【10 - The Second Prefect of the DMA! ...A Strange Warning from Another Chosen?】
"Okay, so who's next?"
"Man you have endless energy…" Iwate shook his head at Heidi.
The four of them were walking the academy's halls. Heidi stormed swiftly forward, occasionally glancing at the gothic paintings or ornaments. This place was so big there had to be secret passages, maybe a loose marble tile revealing a manhole, a latch-hook ceiling-door to a cellar between floors. Or maybe if someone pulled a blank old book out of place a shelf would spin you through a wall. Timothy had been quiet lately, thoughtful and frowning. Usually he engaged with her more than the others, being the first to deflect Tsukumo and every other preppy boy that tried to woo her. His defending was becoming more aggressive too, like how he almost came to blows with the boy who had the dark, cobalt-blue eyes. Only her and him were young enough to be mistaken as students here, as fellow teenagers.
"Heidi…" Soroban was acting as the concerned one now, Timothy still lost in his thoughts beside her. "You barely defeated Tottori Weeb."
"I still won though!" she whipped around to say, still walking backwards without slowing.
They were having their second lunch, students were drifting between doorways and other corridors. The lunches hadn't quite matched up again, the students were probably going to their last class of the day soon.
"Heidi! I know you don't want to hear this but honestly that could have been anyone's game!" Soroban sounded more hysterical than annoyed. Heidi finally slowed to a stop. "Tottori wiped out all five of your shields. If he'd had one other blocker… or if you'd had one less creature in your hand… he would've finished you with Typhoon Crawler on his next turn!"
Iwate raised his slim laptop, opening it and flicking his fingers over the keys "The next prefect for you to verse who is ranked third in the DMA is… Amanohashidate Nutongzhi… now that name is a mouthful, she has three middle-names as well."
"Where can I find her?"
"No idea where she could be… she's a participant of the school's debate team but they have no meetings today. Her grade score is 96.5% wins."
"She's even tougher than Tottori!" Soroban sounded stressed "I don't want you to lose to someone else and spiral out of control again! If you barely beat Tottori you will lose to her if you don't give yourself another day's prep time. 96.5% wins in the most prestigious Duel Masters organization in all of Aurellia is no joke, Heidi."
"Fine!" she clutched her head in annoyance. "Fine! I won't duel her today. Just stop nagging me!"
"…it might help you to know." Iwate opened a new window on his laptop "Every duel on campus is recorded in a play-by-play turn setting. If you review the duels you've had here with Tottori and… Tsukumo… that could help you figure out where you've gone wrong."
"I'll take a look at them. I'll go to the computer lab room… alone." Heidi watched the three faces before her looking shocked. "You guys have been stuck to me like glue since I got here. You don't really think I'm going to run off first chance I get, do you?"
"Nooo! Of course not!" Soroban gave one of her awkwardly-forced smiles along with an awkwardly-forced laugh. Iwate made himself smile, him and Timothy looking at her without blinking.
"Well I need some space to breathe. I'll see you guys at dinner, okay? I promise I'm not going to leave the school or duel A-Amano-whatever today."
"Okay Heidi…" Iwate said "Just be careful…"
"What's there to be careful of here!?" Heidi had already turned away, she was keen to have time to herself unsupervised. If Narciel didn't like it, too bad.
She made her way to a computer room as the bell rang, a tranquil but persistent chiming that reverberated down all the passages. The flashy desktops looked out-of-place in a fortress building of such dated luxury. Heidi pulled up a chair to one and logged into a guest account, she rifled through tabs until finding out the information of her duel with Tottori had indeed been recorded. He must have had some kinda device on him. She studied the play-by-play and tried recalling the cards that'd been in her hand as well as cards not in her deck that would've worked better. After over half an hour of that she felt peckish so logged off, slung her rucksack over her shoulder and left to wander.
She pushed out the door and passed a walkway when someone lunged at her.
