"So tell me why again we agreed to join the Slifer Red's invitation to join that club?" Gloria folded her arms and looked to her younger twins sister.

"Because! It lines up with our you-know-what?" The silver-haired girl perked up.

Gloria narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure it's that and has nothing to do with the fact she offered you the ability to play bass?"

"What!? That's like—just a bonus."

Gloria sighed and rolled her eyes. "Come on, we're still students and we have to study for the upcoming Promotion Exams."

[Tag Force: Heroes and Villains.]

They were sitting inside the 'canteen' area of Slifer Red, but instead of food and plates on their table, it was pencils, books, papers, and notebooks. However, across from Syrus Truesdale and Jaden Yuki was a very, very irritated Wilona Konami. "I cannot believe you two." Demons could probably take pointers from Wilona with how she was able to stare goosebumps into the two other Slifer Reds. "The test is tomorrow, and you've both shown no progress in these written exam practice tests!"

The two boys winced at the harsh but true words of their more academically gifted friend/blackmailer. "Hey, it's not my fault! Aren't all trap cards considered counter traps?"

The green-haired girl remained in glaring mode before speaking up, "Yuki, you are not helping your situation. You bested and are equal to many of this school's top freshmen! I'm sure in an actual duel, you'd recognize it, so how could you not know this on a test!?"

"Because it's on a test!"

Wilona pinched the bridge of her nose. "If I could make deals with the devils..."

"Can we take a break? My mind is killing me!" Syrus clamped his hands on to his head.

"You had a break five minutes ago!"

"Wait what!? It hasn't been like hours!?" Jaden responded with worry to Wilona's exclamation.

The light green-haired girl threw her hands in the air. "At this rate, you two will give me more grief than the bloody test itself!" Wilona shouted but then stopped and inhaled deeply. "Fine, let's at least talk about something else. My club membership—that shouldn't make both of you squirm at least, yeah?

"Oh sure, we can talk about that." Wilona narrowed her eyes again at how Yuki suddenly seemed way more calm than a second ago. However, she seemed to let it go for now.

… Emphasis on the 'for now'.

"So you both told me, Misawa is interested, but he doesn't have time. Did he perchance know off anyone else he could point in our direction?"

"Why do you always use such big England words?" Jaden asked before Wilona wisely decided to ignore the fact he thinks they're speaking different languages, and took that as a no.

"That's going to be a problem then. And technically speaking, I still need the male Obelisk Blues and one female. The plus side is that I can still borrow the music room for several more months thanks to my boss. I do; however, must emphasize that we will lose all access to the room and it's equipment if we do not find members soon."

"Aww what? But I wanna rock that sweet electric guitar!" Jaden whined.

"Then help me find other Ra Yellow members and an Obelisk Blue who isn't brainwashed by stigma."

"Not all Obelisk Blue are like that! I'm sure!" Syrus spoke out while pumping his hands.

It was at that moment that Wilona recalled something. "Truesdale—that reminds me—do you have an older brother here?"

"You met Zane?!" It wasn't just Wilona, even Jaden seemed surprised that Syrus had an older brother.

"No, I didn't meet him, but I did overhear a conversation between the twins and Rhodes. They said that your brother was the best duelist in school?"

As if hearing a specific trigger, Jaden stood up so quickly that he slammed his hands on the table before looking to his friend and roomate. "What!? Syrus, your brother is the best duelist in school!?"

However, at such an exclamation, Syrus seemed… bothered.

"Sy? Buddy? What's wrong?"

Wilona stood up, obviously trying to drop this topic faster than a hot potato. "Okay, I think we've studied enough. I can go into the kitchen and cook a meal that isn't just grilled cheese and shrimp tempura."

"Did somebody say grilled cheese!?" Chumley walked into the 'mess hall' of the Slifer Red Dorms.

The others looked at the larger man as he sat down next to Syrus with a speed that betrayed his usual pace.

Jaden had a different question. "You can cook?" But it was as equally expectant as Chumley's.

Wilona rolled her eyes. "Yes, I can cook, Yuki, I even applied to be a chef here in the red dorms. To my surprise, it's really easy to do so considering Professor Banner is practically manning his political island here."

Jaden, decided to focus on one part of Wilona's words since he didn't understand her 'accent' sometimes. "What can you make?"

"How much do you all have?" Wilona looked at her nails.

It didn't take long for the three to realize what she was referring to with that question. "Wait, we have to pay!?"

However, Wilona seemed to care quite little about her classmate's emotions. "How else will I get income for this job out of all the others one I've applied for?"

"You don't charge your friends, Wilona!"

"I'm dirt poor and my bitterness is a hundredfold the size of the younger Truesdale—there's going to be a new menu here and you're all going to earn the new food. Consider it a lesson in economics. I suggest managing a finance portfolio which I can gladly teach you how to make for ten bucks an hour."

"I like got, nothing in what you just said." Jaden blinked.

"She's holding our food for hostage! To fund her evil needs!"

"That's not... untrue, Huffington."

While Jaden, Chumley, and Wilona argued with each other, Syrus looked out the door. He was wondering about his big brother…

[Tag Force: Heroes and Villains.]

Zane Truesdale was waiting under the lone lighthouse of Duel Academy. Although he was out there, doing whatever he wanted, he heard the sound of heels coming his way.

The top student of Duel Academy turned, but instead of seeing Alexis, he saw a different Obelisk Blue girl with short dark purple hair.

