4

"This must be a joke." Chazz glared at Syrus. 'The audacity of that pipsqueak.'

"I'm not agreeing to take part in this farce!" An Obelisk student shouted from his desk.

"Unfortunately Mr. Harold, the Chancellor has agreed to Mr. Crow's plans." Professor Banner smiled. "And you must accept the challenge. A refusal will be counted as a loss."

"But what if we can't?" Someone tried to find a loophole. "What if we're not available for the duel?"

"Then the duel will be rescheduled." The teachers countenance changed. "However, even we, the Professor's have our patience."

The scheming students flinched. They were surprised by how the usually chilled and clumsy Professor could have a stern cold side.

"And another thing." Robert tapped on the microphone. "Any slurs or insults will be met with an automatic challenge from all of us. You've been warned." He joined the other Slifer students.

"Thank you, Mr. Cross." Banner took back the microphone. "Okay children, please take your seats as we have a lesson to go through.

The Slifer Red students took their spots under the heated gazes of the Obelisks. Although the Professor was going through his material for the class, nobody but a couple of Ra's were paying attention to it's contents.

"I'm still not convinced this was the best solution." Natsuo grimaced.

"Its either this or a month of boot camp after school and during the weekends. I'd rather defeat an Obelisk than sit through his 'treatment'." Ryouta rebutted.

"Don't remind me." His friend shuddered.

For their first lesson with Robert they've almost got their ears ripped out for not maximizing on certain cards. Most of them weren't even decking more then one back removal. And that wasn't the worst part. Robert Cross almost popped a blood vessel when none of them could answer what was their win condition.

Many other discussions took place amongst the student body before the final bell of the day. As the students were thinking about the weekend Robert stopped his opponent from leaving.

"Come on Noname. We have a duel"

"Don't think I'll go just because you're asking." Gerald wished he could just punch that glee off of the Slifer's face.

"So you refuse?" Robert Cross asked innocently.

"Yes, I don't care what game you're..." Gerald's PDA beeped. "Why are you challenging me again!?" He roared in anger.

"Since you've refused dueling me it was counted as a surrender." Robert explained with a wicked smile. "And now I can just challenge you again. You have three days to either duel me or surrender."

The teen took off his rabbit badge and changed it to another one with a bronze wasp with numer 5 on it.

"Thank you for your contribution." He patted the Obelisk's shoulder. "See you in three days." Robert Cross made his way out of the lecture hall, leaving a steaming in anger Gerald.

The other Obelisk students having seen Withers's mistake didn't outright refuse the challenge. Wanting to get it over with they agreed to the duels and headed towards the Gymnasium where the practice battlefields were located. The upper classmen having heard the news of the shocking Slifer Rebellion decided to check it out. When the last pair of freshmen entered, the stands were already filled with curious eyes. Even some of the teachers found time to spectate this new event.

"Let's get this over with." Ryouta sighed. "Come over here Harold."

"Yes, let's get this mockery of a duel over with." The Obelisk gritted his teeth. 'Why should I waste my time with the trashes of society?'

Three other pairs joined them on the field as there were four battlefields. Four judges came out to over watch the proceeding duels.

"I'll have no cheating or biting during the duel, is that clear?" A judge with a mohawk received nods from both of the challengers. "Mr. Harold as the one being challenged has the right to chose whether he goes first."

"I'll take that privilege." Harold finished shuffling his opponent's deck. "I'll make this as painful as I can."

"Take every advantage you need." Ryouta gave back the deck."It won't take long."

"Enough of the smack talk." The judge reprimanded the teens. "Please take your respective corners. Ready? Start!"

"Duel!"

"Duel!"

Harold drew his first card. "I'll start by summoning Kojikocy (*4 1500A 1200D) in attack mode." A half naked warrior with red skin materialized on the field."I'll then equip him with Sword of Dragon's Soul, giving him 800 more attack points.

The monster shouted in rage as its aura grew stronger.

"Let's see how will you handle a 2300 monster." Harold jeered. "I end my turn."

"That's everything?" Ryouta blinked in confusion.

"Scared aren't you?" The Obelisk laughed. "You should've stayed in your lane, Katou? Why are you laughing?"

The red jacket student was wiping his tears. "I'm just embarrassed for even thinking you're good."

"What did you say?" A angry tick mark was pulsing the the opponents forehead.

"Angry? Just wait when you rage quit over this, draw!" A smirk appeared on the boy's face." Let's get greedy, shall we? I activate Pot of Greed."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't try explaining how it works."

