And here's part 2.
Disclaimer: Still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!
Chapter 4: The Academy Continued
They arrived in front of a magnificent blue building next to a lake. Damian didn't waste any time, immediately launching into an explanation.
"This is the Obelisk Blue boys' dorm. Doctor Crowler is in charge of the boys' dorm, and Miss Fontaine is in charge of the girls' dorm, (1) which we will see in a minute, but not get too close to; it's just over that way. This is for the best of all the students in each class. You can, of course, move up and down dorms based on your grades and how well you Duel. In my opinion, the Blues are generally pompous idiots who mostly got in there because of their parents' connections-" Ryan took a swift look at Nick to see his reaction, and was relieved to see him look intrigued "- but there are a few cool guys in the dorm. And here is the Blue girls' dorm. Looks pretty much the same, right? Well, it mostly is."
"Question," Nick interjected as Damian stopped to draw a breath. "How do you move up and down dorms?"
"The Academy has frequent promotion exams that test people who want to move up dorms. If you want to move down dorms, then no problem, you can pretty much go live in a lower dorm. But you have to win in a promotion exam to move up," Damian explained. Nick nodded, deep in thought.
Damian led them to an old building that was starting to fall apart. "This is the Abandoned Dorm. It used to be the Obelisk Blue dorm until a fire burned it down one night about nine years ago. Thankfully, there were no fatalities… At least that was the official statement was. The kids that have been missing since then are overseas studying. It's only mere coincidence that nobody's seen them since the fire." He looked at the slightly horrified faces of the freshmen before busting out in laughter. "Hahahaha! You guys should see your faces right now!"
The two younger Yellows looked at each other confusedly. "So… Is that the actual story?" Nick asked hesitantly.
"No," Damian snorted. "Well, yes, the dorm burned down about nine years ago, but nobody was hurt. Apparently one winter day when it was empty, like everyone was in classes or just out of the building, one of the fires somehow got out of control and the place burned down. Now it's off-limits. You could get expelled if you get caught trespassing."
As he spoke the last sentences, Ryan noticed Nick staring intently at the building. "Don't even think about it," he warned the younger boy. Nick said nothing.
The next stop was two small red buildings. "These true homes away from home are the Slifer Red dorms," Damian explained as he showed them the two identical buildings on the edge of the cliff facing away from the ocean. "Professor Banner and Miss Dorothy are in charge of the two dorms. (2) The one on the right is the girls' dorm, and the other is the boys'. They're nothing special- at all. Literally, they're little more than outhouses where you can sleep and stuff. Barely livable. I think they make them like that so that the Slifer students have motivation to move dorms. It's also referred to as the 'drop-out dorm' 'cause so many students drop out if they can't move out of the dorm by the middle of their sophomore year."
"You speak from experience?" Ryan asked.
"I was originally put in the Slifer dorm my freshman year. I moved up the Ra Yellow not too long before the end of last year. I was so happy when I finally passed the promotion exam. It would take all day to tell you how much better Ra is than Slifer. You guys don't know how great you have it, just skipping over Slifer."
"You poor thing," Nick said, half-mockingly, half-sympathetically. "It's okay now. Soon we'll all be in Obelisk Blue and show any and all arrogant pricks what real Dueling's about!" They all laughed.
"Since you already saw the harbor, there's no reason to show you again. Not to mention that the volcano is kinda difficult to get to and just a little dangerous. So, that only leaves one last place: your new home, Ra Yellow.
"So it's not on the scale of the Blue dorm, but lemme tell ya, it's a helluva lot better than the Red dorm. It's run by Professors Hibiki and… uh… whatshisname, uh… it begins with an 's'…" Ryan and Nick sweatdropped as they watched Damain try and remember the name of the professor. "Uh… The sad thing is that I know this… wait… sad…sad… Sartyr! That's it! I have no idea how I made the connection between 'sad' and 'Sartyr'… Anyway, boys by Sartyr, girls by Hibiki. As you already know, Yellow is for the students who are better Duelists than the Reds but not as good as the Blues or didn't have the connections or go to prep school like the Blues. We're all a bunch of average Joes. More or less. Now, who's up for some food? The welcoming dinner's almost started and I'm famished! Let's go before they start without us!" Damian immediately began running towards the boys' dorm, catching the two freshmen off-guard.
