Part IV: The End of Duel Academy

Chapter 1: One Will Not Return

'Alright!' Lonnie thought as he drew his card. His elbow twitched as he tried to hide his excitement. 'With my third Chain Thrasher, I can destroy his Goblins and still attack him directly. That should be enough to end this duel and get me into the best dueling school in the world!' Such a prospect was enough to excite any young duelist. Lonnie almost had to squeeze himself to avoid giving away his play.

"What's the problem, Poker Face?" asked the duel proctor, a tall, bulky guy with blond hair that was obviously not its natural color.

Lonnie 3000: Proctor 4500.

"Oh, no problem here," Lonnie replied, unable to hold back the arrogance he felt bubbling under the surface. "Your goblin deck gets some pretty lucky plays, but it's still sub-par. I can't believe you got to be a proctor for this exam with a deck like that."

The proctor shrugged. "If I'm really as bad at dueling as you think, then you should prove it by beating me."

"Of course I will." He noticed the proctor's blue Academy jacket and added, "I guess beating you will propel me into the Obelisk dorm."

"They don't actually call it that anymore. The dorms are just named for their colors."

Lonnie tilted his head. "What? Why?"

"It's a university now. Maybe nobody donated enough money to get their names on the buildings."

Dismissing the trivial point of dorm names with a light chuckle, Lonnie said, "Yeah, whatever. I'll just get back to beating a senseless Obelisk student." He chortled as he slapped his card onto the electronic plate of the duel station.

Lonnie and his proctor used opposite seats at a computerized table with electronic plates designed to read electronic codes embedded in duel cards. Electronic duels allowed permanent records and enabled three-dimensional holograms of cards and their effects, effectively turning a ten-minute card game into twenty minutes or more of an explosive light show. The holograms added a sense of realism to duels and excitement for those involved. A miniaturized, portable version of the holographic technology is available in the form of a Duel Disk, but many freshmen did not own one until they were willing to commit themselves to dueling—usually when accepted to Duel Academy.

Responding to the specific card Lonnie played, the holographic field showed a blond-haired man wielding a manriki—a throwing chain with a pointed weight on the end. He wore leather clothes, but his right arm and leg were wrapped entirely in gauze wrap. Chain Thrasher (3/1000/1000) started swinging the heavy end in anticipation of an attack.

In addition to the power that each monster brings to the game, players can also use effects that come from Spell cards. Usually with some cost, Spell cards allow the players to change the rules temporarily in some way; common effects include increasing attack or defense points, summoning extra monsters, or drawing more cards. Trap cards are similar to Spells, offering temporary rules changes, but they can be activated on the opponent's turn to offer a surprise effect.

"Here are the big guns," Lonnie taunted. When he placed another card on the electronic table, Chain Thrasher's chain disappeared and was replaced by a golden pike. "Remember how you destroyed two of my Chain Thrashers already? Phalanx Pike increases his attack by 900 for each Chain Thrasher in the Graveyard. That means my current Chain Thrasher (+2800) gains 1800 points, and his own effect gives him an extra attack for each Chain Thrasher in my Graveyard." He looked at the proctor's field and observed the squad of four goblins kneeling in a defensive position. "That means I can get by your Goblin Attack Force (4/+2700/0) and still hit you directly twice for the win."

In the game of Duel Monsters, players use monsters to attack their opponents and to defend themselves. If two monsters in attack mode battle one another, the weaker one is destroyed and the difference between their powers is deducted from the player. But if a monster in defense mode is destroyed by a stronger monster, the attack is absorbed and the player is unaffected.

When Chain Thrasher lunged with the pike, Lonnie commented, "I guess I'm going to Duel Academy. I wonder if they'll offer me a scholarship."

"Probably not," the proctor replied. "I hate to spoil your ego trip, but I have Tailor of the Fickle facedown." A creepy-looking man wearing overalls with pockets full of threads, pins, and needles began measuring Chain Thrasher (+3200) for the Big Bang Shot that was equipped to Goblin Attack Force a moment earlier.

Lonnie laughed heartily. "Are you kidding me? You just played a card that not only gives my monster an attack boost, but it also lets him deal piercing damage. He won't even need a third attack!" Piercing damage was the term used when an attack was so powerful it pierced a defensive monster and struck the player anyway, thereby causing damage equal to the difference between attack points and defense points. Chain Thrasher spun the Phalanx Pike and destroyed all four goblins with its stellar energy.

The proctor just shook his head with disappointment. "Unfortunately, you don't know enough about the subtleties of Duel Monsters. Big Bang Shot specifically deals damage to its owner's opponent; that is, regardless of which monster it is equipped to, I own the card, and so you will take the Battle Damage. The devil is in the details, you know?" The energy from the golden pike backfired and swarmed Lonnie instead.

