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Class ended in five minutes, and all I was thinking about was cards.

At the start of the year, I had been looking forward to the part of Mr. Gladly’s Duel History Class where we’d cover local history. Since what had happened at the start of the semester, I wasn’t able to really focus. I was fidgeting as I had for the last half hour, passing my pen from hand to hand, writing down card names in the margins of my notes, shifting in my seat as I felt the weight at my belt shift around. My eyes were just as restless, darting from my watch to the door, to paying a moment’s attention to the ongoing lecture. I knew what I needed to know anyway, and he was going on about stuff that happened a decade ago. It was just Duel History, and just twenty more minutes to the end of class.

Mr. Gladly was animated, standing on his stage at the front of the class with enamoured students heeding his every word. He had supposedly done a few duels on the pro circuit back when what he was talking about was current events, and a lot of students interested in the game paid more attention to someone who could actually claim to be slightly involved. Of course, it had only been a few duels before he quit, but it counted.

He probably thought he was a “cool” teacher, instead of the cheapest person to fill the role that Winslow could hire. I wonder what his reaction would be if I told him what I thought of the whole situation. It wouldn’t be a good idea, of course, too much personal history best left buried, and just like everything I wished I could do, it’d be only a temporary victory.

“Taylor, could you tell the class about the biggest event in Brockton Bay back at the start of 2000?” Gladly’s request nearly sent my pen flying mid-pass as I jolted. I could hear Madison and her cronies snickering around me at the fumble.

I took a moment to compose myself and figure out how to describe it without drawing more attention to myself. “That was when Marquis and his lieutenants got captured by the Brockton Bay Brigade, right?”

“Very good!” He clapped his hands, like he was happy that I was paying attention, like the rest of his sycophants. It just really showed how little he paid attention. “And what can you tell me about his followers?”

The worst case scenario, I was hoping that he would just let me go with that lacklustre answer. “His followers didn’t tend to be violent against random people, but fought the Teeth and the E88, and his followers were notable for their skill and willingness to kill heroes?”

“That’s the broad strokes, yes,” Mr. Gladly said, “But you’ve missed a few important details.” So he reentered his lecture mode, and I drifted off again.

The bell rang and I was the first out the door. Not quite running but certainly a bit fast for a walk, I made my way down the stairs towards the gymnasium. We were doing duelling practicals this month, and being early meant I could pick one of the more functional duel disks the school provided. Having a disk that shut down part-way through a duel was… embarrassing. The large open space was mostly empty, though there were a few students still talking to Mrs. Knott. I exchanged a quick nod after making eye contact before heading over to grab a disk.

I managed to be lucky and not see Sophia or Emma until right before the start of class. Emma seemed slightly out of breath, a slight flush noticeable even under her makeup. Sophia’s eyes immediately locked onto mine, looking for something that I couldn’t even guess at. It was a few more minutes as everyone filtered in and crowded together, and Mrs. Knott started to organise us. 

“Alright, everybody, good to see everyone has already gone and gotten their duel disks. We’ll be continuing where we left off on Wednesday and doing more one-on-ones. I’ve already prepped by writing down some matchups that you’ll all be going through. If your partner is absent, then pair up with a spare person if available. If we get through everyone somehow before lunch, you can leave early or do some free duelling. Any questions?” Mrs. Knott paused for a few seconds, waiting to see if anyone would speak up. Nobody did, this had been the standard for the last week and a half, not quite word for word. 

She went on to call up a half dozen students to duel in the centre of the gym for the rest of us to watch. I managed to find a section of wall where nobody was bothering to approach me, though when I’d glance around, I’d catch glimpses of Sophia watching me. It wasn’t until near the tail end of the period that I finally heard my name getting called.

“Taylor and Sophia, Emma and Greg, Josh and Yuki. Please go on ahead.” Mrs. Knott said it in a relaxed fashion, but in my head it felt more like a sentence for punishment. Did Sophia know about it beforehand? It’s possible she had just been hoping for it or something. Still, I was feeling even worse about this when I noticed Sophia’s predatory smirk in my direction as we both marched forward. 

“Well, Hebert, looks like a bout of bad luck for you. Try not to be too pathetic when you lose, ok?” I could hear some snickering from the peanut gallery. This was going to be so annoying. The bullies would always hold their victories over my head for weeks, and Sophia getting to personally try and humiliate me would likely make it even worse. 

“Alright, kids, flip a coin and get started.” Mrs. Knott seemed to want us to hurry up; I must have been taking a bit too much time. Sophia pulled out a coin, and after calling it right, decided to let me go first.

Turn 1: Taylor. Taylor: 5 cards, 8000 LP / Sophia: 5 cards, 8000 LP

I drew my five cards from the top, mirroring Sophia. I looked over my hand, considering how to give Sophia what she seemed to want. I doubted she’d let me off the hook if I made it too easy on her. Plus, I actually got graded on my performance, and I didn’t really want to fail Dueling of all things. Lucky for me, it seemed my deck decided to actually give me a good opening hand. 

