Chapter 27: An Unexpected Outcome

Sixteen years ago, plus or minus some time, a single woman named Alexandria Jackson gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Unfortunately, she never had a chance to raise her newborn son: Only fourteen days after her pregnancy ended, Alexandria suffered a lethal stroke. Some online reports wrote that "stroke" was the cause of death, but women's organizations suggested it was pre-eclampsia. Either way, the death occurred so soon after the birth that Alexandria's death was described as a "maternal death", some reports summarizing it as happening "during childbirth".

"So without his mother around and no father or other family in the picture, baby Kai Jackson entered the local orphanage," said Matt.

"I thought orphanages were abolished," said Bryan.

"There aren't any in the US anymore, but other countries still have them. Kai's mother might have been English or from an English-speaking country originally, but she lived in Japan at the time she gave birth."

Bryan frowned. "And no idea who his father is?"

"None whatsoever. If his mother knew, she took it to her grave. I suppose it's possible she hid some kind of clue in whatever personal effects she left behind for her son, but life is rarely like a Hallmark movie, so I wouldn't put a lot of money on that gamble."

Matt had expected Bryan to have all kinds of comments and questions. After all, it sounded like Kai was the flip side to the coin of Matt's life. But Bryan was silent for five minutes as he watched Leon give pointers to Kenny about a better way to defend against Jack's imitation Obelisk deck. Jack didn't have a real copy of Obelisk, of course, but he had watched her videos and discussed strategy with her enough to piece together his own deck with a few pretend cards—real cards so the back looked normal, but they had other names and effects taped to the front. The idea was to train the Longshots on how to better handle the other dueling teams.

Finally Bryan asked, "How does that make you feel?"

"Kinda sad, honestly. He didn't even tape the paper scraps on straight. They're all askew."

"About Kai?" Bryan clarified the question.

"I don't feel anything about Kai."

"Liar. His backstory sounds identical to yours. Surely you have some kind of response to that."

Matt shook his head. "Entering the foster system is where our similarities end. His upper-middle-class foster family eventually adopted him. He had a blog for a while where he posted elaborate stories about Egyptian historical fiction—basically a lot of historical events but with a heavy slant as if Egyptian mythology were real. And by real, I mean his version of Egyptian mythology. You thought Rick Riordan took some liberties? You should read how Kai managed to incorporate Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards that were never once mentioned in Egyptian texts."

"Strange, but understandable. The storytelling lore for this card game has always pretended it originated with Ancient Egypt. Isn't it just the backstory used to sell a product?"

"Technically Ancient Egypt just gives color and culture to the backstory. Yugi Mutou and Seto Kaiba are the actual backstory."

"I guess," said Bryan. "Did Kai happen to explain in his blog what exactly led him to believe he's actually Seto Kaiba?"

"Not in so many words. He describes traveling a lot. He's been to museums around the world as long as they had Egyptian exhibits at the time he was visiting. I'd guess it's all just obsession. Study something hard enough and memorize enough details, then eventually for forget that those details aren't part of your personal history. Obviously he's a capable duelist, and he had a deck full of Blue-Eyes cards, so that definitely feeds his delusions. I haven't finalized how he came across those cards yet, though."

Bryan nodded. "Yeah, talk about lucky. Still, that's a lot of information to find in just two days when you won't even talk to Kai himself about it. Do you ever study for your classes?"

"Sometimes. You and I have very different sleep schedules."

"Yes, I know. And Jack knows. I'm pretty sure he learned his lesson about stress-drumming on the bed frame."

"I only hit him with a pillow."

"That had a chemistry book inside it," Bryan added. "When you hear rumors about how much you need your beauty sleep, that'll be why."

"As long as the point gets across."

Leon stood tall and called, "Bryan. Matt. You're up."

As the boys stood from the couch and wandered to the makeshift duel station, Bryan said, "It's unusual for you to give up on Kai so quickly. I would expect you to want more solid answers instead of a bunch of psychological theories about false memories."

"I never said I was done. In fact, you remember Emily Li? She probably spends the most time talking to him without being a member of the Duel Dragonists. And since she's in both of my Monday-Wednesday classes, it should be easy enough to find a chance to talk to her."

Bryan laughed but didn't speak.

"You think I can't strike up a conversation?"

"I think Emily will smell an ulterior motive coming at her a mile away."

Leon said, "Talk about your dating life some other time. We've got a league match against the Guardian Duelers tomorrow. This is why we specifically had you sit out the last match. It'd be nice if we won even a single duel against them just one time, don't you think?"

Matt tapped his chin as if mulling over the question. "Yes?" He made sure there was a heavy question mark at the end. No one really expected the Longshots to win anything, after all. They rarely did. Even if Matt were capable of carrying all the victories, the rules prohibited any individual duelist from participating in consecutive contests, and his teammates weren't on the same level. He had to sit and watch while the other Slifers struggled against Victorious Secret that past weekend just so that he could be eligible for the Guardian Dueler match.

"Who do you think they'll play?" asked Bryan.

Leon shook his head. "No rumors yet. All we know for sure is that Erica, Andy, and Gima are benched because they played the last match. Any of the other six might come up."

Jack said, "Lucy might participate in this round. Specifically, I think she wants to duel against one of those two." He pointed to Bryan and Matt.

That line of reasoning explained why Jack was preparing his teammates with a fake Obelisk deck. But on reflection, Matt was certain that Jack was dead wrong. "There's no way Lucy participates in this round. She's too much of a wildcard, even for the Guardian Duelers."

Leon frowned. "Why would being a wildcard reduce the chance of her participation?"

"Bryan and I have spent a decent amount of time with everyone from that dorm. Less with Yul and Gima, so they'd get top billing. Gima's not eligible because of last week, so there are two more spaces. I've noticed that Mikey hasn't dueled for the past two weeks. For a guy who wins almost all the time, that's odd."

