The first day of the practical exams went quickly, without much surprise other than the unexpected intensity of Jaden’s duel with Syrus. Jaden, of course, appeared to be quite excited when the match was initially revealed, but even his usual unflappable personality was stifled when Crowler made the announcement that due to their lack of attentiveness in class, the duel would be for a rather large percentage of their grade. Meaning that, at least how Phil had understood it, the loser stood a good chance at flat-out failing at the end of the year with how the grades were weighted. And so, an intense battle sprung up between the two friends as neither wanted to take the hit to their grades, but more importantly neither wanted to disrespect the other by dueling at anything but their absolute best.

Even Phil, as preoccupied as he was in planning some way to threaten Crowler into changing things, found a bit of time to be impressed with Syrus’s performance until Jaden’s inevitable victory sprang up. However, the enraged tirade from the headmaster of Slifer Red, Ms. Hibiki, topped it all off. Phil hadn’t quite managed to get all of it since he had been reduced to a laughing mess on the floor, but the scene of the angry woman he vaguely remembered from the manga dragging Crowler off the stage by his ear was something Phil knew he would always treasure.

And then, the second day began: the Ra Yellow Exams. These duels went by in a little bit of a more interesting fashion. This was mainly due to the increase in skill level that was to be expected of Ra Yellow, but all it did was whet Phil’s appetite for his duel with Bastion.

The best part is, because I know for fact Bastion owns and uses multiple decks for his strategy, I have no fucking idea what he’s gonna play. In the manga he has a zombie deck, in the anime he has… oh what was it… six different decks? Or was it more? I can only remember the one with the oxygen and hydrogen monsters, and that’s only because I used Hydrogeddon in one of my decks back in the day. Man, those were the times, back when a 1600 attack beatstick that could summon another copy of itself when it kills something was mildly threatening.

Phil shrugged to himself as he sauntered towards the arena. The match was so close he could almost taste it, and he didn’t even need to worry about the grade percentage anymore as Ms. Hibiki had taken it upon herself to proctor the exams alongside Crowler. All that mattered now was to have fun. Phil glanced down at his duel disk, and then looked Bastion straight in the eyes. Neither boy flinched or looked away. Phil could already feel a slight amount of adrenaline racing down his spine as he saw the fighting spirit in his opponent’s eyes rise up to meet his stare.

“Phillip Jenson! Are you ready?” Ms. Hibiki shouted towards Phil, which he returned with an easy nod to hide his own rising adrenaline.

“Bastion Misawa! Are you ready?” Professor Crowler shouted from his place in the stands. Just like Phil, the black-haired boy nodded in response, though his movement was slightly more stilted.

“Then, may the match commence! Each duelist will start with 4000 life points! As randomly decided, Phillip Jenson shall take the first turn!”

Phil drew five cards, and then drew the sixth card to start his turn off.

Not a bad start already, just gotta do some fishing to see what the big B-man is playing today…

“Alright dude, lets start this off right and proper. Good ol’ T-set and pass!” Phil shouted good-naturally as he set one monster in face down defense position, along with one trap from his hand.

Bastion furrowed his brows in thought at the cautious move. “Well then, in that case I’ll take my draw. And then, I summon my Oxygeddon (1800/800)!” At Bastion’s words a large gust of greenish wind rushed around the field before forming into the visible shape of a winged dinosaur.

“Battle phase, begin! Oxygeddon, attack his face-down monster.”

The large wind dinosaur swooped down, flapping its wings to reveal a rather fat rat that was huddling in a fetal position. 1800 attack points easily bit into the Giant Rat’s 1450 defense points, and Phil’s board was cleared entirely of monsters.

“Nice, nice. However, I activate my Giant Rat’s effect! It allows me to grab any earth monster that has 1500 attack or less from my deck, and special summon it in attack position. Let’s get some spice in the house, Mystic Swordsman LV2 (900/0)!”

Phil let out an easy grin as a rather short swordsman decked out in purple armor and wearing a conical hat popped onto the battlefield to stare down the Oxygeddon. Meanwhile, Bastion simply looked at the monster with a calculating look in his eye.

“Only 900 attack, it seems? Then I wager that your monster is more than meets the eye, Phillip. And since that might be the case, I’ll throw down two facedowns and end my turn.”

“Naw mate, you can call me Phil. It’s the least I can do since you didn’t disrespect my homie Mystic Swordsman. I draw!” Phil glanced at the new card in his hand, and upon seeing that it wasn’t particularly useful at the moment, set it aside in his mind to continue his original strategy.

