Chapter 10: The Purpose of Team Lockdown

"Are you sure that was awesome?" Matt asked Bryan. He went back to the Guardian house after his duel with Cary with plans to join the Guardians for lunch. "I almost lost. I can't believe I came so close."

"You still won," Bryan reminded him. "So what if Cary's almost better than you?"

"Thanks a lot," Matt scoffed. "I can't believe she even stumped the strategy I was ready to steal from Justin. I had to resort to a strategy I've already used."

Lucy made a face and asked, "Do you actually have strategies you haven't already played?" That was a good point; having dueled more than 350 times since coming to Duel Academy, Matt pretty much used every Dark Magician strategy there is multiple times. The only time he got a new strategy was when he changed the composition of his deck, meaning he now had exactly one strategy he never played before.

"Admittedly, it's not like having a god card to win every game for me…"

"Hey," Bryan snapped, "if you had a card this cool, you'd want to use it all the time, too. I even carry around two decks now: one built around Uria and one without him. I have to agree that sometimes it's pretty boring to play a god card all the time."

"Exactly," Matt said. "Anyway, I'll challenge her again and beat her better next time."

"That's if you get free time," Justin pointed out. When asked for elaboration, he explained, "Now that you've been selected to represent Duel Academy at the School Duel, a lot of people are probably going to want to try to prove themselves against you, especially some of the high-ranked guys who are still upset because a freshman gets the job instead of them."

"I didn't think about that," Matt said.

"It drove Erica crazy last year when she played the School Duel," Lucy described.

Bryan's ears perked up. "Erica was in the School Duel last year? Did she win?"

"Absolutely. She had one of the quickest wins in School Duel history." Bryan was pleased to hear that, knowing that he won a duel against her. "She also said there was a problem with everyone wanting to give her their cards to duel with."

"Why?"

Justin answered, "That way people can live vicariously through their cards during the School Duel."

"By the way, bro," Bryan said. "Flame Wingman and I want to help you win it."

Matt cracked a grin and said, "Nice try. Elemental Heroes hardly slide right into a Dark Magician deck. I honestly don't think anyone has any cards that would fit straight into my deck, except maybe Lucy."

Lucy shook her head. "There's a difference between a spellcaster deck and a Spell Counter deck; your deck isn't really built for the counters except on Defender and the Skilled Magicians." Matt said she had a good point and hoped that meant she wasn't going to hound him to give him cards.

"So on one hand, a bunch of disappointed people who think I'm overrated are likely to challenge me constantly to prove I'm a fraud, and on the other hand, a bunch of people who know that I am talented will want me to showcase my talents with their cards in order for them to take a little piece of my glory if their cards see the field."

"But on the other hand," Bryan added, "you get to duel against one of the best duelists from another school in order to determine if you're really that good or if the people here are just worse duelists than the reputation suggests. And three hands are better than one."

"We're supposed to be the best school in the world, right? That's why we get the god cards."

"Seto Kaiba was also supposed to be the best duelist in history, but Yugi always found a way to beat him," Justin commented. "Sometimes, there's just someone who's better. Besides, some other schools have lower tuition, and sometimes the money is what decides which school a student applies to."

"Fair enough. Anyone got a lead on the guy I'm going to duel?"

Justin shook his head. "No way. The headmaster at Godwin Academy is incredibly secretive when it comes to the School Duel. The website doesn't have any mention of the duelist who will participate; he even hides the information about cards used by previous duelists."

"Wow. That's obsessive," Bryan commented. "Do they lose every year?"

"Just about," Justin answered, "but we don't actually compete against Godwin Academy during every School Duel. They are the biggest rival, but we only face them during the fall semester. In the spring, we alternate competitors between Hawkins University and the Otogi School of Gaming Arts; Otogi doesn't specialize in dueling, but they offer Duel Monsters as a major and have a pretty competitive program."

That just seemed to depress Bryan. "I won't be eligible for those duels, either, will I?"

Lucy patted him on the shoulder and said, "Sorry. As long as you have Uria, you'll be ineligible to participate in interschool duels."

"Here's the real kick in the teeth," Justin said. "Each duelist can only be selected to represent the school one time."

Now it was Matt's turn to react. "Really? You mean I have to waste my one School Duel as a freshman? I can guarantee you that I'll get better as I go through school, and then I'll have a really big desire to show off."

