Chapter 8- The Duel Academy Face Off!

At the beginning of the next day all three of them were summoned to the airstrip outside the back of the academy. They would be leaving immediately.

"These guys don't waste time." Keith said. They noticed Matt already relaxing in the plane. They followed suit and began to climb the stairs, but were called back by the Chancellor. His name was Chancellor Jacobs.

"So, you are my three prodigies." He said.

"I suppose you could say that." Flynn said. "Is this all?"

"No, there's one more student coming. As you can see, our resident top duelist-" Here he shuddered. Drake wondered why everyone seemed so creeped out by Matt, but the he remembered the two incidents from the last chapter and stopped wondering. "-is already aboard. Now, you will all be fighting single duels, it won't actually be 5-on-5. That would be…chaotic. Would you like to know who you are facing?"

"Sure." Drake said.

"Let's see…" Chancellor Jacobs pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket. "Flynn Tager versus Chazz Princeton, Drake Stizen versus Jaden Yuki, and Keith Natran versus Bastian Misawa. Matt Peterson will be dueling Zane Trusdale-"

"ZANE TRUSDALE?!?" Drake blurted out. "So that's their top duelist…"

"You know him?" Keith asked.

"Not personally, no, but I've heard stories. And none of them sound good for our pal Matt. I wonder, can he take Zane?"

"Well, he took Rhett, so I guess he should be able to take down Zane." Flynn said.

"I've heard that Zane is even better." Drake asserted. "Who's the other duelist?"

"Let's see… her name is Julie Daran. She will be dueling Alexis Rhodes." Jacobs said. "I expect to see good duels out of everyone."

"And you will!" Keith said. They all boarded the plane without further ado.

Julie was late. They had almost begun to take off to avoid being late when she came running out of the trees, calling out for them to wait. She was wearing a green jacket.

Great, Drake thought. One of the lowest ranking duelists in the school. And she's late. Fortunately, the plane was able to stop and let her on before departing.

"You're late." Flynn informed her coldly.

"I know, I'm sorry. I seem to be late a lot. I got up late and missed class, then woke up and remembered I had to come here. So I ran. I'm lucky I got it here just in time." She said. Flynn stared at her until she began to fidget under his icy gaze. Then he returned to his window and left her to herself.

The flight took nearly three hours. Drake was wishing he had brought something to do besides thumb through his deck, wondering if it would be good enough to win the game for him. When they landed there was an entire crowd of other duelists waiting for them. At the front of the group was a rather stocky man wearing a red coat. Though he was surrounded by a huge crowd, the five students closest to him stood out- undoubtedly the five that they would soon duel.

"Welcome, my friend Jacobs!" the large man said. He had the very deep voice characteristic of men his size. He turned to Drake and the others. "Hello, I would guess that you are the five duelists my top five will be dueling. I'm Chancellor Shepherd!" He smiled widely without opening his mouth while closing his eyes. "I hope to see some good duels!"

"Pah. If whoever you pit me against can stand up to me, you might." Matt said.

"Heh! You freak, you couldn't take anyone here." Said one of the students. His hair was a lighter shade of black and it came over in a wave of spikes. Unlike his compatriots, who all wore red, yellow, or blue blazers, he wore what looked like a black overcoat. Matt looked hard at him. The student was instantly struck with an incredible panic. He began to sweat profusely and shake uncontrollably. Then, without warning, he flew off his feet and crashed down.

"Call me a freak again, and I will make your life very unpleasant." Matt said. The student struggled to his feet and muttered something Drake, who was standing closest to him, couldn't understand. "And I heard that, you moron."

Chancellor Shepherd gave Chancellor Jacobs a why-do-you-put-up-with-this-guy look. Jacobs shrugged. "So, would like to know who you are dueling?" Shepherd asked.

"Yeah!" Drake said.

"Well…" Shepherd took the paper Jacobs handed to him. "Which one of you is Flynn Tager?" Flynn moved forward. "You will be dueling Chazz Princeton." He indicated the student Matt had mysteriously sent flying. Flynn looked at Chazz with such loathing that Chazz shuddered. Maybe it was what he had just experienced, though. "Who is Keith Natran?" Keith raised his hand. "You will be dueling Bastian Misawa." A very proper-looking student in a yellow blazer stepped forward. He had an air of intelligence about him, and his hair was semi-slicked back into a set of spikes. "Now, who is this Drake Stizen?" Drake bounced up and down a little, then raised his hand. "You will be dueling Jaden Yuki." He gestured towards a student with extremely messy brown hair that changed shades halfway down his forehead. He was smiling and greeted Drake enthusiastically. "Who is Julie Daran?" Julie stepped forward. "You will duel Alexis Rhodes." A (very good-looking, Drake thought) female student stepped out. She seemed to have an aura of likability around her, but Drake thought that appearances could be deceiving. "So you must be Matt Peterson." Shepherd looked at Matt and shuddered. "You will be dueling Zane Trusdale. I hope you are up to the challenge- he has not lost a single match." Shepherd indicated the tallest of the bunch. His deep blue hair hung down in spikes around his face, but he did not look like some kind of punk fool- in fact, Drake thought, he looked rather ominous.

"I have no doubts that I will be." Matt said. "Now, are we dueling today or later?
I don't intend to stand here all day."

"What do you think, Jacobs?" Shepherd turned to Jacobs.

"Oh, why not, let's start right now. That way, we can do these duels and get back to school without being gone for too long." Jacobs said.

"Very well, let's go then!" With that, they all began to walk up towards the duel arena, a large crowd of other duelists in their wake.