AN: Probably the biggest change to the GX era rules I've made is present here. Back then, only one field spell was allowed at a time and I've changed it to the modern ruling of both players being allowed to have a field spell simultaneously. How many duels will it actually matter in? Don't really know. Plus most decks I show will run some type of spell removal anyways, so it probably won't drastically change many duels I come up with, but it matters in the duel this chapter so I mentioned it.
Thanks for any follows, favorites, or comments! Hope you enjoy the next chapter!
The next day was the first day of classes and the official start of the school year. Alex's first class was with Dr. Vellian Crowler who taught the game mechanics of Duel Monsters.
Dr. Crowler was a… different looking sort of teacher than Alex was use to. Although he never had a doctor for a teacher either he supposed. His outfit was a more regal version of the regular Obelisk uniform, containing a ruffled pink collar, shoulders, upper chest, and sleeves. His blonde hair was done in two layers, with one of the layers tied up in a ponytail. He also had dark purple lipstick, Alex assumed it had to be lipstick at least, on. All together, it made the head of Obelisk definitely stand out.
Crowler seemed to be proud of being the head of Obelisk, if the heaps of praise he gave to any correct answer by an Obelisk student was any indication. Bastion gave the textbook answer to a question, unsurprisingly, which earned him a simple "nicely put" before Crowler quickly moved on.
The Ra Yellow indifference paled in comparison to the disdain Crowler seemed to have for Slifer students. Two Slifer students in particular at least. Crowler seemed giddy when a light blue-haired Slifer student, Syrus Truesdale if Alex remembered right, couldn't answer a question about how field spells worked. Which, admittedly, was a little concerning for someone who got in to Duel Academy to not know, but not enough for the "Slifer slacker" title Crowler stuck him with.
What really seemed to ruin Crowlers mood was when Syrus' friend, whose name was Jaden Yuki according to Bastion, came to his defense. Alex had ended up being one of the first students tested in the test duel portion of the entrance exams and left immediately after. Which meant that he apparently missed an exciting end to the testing day. Dr. Crowler himself went down to duel the last applicant of the day, for some reason, and lost… to Jaden Yuki.
"So, how did a Slifer Red student beat the guy, who's a literal doctor, that's supposed to be teaching us dueling?" Alex asked Bastion after class ended.
"You didn't see? They were the last duel on." Bastion asked confused.
"I left right after my test. Probably why we didn't run in to each other then." Alex shrugged.
"Ah, I see. Well, I defeated my proctor rather handily and it was still nothing compared to what Jaden did. Dr. Crowler didn't use a test deck, he used his personal Ancient Gear deck and Jaden destroyed Ancient Gear Golem to win." Bastion explained.
Alex whistled, impressed with Jaden's achievement. The Ancient Gear archetype was a powerful set, with cards that usually negated the opponent from using traps during attacks. Ancient Gear Golem was an exceptionally rare boss monster of the archetype. Kaiba had very obviously wasted no expense when it came to Duel academy and that applied to the teaching staff as well. For an incoming first year to defeat one, handily at that, while the teacher was using their personal deck was certainly impressive.
"How about Jaden? What'd he use?"
"Elemental Heroes. An archetype that thrives on fusing with different combinations possible. He used a field spell to boost his Elemental Hero fusion. Took out Dr. Crowlers Golem and his life points. It was an impressive display. " Bastion seemed to have respect for the Slifer student.
"Wait, so why is Jaden in Slifer? Good archetype, plus he beat a teacher, and he's not even put in Ra? He bomb the written portion or something?" Alex asked.
"That's one possibility I suppose." Bastion shrugged. "Either way, I know he'll be one of the duelist in my way to reach my goal of being the number 1 student."
'So Bastion has Jaden near the top of his student list if he thinks he'll need to beat him to rise the rankings. I might need to put him up there too.' Alex thought as he split from Bastion to go to his next class.
