Chapter 10: Let's Team Up

"Cards flew between these two champion duelists. The guy on the right played The Gold Sarcophagus, put two cards face-down, and bet his life that he wouldn't lose instantly by leaving his field without a monster," spoke the narrator, deepening his voice specifically to mimic the guy who voices the trailers for big, blockbuster movies.

Matt groaned. "His life? Really?"

"Shh. There are no notes in these margins," Bryan reprimanded him.

"Fine. But can you drop the intrigue and replace 'the guy on the right' with 'Dave'? It's pretty obvious he used The Gold Sarcophagus to get Slifer the Sky Dragon ready."

Bryan frowned. "Damn. How did you know that?"

"Because you specifically went over there to ask them to duel against each other with their god cards. You wanted to see their god cards in action. You aren't good at hiding your excitement."

"Yeah, fine." Bryan hung his head for a moment, but he had still witnessed a badass duel, and that was exciting enough to reinvigorate him.

"So Andy played Precious Cards from Beyond and then special summoned Guardian Eatos (8: 2500|2500). Then he discarded Hecatrice so he could get and then play Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen. Then he attacked, but Dave was like BAM! Draining Shield. Andy didn't care, though. He tossed a card face-down and was totally chill."

Dave 10,500: Andy 8000

"So then Dave just sets a card and leaves his field empty, making Andy pause, like, 'What is this guy thinking?' But he's cool about it. He doesn't take any chances and just attacks directly with Eatos. Dave doesn't stop him this time."

Dave 8000: Andy 8000

"On his next turn, Dave finally gets Slifer back from the Sarcophagus, but little does he realize that Andy's already holding onto Ra. He doesn't have any monsters yet, so he lets the turn go again. Now Andy knows he has to hurry, so he plays Reckless Greed first and then Celestial Transformation second. That gives him a second Eatos (-1250) at half power for one and a half direct attacks." He smirked and waited for Matt to acknowledge the word play—it was two attacks but one was only half-strength.

"I get it."

Wearing a big, satisfied grin on his face, Bryan continued.

Dave 4250: Andy 8000

"So now Dave needs more cards, and monsters especially. He uses Pot of Duality so he can pick and choose a little, ya know? He gets a Marshmallon, which he throws on the field in defense mode. Not a bad pull, right? So now Andy's ready for the kill. He uses Soul Charge to get two monsters out of his graveyard just so he can send all three away to summon The Winged Dragon of Ra (10: +5900|+5900)!" Bryan actually put both hands in front of his mouth like a megaphone while he announced the name.

Dave 4250: Andy 100

Jack looked over and made a face. "What's with the fanfare? You haven't seen the card before?"

"Only on TV." He was sheepishly embarrassed for a second and then went back to giddy. "Where was I?"

"Ra is on the field," said Matt.

"Right! Ra is on the field, but he's only so powerful because Andy flushes almost all of his LP to power it up. So Dave needed more cards. He plays another Pot of Duality, even though it stops him from special summoning for the turn. He does get a Spirit Reaper, though, which he tosses in defense mode. Now he has two indestructible monsters. Andy didn't know about the second one, of course, so he attacks the Spirit Reaper and flips it up. He was taunting Dave the whole time about how he remembered Marshmallon was there. Dude's only got 100 LP so he can't afford to miss. So next turn, Dave throws Swords of Revealing Light. Andy can't do anything, so he puts a card face-down. Dave doesn't have much, so he puts a card down and ends his turn, too.

"Now Andy reveals Solemn Wishes. He draws and gets 500 LP for it. Suddenly he has a little more breathing room in the Life Point department. But Dave doesn't care about that. He shows his face-down card was Metal Reflect Slime, which he uses with the other two monsters as tribute to summon Slifer the Sky Dragon (10: +3000|+3000)!" Bryan punched downward at nothing and made an explosion sound, spitting all over the floor in the process.

Dave 4250: Andy 600

Matt blinked rapidly and then pretended to wipe spit from his face. After a brief moment of letting Bryan feel bad, he said, "Go on."

"Um… Yeah, so Dave plays another card, which means Slifer (-2000) gets weaker. He's already half the power of Ra, but it's worth it because Dave plays March of the Monarchs. That means Slifer can't get destroyed by card effects. Now why would he want to play a card like that, huh?"

Jack groaned. "Do you want the obvious answer? That Dave didn't want Andy to play a card that instantly destroys Slifer? Plus, doesn't Ra have an instant-kill effect?" His second comment sounded like he just remembered it as he started talking.

Bryan sputtered. "It sounds obvious when you say it like that. Anyway, Andy draws again and gets another 500 LP from Solemn Wishes. He plays The Sanctuary in the Sky, which doesn't help Ra but it makes Andy feel better."

"It prevents battle damage if he plays a fairy monster," said Matt.

After a moment of stunned silence, Bryan tried to play it off like he already knew that's what the card did. "Everyone knows that. But more important is that Dave still has one more Sword. When Andy's turn ends, Dave has no defense against the big, bad Winged Dragon. Doesn't matter, though. Turns out one of Dave's face-down cards was Dark Hole, which he uses to suck Ra into oblivion."

Matt frowned as he considered the play. Bryan noticed the look and got excited.

"You're wondering why Slifer wasn't destroyed, too, right? It's because of March of the Monarchs. Dave didn't play it to protect Slifer from Andy's cards: He played to protect it from his own cards."

Jack let slip, "Ah, yeah." He caught himself and said, "Duh."

"That's not what bothers me," said Matt. "If Dave had that card the whole time, why not play it sooner? There's nothing about March of the Monarchs that makes you wait before you take advantage of it."

Impatient, Bryan grasped his fists. "I haven't even finished the story yet!"

Matt made a face. "Andy's monsters are all gone, he's trap-less, and Dave has a god card. Is there any way this story doesn't end with a direct attack from Slifer (+3000) to win?"

Dave 4250: Andy 0

Bryan remarked, "Maybe! I mean… No, but it could have."

"If you say so. So how cool was it to see two god cards go head-to-head?"

"It was cool," said Bryan, sounding decidedly less enthusiastic. "I mean, it would be better if they had used a duel station or a Duel Disk."

Jack scoffed. "You didn't even get to see them in holograph form?"

"Well, no. Andy and Dave said something about how the administration won't let them."

"That's bogus. They use the god cards in duels all the time."

