“So. The practical exams, and all that jazz” Phil said with mild disinterest from where he sat in the middle of the lecture hall seating area, next to his newfound friends from Slifer Red. In front of the class, Professor Crowler was still in the midst of teaching, but few students were paying attention to his flowery words after the clownish professor had revealed that the practical dueling exams would be taking place quite soon. In fact, for some, quite soon would mean that very day. As Phil had heard from Alexis, who had for some reason taken a bit of a shine to the boys and had started to sit near them in class, usually the matches would proceed in order of dorm. Slifer Red would go the first day, Ra Yellow the second, and Obelisk Blue the third. Slifer Reds would duel Slifer Reds, Ra Yellows would be paired against Ra Yellows. And so on and so forth. As soon as Phil heard that last part, whatever interest he had initially felt at the announcement faded as there would be absolutely zero chance of him facing Jaden or Zane, and the only interesting guy he could remember from Ra Yellow was Bastion.

However, Phil’s chances of dueling Bastion in the practical exams were near zero. Still, as he had no choice but to participate, Phil had already decided to have a bit of fun with things, even making sure to discretely swap out the deck that was originally slotted in his duel disk for one that he had hidden in his jacket. It was an ingenious solution, really, that Lumina had provided him. Hell, Phil even felt a slight amount of appreciation towards the woman now, for pointing out that if he wanted to keep swapping decks, that Phil could just attach some deck holders to the inside of his jacket. It wasn’t far off from what he remembered Bandit Keith and Bastion doing in the manga and anime.

Phil’s musings were interrupted as Syrus, who was sitting right next to Jaden (and therefore Phil) began to hyperventilate again.

“I… I don’t think I can do this!” He squeaked out, even in his panic being careful to keep his voice down as to avoid being picked on by Crowler.

“What if I get paired against you, bro? I won’t have a chance and I’ll fail my exams!”

Jaden turned to the smaller boy, discreetly palming the paper bag that Phil pushed towards him and giving it to Syrus to breath into.

“Hey, it’s okay Sy! There’s so many people in our dorm, I wouldn’t worry about it! Plus, if we do get to face each other, wouldn’t that be a totally sweet duel?”

“Jaden, I think Syrus’s more worried about getting failed by Professor Crowler. Even I can tell he has a vendetta against your entire dorm.” Alexis’s hushed voice broke in. “And please! I’m trying to pay attention to the lecture, unlike some people!” Next to her, a row higher than the boys, Mindy and Jasmine reinforced Alexis’s rebuke with harsh glares.

Sheesh. Phil complained to himself. Don’t even know why they care, that clown guy’s just going over the uses of a field spell. Even a fucking toddler could figure out that one. Wow, bravo Mr. Obelisk Blue, you figured out that the old rules of ‘only one field spell can be on the field at a time’ is still the standard. Fucking hell, must’ve been a lot of daddy’s money going on in the background to get you that nice blue coat.

Beside Phil, invisible to all but a certain brown-haired Slifer Red that was too busy reassuring Syrus to notice, and a black-haired boy in Obelisk Blue colors that was too intent on the lesson to bother, Lumina sat on an empty seat. It was the perfect vantage point to send heated glares towards Phil whenever she felt his attention waning into nonexistence.

“Phil!” Lumina whisper-screamed as she sent a sharp elbow plowing into the Ra Yellow’s stomach for what was not the first time of the day. Nor would it be the last. “Pay attention! I know you already know this stuff, but if that professor finds a reason to expel you… OR if you miss out on important details for the exams…” She let the threat hang in the air without finishing it.

Phil immediately straightened up, wincing at her elbow. “Damn mate, right in the kidney. Are you trying to make me piss blood tonight?”

“What’s that Phil?” “Sorry I didn’t catch that buddy.” Syrus and Jaden half-turned around as they heard Phil say something that just barely escaped their ears with how intent they were on calming down in the face of the exam.

Phil looked at them, shrugging and giving off a half-hearted wave. “Eh don’t worry about it dudes. Just having a good think about the exam, that’s all.” And then, as both the boys turned back to their own conversation, Phil shrugged towards Lumina.

“Sorry, this class is just hella boring. Don’t worry, I’ll ace the exam, Lumina. Unless I get paired against Bastion, and he manages to guess correctly which deck I plan to use. Or if I brick hard enough to build a house. Most of these kids seem to still be running normal monster beatdown.dek anyways.”

“And your tag duel against those girls? What was that but an actual strategy, and a halfway decent one at that? You might’ve been expelled without that Syrus boy.”

Phil nodded. “Point taken. Counterpoint, I was absolutely wankered that night and I barely remember anything that happened. I admit that’s completely my fault. But, assuming I’m not drunk Phil, that sealmaster card you told me about isn’t much more than an annoyance. Drunk Phil’s an idiot, best not to use him as a baseline for judging my abilities.

