Daybreak in Maiami City gave way to a crisp, cool, and calm autumn morning. Well, calm for most people. All except a young student named Brent Rytora.

Why did I have to miss the bus today of all days, Brent thought as he ran, full-speed, through the streets of Maiami City in the direction of Leo Duel School. I've got to get up there. I was chosen as one of the participants for today's exhibition match! He turned a corner and nearly plowed into a woman standing next to a news stand. "Sorry," he called back to her, still running. The satchel he always wore flapped behind him. Luckily he had his Duel Disk on his arm, otherwise it may have fallen from his bag already. He knew he had lost at least two sheets of his homework already, but he couldn't spare the time to grab them.

He was two blocks away, and he saw one of the buses that had dropped its students off already. He dashed across a crosswalk, not noticing that the signal still showed the orange palm that signaled not to cross. He narrowly avoided being hit by a small car that was pulling out of the side-road he had been crossing.. Despite the angry honking of the driver, he continued to push on. Now he was one block away, but on the wrong side of the street. He closed the distance quickly between him and the next crosswalk. This time he waited for the signal to allow him passage, which only took ten seconds, thankfully, and dashed across to the other side, where Leo Duel School's doors were. He got inside just before the tardy bell rang, and just about collapsed on the floor.

He had to make it to the Center Court now and prepare for the exhibition Duel he had. He still hadn't heard who his opponent was, but was fairly confident he could handle whoever it was, especially now that he had made it to school just in the nick of time. He just needed something to drink first.

After stopping by one of the school's vending machines and getting a bottled water, Brent Rytora calmly made his way to the Center Court, the biggest and most incredible Dueling arena in the school. He sat in the waiting area, flipping through cards, grabbing sample hands, and swapping out certain cards in his Deck for what he thought he would need the most for this Duel. After about five minutes, he slid his Deck back into the Duel Disk, feeling as ready as he could be for the Duel. He then drained the last of his water and tossed the leftover bottle in a trashcan just as the Duel Coordinator poked his head in the room and gave Brent the thumbs up, indicating that the crowd of potential students had gathered for the Duel and were ready for some action.

He stepped out of the waiting room and into the Court. It was enormous, and unlikely that he and his opponent would be able to see each other once the Action Field had been activated. But then again, that depended all on what the Action Field was. Sometimes fields were flat and open, while others involved obstacles or hills. So now all he had to do was await his opponent and the MC's opening announcement.

---

Gale had been concerned when her brother hadn't made the bus on time, especially considering he was supposed to Duel today. Maybe they'd find a replacement for him, or something. Oh, well, she eventually thought as she found a front-row seat in the Center Court. I guess I'll just have to tease him later about it. She gazed around as other students filed into the stadium to watch the soon-to-commence Action Duel. She hadn't recognized anyone yet, but then again, they were only now starting to fill the seats. While she waited, she pulled out her Duel Disk and used the Internet to study up on more advanced Ritual Summoning techniques.

---

Of course I have to be the new kid again, Kaeru thought to himself, already hiding behind a mask which depicted sorrow. Why can't I just be done with school already? He had been placed in the Special Summoning Class. Something that didn't surprise him. He wasn't much of anything special. He found an empty seat three rows behind a young girl who was studying something on her Duel Disk. Squinting, he could just barely make out the blue border on a card depicted on her screen. Ritual? That's not a common form of Summoning, he pondered before someone else took a seat in front of him and blocked his view of the girl. At least he'd be able to still see the Duel. Not that he didn't know how. He could probably beat a good number of the Duelists here.

Michelle was looking through her cards while riding the bus, waiting for it to reach LDS. It was a big day, and she needed to make sure her deck, and more importantly, she, was strong enough to hold its own on the field. She had brought her other cards and was looking through all of them, swapping out cards when she felt it was necessary if her deck was to stay strong. Eventually she thought she was finished, but maybe there were other cards she hadn't gotten yet that could help. Nevertheless, she had to make do for now, and decided to put away her cards until it was time to duel. She could hardly sit still at the prospect of dueling, and she forced herself to stay calm.

Eventually the bus arrived and she stepped out, taking a deep breath. She followed the other students into the school and into the Center Court, where apparently there was going to be an exhibition duel. That would be exciting, and might help her figure out which cards she would need to add and which to remove from her deck.

---

Press was already at the stands, waiting for the Duel to start. Brent Rytora, a Fusion user. This might prove interesting. The other Duelist for the exhibition Duel had yet to arrive, but Press suspected it wouldn't be too long before it started. People were already gathering, and quickly too. Duels usually contained a lot of excitement and surprises, after all. In the meantime, before the Duel began, he took out his deck from his Duel Disk and looked through his deck.

Joshua, unlike Brent, got on the bus on time. He took a seat in the back and put on a pair of headphones, turning the volume up to the max and closing his eyes, blocking out everything around him. The ride to school was never important to him. The only important part was the school itself and whatever happened inside of it. When the bus finally stopped at the school, he opened his eyes and slowly worked his way off the bus with the rest of the students and then proceeded into the school. He made his way to the Court and took a seat among the gathering crowd. If he got called up the duel, that would be fine with him but he was just as happy watching the years new students duel and observe their decks to see if any of them would be interesting opponents.

---

Amelia had arrived at the school before it even opened up for the day, more because her parents made it so then because she wanted too. After they were out of view, she went around the corner to wait for the school to open. It was an hour before the first buses arrived and the young girl hesitantly made her way to the front gates and into the school. She followed any instructions given until she ended up in the waiting room that would lead up to the Center Court and made her way to a secluded corner, taking out her deck and looking it over. She had yet to use the deck and she had only gotten it the night before. That fact made her scared that she wouldn't do very well but she would try her hardest and she hoped she would get better. She knew the rules of the game, having watched several duels on television.