“Bastion, you were wondering about my Mystic Swordsman’s effect, so I’ll let you in on the deal. First, I activate a spell card from my hand! Book of Moon, targeting your Oxygeddon to flip him to face down defense position! And then, I swap to my battle phase! Mystic Swordsman LV2, attack his face down monster!”

The tiny little swordsman charged the face down monster, but to Bastion’s surprise, the winged dinosaur never flipped face up. Instead, the swordsman’s weapon glowed purple, cleaving through the back of the card and immediately sending it to the graveyard.

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

The stands surrounding the duel arena were empty for the majority of the practical exams. Other than students who desperately wanted to pick up a few tricks (usually Slifer Reds) and students that simply had nothing better to do but watch (the rest of the dorms), there wasn’t much point in spectating. Unlike the duels between academies, there was no pride or bragging rights for the entire school on the line, nor was there even a chance to get promoted to the next best dorm like there usually was in the midterm exams. Sure, the first day with Crowler’s announcement of the little ‘grade’ problem drew more than a few bystanders for Jaden’s and Syrus’s duel, but most of them had filtered out after Ms. Hibiki had unleashed her pure, undiluted rage upon Crowler.

However, a few students still graced the stands. A small handful from Slifer Red, Bastion’s roommate from Ra Yellow, and four people from Obelisk Blue.

“Hey bro, do you recognize that warrior monster? Why did Bastion’s Oxygeddon get destroyed without even being flipped up? Is his duel disk malfunctioning or something?” The short, blue-haired Syrus turned to look at his friend, Jaden, who merely shook his head at the question.

“I don’t know, Sy. I’ve seen plenty of warrior monsters, but I don’t have that guy in my Elemental Hero deck. And what does it mean by level two?”

From behind him, Alexis considered the question as well, while Mindy and Jasmine (who had followed her here saying something about ‘not letting that disgusting drunk do anything weird’) shared a bowl of popcorn they had made prior to the start of the duel.

Level two. It must be more than meets the eye, for sure. When I asked Bastion about the guy before the duel started, he gave me a ridiculously focused look, saying that while he was sure of victory, it would be a hard-fought one after what he had seen at the entrance exams. Well, in any case this will be a good way to gauge how strong Phil is when he’s not drunk. Alexis wasn’t quite sure on the boy herself. He seemed friendly, though she wished that he wouldn’t use such strong language all of the time. If it weren’t for the fact that she was used to boys hitting on her and was pretty used to catching the signs of that, Alexis would have thought that Phil was just trying to act tough to get her attention. Yet, she couldn’t see that in his eyes. In fact, the boy seemed completely disinterested in her apart from simply being friends, just like how he was with Jaden and Syrus. It was a nice feeling, Alexis realized. One that she hardly got to experience aside from Zane, who saw her as a little sister, and Jaden.

And then, Alexis was snapped out of her thoughts as Jaden appeared to ask her something.

“Sorry, Jaden. I was just thinking on that monster of Phil’s. What were you asking me?” She said with an apologetic smile.

“Oh no worries! I was just wondering if you knew anything about his sweet monster, Alexis.” Jaden asked again, waving off her apologies with an easy smile.

Alexis thought to herself for a few seconds and then shrugged. “Well… I’m not quite sure myself. The level part seems somehow familiar, like I’ve seen it before, but I can’t quite place the feeling.”

Behind them all, seated by himself but close enough to the group to unintentionally overhear, Chazz drummed his fingers on his seat’s armrest as he considered the same question.

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

Back in the dueling arena, Bastion’s eyebrows furrowed as his monster faded away without being flipped face-up.

“Your swordsman’s effect, I presume?” Bastion guessed. Across from the arena, Phil nodded to his words. “Yup. He may be a small fella, but he has a nasty effect. At the start of the damage step, if my Mystic Swordsman LV2 attacked a face-down defense position monster, that monster is destroyed without even flipping it up. The attack and defense don’t matter, thought I suppose they wouldn’t have mattered anyways since my swordsman had more attack than your Oxygeddon’s defense. Though, I suppose it’s a pity that my Swordsman’s effect destruction is mandatory.”

Bastion took the information in stride, his mind already racing to adjust his strategy as Phil set another card face down and ended his turn with a mysterious smile. “My turn! I draw!” Bastion studied his cards with a concentrated expression. So is Phil’s strategy to make full use of his weaker monster’s effect to easily destroy my monsters after he uses cards to place them face down? If that’s the case, then I have to go on the offensive before his monster gets stronger, but if one of his two face downs is another book of moon, then I’ll lose out on another one of my monsters. If he does it enough times, then I’ll find it hard pressed to summon my Water Dragon. Not to mention the new monster I found yesterday after class…

“Well, Phil, show me what you’ve got! I summon Hydrogeddon (1600/1000)! And then, I activate Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two additional cards!” A squat, four-legged dinosaur that appeared to be made of a brownish wind appeared on the field with a roar, and then Bastion filled his hand with two more cards.