…
The rest of the day had passed without much fuss. The schedule was a bit of a weird one. Most classes, seemingly the dueling focused ones, involved all three of the dorms in one big room in a lecture style. While other, more academic based subjects, involved a smaller number of students mixed from each dorm. Alex had shared every class with one, or some mixture, of Bastion, Akari, and Jasmine, which was a plus.
"I, hereby call the first meeting of 'Akari's Little Duel Club' to order." Akari pronounced, miming banging a gavel.
"Don't think you can be a club with 4 people." Alex deadpanned. "Or have a duel club in a duel academy either actually."
"Yeah girl, plus the name sucks." Jasmine piped in.
"The names fine! And Jasmine was the one who called it a club yesterday!" Akari huffed.
"Thats not why we're here anyways. The reason we're here, is that some students in our prestigious academy are going around breaking a serious rule." Akari said, nodding seriously.
"Should we not tell a teacher then? I'm sure our dorm head, Professor Satyr, will take it seriously." Bastion asked concerned.
The four of them were sitting around one of the many outside tables scattered throughout the island. Akari had, rather dramatically, dragged them over about an hour after classes had finished for the day. She looked more put out than seriously upset so Alex guessed whatever this "rule breaking" was, wasn't going to be too serious.
"I'm glad you asked Bastion. Some of these students have been…" Akari paused for effect, causing the three others to lean in…
"Refusing my duel requests!"
'Yup, saw that coming.' Alex thought amused.
Akari was definitely the type with something to prove and an unmatched passion for dueling. Alex could relate, but Akari seemed like she was going to go about it with an iron determination. Jasmine looked just as amused at the proclamation, while Bastion seemed to sigh at himself for actually thinking something was wrong.
"I've already asked 3 different students if they wanted to duel and they all said they had something to do." Akari finished slumping down.
"It IS the first day of classes." Jasmine reasoned.
"That's why I called the first official club meeting! First day or not, Let's duel!" Akari exclaimed.
"You need to relax a little. But, like, I'm in! Who duels who?" Jasmine asked.
"We did have a duel planned yesterday Alexander. We should duel each other first." Bastion reminded.
"Don't forget, me and Alex never got to finish ours!" Akari jumped in.
"Ah, yes but you did have a chance to duel at least. You can duel the winner." Bastion refuted.
"Or I could finish facing Alex and then I'll beat you afterwards." Akari argued back.
"You wanna just duel each other and let them handle that themselves?" Alex whispered to Jasmine.
"Sure! I hope you don't just want to duel me because you think I'm the easier option." Jasmine mock glared.
They both stood up and started walking to find a duel field.
"Never." Alex laughed, knowing she was just teasing.
"Hey! Where are you guys going?" Akari asked her two retreating friends, but didn't receive an answer.
"I believe, that is called ditching us." Bastion said.
"…Wanna just duel each other?" Akari asked after a moment.
…
Alex and Jasmine chatted as they walked a path towards a duel field Jasmine knew of, but before they could reach the place, Princess appeared beside Alex.
"Alex! That building!" Princess flailed her arms, pointing towards Alex's left.
Alex glanced at Princess, trying not to let Jasmine know anything was up. Looking toward where she was pointing, Alex saw a path leading to a building with the same architecture as the rest of the school. This building was in an obvious state of disarray though. Moss covered the walls, the grass looked overgrown, and the gate in front of the path had a 'KEEP OUT' sign. Alex stopped to look at it, trying to figure out what was so important about it to Princess when Jasmine noticed.
"Oh, the abandoned dorm building. Alexis told me about this, we probably shouldn't have come this way." Jasmine said, coming up next to him looking worried.
"Why'd they abandon it?" Alex asked interested.
"There's something wrong with it." Princess said seriously beside him.
"It's abandoned because students went missing in it." A new voice said, causing all three to whirl around.
