Phil, Bastion, and Syrus steadily munched through a shared bowl of popcorn from where they sat in the stands of the first unused duel arena the group had found, watching with great enjoyment as Jaden and Chazz duked it out on the arena below.

"Come'on man," Phil drawled through a mouthful of buttery popcorn. "It's The Chazz we're talking about. Look at the fella go! He's already got that stupid-ass Armed Dragon of his out, and it's level 7 already. As long as he doesn't do anything stupid and draws into level 10, my boy in blue's probably got this one in the bag."

Syrus, who along with Bastion had somehow been convinced to skip class to spectate this, looked over at Phil with doubtful eyes. "Nuh-uh. Bro will win, you'll see. He beat Crowler and he beat Chazz once before. Heck, I think bro's still undefeated at this point!" Then, as if to signal that he wouldn't be hearing any more nonsense on the subject, Syrus turned his head back to observe the situation on the field. The duel itself was well underway, with both duelists having pulled out all the stops in regards to their strategies in favor of dueling all-out. Even Syrus could admit that the duel was intense enough that despite his blind belief in Jaden, Syrus wasn't quite sure who would win in the end with how back and forth it was. When Jaden had used his Flame Wingman and Skyscraper combo to destroy Chazz's Dragonic Knight, Syrus had thought the duel was over. When Chazz had immediately fusion summoned Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon to destroy Jaden's Flame Wingman, Syrus had groaned for fear that all hope was lost. But still the duel raged as both boys continuously brought out stronger and stronger monsters using methods Syrus wasn't quite sure he could even think up with the amount of pressure both his bro and Chazz must have been feeling.

"A-yup, there ya' go." Syrus's thoughts were interrupted by Phil's casual exclamation. "Level 10, just as I told you. The big boy wipes out Jaden's monsters, and, oooohhh…" Phil fell silent for a few seconds before continuing. "Man that Wingbeat of Giant Dragon was a fucking nasty move."

Despite his own thoughts on the matter, Syrus couldn't help but agree as the group watched Chazz destroy all of Jaden's monsters with Armed Dragon LV10's effect, followed by the destruction of all Jaden's spells and traps through the usage of A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon, which returned the Armed Dragon to Chazz's hand in return. Still, even though the terrifying metal dragon monster was no longer on the field, Syrus couldn't even feel a single drop of hope anymore as he watched Chazz summon the Dark Armed Dragon (2800/1000) from his hand and attack to wipe out the remainder of Jaden's life points.

Bastion's warm hand patted Syrus's back consolingly. "Just think about this, Syrus." Bastion began. "Now Jaden and Chazz are one-one, and from what I know about Jaden, that fact will only motivate him to do even better in the future."

Syrus couldn't even summon up the energy to reply to his friend's kind words.

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

Completely ignoring Syrus's onset of crippling depression, Phil heaved himself out of his seat and began to stretch his own limbs before he headed down to the arena himself.

Interesting stuff. Phil remarked to himself. Chazzy wazzy already has the Armed Dragon line and seemingly has a huge Kaiba-sized boner for dragon monsters. I could just slap him with Chaos Warrior or meet his aggression head-on with Beastdown, but… Hm. Naw, that sounds boring as fuck. Phil nodded to himself as he began to take the stairs down to the area two at a time. Ever since the shadow duel he had taken part of on the weekend, Phil had thought to himself quite a bit on the subject. On one hand, a proper GOAT deck, as he saw with Titan, was more than enough to slap anyone who fucked with him into next week. But, Phil already knew the consequences of doing that in every duel. Boredom. So, in order to resolve that little issue, Phil had created his own rating system to help him decide what power level of deck would be appropriate. For stupid classroom duels where Phil had to 'educate' mouth breathing morons who thought that summoning a non-effect monster with 1500 attack was the pinnacle of strategy, there would only be Beastdown for Phil, so he could get back to snoozetown quickly. If it was a fun duel like Phil was expecting for it to be against Chazz, with little on the line for Phil, then, well, even though Chazz would be pissed if he found out, there was no way Phil could stop himself from playing some stupid-ass 'fun' deck, like the ones he and his friends back on Earth would drunkenly put together at three in the morning. Then, the final tier of the rating system went quite similarly to the first: the shadow duel tier. Play a good GOAT deck and don't get subjected to torments beyond the imagination of the mortal man for all eternity.

