“Are you sure you’re alright, Phil?” Alexis asked him as soon as he regained consciousness in the infirmary. It was the early afternoon, the day after the coordinated assault by the Shadow Riders. Concern was written all over her face as Alexis eyed his condition cautiously.
“Eh things aren’t super peachy right now but I’ll walk it off in a few days.” Phil nonchalantly shrugged.
Alexis shook her head. “But what happened? All this blood… and I heard it was Bernardello that did this to you.”
“Bernardello was a rat.” Phil replied. Alexis did not fail to notice that he delivered the news like someone offhandedly commenting about the day’s weather. “He killed Sartyr, the security chief, and spent a full duel torturing Crowler for fun. Oh, and he was the one behind Dimitri going crazy. I stopped him.”
Alexis’s eyes widened as she instantly guessed what the word ‘stopped’ meant in this context. “You mean…”
Phil nodded.
“I stopped him.”
Any further words from Phil were silenced by his surprise as Alexis swept him up in a hug. While she was careful to avoid holding him too tightly out of consideration for his injuries, Phil’s breath still wooshed out of his lungs with the sudden movement. It wasn’t the type of hug that had any sort of romantic feelings in it, but more of an action ingrained with the concern and care of a close friend. Phil’s eyes softened.
To think that she still has enough mental strength to care about me, while still being worried enough about Atticus that she practically started to live in the infirmary since the Nightshroud duel.
Phil remained silent, keeping his thoughts to himself as he hugged Alexis back.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-- Two days after the Shadow Rider raid --
“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDD MORNING DUEL ACADEMY!”
Phil looked around the lunchroom in amusement towards the reactions of his fellow students that were gradually filing in as the morning began. A group of poor Slifer Reds collectively inhaled their milk through the wrong pipe in shock and were left gasping for breath on the ground. A few tables down, two Obelisk Blue students winced in agony at the sheer volume of Atticus’s voice over the loudspeakers. And at Phil’s table, Alexis had her head buried in her hands out of embarrassment over the antics of her recently recovered brother.
“Atticus…” She groaned the name like a curse.
However, since Atticus was in the main office speaking into the phone that hooked into the loudspeakers, he could not hear her.
“Hey hey now this is not a test nor a flipped trap card! I just woke up from a nice couple year nap. You know what I saw right after? Two Penguin Soldiers walking into a bar, but one flipped out and they both had to go home! Say, one thing I am looking forward to is hooking back up with my girlfriend. Those Blue-Eyes of hers keep giving me a Burst Stream of Destruction!”
Alexis sank lower into her chair with every cheerful word Atticus said.
“Yeah, so I just heard that so many of my fellow duelists were certain that I had switched to a foreign school in those years I was gone. Must’ve thought I had a Change of Heart, huh? But talk about a surprise. I walked into class early this morning, and not only did I see a talking cat catching up on some grading paperwork, but in the other room I saw a frog hopping around a desk. So, I figured if a cat can be a professor, then maybe this fella’s just a Substitoad teacher I hadn’t met yet. I walked up to that desk, looked that frog straight in the eye, and introduced myself in a firm and confident manner. Then the frog croaked at me and started eating a fly. In other news, during my absence there was a biology class introduced to the curriculum!”
Suddenly a barely decipherable bout of whispering interrupted Atticus’s repeated abuse of terrible puns.
“Mhmkay. You got it boss.” Atticus muttered before his voice returned to its previous terrifying volume. “Hey, I guess it might be a little too early to be this loud. Too late suckas! They say it’s five o’ clock somewhere, and it’s certainly not five o’ clock here! 0600 for the military types, for us normal people it’s 6! O! Clock! The sixth hour of the day, where the ‘h’ in hour stands for holy moly I need some sleep!”
After a second bout of nearly indecipherable whispering that filtered through the loudspeakers, Atticus went on to more mundane matters.