"Not against each other," he added. Jack couldn't argue with that. "You'd think they would, but the faculty tells them not to use the gods against other gods. It wouldn't be a big deal to sneak around once in a while except the hologram readers record everything. There would be an instant notification in the system, which means they could prove Andy and Dave broke the rules. But tabletop duels aren't recorded, so they eked out one of those for me to watch. It was still awesome, and it felt so real. I could feel the heat coming off of Ra and the electricity from Slifer."

"You could not," said Matt, whining just a bit. "You just felt schoolgirl giddiness and mistook that for stories about cards made of magic."

Bryan pouted. "Whatever you want to believe, I know what I felt. And I felt awesomeness."

Jack groaned, "Not as awesome as holographs." It was a tough point to argue. Even Matt didn't try and he loved to argue.

Bryan said, "At least we got to see the hologram of Raviel, Lord of Phantasms that one time, right?"

Matt nodded and gave a noticeable shudder.

Bryan just about laughed at him. "What's wrong? You cold all of a sudden?"

"No. My train of thought took me from Raviel to Hamon to Erica to what it must be like to be on the receiving end of your over-the-top flirting style."

Frowning at him, Bryan said, "I'm forward but not over-the-top."

Jack didn't care one way or the other. But while they were on the topic of girls… "Was Lucy there?"

"Uh, I don't think so. It's hard to tell when she is. She stays in her room a lot. I rarely see her unless she goes to the kitchen or something."

Matt made a full body turn so he could peer inquisitively at Jack. Bryan still hadn't mentioned that Jack had the hots for Lucy. The three of them were just getting comfortable as forced roommates and now Bryan worried that the two of them chasing the same girl would accelerate the interpersonal friction.

He hurried past the subject. "So why do you think the faculty won't let anyone duel the god cards against each other? Are they haunted or something?" He knew that would change the subject. Matt couldn't help rejecting all superstitions and other mumbo-jumbo that had no basis in observable fact.

It worked. Matt slid right back around and gave Bryan the look of scientific condescension he had perfected. That look made Bryan feel the same way as answering a question wrong in front of the whole class. It was unsettling and almost made him regret inviting it on purpose.

"Bryan, we talked about whether the cards contain magic. What did we decide?"

"That they're-that they're not magic."

"Right. Despite the legends and mythologies behind them, there is no reason to believe the cards are magical."

Jack chimed in, "Wait. Aren't you the one who believes in Yugi Mutou?"

"That's different."

"I'm just saying. How can you make fun of someone else for believing in magic cards when you believe in the central figure of all the magic card stories?"

Matt turned his head only this time. "Because stories mutate over time. Legends take a nugget of truth and exaggerate the details until its resemblance to historical fact becomes unrecognizable. I believe Yugi Mutou was the first King of Games and the greatest duelist of his day, but I don't believe all the stories about him and the god cards." He slowly turned back to Bryan. "On the other hand, I believe it's entirely plausible that Bryan doesn't actually believe in magic, either. He was just saying that to provoke me."

"Guilty. So what do you think is the real reason the faculty won't let the gods go against each other?"

Matt wasn't having it. He affixed his squinty gaze on Bryan. "The question is why you tried so hard to derail me. Is it because Jack asked about Lucy? That shouldn't mean anything to you."

Several quick-witted replies sprang to Bryan's mind. He could lie and say he didn't like Lucy and that's why he hated talking about her. In truth, he didn't mind Lucy. She was always bright and cheerful when he saw her. Or he could lie the other way and say he had developed a crush on her and it was awkward knowing his roommate also liked her. That way he didn't have to be specific about which roommate liked her.

Bryan was saved from needing to make a decision on how to progress. Matt merely stared him down with a knowing smirk. When Jack asked, "What's wrong with Lucy?" Matt didn't rock the boat. He only replied, "She seems sweet enough. Whatever it is, I'm sure her problem is only psychological." He stood, popped his back, and put on his jacket. "Think I'll step out for a bit. Haven't stretched my legs for a while. Wouldn't want to throw an embolism."

Jack frowned. "Is that a real concern?"

"Oh, yeah. Ever hear of Factor V Leiden? Clotting disorder, likely to create blood clots if you go for extended periods of time without moving. Don't worry, though. I'm sure you're perfectly healthy. You probably don't even have it." With those less-than-encouraging words, Matt stepped out onto the breezeway. Jack didn't look reassured, however. Instead, he looked nervously at his legs as he shifted his seat so he could dangle them over the edge of the bed and swing them back a forth a few times.

"Don't listen to him," said Bryan.

"You think he made that stuff up?"

"Well, no. That's probably a real thing. But he likes to exaggerate the prevalence of rare disorders just to freak people out sometimes. The advantage to being a know-it-all is it's that much easier to mess with people because he doesn't have to make stuff up. Just flex your legs for a minute and you'll be fine."

Bryan threw on his jacket and follow Matt outside. He hadn't gone far, only stopping at the dead-end of the breezeway. He leaned on the railing and stared out toward the woods. Matt had a thing for watching the water, but the ocean was on the other side of the dorm. Only the dining room had a window facing that way.

"Dude," said Bryan, eloquently grabbing Matt's attention. "Why do you fuck with Jack's head like that?"

"What? It's a real disorder."

"How prevalent?"

Matt made a face. "Somewhere in the three-to-eight percent range."

"Uh huh. And how long would he have to sit completely still before a clot formed?"

"It's not an exact science, but somewhere in the vicinity of ninety minutes seems like enough time."

Bryan shook his head. "Seriously, Jack's been cool lately. Back off a bit."

"I don't need more friends."

"If you really wanted to be alone all the time, you should have accepted the offer to move into Ra Yellow. You'd only have to share a bathroom with one other person instead of six. Well, five—you don't technically share with yourself, right?"

"I don't share with anybody."

Bryan laughed. "Yeah, I remember that being part of your sixth grade report card. I remember thinking it was odd to make such a report about a sixth grader. Most people stop being treated like toddlers when they stop being toddlers."

"Adolescence is underrated."

"Back to the point: Are you regretting your decision not to move up?"

Matt locked eyes with Bryan for just a moment before turning back to the trees. "I hate moving."

"You're shitting me. I wouldn't even have to help you move because you brought exactly one bag of clothes with you. Maybe I could carry your box of books down the sidewalk for a hundred yards to the next dorm for you."

"It's too late now. You should have made that offer sooner."

Bryan was accustomed to the way Matt liked to exasperate people, but even he was struggling for this conversation. Matt was being particularly obstinate, and with his cleverness and persistence, he was better at it than Bryan was.