“I start by summoning my

in attack mode, then I’ll set a card facedown.” As I placed the card on my disk, a large ferret with wisps of flame coming off of it appeared before me, swishing a large, bladed tail back and forth above itself. I just hoped its effect could be enough to slow down Sophia’s aggressive style of play to make it look good. 

Turn 2: Sophia. Taylor: 3 cards, 8000 LP / Sophia: 6 cards, 8000 LP

“Draw! What a lacklustre move that fits for a loser like you.” She mocked as she looked over her hand. I could almost see how she was figuring out her play in her mind, figuring out how dangerous my face-down and monster would be to her strategy. “I’ll activate the spell card

, so we both draw and discard a card from our hands.” My draw was terrible compared to what I already had, so I just discarded it immediately. “Next up, I’ll summon my

and attack your Ferret!” Her tall red ape wearing a stupid hat launched itself towards my ferret as soon as it appeared, its hands crushing my ferret and causing it to explode, and inflicting the first blood of the duel. (Taylor: 7800 LP)

“My monster’s effect activates. When he gets destroyed by battle, I can destroy a monster you control and deal 500 points of damage!” I point at her Ape Fire as it quickly gets immolated, some of the fire spreading to Sophia. (Sophia: 7500 LP)

I knew something was wrong when I saw the smile on Sophia’s face as the fire cleared away, “When I take damage while controlling no cards on the field, I can Special summon

from my hand, then inflict that damage back to you!” She summoned a tall man who wore far too many blades and had long spiky hair sticking up from his masked head. His hand raised up and launched a small ball of black and purple flames towards me. (Taylor: 7300 LP) “Then, since it’s still my battle phase, I figure I’ll let him give you the smackdown you deserve!” From bad to worse, her monster launched himself at me, drawing his sword to give a heavy slash downward, “You should try being a bit less predictable, I’ll end my turn.” (Taylor: 4600 LP)

Turn 3: Taylor. Taylor: 4 cards, 4600 LP / Sophia: 3 cards, 7500 LP

I managed to hold back a twitch at her words as I drew my card. Sophia was the type to enjoy summoning big monsters and crushing her opponent’s resistance, and was good at it. The Gorz play was somewhat familiar, but it wasn’t like anyone at Winslow really had the cards to properly counter it. At least she still thought I was really struggling against her, “I set a monster and a facedown, your move.”

Turn 4: Sophia. Taylor: 2 cards, 4600 LP / Sophia: 4 cards, 7500 LP

I could feel Sophia’s glare across the court as she drew her card; apparently, she expected something more proactive from me than that. “Time to finish up this duel, I’ll normal summon my

.” An armoured knight riding an undead horse appeared, wielding a spiral lance. Good thing I had a plan in place.

“I activate my face-down card,

!” As the horse took a few steps forward, the ground beneath it collapsed, and it fell out of sight.

“Taylor Taylor Taylor,” Sophia tutted as she shook her head, ”Don’t you know my monster’s effect? When it’s destroyed by a card effect, I get to summon an archfiend monster from my graveyard, and I discarded one at the start of the game. So welcome, my

.” Out of the hole I made, a sort of skeleton zombie voodoo creature pulled its way out and stared around blankly. “Unfortunately, he can’t attack the turn it’s summoned by my Cavalry’s effect, but I still have one monster to use. Gorz, attack her face-down card!” 

I debated using my face down in response, but Gorz was the sort of monster where it would be more counterproductive than anything. Better she fall into my actual trap instead. Her monster rushed forward once more, wielding his oversized sword, but when it impacted the facedown card, a red sphere latched onto his blade. I might not have had the cards to stop Gorz immediately, but actually dealing with big monsters like that was sort of necessitated if you lost tempo.

“I activate the effect of my facedown monster

, when it gets attacked while facedown, I get to equip it to your monster before it gets destroyed, then during your next standby phase it blows up” I explained, and internally had to admit to some satisfaction at Sophia’s face when she realised her big monster wouldn’t stick around for long.

“I’ll end my turn then.”

Turn 5: Taylor. Taylor: 3 cards, 4600 LP / Sophia: 3 cards, 7500 LP

“I draw.” At this rate, I’d have trouble finding enough burn damage to lower Sophia much more beyond Blast Sphere. Still, if I could stall long enough, it could be enough. I didn’t actually play anything that could go toe to toe with Sophia’s stronger monsters, but I didn’t really want to either. “I set another monster facedown and end my turn.”

