Phil sat back with a groan of relief onto his dorm bed. It wasn’t a bad one, at least when compared to the one he had in college back on Earth, and compared to the trials of the day it was a welcome comfort. As things tended to do in life, nearly as soon as Phil had escaped from his own personal hell he had found himself sitting in the commons room for hours debating, arguing, and theorizing with Bastion. It certainly wasn’t a bad thing, in fact it was pretty fun at times, but damn was that kid passionate about finding a mathematical solution to fucking Yu-Gi-Oh!, of all things.

“Well, in any case it presents a conundrum of its own.” Said Phil from where he laid, half to himself and half to Lumina, who was relaxing on the spare bed with a scratched, old red thermos of what he assumed was tea from the smell.

“A conundrum? How so? Is it about those unexpected cards that boy revealed to you?” Lumina replied. She had her eyes half-closed, and she had shifted her position on the spare bed to provide herself maximum comfort as she enjoyed her chamomile tea.

Phil took a second to respond, thinking his words through in his head as he produced a tennis ball he had ‘liberated’ from the gym to bounce against the wall. The plain, white wall. “Precisely. I had a nice, long talk with Bastion, and I managed to sneak in some questions about that Water Cluster Dragon of his. According to Bastion, he was simply out on a walk through the forest and found it, along with a copy of Duoterion and that trap that the dragon uses as a summoning condition, laying on the ground. Kinda weird, right? I guess it’s not completely impossible since I think it the anime there was something with a well of cards on the school grounds? And if I remember correctly in the manga Chazz buried his Light and Darkness Dragon somewhere around here. The real issue is what should I do to in response to this. That Cluster Dragon wasn’t all that bad in the grand scheme of things. It was something I actually had a chance to deal with through GOAT-era cards. But, if this becomes more common… I don’t know if I can justify sticking with decks purely made out of GOAT cards. On the other hand, however, if I use something even slightly newer and people get suspicious, I don’t want Pegasus on my ass. He ain’t dead in this timeline, at least according to Bastion when I asked him earlier, but even though Bakura would have taken his Millennium Eye around Duelist Kingdom he would still pose as a problematic enemy if I riled him up. Toons around GX era are shit, but if he has the new field spell, Toon Kingdom, combined with his sheer knowledge of shadow games… I don’t see things going well for me if a meeting turns nasty, even if he can’t use that ancient Egyptian mumbo-jumbo with the lack of the eye.”

The tennis ball bounced against the wall, again and again as Phil fell silent to gather his thoughts.

“A shadow game… is that what you’re concerned of?”

“It is… a problem, I admit.” Phil acknowledged. “But I think I have a decent idea of what I need to do regarding them. Fortunately, I’ve read the original run of the manga back-to-back, multiple times. You know, the stuff before the GX shit, with Yugi and Joey and the crew. In fact, I’ve actually given this some thought back on Earth, done some bullshitting with the boys on the specifics. It was always something fun to talk about in-between rounds or at the end of the night when everyone would chill for a bit at the game store.”

This grabbed Lumina’s attention, and she looked over to Phil from where she was laying with her feet comfortably resting on the backboard of the spare bed.

Another ‘thud’ of the tennis ball sounded out and a slight green mark was left on the wall as Phil continued. “Right, so keep in mind this is all a theory, a manga theory. I have absolutely no evidence to back this up other than what I have seen from the shadow games that were featured in the manga from the very beginning, to Duelist Kingdom, and through Battle City. Worse case scenario is that I get proved hella wrong in the first shadow game I participate in and get a fate worse than death. First off: you have to have some sort of magical item or ability to start one. The millennium items don’t exist on this earth anymore after the final duel between Atem and Yugi, so I don’t imagine the ‘magical item’ part to be relevant much. I also can’t think of a single time a human in the series had a magical ability that could start shadow games, though I could be forgetting someone. That leads us duel spirits. Back in the days of ancient Egypt, they used Ka to fight, powered by Ba, which was what they called the soul. Ka, or what would be called duel spirits now, are still around, with you as an obvious example. However, I do recall that even back then the priest dudes had to use the Millennium Items to put Ka into tablets to summon as monsters and fight. But, what if you could sidestep the items requirement if you had a duel spirit ready to run the magic side of things for you? One that wasn’t stuck in a tablet or that could use magic while still in a tablet?”

