Yuki groaned and rubbed his temples. "For the last time guys, I am not a shounen protagonist!"

Yuki and his core group of friends were having lunch on the outdoor terrace of the Obelisk dorm's cafe. Kai and Yumei had begun teasing him about him being a typical shounen protagonist, and everyone else had jumped on the bandwagon much to his complete embarrassment.

"Really?" Yumei asked, still using her teasing tone. "You're right around the same age as most, you have insane amounts of luck-"

"And despite your rivals having abilities that in theory, should be better." Kai cut across. "You always come out on top."

"And you've got the attention of the academy's prettiest girl." Fujin added, which made both Yuki's and Alexis' faces go bright red.

"But if I was…" Yuki was clearly fighting a losing battle here. "Wouldn't I be horrifically ignorant of the fact that she likes me? Or be hung up on someone else for the majority of the series who has no interest with me?"

"Always exceptions to the rules." Sora had a smirk on her face when Yuki let out a dismayed groan.

"I can't believe it… I'm a shounen protagonist…" He groaned yet again.

"Oh, don't forget you have a magical mcguffin hanging around your neck." Kai added with a smug look on his face. "And you have a hidden … for lack of a better term: dark side you're afraid to let out."

Letting out another groan, Yuki slumped his head in defeat. With his forehead lightly making contact with the table. "Damnit…"

Yumei gently ruffled her twin's hair. "Alright, I think we've broken the fourth wall enough today." She then looked off as if she was staring into a camera, and waved. "Hey colt Cabanna, how're you doing?"

"Wait!" Yuki held a finger in the air. He sat back up in his seat, which caused his twin to fix him with a curious look. "Since we're breaking the fourth wall here. Shouldn't there be someone who should be a part of the group, that doesn't get enough screen time?"

"He's got a point." Kai chimed in. "They're seen as a sort of fan favorite, who had some decent development, but just fades into the background in the later arcs, and isn't seen again until the end of the series."

"And that's usually in a very small cameo." Fujin supplied.

"So who's our background character?" Alexis asked.

"Uh… excuse me…?" A Ra student had approached them. His dark hair was so long that it fell in front of his eyes. Miko sounded rather nervous being in the Blue dorm, especially due to the odd looks he was receiving from the elitist snobs of the dorm.

"Oh hey Miko." Yumei smiled, as everyone else exchanged odd looks, at the suddenness of the appearance of the Ra. "What can we do for you?"

"Was that supposed to happen?" Fujin whispered to Kai. "Or did the writer just decide to add that in?"

Miko looked around rather nervously. "W-well.. I'm up for a promotion duel. And it's scheduled for tomorrow… but…"

"You're nervous." Yumei finished, to which Miko nodded in response.

"Incredibly nervous…" The Ra sighed. "So… could I duel one of you? I think I can work through my nerves if I do…"

Kai set down his chopsticks, having just finished his shrimp nigiri platter. Getting to his feet, the Obelisk clapped the rather shy Ra on the shoulder. "Come on, let's duel. Nothing better to work off the pre-promotion match jitters than a good duel."

Kai had led the insect using Ra outside, while the others watched from the terrace above them. "I remember my promotion match to Obelisk. I was so nervous, I couldn't get any sleep the night before."

Miko perked up, fixing Kai with a curious look. "So… you were a Ra?"

"Yup." There was a smile on his face, as Kai slipped his duel disk onto his left arm. "Didn't go to duel prep school, and I wasn't a trust fund baby. I actually earned my blue jacket. Now, I've seen you duel, so don't hold back."

"Let's Duel!"

Kai-LP 4000

Miko-LP 4000

"All do respect, but I would like to draw first." Miko stated while he took his sixth card from the top of his deck. He assessed his hand, before selecting two cards and slotting them into his duel disk, and placing a third onto the field in face down defense position. "Alright, I'll call it a turn there."

Miko's move made Kai frown. Not in disappointment, but in thought. 'Okay, I know that he likes to use insects so I need to be careful.' Kai selected two cards, slotting one into the spell slot into his duel disk. "And I'll match you by setting a monster in face down defense position."

"This is weird…" Yuki had his arms crossed as he watched the duel. "Kai likes to duel like me since we both duel with dragons. Why is he playing so passive?"

"Insects, that's why." Alexis had stepped up beside him, after the end of Kai's first turn. "They might be an easy to master archetype, but they have some nasty surprises. Remember when he asked us for help on the first day of class?"

"Needle Worm will make your opponent mil the top five cards of their deck, and Man-Eater Bug will destroy any monster on your opponent's field."

