I didn't do this last chapter, so I'll make sure to do it now. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its spin-offs. If I did I would have made sure all of GX and 5D's had been dubbed.
Chapter Two: New School New Troubles
Mana sat next to Jaden and Syrus as she gazed out the window of the helicopter. "We're finally on our way to Duel Academy!" she squealed in excitement.
"We're going to have some sweet duels there," Jaden said as the helicopter began its decent. It landed and each student was handed a PDA with instructions on where to go.
Mana parted ways from the boys and followed the map on her PDA. She arrived at the Obelisk Blue girls' dorm. Isn't this the place for the best students?
"Shouldn't you go in?" a voice behind her asked. Mana jumped and spun around to face whoever was behind her. She almost punched Atem before she caught herself. "What are you doing?"
"I'm wandering around killing time on move-in day," Atem said innocently, "and now I'm talking to one of the new students. Aren't you going to go into your dorm?"
"How did I qualify for Obelisk Blue?" Mana asked. "I thought only the elite students made it here."
"Yeah, that only applies to the guys," Atem took step back avoid her possible explosion. Mana may have doubted her abilities, but she hated it when she was given something without having earned it. "All the girls automatically go into this dorm."
"Are you kidding me?" Mana kept herself from yelling at the last second. "Why don't the girls have to prove themselves?"
"Because this is the only dorm with separate buildings for guys and girls," Atem shrugged.
"Seriously?" Atem swore if it were possible steam would come out of Mana's ears.
"What do you expect me to do?" he asked.
"Where do I go to request a dorm transfer?"
"Well you can't move up without qualifying, but it is possible to move down the totem pole, though most people wouldn't dream of it. I think you need Chancellor Sheppard's permission to move."
"Point me in the right direction."
Atem sighed. Sometimes his sister was beyond stubborn. "Follow me."
He led her to the main building; on the way Mana heard students in blue snickering and calling "Slifer Slackers" to students in red. Mana resisted the urge to call out the bullies; she didn't need to tick off upperclassmen on her first day. She had all year for that. On the second floor of the main building Atem knocked on a door labeled "Chancellor Sheppard" before opening the door.
A large, bald man with a busy dark-brown beard greeted them. "Ah, Atem Muto, what brings you here today?"
"I'm just showing a new student around," Atem answered. "She's hoping for a dorm transfer."
"Mana Gardner," Mana gave a polite bow to the chancellor. "I would like to move into the Slifer Red dorm."
"Why would you like to move there?" Sheppard asked. "Most want to go into the Obelisk Blue dorm."
"Because it's not right for me to automatically get in because I'm a girl. I should have to prove myself just like any other duelist."
Sheppard chuckled. "I like your spirit. We used to have a separate dorm for the female Slifer Red and Ra Yellow students, but there were structural problems with it, and we had to evacuate the students. No one has shown any interest being in the lower dorms since, and the dorm itself hasn't been renovated yet."(1)
"So what do I do?" Mana asked.
Sheppard typed something into his computer. "If you're dead set on being in Slifer Red, there's an empty room on the second floor. There will have to be some ground rules though: no male students inside after curfew, you are not to be in a male student's room after curfew, and of course obeying all other Academy rules."
Mana gave another polite bow. "Thank you so much Professor-"
Atem elbowed her. "Chancellor Sheppard."
Sheppard chuckled at their interaction. "I'll have your new Slifer uniform sent to your new dorm. Atem, I trust you to show her how to get there."
"I will. Thank you for your time, Chancellor," Atem said as he escorted Mana out of the room. Once they were outside, he sighed.
"What is it, Prince?" Mana asked, using her childhood nickname for him since he was named after a pharaoh.
"You had to choose the bottom dorm. You know people are going to make fun of you for being in Slifer. Why not go for Ra if you didn't want Obelisk?" he asked.
"Well the only two friends I've made so far are in Slifer," she said. "And besides, Slifer was Dad's original Egyptian God card."
Atem smirked at Mana. "That sounds like you. I was an Obelisk right off the bat, and I made two friends off the bat. Zane, Atticus, and I hit it off the first day, and we were friends all year."
"They sound cool. Is this the same Zane competing with you for top of the class?"
"Yeah, but since Atticus is gone, things have been tense," Atem looked to the horizon as he said it.
"Where did Atticus go?" Atem had never said anything about this before.
"He disappeared; I have no idea what happened, and Zane won't talk about it. All I know is Atticus was last seen in the Abandoned Dorm. Now Zane and I just compete with each other without really talking."