The voice belonged to beautiful, tall, long blonde-haired student, who wore the same female Obelisk Blue uniform as Jasmine. Her hazel eyes looked serious as she looked past them towards the building.
"Alexis! You scared me!" Jasmine complained.
'Jasmine's other friend, Alexis Rhodes. Her, Mindy and Alexis have been friends since the beginning of prep school Jasmine said.' Alex remembered some of the history his new friend had told him earlier.
Alexis' eyes softened as they focused upon Jasmine instead of the building.
"Sorry Jas, but what are you doing out here? You know being near here isn't good." Alexis asked as she flicked her eyes between the pair.
"Oh, Alex this is Alexis. I told you about her. Alexis, this is Alex." Alex brought his hand up in greeting.
"Oh, you were the kid using Amazoness at the test! It was unique. I was happy to see you pulled out the win." Alexis complimented.
Alex thanked her for the compliment with a bashful smile.
"Akari introduced us and we were just cutting across here to get that duel field Mindy showed me yesterday. We were going to duel." Jasmine explained to Alexis.
"Oh!" Alexis looked surprised. "In that case, don't let me keep…"
"Alex, you have to find out about what happened here." Princess urged.
"Wait," Alex interrupted "how did students just go missing from a dorm?"
Alexis narrowed her eyes and stayed quiet, as if she was wondering about what was the right thing to say.
"That's the question isn't it? A year ago, something went on in that dorm that caused a handful of students to vanish. Seemingly in to thin air too. Duel Academy covered it up by saying the students were on a research trip, but that's obviously a lie." Alexis coldly recounted the story.
Jasmine looked uncomfortable at the story and rushed over to comfort her friend. She, no doubt, had already known about the basics of what happened.
'This is obviously important to her somehow. It'd sound like a made up urban legend if Princess wasn't sensing something. Two days in and Duel Academy just gets crazier. Students vanishing from their dorm…' Alex shuddered at the thought.
"Whatever happened here does not feel good at all, but is very contained to just this place for some reason. I could only sense it because we're this close." Princess said to Alex while the girls had their moment.
'Could this be what Sage felt then? What do I even do about… an evil building? Is that what this is?' Alex would've laughed at the absurdity of the thought if he were alone.
Princess looked pensive as she stared at the building.
"Sorry about that. Just try to avoid this building until they figure out what happened." Alexis said as she and Jasmine focused on Alex again.
"Hey, why don't you come with and cheer me on as I get my first win of the year." Jasmine said, smiling to Alexis.
"Sure, let's see what Amazoness can do."
'Duel first, Talk with Princess later I guess.'
…
"Ready to get your butt kicked?" Jasmine said good-naturedly as she stood across from Alex on the field.
"I hope Alexis doesn't think worse of me after she sees how bad I beat her friend." Alex shot back, getting a laugh, as they drew their first 5 cards.
"Duel/Duel" (Jasmine: 4000/Alex: 4000)
"Beauties should go first. I draw!" Jasmine said as she drew to bring her hand to 6
"I'll start by playing the spell card Terraforming! This lets me grab a field spell card from my deck and add it to my hand! Hope your amazons are good swimmers, because the field spell I grabbed is A Legendary Ocean!" Jasmine shouted as she slapped the field spell in to the designated slot.
A wave of water instantly crashed in to the field, filling up the field quickly. It was hard to remember that this was all just holograms when your brain was tricking you in to actually feeling the ocean water pool beneath you. Building and structure ruins made of stone rose up all around Jasmine on her side of the field.
"A Legendary Ocean doesn't just boost water monsters stats by 200, it also reduces the level of all water monsters by 1, even if they're in our hands! So I get to summon this without a tribute! Come on out in attack mode, my Terrorking Salmon! (2400- 2600/1000- 1200)"
A beige color fish that looked more prehistoric monster than actual fish leaped out from underneath the water. It snapped its mouth menacingly at Alex before settling on top of the water.
