Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh GX. These characters and some of the cards are mine.

Settling In

Welcome to the Academy

Haru jogged up the stairs grinning and chuckling over his win. Akira greeted his victorious friend as he reached the top step, "Congratulations, Haru-kun." Akira said smiling as Haru leapt in the air several times, "You must really like winning, don't you?" Haru stopped his celebration and gave Akira a confused look before answering, "Well yeah, who doesn't like winning? But more importantly I just enjoy the thrill of the duel," it was Akira's turn to be confused. Haru noticed his friends confusion and explained, "Y'see, when I'm out dueling, I'm not focused on winning or losing, I'm just out there for the thrill. I mean here I am facing an enemy I've never met before with no idea of what his deck holds or what strategies he uses. All I do know is what's in my deck and what I can do. So it's like each duel is a test to see just what I'm capable of. It's really an amazing feeling, playing your hardest and seeing just how much stronger you've become." Haru clenched his fist and gave his friend a big toothy grin. Akira stared for a moment before letting out a sigh and a chuckle, "It almost sounds like you're a gambling man, Haru-kun. Going into battle without knowledge of your opponent's skill. Like playing the odds of your victory without even knowing them."

"Well, yeah I guess I am," Haru said putting a finger to his chin. Akira turned on his heel and began walking away from Haru, "Good," he said with a devilish grin plastered across his face, "I have a feeling we're going to have a lot of fun this year, Haru-kun."

"Um, sure," Haru said, taken aback by Akira's new darker tone of voice, "Hey where are you going?"

"Oh, I'm just going to take care of some things before they finish the rest of the exams," Akira replied nonchalantly, "Don't worry, I'll be back." Akira waved to Haru without looking back before disappearing down a hallway. Haru took a seat on the middle benches, watching the remaining duels take place. He nodded on and off during the many duels at hand until he finally let out a sigh of boredom, "Man, after having a duel of your own just watching one seems…"

"Like a boring waste of time?" Haru looked to his left to find a small boy with dark blonde hair and closed eyed smile. He wore a fancy white dress shirt with black slacks and dark brown loafers. A black backpack could also be seen slung across both his shoulders. Haru sat up and gave the boy a wave, "Hey, howsit goin'?"

"Fine," the boy said with a nod, "I'm Yukimori Taro. And you?"

"Jihokyou Haruhiko,"Haru said pointing a thumb at himself, "but just call me Haru."

"Nice to meet you," Taro bowed politely, "Have you dueled already?"

"Dueled and won." Haru said proudly, "It was an amazing duel. My opponent was really strong. How about you?" Taro was about to answer before Haru cut him off, "Has your big brother dueled yet?"

BAM!!!

Was itsomething I said? Haru thought as he fell on his back from Taro's kick to his chin. Taro looked down at Haru with his open angry beige eyes, "Look here, asshole," Taro screamed clenching a fist at Haru, "I may only be 13, but I took the exam on my own, not some older brother I don't have! Here," Taro reached into his backpack and tossed his duel disk onto Haru's stomach, "I used this Duel Disk to win my duel. So don't go treating me like a kid, dumbass!" Haru lifted the Duel Disk off his torso and sat up chuckling nervously, "Ah my bad, my bad."

"Seriously," Taro said crossing his arms before he noticed something on the ground. He instantly blushed and quickly reached for the floor before Haru's words turned his face pale, "Hey, what are these?" Haru pick up a small figurine of Zoa and Metalzoa from the floor, "Cool, someone must've dropped these."

"Those are mine," Taro said still blushing.

"Wow you have some nice toys," Haru said rummaging more on the ground picking up figures of Black Magician and E-Hero Shining Flare Wingman. Both had a button on their backs that would make part of them light up (staff's jewel for Black Magician, armor for Shining Flare Wingman). Taro quickly snatched the toys from the laughing Haru, "Shut up, asswipe." Taro placed the toys and his Duel Disk into his backpack and ran off. "What's with him?" Haru wondered as he dusted himself off. As Haru stood up he heard the intercom hiss before someone said, "That brings an end to the entrance examinations. Will all participants who passed please exit through the back door."

