Phil let loose a yawn of ginormous proportions while he stared Ms. Hibiki and Professor Crowler right in the eyes.

“You’re kidding me, right boss?” He eventually muttered in a voice thick with exhaustion. “I don’t know if we can handle something like this.”

Ms. Hibiki sighed in exasperation. “Yes, Phil. Duel Academy gets a bye in this next round. Seriously, is that really all bad? You certainly seem to have had a… late night, so perhaps having a chance to rest up will be good for you. Besides, the final round starts after lunch. I’m sure that waiting a few hours won’t kill you.”

Ugh. She’s right, but I’ve never been all that good at napping during the day. Phil internally weighed his options as the two professors turned towards the stairs that led up to the stadium seating. I guess seeing the Americans fight East Academy might be amusing, and they did say that Professor Bernardello went over to the island early this morning to bring a school group over to watch. I can’t see Bastion ever allowing himself to be excluded from something like that, so I’d at least be able to screw around with him. See how badly we can overthink every single move and hand gesture…

Or I could sneak out and get a drink. Nothing too much, seeing how my limits seem to be shit nowadays. I kinda fucked over my sobriety a few weeks ago anyways in that little fit of pure stupidity, so even if my dad could see me right now I don’t think he would be too disappointed. As long as I pace myself, I could manage some drunk Yu-Gi-Oh! when Duel Academy’s match starts after lunch.

Phil’s fingers tapped out a restless, disorganized drumbeat on his thigh. Decisions, decisions. Then, a hand clapping itself on Phil’s shoulder snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Morning Phil!” Alexis greeted him cheerfully. “Congrats on the win yesterday!”

Phil merely grinned in response. “Aw. My game was pretty uneventful. Chazz and Jaden put in some real work though.”

“You managed to pull off a one turn kill in an official tournament.” Bastion’s voice piped up. “That certainly isn’t an easy strategy to pull off.”

“He wasn’t expecting it. Made things a lot easier than it should have. I doubt it’ll work a second time.” Phil shrugged. Seemed like the choice had been made for him. It was probably better that way. He had no money for drinks in the first place, and he had managed to stay sober after those first few days of weakness. Dad couldn’t see him, but… well, Phil got a sense that Bastion and Alexis would be most disappointed with him if they found him searching the bottom of a bottle. With that decided, Phil bounded up the stairs to Bastion, only pausing to give the boy a passing fist bump before continuing his speedy search for a good seat.

“Oh! Here!” Phil shouted towards his friends as he pointed towards a row of empty seats. “Bastion, you still got that whiteboard on you?”

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

At the top of the arena, near a stretch of seating far beyond what any of the school groups invited by Seto Kaiba would ever bother claiming, Professor Marco Bernardello leaned against a quartz pillar as he studied the duel between Adrian Gecko and Reggie MacKenzie. Even though the duel had been ongoing for over ten minutes, the two duelists had still managed to find themselves at equal life points, a solid 2000 each. Bernardello exhaled a cloud of smoke as he finished taking a long overdue drag of his cigarette. Then, he turned his head slightly to glance at one of the students next to him, a brown-haired boy wearing a creased mustard yellow jacket, one that denoted the boy as belonging to the Ra Yellow dorm of Duel Academy.

“So?” Bernardello uttered one word towards the boy before turning his attention back to the duel in progress, flicking the butt of his cigarette to the ground and extinguishing it with a stomp while he rifled through his coat for another.

The boy rubbed his chin in thought, looking over both of the duelists from where he squatted on the ground. “Adrian Gecko’s Cloudians have a serious amount of utility, but they don’t have much attack power. If that Reggie girl can kill Gecko’s Cloudian – Eye of the Typhoon and make sure it stays dead, I don’t see Gecko winning this one. Her deck… her deck is insane!”

