Even though I don't post much, I'm always writing. I figure I'll start posting my finished products now even if I'm not sure about them in order to post more often.

The friends of mine who liked Duel Monsters all thought I was crazy when I told them the story of my deck. Maybe you will, too, but if you do, that's too bad for you because I have proof.

I'm Yusef Musk, a normal seventeen-year-old who loves to duel and little else. Certainly not school, that's for sure - so I thought, at least. But it turned out there was a secondary school specifically for duelists who wanted to go pro: Duel Academy. And when I heard about it, I thought it would have been stupid for me to try anything anywhere else. That's the story of how I ended up in the bleachers of Duel Academy waiting for an examiner to call for my name.

While I waited, though, just watching the duels was fun for me. Which of these people could I crush in one turn? How many would crush me? I took mental notes of everybody in the place as well as their big moves and how I might counter them if I was even capable of doing so. One thing I was kind of relieved about is that it was apparently possible to lose your exam duel and still get admitted if you put up a hell of a fight. On the other hand, I also remember one disgruntled guy who won easily but didn't get admitted. He even began to disrupt other duels with his angry shouting. "What the hell, proctor?"

"Young man, all results are fi-"

"I just wiped the floor with you! Where's my vest?" The disgruntled applicant was referring to one of three dorm vests colored crimson, gold, and azure after the three Egyptian God cards Slifer, the Winged Dragon of Ra, and Obelisk - naturally not cards in common circulation. The rumor was that they were under the most secure possible lock and key in the custody of Industrial Illusions. But the vests also represent one's hierarchical rank with red at the bottom and blue at the top. I figured I'd be satisfied with any, especially since blue is just for the elite with special connections, but I was at least aiming high enough to want yellow.

"What a spoiled whiner," someone whispered into my ear before I could get a look at them. I wasn't startled, though; I just casually glanced to my left to find the speaker. It was a girl about the same age as me with a smirk on her face. "These prep school snobs think they've got it in the bag, but daddy's money isn't gonna win duels." She turned to me then. "You duel yet?"

"Didn't call me yet. Think I saw you down there, though. Lightsworn, right?"

"That was me," the brunette proudly claimed.

"You must be in if you stuck around. So, what makes you think I'm not a prep school snob? You might have just insulted me to my face."

"Rich kids are already sure they're in. You haven't boasted yet." She inclined her head then. "And they can afford custom duel disks, too, but I see you're wearing a pretty standard model."

"Oh, please," I scoffed, "A disk is a disk. They all do the same thing, more or less. Which dorm did you get in?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" That wasn't mean or taunting. It was more like she was playing coy. "Come back with your admission paperwork, and I'll tell you. That'll show me you're a real duelist worth my time."

"Yusef Musk, report to test field A," right then was barely audible over the PA because everyone in the court was talking so loudly. Luckily it repeated, "Yusef Musk, field A."

I shrugged with false modesty and began to back away. "I can wait. See you in five minutes!"

"Confident, aren't you?"

"Nah. If I was confident I would have said two."

I took the tunnel behind me away from the stands, descended the stairs, and emerged from another tunnel onto the field. I was immediately met with a proctor who indifferently queried, "Name?"

"Musk, Yusef. Field A?"

"Yessir. Deck?" I wasn't sure why I was giving up my deck to this guy, but I obeyed. I think he understood my confusion, because as he browsed my cards he clarified, "Just making sure it complies with official rules, being between fourty and sixty cards, no banned cards, and no excess copies of any cards."

"What?" That bit concerned me. I was just an amateur who didn't even know there were so many special regulations. I'd have hated it if I had to remove too many cards from my deck and be disqualified. My heart sank when he pulled one card from my deck.

"You're only allowed to have one Dark Hole in your deck. You'll have to take the other one out, OK?" I nodded my assent and took the card from the proctor, slipping it into my pocket. "Otherwise your deck qualifies. Good luck son!"

