I have often wondered what it means to be a professor for young minds, and so far, I haven't really helped any of my students – I've only fought against them, one for their right to get into the academy, and the other to punishment him for stealing from a fellow co-worker.

Maybe it's just my bad luck with students, or maybe its fate. Heck maybe it's just me as well.

But, I at least have a year to at least start to get the hang of being a professor, maybe not one that's as good as Professor Hund, but maybe one almost as good. I shouldn't try to put myself down before the first class bell rings though.

Tomorrow's going to be the first day of classes, and in all honesty I'm nervous, but in all honesty, who wouldn't be?

-sigh-

I've got until tomorrow to get rid of these doubts, after all, it wouldn't be good to show this to my new students. At least I'm going to see some of my fellow professors do their work. In all honesty, I think it's a good thing for students to see how their professors operate – After all, they are going to learn from them, and to see how they respond in very high tense situations.

All of these professors all have more experience than me, and even though each of them have different personalities, come in several shapes and sizes, and each have their own method of teaching. I can only hope that I can become half the teacher that one of them is.

… I just hope that I don't become as crazy as they are…

TTTT

Draw 3

Opening Night

TTTTTTTTTT

Time: 11:39 p.m.

Hours had passed since the duel between Price and Bogard took place, and a number of students had fallen asleep in their rooms, allowing the gentle rocking of the ship at seas to cradle them safely as the ship continued on its course.

However, one student was wide awake, as evident by the fact he was standing atop of the ship, arms crossed.

Mustang sighed loudly as he crossed his arms.

There was something that didn't sit well with him, preventing him from sleeping. So, in an attempt to relax, he retreated to the top of the ship's cabins and watched as the vast emptiness of the ocean slowly passed by the ship. Normally, he'd spend time atop of his dorms and watch the salty waves crash against the beach near his dorm building.

But this was just as good.

Still, it was an oddly cold night out on the sea, prompting him to tighten the red scarf he had on his person. He would've zipped up his blue overcoat, but he had a separate feeling in the back of his mind warning him that it would've been a bad idea…

"So there you are!"

Without even looking, Mustang chuckled under his breath as the same girl who sang on the stage walked up behind him, her arms crossed over her chest in an attempt to keep warm. "You realize it's dangerous up here, right Tenri?"

The fiery red headed Tenri glared at the scarf wearing man, "Well, then what about you? You shouldn't be up here if it's that dangerous."

"Point taken," Mustang answered back as he began to take off his overcoat, revealing the baggy muscle shirt he was wearing. "Here, you'll catch your death if you dress like that. Sure, your outfit is cute, but you wouldn't want to get sick, now would you?"

The moment that he held the overcoat up, Tenri snapped the coat and wrapped it around her smaller body, the coattails passing her feet. "Hmm, smells good."

"I don't know to take that as flattery," Mustang muttered under his breath. "Anyway, what brings you up here?"

"Well, I'm a little miffed that you didn't come to see my performance earlier," Tenri huffed as she took a seat next to the scarf wearing man. "I mean, even that megane wonder came. Also, what happened earlier? We were going back to the room, but after that, it's a blank."

Mustang broke out in a cold sweat, remembering that Bogard had accidentally pushed Tenri into the floor with Hibiki and Price right on his tail. If Mustang had to guess, that little head trauma was probably the cause of Tenri's lapse of memory. 'Gotta change the subject!'

"Megane wonder, eh?" Mustang questioned before he snapped his fingers. "Oh, you're talking about that Price character, right?"

"Yeah, I couldn't tell before, but he's got a nice body," Tenri answered with a large grin on her face. "Almost as good as yours, I might add."

"And how would you know what my body looks like?" Mustang questioned turning his attention away from the ocean.

"Oh, I'll let your imagination decide that," Tenri cooed. "But, other than that, I didn't see anything special about him. So I don't know what you see."

"I learned last year that you need to look for the students that cause a stir," Mustang replied as he crossed his arms, trying to keep warm. "They always know how to make things interesting during the year."

"Seriously?" Tenri questioned raising an eyebrow. "Sometimes I wonder what's going on in that head of yours. But then I remember that you've got a handsome face, and that's what really important."

"… You have a weird way of words," Mustang sighed with a shake of his head. "But, whatever, if last year was any indication when we got the last batch of duelists that our quaint little island is anything but quiet during the school year."

"So, what are you going to do then?" Tenri asked, slowly inching closer to the scarf wearing man.

"… I think I'm going to have to call in a favor or two," Mustang answered turning down towards Tenri. "And I'll have to ask you for a favor as well."

"Well then," Tenri snickered, wrapping her arms around the scarf wearing man's leg. "I can think of a few ways for you to call in that favor quite easily."

Mustang sighed under his breath.

TTTTTTTT

Time: 7:07 a.m.

After a calm night on the seas, the ship was finally reaching the docks of Duel Academia, the school dedicated to training elite duelists, located on a large, lush island. From the boat the students could see the large island that only getting closer by the second – From the large docks themselves, to the large volcano that nestled the academy's main buildings, to the lush forests that covered the island's landscape.

All in all, it was a beautiful and breathtaking sight for anyone's eyes…

"I'M KING OF THE WOLRD!"

"Someone stop that idiot! He's going to fall over the side of the boat!"

… Looks like cabin fever sets in a lot faster than people expect.

It wasn't long until the ship had finally docked at the island's port, allowing the students to rush off the boat and wait for further instructions…

"Attention all duelists!" Hund announced through the megaphone, walking down the bridge from the boat to the dock. "It was a good night and I'm surprised that none of you made the mistake of breaking the rules. Now, I'm only going say this once, so pay attention!

"First off, you will all report to the main building of the academy where the headmaster will deliver his welcoming speech and…"

Hund stopped until one of the proctors ran up to his side and whispered something into his ear, making him slap his forehead. "What? Are you kidding me? He's gone again? Am I the only competent person on the payroll?"

Sighing to the side, Hund pulled the megaphone back to his face, "Alright, change of plans. When you viewed your final scores from the final examinations, your name was written in one of three colors – Red, yellow and blue.

"We will have the professors hold up the signs just like before at the examinations, and you will follow them to your dorms. There, a roll call will be performed and you shall receive your uniforms, PDAs, room-assignments and will receive your welcome speech from your respective dorm leaders."

Reaching down, Hund lifted up a large blue sign over his head, an annoyed look plastered over his face, "All those in blue are to follow me."

Price yawned loudly as he stood next to Hund, his eyelids looking heavy and his hair a mess, "W-What's going o-on, Hund?"

"… Price, fix yourself before you speak," Hund growled, making Price stand up straight and comb his hair with his hands. "And why are you acting as such? Sea sickness at night?"

"Uh, n-not really," Price mumbled as he adjusted the glasses on his face before he gained what little composure he had to his name. "I was just…"

That's when it hit Price, 'W-Wait, if H-Hund finds about w-w-what happened with H-H-Hibiki-tan getting robbed, I-I might get her in t-t-t-trouble…'

"Uh, y-yes sir!" Price yelped with a nervous look on his face. "I… I didn't k-know that I g-g-get ill at s-s-sea till l-l-last night, s-s-so…"

"I see," Hund replied as he walked over to the side, immediately grabbing hold of a pair of signs (one red and the other blue). "Oh yes, that reminds me, about that student that caused trouble last night, security informed me that they'll be sending him back to the mainland at the end of the day."

"Oh, I… I see…" Price muttered taking the red sign from Hund.

… And that's when it sunk in. "H-H-Huh! Y-Y-You knew?"

"I'm on good terms with the security team on the island," Hund answered with his arms crossed as he held his sign up, drawing quite a few students to him. "And I had asked if there was any trouble during the night, the little fiasco between you, Bogard and Miss Ayukawa…"

"Who?" Price asked, blinking a few times.

"… Ayukawa is Hibiki's surname," Hund explained with a dull look. "Still though, I heard the details from the security staff, and I have to say Price, catching a troublemaker on your first day. Not too shabby."

"T-Thank you, sir!" Price replied, with a slight salute.

"This isn't the military, Price," Hund sighed walking with his students. "In any case, head to your dorm, I'm certain that the other Red Dorm headmaster will any questions you have from now on. Her name's Machi Kagami, trust me, you'll know it's her…"

"R-Right," Price stuttered as he held up his own sign. "A-All students in r-r-red, p-please follow me!"

One half an hour and one drawn out walk later…

"This is the red dorm?"

"What the hell?"

"It's more like a damn outhouse!"

"We're stuck with this… Aren't we?"

Indeed, the Osiris Red dormitory wasn't the most impressive building on the island. It was essentially just a two storied building that looked more like a rural motel with a coat of red paint on it. In addition to the main building, there appeared to be two additional buildings on both sides of the dorm.

Still, that didn't help the fact that the dormitory was nothing more than a roach motel.

Even Price was a little taken back at the sight of the run down dorm, he wasn't the most optimistic person around, but he had hoped that the dorm that he was assigned to look after would at least be better than his first apartment when he was in college.

But this… This was just plain wrong.

'There's a difference between a fixer-upper,' Price thought as he dropped his briefcase, his duffle-bag and the red sign to the grassy ground. 'And a building that deserves to be evicted and torn down!'

"Ah, so you must be the new guy!"

Price blinked a few times as he looked around, wondering where that voice came from, for a moment, he thought it was one of the students. But most of them were actually chatting amongst themselves (probably complaining about the condition of their living accommodations), so none of them would address him.

"Hmm, you're a bit taller than I heard from Hund."

There was that voice again. Price tapped his ear a few times, was he starting to crack already?

"… And boy, you're dense. Look down, you idiot!"

Price did as he was told, and was met with an angry face looking right back up at him, of course, that surprised Price and made him jump back slightly, "Ack!"

"'bout time you noticed me," sighed the angry face. "Seriously, you don't look like the airheaded type, but I know first hand that looks can be deceptive."

There was more than a face, but Price could understand why he couldn't see the owner of that voice and face – The person who was talking was incredibly short! She was almost about half of Price's height, with long charcoal colored hair that was streaming down past her shoulders and back (although, she had two tails of hair at the sides that were tied with white string). The girl was dressed in a red jacket that looked to be the same make as Price's, only smaller and she had a pair of black hakama that billowed over her legs.

"Oh," Price chuckled sheepishly as he leaned forward slightly. "Uh, h-hello…"

"And you stutter?" The girl sighed with a shake of her head. "Yeesh, you're going to fun to work with. And Hund said that you had some potential as a teacher."

"I… I find that a b-b-bit rude," Price retorted standing up straight, trying to look a little more intimidating than he usually was. "D-Don't you know y-you're supposed to respect your e-elders, right l-little girl?"

A small blood vessel appeared on the side of the girl's face as her right eye twitched slightly, "Elder? I'm older than you, ya dolt!"

"Huh?" Price yelped at the sudden yell. "T-That's some s-s-sort j-joke, right?"

"How about you clean out those ears of yours!" the girl snapped, placing her hands on her hips. "I'm Machi Kagami, professor and headmaster of the Osiris Red Girls' dorm! I'm also your superior, and I demand respect!"

Price could hear the snickers of the students who were behind him, no doubt finding his current situation to be funny. Heck, if it was someone else getting chewed out, Price would've probably chuckle himself.

