Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.
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Wrinty asks: "Do you like being a Sue?"
Alistair says: A what? Did you just call me a woman? Perhaps you're referring to someone else within the Academy… actually come to think of it, I haven't even met anyone by that name.
Poison's Ivy asks: "What is Alistair gonna do now?"
Alistair says: Humiliate her like never before. She messed with my cards once and paid for it. I warned her that if she involved my cards again I would unleash a much more severe punishment.
Keep on sending your questions and Alistair will keep on answering them. On with the story!
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CHAPTER 20 – STUDENT FROM THE SHADOW REALM
My Envoy cards. My precious Envoy cards were BANNED. This required more advanced methods of retaliation. Nobody has their way with my deck structure and gets away with it. The loss of two of my most lethal cards quickly took a toll on my mental state, as I began losing practice duel after practice duel. It was mortifying. Alexis had completely shattered my mental composure, and she would pay dearly.
Winter break was… interesting, I suppose. I spent Christmas with the family as most others did, received a barrage of questions regarding my schoolwork and what I wanted to do when my days at the Academy drew to a close. That, I must admit, was a topic I hadn't given much consideration to. The Pro Leagues were a viable option, where I could encounter big-name talents like Aster Phoenix and Zane Truesdale, while other options like card design and teaching were certainly interesting. I, for the most part however, spent my time in mourning, not to mention plotting further revenge against Alexis for directly affecting my Duel Monster deck. My bedroom was littered with crumpled sheets of paper illustrating prank ideas I felt weren't evil enough as I slaved away in designing the perfect plan, and sure enough, on the final day of winter term, a truly wonderful idea came to me. A sheer masterpiece, my greatest idea yet. I hastily scribbled it down before the majesty of this newest and greatest plan faded from my mind, and folded the necessary documents up neatly before tucking them away for safe keeping.
Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention. My exam results arrived the day after my duel with Chazz, granting me promotion to Ra Yellow. I received my new uniform midway through winter break, and wasted no time into modifying it to my personal preference. I created an exact replica of my silver and red Slifer overcoat, except since silver and yellow looked terrible together in my eyes, I opted to make it silver and gold. After a few finishing touches, I hung the Ra overcoat next to my Slifer one, and flopped onto my bed and into a deep sleep. Finding Atticus on Day 1 was the top item on my to-do list.
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I slept for most of the ferry ride back to the island, at least until I was jarred awake by a certain brown-haired card maniac.
"Hey Alistair! Welcome back!" shouted Jaden's familiar voice, startling me out of my slumber and sending me tumbling to the floor. "Whoops! Sorry, were you asleep?"
I sighed wearily and sat up from the floor, holding the back of my head in dull pain and brushing bits of dust off my new Ra outfit.
"Yes, Jaden, but I do have my own alarm clock, thanks," I quipped, rubbing my eyes. Jaden looked around the room aimlessly as I stood up and stretched.
"So is there a reason you barged into my room or did you just want to scare me half to death?" I sighed as Jaden snapped back to reality.
"Just wanted to see how you were doing, that's all," he laughed. "How was your vacation?"
"Not exactly a thrill ride," I replied. "Christmas and New Year's with the family… that's about the extent of it. And yours?"
"Oh man! It was awesome!" he boasted excitedly. "Me and Sy got to travel around with Zane and see some of his duels!" Jaden proceeded to explain every duel he got to see in precise detail, and I decided to wander around the ship a bit. Jaden followed, his mouth moving as fast as his feet. Eventually we reached the bow of the ship where I saw a familiar girl leaning against the railing, enjoying the breeze. I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out where I had seen her before. After a moment, she turned her head in our direction, smiled, and waved.
My jaw dropped. It was MANA.
"Is that…?" Jaden half-asked.
"It is," I answered, in as much confusion as he was. Mana looked drastically different. Her hair style was just as… unique as ever, but her token blue and pink armor was gone, replaced with a Slifer Red uniform. None of this made ANY sense to me whatsoever, and I was thoroughly convinced I was still asleep and was dreaming this entire thing. She ran over to us with a big smile on her face.
"Hi guys!" she chirped happily. "Remember me?" Jaden and I blinked and nodded in unison.
"What happened to 'once a year'?" I asked in bewilderment.
