The following morning, everyone was attending class. All the students were sitting in rows assigned by color. Reds were towards the front, Yellows were in the middle and Blues were on top.
They were waiting for their teacher to show up, and once he did Ryan wasn't too thrilled to see him.
'Oh just great, it's Dr. Crowler.' He thought to himself with annoyance.
"Alright class, please take your seats." He instructed. The class nodded and took their seats.
"Listen up because I'm only going to tell you this once." Dr. Crowler told the class, interrupting their conversations. "My name is Dr. Vellian Crowler and I teach duelists about different types of cards."
"Now, who would be willing to explain the different types of cards? Would you care to do so, Miss Rhodes?" He asked as Alexis stood up from her seat.
"It would be my pleasure Dr. Crowler. Duel Monsters cards are grouped into normal monsters, effect monsters, fusion monsters, ritual monsters as well as spell and trap cards. Spell cards are grouped into normal, continuous, field, equip, quick-play and ritual spells. Trap cards are grouped into normal, continuous and counter trap cards." Alexis explained, rather efficiently.
"Perfect! Well done, Alexis. Of course I would expect nothing else from one of my Obelisk Blues."
"Thank you, Dr. Crowler." Alexis replied as she took her seat again.
"Now, who will be the next person to question?" Crowler asked himself as he looked around the room and eventually spotting Syrus.
"You there, Mr. Truesdale." Syrus nervously stood up.
"Explain to the rest of the class what a field spell does."
"Uh." Syrus began to stammer, unable to come up with a answer to the question.
"Even pre-duelers would know the answer to this, Slifer Slacker!" A Obelisk Blue student shouted as the other Blues start to laugh, minus Akiza, Alexis, Kasumi and Laxus.
'Jerks.' Laxus thought to himself, displeased with the attitude the other Blues are presenting.
"Syrus chill, you can do it." Ryan said in a reassuring tone.
"I think not. Please take your seat." Crowler ordered in a condescending tone, shaking his head. "Now would someone else be willing to give me a answer. Preferably someone not wearing red."
"I blew it, I made all the Slifers look bad." Syrus muttered in disappointment.
"You know Dr Crowler, you really should consider being nicer to the Reds. After all, I'm from that dorm and I managed to defeat you during the entrance exams." Ryan pointed out, leading Crowler to bite on his handkerchief due to frustration as the other Slifers began laughing. Alexis had a smile on her face while Bastion shook his head in disapproval.
"You got that right, bro!" Kasumi shouted.
'That's it! I'll see to it that Ryan Yuki is expelled from the academy by whatever means necessary.' Crowler thought, fuming.
After that, Prof. Banner was the next instructor.
"Alright class, as some of you already know my name is Prof. Banner and my specialty is the lesser-known tactics of Duel Monsters; some of which experienced duelists may not be aware of." He greeted the class.
Ryan was listening to everything Banner was telling him when Syrus called out to him.
"By the way, thanks." Syrus said.
"For?" Ryan asked, turning his attention away from Banner.
"Sticking up for me earlier." Syrus replied, attracting Prof. Banner's attention.
Ryan looked down towards Prof. Banner and then said, "I may have to do it a second time."
"Syrus?" Banner called out to the light blue-haired boy.
"Uh, yes?" Syrus said, standing up.
"Do me a favor and pick Pharaoh up, will you?"
"Uh, Pharaoh?"
"Unless you're mirroring as a scratching post." Banner said, smiling.
Pharaoh brushed up against Syrus' leg, causing everyone to laugh again.
Syrus, looking embarrassed once again, picked Pharaoh up before returning him to his owner.
At the same time...
Crowler was in his office writing a letter, scowling and muttering under his breath.
"How dare that Slifer Slacker Ryan make a mockery out of me in front of my own class like that?" He said angrily.
He finished writing the letter before folding it and placing it in a envelope.
"It'll be the last mistake he ever gets to make at the academy." He muttered. He picked up a mirror before placing some red lipstick on his lips before kissing the back of the letter and chuckling to himself.
"The big kiss-off." He said before he ran out of the office.
He immediately headed towards the boy's locker room as Ryan's next class was gym. Placing the letter in what he assumed was Ryan's locker, on top of his boots, Crowler dashed out of there quickly.
As it would turn out, Syrus was running late for gym.
"Lousy girl's gym." He muttered to himself. "Why did they have to make the signs so small?"
He ran inside the gym and opened his locker, noticing that Ryan's shoes were there.
"It seems Ryan's still borrowing my locker at the moment." Syrus said, before frowning when he spotted a envelope falling to the floor.
"What's this?" He bent down and picked the letter up before noticing the lipstick smudge and his eyes widened. "This isn't Ryan's. Someone wrote me a letter."
