Chapter 8:
Not long after leaving the café, Blake stood in Professor Banners office in the academies main building. The room itself was filled with phials, alchemic equipment, tons of books of varying designs and thickness, as well as quite a number of ingredients ranging from plants, to minerals, to dried out animals and more. Aside from that, he was sure he saw some parchments and old books with ancient or occult patterns further in the back. All in all, the room gave off a weird vibe, in a bad way, that he couldn't find the source to. Other than knowing that Banner was artificially prolonging his life and body with alchemy and dark magic, that is.
"Ah, Blake. I see you got my message, please take a seat", Banner told him, his smile falling into a strict line. "Imagine my surprise when Doctor Crowler barged into my office, told me in no doubt exaggerated detail what had happened in the arena, and then all but ordered me to discipline you."
Blake, who had just taken a seat, looked at the professor with a quirked eyebrow. "Why, did I do something wrong?"
"You mean, aside from causing a massive uproar with the whole first year? Calling out the whole Obelisk Blue dorm for not earning their place? Practically declaring a crusade against its students?" Banner asked with a neutral tone, before turning sarcastic. "No, aside from that I can't think of anything."
"I fail to see the problem. It seems to be normal that the Obelisk students talk shit about the Slifer students on a daily basis, even back on the ferry. I believe it's only fair that we can shoot back?", Blake told him honestly. "After all, they are the aggressors."
Professor Banner sighed and poured himself a cup of tea. "While you may be right in theory, in practice things are different. The animosity between Obelisk and Slifer students is nothing new to anyone, but since most Slifer students just take it there is nothing to be done. Even the few cases that are reported lack either evidence or the witnesses are on the side of the Obelisk students, since they are ones themselves."
"So, the whole system is scuffed from the beginning and you teachers can't be bothered to fix it", Blake scoffed. "And that has nothing to do with the rich families of your precious Obelisk Blue students letting their wealth flow, right?" The professor looked at him in surprise, so he added more. "I've had the displeasure to deal with rich people before, and they're all the same slimy bastards."
Banner coughed and took a sip of his tea. "Language, student. But as much as it pains me to say, you aren't wrong about that. You put yourself in a position where many of those parents will want you gone from the academy for challenging the system, once they hear about it. The best I can do to help you is giving you a punishment, so they see we got things handled here. Detentions in the evening with me for the rest of the month. And since you're so eager to duel, an additional day for every duel you lose."
'Ain't you good at playing the nice teacher', Blake thought. "One month of detentions, all right. What am I gonna do during those?"
The professor didn't comment on him ignoring the other part. "Just some help with documents and bringing me the ingredients I need when doing experiments. Aside from that, you can use the time to study or work on your deck, as long as you stay here", Banner answered with a smile. "I'm not doing this because I want to punish you, after all. Let me ask you something, Blake. Why are you so keen on taking on the Obelisk students?"
"I need DP for new cards. The more wins I have, the higher the chance I get promoted. They're pretentious little shits who need to be taught a lesson", Blake mechanically repeated what he had told Bastion earlier. "All my savings went into the initial payment for my education here and I need more to pay off the rest."
The professor nodded in understanding, and Blake could've sworn he saw a glimpse of his red eyes for just a moment. "Is that so … I might have a proposition for you, if you manage to do well in your duels and studies for the time being." Banner talked in a weird mix of his nice-teacher-front and the man behind the smile, wording what he said next carefully. "I need some help with advanced experiments later in the school year, and since I need a capable assistant for that, I'd pay handsomely for it."
'An assistant for later in the school year? He isn't suggesting what I think he is, or is he?', Blake thought in surprise, his face no doubt revealing that. He had to turn his surprise to a different matter, getting Banner suspicious about him would be the worst thing that could happen for sure. "A capable assistant paid handsomely? But I have no clue about alchemy or whatever. The only thing I can do is carry your equipment and duel", he coughed out.
Banner fixed him with an intense stare – how he did that without his eyes visible only the Egyptian Gods knew – and smiled. "I'm sure you'll pick up a thing or two during your detentions. And I believe both your physical as well as your strength in a duel could come in quite handy. But it's just an idea for now, once I decide on wanting your assistance, I'll let you know. Until then, I hope you'll take your studies seriously and won't cause more trouble than you did today. Promotion exams are due at the end of the month, you know."
