“I’ll start things off!” Ms. Hibiki sternly declared with a sweep of her hand, a motion that no one particularly felt brave enough to defy. “I summon Darklord Ukoback (700/1000) from my hand in defense position, activating his effect to send Darklord Nergal from my deck to my graveyard. Then, I activate the spell card Banishment of the Darklords, which allows me to add one Darklord card from my deck to my hand. Darklord Contact, come to me, and reveal your effect! I special summon Darklord Nergal (2700/2500) from my graveyard in defense position!”

An impressed silence filled the air as monsters emerged onto Ms. Hibiki’s field one by one. While the first, the red-winged Ukoback, was hardly impressive, the ominous purple-winged angel summoned immediately afterward certainly had impressive stats to boast about.

“I place two cards face down and end my turn.” Ms. Hibiki finished and motioned for Jaden to start.

“Sweet plays!” Jaden cheerfully shouted and drew a card. “It’s a shame I can’t attack, but that won’t stop me from making some super cool moves of my own. I discard Elemental Hero Captain Gold in return for adding one Skyscraper field spell from my deck to my hand. Crowler, welcome back to a familiar field! I activate the preferred battleground of all heroes, the field spell Skyscraper! Next up I summon Elemental Hero Knospe (600/1000) in defense position, throw down a facedown card, and end my turn!”

Crowler drew a card with raised eyebrows. “Jaden, my boy, you’re talking big game for someone who failed to put up an adequate defense. You shouldn’t be sad that you can’t attack, instead, you should be thanking your deity of choice that I can't! I activate Polymerization! Sending Ancient Gear Box and Ancient Gear Soldier from my hand to my graveyard to fusion summon Ancient Gear Howitzer (1000/1800) in defense position! Howitzer, activate your effect! Load your cannons and fire at Jaden Yuki’s life points!”

The metal, winged creature adjusted the cannons it had for fingers and screeched in acknowledgment, blasting Jaden's position with several explosive shells that dropped his life points by a total of 1000 points.

Crowler: 4000, Hibiki: 4000, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 3000, Phil: 4000, Chazz: 4000

Jaden grimaced at the sudden and quite large amount of effect damage. While the monster’s defense points weren’t huge, being completely eclipsed by the winged angel Hibiki summoned earlier, 1000 points of damage was a problem.

“Jaden! Chazz! Watch out for that fusion, when we kill it, it’ll pull out an Ancient Gear monster from his deck for free. That means a Golem right on our asses!” Phil called out to his teammates.

“Astute observation, young Phillip.” Crowler said with an impressed glance toward the Ra Yellow.

“You must have dutifully studied the recordings of my duels over the summer. Very well, I’ll go ahead and show you a bit more. I activate the spell card Ancient Gear Workshop, which allows me to add Ancient Gear Box from my graveyard back to my hand. Now, this of course triggers the effect of Box since it was added to my hand by a method other than drawing it. Box will let me add one earth machine monster with 500 attack and/or defense from my deck to my hand, aside from Box. Ancient Gear Frame, come to me! Next up, I summon Ancient Gear Frame (1600/500) in attack position, activating its effect to discard Ancient Gear Box to add one single spell or trap card from my deck that mentions Ancient Gear Golem in its text. That includes Ancient Gear Fusion!”

Crowler took a moment to flash a massive grin across his face and pose in a way that his muscles threatened to tear through the deep blue sleeves of his Obelisk Blue greatcoat. “I activate Ancient Gear Fusion! Sending Ancient Gear Frame from my field! Sending Ancient Gear Golem from my hand! Sending Ancient Gear Knight from my hand! All in order to fusion summon Ancient Gear Megaton Golem (3300/3300)!”

Where there had been an impressed silence during Ms. Hibiki’s turn, the double fusion summon during Crowler’s turn earned a wave of impressed whispers and a flurry of panicked shouting from the announcer's box.

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

“That’s uh… that’s a monster with over 3000 attack points on his first turn. I know I haven’t played duel monsters in a good minute, but is that normal now?” Atticus questioned his co-announcer with an incredulous look of shock.

“When it comes to Professor Crowler, it happens more often than not nowadays.” Zane drily replied. “That is one of the many reasons our good professor has been so dominant in the pro circuit over the summer.”

“An inherent gatekeeping effect.” A new voice joined the two commentators in their box as Bastion sat down next to Zane, who silently scooted over a bit to give him some more room. Meanwhile, Atticus pointed the microphone toward their new companion with an expression that wordlessly asked Bastion to elaborate.

“Being able to consistently summon monsters with an average attack power of 3000 points or over provides an inherent gatekeeping effect. Essentially, if Professor Crowler’s opponent has no way outside of battle traps to deal with a powerful fusion like Megaton Golem, the game is over. It’s just over. Battle traps are great ways of dealing with powerful monsters too, but Ancient Gears uniquely shut that aspect of the game down.

Moreover, fusion monsters like Ancient Gear Megaton Golem, and also Howitzer, as Phil pointed out, possess what could be called ‘floating’ effects. When they are removed from the field through a card effect, like Megaton Golem, or by battle, like Howitzer, Crowler gets to summon a powerful Ancient Gear monster to replace what was lost. This means that the opponent not only has to find a way over the initial fusion, but also over what the fusion summons upon its death. If the opponent’s deck has no way of doing that, then the game is over before it starts.”

“I see.” Zane looked at the professor with a calculating glance, almost as if he was truly seeing Crowler for the first time. “And do you believe that the student team has a way?”

"Definitely." Bastion instantly responded with firm conviction. "I don't know what Phil is playing, but there's no way he would leave himself open to something simple like that. Furthermore, Chazz's Dark Armed Dragon or a few of Jaden's Hero fusions could match those Ancient Gears blow-by-blow if the right cards are drawn. I think the more interesting question in this situation is not about if they can clear the gatekeeping effect, but what responses Professor Banner and Ms. Hibiki will have to that.”

“Oh, because this is a 3v3!” Atticus jumped in with levels of excitement not unlike a small dog hopped up on near-lethal amounts of caffeine.

“Precisely!” Bastion shot back, pleased that Atticus saw exactly what he was going for. “Ms. Hibiki’s Darklords have access to powerful trap cards that are reusable due to the effects of her monsters, and Professor Banner’s deck is a complete unknown, just like Phil’s.”

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

Once the massive six-armed steel golem rumbled onto the field, Crowler ended his turn with a smirk, something none of the other duelists felt like denying him. Such was the power of his fusion monsters.

“Eyes up, dweebs!” Chazz shouted at his teammates. Though the words were cutting, both Phil and Jaden easily sensed the undercurrent of concern that was in Chazz’s tone. “I activate Pot of Greed! Drawing two cards! From there, I send the level eight Invader of Darkness from my hand to the graveyard in return for special summoning Hardened Armed Dragon (1500/800) in defense position! And now that I have a dragon monster on the field, I activate the spell card Stamping Destruction, with its target being your rightmost face down card, Ms. Hibiki!”

Ms. Hibiki’s eyes sharpened to a glare. “In response, I activate the trap card you targeted! Ring of Destruction, with its focus being on your Hardened Armed Dragon!”

Both Chazz and Hibiki grimaced as an iron necklace of grenades fixed itself to the neck of Chazz’s bone dragon, detonating with a massive concussive blast before anyone could react. Meanwhile, the massive dragon leg from Chazz’s spell finished stomping down on the remains of the collar to still deal 500 points of damage to her life points, along with what Ring of Destruction did.

Crowler: 4000, Hibiki: 2000, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 3000, Phil: 4000, Chazz: 2500

“Fine by me, that was nothing but pure bait for you to latch onto!” Chazz roared back, immediately launching into his next line of play like nothing ever happened. “I activate Dragon Shrine, sending the normal-type Hunter Dragon from my deck to my graveyard. Then, since I sent a normal monster, I can send an additional dragon monster, that being Eclipse Wyvern! Next up, Eclipse Wyvern will banish one level seven or higher light or dark dragon monster from my deck, a little bonus because it was sent to the graveyard. Light and Darkness Dragon will be that target! After that, I banish the dark attribute Hunter Dragon and the light attribute Eclipse Wyvern to special summon Chaos Sorcerer (2300/2000) from my hand in defense position.”

Several dragons slipped into Chazz’s graveyard one by one as he set up the field with multiple calculated plays, ending with Light and Darkness Dragon added to his hand through Eclipse Wyvern’s second effect, and the smirking Chaos Sorcerer staring down the multitude of powerful monsters on the field.

“Phil! It should be fine if I get rid of that big fusion of Crowler’s, right?” Chazz shot the question toward his teammate, who nodded with a grin that showed he knew exactly what Chazz was about to do.

"Just watch out for the big boy it's going to summon afterward."

Chazz nodded and gestured confidently toward Ancient Gear Megaton Golem. “Chaos Sorcerer, activate your effect! Banish Ancient Gear Megaton Golem from the game!”

The wicked sorcerer moved his hands in a perfect circle, one hand wreathed in shining light while the other was masked with perfect darkness. The side of the massive war golem rippled, the metal bending and groaning as the arcane magic warped the creature to another dimension.