"Nearly four years and here you still are, standing in the same spot as you usually do. I'm starting to think you're trying to be a statue than a professional duelist."

Zane closed his eyes and looked back to the sea. But despite that, he couldn't stop his voice from sounding more relaxed. "Shouldn't the Student Body President have other business besides loitering in the middle of nowhere?"

There was a huff coming from the girl. "I'd be elsewhere if it wasn't for the fact my Vice President has chosen to isolate himself out here to stare at the ocean for like the billionth time."

Zane glanced towards her direction. "Why am I the Vice President again?"

"Because Atticus tricked me into running for School Council President instead of the yearly Miss Duel Academy contests last year, and I refuse to suffer alone!" The girl screamed before the weight of her own words came back to her. She sighed and looked out to the sea along with Zane. "I miss that idiot."

"I miss him too."

All the two could hear was the sound of the wind and the waves crashing on concrete repeatedly.

"But I should thank him. Being in the position of Student Body President has given me access to things I'm sure not even some employees have when it comes to the school records."

Zane turned, not his neck but his body, his expression changed from melancholic to serious. "What did you find?"

"Okay, so we both know at the end of last year, Atticus was staying in the old Blue Dorms before he and some others disappeared. The school did something stupid and tried to cover it all up—which they did."

"Yes, unfortunately for Chancellor Sheppard that decision was out of his hands when he reported it to the Education Board first." There was a frown in Zane's face while he gripped his hands tighter. "Those slime balls had the gall to lie to our friends' families. By the time, their families started asking questions, they were forced to be turned away at every opportunity and had no power to do much of anything."

"Don't remind me about that part. The point is, we tried to look for them physically—I decided to frame it like a detective. Something about the old dorms always tickled me the wrong way, so I was able to access its history and papers of being built." The purple-haired girl looked to Zane. "Did you know that dorm wasn't actually in the original plans of Seto Kaiba?"

Zane narrowed his eyes.

"The real original dorms were the super castle one, but even when the school was set up, the new Blue Dorms was still being built—considering how it's a five-star world-class hotel in disguise, I can't say I blame them. As such, Kagemaru, the First Chancellor, had a smaller one built in that place."

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"Nothing, but there have been a few odd 'coincidences' like how he retired a year before they all went missing, and he gave the builders of the old dorms specific instructions to dig but never finish their subterranean levels."

Those all were indeed an odd set of coincidences. They all almost seemed to fit perfectly. But at the same time, that meant… "You suspect Kagemaru?"

"Suspect is a strong word. The man is one foot in the grave right now," The girl placed her hand on her chin like the Thinker statue. "But even then, it's hard not to find his influence over this school is practically more than Sheppard's right now." The girl looked back at the sea. "It's why I took a little longer than usual to come back. My research is the same as a guy on the internet complaining about conspiracy theories over the smallest things. Sorry, I couldn't come up with much."

"No, for the first time in a year, you might have found a clue where everyone else couldn't. You did good, Seika."

Seika smiled and threw her hair back. "That's President Seika Kohinata to you, Mr. Vice President. Underlings need to remember their master's titles."

"I am not calling you that," Zane spoke with such flatness that the floor beneath them was jealous.

"You also aren't helping me in the first place. In fact, I want you doing anything else here but brooding—wait." Seika raised her brow. "Even when Atticus was missing, I've never seen you this down."

Zane said nothing.

Seika folded her arms and stared with annoyance. "You may have everyone fooled with that tough-guy act, but Atticus proved to me a long time ago that you shut up when confronted with something personal. …Does it have something to do with your brother? I saw the files, I didn't even know you had a little brother."

"It's best if I didn't."

Seika threw her arms in the air. "Atticus doted on his little sister to the point I could have sworn he was a siscon—you are in the complete opposite spectrum of being too unreasonably hard on your little brother. It's a wonder how you two became best friends." Seika gave up with a sigh and started walking away. If there was one thing her two friends had in common, it was they could both be stupidly stubborn when it came to things like this. It was much better for her to give up now before she got a headache explaining how common sense works for the umpteenth time.

She hated sometimes being the only impulse control for three people including herself.

"Wait, Seika."

The Student President stopped and looked back.

"I told Alexis that I'd help her find her brother."

Seika raised her brow and folded her arms as he turned her whole body back to her VP. "You want to include her in this? There's a chance there really is a conspiracy here and I don't want to involve Atticus' 'adorable' sister in something dangerous."

"I think she can handle it. And it's better with us or else she might do something desperate herself."

Seika put a hand on her head. "Fine, but you tell her what I told you. Chancellor Sheppard has invited me to give a small pep speech before the field tests tomorrow and I haven't even begun on it yet."

Zane nodded once. It was him showing more emotion than he normally did in three months.

But Seika couldn't help but give a joking smile once more. "Also, she's like what? Four years younger than you, Zane!? I didn't know you were into that kind of thing."

At that, the best duelist in the school rolled his eyes. "I miss your old standoffish nature from your first year."

In response to that, Seika's smile only grew larger. "In order to get my revenge on you two for ruining my life, I had to readjust many life choices." Seika started turning away. "It is good to see you again, Zane." With those last, far more honest words, she left the best duelist of the school to his brooding.

As Seika left, Zane allowed himself something he doesn't usually show to anyone.

He gave a soft and small smile. "It's good to see you too, Seika."

[Tag Force: Heroes and Villains.]