Moros grinned excitedly as more and more people filed into the stadium and the first contestant in the Exhibition duel appeared. He had gotten here early because well he hadn't anything much better to do. He couldn't wait until the duel started, he had a good feeling about this school year,maybe he would be able to actually make some friends! Moros looked around him to see if anyone had their decks out that he could take a look at, nearby he could see someone looking at Ritual monsters, that was awesome he loved the new ritual monsters that were coming. There was a girl hiding out in a corner looking at her cards but she was to far away to see what her deck had. Nobody else had decks out so Moros took out his and looked through it, he didn't have any spell or trap cards yet, but they couldn't be that important or he would've gotten one by now... right? After re-reading all of his cards, he still wasn't sure what all of them did yet he needed more practice, he put them back in his pocket and looked around for the other contestant. It was gonna be a great duel to kick off a great year, he was sure of it.

________________________
Silver
Silver's eye opened lazily. He was so tired from staying up late at night looking at his spare cards to see what would work. So far nothing would suffice enough, to build a deck. He couldn't use his father’s spares because he already took a couple to improve his deck. Much to his Dads annoyance after all his father made new decks every day for the next day while deconstructing the previous one's except, his pride and joy. The Lock-down deck. Sighing Silver changed into his day cloth's his favorite black jacket Cast over his back like a shroud. "ah today's going to be a great day" Silver said with a grin as there was an Annoying knock at the door that could only be one person...
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Liliana
Liliana had been awake for a while Shuffling through her gusto cards with some considerable care. They where all accounted for much to her relief. She checked the time Silver needed to get going or else he would show her up for her big day at the LDS and she really didn't need that, Pocketing her deck she left her Room and made her way across the hall towards Silver's Room with the black and green door. she knocked once quietly and got no answer. So ended up knocking louder eventually Silver answer the door wearing his black jacket. "what you want sis" Silver said his eyes waiting a answer "Silver we gotta get going. or we are gonna be late. Both Mum and Dad have already left early so they can do their jobs, and they said we gotta get going right now." Liliana said before running downstairs,hastily Putting on her shoes, grabbing her backpack and running out of the door towards the LDS which was located a couple of blocks away. Silver had finally stumbled out of the door and was catching up behind her panting heavily. In her opinion he really needed to exercise.
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Alice
Alice slowly curled her hair around her finger as she watched people pour into the main arena for the exhibition match she was one of the first one here and she had waited for age's Finally Some action would start soon. because it didn't seem that she could wait any longer. she had already looked through her deck twice. thought of a couple of random Idea's and Stuff Finally Liliana and Silver entered the Stadium Silver was still panting "you really need to get fit silver" Alice said under her breath as her Tall but thin Son took a seat near the front behind his sister as he accidentally pulled attention to himself by tripping over.
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Nathan
Nathan was pushing a Trolley through the Inside of the stadium Cleaning it has he went The top of the trolley was cleared of cleaning goods and replaced with a some cards slowly being made into a deck. Neither the less Nathan continued his work bored out of his head but someone had to do it and he needed to get payed so he could get more cards and continue his hobby of deck building. Nathans mind drifted off as he daydreamed about all the cards he could get if he was rich. "pf-ft like that will ever happen" he said aloud to himself as he continued mopping the floor as the stadium boomed outside.

((Collab -- Rethel34 & Joshua Tamashii))

"For all you kids out there in the audience today, whether you're a student here at LDS or a visitor," the MC said, "we have a treat for you today. This morning, you will witness an exhibition Duel between two of our four pillar classes. First up is a representative of our Fusion Course . . . Brent Rytora!"

Somewhat nervously, Brent made his way to the center of the stage. Once the Duel was going and his focus was on his opponent and not the thousands of eyes around him, he knew he'd be at the top of his game, but for the moment, nervousness was taking its toll on him.

Meanwhile, in the stands, Gale stared in awe as her brother stepped onto the court. "How did he make it?" she whispered, trying to figure out how in the world he could have made it to school on time after missing the bus this morning.

"And now, Brent's opponent for today, representing our Synchro Course is Amelia Averyonna!" the MC continued, gesturing to the opposite side of the stadium.

Amelia looks up at her name was announced. Looking around she made her way out of the stands and, with some help from the staff of the school, made her way down onto the central court. Once there she went over to where Brent was standing, while looking around nervously at the crowd. She could feel herself shaking from her nerves and shook her head in a vain attempt to get rid of them. Nothing she could do now though.

"Uuummm... h-hello." She said to Brent once she reached him, her voice shaking as she spoke.

"I guess I'm not the only nervous one down here, huh?" Brent said to try to loosen the tension within both of them. He wouldn't be able to do anything if all he cared about were the people in the stands. "Good luck," he offered with a nod as the MC continued to ramble.

Next thing he knew, the MC was shouting, "Action Field, Activate! 'Action Kitchen'!" In a single moment, a massive kitchen seemed to materialize around them, with larger-than-life appliances like blenders, toaster ovens, a massive sink, and a titanic refrigerator. Dishes hovered here and there, with a few utensils and other random items just laying around.

Brent was initially shocked by the instantaneous change, but they could no longer see the audience as easily as before, which put his mind at rest. That takes care of the stage fright, he thought.

Amelia looked around as their surrounding changed. She felt her shaking go away and she let out a sigh of releif. So long as she couldn't see the audience, it was easy to pretend that they werent there. Raising her duel disk, which was silver with green trim, he activated it, her board being a rainbow of colors.

Taking from Amelia's example, Brent also raised and activated his Duel Disk, the machine itself being orange with a maroon projection. Then the MC started talking again. Well, actually, it was more like a ceremonial chant, but Brent had almost ceased worrying about what he said, only worried about the Duel's cue to begin.

“Duelists locked in battle, kicking against the earth and dancing through the skies with their monsters, they storm through this field! Behold, the newest and greatest evolution of Dueling! Action . . . !” The MC snapped his fingers above his head, and the Action Cards scattered across the field. A beat later, the audience shouted as one.

“DUEL!”

"So pretty," Amelia said in awe as the cards floated down around them.

