"Speaking"
Thoughts
Spirit Speaking
Effect or Attack Name
*Sound Effect*
Hello and thank you for your patience! Here's my longest chapter yet for you guys! About 8K words!
Let's get back into the story where I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX!
Max and Cecilia lower their arms back down and smirk at the annoying proctor.
"So? Do I pass?"
The shady proctor lets out an aggravated sigh and dusts his jacket off. He looks at the kid that wiped him out so quickly and turns his back on him.
"Hmph! Yes, you pass. Now if you'll excuse me," replies the Pompous Sore Loser #0 as his arena elevator begins to descend. "I have to keep an eye out for the soon to be no-shows."
Wow… He just couldn't be a decent human being, could he? Cecilia sighs, but then smiles and looks at her son with stars in her eyes Oh! But that was such a good play, sweetie! You wiped his life points out good!
Thanks, Mom. I don't really like playing OTKs because it ends the duel too quickly and kind of takes the fun out of it for me. Max smiles and looks up to the stands. I wonder what everyone else thought.
Lower Obelisk Stands
"Well, that duel wasn't too bad, huh Chazz?" The blue-haired southerner asked.
"Yeah, Chazz," The brown-haired one added in. "It wasn't too bad at all, huh?"
Ignoring the two next to him, Chazz leans forward, resting his hands on his knees, and gives a slight glare to the silver guy in arena #2.
Not bad. Not bad. Looks like Duel Academy will actually provide a good stepping-stone for my way to the top. He smirks as the guy turns around and looks right at him.
Huh?!
His grin drops as he spots a figure floating next to the duelist. A girl with long blonde hair and a blue dress. However, the moment he spotted her and blinks, she's gone.
What the hell was that? He rubs his eyes and blinks owlishly several times to refocus them. He looks back down, but there was no one else there.
I must be seeing things…
He sighs and leans back into his chair.
"Wow, is that guy actually gonna be a challenge for ya, Chazz?"
"Huh?" He looks to the groupie that just spoke.
"Yeah. He had a pretty rare card in there," Chazz looks to the other groupie. "He could give you a real workout, huh Chazz?"
"Will you two just shut up and find something else for me to watch?!" He snaps at them
Anything would be better than hearing you two say the same shit you guys do. He adds in his head with a slight weariness.
"Hey, Chazz!" The Blue-haired groupie points out to one of the testing areas. "There's a new guy coming in now!"
"Alright! You don't have to shout! I'm right next to ya!"
Chazz looks towards where his useless groupie, named Topher by the way, was pointing.
Well, well, well… Chazz's face takes on a sneer. If it isn't that punk from Duel Prep School. Can't wait to kick him right back into the dirt.
Back with Max
Wow. I almost forgot Chazz can see spirits eventually…
When Chazz caught sight of Cecilia, Max was actually surprised. That was until Chazz started to rub his eyes and see nothing. Which means that he couldn't fully see her yet, even though she never moved from her spot.
Well, I guess won't see you until he finds Ojama Yellow… I think?
Awww, but that means it'll be harder to mess with him while he's a big jerk. Cecilia pouts.
I know and he does deserve a good haunting, but who knows, maybe us being around will straighten him out a little bit.
Max looks to the upper stands and smiles seeing Zane and Alexis standing where they should be. However, his smile falls slightly in confusion as he sees a very animated brunette that wasn't supposed to be there.
Upper Obelisk Stands
"There we go!" Jasmine pumps out her fist with excitement. "Even though it only lasted a turn, THAT was a duel!"
"I see what you mean, Jazz." Alexis turns to her best friend. "We only saw a little bit of his deck, but I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do."
"Indeed," Zane states out of nowhere.
"Zane," Alexis questions. "What did you think about him?"
"The feeling is mutual, but like you said we didn't get to see much of his deck because of his O.T.K. Which, I don't care for. It makes things way too easy and just seems like a way to show off what minimal skill you do have."
"Ouch, I mean that's true, but he-" Jasmine jumps in.
"However," Zane cuts her off. "From what I could tell about his body language during his turn, he doesn't enjoy O.T.K's either. He wanted to get it over with, but still put his heart into it. And with how these exams have been going all day, I would probably do the same."
…
"Wow, Zane."
"Hm?"
"That's the most I've ever heard you speak that wasn't during a duel or criticizing someone. And I've only known you personally for a month."
Alexis starts to giggle. "You know she's not wrong. I think Zane's actually coming out of his shell!" She looks at Zane trying to hold her laughter down, but it gets harder to do so as she notices a little blush on his cheeks despite his stony exterior.
And Zane's only response to this embarrassing revelation.
…
"Hn." Is to grunt and pretend nothing happened.
Alexis and Jasmine shake their heads and turn back to Max. As Jasmine's eyes look down, they meet his gold and blue ones.
Whoa…
He looks slightly taken aback, like he wasn't expecting her to look at him. She smiles at him and waves a little bit. That catches him off guard as well, but he smiles and waves back.
His eyes are kinda cool looking. Hm… She thinks for a moment while staring back into his eyes from afar.
"What's up Jazz?"
"Dibs." She suddenly states.
"What?"
"I get dibs on dueling him first, not you Lex!" She points at her best friend with an excited gleam in her eyes as if she just won a contest.
"W-what?!"
"Sorry, Lex! You can have the next one!"
"I wasn't even going to-!"
