The next morning everyone found packages on the floor outside their rooms. They contained their new school jackets. Ryan unbuttoned his before putting it on.
He hung the jacket on the hook that was on the back of his door and then closed the door behind him as he headed to class.
Upon arriving, he spotted several other students scattered across the classroom. Jaden was speaking to two other Slifers, Bastion sat alone writing in a notebook, Alexis stood next to her friends and Chazz was ordering two blues around.
The bell then rang and everyone went to their first class. Dr. Crowler was teaching the first years today. He started by making sure everyone knew what his class rules were. There were so many, the students had to write them all down.
Satisfied everyone that was seated knew his rules, Crowler started his lesson.
"Now class, we'll be learning all the different card types today." The class took notes of the lesson as Crowler went over monsters, spells and traps.
Around noon, the bell rang and everyone took a break. Jaden woke up after falling asleep during class. The students then exited the classroom.
Alexis was talking to her friends, Mindy and Jasmine when she observed Ryan casually sitting down with his legs on the desk.
"Alexis, hey Alexis!" Jasmine called out to her. This got Alexis's attention.
"Oh I'm sorry, what were you talking about?" She asked Jasmine.
"What were you looking at?" An annoyed Jasmine questioned.
"That boy over there. He looks dreamy." Mindy remarked.
Jasmine gave Alexis a irritated look.
"It's not what you think Jasmine." Alexis countered. "I just think it's weird, he defeated Crowler and doesn't seem to have that many friends here."
The bell rang and everyone returned to the classroom. On her way back, Alexis was thinking about something.
'Maybe I should talk to Ryan after class. For such a good duelist, I know very little about him.'
Crowler went over the different types of monsters kept in the extra deck.
Afterwards the class gathered their belongings and left.
Ryan took it upon himself to explore the building. He was in a dueling arena when he heard a voice.
"Ryan there you are, I wanted to talk to you." He turned and noticed Alexis.
"About what?" He asked.
Before anything else could be said, Chazz and his friends interrupted.
"There he is." Chazz said, walking up to him. "You might have defeated Crowler, but remember there's only room in this school for one king and that's me."
"That's nice." Ryan commented sarcastically. "Now do you mind, Alexis and I were having a conversation."
"A girl like Alexis shouldn't be talking to a peasant. She should be talking to a king like me." Alexis became angry after hearing this.
"Why would I want to talk to a arrogant ass like you." Chazz didn't hear what she just said.
"I'll show you just how inferior you are. I challenge you to a duel at midnight." Chazz said.
"But that's after curfew, you'll get in trouble." Alexis pointed out.
"What's the matter, scared. You should be." Chazz sneered.
"I see what's going on. You want to face me in private to avoid being embarrassed after you lose." Ryan commented.
The other blues muttered. Chazz had a angry expression on his face.
"That's not the reason. I'll take you on anywhere, any time!" He shouted.
"How about right here, right now." Ryan gestured to the arena.
"You're on." Chazz said as the two made their way to the arena.
Many of the students spoke among themselves.
"What's this kid thinking." and "Chazz has this in the bag." were the things they said.
Alexis knew this duel wouldn't end the way they expected.
The duel then began.
"I'll start this duel." Chazz said. "By summoning X-Head Cannon in attack mode and placing a card face down."
X-Head Cannon ATK 1800 DEF 1500 LV4 LIGHT Machine.
"A decent start." Ryan said. "I place a monster face down, then end my turn with a face down."
Chazz started his turn.
"I use Dust Tornado to destroy your face down." Ryan's set Mirror Force was destroyed. "Now I activate Double Summon, allowing me to normal summon twice this turn. I choose Y-Dragon Head and Z-Metal Tank."
Y-Dragon Head ATK 1500 DEF 1600 LV4 LIGHT Machine.
Z-Metal Tank ATK 1500 DEF 1300 LV4 LIGHT Machine.
"Next I contact fuse them to summon XYZ-Dragon Cannon."
XYZ-Dragon Cannon ATK 2800 DEF 2600 LV8 LIGHT Machine.
"I activate XYZ-Dragon Cannon's special ability. By discarding a card, I can destroy one of your cards." His face down monster was destroyed. It turned out to be Purple Poison Magician.
Purple Poison Magician ATK 1200 DEF 2100 LV4 DARK Spellcaster.
"Purple Poison Magician's effect now activates. When it's destroyed, I can destroy one of your cards and I select XYZ-Dragon Cannon."
Chazz had a horrified expression as XYZ-Dragon Cannon was destroyed.
"I end my turn." He said, shocked.