Unfortunately, this was happening to him, and he had apparently sealed his fate cause Machi was stomping up towards him, the fire in her eyes growing stronger with each step she took. "So, listen here Price, you're the new guy here, learn your place!"

Before Price could get a word in, Machi walked past him and set her sights on the freshmen, "And as for you fresh meat, welcome to Osiris Red! Being at the bottom, you only have one place to go – Straight to the top! And I aim to make sure that each and every one of you gets there!

"You'll have to work hard to get out of here, and I'm here to make sure that you do! Soon, the red uniforms you'll be issued will be traded in for yellow and eventually blue, but that's only if you give a hundred and ten percent!

"Now that we've gotten that out of the way, everyone get into the cafeteria. In a few minutes, me and Price here will be handing out your uniforms, PDAs and room assignments."

For a moment, the students just stood and looked at each other, in hopes of getting a response from anyone else. However, save for the sound of crow cawing from above, there was nary a sound to be heard.

This caused a large blood vessel to appear on the side of Machi's head, making her slam her foot into the ground, "Did I stutter like Price over here? GET IN THE CAFETERIA RIGHT NOW!"

And just like that, all of the students ran towards the large room that was marked with a large sign that read 'Cafeteria', not wasting a second as Machi laughed to herself, "Ah, I love it when the freshmen listen to me, I wish I didn't have to yell, but sometimes that's the only way to get through to them."

"Um, d-do I r-really stutter a-all that m-m-much?" Price asked, unaware that he was stuttering when he asked that.

"Just get in the cafeteria," Machi growled, making Price jump slightly to grab his stuff and dash after the freshmen to get to the cafeteria. "I can tell he's not going to be much help this year."

TTTTTTT

Time: 9:32 a.m.

While most of the students were busy unpacking and getting their rooms set to their tastes, a certain blue dressed professor was standing in an office of the main building glaring down at a certain an emptied desk, a large blood vessel appearing on the side of his neck. "… Damn it. Why does he always pull this crap?"

Hund slammed his fist into the top of the desk, sending a loud 'bam' through out the entire room. "He was supposed to deliver a speech to the students after lunch, but without him here, that plan goes out the window, along with the rest of the schedule for the day!"

"Hmm, getting a little hot under the collar, Hund?"

Hund slowly turned around towards the door to the room, just in time to see someone leaning up against the doorway with a smug look plastered over his face. Hund sighed loudly at the sight of the other man, "Oh, it's only you Kimchi, what are you doing here?"

"Kimchi?" the other man sighed as he walked into the room. "Come now Cruger, I have told you so many times that I prefer to be called by my first name – Kudo!"

"We're colleagues," Hund replied with his arms crossed. "And while I suppose I should respect your wishes to refer you to your first name, I'd prefer if you addressed me by my surname."

"Very well, if that's your order," Kudo laughed loudly as he slowly came to a stop. "Then I shall be sure to deliver that request piping hot!"

"Now that we've gotten that comedy gag out of the way," Hund muttered with a roll of his eyes. "What in the world are you doing here?"

"Please Hund," Kudo chuckled with his eyes closed. "When you come to realize that you're missing a key ingredient for a successful recipe, then you need to be able to work with the ingredients that you have in order to make a different, if not delicious dish!"

Hund just stood there with a blank look on his face, "… You realize that I don't speak cook-enese, right?"

"It was more of an example of what to do," Kudo replied with a tap of his temple. "Besides, if you want to start the year off with a bam, a boring old speech by that dried up prune of a headmaster will only make our students bland for the rest of the year. What we need to do is kick them with some spice and we'll light a fire in their hearts!"

"And what do you propose for us to light that fire with?" Hund questioned, actually considering Kudo's suggestion.

Kudo's rugged face curled up once more into a much goofier smirk, almost lighting up the room, "I'm so glad you ask, Hund! We don't have a lot of time, but with what I've got in mind, it'll be easy and quick."

"I'm listening," Hund replied.

TTTTTTT

Time: 10:25 a.m.

He was a man destined to be King.

A man who would push everyone out of the way, step on them if necessary just to get to the top where he would rule over everyone, a man who would never fall from his perch!

There was just one problem with this man's dream…

"YELLOW!"

Yes, the color yellow was his wall, or his case, four yellow walls. Hidari Eiji, the man who was destined to be king was stuck in the Ra Yellow dormitory – Yellow walls, yellow bed sheets, even the uniform blazer was a yellow color.

And the insect duelist hated every second of it!

"THIS ISN'T FAIR!" Eiji snarled as he threw his new yellow blazer against one of the nearby wall, creating a loud smacking sound. His eyes were burning with intensity as he looked around the room – While he didn't win the duel, he was still the top student from the prep school, and that itself had garnered Eiji a chance for some perks.

Like the single dorm room he was in. That way, he could continue his freak outs without being a nuisance to any roommates. But that's not important.

"I was supposed to be the best of the best," Eiji snarled as he messed up his hair with hands, his jaw clenched tightly. "I was supposed to beat Professor Hund! The man who was known for his skills and standing at this academy! I was supposed to become the Kaiser in my first year here!

"And worst of all… I was supposed to be in OBELISK BLUE! Not RA YELLOW! GARGH!"

Falling back onto his bed, Eiji looked straight up at the white painted ceiling, at least he wouldn't wake up with the sight of yellow in his face. That was practically the only good thing about this situation, but it was still bad all around.

"This is hell," Eiji moaned, closing his eyes.

"I didn't think hell could be so lavish," A suave voice sounded, making Eiji sit up straight on his bed, his gaze turning towards the door where a familiar shadowed figure was simply leaning up against the doorframe.

"Oh, it's you," Eiji growled, falling back to his bed. "What the hell do you want?"

"Now, now, now," The shadowed young man replied with a wave of his hand. "Is that anyway to say hello to a fellow classmate who has a dorm warming gift for ya?"

Indeed, to prove this, the shadowed young man lifted up what appeared to be a parody of the traditional fruit basket – Instead of fruits, there seemed to be several electronic devices that ranged from simple handheld game systems, CDs, headphones and there was even a power glove amongst the items in the basket. "That's rather unusual, even for you. And are you trying to be funny or something?"

"Not at all," the shadowed man replied slowly placing the gift basket on the nearby desk in the room. "I happen to treat any comrades I have with the respect they deserve. But you should consider yourself lucky you're not Bogard. He's being kicked out and its not even the first day."

"What?" Eiji questioned, sitting up on his bed, yet again. "When did that happen!"

"Yes," The shadowed student replied with a chuckle. "It was only a few hours ago that he was transferred off of the island. Such a shame actually, he had a lot of potential, both as a duelist and as a hapless goon. Who knows? He could've been a great grunt against some E-Hero duelist whom no one could really defeat."

"Have you been eating wild mushrooms again, or something?" Eiji asked with a dulled look on his face.

"Maybe," The shadowed student replied. "In any case, it doesn't change the fact that Bogard let his greed get the better of him. He was caught and turned into security immediately. And wouldn't you like to know who caught the poor street fighter?

"A certain professor who defeated a certain insect duelist only yesterday."

Eiji's eyes widened before he narrowed them down, "Are you kidding me! Bogard got caught by Price?"

"Not only that," the shadowed student chuckled, wagging one of his fingers a little bit. "But word is that Price and Bogard fought it out against each other on the dueling field before Bogard was brought in."

"What?" Eiji questioned. "Why did they duel! Price's a professor, there was no need to do such a thing!"

"How should I know why they dueled?" the shadowed student countered with a shrug. "In any case, Bogard had many unopened promo packs, it was probably a good shot that he'd draw a few good cards to help improve his deck. And looking at the outcome, I think it might be safe to assume that Professor Price won… Now think about that for a second, what would that mean?"

"Price used his real deck," Eiji growled loudly. "So what?"

"A new professor beating not only the top student from the prep school," The shadowed student answered with his hands brought in front of his chest. "But also another promising student from the prep school – How does it feel to be the stepping stool for another person's trek to the top?"

That made Eiji stagger slightly from his bed, his eyes narrowed down at the shadowed student, "You lousy bastard! How dare you bring that up!"

"I only speak the truth," The shadowed student answered back. "Besides, shouldn't you be more concerned? Price is actually is getting the recognition that was originally yours."

"He's a professor, I'm a student," Eiji replied, his eyes closed. "I may be stuck in Ra Yellow now, but I'll be at the top of the Blue Dorm within the next month. He'll be stuck in the same place for the rest of his career…"

"Oh, and I suppose that hissy fit of yours was just an act for a play you're in?" The shadowed student retorted. When Eiji heard that, his face scrunched up into a nasty scowl that could freeze even a roaring fire. "Regardless of standing, that loss that the professor gave you will always be on your record, forever as a stain on your perfect win streak."

"Get out…" Eiji snarled, his eyes throwing daggers at the shadowed student. "I didn't come to this island to get insulted and…"

"Eiji-kun, you misunderstand me," the shadowed student nervously stated with his hands lifted up defensively. "I didn't mean to insult you, and I apologize. But think of it like this however, this is a chance to make things even better for yourself!"

"What?" Eiji questioned raising an eyebrow. "What are you getting at?"

"Do I really have to spell it out to you?" The shadowed student replied with his arms raised. "If you were defeated by this professor once, imagine what could happen if you could defeat him when he uses his real deck? Not only would you be able to prove that you are the better duelist, but you would be able to prove that you have the ability to learn from your experiences, showing that you're a seasoned player!"

All of a sudden, Eiji's eyes curved slightly along with the smirk that was now plastered on his face. "Yeah… Yeah! YES! That's it! I can regain my glory and show everyone that I was born to be a champ!"

Jumping to his feet, Eiji lifted his right hand into the air, pointing his finger straight up into the sky. "Yeah! Hidari Eiji – The man destined to be king will rise up into the sky like a phoenix! Searing away all who oppose me!"

The shadowed student merely clapped his hands a few times. "Bravo! Bravo! What a majestic proclamation, Eiji-kun. But, before you get ahead of yourself, you might want to think about one little thing.

"Your deck."

"What's wrong with my insects?" Eiji growled, lowering his arm as he narrowed his eyes at the shadowed student.

"Oh, there's nothing wrong with them at all," The shadowed student admitted. "But if you're going to reclaim the glory that was supposed to be yours, you'd need think outside the box, use strategies that have been lost to the sands of time and make them your own…"

Eiji rubbed his chin a few times. "And how do you propose I do this?"

The shadowed student smirked wildly. "Eiji-kun, Eiji-kun, Eiji-kun. You know me, I'd never offer a plan if I didn't have any intention of contributing. You just give me a little time, and I'll get ya what you need."

Eiji narrowed his eyes at the shadowed student, earning himself a confused look, "Something the matter?"

"Why all the sudden interest in helping me?" Eiji muttered, his glare kept on its target without flinching.

"Don't misunderstand, Eiji-kun," The shadowed student replied as he slowly turned around and trotted towards the door. "I am a man who enjoys helping others, I don't like getting handouts and I don't like giving them, but unless a man has the refinement and tools, he's just a useless monkey.