"Ah! Nope!" Jasmine puts her finger to her friend's lips. "Better luck next time!" She turns her attention back down and sees her duelist of interest leaving down the elevator. "Actually," She begins to run off towards the stairs. "I'll see you guys in a bit! Tell me if anything actually interesting happens!" And with that she books it down the stairs out of her friends' sights, leaving them both a little stunned.
Back to Max
What is she doing here? I would've thought she'd be out looking for boys with Alexis' other friend.
What are you talking about?
Well, I forgot their names, but Alexis has two friends that hang around with her. That is until she starts hanging with Jaden all the time. They're obsessed with boys and don't show up until later at the academy. She's supposed to be only interested in hot, rich guys. And yet…
Max looks at Jasmine the moment she looks at him and he's surprised by the coincidence of them looking at each other.
Here she is. He looks at her in slight wonder.
She smiles at him and waves.
Oh shit, wave back stupid! He mentally chides himself to repeat her actions.
Aww, my baby is making his first friend before school even starts! Cecilia cooes before she gasps in realization.
Mom, no… Max hopelessly pleads
And it's a girl!
Mom, I'm not doing this right now!
Oh, come on! All the other girls you know are either the staff at the castle or from Yugi's group. It's about time you found one your own age! She nags at him, bringing out her inner mother.
Alright, whatever! Let's just get outta here and tell Dad that I passed, so we can get to school already! He makes his way to his elevator pad, hoping to get away from this conversation.
Oh phooey! Fine, let's get out of here. That creepy looking teacher keeps looking at us and it feels gross. She hugs herself while floating over to Max, trying to keep the bad vibes away from her.
As the elevator descends, Max looks at Dr. Crowler and shivers at the teacher's satisfied smile.
With Dr. Crowler
"Yes, yes, very good! Wonderful," Crowler praises. "Now, that was a spectacular duel!" He looks over the proctor on his left "Tell me. Which examinee was that?"
"Uhhh," The proctor looks at his clipboard for a moment. "Examinee #119670"
"And what is his name?"
"Maximillian Pegasus Jr, sir."
Crowler shoots up out of his seat. "Splendid! It's only makes sense that the creator of Duel Monster's son is that skilled and would have the rarest cards!" He clasps his hands together. "And to think he will be joining us down at our humble academy! I look forward to meeting him at the Obelisk Blue Welcome Dinner!"
And then. He thinks to himself with a cackle. Maybe, we can finally wipe out those Slifer Red's once and for all!
"Umm, sir…" Interrupts the other proctor, who is feeling slightly uncomfortable with his boss's cackling.
Crowler clears his throat to compose himself. "Yes, what is it?"
"Well…" The proctor leans in and whispers to Crowler while pointing things out on his clipboard.
"Mhm."
…
"Okay."
…
"I see…"
…
…
…
"HE DID WHAT?!" Crowler shrieks, scaring the hell out of everyone around him!
Why do I feel like I've just added on an annoyance that I didn't need to my life…? Max thought to himself as he made his way back to his family chopper.
As he exited the dome and spotted his ride, still playing Croquet's jazz CD's, his mother appeared in front of him with an eager grin, stopping Max in his tracks.
What's that face for?
Sooo…
Sooo… what?
I'm gonna leave you alone for a little bit! She declared with enthusiasm.
Max blinks to register that for a second and ended up feeling confused. Umm, okay. Any particular reason why?
Yep! Trust me you don't need me around for this!
Need you around for what?
"Hey, wait up!" A voice called out from behind him.
Max turned around and saw Alexis' friend jogging up to him. He turned back around to Cecilia to question her, but she just winked and disappeared in a golden flash of light. He inwardly sighs at this, but he could see her point, so he turned back around.
"What's up?"
She stops right in front of him and then poses in mock thought. "Hmm. Not much," And then she points at him. "Except for the best duelist at this stupid exam!" She declares with a big grin.
"Huh?!" Max blushes and looks away while rubbing the back of his head. "Oh, that's really nice, but you didn't even get to see much of what I can do during that exam. I just wanted to leave the moment I heard that stupid script."
"Right! Oh my god that script was driving me insane! I must have heard it at least 5 times when I realized what was going on. Hell, I almost wanted to bash my head in when I heard the script being used on you. Thankfully, I managed to restrain myself. Heheheh," She finishes with a small chuckle.
Max laughs a bit too and then reaches his hand out to her. "Oh, I never introduced myself. I'm Maximillian Pegasus Jr, but everyone calls me Max."
"Oh! That makes so much sense," She grabs his hand to shake it. "I'm Jasmine Connors by the way!"
"Nice to meet you, Jasmine." So that's what her name was! Wait…
"You actually believe I am who I say I am?!" Max gapes out in shock on the outside while on the inside he's screaming FINALLY!
"Well, yeah. I mean," Jasmine starts counting on her fingers. "There's your hair color, the fact that you have a rare card that not even my friends have heard of, the Industrial Illusions shirt you're wearing, and last but not least," she points to the helicopter "that is obviously your fancy helicopter that you're walking towards. So, yeah I'd say you are who you say you are."
In Max's mind, he is currently on his knees crying tears of joy while a golden light shines down from above. That light, of course, is being operated by Cecilia and a giant spotlight.
Finally! Oh, thank you whoever is out there right now! THANK YOU!
Back in the real world, Max merely looks away and lets one sole tear of happiness fall from his eyes as he lets out one quiet sniffle. And then he turns back around before Jasmine can ask any questions. "Well, I'm glad someone finally believes that I'm actually me. Unlike some people… He gives a pointed look to his past shade-wearing opponent, who has the decency to look ashamed and turns around to talk to his assistants in order to avoid responding.
