The sun shone brightly in a cloudless blue sky above Domino City. People roamed the sidewalks leisurely, happy to be enjoying a brief respite from their daily schedules on such a beautiful Sunday afternoon. However, not everyone was able to relax today. Inside of one of Kaiba Corporation's buildings, many potential students wishing to join the illustrious Duel Academy were hard at work trying to pass their entrance exams that would grant them admittance into the school.
Inside the building, there were over a dozen teenagers having their practical dueling examinations against the testing proctors from the academy. All around the room, holograms of duel monsters flashed into and out of view while the electronic sounds of the duel disks echoed everywhere.
"No. 11, Ivy Harrison, please make your move or forfeit the duel." The proctor said patiently to the short wispy-looking girl across from him.
Ivy glanced down nervously at the cards in her hand. She had to brush the long uneven ends of her dark green hair away from her face to be able to see properly.
Everything I already have on the field is enough for me to win, but his facedown cards could change everything. If I can just draw THAT card, then everything will be alright! Absolutely everything depends on this draw! Ivy thought to herself desperately, knowing that if she failed here, it was all over and there would be no chance to get out of what would be waiting for her outside of the academy.
"It's my turn! I draw!" Ivy said nervously. Closing her eyes tightly and sending a silent prayer to the heavens above, she drew a card from her deck.
When she dared to take a look at the card that she had just drawn, Ivy's sky blue eyes lit up with relief. Yes! This is it! She thought to herself triumphantly.
"Okay, first, I will activate the effect of my field spell, Aroma Garden, raising my lifepoints by another 500 points! This brings Aromage Bergamot's attack points up to 3900! Now, I will enter my battle phase, but before I attack, I activate the spell card, Anti-Magic Arrows, from my hand! This protects me from any of your facedown spell or trap cards' effects, and there is no way for you to prevent Anti-Magic Arrows' effect from working! And now, I attack your monster with Aromage Bergamot! She can even cause damage to your lifepoints against a defense position monster as long as my lifepoints are higher than yours!" Ivy explained all of this very quickly, as if she was afraid that her move would somehow be interrupted if she didn't rush through everything.
Ivy- 3000 LP Test Proctor-0 LP
"Nice work, No. 11. You have now passed all of the entrance exams. Welcome to Duel Academy." The testing proctor congratulated Ivy.
"Thank you for duel, sir. I promise to work hard once I get to school!" Ivy said sincerely as she bowed her head formally to the proctor. She couldn't believe that she had finally made it. Everything would be alright now.
Unbeknownst to Ivy, there was a small audience that had been observing her duel intently the whole time. Two people stood on the balcony high above the dueling arena. One was a tall boy with dark blue hair and eyes who had silently watched the duel with his arms crossed and a serious expression on his face. The other was a girl with long blonde hair and brown eyes who had looked on with mild interest, occasionally making comments during the duel. They were both wearing the signature Obelisk Blue dormitory uniforms, symbolizing their status as the highest ranking duelists at the academy.
"That was a pretty good duel. She won that pretty quickly while keeping most of her lifepoints intact. And to score 11th place on the written exam is certainly nothing to sneeze at. What do you think, Zane?" The girl asked.
"She's skilled, I'll give her that. But you have overlooked the obvious problem here, Alexis. She was too nervous. She played that duel as if her life depended on it, and that is not normal, even for this place. The facedown cards gave her too much anxiety, and that can cause a duelist to make some grave errors. Just what would she have done if she hadn't drawn Anti-Magic Arrows at the last moment when she needed them? If she can get over her fears, she will be good competition. As it stands, though…" Zane explained carefully.
"That's funny. I thought you had no competition, Zane!" Alexis said teasingly.
"I wasn't necessarily implying that she was competition for me." Zane replied with a wry smile.
"Either way, I'm interested in getting to know more about Ivy. I'll try to talk to her once we are all back on the island again. She looks like she could use some friends here." Alexis said thoughtfully.
Xxx
It had been a few hours since the new students had arrived at Duel Academy and received their dormitory assignments, but Ivy still couldn't believe the size and grandeur of the Obelisk Blue's girl dormitory building. From the outside, it resembled a castle, and the sheer size of her new room and all of its furniture were far larger than anything she had ever had.
"Need a hand with that?" Alexis asked Ivy casually as she struggled to lock the outside door to her room.
Ivy turned around and smiled gratefully at Alexis. "Yeah, that would be great. This key just doesn't seem to want to turn the right way. It's annoying, but I sure wish I could have had this for my room back at home!" Ivy said ruefully.
"The trick is to sort of leave it halfway in while you turn it. Here, let me show you." Alexis said. After Ivy handed her the key, Alexis quickly locked the door, demonstrating the process.
"Thanks! You're a lifesaver! If everyone here is as helpful as you, then I think I'll get used to living here pretty easily." Ivy said.
"You probably can, but don't expect everyone to offer you this kind of assistance during a duel, including me. By the way, I'm Alexis Rhodes. I'm in the room next door to yours, so feel free to stop by if you ever need anything. Or even if you just want to talk." Alexis said kindly as she held out her hand for Ivy to shake.
Ivy smiled at Alexis and shook her hand. "Thanks! I'm Ivy Harrison. I still feel a little lost here since I probably didn't have the kind of preparation for this that most of the other Obelisk Blues did. I thought that this dorm was for people who had had more…formal training when it came to Duel Monsters. So, I'm surprised they let me in here. And just why is there only a girls' dorm for Obelisk Blue? I mean, there's got to be some girls who aren't good at all of this, right?" Ivy half-joked.