“Alright alright alright ladies and germs, as requested by the management of this here fine establishment, I’ll go ahead and flip summon my Weather Report for the day. Swords of Revealing Light enjoyers, watch out! This card’s gonna shed some truth on the matter. It’s gonna be real bloody cold for the entire morning, changing only for a few hours in the afternoon when the sun remembers it exists. Zaney Waney, how about you back a brother up and let the lads know about the future?”
“Certainly.” Zane’s stoic voice replaced Atticus’s atmosphere of cheer in an abrupt tonal shift. Phil couldn’t help himself and burst out in wild laughter for a few seconds until his own sudden movements made him wince and fall silent.
“I can’t believe it.” Syrus said in shock. “I completely forgot about the ‘Atticus effect’.”
“The Atticus effect?” Bastion questioned through a mouthful of bacon and a gulp of orange juice.
Syrus solemnly nodded. “Yes. The Atticus effect. Atticus is so cheerful and energetic that he can rope people into doing almost anything. See, even Zane’s going along with this morning comedy bit, and the teachers aren’t doing a thing to stop either of them. I saw it happen soooo many times back at home.”
“A man so charismatic that he can add the stoic kaiser of Duel Academy to his two-man comedy skit.” Bastion said in awe.
“It must be some charisma.” Chazz struggled to keep a straight face. “From what I know of Zane Truesdale, I would think his pride would never allow him to do this.”
“I draw.” Zane calmly announced over the loudspeakers. “Reveal yourself, Future Fusion! Be aware that plans take time to conclude. You must declare your intentions to the world in order to showcase your resolve, to make it understood that you shall never back down from your goals. Only then may you fuse your willpower with your strength to summon success!”
“Darn straight!” Atticus roared out the words passionately as soon as Zane stopped talking. “This has been your morning A to Z announcements! Atticus, signing off!”
“Zane signing off.” Zane followed up in a much calmer voice.
Phil looked at Alexis with face that was obviously holding back gales of laughter. “So…. methinks this is going to be a regular morning thing from now on.”
“Knowing Atticus…” Alexis replied in sheer embarrassment as she tried to disappear into thin air. “Yes. It will be.”
Frankly, Phil had expected something like this. He had been unconscious while Atticus had managed to talk his way out of his infirmary bed, but according to Chumley, the first thing Atticus did upon regaining consciousness was to sweep his sobbing little sister up into a great big bear hug while reassuring her that everything was alright – even though he hardly had any context for the situation. The second thing he did was to hit on Nurse Fontaine while she was checking his vitals. The third task he undertook was to voice his question as to where he could find a ‘nice and loud’ Hawaiian shirt to swap his crummy hospital gown out with.
Of course, Phil himself couldn’t quite remember how Atticus was in the anime since he’d never seen more than a few episodes, but from what he’d seen and heard so far, this was completely in line with the guy.
“Welp, that met my entertainment goals for the day.” Phil gleefully announced, standing up to stretch after draining the last dregs of his coffee. “Guess we’d better start moseying over to Sheppard’s office to see what Kaiba’s goon squad wants to talk about, ay?”
“That would probably be for the best.” Bastion agreed. He reached over with a hand to shake Chumley awake, who was napping in his chair nearby despite the volume of Atticus’s announcements. “I saw Kaiba’s right hand, Roland, walking around the halls earlier, so I imagine this will prove to be quite an interesting meeting. He wouldn’t make the trip out here for nothing.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Chancellor Sheppard’s office was filled to the brim with people, so many that Chumley, Alexis, and Zane decided to stand out in the hallway citing that they had contributed the least to the situation anyways.
“Girl, you beat a Shadow Rider like a damn drum. Don’t give me that ‘low contribution’ crap. And Chumley, you showed off your pair of steel cajónes hanging off a building like that. And Zane, you only lost because Camula was a filthy cheating loser.” Phil tsked with a shake of his head, but he ultimately accepted the unfortunate reality that Sheppard’s office simply couldn’t fit fourteen people within its walls in any manner of comfortable way.
