Hello Readers! Welcome to the First Chapter of Dual Guardians, a story written by me, Leengard Ustan, and my pal, Raydark182. We will be using all the Yugioh cards from the official card game, including the new ones that are uploaded. We do not own Yu-Gi-Oh characters that will appear in this story or the cards used, only the original characters we have made ourselves.

Enjoy the beginning of our story.

Chapter One

First Semester

The First Day

Duel Academy

A clear blue ocean that spread for many miles, overlooked by the shine of the afternoon sun along with small puffs of clouds reflecting off the water's surface. It would've been a scene of tranquility an artist would want to paint. Though it'd soon be disturbed as a helicopter soon passed through it, heading towards its destination. On the side of the helicopter, there appeared to be a logo that belonged to the International Duel Academy and within its body, it contained that school's newly admitted students. The amount consisted of no more than 20 who passed their Entrance Exams for the academy.

Inside of it, the group of students couldn't help but keep their attention on the windows looking out. Many of them were of different ethnicities, all haling from different parts of the globe.

After another minute, the chopper soon was reaching it's final destination.

From their windows, many saw the island they would be spending the next year at and at its center, the main building of the Academy. It stood tall with its six massive pillars surrounding a large dome that was rested up against a cliff and surrounded by forest. Behind it was a large crater that was taller than the mountains that were behind the actual building. There was also evidence of a beach and docks for ships, the three dorms, and some various other buildings that inhabited the island.

The helicopter soon made its way down, descending onto the roof of the main building's roof as the pilot pushed some buttons, turning off the vehicle's engines and opening the door on the side. Soon enough, the students all grabbed their stuff, heading towards the exit and climbing down the small set of stairs that descended from the chopper.

The students exiting was a group of ten boys and ten girls, all of them being around the ages of fifteen to sixteen, and each one wearing a different color of the academy's standard uniform.

In their hands or on their backs was the luggage that most of them brought for their trip, some having more than others and some only having the bare essentials. One particular thing all of them had were the standard Duel Disks the academy provided as well as special Visors that many had in their pockets or elsewhere on their body.

These Duel Disks had circular body with four laterally-placed slots (the bottom-right one being the Graveyard and the upper-left one the Extra Deck), a curved blade, and a small hourglass-shaped touchscreen. During a Duel, the touchscreen displays Life Points and Turn Counters at the top of the screen, and the Spell & Trap Zones on the bottom. Also, by tapping on the word "Enemy", the user can look at their opponent's field. The arm blades, which are normally curved but can be customized, was made from a special hard-light construct that allowed the students to place their cards on and inside it, which meant it acted as the Field for the students when in a duel.

The Visor were an updated model of the Duel Gazers previously used by all Duelists, looking more like a pair of visor sunglasses rather than a monocle. The standard ones given out by the academy had a simple, mirror quality to the outside of them, though these were just as customizable as the Duel Disks.

Many students had the standard for both, but most customized them in their own particular way as some changed the colors and even the design by a few simple key strokes on the Duel Disk.

After a few minutes, the last person exited from the helicopter though many could see he was different, not just from his hair color, but how he acted as well.

This red-haired student, with what appeared to be a scar on his left eyebrow and standing at a fair height for a normal teen and had semi-tanned skin, wore the standard uniform and had it in proper form. Though only the jacket was left open rather than buttoned. Underneath, he wore a red and black T-shirt with the number eleven on it. His lower half had semi-fitting pants rather than the standard academy pants and also had red shoes as well, making his whole outfit matching.

The Duel Disk he carried had the standard, circular shape of the Academy Issued ones, but his was solid red in color, had white highlights to emphasis the edges and had a black "V" shape on top of the Duel Disk that extended past the edges of the circle. He was clearly owning the color of his Dorm, as even his Visor, seen sticking out of one of his pockets, was red in color.

Looking around the landing pad, his eyes sparkled with such excitement, remembering how incredible the view was when he was looking out the window of the chopper. The young man couldn't believe that he was finally at the world renowned. It was a place where legends could be born into the world of Dueling, something that he hoped he become someday

The teen quickly composed himself and began to walk forward with the rest of his fellow students. Though as he walked, he couldn't help but spot one particular student amidst the bunch. He showed to have a different attitude than the others, looking more bored than excited.

