I just got a reply from someone, which is the kind of review I have been WAITING for. OMG I'm so excited! Okay, so... I have a confession to make. When I was still in the process of planning Yu-Gi-Oh DA, I had been getting constant messages from my beta reader about worrying his character being a mary-sue, because she was wearing too much black and rode a Dark Signer duel runner, despite the fact this character was a wonderful and well-rounded character. I found out he was taking a mary-sue test on her, because he was so discouraged. During the time, I didn't know about them, but decided to check the tests out. The most popular mary-sue test ENRAGED me, because the questions they asked, which the test considered was suish or not, was the color of clothing, the name being the same as the author's or not, had a tragic backstory or not, had huge or small breasts, looked sexy or ugly, and other pointless garbage that has nothing to do with an OC being a mary-sue (the worst part was that the only way for a character to pass for not being mary-sue was to be ugly and handycaped -_-). I was so angry I wanted to make a statement about this stupidity, so I decided to make one through Jaylin Yuki by giving her every characteristic in the book that people assume is suish without making her a mary-sue. Now, after 30 chapters, someone has finally stated that Jaylin shows the characteristics of a mary-sue (no, it wasn't a flame, at least I don't see it as one, and I have nothing against this person -_-). So yeah, if you guys have noticed that Jaylin has characteristics you normally would find in a mary-sue... that's why.
I don't want to go more into this, since this would take up an entire chapter. I did make an editorial about this in my forums. Use the search bar on the top left corner and type "My Forums" then click Yu-Gi-Oh under category. You will find my forums on the very top. Then, click What Makes a Mary-Sue? If you still can't find it, ask me and I'll give you the link. Review please!
Jaylin rejoined with her friends Carl and Ronda, after the duel with the Princeton brothers, who were talking to them about a tweet they just received from Twitter. Jaylin looked at the tweet through Carl's cell phone, her eyes widened.
"Oh my god, Jesse Anderson just watched the duel! HE JUST WATCHED THE FREAKIN' DUEL!" Jaylin cried out.
"Crazy huh?" Carl asked with a teasy smirk across her lips.
"Yeah... I suppose it makes sense, but... wow," Jaylin said, still showing a shock-filled face.
"Speaking of duels, shouldn't you be getting ready for our duel?" Ronda asked, showing a gaming smirk.
"You know it! I believe it's tomorrow right after school. It's a good thing I left my original deck at my dorm."
"By the way, love your outfit."
"Thanks! I'm still wondering if I should've done my hair in a french braids or not."
"I don't know, but I know something that would go excellent with your current dueling outfit," Ronda said, digging into her black purse, then pulling out a bracelet with bright white diamonds lining across it, which were glass.
"OH MY GOD, RONDA!" Jaylin cried out with glittering eyes. She placed the bracelet around her wrist. "I LOVE YOU!"
Ronda laughed as Jaylin was trying to hook the bracelet around her wrist. Alexis began catching up with the girls, being that she was in the bathroom. Jaylin turned to Alexis, showing a smirk.
"You do know we'll be dueling, after you defeat Ronda," Alexis reminded Jaylin.
"Yep and I'll be ready for you, Alexis!" Jaylin smirked, pumping her fist.
"Love the bracelet."
"Thanks. Isn't it fabulous!?"
"Oh yes. Very stylish."
"Hey, I'm going to study at the library for now, I'll see you guys soon," Carl mentioned, walking herself into the school toward the library.
Carl entered into the library and placed down her stuff. She got out her textbook and read through the upcoming chapter her class was to study on every subject of that class. Studying was the hardest task in itself for Carl, being that she could never get above a C as her overall grade. Because of this, she was always stuck in the Slifer Red Dorm. The only A she got on any particular subject was PE. The rest were a low B or C's.
Carl felt her cell phone buzz, dashing toward the bathroom with her stuff still on the table in the library. She answered her phone, saying, "hello?"
"Hey Carlene, are you doing okay?" A woman asked on the other line.
"I'm fine, Daffine. How's Zac?" Carl asked.
"Our little brother's been wanting to talk to you all day!"
"So that's why you called."
"Are you implying that you don't like me?"
"Daff..."
"Hey, who was the one that paid your way to Duel Academy?"
"You did."
"Who was the one that bailed you out of the food poisoning incident?"
"Would you stop that?"
"Hey, it's my job to annoy you," Daffine smirked as Carl chuckled, rolling her eyes. "You wanna speak with Zac?"
"Yes please," Carl replied before hearing the phone being given to another person.
