"Shini," the computer said as 6 AM came.
"I'm up," Shini said, rubbing his forehead again. "Just curious, can I talk to you?" he asked, getting his shirt and slipping it on.
"Sure. What are you curious about?" the computer asked.
"Is there any video tape of my father vs Zack Frost's father 20 years ago?" Shini asked.
"Yes, but the duel was so lengthy, if I tried to show you now, you would be late for class."
"Understood. Any last words before I get ready for my first class?" Shini asked.
"Bring just a notebook and a deck. You'll get a dueling disk."
"Dueling Disk? You mean the ones that actually are realistic like?"
"Yes. Also, the system here is much different from what you are used to. You know that certain cards are banned and limited in the general public, but the ban list here is strict. You might want to get ready to add in more cards."
"Understood. Thank you."
"Shall I put myself in sleep mode?"
"Please. See you later." Slipping on his pants and grabbing a blank notebook from inside one of his binders, he left the room.
Walking down the hallway, he heard TVs on, people talking to their computers, and so on. Reaching the end of the hallway, he thought nothing of it, until someone grabbed his shoulder.
Shini resisted the urge to immediately try to slug the person, instead, he just looked over his shoulder. It was a teacher.
"Young sir, you are not supposed to be out," the teacher's rough voice said.
Shini turned fully around. "No one informed me that 6 AM was early."
"Well, we have had attempted bomb plots for the arena. That does not matter. Penalty Game."
Shini blinked a bit. "Well, what is the situation with penalty games?"
"You have 4000 LP, I have 8000. Noon, today. Be there, or get out," the voice said, and then left. Shini rolled his eyes. Obviously Final Countdown might not work, even with Spell Economics. He walked back to his room, starting through his bag.
"Oh what do I want to play . . . ." Shini quietly asked himself. With a little bit of thought, he shrugged. Why not use Water? Water was going to be fun anyway. Play Final Countdown in class, play Water during the real thing. After that, he just shrugged it off.
9 AM came along, and Shini walked into the classroom, sitting at one of the laptops, typing in the password given to him the night before, and he looked at the teacher. Must be another teacher.
"Morning class!" the teacher said joyfully, almost happy to see them.
"Morning," the class blandly.
"As you know, you are stuck in this academy for 40 weeks. Sorry, hate to say it, but you guys are not the only ones living off Ramen," the teacher joked, which got a couple of chuckles. "Anyway, today, there is not much you will learn. I actually helped you out, as in a couple of minutes, I operated the master computer to send you the ban list. Most teachers are using projections, but you guys can actually see the ban list for this school."
Soon, the screen on Shini's laptop said, "New Mail." He accessed the mail, and it was the ban list. Taking out his water deck, he looked at the ban list.
"Okay . . . Snatch Steal is banned, Tsukuyomi is banned . . . Magician of Faith down to one per deck . . . and Gravity Bind is down to one. Great. Of all of those, why Gravity Bind?" He shook his head. "Whatever. I guess I got to take the good with the bad. At least no Chaos Sorcerer." He smiled a bit, knowing that was an open invite. The most popular card at the tournament that was used to get in the tournament was Chaos Sorcerer. He smiled a bit, just taking the four cards out of his deck box. Bringing up a Microsoft document, he started to type his deck list up. After taking off the 4 cards effected, he switched in more cards.
"Now, it is time for dueling disks. Mr. Laser, may you come down here first?" the teacher asked.
Shini stood up from his seat and closed the labtop, going down to the area the teacher was, and took his dueling disk. Sliding it on his arm, he put his deck in, and nodded.
"Good. Go back to your seat, please. I know what you are going through, so get ready. I would like you to stay here."
Shini smiled a bit. At least he had someone cheering for him. Kids looked at each other, and then him. It was going to be a rough match. After everyone got their dueling disks, the teacher nodded. "Okay. Well, Mr. Laser, may you follow me?" the teacher asked.
Shini blinked. It was barely 10 in the morning. He nodded, walking down to the ground floor, looking at the teacher.
"Since you need the practice, let us do a practice duel, explain how these things work," the teacher smiled.
Shini rolled his eyes. "Okay, professor."
"Call me Blaze," the teacher said.
Shini blinked a bit, shaking his head. "Okay, Prof. Blaze."
"Actually, Blaze is my first name. I know, it is scary." He chuckled a bit. "Anyway, just quickly shuffle and let's get on our way."