Wilona finished the written exam early. It wasn't hard as they covered everything in the class. She was excused so that she could go to the card shop. Ms. Dorothy especially needed an extra pair of hands, since a new shipment of cards were coming in. Maybe the light green-haired girl might 'forget to put one pack for sale' later… maybe two.

However, as she and the other employee set up shop…

"Where's Ms. Dorothy?"

"I don't know. Maybe she got caught up by something?" The other employee responded with a shoulder shrug.

Sometime later, Ms. Dorothy did come in, looking quite exhausted.

"What happened, Ms. Dorothy? Are you all alright? Should I get some water?"

The older woman huffed and sat on a folding chair. "Some water would be nice. One of the automobiles I used to get here broke down. I had to push it up all the way here, but thankfully a nice young man helped me with it."

Wilona handed their boss the glass of water before she took it and continued talking. "But we have to tighten down the hatches as they say! New rare card packs are going to be sent here and there's going to be a storm of students when they come by."

"Actually—" The three women looked back to see a cloaked figure standing in the shop. "I can make it much easier for you."

"Excuse me, we're still closed until—"

The stranger brought out a briefcase and opened it up to reveal a lot of cash. "I would like to reserve and preorder all new rare packs when they arrive, please."

The three workers stared at the wad of cash that was revealed to them. It was enough to make them speechless, but Wilona took a second to reflect. There was something about this stranger—wait, she knew that speech pattern and accent!

"Professor Crowler? Why are you buying rare cards?"

The figure flinched. "I-I don't know what you're talking about, young miss! But is there anything wrong with my transaction?"

The three women looked at each other, but Dorothy clapped her hands together.

"Sure thing, we can accept your transaction, just please give me a moment to get behind the counter."

While her boss was making her way to the counter, Wilona looked back to the 'stranger'.

"So what real reason are you purchasing rare cards for, professor? Some kind of pop quiz?"

"No, no, Ms. Kona—I mean girl I've never met before! It's nothing of the sort!" Considering how this supposed stranger almost knew her name, it was obvious the stranger was Dr. Crolwer. However, being used to some weirdness, Wilona was more confused as to why her professor was hiding behind that disguise when he could have simply bought the cards normally. "I just have… … I would like to buy the cards now!"

Wilona watched Crowler hurry over towards the cashier. She was about to ask for more until she heard the sound of a distant stampede and screaming students behind the metal gate.

The green-haired girl sighed and put on her card shop cap. She was going to steal a pack later and 'forget to place it' in Crowler's person before he left.

[Tag Force: Heroes and Villains. (Wilona POV)]

I sighed as I double-checked the cash in the register. I've had lunch rushes better than that, people were buying cards left and right even with 'all' of the rare cards taken.

This place is practically a ghost town now.

Hmm? In the distance, more figures were running towards the shop almost ten minutes after the sales rush of my life. Those poor late idiots, how could they be dumb enough to miss nearly all the card packets… it's Yuki and Truesdale, isn't it?

I found myself in deadpan as I indeed spotted Yuki and Truesdale ran up to the counter.

"We gotta get in… line?" The two came to a stop when the realized the state the card shop was in.

"Where is everyone?" Syrus looked around the empty area. "They couldn't have..."

Both of them looked at each other and yelled what Syrus was about to finish. "Run out of cards already!?"

"Excuse me, counter girl—Wilona!?" Yuki cried out to me before recognizing who I am. "Whoa, you do work everywhere."

"Being poor does that to a person. I'm wondering how in blazes are you two so late? The last of the students just left around ten minutes ago."

"We're that late!? Tell me there are still some cards left!?" Yuki and Truesdale looked to me like children asking Santa Claus for alive parents.

"A moment." I bent over and checked there was one normal pack left. I wondered how to break it to them about this. But then I recalled that I nicked one of the rare booster packs before giving them to Crowler.

I want the cards, but seeing Truesdale being the epitome of no-confidence…

I sighed, he needs these cards more than I do.

"So apparently you two are lucky—of sorts," I told them as I placed the packet I had and the normal one. "There is one normal packet, and it seems in the madness of the rush there was indeed a rare packet that must have been dropped that no one noticed until now."

"There's still a rare packet!? What luck!" Truesdale cried out—or it looked like he was tearing up to actually cry.

Yuki smiled and pat his friend's back. "You take it, buddy."

Truesdale snapped out of his stupor and looked up to Yuki. I could almost see the stars in his eyes. "You mean it, Jaden?"

"There's still the normal booster pack. I can take that."

I shook my head after hearing that. "You really are heroic, Mr. Yuki. It is a shame that I am not."

The Slifer Red brunette looked over to me with confusion. "You say that a lot."

"I seem to recall you have a catchphrase of 'that's game' to anyone you play against."

"Well yeah, because it's game when the duel's over." Ah, Yuki, if only you knew what circular reasoning meant. "So I guess we'll take those booster packs."

"Yoohoo! Over here!" We all turned to see my boss, Ms. Dorothy coming over to us.

"Oh hey!" Yuki seemed to exclaim as his face lit up. "You work here too?"

"I don't work here, I own here." Ms. Dorothy does indeed have a lot of access and power in the school than I thought. I watched as Yuki explained to Truesdale and me that he helped my boss when she was having trouble. It seems like I wasn't the only one who stole a packet as Ms. Dorothy gave Yuki another one of the rare packets.

