Chapter Two: Welcome Party

It was early afternoon by the time the ship finally docked on the island that played host to Lodestar Academy. Disembarking was drawn-out thanks to the sheer number of students, but luckily uneventful. Yukka stepped off the boat and onto the metal pier. She didn't see either of her new friends, Isaac and Klaus, so instead she turned her attention toward the island itself.

It seemed large for a school campus, she could make out on the distant horizon a few buildings on either the right or the left, like small towns, but in terms of islands this one seemed rather small, and Yukka imagined that a person could comfortably walk along the coast in a day. What was most impressive, however, was the massive structure before her. The school was a veritable castle with massive spires and laid-brick roadways. To her, it looked more like Hogwarts than Lodestar. She briefly wondered if, between the four color-coded houses and the design of the castle, that was intentional.

The castle itself was still too far away to reach by foot, but it was still towering over them. The group of several-hundred students stood together, further amassing with every one that disembarked from the ship. There was a set of tables in several places along the pier where students were meeting. Each table was marked with a colored banner bearing a number. Yukka opened up her welcome booklet to the back-page where she had seen instructions for this previously. Her group was Blue 4. The line for her table was fairly short, and it did not take long for her to come face to face with another student. She was much older, Yukka guessed she was probably a third-year, and wearing a blue jacket. "Name?" she asked.

"Yukka Hirano," she answered.

"Alright," the older student handed her a large nylon messenger bag that felt rather heavy. It was the same deep shade of cobalt blue as the banner over the table and the jacket she wore. The student pointed at a small plastic pocket hanging from the zipper. "Your dorm assignment is written on the tag, inside you'll find your Academy-issue duel disk, uniform, textbooks, and a commemorative pen. Do you have any questions?"

"How do we get to the dorms?"

"There's a bus service coming at three, so about fifteen minutes from now. You'll get on the bus marked for your dorm. The Floor Attendant for your floor will give you a crash-course on the school and then you'll have a welcome ceremony with your dorm as a whole."

"Thanks so much, catch you later!"

If the ship was cramped, and if the pier was crowded, then the bus was downright claustrophobic. And yet, all things considered, Klaus considered the trip successful. It would have been more successful, though he wouldn't dare say as much out loud, if he hadn't been forced to share a seat with Isaac, whose massive frame left him pressed unceremoniously against the window for the duration of the ride. Yet despite the indignity and discomfort of the trip, at least Klaus could finally look forward to unpacking his bags and crashing on his own bed in his own room.

The Blue dorm was a tall building, about eight floors in total, although that was split across four towers connected by a central ground floor that served as an administrative office for the residents. Klaus double-checked his tag, "C-Seven-One-Seven," he read aloud. "I guess that's the seventh floor, tower C, room seventeen." For once, he felt lucky. Almost nobody was heading in the direction of tower C, and as he stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button for floor seven, nobody else stepped on. He smiled gleefully as the elevator passed the next five floors entirely without incident, never stopping to let anyone else on. He could breathe.

And when the elevator doors opened, they opened to a quiet lobby. There was nobody here, just a few upholstered seats (naturally, they were a deep shade of blue) facing a large TV mounted on the wall. There was a large set of glass doors leading to a room with a few tables, a larger sofa, and another TV. Presumably it was for study sessions or screening movies. Quickly he made his way around the square hallway to room 717. He swiped his student ID and the light over the door handle flipped from red to green. He opened the door to a cozy room. It was furnished identically on both sides with a loft bed over a small dresser and a desk. He laid his bags down on the desk, climbed up to the bed, and let out a deep sigh he had been holding since he woke up on the ship that morning. All this space to himself… what a lucky time for Klaus Wagner.

After some time spent relaxing on his soft and cozy bed, there was the sound of a beep, and then the doorknob unlocking. The door opened to a familiar voice. "Hey, roomie! Name's Isaac!" The hulking frame of Klaus' sporty new friend entered view, to his own visible shock. "Hey, it's little Klaus! Crazy odds, right?" He set his bags down on his own desk. "I know, you're so happy to see me you can't speak. I mean, it's a good thing you got paired up with someone you know, yeah?"