Kenny asked, "Is he the lucky guy?"

"Aren't we all lucky just to be here together?" asked Matt. He tried to hide the sarcasm, but he suspected that he failed.

It didn't bother Kenny, though. He just chuckled that full-body chuckle of his. "He's different, if it's who I'm thinking of. Seems like no matter what he does, chance just falls in his favor more often than not. Coin flips, High card-Low card, interrupting Dr. Dise constantly without getting punished…"

"And he got that Sydney King chick to agree to a date," said Jack.

"Are you shitting me?" asked Bryan. No doubt he suddenly felt super-jealous. Sydney was older than most students, but that just meant she had more time to… develop. And unlike Lucy, who hid her body under baggy clothes, Sydney continued to wearing clothes that were intended for her size, if not a size smaller. She definitely stood out in a school full of nerds. So yeah, Mikey had to be utterly swimming in luck or charisma to catch any level of her affection.

Matt smirked. "Okay. So Yul plus Lucky Mikey. The third duelist could be anyone, but I'd bet on Dave."

Leon asked, "Why him?"

"Because he's the best."

With a chuckle, Leon followed up. "Why would they bother sending 'the best' against the lowest-ranked team?"

Matt make a face, pretending as though he didn't understand the question. "Because I'm here. The best wants to duel against the best." He didn't even bother smiling. He kept his face perfectly stoic to drive home the point that he wasn't being cocky—just honest.

While the rest of the team considered whether to mock Matt for his beliefs, Joel finally looked up from where he had been sorting through his team deck. "You know, Matt just named all the Guardians who have Slifer-based cards. Yul plays the Sacred Beast form, Mikey plays the Wicked form, and Dave plays the original Egyptian God Card. He really could be right, especially if they wanted the symbolism of Slifer cards defeating the entire Slifer dorm."

Leon appeared to mull over the idea for a moment, but hearing it from both Matt and Joel at the same time convinced him. "Alright. The symbolism is entertaining, so let's work off that assumption. Matt, Bryan, and I will duel this week. The match-ups are supposed to be random, but maybe a little bit of preparation will make us the lucky ones."

League duels took place at the recreation center because the sports field had a ton of space for setting up multiple duel stations, and it didn't see a whole lot of its original, intended use. It even came with a dome to protect everyone from most of the elements, though the evening air still flirted with freezing temperatures.

Bryan and Leon stood by their assigned field, going through personal rituals to get themselves into the mindset for victory. For his needs, Bryan liked to treat his deck like tarot cards: He drew an opening hand, judged how useful it was on a scale of 1 to 5, then shuffled the deck and drew another hand. If three hands could achieve a combined score of 10 or higher, then that was a good omen. His first hand was Mask Change, Dark Hole, Call of the Haunted, Honest Neos, and My Body as a Shield. It was a good variety of tactics, but he didn't have a regular monster to summon, given that Honest Neos was typically best kept in the hand. So he rated it a 2. He needed two more hands to score at least 4 each.

While Bryan worked on his personal insanity, Matt acted like nothing was going on. He was talking to Kasumi and Mitsuro, who were at the field to support their own teammates: Victorious Secret would duel against the Duel Dragonists at the same time the Longshots took on the Guardian Duelers. Whatever they were talking about, Kasumi kept touching Matt's wrist and fingers without any prolonged contact. Bryan thought they looked cute together, but he knew how much Matt hated her evasiveness. If they were ever going to be boyfriend-girlfriend, he wanted her to be okay with other people knowing about it.

And because of their positioning, he just barely caught Nick Sims scowling at him. Or maybe he was scowling at Matt instead. Ever since the first week of classes, Nick had started sitting next to Bryan and Kasumi in PE, and he partnered with her a lot as weight lifting spotters. Bryan never considered anything was going on there until he saw how annoyed Nick looked to see Kasumi flirting somewhat openly with Matt.

But that was just a pointless distraction right now! Bryan rated his second hand to be a 4 when another distraction struck: Lucy snuck up from behind him and tapped his arm. Jack stood really close to her.

"Feeling good tonight?" she asked Bryan.

He shrugged. "I guess we'll find out, won't we?"

She beamed at him. "Did you watch Two Bits last night?"

Suddenly Bryan's mood lifted significantly. Two Bits was an ongoing anime that had lasted seven seasons already. The main character was a former thief who was recruited into this tribe of nomadic warriors. Every arc was an epic journey through a new town where some tyrant was suppressing the people's culture, so she helped her crew steal back critical pieces before major fights inevitably broke out. It was targeted as a shonen anime, but Lucy was a huge fan anyway.

"Of course I did! I stayed up an extra hour to finish my paper just so I could give that episode the attention it deserved. Like when—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" said Jack. "I missed it yesterday. I have it all queued up for tonight when I finally have a few minutes of study break. No spoilers."

Bryan shook his head. "You're gonna have to put earmuffs on, then, because I could talk about that crazy plot twist all night." Annoyed, Jack put his hands over his ears and took a step back.

"We can fangirl over it later. You have to get read for your duel," said Lucy. "I can't actually root for you to win, for obvious reasons, so I'm rooting for you to have a good match."

"My chances of winning are slim, so I appreciate that you even kinda want to see me win for once."

She beamed again. Lucy really did have the prettiest face on campus. Her smile turned wry as she leaned close. "But seriously. Citan versus Maximillion?"

"Right? Dude was always strong, but to kill a dragon!"

Jack started blurting out nonsense sounds to drown them out. He drew the attention of others nearby, but no one cared enough to check on his mental health.

Lucy tapped Bryan's forearm. "Good luck." As she turned away, she knocked on Jack's shoulder. "We're done." Jack put his arms down and followed Lucy toward the bleachers at the end of the field, where they'd have a view of all the duels at once.

