Hey all, Ray and Lee here with yet another chapter of our long fanfiction, least I hope so. For those who're sick of the duels, sorry to say but we're about to go into our newest mini-arc, which has two duels coming up so be prepared. Also a quick update, after some time thinking, we've decided to use the cards that are on Dawn of the New Era, meaning it also includes anime-exclusive cards so keep an eye out for those. Once again, we'd like to thank our beta, Eneko95, for her return and helping us out, enjoy.
Chapter 24
Academy Duel
East Meets West
Early morning
Faculty Office
The faculty office didn't usually have everyone in it at once; some people there probably wouldn't be in the office at all if it weren't for Headmistress Ward providing coffee and donuts for everyone.
"Thank you all for coming to today's meeting. I apologize for making you get up so early, but the sooner we can sort this subject out the better," said Headmistress Ward.
A few had a look of wonder at what she wanted to talk about.
"As you'll recall from my announcement a few weeks ago, this year our Academy will duel another of the branches, West Academy. How do you suggest we select our representatives for this event?"
"Fácil," Jorge said with a smile. "We put forth the top third-year students, it's the best choice."
"You're only saying that because they're the most experienced," Meryem countered. "We don't know for sure who's the best among the students, even the first and second years have potential within them."
"By that logic, Mr. Nicolescu could be one of our representatives," he replied. "As this year's Mall Champion and one of the third-years as well, he fits what you're suggesting."
"He also comes from your dorm, which would look too much like favoritism for comfort," Fontaine added.
The small debate that ensued about how to fairly select the representatives came to a sudden halt when they all heard Kanoa yawn.
"Do you have something to add or is the coffee not kicking in yet, Kanoa?" Ward deadpanned.
"Well if we can't really decide on a proper way to choose two candidates, why not let Lady Luck decide? Hold a lottery for all the classes on campus, and the two winners get to face the West Academy representatives no matter who they are."
Most of the room looked at Kanoa in disbelief.
"Please tell me you're kidding. You expect us to draw two names from a hat for a tradition this important to us?" Meryem questioned in frustration.
Kanoa shrugged. "If they don't feel like they have a chance to participate they won't care about it the way we do. Plus you know they'll see the West students as 'two names from a hat' anyway."
"That may be true, but you can't treat something like this with the same nonchalant attitude you have about everyday affairs," said Jorge. "We have to show the other academies we take our role seriously."
"You know…you might be onto something with that idea," said the Headmistress thoughtfully.
Meryem looked at Ward, then at Jorge and Kanoa, and then at Ward again.
Mid-morning
Classroom
A majority of the class was silent, either focusing on finishing their final exam of the semester or doing their very best not to panic. Nick and his friends fell under the former, with one notable exception: Barclay had finished already and was currently taking a nap with a piece of paper reading "do not disturb" over his face.
Soon enough, most of the class had finished and were passing along their work to the instructor.
"Alrighty, with that out of the way, we are officially finished with the semester."
The entire class cheered in unison, startling Barclay out of his nap (and his seat).
"However, before I dismiss you all, we have a special announcement from Headmistress Ward for all the classrooms."
As the instructor said that, a small projector opened from the teacher's deck as the lights dimmed as well, and in a few moments, a hologram of the Mistress appeared in front of them.
"Good morning, everyone, and congratulations on completing another semester," Ward's voice crackled out through the speakers.
"I'm talking to you all today because the time has come for the West Academy duel selection process. This year, we have certain expectations for our chosen students… Absolutely nothing!"
The room erupted in disbelieving shouts, and similar uproars could be heard from other classrooms on the same hall. Ward's hologram, naturally, didn't bat an eye.
"The representatives will be selected from the entire student body via your Student IDs," Ward continued once everything had settled down. "The students who are selected will be notified quietly through the staff later today. Then, we will announce to the rest of the student body who the representatives will be once we've moved them to a quiet place where they can focus on preparing their decks or otherwise psyching themselves up for the tournament match against West Academy. Regardless of who is chosen, remember this: You all are the future of Dueling, and each of you has the potential to become great in your own right. Never forget that."
