Chapter 24: Kick Off the Spring Duels
Cary couldn't believe her luck. She was accepted into an area duel in Week 1. First years never got to do that. Not only that, it was against Bryan. She felt a little bad about being eager to stomp him in front of the whole school, but on the other hand: She was about to show her best stuff to the whole school against a recent tournament champion. They met on the main building stage right after morning labs. It was the most vigorous handshake Cary ever gave.
Dr. Lankford was the judge. His blue professor's blazer was pressed so neatly, with precise angles, that it looked almost plastic. Meanwhile, Cary's collar was already drooping a little bit. The laws of physics didn't work on his specific coat.
"You've both paired your Duel Disks with the system?" Cary had done so even before lab started that day. Either Bryan was smart enough to figure it out, or Matt helped him.
Bryan's Duel Disk was clean, but that was the nicest thing Cary could say about it. It was an old model, refurbished by a third-party re-seller after rigorous use, which meant it was sold cheap as far as Duel Disks go. Considering the brand new collector's model that Matt carried around these days, Cary was shocked that Bryan chose to pay so little.
"You didn't pick a cheap Duel Disk because you think this is your last semester, did you?" she asked.
Making a face somewhere between amusement and disappointment, he said, "I know that's a genuine question and not an insult."
She shrugged. "Works either way, I guess."
"No. If I thought my dueling career was already over, I wouldn't bother wasting money on it. I just decided to do an inexpensive Duel Disk so I could put more resources toward my deck."
"Ah. Not a bad idea."
Dr. Lankford said, "I understand you've agreed not to include an ante on this duel?"
Cary shrugged. "Doing it for the credit."
Bryan said, "It doesn't feel right taking one of her cards when she's not taking anything from me."
"Okay. Standard rules for this duel. The system determines all rulings for the duration. If you think something is wrong, submit a ticket when the duel is over for follow-up review." He balanced a coin on his thumb. "Mr. Knight, call it in the air." He flipped the coin and stepped back.
"Heads."
The coin hit the stage floor, rolled two feet, then toppled. "It is Tails. Cary, you decide who has the first turn."
As would always be her preference, Cary went first. She and Bryan stood ten paces apart, verified their Duel Disks were lit and registered with the area duel screens, and then they drew.
At first glance, she was disappointed to be missing Dragon Ravine. She couldn't see the little combo that she added specifically to shut down Bryan's deck. But luckily, her Dragunity deck was never without massive, lengthy combos available. She was always happy to start the duel with Dragunity Phalanx (2: 500|1100). The little, armored dragon's appearance was brief as it immediately went away so that the yellow-scaled Dragunity Arma Mystletainn (6: 2100|1500) could take the field in its place. But that didn't matter because Phalanx pulled itself out of the Graveyard to be worn as a weapon on Mystletainn's arm.
Cary's hand was missing a lot of the critical monsters she liked to play, but Instant Fusion helped to give her back a little bit of control. In this case, she needed a 4-star monster on the field, such as Mavelus (4: 1300|900), a card so old and so basic that most Duel Academy students had never heard of it before.
Bryan was no exception. "That thing has no effects?" he asked as he stared at the menu screen on his Duel Disk.
He was overlooking the fact that Cary didn't want it for its own effect: Phalanx separated itself from Mystletainn to become a separate monster. That way, Phalanx (2) could synchronize with Mavelus (4) into the dragon rider with the red armor: Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg (6: 2400|800). As soon as Gae Dearg was ready, its effect brought Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite from Cary's deck to her hand, but then she discarded it to the Graveyard.
With two strong dragons on the field, she overlaid them to summon Hieratic Dragon King of Atum (6: 2400|2100). A black dragon adorned in gold already implied divinity, but its effect was even better: By detaching one of its material monsters, Atum's effect brought Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (10: 0|0) straight to the field from Cary's deck. Even without attack points, Red-Eyes was able to pull Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg (2400) back out of the Graveyard. With new life came a renewed effect: This time, Mist Valley Baby Roc flew to Cary's hand and then to her Graveyard.