Joel Hullum was much handsier. He grabbed Bryan's shoulders and gave them successive rubs. "How's it going, man? You feeling loosened up? What's the draw hand score look like tonight?" Joel knew about Bryan's ritual only because he was there when Bryan came up with it. They had been bantering with Leon about some of the superstitions Leon had heard throughout his years when Bryan convinced himself that a superstition was ridiculous and couldn't possibly help, but it also wouldn't hurt.

Bryan shuffled his cards and drew his third hand. "This one's a 3, which makes 9 for the total."

"That's great! That's above average, right?"

"Well, technically yes." To Bryan's eye, he had drawn a bad hand, a good hand, and a middling hand—or three middling hands, for the type of person who considered 5s to be the only good hand. But Joel was above average at seeing things in a positive light. One of his superpowers.

"Awesome! Leon's feeling good about this, too. And Matt is Matt. I've never seen him look flustered before a duel. You guys will kill it tonight!" Joel walked away smiling so brightly that Bryan started smiling, too.

Pr. Radican was the judge for their field. He was the only professor who still stood taller than Bryan. When he called over both teams, Bryan was surprised to see Dave, Mikey, and Yul walk up. How the hell was Matt so good at predicting these things?

"Good evening, gentlemen. Everyone ready to win tonight?" He looked around the group. They all returned silent nods. "Have fun out there. You all know the rules. We'll decide the match-ups with a dice roll." Every professor had their preferred method for introducing randomness into the game. Radican handed each player a six-sided die and had them drop it. He recorded the numbers everyone rolled in sequence. Leon and Mikey both rolled sixes, so they were matched to each other. Matt rolled a one and Bryan rolled a four, but Dave and Yul both rolled threes. They wouldn't duel against each other, so Radican asked, "Longshots, you have the lower seed, so you get to pick the match-ups."

"I'll take Dave," said Matt.

Dave smiled. "Exactly as I planned it when I rolled that three." They shook hands and walked off to one of the duel stations.

Bryan extended his hand to Yul. "I guess that leaves you and me."

"Yes. Good luck to both. Let's have a good duel."

They were all quick to set up, although Dave and Matt spent longer chattering and had to be told—in professorial semantics—to shut up and duel. As Bryan sized up his opponent, he felt that familiar pang that even the next rung on the ladder was still too far out of reach.

Yul received the first turn. He immediately threw four cards face-down in the backfield, leaving no monsters to defend himself. Bryan knew that Uria drew its power from Traps, and he consciously knew to expect a ton of Trap Cards during this duel. But there was the gap between expecting it and actually seeing it.

"Four cards," said Yul. Bryan always forgot how thick his accent was. "Done."

Yul: 8000 LP, 1 card

Bryan: 8000 LP, 5 cards

For his first turn, Bryan's hand wasn't great. It actually bore a strong resemblance to the first tarot hand he drew: namely, that he held Dark Hole and Raikgeki, both intended to clear the field of monsters, not Traps. And all he had for defense was Honest, the low-level one, which didn't get shuffled to the bottom of the deck like he had hoped.

"I'll also set two in the back plus a monster," said Bryan.

Yul: 8000 LP, 1 card

Bryan: 8000 LP, 3 cards

When Yul drew his next card, he gave the field a cursory glance and then looked through his cards again to remember what they were. He set another card in the back, then he flipped one, which was definitely a Trap Card. "Quantum Cat (4: 0|2200)," he said as his card turned into ghost-like cat that stood half inside and half outside of a cage. "It's a Trap Monster, and I pick it to be Pyro type with Fire attribute." The mist surrounding the cat took on a fiery appearance. He flipped another Continuous Trap, which turned out to be a horrific, humanoid monster made from vines and muck with a face that fell deep inside the uncanny valley. "Swamp Mirrorer (4: 1800|1000), also Pyro and Fire." The vines turned orange and red and appeared to be ablaze. Finally, he flipped another Quantum Cat (4: 0|2200) and made it a Pyro-Fire monster, too.

"That's three," said Bryan. His chest tightened as he anticipated the next move.

Only the second turn, and Yul already sent his three Traps away to replace them with Uria, Lord of Searing Flames (10: +3000|0). The red dragon was every bit as intimidating as Slifer, with its serpentine body snaking around the entire size of the field. The spikes along the back of its head and the side of its jaws brought to mind those signs about "severe tire damage". Its bat-like wings were small compared to its body, suggesting it flew through some type of energy conversion instead of through lift. And the way the three Traps in the Graveyard turned into a sea of fire to raise Uria's attack points really sold the name "Lord of Searing Flames".

"So fast," said Bryan.

Yul smiled. "I'm not taking risks. Uria attacks." The blast of fire engulfed Honest and left nothing behind. Even the ashes were incinerated.

Yul: 8000 LP, 0 cards

Bryan: 8000 LP, 3 cards

One thing about Uria: It wasn't quite as powerful as Slifer because it wouldn't automatically attack all of Bryan's monsters. It was still immune to typical destruction effects, but like the other god cards, the Sacred Beasts only had full immunity to targeting. So options that didn't target…

"I'll use Dark Hole." A black hole appeared in the middle of the table, a gravitational pull so powerful that not even a god card could escape.

Unfortunately, Bryan got excited and jumped the gun. When the duel station asked him about activating another effect, he accidentally activated Call of the Haunted to bring back Honest (4: 1100|1900). But Dark Hole hadn't resolved yet, and it didn't target, so Uria and Honest both disappeared into the spatial abyss.

Yul: 8000 LP, 0 cards

Bryan: 8000 LP, 3 cards

Lucy winced at Bryan's misplay. He seemed to be taking it in stride, but she knew he would beat himself up over that. She was torn between letting him know that excitement and anticipation can get the best of anyone, but that was the kind of undisciplined, rookie mistake that Bryan was kind of known for. It was fairly expected for freshmen to make similar errors, but Bryan made them more frequently than most.