They crashed into each other and all Heidi could see was a choking mass of bright orange hair. The two girls fell to the ground, Heidi blinking.
"Sorry! Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Here let me help you up!" the girl reached with both hands and Heidi caught her wrists, pushing them away from her.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." She stood up and so did the other girl.
She was blushing, her long red hair was lightly wavy like seaweed. It went past her shoulders despite the fact there were two rolls of it atop her head like cat ears. She had freckles all over and chocolate-brown eyes, short but still a good three inches taller than Heidi. Wearing the white uniform top with a skirt and blue backpack.
"You… you're the chosen fire duelist Heidi Hirazumi!"
"Yes I am." She could tell the girl's surprise was a lie, and a bad one.
"Sorry I got to go." She whipped away, still blushing and Heidi leaned forward to grab her wrist.
"Classes started half an hour ago. I felt you reaching into my bag when you 'accidentally' ran into me. Were you looking for my wallet or my deck?"
Instead of fighting or running the girl sagged and started to cry. Heidi was surprised and let go, feeling uncomfortable.
"Sorry… I'm really sorry…"
The girl truly did seem sorry, and if thievery and deception were her goal she obviously wasn't very good at it.
"Hey… don't worry about it. Want to sit and talk?"
The girl nodded while sniffling and wiping her eyes. The two of them walked until they found another side-door leading to a miniature garden. A regular-sized fountain spat water amidst the shrubbery, the two girls sitting on a stone bench while the redhead kept wiping her face with a snotty handkerchief.
"My name's Penelope."
"Don't worry Penelope, I'm not going to report you."
"You're not?" she looked up with wet eyes.
"I want to know what's going on. You were after my deck right?"
"Yes… I was. You see, I've been very stressed lately. I'm not like most of the kids here. I got offered a scholarship to get into the DMA." She looked upward and sniffed "My grandma's the only family I got left and she's really sick. We don't have a lot of money. It's been effecting my grades and if I don't do well in the next exams I'll get shipped out. I have to graduate here so I can get a better paying job and afford the private health care she needs…"
"So you wanted to use my deck…?"
"I couldn't just take another student's because it's all on file." Her gaze lowered.
"If you'd used my DM-13 cards they would've known straight away. You didn't think this through… must be desperate huh?" Heidi reached forward to hold Penelope's hand "My parents aren't alive either. It's just my Grandpa and my sisters."
They spoke for maybe an hour more and Heidi tried brightening the girl's spirits, even getting a laugh or two out of her. Especially in this place they were very similar, with regular-kid interests and knowledge of games and movies instead of rich-kid. Heidi realized she may have finally made a proper friend here. Finally standing to go when she realized her break was way overtime and Narciel had been waiting for her.
"Thanks for being so understanding Heidi…"
"Reporting you would be cruel! You should come sit at my table for meals, or I'll come sit at yours. I'm sure it'd be more interesting! See ya Penelope!"
After parting and a late lesson with her stern teacher, Heidi ate a late lunch in the cafeteria with a few students she knew. She revised her deck strategy to prepare for the second prefect, aware that it would in no ways be an easy challenge. She had dinner with Penelope and her big group of misfits, the least preppy and thus most relatable kids in the school. Timothy, Soroban and Iwate sat beside her and were awkward but polite. Heidi and Penelope talked and laughed, a few other kids there seemed like proper friend material as well. The levity was something that helped take her mind off inter-dimensional villains. As for Penelope, it was like their teary encounter before had never happened.
