Meanwhile, down in the dingy Slifer dorms…
"Nyaaaah! I'm going to be late!" cried a soft, Asian-sounding voice in the middle of a dark, modest room.
A stumble here and a trip there eventually led the person to his bedside table, where he opened up the single drawer and pulled out a flashlight. The beam of light cast upon a rather messy living space: clothes on the floor, hangers and other utensils piled on the bed and ungraded students' exams piled on the flat, wooden table that served as both his kitchen table and office space.
"Hm, now where did I leave them…?"
As the poor guy shuffled around his mess to search for his briefcase and hairbrush, a faint little meow could be heard from by the dark closet.
"Pharaoh? What is it, my friend?" The man asked, and he turned his flashlight towards the meow.
The dim-orange spotlight fell upon the shape of a big, fat cat with a fluffy tail standing next to a square object with a handle at the top. The man came forward and grabbed the handle, heaving the slightly heavy briefcase up to knee-level and began to stumble towards his other small dresser that held up his tiny antenna TV.
"Thank you Pharaoh for helping me! Now let's see… ah! Here's where I left my comb (…right here where I left it, heh…). Ok, let's hurry, little friend!"
And with that, the man and his cat leaped across the short threshold and out the door, the sunshine bathing them both in inviting and awakening warmth. As he jogged down the long white pavement leading to the main school building (cursing himself for forgetting to put fuel in his scooter) some Ra students were casually walking in the opposite direction when they noticed him and his cat going by.
"Good morning, children!" The kind man said with a friendly wave of his hand, and then used that same free hand to correct his crooked glasses. "See you all in class!"
But surprisingly there was no "good morning, Mr. Banner!" back. Instead, all that Banner could make out was some giddy giggling from the kids as their distance lengthened. But Banner had no time to wonder what they were laughing at; he had to get to his class and it was already occasional for Ras to be just as nasty to Slifers as the Obelisks.
Simply put, if Dr. Vellian Crowler was the Yin of Duel Academy, then Professor Lyman Banner was the Yang: the tall, lean professor dressed in casual long pants and the [slightly wrinkled] button-down work shirt with the oversized collar was perhaps the most beloved teacher of Duel Academy according to how much relief the kids got when they knew they had his class next. But his general loose nature with the kids earned him the ire of The Doctor.
The wind rode though Lyman Banner's long, straight, beautiful black hair, which was tied loosely in a low ponytail, while strands of it were allowed to hang free around his delicate handsome face. Banner's merry eyes remained dark slits, though years of hard studies in the obscure science of alchemy had left the poor man very nearsighted, which explained the rectangular glasses he wore. From the way he looked, Prof. Banner could pass off as one of the "lab geeks", had he been shorter and younger.
And running alongside his master was perhaps Lyman's best friend in the whole world: his cat, Pharaoh. Pharaoh was a plump Persian/tabby mix with darker coloration and brown stripes, a squished-in face and a tail that was fluffy at the end. Despite being very fat indeed, Pharaoh was quite quick and was able to keep up with his owner all the way to the Academy entrance.
Both teacher and cat made it up the long, wide staircase to the secondary hallways where most of the Upper classrooms were located. Pharaoh darted around the legs of the young adult students as they crowded the hallways; Banner tried his best not to accidentally bump into anyone as he hurried across the carpeted threshold.
Finally, he made it to his classroom door; Banner had to stop a moment to stuff some loose papers back into his old, banged-up briefcase and catch his breath before he turned the handle to the classroom door and stepped inside:
"Greetings! Sorry I'm late, class! I just…"
But there was a dreadful surprise waiting there for him...
Standing at the podium in front of the full classroom, dressed in his glamorous and expensive Obelisk robe with pink, frills (as well as a glaring look on his face), was Vellian Crowler.
"…Oh dear…" was all Banner could say.
"Well, well, well! Look who finally decided to show up to teach his class today!" Dr. Crowler announced in his high sing-song tone to the class, without ever taking his piercing blue eyes off of Banner.
About time you showed up, you truant leader. Now I might finally have the chance to get you fired!
Banner gathered his thoughts and tried to explain, "I'm so sorry! The electricity, it was…" But Crowler was quick to interrupt by turning and walking to the classroom podium to collect his papers.
