Rory sat in his room. He was staring at his deck, once more contemplating how to change his deck for the better. He had all the rare cards he could ever hope for, but no matter what he tried, he could never be a successful duellist.

Rory was a boy of 15, and had short black hair, with brown eyes. He was in his first year at Duel Academy, and had been placed in Ra Yellow house, despite only passing the entrance exam with a couple of hundred life points remaining.

It was the first week, and the large majority of the school were talking about how some young punk had defeated Dr. Crowler in a Duel. His name was Jaden Yuki, and Rory was considering asking him for advice on his new deck strategy.

As Rory thought about this, the bell rang, signalling the start of his first lesson of the day, the history of duelling, with Professor Banner. He rose to leave the room, scooping up his deck, when a small piece of paper fell through his dormitory door.

He walked over, and picked it up. It was a plain piece of paper, with the words 'You have been chosen' scribbled on it in black pen. Rory further examined the card, but it gave no details of what he had been chosen for, as it only listed a time and place, other than the scrawl. It told him to go to the obelisk arena at midnight, and also informed him to bring a deck.

It was a few hours later that anything else of interest happened. As he was leaving a boring lecture for lunch, he saw three boys in Slifer red jackets walking down the corridor. Rory immediately recognised that one of them, with brown hair and eyes, was Jaden Yuki, the duellist who had taken down Doctor Crowler.

As a pose to the other Ras and Obelisks that saw him, yelling insults at Jaden, Rory charged forward, pushing the smaller blue haired boy beside Jaden out of the way, and forcing his way in front of the bemused boy.

"You, you're the one that took down Dr. Crowler!" said Rory to Jaden, interrupting his now squealing friend.

"Yeah, I guess so." Muttered Jaden "Why, who are you?"

"My name is Rory Lionheart, and I was wondering how you designed your deck?"

"Well, um." Began Jaden rubbing his chin. "I guess I just liked the cards. You've got to play from your heart, or you'll never win."

Rory stood open mouthed. He had expected a detailed description of how to design the perfect deck. Instead, he had received useless second-hand advice. "And you beat Dr. Crowler?" he roared, completely astounded that such a pathetic duellist could have succeeded against a renowned Duelling professor like Crowler.

That evening, Rory lay at his desk once more, staring at his cards and trying to figure out what he was doing wrong. He had all the right cards. In fact, he had spent hundreds of pounds trying to perfect his deck, yet to no success. It did not matter; his family were rich, which was probably one of the reasons that he had not been placed in Slifer.

Suddenly, he remembered the strange card he had received earlier that night. He checked his watch. It was 11.35, and the Obelisk arena was on the other side of the campus, so he would have to hurry to get there on time.

It was just before midnight when he arrived at the arena, but he was baffled. The arena had no lights on, and there was no sound emanating from it. Could it have been a prank? Rory did not know whether to go inside or not. He glanced again at the card. To use the arena, an Obelisk must have organised this, so they would definitely be able to help him make a deck. On the other hand, if it was a prank, and Rory was caught by a teacher, he could have been expelled for using the arena facilities out of hours.

Rory contemplated the possibilities once more, and entered through the tall marble arches. The first thing he noticed when he entered was that sound-proof walls had been placed in between the entrance way, which explained why the arena had been completely silent.

The actual arena was massive, and there were many duels taking place all over it. In each case, an obelisk was fighting a Ra student, but each of the Ras was failing to defeat their opponents. In the stands, there were at least twenty second year students, monitoring the duels, and giving levels to the duellists.

Unfortunately, the Ras were leaving as fast as they were entering. Rory entered the stands, and approached the closest 'proctor'.

"Excuse me, my name is Rory. I was invited." He said.

The proctor replied very matter of fact, telling him to wait at the arena side. After a couple of minutes, the proctor signalled for him to enter the arena. He walked forward, and his opponent grinned, placing his deck in his duel disk, and preparing to duel.