Before Bryan could attempt to recover, the door opened to the next dorm room. Fats stepped out with his full Duel Academy garb like he was going for a job interview alongside his deck and a bag of barbecue chips. "Where are you going?" asked Matt.

Rolling his eyes, Bryan said, "Also, hi, Tamah! How are you today?"

Matt sputtered. "Greetings were implied. I want information."

"No worries, Matt. I'm good, Bryan. You?" The level of patience coming off that boy never ceased to amaze as he deftly handled two stark personalities. "I'm off to the library for a meeting with some duelists from Obelisk Blue. They're curious to find out if I have what it takes to join Team OTK."

"You're going to join OTK?" asked Bryan. It made sense. Fats had won two of his three placement duels with a Naturia OTK. If anyone deserved to join, it was him. "That's awesome! How often do freshmen get to join?"

Fats held his hands out as if distancing himself from the words. "I'm not joining right away. This is just a meeting to see if I can qualify. Meet some of the other members and rush, basically."

"Like a fraternity?" asked Bryan.

Fats smiled. "I hope they don't haze me too hard."

"I'm sure you'll be okay. When does duel team season start?"

"Team managers already met at the start of the year. Training and recruitment usually start right after the placement exams. The first event is October 2. Are you going to join a team?"

"I haven't heard anything about it at all yet. And I don't know anyone else well enough to ask about starting up a team."

Fats shook his head. "You don't want to do that anyway. I hear it's a lot of work. Just join an existing team."

Bryan shrugged. "Who would take me?"

"There's already an automatic team for the Slifer dorm. Dr. Kerr told us about it at orientation, remember?" It was plainly obvious that Bryan did not remember. He was lucky if he remembered half of the things any speaking teacher told him. Chuckling, Fats said, "Go downstairs and talk to Leon. He's the one organizing it this year."

"Dude!" Bryan relished the idea of being on a duel team. Reminded of the posters and tapestries adorning the halls of Duel Academy and depicting intramural rivalries, a part of Bryan's soul that thrived on competition suddenly reignited. But since Fats was about to go join a rival team, Bryan suppressed his excitement and tried to play it off as nonchalance. "Maybe I will."

"Cool. I'll see you guys after my meeting." Fats shuffled across the breezeway, descended the stairs to the ground, and sauntered down the pathway toward the main Duel Academy building, crunching a bag of chips the whole way.

Matt asked Bryan, "You going to talk to Leon?"

"Yeah. Gonna go pee first, though."

"I'm glad to see moving away from your mom for eight months out of the year hasn't changed your behavior and that you still need permission to go to the bathroom."

Bryan gave him a playful jab. "I know how anxious you get when I'm not around." Giving in to his biological urges, Bryan went back into the dorm room and found his way to the shared bathroom. Even with only three other roommates to contend, he still had to wait for one of Fats' roommates before he could get to the toilet.

When he stepped back outside, Matt was gone. Wildly curious and a bit baffled, Bryan peered around seeking clues and finding none, even leaning over the rail to search under the breezeway. With no obvious signs, he shrugged and went about seeking team information.

The first thing Cary noticed when she arrived at the library was that one of the students in the room did not have the same level of alertness to body odor that she had developed in her fifteen years of life. She suspected it was the girl with the bleached hair and the smile that looked like it physically hurt her to wear it. Introduced to the group as Laura Guertin, Cary recognized her as the girl who acted as Matt's proctor during the practical application exam. Sneering at the memory, she instead focused on happier things, like how the girl carried herself tall and perky despite being slightly overweight.

She recognized two of the other students, though. Cary had met them first on the cruise ship that brought them to the island. They were among the handful of students ready to wander the ship at nighttime while almost everyone else was out cold. Chika with her soft features and pouty lower lip greeted Cary with a smile, ushered her to one of the conference rooms, and told her to "have a sit." Cee-Cee Silva was already there sitting at the table. She actually looked up from her phone and smiled. Her hair was pulled back neatly and looking cleaner than it had since the placement exams.

"Hey, Cary," she said gleefully. "They called you out here, too, huh?"

Cary pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows as if to say, "Seems that way."

"Team OTK is supposed to be pretty much the top of the pyramid. I never got to see your duels but I'd guess they were pretty decent to earn you an invitation."

"Did okay," said Cary. She chose to believe that Cee-Cee didn't mean the word "decent" to sound antagonistic. It was likely just a figure of speech. Then again, Cee-Cee was already back to her phone, furiously punching buttons. Cary got just enough of a glance to see that she wasn't texting. Cee-Cee was surfing through her phone's settings and typing in lengthy character codes that Cary couldn't begin to describe or repeat.

Cee-Cee caught her looking and slowly put the phone down. "Sorry. I'm being rude, aren't I?"

Cary shook her head.

"It's just that I like to tinker when I'm anxious, except I was worried I might lose some pieces in the library so I'm just messing with my phone settings instead. I just want to cut to the chase so I know what expect. I mean, are we on the team already or not?"

With a shrug, Cary showed she was unwilling to say out loud that she was just as curious. Laura and Chika stood outside the conference whispering to each other. It felt almost like a trap, but definitely a dick move no matter what was going on.

"Do you think we're still waiting for someone?" asked Cee-Cee.

"Fats."

She wasn't psychic. Tamah Fatu and his unmistakable body shape walked down the library aisle to join Laura and Chika. After exchanging a few words, Chika opened the conference room door again.

Cee-Cee whispered to Cary, "I can't believe you call him that."

"He told me to," Cary objected to her objection.

Fats shuffled into the room and offered a quick wave. "Hey, Cary. Hey, Cee-Cee." The two girls shifted seats so that Cary ended up against the wall. It was worth it so Fats could take the chair on the end and not have to squeeze in between her and the wall to get to the table. His nickname fit him… unlike some of his clothes.

"Is this all we're waiting for?" asked Cee-Cee.

As if answering her, Laura Guertin walked in and closed the glass conference room door. "Listen up, scrubs." She began pacing back and forth in front while keeping her eyes trained on the three freshmen. "You're here because you've shown promise with your one-turn-kill duel strategies. However, none of you finished the placement exams with three victories. Keep that in mind whenever you feel like delivering any backtalk. You still have a lot to learn about what you do."

Cary frowned through the rest of Laura's rant. It felt like she was in a cheesy boot camp movie and Laura was overacting her role. Cary slipped her phone from her pocket and began to look up Laura's record from the placement exams.

