The two duelists walked out of Yuuren's dorm room heading towards one of the outdoor dueling fields students could use whenever they wanted to duel.
The field was divided into three smaller fields with white paint, so as to allow more students to duel at once.
At this time the fields were unoccupied, however, most students either still being at school or hanging out back at their dorms.
This worked out nicely for the two however given that one had nerves of glass and the other wanted attention as much as one wanted toothache.
Since too much attention meant that people would hear about his skills and then just try and make him join their dueling clubs, dueling research groups, dueling teams or just try to make him duel them to prove themselves.
In the end not having an audience worked out the best for both of them.
"Alright kid. Let's get the rules down. Standard rules are in place. If you win I'll coach you and try to make a duelist out of you. So that the bullies can't touch you anymore." Yuuren said as he took his place on the edge of the field.
"But if I lose, I'll settle for being friends and finding another way to keep the bullies away," Benjamin replied, having gone through the rules of their bet on their way there.
"Then can we do this already?" Yuuren sighed already feeling tired. "I just woke up and a cup of beef-flavored noodles have never seen more inviting."
Benjamin ignored his lack of enthusiasm and simply activated his duel disk drawing his starting hand with Yuuren following suit.
"DUEL!" They yelled as Benjamin drew a card from his deck.
"I go first!" He declared observing his hand, trying to decide what to do. "I summon Flower Fairy Roselina in attack mode!"
On his field, a small girl with glowing red eyes and bright red wings wearing a scarlet rose-themed dress appeared.
Flower Fairy Roselina/Fairy/Light Atk:400 Def:2000
"Now I'll equip her with Black Flower Garb which gives her another 300 attack points!"
From his spell card, black vines emerged wrapping around the small girl, turning her wings and dress pitch-black.
Flower Fairy Roselina Atk:700
"And now I will end my turn! Your move."
Yuuren looked at the small girl standing on the field, sending not at all threatening glares towards him.
Pushing a few buttons on his disk he took a closer look at the card.
Sighing he reluctantly drew a card from his deck.
"I summon Tri-Dragon in attack mode!" He declared a red three-headed mechanical dragon landing on his field letting out a metallic screech.
Tri-Dragon/Level 4/Machine/Atk:1800
"You wanted tips on dueling kid?" Yuuren suddenly spoke, pausing mid-turn. "If you start the duel, you should never put a card in attack mode without giving it some kind of defense. Doing what you did leaves you open for an attack from my Tri-Dragon! Attack with Triple Laser Breath!" He commanded the dragon firing an array of red lasers cutting through the small girl like butter.
Benjamin Life Points: 2900
"My Black Flower Garb Equip Spell activates! When the monster equipped with this card is sent to the graveyard I can add a "Flower Fairy" from my deck to my hand!" Benjamin cut in as the black vines pulled a card from his deck and put it in his hand.
"You made a mistake with that last move," Yuuren commented. "Adding one card to your hand is usually not worth losing that many life points. The smarter move would have been to make use of your monsters high defense and protect your life points. Then if it was destroyed anyway at least you wouldn't have lost any life points."
Benjamin's head instantly dropped towards the ground, his body slumping downwards.
Yuuren was right. He always did these kinds of moves. Sacrificing too much for too little.
"Now I activate my Tri-Dragon's effect! When he destroys a monster by battle, I can send him to the graveyard and summon three Tri Token to my side of the field."
Benjamin watched in awe as the dragon's main body disappeared in a flash of light. Leaving only three heads on the field, separated from each other.
Tri Token x 3/Level 1/Machine/Atk:300 Def:100
"And now I'll have my Token's attack your life points directly! Attack with Mini Laser Breath!" The three heads surrounding Benjamin before pelting him with small red streams of light.
Benjamin Life Points: 2600
Benjamin Life Points: 2300
Benjamin Life Points: 2000
Benjamin was stunned by what had happened. In a single turn, Yuuren had managed to clear his field and lower his life points to half the original.
If he hadn't already suspected it, this made it clear just how big of a difference there was between the two of them.
"I'll end my turn with one face-down card. Your move." Yuuren declared, putting a card from his hand face-down in his duel disk.
Benjamin reluctantly drew a card from his deck before looking through his hand.
"I summon Flower Fairy Bluebella in defense mode! And then I'll place one card face-down and end my turn!"
Flower Fairy Bluebella/Level 2/Fairy/Def:1500
On Benjamin's side of the field, another small girl dressed in a blue poufy dress with light blue wings took a stance in a defensive stance.
"My turn." Yuuren sighed already starting to feel bored. "I'll summon Dual Dragon in Attack Mode." A metallic blue dragon with two heads, otherwise it was nearly identical to his other dragon appeared on his field, letting out a metallic screech.
