Chazz silently gazed at Samui Kori from where they stood in the middle of the arena. The short boy with rather squinty eyes had been apologizing almost nonstop for Anastasia Capet’s curt exit with an easy, soothing tone, almost similar to the tone reserved for calming spooked or angered animals. Even though Chazz had firmly maintained that Phil had definitely earned that curt exit and that Anastasia had dueled well, Samui had kept on going as if Chazz had never spoken in the first place. Chazz mentally held in a sigh. What a bothersome guy. Seriously, if he doesn’t shut up soon, I’ll go find Phil myself and swap decks with him, rules be damned. The sweet mercy of having him shut up would be worth the shame of Phil’s card choices. Besides. Apologizing for Anastasia? She doesn’t need it. She’s almost exactly how I remember her back when we met in the tournament scene. Her only fault was one that was once my own, a lack of cards to destroy spells and traps that are not tied directly to her most powerful monster being on the field. A mistake that Phil has decided to correct in his own irritating way. Admittedly, the timing of this is better than being blindsided by our weakness in the pro leagues.

Ugh.

Finally, though, Samui Kori fell into blessed silence and Chazz was able to get a word in. “So. Are we dueling or not?”

Samui looked back at him with an odd look in his eyes. Then, he shrugged good-naturedly. “If you want to. I spoke to the coach, he said it was up to me since we don’t have to go back to good ol’ East immediately. So, I says to him, put me in coach, I got this! So what do ya’ say?”

“That suits me.” Chazz accepted with a nod of his head. No sense in going back to the island with nothing more than an overwhelming victory in our hands, anyways.

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

Phil glanced at the section that contained the American students, taking great care to look only with his eyes while moving his head not even an inch so it would appear that he was still observing the beginning moves of the duel between Chazz and Samui Kori.

Looks like they’re gonna stick around for the full tournament instead of going home after they’re eliminated. Phil mused to himself. Certainly, there was nothing inherently wrong with sticking around after elimination. Learning and becoming better by watching other skilled people duel was a time-honored tradition, one that even Phil himself had practiced many a time at local and regional tournaments he had attended back on Earth. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Unless, of course, you were like Phil and knew the truth about David Rabb and Reggie MacKenzie. Well, at least the truth about Reggie. The jury of Phil was still arguing about whether David was pulling a sneaky-beaky move on him or if the kid had actually experienced a spot of luck right in the middle of the likely life-scarring trauma David had randomly been subjected to by Tragoedia. Sure enough though, Reggie and David were giving Chazz some seriously evil looks from where they sat in the stands with their group.

Well, at least there’s no way they can get Light and Darkness Dragon from Chazz right now. Not enough time, not with the tournament ending after this duel and everyone going back to their respective academies. The victory ceremony won’t give them a chance either. I bet it’ll be pretty short, and Kaiba will be there in person probably. No sense in them drawing aggro from a bigshot while Traggie’s still trying to gather his strength back. Kaiba won’t do shit while they work and hide in the shadows, but if they reveal themselves to him then Traggie’s gonna get pimp-slapped into next Tuesday by the good ol’ Blue-Eyes special. Thus the reason why Tragoedia bothered to possess the headmaster of the American academy and his top students. Perfect cover as long as he doesn’t make any big moves. If I remember correctly, in manga canon, no one even thought twice about the American academy until David and Reggie started rampaging around Duel Academy, and even then no one really took them seriously until Ms. Hibiki fell to Reggie. Plus, Light and Darkness Dragon’s incomplete now, right? It has something to do with Jaden’s Winged Kuriboh, but for the life of me I can’t recall what exactly.

Phil’s eyes slipped back to the arena as he idly watched Chazz methodically clear Samui Kori’s defensive Ice Barrier monsters one by one, noting with no small amount of joy that the changes he and Bastion had made to Chazz’s deck were putting in good work. Even Samui’s Cyromancer of the Ice Barrier (1300/0), with its rather annoying effect of preventing any level four or higher monsters from attacking while he controlled another Ice Barrier monster, wasn’t enough to do more than slightly stall Chazz’s ruthless advance.

