"I activate...Super Polymerization!" Those words echoed through Horus' mind as he shot awake, panting at a nightmare he couldn't remember. Those four little words were all that he could recall. For some reason, they gave Horus a deep sense of dread.
It was still night outside, and the clock read midnight. Horus just shrugged, rolled over, and went back to sleep.
What he didn't know was that his eyes shone gold in the light of full moon.
Horus woke up with a headache the next morning at ten. Randy was snoring away on the bunk below him. Throwing an envious look at the red-head, Horus staggered to his feet and rifled through the cupboards until he found a decent brand of cereal. If it wasn't for detention, Horus would be sleeping too. He almost regretted not going to detention the day before.
He sourly ate the slightly stale cereal, not looking forward to whatever Mr. Warner had in store for him. Maybe moving desks around all day. But that wasn't Warner's style. Warner liked to be more of a jerk. So maybe cleaning his precious Obelisks' shoes? Forget that. Horus would rather eat dirt. Well, at least it couldn't be worse than the time that Warner made him clean out the gym lockers. Talk about bad B.O. Horus ended up gagging for a week. "Oh crap!" he growled, glancing at the clock. Time had flown while Horus was daydreaming. It was ten forty, and detention started at eleven. Plenty of time, except for the fact that the Slifer dorm was probably at least a fifteen minutes' walk from the main building and Horus still had to get dressed.
A jacket was yanked off the floor and a shirt off the side of Horus' bed. In his panic to pull on his jeans, Horus slammed into one of the desks, creating a racket. He stopped temporarily to see if he woke up Randy, but somehow the smaller boy just slept through all that. Horus chuckled to himself before looking at the time and panicking again. Out of habit, Horus snatched his deck off of his desk and slid it into the deck holster around his waist. Then he ran out of the room, determined not give Warner any reason to nag him.
Horus walked into Mr. Warner's classroom about eight minutes later. (He ran the whole way to the main building.) The room was dark, and there was no sign of the teacher anywhere. He sighed in frustration, then turned and walked back out into the hallway. Maybe he heard the time wrong. Maybe something happened to Mr. Warner. Horus secretly wished for the second option.
After waiting for ten minutes outside the room, Horus was about ready to go back to the dorm to sleep some more, but Mr. Warner had chosen that particular moment to show up. "What are you doing, Mr. Trinam?" he asked. "You should be in detention with me. You're ten minutes late!"
"Um, sir, I've been here the whole time. I didn't know where you were so I was waiting for you."
"Don't you ever listen?" Mr. Warner asked annoyingly. "Didn't I tell you that your detention was going to be held in the dueling arena today?"
No, Horus wanted to say. If you did, don't you think I'd be there? I don't sit outside classrooms for the fun of it.
Somehow, he managed not say it, but didn't risk saying anything else either in case it slipped out.
"I thought so," Mr. Warner said in disgust. "Come on, boy." The infuriating man spun on his heel and lead the way to the dueling arenas. Horus followed, muttering obscenities under his breath.
As he walked, Horus wondered what sort of detention he was going to have in the dueling arenas? Maybe he'd have to sweep it or something. It was definitely going to be harder mentally than it was physically. All Horus needed to do was stand in the room and remember all of his failures to feel completely depressed.
There was someone else waiting for them at the arenas. Obelisk Cane Morrison. "I thought that you were ditching detention, slacker," the blonde sneered.
"What are you doing here, Morrison? Get caught trying to bribe another teacher?" Horus retorted. He really wasn't in mood to deal with the older kid's crap.
"You wish. I'm here to kick you out of school for good, scum!"
"Yeah, right."
"No, he's quite right," Warner cut in, making Horus look up at him in alarm. "I've decided on your detention, and it's gotten approval from all of the board members of this school. You have to duel Mr. Morrison here. If you win, then your detention ends and you continue your miserable little existence here at the academy. But we all know that won't happen, right Mr. Trinam?" Horus gritted his teeth. "When you lose, you'll be expelled from Duel Academy!"
Horus wanted to claim that this was cruel and unusual punishment, but he knew it wouldn't get him anywhere. Besides, it might be better if he just left. Obviously, he didn't belong in the prestigious duel school if he couldn't even win once. He climbed up onto the arena and faced Cane, fully prepared to lose and lose badly.
Mr. Warner handed Horus a plain white duel disk and the Slifer reluctantly slid the device on his arm. Thankfully, Horus always had his deck with him so at least he didn't have to duel with a random deck too.
Without looking, Horus took his deck out of its holster and rammed it into the duel disk. "Duel!"
"My turn," Cane said. He drew a card and added it to his hand. "I play Hydrogeddon (lv.4/atk:1600/def:1000) in attack mode and end my turn." It was clear that Cane wasn't expecting any challenge. He was just messing around.
Horus drew, then noticed something. Something important. This wasn't his deck! Horus' deck contained prehistoric monsters, not Elemental Heroes! Oh, well. Now wasn't the time to be worrying about it much.
