Nathaniel walked to class with a book tucked under his arm, which he had checked out from the library. He had worked up quite a reputation in the library after his little spectacle with Brad. The students who were watching certainly had quite a bit of fun, although the same couldn't be said for the disapproving librarians. Now they had their eyes on him every time he so much as passed by the library, and not in the good way.

Regardless, Nathaniel found himself heading down there more and more, researching supplementary materials on both Fusion and Synchro. Nathaniel had never really bothered with Extra Decks, but a certain card had intrigued him. It was a Fusion Monster that he acquired recently, requiring Synchro Monsters as Fusion Material. Nathaniel had always thought that Extra Deck monsters existed independently of each other. Yes, the CEO of Leo Corporation could supposedly wield all three Summoning methods in perfect harmony, but Nathaniel would never have thought they could become a part of each other like that, and he felt himself compelled to learn more. Plus, rumors had it that the invaders had shown up out of nowhere and effortless beat down students and staff alike. They had retreated for whatever reason, but there was no telling if they will return or not. But if they do, then Nathaniel would definitely need to improve his game to stand a chance. And a few Extra Deck monsters can go a long way, since he was definitely not touching Pendulums again.

As Nathaniel walked into class, the first thing he noticed was that the professor was gigantic. He had thought Brad was big, but this guy was a monster. The second thing he noticed was that there was someone there in a dark cloak. Nathaniel's hand instinctively moved to his Duel Disk, thinking that the school had suffered another invasion, but seeing as nobody else had made a move, not even the hulk of a teacher, Nathaniel decided to leave it alone.

He took an empty seat and set down his notebook and pencils. Then, seeing as they still had some time before class started, decided to take the chance to keep cycling through the text in front of him before the others arrived.

Brad heard that people liked to talk about 'good weeks' and 'bad weeks'. The most recent one for him was neither. More accurately, it was both.

After the duel in the library, Brad had spent more time with Nathaniel. The two had hit the disks and the gym, although not quite in equal measure. To Brad's joyful surprise, Nathaniel was no slouch in physical fitness, although there was a small gap between the two. Whereas on the dueling side, the difference in skill could not be more apparent. The count was 6 wins for Nathaniel and 0 for Brad. It was more than a little discouraging but Nathaniel's upbeat attitude and insistence on showmanship over victory really spoke to Brad.

He had another friend in Angelo but, for whatever reason, Brad had not seen hide nor tail of the self-styled (if unsuccessful) lady's man. He wasn't sure if the guy was actively avoiding him or if he just had awful luck. Considering his standing duel record against Nathaniel, he was alright in assuming the latter.

The one other thing that had been of dubious good was his relationship with his family. After retelling the event with the invaders, Angela had almost strangled him through the phone. He assured her that he had done everything to stay out of trouble, which only slightly calmed her down. Two days later, the cards he had sent home had arrived and his little siblings couldn't have been more excited. Cathy loved Dark Magician and Doug was a fan of all things Dragons. He couldn't use the cards himself so he figured that the least he could do is help the two youngsters out with making their own dreams come true. As if rewarded by some divine being, the rest of his goods came through so he could return to his high-protein diet.

But all of that was the week that had passed. Today was a new day for Brad to enjoy a new experience. As he entered the classroom, he made up his mind. He needed more friends and to spread the joy of dueling. That was Nathaniel's creed and now, it was Brad's as well. Eyes scanning the classroom, he couldn't help but notice someone sitting alone. They were not wearing the uniform of any particular dorm and seemed to be exuding this intense negative energy. This was someone who needed a helping hand.

"Howdy!" smiled Brad, approaching Tsukiko. "Is this seat taken?"

Leander Xenovia

With the excitement of the event finally dissipating, Leander spent the rest of that day sleeping. A day like that called for some good ol' sleep, especially after what he'd been through. His sleep was blissfully peaceful as he dreamed about Duel Monsters. Sleep, of course, always had to come to an end though, but that was fine. After all, the days were only going to get better from there. Leander spent most of the week sleeping off some classes and looking over his collection of cards. There was also a time when he went into the card shop to expand his collection, and was pretty satisfied with what he got.

Leander was currently spending time in class paying attention to math and chemistry. Yes, that's right: paying attention to math and chemistry. Normally, such topics would have already bored him to death, but not this time. After all, Ryder and Melchior were making it so much more interesting by having Duel Monster images being used to show how those complicated processes and equations worked. For the first time, Leander could actually understand what teachers were talking about, and wondered why he couldn't get such simple things before. Those complicated math formulas that normally passed through one ear and out the other for Leander were easy to explain, and thermolypoly or whatever made sense too.

Unfortunately, those classes ended before Leander realized it, but at least there was the Standard Dueling class to look forward to. With a cheerful hum, Leander made his way over to the designated arena. At least there, he could actually Duel. Maybe Shinrei would be there too, Leander thought. With that happy thought in mind, Leander's pace quickened. Perhaps the day would get even better than it already was.

Entering the arena, Leander saw that it was the legendary Transformer guy. Leander thought that he was really cool, and couldn't wait to get the class started.

---

Michelle Kine

After the event of the intruders, Michelle went through her deck, thinking about her Duels with Joshua. Neither of them had been satisfied with those Duels, and she still wasn't satisfied even now. The Duels had been boring and lackluster. She may have won both of them, but she had not gained any enjoyment out of them. Michelle couldn't accept that. Duels were meant to be fun for everyone.

And so Michelle looked back at the Duels, trying to figure out what went wrong. Remembering the events, it seemed like the most logical answer was that neither of their decks were at the most optimal state. They were still beginner structure decks with little consistency within it, and it would take time and effort to improve them. However, Michelle remembered how much time and effort it took to get her original Lightsworn deck working. It would almost certainly be no different now. Logically, the best course of action would be to get a new deck and start over.

Even so, Michelle couldn't just abandon Lightsworns. She had been through so much with them. She started Duel Monsters with them, and grew into the Duelist she was with them. To her, they were more than just cards. They were friends. Michelle debated the choice of moving on or staying for a while.

As she did so, Michelle and Leander ran into each other again. Leander was quick to see the turmoil in Michelle's eyes and ask what was wrong. Michelle talked to Leander about everything, her time as a Duelist and with the Lightsworns, how she felt about them and her indecision about them.