Ah. Here’s a few more options. Bastion revealed another card in his hand. “Now, I activate the field spell! Umi! This makes all fish, sea serpent, thunder, and aqua monsters on the field gain 200 attack and defense!”

Audible muttering came from the audience at that card, as even to the spectators on the stands it did not appear to change anything on the field other than to surround the legs of all the monsters with water.

“I assume that’s a bit of set up for later?” Phil ventured a guess, noting that Hydrogeddon’s attack was not raised a single digit from the field spell’s boost.

Bastion nodded. “Quite so. Now, Hydrogeddon! Test his defenses and attack his Mystic Swordsman!”

A blast of air was flung from the squat dinosaur’s mouth, headed right towards the short swordsman. Phil cocked his head, his hand resting on one of his facedown cards, but then he nodded, and the attack went through, dropping Phil’s life points to 3300 and destroying his monster.

“Good job, Hydrogeddon. Now, I activate my monster’s effect!” Bastion yelled. “When Hydrogeddon destroys a monster by battle, I get to summon another copy of Hydrogeddon to the field! And then, I set one additional card and end my turn!”

“Interesting.” Phil grinned as he drew a card. “Bastion, you are one interesting motherfucker! Pity there’s no Oxygeddon on the field, right?”

Bastion’s eyes opened wide in surprise at Phil’s exclamation, barely even registering Ms. Hibiki’s enraged shout of “Language, Phillip!” as he realized his opponent had guessed part, or perhaps even all of his strategy.

Phil, on the other hand, merely ignored Ms. Hibiki’s words as a problem future Phil would have to deal with. It’s that water dragon deck after all. Let’s see… what all did he use with that one? I remember Oxygeddon, and Hydrogeddon. Now that I know he plays multiple copies of the Hydrogeddon due to its effect, and presumably multiple Oxygeddon, it’s pretty much confirmed what his win condition is. Get out Water Dragon and beat me over the head with it until I collapse with a major concussion. The only problem… Phil blinked as he tried to remember. For the life of me I can’t remember what exactly the steps are to summon that big bastard. I know those oxygen and hydrogen cards matter in some way, but I can’t remember what way they do.

Hm. I need some more information before I can do anything drastic.

“Fine. I hate to do this, but I place one monster in face down defense position, and I end my turn!”

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

“Seems like the level monster really wasn’t much to consider, bro.” Syrus piped up. “Is Phil just trying to stall until he gets some way to make his monsters stronger? Because so far he hasn’t summoned anything bigger than 1400 attack.”

Alexis leaned forward as she considered Syrus’s words. “Does this deck of his rely on equip spells then? It certainly seems different than the deck he played in class. Or maybe Phil relies on using monster effects to his advantage. That effect of his Mystic Swordsman could be a problem if he has more of those Book of Moons.”

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

A turtle strategy then? Does Phil plan on bunkering down with monsters with high defense while using the effects of weaker monsters to his full advantage? Or is he trying to stall me until he can summon a monster with high attack points? Bastion tried to see the duel from all angles, just like how he did when he initially viewed Phil’s entrance duel, along with the replays he watched after seeing who he was matched against. The boy obviously preferred to switch out his decks often, but the one thing that remained consistent about his moves was that Phil never seemed to play a card without a solid plan behind it. Hell, even the T.A.D.P.O.L.E’s had mystified Bastion when he had first seen Phil churn them out like there was no tomorrow, but their use had become crystal clear when he ended up revealing that they were all a part of a single combo that Phil had been setting up all game in order to summon a monster that Bastion wasn’t even sure he could defeat without some serious preparation. Well, turtle or no, all I can do is to continue to strengthen my own field.

“My turn! I activate my equip spell, Raise Body Heat, attaching it to my first Hydrogeddon to boost its attack and defense by 300 each (1600/1000 -> 1900/1300)! Then, I activate another spell card! Fossil Dig! This allows me to take one level six or lower dinosaur monster from my deck, and add it to my hand! Oxygeddon, come to me!” Another wind dinosaur popped out onto Bastion’s field as the black-haired boy immediately summoned the monster he had searched, adding another 1800 attack monster to his quickly growing board.

“Prepare yourself, Phil! Hydrogeddon, show me what that monster is and attack!”