“Moving on… ladies, gentlemen, it is with utmost sincerity that I must express both my and Mr. Kaiba’s congratulations on defeating the terrorist group calling itself the ‘Shadow Riders’, defending the spirit keys, and preventing the Sacred Beast cards from being used for nefarious purposes.” Roland warmly remarked. “Mr. Kaiba would have preferred to say these words in person, perhaps in his Domino City office, but unfortunately, he is currently indisposed for a number of reasons that I am unable to get into at the moment. However, as he is a just, righteous, and generous man, Mr. Kaiba still wishes to see each duelist who fought for his academy rewarded according to their contributions.”
Roland adjusted his tie absentmindedly before gesturing to one of the massive goons standing behind him. The goon in question looked like a loose collection of roided-out muscles stuffed into a dark suit and given a very large gun.
“Chumley Huffington of Slifer Red. Though your contributions were small, the risk you were exposed to was not. You shall have the choice of a single card of lesser value, or a small boon.”
Chumley gulped, clearly nervous at being the first person to be called out. “B-boon please. I just… I just want a spot in Mr. Pegasus’s next card-designing contest.”
Roland nodded and typed out a short message on his phone as Chumley’s voice began to trail off out of nervousness. “Done. June 1st is the start date. Mail the submission to the San Francisco branch of Industrial Illusions before June 30th. Everything else will depend on your ability.”
Roland cleared his throat and began to talk over Chumley’s suppressed sounds of excitement. “Zane Truesdale. Though your contributions were small, you accepted the burden of the key keeper and dueled valiantly against the vicious Shadow Rider known as Camula. You shall have the choice of a single card of medium value, or a boon.”
“I require neither.” Zane curtly replied.
Roland shrugged lightly. “Mr. Kaiba predicted you would say that. He has another option for you. A trip to the mountains and a chance to become far stronger than you were before Camula’s cowardice forced your hand.”
Zane nodded and immediately left the office without another word.
“Chazz Princeton. Though your contributions were small, you accepted the burden of the key keeper and extracted Chumley Huffington from the crossfire of Midori Hibiki’s duel with Camula through great risk to your own safety. You shall have the choice of two cards of medium value, or a boon.”
“The cards. I’m quite interested to see what Kaiba thought was worth pulling out of his special vaults.”
Roland smirked, though what little that could be seen behind his pitch-black sunglasses revealed that the expression did not reach his eyes. “Oh, trust me. This is quite the selection. Many of these cards have never seen the light of day before now. I grant you one copy of the spell, Dimension Fusion, and one copy of the monster, Invader of Darkness.”
Chazz gave the two cards a lingering glance, quickly noting their effects as he slipped the spell into his deck and the monster into a side pocket for safekeeping. “Quite a selection indeed.” He muttered thoughtfully.
“Alexis Rhodes. You defeated the Shadow Rider known as Nightshroud, recovering his shadow charm and freeing Atticus Rhodes from his possession. You endured all of this without being given the burden of a key. You shall have the choice of a single card of high value, or a boon.”
Alexis shrugged. “I guess I’ll take the card. Not much else I need now that my big brother’s back.”
Roland gestured towards the musclebound goon, who opened a silver briefcase to display several rows of pristine and shiny cards. “As Mr. Princeton so astutely guessed, Mr. Kaiba has allowed this selection of cards to be removed from his inner vaults. Please, receive this copy of Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning. Use this card with care, duelist.”
Alexis received the shining card with two hands and eyes wide with surprise.
“Bastion Misawa. You accepted the burden of the key keeper and defeated the Shadow Rider known as Tania, recovering her shadow charm in the process. You shall have the choice of two cards of high value, or a boon.”
Bastion shot a glance over to Chazz and Alexis. “While the cards seem to be quite interesting, I believe that choosing the boon is the wisest option for my future goals. I have a relative amount of freedom this upcoming summer, so I wish to receive an internship with the great Dr. Eisenstein!”
