CHAPTER 7: ACADEMY PRELIMINARIES

Time skip here, since it's practically boring for the past month since I fought that girl with my new deck. So today it's finally the opening ceremony of our academy's preliminary rounds so we get to join the national tournament.

"WELCOME!" Mr. Fujiwara announced. "To our preliminary tournament held in our academy!" The crowd applauded with excitement, followed by cheers.

"For you know," Mr. Fujiwara continued his speech. "The champion of this preliminary tournament will be participating the national Buddyfight tournament." A glint appeared in his eyes as he spoke. "But I have a little surprise for you fellow participants."

The crowd became silent.

"The four participants will be participating as well…" The crowd started to applaud. "…as a team. So the champion will be the captain of the team, so I hope the semi-finalists will still give their all."

Nevertheless, the crowd still applauded. It's considered strong to make it to the semi-finals, and those people will be given the chance to join the national tournament.

"Now…" our headmaster said. "Let's pass our ceremony to our special guest to let him officially start the tournament."

"Thank you, headmaster." a familiar voice sounded. "Now, I will start the academy preliminaries with this speech."

Jack walked to the center of the stage, causing a ton of girls to scream out of joy. I raised an eyebrow since he never told me that he'll be the ceremony opener.

"JACKKKKKKK" a bunch of girls shouted("Shut up girls!" I said to them.) as Jack started to say his speech:

"Fellow Buddyfighters who joined this tournament, I would like to give you advice." Jack smiled as he looked up to the crowd. "This is the chance for you people to prove your true power in Buddyfights, but there's only one way to use out your full power."

"To trust in your buddy's strength, and go all out fighting your opponent!" Jack raised his voice and the crowd cheered in agreement. "Let the preliminaries begin!"

The whole stage was filled with hype and excitement.

"Now, let's begin the preliminaries!" Yuna revealed a big screen. "We'll be cutting down five hundred contestants to a mere 8!"'

I kept hearing the instructions while I made calculations. 6 matches to make it to the top 8….

I gripped my fists. I can do it. I said to myself. I can.

Alright, I'll summarize the rules for you, dear reader. Basically, there are 512 participants. So, it is split to 8 groups and you have to win that group to be in the top 8.

I was put to group 2. Surprisingly, everyone I knew went to different groups. So there's a chance that we'll meet at the top 8.

There are only 4 arenas in the academy. So, it'll take 2 days to do the preliminaries, then 1 day for the quarterfinals, 1 day for the semifinals, and 1 day for the finals.

Anyways, group 1-4 will start first. So I was instructed to Arena 2.

"Anxious, Flamewing?" I asked Flamewing while we waited for our turn to battle.

"Of course," Flamewing cracked his knuckles. "It's been a while since I'm excited for something."

"…What's it like?" I asked suddenly. "Your home?"

"Well…" Flamewing was obviously surprised by my question. "…it's windy."

"M-hm"

"Our clan learned to be one with the wind."

"Oh."

"And I was invited to join the Sun Dragons, and I gladly agreed."

"I see."

"Then I met you, which is nice."

We bumped fists.

"Candidate 420, Yang Shirosuke. Please come to the stage!" A person from the Broadcasting Club called out.

"All right, Flamewing." I cracked my knuckles as well. "Let's win some matches!"

"Yeah!" Flamewing and I walked to the stage.

"BAL BUSRST! SMASHER!" I roared as the Impact Monster swung his engine and crashed to my final opponents face, cutting down his last 4 life.

"Winner: Yang Shirosuke!" The judge announced as the other 63 players applauded. Flamewing and I tackled each other and gave each other a thumbs up.

"And with this, the preliminaries for group 2 has came to an end!" The person from the Broadcasting Club said beside the judge. "Participants may leave the arena!"

Some of my classmates whom participated congratulated me and left the stage. I thanked the judge and the commentator and left, and I rushed back to class to tell my friends about this.

"GUYS!" I shouted when I swung the classroom door. "I did it! I made it to the top 8!"

"Yang!" Mark ran to me and tackled me. "Congrats for that, man!"

As all of the students can't fit in the stadium, some students stayed in their classrooms and watch live footage there. And of course Mark, Joey and Yin stayed in class.

As all the other classmates congratulated me, Mark said to me: "Dude, Joey made it too!"

"Eh? Congrats for that Joey!" I turned to her and gave a thumbs up. "Looks like we'll be seeing each other in the quarterfinals!"

"A-hem," Mark coughed to attract my attention. "It's my turn tomorrow, you know. Wish me luck."

"Oh," I patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck then!"

Everyone seemed to calmed down and continued to watch the live footage from Arena 4. I took the opportunity to slide beside Yin.

"Oh hey." Yin noticed me and said. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." I nodded. "Your match's tomorrow too?"

She nodded. "Group 7."

"You'll make it there?" I asked her. "To the top 8?"

"Of course." Yin punched me lightly. "I'm strong, you know?"

"Then promise me that you'll be there." I said. "I wanna fight you."

