The third chapter's a good place to start introducing more characters, right? ... No? Oh well, we've already done that. Below we're introducing some more characters, some a little more vaguely. Anyways! New characters could mean anything! Will they be new friends or new foes?

Re-edited ~ 9/16/2016

Chapter 3

Challenge the Memories


Main Building

Classroom

Days passed as the first week of the academy came to an end, leading to the next week of official classes to begin as most of the students were now simply getting used to their new curriculum. Each class related to Dueling in one way or another, whether that be Deck Construction, Duel History, strategy, and so on.

Despite the Duel-focused classes, the academy still functioned as a normal school providing most of the students with a standard curriculum as well, including Reading, Writing, Math, Physical Education, and clubs for students who wish to expand themselves and their knowledge.

For two particular freshmen, their last class before going to have lunch was about Deck Construction, which was a necessity for every Duelist, since many rely on specific types of Decks to win.

Inside the classroom the layout was similar to a university, in which there were only combined desks with separate chairs for students to sit as they were all in rows that lead down to the podium. Their teacher, who showed to have a Ra-Yellow teacher uniform, was standing and lecturing with a high-tech microphone headset on.

Many students looked on with either focused, confused, or dazed looks on their faces. Two in particular, Nick and Barclay, sat next to each other in the middle of the class. Each of them had their separate Decks out as the red-haired teen looked on and listened to the instructor's words carefully.

Meanwhile, his brown-haired neighbor had his head down on the desk, Deck next to his arm, and managed to sneak in an early nap before lunch.

After finishing his lesson, the teacher smiled before closing the book in his hand and going back to his podium as he looked around at his students.

"Now to have a little fun, like many different types of flowers, all Duelist have their own kind of Decks to use. Today, we will be viewing and determining what kind of Decks many of you have." he remarked before looking around. Only a few people looked on with excitement, most others simply didn't seem to care.

"Would anyone like to be first to come up?" the teacher asked with a curious tone. "See if anyone else in the class can guess what sort of Deck you have created?"

There was the usual silence that fills a classroom whenever the teacher asks for volunteers. The silence was almost overwhelming, even deafening for some until it was suddenly broken by the sound of snoring. Snickering immediately broke out and all the tension was gone. The source of the snoring was identified as Barclay, who moved his head out from his arms.

Nick realized all eyes were on him and soon delivered a quick elbow to his neighbor's side, interrupting his nap and causing Barclay to jump up and mutter to himself.

"Mr. Fyfe! How kind of you to volunteer." the teacher said with ill-concealed aggravation, causing the class to burst in laughter.

Barclay looked confused for a second, still waking up, then caught on to what he was supposed to be doing. With a sigh, he stood up while grabbing his Deck from the desk he was sitting at, and headed down to the teacher while letting out a large yawn.

He reached the podium, setting his Deck down next to a square grid projector before giving his teacher a look of boredom. He then drew the first card, looking at it, and laying it right next to his Deck as a beeping was soon heard. In mere moments, a Solid-Vision Hologram emerged, just as if a normal Duel Monster was summoned.

The monster that appeared was a pale skinned woman with long blond hair and blue eyes. She wore a light blue outfit with a blue cloak, silver knee-high greaves, a silver ornamental belt, silver choker, silver earrings, and a silver hair accessory.

"Interesting choice, now then, would anyone like to guess what sort of Deck this monster belongs in?" the teacher inquired with a curious tone.

Again the teacher was met by silence, no one seemed to be able to recognize the monster or what archetype it belonged too.

Nick, on the other hand, knew the answer but decided to remain silent, figuring it would be unfair for him to answer without giving others a chance.

"She's called Lady of the Lake." Barclay said lazily, yawning once again.

Once the name came up, a few hands sprung up from around the classroom, causing the teacher to smile before picking a student at the far corner.

"A Noble Knight Deck." the student answered as the brown-haired student nodded, making the teacher shout correct as the class were amazed by how the person figured it out.

"Can I go now?" Barclay asked in a monotone voice, causing the teacher to make a dismissive gesture, allowing him to grab his Deck and card before returning to his seat. The student's attitude elicited some snickering from a few students, while others looked at him disapprovingly.

Before the teacher could ask for another volunteer, Nick ran up to the front of the class, eager to have his turn and be done with it, rather than wait any longer.

Once he reached the projector, Nick drew from the top of his Deck and placed the card on the same spot as Barclay, causing the projector to activate once more.