“Very well.” Roland easily accepted Bastion’s request. “I do believe he is heading to Domino City in the near future anyways for his research, so this can be arranged.”
“Yes!” Bastion pumped his fist in excitement.
“Phillip Jenson. While you were not chosen as a key keeper, you defeated the traitor known as Marco Bernardello, recovering his shadow charm and briefly safeguarding Vellian Crowler’s key in the aftermath of the duel. You have the choice of two cards of high value, or a boon.”
Phil answered without hesitation. “I want a face-to-face meeting with Kaiba, any time works but it needs to be before summer starts.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Roland tapped out a few more words on his phone, and after a few seconds it vibrated as a response was sent. “I can give you five minutes, but only after the first of June. Mr. Kaiba is… extremely unavailable before that.”
“Fine. I’ll take it.”
“Very well. Be at the Domino City branch of Kaiba Corporation on the second day of June. Nine in the morning. Do not be late.”
Roland then turned to face Crowler, who was sitting behind Chancellor Sheppard’s desk in his chair due to his wounds.
“Vellian Crowler. You accepted the burden of the key keeper, defeating the Shadow Rider known as Abidos the Third and bearing the assault of the traitor Marco Bernardello with the composure expected of the teachers of this school. Though your duel against Bernardello concluded as a loss, Mr. Kaiba is satisfied with your performance, along with the shadow charm recovered from Abidos. Your salary has been increased by an increment of 1.5 and he has approved your application to be a tenured professor.”
Crowler weakly waved his thanks.
“Midori Hibiki. You accepted the burden of the key keeper and defeated the Shadow Rider known as Camula. Furthermore, you kept safe Chumley Huffington until Chazz Princeton was able to stage a rescue, and your actions in defeating Camula led to the awakening of Atticus Rhodes and Zane Truesdale. Similarly, the recovery of Camula’s shadow charm is impressive as well. Mr. Kaiba is satisfied with your performance. Your salary has been increased by an increment of 1.5 and he has approved your application to be a tenured professor.”
“And I hope that Mr. Kaiba will also consider never involving students in dangerous affairs like these in the future.” Ms. Hibiki curtly added.
Roland brushed her words aside and continued down the list of names.
“Syrus Truesdale. While you were not chosen as a key keeper, you assisted in the defeat of the mastermind behind the Shadow Riders, Kagemaru, and the recovery of the Sacred Beast cards. For your contributions, Mr. Kaiba has declared that you are to receive several cards to benefit your deck that have yet to be revealed to the public – and perhaps they may never will be revealed aside from when you choose to use them. Mixeroid, Shuttleroid, Dragonroid, and the fusion monster Super Vehicroid - Mobile Base. These new cards should allow for your dueling abilities to be taken to the next level.”
Syrus looked extremely surprised to be given four new cards he had never even heard of before, but one look at their effects and attack points sent his eyes flying wide in surprise.
“Thank you, Mr. Roland!” He cheerfully chimed in before slotting the cards into his deck.
“My pleasure.” Roland replied in a neutral tone. “Finally, Jaden Yuki. You accepted the burden of the key keeper and defeated the Shadow Rider Amnael. Furthermore, you assisted in the defeat of Kagemaru and the recovery of the Sacred Beast Cards, along with two shadow charms from your opponents. For your contributions, Mr. Kaiba has declared that you shall be gifted with a series of unique, one-of-a-kind Hero cards: the Masked Hero line. May you use them wisely, in a manner that befits a true duelist.”
“Awesome…” Jaden reverently breathed as he shuffled through the small stack of cards Roland retrieved from the briefcase. “A new fusion spell that’s not actually a fusion spell? And nine new super freaking cool hero fusion monsters?!?! Dude this is like Christmas and my birthday rolled up into one package!”
Roland ignored Jaden’s excitement. ”Dismissed.” He curtly announced before gesturing to his two goons and Chancellor Sheppard. “Sheppard, lead us to the criminal.”
