Jaden was late.
He hadn't meant to be that late, hadn't meant to sleep through his alarm. Twice. Didn't anticipate running into Yugi that morning. Or he was pretty sure that was Yugi, anyway. Most of all, he hadn't anticipated having to duel one of the professors because of his tardiness. But now that he's passed the entrance exam and settled down into his dorm, he's about ready to take on the first day.
Or orientation day actually, and of course, he woke up late. Again.
"Jaden. JADEN!" Syrus yelled as he shook Jaden in an attempt to wake him up, "Come on, we have to get to the arena! There's gonna be a showcase duel and we're gonna miss it!"
Upon hearing that, he shot up out of bed, now wide awake.
"A what now? A duel? What, why didn't you wake me up earlier then, Sy!?" Sy groaned as Jaden shot out of bed and sprinted out, completely ignoring Syrus as he exclaimed that he had been trying to for the past 10 minutes. "Come on Sy, we can't miss this!"
Syrus yelled after Jaden to wait up, sprinting out of the dorms after him and toward the main building. The pair raced toward the arena, just as the pair of duelists stepped up to start. Both panting from the effort it took to make it, they made their way to the stands, finding seats next to Alexis, Chumley, and Bastion. Alexis waved as they sat down, meanwhile, Bastion gave them a nod of acknowledgment but didn't turn to look at them.
"Hey, took you guys long enough, was starting to worry that you'd miss this," Chumley said as they sat down next to him.
"Yeah, I was wondering when you two would get here." Bastion remarked from his seat next to Alexis, both of them seated in front of the trio, "You've just made it in time for the duel."
"Yeah, we almost didn't because SOMEONE wouldn't wake up." Syrus quipped, glaring pointedly at Jaden.
"Hey, I'm still growing, gotta get my sleep in, right? Anyway, who's dueling?" Jaden asked, leaning forward to try and get a better look at the two duelists. They stood at the center, shuffling each other's decks, but they seemed more occupied by whatever conversation they were having than the duel they were supposed to be having.
"Zane and Roxy, they're third-year Obelisk students and the best at the academy," Alexis explained.
"Zane also happens to be my older brother," Syrus adds, though he didn't seem all too excited to mention the fact.
"Oh yeah? That's awesome! He must be good then. What about her?" Jaden gazes at the girl. Physically, she was fairly pretty, from what he can see of her from this distance. Shoulder length black hair and it might've been the angle, but she seemed to only come up to Zane's shoulders height-wise.
"She's Roxy like Alexis said. She's been friends with Zane for as long as I can remember," Syrus remarked "She's super nice. She's a really good duelist too, from what I remember."
"Huh." Jaden couldn't get any other comments in before the duel officially starts.
"Should mention that apparently the two have a bit of a competition, but from what I've heard, we could hardly call it that. These two have only ever lost to each other." Alexis remarked, just as they draw their first hands.
"Really?" Jaden gawked but didn't get much further than that before getting elbowed in the ribs by Syrus.
"Shut up, they're starting."
The duel was close for the first several turns, and at its climax, Zane had been able to summon Cyber End Dragon. But Roxy, using a Lightsworn deck (her favourite deck to use, Syrus had commented), had been able to stop Zane from attacking her directly using Sakuretsu Armor. That move not only stopped his attack, it also destroyed Cyber End. Now that it was her turn, she seemed to be gearing up for a duel ending play.
"And since I have 4 or more different Lightsworns in my graveyard, I get to special summon Judgement Dragon from my hand. And by sacrificing a thousand of my lifepoints, every card on the field is then destroyed. But because Realm of Light has five shine counters, I can remove two of them and it stays on the field." By this point, everyone watching was put on the edge of their seat, but the winner's been decided already.
"That's impressive, not only did she summon the most powerful monster she has in her deck, she destroyed every card on the field aside from her field spell. Zane doesn't have anything to defend himself, and she can still summon another monster since Judgement Dragon was a special summon." Bastion iterated this as soon as it all happened.
"Awesome!" Jaden was nearly jumping out of his seat now, as she continued with her turn.
"You're not done yet, are you?" Zane knew though, she wasn't. This was her favourite combo to use, after all.
"Me? Done? Nah, not yet. I'm gonna use Double Summon, which if it wasn't obvious, allows me to normal summon twice this turn. So I'm gonna start with Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn but he's not sticking around very long. I'm sending him to the graveyard to summon Celestia, Lightsworn Angel."
"Whoa! Two powerful monsters in one turn! Celestia gets a 300 point boost from Realm of Light too!" Syrus marveled, getting almost as excited as Jaden.
"One last thing, I'm gonna equip Lightsworn Sabre to Celestia, giving her a 700 point boost. That's two monsters now with 3000 or more attack points." Up until this point, neither duelist had been able to touch the other's lifepoints but that was about to change, "Let's start with Judgement Dragon with a direct attack! Heaven's Verdict!"
Zane's lifepoints dropped by 3000, leaving him at 1000.
"She's gonna win this in one turn, wow!" To say Jaden was jumping up and down in excitement now would be understating it, he was like a little kid in a toy store.
"Time to finish it. Celestia! Divine Intervention!" With that, the duel ends with Roxy as the winner. She seemed to dance around a little before running up to Zane, animatedly saying something to him. No one had been able to hear over the loud crowd. Jaden, now unable to sit still, quickly suggested they go meet the two as he ran down to do so. Syrus was quick to follow but not before making sure the others were coming with. By the time they all caught up to Jaden, he had already made his way over to the pair. While Zane regarded him silently, Roxy seemed to be matching him in his energy, being almost as animated.
It was when everyone realized that these two were gonna be fast friends, they all knew that this was gonna be a long year.
At least it won't be boring.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Ok first of all, hi, I'm not actually new to the site, this is just a new account. My original account is Galaxyinmyhands, but I've switched over to a new account for a new start.
Second of all, yes, I'm writing a GX fic. I'm down a lane, let me live.
Third of all, this is on AO3. So if you find it, congrats.
Lastly, I'm rusty, I haven't properly written like this in ages. That and the first chapter isn't really that good, this more of a starting point. A jumping pad, if you will.
Anyway, constructive criticism is welcome. I might upload something on Roxy later, like a profile thing if you guys want. Thanks for stopping by, I'll see you all in the next update.