At nightfall Heidi was in her guest bedroom wearing a new pale-green pajama set. She found herself recalling a silly dream from the night before. It was about Timothy, him stealing glances at her in a way she tried not to think about. It couldn't be real, but in her mind they were being replayed as something different. He was a handsome boy but Heidi never dwelled on stuff like that if she could help it. Yet the dream had been tainted by strange underdones. A feeling she was avoiding while awake. Heidi splayed her hand at the roof as she lay back on her bed. In the midst of such a serious situation, would it even be okay to think about mundane things such as this? It was unfamiliar territory that made her heart race. She didn't like feeling so frightened and unfamiliar by something so quickly banished the thought. She got up and started flicking through the desktop computer and running through stats of prior duels when a notification popped up. A student email account they'd set up for her, even though she technically wasn't a student. Usually it was just notices that weren't relevant to her. This message didn't come from any of the teachers; the address was scrambled, just a bunch of letters and numbers. Heidi clicked to open it.
To τhε chosεn firε duεlisτ,
Thεrε's α rεason why nonε of τhε oτhεr chosεns sταyεd ατ τhε DMA. Don'τ τrusτ Narciεl.
Rεgαrds, τhε chosεn wατεr duεlisτ.
In the dark Heidi stared at the message with wide eyes. She was frozen. Principal Engyo had told her that the academy's cyber systems were being attacked so was this a trick? Heidi couldn't come forward with this email because… what if it wasn't a trick? And it had a good point: why were none of the other chosens here? She'd been the last one to be found, so maybe the other four weren't as selfish as she'd first thought. Maybe they hadn't all gone rogue. Standing up she paced her room in the dark feeling suspicious and confused.
When it occurred to her that she should reply Heidi jumped back into her leather wheelie-chair, fingers flying to type up her response. She'd wanted to keep it brief but her curiosity was burning at the thought she may finally have contact with another chosen. She ended up writing a big blocky paragraph only to hit send and get a notification telling her it was impossible to reply. Leaning back she sighed in defeat, then she picked up her deck and rifled through until she was staring at Supernova Mars Disaster.
"…Narciel said this card would only let me use it. Suddenly I feel alone…"
A while after that she switched off the computer, flicked off the lights and tried to sleep. The comfortable bed and heavy maroon blankets usually swept her away quickly but she had a fitful sleep that night. Do they want me to feel alone? Do they want me to run out of the safety of the fortress again? Or am I not as safe as I'd thought?
Her mind switched tracks again before she succumbed to unconsciousness. Flashes of Tsukumo's handsome face, but absent was all Heidi's loathing as well as the blonde's arrogance. He wasn't saying or doing things that pissed her off, he was just normal. And she was just looking at him. Then Timothy was there, talking wordlessly and she found herself looking at him too. Then Summer's voice chimed: you're in way over your head. As everything faded out Heidi had to agree.
When it was daytime at breakfast Heidi was able to push these fears from her mind. Instead she was uncharacteristically nervous about her upcoming match with the second prefect. She smeared melting butter across her pancakes with a gold knife.
"Amanohashidate has a meeting with the debate club at first recess…" Iwate informed, eyes on his portable laptop. Soroban drank from her juice. Timothy was at the end of the table, again quiet and staring off into space.
"You're really going to challenge her today?!" Penelope's fists were clenched with excitement.
"Usually no one scares me in the dueling ring, but I still got another prefect ahead of her before I can finally take another shot at Tsukumo." She added jam from a sauce-bowl on her tray and smeared it around.
"Well I'm coming to watch! I'm not missing it for the world!" Penelope stated.
"Me too!"
"Me three!" Penelope's closer friends agreed. Some had been intimidated by Heidi at first but quickly warmed to her unassuming good nature.
"Let's meet outside the school's theatre at 12 pm." Soroban suggested.
"Bring food with you guys cause I aint stopping to eat first." Heidi shoveled pancake into her gob.
Heidi tried focusing on her training afterwards when the bell chimed. Penelope and her friends went to class, the Dawn of the Phoenix disciples went to hang out in the library. Narciel could tell something was off with her.
"Everything okay, Heidi?"
"Y-yeah, just worried about dueling the second prefect today." She looked up at the older man, the two of them alone in an empty classroom.