"No way!? Really!?" Yuki cried out as he held the packet in his hands.

"As I said, I'm just repaying for your kindness."

"Cool! Come on, Syrus! Let's see what cool rare cards we got!" And then he was off with Truesdale trying more and more to be Yuki's shadow by the day.

"… Wilona, dear?" I turn to Ms. Dorothy who's still waving goodbye politely. "I know about mine, but where did that second rare booster pack come from?"

Bollocks. I've played my hand. I hope she doesn't fire me.

"I saw it between some bins… it must have fallen when I was gathering them all together." Is what my mouth says before I'm fully committed to some plan, traitorous witch as always.

She turned to me with that same smile that hadn't moved an inch since she waved goodbye to Yuki. "But I was the one who gave all the cards to the first buyer."

"O-Oh." I sincerely doubt I can use the excuse she missed one. She doesn't seem like the type to do so in the first place! "A stroke of luck then? For them?"

"Those two are lucky." Ms. Dorothy stayed still and it was the longest three seconds of my life before she winked at me. "But aren't you taking the field tests?"

I released air I didn't know I was holding in. It's good to know I'm not in trouble for technically stealing. Might not have to do that later. "Well yes, but I've already had enough credit to get by, the field and dueling part are more for the promotion part. Even if I won that, I'd still choose to stay in Slifer Red because it's cheaper."

"I see," Ms. Dorothy left to the back room. However, it wasn't long before I hear her rummaging through something.

She then came out of the room and handed me a slightly dusty box with several booster packs.

"What's this?"

"Some of the first booster packs I sold here. Not many even knew the shop existed in the early days of me working here. These are the leftover stock from my first year, you can have them."

I couldn't help but smile. "Cards almost as old as me? Thank you then, Ms. Dorothy."

"I'm just passing someone's kindness forward."

[Tag Force: Heroes and Villains. (Syrus POV)]

I was feeling good about this upcoming field test! Sure, I and J slept through the written exams but with some rare cards—even if they're only a few of them—will help our decks by a bunch!

The pre-assembly was pretty interesting. I didn't know the Student Council President was such a babe! But she had a good speech, even J was awake the entire time. Then again it was pretty short and sweet. But after her speech, she just explained that tests would take the whole afternoon and take place in group duels. I was one of the earlier batches and told to go to arena G-7. When I did, I was feeling really good for once! I'm ready to take on my opponent! … Just so long as it's not Jaden. I imagined myself pulling off a new rare card and beating my opponent with it! Well, I mean—the cards were all rare, but only a few of them could fit on my deck and one of them was risky…. Still, I do feel more powerful with it!

So come on, send me my opponent from the red dorms!

I spotted red and I was ready to get my game—

"Truesdale? Fancy meeting you here."

Wilona caught my attention and—Huh? Whoo man did it suddenly get hot? I-I'm like sweating a lot! "H-Hey Willona, good luck on your field exam! I didn't know we were nearby each other! Heheh..." Huh, my collar is tighter than I remember. I better loosen it up! "So wh-where are you dueling? There's a lot of Slifer Reds in this group!"

Wilona looked at her PDA, and for some reason, I couldn't hear much over my heartbeat—why was it increasing in volume? "Arena G-7. That's here." The world slowed down, and I could feel my confidence from a while ago dying. Wilona looked up at me and stepped forward with her duel disk. "It looks like we're dueling, Truesdale."

And then, against all my wishes, dawned on me: WHY IS WILONA MY OPPONENT!? I just realized I haven't even seen her deck once! What was it even? Something played only in nightmares!?

Wilona's duel disk activated. "Well, as another fellow Slifer keeps saying, get your game on, Truesdale."

Oh, this isn't going to end well!

Syrus: 4000 LP

Wilona: 4000 LP

"Would you like to go first, Truesdale?" Huh, she's being… really polite compared to her usual nightmare-inducing glares and scheming.

"I uh I well umm." But do I go first? Or should I go second? What is Wilona's deck? Does it do better in the first or second round?

"Truesdale, breathe. It's only me. Make your choice and be confident with it." … Wow, that was cool of her to say. Is she just different when she duels? Come to think of it, even Jaden's character kinda changes when he duels.

Still, Jaden's right that we need to work on my confidence more! "I go first! I draw!"

Turn 1: Syrus. Cards: 5+1

Alright, this hand isn't bad! I even got one of my rare cards! "I summon Gyroid in defense mode!"

Gyroid [Type: Effect Monster/Sub-Type: Machine/Attribute: WIND/Level:3/ATK:1000/DEF:1000]

Great! Gyroid can't be destroyed in battle once per turn!

"I then play one card face down and end my turn!"

Turn 2: Wilona. Cards: 5

Wilona drew her card and I prepared for whatever came my way!

She looked at her hand and I saw her put a card into the spell and trap slot. "I start with the magic card, Cold Wave! Until my next turn, both players can't set and activate trap and spell cards!"

I wasn't prepared for that! There was a blast of cold wind around our battlefield and my face downs were frozen solid! My face down was the rare card, Metalmorph! I was planning to use it later to counter-attack, but now I can't activate or set any spells or traps! And this was only her first card!

"I activate Landrobe the Rock Vessel's ability from my hand! I select one face-up monster my opponent controls and it gets set face down in defense position!"

Wait what!? Back on the field, my Gyroid's hologram was flipped down into a face-down card. But it should be fine! Even then, he can still activate his effect of not being destroyed once in battle!