Klaus nodded. "Yeah… I guess that's a good thing. You're right, I should be more positive. Look out Lodestar Academy, Klaus Wagner is feeling positive!" He leapt confidently from his bed, but misjudged the distance to the bottom. He crashed painfully to the floor. "Ugh, look out world, Klaus Wagner is… feeling positive…"

"Hey, c'mon Klaus! Quit fooling around or we're gonna miss dinner." Isaac easily lifted Klaus by the back of his shirt, not unlike a mother cat carrying her kitten by the scruff. "We gotta get into uniform and meet the FA in the common area."

"But there's nobody here?"

"Schedule says meeting at six. Even if everyone else is late, we better show up on time. For the food!"

"I guess. Put me down, I need to get my jacket on."

Isaac obliged. He and Klaus both opened up their new bags and reached inside. There were several nice things inside. Foremost were the new school-issue duel-disks. They were the newer 3-X models from Kaiba Corporation. The box boasted improved tactile feedback and power consumption. There were also a few small plastic envelopes containing cobalt blue jackets. He tore one of the envelopes open and–with great difficulty–managed to slide his massive biceps through the sleeves.

Klaus had the opposite issue, as he found it necessary to roll up the sleeves of his jacket just to get his hands to reach the end. He turned around to see that his roommate was for all intents and purposes completely restrained, trapped in an A-pose and unable to move his arms against the unforgiving fabric. "Umm, Isaac? I think there was a mistake with your uniform. Maybe just take it off?"

"And be out of uniform for dinner? I ain't gettin' in trouble on day one. I got a better idea." With one powerful motion, he flexed his muscles, and the seams of the jacket where the sleeves met the shoulders almost immediately gave out, ripping apart almost completely. Isaac reached over to each shoulder to pull his sleeves the rest of the way off. "Ah, that's better. Finally letting the bad boys breathe!"

"I don't think that's any better," Klaus stammered. "That's almost certainly not better!"

"Relax, I know what I'm doing. Let's go find the FA."

Yukka finished packing away her clothes into the neat little dresser waiting under her loft bed. Someone mentioned on the bus that the boys' and girls' rooms were all identical, and she could certainly see that. Any sheets or upholstery were cobalt blue, just like the furniture in the common room on her floor, and there was nothing special anywhere. It was furnished plainly, with not even a lamp on either desk. "I should get a welcome mat," she said to herself.

She opened up the closet next to the bed on her side of the room and stood in the mirror for a moment, admiring how she looked in Lodestar Blue. Her sea green eyes sparkled in the mirror, and Yukka locked eyes with her reflection. "I'm confident," she intoned, "I'm strong, I earned my place here. And I can't disappoint my brother…" She took in a deep breath. She opened up her jacket. White tank-top, black jeans, blue boots. Unruly blonde hair running wild and free. "I can do this."

Change of wardrobe confirmed, Yukka went back to the bag she received at the pier. She pulled out the box inside and eagerly tore it open. Within was a pristine new duel disk, not like the hand-me-down model her brother let her try once upon a time. The main body was almost triangular, with rounded corners. The tray was seamless with the body, and it took a moment of inspection for Yukka to find the invisible seam where the outer edge of the tray sat flush with the white polymer around it. Of course, the disk was painted with a blue pattern on top of the white, matching her house colors. She strapped the disk to her arm and slit her deck box inside.

Her phone in her pocket buzzed, the alarm she had set earlier reminding her to meet the FA on time. "Alright. Moment of truth, Yukka. Let's get it on!" She opened the door and stepped out into the hall.

The main lounge area where she had initially stepped off the elevator was swarming. There were about a dozen and some change of other students there, most of them wearing their duel disks and all of them in uniform, but none she recognized. She took note that there seemed to be a fair mix of students, with some looking about her age and others as old as the girl she met at the pier. One of the students was wearing a golden armband bearing the school's symbol and seemed to be going over a sheet of paper in the corner. She assumed that was the Floor Attendant.

The girl with the gold band checked her watch, looked around the room for a moment, and then stepped over to the area directly in front of the elevators. She cleared her throat. "Everyone settle down," she said in a meek voice. Her hair was pink and pixie-cut. She was rather short, and wearing a blue skirt under her jacket, which was zipped up. She certainly didn't seem to Yukka to be the leadership-type. "We have a little bit to go over before we head downstairs for dinner, so everyone needs to listen."