A large shimmering silver dragon appeared. Blue and purple sections were visible on the monster as well as vicious looking claws. Though normally twice the size of an average monster, the machine augmented the Solid-Vision to make it around the size of a normal person, allowing all to see it clearly.

The teacher once again asked the question and picked another student, this time a female student that was sitting in the front row.

"Stardust Dragon." the student responded. "It could go into any number of Decks easily."

"I bet his Deck is something like a Tuning Deck, right?" Another student asked, looking to see the red-haired student shake his head.

He shook his head again and again as many people tried to guess what it was, eventually leading to the teacher not asking for any more volunteers.

"Alright, Nick, since no one seems to have guessed what kind of Deck this is, why don't you please enlighten us?" The teacher remarked, making some of the students turn their attention towards their fellow classmate.

"Well technically speaking, some of the answers are somewhat right, but I would have to say my style of Dueling uses anAssault-Mode archetype mixed in with some Synchro and Xyz monsters for back-ups." Nick remarked.

This caused some confusion as students murmured to themselves, wondering how a Duelist can even use such a mix-up of cards and win. Their hushed whispers were immediately silenced by a loud bellowing laugh which echoed through the area, making everyone, including Nick and Barclay, turn towards the source of it.

Sitting near the highest row, a tall young man with black hair, buzzed off on the sides and back, and slight facial hair. His skin is noticeably darker than most everyone else's, due to a lifetime spent in the sun. The outfit he currently wore was a slightly modified Ra-yellow student uniform, the jacket extending further past his waist, no extended collar and the normally white band around the collar being yellow. He also wore the jacket opened and revealing a muscle shirt underneath.

"Just like a Slifer slacker, thinking you can just mash cards together and hope they work. No wonder you're at the bottom of the worthless pile." the older teen remarked with a cocky tone. This caused a large number of the Obelisk blue and Ra-yellow students in the room to laugh at his remark.

"Hey! What's your problem dude?" Nick remarked with an annoyed tone as he looked up to the person who started the laughter. "My Deck isn't just some mash-up of cards, I put a lot of time and energy into making sure I had something that worked well together."

"From what I heard," the older teen replied, pointing at Barclay. "You totally blew it against that guy's Noble Knight Deck, which just proves that the only effective Deck is one with an obvious archetype."

"That Duel didn't prove anything like that!" Nick countered, starting to get annoyed by his classmate's disrespect. "Besides! Decks with obvious themes have obvious weaknesses! Anyone can counter a themed Deck! My Deck is harder to counter because you never know what card I could draw!"

"Yeah, right." the Ra-yellow student chuckled with malice in his tone. The Obelisk blue students around him were egging their leader on and congratulating him on his comeback.

"Save your breath, Nick." Barclay said, cutting Nick off before he could continue arguing. "No need to argue with an Obelisk brown-noser."

Several of the students, most of them Slifers, laughed at the remark that their classmate said.

"Why you-" the insulted party started, jumping to his feet but soon stopped when a book slammed on the ground, catching everyone's attention. The instructor had an irritated look on his face as everyone soon fell silent, except for Barclay.

"Besides, there's a much easier way to settle this argument, and everyone knows it."

"That's correct." the teacher replied, walking away from the podium and looking around at his students with a stern gaze. It quickly reminded everyone that there was still an authority figure in the room. "The two of you could Duel, after my class. Nick, please return to your seat."

The three words in that sentence carried the weight and meaning that only a teacher could impart. He soon nodded and grabbed his Deck before making his way back to his seat.

The only sounds he could hear were whispers and mummers about the supposed Duel that would take place, along with how badly he'd lose by some of the Obelisk students.

Nick simply ignored the whispers and sat back down, looking forward as the teacher continued talking once again. After only a few minutes, the bell soon rang, allowing the students to grab their stuff and exit the class for lunch.

Nobody knew that this lunch period would bring about a big change to the hierarchy of the academy.


Cafeteria

The cafeteria was a large, relatively open space with linoleum floors and bright lights with numerous tables spread out across the floor, most having at least four chairs to them. Though there were some tables near large windows looking out across some of the Academy's best views. These tables had only two chairs to them and had been quickly taken by couples or Obelisk blues.

About half of the tables in the entire area were taken, or simply left with the leftovers of other people's lunches. Sections had been clearly made, Obelisk blues, Ra-yellows and Slifer reds all sitting in separate areas and far away from one another.

