It's finally finished. This was the work of artsygeek9796. This is the first part of a chapter idea I sent him. He's doing this part and I'm doing mine. There's no dueling in this chapter but since when have all my chapters have dueling? Thanks for the views this month. It's what made me want to continue. And please read and review.

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"Welcome new students to an exciting year at Duel Academy," the teacher of the Slifer red dorms greeted to all at the welcome buffet, "Here we strive to educate the importance of respecting your opponents, your cards, and yourself. May your experience here bring you closer to your fellow duelists and create friendships that'll last a lifetime. Good luck!"

" Wow, there are a lot of Slifer red students," Jay thought, trying not to bump into people as he made his way to the snack table.

"Udon noodles, sashimi, beef curry- where do I start?" he asks himself.

"If I were you I'd stay away from the udon." Jay turned to see Vincent leaning against the table, smirking at him.

"Vincent, why do I get the feeling you put something in these noodles?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. There was already a cup of wasabi mixed in."

Jay rolled his eyes. Of course there was.

"Man, I can't wait to duel against these guys," Vincent said, looking around the room, "I mean, you gotta check out their decks! I've never even seen most of these monsters before."

"I know what you mean." Even though Jay was a bit nervous about dueling against students who probably knew more about dueling than he did, he still wanted to duel them.

"Don't waste your time dueling anybody with Slifer Red decks. If you're going to duel someone, duel an opponent worthy of a battle."

Jay spun around startled. "Gah! Ciel, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at your own welcome dinner over at the Ra dorms? Man, can't a guy catch a break from him?"

"I'm not much of a socialite," he replied in a bored tone of voice.

"It's probably because he strains his neck when looking up to people," Nemo said when appeared.

"Hey Nemo! Where you've been?" Jay asked.

"The ocean, where else would I be?"

"As expected of our water-obsessed friend," Vincent chuckled. He looked back at Ciel, who was still fuming over Nemo's comment on his height.

"How dare you insult me! I am not short, everyone else is just too big!"

"Whatever, little boy blue," Vincent joked as he placed his arm around Ciel's shoulders, "if you feelings are that hurt, why don't you just return to your welcome party?"

"I'm not going to hang around a bunch of amateur duelists for hours at some boring little meet-and-greet."

"He's got a point, this party's lame. Let's get out of here."

"A-are you sure we can just leave?" Jay asked nervously. He certainly didn't want to get kicked out of duel academy on the first day.

"Of course we can. I left my dorm, didn't I?" Ciel told him. And with that, Jay joined the boys as they headed out the door.

•••

"So what should we do?" Vincent asked.

"We could strategize combos," suggested Nemo.

"Um, I didn't bring my deck with me," Jay admitted, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"What?!" Ciel cried, "What kind of duelist leaves his deck behind like that?"

"I didn't think I needed it."

"This is a dueling school, you always need it. Like my father always taught me: 'be prepared for what the ocean waves may throw at you'."

They sat quietly for a while, wondering what to do.

"I have an idea." Ciel spoke out, "I learned about this game back in England." He took out a piece of paper and began ripping it into thin strips. "It's called 'Past, Pretend, and Future'," he explained as he wrote, "we each draw a piece of paper and tell a story that had happened, that will happen, or wish could happen, depending on what you drew. Doesn't matter how you tell it, as long as you do what's written. And you can't reveal what you picked." He folded all of the strips of paper in half and put them in a pile. They circled around the pile and each picked up one.

"So who goes first?" Jay asked.

"Little boy blue, will you do the honors?" Vincent asked. Ciel scowled at him before opening his paper. He took a deep breath before speaking.

"Long ago, there was an orphaned boy who made a deal with the devil. When he made said deal, the devil took the form of a human and became his servant. He was to stand by the boy's side, follow his orders faithfully, and protect him by all means, so that one day, they can find the man responsible for the death of his parents, and avenge them."

"But what does the devil get in return?" Jay asked him.

"Once they find the man who killed, the boy agreed to give him his soul in return. But until that day comes, the devil is to serve him as his most loyal companion, even if it means til the end of time."

"Chilling," Nemo sighed after a moment of silence.

"Ah, yeah. it was..." Jay felt there was more to this story than he let on.

" How is it that this guy has told me so much about his parents yet it feels like I don't know much about him?"

"Woah...ever considered writing novels in the future?" Vincent asked. Ciel ignored him.

"Jay, your turn."

