Creepy atmosphere, groaning walls, mosquitos, and spiders. And a smelly bog in the backyard, where the outhouse and showers were located.

These are my accommodations, Evan thought.

He shivered underneath his blanket and put his pillow over his head to block the sounds outside his window. There was a tree right beside it that tapped against the glass. In the dark, the branch looked like the bony hand of a ghoul coming to take his soul.

It didn't help that at dinner, the boys gathered around the hearth at the center of the floor and told ghost stories about the island.

He heard tales about a giant that was hunting Obelisks and stealing their jackets, a hairy wildman that stalked the swamps outside, and an abandoned dorm located at the foot of the mountains that housed elite students.

"They say those guys were secretly meddling with the occult. The Shadow Realm and all that stuff," a student said during dinner, wriggling his fingers to look spooky. "One night, it was reported that there were strange lights coming from the dorm. When campus security went in to investigate the next morning, the dorm looked like it was attacked by a mob. When the guards went inside, they found the place covered in blood. Upstairs, they found a door that was barricaded by furniture and other stuff. The students were trying to keep something out but to no avail. Whatever 'it' was, it got them! On quiet nights, you can hear the souls of those students wander around the swamps, howling in agony, wondering why they could be so stupid to mess with Shadow Magic."

That tale haunted Evan all through the night. He heard all sorts of strange things coming from swamp.

Howls, barks, chirps, honking, and shrieks. Deep down in his fragile little mind, he pictured those sounds to be the ghosts of the students killed in the abandoned dorm.

The Slifer Red dorm was built right in the middle of a swamp, no doubt as an insult to those who did poorly in both their exams. He thought he could hang with the boy, Jaden Yuki, but he was put in the Slifer Red facilities located at the coasts, which had much better accommodations. They were still tacky, but it beat the rundown motel here in the swamps.

He kept hearing reassurances about how the dorm wasn't a place for him to be stuck in forever. If he dueled his best and studied hard, he could find himself out of Slifer Red and into Ra Yellow. If he impressed people there, he could probably get promoted to Obelisk Blue; it wasn't an impossibility. Still, getting promoted to Obelisk Blue was easier said than done. Especially from all the way down here at the bottom of the barrel.

Evan didn't even get acquainted with the current Master Rule just yet. While everyone around him swarmed the field with powerful Link Summons and Xyz Summons and used Pendulums with ease, Ethan could barely play his old school monsters right. That defeat he suffered earlier really took a jab at the tiny bit of ego he had in him.

His arm reached out from underneath the blanket and fumbled around the side table for his phone. He accidentally knocked his lamp over. He didn't care. He had no fear of waking anyone up; nobody wanted to be roommates with him. So he had his room all to himself.

The tree branch tapped against the glass and something howled in the darkness. Evan grabbed his phone and yanked his arm back under the blanket, thinking there was something in his room that would grab it and eat it. He turned on his phone.

The bright light was on at full blast, causing him to squint. He tapped the settings icon and adjusted the brightness. He went to his gallery and ogled at the provocative pictures of all the Obelisk Blue girls he saw.

They were all very pretty and cute. He flipped around and spotted a young lady with long, auburn hair with a gold bow on the back of her head. It was the girl who looked at him on the Osprey.

Alice was her name. Alice Fenix, the younger sister of the great pro duelist Sara Fenix. He went red in the face just looking at her picture. That heart-shaped face, her glossy pink lips, and those gorgeous green eyes.

Her bust wasn't bad either, so he thought. Maybe, he thought, just maybe, one of these lovely ladies would want to be his girlfriend. If he could just manage to make a name for himself. But how? He realized he didn't have to look very far to do that.

Jaden Yuki was the talk of the school right now. He was the one everyone needed to beat.

"All right, Jaden Yuki. Tomorrow, you're going down! And I'll be out of this dump."

Her phone started blasting a cheerful ringing melody to wake her up. Alice yawned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She fumbled around in the dark, looking for the switch to turn on her lamp.

Finally, she found it and pressed it. The lamp turned on, it's pink shade flooded the room in a warm glow. She looked out the round window beside her bed. It was dark out there. The light of her lamp barely illuminated the grass waving eerily out there.