Synchro-less Ice Barriers. Damn, sure feels strange seeing them again. I guess if it worked in Duel Links for a bit, it can work in GX. At least until my prickly boi busts out the chaos dragons. DAD simply puts in too much work, and…

Phil blinked in surprise as a bulky blast from the past let out a massive roar of triumph as five jaws tore past a set of bright blue armor to sink its teeth into the succulent flesh of General Grunard of the Ice Barrier (2800/1000)

Huh. Forgot about that copy of Five-Headed Dragon in there. Guess that Samui kid’s screwed now, isn’t he?

It was not even a minute later that Samui Kori’s life points dropped to zero to match Phil’s prediction and hammer home Duel Academy’s overwhelming victory.

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

Kaiba drained the last dregs of the whiskey in his glass, enjoying the burn of the drink that paired well with the satisfaction that came with flaunting the ability of his academies, along with the nice little display of power he was able to show to his lesser competition in the wake of that one professor’s death. Whatever his name was. They did adequately enough, at least, though North Academy would need to be… re-educated after their poor showing in round one. No matter. He would have Roland send one of his men down to sharpen them up. Perhaps the retired army drill instructor? Kaiba smiled to himself at the thought. Definitely the retired army drill instructor. Compared to what Kaiba himself had gone through at their age, a drill instructor would be a sweet mercy. Then again, now that he was thinking…

Kaiba stepped away from the viewing window and the professors that were all too busy talking each other’s heads off, motioning to one of his men nearby.

“Jim, mark the names down of the finalists and semi-finalists. Perhaps with a few… opportunities, they may turn into people worth using.” Kaiba said with the air of a man making an offhand observation of the weather.

Jim nodded without a word, only pausing to pull out a small notepad from his breast pocket to scribble down the names of the teams from Duel Academy and East Academy. The opportunities, of course, went without mentioning, and Jim did not bother to write a single word other than the names and the academies the students belonged to. After all, what went unsaid and unwritten could not be used in the court of law against them. Normally that wouldn’t be an issue, seeing as Kaiba owned the courts of law in Japan, but it would be troublesome if international courts got involved. The only pity would be if those students could not transform and blossom in the face of extreme danger, like he had all those years ago.

Now I simply have to wait for an opportunity. Perhaps Egypt? My men have found a few leads on the puzzle, after all. Or I could take the chance to clean up the professional circuit. The only obstacle would be getting around the minimum age…

Kaiba blinked, reorganizing his thoughts for later. In the end, there was no rush. At least not with the construction of the space station stalling as it was. Anyways, the duel was over, with the Princeton boy claiming victory. Those upstart brothers of his would be happy to hear that. Maybe happy enough that they would shut their self-important mouths for more than a second? It was hard to tell with those two. Honestly, the runts were lucky Kaiba hadn’t had them killed yet, with how annoying they were. Kaiba mulled the usual idea over in his head, and then shoved it to the back of his mind with an irritated snort. They were weak, he was strong. As such, he could stamp them out whenever he wanted. So was the way of the world. With that decision made, Kaiba nodded to Jim, turning back to face the glass of the viewing box, already considering the final speech while Jim spoke a few muttered words into a walky-talky.

“Not today. Repeat, not today.”

Meanwhile, Kaiba approached the professors Crowler, Hibiki, and Bernardello once more with the usual words of congratulations that somehow managed to sound condescending coming out of his mouth.

“I see that you lot managed to pick a decent team this time around. Much better than last time when you tried to get that Truesdale kid to carry you to victory. Compared to that, the annoying wildcard, the little gremlin, and the baby Princeton were a slight bit more amusing.”

Ms. Hibiki’s face reflexively tightened, but Crowler stepped forward before any words she would regret came tumbling out of her mouth.

