Chapter 1: The Mystery Duelist
Every morning for the inhabitants of Slifer Dorm was the same routine day in, and day out.
Get up, get dressed, look through deck, scarf down some breakfast, and then top it off with a scurry to class and pray to the Egyptian God Cards that you arrived on time.
So for every new student at Duel Academy, they were used to the horrifying routine by the end of the second week, and they eventually learned that complaining never did any good.
But with te new entrants arriving in only hours, and classes having been called off for the day, things somehow managed to be just as chaotic as they would be on any normal school day.
"Com on, Jay! You said that you wanted to watch the entrance exams, well if you don't hurry, you'll miss your chance!" A small boy whispered urgently as he tugged on his best friends arm.
Managing to sleep through the tugging and the pulling, Jaden Yuki continued to snore and dream of duel monsters galore.
Syrus Truesdale frowned as he received the less than wanted response, "Jaden, you wanted this! So...Why...Don't...You...Wake...U-!"
Just before Syrus could completely get out the word "up", Jeaden flung out his left arm, and sending Syrus flying backwards, yelled out, "Ha! You've sprung my trap card! I activate Sakuretsu Armor! Now Cybernetic Dragon is destroyed! That's game, Zane!"
Slowly recovering from the impact of being knocked down, Syrus crossed his arms, "I seriously hate it when he does that..."
"Then why even bother, Sy?" A voice drifted down from the top bunk of the triple decker bed.
Syrus looked up at the direction that the voice had come from, "I bother because I know how important dueling is to Jaden! Just because you've almost flunked out doesn't mean that Jaden should!"
Chumly Huffington merely shrugged and laid back down onto his mattress, leaving Syrus in the silence, broken only by the sound of Jaden's snoring.
More carefully this time, Syrus tried to wake Jaden up, "I hope you're in defense mode now..." He slowly reached out and touched Jaden's shoulder, and with the slightest touch, Jaden shot up and was scrambling around their dorm, muttering things that sounded like "Gonna be late," and "Looking forward to today for a while now." But taking a step in front of Jaden, and he stopped in his tracks.
"Hey, what's up Sy?"
"You, finally!"
Jaden rubbed his nose and whispered, "How long have you been trying to wake me up this time?"
Looking over at the clock on the wall which read twenty after eight, Syrus answered, "Only thirty minutes this time. Much better than yesterday's fifty minute battle."
"Alright! That's what I'm talking about!"
"Yeah, well, I'm going to head on over to the Duel Arena. I'll save you a seat."
"Thanks Sy!" Jaden called as he scrambled into his Slifer Red uniform, and Syrus grabbing a piece of toast from the small pile on the counter, looked up at Chumly's bunk and whispered, "Sorry about what I said earlier, Chum."
Chumly waved his hand, showing Syrus that he'd not only heard the apology, but that he also had accepted it.
Syrus smiled, and called out, "Well I'm off. See you in a minute, Jay!" With that he jogged off in the direction of the Duel Arena, which was bound to be filled to the brim with students: future and present.
The scenery that bassed by was the same as it always had been. Thousands of tall trees, leaves as green as green could be. The volcano on the island, which always billowed out smoke, but was inactive. Small ponds of crystal clear water scattered every few yards.
After a few minutes of jogging, Syrus slowed and finally stopped beside one of the small ponds. He looked down and saw his own reflextion looking back at him.
His light turquoise hair was slightly messed up from falling back in the dorm, and it was also damp in places where he'd begun to sweat from jogging in the summer sun. His steel grey eyes roved over the rest of his reflextion. Tiny in build. But he was only sixteen, so there was still plenty of time left for him to grow a few more inches.
Then there were the circular glasses that he'd worn since childhood, that were perched on the bridge of his nose.
He had always thought of himself as having some kind of quality that could classify himself as being cute, charming, funny or just attractive to girls in an overall sense.
Would people really be turned away from his because of the red blaizer that he wore? His short height? Lack of confidence? The fact that he wasn't the greatest duelist to ever attend Duel Academy?
Syrus sighed, and resumed walking. "I've got to think realistically about this...look at who I've got to compare myself to...my big brother...Zane...The top duelist of Obelisk Blue Dorm! And I barely got into Slifer..."
The rest of the time he walked on in silence, the voice in his head doing all of the talking that needed to happen. Saying all the things that Syrus wanted to say...but never would be able to. And getting so lost in his mind, he didn't even notice that he was already at the Duel Arena and in his seat until he heard the crowd clapping with much enthusiasm, follwed by the name of the first possible student.