The hologram turned off, the lights went back on, and the students began talking amongst themselves as they left the room.
Lunch
With everyone finishing their exams for the semester, the Academy decided to have a special buffet for all the students. Many of them were with their friends, others were trying to figure out if they had a chance at being selected for the event.
With everyone finishing their exams for the semester, the Academy decided to have a special buffet for all the students. Many of them were with their friends, others were trying to figure out if they had a chance at being selected for the event. However for the unusual group, they were all simply enjoying themselves and taking in the food. One person in particular…
"MMMMM! THIS IS SO GOOD!" Takashi remarked as he was chomping on his large plate of food.
"Madre de Dios, where does he put it all?" Nick remarked in both shock and awe.
"Is he actually tasting anything?" Barclay muttered watching as Takashi cleaned off yet another plate. "I wonder how long they'll take to do their little lottery?" Laura mused as she stared off towards the doors of the cafeteria. "If you remember," Sera said, following Laura's gaze. "They'll quietly contact the winners first, relocate them to someplace quiet, and then tell everyone else."
"It's gonna be a bit hard considering most of the academy is in one location," Erhard added.
"Looks like they're already done," Atsuko added, changing everyone's focus.
They soon saw Kanoa and Jorge enter the cafeteria, which caused everyone else to stop what they were doing and look at the two heads.
"Sorry for interrupting everyone," Kanoa remarked with a chuckle. "Just here to find some people."
"Would Nick Brood and Barclay Fyfe please collect their bags and come with us?" Jorge asked loudly, making most of the students jeer.
"Subtle," Kanoa muttered.
The group looked at the two questioningly, but the boys shrugged and stood up with their bags in hand.
"Ah, there you two are. Come on, you're needed for something," Kanoa added.
The four of them soon disappeared as they began walking down the hall towards the main office of the campus.
Meeting Room
Nick and Barclay were asked to wait in the room for the Headmistress and simply sat there without saying much. They both looked at each other from time to time, trying to figure what exactly was going on.
After a few minutes of silence, Nick decided to break the tension. "Please tell me you didn't do anything and got me involved."
"There's no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune," his roommate replied, keeping his eyes forward.
"Cálmese, Falstaff, I'm just asking cuz I know how you get with some of the teachers," Nick chuckled.
"So you do pay attention in school after all."
"One of us has to."
Before he could reply, the door opened as the two boys looked back to see Ward coming in with some paperwork in hand as she went to her seat across from them.
"Good afternoon, boys, and my apologies for the wait," she remarked before focusing on the two. "Let's get right to it. As I'm sure your instructors told you, the Academy Duel is in two more days. This year we decided to make things a little interesting and choose our representatives by lottery."
"So wait, does that mean...?" Nick asked.
"Yes. You and Mr. Fyfe are Duel Academy's chosen duelists for the Academy duel."
Nick had a look of shock on his face when he heard that, surprised that something like this would've ever happened to him.
The Obelisks are gonna be pissed, Barclay thought with a smile. A chance to duel in front of the entire school was something typically only available at the advancement exams and he felt his pulse begin to quicken. "Well, aren't we lucky, Nick?" Barclay asked, trying his best to keep his voice level. "It is a great pleasure to have this chance, Headmistress."
"I can bet," Ward replied with a chuckle. "You two will be representing not just the academy, but everything that it stands for. I want you both to duel with everything you have, but most importantly, enjoy yourselves as duels are still meant to be fun."
Nick and Bar nodded with a smile when they heard that and got up from their chairs, leaving the room.
"Lord only knows what we're getting into here," she said with a sigh. "I hope they'll be fine."
Slifer Dorm
They entered their room, Nick still not believing the situation and Barclay seemingly calm and collected the whole walk back. However, once the door closed…
"YES!" Barclay roared, punching the air. "This'll really stick in their craw!"
Nick flinched in surprise, looking back to see his roommate jumping around like a mad-man.
"Those stuck up arseholes'll have no choice but to recognize that we Slifers are not worthless!" Barclay continued celebrating. "This chance is pure barry, min!"
