Chapter 5:
A few hours after all practical exams were done and evaluated, Blake found himself on a ship towards Central Academy. The examiner Mister Wilson had asked him a few questions about his strategy, and what cards he had left in his hand, when the duel ended, and seemed satisfied with what Blake told him. As expected, he had been assigned to the Slifer Red Dorm, even with his practical exam given full marks. He could've sworn he heard the examiner argue with what sounded like Dr. Crowler in a nearby room, but in the end it didn't make a difference. His prediction regarding the dorms was right as well, as all other exam takers were sorted into either Slifer or Ra dormitories.
Especially a certain brunette latecomer, who might've stolen his show when he defeated a professor that was using his personal deck, rather than the exam ones. It had been quite a sight for Blake, seeing the man himself duel with his Elemental Hero's in a back and forth, he had seen dozens of times on tv. 'If only the initial cards of the archetype weren't so bad … he could do so much better with the next wave of hero support', Blake thought. While he had mused about what cards he'd use himself, the hero cards had come up, but were quickly dismissed. There were already two duelists that used them and there was no need for another one, even if there were different archetypes of them.
He had decided to keep using his current deck with its dark-attribute focus, simply because he knew its ins and outs, and already had some really good cards that fit the theme. There were still a few cards like Dark Armed Dragon and the like he was looking for, but those admittedly rare cards would be hard to come by. Maybe he'd find an archetype he could build around in the future, but for now this would do.
As if on que with Blake thinking about how to build his deck, the deck-build-maniac, as Blake dubbed him in his mind, came out onto the deck next to him. 'Gosh, that pale yellow looks terrible. The Winged Dragon of Ra is golden, for fucks sake. Why go with this weird shade?!'
"Hey Blake, enjoying the breeze up here?", Bastion asked, leaning onto the rails next to him.
Clutching his hat as a stronger breeze hit them, Blake nodded. "Yeah, it's a bit stuffy down there, and I've got a weird feeling that people have been staring at me." Not that he hadn't been used to that, having dueled for the entertainment of rich folk for years, but it was kinda weird for him when it was people his age staring.
"You're right about that. At least we're not riding with all the returning students, otherwise I'd see the Slifers bullied to a corner somewhere." Bastion sheepishly added, "Not to say that they deserved it or anything like that, just-"
He was interrupted by Blake holding his hand up. "Its fine, Bastion. I know what the label for us is and I honestly don't give a damn. You've seen me and that Jaden guy duel, the only thing we're lacking are the other subjects. Once I get my studying", Blake grimaced at the word, "up to speed, I'll be out of there anyway. Although I must say that the red looks way better than your yellow."
"If your dueling performance is consistent with what you showed earlier, I'm sure you'll move up in no time." Bastion looked down onto his Ra Yellow jacket, bopped his head as if debating with himself, and then looked at Blake again. "You're right: they could've made it a stronger shade. I wonder why they didn't."
'Because Kaiba is a pretentious ass that wanted the students representing him in Blue look the best, of course.' "Maybe they cut cost with them. From what I saw down there the Yellows make up the largest group of students", Blake guessed, not voicing his real thoughts out. If the students on the boat, except for the few older students that were watching the exams, made up the whole first year, then it made sense. There were more Ra Yellow students than Slifer Red and Obelisk Blue combined, and considering that those were reserved for the absolute top and bottom students, he couldn't be far off.
Rubbing his chin, Bastion nodded insightfully. "You could be right with that, since about 60% of the first-year students were assigned there from what I gathered. Though my calculation might be a bit off considering all the shuffling around down deck …"
Amused by Bastion acting as much of a nerd as he expected him to, Blake couldn't help but snort as he jabbed fun at him. "Are you sure you aren't on the wrong ship? I believe the ferry for mathematicians was right beside this one."
Bastion blinked for a moment before retorting. "Then I'm glad I took this one. As much fun as math and its corresponding areas are, I prefer a methodical approach to the tightly defined boundary that is Duel Monsters. While it may hold a great number of variables to consider, the joy of seeing my calculations be confirmed true in this field is far greater."
With Bastion smirking and Blake barely holding together, they burst out laughing. After a few minutes of calming down, they made their way back into the ship, but Blake briefly stopped before entering. A shudder ran down his back, which caused him to look over his shoulder, towards the island slowly coming up at the horizon. 'That was weird …'
After an incredibly boring opening ceremony, during which Blake barely managed to stay awake thanks no less to some other Slifers that actually fell asleep, and some talk about the rules and systems in place, the students were released to go to their assigned dorms. He walked out of the academies main building together with Bastion, Jaden, and his new teal-haired sidekick Syrus, repeating everything they were told.