"It's like the old saying – 'Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for a life time.' Essentially, I'm teaching you how to become the champion of the world. Such a title has no interest to me."

"Then why bother trying to teach me to be champ?" Eiji questioned. "What do you get out of this? Answer me – Tengoku!"

The shadowed student Tengoku merely shook his head and began to walk out of the room, his arms folded behind his back.

TTTTTTTTT

Time: 11:23 a.m.

While the students in the red dorm were unpacking their bags, both Price and Machi were seated at one of the many tables in the Red Dorm's small lounge, several books surrounding the two professors…

"And that's what you're supposed to do in case you find a guy sneaking into one of the girls' rooms," Machi explained holding up a glass of milk to her mouth. "Hey! Are you paying attention, Price?"

'Not really,' Price thought with his head planted on the table, a dull look covering his face. 'I know all this stuff from reading the teacher handbook… Which is about fifty-five pages long. Where the hell did she get all of these books?'

"Listen, ya big idiot!" Machi growled as she slammed the emptied glass of milk onto the table in front of her, making Price jump slightly. "You're just like the freshmen here, and as your senior, I gotta make sure that you know all of the rules and what to do if a student breaks them!"

"… But, I… I already know w-what the rules and p-punishments are though," Price pointed out as he sat up. "I l-learned about t-them over the s-s-summer a-after I got the j-job."

"You want me to wipe off that smart mouth of yours off your face?" Machi asked, her eyes narrowed down at Price.

"Um, I…" Price stammered.

In this world where we have no directions

And where we chase an endless dream…

As the loud music echoed through the cafeteria, Price raised an eyebrow while Machi began to look around the book covered table. "Gah! Why now!"

Our thoughts overlap and our heartbeats pierce our spirits

A song continues softly without hesitation.

Our shadows blended together from the ends of the distant sky,

The memories were written within necessity and whim…

The whirl of time passed by,

Even if I were to decay,

I'd still believe in your voice.

"Got it!" Machi yelped as he pulled out a bright red PDA from under a nearby pile of books, and immediately pushed a button on it, making the music stop and making the smaller professor sigh in relief. "Damn it, who's sending a message on the…"

Machi then realized that Price was looking at her, a large question mark popping over his head. "…"

"W-What are you looking at me like that for?" Machi asked with a little red appearing on her face.

"… With the way you acting," Price admitted as clear as day. "I didn't expect you to have a ringtone like that."

"S-So what?" Machi hissed crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm free to have any ringtone that I want! B-Besides, that ringtone's only for mass messaging, so you should've gotten a m-message too. Why didn't your PDA go off?"

Simply raising his arm up, Price revealed his red PDA with a darkened screen, "I… I kinda h-have a preference to n-not have p-people call me w-when I'm w-working."

"Well, aren't you just so smart," Machi growled, lifting up her PDA. "Just check your damn messages so we can see what this message is about."

Price nodded as he quickly turned the power to the small handheld device on, and waited as the screen came to life, displaying the Academy's logo (which was essentially just a blue D, and a red A that overlapped each other). A few moments later, Price was going through the applications until he came to the e-mail section.

It didn't take long for Price to find the mass message, it was practically the only one on there thus far.

With a simple push of a button the message opened up and merely said…

"Attention all students and faculty,

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the usual opening speech delivered by the Headmaster will be canceled. However, opening ceremonies will still continue.

All students and faculty are required to attend the first night banquet which will be held earlier. 5 p.m. is when the dinner is set to begin, and all students are required to be dressed in their uniforms and show up at the Main Building's Banquet Hall on time. Professors will be taking attendance with their PDAs, so be sure to bring your PDA as well.

Obelisk Blue Professor and Headmaster of the Obelisk Blue Male Dorm,

Cruger Hund

"… Professor Hund's name is Cruger?" Price questioned with a slightly dulled look on his face.

"There's a bigger problem here than the old dog's name," Machi growled with a slap of her forehead. "With this, then there's a change in plans, I knew this would happen when that Nanbu bastard didn't bother to answer his phone when some of the faculty tried calling him from the boat."

"N-Nanbu bastard?" Price questioned, another few question marks appearing over his head. "Wait… Are you referring to…"

"No time to talk about this," Machi sighed loudly as she stood up from her seat. "We gotta make sure that the students know that this event is going on, I'll get the girls and you get the guys."

"Uh, s-sure," Price muttered as he stood up from his seat.

TTTTTT

Time: 12:13 a.m.

On the other side of the island from where the Osiris Red dorm sat, there was another building that could be considered the complete opposite of what the Red Dorm was. While the Red Dorm was at best a slightly run down apartment complex, this building would be compared with that of a castle with blue and white paint on it.

This was the Obelisk Blue dorm.

A building that was made for the elites of Duel Academia, filled with some of the finest duelists (and one certain Ra Yellow thought that he had been wronged out of being amongst them), furniture and facilities around. To point one thing out, this was actually the male's dorm, which was another difference between the two dorms. Where the Red Dorm's male and female sides shared the same building, the blue dorm had separate buildings which were separated by a lake that was in the midst of the island.

But, let's keep our attention towards the guy's dorm.

In one of the rooms in on the third floor of the dorm, Mustang sighed loudly as he jumped onto the blue couch in the lavish room he was in. His scarf and overcoat were thrown askew on the ground behind his couch, showing off his sleeveless shirt and his slightly rugged chin. "It's been an interesting summer vacation to say the least. And this year's going to be even more interesting."

Throwing his head back, Mustang looked up towards the ceiling and sighed loudly. There were so many things that he had to do, so many people he had to meet, and so many other things to deal with.

But for right now, all Mustang wanted to do was to sleep the rest of the day away – Even if he missed the opening night's dinner.

And slowly, he was closing his eyes, prepared to fall into the blissful sleep…

At least until the sound of a knocking door caught the attention of the young man which made him groan loudly.

"Mustang! Are you in there?"

"… No," Mustang moaned loudly. "Go away."

"… Mustang, that was terrible attempt."

"I know," Mustang sighed loudly. "But, I don't care. Go away."

"Either you open the door Mustang," The voice called out from the hallway. "Or else I'll bust this door down. You know I can do this, so you better hurry up!"

Mustang sighed loudly, he knew for a fact that the person who was out there would make due on his threats, especially when Mustang was involved. So, with a loud sigh, Mustang pushed himself from his couch and made his way to the door, "Yeah, yeah… Whatever."

Quickly unlocking the door and opening it, Mustang raised an eyebrow as he looked out into the blue hallway. "Oh? I thought someone was out here. Hmm, I don't see anyone though."

"You son-va-bitch," a voice growled, eliciting a loud snicker from Mustang. "I'm standing right in front of you!"

Looking down, Mustang smirked at the sight of a nasty glare being shot at him that was slightly blocked by several messy strands of white hair. Mustang laughed loudly as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Not my fault that I gained a few inches over the summer… And it looks like you lost a few…"

"Say another word and I'll make you lose a few teeth."

Mustang snickered slightly as he stepped to the side, holding his arm up, "You know that I'm just kidding around. Come in."

"Humph," the short young man grumbled as he walked past Mustang and into the room, "Whatever."

"Something wrong?" Mustang questioned, with the door slammed shut behind him. "You seem like you're in a worse mood than usual."

The short young man who entered Mustang's room sighed loudly, slumping his shoulders slightly. The student who entered Mustang's room was almost the opposite from the tall dark haired student – The student was short and had slightly short white hair that seemed to have some strands of black hair under the messy white strands. Although he wasn't as muscular at Mustang, the student certainly had a good build that was covered with a black overcoat that had a blue trim to it.

The young man in question was short, barely even able to reach Mustang's chest in height, and he was slim, almost to the point of having his blue trimmed black overcoat sliding off his body (even the tails of the overcoat seemed to brush up against the floor, tearing them up slightly) and had black cargo pants (although, on anyone else they'd probably be shorts).

There were a lot of odd things about this young man, even more so than the hair or his height, rather was the fact that he was wearing black gloves on his hands that seemed to have some weird symbols on them. The young man sighed again as he stood up straight and rubbed the back of his head. "It's nothing major, just some stuff back home that went south."

"Yes, I heard a few things about that," Mustang answered back, leaning up against one of the walls in his room. "Like how your parents were against having your little sister coming here?"

"Frankly, I was all for that decision," The short young man replied, spinning on his heel to look at Mustang. "With unsavory characters like you running about, who knows what could've happened this semester."

"That was a low blow, even for someone like you," Mustang mumbled.

"The bigger issue was trying to convince the old folks to let me come back," the short young man continued, either not hearing Mustang's comment or he ignored it completely. "But, when push came to shove, I managed to talk them into it… Albeit, they're not happy I'm here."

"No surprise there," Mustang laughed. "After all the crap you had to deal with and the state you left, I'm surprised that you're not in a mental hospital's padded room. Then again, it's that exact same quality that keeps you going, doesn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose," The short young man answered. "In any case, how was the boat ride back to this wreck of an academy?"

"Oh, I can't complain," Mustang answered with his arms crossed. "Ya see, a few things of interest managed to catch my eyes when I was back on the mainland yesterday and when I was on the high sea yesterday. Quite a few things actually caught my attention to tell the truth.

"Especially something that could possibly help out our cause for this year."

"Oh?" The short young man questioned raising an eyebrow. "And this has to deal with that little item of interest you're trying to set up this year, right?"

"How right you are," Mustang chuckled. "I think I've finally found the key that we need, as well as finding us a few more valuable parts to add to this little 'interest' of mine. Ya never know what sort of gems are going to appear on the first day…

"Right, Cain?"

TTTTTTTTT

Time: 4:55 p.m.

With the sun beginning its descent towards the ocean's horizon, most of the students were gathered into the main building's large cafeteria, several students dressed in red, yellow and blue were all seated at the long tables. The smell of delicious food lofted through the air as students chatted amongst each other.

And Price, well, he was seated up near the front, where the rest of the professors were set to dine that evening. However, there were several empty seats at the long table, heck besides Price himself, only Machi and Hund were at the table – Machi was reading a book while Hund was seated with his arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face.

'Shouldn't there be at least four other people here?' Price thought as he looked at the four emptied seats that were only a few inches away from him. And he was right, for the most part, there should've been at least two Ra Yellow professors and one other blue dressed professor alongside Hund.

And then there was the headmaster himself, but from what Price had heard, the headmaster showing up wasn't going to happen.

"Uh…" Price muttered as he leaned over to Machi. "Is this a normal occurrence?"

"Are you talking about the empty seats?" Machi questioned, not bothering to look away from her book. "Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it. There were a couple of complications with the girls' dorms for the Blue and Yellow dorms, so, both of the professors there are dealing with those problems right now. More than likely they got Hund and Kimchi to cover their attendance taking."

"Oh, but, Kimchi…" Price wasn't sure if that was the guy's name or not. "Uh, he's not here… I think."

"I saw him earlier," Machi responded. "Knowing him, he's probably just chumming it up with some of the students or setting up something that'll add a touch of spice to this dinner. And I mean that figuratively and literally."

"Huh?" Price mumbled to himself.

"You'll see," Machi said, holding her book up closer to her face.