Lonnie 3000 – 3200 = 0: Proctor 4500.

Dumbstruck, Lonnie just stood there completely unable to comprehend his loss. In his arrogance, he forgot that most cards can be used in multiple ways. A duelist with real talent knows how to find those alternative strategies and make them happen.

The proctor offered a handshake. "For the record, this is just a test deck. I run Elemental Heroes." He watched Lonnie walk away and tried fruitlessly to hide the grin that pulled at the corners of his mouth.

"The year hasn't even started yet, and I already feel like I own the place."

If one thing could be said about Bryan Knight, it was that he hardly lacked in self-confidence. Sure, he had his moments of weakness just like any man rejecting his oncoming adulthood in order to prolong adolescence beyond all previous limits, but he was a big, bold man whose charm won over those around him no matter where he went. And as a bonus for the women, he reached a height of six-foot-four with a body well built around two hundred pounds.

Bryan's feeling of owning the campus came from being offered VIP treatment at Kaiba Land in order to administer the practical portion of the Duel Academy entrance exam. Even just standing there as people gathered in the stands to watch the young applicants duel hopefully, Bryan felt like he was really the center of attention. All eyes were on him—the man who successfully completed three high-level tournaments during the past ten weeks, and, though he failed to win a fourth, finished within the top eight at an international level. He was listed as the Arbus Foundation's "Shooting Star Duelist," and now he was set to start the new school year as the number one-ranked student at the world's most prestigious dueling school.

Lucy smacked Bryan lightly in the stomach with the back of her hand—just hard enough to make him flinch and catch his attention.

"They aren't here for you. They have kids and siblings and friends applying today."

Not backing down, Bryan replied, "And it's just coincidence that they get to watch me proctor the exams?"

"Yes," she answered with an amused grin. "You don't even get to use your real deck. Not for an application duel. Nobody wants to watch you run a Goblin deck. Sorry to break it to you, honey."

If Lucy had one quality Bryan needed in a girlfriend, it was her ability to deflate his ego without wounding it. She supported him in all his endeavors and wanted the world for him, but even though she wanted him to have everything, she also hoped to dampen the fall for those instances life didn't go the way he wanted it to.

If she had one physical quality that caught everyone's attention and made Bryan the envy of so many male applicants, it was her sheer beauty. She was slightly bigger than average—"curvy" was an apt choice of words—but she was simply beautiful to behold. Her face was thin and symmetrical, her hair was long, dark, and smooth, and she had a perfectly shaped smile that turned her lips into a triangle with pearly whites shining in the light. Add that to her other natural assets and hardly a man in the building didn't spend at least a minute staring at her under the guise of observing her duel strategy.

Bryan noticed a few guys staring at her and accused her of trying to steal his thunder.

"What would you have me do differently than just stand here wearing a practical muumuu?" She referred to her blue Academy jacket that was two sizes too big for her shoulders, which she wore in an ironic attempt not to draw attention to her appearance.

"It doesn't matter. When it comes down to it, even guys want to watch the sheer competitive edge that I bring to a duel." But even as he said that, he took another look at Lucy—at her enchanting brown eyes—and realized, "I don't care who watches me, anyway. What's important is I'm starting this year on top and no cocky freshman will knock me down this time."

"What about an equally cocky junior?"

Taking a deep breath, Bryan knew who she was talking about. Neither of them had heard from his sworn brother during the entire summer. Maybe he ran off with one of his girlfriends. The Duel Academy administrators didn't know what happened, either; Bryan finished the previous year ranked Number 2, but when his brother didn't substantiate the scholarship money for the new semester's tuition, administrators dropped his name from the enrollment headcount and moved everyone else up one rank. Bryan wasn't thrilled to earn his rank that way, but he figured it was karma for Matt to fall after spending his entire dueling career cheating. Knowing Matt's level of integrity…

"I doubt he's coming back."

"Why?" Lucy wondered aloud. "I didn't hear from Matt all summer. You don't know where he is, and you spent the whole time pretending not to care. You still won't tell me what happened between you that shook your bond. As close as you guys are, I used to have nightmares in which you left me for Matt."

"I had that one, too," Bryan replied. "It was weird." Oddly enough, however, his expression couldn't hide that tiny smile that pulled at the corners of his cheeks. Lucy noticed it and scoffed with feigned disgust.

A female voice shouted, "Are you guys on a break? Or are you just lazy?"

