Chapter Three: Level Field

Yukka bid farewell to Klaus upon their return to the blue dorm, and quietly stepped onto the A elevator bound for her floor. It was late, the day had been long, exciting, and exhausting. All she wanted to do was get into her bed and crash. She was thankful for the weekend ahead of her, she and all the other new students needed a chance to grow accustomed to life on this island, at the school. The layout of the place felt more akin to a college campus than a high school. It all felt so huge and alien, like at any moment, everything she understood could all be changed on its head. These were a summary of her racing thoughts as the elevator spilled her out onto her floor.

Yukka fumbled about for a brief while, sluggishly swiping her key card to open the door. The lights were on as she entered. Her lips curled up. "Hey, roomie," she yawned. "We didn't get to introduce ourselves earlier." She quietly shut the door and took off her boots, leaving them in the closet. "My name's Yukka."

The roommate, enjoying a cup of tea at her desk, simply glared at Yukka with an expression of utmost disgust and shock. "You have got to be kidding me," said a dejected Rebecca. "You're actually kidding me right now. First I find out I have to share a room at all, and now I find out it's you?" She set down her empty cup and threw her hands into the air. "I'm cursed! I knew it, I'm cursed!"

Yukka strode past her and climbed up the ladder to her bed. "Be cursed all you want, I'm too tired for this."

"Don't sass me," she yelled. "And don't dismiss me! You and I still have a score to settle."

Yukka rolled over in her bed and wrapped herself up in a blanket. "I'm pretty sure that score would be your life points, and those settled at zero."

"You cocky hick!" She slammed her fist on the desk. "I want a rematch! I'll show you and everyone what I can really do!"

"Whatever, can it wait? I have some card shopping to do."

"Fine" she relented, "it'll wait for now. But mark my words, you'll get yours. Get your deck ready, you'll need a lot more than luck to beat me twice."

Before the sun rose, Isaac did. Before dawn broke, Isaac felt the cool morning air on his skin. He breathed deeply and set out jogging, wearing only loose black trunks and a white muscle shirt. He adored this feeling, nothing but the blood in his veins to ward off the chill morning air. Duel Monsters was one thing, the game was exciting and tactical in ways he never had to consider in sports, but he still longed for the sensation of his heart pumping. His body was just as important as his mind.

Along he jogged, from the precipice of the Blue Dorm along the paved roads toward the campus proper. He saw the sights of the campus as he passed, the library, a greenhouse, the Red Dorm. He committed the layout of his route to memory, the main school building looming closer and closer with every step. At the end of his morning journey, he came to rest on a stone bench in the courtyard just outside the entrance to the castle-like main building. The sun had risen by then, and the chill air was warming slowly.

He reached into his backpack for his cards and began to shuffle through them. He never thought he would be attending a duel academy, and it was an odd feeling for him. He wasn't as new to the game as Yukka although he was inexperienced. Duel Monsters as an extracurricular was not his first choice, but he would make do. He felt a sharp pain surging up in his ankles and winced, a reminder of his injury.

He winced. Trying to take his mind off his injury, he looked out at his surroundings. The sunrise was over by then and other students had begun to stir, though few were out in the courtyard. He did spy a rather sizeable number of bodies shuffling toward one of the smaller buildings. He set out to investigate, if only to kill the time.

"...so your deck would definitely benefit from more continuous spells." Yuka listened closely to Klaus' explanations. There were mounds of discarded cellophane heavy with the scent of freshly-unsealed cards scattered across the table. Yukka had arranged her new cards in a few different piles based on their utility, and of course the smaller boy's insights. "If you throw in this Blackcrystal Chalice, you have the makings of a spell counter engine. Combine that with monsters like Trace that can naturally accrue and utilize spell counters. Oh, and I think there were some traps in this set that can use them too." He rifled through one of the piles and pulled out two cards. "Yeah, these can help you manipulate counters on-field."

"This all feels like so much to worry about." Yukka sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She opened up a small notebook and jotted down the names of the traps in a column labeled ADD. "Every duelist makes their own deck like this? What's wrong with Structure Decks?"

"Nothing," he answered. "I mean, I built my deck out of three copies of the Ion Impulse Structure Deck, with a few extra cards from New Invaders and Light the Night." As if to punctuate his point he pulled out his deck, proudly showing Ion Eagle right on top. "But you wanted to use the cards your brother gave you, right? Since you have the core cards you wanted to build around, it just made sense to supplement them with cards from booster packs."