"I can't promise anything about the later, but I'll do my best in my studies, professor. No offense, but I'd much prefer having my own shower over in the Ra dorm.", Blake affirmed. "Is that everything for today?"
"Yes, you may come in every day after classes are over to serve detention from tomorrow onward", Banner said, escorting him to the door. "And one last piece of advice: With how much of a target you've painted on yourself, you should stay close to the friends you have. I don't think you've got to worry about them getting caught up in your mess, they're quite formidable themselves."
Something about how the professor phrased that last part made Blake shiver. He knew that Banner knew about Jaden's slumbering powers, and he couldn't help but wonder what he had planned for them, surely it wasn't just prolonging his own life. Something he'd maybe find out. On one hand, having to serve detentions for a whole month would be annoying, but hopefully he could use that time better than with whatever Banner would be doing. On the other hand, maybe he'd get some insight about his plans and when they'd happen, as he would be the second in command of the Shadow Riders.
'Whatever did I get myself into to be a possible recruit for them …', he wondered on his way back to his dorm. 'But could that be a chance? Give the Key Guardians inside knowledge about who they have to deal with, so they can prepare better? Stop the awakening the Sacred Beasts in the first place? Or maybe even …'
A sudden shudder overcame him, causing his body to tense up and scars to itch horribly. With a gut-wrenching feeling building up inside of him, he made way for the bathroom as soon as he arrived at the Slifer dorm, banishing his thoughts and trying his best to ignore the faint whispers in his head.
'A truly formidable specimen', Banner thought to himself, his cat Pharaoh on his lap. 'The records about his exploits in the Abyss Arena seem to be the real deal after all. Maybe I can change up the roster a bit, after the news from Camula, I'm not sure about that pharaoh anymore. With his financial situation as it is he'll surely take my offer, I'll just have to push him in the right direction. But is he able to handle a Shadow Duel, I wonder. Perhaps I can get him involved in what that fool Crowler has planned for dear Jaden. I reckon there may be someone interested in getting revenge on young Blake I could use …'
The rest of the month went by without much of interest happening. As expected, Obelisk Blue students flung themselves at Blake daily, none managing to take a win from him in the end. There was only a handful of them that came as close as Jasmin did, but the general consensus of basically all students playing Beatdown-decks made things easy. Interestingly enough, Chazz hadn't come after him yet, which surprised him, as the boy went after Jaden immediately after he beat Crowler. If anything, Blake had done something worse in his own eyes, but aside from some nasty glares, nothing had happened yet. Unlike Chazz, the Obelisk Blue student from his first day, whom he still didn't get the name off, challenged him every week and only ever said worse things to him as time went on.
What wasn't quite as easy was studying with a constant lack of sleep, as the nightmare he had back on his first day in the academy repeated every night after that. Sometimes in a slightly different way, but the same in its essence, resulting in having to start every day drenched in sweat and with a headache. He still had no idea what caused the nightmares, but he was at least somewhat sure it wasn't because he wasn't at home. Combining that with the attitude every single Obelisk student that challenged him had, despite Blake tearing them apart left and right, had him irritated 24/7, even when he made tons of DP from them. This irritation had made him even more snappish, causing him run his mouth against anyone at the smallest inconvenience, something Syrus learned wasn't pleasant when directed at him.
Detention with Banner had been incredibly boring, as whatever exactly he was doing had nothing to do with his classes. It seemed more like something straight out of a magic highschool; brewing potions, reading strange books with letters Blake couldn't decipher, and a generally ominious vibe whenever the professor did some experiments. He also tried to get to know Blake a bit more, in sometimes more and sometimes less subtle ways, which Blake let happen. In his mind it couldn't hurt trying to garner some more interest from the professor, even if he hadn't been sure about how to proceed with his proposal. While not being told everything, Banner mroe or less got the picture of Blakes homesituation and why he was so aggressively out for the Obelisk Blue students, and money. On the last day, Banner wished him good luck for his exams, not doubting that Blake would get promoted if he was allowed to duel for it. With that and none of the other teachers coming for him due to Banners timely detention punishment, Blake almost wished he wouldn't have to get rid of him at the end of the year.
