I would like to thank Yay899, CelestiasDisciple, and Geminise for their prereading of this chapter.
I lugged the last of my stuff in to the room. I had arrived first, so hopefully I would get the chance to set up before my roommate arrived.
"So you're my roommate? Pleasure to meet you."
Or not.
I rose from my unpacking and shook my roommate's hand. "Nice to meet you. Name's Japhlet Gershon, but most people call me Japh. Like Jeff, but with an 'aah' sound."
He smiled at me. "Gotcha. I'm Erik Chaplan. Guess we'll be together these next three years."
I shot him a good-natured grin. "Ahh, I'm afraid that won't be the case. I've got higher sights than Ra Yellow, and I'm afraid the Blue dorms are mostly singles. I'm going to be here six months, a year tops."
He raised an eyebrow, amused. "Oh, is that so? You have plans to go pro, that's why you're raring to get out of her so fast?"
"Uhh, no, I…" I grinned sheepishly. "I… mostly want into Obelisk Blue because they have singles. That's it, really."
"And that's enough reason to get into the top dorm before the year is out?"
"Private living space is a powerful motivator."
We shared a laugh. "Well, guess I've got no choice but to keep up. If my roommate promotes and I don't, that's just a bad look."
Smile still lingering on my face, I gestured to the mess of boxes and luggage. "Well, we have two choices. We can do the wise thing and finish unpacking, or we can go to the welcome luncheon."
Of course, we did the unwise thing.
After the rather generic welcoming remarks, we dug in into the food. Small blessing I started at Ra. The food here was no different than cafeteria food back home. Slifer Red's poor accommodations were funny - until I contemplated the possibility of living in them!
While we were eating, Erik and I made small talk. "So, what kind of deck do you run? Rumors say you have a one-of-a-kind deck that you used for your entrance exam."
Oh, great, there were rumors about me already. How long was I going to be able to keep my cover?
For now, I chose to deflect. "Anyone can posit possibilities. What matters evidence."
"And you have the best evidence of them all."
I walked right into that one. He had me there. Still, I wasn't about to spill my secrets. "We're roommates. We'll see each other's decks soon enough. I'm not about to spill my secrets to the whole dorm."
That seemed to placate him for now. While chewing, I searched the room for Bastion Misawa. I hadn't decided if I was going to introduce myself any more than a resident getting to know his fellow students, but I did need "ins" to the soon-to-be big names on campus. Unfortunately, spotting a man wearing a yellow blazer was hard when everyone was wearing a yellow blazer. Bastion had a distinct haircut, but not so wildly distinct that I could spot him in this crowd.
Lucky for me, providence was smiling upon me. As we were returning to our dorms, I spotted him down the hallway. Turns out we were neighbors. Convenient. I made a note to knock on his door later and introduce myself under the pretense of getting to know my neighbors.
But for now, I had unpacking to finish.
It took a few hours to square everything in its place, but finally everything was tucked away. I idly took out my binders and flipped through my card collection.
Evidently, the notion was rather curious to Erik, who came up behind me. "You keep your cards in binders?"
I nodded. "Sometimes in tins, but mostly in binders. Keeps them safe and since I organize certain cards into different binders, makes finding cards way easier."
He cocked his head. "Huh. Never considered it. And what's that you have around the cards?"
"Those are sleeves," I said, taking a sleeved card out of the binder and handing it to him for him to examine. "Makes shuffling easier, keeps the edges from fraying, slows card bending, keeps them safe from greasy fingers and various hazards like spillage. Any card I use even somewhat regularly gets sleeved."
Erik turned the card over in his hand a couple times. "How do you get these to fit in a duel disk?"
I chuckled. "With great effort. I used to bring a small folding table around with me instead whenever I went to dueling events, because I didn't want to damage the sleeves or the cards by jamming my deck into the slot. Eventually…" I paused as I got up and fished my own duel disk out of my closet. "…I just banged on the deck slot with a hammer until it was comfortably wide enough for my sleeves." I handed the duel disk to him, and he inspected the slot, running his hand against the bumps and pinches, clear signs of tampering. "The auto-search mechanism is busted because of it, but I think it's a small price to pay."