To Leander, the choice was simple. "Just switch," he said. "The Lightsworns will be sad to see you go, but they know that it's not good to think about the past all the time. You need to look forward and try something new."

Just like that, Michelle's worry disappeared. The answer was rather simple; it just took a while for Michelle to come to terms with it. Time passed, and Michelle said her farewells to her favorite archetype. She had purchased a new deck using the points from Joshua's Duels, and took the time to get used to them.

Classes came and went, and Michelle was soon on her way to the arena for Standard Dueling class. After she entered the arena, Michelle found that Transformer would be the one to teach the class. That alone made Michelle rather nervous. Just the sight of the intimidating muscle man was enough to make Michelle stay at the sides, moving away so that she was next to Ethel. Michelle gave her a glance, but didn't pay too much attention to Ethel. Class was going to start soon, after all.

Tsukiko was trying to mind her own business when someone approached her. She didn't expect anyone to ever come talk to her and this person wanting to sit by her caught her by absolute surprise. It was that blonde haired kid she saw with Haas who had another friend named Nathan who had black hair. "Huh?" Was her first reaction toward his question when she realized he was standing over her asking if he could sit by her. It didn't really bother her that he wanted to sit by her though she didn't entirely understand why he would want to sit by her. Didn't he have friends he wanted to sit by? She was just a distraction, but she let off a light sigh. "No, it's not taken. You can sit there if you want. I don't mind at all." The silver hair girl said toward him with a hint of frustration and tension in her voice making it sound like she was a bit troubled. Her voice certainly had that vibration that she was down about something though her face was mostly hidden as you could only see her empty red eyes that looked like they stopped caring about anything though there was a slight aroma of sadness around where the pupils were.

"I'm just surprised you wanted to sit by me. I mean, don't you have friends you can sit by? Don't allow me to be a hindrance or distraction if I'm being one." She said toward Brad with sincerity in her eyes, but still sounded like something was bothering her and was hiding it underneath that veil she covered her face with. She did lighten up a little bit as the tenseness of her voice finally settled a bit. She took out her pencil and started writing some notes about adjustments she could make in her former duels while also focusing her attention on Brad to see if he had anything to say to her. Her eyes tend to wander from the teacher to Brad, but if you could get a really good glimpse at them there was a very silent anger raging inside of them. She looked very sad like she had lost something very precious to her and very angry like the volcano inside her mind was about to erupt spreading its ashes everywhere. Those eyes told a story that the girl had been put through an enormous amount of stress toward the point of strong animosity and resentment. I never asked for attention and yet I'm getting it. The idea of wearing this outfit from the past certainly backfired on me. Oh well... couldn't hurt to see what they want, I digress.

After her game with Leander, Amelia spent a bit more time in the infirmary before leaving and returning to her room. Once there, she remained for the rest of the day, relaxing and looking over her deck. The days that followed, she spent dedicated to her studies and what free time she did, she researched the cards in her deck, leading to her discovery of the Gusto archetype. Further research and visits to the card shop allowed her to think up of her deck and she began compiling a list of cards she would need for her deck. She found most of the cards she would need were relatively cheap and would be easy to get after a few duels, especially if she won them all.

Sighing as her class ended, she packed her bag before pulling out her d-ceiver to check which class was next. It was Standard Dueling, something she was dreading. She hadn't bought anything to improve her deck yet, as she hadn't decided which to buy first. So she was worried if it would hold up. Knowing she would find out one way or another, she headed for the classroom, quickly losing herself in her thoughts. As such, she didn't pay attention to her surroundings and eventually ran into someone, causing her to fall over.
"Ow... s-sorry." She said, looking up at the person she ran into and recognizing them. "Mr. Leander?"



Joshua had been disappointed in his pulls, to say the least. While he had gotten three cards he could use in his deck, only two were truly useful. Thinking it over, it would've made more sense to buy the cards he needed individually. The only plus side was that he now had cards to trade away, if he found someone who actually wanted them. Fat chance though.

Leaving his class as it ended, he headed for the Standard Dueling class that was next. Frankly speaking, he hated standard duels. Too little movement too little chances to turn a bad situation around or make it worse on yourself. Turbo Duels were fun and all, but he preferred Action Duels since he was able to rely on more then just his dueling skills to get out of a situation. After all, a little luck never hurt anyone and sometimes the cards your deck gave you aren't enough to handle the current situation. Looking up as he neared the classroom, he walked around some of his fellow students. Glancing over at the teacher, he had to admit the guy looked impressive. Joshua thought the guy would make a better Action Duel instructor but he guess he would have to see what he was in for first, so he took an empty seat and waited for the class to begin.

"Thanks," said Brad, taking his seat and finally getting a good look at the teacher. Even Brad was impressed by this gargantuan figure. I nevah thought I'd see someone tallah than Coach...

As he got out his own notebook, he heard Tsukiko's next question. "It's no problem. It's just... ya can't make a team with only three people, y'know?" He paused, scratching the side of his head. "Well, I mean, ya can but not for football. Point is, a school should be a place ta learn an' meet new people, y'know? No point holin' up with only a couple friends when ya can meet plenty of interestin' folk."

Just as he realized he was rambling, he noticed Tsukiko's rather intense look. "Y'okay there?"

The bell rang to announce class starting, but Transformer hadn't budged yet. Not everyone was here. He didn't budge for another two minutes, before finally opening his mouth. "WHERE ARE THE STUDENTS: MEGAN, VINCENT, HAYATO, SHINREI, SHIYU, HAYATE, CAMRYN, MAISY, CASSIE AND IGNIA?!" they roared, with obvious displeasure at not seeing all his students in line yet. Though as soon as those words had left his mouth, someone ran through the door entrance. "Ah, sorry, Coming through!" a white haired boy shouted as they ran through the door, with a bandage covering one of his eyes. The one that wasn't covered was a deep blue, and the boy seemed to be wearing the Earth uniform. They huffed and held their knees, obviously having been sprinting. Shiyu, a new transfer student from across the desert and overseas. They'd been here for only two days now. "I'm really sorry for being late! I forgot my Duel Disk back in my room..." they admitted, a little embarrassed.

