Chapter 3: The New Kids
Two weeks of school was enough for the students to deserve a day off. Actually, two days of school was enough depending on who answered the question, but the faculty gave it after two weeks. The third Monday of the fall semester was always designated the Freshman Placement Exams. All students were so encouraged to attend student duels that upperclassmen received the day off; freshmen had to duel all day, but at least they didn't have to attend classes for the day.
Many upperclassmen didn't attend the full day of placement exams. Understandably, some of them wanted to do something constructive—like exercising manual dexterity by playing video games—during their day off. But the more dedicated students wanted to see as much action as they could during the day, and that's what brought Matt to the Yellow Dorm. Before he could go to the Medici building to see the games, he had to meet up with his escort. Access to the dorm was limited to those students whose Academy IDs registered them as Yellow residents, or to students who "piggy-backed" off of other Yellow students on the way in or out of the building. Matt slipped in behind three exiting women before the door shut.
Living on the fifth floor, and not happy about it, was Matt's girlfriend Kasumi Okuyama. She was an auburn-haired, dark-skinned beauty from Japan. She used to be Matt's height before Matt started growing again, leaving her behind at five-foot-six, and she was only twenty pounds lighter because her lean, fairly muscular body. Bryan's favorite feature about Kasumi was her chest; Matt's favorite feature was that she knew Capoeira and could kick his ass easily.
That's what made it so difficult to visit with her in the dorms lately. She was a strong duelist who hated the fact that her boyfriend and her best friend—Cary—made it into the Blue Mansion whereas she got stuck in the Yellow Dorm. Going to Matt's room made her feel like she didn't belong, and having Matt come to her room reminded her that he was a cut above her in dueling ability. A little part of Matt always worried that she was going to snap one day.
The Yellow Dorm was the biggest one by far. It was built to accommodate all the students who were older than their first year and didn't quite measure up to the strict standards Dr. Lankford held for the Blue Mansion. Five floors each contained fifteen double-bedrooms in three five-room wings; each wing shared a bathroom. Each floor had a small kitchen with a microwave, and a fully-equipped kitchen was located on the first floor. The first floor also had a large, carpeted TV lounge, also holding recreational materials such as pool and ping pong. The basement contained a large study lounge, and the laundry facilities were located on the other end of the basement.
Kasumi's room was set up in the typical setting. From the door, the left wall held two closets with a large, six-drawer dresser in between. The far wall had a single window. Directly beside the window was Kasumi's bed, set lengthwise against the wall. Her computer desk sat between her bed and her roommate's bed, which was also parallel to the wall but set in the middle of the room. The roommate's computer desk also sat to the left of her bed, just to the right of the door when Matt walked in. Kasumi wore a sleeveless, white jacket and a short, yellow skirt, plus yellow, knee-length boots. She was tying her hair up in a ponytail. She may hate living in the Yellow Dorm, but yellow was definitely her color.
"Hey, beautiful," he spoke as he stepped through the door.
"Hey, Matt," replied Kasumi's roommate Eldina Bouchles. She was a little shorter than Kasumi, had nice black hair, and her skin had an olive tone to it. She chose the same Academy uniform Kasumi wore: short yellow skirt and white jacket with yellow boots. She wasn't in the same physical shape as Kasumi, but she didn't make a habit out of beating up punching bags and flipping around the quad, either. Going by the nickname Ellie, she was a quiet girl who tended to be very introverted unless she was in a group of close friends.
Ellie happened to feel comfortable around Matt because her boyfriend was Matt's former roommate. Darius Mantzios was older than the average sophomore; not every student was accepted into Duel Academy upon graduation from high school, but the school did not discriminate as long as the applicant met the criteria. Darius was twenty-four years old, and though he was five years older than Ellie, he made up for it by being remarkably mature for a man with his background. Darius grew up quite poor by comparison with other students—he mostly worked with his father in an orchard of citrus trees—and learned to duel after dark. It started as a relaxing activity and grew into a potential career when he discovered that he was the best in his hometown.
Darius was in the room, as well, waiting for Ellie to finish getting ready. Darius wore his yellow blazer undone around the neck, leaving a better view of his black undershirt. Like Kasumi, he wasn't thrilled with being placed in the Yellow Dorm, but he also knew that being miserable wasn't how he wanted to spend his time. Instead, he would practice and apply again for next semester.