Lumina tilted her head in thought, considering the question Phil had posed. “I suppose that would probably work. I’ve never participated in a shadow game, though, so I couldn’t say for sure.”

“Hm. Well, that could pose some issues, but I’ll be counting on you when the inevitable shadow game happens.” Phil sighed, and then shrugged helplessly. “Ah well, there’s a first time for everything.”

“But… you aren’t aware?” Lumina took another sip of her tea and looked at Phil in mild confusion.

Phil shook his head in exasperation. “Okay okay okay, I’m gonna need you to not play that game. Please, Lumina, say precisely what I am not aware of since this is kinda a serious topic.”

“Ah. So you didn’t know after all. You already have a duel spirit, ever since you entered this world. D.3.S Frog should be able to provide what you need in a shadow game.”

“Woah, what?” Phil jumped off of his bed to snatch the deckbox that held his favorite froggy fusion monster. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“No. We haven’t exactly spoken much, but he’s a strong one. Old, too.”

“No kidding…” Phil breathed as he looked at the precious card with a gaze of reverence. “Hey dude, what’s up? Wanna talk, or no?”

For a moment the card was unremarkable, just a common rarity fusion monster. And then, the picture rippled as a singular sturdy tongue flicked out of the card art in acknowledgement before retreating back into the image to lay still again. Phil gazed at the card, partially overtaken by nostalgia until he looked back to Lumina.

“He was my first card, you know. My dad got me a few packs of Shadow of Infinity for Christmas when I was little after I had seen some older kids playing the game at school. I don’t know why, but I kept this big guy throughout all these years. He resonated with me, I guess. And then he came along to this world with me in my collection.” Phil fell silent, staring at the fusion monster as faint memories of opening his very first packs raced through his mind.

“Good ol’ dad.” Phil suddenly chuckled, turning away from Lumina for a couple seconds and taking a quiet, shuddering breath until he steadied himself and continued. “Even unintentionally, he’s still looking after me.” Then, Phil walked over to the little wooden table in the room and placed the card carefully onto the sturdy surface.

“So my second point, then, and if either of you have better information please feel free to chime in.” Phil continued in a slightly more subdued voice, picking up the tennis back and sending it bouncing back into the wall once more while he paced around the room.

“My second point, which until it is one hundred percent confirmed will be nothing but a hypothesis, is that I think there are certain rules one has to follow for a shadow game, different than simply starting one. Now, I enjoy reading. In fact, I would go as far as to say it’s one of my main hobbies. I’ve read multiple books that have had magical elements in them, and one thing that was fairly consistent throughout all of them was the idea that there usually were rules to follow before a fight. You couldn’t simply take a fellow magician out from a couple hundred yards away with a sniper rifle. Well, you could, but that would probably backfire in other ways. Instead, they would usually make their presence known, challenge someone to magical combat, and only use magical ways to fight that battle.”

Phil glanced over to Lumina, who was looking at him blankly in confusion.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. I suck at explaining things, don’t I?” Phil shrugged and started again. “I’ll keep my explanation in children’s card game terms. In the manga, Yugi actually had more than a few shadow games involving ordinary people. Yet, why did they not ignore a random nerdy kid yammering about ‘shadow games’ or some shit and fucking shoot him in the head? Marik wanted the Pharoah dead, so why didn’t he get one of the rare hunters to camp his house like it’s a first person shooter game? My answer, and this is somewhat supported in some of the early shadow games before the card game was involved, is that an aggressive action that is not allowed through the rules of a shadow game agreed upon beforehand by both parties invites a far more deadly response. I recall in the manga there was one shadow game where Yami Yugi and some dude with a knife had to do something or another with getting money by stabbing the knife through it. Anyways, the game ends with the dude trying to stab Yami Yugi. Yugi-boy dodged or survived or something, and then immediately inflicted a penalty game on the dude even though the game hadn’t finished yet. Technically there’s nothing stopping some asshole with some money and a dream from opening up my brains with a 50 cal. or putting a landmine under my bed. But if I survive, that opens the door for extreme, magical retaliation that doesn’t have to be fair or give warning. And what would you do if that happened, my froggy friend?”