By the time Phil had reached the duel area, patted Jaden on the back consolingly when he passed the boy on the stairs, and decided which deck to use, Chazz had crossed his arms and was staring at Phil solemnly.

"Phil. Are you ready?" Chazz asked curtly.

Phil shrugged his shoulders. "Eh we'll see. Are you? Keep in mind that once I win this, you'll have to follow my lead since I'll be the captain or whatever Ms. Hibiki is going to call the top dog between the three of us."

Phil's provocation appeared to slide off Chazz like the boy was covered in butter, only serving to make Chazz smile in return. "It seems that we have differing opinions on who will win. Perhaps a bet, then?"

"Ooohh…" Phil's head snapped up to meet Chazz's steady gaze. "The terms?"

"If I win, you accept my leadership for the International School Duel. No messing around, no playing with your opponents like a dog with a chew toy. In order to show that our school is the best, we must win unconditionally in each and every duel."

"Damn" Phil whistled in admiration. "You really do want to win this. Eh, that's fine by me. If you win, that is. However, if I win… hm. I gotta think about this." Then, Phil laughed and dramatically pointed his finger in the air, as if he had come to some significant revelation. "Hows about if I win, you'll accept mine and Bastion's deck building advice."

Chazz raised his eyebrow at Phil's terms. "You surprise me, Phil, that you do not require my acceptance of your leadership if you win, but fine. As long as I am given a good reason for any changes you two suggest, I accept your terms."

Phil nodded at Chazz's words and activated his duel disk, biting back his own words about not giving a shit if Chazz followed his lead in the tournament. Not like it matters if he follows my lead as captain. The prideful bastard's going to tryhard his way through the school duel no matter who wins.

"Duel!" Phil and Chazz shouted as two life point counters, both showing the starting value of 4000, appeared on the scoreboard above the field while the two boys drew their starting hands.

"I'll start things off!" Phil laughed with joy after seeing his starting hand. "Easy does it, right Chazz? I place one monster in face down defense position, and set two facedowns! Your go my dude."

Chazz shook his head, clearly disappointed in Phil's lack of aggression. "I draw. I summon my monster, Axe Dragonute (2000/1200). Then, I place one card face down and go to battle phase. Axe Dragonute, atta-"

Phil cut Chazz off with a bought of wild laughter. "Sorry Chazz, but this happens to everyone eventually. I activate my continuous trap card! Gravity Bind! While it remains on the field, no monsters that are level four or higher can attack, and this goes for both of us!"

A tic of irritation was visible on Chazz's brow as he watched his monster look at its own axe in confusion as to why it couldn't muster the strength to swing it. It was a predicament indeed. The black, winged dragon that held an axe almost as long as it was tall usually proved more than enough to destroy anything Chazz's opponents were able to bring out, even past its downside of being forced into defense position with the strength of its own attacks, but that was a moot point if his monster couldn't attack in the first place.

Fine. If Phil wants to stall the inevitable, whatever. I have lower level monsters in my deck, and my higher level ones can hold him off until I draw Wingbeat. Chazz thought to himself as he ended his turn.

"During your end phase, I activate my other face down card. Solemn Wishes!" Another tic of frustration appeared on Chazz's forehead in response to Phil's declaration. He knew exactly what was beginning to happen. From the green net of Gravity Bind that had encircled Chazz's monster, to the hazy appearance of a woman who was enjoying the cool rain. That son of a bitch is playing a stall deck for sure.