While every student was assigned to a dorm and had to wear their uniform to every official event, including tournaments, trips and even classes, the uniforms were also separated by grade and gender. For first graders, the students had jackets with their dorms colour as the primary colour, with white accents. Second graders had the same but also had white shoulder straps on their uniforms, while third graders had the colours of their uniforms inverted, thus having mainly white jackets with dorm-corresponding outlines.
The uniforms for female students were the same, but were split into two versions; one incredibly short one that Blake remembered seeing in the show and another, more similar to the male counterparts. They had long-sleeved jackets and slightly longer skirts, with added thighs for colder weather. Unlike the boys, the girls actually got to choose which uniform to wear and when. At least he could wear whatever he wanted outside of classes and no one said that he had to wear his uniform a certain way.
Infinitely more interesting, however, was the monetary system on the island. Instead of paying with real money, students could pay with a currency called Duel Points, or DP for short. Aside from getting a monthly allowance depending on the dorm a students in – 1000 for Slifer's, 2500 for Ra's and 5000 for Obelisk's –, they can also earn more by doing well in their exams, doing extra-curricular activities and by dueling.
The DP earned by dueling was calculated with a certain number of rules in mind. A standard duel between two students of the same grade and dorm paid off 100 DP. If a losing student was from one dorm higher, the payoff would be doubled, and if they were two dorms above – when a Slifer wins against an Obelisk – it would be tripled. To combat taking advantage of worse performing students and bullying, the amount of DP would be divided similarly. Also, if the losing student was in a higher grade, the winner's prizemoney would be multiplicated by 1.5 for one grade higher, and two times for two grades higher. So, if Blake would theoretically play and win against a third year Obelisk student like Zane Truesdale, he'd get at least 600 DP, plus any bonuses that might apply, but aren't revealed to the students.
After he got some help from Bastion in order to calculate the monthly pay-out, Blake took notice off the fact that if he managed to get promoted to Obelisk Blue before the first-year ended, he could pay his tuition with just the monthly allowance of a Blue student. 'Katherine only paid for half of my first-year tuition, and after paying the other half I'm almost broke. But seeing how much it pays to beat down some of those pretentious Blue snobs, I'm sure I can make some money -'
His thought process was interrupted as Bastion stopped walking and Blake walked straight into him, almost knocking him to the ground if Blake hadn't caught him by reflex. Wondering why he stopped, Blake looks up from to see a small group of Obelisk Blue students standing in their way, with the guy in the middle having a very punchable, smug look on his face. That one that looked straight at Blake, his arms crossed over his puffed-out chest.
"So, you're the student that defeated the examiner in one turn? I don't get why everyone makes a fuss about it. Just because you got lucky with your cards doesn't mean you're the shit", he proclaimed in a tone that made Blake want to hit him even harder, but he resorted to simply scoffing at the guy. "You think you're better than us, Slifer Sludge?"
"No, I know that I am. So, why don't you get your trust-fund ass out of here, before you embarrass yourself on the first day at school?" Blake taunted. As much as that guy needed a reality check, he'd have to get it by dueling, and Blake would happily provide him with that opportunity.
By now a small group of onlookers had formed around them, students from every dorm and grade, it seemed. Aside from the boys Blake was walking with, he could make out a mane of long, blonde hair that shook from one side to the other somewhere in the background, and a male student with puffy, black hair supporting the aggressor with whistles from behind.
"What was that?! You think you stand a chance against me, you dog?!", the by now outraged student howled. Blake, who snickered at the antics of the other guy, proceeded to lift his duel disk. "Why don't I show you? Surely, you're not gonna back down from a duel against a 'lowly Slifer runt', are you?"
The guy slammed his deck into his duel disk, causing the onlookers to take a few steps back to make space for their duel. The most excited of them was definitely Jaden, who was happy to see a duel this early on, especially after what Bastion told him he missed due to his coming in late.
"I'll put you down right here and now, sludge", the blue student announced confidently, while Blake rolled his eyes as he put his deck into his new academy-version of the duel disk. With both combatants set, their disks activated and auto shuffled the decks.
With the necessary space for the duel cleared and large crowd of students present, Blake's challenger began. (Blake 4000 / OB Student 4000) "I'll start. And you're in for a tough time, sludge, because I already got my ace up and coming for you." After he drew his card, he theatrically made his play. "First, I summon Lord of D. in attack mode!" A tall man covered in armor that resembled a dragon and a long, blue cape took the stage (1200/1100). "But that's not all! By activating The Flute of Summoning Dragon, I can special summon up to two dragon monsters from my hand! Tremble before the might of my dragons!"