"And you've just let it be that way!" Mana chastised her brother. "If he's your friend, you should try to work this out."
"I've tried. Zane won't open up to me about it." Atem sighed. "We're almost in Slifer territory. If you just keep heading straight on this path, you'll come up to the dorm. Don't expect anything fancy; Slifer Red only gets the bare necessities. Your PDA should tell you your new room number."
"Great, thanks, Prince," Mana gave her brother a quick hug before heading off to her dorm. She went up the second floor at the end of the catwalk to her room and went in. It was a simple set up—three beds bunked together along one wall, three desks along the opposite wall, and a wardrobe in the corner by the beds. Inside the wardrobe was Mana's new uniform. She changed into the red sleeveless jacket and white shirt. She wasn't thrilled with the uniform, namely with the length of the skirt, but she didn't let it bother her—she was finally a student at Duel Academy.
Mana stepped outside her room to look for Jaden and Syrus. She didn't have to look far; the room next door was open, and she saw Jaden and Syrus talking enter the room next door. She heard what they were saying as she walked up to them.
"Yeah kind of weird, meeting at the entrance exam and now roommates? Think we were somehow connected to each other in some ancient life, Jaden? You know, like you were an Egyptian pharaoh and I was the guardian Seto?"
"No offense, but that's just lame?"
"You know there actually was a pharaoh's guardian named Seto, and he was actually pretty cool."
The two boys jumped at her voice. "Hey, Mana!" Jaden grinned. "Are you here too?"
"Right next door," Mana smiled. "What are the odds?"
"That's what I was saying," Syrus said. "If Jaden was the pharaoh, and I was the guardian, maybe you're the magician."
"Well I do like magic, but I'm no magician."
"No, they broke the mold when they made us," Jaden said.
"Yeah, for different reasons," Syrus's enthusiasm dissipated.
"Sy, we're going to have to work on that confidence. But first, let's work on this pad," Jaden pulled the drapes of the window open.
"Hey, those were closed for a reason!" a voice called from the top bunk.
Mana shrieked and jumped behind Syrus.
"Why are you screaming?" the voice asked.
"Sorry, you just startled me," Mana smiled sheepishly with a hand behind her head.
"Yeah, we didn't see you up there." Jaden said.
"Well can you see me now?" the grouchy voice said as a large boy sat up from the top bunk. He had bushy black hair and a large nose making him resemble a koala. He glared at them with a look to scare Jaden and Syrus.
"Aaahh!" they clung to Mana who looked curiously up at the boy.
"Would you stop the screaming?" the koala boy yelled at them. "Who are you and why are you in my room?"
"I'm sorry; I'm Mana Gardner," Mana shook off the two boys as she greeted the koala.
"My name's Jaden Yuki."
"And I'm Syrus."
"We're your new roommates," Jaden added, "except for her."
"Well you're new all right, so let me tell you how things work here," Koala boy went on to explain the dorm hierarchy before introducing himself as Chumley. Mana saw the bitterness in his face as he spoke. Atem was right; the Slifers really are looked down on here.
"Come on; can't let that get us down," Jaden broke the gloomy mood. "Why don't we go explore the campus? Want to come, Mana?"
"Sure, I'd love to," Mana answered.
They wandered around the campus, and much of the walk was spent trying to push Syrus's confidence up. Mana wondered if she was ever that bad when she doubted herself. They eventually found a duel arena in the main building for students to practice. Jaden and Syrus looked on in awe, but Mana quickly noticed the only students there were Obelisks.
"Hey you Slifer-slackers! Get lost!" someone yelled at them.
"We're students here, and this is our campus," Jaden reasoned.
"Wrong," two of the Obelisk students walked up to them. The one that spoke had navy hair that was longer in the front and wore thin glasses. The other had brown hair that stood straight up and looked like he enjoyed picking on Slifers. "This is the Obelisk Blue campus."
"And you Slifer rejects aren't welcome here," spikey added. "You got that?" He pointed out the Obelisk symbol above the doorway.
"Sorry, we're just looking around," Syrus explained.
"Yeah we'll leave. Come on, Jaden," Mana tried to pull Jaden away.
"But we don't have you leave if one of them duels me, right?" Jaden grinned at the two students. Mana had a bad feeling of where this was going.
"Hey, you the one that beat Dr. Crowler," glasses said. Spikey called out to another student about Jaden. They were obviously supporters of the duelist they called out. He had black spikey hair that could rival Atem's, and his gray eyes were cold. "His name's Chazz Princeton, and he was the number duelist back at duel prep school," glasses explained, "and you better show him the proper respect." Mana stopped listening to Chazz's lackeys babble about how great he was and focused on the Obelisk.