The two roommates walked through the double-doors, smelling the aroma of food as their stomachs growled in hunger. In a few minutes, the two were able to wait in line and grab food for themselves as they looked around to find a place to sit.

On the Slifer red section, the massive figure that was Takashi waved to his two friends, indicating the chairs he had saved for them.

Nick and Barclay walked over, pulling out their chairs while taking a seat, though Nick did it in an angry fashion as he slammed down his food and quickly began to eat. It was almost like he hadn't eaten in months and it was now his first taste of real food.

The large student looked on in shock, never seeing his friend act like this in the time they got to know each other, wondering what exactly happened to him.

"Uh Nick... Is everything alright?" He inquired in a worried tone.

"Mphf pmfh!" The red-haired teen replied with a mouth full of burger as a few pieces flew out onto his tray.

Not understanding a single word he was saying, the giant turned his attention to Barclay, who simply had a look of annoyance by how his roommate was eating.

"He got into an argument with some Ra Yellow in our last class." the brown-haired teen informed their puzzled friend. "They're going to Duel at some point, later today most likely."

"Oh? Sorry to hear that, Nick." Takashi remarked. Then he started scanning the crowd to see if he could spot which Ra-yellow his friend had gotten into an argument with. "Which one?"

Nick pointed at his new adversary, who was once again surrounded by Obelisk Blues.

"Oh! Sorry! Nick!" Takashi exclaimed, chuckling a bit when he saw who his friend was pointing to. "That's Jessie Alexandros, a sophomore and one of the upcoming stars on the campus. You can't possibly be Dueling him, he's pretty much guaranteed to become an Obelisk Blue at the next Promotion Exam."

"No, that's exactly who he got in a fight with." Barclay sighed with an annoyed tone in his voice, continuing to eat his meal. Takashi's laughter died immediately and his face became serious as he turned to face Nick, who turned his attention and suddenly had a surprised look on his face.

"What?" was all their large friend said.

The red-haired teen saw a deadpan look on the large teen's face, almost as if someone had done something stupid and the joke itself wasn't funny to him.

After swallowing his food with some juice that he got, Nick was able to talk normally as he began to explain the situation and retell what happened during their class. By the end of it, all Takashi could do was look on with shock and realize that while his friend may have been a bit foolish to try and Duel someone out of his league, he admired Nick for standing up for his belief.

"I see." Takashi remarked as the brown-haired teen yawned and looked over to Nick, who finally managed to calm down and breathe out a sigh of frustration. "I shouldn't be surprised, Jessie has been known for riling up people, especially the new freshmen that start off at the Slifer dorms."

"No kidding, guy loves to hear himself talk, that's for sure." Barclay added as he turned his head to see the Ra student laughing obnoxiously with girls giggling around him.

"Just pisses me off, guy's nothing but an airhead, how someone like that doofus ended up in the next rank or is even considered a prodigy is beyond me-"

Just as he finished his sentence, a carton of milk flew across the cafeteria and slammed right against Nick's head, spilling all over his clothes and on Barclay and Takashi as well.

"Hey Slacker, thought you might be thirsty!" Jessie remarked with a loud laugh as many others in the cafeteria joined in.

In throwing the milk, it was the straw broke the camel's back as it caused Nick to enter into a rage once again, standing up from his spot and glaring right over where Jessie was. In seconds, he just left his chair and headed right over to where the group was, breathing heavily in rage, making people realize something bad was about to happen.

Barclay and Takashi were quick to follow their fuming friend, Takashi trying to calm him down with words. Barclay was simply wringing out his clothes and was more interested in having a front row seat to whatever was about to happen. Having never seen Nick like this, he was curious to see what his roommate would do when mad, so they would be able to deal with him effectively if this red-head were to get like this again in the future.

"Takashi, make sure you're ready to grab the bampot." Barclay muttered.

His warning caught on as the red-haired teen roared out and was about to jump at the Ra-yellow, causing the two to quickly drag him back, all while he kept venting.

The Obelisk blues all jumped up and stood in front of their leader, egging the Slifer student on to try something.

"Think you're so tough don't you?! Having all those pathetic cronies around you like some kind of boss, bet you don't have real guts in your entire body to face me like a real Duelist!" Nick bellowed out, causing most of the students in the cafeteria to laugh and jeer, mocking Jessie when they heard the insults dealt to him.