Laura actually tried an intimidating pause-and-stare maneuver when she realized that Cary wasn't paying her full attention. "Something you'd like to share with the rest of us? Perhaps you think you already know everything there is to know about one turn kills?" she asked snidely.

With a nod, Cary held up a finger. She couldn't figure out how Guertin was spelled, so she just searched the entire Duel Academy roster in alphabetical order until she found it. "You finished the placement exams with one win, two losses." Both Fats and Cee-Cee averted their eyes to avoid further shaming Laura, who was already turning bright red.

"Why, you…" Laura couldn't even get out a complete sentence from there.

Chika quickly jumped in and took over the rest of the speech. "That just proves the advice. Always more to learn." As she spoke, she ushered Laura out of the room to cool down. "Laura didn't have her best day for exams, but she is great OTK duelist. We think you might be, too, so we want to join."

"Just like that?" asked Cee-Cee. "No special requirements?"

"Requirement is your OTK be reliable. Team get tested to make sure theme is kept. We cannot be OTK if everyone has random cards."

"Who tests us?" she asked.

Chika answered, "Faculty. They make sure all rules followed."

"So we'd get kicked off the team if we changed our decks and stopped using the OTK?" Cee-Cee asked a lot of questions. Must go with the tinkering habit, always wanting to know how everything works.

"Yes, you must keep using OTK," answered Chika. She sat down on the other side of the table, looking straight into the eyes of the freshmen at the same level, rather than attempting to look down on them by standing up and preaching. "Teams are optional, but have rewards. At finals, there is reward for students with best grades and duels. Same for best teams."

Laura stepped back into the conference room, looking as neutral as she could manage while being pale and thoroughly pissed off. "Thank you, Chika. I'll explain the schedule to them." She handed out a sheet of paper to each of the three freshmen. On one side was a basic sports-type schedule, listing at least two afterschool competitions each week until six weeks before finals. "As you can see, there are a lot of duels involved with teams. The league will pit us against the other teams multiple times over the course of the semester with one extracurricular tournament just after midterms."

The backside of the sheet had mostly rules of team dueling, but it also mentioned a School Duel Festival.

"What's the School Duel Festival?" asked Cee-Cee. The question annoyed Cary in part because she had already heard about the festival from Dave's stories. But it was too much work to interrupt and explain, so she let Laura do it. It seemed like the kind of knowledge Laura loved to lord over people, anyway.

"The School Duel Festival takes place in the middle of the semester. The winning team from the mid-term tournament gets to compete against teams representing other schools. We have a longstanding history of victory at these festivals, and we intend to keep it up."

Cee-Cee's eyes lit up. "We actually get to duel against students from another school?"

"Yes. Try not to embarrass Duel Academy while they're here."

"Do we ever send anybody to other schools?"

Laura replied with her chin up, "As the central campus for Duel Academy, and the original location for all Kaiba Corp education to boot, competitions are traditionally held here. While there are no festivals held elsewhere, we do occasionally send students to another campus to study abroad. But let's get back to the main rules for team competitions. You'll see most of them enumerated on the back of your schedule. I'm not going to read them to you because I assume you can read by this point in your lives."

While the freshmen browsed the list, Laura continued. "Currently there are seven teams established. Whether or not they all register varies by year. Most likely they all will—even the Slifer Slackers."

Fats raised his hand. "Sorry to interrupt, but aren't they called the Longshots?"

Laura scowled at him. "I know that. I was being facetious."

"Oh. Okay, ma'am."

Cary enjoyed seeing Fats upset Laura's maleficence with a purely innocent question. It was obvious Laura was not a people person, and Fats was so much of a people person that he couldn't notice. But his comment shook Laura so much that she had to step aside and let someone else take over the orientation for a bit. That someone was a male duelist who had just stormed up to the conference room like a mammalian missile. Cary recognized him as Rikuto whom she met on the cruise. She also watched him duel Matt in the placement exams, a fact she was somewhat annoyed for remembering.

"Our biggest rival is Duel Dragonists. They specialize in powerful Synchro dragons that can disrupt OTKs if you not careful."

Chika interrupted her. "What about the Guardian Duelers?"

Cary had kept that nugget of wisdom to herself—that the Guardian Duelers participated in team dueling—but she wondered why Rikuto was more worried about a few eight-star dragons when he also had to prepare for battling god cards. She had heard stories from Dave that not everyone liked to focus on their gods, but anyone who held a god and didn't use it had something just as threatening in the deck. Dave was a prime example, alternating only between Slifer and Exodia, who was definitely just as god-like, if you followed the lore.

"Justin is a former member of this team. Taking what we know of him before and after receiving Raviel, Haruki and I have a way of undercutting the rest of his team."

Chika looked less certain, and Cary was inclined to agree. The only way to undercut a deck based on a god card is to knock out the opponent before he can summon said god card. About one in every ten practice duels against Dave before Duel Academy, she managed to deplete his Life Points before he could pull Slifer or Exodia.

Laura quit the argument by talking over all dissenting opinions. "It doesn't matter who our opponents are because we will kill them all in a single turn, got it?" Red-faced, she turned to the freshmen. "Moving on… We saw your decks during placements. Now we test yours against ours for a chance to make you better."

The three freshmen all looked caught off-guard. Fats said, "Um, now?"

"Yes." Laura pulled her deck from her side and set it on the table. "You all brought your cards, didn't you?" Of course they had, but none had expected to show their cards so soon. "If we're to be a team, we need to know what our teammates have, and we need to encourage the strongest dueling we can get out of one another."

Cee-Cee asked, "Is it just going to be seven of us? I mean the six of us plus the other guy you mentioned."

"We have nine members," said Laura. "Don't worry about the rest of the team. They are already well prepared for the season. Rikuto, Chika, and I will show you what to expect."

Cary wondered if she should point out that they can't intimately know one another's decks if four people aren't present to share.

Bryan hadn't yet been inside the rooms on the bottom floor of Slifer Red. As soon as he entered, he realized it didn't matter. The floor plan was exactly identical. The closets were in the same place and the room still curved around the bathroom in a rigid C shape. Where the downstairs tenants differed was in their use of the space. Bryan and Jack had left the beds bunked to save space, and it did the job admirably. But these three guys had taken the beds off of one another and supported them on longer legs, creating three loft beds. They moved their respective desks underneath their beds, opening up a whole desk's space on the floor—plenty of room for a small couch. It was great for lounging in front of the TV and for offering company a place to sit. Bryan was horribly jealous, not only of the brilliant idea but also of having enough money to afford an extra couch for the dorm room.