Dave and Matt's duel was moving just as quickly in terms of cards played, though the duel might be over already if they'd spend less time joking around with each other. Lucy had seen enough of Matt's duels where he messed with his opponent's head, but he hardly even seemed to recognize he was in a duel. He and Dave were talking about Euchre and Spades and a slew of other card games that had nothing to do with Yu-Gi-Oh! Gaming.

When they started, Matt discarded one of his cards to summon Timaeus the United Dragon (8: 2800|1800) straight from his hand. A massive emerald dragon to be sure, but it wouldn't measure up once Slifer hit the field. He further discarded another card with the effect to revive Dark Magician (7: 2500|2100) from the Graveyard. He had set the last two cards to end his first turn.

Matt: 8000 LP, 0 cards

Dave: 8000 LP, 5 cards

Dave's first turn saw the Field Spell Card Mound of the Bound Creator, which turned the field stormy as three sealed, wooden statues rose in between the two duelists.

Matt: 8000 LP, 0 cards

Dave: 8000 LP, 5 cards

Lucy had needed to blink twice to figure out that Dave had ended his turn with no other cards. Had he been that engrossed in whatever conversation the two were having? Had Matt somehow hypnotized him into playing down to the freshman level?

Matt had responded by summoning Magician's Rod (4: 1600|100), and Dave discarded Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to negate the effect. But even if his combo was broken, Matt still had three monsters to blast the field. First Timaeus (2800), then Magician's Rod (1600) before Dave summoned his Guardian Slime (10: 0|0), which perfectly intercepted and absorbed the Dark Magician's attack without being destroyed.

Matt: 8000 LP, 0 cards

Dave: 3600 LP, 3 cards

Meanwhile, the duel between Leon and Mikey was moving slowest of them all. Lucy usually found it challenging to keep up with multiple duels at the same time, so she tended to focus on just one. But she knew these Slifer duelists showed promise, even if they had the least experience and the lowest prospects on campus, so she wanted to know how they dueled.

Leon had started with Emergency Teleport to bring out Serene Psychic Witch (3: 1400|1200) followed by Psi-Impulse. A pretty good combo overall: Emergency Teleport was going to banish the monster it summoned at the end of the turn, so Leon used that monster as the cost for Psi-Impulse so he could force Mikey to shuffle five cards back into the deck and only draw three replacements. He left two cards face-down for defense.

Leon: 8000 LP, 1 card

Mikey: 8000 LP, 3 cards

Mikey's side of the duel started with Shard of Greed, which was a slow-build card to give some extra draw power. He had set all his other cards, including a defensive monster, to end his turn.

Leon: 8000 LP, 1 card

Mikey: 8000 LP, 0 cards

Leon decided to use Cosmic Cyclone to banish one of Mikey's face-down cards at the cost of 1000 LP. Apparently he wasn't too worried about Shard of Greed. And because Mikey had more cards in his magic zone, Leon summoned Psychic Megacyber (6: 2200|1200) as a Special Summon. It was a kind of gold android with detachable rocket arms. But the arms never saw use because Mikey played Ring of Destruction to destroy the monster instantly. Both players took damage from it, but Mikey didn't mind because he was still ahead in points. Leon set his last card before ending his turn again.

Leon: 4800 LP, 0 cards

Mikey: 5800 LP, 0 cards

Lucy's attention went right back to Dave's duel against Matt. Dave had cleared away the backfield and summoned Egyptian God Slime (10: 3000|3000) to be Tribute fodder for Slifer the Sky Dragon (10: +3000|+3000). Storms rolled in with the serpentine body that almost looked like an off-screen extension of Uria. Slifer's scales were more bloodred compared to Uria's fire red, though. Slifer (3000) immediately blasted Magician's Rod (1600) for maximum damage. Not only did Matt suffer from Battle Damage, but Mound of the Bound Creator activated to dole out extra damage whenever a god card destroyed another monster.

Matt: 5600 LP, 0 cards

Dave: 3600 LP, 3 cards

Matt made some comment that caused Dave to laugh, but then he activated Dark Magic Expanded. His Dark Magician (+3500) gained enough attack points to overpower even Slifer (3000) with the next spell he cast. The animation on the duel station played out longer than usual—something that always happened on the rare occasion a god card was defeated in battle. Supposed to symbolize the epic nature of the power needed to beat a god, according to Justin. Lucy just took his word as the programmer in the house. When Slifer disappeared, Timaeus (2800) dealt damage that almost ended the duel for Dave.

Matt: 5600 LP, 0 cards

Dave: 300 LP, 3 cards

Lucy hadn't realized that she was holding her breath. No one ever brought Dave so close to losing when he had Slifer on the field. Matt really was something special. No wonder he managed to win that Deck Limitations Tournament. But Dave was also special. He held Monster Reborn, bringing Slifer the Sky Dragon (10: +3000|+3000) back to the field while Dark Magician (-2500) was back to his original strength. But Dave had a better card this time: Thunderforce Attack. Slifer unleashed a blast of lightning that struck both of Matt's monsters at once. It didn't do any damage, but it did increase Slifer's (+4000) power by another 1000 points for each destroyed monster. The next attack brought the duel down to a real nail-biter, except that Dave had cards in his hand and Matt didn't. Slifer left the field, but Lucy expected she already knew what card he left behind, and it would end the duel in Dave's favor.

Matt: 1600 LP, 0 cards

Dave: 300 LP, 2 cards

Lucy had gotten so wrapped up watching Dave that she didn't realize when Bryan managed to get the upper hand. He had Masked Hero Acid (8: 2600|2100), which just wiped away all of Yul's Trap Cards.

Yul: 5400 LP, 0 cards

Bryan: 8000 LP, 1 card

On his turn, Yul set a card, which was no big surprise, but that was unfortunately all he could do.