I wiped some sweat from my brow and loaded my deck into the disk. "Time to rock, then!" I advanced past a couple of duels in progress until I found a large letter A taped onto the ground with another proctor standing by it, only this one wielded a duel disk. I shouted, "Hope you brought your best deck, because these standard test decks will never keep me down!" That's when the strangest thing happened.

My surroundings disappeared all at once. The court, the stands, the people, everything. Everything except me, at least. And they were replaced by an empty deciduous forest. I was so confused; was it a field spell? I doubted it. Those were just holograms, but the leaf I tested between a couple of fingers sure felt real. I was distracted from that by a scraping sound then. "Huh?"

It came from past the bush, so I crushed the top of it down so I could see over it. I was met by one of the strangest sights I had ever seen: a bear, sitting on a boulder embedded in the ground like a human, with a spear in its lap. Not only that, but it was using a smaller rock in its hand - paw? - as a tool to sharpen the blade of the spear. Apparently that was the source of the scraping sound. What on earth could I have been seeing?

I inhaled sharply when the bear made eye contact with me, but it didn't get a chance to decide whether it liked me before my surroundings reverted back to the duel court. "Mr. Musk!" someone was shouting at me while snapping fingers in front of my face. I slapped the snapping hand away as a first instinct.

"Sorry, sorry!" I was breathing hard, a bit frightened by what had just happened. But I lied, "...I get test anxiety." Both for the proctor's sake and for my own, hoping it would help me shake that hallucination off and get back on track. "Who's first, then?"

"You lead off. I can't see what you've got if I don't offer you a fighting chance to set up a defense."

"Give me an inch, and I'll take a mile!" I declared as I drew five cards from my deck. "Duel!" I was disappointed by my hand until I drew my sixth card. "I'll lay a monster facedown. And I'll leave a couple of landmines on the field just to keep you guessing, too." The back of a card displayed sideways along with two more behind it that were facedown spelltraps. I folded my hand together into one stack then. "Take your turn!"

The examiner drew from his deck. "Your poker face gets an F. You're relying more on one of those traps than the other, and I know exactly which. So I'll start with Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy the facedown on your right."

"What?" I cried out. That card reared back to reveal that it was Trap Hole, a card that WOULD have destroyed a normal summoned monster with 1,000 or more attack if it wasn't just destroyed. It shattered like glass in front of me. "Wow, that's a high-quality projector!" I admired.

"And now here's a high-quality monster: Lancer Lindwurm in attack mode!" I let some concern show on my face; that dragon had 1,800 attack points and, even worse, inflicted piercing damage on defense position monsters. Mine would never protect me if he destroyed it. "Now, Lancer Lindwurm will strike your defense monster, and something tells me your last facedown can't stop it. Attack!" The proctor was right. As the image of the armored dragon stabbed my facedown monster, my last remaining spelltrap couldn't have helped me. So the monster flipped over to reveal- "No!"

"Snowman Eater!" I declared proudly. Snowman Eater is a monster with no attack points but 1,900 defense points - enough to withstand the attack. It also has an awesome ability, too: "And when Snowman Eater is flipped faceup, one faceup monster goes right to the graveyard. I'll rid the field of your Lancer Lindwurm, but you'll still take 100 points of lifepoint damage."

I heard the proctor's counter count down after his dragon disappeared, but he didn't lose his composure. "Strong opening move, applicant. But, pop quiz: your opponent has a facedown on the field and no monsters." One appeared at that moment. "Will you A) go on the offensive despite that, or B) play it safe and be defensive? Your move."

My field position was just too good. "Know what? I think you're bluffing. Your facedown can't save you."

"Then try your luck, applicant."

"I will!" I drew. And I was very pleased. "I sacrifice my Snowman Eater to summon Blowback Dragon!" Contrary to his name, Blowback Dragon is a level 6 machine type monster with 2,300 attack points. "And with his ability, you might not even get to activate that card: I toss a coin three times, and if it comes down heads at least twice, any one card on your side of the field is destroyed. I'll target your facedown. For the mathematically challenged, that's the chance of getting either two or three heads is 50%. Let's do this, Blowback!" Lucky for me I had a quarter in my pocket. I flicked it upwards with my thumb, caught it deftly in the hand that flicked it, and slapped it against the top of my other hand before revealing it for us both to see. "Tails. One more, and your card survives." So I flipped it again.