"Maybe I'll try a new deck some other time," Yukka mused. "For now, I just wanna get this one up to snuff."

Klaus nodded in approval. "The points we earn from dueling help Blue House as a whole, so everyone's gonna be counting on both of us to get creative. The school likes seeing interesting builds too, so when you're dueling in official matches, they'll actually throw you a few extra points for using cards or strategies that aren't popular at the moment. That's what I read in the handbook at least."

The two sat in silence for a brief moment. The girl took out her deck and separated it into piles. She noticed that the deck was mostly monsters, and some of them were normal monsters with no effects. She elected to remove those entirely to start. After that was done, she took some of the new monsters she'd pulled from the packs, slid them into sleeves, and arranged them neatly with the rest of the deck. Trace The Mystic Marksman, Caffamiliar, Cocoamancer, and others that similarly fit the theme of the deck.

Klaus kept his eye on her, sliding her cards from the booster packs that he felt would be useful based on the ones she had added already, but never saying a word, not wanting to interrupt her flow. Then the crowd started rolling into the shop. A cacophony quickly arose, clamor and murmurings of the newcomers drowning out his thoughts. He stood up from the table and asked the shopkeeper what was happening.

The shopkeeper, who was a kindly old woman with deep wrinkles and a warm expression, answered "It's a special event we do on Saturdays here." She pointed at a standing sign in front of the door that read LOTTO DUEL - PRIZES AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS. "Students that come here on Saturdays can buy a special pack and get their names put into a hat. We pull a few pairs over the course of the day and each pair of names duels for a valuable card."

"I thought we weren't allowed to ante here," Yukka said.

"We're not," Klaus answered. "It's more like a sweepstakes, you buy a pack of cards, and the prize is something extra you can win."

The shopkeeper smiled and set a hat on the table. "If you want, you can buy a pack and I'll put your names in."

"No," the girl answered. "I've already bought a ton. Besides, I haven't finished building my deck. No point in the sweepstakes if I can't duel."

"I'll have to decline too," answered Klaus. "I need to stay with Yukka and help her rebuild her deck. Besides, I don't really need any new cards at the moment."

"Well, that's alright, dearies. We do this every Saturday and the special pack is different each week. Maybe next weekend you'll be interested." A small, tinny alarm went off next to the old woman. She pressed a button on the screen of her tablet and silenced it. She gave the two a wink and held up a microphone to her lips. "Alright, you little rascals," her voice sounded more gruff, as though introducing a wrestling match. "Which one of you lucky punks is ready to win a copy of today's prize card?"

There was uproarious cheering from the crowd, which had now grown large enough to spill out of the store and onto the street.

"Today's prize is a Fusion Monster called Prominence Manablaster." She reached into the hat without looking and produced two pieces of paper. "Today's first lucky contenders are Sayeon Park and Isaac Hanes." The crowd ran outside and arranged themselves into a circle. The shopkeeper took center stage in the middle of the crowd and welcomed two students as they stepped forward. One was an asian girl with long dark hair that covered half her face. She wore a green student jacket over a matching skirt. The other was a tall, heavily muscled American that Yukka and Klaus recognized. His jacket was tied around his waist, leaving his black skin glistening in sweat and sunlight.

"I'm ready to rumble, lady!" Isaac said with a smile.

The asian girl looked away shyly. She said with the barest hint of a Korean accent, "Yes, I'm honored to have this duel with you."

The old woman brought the microphone back up to her mouth so that the crowd could hear her. "Well, kids? Are we ready for some blood?" The crowd cheered. "Are we ready for the thunder?" The crowd roared. "Then make some noise! It's time to-"

"Duel!"

"Duel!"

Turn 1

Isaac Hanes: 4000 LP, 5 Cards

Sayeon Park: 4000 LP, 5 Cards

"Ladies first," said Isaac.

"Thank you. In that case I will normal summon Slash Weasel in attack position." The bright flash of light appeared, heralding the arrival of a new monster. It was a yellow weasel with green stripes. It stood on its hind legs, as its front legs had been replaced with long, impossibly sharp blades. (WIND Beast/Effect Level 3 1300/400) "Next I activate the equip spell Gale Scythe." The bladed arms of the weasel began to grow and curve, until they resembled less a scimitar and more a scythe. "Next, I will place one card facedown and end my turn." The familiar backside of a card materialized in holographic form as Isaac drew his card.