So jealous he almost missed the names of the other Duel Academy intramural teams. "Wait. If there's a team for each dorm, does that mean there's also an all-girl team?"

"That's what I just said," said Leon. It had taken Bryan a moment to remember the older man's name when he entered the room, yet he had no trouble whatsoever remembering that glorious mustache. He scrunched his upper lip, even more jealousy coursing through him.

But the jealousy moved aside for a joke that built up in his mind. "Are they called the Treasured Chests?"

Jack huffed, but Kenny and Leon got a chuckle out of it. "They might be if the person naming their team had only just reached puberty."

Leon said, "Don't sell puberty short. I like to think I've completed my journey through adolescence and I still can't help noticing the fairer sex. Mind you all the students here are too young for me, but Dr. Kerr has a lot going for her, if you catch my drift."

"I definitely do," said Kenny. Even Bryan had to admit Dr. Kerr had a pretty face, even if she was a little small for his taste.

Jack remarked, "I like how you think you surpassed adolescence but you're attending a private school to get good at a card game." That earned a laugh from the others, including Leon.

Leon started to give the actual name of the girls' team, but before he could spoil it, Bryan suggested, "The Rack Pack," earning another chuckle.

"Boy, you got a one-track mind, don't you?"

"Ironically, that 'one track' seems to be pun-based nicknames," said Jack. To date he had not seen Bryan offer a single errant glance at any of the girls on campus. He had only heard stories about the boy's treatment of Erica of the Guardian Duelers, but Jack appeared to have doubts.

"He might get there eventually 'cause that's what they did," said Kenny. "They're called Victorious Secret."

Bryan guffawed and nearly choked from laughing too hard. "I love it!" he gasped. When he finally found air, he let out a satisfied moan. "That's priceless. Way better than the Obelisk Blues. Even you are a big fan of jazz, that's such an obvious name it's stupid."

Leon said, "Well they and the Sun Gods kept their more obvious names in part for recognition of their achievements. When you earn your way into Obelisk Blue, you don't mind if your name brags about you. Since the girls feel like the hidden and oft neglected gems of Duel Academy, they went for something just as braggadocios, yet cleverer."

"Longshots is somewhat clever," said Jack. Motioning toward the group, he said, "No one expects the duelists from Slifer to do well at all. That makes us the longshot odds, but the name also sounds pretty cool. One of the X-Men has that name."

Bryan pointed at him excitedly. "The upgraded Hook Shot in the Zelda games!"

"Exactly. So tell us more about this team thing so we can all get appropriately psyched up for it."

Leon, who had been showing the team information on his laptop screen, turned away from the group and shook away the screen saver.

"The basic schedule puts us in a league series against all the other teams, but we also have two tournaments to prepare for. The first is after mid-terms, and the second is right before the end of the semester." He searched the notes again. "Winners the first one gets to be part of the School Duel Festival and represent Duel Academy against teams from visiting schools."

"Is there any scenario in which the Duel Academy team is not from Obelisk? Because it just seems like the deck may be stacked in their favor, pun intended," asked Jack.

Kenny said, "You said earlier they gave you last year's results in the registration packet. Didn' you say the Obelisks were third?" He looked to Leon for confirmation, which he gave.

"Holding over from last year's results, the Obelisk Blues start this season as the third-ranked team. They just barely eked out dominance over Team OTK and lost to the Duel Dragonists and the Guardian Duelers."

Bryan sat bolt upright. "The Guardian Duelers compete, too?"

"Sure. It's the only way they get to show off their god cards during the regular year, aside from the occasional area duel."

"Wicked," he uttered. He could imagine the awe of seeing each and every one of the god cards in their full, three-dimensional glory on the big stage.

Kenny chuckled. "Don't get too excited. Winnin' 'gainst them is nuthin to sneeze at. Cool as the cards are, they almost can't be beat."

"Bryan wants to join them," said Jack.

"Don't act like you wouldn't jump at the chance, too," said Bryan. His excitement waned just slightly. "But I did hear that the faculty have to agree to it before anyone can really challenge them for membership. Maybe if we can perform well enough in a team duel against them, we can earn a chance to challenge the god cards directly!"

Leon smiled widely. "No one can fault you for thinking big, Bryan. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we need to find a full team. The four of us here are a good start, but we need a minimum of six players to qualify for any given matchup, and a few extra players give us a little more flexibility and unpredictability."

"How do you mean?" asked Jack.

"Essentially, we get matched up against a team and randomly assigned to duel against one of theirs. If we have more players available than we're required to have on a given event, we gain some unpredictability in that the other team won't know ahead of time who they'll have to face. If they can't predict our cards, they can't prepare. On top of that, we'll have some flexibility to switch out players when the opportunity arises, which is even more confusing for them."

Bryan said, "It's like a side deck but made out of people."

"Wow," muttered Jack. "That was impressively bad."

"Yeah, but fun to say."

Jack grinned and looked back to Leon and Kenny. "So we need at least two more people. You have anyone in mind? What about your other roommate?"

Kenny shook his head. "Nah. Marcus got pulled into the Duel Dragonists. No way he'd turn them down to play on the team with the toughest odds. Could always try that one guy next door. You know which one I mean."

Leon answered, "He wasn't interested when I asked him at first, but maybe if we're at the point of missing just one player, he'll join up just to help."

Bryan thought for a second. "Fats is taken by OTK. We could try asking his roommates, though. Unfortunately, I'm not sure about Matt. He's not much of a people person…" Everyone averted their eyes to avoid giving Bryan the impression that was the most obvious statement of the day so far. "…plus he might have been recruited, since he just disappeared earlier."

Folding his laptop shut, Leon said, "We have until Wednesday to finalize registration. Check with the others upstairs and we'll ask our neighbors. Worst case is we can't get enough people for a team and we don't play this semester."

"I bet we find someone," said Kenny, sounding optimistic.

When Matt reached the Duel Academy building, he continued walking down the path in the direction of the Obelisk Blue dorm, just as the instructions instructed. He followed the left turn toward the lake, but before he actually reached the luxurious front lawn that made the Obelisk Blue dorm so photogenic, he stepped off the beaten path and stepped through the building's side yard. Whereas the front had only two trees placed strategically for appearance, the side and back yards were more forested. Matt could see the tall fence that stretched far from the back of the building—obviously enclosing the backyard to only those with approved access. He didn't need to cross the fence, though. His instructions led him to a small clearing still in the side yard, not too far from the stone pillars on the south side of the Duel Academy building.