"Short and scrappy" described Cary Strickland quite accurately. And if there was one thing everyone had to give credit to her for, she spoke her mind. With a sarcastic and somewhat caustic personality, Cary often took the default position that other people were idiots and should be trusted as such. Unfortunately and much to her chagrin, doing so made it difficult for others to know when she was being sincere.

"On a break," Bryan answered pointedly. For support, he motioned toward the large itinerary posted on the wall. On every hour, proctors were given a ten minute break. The idea was that light snacks and orange juice, combined with ten minutes of veg time, would keep the proctors fresh. It was like donating blood, except the purpose was to make sure the late-day applicants didn't have easier duels than the morning applicants.

"Feeling a little snippy today?" Lucy asked Cary. There were two basic reactions to Cary's style. Those who were accustomed to her wit found her amusing; those who were not found her mean.

"Not really. I'm just a little annoyed about assistantships for this year."

"You didn't get the editor job?" Bryan asked. He thought that was a shame. The headlines in the school paper were so much funnier since she started writing; that would get even better if she got to pick them all.

"No. The fact that I am now in charge of Team OTK puts me in a position of bias. Apparently my record doesn't speak for itself regarding my journalistic objectivity. They offered me some other position, but I deserve editor."

"What'd they offer?" Lucy asked.

Cary scoffed and waved her hand as if to dismiss an offer in front of her. "Because of some new donors Kaiba Corp. picked up this summer, they're offering tuition remission to Team leaders as long as they comply with certain criteria throughout the semester."

Bryan's eyes popped open. "Seriously? You mean you and Numbers are going to get paid just for organizing a ragtag group of duelists into a team?" As a journalist, she clarified that tuition remission is not the same as being paid; it just meant one less pile of money she had to pay to Duel Academy as a student. "I need to start my own team."

"Get over yourself," Cary told him. She patted the maroon deck box on her belt. "It's time for the next round to start." She glanced over to her duel station where a tall and lanky young man sat on the edge of the applicant's seat as he waited for his duel to begin. "And it looks like I get a real cutie for this one."

Lucy was able to pick up on the real source of Cary's annoyance; it was the same as Bryan's. "Cary doesn't like gaining credibility just because Matt's not a student anymore."

At the end of the previous semester, Matt was still the leader of Team One-Turn-Kill. Without him, the administration picked the ranking member to take the role, but Cary still felt like a paper champion because she never defeated Matt for the position. Likewise, Bryan felt like a paper champion because he was given the rank of Number 1 by default. He would have felt much more deserving had he defeated Matt in a duel.

But he consoled himself by remembering that Matt cheated all these years. He always had help when he dueled. It wasn't just Matt who beat Bryan so often; it was two people. That nullified all of Matt's victories in Bryan's eyes. If they ever dueled just one-on-one, then Bryan would win without a doubt and with one Trap card tied behind his back.

"Do you think he'll come back?" Lucy wondered.

"Who knows?" Bryan said with a shrug. With a bout of cheer in his voice, he squeezed Lucy's hand. "But the world does not start and stop at his convenience. So let's go decide who's going to join Duel Academy for a new year. I'll bet we can make this one the best ever!"

As the numeral at the top of the page suggests, this is the fourth arc of my own Yu-Gi-Oh!-based story. If this happens to be the first one you stumbled upon and I got lucky enough to catch your attention, let me start with "Welcome and thanks for reading." Now know that I try to write the early stages of a new arc in such a way as to reintroduce all the existing characters. It should be easy enough to follow without reading the other arcs.

I am willing to accept reader-submitted characters through private message. I must state firmly and unequivocally at this point, however, that I cannot always promise the character will turn out the way you expect. The reason for that is simple: This is my story. You may come up with a fascinating character who would make for an amazing protagonist, but that is not what my story needs. Bryan and Cary need supporting players to move them along-not deeply involving players who take the focus away. It is rare to find such contributions, but characters given with villainous tendencies are easier to use early and often. "Misunderstood" or "brooding" characters will have to wait until the story opens a spot for them.
That should be the only time my high horse gets during this arc.

And as everyone is wont to do on this site, I will follow suit and provide the following disclaimer:
I own no part of Yu-Gi-Oh!, including the cards, the game, and references to the original stars. If I did, then this story would resemble the anime much more closely. The vast majority of characters within my text, however, are the brainchildren of me and my contributing readers, credited as appropriate throughout the story.

It is a difficult task to post a story online one chapter at a time because it forces me to write using a strategy I don't usually use. I can't promise a regimented schedule for this arc, but I can promise that more time will be spent in planning to make sure I know all the answers before I start writing the questions. But I do encourage and entertain your questions at any time. I would love to hear from everyone who reads this.

Cheers!