Syrus fully snapped back to reality when Jaden half-cheered, half-yelled into his ear, "Syrus, what are you waiting for?"
He looked over at Jaden, who clapped Syrus hard on the back.
"Congratulations!"
"For what?"
With wide eys, Jaden whispered, "For winning the chance to duel one of the entrants!"
"WHAT?" Syrus couldn't believe what Jaden had just told him. And if it were true, he just couldn't do it, he'd have to lie and say that he forgot his deck in the dorm.
Jaden laughed briefly, then pushed Syrus towards the stairs leading down to the actual dueling arena. And once more, the voice in the back of his head rang out, and told Syrus to just go and do it.
Whad did he have to lose? Look at all that he could win...
"Alright...I'll do it!" Was all that Syrus could manage to whisper, and made his way to his opponent, which from what he saw, he couldn't tell much about, other than the fact that there was sheer determination on his face.
As soon as Syrus stepped foot into the arena, the referee called out, "Are both duelists prepared and ready?"
"Yes!"
Syrus was shocked by the certainty in his opponent's voice, a certainty that he himself would never know.
"And what about you?"
"Uhh...yeah..."
"Then duel!"
Strapping on his duel disk, Syrus was ready, and he was thankful that he was first to play. "Alright..." He looked at the cards as he drew them. Not great, but also not bad. He could actually make this work!
"I summon Steamroid in attack mode, and set a card face down. I end my turn."
His opponent assessed the field for a moment then began to make his play. "I activate the spell Reinforcement of the Army, which allows me to add a warrior-type monster to my hand from my deck."
The card he was after was out of his deck, and into his hands in a matter of seconds. "Then I set a monster in defense mode, and place two face downs. Your turn."
Syrus only knew that he was up against a deck which contained atleast one warrior-type monster, he didn't know if it was only warrior based or what.
"I summon Jetroid in attack mode, and I attack your face down monster with him!"
The face down monster flipped over and was revealed to be Elemental Hero Clayman, and instantly Syrus knew that he'd be taking some damage.
The fact that he was up against Elemental Heroes didn't bother Syrus, seeing as Jaden used an Elemental Hero deck and practiced against Syrus all the time.
"I still have Steamroid! And his special effect gives him 500 extra attack points when he attacks! So that'll be 2300 attack versus 2000 defense! Do the math! Go Steamroid, attack Clayman!"
With a slight smirk, his opponent activated one of his face down cards, "I activate Draining Shield! Negating your attack, and adding those 2300 attack points to my life points!"
Syrus sighed, and quietly ended his turn.
"I summon Elemental Hero Wildheart in attack mode and switch Clayman from defense to offense and I attack Steamroid with Wildheart!"
Syrus watched as his current defense was destroyed, leaving him wide open for a direct attack.
"And I attack you directly with Clayman!"
"Are you done yet?"
"Almost...I now activate Elemental Recharge, and for every Elemental Hero on my side of the field, I gain 1000 life points per monster."
"Now..."
"I'm done."
Srus drew his next card and felt his heart sink into stomach.
Nothing! There was absolutely nothing that he could do!
"I end my turn..."
"What a shame...I summon Elemental Hero Stratos and I activate his effect, which is for all other Elemental Heroes on the field, I can destroy the same number of spells and traps."
The face down trap that Syrus had had down since turn one, disappeared.
And now I attack you with all three of my monsters!"
Within seconds, Syrus' life points were down to 2000, and he knew that he wouldn't last much longer.
"I set one monster face down, and I end my turn..."
I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman, and I use him to attack your face down!"
The card flipped over, but wasn't destroyed.
"It's Gyroid, and once per turn, if it's attacked, it's not destroyed!"
"Well then I attack again with Wildheart! And I end it with Clayman and Stratos! That's game!"
With those final words, Syrus thought of nothing but Jaden, and checking up in the stands to see if he were still there, he saw that he was. Cheering probably louder than anyone else.
Syrus was baffled...he had lost the duel, yet why were his friends still cheering him on? Why were they cheering as if he had won?
"Way to duel, Sy!"
"Well done, Syrus!"
He blushed softly, he believed that he didn't deserve such recognition as he was getting, and that his opponent had been a million times better than him.
"Hey!"
Looking up, Syrus watched as the winner of the duel approached him. "Hey...congratulations!"
"Thanks, it was a good duel, and I look forward to facing you again." The duelist offered his hand to Syrus, and as they both demonstrated good sportsmanship, the crowd continued to cheer.