"Last, I'll set one card and end my turned!" Jasmine finished as two back row cards appeared floating above the water.
"2600 attack on the first turn. Nice!" Alex complimented.
"But it won't be around long. I draw!" Alex brought his hand up to 6 cards.
"First, I'll play the spell card Amazoness Call! This spell lets me pick any Amazoness card in my deck and add it to my hand. I'll choose my own field spell! Amazoness Village!" Alex smirked as he slapped down his own field spell.
The water on Alex's side of the field dried up almost instantly, replaced with green grass. To match Jasmine's stone ruins, wooden posts and huts of different material shot up all around Alex.
"Much better. Now, I'll summon Amazoness Paladin (1700- 2000/300) in attack mode! It gains 300 attack from her effect and my villages effect, but that's not all! I'll play the spell card Amazoness Fighting Spirit!"
Amazoness Paladin's cape billowed as she readied her sword.
"My Paladin has the right idea! If you forgot, my Paladin will gain 1000 attack points when it attacks, (2000- 3000/300) so go Paladin! Skewer her overgrown fish!" Alex declared.
"Not so fast, I'll activate my trap! Tornado Wall! This brings any battle damage you do down to 0 while I have my field spell!" Jasmine said as set card in her back row flipped face up.
The trap would protect Jasmines life points, but it wouldn't stop the attack. Amazoness Paladin quickly rushed forward, running through the water on the other side and slashed the fish monsters body in half. The blow back of the monster being destroyed was stopped by a wall of wind before it could affect Jasmine's life points.
"That's just fine. I'll set one card and end my turn for now." Alex finished.
"Good! Then I draw!" Jasmine drew a card to bring her hand to 3.
"Nice! I'll play the spell card Pot Of Greed. It lets me draw two more cards!" Jasmine grinned at the groan Alex released and drew two more cards.
'I swear, everyone I duel must run 3 of those.' Alex mentally complained.
"Tch, I'll set two cards face down and end my turn." Jasmine frowned, ending her turn almost as fast as it started.
Two cards appeared face down next to her Tornado Wall card.
"Uh oh, doesn't sound too good." Alex teased while drawing a card.
"Don't think Tornado Wall will save your life points either! The seas are about to get violent, because I play the spell card Mystical Space Typhoon! Destroy her field spell, A Legendary Ocean!"
Alex activated the quick play spell as soon as he drew it.
The spell card caused gusts of wind to whip up the water on Jasmine's side of the field. The water started crashing all around and swallowed up the field spell. Not only destroying A Legendary Ocean, but Tornado Wall instantly dissolved in to particles as well because of its effect. The stone ruins vanished, replaced by huts and tents due to the effects of Amazoness Village.
"A two for one special, and now you're wide open! I'll summon Amazoness Sage! (1400- 1600/700)" Alex said.
This time, Amazoness Sage's focus seemed to actually be on the duel field as she was summoned. Though, Alex didn't know if this was actually a good thing or not this time around. With the discovery of something wrong with the abandoned dorm, Alex hoped that whatever she sensed was tied to that, so they would have an answer. More potential mysteries. He noted it for later. Before Alex could declare an attack, Jasmine interrupted…
"Got you!" Jasmine smirked. "I activate my trap, Torrential Tribute!"
Alex covered his head as storm of rain fell violently and quickly on to his side of the field, specifically on his monsters, destroying both.
"Not bad, but my Amazoness Village's effect activates! Since you destroyed a level 4 Amazoness, I can summon another one with an equal or lesser star level. I'll choose my favorite one! Amazoness Princess! (1200- 1400/900)"
Alex's trusted duel spirit materialized, obviously happy to be summoned, as she twirled her spear with a big smile, before getting in to an attack position.
"That's not all though, because I can add an Amazoness spell or trap to my hand when Princess is summoned. I think I'll pick the trap card Amazoness Archers!" Alex finished as he added the designated card to bring his hand to two.
