Chazz's Room, Anubis Blue Dorm

November 4, 2027

7:47 PM

Chazz Devlin— officially known as Princeton— wrestled with his HDMI cord, calling it every dirty name he knew. Why, oh why could things never be simple? Every week he disentangled the cords and lined them up neatly on their shelf, and every week the effort proved futile as they just ended up in the same complicated mess again. He was beginning to wonder why he bothered at all. It wasn't as if his weekly video call with his mother was particularly enjoyable.

Once again, he went over in his mind what he was going to tell her, what topics he would absolutely avoid, and how he was going to deflect any questions about said topics. He thanked his lucky stars that his mother was nothing if not predictable; he could be reasonably sure his plan to fool her would work.

This week was going to be one of the more difficult ones, though, he thought, swearing again as he pulled on a cord only for the knot to tighten further rather than loosen. He had managed to hide the fact that he'd lost his midterm duel so far, but it was only a matter of time before she found out. He really wasn't looking forward to that conversation, and not just because of the loss itself.

The Anubis could still feel his cheeks heat up when he thought about the day after the tests. He'd gone to class like usual, prepared to pretend that nothing had happened, that everything was the same as it had always been.

He'd been a complete and utter fool.

Lecture Hall, Duel Academy Main Building

October 15, 2027

8:56 AM

"Yo, foot rub, iced tea— now."

"Get it yourself."

"Huh?" Chazz straightened up in his seat, certain he'd heard Topher wrong. "What was that!?"

"Doesn't he know?" Conklin asked, just loud enough to be overheard.

"Guess not," Topher shrugged.

"Know what?" Chazz demanded.

With a long-suffering sigh, Topher turned to the other Anubis. "Chazz, where do you think you're sitting?"

"My seat?"

"Sorry, that's not your seat anymore. Now move!"

"What are you talking about? Of course this is my seat," Chazz pointed at his nameplate. "It says so right here—" he cut himself off with a choked gasp. His name was gone.

"Sorry, Chazz, but you were moved way over there," Topher said with a smirk, pointing to the very back corner.

"No way. This is… all wrong. I don't belong over there with those losers! This is a mistake; I belong up here!"

"Not anymore. You haven't since yesterday afternoon when you lost in front of the entire school," Conklin cut in. "Midterms are a big deal, Chazz. You can't just lose and then expect everything to remain the same."

"Yeah," Topher nodded in agreement. "Now get lost."

Chazz looked around desperately, hoping that someone would speak up and point out how absurd this all was, but most of his fellow Anubis Blues were ignoring him, and the rest— the rest were laughing. They'd heard what Conklin had said, and they were laughing. Even some of the Ra Yellows who were close enough to overhear were snickering along, too. Feeling his face begin to burn with humiliation, the raven-haired duelist turned and fled from the room.

Ever since then, he hadn't returned to Dr. Crowler's class, instead watching the lectures after they were posted online and turning in his assignments remotely. Every time he got near the classroom, he was sure he could hear the mocking guffaws following him down the hallway.

I thought they were my friends, Chazz thought bitterly. We've hung out together since primary school. They always followed me around, saying how cool they thought I was. Who knew one loss would be enough to scare them off?

Chazz should have known, that's who. Of course Topher and Conklin had ditched him now; he was no longer the big man on campus. It had been bound to happen, what with all the best duelists from the best prep schools now in the same class. They couldn't all be the best anymore; someone was bound to be better. Chazz just hadn't let himself believe that it wouldn't be him.

He had mostly managed to accept that reality now— it was hard not to, being faced with it every day. His mother, however, well… was another story. Vivian Devlin had always seen things the way she wanted to see them, rather than how they really were. He didn't expect her to stop now.

Finally, he managed to get everything set up properly, and just in time, too. Only a minute later, the familiar jingle announcing he had a call was sounding from the speakers. Taking a deep breath, Chazz steeled himself and clicked the green accept button.

Almost as soon as her face appeared on the screen, his mother was firing off her usual questions at him. "Chazz, my darling, how are you doing? Are you getting enough to eat? Have you made any new friends? The workload hasn't gotten too intense, has it?"

Chazz resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Or start banging his head against the wall. She asks because she loves you, his father's words echoed in his head. He forced a smile and responded, "I'm fine. The food's good; sometimes I eat with some of the Anubis Blues on my floor. Homework isn't too bad, either." Slip a lie into the middle of all the truths, and it wouldn't be too obvious. He hoped.

"Wonderful, wonderful!" Mrs. Devlin nodded enthusiastically. "I'm so glad to hear it. And—" she dropped her voice to what she probably thought was a whisper, "— no one's figured out who you really are, right dear? You know, if you feel threatened or unsafe at any time, Mommy can come and get you. I'm just a phone call away."