"Oh crap…" Yuki's eyes went wide right when Miko's turn began.

The long haired Ra had a smile on his face, when he drew his next card. "Alright, I'll start by flip-summoning this! My Needle Worm!" He took the card off his duel disk, revealing the pink colored caterpillar.

Needle Worm Def-500

"And I'm sure you know about his effect. When I flip-summon this monster, you have to discard the top five cards of your deck." Miko's declaration made Kai frown, as there was no way that he could have avoided that monster's effect. Even worse for him, was the fact that one of his strongest monsters was one of the five cards he had to discard.

"Color me impressed. Only two turns in, and you don't seem as nervous as you were when we started."

Miko smiled, before selecting another card. "Well if you like that, you'll love this. I summon my Armored Hornet to the field in attack mode!"

"Oh, that's not good." Alexis sounded worried, when Miko summoned the angry large hornet. "With that monster on the field, the attack of Kai's monsters gets cut in half when it attacks."

Armored Hornet Atk-1800

"Armored Hornet attack! Stinger Strike!" The armored insect flew towards Kai's face down monster, and impaled it with its stinger, melting away what looked to be a white stone of sorts. However, instead of frowning Kai was smiling.

"You know, i'm happy you did that. Because, you destroyed a monster card called White Stone of the Ancients. Allow me to explain. That card has a special effect, that on the turnits destroyed and sent to the graveyard, I can special summon a Blue Eyes from my graveyard. And thanks to you flipping up Needle Worm, I've got everything I need!"

Miko gulped rather nervously, as he assessed what was left in his hand. It was still his turn, and directly after his turn ended, he would be facing down one of the most powerful dragon monsters in the game. His hand shook rather nervously, as he took one of the remaining cards he had. "Alright, then I'll play a card… that I admittedly should have played last turn… and that's Insect Barrier. Now your insect monsters can't attack me."

"Uh…" Kai fixed the Ra with a rather curious look. "Don't know if you've noticed, but I run dragons, not insects."

Miko's response was to flip up one of his face down cards. DNA Surgery. "Well, according to my trap card, all monsters summoned from now on, are insect types!"

"There we go." Yumei said, watching the duel from her seat while snacking on a large bucket of popcorn. "Not even a Blue Eyes is going to get past that strategy."

"Okay, while you have a point." Yuki began, fixing his attention onto his sister. "What I want to know is, where did you get that?"

Yumei pointed over to Dorothy, who was offering popcorn to the crowd of gathered Obelisk students. "Popcorn! Soft drinks!"

"Okay… well… that was unexpected." Kai blinked, as Miko's turn came to an end. His graveyard glowed with a bright white light, and the blue scaled dragon rose onto the Obelisk onto Kai's field with a mighty roar.

Blue Eyes White Dragon Atk-3000

"But don't forget, because of DNA surgery, your dragon is now an insect monster now." Miko said, and Kai's Blue Eyes suddenly sprouted insect-like appendages.

"I think Kaiba would cry if he could see this…" A shudder went down Kai's back upon seeing his favored monster in such a state. He shook his head, before drawing his next card. "That'll work, so I'll set a card face down, and summon another monster face down." Kai set both cards, before calling it a turn there.

Miko then drew his next card, but couldn't get very far before Kai flipped up his trap card.

"Hold that thought Miko, I'm not done just yet." A large gust of wind made Miko shield his face with both arms. And when he lowered his arms, his DNA Surgery was gone.

Miko blinked in shock when he checked his graveyard. "What just happened?"

"My trap card happened." Kai held up the trap card he had set at the end of his turn. "Dust Tornado! It lets me destroy one card in your back row, and let's me set a spell or trap card as a result. But since I don't have another spell or trap card to set, you can continue your turn."

'So much for that.' Miko thought, watching the insect appendages fall off of Kai's dragon. 'Still, I can still destroy his Blue Eyes with my monster.' "Alright then, I'll just attack your Blue Eyes with Armored Hornet!"

The large insect buzzed angrily, and flew forward with its stinger out. "And thanks to its effect, your dragon's attack get's cut in half!"

Blue Eyes White Dragon Atk-1500

Armored Hornet then stung Blue Eyes, causing the dragon to let out a pained roar, before shattering into a cloud of pixels.

Kai-LP 3700

"And I'll call an end to my turn there." Miko announced, as his monster returned to his field.

"You're not bad at all Miko." Kai had a smile on his face, as he drew his next card. "Alright, I'll start my turn off with Pot of Greed." The Obelisk smiled when he saw his two new cards. "Alright, I'll play Banner of Courage first. With this on the field, every time I declare an attack, all my monsters get a boost of two hundred points. But that's just during my battle phase. But after that, I'll summon Assault Wyvern in attack mode."

