Chapter 9: Champion of Duel Academy

"The reason I gathered you all here," Headmaster West spoke to the faculty, "is that, as you no doubt recall, the time for the School Duel approaches. I have spoken to Headmaster Spengler of Godwin Academy, and he thinks the challenge would be more interesting if instead of merely sending our best duelists, we encourage a duel between our best first-year students."

"Let a freshman in the school duel?" Dr. Lankford interpreted. "Do you suppose that is wise?"

"It would be more interesting," Maya agreed. "Of course it is always good to watch the strongest duelists in a struggle against one another, but think about how much the students could learn by having freshmen duel. It's not a universal rule, but freshmen tend to make more mistakes than upperclassmen, and more mistakes means more discussion."

"Maybe they'd be less likely to do so in such a high-glory duel," Baker suggested. "Even if they did, there's prime material for an easy essay from the spectators and whomever we choose for the duel."

Dr. Kerr, showing her social scientist side, pointed out, "That depends on the student. If the selected student truly is a champion-level duelist, social facilitation dictates he or she will get better in front of a crowd. And the School Duel draws the biggest crowd of the year."

"Sounds like reasonable consensus along the board," Dr. West said as he looked at each of the other faculty members. "So I guess the big question is which student will participate."

"I recommend Matthew Luther," Dave said without hesitation. Being Dr. West's aide-de-camp, he spent a lot of time sitting in on faculty meetings; being a powerful duelist and an intelligent guy, his insight was often well received.

"That's a very good call," Dr. Apple agreed. "He is the top-ranked freshman. He's defeated duelists from both the Yellow Dorm and the Blue Mansion, so he is certainly not unaccustomed to a challenging duel." He poked a few buttons on his PDA and added, "The database says he's batting 1.000 in official duels, including the incident with Elijah."

"I remember that," Baker said. "Elijah stole a Guardian's deck, right? I believe the record showed he summoned the god card, but Matt beat him, anyway."

Dave nodded. "He did."

Maya huffed and asked, "If he beat Obelisk then, why didn't he challenge one of the Guardians to get into the Guardian house?"

Dave explained, "He doesn't care about the god cards. He just wants to play, and owning a god card means he gets fewer duels because of all the restrictions." He put on a smile and added, "Besides, if he had a god card, he couldn't be considered for the School Duel, could he?"

Dr. Kerr stepped up and suggested, "What about Cary Strickland, Dave's cousin? She's also very talented. She put on quite a duel against Lucy during the Guardian Dueler challenge, only barely losing out when she faced Obelisk the Tormentor. I know Matt defeated Obelisk, but not against a true Guardian, and Lucy's effectiveness with Obelisk likely made the difference. I think she is just as strong as Matt. Wouldn't you agree, David?"

Dave nodded. "They are indeed both powerful."

Dr. Lankford looked to Dr. Apple and asked, "What's her record?"

Looking at his PDA already, Dr. Apple quickly replied, "She's batting .975, 316 for 324 including her Guardian challenge. Only eight losses is mightily impressive for a freshman."

"Then we should set up a duel between them," Dr. Lankford suggested. "It will be a fair, objective way to decide who gets the nomination. As with all disputes on the island, we'll let the duel sort it out."

"Agreed," Headmaster West decided. "We'll send notice to Matt and Cary that they each have two weeks to prepare to duel one another."

That was the scene in the administration building two weeks ago. Today was the result of two weeks practice and preparation on Cary's part. Matt, on the other hand, did nothing different from the usual: pull pranks, watch movies, and spend time on the basketball court.

"Knock, knock," Dr. Kerr said when she got to Matt's room. The door was sitting wide open. Matt still hadn't gotten a new roommate since Bryan moved out of the dorm, so he usually left the door open to invite visitors. He sometimes left cookies on the desk near the door for the same purpose; in fact, Dr. Kerr couldn't help snatching one.

