Chapter 132 – The Main Players

Saturday morning had finally arrived, and for most students, a Saturday morning meant sleeping in, relaxing, or doing whatever teenagers normally did when they didn't have to worry about school.

For the members of the Promethean Academy Duel Monsters Club, however, Saturday morning meant luggage, deck boxes, identification documents, nervous teachers, and several people repeatedly asking whether everyone had packed everything.

The answer, judging by the amount of chaos happening outside the executive campus, was probably no.

Alexander stood near the school's transportation area with his hands in his pockets as he watched students move around.

The team that would represent Promethean Academy during the Final Phase was preparing to leave for Massachusetts.

Ginny was among them, naturally, and she was currently checking her deck, again.

Alexander watched her remove the deck from its protective case, count the cards, put them back inside, then apparently decide that wasn't enough because she removed them again.

He raised an eyebrow and asked, "How many times are you going to check that thing?"

Ginny looked at him without any shame. "Until I'm certain everything is there."

"You checked it ten minutes ago."

"And?"

"And you checked it twenty minutes before that."

Ginny shrugged, "I could have misplaced something into the side deck those ten minutes."

Alexander stared at her as he realised, 'Despite her previous experience with the Duel Monsters Grand Prix... She's still nervous.'

He could understand it.

The Final Phase wasn't just another school tournament. This was the culmination of months of competition involving schools from across the country, and unlike the Qualifying Phase, the matches would be played in front of a much larger audience.

There would be cameras. Reporters. Sponsors. Thousands of people inside the arena. And potentially millions watching at home, so he understood why that might make someone nervous, especially when you were the one sitting at the table. On top of that, since the Inter-School Duel Monsters Championship was a team-based competition, she also felt the pressure to not let down her teammates

"Relax," Alexander said. "You've prepared for this."

Ginny looked at him and cutely pouted, "You say that as if you're not going to be there."

"Naturally, I'm going to be there."

"Exactly."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're going to be watching me."

"Of course I'm going to watch you."

"Then I'm allowed to be nervous. I don't want to disappoint you."

Hearing that, Alexander smiled and said, "You won't disappoint me, no matter the final result of the tournament."

A few meters away, Chuck was standing beside Julia while looking considerably less stressed than everyone else.

Which wasn't particularly surprising.

Unlike Ginny and the other main members of the team, Chuck was a reserve, and he would only be called into action if one of the primary members couldn't participate for one reason or another.

That didn't mean he wasn't prepared, though.

His deck was already secured, his luggage was packed, and he had spent enough time practising that Alexander knew he could step into a match if necessary and likely win.

Julia looked toward the group and asked, "Are you sure you packed everything?"

Chuck glanced at his luggage. "Yes."

"Your deck?"

"Yes."

"Extra clothes?"

"Yes."

"Toothbrush?"

Chuck was about to respond but paused, and in response, Julia stared at him and asked, "...You forgot your toothbrush, didn't you?"

Chuck looked away and replied, "Maybe..."

Julia smiled triumphantly before she pulled out a brand new set of a toothbrush and toothpaste while saying, "You're welcome."

Alexander couldn't help but chuckle and ask, "How are you supposed to survive a national championship if your girlfriend has to remind you to pack a toothbrush?"

"Naturally, by having a girlfriend who reminds me to pack a toothbrush and other things."

"That's surprisingly efficient."

Julia smiled, "You're welcome."

"Don't encourage him," Chuck muttered.

The rest of the team was considerably more chaotic.

Four other students stood nearby, each handling the upcoming trip differently.

Winfred Calderon was already talking about possible matchups.

Louis Litt was repeatedly checking his deck.

Leanna Jefferson was trying to convince everyone that they were absolutely going to win.

Forest Gibson was noticeably quieter, listening to the others while occasionally checking the tournament information on his pamphlet.

The differences were amusing.

They were all part of the same team, but none of them approached the tournament in quite the same way.

The Duel Monsters club advisor eventually stepped forward and clapped his hands before announcing, "All right, everyone! Final check before we leave."

Several students groaned, but the teacher ignored them and asked, "Decks?"

A chorus of confirmations followed.

"Identification?"

More confirmations.

"Tournament documentation?"

Another round.

"Clothing?"

Louis raised his hand. "Does the tournament have a dress code?"

The teacher stared at him before stating, "You're wearing our school uniform."

"Right."

"Then you're fine."

Another faculty member stood nearby with a clipboard, making sure the names matched the official roster.

Alexander watched the entire process with some amusement. 'So this is what it looks like when a school actually prepares for something.'

The funny thing was that he had helped create the tournament.

He had seen the planning. He had seen the logistics. He ironed out the rules with Emma Frost. He had seen the massive amount of work Emma and Frost International had put into the whole Inter-School Duel Monsters Championship. But seeing his own classmates preparing to actually participate made it feel different, more impressive.

This wasn't just another event, but it was something the students had spent months working toward.

They had qualified. They had practised. They had argued over decks. They had watched other schools compete. And now they were finally going to Worcester, yet this was exactly the result that both Alexander and Emma wanted.