Suddenly, a shout echoed throughout the stadium, from one of the second years monitoring the battles. He had yelled for the matches to stop, and this proctor was not taking notes, appearing to be the lead. He slowly manoeuvred down towards the ring side, where he pulled the student opposite Rory away, and simply stating "I shall take this one."

As he took up position, he asked "What is your name?"

"Uh, my name is Rory, I was wondering-" but Rory was cut off in mid sentence. The boy opposite had raised his finger, signalling silence.

"All duels are now to cease. This duel will take prime importance. I will need the whole field." He bellowed, with immediate response, as the field was clear in less than a minute.

"My name is Damien Cavourre." He began, attaching his duel disk, and inserting his deck. "I am the one who organised these matches, and I am your opponent this evening."

Rory took this chance to look at his opponent properly. He was taller than Rory, and had slightly longer brown hair. He was wearing a large Obelisk blazer, and tight black jeans.

"Prepare to duel!" he yelled, and the newly assembled students filling the stands went quiet. Rory slotted his deck in to his duel disk, and replied in an assertive tone "I'm ready when you are."

Both players began with 4000 life points, and Rory drew the first card. He had a range of monsters, but decided to play defensively to see what his opponent used. He set his monster 'white ninja' and ended his turn.

"Wow, you really know how to duel." Mocked Damien "One card on the first turn. Clap clap. I have no idea how to top that."

He drew a card. He scanned his hand, and then quickly placed a monster in defence mode. It was mother Grizzly, and Rory knew that if it was destroyed in battle, its effect would activate. He grinned. Thanks to his white ninja's flip effect that would not be a problem.

"I'll see your monster and raise you one face-down." Said his cocky foe, placing one card face down, and its image now appearing behind his enormous black bear.

Rory glanced at his hand again. He had to gain field advantage, but had no spell or trap cards that would help him too much, so he moved his hand over his monster field instead.

"I flip my face-down monster in to attack position!" he cried across the arena. "And that means its effect activates."

"Oh, so my mother grizzly is destroyed, and I cannot replace it. Well done, but next time you won't be so lucky." Interrupted his opponent, still feeling like he was in charge.

Rory smirked. He could now overpower the field, and take out most of Damien's life points. "Ok, I summon mystic clown in attack mode." He stated, as his ninja was rapidly joined on the field by a grotesque clown. "And now both my monsters-"

"Are destroyed!" shrieked Damien, as a trap card on his side of the field flipped face up. It was torrential tribute, meaning that when any monster is summoned, every monster on the field is destroyed.

"No!" Rory shouted, as his monsters spiralled in to the graveyard. "That means that I have no defences.

"Correct," said Damien, drawing a card. "And that means that I can gain counter-offensive." He placed a monster card on the field, which resembled an enormous snake with glowing scales.

"Now, my little 7 coloured fish has only got 1800 attack points on his own," Damien mocked. "But if I play this, then he becomes a little stronger."

As he said this, he played a field spell card. Suddenly, water gushed in to the arena, filling the stadium completely. This increased Damien's creature's attack power to 2000. "This 'A legendary ocean' card is very useful." Damien continued. "It not only increases all of my water monsters attack points by 200, but it also decreases each of their levels by 1."

Next, the fish rammed in to Rory, and his life point counter rapidly spun down, lowering to 2000. "And it shows." Damien laughed.

"What shows?"

"That my theory is correct. This school has not only got a waste of duellists in Slifer, but the same applies to those in Ra. Only Obelisk students are worthy to study at this illustrious academy." At this, he threw yet another card face down.

"Oh, really? Then How about I teach you that you are wrong." Rory said now enraged.

As he drew, he looked at his hand. He needed to think if he was going to win this now. He had just drawn a card called 'de-spell'. It allowed him to destroy 1 spell card on the field.

"Ok, then. I will start by using de-spell," he said, holding up the card. "And it destroys your a legendary ocean."

A magical energy glowed around the arena. Suddenly, the water shattered, lowering the colourful fish's attack down to 1800.

"Next, I will summon La Jinn, mystical genie of the lamp in attack mode!" As Rory said this, a large green genie appeared on the arena, opposite the long snake-like fish. "Now La Jinn, attack his fish!"