Yul: 5400 LP, 0 cards

Bryan: 8000 LP, 1 card

Bryan, on the other hand, played Miracle Fusion to fuse Bubbleman and Honest from the Graveyard into Elemental Hero The Shining (8: +2900|2100). With Masked Hero Acid (2600), he had enough points on the field to deplete all of Yul's LP. Bryan could actually win! She wasn't supposed to be happy about that, but she couldn't help it.

Acid (2600) struck first, but when The Shining (2900) moved to attack, Yul activated his Tiki Soul to become a defense monster and deflect the attack.

Yul: 2800 LP, 0 cards

Bryan: 8000 LP, 1 card

The next two turns went the same way, with Swamp Mirrorer deflecting another attack from The Shining (2900) while Acid (2600 whittled away Yul's LP. Bryan even had an extra card to set this time.

Yul: 200 LP, 0 cards

Bryan: 8000 LP, 1 card

But this time, Yul's defense was too strong. Metal Reflect Slime (10: 0|3000) became a monster so strong that even The Shining (2900) couldn't overpower it, so Bryan was forced to end his turn without ending the duel.

Yul: 200 LP, 0 cards

Bryan: 7900 LP, 2 cards

For his turn, Yul played Fallen Paradise, a Field Spell good for protecting Sacred Beasts. If he managed to revive Uria, it would have at least 6000 attack points.

And then Bryan played Raigeki. With Metal Reflect Slime destroyed in a lightning storm, The Shining ended the duel with just one more punch.

Yul: 0 LP, 0 cards

Bryan: 7900 LP, 2 cards

Bryan couldn't believe what happened. He sat and stared at the field in disbelief, unable to voice his thoughts or even move until Yul extended his hand. "That was a strong duel. Congratulations."

"Thanks," said Bryan, still unsure how he managed to pull that off.

Yul insisted, "You played well. I did not lose intentionally."

"I know," said Bryan. He was happy about that win. Maybe he didn't look happy enough? "Just one duel, though. You're still the better duelist."

"I saw your challenge card. You want Uria?"

Bryan responded with a bewildered expression. But then he remembered Dr. Lankford saying that he would approve the challenge, so of course Yul saw it already. "I thought challenging you would be a good exercise."

"Agree. And maybe you can even win. But we'll see about that. Make sure you are completely ready for it. Sometimes the gods don't care about league duels, but they get serious for direct challenges."

As silly as it sounded, Yul's words sounded a lot like the living god card theory that Matt and Leona and Howard and Andy were all pushing forward. "So you're saying that Uria went easy on me just now, but it would go hardcore in an area duel to truly test me, is that right?"

Yul smiled. "You don't sound surprised."

"Hearing that god cards are magic has been a common refrain lately."

"If you can win again, maybe you'll hear more stories." Yul looked genuinely happy to suggest that Bryan might actually earn a god card in a challenge duel. Like, either this guy was tired of being in the Guardian Duelers, or he had the best Poker face Bryan had ever seen.

"Thanks. I look forward to it."

Bryan remembered that his wasn't the only duel going on. But when he looked at the next table, he saw that Matt and Dave were already done and gabbing about some book series that Bryan couldn't bring himself to read because it was more romcom than action-adventure.

But most importantly, Matt lost.

"Dave brought back Slifer at the last minute with maximum power. We all knew there was fifty percent chance that he would win this time."

"This time," repeated Dave with a chuckle. "You want to challenge me again?"

Matt shrugged. "Not super-interesting to watch reruns. Would you a play a different deck?"

"I could. This is my secondary deck, if you believe it."

"I do believe it. That's why I got bored halfway through the duel."

Bryan made a face. Was Matt honestly blaming his loss against the school's Number 1 duelist on boredom? Or weirder: Was there even a chance that was true? "You should definitely duel again so you can prove that you're capable of beating Unstoppable Dave."

"He's definitely capable," said Dave. "There's always an element of luck to any given duel. I could have lost this one easily if luck had been even one tick further in his direction. Maybe the only person who never has to rely on luck is Mikey."

"Really?" asked Matt.

"Yeah. Whatever percentage of winning is accounted for by luck, he's got that completely in his favor. It's completely his deck and how he plays versus your deck, how you play, and your bad luck."

"Like the exception that proves the rule."

"Exactly."

Bryan asked, "What does that mean, anyway? I hear it but it doesn't make any sense. How does an exception to the rule prove it? Shouldn't it disprove the rule?"

"Read a geometry book," said Matt. "But dude, you won! Good job pulling your weight."

Bryan shook his head. "No, it was luck."

"Own your accomplishments," said Dave. "One thing you'll learn eventually is that you have to toot your own horn. No one else is gonna do it, not when they're all competing for the exact same prestige."

Matt looked at Bryan while pointing at Dave, as if to draw extra attention to Dave's words of wisdom. "Facts. And pay attention to Leon's duel. The outcome of this league match is on his shoulders now, so be a good teammate and cheer him on."

The timing was great. Mikey just removed Egyptian God Slime from the field so he could summon The Wicked Eraser (10: +4000|+4000). Shadows covered the field, but the appearance of light gave them form as a long serpent, thinner than Slifer and Uria, but heavier, like it had even more mass compacted into a smaller body.

"I'm also playin' Divine Evolution," said Mikey. A brilliant aura surrounded the shadowy wyrm. Somehow the contrast of light emitted by shadow made it even more terrifying. "That's an extra thousand, so now's a good time to attack."

The Wicked Eraser (+5000) targeted the Psychic Snail (1900) on Leon's field. But Leon had a face-down card. "I'll use Blazing Mirror Force." Bryan always mixed up all the different Mirror Force cards, but he gathered from context that this one was supposed to destroy attacking monsters.