This student, who was about a centimeter shorter, looked like a total slacker with no attention to his own appearance. He had messy brown hair, like one would have after waking up, and his red jacket was unbuttoned, as well as wrinkled like he had slept in it with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The brown pants he wore were baggy, like he had gotten a pair that were too big for him. His shoes appeared to be black sneakers and he was wearing a plain black t-shirt.

His own custom Academy Duel Disk was hanging from the bag he had slung over his shoulder. The Duel Disk was customized to look like a kite shield, azure as the primary color with a white "X" across it. The Visor, hanging from his collar, was solid black in color.

Overall, the appearance of the student made many wonder if someone had made a mistake, or if that person had a mental disorder.

Little did anyone know, these two students would have adventures that would shake the foundation of the academy.

Auditorium

Before long, some of the academy's employees came to greet the students and escort them to the site of their first official assembly at Duel Academy. It was a mandatory event newcomers had to go through before going to their dorms. Soon enough, they followed their guides into the building, passing through different hallways before arriving at their destination.

A lot of the newcomers were in awe by what they thought was the biggest assembly hall ever, even bigger than most college ones. Though it was not the most silent at that moment as the other students that attended the academy were already sitting down and talking among each other. It took the academy employees all their vocal strength to tell the newcomers about where they were sitting.

They soon divided by their dorm colors and were sent to sit with the others who wore the same ones.

Because of this, the two students from before sat next to one another.

While the brown-haired slacker student didn't seem too interested in what was going on, his eyes were closed and he was simply listening to music on his phone, the excited red-haired one was simply amazed by what he was seeing around him. So many other students, all from different parts of the world and all of them with a Deck of their own.

After a few more minutes, the sound of speakers turning on caught the attention of everyone as they stopped talking and turned their eyes towards the stage. The lights soon dimmed down slightly as the TV screens around the arena began turning on, focusing on the podium with the appearance of a woman coming into view.

She was a relatively tall woman with tanned skin and a semi-large bust that made some of the male students blush when they saw her. She had blond hair that reached about the middle of her back, and blue eyes underneath a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. Not only that, she wore a green suit over a white button-up, with a blue cravat held in place by a gold cross pin. The suit looked like it had been freshly pressed, having a very crisp and clean feel. She also wore equally clean white gloves and freshly shined black shoes.

Sitting next on both sides of her were the faculty members of the academy, each one wearing their formal attire for that day.

The slacker opened one eye when the general hubbub died down, revealing it to be hazel in color and uncovered one of his ears. He was still clearly far from interested in what was going on at the assembly, yawning in boredom. His neighbor next to him caught that act, making him sigh in annoyance as his attitude and disrespect was starting to ruin his good mood.

Though he soon got on the red-haired teen's last nerve when he spoke with a tone of disrespect.

"Jeez, when I applied to this place, I didn't think they'd still do any of these boring ass assemblies... " the slacker muttered with a tired sigh, yawning loudly once more and catching the attention of some of the others around him.

Seeing some of the faces looking towards them, the red-haired student chuckled a bit nervously before cupping his mouth on the side to speak to him.

"Hey, show some respect dude!" He replied in a hushed tone, trying not to talk so loud. "We're one of the lucky few to even get admitted into this academy, that in itself is an honor. You shouldn't be acting like a jerk while others are excited to be here."

The only reply he got was only the sound of a scoff that made him growl in anger. Before he could do anything else, the electric hum from the speakers echoed as the woman tapped the microphone to make sure it was working properly. It immediately called him and the others down as they turn towards the podium.

After taking a moment to clear her throat, the woman began to speak.

"Good afternoon everybody, I hope you all made it here safely and without any trouble," she began. "I am fortunate to be in the presence of so many new and returning students this year. For those who do not know me, my name is Annabelle Ward, Fifth Head-Mistress of the International Dueling Academy. I know that all of you here today come from many different places, different branches, and even different schools. Let me be the first to say congratulations and to welcome you all!"

She paused for a second to clap as it soon started to cause everyone in the audience to clap as well, swirling around excitement in the arena. The Head-Mistress continued to speak after everyone had completely stopped clapping.

"As many of you have heard or read, this academy was founded to act as a starting point for not just students, but future champions of Dueling. The best and brightest come here with the dream of one day going further than anyone else. And while I wish those the best, I also wish to add that this academy was also made to help those that have their own issues dealing with the normal standards of their place of origin. Regardless of what your dream is, all of the teachers here stand ready to aid you all in your quest. And of course, there is one final thing that everyone must always keep close to their hearts even when they leave this place. Dueling isn't about becoming successful or being the best, its about building bonds and having fun. I look forward to seeing what the future holds for all of you."