He slapped down another two cards onto his disk, summoning a large, wicked looking, beige coloured dragon in the form of Curse of Dragon (2000/1500), along with and even bigger serpent-like monster in Serpent Night Dragon (2350/2400). For all intents and purposes, they looked amazing, but that didn't help when their use was pretty bad compared to newer dragons. "I set a card face-down and end my turn. Feel free to surrender at any time and admit your place, runt."
Having reverted his deck back to a more well-rounded version that could deal with most cards and situations comfortably, Blake drew his card. "At least you have a good taste when it comes to cool looking monsters, but that's about all I can complement you on. Let me deal with those real quick."
"Pah! You think you can take out my drag-", his opponent huffed, before lighting rained down onto his side of the field, leaving no monster behind.
After he discarded one card, and waited for Jaden to calm down after he rejoiced for Blake getting rid of his opponents stacked field easily, Blake continued. "By discarding one card, Lightning Vortex destroys all face-up monsters you control." Not waiting on his dumbfounded opponent, he made his move. "Next, I activate Pot of Greed, to draw two cards-"
With a new breath of unjust smugness, his opponent proclaimed, "Haha! Not when I activate my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy it!" The familiar stream of wind destroyed the pot, to which Blake couldn't help but to furrow his eyes. He could see Bastion and a few others face-palm at that move, as he drew his two cards regardless. "You do realize that just destroyed my card, right? Not negate its effect?"
His opponent blinked with a confused look on his face, rambling about how that was the same and that he somehow cheated, but he was corrected by a senior student that their duel disks would react to illegal moves. While he could've ended the duel then and there by resurrecting the high-level monster he discarded earlier, Blake decided to make an example out of him. "I summon Dark Blade in attack mode and attack you directly." The black-armoured warriors cape fluttered, as he struck his target (Blake 4000 / OB Student 2200). "I set two cards face-down and that's it. Try to do something right this time, okay?"
By now unsure if he should be angry of flustered, the other student drew a card and brightened up at what he got. "I let you off easily last turn, but now you're done for! I summon my Spirit Ryu in attack mode!" A deep-blue coloured dragon appeared, its see-through tail flapping behind it. "I attack your Dark Blade with it and activate its effect! For every dragon I discard he gains 1000 attack and defence until the battle ends!" He discarded the last two cards in his hands and their spirits, a Blackland Fire Dragon and Gray Wing, flew towards his monster, empowering it (3000/3000).
With a deep sigh, Blake deployed his trap card. "I activate Draining Shield. It negates your attack and increases my life points by your monster's attack points." The dragon's breath hit an energy shield summoned by the card, increasing his life points drastically. (Blake 7000 / OB Student 2200)
His opponent grimaced, not realizing that the duel was over. He frantically looked at his non-existent hand, then his basically empty field, and lastly at Blake's almost full one, with a stronger monster on the field. "No, this can't be. You're just some Slifer reject, you can't possibly-"
Not bothering to look at the card he drew or listen to his opponent's rambling for any longer, Blake summoned another monster, a green-furred wolf with two purple heads. "Let's put you out of your misery. I summon Twin-Headed Wolf and then attack your dragon with my Dark Blade" (1500/1000). After slicing apart his opponents last line of defence (Blake 7000 / OB Student 1400), Blake's newly summoned monster bore down on its target viciously, ending the duel. (Blake 7000 / OB Student 0000)
With their duel disks deactivating, Blake scoffed as he walked past his opponent. "Less bravado and more brawns next time, maybe then you'll impress more than middle-school children." As his little grouped followed after him, Blake saw a certain other elitist look at him in annoyance, after he had his eyes on Jaden for most of the short duel.
While Bastion shook his head after the blatant misinterpretation of card effects by the Obelisk student, Jaden, and by extension Syrus, beamed at Blakes display. "Man, I've never seen someone end a duel with this much more life points than they started out with! You gotta duel me sometime!"
Chuckling at the boys dueling-craze, Blake nodded, before Bastion split up from their group. "Sure, why not."
After the first duel of the new school year concluded, with a Slifer student beating an Obelisk student in front of a large crowd no less, quite a number of murmurs could be heard as the onlookers dispersed. "What a jerk", a green-haired girl wearing the Ra Yellow uniform said as she adjusted her glasses. "It's bad enough that the guy from Blue was an ass about it, there was no need to stoop down to his level like that."
"But he was kind off right about that guy's dueling, wasn't he? I mean, how could someone who went to a duelist prep school not know something as basic as the difference between destruction and negation?", a smaller, brunette girl next to her countered.