It was time to bring back both of Gae Dearg's partners: Mist Valley Baby Roc (2: 400|600) summoned itself when discarded to the Graveyard. Additionally, Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite (4: 1600|1000) was summoned at the mere cost of 400 LP plus taking Red-Eyes off the field and back into her hand. Baby Roc (2) began warbling, synchronizing its energy with Gae Dearg (6) until they exploded in the starlight shining off of Stardust Dragon (8: 2500|2000).
At this moment, she realized that she did have access to her prepared combo after all. She sent Atum to the Graveyard so she could bring Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (10: 2800|2400) back to the field at full strength. Once again, Red-Eyes used its power to summon Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg (2400) back to the field. Now she could use Gae Dearg's effect to grab Dragon Buster Destruction Sword, first in her hand and then discarded like all the others. That was where she needed it to be.
Mavelus had already served its initial purpose, but now it provided a second benefit: Banishing it left behind the energy needed to Special Summon Garuda the Wind Spirit (4: 1600|1200). She needed Garuda (4) to overlay with Zephyros (4) so she could summon Key Number 1 to her combo: Queen Dragun Djinn (4: 2200|1200), a spirit whose musical talents on the lyre were almost enough to distract from its body.
"Is that a woman growing out of the face of a fire dragon?" The description was crude but accurate. The question was whether the woman emerged from the fire or the fire sprang from the woman.
Either way, sending an overlay material to the Graveyard meant Queen Dragun's music brought Dragunity Arma Mystletainn (2100) back to the field. Again, Cary overlaid Mystletainn (6) with Gae Dearg (6) so she could summon Key Number 2: another Hieratic Dragon King of Atum (6: 2400|2100). When Atum's effect activated this time, it brought Dragunity Arma Leyvaten (8: 0|0) to the field, its orange scales shimmering as if burning as brightly as the fires that forged its massive sword. As part of its summoning, Leyvaten pulled Dragon Buster Destruction Sword from the Graveyard as a second weapon and Key Number 3.
Cary looked over her field and the remaining card in her hand for a moment. Everything was in place: Dragon Buster prevented Bryan from using his Extra Deck only if it was equipped to another monster, such as Leyvaten. Queen Dragun prevented dragons from being destroyed in battle except herself. But did Bryan realize that?
She declared, "Turn over."
Bryan: 8000 LP, 5 cards
Cary: 6600 LP, 1 card
"Are you sure? You don't have twelve more cards to play?" asked Bryan.
"Next turn."
"Right. Well, I'll start with Summoner Monk (4: 800|1600)." His hooded man was one of the few cards able to be summoned face-up in defense mode.
Bryan had to stop there and read through all of Cary's cards. She asked, "Haven't you memorized the effects of my cards yet?"
"You played twenty cards in that turn. You can't expect me to remember the effects of every card that every student ever plays here."
"No, but I can expect you to remember the effects of the cards that I play repeatedly, often in front of you."
To his credit, Bryan ignored her taunts. "Dragon Buster blocks me from using my Extra Deck?"
Cary nodded. That card was exactly the combo play she was looking for against someone whose deck was useless without access to his fusion cards.
"I'm gonna have to take a few risks to get rid of that, then. I'll discard a Spell Card so Summoner Monk can summon Elemental Hero Shadow Mist (4: 1000|1200)."
Shadow Mist? The black-clad hero with the unnecessary loincloth was a good addition to Bryan's deck, especially if he finally put together some decent Masked Heroes. Did he manage to do that? Or was he committing the mistake of someone who didn't know yet how to play his new cards?
Bryan had already discarded Mask Change as part of Summoner Monk's effect, and he pulled a second copy from the deck as part of summoning Shadow Mist. Shadow Mist wasn't strong, but he was stronger than a Leyvaten (0) weakened by Atum's effect. Then again, Bryan's attack did nothing at all.
Cary pointed to her left. "Queen Dragun prevents dragons from being destroyed by battle." She couldn't protect herself, but no need to tell Bryan. Unless he had the world's best Trap Cards in his hand, this duel was already over.
"Guess I can only set two cards and then see how the next turn goes," he said. Nice bluff.