"Morning, Dr. Kerr," he said through sit-ups. He was still wearing his pajama pants and no shirt. He spoke the number "One hundred" before flipping over and starting push ups.

Dr. Kerr waited to see if he was going to stop, but he didn't show any signs of it; she decided to speak anyway.

"You know what today is, right?"

"Uh, Groundhog Day?" She chuckled and told him that wasn't it. "Oh, right. It's the day you want me to prove that boys rule and girls drool." He stopped after a push up and wiped his hand across the floor before continuing. "Okay, maybe boys rule and drool, but I still plan to win."

"I just wanted to remind you the duel is at nine. I hope you had breakfast, or you've got about a half hour to eat, anyway. Passing out is no acceptable excuse not to duel."

"I wouldn't skip a challenge," Matt told her. "I don't care how much I like her; today, Cary is a challenger."

"Good. See you at the stadium."

Kasumi and Lakisha came to Matt's room shortly after Dr. Kerr left. They already knew how well prepared Cary was, but they wanted to check in on Matt and see how he was doing. Kasumi's heart fluttered when she saw Matt shirtless… until Lakisha started jabbing her in the side; she wanted to make sure Kasumi saw it.

"Hey," Matt said when he finished push-ups. He jokingly asked, "You two here to weasel my secrets out of me to give Cary an edge? I hoped she was above sending spies."

"No woman is ever above using spies," Lakisha pointed out. "In fact, we're going to tell her you said that."

Matt grabbed a shirt from his closet and threw it on while saying, "Why not make up some stuff while you're at it? Tell her I started that rumor that she's really a dude."

"Did you really start a rumor like that?" Kasumi asked in surprise.

"No," Matt replied immediately, "but that joke will probably come back to bite me on the ass, won't it?"

"You're right, it will," Lakisha said assuredly. "But seriously, we came to see how you're doing because Kasumi was worried about you." Kasumi smacked Lakisha's arm, but instead of making her feel guilty, it only made Lakisha laugh.

"Is that true, Kas?"

Kasumi blushed horribly. "No! It's just a duel between friends. And obviously, you aren't going to throw the game just to let Cary participate in the School Duel."

"That's true," Matt replied. "I like your roommate well enough, but that's why I won't insult her by going easy on her." He closed the closet door while inside the closet for a moment, then emerged a moment later with his pajama pants in his hand and a pair of khakis on his legs. He tossed his pajama pants on the bed and looked confused. "Where'd I put my jacket?"

Kasumi smiled because she could see the jacket hanging on the end of the bunked beds right next to her. She giggled and motioned toward the bed with her head.

"Oh, thanks," Matt said as he grabbed the jacket and put it on. "So who are you rooting for?"

"Cary, far and away," Lakisha replied. "Girl power."

Matt smiled and turned to Kasumi. "Kas?"

Kasumi shook her head and blushed again. "I don't care. I like you both. You're both really good friends. But if I absolutely had to choose one of you… I'd say Cary."

"Roommate nepotism, eh?"

"Yes. Besides, a little part of me wants to see a girl representing the school."

"Then you only came here to psych me out, didn't you?" Lakisha asked if it was working. "No, but it was a nice try. Justin actually gave me an idea for a combo I really like. You can tell Cary to keep an eye out for my Dark Magician." Lakisha groaned that everyone already knew about that card.

The next voice didn't belong to a woman.

"Don't give them help!" Bryan walked into the room and feigned exasperation. He flailed his arms to sell the act, but also to make sure everyone got a good look at the black jacket he was so proud to wear. "They'll tell Cary all your deck's secrets, like the Dark Magician and the Dark Paladin and the way they unite."

Kasumi laughed at Bryan's failed attempt to give away Matt's secrets. Bryan, back to normal behavior, asked how she and Lakisha were doing, then what they were doing and if they were trying to seduce Matt into giving them information.