"Anyway…" Jasmine awkwardly looks back to Max. "I wanted to come meet you after seeing your duel. You made things exciting for once at this lame test. And you actually came up with a unique comeback to that lame script. It's gonna be really cool seeing you around the Obelisk Campus!"
"Oh!" Max looks to her in surprise and then blushes slightly in embarrassment. "Eh he he. Well, I'm glad you enjoyed the duel. I didn't think it was that special but… Wait…?" He looks at Jasmine in confusion. "I'm not going into Obelisk Blue."
"Wait, what do you mean you're not going into Obelisk?!" Her eyes widen with fury. "Oh! I bet that they thought you were a 'slacker' because of your test answers! Well, that's just bullshit! Clearly you deserve to be in Obelisk!" She then reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone. "When my dad hears about this there will be hell to pay!" Her phone starts to ring as she puts it to her ear.
While this is really sweet, she might actually get a lot of people fired! He reaches out and grabs her phone. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Jasmine it's fine!" He then hangs up the phone and hands it back to her.
"What, I'm just trying help out a new friend! Clearly this school doesn't know what they're doing! Why I bet that-!"
"Jasmine!" He cuts off her rant before it can go too far.
"Huh…?" She snaps out of it and immediately her temper deflates.
"I chose not to go to Obelisk and be a Slifer." Max explains with a small smile.
"Why would you do that?"
"Because I wanted to start from the bottom and work my way to the top. I don't think it's very fair for all of the rich kids to basically bribe their way to the top. So," he clenches his fist in determination. "I'm going to earn that blue jacket based on my dueling skills rather than my money or connections. That's how you properly get friends and respect rather than some yes men that follow you!" That and the plot focuses on the Slifer's the most in the beginning and then later on it doesn't matter as much. He adds in his head.
Jasmine blinks at Max's reasoning. "Wow. That's actually pretty cool. I hate using my family's money to get ahead in things as well."
"Then…" he looks at her uniform. "How come you're in Obelisk already?"
"You see, while I am upset that my dad used his money to get me into Obelisk Blue and that he only wants the best for his 'little girl'. I'm happy with it for two reasons. One: I was actually really nervous about being separated from my best friends."
"Oh, that makes sense. I kinda can't fault you for that."
"And the second reason is…"
"Is what?"
She leans in close to his ear. "Is that the Slifer Red dorm's food is garbage." She pulls back. "Yeah, I don't care how it makes me look, but I'm not going to have my school diet being comprised of only rice bowls and anchovies. Bleagh!" She gags and points at her mouth. "So good luck with that."
"Oh, I've already solved that problem!" Max says with a proud smirk.
"How?"
"Three things: Refrigerator, Microwave, and Food Delivery from home. As hypocritical as it is, yeah, I won't eat what they serve at the Red Dorm either. I mean, while I'm okay starting from the lowest rank in school, the Pegasus in me won't let me eat what's there." Max scratches the back of his head as his go-to nervous tick.
"What do you think you'll be having?" Jasmine asks.
"No idea," Max shrugs. "It depends on what Croquet feels like bringing me and what food tastes best when reheated in a microwave." Max turns around noticing that Croquet's jazz music has stopped playing. Standing outside of the open helicopter is said family assistant with a smile on his face pointing to his watch. "Speaking of him, I've gotta get home." Max turns back to his new friend with a big grin. "It was really nice to meet you, Jasmine," he holds his hand out to her. "I know I'll be seeing you around the academy."
Jasmine grabs his hand and firmly shakes it. "I better be seeing you around the academy. After all, I've got dibs on ya!"
The silver-haired boy's face erupts in a blush. "Um-uh… h-huh?" He stutters out.
She stifles her laughter behind her hand. "I didn't mean that! I meant I have dibs on being your first duel at the academy, ya dummy!" She lightly punches him on the arm with a big grin and a slight blush herself.
Max composes himself and smiles back. "Well, then alright! You're my first duel there!" He turns and begins to jog to the helicopter. He looks back as he runs and calls out. "See ya around, Jazz!"
"Hey who said you could call me that?!" She shouts at him but she has a smile on her face, so there's no anger in her words. She shakes her head and waves at him as he boards the chopper. The chopper's blades begin to rotate and she stays to watch it slowly take off. Look out Duel Academy! You've got a great Duelist in the making. Her eyes take on a challenging glint as she grins at the helicopter flying away. And I don't just mean him. She nods to herself and makes her way back into the stadium to catch the final duels with her friends.
Max watches Jasmine wave at him and then head back into the arena with a look of determination. I'm looking forward to seeing what she can actually do, since boys don't seem to be the only thing on her mind this time. He looks down at the parking lot in thought. Maybe it's because of my existence here. Hell, I've already changed so much why not this? Hmm… Oh!
He stops thinking as he spots a messy brown-haired boy climb up over the metal barriers blocking off the cliffside. The boy then begins laughing and talking to Max's proctor of disdain. Looks like I just missed Jaden's match. Heh, ah well…
…
Oh geez…! He then sees Jaden almost slip off the cliffside! The proctor and his assistants run up to him and catch him and pull him over the metal bars. Well. Let's see what kind of waves me and that goof will make at the Academy! He finishes his thoughts with a smile as his helicopter takes off for home.
