Answers and promotions
Syrus couldn't win his duel, his hesitation was what cost him the victory. He had the means to acquire victory with Power Bond, but could never get himself to play it, opting instead to use regular fusion cards.
Syrus walked back to the pair with his head held low, ashamed at his performance compared to Clay and Jaden. The two didn't comment on it and decided that the three of them should head back to the dorm for the day. They arrived and headed inside of Clay's room.
With no roommates there would be no one to disturb the three while they had their discussion.
"Sy, you hesitated during your duel didn't you?" Clay started the talk, testing Syrus to see if he knows what he is doing.
"W-what are you t-talking about? I couldn't d-do anything." Syrus panicked and stuttered in his answer, trying to fool the others to believe him.
"Come on Sy, you think your friends wouldn't notice you hesitating because of Power Bond?" Jaden had spoken up, slightly offended that Syrus tried to shut them out. "If you need to talk about something then you can talk to us about it."
"I'm fine, really. I'm just not good enough to play Power Bond." Syrus hung his head, depressed at his own words.
"Does this have something to do with your brother?" Clay tried to be ambiguous as possible, trying to not sound like he already knew. Seeing Syrus flinch at the mention of Zane, Clay pressed the matter further. "Guess you and your brother are going to have to have a talk soon."
"Why would Zane talk to a loser like me?" Sy's eyes were filling with tears at this point, he couldn't look his friends in the eyes at all.
"Sy, he's your brother. No matter what family always come first." Jaden walked up to Syrus and rubbed his back. There were no stopping the water works, not until Syrus ran out of them.
"Tell you what, when we get to Obelisk we'll try to get Zane to have a talk with you. We won't ask you about why you hesitate to play Power Bond till then." Clay stood up and walked over to his drawers and pulled out a handkerchief, giving it to Syrus.
"Thanks." Syrus took the handkerchief and wiped his tears. He attempted to hand Clay back the handkerchief but Clay denied.
"You need it a lot more than I do right now, keep it. For now lets go eat some dinner, clear our heads." The boys raced out of the room at the mention of food, nothing could get them that fired up besides dueling.
The rest of the night the boys spent hanging out and enjoying each others company. The day ended and the group split up for the night, retiring to their separate rooms. There were a few things that Clay needed to do alone anyways.
"Koitsu, any news on the whereabouts of the other Itsu's?" Clay spoke to the blue man riding a paper plane. None of the other Itsu's had come back from searching the island for more duel spirits, whether that was a good or bad thing, Clay didn't know.
"None so far but they should be back soon, within a couple of days." Koitsu was flying around the room, trying to see how fast he could fly in such a tight space.
"Got it. I'm gonna head to bed for now, wake me up in the morning." Clay put on his night wear and rolled into his bed. It had been a hectic day and he was sure the coming few would be even more so.
***
"Mr. Clay, please report to the Chancellor's office at once." A voice over the intercom called out for Clay while he was in his duel theory class. He wasn't sure what it was for but he was sure it wasn't about anything he had done.
He walked the halls to the Chancellor's office, knocking on the door before walking in.
"Ah, Clay, so good to see you." Chancellor Sheppard stood up from his chair at his desk, beckoning for Clay to come closer. "I wanted to talk to you about your dorm switch exam results."
'So that's what this is about, I'm sure I aced the test and I beat that Yamada guy so I should definitely be able to go to Ra, so what's wrong.' Clay was confused as he was told about why he was called to the meeting and it showed on his face.
"Don't worry my boy, it isn't any bad news, quite the opposite actually. Because of your outstanding performance on the practical exam and your perfect score on the written test we have decided to, instead of promoting you to Ra, promote you to Obelisk Blue."
Clay was shocked. He knew that he would pass the exam no problem, but to pass so good that he ended up skipping a rank was too good to be true.
"Sir, are you sure that this is okay?"
"Absolutely, we shouldn't have one of our best students not recognized for their talents. Plus, there are certain privileges that come with ranking up to the blue dorm." Sheppard had a beaming smile on his face. "Unless of course, you don't want the promotion to blue."
"That won't be necessary sir, I will happily join the ranks of Obelisk Blue." Clay bowed his head to show his appreciation. Finally, he would get proper meals and a larger room.
"Brilliant, the arrangements will be made while you are at class, so you should be in the dorm by the end of the day. For now, I will give you the uniform to go with your promotion." Sheppard reached under his desk and pulled out a folded Obelisk Blue uniform. "You can change in that room over there."
"Thank you very much sir." Clay walked into the side room and changed his outfit. It didn't take him long, and he had to say the blue suited him well. Walking out of the room, Sheppard looked over with another large smile on his face.
"It is good to see that it fits."
"Yes, thank you very much Chancellor Sheppard." Clay walked over to the door leading to the hallway. "I promise to make sure you don't regret the promotion."
The walk back to the classroom was very boring, besides a few students giving him shocked looks at his new uniform. It was when he walked into the classroom that things got exciting.
"Who do you think you are, wearing our uniform!" An Obelisk student stood up and shouted from his seat. The other Obelisk students raised their own protests at Clay wearing the Obelisk uniform but Crowler quickly shut all of them up.
"BE QUIET! Clay has earned the right to wear that uniform through hard work and dedication. He had the top scoring marks on the written exam and he beat another Obelisk Blue student in the practical exam." This news shocked many of the students there. But before the news could even sink in Crowler gave them a chance to make Clay suffer.
"If any of you wish to protest then I will allow you to duel him, and if more than five of you beat him I will personally have the Chancellor revoke the promotion." As he finished most of the Obelisk Blue students stood up from their seats, duel disks at the ready.
Only four remained sitting, Yamada, Jasmine and Mindy, all people Clay had already beat and Alexis, who had heard about his duel with Jasmine and Mindy. They knew they couldn't beat Clay, and that he deserved his spot in Obelisk Blue.
"Fine, but I have a better idea. How about I take all of you on at once?" Clay had a huge smile on his face. He turned to look at Crowler, seeing if he would be allowed to do that.
"If that's what you want then I'll allow it. But if you lose this duel then you will still lose your promotion to Obelisk Blue."
"That's fine by me."
The Obelisk students were all infuriated at Clay's arrogance. How was he meant to beat 20 top duelists on his own? It was an impossible task.
"You arrogant brat, we'll show you why we're the best of the best!" The other Obelisk students all cheered at this declaration, clearly riled up by Clay even further.
The class walked out a duel arena, allowing for enough space to have this 20 against 1 duel. Those not participating in the duel went to sit in the bleachers, ready to enjoy a show they would surely never forget.
"To make things fair no one is allowed to attack on their first turn. Any objections?" Clay decided to add this rule to make things 'fair', but that wasn't the only reason for it. His plan was going to count on if any of the students caught onto what he was planning by adding this rule.
"Add all the restrictions you want, it won't make a difference when we wipe that smug look from your face!" The leader of the rowdy Obelisks declared. Because of their large numbers they were sure that no matter what no one could beat all of them.
With those formalities out of the way the duelists walked onto the stage, preparing their duel disks.
"Since it's 20 against 1, I think I'll take the first move." With that the duel that would go down in duel academy history finally began.
Clay: 4000
20 Obelisk Blue: 4000 each