"That's not nice. Either way I activate Enchanting Fitting Room. By paying 800 LP I can pick up 4 cards from the top of my deck. If they're normal monsters, level 3 or lower then I can special summon them." Ryouta checked his drawn cards. "I special summon two Giant Soldiers of Stone (*3 A1300 D2000) in defense."

Rumbling ensued as holograms of the monsters ripped through the ground and kneeled in defense.

"The other cards I've picked thanks to Fitting Room are now shuffled back into my deck." After shuffling he put his deck back into the duel disk. "As I don't like my hand I'll activate Card Destruction. Making us discard our whole hands and draw the same amount from the deck."

Ryouta drew a fresh hand of 6 cards and smiled. "Much better, I activate my second Pot of Greed. And then I'll summon Mataza the Zapper (*3 A1300 D800) in attack mode."

A suspicious humanoid samurai with green armor appeared on the field. It's leering wasn't sending good vibes, that's for sure.

"Big deal." Harold scoffed. "None of your monsters come even close with mine."

"True, but I have all the pieces I need for my OTK." Ryouta smiled mischievously. "First I'll equip Mataza with United we Stand, giving my monster 800 attack for every face-up monster I control."

"But that's 2400." The Obelisk finally felt the heat on his neck. He checked his cards and sighed in relief seeing a Heavy Storm in his hand. "I'll get you next turn."

"There won't be one." The Slifer waved his finger in disapproval. "You see, I have a very special set of skills. The first one is this, Shooting Star Bow - Ceal" A celestial bow was equipped to the left hand of Mataza.

"Its quite pricey as it lowers my monster's attack by 1000. Making it only have A2700. However, my monster gains the ability to attack you directly." He grinned.

"That's 2700 points of damage!" Harold blurted out before calming down. "But I have 4000 LP. You can't possibly end the duel."

"And that's where you're wrong. Mataza can attack twice during the same Battle Phase." Ryouta's words slowly sank into his opponent's mind. "It's been fun, but I have a schedule to keep. Mataza shoot down the enemy with Crimson Shot of Assassination!"

The samurai rushed from its spot and with his agility dodged the opposite player's monster. With a double jump it got airborne and fired two blazing red arrows straight at Harold's heart.

"Arg." Harold kneeled while clutching his chest in pain.

Ryouta LP 3200

Harold LP 4000 -> 0

"Since Mr. Harolds LP reached zero, Mr. Katou has won the duel." The judge gave his verdict.

"Yes!" Ryouta fist pumped. "One more and I can get rid of this blasted cutesy rabbit." Each time he looked at it he felt as if he was being mocked by its big round eyes.

"How could I lose to such strategy?" The blue student trembled. "How will I show my face at the dorm?"

"If it's any consolation, you won't be alone." The judge pointed towards the other fields.

Harold turned his face only to see the same 3 scenes happening. The same monster was giving the same finishing blow to his fellow Obelisks.

"But...but...?" Harold looked towards the stands and saw a very confused crowd.

"Why are they playing the same decks?" A Ra upper classman asked his friend.

"Is this even allowed?" More and more people were questioning the legitimacy of the matches.

Ryouta Katou walked up to his kneeling opponent.

"Nobody said we can't use the same deck or strategy." Ryouta smiled wryly. "Oh and before I leave."

Harold watched in trepidation as the Slifer did something on his PDA.

"No, please." His plea was denied as he heard the menacing beep of his own device.

"Let's get to know each other more from here on out." Ryouta left the white faced boy and hit some high fives with his friends after their first wins of the semester.

Meanwhile on the sidelines one person in particular was fuming in rage after seeing the way the duels turned out.

"Will our duel also be like this?" Alexis threw a sharp gaze at the nervously chuckling boy. If there was something she absolutely abhorred, it was making a mockery out of the sanctity of dueling.

"He tried to pressure me." Jaden scratched his cheek. "But we've reached a compromise. So I'm still cruising with my Hero buddies."

"Aha." She huffed. "We're dueling in the third round." She informed rather than offered. 'I'll believe when I see it. Don't make me misplace my judgement, Jaden Yuki'.

"Of course. I can't wait to duel you." He grinned.

Meanwhile as the duels were entering its second phase Robert was having a conversation with Mrs. Dorothy.

"Do you know anything about the next structures or box sets coming in the near future?" He asked while patting the three Zombie World structure decks in his bag.