When Kai placed the card onto the field, a solid blue scaled dragon with crescent moon shaped wings materialized onto his field.

Assault Wyvern Atk-1800

"Oh this is good." Yuki began, having returned with his own bucket of popcorn. "Well not good for Miko."

"But good for Kai?" Alexis had taken a handful of popcorn from Yuki's bucket.

Yuki nodded in response. "With the way Kai has his field set up, we'll see Blue Eyes back on the field really soon."

Assault Wyvern Atk-2000

"Alright Assault Wyvern, exterminate that insect!" At that order, the new dragon let a stream of air out of its mouth that shredded Armored Hornet.

Miko-LP 3800

"Oh, and then there's my Assault Wyvern's special effect." A smile formed on Kai's face as he discarded his dragon. "When my dragon inflicts damage, I can tribute it to special summon a dragon monster from my graveyard. So let's give a warm re-welcome to Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

Once again, Kai's graveyard glowed bright white, and with a familiar roar, the white scaled dragon was back on Kai's field once again.

Blue Eyes White Dragon Atk-3000

"Now go Blue Eyes!" Blue Eyes roared once again. "Direct attack! Burst Stream of Destruction!"

Blue Eyes White Dragon Atk-3200

Blue Eyes roared, letting out a blast of energy from its mouth that knocked Miko to the ground.

Miko-LP 600

"Woah, that was an impressive strategy." Alexis blinked away the flash in front of her eyes due to Blue Eyes attack.

"Tell me about it." Yuki was also rapidly blinking his eyes, and was considering wearing sunglasses whenever he dueled against Kai … or whenever he summoned his own Blue Eyes. "I would love to use that card, but I don't have it."

"Seriously?" Fujin asked while also taking a handful of popcorn from Yuki's bucket. "All the lucky card pulls you get, and that's the one card that you don't have?"

"Looks like it." He shrugged and chuckled before munching on a handful of popcorn.

"Okay… is it my turn now…?" Miko let out a groan as he got back to his feet. He too was blinking rather rapidly, while trying to get the flash out of his eyes.

"Yup, your turn now." Kai affirmed, having ended his turn after his Blue Eyes attacked.

Miko let out another groan, and stretched a bit, before drawing his next card. "Okay, well I'll start by activating my trap card; Call of the Haunted, and I'll bring back my Armored Hornet!"

Miko's monster buzzed angrily at Kai's dragon when it came back to the field.

Armored Hornet Atk-1800

"But I'm not done there. You want to know what's better than one Armored Hornet?" Miko asked, selecting a card in his hand. "Two Armored Hornets!"

A second large angry looking insect appeared next to the first.

Armored Hornet Atk-1800

"Alright, time to feel my hornets sting again blue eyes!" Miko said, while his two insect monsters buzzed louder. "Attack Kai's monsters! Stinger Strike!"

Blue Eyes White Dragon Atk-1500

Again, Blue Eyes gave an anguished cry before it shattered.

Kai-LP 3400

The second hornet sunk its stinger into Kai's face down monster, which caused Miko's stomach to drop when he saw it was yet another White Stone of the Ancients.

"Oops." Kai said rather confidently. "Did I do that? Oh well, you know what happens now?"

Miko sighed in resignation. "Blue Eyes is coming back."

"Hey, don't get so down on yourself." Kai said, as Miko slid his last card into his duel disk. "You're a good duelist."

"But I can't get past your-" Miko began, before he was cut off.

"Only one other person has gotten past them." Kai pointed up to the terrace at Yuki. "And he's right there."

Yuki tried to duck behind his popcorn when his friend pointed him out.

"But, let's get back to the duel." Kai said, as once again his Blue Eyes materialized onto his field. "Okay, Blue Eyes time to put this to an end. Attack one of those Armored Hornets! Burst Stream of Destruction!"

Blue Eyes White Dragon Atk-3200

Kai's dragon roared, and let loose a stream of energy from its mouth aiming for one of the hornets. Believing this duel to be over, Kai was ready to walk back to the cafe.

"Kai! I'm not done yet!" Miko yelled which got the Obelisk's attention.

Miko-LP 3800

"But… how…?" Kai was rather dumbfounded … until he got a look at Miko's face down card that was now flipped face up.

"Draining Shield!" Miko smiled. "I just negated your attack, and added your Blue Eyes' attack to my life points!"