"Hey ya, Carl!" A little boy greeted.
"How's it going, kiddo?"
"Great! Mom was taking us outside and we saw this big brown blockey-vokey!"
"What's that?"
"It's a big tree, only very very big."
"Ah... I see," Carl replied, chuckling to herself.
"Yeah, I climbed on it to the very top, then Mom and Dad told me I had to get down. It was still fun."
"I bet."
In her mind, Carl wished she could be as innocent and small like Zac, just babble on about nonsense and continually make her older sister and parents smile. Now, those parents expect her to pass Duel Academy and become successful in life. Life could be so much easier for a very small child. Better yet, it could be easier for someone like Jaylin.
Jaylin stood up so proudly in her Slifer Red uniform with a father that did not give her strict expectations. Sure, he expects Jaylin to do her very best and make good grades, to strive to make an A, but that was the idea. Jaylin had a father that only expected her best, not to do the impossible. She always took everything with a grain of salt like she could brush any problem away and always knew the answer to whatever problem she had.
After getting off the phone with Zac, Carl made her way back to the library, cursing herself for wasting an hour of study she could've used. There was still a few hours left in the day for her to study and decided to use this time. She noticed Zane on the other side of the table she was originally sitting. Carl sat back in her spot and returned to her studies.
"Hey," Carl greeted.
"Hey," Zane replied. It was too bad he was at a different grade or he would've been a perfect study buddy.
"Don't you wish all of this could come naturally?"
"Sometimes... there was a time when I didn't give a shit about this stuff."
"I suppose... how did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Come out of Slifer Red?"
Zane shrugged, replying, "I did what you did."
"That helps," Carl replied, working more on her studies as Zane shrugged.
Zane remembered a time when he still wore the Slifer Red uniform, like Carl, and appearing in this very room. Atticus could just bang on three different girls and still pass with a perfect score as his overall grade. It almost made Zane envy Atticus, despite the fact he was being possessed and held hostage by Nightshroud during the time. It took so much studying and sweat for Zane to find himself in a Obelisk Blue jacket and pants.
"Usually, striving and believing you can do it helps," Zane mentioned.
"I suppose," Carl replied boredly, staring at her textbook blankly.
Zane stared at the textbook he was reading, then back at Carl. Finally, he said, "if you need any help... I can help."
"Good! I have no idea what they're telling me here!" Carl showed Zane on one part of her text book. "The bottom Rare Earth elements are in a different group and this wants me to believe that they're all in the third column, but how does that work? How can a bunch of different elements be in the third column!?"
"I think you're getting confused. This is organized based on the number of electrons in an orbital around the atom. The first orbital has two electrons, then the second has eight, eight for the third, eighteen for the fourth, and so on."
"Okay, but why are these Rare Elements squeezed into just the third column?" Ronda asked.
"I think that's to prevent the table from being too large. I don't believe they're literally in the third column, just like Helium is not in column 18 and Oxygen is not on column 16 technically."
"Crap! Why didn't I notice it before!?" Carl cried out as Zane snorted, showing a smirk.
"I made that assumption too. Luckily, I have Atticus now."
The two laughed together before getting back to their studies. It helped to have someone show Carl a few things to prepare for the chapter the next day. Hopefully, maybe she can finally get out of the Slifer Red vest and probably change to Ra Yellow, at least, or Obelisk Blue.
"I heard things are getting rough with Nightshroud," Seto said, who was talking to Jaylin in private on the roof of the school.
"A bit, but we've got everything covered," Jaylin assured cheerfully.
Seto smirked, "good to hear. If only I could've heard that before you broke into the Abandoned Dorm."
"Again with that. We've already been through this," Jaylin glared, rolling her eyes.
"I know... at least you got one of my students back," Seto muttered. A smirk appeared on his lips. "That was a nice duel. I'm expecting you to win this tournament. The two assholes may not see it, but you carry your father's pride. DON'T disappoint me!"
"Sure thing, Kaiba. I'm going to go meet with Mokuba," Jaylin said, rushing through the door, which led to the roof, then began meeting Mokuba, taking a bow, then walking and talking with him.
Seto snorted, getting out his iPad, then noticing the viewers he was getting from the live video of the duel with the Princeton brothers against Jaylin and Chazz. It was rising to over 300,000. Seto began chuckling, which turned into a huge laugh. These Princeton's, what originally was supposed to humiliate Kaiba and assure that they would buy the company, ended up giving Kaiba Corporation more publicity, a higher recognition for Duel Academy, and perhaps made Chazz and Jaylin known around the world.