"Welllll…" Mana started, "I liked the game and this academy so much that Mahaado said I could learn how to play here and study magic on the weekends!"
My brain had turned into mush. I felt like I was trapped inside a bad fanfiction.
"Does Syrus know about this?" I whispered to Jaden, who shook his head. I honestly had no idea what to say. A Duel Monster learning how to play Duel Monsters? Is that even physically possible? Surely there's some law of physics that prevents this from occurring, isn't there?
"Er… well… welcome to Duel Academy," I eventually said to Mana with a shrug. "This is… certainly unexpected."
"It'll be awesome!" Jaden interrupted. "Wait till Sy finds out!"
"Yes, great idea," I answered sarcastically. "Make the kid so unbearably nervous that he hides in his dorm for a week."
"Aww… maybe I should go talk to him," Mana chimed in. This certainly would be interesting. We led Mana to Syrus's room on the ship, and Jaden knocked on the door. I simply stood there trying not to laugh at how ridiculous the notion of a Duel Monster attending Duel Academy was. Syrus eventually answered the door, and in a fraction of a second his eyes widened incredulously as he attempted to slam the door shut. Responding quickly, I used my foot to block the door from closing.
In retrospect, that probably wasn't the best idea.
"Wow Alistair, that was the loudest swear I've ever heard," Jaden laughed as I growled and limped painfully into the room. Syrus had hid under the bed like the timid kid he was, and Mana appeared shocked from my rather colorful choice of words after getting my foot crushed by a door. I intentionally flopped onto Syrus's bed in an attempt to drive him out from below, and was successful.
"You could have just ASKED me to come out!" Syrus whined as he reluctantly got out from under the bed. I laughed and shook my head.
"Right, like you'd listen to us," I responded, examining my injured foot. This would certainly put a delay on my next plan against Alexis.
"Hey Sy!" Mana squealed with glee as she hugged the blue-haired kid who was quickly turning scarlet in the face. I made no further effort to prevent my laughter.
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When we reached the island, I found my foot was in even more pain. Jaden and Bastion had to help me get down from the ramp before I was quickly taken over to the hospital wing. I missed the entire first day of activities to my displeasure, forced to spend my time in the hospital wing with a fractured foot. Just my luck. It took a few days for me to recover, and I received periodic visits from Jaden and company. Alexis didn't even try to make my day miserable. But the days passed slowly, with nothing for me to do except watch television and sleep. People came and went now and then, but I paid no mind to the frivolous chatter the visitors went about.
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The day I was able to be released, I was still forced to wander around on crutches. As I was about to leave the wing, something on the floor caught my eye. I carefully found a place to sit and bent over to pick up the object I found, a spare Duel Monster card. I looked at it in cluelessness, as it was a card I had never seen before.
"Hmm…" I mused, my eyes moving from the picture to the card name. "Arcana Force Fourteen – Temperance. …Weird." I silently read its effects, and found it to be an interestingly useful card if one was lucky enough. 2400 attack and defense points… impressive for a one-tribute monster. When it was summoned, the monster would either cut all your battle damage in half, or cut all your opponent's battle damage in half, but what seemed most useful was the fact that it could be discarded from the hand in order to negate damage, like an invisible trap. I decided to hang on to the peculiar card for the time being, wondering if I would run into its owner in the near future. Perhaps I could even use it in a duel or two before then, just for a test run.
I made my way to the Ra dorm, which was noticeably larger than the old Slifer Red dorm. Upon entrance, I was surprised to see Syrus inside, wearing a Ra Yellow uniform.
"You got promoted?" I asked, mildly surprised. I didn't think Syrus as a bad duelist, just a little too unsure of his moves.
"You bet!" he cheered, fixing his glasses. "Nice outfit, Alistair!" I grimaced slightly at the compliment and shook my head.
"I hate yellow," I insisted, setting off to find my room. Unlocking it, I opened the door and nearly cried with joy. Plasma television. Playstation 2. King-size bed. PLASMA FREAKING TELEVISION. All of a sudden I loved yellow. I leapt onto my bed, completely forgetting about my injury.
"You alright there, soldier?" Tyranno Hassleberry called, seeing me flat on the floor. "That was a mighty loud profanity there!"
"I'll be fine," I said through gritted teeth. I hate yellow. I hate it for making me too happy.