They turned around, as they'd ran straight into the middle of the room. "Uhm... Sorry for holding everyone up!" they apologized, clapping their hands in front of their head and bowing. "AH, GOOD. SOME HONESTY FROM THE STUDENTS!" Transformer bellowed from behind Shiyu. It seems the guy was a little on the louder side. Surprisingly enough, they weren't even shouting yet. This was their normal tone. "I EXPECT THIS AMOUNT OF INTEGRITY FROM ALL OF YOU! BOTH INSIDE OF DUELS AND OUT! I WILL GIVE THE OTHERS TEN MORE MINUTES TO ARRIVE." Transformer announced, giving the students a bit more free time.

---

Ethel returned Michelle's glance at just about the same time she received it, although with an added smirk. Ethel had picked up from the chatter around the academy she was skilled, and had no reason not to believe that without seeing them duel. Of course, if those rumors proved to be false, she wouldn't be very pleased. "No need to be shy." she commented, before returning her attention back to Transformer. That guy really was a mountain, and the way he stood their would give just about anybody the impression that they were a gatekeeper of some sort. She'd seen him chase a certain ninja boy around a few times, though for unclear reason. That boy was surprisingly nimble, too...

And then came the shouting. Ethel had to wince when it started, but got used to it soon enough. A boy entered as if on call, but they were an earth. The most boring of dorms. At least the girl that decided to place herself next to Ethel belonged to Wind, which is somewhat indicative of your skill. Earth meant you were talentless, at least in Ethel's eyes. Transformer finished his lecturing just as the girl seemed to realize Ignia was nowhere to be seen... Shame. Maybe they were skipping class. That'd disappoint the girl. But they weren't like that, right? Anyway, since Ignia wasn't here Ethel decided to do at least something to alleviate the boredom. "Those cards look unused." Ethel commented, addressing Michelle. "Decided to change style?" she added, now shifting her eyes to meet Michelle's.

---

Haas was bored out of his skull, and the most interesting people of the bunch isolated themselves or sat with someone else. At least, that's what he noticed as they came in. Even Nathan, the funny guy, kinda just sat alone. Haas thought about approaching him, but the guy was so into his studying that it was better to just not do that. But then, in came Joshua. The asshat that had decided to ignore Haas earlier. He didn't know the guy's name, so it'd have been hard to predict that they'd be here... But still! That was such an embarrassing event, Haas still remembered it a week later!

Haas started to walk up to Joshua, but then Tranformer let his voice be known from the middle of the room. Haas got startled, tripped, and landed right on his face. "OW!" they yelped, falling just short of landing on his nose. Haas got up and rubbed his face, as well as brushing off the sand that got onto it. Sheesh that hurt! Anyway, Joshua took a seat somewhere alone. And Haas made his way over to said seat. Once arrived, he sat down next to Joshua. "Hey." Haas started off, and then he realized he had nothing to follow that up with. Shoot! He kind of just sat there awkwardly for a few second, before adding "I heard the teacher's a pro. Pretty rad, huh?" ...Oh great, look at Haas, making friends with someone whilst they were supposed to NOT do that.

---

Shinrei sure liked taking his time to get there. Which honestly was understandable, with how Leander would probably stick to him like instant glue the moment Shinrei walked through that door. Why was he going again? Oh, right, his sister. Letting out an exasperated sigh to himself, as well as cursing under their breath for putting himself in this mess in the first place, he picked up the pace a little. Shinrei figured he was already late, might as well not slow it down too much. It didn't take the guy too long after to arrive, though everyone else already seemed to have done so themselves. Or at least most, the peanut gallery was a little small. The guy found himself just out of Leander's eyeshot, and would prefer to keep it that way. Like a snake, not unlike the one encountered earlier, they slithered into the shadows hoping to be undisturbed. At least, until classes started. He was leaning against the audience stands, just out of sight from most. Transformer seems to have noticed him, though.

Leander Xenovia

Leander felt a push from behind that made him move a step forward, so he turned around to see what had caused it. There was an "Ow... s-sorry." from the person who had bumped into him, and Leander managed to recognize her. Leander's face broke out into a wide grin and reached out a hand to Amelia. "Hey, Amelia! Good to see ya," Leander greeted her. Once Amelia got back onto her feet, Transformer began to yell out names. Leander didn't care much for most of them, though he did catch a 'Shinrei' out of all of them. Leander was a little disappointed that Shinrei didn't seem to be around, but that was alright. There were plenty of chances to catch up later.

Leander was a bit curious about the new Earth guy, but his interest quickly died down as he turned his attention back to Amelia. "So, how've you been?" Leander asked Amelia. Leander hadn't seen Amelia since the day at the infirmary, and it was going ot be great to catch up.

Michelle Kine

Michelle gave Ethel an additional look when Ethel spoke to her, though Ethel now appeared to be paying attention to other things. Following her gaze to Transformer, Michelle did have to wonder why he was here. She could have sworn that he was the teacher of Action Dueling, not Standard. Still, there wasn't much she knew about the muscle man, and perhaps it was that he taught both. It wouldn't be the most unusual thing to learn about in this academy. Transformer then began to yell out names of absent people, and a student Michelle hadn't seen before came rushing through the door, introducing himself as Shiyu. Michelle wondered if he was actually a student, not recognizing him in the slightest, though she supposed he had to be if Transformer called out his name before he even arrived.

With the announcement of 10 more minutes and Ethel speaking to her once more, Michelle realized that she didn't exactly have much else to do, so it wouldn't hurt to socialize. Giving off a slight smile, Michelle raised the Duel Disk on her arm, which held her deck in the deck slot, and placed her right hand on it fondly. "Good eye," Michelle responded to Ethel. "My old deck wasn't bad, but it wasn't very fun for anyone I Dueled with, so I changed it. Hopefully my next Duels get better from now on." Now that they were talking, Michelle figured that it was probably best to introduce themselves right about now. "My name's Michelle Kine. What's yours?" Michelle asked.