Bryan: 8000 LP, 3 cards
Cary: 6600 LP, 1 card
It was hard to take Bryan's face-down cards seriously, but Cary also didn't like underestimating her opponents. No doubt that one of his cards was Mask Change. But what about the other one? She tried to imagine the worst cards he could have. Mirror Force would be rough, possibly destroying all of her attack-position monsters. Wasn't there a similar one with Heroes? Mirror Gate? Bryan would temporarily trade his monster for one of hers. Maybe he wanted to see her sacrifice one of her monsters for the sake of dealing damage.
She decided to risk it. This was Bryan, after all—what were the odds he had some grand combo ready for her? She needed a little extra firepower, so she sent Leyvaten to the Graveyard to summon Dragunity Arma Mystletainn (6: 2100|1500) in its place. For good measure, Mystletainn equipped Phalanx from the Graveyard.
First, Red-Eyes (2800) attacked Shadow Mist (1000). If he had a trap waiting, this was the matchup where he wanted to spring it. But Bryan did nothing as his monster melted beneath the overwhelming dragon fire. That meant he couldn't play Mirror Gate, since it only worked on Heroes. Now she was free to attack Summoner Monk (1600) with Mystletainn (2100), and another monster melted. The field was wide open for Stardust (2500), Atum (2400), and Queen Dragun (2200) to finish the duel.
Bryan: 0 LP, 3 cards
Cary: 6600 LP, 1 card
As the holograms faded and the system recorded Cary's win, the two duelists shook hands again. Bryan said, "I didn't do anything at all to you that turn."
"I locked down the field," she said. "Your deck can't function without the Extra Deck, so I made sure you couldn't use it."
"It worked," he said. Bashfully, he glanced outside the stage and added, "Just wish I could have done something useful with so many people watching."
Cary didn't respond. Bryan already knew how thoroughly she whooped him. There was no need to rub it in. They both shut down their Duel Disks so they un-paired with the arena. Dr. Lankford verified, then dismissed them so the next duel could set up.
Bryan considered walking down the second row to sit beside Matt, but he would have to squeeze past six other people to get there, so he plopped down in the front row instead. Cary sat next to him, just for the sake of camaraderie and because Matt sat next to her roommate.
Matt's hand found Bryan's shoulder. "Tough duel, man." Then it drifted to Cary's shoulder. "Your turns are so long."
Kasumi said, "Stop it. Cary plays a lot of combos, and the results show every single time. You can't make fun of something that works."
"He can and he will," said Cary. How could Kasumi spend even five minutes with Matt and not know that about him? She looked to Bryan and said, "It's still the first week, and I am a fantastic duelist. Don't let one duel get you down."
"Take a lesson from her: You can't have just one deck. Cary put that combo together specifically to stop your deck from doing anything. Change things up so she can't anticipate your whole deck, throw in a few extra countermeasures for lock strategies, or go first next time so you get to set the traps instead," said Matt.
"I will never let you go first," said Cary. She leaned back to look at Matt. "Keep that mind for when you and I duel each other."
"I should go first. Got it."
Kasumi leaned forward. She spoke just above a whisper. "How many challenges did you send already? Like, twenty?"
She said, "Thirty. My goal is to be Number 1. To do that, I need as much practice as possible. My goal from now on is to beat every student at least once before the semester ends." She glanced back at Matt again. "Surprised your goal wouldn't be as lofty."
He shrugged. "I'll let you beat everyone else first, then I'll just take your crown. Much less work for me that way."
She rolled her eyes. An attitude like that wouldn't get him anywhere. This is why she looked forward to spending time with Team OTK over the weekend. They'd already had their spring semester meet-up so everyone could catch up after the winter break, but this afternoon was blocked for real planning. They would go over the spring calendar and put together training strategies to make sure they took first place in the Academia Circle this time.
And along the way, Cary would cement herself as next year's leader for Team OTK.
As soon as lunch was over, Bryan made his way to the common room in the basement of the Slifer dorm. Overall, it was the biggest room in the dormitory, occupying the same floor space as three dorm rooms. It was basically split into two large sections and a small section. The small section had chairs and tables similar to the library, intended for use when students needed to collaborate on projects or homework. One of the larger sections was intended for entertainment. It had a TV of decent size with two couches and three bean bag chairs positioned for relaxation. The last section had couches that were worn but comfy with the amount of springiness that could only be achieved by allowing the Slifers to keep their upholstery for decades without replacement.