Price just sat there, blinking a few times at the information that his co-worker stated. And just as he was about to ask for more information, the lights in the dining hall began to dim down, silencing the students.

"EVERYBODY LISTEN!"

A single light lit up in the middle of the dinning hall, revealing tall and muscular man, but seemed to be rather unrefined due to his appearance. This man had cropped up, wild blonde hair that was held up with fiery bandana that covered his forehead as well. His face had a dark blonde, light beard that raced around his face. He seemed to wear a black style martial artist gi with an apron that had a flame design on it that had several rips and tears into it.

The man spun around to reveal that in his free hand was a small microphone that he held up to his face, "Good evening duelists of all the dorms! Both new and old, I am Kudo Kimchi, and I want to be the first to officially welcome you all to this school!

"You are the few, the proud, and the strongest duelists to make it here! Now, normally, we'd get the principle out here to give you all a speech, which would probably put you all to sleep within the first five minutes."

'No respect for the higher ups,' Hund thought to himself. 'Then again, Nanbu isn't really doing the most respectable thing by shirking his duties… Son-va-bitch.'

"So, we've decided to kick things up a notch this year," Kudo continued, throwing his fist into the air allowing two holographic screens to appear over his head. "And what better way to kick off this semester than with a duel! Tonight! Two of you are going to break the dueling ice and light a fire in everyone's heart!

"Consider this an appetizer for this year before we serve you all a heaping helping of the main course! We hope to inspire a lot of fiery spirits in you all so that you give everything you do this year a hundred and twenty-five percent!

"So! Sorry to keep you all waiting! This is where the real show begins! We will now select two random duelists from amongst us, so, let's see who will set the bar for this semester!"

The two holographic screens began to flash quickly showing off several faces and shades of red, blue and yellow at very fast speeds. But soon, the pictures began to flash slower and slower until they were just ticking by.

And then, both screens stopped.

The screen on the right showed a male student's annoyed looking face that was topped with white, messy hair with a blue border around him. While the screen on the left had another student with dark skin with wild brown hair cascading from his black beanie that had a skull design on it, and around this rough student was a yellow border.

"Ohohohoho!" Kudo laughed loudly into the microphone as he threw his hand towards the crowds of students. "And we're starting with a bang! Our two selected duelists are one of the second year duelists – So in the blue corner, we have the tiny titan, all the way from Obelisk Blue – Cain Sonryu! Come on down!"

"DAMN IT! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING TINY!"

"And, I'm proud to introduce the duelist in the yellow corner," Kudo continued. "From the Yellow Dorm, a freshman student who's making his debut this year, fresh from the prep school – Tengoku Gomi!

"Both of you get down here and get your duel disks and decks ready!"

There were a few whispers amongst the duelists, each of them concerned with the duelists that were selected. Obviously, both of the duelists selected for the opening duel had some sort of following…

"Uh, P-Professor Hund?" Price chuckled nervously as he turned towards the blue dressed professor. "Is this for real?"

"… Unfortunately, it is," Hund sighed with his head lowered.

"Ha! Looks like the old dog finally got on a leash," Machi laughed as she pulled away from the book. "Who would've thought that Kudo would've been the one to put that leash on ya!"

"I would advise against taunting me, Professor Machi," Hund snarled loudly. "And this was the only option we could use at the moment. With the headmaster disappearing at the last minute, we had to do something that could welcome the students. And frankly, a speech would've worked, but I didn't have enough time to write up something appropriate.

"And thus here we are."

A few moments passed, but neither duelist had appeared where Kudo was standing. A large bead of sweat rolled down the side of the Ra Yellow Professor's head, 'What the hell?'

With the mic held up to his face, Kudo narrowed his eyes and blared into the microphone, "Cain Sonryu! Tengoku Gomi! GET UP HERE! YOU WILL NOT BLOW THIS CHANCE TO INSTILL INSPIRATION IN THESE YOUNG DUELISTS!"

"Hey, hey, hey, no need to yell," a suave voice chuckled next to Kudo, garnering everyone's eyes to see that it was the yellow student – Tengoku Gomi, walking up to Kudo with a smirk on his face.

Tengoku was a sight to behold, not only did he have the wild mane of wild brown hair topped with a skull-marked beanie, but he was dressed in a peculiar manner. Covering his slim body was a pair of gunmetal gray pants that clung to his legs and he was dressed in a Ra Yellow blazer that was zipped and buttoned all the way up to his neck. The odd thing as that this uniform of his looked like it was already stained with ink, or chocolate, or some other black substance since there were some random stains covering the yellow fabric.

In fact, if Kudo didn't know any better, it looked like some of the yellow fabric was getting another dark splotch on it. "I just had to make a last minute change to the old stack of cards here."

"Ah yes, good!" Kudo laughed loudly into the microphone. "That's what I like to see in one of my students! A sense of preparation and an interesting sense of style! Now, all we need is the shorty to get his scrawny butt out here, and we'll be all set!"

"Damn it! STOP CALLING ME SHORT!"

And just like that, the white haired young man who was visiting with Mustang ran up to the other side of Kudo, his eyes burning holes into Kudo's head as he lifted up his duel disk. "If wanted me to duel this guy, you could've asked ahead of time!"

"Now where's the fun in that?" Kudo laughed back at Cain as he held his hand up into the air. "Duelists! Take your positions!"

"Hold on a damn minute!" Cain snarled loudly. "I didn't agree to this duel and…"

"What's the matter sempai?" Tengoku questioned with a devilish smirk on his face. "Afraid that the new kid's gonna beat ya down?"

"What was that?" Cain growled, standing up straight.

"So Zetta slow," Tengoku sighed loudly with a shake of his head. "I could easily have made tens of thousands of short jokes against ya in the time it took you to realize that I insulted ya. I can think of a decillion better ways to spend my time than by wasting my time against some loser in blue."

"Humph, crack all the jokes you like," Cain snarled as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a compact duel disk and slapped it against his left arm. "I've proven my skills, and if you're going to keep mouthing off to me like that, I think I may just have to knock that smug mouth right off your face."

"Finally we're getting somewhere," Tengoku replied as he activated his duel disk. "I've wanted to try my hand against a senior classman for a while, but all I've had to deal with are prep-school levels. I wonder, will you fare any better?"

"Only one way to find out, ya walking ink stain," Cain answered as he lifted his duel disk covered arm into the air, activating the device as he brought it down and slipped his deck into the machine.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Tengoku laughed loudly as he wagged a finger at both Cain and Kudo. "I'd suggest that both of you back up a few feet, ya never know how explosive a duel can get." (TLP: 8000)

"That's the smartest thing that's come out of your mouth so far," Cain retorted as he walked backwards a few feet. (CLP: 8000)

"And here you have it folks!" Kudo laughed loudly as he jumped back towards the faculty table. "We've got our two duelists! They've got their sparks! And now we all get this duel! Let's add a dash of spice to these two and give them a round of sound!"

Surprisingly, the response was instantaneous! "TENGOKU! TENGOKU!" several of the younger students roared out.

"Seems you've got a following," Cain stated as he slid off the top five cards from his deck.

"What can I say?" Tengoku replied with a smirk on his face. "Back at the prep-school I had a following. I may not have been the top dog there, but I still managed to be quite popular."

"Fascinating," Cain muttered as a holographic coin appeared between both duelists. "Alright then, Mister Popularity, since you seem to have the crowd on your side, how about you make the call? Heads or Tails?"

The coin flew through the air, spinning around to reveal a dragon's head on one side of the coin and a symbol of what appeared to be a dragon's tail on the other. Tengoku smirked as he lifted his hand up into the air, "There's only one option for me, heads up, straight to the heavens and above!"

"… Way to be dramatic," Cain stated as the holographic coin immediately fell to the ground.

However, the coin was pointed heads up, making Tengoku smirk as he drew from the top of his deck again, "A flair for the dramatics is always good! And I'll be sure to put that to good use! My draw!"

Looking at the cards in his hand, Tengoku chuckled to himself as he immediately slapped a card onto his duel disk. "And to start things off, I set a monster in defense mode and set one card."

Both of the face down cards materialized in front of the Ra Yellow freshman, almost acting as a shield against the forces that Cain held up his sleeve. "There's no need to get all serious, at least not at the moment. So, I'll let you take the stage, sempai."

Cain drew the sixth card. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that, rookie. All you've done is play a standard move. As for me, I'll do something a little different – I summon Twinbarrel Dragon!"

A loud mechanized roar echoed through the air, allowing a large mechanical raptor-like machine appear on the ground, covered with blue neon armor and had a twin barrel cannon mounted on its head (1700/200). "Now, when this bad boy is summoned, I get to flip two coins. If both are heads, well, I get to destroy one card on your field of my choice."

"Huh, you don't strike me as a guy who depends on luck," Tengoku admitted, eyeing the monster on Cain's field.

"Don't assume," Cain admitted as he snapped his fingers, making two coins appear in front of him. "That's the worst thing a duelist can do on his opponent's first turn. Now, double flip!"

Both coins shot off into the air, spinning through the air for a few seconds before they bounced off of the ground. The coin on the right revealed a heads up, and the coin on the left however had a tails up.

"Looks like luck isn't with ya tonight," Tengoku chuckled as he adjusted his beanie.

"I don't need luck," Cain replied as he threw his hand forward. "Twinbarrel Dragon! Blast his face down monster!"

The large mechanical dragon fired a pair of blasts that crashed into face down monster, making the face down monster card flip up to reveal a large blue furred rat (1450/1400), the rat squeaked loudly before it shattered into millions of pixels.

"Aw crap," Cain muttered to himself as he slapped his left hand to his forehead. "Damn it. That was a Giant Rat, right?"

"Good eye," Tengoku snickered as a card popped out of his dueling deck. "Now then, when Giant Rat's effect now activates, so now I can special summon the first of my… Discount binned family!"

A powerful ring of light appeared in front of Tengoku, unleashing a charming robot that was made out of old junky metal that was colored red, pink and dark brown that had a teapot on the top of her head with a whisk in her hands (300/1500). "Meet Maternal Junk!"

"Another Machine deck?" Cain questioned, raising an eyebrow at the monster in front of him. "Didn't think you as the kind of guy to play that sort of deck."

"It just represents my views," Tengoku answered with a laugh. "After all, the world is garbage."

'Even though this deck's at half power, it's all I really need in order to gauge the 'competition' around here.'

"Ya know, you remind me of this one internet fad my sister showed me," Cain admitted as he placed two cards into his duel disk, making them appear behind his large mechanical dragon. "But whatever works, two cards set! And turn end!"

"I see that you didn't insult my monster," Tengoku admitted with a smirk on his face as he drew. "That's an interesting reaction to me summoning this thing."

"I'm experienced," Cain answered. "I know that sometimes the weaker monsters can be the most dangerous."

"With good reason," Tengoku snickered as he reached for his duel disk. "But before I get started with my turn, I'll switch my Maternal Junk to defense mode. After all, there's no way she'd be able to take your dragon toe to toe.

"But I can easily fix that, I summon her counterpart!"

Slapping the card onto his duel disk, Tengoku smirked as a second ring of light appeared in front of him, unleashing another junky robot, this one covered with bulky scrap metal that resembled that of a suit and tie and even had a pair of black rimmed glasses on its gray face (1600/500). "Paternal Junk!"