Another jet of brown air was unleashed from the squat dinosaur, who was now so heated up that steam jetted out each time one of its four legs shifted in the water brought about by the Umi field spell.

Phil, however, flipped up his monster with a shout. “Best girl Magician of Faith, show ‘em what you do best and grab my Book of Moon from the graveyard to my hand!” The pink-haired woman in blue robes nodded in response to Phil’s request even as the jet of boiling air nailed her straight in the chest, and the Book of Moon Phil had previously used was readded to his hand.

Interesting… but, unless his face down card can save him, then… “It’s over! Hydrogeddon, attack Phil’s life points directly! Oxygeddon, follow suit!”

The second brown wind dinosaur struck true, dropping Phil’s life points to 1700, but before the green Oxygeddon could strike true, Phil finally revealed what his face down card was. “You didn’t think I would run only one copy, did you? Book of Moon, activate to flip his Oxygeddon facedown again!” Bastion furrowed his brows. Two copies of the same card could be no mere coincidence. However, he kept his thoughts to himself. “Quite interesting. I’ll end my turn then.”

Let’s see… 1700 life points to work with, and three rather large monsters I’ve got to clear before I can hit Bastion’s life points. Phil studied his cards as the gears in his mind turned over and over. That first Hydrogeddon’s effect should have triggered when it killed my Magician of Faith, so it’s safe to say that he either doesn’t have three copies or has the third copy already in his hand. Umi ain’t doing shit to any of our monsters currently, so I can also assume that it will buff his water dragon when he summons it. But… since I’m in stayin’ alive mode, I’ll deal with the big boi dragon when it comes. First off, I have to get something substantial on the board.

“Your three monsters are quite interesting, I’ll give you that.” Phil began. “But, I think it’s time to level my game up. I set one face down card, and then I summon the monster Marauding Captain (1200/400)! And, when he’s normal summoned, I get to special summon one level four or lower monster from my hand. Come! Mystic Swordsman LV4 (1900/1600)!

This time, instead of a monster surrounded by a purplish hue, a taller swordsman decked out in in a bluish-purple robe was beckoned out by the Marauding Captain to stand confidently on Phil’s side of the field.

“Ah.” Bastion exclaimed. “A level series, like the silent swordsman and silent magician monsters Yugi Muto uses. I was unaware that there were more.”

Phil shrugged. “Yup. There are more than you think, and they come with fun little gimmicks, too. It’s pretty interesting trying to get workarounds for them. For instance, my Mystic Swordsman LV4 can’t be normal summoned. I either have to summon it with Mystic Swordsman LV2’s effect, which is hard as hell to do, set it in facedown defense position and hope it survives a turn, or I have to cheat it out with the good captain.”

“With Mystic Swordsman LV2’s effect?” Bastion questioned, fishing for as much information as he could in order to start making counter strategies. “Is it similar to the Silent Swordsman, in that it has to survive to the next standby phase?”

“Naw.” Phil shook his head, and then grinned. “I’ll show you. Mystic Swordsman LV4, destroy his weaker Hydrogeddon!” The silent figure leaped forwards, unsheathing a sword that looked to be more of a saber made of purplish-blue light to cleave straight through the brown dinosaur’s windy body. Bastion’s life points dropped for the first time in the duel, going from 4000 to 3700 with the slight difference in attack.

“Now, I move towards my end phase, and Mystic Swordsman activates his effect! Since he destroyed a monster this turn, I send my LV4 copy to the graveyard in order to summon an upgraded version from my deck. Mystic Swordsman LV6 (2300/1700)! Show yourself!”

Bastion gave an impressed whistle as the purplish-blue swordsman was replaced by a taller monster that wore a long, flowing coat and caried two solid blue swords made seemingly out of light.

“Top of the line monster, indeed, Phil. But, you see…” Bastion’s grin turned sharklike as he drew a card and flipped over one of his face downs. “I was expecting something like this! You always seem to wait until the very end of the duel to turn things around, so I figured I should keep something in reserve! I activate my facedown Call of the Haunted to resurrect my Hydrogeddon from the graveyard, and I flip summon the Oxygeddon that you used Book of Moon on! And now, I’ll match your strongest monster with one of my own, as from my hand I activate the spell card, Bonding – H20! By tributing my two Hydrogeddon’s and my one Oxygeddon, I combine the elements to create an unstoppable geyser of water, the necessity for all life! Water Dragon (2800/2600), quench all flames in the world!

Out of nowhere a gigantic explosion of steam bursted out as the three wind dinosaur monsters crashed into each other with all the force they could muster. Heat erupted into wind, cooling out to gather drops of water in the air. At first the droplets were few, but more and more of them formed as large chunks of the three monsters began to disappear. The steam slowed, and then stopped altogether, until finally a massive, winding snakelike body shook the field as the already existing water from Umi field spell spread around Water Dragon to increase its size.