As its name describes, the clearing was a small yet more open space in the middle of a collection of trees. Fairly round overall, the clearing had a picnic table in the middle with colorful flowers on their way toward their winter condition sprouted around the table legs. A single person wearing an Obelisk Blue jacket already sat at the table. He wore jet black hair in curved spikes.

"Are you Haruki Yagawa?" asked Matt.

Haruki stood and extended a handshake. "Yes." After they shook, he urged Matt to sit. "Your willingness to meet is appreciated."

"How could I turn it down after you sent such a cryptic message? I just had to know what it was about. And the directions for getting here were so specific."

"Rikuto says you might be worth checking out." Haruki was clearly not one for small talk, cutting straight to the point. However, he left his statement vague enough for Matt to give him a hard time.

"Well, I'm relatively fit with some decent triceps, but I don't have much of an ass to admire."

"He may not have meant anything like that." Haruki was confused at first, but he gave a puzzled smile—typically a signal that he realized he was not very clear in his word choice right away. It was likely a common reaction for one whose first language was not English.

Even so, Matt didn't let up. "I don't presume to know what someone is thinking or judge him on his lifestyle. Not everything is up to us to decide."

"What are you saying?" Maybe he went too far with the word play. Haruki might not know as much about homophobia as American-grown boys do.

"Never mind. It's not important, and it's less funny if I have to explain. Am I correct to assume that by mentioning Rikuto you are here to assess my suitability for Team OTK? I wouldn't have expected him to mention me."

"Laura also mentioned your deck."

"Laura?" Matt thought for a second. The name rang familiar in context with dueling. After a moment's consideration, he remembered the most recent Laura he met in competition. "Ah, was she the proctor for my application practical?"

"Yes. She said you almost managed a Dark Magician OTK against her."

"I guess it was close. Are we going to duel now so you can get a feel for my cards? Nothing too personal, of course. Maybe Prisma won't mind being felt up, but Dark Magician Girl is spoken for thousands of times by now."

"You have a strange sense of humor."

"I get that a lot." Changing the subject, Matt swiped his hands across the picnic table. "Unless my eyes deceive me, this is not a duel station. It appears to be a regular, old, slightly worn picnic table. Don't tell me Obelisk Blue has holographic picnic tables, too? Is this high-tech, nanoparticle gum wedged between the planks?"

Haruki smiled a friendly, only slightly condescending smile. "Our duel will remain between us. It should not be recorded."

That decision baffled Matt. He looked around the surroundings again. Now that he was seated, he realized the clearing was partially blocked from viewing the Obelisk dorm. With two big trees preventing him from spotting the dorm at all, the picnic table was perfectly private as long as no one walked around outside. They were free from prying eyes that might accidentally spot them.

"Because you're worried about hurting a freshman's win-loss record?" asked Matt.

"You may not lose. We can duel to find out."

Matt had no problem with dueling off the record—that had described every duel he had that wasn't actually part of a tournament prior to a couple of months ago. But he still couldn't hold himself back from searching for the hidden reasons.

"My guess is: You want everyone on your team to have the best record they can manage. If you were to beat me now, it would tarnish me. So instead, we hold a casual duel. Sound about right?"

"Your logic is sound. Would you like to begin?"

Matt waved his arm across the table as if performing an invisible magic act. "Please. Age before beauty. Show me how it's done."

Haruki moved for his deck without further comment. He didn't appear to be bothered by Matt's attitude, but his was a difficult face to interpret. He placed a spell card on the field and said, "Charge of the Light Brigade." He slid three cards straight off the top of his deck and placed them in the space designated for discard, and then he searched his deck for a four-star Lightsworn monster.

"You're one of those people," said Matt. "Speak the name of the card and say nothing else about it."

"Apologies. Did you need an explanation."

"No, thanks. I've read the poem."

"The poem?" Haruki checked his card again as if to see whether the flavor text was actually in poetic form. It was not.

"Never mind. That yarn will take too long to unravel. Continue with your turn."

"Okay. Raiden." Apparently that was short for Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn (4: 1700|1000). Must be the only card in the game with the word Raiden in it. As such, he couldn't possibly mean any other card! Haruki ended his turn there. Raiden's effect kicked, as it did with all Lightsworn, and burned two cards off the top of Haruki's deck… well, almost. One of those cards was Wulf, Lightsworn Beast (4: 2100|300), which summoned itself to the field after hitting the graveyard.

"Good start," said Matt, adding just loudly enough to be heard, "I suppose." More clearly, he said, "I'll put one card face-down and activate E – Emergency Call to move Elemental Hero Prisma (4: 1700|1000) to my hand. And before I reshuffle, I'll also summon him. Using his effect, I show you my Dark Paladin and throw Dark Magician from my deck to the graveyard so Prisma becomes the same as Dark Magician." He watched Haruki carefully, hoping that his over-explaining the cards would bother the senior classman, but there was still no certain response. Just a gentle smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

"Okay then. I'll use Thousand Knives to destroy Wulf without battle. And then I'll play The Eye of Timaeus." Haruki reacted with interest, leaning in to see the card more clearly. Rare cards seemed to be his weakness. "That's right. Now my Dark Prisma Magician fuses with the legendary dragon to become Dark Paladin (8: 2900|2400). He's strong enough to kill Raiden." Haruki didn't even hesitate to take his monster from the field.

Matt 8000: Haruki 6800

That entire exchange was surprising and underwhelming in Matt's eyes, but he rolled with it. "Not everyone can make a grand move during the very first turn," he said. "Possibly you're holding better cards right now, but maybe you wanted to put out a feeler to make sure you didn't step into a worse trap. Smart. It's a reasonable strategy." He let go of his annoyance with that explanation, hoping that saying it out loud would rattle Haruki in some way.

It didn't. "Lyla," he said as he placed Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress (4: 1700|200) on the table.

"I have a trap card," said Matt. "A Bottomless Trap, in fact. That's short for Bottomless Trap Hole." Haruki, like most duelists, knew the card just from the word Bottomless. He took Lyla off the table and placed her on the other side of the discard pile.

And then he played no other cards at all.

On his turn, Matt played Skilled Dark Magician (4: 1900|1700) and delivered two direct attacks to bring Haruki down significantly in overall LP.

Matt 8000: Haruki 2000

"Here's the thing," said Matt. "I know that sometimes you have to be willing to risk a lot of damage in order to set up your one-turn-kill. Cary had already shown fair consistency with her one-turn kill and had, more than once, left her field completely empty for two full turns just to set it up. But you are clearly using a deck that thrives on graveyard contents, and yet your graveyard is still practically empty.