Then I was back in the forest. In fact, I was in the exact same spot I had been standing in before just before the spear bear who was eyeing me suspiciously. "What is this?" I asked dumbly. And to my surprise the bear answered me. Not verbally, of course, but he nodded his head as if he was motioning for me to pass. I guessed I'd never figure things out if I didn't do as the hallucination said, so I awkwardly crawled through the bush and passed him. It was very intimidating because even sitting on a rock the bear was higher than I, and he didn't stop staring at me as I passed. Still, once he was behind me, I hardly noticed him.

As I walked on I passed more humanoid animals. Their bodies were vaguely shaped like humans' but retained the head, fur or scales, and tails. They lived in some kind of village, apparently, with tent-sized huts formed with straw and tied together with vines. They wore very little clothing each, all kind of like slightly more modest versions of early native Americans before the Europeans arrived. And while I looked around, most didn't even acknowledge me. They went about whatever task they were up to, be it watching younglings, sharpening weapons, weaving, or just walking by. There was some kind of grand hut in the middle that was closer to the size of a two-story house, and I don't know why I was drawn to walk in that direction, but I was. There were lions, leopards, wolves, gorillas, alligators - if it was an animal, it was there.

I didn't bother asking anyone any questions about how I got there or what it was, though. I was just waiting for the whole scene to end like it did last time, but that wasn't until I was at the grand structure's unobstructed doorway.

As I flashed back to reality, I found the coin on the ground. Apparently I didn't catch it. Even worse, it was showing tails, but I was more concerned about not appearing to have spaced out again. "Well, proctor, your card survives. So, just to be safe, I'll discard one card from my hand to special summon The Tricky!" The Tricky is a level five monster with 2,000 attack points, but I can special summon it as long as I discard one card from my hand to the grave. "That card better stop me, because I'm totaling 4,300 attack points over here - more than enough to wipe you out all at once. So I'll lead with The Tricky. Attack!"

I actually half-expected that not to work, but it seemed I was right. The proctor took 2,000 points of direct battle damage and did nothing to prevent it. "Ha! You can't stop me! Blowback Dragon, end the duel!"

Before that attack landed, the proctor interrupted, "You have impressive moves. Allow me to show you just how smart your decisions were. Activating trap: Memory of an Adversary!" The facedown on his side of the field rose. "This card lets me remove from play an attacking monster until the end of your next turn. At that point, your monster is special summoned to my side of the field. But it comes with a price."

"You take damage equal to the monster's attack points when you activate it!" I exclaimed excitedly. "If I only attacked with my Dragon, you would have taken the hit but banished my monster. But because I also attacked with The Tricky, that move was pointless. Your life points are at zero!"

"Indeed." The proctor bowed gracefully as his counter hit zero, at which point the holograms disappeared. "Victory in only two turns is quite impressive. Pick up your admission ticket just to the right out of the tunnel behind me. Welcome to Duel Academy, applicant."

"Woo!" I cheered and punched the air before power walking past and into that exit tunnel.

Before I could make the turn, though, I was intercepted by another adult. "Excuse me, young man, how are you? Splendid duel, splendid." I was shaking his hand before I even knew it was out.

"Should I be yelling for help?" Obviously this dark skinned man dressed in nice a suit had an agenda, and I wished he'd get to it. "If you saw me duel, then you know I don't like to beat around the bush."

"Quite right! And just like you, I'm setting up myself up for victory before making a big move." I'm sure my facial expression convinced him to get on with it, though. "I'm Vice Chancellor Hart, and if you don't mind I'd like a quick word with you. Nothing bad," he added on as an afterthought, "I'm just curious about something. May we?" He then gestured to let me pass even though I was clearly meant to follow him.

