The rest of day one of the tournament went by rather smoothly, albeit largly uneventful. Duel Academy was allowed to advance to the next stage of the tournament after its crushing 3-0 victory over North Academy, East Academy won against South Academy with a score of 2-1, and the American Academy beat the West Academy fairly easily with a similar 3-0 score to Duel Academy’s. The duels were somewhat interesting, at least in Phil’s eyes, which was a welcome present after the sheer boredom he was overwhelmed with while fruitlessly eavesdropping on the American students before their duel with West. The duel between Jim “Crocodile” Cook and Adrian Gecko, followed by Axel Brodie versus Reggie MacKenzie, were duels Phil had expected to be interesting from the get-go, as they featured named characters that even he mostly recognized from the anime and manga. “Crocodile” Cook’s and Adrian Gecko’s duel was a bout of surprisingly deep strategy, while Reggie MacKenzie versus Axel Brodie was a blistering fast exchange of devastating blows. However, even the side shows (or what Phil had initially considered as side shows) proved to surprise him as well. South Academy’s second duelist, a boy by the name of Tomiwata Shikao, busted out Worms, of all things, and fittingly enough for Tomiwata’s Duel Terminal archetype, his opponent played Ice Barriers sans the synchros.

Though, Phil reminded himself as he quietly left his hiding spot to rejoin his team and head to the hotel room for the night, that duel was some fucking slow-ass shit. Guess I shoulda’ expected that, with the duel pretty much being a ‘flip’ archetype versus a deck notorious for being unable to bring out its own boss monsters in a timely manner. Still, seeing Ice Barriers without an extra deck really brought me back to the good ol’ Duel Links days, when even Ice Barriers were a meta deck for a time.

“Hey Phil! There ya’ are!” Jaden’s holler snapped Phil out of his musings as he hopped down the last few stairs.

“Afternoon, gents.” Phil greeted Jaden and Chazz, who were followed by their three chaperones that were locked in either a conversation, or an argument. He couldn’t tell for sure. “How about those duels, huh? I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting Cloudians to be that good.”

Jaden nodded enthusiastically while Chazz, who had cooled off somewhat since Phil had left to do his own thing, merely grunted in agreement. “Yeah! It’s too bad that the South and West Academies got knocked out before we could have some sweet duels with them, but being able to watch them duel the Americans and the East Academy was super awesome!”

“Hm, fair point.” Phil acknowledged. “With three academies left, including us, I wonder how the pairings are going to go tomorrow, though. Is one academy going to get a bye? Man. Kaiba paired up this tournament really strangely. It would make a whole lot more sense if there were two more academies involved, eight’s a super easy number to make brackets for without having to bother with byes.”

Phil glanced at the professors walking behind them, but after seeing that they were still embroiled in deep conversation, he decided to stay quiet with his questions over the future matches. “Man, some of those decks were basic as hell, but I hope we don’t get a bye tomorrow. Byes are so freaking boring.”

Even Jaden and Chazz couldn’t refute that point.

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

“Woah. Sweet pad.” Jaden muttered as the three of them opened the door to the hotel room. Two beds, a minibar, a hot tub, and more. Phil and Jaden had never seen anything like it before.

“Hot damn.” Phil wolf-whistled in agreement. “I mean, I know Kaiba’s filthy rich, but this hotel is pretty impressive. I’m pretty sure it’s just for pro duelists, too, considering the damn thing’s built into the back of his arena. I didn’t even see any other guests aside from the kids and professors from the other academies.”

Chazz, meanwhile, simply sat his bag down on one of the beds and eased himself into one of the recliners in the room. “Not bad, not bad at all.” He considered. “So, who gets to go first tomorrow, Phil? Assuming we don’t have the bye, of course.”

Phil paused from where he was next to the couch, already in the act of pulling out the fold-out bed contained in it.

