Chapter 2- First Duel of the New Year

Drake: 4000

William: 4000

"Do you think Drake will be fine?" Julie asked. "He's still pretty tired…"

"Ah, this 'master of machines' is hardly in Drake's league anymore. Remember, Drake scored only the second 100 on the dueling practical exam. And since the only other who scored the 100 was Matt, we can see who his skills are comparable to." Flynn said.

"Yeah. This shouldn't take long." Keith said.

"I'll go first!" said William. "I set a card facedown, then set a monster in defense mode to end my turn!"

Drake yawned. "Okay, here we go." Drake drew a new card and yawned again. "Hm… let's see… that card is Battle Footballer… so… I need a little nasty. I set a monster and set two cards. That's all."

"Ha! Right into my trap! Acid Trap Hole!"

"Oh, too bad. Since you don't negate the flip of my monster, I can use its effect. Even though he's destroyed, my White Ninja frags your facedown monster."

"Grr… it doesn't matter! It's my turn!" William drew a card. "I summon my Mechanicalchaser (Dark/Machine, 1850/800) in attack mode, and attack you directly!"

"Sakuretsu Armor. He's destroyed." Drake yawned. "Too easy."

"SHUT UP! I'll beat you somehow… I end my turn!"

"Fine, then." Drake drew a card. "I summon Queen's Knight (Light/Warrior, 1500/1600) in attack mode. Attack him directly.

Drake: 4000

William: 2500

"Now I'll kill you!" William said.

"Probably not. I end my turn."

"My turn, then!" William drew his card. "I summon Machine King Prototype (Earth/Machine/Effect, 1500/1600) in attack mode! Since he gains 100 attack points for every machine-type monster on the field, that puts him over your woman (1600). Now, Machine King Prototype, destroy the Queen's Knight!"

"Negate Attack. You're done." Drake said. He yawned again. "This is getting boring."

"I'm not done yet! I set a card and end my turn."

"Why does it seem that William is getting so much worse?" Julie asked. "Drake barely beat him the first time they met, I was watching, and in the tag duel, he gave us quite a run for our money. Now, Drake is walking all over him without batting an eye."

"Two reasons." Flynn said. "One, Drake has gotten a lot better since last year."

"And two, William got worse." Keith said. "I saw all the scores. William's dropped by 10 percentage points. And his wasn't exactly soaring to begin with."

"Oh."

"My turn." Drake said, and drew a card. "I summon King's Knight (Light/Warrior/Effect, 1600/1400) in attack mode."

"So? You have to destroy him to get past the MK proto."

"Really? I was under the impression that the Jack's Knight (Light/Warrior, 1900/1600) he summons was enough to destroy the MK proto."

"Oh, crap!"

"Go, Jack's Knight, attack and destroy the MK Prototype!"

"I activate my own Negate Attack!"

"Very well, I'll just set a card and end my turn."

"My turn!" William drew a card. "Ha! Take this! I sacrifice the Prototype for Cyber-tech Alligator (Wind/Machine, 2500/1400) in attack mode! Rip apart that Queen's Knight!"

Drake: 3000

William: 2500

"Hm." Drake said.

"Ha! Get out of this one! I end my turn!"

"Well, you just put yourself exactly where I want you."

"How is that?"

"Just watch." Drake drew a card. "Hey… what the heck…? He did it again…"

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing. I summon the Mpirian Knight (Light/Warrior, 1900/1400) in attack mode! I wasn't planning on using him, but he's better than the other one."

"Wait… Drake only had Mpirian Warrior last night." Flynn said. "He asked my opinion of his deck. He changed it a little. But there was no Knights in that deck but the card knights, and I looked through every extra card he had."

"Then how did it get in there?" Keith asked.

"Maybe Matt came back here last night and put it in his deck." Julie suggested. "Though I don't know why he always gives the cards to Drake."

"Who knows. Maybe we should ask him next time we get a chance." Flynn said.

"Allow me to continue." Drake said. "I activate Mpirian Soul Empower! This allows me to choose one Mpire Monster on my side of the field, then remove all the monsters in my graveyard in order to increase its attack points by the sum of theirs. So, I remove the White Ninja and the Queen's Knight to increase his attack points by 3000 (4900)."

"Holy crap! That's a lot of attack points!"

"Yeah, it sort of is. Now, Mpirian Knight, destroy his Alligator!"

Drake: 3000

William: 100

"And now, Jack's Knight, finish him!"

Drake: 3000

William: 0

"That's all." Drake sat back down with his friends.

"Hey, I'm not done with you! I challenge you again!" William said.

"Persistent little bug aren't you?" Drake said, and stood up again. "Fine then, I never get tired of outdueling you." He began to shuffle his deck. William pulled out his deck and began to shuffle it as well.

"Come here so I can cut it." He said. Drake walked over to him, his deck held out in front of it. William held out his deck, then pulled it back and punched Drake in the jaw.

"Drake!" Julie screamed. Drake, dazed, tried to mount some kind of defense. William continued to hit him in the face, time and time again. Then he connected hard with Drake's temple, and Drake fell to the ground, unconscious.