Haru grinned as he followed the crowd currently heading out of the door, "Finally."

"Finally," Naiya said happily as she and Kagami headed for the door, "we can leave this boring place. I was about to go crazy in there."

"Then it's a good thing that we're leaving, right Naiya-sama?" Kagami quipped happily beside her peer.

"I already told you to drop the '-sama,' didn't I?"

Haru shielded his eyes from the afternoon sun as he stepped out of the arena. Once his eyes adjusted to the light he stared in amazement at a large helipad with a wide white and navy helicopter sitting atop it. Haru eyes shone as he clinched both his fists, "So coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!"

"My, you amuse easily, Haru-kun," Haru's eyes retuned to normal as he turned to see Akira staring from behind. Akira's polite manner seemed to have returned, much to Haru's relief. Haru sent a short wave in Akira's direction, "Hey."

"Hello," Akira nodded as a man with a megaphone instructed all participants to board the helicopter. Haru was about to board before Akira stopped him, "One moment Haru-kun," Akira said, "before you board I think you should know something."

"Yeah, what's up?" Haru asked raising an eyebrow.

"Look around you, of the hundreds of people who took this exam only this small number of students remain," Haru observed his surroundings and noticed a large change. In the arena, he remembered seeing several hundreds of people. But here he could only find less than half a hundred people. His eyes went wide in shock, "You're right."

"I estimate about thirty people from the three hundred people that took the exam. In other words, those exams had a 90 chance of failure," Akira's eyes narrowed as he glared at Haru, "and getting on that helicopter are the 10 that were skilled enough to pass. Then we'll have to face the second and third years whose skills have only improved from the schools teachings. This first year…is going to be Hell." Haru was struck silent for a moment. The brown hair draped over the green eyes of his lowered head. His hands began to shake until they were balled tightly into fists. A small smirked plastered across his face, "Perfect. I'm not afraid of Hell."

"What?"

"Besides," Haru said boarding the helicopter, "this year is the only chance I have of taking on the devil." Akira was left speechless. All he could do was watch and contain himself as Haru boarded.

The helicopter ride was a relatively quiet one, save a few students chatting with their friends. Taro was sitting a few rows away from Haru and was busy fiddling with several of his toys. Akira sat quietly one row in front of Haru. Answering his friend's question regarding the few uniformed students he saw in the stands, "Well from what I've gathered," Akira began, "some upperclassmen and students that have already been enrolled into the academy come to the exams to gauge the level of the applicants. Sort of like scouting the new competition, I hear that's even where some people can find his rival."

"You mean someone could have been watching me and now sees me as a rival?" Haru's eyes shone brightly as he imagined standing across a silhouette of his greatest rival, both preparing their Duel Disks. "Well yes, but I'm not so sure," Akira said timidly.

"What do you mean by that," Haru pouted, "I have a 10 chance, remember?"

"Ummm," Akira began to greatly doubt Haru's skills at probability. Fortunately for him, the captain spoke over the intercom to inform everyone that they would be landing. Akira sighed in relief as Haru turned away, still pouting.

Once they had disembarked from the craft. Haru followed the crowd to Orientation. Well, first he watched the group of students that had to throw up after the flight, and then he went to Orientation. He met the Principal, who was a large bald man with a brown beard and red coat. He had an honest smile as he introduce himself as "Principal Samejima." Four teachers stood behind him. Well, three and a half in Haru's book. One was a tall, thin, double chinned man with a blonde ponytail. He wore what appeared to be a pink fringy shirt under his blue coat. He introduced himself as "Chronos de Mediz." To his left was a small balding man with curly eyebrows and a small curved mustache. His coat was green and had gold colored shoulder pads. The diminutive staff member introduced himself as "Napoleon." The next to step forward was a woman with dark red hair with a large bang over part of her eye. She wore a white and blue coat over a pink short-skirted dress. The woman introduced herself as "Ayukawa Emi." Finally, a man with black hair and a short mustache stepped forward and introduce himself as "Kabayama." The tail of his yellow coat swayed as he retuned to his previous position. Once all the introductions were over, the students were directed to gather their uniforms and PDA's. Haru stared quizzically at both his PDA, thinking, I am not good with computers, and his yellow uniform, a little bright for my taste.

