I watched out of the helicopter window as we flew over the ocean. It had been a long flight to Japan, and then I had to transfer into a private helicopter to continue on to Academy Island. As I looked out of the window at the approaching island, I wondered what life would be like at Duel Academy.
After getting off of the helicopter, suitcase in hand, I looked around curiously. One question: where the hell is everybody? I started to get slightly freaked out as I walked along the pier. When I stepped off of the pier, I looked around, and, to my relief, found what I presumed was the main school building, and figured it'd be my safest bet to walk in that direction, considering there was nobody here to greet me.
I slung my backpack over my shoulder and grabbed my suitcase and started walking towards the main building, looking for any other form of human life I could find.
"Where is everybody?" I muttered. A poke to my leg was my response. I looked down and chuckled lightly, throwing a smile over my shoulder at my little, translucent friend. "Come on, Penguin Soldier, let's see if they're all in class or something." I sighed to myself as I reached the front doors of the building and looked up, admiring the pretty impressive architecture. I grinned a little. Not that I could really talk, but Japanese people could use small spaces extremely efficiently, which got a little scary sometimes. I tossed my head a little, flicking my fringe out of my eyes and more toward the right side of my face, before walking through the front doors of the school.
I looked around at the empty hallways curiously, before looking down at my little spirit friend again. Yes, I can see duel spirits, before you start going wobbly. I've been able to see them for as long as I remember.
"So, Soldier, where do you think everybody is?" With a little muffled cheep, my penguin soldier started waddling very quickly down one of the hallways. I sighed, shaking my head a little before following Penguin Soldier down the hallway, bringing my bags with me.
As I kept walking, I started to gradually hear a noise that sounded vaguely like the buzz of a crowd filling a stadium, before a big footy game or an even bigger duel. When Penguin soldier turned down an open archway, I followed and stopped at the threshold, to find myself in a relatively large, upscale duel arena, filled to capacity with students in red, yellow, and blue blazers on one side of the stadium, and still more students, all clad in fur lined jackets of muted colours on the far side of the stadium.
As I began to look around for a free seat anywhere, I noticed two older men stand up, one was bald and wore a darker red blazer, and the other man was bald at the top of his head, and wore a yellow jacket of some description, with a white head band around his forehead.
"Attention students!" The man in red called. "Welcome to the school duel!"
"And now," The yellow clad man continued. "Let this year's competition, finally begin!" Both men finished the announcement together.
"Doctor Crowler, introduce the duellists!" the man in red called down towards the stadium, where, for lack of better description, a she-man clad in a blue blazer with pink ruffles and gold shoulder decorations stood, microphone poised at his purple-blue painted lips. I cringed at the sight of the man, hoping to any higher powers above that he wasn't one of my teachers.
"With pleasure Chancellor Sheppard! After all, these are two duellists that I know personally! And, personally, I just adore them." Insert a creepy chuckle here. "Now first, from Duel Academy-" The students in red, yellow and blue erupted into cheers here. "Alright! Keep it down, keep it down! Introducing, Jaden Yucky! What's that? Oh yes, Yuki, Yuki!" The crowd from Duel Academy erupted into more cheers as I turned my attention to finding a seat. I started up the stairs, and noticed a free seat next to a boy with pale blue hair, who was looking down at the duel arena intently.
"Hey," I called, tapping him on the shoulder. He turned his attention to me and his eyes widened somewhat behind his spectacles. "Do you mind if I take this seat? I kind of just got here." The boy looked stunned for a moment.
"Oh, uh, s-sorry, but what did you say?" He asked as a blush crossed his cheeks. I raised an eyebrow curiously, wondering why he would ask, considering I was speaking clear...English. Right, I'm in Japan, not Australia. I slapped a hand to my forehead and groaned at my own stupidity, before trying again in Japanese.
"I said, do you mind if I sit there? I just got here, I'm the new transfer from South Academy." The boy's eyes widened even more at that.