Bryan sat on one of the couches and subconsciously spread himself out. He finally took the Duel Disk off and set it on the couch. How long had he worn it? He had put it on after the weight room when he was setting up for the area duel, then he took it off for lunch, but he put it back on the walk to the dorm. His wrist was still so unused to the extra weight that it felt like he had worn it for the full two hours straight.
Leon Verbeet was the first to show up after he did. Leon also owned an old Duel Disk, but he didn't wear it today—not unless he had a duel on the calendar already. "Hey, Bryan. How ya feeling?"
Still rubbing his wrist, Bryan said, "I'm okay. Glad the first week is finally over. I could really use the weekend after that area duel."
"Yeah, that looked tough. Cary really shut you down right off the bat. From what I saw, you did everything you could."
"I was psyched about having some Masked Heroes, too. You think maybe I made a mistake by investing in them?"
Leon smiled. It was impossible to see his lips underneath that glorious mustache, but the shrinking size of his eyes and they way they curled in the corners provided the "smize" he needed. "Too soon to tell, honestly. One duel doesn't mean anything by itself. Especially one where your opponent locks down the field on the first turn. There's just not much that anyone can do against that, even professionals."
"So I still have a chance to recover?"
"It's only the first week, son. You'll move past it." Sometimes Bryan forgot that Leon was in his thirties, but then he would let some comment like that slip and prove that he was already an old man.
Kenny, Joel, and Jack all entered the room together. Most likely they walked back from the dining hall as a group. Joel Hullum was the only member of the Longshots who hadn't already sent Bryan an area challenge. A bit squat in stature but always smiling, Joel was hard not to like. Right then, his most favorable feature was the lack of desire to pile on top of Bryan. He and Kenny plopped down next to Leon, but Jack opted to drag over one of the bean bag chairs. That was the moment Bryan realized he was taking up more than half of the couch all by himself. Fixing his posture helped him spread a lot less, but Jack was already settled by then.
Leon looked around the group. "Good to see everyone together again. We're just missing Matt."
Bryan waved his hand. "Let's get started without him. He said he'd be right back and then ran off. God knows when he'll be back."
Shaking his head, Jack said, "I'm really not thrilled with a teammate we can't rely on."
"Outside the duels, maybe," said Joel. "No one in the dorm is more reliable than Matt when he has a deck loaded up. Did you see the replay of that duel where he used the Elemental Heroes? He said he played it blind after Bryan built that deck for him."
"Yeah, that's true," said Bryan.
Jack bowed his head and threw one hand up. "Point conceded. Bryan and I will make sure he's up to speed on whatever we talk about here. Let's just assume that he'll willingly volunteer for whatever position we need him to play."
Bryan hesitated. "Maybe not willingly, but yeah, he'll do it."
"Great. So let's first go over the schedule for the semester. First thing is, we still have the regular 25-match season to get through. We're scheduled to duel each of the other teams four times each, plus whoever we need a tie-breaker with." The tie-breaker hadn't made a difference for the Longshots last semester. They still finished in last place. But OTK used the tie-breaker to claim second place away from the Duel Dragonists, so there was value as long as the team had a high enough score.
"The real carrot in front of us this semester is the Homecoming Festival." His gaze drifted as if his spirit suddenly went back in time twenty years. "Man, it's been a long time since I went to a Homecoming celebration."
Kenny asked, "Did they have organized schools when you were a kid?"
"Or were you busy hunting dinosaurs?" added Joel.
Leon's smile remained bright. "I could tell you boys some stories. In my day, we crowned Homecoming Queen during the football game."
"We still do that," said Bryan.
"Here?" That was the zinger Leon wanted.
Bryan said, "No, last year at my high school."
"Well, I suspect the lack of football players is why there's no Homecoming royalty at Duel Academy."
Jack interrupted. "I don't think we have Homecoming here. We have something called the Spirit Day Festival, right around midterms."
"Same thing," said Leon. "I just call it Homecoming because that's what it is. It'll still be a multi-day festival where Duel Academy alumni, former staff members, and donors can come visit. We'll have shows and food and duels for entertainment, but the biggest draw for us is that whichever team wins the Homecoming Tournament gets to duel against Dr. West."