Alice got out of bed and did a few stretches before dressing into her academy uniform, which was quite regal and formal in design. It consisted of a blue jacket trimmed with white, and the coat-of-arms of the Obelisk Blue dorm emblazoned over the breast, a white blouse, a red tie, a black tartan skirt, and leg-length boots. Her academy Duel Disk was in the dresser along with her uniform, colored blue with white floral designs on the surface.

"Let's get this show on the road," she said, adjusting her tie in the mirror. It was a long journey to the campus. She would have taken the monorail, but the lines were long and she preferred to hoof it all the way there.

She checked her watch. "Hmm, I've got time." She saw a vendor selling meals by the path leading towards the school.

"Hello there," he said. "What can I help you with this morning?"

"I'll have some milk and a sweet bun, please."

"Of course," the vendor said. He bent down to find what she wanted and set them on the counter. "That'll be five, seventy-seven."

Alice reached into the side pocket of her backpack to find her small coin purse. She bit her lip nervously and shook her head in disdain when she realized she didn't have enough money.

"Uh, could you hold back on the milk, sir?"

The vendor smiled and rubbed his belly with a wooden spoon. "Forget it. The only reason I'm still in business on this island is because of hungry kids like you. It's okay, sweetie, it's on the house."

"Oh no, I couldn't."

"No, no, I insist. Please. You need your strength for the day ahead. And you can't duel on an empty stomach. Right?"

Alice bowed. "Thank you, sir. I owe you a big tip."

"Nonsense. Go on, skedaddle."

She took the food from the counter and waved the man goodbye. As she approached the fountain in front of the school courtyard, she saw Enora standing in front of it with Alexis, who looked like she didn't get any sleep last night. She let out a horrible yawn and quickly covered her mouth and apologized.

"Good morning," Alice said catching up to them. "Enora, I'm so glad I found you. I had your jacket cleaned up. Why don't you come by my room later and pick it up?"

Enora smiled. "Naw, you keep it."

"But it's yours."

"No, it's just a loaner I borrowed until my real one gets delivered. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I forgot my real jacket at home. Besides, I think you look nice in the one I gave you."

Alexis sighed. "Already looking for new recruits for the team, Enora?" She laughed but broke into a yawn.

"Ooo, Alexis, you don't look so good. What happened?"

"Good morning, Alice I…" She yawned again. "Ugh, sorry."

"Didn't you get any sleep last night, Alexis?"

"No, I was up late last night witnessing a really good duel."

Alice gasped. "Alexis! Isn't it against the rules to be playing that late at night?"

Alexis pressed her finger against her lips. "Shhhhhh! Not so loud! Do you want me to get busted?"

"Sorry, but it comes as quite a shock to me that someone of your reputation would be breaking rules."

"Believe me, if you were there, you would have stuck around to see it through as well. I was about to tell them off and leave, but it was such a great match."

"Who was dueling?"

"Jaden Yuki and Chazz Princeton," Enora answered. "Alexis says those two were at it again."

"Well, I can't blame them," said Alice. "Campus Security shut down their match before it could even finish. Sounds like Chazz was eager for that rematch."

Alexis rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I figured Chazz would be up to something. I saw him and his buddies sneaking around the quad of their dorm after I had my walk with Zane. One of them mentioned Jaden's name and I had to see what they were up to. Sure enough, they were luring him to the main arena."

"Who won?"

Alexis let out a sad sigh. "Nobody did, that's the bitch of it. Campus Security came around. Thankfully, we made it out before we got seriously busted. For a moment I thought it would go either way against Jaden and Chazz, but then Jaden showed me a card he drew before the whole thing ended. It was Monster Reborn. He had Elemental Hero Flame Wingman in the graveyard. If he had played that, the Flame Wingman would have been revived to defeat Chazz."

"He's full of surprises, that boy," said Enora. "And he's also very hard to reach. I wanted to speak with him earlier, but he was out of the dorm as soon as the rooster crowed. He sure wants to get to class."

Alexis giggled. "Class? Him? I don't think so. I'm sure Jaden's just more than eager to get himself into a duel. Knowing him, it wouldn't surprise me if he was in one."