Despite the lack of a commanding presence or voice, the whole room fell silent. "Thank you," she said. "My name is Avery. As some of you will already know, I'm the FA for floor 3-B. If any of you have questions or disputes regarding the floor, or if you need guidance at school and aren't sure where to go, my door is open. It's my job to help you." She slyly sneaked a peak at her sheet of paper before returning to her speech. "There are several rules at this school that you should all know, as they are in your student handbooks. First-years should be familiarizing themselves with these rules, and anyone older should know them already. I'd like to go over a few of the more important rules and guidelines."

"First," she began. "While dueling is an important metric at this school, it is not the only metric. Those of you who fall behind in your classes may be temporarily barred from participation in school events, extracurricular clubs, or official exhibition duels. Remember, this is a school first."

"Second, gambling and ante duels are strictly forbidden. Any students caught dueling for prizes of money or rare cards will be subject to disciplinary measures up to and including expulsion." That rule was met with some murmuring from the class.

"Finally, you're all expected to excel at dueling as well. The school does test you on your capacity as a duelist." The next part, she added as an aside, practically a whisper. "Probably because most of our fundraising is tickets for interscholastic dueling events." She cleared her throat and returned to her professional tone. "Duelists who perform poorly will find their score reflect poorly in turn on their report cards. Failing to perform adequately is also grounds for expulsion."

"Card games are serious business, after all," Yukka mumbled to the response of a low chuckle from one or two of the students near her.

Avery pushed up her glasses. "Of course. You wouldn't believe how much you can earn off of popcorn and hot dogs while holograms beat each other senseless. And it takes a small fortune to keep one of these offshore schools afloat every year, so to speak. Well, with all that out of the way, let's go eat!" The group all filed into the two elevators–although multiple trips had to be made to accommodate everyone. Before long, the students from all four towers were collected on the bottom floor, where a large set of heavy double doors had been opened to allow the nearly five-hundred students into the dining hall.

Everyone found a place to sit. There were multiple stations to get food, all laid out in warming trays buffet style. There seemed to be a ton of variety, which made sense since the school was an international institution, but Yukka still found it very odd to see Asian and European staples sitting next to turkey and macaroni. She had never been outside Japan before, and the macaroni certainly looked appealing, if only for the novelty of trying something new. All of the students took turns getting their food. Yukka herself made sure to fill her plate with nothing but western curiosity: macaroni, a bit of turkey, and a baked potato. She sat back down with her food, met by a laughing boy sitting across from her, who asked "Is it thanksgiving already?"

Yukka blushed, and did not respond. "This is a challenge," she thought to herself as she shoveled a spoonful of pasta into her mouth. "And I will not be defeated by peer pressure, nor the feeling of cringe!"

While everyone was eating, a tall middle-aged man stood up behind a podium and tapped the microphone. The room turned its collective attention to him. "Good evening, Blue House. Firstly I'd like to extend a heartfelt welcome back to all of our returning students. I see many familiar faces." There seemed to be a small amount of applause from some of the older students before he continued. "And to all of our newcomers, transfers and first-years alike, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Doctor Wright. I am head of the social studies department and–as you all may have realized–headmaster for the Blue House. Over the course of the year, all of your exploits will be closely scrutinized. All of your scores in tests, all of your achievements on the dueling court, they will all be tallied. At the end of the year, the House with the best scores will be awarded bragging rights." The doctor had himself a hearty chuckle. "You could say it's just some friendly competition, there's no real prize to be won. That being said, I don't want you to embarrass me, so if victory is impossible I want each of you to do your level best!"

The room erupted into cheer and applause. Yukka couldn't help but stand up at her table and shout in excitement. This is what her brother always said dueling was about: the spirit of competition, and the promise of glory. Her eyes sparkled as she cheered.

It was very late by the time most of the students left the dining hall. Klaus was simply happy to have left the room unscathed. He didn't see Isaac, surprisingly, throughout the whole event. He wondered if his roommate had somehow gotten himself in trouble with his modified uniform. "I guess it's not really my place," he said to himself. "If he's gonna get himself in trouble it's his lesson to learn." He walked down the paved path alone and decided to take a detour toward one of the school's gardens. It wasn't far from the dorm, and since curfew wasn't until after ten, he had enough time to relax in nature. He took a moment to ponder the new duel disk he had been issued. Sure, his old hand-me-down was beat up and in no condition to duel, but it still felt like something was wrong, missing. The old bulky tray, the power-guzzling first-generation projector, something about the old hunk of junk felt like it was calling to him.