"He should have, but if that's the standard we've to measure up to, we'll be promoted in no time. Still, that other guy rubs me the wrong way … let's get going, I want to see our rooms", the glasses wearing girl said and began leaving.
"Does my nerdy friend have a crush on mister tall, strong and handsome?", the smaller girl cooed as they left, her friend rolling her eyes with a loud sigh.
Not much farther away and with her own group of Obelisk Blue students surrounding her, Kami led the way to her dorm, her entourage talking smack about the student that put the good name of their dorm in the dirt. She didn't bother listening to the small talk of her male companions, not even looking at them as they announced that they would defeat both of the duelists from earlier for her. She did smirk at that, however.
'Yes, do try to earn my favour with your pitiful attempts of proving yourself. The only thing you'll be proving is whether that Slifer Red is of any use to me', she thought, planning out her scheme to assert her dominance over the other students. She knew she didn't have a lot of strong duelists on her side yet, even if they were wearing blue, but that would change soon. 'It shouldn't be hard to get him on my side whenever I wish to; cards, money, my radiant presence … maybe even a little boost to get him to our dorm quickly. Can't have people associate me with those other Slifer losers after all. And with that I'll have my rightful title soon enough…'
Sometime later, as the sun slowly began to set over the island, the boys in red arrived at their dorm, which was way farther away from the main building than the others. Syrus looked and Jaden, unsure and a bit nervous. "Are you sure we took the right path, Jaden? These buildings look pretty run down compared to the others we passed by."
"Pretty sure we did, Sy. Look, it says so on the PDA." As much as he wanted to disagree with Jaden, he was right. The PDA. – short for Personal Dueling Assistant – a device somewhere between a tablet and a smartphone and which every student got along with their academy-issue duel disk, showed on its map that they were indeed at the right place. Knowing how the other dorms and their rooms looked from the inside thanks to what he remembered from the show, Blake hoped that he'd get his chance to move out asap.
There were two buildings, both two stories high, and with a plethora of doors. A number of second-year Slifer students, who Blake recognized by their shoulder-straps, went into the smaller of the two buildings, while another first-year came out of the one they stood in front of. "What are we waiting for? Let's take a look at our rooms!", Jaden chided happily, taking a look at the plaques at the ground-floor doors before moving up the outdoor stairs. Syrus and Blake followed after him, before he stopped at the second to last door on the floor. "Looks like this is mine, what about you guys?"
A quick look at the email sent by the dorm head later, Syrus moved into the room with Jaden, leaving Blake to enter the last room on his own. It was incredibly small considering it should house three teenagers, but it seemed like he'd have the room to his own. Blake put his bag on the ground and duel disk on the small desk in the room. Aside from a bunk-bed fit for three people, the desk, a chair and a window, the room was empty and musty.
He opened up the window as wide as he could, before he took a look at his PDA. 'That was a good start today, seems like I got a bonus for not taking any damage. Or for finishing with that many life points? Eh, whatever.' Seeing as how he got 450 DP instead of the regular 300, that kind of bonus was nice to see. He hadn't received his monthly allowance yet, but that would probably come by the time their dorm head formally greeted them.
The device had a bunch of functions besides the map and academy-bank-account, but he'd have to take a look at those sometime later. One that immediately drew his attention was the leaderboard. It showed the stats of students duels and exams, weighting their accomplishments against each other on an academy-wide board with all other students, as well as on a separate board for every grade. 'Good thing it doesn't show the cards used, that would be a nightmare to deal with. Might've been useful against some students, but I'd rather keep my strategies to myself.' It appeared like no one but him and the guy from earlier had dueled for now, so only they were shown on the current leaderboard. 'Those snobs must be furious seeing a Slifer student ranked above them, I wonder when the next will come and challenge me.'
He'd sat down and took a look at his baggage to see if he did forget anything back home, after which he began taking notes on what cards he'd have to look for when he visited the store tomorrow. A knock on his door made him pause and open it, where Jaden and Syrus awaited him. By now it was dark outside, something he didn't take notice of until now. "Hey Blake, we were told it's time for dinner, you coming?" Jaden asked with a big grin, to which he nodded. "Sweet, can't wait to see what they got for us, let's go!"
After a short walk down the stairs and into a bigger room on the ground floor, they settled down in the small cafeteria along with the other Slifer students. There weren't many second year Slifers, which could be a good or bad sign, and only a single third-year, as Chumley was the only one. Jaden told Blake about how some guy named Chazz Princeton called him out for being lucky in his practical exam against Dr. Crawler and wouldn't stand a chance against him, but Blake only nodded along.
