Chapter 2: Strange Behavior
The card game of Duel Monsters gained great popularity in its early years. So much popularity that the Kaiba Corporation created special academies to train young duelists in the game. Not long after that, the game evolved into a professional sport, and from there its popularity continued to rise. It came to the point where several duel academies began to integrate into actual schools. Classes such as math and science were taught along side classes that taught deck strategy. The London Duel Academy was an example of such a school. It wasn't as fancy as some of the private duel academies in England, such as the Boxley Duel Academy for Young Ladies, but it was rather high end.
One of the strictest teachers at the London Duel Academy was Leo and Luna's homeroom teacher, a forty-nine year old woman known to the students as Mrs. Kretch. Mrs. Kretch was a thin, pale women with grey hair that was always done up in a bun. Every day, Mrs. Kretch wore the same red horn rimed glasses and long black dress that went out of style after the 1940s. While Mrs. Kretch was known to be a skilled duelist, she preferred teaching the more academic courses in the school curriculum, only teaching the dueling classes as a substitute for teachers who had to call in absent for a day or two.
That morning, as most of students talked about Leo and Luke's duel, Mrs. Kretch walked into the classroom and, as she did each morning, scratched her nails across the chalkboard to get the attention of her students. As soon as everyone got into their seats, Mrs. Kretch began her lecture, which consisted of nothing but morning announcements. Suddenly, Mrs. Kretch noticed Leo, who had his head on his desk and a dark cloud hanging over him. Mrs. Kretch picked up a ruler, walked over to Leo's deck, and whacked the ruler on it. Leo flinched and immediately sat up straight.
"Am I boring you young man?" Mrs. Kretch asked in her usual stern tone of voice.
"Uh, um, no ma'am!" Leo quickly responded.
"Than sit up straight and face forward!" Mrs. Kretch commanded. Than Mrs. Kretch returned to her desk and continued the morning announcements.
Leo didn't like Mrs. Kretch. She never smiled, and her pale skin along with the way she dressed made her look like a corpse. Plus she was always so strict. She even made the dueling classes she sometimes taught seem like a tedious chore. Always sucking the fun out of the game like a vampire, which was what Leo was half convinced she was. The worst part though was that Mrs. Kretch just didn't seem to like Leo. It didn't show on the surface, but she always seemed to take a perverse pleasure out of punishing him. Leo knew that Mrs. Kretch would be leaning into him extra hard that day just for his little lack of attention.
Sure enough, Mrs. Kretch called on Leo to answer every question she asked in her english class. Many of them, unfortunately, were questions that Leo didn't know the answers too. Or at least they were answers couldn't remember them. The rest of Leo's day didn't go to well either. All day the only thing Leo could think about was how he messed up in his duel against Luke. It wasn't just that though. Leo had lost his cool during the duel. He let Luke's smugness get to him. At the end of the day, Leo began to walk home alone.
"You had a pretty bad day, huh?" A voice from behind asked.
Leo turn to see who it was, and to his surprise he saw Luna.
"I thought you were going with Luke and Roxanne to check out that meteor." Leo said with a look of surprise.
"I thought you could use some cheering up." Luna said, smiling.
"Thanks" Leo said as a smile emerged on his face.
The two siblings continued to walk home.
"You know, I've been thinking." Luna began. "Even if you hadn't screwed up with using Double Tool C&D, you probably still would have lost because of Luke's Magic Cylinder Trap."
"I guess." Leo said as he looked down at the ground thoughtfully. "I don't think I had anything in my hand at the time that could get rid of face-down cards. Still..."
The smile vanished from Leo's face.
"Hey, cheer up!" Luna said as she nudged Leo's shoulder. "You'll get him next time!"
"Yeah!" Leo said as the smile on his face returned and became a grin.
* * *
The next day began like the day before. The sun shined brightly in the sky. A cool summer breeze blew as Leo and Luna walked their usual route to school.
"Mind if I join you?" A voice from behind asked.
Leo and Luna turned to see it was Roxanne, but there was something different about her. In place of her usual smile was a blank expression.
"Hi Roxanne." Luna said in her usual greeting tone. "How was the meteor?"
