Author's Note: Well, here we go. Another chapter.

You cannot succeed if you never try.

Chapter Nine: Day of the Duel Review: VS The Divine Duelist

For once, Hiro woke up before his two roommates did. Looking over at his calendar on the wall he smiled. 'Today is the duel review.' Tossing the blanket from his body he hopped out of bed, making his way towards the shower.

Twenty minutes later Hiro was inspecting himself in the mirror, the pendent which he usually wore tucked behind his shirt shined brightly, the sunlight reflecting off of it.

Hayato was casually going through his deck, making any changes he deemed necessary.

John was sitting in front of a pile of sixty or more cards, frantically going through them, "Which is better? Monster Reborn or Confiscation?" He asked his two roommates.

Hiro turned to him, "How about both?" He questioned.

"Both?" John repeated.

"How many cards do you have in your deck currently?" Hayato asked from his desk.

"Thirty-eight so far." John answered.

Hayato rolled his eyes, "Then just add those two cards." He said, slightly annoyed.

John placed the two cards into his deck, and shuffled. "Okay, I think I'm ready now." He said nervously.

"Just relax, if you get too nervous your not going to do very well." Hiro told the older teen.


Ed went through his deck leisurely, "You know what? I don't think I need to prep my deck." He told his roommate.

The boy sighed, shuffling his deck. "I guess this will have to do." Looking up at Ed, who was currently situated at the top bunk he shook his head. "You should take this more seriously. The duel review isn't something to take lightly."

"I just don't see the point of changing my deck for it." Ed replied.

"You do know that the duel review can advance us Osiris Red into the Ra Yellow Dorm, right?" The boy questioned.

Ed looked up from his deck, "Really? Hmmm...Edgar Knight, Ace of Ra Yellow. I don't know, doesn't have a very nice ring to it." He mused.

The boy shook his head, "Glad to see your back to our old self." He said flatly.

Ed grinned, "I don't stay down and out for long." He replied, hopping down from the top bunk, he stretched lazily.

"Well, knowing you, you just might make it into Ra Yellow today." The boy commented after thinking for a few seconds.

Ed waved the boy off, "Yeah, yeah, sure. Hey...where's Kosuke?" He asked, looking around for the moody teenager.

The boy looked surprised, "Bastard? Now that I think about it, he hasn't been hanging around here as much as he usually does."

Shrugging, Ed pocketed his deck. "Oh well, I'm sure he'll turn up eventually."


"Great Maju Garzett (2500/0), attack his Warrior of Light (1600/1800)!" A boy wearing a Ra Yellow blazer commanded. The fiendish monster unleashed a wave of skulls that slammed into the monster, effectively destroying it. (H: 2000)

"My turn ends." The boy said, placing the remaining card in his hand into his duel disk. "It's your move."

Hayato slid a card from his deck, depressing a button on his duel disk, his face-down card flipped over. "Call of the Haunted revives my Warrior of Light." A man wielding two curved swords and wearing an intensely bright armor reappeared before the boy.

Hayato was well aware that the professors were judging his duel, and that his friends were watching him, 'This duel is over, which means I'm one step closer to advancing.'

"Now I tribute both monsters to summon Light and Darkness Dragon (2800/2400) in attack mode." A large dragon replaced the two warriors, it's wings spreading outward. One half of the dragon shined intensely while the other half was a pitch black.

"When Warrior of Darkness is used to tribute summon Light and Darkness Dragon it gives it the ability to attack twice in a row if it's first attack is successful. And when Warrior of Light is used to tribute summon it, it gives my dragon a 500 attack point boost." Hayato explained as the dragon's attack strength increased. (3300/2400)

The boy looked down at his face-down card confidently. 'Go ahead and attack, I'll send it right back at you, and then I'll be one step closer to becoming an Obelisk Blue.' The boy thought smugly.

"Light and Darkness Dragon will destroy your fiend, Twilight Purge!" An orb made of light and dark energy erupted from the dragon's maw, careening towards the fiendish monster.

"Ha, this duel is mine, Magic Cylinder activates, which means your attack is going right back at ya!" The boy exclaimed as his card flipped over.