Ms. Hibiki shooed each of the students out. “Head on out kids. Class starts in a few minutes!”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Silence reigned in the classroom as a light brown cat with several darker brown stripes on its fur meticulously cleaned several of its claws while it perched on the top of the teacher’s podium. Only after making sure both of his paws were completely clean did Professor Banner begin to speak in a calm, matter of fact tone.
“Shadow games. Yes, children, you heard me right. Shadow games. This is what could happen to you if a person with evil intentions tries to start one with you. In fact, your fate could very well be worse than mine if you step into a shadow duel unprepared.”
“A. Talking. Cat.” A student near Phil whispered in awe. “And with Banner’s voice.”
“Indeed.” Professor Banner answered the whispering student. Clearly his hearing was much better in his cat form. “I recently participated in a shadow duel and lost. If it weren’t for my prowess in alchemy, my preparations, and a large stroke of luck, I would be consigned to a fate worse than death. This is no prank. My soul truly is attached to my cat. Since my mind is stronger and more developed than Pharaoh’s, I am able to exert control over this body. I also freely admit that I was the instigator of the shadow duel and I did indeed do it for nefarious, self-serving purposes.”
Phil watched on as Banner continued to inform the class of all the dangers of shadow duels. Part of him was surprised that Banner wasn’t taken away in chains by Roland like Kagemaru was when Kaiba sent men to the island for cleanup.
But, considering that Banner didn’t actually end up seriously hurting anyone, while Kagemaru turned out to be the one who hired Bernardello, it was enough of a difference that Chancellor Sheppard was able to argue to keep Banner on staff on probation. That, and they already had to start looking for someone to permanently fill the spot of headmaster for Ra Yellow. It was apparently proving to be quite a headache. Ms. Hibiki had essentially filled the position for the foreseeable future since she was already somewhat familiar with the role after she had stepped in once Sartyr’s death was uncovered.
With that in mind, the academy really couldn’t handle any more changes in its staffing, and ignoring Banner’s actions as a member of the Shadow Riders, he was a pretty good teacher.
“-ot only this can happen, but many villains will tend to ‘card’ your soul.” Banner’s gentle voice caught Phil’s attention once more as he began to speak in detail on a topic Phil was largely unfamiliar with. Carding a soul had, of course, happened several times in Yu-Gi-Oh! that Phil was aware of, with the most famous examples being the soul of Yugi’s Grandpa and Mokuba being trapped in cards by Pegasus for leverage. But even so, Phil didn’t have much knowledge of the subject, and he had actually forgotten it was a thing for a while.
“Now, ‘carding’ happens when the soul of the loser of a shadow game is trapped within a card by a villain for future use. This leaves the body of the victim empty and unresponsive to external stimuli. Without the soul, the body is simply a shell, after all. That then brings us to the next part. Why would a villain want your soul in a card? Well, when used by a mage of sufficient power, the soul can be manipulated as a sort of power source – a spiritual battery if I may make the comparison. However, without the protection of a shell like the physical body, a soul cannot survive for long in a state that is useful. It would erode under the pressure of the world.”
Banner paused and used a spare paw to delicately open a can of tuna that was sitting on the podium. He speared a medium-sized chunk on a claw and nibbled on it before continuing his lecture. “Think of it this way: say I get a little bit peckish and pull out my grill. While the temperature is being readied to perfection, I begin to prepare a nice slab of ribs. Mmm. Tasty. They’re already brined nice and proper because I tend to think ahead, so once the grill is ready I slide them in for a few hours. Fast forward a bit and the ribs are ready. Delicious, succulent, with meat literally falling off the bone if you so much as look at it wrong. But oh no! I’m a cat now! My stomach is much smaller than it used to be in my human form.”
Professor Banner stood up on his hind legs and put his paws to his face in mock horror at the thought.