“Do I smell some overconfidence?” Crowler sneered, “I thought I taught you better than that, Princeton! Because Ancient Gear Megaton Golem left the field due to an opponent’s card effect, I get to special summon out a certain someone while ignoring its usual summoning conditions. Say hello to my fusion monster, Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem (4400/3400)!”

Chazz took one involuntary step backward as the massive four-legged metal giant formed out of thin air to slam onto the field with such force that the arena itself shook.

“Heh. An oversized metal trashcan.” Chazz steadied himself from the shocking sight, placing one card face down and ending his turn without further ado.

“Meow it’s my turn.” Banner announced while he licked his paw to groom the back of his head. Another paw shot toward the duel disk that he had placed on the ground at the start of the game (as his duel disk was certainly not made to strap onto the arm of a small cat) and drew a card, which was added to the little stack of cards placed on the ground next to his hind legs.

“Haaaa… truly, dueling in this body is an interesting experience,” Banner drily complained. “I have to put an annoying amount of effort to flip through my hand each time. Well, it is what it is. Allow this cat, oh students of mine, to reveal new secrets. While one of you,”

He made a very catlike nod toward Jaden, “has seen me duel in the past, dare I say this new deck shall prove a different experience. Yes indeed! I have recently turned my attention from matters of alchemy to what transpires in the heavens above! Witness the secrets I have gleamed! I activate the field spell The Sanctuary in the Sky. Its effect is hardly relevant at this time, meowly protecting me from taking battle damage if one of my fairy monsters is involved, but having it on the field unlocks a series of secondary effects, one of which I shall show now! I normal summon The Agent of Mystery – Earth (1000/800) in defense position! Because I have The Sanctuary in the Sky on the field, I can add one Meowster Hyperion from my deck to my hand! And now that my deck is just a slight bit smaller, I activate Cards From the Sky. By banishing the light fairy monster Mystical Shine Ball from my hand and swearing off my battle phase for this turn, I can draw two cards.”

Banner leaned forward and used his paw to snag two more cards from the top of his deck that joined the pile of cards near his hind legs that was his hand.

“I will place one card face down, and that will be all. I will try to stay pawsitive in this situation, but I shall rely on you, Vellian, and Midori, to back me up until my deck can truly show its strength.”

“Allow me to hop into action, then, with a Pot of Greed to draw two cards!” Phil gleefully joined in the game of puns Banner had unleashed. “Prof, you’ve got some scary stuff on your field, but I’m not going to croak without a fight. As it turns out, sharing is caring, so gimme one of those cool monsters! I pay eight to feel great as the cost to activate the spell card Brain Control, nabbing your Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem until the end of the turn, teach.”

“Only until the end of the turn.” Crowler pointed out. “I hardly see the threat with that, considering my Ancient Gear Howitzer is still on the field to provide defense. Sure, you have the first attack, but our walls are more than enough for now.”

“And who said I was going to keep this freaky four-legged fella on the field?” Phil countered. “Mate, it’s tribute fodder! I sacrifice your fusion monster which is now our fusion monster to tribute summon Zaborg the Thunder Monarch (2400/1000)! Zaborg’s effect activates to destroy Darklord Nergal when it hits the field. Then, I activate a Polymerization of my own, fusing Des Frog, Des Frog, and King of the Swamp to summon the big mean and green himself, D.3.S. Frog!”

The enormous green bulk of the whiskered, pink-eyed frog slammed onto the field with equal force to how Crowler's Ancient Gear monsters had made their entrance earlier. The monster’s baleful pink eyes glanced over all the other monsters on the field and let loose a croaking, screaming roar of challenge that had the audience clutching their ears from the volume alone. The sound was enough to make Banner’s fur spike up in irritation, while Crowler grimaced at the quick removal of his monster and Hibiki stared at it with a hint of interest in her eyes.

“Yeah, that’s right, you tell ‘em buddy!” Phil cheered at the gargantuan monstrosity on his field before grinning and pointing square at Ms. Hibiki.

"Yo! Teach! You and I have a bone to pick over our duel last year. Zaborg, destroy that Ukoback! D.3.S. Frog, attack Ms. Hibiki directly!

Since Chazz had baited her face down Ring of Destruction earlier, Ms. Hibiki could only grit her teeth and endure the shockwaves released by Zaborg frying her Ukoback to a crisp. However, once the slavering jaws of D.3.S. Frog lunged toward her, she flipped over her second face down with a sigh.

“It’s a shame to use it for something like this, but stop your attack, I activate the trap card Back to the Front to special summon Darklord Nergal in defense position. It seems my life points are safe for now, as Nergal has equal defense points to your frog.”

Just in the nick of time, Darklord Nergal’s black-armored fist swung in front of Ms. Hibiki, narrowly catching D.3.S. Frog’s jaws before they could snap closed, causing the frog to let out a horrid scream of frustrated rage.

Crowler: 4000, Hibiki: 2000, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 3000, Phil: 3200, Chazz: 2500

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

“Well, quite frankly I would like to say that was incredibly disturbing and I think I’m going to have nightmares for the rest of the week.” Atticus faintly said once the excessively violent attack failed and the massive frog monster retreated back to Phil’s side of the field with an alarming stillness to its posture, like an apex predator just itching to pounce.

“That fusion monster of Phil’s has always been a bit brutal.” Bastion offhandedly mentioned, appearing quite used to the scene. “Personally, I think the Brain Control play was quite interesting. So many duelists tend to forget there are other ways to deal with powerful threats than battle traps or summoning a creature with higher attack points. Phil, though, is one of those duelists who takes that idea to the extreme. Often his decks will feature strategies that completely avoid contests of attack points altogether, or at least put it all off until the decisive blow is stuck. The only pity is that his aggressive turn cost the use of his entire hand. Though, judging by what we saw, I can hardly say that I could think of a better play with what he had available. Some people aren’t as lucky as Jaden tends to be, and that overabundance of high-level monsters in his hand would have weighed Phil down like a boulder.”

“An interesting fella, that Phil.” Atticus agreed with a nod. “But I am pretty curious about what Ms. Hibiki’s gonna do on her turn. Her Darklords are a hell of a deck, and from now on all six of the duelists can declare attacks. I think there’s gonna be a crazy sort of offensive starting soon.”

“Banner’s deck is more interesting, in my opinion,” Zane cut in from the side. “Agents… I have seen many fairy decks in action before, but those Agents are new to my eyes. I wonder what powerful abilities they possess.”

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

“I draw!” Ms. Hibiki declared with firm determination once Phil ended his turn by setting one card face down. “By discarding Darklord Amdusc and Darklord Superbia, I can use Amdusc’s effect to add Darklord Contact from my graveyard back to my hand. Now that my Contact is back in my hand, I can use its effect to special summon Darklord Superbia (2900/2400) from my graveyard in defense position. As always, because Darklord Superbia was special summoned from the graveyard, another Darklord shall rise to join it. Return from the dead in defense position, Darklord Ukoback (700/1000)!”

One by one, Ms. Hibiki’s field was filled with a line of terrifying dark angels, but she was far from done yet.

“It’s a shame I couldn’t show off his effect earlier, but now’s better than never. I activate the effect of Nergal, sacrificing 1000 of my own life points to choose a Darklord spell or trap card in my graveyard to copy the effect of and shuffle back into my deck. I only have one target, so the choice is easy. Darklord Contact, apply your effect once more! Special summon Darklord Amdusc (1800/2800) in defense position! Now! I have four monsters on the field, without even using my normal summon! It’s time to change that. I sacrifice Darklord Superbia and Darklord Ukoback to tribute summon Darklord Asmodeus (3000/2500)!”

In short order the squat, red-winged angel and the dark-winged unicorn wordlessly disappeared from Ms. Hibiki's field to make way for a new angel, one swathed in dark armor that only partially hid its pale skin and ominous purple wings.

“I’ve seen this one before!” Chazz called out a warning as the monster descended onto the field. “It’s incredibly strong!”

“Roger that.” Jaden replied with an ever-widening grin plastered on his face. It was as clear as day that with each powerful monster summoned, he was only getting more and more hyped up about the duel.

“I’m glad you took such close notes back then.” Ms. Hibiki sent a short word of praise toward Chazz. “I’ll use Asmodeus’s effect to send the fairy-type Darklord Edeh Arae from my deck to my graveyard. Then, allow me, as your professor, to teach you a few more tricks! Darklord Nergal, switch to attack position and destroy Chazz’s Chaos Sorcerer! Darklord Asmodeus, strike at D.3.S. Frog before its attack can be increased!”

The grinning winged Nergal casually vaporized Chaos Sorcerer with a single finger, blowing a kiss toward Chazz as a final bit of cheeky mockery as the piercing damage from his effect went through, while Darklord Asmodeus and D.3.S. Frog launched toward each other with mirrored roars of pure, undiluted rage that saw the slightly weaker frog shatter into pieces like a pane of glass being struck by a hammer.

“Hehe, after your battle phase ends,” Jaden chuckled all of a sudden, “Let me show you this sweet new card I picked up over the summer! I activate my face down quick-play spell, Mask Change! By sending one Hero monster I control to the graveyard, I can special summon one Masked Hero monster with the same attribute as the Hero monster I sent! Come on out, Masked Hero Dian (2800/3000) in defense mode!”

