed awfully cramped. 'It's not like we're allowed to duel outside after curfew.'

Osamu shrugged. 'It'll be fine. We'll just stand in a corner each – excluding that one with the drawers – and the worst that'll happen is the holograms will overlap if we summon large monsters anyway.'

Takuya pondered on that, then accepted it. It would be interesting to see the overlaps, he supposed, and all of them seemed stubborn in their own way. The duel disks were easily fished out of their luggage and activated, the clicking of the automated shuffling being enough to fire Takuya's duel spirit right up.

'My first duel at the Academy,' he grinned, stealing the corner by the door. 'Alright!' The cards stopped shuffling and the life point meter set itself at the default 8000. 'Let's duel!'

The other two armed their duel disks as well, and the holographic grid appeared beneath them.

'I'll take the first turn,' Osamu said, eager to press the advantage. As players in a Battle Royale cannot attack in the first round, taking the first turn meant he'd be the first to attack when the time came. 'I summon Amores of Prophecy in attack mode.'

It was hard to tell at first glance whether a male or a female had appeared, but as the figure flipped in the air and drew a blue arrow it became clear it was a male, thin biceps bulging and long green hair flapping in the air, 600 attack points appearing under his name.

'Next,' Osamu continued, 'I activate the effect of Amores of Prophecy, revealing Spellbook of Secrets in my hand – ' And he did so, the holograph blowing up its image so it was easily visible to the others. ' – in order to special summon Justice of Prophecy in attack mode.'

This time it was a blond figure that appeared, head covered with a black hat and the rest of his clothing similarly patterned.

'I'll end my turn with a face-down card.'

Takuya watched him carefully; it wasn't Spellbook of Secrets; he was sure of that. But then it could be anything. 'My turn.' He drew a card, then considered his monsters. He had Fire King Avatar Garunix – which would be more useful in his hand at this stage, and hardly stronger than Justice of Prophecy anyway. In fact, he didn't have anything stronger than Justice of Prophecy – though he did have Big Bang Shot in his hand. 'I summon Solar Flare Dragon in attack mode, then equip him with the Big Bang Shot Equip Spell in my hand.'

The layered-scale dragon appeared, tail morphing into a metallic fist-like appendage, before roaring and sending a virtual shockwave through the room. Since there was no battle phase that turn, the end phase was upon them and 500 life points were taken from both Osamu and Chiisai from Solar Flare Dragon's effect.

'I end my turn with that,' Takuya said, raising an eyebrow at Osamu when the other glared at him.

'My turn.' Chiisai drew his card. 'I play a monster in face-down defence mode, and end my turn with one face down card.'

Takuya was disappointed; that told nothing at all about what sort of deck little Chiisai used. But Osamu had taken his next turn and drawn a card, and Takuya switched back to the duel.

'I activate Spellbook Star Hall,' he said, and the arch rose up in front of him, stretching to the middle of their pseudo-duel field and creating a dim hallway as per its name. 'With this card, whenever I activate a "Spellbook" card, I gain a counter and my monsters gain 200 attack points. With that done, I'll reveal Spellbook of Secrets again and special summon Hermit of Prophecy by Amores' effect, then normal summon Emperor of Prophecy by sacrificing Amores.'

Amores disappeared in a burst of light, replaced by two new figures: the regal Emperor clad in purple and black with a golden sceptre over his shoulder, and the old hermit with his purple robes, white beard and long staff.

'Next,' Osamu continued, 'I activate Spellbook of Secrets, which allows me to add a different "Spellbook" from my deck to my hand.' He flipped through the cards before selecting one, revealing it to be Spellbook of Wisdom. 'Now my Star Hall gains a counter, and my monsters 200 attack points.'

But Hermit of Prophecy surprised them, with his attack points increasing by 500 instead.

'Hermit's special ability. 'Osamu had an amused smile on his face. 'His level increases by 2 and his attack points by 300 whenever a "Spellbook" is activated. Which means the total firepower on my field is now 6000.'