". . . It's impossible for him to be the next King of Games, because that's exactly what I'm going to be." Jaden's words brought Mana back to the conversation. Everyone stared at him in surprise. Then the lackeys began to laugh at the idea of a Slifer being King of Games. If only they knew I was a Muto. Mana resisted the urge to smirk at the thought.
"You know Yugi Muto's first Egyptian God card was Slifer the Sky Dragon, and Slifer beat Seto Kaiba's Obelisk the Tormentor, right?" Mana innocently mocked the snobs.
"What are you saying?" glasses asked.
"I'm saying Slifer the Sky Dragon is more powerful than Obelisk the Tormentor. By that logic, you Obelisks are weaker than you think, and you really shouldn't underestimate us Slifers," Mana grinned; she knew she was pushing buttons, but hey, the arrogant snobs deserved it.
"Can it," Chazz interrupted the conversation. "Maybe the Slifers are right. He did be Crowler and his legendary rare monster. I suppose that takes some skill."
"Got that right," Jaden said.
"Or was it luck?" Chazz continued. "I say we find out right now."
"Bring it," Jaden accepted the challenge.
"This is a motley crew," a new voice said. Everyone turned to see a female Obelisk student with long blonde hair. Remembering that all female students were automatically accepted into Obelisk, Mana wondered what her skill level really was.
"Hey, Alexis," Chazz greeted the girl. "Come watch me mop the floor with my new friend Jaden? It'll be a short duel but an entertaining one for sure."
"I'm here to remind you about the Obelisk Welcome Dinner. You're late," Alexis was unfazed by Chazz's supposed fame. Her words made the boys take their leave. Once they were gone, Alexis turned to the Slifers. "Sorry if Chazz rubbed you the wrong way. All of us Obelisks aren't like that. He's just a jerk, especially with the Slifers."
"It's no big deal," Jaden said. "Types like them don't really bother me, and besides, I would have beaten them, no problem."
"Don't hog them all; I want in on beating them too, Jaden," Mana chimed in.
Alexis looked at Mana curiously before changing the subject. "Anyway, the Slifer Welcome Dinner's about to start too."
"Thanks, we'll see you later," Mana bid farewell to the Obelisk girl and pulled her friends from the arena.
"Wait, what was your name again?" Jaden called back to her.
"Alexis Rhodes," she answered. "And yours?
"The name's Jaden," he answered, "and he's Syrus, and she's Mana. We'll see you around."
They ran back to the Slifer dorm and made it just in time for dinner. Mana was slightly disappointed to see small helpings of rice, sardines, soup, and fruit. She looked around and saw the other students were just as disappointed as them. I'll have to tell Atem how right he was; Slifers really didn't get much at all. How were they expected to succeed if they were constantly being set up for failure? She turned her attention to the professor who came from the back room of the Slifer dining room. He had long black hair tied in a ponytail, and his glasses covered his closed eyes. He had a cheerful expression as he greeted the students.
"Hello, children. I am Professor Banner," he introduced himself. He started his introductory speech before he was interrupted by Jaden.
"This food's good!" Jaden exclaimed.
Mana and Syrus tried to shut him up as Professor Banner walked toward them. Mana and Syrus ducked their heads when the professor came over. "Well since some of us don't feel like waiting, let's just eat." Mana let out a sigh of relief with that. She may be used to finding trouble, but it was never fun to get caught. Something told her she would have to stay on her toes around Jaden and Syrus; Jaden seemed to have no problem getting punished for trouble.
After the meal, Mana hung out with Jaden and Syrus in their room. They compared notes of what they thought of the meal and Professor Banner. Being in Slifer may have seemed gloomy to other students, but Mana was glad to be there with her friends. Yugi always said that nothing mattered if you didn't have people to share the experience with. Now if only they could get Chumley to cheer up at bit.
Mana was quietly tapping a message to Atem on her PDA when Jaden's began beeping. Jaden opened a video message from Chazz challenging him to a duel—winner received the loser's best card. Jaden, Syrus, and Mana left for the dorm for the duel arena. Syrus protested the idea, but Jaden and Mana were up for the challenge. Well Jaden was going for the challenge, and Mana was going for the excitement. It might not be a prank on her brother, but it was still exciting.
