Disclaimer: The rating I've chosen is for creative freedom. People will swear, make lewd comments, and generally behave much as you see from people around you every day in school and work. The rating may grow stricter as the story gets darker in the future.

Chapter 1: The World of Dueling

The scope of entertainment spread far and wide over centuries of evolution leading to the modern day. ESPN revolutionized socially acceptable gaming by airing Online Poker on live television. That's right: Players don't even sit at the table together; rather, they all log in at the station and their images are superimposed beside one another while a computer algorithm sorts and deals imaged playing cards to their respective desktops. Judging by the ratings, it's far more exciting than it sounds. Psychologists have questioned and studied the phenomenon for years, with the leading hypothesis as one called the Armchair Player Theory: Every spectator believes "I could do it better" and so continues to watch.

Thus, it was of little surprise to find games of strategy growing in popularity. Tabletop's ratings expanded until an entire television station devoted itself to gaming. After decades, the girth of strategy games warranted a second gaming station, and later a third. The gaming networks laid claim to all games of mental plasticity in which physical prowess was unnecessary while ESPN was forced to return to airing real sports involving balls and physical athleticism. Many yet retain their primitive notion that viewing sports is acceptable whereas viewing strategy games is nerdy, but society had already shifted without the air of such people.

A classic card game once called Magic and Wizards pitted one player's army of monsters against another, aided by magic cards to improve their strengths. Soon the Kickstarter game gained enough popularity to develop unique terminology and a new name: Duel Monsters. Soon after, new trap cards—fast-acting magic cards—added to the gameplay. Worldwide tournaments became a regular occurrence. It seemed as though everyone had played the game at some point in their own lives when a large corporation bought all rights to the game and changed its name to Yu-Gi-Oh! Gaming, calling the players "duelists" as homage to the game's previous title.

For the sake of profit, the game was enhanced for younger players. Printed cards possessed simpler effects so that even children could play without difficulty. Soon, children became the leading duelists as a result of one resource: time. Adults are forced to occupy their time with jobs, many of which have nothing to do with Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. (Ludicrous, right?) But children have no jobs, easy schoolwork, and a misguided belief that they have nothing in common with the opposite sex. With all of that free time, they could study their cards and study the game until they were better than their parents, better than other kids' parents, and better than the people who created the cards.

Early on, few were able to make any kind of living as a professional duelist. One usually had to own a comic book shop for that to become a viable option. And so many of those children grew up to discard the game in their adult lives until they had children to whom they could pass on their decks and knowledge. Some sought to ensure their children gained the most knowledge and thus hired professional duelists as tutors. It wasn't long before the money-making scheme popped into some young entrepreneur's mind: Open an entire school devoted to gaming, originally as extracurricular training but expanding every year until it grew into an academic institution.

More schools sprang into existence around the globe, but the one truly international school lay upon an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Why there? Because what better way is there to devote the students to studying than to cut off all outside distraction? The island's lush environment and varied terrains provide self-sufficiency to the inhabitants. Corporate planes offer transportation on a weekly basis and helicopters are available when spur-of-the-moment travel is required. Tuition runs high, and living conditions are risky given island isolation, but anyone accepted by the rigorous standards of Duel Academy finds they are hard-pressed to pass up such an illustrious opportunity.

Our story begins with one such teenager.

Bryan Knight couldn't wait to get things rolling. General knowledge testing had been a snap, and now he was looking at the best opening hand he ever experienced.

The invitation for application to Duel Academy had come to him following his success at a regional tournament. First place had eluded him by the luck of the draw, or the lack thereof. If only he had been placed in the opposite bracket, he could have avoided dueling against Gozen Match. No one else in the tournament ran that card except for one kid! But then that kid lost in the final match against the most overrated duelist to ever win a regional tournament—a guy Bryan could have taken with half the deck tied behind his back.

Seated on one side of the duel cube, Bryan waited eagerly to see who would go first. In succession, each of the lights on the table illuminated until the display board in the center spelled out the name Andrew. "I guess that's you," he said.