Bernardello nodded, closing his eyes while savoring his final cigarette and making a mental note to quickly swap clothes at the hotel for a non-smoky set before rejoining the rest of the class in the seats down below. Truthfully, he wouldn’t have minded staying up here forever. Kaiba’s pride in his arena had reached heights that he had never expected, and the arena had proven to almost mimic those heights. From where he stood, the two duelists seemed like tiny ants. He couldn’t even make out their school colors with how far away the duelists were. Yet, it appeared Kaiba had planned for exactly that, for the massive screens that hung above the arena were large enough that Bernardello could clearly see everything they displayed and thus missed not a single detail.

“I see.” Bernardello eventually replied, stubbing out the cigarette before moving towards the elevators hidden in the back. “Dimitri, I expect a written report of your understanding of this round and the next by the time we get back to the island. Focus on the bigger picture. Gecko is more than you think.”

It was a beautiful view, for sure. But that didn’t stop his lips from curling in contempt.

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

Phil paused, bright purple marker still in hand as he looked towards Chazz and considered the boy’s question.

“Yup, I’m gonna stick with my guns on that one. Adrian isn’t blatantly throwing, but his deck has a bad matchup with what Reggie’s shown so far, and I think he knows that.”

Bastion nodded along with Phil’s words. “I concur. Considering how aggressively Reggie has been playing her hand so far, I don’t see Adrian Gecko winning once she takes out his Typhoon. She has enough life gain with The Fountain in the Sky, which heals her for the attack of each light monster that is destroyed by battle, and thanks to that Sanctuary in the Sky field spell, she doesn’t take battle damage with her fairy monsters. Those two cards alone negate the usefulness of Typhoon’s battle-position-switching effect. Once she finds a way to re-summon her Splendid Venus, Reggie will win unless Gecko has a few more hidden aces up his sleeves.”

“Especially,” Phil said while he motioned to the number three that Bastion had written on the whiteboard earlier. “Since she’s already gone through three counter traps, odds are she at least has two or three more sitting around her deck. Even though the cost of her Horn of Heaven is pretty rough, with Reggie having to tribute one of her own monsters to pay it, she was able to prevent the summon of Gecko’s Cloudian – Acid Cloud, saving her spells and traps until the guy sees a Mystical Space Typhoon or a Heavy Storm. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised to see her drop a Solemn Judgment eventually. Fairies and counter traps go together like chips and dip on a game day.”

Chazz crossed his arms in thought and turned his attention back to the duel. “So is this a futile, valiant struggle from Adrian Gecko? You two make it sound like he never had a chance, and he might have even known that.”

“Right-o” Phil agreed with a nod towards Chazz. “His duel with ‘Crocodile’ Cook proved that Gecko’s a smart dude. I bet he did indeed go into this duel with low expectations, but consider this: he might be the team captain, but what if he isn’t actually the strongest person on his team? The captain doesn’t have to be the best, after all. That’s just tradition, really, for the captain to be the strongest.”

Bastion stepped forward as Phil ceded the floor to him without even a single word, the fluid movement making it appear like the two were almost reading each other’s minds. “We are of the opinion that this is Gecko’s strategy in play. With how good of a showing he had with ‘Crocodile’ Cook, he appears at a glance to be the team’s ace. Furthermore, the other team member of East Academy that played yesterday, one Samui Kori, provided a good showing, but nowhere near what Gecko did. As for the third team member? Anastasia Capet hasn’t even played yet. Her opponent surrendered, citing that his team was out of the tournament anyways after their second loss. Yet, Chazz, you mentioned to Phil yesterday that Anastasia was someone you had seen before in the tournament circuit before you started at the academy. I followed up on that earlier, and it turns out that she has quite a record behind her. So, what if Gecko isn’t actually the ace? It fits with his line of thinking. Gecko gets the American ace, Reggie, out of the way whether he wins or loses. If he is confident enough in his team, even with a loss right away there’s still a chance for his team to win. All that has to happen is for Samui Kori and Anastasia Capet to sweep their own games. We think he’s confident enough in that becoming reality. That, my friends, is the key. Or at least what we think is the key.” Bastion laughed, shrugging his shoulders. “Phil and I could just be overthinking all of this.”

At that point Phil tapped the whiteboard with his purple marker, trading places with Bastion once more in a single smooth movement.