“Good question. The answer? Dunno for sure. The bracket isn’t public information, so if we don’t have the bye we could be up against the Americans or the fellas from East. If it’s the Americans, I can see them fielding that Reggie chick first again. She seems to be a good mix of strong and consistent, which is what you need for your first player. Honestly, after seeing David Rabb play as well, it kinda feels like she’s the anchor. If she wins, moral rises, and if she loses, she can still probably play a close enough game that her team feels like the other two are possible to pull off. That Rabb guy looks like a more explosive player, with how he seems to like using the burn effect of his Big Saturn to close out games real quick. An annoying effect, sure, but after the big boy is gone he doesn’t seem to have much follow-up. Can’t say for sure about their third since he didn’t bother playing after Reggie and David sweeped 2-0.”

Chazz and Jaden’s heads both nodded like bobbleheads, both of them keeping their own thoughts inside their heads until Phil was done with his rapid-fire rant.

“The guys from East are a bit easier to figure out. Adrian Gecko will probably go first again, now that he’s shown a surprising amount of power off with his Cloudians. He seems pretty reserved, but with how handily he dominated the last half of his game against ‘Crocodile’ Cook, he might go for the intimidation factor by trying to pull that off again. Past that, I’m not sure. That Anastasia girl still hasn’t dueled, so they might be keeping her deck a secret until the last round. If so, that means Mr. Ice Barrier is back up as the second duelist and they hope to sweep for another 2-0, taking it at a 2-1 if the last player surrenders to keep their deck secret.”

Phil sighed and then shrugged. “Eh, those are just possibilities. I guess I could go first again, unless either of you two really want it. Anyways, I’m gonna throw on a swimsuit and vegetate in the hot tub for a few hours. If neither of you two can decide now, go ahead and sleep on it.”

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

Chazz leaned back onto the pleasantly comfortable bed he had claimed, absentmindedly shuffling his deck while he thought about Phil’s words.

A bye, the Americans, or the East? I wonder who it will be. A match against Adrian Gecko would be good, but so would a match against Reggie MacKenzie.

Decisions, decisions. But, even Chazz wasn’t sure himself. Phil hadn’t seemed to care all that much, nor did the boy appear to be heavily considering the possibilities past his initial analysis, not since Phil had sunk into the hot tub with a sigh of contentment that sounded like it came from an old man.

I could take the first duel tomorrow. Phil already stated that he would let me if I wanted to. It would be better than another disgusting showing with that deck of Phil’s. But…

And this was where Chazz’s thoughts had run straight into a brick wall. He knew that as the representative of the most prestigious dorm of Duel Academy, Obelisk Blue, that he should naturally go first. Especially since many of his fellow students were going to be brought over from the island to spectate the second and final day. Chazz knew that even the possibility of letting them see a loss would be a devastating hit to the pride of the great Duel Academy. Yet, despite all his misgivings, there was a part of Chazz that simply wanted to do the unthinkable – let Phil decide and trust his judgement. After all, Phil had led the trio to a spotless victory on the first day of the tournament already.

The sheer thought left a disgusting taste at the back of his mouth.

Argh… this is idiotic. Chazz internally grumbled to himself. Do it myself, or trust Phil?

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

Phil glanced over to the snoring forms of Chazz and Jaden, reluctantly raising his body from the warm embrace of the hot tub as he ran through his options.

Option one: wake up Chazz and Jaden for backup so we can gank whoever it is if necessary. Pros: if this is a trap, I don’t get ganked myself.

Cons: I have to deal with their questions and they might potentially overreact if this isn’t a trap. That could turn it into a situation where there’s a needless fight.

Option two: say ‘fuck it’, turn my balls into steel, and check it out on my own.

Pros: No uncomfortable questions and I can keep this on the down-low if it isn’t a trap until I can figure out the meaning behind it all.

Cons: If this is a trap and I get caught in another shadow duel, I’ll be risking my life.

Option three: say ‘fuck it’, ignore whoever knocked on the door and shoved the note under it. Then I can enjoy the hot tub for another four hours before I go to sleep.

Pros: Hot tub.

Cons: Having to ward off my own curiosity for the rest of the night.