(Turn 1: [Brent 4000] [Amelia 4000])

Brent sprung into action the second the audience called out. Firstly, he'd have to put something together that would either be a formidable enough offense to get Amelia going defensive, or he'd have to play defensive until he could Fusion Summon. His hand didn't yet hold what he needed, but he had a decent offensive card to start the Duel with.

"I start by Summoning 'Volcanic Slicer', in Attack Position. The monster had a solid 1800 ATK, which wasn't half bad for a Level Four monster. "Now I get to activate the effect of 'Slicer' right out of the gate, which inflicts 500 damage to my opponent."

Amelia didnt even move as Slicer opened its mouth and shot a fireball at her, blasting her back a bit and causing her to land on her back. "Ow," she muttered, getting to her feet and dusting herself off.

"Now that that's done, I end my turn," Brent said, taking off in search of an Action Card.

(Turn 2: [Brent 4000] [Amelia 3500])

"Alright. Draw." Amelia said, drawing a card." I Set one monster face down and then Set two cards. I end my turn with that."

(Turn 3: [Brent 4000] [Amelia 3500])

Brent had barely gone anywhere when Amelia's turn ended. She had hardly done anything. He was less worried about that, though, and more concerned about the fact that he couldn't find any Action Cards.

"Draw!" he shouted, and instantly took interest in the new card in his hand. "There we go. I activate the Spell Card, 'Fusion Sage', which in turn allows me to add one 'Polymerization' from my Deck to my hand."

Brent's Duel Disk ejected the card, which he quickly activated. "I'll now use that 'Polymerization' to fuse 'Volcanic Slicer' with 'The Dark - Hex-Sealed Fusion', which can take the place of any Fusion Material Monster, in this case, a Machine-Type monster, so I can now Fusion Summon 'Blaze Fenix, the Burning Bombardment Bird'!" Brent couldn't help but smile as his favorite card took flight from the vortex that had absorbed his other two monsters.

"Battle Phase!" he declared. "'Blaze Fenix', attack Amelia's face-down monster!" The great bird reared its head, then lowered it, loosing a massive stream of fire toward the face-down card.

Amelia didnt activate anything as her opponents monester attacked her own and destroyed it, causing alot of smoke to appear. When it cleared though Amelias feild was far from empty, as two new monsters were on the field.
"The monster you attacked and destroyed was 'Chiwen, Light of the Yang Zing'. When it's destroyed I can Special Summon a 'Yang Zing' monster from my Deck. I summon 'Bixi, Water of the Yang Zing'," She said. "On top of that I activated the Trap Card 'Yang Zing Creation'. While it is active, whenever a 'Yang Zing' monster is destroyed I can Special Summon another 'Yang Zing'. I Summon ' Jiaotu, Darkness of the Yang Zing'."

The two new dragon like monster let out roars as the smoke cleared and stared down at Brent. "I'm a total novice at this game but I made sure to study my Deck and the basics before coming here," Amelia said. "So I hope I'll be able to put up a fight."

It took Brent a minute to register what had just occured. "Put up a fight?" he replied. "You just Summoned twice during my turn! You're going to be one tough opponent." He took a moment to examine his hand and decided he'd be done for now. "I guess I don't have anything else to do. My turn's done."

(Turn 4: [Brent 4000] [Amelia 3500])

"I draw." Amelia said looking at her hand and then her feild. "Bixi" and "Jiaotu" had a combined total of 4 Levels. Her lowest Level Synchro was level 5. However, only one of her Synchro Monsters had the ATK needed to get rid of her opponent's monster. At least it did right now.
"I sacrifice 'Bixi' to summon 'Taotie, Shadow of the Yang Zing'," she said. The blue turtle like dragon on her feild vanished only to be replaced by a black dragon with four legs and a pair of hands. "Then I tune 'Taotie' with 'Jiaotu' to Synchro Summon a Level 7 monster. Come forth, 'Yazi, Evil of the Yang Zing'!"

"Jiaotu" became transparent before it became two stars that flew into the air which further transformed into a pair of rings. "Taotie" then became 5 stars that flew between the rings. There was a bright flash of light before a dark portal formed behind Amelia in the air. From it a dark dragon with spines going down its entire back and several pairs of armored limbs appeared and let out a roar at Brent. Despite the impressive display, the dragon's ATK points were still 200 short of Brent's monster.

Even without the power to defeat "Blaze Fenix", a Synchro Monster like "Yazi" was impressive. Brent had to hold himself back from showing that the beast intimidating to him. Instead, he decided to compliment Amelia. "That's one strong monster you've Summoned there, Amelia. I can't wait to see what else your Deck can do."

"What about this then?" Amelia said as she played a card from her hand. "The Spell card, 'Yang Zing Prana'."

All around them, streams of energy came out of the various appliances and began going all over the place. "'Yang Zing Prana' gains effects based off the number of different Attribute 'Yang Zing' in my Graveyard. Since there are more than two different Attributes in my Graveyard my 'Yang Zing' monsters gain 500 attack and defence points"

Brent's eyes widened as "Yazi's" ATK rose to 3100 and the dragon accordingly grew in size. "Crud," he said to himself. He was starting to get worried about finding Action Cards as well. They didn't seem to be anywhere that a normal human could find them, though he had climbed all the way to the top of a small stand which held a massive blender.

"Yazi, attack his monster," Amelia said. Her monster reared back its head before breathing out a stream of pure darkness at Brent's monster. The stream engulfed Brent's "Fenix" before stopping, leaving the "Fenix's" lifeless husk to go crashing to the ground.

The blast from the attack knocked Brent backward into the blender, his back hitting a button, knocking the wind out of him. But the button had done something. The blender was going haywire, and a few seconds later, an Action Card was launched into the air, which proceeded to flutter to the table's surface beside Brent. As he pushed himself back up, grabbing the card. "The Action Cards are inside the appliances?" he asked, utterly stunned.

"What was that card?" Amelia asked, looking confused

"It's called an Action Card," Brent explained, realizing just how foreign this whole concept must be to her. "You know how the cards scattered all over when the Duel started? Well, finding those can help you to win a Duel easier, and I think I just found one that I'll have to save for later."