"Yeah, I know Mom," Chazz said in what he trusted was a sincere tone. "But no one's figured out who I am. I feel perfectly safe."

"That's good," Mrs. Devlin nodded to herself. "Because you know that Seto Kaiba isn't always as vigilant as he should be. I competed in one of his tournaments once, and his security systems left a lot to be desired." She wrinkled her nose in disgust, "just about anybody was able to gain access and do as they pleased. And of course, we mustn't forget his own son disappeared right off that island! You can't blame me for worrying, you know. I wouldn't have let you go at all if it wasn't for its stellar academic reputation. And all the others are attending as well, of course. Speaking of which, have you seen Yugi's little boy? How's he doing?"

Chazz just barely held in a groan. Who cared about Yuki Muto? "He's still in Osiris Red, the lowest-ranking dorm. He still sleeps through class and drives the professors nuts with his slacking off. There's not very much to say about him, really. Well, not anything important."

"Of course not," Mrs. Devlin nodded again, which she did quite often, the world seeming only to exist as a way for her to confirm things she already knew. "The boy's mother could never have raised him properly, not with the way she was always running off to those dance recitals. All the costumes and the traveling— it drained all their resources. Do you know they sent the boy to a public school? Poor Yugi, with all his talent, wasted on that little— but that's not important, is it dear? I'm so glad to hear you're doing well!"

Sure you are, Chazz thought bitterly. You're glad to hear I'm doing better than Yuki Muto because for some reason you hate his mother. I'm so glad I could reassure you.

He didn't say any of this, however. He merely smiled and nodded and laughed at all the right moments, until finally, finally, the torture session of a video call was over, and he could go to bed.

With great relief, Chazz closed his laptop and unplugged the HDMI cord, not bothering to put it away— he didn't feel like falling into that trap again. Getting up from the sofa, he turned to go into his bedroom when a few dapples of yellow and red outside the window caught his eye. Stepping closer, he was just able to make out the familiar shapes of Yuki, Syrus, and Bastion meeting on the path between the Anubis and Ra dorms.

Bastion's headed off to the Osiris Dorm for the night. Again. Chazz scowled. During the first few weeks of school, he had mostly been able to avoid running into Yuki— Jaden— he really didn't care— anywhere on campus. They only had one class together, and the Osiris dorm was a significant trek away from Anubis and Ra, so it wasn't all that difficult (to his very great relief). There were times they almost ran into each other in the duel arenas, but Chazz had always made sure to leave quickly if he saw any hint of a red jacket (he'd been able to explain this away to Topher and Conklin fairly easily by giving any absurd excuse that popped into his head— he wanted cantaloupe, he wanted a cheese sandwich, he wanted some fresh air) and so far he had been lucky. Aside from their first night on the island, he and Jaden hadn't run into each other once.

And then Bastion Misawa just had to go and ruin everything.

For the most part, Chazz had assumed he was safe around his own dorm— Osiris Reds didn't dare come near the more elite halls without an invitation— and of course, Bastion hadn't invited them over to Chazz's dorm, but to his own. The problem was that the path to Ra Yellow was right next to Anubis Blue. Suddenly it had become a lot harder to avoid his childhood rival.

And then there were nights like tonight when it was the other way around and Bastion was going to Osiris instead, but for some bizarre reason, the slackers just had to come over and meet him halfway there. Chazz was almost convinced they did it just to spite him.

Yanking his curtains shut, the Anubis trudged off to bed, dreading the horrors that the next day would bring.

Main Building, Duel Academy

November 5, 2027

4:04 PM

Today had been no better than yesterday. "Horror" didn't even begin to encompass the indignities Chazz had been forced to endure. He knew he should have stayed in bed— catching a glimpse of Bastion, Jaden, and Syrus last night had probably been a bad omen.

A fierce scowl on his face, Chazz stalked around the corner just in time to almost be stampeded by a group of Osiris Reds fleeing Dr. Crowler in one of his melodramatic moods.

"That Osiris outcast's made a fool of me for long enough! But soon he will pay most dearly for it. Soon, with what I have planned, he will be the fool!"

Chazz couldn't believe what he was hearing. Could he really be so lucky? "Dr. Crowler!"

The Anubis headmaster turned towards him. "Ah, Chazz. How may I be of service?"

"You can arrange a duel for me with Jaden Yuki like you did for Bastion Misawa."

His dorm's headmaster blinked at him. "A duel? With Jaden Yuki?"

