Zac's feet pounded on the pavement with each step. He had broken into a full on sprint on his way to his Duel Academy entrance exams. Ha was not late, as a matter of fact he was quite on time. The very thought of him finally becoming a Student at the prestigious Duel Academy made him want to get to the Testing Arena as fast as he could.

"Obelisk, Ra, Slifer, Ah I don't care what dorm I get placed I'm so excited!" He thought to himself as his breath quickened with each step.

He had short cut, dark brown hair that was slightly combed back. He wore a grey t-shirt with khaki shorts and white slip on shoes. A black backpack with all his supplies, his ID, his deck and his duel disk was slung over his back. His face was very innocent; he displayed a wide grin that squeezed his green eyes to an almost squint.

His feet came to a standstill when he saw the sheer size of the testing building. He had previously been inside to do his written exams, but the grandeur of the building never ceased to amaze him. The marble features and tall glass body created a sparkling effect that seemed almost magical. He stood with a sense of shock until he realized that he should probably get going.

Zac had grown up in small town on the outskirts of Arizona so the demographics of most big cities were still fairly new to him.

He went up the front marble steps of the testing building and waited for the automatic sliding doors separate and he stepped inside.

He approached the Academy secretary and relayed his information.

"Hello! I'm Zac Harrison and I'm here to take my Academy entrance exam"

"ID, Deck and Duel Disk" replied the Secretary not seeming as excited as Zac was.

Zac handed over the objects as she signed in his ID, Checked his Deck for illegal cards and tested to see if his duel disk was regulation.

As she handed his belongings back to him she said "You're number is 345, when the number sounds over the intercom report to duel stage number 3, got it?"

"Got it." Zac answered wondering how someone could sound so bored in one of the most exciting places in the city.

Just as he was about to take the elevator to the Dueling Arenas his phone vibrated in his pocket.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Honey! How did everything go? Did you get in? What Dorm are you? Did you make friends?" Zac's mother droned on in his ear so loud that he had to pull the Phone away.

"Mom, I haven't even taken my Exam yet, but you'll be the first to know how I do, ok?"

"Ok and good Luck Sweetie"

"Thanks Mom"

Zac hung up and proceeded to make his way to the elevator. Zac was not embarrassed of his Mother, just embarrassed by some of the things she did.

The elevator doors opened and the Duel Academy Training Floor stood before Zac.

A circular arena with seats lining the outside almost like a Hockey Rink. In the center were about 10 arenas all displaying holograms of numerous monsters, some he could pick out like Elemental HERO Avian a staple of one of Duel Academy's former finest students.

A loud buzz sounded throughout the arena.

"Number 343, Would Duelist number 343 report to his or her assigned Duel Stage, Please!"

Zac decided to take a seat and observe a few duels knowing that his was coming up shortly.

"A good lead would be Relic Hunter, but then again if I want to hit with more attack maybe Sandstorm Striker? No, No my lead better be Desert Wanderer, Ya that'll show any Proctors!" Zac thought to himself.

A loud boom sounded as he saw one of the duel arenas light up.

He looked down to one of the Duel Stages. A boy who looked about the same age as Zac, 16 or 17, was shaking hands with a Duel Proctor. The boy was wearing a grey and white track suit and had his black hair styled so it pointed back.

"That guys Bastion Misawa, they said he scored a perfect mark on his entrance exam, sheesh I barely passed mine. A little blue haired boy remarked. He was standing next to a tall boy, not as tall as Zac with red and brown bushy hair. Zac's excitement led to him failing to notice them sitting close to him.

"Me too" replied the taller boy.

"Make that three" Zac remarked.

"And I just barely won my duel, I don't even know how I won it" said the little blue haired boy "My name is Syrus by the way"

"I haven't even dueled yet, I'm number 345 so I'm up pretty soon and my names Zac"

"I haven't dueled yet either, and its Jaden, Jaden Yuki"

"Well than you might have a problem there Jaden" answered Syrus "There are only 345 duels scheduled for today!"

A loud buzz again filled the Arena.

"Number 345 Please Report to the Duel Stage, Number 345!"

"Well it's my turn" Zac said "See you guys later."