"Okay.I'll end my turn then." Amelia said. Next to her, "Yazi" lowered its head before letting out a huff. Amelia gave the monster a gentle smile before climbing on and taking to the air with it, a small laugh escaping her lips.

(Turn 5: [Brent 3700] [Amelia 3500])

Brent brushed himself off before returning to his previously determined stance. He wasn't sure if he could get off of the table without another monster, and, quite frankly, he was glad he could now look up at Amelia rather than looking down at the huge drop between himself and the floor.

"I draw!" Brent said, taking a look at the card in his hand. "I think what I'll do next is activate 'Reinforcement of the Army'! This lets add one Level 4 or lower Warrior-Type monster from my Deck to my hand, so I choose to add my 'Elemental HERO Blazeman'. Next up," Brent continued, "I'll Summon that 'Blazeman' that I just added to my hand, which reels in another 'Polymerization' to my hand.

"Excuse the pun, but now I have all the ingredients for my recipe. I'll activate my second 'Polymerization', fusing 'Blazeman' with the 'King Pyron' in my hand to Fusion Summon the master of the greatest infernos, 'Elemental HERO Nova Master'!"

The muscular blazing hero stepped out from a vortex of flame, shouting to proclaim its presence on the field. It was 500 ATK short of "Yazi", but that could be sorted out quickly.

Brent smiled as he was carried to the ground by "Nova Master". Before they reached ground-level, he placed the Action Card he had grabbed earlier on his Duel Disk. "I activate the Action Spell, 'Victory Topping'! This gives my monster 600 additional ATK, which happens to be just enough for this 'knight' to fell your dragon. 'Nova Master', attack!"

"That's not good, is it?" Amelia asked herself as "Yazi" landed and allowed Amelia to dismount before flying towards the hero. Mid-flight, a comet even larger than "Nova Master" collided with "Yazi", creating a huge cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, Brent was surprised to see "Yazi" scarred, but still hovering over the ground.

"'Prana's' second effect. When three 'Yang Zings' of different Attributes are in the Graveyard, I can sacrifice 'Prana' to protect a 'Yang Zing' from destruction," Amelia explained as "Yazi's" ATK points dropped.

"Nice job," Brent complimented while the streams of golden energy faded away. "It looks like my turn is over, and with it, the effects of 'Victory Topping' also end."

(Turn 6: [Brent 3700] [Amelia 3400])

Amelia smiled as she drew her card. "Final turn," she declared." I summon another 'Bixi' to the field! Then I use 'Yazi's' effect: by destroying 'Bixi', I can destroy 'Nova Master'!"

Brent hardly had time to react as "Nova Master" was shattered in a display of golden snow. "No," he muttered. "But then that means . . ." Without hesitating, Brent scrambled to the countertop to see if he could find an Action Card.

"Now 'Bixi's' effect and 'Yang Zing Creation' activate. From my Deck I Summon Bi'an and a new 'Yang Zing': Pulao, Wind of the Yang Zing'. Also from the Graveyard, I activate 'Chiwen's' effect to Summon it to the field as well," Amelia said as the three monsters appeared on the field. "Then I use these three monsters to Synchro Summon 'Armades, Keeper of Boundries'."

Next to Amelia, two pillars, one of fire and one of ice, appeared and collided in a flash of light. When it vanished, A humanoid figure was floating next to Amelia.
"Now, 'Armades', attack Brent directly!" Amelia said. The humanoid summoned a ball of fire and a ball of ice before combining them and launching the result at Brent.

Brent had made it as far as the kitchen's bread box and was now struggling to force it open, but to no avail. The multi-element sphere collided with Brent, launching him off his feet and against the wall of the kitchen, reducing his Life Points to 1400.

"'Yazi', finish him off" Amelia said before her monster unleashed a stream of darkness at Brent. With the collision of the attack, Brent's Life Points dropped to zero, and the stadium resounded with a ringing that confirmed the end of the Duel.

(Duel End: Amelia Wins!)

Once the field and Amelia's monsters had faded away, Brent struggled to his feet.

"Are you okay?" Amelia asked, running over to Brent and offering a hand to help him up.

"Yeah," he replied, accepting the help. "Just a little banged up. That was good. We should Duel again sometime. Or maybe just hang out, if you'd rather . . . uhm. . . ." Brent stuttered, getting nervous in only a moment of talking to Amelia. He was bad enough with words, let alone the fact that he rarely talked to a person of the opposite gender.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Amelia asked sounding confused "And what do you mean by hang out? And why are your cheeks red all of the sudden?"

Brent didn't know which of Amelia's questions he should answer first, and his ears feeling almost painfully warm right now didn't help anything. "Uh . . . well, what I meant was that we could maybe . . . you know, spend some time together?" He tried to keep from stuttering, but it was difficult. He also did everything possible to keep his voice below that of the MC's end-of-Duel commentary in the background. "Anyway, we should probably . . . uhm . . . we should proably get off the court. Maybe we can continue talking on our way up to the stands?" Really, Brent was scared to death to keep talking, but more than anything he just wanted out from in front of people.

"Huh?... Oh okay." Amelia said before giving Brent one last smile before running off.

---

"Gale... Do you see what I see?" Joshua asked Brent's sister.

Gale was startled, not realizing Joshua, her brother's closest friend, had taken a seat near her. "You mean Brent's cheeks lighting up like a reindeer's nose?" she said in reply.

"Oh, yeah. Wanna double team him?" Joshua asked, a small smile on his face.

"Of course!" she piped up.

Damn! I hate being late on the first day. Vern thought to himself when a round of applause reached his ears, as he made his way to the stadium. When he finally get there, Duel was over and judging by MC commentary Synchro Course student managed to win. "Eh... So it's already over? I missed it all." he whispered to himself. Then Vern remembered that it's his fault that he is late, since he spend the whole night reconstructing his deck. Ah, screw it! It was worth it and there is no use in crying over spilled milk.