Megan shuffled through her cards one last time, making sure everything was the way she wanted and looked up. She'd taken the stairs because she'd wanted to have time to look through some stuff before class started again. However she had a bad feeling as she faintly heard some really loud yelling from what must've been at least a few floors up. Deciding that she should pick up the pace Megan started jogging up the stairs instead and arrived at the classroom in a few minutes. To her surprise she found the class was pretty much all ready to go and seemingly waiting on her. She rubbed her head sheepishly, "Uh, sorry for being late." Hoping the attention would soon go away Megan went for the nearest seat. After getting her stuff out she looked around and noticed she was next to Nathaniel. Megan had spent most of the week that had gone by studying up on cards, Performapals in particular she'd spent a good deal of time on so that next time she dueled him she wouldn't be tricked by all his effects. "Hey Nate, got any cool packs yet?" It wasn't like she expected him to have any cards to trade, it was just a conversation maker. Plus she wanted to take her mind off the fact that she'd just showed up to class late, normally she was early to class so she could be prepared.

Tsukiko noticed Transformer started to talk then something caught her attention. When she saw a certain individual she thought they looked vaguely familiar though she wasn't sure how. Her curiosity overwhelmed her when she tried to think of where she had seen a person with white hair before and also that name Shiyu. She could have sworn she heard that name before. Before she got back to answer Brad her attention was pulled away form him for a moment when that white haired student with the eyepatch entered the room. "I swear..." She paused for a moment as she tried to focus on him so she could get a better glimpse of his face. When she saw his face she felt a rather nerve racking feeling inside of her. She wasn't sure why she felt that feeling since it was slight urge then it went away. But if it did transpire inside her it was obviously trying to tell her something, but what exactly was it trying to tell her? "Something about that boy seems familiar." She said to herself as she place her index finger on the tip of her lip trying to ponder the thought of why that boy looked so familiar. It was like she had met him somewhere before, but she couldn't remember where.

"Huh?" Tsukiko said as she noticed a glow from one of her cards. She grabbed it to see that Void Dragon was actually responding, but it hadn't done this before. It was slowly pulsing with a dim light. She kept the card down low so no one could notice the shine from the card. Why is Void Dragon pulsing like this right now? It started doing it when that boy entered the room. Something doesn't seem right. Tsukiko could feel the dark aura around her slowly beginning to resonate which was not something that had happened before. Or rather in a very long time anyway. She remembered her brother had entered the room and wondered if he was the cause of the card glowing lightly in her hand pulsating like if it was in synchronization with something.

She used to think it was her imagination, even when it did it in the Card Shop she thought it was all in her head. But when it stopped pulsing she had a nasty vision about her mother's death, her brother sitting in a chair like he didn't give a damn and a very provoking version of herself wearing something skimpy she wouldn't be caught dead wearing. What does this all mean? Tsukiko thought to herself as she tried to contemplate the connection between the events that had happened. It had only been more than a week and a lot had unfolded during her stay at the academy. Her brother still did not reveal where he went and when she parted ways with him he only gave her a few tips on how to defeat Vincent at his own game. But it was a strategy that wasn't what her deck was based on so she didn't really want to rely on it. If she was going to defeat him, it would be by her own two hands.

That reminded her about her loss to Haas which made her a bit angry. If it wasn't for that loss, things wouldn't be like they are right now. She wished she could go back in time and stop herself from dueling Haas just so that she could fix the current situation she was in. No one probably knew about the duel other than the authority in Duel Tower, but still that duel affected her in a way she that she cannot explain. Ever since that duel, she has had a hard time sleeping at night. She has lost a lot of sleep ever since that duel and now she has to conceal her face just so people will not see that she is having problems right now. Of course, she knows it isn't Haas' fault but thinking about him does not help her condition since it just makes it worse. That energy she felt surge through her right after the loss with Haas has just gotten even more intense. She tries hard to quell it, but nothing works where it just begins to rapidly intensify.

Trying to steer her mind away from thinking about all that she once again focuses on Brad. She noticed he asked her if she was all right and to be honest she wasn't. Unfortunately, she didn't want to drag people into her own problems like her icy side so she would have to lie to him outright in front of his face. "I'm fine. Just had a lot on my mind and lost a lot of sleep over it. Don't worry about it. It's nothing you need to concern yourself with."

"Unfortunately I don't know what you mean when you talk about friends. I've never had any friends nor do I know what that even means. I lived most of my life isolated from society. Our family thought it was the best for both me and my brother." She paused for a moment as she stopped herself from continuing on. Her past wasn't not something she really wanted to talk about since there was a lot of heartbreak and the painful memories of her father which made her burn with hatred. "I've tried to communicate with other people so I can understand them better. But as far as friends are concerned. I've never had any or had any reason to feel the urge to make any." She said as she tilted her head away from him slightly with a look of uncertainty in her eyes and a somewhat troubling look on her face. There were dark rings around her eyes indicating she hadn't slept well lately and her eyes were also a bit red and bloodshot.

Amelia took Leander's hand, accepting his help back onto her feet, her face going a bit red as she did so. Dusting herself off, she jumped when their teacher began shouting and instinctively cringed a bit. She wasn't used to loud people and found them to be rather frightening. When their teacher was done, she turned towards Leander again as he asked how she had been.
"U-um... I haven't been... bad. But maybe we should, um... grab some seats first?" She said, her nervousness as apparent as a lit neon sign in the middle of a dark room. She glanced around the room before finding two seats next to each other that weren't occupied before quickly moving over to them and sitting down, setting her stuff aside. She then cast about for something to talk about for a few seconds before speaking again. "So... are you all better now?"



Joshua had to raise an eyebrow and chuckle at in an amused manner at their teacher's... overly enthusiastic manner of speaking. Seriously, Joshua would probably find this class very amusing if he had to listen to this racket all day long. He didn't have much longer to himself before someone sat next to and began conversing with him. Turning to the male student next to him, he tried to put a name with the face from the opening duels.
"Haas right?" He said before turning back to their teacher, his amused smile vanishing a bit. "If he's a pro, I suspect I will have to take him a bit more seriously. I find loud people to be... rather amusing. As for it being, in your own words, 'rad' I don't really think so. I would expect at least some of the teachers to be either pros or former pros. Maybe they all are. Who knows. But either way, it would not surprise me. I just hope I can keep a straight face now, cause he will make it hard as hell to keep one."

As the bell rang, Nathaniel closed his book. He was preparing for class to start, but for a moment, nobody seemed to be doing anything, not even the professor. Just as he was considering opening up his book again, the professor suddenly began to yell at the top of lungs, and Nathaniel couldn't help but wonder if the school specifically tested vocal chords when they hired teachers.