Matt just smiled in amusement at Ellie's comment. He stepped up and kissed Kasumi hello, then looked to Darius. "Hey, man. What's up?"
Darius turned his head up and said, "The ceiling?"
Matt laughed, but not because he thought that was funny; English wasn't Darius's first language, and so he had difficulty with American idioms. His vocabulary improved tremendously, but he still sometimes missed the deeper meanings of certain phrases. "I'm a little surprised you haven't learned that one yet."
Darius looked confused. "What did I miss?"
"Nothing, sweetie," Ellie told him.
Matt changed the subject. "It's almost time to register for flag football again," he directed toward Darius, "and without Andy and the other guys, we're short a few players. Any chance you're interested in playing with us this year?"
"I suppose so," Darius agreed. "It will be nice to have your talents helping me instead of scoring points against me."
"Awesome!" Matt said excitedly. "We'll get together after the exams and figure out who we've got available to play. That work for you?"
"It is not much work at all," he replied. "I will try to find you later today."
Kasumi finished setting her hair and looked to Matt with an expression of frustration. "Why are you making me go to this thing again?"
"I'm not making you go. Cary is making you go. I just want you to go because I like being with you, and this is a dueling school, so why skip out on watching a bunch of duels, and you smell terrific." Kas lightened up after that comment. Matt always was able to make her smile.
"Fine," she said with extreme sarcasm. "I'll go watch all the freshmen be better than me."
"That's how we get better," Matt assured her.
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The Hibiki Center was the site of the freshman placement exams. The center has an old-fashioned, original Industrial Illusions duel stadium underneath the floor—occasionally raised for special occasions—but more importantly, with the floor cleared, six smaller duel stations could be brought in. Each duel station was a five-by-five-foot cube with holographic projectors inside and electronic panels outside that could read duel cards and render them three-dimensional inside the cube. Many freshmen did not own more high-tech dueling equipment, and no student was actually required to own one, and the duel stations were cost and time efficient, hence they were used when a large number of duels were planned.
Spectators could move around the center to get a better view of any specific duel he or she wanted to see, or just sit in the middle of the center and watch all six simultaneous duels on the Jumbotron.
Each freshman was required to complete three duels as part of the exam. The attitudes of the freshmen ranged widely. In the face of the practical exams, most students became nervous; it is one thing to duel against another good duelist, but it is another thing to know someone is grading your performance.
"You guys nervous?" Lucy asked. She kept in touch with the freshman members of her orientation group and made a conscious effort to say "hi" whenever she saw them. Hillary was sitting by the bleachers with Nathan and Carter, two of Bryan's freshmen, and Jason stood nearby with his roommate Clint.
"I'm a little worried about these practical exams," Hillary replied. "How we perform during these duels determines our school rankings. I might run into a bit of bad luck that could ruin my grade before we even get going."
Hillary Delaney was not an overly pessimistic person, but she did realize that dueling has a distinct luck factor involved despite the level of skill a successful duelist can display. She also kept in mind that everyone at the academy is a good duelist, and sometimes you just don't have the cards. Overall, though, Hillary was a cheerful, friendly person and one of Lucy's favorite freshmen. Her most notable feature, however, was the wheelchair she rode wherever she went. As a child, she was diagnosed with spina bifida: essentially, an incomplete development of the spinal cord prior to her birth caused her to become paraplegic. Because of the impairment of sensory function, she was largely unable to walk. She wore a longer skirt than most women because she was always seated, and she happily wore the school uniform as directed.
"Just prepare the same way I did," Bryan suggested. "Watching reruns of The Honeymooners and coming up with funny nicknames for my cards." He held up Elemental Hero Sparkman and said, "He's Lemongrass Honeysuckle." He held up Elemental Hero Burstinatrix and said, "She's Bonfire Jones." Hillary smiled, but her lack of response told Lucy that Bryan's suggestion wasn't a big help to her.
"I wouldn't mind skipping the exams and just taking the lowest rank," Nathan commented. "It's so much quicker and easier."