Bright lights flashed across the duel field as the unassuming plantlike hero Knospe whipped out a silver mask before disappearing in a flash of white light to be replaced by a silver-armored hero wielding a perilously sharp rapier.

“Not bad. A powerful monster to start your turn with.” Ms. Hibiki murmured the compliment, ending her turn by setting a single card face down with a smooth swipe of her hand.

Jaden casually accepted the compliment with a nod of his head. “Thanks coach! Now that it’s my turn, check out my next sweet move! I activate E – Emergency Call to add Elemental Hero Heat from my deck to my hand. After that, I activate H – Heated Heart to give Dian a boost of 500 attack points until the end of the turn. Finally, I summon Elemental Hero Heat (1600/1200) from my hand, and move into battle phase!"

Masked Hero Dian (2800/3000 -> 3300/3000), Elemental Hero Heat (1600/1200 -> 1800/1200).

“Of course, Heat gains 200 attack points for each Elemental Hero I control, including himself,” Jaden explained in response to the questioning gazes of his opponents once they noticed the bump in attack points. "Pretty cool, I know, I know. Masked Hero Dian, show them something cooler! Charge right into Ancient Gear Howitzer! Topple that shootie boy ASAP!”

Crowler: 4000, Hibiki: 1000, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 3000, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 2500

Crowler grunted in annoyance as Dian’s rapier pierced straight through his giant monster’s armored plating, but that was just the beginning of Jaden’s offensive strike.

“Look at that! Dian destroyed a monster by battle, so now I can special summon one level four or lower Hero monster from my deck!”

“Not so fast!” Ms. Hibiki shouted. “You may have destroyed Vellian’s fusion, but don’t count the rest of us out just yet. In a team duel, working together smoothly is far more important than summoning the card with the highest attack points. I activate my trap card, The Sanctified Darklord! By sending Darklord Marie from my hand to my graveyard, I can negate the effects of Masked Hero Dian until the end of this turn, while also gaining life points equal to your monster’s current attack!”

“In addition!” Crowler spoke up once Ms. Hibiki’s move was finished, “You destroyed Howitzer by battle, activating its second effect! I special summon Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon (3000/3000) from my deck in attack position!”

Jaden clicked his tongue in regret. “Shame. Sorry, Elemental Hero Heat, you’ll need to wait a bit longer to have more friends on the field to hang out with. And also a little bit longer to be big enough to kill that dragon. I guess a lot longer, actually. 3000 is a good chunk of points, don’t ya think? Well, I can still do a bit more. Heat, destroy Ms. Hibiki’s Darklord Nergal! Use the attack boost from Skyscraper to make the cut!”

Once more, Darklord Nergal was sent flying back into the graveyard, this time from the Skyscraper-enhanced fists of the flaming red superhero, Elemental Hero Heat, which managed to gain just enough attack points from its effect and Jaden’s field spell to destroy Nergal with 100 points of difference.

Crowler: 4000, Hibiki: 4200, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 3000, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 2500

“Well played,” Crowler said with a laugh as he started his turn. “A bit of back and forth is nice, I’ve found. You summon a strong monster, I summon something stronger, and so on and so forth. Jaden! Allow me to escalate the stakes! Graceful Charity, give me the card advantage I so desire! I draw three cards, discarding my second Ancient Gear Box and Ancient Gear Tank to satisfy the drawback of that spell. I enter my battle phase. Reactor dragon, attack Chazz as soon as you get the chance! Fire at will!

Chazz looked at Crowler dead in his eyes and a hint of a smirk formed on his face. Then, Chazz did something that was not very Chazz-like, right at the exact moment that the metallic dragon was about to begin its attack.

“Professor, my name is not Will. It’s Chazz. Oh, and at the start of your battle phase, before your attack, I activate Call of the Haunted, bringing back Invader of Darkness (2900/2500) to be a nice little meat shield before your Ancient Nerd Dragon starts nullifying my backrow.”

“I also have a card to activate at the start of the battle phase!” Phil cut in with a hasty smirk. “Don’t think I don’t know about that nasty destruction effect Reactor dragon has. I activate my face down Scapegoat spell, and then you’ll be okay in my book to attack! Scapegoat, would you mind giving me exactly four fluffy disposable minions in defense position?”

Sheep Token x4 (0/0).

Crowler grinned widely at the play and gestured to his dragon to begin the attack. Invader of Darkness was torn to shreds, but Chazz’s life points were only reduced by 100 points, instead of a much more alarming 3000 points that it would have been before the Call of the Haunted play.

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

“I think we can agree, Zane, that Crowler’s board will be a serious problem if left unchecked." Bastion loudly commented on the situation to try and mask the few students in the stands who had begun to violently puke from all the terrible, horrible, no-good puns that were being thrown around.

Zane grimaced at Chazz’s disgusting pun, but ultimately powered through to continue speaking with Bastion, who by now was practically the impromptu guest speaker of the day.

“A 3000-point attacker is quite serious. One that turns off battle traps, too.” Zane agreed. “Eventually they’ll have to pull some focus onto that monster and deal with whatever powerful creature Crowler brings out next.”

“I think I should add,” Bastion said, “Ms. Hibiki has done her homework on her opponents for sure. She even knew that D.3.S. Frog gains attack power with each Treeborn Frog Phil puts in the graveyard. It was smart to get rid of that monster before it could become stronger than a Blue-Eyes."

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

Crowler: 4000, Hibiki: 4200, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 3000, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 2400

“Reactor Dragon’s effect activates to destroy that Skyscraper field spell at the end of the damage step. Then, two cards will go face down, and I pass my turn to you, Chazz. Phil, you get a break for now.” Crowler shouted with another good-natured laugh at the boy’s pun once his dragon finished chewing on the scattered remains of Chazz’s defense.

“My name is not Chazz, professor.” Chazz replied with a deadpan stare. “It’s Will, and I will activate Foolish Burial, sending Mystic Tomato from my deck to my graveyard! That makes three dark monsters in my graveyard, no more, no less! This means I now meet the correct conditions to special summon Dark Armed Dragon (2800/1000) from my hand in attack mode!"

Chazz completely ignored Phil’s frantic shouting of ‘DAD! DAD! It’s DAD! DAD’s here, back from getting milk at the store!’ in favor of activating the effect of his newly summoned monster.

“By banishing Invader of Darkness from my graveyard,” Chazz explained, “I can destroy a card on the field. The target shall be your first face down card, Professor Crowler, followed by banishing Mystic Tomato to erase your second face down card.”

"Solid move…" Crowler smirked, "If my first face down card had been a trap! Hmm, I suppose in a sense, it still is. Not that it is a trap card, but I placed it face down expecting you to destroy it out of caution! That card you so hastily destroyed was my face down Ancient Gear Fortress, which allows me to special summon one Ancient Gear monster from my hand or graveyard when it leaves the field! Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera (2300/1300) from my hand, reveal your might!”

Chazz’s face darkened, and his hand hesitated over his graveyard. There was one last dark attribute monster entombed in there, but was spending all three destruction effects worth it when Crowler seemed to spit out high-level Ancient Gear monsters with casual ease each turn? His Dark Armed Dragon was strong… but not quite strong enough to contest the mechanical dragon that was still looming over the field like an oppressive, endless shadow.

“Do it, dude!” Phil encouraged his fellow student. “I hate to say it, but Dark Armed Dragon’s probably going to die before it gets around to your turn again. Besides, go big or go home, ya catch my drift!”

“Shine bright into the sky like a freaking super awesome star!” Jaden cheerfully added from the side.

“Heh, what a bunch of worthless words you two have for me!” Chazz smirked, though his words lacked the bite they might have had at this time during the previous year. “I banish my last dark attribute monster, Chaos Sorcerer, to destroy that fake nerd of a dragon monster! Real dragons are better in every way! Now, Dark Armed Dragon, show your rage and steamroll over Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera!”

Crowler: 3500, Hibiki: 4200, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 3000, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 2400

Once the damage was calculated, Chazz passed his turn with no further actions. Banner straightened his back and let out a very long yawn.

“Finally.” He murmured, using a paw to flick a few more pieces of tuna from his can into his mouth. “That’s the trouble with large duels like this. They can take quite some time to get through everyone. I draw.”

Clearly, whatever card Banner drew was quite pleasing to his eyes, as he stretched his legs and put the can of tuna to the side for now.

“It seems as if I have been allowed to make my plays without any sort of interference from you three. In fact, I think somewhere in my office, I have the smallest violin in the world to play in sadness since I have been largely ignored. Or perhaps I should simply thank my colleagues for soaking up all of your attention? Either way, the heavens have foretold that it is now the perfect time to strike! I banish The Agent of Wisdom – Mercury, from my hand to special summon Meowster Hyperion (2700/2100) in attack position!”

Red light washed over the field as a solemn deity clad in gold and black robes walked out of the darkness, casually glancing at a moving copy of the solar system that was contained between his two hands.

“It’s actually quite funny,” Banner continued, “Hyperion’s effect is quite similar to your Dark Armed Dragon, Chazz. The destruction part, not the summon part. I sacrifice The Agent of Mystery – Earth to tribute summon The Agent of Judgment – Saturn (2400/0). Then, because I now have a light fairy monster in my graveyard, I use Hyperion’s effect to banish that light fairy in return for destroying Jaden’s Masked Hero Dian.”