No sooner than he finished had a boy run into the room, seemingly exhausted. The boy seemed to have been really banged up, with bandages covering one side of his face. Nathaniel wondered if he had been one of the victims of the recent attack. He seemed to be in Earth Dorm too, although Nathaniel couldn't really say he saw him before.

The next to arrive was Megan, who proceeded to take a seat next to him. Nathaniel, happy to see a friend, greeted her with a smile.

"Hi Megan. Yeah, I think I got some pretty interesting stuff. How about you?"

After everyone had their chat and nothing else was left to say, Vincent left the group. He didn't have much planned after that mini gauntlet of duels yet he did have points, so the only logical option was to buy some cards. Getting up to the card shop before it closed Vincent sent forth his wish for certain cards. "May I please have Dark Armed Dragon, Foolish burial and another Chaos Sorceror please." Vincent asked. Receving the cards he asked for in about half a minute.

Making his way back to the dorm. Vincent felt a shiver down his spine like someone or something was watching him, he was most definitly just being paranoid however so Vincent shrugged it off. If it was someone with a hostile intent. If they were to fight him, maybe they might actually offer a challenge worth fighting. Either way Vincent went to bed. He slept like a log with little care for what happened the next day.


One week later

Have you ever been in a Xyz class and literally hanging on every word? That was Vincent or was he just scared of the Colonel getting annoyed at him. Either way he was making more notes in this lesson then the Synchro lesson. As if he had some sort of vigour for the subject. The colonel soon dismissed them and yet the brown haired boy was the last to leave. Why? well he was consolidating his notes. Perhaps he left a little too late because when he checked his D-ciever and noticed the time he was late.

Luckily it was Standard dueling and he already knew a lot about Standard Dueling so he wouldn't miss much.Unluckily was the person running it. Even Vincent had heard the rumours of the man known as Transformer. Why did it have to be the most manly of men. Speaking up Vincent did his best to distract his gaze from looking at most women's perfect man. "Sorry I am late sir, I was trying to learn all I could in the previous lesson and I spent a little too long taking notes." Vincent said bowing slightly trying to act with respect. Before scampering walking off to his seat. He was late and didn't have much to say in his own defence other then he was putting a little too much effort into the method of Xyz summoning.

Vincent had sat down behind Tsukiko he didn't say much, one could just say he was more or less eavesdropping on Tsukikos conversation. Vincent wondered if they hated him, disliked him, wanted to defeat him to reclaim some sort of honour. The thought made Vincent smile. He would be waiting for when that time came with open arms. After all

A Fight is a fight.



Ignia's week was uneventful and here she was in the Maths, listening to Ryders description of addition and stuff. Mostly disinterested, Ethel wasn't there so she didn't have anyone to prove anything to. It was just maths and numbers and more numbers. Ignia was tapping on her forehead the entire way through. She had already learned most of if not all this stuff at her old school. She was here for the dueling, not the maths. Either way the lesson was soon over and the budding little duelist with a adverse tendency for the perverse left the maths classroom. Pulling out her D-Ciever she looked at her next class, it turned out to be standard dueling.

That didn't matter though since Ethel was there. Ignias only friend was there and that made the class infinitely better. Ignia began daydreaming for a what seemed like a few seconds about how awesome Ethel is and how much she destroys people with her birds of prey. "Ignia stop." She told herself as she dragged herself back to the firmness of reality. How long had passed. Ignia checked the D-Ciever again and face palmed as she took of running towards the standard dueling classroom. She was one the later ones. Not even stopping to acknowledge the glory of transformer she apologised profusely and walked off. taking the seat closet to Ethel she could sadly due to her lateness she was a seat or two away. You could see the annoyance on Ignias face. Pouting she waited for the lesson to start.

Between Transformers boisterous speaking and the multitude of late students making their way into the classroom, Brad remained oblivious of the magical glowing card. Not that he would've paid it much mind, seeing how the school seemed to be doing everything in its power to prove that he was living in some bizzaro world where his normal life would be the unusual one.

But all that being said, or well, thought, Tsukiko said something was just a touch too bizarre.

"Unfortunately I don't know what you mean when you talk about friends."

How could someone survive to this age without friends? His first thought was 'family' but, judging how she seemed to imply that they shoved her under a staircase or something, that one got crossed out easily. If nothing else, Brad learned one important thing about Tsukiko: She was tough.

"Well, tha past is tha past, y'know?" Brad looked at Transformer, silently pondering if he would beat Coach in an arm-wrestling competition. Too close ta call. "Nothin' ya can do about it now. Coach always said 'Focus on tha future. That is somethin' ya can change. But not if ya spend all ya time mopin' about yer past.'" Brad gave a slightly uneasy smile, as he took note of the dark circles around Tsukiko's eyes. "School's tha best place ta make friends, y'know? Everyone here likes Duel Monstahs so there's a way ta start makin' friends. Just, y'know, try ya best."

Tsukiko heard Brad's words and knew there was some truth to some of them. One thing her brother always taught her you can't move forward if your eyes are always in the rear view mirror. It was true, looking back on her past wouldn't bring her happiness, but it was hard to be happy when almost everything you cherished and savored was blown away by the sands of time. Time sometimes could be a cruel mistress and waiting made patience almost seem like an inevitable eternity. The girl had a hard time with find words of wisdom to draw confidence from when she felt so down and gloomy. It was hard to remained focus with all the dark parts of history haunting her like a ghost. No matter what she did or what she said it never satisfied the demon where it continued to leach off her memories. Tsukiko had a somewhat unsure frown slapped on her face as she tilted her head gently to the side feeling the nudge at the skin where her neck was. "I really want to believe what you say is true, but I've been through so much adversity that deceit is a commonplace fear in my heart. I'm unsure of who I can trust now and the last thing I want to feel is the same pain from heartbreak that I felt in the past." She said toward Brad as she closed her eyes and thought someone was behind her. Since her mind was on something else she wasn't too upset at the time for them listening in on her conversation with Brad. She tried to understand Brad's encouraging words, but her uncertainty weighed her down like an anchor making it hard for her to put her faith and trust in people. She didn't want to experience what she did in the past and that is why she refused to understand what his words actually meant.