And so he pondered as he wandered. The gardens were a series of public park installations featuring a wide variety of plant life from all over the world. The walkways and fields between the flowerbeds and birdhouses were, of course, large enough to play Duel Monsters in, but for now a simple nature walk would suffice. Yet Klaus was not alone. There was a group of students also loitering here, wearing red uniforms. All of them were laughing fiendishly, and one of them was holding something familiar. "Seriously," he said as he held up Klaus' old duel disk, "What kind of loser uses a scrap-bag like this these days?"

"Where did you even find that junk, Lloyd?"

The tallest boy in the group, Lloyd as Klaus presumed, spun the disk arrogantly in his hands. "Some dipstick from Blue House dropped it earlier. Fell right out of his ratty backpack. Kid was tiny, you'd think he'd have noticed!"

Klaus clenched his fists. "Alright, mom. I'm being assertive!" He ran toward the group, shouting "You three! Give that back!"

The three red-clad boys stopped their japing and turned to face the newcomer. Lloyd ran his fingers through his spiky black hair. "Well, speak of the fiend-type. This yours, kid?"

"I hear you talking, you know it;s mine." Klaus held out his hand expectantly. "Give it back!"

Lloyd shared an unamused look with his friends. "I dunno, kid. You sound pretty ungrateful. After all, I saved your precious gear from being abandoned on the gravel. I was gonna just give it back to you, but seeing as how you're all huffy and puffy, maybe I want a little reward now."

Klaus gave him what he considered to be a menacing glare, and maybe one someone a head or two taller it might have been. "No you weren't. Give it back or I'll go to the faculty. You don't wanna get labeled troublemakers before the first day of class, do you?"

"Tch, fine." He threw the disk over to Klaus, who just barely caught it before it his the ground. "Take your stupid disk. I'll just be content with my compensation." He held up a card in his fingers. It glittered in gold and bore the name Astra Regna.

Klaus felt a weight drop in his stomach. He knew he'd forgotten something. The card must have still been in the extra deck compartment. "Give that back!"

"Give it, give it, give it, he says. Come on, grow up ya little munchkin. You want it so bad? Come and get it?" He extended the tray of his red duel disk. "Be a man, mouse!"

Klaus carefully set his old, damaged disk on the ground and flipped the switch on his new equipment. The thin tray extended from the front and quickly folded out into a round shape. The lights flickered on. The LCD screen displayed "OPPONENT FOUND. DUEL?" in block letters. "I'm not letting you push me around. When I win, you give back my card!"

Lloyd met him with a smug grin and nothing else. "Alright, let's boogie. I'll put your precious card in a frame over my desk after I wipe the floor with you!"

"Duel!"

"Duel!"

Turn 1

Klaus Wagner: 4000 LP, 5 Cards

Lloyd: 4000 LP, 5 Cards

"I'm taking the first move," Klaus called out. "I Normal Summon Circuit Nav in Attack Position!" The projector on his disk quickly flashed, and the beam of light coalesced into the form of a human boy. He wore clothing that seemed to be a cross between business attire and futuristic armor. His outfit was extremely angular and neon, decorated with glowing lines cyclically pulsing dimmer and brighter in the same fuschia color as his hair, eyes, and tie. (LIGHTNING Data/Effect Level 1 200/300). "When Circuit Nav is successfully Normal Summoned, I can discard a Data-type monster from my hand to draw two cards." Klaus discarded a card with an image of an angular, digitally-rendered spider and drew two new cards from his deck.

"Cute kid," Lloyd taunted, "he still can't fight."

"Give him a minute, he's not even warmed up yet. With the spell card Access Pointer, I can Special Summon a monster from my Graveyard as long as its Level isn't higher than the lowest-level monster I control. Since Circuit Nav is Level 1, I can Special Summon Circuit Strider in attack position!" Klaus' duel disk spat out the card he had discarded earlier. He placed the card on the tray, and when the light solidified into a monster, it formed into a small polygonal creature. Its spiderlike limbs seemed to be made mostly of smooth cones, and its body was completely spherical, a massive red eye (FIRE Data/Tuner/Effect Level 1 0/0).