Turn 2

Isaac Hanes: 4000 LP, 6 Cards

Sayeon Park: 4000 LP, 2 Cards

"I'll activate the spell card Backdoor!" The spell appeared, depicting a digital entity standing in the foreground, oblivious to the presence of Ojama Yellow comedically attempting to sneak through an open door behind it. "Since you control a Monster and I don't, I can Special Summon any monster from my hand if it's the same Level or lower as a monster you control. I choose Star Mover!" As he laid his card on his Duel Disk, a white light flashed, and a diminutive imp of pink skin and cartoonish proportions manifested on the field (LIGHT Fiend/Effect Level 1 200/200). The creature's eyes shone with a glint of mischief as it reached its hand out toward the weasel. The opponent's beast reeled in pain as a small, shining orb emerged from its body and flew toward Star Mover. It came to rest floating above the little blue imp's head.

"Once per turn, if Star Mover doesn't have a Level Counter, I can place one Negative Level Counter on any monster on the field, and if I do he gets a Level Counter." Isaac checked his Duel Disk's display as he explained, and confirmed that the level of both monsters was now two. Satisfied, he placed a second monster on the tray. "Of course, that extra level isn't gonna help him much without his homies! I summon Flash Panther!" The monster that appeared this time was a pitch-black panther-man clad in a skintight yellow bodysuit (WIND Beast-Warrior/Effect Level 4 1500/500).

His opponent chimed in, "The most dangerous thing about that monster is its fashion sense!"

"Actually, the most dangerous thing about it is its effect," he corrected. "See, when Flash Panther is Normal Summoned, I get to add a Continuous Spell from my deck to my hand, but I can't play it this turn. I choose Benefits of Rank." His Duel Disk ejected the declared card and he added it to his hand. "Now's the fun part! I enter my Battle Phase and attack Slash Weasel with Flash Panther!" The Panther instantly crouched into a running man's position. It lunged forward with blinding speed, becoming invisible almost immediately after starting and reappearing a moment later behind the weasel. There was a short delay and then an explosive burst of smoke accompanied by the shattering sound of the hologram breaking apart.

But when the smoke cleared, the weasel was still standing. Sayeon's facedown card had been flipped up, revealing a scarecrow made of old junk. "Scrap-Iron Scarecrow halts your attack, then it sets itself so I can use it again on another turn."

He scowled. "On my second Main Phase, I activate the Field Spell Level Storage Zone!" He placed the card in a special slot on the tray, and the projectors began to layer a whole new battlefield on top of their surroundings. The card shop and dueling court vanished, replaced with a high-tech facility filled with giant tubes of suspicious liquid. "Once per turn, if I have a monster with a Level counter, I can move it onto the Level Storage Zone." Just as he said, the bright star hovering over the Star Mover disappeared, rematerializing within one of the giant glass tubes.

Two facedown cards appeared before him. "I'll finish off with these bad boys. Come and get me!"

"I will. Draw!"

Turn 3

Isaac Hanes: 4000 LP, 3 Cards

Sayeon Park: 4000 LP, 4 Cards

"I will begin with the summoning of Knave Patiently Waiting." The monster that appeared before her was a young boy wearing armor much too big for his body. His face was almost completely covered by his helmet. He stood with his hands outstretched, as if waiting for something (EARTH Warrior/Effect Level 1 0/0). "Next, I will use its effect to transfer Slash Weasel's equipped spell to it." The weasel's hands glowed as they returned to normal. A giant brown sack appeared in the hands of the knave. "Knave normally can't equip spells, at least not directly," she explained, "and when a spell is transferred to him by his own effect, its abilities are negated until the end phase."

"Smart money says there's a catch, yeah?" Isaac inquired.

"Smart money," his opponent confirmed. "I tribute Slash Weasel and Knave for the Tribute Summon of Gale-Hunting Chaser!" The two monsters vanished into mint-green light, combined into one, and formed into a new monster, this one an armored soldier with a tattered cloak. It had no head, but there were two wisps of otherworldly green flame for eyes glowing from the umbra of its hood (WIND Warrior/Effect Level 8 2900/2450). The brown sack that Knave had been holding reappeared. It opened and spilled its contents, a bright white light, onto the monster whose armored arms then took the form of the Gale Scythe. "Since Knave was used as a material for the Tribute or Special Summon of a monster, every equip spell it had at the time also transfers over. They even get their effects back."