Dual Dragon/Level 3/Machine/Atk:1700
"And now he'll attack your Flower Fairy Bluebella! Dual Laser Stream!"
A familiar scene took place as fiery blue beams tore the small Fairy to pieces before moving on to blast Benjamin head-on.
Benjamin Life Points: 1800
"When Dual Dragon attacks a monster in defense position. You take piercing damage equal to the difference between the Atk and Def of our respective monsters. Now my Tri Tokens will attack you directly!"
Benjamin could do nothing but raise his arms in defense as the dragon heads again blasted him from all directions.
Benjamin Life Points: 1500
Benjamin Life Points: 1200
Benjamin Life Points: 900
Benjamin fell to his knees, like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Tears filling his eyes.
Who was I kidding? The difference between us was crystal clear from the beginning. He is a former National Champion and I'm just some nobody with a useless deck…
There was never any chance of me winning… I'm just… A weakli-
"DON'T GIVE UP!" Yuuren roared from his side of the field, pulling Benjamin out of his thoughts. "The duel isn't over until your life points hit zero!"
"B-b-but…" Benjamin blubbered, not getting the words to come out of his mouth.
"Listen up kiddo. I've faced some good duelists in my days. None as good as me. But definitely above average."
"I didn't realize it at first, but eventually i realized that they were, in a way stronger than me."
Benjamin sucked the snot back in and listened carefully as Yuuren spoke.
"After I won the championship twice you would think that people would realize i'm good right? Pretty sure they did too, they knew they probably didn't stand a chance against me and they still managed to muster up the courage to duel me."
"It wasn't until i gave up dueling that I realized that because they were able to take a defeat and still rise up to face overwhelming odds, that they were, in fact, stronger than me who gave up and hid away in my room for two years."
Benjamin slowly rose to his feet, moving his arm to draw a card.
"Facing all those people made me realize that you don't need skills, a good deck or even pure dumb luck to win a duel. Because all those things are useless unless you have the courage to stand up and fight against whoever you happen to face! Do you have that courage?!"
"YES!" Benjamin roared, drawing his card. "I refuse to run away anymore! I will stand up and fight! I activate my trap card! Fairy Garden!"
Fairy Garden/Normal Trap card
"I can only activate Fairy Garden when I have 1000 or fewer life points! Now I can special summon from my hand, a Flower Fairy of my choice! And I choose to summon my Flower Fairy Sunfloweris in attack mode!"
On his field a big yellow sunflower bloomed before transforming into a voluptuous lady, with bright yellow eyes and wings, wearing the sunflower as a dress.
Flower Fairy Sunfloweris/Level 6/Fairy/Atk: 1800
Yuuren smiled at the sight of the smaller kid, brimming with confidence. Even when it was an easy opponent it always made the duel so much more fun when his opponent tried their best.
"And now i'll normal summon my Flower Fairy Chamomillea in attack mode!" Benjamin declared a small white-clad girl with similarly white eyes and wings took her place beside the yellow fairy.
Flower Fairy Chamomillea/Level 1/Atk:100
"Now I'll activate her effect! By sending her and a card in my hand to the graveyard, all the monsters on your side of the field are changed to defense mode and cannot be changed back until the end of my next turn!"
As he finished explaining, the small white girl burst into a shimmer of white pollen, covering Yuuren's machines in white putting them to sleep.
"And now for Sunfloweris's effect! By paying half my life points all monsters on your side of the field currently in defense mode are destroyed! Plus you take 200 points of damage for each one of them!"
Yuuren looked honestly surprised as the fairy suddenly let out a stream of yellow light from her hands, incinerating all his monsters into nothing.
Benjamin's Life Points: 450
Yuuren's Life Points: 3000
"And now Flower Fairy Sunfloweris attacks you directly! Sunny Day Beam!"
Yuuren despite being as he was couldn't help but smile as the fairy unleashed a second yellow beam on him, covering him in a bright light.
Everything the kid needed was some confidence and a helping hand.
Yuuren's Life Points: 1200
"HOW'S THAT!" Benjamin roared, feeling ecstatic at his newfound skills.
"Pretty good kid! I might still be a little rusty but I can't remember seeing moves like that since my last time at the nationals! But sadly I think it's still my win!"
Benjamin's proud look did a 180 as Yuuren drew his card. A smug smile on his face.
"I summon Single Dragon in attack mode!" Yuuren smirked as a bright green dragon looking just like the ones before him except for having just one head.
Single Dragon/Level 1/Machine/Atk:100
"And his ability allows me to, while Tri Dragon and Dual Dragon are both in my graveyard, to summon said monsters to my field with zero Atk and Def!"