Chazz was waiting in the arena with his two lackeys. He and Jaden traded verbal spars as they readied their decks and duel disks. Chazz got an early lead by taking control of Jaden's Flame Wingman. Mana resisted the urge to jump on the field and slug the rich snob. The fact that Alexis had come to watch made her behave. She didn't have a problem picking a fight with Chazz, but Mana didn't know where Alexis stood on dorm hierarchy and rule-following. Alexis might not like Chazz, but she wouldn't be behind Mana attacking him.
Jaden wasn't fazed in the slightest by Chazz's attitude; just the opposite, he was loving it. Everything about the duel made him more excited which shook Chazz's confidence for a minute, but not his game. He still held the lead in LifePoints.
Jaden finally turned things around with his Mirror Gate, and he regained control of his Flame Wingman. Chazz kept himself in by destroying Flame Wingman with a spell and the summoning Mefist the Infernal General. Jaden drew his card, but Alexis spotted the campus security coming. Alexis chastised Chazz for not sharing all the rules of the arena, and Chazz called off the dueling claiming Jaden's victory against Crowler was a fluke. Jaden, Syrus, Mana, and Alexis all left the arena together, just barely avoiding the security officers. Jaden stewed the whole time they snuck out because he would have beaten Chazz, and Syrus and Mana had to drag him out the back way.
"Thanks for showing us the back way out," Syrus said.
"Sure," she answered. "I'm sorry you didn't get to finish your duel."
"It's okay. I know just how it would have ended anyway," Jaden smirked. His smirk reminded Mana of Atem a little bit.
"Really?" Mana asked.
"From my point of view it looked like it could have gone either way," Alexis said.
"No way! Not after I drew this," Jaden revealed the last card he drew: Monster Reborn. Alexis and Mana looked at Jaden in surprise. No wonder he was so determined to finish.
Mana and the boys made their way back to the Slifer dorm. This is going to be a great time. Mana thought as her first day came to an end.
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
Mana sat bored in class next to Jaden. Dr. Crowler had asked Alexis to list the different categories of cards, and Alexis recited the whole list. Crowler was ecstatic that one of his precious Obelisks had answered the question correctly. Once Alexis finished, Crowler called on Syrus to define a field spell. Syrus stumbled and was unable to answer the question. An Obelisk hurled an insult to Syrus and the other Obelisks started laughing. Crowler asked the question again, asking for someone not wearing red.
Fed up with his attitude towards the Slifers, Mana stood up and said, "A field spell is a card whose effects cover the whole field, hence the name. Instead of being played in the spell and trap card zones, it is played in its own special zone, and only one can be in play at a time. It is distinguished by a four-pointed symbol on the card.(2) Don't underestimate us Slifers, Dr. Crowler."
"She's right, you shouldn't make fun of us Slifers like that," Jaden added. "I mean, I'm a Slifer, and I beat you. So when you make fun of us, you're really making fun of yourself."
Mana saw daggers in Dr. Crowler's eyes. She wasn't sure who had earned more his wrath—her or Jaden. Mana was tempted to make a game out of it with Jaden. Did her namesake cause as much mischief with the pharaoh when they were kids?
Their next class was with Professor Banner. Jaden and Mana were beyond bored when Syrus started whispering to them. "By the way, thanks you two."
"Sure no prob," Jaden yawned. "For what?"
"Sticking up for me."
"Huh? Uh-oh," Jaden noticed Professor Banner watching them. "I might have to do it again."
"Syrus!" Professor Banner called on the nervous Slifer.
"Yes!" Syrus stood at attention.
"Do me a favor and grab Pharaoh, would you?"
"Pharaoh?" Syrus looked around confused. Mana wondered what Banner meant by Pharaoh.
"Unless you are minoring as a scratching post," Banner grinned as he spoke.
A meow drew Syrus's attention to his feet where Banner's cat was rubbing himself against the student's legs. So that's the cat's name, Mana thought, amused. I'll have to remember to tell Atem later, and put it in my letter home.
Mana went to the girls' locker room to change for gym class. She took the opportunity to listen to what the other girls thought of her or the other Slifers. So far the only Obelisks she liked were Atem and Alexis. So many others looked down on the Slifers even if they didn't outright mock them. As for the girls, all the ones Mana had encountered so far were either really girly-girly or just full of themselves. Or both. Mana rolled her eyes as girls around the corner from her gossiped about what boys they were crushing on. She almost shouted when they started talking about Atem. Mana finished changing and got out of there before she said something she would regret. She did not need to listen to girls' attempts to woo her brother. She left and bumped right into Syrus. "Syrus what are you doing here?"
