Chapter 4

Verity

Antsy wasn't even the word to describe how I felt for my first day at school. Kisara had granted me direct knowledge of how the symbols of Earth worked, as well as a most basic sense of how Duel Monsters worked, but I kept worrying anyway.

Mostly what had me worrying was wondering how everyone else would react to my appearance. Finally, I just snapped at myself, "Oh quit worrying already! The worst that any of these people can do is throwing insults at you, and already that's a nice change from Chaotia!"

When I stepped out onto the arena to face off against the instructor, silence fell over the auditorium. I held Lady Kisara's words firmly in my mind:

"The instructor will insult you, as an attempt to rattle you and keep you from thinking straight. Keep this in mind, though: he doesn't mean any of it personally. Future opponents of yours, now, who are closer to your age, they will mean any insults of theirs personally, and if you can't handle the instructor, how will you be able to handle them? This is the principle of why the instructors insult their opponents. One must be able to keep their minds on what they're doing and hold their strategies firmly in place, no matter what their foe says. Along with that…probably about half of your duels will be in front of an audience. Ignore the crowds; your opponent is the only human being that matters in a duel."

Right; that could prove difficult.

Still, Lady Kisara was sure I could handle things. I wasn't about to prove her wrong.

That thought didn't keep my ears from twitching backwards and down.

"All right, little puppy," the instructor declared as he activated his Duel Disc, "are you ready to be sent to the pound?"

I activated my own Duel Disc. "I don't even know what that means but bring it on!"

It honestly didn't take long before I was on the ropes. Down to about a thousand life points, and no monsters on the field, I was feeling hunted.

He, on the other hand, had one extremely powerful, three-thousand-attack-point monster on his field and I'd only managed to get one attack in, bringing him down to two thousand-ish.

I glared at my hand in frustration. Okay, Verity, think…how do I get out of this?

Why, by relying on your father's cunning of course, Pack-Leader!

I blinked. I'd heard that male voice plain as day in my head!

Second card on the left, Pack-Leader; I'll help you through this.

I looked closer. My second card on the left was…

Fox of the Hunt?

I know full well what it feels like to be hunted. Here, the most important thing is to not give up. Go on and draw, see what happens!

"Okay…I draw!" The creature I was looking at was something crossed between a fox and a bat.

Flying Fox! Excellent! Play it, Pack-Leader!

It's awfully high-level for just summoning…It was Level 5.

Its ability allows it to come straight to the field, as long as the opponent has a Level 7 or higher monster on their side.

I stole another look at the giant on his field. Well…it was Level 7…

Attack Mode.

WHAT?!

Trust me.

"I summon the Flying Fox in Attack Mode! Thanks to its special ability, I can summon it directly to the field without a sacrifice, as long as you've got a Level 7 or higher monster on your field!" In Attack Mode, the Flying Fox looked kind of gangly, just crouched on all fours with its wings draped. Somehow I figured that Defense Mode looked like it was wrapped up in its wings. "Plus, it's got another special ability!" Guesswork, partially; Fox of the Hunt wouldn't have told me to play it in Attack Mode.

Then the Flying Fox bared vampire fangs, opened its mouth, and screeched! Everyone in the auditorium yelped in something resembling pain, my own ears shot backwards, and my opponent's monster disappeared! Warn me the next time you're going to do that, Flying Fox! Is it destroyed?

No, a different voice answered me, just sent ahead a turn. But in case you didn't notice, my attack points and his life points are identical…

Okay, okay, I can take a hint. "Your monster has been sent a turn into the future, which leaves your life points wide open. Flying Fox, attack!"

It took flight, launched towards him, and latched its teeth into his Duel Disc, draining his life points down to zero!

"Oh, and by the way," I added as he fell to his knees and Flying Fox disappeared, "I'm not a puppy: I'm a fox! Remember that!"

Well done, Pack-Leader. That was the last I heard from Fox of the Hunt that day.

After an instant of silence, the whole auditorium burst into cheers! My ears couldn't seem to make up their minds what position they wanted to be in, while my tail tucked a bit with my embarrassment at the attention.

Well…I'm in…now I'm just wondering who Lady Kisara plans to send me as my partner in saving the world.