"The headmaster?" said Jack. He made a face. "I didn't realize that old man knows how to duel."
Leon laughed. "Not only can he—he's one of the best. Headmasters are given special decks to show their authority. Dueling against him requires special rules."
Kenny said, "I heard these. Takes three opponents, right?"
"Maximum, yes. He'll have 8000 LP per opponent, so if three of us faced him, he'd have 24,000 LP."
Bryan whistled. "That's insane. When Matt and I dueled against Leona Moxley, she didn't get bonus points."
"You two shared one deck," said Leon. "In this duel, we'll each have our own deck and our own hands. But we get to share a Graveyard since we're a team. That's why Dr. West gets so much extra. But the real kick in the pants is that his deck's power comes from being only eight cards."
Jack balked. "Only eight? What the fuck? How is that fair or legal?"
"It's those special rules," said Joel. "He must be crazy strong if he can finish a duel without decking out." Bryan hadn't even thought of that. Eight cards, if he took five or six on his first turn, meant he would have a maximum of three turns before he loses.
Kenny said, "Bosses don't deck out. Every turn, he just gets to take whatever's in his Graveyard back into his hand."
"Holy shit. I want one of these decks," said Jack. That elicited plenty of laughter and some agreement. "And I'll bet his cards really are nigh unstoppable. No wonder it takes three opponents to beat him."
Leon said, "Our goal is to be that team that duels against him. Fortunately, we only have to beat all the other teams one time to do it, as long as that one time is during the Homecoming Tournament."
Exasperation and bewilderment stunned the group into a brief silence. It was long enough for Matt to enter the room. He pulled the door closed like he was locking a bank vault, loosed one loud shudder, then blew on his hands before walking to the couches. "Goddamn, it's colder than a witch's tit out there."
It was saying something when even Kenny said, "You sure do use colorful language."
"I ate a box of crayons at lunch. Are you guys waiting for me to get started? You're so thoughtful but also inefficient."
Bryan gave him that look that let him roll his eyes without actually rolling his eyes. "We already started. Just trying to grasp the fact that we're supposed to win a tournament against all the other duel teams if we want a chance to duel against Dr. West."
"Oh, yeah! Boss-man himself. I heard about that. Win the Homecoming Tournament, then pick up to three of us to take him on. Sounds like an amazing opportunity. So who did we pick?"
Jack asked, "What do you mean?"
"Who are the three? Only half of us get to duel at a time."
Leon smiled. "That's the confidence I'm looking for." To the rest of the team, he said, "There's no doubt we're in an uphill battle. We have the least experience of all the teams."
"Except you," muttered Jack, quickly putting on a smirk so everyone would know he was joking.
"But that's actually a good point. Experience matters, but it's not everything. At the School Duel Festival, we saw Matt beat both a Ra and an Obelisk at the same time. Matt and Bryan beat an international casino queen right before Christmas. Joel won his hometown's hobby league two weeks ago. Kenny was the number one first-year applicant this year. So we've got the talent here. We just need to get it together."
Joel bumped his fist against Leon's knee. "Fantastic pep talk. So what's the training plan?"
Leon sighed. "I'm team captain, but that doesn't mean mine is the only opinion that matters."
Jack laughed. "Just say your plan out loud and we'll complain if we don't like it."
"I bet you will, at that. Assuming we get to that Boss Duel against Dr. West, I'm thinking our best chance of success is to put Matt and Bryan against him at the same time." He paused to wait for immediate objections or comments.
Bryan couldn't believe he was put on the spot like that. "Am I really the only one ready to object to that?"
Matt was still standing beside the couch, giving him the proper leverage to smack Bryan in the shoulder. "Ignore him. If anyone else has experience with Heroes, then Leon's right. Coordinating three Hero decks to work together is one of the simplest approaches. Bryan and I approve."
Jack nodded at the same time he shrugged. The result was a tilted head bob that looked like it might dislocate his neck. "I've played with them before."
"Who hasn't?" asked Kenny. "Most of us grew out of them, though."