Two Weeks Later: Academy Island
Academy Island itself was a massive, beautiful island not unlike Duelist Kingdom. However, while there were lots of plant life on the island there was more to it than just a big castle to live in. It was covered in plenty of trees and had rivers and lakes that would drain waterfalls into the ocean. There were a couple helipads on the side of the island that had the docks. Next to that was a metal bridge that led to what looks like a dinky red-roofed and yellowing apartment complex on the cliffside. Following the road there gets you to a larger and nicer yellow and green complex. Further up from there are the two white and blue mansions on the lake side just below the largest building on the island. That building is the actual school itself. It stands on a raised stone platform surrounded by several stone spires. The buildings for the school themselves have different colored domes and are different sizes and heights as well. And right behind the school was the island's…
Active Volcano…Max looks to the smoking mountain in slight shock as their transportation gets closer to their destination. He looks around the cabin and no one seems to pay it any mind. You know… only Seto Kaiba would be crazy enough to build his duel school on an island with an active hazard that could kill us all.
Well, he did build a giant fancy tower for a tournament, just to blow it up so he can look cool while flying out of said explosion in a Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet. Cecilia chimes in.
The two look at each other and shake their heads in exasperation.
Only Kaiba…/Only Kaiba…
As they finish that thought, the chopper begins to descend towards the helipad on the docks.
Later at the Entrance Ceremony
In one of the academy's auditorium style classrooms, a bunch of red, yellow, and blue jacket wearing students are seen listening to the school's headmaster, Chancellor Sheppard, on the classroom massive monitor. Well… almost everyone. A certain brown-haired, duel loving Slifer seems to have fallen asleep standing up. While Max…
Oh my God! I hate this so much!
Clearly has his own issues…
Max is seen fidgeting with his brand new Slifer Red uniform jacket. He looks incredibly agitated and slightly sweaty. Cecilia appears next to him with a concerned frown.
Sweetie, what's wrong? Shouldn't you pay attention to Chancellor Sheppard's pointless opening ceremony speech? Why are you fiddling with your nice new jacket?
Mom, it's the end of August on a tropical island and our school uniforms are color-coded leather jackets. I am dying in this thing, but we all have to wear these stupid things. He pulls at the collar again to try and cool himself. These look nice, but they don't feel nice. At least this time of year.
His mother winces in sympathy. Yeah, that actually sounds like an awful combination. She looks around at the other students who don't seem to struggle with their heat magnets called jackets. I wonder why they aren't sweating like crazy?
He looks at Jaden, who's still snoring away. Maybe they're all suffering on the inside and just like the jackets that much. This is a rich people's school, the jacket's probably cost a pretty penny.
"…world. Now, please get yourselves settled in at your assigned dorm. I think you'll find them quite comfortable. Depending upon how you ranked, of course. Hohohoho!" The talking head that is Chancellor Sheppard's finished speech pulls the Pegasus family out of their clothing debacle. The students file their way out of the class. Cecilia floats next to Max as they head outside.
Wow that really was a quick speech. I feel like it should have been longer, especially for an esteemed academy like this one.
Eh, if Kaiba had a say in that speech it would just be "You better become duelists worth the money I'm spending on this place!" And Sheppard isn't really much of a thinker from what I can remember.
…
…
…
OK THAT'S IT!
Max forcefully removes his jacket and rather angrily ties it around his waist, leaving him in his black Industrial Illusions shirt. The other students near him all give him some room and look at him as if he's unhinged.
Oh my God! That feels so much better! I feel like I can feel something besides the gross heat on my skin. He stretches his arms up while walking, not noticing the looks his classmates are giving him.
Now that your major crisis has been cleared…
Hey!
What should we do now? We have some time to kill until the Dorm Welcome Dinner.
Hmm… He looks out at the courtyard as they exit the main building. He spies a couple of familiar Slifer Reds checking out their new school PDAs on one of the statue decorations that looks like a card of Baby Dragon.
I think it's time we get acquainted with the main characters.
Not too far from Max and Cecilia are Jaden and his friend, chatting with another student from Ra Yellow.
"Hey are you in Red too?" Jaden calls out to the Ra student.
"Well now let's see here." He makes an effort to look over his jacket. "Yellow sleeves, yellow buttons. I don't think so." The Ra student responds in a surprisingly English accent. Although it sounds like the one that people try to imitate to sound smarter than they are.
"Oh, I get now. So, that's why Sy and I are wearing red."
"Please tell me you did not just figure that out…" The Brit looks at Jaden as if he were losing hope for him by the second.
"Hey, I could be colorblind, ya know?!" Jaden snaps back with no heat.
"Are you colorblind?" The Yellow students asks, not taking him seriously.
"I don't know let's find out! Hey, buddy! What's your friend's hair color?"
The trio look towards the silver-haired newcomer who has an easy-going grin on his face. Jaden takes a second to register the question and then sharply looks at the shorter student's, startling a yelp out of him in the process, and hyper-focusing on his spiky, bushy sky-blue hair.
"Hmmmmm…"
"Wait Jaden, are you really…?" His now very uncomfortable friend asks.
"Nah! I'm just kidding." He smiles and looks back to the other two, scratching the back of his hair. "But, hey, I could have been."
"Haha, sure man," Max laughs for a second and then holds his hand out. "Name's Max, nice to meet you guys!"
The Ra shakes his head in amusement, but reaches out. "Bastion, a pleasure."
Jaden walks up and offers Max a high-five, which he takes. "The name's Jaden, future King of Games." He points to his glasses wearing friend. "And this is my buddy Syrus." The now named Syrus just waves and gives a small 'hey'.