With all Slifer students seated, the tall and lanky figure of a man with a fluffy cat on his arm stood up from the back of the room, welcoming them. "Now that everyone's here we can begin. Hello students, and welcome to the Slifer Red dorm." The man adjusted his glasses while petting his cat. "My name's Professor Banner, I teach Duel Alchemy and will be your dorm head going forward." Hearing a few stomachs growl, he chuckled. "Since it seems like some of you are quite hungry, I'll cut introductions short. But before dinner I have something to tell all of you."
The professor cleared his throat, before his eyes wandered over the assembled students, briefly lingering on both Jaden and Blake. "While some of you may be discouraged from placing in the lowest dorm, I urge you to not let this pull you down. Just because you start here doesn't mean you can't be promoted and whatever problems you may have had with your dueling skills or written exams can always be improved by studying diligently. From here on out, you can only go up."
While not completely true, as students could be kicked out of the academy if their performance dropped too low, a few disheartened students were motivated by his speech. When the food was rolled out, a few faces dropped. The plain white rice and dried fish didn't find anyone thrilled but the professor's cat and Jaden, who happily began gulfing down any food that came near him.
After dinner the students split up into the surrounding areas or their rooms, with Blake going to the later. He put his jacket over the chair and his cap on the desk, closed the window and laid down on the lowest bed. The mattress wasn't all that comfortable, but better than what he had at the beginning of his new life. By now he had accepted that this was his new reality and he didn't see a reason to change that. Not long after, Blake could hear his neighbours sneaking out, no doubt off to go to one of the academies arenas to duel Chazz.
Closing his eyes for a bit, Blake thought about how to proceed, now that the plot got rolling. 'My goal is to get promoted to Obelisk Blue quickly, for that I need a good duel history and equally good grades. The former is easy and will come by itself once the other Obelisk students start their effort to "put me in my place". Maybe I can ask Bastion to help me study, although I don't know if he's good at explaining stuff. I could try to look around the library for someone willing, that's probably my best option. I remember Alexis aiming to be a teacher, but I'm pretty sure she won't agree after how I presented myself today …'
It was worth a try, at least after she and Jaden dueled sometime in the future. He actually had no idea how much time was between the events of the show, as it didn't follow a regular day-by-day cycle or something similar, so he'd just have to go with the flow. There wasn't much interesting stuff going on before the Shadow Riders appeared, and that would be in the second half of their first year anyway. The chance of him being involved there might not be zero, because someone's had to take notice of his dueling skills, but the only person he could realistically replace on the team of Spirit Key protectors would be Chazz. A possibility for sure, but he could deal with that once it happened. Aside from that would be the Forbidden Dorm, which might work to get some plus points with Alexis so she would help him study, otherwise not of importance.
With the aim to be promoted quickly, the thought of buttering up to Dr. Crowler in an attempt to improve his situation gave him the creeps. It was objectively the best course of action for now, but he'd have to wait and see just how much he could stomach the eccentric teachers' antics. Especially as a 'Slifer Slacker', he'd face the brunt of the man's disposition, along with Jaden and Syrus. Blake remembered that the professor mellowed out as the story progressed, maybe he could force that quality character development a bit earlier? If not, then he'd just have to perform well, as always. His guardian seemingly had some connections with the academy, so he could try to pull some strings in the worst case, but that wouldn't come cheap and be his last resort.
With some sort of plan for now, he drifted off to sleep, briefly remembering the feeling he had back on the ship and what it could've meant.
Hello again everyone and thanks for reading. Shout out to the kind reviewers, you guys sure did motivate me to get on with the next chapter fast. Speaking of getting chapters done, I've got to tell you that I don't have any kind of schedule. But since I'm writing something every day, I can assure you that there will be several chapters each month, how much we'll have to see.
As some readers probably already rolled their eyes at how the duel happened this chapter I can hopefully defuse any gripes with it right now. The opponent this time represented the cliché Obelisk Blue bullies that didn't actually earn their position with skill, but money. While they could probably hold their own against first year Slifer and Ra students, they would get completely destroyed by most named characters, maybe not Syrus or Dimitri. Since short duels like that aren't that interesting on a mechanical level, I intend to use them more for story and character purposes, or skip them with a short explanation of how they went. So no, not all Obelisk Blue students are bad and have to rely on expensive cards, as you'll see in the future.
I hope my few attempts at foreshadowing have given you an idea of whats to happen during the first year, which won't just be what happened in the anime, and who might be involved. With that said, next chapter will be a bit easy-going, with our MC exploring the island and meeting people. I hope to see you there, until next time ~