“Awww…. he was such a cool hero!” Jaden moaned good-naturedly as a miniature solar system bisected his fusion monster at the waist.

“He was cool,” Banner acknowledged. “Strong, too. This means that it becomes quite difficult for me to allow him to stay on the field much longer. Speaking of strong, Chazz, I'm truly sorry. You are a powerful duelist, but I am afraid that I must follow a dishonorable line of play. I activate the effect of Saturn. My life points are higher than yours, so I can tribute Saturn to inflict damage to you, Chazz, equal to the difference. However, the downside is that I do not get a battle phase this turn.

“That means…” Chazz growled in annoyance.

“1600 points.” Banner replied. “That is how much damage you take.”

Crowler: 3500, Hibiki: 4200, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 3000, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 800

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

“And what a cheeky set of burn damage from Banner! Who says cats can’t be tricky customers!” Atticus shouted in surprise at the sudden turnaround.

Bastion looked on with narrowed eyes, watching as Jaden leaned over to slap Chazz consolingly on the back as his life point counter ticked ever closer to zero. “Banner must have concluded he had no way to overpower Chazz’s dragon with his current lineup since he used the effect of Hyperion to take care of the threat Masked Hero Dian posed. Of course, without more darks in the graveyard, Dark Armed Dragon is nothing but a big monster now.”

“And Hibiki’s Ring of Destruction got Chazz’s life points low enough to make it work. Such a powerful card in a format with 4000 base life points.” Zane finished Bastion’s thought. “In addition, the monsters controlled by Crowler and Hibiki were simply too much of a threat for the students to leave unchecked, meaning that Banner’s weaker monster, Earth, was set aside for later. I can understand the priorities, but that let Banner get the free tribute summon. Still, this will certainly make it more difficult for the student team. A light sneeze could finish Chazz off by now.”

“But!” Bastion pointed out with an interested glance at Phil, “It’s Phil’s turn now, since Saturn forces Banner to skip his own battle phase in return for the powerful effect damage it provides. Sure, the professor set another card face down, but losing the battle phase is problematic.”

Atticus leaned forward to look at the boy in question, eyes narrowing once he saw Phil’s hand, or lack thereof.

“This is no joke.” He muttered. “Real heart of the cards stuff right here, after he burned most of his hand on a fusion monster that died to Hibiki’s Asmodeus.”

Bastion grunted in agreement. "A one-card combo? Or a cheeky way to stall. What will it be, Phil? I wonder if that Monarch card or those tokens will have any parts to play…”

"Yeah?" Atticus questioned and positioned the microphone closer to Bastion to better drag out the theories the Ra Yellow clearly was itching to share. “Remember, Bastion. This isn’t solely a duel for fun. It’s also to provide a learning experience for both the students in the duel, and the students watching.”

“Well…” Bastion dragged out the word while he organized his thoughts, “I can’t say anything for sure since I don’t want to be accused of helping any of the duelists currently brawling it out, but I can see a few ways out if his luck is good. Firstly, as he has done a few times in the past, those Sheep Tokens make good materials for a quick Metamorphosis into a Thousand-Eyes Restrict. If not that, then the Monarch monster could be tributed for another Monarch with a usable effect. Dark Hole would be devastating right now, and Gravity Bind, which Phil has been known to use, would be either hilarious or depressing, depending on your point of view.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

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

Phil flamboyantly flicked a card out of his duel disk and into his hand, for the most part ignoring the conversation he could hear Bastion having with the two announcers. As usual, his friend had some top-class ideas, but even with a numbers disadvantage, he felt pretty secure with the current board state.

“Hm, sorry to disappoint, Bastion, but here’s what is behind door number five! I activate Pot of Greed. Drawing two, and I activate both of those cards. First, Smashing Ground to destroy your monster with the highest defense!”

Ms. Hibiki dutifully swept the dark unicorn off the field, but Phil wasn’t even close to done yet.

"Now that you only have one monster on the field," Phil explained with a shit-eating grin, "Here's my second card from Pot of Greed. I activate Share the Pain! Ms. Hibiki, you and I both have to tribute one monster off our fields! It’ll be a sheep token for me, and it looks like you have no choice but to get rid of your big booty angel!”

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

“Huh.” Bastion stared in mild shock. “Leave it to Phil to use a card I’ve never seen before.”

Atticus waved his hand, grabbing Bastion’s attention with a question.

“Yeahhh…. but don’t those tokens from Scapegoat have a caveat that says they can’t be tributed?”

“For a tribute summon.” Bastion shot back. “Share the Pain, it seems, does not perform a tribute summon. It simply forces two players to each tribute a monster. Interesting. Too bad the tag duel rules state that Phil must choose one of his opponents to make the sacrifice, instead of all three teachers being forced to do it. That would have simply been devastating.”

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

“I think I smell a clear field!” Phil cackled with joy as Ms. Hibiki’s Darklord Asmodeus, the only monster she had on the field to tribute at the time of Share the Pain’s activation, disappeared into a shower of multicolored shards of light.

“Yeah, you got that right,” He continued. “Since I didn’t clear Asmodeus by battle, you don’t get those annoying little tokens it would normally spawn. Zaborg! You know the drill! Zap her to the next dimension, please and thank you.”

The green-haired monster cackled evilly as it spread out a bolt of pure yellow lightning between its two hands to strike directly at Ms. Hibiki’s life points now that her defense was nonexistent.

Crowler: 3500, Hibiki: 1800, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 3000, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 800

Then, with no further cards in his hand, and no more monsters that could attack, Phil ended his turn with a nod toward Jaden, who grinned in excitement back to him, seemingly even more happy now that all three of their backs were against the wall. A second nod was shot toward Chazz, who scowled back. A single mistake at this point could prove fatal for any of them. In fact, considering the power of the professors, a mistake might not even prove to be a required ingredient to end the duel.

“I draw a card! In my standby phase, Darklord Marie’s effect activates to heal my life points by 200.” Ms. Hibiki started her turn like Phil hadn’t just completely invalidated one of her strongest monsters with practiced ease. “In my main phase, I activate the effect of Darklord Ixchel in my hand. By discarding her and Darklord Desire, I can draw two cards. Then, I summon Peten the Dark Clown (500/1200) in defense position, and place one card face down. That ends my turn.”

“Here we go!” Jaden hollered. “I activate my spell card, Mask Charge! It’s a cool little card that lets me grab a ‘Change’ quick-play spell from my graveyard, along with a Hero monster of my choice from that same place. I don’t have many options, so come back to me, Elemental Hero Knospe! That isn’t all, because now I activate a second spell card, Hero’s Bond! I have a Hero monster on the field, Elemental Hero Heat, so I can special summon two level four or lower Elemental Hero monsters from my hand. Here’s Elemental Hero Knospe (600/1000) and Elemental Hero Avian (1000/1000).

“Knospe, you’ll be in attack position, while Avian sticks around in defense.” Jaden continued to cycle through his plays with practiced ease, “Though, by stick around, I mean not for long! I activate Mask Change, sending the wind-attribute Avian to special summon Masked Hero Divine Wind (2700/1900)!”

Once more the plant-like Knospe sprouted onto the field with a determined expression, as if swearing not to disappoint Jaden, while the mysterious, green-suited Divine Wind silently walked in front of its master, fully prepared for battle.

“Chazz, this one’s for you! Masked Hero Divine Wind, crash yourself into Master Hyperion and use your battle protection to survive! Knospe, follow up with Elemental Hero Heat and deal a nice bit of damage to Crowler since he has an empty field!”

In a mirror of all the times Jaden had charged his heroes into overwhelming odds, the white cape on Divine Wind’s back fluttered as it parkoured up the side of the arena, before leaping off bleachers to dive through the miniature solar system that surrounded Banner’s celestial monster. Right at the exact second that the two would collide, the hero’s green suit surged with light as its effect kicked in to protect it from mutual destruction. Meanwhile, so subtle that hardly anyone noticed, Knospe bonked Crowler upside the head with its flower appendages. It wasn’t much, but it was honest damage. Elemental Hero Heat, however, was a far larger threat. It strode forward with a menacing gait, its attack points boosted up to an alarming 2000 points thanks to the two Elemental Hero monsters Jaden controlled.

“Hm, Jaden, my boy, I’m afraid I have to stop you right there,” Banner yawned and spoke up while Elemental Hero Heat was mid-swing. “You declared a direct attack, so I get to activate the trap card Counter Gate! That attack from Elemental Hero Heat is negated, and I get to draw a card.” Banner used his tail to flick a card into the air, placing it onto the pile of cards on the floor that was his hand before motioning for Jaden to continue. “It wasn’t a monster, so I can’t normal summon the card I drew. Pity, that would have been helpful.”

Crowler: 2900, Hibiki: 2000, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 3000, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 800

“Knospe’s attack still went through, so my little buddy gains 100 attack and loses 100 defense points since some damage was done. Oh, and since Divine Wind destroys a monster, I get to draw a card.” Jaden shrugged and ended his turn by placing three cards, one of which being the card he drew off of Divine Wind, face down.

Elemental Hero Knospe (600/1000 -> 700/900).