"Everyone needs a goal," Jason agreed. "Yours is to bring up the rear of the class; mine is to be Number 1." Jason Maxim was taller than his friends and had a slender, fairly muscular build; he had a similar body type to Matt's except without the years of football training. He wore black pants and a red T-shirt with his red blazer lying on his seat in the stands. Jason wasn't a fan of the jacket; he hoped wearing a red shirt would be enough, but Baker informed him that not wearing the uniform during a school duel would result in a point deduction. Despite the lunacy of the rule, Jason agreed to wear his jacket during his duels, but he was against wearing it when not required.
"If we do well today, will we get the chance to duel some of the top-ranked students?" Clint asked. His gaze moved toward Bryan. "Like you?"
"Not immediately," Lucy answered, "but I'll bet a lot of the higher-ranked students will send you duel requests if you show them something impressive here."
"Sounds awesome," Jason replied. He looked over to Carter. "My first duel is against you. You ready for it?"
"I think so," Carter said. "I might still be asleep at the moment, but I feel ready. Let's do it."
"Have fun, you guys," Lucy told them.
Jason and Carter kicked off the festivities in one of the six first-wave duels. They approached a nearby duel station. Each was monitored by a faculty member; Carter and Jason were monitored and graded by one of the academy's new adjunct faculty members.
When Carter saw her, he said, "Hi, Miss Dawkins."
Erica Dawkins was the youngest faculty member by far. She was only one year removed from Duel Academy herself; she obtained her degree in duel education this past May and now attended the academy again as an adjunct faculty member while she worked on her master's degree. She was five-foot-four and 110 pounds with a petite figure, relatively dark skin, and dark hair down to the small of her back. She had thin eyebrows, and distinct dimples formed on her cheeks when she smiled.
As an adjunct faculty member and master's student, Erica wore a black faculty uniform. The jacket was otherwise identical to other faculty jackets, even with the white trim. The only differences between student uniforms and faculty uniforms are as follows: The collar is longer and permanently popped, the cuffs are thicker, and the tails to the jacket are longer. She wore a white undershirt to cover her midriff where the front of the jacket stopped above the skirt, and even though she always questioned the sexual maturity of whoever designed the uniforms, she wore the black, thigh boots with her black skirt.
"Hi, guys," she spoke. "How are you today?"
"Feeling good," Jason said. "I'm ready to show off for Lucy over there."
"You're showing off for Lucy?" Carter asked. "Is that why you're wearing a small T-shirt?" He noted that the shirt Jason wore was originally intended for a person half Jason's size. "I'm surprised you can breathe in that thing. Doesn't the oxygen deprivation get to you when you duel?"
"At least I look good in this shirt. You're stuck wearing a powder blue blouse to cover up your premature pot belly," Jason retorted. Carter wore a light blue polo shirt underneath his red blazer; Jason obviously thought the shade was a little too light.
Carter argued, "It's a polo shirt—not a blouse. And it's sky blue, not powder. Sky blue, like the sky—where there's eagles and jets and lightning. And it's not a blouse!"
"If you say so," Jason mocked. "Let's get this duel underway."
Carter said, "Fine. Who goes first?"
Erica explained, "Usually we have the duelists play a quick game of Rock-Paper-Scissors. If you win, you get to decide if you prefer to go first or second. On three, okay?"
Jason was ready to go, but Carter stopped and asked, "On three? Or three, then go?"
"It's always faster on three," Jason replied. "Come on." He played paper and Carter played rock. "Hah! You go first."
He and Carter sat down at each side of the duel station, shuffled and cut one another's decks, then loaded their cards into the machine. During each Draw Phase, or when appropriate cards were played, the duel station would release the deck and allow a player to draw his cards without giving him the ability to look through the deck against the rules. Jason and Carter each drew five cards to begin, then Carter drew a sixth card to begin his first turn.
"Alright, then," Carter said as he looked over his hand. He placed one card from his hand on the electronic plates, and the machine kicked in to read the card and activate the associated display inside the terminal. "I'll play Foolish Burial, which lets me send a monster from my deck to the Graveyard." He pulled a specific card from his deck and watched amusedly as the display showed a tombstone on his side of the field with a single arm sticking out of the dirt and grasping a shovel. "Cool."
"Is this your first time seeing holographic Duel Monsters?" Jason asked somewhat mockingly.