With the constant duel requests, serving detentions, and knowing how volatile his state was, Blake didn't spend much time with Jaden and the others, limiting himself to classes and lunch. But since he had quite a few DP to spend, he got himself a few packs every now and then, trading the cards he didn't need with them. Jaden tried to include him in things they did, even telling him about the nightly duel he had with Alexis one time, but luckily Bastion managed to give Blake some space, no doubt seeing how much stress he was in. Aside from that, his self-proclaimed best friend – Blake didn't argue, he was just surprised about Bastion naming himself that – gave him some pointers for the classes he struggled in, that being History, Home Economics, and the Health Education part of their Sports classes. He received some suspicious looks from their teacher, who was also the nurse, but never anything more during Sports classes.
Duel Studies with Crowler were a no-brainer for him, Math practically did itself, while Duel Alchemy with Professor Banner was weird at first, but easy once he realized the subject wasn't the chemical stuff, but the formulars and planning. It was Bastion who pointed that out to him, as the resident deck builder he was, and from then on out Blake actually understood what the professor was trying to teach them. While Banner was certainly not a good person considering what he was planning to do, he was a good teacher.
They had short exams every Friday, with a larger exam happening at the end of every month, at least that's what they were told. Blakes grades had improved, if only by a small margin, going from a barely 50 percent to around 65-ish in his bad classes. Not as much as he wanted, but enough that together with his better subjects, he could theoretically be promoted when the exams were over.
Seeing as how his Slifer buddies were struggling with their studies, the top student of their grade proposed an idea; a group study session before the exams. While it took some convincing for Jaden and Syrus, they reluctantly agreed to it in the end, as did Blake. While not opposed to the idea itself, he wasn't sure how much it would help both in his current state and with his dormmates lack of interest. Had he known how Bastion would try to teach them beforehand, he wouldn't have shown up in the first place.
"Bastion, for the love of Ra, I don't get anything you're saying. You're perfectly sure you really didn't take the wrong ferry back then?", Blake questioned him, hitting his head on the table in frustration. Bastion was smart, yes. He could be called an analytical prodigy too, his brain calculating faster than the calculator in their PDAs did. But even with that, or maybe because of it, he wasn't any help at all outside of subjects that used numbers.
"We went over this three times, and the ferry once as well, I don't understand your problem", Bastion fumbled, going over his notes for what felt like the fifth time. Jaden and Syrus had long since pulled out, instead playing games on the table next to theirs. When Bastion asked them if they thought they were ready for the exams, Jaden just told him "It'll be fine, it works out for me every time, somehow."
Not bothering to lift his head from the table, Blake sighed. "Let's just call it quits, Bastion. Whether we've been at it for too long or your way of thinking is just on a level too high for me, we won't get anywhere today."
"But maybe if we-", Bastion started, but Blake waved him off. "It'll be fine. Worry about getting your perfect scores instead. At the end of the day, I'll get promoted by dueling anyway."
With a sigh of defeat, Bastion agreed and gathered his notes. "You won't need anyone's help on that front, that's for sure. I still can't believe you haven't lost a single duel until now."
"Because every single one I dueled was a pushover. Jaden and you are the best candidates in our year to break my winning streak", Blake admitted, before adding, "but only after I get promoted, you hear me?"
Chuckling, his friend finished gathering and putting away his papers and books. "I hope you mean promoted to Ra, not Obelisk. Jaden's been getting antsy over the last week; I don't think he wants to wait much longer for a duel with you. Nor do I, as a matter of fact."
"Yeah, yeah, just don't cry about it when you lose", he replied sarcastically. "I think I'm gonna take a quick nap here, so don't bother waiting on me. And please take those two with you, Jaden's laugh is obnoxiously loud."
"Will do, just don't mess up your back too much with this. Worst thing its gonna distract you from the exam tomorrow, and I'm sure Professor Fontaine won't like it when doing the physical exam either", with that Bastion left, leaving Blake's brain to deal with that new piece of information.
'Physical examination? Maybe she won't ask me to take off my sweatbands, but there's no way I can hide the rest. She's gonna tear my fucking head off', Blake shuddered, knowing full well that no doctor ever took a look at or gave him something to deal with his scars, or the problems he had with his left hand and leg. 'I should call Katherine before tomorrow. Can't imagine her reacting well to an angry doctor calling home, if she'll take the call in the first place.'