"That's where your wrong, by decreasing my dragon's attack and defense points by 500 points I can negate the effect of your trap card." The boy grimaced as the monster's attack slammed into his monster, destroying it and causing a massive explosion.

The boy looked down sadly as his life points trickled down to zero. (B: 0)

Hayato turned away from the boy, heading for the stands. 'Well that was easy.'

"Chrono Magician (1200/1000) attack directly for the win!" Hitaki's opponent grimaced as the last of her life points were blasted away by her monster.

Hitaki smirked, her opponent was a higher rank than her, which meant at the very least she would see a rise in her rank if she didn't manage to make it into Obelisk Blue. "That turned out well." She said to herself.

She marched through the door and then back up the stands. She spotted Hiro, John, and Hayato sitting together, a few of her friends were sitting just above the three. "Did you guys see me out there?" She asked enthusiastically.

As she sat next to Hiro, he smiled. "You're sure to go up in rank after that duel."

Everyone's attention went up to the board as names flashed across it, finally selecting two Osiris Red students to duel one another.

"Hmmm...I don't know either one of them." Hitaki said bored.

"Um, is this seat taken?" A nervous voice asked.

Hitaki looked up to see a dark-haired boy looking down at her. After a few seconds of staring at his face, she finally said, "You're Edgar Knight, right? Sure you can sit here, it's not like I'm holding it for anyone."

The boy sighed a sigh of relief, obviously glad that he wasn't turned down. "One of the duelist down there is my roommate." He said off-handedly.

"Really? Which one?" She asked.

"The shorter one with the caesar cut, his name is Shindo Amano."

"Then why don't we cheer for him?" Hiro suggested, overhearing the conversation.

The two Osiris Red students lowered their duel disks, the duel had finally ended in Shindo's victory. The Osiris Red student had been surprised that a few people were actually cheering him on during his duel, but was glad for the support, the duel was a close one. His position in the Osiris Red dorm probably wouldn't change though.

As the two students departed the field there was a small applause, coming from those who were being polite, besides other Osiris Red students, no one was really that interested in the duel.

"I wonder who their gonna choose next, I hope it's me!" Ed exclaimed from his seat, seeing his roommate pull off a victory got his adrenaline running.

Having overheard what Ed had said, Hayato leaned in his seat, "You do know the matches are selected based on dorm by a machine. It's completely random, nobody actually selects the duelists that face one another." Hayato informed the self-proclaimed Ace of Osiris Red.

"Yeah, yeah." Ed waved the boy off, "Look their about to choose who's next!" He said, pointing towards the board." The others looked up at the screen above them which displayed who would be dueling who.

Seconds later the screen lit up fully, showing the first selected duelist. A shy looking girl with long black hair and violet eyes in a Ra Yellow uniform appeared as the picture. Hitaki blinked, "Rei Taizo, she's the highest ranked first year Ra Yellow student, not to mention she got a perfect score on the written portion of the entrance exams, who ever is going up against her is going to have a real fight on their hands." She commented.

As if on cue, a picture of a smiling boy with hair that was almost pure white appeared next to Rei's. There was a pause as the others turned towards the picture's real life counterpart. Hiro stood up, slipping his deck into his duel disk that was already strapped to his arm. "Well, wish me luck guys."

Without another word he started walking towards the ring. As expected a chorus of good lucks came from his friends. Looking up at the girl's picture, Hiro allowed the memory of their first (and only) meeting to play over in his head.

Hiro turned at the sound of light footsteps. A shy looking girl about an inch taller than himself took a step back. "Oh...I didn't think anyone would be out here, since it's so late." The soft-spoken girl said.

Hiro immediately recognized the girl's violet eyes and long black hair, "Hey your that Rei Taizo, aren't you? The one who got a perfect score on both portions of the entrance exam?" Hiro asked.

The girl looked away, "That's right."

"Its nice to meet you, I'm Hiro Katsuya." Hiro extended his arm to the girl. The girl looked slightly surprised, apparently having expected something entirely different to happen.

After several seconds Hiro's hand went back to his side, she obviously didn't want to shake his hand. "So...I didn't see you earlier..." Hiro trailed off, trying to start a conversation with the girl, maybe even become her friend.