Phil entered his draw phase, adding a card to his hand and grinning as his continuous trap card, Solemn Wishes, increased his life points to 4500 for the single card he drew. "Right, Chazz. I can already see you don't like me right now. I can, however, offer you some reassurance. It only gets worse from here! I flip summon my face down monster. Des Lacooda (500/600), show yourself!" On Phil's side of the field a groaning camel wrapped in bandages heaved itself from a pile of sand, completely oblivious to the bits of rotten flesh that poked out from gaps in the bandages. "On his summon, I activate Des Lacooda's first effect, which allows me to draw a card when he is flip summoned. This naturally triggers Solemn Wishes, which boosts my life points by another 500 (4500 → 5000)! Then, just to let you know that this ain't over yet, I activate Des Lacooda's second effect, which lets me flip him back down into face down defense position so I can have even more fun next turn. After that I'll set another monster which I swear isn't another copy of Des Lacooda, and I end my turn!"

Chazz shook his head in disgust. "I don't know if you're mocking me with your deck choice, or finally taking a duel seriously. I draw." Chazz grimaced as he looked at his hand. Still no way for him to reach his sparse amount of spell and trap removal cards, and nothing under level four in his hand to speak of. Still, despite the disadvantage he faced, Chazz's prideful mind continued to pull together strategies to tear through Phil's field through brute force. "Okay, if you want to be that way, Phil, I'll play your game. I activate my spell card Dragon Shrine, which allows me to send a dragon-type monster from my deck to my graveyard. I'll choose to send my Blackland Fire Dragon. And, since I sent a non-effect monster, Dragon Shrine allows me to send an additional dragon-type monster in addition to Blackland Fire Dragon. I'll go ahead and send Masked Dragon to join its peers in the land of death."

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

Bastion, Syrus, and Jaden observed the duel from the nearby stands.

"Man, that strategy of Phil's sure looks super nasty." Jaden remarked with a laugh, already trying to think of different ways that he himself could deal with a situation like that. I wouldn't be able to use my fusion monsters, that's for sure. Not unless I could draw Mystical Space Typhoon or R – Righteous Justice.

Bastion nodded his head as he crunched on another handful of popcorn. He was a little less surprised, as the Gravity Bind lockdown strategy Phil was employing was one of the many possibilities the two of them had considered in their talks. Still, Bastion knew that the lockdown was nowhere near the end of things. Those Des Lacoodas represent near-unprecedented draw power. Phil's digging for something, that's for sure. But what could it be? Bastion's brain whirred and buzzed, spitting out all sorts of potential strategies that Phil may eventually transition into once the right cards were delivered into his hand. It's doubtful he's waiting for a high level monster. Gravity Bind would prevent something like that from being useful, unless he was relying on it having a powerful effect instead of a strong attack. That would fit with the level monsters he used in our duel. Or perhaps he plans to swarm the field with a multitude of low-level monsters with slow, yet powerful effects that can work and attack under the restriction of his trap card. That would be poetic, in a way considering how Chazz historically relies on delivering a brutal beatdown using monsters with unbelievably high attack power. The powerful dragon brought low by the bites of a thousand insects.

The 'crack' of a can of soda being opened by Syrus jolted Bastion out of his thoughts, and he accepted the fizzy drink from the small boy with a word of thanks. I suppose no matter what strategy he will choose to employ, it'll definitely be an interesting one…

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

Back on the duel arena, Chazz continued his turn with a look of extreme concentration. "Now! I summon my Divine Dragon Apocralyph (1000/1500) in defense mode!" Next to Chazz's dark-colored Axe Dragonute, a winged dragon made entirely of globules of fire sprang into existence with a tiny cry and a gout of flame. "Unfortunately, as it too is level four, my Divine Dragon cannot attack, but that matters not. From my hand, I activate the effect of Thunder Dragon. By discarding it to the graveyard, I can add up to two more copies of Thunder Dragon from my deck to my hand. I'll choose to add two copies, not one, naturally. Then, I'll show you the true out to your field lockdown, Phil. I activate my Divine Dragon's effect. I discard one of the Thunder Dragon's I added to my hand, and then I get to add one of my fallen dragon-type monsters from my graveyard to my hand. The monster I choose is Masked Dragon! Now, I'll end my turn after setting one more card face down.

Phil said nothing in response, merely grinning as he began his turn and his life points dropped to 5500. Interesting. Masked Dragon is probably under level four, and with enough attack to get over my poor zombie camels. Cheers to you, Chazz, for doing what probably half of your peers in Obelisk Blue wouldn't be able to even think of.