"There's something else going on behind the scenes on your side. Pretty sure I figured it out, too," he said. "At first, I thought you just didn't want to hurt my record because that makes Team OTK look less impressive for recruiting me. But now I realize this duel has to be off the record because it's going to hurt your record."

Haruki retained a neutral expression. "Seeing your deck is most important for making this decision."

"I get where your decision comes from. It's just that if you're holding back to see what I can do, then are you really getting a good sense of what I can do?"

"Would you truly prefer to see my full effort?"

"Of course. I appreciate your dumbing it down for the inexperienced freshman, but the game's far less enjoyable this way."

Haruki smiled—nay, smirked! Well, it could have been a smirk on anyone else. Here was a freshman practically begging a senior to dish out all of the Duel Academy training he had received with nary a real clue as to the intensity of the request. And yet the most frustrating aspect was the lack of any real disdain in Haruki's expression. If anything, his rather neutral smile bordered on… respect?

"Then let us gather our cards and begin anew." He pulled his cards straight from the table and mixed them up, offering the deck for Matt to shuffle. Matt repeated the gesture with his own cards.

"Please, take the first turn," said Haruki.

"You're far too kind." Matt drew his opening hand and immediately slapped down three cards. "I'll start with Elemental Hero Prisma (4: 1700|1000) and use his effect to toss Dark Magician from my deck to the Graveyard." He showed his fusion card Dark Paladin in order to activate the effect, and then he searched his deck for his ace monster, which was conveniently only the next card in the deck. "I will also place one card down and activate Dark Magical Circle. That will be it for my first turn."

He watched Haruki draw his cards again. This time, he showed no hesitation in moving the card he drew to the back of his hand and pulling another card from the middle. "Solar Recharge." He dropped one of those Lightsworn monsters from his hand, drew two cards, and then tossed the next two straight into the graveyard. Matt still found amusement in observing the ease with which Haruki threw out half his deck.

"Pot of Duality," said Haruki. He looked through the top three cards of his deck, picked one to keep, and then tossed the other two. Weird how many of the people running one-turn-kill strategies used a card that prevented them from performing special summons, which were almost necessary all OTK strategies. Next he showed another card. "Allure of Darkness." That card let him draw two cards, but he'd have to banish a dark monster or lose his hand. Did a Lightsworn master even carry a dark monster? Apparently yes: He banished Gorz, Emissary of Darkness—a card in stark contrast to the Lightsworn themselves.

Finally, Haruki turned his focus away from his hand to the on-field threat. "Mystical Space Typhoon." He lifted his card from the table and pointed directly at Dark Magical Circle.

"Oh no, the core of my strategy," said Matt sarcastically. "How will I ever recover?" He moved his card to the graveyard.

Haruki ended with one monster face-down.

"Before you go, I'll play Eternal Soul to summon Dark Magician (7: 2500|2100) back from my graveyard. And now it's my turn," said Matt, as if it weren't already obvious. He wondered if pointing out the obvious like that were uncool. Maybe that's why no one bothered to explain their card effects unless asked.

"First I'll use Eternal Soul to take Thousand Knives from my deck to my hand. And then I'll use it to destroy your face-down monster." Haruki removed his monster to the discard pile. His field was wide open once again, almost like he was still inviting Matt to attempt an OTK against him. Unfortunately Matt lacked the cards for a hit so devastating, but he did hold the right cards to go halfway.

"I send away Prisma to summon Dark Magician Girl (6: 2000|1700). These two combine to hit you for 4500 LP."

Matt 8000: Haruki 3500

Haruki smiled again. It was a difficult smile to read, perhaps because he appeared to be sincerely amused. Maybe he was just toying with Matt after all. Once his turn started, he placed aside half the cards in his hand.

"Judgment Dragon (8: 3000|2600)." Suddenly the strategy of throwing away all the cards made more sense. Judgment Dragon was a powerful monster summoned through almost no effort and with no additional downside, except that he would eventually force Haruki to discard even more of the cards he was already throwing away like he didn't care. "The effect activates now."

Matt 8000: Haruki 2500

In exchange for a measly 1000 LP, Haruki's dragon cleared the field of all of the other cards. It would have been easy enough to clear Matt's field anyway, but he still didn't like the look of being defenseless… especially when Haruki said, "Another," and laid a second Judgment Dragon (8: 3000|2600). With that attack, he could take the lead in an instant.

But Haruki wasn't interested in taking the lead. He wanted the win. Next he played Charge of the Light Brigade and dropped more cards in the grave so he could move a copy of Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter (4) to his hand. Finally, he played Monster Reincarnation and discarded Ryko to retrieve his third and final Judgment Dragon (8: 3000|2600) from the graveyard and then summon it to the field. Facing down a triple threat of Judgment Dragons, Matt had no choice but to accept defeat.

Matt 0: Haruki 2500

Matt stared at the table for a moment, not at all confused about how he lost that duel, yet somehow still confused how he managed to lose a duel. He was far from undefeated, but it was exceedingly rare to find a duelist capable of crushing him with such ease. Not since the time he applied for the Arbus Foundation scholarship, and certainly not against anyone who was just a student.

"You show much promise. The trappings of a one-turn-kill are present in your cards. Execution is not consistent, however."

"Come off it. Were you ever really going to accept the Dark Magician theme for your special club?"

"If the play style was applicable, yes. Regulations are not strict for house teams. Obelisk and Ra and Slifer provide their own connective theme. To establish an outside team requires adherence to a new and common theme. If duelists of OTK do not utilize an OTK enough to be recognized, then the theme falls apart and team status is threatened."

"Yours is the only team whose theme is a strategy rather than a card. That's why it's so much harder to maintain your team. Standards have to be high."

"Have you the cards here to strengthen your one-turn-kill technique?"

The question was meant to be harmless and informative, yet it forced Matt to consider his home life and his personal, financial condition. A scowl crossed his face as he answered. "No. I have only a handful of unused cards available. None of them would make OTKs any more likely."

"Too bad. Perhaps you can collect more, build a strong theme, and seek to join Team OTK for the spring semester." Haruki smiled, gave a short nod, and then wandered off to the mansion-like dormitory, leaving Matt to fume by himself.

As Bryan chomped down on his third grilled cheese sandwich, Matt was almost in awe. It was like watching a duck gargle down something that was just a little bit too big for its throat. He wondered whether Bryan could even taste the cheese while moving that quickly.