The girl joined Hiro, gazing out towards the sea. "Well...since I got the highest score I knew a lot of people were going to want to challenge me so..."

"You decided to hide." Hiro finished for her. The girl nodded. 'Weird.' Hiro thought to himself.

"Do you really think so?" The girl asked, causing Hiro to step back in surprise.

"What?"

The girl turned to leave, "It's...its nothing. Just thinking to myself out loud, that's all."

Hiro watched as the girl walked away from him. 'What was that about?'


As both duelists stepped into the ring, one the white haired Hiro, and the other the dark haired Rei, several students were watching with particular interest. Kai in particular was watching with an amused expression on his face. "It's that same kid with the weird hair." He commented to himself.

"That kid has a name." A voice replied. Kai glanced over his shoulder, Kazuki and Sakura were standing behind him. "And as I've said before, you're hardly one to talk."

"You know, I still don't know what you mean by that." Kai replied.


Hiro was currently holding five cards in his hand, his duel disk already activated. (H: 4000) "Rei Taizo, we've met once before, do you remember?" He asked.

In response the girl activated her duel disk and drew six cards from her deck, "Yes." She said softly. (R: 4000)

Hiro was expecting her to say more, but she didn't. "Well, let's get this thing started." Hiro suggested, Rei nodding in agreement. Above them the screen lit up, showcasing their current life points and field.

Grabbing one of the six cards in her hand, Rei made her opening move. "I set a monster in defense mode. Then I'll place two face-down cards behind it. End."

Hiro drew slowly, looking over his opponent's field and then his hand. 'I think I'll follow her lead and play it defensively. No telling what her set monster is.' Placing the card he had just drawn into his hand, Hiro made up his mind for his opening move.

"I set a monster in defense mode as well, I also place a magic or trap card face-down behind it. Turn end." Hiro looked up just in time to see a slight frown come across the girl's face.

Looking at her four card hand, Rei said something unexpected. "I pass my turn."

Hiro drew another card from his deck, ignoring the murmurs from the crowd, 'Well it looks like my suspicions are confirmed, she wants me to attack her set monster.' Grabbing another card from his hand, Hiro placed it onto his duel disk. "I set another monster in defense mode. It's your move."

Hayato leaned forward in his seat, 'It's obvious that Rei wants her monster to be destroyed, which Hiro has already deduced. Just what monster could she have that she would benefit from if destroyed.' Hayato thought to himself.

As soon as Rei drew, her shy look vanished, replaced with determination. Kazuki folded his hands over the railing, "Looks like she's ready to go on the offensive." He said.

Rei reached down and flipped her set monster over. "I flip summon Brood of Excelion (700/400)!" A small silver lizard appeared. Rei held up the card she had just drawn, "I activate Share the Pain." A large knife appeared above Rei's field, one appearing above Hiro's as well.

"This is a rather old card, so it hardly sees any use, first it allows me to destroy one monster on my field." The knife dropped down, spearing into the lizard's body. As expected it struggled, and then exploded into tiny pixels.

"Before I explain the rest of Share the Pain's effect, my monster's special ability activates. Rei's duel disk beeped as a card in her deck partially slid out. Grabbing it, she slammed it onto her duel disk.

A long serpentine dragon with bright shimmering scales of silver emerged. A silver mane flowed out of the back of it's neck while four taloned limbs extended out of it's body, sapphire flames wreathed it's body. "Divine Dragon Excelion (1500/900) is special summoned from my deck when Brood of Excelion is destroyed in any way."

'A level five monster with 1500 attack points? That's nothing I have to worry about.' Hiro figured.

"When summoned Divine Dragon Excelion allows me to activate one of it's three effects for every other Divine Dragon Excelion in my graveyard." Rei explains.

"But you don't have any at the moment." Hiro pointed out, wondering what she was getting at.

"But I do have a Brood of Excelion in my graveyard, which allows me to give my dragon one of the three effects as if an actual Divine Dragon Excelion was in my graveyard. I choose to give it 1000 extra attack points." The dragon began to grow in size as it's attack points increased to a far more impressive 2500.

