Turn 02 The Written

Cody had arrived at the office and completed his registration forms at 9 AM, that was two hours ago. He, like many others were undergoing last moment revision, over the formation of Industrial Illusions, the creation of the academy and obscure cards and their numerous interactions with the more common cards.

'I hope I studied the right cards, otherwise it will all be for naught.' Cody closed his book and began a queue as the test was about to start, walking over to his desk he glanced his deck, looking through every cards effect before returning it to his deck case, all 41 cards, many times he pondered, 'Should I use fusion monsters, rituals perhaps, they could be fun.'

Over the couse of his planning, at Duel Academy he hoped to find another good monster, one that synergised with his current cards, he had tried several monsters such as the Silent Swordsman cards which felt like clutter, ritual monsters such as Elemental Mistress Doriado who was too weak, he even tried to make a deck with the magicians Pikeru and Curran which worked reasonably well but bored him due to their abilities mostly being useful in healing and burn decks, which grew tiresome quickly.

Cody soon had another person who was also very early stand behind him, he had greyish hair and a white outfit, "Ah, hello. Nice to meet you, I am Daichi Misawa and you are?" he was fairly tall and had a slight British accent that gave him a slightly refined presence, contrasting with his peers.

Cody stumbled slightly on his own words, "I am Cody, Cody Blackquill, nice to meet you as well." Looking at Cody, Daichi bowed which Cody returned as Daichi Began "I have been prepared for ages, this might seem like a strange question but what is your philosophy with dueling?"

Cody tried his best to avoid conversation but remembering Courtney's advice to talk to people he tried to engage in further conversation.

Cody smiled "No monster is completely useless; a strong strategy is the key to be a great duelist." thinking about his deck's key idea, to summon Court and buff her into a strong monster immune to spells whilst Jinzo rendered traps as useless, leaving the opponent with no way out, as long as they couldn't remove Jinzo.

Daichi had a brief moment of though before he nodded "That is true but a consistency deck is also necessary." Cody also nervously turned his head in response, looking at how often he was able to use his strategy, the two continued to talk, not solely about dueling but about literature and mathematics, their favourite subject respectively.

During their talk they were unaware of the crowd, with five minutes left until the exam Daichi passed Cody his phone number and requested that he'd call when the exam was over so they could discuss more, to which Cody promised he would, before the practica examination in two week's time.

Finally, aat 11:45 AM two examiners opened the doors and allowed the applicants to enter, one of them, a middle aged gentleman spoke with a monotone, reminiscent of an online translator "Take one pencil and one test, this is a fifty mark examination, once you have finished your test will be marked. Two week's from now those of you who obtained adequate results will undergo a practical examination to guarantee your place in the academy."

"Waaaaaait!" a voice yelled in the distance, the teen soon burst, in wearing a grey jacket, his hair colour being two clashing shades of brown, Cody glared at the teen, 'Why can't some people take this seriously', spotting Daichi's expression cause a small smile it is evident they both agreed that he was a fool, whom most likely would fail his exam.

Cody and Daichi alongside the other applicants sat down at their desk, breezing through the early, trivial exam questions.

Every student had their own method, some rushed through the test, reading questions over once and answering based off of gut instincts, Cody and Daichi had similar methods, first they would read the question and underline key information before answering.

Q1 What is the lowest amount of cards you can have in your fusion deck?

A: 0

B: 40

C: 15

D: 25

Cody drew a line through the A on his mark sheet and carried on.

Q7: Which of the following monsters can be normal summoned?

A: Toon gemini elf

Or

Q14: What is the effect of "Cathedral of Nobles"?

Answer: You may activate trap cards the turn they were set

Getting progressively difficult into questions like

Q27: Which of the following buildings is the furthest south on the island?

Answer: Yellow Dorm, as a guess

And

Q34: What animal is on "Rush Recklessly"?

Answer: B: Boar

Although some were only easy because of his prior experience with the cards, such as

Q39: If "Yata-Garasu" deals battle damage to your opponent,
what happens on your opponents next turn?