When Bryan stopped to take a breath, Matt said, "I guess the food's not as bad as everyone else makes it seem."

Bryan beamed. "This cook is amazing."

"This cook is solitary," said Matt. Although Duel Academy would never go so far as to punish the lowest-ranked students with hunger, they didn't spend a huge portion of the budget on the Slifer mess hall, either. On the first night, Matt thought he was having a stroke because all the hot sandwiches smelled like burning toast. "The reason for all the simple recipes is he has no assistance back there."

"And he's doing a spectacular job with it." Bryan didn't care about the cook's minor flaws and, in fact, he liked his toast just a little bit burnt. "If Ra and Obelisk food is even better, then I can't wait to move up. You probably don't even know what you're missing by turning it down."

"If I don't know, I can't miss it."

"You're not wrong there."

"Besides. Who could possibly measure up to this fine cuisine? It would take Gordan goddamn Ramsey to make a grilled cheese sandwich with a more perfect trim of pan-cheese on the crust."

Bryan paused. Through squinting eyes that sought to find their way into the annals of Matt's mind, he said, "Sometimes I can't tell if you're being facetious or not."

"Sometimes the answer eludes me, as well."

After a few more minutes spent in idle chit-chat, Matt noticed Jack enter the dining hall. Even if they hadn't noticed him walk through the door, it was harder to miss him when he grabbed some food and sat down on the bench right beside Bryan. Not that he had a lot of options. As Duel Academy's ugly step-child, the Slifer Red dorm had the smallest overall footprint. There were exactly two long tables with built-in benches in the room. Had Jack sat somewhere else, he might have given the impression that he had a problem with his two roommates. Matt didn't preclude that possibility, but it seemed less likely since Jack sat beside them.

But in addition, Jack looked like he had a burning question to ask. "How come you guys eat so early every day?"

"First in, when the food is freshest," said Bryan.

Matt added, "Plus there's less competition for the food."

"Seriously?"

"Look around. There's nobody here right now but us."

Jack groaned, masking an amused smirk. "That's not what I meant. Are you seriously worried about competition over the food? There are only twenty-four people in this dorm and the cook is busy for three hours. Pretty sure there is plenty of underwhelming food for everyone."

Bryan looked offended by someone not agreeing with his battle strategy. "Yeah, but this way we don't have to wait for the food or worry about taking too much at once."

"Plus ten minutes of eating by ourselves. The quiet is nice."

Jack asked, "How quiet was it, Bryan? Did you have any luck finding us another teammate?"

Matt looked curiously to Bryan and smirked. Although Matt had told Bryan about his secret duel against Haruki, leader of Team OTK, Bryan hadn't brought up their headcount shortage. "Not yet. Turns out Matt missed our meeting because he was busy being recruited into Team OTK by Haruki Yagawa himself."

Jack's expression fell as he shifted his full attention to his food. "That's a bummer for us. I think we got one of the other guys to agree. We'll see in a few minutes. Kenny's supposed to be joining a bunch of them for dinner to finalize sign-ups. It'd be nice to get at least our required six guaranteed today."

"We'll find someone," said Bryan.

Matt sat in silence for a moment and watched the other two eat. He was toying with the idea of being honest, but instead he settled on half-truths. "Let me know how recruitment ends up for you. Not too sure I'll settle for Team OTK this semester after all."

"Why?" asked Jack. "If they recruited you, why not join them? No offense to any of you guys but if I had the chance to play for a high-ranking team, I wouldn't think twice about my decision."

With a shrug, Matt said, "You know how I am. Well, Bryan knows how I am. I'm not close to anyone on OTK, so I wouldn't enjoy being there."

"Are you close to anyone at all?" asked Jack, smirking at his own joke.

"Touché."

Bryan, on the other hand, moved very rapidly from a look of excitement at having Matt join the Longshots to contemplation at the real reason behind it. Matt could almost see the gears turning as Bryan considered his words before he spoke. "So your excuse is that you don't want to play with a bunch of people you don't know, and meanwhile you actually want to help a bunch of people you don't know just because I'm on the team?"

"I'm more comfortable talking to someone I know."

"Which is just further proof that you're more likely to lie to someone you know. People you don't know are easy because you just tell them what you think, if you even talk at all. It would be altogether easier for you not to be on any team. Then you get to stay in the room by yourself and do nothing."

"Yeah, but the team's important to you."

"And if there's one thing I've learned about you over the years it's how much you love being there for people," said Bryan. His words dripped with so much sarcasm even Jack looked like he understood the meaning without knowing the history between Bryan and Matt. More seriously, Bryan said, "Something happened with Haruki, didn't it?"

Matt pursed his lips and feigned innocence. "Like what?"

"Did you make a lewd joke about his sister?"

Jack said, "He has a girlfriend. Miyu-something. Maybe he was overly honest about how she looks."

For a second, Bryan obviously wanted to ask how Miyu looks. Jack's remark was vague, so it could mean she was crazy hot or the exact opposite. But somehow Bryan managed to stay on track.

"Which means you ended up not being asked to the team," Bryan deduced. "Or at least, the tension is actually so awkward you don't feel like accepting the initial invitation anymore."

Matt knew by this point that he was not going to convince Bryan that nothing was wrong. Unfortunately he had let too many clues slip describing what was unusual behavior for him, all of which Bryan picked up on. Matt figured it was better to go with the story where he offended someone by mistake and recused himself out of respect… Actually that didn't sound believable, either. Better just to say he was a dick and they didn't like it.

"Yeah. So it's hard for them not to want a duelist of my caliber on the team, but it would be too uncomfortable even for me. At least this team is full of warm-blooded guys who react the same way I do to an Asian goddess with full lips, supple breasts, and both hair and skin like silk."

Bryan laughed an excited, triumphant laugh. "Alright, then. Join up with the Longshots. If you're on the team, you might be able to get your revenge on those jerks."

Matt smiled, his disappointing secret safe for now. "Sounds good to me."

As usual, thanks to my readers for the characters I've taken, including Jack Hansbury, Vstriker for Fats, and HardWrapping for Cee-Cee. I apologize for taking so long between updates, but life is so busy sometimes and duels of a decent quality require a lot of work on my part. But at least I keep the word count high, right? Hopefully you're enjoying the character build-up so far with the minor sneaking in of future plots. In the interest of speeding things up, I may begin jumping forward a bit to skip some of the slower weeks in school.

OCs are still accepted for anyone who wants to join the fun!