"Here."

A paper was being held up for Vern to grab, right in front of his face. It was being pinched at the corner by Korbin's index finger and thumb. On it, the turns were scribbled on as well as what happened during those turns, including the duelist's life points and names at the top. They weren't detailed, and we're written a little cryptically, numbers and symbols next to the monster names, as well as a few words that appeared to be Trap and Spell card names. Korbin, not looking directly at Vern as he held the piece of paper, had his nose deep in a Synchro Summoning text book he had borrowed that morning.

"That was the duel," he droned, "if you wanted to see what happened." He made no effort to try and help explain to Vern what everything meant once he took the paper, if he were to take it at all.

"Thanks." Vern took the paper from front of his face and quickly analysed it. So Fusion and Synchro Course were facing against each other. The one who won was a girl named Amelia from Synchro Course. Yang Zing's vs Fire monsters? After deciding that there will be time to analyse it more deeply later, Vern took his duel disk. It had a simple white body, but more importantly a camera option. He took a photo of the page and then held it towards Korbin, as if he tried to give it back. "You might want to keep it." Vern said without caring if a stranger will take page back or not

((Collab -- Rethel34 & Joshua Tamashii))

Brent, once outside the stadium, was debating whether to go after Amelia and continue their conversation. Now that he wasn't in front of people, he didn't feel quite as afraid of talking to her. Making up his mind, he decided on finding her and talking to her. He power-walked to see if he could catch up to her, but he hadn't gotten very far when he heard his sister's voice.

"Hey, Brent!"

Crap, he thought, but he didn't have to stop. He knew what would be coming: a big humiliation about his loss. Nothing he hadn't endured before, but he wasn't going to stop and listen to it this time if he could help it.

Brent didn't get a chance to get away as Joshua stepped out from the opposite direction of Gale

"In a rush to get somewhere?" he asked, a small smirk on his face.

"Josh, you too?" Brent asked. "Fine, I give up, you two. Go on ahead and tease away about how I'm a terrible Duelist, but please make it fast this time."

"Why? In a rush to see a certain pretty little lady?" Joshua asked teasingly. "Mind you, you stood no chance with the way things played out. Even if you had lasted another turn, you were screwed. No, I'm here for what happened after you lost."

Brent mentally hit himself in the face. They had noticed his . . . his . . . he couldin't think of the right word at the moment, but it had to do with his conversation with Amelia, and probably with the very comment she had made to him about his face turning red.

"Yeah, Brent, I haven't seen you turn that red since Mom caught you red-handed breaking her fine china," Gale chuckled.

"So tell us . . . love at first sight, what does it feel like? You going to ask her out or something?" Joshua asked, putting an arm around Brent's shoulders

Love at first sight? Was that how it seemed? Was that what it was? Brent couldn't tell right now. He hadn't talked to many girls in his life, save Gale, who was his sister, and his mom. "I . . . " Brent shut back up quickly. He didn't know what he would say even if he were to say something. Maybe if he could slip away. Except Joshua wasn't by any means slow to react. He'd have to get that arm off of him first, then he'd run like he had this morning. Run until they were out of sight and then find a small room to hide in. Sounded like a plan. Now to wait for the opportunity.

Gale just sat and laughed when Brent started turning red again. "There's the cherry-face!" she cackled, doubled over from laughing so hard.

"Wow there Gale, you gotta relax a bit girl," Joshua said walking over to her. "I need you to breathe to hear your breakdown for his duel and why you think he lost."

Brent bolted the second Josh let go, weaving a maze for his path so that Joshua and Gale should be unable to find him. After about the seventh turn he made, he spotted Amelia sitting on a bench sorting through her cards. Slowing to a stop in front of her, he took a moment to catch his breath after having sprinted with all his strength for the second time today. "H-hi," Brent managed to force out between breaths. Without asking permission, he took a seat at the other end of the bench so that he could breathe a little easier.

"Are you okay?" Amelia asked Brent after he stopped in front of her to catch his breath. She looked even more concerned when he virtually collapsed next to her. "Mr. Brent, are you okay?!"

"Y-yeah," Brent panted. "And puh-please . . . keep your voice down. I'm trying to hide . . . from my friend . . . and my sister. They're great and all . . . until I lose a Duel . . . or worse . . . think I have a crush."

Amelia looked confused again when Brent stopped speaking. "Uuummm . . . What's a friend? Or a sister?" she asked. "What does it mean to have a crush?"

"You aren't from around here, are you?" Brent couldn't help asking. His voice wasn't sarcastic or harsh, but simply curious. "But anyway, a friend is a person you enjoy spending time with. Or in some cases, someone you might enjoy Dueling. A sister is a . . . girl who has the same parents as you. Same mom and dad, if that makes sense. And . . ." He hesitated with the last one because of his potential infatuation with her. Aha! That was the word he was trying to find earlier. "Well, to have a crush is to fall in love with someone, but to not act on it. You know what love is, right?"

Amelia shook her head before thinking about it a bit. "Papa said something about love once. He said it's a pointless emotion that I should ignore because it amounts to nothing," she said. "Is that true?"

"Pointless?" Brent asked, shocked. "Most parents dream of their kids growing up and falling in love with the perfect person someday. And most parents at least try to show love to their children. Is that all he said about it?"

Amelia looked a bit sad now.
"I . . . I don't see Mama or Papa very often. They're always busy and away from home," She said, sounding a little let down.

Brent was stunned. What is wrong with her parents? he thought to himself. "I'm sorry to hear that," he said, genuine care in his voice. He couldn't imagine being without his parents all the time. Sure, he'd still have Gale around, but a sibling can't replace a parent. "But, so that you understand what love is . . ." Brent thought a moment. "Have you ever cared about something a lot?"

Amelia thought about Brent's question for several minutes before holding up her deck a smiling
"I like Duel Monsters alot." She said" But . . . I just got everything yesterday so I'm not sure that counts. It sounds like something you need time to feel."