"And because this effect activated, I can special summon Landrobe in defense mode!"

Landrobe the Rock Vassal [Type: Effect Monster/Sub-Type: Rock/Attribute: EARTH/Level:4/ATK:800/DEF:1000]

Wilona said she bought a new archetype deck before coming here. But what does it do?

"Since it was a special summon, I sacrifice Landrobe to summon Zaborg the Thunder Monarch!"

Thunder boomed and I couldn't help but yelp and swallow my spit. Dark clouds appeared over our duel and shot a strike of thunder behind Wilona and in that flash of light—I swore I saw eyes glaring at me! Then, it appeared. It was huge and clad in some kind of massive armor! Electricity crackled over it!

Zaborg the Thunder Monarch[Type: Effect Monster/Sub-Type: Thunder/Attribute: LIGHT/Level:5/ATK:2400/DEF:1000]

Oh great, she summoned a monster with 2400 attack points in her first turn!

"Landrobe has an ability if he's used for a tribute summon! I'm allowed to search my deck for a monster with 800 attack and 1000 defense points and put it in my hand." Wilona picked up a card and shuffled her deck back into her duel disk. "But I'm not done, now Zaborg's effect activates! When he's summoned, he can destroy one monster in the field!"

Her monster had that ability?!

"I destroy Gyroid with this ability!" Wilona pointed at my face-down monster and her monster unleashed a bolt of thunder and destroyed my face down.

Gyroid could prevent being destroyed by battle, not card effects!

"Now Zaborg attacks directly!"

I shielded myself as I saw the thunderbolt head for my direction and braced for impact. A deafening boom hit—but my ears found out that it was nearby me. I opened my eyes and saw that there was a smoking black spot next to me.

Syrus: 4000 LP → 1600 LP

Wilona: 4000 LP

My points went down, but did that attack miss?

"I end my turn." Wilona finished since she couldn't put down any cards because of Cold Wave… now that I think about it, isn't that an old card?

Turn 3: Syrus. Cards: 4

I draw my card and unfortunately for me, I can't activate it because of Cold Wave. I wasn't expecting such an old card to give me so much trouble!

"I-I summon Truckroid in defense mode!"

Truckroid [Type: Effect Monster/Sub-Type: Machine/Attribute: EARTH/Level:4/ATK:1000/DEF:2000]

This is really all I can do? Aww man!

Turn 4: Wilona. Cards: 3.

After her draw, Wilona put a card on her monster zone. "For now, Cold wave has ended and we can both activate and set trap and magic cards again." As she said this, the frozen icicles around my set card faded—oh wait! No! I should have set Truckroid in attack mode so if she attacks me again, I could have activated Metalmorph! Idiot! I shouldn't have stayed up all night doing that seance! Even though I was in the middle of my self-loathing, I heard Wilona make her move. "I activate Berlineth the Firestorm Vassal's effect from my hand! By discarding one card, I can special summon him to the field in defense mode." From her side of the field, a red, fired themed man jumped out and kneeled.

Berlineth the Firestorm Vassal [Type: Effect Monster/Sub-Type: Pyro/Attribute: FIRE/Level:3/ATK:800/DEF:1000]

I knew where this was going. She did this before with the last vassal card! Here comes another big level 5 or 6 monster!

"I sacrifice Berlineth to summon this new monster of mine!" As she said this, the fire vassal seemed to be lit up in flames—but it was a fire monster. What caught my attention was that the fire turned black and soon it swallowed up her own monster. But even though it did that, the black fire only expanded before exploding—whoa!? What kind of monster is that!? It almost looks like the Winged Dragon of Ra only much smaller and white!

Wilona pointed up as the bird dragon flew behind her and gave off a threatening roar that probably could have made me wet my pants. "Meet Horus The Black Flame Dragon Level 6!"

Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6. [Type: Effect Monster/Sub-Type: Dragon/Attribute: FIRE/Level: 6/ATK: 2300/DEF: 1600]

"You're not the only one who got new cards, Truesdale. Mine came from an older packet, but they're surprisingly really good!" Wilona pointed over to my monster. "Now, Horus, destroy his Truckroid!"

The monster gave off a roar mixed with a bird screech before unleashing black fire on my monster. Truckroid was destroyed—though I deserve it for not using my cards right.

"Now I attack directly with Zaborg!"

Her monster raised a finger and fired a bolt of electricity to my duel disk.

Syrus: 1600 LP → 0 LP

Wilona: 4000 LP

Aww, I lost! This sucks!

"Truesdale," I looked up to see Wilona—she doesn't look as scary as she usually does. "It's okay to do bad you know? It's how we get better."

It's okay to be bad? "B-But what if you stay bad forever?"

… Wow, that's really gentle and kinda pretty smile she has. "Yuki believes in you, and I do honestly believe that man when it comes to your potential."

That's really nice of her to say, but Zane said…

I saw her point back. "Come on, let's go watch Yuki's duel. I heard he was set for a later one." And then, she walked ahead.

What she said was nice and all… but the card I drew last turn was… Power Bond. Even if Cold Wave wasn't there, I probably wouldn't have used this card anyway.

Maybe Zane was right after all.

[Tag Force: Heroes and Villains. (3rd POV)]

Seika Kohinata watched from the special office box that viewed over all the duel arenas for the Promotion Exams this year. She was specifically eyeing the duel between a girl named Wilona Konami and, more importantly, Syrus Truesdale.