With that last remark, everyone got up from their seats, minus the slacker, and applaud with loud enthusiasm at what she said to them.

His neighbor couldn't help but sigh in annoyance, wondering why someone like him was even there.

Evening

Slifer Dorm

The assembly soon ended as all the returning students left, leaving the new students behind as they met the heads of their new dorms. On the island, there were three individual dorms that signified which level many students were at.

The Obelisk Blues were known to be the best and brightest that the academy had to offer, all of them either earning their way to the top or having connections that allowed them to bypass the restrictions normal students had to endure. Ra Yellows were the 2nd best of the island, showing those that worked hard and did their best to show what they could do and their skills in many of their academics and Duel skills. Finally, the Slifer Reds or commonly known as the slackers, were the bottom of the food chain, but many of them had great potential and could work their way up with enough hard work and determination.

After the meet-and-greet with the heads of the dorms, they were given maps and told where their new homes for the year would be. They also told them that there would be a welcome dinner for the new students later tonight. Each group left together, though some left earlier than others as they already had a map from the academy's website and didn't want to waste time.

The new Slifer Reds, including the red-haired teen, soon arrived at their destination and were welcomed by the sight of a building that looked like a low rent apartment complex. It had four floors with eight rooms on one side and eight more rooms on the other side. The dorm had a very dull and pedestrian feel to it overall, but some had hope that would be much more cozy on the inside.

The first and second floors belonged to the first years, with the first floor being for the girls only while the second was for the boys as they were also assigned a roommate as well. This was mainly due to the limited spacing for first year students. The third and fourth floors were for the second to fourth year students, with each one getting their own room as both floors were mixed with both boys and girls as neighbors.

After entering, the red-haired man looked down at the piece of paper he was given with the schedule and number for his room. He went to the elevator since it was on the second floor, but saw that the elevator was out of order and being worked on by a repairman. He let out a sigh before looking around to find the flight of stairs that lead up.

He began making his ascent upward and eventually found himself on the second floor, exiting the door of the stair and finding his room right next to it. It was pretty fortunate since in case of a fire hazard, he could just bolt out and exit the stairs immediately. Moving in closer to the door, he knocked a few times and waited, putting his right ear to the door to listen.

No sound came from the door, meaning that his roommate probably wasn't in there, so he decided to open it with the key that was given to him and let himself in. Upon entering, he saw that the room was a fairly spacious room with brown-wooden walls with one light in the middle of the white ceiling. In the middle of the room were two individual desks, next to two individual beds with red sheets and covers. Though there was only one window in the middle, and likely locked for the safety of the students.

Despite the normal looking room, the teen was still pretty happy about it. Though that soon soured when he looked over to the other bed and saw who was there.

The very same brown-haired person he had gotten into an argument with at the assembly.

It wasn't too clear whether he was asleep or if, like at the assembly, he was just listening to music with his eyes closed. Though what got him irritated was how he left his side of the room. Not one day in and already, the slacker had come in and tossed his bag on the desk with no care before having flopped onto the bed. His Duel Disk was propped up in the chair, there was school supplies already strewn about the desk haphazardly and, upon closer inspection, it looked like a closet had thrown up all its contents into the room floor on that side.

The red-head soon calmed down and decided to ignore his roommate for the time being while he began unpacking his bags, grabbing some of his own clothes and placing them inside the drawer that he was provided. In a matter of minutes, most of his stuff was packed away and neatly organized. He was finishing up the last of his things away when something on his roommate's side of the room caught his attention.

The only thing that looked to be put anywhere nicely was a Deck on the desk with nothing surrounding it in the only clean spot seen. Made sense, this school was all about dueling, so why wouldn't one take care of their Deck?

Curiosity got the best of him as he wondered what exactly his slacker roommate would use as a Deck, leading him to go towards the desk while navigating the mess on his side. When he got there, he slowly moved forward and grabbed the latch of the deck, hoping to just get a peek at what he had. His fingers were mere centimeters away when a voice made him jump out of his skin.

"What are you doing?"