"That kid has one hell of a poker face." Fujin had an appreciative look on her face.

"Yeah, and he regained almost all of his life points in one move." Alexis said while taking another handful of popcorn from out of Yuki's bucket. "And he completely baited Kai into it."

"Alright, my turn then." Miko said, as he drew his next card. And a second later, a smirk crossed his face. "I sacrifice both of my Armored Hornets, and summon Buster Blader!"

All of the Obelisks watching the duel gasped in shock. Everyone had thought Miko only played insects, and was not expecting him to summon Buster Blader.

Buster Blader Atk-2600

"And you know about his special effect right? That he gets an additional five hundred points for every dragon on your field or graveyard!"

Buster Blader Atk-4600

"Oh, Kai is in trouble." Yuki's popcorn bucket was now empty, but fortunately Dorothy was passing him at that exact moment, so he swapped his empty bucket for a new one.

"Alright Buster Blader, time to slay that dragon!" The warrior monster, charged at Blue Eyes, and split the dragon down the middle with its large blade.

Kai-LP 1800

"And that does it for my turn." Miko said, having no other cards to set onto his field.

"Alright then." Kai said while drawing his next card. "I play the spell card Card of Demise. It lets me draw five cards, but after five turns pass, I have to discard my entire hand." A smile crossed the Obelisk's face as he saw what he drew. "Alright, I'll start with this. By revealing a Blue Eyes in my hand, I can summon this; Blue Eyes Alternative White Dragon!"

"Alternative?" Miko asked.

Yuki inhaled through his teeth. He'd faced down this particular dragon before, and knew what was coming. "Oh boy…"

The dragon let out a roar as it appeared behind Kai.

Blue Eyes Alternative White Dragon Atk-3000

"But I'm not done there. At least not with this particular dragon." Kai's smile brightened. "By sacrificing this dragon's attack, I can destroy one monster on my opponent's field!"

Miko shielded his eyes this time, and when he opened them his warrior monster was gone, which left his field completely empty.

"But I'm not done there! I activate the spell cards Ancient Rules, which allows me to special summon one higher level Light attribute monster to my field. Like this, my second Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

Miko gulped rather nervously at the appearance of the third Blue Eyes of the duel. It let out a roar, as it too landed behind Kai.

Blue Eyes White Dragon Atk-3000

"But I have one more card left to play." Kai said as he held up Monster Reborn. "Guess you know where this is going, so I'll just skip ahead, and bring my third Blue Eyes back!"

Blue Eyes White Dragon Atk-3000

"You're good Miko. Really good, and if you duel like you did today, you'll come away with that blue jacket. But right now, this duel is over. Direct attack! Burst Stream of Destruction!" Kai's remaining two Blue Eyes roared, and their combined attacks hit the insect using Ra, wiping out the rest of his life points.

Miko-LP 0000

"I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed that Miko wins his duel tomorrow." Kai's duel with Miko had ended hours ago, and the Ra had returned to his dorm to work on his deck before his promotion duel.

Everyone was just sitting in one of the common areas of the Blue dorm. Yuki and Fujin were having a small pick up duel on one of the tables. Yumei was going over a Monster World book, looking for ways to better improve her warrior whenever the next opportunity to play presented itself, and Alexis was looking over her shoulder very curious about the table top game.

Yuki was so wrapped up in his duel with Fujin, he didn't register that his PDA was beeping with a notification. At least until Kai got his attention.

"Uh, Yuki… you gonna answer that?" Kai pointed to Yuki's PDA.

"Whoops." Grabbing the device, Yuki's eyes widened and he quickly scrambled to find the remote to the large TV on the wall behind Kai.

"Yuki? What's going on?" Alexis had fixed her not-just-yet-boyfriend with a curious look.

"You guys are going to want to see this!" Yuki said, turning the TV on and synching his PDA to the device. It showed a duel at North Academy, that had just wrapped up. And everyone recognised one of the duelists, as someone who had left Duel Academy.

"Chazz?" Alexis sounded shocked, but couldn't help the laugh that escaped her a few seconds later, as Chazz was in a crumpled heap.

"So he went to North Academy huh?" Kai let out an angered huff, as he still hadn't forgiven the former Obelisk for what he did to Bastion's deck. "But who's the guy with the microphone?"

Kai had pointed to another North Academy student on the screen with short hair, who wore a Stone Cold Steve Austin shirt of his dark jacket, and was sitting on the barricade that separated the crowd from the duelists.

"Chazz Princeton, while you lay there, hopefully as uncomfortable as you possibly can be, I want you to listen to me. I want you to digest this because before the School Duel in three weeks, I have a lot of things I want to get off my chest." Jackson grinned.