Shini nodded, shuffling and looking at a d6 button. "I presume that is to roll a die," Shini said, pressing it. It rolled a die, and it came out 5.
"Yup." The teacher did it himself, getting a 4.
"I'll start," Shini said, placing back his deck and sliding out 5 cards. "I play A Legendary Ocean, lowering the level of all Water monsters in my hand and field by one level, and giving those on the field a 200 attack and defense bonus. With that, I set one card, and I set a monster. End."
The teacher nodded. "Fine then. First off, I play Swords of Revealing Light, not allowing you to attack for 3 turns, and also force your face down defense monster to flip face up."
Shini flipped it up. It was Neo-Spacian Aqua Mermaid, which had 800 attack and 1000 defense.
"Okay. With that, let's throw down a Graceful Charity," he said, drawing three cards. "I throw in my Graveyard Solar Flare Dragon and Gravity Bind. Next, I play Premature Burial, leaving me with 7200, to revive Solar Flare Dragon."
"Inferno Reckless Summon?" Shini asked, not being surprised.
"Correct. That is a good way to learn, but it is going to hurt in the morning," he said. "So, I bring out my other two Solar Flare Dragons." Getting them out of his deck, he shuffled and put them on his dueling disk. "Next, I play Dark Room of Nightmare, so when I do effect damage, you lose another 300 life points. So, instead of 500 life points at the end of your turn because of Solar Flare Dragon's effect, let's make it 800 each."
"And I get my other Neo-Spacian Aqua Mermaid?" Shini rolled his eyes.
"Just my deck. I set a card and end."
Shini felt an energy through his body. "Okay then. 5600 left," he said, drawing his next card and took a sigh of relief. "Lucky Draw. I throw down Lightning Vortex, discarding Penguin Soldier."
"Not just yet. I activate Magic Drain. Got a Magic Card to throw in the Graveyard?"
"Yes, I do, Blaze. I discard Level Limit - Area B." Shini smiled, seeing the three Solar Flare Dragons shatter.
"Nice. Let us see what else you have in mind."
"I normal summon Hydrogeddon, having 1800 attack and 1200 defense because of A Legendary Ocean, and I rush into you with all my monsters for a total of 3400." said.
"Not so fast. Mirror Force!"
"Not so fast yourself. 7 Tools of the Bandit. Go on!" Shini screamed, as the image of Mirror Force shattered. "I might lose 1000 Life Points, but you still lose that 3400."
"Nice. Long time since I seen that card. So, it is your 4600 life points to my 3800."
"Correct. Your go."
"Fine then," Blaze said, drawing. "I set a monster, and I end."
"Only one monster? Fine then. Just curious, did you forget what was Hydrogeddon's effect, Blaze?"
"I am not obligated to answer that question."
Shini nodded a bit. Drawing the top card, he took a sigh of relief. "I summon Star Boy in face up attack position. Sure, he has a base attack of 550, but his effect gives all Water monsters an extra 500 attack points, let alone the 200 from A Legendary Ocean."
The teacher sighed. "So, let me guess, Hydrogeddon attacks, eh?" the teacher asked.
"Don't even try to throw me off my game for second guessing myself. He is, though."
"You must consider that Star Boy lucky, as it just allowed Hydrogeddon to destroy my Charcoal Hampachi."
With that, Shini smiled. "With Hydrogeddon's effect, I can Special Summon another one, and it is game from there. Let's see . . . 2300 plus 1250 plus 1300 plus 1300 is way more than 3800, agree?"
Blaze rolled his eyes. "Well, all I know is you ended it in 3 turns, and I hope Professor Shade isn't too much for me to handle."
The students clapped softly. Shini nodded a bit, and said quietly to Blaze, "May I ask you something on the side?" Blaze nodded, taking them behind his desk, which Shini then asked, "Doesn't Professor Shade have some sort of family relationship to Zack Frost?
"Uncle, yes. I know. Don't worry, you aren't the only one who is looking to try to shoot Shade's job out of the water." With that, Blaze had a slight smile on his face. "You may go back to your seat."
Shini looked at Blaze and nodded, heading for his seat. He knew that in less than 2 hours, it wouldn't be a practice duel. It will be a duel for the right to stay or his ass to be kicked out. Not exactly pleasant thought, that it is a must win situation.