"Oh, wow, two whole monsters with almost a monster's worth of attack between them. I'm quaking in my boots."

Klaus gritted his teeth but did not respond to the taunt. "I tribute my two monsters to perform a Tribute Summon: Level seven Star Retainer!" The two monsters vanished into bundles of light and reformed into a bright white light pillar from which a new monster emerged. Its hands were clad in pitch black gauntlets, its arms wrapped in midnight blue cloth. The light receded, revealing its true form. He stood tall, with mid-length silver hair and eyes of black, filled with constellations of the night sky. A black metal headband sat on his forehead. He wore armor on his upper body and shoulders, and tall greaves over his stark white trousers, all in that same pitch black as his gauntlets. A pair of daggers fit his grip, glittering sliver. A cape, blue like the night sky billowed behind him (AETHER Warrior/Effect Level 7 2500/2000).

"I set two cards facedown and end my turn." Klaus watched as the familiar brown-backed cards appeared in hologram form.

"Alright, I draw!"

Turn 2

Klaus Wagner: 4000 LP, 1 Card

Lloyd: 4000 LP, 6 Cards

"I'll show you how it's really done. I'm gonna open with the effect of Seertops." He turned over a card in his hand to show it to Klaus. "Since you control a Level 5 or higher monster and I don't, I can target one of them, then Special Summon Seertops, and if I do, I can destroy a card you control, except that target.." He placed the monster on his tray. The projector cast onto the field an image of a Triceratops with a white skin, wearing a black veil that covered its eyes that bore a symbol of a white eye where its forehead would be (DARK Dinosaur/Effect Level 5 1800/1600). The monster unleashed a menacing roar, and then a beam of energy shot out from the eye-symbol on its veil, obliterating one of Klaus' facedown cards.

"I still have two more of those," Klaus quipped. "Be careful what you do if you don't wanna set 'em off."

"I'll do what I want, thanks. I Normal Summon Lethal Cobra in attack position!" A new monster appeared, this time a snake. Its body was bright yellow with tiger stripes. It was spiny and spiky, like a viper, but it unfurled a cobralike hood (FOREST Reptile/Effect Level 4 1500/200). "When Lethal Cobra is Normal Summoned, you have to discard one card." The cobra reared back with an evil hiss and spat a steaming stream of venom at Klaus. The screen on his disk lit up, instructing him to discard, with which he complied. "Next, I activate the effect of Starfrill in my hand. By discarding it, one Reptile I control gains one level." He slipped the card into his graveyard as a ghostly image of an orange-skinned frilled basilisk appeared. It stood on its hind legs and unfurled its frills, which bore resemblance to the level stars on the cards. It quickly vanished into the body of the viper, which hissed triumphantly as it grew in size.

"I activate a trap! Alert of Threat! This continuous trap remains active as long as you control more monsters than I do. It destroys itself if you have the name number or less, or if I don't control anything. But as long as it's here, you can't Special Summon." Klaus' trap flipped up on the field, and out from it stretched holographic police tape printed with the word "ANTIVIRUS".

"Then I activate the spell card Lizardance," Lloyd countered, "If I control a Reptile, Dragon, or Dinosaur, I can sack two of them of differing types to add two monsters of the third type to my hand that're up to two levels higher!" Both of his monsters crumbled to dust as his duel disk ejected the two cards he selected on the screen, which he added to his hand. "And with that, your Trap destroys itself." As if to punctuate his point, the electronic tape glitched and vanished out of existence and the card they came from fizzled and shattered like glass.

"With the Quick-Play Spell Card Impact Imminent, I can banish two monsters from my Graveyard to Special Summon one monster from my hand that's a different Type than either of the banished Monsters. I banish Starfrill and Lethal Cobra to Special Summon The Hidden Maw from my hand!" A meteor materialized from the skies above the duelists and instantly slammed down into the ground between them.

Klaus felt the shockwave nearly knock him over. The advertisements for the new duel disk were right, he thought. The feedback on the new platform was truly something else. The dust settled as the spirits of the two monsters that were banished flitted away on the wind. Within the massive crater, two eyes glowed an evil red from behind a curtain of shadows (DARK Dragon/Effect Level 8 3200/0).