"Unfortunately, he seems to be immune," Lakisha commented, looking at Kasumi as she did. Returning to the joke, she added, "It doesn't matter. Cary will still be able to kick his butt."

"We'll see," Matt replied. "How's Thomas? Should I assume by the fact that he didn't come with you that he's also rooting for Cary to win?"

Kasumi forced a smile. "He apologized, but we're not as close anymore. He's still grinding my nerves."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Matt replied. Instead of presenting his actual opinion of Thomas, he added, "He might yet mature past the jealousy thing as school goes on."

"Thanks," she replied softly. Lakisha grabbed Kasumi's arm and started to pull her toward the door. She hadn't planned for Bryan to show up.

"We're going to go meet up with Cary again. We'll see you at the stadium, studly."

Matt and Bryan both waved, then Bryan looked at Matt and repeated, "Studly?" He scoffed and said, "You were exercising when they came in again, weren't you? You're such a showoff with your rock-hard abs and your oddly hairless chest."

"Nice to know how you really feel. Why'd you come here again?"

Bryan laughed and said, "Obviously, I came to manipulate the outcome of the game. The odds are in your favor, and so I stand to make a lot of money by poisoning you and betting on Cary. Besides, the Guardians aren't technically allowed to visit School Duelists because they're afraid we might give you cards."

"But you talked your way up here because you're practically my brother?"

"Exactly. Now let's go shoot a few hoops and head over to the stadium." So much for taking breakfast as a priority.

The stadium was pretty full. All the students attended, minus a select few who couldn't care less and actually resisted school spirit, and many people from Kazuki attended, as well. This was not one of the televised duels, but a play-by-play was broadcasted over the Internet by none other than the nerdy minds of Justin Nussbaum and friends at the Academy tech center. Matt was actually surprised how popular dueling was considering it's just a card game, but then he remembered that ESPN—the sports channel—airs poker tournaments; at least dueling with three-dimensional monsters involves some action.

Matt approached Cary and held his arms open. She stared at him as if to check his hands for a buzzer, then hesitantly accepted his hug in place of a handshake. His excuse was they were friends and a hug is friendlier than a handshake.

"You ready to lose?" Cary asked him.

"I'm always ready; it just hasn't happened yet."

She smiled and nodded. "Okay, smart guy. Let's do this."

Headmaster West announced the start of the duel. He reminded the audience what the stakes were and encouraged everyone to come out to the School Duel to support whichever duelist was named the representative of Duel Academy. Two games of rock-paper-scissors ended with Cary being granted the first play; they both picked scissors the first time, then she switched to rock while he played scissors again.

"I get to start this duel," Cary said. "I'll set one monster in defense mode."

"That's it? Well, I'll try to make a bigger play, then. This first card I'm going to summon will make you think Bryan helped me build my deck, but let me assure you that this was completely my idea."

Her curiosity piqued, Cary was shocked when Matt summoned Elemental Hero Prisma (4/1700/1000).

"This guy mimics a monster in my deck. All I have to do is show you a card from my Fusion Deck, like the Dark Paladin, and I can send one of the fusion material monsters to the Graveyard, like my Dark Magician. That allows Prisma to act like the Dark Magician until this turn is over. And I can offer my makeshift Dark Magician as Tribute to summon Dark Eradicator Warlock (7/2500/2100)."

Cary raised an eyebrow at a rarer form of the Dark Magician. "I suppose he has some powerful, magic-based effect?"

"You could say that. Every time one of us activates a spell card, you take 1000 points of damage. Just for the sake of using it now, I'll play Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two more cards from my deck and inflicts 1000 LP damage to you. Now my Dark Warlock (2500) can attack and probably destroy your monster."

"He did," Cary agreed. "Mine was just a Treeborn Frog (1/100/100)."

"Good. I'll end my turn." Matt 8000: Cary 8000 – 1000 = 7000.