“But, you know, I think there’s a good chance we’re right on the money. David Rabb’s strategy is a single-minded focus on being aggressive as possible with his Big Saturn. All of his other follow-up and backup plays I’ve seen so far don’t amount to much. It’s certainly not a terrible idea in this 4k life point format, but it sure is a bit paper thin. Get rid of big daddy Saturn and that’s his strategy thrown in the garbage. Their third, Oakes Swailes, seems to have a straightforward warrior beatdown deck. If Samui or Anastasia can wrest control of the tempo from him, then its game over. A straightforward matchup that can be planned for. So, even if Gecko gets dropped right at the start, he takes Reggie with him regardless of win or lose, letting the rest of his teammates battle against the more straightforward decks of David and Oakes.”

“That…” Chazz frowned while he considered the implications. “It’s dishonorable, but I suppose the strategy makes some amount of sense. I do wonder what Adrian Gecko would have done if Reggie MacKenzie had not decided to duel first, though, considering that teams don’t exactly announce their order of play in advance.”

“Yeah. Fortunately, our team is pretty balanced, so I’m not too worried if we get placed against East.” Phil explained. “I’m still considering our order of play, can’t say much about it until I see what that Anastasia chick is playing, but a strategy like what Gecko’s using right now shouldn’t be an issue. No, I bet he’ll have a different strategy for dealing with us. Probably something sided in to hard counter my Reversal Quiz, something to force you into the grind game, Chazz, and someone who has experience dueling a generalist like Jaden. We’ll see if Gecko can actually do that though. Again, like you said Chazz, with no fixed order of play both myself and Gecko can only assume. I guess assuming can still get you places, seeing as he assumed right that Reggie would start, but it’s like they say. You can’t spell ‘assume’ without making an ass out of you and me.”

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

As Phil and Bastion predicted, Gecko did indeed end up losing to Reggie, while Anastasia Capet and Samui Kori utterly slaughtered David Rabb and Oakes Swailes respectively. Still, as Phil reminded himself while he ate lunch with the school group of his peers that was ferried in from Duel Academy, the brutal curbstomping was incredibly informative.

“Chazz, Jaden,” Phil called behind a mouthful of pizza. “I’ve made some decisions.” The pair scooted closer, each holding a plate stacked high with food. “First off, pineapple is still delicious on pizza. Second off, Jaden, you’ll be starting. I’m betting that Adrian Gecko is going to try and go first again, and a generalist like you should have good answers to his Cloudians. Not only that, if I’m wrong about Gecko starting you still won’t be at that bad of a disadvantage. Next will be me. Honestly, our order after Jaden goes hardly matters since Chazz and I both have decent matchups against the other two, but I don’t want to wait two matches until I get to go. Call it captain’s privilege. Chazz, you’ll be the linchpin. If either of us gets a loss, I’m counting on you to be the anchor and clean things up.”

“You mean that if one of you two slackers throws, I have to win us the tournament.” Chazz grumbled, though there was a good-natured tone poking out of his harsh words.

Phil grinned and gave a cheeky two-fingered salute in response. “Yeah, you got it boss. Chazz it up if we scrub out!”

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

Finally, on a belly full of greasy pizza, Phil lounged back on the bench while watching Jaden and Adrian Gecko walk up to the arena.

Ha. Knew it. My bet is that Gecko wasn’t sure which one of us was going to go first, so he fell back on his gambit from the previous round. Too bad all three of us are actually pretty strong. And, with Jaden’s bullshit luck combined with his generalist deck, Gecko’s fucked.

Still, despite Phil’s confidence in Jaden, there was still an interesting variable in play. Namely, Seto Kaiba had actually shown up, making one brief appearance to sneer at the final two teams before heading up to the viewing box with the professors in an honest-to-God Blue-Eyes elevator.

It was pretty sick, and knowing that one of the characters that had pretty much made his childhood was going to watch the finals had Phil hyped up, even despite his original lack of interest in the tournament itself.