He tried to come up with ways to maybe dodge the examination in the first place, or find some way to mask the age of his wounds, but he had no idea how to do that. And if he didn't show up, even with some sort of excuse, there was a chance he could be held back from being promoted. His train of thought was interrupted by a hand shacking his shoulder.
"Hey, you alright there? Need to see the nurse?", a familiar female voice asked, causing Blake to tilt his head to see who was talking to him. Leaning down towards him was the green-haired girl he helped a few weeks back, her glasses dangerously close to falling off. While he hadn't taken the time to look at her properly last time, or was this close to her, he noticed that she was quite the looker. Not as much as Alexis or that girl with blue hair, but more than the rest as far as he was concerned. She wore the more conservative long-sleeved version of the girls uniform in all its pale-yellow glory. Its baggier nature leaving much to the imagination, though it was clear she wasn't as ridiculously stacked as the blonde every male seemed to have eyes for – well, except Jaden. Over her shoulder hovered the head of a brunette girl he remembered waving at him back in the arena.
"Anything but that, my heads already smoking. The last thing I need is her getting angry at me today, tomorrow will be bad enough", Blake replied, causing the other girl to giggle as he finally raised his head from the table.
"Judging by the rings under your eyes, I can see that happening", the green-haired girl said as she fixed her glasses and stood back up. "If you've got troubles with your studies, I can give you some pointers, I was going to help Yuma here because she definitely needs it." The girl apparently named Yuma waved happily, taking a seat opposite of him. She wore the other version of the girl's uniform, seemingly content with showing off that much skin and having the tighter fabric pronounce her curves more. Probably because there wasn't much to pronounce in the first place.
"Sure, why not. Can't be worse than what Bastion tried", Blake said, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "Though I don't get why you'd want to do that, or even be seen with me, as things are …". He had no idea what her name was and hoped she picked up on that when he rolled his wrist into her direction.
"Oh, right, I never introduced myself. I'm Bright, and I only want to pay you back for your help back with the boxes back when school started", she told him with a strict tone as she took a seat between her friend and him.
"Really? Last time you were pretty pissed if I remember correctly", he told her with a deadpanned look on his face.
Bright nodded with a sigh. "You do remember correctly. But you were right, which is why I'd like to make up for my behaviour. And you don't have to worry about the other stuff either, I don't really care about your reputation. As far as I'm concerned, you're a good duelist and actively trying to improve here – unlike an astonishing number of other students –, so you're fine in my books."
"Same here!", Yuma added, not having taken her eyes off him since she sat down. Whether that was because he looked like shit or because he didn't have his jacket on, the short-sleeved black shirt showing off quite a bit more of his lean body, was still up in the air.
Blake looked at the two and leaned back in his chair. "A refreshing outlook if you ask me. Well, in that case feel free to give me some tips. I'm not sure how much I can take after Bastion's lecture, but I'll try it nonetheless." He pulled out the sheet on which Bastion had noted the points he was struggling with and handed it over to Bright.
She realigned her glasses and went over the notes, while her friend moved over between them and then more towards Blake. He didn't notice her pocking his arm until she spoke up. "Say, what's up with that cap of yours? It looks like it has seen better days."
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, ignoring her pokes. "Got it when I was a kid and been wearing it since then. Why?"
"It's what makes you stand out from everyone else, aside from your height. Sure looks like it has seen some better days, was it a gift from someone special?", she questioned further, taking a close look at him.
Blake nodded and her eyes went from his hat – though he was sure she was more looking at his face – down his shoulders and arms, landing on his sweatbands. "You're really rocking that black and white theme, it's a shame the white uniforms are for third years."
"Thank you?", he replied, unsure what to say.
"When you two are done flirting, I've got something", Bright interjected with a cough, pushing the notes and an additional paper she wrote upon in the meantime to Blake. "We don't have the time to go into detail now, but I believe if you look up those parts in the books and the short explanations I've written down, it should help."
He took the papers and briefly looked over them. "Will do, thanks. Then I'll leave you to your study session." Putting the notes away, he got up and threw his bag over his shoulder.
