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Chapter 2: High Noon Phoenix

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Duel Academy's students were divided into three rankings (and their associated dormitories): Slifer Red, Ra Yellow, and Obelisk Blue. Students in Slifer Red made poor grades on the written entrance examinations or barely passed the practical exam. Students in Ra Yellow were those of average standing in either category. Obelisk Blue was the supposed highest ranking. Only students from associated preparatory schools, students with heavy financial backing, or with exceptional scores on both the written and practical portions of the entrance examinations were granted admission to the House of Blue.

Needless to say, most students treasured the chance to be placed into Obelisk Blue. Not only were they granted personal prestige just by being students of that dormitory, but they were also granted the grandest of living conditions, the finest foods, and somewhat special treatment by faculty and staff.

The conditions that a Ra Yellow was placed in were not considered too far off from those of Obelisk Blue. They were not offered the grandest of services, but housing was just a few notches lower than where the higher dorm stood. While Obelisk students were offered hotel suite-styled housing, Ra students were given motel room-styled housing.

The popular opinion of the living conditions of the Slifer Red dormitories is, frankly, that they are firmly lackluster. Slifer students are offered a healthy minimum as far as rooming is concerned--a trio of bunk beds stacked on one another on one side of the room, and a slide-door closet on the other. There was not nearly enough space for any interior decorating. Dining is also an unpopular thing in the Slifer world. Food is not necessarily scarce, but the quality is lacking.

"Ah, Torey Adams and Roy Flagrun, you're in room 2A of the Slifer Red Boy's Dorm," said a man with upward-facing brown spikes for hair. He had low-set round glasses on his long face, and he wore a battered red jacket with white trim, signifying what dorm he belonged to. He wore grey pants on his lithe legs, and his arms somewhat bulged through the thinner jacket. "My name is Lloyd Wright, and I'll be your headmaster from now on. Don't even bother calling me Mr. Wright, just call me Lloyd." His gruff voice became an afterthought once he smiled, showing a fair number of wrinkles. "I know the living conditions aren't that great on first appearances, but you'll come to love it. I'm sure of it."

"Thank you, sir," the duo soon replied. They were each handed a simple red jacket and a small electronic phone-like device.

Torey and Roy began walking along the dirt path that led to their new home. Along the way they noticed they were heading towards the edge of the island.

"Say," Torey said, "Isn't this... really out of the way?" He looked around and mostly what he could see is a small strip of land and a building further down... and a building about the same size a little further away.

Roy was visibly confused. "Yeah... are we really the bottom of the barrel?"

"Seems like it. I failed the written portion, I know that much."

"I don't know how I did. I was told that I had an average duel score."

"Doesn't sound very good, in any case."

"Oh, we're here." Before the two stood the Slifer Red dormitory. Its appearance was little more than a large cottage with a red roof. The building wasn't very extravagant. Roy looked down the dirt path and saw a similar red-roofed cottage and noted, "That's probably the girl's dorm."

"Probably. Hey, since we're here, let's go put up our stuff and check out everything else! We don't have to do anything until later tonight, right?" Torey suggested.

Roy brightened up. "Sounds good. I think the welcome dinner is at seven."

They both dashed up the stairs to the first room, 2A. Torey immediately dove to the bottom of the three bunks, and Roy haphazardly clambered to the next one up. The redhead remarked, "You suck."

Torey stuck his tongue out. "Your loss."

"I barely know you and we already have a problem!"

"Hey, at least we're not fighting over a girl."

"This is true. But you still suck."

Upon heading out, the two were clothed in the red jackets worn by Slifer Red students. Roy didn't seem to mind the change that much--in fact, he seemed to enjoy it. Torey complained a little, but soon realized that red was more his color than the next higher color--he felt yellow was a little too bright for him.

Further down the path, they saw a familiar pink head facing towards a somewhat short head of forest green hair. On his back was a red jacket. "Wonder what they're doing?"

"I do not understand why you feel the need to order me to do anything," Tercia droned. She was also wearing the jacket standard to Slifer students. "Your short stature belies any authority whatsoever." She was also wearing grey boots and a pleated crimson skirt.