Alexander glanced toward Ginny as she had finished checking her deck again and smiled again while asking, "Are you ready?"

She looked at him and replied, "Ask me again when we're inside the arena."

"Fair enough."

Eventually, the teachers finished their checks, and everyone began moving toward the transportation waiting for them.

Julia walked alongside Chuck while Ginny stayed near Alexander.

For a moment, everything felt surprisingly normal as they were just a group of teenagers going on a school trip.

Alexander looked toward the road as their transportation prepared to leave.

A week ago, the tournament had still felt like something in the future; now it was happening, and soon, everyone would be standing in the same arena.

~~~▽~~~

The atmosphere at Massachusetts Academy was considerably calmer, as unlike all the other 49 schools taking part in the tournament, they didn't have to travel across the country as the Final Phase was being held in their own state, which meant the students could reach the Worcester Centrum without dealing with airports, flights, or long hours of travel.

For the members of the Duel Monsters Club, Saturday was therefore mostly about preparation.

The clubroom was filled with students sitting around tables while checking their decks and discussing strategies.

Some were comparing cards, others were debating possible matchups, and a few were simply trying to relax.

Then the door opened, and Emma Frost walked into the room in all her usual cold but stunning splendour.

The conversations continued for another few seconds before several students noticed her, yet Emma didn't immediately say anything.

She simply stood near the entrance and observed.

Four students made up most of the team, and among them was Angelica Jones.

Emma's gaze settled on her.

Angelica Jones stood out even among the other students, with a mane of vibrant red hair framing a youthful, freckled face and a pair of bright green eyes. She was tall for her age, with an athletic build that hinted at the dancer's grace and physical confidence she was still growing into. There was an easy warmth to her expression, even as she focused intently on the cards spread across the table.

Angelica was sitting with the others while discussing her deck, apparently unaware that Emma was paying closer attention to her than the rest.

Emma had known about Angelica for some time.

She had known about the girl's mutant abilities; she had known about the incredible potential hidden inside those abilities, and, once upon a time, Emma had known exactly what she intended to do with that potential.

Her original plan had been simple.

Separate Angelica from the other mutant students, especially the Hellions. Give Angelica individual attention. Become her primary teacher. Become her primary source of emotional support. Make the girl depend on her. Then there had been the bracelet. A harmless-looking gift. A protective device. At least, that was what Angelica would have believed. In reality, it would have contained a hallucinator designed to influence her dreams. Emma had intended to feed subliminal images into those dreams. Images of the X-Men as dangerous. Violent. Murderous. Threats that Angelica needed protection from. And Emma would be there. The only person who understood her. The only person who cared for her. The only person capable of helping her control her powers. The only person who could supposedly keep everyone else safe.

If that wasn't enough, there would have been accidents. Carefully arranged incidents where Angelica's powers appeared to flare dangerously around other people. Enough to make her afraid of herself. Enough to make her believe that being around others was dangerous. Enough to make her believe that only Emma could help her.

Eventually, Angelica would have become exactly what Emma wanted. A powerful, loyal asset. A living weapon for the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle.

Emma had once considered the entire plan perfectly reasonable, but then she had remembered her father.

The manipulation. The cruelty. The expectations. The ways she had been shaped by the people around her.

She remembered what it had taken for her to survive. What it had taken for her to become the woman she was now. The White Queen. And perhaps most importantly, she remembered something that had always existed somewhere beneath everything else. She had wanted to be a teacher, not merely someone who controlled people, not someone who broke them down and rebuilt them into useful tools.

A teacher, someone who helped students become something greater than what they were before.

Emma's eyes remained on Angelica, but the girl was completely unaware of the thoughts running through Emma's mind.

Emma had decided to change her approach.

She would teach Angelica. She would help her understand her abilities. She would help her control them. She would help her become stronger.

But that didn't mean Emma had stopped recognising Angelica's potential; quite the opposite, as Angelica's abilities were extraordinary and Emma still intended to cultivate them.

The difference was that she no longer wanted to hand Angelica over to the Hellfire Club as a weapon, and why should she?

If Angelica became powerful because of Emma's guidance, then perhaps one day she would stand beside Emma willingly.

That was considerably more satisfying than simply delivering a weapon to someone else.

Emma allowed herself a faint smile as she thought, 'Perhaps I'm not as selfless as I would like to believe.'

Then again, she had never claimed to be; she had simply decided that Angelica deserved to be treated as a student rather than a weapon.

For Emma, that was already a considerable improvement.

Angelica suddenly looked up, noticed her and greeted her, "Good morning, Ms Frost."

This was followed by the greeting of the other students and faculty members present.

Emma smiled and greeted back, "Good morning, everyone."

Then her gaze swept across the room while she used her telepathic powers to subtly relax the nerves of the most tense students, just enough to stop them from negatively affecting their decision-making abilities.

After doing that, she smiled once again and said, "Don't mind my presence; I just wanted to check on you. Please, focus back on what you were doing."

In response, the other students nodded and returned to their previous activities; Angelica also immediately began looking through her deck again.

Emma watched her for another moment before turning toward the rest of the students.

The Final Phase would begin soon, and Emma intended to pay attention.

Not merely to who won, but to who these students became when the pressure began.