As if he was expecting someone to see him with the letter, which wasn't likely, as everyone else was participating in gym class, Syrus ducked between two sets of lockers and opened the letter, murmuring, "I wonder what it says?"
The letter read:
From the moment I first set eyes on you, I've been in love with you. Meet me tonight in the back of the Obelisk Girl's Dormitory so I can give you a big kiss.
Endearingly,
Alexis Rhodes
Syrus looked like he was about to pass out after he read that. "This is better than what my mom writes me." he exclaimed, slipping into a daydream about him and Alexis together.
At the blue girl's dorm
"Can you believe what Ryan told Dr. Crowler in class earlier. Total disrespect. Don't you think so Alexis?" Jasmine asked.
"I think it was kind of cool." Alexis said. "And he's right, Crowler really should be nicer to his students."
"Him, cool?" Jasmine questioned.
"He just might be. If he had the talent to back that statement up." Mindy said, causing Jasmine to laugh.
"The only way to find out is if I duel him." Alexis said.
Syrus made his way toward the Obelisk Girl's Dormitory, still looking happy at the thought of meeting Alexis. Little did he know, Crowler was hiding in the bushes near the back of the dorm, wearing a tight, black body suit that made him look creepier than normal.
This is perfect. Thanks to that faux love letter I wrote, Crowler thought, going over the plan in his mind. I'll just wait here for Ryan to come around while he searches for Alexis. And when the time's right, I'll snap a picture of him, creating evidence that will get him expelled.
Of course, his plan didn't exactly go that way when a different Slifer appeared.
"Alexis!" Syrus called out.
"That's not Ryan! It's that Field Spell nitwit!" Crowler shouted. Unfortunately, his shouting attracted some unwanted attention.
"What's a boy doing here?" A girl cried out, alerting the other girls.
"I'm not a boy, I'm a man." Crowler shouted. Realizing what he did, he quickly covered his mouth and dived into the lake to avoid getting caught.
Poor Syrus was not so lucky.
"What?" Akiza repeated when he was done speaking.
"You're kidding, right?" Kasumi said flatly, raising an eyebrow after hearing Syrus's explanation for why he was there when he wasn't supposed to be. She, Alexis, Jasmine and Mindy were still in their uniforms and were currently surrounding Syrus.
"Why would Alexis send you a love letter?" Jasmine asked.
"Just ask her, it's true." Syrus said, winking at Alexis, which caused Kasumi to sigh and roll her eyes.
"Uh, hello? Alexis is really tall, and hot, and really good at dueling, and you're not." Jasmine said shortly.
"But it's true." Syrus said, pulling out the letter.
"Just read it." He held out the letter and Alexis took it while Kasumi peered at it over Alexis's shoulder.
"Syrus, my name's not even spelled right." Alexis said.
"So you don't love me?" Syrus asked.
"Wait a minute." Kasumi said with a frown before she grabbed the letter out of Alexis's hands. "This is addressed to my brother!"
"Very suspicious." Akiza narrowed her eyes upon seeing the letter.
"Aw, I can't even get a fake love letter." Syrus complained.
"That's not the point, Syrus." Kasumi said with a scowl, glaring at the letter. "By coming here, you could be expelled and this was addressed to Ryan. That means someone's trying to get my brother expelled." She gripped her hand into a fist before taking a deep breath to calm herself before the letter burst into flames.
"We don't even know if that's true." Jasmine protested. "He could've written that note as an excuse to come here."
"But I didn't." Syrus protested.
"Should we turn him in?" Mindy asked.
"Girls, just what is going on down there?"
Kasumi, Jasmine and Mindy immediately pulled Syrus down while Alexis moved so that they were standing over Syrus, guarding him as Ms. Fontaine, the Headmistress of the Obelisk Girl Dorm, looked over the balcony at them.
"Sorry about the noise, Ms. Fontaine." Alexis said. "We'll be sure to keep the noise down."
"Well, I sure hope so. It's nearly midnight." Ms. Fontaine said, "And I have Pilates in the morning." Without another word, she made her way back to her room and only after she was gone and they were sure she was asleep did the girls let Syrus up.
"What now?" Mindy asked the others.
"I'll tell you what now, girls." Alexis said, smirking. "We'll use Syrus as bait, to get Ryan over here."
"Hold on a second, you're not seriously suggesting that are you." Akiza stated, shocked at what she was planning. "Is this really a good idea Alexis, I mean wouldn't we get in trouble for even considering this?"
"You're gonna what to get what?" Kasumi exclaimed. She glared at Alexis before adding, "I'm not letting you do anything that'll get my brother expelled!"
"We just wanna find out how good your brother really is, Kasumi." Alexis said patiently.
"There are other ways to do that though." Akiza pointed out.