Cary looked over her hand and spent noticeably longer considering her moves than Matt ever did. She wasn't being reckless about things when she was going to take damage for every spell card; her priority was getting the Warlock (2500) off the field.

"Because there are no spells or traps on my field, my Treeborn Frog (100) gets revived during my Standby Phase. Now I'll take the hit long enough to play Ancient Rules, a spell that lets me Special Summon a Normal monster that's level five or higher; I choose Simorgh, Bird of Ancestry (8/2900/2000)."

"Simorgh?" Matt repeated. "Isn't that an effect monster?" He looked at the duel monitor that shows each player a card's details and said, "Yeah! It even says right there, 'Winged Beast/Effect.'" He continued reading and his enthusiasm faded. "Oh. 'This card is treated as a Normal Monster while in your hand.' Boy, that was a good move."

"Thanks. Now I'll summon Hand of Nephthys (2/600/600), then Tribute it and my Treeborn Frog to summon from my deck the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys (8/2400/1600). Now I'm ready to attack, first with Simorgh (2900) to destroy your Warlock (2500), and then Nephthys (2400) to attack you directly. I'll place a card facedown and end my turn." Matt 8000 – 400 – 2400 = 5200: Cary 7000 – 1000 = 6000.

"Oddly enough, the duel's still about even," Matt commented, "except that you've got two big monsters there and I don't. But I can handle that, I think. I'll summon Crystal Seer (1/100/100) and activate Magical Dimension; by sending Crystal Seer to the Graveyard, I get to summon Dark Magician of Chaos (8/2800/2600) and destroy your Simorgh (2900)."

"I'll chain the trap called Shift; it lets me redirect your effect to my Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys. It gets destroyed instead of Simorgh."

Matt looked over the field. "Hmm. That makes things a little more difficult, but let's see what I can do. First, summoning Dark Magician of Chaos lets me retrieve a Spell from my Graveyard, and I'll take Pot of Greed. Then I'll go ahead and play it now to draw two more cards. And, uh… Simorgh (2900) is still too big, so I'll put a card facedown and end my turn."

Cary grinned. "It's my Standby Phase again, and because you destroyed my Sacred Phoenix (2400) was destroyed by a card effect, it gets revived; this kind of Special Summon also brings the effect of destroying all spells and traps on the field."

"Uh oh," Matt uttered.

"Yeah. As a bonus, my Treeborn Frog (100) also revives because I have no spells or traps on my field. Now I'll summon Swift Birdman Joe (6/2300/1400) without a Tribute because Simorgh's effect reduces the Tributes for all wind monsters by one. Starting with Simorgh (2900), I'll send all my monsters to attack you. Then I'll set a card and end my turn." Matt 5200 – 100 – 2400 – 2300 – 100 = 300: Cary 6000.

"Holy crap," Matt uttered. "I really need to step this up a notch. I'll discard a card from my hand to Special Summon The Tricky (5/2000/1200) from my hand in defense mode. Because I discarded Dandylion, I get to summon two Fluff Tokens (1/0/0) to my field, also in defense mode. Then I'll set one more monster and another card and cross my fingers."

"Really? That's your big strategy?"

"No. But my big strategy keeps getting thrown off by your big strategy."

Cary smiled. "Good. I'll have Treeborn Frog (100) and Birdman Joe (2300) attack your Fluff Tokens (0), then let Nephthys (2400) attack The Tricky (1200). Finally, Simorgh (2900) will attack your facedown monster."

"My monster is Apprentice Magician (2/400/800), who lets me set a Magician of Faith (1/300/400) from my deck."

"You last one more turn," Cary noted. "Go ahead."

Matt crossed his fingers as he drew. "Not a great draw, but if I flip Magician of Faith, her flip effect lets me pull Pot of Greed out of my Graveyard and play it again to draw two more cards." He let out a sigh of relief. "That's better. I'll summon Magician's Valkyria (4/1600/1800) and send her to attack your Treeborn Frog (100). But I'll also activate Magician's Circle, which lets us each summon a spellcaster with 2000 or fewer AP; I choose to summon another Magician's Valkyria (1600)."