"No. Have you ever seen Iron Man more than once? It can still be cool after the first time." He huffed. "Anyway, I'll summon Junk Synchron (3/1300/500)." His monster card was rendered on the field as a stout, mechanical warrior clad in orange clothing and a white scarf. Suddenly a monster appeared beside the Junk Synchron—one that looked like a pink tank of nitrous with a face and cable-like arms and legs. "When I Normal summon Junk Synchron, I get to summon Nitro Synchron (2/300/0) from my Graveyard."
"That's why you played Foolish Burial," Jason surmised.
"Yeah, exactly." Carter sounded more excited now; he had an excellent opening hand and realized he could make some good plays this way. "Now I can send Junk Synchron to the Graveyard as a Tribute to summon Turret Warrior (5/+2500/2000)." Under normal circumstances, a player may only summon a monster once per turn, but many cards can alter the rule by activating a Special Summon; a player may use as many Special Summons as desired in a turn. "Turret Warrior gains attack equal to the points of the monster I used as a Tribute, but I have a way to make it even stronger; I'm going to tune Nitro Synchron to the Turret Warrior."
Tuning is a specialized form of fusion in which a specific type of monster—called a tuner—fuses with another monster to summon a bigger monster. The appeal to Synchro Summons, as they are called, is that any monsters may be fused together. The only limit on the summoning is that the Synchro monster that is summoned must be of the same level as the two tuning monsters combined. In this example, Nitro Synchron (2) and Turret Warrior (5) can summon a Level 7 monster.
The field showed Nitro Synchron release a cloud of gas that enveloped itself and Turret Warrior. "Now my monsters combine into Nitro Warrior (7/2800/1800)." When the nitrous cloud faded, the resulting monster combination was a hideous, green-skinned demon with two large horns on its head and a propulsion engine for a tail. Carter's deck also beeped as the tank nitrous on the field emptied. "I also get to draw an extra card because Nitro Synchron was used to summon a Nitro Synchro monster."
"Are you done now?" Jason asked.
Carter nodded. "Oh, yeah. I guess you get to play, too, huh?"
"I do. And here's the reason I let you go first; when you have a monster on the field and I don't, I get to summon Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn (5/2000/900) without a Tribute." Jason's monster was a tall man dressed like a bird, with black feathers on its waist, wings, and tail and blue feathers around its head. "And I'll also use the Spell Card called Double Summon; now I can Normal summon my Blackwing – Elphin the Raven (6/2200/1200) without Tributes because I have another Blackwing monster on the field." His second monster was bulkier than the first and had even darker wings. The headdress he wore resembled the head of a griffin, poised for battle. "Finally, I'll Special Summon Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind (3/1300/400) in defense mode." This monster was smaller than the others; still rather humanoid, it had blue feathers around its body and green feathers on its head.
"That's quite an army of birds you've got there," Carter commented. "I didn't even see you spread the seed."
"Laugh it up, Blousie. Gale's effect activates to cut your Nitro Warrior's attack power in half." Gale began whipping its wings wildly, surrounding Nitro Warrior (-1400) in a whirlwind. "Now Sirocco's effect gives the attack points of all my Blackwing monsters to Elphin (+5500)." When Sirocco let out a high-powered shriek, Elphin's body pumped up. "Now Elphin (5500) will attack Nitro Warrior (1400)." Jason's monster began flapping its wings; it took to the sky, broke into a dive, and tore into Carter's monster with its talons. Before the monster disappeared, a second Blackwing—one with a black-feathered body and a yellow-feathered head with a red crest—also struck the Nitro Warrior. "By discarding Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow, Elphin gains an additional 1400 points." Carter 8000 – 5500 = 2500: Jason 8000.
"That was disconcerting," Carter admitted, "but I think I can start to pull things back. I'll play Monster Reborn on my Nitro Warrior (2800)." A decorative ankh appeared over Carter's field; the hologram showed Nitro Warrior fading in. "That brings my monster back to the field, and with his original attack points, too. Then I'll play Synchro Blast Wave." Nitro Warrior held up its hand and emitted a series of sonic waves that collided with Elphin the Raven and destroyed it. "This Spell destroys one monster on your field if I have a Synchro monster. And as a bonus, Nitro Warrior (+3800) gains 1000 points when I use a Spell card."
