Newcomers!

Dueling the Heroes!

"Jaden! Jaden! Wake up!" Syrus Truesdale pleaded, trying to wake his best friend.

"Rise and shine, Sarge!" Tyranno Hassleberry shouted as he shoved Jaden Yuki out of bed and onto the floor with a crash.

"Ow!" Jaden cried, sitting up and rubbing his head. "What's the rush?"

"New recruits just reported for duty, that's what's up!" Hassleberry informed Jaden. "Now let's get a move on!"

"Oh yeah!" Jaden slammed his fist into his palm. "Today we get new students! I guess I forgot,"

Syrus sighed. "Tell me something I don't know."

The three ran up to the pier and joined up with fellow students and teachers to meet the new students. A boat had just pulled in and teenagers were beginning to file off it.

"Vellian Crowler was at the front of the pier to welcome the students. "Welcome to Duel Academy! Now let's start by introducing yourselves!"

The first off the boat was a small boy with messy blonde hair. Crowler shoved the microphone into his mouth and asked him his name. "Conway Amuniz, ma'am" the boy responded.

"I AM A MAN!" Crowler exploded.

"Oh, my bad." Conway apologized. "You sure look like a woman."

"That's it! Someone please tell me this slacker is in the red dorm!" Crowler cried.

"Actually, Crowler, that young gentleman is in Obelisk Blue," Chancellor Sheppard answered as he pushed his way through the crowd. This statement outraged Crowler and he had a huge outburst until Fonda Fontaine and Ms. Dorothy dragged him away.

Sheppard coughed. "Well then, I guess I'll have to be the welcome committee."

Next off the boat was thin, average sized boy will neat brown hair. "And you are...?" Sheppard asked.

"Avery Warton, pleased to meet you," Avery said happily as he shook Sheppard's hand. "Such a gentleman you are. Now let's see, you are in...hm...ah, yes! Your dorm is Slifer Red!" Sheppard announced, much to Avery's dismay.

Next a tall, stout girl with brown hair wrapped in a ponytail stepped onto the pier. "And who might you be, young lady?"

"My name is Joslyn Adarame," the girl replied cheerily.

"Well Joslyn, it seems that you are in the Obelisk dorm." Sheppard informed her.

"She's pretty," Syrus and Hassleberry said simultaneously. "I wish she was in our dorm!"

"Dylan Feldagrin," a boy with light black hair said. "Obelisk Blue?"

"You are correct!" Sheppard congratulated him.

"Dusty Taper, nice to meet you!" a boy with fairly long brown hair announced.

"Rah Yellow, Dusty!" Sheppard said.

"Well now! We don't have many new students this time do we?" Sheppard pondered. "Only one left! You are?"

"Darius Loi," a black kid said happily.

"Well then, Darius, it seems you are in Rah Yellow as well!" Sheppard smiled.

"Only one girl?" Alexis Rhodes complained from the back of the crowd.

"What a bunch of losers," Chazz Princeton rolled his eyes and began to walk away.

"Hey, boss!" Ojama Yellow, a duel spirit yelled. "If they're losers you should be able to beat them easy!"

"What does that mean?" Chazz snapped as he crushed the spirit in between his hands.

"I've just got to duel these guys!" Jaden yelled happily.

"As always we start the year off with a duel." Sheppard announced. "Everyone's name is in this pot! I will draw two names and those two students will participate in the first official duel of the year! Now then..."

"Duelist #1 is..." Sheppard stayed silent a while to create suspense. "Jaden Yuki! You are to be in the first duel! And your opponent is," Sheppard was silent once again, "Joslyn Adarame!"

"Well, now I can see how good she is," Alexis said to herself.

"Now then, shake hands! Good, good! Now let the duel commence!" Sheppard shouted.

"Alright, get your game on!"Jaden shouted.

"I'll go first!" Jaden announced. "Sweetness! I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman (1600/1400) in attack mode! Then I'll throw down a face down!"

"Time for me to shine!" Joslyn yelled. "I'll start with my Masked Dragon (1400/1100) in attack mode! Next I set a face down and I will turn the crowd's attention to you!"

"What's she thinking?" Syrus asked no one in particular. "Her dragon is weaker than Sparkman!"

"What that dragon lacks in offense, it's special effect more than makes up for," Bastion Misawa answered.

"My go!" Jaden shouted as he drew a card. "I'm going to summon my Elemental Hero Avian in attack mode. Now then, Sparkman! Use Static Shockwave on her dragon!" Lightning erupted from Sparkman's palms and zapped Joslyn's dragon.

"Now then! Thanks to my Masked Dragon's effect, I can summon a dragon-type monster with 1500 or less attack points! I'm choosing my Red Eyes Black Chick (800/500) in attack mode!" Joslyn yelled as as a tiny black dragon burst onto the field.