The sudden voice made the red-head jump slightly as he stopped stop and turn to see his roommate now propped up on his elbow, showing a serious expression on his face. It was clear that he wasn't too happy at some random person trying to get a look at his deck.

"S-sorry, I just wanted to see what kind of cards you had, that's all... " He remarked in an honest tone, seeing his roommate now standing up and walking over to his deck, grabbing it to look through it. In seconds, he nodded to himself before putting his Deck case back on his belt, locking it on the spot of his belt that looked to be tailor made for it.

The tension was thick in the room as the two teens continued to stare at the other, waiting for one of them to say something, anything at all. Deciding to try and at least be friendly, the red-headed teen cleared his throat before extending his hand.

"I'm Nick Brood, it's nice to meet you."

"Barclay Fyfe," the slacker replied, taking Nick's hand in a firm grasp and giving it a single shake before letting go. He looked at the clock in their room, then walked past his roommate towards the door.

"W-wait! Where are you going?" Nick asked, thinking his peace treaty failed.

"Huh?" Barclay glanced over his shoulder at the door, still looking annoyed by him. "To that welcoming dinner thing they were going on about earlier."

He opened the door and stepped out, though stopped halfway and looked back at Nick.

"And if you're so curious about my Deck, we can Duel after that... "

With that, the brown-haired teen left Nick alone.

The last part snapped Nick out of his daze, caused by how surprised he was that his roommate would be so formal with him. Remembering that he hadn't eaten yet, the red-haired teen grabbed his own Deck from his desk, and went after Barclay.

Dining Room

The dining area of the Slifer Dorm showed to be large enough for all of the students to fit in, though only slightly. The area itself was an odd combination of dull and bright, the off-white walls seemed to both absorb and reflect the cheap fluorescent lights that hummed above them. The tables were a series of the typical long cafeteria tables, though these had stools rather than bench seating.

Close-by was the kitchen and food line, though it showed to be closed with nobody serving dinner.

The two students arrived as Barclay grabbed a seat by the door and Nick took the one across from him, leaning back as they waited for everyone else to arrive. Once everyone was seated, two kitchen aids came in pushing a large buffet trolley from the double doors of the kitchen that was covered with a large cloth that had lei patterns on it.

Many of the new students looked with wide eyes at what was in front of them, but what really caught their attention was the person that followed behind them.

The man was pale and nearly six feet tall, with blond hair messy hair reaching his shoulders as well as sunglasses on his face. However, what he was wearing was even more shocking. His outfit was clearly Hawaiian as he was wearing a Malo, which made some of the female students blush slightly, shell necklaces, bracelets, and a lei around his neck.

"Aloha everyone!" he shouted with enthusiasm. "Welcome all you newcomers to the Slifer Dorm! Some of you met me earlier, but for those who didn't, I am the Head of this dorm, my name is Kanoa Iona! I know a lot of you are exhausted from today's events and would like nothing more than to sleep, but before that, I'd like to treat you all to a Luau for those that came to our dorm today!"

After saying that, the teacher pulled off the cloth and revealed a very large buffet to them all. There was roasted pig, poi, roasted, baked, fried and boiled Breadfruit, Tako poke and several other dishes that no one could remember how to pronounce.

"I know this may not look like a lot, but me and my two helpers put our heart and soul into preparing everything you see here so I hope you enjoy it all. Also, feel free to simply call me Mr. Kanoa, Kanoa, or just Professor. Now let's eat!"

With that, everyone cheered in excitement as they began to get up from their tables to go towards the buffet to grab their own food from the feast. There was quite a line that took a while to die down.

Eventually, Nick and Barclay both decided to go dig in themselves as the lines shrunk with most of the others having gotten their food.

They walked over, standing behind what could be the biggest person both of them had ever seen. Standing nearly over six feet above them, making them feel like bugs compared to him. Though the man's attention wasn't on them, it was on the large plate he was carrying as he finished placing the last of his meal on it.

The student was extremely tall and clearly muscular even under the uniform, despite being around their age. He then turned around to face the two, giving them both a surprise scare as they saw what looked like an intimidating face look at them. They also noticed him to have black-hair that was clean cut with bushy eyebrows, a huge nose and full thick full lips as well. His current attire was the red jacket, unbuttoned due to the fact he likely couldn't button it if he wanted to. Underneath it was a clean white shirt that went with his semi-loose black pants and white shoes.

He was even taller than Kanoa, making everyone in the room feel even shorter than they normally would have.