He nodded noncommittally, handing the disk back to me, and I put it away.
"So, now we're alone. Let's see this deck of yours."
Putting my binder away, I searched through my deck boxes. As I was searching, I felt Erik hovering over me. "Are you always this nosy?"
He snorted. "Come to think of it, I guess. But then again, it's not every day you meet someone who puts his cards in plastic sleeves, and then puts those sleeves in boxes or binders.
"Speaking of, you have a lot of decks."
I shrugged. "I like my decks like I like my women - with plenty of variety."
Erik barked out a laugh as I took out my Metaphys deck. "Here it is. This is the deck I used for my entrance exam. It's focused the Metaphys archetype, which centers around banishing its monsters, then shuffling them back in on the next turn to activate searching effects."
Erik read a couple of the cards before putting them back in the box and handing them back to me. I may have hover handed intently to keep him from digging too deeply and finding the Synchro monsters. Those could wait for another day.
"So, what's your deck?
He pulled his deck out of his pocket. I had to fight a shudder from seeing the worn cards, clearly victims of being unsleeved. "I play Lightsworns. They're just cool, you know? This group of inter-dimensional heroes that fight evil all over the multiverse, there's something about them I love. And uh," he blushed as he confessed, "I might have a card crush on Celestia." He held his deck out to me. "You wanna take a look?"
Nodding, I accepted and quickly thumbed through his deck. I noted he had several cards in his deck that were Forbidden back home - Monster Reborn, for example. That was something that was going to take some getting used to. Then again, given my entire deck and almost my entire collection was probably illegal due to not existing yet, I wasn't in much of a position to talk.
I handed his deck back to him, but he didn't put it away. "You wanna have a duel, right now?"
I mulled it over. Truthfully, the day had been boring, and a duel would be fun. But I had more important priorities. "I would, but I was thinking we should go around, get to know our neighbors on our floor. I'm heading out, you coming?"
He shrugged and nodded, placing his deck in his pocket as I placed my deck box in mine.
It was time to do some networking.
"One moment!" I chuckled as Bastion called from his room when we knocked. No doubt he had been preoccupied with some new formula about deckbuilding. But after a minute, he opened the door and welcomed us in. His luggage was open, and various personal fixings were throughout the whole room. "Sorry about the mess. I wasn't expected company so soon."
I waved his concern off. "It's fine. We only just finished unpacking ourselves, and we figured we'd get to know the neighbors. My name's Japhlet, and that's Erik." Erik offered a friendly wave himself.
"Bastion. Bastion Misawa." He offered his hand in handshake, and Erik and I took it and accepted in turn.
"So, what kind of deck do you use?" Erik leaned inquisitively, just like he had back in our room.
"My deck?" Bastion smirked and threw open his blazer, revealing his vest and all six of his decks. "I think you mean, my decks. One for each attribute in the game."
"Man, that's two people I've met now that have multiple decks. Whatever happened to one deck you stick with, one that has all your favorite cards?"
Bastion shook his head. "Dueling is just like any math problem. Every opponent is a problem, and you build your decks as the solution. That's why I have different decks for different scenarios and opponents."
I shrugged. "I'm not so high-strung about my decks. Like I said, I like my decks like my women - with lots of variety."
Bastion smiled. "Well, I can see already this is going to be a very interesting year. Now, I hate to be rude, but I do need to finish unpacking."
Nodding and waving goodbye, we continued our round throughout the floor, meeting and greeting our floormates. There certainly were some interesting characters. But as far as I was concerned, I had met everyone I needed to for tonight.
Dinner was uneventful, and we were soon back in our room making our last adjustments to the place before we turned in. At least, I figured that was the plan.
"Come on. One duel before lights out."
"Erik, we have class tomorrow, and a look at both our schedules shows we both have early morning booked."
"Ahh, man, it'll be a quick one. We'll play sudden death."
"Yeah, then we'll get all worked up, want to finish the duel, and won't be able to sleep."
Erik huffed and groaned, conceding. "Fine. But we duel tomorrow."
I grinned. "Yeah, so you better get ready." I pointed at the clock: 11:59 PM. "Because tomorrow is coming in less than a minute."