"Uh, s-sure, you can sit there!" He exclaimed in embarrassment. "Sorry I didn't understand you before, but I kind of failed English when I was in elementary school. Actually, I failed everything in elementary school." I nodded.
"Don't worry about it too much, I'm just more used to speaking English than Japanese, so don't mind me." I then turned my attention back to the duel arena, watching as the transsexual doctor began to introduce the other student. At least I was watching, until my phone started to buzz in my pocket. I rolled my eyes good naturedly, knowing very well who the text message would be from, and fished my phone out of my jeans pocket, sliding it open and reading the text message I had received from a friend of mine. I giggled a little at the message, and started tapping out my reply. I slid my phone shut after sending the text message and returned my attention to the duel once again. My eye twitched when I noticed that I had returned during the opponent giving a pointless lecture, in third person.
"Duel!" Both boys called, and the duel began.
"For my first move, I'm going to summon a monster with some bite! Rise, Masked Dragon!" A red and white dragon appeared in defence mode, and the boy in the black jacket looked nothing but smug. "That'll do for now!" He called to the boy in red. I raised an eyebrow. That was a pretty smart first move to make. Despite the fact that I didn't really like this guy already, he had some good moves.
"Not once you see what I've got for you!" The other boy called, before drawing a card. "Just what I wanted. I play, Elemental Hero Burstinatrix! In attack mode!" His monster appeared on the field in, well, as her name said, a burst of flames. "Actually, on second thought, I should say slayer mode! 'Cause that's just what she's going to do to that dragon!" My eyebrow rose just a touch higher. Elemental Heroes, huh? This guy had a pretty good deck, but the question was, did he know how to use it?
"Awesome! Jaden's just taken the lead!" The boy I was sitting next to cheered. I looked over at him curiously.
"You're friends with the guy that's duelling down there?" I asked curiously. The boy turned to me and nodded.
"Yeah! Jaden and I have been best friends since we both met at the Duel Academy entrance exams." I smiled at the boy, and held my hand out to him.
"That reminds me, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Michelle Taylor, but everybody calls me Mickey, since I'm only called by my actual first name when I'm in trouble or something." The blue haired boy grinned and took my hand and shook it, despite my knowledge that the customary Japanese greeting was to bow instead.
"It's nice to meet you, Mickey. My name's Syrus Truesdale." I nodded with a smile.
"That's pretty cool. So you're the younger brother of the famous Zane Truesdale?" I asked curiously, to which Syrus nodded, the gleam of happiness temporarily leaving his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm Zane's little brother." He murmured, slightly dejectedly, and I looked at him curiously, before returning my gaze to the match, to find the black haired guy was going...spastic again.
"I activate my Masked Dragon's special ability! You see, when this card is sent to the Graveyard due to a battle, I can summon a dragon type monster with 1500 or fewer attack points from my deck. And I have just the one: go ahead and see for yourself. Come out, Armed Dragon Level Three!" At this, the North Academy students erupted into cheers.
"Uh, level?" Syrus asked, worriedly.
"Yeah, and three is the lowest." I looked passed Syrus to the blonde haired, hazel eyed girl clad in white and blue sitting on the other side of him, raising an eyebrow. "If Chazz plays this right, then the dragon will get a lot bigger." So, the crazy bloke with the black hair's name was Chazz, and the guy with the brown hair wearing one of the academy's red jackets was called Jaden. That just made my life a little easier.
"Indeed." A boy in a yellow blazer, with dark hair and eyes commented from the other side of the blonde. "I just wonder where Chazz got such a powerful card." I nodded and hummed in agreement with the dark haired boy. My eye twitched considerably when Chancellor Sheppard proceeded to make a fool of himself, before Jaden spoke up again. I cleared my throat, gaining the attention of the students around me, who all must be friends with Jaden.