"That's what I said. You want him humiliated like he humiliated you. Well, so do I. I want the chance to put him in his place." Part of him was screaming that this was a terrible idea, but Chazz was tired of running and hiding. More than that, he was tired of being laughed at.

Dr. Crowler seemed to be considering the idea. "Hmm. And what is it exactly that Jaden has done to make you feel such animosity toward him?"

Chazz stiffened. "That's none of your business. And besides, it doesn't matter." He crossed his arms over his chest. "We both want the same thing. I know you've been trying to get back at Jaden for what he did to you during the entrance exams, but the problem is you've been employing duelists who don't have the same drive to defeat Jaden as you— we do. They're not personally invested. But I am. I understand what it's like, to be humiliated by that red-jacket reject. I have the proper motivation, so unlike them, I can do it."

At first, the blonde professor seemed mildly surprised, but then his expression morphed into something almost cat-like. "Yes, of course! That's been the problem! Proper motivation! I just need a duelist who hates Jaden as much as I do. Hmmm…" Crowler began pacing back in forth in the hallway, muttering to himself. Chazz stared. Had Crowler… actually forgotten he was there? "Yes, this could work. This could finally be it! Chazz," the boy jumped; Crowler's face was suddenly very close. "Come with me to my office. I have something I want to show you."

Osiris Red Dorm, Duel Academy

November 3, 2027

6:43 PM

That evening, Yuki and Syrus's study time was interrupted by a double chiming-buzzing sound, the signal that they had both just received as an urgent message from the Academy.

"Now what?" Syrus despaired as Yuki ruffled through his jacket to find his phone. Anxiously he waited for the terrible news— the volcano was going to erupt and they needed to evacuate, there was a deadly virus spreading through the student population, there was going to be mandatory extra gym class— "Well? What is it?" he demanded after a few moments had passed, his anxiety getting the better of him.

"It's an announcement of a duel during lunch tomorrow. An Osiris Red vs. an Anubis Blue."

"Huh. What unlucky chump got roped into that?" Syrus asked, his heart rate finally beginning to slow.

"You're looking at him. Although I don't remember being roped into anything." Yuki flipped the phone around to show Syrus the big, black letters spelling out the news:

COME ONE, COME ALL

TO SEE THE RARE AND EXCITING CHALLENGE:

CHAZZ PRINCETON VS. JADEN YUKI!

ANUBIS VS. OSIRIS!

11/6 AT 12:00 IN THE ANUBIS DUEL ARENA

ABSOLUTELY FREE!

"I wonder why it was marked urgent."

"That's what you're worried about right now!?" So much for slowing his heartrate "What about why you have to duel? Or why they didn't tell you? Or ask if you even wanted to? I don't like it, Yuki; it sounds like a setup!"

"Of course it's a setup, Sy," Yuki said mildly. "It's probably Crowler taking another opportunity to try and humiliate me, no big deal. Besides, it's been a while since Chazz and I dueled. This could be fun!"

"Yeah, but what if Dr. Crowler's plan works? What if Chazz does beat you? We know he must be good if he's an Anubis Blue. Aren't you nervous?"

"Hmm. No way. I'm excited."

"Excited?"

"Yeah, for a sweet challenge!" Yuki patted his deck box fondly. "My cards are up for it."

Syrus let out a small, disbelieving laugh. "You never worry. How do you do it?"

"Simple, Syrus. Being defeated by a worthy opponent isn't a humiliation, not if you tried your best. That's why I didn't feel humiliated when I lost to Zane, and why I won't feel humiliated if I lose to Chazz." He sighed. "I wish I could make Dr. Crowler understand that."

"Maybe he just didn't consider you a worthy opponent," Syrus suggested.

"See, now that's insulting. He and I should really be allowed to call it even."

Anubis Blue Duel Arena, Duel Academy

November 6, 2027

12:00 PM

"It's time, duelists, to find out! We know because of the midterms a few weeks ago that an Osiris can beat a Ra, but can he beat… an Anubis!?" Jaden couldn't help thinking that Dr. Crowler should have been in show business, what with his flair for the dramatic. "Introducing first, one of the top students in the entire Anubis Dorm, Chazz Princeton!" The crowd erupted into cheers, though not quite as heartily as Jaden had expected. "And then, from Osiris… this kid." Well, that's just rude. I know he knows my name. Well, sort of. The crowd gave a smattering of confused applause, with a fair number of snickers and even boos mixed in.

Shrugging it off, Jaden activated his duel disk. "Alright, Chazz— get your game on!"

Chazz gritted his teeth. "Bring it, you Osiris outcast!"

"Oh, it is brought!" Grinning widely, Jaden drew his first card.

…

"First I'd like to bring out… Elemental HERO Clayman! He'd like to make your acquaintance."