"Now I must finish explaining Share the Pain's effect, you now have to select a monster to be destroyed on your side of the field." Rei informed the white haired teen.

Hiro frowned as he looked at the two parallel cards on his field. "I select the monster on my left to be sent to the graveyard." He decided. The knife that was still hovering over his field dropped down, skewering his set monster and causing it to shatter, just like Rei's monster.

"Now I'm going to inflict some damage to your life points, at the cost of not being able to conduct my battle phase for this turn I activate Excelion's Divine Judgement, this spell card inflicts Excelion's current attack points to your life points as long as it's attack points are no higher than 2500." Hiro's eyes widened in shock as an explosion of shining blue flames erupted from the dragon's maw.

His friends in the stands shouted for him as the flames engulfed his body.

Much to the surprise of the watching audience, when the smoke cleared Hiro was still standing, though it seemed he was struggling a bit, steam was rising off his blazer. (H: 1500) "That was a powerful hit, but it's going to take more than that to put me down for the count." Hiro said.

Depressing a button on her duel disk, one of Rei's set card's flipped upwards, "Polymerization fuses the two monsters in my hand, Divine Dragon Ragnarok (1500/1200) and Lord of Dragons (1200/1100)." A giant swirling vortex appeared above the field, a large monster descending from it.

"King Dragun(2400/1100) is the resulting monster."

Hiro frowned, 'Now her dragon-type monsters are protected from effects that target them, not to mention you can now special summon dragon-type monsters from her hand, but she won't be able to conduct her battle phase this turn due to her spell card.' Hiro thought.

Rei's second face-down card flipped over, "Metal Morph equips to my fusion monster and increases it's attack and defense points by 300." (2700/1400) "The quick-play spell card Magic Purge removes all floating effects, which means I can now conduct my battle phase."

"King Dragun destroys your set monster." The large monster flew over to Hiro's field and crushed the unknown monster with it's tail. "Now my Divine Dragon will attack you directly!" Rei declared as the dragon soared into the air, unleashing another wave of blue flames that seared towards the teen duelist.

Hiro's friends were now on the edge of their seats, a look of worry on their faces. This attack could finish him. The three top duelists of the school looked on with interest, wondering what the white haired teen would do to defend himself.

Much to the surprise of everyone Hiro put his hand out in front of him, a shield with a reflective surface materialized in his hand. As the wave of flames slammed into the large shield Hiro was pushed back a few inches, but stood his ground. (H: 4000)

Rei had a look of utter confusion on her face until she saw that one of Hiro's set card was now facing forward. "Shield of Perseus turns any battle damage I receive this turn to life point gain." Hiro explained as the shield shattered, having done it's job.

"My turn ends."

Hiro drew, "I place two cards face-down. End turn."

Rei slid a new card from her deck, "I summon Soldier of Excelion (1700/1200) in attack mode, I'll have it attack immediately." A man in gold plated armor appeared, holding a lance of the same color in his hands. The man jumped into the air, lance held high over it's head. Hiro grimaced as the metal weapon was slammed into his shoulder. (H: 2300)

Shindo, Ed's roommate, blinked in confusion. "Why didn't he block it? I'm sure one of those face-downs could have protected him."

"Well, I don't know too much about the Excelion set, but I'm pretty sure that when Soldier of Excelion attacks, you can't activate any trap cards in chain." Ed said.

"He's right." Hayato added in.

"My Divine Dragon shall attack next." Before the dragon could even rear it's head back for the attack, Hiro's face-down card flipped over.

"Negate Attack negates your monster attack and ends the battle phase, since it targets your monster's attack and not the monster itself, your King Dragun can do nothing to stop it." Hiro explained.

Since Rei no longer had any cards in her hand, Hiro took the initiative and drew. "I summon Mystical Beast Cyclops (2100/0) and it's going to destroy your Soldier of Excelion!" Appearing before him, a giant muscular monster with one eye and a club in it's hand beat it's chest with it's free hand furiously.

Grasping it's club with two hands, the monster leaped over to Rei's field and brought the massive weapon down on the lance-wielding warrior. The smaller monster was easily crushed under the stronger creature's attack. (R: 3600)

"While Solider of Excelion is in the graveyard all monsters on my field with 'Excelion' in their name gain 300 extra attack points." (2500+300)

"I set another card face-down and end my turn." Hiro declared as a card appeared behind the massive monster.