"Eraser's immune to Traps," said Mikey. "Oh, but he drops a thousand because you're getting rid of a card. And another thousand because Divine Evolution's effect also removes your other monster." He meant the fact that Eraser (-3000) gained attack power from his opponent's cards on the field. When two of Leon's cards went to the Graveyard, Eraser dropped 2000 points. It was still enough to destroy Psychic Snail (1900), even though another thousand points fell afterward. And lightning struck as Mound of the Bound Creator dealt an extra thousand points of damage directly to Leon.

Leon: 1100 LP, 2 cards

Mikey: 5800 LP, 2 cards

Leon drew his card, considered his hand for a moment, then set one monster. It was probably a temporary defense, but maybe it would give him time to build a counterattack.

Leon: 1100 LP, 2 cards

Mikey: 5800 LP, 2 cards

Mikey just smiled. "I guess we're done, huh?" Bryan didn't understand why he considered the duel to be over. Leon had a defensive monster and another face-down card on the field. But when Eraser (+3000) attacked, that brilliant light removed the monster without even revealing what it was. Eraser (-2000) lost points for it, but it still had more attack points than Leon had Life Points.

Leon: 0 LP, 2 cards

Mikey: 5800 LP, 3 cards

Lucy was the one to say, "That's what I expected to happen. But honestly, I'm a little bit disappointed on your behalf." She gave Bryan a half smile. "For a minute there, I actually thought you guys might pull it off."

Dave said, "Yeah, what's up with that, Matt?" He smiled widely as he spoke.

Matt gestured in nonchalance. "It happens."

Bryan said, "You came so close, though. It's unusual for you to lose so narrowly against an opponent you actually prepared for."

"I said that Dave was my preferred opponent, but I had no way to be sure he and I would duel. The computer picks the match-ups. If I had changed my deck to a build that was specifically anti-Slifer, I might have put myself in an even worse position to face off against Obelisk or one of the other eligible god cards."

Justin joked, "That sounds like loser talk."

Matt gave another half-hearted shrug. "I lost, and I stand by what I said. So by definition, it is, indeed, loser talk. But let's not let the surprise wrought when lowest-ranked team loses to the highest-ranked team overshadow the impressive victory this guy reeled in, huh?" He pointed over the Bryan.

"It was luck," said Bryan.

"Maybe," said Justin. "Your duel looked pretty easy, for the most part. When a god card loses that easily, it could be bad luck for the duelist, or it might mean the god card wants a new holder." Dave nudged Justin in the arm, prompting Justin to look indignant. "Oh, come on. It's common legend that they pick their duelists. That's basic god card knowledge."

Lucy said, "Don't you have another duel coming up with Yul? One victory is lucky, but two is destiny."

Dave rolled his eyes. "That might be overstating it. But you're definitely right that two wins is more convincing than just one. Think you can do it?"

The question was meant for Bryan, but Justin answered. "He can if Uria picks him as a new holder."

Andy shook his head. "I don't think that's happened tonight. Sometimes you lose a duel, simple. If Uria wants a new holder, it has to happen during an official challenge. God cards put as much effort into intramural duels as Matt does." Matt made a face but didn't argue.

Lucy said, "It doesn't matter why you won. It's still a win. Just do exactly what you did tonight and let Fate decide."

Matt nodded. "That. Or, you anticipate how Yul is going to tweak his deck and then get one step ahead of him."

Dave laughed. "You think you know how Yul will respond to this loss?"

"I think that's what I just said."

"No way. Yul's pretty brilliant as a tactician. He's a victim to random chance just like all of us are, but now that he'll be dueling against someone who's already seen his deck, there's no way he plays the same cards next time. He'll anticipate how Bryan will improve his deck and then be ready to counter it."

Bryan was feeling anxious. "I didn't think I needed to change my deck again so soon."

Justin laughed. "That's what Yul would anticipate. Although he might be in earshot, so maybe it'll be a less impressive prediction this time."

Leon walked over at that moment. He said "Hey" to Justin and Andy, then extended his hand to Dave. "Mr. Strickland, I hear you gave a fantastic performance."

Dave accepted the handshake with a grin. "Only because your boy here gave me a fighting chance. You did really well yourself. That was a tough situation with Mikey once he's got Eraser on the field."

"Yeah, well, we did our best to knock down your god cards. We'll look forward to the next rematch in a few weeks. Looks like your group is getting set up to take the boss duel at Homecoming."

Justin said, "Yeah!" Clear that he was excited about it.

"Homecoming?" asked Andy.

"The Spirit Day Festival," said Justin. "It's basically the same as what we call Homecoming in the States, except that Homecoming is usually in the fall semester." That was enough description for Andy to catch on.

"We hope we'll make a good showing until then," said Dave.

"Modesty isn't necessary here. You all keep topping the charts, and I suspect you'll keep doing so until the year's out. It's always a pleasure to practice against such talent." Leon was so friendly with everyone, even though Bryan had never seen him actually talk to any of the Guardians outside of the intramural duels. Maybe the fact that he was old enough to be everyone's dad gave him a slight air of likability.

He looked to Bryan and Matt. "Debrief at 19:30 in the common room." Bryan's phone showed a time of 18:45—plenty of time to get back to the dorm and even grab a snack before curfew.

As Leon and the others took off, Dave said, "I think we're headed back, too. I still have an essay to get started on." Justin and the others also had homework or just generally thought it wise to get back to the dorm.

Lucy seemed reluctant, but she agreed to go with them since they were all headed to the same place. Before leaving, she tapped Bryan on the chest. "Hey. Don't get in your head too much about Yul. The thing a tactician hates the most is an unpredictable player. I bet you can handle him."

"The only way for Bryan to be unpredictable would be to trade decks with somebody," said Matt. His eyebrows shot up. "Any chance he could borrow Obelisk for a day? That would be unpredictable."

Lucy laughed and patted him on the arm. And held it for a second longer than needed to make her point. "See you guys later."