"Now, Amazoness Princess attack her life points directly! And before that goes through, her other effect lets me discard a card to special summon another Amazoness in defense position! Come on out Amazoness Blowpiper! (800- 1000/1500)"
Amazoness Princess sprinted forward quickly and thrusted her bone spear in to Jasmine's torso. (Jasmine: 4000- 2600/Alex: 4000)
"I'll set one card face down and end my turn." Alex finished emptying his hand with that set card.
A second set card in Alex's back row appeared next to the upright Amazoness Fighting Spirit.
"Gee, wonder which card that is." Jasmine said sarcastically. "I draw!"
Jasmine stared at the three cards in her hand a moment, seemingly trying to figure out what to do, before nodded to herself.
"First, I'll activate my face down trap, Sea Stealth Attack! One of its effects lets me activate A Legendary Ocean from my graveyard!"
Once again, Jasmine's side of the field was covered in water as it washed away the Amazoness huts from her side and replaced them with the underwater stone ruins.
"Then, I'll play the spell card Fish Sonar! It's a card that hasn't even hit the open market yet. You might be one of the first to face it, lucky you! It lets me add a level 7 water monster to my hand, and since my A Legendary Ocean is considered Umi, it also lets me special summon a normal water monster! I choose to summon 7 Colored Fish (1800- 2000/800- 1000)"
An ugly, long fish whose body had sections where its scales were different colors appeared on the field. It swam up and down the monster zones before settling right in front of Princess.
"Don't worry it won't stay long. The card I chose add to my hand is MY favorite! I'll tribute my 7 Colored Fish to summon my Levia-Dragon - Daedalus! (2600- 2800/1500- 1700)"
The monster that appeared was one of the most intimidating Alex had stared down. It was an insanely long, light blue sea serpent with a purplish underbelly. The scales on top of its head seemed more like armor with greenish gems protruding from it. Its body seemed to slither around itself as it stayed in place, floating above the water.
'This deck doesn't match Jasmines personality at all. Or maybe it does and underneath the flirty behavior, she'll bite your head off.' Alex shuddered.
"Its effect lets me send my field spell to the graveyard, in order to destroy every other card on the field!"
Alex's eyes widened at the declaration as he stared helplessly at his defenses get destroyed. The field had lost the effects of both field spells now and reverted back to the normal duel field. Her monster also lost its 200 point boost, but that hardly mattered at the moment.
"Go Levia! Attack him directly!" Jasmine ordered.
The sea serpent slithered forward in the blink of an eye and unhinged its jaw to bite through Alex's life points. (Jasmine: 2600/Alex: 4000- 1400)
"Zero cards in your hand and zero cards on your field. Akari won't be happy that I got to beat you before she did." Jasmine said cheekily.
'It really comes down to a draw? Jasmine's good, really good. Amazoness please don't fail me now!' Alex thought as he drew his card.
"That'll do! I play my own Pot Of Greed!" Alex quickly drew two more times.
"Aw, you're not going to tell me what it does?" Jasmine faux pouted earning a laugh.
'I can't risk letting her get another Umi back on the field, especially with that monsters effect. I have to end this right now.' Alex thought looking over the two cards he picked up.
"Alright, this ends here! I'll play the spell card The Warrior Returning Alive! I can pick one Warrior monster in my graveyard and return it to my hand. My favorite versus your favorite, I choose my Amazoness Princess! (1200/900) And I'll summon her right away!"
Amazoness Princess materialized with a big grin. She appeared unfazed by the monstrous sea serpent floating across from her, simply pointing her spear at it.
"Don't forget its effect! It lets me add one Amazoness spell or trap from my deck. I don't have many left, but I still have the perfect one. Amazoness Spellcaster!" Alex excitedly activated the spell.
Both monsters auras flared different colors before they swapped colors as the spell took hold. Amazoness Princess flexed her muscles as her ATK rose to 2600 while Jasmine's Levia-Dragon shrunk to 1200.