"Looking forward to dueling with you, guys. Also," Max looks at Jaden with a glint of challenge in his eyes. "Really presumptuous to be calling yourself that now. Makes me want to duel ya off your high horse." He smirks at him.
"Well, I'm always down for a duel, but I just have one question first."
"What's that?"
…
"What does presumptuous mean?"
Everyone around Jaden face faults, including the unseen Cecilia who falls through the ground.
*Ahem* Bastion clears his throat. "Well, I wouldn't recommend starting a duel right now. We should probably get acquainted with our dormitories." And with that he begins to walk off.
"Hey, see ya there?" Jaden calls out to him.
He turns back around and points to the cliffsides. "I doubt it. Your dorm is all the way over there." And then he continues his walk to the Yellow dorms.
"Well, alright then." The remaining brunette shrugs and turns to Max. "So, what dorm are you in?"
"Slifer Red, same as you guys." He points down to his jacket around his waist.
"How come you're wearing it like that." Syrus asks confused.
"It's still Summer on an exotic island. This jacket is murder for me in this climate." His gold and blue eyes look around at the other students. None of them having a problem wearing the jackets. "I don't understand how anyone can wear these now, but whatever." He shrugs and starts jogging down the courtyard. "You guys wanna check out our new home away from home?" He looks towards the ghost floating beside him and she nods with a big smile to the unasked question, and she zooms off to the Red Dorms.
Jaden grins and runs up to him. "Right behind ya!"
Syrus runs off after them. "Hey guys, wait up please!"
Cecilia flys over to the decaying, red-roofed apartment building that is the Slifer Red dorms. It has two floors with 4 rooms to a floor (How that manages to fit at least 30 students, we'll never know). The stairs and railings are made from cheap wood painted red. These parts of the building actually seemed to be taken care of enough. After all, the faculty wouldn't want to be sued over a student's injury or worse, especially on Seto Kaiba's dime.
With her onceover being given to the building, Cecilia phases through the walls to look for her son's dorm. Which will be the best dorm because it has the refrigerator and microwave in it!
"Man…" Syrus lets out a depressed whine. "I was told we were getting a dorm building not a giant out house. What do you guys think?" He looks over to his new friends who are looking over the railing to the wide-open ocean.
"Are you kidding me Sy? You can't get a view like this at the other dorms, I bet."
"Eh, when you've seen the ocean everyday to and from home it gets a little stale. I heard that the Obelisk Blue dorms have awesome lakeside views." Max turns around and sees Cecilia floating behind Syrus, pointing to where she found his dorm and begins to follow her.
"Huh, do you live on an island or something?" Jaden asks
"Yep" Max nonchalantly responds while walking to the correct dorm his mom found. Max then pulls out a key and unlocks the dorm. Completely ignoring the fact that he's stupid rich.
"Wait," Syrus looks at the key he's using. "We're supposed to be getting our keys after we select our rooms. How did you get a key already?"
"Hm? Oh, I kind of brought my stuff here ahead of time."
"Why'd you need to do that?"
"WELLIDIDN'TREALLYWANTTOSHAREMYFRIDGEANDMICROWAVE!OKAYSEEYAATDINNERGUYS!" Max hurriedly answers his question and zooms into his room, locking the door behind him.
…
…
…
"That was weird right?" Jaden looks to his shorter buddy.
"Definitely."
"Welp, let's check out our room right here." He turns around and opens the door behind him, which is right next door.
That was a little overdramatic don't you think? Cecilia fades into existence next to her son with her eyebrows furrowed.
I know, but I don't really need every student here using my microwave or taking whatever "rations" Croquet brings me. I mean did you see a microwave in the mess hall?
She shakes her head. Nope. There's a fire pit out back, so I think the Head Teacher here just cooks everything over the fire.
Well now I have even more reason to keep my food hidden.
He looks over the small room he'll be staying in for now. The room is very simple. The walls are painted yellow and the carpet is light red. The ceiling is raised surprisingly high, about 4 feet higher than the bunk beds, which is already a little over 6 feet. The beds themselves are located in the far-right corner of the room and are wooden triple-decker bunk beds with cheap futons for the actual beds. There are also green curtains for privacy, but only for the bottom two bunks.
Also included in the room is an old CRT Television, two desks next to the TV(one normal, the other is a corner desk) with one chair each, a decent sized bookshelf located to the right of the beds, a small coffee table leaning against the wall with three white throw pillows, a sink and a gas stove with a tea kettle, and last, but not least, Max's brand new and ever so beautiful refrigerator standing next to the bookshelf with the equally just as beautiful new microwave right on top of it.
All in all…
Max looks at the room with an appraising eye for a moment before he smiles to himself.
Not too shabby if I do say so myself. This could actually pass as an okay college dorm room.
What if the fridge and microwave weren't here?
Then we would have considered ourselves in Hell.
Max walks over to the bed and climbs up to the top bunk. He looks at the futon with uncertainty and lay down on it. He groans for a moment before grabbing his cell phone and calling someone. Cecilia floats up to him and looks at his phone bewildered.
Who could you be calling right now?
He puts his finger up to quiet her as the phone rings.
*Ring*
*Ring*
*Ring*
"Hello, Croquet?"
…
"Yeah, the room isn't too bad at all and the fridge and microwave are fantastic."