"Alright, Chazz, I guess I'll flip up both of my Des Lacoodas I had set, allowing me to draw two cards and then gain another 1000 life points off Solemn Wishes (5500 → 6500)." Phil glanced at the two new additions to his hand. Perfect. Ohhh baby, it's all coming together now. "I'll simply flip both of my Lacooda's back face down, and set another monster face down to join them. Your go, Chazzy-wazzy."

"Don't call me that." Was Chazz's automatic response as he began his turn. "I draw." Chazz's eyes lit up upon seeing the card, and a grin split across his face to remove the firm frown that had been there ever since Phil had revealed Gravity Bind. "Perrrfect." He drawled. "I activate my Divine Dragon's effect once more, discarding the Dragonic Knight in my hand to exchange for my Blackland Fire Dragon. Phil, ready yourself. Because I activate the spell card I just drew, Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two cards!"

Ignoring Phil's ridiculous shout of "What does it dooooooo!!!!!" Chazz continued with his turn. "I activate another spell card. Double Summon! With the ability to conduct two normal summons this turn, I summon my Masked Dragon (1400/1100) and my Armed Dragon LV3 1200/900)!"

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

Bastion's face paled as the red, fleshy form of Masked Dragon, its face stretched in what looked like a demented grin, sprang to life alongside the stunted, almost unnatural orange and steel-colored shape of the Armed Dragon LV3. Bastion knew, and assumed Phil knew as well what those two cards meant.

Beside him, Jaden proved that he knew as well. "Those are both level three, enough to slip under Gravity Bind!" Jaden exclaimed in shock.

Bastion nodded to confirm Jaden's thoughts, adding on a few himself. "Indeed. Though, by Chazz's next turn the Armed Dragon gets the choice to level up, which could be seen as a boon or a restriction."

"A boon or a restriction? What do you mean by that, Bastion?" Syrus questioned while digging through the nearly-empty bowl of popcorn.

"Well, if it levels up, Chazz will only have one monster capable of slipping under Phil's field lockdown." Bastion replied, his voice distant while he wrestled with theories of his own. "However, in return Chazz would get a way to destroy Phil's face-up monsters without doing battle with them, along with powerful follow-up if Gravity Bind gets destroyed. It's a mixed bag, really."

"A mixed bag of what?" Alexis questioned the boys as she slipped into a seat beside the three of them.

"Oh, hey Alexis. I thought you didn't want to miss out on the rest of today's classes?" Jaden asked Alexis in a voice thick with curiosity.

Alexis only stared back at the boy in exasperation. "Yes, but look at the time, for heaven's sake! Classes ended almost ten minutes ago! I had enough time to stop by the dorms to drop my school stuff off!"

Bastion, Syrus, and Jaden looked at each other and then looked back at Alexis. "Oh. Huh." The three boys said in unison before looking back to the heated duel that was still continuing to ramp up in intensity. Alexis shook her head, wondering yet again if the combined influence of Jaden and Phil, two people who were beginning to get a reputation for sleeping in class, was beginning to have an effect on the more studious Bastion and poor Syrus.

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

"I move to my battle phase!" Chazz cried triumphantly. "Masked Dragon, Armed Dragon LV3, destroy both of his Des Lacoodas!" Phil shrugged his shoulders and sighed as the two poor camels were obliterated. "See ya, you were the bestest of boys and I hardly knew ye." Phil said in mourning. Chazz, meanwhile, ended his turn with a cold snort, for he knew that half of what Phil said at any given time was some stupid joke.

"Solemn Wishes, that is so sad. Can you heal me a bit to dry a poor man's tears?" Phil asked as he drew a card. The trap card in question did not answer, as it was an inanimate object, but it raised Phil's life points up to 7000 regardless. "Sheesh. You and your Armed Dragon obsession. Chazz, those cards are doo-doo, and I'm gonna prove it to you. However, I'm gonna need a hand in doing that, so Senju Of The Thousand Hands, show 'em why they call you a handy man!"