"Don't worry, I'll tell you what this card does. It means our monsters attacks have switched so my Princess is more than enough for your Dragon! Don't forget her other effect, as soon I declare my attack, I can special summon another Amazoness by discarding my last card in my hand. Go Princess! Attack her Levia-Dragon!"
Princess didn't need to be told twice, so she dashed forward and leaped in to the air towards the sea monster. She landed on the monsters head, spear pointed down, as she thrust the weapon, causing an explosion of hologram debris and smoke from the destruction of the monster. (Jasmine: 2600- 1200/Alex: 1400)
"That's not enough to win! Levia won't be gone for long!" Jasmine yelled to be heard as the smoke started to clear.
"Did you forget? My Princess was able to summon another Amazoness." Alex smirked.
When the smoke finally cleared, standing next to Amazoness Princess was another Amazoness. She was down on a knee, her black and red fur jacket fluttering, as she aimed a white bow cocked with a flaming arrow. Her sandy colored hair blew lightly with the breeze. Her red eyes focused on her target, Jasmine at the moment, with the intensity of a hunter.
"She has to be in defense position though right?" Jasmine asked unsure, focusing on the arrow trained at her.
"She is, but she has an effect. Meet Amazoness Archer (1400/1000) and she doesn't need to be in attack mode to do damage. I can tribute two monsters in order to do 1200 points of damage to my opponent…" Alex trailed off.
"That means…" Jasmine's eyes widened at the realization.
Alex didn't need to give a verbal command. Amazoness Archer aimed upwards and shot the flaming arrow in to the air, right as she and Princess started dissolving in to particles. Alex watched as the arrow came down right in to Jasmine's chest. (Jasmine: 1200- 0/Alex: 1400)
As Alex made his way towards where Alexis watched the duel, Jasmine ran over and gave him a quick hug making Alex blush faintly.
"That was so fun!" Jasmine exclaimed.
"Impressive, both of you." Alexis complimented. "Jasmine usually doesn't lose when she gets her Levia-Dragon on the field."
"It was… a lot of luck with that last draw." Alex humbly said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Psh, drawings a skill, but don't think I won't get you back for destroying my precious Levia." Jasmine mock threatened.
"What's the story with you using water monsters? I thought your deck would be… I don't know, different I guess." Alex asked interested.
"I said the same thing after we dueled for the first time." Alexis laughed.
"Not much room to talk about surprising decks Mr. Amazoness..."
Before Jasmine could continue further a voice cut through the conversation.
"There they are!" Akari exclaimed as she jogged over to the group, dragging Bastion behind her.
"Akari! Did Bastion help get all that tension out of you?" Jasmine asked with an innocent look.
"Be quiet!" Akari sputtered while Bastion just blushed.
"You guys did duel though right? Who won?" Alex asked.
"…wasadraw" Akari grumbled quietly.
"I think she means to say that we drew in our duel." Bastion spoke up. "She's a tough opponent. I must correct some part of my formula."
"A draw? How'd that happen?" Alex asked.
"This one knew he was going to lose so he activated Ring Of Destruction to finish off both of us." Akari folded her arms glaring.
"It was the wisest action." Bastion replied simply.
"What about you two? You ditched us and found Alexis? Did you duel?" Akari asked.
"Yeah! It was close, but Alex got me in the end." Jasmine smiled. "But Alexis said she's totally in for our little duel club at least, right Alexis?"
'She did?'
"I did?" Alexis raised her eyebrow.
"I thought we agreed we couldn't be a club." Bastion said more to himself.
"C'mon! I know you and I know you're already thinking about getting to duel everyone here anyways." Jasmine rolled her eyes at Alexis as if it to say it was obvious.
"Uh, alright then. Sure, why not?" Alexis agreed shrugging.
"Awesome! Welcome to Akari's Little Duel Club!" Akari smiled.
