Hey all, Leengard and Raydark here, once again with another in-between rest before continuing on the duels we hope you all are enjoying. I know, it's not a perfect system, but we're trying our best and that's all anyone can do. We'd like to take this time to thank our beta, eneko95, for all of her hard work in this endeavor of ours.

Chapter 26

Academy Duel

Eye of the Storm

Duel Arena

As Ward announced Barclay as the winner, everyone on the Central Academy's side exploded with cheers, some girls even squealing Bar's name. Nick had gotten up and was clapping, giving his roommate a thumbs-up when he turned to him.

Bar looked around the audience that were clapping for him, pride swelled in his chest as he saw that some of the other students appeared to have finally changed their minds about the Slifer Red dorm.

The sound of frustrated crying broke through his good mood. When he turned around, Mei was sitting on the arena floor with her head in her hands and her hands resting on one knee.

Is it cause she lost at all or cause she lost after getting so close to winning? he thought. Either way, I need to be a good sport about this.

"Barry duel, lassie." Barclay smiled, offering his hand. "Haven't had a duel that close since my first day here."

Mei looked up at him with red, teary eyes and a perplexed expression, as if she wasn't sure how to feel about the situation.

"Leave her alone!" Daiyu rushed forward and put herself between Bar and her sister, slapping his hand away. "You've already beaten her, don't go mocking her too!"

"What are ye on aboot?" Barclay asked, though only got a glare in response. "Fine, I'll walk away now."

He turned around and started towards his roommate, leaving Daiyu to help her sister up and walk with her off the area.

Ward looked at the departing students and sighed internally. "Ahem. We'll be taking a short intermission before the next round to allow our duelists and audience members a chance to relax."

Everyone began speaking amongst themselves as Ward and Chen left the area to check on separate things.

Green Room

Daiyu sat her younger sister down on the nearest couch and grabbed a bottle of water from the mini-fridge, which she immediately handed to Mei.

"Thanks." Mei opened it and drank about half of it at once. "Another Lanying bomb for the record books, huh?"

"Nonsense!" Daiyu retorted. "You were amazing out there, and you literally couldn't know some nobody from Central would have the Claw of Hermos. Nobody would have even considered that! Plus he clearly knows what he's doing, since he saved Paladynamo's effect for when it would—"

She noticed the sad look on Mei's face and sighed irritably. "Dammit, I accidentally praised the other guy again. The point is, these Central duelists are way better than they look. We can't underestimate them, mèimei."

"A lesson I'd hoped would have stuck by now, considering the number of times you girls have had to learn it," said Headmaster Chen, entering through the slightly open door. The twins immediately turned to face him and bowed. "Mei, you have once again cast doubt on my abilities and brought dishonor to the Academy."

Mei kept her eyes focused on the floor in front of her.

"Headmaster, I will more than make up for it!" Daiyu insisted. "I will crush that redhead so thoroughly that there will be NO doubt that we are the superior duelists."

"You will be held to that claim, Daiyu," Chen said before leaving the room.

Mei sighed as she threw the bottle into the recycling bin. "You know, even when I had him on the ropes that guy looked like he was genuinely having fun. I think I'm jealous of that now…"

"Enjoying yourself is nice," Daiyu agreed a little wistfully. "But not as important as winning. Not to us, anyway." Mei simply nodded, knowing that the headmaster encouraged their competitive nature. "I appreciate you saying you'll make up for my loss, but don't duel specifically to avenge me, all right? My loss is on me. Just duel to win, like you always do."

"Rén xīn qí, tài shān yí," Daiyu answered. "My win is your win."

Central Green Room

Both boys entered fairly calmly, but as soon as the door was closed Barclay let out a long sigh and collapsed onto the couch like a deflating balloon.

"That was almost too close…" the brown haired teen groaned. "The Red-Eyes are no joke. If I hadn't ended the duel then and there, I probably would've lost."

"But you were smiling the whole time," Nick pointed out as he tossed a bottle of water to his roommate.

"Of course I was, it was exciting. You expect me to be stone faced all the time?" The water bottle hit the floor with a thump and rolled slowly away from him.

"Seems like your default at this point," Nick joked as he got up and gave him the water directly. "But seriously, that match was intense. I haven't seen that close of a match since we first got here!"

"I wouldn't call our first duel 'close', not with you wasting two of yer best dragons on a summon you didn't need," Barclay remarked dryly, opening the water bottle.

Nick smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, in retrospect that was a pretty dumb move. I did at least get you pretty low before you turned it around. And we're both better now anyway, right?"

"Apart from me not drawing most of the Noble Arms, aye," said Barclay. "I didn't get Caliburn this time either, so I couldn't regain Life Points."

"Yeah, the Knights are hard to use without their blades, I've noticed," Nick agreed. "But also, it's still a new deck. You'll find a way to work around that weakness eventually."

The two sat in silence for a few moments as they contemplated the duel and the decks involved.

"You know…" Barclay said eventually, "with how much trouble I had with the Red-Eyes, you're going to struggle just as much, if not more against the Blue-Eyes."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Nick replied sarcastically. "Though yeah, considering it's one of the more powerful archetypes and a legendary one at that, I can only guess how I'll deal with it. Especially given this new deck."

The red-haired teen took out his cards and looked through them once again.