Benjamin covered his ears as the dragon let out a mighty roar, cracks appearing in the ground on Yuuren's side, the summoned dragons crawling out of the ground to take their place on his field.
Tri-Dragon/Level 4/Machine/Atk:0
Dual Dragon/Level 3/Machine/Atk:0
"And finally I activate from my hand the spell card Polymerization! This allows me to combine my three mechas together to summon… Mecha Dragon 6!"
On Yuuren's side, the iconic spiraling portal appeared, sucking the three dragons in before bursting outwards. A gigantic black and red dragon flying across the field before coming to a stop behind Yuuren.
The beast was a fearsome sight with six arms with claws the size of meat hooks and six heads with glowing red eyes.
Mecha Dragon 6/Level 8/Machine/Atk: 3000
"And now I activate his ability! By removing Tri-Dragon from my graveyard, my Mecha Dragon 6 gains 1000 Atk until the end of my turn."
Mecha Dragon 6/Atk: 4000
"You did really well kid! Consider me impressed! Now my dragon! Attack with Giga-Pulsar Blast!" Yuuren commanded, the beast unleashing bright scarlet blasts upon Benjamin's poor fairy, turning said monster into nothing more than dust.
Benjamin tried covering his eyes with his arms, but was sent flying backward from the shockwaves before landing on his back.
Benjamin's Life Points: 0
The boy laid on his back in silence for a full minute as the holograms disappeared into thin air.
"How are you feeling kid?" Yuuren asked, squatting down next to Benjamin. "I'm often told dueling me can leave one quite exhausted?"
"Nah… I'm fine, just… just feeling real frigging amazing now!" Benjamin exclaimed, laughing out loud.
Yuuren stared at the laughing kid for a moment before joining in. "Well, that's new. Usually those I defeat just cry or looks depressed. Having someone laugh is a first for me."
Benjamin smiled, eyes sparkling with a glow that wasn't there before.
"It's just… I've never had a duel like that before! For the first time in my life, I actually enjoyed myself during a duel!"
Yuuren smiled at the kid. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he were to-
"Nyehehehehe! Well isn't this a beautiful scene! The loser and the winner laughing and bonding together! In fact, it's so sweet I might just hurl my guts out." A sickly sweet voice with a slight Italian accent came from the entrance of the duel field.
Turning their heads to look at the scource, the two boys saw a tall fox-faced obelisk blue student standing with his arms crossed and a mocking grin.
"And who are you supposed to be!?" Yuuren sighed feeling like he already knew the answer.
The obelisk blue student merely grinned and made bowed until his nose was practically touched the ground.
"I am none other than the glorious Guerrino de la Monte! Member and warrior of the glorious Clock Society. It has come to my attention that you managed to bring down Signore Christopher no?"
Yuuren scratched his head as if trying to remember a distant and faded memory. "Oh, that hulk wannabe from yesterday? Yeah, I'm the one who took him down. What of it?"
Guerrino merely snickered and smiled deviously. "You have become pretty well known in our little gang. The boss wants you gone."
Yuuren merely scratched his head and let out a fake yawn. "Just say it like it is already. You want to duel so you can prove to your boss that you're just not some side character with a funny accent."
The Obelisk Blue student growled and pulled out a duel disk from a satchel strapped to a satchel behind his back. "We'll let's see about that. Let's duel!"
Yuuren sighed and waved for Benjamin to take a seat at the edge of the field as he walked towards the other side of the arena.
Smiling cruelly Guerrino released his duel disk. "I'll take the first move! Draw!" He screamed as the duelists drew their starting hands.
Looking through his hand Guerrino began laughing like a maniac. "This is incredible! I've already won! I SUMMON-"
(Five pathetic turns later)
Guerrino's Life Points: 0
Yuuren's Life Points: 4000
"I… I WON'T FORGET THIS! I'M GONNA MAKE SURE YOU PAY FOR THIS! MY COMRADES AND I ARE GONNA MAKE SURE YOU PAY FOR THIS!" Guerrino shrieked much like a little girl who had gotten her doll destroyed.
"I AM GONNA GO HOME AND TELL BOSS!*sniffle* AND THEN WE'LL ANNIHILATE THE BOTH OF YOU!"
As the prideful Obelisk Blue ran home crying for his friends, Yuuren couldn't help but to laugh at the poor guy.
"Man. He may not have put up much of a fight but seeing his reaction was probably the most fun I've had all day!" Yuuren laughed, clutching his stomach.
Benjamin who stood silently next to the laughing Slifer finally gave in and burst into a laughing fit of his own.
The two of them stood in place laughing for a good five minutes before finally settling down.