This comment immediately caused the boy's green hairs to stand on end. His forehead pulsed with several vessels, and he pointed a quivering finger at Tercia. "I've had enough of being called short! That's it!" he cried. "We duel! Now!"

Roy cut in, saying, "Hold on, hold on! What's all this for?" He held in Tercia's arm from reaching to her deck, while Torey kept the boy from attaching his disk to his arm. "What did she do to you?"

"She called me short!"

Roy narrowed his eyes. "That's not a really good reason to duel."

"Yes it is!" the boy insisted.

"Then I'll duel you instead! That way we both don't have a good reason to duel!" Roy looked at the sky above him. It was roughly noon; the sun was casting harsh, dark shadows directly beneath the four gathered there. It was like a rough western movie, without the tumbleweeds or cowboy personas.

"Fine. I win, you three will all become my underlings!" the boy declared.

"What kind of crap deal is that? I win, you lose! It's that simple!"

"No, it's not!" more vessels pulsed in his forehead. He stamped his foot to the ground.

Torey found some interest in stepping into the argument. "Dude, don't be so pissed about it. Can't you talk it out or something?"

The boy was adamant. "No! No more talking! Flamehead! You and me, duel! Now!"

Tercia was indifferent. "This is unnecessary."

"You're telling me. There are good and bad reasons to duel. This is not one of the good ones," Torey said.

Along the beaten dirt path, Roy and the boy stood opposite one another. They each had their disks attached to their arms, and their fingers tactfully and gingerly graced the top cards of their respective decks. Roy held his opening hand of five cards, and the boy did likewise.

They stared at one another, and the sun stared down on them with its hot, piercing gaze. The dirt flared around them, yet the air was silent. The duelists were silent.

The two were horribly immersed in the entirety of their bout. Roy's eye twitched. Collectively, their shouts rang out through the green blades of grass.

"DUEL!"

Roy: 50UR

Boy: 4000

The boy was keen. "Check your life points! They're all screwed up!"

Confused, Roy tapped his disk. 50UR? "That's strange. These are all Academy-issued." Immediately the reading fixed itself.

Roy: 4000

Boy: 4000

"Now then," the boy, beginning with impatience, drew a card. "I'll summon Voltic Kong in attack mode!" A brown gorilla with blazing red eyes appeared. Sparks and electric currents flared around it as it roared. (4/1800/1000)

"Nice monster," Roy commented.

"I'm not done! I'll lay two face downs too!" he cried out as two card backs appeared behind his ape. "Now it's your move."

"I'll gladly take it!" Roy retorted. Already in my hand. That's nice. "I'll summon Fox Fire in defense mode, and I'll follow your lead, kid! I'll leave two face downs as well!" A small, bipedal fox with a small wispy flame at the tip of its tail emerged from a small pool of embers. It covered its head with its paws, hoping that would give some defensive measure. Two card backs also made their debut, acting as a wall.

"I am not a kid!" he yelled. "I'm just short! Okay?! And I have a name too! It's Riley Brendan! Forget it and I'll maul you!" He angrily drew. "Just like I'll do now! I summon Enraged Battle Ox!" A humanoid steer with red and gold armor and an axe snortingly rose to the field. (4/1700/1000) "And now I'll have it attack! Battle Axe!" The bull charged forward and swung its axe to chop the Fox in two.

Roy: 2500

Riley: 4000

"What gives?" Roy grunted. "My fox was in defense mode!"

Riley smirked. "Enraged Battle Ox gives a piercing effect to all Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged-Beast monsters on my field!"

Roy's eyes narrowed, hiding the fires of vengeance burning there. "Fine!"

"Not that my Voltic Kong needs it too much. Go, Thunderpunch!" he cried. The electrically-inclined ape rushed towards Roy, sending an empowered fist through him.

Roy: 700

Riley: 4000

"And now because my Voltic Kong dealt damage to you, you discard the top card of your deck! Take that!" A spark rose from the ground below Roy's arm, discharging into the deck and loosing one card to drop to the slot for the graveyard.