"Oh, and one last thing", Bright said as she and a reluctant Yuma pulled out their books and notes. "There are quite a few Ra students that support what you're doing, me included. I've heard from second and third year dormmates how they're being held back despite having good grades and passable dueling records when there are Obelisk students who perform worse in both. The favouritism is painfully obvious and none of us are happy about it, but your endeavours might make enough impact to change things."
"And why can't they change things by themselves?", Blake questioned, the whole thing sounding awfully familiar.
She gave him an informed look. "Because they're no longer in the position to do so. You might want to read up on the topic of Duel Academy titles when you've got the time. I believe what you'll find there might be of use to you, if you plan on continuing what you're doing. Well, that and if you want to be promoted to Obelisk Blue, which will surely fit you better than Ra Yellow."
Blake furrowed his brows and nodded, putting that speck of information away for later. "We'll see. Good luck in your exams tomorrow." He was already on the way out before he left them some parting words. "Oh, and I'm sure you'd look good in blue too."
"How comes you get a compliment when I'm the one trying to get to know him?!", Yuma pouted at her friend, who realigned her glasses.
"He only said that because he misinterpreted what I said", Bright told her with her strict but now slightly higher pitched tone. "Besides, maybe you should consider the time and place, you saw how exhausted he was." She spread her notes and put a sheet in front of Yuma. "And now enough of that, you have some exercises to do."
"Easy for you to say, you always manage to meet him somehow. I haven't met him outside of class and the cafeteria once since school started and I never got the chance to talk to him there. Except for when I cheering for him in the arena, I don't think he ever noticed me", her friend replied grumpily, taking the paper.
With a sigh, Bright opened up her Duel Alchemy book and began rehearsing the latest sessions. "Why are you so fixated on him anyway? Isn't there anyone else that interests you? Or, you know, studying?"
"I'm already studying with you every weekend! We're on an island with lots of people, especially good-looking guys, so of course I'm going to socialise!", Yuma replied with a huff. "And while there are other handsome guys, he's taller and fitter than most, and has a confidence he can actually back up!"
"Alright, alright, I got it. Just try not to get on his nerves. From what our dormmates told me he can get pretty nasty, especially when he's in a bad mood. Which seems to be constant", Bright yielded, while silently agreeing with what her friend said.
That only seemed to reignite Yuma's passion in the topic. "Which is why I'll make sure to change that! Who's gonna be the most memorable when coming out of a slump? The one who helped you get out of it of course! My plan's foolproof, and even if something goes wrong, I have you as my backup!"
"Only if you do finish your exercises."
And thats it for this chapter folks, a bit shorter as its more of a bridge between major events, but I felt like putting in more would've bloated it. Especially with what we'll be dealing with next time, that being the whole promotion exam fiasco. Speaking of fiascos, whatever may come out of the proposition from Professor Banner? Something to look out for.On the topic of Banner, I've decided to go with "Shadow Riders" instead of the original "Seven Star Assassins", purely because I like it more, hope nobody takes issue with that.
Regarding other characters, as noted by a few of my awesome reviewers, I'm planning on putting more emphasis one the ones that were done dirty in the series, like bestboi Bastion, as well as those I ported over from the TagForce games. Since there are enough male characters in the story by default - I'm already dreading when the students from other academies arrive - I'm probably gonna stick to the female ones, that being the three that have been introduced up to this point. Apologies to anyone who wanted to see the female powerhouse duelist Wisteria here, I don't know if I can fit her in, and even then if she can play a more prominent role. But if you want to read something about her, I'd recommend giving "Tag Force Alternative" by Hiyuusha a look.
As pointed out in the reviews, I'm incorporating the decks from the games as seen with Jasmine, though the anime didn't really leave me a choice with that one. The characters that come from the games obviously will have their decks, starting from their earliest ones and building up to their latest (TF 1-3).
Since I'm already rambling on too much, I want to thank everyone reading, as we have officially broken the 5k views with the last chapter. I didn't expect that many in such a short time, if at all, same goes for all the favs and follows. Really, you guys are awesome.
P.S. I had to re-upload this chapter not long after the initial upload because I chose the wrong version. An extra paragraph in the middle was missing, regarding the detention served with Professor Banner. For anyone who already read the chapter; maybe something you want to check out and sorry for the inconvience. For everyone else, just ignore this tid bit.