"The Armed Dragon cards, like other Level monsters, aren't all that common, but they aren't classed as rare cards either. My guess is that Chazz is playing with a deck ya'll've never seen before, right?" When I received various nods and affirmations as an answer, I nodded, looking back at the duel. "If that's the case, then somebody Chazz knows talked with money into the right person's ear. That's how he's got that deck. If I'm right, it won't just be the Armed Dragons your friend will have to be careful of. That deck probably has quite a few rare and powerful cards hidden in it." I turned back to the duel, leaving Jaden's friends puzzling over Chazz's deck.
"Yeah, uh, sure. Anyway, sweet card Chazz, I can't wait to see what that Armed Dragon card can do." I noticed that Jaden was smirking. There was no other way to describe his smile, or the look in his eyes. He looked like somebody who really loved duelling for fun. Chazz on the other hand…
"Don't worry, you'll have a first row seat." Chazz retorted.
"'Til then, now, I'm throwing down a face-down and ending my turn."
"Great, now I can start ending you! You see Jaden, during my standby phase, Armed Dragon's effect activates. So, by sending one card to the graveyard, and sacrificing his level three form, I can summon Armed Dragon Level Five directly to the field."
"Say what?!" Jaden exclaimed in surprise.
I looked over at Syrus when he moaned worriedly. "This isn't good." Syrus murmured. I said nothing, turning my attention back to the duel as it unfolded, even though Syrus was a hundred percent right about things not being good for Jaden.
"Now, then," Chazz began in that highly irritating voice of his. "Let's go ahead and get to it, shall we? Armed Dragon Level Five! Rise!" And it did, in a flash of bright, green-yellow light, replacing the significantly smaller Armed Dragon Level three on the field. The North Academy students all started cheering raucously. I winced at the chorus of all male cheers. Why the heck weren't any of the girls from North Academy here? At least there would've been some smart members of the fairer sex to tell them to shut their traps.
"Be careful Jaden!" The boy in yellow called down to his friend. "By levelling up, Armed Dragon's power has substantially increased, and he was plenty powerful before!" I nodded my silent agreement. I would've said something myself, except that I didn't exactly know Jaden, at all.
"Oh, man." Syrus mumbled. I raised an eyebrow at him. Well, his confidence certainly does need work, not just for himself, but for others as well.
"Wow, Chazz. That thing's pretty sweet!" Jaden called excitedly. "But then, so's my trap! Hero Ring!" I couldn't help but smile at that. I may not know a lot about the Heroes Deck, but I knew vaguely about that card's effects. "And I'll equip it, to Burstinatrix! Now monsters with 1900 or more attack points can't attack. Them's the brakes." I watched on as Chazz started laughing. I had the feeling this was going to be a long duel.
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Turns out that Jaden won the duel, thanks to a trap card that dropped Chazz's Armed Dragon Level Seven's attack points by 1200, followed up by an attack from Jaden's Elemental Hero Flame Wingman, which was closely followed by Flame Wingman's special ability.
The result: Chazz is a loser, and Jaden won the duel. I followed Jaden's friends down to the arena just in time to Chazz taking a verbal beating from two older men who looked very similar to him. Looks like his relatives weren't too happy about him losing.
"Let him go!" Jaden called, causing the three dark haired family members to look at him. "Yeah, sure he lost, but how could he not with you two jerks breathing down his neck?"
"Two jerks?" One of them muttered. "Do you have any idea who we are? We could have you crushed kid!" He proclaimed. I crossed my arms over my chest and stepped forward, which not only gained the attention of the dark haired trio, but Jaden and his friends as well.
"Cut the rot. If anybody's a loser here, it's you two chumps, not Chazz. Oh, and guess what? I've only been here long enough to watch the duel to have that worked out for myself. So bloody what if he doesn't want to use your fancy rare cards? Far as I'm concerned, he was the bigger man by choosing not to use them."