He stared at Takuya, who quickly realised that, even powered up with Big Bang Shot, his Solar Flare Dragon was severely outmatched.

'I attack Solar Flare Dragon with Emperor of Prophecy!'

The Emperor stood regal a moment after the order, and then he brought his sceptre down upon the dragon's head. Solar Flare Dragon roared a moment before its body crumbled like a deck of cards and disappeared, the equip spell destroyed along with it.

Takuya groaned, as now nothing stood between him and a direct attack, the follow-up strike from Justice of Prophecy decreasing his life points to 5600.

'Last,' Osamu said, looking towards the third player in their Battle Royale, 'I attack that face down monster with Hermit of Prophecy –'

'I activate Gravity Bind,' Chiisai interrupted, flipping his trap card. 'With this, only monsters level 3 or below can attack – and Hermit is now level 5.'

'You couldn't have activated that before?' Takuya exclaimed, surprised at the sudden manoeuvre. 'You could have saved me some damage, you know.'

'It's a Battle Royale,' Osamu pointed out, losing some of the bite he'd previously used. 'To each their own here.' He gave a sidelong glance at Chiisai. 'I'll draw Mystical Space Typhoon soon enough for that.'

Chiisai shrugged; he didn't look too concerned, nor had his play or manner so far been particularly flashy. And he had no reason to be – unless Gravity Bind was the pinnacle of his strategy.

Takuya wasn't too concerned either; Osamu had shown himself to be the main threat – and he had no cards in his hand. Takuya was eager to press that advantage, and he drew his deck with a gusto before stopping short. Onslaught of the Fire Kings – so which monster should I choose? he wondered.

He saw Osamu open his mouth, then closed it again. Chiisai started drawing circles in the dust with his toe, the transparent image of Gravity Bind shining before him.

'Alright!' he said finally, slapping the card he had drawn in his duel disk. 'I activate Onslaught of the Fire Kings, and with it I summon Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys from my deck!'

'A monster with 2400 attack points?' Osamu raised an eyebrow at the distorted flaming phoenix, somewhat cramped in the hologram because of his own monsters. 'You do realise that Gravity Bind affects you too, right?'

'I do,' Takuya grinned, glad his cards were more cooperative this time round; he did not need a repeat of his duel with Zoe. 'I normal summon Fire King Avatar Garunix.'

The bird that appeared even smaller than its statue, next to Sacred Phoenix.

'Garunix is a level three, so it's free to attack.' Takuya pointed at Chiisai's face down card. 'There's your target, Garunix!'

The monster flipped up to reveal Medusa Worm, whose face was read and tail a deep blue. '600 defence points? That won't cut it!'

Granted, Fire King Avatar Garunix only had 700, but it was 100 more than Medusa Worm.

'Medusa Worm's flip effect,' Chiisai said. 'I destroy Emperor of Prophecy.'

Osamu was startled at that, having hoped he'd go for the more obvious (and more pointless) target: Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys. Well, it told him the other kid, while short in size and rather docile, wasn't the pushover he appeared. A small smirk appeared on his lips at that; the three of them should have some fun sharing a dorm room…once they sorted out who would sleep on the top bunk.

'Next I set a card, and then Onslaught of the Fire Kings destroys the monster that was special summoned during the end phase.'

Neither Osamu nor Chiisai were surprised, much to Takuya's disappointment. He'd managed to catch Zoe off-guard a few times with that.

'Your turn,' he said offhand to Chiisai.

The small blond drew his card. 'I summon Leghul in attack mode.'

This time, the worm that appeared was yellow, though with purple armourings. 'Leghal is able to direct attack an opponent,' he continued. 'And I'll equip him with Mage Power to increase his attack points: 500 per spell or trap card on my field.' Mage Power and Gravity Bind made two, and he added another two face-down cards.

Takuya grinned; Osamu stared.

'Leghul attacks!' He paused for a moment, before pointing at Osamu, to whom the worm raced to and bit, taking away 2350.