Ryan drew his next card.
"I activate Monster Reborn to bring back Purple Poison Magician."
Purple Poison Magician ATK 1200 DEF 2100 LV4 DARK Spellcaster.
"Then I discard a card from my hand to special summon The Tricky in attack mode."
The Tricky ATK 2000 DEF 1200 LV5 WIND Spellcaster.
"Last but not least, say hello to Skilled White Magician."
Skilled White Magician ATK 1700 DEF 1900 LV4 LIGHT Spellcaster.
"All my monsters, attack him directly." Ryan ordered.
Chazz LP 4000 - 4900 = 0
The audience looked on in shock. Chazz was kneeling on the floor as his friends left him there and returned to the blue dorm.
Ryan walked down from the arena and back towards Alexis.
"Now then, what did you want to discuss?"
"I wanted to ask you about your dueling skill." Alexis said as they left the arena.
"Why?" Ryan remarked, confused.
Alexis smiled.
"It's just, you seem to know quite a bit about the game. Who taught you." When Alexis turned to face him, he was staring at the distance lost in thought.
"Are you okay?" Alexis asked, concerned.
"What were you asking me?"
"Who taught you how to play Duel Monsters." He thought about what she asked.
"To be honest I taught myself in the beginning, but eventually I gained a mentor."
"Really, who was it? Maybe they could give me some pointers." Alexis said.
"I would help you search if I had any idea where he was. The two of us are not on speaking terms right now." Alexis was shocked to hear this.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."
"As it turned out, he wasn't the person I thought he was."
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have the rest of the island to explore." Ryan said as he exited the arena, leaving Alexis by herself.
'That was odd. He really didn't want to talk about his teacher, did something happen between them?' Alexis thought.
Chazz remained on the floor after losing.
"Mr. Princeton, please get up off the floor and come with me." Chazz recognized the voice as belonging to Dr. Crowler and turned to face him.
"Dr. Crowler, you weren't watching the duel were you?" Crowler sighed.
"Unfortunately I was. That doesn't matter Chazz, I need you to assist me with something."
"Of course, what do you need help with?"
Crowler smiled.
"There's another boy who doesn't deserve to be at Duel Academy. Jaden Yuki. I want you to face him in the promotion exams and defeat him, so he can be expelled for incompetence." Chazz smiled.
"You mean that Slifer Slacker, I'll crush him."
"Good, I'm looking forward to it." Crowler smirked.
Jaden and Syrus walked down a corridor. They watched the duel between Ryan and Chazz.
"Man that was a sweet duel. Chazz got totally destroyed." Jaden said.
"I never thought he would lose that easily." Syrus added.
"Hold on Sy, I have to use the bathroom." Jaden said as he ran into the bathroom.
When he came out he saw two Obelisk blues with Syrus. One held him against the wall while the other went through his deck.
"Hey, let him go!" Jaden shouted.
"Or what? What will a slacker like you do?" The one holding Syrus against the wall asked.
"Forget it. His cards are nothing but crap." The other said as he tossed Syrus's cards over his shoulder.
"My cards!" Syrus cried as he struggled to free himself and then picked his cards up. The two Obelisk blues walked away, stomping on the cards as they did so. Jaden knelled down and helped Syrus pick his cards up.
"Sorry about that, Syrus." He said.
"It's alright. Chumley told me the blues are always doing something like this." Syrus replied.
Jaden nodded sadly and continued helping his roommate.
Ryan stood outside the building. He felt bad for abandoning Alexis.
'Should I go back?' He thought, before brushing it off. He decided to look around the island and find out what this place was like.
He explored the west side of the island today and came across the red dorm.
'This place doesn't look very inviting.' He thought.
Three Slifer Reds approached him.
"Hey, why's an obnoxious Obelisk here?" One asked.
"Shouldn't you be licking Crowler's boots, teacher's pet." A second said.
"He's probably looking for a easy victory."
"Last time I checked, there's no rule against me coming to this dorm."
"There's no school rule against, but us Slifers have our own rules." The first said.
"Should we show him what we mean?" The second asked.
"I think we should." The third answered.
Ryan removed his staff from it's bag and then spun around after attaching a spear tip to it.
"I'm only giving you three one chance. Go away, before I make you." He said in a threatening manner.
The third boy grabbed him by the shoulder as the other two walked forward. The third boy then doubled over as a staff was slammed into his stomach.
The other two charged forward, but were knocked down when Ryan struck both on the back.
After getting to their feet, the other two dragged their friend off.
Ryan glared at the three before walking away from the red dorm.
'I need to be careful the next time I come here.'