Erik returned the smile, sprung out of his bed and ran for his duel disk and deck. I couldn't stop a chuckle as I got out of bed myself and got my own gear.
"How about I teach you how we duel back where I come from?" I slid my deck into my disk. "Our Duel Monsters rules are slightly different; we play by a set of rules called 'Master Rule Four.' There's a few key differences."
"Sure, I'm game. What's different?"
"First: We start at eight thousand life points instead of four. Second, on the first turn of the duel, you don't draw during your Draw Phase. Third, we're each only allowed one monster from the Extra Deck at a time, and it goes in a special place called the Extra Monster Zone instead of the normal five monster zones, which are called Main Monster Zones. Fourth… well, let's just say there's a reason we call it the Extra Deck and not the Fusion Deck." I winked. "I have to keep some surprises up my sleeve."
"Well, that sounds interesting. I'll give it a shot. Duel disk, engage!" The familiar hum and whir of our disks activating, and we were on.
Duel Start - Erik Chaplan versus Japhlet Gershon
Turn 1 - Erik
Erik - 8000 LP, 5 Cards in hand
Japhlet - 8000 LP, 5 Cards in hand
"I'll take the first turn. I draw!"
"No, you don't. First turn doesn't draw, remember?"
"Oh. Right." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and returned the card to his deck and shuffled.
"Anyway, I normal summon Aurkus, the Lightsworn Druid!"
Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid (1200 ATK/1800 DEF)
"I set two cards face-down and end my turn. And now that we're in my End Phase, the effect of my Lightsworn Druid kicks in, and sends two cards from the top of my deck to my graveyard." Erik did as the card required, sending the two cards to the graveyard - Jain, the Lightsworn Paladin and Ehrin, the Lightsworn Monk.
Turn 2 - Japhlet
Erik - 8000 LP, 2 Cards in hand
Japhlet - 8000 LP, 5 Cards in hand
"It's my turn now. I enter the Draw Phase, and draw a card."
I mulled over my hand and the game state before acting. Erik was playing Lightsworns, which revolved around sending their cards from the deck to the graveyard. Milling, in technical terms. Because of this, Lightsworns were often combined with other cards and archetypes which benefited from sending their own cards to the graveyard. However, I had a hunch Erik was playing pure Lightsworns, which meant he had one goal - bring out Judgment Dragon by dumping four Lightsworns with different names and summoning Judgment Dragon from his hand. If he did, for the cost of a thousand life points, he could destroy all other cards on the field, then follow up with a direct attack with a three-thousand attack beater. Power crept by modern boss monsters, but pretty powerful for its day. Even now, I only had a couple monsters that could go toe-to-toe with it in battle without support, and only a couple monsters that were immune to effect destruction, and most of those monsters were in my Extra Deck.
All that added up to one conclusion - I had to win fast, before Judgment Dragon hit the field.
"I activate Asymmetaphys. And now I activate Asymmetaphys' effect!"
"Wait, isn't that the same thing?"
"No, and if you get into the weeds of complex cards, you better learn the difference fast! Activating a card is not the same as activating its effect. Some cards will negate activations, others will negate effects, and knowing which is which will save you a lot of headaches down the line. When I first played Asymmetaphys, that was when I activated the card. But Asymmetaphys doesn't do anything on its activation. In order for it to do something, I need to activate its effect.
"Which is what I'm doing right now! I banish Metaphys Nephthys from my hand, and draw one card." I looked at the card I drew: Metaphys Tyrant Dragon. A pretty bad draw, quite frankly; unless I had another banished Metaphys Tyrant Dragon ready to summon this one form my hand, I would much rather have this in the deck so I could summon it with Metaphys Ragnarok. Still, if I could draw Metaphys Factor, nothing wrong with being able to put down a 2900-2500 body without a tribute.
"And now, the other effect of Asymmetaphys triggers! All non-Metaphys monsters lose 500 ATK and DEF points, so your Lightsworn Druid takes a hit."
Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid (1200 ATK/1800 DEF - 700 ATK/1300 DEF)
"As for Metaphys monsters, it's time for you to meet one of mine! Rise for me, Metaphys Ragnarok!"