Phil turned towards the card on his desk as he asked his question. The fusion card remained silent for a second, and then a burst of pure killing intent flooded from the card while the lights in the room flickered and the wooden table groaned out in protest. And then, only one word was spoken by the card.

“Hungry.”

Phil gaped at the card in shock, before laughing and saluting the D.3.S Frog. “Right-o, you would fucking eat them or something. That’s really messed up, but I like to follow the ‘fuck around and find out’ rule so if that happens go ham my guy. Anyways that somewhat helps my point. You could ignore protocol or whatever you want to call it, but not following the unwritten rules opens up the defender to smoking your ass like a cigar if they survive the initial attack. But, if you go up to your opponent, challenge them to a duel like a big boy and follow the rules, you can get away with killing them or giving them a fate worse than death without any consequences if you win the shadow game. So if my theories are correct, I should have both the ability and the right to participate in shadow games, along with obviously having a strong enough backer to make people think twice about side-stepping the tacit agreement between magicians to resolve beef in shadow games with clearly defined rules.”

Lumina held her hand up to her forehead, massaging it as her mind processed Phil’s rant. “That would make sense, I suppose. I’ll ask my superiors when I get a chance, just in case though.”

“That would be super helpful.” Phil nodded his thanks to Lumina, and then tossed the tennis ball at the wall again to make another faint green mark. “And I think for now on the card situation, I’ll keep to the GOAT side of things. I might have some ideas regarding shadow games, but I’d rather avoid fighting someone with a few decades more experience in them than me, even if Pegasus doesn’t have a Millennium Item anymore. Make no mistake, I’ll keep a more modern deck hidden away in my jacket just in case, but as long as I’m a bit more cautious in the more important duels I should be fine. In the worse-case scenario I’ll bust out PaleoFrogs or one of my other ol’ reliables like PePe.

Phil nodded his head in satisfaction now that his mind was mostly made up on the matter as he observed the fact that the walls in his room were no longer completely white. Instead, they were mostly white with a large collection of faint green marks randomly clustered around the walls.

“Mhm. That’s better. Now, if that’s all, I’m gonna get some sleep and try to forget about that fucking piece of shit wall in Ms. Hibiki’s office.”

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

Phil held back a yawn as he sat next to Bastion in the classroom, waiting for both the teacher to show up and for his coffee to start kicking in. Despite being the first class of the day (and therefore early in the morning) the classroom was almost completely filled with bored-looking students to chatted aimlessly while waiting for things to start.

“Where the hell is the prof?” Phil questioned, kicking his feet up onto the desk in front of him to the annoyance of Jasmine and Mindy. “I know Sartyr likes cooking more than card design, but holy shit would it kill the guy to be on time for once.”

Alexis sighed at Phil’s continued usage of foul language from where she sat next to Jaden and Syrus. “I’m sure he’s just running late, Phil. Professors are humans too, you know.”

“Maybe he’s designing some sweet cards and lost track of time?” Jaden piped up, somehow looking cheery despite the early morning and the obvious dark circles around his eyes. To his right, Syrus nodded his head to agree with his friend. And then, the conversation ceased as the door opened to reveal someone who was most definitely not Professor Sartyr. Phil froze for a second as his eyes registered the newcomer and his mind spun with PTSD-induced flashbacks.

It was Ms. Hibiki.

“Good morning, class. Professor Sartyr is… indisposed today, so I’ll be taking care of his card design class today.” A few hands shot up in the air, but Ms. Hibiki ignored them to continue her introduction. “He’s fine, don’t worry about it.” And then she stopped talking, moving closer to the lectern. From his seat Phil stared at her, noticing that she seemed to have muttered something to herself after saying Sartyr was doing fine.

Well there goes my relaxed day of classes. Fuck me, I ain’t going back to that damn wall again.

