Chapter 6- A Rival Appears! The Master of Machines

As Drake was boarding the ship, another student pushed past him and nearly knocked him over.

"Hehe, whoops!" he said, smiling in a way Drake didn't like. "Sorry 'bout that." The student turned and continued up the ramp.

"Who was that?" Keith said, walking up behind him.

"No clue." Drake put his hands into his pockets. "Hey! Where'd my deck go?"

"He stole it, no doubt." Flynn said. "Can't you spot a pickpocket when you see one?"

"Apparently not. It happened pretty quickly, so I didn't have much time to react!"

"Well, it's not like he's going anywhere anytime soon." Flynn admitted. "At least, as soon as the boat leaves he isn't. We can catch him easily, it's a real long trip to Duel Academy Island." They finished the trip up the ramp and walked down the side of the boat. There were a lot of people on the back deck. Completely noticeable in the middle was Matt. There was a large circle of people around him, staring at him. He was holding the kid who had stolen Drake's deck by the collar, despite the fact that the other kid was much larger than he was. The kid that was being held up was struggling fantastically, Drake wondered how Matt could make it look so easy. As they came around the corner, Matt looked over at them.

"Oh, hello, Drake." He reached into the kid's pocket with one hand. He pulled out Drake's deck. "I believe that this is yours." He held the deck out towards Drake.

"Wow, thanks Matt." Drake said, and took his deck back. Matt released his grip and the kid crashed to the floor. Then he turned and walked off the deck. The kid remained laying on the deck. Flynn walked over and kicked him.

"Hey!" said the pickpocket. "Don't disrespect the great William Maquine!"

"I'm not. I'm disrespecting the disrespectful and despicable pickpocket William Maquine." Flynn said. William jumped up.

"Are you challenging me?" he roared. Admittedly, William was considerably wider and taller than Flynn, who was of average height and average build, but Flynn didn't budge.

"I might be." He said. "But I am not the one among us who has the most reason to challenge you."

"Huh?" said William, obviously confused by the complicated string of words. Drake stepped up.

"You stole my deck! Why?" Drake said. William turned to face Drake.

"Because I hate you! When you won state, you got to the finals by stepping on my younger brother! You accused him of cheating and got him kicked out of the tournament! Therefore, you are my sworn enemy! I was trying to get you kicked out of Duel Academy, since if you don't have a deck you can't come in!"

"Huh?" said Drake. "Oh, THAT Ted Maquine. Well, he kind of rigged his deck and attempted to remove cards from mine. I think that qualifies as cheating."

"He did not! So, I think I'll take my revenge on you. Let's duel!" William said.

"If you want." Drake said, and re-inserted his deck into the slot in his duel disk. William did the same.

"Duel!" they both said.

William: 4000 Drake: 4000

"Don't think you can take me down as easy as the loser Professor I saw you duel!" William said as he drew his first card. "I'll go first… and place Robotic Knight (Fire/Machine, 1600/1800) in defense mode. I'll add a face-down and end my turn."

"Fine!" Drake drew his card. "I summon my Gemini Elf (Earth/Spellcaster, 1900/900) in attack mode! Attack Robotic Knight!" Gemini Elf destroyed the Knight. "I'll also play a face-down and end my turn."

"I draw…" said William, and did so. "I activate my face-down card, Call of the Haunted! I'll bring back my Knight, then sacrifice it to summon Cyber-Tech Alligator (Wind/Machine, 2500/1600)! Obliterate the Elf!"

William: 4000

Drake: 3400

"I'm done."

"Okay…draw…" Drake drew a card. "Hmm. Guess I'll just place a monster in face-down defense mode and end my turn."

"Ha! You fool! I knew you couldn't beat me." He drew a card. "I equip my Alligator with Machine Conversion Factory! This gives it 300 extra attack and defense points!"

"That's not good." Said Keith. "That gives it 2800!"

"Now, Cyber-Tech Alligator, attack and destroy the face-down monster!" The Alligator attacked Drake's face-down monster- Mystical Elf. "Your turn."

Drake drew his card. A smile tugged at his lips. "One monster in defense mode, and that's it."

"Oh, you think that a little smile will stop me?" William said. He drew his card. "I summon Mechanicalchaser (Dark/Machine, 1850/800) in attack mode! Then, I'll have my Cyber-Tech Alligator attack your monster and kill it!"

