CHAPTER 1

Unfamiliar faces browsed along the newly paved walkways and lazed by shiny, new benches under the warm blanketing sun. Duelist academy had finally been reconstructed and opened after its destruction some number of years ago. Tools and old bottles were still scattered around the property.

Today was the day that it would be decided what dorm level I would classified into, 1 being the lowest and 3 being the highest. However, I am not concerned about this. I've been dueling for almost 5 years now…but that doesn't really say anything at all, what matters is what you learn in those 5 years. But I know this game like I know the back of my hand, I am quite confident that I'll do just fine.

A man wearing clothes almost as shady as mine interrupted my aimless pacing, "It's about time for you to head to the gym so you can get classified". I took a path leading away from him, so I didn't have to worry about him trying to start a conversation, talking isn't really my thing. I loaded my deck into my duel disk and gave it one last look as if to say "This it!" and I headed to the gym.

I smoothly slid through the doorway of the gymnasium and saw what seemed like millions of people at the time, all scattered around the building waiting for the placement duels to begin. You could hear the obnoxious voices and footsteps echoing throughout the gym. If there's one thing I hate it's people…to be honest they sicken me. Unlike most people I don't feel the need for friends, love or any of the such. I can't think of any real reason to keep them around, most of them are always nagging you, wasting your time, or pissing you off. I know how people tend to be so I carry a 6 inch buck knife with me wherever I go, and yes…I have been forced to use it many times due to the kind of place I used to live in, and some times due to my lack of self-control. But that was the past. I have left my home and I live in a new place now, Duelist Academy. I can just sit back and relax here and do what I love the most: dueling.

I was too busy thinking about "things" to even notice that the administrators had instructed the students to form a line leading to an admin with a duel disk. By the time I was on my way over to the line it was fully assembled leaving me at the very back. Patience is a real problem of mine, while I'm waiting I'll just review, edit, and mess around with my deck.

I was half way through the line and working on a new, interesting deck theme when I got a tap on my shoulder. I sighed, knowing someone was about to piss me off and I turned around. "Hi! I'm Ashley and this is my friend, Trish! We're new here and…well actually everyone is new here actually." She laughed…a horrible screeching in my ear. I know what I wanted to do but I took my hands out of my pockets without my knife, just so I wouldn't lose it incase they didn't catch my warning. "I don't really care, leave me alone." I repelled them. "Ugh…what's your problem?" Trish attacked back. "You know I felt bad for you at first because you looked like a sad little emo boy, but I guess you're just a little emo freak!" Trish assumed. The knife in my pocket seemed to throb. I stood there wordless contemplating how to deal with the anger she just handed. "Well, aren't you gonna say something?" Ashley was really asking "Well, aren't you gonna kill me?".

"Fuck you." I replied. "Excuse me?" Trish said in disbelief. "I said fuck you." I said as a final blow, then turned around. I didn't pay attention to where they went after that. I don't really care, there lucky to still be walking, they should've left me alone, especially after I told them I didn't want to talk. Even though they were just trying to start a friendly conversation it doesn't change the fact that I told them I wasn't in the mood for talking.

Another hour of waiting and deck construction went by until I finally reached the front of the line. I was too busy taking cards in and out to even notice where I was. "Next!" someone shouted. It sounded like it was the third or fourth time they shouted it, like they were getting mad that I wasn't listening to them. I looked over to see who was screaming. A tall, fat man with a tiny, unfitting duel disk was standing there waiting. He looked quite foolish with such a little duel disk, at least, it looked tiny compared to him. I tried to work my deck into this strange machine strapped to my arm as I walked straight towards this giant. "One or best two out of three?" I asked. "…We'll see after the first round" he shocked me. What a rip off of a duelist, he'll obviously play two out of three if he loses the first. We started with the roll of a dice, I rolled a 5 and he rolled a 2. Since I won I got to decide who went first: me. We both drew 5 cards and I drew a 6th card starting my turn.