I suppose we can start with the generic disclaimer. If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh!, there would be a lot more cards named after Final Fantasy summons and Mega Man robots. I'd also be like Pegasus and have a copy of every card ever made because I'm a big collector.

Chapter 1: Changes Around Campus

"Are you going to keep that?" Matt asked, referring to the caterpillar that settled around Bryan's muzzle during the summer break.

"Don't be jealous," replied his sworn brother. "When you hit puberty, you'll get facial hair, too." A snarky comment considering he was one nineteen-year-old speaking to an eighteen-year-old. Such is the relationship between two guys related by a bond stronger than blood.

Academy Island, home to the famed Duel Academy, was beautiful this time of year. The lush, green trees that blanketed much of the island were just beginning to change colors. The aspen leaves began to show their golden shimmer and the oak leaves just started to turn crimson, all reflecting the autumn's descent on campus. The color change preceded the falling temperature by several weeks thanks to the warm ocean currents carrying warm air to the island through much of the calendar year.

Bryan and Matt caught one of the earliest flights into Kazuki Municipal Airport, the only commercial airport on Academy Island. Academy Island, founded by the world-famous gaming company Kaiba Corp, was originally called home to no one who did not attend or administrate Duel Academy, but as the campus developed from a preparatory school into a full university—maintaining their traditional name in order to hold claim to its established fame—and certain events in the school's history cut students off from emergency outside contact for fleeting periods, the founders of the academy further established a small college town on the island. Kazuki is populated largely by employees of the academy, but many people moved to the island to establish independent businesses and begin a few small businesses; most of those businesses still cater to the academy's needs and rely on Kaiba Corp for the majority of their income, but they are technically independent.

Bryan Knight liked the idea of moving in early because he didn't have to squeeze past people in the halls of the dorm as he moved in. He remembered moving into the Red dorm last year during Freshman Move-in Day; it was not the most pleasant experience for a guy as impatient as he is. People squeezing into the elevator and struggling to carry boxes up the stairs as slowly as humanly possible… No, thanks. Bryan wanted to take his stuff to his already mostly furnished room when there were only six people, maximum, moving in simultaneously.

At six-two and 215 pounds, and with as pretty a face as a young man can get, Bryan rarely had many situations in which he was forced to be patient. He had silky black hair, now accompanied by a full, short-haired beard, and dark, inviting eyes, all capped off by a perfect smile. Despite his preference for getting around quickly, he loved to spend time with people—as long as they weren't boring. That appreciation for crowds first drew him to playing high school football; there he befriended and grew close to Matt along with the other players. He was also drawn to the Duel Monsters card game. Every duel introduced him to a new opponent, and every rematch taught him something about that person's character. That's how Bryan came back to Duel Academy for his sophomore year.

He nearly had to drag his best friend with him last year. Matthew Luther only picked up Duel Monsters late in high school and just managed to win a qualifying tournament before the application deadline. Having grown up in foster care with a father who beat him was both a curse and a blessing for him. If not for Bryan and his only adoptive sister who wasn't satisfied staring at TV all day, Matt might have turned out a lot more misanthropic than he did; Matt's foster parents also lacked the funds, let alone the inclination, to send Matt to any kind of college that wanted money. On the upside, the administrators who evaluate scholarship essays really ate up Matt's story about overcoming adversity to be a football star and earn a 3.8 GPA.

Over the summer break, Matt stayed with Bryan and his mother, vowing never to give his rotten foster father the satisfaction of getting to hit him or boss him around again. Now that he felt like he had a new family and he earned a little money for himself through a few Duel Monsters tournaments, Matt calmed significantly, though he still pulled the occasional prank on his friends. He was not a big guy—being five-eight and 160 pounds let him sneak around without making much noise—but he grew up pretty scrappy. That's what drew him to being a football player in high school. Though he lacked bulk, he was a strong guy capable of tackling just about anybody, especially when he didn't see it coming. Matt once played defensive end, and because of his speed and maneuverability, he was fairly successful at knocking the quarterback flat on the ground. He always wore contacts during sporting events, but Matt opted to wear glasses the rest of the time; he felt they lowered people's defenses around him and made him more approachable.