"Shame. I was afraid I might have to teach your class myself," Dr. Crowler said in a light sigh, "but I guess I won't get that opportunity…" He gave a little grin as he tapped his papers together while his movements caused his shiny, crescent moon-shaped earrings to jingle.
Prof. Banner looked around very sheepishly at his class; student reaction was really quite typical: the Obelisk Blue students all glared down at him like he was a piece of garbage, the Ra Yellow students gave him looks of both concern and slight disappointment, but the ever faithful Slifer Red students (particularly Syrus Truesdale and Jaden Yuki) all looked on to their Dorm Leader with the utmost sympathy. After all, they of all people knew what it was like to be browbeaten and bullied by Dr. Crowler.
Feeling his cheeks turning bright red from the humiliation of his lateness being pointed out by the top professor in the Academy, Lyman Banner took a breath and turned his attention back to Dr. Crowler; the Department Chairperson had just gathered up his thin, tidy suitcase and stood before the Slifer teacher, the two of them were the exact same height and thus were eye-to-eye.
Crowler took a second to look over Banner like a cheetah over a tasty gazelle. When his eyes made it to Banner's feet, a nasty smirk came across his purple lips and Crowler spoke in a tone of playful sarcasm,
"And before I leave, Banner, I must say your choice in shoe style suits you very well!"
It was then with a ping of painful realization that Banner looked down and saw that he was still wearing his fluffy, white, bedtime bunny slippers.
"Oh! Dear me… oops…" Poor Lyman Banner was so embarrass that he didn't even bother raising his head; he already had a bright blush over his face.
Nearly every Obelisk kid in the classroom roared with laughter; even some of the Ra's couldn't help but join in on the humor. But none of the Slifer students were laughing; some of them threw up nasty looks at the Blues for giving in to the antics of their cruel effeminate leader. But Crowler suddenly stopped. He felt something rubbing up against his leg. With a frightened, high-pitched yelp he jumped to the side, causing a few students to laugh again and take notice. It turned out to just be Pharaoh.
"Oh, Pharaoh, you silly cat. Ha-ha!" Banner giggled.
The plump orange cat stared imploringly at Dr. Crowler, just looking for some attention. But all he got was the usual look of disdain from The Doctor as he quickly adjusted the tall ruffled collar around his neck and marched to the doorway and turned back around as he said:
"Well, Banner, with the exception of your intrusive cat, I'm afraid I will have to report this humorous little spectacle as well as your tardiness to the Chancellor. I'm sure he will just love reading the report card I have in store for you..." Crowler chuckled and his sleek eyes narrowed.
Oh, how I love tormenting these lowlifes, just like the great god Obelisk himself! What have you got for me now, you Slifer Slime?
Hoping for some kind of retaliatory report from the Slifer Professor to add to his bad "report", Vellian instead got only a humbled, guilty reply from Lyman:
"Yes… I understand, Dr. Crowler. I'll have to work on being a better teacher. But thank you for watching over my class for me." Banner looked up from the ground and offered the Doctor a kind smile.
Seeing that all his taunting didn't have as big of an effect on the Slifer teacher, Crowler could only glower at him before turning on his heel and marching off down the hall, his flashy earrings jingling away and his long flowing uniform train flowing behind him like a peacock's tail.
Prof. Banner made his way to the podium where he sat down in his high chair with Pharaoh in his lap and his heavy briefcase laid out on the flat surface. After adjusting his glasses, Lyman looked out into his young audience and smiled his usual kind smile before speaking,
"Well class, I apologize for being so late: the electricity to the Slifer Dorms has gone out yet again, so my alarm clock didn't wake me. Good thing I have Pharaoh here to keep me on my feet, ha ha!"
Some of the class laughed lightly with their teacher, mostly the Slifers, while the others rolled their eyes.
"So in order to not lose anymore time, let's just jump right into the lesson for today: 'Dueling Using Multiple Traps and Spells'. Please take out your text books and open up to page 56 …and try to ignore my odd choice in footwear, children."
This time, no one could resist the urge to giggle.
"Mrrrrrooooowww." said Pharaoh.