Joel said, "I used them for a long time. Same obstinate devotion that Bryan still shows. But I finally got sick of them. Gave my deck to my brother. Never thought I'd have to ask for it back."
Matt said, "Maybe don't. If none of you even like Heroes, then you're useless as a partner." He pointed to Jack. "Because Jack lives with us, at least he might have a chance of rising one or two levels above useless."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," said Jack.
"Any time."
Bryan was still hesitant. He stood up and walked past the group over to the entertainment section of the room. He paused for a moment before turning back around. "Learning to work together as a three-person team is going to take a lot of practice. Like, almost all of it. How am I going to find time for that and deal with all the challenge slips I've already received? And don't forget: People can challenge me a second time as soon as our first challenge is complete."
Leon asked, "Cary challenged you again already?" His inflection was so straight that the question mark was almost invisible.
"Don't worry about the team thing," said Matt. "It's not like we ever had a real shot at winning the Homecoming Tournament."
Leon said, "That's the opposite of the confidence I'm looking for."
Joel said, "You know, I heard a rumor that the Guardian Duelers are going to split up this semester. They're making three separate teams, split by pantheon. Maybe that's because they can increase their chances of earning the Dr. West duel."
"Nah, that'll never happen," said Kenny. "They wouldn' have enough team members for a legit team. Disqualifying themselves for the season would be the dumbest move, it'nit?"
"True. They'll stay one team," said Leon. "So here's what we'll do for now: Let's plan for Matt, Bryan, and Jack to practice working together. We'll run drills every week so they can start learning how to do combos off each other's decks. If we come up with another strategy, or if we find out that one of the other teams is specifically running any kind of Hero suppressant decks, then we'll come up with a new approach." The group agreed with that flexible decision, even though the idea still made Bryan nervous.
To distract himself, Bryan looked over to Matt. "Why are you late?"
He shrugged. "Trying to prove a point."
"What point? That this team can't survive without you?"
"That's completely true, but not the point I was trying to make. Mine was more about… fair chances."
Bryan furrowed his brow. "Fair chances for who?"
"Whom."
An hour earlier (also known as "the present" at that time), Matt stood with his back to the Obelisk Boy's dorm. Matt wasn't sure whose footsteps he heard as he tried to ignore the late January air, but he knew who he was waiting for. He said, "Do twenty-two students really need as much floor space as the other 118 get combined?" He turned around to find Haruki and Miyu standing there. Clearly girls were allowed to go wherever they wanted to, even though no boy would ever have the opportunity to see the inside of the girls' dorm.
Haruki looked like he anticipated Matt's arrival. There was no alarm in his features, although he did look curious. "How did you know it was me?"
Matt explained, "There's a strong scent of willpower and judgment surrounding you. Smells a bit like ozone." Definitely not because Matt kept asking that question every time the door opened, hoping Haruki would eventually be the one to emerge. It only took four tries, though, so not a big deal.
"You want to join OTK?"
"I believe I've earned a second audition."
"Yes, you have. Your performance with Deck Limitations was impressive. Why did you miss dueling the OTK round?"
Matt briefly recalled his dream about the implosion of the world. That was probably more information than Haruki wanted, if he even bothered to believe it. "I was sick. Bryan filled in for me. Maybe you should give him a shot, too. He's building a much faster deck this semester. He'll be pulling off regular OTKs in no time."
Miyu said, "The roster has limited space. Only nine people can be on the team with one registered backup. You are asking to remove people from the team."
"Only the people who don't contribute as much. When was the last time Laura Guertin pulled her weight in an intramural tournament?"
"She defeated Marcus in the final match last semester to give OTK second place."
"Just the one time, though. You need someone who can do that consistently."
"That's you?" asked Haruki.
"Might be. Shall we find out?"
Haruki and Miyu weren't in a hurry, or at least, they were willing to delay their plans in favor of a challenge. Duel Academy really drilled the idea that duel challenges must be met.
Haruki opened the front door so Matt could follow him inside. The Obelisk dorm had an actual foyer, which was more than the Slifer Dorm had. They set up in one of the two duel station rooms connected to the foyer. Haruki couldn't be graceful like he was at the picnic table: The automated game decided he would go first.
