As Leander tried to pick up the cards that were scattered across the floor, he could feel a familiar grip nearly crush his arm. "Who gave you permission to touch those?" the older student asked, still seated in their casual manner. He shoved Leander back a bit further and picked up the cards himself. The older Dark Dorm student didn't care much about how bent the cards seemed to become as he forcefully made room in his pockets to push them all in. Only the cards he didn't throw on the floor got a spot in the deckbox on their hip. A red-haired student entered the room and stormed over to mini colonel, shouting some nonsense at him whilst trying to help Leander to his feet. The blue-haired boy jerked his head upward, snickering slightly. "I'm a student here. Fantastic," they snarked.

The student got off of the chair and looked down at Megan, though didn't get aggressive like before. "You just said 'we're all students', right? Forget it. This school's a prison, and the damn staff all know it. Being stranded in the middle of nowhere with no place to run or go, they damn well know they're keeping us caged like rats." Mini Colonel averted his gaze, looking over the entire cafeteria instead. "You all damn well know it, too! Don't pretend you don't. They're passin' this off as some prestigious academy, but all they're doing is makin' you play by their rules. Every single one of you is an idiot if you didn't see that yourself. And-" The lecture was cut short when the student felt a hand on his shoulder, looking back. Two academy security were standing there, their piercing gaze apparent even through their black sunglasses. "...Fine, I'm leaving. Don't want to stick around these weaklings anyway," the student dismissed the guards, who escorted him out of the card shop. With the departure of that boy the entire shop erupted in chatter once again. This time, the chatter was a lot less about rumors but more about who in the world that was for the first years and grim talk about 'how he's always like this' for the second and third years present.

---

Angelo and Andre managed to arrive at the dorm floor at the same time, surprisingly enough. Both witnessed a duel in progress that was blocking the way to the first year dorms, though it looked to be nearly over. It seemed to be between two students in purple jackets, one female and one male, though the male looked to be in a much more dire strait. "My three Marauding Captain! Slice him up real good with a Direct Attack!" the one with the upper hand commanded, and her monsters did just that. "Guaaah!" the losing student yelled for some reason, collapsing on the floor soon after. The winning student deactivated her disk and walked over to the loser. They picked up one of the cards from the losing student's deck that had scattered across the floor and put it away. It's then they noticed the other two, her face going pale as she softly whispered "Shoot!" to herself, before bolting off past them, straight back to the Dark Dorm's hallways. Angelo and Andre were both left with three options; Check the unconscious student's status, chase the female student or ignore them both and go back to their rooms like originally planned.

---

Ethel had to sigh, none of the past three duels that had taken place were any good. None of the duelists showed any true potential, not in the same way she's seen a few others have. "Boring," Ethel told herself and didn't bother to stick around to see the conclusion of this one. She left the Turbo Duel arena and took out her D-Ceiver. Seemed like there was still a bit of time left before the next class... How annoying. The girl needed something to take her mind off of certain... things, but didn't get a chance to. Everything was too boring. Pocketing her device again, Ethel exhaled heavily as she made her way back to the main building. Her muscles were still stinging from those past three duels, signalling her that she'd massively overdone it. Ethel cast a sideway glance into the open desert and caught a glimpse of something off in the far distance. Her expression didn't change, but she did linger a bit longer to get a better look. All she could make out was a silhouette. It kind of looked like someone was... running along the tower's axis? Well, she didn't bother to think about it.

Ethel slipped into the main building and briskly walked over to the elevator, pushing a button for it to come down. After a few seconds, the doors slid open. Ethel's normally expressionless face twisted into an expression of shock, because she saw someone collapsed in the elevator. A glance told her it was that girl she'd tripped on the second day, and her instincts told the girl to scream. Luckily for everyone involved, she didn't. Ethel carefully took a step or two back from the elevator, then ran off towards the receptionist. The receptionist was startled when they saw the girl run over, asking what's wrong. "B-Body..." she managed to stammer out, pointing at the elevator who's doors were still open. The staff raised an eyebrow and went to check it out, only to find Hayato collapsed inside with some rather serious injuries. The staff quickly pulled out their own D-Ceiver and contacted the infirmary, whilst also telling Ethel to calm down and take a seat. After a few minutes Hayato was safely inside the medical office in one of the hospital beds, being treated carefully for those electrical shocks.