Brent smiled when she said she enjoyed Dueling. That was something he could agree with. When she mentioned about needing time to feel love, Brent shrugged. "Really, it could take time to feel love, or you could feel it as soon as you get to know someone. This much I know, though: love can get really strong over time. Did your parents ever read you fairy tales when you were young? You know, stuff about knights in shining armor slaying dragons to rescue princesses?"

Amelia shook her head in response. By now she was starting to feel like a bit of an outsider since she knew nothing of what Brent was talking about

Well, there goes that explanation, Brent thought. He'd have to figure out some way to explain things to her through the eyes of a normal person. "Well, if I can't explain to you how this stuff works, maybe if you saw it with your own eyes, it'd make sense. How about you come out to my house after school and stay until dinner? We could walk, and that'd save us some of the teasing from my little sister. I think." Realizing he had probably just used a word Amelia probably wouldn't recognize, Brent corrected himself. "If you need to know what teasing is," he explained, "it's the process of attempting to raise a person's blood pressure by making them angry. Sisters can sometimes do that," he laughed.

"Why would your sister try to make you angry?" Amelia asked, completely confused by the notion. She figured brothers and sisters would get along all the time since they had the same parents. Then again, she didn't have a sibling. When she thought about his offer she nodded happily. "If it's not really a bother, then I'll come along."

Brent grinned when Amelia said she'd come over. It would be fun to have someone other than Joshua over all the time. Of course, he'd be tormented by Gale and Joshua for quite some time for it, but that suddenly didn't matter to him. "Great," Brent said. "I'll meet you after school lets out, then?" Thining he heard the voices of Joshua and Gale approaching, Brent got to his feet while he asked the question.

Amelia gave Brent a smile before looking confused. She looked towards the voices, which sounded like a boy trying to stop a girl from looking for something. "Are you leaving now?" she asked Brent.

"Yeah. Unfortunately those voices belong to the two people I'm currently trying to avoid," he explained. "I'll see you after school," Brent smiled.

Amelia nodded, looking a little upset now but she managed a smile at him. "Where am I going to find you after school?" she asked.

Brent thought for a moment and just figured to go simple. "The front stairs to the school?" he suggested.

Before Amelia could reply, Brent was caught "Oh my, you two going on a date?" Joshua asked.

"A what?" Amelia asked

". . . Is she serious?"

Brent sighed. "Well, this was sooner than expected," he said. "Amelia, this is Joshua, my friend, and the girl is Gale, my sister."

Meanwhile, in the background, Gale was chanting, "Amelia and Brent, sitting in a tree . . ."

Brent had to bite his tongue. Yelling at Gale would only result in her chanting louder.

Joshua sighed before going over to Gale and clamping her mouth shut.
"So, you two having a nice talk here alone?" He asked

"Joshua, I didn't ask her out, if that's what you're implying. At least not technically. She's coming over to my place after school today," Brent tried to explain as Gale tried to shout past Joshua's hand, but her voice was no more than a muffled noise.

"I think Gale has more to say on that then I do honestly." Joshua admited, letting Gale speak.

The second Gale's mouth was released, she started yelling at Joshua. "How could you do that to me?! Why would I want your disgusting hands on my mouth?! I thought we were supposed to pick on him, anyway!"

When the two again proved less than adequate at holding Brent captive, he glanced over at Amelia and gave her a quick jerk of his head; a signal for them to get out of there while they had the chance. "Follow me," he mouthed, hoping she'd understand. When he got a somewhat confused look in response, he gently reached down grabbed her hand in one of his own and her cards in the other and urged her to follow him.

This time it was Amelia's turn to turn red as Brent grabbed her hand. She obeyed pretty quickly and following Brent away from Joshua and Gale while Joshua took the verbal berating calmly and with a smile, something he knew would annoy Gale even more. She hated it when he did that.

Brent found a classroom to duck into, not realizing he was still holding Amelia's hand. The second he realized that he still was, he released her and handed her Deck back to her. Then, in a whisper, he tried to explain. "The two of them aren't always like that, really. They just think I'm in love with you, and they're making a big show out of it. Give it some time to pass over them, and they'll be done, I promise. And I'm sorry that you had to be introduced to them like that."

Amelia didn't reply as, despite the rather short run, she was already out of breath. Her face was still incredibly red as well, even after Brent let go of her hand. She only spoke after she caught her breathe again. "Its okay, Im sure they're nice people," she said. "But why is my face so hot?"

Brent hadn't noticed until she had said something, but even in the darker classroom, he could make out a bit of a red tint to her face, but he couldn't tell if she had somehow overheated, or if she was blushing. "It's also red," Brent replied. "I didn't embarrass you by grabbing your hand, did I?"

"I... I dont know." Amelia admited, her face getting a bit redder.

How would she not know, Brent wondered. "Are you feeling okay? Are you dizzy at all? Do I need to go get the school nurse?"

Amelia shook her head. Her heart was fine she knew that much. "I'll be fine," she said, giving Brent a small, embarrassed smile.

Brent wasn't altogether reassured by her answer, but he knew it'd be best to not pressure her. Though he decided it might be best if he stayed with her and made sure she wasn't ill for a while. "Would you be okay with me staying here with you for a while, just to make sure?" he asked quietly. If Joshua and Gale were searching again, he didn't want them to be tipped off by his voice.

Amelia nodded before sitting down at one of the desks in the room and began separating and sorting her deck. While she sorted, Brent came up behind and placed his left hand on her right shoulder, if only to let her know he was behind her, and watched.

"You know, the way you Dueled earlier was incredible. You said you only got your cards yesterday, but you used them with a level of skill that's beyond what I've seen," he told her, kneeling so he wouldn't have to stay on his feet. He had been up and moving around so much today that every inch from his knees to his toes was sore.

Amelia jumped a bit when she felt Brent place his hand on her shoulder.
"Th-thank you." She said, stuttering a bit. She felt a whirlwind of emotions she had never felt before and it was driving her a bit crazy. Was something wrong with her?

