2. Welcome to Duel Academy!
Kaiba Corp Helicopter Pad!
Mayumi let out a sigh as she looked around the place with a smile before walking towards the helicopter that was close by. Annabelle soon joined her and the two girls walked onto the helicopter, ready for their fun filled school year. Once aboard, they saw Jaden, Syrus, and Bastion already sitting down. Mayumi walked over to sit next to Bastion as Annabelle sat across from them, at which point Bastion greeted them.
"Hey," Jaden greeted her with a smile.
"Hey," Mayumi replied, returning his smile.
"That was some show," Jaden said.
"It was downright embarrassing," Annabelle stated.
"What was?" Mayumi asked, looking confused.
"Oh, just my older brother and his friends making a scene," Annabelle answered like it was nothing.
Jaden laughed before settling back in his seat to get comfortable before the flight. After the helicopter took off, Jaden fell asleep, making Mayumi and Annabelle laugh. They soon turned their attention to Bastion and started to talk about what life would be like at the Academy, along with other things like the course curriculum and what dorms they would be in. It was not long until Duel Academy island came into view and they stopped talking to look out the window.
"Attention, new Duel Academy students," the pilot announced. "If you look outside your windows, you'll see your new home away from home. Now, I know you're all excited, but don't shove. Quite the sight, ay? Fasten your seat belts and turn your seats back into the upright position. We're going to land. Next stop: Duel Academy island."
Meeting Hall!
Mayumi stood next to Annabelle, wearing her new uniform: a white vest outlined in blue that she had left open over a tight, sleeveless black shirt, and blue jean shorts. She had accessorized the uniform with a silver belt with a broken heart buckle that complimented the sword and shield necklace she always wore. Mayumi finished the uniform with white thigh-high socks and blue tennis shoes. The other girl's uniform was similar: she wore the same vest, but her black shirt was a sleeveless turtleneck, and she had opted for a blue mini-skirt instead of shorts. Annabelle was also wearing fingerless blue gloves, four black bracelets on both her wrists, and blue tennis shoes.
The two of them were looking at a screen when Mayumi heard a snore all of a sudden from a few feet away from her, causing her to look over to Jaden, who had fallen asleep standing up. Mayumi raised a brow, but turned back to the screen when she heard a voice.
"Good morning and welcome, my students," said a bald man wearing a mahogany jacket who appeared on the screen. "I am Chancellor Sheppard, the headmaster here, and you are the best and the brightest duelists in the world. Now, please get yourself settled in to your assigned dorms. I think you'll find them quite comfortable, depending on how you are ranked, of course. Haha!"
Outside the Meeting Hall!
Mayumi and Annabelle were walking with Bastion as they talked more about the school when they heard someone talking loudly ahead of them. They looked up to see Jaden and Syrus. When Jaden caught sight of them, he smiled.
"Hey, are you in red, too?" he asked.
"Well, now let's see here," Bastion said as he stopped. "Yellow sleeves, yellow buttons... I don't think so."
"Oh, I get it," Jaden said. "So that's why Sy and I are in red."
"Please don't tell us that you just figured that out now?" Bastion asked as Mayumi and Annabelle sweatdropped.
"So what?" Jaden asked. "Ever think I might be colorblind?"
"Well, no, I didn't," Bastion said. "Are you colorblind?"
"No, but I could have been!" Jaden answered with a laugh as Bastion, Mayumi, and Annabelle started to walk away. "See you around the dorms!"
"I doubt that," Bastion said as he stopped to turn back to Jaden. "Your dorm is over there."
Jaden and Syrus looked to where Bastion was pointing. Bastion, Mayumi, and Annabelle walked off talking again, but they soon went their separate ways to the get to their dorms.
Obelisk Blue Girls' Dorm!
Mayumi and Annabelle walked into the Obelisk Girls' Dorm. Three girls came up to them as soon as they entered, wearing the same uniform.
"Hello," a blonde haired girl greeted them.
"What's up?" Annabelle replied.
"Hello," Mayumi returned the greeting.
"I'm Alexis Rhodes," the girl told them. "And these are my friends, Jasmine and Mindy."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Mayumi Chizuru."
"And I'm Annabelle Bakura, but call me Anna."
"Nice to meet you," Alexis said.
"You too," Anna agreed.
"Well, we have to go unpack our things," Mayumi announced with a smile.
"We'll come with you," Mindy said.