Metaphys Ragnarok (1500 ATK/1000 DEF)
"Man, that guy is cool. But even though his attack points are higher than my Lightsworn Druid's, it's nothing I can't handle."
"Well, after this effect you may not be so sure. When Metaphys Ragnarok is summoned, I'm allowed to banish the top three cards from my deck, and for every Metaphys card banished this way, Ragnarok gains 300 attack points! Let's see, I banish… Sacred Sword of the Seven Stars, Necroface, and.. Metaphys Daedalus. That's one Metaphys card, so Metaphys Ragnarok gains 300 attack points.
Metaphys Ragnarok (1500 ATK/1000 DEF - 1800 ATK/1000 DEF)
"Furthermore, because I banished Necroface, we both have to banish five cards from the top of our decks. What you banish won't be terribly important, but since my Metaphys monsters have effects that trigger the turn after they're banished, what I banish is critical. And the Metaphys monsters I banish are… another Metaphys Daedalus, Metaphys Tyrant Dragon, and Metaphys Armed Dragon."
As Erik was banishing cards, he scowled, and I looked over at his banished pile to see that one of the cards he had banished was Judgment Dragon. I let out a breath of relief. He may have run multiples, but knowing even one copy was out of play was some breathing room.
"Now, with all that out of the way, I enter the Battle Phase! Metaphys Ragnarok declares an attack on Aurkus, the Lightsworn Druid!"
Erik LP 8000 - 6900
"And now Metaphys Ragnarok's special ability triggers! Because I dealt battle damage with Metaphys Ragnarok, I'm allowed to summon another Metaphys monster from my deck that's Level 5 or higher one per turn."
I frowned as I searched through my deck. I wanted to summon Metaphys Tyrant Dragon, which had 2900 attack points and was a Level 8, allowing me to Synchro Summon Assault Blackwing - Onimaru the Divine Thunder after my Battle Phase. Onimaru couldn't be destroyed by card effects, and with 3000 ATK, it was only challenged by his Judgment Dragon's attack points. But because Onimaru couldn't be destroyed by card effects, Erik couldn't use use Judgment Dragon's effect to get rid of Onimaru. He'd have to trade into it, and with one Judgment Dragon already banished, he'd have no more win conditions.
There was just one problem. I only ran two copies of Metaphys Tyrant Dragon, and one was banished and the other one was in my hand. I'd have to settle for Plan B.
"I special summon Metaphys Armed Dragon!"
Metaphys Armed Dragon (2800 ATK/1000 DEF)
"And it's still my battle phase, so Metaphys Armed Dragon attacks you directly! Cosmic Claw Slice!"
Erik LP 6900 - 4100
"My Battle Phase is over, but I'm not ending my turn just yet. I enter Main Phase Two! Time for my to show you how me like to summon monsters back home. You see, Metaphys Ragnarok is a special kind of monster, called a Tuner. And you need Tuners to special summon a very special kind of monster from the extra deck. I need the sum of the Levels of the monsters used as material to equal the Level of the monster I plan to summon.
"But you know what they say - show, don't tell. So I'll show you! Level 4 Metaphys Ragnarok tunes the Level 7 Metaphys Armed Dragon!"
Metaphys Ragnarok (4) + Metaphys Armed Dragon (7) = Star Eater (11)
"I Synchro Summon!"
"Synchro what?"
"Now witness the beast that consumes the cosmos!
In its presence even the stars are like dust!
Be birthed by creation! Star Eater!"
A dim light grew. It grew and grew until it burst into a star, cosmic fire raging. Out of the star emerged a pair of black wings with red skin, each as long as the star was wide. As a flare emerged and shot around the star, a mouth emerged from the star and swallowed the flare in one bite. Then the whole beast rose out of the flames, revealing a dragon three times the size of the star, red with black accents, molten stardust dripping off it.
Star Eater (3200 ATK/2800 DEF)
Erik stumbled back into the wall, terror and awe mixed on his face. "That's amazing! I've never seen anything like it! The bonding of monsters, the monster it creates, the speed, the power… it's incredible! Does everyone duel with those kinds of monsters where you come from?"