"Geez man, you're really pumped up for this. I thought you were pretty much soulless," the red-haired teen remarked as he took off his backpack and sat down on his bed.
"What? Ya think I can take insults daily like it's nothing? It gets to me too, min." Barclay asked as he flopped onto his bed, gasping a bit from all the energy he expended so quickly. "But, come now, you really think we can both go flying off the handle at every idiot that thinks they're better than us? One of us has to keep their head."
"Hey, I keep my head jerk, I just happen to get annoyed when it comes to stuff that affects me personally," he replied. "In any case, I can't believe that we got picked for this."
Soon enough, Blackwing Master appeared next to him as he placed his clawed hand on his master's shoulder and nodded.
"I getcha buddy, though I have a feeling things are gonna be insane since we've got these new decks," Nick added as he took out his newest deck to look through it.
"So, which of us will be telling our friends?" Barclay asked after several minutes of silence, having started flipping through his own deck as well. Gwenhwyfar quietly floating over his shoulder and nodding approvingly as Barclay looked at each card.
Nick was almost shocked that Barclay's mood had so quickly shifted back to his normal demeanor.
"Guess I'll do it, figured it'd be an apology for assuming you got us in trouble again," Nick replied as he took out his phone and began to text everyone.
After a few minutes of silence, he finished sending out the messages just as someone knocked on their door.
"I got it," the red-haired teen said. He walked over and opened it to reveal Takashi and Atsuko, both of whom had wide smiles on their faces.
"Guessing you heard the news?"
"Yeah, they made the announcement about five minutes before we got your text," Takashi replied as Nick let the two of them in. "They didn't waste much time, did they?" Barclay sighed as he put his deck away. "What's the general consensus sounding like?" "Well, all of the Slifers are thrilled, of course," Atsuko answered, smiling even brighter. "The rest of the school, well…"
"Just means we'll have to prove beyond a shadow of doubt that we have what it takes," Nick remarked with a laugh.
"In the meantime, Kanoa wanted us to bring you down to enjoy the wonderful feast he prepared for you two," Takashi said as he grabbed both Nick and Barclay's arms and dragged them.
"Wait up you guys!" Atsuko remarked as she went running back to them.
In their room, Blackwing and Gwenhwyfar stayed behind and looked at one another.
"It seems it will soon be the time to truly see if they're worthy of the power," Gwen said as Blackwing nodded in response. The two then disappeared as they knew that soon enough, the true test of both Guardians would begin.
Duel Academy Harbor
Two Days Later
After the announcement of the Academy Duel, the school focused its attention on preparing a special festival that everyone would attend after the duel would end.
Soon enough, all of the stands and decorations were in place for the event, along with volunteers from the different dorms.
This left the rest of the academy students, as well as many of the faculty members, all waiting at the harbor for the arrival of the West Academy ship.
A short wait later and someone sighted a speck on the horizon that slowly grew larger and larger. A few moments later and the speck became the clear form of a ship. The size continued to grow until it was significantly larger than what many students apparently expected to arrive.
"Did they seriously rent an entire cruise ship just to get here?" said one of them.
"The academy duels are a big deal, they're gonna want to show off," someone else replied.
Soon enough, the ship arrived with many of the students looking at awe of how big it was. After a few seconds, some of the Duel Academy workers moved their gangplank into position.
The first to leave the ship was the Headmaster, Chen Aiguo, a slim man in a crisp red suit with somewhat noticeable five o'clock shadow and windswept dark hair. His students followed him down the gangplank in a neat line until they were face-to-face with Ward and the rest of the faculty.
It was a little intimidating seeing so many new faces in all black. On a second glance, however, the Duel Academy students noticed that every West uniform had a bright red feature somewhere on it, like a tie or scarf.
Ward bowed respectfully. "Headmaster Chen, always a pleasure to see you."
"It really has been a while, Headmistress Ward," he replied, bowing back. "I see you gathered the whole school to greet us, must be a nice break from their studies."
"Yes, and I see your students are following your example of calling on colors for luck." Ward's tone and smile matched Chen's-pleasant and outwardly devoid of any judgment. "Let's have the champions meet face-to-face, shall we?" she continued, turning so she could beckon Nick and Barclay forward.