"Another one? Great," Cary groaned. "I'll summon Hand of Nephthys (2/600/600) in defense mode."

"I'll set two cards and end my turn." Matt 300: Cary 6000 – 1500 = 4500.

Cary drew her card and groaned loudly. Valkyria's effect prevents any other spellcaster on Matt's field from being targeted, and when two Valkyrias are on the field simultaneously, Cary can't select any spellcasters on Matt's field as an attack target.

"My Treeborn Frog (100) revives again, but I'll send it and Hand of Nephthys to the Graveyard to summon another Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys (8/2400/1600). I'll also set a card."

Matt pretended to wipe a bead of sweat from his forehead. "Now I've got something in mind. I'll Tribute my Magician of Faith to summon Dark Magician Girl (6/20002300/1700). Now I'll play Sage's Stone, which can only activate when Dark Magician Girl is on the field; I can summon another Dark Magician (7/2500/2100) from my deck. Now I'll play Magical Blast, a spell that inflicts 200 points of damage to you for each spellcaster on my field."

Cary scoffed. "Crap."

"I'll destroy Birdman Joe (2300) with Dark Magician (2500). Now I'll finish my turn by activating Secret Village of the Spellcasters; as long as this Field Spell card is on the field, then as long as I have a face-up spellcaster and you don't, you can't activate spell cards." Matt 300: Cary 4500 – 800 – 200 = 3500.

"You've got to be kidding me," Cary groaned. "Of all the lucky draws…"

"I know."

Cary pulled a card from her hand and said, "I was bluffing. I'll summon Apprentice Magician (2/400/800), a spellcaster. Then I'll play Dark Hole, a spell that destroys every monster on the field."

"Oh, crap," Matt scoffed. "Now the game is over and it won't look like I deserved it."

"What are you talking about?" Cary asked. "Now that I'll set two cards, I'll have three cards facedown, and both my Nephthys monsters will revive next turn. What have you got that's so good?"

"Only the Shadowpriestess of Ohm (4/1700/1600), a monster who can attack and inflict damage with her effect."

Cary countered, "I'll activate Torrential Tribute, another card that destroys all monsters on the field."

"I thought you might. That's why I waited to play Swing of Memories, a spell that lets me revive a Normal monster from my Graveyard; say hello again to the Dark Magician (2500). I'll equip him with Megamorph to double my Magician's (5000) AP. I'll send him to attack you directly."

Cary shook her head and said, "Nuh uh. I'll play Scapegoat to summon four Sheep Tokens (1/0/0) to my field in defense mode. No direct attacks here."

"Who needs a direct attack?" Matt asked. "I'll activate my Ebon Arrow, a trap that reduces Dark Magician's (4500) AP by 500 and gives him piercing damage for the turn." He smiled at Cary and said, "I'm betting that facedown card is a bluff, or something that would help if your Phoenix destroyed it. But it's useless now, I think."

She groaned. "Dark Coffin. Would have destroyed your Dark Magician and left you wide open."

"Good thing the duel already ended, then." Matt 300: Cary 3500 – 4500 = 0.

Matt offered Cary another hug—a stronger, longer one—and she grudgingly accepted. He congratulated her on almost beating him; it was certainly the closest he could remember ever coming to a loss.

"You'd better win this School Duel or else you'll make me look bad," she threatened.

"Don't worry about that," Matt said. "What could they possibly throw at me I can't take care of?"


Go ahead and start guessing the relationships if you think you have them figured out. In the next chapter, I'll reveal who I see Bryan with.

As the School Duel approaches, preparations take a chunk of time out of Matt's schedule, but it doesn't stop everyone else from leading their own lives; Bryan defends his god card against a challenge by a member of Team Lockdown.
Next up: The Purpose of Team Lockdown