Turn 6: Sophia. Taylor: 2 cards, 4600 LP / Sophia: 4 cards, 7500 LP

“Seriously, just another facedown?” Sophia said as she drew. It seems I might have gotten a bit too under her skin. “You could at least spice things up, Hebert, play something proactive. I didn’t realize I was playing solitaire.”

“During your standby phase, Blasting Sphere detonates,” I pointed out seconds before the sphere stuck onto Gorz started blinking and beeping rapidly before detonating in a mushroom-shaped explosion. Sophia was enveloped in the smoke until it cleared up, looking a little worse for wear with bits of holographic smoke rising from her clothes. “Then, when Blasting Sphere destroys your monster, you receive damage equal to its attack points. (Sophia: 4800 LP)

“Doesn’t matter, won’t help you in the long run. I’ll start by activating the effect of

in my hand, banishing my Archfiend Cavalry and Ape Fighter from the graveyard to discard itself. Next, I’ll summon out my

.“ A tall, fat, grey orc creature ran in out of nowhere, panting heavily and adjusting its bright pink backpack. “He might not be able to attack on the turn he’s summoned, but my Mad Archfiend should be able to make up for it. And remember, Hebert, he inflicts piercing damage. Attack!” 

Her freaky voodoo monster extended its claws and made a mad dash for my facedown as a large sphinx appeared behind me, “I activate

. When your monster tries to attack me, you need to pick a card in my hand and guess what kind of card it is, then if you get it wrong, the monster gets returned to your hand. Take your best guess, Sophia,” I explained as I held out my hand for her to pick out of.

She pondered for a moment before yelling out, “The card on the right is a monster.” I grimaced as I had to reveal my

, and the attack went through, her monster striking down at my facedown. The card flipped up, revealing a humanoid insect that hissed back at her monster. As the two made contact, both of them exploded. 

“My face-down was my

, and when he’s flipped face up, he gets to destroy a monster. I choose your Mad Archfiend.”

“Fine, but you still take the damage. I’ll set a facedown and end my turn.” (Taylor: 3400 LP)

Turn 7: Taylor. Taylor: 3 cards, 3400 LP / Sophia: 2 cards, 4800 LP

I had hoped to hold the duel together a little longer, but at this rate, I wouldn’t be able to chip her down enough with effect damage to come close to pulling out a win. As I pondered my hand, I could hear some jeering from the peanut gallery. I know Emma said something that elicited some laughter, but I wasn’t paying attention. That’s how I maintain my sanity at this point. If this was going to go any longer, I’d need to rely on baiting her with Ordeal, mind game her into picking the wrong type of card, maybe.

“Once more I’ll set a monster and a facedown. I end my turn.”

Turn 8: Sophia. Taylor: 1 card, 3400 LP / Sophia: 3 cards, 4800 LP

“Draw!” As she drew and looked down at her hand, her grin sent shivers down my spine, “This’ll be the end of all this petty shit you keep playing Hebert. During my standby phase, Dark Nephthys (2400/1600) summons itself from the graveyard, and when it does, I can destroy your Ordeal of the Traveler.” I cringed as her monster returned itself in a blaze of glory. It reminded me of a centaur if you replaced the horse with an armoured bird. As it flared its fiery wings, a cascade of fire launched at the sphinx behind me, melting it into slag before disappearing. 

“Next, I’ll summon

,” and to add to her lineup alone with her orc and phoenix thing, now she has some sort of bone armoured superhero type, she sure loves her beatsticks. “He isn’t sticking around for long though, since I’m tributing all three of my monsters to summon out the monster that’ll obliterate your life points.”

“Seriously? You’re going to risk it all on one monster?” I said in disbelief.

“I’m not exactly worried, since you won’t be able to stop him. I summon

!” As she called out the name of her strongest monster, a four-armed furry demon appeared behind her, reaching out three arms and grasping each of her monsters as they disappeared. “He absorbs all of the attack points of every monster I tributed, for a total of 6700! Maju Garzett attack her face-down!”

My finger twitched as I reached down towards my duel disk, but I decided against it. The retribution it would invite just wasn’t worth it. Her giant demon brought down all four of his fists down on my face-down, the Nimble Momonga (1000/100) exploding. “When my monster is destroyed, I gain life points and summon more from my deck.”

“Doesn’t matter, since when my monster battles a defence position monster like your rat, it deals piercing damage. Since I know how much you struggle in math, I’ll do it for you, and it’s a lot more than your current life points!” Her Monster rushed forward, swinging its illusory limbs into me as my life points ticked down to zero. 

I covered my face instinctively. They were just holograms, but giant monsters rushing at you like that still trigger that lizard brain instinct to protect yourself even if it isn’t real. Sophia had a sneer on her face as she looked across at me, some mix of pride in herself and disappointment for my weakness.

I could hear people’s laughter as I shuffled my cards into my deck, taking extra care not to show the

I had set facedown.

I summon

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