"Meteor?" Roxanne asked, her expression remaining unchanged. "Oh yes, it was wonderful. Both of you should see it for yourselves."
Something was off about Roxanne. It wasn't just her expression. It was the way she spoke. Roxanne had spoken in a monotone that showed no sign of emotion.
"Uh, so did you stay up late last night studying or something?" Leo asked Roxanne nervously.
Roxanne turned her head and looked at Leo with her blank expression.
"No." Roxanne answered in her monotone voice. "Why do ask?"
"You seem kind of out of it." Luna responded.
"I am fine." Roxanne answered. "We should get going or we will be late."
The three continued walking. Leo and Luna walked half a foot behind Roxanne that morning, as they were a bit creeped out. The three of them arrived at the school. Like the previous morning, they were a little early. So the three decided to hang out in front of the school for a bit. Leo and Luna didn't talk to Roxanne much though. Suddenly Luke arrived.
"Hello Roxanne. Hello Luna." Luke said greeting the girls. Luke had a blank expression similar to Roxanne's
"Hello Luke." Roxanne said greeting Luke in her monotone voice. Roxanne's expression had not changed at all.
"Uh, hi Luke." Luna said with a note of nervousness in her voice. "How was the meteor?"
"It was wonderful. You must see it." Luke answered in a monotone voice like Roxanne's.
"Hello Leo." Luke said greeting Leo with monotone voice.
"The name is... uh, yeah. Hi Luke." Leo said a bit shocked.
Luke had always gotten Leo's name wrong, no matter how many time Leo corrected him. There were other things different about Luke to. He didn't have his usual smug, superior attitude. He also wore his uniform differently. His black jacket, which was normally unbuttoned was completely buttoned up. Luke's white shirt, which was usually a bit wrinkled, was neatly pressed. And Luke's red tie, which usually hung lose around his neck, was tied tightly and completely straight. The only thing that was the same about Luke was that he wore his trademark sunglasses. Both Leo and Luna were starting to get a bit freaked out.
The bell rang and all the students outside went into the school. For the rest of the day, both Leo and Luna noticed Roxanne and Luke talking to a lot of the other students. From what the twins could overhear, both Luke and Roxanne were inviting each student they talked to on a trip to see the meteor. Like Leo and Luna, many of the students that Luke and Roxanne talked to were a bit creeped out by the duo's strange behavior, but most of them agreed to come with. Mostly because of Luke's immense popularity at the school. At the end of the day, Leo and Luna went home, did any homework that they had gotten that day, and tried to put the whole strange day out of their minds.
* * *
The weekend came, and the twins tried to spend most of it relaxing. Leo spent that Saturday working on his deck. As he worked on his deck, Leo thought about all the mistakes he made in his duel against Luke. And he realized that the first mistake he made was challenging Luke in the first place. Leo dueled Luke because he wanted to humiliate Luke in front of Roxanne and Luna, and in front of everyone else at the academy. In the end though, it was Leo who got humiliated. Leo had dueled Luke for all the wrong reasons, and he swore to himself that the next time he challenged Luke, it would be for the right reasons.
The following Sunday was relatively uneventful. Leo and Luna's parents were away that weekend on business, so they had the house to themselves. The twins used much of that Sunday to work on any homework they had leftover from the previous Friday. That evening, as Leo had surfed the TV channels looking for a movie to watch, the twins ran across a news program that was talking about the mysterious meteor that landed outside of the city four nights ago. It seemed that several people in the city had gone to take a look at the meteor over the last four three days. One thing about the report that bothered the twins was that the reporter on scene where the meteor landed had a blank expression on his face and spoke in a monotone. It was just like how Luke and Roxanne had acted on Friday. Another thing that was odd about the report was that they didn't show any pictures of the meteor, or even the crater where it landed. Leo and Luna began to wonder if something sinister was going on.
* * *
The day after the weekend began like the day before it. Leo and Luna ran into Roxanne on their way to school, and Roxanne still had the same blank expression on her face and spoke in the same monotone. It was when the twins got to school that they noticed something different. Most of the students standing in front of the building all had the same blank expressions on their faces. None of those students spoke a word, and they all stood rigidly. Then the bell rang, and most of the students, except for Leo, Luna, and at least three others, walked into the building in a neat and orderly fashion. Which was the exact opposite of how everyone normally entered.
