Arlene flickered open her eyes to find herself staring up at a starlit sky. Arlene looked around her to see a large group of people lying on the ground, supposedly unconscious. She slowly got up and saw the Duel Academy main building, no longer on fire but now a charred mess. Arlene dusted herself down as she thought about the fate of the shcool.

I wouldn't be surprised if most of the students left. I wont though. I have some unfinished business here.

"ARLENE! YOU'RE ALRIGHT!" Arlene was rugby tackled to the ground while being bear hugged at the same time. Arlene struggled against her attacker, until she realised it was Bryon.

"Bryon, you can let go of me now." Bryon reluctantly got to his feet and Arlene did the same. "How are you, though? You were unconscious before I was." Bryon shrugged.

"I'm not missing any limbs so I'M OKAY!" A few people started complaining about Bryon's loudness but he ignored them. "It was weird. I was in the heart of the building..." Bryon noticed the strange look Arlene was giving him. "I think of buildings as people. Fun, huh?" Arlene gave him another quizzical look but let him continue.

"Then, there was this LOUD EXPLOSION!" A few more complaints were heard, but Bryon was determined to conclude his narrative. "Then I woke up here." Realising he had finished his narrative, Bryon decided to run up to a girl and bear hug her. The girl screamed and within a few seconds three boys had charged into him, backing away a few seconds later mumbling apologies. The girl started shrieking at Bryon, who just grinned embarrased. Arlene looked around to see Fay watching the scene. She looked up when she saw Arlene approach. The last time they had met, Arlene had not had time to notice anything about Fay. Now that she had a clearer mind, Arlene saw that Fay had blueberry coloured eyes that matched her wavy dark blue hair that Arlene noticed was in the style of a flame. She also had deeply tanned skin and thin lips.

"Hi again...Arlene, was it?" Arlene nodded. "Arlene...?"

"Ramirez. I didn't catch your surname though."

"Oh, it's Fay Britt!" Fay yawned loudly at this point. "Sorry. I'm really tired."

"I wouldn't have thought anyone could get any sleep after what happened." There was an uncomfortable silence. When neither of them chose to speak, Arlene found somewhere on the ground and tried to fall asleep.

Within the next few days, lessons started albeit haltingly. Arlene was amazed that so many people were choosing to stay at the school, but didn't say so to anyone else. Arlene had had several more uncomfortable conversations with Fay, and slowly they were becoming accustomed to each other. It was while they had just had an awkward silence that Fay suddenly perked up.

"Oh! Have you heard the news?"

"Nope."

"There's this guy called Erick Guerra, and he's going to help raise some money for the school!" Arlene slanted an eyebrow.

"Why would we need help raising money? Surely the school can support itself."

"Well...yeah," Fay shifted uncomfortably before continuing, "but we'd be idiots to refuse!"

"Oh? Have we ever heard of this guy?"

"No...I don't see what that's got to do with anything." Arlene sighed and changed the subject.

"How's he going to raise the money?" Fay's eyes sparkled.

"A dueling tournament on the island!" Arlene rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that's really original." She noted sarcastically. Fay looked hurt.

"I thought it was a great idea! Raise our spirits by dueling, knowing that we'll..."

"Wait. WE have do duel?"

"Well...yeah."

"Dammit."

Erick Guerra came to the island a few days later to announce the beginning of the tournament. A group of duelists had gathered to meet the man, and Arlene had reluctantly relented to Bryon's protestings and come along with him and Fay.

This whole thing doesn't feel too great. It's just how I felt before the dorms set on fire. Arlene paused. Shouldn't we be doing something to find the people who set the buildings on fire? After all, if nothing's done we'll just get a repeat of this. Arlene voiced her thoughts to Fay, who scratched the back of her head - something she tended to do when she was flustered.

"Well...there is, Arlene!"

"I haven't heard that."

"No offence, Arlene, but you're not exactly a social bee. Other than me and Bryon I haven't seen you talking to anybody!" There was a long pause before Fay muttered an apology. Arlene was about to respond when she felt herself being pushed by the crowd. In front of her she saw a small raised platform, on which stood the person who Arlene guessed was probably Erick Guerra. The man had eyes the colour of varnished wood and had luxuriously straight grey hair worn in a style not too far from a pair of wings. Arlene saw a member of security rushing up to the stand with a small stool, which the man stood upon so that he could be more clearly seen. He fidgeted with his hair for a few seconds before starting to speak in a slow, halting voice.

"Hello there, Duel Academy students. I would first like to start by saying that I am sorry that my first visit to this school is at a time of tragedy, but I come bearing good news. In order to raise money for your school, we are hosting a Duelling tournament on this island." There were a few murmurs at this.

He's having the tournament on THIS island? It doesn't create a good image for the school... Arlene was starting to get more and more suspicious, but continued listening to the man's speech.

"We have charged duelists not from the school to participate, and we will be setting up stalls on the island to raise even more money, so that by the end of this tournament, there will be enough money to fund the rebuilding of your school." There was a polite applause, after which Erick began to explain how the tournament would work. Arlene was pleased to learn that Duelists didn't need to collect chips or anything like that, instead having designated duel areas where a group of duelists battled until there was one winner. Once there was a winner for each area, the duels would move to outside the Duel Academy building, where duels would continue until there was a winner, who would be eligible to enter the National League. Throughout the explanation, Arlene had kept glancing at Fay who was staring intently at the ground. Arlene did see her look up at Erick when he arrived, but then her face had blanched with fear and she had immediately looked away.

Arlene found out that she would be dueling by the Slifer Red Dorms tommorrow, but saw that Bryon and Fay were dueling elsewhere.

I may be better with my deck, but I still don't know everything about it. There's at least one other book on Balance Warriors... Arlene breathed deeply and looked up at the sky. But I'm more confused about this whole situation. All the dorms burn down, and a few days later a guy wants to hold a tournament on the island to help raise funds? I guess he could be doing this out of kindness, but the way Fay was looking at him...GAH! I hate mysteries! Let's just hope this tournament's over soon.

For those of you who like the duels, sorry about the lack of them in the past two chapters, I just needed to advance the story. Now that I have, we'll be getting right back into them next chapter!