"So, Ra Yellow, eh?" the auburn hair girl from earlier said unbeknownst to Haru.

"Not bad," the jet haired boy beside her said with a smirk, "I should tell En about this." The raven hair then turned on his heel and walked away. The chestnut haired girl stared smiling, I wonder just what you're planning?

Haru followed the map on his PDA to a place called to Ra Yellow dorm. Once he had an idea that he was in the right place, he looked up from his map and saw what looked like his grade school but painted entirely yellow, except for the roof, which was colored green. Haru fixed his open yellow jacket and headed up the stairs. He found the dorm to be set up pretty well. It wasn't to fancy, but it wasn't too shabby. He looked through the halls checking his PDA for his dorm number, "This thing isn't half bad," Haru said pressing buttons, "It can tell my dorm, my room number, send messages to other students, and it's all registered to my name." An error noise beeped out of the machine as Haru finished praising it. Haru shot it a death glare as said bitterly, "If only this thing wasn't so damn hard to use."

"Having machine problems, Haru-kun?" Haru turned to see Akira in a uniform identical to Haru's; only Akira's jacket was closed. Haru put his hand behind his head chuckling, "Yeah, I can't get this thing to work right."

"What do you need?"

"I'm trying to find my room number," Haru answered confused as Akira began to type into his own PDA "What are you doing."

"Finding your room number," Akira replied as he pushed one last button on the small computer, "Ah, here we go. You're in room 143."

"How do you-" Haru was cut off by Akira holding his PDA into Haru's face, "These hold a profile of every student in the academy: their name, dorm, room, grades, everything."

"Why would they have that?"

"Who knows," Akira said as he began to walk away, "my rooms further down the hall. See you around."

"See ya then," Haru said waving, "Hold on, where is 143?"

"Right behind you." Haru turned around and saw the room he had been searching for. His expression was a mix of happiness and disgust, Oh well, at least I found it. Haru pulled out his key and unlocked the door. Slowly, cautiously he open the door, not knowing who or what lied beyond it. "Hello, is anyone there?" Haru asked almost timidly. The room was as silent as it was pitch black, save for one blue light emitting from the room and the inaudible mumblings of the room's inhabitant. Haru shuffled to find the light switch and turned the lights on. He immediately regretted that decision.

He found large sheets of papers filled with several doodles, notes, numbers, formulas, and statistics. "Who turned on the light?" Haru tensed as the tenant walked around the corner in front of Haru. He was about a head taller than Haru, and was wearing his yellow jacket in a similar manner to Akira, except the top button had been left unbuttoned. His dark green hair was left messy and unkempt and a tired look in his brown eyes with small rings under them. He took a sip from his mug of coffee as he stared at Haru interrogatively, "Who are you?"

"I-I'm Jihokyou Haruhiko," Haru stuttered, but regained his composure as he pointed a thumb at his chest, "But just call me Haru. I guess I'm your new roommate." Haru laughed nervously as the boy in front of him held his head within his hand, "What, that was today? Aw man. I am so sorry I must look a mess. I'm Mazashi Jiro, by the way. Nice to meet you. Sorry about the mess. I'm gonna go clean up. You can unpack, get all set up and then I'll give you a tour of campus, ok?" Jiro ran to what Haru assumed was the bathroom, leaving a scared and confused Haru looking around the dorm room.

Next Time:

Haru: Awesome! Duel Academia is such a cool place.

Jiro: Are you always this energetic, Haru-kun?

Haru: Pretty much, yeah.

Jiro: chuckles

Haru: Eh, who's that?

Jiro: Who?

Haru: That girl over there.

Jiro: Not sure but she looks kind of scary.

Next Time:

Academia Tour

Yamanaka Urufuko's Hunt

Haru: Duel Academy has some interesting people.