(2800/2600 -> 3000/2800)

Phil laughed, raising out his arms as another jolt of adrenaline shot through his body. “Now that’s one big lad! One chonky fella! One thicc boi! I knew I could count on you, Bastion!”

“Indeed.” Bastion inclined his head at Phil’s praise, and then began his battle phase. “Phil, it seems I must turn your effort from the previous turn into dust. Water Dragon, show his Mystic Swordsman LV6 the might of the waves!”

“Well, I wouldn’t count your chickens before they hatch,” Phil shrugged. “Marauding Captains effect forces you to attack him instead of my other warrior monsters! But, since the difference in attack points would be enough to put me to zero life points, I activate my face down trap instead! Magic Cylinder! You know what it does, I know what it does, the crowd knows what it does! I’ll pull a Yugi and negate your Water Dragon’s attack, redirecting the damage back to your life points instead!

Bastion grimaced as the super-powered jet of water was sucked into a set of large cylinders, before being redirected to reduce his life points down to a measly 700. “Well played.” Bastion acknowledged, setting one more card face down and ended his turn.

“Well played yourself.” Phil chuckled. “Got yourself a 3k beatstick without hardly breaking a sweat.” And then, Phil looked Bastion straight in the eyes. “You know, I’d heard about you beforehand. Hard not to, with us being in the same dorm. ‘The strongest of Ra Yellow’, that’s what some of the guys say about you in the common room. I believe them, I really do.” Phil’s eyes flashed as he revealed a card in his hand. “You have the mojo to back up the claim, but I’m sorry to say that I’ll be taking that title from you, Bastion! You may have a stronger monster, but I summon a cute widdle friend of mine! The Ultimate Insect LV1 (0/0)!

A tiny caterpillar inched its way onto the field, squirming uncomfortably in the pools of water that were deep enough to nearly drown the poor creature. From the stands, which were now almost half full, a smattering of laughter flew out, but Bastion forced his concentration onto the new monster.

An extraordinarily weak monster, just like what he used in the entrance exam. Well, if that’s the case I must be prepared for it to become far stronger than it is now, like his Mystic Swordsman. I can’t let my guard down, not for a single moment!

But, Phil wasn’t done quite yet. “I know, I know,” He said lazily, half to the stands and half to Bastion. “He’s a little fella but he’s just trying his best. Don’t knock him for that! So, to give my little buddy some moral support, I activate my spell card! Swords of Revealing Light!”

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

Despite his own pride, Chazz was leaned forwards in his seat in anticipation of Phil’s next move, for he had seen one or two ‘LV’ monsters himself throughout his time participating in tournaments before Duel Academy.

First a swordsman, now an insect. Is his entire deck built fully to support ‘LV’ monsters? Does that mean… that he has the strongest series of them all? The ‘Armed Dragon’ cards that are so rare even I haven’t seen any of them past the level five version? It seems like I’ll have to put another Ra Yellow student on my list of duelists to defeat.

A few rows in front of him the discussion was in full swing between the original group of Jaden, Syrus, Alexis, Mindy, Jasmine, and multiple other faces Chazz was unable to recognize apart from their jackets denoting which dorm they were from. Back and forth they muttered about how Phillip might be able to get out of the bind he was in, and the potential powers of the Water Dragon.

“The real question,” Alexis pointed out, “is how many levels that so-called ‘Ultimate Insect’ has, and what the conditions are to bring them out. I think Phil mentioned earlier that destroying a monster by battle was the condition for his Mystic Swordsman, so could it be similar to that?”

Chazz cocked his head, and then sighed as he got up to sit closer to the group to weigh in on the discussion.

“It’s not quite that simple.” He started, half-enjoying the little startled jumps Syrus, Mindy, and Jasmine gave as he spoke to them out of nowhere.

“Mystic Swordsman had a specific requirement to level up, but many of the level monsters out there, like Yugi Muto’s Silent monsters only require the monster to survive to the next turn, or for a certain amount of turns. With how low that insect’s attack is, my best guess is that it has to survive a certain amount of turns to evolve. In a way, it might actually be similar to Weevil Underwood’s Great Moth monster, in that a far weaker variation must survive to become strong. I cannot say for sure how many levels it has, but if that monster starts at level one it must have a powerful end form that makes it worth using.”

Alexis nodded, her gaze sharply focused on the two duelists as she considered Chazz’s words. “Then if that’s the case, this duel is far from over…”