"You know kid…" Yuuren spoke once their laughter died down. "I might just be willing to duel some more with you. You're still kinda crappy at it and all but I had a good time. "
Benjamin stood in shock, a grin forming on his face.
"Now I can't promise you any actual coaching but if it's just teaching you some tips and tricks then I should be able to help. Just come hang out when you have some free time and I'll take you on."
Benjamin was walking on air on his way back. His mission had gone better than expected, getting both a dueling coach and a friend at the same time.
The sun was already setting so he decided to hurry up and get back home.
Maybe after dinner, he'd treat himself to some of the ice cream he'd been saving up.
As strolled on through the reception of the Ra Yellow dorm, he didn't hear the receptionist calling out to him as he skipped up the stairs to his room.
As he got closer to his room he swore he could hear someone chanting numbers to themselves.
"119… 120… 121…"
He paid it no heed though and continued happily skipping and humming down the corridor.
"124… 125… 126…"
As Benjamin opened his dorm he shrieked in horror at the scene that met him.
A gigantic man easily outsizing Christoffer in both height and muscle size was standing in the center of the room doing squats, sweat dripping down his bare chest, his bright red eyes burning with energy and letting out heavy groans as he forced his legs to keep moving.
It was then Benjamin realized what the receptionist had been trying to tell him…
Today was the day his roommate was set to arrive!
"Ummm… Hello?" Benjamin squeaked feeling extremely underwhelmed in front of the titanic man.
The man turned to face him and flashed a bright smile. "Oh! Hello! You must be my roommate right?! Benjamin was it?"
"Uuuhh… Yes?" Benjamin replied feeling a bit thrown off by his jovial attitude.
"Awesome!" The man exclaimed. In a less than a second he had crossed the distance between them and was shaking Benjamin's hand "I'm John Hart, first-year Ra student, and your new roommate! Nice to meet you!"
"Eeehh… Ummm… Ok?" Benjamin stuttered still in awe at the speed this hulking brute of a man possessed. "Welcome to the Ra Yellow dorm I guess?"
"Aww thanks, man! That's so nice of you! I was going to start yesterday like everyone else but I got a bit delayed because of a tournament."
"Oh?" Benjamin asked feeling curious. "A dueling tournament I assume?"
John just laughed and rubbed the back of his head looking a bit embarrassed. "No, no I'm nowhere good enough for something like that. It was an MMA tournament. Been doing Wrestling, Judo, and Kick-boxing since I was a toddler."
Benjamin paled a little as his new roommate started listing all the tournaments he had participated in, how he was ranked 8 in middle school Kick-boxing and how his father and older brothers all were highly ranked martial artist's on their own which even Benjamin had heard about.
Suddenly Benjamin realized that his special deluxe chocolate, hazelnut, peanut-butter ice cream was lying on the floor.
Empty with not even a single drop remaining.
"Yeah, so my dad wanted me to continue the 'family legacy' and stuff and come join him and my brother at his gym. But I always liked dueling so I thought I'd at least try taking the entrance exam and see where that-"
"DID YOU EAT MY ICE CREAM?!" Benjamin shrieked sprinting past his roommate to cradle the empty package like a new-born baby.
"Oh yeah. Sorry about that. I got a little hungry after my fifth set so I helped myself to it. Hope you don't mind?"
"OF COURSE I BLOODY MIND! I HAD BEEN SAVING THAT ONE!" Benjamin screamed as the manliest of tears started pouring down his cheeks, mourning the loss of his poor ice cream.
"Look, dude, I'm really sorry and all but honestly you shouldn't be eating that stuff. It isn't good for you." John tried as Benjamin rose to his feet, and throwing the package into the garbage.
"THEN WHY THE HECK DID YOU EAT IT?!" Benjamin roared, stomping over to John and starting him dead in the eye.
"Well…" John chuckled while scratching his cheek in embarrassment. "It's no big deal right? It just an ice cream dude."
Benjamin's face grew red with rage, something rare for the normally timid Benjamin.
"Just an ice cream?! That was a limited offer special deluxe Chocolate-Hazelnut Ice cream with peanut butter topping! I stood in line for an hour to get this!"
"Ooooh... my bad dude." John apologized, rubbing the back of his head before dropping onto the floor and beginning to do push-ups.
"That's it?! Just My bad dude?!" Benjamin shrieked.
"Well... It's not like I can give it back to you now can I? So what's the problem? 'Don't bother worrying about things you can't change' is my motto."
Feeling a headache coming Benjamin gave up, took some painkillers from a bottle on his desk, changed into his pajamas and went to bed. Serenaded by the grunts of his roommate doing one-armed pull-ups in the corner.
Benjamin sighed. Why couldn't he just have a normal student life.