"Indeed it is," said Andrew. Adding to his opening hand, he drew one card from the top of his deck. He lifted one green card from his hand and placed it face-up on the table. "Pot of Duality," he said.

As Andrew spoke, the lights on the table flashed in sequence until a ewer appeared on top of Andrew's card. It wasn't a physical ewer that contained liquid—just a hologram created by the interplay of lights on the table. From his side of the ewer, Bryan saw a silver face with angular features. Andrew took three cards from the top of his deck, selected one to keep in his hand, and shuffled the other two back into the deck. As the card's effect resolved, Bryan watched the ewer rotate to display a green face like that of a goblin. It stuck out a thin tongue before the entire ewer faded.

"The effects here are amazing," said Bryan.

"You should see the tech we have on campus," Andrew replied.

Continuing his turn, Andrew said, "Harvest Angel of Wisdom (4: 1800|1000)." Lights shone once more and combined into a hologram of a golden angel sprouting massive wings from its boots. The angel lifted a winged horn to its face and loosed a low blare. This was the first of the monster army Andrew would use to attack Bryan. "Also setting two cards face-down." When Andrew placed his two cards on the table, they appeared in holographic form with the generic logo backing of the dueling card.

"Now you're up."

He gave Bryan a curt nod, but the applicant had already noticed that the display board had shifted to present his full name. "Got it. I'll start things off with Polymerization." He smiled at the holographic spell card and the indistinct, dimensional rift that appeared above it. As soon as he threw two of his monsters into the rift, they would fuse together into a more powerful monster.

Andrew chuckled to himself. "I think I'll stop that one right away." He flipped up one of his face-down cards—a trap called Ultimate Providence. He placed one of the cards in his hand into the discard pile, known as the Graveyard; suddenly the rift on Bryan's side of the table stabilized and disappeared. Andrew's trap prevented Bryan's card from even activating its effect.

"Alrighty then. Nothing but a minor setback. I play Elemental Hero Blazeman (4: 1200|1800)." His monster card appeared in much the form of a man dressed in orange, flame-licked armor. "When this guy is summoned, I get to take another Polymerization from my deck and add it to my hand."

"You don't have to explain the effect to me," said Andrew. He pointed to the display screen again. "It shows up right there."

"So it does. But that's a lot of reading to do at a moment's notice. If I explain it, you get the gist as it applies right now. Besides, Blazeman has two effects, and only one can be used at a time. Anyway, now that I have another Polymerization, I'll use it." A dimensional rift identical to earlier appeared on the field. "Anything to stop me this time?"

Andrew shook his head.

"Great. Then I can actually fuse together two of my monsters: Neos and Bubbleman combine to summon Elemental Hero Absolute Zero (8: 2500|2000)." Out of the rift came a man clad from head to toe in white armor. A cape flowed from his back, and each step frosted the floor in ice.

With a grin on his face, Bryan said, "Let's battle!" In his mind, a dramatic flash of lightning signaled the start of the Battle Phase. "Absolute Zero attacks your Harvest Angel."

The man in white armor began sliding across the ice toward the golden angel, who hovered through the air. Suddenly the wings on Harvest Angel sprouted to full size from one side of the table to the other. The display board showed the card and effect for Honest, a card Andrew activated by discarding it from his hand: Andrew's monster gained attack power equal to Bryan's monster. Harvest Angel (+4300) blew its horn at Absolute Zero until the vibration caused the larger monster to shatter.

Bryan said, "That sucks." His Life Points—the score by which he continued to duel—fell by 1800 points from their original 8000, equal to the difference between the attacking strength of the two monsters.

Bryan 6200: Andrew 8000.

"Silver lining, though: When Absolute Zero leaves the field, your monster is destroyed." As described, Bryan's shattering monster struck the golden angel lethally with ice shards, dragging them each to their player's graveyards. "That leaves you wide open for an attack by Blazeman." The flame-armored man prepared his attack, pausing only for Andrew to choose whether to activate his other face-down card.