"Uh, sure, you got it." If I was really talking to the Vice Chancellor, it would probably have served me well to be on his good side.

"May I see your deck?" I obeyed and let him look through. "Psychics... machines... beasts... fire... dark... your monsters seem to have absolutely nothing in common," he critiqued, "Not their relative strengths, not their effects, not their level, not their attribute or type. Your deck is a complete mishmash of cards!"

I didn't wait to be offered my cards back. I took it back. "Thank you sir."

"I meant no disrespect, Mr. Musk! I just think your deck may be even stronger with a little more order. I think I have just the suggestion, too." We were far from the stadium by then. We were in a hall corridor, and Hart just then took my shoulder and made me turn into an automatic sliding door which opened for us into what had to be the VC's office. "Have you heard of the rare Wild Tribe cards?"

"No, sir." I tried to be as respectful as I could when adding, "But I'm not sure how I feel about getting this kind of special treatment. Especially when I know for fact I wasn't the best duelist on the floor today." I stopped in front of the desk as Vice Chancellor Hart walked around it.

"Modesty is a virtue, Mr. Musk, and I hope you never lose it. Here we are!" The VC then pulled a small wooden case out of his drawer and placed it on the desk.

Apparently I had attracted a small crowd of the villagers who had followed me along my path. Some held weapons by their side like spears and swords and clubs, but none of them were acting hostile. It was like they were waiting me to do something specific and wanting me to get on with it. While I was turned around to stare at them my hand was taken from behind, the direction toward the grand structure. Even though the grip wasn't threateningly firm, I still pulled on instinctively anyway. Only then did it tighten, and I knew by the tickle of hair on my skin that it had to be another one of those beasts.

I whipped my head around and was simultaneously pulled straight into the muscular, furry body of a polar bear. He was seven or so feet tall, so the top of my head was about level with the base of his pectorals. But why had he pulled me into him? Well, after that his paws snaked around my back and kept pulling. It felt like I was almost having difficulty breathing, but considering the strength of bears that was probably as tender and gentle as he could be. Yes, the polar bear was hugging me. "What is this?" I finally asked aloud, "What's going on?"

My only answer was a huff from him. He didn't seem like he was going to let go soon, so, though I wasn't sure about it... I hugged the nearly-nude bear back. "What is this? Where am I? What's going on?"

Next thing I knew, I was back in the Vice Chancellor's office. I was still trying to cover for my hallucinations, so I shook my head and asked, "Sorry, I completely spaced out. Can you repeat that?" even though I wasn't even entirely sure he had said anything at all.

Maybe he hadn't, even. He was wearing a smirk like he either knew something I didn't known or that I didn't want him to know. "It seems the conversation you were having is important, too, but please try to stay cognizant enough for me to explain things." Hart took the top off the box then and withdrew a card. Tell me everything you see about this card.

I raised an eyebrow. I had definitely seen that before; it was a white wolf holding a bow with a quiver on its back. "Uh... what do you want to know that you can't read for yourself? It's Wild Tribe White Wolf Hunter. 1,700 attack points, 1,300 defense points. Level 4 - Water attribute? Weird. Effect... gains 400 attack points during battle with a defense position monster and inflict piercing battle damage. During the end phase - the card's controller takes damage equal to all piercing battle damage the opponent took. From this effect." I looked up from the card. "I don't get it. Is it supposed to have a hidden message?"

"Actually, it does have a hidden message." Vice Chancellor Hart looked at the card himself then. "When I look at this card, I see nothing but white. The card appears blank to me."

"You're joking. That's absurd."

"It's the truth." He took the rest of the cards out, then, and spread them in a fan shape in his hand. "I can't read any of these cards. But I bet you see them perfectly, don't you?"

"Well... yeah," I admitted, still thinking this was some crap. "Do you need glasses? The ink is pretty clearly on the card."