She then sighed then turned her head toward the student behind her. She noticed it was the person from a week ago who she ran into in the hallway during the attack on the academy. She didn't appreciate him just deciding to sit where he was just to overhear what she was saying though since her attention was on something else at the moment she wouldn't hold a grudge about it. "You know, Vincent. It's not nice to eavesdrop on people. I don't care what you reason is either. You're still a jerk either way. You're ignoring me obviously is an example of my point. I'll cease wasting my time though." She sighed as she looked over at the white haired boy and then gasp deeply as a bit of tension filled the air from her voice. "..." She was about to say something then stopped herself at the moment as she turned her head away from Vincent looking at the student who bothered her a lot still. It didn't make her feel any easier that he was there and she wasn't sure why she was feeling so uneasy about his presence where she put her card back into deck. She would think about why it resonated like it did later. Now wasn't the time to start problems in class. "I'll put my trust in you, Brad because I have worse problems than worrying about grudges I hold on people. Guess this is what they call making friends..." She stated with uncertainty not entirely sure she had made a wise decision or not. She still had a hard time trusting people after all she had gone through in the past and it certainly wasn't going to be easier for her with the way things were going. She had a strong distrust of the male part of society though she didn't ever really show it. the only person who got close to her when she was still fully conscious was Ben. Other than that, no male has gotten too close to the girl aside from Vincent who carried her to the infirmary after she had fainted.

Strangely enough, she had certainly changed her mind from a moment ago. What caused her sway in mind was unknown at the time; however, the last thing she wanted was bitter disappointment to remind her of the nightmares of her past. Turning her attention back toward Brad she nodded her head deciding maybe she'd at least try it. Certainly wouldn't hurt to get know people better."All right, I'll try it then. I'll allow you Brad to be friends with me. I just hope I don't end up regretting this in the end." She paused for a second then thought about Vincent who was right behind her. "As for Vincent, I think not..." She paused as she wrote a number on a piece of paper which was the registration number which allowed them to register her into their databases as a friend. "Here." She said offering one hand out to Brad with one piece of paper while she handed the other reluctantly to Vincent who sat behind her though with a frown on her face where she was going to see if he would prove her wrong or not. Not that it mattered, the only arrogant person she could really tolerate was her brother. She had no interest in weak imitations from the past that failed at mimicking what they tried to represent. Regretfully, she decided to lay the piece of paper on Vincent's chair not caring what he did with it. She had lost interest in him a long time ago. He could rip it up or burn it and she still wouldn't care.

Camryn wilted slightly, but remained cheerful. "Oh. That's alright. Let me know if you get any Deepspace monsters, OK? See ya 'round!" She walked off with a bounce in her step, which quickly faded when her body reminded her how late it was. Camryn had been planning to explore the school a bit more, but now that plan was overridden by her pressing need to collapse somewhere that was softer than the floor. She made it back to her room, and had just barely finished her nightly routine before falling onto her bed with a fwumph and curling up under the blankets. Her last conscious thought that night was Must've been the turbo dueling, I guess...



The alarm Melchior went off again, and Camryn grimaced and snuggled closer into the little cocoon of blankets she had built in her sleep. Reeeally not in the mood to deal with you right now. She thought blearily. She muttered an invective, and went back to sleep.



Camryn woke up gradually, with a yawn and a stretch. She plopped back down and glanced blearily at the clock on the wall. One could almost see the gears turning in her head before she straightened up and said "Shit, I'm late!"

Camryn was certain she had broken some kind of world record, so quickly did she throw on clothes, shower, grab her deck, and nab a quick breakfast - or lunch, rather - from the closing cafeteria before sprinting to the classroom. She arrived disheveled and out of breath, but victorious. Panting slightly, she said cheerfully "Here, sir! Sorry I'm late, I overslept a tad." Camryn took an empty seat near Megan and Nathaniel, hoping to sit near her friends. "Heya guys. What class is this again? I only had time to check the location before I had to run over."

Megan shrugged, "Yeah, I've got some cool stuff. I think Soul Drain is going to be really helpful to help my monsters bust through, plus I got some other nice traps to trick out my opponent. Not sure if I can quite match up to your circus act though, I looked up a bunch of them and they work together really well." Megan explained, at first animated about her new cards and then acting falsely dismal when talking about Nathon's cards. "Hey Cam, we're either in Standard Dueling or gym class, though by the looks of the teacher it might be both." was Megan's cheery response to Camyrn's inquiry. It was nice having friends here, plus she couldn't wait to get in another duel, most of the last week had just been studying and writing stuff down in her duel book. Standard dueling didn't seem quite as fun as Action Dueling but any dueling was good dueling.

Card Shop, One Week Prior/Now/Then/Maybe/Time flows strangely in this land...

Maisy gave a slight nod. She doubted that she'd be picking up any cards from an archetype like that, but she'd sure keep an eye out for anything if she stumbled upon one in a pack. Once Vincent and Hayate were gone, Maisy yawned and rose from her seat to return to her dorm room, figuring that everything would be back to normal tomorrow anyways. Her routine finished with her teeth sparkly and plaque-free and her breath reeking of Listerine, and with her being clad in a set of mauve flannels as she curled up in her bed. "Night Jack... she said before burying herself beneath her blanket and heading off to dreamland.

One Week Later...

Maisy awoke like she now-normally did when Melchior's alarm screamed at her to get up...she got up and acted like the British were coming, getting the heck up and getting dressed and ready as fast as she possibly could manage. On some days she even showed up with some buttons on her uniform buttoned one notch too high, though she'd usually straighten it out after breakfast. It didn't really bug her beyond the fact that it was uneven, but she imagined it'd bug other's so she'd just fix it and say nothing.

Her weekdays prior to that particular day mostly consisted of scoping out other people's duels, since she wanted to learn more of the basics herself before she rushed into more duels...a 1-3 Losing Streak was bad enough, but she also had the feeling that if she kept it up she might be pushed into Earth Dorm. As much as she thought that wouldn't be the case this early on, she still didn't want to chance it unless the chance was too good to pass up. Besides, she almost had enough cards to start bulk-buying packs of her own to start beefing up her Fabled deck, so it'd be for the best if she didn't challenge people Willy-Nilly.