"Do you think attacking is wise when I might have a trap waiting for you?" he asked the applicant.

Bryan narrowed his eyes. "That's up to you, now, isn't it?"

As if determining whether the answer was acceptable, Andrew nodded slowly. "You're right. I will not activate anything in response to your attack." As a result, Blazeman threw a punch that expanded like a flamethrower until it struck the end of the table in front of Andrew and flared up. His Life Points dropped by Blazeman's attack strength.

Bryan 6200: Andrew 6800.

"Was that supposed to be a test?" Bryan asked. "Trying to convince me not to attack because of paranoia over a face-down card…"

"Everything is a test," said Andrew. "Winning this duel with me isn't your only judgment. The events are recorded for review by the school administrators. Your deck, the way you play, and how you respond to situations all factor into acceptance or rejection."

"Yeah, my bro figured that was the case for today. How am I doing so far?"

Andrew shrugged with uncertainty. "I don't want to judge you yet. There's still a lot of duel ahead of us."

"Fair enough, proctor. Then show me what you've got and I'll put together the perfect counter-strategy."

As the lights signaled the start of Andrew's turn, he placed a card face-down in the monster zone. "Defense mode. Your turn." It was a short turn, but Bryan assumed that could be because Andrew didn't have a lot of cards in his hand to choose from.

Meanwhile, Bryan drew the perfect spell card to swing the duel in his favor. "I play O – Oversoul, which revives one Elemental Hero in the graveyard." The holographic version of the spell produced a giant O that offered a view from the field into a dark, mist-filled underworld. "I choose Elemental Hero Neos (7: 2500|2000)." A man wearing white lycra climbed out of the graveyard through the O. He carried more physical bulk than any of Bryan's monsters yet. "Let's see what that monster is you're hiding."

Neos jumped high into the air, spun around, and dove with his fist extended. On collision, he hit like a missile, but Andrew's monster bent around the fist like gelatin, absorbing the damage as if it never happened.

"Marshmallon (3: 300|500)," said Andrew. Additionally, the display screen indicated that Bryan would lose 1000 points for attacking Marshmallon while it was face-down.

Bryan 5200: Andrew 6800.

Unfortunately for Bryan, that gelatinous mold meant Marshamllon wouldn't be destroyed in battle. "Alrighty then. If attacking is pointless, I will activate Blazeman's other ability: I can send any Elemental Hero from my deck to the graveyard to give Blazeman the same stats and ability for one turn. I'll send Necroshade to the grave."

Andrew smirked. "Does he have an effect to get around Marshmallon?"

"Nope. I just like knowing where he is, not buried in my deck. It's your turn."

Andrew only placed one card face-down in the spell|trap zone.

"That's it? This is going to be a slow duel."

"Does a slow duel bother you?" asked the proctor.

Shaking his head, Bryan answered, "Not at all. Patience is what separates the casual player from the truly skilled. I play Elemental Hero Bladedge (7: 2600|1800)." Bryan's new monster was a giant of a man clad entirely in gold and wielding a massive blade on either wrist.

"Skilled, or lucky," remarked Andrew. "Nice timing that you threw Necroshade exactly one turn before you drew Bladedge."

"Right? Especially since Necroshade's effect means I don't have to use tributes to summon a high-level monster for this turn. It only works once, but Bladedge is worth it because when he attacks Marshmallon (500), his attack pierces your defense and deals damage to your LP regardless. Unless you have something to stop my attack?"

"I do not."

"Then I take the lead."

Bryan 5200: Andrew 4700.

On his turn, Andrew picked up his card and immediately dropped it to the field. "Dark Hole." The field began to swirl as a black hole appeared from the center. So strong nothing could escape, all four monsters on the field were drawn in and sent to their graveyards.

