Riley returned to the stands, and saw Bastion and a small blue-haired boy watching a duel intently. The duelists: one of the teachers, Dr. Crowler, a man infamous for his blonde ponytail, pink frills, purple lipstick, and strict teaching habits; and an applicant with brown hair, two-toned, darker on the bottom than the top. On Crowler's side of the field, there was a huge iron contraption with one piercing red eye, towering over the teacher. On Jaden's s cute little Winged Kuriboh. (Kuriboh-1/300/200)

Crowler: 3000

Applicant: 2000

"Now, Ancient Gear Golem, attack that Kuriboh!" Crowler commanded, and his monster crushed the Fairy into pixels, the ghost of his attack going towards the applicant, but not causing any damage.

"Check your duel disk, something must be broken," Crowler said, seemingly indifferently, though Riley was sure he was infuriated Ancient Gear Golem's piercing damage didn't go through. (8/3000/3000)

"Naw, nothing's wrong with my gear. On the turn Winged Kuriboh is destroyed, I take no damage!" The boy said, grinning. "And, I can also activate my trap card! HERO Signal! With this card, I can summon an Elemental HERO if one of my monsters is destroyed. So I summon: Elemental HERO Burstinatrix!" A woman clad in a red bodysuit appears on the field, her black hair held back by what seemed to be a crown, her gray skin contrasting the red skin-tight clothes she wore. (3/1200/800)

"Hey," Riley said to Bastion, "Who's that kid?"

"His name's Jaden Yuki, and he claims to be the best duelist here."

"Oh, really? We'll see about that." Riley returned to the duel, now watching Jaden intently.

Crowler merely folded his arms in front of him, waiting for Jaden to finish his turn.

"My draw!" Jaden exclaimed, adding another card to his hand.

"It better be a good one," Riley said, under her breath. The boy with the light blue hair looked at her, and she returned glances with him before focusing on the duel once again.

"I start by playing the Warrior Returning Alive spell! It lets me bring back one HERO monster from the graveyard, and so here he is: Elemental HERO-Avian!" As Jaden spoke, a man in a green full-bodysuit appeared on the field, his head adorned with feathers, talons overlapping his hands. (3/1000/1000)

"And I'm not done just yet Teach. These are only their temporary forms. 'Cause I activate Polymerization! This lets me fuse Avian and Burstinatrix to summon the Elemental Hero: Flame Wingman! My favourite!" As Jaden spoke, an orange and blue portal swirled above the monsters, and they lept into it. The portal flashed, and a new monster emerged. A green being with a draconic right arm, swirling with red. He had a red dragon's tail, and black spikes protruded from his head, like some sort of crown. (6/2100/1200)

"Shame," Riley said softly.

"How so?" The boy with the blue hair said, turning to Riley and Bastion.

"Flame Wingman's special ability makes the owner of any monster he destroys take damage equal to half that monsters attack points," Bastion explained, and the blue-haired boy looked down again.

"Oh, but Jaden's monster doesn't have enough attack points!" He said solemnly.

"Hopefully not yet," Riley said, still intently watching the duel. "He looks like he'd be fun to duel."

"Now, now," Crowler said, "What an amateur mistake! Can anyone tell our friend here what he did wrong?" He turned to the crowds, and some kids began to chuckle at Jaden.

"See, I know my Wingman isn't strong enough right now. But HEROs have their own arena! I play the Field Spell card: Skyscraper!" Jaden exclaimed, and the field began to darken. Soon, a sprawling city had taken its place, Wingman perched on the highest building, Ancient Gear Golem towering over smaller complexes. "Now Flame Wingman, attack that Ancient Gear Golem! Skydive Scorcher!"

"Go ahead, attack my Golem! This silly little Field Spell hasn't lowered his attack by one point!" Crowler said, tauntingly. Riley smirked, and Jaden seemed ecstatic.

"See, that's the thing. Since Flame Wingman had less attack points than your Golem, it raised his. By a grand total of 1000!" Jaden set the teacher straight, and the crowd erupted. And so did Flame Wingman. Flames emanated from his dragon-arm, coating his whole body as he crashed into the Golem. (6/2100-3100/1200)

A gear dropped on Crowler's head, and even though it was a hologram, it still looked like it hurt.

Crowler: 2900

Jaden: 2000

"And it's not over just yet, 'cause thanks to my Wingman's superpower, you take damage equal to your destroyed monster's attack points!" Jaden said, as his monster shot flames at the blonde man, causing him to lose all his life points.

Crowler: 0 – LOSE

Jaden: 2000 – WIN

"Good for him," Riley said, and turned to leave the arena, as that was the last duel of the day. As she exited, she waved to Jaden, hoping he knew that it meant "good job" and not "you're attractive" when she remembered she was dressed like a dude and blushed. Before she left, she checked with an attendant, received an envelope with RILEY CALAENOS: INFORMATION on it, as well as a black duffel bag with her name on it. She returned home, opened the envelope and saw the plane to Duel Academy would be at KaibaCorp in two days at 12:30.

She couldn't wait.

The next day was spent with Riley checking her decks, packing a small bag full of undershirts, other clothes, and various books, and of course, a sewing kit. She knew she would come clean about her gender as soon as possible, and there may be a need to adjust her clothes accordingly. After she finished packing, she lay down and just waited, the possibilities at Duel Academy were endless.