Suddenly, Brent realized that while he and Amelia had been talking without others around, he had actually been speaking clearly, which he hadn't expected to have happened. "So, this might be something that not too many people would ask of you, but would you maybe teach me how Synchro works sometime? Maybe not right now, if you'd rather not, but sometime in the near future?"

Amelia nodded
"It's . . . it's not that hard really. You just have to be good at math is all . I bet I could even do Fusion Summons if i wanted."

Brent chuckled. "Just about anyone should be able to Fusion Summon. All it takes is having the right Fusion Materials for a Fusion Monster in your Extra Deck, and a 'Polymerization'. That's it." He ejected his Extra Deck from his Duel Disk so Amelia could see. "There's really nothing to it."

"You just have to worry about having the right ingredients." Amelia said.

The text on two of Amelia's cards caught Brent's attention. The first was on what looked like an Effect Monster, but in the place of the word "Effect" was the word "Tuner". The second was on one of her Synchro Monsters, which had requirements that were much different from those of any Fusion Monster Brent had ever seen. "So what do Tuner Monsters do?" Brent asked.

Amelia thought about it for several seconds before responding.
"Tuner monster are what you need to Synchro Summon." She said" Imagine that each monster produces a noise but each noise was different and created a different wavelength. A Tuner monster would adjust those wavelengths until they matched, allowing the monsters to Synch together and become more powerful. Hence a Synchro monster."

"So a Tuner works for Synchro Summons the way 'Polymerization' works for Fusions?" Brent asked. Amelia simply nodded in reply before letting Brent continue. "I know all the monsters you always used were on the field, but would a Synchro Summon also work with monsters from the hand, like with Fusion?" This time Amelia shook her head.

Brent thought about it for a little while before speaking again. "I'm not sure I'd be ready to try it right now, but I think I'll have to get some Synchro Monsters sometime."

Amelia smiled before tilting her head, thinking a bit.
"Brent... are we friends now?" She asked

Brent felt his heart jump inside his chest a little bit. Maybe he did have a crush on Amelia, but he wasn't going to say or do anything right now that might scare her away. "I think so," he replied, returning her smile.

"I've... never had a friend before." Amelia admitted" I've always been alone."

"Well," Brent said, returning to his feet and giving a bow, all while speaking in a different accent to try to get Amelia to laugh, "I would be honored to be your first friend." He almost laughed at his own poorly-done fake accent.

"Br-Brent you don't need to..." Amelia startled at Brent bowing to her. Then he began speaking in a very bad accent that reminded her of the servants at her place and she couldn't help but giggle. Before she knew it she was laughing and laughing so hard that she began crying. It had been ages since she had laughed, she couldn't even remember the last time she had.

Seeing Amelia laugh like that brought a smile to Brent's face. He had at least done what he was attempting to do. As he took a seat in the Desk next to hers, Brent couldn't help a bit of laughter of his own escaping.

Amaya sighed arriving late to school, purely nother doing it was the old llecture of how she must act around the other children and blah blah blah, how she has expectations to live up to blah blah blah and such. Huge waste of tine . However, amaya would never tell her father who stupid he sounded or anything that would end with a bad result talking out of place.

Amaya stepped out of the limo , rubbing down her skirt before grabbing her bag along with her violin case and small blue book. She shut the door waving the driver on before turning around to the school "here you go amaya deep breath"she whispered taking her advice before she headed inside to the crowded, noisy halls of the school

Korbin looked up at the sound of a camera being used. He looked up briefly from his textbook, noticing the kid he had given the piece of paper to holding his Duel Disk over the page. Well that's certainly strange... Korbin thought. After a second, he finally spotted the lens of the camera function of the student's duel disk. "That's odd," Korbin commented. "I've never seen a model with a camera before." Korbin's disk, which was tucked away in his backpack, was a small, sleek model, with minimal features. It was small and hardy enough to fit and stay functional inside his cluttered bag. As the page was given back to him, Korbin took it promptly and folded it to be tucked away in his pocket. "I"ve never seen a Duel Disk like that. How'd you get one of those?" Korbin asked the boy.

Michelle watched the Duel with interest and curiosity. She was more used to traditional Duels, so the thought of Action Cards was new to her. She also wondered about the Action Field, and she wondered if that would interfere with her trying to play any Field Spells. Chances were it would, which was disappointing. She walked away from the stage now that the Duel was over, and started heading over to her class. She wondered if she should have gone over to the Duelists who had been in the exhibition match to say hi, but decided it was probably best that she didn't. Not yet, at least.

As she walked, she closed her eyes, thinking about what she would have done against either Duelist if she were in the match. Unsurprisingly, she bumped into someone (Ayama) as she walked, knocking either other to the ground. "Ow, sorry," Michelle apologized as she sat up, then realized that her glasses had fallen off. Michelle started patting around for it, unsure where it had landed. "I should've paid more attention to where I was going." Freya pointed out where Michelle's glasses were, and Michelle silently thanked her Spirit Partner as she retrieved her glasses and placed them back onto her face where it belonged.

"It's a standard Duel Disk model for Action Duels. You can get one of those in almost every Card Shop. Also you can try to get one from school. But if you don't like to study, it's a bad idea. But it's possible that you already have one of those and just never discovered this function. It may took a while to discover all of it's functionalities." Vern answered question, explaining everything he knew on this topic. "Well to be honest I modified my model a little, but none of the original features were removed from it. It's just a blade modification and nobody will care about it. I'm not even sure if it's counted as a proper modification. And that's all on this topic." He finalized his monologue. There wasn't a single reason to not talk about blade modification. That wasn't so common thing, because it requires a lot of work on blade program, which requires you to know more than basic knowledge on how solid vision works, but it's a thing that some people do. Vern probably would never manage to do it on his own for the first time, but thanks to his father, he learned how to change it properly by himself.