Suddenly students began to gather a second fountain in the courtyard, one with the statue of Slifer in the center of it. Alice rushed to see what was taking place over there. A duel!

"It's him!" she whispered.

Jaden. And he was up against Evan. A blue-haired boy with small round spectacles stood behind him, trying to get Jaden to cease going through with the match.

"But Jaden, we've got class in a few minutes! Come on, we don't wanna be late."

"Chill out, Syrus, I've got this. Besides, nothing beats a good duel in the morning!"

"But why him? He's like the worst player in the Slifer Dorm!"

"Hey!" Evan shouted, pointing at Syrus furiously. But he paused.

He saw Alice standing right beside him with a surprised look on her face. Oh goodness! And she had Alexis Rhodes and the captain of the Red Arrows standing on either side of her. This was it! Now was his chance to look good for her. And possibly even make a good impression on Alexis.

"Yeah, don't insult me, pipsqueak! Just because I'm in Slifer Red doesn't mean I don't have the moves to make you groove!"

Crickets

"Uh, never mind. You go first."

"You are something else, huh?" Jaden said. He drew.

Jaden 4000 LP

Evan 4000 LP

Turn 1

"Aw, sweet! I couldn't ask for a better hand. All right, Evan, it's time to get your game on! I'm throwing down two face-downs and summoning Elemental HERO Sparkman!"

Electricity snapped in front of Jaden, it then formed a warrior in blue and gold armor. He flew around in circles and then stood beside Jaden.

Elemental HERO Sparkman

ATK/1600 DEF/1400

"My turn's done!"

Turn 2

"My turn! I draw! HA!"

He tried to draw his card dramatically but wound up spilling a bunch of his card from the top of his deck all over the place. The other students laughed at him as he went down on the ground and scooped up his cards. He shuffled them and put them at the bottom of his deck.

"Uh, pretend that didn't happen. I use Unexpected Dai. This card allows me to summon a level four or lower Normal monster from my deck. Bow down to the beauty of my lady, Kanan the Swordmistress!"

He summoned a tall, slender female warrior in skimpy green armor which caused many of the boys in the crowd to whistle. Her skin was milky white. Her hair was chocolate brown and went down to her back. She carried a long, shiny sword in one hand and a study shield on the other.

Kanan the Swordmistress

ATK/1400 DEF/1400

"Yes. My beautiful lady will lead me to victory. Now, I will summon Ax Raider, with a devastating attack force of 1700! And I equip Kanan with this card. Black Pendant. Ha, she's stronger than your Sparkman now!"

Kanan looked down at her chest, noticing a purple glow that soon formed into a black diamond necklace. She cooed as she examined the beautiful piece of jewelry with her fingers.

(ATK 1400 → 1900)

"Wooo! This is easy! I attack your puny HERO with Ax Raider!"

Ax Raider held out his ax and let out a loud battle cry before he sprinted toward Sparkman.

Jaden smirked. "Easy, huh? Sorry to disappoint you, Evan, but I'm activating my trap! Check out my face-down card. Dimensional Prison!"

"That's not good for Evan," said Alexis. "Not only can Jaden stop his monster's attack, but he'll remove him from play as well."

"NO! My-my monster!" Evan cried out as a purple portal opened up in front of his Ax Raider and sent him plunging into another dimension. "You may have stopped my Ax Raider, but Lady Kanan will finish the job and take down your Sparkman!"

"YA!" Kanan shouted, lunging forward and raising her sword to attack the HERO.

"I think not!"

"You laid a trap for my lady!"

"That's right. Draining Shield! Now, Sparkman is saved from Kana's attack and I gain Life Points equal to her attack points. Thanks for the lead, bro."

"My Lady Kanan is the strongest monster on the field! She's ready for anything you throw at her!"

Jaden laughed. "I wouldn't start celebrating just yet, Evan."

Turn 3

"I draw! Perfect. I summon Keeper of Dragon Magic!"