It was one of the most difficult decisions Phil had ever considered in his entire lifetime, both in this world and back on Earth. However, in the end Phil let out a quiet sigh and stepped out of the hot tub, carefully drying himself off with a nearby towel before approaching the small piece of paper sitting in front of the door.

Roof, midnight. Phil repeated the two words on the slip of paper to himself. Just what the hell was he walking into? Some sort of drug deal? A midnight duel with some arrogant sucker? A trap? A meeting with Seto Kaiba himself? Whatever it was, Phil’s curiosity burned bright in spite of the tiny voice in the back of his head urging caution as he slipped through the door and headed toward the roof of Kaiba’s hotel with his duel disk ready.

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

Finally, after a few minutes of taking the stairs two at a time, Phil came to a stop at the roof. Despite the fact that it was the dead of night, the light of the moon shone so brightly that the rooftop was lit up almost as much as it would be during the day. Phil took a second at the last step, warily glancing around for some hint, any hint, that he needed to get the hell out of dodge or duel with his life on the line. Yet, despite how hard Phil strained his eyes, he could only see one other person on the roof, a man in a white uniform and a cap splayed at a jaunty angle on his head.

Phil took a deep breath to stead himself, and then sauntered onto the roof to stand next to who he recognized as a teenager as Phil neared the railing.

“Evening.” David Rabb greeted Phil with a side glance. “I admit, I wasn’t sure if you would come, or who would come. I hoped it would be you, though.”

Phil raised an eyebrow. “Well, I’m here, so are we dueling or talking?”

“Talking.” David sighed and leaned against the railing. “You’re not from around here, aren’t you?”

What? Phil nearly jerked away with a startled gasp, but forcefully contained himself as to not give anything away. Not even a second later, Phil steadied himself and responded with a nonchalant tone. “No shit sherlock, they sent us over here on a boat from Duel Academy. I guess I used to have an apartment a few miles away from here, though, if that’s what you mean.”

David laughed. “No, no. I suppose that is true, but that’s not what I mean. You’re not from this world, are you? No, you don’t have to respond, I guess. With the way you play, it’s obvious to those looking for the right signs. He was like that, too.”

“He?” Phil gave a measured response, keeping his own burning questions to himself and covertly readying his duel disk just in case.

“John. A kid from our American academy. He pulled out monsters I’d never seen before. Synchros, he called them. Honestly, I wish I could thank him myself.”

Synchros… Phil considered the word that should have never been uttered by David Rabb. Were they introduced early somehow? Or… Phil froze as he finally realized the full implications of David’s words. There’s another guy from Earth around here.

“If it weren’t for him defeating me, I would have still had that… thing in my head. Moving my limbs, speaking through me, making me hurt people.” David continued without waiting for Phil’s response. “He beat both me and Reggie, though his friend was struck down in the process. As per the consequences of losing the shadow duel, we lapsed into unconsciousness and that… thing lost its hold on us.”

Phil nodded for David to continue. The puzzle pieces were slowly falling into place.

“A few days later, I woke up to see the principal standing over me. Reggie was already up and about, and I could tell by her expression that its hold had been reasserted over her. It was an evil expression, for sure. Principal MacKenzie wrapped his hands around my head, just like he did before, but… but…” David fell silent, shivering slightly before continuing.

“For some reason, I can still think. I can still move my own body. It didn’t work on me and I don’t know why. I have enough sense to pretend it did, though. I’m honestly quite scared to find out what would happen if he tried again.”

I see. So there was another guy from Earth dropped here, but in America. Probably to deal with the Tragoedia problem while I dealt with the stuff in Duel Academy. He must’ve dueled David and Reggie, and then been defeated by Tragoedia? But that means… oh shit.