“Yes, dear students, this is where one must think quickly. After eating my fill of barbequed ribs, fresh coleslaw, ice-cold lemonade so chilled it makes your brain freeze, and a delicious chaser of strawberry ice cream, I must take care of the leftovers posthaste! So, I grab the relevantly sized plastic containers, fill them full of food, and shove them into my refrigerator for later. If I do not do that, all those leftovers will spoil and go bad by the end of the day. In fact, experts recommend that food be left outside of the refrigerator or freezer no longer than two hours. Similar to the delicious barbeque that is hypothetically now in my fridge, placing a soul in a container like a body or a card through the usage of magic is the best way to keep said soul in good condition for long periods of time. Without that container being placed in the metaphorical refrigerator, it would deteriorate past a usable condition and re-enter the cycle of reincarnation. Not only that, but in a small container like a card, if that soul is not needed by the owner, it can be easily traded to other mages in return for goods of equal value.”
Phil nodded absentmindedly. Banner’s words made sense enough. Though of course, that made him wonder why D.3.S. Frog never bothered to try and stick Titan’s or Bernardello’s soul into a card. Maybe the power of a soul wasn’t needed by the creature? Or perhaps the frog was strong enough that it had some other method to store a soul.
Banner continued to drone on towards less interesting topics, causing Phil’s attention to lapse as he stared out the window into the distance.
‘Arrivederci, Bernardello.’ Phil could still remember the words he had said that sealed his old teacher’s fate. Right before Bernardello’s body had split itself apart bit by bit as parts of it became sentient. Could he have convinced D.3.S. Frog to simply seal Bernardello’s soul into a card?
‘A true duelist goes out shouting in defiance.’ Crowler’s strained voice brushed through his thoughts as a reminder. No, even if he could convince the duel spirit to card the soul, Phil wouldn’t have wanted to.
Besi-
A finger poked his shoulder and Phil turned around, successfully snapped out of his ever-spiraling thoughts.
“Earth to Phil.” Alexis whispered to him, doing her best to try not to disrupt the class. Phil flashed her a relaxed smile.
“Sorry mate, just a bit bored.” He discreetly whispered back and motioned to Bastion, who was writing out notes with an expression of rapt attention. “Besides, he can catch me up on anything important I miss.”
Alexis hardly seemed to buy his explanation, but she settled back into her seat regardless.
“And that is what you may face in a shadow duel.” Banner concluded with a flick of his ears. “I must once again impress upon all of you that a shadow duel is seriously bad news and should not be accepted unless there are no other alternatives. If one is taken lightly, well…” Banner gestured to himself in a very catlike way. “You could end up like me. Your homework is simple. Think about my words. Understand them. Class dismissed.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Crowler limped into his office and sat down with a groan – the sound being a mixture of relief that he was finally out of bed after a full week of rest, and of residual pain from his injuries. Nurse Fontaine truly was a miracle worker given that she was essentially the sole medical professional on the entire island (at least after Nurse Menae disappeared following the Shadow Rider incident). In all honesty, he had never truly given that woman the credit she so rightfully deserved.
“Note to self…” Crowler muttered the words out to himself as he grabbed a sticky note and began writing. “Mention to Chancellor Sheppard that Fonda deserves a raise… and additional staff if Nurse Menae is not found. Poor girl.” He added sadly to the end.
Crowler shook his head bitterly. Another one of Bernardello’s crimes, most likely. And he, Vellian Crowler, was the one who let that venomous snake into the school. A part of his heart still ached like a bulldozer had ran over it repeatedly and buried it in a disgusting trash heap. Utterly worthless.
Crowler shook his head violently and carefully set the note on a conspicuous spot on his desk so he wouldn’t forget. Then, he paused. Something was off. It was strange that he hadn’t noticed it before, but there was a small box with a note on top of it sitting on his desk, right next to his blue painted jar of pens.
* I found these and thought you might find them cool. Sincerely and respectfully, a former student.