“A good turn,” Crowler said approvingly, “I’m proud of you. Many duelists would have been finished by now. Heh. But this teacher of yours still has a few more new tricks up his sleeve! Firstly, an old card you might have seen before. Geartown! Skyscraper is long gone, so now it’s time for some old-style architecture. Then, since I no longer control any monsters, I can activate Ancient Gear Catapult. It destroys one card I control to special summon one Ancient Gear monster from my deck, ignoring any summoning conditions it may have. Rise, my Ancient Gear Beast (2000/2000)! Then, because Geartown was destroyed, I can use its effect to bring my Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon (3000/3000) back from the graveyard for round two!

“Heh, is this guy serious right now?” Phil laughed helplessly and shook his head. Soon enough, Jaden joined him in laughing, though Jaden’s laughter was more delighted instead of incredulous like Phil’s was. Chazz, meanwhile, looked at his teammates like he wasn’t sure if they were stupid or had gone crazy.

“I know!” Jaden gasped out in between breaths, “Isn’t this amazing?”

"Well, it's something," Crowler drily added before moving onto his battle phase with a flick of his fingers. "Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon, strike down that Dark Armed Dragon. Ancient Gear Beast, attack Chazz directly after that.”

The dragon swathed in purple lightning struck at the shadowy dragon with a frightening roar, but once the dust settled, the only change was Chazz’s life points were slightly lower and his dragon was no longer on the field!

“What!” Crowler muttered in surprise.

Jaden’s reply was simple. He smirked and pointed at his hero monster.

“Divine Wind’s other effect says that my opponents can only attack with one monster during each battle phase. Shame, isn’t it?”

“Fine.” Crowler momentarily closed his eyes to center himself, lest he lose himself in annoyance. “Reactor Dragon still managed to attack, so his effect triggers to destroy your leftmost facedown, Jaden.”

Crowler: 2900, Hibiki: 2000, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 3000, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 600

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

"Talk about scraping by with the skin of their teeth," Atticus said in surprise. "All three boys in Team Jaden hang on through a mad-cool play with a new fusion monster!”

Bastion nodded slyly. “That is the strength of Jaden’s Hero deck, the sheer versatility. He has a fusion for almost any circumstance, and the ability to dash through his deck to get the materials he needs at a moment’s notice.”

“I think it helps that Masked Heroes seem to be a bit easier to summon,” Zane pointed out, “Unlike the traditional fusion hero lineup, the Masked Heroes only need Mask Change and a hero of the correct attribute, instead of a Polymerization and two materials.”

“The weakness of a fusion deck.” Bastion agreed. “It burns through resources at an unsustainable rate for a long duel.”

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

“My turn!” Chazz snapped out. His field was empty, but the Obelisk Blue was in no way out of the game just yet. “I draw and summon Shining Angel (1400/800) in defense position. Turn end.”

“Ah, it is finally this cat’s turn again.” Banner looked up from his almost-empty can of tuna to add another card to his hand.

“I activate Monster Reborn to bring forth Meowster Hyperion from the grave. Next, I activate the effect of Hyperion once more, banishing Saturn from my graveyard to destroy your Masked Hero Divine Wind, Jaden.”

“Dang…” Jaden watched with a crestfallen expression as his fusion monster disintegrated under the heat of Master Hyperion’s miniature solar system.

“A truly impeccable vocabulary you have, young Jaden.” Banner stared at the boy with yellow, almost glowing eyes. “Let’s try to expand that, shall we? Meow I move to my battle phase. Hyperion, strike down Elemental Hero Heat before it becomes inordinately large!”

“I don’t know what that last word means, but my hero falling in battle triggers my trap card! You destroyed Elemental Hero Heat, so Hero Counterattack is going to make you choose a random card from my hand! If that card turns out to be an Elemental Hero, I can destroy one of your monsters and special summon my own. Are ya ready kids?"

To the sound of Phil's response of 'aye-aye, captain!' in the background, Banner used a single claw to point at the card in the center of Jaden's hand. Jaden took a moment to locate the card in his hand, grinned a toothy grin, and flipped it over to reveal Elemental Hero Bladedge (2600/1800), which he then summoned in attack position after sending Master Hyperion right back to the graveyard.

“Not bad.” Banner lazily admitted. “I have no further monsters, and I have nothing new to set, so I end my turn.”

Crowler: 2900, Hibiki: 2000, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 2300, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 600

“Which puts the counter right back to me,” Phil grinned and drew a card. “I must say, I am legitimately surprised that Zaborg survived to live another day. Should I take offense to that? Do you consider Jaden to be scarier than me right now?” Phil took a moment to think it over and nodded. “Yeah, fair. Jaden’s the bigger threat. But, heh, allow me to change your mind on that! I sacrifice Zaborg the Thunder Monarch to tribute summon Caius the Shadow Monarch (2400/1000)! On his successful summoning, I can banish one card on the field! Mr. Crowler sir, say goodbye to your freaking stupid Reactor Dragon for what is hopefully the final time.”

Crowler sadly waved goodbye to his terrifying metal dragon as a great horned man, robed in shadows and covered with shiny pitch-black armor, threw an orb of pure darkness that swallowed up the dragon to leave nothing behind.

“As you can see, I have absolutely zero other cards in my hand, so I’m gonna go ahead to my battle phase. Caius, please do kindly get that Ancient Gear Beast off of my field.”

The crowd roared in excitement as Crowler’s field was emptied once more, yet still, despite that fact, the professor was somehow remaining in the game! Even the newest Slifer Red student could clearly tell that it was taking every single trick and ace hidden up Jaden’s, Phil’s, and Chazz’s sleeves to keep clearing the professor’s board. That wasn’t even counting Ms. Hibiki yet, who was steadily rebuilding her own board after several terrifying clashes between several boss monsters. Then of course, there was Banner, the talking cat professor proving to be a formidable, yet low-key force that had not only saved his teammates from the student’s powerful offensive but even managed to be the first duelist to knock an opponent down past 1000 life points in the duel.

Once the Ancient Gear Beast crumbled into a pile of rusted gears, Ms. Hibiki’s turn began with Darklord Marie healing her for another 200 life points.

Crowler: 2500, Hibiki: 2200, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 2300, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 600

Ms. Hibiki muttered a word of thanks to her graveyard for the healing and briskly moved on to her next play.

"Boys, it looks like you spent too much time focusing on Crowler. Remember this for the future. In a tag duel, you must constantly be switching gears between opponents to deprive them of their advantages! I already control one monster, and with the activation of my face down Call of the Haunted, I control two! Come back to me, Darklord Superbia (2900/2400)! You both know Superbia's effect by now, which allows me to special summon Darklord Edeh Arae (2300/2000) right from my graveyard in attack position. Edeh Arae will also gain a piercing effect, as it was brought back from the grave. After that, allow me to reveal a monster far more powerful than the Asmodeus you struggled to defeat earlier.”

Ms. Hibiki flashed a grin at the students in the stands. “I sacrifice Peten the Dark Clown and Darklord Superbia to tribute summon Darklord Morningstar (3000/3000)! His effect activates, letting me special summon Darklord monsters from my hand or deck equal to the number of effect monsters my opponent controls. It’s a shame the tag duel rules force me to choose a specific opponent, but Jaden, you appear to have two effect monsters on the field. That shall be more than enough. I bring forth Darklord Nasten (2600/2600) and Darklord Tezcatlipoca (2800/2100) to the field in attack position!”

As soon as the black-armored Morningstar flew onto the field with quiet wings of grey and black, he was soon joined by a snarling, lion-headed angel and a brutal, black-armored Aztec warrior that lined up right next to their leader like a pair of bodyguards.

"Next, I activate Darklord Morningstar's second effect. By sending cards from the top of my deck equal to the number of Darklord monsters on the field, I can gain 500 life points for each Darklord card that was sent due to this effect."

Gently, Ms. Hibiki slipped four cards off the top of her deck, revealing a total of two Darklord cards – Darklord Rebellion and Darklord Zerato, raising her counter by a total of 1000 points.

Crowler: 2500, Hibiki: 3200, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 2300, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 600

“Two paltry monsters on Jaden’s field…” Ms. Hibiki muttered, more to herself than to her teammates. “Phil with three sheep tokens and his Monarch monster. Chazz with an angel that will grab a light monster on destruction.”

Eventually, she came to a decision and raised her voice to grab Crowler's attention.

“Vellian, I’m going to attempt to knock Jaden out of the game. Even if I fail, focus on Phil during your turn. He’s gone too long without making any big moves.” She turned toward Jaden, a steel-like aura entering her eyes as she began to bark out orders. “Darklord Tezcatlipoca, use your greater attack points to strike down Elemental Hero Bladedge!”

“Woah there!” Jaden frantically shouted. His grin widened, and every part of his body language shouted that he was barely hanging on by the seat of his pants. “Crazy stuff, but don’t you know I have a card in my field hanging around just for that, thanks to the draw from my Masked Hero Divine Wind! This one’s a good card recommended by my friend Phil, the trap card No Entry!!”