It was very one-sided, but the girl seemed to be a good sport about it. But Seika was more focused on Truesdale who was holding a card in his hand. She couldn't see from here, but her instincts were telling her it was one of Zane's best spell cards: Power Bond. Syrus seemed more ashamed holding that card than anything else, making Seika sigh and put a hand on her head.

"Zane, you idiot. You're a genius in dueling, but a horrible older brother. You given that boy anxiety and an inferiority complex!" Seika whispered harshly under her breath. She could tell by the way Syrus moved even from where she was standing—a part of dueling was reading people, something she learned and picked up from Zane himself. She could tell everything about Syrus, even his own moves, screamed anxiety and self-loathing.

While planning how to tell off her Vice President, the girl looked to her left to see Chancellor Sheppard walking up to her. "Ms. Kohinata that was an excellent speech you gave earlier. I'm quite impressed!"

"Thank you, Chancellor. I admit I wasn't so sure of it myself." Seika gave a cordial response. But as she turned to face the man, she saw that the other headmasters were waiting around the viewing box except—"By the way, where's headmaster Crolwer?"

The kind man looked around but then answered, "He said he wanted to do something personal. He told me he'd come back soon."

[Tag Force: Heroes and Villains.]

It didn't take long for everyone to meet up after most had their tests. It was in a corridor near a break room with couches and vending machines while Televisions were propped up for showing others currently dueling.

Most of Jaden's friends had all met up, but some of them hadn't introduced each other yet.

"You must be, Ms. Konami. We haven't had the pleasure of meeting. I'm Bastion Misawa." The Ra Yellow introduced himself.

"A pleasure to meet you as well, Misawa. I'm starting the music club and have 'recruited' Yuki and the others into helping me."

"So they've told me. Though there was more," Bastion paused and looked to the two Slifer Reds behind Wilona who were desperately shaking their heads. "… pressure on them."

"Oh, I don't want them to feel pressured." Wilona gave a smile that Syrus and Jaden could feel the sinister aura behind it. "But I'm sure you passed your promotion exams, right?"

"I did." Bastion folded his arms. "However, I declined to go in for now."

"You did? Someone like you can get into Obelisk Blue pretty easily, Bastion. I think you're even better than most other Obelisk Blue guys I know." Alexis commented from the side.

"I thank you for the compliment—it's just the timing of has thrown my… plans… a bit off schedule. I decided to pass for now, but I'm sure there are more opportunities than this one. Not to mention, I have a personal reason not to enter into the Blue Dorms as of right now." No one seemed to notice Bastion eyeing Jaden at that moment.

"Lucky," Syrus began with a sigh. "You can get to Obelisk Blue any time you want, but I'm sure I can't get promoted to Ra Yellow now! I think I failed both the written and field tests!"

"Don't feel bad, Syrus!" Jaden snaked an arm around his buddy. "It happens to all of us!"

Syrus didn't say more, but it was obvious that he appreciated Jaden's words. At that point, the brunette raised his arms. "I just want to take my Duel Test already!"

"You haven't had your tests yet?" An incoming voice made everyone turn around to see two Obelisk Blues walking up to them.

Alexis' eyes widened as she pointed over to the two Tyler Sisters. "What are you two doing here!?"

All the boys looked over to Alexis, surprised that the usually cool girl was showing this kind of reaction. However, Gloria flipped her hair, scoffed and folded her arms. "We're here to meet up with our club members."

"That, and we had nothing better to do," Grace spoke out with a lot more peppiness than that of her sister.

"Club members?" Alexis repeated before her eyes widened and she turned fast towards Wilona, who of which was staring at a wall with a new focus. "You invited them to your club!?"

Wilona looked back. "I needed members! And they said yes!"

"But the Tyler Sisters!?"

"Is screaming all you're going to do?" Gloria's body expression looked annoyed even though she made her body a little more slack.

Alexis was about to speak—or more than likely continue her shouts again. Luckily for everyone involved, Jaden's PDA started to beep which signaled it was his turn to duel.

"So yeah, it's my turn to duel. I'm gonna—go!" Jaden looked between the girls before bolting to the field.

"That is perhaps the smartest move I've ever seen him do." Bastion silently watched.

With many grievances, the entire group got to the stands to watch Jaden's duel. To their surprise, it was a match against Chazz that it seemed like Dr. Crowler set up.

"Why would Dr. Crolwer set up a match with Yuki and Princeton?" The green-haired girl wondered out loud.

"You don't know?" Bastion asked from the side but noticed that it wasn't just Wilona, the Tyler sisters seemed to be listening to his every word. "Jaden and Dr. Crowler have a strained relationship. I'm convinced the good doctor might have a grudge against our fellow Slifer for humiliating him several times."

"Whoa, he humiliated a teacher? I did know the brunette had it in him." Gloria looked back down in the duel.

"Jaden wouldn't do that on purpose! It's just Crowler overeating over his broken pride." Alexis snapped back at Gloria, mostly because she made it sound like Jaden was a bad person, but he was nothing like her and her sister.

The two blondes glared at each other before Wilona stepped in between them. "The duel's starting, pay attention." Even though she said that Alexis and Gloria were still eyeing daggers, but this time with Wilona joining in trying to motion them to stop.

Bastion and Syrus—along with some guys around their area, stepped away from the clashing aura around the girls. "Bastion, I'm starting to think even though the girls here are hot, they're scary and dangerous."