"I play Elemental Hero Bubbleman (lv.4/atk:800/def:1200) in attack mode! By his effect, when he's the only monster out on my side of the field, I'm allowed to draw two more cards." Horus paused briefly to do so before continuing. "And now I play Bubble Shuffle. This card allows me to switch Bubbleman and Hydrogeddon to defense mode. Once I do that, I can sacrifice my Bubbleman in order to summon Elemental Hero Neos (lv.7/atk:2500/def:2000) in attack mode!" It was funny watching Cane's jaw drop to the floor. A level seven monster, and it was only Horus' first turn.
"Neos, attack his Hydrogeddon!" The alien duel monster dove forward, slashing at the water monster. The Hydrogeddon dissolved.
"I think I'll end my turn there."
"Don't get too cocky, trash! Just because you managed to get a good monster into play doesn't mean it'll stay there long! My draw!"
At that particular moment, Neos disappeared. "What the-?" Horus cried in surprise.
"Ha! looks like your monsters are smarter than you are! I summon Oxygeddon (lv.4/atk:1800/def:800) to my side of the field in attack mode. Then I play Monster Reborn to call back my Hydrogeddon in attack mode (lv.4/atk:1600/def:1000). Oxygeddon, Hydrogeddon, attack this moron directly!"
Horus doubled over as the apparitions passed through him, dropping his life points to 600.
"Damn it!" he muttered, still feeling the phantom ache in his chest. He glanced at his hand, but didn't see much help there. The only monster he could summon was Burstinatrix, but she wasn't going to be much help. Might as well just give up the duel now, before he embarrassed himself again.
But before he could, a small voice seemed to drift out of his deck. "Kuri!" Horus couldn't explain it, but he felt that he should hang on for a while longer.
"Your turn, Slifer!" Cane called obnoxiously.
Horus drew, and it was just the card to even things up a bit. "I summon Elemental Hero Burstinatrix to the field in attack mode (lv.3/atk:1200/def:800)."
"Let me guess. You're going to attack my Oxygeddon and destroy your own weak monster in order to make yourself look slightly less pathetic when you lose," Cane said, sounding bored.
"Actually, no," Horus replied, a sudden smirk crossing his face. "I'm going to play a little card called 'Burst Impact!'" Burstinatrix produced a wave of flame that raced over every inch of the arena, destroying Cane's Hydrogeddon and Oxygeddon.
"You see," Horus started, very amused at Cane's expression. "I can play Burst Impact only when I have Burstinatrix out on my side of the field. But, when I do play it, it destroys every other monster on the field except for my Burstinatrix.
"That's not even the best part. You take three hundred points of damage for each monster destroyed!"
Cane groaned as his life points dropped to 3400. "And just when you think I'm done, I still have Burstinatrix's attack! Go, Burstinatrix, attack him directly!" That brought Cane's life points all the way down to 2200.
"I'll also place one card facedown to end my turn," Horus finished, sounding awfully smug. This had to be the closest he had ever gotten to winning a duel. The fact that it was against an Obelisk made it even sweeter.
"Just because you took some of my life points doesn't mean I've lost!" Cane yelled, trying to regain some pride. He drew a card. "I play Tidal Shark in attack mode (lv.4/atk:1700/def:1200). Tidal Shark, take out his Burstinatrix!"
"Not so fast there, Cane," Horus said, revealing his trap card. "I play Hero Barrier, which blocks your attack."
"Tch. I end my turn."
"Good." Horus drew a card. "I summon Elemental Hero Avian in defense mode, then play the spell Polymerization! Using it, I fuse Avian and Burstinatrix to call Elemental Hero Flame Wingman in attack mode (lv.8/atk:2100/def:1200)! Wingman, attack with Sky Dive Scorcher!"
When Horus said that, he got a brief flash of deja vu, as if he had already done this a million times. It vanished a few seconds later, and Horus just dismissed the sensation.
Flame Wingman easily destroyed the shark. Cane's life points took a hit and dropped to 1800. "That all you got, Slifer?" he asked, regaining his cockiness.
"Nope," Horus answered, getting a look of surprise from the Obelisk. "When Flame Wingman destroys a monster, the attack points of the destroyed monster are taken directly from your life points."
"What!" Cane exclaimed as a wall of fire smashed into him. Only one hundred life points remained.
"Fortunately for you, I can't do any more damage to you for now, so I end my turn."
"In this next turn, I'll bring you down!" Cane promised, drawing. He froze when he saw his hand. There was nothing that could help him! The monsters he had were too weak, and all of his spells and traps were useless without the proper monsters and conditions. He decided to bluff.
"I place one card facedown and end my turn." He watched Horus carefully. For a minute, Horus looked like he might not attack. Cane hoped against hope that Horus wouldn't catch onto his trick.
But then, Horus got over his hesitation. "Wingman, attack Cane directly with Sky Dive Scorcher!" Cane fell to his knees as his life points took the final plummet.
"How could I be beaten by a Slifer?" he asked.
Horus was about to say a witty reply when he was interrupted by Mr. Warner, who Horus forgot about completely until that moment. "Horus Trinam, you're expelled!"