Zac rushed down the stairs and on to Duel Stage 3, his mind racing with what his test Proctor might have in store for him.

Just then a panel of the floor disappeared and up rose a man in a purple Duel Blazer and a Academy Duel Disk

"Name?" half-shouted the Proctor.

"Zac Harrison…sir" He added in the last part to not seem rude.

"Well Zac I hope you're ready because we'll be beginning now!"

Zac activated his duel disk and the life point counter rose up to 4000 he was ready.

Zac 4000

Proctor 4000

"School rules, you go first" said the Proctor

"Ok, well I'll set one monster facedown and end my turn at that"

"That's all? You'll need to do better than that to beat me kid"

"How about less talk more duel" Zac smartly answered.

"Hahaha, How 'bout it then. I summon Rogue Doll (1600/100) in attack mode!"

A grey figure levitated above the battlefield cloaked in a dark purple cape, it carried a spear in one hand.

"Rogue Doll attacks his face down!" The monster lunged forward and stabbed the facedown card. The card shattered into pieces.

"Good Job" Zac said "by destroying him you activated my Quicksand Merchants special ability, when he's destroyed the monster that destroyed him loses 1000 attack points, leaving Rogue Dolls attack at 600!"

"Hmph, I end my turn"

"I draw" Zac studied the cards in his hand "I activate Pot of Greed letting me draw 2 more cards! Now I summon Relic Hunter in attack mode (0/0)! That'll end my turn"

"No attack points? Kid how do you expect to win like that?"

"You'll see!"

"Ok I attack Relic Hunter with Rogue Doll! Go!"

The doll easily disposed of Zac's Relic Hunter.

Zac 3400

Proctor 4000

"Good, now that Relic hunter was destroyed while in attack position I can search my deck for one card and put it on the top of my deck!"

"What?" yelled the Proctor?

"Now I draw, and what do you know the card I searched for!" Zac smirked "I summon Sandstorm Striker (1800/1300) in attack mode! Striker, take out his Rogue Doll"

Zac 3400

Proctor 2800

"And since Sandstorm Striker did damage to your life points I can summon one Desert Token (0/0) in attack mode on my side of the field!"

"Errrgh!" growled the Proctor "I set one monster and one facedown."

"That's all? You'll need to do better than that to beat me kid" Zac mimicked the Proctors previous insult.

"I play Stop Defense, so now your facedown monster is in attack mode!"

An android like monster appeared on the Proctors side.

"Battle Warrior, Huh? Only 700 attack points easy pickings for my monster. Sandstorm Striker attack!"

Zac 3400

Proctor 1700

"And don't forget now I get another token, too."

"Well since you get some I mind as well too, I activate Stray Lambs. Now I get two lamb tokens on my side of the field! They won't be staying for long though I tribute them both to summon Red Eyes Black Dragon!"

A fierce looking black dragon rose out of the card its eyes tranced on Zac.

"Now Red Eyes attack one of his Desert Tokens!"

"Nope!" Zac Yelled "As long as I have Sandstorm Striker he's the only one that can be targeted by attacks!"

A fiery ball destroyed the helpless monster.

Zac 2800

Proctor 1700

"HA! I just destroyed the strongest monster you had on the field what are you going to do now?"

"Well first of all since you destroyed one of my monsters I can discard one card to special summon Ominous Vulture (1400/1400) from my hand! Then I tribute my tokens to summon Soul of the Desert (100/100) in attack mode!"

"Only 100 attack points? Kid that doesn't even come close to my Red Eyes! Do you need to go back to Pre-Duel School?"

"But my monster has one nasty effect!"

"Huh?" gasped the proctor.

"For every earth monster in my Graveyard and on the field he gains 500 attack points! Since there are 5 in my Graveyard and I have Ominous Vulture out on the field that brings his attack to a grand total of 3100 points!"

"Well played" remarked the Proctor in a defeated yet satisfied tone.

Soul of the Desert destroyed the Proctors Red Eyes with a gust of sand then Ominous Vulture finished the Proctor off.

Zac 2800

Proctor 0

Zac breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the words "Welcome to Duel Academy."