Bryan and Matt helped one another arrange their rooms in the Blue Mansion. Some time ago, Duel Academy was expanded into a four-year college; the main goal was to produce well-rounded students who were knowledgeable in many fields beyond dueling, socially capable and responsible, and experts in Duel Monsters. Each successful student emerged with a degree in dueling, duel theory, or duel education.

Academy Island was designed like a giant college campus. It consisted of three student residences, a large dining facility, an infirmary, a pavilion, three advanced dueling facilities, an administrative building, a plush residence for the faculty, and two dozen duel terminals designed with holographic technology to render duels three-dimensional. The campus also held a bookstore/card shop, a couple of cafés, a large recreational facility, a health center, and a half dozen academic lecture halls. And the campus was located not too far from Kazuki, that small town that never grew too big in order to protect the students, founded by legendary Kaiba Corp. CEO and Duel King Seto Kaiba.

Earning themselves the top ranks at the end of the last school year also earned Bryan and Matt the upgrade to the top dormitory. Each room was a little bigger than the rooms in the lower class dorms, but these were fully furnished with the highest class of furniture afforded to college students: a queen bed, oak desk, upholstered desk chair, two oak dressers, matching table, five-by-four-foot bookshelf, mini-fridge, and a closet big enough to fit two people inside. Each guy brought a TV to set up, but because Matt most often played host to social gatherings, he got the bigger TV set up on the table, the dart board on the wall, and the moon chairs under the bed for later use. Bryan's room was where they tucked away the Poker/Duel Monsters table and approximately sixty decks of playing cards.

When Bryan's phone began buzzing, he checked the message screen and let out an excited yelp. "Lucy's downstairs and wants to see me."

"I can't imagine why your girlfriend wants to see you," Matt said sarcastically. He didn't take the stairs three at a time like Bryan did to hurry outside, but he did love to show off his ability to carry heavy boxes up the stairs by himself, and so he hurried down to help out.

Lucy was not tall, either—approximately five feet and four inches—but she certainly looked like a big girl to the untrained eye. She would never divulge her weight because of how self-conscious she was; additionally, she wore baggy clothes most of the time to hide the fact that she carried most of her weight in her chest. Lucy never had back problems, but she was a little embarrassed about her appearance; guys were prone to staring and women were prone to jealous insults.

"Hey, baby!" Bryan said, greeting his nine-month girlfriend with a kiss big enough to make Matt wonder if the couple had throat stomata to help them breathe. Obviously Bryan's new moustache didn't bother Lucy much; it gave Bryan a kind of Tom Selleck look. After they disconnected, Bryan immediately grabbed two of Lucy's bags and offered to help her get checked in.

Lucy surprised Matt, however, when she stepped up and gave him a decent hug, as well. A slightly disarmed Matt uttered in reply, "Oh! There that is." He awkwardly returned the hug, then took a clearer look at Lucy. Not only was she tanned from all the time she spent in the sun, she just seemed more comfortable. There was an incident last year in which Matt caught a guy stealing Lucy's underwear and she got all weird around him, but now she seemed unaffected by Matt's appearance—maybe even happy to see him. It made her seem even more beautiful than she already was. She let her brown hair grow out, too, all the way down to her chest.

"How was your trip to Japan?" she asked.

Matt thought about the two weeks he spent with a Japanese family who insisted he practice a number of Japanese traditions with them, including the one Matt was pretty sure was a family-exclusive tradition—the one where Kasumi's older brother challenged Matt to a judo match every single morning. His decision was that any American who was incapable of protecting himself wasn't worthy of dating his sister. Matt lost the judo matches by a long shot. He lost all rights to come within six feet of Kasumi as long as her brother was around.

"My back still hurts."

Lucy let out a low, purring sound, to which Matt just said, "You two have clearly been spending too much time together."

She shrugged, but couldn't hold back a smile. "I guess I can put up with him."