"Maternal… Paternal…" Cain muttered under his breath. "I'm starting to see a pattern right here."

"No duh," Tengoku snickered as he threw his hand towards his Paternal Junk. "This deck represents my views, in any case, since I have both Maternal and Paternal out, my Paternal Junk gains 500 attack points right off the bat!"

A powerful aura erupted over the fatherly robot, making it throw its arms up into the air (1600/500 + 500/0). "Next, I'll use my Maternal Junk's effect, allowing me to pull a Kid Junk from my deck to my hand!"

Holding his hand up to the deck, Tengoku smirked as he pulled the card from his deck, looking at the card he just added, "Unfortunately, I can't use this card at the moment, after all, I summoned Paternal Junk this turn. But that's alright, I just need my two monsters for the moment!

"Paternal Junk! Attack his Twinbarrel Dragon!"

The large bulky machine ran across the field, spinning about before it slammed its fist right into mechanical dragon's face, shattering the machine into millions of parts that bounced past Cain's body – Which elicited a large roar from the students, all of them excited that a freshman managed to draw the first blood. (CLP: 7600)

"Aw yeah, show who ya love," Tengoku chuckled as he lifted his arms up into the air.

"I wouldn't get too excited," Cain replied as he pushed a button on his duel disk. "I had a feeling you'd destroy my monster, so, I'll play this! Soul Rope!" (CLP: 6600)

Cain grimaced as a long rope of light erupted from his chest and flew into his duel disk, allowing a card to shoot out and into his hand, "With a cost of one thousand life points, I can now special summon any level four monster from my deck, and I choose one of my favorites!"

The rope pulled the card into the air, and almost immediately, a large amount of electricity surged through the card, making all of the remaining scrap metal parts of the Twinbarrel Dragon come together around it. Soon the parts began to meld together and form into a large blue and yellow armored machine that had a spiked orb for legs, and a man shaped torso that was mounted with two futuristic cannons on its shoulders (1800/1200). "X-Head Cannon!"

Tengoku, however, was less than impressed, his eyes slightly dulled over at the sight of the monster. "Really? That's the strategy you're working with? The V to Z cards? Such an old method of dueling."

"I don't see you pulling any ground breaking plays," Cain retorted as he watched his deck shuffle the cards in his duel disk.

"We're just starting this duel," Tengoku replied with a wag of his finger. "There's no need to start off with so much force. In fact, it's not a good idea to do so. Turn end."

Cain silently drew his next card and nodded to himself, "I wouldn't be so sure about that. I summon Z-Metal…"

"Tank?" Tengoku guessed loudly as he sighed loudly. "So predictable."

"I wouldn't get all confident!" Cain announced as a large yellow tank appeared in front of him, this one with a large eye-like symbol in between both of its tank treads (1500/1300). "I now activate Z-Metal Tank's union ability! Equipping to X-Head Cannon!"

Sparks erupted between the two machines, pulling them closer and closer together until the X-Head Cannon mounted itself onto the back of the Z-Metal Tank's main body (1800/1500 + 600/600). "Now then, attack! Destroy Paternal Junk!"

The large dual colored machine aimed both of its cannons towards the larger machine on Tengoku's field. However, just as the cannon-fire was about to crash into the Parental Junk, a large scarecrow made entirely out of junk appeared in front of the larger junk monster. The scarecrow took the entirety of the attack, and immediately shattered the powerful blast.

Tengoku chuckled loudly as a large smirk appeared on his face as the scarecrow fell to the ground, transforming into a face down card, "Sorry, but my Scrap-Iron Scarecrow can negate one attack and then reset itself on the field. So your old school assault is a bust."

'Well, there goes one plan,' Cain thought looking at the three remaining cards in his hand. "I set one card face down and end my turn."

"Humph," Tengoku sighed loudly as he pulled another card from the top of his deck. "Is that seriously all you've got? I wonder, if you represent the Obelisk Blue Dorm, then becoming Kaiser will be nothing more than child's play! I summon Kid Junk!"

A third ring popped out onto the field, immediately unleashing a smaller, toy-like robot that was made out of green parts with a red jacket and cap covering its body and head (300/500). "And since I have Kid Junk out, Paternal Junk gains an additional thousand attack points!"

With the smaller robot jumping about, the Paternal Junk seemed to chuckle at the sight of the kid robot (2100/500 + 1000/0). "So, now the father of this deck is even stronger! But I'm not done, not by a long shot! Now, my family of junk monsters is complete! Now the finisher! Paternal Junk! Attack his X-Head Cannon!"

The large machine stomped over the field, pulling its fist back and immediately threw a powerful punch towards the X-Head Cannon, however, the Z-Metal Tank detached itself from the blue machine (2400/1500 – 600/600) and took the attack for the Cannon. (CLP: 5900)

The shattered remains of the tank bounced around Cain's body, making the white haired teen narrow his eyes at Tengoku, "Too bad my tank takes the hit instead."

Still, that last attack elicited a loud sea of roars from the crowds of students, most of them from the freshmen and yellow dorm. "TEN-GO-KU! TEN-GO-KU! TEN-GO-KU!"

"Look at who's the crowd favorite," Tengoku chuckled running a finger over the cards in his hand.

"What an upstart," Cain muttered under his breath. "You're just the new guy around here, the underdog, someone who…"

"Yap, yap, yap, like your old tactics could get anyone's attention," Tengoku chuckled as he slipped a card into his duel disk, making it appear behind his three monsters. "In any case, I I'll end my turn with one more set card.

"So show me what you can do, I'd hate to know that this is the true strength of the second years… Especially a second year Obelisk Blue duelist."

"Well, I guess this is enough of a handicap then," Cain yawned loudly as he plucked the next card from his deck.

"Huh?" Tengoku questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Handicap?"

"Just live and learn, freshman," Cain replied as he pushed a button on his duel disk. "First off, the trap card, Call of the Haunted! Come on back Z – Metal Tank!"

The junk covered ground erupted, immediately allowing the yellow tank appear back on the field next to the X-Head Cannon (1500/1300). "And next, I'll summon Y-Dragon Head!"

A powerful surge of red electrical energy popped onto the field, forming into the infamous red dragon machine with a disk-like torso with two long mechanical wings (1500/1600). "Now, since you know what my monsters are capable of, I'd hate to disappoint! X-Y-Z! Combine!"

All three of the machines flew through the air, all three of them beginning to combine with the Y-Dragon Head docking atop of the Z-Metal Tank, and finally the X-Head Cannon connected to the top of all of them, sparks of electricity surging from the newly combined machine (2800/2600). "XYZ – Dragon Cannon!"

"And now you use its effect?" Tengoku sighed with a shake of his head. "Way to think outside the box, I approve of your shamelessness."

"While your cooking up your own insults," Cain announced as he fitted a card into his duel disk. "Allow me to show you theory two point O! I play XYZ's effect! And I'll destroy your Paternal Junk!"

Several cannons erupted from the Dragon Cannon's body, all of them glowing brightly with energy. Almost immediately, all of the cannons fired the energy and they crashed into the Paternal Junk, shattering it into millions of pixels. Tengoku grounded his teeth slightly, "Oh, snap. I totally didn't see that coming. You familiar with the concept of sarcasm? Don't worry, it's a new concept."

Cain slapped his forehead with his left hand, and then immediately turned his glare towards Tengoku, "I'm going to start kicking your tail now, I don't know when I'll stop. I play my trap card – Roll Out!"

A powerful flame erupted from the back of the XYZ – Dragon Cannon, immediately forming into a pair of red colored steel wings that had a pair of claws latched onto the shoulders of the X-Head Cannon portion with a loud mechanical screech echoing through the air (2800/2600 + 300/0).

"So, you discarded another Union monster when you used XYZ – Dragon Cannon's effect," Tengoku muttered with a raised eyebrow. "Never really saw this one before though…"

"It's a new one," Cain explained as he lifted his hand up. "Meet the MKII Kujaku Sabers! It gives my machine three hundred extra attack points, and all of them are heading straight towards your Kid Junk!"

The wings on the back of the XYZ – Dragon Cannon's back snapped upwards, creating several flames that encircled over the machine's body, empowering the cannons on the large machine's body.

Tengoku chuckled with a shake of his head, "Seriously? I thought you'd at least use your XYZ – Dragon Cannon's effect again. But your fault! I play my trap card – Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!"

However, Tengoku's scarecrow never flipped up, making the beanie wearing duelist's eyes widen at the sight of this. "W-What the? What's wrong with my duel disk?"

That's when Tengoku's eyes widened when he watched the Kid Junk get enveloped with the powerful red energy blast, making the tiny robot explode in a flurry of sparks that slammed into Tengoku's body, almost completely silencing the cheering duelists in the room. "GARGH!" (TLP: 5200)

Holographic smoke puffed off of Tengoku's body as he slowly stood up, his gaze narrowed down at Cain, "What the hell did you do to my duel disk?"

"Humph," Cain muttered with a shake of his head. "And you called my tactics old. Looks like my cards aren't as predictable as you thought. You see, my Kujaku Sabers grant my XYZ – Dragon Cannon a second ability, meaning when it attacks, you can't chain spell and trap cards to the attack."

Tengoku blinked a few times in confusion when he heard that, but his eyes immediately narrowed when he heard some of the students chanting the name, "SON-RYU! SON-RYU! SON-RYU! SON-RYU!"

With his beanie adjusted, Tengoku smirked wildly, "Heh… Hehehe… WAHAHAHA!"

"Looks like he's snapped," Cain muttered.

"Oh no, you don't wanna think that," Tengoku snickered loudly as he lifted his arms up. "I was just starting to think that this duel academy was a waste of time, but with people like you roaming the halls, this just might be worth my time! So, in order to thank you for shattering my preconceptions about you…

"I'll be going to the next level!"

"In that case," Cain stated as he slipped a card into his duel disk, making the card appear behind his large machine. "Show me what ya got."

"As you wish," Tengoku replied as he lifted off his next card, his eyes looking at the four other cards in his hand. "And here's my move, first, I play the spell card – Mystical Space Typhoon! Now, I'm going to blow away the face down card you just set!"

Cain's eyes widened as a powerful twister slammed into his face down card, making it fly up into the air to reveal a Negate Attack trap card, "Damn it."

"Aw, that would've been so helpful too," Tengoku announced as he threw his arm to the side, making one of his face down cards flip up. "But back to the duel! I activate one of my other trap cards – Limit Reverse! Return my Kid Junk!"

A loud pop of smoke appeared on Tengoku's field, allowing the cute little robot appear on the field, striking a powerful pose (300/500). "Next, we'll be playing the spell card – Machine Duplication!"

Two more pops of smoke appeared on Tengoku's field, unleashing two more Kid Junks onto the field with sparks popping from their bodies (300/500 x2). "Now, you may be wondering why I would bring out these two little guys."

"The thought crossed my mind," Cain answered. "Then again, looking at the field, there are five machines out, you tribute two of them and you can easily get a Perfect Machine King out on the field with fifteen hundred attack points."

"That's an old style," Tengoku replied wagging a card in his hand. "You see, the next monster I'm about to summon is of the newest generation, a machine monster that can be tribute summoned by sacrificing as many machines on the field as I want."