Chazz just glowered. "Not after he sees what I've got for him."

…

It turned out that what Chazz had was an almost entirely new deck— at least from what Jaden remembered. A deck made up almost exclusively of rare cards, he mused to himself. How long did it take him to put that together? He grinned wider. He'd never had a challenge quite like this before. "Yeah, go ahead and finish up, 'cause I'm just getting charged up. Speaking of, here's a guy who can make any duel electrifying! Elemental HERO Sparkman!"

…

"Still using the same old, tired strategies, Yuki?" Chazz spat after the Osiris had ended his second turn. Jaden flinched in surprise at the vitriol in the other boy's voice.

"Chazz—"

"Of course you are. You never change. You're a sneaky, spoiled brat who always gets what he wants. What reason would you have to change? Well, I'm going to give you one. I'm going to beat you so hard into the ground that you'll never be able to get back up again! Ready for round two, brat?"

Yuki stared at Chazz in surprise as the other boy took his turn, showcasing more rare cards in the process. Any other time he would have been thrilled to witness such moves, but the way Chazz had spoken… that wasn't normal trash talk. Chazz actually sounded like he hated him.

"…Yuki, there's more." The Osiris snapped back to attention at the sound of his name. As Chazz proceeded to summon the Ultimate V-Z Dragon Catapult Canon, a small, tiny part of him began to panic.

…

After just barely managing to save his Life Points with "A Hero Emerges" and losing Burstinatrix in the process, the panic wasn't subsiding any.

"Aw, what's the matter? Jealous?" The Anubis taunted. "Your deck isn't the most special one on the field in this duel, which is only fitting. You've never been as special as you think you are, Yuki."

"What are you talking about? I don't think I'm any more special than—"

"Cut the crap, you stuck-up twit! You've always acted like you were better than everyone else, making us all do whatever you wanted and never having any consideration for the people around you."

Yuki cringed at that last accusation and resisted the urge to seek out Alexis or Syrus in the crowd, their voices echoing in his head. You never asked! You were never interested enough to ask!

"That's not fair—" he started weakly.

"Isn't it? Then why did everyone always shun me when we were kids, huh? It was because you told them to. You decided I wasn't good enough for you, and you made everyone else go along with it. But even that wasn't enough for you, was it? Then you had to constantly humiliate me in every way possible." Chazz's glare could have burned through steel. "Well today, that all ends. This time, I'm going to humiliate you and pay you back for making my life miserable for so many years! Now draw, coward."

Yuki had no idea what Chazz was talking about. True, he had a tendency to get distracted and not pay as much attention to his friends as he should, but he had never treated Chazz so poorly. If anything, it was the other way around. The other boy had always been a sullen grump and had rejected every offer of friendship extended to him by Yuki or anyone else. It wasn't fair for him to insult him like this.

Burying the panic and the hurt, he squared his shoulders and met Chazz's glare head-on. "Okay, I will. This isn't over, Chazz; it's just barely starting! My draw!"

…

With the help of "Transcendent Wings", Yuki was able to even the odds a bit. He sent a mental thank you to Miss Dorothy and grinned across the field at his opponent.

"You've never had that in your deck before," Chazz accused.

Yuki snorted. "So? You've never had any of the cards you've played in your deck before. What, are you the only one allowed to upgrade?"

Chazz growled— he actually growled.

…

With Jaden's final turn, Elemental HERO Avian was able to finish off Chazz's Life Points, leaving the Osiris the victor. The crowd erupted with cheers and exclamations of disbelief.

"Jaden did it!" Syrus yelled, jumping up and down. "He beat an Anubis!"

"Impossible! Not with all the rare cards I gave Chazz; this simply can't be!" Crowler cried in dismay. Then, worried someone had heard him, he quickly scurried from the room, fuming all the way.

"Chazz!" Ignoring Syrus, Bastion, and Alexis rushing to congratulate him, Jaden hurried across the field, deactivating his duel disk and reaching out to offer the Anubis a hand up. "That was a great duel. I've never seen so many rare cards all in one deck; it must've taken you years to—"

"Get lost!" Chazz screamed at him, knocking his hand away. "Leave me alone. Despite what you think, not everyone worships the ground you walk on!" Chazz gave Yuki a shove for extra measure and then turned and stormed away, leaving his stunned opponent behind him.

Moments later, his friends arrived, spouting their congratulations. "You're the best Jaden!" Syrus threw his arms around his friend, squeezing him hard.

"Yeah. Sure, Syrus." Jaden awkwardly patted his shorter friend on the head, staring at the spot where Chazz had vanished into the crowd. What did I ever do to make him hate me so much?