"The Hidden Maw's effect activates: I can target one monster you control and destroy it, but if I do you get to Special Summon something else in its place from your Graveyard in the same position." The creature released a hot breath of dark smoke and a rumbling growl. The ground immediately beneath Star Retainer began to shake and rumble. He looked down, but too late to respond as the land gave way and he fell into the darkness below. The hole disappeared, returning the ground to its former state, long before his screams ceased to echo. From a portal of white light, Circuit Strider emerged on the battlefield (FIRE Data/Tuner/Effect Level 1 0/0).

"Battle Phase!" Lloyd shouted. "The Hidden Maw attacks Circuit Strider!" The darkness hiding the beast's eyes erupted in black, billowing smoke that enveloped the small creature completely. The sound of the hologram bursting and the shockwave rippling through the air tol Klaus that his monster had been destroyed, and the counter on his duel disk decremented all the way down to 800. The smoke faded away, and nothing remained of its victim.

"I end my turn," he snarled. "Come and show me what for, shortstop!"

"I will, Draw!"

Turn 3

Klaus Wagner: 4000 LP, 1 Card

Lloyd: 4000 LP, 3 Cards

"It all comes down to this. With Circuit Strider's Effect, I can Special summon it from the Graveyard, but I can't Normal or Tribute Summon during the turn I Special Summon it with its own effect." The portal of light reappeared again, and the spiderlike creature steeped once more onto the field.

"Big whoop, what are you gonna do with it?"

"I'm gonna put you in the dirt with your monster! I activate the effect of Comet Starling in my hand! If you control a monster with more Attack Points than my Life Points, I get to Special Summon this card, as well as any one monster from my graveyard with less attack than that monster. I choose Star Retainer." Another monster appeared, this time in a streak of bright blue light. The light faded into the form of a large starling with a bright blue beak surrounded by glimmering stardust (AETHER Winged-Beast/Tuner/Effect Level 1 0/0). Once the bird was safely on the field, it began to glide close to the ground in a circle. Where its wingtip nearly touched the grass, a light began to form, and from that portal, the Star Retainer emerged triumphantly. The portal vanished, and the two monsters stood side by side, prepared for battle.

"All that, just to still fall short," Lloyd said. "Face it, kid. You're just prolonging the inevitable."

"No I'm not," Klaus answered. "I'm showing you there's more to this half-pint than meets the eye. I tune my Level 1 Circuit Strider to my Level 7 Star Retainer." The spiderlike creature tensed its legs and leapt into the air. Its body vanished, and in its place was a single green ring. The Star Retainer brandished his weapons and levitated into the sky, where the ring passed through his body. He too vanished, leaving seven shining white stars in his place. A bright light erupted, signifying the arrival of a new monster.

"Now is the time that we strike back. Let's do this, Level Eight Ion Eagle!" As the light petered out, there floated in the night air a massive eagle. Talismans and beads were wrapped around its wings, and its feathers emitted an otherworldly blue light (LIGHTNING Winged-Beast/Synchro/Effect Level 8 2800/3000). The raptor let out a mighty cry and glared down at The Hidden Maw with steel eyes and hooked beak ready to strike.

Klaus revealed his final facedown card, a trap. "I activate the Effect of Mutual Evacuation Order. With this, each of us takes a non-extra deck monster we control and returns it to our hand. I choose Comet Starling, and you only have one choice."

Lloyd watched as his monster's hologram vanished and the card returned to his hand. "Wait, no!"

"Finally, I activate the effect of Ion Eagle. I can Banish a monster from my Graveyard to gain its Attack until the End Phase. I banish Star Retainer!" A ghostly image of the black-armored warrior appeared next to the Eagle. It smiled approvingly before being absorbed into the great bird. Its own aura flared up as its attack power shot up to 5300.

"Battle Phase, Ion Eagle attacks directly!" The massive eagle let out its fierce war cry and dove directly at Lloyd. As soon as it reached its target, a massive explosion of blue light and flames spread out across the field. When it subsided Lloyd was laying on his back, defeated.