"Probably smart," said Bryan. "This stops me from attacking you for 2000 points every turn. But it doesn't stop me from attacking. I use E – Emergency Call so I can take an Elemental Hero from my deck to my hand." A large E appeared on the field and promptly exploded. "I choose Elemental Hero Wildheart (4: 1500|1600)." The new monster was a shirtless man with an impressive physique carrying a sword as big as his body. "He'll attack, too, unless you have a card to stop him?"

"No."

"Too bad for you." Bryan also felt disappointed that Andrew didn't waste a trap card on this attack. The best part about Wildheart is that no matter what kind of trap his opponent set up, he's unaffected.

Bryan 5200: Andrew 3200.

"I'll put one card face-down in my second main phase. Now I'm done."

Andrew grabbed a card from his deck, looked at it, and put it away. "No move this turn."

"Tell me you didn't pay money for this deck," said Bryan. For a representative of the prestigious Duel Academy, it seemed that Andrew wasn't putting up the incredible fight everyone expected. Luck of the draw just didn't play out sometimes. Bryan knew that better than most duelists, hence he didn't razz Andrew too hard for struggling.

After drawing, Bryan said, "I'll discard a card to activate Twin Twisters. It destroys two cards on your side of the field." Aptly named, the wind whipped up two holographic cyclones on the field and blew away Andrew's two face-down cards. "Now Wildheart attacks again."

Bryan 5200: Andrew 1700.

This time when Andrew drew (ha!), he cracked a smile. "Meltiel, Sage of the Sky (4: 1600|1200)." His monster appeared as an angel in red and white, covered with feathers and surrounded by a ring of light. "And attack." Meltiel's ring shone brightly, rotated around the angel's body, and duplicated into another ring as it shot forth, wrapped around Wildheart, and dissolved him.

Bryan 5100: Andrew 1700.

For once, it was Bryan's turn to run out of moves. He held a monster in his hand—King of the Swamp—but it was a weak fighter that he kept around because of its ability to bring Polymerization to his hand. Unfortunately, fusion only worked when he had monsters to fuse. "I've got nothing for this turn."

"Great," said Andrew. "Then we can end the duel. Attack."

"Direct attack," said Bryan. "I counter with Drowning Mirror Force. All of your monster gets shuffled back into the deck."

Chuckling, Andrew said, "My only monster."

"Still. Since you have nothing left on the field at all, I've decided I will summon King of the Swamp (3: 500|100) this time." The ground turned to mush and a humanoid creature slowly emerged, covered in bog water. It flung a heavy glob of bog sludge directly at Andrew.

Bryan 5100: Andrew 1200.

"I'll also set one card. Now you can go."

Andrew had a look on his face—the one Bryan knew well. This duel was over.

"One card face-down," said Andrew. Something about the way he played the card just a little bit too slowly made Bryan feel reassured that it didn't have the kind of effect Andrew wanted at this point in the duel.

"It's a bluff," said Bryan, "but I don't blame you for trying. I'll summon Elemental Hero Burstinatrix (3: 1200|800)." His first female Hero of the duel burst forth onto the field in a spout of fire. "Time to attack."

"No hesitation?" asked Andrew.

"Not this time."

"Okay. You win." Burstinatix formed a fireball in each palm and then hurled them across the field like fastball pitches. Each one exploded against the table right in front of Andrew, dropping his Life Points to zero and ending the duel. Bryan's name flashed across the display screen with the word "WINNER" emblazoned in bold lettering.

Bryan 5100: Andrew 0.

Holograms faded and the table returned to its disengaged appearance like that of an electric ping pong table. Before collecting his cards, Bryan extended a hand across the table. "Good game, sir."

"Yes, congratulations to you. That was a good duel. Surprising victory for an Elemental Hero deck. Not often one of those manages to win an application duel, no offense."

"None taken. I know how hard it can be to handle a deck like this. That's why it's my favorite. I've always had a thing for superheroes and their ability to keep fighting no matter how stacked against them the odds might be."

"Plenty of long odds there," said Andrew. "But again, congrats on pulling out the win."

As Bryan returned the second handshake, he said, "Level with me. What are my chances of getting in?"