"Big deal, so my Avian gets a chicken dinner," Jaden shrugged. "Avian make a meal out of

that chick!"

"Not so fast! I activate my quick-play spell card: Rush Recklessly!" Joslyn shouted as her face down card flipped up. "This increases my chick's attack by 700! Now who's made a meal out of who?"

"Avian!" Jaden cried as Avian was destroyed. Jaden's life points dropped to 3500. "Alright, then! Your move!"

"Gladly! I draw!" Joslyn shouted. "Now then, my chick's special effect lets me sacrifice it in order to summon my Red Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000)!

"Since that was a special summon, I can still summon one additional monster! I'm going to choose my Lord of D. (1200/1100)! Now while he's on the field, my dragon is protected from all your cards!" Joslyn told Jaden.

"Now finish him off!"

"Not yet, Joslyn!" Jaden interrupted. "I reveal my Negate Attack trap card! With this your attacks negated and the battle phase ends! Since it's not targeting your dragon, it still works!"

"I'm going to set one card and I will end my turn." Joslyn mumbled.

"OK, here goes something!" Jaden yelled. "I summon my Elemental Hero Ocean (1500/1200)! Next I'm going to set three face-down cards! And now, since my Elemental Hero Bubbleman (800/1200) is the only card in my hand, I get to summon it!

"Next I'll activate my face-down card! Miracle Fusion! So now I remove from play my Bubbleman, Sparkman, and my Avian to summon my Elemental Hero Tempest (2800/2800)! Now he's going to attack your Red Eyes!" Jaden commanded. Tempest punched Joslyn's dragon and it exploded. Joslyn's life points dropped to 3600.

"Now, we can't let him have all the fun, can we?" Jaden asked rhetorically. "Ocean, attack Lord of D.!" Joslyn's life points dropped to 3300. "You can go now."

"I'm going to summon my Luster Dragon (1900/1600)!" Joslyn yelled. "Now, attack his Elemental Hero Ocean!"

"Not quite!" Jaden shouted. "I activate Tempest's effect! So I ditch a card, like my face down Swing of Memories to keep Ocean on the field."

"That may work for your Hero, but not for your life points!" Joslyn yelled. Jaden's life points dropped to 3100.

"Now I'll set another face-down and you can go," Joslyn said.

"Alright!" Jaden drew a card from his deck. "I'll get my Tempest to attack your dragon!"

"I'll reveal a face-down! Magic Cylinder! Now you attack gets redirected...straight toward your life points!" Joslyn explained. Jaden's life points dropped to 300.

"Fine, I'll switch Ocean to defense mode. Now you can go." Jaden stated flatly.

"Now then, I activate Monster Reborn! Now say hello to an old friend, Red Eyes Black Dragon!" Joslyn boomed. Now attack his Elemental Hero Ocean!"

"He's invincible if you haven't forgotten," Jaden informed.

"That's why I'm activating my trap card!" Joslyn smiled. "Dragon's Rage! Now when my dragon battles a defense position monster with a lower defense than my monster's attack, the difference is inflicted to your life points!"

"I'm activating my trap as well!" Jaden countered. "Elemental Recharge is its name, life point recovery is its game. For each Hero on my side of the field I gain back 1000 points!" Jaden's points increased to 2300, then quickly decreased to 1100.

"Now my Luster Dragon will take a shot!" Joslyn shouted. Jaden's life points dropped again to 400.

"I'll end my turn," Joslyn said.

"OK then, my draw!" Jaden began. "Now my Tempest will attack your Red Eyes!" Joslyn's life points dropped to 2900. "Now I'll throw down a face-down and end my turn!"

"You could've thought of a better strategy than leaving your Hero Ocean open for an attack" Joslyn bragged. "Now watch me claim victory as my Luster Dragon attacks your Ocean!"

"Jaden, no!" Syrus cried.

"Hang in there, Sarge," Hassleberry shouted.

"Trap card activate!" Jaden commanded. "Hero Barrier! Now since there is a Hero on my field, I can negate your attack!"

"But then, that means," Joslyn started.

"That's right!" Jaden yelled. "Now I summon my Elemental Hero Wildheart (1500/1600) and get my Temest to attack your Luster Dragon. Then my Ocean and Wildheart will attack you directly!" Joslyn's life points dropped all the way to 0.

"That's game!" Jaden shouted.

"The winner of the first official duel of the year is Jaden Yuki!" Sheppard announced into his microphone.

"What a sweet duel!" Jaden walked over to Joslyn, who was crying. "You were awesome!"

Joslyn attempted to wipe her eyes. "Really?" Jaden nodded.

"After the first duel, something usually goes wrong," Syrus said ominously to Bastion and Hassleberry.

"Let's hope not," Bastion said.