The two creatures flew forward towards each other and an enormous cloud of dust expanded across the arena, shrouding the combatants. When it cleared, both had disappeared.

"What a shame, little Ra. Looks like you've miscalculated again. I use call of the haunted." Laughed Damien.

Once more, Damien's serpent rose back to the field. Its master drew a card, before playing it face down.

"Now I'll attack." The obelisk stated simply, as his fish hammered in to Rory, once more lowering his life points greatly.

"Don't think you've won yet. I'm still in this one." Rory said, pulling another card from his deck. Now, Rory had just drawn a card that could save him.

"First, I'll play this Dian Keto the cure master." He yelled to his opponent "which increases my life points to 1200. Next, I'll play fissure, which toasts that little fish of yours."

Suddenly, Damien's monster exploded. "If you're done-" Damien said placing his hand on his deck, before being interrupted by Rory.

"Sorry. I'm not done yet. Next up, I remove from play the white ninja and mystic clown in my graveyard from play, allowing me to summon my chaos emperor dragon – envoy of the end!"

As Rory bellowed this, the arena shook under pressure, as an enormous dragon appeared alongside Rory. "Now, my monster, attack!"

The dragon let out a burst of searing energy that rocketed in to Damien, lowering his life points to 1000. "But that's not all!" began Rory "Next I'll use my dragon's effect. That means that by paying 1000 life points, I can destroy every card on the field and in both of our hands, and deal 300 damage to you for each one!"

"So, got this all planned out then?" asked Damien "But you've once more forgotten. I have a trap card!"

At this, Damien face down card lifted. "I use divine wrath!" Damien began to laugh "That means that your effect is negated, and your dragon is destroyed!"

"No!" Rory screamed, his dragon being struck by a bolt of lightning and vanishing.

"And all I had to do was discard a card." Damien said, placing one card from his hand in to his graveyard. "And now on my turn, that card can return due to its effect."

Suddenly, a small frog-like creature emerged on to Damien's side of the field. "Next, I will use big wave small wave!" he bellowed, as an enormous wave crashed on to the field, destroying his frog. "This allows me to tribute all the water monsters on my side of the field, and special summon the same number of water monsters from my hand. So I summon, Ocean Dragon Lord – Neo Daedalus!"

At this, an enormous serpent crashed on to the field, charging forward, and wiping out the remainder of Rory's Life points.

He slumped, a frown on his face. He truly had believed that he was going to win the match, but he had been tricked. If he had not tried to use Chaos Emperor's effect, then he would have won. As he contemplated this, he could hear footsteps as his opponent approached him.

He rose to face him, and noticed a hand, protruding from Damien's arm. He placed his inside of it, and the two duellists shook hands, in a friendly manner.

"Nice Duel!" said Damien, continuing to shake Rory's hand. "You fit the criteria perfectly."

"Criteria?"

"Yes. Dr. Crowler could not have possibly lost to such a pathetic duellist as that Jaden Yuki, so some of the other second year Obelisks and I decided to defeat him in a duel. We also decided that an Obelisk would be too obvious a victory. So we settled with a Ra. You have what it takes to become a prominent duellist. All you must do is solve that anger problem of yours. When I told you that I thought Ras were inferior, you fell right in to my trap."

"Wait, so what do you want me to do?"

"You will challenge Jaden Yuki to a duel. But more importantly, you will convince him to wager his attendance at the academy. You shall succeed, and this plague that threatens our pecking order shall be eradicated. Are you up to the challenge?"

Rory stood on the arena, putting this together in his mind. This was a chance. A chance to prove that he was worthy of success. He could perfect his deck. But it would be against his morals. He would have to oppose those who were weak, and he would destroy what he had always believed in. But maybe that is what he needed. To destroy himself, and create a new Rory, one who could be a champion.

Rory turned back towards Damien, and opened his mouth, emitting only a single word. He adopted a loud, clear voice, and he said "Yes."