"Hey, look. I get no say in how a person is graded. I'm only here to deliver the duel and give the administrators a chance to watch."

"Just give me an assessment as if you did make the decision. To be a test proctor, you must be knowledgeable. I only want some feedback."

Andrew shifted nervously. Bryan had expected a response like that considering he was basically asking face-to-face "Judge me now." People generally disliked confrontation and Andrew was no exception. What leaned in Bryan's favor for this conversation was the fact that Andrew had all the power, the option to brush him off with a generic aphorism or be brutally honest to a guy he might never have to see again.

To Bryan's surprise, Andrew chose the latter. "None of this is official, but you do have some positive points. First, you don't lack for confidence. It's hard to tell from one duel whether it stops there or crosses over into arrogance, but confidence is a quality the mentors here spend a lot of time beating into their students. You made some good decisions, like not paralyzing yourself in fear of my face-down cards. On the other hand, you called my bluff every single time without stopping to think about it, and that can really ruin your game. Especially when you run an Elemental Hero deck. And one based on Polymerization! I don't remember the last time someone was admitted with a deck like that."

"No one runs a Hero deck?"

"Sometimes, but not the same way you do. Masks are more popular. Generally your cards are not fast enough to compete. But there are always exceptions. It just depends on what focus the admins have when they sit down to grade you."

Extending one more handshake, Bryan said, "Thanks, man. I appreciate your candor. I look forward to seeing you around campus. I want to duel your real deck next time, not some watered-down testing deck."

Andrew chuckled. "Confidence or arrogance."

As the testing period wound down, Bryan found the arena seating increasingly empty. Most of the applicants weren't too interested in sticking around longer than it took to complete their own practical duels. Even the girl Bryan chatted up earlier was gone. Too bad he never got her number; with a deck based on Final Countdown, there was no way she would end up at Duel Academy! He plopped down next to Matt, a short guy whose unshaved look was unfortunate because the facial hair grew in patches around his chin, like mutton chops but somehow worse.

"Congratulations on winning your round. I'm impressed."

Bryan chuckled nervously. "Yeah, me, too, a little bit. For a moment there when neither of us had many monsters, I thought I was screwed. Still surprised I pulled out Drowning Mirror Force and Burstinatrix when I did. How lucky was that?"

"Lucky and perfectly even," said Matt.

"Yeah, I thought you'd like that." Matt always enjoyed watching a person's Life Points hit zero evenly without needing to round up negative numbers. On rare occasion, Bryan skipped an attack here and there to make sure the duel ended with an even attack just to give Matt that feeling of satisfaction. "Winning the duel means I'm probably in, right?"

"Not necessarily. They're still going to weigh in your test scores and high school grades in some ridiculous formula no one understands outside of the admissions office. But your duel scores should be pretty good. You never panicked even in situations where you had no cards to play, plus you showed some decent skill with those early fusions, even if they were countered quickly. A longer duel like that is probably better for grading than if you came in and dominated, just because they can see how well you play isn't limited to favorable circumstances."

That wasn't as blunt as Bryan wanted it. "So you think I have a shot?"

"A solid probability, yes."

"Cool." Words of encouragement from Matt tended to make Bryan feel better. Even though Bryan was the one who taught him how to play, Matt had quickly emerged as a more complex thinker in the game. If he believed Bryan did well, then it had to be true.

"If it helps you: Few other duelists did anything noteworthy while you were busy." His gaze drifted silently into the ceiling corner for a moment before it fell to a pair of duels on the arena floor. Matt pointed to the one on the left, a duel between two girls, and said, "This girl is a shoe-in. She hasn't misplayed even once." He pointed to the duel on the right. "On the other hand, this guy can't handle his own cards for shit. He emptied his hand to summon a whole bunch of big monsters at once and didn't even defend himself against traps. One Mirror Force and he was more wide open than Venus de Milo boxing against Carl Weathers."

"Dude, he's not even a real boxer."