A magic circle colored metallic blue formed over Jaden and from it emerged a warrior in brilliant armor colored sky blue. He had a blue surcoat and held a jagged spear in his hands. His armor appeared dull in the early morning light, but Jaden found it odd

"All right, Evan, this is the end. When Keeper of Dragon Magic is summoned to the field, I can discard a card and add Polymerization to my hand. Now, I'll reveal to you my buddy, Flame Wingman in my extra deck."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because when I do, I can summon one of his fusion materials from the grave to the field face-down. And he so happens to be Elemental HERO Avian! Now, I use Polymerization, fusing together Sparkman and Avian to create, Elemental HERO Grandmerge!"

Sparkman and Avian took to the air and jumped into a spiral that fused their souls together. The new monster looked like Sparkman but his visor and many parts of his suit were colored red. His golden armor grew bulkier and he had Avian's feathered cuffs over his wrists as well as angelic wings. He traded the electric weapons in his palms for two energy cannons that came out of his gauntlets.

Elemental HERO Grandmerge

ATK/0 DEF/0

Evan started to chuckle, then he burst out laughing. "So much for your HERO, Jaden! He's got no attack or defense points. He'll make good fodder for my Lady Kanan!"

"Hold on now, Evan. Now, I know he doesn't have any points at the moment, but that's where his special ability kicks in."

Evan smacked his cheek. "Special ability? Oh man, I'm starting to hate those."

"That's right. He gains attack and defense points equal to the combined original levels of the monsters I used to fusion summon him times three hundred!"

(ATK → 2100)

"But...but that's not fair!" Evan cried. He looked at his cards. "Come on! Come on! There must be something I can do!"

Syrus jumped up with joy. "Sorry, doesn't look like there's anything you can do! Way to play, Jay!"

Jaden held out his hand and commanded his monster to attack. "Grandmerge...attack!"

Elemental HERO Grandmerge aimed his fist at Kanan the Swordmistress. The ion cannon came out from his gauntlet, charged, and fired a ball of energy, striking her in the chest."

Evan was now wide open. "Oh no! Oh nooooo!"

"And that's not all, Evan. When Elemental HERO Grandmerge destroys a monster in battle, he can tag in a new HERO from my extra deck!"

Grandmerge vanished into a ball of light that turned into a bigger HERO. The other students held their breath and watched in anticipation, wondering what it could be.

"Appear! Elemental HERO Terra Firma!"

Something fell from the sky like a comet and smashed the ground in front of Jaden. Alice and the other students yelled, blocking the dirt and debris with their forearms or their hands.

"Another HERO?" she whispered. "Wow!"

When the dirt cleared away, there stood a very tall warrior from another world. His body was colored marble white and he had glass domes on his shoulders and head colored dark blue. He had two spikes coming out from his back.

Elemental HERO Terra Firma

ATK/2800 DEF/2000

"Now, that my man Terra Firma is out, I'm gonna activate this! O - Oversoul! Now, I can bring back a normal HERO from my graveyard. Rise up, Elemental HERO Sparkman! Next, Terra Firma's effect activates. I tribute Sparkman, and his attack points transfer to Terra Firma. Now that's what I call teamwork."

Sparkman turned into a bright blue aura that was absorbed into Terra Firma's body. He flexed his muscles and growled, feeling his teammate's power surge through him.

(ATK 2800 → 4400)

"Forty-four hundred!" Alice couldn't believe it. His attack points reached the top of the charts. Jaden's so good!"

Terra Firma pulled the spikes out of his backs. It turns out, they were the handles to two energy swords that burst as soon as he held them up for combat. Evan was the target. He dove towards him and stopped to stare him down. Then he held up his weapons.

Hmmmmmm RAAAAARRRGGG! Terra Firma performed a cross-slash attack that created a massive explosion. The trees shook violently, their leaves sprinkled the air with green and black. Birds cried out in fear as they flew away from the violence taking place. Evan was on the ground laying on his back, moaning and groaning as his Life Points fell to 0.

"And that's game!" Jaden said. "Keep practicing there, Evan. Hey, I'd be more than happy to teach you..." Suddenly the students crowded around him, asking him questions and demanding trades. "Hey! Ouch, that's my foot! Hey, watch it!"

"No!" Alice cried. She lost her chance to speak to him again. She found herself getting pushed farther and farther to the back of the crowd. She tried to fight back, but it was like being pushed against a powerful current. Soon, Jaden was out of sight. Through a few bodies, she saw Syrus pulling him away to safety. They were gone.