Things got even creepier when Leo and Luna entered the classroom. On a typical day, most of the students would be all over the room in small groups visiting with each other. That morning though, every student in the classroom sat rigidly at their desks, starring blankly at the front of the room. Both Leo and Luna were completely freaked out by this scene. Reluctantly, they sat down at their desks. Leo was getting worried. Luna sat three rows behind him on the opposite side of the room. So if anything happened, it would be hard for Leo to get to her.
Mrs. Kretch entered the room. Aside from the twins, she was the only one in the room who seemed normal. On her face was the same stern expression she had every day. The only difference this time was that Mrs. Kretch didn't scratch her nails across the chalkboard to get the class's attention, as it seemed she already had it. Mrs. Kretch gave the morning announcements in her usual tone. It seemed what ever happened to the students had not happened to Leo and Luna's horrid homeroom teacher.
The same did not seem to hold true for all the other teachers at the school though. Every teacher that Leo and Luna saw all walked around with the same blank expression that many of the students had. It wasn't just teachers though. It was also the janitors and the cafeteria workers. Leo noticed that even the school nurse had the same expression as he saw her in the hallway. There was something extremely wrong at the London Duel Academy. Something that had both the twins very worried.
What troubled the twins the most was that many of their classes caused them to be separated. In a school where over half the student body and almost all of the teaching staff had seemed to become zombies of some kind, being separated did not seem like a good idea. There seemed to be no way around it though. Through out the entire morning, almost every student that Leo and Luna ran into invited them to go see the meteor after school, and each time they declined the invitation. At lunch, the twins sat down to plan a quick escape from the school.
"What's the last class that you have?" Leo asked in a whisper.
"Social Studies with Ms. Blackwell." Luna whispered back.
"Darn!" Leo exclaimed in a tone louder tan he intended. "I have a Dueling with Mr. Rolland all the way on the other side of the building."
"What do we do now?" Luna asked whispering in a worried tone.
"Don't panic." Leo whispered. "I'll try to leave class early. Once I'm out, I'll go to your classroom to get you."
"What than?" Luna asked.
"I don't know." Leo answered. "All I know is that we need to get out of this school as soon as possible."
Leo saw the worried expression on Luna's face.
"Don't worry." Leo said, patting Luna on the shoulder reassuringly. "I won't let anything happen to you."
Luna managed a weak smile.
There wasn't anything big going on in Mr. Rolland's dueling class that day. They were simply reviewing the Scrap monster archetype. Leo figured that it would only be a twenty minute lecture, after which the class would leave early. Unfortunately, Mrs, Kretch was filling in for Mr. Rolland, who had apparently called in sick that day. Mrs. Kretch painstakingly and meticulously went over five different examples of how to use different Scrap related cards. The lecture dragged on for about forty minutes. All the time, Leo was fidgeting and looking at the clock. Every minute that ticked by was another minute Luna was in danger. After it was over, Mrs. Kretch called Leo over to her desk and lectured Leo about how he didn't pay attention in class, which took another ten minutes.
As some as Leo got away from Mrs. Kretch, he began to run to the classroom where Luna was. Just as Leo entered the hallway leading to his destination, he saw Luke standing in his way.
"Hello Leo." Luke said, greeting Leo in his monotone voice.
"I don't have time to talk to you Luke!" Leo said in an irritated tone. "I have to get to Luna!"
"Your sister is no longer here." Luke told Leo. "She has gone to see the meteor."
Leo panicked.
"You're lying!" Leo shouted. "Now get out of my way!"
"There is only one way I shall get of your way." Luke responded.
Luke put down his backpack and pulled out his duel disk, which he then put on his arm. Leo's thoughts raced for a solution. He thought about running past Luke, but he knew for a fact that Luke could outrun him. That fact was proven to Leo when he raced Luke in gym class once. Leo also didn't think he could take Luke in a fight. There seemed to be only one option. Leo got out his duel disk and prepared for battle. It seemed that his rematch with Luke had come sooner than he thought.