Right as the Aztec-themed angel was about to strike, two uniformed policemen bounded onto the field, blowing their whistles and throwing paperwork at Ms. Hibiki’s monsters until they were nearly quite literally drowning in it – worst of all, the men then announced every form would need to be signed in triplicate! Still, in a commendable, yet futile effort, Darklord Morningstar dutifully began to pass out a stack of beautiful, onyx-colored pens to his Darklord allies to begin begrudgingly working their way through the stack.

“It changes everything on the field to defense position.” Jaden grinned cheekily. “I’ll be darned if my heart didn’t jump to my throat there. But hey, it’s my turn again!”

“You’re taking too many risks,” Chazz grumbled as Jaden began his turn. “Keeping Knospe in attack position like you did earlier is just begging for you to get tossed out like a total scrub.”

Jaden shrugged and drew a card. “Come on, man! You’re really harshing my mellow right now. But that’s okay. It’s all okay, I’m super zen right now.” Despite that statement, Jaden’s eyes were wide open with glee. “Or maybe not! I switch Bladedge back to attack mode and place one card face down. Bladedge, give Professor Crowler a good walloping!”

“As always,” Ms. Hibiki drily cut in, “I’m afraid I must show the value of proper teamwork once more. I activate Darklord Nasten’s quick effect, which allows me to pay 1000 life points to shuffle a Darklord spell or trap card from my graveyard into my deck and apply its effect. I shuffle back Darklord Rebellion, which lets me send Darklord Edeh Arae from my field to my graveyard to destroy your Elemental Hero Bladedge!”

“Maaannn… sorry, guys. I tried. Pass turn.” Jaden hung his head to hide his twinkling eyes upon seeing the sweet trap Ms. Hibiki revealed.

Crowler: 2500, Hibiki: 2200, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 2300, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 600

“Chazz has a point about your Knospe,” Crowler abruptly mentioned as his own turn began, “In fact, you’re lucky all your monsters are in defense position right now. I activate another Geartown field spell and use Ancient Gear Catapult’s graveyard effect, banishing Catapult to destroy Geartown. This will special summon an Ancient Gear Token (0/0) in defense position and trigger the effect of Geartown to call forth my Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon (3000/3000), but this time a different copy straight from my deck!”

“Oh fuck me not again.”

As was quite predictable by this point, Ms. Hibiki sternly reprimanded Phil for his 'slip of the tongue', going as far as to march over to the boy’s side of the field to smack him on the head a few times with her palm, before Crowler was able to convince her to back off for the time being so that the duel could continue.

“Ahem.” Crowler coughed into his fist once Ms. Hibiki was back in place. “I move to my battle phase. Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon (3000/3000), destroy Phil’s Caius the Shadow Monarch.”

Once more, the metal dragon sent out a blast of purple lightning to vaporize Phil’s only offensive option at the moment, and then Crowler ended his turn after sadly realizing that none of the boys actually had a spell or trap card for him to destroy anymore.

“I draw!” Chazz shouted out, clearly a bit annoyed that he had been ignored by the professors while they dealt with what Jaden and Phil had on the field. “I banish the dark attribute Dark Armed Dragon from my graveyard to special summon White Dragon Wyverburster (1700/1800) in defense position. Turn end.”

“The last of the tuna.” Banner moaned as he devoured the final bits of his snack with a series of quick, efficient bites. “Frankly, I am quite surprised that I’m not out of the game yet, considering how much Vellian and Midori are putting me to shame now as a duelist. Eh, what can I say,” Banner shrugged, “I’m an alchemist by trade. Dueling has always been a secondary thing for me. Ah well, enough of that. I summon The Agent of Miracles – Jupiter (1800/1000), which would normally have something cool that I could do since Sanctuary in the Sky is still on the field, but I don’t have any fairies in my graveyard to banish for the cost of the effect. Funny, isn’t it? A field spell so bland that it gets completely ignored. I could have played some other deck…”

Banner mused, seemingly regretting his decision, “But that one isn’t ready yet, I suppose… oh, where was I.”

The cat fell silent for a moment, until a student from the bottom row of the bleachers kneeled on the floor and slid another can of tuna toward the pondering cat. Banner lazily stopped the can in its tracks with a paw once it got close enough, and used a dagger-like claw to slice the lid off.

“Oh, that’s one good thing!” Banner abruptly began to speak again and turned with a mischievous look at Chazz, “It has enough attack points to clear your angel. Jupiter, please kindly remove Shining Angel from the field.”

“Which activates his effect,” Chazz noted, spinning a new monster out of his deck to summon in attack position once the warlike Agent monster finished tearing the calm, four-winged angel of Chazz’s into pieces, “bringing forth another copy of Shining Angel in attack position (1400/800).”

“Yet Jupiter still cleared out your defense position monster,” Banner offhandedly observed. “A pawsitively worthwhile move, but I do wonder how you will survive to my next turn with so few cards available to you.”

“He’s got me, of course!” Phil shouted out once Banner ended his turn. “My top-decking skills are worse, but my coolness levels are off the charts, just ask my doctor!”

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

“Quick, we need an answer to that riddle!” Atticus stood and shouted into the microphone. "Nurse Fontaine, yes I see you, no use hiding now, would you mind coming over to the announcer's booth?"

A few students leaped out of the way as Nurse Fontaine reluctantly picked her way across the bleachers to Atticus.

“Why do I have a feeling that this is going to be some terrible joke?” Nurse Fontaine immediately asked Atticus, who smiled and waved his hand as if he was trying to banish her concerns from the game.

“No! No! It’s a legitimate question that only our esteemed nurse, so wise in the field of medical science, might know the answer to?”

Nurse Fontaine giggled a little bit and crossed her arms. “Yeah Atticus, I know this is going to be a joke. Just hit me with it, fire away.”

“Phil’s been in the infirmary a few times by now.” Atticus began with a completely serious expression. “So you’d know his medical charts, right?”

“Right…” Nurse Fontaine cautiously replied. “You know that’s confidential information, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry about it!” Atticus once more brushed her worries away with a wave of his hand. “That means you’ve seen his coolness levels. Are they truly off the charts?”

Nurse Fontaine let out an audible groan, one which was echoed by every single student who heard Atticus's terrible joke. In fact, after she recovered a slight amount from the low blow, the nurse didn't even bother to respond. She simply picked her way back to her seat to continue watching the duel.

“Never mind that.” Bastion muttered to Zane, “I’m more interested as to why Crowler summoned Ancient Gear Beast a while back when he had a second Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon hidden away in his deck. Beast isn’t bad, it’s just that Reactor Dragon is better.”

Zane shrugged. “Hard to say. Perhaps Crowler felt that the dragon might be more impactful later? Or felt as if he could summon the dragon with little issue, and wanted to use Ancient Gear Beast to force any powerful removal cards the boys had?”

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

“Yeah yeah yeah. Heheheheh, it’s Phil time,” Phil muttered with an evil glance, causing Atticus to shout from the announcer’s box that a wild goblin had gotten on the field and that someone should really get that fella off it before something was broken.

"Yeah, it's Phil time for sure," Phil repeated. “Thanks for the luck infusion, Jaden, because I activate Metamorphosis, turning one of my cute little sheep tokens into the very picture of ‘Lovecraftian eldritch horror’ that is Thousand-Eyes Restrict (0/0)! Thousand-Eyes, give that piece of junk on Crowler’s field the ol’ suckey-suck!”

Thousand-Eyes Restrict (0/0 -> 3000/3000).

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

“There it is!” Bastion exclaimed as the terrifying creature opened the eyes that littered its entire body to drag the Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon into its void-like circular maw. “I told you. It’s a matter of time when Scapegoat is involved. In fact, the two of us figured it out a while ago. Scapegoat has two brilliant uses. One, to keep you alive with those Goat Tokens. Two, for Metamorphosis plays. You just simply can’t value the usability of Thousand-Eyes Restrict enough!”

“A comeback?” Zane mused, rubbing his chin in thought.

Bastion nodded with glee, feeling joy that his friend finally managed to draw a card that was useful for the long term. “I think there might be one right around the corner. Now, if he’s smart, Phil will focus on Ms. Hibiki for a moment. Professor Crowler still has a token to defend him, and Thousand-Eyes Restrict has an effect that no other monsters can attack other than the Restrict. Ergo, Crowler survives this turn no matter what.”

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

“Thousand-Eyes Restrict, destroy Ms. Hibiki’s Darklord Tezcatlipoca! Crash right into it with your superior stolen attack points!

The Millenium Eye on the end of Thousand-Eyes Restrict’s eye stalk bobbed in agreement before the creature let out an ear-rending roar and smashed right into defense-position Darklord Tezcatlipoca, sending it to the great beyond.

“That’s my turn.” Phil smugly announced and shared a high-five with Jaden and Chazz now that the overwhelming pressure was at least partially off their backs.

Ms. Hibiki took a moment to consider Phil’s fusion monster with a single raised eyebrow, allowing Darklord Marie to raise her life points by another 200 while she thought.

“I admit, that’s a move one does not normally see at this level of play. Well done, Phil.”

Crowler: 2500, Hibiki: 2400, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 2300, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 600

She swiveled her head, looking at Jaden’s empty field with considering eyes and glancing back at Thousand-Eyes Restrict.

“Well done. I can’t even capitalize on this perfect opportunity to remove Jaden from the game. I keep my monsters in defense position, place one card face down, and end my turn.”