"Why defend Chazz anyhow?" The older of the two suit monkeys asked. "He's a nobody now! Disowned by us, and by the whole world! I mean, the cameras caught enough of it. He got schooled! He got mopped up!" I fixed the suit monkeys with a glare, and I heard somebody growl behind me. Then the younger suit monkey continued the verbal abuse.
"That's right, and then worst of all, he got beat!"
"Wrong!" I looked behind me to see Jaden trembling with what looked like anger. My eyes widened in surprise. What surprised me was the fact that a guy so happy on life and duelling could be angry. "There's one fight he did win. The fight against you two! Sure, Chazz may not have won the duel but hey, at least he fought it on his own terms! It's like he said, he used his cards, not what your money could buy!" I nodded my agreement.
"That's what duelling is about." I added, fixing a glare on the suit monkeys again. "It's not about winning to make somebody else look good, it's about having fun – winning or losing on your own terms." The suit monkey who had a hold of Chazz let him go, both of the suit monkey's scoffing in disgust.
"Tight duel Chazz." Jaden commented, looking at the verbally beaten boy. "And I know it's cheesey, but I think the truth of it is, we both won here." I smiled over my shoulder at Jaden. This guy is definitely a good person.
"You're just sayin' that." Jaden blinked, mumbling a 'huh?'. "I mean, come on. Nobody else believes that." After a moment of silence, the kids from North Academy all started cheering for Chazz, and the Duel Academy kids weren't far behind. Chazz's relatives glared at everyone in general, then decided they'd had enough, and left. Chazz wandered off outside as well, after his relatives had been gone for a couple minutes. I turned to face Jaden and his friends. Jaden was looking at me with a curious smile on his face.
"Thanks for helpin' me back up Chazz, but, uh, do I know you?" I giggled and shook my head.
"No, you don't Ii just transferred here today from South Academy," I smiled and offered my hand. "Name's Mickey Taylor, Australian in origin." Jaden murmured and excited 'cool' as he took hold of my hand and shook it.
"So, why'd you transfer?" Jaden asked curiously, as we followed the flood of students heading outside after pausing so I could grab my bags. I shrugged, raising an eyebrow at the submarine down at the docks that I hadn't noticed before.
"I guess I transferred because I wanted to see more of the world. I've lived over in Australia all my life, y'know. I haven't really had the chance to travel anywhere. Besides, I think the change will be good for me." Jaden nodded thoughtfully. We paused with the crowd to say goodbye to the North academy kids, minus Chazz, who decided he was staying. When my pale red hair started getting blown into my face, I bunched it up at the back of my head and pulled a hairtie from my wrist to tie my hair up. After the very strange prize was given to the winning Chancellor, the crowd dispersed, with the exception of myself, who happened to have no idea where my dorm was, and Jaden, who had noticed my confusion.
"So, which dorm are you in?" He asked amicably. I looked up at him, before grabbing my academy PDA from my belt.
"Um," I searched through my mail until I found what I was looking for. "Oh! I'm in Slifer red." I looked up at Jaden, who was grinning like a mad man. I raised an eyebrow when I noticed once again that he was wearing a red jacket. "So, it looks like we're in the same dorm?" Jaden nodded happily, a goofy grin still adorning his face. I giggled, pushing him in front of me gently. "Well then, lead the way Chuckles." He blinked confusedly at the nickname, but shrugged, and lead me off to wherever the Slifer dorm was hidden away.
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Author's note: So, here's chapter one of a brand new story! Well, not exactly new, I've been working on this since last year. Two years ago if you wanna get technical, considering I scrapped the first attempt, then the second attempt, and finally settled on the third attempt. I know you guys are waiting on other projects like the re-write of my Gundam SEED/SEED Destiny fic, and believe me, I will get to that eventually, but I do have to start on another assignment in a couple days, so I dunno how quickly I'll be able to get to it. Maybe today or tomorrow sometime...
Anyway, enjoy. I wouldn't call this one perfect, and I'll probably end up deciding to start over with it again, but it'll do for now.
Kudos!
Un-beta'd