Of course today she was pretty sure that she'd be turned into a human pretzel and have to join a dueling circus as "The Amazingly Mediocre Pretzel Girl" once she realized that in having watched someone's duel to the end...she was late. Like, not super late, only a few minutes, but she'd definitely heard plenty of whispering from the student body about how terrifying Transformer was if you broke the rules. And she knew...she could have sworn remembering seeing a recording of his duels with someone who might have cheated...They quit dueling forever and had a limp for the rest of their life. Breaking into a cold sweat, Maisy would rush to the relevant floor and rushed into the room, panting and clutching her chest. "S-S-Sorry I'm late Sir!" she said, before making her way to a desk, shivering in her seat a little. He was so cool...but so freaking scary!

Like a gargoyle, Transformer returned to his statue-like demeanor during those ten minutes. That didn't mean everyone was in the clear, though. Even through those sunglasses, somehow you could feel his eyes on you at all time. Speaking of which, the students that entered in late could feel a particularly nasty glare aimed directly at them when they arrived. The hulking man watched them scamper off to find a seat, though also a little confused on how they seemed to be searching for a desk even though this was an arena floor. The only seats here were audience seats. That wasn't the important thing, though. When those ten minutes had passed, some students still hadn't arrived. "ALRIGHT THEN! IT SEEMS SOME OF OUR STUDENTS ARE LATE! I WILL PUNISH THEM LATER!" they bellowed, in their normal speaking tone. The man lowered his arms, closed his legs and stood straight. He scanned over all the students that WERE here, and then nodded... With quite a bit of ferocity.

"WE WILL CONTINUE ON WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY. I HAD INTRODUCED EVERYONE TO THE BASICS OF STANDARD DUELING LAST WEEK, EXCEPT FOR SOME OF YOU WHO FELT IT UNNECESSARY TO ATTEND." he reminded, and that last comment Shinrei felt was aimed at him. Not that he cared. "BUT! WE HAVE NOT GONE OVER TAG DUELS YET!" he shouted. "THE ART OF TEAMING UP WITH SOMEONE ELSE! HAVING YOUR TWO DECKS FACE OFF AGAINST TWO OPPONENTS!" Transformer started to explain, taking a step back. The earth shook as he did. "I WILL BEGIN WITH A BRIEF EXPLANATION, AND WILL THEN SPLIT EACH OF YOU UP IN TEAMS TO DUEL!"

"IN A TAG DUEL, EACH TEAM HAS A SHARED 8000 LP. THE FIELDS ARE ALSO SHARED, AND YOUR DUEL DISK CAN READ WHEN YOUR PARTNER PLAYS A CARD. THE TURN ORDER GOES IN A N-SHAPE, STARTING WITH THE FIRST PERSON ON ONE TEAM AND THEN GOING TO THE FIRST PERSON ON THE OTHER TEAM. THEN, THE SECOND PERSON ON THE FIRST TEAM TAKES THEIR TURN. AFTER THEM, THE SECOND PERSON ON THE OTHER TEAM DOES. THEN IT LOOPS BACK AROUND TO THE FIRST PERSON ON THE FIRST TEAM. YOU CAN ONLY ATTACK ONCE THE SECOND TURN ROLLS AROUND, LIKE A REGULAR DUEL." was transformer's 'brief' explanation.

"AS FOR THE TEAMS..." Transformer started once again. He then shouted a bunch of team names, none of which get listed here because it'd fill up way too much space the Narrator didn't want to deal with. At the end of it, Transformer finished with: "...AND SINCE SHINREI BELIEVES CLASS TO BE BENEATH HIM, HE WILL DUEL ON HIS OWN AGAINST ANY ONE TEAM. I WANT YOU ALL TO PICK OUT AN OPPOSING PARTNER TEAM AND DUEL THEM IN ANY ONE ARENA. I WILL EVALUATE HOW YOU DUEL AFTER EACH OF YOU FINISH."

---

Ethel decided to listen to Michelle when she explained why those cards were new, raising her eyebrow ever so slightly. People cared about 'Fun'? Even though your deck is good? How odd. She'd almost berate the other female, but decided not to. It wasn't in her place to judge others on changing styles, even if Ethel found the reason to be ungodly stupid. "I see. How odd." Ethel bluntly replied, catching a glimpse of a certain green jacket wearing student making their way to the crowds. Michelle had introduced themselves, right around the same time a smile appeared on Ethel's face. It wasn't because of her conversational partner, but you'd still get the impression. "Ah. Ethel Cilente, is my name." she replied with a short pause, obviously a little distracted. Ignia took a seat a little ways away, which hurt Ethel a bit. And here she was, actually looking forward to talking to her 'friend'...

"...It's going to start." Ethel informed the two girls, noticing the shift in Transformer's body language. And then she had to hold onto her seats, with the earth shaking from a mere step of the teacher. This guy... Really needed to exercise less. She listened with difficulty to Transformer, having to nearly cover her ears because of the volume overload. It wasn't very pleasant, but she managed to catch the rules of the tag duels somewhat vaguely and also who her partner was. Transformer wasn't done yet, but Ethel decided to give a quick glance in Ignia's direction. Surely the irony of it all wasn't lost on her as well? Either way, Transformer told them to pick out an opposing team. The 'Michelle' person next to Ethel seemed to have been paired up with someone called Joshua. "I'll let you meet up with your partner." the girl droned, the dismissal almost being rude if it wasn't for that polite monotone the girl spoke in.

Ethel stood up almost robotically, dusted off her skirt and started to walk over to where Ignia sat. "Hey." she bluntly greeted the wind girl, standing in front of their seat with arms crossed. Ethel had decided to wear her regular hoodie today, so Ignia would unfortunatly not get the best view of a lifetime for now. "Seems like we're a team." the girl repeated Transformer's announcement, jerking her chin up. "Come on, get up. We need to find an opponent." the girl suggested, right before averting her eyes. Ethel bit her tongue softly, though not visibly, as she was actually not very good at getting people to do things. She was, as you'd say, a little embarrased and shy about having to do this.