"I activate a trap card!" Isaac gestured with his left hand, and one of the holograms lifted itself up, revealing artwork of Level Mover wearing a sick grin surrounded by dozens of level counters. "Level Limit Virus lets me take out one of my own monsters, and when I do I reduce the level of one monster you control by the level of the monster destroyed. If I send Flash Panther, that puts four Negative Level Counters on your Chaser!" The panther gripped its chest as if in pain before shattering to pieces. Four black stars flew out and sank into the target monster, reducing its level by four.

"Why do you care about my monsters' levels so much?" Sayeon asked.

"Hang on, ain't done!" Four balls of light exited the armored monster and came to rest over the Level Mover's head. The creature snickered evilly. "Any time a monster gets a Negative Level Counter, Level Mover gets an equal number of Level Counters. He's Level five now."

"And no stronger for his troubles. I enter my battle phase; Gale-Hunting Chaser attacks Level Mover!" The scythe-handed specter lunged toward the Level Mover as the imp cowered in shivering, cartoonish fear. Just as its blades were about to puncture the creature, Isaac's second facedown card flipped up. On its face was the image of two asteroids, one large and one small. The trajectory of the larger one moving upward, and the smaller one being sucked down into a black hole.

"Trap Activate: Greater Gravity! Monsters you control can only attack monsters I control that are a lower level than they are!" True to his explanation, the monster's attack ceased. If it had a face to express its contempt, Isaac imagined it would be staring daggers into his heart. "Now I used to be pretty bad at math, but even I could tell you that five's more than four!"

"Tch, I move to Main Phase 2 and activate the Spell card Sword Spirit Release. If a Beast-Warrior or Warrior I control is equipped with an Equip Spell, I can destroy one face-up card on the field. I choose Greater Gravity." The armored specter raised up its hands. A spectral mist leaked out of the scythes on its hands. A spear of light shot out from within the fog that pierced the named trap and destroyed it. Her Duel Disk ejected a card. "When I successfully resolve its effect, I am allowed to draw a card. I will place one card facedown and end play here."

Yukka watched the match closely with Klaus, eager to see exactly what kind of duelist her American friend was. "Isaac's deck seems pretty complicated. I was expecting him to play something a lot more straightforward."

Klaus nodded. "Looks can be deceiving sometimes. Isaac seems like an uncomplicated person, but that doesn't mean he's dumb. I think he just likes keeping things simple."

"Do you think he can win?" she asked.

"Right now, I'm just wondering who's going to deal damage first."

A haughty and familiar voice sounded from behind them, "I agree. I can't tell if they're equally gifted or equally garbage!" Rebecca Dutch approached them without a care in the world and took a spot next to them to spectate.

Yukka wore a look of unamusement. "Don't you have a dry-cleaner to get to?"

"I have people for that, thank you very little." she snipped. "Besides, how could I pass up this opportunity to study up on that big slob? I do intend to put him down for what he did to me."

"You really can hold a grudge, can't you? But where do you get off calling them garbage?"

"Garbage is garbage," she said. "I just call it like I see it. It's not my fault trash duelists like you insist on pretending you have a chance against the elite."

The arrogance set off Yukka's competitive nature. She smiled from the corner of her mouth. "Alright, Queen Bitch. How about a bet? I have a fresh new box of your choice that says Isaac wipes the floor with that girl."

"Oh, you want to make it interesting? Fine. I'll take that bet. Park beats Hanes, no contest. Loser buys the winner a box."

Turn 4

Isaac Hanes: 4000 LP, 4 Cards

Sayeon Park: 4000 LP, 2 Cards

Isaac drew his card and grinned. "I gotta say, lady. You're really good. I hope we get to duel again sometime."

"Likewise," her neutral expression did not change, but there was friendliness in her voice. "You are a clever opponent."

"First thing's first, I activate the effect of my Level Storage Zone to transfer one of its Level Counters to Level Mover." The white star flung itself from the tank, joining the four already floating around the tiny imp. "Next, I activate the Spell Card Number Split. With this, I can tribute any number of Monsters I control whose combined level is an even number. In this case, my level 6 Level Mover!" The imp's cocky attitude vanished the moment it heard its master's words. It let out a comical cry as it shattered, leaving only six floating stars in its wake. The stars then moved to two separate monster zones in groups of three, then begin to spin, swirl and combine into two entities. "After that, I get to special summon two monsters from my Deck whose levels are equal to half the combined level of my tributed monsters, but their effects are negated. I choose Starburst and Witch from the Pitch-Black Wood." The two monsters formed from the light. First was a spherical being which could only be properly described as a sun with an angry face (FIRE Level 3 Cosmic/Effect 900/900). The second was an ugly hag with mottled green skin, wiry white hair, and a black robe cackling while stirring a pot of a vile and brown brew (DARK Level 3 Spellcaster/Effect 800/1100).