"An astute observation and hypothesis, Syrus. I'm inclined to agree."

Back down below, and blissfully unaware of the death stare showdown up in the stands, Jaden and Chazz had started their duel with Jaden taking the first turn.

Jaden: 4000 LP

Chazz: 4000 LP

Turn 1: Jaden. Cards: 5

Jaden drew Winged Kurbioh, and while Jaden was thankful he drew his friend, he made the move of summoning Elemental Hero Clayman in defense mode.

Elemental HERO Clayman [Type: Normal Monster/Sub-Type: Warrior/Attribute: EARTH/Level:4/ATK:800/DEF:2000]

Jaden ended his turn after that. Yet from above, Chancellor Sheppard and Crowler were watching the two duel with bated breath.

"Hmm?" Seika looked down at where the two men were looking. "Why is an Obelisk Blue dueling a Slifer Red?"

"That was the good Dr. Crowler's doing." Chancellor Sheppard motioned to Crowler beside him.

"What for, Doctor?" Seika folded her arms.

Crowler seemed to clear his throat. "Why, I'm simply giving a young man the chance to prove his abilities that he so claims of having!"

The Student Council President raised her brow. "Professor Crowler, you're not actively trying to bully a student, right?"

"What I would never!" Professor gasped and put a hand over his chest. "I am the most unbiased and fair person I know!"

From below, Chazz made his move and shouted out, "It's my move now, Slifer Slacker!"

"Go, Chazz! Win against him!" Crowler suddenly yelled over towards the duel before looking back at the Chancellor and Student President. "… I'm very passionate about Duel Monsters in general."

Turn 2: Chazz. Cards: 5

"I play the card, Magic Mallet!" The card was activated on the field. "This lets me choose which cards in my hand to send back into my deck, then I get to draw the same amount of cards I put in!"

Jaden had not heard of that card before.

"What? A rare card!?" Syrus yelled from the stands. "At the first turn?"

"Hey wait a second. That can't be right." The group of friends looked over to Wilona. "Nearly all of the rare cards were bought out by someone else, not him or any other Obelisk Blue. How did Princeton get them?"

"They were all bought by some loaded guy? Like who was it?" Grace asked what everyone was thinking.

"For some reason, it was Dr. Crowler..." As soon as the name escaped her mouth, Jaden's group of friends were piecing together the puzzle. Crowler buying the cards, and then setting up Chazz and Jaden to duel?

"Whoa, he went that far to get back at one guy? Not bad." Gloria seemed rather impressed after hearing that. "I've heard rumors of 'cheating' Slifer Red, but it turns out everyone but him is cheating."

Back down in the duel, Chazz had played and summoned two monsters which combined together to form the VW Tiger Catapult.

VW-Tiger Catapult [Type: Fusion/Effect Monster/Sub-Type: Machine/Attribute: LIGHT/Level:6/ATK:2000/DEF:2100]

"But wait there's more!" Chazz spoke after activating over several cards already. He pointed his hand out at Jaden and told him his new monster's ability allowed him to switch Clayman in attack mode and destroy his monster.

Jaden: 4000 LP → 2800 LP

Chazz: 4000 LP

Back in the faculty box, Crowler was focused on the duel between the two young boys. "My goodness! Perhaps Jaden can't play with the big boys after all! I guess he's not as good as everyone thinks!"

Chancellor Sheppard was silent, while Seika, on the other hand, was wondering why Chazz was playing so sloppily. Rare cards are just cards with good abilities, they help, but they aren't meant to be used as a crutch for skill. She learned that from Zane and Atticus early in her years in Duel Academy. Maybe the power was getting to his head?

Either way, the duel went on.

Turn 3: Jaden. Cards: 5

Jaden still kept up his confidence, which was admirable. However, he decided to play things safe and placed Sparkman in defense mode followed by a face down. With his current hand, it was all he could do against the new cards he was going against.

Turn 4: Chazz. Cards: 1

With the cards he already set up, Chazz didn't hesitate to summon X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head, and Z-Metal Tank, forming one of the most famous and powerful monsters known in dueling history: XYZ Dragon Cannon.

By now, the other field duels were ending, and only Chazz and Jaden's duel was the only one left in the whole field. Everyone else was watching as Chazz did something else, he combined the two new cards in order to special summon, VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon.

VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon [Type: Fusion/Effect Monster/Sub-Type: Machine/Attribute: LIGHT/Level: 8/ATK: 3000/DEF: 2800]

It had abilities as monstrous as it looked. When it was summoned, it banished Sparkman out of the duel and even when Jaden was able to successfully special summon Burstinatrix with his trap card, Hero Emerges, the mighty level 8 just forced her into attack mode and made Jaden feel the brunt of his attack.

Jaden: 2800 LP → 1000 LP

Chazz: 4000 LP

Chazz soon ended his turn, reveling in the pain he was dishing out to the Slifer Slacker.

Turn 5: Jaden. Cards: 3.

Seika from above narrowed her eyes. (That was horribly played. Chazz could have already won if he hadn't fused the X, Y, and Z monsters and used four monsters to attack instead of just one big one. It allowed the Slifer Red a chance to stop his attack.) She thought to herself but did nothing about it. Many people she knew that were great made mistakes like that when they were young.

Jaden drew his card and seemed to notice what exactly it was.