Already Phil’s eyes were scanning the room, checking for and mentally registering every possible escape route for the ‘just in case’ scenario, as he liked to think of it. Let’s see… if she tries to wall me again… I think the window would be best. Ms. Hibiki can outrun me so it would be best to avoid something easy like the doors. Damnit. I wish I would have picked a seat closer to the windows in the back, that way I could see how they open. Is there a latch or do they slide open? Do they even open? Am I going to have to chuck a chair through them beforehand? There’s no way my body weight is enough to break that glass without some serious force behind it. I’ve seen bigger guys bounce off glass back on Earth… but a chair…

Phil quickly glanced at his surroundings to gauge the objects with enough potential.

The chairs aren’t uniform, some of them look thicker or bigger than some of the others.

Then, Phil relaxed slightly as he came to a decision and watched Ms. Hibiki’s lecture start with an air of caution.

Alright. If I fuck up and she sends me to hell again, I grab Alexis’s chair since that looks like one of the newer chairs, throw it through the window, and bolt.

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

Ms. Hibiki sharply gazed around the muttering students as they pondered their group work that she had assigned, a short project to create a set of five cards with balanced abilities that had synergy between them without being too ridiculous in power. She was pleased that the class had broken apart into their own small groups without complaint, though Ms. Hibiki was much less pleased about the circumstances that led to her being the substitute teacher for the day.

Still, the kids were doing well. Already Alexis, who had grouped up with Jasmine and Mindy, had turned in their group’s design for several Cyber Angel cards that complemented each other nicely. Meanwhile, Chazz (who had tried to work by himself before she had assigned him as a partner to Jaden and Syrus) was begrudgingly working out a surprisingly detailed series of Roid monsters with his group. And a few seats dow-

“I’m tellin’ you dude, if we put angry eyebrows on it and name it ‘Jam the Frog’, this card will look damn well badass-“

Phil’s voice petered out from where he was arguing with Bastion over their card and his head moved jerkily towards her. Ms. Hibiki sighed. “Mr. Jenson, would you kindly come up front to have a talk with me?”

Phil looked into her eyes, then slid his gaze over to Bastion and… Why was he looking at Alexis?

Soon Ms. Hibiki’s question was answered, as with a yell of “Sorry Alexis!” The boy bolted for her vacated chair, hoisting it over his head and running towards the window in the back of the classroom. Her mind blanked out for a moment, then she moved in a flash to sprint up the steps towards him, racing her way through the students and finding it rather annoying for the first time that the lecture hall had been set up with tiered seating to allow students in the back to see easily. Then, one moment she was in hot pursuit, and the next moment she heard Phil give out a cry of surprise as Bastion stood up with a weary sigh, extended his arm, and caught the collar of Phil’s jacket to stop him dead in his feet.

Ms. Hibiki slowed her pace to a fast walk, thanking Bastion and grabbing Phil’s collar with her own hands.

“Mr. Jenson. I think I have an idea of what you were going to do with that chair, and you’d better be thanking your heavens that your friend was thoughtful enough to stop you if my idea is correct.” She turned to look at the rest of the class with a brittle smile. “Well, it’s close enough to the hour, go ahead and get going to your next class, everyone. For those who finished, good work! Everyone else, I expect to see your custom cards in my drop box no later than 9am tomorrow morning.

“And you” Ms. Hibiki looked towards Phil, who appeared to have resigned himself to his fate. “With me to my office.”

Phil groaned but continued to follow her after his collar was released. Meanwhile, Ms. Hibiki slid her phone out of her pocket to speed-dial the office secretary’s number.

“Good morning Annie, do you remember what we spoke about in the break room yesterday? Yeah? Perfect, just put it on my desk. Thanks, you’re a star.” Her phone clicked shut with a satisfying ‘snap’ and Ms. Hibiki went back to considering the problem at hand.

Well, hopefully Phillip’s file will shed some light on his behavior.

The files that Dr. Crowler had collected on each student that attended Duel Academy were a resource she never quite like using, as they mainly came in handy when faculty had to work with problem students, but the had never failed in helping Ms. Hibiki to understand their situations before. And, as her brother had often said, understanding why someone does what they do is the first step to victory. For Ms. Hibiki, even though her brother Koyo’s words were about dueling, those words had served her well in helping troubled students in the past.