"Okay," the two friends agreed.
Mayumi and Anna led Alexis, Mindy, and Jasmine to their rooms where they unpacked their things and put up posters of their favorite Duel Monsters, bands, singers, movies, and anime. After everything was in its place, they walked out of Anna's room talking about Duel Monsters, which one was their favorite, and which ones they found cute. When they reached the main hall, they were greeted by a woman with hot pink hair pulled up into a ponytail who Anna and Mayumi recognized as a teacher.
"Girls, can you all go and round up the other Obelisks for the welcome feast?" she asked.
"Of course, Miss Fontaine," they chimed before the five of them turned to leave.
Alexis, Anna, and Mayumi headed for the Duel Arena on the other side of the hall while Mindy and Jasmine headed in the opposite direction to round up the other students. As soon as they entered the arena, the three girls noticed five people standing across from them, two of which were in Slifer red jackets. Mayumi and Anna recognized the two Slifers right away, while Alexis seemed to know the remaining Obelisk students. They walked up to the group, crossing their arms over their chests as they looked the boys over.
"Well, this sure is a motley crew," Anna commented.
"Hey, Alexis," one of the boys greeted her with a smirk. "Have you come to watch me mop the floor with my new little friend Jaden here? It'll be a short duel, but an entertaining one for sure."
"I'm here to remind you about the Obelisk welcome dinner," Alexis answered. "You're late."
"Oh, yeah," the boy said lazily. "Come on, guys."
After the boy and his posse walked out of the arena, the girls turned to Jaden and Syrus.
"Sorry if Chazz rubbed you the wrong way," Alexis said. "Not all of us Obelisks are like that. He's just a jerk, especially with Slifers."
"It's no big deal," Jaden told her. "Those types don't really bother me at all." The girls looked at him in surprise. "Besides, I could have beaten him in one turn."
"We've got to work n that overconfidence," Syrus said.
"Oh, two turns, maybe two and a half," Jaden said.
Mayumi started to laugh, which seemed to confuse Jaden.
"What?" he asked.
"The Slifer welcome dinner is probably about to start, too," Mayumi reminded him with a smile.
"Right," Jaden stated before turning around. "We better go, Sy."
"Hey, wait up!" Syrus called after him as he started to run.
Jaden stopped suddenly, turning around to face the girls and jogging in place.
"Oh, hey!" he shouted. "What were your names again?"
"Alexis Rhodes!"
"Annabelle Bakura."
"Mayumi Chizuru! And yours?"
"The name's Jaden!" he called back before turning around. "All right, see ya around!"
"Aren't you going to introduce me?" Syrus asked.
"Jaden?" Mayumi repeated his name with a smile.
Anna and Alexis looked at each other for a moment before their giggles caught Mayumi's attention.
"Mayumi and Jaden sittin' in a tree," Anna started to sing.
"K-I-S-S-I-N-G," Alexis joined in.
"Oh, shut up," Mayumi snapped, blushing. "Let's get back to the dorms."
Welcome Dinner!
Jasmine, Mindy, Alexis, Mayumi, and Anna stood together talking and laughing about a lot of things as the other students mingled around them. They had found out that while they had little in common with each other, they could all still talk and laugh with one another easily. It was Mindy that brought up the topic of boys late in the evening.
"Mayumi, is there someone you like?" she asked.
"I'm not really sure," Mayumi answered. "I'm just getting to know him."
"Is it that Bastion guy?" Jasmine asked.
"Bastion?" Mayumi asked in surprise before she started to laugh. "No, no. I've only just met Bastion."
"Oh, then is it Chazz?" Mindy asked.
"No way on Earth," Mayumi answered. "And anyways I know for a fact that I won't be able to stand Chazz."
"Then who?" they both asked insistently.
"Well, I met this Slifer red student while I was gathering the other Obelisk students," Mayumi answered. "He's kind and funny."
"WHAT?!" Mindy exclaimed in shock.
"Really?" Jasmine seconded her disbelief. "A Slifer?"
"He's the one who beat Dr. Crowler," Mayumi answered. "Or, as I like to call him, that he-she."
"I think you should stick with someone from the Obelisk Blue Dorm," Jasmine said with a bit of a chuckle. Alexis and Anna, however, were both in a full-blown laughing fit.
"What about you, Anna?" Mindy asked as she looked over to the other girl.