"So you're going to sacrifice all four of your monsters?" Cain questioned, getting into a defensive stance. "Whatever monster needs four monsters can't be good."

"Four?" Tengoku snickered with his mouth curling up. "Oh, no, no, no, no, not four. Five! I can sacrifice Machines on the field, and not just on my side!"

Cain's eyes widened as all four of Tengoku's monsters and his own XYZ – Dragon Cannon transformed into five orbs of light that began to combine into each other, lumping into a large red light covered figure that grew larger and larger with each passing second. "So, give it up for one of the strongest monsters in my deck – the Devil Gun King – DeoWulf!"

The light immediately crystallized over the form, and immediately shattered, revealing a large, red armored man-shaped machine to appear in the place of all the monsters on the field. The machine itself stood over twenty feet tall, almost reaching the ceiling of the dining hall, its large bulky body shadowed over many of the students who gasped at the heavily armed machine. Gatling guns, cannons, two shoulder mounted missile containers, and clawed hands made this red giant even more dangerous than its name suggested (2000/1900).

"And before you go off on a tirade about how weak he is," Tengoku chuckled as the chest armor on DeoWulf's chest began to open up, revealing a large green emerald implanted in it's body, growing brighter and brighter with each second. (2000/1900 + 2500/2500). "For each machine I used in his tribute summoned, my monster gains five hundred extra attack points! And since I used five, he's just as strong as a certain white scaled dragon's ultimate form!"

"And now, to put those attack points to good use."

"Well… This sucks," Cain admitted taking a step back.

"TEN-GO-KU! TEN-GO-KU! TEN-GO-KU!"

"Aw, yes, show me who ya love," Tengoku chuckled as he spun around, aiming to get a look at each and everyone of the students that were cheering his name. "Guess that means I can't disappoint… Get 'im."

The large Devil Gun King looked down at Cain, its green eyes leering down at the short duelist. It was at that moment that Cain had to admit that when compared with this monster, all those short jokes were actually true.

But that was pushed out of his head when several rounds of bullets, missiles, and laser fire crashed into him, making the short Obelisk Blue student skid backwards and almost caused him to tumble over, but he maintained his footing. "SONVA-!" (CLP: 1400)

That last attack made the entire dining hall erupt into flood of cheers for Tengoku and his titan of a monster, making everyone who was cheering for Cain instantly change sides. Unfortunately, that just made Cain throw his hand forward, "Save your breaths everyone! I play my trap card, Shock Draw! Now, for every thousand points of damage I just took, I gain one card from my deck!

"And thanks to that last shot on my life points, that four cards right off the bat!"

Cain plucked off the top four cards, immediately refreshing his hand of cards, however, Tengoku only shook his head with a loud chuckle, "Oh yes that huge attack would be worth about four cards. But you're not the only one who can increase his hand. First, I'll set one card face down, and then I'll activate the spell card – Aura Draw, so now since its that last card in my hand, I can draw two cards from my deck."

Fitting the card into his duel disk, Tengoku swiftly pulled off two cards from his deck and looked at the two cards, "Hmm, not the worst, but I can't use either at the moment. So, I'll just end my turn."

Pulling off another card into his hand, Cain looked over the seven cards he held and sighed loudly, "I had a feeling this would happen. I set a monster in defense mode, and set three cards face down, turn end."

The three face down cards appeared in front of Cain, two vertical cards and one set monster, granting him a semblance of a defense.

Tengoku shook his head, "That was rather fast, was that all you could muster?"

"Unfortunately," Cain sighed as he crossed his arms. "Yes."

"Where'd that fire you had a few moments ago go?" Tengoku questioned as he drew from the top of his deck, his eye brow raised slightly. "Ah well, I suppose there was only a spark there. In that case, I'll just have to snuff out that flame – And who better to help out with this than Robotic Knight!"

Stepping onto the field was a large robotic figure that was covered in armor that made the robot look like a fancy general with a cybernetic rapier in one hand and a gatling gun where the other one would be (1600/1800). "Doesn't fit the theme, but its still a machine. In any case, Robotic Knight! Slay his face down monster!"

The robotic warrior dashed across the ground and stabbed its sword into the face down monster, sending the card flying through the air. However, underneath the card, there was a small white mechanical rabbit that had the words 'Love It' painted on its forehead (800/100).

And at the very moment that the rabbit was revealed, an awkward silence filled the air at the sight of the monster. Cain looked to the side, his face slightly red, while Tengoku just blinked at the monster in front of him. "… What the hell?"

No one knows when it started, or who had started it, but soon the entire dinning hall erupted into laughter, so much so that Cain began to feel even smaller than he was right now.

Even Tengoku had to stifle a snicker in order to continue the attack, "Um… R-Robotic –snirk- Knight! C-Continue the attack!"

The Robotic Knight quickly kicked the rabbit into the air, sending it flying through the air. "Well, that was weird."

"Sure, all of you keep laughing," Cain admitted as he pointed towards the air. "But while the Mecha Bunny isn't the best, or the toughest looking monster about, but its still helpful! Cause first, when its flipped, I can select one card on the field and whoever owns that card loses five hundred life points!

"I'm choosing tall, dark and gruesome – DeoWulf!"

Tengoku's laughter stopped when he realized that several carrot-shaped missiles were flying towards him, and immediately crashed into body. "URK!" (TLP: 4700)

That's when another set monster appeared in front of Cain, "And here's the beauty of monsters with more than one effect. The Mecha Bunny allows me to set another copy of it from my deck when destroy in battle."

That seemed to silence a little bit of the laughter in the room.

Tengoku sighed as he dusted off his splotched uniform, kinda seemed like the gesture was a waste. "Alright, I can admit that I didn't expect that. Not really something that someone like you would run."

"If I had a choice, I wouldn't run it," Cain sighed, slumping his shoulders slightly. "In any case, it's still your turn, you gonna attack with the big guy?"

"Are you kidding?" Tengoku questioned, messing with some of the loose strands on his hair. "I've got the big guy out over here, I'm going to lose the life points regardless, and you'll more than likely summon the other one. I'd rather take you out in one felt swoop.

"So I'll wait next turn."

"Good to hear," Cain replied as he drew the top card from his deck. "Really good to hear actually. You said that my dueling was old fashioned, right? Well, how about I show you a new form of dueling?"

"A new form of dueling?" Tengoku questioned raising an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"How about I show ya?" Cain replied as he slipped a card into his duel disk. "First, I'm playing a trap card, Boosting Resurrection!"

Powerful surge of energy popped onto the field, allowing the first Mecha Bunny to appear on the field (800/100 + 100/100). "Next, I'll flip up my second Mecha Bunny as well! And I'm choosing the big guy again!"

The other face down monster flipped up, immediately showing the second robotic rabbit, firing off several carrot-shaped missiles that crashed into Tengoku's body. "URK!" (TLP: 4200)

As the smoke cleared from Tengoku's body, the young freshman shook his head, "Alright, now that's just annoying. Heh, alright, I think I can see what you're up to, you're trying to bust out a high level monster, aren't ya?"

"Indeed, you're right," Cain replied as he twirled around a card in his hand. "However, it's not going to be the way you think its going to be.

"Come out, Quick Spanite!"

A bright light popped in front of Cain, immediately forming into a small cute robot that had several screws popping out from its body with a wrench-like head that had two cartoonish eyes on it (1000/800).

Tengoku tilted his head slightly, "Okay. You kinda lost me right here."

"Then let me show you what I can really do," Cain announced as he snapped his fingers, making the Quick Spanite leap into the air, popping into three rings. "I tune my Quick Spanite to my two Mecha Bunnies!"

The entire dinning hall went silent as the three rings wrapped around the two rabbits, transforming them into five stars that erupted into a powerful blue pillar of light in front of Cain. Cain's overcoat fluttered from the shear force of the energy tower in front of him, even going so far as to cover him completely in shadows.

Even the professors were surprised at the turn of events, Price had his jaw dropped, "W-What in the? I heard of there being a few new forms of summoning… But, to see one so early in the year…"

Machi was actually scribbling down notes in a notebook she had in her pocket, "Interesting! So, this is that kind of summoning! I would've figured that a professor would've done this first!"

Kudo was laughing loudly, knowing that he had chosen the right duelists for this opening duel, one of them using a new form of summoning to the game.

And Hund, he just watched with his eyes trained on the field.

"Through the night," Can announced as two powerful mechanical arms erupted from the pillar of light. "A single soldier of justice will strike down those who dare sin in the moonlight! Rise and deliver righteousness, Synchro Summon – Scrap Metal Knight!"

The rest of the pillar shattered! And unleashed onto the field was a large bulky, blue armored, man-shaped machine that landed on the ground, instantly shaking each and every table in the area. The machine itself was armed with a five-barreled machine cannon on its left arm, a pile-bunker-like pike mounted on its right arm and a set of titanium, ball bearing-launchers rested on its shoulders. And atop of its helmet was a large horn that seemed to glow brightly with energy.

The machine's yellow eyes glowed brightly as it threw its right fist into the air, making a large amount of steam erupt from its joints (2600/2400).

The students' cheers and roars erupted through the dinning hall at the sight of the new monster, however Tengoku, his eyes widened at the sight of the monster, and he stepped back a bit as he barred his teeth at the sight of it.

But, fear wasn't running through his veins.

Rather…

'This…' Tengoku thought to himself as he looked upon the large machine. 'I… I DIDN'T THINK I'D FIND ONE OF THEM SO SOON!'

"Now, I activate Quick Spanite's effect!" Cain announced as several screws flew through the air and stabbed into DeoWulf's body, making the large machine stagger backwards (4500/4400 – 500/0). "When used for a Synchro Summon, one monster on the field loses five hundred attack points, and I choose the big guy!

"Next I play Double Cyclone! I don't need to deal with your Scrap-Iron Scarecrow again! And I'll be getting rid of my Boosting Resurrection to make sure I don't take the damage during my next turn!

Tengoku grimaced as he watched his trap card disappear, truth-be-told, he forgot that he had the trap card out, while at the same time, Cain's face-up trap card shattered as well.

"Next," Cain announced with a snap of his fingers. "I'll go on the attack!

"But the big guy's not the target for my attack, the Robotic Knight is! Attack with Buster Pile smasher!"

Several energy boosters erupted from the back of the Scrap Metal Knight, propelling the powerful and large machine over the floor and towards the Robotic Knight, the pile bunker erupted with steam and forced the knight to pull its arm back.

Tengoku, now free from his stupor, shook his head and pushed a button on his duel disk, "You may have eliminated my Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, but that doesn't mean I can't stop this new monster of yours! I activate Mirror Force! Now, your monster goes bye-bye!"

A powerful barrier of light erected in between both machines, forcing the Scrap Metal Knight to slam its pile-bunker armed fist into the barrier. A storm of sparks flew from where the two connected, creating a spectacular light show that flew over the other student's heads.

A few moments passed, but neither forces yielded.

"What's going on?" Tengoku questioned.

