Dueling the best

'Anotherverse, I didn't get to ask you but how much energy did you gain from absorbing Jinzo?' Clay was walking back to his dorm, wondering about the benefits of absorbing energy from other spirits.

'Even though I absorbed around half of the orb I was unable to gain even a fraction of my old energy.' Anotherverse Dragon's tone made Clay think that he was upset about the results. 'Yes, I am upset about the results.'

'Okay, to get a better understanding of how all this duel energy stuff works, how much did you gain compared to if you just absorbed energy from a duel?' If there was a huge difference then Clay was going to have to do something about this soon. If he could find some evil spirits then that would be good, otherwise he would have to go on a dueling spree.

'If I wanted to absorb the same amount of energy from a duel then we would have needed to have at least ten duels.' This figure shocked Clay, but not because it was high, it was because it was very low. 'I see your confusion, these duels would have to be very intense duels, ones where you went all out. If they were regular duels we would have needed at least 50.'

Clay now understood, but there was another thing that he only just now thought about.

'How much energy do you need to make a portal to another dimension?' If Anotherverse Dragon was capable of travelling to different dimensions then he would need a way to get there. If he was able to go to a different dimension who knows what he would find.

'If you are thinking that we will be able to go to a new dimension anytime soon, I hate to disappoint you, but it won't be possible. We would need multiple years before I will have absorbed enough energy to travel across dimensions.'

The two continued to discuss multiple things as Clay walked to the dorm. He arrived shortly, being greeted by someone he hadn't expected to see.

With shoulder length, spiked blue hair, wearing an Obelisk Blue white overcoat and his arms crossed in front of him, Zane Truesdale, the best duelist in duel academy, was waiting in front of the Obelisk Blue dorm.

"You must be Clay, I've heard a lot about you." Zane initiated the conversation between the two. Clay wasn't planning to start any but if he wanted to, he wasn't going to say no.

"Only good stuff I hope." Clay laughed at his own bad joke, but Zane just stood there, his expression not changing a small bit.

"Actually, it's all been pretty bad stuff. People say that you are cocky, terribly disruptive in class, and I even heard someone call you crazy." He finally made a move, slowly walking towards Clay who was now standing a few meters away from Zane.

"Well, I can't say that all of that isn't true." Clay still spoke in his casual tone, as if nothing was going to be able to take him down.

"Do you know what those people all had in common though?" Zane paused as he allowed Clay to think of the answer. Moments later and Zane continued. "They all asked me to show you your place."

Clay was taken aback by his his last statement, so much so that he even took a step back. Not once did it ever cross his mind that the duelists he ended up dueling with would cry to Zane to get payback for them.

"But..." Zane stopped, now only a few inches away from Clay now. "I also heard that you were able to beat all of those students soundly. I even heard about your recent accomplishment of beating 20 duelists without even attacking."

The shocks just kept coming. Clay was aware that the news of him beating a group of Obelisk students would spread, but what he wasn't aware of was the rate of which the news would spread.

"And I've decided that I do want to duel you." Zane walked back to his original position, turning around to face Clay once again. "Not because the others want me to put you in your place, but because I want to see what the best duelist of the first years has to offer."

Clay didn't need to think twice about his answer. Who didn't want to duel Zane Truesdale, the legendary Kaiser of duel academy and owner of the Cyber Dragons.

"Heck yeah, how can I say no to an offer like that?" With his answer ready Clay realized that Zane didn't have his duel disk on him. "How are we gonna duel if you don't have a duel disk?"

"I didn't bring my duel disk with me to make sure that others wouldn't try to snoop at what we were doing. Give me a sec to go grab it." And with that Zane walked into the Obelisk Blue dorm, leaving Clay alone with his thoughts for a few minutes.

'Clay, I don't understand what is so special about this person. I sense nothing special about him.' Anotherverse Dragon commented on Zane's apparent lack of 'uniqueness', not understanding just who he was dealing with.