"Come on, Alice," Alexis called. "Let's head to class. We don't want to be late."

Alice noticed Evan was on the ground, not even bothering to pick himself up.

"Uh, you two go ahead. I'll catch up with you later."

Alexis gave a shrug. "Suit yourself. Oh, hold on." She told Alice to turn around and then fixed her bow, which was tilting. "There. It must have gotten messed up during the duel. Sorry about that. It's a pet peeve of mine to see things crooked."

"Alexis can be a neat freak," Enora chuckled, patting Alexis on the back.

"Ow," Alexis said rubbing the spot. She and Enora walked to school while Alice thought it best to tend to Evan.

"Are you all right?" Alice said sprinting towards him. She crouched down and started picking up his cards, which were scattered all over the ground.

Evan gawked at her for a moment. He shook his head to get it out of the gutter and answered. "Yeah, thanks. I'm fine. Really."

"Looks like you bit off more than you can chew there, kid. Jaden Yuki may be a freshman like we are, but he's far from a novice. I think you would have figured that out when he beat Crowler."

Evan rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I kind of figured it was dumb luck. I thought some of that could rub off on me today."

Alice handed him back his cards. "No offense, but it's pretty stupid thinking that was dumb luck. Jaden's got skill. Just what were you trying to prove?" She stood up and held out her hand.

Evan took it and let her help him up. "I don't like where I'm staying. Those accommodations by the swamps are really spooky and it smells…funny out there. Not to mention it's so degrading. You don't know what it's like getting laughed at all the time. Trying your hardest to climb out of the bottom only to fall back down all the time. I thought if I beat the kid who defeated Crowler, I'd probably get the chance to move to another dorm like Ra Yellow or, I don't know, maybe even Obelisk Blue."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down there, hotshot. You're in Slifer Red because you got bad grades and your dueling is subpar. Chancellor Sheppard isn't going to boost you up to Obelisk Blue just because you got lucky against the school's rising star. Jaden may have beat Crowler, but his reward for that victory were less smelly living quarters. If you want to move up the ranks, you've got to make the grade and get better."

"That's easier said than done."

"Most things usually are. Look, why don't you meet me during lunch and I can take a look at that deck of yours."

"Uh, sure. I'd like that very much. Alice, right? Hey, your sister is…"

She silenced him by holding out her palm. "Okay, first thing's first. If you wanna hang around me, don't you ever mention my sister. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am. I understand completely. So, what classes do you have? If we have the same one, I'd be more than happy to walk with you there."

"Uh, let's see now," Alice said, digging into the pocket of her jacket. She took out a crumpled piece of paper, which was the list of her classes. "I've got The History and Appreciation of Duel Monsters, Trigonometry, Holographic Programming, P.E, tech ed, and…"

"Whoa, I thought this was a school for dueling." He fumbled around his pockets until he found his own list. "Aww, man, I have math class too!" He looked at her list. Unfortunately, they shared only one class together, and that was with Dr. Crowler. Evan was upset that he couldn't walk with Alice to class, but he was even more perturbed by the fact he had to take classes like mathematics.

"Aww, I suck at math. Why do we have to learn all this?"

"We can't grow to be dueling dum-dums like Rex and Weevil or that bum Bandit Keith. We need to have other skills to prepare our futures. This place may groom the next generation of duelists, but sometimes, we grow to change our minds. Especially when we get older. I mean, have you ever had a dream besides being good at Duel Monsters?"

"Actually, no. This is all I ever really wanted to do."

"Then you better start cooking up some kind of Plan B. So far, dueling is not looking too good for you. But, hey, you've got three years to get better at the game or make up your mind and find something else to do with your life."

Ethan chuckled to hide his embarrassment. "Well, I guess I've always wanted to start a business making custom Duel Disks."

"Hey, there you go. Build up that dream as well. It's always good to keep a backup plan in case something doesn't work out."

The bell tower started to toll loudly. Other students in the ground began to run to class.

"Uh oh, that's the final bell. See you at lunch, Ethan. It was nice meeting you." She took off at once.

"Nice meeting you, too, Alice!" Ethan called back, feeling like he was the luckiest guy in the world.