"I need to get ready for gym class. What are you doing here?
"This is the girls' gym!" Mana pushed him away from the door. "The boys' gym is on the other side of the building!"
"Aw, come on!" Syrus took off running to the boy's dorm. "Lousy girls' gym!"
Mana shook her head as she headed to gym class. As she walked, she thought she saw a blue figure streak away from the boys' gym. That was weird.
Class was boring, and Mana was glad when it was over. She sent a message to Atem about the Slifer cat's name, figuring he would be amused. She was tempted to sneak to his room that night, but he had roommates, and she would be caught in a heartbeat. Mana really didn't want to explain that one to her parents.
She headed back to her room when class finally ended. It was nice to have a quiet afternoon off, and she spent most of it messaging Atem and getting ahead of her homework. Mana was getting ready for bed when someone knocked on her door. She opened the door to see Jaden standing there. "Hey, we got trouble," he said.
Jaden told her about a message he got saying Syrus was caught and Jaden had to go to the Obelisk girl's dorm to get him. Mana sent a quick message to Atem saying what happened should the worst happen. She figured it would be best to have someone know why they were trespassing, though Mana wondered how much trouble she would get in. It definitely wasn't the worst trouble she'd gotten into, but it wasn't the best.
When the two of them got to the girls' dorm, they were greeted by Alexis and her two friends, Jasmine and Mindy. They held Syrus as they talked. "So what's exactly going on?" Mana asked.
"Well, to make a long story short, I'm basically a big loser," Syrus said glumly.
"Your friend here trespassed into the girls' campus," Jasmine accused.
"Is that true, Sy?" Jaden asked.
"Hey it's not like that!" Syrus exclaimed.
"And now that you're here, Jaden and Mana, you're trespassing too," Mindy added.
"Am I trespassing because I'm a Slifer?" Mana asked. "Because I'm definitely not a guy."
"You gave up your right to come here when you left Obelisk," Jasmine said.
Mana stuck her tongue out at the redhead. Jasmine had no right to judge her, and Mana knew if came down to a duel, she could easily put the girl in her place.
"Jasmine's right," Alexis intervened before Mana really started arguing with Jasmine. "So if you don't want us to turn you in, you're going to have to win your freedom by beating me in a duel right now."
"But if you turn us in we'll be expelled!" Syrus protested.
"Don't worry, Sy, because that won't happen," Jaden accepted the challenge.
"Jaden, next time we get into trouble you better let me in on the fun," Mana sat in the boat as Jaden readied his duel disk.
"No promises," Jaden smirked. "Get your game on, Alexis."
Alexis quickly proved herself to be a strong duelist. She used her Doble Passe to take a direct attack from Jaden's Sparkman and then launched a direct attack with her Etoile Cyber. She obviously wasn't afraid of losing LifePoints during a duel. She pushed her advantage by summoning her Cyber Blader and equipping it with Fusion Weapon, which took out the Flame Wingman. Jaden barely pulled through by summoning Thunder Giant and using its special ability to destroy Cyber Blader and then attacking Alexis directly.
As Thunder Giant's last attack hit, Mana could swear she saw a dark figure with a blonde ponytail in the water. Was someone watching them? She only caught a glimpse and decided to let it go for the moment.
"Well, a deal's a deal," Jaden said as both parties faced each other in their boats. "I won, so we get off free."
"Okay, guys, I won't back out," Alexis answered. "We won't say anything about what happened tonight."
"Well if you ask me, we should turn them in right now!" Jasmine interrupted.
"I'll duel you right here if you want to go for round two," Mana challenged her.
"No one asked you," Alexis glared angrily at Jasmine. "Jaden beat me fair and square, and that's all there is to it."
"There's more to it than that," Jaden added. "It was close. You really got game."
Alexis smiled at them as they rowed away. When they hit the shore, Mana sent a message telling Atem everything was fine. She had a feeling Alexis was going to become a great friend. Mana remembered Tea telling her how she sometimes felt she needed more female friends. With Jaden and Syrus acting like Uncle Joey and Uncle Tristan in her parents' stories, Mana suspected she might need Alexis's friendship and sanity down the road.
1. I know it doesn't entirely match the anime, but there's never really a good reason for why the dorm is there in the first place. So they say it has structural problems when there's really shadow magic lurking around.
2. The anime doesn't really have the symbols on their illustrations; I just added the real-world card to the definition.
Please rate/review. I appreciate any input on how this story is going.