"He played one in a movie. Four of them, in fact. I think that would make him plenty skilled to box against an armless Greek statue."

Bryan laughed. "You're not wrong. Anything else I missed?"

"At least five female applicants you would have forfeit the duel to sleep with. Six, depending on how far your standards have fallen since Amber Kohler."

Bryan whipped his index finger into Matt's face. "Is that never talking about it again?"

Matt looked at the finger for a moment and made a face. "Where were you sticking that during the duel?"

With a scoff and a somewhat guilty and self-conscious wince, Bryan removed his finger. "Just be ready for your duel and don't talk about my ex-girlfriend anymore. There aren't many people left here so you've got to be up soon."

"According to the schedule, I'm up as soon as the duel at Table 2 is over."

"What schedule? They randomized everything so we couldn't prepare ahead of time."

Matt held Bryan's eye contact while he pointed to the far wall of the arena. A display screen typically used as a scoreboard-slash-permanent ad roll during major events was, at present, used instead to list the applicants seated at each of the eight tables and the applicants who were on call. Considering how short a duel might be, it was important for applicants to have some estimate for their time on stage to avoid wasting time for the proctors.

"You get an idea what the deck at Table 2 is?"

"Some girl playing a ritual deck. She's pretty good. Only one person I've watched since we got here has beaten her. In ten more minutes, it'll be two people."

"Well, I'd wish you luck, but you hate that."

A scowl crossed Matt's face—not that he had been smiling brightly to begin with. "I built my deck and tested it relentlessly. If I had to rely on luck after all that work, I'd give up the game."

"No, you wouldn't. You hate to lose." Bryan caught the eye of a short-haired blonde girl who was sitting at the top tier of the seats. From what he could see, she had smooth features and a round face. He flashed her a winning smile, which Matt saw, and she winked back. "The fun is in the pursuit."

Matt grumbled, "I'm surprised you got over your relationship so quickly. Like, sixty seconds. Is that a world record or just a personal best?"

"The way I figure it: Boarding school will be a good time to start over. I get to reinvent myself away from home and find a new girl to help make my high school life worth living. Don't you agree?"

"I've kissed one girl and she immediately told everyone I slobber. How eager do you really think I am to go chasing after every skirt that walks by?"

Bryan grinned. "What if they've got really big bazongas?"

"In her skirt? Is she a descendant of Picasso? Besides, her breasts make no difference whatsoever. You know I'm an ass man."

The light at Table 2 began to flash and the arena speaker called for Matthew Luther to find Table 2 for his application duel. "Sorry to skip out on the existential conversation, but that's my cue. Wish my opponent luck, just for fun."

"I hope she kicks you out."

"No, you don't." While mostly true that Bryan didn't want Matt to be beaten, there was a part of his mind that was so nervous he would get rejected that he hoped Matt would also get rejected so they could still both go to high school together back home.

Matt sat down at Table 2 without a word and loaded up his deck into the card slot. He gave the proctor an acknowledging nod while she introduced herself and stretched from sitting all day. Her shirt slid up just enough to reveal a sliver of skin, but she was quick to pull the seam back down. The display screen began spinning for a moment until it landed with the name Matthew Luther shown in small font.

"That's a pretty nice effect there," he said, speaking to Laura as she seated herself across from him. She didn't look like a natural blonde.

Laura forced a cordial smile that looked like a challenge to hold. Considering she had only been greeting applicants for an hour, to struggle so greatly meant she was unaccustomed to smiling.

"It's intended to make you feel welcome here. As rigorous as the application process gets, it's impressive even to get this far. You should already feel like a winner."

"Mission: accomplished. I feel plenty welcome."

"Good."

A moment of silence passed between them as Matt broke eye contact with his proctor and instead glanced around the stadium, admiring the other application duels occurring concurrently.

Laura leaned forward, curious whether the young applicant knew what was going on. "That display means you get the first turn."

Matt reacted with surprise, but he recovered quickly and changed his expression to one of intense concentration. "Of course it does. I'm just considering what to play first."