DUEL END

Klaus Wagner: 800 LP, 0 Cards

Lloyd: 0 LP, 4 Cards

Klaus crossed the field with confidence as the holograms vanished from sight. The two other boys that were with Lloyd recoiled visibly at his approach. He held out his hand as Lloyd met his gaze. "Give me back what's mine."

"Tch, whatever." Lloyd reached into his duel disk's extra deck and handed the card over. "Couldn't even summon it anyway. C'mon boys, lets get outta here."

Klaus watched them leave, and when he was certain they were out of sight, he let out an earth-shattering sigh, fell to his knees, and loudly announced to nobody in particular his relief. "That was terrifying," he cried. "I don't know how much longer I could have kept up that fake bravado."

"You looked pretty cool to me," said a girl's voice from behind him.

Klaus jumped up to his feet with a girlish shriek. He wheeled about to face the newcomer only to meet the familiar face of a giggling friend. "Yukka! Don't scare me like that!" He caught his breath while he waited for her to stop laughing. "How much of that did you see?"

She shook her head. "I heard you shouting about something they took from you, but I didn't actually see anything until the duel started." She let out a whistle, as if to express her approval. "But man, that was sure something. Where'd you learn to duel like that?"

"I've been playing for a long time," he explained. "My dad played a little bit during Battle City back in the day. He didn't make it very far, but he kept his old cards from then." He showed Yukka two of his cards. One, with a white frame, was Ion Eagle. The other had a frame of deep blue with a hexagon pattern, Astra Regna. "These were two of the cards he used in that tournament. He gave them to me, and he said that they'd keep me safe as long as I kept them close."

"They're very beautiful." Yukka admired the cards for a moment before Klaus returned them to his disk. "I've actually never done a Synchro Summon before, so I wasn't sure how they worked. But what's the other one?"

"It's a Link Monster," he answered. "You know how you can summon a monster in the Extra Zone if it comes from the Extra Deck? Link Monsters interact with that in different ways from other monster types, so they're really good support."

"I didn't really know that, actually. I don't have any extra deck monsters."

"Wait, really? Wow, your deck really is just a starter deck, isn't it?"

Yukka nodded. "My big brother says I pick up on things quickly, so I learned the rules without much issue, but I really didn't have a lot of time to settle on a structure deck on my way to tryouts, so I went with my gut."

"Yukka, I don't mean to alarm you, but you're not gonna get anywhere unless you get some better cards. Basic game knowledge and really good luck can't keep you on top forever."

"So what should I do?"

"Well, tomorrow's Saturday. Classes don't actually start until Monday. That means we have two days to explore the island and familiarize ourselves with the facilities. There's a few card shops we can visit, I'll go with you!"

"I mean, I don't mind but I can go by myself, it's really not something you need to help with."

"No," Klaus insisted. "I can be a big help. I can point out cards you might be able to use effectively, and help you feel out a theme for your deck." As if to prove a point he pulled his own deck out of his disk. "My deck is based on a few different toolboxes to deal with a number of situations. I have low-level tuners that can recover themselves, and Aether monsters to support Ion Eagle's effect. Most of my main deck consists of Data and Cosmic monsters which have good synergy with each other, but I keep some oddballs like Comet Starling for consistency."

"Well" Yukka began, "I guess I'd want something that works well with Javamancer, so that would be Spellcaster or Water support."

Klaus nodded. "You have to think about the bigger picture too. It's not enough to have just one ace monster to go into. And it's not enough to just stay on Attribute and Type themes. There's all kinds of ways to support your bigger monsters, and you should always have a different monster to go into in case plan A fails." He tapped his forehead and grinned. "So leave it to your buddy Klaus, I'll make sure your deck is up to snuff by Monday, satisfaction guaranteed!"

Yukka held out her fist and Klaus bumped it with his own. "It's a deal!"

Author's note: Okay, wow, that was a lot. Over 6000 words before the end. So what did you think? Any feedback, whether it's in a review or if it's in PMs, helps me improve as an author. Tell me about what you'd like to see in future chapters, cards and rulings you want to know more about, or anything at all! I'm trying to upload a chapter every week, but it's difficult since I work full time.

Starting next chapter, these author notes will feature trivia or other fun tidbits about the story. On the subject, I didn't notice this until I was done, but Klaus finished his duel this chapter with the same life points that Yukka did last chapter; that was not even intentional!