Meanwhile Torey looked on with a hint of disappointment. "Man, I was hoping for much more from Roy. I mean, he's my roommate. He needs to come up to a few standards."

Tercia was still indifferent. "That is incomprehensible."

"Hey. It makes plenty of sense to me." Torey replied. "If we're going to be friends, we will eventually be rivals. So he needs to be able to keep up with me."

"In your entrance duel you did not fare very well at the beginning either."

"That hurts."

"You know what? You've really stirred the blood in my veins!" Roy cried. One of his facedown cards lifted up, and revealed a sparking generator. "I activate Damage Condenser! This allows me to call out a monster from my deck with attack equal or lower to the damage I received! At a cost, of course, of one card." A treelike machine with tank treads rolled out from the trap. "So I call out Woodborg Inpachi!" (5/500/2500)

"So what? I'll knock it out next turn!"

"I don't think so. Besides, my little fox comes back!" A burst of embers appeared as the fox arose from the grave. "Well, my turn begins now." He drew. "Before anything, I'm going to switch Woodborg to defense mode." The giant robot simply crossed its arms. "Now I'm going to pull something nice out for you! Hand of Nephthys!" Clad in a golden, beak-like helmet, a red-dressed woman with flowing flames for hair emerged. (2/600/600)

"That's your nice move? It sucks."

"Think again, brat." Roy was getting visibly irritated. How did this kid get into this place? His attitude sucks. "I'm offering two of these for something bigger!"

"You summoned already!"

"That's not the dang point, brat! It's being pulled from my deck!" The fox and the woman faded away. Roy raised his hand to the sky, and chanted, "Come forth, my Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!" A golden bird then erupted from a mountain of flames, like an angered volcano. Once the flames surrounding it washed away, it revealed a massive golden bird with flowing, flaming feathers. Its wings were attached at its waist, giving the beast feminine arms otherwise. It crowed a heavenly screech and landed in front of Roy without a sound. (7/2400/1600)

"Hmph. That's not nearly good enough," Riley commented.

Roy was quick to issue a retort. "You haven't seen anything yet, kid." He pointed towards the bull. "Attack the Enraged Battle Ox with Firestorm Cyclone!" The Phoenix began flapping its wings while gathering fire in its beak. As it breathed out, the flames formed a column that incinerated the steer. "No prisoners."

Roy: 700

Riley: 3300

"Fine. But I activate Michizure!" Riley called out, his trap flipping up. "Since you've destroyed a monster of mine, I'll do the same to you!"

Roy was unfazed. As fissures opened up under the phoenix, it seemed to lose its will to fly, and sunk beneath into the ravine. It quickly closed after. "I'll set another facedown and end my turn."

"Guess that one's your last, dude. I summon Berserk Gorilla in attack mode!" With burning red eyes, another brown gorilla appeared and beat its chest. It heaved and slobbered and waited for a chance to be set loose. (4/2000/1000)

"Not strong enough. Woodborg's got 2500 defense points," Roy pointed out. "Can't get past that, can't get to me!"

Riley smirked. When he did, he slipped a card into an open slot for a card. "When I throw in the quick-play spell Rush Recklessly, that doesn't matter! My Berserk Gorilla gains 700 attack points!" (4/2700/1000) "Now go! Rabid Smasher!" The gorilla roared, and charged. It balled its fists together and crushed the much larger robot. Riley laughed. "Now what? You haven't got anything to save you now! Voltic Kong! Thunderpunch! End this duel!" The gorilla charged its fist with electricity and charged forward.

Roy stood unfazed. "I've got one thing to say to you, kid."

Annoyed was Riley's response. "What's that?"

Just before the fist collided with Roy's body, a card of his flipped up and produced a blue barrier between the two. "Get rid of my facedown cards before attacking. Mirror Force obliterates all attack position monsters!" The barrier absorbed the gorilla's punch and erupted, sending the animal flying backwards towards the raving monkey behind it. Both shattered at once. Riley gritted his teeth with definite malice.

"This isn't over! I lay two more face downs and that's my turn!" Two more card backs littered the floor in front of him.