"Uh, ok." Jay unfolded his pick, and in fancy penmanship was the word 'future'. The future? Now that I think about it, I never really thought much about what I wanted to do in the future. I would like to become a duelist, like my dad.

"Well? Are you just gonna sit there or tell the story?"

"Right, um, well...so there's this guy who became a great duelist. And he got into the pros and-"

"Boooooring..." Vincent moaned.

"But I was just starting."

"Dude, if you're going to tell a story, you gotta make it interesting," Nemo explained, "I mean, what made the guy a great duelist?"

" He's right, if I believe I'm a great duelist, I must have a reason to think so. He was a great duelist because...he would duel anyone."

"Wha-"

"Hush," Ciel cut in, "let him continue. Go on." This should be interesting.

"He would duel anybody who challenged him. It didn't matter if they were beginners or pros, or what kind of deck they had, or if they were obnoxious jerks. I- I mean this guy- would duel anybody that challenged him. Dueling...is fun. And any duel can be exciting. That's why he worked hard and studied dueling, so he could become a great duelist, and duel his way to the pros. Even if it meant dueling everyone with a deck. He became one of the best, made his parents proud." His friends smiled, knowing that Jay was talking about himself.

"Awesome," Nemo said with a grin.

"Now that was interesting!"

"Nice," Ciel said, giving Jay a rare compliment. "It's too bad you left your deck in your room, only an idiot would do that."

" I should've seen that coming. Who's next?" Jay asked.

"Guess I'll go," Nemo said as he uncrumpled his piece of paper, "so there once was a brave fisherman who sailed across the seven seas searching for the legendary opal narwhal. He-"

"What's a narwhal?" Jay asked.

"It's some kind of whale with a unicorn horn on it's head," Ciel answered him.

"It's more that just 'a whale with a unicorn horn on it's head'. It is a magni-"

"Ugh, is this another one of those fishing legends?" Vincent groaned.

"No. And if any of you interrupt again, I'll have to start from the beginning. Now where was I?"

"Fisherman looking for a magic whale," Ciel said.

"...yes. He came across an uncharted area of the oceans, one where the waves could throw a beluga whale into the air like it was just a sardine. But this fisherman was determined to sail through the danger bravely, so he pushed forward into the storming waves. He fought hard but in the end he fell into the ocean."

"He dies? You know, that's a terrible way to end a story," Vincent said, shaking his head.

"I wasn't finished, Vincent," Nemo mumbled flatly, "anyway, he fell into the ocean. But as he was drowning, he saw a mermaid came and pulled him to shore. He told her of his quest to find the narwhal and she agreed to help him, if he helps her in return."

"Help with what?"

"Jay, quiet! He hasn't told us yet."

"Hey, how hot is this mermaid?"

"Why is that important?!"

"Because it is, short stuff."

Vincent and Ciel began to bicker, with Jay trying to split them up, but had no luck. It was until a spear landed between the two of them. They turned to Nemo, scared stiff, wondering where did he hide the spear, and if he had another one.

"Back to the story: he agrees to her deal and together they searched for the narwhal. After swimming for many miles, they discovered a sunken tugboat where bubbles floated to the surface from a pipe. They made their way to the boat and discovered the opal narwhal."

"What happens now?"

"The fisherman tied his boat to the narwhal and mapped his way home, but not before fulfilling his promise to the mermaid. She said all she wanted was to be human and to do so she needed to be kissed by one. The fisherman still lives, sailing all over the world to this day."

"Did he?" Vincent asked Nemo.

"Did he what?"

"You know, kiss her?!"

"It doesn't matter, the story's over anyway."

"Aw man, you're no fun."

"Shut up, it's your turn," Ciel hissed, rushing the jokester.

"Oh yeah," Vincent said and cleared his throat, "once upon a time, there was a magical kingdom where duel monsters exist and live amongst each other." The boys leaned in closer to listen better. "One day, a powerful monster known as the Giant Orc appeared and had the princess dethroned, and ruled over the kingdom with an iron fist. The villagers rebelled against the evil king until he finally challenged one of the villagers to a duel, a weak, scrawny monkey. They began to duel when-"

"Hey, what are you kids doing there?" a teacher called out from a cliff, "Go back to your dorms immediately!"

"Aw man, and I was just getting to the good part!" he whined as they all got up.

"I think it's obvious you drew make belief," Ciel said, "Seriously...a monkey?"

"I thought it was pretty cool," Jay spoke up.

"Thank you, nice to know someone acknowledges creative genius when they see it." The others rolled their eyes and laughed as they parted ways.