"Well, they're just another tool in the toolbox back home. And need I remind you, you're the one who's going to have to take down that monster."
"I know." He chuckled. "But I believe in cards. I know they can do it."
"Well, I'll set one card face-down and give you your shot."
Turn 3 - Erik
Erik - 4100 LP, 2 Cards in hand
Japhlet - 8000 LP, 1 Card in hand
"Man, no wonder you guys play with eight thousand life points," Erik said as he drew. "I nearly lost four thousand in one turn. I like it. More room for power plays while still giving room to go back and forth."
"Well, now it's the Standby Phase, and since my monsters have effects on the turn after they're banished, you better sit tight, because I have some things to do.
"First, I resolve Metaphys Nephtys-"
"Well, before you do that," Erik interrupted, "I'm going to chain Beckoning Light! Now I-"
"Now you have to wait, because to that I'll chain Metaphys Dimension! Response?"
Erik shook his head.
"So the chain resolves. Metaphys Dimension activates."
"And now Beckoning Light activates. I send my hand to the graveyard, then I can add Light-attribute monsters to my hand from the graveyard equal to the number of the cards I sent to the graveyard. So I send the three cards in my hand to the graveyard."
Wulf, Lightsworn Beast; Ryoko, Lightsworn Hunter; and Celestia, Lightsworn Angel. All Lightsworns with different names. But he'd have to pull three monsters back out, so he couldn't set up his graveyard for Judgment Dragon yet.
"And now I pull out three LIGHT monsters from my grave. So I'll add Jain, Lightsworn Paladin; Ehren, Lightsworn Monk; and Celestia, Lightsworn Angel to my hand. Also, because Wulf, the Lightsworn Beast was sent to the graveyard by a card effect, he's special summoned onto the field."
Wulf, Lightsworn Beast (2100 ATK/300 DEF)
"Well, now that you've special summoned a monster, Metaphys Dimension triggers, allowing me to special summon a banished Metaphys monster, but banish it at the end of the next turn. And I think I'll bring out my Metaphys Tyrant Dragon!"
Metaphys Tyrant Dragon (2900 ATK/2500 DEF)
"Finally, Metaphys Nephthys activates at the end of the chain, shuffling itself back into the deck and adding a Metaphys card to my hand. I'll add Metaphys Factor.
"Next, I'll resolve one of my Metaphys Daedaluses. I shuffle it back into the deck and banish a Metaphys card, and I think I'll choose Metaphys Nephthys.
"Because I banished a Meatphys card while Metaphys Dimension was active, it triggers, allowing me to banish one card you control, so I'll banish your face-down backrow!" The set card was sent away, and I grinned as I saw what it was - Brain Control. That could have been messy.
"Asymmetaphys has the same trigger condition, and since its your turn, all non-Metaphys monsters switch battle positions. So Star Eater and Wulf are switched to defense mode."
"Now I-" I paused. I had another Metaphys Daedalus I could resolve, but since both Asymmetaphys and Metaphys Dimension's effects were once per turn, banishing another Metaphys card wouldn't do me much good. Furthermore, if Erik special summoned another monster down the line, it would pay to have at least one monster banished and ready to be special summoned by Metaphys Dimension. "Now the Standby Phase ends."
Erik huffed. "Finally! I tribute Wulf, Lightsworn Beast to tribute summon Celestia, Lightsworn Angel! And when she comes out to play, some major things happen. First, I send the top four cards from my deck to my graveyard. Next, I'm allowed to destroy two cards you control. And I think I'll choose your Star Eater and Metaphys Tyrant Dragon!"
"Uh oh…." In a burst of radiant light, my two monsters were gone - and those were no small potatoes monsters, either.
"And now, with no monsters in the way and no face-down cards to feat, Celestia, the Lightsworn Angel, attacks you directly!"
Japhlet LP 8000 - 5700
"I end my turn. Now I'm in the driver's seat of this duel."
I grimaced. Despite everything I had going for me, Erik had seized control of this duel in one turn. And if I wasn't careful, I was going to lose my first duel as a student at Duel Academy.