“Woohoo! Another turn to live!” Jaden raised his hands and shouted to the especially loud cheers from the Slifer Red section of the stands. “Phil, no worries on that Restrict. I can’t attack because of it, but that won’t stop me for long! I activate another E – Emergency Call, this time calling out Elemental Hero Lady Heat (1300/1000) to my hand, who will then join us on the field in defense position!”

“You cheeky fella!” Phil shouted in glee once he recognized the monster. “You can’t attack and you’re too nice to clear out my Thousand-Eyes Restrict, so you’ve figured it’s time to get some burn damage in!”

“Aye-aye, captain!” Jaden cheekily saluted. “I learned that mean strategy from you! I move to my end phase, which causes Elemental Hero Lady Heat to inflict 200 points of damage to my opponent. Which, I guess I have to choose one because of tag duel stuff, so sorry Ms. Hibiki, I’m going to make your Darklord Marie work for nothing.”

Crowler: 2500, Hibiki: 2200, Banner: 4000

Jaden: 2300, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 600

“Sneaky tactics from Jaden Yuki,” Crowler mused, “that’s a new one. Now… Mr. Jenson, I wonder if there is any way I can deal with your monster.” He drew a card and smiled. “Close. I activate Pot of Greed to draw two more cards. And… well, well, well. Midori, how attached would you say you are to your field right now? Particularly the monster portion?”

Ms. Hibiki grinned, making a pretty solid guess as to what card Crowler just drew. “Oh, you know, Vellian, I can live without for a moment.”

“And Lyman?” Crowler turned toward Banner with the same question.

“I’m just a cat, hanging around like a cat. My whole board can go and I’d make do.” Banner smoothly replied.

“Good. Sorry boys, I activate Dark Hole.”

In the blink of an eye, every single monster on the field was sucked up by a formless void, stretching further than any creature normally should as they reached the event horizon of the natural calamity and effectively ceased to exist.

“Ha, and your Dark Hole activates the effect of my Wyverburster!” Chazz jeered at the professor. “Since it was sent to the graveyard, I can add one Black Dragon Collapserpent from my deck to my hand. And, it seems like it’s back to my turn!”

Crowler nodded in acknowledgment. There was nothing else he could do after the Dark Hole, aside from placing one card face down, so it was indeed Chazz's turn.

“You fools! An empty field means little to me,” Chazz bragged, nose held high in the air, something neither Jaden nor Phil tried to stop him from doing. At this point, they needed all they could get. “I draw, and then I banish White Dragon Wyverburster from my graveyard to special summon Black Dragon Collapserpent (1800/1700) from my hand in attack position. Then I place one card face down and move to my battle phase! Collapserpent, attack Professor Banner directly!”

“That is one way to deal with a problem.” Banner commented with a mild tone not unlike someone talking about the day’s weather once Chazz ended his turn. “I draw. I have life points to spare, so I summon the Nova Summoner (1400/800) in attack position! Nova Summoner, attack Jaden directly!”

Banner’s monster was less of a monster and more like a glowing, golden Christmas wreath with wings, but it still managed to gouge out a good chunk of Jaden’s life points as it crashed into the boy without regard for any tickets for reckless driving it might have gotten along the way.

“End turn.”

Crowler: 2500, Hibiki: 2200, Banner: 2200

Jaden: 900, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 600

Phil yanked out a card from his duel disk. All that luck expended to bring out a fusion monster, and now he was back to square one. At least it wasn’t the first time since the duel started that something similar had happened. It gave him time to prepare himself mentally for the sense of loss as his eldritch horror was crushed like a fucking can in a hydraulic press from that Dark Hole.

Still… his draw wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad. In fact, if he considered that Chazz only had 600 life points left, and Jaden was under 1000, this was practically the best card in his deck that he could have drawn…

Except for literally anything with enough attack points to remove Crowler from the game.

“Whatever.” He grumbled. “I summon Dupe Frog (100/2000) in defense position. Welcome to the party, buddy. Then, I pass my turn.

The familiar pale frog hopped onto the field with a cheery expression, its graduation cap set at a jaunty angle as it prepared to defend Phil’s and, because of its special ability, Jaden’s and Chazz’s life points with its own life on the line.

“Now that Vellian was kind enough to clear the field,” Ms. Hibiki spoke up as she started her turn and gained 200 life points from Marie’s effect again, “I’ll go ahead and take advantage of that. I activate what should be a familiar spell at this point, Darklord Contact, from my hand, which allows me to special summon Darklord Superbia (2900/2400) in defense position.”

Ms. Hibiki took a deep breath and continued with her barrage of summons.

“Superbia’s effect triggers, bringing Darklord Tezcatlipoca (2800/2100) back in attack position. Next up, I pay 1000 life points to activate Tezcatlipoca’s effect to shuffle my first Darklord Contact that I used all those turns ago back into my deck in return for copying the effect. That will bring back Darklord Amdusc (1800/2800) in defense position.”

Almost as quickly as her field had been depleted by Crowler’s Dark Hole, Ms. Hibiki was able to fill her field back up almost to the same point as it had been. Wasting no time, she launched right into her battle phase, where the ominous wings of the grey-armored angel Tezcatlipoca sent Dupe Frog flying off the field, as it, quoting Phil who reminded Ms. Hibiki mid-attack, ‘can only target Dupe Frog for attacks’.

Phil, meanwhile, cheerfully activated Dupe Frog’s secondary effect to add one Swap Frog from his deck to his hand, and Ms. Hibiki ended her turn.

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

"So, what do you think, boys?" Atticus asked Zane and Bastion with hushed tones, clearly trying to prevent the duelists on the field from hearing him, while also trying to make sure the students in the stands could be a part of the conversation. "Team Jaden is barely hanging on. Banner is taking things easy, but Hibiki and Crowler are going for blood here. Do they still have a chance, with how depleted their hands are, along with how Chazz and Jaden are super low on life points?”

“Firstly,” Bastion held out a finger to forestall Atticus from saying anything more, “Chazz is putting up a heck of a fight. His Dark Armed Dragon put in good work, and it’s thanks to his Stamping Destruction that Ms. Hibiki’s Ring of Destruction couldn’t find a better target.”

Zane silently nodded in agreement, and Atticus was forced to send a nod of apology toward Chazz, who begrudgingly accepted it with a stiff nod of his own.

“The main issue,” Bastion began with a glance at the game state, “is that none of the students have enough resources to go for game, even though they’ve cleared out the field multiple times. In addition, Professor Crowler’s Ancient Gear monsters hit like a truck, Ms. Hibiki’s Darklords have quite frankly insane recursion, and while Professor Banner prefers to stay modest, his fairy lineup is nasty. What those three guys need right now is something big. Something that can knock one of the teachers out of the game – either closing out Professor Crowler's life points or going for Ms. Hibiki's. Removing Banner in one turn might be a bit of a tall order, considering his life points are only just now getting hit, but being able to clear out one of the other professors would be crucial to evening the odds.”

“I should mention that beating even one of them is a feat by itself.” Zane sternly mentioned. “Crowler and Hibiki are top-tier duelists. Banner is a bit more unknown, but he was good enough to get scouted by the academy – and he was also involved with… that matter. Perhaps he was involved because of his talents in alchemy, but according to Jaden, he put up a hell of a fight when they dueled. Those three are strong. Maybe we should consider that the teachers are simply out of their league?”

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

Jaden, meanwhile, if asked about the ‘out of their league’ bit, was still of the notion that there was a chance. And even if there wasn’t, the duel was sweet as all get out. Who cared if they lost? The chance to experience the reborn Crowler and the ever-powerful Hibiki was too great to pass up. It was nice seeing Banner on the good side again, too. Even if he was a cat now. A super cuddly cat.

“I draw!” Jaden shouted, using the vigor in his tone to reinforce his drive to find some sort of way out of this crazy situation. “First off, I activate Fifth Hope! By shuffling Bladedge, Knospe, Heat, Avian, and Lady Heat back to my deck I can draw three cards since I had no other cards on my field or in my hand on its activation.” With his impromptu Pot of Greed taken care of, Jaden could breathe a little bit easier.

“Alright Phil, check THIS out!” Jaden cheered, his words causing Phil to laugh uproariously for some strange reason. Must’ve been some joke Jaden didn’t quite get. He would need to ask Phil nicely to explain it later. “Professor Crowler, I know I’ve tried this a few times by now, but it really is time for you to get going! I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman (1600/1400) in attack position! Then I’ll go right into my battle phase. Sparkman, send Professor Crowler packing before he can drop another super duper cool fusion monster right on our heads!”

Ms. Hibiki glanced down at her face down card, the same one she threw down when Thousand-Eyes Restrict was still on the field, but ultimately sighed and shook her head.

“Sorry Vellian, I can’t do anything to help.”

"That's fine by me," Crowler grunted and flipped over the other card he'd drawn through Pot of Greed. "The heart of the cards is with me. I activate my continuous trap Ancient Gear Reborn to special summon my good ol' Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon (3000/3000). Plus, due to Reborn's effect, it'll gain an extra 200 attack points.”

Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon (3000/3000 -> 3200/3000).

"Whoop whoop." Phil emotionlessly pumped his fist in the air. "Jaden, I hope you have a way to clear that big lad because I sure as hell don't."