'You don't need to be special to be the strongest. Zane is the best duelist in duel academy, possibly even rivaling some pro's already. If I beat him that mean's I am the best at duel academy!' Clay couldn't contain his excitement as he explained to Anotherverse who Zane was and why he was excited.

'I see, and you wish to prove who is the alpha of those at the academy. I must say, you are quite bold for someone so young.' After hearing the explanation from Clay Anotherverse came to his own conclusion of the situation, and Clay couldn't be bothered to correct him.

A few minutes later and Zane finally reemerged from the dorm with his duel disk attached. He had his deck loaded and he looked ready for an intense duel.

"Come with me, I'll take us to a spot where no one can spy on our duel." He began walking away, leaving Clay to follow closely behind and eventually reaching a clearing in the woods on the north part of the island.

"You ready for this Zane, if I beat you no hard feelings right?" Clay got himself ready and prepared himself for a difficult duel.

"That depends on how much you win by." Zane readied himself as well, drawing his starting hands and beginning the duel that would never be heard of.

Clay: 4000

Zane: 4000

"I'll let you go first Zane, after all, the saying is age before beauty." Clay did a courteous bow as he offered to let Zane go first, knowing full well the gimmick of the Cyber Dragon's.

"It seems someone knows about my deck. Fine, if you think that this will stop me then you are sorely mistaken. I draw!" Zane inspected his hand as he thought about what his first move would be. "I play the spell card Different Dimension Capsule."

As he played the card a large sarcophagus appeared on the field with its lid open, as if it was waiting for its owner to enter inside.

"This card allows me to select one card from my and and remove it from play for two turns. When those two turns are up I am allowed to add that card to my hand." With the card selected, the sarcophagus sunk into the earth, waiting for the two turns to pass by.

"Next, I'll play the spell card Polymerization, allowing me to fuse two Cyber Dragon's from my hand into the Cyber Twin Dragon." Two metallic, serpentine dragons appeared in front of Zane and began to meld together. Their bodies fused, creating one larger body, while their heads remained separate.

Cyber Twin Dragon: Atk 2800 Def 2100

"Next I'll play two cards face down and end my turn." With the two cards appearing behind his Dragon, Zane passed the turn over to Clay. "I hope you don't disappoint me."

"Guess I gotta show you how it's done. I draw!" With his six cards in hand Clay began his own inspection. There was a problem that he realized however as he looked at his cards.

'I forgot that I added all of the spirits!' In his hand was a group of monsters, all weak and with practically no chaining ability what so ever. With nothing else to do Clay decided to just roll with it.

"Man, you're gonna be sorry for challenging me today." He tried to put on his most confident smile that he could, but if someone looked really close they would see that his lips were twitching ever so slightly.

"I summon to the field The Unhappy Maiden in defense mode!" With the only plan that he could come up with he decided to play it safe.

The Unhappy Maiden: Atk 0 Def 100

"Next I'll play one card face down and end my turn." He continued to try and keep his confident smile up, the twitch becoming ever more noticeable.

"Interesting, you seem so confident in your monster with its ability to defend you. I'll show you how foolish you really are." It seemed as if Clay's façade worked on Zane, somehow. "It's my turn, I draw!

"Cyber Twin Dragon, attack Clay's Maiden!" The mechanical dragon reeled it's two heads back and started preparing some fireballs to throw at their target. When they were finished, they launched them straight away, hitting true and destroying The Unhappy Maiden.

"Cyber Twin Dragon's special ability allows it to attack twice in a row, Cyber Twin Dragon, attack Clay directly!" The dragons once again began gather fires in their gaping maw, preparing to launch them at Clay this time.

"Hold it! Because you destroyed The Unhappy Maiden by battle her effect kicks in, ending the battle phase here." The figure of Clay's maiden appeared in front of Clay to shield him from the fireballs, yet they never came. The dragons had stopped gathering the fire and allowed them to dissipate into the wind.

"You gave yourself an extra turn, now let's see what you can do with it. I end my turn."

With a miracle needing to happen, Clay looked at his deck and started praying for something good to come from it.

"It's my turn, I draw!"