"Charge of the Light Brigade." A wall of light appeared to shatter on the field as three cards went straight from his deck to the Graveyard. It also gave him the monster he chose to summon: "Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn (4: 1700|1000)." Dude was shirtless but still wore a scarf. Talk about getting cold in very specific locations. "Raiden's effect." Two cards went from the top of the deck again. One of those cards was a Lightsworn monster, so Raiden (+1900) gained 200 points. Not only that: The discarded monster was Wulf, Lightsworn Beast (4: 2100|300), a humanoid wolf who lacked his own claws—he needed armaments to mimic Wolverine knuckles. He summoned himself by being discarded.
"One card set. Turn over."
Haruki: 8000 LP, 4 cards
Matt: 8000 LP, 5 cards
Matt looked through the Graveyard. Haruki was already halfway to summoning Judgment Dragon. Luckily, Lightsworn cards weren't the only fast cards on campus.
"I'll also set one. Face-up, I play E - Emergency Call. This warning signal lets me call Elemental Hero Prisma (4: 1700|1000) to the field." His reflective hero hadn't even been on the field long enough to admire before his armor reflected the image of Dark Magician. Matt had revealed Dark Paladin from his Extra Deck. "Prisma's effect means he's basically a Dark Magician right now. So he can throw these Thousand Knives at Wulf for an instant kill, and he can throw a Dark Magic Attack against your face-down card." When the knives and the black magic cleared, only Raiden (1900) remained.
"Now Prisma will fuse with The Eye of Timaeus into Amulet Dragon (8: +3600|2500)." The Hero finally looked like the Dark Magician, riding the back of an emerald dragon covered in runes. "I'll banish all seven Spell Cards from both our Graveyards for an extra 700 attack points. And attack, of course." A stream of blue dragon fire melted Raiden instantly.
Haruki: 6300 LP, 4 cards
Matt: 8000 LP, 1 card
Moment of truth time as Haruki touched the top of his deck. "Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress (4: 1700|200)."
"Bottomless Trap Hole," said Matt. "As long as she has 1500 points or more, she's banished." Banished, not destroyed. Key difference, considering Lightsworns in the Graveyard powered the summoning of Judgment Dragon. "And using a Trap on your turn means I can summon Magician of Dark Illusion (7: 2100|2500)." Like a Dark Magician made entirely of shadows.
And Haruki ended his turn.
Haruki: 6300 LP, 4 cards
Matt: 8000 LP, 0 cards
"Oh, shit. I didn't realize your whole strategy hinged on her. So… Skilled Dark Magician (4: 1900|1700) plus Amulet Dragon (3600) and Dark Illusion (2100) is enough to end the duel."
Haruki: 0 LP, 4 cards
Matt: 8000 LP, 0 cards
As Matt collected his cards, he asked, "What's your decision?"
Haruki looked to Miyu, who said, "He's skilled. That one was short, but he has used OTK numbers many times, on the record. But he's less consistent than who we already have."
With a nod, Haruki said, "Would you even want to join Team OTK if I invited you at this point?"
Matt stared him in the eye for a moment with a smile pulling at his lips. "No. You should focus instead on teaching Cary how to lead Team OTK next year."
"Why her?"
"Because half of your team is seniors and the other half is first years. You neglected to spread the experience to a second-year student. Of your first years, Cary is your best choice. I'll let you figure out why. If you're really a good leader, it'll be obvious to you."
He smirked. "I know what her qualities are. Only curious why you think she should lead. Would you join the team if she made the decisions?"
"Who's to say? Maybe we'll just have to see how this semester goes."
I tried to include some time with the dueling teams in this arc. Looking back, I wish I had done a little bit more with it, but it was tricky to get overly detailed because matches have to happen often, and not everyone can win all the time (because that's not how statistics work). So on occasion, even the best duelists will lose one-off and intramural duels. My workaround to match the energy in the anime was to distinguish the "official duels" from everything else.
Just one OC entering into this chapter, but thanks to my readers all the same:
* Jack Hansbury...
I really appreciate getting notifications when people favorite me or my stories. It's good motivation for me to see that anyone at all enjoys my writing even a little bit. Thanks to all of you!