Chazz and the four spectators in the stands simultaneously groaned at Phil's horrendous pun as a bronze monster with thousands of hands and a rather angry expression stepped onto the field. Several of the hands were gesturing with palms outwards, as if calling for all opponents to bring it on, and several more of the creature's hands were displaying their middle finger towards Phil in lack of appreciation for his pun. Still, despite the monster's obvious dissatisfaction, his effect still activated. "Most excellent, dude! With Senju's effect, I can add one ritual monster from my deck to my hand. And that'll be… hm…" Phil made a big show of considering, and then his face lit up as he decided. "Ah! I know! I'll add you." The unnamed ritual monster was quickly added to his hand, and then Phil continued with his turn. "Then, I'll flip summon the monster you spared last turn, Sangan 1000/600), say hello buddy!"

A ball-shaped creature covered in brown fur, with three eyes and four green limbs poking out of the mess bounced onto the field with a gargled scream of agony. Clearly it was an abomination, some sort of creature that should have never been born.

"Don't worry, buddy!" Phil said reassuringly. "I'll take you out of your misery soon enough! I activate the very card I spent the last few turns digging through my deck for. Chazz, It's the End Of The World as we know it! I sacrifice Senju from my field, along with Earthbound Spirit from my hand, to bring forth the engine of destruction, the baleful king who judges the world with a swing of his axe and the exhalation of his cold, blue fire! Demise, King of Armageddon (2400/2000)!"

Phil's and Chazz's breath billowed out of their mouths in visible clouds as the temperature lowered to by such amounts that Syrus could even see frost begin to spread on the windows above the arena. Several gouts of blue flames billowed forth as faint visages of stone and wood buildings appeared on the field, crumbling to dust as a single fiend stepped forth onto the field. He was covered almost completely in cold black armor, the ashy color of it only broken up by the pure white surface of the shoulder guards and gauntlets. On top of it all, an emotionless skull, bleached white only by the passage of time itself stared coldly at the trembling dragons on the field, judging them for every transgression they had made and had yet to make.

Phil let out a whoop of exhilaration as he moved onto his next play. "Of course, my homeboy is level eight, so normally Gravity Bind would be a problem for him, too. But! Demise, show him your stuff!"

The terrifying king snorted coldly and raised the two-handed battleaxe clutched in his hands, swinging it mercilessly through the air. Seconds later a deafening explosion burst out from the thin air the battleaxe trailed through, annihilating every single card on the field aside from Demise and dropping Phil's life points down to 5000 with the cost of activation.

"Sangan, you poor motherfucker, now it's your time to shine. Show me why you've flirted with the banlist since your creation! I activate his effect, which allows me to take on singular monster with 1500 or less attack from my deck to my hand when he leaves the field! I'll go ahead and add Senju's older brother, Manju Of The Ten Thousand Hands, to my own hand! Sadly, I'm a bit short in the 'available normal summons department', so all I'll do is place a card face down, and swing at you with Demise!"

Chazz grunted as Demise's axe took a large chunk out of his life points, leaving them at a concerning 1600.

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

Bastion exhaled in satisfaction, partially due to finishing his delicious soda, and partially due to the sheer sudden brutality of Phil's switch to the offense. A full board wipe, and it didn't even hurt Phil all that much. Sure he loses out on the healing from Solemn Wishes, but even after the 2000 life point cost he had to pay for Demise, he's still well over the starting value of 4000. Gravity Bind wasn't helping him all that much at this point, and Chazz had found a partial solution to the problem, so losing that card is a non-factor. The real question is that knowing Chazz, there's no way that guy is finished yet. Not with how much experience he has, with all the tournaments he participated in before coming to the academy. No, best not to write things off yet, not until the fat lady sings.

Yet, despite his own thoughts on the matter, Bastion kept quiet while his three companions spoke about Phil's about face in strategy. Not for want of keeping his own strategies close to his chest, of course. No, Bastion was instead so focused in considering what counters his own deck could potentially use if he was ever rematched against Phil that even the conversation right next to him went completely unheard.