"I guess you'll have to settle for building a reputation all the way from your freshman year," Justin told him. The group discussed the ups and downs of such a reputation. On the one hand, building a reputation as a freshman can catch a lot more attention and build a big fan base; on the other hand, there will always be people who are convinced he's a one-shot wonder or that he peaked too early and will never be a truly talented duelist. The only way to deal with the latter is to prove them wrong, which can take a lifetime—Tony Romo still has critics despite all the games he's won.

Because Dave, Andy, and Erica had a Synchro class to attend, the rest of the group decided to head to the upperclassman dining hall for lunch. Bryan had access because he was a Guardian Dueler—which is better than being an upperclassman—and Matt had access for being surrounded by upperclassmen and because he's the school representative against Godwin Academy.

In the middle of lunch, Bryan suddenly freaked. He checked out his PDA and realized, "I have a duel!"

"Now?" Matt asked and looked at his watch.

Bryan hurriedly wiped his face. "I forgot because of your stupid exciting match this morning. I'm supposed to duel Bobby Loper-someone at the Blue Arena."

"For Uria?"

"I guess so. Anyway, I've got to run, but I'm not done eating."

Matt smiled. "Want me to go duel him in your place?"

"Thanks, but I cherish my challenges. I'd love it if you could wrap up this sandwich and put it in the fridge at the house, though."

Justin nodded. "I can handle that. Good luck in your duel. Bobby's the senior member of Team Lockdown."

"I don't care who he plays for. I'll beat him." He jumped up from the table and bumped fists with Matt before departing. The guys would go watch Bryan duel, but there was no reason for all of them to go hungry. Lucy, on the other hand, didn't eat quite so much and was ready to leave in order to escort Bryan to the arena.

"You didn't have to leave," Bryan told her.

She smiled back. "I want someone to be there to support you. Most of the Blues hold a grudge against you for being a freshman who's already better than they are." She stepped back and took a coy look at him. "Not that you wouldn't be able to handle yourself if someone has a real problem with you."

"Thank you," he said with a grin. "You're not so bad yourself."

Lucy blushed. She enjoyed walking with Bryan in silence for a moment, then she offered, "I know Bobby Loper. I've seen him challenge Justin."

"I should have asked Justin what his strategy is. Oh, well; it'll be more fun this way."

"You've seen him challenge Yul, remember? It was right before your duel." That rang a bell, although Bryan wasn't paying attention to Bobby's deck at the time; he wanted to figure out how to beat Yul's deck.

"Oh, yeah. He's part of that Team Lockdown? They're the ones who try to freeze the field in various ways, right?"

"Yes. The cards they play tend to stop certain effects from you; Bobby might try to stop you from summoning monsters. I've also seen him try to stop his opponents from using spells and traps. If he managed to stop all three of them, you'd be screwed."

"Awesome. That's got to be a really tough combo to play, though."

Lucy nodded. "Absolutely. In general, the more you limit your opponent's moves, the tougher it is to set up. But the Lockdown duelists are remarkably skilled at doing so. Keep an eye on the field, and if you get the chance, I recommend taking him out quickly."

Bryan put his arm around her neck playfully and said, "It's so sweet of you to worry about me."

The arena was not usually packed in the afternoons, especially considering how few students live in the Blue Mansion, but whenever people knew a Guardian was scheduled to duel, they tended to head to whichever arena was open for it. Maybe a third of the seats in the arena were filled with students eager to see Bryan play his god card.

Lucy picked out a seat in the front row and waited while Bryan shook hands and did the respect thing with Bobby Loper, a senior member of Team Lockdown and a student of the Blue Mansion for two years.

"I hear you're a member of Team Lockdown," Bryan told Bobby. "I'm looking forward to dueling you."

"It's no secret what my strategy is," Bobby told him, "but that doesn't help people win against me. My strategy is almost impeccable."

Bryan grinned. "Good. I plan to find the seam between is and almost."

"Don't get overconfident. You got luckier against Yul than I did, but that doesn't mean you can beat me, too."

"Good point. Let's do this, then." Bryan won rock-paper-scissors and chose to let Bobby take the first move.

"I'll set three cards and summon UFO Turtle (4/1400/1200)."