League duels were scheduled every thirty minutes in case of long duels, but theirs were all done in under ten minutes tonight, so there was a lull before the final match-ups that were scheduled for 19:00. Bryan asked, "Do you really think I need a whole new deck before I can win against Yul again?"

"You beat him with this deck. That makes it good enough to win again. If you really want to, you can still tweak it a bit, but not too much. You've been doing well with the Masked Heroes."

"They haven't won me a lot of area duels."

"Practice. Every new deck takes time to break in and memorize all the best combos. For now, I say we go back to Slifer, grab a couple of spicy chicken sandwiches from the vending machine, listen to Leon tell us why you're the one who kept the team from looking like shit tonight, then get some sleep. Alternatively, you can stay up a couple extra hours agonizing over your deck."

Bryan moaned, "I do that every week. Maybe I can take a break tonight?"

"Deal."

"But seriously, deck building might not be what keeps me up. That spicy chicken is legit. Better get what you need out of the bathroom before I get in there."

Here we go, thought Bryan as he stared down Yul once more. This time, the audience watching their duel was ten times as big, with the whole student population in attendance at these area duels, give or take a few sick bodies. Opposite him once again was Yul Tan. Except they both stood this time, armed with Duel Disks instead of sitting at a duel station.

Bryan's tarot hands had given him a score of 10. That met the exact threshold needed to boost his confidence as he drew his opening cards to begin the duel. Following Matt's advice, he hadn't changed his deck too much, but he did switch out some cards to be more like his previous style, for the simple reason that he knew fusion combos well and had a few of them that might be strong enough to win against a god card.

"I'll start with Elemental Hero Blazeman (4: 1200|1800)." Blazeman jumped to the field from the sky and performed a superhero landing, overall looking like a meteorite striking the ground. Bryan waited a moment for the holographic display to end before continuing. "Summoning him moves Polymerization from my deck to my hand. And Polymerization fuses Blazeman with Shadow Mist to summon Elemental Hero Sunrise (7: +2700|1200)." This was one of the cards Bryan decided to invest in with his prize money, and he finally found the right time to summon it.

Sunrise seemed to rise from the ground similar to the appearance of the sun over the horizon. The darkness spread out behind Sunrise and loosened a card from Bryan's deck. "Sending Shadow Mist to the Grave lets me add Honest Neos to my hand. And at the same time, summoning Sunrise adds Miracle Fusion to my hand. For good measure, I'll play Fusion Recovery so I can reclaim Polymerization and Blazeman."

Not bad, he thought. He summoned a powerful monster on his first turn and still had six cards in his hand with lots of combos still ready to play. "That ends my turn."

Bryan: 8000 LP, 6 cards

Yul: 8000 LP, 5 cards

Yul didn't have as much guesswork with his cards, partly because he didn't have any combos to play. "Magic Planter and I can discard to draw two cards." Bryan noticed the card effect said he had to discard a Continuous Trap. That's what was required for powering up Uria, and the god card wasn't even on the field yet. "Also set four cards. Turn end."

Bryan: 8000 LP, 6 cards

Yul: 8000 LP, 2 cards

No monsters on the field right then, but that wasn't the same as having "no monsters". Not against Yul's deck. "I'll discard Elemental Hero Honest Neos to give Sunrise (+5200) a power boost." Wings grew from the hero that already shimmered like sunlight. "Then I'll play Miracle Fusion to banish and fuse Neos and Shadow Mist into Elemental Hero The Shining (8: +3400|2100)."

Yul clicked a button on his Duel Disk and said, "Curse of Darkness."

If Sunrise looked like the sun, The Shining looked like the source of the sun's power. Light emitted all across the field from the glowing ring around his back. Unfortunately, light creates shadows when it touches solid objects, and the darkness bit Bryan by 1000 LP in return for using a Spell Card.

"I'm fine," said Bryan, trying as hard to convince himself as to convince Yul or Dr. Lankford. "I'll send The Shining (3400) to attack. That activates Sunrise's ability to target and destroy one of your cards." He picked to end the Curse of Darkness.

Yul activated all of them. Abyss Stungray (5: 1900|0) appeared as a bioluminescent monster on the field, the defense Bryan knew would be there. But Nightmare Wheel also activated, attaching The Shining to a torture wheel and ending the attack. Finally, Imperial Custom spread a defensive aura around the field. By law, Continuous Traps couldn't be destroyed as long as it was active. That meant that Sunrise wasn't able to destroy Curse of Darkness after all. It couldn't destroy Abyss Stungray, either: It was protected by its own effect as well as Imperial Custom.

Bryan hesitated, looking over his cards for a new approach. His heart beat so loud he couldn't hear anything else, even when Dr. Lankford urged him to continue. The second time he spoke, Dr. Lankford stepped forward, which jolted Bryan's attention. He finally recognized this moment of paralysis for what it was: nerves. He was scared that once Yul summoned Uria, the duel would be over.

Flashing back to his football days—where nerves sent more than one player hurling into the nearest trash can, if they were lucky—he took a deep breath. One wasn't enough, so he took another. That one made a difference. When he took a third, the world finally slowed down again. He couldn't see much past the stage into the stadium seating because of the low lights, but he could imagine Matt standing by to slap him and tell him not to panic.

"I'm done for now," he said. His fingers trembled as he imagined that maybe Yul didn't have Uria in his hand yet.

Bryan: 7000 LP, 4 cards

Yul: 8000 LP, 2 cards

Yul didn't seem bothered by Bryan's delay. If anything, he just used the time to figure out exactly what he wanted to play. But first, Nightmare Wheel turned a half revolution. The extra movement wounded The Shining and dealt 500 points of damage to Bryan.

With that done, Yul was underway. "Another Magic Planter again," he said, discarding another Trap so he could draw. Of course, Curse of Darkness struck him hard. Did he forget about that card? "Also Terraforming." Another Spell meant another 1000 damage. "And Mound of the Bound Creator." Another Spell and commensurate damage, but that explained the risk. Mound of the Bound Creator turned the field into a maelstrom swirling around three sealed statues. This was the card that made god cards nearly unstoppable. It was easily worth a few thousand LP to play it.