"I don't like this." Kasumi said. "Fine, but even if you lose, you let him and Syrus go. I am not going to lose my brother over something as stupid as a fake love letter!"
Alexis, Jasmine and Mindy stared at Kasumi, startled by her sudden outburst and she took a deep breath to calm herself down.
"I'm sorry." She said once she got control of her emotions.
"It's all right." Alexis said gently. "You really care for your brother. I can see that. If he really is good then you won't have to worry about him getting expelled."
Kasumi sighed, cursing her temper. She knew that Ryan was good enough to beat Alexis but she was just worried about being left alone again, where no one would care about her, especially if her power was revealed.
"Yeah, you're right." She said softly.
Meanwhile, at Ryan, Syrus and Chumley's room.
"Hey Syrus, the outhouse is open!" He exclaimed.
"Sy's gonzo." Chumley informed his roommate. "He left in a good mood."
'Syrus in a good mood, that's not like him at all. Something weird is going on.' He thought before removing his deck and looking it over to come up with new strategies for it.
After that he was laying on his bunk when his PDA went off.
"We have your roommate Syrus. If you want him back, come over to the girls' dorm, alone." A distorted voice said.
"Hey Chumley, let Banner know I'm gonna be late for dinner. There's something I've got to take care of." Ryan instructed as he got up and placed the duel disk on his arm before running out. Chumley nodded as he was leaving.
Out by the lake near the girl's dorm Crowler suddenly burst out of the water with a gasp, wearing a black full body wet suit. He was not happy with how his plan had gone. Instead of his intended target, that imbecile Syrus Truesdale had appeared.
'You try to expel one student, and the whole world turns against you.' Crowler thought to himself when he heard a boat paddling it's way across the lake. Looking towards the source, he saw Ryan.
'You're a little late.' Crowler thought.
He finally arrived to the girl's dorm, standing at the top was Kasumi, Alexis and her two friends.
"You showed up." Kasumi said.
"Yeah I did. Why exactly do you have Syrus tied up?" Ryan asked the four.
"To put it simply, I'm a big loser." Syrus sighed.
"Don't you know you need approval from the dorm's headmaster to come here." Ryan stated.
"Your friend here trespassed into the girls' campus." Jasmine said.
"I told you, it wasn't like that." Syrus protested.
"Now that you're here, you're trespassing too." Mindy added.
"That's right. So if you wanna win your freedom, you'll have to beat me in a duel right now." Alexis said, smirking.
"Is that it." Ryan retorted. "If all you wanted was a duel, why go through all this trouble to make me come here."
This caused Alexis' face to turn red from embarrassment for overthinking the situation.
"But we'll be expelled if you lose!" Syrus cried out, pleading with Alexis.
"Trust me Syrus, I don't plan on losing this duel." Ryan said in a determined tone as he inserted a deck into his duel disk.
A few minutes later, all seven were in three rowboats in the middle of the lake. Alexis and her friends were in one, Kasumi and Akiza were in another and Ryan and Syrus were in the last one. They were looking at each other with their duel disks on.
Crowler was still in the lake, floating a few yards away from the impending duel.
'Well well, a Slifer vs a Obelisk, put him in his place Alexis.' Crowler thought.
"Duel." Both said at the same time.
Ryan: 4000
Alexis: 4000
Alexis made the first move.
"Alright let's do this. Etolie Cyber, rise." She said as a green-skinned girl in a red body suit and red eye patch appeared on the field.
Etolie Cyber: 1200 ATK. Level 4.
"I'll also place a face down."
"My turn." Ryan drew a card. "Say hello to Blackwing Sirocco the Dawn." A blast of black feathers exploded before him, forming into a tall, slender bird-man with dark black feathers, ostrich legs and a black and crimson poncho slung over his open torso. His raven head seemed more like a helmet, as human features were visible within the beak.
Blackwing Sirocco the Dawn: 2000 ATK. Level 5.
"Isn't that a level 5 monster, though?" Akiza asked from her boat.
"You must be cheating!" Jasmine shouted from her spot.
"No, he isn't. I've seen him summon a monster with a similar effect during his duel with Chazz." Alexis informed them.
"Now, Sirocco attack Etoile Cyber with Dark Wing Slash!"
"Hold it right there. I activate Doble Passe. This changes your monsters attack into a direct attack into a direct attack on me." She explained as Sirocco passed right through and slashed Alexis directly. "And now the monster that you were going to attack gets to attack you directly as well. Oh and when Etoile Cyber attacks you directly her attack points jump by six hundred." Alexis finished and her monster did a spinning heel kick straight to Ryan.
Etolie Cyber: 1800 ATK
Ryan: 2200
Alexis: 2000
"Gotta say, you're something else. Sacrificing your own Life points just to get to mine." He complimented the blonde.
"You impressed?" She asked him.