"Attack mode? You must be baiting me in order to use your Turtle's effect. I may have to give in to that. I'll play Polymerization to fuse Elemental Heroes Bubbleman and Burstinatrix into Elemental Hero Steam Healer (5/1800/1000). When he attacks and destroys your monster, I gain LP equal to your monster's AP."

"When UFO Turtle (1400) is destroyed in battle, I get to summon a fire monster from my deck; I'll summon Raging Flame Sprite (3/100/200) and play Inferno Reckless Summon to play two more Raging Flame Sprites (100) from my deck. You'd get to summon multiples of your monsters, except you can't because your Fusion deck isn't affected by Inferno Reckless Summon."

"I don't need more monsters," Bryan commented. "Mine is bigger. I'll set two cards and end my turn." Bryan 8000 + 1400 = 9400: Bobby 8000 – 400 = 7600.

Bobby looked at his cards and realized he was almost ready.

"Before you start," Bryan said, "I'll activate The Eye of Truth, a Continuous Trap that lets me see your hand." Bryan took a look at Bobby's cards on the display: Gravity Axe – Grarl, Swords of Concealing Light, and Shadowslayer. He tried to think about what kind of lockdown Bobby could put together with those cards. "Oh, before I forget… I'll also activate Bad Reaction to Simochi, another Continuous Trap that reverses all efforts to increase your LP. With The Eye of Truth, you gain 1000 LP each Standby Phase, but with Bad Reaction to Simochi, that 1000-point increase is switched to a 1000-point decrease."

"Whatever. I'll send all three of my Raging Flame Sprites (100) to attack you directly; when they do, they each gain 1000 AP. That ends my turn." Bryan 9400 – 100 – 100 – 100 = 9100: Bobby 7600 – 1000 = 6600.

Bryan drew. "I'll summon Elemental Hero Wildheart (4/1500/1600) and send him to attack one of your Sprites (1100). Steam Healer (1800) will attack another. That ends my turn." Bryan 9100 + 1100 = 10,200: Bobby 6600 – 400 – 700 = 5500.

When Bobby drew and took 1000 LP damage, he was forced to show Bryan his Kaiser Colosseum by the effect of The Eye of Truth.

"Now my strategy can be known. I'll start by activating my facedown Ojama Trio to summon three Ojama Tokens (1/0/1000) to your side of the field in defense mode. Then I'll play Kaiser Colosseum; according this the effect of this Continuous Spell, you cannot summon a monster if it would put more monsters on your field than on mine."

"I've already got more," Bryan pointed out. "In fact, I can't summon a monster right now because I already have five."

"Your current monsters are not affected. When I summon my Shadowslayer (4/1400/200), you'll still have more monsters than I and will be unable to summon more. Then I'll play Swords of Concealing Light to put all your monsters into facedown defense mode and prevent them from changing battle positions for two turns. Next is my facedown Judgment of the Desert; any monster flipped face-up from here on can't change positions. Now I'll use my facedown Ceasefire, a Trap that flips all monsters on the field face-up and hurts you by 500 LP for each effect monster on the field."

"Does that include the Ojama Tokens?"

Bobby shook his head. "No. They aren't technically effect monsters. But the benefit of Shadowslayer (1400) is that he gets to attack directly when all your monsters are in defense mode, and Raging Flame Sprite (1100) already gets to attack directly. That ends my turn." Bryan 10,200 – 2000 – 1400 – 1100 = 5700: Bobby 5500 – 1000 = 4500.

"Wow," Bryan uttered. "That was a big damage turn." He looked over his hand and the cards on Bobby's field. "I'll play Graceful Charity to draw three cards into my hand and discard two. And there's one little thing you overlooked with that Judgment of the Desert; Wildheart (1500) isn't affect by any trap cards. He can still switch to attack mode. Now I'll set two more cards and end my turn."

"No attack? I'm shocked."

"No, you aren't," Bryan retorted. "You know I'm as smart as you are. Shadowslayer's effect only works if all my monsters are in defense mode, but if I destroy it, it's more difficult to counteract that Kaiser Colosseum card."

Bobby scoffed. He actually didn't think Bryan was that smart. During his Draw Phase, Bobby drew Rocket Jumper.