"I don't know yet," Anna answered once she had calmed down. "But I would rather be focusing on my dueling skills than boys right now."
All four of the other girls started to laugh at that. It was not long until they all felt tired and headed off to bed. Instead of going to their rooms, though, Alexis and Mayumi headed out of the main hall and back to the duel arena. They walked in on the middle of a duel just as Syrus asked about a trap that Chazz had played.
"I had a feeling I'd find you here," Mayumi told him as she took a spot on the sideline to watch.
"Mayumi, Alexis?" Syrus asked as he looked at them.
"Chthonion Polymer is a nasty trap," Alexis started to explain. "It'll allow you to take control of an opponent's Fusion Monster by sacrificing one of your own creatures."
"Oh no," Syrus said in alarm. "Jaden just summoned a Fusion Monster."
"I sacrifice Reborn Zombie to gain control of your Flame Wingman," Chazz told Jaden.
"My monster!"
"How did Chazz know to play that?" Syrus asked.
"You're so predictable, Jaden," Chazz went on. "You wouldn't stop talking about that Wingman at the exam, so I knew you'd use him."
"Still, since Flame Wingman was special summoned, that means I'm allowed to normal summon a monster to the field," Jaden reminded him before looking down at his hand. 'Not that anything in my hand is a match for the Flame Wingman,' he thought.
'Go on, you Slifer slacker,' Chazz thought. 'Play another monster. After all, I haven't forgotten about Flame Wingman's super power.'
"All right," Jaden said as he picked a card from his hand. "I summon Elemental Hero Clayman in defense mode. There, all set."
"Yeah, set up to be knocked down," Chazz sneered as he drew a new card. "Chthonian Soldier rise and now, Flame Wingman! Attack with Sky Dive Scorcher!" Flame Wingman did as it was told and destroyed Jaden's monster. "And now, thanks to Flame Wingman's super power, you take damage equal to your destroyed monster's attack points."
Jaden's life points dropped to 3200.
"Don't think that I'm done yet, Slacker," Chazz told him. "Chthonian Soldier! Attack with Wind Storm Slash!"
Jaden's life points went down another 1200 points.
"Are you starting to know your place here at the academy yet?" Chazz asked. "Maybe you were somebody back home, but here in the big leagues you're nothing but a pathetic little amateur Slifer slime. I'll end my turn with a face down card. Go ahead, Slacker!"
Mayumi looked to Jaden with worry and saw his shoulders shaking. His head was down so she could not tell if he was laughing or crying. Chazz made it obvious he thought his opponent was doing the latter.
"Ah, what's wrong, baby?" Chazz asked in a baby voice. "Are you crying?"
Mayumi giggled when Jaden lifted his head, a full grin on his face as he laughed.
"This is too fun!" Jaden said.
"What?" Chazz asked, taken aback.
"Just what I came for," Jaden stated. "Man, I mean the trash talking, the action. It's just all so great."
"What the...?"
"I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman!" Jaden announced as he played his card. "All right, Sparkman! Now attack with Static Shock Wave!"
Sparkman did as Jaden had told it to do, attacking Chazz's Chthonian Soldier and destroying it. Mayumi looked up to see the Chthonian Soldier's sword fly up into the air before it flung itself right at Jaden. Chazz's life points dropped to 3600 points, but Jaden's life points dwindled down to 1600.
"Still think it's great, Slacker?" Chazz asked. "Because when Chthonian Soldier is destroyed, you receive the same amount of damage to your life points as I do. The difference is that you hardly have any to spare. It's just a matter of time, Slacker. Your best card is about to be all mine."
"This isn't over yet," Jaden told him. "I throw down a face down."
"Play what you like," Chazz stated as he drew a new card from his deck. "My next attack is about to finish off your life points. And that attack is coming right now. Go, Flame Wingman!"
The Flame Wingman lunged at Sparkman, who rose to meet the attack.
"Not so fast," Jaden announced. "That was a trap I just threw."
"A trap?" Chazz asked as the trap card revealed itself.
"It's Mirror Gate," Syrus said with shock.
"Then Jaden's still in this duel after all," Mayumi gasped. "Mirror Gate makes two monsters in a battle switch the sides they're on, so that means that Flame Wingman is back with Jaden."
"Oh yeah!" Jaden shouted. "Go Wingman!"
"No!" Chazz cried out. Flame Wingman was able to beat Sparkman with ease, and Chazz's life points dropped to 3100.