“Heh, jeez.” Jaden scratched his head awkwardly. “So this is what it feels to be counted on. No worries, I have something up my sleeve. Well, not literally,” Jaden frantically waved his hands before Atticus could make a joke about it, “I’m no Bandit Keith. No, I just have a Mask Change I drew off Fifth Hope. I activate it, sending the light-attribute Sparkman to the graveyard to special summon Masked Hero Koga (2500/1800). Koga will get a few extra points of damage, gaining 500 attack points for each monster my opponent controls. Since Ms. Hibiki has the most monsters, Koga will focus his attack gain effect on her.”

Masked Hero Koga (2500/1800 -> 4000/1800).

“Welp, I’m still in my battle phase, so Koga, take a swing at Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon. Activate your effect as well! By banishing Masked Hero Dian from my graveyard, I can reduce the attack points of Reactor Dragon by 2800 until the end of the turn!”

“Which will trigger my final face down card!” Banner shouted, sounding actually concerned for the first time since the duel started. “The quick-play spell Shrink, focused right on your Masked Hero to halve its original attack until the end of this turn!”

Masked Hero Koga (4000/1800 -> 2750/1800), Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon (3200/3000 -> 400/3000).

Crowler: 150, Hibiki: 1200, Banner: 2200

Jaden: 900, Phil: 2700, Chazz: 600

“Ahhh… here we go.” Crowler grinned viciously as the dust from Koga’s attack settled, leaving his Reactor Dragon once more in a million pieces, and his life points nearly at zero. “I draw. Truesdale, here’s a page from your book. Yes, I certainly was made aware of your duel against Mr. Phoenix over the summer. I activate Overload Fusion, banishing Ancient Gear Knight, Ancient Gear Beast, Ancient Gear Frame, and Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera from my graveyard to fusion summon the ultimate harbinger of chaos! The golem that tugs forth the end of times! Chaos! Ancient! Gear! Giant! (4500/3000).

It was far more powerful than any of the fusion monsters Crowler had brought out previously. Interestingly enough, it was also the exact same monster Jaden and Phil saw on the beach when they arrived on the island.

“Woah….” Jaden gazed up at the unstoppable colossus with sparkling eyes. “Does it have laser cannons?”

“How about you find out!” Crowler cheerfully shouted in response. “I move to my battle phase. Chaos Ancient Gear Giant, obliterate Black Dragon Collapserpent and remove Chazz from this game!”

“Ah, but Koga’s effect can-“

“Does not get to activate!” Crowler cut off Jaden before he could finish his sentence and began to explain. “Chaos Ancient Gear Giant has a special effect that prevents your monsters from activating their effects during the entire battle phase. Your little trick of activating effects at the start of the battle phase won’t phase me here, Jaden my boy.”

Chazz stumbled back with a grunt of surprise. Though the monster was still a hologram in the end, the shockwave from its attack was still mighty.

“Well played.” Chazz grunted and stepped off the field toward the bench with no further comments, sitting down and ignoring Alexis, who consolingly patted him on the back.

Yet, though Chazz was out of the game, Crowler's flurry of strikes wasn't over.

“Another fun part of my giant’s effect,” Crowler explained gleefully, “is that it can attack all monsters my opponents control, once each! Phil has no monsters to speak of, but I do believe your Koga is still around, Jaden!”

“Fine by me prof!” Jaden countered, looking from Koga’s attack points toward the attack of Crowler’s fusion. “Your monster has higher attack points, but that won’t be enough to sink me just yet!”

Ms. Hibiki took a step forward and opened her mouth to speak.

“He’s right. So, allow me to help you, Vellian! I activate the continuous trap card, Tyrant’s Temper. By tributing Amdusc, all face up monsters on my field that I own are now unaffected by other trap cards!

Any further response from Jaden’s sparkling eyes was diverted as the Ancient Gear monster let out a massive blast of white and dark energy. One single monster being removed from Ms. Hibiki’s field was enough to make the difference, meaning that instead of Jaden simply taking some more damage, he was now down to zero life points.

Masked Hero Koga (4000/1800 -> 3500/1800).

Crowler: 150, Hibiki: 1200, Banner: 2200

Jaden: 0, Phil: 2700

“And meow it’s my turn.” Banner hooked another bit of tuna into his mouth and licked his chops. “Do I smell in the air another student ready to be ejected from the game? Not quite, seeing as I sadly do not have a second monster at my pawtips. I begin my battle phase and attack with Nova Summoner.

Crowler: 150, Hibiki: 1200, Banner: 2200

Phil: 1300

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

“And then there was one.” Atticus somberly noted, holding his hand over his heart with respect for how hard Jaden fought to stay in the game. “Well-played, but ultimately not enough. Crowler’s and Hibiki’s offense is simply too strong, and Banner’s mop-up game is brutally efficient.”

“Then there was one.” Bastion echoed, sitting up straight in his chair. Frankly, he simply did not see any possible way for Phil to win. Not against three teachers at once. In a 1v1, he’d bet on Phil. Even with the board state being as it was. But, Bastion had made sure to view Crowler’s games over the summer when he could. That Chaos Ancient Gear Giant essentially meant the professor won as soon as he summoned it successfully. With Phil literally relying on the top deck, aside from the Swap Frog he had in his hand, there was no way.

Right?

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

"You know what, screw it!" Phil shouted after he shot a glance at the card he'd just drawn. "If I've gotta go down, it's gonna be as a complete badass! Jaden, Chazz, this one's for you lads! I activate Graceful Charity! Make! My! Day!”

Phil drew three cards, tossing two of them to the graveyard while chuckling and muttering vague threats under his breath.

“Heheh. Here we go. I activate another Brain Control, targeting Darklord Tezcatlipoca to steal. Oh, and of course I feel great while paying eight. You know what happens next! I sacrifice Darklord whatshisname to tribute summon another Caius the Shadow Monarch (2400/1000)! Caius, direct your effect to the conveniently dark-attribute Chaos Ancient Gear Giant! Banish that sucker, and since it's dark, deal 1000 points of damage to Sir Crowler!"

Crowler: 0, Hibiki: 1200, Banner: 2200

Phil: 500

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

“HOLY MOLY! IN A SURPRISING TWIST OF FATE, A LUCKY GRACEFUL CHARITY NETS PHIL THE ABILITY TO KNOCK CROWLER RIGHT OUT OF THE GAME!” Atticus leaped out of his chair and onto the table, screaming his lungs out from the abrupt and exciting turnaround.

“Truly, a twist of fate!” Bastion agreed, taking a few moments to cheer madly at Phil’s play before continuing to analyze the situation alongside Zane. "In fact, the very thing that made that monster so convenient to summon through Overload Fusion was its undoing. A pity that Chaos Ancient Gear Giant doesn't have immunity to monster effects like it does to spells and traps. Then even Phil would only be able to surrender with one last sleazy quip."

"And if Hibiki didn't have her Darklords swarming the field, the Brain Control move would have been useless, since the giant is immune to spells and traps." Zane concluded. "I don't know if that was sheer luck or the ultimate maverick play."

“Whatever that was,” Atticus cheerfully shouted, “Phil’s proven he truly is as the rumors say, the top dog of Ra Yellow! Come on Phil, take out another teacher! If you do, big bro Atticus’ll buy you some ice cream! I know a good place in Domino City!”

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

Phil shot a thumbs up toward Atticus’s offer. Crowler was out of the duel, but the game was still afoot. Banner’s life points were still just over half and Hibiki’s monsters were all too strong for his Monarch to deal with.

Meanwhile, the student section began to cheer madly as the massive Ancient Gear fusion monster finally finished disappearing into dust. Alexis shot up from the bench, waving her hands wildly with Jaden in support for their teammate, while Chazz munched on a grilled cheese tossed toward him by Chumley from where he was in the stands.

“I’ll attack your Nova Summoner, Banner, and then that’s it for me.”

Banner swished his tail. “That will activate the effect of Nova Summoner.” He calmly stated, “I still have The Sanctuary in the Sky on the field, so I can special summon Airknight Parshath (1900/1400) to my field. Oh, and of course, I don’t take any damage from the battle with your Monarch, due to that same field spell.”

Phil grinned at Ms. Hibiki, who was next. “Any chance you could go easy on this poor, unfortunate soul?”

“Nope.” Ms. Hibiki countered with a swift, disarming smile. “Well done on defeating Vellian, but that was nothing but your last struggle. You know it, I know it. I gain my usual 200 life points from Marie, summon Darklord Ukoback (700/1000) in attack mode, switch Darklord Superbia to attack position, and strike at your Monarch. Ukoback, attack him directly.”

Then, since Jaden, Crowler, and Chazz were no longer in the game, the turn counter swiveled back to Banner, who finished off Phil’s life points with one final attack.

Hibiki: 1400, Banner: 2200

Phil: 0

“Damn.” Phil smirked as his life points ticked down to zero. Once they did, he swiveled around, bowing his head in apology toward the rest of his team on the bench, and made an extremely rude gesture at the booing crowd. It was a gesture so bad that Ms. Hibiki marched over to him and hauled him off the arena, out of the room, and in the direction of her office without a single word, simply grasping him with a steel-like grip by the ear.