The crew of students around Jessie were ready to pounce on the red-haired Slifer, but stopped when their leader pushed them aside and walked towards the trio. Barclay and Takashi let go of Nick as he finally managed to calm down.

When Jessie stopped right in front of his classmate, the two gave a hardened glare at the other, causing the crowd to become silent as they waited to see what was about to happen.

"You think I'm afraid of some loser like you? Fine, let's see if you got some skill to back-up all that tough guy crap you're doing, but let's make it a bit more interesting." Jessie began as Nick deepened his frown.

Leaning a bit closer, the Ra student began whispering something, causing Nick to widen his eyes in shock before looking back at his opponent's face.

"If you got the balls to actually agree, meet me tomorrow at the north end of the Forest, we'll have our Duel there."

With that last statement, Jessie turned away and began to leave the cafeteria with his followers right behind him, leaving the red-haired student standing there in a daze.

As the trio left, they were unaware that there were a couple of Ra Yellow students who watched them leave. One, with pale skin, silver hair and red eyes, had a smile on her face as she kept her eyes on Nick.


Slifer-Dorm

After leaving the cafeteria and spending the rest of the day going to their normal classes, the day ended for the trio as they soon returned back to their dorm. They found themselves sitting in the Common Area of the building. The trio sat at one of the large round tables with Nick's Deck spread out, looking them over to see what kind of plan he could come up with.

The red-haired teen was still agitated, but he was also somewhat distracted by what Jessie had said before leaving, unable to keep any kind of thought for more than a few minutes.

"Do you know what kind of Deck the guy uses?" Barclay asked, pulling Nick out of his thoughts as he looked over to Takashi to see what he had to say.

"From most of the records, his Deck uses the Heroic archetype." the large student answered. Both of his friends had heard of the type of monsters used with that Deck, knowing that it wasn't going to be easy. As luck would have it, their large friend reached one of his pockets and pulled out a card, placing it on the table in front of his red-haired friend before pushing it forward.

Nick picked it up to take a better look at it.

"One Day of Peace," Takashi explained, "It'll protect you and give you a chance to come back from any plan that he might have for you."

"I can't just take your card, Takashi." Nick remarked with a shocked tone, unable to bring himself to take something that belonged to his friend.

"You need this card Nick," the large student replied, "A Heroic Deck can quickly put very powerful monsters on the field, and if you don't have anything to protect yourself, the Duel's done."

Despite wanting to protest even more, Nick knew that he didn't have any other excuses for not wanting to take the card, and decided to honor his friends wish.

"Since we're helping you out," Barclay added with a sigh, clearly still annoyed with his roommate as he reached into his Deck case and pulled out a card. "Here, Compulsory Evacuation Device, you already know how it works and what it can do. And from the sounds of it, I'm betting this card will come in handy, and don't think you're just taking it from me, I've got copies so it's no big deal."

Looking at the two cards in his hands, Nick couldn't help but smile widely, looking over to give that smile to his friends as he took out two cards he had in his Deck and added them to it.

"Thanks so much guys, this really means a lot to me," the red-haired teen replied with a cheerful tone as he then went into his pocket to grab a pack that he had bought from the Card Store.

"Nick... Can I ask you something?" Takashi inquired, making his friend stop from opening the pack and providing him his undivided attention. "Why exactly are you doing all this?"

"Aside from being a brash American." Barclay muttered in annoyance.

After putting all of his cards together, Nick looked at his friends and realized maybe it was time he told someone about why he got so frustrated with Jessie.

"When Jessie came up to me, telling me that to up the stakes, he wanted me to bet my worthless, good for nothing Deck and give it to him if I lose..."

The two sitting in front of him widen their eyes in shock, never expecting the red-haired student to say something like that, especially when they knew that his Deck was almost like a second arm to any student in the academy.

"THAT BLOODY DOBBER DID WHAT?!" Barclay roared after the initial shock wore off and was rapidly replaced with anger. "Fa in their reit min' bets their Deck oan a Duel?"

The brown-haired teen continued to rant in increasingly unintelligible language. The other two had no idea what he was saying and were sitting dumbstruck at the slacker's sudden outburst. He finally calmed down, returned to his seat and let out a long sigh.

"You were saying?" he prompted after clearing his throat a bit.

"Look, what didn't get me was that bet, it's just... How he kept constantly dissing this Deck, he has no idea how much this Deck really means to me and hear him just disrespect it..."