"Let's," said Chen, raising one hand but maintaining eye contact with Ward.
Nick and Barclay walked forward to be greeted by two identical girls in uniforms as neatly pressed as their headmaster's suit.
One of them had dark brown hair down to her waist and a red ribbon, while the other had a shoulder-length cut and a bright red tie.
"Hello," said the long-haired girl, bowing politely. "I see your Headmistress has you wearing lucky colors for our duel as well."
"Nah, Sis," her sister said, elbowing her a bit. "Here, they separate the Duelists into three groups, and red is the bottom rung."
"Oh. Well, that just doesn't seem right," said the first girl in a more detached tone.
"This is Lanying Daiyu and Lanying Mei," Chen said, gesturing first to the twin in the ribbon then to the shorter haired twin.
Nick and Barclay both waved, though only got a scoff from both of them.
"Um, did we offend you two by accident?" Nick asked. "I'm truly sorry if we did."
"We sail across the ocean expecting to duel the best students of Central and we get the riff-raff." Daiyu sighed. "What a waste of time."
"Keep whining and ye'll learn why they picked us for champs," Barclay growled, narrowing his eyes.
"You think you can beat us?" Mei chuckled. "Zhù nǐ hǎo yùn, the only way you'd win is by cheating."
"You think I can't take you in a square go?" Barclay demanded.
"Now, now, kids, remember the point of this event is inter-Academy cooperation, which means showing both sides the respect they deserve," Ward remarked as she got in the middle. "I believe now's the time for us all to head to the Dueling Stadium for the main event. Wouldn't you say so, Headmaster?"
"Indeed. Come along, you two," Chen told them as he led his students to the main academy building.
The Central students all followed with Nick and Barclay ahead of them, leading the way.
Main Building
Dueling Stadium
Green Room
Both of the Slifer students were sitting inside the waiting room, holding their decks with their duel disks on their arms.
They had dueled with their friends and even for an audience plenty of times before, but that didn't make the prospect of dueling with the entire academy watching any less unnerving.
"Man… It's been a while since I've been really scared, even with all the stuff we went through," Nick said to break the tension.
"Getting cold feet?" Barclay joked in an equally shaky voice. "Totally normal to have pre-duel jitters."
Who's he trying to convince? Me or him? Nick wondered with a small smile.
"Two minutes, gentlemen," a staff member said opening the door.
"Thanks," they answered him as they stood up, put their decks into their proper place and followed the staff member.
To their surprise, Kanoa and all their friends were waiting at the exit with big smiles on their faces.
"Guys, what are you doing here?" Nick wondered.
"Come on, you really think we weren't gonna at least come wish you guys luck?" Laura smiled as she got close to Nick and gave him a hug to help him calm down.
"You two helped us out so many times, the least we could do was do this for you," Takashi added as he gave them a thumbs up.
"Break a leg," Sera said, patting Barclay on the shoulder.
"That sounds so violent," Atsuko fretted, tracing the character for luck on her hand repeatedly. "Can't we just wish them luck in their duels?"
Barclay chuckled. "In the theater that means 'good luck'."
Kanoa walked forward, placing a hand on their shoulder to get their attention on him.
"Listen, boys, whether you win or lose…I'm proud two of my own got chosen for this. Go out there and make Slifer proud."
The duo nodded before looking at the exit, hearing the Headmistress talking as they both waited for her to introduce them for the biggest duel of their lives.
Translations:
Fácil - Simple
Madre de Dios - Mother of God.
Cálmese - Calm down.
Erseholes - Assholes
Zhù nǐ hǎo yùn - good luck
square go - fair fight, one on one
So, hating on Slifer Red seems to extend to the other Academies as well. Will Barclay and Nick be able to win? Are their opponents really as stuck up as they appear? Will Barclay and Nick win any respect from the rest of the school? Will I stop asking all these questions and finish the Outro? Well, the answer to that last question you can find out right now! Thanks for your continued reading and we apologize for the long wait.