Sayeon's stoic expression changed as she realized exactly what her opponent intended to use these monsters for. "So, you have one? An Xyz monster?"

Isaac nodded. "A couple. I Normal Summon Soul-Drinker Ghoul." Another monster rose onto the battlefield, this time a rotting zombie whose dry and frail skin was covered in bright blue lines, like tattoos glowing with some mysterious power (AETHER Level 2 Zombie/Effect 0/0). "When I Normal Summon him, I can Special Summon a monster from either Graveyard. It loses all of its attack and defense, takes a Negative Level counter, and becomes a Zombie type. Then, Soul-Drinker gains a Level Counter, and finally I can't perform my Tribute Summon this turn." Just as he said, the Flash Panther in his graveyard clawed its way up through the earth and shambled to its feet. A white star flew from its body into the possession of the other zombie.

All four monsters transformed into beams of light, one red, one purple, one cyan, and one brown. A spiraling mass of energy resembling a galaxy appeared in the center of the field. "With four Level 3 monsters, I construct the Overlay Network! I Xyz Summon the Rank 3 Polar Colossus in attack position!" The vortex dissipated with a rush of ice-cold wind, revealing the massive, hulking body of a sky-blue statue. Its face was unmoving, as all of its features were chiseled into the marble of its form. (ICE Rank 3 Rock/Xyz/Effect 2200/3000 OLU: 4).

"Trap activate–" Sayeon shouted, only to be interrupted by an electrical fizzling on her facedown cards. "What's going on?"

"On the turn that Polar Colossus is successfully Xyz Summoned, as long as he was summoned with more than 2 Xyz Materials, neither of us can activate Trap Cards." He pointed towards his monster. "I activate Polar Colossus' second effect! I can target one monster you control whose level is equal to or lower than the number of Overlay Units he has. By detaching all of them, I can destroy the target and give its attack to my Colossus until the end phase." The colossus responded in kind, pointing its finger toward the phantom. The four spheres of cyan light rotating around its body entered it one by one. A ray of ice emitted from its fingertip, freezing the monster solid and causing it to crumble to icy dust. The ice swirled around the colossus, growing its power to a destructive 4100. "Battle Phase! Polar Colossus attacks directly!"

The giant soldier pulled back its fist and slammed it into the ground in front of Sayeon, a shockwave of ice and snow radiating from the point of impact and eradicating all of her life points in a single blow.

The holographic projectors powered off, and the field returned to normal.

DUEL END

Isaac Hanes: 4000 LP, 2 Cards

Sayeon Park: 0 LP, 2 Cards

Isaac and Sayeon shook hands as a show of etiquette. "You did great," Isaac said with a smile. I had a lot of fun!"

Sayeon returned his smile and gave a slight bow. "It was a pleasure." She turned around and left the court.

"Hey kiddo," came the gruff voice of the elderly shopkeeper. "Here's your prize! Good show today." She handed Isaac his card: a fresh, Mint copy of Prominence Manablaster. "I hope you can get some use out of it."

"Thanks so much, lady. I'm definitely coming back for more, you can count on it." Isaac bid the shopkeeper farewell, and soon encountered his friends–and Rebecca–amid the dispersing crowd. "Oh, hey guys! I guess you caught that, huh?"

Yukka answered with an ear-to-ear grin. "We did. Nice victory by the way!" She nudged Rebecca with her elbow, "Wasn't that such a nice victory from Isaac?"

Through gritted teeth, the blonde answered. "Yes, it was a stunning and decisive victory." She turned sharply toward the card shop and stomped off.

Yukka shouted after her, "I want a box of Mystic Dream!"

Author's note: Okay, so much for a chapter a week. Turns out a full-time job and multiple hobbies hampers your ability to write. This time, the trivia is about Isaac!

Isaac's deck was hard for me to pin down, and one of the reasons it took me so long to write this chapter was because I couldn't decide what kind of duelist he would be. Next chapter will focus on either Yukka or Rebecca. I haven't decided yet. So be prepared for the triumphant return of either Matcha Dragon or Javamancer!