The tone in his voice caused his friends to raise an eyebrow, wondering why Nick was so attached to those specific cards, even though there were multiple copies that existed.

"These cards aren't just cards to me, they represent an idea I have for myself not just as a Duelist, but as a person. When I was younger, my parents always worked and rarely ever came home, often leaving me in the care of my grandparents whenever they had to leave for the day. I should've been pissed, but I wasn't... It's because I knew that each time I would go there, they would have a special card for me that they got from the local card store."

Nick began drawing the cards once again, spreading them on the table while he continued telling his tale.

"Each time I went there and saw them leave, my grandpa or grandma gave me another card to cheer me up, adding to a collection of mismatched cards I had in my Deck case. When I had enough for a full Deck, my grandpa began to teach me how to Duel the right away, having fun and trying your best with what you have."

He soon stopped as the last two cards were placed at the top with the rest of them below, showing it in an unusual order with most of the monsters on top, spells in the middle, and traps at the end.

"After they passed away last year, I was forced to stay home alone for the first time in ages, hating every single moment of it even when I was in my own room. Though when I look at these cards, all that comes to mind is me remembering how my grandfather lived and what he wished for. That's why I get mad when someone disrespects my Deck, they don't just disrespect paper, they disrespect the dreams that each one of these cards carry. No matter what happens, I'm gonna show that prick that this Deck is great and that I don't need to stick to one style to win."

When Nick finished his explanation, he looked up from his cards and saw tears gushing from Takashi's eyes.

"I'b jus' so moob'd!" Takashi sobbed, wrapping his massive arms around the red-headed teen and easily lifting him off of the ground. The air was flooded with the sounds of pops and cracks and all of the air being crushed out of the smaller teen's lungs.

"Careful, Takashi." Barclay said softly, gently patting one of the giant arms. "You don't want to break the poor lad."

Takashi nodded and gently set Nick down on the ground. When he released his friend, Nick found his body lacked any strength after the bear hug he had received and clung to the table for support. Barclay pushed a chair over for his roommate, who gratefully collapsed into the seat.

"Now, if you feel you and your Deck are prepared for this foolish Duel tomorrow, then you should get some sleep." Barclay told him with a gentle tone. "But with your Deck on the line, I think it's a mingin idea to go through with this."

Nick managed to get himself together and looked at both is friends, who were giving him a supportive look, making him grin cheerfully before deciding to hit the hay, realizing tomorrow was going to be a big day.


The Next Day

North end of Forest

The area was pretty much exactly what one would expect of a forest. Large trees everywhere, their leaves blocking out large portions of the sun's light. A large clearing was the designated meeting spot. A circle of about 40 feet across, like the trees had either been purposely cleared, or intentionally planted around this area, in order to create a perfectly clear spot for Duels to take place.

On one side of the clearing was Jessie Alexandros and his posse of Obelisk Blues, looking as smug as ever. On the opposite end of the clearing was Nick and his friends. Unseen by either group, four more eyes looked upon the clearing as they muttered to one another while waiting for the match to start.

Both opponents step-forward as the two grabbed their Duel-Disks and placed it on their weaker arm, activating them as the probes launched once again. The holographic dome soon appeared as it expanded and reached the edge of the Dueling spot, stopping just at the edge.

While Nick's disk was the same, Jessie's was a bit different as the Digi-construct was yellow and in the shape of a lightning bolt. The Duel Disk he had on his arm was a simple circle, but with an ornate boarder, looking almost like carved marble. The image of an eagle in flight is on the center, the Life Points displayed on its wings.

Soon enough, the hologram simulator dome activated as everyone around them placed their visors to make sure they could see everything, leaving only two simple words left to be said.

"Let's Duel!"


Now we come to our first ever rival duel, and boy it's gonna be a dozy. Thank you all for reading this chapter and we hope that the re-edited chapter is better than the previous one. For those wondering, we will be continuing to re-edit the other chapters And post the new ones, hopefully both will be great. Stayed tuned for our next chapter, The Tale of Battle: Nick vs Jessie.

Translations:

Bampot - an idiot, unhinged person

Bloody dobber - Bloody: used to express anger, annoyance, or shock, or simply for emphasis; Dobber: a fool/stupid person. Also means "dickhead"

Fa in their reit min' bets their Deck oan a Duel? - "Who in their right mind bets their Deck on a Duel?"

Mingin - horrible/dirty