Bryan poked his head out the door and shouted, "Hey, Lazy Freeney! Are you going to get her plastic bin-thing or just stand there all day and gawk?"

"If by gawk you mean 'stare with a stupid look on my face,' then yes, I think I'll do that for a while longer."

College is a time for any person to reinvent himself. And with a second year comes even more changes. For starters, Matt traded in his broken glasses frames for horn-rimmed glasses; he thought they made him look more sophisticated and intelligent, but also gave him a bit of an intimidating edge when he made the right expression with his eyebrows. Most notable about his appearance, however, was that Matt was no longer adorned in a red blazer like he was all last year; he traded it in for a long blue coat. Matt wasn't satisfied with a long-tailed blue jacket most students wore; he wanted a full, navy trench coat. His reasoning was that all the best duelists in history wore coats capable of billowing in the wind, and he considered himself one of the best. He even sewed his yellow "Team OTK" badge on his left shoulder and a yellow "C" on the other. Bryan, on the other hand, maintained his nonconformity by refusing to drop his black, leather jacket. He earned the right to wear it in the previous year, and he didn't want to give it up just because the god cards disappeared after they tried to kill everybody.

The Blue Mansion was set up like a Tetris piece—specifically the one that looks like a triangle without any diagonal lines—with the entrance facing southeast. Despite the size and comparability to a mansion, the building was still primarily a dorm. The building occupied three floors plus a basement. The first thing a person sees after walking into the lobby is an option of four doors to take, not counting the staircase leading to the second floor. To the eastern side of the entrance were the student's lounge, the resident advisor's office, the kitchen and dining hall, and the event room. To the west were six bedrooms, furnished identically to Bryan's and organized in groups of three to a bathroom. In addition to the doors granting entrance and exit to the mansion at the end of each hallway, the middle of the northwestern wall led to a parking lot, generally only occupied by staff and faculty vehicles and an occasional taxi meant to take students anywhere else to hang out.

The second floor held a foyer at the top of the stairs, revealing another staircase to the third floor. A second and third set of stairs were located at the ends of either wing, but none of the staircases was used as often as the elevator, located centrally behind the foyers. Twelve bedrooms were located down the east and west wings, set in groups of three rooms per bathroom. There was one additional bedroom located near the elevator, available only to the building's resident advisor, which is similar to the prefect role Matt had at the freshman dorm but with being responsible for the entire building; that's why the RA's room was bigger and had a personal bathroom.

The third floor had nine more rooms, including Bryan's room. Matt's room was located at the end of the east wing near the tertiary stairs, and Lucy's room was located on the second floor in the east wing closest to the third floor staircase. Bryan figured that meant he had a quick and easy route to get to her room—you know, in case he has a nightmare in the middle of the night…

"When's Kasumi coming in?" Lucy asked Matt.

"She'll be here on Saturday. Two days before classes start is pretty typical, right?"

This particular day being a Friday, Bryan asked, "Why are we here today, then?"

"You agreed to be an orientation guide for the freshmen," Lucy reminded him.

"Oh, right. That's the thing where I'm a frog, right?" Clearly getting to Duel Academy was more important to Bryan than the reason for arriving early.

"First-year orientation guide," Matt clarified. "A FROG. They meet up with groups of freshmen after the opening ceremony and answer questions about the school and tell them what kinds of things to expect in their classes and behavior."

"Then we get to spend tomorrow showing them around Kazuki and around the campus," Lucy finished.

Bryan looked confused, like he was wracking his brain for some piece of knowledge that was just out of reach. "Is this a new program this year?"

"No," Matt said with a chuckle. "We skipped meeting our FROGs last year because we wandered around campus on our own with Cary, remember? That's when I dueled that Shane guy in the Yellow dorm with the ocean deck." He stopped for a second to clarify his comment. "Shane had the ocean deck—not me."

"I remember the duel. I don't remember anything about a FROG." Matt reached into Bryan's inside jacket pocket and pulled out five sheets of paper stapled together. He straightened them, then presented them to Bryan once again for his perusal.