David sighed from where he leaned next to Phil. “I think I can guess what you’re thinking, Phil. John was defeated by that monster and his synchro cards were taken as the spoils of war, along with John’s soul. He sent me and Reggie to the tournament to look for Planet cards. Now Reggie’s got her eye on not only your friend Jaden, but also your friend Chazz over his Light and Darkness Dragon. She won’t make a move during the night, the monster wasn’t able to erase her pride like he did mine before John beat me. No, she’ll wait until she faces one of them in the tournament, or maybe even until we get sent over to the island through the exchange student program next year.”

Phil finally found his voice among the deluge of information. “So Tragoedia re-possessed Reggie after that poor John guy was defeated, but you managed to dodge it somehow. But, Tragoedia doesn’t know that you’re normal, so you got sent over here to find Planet cards for his plan.”

“Yeah. I get that it sounds fishy, but my guess is that John’s monsters knocked me so hard on the head during the shadow duel that the possession didn’t fully take. Don’t get me wrong, I can still feel some sort of presence in the back of my head, but I can ignore it now. Nothing but a faint whispering, quiet enough that I can’t even understand what it’s saying.”

That… actually makes some sort of sense. He could be bullshitting me to get my trust, but I remember how he acted in the manga. This David, and manga David, they’re absolutely nothing alike. Manga possessed David was a fucking psychopath that even manga possessed Reggie had to keep a leash on. This David, he actually sounds like a reasonable human being. No way that possessed David would be able to stand here, talking with me instead of trying to murder me via shadow duel. And if he truly served Tragoedia, then considering how Tragoedia gained an unknown number of synchros last time he dueled a guy from Earth, I imagine that I would be getting ganked right here and now so they could potentially get more. My only question is… how the hell did that John guy lose after busting out synchros? Shit. That’s the only strange thing left in his story.

“So… do you know how John lost?” Phil hesitantly questioned David in order to cut right to the chase. “Synchros are pretty good. How would he have ever lost against Tragoedia?”

David shrugged. “All I know is from secondhand accounts and what I remember of our own duel. Apparently, synchro summoning takes quite a toll on the body.”

Phil’s eyes widened in understanding. “So it wasn’t that John was too weak, but he couldn’t withstand the backlash of the summoning method combined with the shadow duel.” Similar to how Joey fared against Marik in Battle City, actually. Joey would have won that duel if he wasn’t in tatters from the damaged caused by the shadow duel.

“Unfortunately, that’s what I heard happened. I even saw John cough up some blood during our duel, so the second-hand information is believable enough.”

Damn. So this is a whole handbag of developments I never saw happening. Tragoedia has access to synchros, I have a potentially ally over in America in the form of David Rabb, and I have to watch my back with Reggie sneaking around since she’s the smarter of the two. What a conundrum. I guess I’ll need to find some way to deal with Tragoedia ASAP, before he gets used to synchros. Can’t trust David too much, either. This is mighty convenient. The dude manages to get hit so hard he doesn’t get repossessed? And Tragoedia hasn’t noticed this? Either Traggie is stupid, or distracted, or this is a trap that David is unknowingly inviting me into. Hm. But this is a good chance, too. Wrapping up the Tragoedia business myself would give me some more breathing room in dealing with Yubel and the Light of Destruction, which means I get to go home just a little bit faster. Faster is good.

Phil let out an annoyed sigh. He missed his parents.

“Right-o. Thanks for the info, David. I’ll start thinking up a plan and get into contact with you when I have something. Till then, don’t get found out and repossessed by Tragoedia, for fucks sake. That would be a problem.” Phil said with no small amount of forced humor as he firmly shook David’s hand and moved to leave the rooftop. Then, Phil paused as a thought struck him.

“Hey David, by the way, you said you noticed me by the way I play. Mind explaining that?”

David let out a soft chuckle. “You’re just like John was. Both of you play without a single thought to your life points, using unique strategies never before seen in tournament play. You two have a shared recklessness, I suppose. One that duelists ordinarily don’t have.”

Phil nodded in understanding and waved goodbye as he jogged down the stairs and out of sight.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Maybe I can call it my natural Earth awesomeness leaking out? Anyways, back to my date with that sexy motherfucker of a hot tub while I think all this through.