“Cards…” Crowler noted in confusion as he opened the box after reading through the vague note. “Ancient Gear cards… and ones I’ve never seen before! Ancient Gear Catapult… Wyvern… Howitzer… Hunting Hound…” Crowler’s eyes grew wide in wonderment as a total of seven cards he had never even heard of before were revealed before his very eyes.
“This is… this is utterly insane! These are from a former student? How would anyone get their hands on cards like these?” He eventually croaked out. But, as the final card was revealed to his eyes, Crowler began to choke on a wad of spittle in surprise and disbelief.
“Chaos Ancient Gear Giant!”
Just by saying the name of the card, his office felt like it was being filled with a suffocating cloud of sheer power. A sort of unrelenting, unstoppable force, yet still heavily mechanical in nature, like a colossal doomsday robot that was constantly on guard, scanning the area for any and all threats.
Crowler reverently placed the fusion monster onto the nicest, cleanest part of his desk.
“A duel spirit.”
With those words alone, Crowler could feel that unknowable, unstoppable robotic presence lock onto him with a single glowing red eye.
[SYN SEQ=0]
[SYN-ACK SEQ=0 ACK=1]
[ACK SEQ=1 ACK=1]
[Pinging Ş̶̡̛̩̙͕̞̺̥̳̺̯̯́̈́̈́̾́͛̀̀͛͊͒̚͘Ẃ̷̢̧̛̛̖̝͔̜̠̪̯̹͈͍̥̅̿͋̏̑̓̆͊̍ with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from Ş̶̡̛̩̙͕̞̺̥̳̺̯̯́̈́̈́̾́͛̀̀͛͊͒̚͘Ẃ̷̢̧̛̛̖̝͔̜̠̪̯̹͈͍̥̅̿͋̏̑̓̆͊̍: bytes=32 time=25yrs TTL=50
Reply from Ş̶̡̛̩̙͕̞̺̥̳̺̯̯́̈́̈́̾́͛̀̀͛͊͒̚͘Ẃ̷̢̧̛̛̖̝͔̜̠̪̯̹͈͍̥̅̿͋̏̑̓̆͊̍: bytes=32 time=25yrs TTL=50
Reply from Ş̶̡̛̩̙͕̞̺̥̳̺̯̯́̈́̈́̾́͛̀̀͛͊͒̚͘Ẃ̷̢̧̛̛̖̝͔̜̠̪̯̹͈͍̥̅̿͋̏̑̓̆͊̍: bytes=32 time=25yrs TTL=50
Reply from Ş̶̡̛̩̙͕̞̺̥̳̺̯̯́̈́̈́̾́͛̀̀͛͊͒̚͘Ẃ̷̢̧̛̛̖̝͔̜̠̪̯̹͈͍̥̅̿͋̏̑̓̆͊̍: bytes=32 time=25yrs TTL=50]
[Ping stat Ş̶̡̛̩̙͕̞̺̥̳̺̯̯́̈́̈́̾́͛̀̀͛͊͒̚͘Ẃ̷̢̧̛̛̖̝͔̜̠̪̯̹͈͍̥̅̿͋̏̑̓̆͊̍:
Packets: Sent=4 Received=4 Lost=0 (0% loss)]
[Approx round trip times in years:
Mini=23yrs, Max=26yrs, Ave=24yrs]
[DADS Detected=8.5]
[Init dueling protocols. Req uslist]
[C:/WINDOWS/system32>net localgroup administrators “VellianCrowler” /add]
“What an odd duel spirit…” Crowler muttered to himself. Then he shrugged. From what he understood, many duel spirits had their own quirks. It was up to him as a duelist to work alongside them to unleash their true potential. But… to think that one of his former students still had kind thoughts about him…
It felt good, Crowler realized as he unconsciously sat with his back straight, his eyes filling with a sort of steel that had never really been present before.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Just like that, the rest of the school year passed by in a flash. Crowler returned to teaching within a week of the conclusion of the raid by the Shadow Riders. It hardly meant that his injuries were fully healed, but more like a week was the longest Nurse Fontaine could keep him contained in the infirmary. Not even Ms. Hibiki’s commanding voice was enough, and when Crowler cited that he had left his students without a teacher for far too long already, there was little either of the women could say in response.