"Hm, yes. Good luck with that. Now pay attention to this, the lore of the creature races may not directly relate to gameplay strategies but for all we know this could still save your life one day…"
After the one-on-one lessons Heidi read from the door plaques on the second level until she was outside the theatre. After rounding the corner she could see most of her acquaintances were already here. And so was a slim-bodied girl with purple hair yelling at them.
"We have rehearsals for the upcoming championship next month! What makes you think you can just waltz in here and interrupt us, huh!?" Everyone looked frightened by her wildness. Heidi stepped up with a grin of anticipation, her confidence urging her forward.
"Are you the second prefect?" Heidi asked in a voice that was just as loud. The girl turned with narrowed eyes, she wore bangles and leather bracelets.
"No," a voice from behind her spoke. Heidi had to crane her neck to see someone who she'd at first thought was a boy. "I am."
Amanohashidate had a boyish haircut and glasses, but after looking Heidi could see she had breasts. The purple-haired girl stepped over and wrapped both arms around the other's and perched at her side.
"I'm Amano's girlfriend!"
"Oh, you go by Amano. That makes things easier."
"Only she gets to call me that." The prefect told Heidi.
She sighed "Okay then. I'm Heidi Hirazumi, the chosen fire duelist." The two girls blinked at her in surprise "To get better at playing I've been given permission by Principal Engyo to challenge the best students to Kaijudo duels."
The two girls looked at each other, the purple-haired one still wrapped around the arm of her girlfriend. Amanohashidate seemed much more level-headed than her fiery partner. She pushed her glasses up her nose before looking back at Heidi.
"If this is going to better your chances in saving the world one day I'd be happy to help. But don't think you're going to be able to defeat me. In all my time being here I've only lost to Tsukumo and the other chosens."
"Then I do have a chance! Bring it! Kettou da!"
"Yoshi. Let's find a spot outside."
The group moved together to leave the school, Penelope's friends and other kids in the debate club accompanied them as eager spectators. They made their way down the red-matted twisting staircase and out the arched backdoor to walk amidst a garden field. Statues and knee-high hedges. Purple, white and yellow flowers in soft bed-bushes across the estate. Early afternoon sun gleamed gold as the two girls took their marks, hands glowing red and green. The tables faded into view and they stepped forward, shuffling and setting down their cards.
"Ikuzo, shields up!"
"Koi, deploy shields." Amanohashidate spoke boldly and waved her arm, the ten teal panels appeared meaning it was time to begin play.
"You got this baby!" the purple-haired girl cupped her mouth to shout "You're greater than any chosen! Love you!"
"Thanks, Koizumi." The prefect smirked "Love you, too."
Heidi drew her hand "You two make a cute couple, but you're going down! I charge fire mana." A red glow alighted on her determined expression.
"Show me what you've got, chosen duelist. I charge nature mana!"
Heidi whipped out a card and charged "Turn end!"
Amanohashidate drew "I charge light mana and summon Uncanny Turnip!" the staff-wielding vegetable leapt up on 1000.
That card is a wave striker. If she has three of them out it gets an ability, and usually they help each other out. Is that her deck's strategy? Heidi drew "I charge and summon Joe's Toolkit!" The spinning metal implement bounced into view. Two creatures on 1000.
"The DM-13? I'd heard rumors… I summon Asra, Vizier of Safety!" the mechanical blue initiate zoomed up, hovering and humming.
"So you are using a wave striker deck!"
"Yes."
"Then that's also why you didn't attack. Trying to get three creatures in play first, I know what you're up to! I summon Totto Pipicchi!" the blazing sparrow arced through the air, goggles strapped to it head "Joe's Toolkit ike! Break a shield!"
"Nice!" Penelope raised her fists as the glass panel broke. "She's in the lead!"
In comparison Koizumi had her hands clenched together, staring out worriedly at her girlfriend.
"I summon Skyscraper Shell! Wave Striker abilities activate!" A colony beetle with three skyscraper towers on its back crawled onto the field. Her three creatures shimmered with light. "Asra is now a blocker with 6000 power. Skyscraper Shell forces you to send a creature to your mana zone!"