"I don't know the specifics, but I think the real problem is that there aren't enough female students every year to fill up three separate buildings, so they just did this instead. There probably are some of us who are more on the Ra Yellow end at least, but since nobody really seems to think about it with all of us being in the same dorm, it's sort of an unspoken topic. It all comes back down to the owner of this school. Seto Kaiba thought that it was a good idea to divide everybody up like this, but he didn't stop to think about the technicalities. Either way, the ranks don't mean anything to me. I'm just as willing to accept that a Ra or a Slifer can be a good duelist, too." Alexis explained.
"That sounds about right. I agree with you about the ranks, though. We should all just duel without worrying about who is an Obelisk Blue or whatever. Way to build up people's egos and hurt us from making new friends. I'm glad you are not like that. I'm gonna go for a walk now. Do you want to come with me?" Ivy asked.
"A walk? At this hour?" Alexis asked skeptically.
"It's only for a few minutes. I just need a little fresh air after being stuck inside for so long today with the tests and orientation." Ivy said reassuringly.
Alexis looked like she wanted to protest, but she quickly changed her mind before replying. "Well…okay. Just be careful. This island is bigger than it looks, so you should make sure not to go too far, especially in the dark." She cautioned.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll see you later then." Ivy said with a wave as she walked off.
Xxx
Ivy walked around the coast of the island at a leisurely pace. There was something very relaxing about being alone out here at night, away from the mass of students and teachers. She hadn't had this kind of freedom for idle leisure time for some time in her life and she wanted to take full advantage of it.
Oh, cool! There's even a lighthouse! Ivy thought to herself excitedly. She rushed over to it, eager to get a closer look at the swinging beams of light in the darkness.
Ivy was so busy admiring her surroundings that she was completely unprepared when a tall figure suddenly emerged from behind the other side of the lighthouse and stood directly in front of her.
"What are you doing out here!? You shouldn't be out here at night." Zane said angrily.
Ivy stopped short, startled to see someone else all the way out here. The boy was a good deal taller than her and wearing one of the trademark Obelisk Blue uniforms. For a moment, Ivy was stunned into silence. Despite the hard expression he wore on his face, she had to admit that he was the hottest guy she had ever seen before. But that wasn't stopping him from giving off a bad first impression right now. This guy sounded like he thought he was some bigshot upperclassman who believed that he could order anyone around. Ivy had dealt with bullies before and she wasn't going to let herself be intimidated.
"What do you mean!? I have every right to be out here and it's not like you're a teacher, so I don't have to listen to you!" Ivy said defiantly as she glared at Zane.
"That's true, but I can still report you for being out after hours if I have to." Zane replied.
I don't believe this guy! Ivy thought to herself in irritation.
"Look, I just needed a few minutes of fresh air, that's all. I don't see what the big deal is here. And besides, if I'm not supposed to be out here right now, then what are you doing here!?" Ivy demanded.
"That is none of your concern." Zane said coldly.
"Well, if you won't give me any kind of explanation, then don't just expect me to do what you say." Ivy said in annoyance.
"Look, I'm not trying to be unreasonable here. But it really isn't a good idea to be out here at night. Just trust me on that. I don't want to have to report you, so please just go back to your dorm. You're not far from it, and if you're lost, I can walk you back if you want." Zane offered.
Okay, so maybe he's not a total jerk after all. Ivy thought to herself.
"That's okay. I can get back myself. I'll leave now. One word of advice, though: You don't need to hide out here and give students a heart attack by popping up out of nowhere like that. Not that I was scared, mind you. I'm just saying." Ivy said nonchalantly.
For a moment, Ivy caught the faintest trace of a smile on Zane's face. But then he went right back to the same impassive expression he had been wearing throughout almost their entire conversation.
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Just don't let me catch you out here again." Zane replied.
"Yeah, sure. Later." Ivy said as she walked away, eager to put as much distance as she could between herself and this guy.
What a weirdo. Ivy thought to herself.
Xxx
"Where were you!? It's been over an hour!" Alexis asked worriedly as she met Ivy in the hallway of their rooms.
"Great. You too? I was just fine and enjoying a nice walk until this…weird guy hanging around the lighthouse gave me the third degree. He was all, "You shouldn't be out here at night! I'll have to report you!" and blah, blah, blah. Anyway, it was really annoying and I'm just glad that it's over now. Sorry for worrying you. I'm pretty tired now, so I'm going to try to get some sleep now. I'll see you tomorrow." Ivy explained tiredly.
Alexis had to stop herself from smiling. Yeah, that definitely sounds like Zane! She thought to herself in amusement.
"Sounds like an upperclassman alright. I'm just glad you're okay. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night." Alexis said.
Xxx
An hour later, Ivy was staring at the ceiling as she lay in bed, still unable to sleep after the day's excitement.
I'm finally here. The hard part is over, and I don't need to worry about anything for a few years now. And either way, I don't have to go back to where I was before now. Everything should be fine now. Ivy tried to reassure herself.
Trying to distract herself from thoughts about the past, Ivy thought of everything that had happened since she took the dueling exam at the Kaiba Corp. building this morning. Surprisingly, out of everything that had happened from then until now, she found her mind inadvertently wandering to the strange boy she had argued with at the lighthouse just an hour earlier. She was curious to know just what he had been doing there himself, but at the same time, Ivy didn't think she could handle anything weirder than what she had just witnessed from that encounter.