Answer: Skips Draw Phase

The questions amounted to a factual recall of more obscure, rare cards that were difficult to obtain.

Q47: To Special Summon "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning",
you must remove from play Monster Cards in the graveyard with
Light Attribute and what Attribute?

Answer: B: DARK

Cody wipes his forehead 'Finally'

Q50 To activate "Crush Card Virus", which of the following is an incorrect monster to tribute?

A: Zombyra that destroyed 5 monsters

B: Kuribo

C: Saggi the Dark Clown

D: Hane Kuribo when DNA Transplant is activated with dark being the selected attribute.

'Okay 2100 – 200*5=1100 which means the answer is A.'

Cody sat down patiently for a while reviewing his answers until he was told the test had concluded, outside he waited to see others discuss the exam.

Among them was Daichi, who he asked "You think you've done well? It was a pretty good challenge." thinking about the minor details that even experienced duelists may have never thought of in great detail.

Daichi nodded rather confidently, "It was of a reasonable difficulty but those who study do well.", the kid from before walked over, at a fast pace, trying to be polite Cody introduced himself "Hello, I am Cody, this is Daichi. What did you think of the test?"

The teen returned the formality "I'm Judai, It was pretty difficult so I just guessed if I wasn't sure, I have a one out four chance of being right." Cody began to feel Daichi's glare concentrated on Judai, its impressive intensity rivaled that of his own from before.

Cody trying to calm Daichi down asked "How many were you unsure of, five maybe six", surely Judai must have been prepared fairly well, he could have been late due to last minute studying, who could say for sure.

The response, rather than calming Daichi cause him to close his eyes to compose himself, "Most of the background stuff, the island information and the last ten or so."

The three soon parted ways soon after as they went their seperate ways.

Later that night, in a hotel room Cody's parents had rented him until his exams had ended,Cody went over to his phone and dialled Daichi's number as Court lay down on his bed watching the latest installment to one of their various series. Three beeps sounded as Cody waited for Daichi to pick up the phone.

"Hello, this is... Cody" Cody had always found conversing on the phone inconvenient and impolite but it was essential, the brief moment of silence was agony to Cody as many thoughts rushed throough his mind, fortunately it was only a moment he was left waiting.

"Ah, this is Daichi, glad to hear from you, how have you been since the exam?" His calm tone was soothing to Cody whom responded with brief discussion over what he'd done as that's all he could say, Daichi had been going over the mathematics of how likely it was that Judai had passed, the boy had been a mutual source of agitation but he was quite an interesting duelist. He had very little clue on the regulations of counter traps and of discarding strategies, they surmised this by remembering the last ten questions, seven of which were on those subjects.

As they were finishing discussion of the test, from Cody's main room Court had increased the TV volume to maximum, to sing along with her favourite theme song of the season. Courtney's pitch was slightly off key but it was sufficiently loud enough or her to be unable to hear Cody's request to turn it down. Forcefully turning down the programme Cody sighed quietly, much to his surprise he could hear Daichi humming along.

"Daichi? You watch that show too?" Cody's amazement was only exceeded by his relief, he was not one to discuss the same topic repeatedly so new subjects were appreciated, especially in subjects Courtney could join in on.

Daichi responded bashfully, "Yeah, I've always loved Monochrome Princesses, ever since season one, it is just... very cute. You know what I mean", Cody's muffled chuckle was all the response necessary.

"I haven't met anyone else who really enjoyed the show so much-" he was cut off abruptly, Daichi intervened by saying shakily "I'm sorry, I've got some... studying to do while I wait for the exams to be marked, I'll talk to you again soon, it was fun."

By the time Cody responded Daichi had hung up, leaving Cody to stare at the timer on his cheap microwave - 20:56, a decent enough time to rest.

Over the next two weeks, between regular conversations with Courtney, when she chose to appear physically, Cody spoke with Daichi who had planned to spend his Sunday with, downtown at the local bookstore.

Turn 02 End

A/N I will be updating this sporadically so it will be done at random times but more than likely once a fortnight except in holidays like this where I posted two in one day. PM Your Characters and Decks and leave your feedback in a review please.