"Ha! You fool! You attacked… D.D. Assailant!" Drake said. "When he's attacked, I can choose to remove both him and the monster that attacked him from the game! Cyber-Tech Gator is gone!" Both the Gator and Assailant were absorbed into a sort of blue portal.

"Grrr… in any case, Mechanicalchaser will attack you directly!"

William: 4000

Drake: 1550

"I'm done, and next turn you will be, too… permanently!"

"My turn, then!" Drake drew another card. "YES! That's it! I activate BLACK LUSTER RITUAL!!!"

"NO!!!!!" bellowed William, his eyes popping. "This can't be! I'm the Master of Machines! I can't lose!"

"Well, you haven't yet, but this guy's appearance will certainly lower your odds for survival! On second thought, hold that thought." Drake said. "I will send my Dark Magician Girl and my Familiar-Possessed- Eria to the graveyard and summon BLACK LUSTER SOLDIER (Earth/Warrior/Ritual, 3000/2500)!!!"

"YES!" said Keith. "That should give him the game!"

William began to laugh. "No it won't!" He showed one of the cards in his hand. "This is called Tribute to the Doomed! In one turn, I'll destroy that soldier and beat you down!"

"Then I guess it's a good thing I'll win this turn." Drake said. I activate… MONSTER REBORN!!! I'll use it to bring back my Dark Magician Girl (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 2000/1700)!"

"You must have failed all your math classes! You still can't beat me in one turn!"

"You forget my face-down."

"Uh…"

"I activate the Sage's Stone! When I have Dark Magician Girl on the field, I can use it to Special Summon Dark Magician from my deck! So here he is, Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster, 2500/2100) in attack mode!" There was a roar of cheers at the appearance of perhaps the most popular of all Duel Monster cards. "Now, BLS, attack the Chaser!"

William: 2850

Drake: 1550

"Now! Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl! Double Dark Magic Attack!"

William: 0

Drake: 1550

"And that's the game." Said Drake, as William fell to his knees in shock.

"That was awesome Drake!" Keith said. "I swear, I will never get tired of watching you duel!"

"Not bad, Drake. We might make a champ out of you yet." Flynn said.

"You act as if you're not interested in a championship!" Drake said.

"Not the one you're going for." Flynn admitted. "I'm a bit more interested in tag duels. I came to Duel Academy primarily to find a decent partner. If you weren't going for singles, I'd take you on immediately!"

"Thanks, Flynn."

"I'll get you one day." William hissed from behind them. They turned and looked at him. He was still hunched over on his knees, looking very defeated.

"Dude, it's over. I beat you. Give it up." Drake said.

"Never." William got up and walked away, making sure to run into Drake as hard as possible.

"I think he's going to be a pain in the ass for a good deal of our careers at Duel Academy." Drake said.

"I would agree with you there." Flynn said. "Let's go somewhere else. People are beginning to stare."

"Right." Said Drake.

"Awww…" said Keith, who seemed to be enjoying the attention. He followed them anyway. They went to the front deck. No one was there. On the horizon they could see a large black shape.

"That must be Duel Academy!" said Drake.

"It would seem to be." Said Flynn. "Let's get ready to get off. I want to get as far away from that William as possible. He pisses me off."

"Are you guys going to be griping about him all night?!?" Keith asked. "Jeez! Give it a rest."

"Well, he did try to get me kicked out of Duel Academy, and then was a jerk to me during an honorable duel." Drake said.

"Whatever." The black shape of Duel Academy loomed closer. They could now see the main building, a towering monolith of steel and concrete. Several considerably shorter arches surrounded it. The arches were a curious fusion of old and new, many seemed to have broken near the top, but these holes had been filled up with concrete. A vast forest surrounded the backside of the academy. Drake thought he saw a trail of smoke coming out of the trees to the east of the school, but it was quickly stopped.

"Did you see that? That smoke trail?" he asked.

"Yeah, I did. Does someone live back there?" Flynn asked.

"I didn't see it." Keith said. "I'm pretty sure, though, that no one lives on that island but the academy students."

"That might not be…" Drake said. He opened his mouth to elaborate on some theory, but the ship's P.A. system cut him off.

"We are approaching Duel Academy. Please prepare to disembark." It said. They looked at each other.

"Let's go." Flynn said after a long silence.

"Yeah. We can ask about other inhabitants later." Drake said.

"If they exist." Keith added. The ship stopped at the dock and they got off, ready to take anything that the school might throw at them.

"Welcome to Duel Academy." Said a large man in a black suit who was standing at the gates. The gates opened with an ominous creaking and they walked through.