Hart shook his head. "These cards have not chosen me, so I could never read them. Who knows what might happen if I ever tried to play them?" He folded them back into one stack then. "The spirits of these cards have taken a liking to you. These are not your run-of-the-mill factory printed cards, Mr. Musk. Monster spirits are contained within these cards, and now they call out to you. There are previous examples of such phenomena, a more famous one being Jesse Andersen and the Crystal Beasts. Or Jaden Yuki's Neo Spacians.

"They're just putting on a persona, though," I argued, "That's what the pros do."

"Oh, no, my boy. Both boys were once students at this very school. I got to meet them myself many times when I was just a custodian here. I can't count the number of times the two were so absorbed in talking to beings I couldn't see that they bumped into doors or other people. They even saw and heard each other's spirits. Believe me, Mr. Musk, that duel spirits are very real. Surely you can see them at this very moment, no?"

I looked around the room. "Uh... no." I felt a hand on my shoulder then, and even though I didn't know who it came from I brushed it off without a thought to it before looking behind me to find its source - and nearly jumping out of my pants. Standing right there in the room was one of those anthropomorphic alligators wearing a necklace of bones around his neck! I involuntarily yelped, too. "Where'd you just come from?"

It was the VC who answered, "You're speaking to a spirit, I assume? Unfortunately, I don't have the power to see them. Clearly, though, you can. But even I could sense these cards calling out to you while you dueled." There was a wide curtain behind Hart's desk, and he then opened them to reveal that he could see the arena from there. "No one knows why some spirits are so choosy about their duelists or why they choose the duelists they do. As I understand it, even the spirits themselves don't know. Isn't that right?"

How was I supposed to know if it was right? Then I realized Hart wasn't even talking to me. I looked to the gator, who nodded. "He says yes... Somehow."

"Well, in any case, you're a special boy!" He took the box up and handed it to me. "These are your cards now, to do with as you will. You can duel with them, store them away, or rip them up. But I have a feeling you won't do that. In any case-" my hand was taken from me and shaken again without my consent. "I won't keep you any longer. I welcome you to Duel Academy! Have a nice day."

Well... that was certainly the most confusing and, dare I say it, trippy experiences of my life. I knew of only one possible way to get my mind off of that (and the armed alligator following me around): following up with my 'date.'

"Alright, a deal's a deal," I reminded the mystery girl, "I got my admission ticket. What's your name?"

"A two-turn victory? Maybe you are worth my time." Then she inclined her head a bit in acknowledgement. "I'm Molly. Molly Pratt. And I know you're Yusef Musk."

"How-?"

"They announced your name over the PA, remember?"

"...I knew that." The alligator snickered. "Hey, you shut up."

"Excuse me?" Molly retorted, thankfully more confused than indignant.

I had to think fast. Lucky for me, I was facing down the stands when I said that. Sure, there was an alligator with a spear standing there, but Molly didn't know that. "...thought I heard a slur from one of those kids. I might've been wrong." I turned back to her then. "Anyway, see you around campus? Oh, maybe even the dorms. Which are you in?"

For some reason she just couldn't be straightforward with me. Again. "Hmmm... You'll find out when the term starts," she decided. "How about you?"

So that was how it would be, huh? Well, two could play that game. "Know what? We all got our secrets. I guess you'll find out when you see my uniform color around campus. Eh?"

She smirked. "You're starting to get it." She then held a closed fist out to me. "Naturally, a good duelist doesn't reveal her hand when she doesn't have to."

"Then it's a good thing we aren't dueling," I insisted to try and get her to open up.

"We're always dueling," she retorted. I didn't take the offered fist bump, so she gave up and walked past. "See you around school, I suppose," she sang on her way.

"Weirdo," I mumbled to myself before glancing at the gator. "Though maybe I'm not one to question anyone else's mental state, am I? Hmm, come to think of it, even I don't know what dorm I got into." I searched my little ticket for it, and luckily it was pretty easy to find. "'This ticket signifies that Duel Academy applicant Yusef Musk has passed his test this day July 19, 2016 and hereby earned the rank of...' No way. This has to be a mistake."