"I know how that card works," Jason said, unfazed by the fact that Carter was about to clear his field completely.
"I'll have Nitro Warrior (3800) attack Sirocco (2000)." The green warrior demon engaged the propulsion engine on his tail and plowed into Jason's bird-man. The exhaust fumes forced Gale to switch into attack mode. "When Nitro Warrior destroys a monster, he also switches another monster into attack mode and battles it immediately." Nitro Warrior engaged the propulsion engine again and plowed into Gale, crushing the small bird. Carter 2500: Jason 8000 – 1800 – 2500 = 3700.
"Now we're about even," Carter commented.
"Not for long," Jason assured him. "When I have no cards on the field, I can Special Summon Blackwing – Gust the Adverse Wind (2/900/1400). For my Normal summon, I'll take Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North (2/1300/0)." Gust resembled a man dressed in a bird costume with blue and green feathers on the wings and tail, white feathers on his legs, and green hair showing under his eagle headdress. Blizzard was a small, stout bird with white feathers, colored black at the tips. As soon as Blizzard hit the field, Kalut (3/1400/1000) also reappeared. "Summoning Blizzard lets me Special Summon a Blackwing from the Graveyard, as well."
"And they're all still weaker than my monster," Carter pointed out.
"Not when they tune," Jason replied. Blizzard began flapping its wings, enveloping all three Blackwings in a frosty mist. When the mist subsided, one monster remained: a bird-man with his feathers coated in slick, black armor studded with blue gems and marked by red stripes. "Blackwing Armor Master (7/2500/1500) is one of my most powerful monsters. I think I'll have him attack your monster right now." Blackwing Armor Master thrust his palm into Nitro Warrior's (2800) chest; neither monster was destroyed, but now Nitro Warrior had a blue gem attached to his chest.
Carter narrowed his eyes. "Your monster has an effect that prevents its destruction during battle, right?"
"Yes, and he leaves behind a Wedge Counter any time he attacks. That ends my turn."
"It would have to," Carter agreed. "You have no more cards to play."
"I don't need them," Jason replied.
Carter nodded. "Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, I don't think I drew the cards I need to beat you. I can put one card facedown, but attacking your monster won't even deal any damage, right?"
Jason agreed. "Right. This duel is already over. See, on my turn? I get to remove all the Wedge Counters on the field to reduce your monster's attack points to 0. That means Blackwing Armor Master (2500) is strong enough to suit my needs." The wedge counter on Nitro Warrior's (-0) chest exploded and caused the monster to shrink. Jason's monster thrust his palm into Nitro Warrior's chest again, but this time, the attack destroyed Nitro Warrior. Carter 2500 – 2500 = 0: Jason 3700.
Erica logged Jason as the winner in the duel station. "Looks like we have a winner. But that was a good duel from both of you. Good job, guys."
"Better for some of us than others," Carter admitted. He shook Jason's hand briefly. "I guess you win this round, and you may win the next time we duel, but mark my words: It's not a blouse!"
I wanted to put two duels in this chapter, but it takes so long to write sometimes that I would have missed the Saturday deadline. (I had a bit of writer's block this week.) Besides, as much as many of you appreciate long chapters, I don't want to make the chapters too long. Instead, I will continue the placement exams in the next chapter. I plan to have Lili duel with Nathan, meaning I'll give a little more character to each of them.
I will introduce Mitsuro and Sean as soon as I can. Like last week, I don't want to throw too much information out there at one time and their introductions will fit better later on. I am still accepting OCs because there is always room for more people at Duel Academy. In addition to the earlier information I requested, just include a mention of what grade level you want the character to be (I'm accepting upperclassmen, in other words). If all you want to do is come up with a character who is not necessarily a duelist, I think I'm going to spend more time with the people of Kazuki ("townies" as they are sometimes called by college students).
Credits:
Darius Mantzios....tiramisu19
Jason Maxim....Maxim and Knight
Nathan Zislaw....Mavrik Zero
Hillary Delaney....Nodqfan144
Lili Von....Happy2BMe
Carter Jade....Jaden2010
Mitsuro Itachu....Titanic X
Sean Bivins....DarkVestroia2
Everyone else so far....YamiRuss