A loud cracking sound blasted through the air, and that's when Tengoku's eyes turned towards his Mirror Force barrier, and several cracks began to web over the powerful light screen. That's when the pile-bunker pierced through the barrier, shattering it, and allowing the weapon to shatter through Robotic Knight, shattering the monster into millions of scrap parts. (TLP: 3200)

"W-What happened!" Tengoku questioned as the ball-bearing launchers on the Scrap Metal Knight opened up. "M-Mirror Force should've blasted it to kingdom come!"

"Should've, would've, could've, but it can't," Cain replied as he held his hand up. "You see, this bad boy has a few effects, and one of them is that he can't be destroyed by non-targeting card effects! And here's another effect! When my monster inflicts damage to your life points, you take additional damage! Three hundred extra points of damage for each card in your hand and on your field! And you've got three of them – Two in your hand and one on your field!"

Tengoku's eyes widened as several red orbs of energy erupted from the Scrap Metal Knight's shoulders, sending them flying into the Ra Yellow duelist's body, making him growl loudly. "GARGH!" (TLP: 2300)

"An… Interesting move," Tengoku gasped as he brought his hand to his chest. "I… I shouldn't have underestimated you…"

"You're not so bad yourself… Tengoku, right?" Cain questioned with a thoughtful look on his face. "You seem to rely a little bit too much on power though."

"It was a common trend back at the prep-school," Tengoku answered back as he looked at the two cards in his hand. "In any case, do you have anything else to do this turn?"

"Unfortunately, I do not," Cain replied as he looked at the two other face down cards on his field. "I'm pretty much all set for right now. And you've still got the big guy out, so you can easily try to attack my monster and try for a win."

Tengoku pulled off the top card from his deck and looked at the card. "Sorry, but I'm not a fool. Those two face down cards are probably not bluffs, and frankly, I'm not in the mood to make another mistake. So first off, I'll summon A-Team: Trap Disposal Unit in attack mode!"

A small flash of light appeared on the field, forming into four small featureless characters that were all one color (one was blue, another was orange, another red and the final was green) and were dressed in construction equipment (300/400). "Now, should you activate a trap card, I can just tribute these guys and stop it."

"Not bad," Cain admitted with his arms crossed. "And it's a good reference to a classic TV show."

"No duh, not bad," Tengoku chuckled as he threw his hand forward. "DeoWulf! Crash through his Scrap Metal Knight!"

The large demonic machine stomped forward, and immediately began to reach for the Scrap Metal Knight, however a large totem pole that looked to be partially cybernetic appeared directly in front of that attacking monster, sending the Devil Gun King staggering back slightly. Cain smirked as he held his hand up towards the side, "I don't think I'll be letting ya do that! Command Silencer's a quick-play spell, so your A-Team's plan doesn't come together.

"As for my spell, it can negate one attack and then let me draw one card from my deck."

"Not a bad dodge," Tengoku answered as he held up a card from his hand. "But you're not the only one who can defend. I play Swords of Revealing Light!"

Cain's brow twitched slightly as several swords made of light stabbed into the floor around Cain's field, arcing around his Scrap Metal Knight. "Alright, that's fine. Got anything else to play this turn?"

"I think I'm pretty much set for now," Tengoku answered with his head tilted downwards, allowing his beanie and hair to overshadow his eyes. 'I'm pretty sure that I can still pull out of this with a win. I just need to tread lightly… But still, I can't believe that I found this monster – And so soon! Scrap Metal Knight…

'Oh, I can almost feel 'him' burning in my deck case! Ooh, I wish I could bring him out to fight against this Knight! But I can't! Not just yet!'

"Good!" Cain announced as he pulled off the top card from his deck, nodding at the card he just drew. "Then I'll spend this turn wisely, I summon Heavy Mech Support Platform!"

Slapping the card onto his duel disk, the short duelist called for a large loading, spaceship that flew through the air before floating over Cain's field (500/500). "And for an added bonus, this monster's a Union monster, so I can equip him to Scrap Metal Knight!"

Several sparks flew from the two machines, separating the Heavy Mech Support Platform into several large parts that began to latch onto the Scrap Metal Knight, giving the machine an extra pair of cannons and a pair of mechanical wings (2600/2400 + 500/500). "Next up, I'll set one card face down. And since I can't attack, I'll end my turn."

A few of the swords disappeared, allowing the Scrap Metal Knight to move slightly.

Tengoku pulled his next card and looked at the field, 'Alright, he set another card face down. I have my A-Team out, and I can block one of his trap cards, but as he demonstrated last turn, he didn't have just traps set. In that case, I might as well go for broke! Besides, if he's got a certain spell card out, I can easily counter that…'

"DeoWulf!" Tengoku roared loudly as he threw his hand forward. "Slay his monster!"

This time the missile silos on the large machine's shoulders opened up, immediately unleashed a powerful flurry of missiles that flew through the air.

"Not a chance!" Cain announced as he pushed a button on his duel disk. "I play the quick-play spell – Shrink!"

All of the missiles and DeoWulf himself were completely covered in a bluish aura that seemed to cut the machine's height down to half its original height (4000/4400 – 2000/2200), making it the same size as the Scrap Metal Knight. The Scrap Metal machine opened up the ball bearing launchers on its shoulders.

"Not exactly what I was expecting," Tengoku replied as he turned a card around in his hand. "But I can still use this! I play Limiter Removal! Now, all Machine's on my field gain double attack points!"

Indeed a powerful red aura erupted over DeoWulf, machine roar out as it lifted up its cannons and immediately fired several rounds of holographic bullets and lasers (2000/2200 + 2000/0). At the same time, the A-Team just looked at each other and shrugged (300/400 + 300/0) at each other.

The rounds of laser, bullet and missile fire quickly crashed into the Scrap Metal Knight's body, making the large machine stagger backwards as smoke immediately covered the field, making Cain stagger backwards. (CLP: 500)

"Of course, since your monster was equipped with a union monster," Tengoku answered as the smoke began to dissipate, revealing the Scrap Metal Knight standing strong (2600/2400). "It survives the attack. Too bad I can't say the same for my monsters at the end of my turn."

"Yes, Limiter Removal does have that effect," Cain admitted as he crossed his arms. "A risky move, even by a rookie."

"So true," Tengoku answered as he held up one of the two remaining cards up from his hand. "Hence why I'm playing another spell card – Mystik Wok! So, I'll tribute my Devil Gun King, and I'll gain each and every one of my monster's attack points to my life points."

The large red aura flowed from the DeoWulf's body, making the large machine shatter into a rusty mist that flowed into Tengoku's body. (TLP: 6300)

"And unfortunately, I'll have to end my turn," Tengoku sighed as his A-Team shattered like glass. "So my field is completely bare, save for my swords, but I've got two more turns with them."

"You do realize that if I draw a Mystical Space Typhoon," Cain stated as he pulled off his next card. "Then I can blast ya quite easily."

"Maybe, but I doubt that you drew that," Tengoku replied as Cain looked at the card. "The chances of you drawing something like that is highly unlikely, after all, it's not like you've milled through a large section of your deck."

"And you're right," Cain replied as he turned the card around holding up another card from his hand. "What I drew was Monster Reincarnation, so now I discard one card from my hand and I can immediately pull another monster from my graveyard…

"But it won't stay there for long, I summon out MKII Kujaku Sabers!"

The moment that Cain slapped the monster card onto his duel disk, a powerful flame erupted from the air, unleashing a sleek metallic bird-shaped machine that resembled that of a peacock (900/1100). "And, I'll be outfitting my Scrap Metal Knight with my Union monster!"

The large peacock machine began to compact itself, making its wings fly upwards and connect to the back of Scrap Metal Knight (2600/2400 + 300/0), sending several flames dancing over the field.

"Turn end," Cain announced, taking a look around to see that the students were on the edges of their seats. "Ya know, I think we should finish this duel up, I'm getting kind of hungry and I'm sure everyone else is as well."

"Well then," Tengoku admitted as he pulled off the top card of his deck, giving him only one card in his hand, not really caring that more of his swords were disappearing. "I guess I'll just have to make this next move a big one. I play a second Aurora Draw!"

A large mist appeared over the two duelists, creating a beautiful light show that allowed beanie wearing duelist to pluck two cards from the top of his decks, "Now, like with my first copy of this card, since it was the last card in my hand, I get to draw two cards from my deck."

Turning the cards up to his face, Tengoku looked at the cards – One was green bordered and the other was hot pink bordered, "Hmm… I can see the ending. I play the spell card, Reinforcement of the Army!"

"What the heck?" Cain questioned as a single card popped out of Tengoku's deck. "Why is that in a Machine deck?"

"Now, wasn't it you who said 'don't assume'?" Tengoku retorted as he pulled the card into his hand. "If you recall, I never said that I ran a machine deck, all I said was that this deck represented my views. In any case, I now summon my monster of choice!"

Tengoku slapped the card onto his duel disk, and the ground in front of him shattered to unleash a large, muscular warrior that was covered with purple and black armor with a long, tattered black cloak over its shoulders. The warrior spun around and revealed a large black and red metallic saber (1800/1000). "Junk Blader!"

"I see, and here I thought that whole 'the world is garbage' thing was you trying to be trendy," Cain stated as Tengoku reached into his duel disk's graveyard slot.

"You wish I was," Tengoku announced as he pulled five cards from his graveyard, and five orbs of light flowed around the Junk Blader's body. "Cause now you see, I can activate Junk Blader's effect, allowing me to remove a Junk monster from my graveyard to increase his ATK by 400 points until the end phase. And since this effect isn't limited to once per turn, I can remove the Paternal Junk, Maternal Junk and the three Kid Junks from my graveyard to turn my warrior into a titan!"

All five of the orbs crashed into the Junk Blader's body, making its already muscular frame grow stronger and stronger (1800/1000 + 2000/0). "Now then, I feel like being a risk taker! Junk Blader! Destroy his monster and the rest of his life points!

"Blade Blazer!"

The Junk Blader stabbed its blade into the ground and shot forward, immediately dashed towards the Scrap Metal Knight. The warrior pulled its blade from the ground and aimed to stab the Scrap Metal Knight.

However, three orbs of light crashed into the Knight's body, and threw his hand forward to latch onto the blade, sending a flurry of sparks flying through the air. Tengoku's eyes widened when he watched his empowered monster stopped, "W-What the?"

"Did you forget about my face down card?" Cain questioned as his face down card flipped up. "In that case, let me etch it into your mind! My trap card Synchro Strike! Now for each monster that was used in my Scrap Metal Knight's Synchro summon, he gains five hundred attack points!

"And I had three monsters!"

The Scrap Metal Knight's body began to glow brightly, pulling the buster-pile armed fist back (2900/2400 + 1500/0), and with a powerful punch, the Metal Knight pierced through the Junk Blader's chest, shattering him into millions of pixels that flew into Tengoku's body, "GARGH!" (TLP: 5700)

"And don't forget about my Scrap Knight's effect!" Cain roared loudly as the ball bearing launchers opened up once more. "Since he still made battle damage, you take his effect damage! So, since there are only two cards in your possession, that another six hundred points!"

The ball bearings slammed into Tengoku's body, and the young man knelt to the ground. "Gack!" (TLP: 5100)

With his hand lifted up, Tengoku narrowed his eyes at Cain, "Oh, that's impressive, I didn't expect that at all. I set one card face down and end my turn!"