"Yes I am. You're a great duelist."
"You're sweet. It's too bad I have to crush you. Now then where were we?" Alexis said as she drew her next card. "Ooh. I play Blade Skater." She said and a girl in a purple and white leotard wearing ice skates, and having long blades on both of her forearms appeared on the field. "And now I active Polymerization, allowing me to fuse my Etoile Cyber and my Blade Skater to form Cyber Blader." Alexis said and created her new monster. It had long black hair, a light purple and red patterned body suit and both its eyes covered with a high tech looking red visor.
Cyber Blader: 2100 ATK. Level 7.
"Now Cyber Blader attack Blackwing Sirocco the Dawn with Whirlwind Rage!" Alexis ordered and her monster started spinning like a top and headed straight for his monster.
"Nice try." He said, holding a card out. "I discard Kalut the Moon Shadow from my hand to increase Sirocco's attack by 1400 until the end of the turn."
Blackwing Sirocco the Dawn: 3400 ATK
Alexis: 700
"My turn." He drew a card. "And I summon Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North in attack mode." A white albatross flew up and descended to the field.
Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North: 1300 ATK. Level 2.
"Now I tune Blizzard with Sirocco." Blizzard split into two glowing rings that encircled Sirocco, reducing him to five stars that collided in a blast of black feathers...
"Darkened gales, become the wings that will soar to the heavens! Synchro Summon, Blackwing Armor Master!" The black feathers exploded apart as the synchro monster glided down to hover on the field. He was tall and slender, clad from head to toe in jet-black armor adorned with orange patterns, his hands coated in bronze, clawed gauntlets. His helmet was shaped like a bird's head with a crimson jewel held within the beak, bladed wings spreading behind his back. His bare midriff was the only clue that he was even alive and not an armored robot.
Blackwing Armor Master: 2500 ATK. Level 7.
"Blackwing Armor Master attack Cyber Blader with Black Hurricane!" Armor Master surged forward and threw a fierce punch into Cyber Blader. However, Cyber Blader was still standing after the attack.
Alexis just smirked. "Someone didn't do their homework. Cyber Blader has a special ability; it cannot be destroyed in battle when an opponent only has one monster on the field. Although I do still take the damage if your monster's stronger." She explained.
"With that I end my turn. You got me for now." Ryan retorted.
Ryan: 2000
Alexis: 300
"Oh when I get you, you'll know." Alexis said as she drew her card. "Like right now. I equip the spell card Fusion Weapon to my Cyber Blader." She said as her Cyber Blader's right arm changed to a cybernetic red trident.
Cyber Blader: 3600 ATK.
"Now attack his Armor Master with Trident Shock." Alexis ordered her monster, which raised her right arm and shot a green lightning bolt at Blackwing Armor Master. Armor Master was still on the field though.
"Oh, did I forget to mention something. Consider Armor Master a upgraded version of Cyber Blader, it cannot be destroyed by battle and I take no damage from battles involving it."
"Looks like your life points are getting kind of low. Hope you didn't unpack your bags yet." Alexis taunted.
"Yeah cause if you lose, you're both getting expelled." Her black-haired friend said.
"We are?" Syrus asked, looking scared.
"I won't let that happen." Ryan assured his friend.
'You shouldn't make promises you can't deliver.' Alexis thought.
"I draw and I activate Blackwing Armor Master's effect." He said, confusing Alexis.
"What effect?" She questioned.
"When my Armor Master attacked your monster earlier, it left a Wedge Counter on Cyber Blader. By removing that Wedge Counter I lower it's attack and defense to zero until the end of my turn."
Cyber Blader: 0 ATK.
"Blackwing Armor Master attack Cyber Blader with Black Hurricane!" Armor Master surged forward and threw a fierce punch into Cyber Blader. Like before, Cyber Blader was still standing, but the duel had ended.
Ryan: 2000
Alexis: 0
"Well, the duel's over." Ryan said. "Now, we get off scot-free."
"Okay guys, I won't back out. We'll keep quiet about what happened tonight." Alexis said.
"Well, if you ask me I say we turn them in right now!" Jasmine shouted.
"It doesn't matter what you say!" Akiza yelled, startling Jasmine.
"She's right." Alexis snapped back. "He won the duel, so we have to follow through with the agreement."
'Even if I had won, I could never have turned those two in. This place is a lot more fun with them than without them.' Alexis thought. 'Besides, Kasumi had a point. Expelling someone over something as stupid as a fake love letter? That's wrong.'
'I've never seen Alexis act like this before. I wonder, is she really falling for that Slifer?' Her red haired friend thought.
A few yards away Crowler was fuming at what had happened. 'Lucky brat, he escaped this time, but I will sill find a way to expel him.' He thought as he started to swim back towards shore.