It's the morning of my first tests at Duel academy, and it's 7 in the morning, and I'm revising on my bed. I've never been one for revising, it doesn't make me remember anything better. I wish exams could be off while my brother's here, we barely get enough time together as it is. I mean he's here working on recruitment, and I still have classes, so we barely get much time to meet. I guess I have to do exams though, they're not too bad.
As the time flies by I change into my white blouse, blue skirt, and cropped navy jacket which makes up my school uniform, and go to eat. I meet up with Alexis as we eat, before heading to class with her.
"Do you think the test will be hard? Cos you know sometimes they put extra questions in about stuff we've not learnt, and I always loose those marks." Alexis wonders aloud.
"Well, this isn't really a very important test. It's only really an end of unit one, so it really shouldn't be too hard. And if there are any extra questions, they probably won't be a mind stretcher." I supply for her, seeing through to her nerves. Who knew?
"Yeah I guess. Come on, we don't want to be late, though Jaden will be for sure." She says as we reach the courtyard. We jog into the class room where we receive our tests with everyone else, and get to work. I notice straight away that Alexis was right, Jaden isn't here.
I go through the test, easily answering each question, until on the last page I reach one of those extra questions Alexis said to watch out for.
'How did pre-historic duellers duel?' I scribble down my answer in my slanty half-readable script, remembering the first book I took out from the library here. That was the book I was attempting to read, whilst eavesdropping on Alexis' and Zane's conversation. Zane. I've seen him almost every night at the lighthouse. The more I get to know him, the more connected to him I feel. He may even know more about me than Tom. And I in turn, have gotten to know him.
His life has been an unusual one, with the cyber-dragon dojo training, how he got his deck. Neither he nor I give away many of our duelling secrets though, especially since the many suggestions and rumours of an upcoming duel between us. I am not looking forward to it. Well… I am, but I don't want to know the outcome. Obviously I'll lose, but that's not it… there's just something unnerving about the thought.
"You have 45 minutes to finish your test." I hear Professor Banner's voice, and look up out of my daze. Already finished the test. I hear gentle muttering further down, and see Syrus asleep on his desk, talking in his sleep. And Jaden, finally walking into the room.
"I didn't know this was an aural exam Syrus." Jaden says, coming up to Syrus. Syrus jerks awake. "Now maybe next time sleeping will be better than an all-night slife…." I miss his last words.
"You're here!" Syrus exclaims happily.
"You two want to keep it down?!" A dark haired obelisk boy says angrily from a little down my row. "Some of us plan to pass this test!"
"Hey, I always plan on passing, it just doesn't always work out that way!" Jaden counters, and I raise my eyebrows.
"Oh Jaden…?" Professor Banner's voice wafts through the hall. Jaden freezes. "Why don't you come down here and get your exam."
"Be there in a jiff!" Jaden replies. I shake my head, leaning back in my chair as he rushes down the steps. I can just hear the complaints of other people in the room. I lean back in my chair after checking through my test a few times, before dozing lightly. Through my daydreaming I can see Jaden and Syrus sleeping soundly, their tests undone.
"Alright class, your written exam is now over, so please walk, do not run to get in line for today's new rare cards." Professor Banner says, and the students rush out, while I stand up neatly with my test, walking over to the sleeping Jaden and Syrus to meet Bastion there.
"Say you two may want to give some serious thought to waking up…" Bastion says, shaking Syrus before jumping back as Syrus jumps up.
"…I flunked didn't I." Syrus says sadly. "I'm a complete failure."
"Sy if you were graded on melodrama you'd get an a!" Jaden says.
"Hey, where'd everyone go?" Syrus asks.
"Didn't you know already? I've been hearing from Tom about it for the last week!" I say.
"That's what I was trying to tell them." Bastion says, shaking his head. " The new rare cards arrived today, everyone's at the card shack."
"What?! New cards, hey how come no one told us?" Sy yelps.
"Because everyone wants the best cards for themselves, to use in the upcoming field tests." Bastion says.
"Honestly though, they don't give much of an advantage, you duel much worse when you haven't practiced with your cards." I add in.
"Is that why you're not getting any?" Syrus asks.
"Please, one errand card and my decks perfect balance would be completely thrown off." Bastion adds.
"Mine wouldn't!" Syrus complains.
"Well lets go! There's nothing like the smell of new cards in the morning!" Jaden exclaims, before running off with Sy. "Thanks for the tip Bastion, Azure!"
"I worry about them sometimes." I say, watching them run off.
"Jaden especially has so much potential. It's a shame." Bastion agrees.
"At least his confidence gives Sy a boost." I say. I turn to leave the hall, and go get ready for the field test.
"Hey Azure, did you hear?" Alexis says, running up to me as I walk to the duel arena. "Someone took all the new rare duel cards! Everyone's so gutted!"
"All of them? Every single one? Wow they must be desperate." I say, as we enter the duel arena.
"I'm duelling an obelisk? And it's Chazz?" I hear a familiar voice question, and run to get a closer look.
"That's right Jaden, since you always talk such a big game, I pulled some strings for you so you got the challenge you deserve!" Sure enough, Dr Crowler is standing in between Jaden and Chazz Princeton.
"Congratulations, you'll be duelling one of the top-ranked duellists in the school! What an honour, I certainly hope you managed to snatch a lot of today's rare cards so that your deck is up to snuff! What's wrong, aren't you going to thank me?" My lips part at the news. Jaden is good, for sure, but I'm not sure whether it's good enough. Especially after hearing from Alexis that Chazz doesn't like to play by the rules. This is a trap. And one Jaden is likely to fall into. It's obvious how much Dr Crowler hates Jaden.