“Yes, of course. We feel great pride towards our students. Chazz and Phillip have brought pride to their dorms for certain.” Crowler gave a small bow while those simpering words of his fell onto Kaiba’s deaf ears, who had learned well by now that ninety percent of what Crowler had to say was worthless and could be treated like the words of a fourth-rate duelist.

“And of course, Jaden dueled well, too!” Ms. Hibiki butted in with a glare towards Crowler for excluding the Slifer Red student from his praise. And, just like Kaiba had ignored Crowler, Crowler did his best to ignore Ms. Hibiki’s sharp words with only the subtlest of flinches.

Kaiba scoffed. “Whatever. Any news about that professor that got filleted like a fish? Sheppard keeps wussing out and missing Roland’s status checks.”

Bernardello stepped forward with an air of nonchalance. “A bit. Scusi, but the progress is slow. We know that it was a long knife that did the work through several stabs, though the beautiful Nurse Fontaine did find that Professor Sartyr was struck greatly from behind on the skull, with marks that suggest brass knuckles, or perhaps a trench knife from the war. Our theory is that the assailant struck him from behind, stunning or knocking the late Sartyr out before finishing the job with several precision stabs. Whoever it was, they are no stranger to violence.”

“And the motive?”

At this Bernardello was temporarily at a loss for words. “Well… we don’t know yet. Sorry boss, but we’re teachers. Not cops. We’re doing our best, but mamma mia, you should just let the detectives do their job, Mr. Kaiba.”

Kaiba’s eyes slid away from the three professors in disinterest. Even though he cared little for some weak teacher, a murder at one of his academies was inexcusable. They were his property. His! Yet the police stations he owned couldn’t make any progress and the professors could only wait and watch for the killer to reveal themselves. It wasn’t an impossible situation, though. A part of him was excited. It felt like the old days were back again. Dangerous days, but exhilarating ones. If that was the case, then Kaiba was more than ready and Mokuba could actually defend himself this time.

Perhaps it’s a sign, then. That my plan to force the Pharoah into one final duel to resolve our unfinished business will see success.

Kaiba glanced once more at the three professors, and then snapped his fingers to dismiss everyone but his men from the room. Then, he snatched a mic from a nearby table and began to speak as the glass panels of the viewing box began to smoothly slide away to open the room to the wider world.

“Six academies, but one left standing. Look and listen well, worms. Yes, worms. All but Duel Academy have failed to prove their strength. Did I not say that strength is everything? It seems that there are a few still here that did not listen.” A deep well of scorn filled Kaiba’s voice as he looked down at the collection of students seated far below his viewing box. “Worthless. Look at Duel Academy. Those three have graduated from being worms. They are now insects. Perhaps one day they will graduate to being people or even duelists.” Kaiba smirked, well aware that his every movement and expression were being captured by the large screens above the arena. “Now get out of my sight, worms, before someone steps on you.”

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

Slade and Jagger Princeton sat around a long, elegant table, watching the broadcast of the tournament with no small amount of smugness.

“Excellent.” Slade purred. “It seems that the dragon deck we gave little Chazz has propelled him to the top like we thought.”

Jagger nodded with a smirk. “Truly. Those cards were worth the money, if they were able to win the tournament for little Chazz. The only disappointment was that little Chazz failed to be the team captain.”

“I’ve already registered my complaints with that bald monkey Sheppard.” Slade replied. “I doubt that will happen again.”

“Perfect. No sense in letting little Chazz be held down by those other useless things. Not when he needs to be at the top.” Jagger leaned back in his chair, only to frown as he felt a droplet of sweat slide down his back. “Slade, there it is again.”

The only motion that betrayed Slade’s surprise was his eyes widening slightly. Then, with a sharp tone, he motioned to a nearby servant. “Check the grounds again, and do it on the double.” Slade shook his head in irritation. “Great. There goes my mood.”

Jagger gloomily nodded along with his brother’s words. “I hope they find something this time. I’m beginning to hate feeling like my head is in the crosshairs of a sniper rifle every time we get together like this.”