…
"Yeah, the futons are awful. They haven't been washed all that well or even that often and it feels like you just placed a strip of cotton on a wooden board and fell asleep on that."
…
"Yes I am slightly regretting being in the Slifer Dorm now…"
…
"You're already on the helicopter with three futons, pillows, and blankets from the castle?"
…
"Thanks Croquet! Tell Dad I said hi when you get back and that he DOES NOT need to visit me yet!"
*Click*
Man, if he isn't the best butler ever I don't know who would be! He relaxes onto the wooden board and closes his eyes.
You may not act like it much, but there are times when you act like a spoiled rich kid.
He shrugs. Hey, when life gives you a Croquet, use it without making yourself look too spoiled.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Their conversation is halted when someone knocks on their dorm's door for some reason. Max hops down and unlocks the door. Opening the door, he sees a very large boy his age that is a couple inches shorter than him. He has a large red nose, small black eyes, and really thick eyebrows. He kind of looks like a human koala in an inverse colored Slifer Red uniform.
"Can I help you?"
"Yeah, so one of my new roommates," he lets out an annoyed sigh "I think his name was Jaden or something, said that you had a fridge and microwave in here." He gives Max a bit of a stink eye at that.
Wow, I did not expect Jaden to pick up on that. Max looks slightly shocked at that thought, but then schools his features when he thinks of an idea knowing who this fella was.
"Well,"
"Chumley."
"Hi Chumley, I'm Max." He says quickly and Chumley gives a grunt in greeting. "How about I buy your silence about my superior utilities?"
His visitor thinks for a moment and then looks at the fridge. "Do you have any grilled cheeses in there?"
Max looks to the fridge as well. Then to Chumley looking like he's making a shady deal. "I could…?"
"Think I could get a regular supply and heat them up in that microwave?"
"You may…?"
They stare at each other until they both shake hands.
"Licious." After making the best deal in his life and saying some weird phrase of his, he turns and heads back to his room.
"Pleasure doing business with you! Oh! Hey, wait!" He calls back out to him. "Are Jaden and Syrus still there?"
"Hm? Oh, I think they went back out to explore campus or something." Chumley opens his door and waves to his new supplier. "Anyway, I'm going back to bed. Night, Max!"
Max shrugs his shoulders and heads out of his dorm towards to check out the mess hall of the building.
I guess they're checking out the Obelisk Blue's duel arena and are chatting with Chazz and his groupies.
They probably won't be too long.
Might as well just wait for them until the welcome "dinner" starts. He opens the door to see a couple other Slifer's waiting to get their food, that they will soon feel crushing disappointment with, but they just ignore him. Max looks past them and spots a striped, brown tabby cat relaxing on the table at the end of the room. Smiling, he walks up to them and begins to scratch behind their ears. The cat purrs in bliss and rolls over to expose his floofy belly. Ghost mom cooes at the adorable action and her son gladly obliges the feline.
Well, at least we've got this little guy while we wait.
Eventually, Jaden and Syrus walked in to see all sorts of Slifers sitting at different tables complaining about the food they had to grab. The food being cooked sardines, rice, a messy curry with potatoes, and yellow slices of something in a tiny bowl (AN: Seriously what is that in Episode 2?). The sight that weirded them out a bit, well it only weirded out Syrus, was Max sitting at a table in the back with a tabby cat purring on his shoulders and scratching his ears. He looks up and waves at them.
"Hey guys, your roomie told me you guys went exploring somewhere, so I thought I'd wait for ya to get back." He motions his free hand to the "meal". "Someone was dropping those off at the front table up there and then headed out back. I'm assuming he was the Professor for this dorm. Anyway, I grabbed you guys some a couple minutes ago."
"Sweet! I'm starving!" Jaden wastes no time and grabs his chopsticks to dig into his fish.
"Umm, Jae? Maybe we should wait for the Professor?" Syrus quietly protests but is only met with the sounds of his friend's awful table manners. "Or not…"
"So," His attention is brought to his other friend. "What'd you guys do?
"Oh! We ended up taking a look at the Obelisk Blue's dueling arena! Jaden said that he could smell a duel happening, which confuses me because I couldn't smell much due to the pollen count and what does dueling smell like exactly, And also," Max snaps his fingers in his face to get him back on track. "Right, sorry! Um, we met some jerks from Obelisk Blue that were led by someone named Chazz and he and Jaden were gonna duel, but then Alexis and a friend of hers showed up and told us that we were going to be late to the welcome dinner." He pauses a moment, scrunching his brows in thought. The small Slifer snaps his fingers in realization. "Oh yeah! Alexis' friend asked us if we knew you! She said that she was looking for you. What's that about?"
"Hmm?" Max looks at Syrus in confusion for a moment before his eyes light up in recognition. "Wait, did she have auburn hair and dark brown eyes?" At his friend's nod, he smiles. "So, Jasmine's looking to duel me already, huh? Man, she works fast. I hope I can catch next time."
"Who is she Max?"
"I guess she's my first Duel Academy friend. She caught me out at the parking lot as I was about to leave and congratulated me on my duel. Then she said she had dibs on me as my first duel at the academy. And I'm not gonna lie, I hope she's my first duel here too."
"Man, some guys have all the luck…" Syrus dejectedly whispers to himself, poking his rice with his chopsticks.
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing hahaha!" He nervously laughs, hoping his friend didn't hear that.