"I'll do it!" I hear Jaden say confidently, and I sit with Bastion and Alexis to watch. "Alright Chazz, get your game on! Let's finish what we started at obelisk arena!" Though I have no idea what he's talking about, I can tell they have history.
"Indeed, in front of the whole school too, where everyone can watch." Dr Crowler adds.
"Yeah, watch you get slammed by me." Chazz says, and the duel begins.
I watch closely, and slowly realise that Chazz must have all the new rare cards that came in this morning. His deck is made up completely of super powerful cards!
"Alright! The VW tiger catapult(2000 atk)!" Chazz yells as he brings out a powerful monster on his fist turn. Soon VWXYZ are all out, and Jaden's life points have gone down to 1000. But I've noticed something about Chazz' duelling. He's playing the cards he wants to, going straight for the win. He's so confident he has nothing for defence. That's what Jaden needs to hit.
"I summon winged kuriboh in defense mode!" Jaden says. Yes, this is good. Jaden always has a plan when he plays winged kuriboh. As kuriboh is about to get fried…
"Alright, I sacrifice two cards and activate… transcendent wings!" I stand up at the sight. Transcendent wings? No way, that card is super rare! When did he get that?
"Ah, it can't be!" Chazz yells.
"Oh it'd be alright. Transcendent wings has evolved winged kuriboh into a level 10 monster! And it gets better too. By sacrificing himself, kuriboh destroys all monsters in attack mode, and deflects their attack points back as damage to you!" Jaden says victoriously. Wow, he did well to pull that off. "Kuriboh, why don't you go ahead and show them how it works."
Chazz' monster gets destroyed, and he is left with 1000 life points similar to Jaden.
"Lucky, punk." Chazz remarks, snarling.
"Lucky? Nah, I just happen to have a soft spot for old ladies." Jaden replies, and I frown, smiling though. "But not for you Chazz. It's too bad cos for 1000 life points a piece, and my turn coming up, all I need is the right monster, and you'll be finished. Here goes something!" Jaden draws yet again, and I lean forward. He can pull this off.
"Yeah! Elemental hero, Avion, attack!" Avion bears down on Chazz, who yells as the attack hits, leaving Chazz with no life points, the duel Jaden's. The crowd shouts for the victor, and I clap along, jumping over the railings to Jaden.
"Hey Jaden!" Syrus says from in front of me, running up to Jaden.
"Well done Jaden, not in the history of our revered academy has a slifer ever duelled an obelisk in these exams." I hear the Chancellor's voice on the intercom. "Not only did you hold your own, but you won! Your courage against overwhelming odds is, inspiring. It is with great pride that I promote you to Ra Yellow. Good Job!"
The Chancellor finishes and I clap Jaden on the back at his promotion.
"Ra yellow? You're the best Jaden!" Sy exclaims, hugging his friend.
"Haha, I do what I can!" Jaden says.
"Good show Jaden. Allow me to be the first person to welcome you to the Ra dorm." Bastion adds. Everyone cheers the winner of the duel.
"Hey, Azure!" I turn around and Hunter is running up to me. "Did you hear?"
"Hear what?" I ask, confused. What is it with me missing things today?
"Now everyone, you have probably heard of Hunter Roarke's visit here to Duel Academy, and for those who don't know he is from the esteemed Exodus International, and has been here to advise on what he and his company does. Now since the freshman year has an odd number of students, I arranged Azure Roarke's field examination duel to be against him. I suggest you all stay and watch what is seemingly going to be an amazing duel!" The Chancellor's voice booms out once more, and I freeze.
"You're my examination? Hunt, you're gonna make me fail!" I complain, frowning at my brother as he takes his duel disk out.
"Sorry Az, wasn't my call!" He says, as though he isn't sorry at all. "So are we gonna duel?" I look around the cheering crowd, and at the back, leaning forward against the railing is Zane. He nods to me and I pass my gaze on, before turning back to Hunter.
"Let's do this Hunt!" I say determined, flipping out my duel disk, and moving to my place.
"Let's duel!"
"Right, it's my turn first Az, I summon Goblin Attack Force (2300/0) in attack mode. I place two face-downs and end my turn." Hunter starts.
"Is that all? Okay then I draw!" The card slices through the air of the cheering crowd, and I let my eyes skim over my cards. "I summon Shadow Thief (1200/400) in attack mode and place two face downs. I end my turn." Shadow Boost and Shadow Replace should be enough to take whatever he'll throw at me.
"You're not trying to attack? Has something gone wrong with you Az?" Hunt says mockingly. "Well I might as well take advantage of it, Goblin attack force, attack Azure's Shadow Thief!"
"You should've seen this Hunt, I activate Shadow Thief's ability, which swaps your monster's attack points with mine." I say watching as my Shadow Thief's attack point's rise to 2300, and his Goblin's down to 1200. The attack hits, and my Shadow Thief destroys his Goblin, taking down 1100 of his life points.
"Okay there Hunter? You're not really representing Exodus very well." I taunt, but he raises his head, grinning.
"Oh I'm just starting. I summon Goblin Elite attack force (2200/1500) in attack mode, and now I activate Poisoned Chalice! This adds 400 points to whatever monster I choose, negating its effects; however that price is easy to pay with Goblin Elite attack force!" His Goblin Elite Attack Force now has 2600 attack points.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? I can just do a little attack point swap again." I say calmly, narrowing my eyes.
"I call your bluff! I know your thief swaps monster's original attack points, it doesn't count the 400 added on." Hunter says, grinning. Damn it, I was wondering why he fell for it the first time. " Goblin Elite Attack Force, attack Azure's shadow thief!"
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