Suppressing a smirk, she said, "Yes, sir."

"Don't do that. I'm no sir, and you are not inferior to me, even if you're stuck with a testing deck." After giving her a look of sincerity, he held one of his cards beside his face so Laura could see it.

"I summon Elemental Hero Prisma (4: 1700|1100)." A prism chiseled into the form of a winged man shimmered into existence from the interplay of light on the holographic duel table. Matt took a moment to admire the construction of the table, imagining where all the lenses and mirrors had to be placed to form every conceivable hologram that might be needed for any given duel. It was one thing to see professional-sized equipment, but to scale it down to this size was an incredible feat.

"Is that it?" asked Laura.

Without losing focus on the table, Matt replied, "Not remotely. Prisma has the effect to mimic a monster from my deck as long as I send it to the graveyard." He went through his deck and pulled out the Dark Magician.

Laura began laughing wildly. "Dark Magician? Oh, honey, you might as well go home now."

"Because such a badass monster means my victory is assured?"

"'Not remotely.'" She was definitely mocking Matt by repeating his words back to him in a similar tone. "There is no surer sign of a noob than a Dark Magician deck. Everyone always tries to build their first deck like a Yugi Mutou deck, not realizing he's just a legend."

"What do you mean? Is he not a historical figure?"

She took a moment of hysterical laughter before Laura could answer his question. "All the stories you've heard of Yugi Mutou and Seto Kaiba are just legends. You might as well build your deck the same way Zeus would or Godzilla."

"Wow," said Matt, letting a grin creep across his face. "You are terrible at metaphors."

"And you are terrible at deck building. You want to give up now?"

"Will that get me accepted into Duel Academy?"

Laura put on a look of disgust. "What? Of course not!"

Calmly, Matt said, "Then no, I don't want to give up. I will, however, put two cards face-down and then end my turn."

Once a moderately attractive face after a long, draining day rapidly turned into the look of someone who couldn't believe she had to put up with this shit. "Fine. I play Sonic Bird (4: 1400|1000). That gives me one Ritual Spell from my deck." The monster appeared as an eagle wearing goggles and a jet pack. It took flight as a normal bird, but it went supersonic when the thrusters engaged, flashing across the length of the field and returning to its original position with Hymn of Light in its beak. "Now I use Hymn of Light: Sonic Bird on the field and one in my hand are sacrificed to summon Saffira, Queen of Dragons (6: 2500|2400)." Her monster gleamed with stunning, sapphire scales and wings like rhinestone-studded curtain liners.

Matt scoffed. "I'm sorry to have to put the lights out." He flipped over one of his face-down cards. "Book of Moon flips your monster face-down." A blue book with a golden moon emblazoned on the cover opened, covering Laura's side of the field in darkness and hiding her monster in defense mode.

Laura was noticeably annoyed to lose such a great monster already. "Fine. I will also set one card. My turn ends."

"Before you do, I chain Eternal Soul." A great, stone tablet rose from the ground bearing carvings of a wizard. Fading into existence, the wizard came to life, tall and dressed in iconic, purple robes. "For this turn, the effect lets me summon Dark Magician (7: 2500|2100) from the graveyard."

"Congratulations on actually summoning your favorite monster."

"Thank you. Sorry you have to lose yours. I play Thousand Knives." It may not have been a thousand, but when Dark Magician swung his staff, swarms of knives flew through the air and eviscerated Laura's face-down Saffira without making battle necessary.

"What will you do next?" asked Laura. Her eyes drifted to her face-down card. Matt couldn't help suspecting that she was trying to bluff him into thinking it was something as dangerous as Mirror Force when it really wasn't, except that he believed she was most likely a really bad actress and that her card really was a powerful trap.

"I'll use Eternal Soul." The stone tablet hadn't left the field earlier; in fact, like some of the most powerful traps, it would remain permanently until Laura could destroy it. "Instead of summoning another magician, I'll take Dark Magic Attack from my deck and play it." The stone tablet faded in a Spell card. Immediately after, Dark Magician swung his staff again, this time hurling a blast of black magic that consumed Laura's face-down card in black flames. "Powerful spell, wouldn't you say? It knocked your Mirror Force right out of here."