~~~▽~~~

Several hours away, a private bus was making its way across the state.

Inside were the students from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, and unlike the other teams, their journey wasn't particularly glamorous.

It was simply a bus, and because of that, the trip would take roughly four and a half hours.

That was considerably slower than flying, but it created fewer problems.

A commercial flight meant airports, security, paperwork, questions, and a great deal of unnecessary attention, something that Scott and a few more cautious faculty members wanted to avoid.

The Blackbird wasn't an option either.

That aircraft existed for X-Men operations, and using it to transport a group of teenagers to a school card-game tournament would be excessive even by their standards.

So they had taken the bus and, judging by the noise inside it, the students didn't particularly mind.

Alexander "Alex" Summers sat several rows from the front.

Even at his age, there was something naturally athletic about him. He had a lean, well-built frame, dark brown hair that fell casually across his forehead, and striking blue eyes that gave his otherwise youthful face a serious, thoughtful quality. He carried himself with the quiet confidence of someone accustomed to being physically capable, though there was still plenty of teenage awkwardness beneath it.

He looked down at his deck before glancing toward the seat across the aisle.

Lorna Dane was staring at him.

She had an appearance that was difficult to overlook, most notably because of her long, vivid green hair, which spilt over her shoulders and contrasted sharply with her fair complexion. Her green eyes were equally distinctive, framed by delicate features and a youthful face. She was slender and graceful, with an understated confidence in the way she sat, though the faintly amused look in her eyes suggested she knew exactly what effect her unusual appearance had on people.

"What?"

"You've been looking at that deck for twenty minutes."

"I'm thinking."

"You're overthinking."

Alex frowned and said, "You haven't even seen what I'm doing."

"I don't need to."

"That's incredibly arrogant."

Lorna shrugged, "Probably."

Alex shook his head.

The two had already been arguing like an old couple about their strategies for most of the trip, and neither appeared interested in stopping.

A few rows behind them, one of the other students laughed before he asked, "You two are going to spend the entire tournament arguing, aren't you?"

"No," Alex answered.

Lorna answered at the exact same time, "Yes."

Alex looked at her, and she smiled.

Another student laughed as he quipped, "Just get married!"

The atmosphere on the bus was relaxed.

There was nervousness, certainly, as everyone understood that the Final Phase would be different from the Qualifying Phase.

There would be more people, more cameras, and more attention, but for now, they were still just students sitting on a bus.

One of the students leaned forward between the seats and asked, "Alex, you think your brother is going to watch?"

Alex groaned, "Of course he is."

"He's your brother."

"That's exactly the problem."

Lorna looked amused. "What's wrong with Scott watching?"

"Nothing." Alex paused before he added, "Except he'll probably analyse every single mistake I make even if he understands nothing about the game."

Someone from the back called out, "Doesn't he already do that?"

Alex sighed and admitted, "Yes. But now I'll actually feel bad because some of the things he will say may be right..."

That earned another round of laughter.

Another student looked toward Lorna. "What about you?"

Lorna raised an eyebrow and asked back, "What about me?"

"Are you nervous?"

She looked out the window and for a moment, she didn't answer, then she shrugged and said, "A little."

The student nodded before he asked another question, "Because of the tournament?"

Lorna looked down at her cards and muttered, "Mostly."

She didn't elaborate, but Alex understood anyway.

They were mutants, and even if nobody at the tournament knew, the possibility of being noticed was always there, especially for someone like Lorna.

Her powers were unusual and powerful.

Powerful enough that someone had once tried to manipulate her by convincing her that her biological father was the Master of Magnetism himself, Magneto, coercing her to work with him and her supposed father against the X-Men.

Luckily, Bobby Drake/Iceman managed to reach her and present evidence that convinced Lorna that her true parents had died in a plane crash years earlier, making her turn against Magneto, who was revealed to be an android double.

After that, Lorna returned home with the X-Men and, eventually, joined Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters as a prospective member of the X-Men.

That was not something she liked discussing, so Alex didn't press her. Instead, he held up one of his cards. "Well, if it helps, this card is definitely going to help us destroy everyone who stands in our way."

Lorna stared at him and asked, "That card?"

"Yes."

"That's your big strategy?"

"Maybe."

She smiled, "You're going to make us lose."

Alex grinned and said, "We'll see."

The conversation quickly returned to Duel Monsters.

Decks were compared. Possible matchups were discussed. Someone began explaining a strategy that immediately produced three different disagreements.

The bus continued down the road.

Outside, the landscape slowly changed as they moved toward Massachusetts, but inside, the students continued talking.

For a few hours, they weren't mutants preparing to face a world that feared them; they weren't students of a school built around hiding what they were; they were teenagers going to a tournament.

And somewhere ahead of them, in Worcester, the same tournament was already taking shape.

Promethean Academy was on its way. Massachusetts Academy was preparing. Xavier's School was travelling across the state. And many other schools were doing the same.

Different schools. Different students. Different lives. But soon, all of them would stand beneath the same lights and then the Final Phase would finally begin.