---

Haas was surprised this guy even REMEMBERED his name, considering the dismissal at the stairwell a week ago. Yes he was bothered by this, quite a bit even. And the dismissal didn't end there, with the guy being a bit of an arse about his statement of Transformer probably being a professional. "Gee, thanks for the hospitality..." the kid muttered, turning away from Joshua so they wouldn't hear. "Well, still. Even if they all are, isn't it at least cool we get to be taught by a guy like that? Most don't have the time to be a teacher, so him taking the time out of his day to do this is nice. At least, I think so." the guy replied with honesty. But the moment would have to ruined when Transformer's voice rang throughout the room again.

Haas bumped his head on the audience seat behind him when they flinched, letting out a cry of "Gah!" as reaction to the sudden pain. Man, he'd NEVER get used to that volume! Apparently, everyone was going to be Tag Dueling. Now there's something new for the guy. He'd never participated in one of those before. Transformer explained the rules of a Tag Duel, and Haas nodded continuously in affirmation. It seemed like he caught on pretty quickly, and if it wasn't that, at least he pretended to. Then the teams were rattled off, and Haas was surprised to hear himself first. And with Nathan, no less! He'd talked to the guy a few times throughout his stay here, and they were also an Earth Dorm student. Well, at least it was somebody Haas knew. It'd be a pain if it wasn't.

"Well, gotta go! Bye!" Haas informed Joshua as soon as Transformer stopped speaking, literally jumping out of his seat and running off farther into the room. Haas needed a bit of time to look around and see where Nathan was located, luckily spotting him not too far away in one of the audience seats a little higher up. "Hey, Nate!" Haas shouted out from below, spotting him talking to some girl... Actually, no wait, two girls. Whoa, he seemed to be getting even more lucky than him in that department... The guy bolted up the stairs to greet his friend. "We're a team for the Tag Duels! I'll be honest, I wasn't really expecting to be paired up with someone I knew, ehehe... And who are these two?" Haas asked, referring to Megan and Camryn. He didn't really remember them at all. "Oh, and, uh, I'm Haas. For those that didn't know."

---

Shinrei had to let out a slight chuckle when he heard Transformer dismissing himand telling him to duel solo. Fine by him, at least this way people wouldn't slow him down. The only one that had even a remotely compatible deck with him was his sister, and honestly, he woudln't be able to bear dueling with her. Not at the moment, anyway. It might've been a bit dangerous, but Shinrei decided to reveal himself from the shadows of the stands and walk further into the room with everyone. He had spotted Leander, but was unsure if they spotted him. At least he hopes they didn't, that guy would beannoying to duel even if he was terrible at it. At least Shinrei deduced that from seeing their duel with Vincent. Sure, he'd set up protection. On the flipside, they also lost on the third turn. Nobody should lose on the third turn like that.

He wheezed and put his hands inside the pockets of the longcoat, lazily staring into the crowds. Honestly, none of these weaklings seemed interesting in the slightest. Perhaps he should just let THEM come to HIM, but then there was a good chance he wouldn't get his duel before the rest... And honestly, the guy wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. They took a few more steps further into the room, standing right in front of Transformer. "I didn't know teachers were supposed to single out students. But I guess that training second-rate duelists requires second-rate teachings." Shinrei berated the guy, whose nostrils flared up. Transformer looked down at Shinrei, who could feel the piercing gaze from even beyond the sunglasses. "Cut it out. Intimidating me requires more than that." he retorted again, before turning around and facing the rest of the class. "You heard him, didn't you? I'm on my own here. Who's willing to try their luck? Because they'll need it." he taunted the entire classroom, pulling their hands out of the pockets and crossing his arms. Ethel had taken notice of it, turning her head with a scoff. Haas didn't seem to mind and kept his focus on the group. Either way, maybe this is the duel Shinrei needed to see if anyone here was worth the effort.

---

Shiyu had darted off into a corner somewhere when he was out of focus, and actually remained to be for quite a while. He didn't really want to bother anyone, because they all seemed like such good friends... Transformer called out what the class would be, and the guy immediately got excited. "A-Alright!" he cried out in joy. This was awesome! A tag duel?! He hadn't gotten the chance to do one of those yet since the transferral, so this would be a nice change of pace. He listened carefully when the teams were listed, noticing himself being paired up with some girl called... Tsumino? Tsundeiko? Ah, no, Tsukiko! Right! But before he had a chance to really ask around, some showoff decided to step up into the middle and challenge anyone from the audience. Seems like this 'Shinrei' fellow had confidence, bordering into arrogance. Anyway, they must be pretty good if he was that confident he could win. So maybe avoiding them was the best option for now.

Either way, Shiyu needed to find out who this 'Tsukiko' that seemed to be his partner was. A quick glance around the room didn't reveal much to him, none of the girls particulary stood out as Japanese, or chinese, considering the name. Well, except for maybe the girl with the blue hair, but they seemed to be partnered up with someone else already. So that girl couldn't be it, right? Shiyu racked his brain a little more, trying to figure it out. But to no avail. So, instead, he followed Shinrei's lead and ran into the middle of the room. "Erm, sorry to disturb?" he apologized once arrived, trying to turn himself to the best of his ability to face everyone. "I'm partnered up with uh... A 'Tsukiko' girl. Who here uhm, is Tsukiko?" he asked in the most polite way possible, though also having a bit of an awkward posture.

Brad felt a tad confused as he was given Tsukiko's D-Ceiver number. He supposed it was her lack of experience in making friends explained the... odd way she went about it, but it was still off-putting. Regardless, he ripped a piece of his own paper and scribbled his own number down messily before handing it to Tsukiko.

However, he snapped back into focus as Transformer belted out the plans for today's class: Tag Duels. And his partner was someone he had just met. Brad couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that he wouldn't get teamed up with Nathaniel, but he supposed it was for the best. Their decks did not have any real synergy and he would feel guilty about potentially holding his friend back.

"Howdy," he said to Vincent, his tone polite but not particularly enthused. "I'm Brad an' it looks like we're bein' partnered up."

Then Shinrei opened his mouth.

Brad clenched his fists as the arrogant student badmouthed... well, everyone really. Brad wasn't about to allow that kind of attitude to coast on by.

"The only thing second-rate here is yer attitude," said Brad, moving his large frame down the stairs. "Bein' a team player means respectin' yer friends an' allies. I won't stand for ya badmouthin' mah friends, y'know?" He looked down at the Light Dorm student, his eyes burning with disgust.