The two boys shook hands, and then handed Roland their decks to be shuffled by an impartial third party.

All according to plan so far. But why do I still have this knot in my stomach? Phil leaned his head back, staring into the clear afternoon sky to try and pull his thoughts together. And then he remembered the real problem, one far more important than some random tournament.

Shit, that’s right. Tragoedia. Can’t forget about that. David Rabb is apparently free of his influence but is sticking around due to a mixture of fear and genuinely wanting to help the guy who snapped him out. He seemed like he was telling the truth last night. Manga David Rabb was one bloodthirsty motherfucker and also lacked even a single iota of subtlety. I don’t see him trying to pull off a con like that. Reggie? Maybe. She was always the scalpel to David’s brick upside the head.

It was a loop that Phil’s thoughts had been going around ever since his meeting with David Rabb on the rooftop had concluded, and was also a large reason why he was so exhausted. No sleep came to him after those revelations, so instead Phil had settled back into the hot tub to think while Lumina sat opposite of him to act as a sounding board for his thoughts in between her sipping a large margarita. His thoughts always came back to that loop, though. Was David Rabb truthful or not? Was this the butterfly effect in motion? It certainly was that, at least, and Phil was certain that David Rabb was indeed acting differently than he was supposed to. The only problem is that there weren’t any ways coming to Phil that could tell him if it was ‘differently’ in a good way, or ‘differently’ in a bad way. That problem led Phil to another conclusion: despite David Rabb’s apparent willingness to support Phil, he couldn’t take that support. Not without being able to confirm David’s allegiance. He was confident in his dueling skills, of course, but Phil was at least self-aware enough to realize that a good enough trap could land him in some hot water.

Well, at least I know sort of what I need to do. Like I realized last night, this is a serious issue of timing. Traggie needs to fuck off back to the shadow realm before he fully learns how to abuse synchros. If he figures it out, then I can see a whole lot of dominos falling with the sheer power boost he’ll get. Hell, he might become more of a problem than fucking Yubel at that point. That John fella is out of commission, so I’ve got to do it. That means I have to find some way to get to America. There’s no way in hell I’ll be able to get over there during the school year. My absence will be noted and after a long enough one people will start to ask questions. Normally that wouldn’t be an issue, but Ms. Hibiki’s taken some sort of an interest in me, and she’s one of the rare types of teachers that actually gives a shit. I wouldn’t put it past her to track me down or force Professor Crowler and Professor Bernardello to it for her. That leaves summer break, I suppose. It starts in a few months, giving me time to prepare for the trip, and it’ll give me just under three-ish months to take care of business. That is assuming our summer break is similar to how it worked back home. Yeah, Phil ol’ buddy. It’ll be easy! I only have to find some way to cross the sea to America, figure out where the hell the academy is, find transportation there, not get immediately murdered by Tragoedia, extract that John dude, and drop Traggie like a sack of potatoes.

Easy. Yeah right.

Phil lightly exhaled, falling back to one of the old tricks he had learned back in college to lessen stress on the mind. A deep breath in, a deep breath out. Over and over until you could distance your mind from the problem that was weighing down on you.

Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.

Summer break will be the game plan. That way I can cobble together some sort of a plan and bounce it off Lumina to make sure its not my own impulsiveness fucking me over. I can’t think of a single thing I can do about the problem as of now, and that’s a fact.

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

Jaden lightly inhaled and exhaled his breath, focusing on himself to try and prevent his excitement from seeing Seto freaking Kaiba in person just moments ago. It was just so cool! The team made it to the finals, all the duelists had their own sweet strategies that Jaden had never seen before, and boy was he ready to rumble!

“It seems I was wrong.” Adrian Gecko’s voice knocked Jaden out of his thoughts as they received their decks back from Mr. Roland.

“Wrong?” Jaden asked in pure confusion. “What’s there to be wrong about?”

Adrian Gecko chuckled, though the noise was not enough to mask the slight amount of curiosity in the boy’s tone. “I thought Philip would be first again. Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter.” Adrian shrugged. “The die is cast, and one must make do with the situation at hand.”