"I don't hate you, Chazz. I do dislike you, but I like you a hell of a lot more than I like most people at this Academy. No, what I hate is this idea that you're the best. Because you're not. I'm the best." Jackson pointed to his chest as he spoke, getting cheers from the crowd with his words.

"There's one thing you're better at than I am, and that's kissing Chancellor Foster's ass. You're as good as kissing Foster's ass as Czar was." As Jackson spoke, he noticed one of the arena's camera men approaching for a close-up of his monologue. He smiled into the camera.

"Whoops! I'm breaking the fourth wall!" He grinned and waved before continuing.

"I am the best duelist here. I've been the best ever since day one when I walked into this academy. And I've been vilified and hated since that day, because Pauline Heyman saw something in me that nobody else wanted to admit." Jackson smiled, referencing the devisive dean of students at North Academy. This comment didn't get a very favorable response from the crowd, and Jackson smiled in response.

"That's right, I'm a Pauline Heyman guy! You know who else was a Pauline Heyman guy? Lucien Grimley. And he split just like I'm splitting. But the biggest difference between me and Grim is I'm going to leave here as an Undefeated Champion!"

Jackson paused for a second to let the crowd chant "Dragon Lord! Dragon Lord!", giving him time to collect his thoughts before continuing.

"I've grabbed so many of Chancellor Foster's brass rings that it's finally dawned on me that they're, they're all completely imaginary. Every promise he's ever made he flaked on. To me, to my friends, and especially to everyone who actually enjoys watching this clown show every week! The only thing that's real is me and the fact that day in and day out, for almost a year, I have proved to everybody in the world that I am the best on this microphone, in a duel, even in commentary! Nobody can touch me!" Jackson paused for another applause, lowering his voice slightly before addressing the crowd directly.

"And yet no matter how many times I prove it, I'm not on your lovely little collector cups. I'm not on the cover of the program. I'm barely promoted. I'm not on the poster for the show. I'm not being used to draw in more students. I'm not on the signature that's produced at the start of the show. I'm barely known to anyone outside of this academy, but the fact of the matter is, I should be no matter how I feel about that fame because I AM the best." Jackson continued, leveling his gaze at Chazz, who'd now sat up and was rubbing his head.

"And trust me, this isn't sour grapes, but the fact that you're in the main event of the School Duel this year and I'm not makes me sick!"

Jackson turned to the crowd, smirking as they cheered him on.

"I'm leaving with my undefeated streak and my legacy in tact after the School Duel in three weeks. And hell, who knows, maybe I'll take my deck and fight elsewhere. Maybe… maybe I'll jump ship to Duel Academy?" Jackson turns back to the cameraman closest too him and smiles, waving for another Fourth Wall Break. "Hey there Yuki Hyoudou. How you doing?"

The crowd in the stands laughed and cheered him again, chanting "Dragon Lord!" Again and again. Until Jackson turned his attention to them once again.

"Oh hey, let me get something straight. Those of you who are cheering me right now, you are just as big a part of me leaving as anything else. Because you're the ones who are sipping on those collector cups right now. You're the ones that buy those programs that my face isn't on the cover of. And you're gonna keep doing it long after I'm done here! After I'm gone, you're still going to pour money into this poor excuse for an academy. I'm just a spoke on the wheel. The wheel is going to keep turning and I understand that." Jackson grinned and took a breath. It was time for him to deliver his true pipebomb of the night.

"This machine, this product that Foster's made for himself? With it in his pocket Foster is going to make money despite himself. He's a millionaire who should be a billionaire. You know why he's not a billionaire? Because he surrounds himself with glad-handed, nonsensical, douchebag yes men who're going to tell him everything he wants to hear. I know it's dark but I'd like to think that maybe this academy will be better after Foster resigns and retires to his private island in the Caribbean but the fact is, it's going to be taken over by his idiotic daughter and his doofus son-in-law and the rest of his stupid family!"

Jackson hopped up and stood on the barricade, holding his duel disk and pointing to it before continuing.

"On anyone else's arm, this is just a duel disk. On mine, it's a pipebomb. And from now until when I leave in three weeks, I'm going to blow up as much crap as I can!"

"Woah…" Kai let out a low whistle at Jackson's words. "That was nuts…"

"School Duel?" The twins fixed everyone else with a curious look.

"It's what you think it is." Fujin answered. "It's an inter-academy duel between us and North Academy. Only this year things are going to be a little different. At least according to Dr. Crowler and Chancellor Sheppard."