"Hey, wait for us!" Nick protested as they began running after him. Damian simply laughed as he reached the doors. He began to shut them before Ryan, the faster of the two, was able to put his foot in between the door and the doorframe. A moment later, Nick caught up.
"Alright, the mess hall's this way," Damian explained. "We better hurry, they've probably started without us already." And sure enough, when they reached the end of the hall, the rest of the students were already seated at tables, about to eat.
"Ah, it appears we have some latecomers," the only adult in the room stated as he rose out of his seat to address the newcomers. Although his tone was serious, Ryan noticed the kind look in his eyes.
He turned to Damian. "I never thought that you of all people would ever be late to a meal, Mr. Wilson!"
Damian laughed. "I was just showing these new students around. Besides, I'd travel to hell and back twice to eat some of your food again, professor!" Ryan couldn't help wondering if he had forgotten his name again.
The professor gave a small smile before turning towards Ryan and Nick. "So, you are the new students? Welcome to Ra Yellow. I hope Damian gave you a satisfactory tour."
Nick nodded. "He sure knows a lot about the school."
"Well, sit down anywhere you like. I cooked the food myself. It's time to enjoy!"
The food was delicious. Ryan groaned as he finished the fifth course. (3) He looked over at Damian, who, incredibly, was still eating with no signs of slowing down. "How do you stay so skinny?" he asked.
Damian stopped piling food into his mouth long enough to say "High metabolism" before turning back to his food.
Ryan looked around the hall. All the other Yellows had finished eating, including Professor Sartyr, and were watching Damian eat as if it was a TV show.
"Where do you think he puts it all?" Nick whispered.
"Probably has hollow legs," Ryan answered. "And head, and arms, and stomach…"
Professor Sartyr cleared his throat and rose again. Everyone stopped watching Damian and focused on the professor. Damian, on the other hand, continued to eat, although at a slightly slower rate so he could hear. "For those of you who are done, it's time to start heading back to your rooms. You should have gotten your designated rooms when you picked up your uniforms. You should all be in your separate rooms no later than 8:30."
"Uh, I never got designated a room," one freshman called out anxiously. All the other freshman nodded.
Sartyr sighed. "Check the inside pockets of your jackets."
For a moment, the only noises in the room were fabric rustling and Damian eating. Then there was a collective sigh of relief as little papers were miraculously found. Satyr shook his head. Every year it was the same old, same old.
"Now that you all have your room numbers, I wish you good night." The professor exited the mess hall and walked down the hallway to his own room.
The moment his door closed, Damian let loose a huge belch. "Whooh, excuse me! And that's the sign that the tank is full. The professor cooks the best food in the whole school," he informed a slightly impressed Ryan and Nick. "We'd better get to our rooms. People usually only prowl the hallways and grounds on the first and last days of the school year and it's not good if they catch you outside after it gets dark."
It turned out that Ryan's room had Damian on one side and Nick on the other. Damian was especially elated when they found out.
"Alright! This means I can spend more times with my favorite freshman!" Damian laughed, draping his arms around his two friends. "Stick with me and I'll show you a great time!"
"Can you do it without crushing us beneath you?" Nick asked, squirming under Damian's weight.
"I need to digest my food, so I'll be hitting the hay a little early tonight. Try not to have too much time without me!" With that final comment, Damian removed his arms from the freshmen and went into his room, closing the door.
"Well then…" Nick trailed off. "What a day, huh?"
"Yeah," Ryan agreed. "This is going to be a great year."
"And we're going to spend it with a crazy sophomore who eats as if he needs to eat for a family of seven," Nick muttered.
Ryan cracked a smile. "Well, they say that the greatest of minds are the craziest people."
1. In the anime, all girls, regardless of skill, were automatically put into Obelisk Blue. In this story I have them put into the three dorms based on their rank.
2. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga, Midori Hibiki is the head of the Slifer Red dorm. Since I didn't want to create new staff (partiality out of laziness), I moved Hibiki to Ra Yellow and put Miss Dorothy in charge of of the Slifer girls.
3. In the second GX episode, Obelisk and Ra students had five-course meals.
Again, these two chapters were hard to write because of the lack of Duels. Hope I didn't disappoint too badly.
Honestly, I have no idea what's coming next or when it will be. I have ideas galore, but my best ideas always turn into disasters. My friends would be able to tell you all sorts of stories.