"And just like you told me a little while ago," Jaden went on. "Don't forget about my Wingman's super power! You take damage equal to the attack points of your destroyed monster!"
Chazz's life points dropped even more, leaving him with 1500.
"All right!" Syrus shouted.
"Nice moves, Jaden," Alexis called out the compliment.
"That's the way!" Mayumi cheered.
Jaden held up a peace sign over his shoulder at them.
"Those moves were more luck than skill, if you ask me, Slifer scum," Chazz sneered. "All right, I activate Chthonian Blast. Since one of my monsters was destroyed, I can destroy one of yours and you take damage equal to half of its attack points."
"Flame Wingman!" Jaden called out as his monster was destroyed.
His life points dropped to a mere 550 points.
"Now I activate the trap card, Call of the Haunted," Chazz went on. "It lets me select one monster card from my graveyard and summon it back onto the field in attack mode. Rise, Inferno Warrior! But he won't be staying on the field for long, because I'm going to sacrifice him to summon Nefise the Inferno General."
Mayumi raised a brow at the monster that Chazz had just summoned.
"Not bad," Jaden commented.
"Not bad?" Chazz asked, surprised. "You're something else, Slacker, you know that? Acting all confident, but your lousy monsters won't get you out of this jam."
Mayumi felt her eye twitch at that, but before Jaden could play his next card, she heard the sound of footsteps coming their way. It sounded like it was coming from the direction of the entrance to the arena.
"Uh, guys!" Mayumi called. "We got company. Campus security. If they find all of us here we'll be seriously busted."
"What?" Syrus asked in shock.
"Why?" Jaden asked. "I mean, we're all students here."
Mayumi and Alexis pulled out their student handbooks to show it to Jaden.
"The rules say 'no off hour arena duels,'" Alexis told him. "Chazz knows that."
Mayumi and Alexis glared at Chazz, who blushed.
"But let us guess," Mayumi said dryly. "He didn't tell you."
"Come on," one of Chazz's goons spoke up. "Let's go."
"Well, well, Slacker," Chazz said as he looked at Jaden. "Looks like you lucked out this time."
"What are you talking about?" Jaden asked. "The match isn't over."
"Yeah, it is," Chazz told him. "I saw what I came to see. You're a sorry duelist. You beating Dr. Crowler was just a fluke."
Mayumi and Alexis watched as Chazz and his goons left before looking back to Jaden, who was fuming.
"Jaden, we've got to get out here!" Syrus called to him.
"Yeah, he's right," Mayumi said.
"Come on," Syrus started to beg. "Let's go."
"This stinks," Jaden muttered as he looked off to the side, pouting with his arms crossed. "I had that guy on the ropes."
"Come on," Syrus tried to tell him.
Outside!
They had finally gotten outside after having to push Jaden off the duel field because he was too busy sulking over not getting to finish the duel.
"You really are stubborn, Jaden," Mayumi told him.
"Only about my dueling," Jaden said.
Syrus looked between Mayumi and Alexis, but both of their attentions were on Jaden.
"Thanks for showing us the back way out," he told them.
"Sure," Alexis said. "I'm just sorry that you didn't get to finish your match with Chazz."
"That's okay," Jaden told her. "I know just how it would have ended anyways."
"Really?" Mayumi asked. "No offense, but from our point of view it looked like it could have gone either way between you and Chazz when you guys stopped."
"No way," Jaden said with a hing of a laugh. "Not after I drew this."
He flipped the card that he still had in his hand around to show them that it was Monster Reborn. The girls stared in shock, knowing that he must have been planning to bring his Flame Wingman back from the graveyard and end the duel.
"See ya," Jaden told them as he put his card back before walking off.
"Wait up!" Syrus ran to catch up with Jaden.
Mayumi and Alexis watched them leave with smiles on their faces.
'This is going to be an interesting year.'
The girls headed back to the Obelisk Blue Girls' Dorm, knowing that they had to get to bed or they would never wake up in time for classes in the morning. They snuck up the stairs and down the halls to their respective rooms.
"Well, see you in the morning, 'Yumi," Alexis told her, stifling a yawn.
"Right," Mayumi agreed, too tired to comment on the new nickname.
They went their separate ways and entered their rooms. Mayumi changed and climbed into bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
...My Line...
I just want to say thank you to Osidiano for once again beta reading to make it easier to read for others.