Lucy asked, "Why did he know that was there but you didn't?"

Bryan patted the breast of his jacket and said, "This jacket is thick. Don't judge me." He took a better look at the papers and started to read some of the information out loud.

"Jason Maxim? What kind of proverbial name is that?" Bryan's expression quickly changed. "What do you think are the odds he's related to the guy who owns Maxim magazine?"

"Probably pretty slim," replied Lucy. Bryan moaned an "Aw, man" and asked who in the world is named Maxim, anyway.

"Joey Maxim was a boxer," Matt said. "And I'd have an easier time thinking a freshman here is related to him than to the magazine guy."

"Yeah, yeah," Bryan mumbled as he continued to peruse the page. "Look at this. Age, deck theme, physical description… Do I really need all this information about these folks in order to show them around campus?" Lucy just shrugged. Bryan kept reading and seemed even more surprised to see, "Talent? What in the world does that mean? Did we have to put a talent on our applications, too?"

Matt nodded. "You put down 'snow angels.'"

"My snow angels are a force to be reckoned with," Bryan admitted proudly. "Check out this poor girl's name: Aurora."

"Last name: Borealis?" Matt suggested.

Bryan huffed and said, "I resent that on the grounds that it is such a stupid and obvious joke and that you didn't let me make it first." Lucy simply continued unpacking her things while Bryan tried to figure out exactly how much work he was expected to do for these freshmen before he just got to sit back and duel them all into early submission.

"Don't get so cocky," Lucy warned him. "Sometimes, freshmen are a lot better than you think they'll be."

"No freshman can beat me," Bryan challenged.

Matt gently reminded him, "I'm sure some of the upperclassmen last year thought that, too, but then we came in and beat a bunch of them. Remember that?"

"Yeah. And now we're sophomores," Bryan stressed. "We're better than last year. We're unstoppable. You know… assuming no one else has Exodia or a magic book with access to the Shadow Realm."

"And on that cheerful note," Lucy said, "why don't we go find out if Cary has moved in and head out to the Red dorm? The orientation dinner isn't just for the freshmen, you know. I hear there will be cupcakes."

Bryan and Matt both perked up. "Cupcakes?" Bryan patted Matt on the chest and said, "Let's get going." He headed straight out the door and left resounding thumps behind himself as he went down the stairs three at a time once again.

Matt stared out the door, holding Bryan's FROG notes in his hand. "So are we not going to invite Cary with us then? And I guess I'll just hang on to these for you." He looked at Lucy and felt a need to explain: "He really loves cupcakes."

Hey, folks. I hope this was a humorous introduction to my characters for you and you'll all stick around to see what unfolds. This is technically a sequel to my previous stories, but you won't need to read them to know what's going on. Any references to previous events will be explained as if you've never heard of it before. And with a new school year, I want to introduce a lot of new students. For that reason, I'd love to get lots of OCs. I have no idea how ambitious my readers will be, and so I'm giving you all kinds of probes here. You do not need to fill out the entire form to submit a character, but a more developed character is more fun to work with. Be as detailed or as vague as you want and I'll work with what you give me.

Name:
Basic appearance:
Distinguishing features:
Family:Uniform dress:
Academy major:
Talent:
Hobbies:
Song sung in the shower:
Deck theme:
Rarest card:
Is the character more emotional or logical?
How does the character see himself/herself?
How does the character deal with conflict?
Extras you want to mention:

For the Deck theme, you do not need to provide a list unless you want to customize your own theme. Generally, something such as "Destiny Heroes" or "Disaster Dragon" or whatever is sufficient. If you want your character to apply for Team One-Turn-Kill or Team Lockdown (or you wish to submit a new team), let me know what the strategy (or theme) is. Regarding the weird things like "talent" and "song"; I might do some kind of student talent show or something (I never really know until I get there), and this information could tell me what your character may be likely to do. You are welcome to give me any kind of customized character description if you have one lying around. Any details you want to give me will make it into the story somehow.

Thanks for reading. As does everyone on this site, I'd love to hear what you think!