“Oh, and here we go,” Phil muttered as Crowler dismissed the class. Immediately there was a rush towards the bulletin boards out in the hallway, where Crowler had mentioned at the last minute that their pairings and duel times would be posted on.

“Come’on… please, someone interesting…” Phil chanted the words like a good-luck charm as the line inched him closer to the board. “Let’s see… that’s Slifer, those’re Obelisk pairings… Ah! Ra Yellow. Phil Phil Phil… where are you…”

And then Phil’s raised finger halted as he found his name. A brilliantly sunny grin crossed his face, his eyes reading only one single line.

Ra Yellow Pairings

…… Phillip Jenson vs Bastion Misawa. 12:30 PM, main duel arena.

Hell to the yeah. We gonna have some fun tomorrow.

Phil was so excited for his surge of luck that he hardly noticed Syrus groaning in horror as he saw his own name, and that he would be dueling Jaden Yuki.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

- The same time, in the American Duel Academy –

Darkness flitted around the arena, but the sun that could be barely glimpsed through the shadow-covered windows proved it was not yet nighttime. Muffled cheering, so fanatical that it bordered on screaming, escaped the crowded stands almost as fast as the seemingly living darkness could strangle the sounds. In the middle of the arena, two boys and a girl, all wearing similar uniforms, stared each other down as they considered their turns. One of the boys and the girl stood on opposite sides of the arena from the remaining, rather muscular boy, who stood alone save for the unmoving body of a third, rather chubby boy collapsed on the floor.

John resisted checking the pulse of the fallen friend beside him, forcing himself to pay attention to the duel at hand. Across from his muscular figure, the slimmer David Rabb and Reggie MacKenzie smirked at him behind the enormous forms of their The Big Saturn (2800/2200) and Splendid Venus (2800/2400). The combined life points, as had been agreed upon before the start of the duel, showed a staggering difference with John’s being only 1200 while the siblings David and Reggie enjoyed a far safer 3300.

John considered the few remaining cards in his hand and his gaze hardened. “I draw! I activate the effect of my continuous spell, Call of the Mummy, once more! Dragon Zombie (1600/0), come forth!”

David and Reggie simultaneously sneered as the weak level three monster was summoned to their opponent’s field by the continuous spell that had kept their opponent alive far longer than he should have been, the pitiful, rotting dragon becoming even weaker due to the Splendid Venus’s effect that caused all non-fairy monsters to love 500 attack and defense. However, John did not even bother to wait for their inevitable scathing comments.

“Next, I activate the effect of Plaguespreader Zombie (400/200) in my graveyard! By placing one card from my hand on the top of my deck, I can special summon the Plaguespreader monster that I sent using Gozuki’s effect a few turns ago to my side of the field! I summon it in defense position.

The crowd gradually drew to a mystified hush that was audible even through the menacing shadows that darted in and around the field as the bloated, inhuman zombie monster clawed its way out from John’s graveyard to appear with a wet ‘splat’ on his field. John allowed for a mocking grin to cross his face as he noticed David looking somewhat unsettled that he had two monsters on his field without even using his normal summon.

“So what.” Reggie eventually drawled. “You plan to tribute a more powerful monster, then? May I remind you that not even a Blue-Eyes White Dragon could overpower my Venus or right now, with her continuous effect still applying to the field? You may be able to destroy The Big Saturn, but it matters not if you have no way to defeat my monster as well.”

John barely even gave her words consideration as he steeled himself for his next move, clenching his stomach, breathing in and out rapidly as he knew what would come next.

“Using Dragon Zombie and Plaguespreader Zombie as material…” A spike of pain raced through his heart as he forced the unnatural method of summoning, one that he had simply no time to train for. For a singular second, he almost considered abandoning the duel entirely as he felt something shift in his lungs. And then he glanced to the still form of his friend. One look was all that he needed.

“Using Dragon Zombie and Plaguespreader Zombie as material, let rotting corpses and screeching banshees pave the return of the king all beings of the underworld acknowledge as ruler! Synchro Summon! Break your enemies, Doomkaiser Dragon (2400/1500)!

A shudder ran not only through John’s body, but also the arena and the opposing monsters of the Planet Series as an enormous zombified dragon landed on the field with enough force to crack the tiles that covered the arena, roaring out defiantly as its tattered wings flapped and the glowing orb in its chest shone menacingly.