"Oh I'm sorry, am I in the way?" he asked, giving a quick bow and an apology before placing one massive hand under the platter of a plate he had and held the other one out to the two. "I'm Takashi Matsumoto, it's nice to meet you."

Although the two found themselves in awe of the giant in front of them, Nick couldn't help but chuckle before extending his hand towards their tall dorm mate.

"Nick Brood, pleasure to make your acquaintance. The stalking guy behind me is Barclay."

"Bon Clay?" Takashi repeated, twisting his face in confusion at the name he just said.

"Bar-clay," the guy in question repeated with a pained smirk and an awkward chuckle.

"Oh Sorry! I'm not too good with foreign names, especially when they're from different countries."

"It's no problem," Barclay replied, sighing a bit and walking forward to begin grabbing some food. "Long as I've lived in Japan, no one's really gotten my name right the first time anyways."

"You from somewhere else?" Nick asked, grabbing some food as well.

"The UK originally," he replied while looking at some of the food. "Parents got a job in Japan so we moved. Half my life's been spent in the Land of the Rising Sun."

"Wow, interesting. I'm from the U.S, California to be specific," Nick added as he grabbed one of the plastic cups of fruit punch

"It's incredible that you two come from different lands, I've practically lived most of my life in Japan,"Takashi remarked.

Once they all got their food, the trio walked back to their seats. Though Takashi moved from his original spot and got to where the duo were, sitting next to Nick.

They soon began eating in silence, only hearing the conversations of the others close by them. Eventually, Nick decided to try and clear the air between him and Barclay, since he wasn't the type to just be silent at dinner.

"Look, Barclay," he began saying as his roommate looked at him. "I know the two of us didn't exactly get off to such a great start... So, what do you say we bury the hatchet and start fresh? Really try and make the best of things and become friends?"

His offer followed with his hand extending to shake.

"You're pretty hell bent on being friends..." Barclay muttered, looking at his roommate's smile for a bit. What followed was a chuckle and him extending his own hand. "Sure, why not? We're roommates, so might as well get along."

They both shook hands and smiled at one another, beginning to think that this would be the start of an interesting friendship. Takashi, a little shocked from the display in front of him, smiled as he placed his large hand on top of theirs.

The duo looked at the hand before turning to Takashi, both having their eyebrows raised in confusion.

"Ah! I'm sorry," Takashi remarked with a shocked tone, taking his hand back and rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "I was just so moved by that display that I wanted to be friends with you both as well!"

Both of the teens looked at one another, shrugging their shoulders before letting go and smiling at the large student.

"Sounds good to me," Nick remarked with a wide grin on his face. Barclay simply chuckled softly and nodded, turning his attention back to his meal as he finished.

The silence turned to talking with the topics being about random discussions and questions about each other. Soon, after about an hour of talking, the trio began noticing that some of the students were finishing their meals and leaving for the night.

Nick looked at the clock, noticing that it was getting late for them and they spent quite a bit of time talking.

Soon, Barclay yawned and scratched his head in a lazy manner, he stood up and declared that he was going to bed. Before he could leave though, a hand stopped him as it was on his shoulder. He turned slightly to find it was Nick, having a serious look on his face.

"Hold on there, don't tell me you already forgot?" The red-haired teen questioned. "Our Duel dude! You said it before that we could Duel after we eat, so how about it?"

Right as he said that, Barclay's expression changed from dazed to focused, almost completely erasing any sign of laziness from his face.

"A Duel?!" Takashi declared. "Can I watch too?!"

Hearing Takashi's loud voice, everyone stopped their talks and eating to turn towards the trio's table, especially the Head of the Dorm, who raised his sunglasses and smiled.

"Well everyone, looks like we got an interesting end of the night activity! How about it? Should we see what these two can do?!"

With that, everyone cheered in excitement as the trio looked around in surprise. Barclay chuckled and turned to Nick, who saw his eyes turn to him and smiled in determination.

They were about to see which of them was the better Duelist tonight.

Ray here, thank you all so much for looking at our new Fan-fiction and we appreciate anyone who read it and left behind a review. Be advised, the duels beforehand were done poorly and we won't really be changing it, but we have improved in the future chapters and will continue to improve them. Just bare with it for a few chapters and you'll see a major difference. Anyway, thank you for reading and stay tuned for the next chapter.