Before Barclay could reply, the two heard knocking and saw their friends coming in. "Hey, you two," Laura remarked with a smile on her face. "Enjoying the luxury?"

"All the luxury of any other room with a couch and access to a fridge," Barclay replied, still staring at the ceiling.

Erhard looked at the fridge. "This is still better than anything we've got access to."

"We don't have a couch in our rooms," Takashi added as he sat down on the couch.

"I-indeed, it makes it feel fancy," Atsuko added.

"Ignore him, he's just getting grouchy because all the adrenaline's wearing off," Sera said as she sat on the armrest of the couch.

"Værdsætter de små ting." Laura sighed. "How about you, Nick? Feeling ready for your duel?"

"About the same as any other duel with hundreds watching me," the red-haired teen remarked.

"Play your cards like ye did our first day, then anno yoo'll be belter," Barclay said as he sat up. "Besides, you didn't seem to have any nerves then, nothing makes this time any different."

"Key word 'seem to', Bar. I barely made it through that without crapping my pants," Nick admitted, looking at the floor. The others chuckled briefly.

"Just do your best, it's all anyone can ask for," Laura remarked with a smile.

That made Nick feel a little better as he nodded in agreement. "I kinda wish I'd used this deck in more than just some practice duels before today. That would make this at least somewhat easier."

"True, I know I always feel more confident if I've really tested a totally new deck," Takashi added.

"St-still, I think it'll be fine," Atsuko said with hope.

"Yeah, Atsuko's right, it'll be fine," Barclay agreed. "Long as you're not taken in by those Blue-Eyes."

"Was that supposed to be a joke?" Sera sighed and shook her head. "It was kind of clever…" Erhard shrugged.

Before they could continue, the speaker in the room came on. "Attention students, your intermission is ending. Please return to your seats for round two."

"Well, guess that's our cue to head back," said Sera. "Break a leg."

As his friends left the room, Erhard knocked on the doorframe three times. "Toi toi toi, as we say back home."

"Do your best!" Takashi cheered.

"W-we're all in your corner." Atsuko smiled.

"I should warn you, I'll never let you live it down if you lose," Barclay promised.

Before Nick could go, Laura tapped him on the shoulder. "I…I have a good luck charm for you," she said, sounding uncharacteristically nervous.

"What's up?" he asked, turning to get a better look at her. She was blushing for some reason.

"Well, I…" Laura slowly moved closer, turning her head as if to kiss him. Nick's face was almost as bright red as hers…

And then she punched him in the shoulder instead.

"Órale, what was that for?!" Nick remarked in annoyance as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Knock 'em dead, champ," she said with a smile.

Once she'd left the room, Blackwing Armor Master appeared in front of the redhead and gave him two thumbs up.

The sound Nick made was somewhere between a laugh and an annoyed groan. "Seriously? …but thanks, BM." He grabbed his duel disk and deck, putting the former on as Blackwing vanished. "Let's do this."

Duel Arena

The arena filled back up with the last few students, most panting heavily since they'd run back from either the bathrooms or the fair happening outside the arena.

"Welcome back, everyone. Now that we're all assembled we can proceed to the next duel!" said Ward, ignoring a brief burst of feedback.

"I'm sure we're all eager to see how this one will go," Chen followed up. "I know I am."

All the students in the stands roared in agreement.

Soon enough, both Nick and Daiyu entered the arena and stepped onto the stage.

Mei and Barclay were now sitting in their partner's previous spots, looking on in nervousness for their teammate.

"For Central, Nick Brood!" Ward announced.

"And for West, Lanying Daiyu!" Chen called. Both students walked forward onto the stage until they reached the center, staring at one another with a look of focus.

"As before, we'll have each of you shuffle the other's deck," Ward remarked as the two took out their decks and handed them to the other.

While Nick went through her cards a few times, Daiyu shuffled Nick's deck only once before holding it out for him.

"You sure you don't want to shuffle it a few more times?" Nick remarked as he finished and handed her deck back to her. "Trust me, it won't make much of a difference," she replied in a condescending tone.

A chunk of the West students jeered as Nick accepted his deck.

"Now, now, we respect our opponents here," the headmistress remarked as the two went to their corners.

Once the headmasters had left the arena floor, it started humming, and the audience put on their duel visors.

Both players activated their duel disks, showing their constructs. To no one's real surprise, the white almond-shaped half of Daiyu's disk shone brighter, and her construct took the form of a silvery-blue draconic wing.

Rather than its original blue, the blade of Nick's activated digi-construct was now black with a red line running through the center. It also had a far more angular look than before, making a sharp right turn just a few inches from the disk itself.

"Let's duel!"

And a duel in the next chapter! Against a deck built around the Blue-Eyes White Dragon? Will Nick be alright? Will he be able to win? Or will he lose and never hear the end of it from Barclay? The horror! Should be an interesting duel regardless, right? Right! Thanks for reading this far and we hope you continue reading on in the future.

Translations:

Mèimei - Little sister

Rén xīn qí, tài shān yí - When people work with one mind, they can even remove Mount Taishan

Værdsætter de små ting - appreciate the little things

Anno you'll be belter - I know you'll be great/excellent/fantastic

Toi toi toi - Touch wood (similar to "break a leg")