The small curtains hanging off the doorframe at the front of the room rustle and from behind them, a tall and lanky gentleman with long black hair in a ponytail walks in. This gentleman wore black pants and a white, long-sleeve, button up shirt with the collar flipped out and a brown tie around it. He wore dark grey rimmed, rectangular glasses on his eyes, which did not seem to open yet he appeared to see just fine. Cecilia whispers, 'how does he see like that?' and Max just silently shrugs.
The man waves and has a small, but jovial smile on his face. "Hello, children!" He speaks with a slight German accent. "I'm Professor Banner. Now… oh wait…" The professor looks at the students with a questioning look. "Has anyone seen my…? Ah ha! There you are!" Banner points at Max, or more specifically the cat on his shoulder. The tabby raises his head to look at him, now that he noticed him, since his new friend stopped giving him scritches to pay attention to the man. "Pharoah, it seems you've managed to make a friend quite quickly this year!" The now named Pharoah, hops off of his perch and stretches. Then he runs up and hops into Banner's open arms.
"Now, that I have my cat," The students all let out a small chuckle. "Could someone tell me why there are three futons, pillows, and I believe blankets burning to a crisp on the cliffside?"
Outside of the building, a thriving fire has been contained in a recently made fire pit. The previously burning bedroom items have now been made into unidentifiable ashes. And far away from Academy Island, a Black Helicopter blends into the sky, making its get away after a job well done.
Everyone is silent, looking bemused at the equally confused professor, and our clearly guilty silverette discreetly looks away, while praising the best butler ever in his head.
"Well, the fire has been contained and will eventually die on its own." He claps his hand to bring everyone's attention back to him. "Before we eat, let's all introduce ourselv-." He's now cut-off by the most noticeable brunette in the room scarfing down his rice like no tomorrow.
"Jaden," Syrus whispers. "I think we're supposed to wait until we introduce ourselves first."
"I'm sorry Sy, but this food is so good and I'm so hungry!"
"Um, Jaden?" Max tries to interject. "Sy's right. The professor is walking over here." Which is correct as Banner has started to walk over with Pharoah still in his arms. He stops right at the boy's table with a small smirk and an eyebrow raised.
"Oh man, now we're in trouble." Syrus covers his face and tries to make it look like he's not here, hoping that it will save him from being punished. Max gives a concerned look towards the little guy before looking at the professor.
"Well…" Banner pauses for dramatic effect and then gives an eager grin. "I guess introductions can be saved for later! Let's eat!"
With that said, everyone, except for Jaden and Max, begin to attempt to eat the Red Dorm professor's subpar cooking. Jaden was eating everything he could and Max was just picking at his rice. Everything he didn't eat, he just slid over to Jaden, who consumed the extra food with gusto and made sure to say a garbled 'thanks'.
Dinner was over and done with, and no one was none the wiser that Max snuck off early to head back to his dorm. He enters his dorm and spots the new items in his room. All of the beds have been stripped of their garbage cloth and cotton fabrics that they called a bedspread and have been replaced with only the finest of bedding that Duelist Kingdom can provide. On the fridge there is a picture of a pair of sunglasses giving a thumbs up and signed off by Croquet's signature.
We need to tell your father to give that man another raise.
Max nods as he opens the fridge to grab some containers of turkey and mashed potatoes and puts them in the microwave. While the food cooks, he hears his neighbors enter their room. He looks back in his fridge and finds what he was looking for.
After eating his own meal and reheating the promised goods. He makes his way next door and knocks.
"Who is it?" Jaden calls out.
"Go away! I'm trying to sleep!" The growling of Chumley interrupts Max's reply.
"Then I guess you don't want what was promised!" He shouts in kind.
A loud tumbling and crash can be heard from inside the dorm.
"Whoa! I didn't know he could back flip like that!" Jaden exclaims in surprise and the door is quickly opened by a now well-rested Chumley.
"You got the stuff?"
Max reveals the plate of hot grilled cheese sandwiches. The koala boy snatches them and dashes back towards his bed. With an exertive grunt that sounded like 'Licious', he grabs his bunk's railing, launches himself into his bed under the covers without giving so much as a glance to the stunned observers.
…
…
…
That shouldn't have been possible for him. Cecilia's jaw was on the floor at Chumley's speed and agility.
I don't think we'll ever see it again unless it's for those sandwiches.
Jaden shakes his head at the enigma. He looks at Max with a grin. "Hey Max, where'd you go?"
"Eh, I was just getting some stuff together in my room. Oh, thanks Sy." He says when he receives green tea from Syrus.
"Welp! I gotta burn off all these calories from dinner and a duel is a sure-fire way to get the blood pumping! How about it Max?" Jaden stands up and points at Max with a fire in his eyes.
His neighbor shrugs. "Why not. I've got-." He's cut off by random technological beeping from Jaden's pocket. They all look towards said pocket. "Are you going to get that?"
Jaden pulls out his PDA and flips it open. A pink envelope was scrolling across his screen showing he had a message. When he opened it, the face of a sneering, spiky-haired Obelisk Blue appeared.
"Hey, Slifer Slacker. Don't think you're off the hook. Tonight. At Midnight. It's on! Oh, and why don't we make it interesting? Whoever wins gets the other guy's best card." The video message ends.
"Cool, I guess I'll get to duel at that arena after all. Hey, sorry" He looks to Max. "Are you okay with a rain check?"
"Sure, no harm done. Although this just screams a set up to me. I think I'll tag along for a bit. And hey, might as well learn where this arena is."
"Sweetness! Now you get to see the future King of Games get his game on!" Jaden shouts with glee as he runs out the door with a nervous Syrus trailing behind him, trying to keep up.