"And now I'm wide open," said Laura, accepting her position.

Matt smirked. "I bet that happens to you a lot." Laura gasped in outrage at the vulgar insinuation. "Don't worry about it. I trade Prisma on my field for Dark Magician Girl (6: 2000|1700)." Equally iconic to her male counterpart, Dark Magician Girl wore blue magician's robes that revealed significantly more skin. "These two make a good team, don't you think?" Dark Magician thrust forward his staff as Dark Magician Girl swung her rod, each casting a black and blue spell that interwove into a single, explosive burst of energy as it connected with Laura's Life Points.

Matt 8000: Laura 3500.

"Need to shore up my reserves before I'm done, so I'll use E – Emergency Call to get another Prisma in my hand." Identical to the holograms seen during Bryan's duel, a three-dimensional E exploded as the reflective Hero sprang from the deck and into Matt's hand.

Extending his hand and bowing as if offering his hand to Laura, he said, "It's your turn."

"Great," she grumbled, clearly unimpressed by his feigned chivalry. Matt figured it was probably the sex joke that irritated her so much.

And her frustration wasn't at all helped by her next draw. Laura's hand looked a little thin as she put one monster face-down in defense mode and called for her turn to end.

"Hang on," said Matt. "Eternal Soul activates again. This time I get Thousand Knives."

Laura leaned back in her seat and took in a heavy sigh of annoyance. No one needed an advanced dueling degree to know exactly what was about to happen. And indeed, Matt was not one to mince cards… except when he played Thousand Knives. After Laura's monster was eviscerated, his two magicians dual-cast their spells once more to obliterate the rest of her Life Points.

Matt 8000: Laura 0.

The few people who were watching his specific duel applauded. Matt was one of few duelists all day who managed victory without losing any Life Points. A long, piercing wolf whistle cut through the cheers. He followed it back to the blonde girl with the round face. She winked at him again, and then he realized she hadn't been checking out Bryan after all.

"Yes, congratulations," said Laura to Matt, and she could not have sounded less sincere. She offered a handshake. "You performed well."

"Women always say that to me." Exasperated, Laura withdrew her hand and crossed her arms over her chest. "I mean dueling!" he insisted, sounding less than convincing. "Damn. You're so touchy. I mean sensitive. I mean you can only take so much. Man, it's difficult to find a description that doesn't sound like a sexual euphemism." He might have come across as less offensive if he didn't sound ready to laugh.

"Get away from me," said Laura with a bonafide growl.

"Fair enough. As parting words: I look forward to dueling your real strength one day soon."

She walked away from the table muttering, "Creep."

Matt turned back to the stands thinking, "She's not wrong."

Bryan was thrilled to see Matt again. "Nicely done, dude! You fuckin' walloped her! Too bad you couldn't have pulled it off in a single turn. I bet that would guarantee your acceptance."

"Only if my test scores are good enough. Let's face it: We don't know the exact grading criteria. We're just speculating and opening ourselves to heightened disappointment."

"Yeah, maybe. That essay was no fun, either. How am I supposed to tell anyone where I'll be in five years when that directly depends on whether I get accepted to dueling school?"

"Fair point. How about we just go raid the deli for now? I think we have two-to-four months before we hear any final decision."

Bryan groaned. "Fingers crossed. Two-to-four more months of regular school can't end soon enough."

Welcome, Reader, to the first chapter of my reimagined story of Duel Academy. Whether you are new to my writing or you read my previous fic before the characters careened out of control, I'm glad you're here and I hope you enjoy the start of Bryan and Matt's new journey.

As I have done before, I will accept OCs to help fill out the ranks of Duel Academy. I love participation from my readers, but past experiences have provided me with the following tips to make sure your character is someone I can use well. Check my profile for details.