"I choose Totto Pipicchi..." Heidi murmured as green light hit her fire bird, making it cry out and spin backwards several times before vanishing into mana.
"Uncanny Turnip suicides with Joe's Toolkit. I did hear of its ability from your duel with Tsukumo. With no other weak target you can't destroy my other creatures." The veggie leapt and struggled with the xenopart before both exploded. "Asra, shield break!" The flyer shattered glass and Heidi lowered her arm to reveal a glare.
"That manouvre cost you your third creature. I charge so I have six mana! I cast Volcano Charger, your colony beetle's cooked!" A volcano opened up beneath it, tossing it up before it fell squealing into lava.
"Good move…" Amanohashidate conceded.
"Then I summon Brawler Zyler with my remaining mana and end." The zombie lugged its cannon-arm after itself with a groan.
Amanohashidate charged "I cast Faerie Life to boost mana. Turn end."
"Ha! So far you aint so tough!" Heidi mocked.
"Go Heidi!" Penelope cheered.
"Fucking bitch…" Koizumi remarked.
Heidi drew and then her face brightened "I summon Jiruba, Precision Shooter!" The gun-armed human entered play. "Turn end."
"Your rush strategy is effective…" Amanohashidate drew "but as time goes on I'm only going to bring out more wave strikers. I summon Kilstine, Nebula Elemental!" A spiked angel command arose on 5000. Heidi had a bad feeling about it, mostly because she couldn't remember its effect. It was only her opponent's second wave striker so for now she ended her turn.
"Tch." Instead of a third human Heidi drew a fire bird.
"I suppose the card you're holding is your chosen phoenix then?"
"I summon Cocco Lupia and end!" Heidi yelled back as the crowned bird entered play.
"It explains why you're not attacking with your humans. Guess I better make my move now. Kilstine, shield break! You too, Asra!" her light creatures flew in and shattered glass. "You okay, chosen fire duelist?"
"It's just a scratch!" Heidi maintained composure "You made a mistake, miss prefect! You gave me what I needed! I summon Mini Titan Gett and now Evolution GV! You ready for a show? I'm the chosen fire duelist after all! Don't think this isn't going to be entertaining!" The roller-skating kid entered the game between Jiruba and Zyler.
"Supernova…!" the purple-haired girl looked fearful.
"The phoenix that chose her…" Amanohashidate murmured.
"That's right!" Heidi's whole body and the surrounding area was in a red haze. Her three cards assembled and she slapped her evolution on top. Red light that her humanoids were vacuum-pulled into, a pillar of fire twirling upwards. Various students across the flowery landscape stopped and turned, some started quickly approaching to view the spectacle. The red-orange phoenix blazed to life with its song-bird call, flapping its burning wings. "Triple-break her shields! But this time I'm choosing not to meteorburn!" Flames burst three panels at once with their intensity. "Now Cocco Lupia, final shield break!" More flying glass and suddenly her opponent's field was empty.
"Natural Snare takes out your fire bird!"
"Huh? Why him?"
"Your haste will be your downfall. I summon a second Kilstine, Nebula Elemental! Wave Striker abilities activate!" Her three creatures shimmered with light. "Kilstine gives all my creatures an extra 5000 power, blocker and double breaker! Meaning all three of my creatures are now stronger than your phoenix!"
"Woah guys…" Soroban commented bleakly "Both Kilstines have 15,000 power and Asra has 16,000... if Heidi doesn't get a good card now she's a goner…" From either side of her Timothy was grimacing and Iwate grinding his teeth.
"Be quiet!" Penelope turned to shout, her long hair swishing "Heidi can still win!"
"Against my girl? Not likely." Koizumi had her arms crossed smugly.
"Ike, destroy Supernova Mars Disaster!" Amanohashidate twisted the card and her initiate shot toward its much larger, divine enemy.