Osamu took his turn after that, drawing and considering the field carefully. He knew Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys would return upon Takuya's next turn, destroying every spell and trap on the field. He also knew that destroying any Fire King monster would be a mistake, because of their effects. The only target that left was Chiisai's Leghul – much more vulnerable after Takuya's turn than before it.

Although…

'I end my turn without doing anything,' he said, and Takuya was more than happy to take his turn.

'I draw – and in my standby phase Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys returns to the field!'

Even in a hologram, the golden burst of light was blinding as the Phoenix returned and spreading its fire along the field.

Chiisai stared as his four spells and traps were destroyed. 'What the –?'

'Didn't you read the rest of the effect?' Osamu asked, somewhat condescendingly. 'When Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys is special summoned through its own effect, it destroys every spell and trap card on the field.' He flipped up one of his own face downs, knowing the other two were lost causes. 'I activate Spellbook of Wisdom, targeting Justice of Prophecy who can't be targeted by Spell cards for the rest of this turn.'

'I suppose you might as well,' Takuya said, agreeably. 'In my case, I chain-activate Call of the Haunted, summoning Solar Flare Dragon back from the graveyard.'

The dragon appeared just before the gravestone vanished – and the monster remained. 'Huh? It worked?'

'Why isn't Solar Flare Dragon gone again?' Chiisai asked, looking confused.

'Because it was a chain activation,' Osamu said with a roll of his eyes.

'Err…what he said.' Takuya rubbed his head; in truth he just hadn't wanted to waste the trap – after setting it down as insurance.

'And now, with Gravity Bind gone, I'm free to attack – but first, I summon Fire King Avatar Yaksha!'

He slapped the monster card down in attack mode, and the man with a lion face rose up and raised his staff over his head. 'Now –' Takuya closed his fist and struck the air in front. 'Yaksha, attack Justice of Prophecy!

Osamu's life points dropped to 4950 as the monster was destroyed, leaving him with only one: his Hermit of Prophecy. Which Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys quickly dispatched along with another 900 of his life points, followed up with a direct attack from Solar Flare Dragon.

'Last – ' While Chiisai hadn't attacked him directly, it was better to strike while the iron was hot than leave a monster on the field. 'Attack Leghul, Fire King Avatar Garunix!'

The small bird struck, and Chiisai's life points sunk to 7150.

'Alright!' Takuya threw a fist into his air. 'This duel is mine.'

'It's way too early for that,' Osamu grumbled, before being cut off by a yawn from an embarrassed Chiisai.

'I'm tired,' he confessed, before almost falling forward as he lost his footing. ''m taking the bottom bunk.' And he did exactly that, collapsing on the bunk without deactivating his duel disk, though the duel connection timed out soon after.

Takuya and Osamu stared at each other, before Osamu jerked his head towards the bunks. 'You've got more life points than me, so if we're quitting the duel here you've beaten me.'

Takuya didn't catch the bite in that tone; he was more than happy to take the top bunk.

Afterwards, Osamu lay on the middle bunk and grumbled to himself. Takuya's snoring was irritating, and Chiisai was mumbling nonsense in his sleep. Takuya had turned out to be quite typical, in the end. Charging straight in without thinking much of previous turns or even what was on the field apart from monsters.

I mean, really, attacking a facedown monster with only 700 attack points? If it didn't have a high defence, it probably had a flip effect – or both. He was just lucky Chiisei thought it better to target him. And Chiisai was lucky that he had been on the offensive and received the brunt of Takuya's attack, or he would have taken quite a bit more damage. And they were both fortunate the duel had been cancelled before he had collected enough Spellbooks for his key combination – and all he had needed was another couple of turns to do it in.

He knew he should have still been in Ra if it hadn't been for his foolishness, and that knowledge stung. Worse was falling asleep between two Slifers that so plainly belonged; it was almost as if they'd connected in that duel, connected and decided he was the joint enemy they needed to destroy.