Max and Cecilia shake their heads and follow the knuckleheads.
…
…
…
Once everyone else had left. Munching could be heard from the top bunk. After a few moments the sounds stopped…
…
"Licious…" Was all that was heard from the large mound in the blankets.
And that is the end of Chapter 4! This chapter was mostly meant to be character introductions and introducing us to the island a bit. Next chapter will have Max's first official duel! I hope I can actually deliver on a good game!
Again, thank you so much for your patience. I know that it's been quite awhile since my last update… Yeah, about 9 months. I hope I'm not able to make a habit out of that. There were a lot of circumstances that, unfortunately, led to procrastination, stress, lack of focus, and laziness.
I will be posting an Author's Note after this chapter that will explain some things as well as planned future projects.
That's right!
I plan on writing a lot more stories! In fact, I'm actually in the best position I can be right now when it comes to writing.
Now, let's get onto the reviews! And speaking of which, thank you so much for them! Even when I was away from writing, they actually gave me a good spark of creativity and I was able to keep inspired and typed notes up on my phone when I thought of something. Alright, no more! The rest will be in the AN.
Reviews/Comments! Now! Please!
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Zet4: Okay, so Max basically has my knowledge of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX! Years after I first watched, like I'm talking over a decade. He will recognize major characters, like Yubel, Sartorius, orthe Exhange Students. However, he won't remember everything about them, like me. For example, he'll know the design of a character, but won't know their name, yet know he's important. He won't have the memory of every person's deck, nor every person that dueled. It's easy to remember the filler stuff from season 1 because it was goofy fun, but filer from the other seasons draws a big blank for me.
Now, plot-wise he will know Season 1 because it was the easiest to follow and the one I've seen the most. The other seasons he will only remember the bare minimum of it. He won't prevent the plots from happening, but he may or may not mess with things in some form. I don't know how yet, but we'll see what kind of impacts Max makes or not.
Legionstone: Thank you so much again, man! I feel the same way. There's a time for jokes and a time for action. I have a plan for season 2 that I really like. It starts off as something over-dramatic and silly, but when things take a heavy turn, it's time to give a damn!
And thank for the dialogue comment! I have confidence in the dialogue I come up with, but what I struggle with is writing it out and structure it. Thankfully I have friends and family who beta for me. I can only hope my writing skills go up from here!
Victor strongman: It was very inspired 01101100 01101111 01101100! Thank you!
TheAbsoluteMonarch: Me neither!
deku rose/green rose: Thanks for your support, man! Good guess on Max's deck, but not exactly right ones. I hope you like them as they are heavily based on my real decks that I've built since I started out in High School. And as for the Frightfurs idea, I actually just came up with a way to use them when I was trying to make a deck for someone that will duel Max eventually.
clank2662: Don't worry! We'll get to that!
dragon eye 22: Thank you so much! And I hope you find someone that will write that 5DS story. While I love 5DS, I don't have an interest in writing for it. I mean yet at least.
Finshadow212th: I'd love to know what you mean by "Great minds think alike." What was it? Also yeah, we don't need anymore Jadens. Max we'll interact with Jaden and be friends with him, but he will not be in the circle that keeps praising him. Even though he plays the same strategy over and over! Ugh, after rewatching it Jaden really drives me nuts with how much he barely does anything different… Sorry for the mini-rant… Once again, thanks!
Guest: I don't have a Monarch deck for Max. Caius is just one of my favorite cards that I've always kept with me in one of my decks. I just can't get rid of him haha! Now, for the character development I'll say that I will be making efforts to develop and even bring some change to a couple main characters. So far, Jasmine(maybe Mindy) is my only planned background character that I want to develop into her own character.
Rodvek97: You're welcome!
DraconixVargas: I'm glad you thought that! I'm not a dueling expert at all! I'm beyond casual, so this was just a cool OTK idea I had. I hope I'm able to make some good duels in the future. Especially for next chapter!
Wyvernium: I hope you enjoyed the interaction between the two of them in this chapter!
Cure Crystal: I'm going to keep at it! It may be inconsistent at times, but I refuse to drop it!
bopdog111: Thanks a lot! I know that the format will only be improved on the more I make them. And adding the right song to each duel is one of my favorite parts of writing this story!
Valkoor123113: It's one of the strangest running gags I came up with my little brother while rewatching episode 1. When I started typing out chapter 3, I just couldn't stop coming up with weird things for his name XD!
Romulus Black Talon: Sadly, he doesn't have a Toon Deck. However, the Toons will be brought in later for a bit.
NinjaFang1331: Thanks and I will be sure to!
XenoLucifer: So, I'm not a good player at Yu-Gi-Oh! at all. I'm very casual when it comes to playing. The way I'm going to be writing and scripting out what happens in each duel will be a unique process for me. The OTK will feel the most scripted to me. But the other duels I hope to make feel at least a little realistic because I will be playing with the actual cards and using combos on myself. I don't believe this explains my process that well, but I hope I am able to write fun duels.
MarvinEhre: Thank you so much for the idea! I have taken it under consideration!
Stressedcollege: Trust me Max will interact with his father at some points. I have big plans for a couple meetings. Also, your name is just too real, dude!
Thank you all again so much. Please take a look at my AN if you're interested in wtf happened to me or if you're curious about my other projects!
See you in the next one where Max has his first day of school starting with the Midnight Duel!
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I did not mean for that to rhyme…