Yin's face went red a little. "…yeah."

"Promise?" I smiled. "That I'll see you at the finals?"

"…Yeah." Yin broke out a tiny grin. "Promise."

The very next day, I sat at my seat and watched group 5-8's live footage. I was shocked as I see Yin using her final move against her final opponent.

"FINAL PHASE." Yin revealed her Impact card. "I pay 3 gauge to cast this Impact card."

"I'll give your Axe Dragon, Dorcas an extra critical." Yin continued as purple bindings appeared from her card to bind her opponent's center monster. "And I'll stand that card…"

"…and it attacks you." Yin broke into a wide grin as her opponent's center monster successfully attacks its own buddy, dealing 4 damage to him. And with that, Yin became the winner of group 7, proceeding to the top 8.

The whole class became silent, and I was no exception. Yin is surprisingly strong and her tactics were proven to be merciless.

"Yin is strong." Joey said with a astonished look. "Let's hope I'll not fight her in the quarterfinals."

I nodded. Words cannot describe what I'm feeling right now. Fear? No. Excitement? Not that either. A mixture of both? Maybe…

"Joey Magitrik and Yang Shirosuke?" A prefect knocked the classroom door and said. "You need to go to the main stadium now, they're gonna announce the top 8 soon."

"Oh, okay." I said while I lifted up Flamewing and followed the prefect, with Joey behind.

I stood on the bottom of a platform. When Yuna announces Group 2's winner, the platform will go up.

"Yang." Flamewing asked. "We've finally made it this far."

"…Yeah." I replied.

"Welcome to Rai Academy's 57th RBT Top 8 ceremony!" Yuna's loud voice penetrated to the bottom of the stage. "After two days of restless fights, We've finally have 8 worthy fighters fighting for the number 1 spot!"

"Now, let's welcome!" Yuna announced while gears can be heard somewhere below. "Group 1's winner! Even though recently got her buddy, she excelled and proved herself to be worthy for the top 8. Uses Magic World, with Center of the World, Mary Sue as her buddy, let's welcome Joey Magitrik!"

I smiled, Joey's the winner of Group 1, eh…?

"And Group 2! (Flamewing stood behind me) Also like Joey, he got his buddy recently ("Back to back pose." Flamewing said to me) But he also made it to the top 8 with ease! Uses Dragon World, Flamewing Dragon as his buddy! Yang Shirosuke!"

We made it to the top of the stage. Cheers and applauses rounded the stage.

"Group 3! He made it to the top 8 with his overwhelming attacks! Dungeon World, Revolution Knight, Rebellious as his buddy, here's Aaron Braveheart!"

"From Group 4, his aggressive playstyle cuts through his opponents and he's earned the right to be in the top 8! Danger World user, Armorknight Demon as his buddy, Samuel Stronglance!"

"Here's from Group 5, she's not someone that stands out. But, she arrived at the top 8 silently, like her deck Katana World, Blade Beast of Blinder, Mikazuchi Munechika as her buddy. Let's welcome, Katara Shigensumi!"

A girl with a long ponytail emerged. Her buddy, a wolf-like beast stood beside her and stared at its surroundings with hunting intentions. The girl turned to me and gave a little wave, while I gave a polite smile.

"6th group! He's the son of our academy's cardshop, but that doesn't mean that he's not strong in Buddyfights! Uses Hero World, Card Burn for his buddy, this is Mark Ryusuke!"

Mark emerged from a platform, and a loud applause sounded. Mark waved at Joey and I while we waved back with joy.

"7th! Using merciless tactics and strikes opponents in fear, she crept to the top 8 slowly yet deadly! Darkness Dragon World user, Gate Guider, Gallows 'Gestus' as her buddy, Yin Kurosaki!"

Yin emerged opposite me, with Gallows laughing menacingly. She looked at me and waved, and I responded gleefully.

"And now! For our last quarterfinalist! Even without using his buddy once, he won his matches ruthlessly, do you think he'll win this tournament? Legend World user, buddy's Demon Wolf, Fenrir! Let's welcome Fang Okami!"

A guy, possibly 15, emerged from the final platform. A big wolf is sleeping behind him and gave a soft growl. He wore a black jacket and looked nice with his untidy hair.

"All 8 participants! Please come to the center, buddies stay in their place!"

I gave Flamewing a thumbs up and walked to the center. My eyes kept looking on Fang, and he somehow noticed it and smiled at me.

"All right, place your hand on this Core Gadget." Yuna said to us while she held out a deck box. "It'll record your data, thus proving you eight had did your best to made it this far."

One by one, we grabbed the deck box. The large screen announced each name when they held the deck box, followed by the applauses of the audience.

"Now, we'll announced the beginning of the quarterfinals!" Yuna continued. "Randomizer, start!"

The screen revealed 8 of us, and it scrambled into one. Then, it splitted back to 8 and flips into our names:

"Yang-Joey; Katara-Samuel; Yin-Aaron; Mark-Fang"

I grinned. Finally, the quarterfinals are about to begin.