"You shouldn't be spending your hard earned DP this quickly." Although she said that the numbers on the counter made her smile.

"Then sell cheaper. Nobody seems to be playing zombies anyway." He rolled his eyes at her cutesy display. "And I should get a discount for the next bulk."

"Ho ho. Not on my life, handsome." She joked. "But I do have a reward, wait a second."

The woman came back from the back room with a small wooden box. Using a key she opened and took out three cards and placed them face down.

"Hopefully they'll help you on your mission to make this place more lively." She winked.

"Hating on Zombies?" He chuckled. "They're maybe not the best looking, but they get the job done."

Robert Cross turned the first card over and froze. "Where did you get this? He checked the other two and was shocked that it was a playset of the same card.

"I have my means." She let a giggle.

"You really want me to have these?" Although he asked the cards were already deeply hidden in his pockets.

"Just don't break them okay." She smiled wryly. "I meant the poor souls."

"That I can't promise." He replied with a toothy grin.

------

Appreciation corner

In this segment I'd like to either give my thanks or answer some of your questions.

Omni Fate lover : I think this becoming a mishmash of anime, real life strategies is inevitable. There are several plot points and cards that unfortunately don't have their representation in tcg or ocg. Taking for an example the tennis nut that duelled Jaden. Maybe I should just give him the U.A cards? I'll figure it out when we reach that point.

Peter Kim: Although I'm a fan of the Monarch cards, I don't think the MC would stick to it for long. For now I'm thinking about where and how the MC will finally set on one true deck. But it'll probably be closer at the Yubel arc of the story. As for the Wright deck I thought of giving it to Ryouta Katou as in the DS game he has the skeleton cards. We'll see.

Tacos3Viandes: I'll try to flesh out the characters in chapters to come. I know exposition is key, but I wanted to quickly get pass the start. Unfortunately as I'm not a native speaker nor I've ever read a 'real' book in English my hands are tied when coming up with more meaningful ways of expressing emotions. However hopefully I'll get better with every chapter. As for descriptions it sucks that I've always hated them while reading and now its all coming back with vengeance and biting me in the Kuriboh (wink)".

Chosen-One-92: Thanks for giving this fanfic a shot. I'll try my best at keeping it entertaining.

Geek-Mytho: not only do I hate this character, I also hate his cards. However, thanks to a long forgotten ShadyVox abridged series YGXTAS I found some appreciation towards the boy. As for his deck it'll be hard to keep the roids. I'm looking up some viable strategies for the now relatively weak world of yugioh. But I'll probably either have to go full machina with gear frame or the battery strategy.

JRWeiss: yep. And its going to go even beyond. As at the end they're all going to probably play with cards that came in legacy supports. Heck, maybe even Yubel will sit on her nice cozy throne. Sucks that I couldn't pull even one after 20 packs in master duel. I'll have to wipe my tear with two typhoons.

Its Cross, an unfortunate typo crept in.

Keldeox: screw the noobs I've got 3 pot of greeds.

A 'Reincarnated' writer: Ojamas be damned. I know they were funny for some people but I'm not having them as a deck option. I'm thinking about his 'redemption arc'. And I feel it would've been a disservice not to include the L&D dragon. As for Syrus it'll be very hard to do something good for him. Mostly because understand the writers intent with giving him those cards. As it was always about his journey to finally duel against Zane. I'm really surprised that he didn't have a dec full with waifus. As he really, really liked one Magician girl. Jaden unfortunately will have to stop playing shity heros. Because f them that's why. And no bubbleblaster bullshit unless its a gag. As for the MC's deck I'm not decided. Before I started this fanfic I've tried many routes. Giving him some branded despia variations like preda despia, fluffal branded despia. Then I thought about shadolls and invoked. So for now he's swinging with zombies. But I'll try to change decks every so often so he'll always have some kind of edge over his opponents that wouldn't change there deck for shit. As for superpowers, I'm not sold on that. I think its more of a gimmick then anything. But when he finally settles for his one true deck I'll of course make him see his ace monsters.

The Duelist of Dawn: I'm happy you're enjoying this like I am. I personally was disappointed that there weren't as many GX fanfics that are still ongoing strongly. Such a shame. Yeah, fluff them Obelisks. I could understand the reason to set up the rivalry, but at times it just made me roll my eyes every time a teacher couldn't shut the hell up. And bad eggs are bad. Take their toy, they'll find another one.