"I'll summon that Rocket Jumper (3/1000/800), and I'll equip Gravity Axe – Grarl to increase Shadowslayer's (1900) AP by 500, plus monsters can still not change battle positions with the Axe on the field. I'll have Shadowslayer (1900) destroy Wildheart (1500), meaning you only have monsters in defense mode again; Rocket Jumper (1000) can attack directly, as can Raging Flame Sprite (2100)."

"I'll chain my Labyrinth of Nightmare to your End Phase," Bryan said. "At the end of each of our turns, all our monsters change battle positions." Bryan 5700 – 400 – 1000 – 2100 = 2200: Bobby 4500 – 1000 = 3500.

"For my own turn, I'll make no plays."

Bobby scowled. Bryan's monsters all switched to attack mode, including the Ojama Tokens (0), but his monsters were stuck in defense mode until the end of the turn. And instead of drawing a new monster, he drew Swords of Revealing Light, meaning he was still hurt by The Eye of Truth and Bad Reaction to Simochi.

"I'll activate Swords of Revealing Light to prevent you from attacking me for three more turns." When his turn ended, his monsters switched back to attack mode. Bryan 2200: Bobby 3500 – 1000 = 2500.

"That's what you think. I'll activate Gozen Match so we each remove monsters from our field until our monsters are only one attribute. I get rid of all three Ojama Tokens because they are light-attribute and Steam Healer is water, and because they aren't being destroyed, I don't take the extra 300 points of damage that Ojama Tokens are notorious for."

"I'll keep my fire monster: Raging Flame Sprite (3100)."

"Good. Now I'll place one more card facedown and end my turn." Steam Healer switched back to defense mode.

"The duel's over," Bobby announced. He drew Black Tyranno. "I'll send Raging Flame Sprite (3100) to attack you directly one last time."

"That's not good enough," Bryan announced. "I'll play Mystic Wok to send Steam Healer (1800) to the Graveyard and increase my LP by his AP. I'm going to get one more turn."

"Fine. I'm done." Raging Flame Sprite (200) switched to defense mode. Bryan 2200 + 1800 – 3100 = 900: Bobby 2500.

Bryan grinned. "Now that I finally have fewer monsters than you, I can send The Eye of Truth, Bad Reaction to Simochi, and Labyrinth of Nightmare to the Graveyard to summon Uria, Lord of Searing Flames (10/03000/03000)." Bryan just sat there and watched the holographic version of his god card for a moment. "Sorry. I never get tired of seeing that. Anyway, I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Swords of Revealing Light."

"Is that the best you have?" Bobby asked. "You can't beat me like that."

Bryan laughed. "I disagree. You see, Uria (3000) has a lot more AP than Raging Flame Sprite (200) has DP. All I can do this turn is attack her and destroy her, but can you really do anything worse to me next turn?"

Bobby drew and didn't have to show Bryan his card. He set his card facedown and told him, "I can now."

Bryan cracked a grin when the turn shifted back to him. "Really? Let's pretend I believe you; Uria (3000) can destroy one set card on your field, and you can't chain to this effect. No matter what your card was, it won't help now. Uria (3000) will attack directly to end the duel." Bryan 900: Bobby 2500 – 3000 = 0.

"Dammit," Bobby cried out. "I had you!"

"And you lost me. Join the friggin' club, dude. You're not the only person I've ever beaten." Bryan scoffed as he got up from the terminal and the duel tech student logged his win. He quickly walked over to Lucy and said, "I've never seen someone get that upset over a card game."

"People get crazy when the god cards are involved," she assured him. "And it only gets worse each time a person comes close to winning. You might want to reconsider some of the cards in that deck."

"Yeah, maybe. It was way too clunky out there. I put this thing together in twenty minutes. It needs more Elemental Heroes. It was good enough for today, though."

Lucy wondered to herself if it worked because he was incredibly lucky or if the god card really did amplify his dueling prowess as the rumors said. Either way, Bryan was a force to reckon with, and he was so cute when he waits until the last minute to pull off a win.

It's finally time for the School Duel against Godwin Academy. After countless minutes of training, Matt is finally ready to test his mettle against an international opponent whose deck gives Matt a constant hand advantage, yet also gives him constant trouble. In this battle of the first-year duelists, will Matt keep his undefeated record alive?
Next up: The School Duel