"Don't worry, we're still working on the name." Jasmine stage whispered getting a laugh from everyone beside Akari.
"We're also not a club, so we're working on learning that fact. It'd be nice to duel another top Obelisk though so welcome to the… group." Alex said with Bastion nodding in agreement.
…
Later that night, it was finally time to have a conversation with Princess to decide what to do about the abandoned dorm building.
"We break curfew and check it out some more." Princess said confidently.
"You mean I break curfew and trespass, then I'll be the one getting expelled. No thanks." Alex shook his head.
"I think my princess is correct." The voice of Amazoness Sage spoke up as her spirit appeared.
Alex jumped in surprise. He was use to Princess appearing randomly and speaking up, but the others had been content to communicate through Princess.
"Sage? Was the dorm building what you sensed yesterday too?" Alex asked.
"No, that was something different. I felt it again today." Sage revealed.
"'What?!'" Princess and Alex yelled at the same time.
"Yes, when you summoned me in to battle. It was… less obvious today, but still there. An energy with a purpose I can't place." Sage explained.
Alex sighed in annoyance. How would they even go about figuring that one out.
"Alex summoned me twice and I didn't feel anything!" Princess said frustrated.
"That is a mystery for another day. Today, I believe we should go back to that building." Sage said.
"And what am I supposed to do if whatever is left in there tries to make me disappear too?" Alex asked.
"We won't go in. My princess was correct about it being hard to sense what's happening in the abandoned building without being close." Sage explained.
'Am I really going to be breaking curfew and trespassing the second day here?'
…
Alex stood in front of the gate that led to the abandoned dorm building just before the stroke of midnight. Sneaking out of the Ra dorm building had been a little too easy, but he doubted curfew breaking was too big an offense. The trespassing to a building where multiple students disappeared was probably the much bigger deal.
'I'm so getting expelled'
"Alright, what do you got?" Alex asked Sage.
"Darkness." Sage simply said.
"Great." Alex sarcastically replied.
"Not all darkness is bad young partner." Sage chided.
"But this one… someone messed with something far beyond their control. A shroud of cold, unfeeling darkness envelopes the lower levels." Sage continued, eyes closed as she sensed.
"Ugh, I really need to get better at this stuff. All I sense is that something feels awful about this place." Princess huffed.
"Okay… is there a way to uh, purify, the darkness? We need an exorcism or something?" Alex asked halfway seriously.
"No, not without finding a way to do battle with whatever is anchoring this darkness. It is beyond us at the moment. To have something like this still here… someone must have been offering up their souls." Sage said in a grave voice.
"Like a shadow game?" Princess whispered.
"No. Not happening. Not our responsibility then." Princess looked genuinely scared.
'I can barely beat proctors and other students, now the island has thrown possible shadow games at me. Is it my responsibility? Just because my cards can sense what happened? Or is this apart of the destined battle they've told me about? I-I don't know what I'm suppose to do.' Alex's thoughts were jumbled.
"Nothing has changed young partner. We knew there'd be trials on our way to our destiny. Let's first worry about getting my queen back. We can not face our future while we are not complete." Sage advised.
"Do you know how I'm supposed to do that? It's been 5 years!" Alex asked getting frustrated by the circumstances.
Before Sage or Princess could say anything, both of their heads snapped towards another direction.
"Someone is dueling." Sage said sounding far away as she focused on where the duel must be taking place.
"Uh, okay. We're near the Obelisk dorms. Probably one of them. What's the big deal?" Alex asked confused at the sudden change.
Neither said anything as they both started floating towards the dorms.
'Yeah, sure. Why not. What else can this island throw at me' Alex thought as he began to follow them.
...
They led him to the back of a building near the Obelisk girls dorm. Jaden Yuki and Alexis were standing across from each other, obviously in the middle of a duel. Off to the side were Jasmine, Mindy, and Akari keeping watch over… a tied up Syrus?