As Tengoku picked himself up and slipped the last card into his duel disk, making the card appear in front of him. 'Just one turn, that's all I need.'

Cain slowly drew from his deck, the power bonus from the Synchro Strike disappeared from the Scrap Metal Knight's power (2900/2400). With a quick gaze at the card, Cain slipped the card into his duel disk, "Well Tengoku, this has been an interesting match, but all good things must come to an end. I play Giant Trunade!"

Tengoku's eyes widened a powerful storm swept the field, blowing away not only his swords and his face down card, but also the Kujaku Sabers equipped to the Scrap Metal Knight (2600/2400). The cards reappeared back into the duelists' hands, however Cain picked up the card and immediately slapped it back onto his duel disk, allowing the large peacock machine appear back on the field and reequip to the Scrap Metal Knight (2900/2400).

"And now," Cain stated as he threw his hand forward. "Scrap Metal Knight! Deathbound Dash!"

The large winged machine propelled itself forward, burning across the field and pulled its pile bunker back before it slammed the weapon into Tengoku's body, sending him skidding backwards. "This… This isn't over, not by a long shot!" (TLP: 2200)

"Don't assume," Cain chuckled as he turned around, his back to Tengoku, not bothering to watch as the ball bearing cannons shot into the freshman duelist. (TLP: 1600)

"Isn't that what you're doing?" Tengoku coughed as he stood up straight.

Cain instead slipped a card into his duel disk allowing a spell card to appear in front of his back, showing off two creatures – One of pure ice and one of pure magma pulling away from each other. "No, what I'm doing is called knowing. You played a good match Tengoku, but my Quick-Play spell – Combination Attack, will end this right now.

"Cause my monsters separate, and the monster that was equipped with the Union monster can attack again this turn!"

The wings flew from the Scrap Metal Knight (2600/2400), forming into the red peacock machine monster (900/1100), both of which sparked with electricity. Cain held his hand up and gave a thumbs up, "And now, end this."

Tengoku's eyes widened as he watched the large Scrap Metal Knight charged towards him again and immediately slammed its other fist into his chest, sending the young duelist to the ground. "RUK!" (TLP: 0)

And with that final attack, all of the holograms disappeared, making most of the students who were cheering Tengoku stop slightly as the rest of the students who were on Cain's side erupted loudly, which eventually caused the rest of the duelists catch the cheering bug, filling the room with roars for the amazing duel.

Tengoku began to push himself off of the ground, only to realize that Cain held his left hand towards the freshman duelist, "Good duel there, freshman."

"Not so bad yourself, sempai," Tengoku chuckled as he jumped to his feet, not bothering to use Cain's hand to help him get to his feet. "But, don't think for a second that I'm going to let you get away for that defeat…"

'Especially since you've got that Scrap Metal Knight! I had a feeling that I'd find one of them on this island, but I never thought it'd be so soon! I wonder if the other one is here as well!'

"What sportsmanship!" Kudo announced loudly, making both Cain and Tengoku jump slightly. "And that's how we do things here at duel academia! With new dueling strategies and new powers, I just can't wait for classes to begin!"

Price chuckled slightly as he rubbed the back of his head, 'M-Maybe I should take a page from Kudo's book. He doesn't seem to be nervous at all! And that was still an amazing duel!'

A few minutes later, the students were finally enjoying their opening night meal, and the chatter was echoing through out the room. Amongst the older students in the Obelisk Blue dorm, Cain sat farther away from most of the students, simply enjoying his meager meal and glass of milk. However he wasn't alone…

"That was a decent duel," Tenri admitted before she took a sip from her soda.

"Why are you here?" Cain questioned with a dull look in his eyes. "Shouldn't you be sitting with the rest of the first year reds?"

"Yeesh, what crawled up your ass and died?" Tenri huffed with her cheeks puffed out slightly. "I didn't expect you to be a part of the prejudice of dorms."

"I'm not," Cain replied calmly. "I just don't like you."

"Aw! Mustang! The shorty's being mean!" Tenri cried fake tears to the scarf-wearing duelist who was about to eat some of his meal – Caught just as he was about to place the food in his mouth.

"Who are you calling an ameba?" Cain snarled loudly.

Mustang sighed as he lowered his head and fork, "Cain, stop acting like Edward Elric, and I'll have you know that I invited Tenri to join us."

"Ha!" Tenri stated with her tongue sticking out at Cain.

"And Tenri, stop provoking him," Mustang groaned as he turned his serious glare towards the red headed girl. "Seriously, Cain, I thought you got over that short complex of yours."

"I have for the most part!" Cain snarled back snapping his glass of milk up. "But some things stay with ya for almost forever. Ugh…"

Mustang shook his head, "Whatever, in any case… Cain, what's your take on that Tengoku Gomi character?"

Cain was drinking the glass of milk like a thirsty man caught in the desert, and sighed loudly when he finished the drink, "He was holding back."

"Huh?" Tenri questioned. "He was? But all those moves…"

"I could tell he was holding back," Cain answered slamming his glass on the table, making all the plates shake wildly. "I had my suspicions through out the duel, but that last move of his – Junk Blader. It was a warrior monster, this would lead me to believe that he has more cards that he had in his deck.

"Besides… There was something else that went on with that duel. I noticed it when I played my Scrap Metal Knight."

Mustang raised an eyebrow, "Cain… Are you saying…?"

"Don't get your scarf in a twist," Cain answered back, stabbing his fork into some of the food on his plate. "It was only a feeling. We'll have to scan the crowds a little bit while longer till I can be sure about this."

"So… That creepy guy isn't going to join our group?" Tenri questioned with a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, in another part of the banquet hall…

"ACHOOO!" Tengoku sneezed loudly, having used his sleeve to block his mouth. "Damn it. I hope I don't have a summer cold."

"Well, looking at your uniform, maybe you should've stayed away from playing with trash earlier."

"This world is full of trash, Eiji-kun," Tengoku scoffed back with his head turned away from the bug duelist who sat across from him. "Its hard not to get stained by the trash in this world. In any case, let's get back to what we were talking about."

"Ah yes," Eiji smirked as he waved his spoon towards Tengoku. "Looks like you're not so superior after all. You lost to an upperclassmen."

"Yeah, but it's a given that I'd lose," Tengoku defended back. "The guy was using his real deck, not some test deck. So, what's your excuse?"

"You bastard," Eiji growled.

"But don't worry, my compadre," Tengoku chortled, his finger waved a few times at his classmate. "Because of this duel, I have managed to find out a way to get back your former glory."

"What?" Eiji questioned.

TBC

TTTTTTT

Card Stats

Quick Spanite / Earth / LV. 3 / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 800 / Machine/Tuner: If this card is used for a Synchro Summon and sent to the Graveyard, 1 face-up monster your opponent controls loses 500 ATK.

Description: a small cute robot that had several screws popping out from its body with a wrench-like head that had two cartoonish eyes on it

Junk Blader / Earth / LV. 4 / ATK: 1800 / DEF: 1000 / Warrior/Effect: You can remove from play 1 'Junk' Monster from your graveyard to have this card gain 400 ATK until the End Phase.

Description: A purple armored warrior with a long flowing black cape with a red and black metallic sword in his hands.

These two cards are Japanese cards that have yet to be released to America.

Aurora Draw / Normal Spell / Effect: Activate only if you have no other cards in your hand. Draw 2 cards.

Image: A beautiful aurora in the night sky

This card was used by Aporia in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's

Paternal Junk / Earth / LV. 4 / ATK: 1600 / DEF: 500 / Machine/Effect: If you have a face-up 'Maternal Junk' on your field, this card gains 500 ATK. If you have a face-up 'Kid Junk' on your field, this card gains 1000 ATK.

Description: a large junky robot, this one covered with bulky scrap metal that resembled that of a suit and tie and even had a pair of black rimmed glasses on its gray face

Maternal Junk / Earth / LV. 3 / ATK: 300 / DEF: 1500 / Machine/Effect: Once per turn, you control a face-up 'Paternal Junk', you can add 1 'Kid Junk' from your deck or graveyard to your hand.

Description: a charming robot that was made out of old junky metal that was colored red, pink and dark brown that had a teapot on the top of her head with a whisk in her hands

Kid Junk / Earth / LV. 1 / ATK: 300 / DEF: 500 / Machine: Some day I'll just be like my father!

Description: A green childish robot dressed in a red jacket and cap with a pair of roller blades

The preceding three cards were used in the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's anime.

Boosting Resurrection / Continuous Trap / Effect: Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower monster in your Graveyard and equip this card to it. The equipped monster has its attack and defense increased by 100 points and its level upgraded by 1. When this card is removed from the field, destroy the equipped monster. During each of your Standby Phases, the controller of this card receives 1000 points of damage.

Image: A powerful form of energy rising up from the ground.

This card was used by Jack Atlus in the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's anime.

Command Silencer / Quick-Play Spell / Effect: Activate only when your opponent declares an attack. Negate the attack and draw 1 card.

Image: A large futuristic totem pole with speakers built in the wings

This card was used by Kaiba Seto in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime.

MKII Kujaku Sabers / Fire / LV. 3 / ATK: 900 / DEF: 1100 / Machine/Union: Once per turn, during your Main Phase, if you control this monster on the field you can equip it to one Machine-Type monster as an Equip Spell card, OR change it back to a monster in face-up Attack position. When equipped to a monster by this card's effect, that monster gains 300 ATK. When the equipped monster attacks, your opponent cannot chain spells or trap cards. (A monster can only be equipped with 1 Union Monster at a time. If the equipped monster would be destroyed, this card is destroyed instead.)

Description: A large red mechanical peacock with fiery power boosters on its body.

Devil Gun King – DeoWulf / Dark / LV. 8 / ATK: 2000 / DEF: 1900 / Machine/Effect: You can Tribute any number of Machine-Type monsters on the field for the tribute summon of this card. For each Machine-Type monster that was used in this card's tribute, you may increase this card's ATK and DEF by 500 points. This card is unaffected by your opponent's non-targeting card effects.

Description:

The Scrap Metal Knight / Water / LV. 8 / ATK: 2600 / DEF: 2400 / Machine/Synchro/Effect: [1 Tuner + 2 or more Machine-Type non-Tuners] This card cannot be destroyed by non-targeting card effects. When this card inflicts damage to your opponent's life points, inflict 300 points of damage for each card on your opponent's field and in your opponent's hand. When this card attacks a defense position monster with a lower DEF than this monster's ATK, inflict the difference to your opponent's life points.

Description: A bulky, blue armored, man-shaped machine armed with a five-barreled machine cannon on its left arm, a pile-bunker-like pike mounted on its right arm and a set of titanium, ball bearing-launchers rested on its shoulders.

TTTTTTTTTT

Next time…

The first day… *gulp*

Alright… Everyone please calm down!

There's no difference between us!

AAAH!

You lousy red!

Superior? YOU!

Gah! You… You're just…

Is there really a problem?

If you want a fight! I'll give it to ya!

Why do I keep screwing up?

This can't end well

I'm a professor! I need to do this!

I can only see your soul…

And it burns brighter than the moon behind you!

Draw 4

First Day Troubles