Interesting, but unimpressive, Kaeru thought to himself after the Duel. He had seen all manner of Fusion and Synchro Duelists before, many of whom were far more skilled than the two who had just given the Exhibition Duel. But they are, after all, only students. Of course, he himself was a student, but he liked to think he was more talented than those around him. And until he was proven wrong. Discreetly, he changed masks. The new one was perhaps the most plain one he owned. It was a simple orange face with a rather bored look to it. Then he stood and made his way out of the stadium.

He walked for a while, exploring the insides of the school, looking at this and that, and trying to familiarize himself with the place so he wouldn't get lost. He hadn't even finished his exploration of the first floor when someone mockingly shouted, "Hey, Mask-Face! Got somethin' you're trying to hide? Why don't you take off the mask and be normal?"

If the idiot who had just said that had known who Kaeru was, he would have realized that the boy behind the mask could fight back. Shaking his head, Kaeru turned toward the voice. "How about this," he spat, "we Duel, and based on the outcome, I may remove my mask. But of course, I wouldn't blame you if you were afraid to Duel me."

"Me? Afraid? Of someone like you? You're a runt. You couldn't beat me," the other boy taunted.

"Then Duel, unless you're all talk," Kaeru said, activating his Duel Disk.

The other boy mirrored Kaeru before saying, "You know what? I'll even take the first move, that way short stuff can get in his little draw before he gets knocked down and out."

Kaeru stood silent and somewhat inattentive as his opponent pulled a rather long combo that somewhere along the lines used "Mount Sylvania", then a copy of "Soul Charge" and drained his opponent of 3000 Life Points. The end result was all Kaeru really paid attention to, which was two copies of "Orea, the Sylvan High Arbiter", but the guy had no cards remaining in his hand, and surprisingly no face-down cards. Nothing other than the two monsters, the Field Spell, and a measlyIf you're going to play Sylvans, at least learn to do it right, Kaeru thought. He had seen that the Deck was popular among Xyz users, and even some Synchro users, but typically the player would Summon one big, formidable monster that would lock down the opponent's field with some amount leftover for the next turn, not spend everything to get out two monsters like that.

Kaeru shrugged when he was given the cue to make his move. Defeating this guy would be all too easy. Silently, he drew his card and sighed. It wasn't an entertaining Duel when your opponent set up their own defeat. "I Tribute both your monsters--" Kaeru began, a sense of boredom now in his voice, but he was cut off by his opponent.

"You can't Tribute my monsters for your Summon! Don't you know how to play?"

"I can Tribute them if I'm Summoning a monster to your field," Kaeru explained, getting annoyed. "Have some fun with my 'Lava Golem'. Your move." The giant monster formed around the Duelist, trapping him within a cage. Sure it was underhanded to defeat an opponent like this in most people's eyes, but the guy deserved it, the way Kaeru saw it. "By the way, you'll take 1000 damage during your Standby Phase."

"Wait, what?!" Kaeru's opponent shouted. "You can't do this. It's not fair!"

"I'm waiting for you to start your turn," Kaeru said. "And you're not getting out of that cage until you do."

Eventually, the person began his turn, which quickly ended the Duel, which went in Kaeru's favor. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Kaeru asked, not awaiting an answer, but simply turning off his Duel Disk and walking away.

Korbin listened intently to the lecture he was receiving about the modded Duel Disk, during which he packed up the Synchro Summoning text book to be returned later. He waited until the boy was finished with his explaining to speak. "That's nice," Korbin said, sounding very unimpressed. "But you know..." Korbin then took out a smartphone from his pocket and displayed it for the boy to examine. "You could have just used one of these." He slipped his smartphone back in to his pocket and stood up, slinging his backpack around his shoulder. "I won't ever understand why they would add functions to a Duel Disk, like it should be worn around as some sort of practical device. Anyways, my name is Korbin. It's nice to meet you mister." He turned to walk, waiting for the boy to introduce himself in return and leave, or perhaps walk with him to talk.

Vern looked at Smartphone. "Maybe I could. If I had one with me." He answered. "My name is Vern. But you know, following your logic, why would your phone has camera option. It should be just plain 'make and receive calls' thing. And yet, it have other options like sending and receiving text messages, taking photos or playing music." Vern continued, while going in the same direction as Korbin. "Plus right now Duel Disk can be considered as one of practical devices. If we already joined some of them before, why we wouldn't continue to combine them even more? I guess you have a deck. Does it have only monsters in it? Probably not. You most likely combine Monsters, Spells and Traps. But why? You can win by using only monsters. But it's more practical to use them in combination." Vern continued his lecture without enjoyment in his voice. It almost seemed like it's not the first time he tried to explain it to someone.

Korbin nodded at Vern's lecture every now and then to show he was listening. Vern, however, seemed bored with what he was saying. He had obviously had this talk with people more than one time. "Well, you make your point," Korbin commented after Vern was finished. "We have our opinions, I guess. I do have a deck, and of course I use all three main deck card types, it would be stupid not to. However, my methods of summoning are a bit..." He paused to think of the word, "... Unorthodox. Or at the very least uncommon."

"Unless you try to imply that you are summoning from your side deck, I don't think that your summoning methods are that uncommon. It always turns out to be Normal or Special Summon." Vern replied with a little more interest that he had while giving lecture. They went a little off his track, but Vern wouldn't mind making a long walk to his classroom. "But when I think of uncommon form of Summon I can't help but think of Tribute Course." Vern said to Korbin after a little pause. What deck are you using? Maybe it could be a good way to test my new deck?

Amaya was still standing outside the school not paying mind to the other students wondering what she was looking at or why she just stood there like an idiot. It didn't take long for her to lose her train of thought when some girl , who also wasn't paying attention rammed into amaya causing them Botg to fall to the floor , amaya laided there blinking trying to think of what just happened as it took a minute or two before she sat up "its..fine?" sh3 replied in a question as she never been good in awkward situations like this one . She noticed her deck fell out of her bag with some of her things as she scrambled to pick up her things and her deck....really embrassed f how this had to happen to her of all people on this day of all days.