"I summon Winged Kuriboh in defense mode!" Jaden cried out as he summoned the fluffy creature into the field. Many of the girls watching started squealing at how cute the little creature was, one of them included Grace Tyler, the silver-haired twin. "Then I'll put a face down and end my turn."

"Aww, man! Is that all he can do!?" Syrus seemed to panic seeing his friend back into a corner like this.

"I'm afraid there's nothing else he can do at the moment." Bastion agreed with Syrus.

Alexis was silently steaming at the fact that this duel was seemingly rigged from the start—

"You two shouldn't worry," Everyone looked to Wilona who seemed to relax on the rails. "Yuki's got this."

"How do you know?" Syrus asked not only for himself but for everyone who was also thinking it.

The light green-haired girl with a red cap pointed with all the effort of a sleepy dog. "Because his expression just changed. Just watch."

Alexis looked over to Wilona with some amount of confusion. (His expression changed? I don't see any change from here, how did Wilona know that?)

Turn 6: Chazz. Cards: 0

Chazz didn't hesitate to fire a powerful blast right for the puffball that was more than likely Jaden's last defense. However, Jaden surprised everyone, especially Crowler, when he activated Transcendent Wings to make Winged Kuriboh Level 10. As VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon attacked, Winged Kuriboh's new ability allowed it to be sacrificed so that all monsters on the opponent's side on the field would be destroyed and their combined attack points would be dealt to Chazz's life points.

Chazz and everyone was forced to shield their eyes and after the light faded, there was nothing on both sides of the field.

Jaden: 1000 LP

Chazz: 4000 LP → 1000 LP

Turn 7: Jaden. Cards: 0

And then it was down to a draw. All Jaden needed to win was to draw a monster card with at least 1000 attack points.

And then he drew Elemental Hero Avian a monster with exactly 1000 Life points.

Jaden: 1000 LP

Chazz: 1000 LP → 0 LP

And then, the whole crowd cheered, all except Wilona who just rolled her eyes. "The luck of the devil that one has."

Syrus was excited and ran for his friend, with Bastion following close by. It wasn't long until Chancellor Sheppard congratulated Jaden for his victory and promoted him to Ra Yellow.

Wilona blinked at the mention of promotion. She had forgotten that's what these tests were all about! Since Jaden was now a Ra Yellow member, it meant that she finally had one Ra Yellow member met in her membership meaning that there was less chance of it being disbanded before the halfway point in the year!

To her, this was the best possible situation!

[Tag Force: Heroes and Villains. (Jaden POV)]

I couldn't leave my buddies in the Red Dorms like that! I mean, Ra Yellow was pretty sweet, but it's just not home without Chumley, Syrus, and even Wil—

"Yuki."

Uhhh, why is there suddenly a chill in the air? Syrus stopped hugging me and took several steps back while Chumley put a blanket over his head faster than I've ever seen him run. I turned around to the voice, who I knew was Wilona, but uhh… why was her smile creeping me out?

"Congratulations on your test. It was very well played against, Princeton."

"Uhhh… sure! Yeah thanks, Wilona! I heard you and Syrus passed yours too!" I laughed, maybe I was just imagining things.

"Thank you for that." She turned around before stopping and then stepped back towards our room. "Ah wait, Yuki, you turned down being a Ra Yellow right?"

I looked to Syrus who was backed up in a corner before looking back to Wilona. "Yeah, I mean, I can't just leave you guys, you're my friends."

"Yes, that's very kind of you," Weirdly enough, Wilona didn't seem to care much about that? Why? "But did you recall that for my Music Club I needed three Ra Yellow members for the club to be properly recognized?"

Oh yeah! I forgot about that.

"Had you actually accepted it, we would have only needed two Ra Yellow members to recruit." Wilona stepped in and for some reason… closed the door behind her?

Hey wait a second, she sounds a lot like mom when dad makes her angry for forgetting something… Now I'm not that sharp when it comes to books and all, but I've watched enough cartoons to know this isn't a good sign!

"But we're back to square one." Wilona opened up her purple colored eyes, and I noticed her right eyelid twitch. "So, Mr. Yuki, how will you help me out with the membership problem?"

"Uhhh, is there someone who needs dueling?"

Click!

It was then that Wilona locked the door—and I just realized it was our only escape. Our only possible out was to jump out the window and fall of like a ten-story cliff. … I think the cliff is sounding better with each passing second.

Wilona dropped her smile, and I gotta say I'd rather face Chazz and his rare cards again!

"Try again, Mr. Yuki."

(And the Red dorms heard hellish screams of pain that day.)


A/N: It's weird how sometimes I have more fun with lesser stories than my more popular ones. Anyway, nothing much changed right now, except I decided to show off the character, Seika from the Yugioh GX Manga.

I've decided to make her out of character to fit this new world. I'm trying to make characters a little more active in their goals like say for Zane: him trying to find Atticus—wait, was he? He kinda just stayed near the lighthouse a lot. I thought about giving him a good friend he can relax around was a good idea.

Seika was on the list when I was looking up Obelisk Blue Students, and I thought: hey! Yugioh GX could use another strong character that just so happens to be a hot female. So I put her in.

Also, sorry about the duels this time around, I promise the next chapter is going to change a bit. I hope all of you look forward to it and thanks for all the support so far. I'm trying to make this story more than just the rehash of Canon with an OC/My Version of Red Hat. There are several other stories and this one is just taking... a different route altogether. I hope you all enjoy it though. See ya!