The sun beat down on the five students as they walked through the glass-enclosed halls of Duel Academy. They were the only people in this particular corridor, and as they approached the chancellor's office each one held a different expression on their face.
Alexis Rhodes, the strongest female duelist in the Academy despite being a freshman, was the picture of regal dignity.
Chazz Princeton grimaced in annoyance as he straightened his Obelisk Blue uniform.
Bastion Misawa, Duel Academy's resident renaissance man, could barely restrain his wild, insatiable curiosity.
Jaden Yuki had a huge grin plastered on his face, skipping through the hallway with his trademark enthusiasm.
And as for the last student…
"Remind me why you're here again, Truesdale?" Princeton sneered. He had to bend down to jab his finger into the fifth student's chest; while he was the same age as the other four freshmen, Syrus Truesdale wasn't even five feet tall.
The Vehicroid user cowered under Chazz's sneer. "I-I-I don't know!" he stuttered. Jaden put his arm around the boy. "Don't worry! I'm sure there's a good reason for the chancellor wants to see you even though you're bottom of the class!"
Alexis sighed. Oblivious as usual, eh? "It's not like you have much of a reason to be here either, Yuki," she said. "This meeting is only for the top students in the freshman class. Crowler voided your entrance exam scores, so there's no way your grades could be the best in the Academy."
Jaden only grinned wider. "But if I hadn't pissed that cross-dressing weirdo off, then I would be the highest-scoring freshman! Take that!"
"Can it, you two," said Bastion, clearly frustrated. "We're almost there."
If any normal Duel Academy student had seen a posse of black-clad figures rush at them from the ceiling, they would have gone pale from fear and sprinted away from them as fast as possible.
However, these were no ordinary students.
Alexis pulled a small bomb from her backpack, lit it, and hurled it at the attackers. "GET DOWN!" she screamed as the resulting explosion blossomed in the air.
A sliver of gold pierced Jaden's brown eyes as he whispered and raised his hand. Tendrils of darkness rose from the shadows, strangling the assailants.
Syrus drew two guns and proceeded to fire at the mysterious aggressors.
Chazz somehow pulled a rapier from his pocket, using it to skewer one of the goons.
Bastion Misawa smirked and edged away from his classmates.
In just a few minutes, all twenty attackers and a good portion of the landscape had been destroyed by the four freshmen. None of the aforementioned freshmen had even broken a sweat; however, they were all quite surprised by their ordeal.
"How did you-" they all said simultaneously, then turned to one another in confusion and shock.
Bastion walked up to them and sighed. "You are all so oblivious, you know that? It only took a bit of hacking to figure out who you all really were." He turned to Syrus. "However, I had no idea that you were the infamous Baby Dragon. Kudos to you."
Syrus smiled and removed his glasses, revealing cool, confident eyes. "It's amazing that someone like you could blow my cover just by watching me fight. I'm impressed." Bastion dipped his head, gracefully accepting the phrase.
Chazz sighed and pressed a button on his rapier, causing it to shrink into a small cartridge, a device that resembled a USB drive. "I believe some explanations are in order after this meeting," he said in a dry tone.
The white room seemed to function as an odd antechamber, for the door at the end of it lead to the chancellor's office. However, the plump, jovial chancellor was nowhere to be seen. In his place was a man wearing a yellow teacher's uniform in his mid twenties.
He looked up at the five shocked duelists, ran a hand through his waist-length black hair and grinned.
"Hello, everyone," said Mokuba Kaiba. "Why don't you all take a seat?"