"I think it is. My turn begins." With his hand outstretched towards the green-haired boy, he readied his hand as if he were to snap his fingers. "And with this," he began, "I call forth the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys once more!"

"I destroyed it!" Riley cried out. "You haven't played a spell, and you haven't activated a trap!"

"That's my phoenix' ability, little Riley! Flames of Immortality!" The golden bird slowly emerged from a pool of flames. Once its wings climbed from the pool, it quickly ascended in the air, leaving the lava to simmer below. Roy, with his arm still outstretched, he darkly added, "Now... Rising Phoenix Burst!" With confidence he snapped his fingers, as if his fingers were two pieces of flint. "Ignition." The pool of lava from beneath the phoenix burst like a geyser, and molten bits scattered like rain. The molten rain drenched every facedown card on the field, melting and burning them away all at once.

Riley's face was drained. Each card he put down would have prevented Roy from attacking.

"Now, I'll summon Inferno by removing a Fire attribute monster from my grave, like Woodborg." A burst of flames appeared, revealing a face within the mass. (4/1100/1900) "And this, Riley, is my lesson to you: don't start fights without a good reason. It does jack for you." He sighed. "Inferno, scorch that kid with Hyper Heat Wave!" The mass of flames expanded, its influence reaching Riley and distorting the air around him.

Roy: 700

Riley: 2200

"Sacred Phoenix, finish this. Firestorm Shockwave!" The massive golden bird loosed a small ember from its beak, and it gracefully landed onto Riley's white shirt.

"That's it? That's so anticlimactic," Riley said disappointedly.

Torey was equally disappointed. "That's just not a cool finish."

"It gets the job done," Tercia noted.

Roy snapped his fingers. The small ember erupted with the force of a large-scale bomb. The explosion engulfed Riley's small frame, completely concealing him within an expanding sphere of flame. It revolved, rotated, and soon shot skyward in a pillar of flame. It was a sight to behold.

Torey now was awestruck. "Dude! That's amazing!" His jaw dropped considerably.

Tercia however kept an air of indifference. Deep within her grey eyes was a hint of excitement, though she quickly concealed it with an empty expression.

Roy: 700

Riley: 0

"You put up a good fight, I admit," Roy uttered when the holographic flames dissipated. "You're welcome to try again when you have a level head."

Riley was still visibly irritated. He attempted to mask it with a show of sportsmanship: an outstretched hand. Roy's eye twitched, but nonetheless he approached the green-haired boy and shook his hand. "Good game," the youth muttered.

"Good game," Roy replied.

As Roy turned to his other two, fellow Slifers, he patted their shoulders and began ushering them further along the dirt path, towards the center of the island. Tercia objected, saying she needed to head back to her dorm, but Roy's hand was firmly planted around her wrist. She had no simple (or painless) method of escape.

Riley meanwhile stared skyward, covering his eyes from the noontime sun with his hand. "So that's Roy Flagrun... I will put out your fire with the power of the beasts!" Looking instead to the horizon, he sighed. "I need anger management."

Later, Torey entered a sort of fanboy-type persona, marveling over Roy's duel. "Man, Roy! At first you killed my expectations, but those last few moves totally rocked!"

Roy was somewhat sheepish, though he proudly noted, "Thanks. I always wanted to play with fire when I was young. My parents called me a firestarter."

"Still, with a history like that it just seems so much cooler," Torey pointed out.

The crimson-haired boy beamed. "I try."

Tercia then quickly jabbed, "Be wary that your head does not expand."

"What?"

Torey rubbed his head. "I think she's talking about your ego."

"Oh."

Tercia nodded. "Yes. That is exactly what I mean. Also, you may remove your hand. I no longer have a desire to head back." She lifted up her wrist, with Roy's hand still strongly gripped to it.

The crimson-haired boy's face turned crimson itself. "Ah, sorry," he quickly added, releasing his hand.

Rubbing her wrist, Tercia quietly mentioned, "If you wanted to hold my hand, you may find it simpler to ask."

"Uh," Roy was flustered. "I--"

"Be warned, though. I have no romantic interest in you."

A long, haunting silence cast over the trio.