Almost… there… John ignored the liquid he could feel dripping out of his nose and the fragility he could feel in his own bones by even just adjusting his duel disk on his arm. For Max…

“Then! I activate my trap card!” John roared to the resumed cheering of the crowd. Some of the bystanders were screaming so loud for his victory that the skin in their throats had broken and flecks of blood flew out of their mouths. “Assault Mode Activate! By tributing my Doomkaiser, I can special summon one ‘/Assault Mode’ monster from my deck whose name includes Doomkaiser Dragon! Come! Show that even planets can die! Doomkaiser Dragon/Assault Mode (2900/2000)!” The synchro monster John had summoned disappeared, followed by a much taller copy of it that strode silently out of an eerie fog. However, where the original version of Doomkaiser Dragon had appeared with an earthshattering entrance, the /Assault Mode version of it menacingly stood there, using its tails as legs. Its eyes shone a deep, ruby red, and while the ginormous skull that rested on its chest grinned with malicious intent, the dragon head of the monster simply stared at the opposing planet monsters with a cunning intelligence in its eyes.

“Now, my monster activates its effect! When Doomkaiser Dragon /Assault Mode is special summoned, I can special summon any number of zombie-type monsters from my graveyard to my field, though their effects are negated! Come, join my death parade! My second Plaguespreader Zombie (400/200), Shadow Specter (500/200), Armored Zombie (1500/0), and Beast of the Pharoah (400/600)! And that’s not all! I tune my level two tuner, Plaguespreader Zombie, with my level three Beast of the Pharoah and level one Shadow Specter! I…”

John doubled over, heaving out a thick clot of dark blood, before grimacing and forcing himself to continue.

“I bring forth the champion of undeath! Archfiend Zombie-Skull (2500/1200)!

As John bent over for a few seconds, leaning forwards with his hands on his knees in an attempt to steady his own breathing, David Rabb spitefully eyed the unfamiliar monsters. A visible shadow flitted over his face. “Yet for all the trouble you’ve gone to get those… synchro… monsters out, you still have yet to summon one that can beat Reggie’s Splendid Venus. And may I remind you that you only have 1200 life points to go until you end up like your friend over there?”

“I still have work yet to do.” John muttered in response while he steeled the nerves that cried out to him in agony, along with a foreboding sinking feeling in his chest.

“Now that I have used my Beast of the Pharoah for a synchro summon, its effect activates in the graveyard, allowing me to resurrect one of my fallen zombies. Return, Onmoraki (1200/1000)! On its summon, I get to draw back the card I placed on the top of my deck with Plaguespreader Zombie’s effect earlier. Draw! Now… this is your last chance. I know what that thing is that forces you to fight, like puppets without a will.”

John raised his head to look the siblings in their eyes.

“But if you choose not to take it… then I will use my normal summon! I tribute my faithful Onmoraki for the shambling monster that will seal your doom! Dark Dust Spirit (2200/1800), I call upon you! And, when he’s summoned, Dark Dust Spirit’s effect activates to destroy all other face-up monsters on the field, except for mine as they are under the protection of Archfiend Zombie-Skull. He prevents all zombie monsters I control from being destroyed by card effects!”

The ground shook once more as a red zombie with long hair appeared out of the mist brought forth by Doomkaiser Dragon /Assault Mode, roaring its defiance to the world as both The Big Saturn and Splendid Venus disintegrated with a flash of light.

At that moment, David Rabb’s face lit up with a cruel smirk.

“You fool! I activate The Big Saturn’s effect! When it’s destroyed by my opponent’s card effect, we both take damage equal to Saturn’s attack! You lose!”

John closed his eyes in acknowledgement, before wiping his nose free of blood calmly flipping over his final facedown card.

“Fool yourself. This, David, is why you should have destroyed my backrow when you had the chance, instead of focusing on Max to hurt me further. In response to your activation of The Big Saturn’s effect in the graveyard. I activate my quick-play spell, Called By The Grave! You lose David! By targeting your Big Saturn in your graveyard, I can remove it from play and negate the effect of your planet monster until the end of the next turn!

The massive machine monster attempted to detonate its cracked and scarred ring, but before it could fully explode, a rotting hand shot out of the ground to clutch the planet in its grasp, making the metal that formed the monster groan under the stress of its grip.

“Prepare yourself.” John looked them both in the eyes, attempting to feel some amount of pity for the two teenagers that were being controlled by Tragoedia, even though they had grievously hurt his friend through their Shadow Game. Still, enough friends and associates of John had been injured or put in a coma from the siblings mad quest for John to let them go now.

“Enough is enough. Doomkaiser Dragon /Assault Mode! Archfiend Zombie-Skull! End this Shadow Duel!”

And may I have the strength to defeat Tragoedia to free you poor kids from his control. John finished quietly in his mind as he watched David and Reggie fall to the ground like puppets with their strings cut, their shared life points being reduced from 3300 to 0 in only two attacks.

And then, John felt a ray of sunshine break through the quickly retreating shadows, the rabid cheering of his fellow students a booming roar compared to what it had been earlier. He looked around before gently picking up Max with one arm and headed off toward the hospital wing, doing his best to hide the trembling in his legs and ignore the iron taste of blood coating his own mouth.

At the highest point in the building, Principal MacKenzie watched it all with a dark look in his eye.