'Do I even want to know?'
"The boy, Jaden, his dueling energy… it's incredible." Princess said almost in awe. Should he be jealous?
"And that means…?" Alex tried to get some answers.
He noticed a duel spirit pop up next to Jaden. It looked like a fuzzball with angel wings, as it flew around Jaden's head pretending to bump its head with his cheek. Jaden could obviously see the spirit as well as he followed it with his eyes, laughing at its antics.
"Whoa, he can see spirits too." Alex marveled.
People who could see duel spirits were rare. Before meeting Yugi and now Jaden, he hadn't run in to anyone else who could see a duel spirit.
"Alex! What are you doing here?" Jasmine called over to him having noticed he was there.
"Jaden's duel energy could be apart of the energy I feel when summoned. It's similar… I think." Sage struggled to piece everything together.
'But Princess couldn't feel anything and now she can. Is it just when dueling is happening that these things can be sensed? Can his duel spirit sense all this? I can't even begin to figure all this out right now. After this, I'm getting a cork board and putting up all the mysteries this place has.' Alex thought a little annoyed.
"All of this… it's connected somehow." Sage realized aloud as they made their way towards the group of girls.
"Jasmine. Akari. Mindy." Alex greeted "any reason Syrus is your prisoner?"
Syrus just seemed to deflate and keep his head down.
"Just a simple misunderstanding… I think." Jasmine sighed.
"Plus, Alexis has totally been interested in Jaden." Mindy added.
"Akari is letting people duel without her? I'm shocked." Alex teased.
"She asked to be the one to duel him at first." Jasmine laughed.
"Then, she asked Syrus to duel while he was tied up." Mindy continued on laughing causing Akari to pout.
"How did you even know what was happening?" Akari asked Alex.
"That's game!"
Alex looked over to see that Jaden had won his duel against Alexis with his Elemental Hero Thunder Giant. Alex didn't get to see the whole duel, but Jaden was getting more and more impressive by the hour. Beating a teacher, beating the top female student, and can see duel spirits. Jaden and Alexis both seemed to be in good spirits after the duel, chatting as they made their way to the group.
"Alex? How'd you get here." Alexis asked confused as she noticed him in the group.
"All duel club members have a sixth sense when another one of us is dueling, so I had to come watch." Alex deflected with a joke.
"There's a duel club? Sweet! Me and Sy have to sign up!" Jaden said excitedly.
If Jaden saw Sage and Princess, he didn't really make any note of it. He had a friendly smile on as his own duel spirit, Winged Kuriboh, came over to Princess and cooed at her. Princess immediately grabbed it and hugged it close, laughing along with its coos. Jaden never even looked like he glanced in their direction from what Alex could see.
"Let's worry about not getting in to trouble first. Girls, let Syrus go." Alexis took charge.
"Thanks Jay! Sorry you had to come save me." Syrus lamented to Jaden after getting untied.
"Nah, it was nothing Sy! I even got a good duel out of it!" Jaden said happily.
"Everyone we meet is obsessed with dueling." Mindy groaned.
"Almost like we go to a school for dueling." Akari snarked.
Soon after, the group split up to go back to their rooms before someone found them. Alex was walking along with Jaden and Syrus on their way back towards the Ra and Slifer dorms. The kuriboh never left Princess' shoulder as it kept brushing up against her cheek. Before long they came to a point where Alex needed to split from the boys to get to his own dorm. As they were getting further away from each other, Jaden started walking backwards and yelled after Alex.
"Let me know when duel club is man! Kuriboh won't be happy if I keep him away from his new friend!"
I feel like these first 3 chapters were a little bit of an introduction and now we can ramp up a little more. The cast of characters is about set and Alex keeps stumbling upon (and getting annoyed by) more and more mysteries. Maybe a little bit of a time skip next time. I'm not exactly following the episodes, but they definitely are a little bit of a guide until things get more and more different.