"No way…" Heidi had to shield her eyes from the resulting blaze of light. Everyone nearby gasped as the ground trembled, covering their ears against the furious cry of her phoenix. When she opened her eyes the field was no longer reddened, and yet the duel was still going. She looked down and her card wasn't on the tabletop "You destroyed it…"
"Your signature card gone… now Kilstine double-break her last shields!" one of the angel commands decimated Heidi's final defense and not a single trigger came to her aid.
Heidi added the cards to her hand with disbelief. Obviously she'd known that her chosen card wasn't invincible, but she'd never seen Supernova Mars Disaster get destroyed. Somehow it was absolutely crushing… her strongest and most legendary card. She wasn't sure she could go on. Instead of drawing she spread her hands on the tabletop with a sense of defeat.
"You go baby! You're the best! Wooo!" Koizumi was delighted again.
"I can't…"
"It's your move, chosen fire duelist." Amanohashidate spoke neutrally.
"I can't…" Heidi scrunched her eyes up. No wonder she lost to Tsukumo twice. She was a good duelist, there was no doubt, but she didn't compare to the big leagues here. She shouldn't be the one charged with the mission of saving the world.
"Heidi!" Penelope snapped, surprising her with anger. "Don't you dare give up! You duel until it's done! You're a fire duelist right? The phoenix duelist and the chosen hero of the fire civilization! Even if you lose you go down swinging!"
"If you're going to save Aurellia you have to be able to face your fears and beat me." Amanohashidate continued with no emotion, just her serious stare.
"…yeah, you're right. Both of you are right." Heidi's hand blazed red as her confidence returned, she whipped out a card "I tap three to summon the humanoid Wild Racer Chief Garan!" A motorcyclist with 2000 power ripped across the field, branding a metal-clawed arm. "And I cast the spell Supersonic Jet Pack which makes him a speed attacker this turn."
"No way…" And for once her opponent's controlled fascade was gone, eyes widening.
"So you've heard of this creature." Heidi's eyes were blazing with passion, much like her hand. "Chief Garan has light stealth which means he's unblockable while you have a light card in your mana zone. I've just made him a speed attacker and you have no shields left!"
There was an outcry of glee from the excited students. The disciples and Penelope's friends were shocked into silence, Koizumi's jaw dropped.
"She did it!"
"You won." Amanohashidate lowered her head in surrender.
"Chief Garan is a power-attacker so will have 3000 power when I tap it, if you don't mind I'll just stop the game now."
"Not at all." The prefect smirked at the tabletop, pushing her glasses up her nose.
Heidi gathered her cards together and her creature vanished. Amanohashidate did the same. The tables disappeared and Heidi ducked down to pick up her fallen cards including Supernova Mars Disaster. White-uniformed students made their way over to her excitedly, congratulating her on the win. She smiled appreciatively but didn't have victorious thoughts in her head, that was even closer than with Tottori. She broke all five of my shields and destroyed Supernova Mars Disaster. I don't know who the third prefect is but I'm going to need some serious extra training before I take them on… I need even more revising and preparation.
Penelope came crashing into her then, the redhead hugging and laughing gleefully. Heidi's spirits lightened and she was finally able to let the spirit of the win overtake her, cracking a smile with her friends.
『AN: Some more reviews from acumashindorballomu and ShiningAzureEmporer, I'm getting mighty spoiled now! I do hope some new blood leaves a little sentence here or there, just to let me know you're reading and perhaps to tell me what you want more of ~ I really hope my duels aren't dragging for you Azure just because they're TCG? I try to keep it as interesting as I can even with as acumashindorballomu put it "slow creatures breaking shields slowly" xD And yes I unfortunately did only fulfill your request in a trolling way, Acuma. I was gonna put a scene in here but have already met my wordcount requirement so romance drama will be saved for next chapter UwU What do you think will happen?』
。