Rei drew a card from her deck, glancing at it, an extra compartment extended from her duel disk. "I activate the field spell Divine Paradise! This card decreases the level of all monsters in my hand with 'Divine' or 'Excelion' in their names by one level, it also increases the attack points of all monsters with 'Divine' or 'Excelion' on my field by 400 points, fusion monsters that use monsters with 'Divine' or 'Excelion' as it's components also receive this boost. End turn!"

The ground beneath the two duelists feet suddenly became clouds, rising up behind Rei was a stark white mountain, from which a crystal clear waterfall formed a beautiful lake at it's bottom. In it's presence the two monsters increased in strength, Excelion becoming 3200 and King Dragun becoming 3100 respectively.

Hiro snagged a card from his deck, things definitely weren't looking good for him. "I switch my Cyclops in defense mode." The monster armed with a club roared in fury as it exploded.

"Whenever Cyclops is placed in defense position it's immediately destroyed due to it's effect. Since a monster with 'Mystical Beast' in it's name was destroyed I can special summon this monster from my graveyard, Wandering Spirit (0/0) in defense mode." An astral figure that had no distinctive shape appeared before the boy.

"I set a monster in defense mode and one more card face-down."

Rei drew a card from her deck and immediately played it, "Twilight Renewal activates if it's the only card in my hand, I draw five new cards."

Hiro momentarily glanced down at his set cards as his opponent picked up five new cards from her deck. "I summon my second Divine Dragon Excelion (1500/900) in attack mode." The monster's attack points increased to 2200 due to it's surroundings and Rei's Soldier of Excelion which was currently in the graveyard.

"My Brood of Excelion increases this dragon's attack points by 1000 points as well." The dragon grew in size, matching the height of the Excelion that was already in play, it's attack points resting at a powerful 3200.

"The spell card Temporary Rest prevents either of us from setting or activating magic or trap cards until my next turn." Hiro looked down in shock as golden chains wrapped around his set cards, making them virtually useless.

"King Dragun attacks your Wandering Spirit!" Hiro's friends cringed upon seeing the monster destroyed, he only had one set monster to protect him now.

"My Divine Dragon destroys your remaining monster." The wave of azure flames consumed the last remaining card protecting Hiro's life points, leaving his field barren.

The crowd watched in tense silence as Rei let her hands fall to her side. "My second Divine Dragon Excelion (3200/900) will finish this duel. Attack directly with Divine Judgement." The dragon opened it's jaws wide, a wave of sapphire flames erupting from it's maw.

Hiro moved to defend himself but there was little he could do as the attack washed over him, obscuring him from the crowd's vision. "I apologize, but I cannot lose, not now." Rei said softly, though it was more to herself than it was to her opponent.

As the flames from the majestic dragon finally dispersed, Hiro's prone form was visible. Wisps of the sapphire flames covered his body as he lay face down, smoke rising off of his body. As the crowd gasped Kazuki folded his arms across his chest. 'Is this the extent of your strength? If so then maybe I was mistaken in my assumption that you were another duelist worthy of my attention.'

The flames and smoke mingled together as they continued to rise off of Hiro's fallen body.


Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Also, because I don't think I've said it yet, to everyone who has reviewed so far, I appreciate it, wouldn't update as fast without them.

Card of this chapter:

Divine Dragon Excelion: Light/Dragon 5/1500/900

When this card is Normal Summoned, it gets one of the following effects for each "Divine Dragon Excelion" in your Graveyard when this effect resolves (your choice), these effects cannot accumulate.

-Increase the ATK of this card by 1000 points.

-If this card destroys your opponent's monster as a result of battle, it can attack once again in a row.

-When this card destroys a monster as a result of battle and sends it to the Graveyard, inflict damage to your opponent's Life Points equal to the ATK of the destroyed monster.

Hiro lies on the arena floor motionless after Divine Dragon Excelion's devastating attack. Even so, the duel review must go on.

Next time, Day of the Duel Review Part Two: Divine Judgement!