Ms. Hibiki took up the reigns of both Ra Yellow and Slifer Red once more. She did a pretty good job (at least that’s what most students thought), but she did keep a very close, concerned eye on Phil. The position left behind by the traitor Bernardello failed to be filled permanently for the rest of the year. With two teachers in that position dying on the job, it was no wonder no one wanted to interview. Meanwhile, Kaiba was simply too busy to have a teacher sent over, and Chancellor Sheppard liked being able to save money by letting Ms. Hibiki run both dorms.
The first few days of Professor Banner teaching were odd, to say the least, but the student body eventually got used to the fact that a talking cat was one of their professors. Even if that talking cat had Banner’s voice, a tendency to making strange comparisons, and a love for jazz that the professor himself simply attributed to the phrase ‘a cat’s the only cat who knows how to swing’.
None of Banner’s students had any idea what the man meant by that, but he could certainly play a mean sax, and often occupied himself in doing just that during his planning periods.
No one ever had the courage to steal the mic from Atticus, so his stint as a morning announcer became a regular occurrence. The words ‘GOOOOOOOOOODDDD MORNING DUEL ACADEMY!’ were ingrained upon the ears of every student on the island.
While Atticus would be sticking around for another year to make up for the one he missed, Zane graduated as planned from the school, with his graduation duel against Jaden Yuki being a duel for the legends, even though it ended in a draw.
Finally, right after the awards were announced by Roland, Kagemaru was escorted from the island in chains by Roland’s goon squad to face judgement in the court of law for his crimes. It was normally a job that would have been reserved for the police, but after the body of the real Inspecter Magure was found stuffed in a broom closet in the police station, along with the recent string of murders happening throughout Domino City, the police had their hands full. The Sacred Beast cards were also secured by Kaiba’s henchmen, citing that they would find a more secure location for them to be stored in.
Thus the school year ended.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Bastion.” Phil shook his friend’s hand firmly and pounded him on the back. “Have a good one mate. If that Eisenstein dude turns out to be too weird to handle, break his kneecaps with a bat and beat him down in a duel. If you don’t have a bat, I’ve heard a chair works wonders.”
Bastion’s lips curled upwards. “Thank you for your concern, my friend, but we shall simply be striving to further research the intricate interactions between spells, monsters, and traps. However, I do urge you to consider your own advice on situations that are ‘too weird to handle’ in your travels.”
“Sounds like a sweet deal!” Jaden laughed. “But very boring. Working for a scientist during vacation? I’ll be thinking of you when I’m chilling in my pad with the AC on full blast.”
“Phil, are you really going to spend the entire summer traveling around the country on foot?” Alexis furrowed her brows in worry. “If it’s a matter of finding a place to stay, you do know both my door and Bastion’s are always open for you.”
“And I wouldn’t ever leave a bro hanging.” Jaden added with a look toward Phil.
“It would be dishonorable to do so as well.” Chazz cut in. “We’re comrades. Slade and Jagger may be absolute blowhards, but I’ll be at our summer mansion that they hardly bother to visit. There will be plenty of available room for you if need be.”
Phil laughed them off with a wave. “Ah, don’t worry about it! I’ve always wanted to do some traveling, and the good ol’ feet are the most reliable and cheap vehicle! Thanks, though. I’ll remember your offers. It means a lot to me. I might take you guys up on them near the end of the summer.”
Alexis and Bastion looked unconvinced, but they dropped the matter regardless. Ms. Hibiki had asked them to at least try something, but frankly their offers were ones they would have made anyways. Even before Ms. Hibiki had mentioned Phil’s family problems, the two had their guesses on his situation. Her words had only served to confirm it.
“Oh, and Chum, good luck on the design contest. I’ll be rooting for you!”
And with that, they boarded the ferry departing for Domino City.