Abyss Stungray, Nightmare Wheel, and Imperial Custom all disappeared. "I can summon Uria, Lord of Searing Flames (10: +5000|+5000)."

Shit! Bryan had been trying to so hard to end the duel before Yul drew that card, too. Just as it had the other night, Uria emerged on the field like a flaming snake, scorching the field except for the invulnerable statues. It was bigger this time, thanks to the Duel Disks. Bryan could stand on his own shoulders and barely reach the tip of Uria's crown. That made it all the more terrifying when its jaws opened and a stream of molten fire smothered Sunrise (-2700). Bryan averted his eyes as the virtual reality effects blew extra heat his way, only realizing it was done when the auditorium grew painfully cold by comparison.

The maelstrom swirling overhead also struck Bryan directly. "Mound of the Bound Creator deals damage when monsters are destroyed.

Nodding, Bryan said, "I actually remember that. But thanks."

Bryan: 3200 LP, 4 cards

Yul: 5000 LP, 1 card

The duel had looked a lot less dire when the last turn had started. Uria was bad enough when it had 3000 points, the bare minimum. With 5000 points, it was too strong for almost all the monsters in Bryan's deck. He had a few with effects that would be helpful only if Uria weren't immune to targeting effects. His nerves made him tremble again as he started to believe that Uria was unbeatable.

I just need some non-targeting effects, he thought to himself. The odds were slim but not zero. Not when he drew Elemental Hero Liquid Solder!

"I'll use Polymerization to fuse Blazeman and Liquid Soldier into Elemental Hero Absolute Zero (8: 2500|2000) in defense mode." He endured the biting Curse of Darkness while another hero leapt to the field with a superhero landing, creating stalagmites made of ice with each step. Unfortunately, the ice melted instantly as Uria's mere presence overpowered the ice, but at least Absolute Zero was cold enough that even Uria's energy couldn't reach him without freezing. "Because I used Liquid Soldier, I get to draw two cards…" He looked over his new hand for a moment. "…and then discard one card. I'll switch The Shining (2100) to defense mode, too, and end my turn."

Bryan: 2200 LP, 3 cards

Yul: 5000 LP, 1 card

Even if Yul had built a combo deck, he only had two cards in his hand by now. And Bryan was confident that almost all the cards in Yul's deck were Continuous Traps meant to power up Uria. So it wasn't surprising to see him set two more cards. "Uria (5000) will attack The Shining (2100)." Once again, flames smothered Bryan's field following by lightning strikes.

Bryan: 1200 LP, 3 cards

Yul: 5000 LP, 0 cards

Life Points were running low. Yul was smart enough not to attack Absolute Zero: Doing so would have cleared the field and destroyed Uria. This was further evidence that Absolute Zero was the real ace in Bryan's deck. He just needed to force his monster into the Graveyard so he could trigger that effect himself. Fortunately, he had been holding on to just the card. This had to work or else he was out of Life Points.

"I'll use Mask Change. This card turns Absolute Zero into any Masked Hero with a water attribute, like Masked Hero Acid (8: 2600|2100)." Curse of Darkness bit him again, nearly ending the duel right there. Bryan barely held on as his LP dipped into triple digits.

Absolute Zero appeared to remove his mask, but doing so caused his entire body to transform into a new hero with a beetle-like mask. All of Absolute Zero's energy blasted across the field. At Absolute Zero, absolutely everything, even a god card, freezes. Uria's flame was completely quelled, and the frozen dragon shattered before disappearing. "Absolute Zero destroys all your monsters when he goes to the Graveyard, no targeting. But also good is that Acid gets to destroy all your Spell and Trap cards when he's summoned." The new hero cast his energy skyward. A new storm overwhelmed the maelstrom with acid rain, dissolving the sealed statues and the idol that generated the shadowy curse across the field. "And now I attack." Acid (2600) pulled a blaster from his side and fired acid bullets straight at Yul.

Bryan breathed deep and almost sobbed through it. "And now, I play another Mask Change: Masked Hero Acid becomes Masked Hero Vapor (6: 2400|2000)." Another water monster, this time wielding a fishing spear and wearing armor for withstanding the pressure of the deep sea. "Still my Battle Phase, so Vapor (2400) also gets to attack."

And by the Life Point meter's count, that was everything Yul had left.

Bryan: 200 LP, 2 cards

Yul: 0 LP, 0 cards

The lights on the Duel Disk flashed a victory message and then shut down. Before anything else happened, even before Yul offered a congratulatory handshake, Bryan thought to himself, This doesn't seem possible. Did I just become a Guardian Dueler?

Yet another instance of telling on myself in this story. I played the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG in college, and I used to do the same tarot readings that Bryan does when I was feeling stressed out about meetings with my academic advisor. (Ultimately I stopped needing that encouragement when I changed my major to something I enjoyed more and stressed me out less.)

And one more: Two Bits is based on a short story I wrote in middle school. Maybe one of these days I could flesh it out into a full novel or something. For now, the basic premise makes an appearance as an anime within my FanFiction universe.

For those of you who read the original version of this story, you knew the ending of this chapter was coming eventually. In case you didn't already, you probably have a few guesses what type of tension will be building very soon. The purpose this event serves to the plot will remain the same, but the sequence of events afterward will differ quite significantly in a way that supports the new story long-term.

As always, thank you to those who contributed OCs. If any readers want to submit new characters for the next arc, I'm happy to accept. Details are in my profile.

* Jack Hansbury...The character's name with a period instead of a space—the formatting makes FanFiction suppress it as if it were a URL.

* Kai Jackson...SketchyWolf

* Emily Li...Amourenvie

* Mikey Brittle...Vstriker