Angelo sighed when he came up to the floor of his dorm but was surprised to see a duel just ending that was blocking the hallway it seemed to be one in good spirits until Angelo saw the winner go over to the looser and steal a card from them. As much as Angelo wanted to help the boy who was unconscious he got the feeling that if he let her the girl would never be seen again and would simply claim that it was always her card. Angelo had dealt with thieves before back where I was from and he hated them in any context. Stealing was taking something that belong to someone else without permission and that pissed him off. Angelo put his tools next to the kid for safe keeping as he bolted forward after the girl "Get back here!" Angelo yelled not resting till that kid got retribution. It was one thing to win but he hated bad winners that flaunted their status. Angelo was fit enough that he was able to keep just a few steps behind the girl waiting for her to slip up so he could grab her...

@Ammokkx

Andre growled to himself in annoyance having just gotten back to the dorm and he had already seen someone do something against the rules. What a major pain in his god damn ass. Andre shook his head figuring it wasn't worth the effort in trying to play hero and chase down the culprit. Instead he focused on something more important. Like checking on the unconscious boy. He went over to the young man, ignoring his fellow dorm mate who had just gotten there with him, and checked on him performing a basic first aid search. He knew enough about it that he could perform a basic read out on an injured person and help them out. As he was doing so he turned back to his dorm mate. "Well what the f' do you think you're doing? Go get a god damn teacher or nurse!" Andre growled with annoyance as he continued his perfunctory examination for immediate dangers to the boy's health. If only Ben were here so he could instead go back to contemplating his own problems. Instead he was playing the role of 'good Samaritan'...and then he noticed the dumbass ran off without listening to him. "God freaking damn it...HEY A LITTLE HELP! WE GOT AN UNCONSCIOUS STUDENT!"

Angelo tried valiantly to chase the Dark Dorm girl but ended up falling just short of being able to chase her all the way. She fled into her own room, locking it behind Angelo so he couldn't get in. His chase was in vain. Ben got assistance from some nearby students that heard his call, two of them hoisting up the unconscious boy and one calling the teachers on their D-Ceiver. Shortly after that point a bell rang, signalling the students they'd have to go get dinner. Not long after that point the day concluded with everyone finishing up what they were doing. The Dark Dorm Student that had dueled Hayato also ended up in the infirmary, but was strapped to his bed so he couldn't escape. Some harsh punishments were going to be enforced for his illegal way of dueling.

The next few days were like normal again, with nothing unusual happening minus the occasional Dark Dorm student popping up here and there. For some reason, the longer the school continued, the population of that dorm also seemed to grow. Nevertheless, all first year students found themselves gathered on the ground floor. Even Hayato, who'd recovered from his injuries after a few days. Transformer stood on top of the transportable podium, his ever-watchful gaze piercing through every student in the room at the same time. Eventually, just as it was getting a little too long, Transformer opened his mouth. "LISTEN WELL!" The man's voice rang loud and clear, not requiring a microphone to get across. "YOU HAVE ALL BEEN EVALUATED OVER THE COURSE OF YOUR STAY HERE. AS SUCH, RESULTS WILL COME IN SOON. WE OBSERVED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR RECORDED DUELS AND ARE READY TO MAKE SOME RISE AND SOME FALL. BE PREPARED."

"ALSO," Transformer continued, apparently not done. "OUR SCHOOL IS NOT ONLY ABOUT TEACHING DUEL MONSTERS. WE ARE MUCH MORE THAN THAT. AS SUCH, THERE ARE VARIOUS EVENTS COMING UP YOU CAN CHOOSE TO PARTICIPATE IN. TO SIGN UP FOR ONE, HEAD TO THE RELEVANT AREA AND FIND THE TEACHER THERE. THERE IS A RACE SCHEDULED FOR THOSE OF THE TURBO DUELING CLASS, SHOWING OFF YOUR RIDING SKILLS. THERE IS ALSO A TALENT SHOW YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR IN THE NEAR FUTURE. FOR THOSE FEELING MORE LIKE SPORTING, AN ACROBATICS PERFORMANCE IS ALSO AVAILABLE. OUR POOL ON FLOOR 7 HAS SEEN QUITE A BIT OF USE, SO A SWIMMING CONTEST IS AVAILABLE AS WELL. ALL OF THESE EVENTS YIELD A PRIZE FOR THE VICTOR. YOU WILL GET A SPECIALIZED DUEL DISK RELATING TO THE EVENT YOU'VE WON, AS WELL AS A UNIQUE ONE-OF-A-KIND CARD. YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR ATHLETICS AT THE GYM ON FLOOR NINE, SWIMMING AT THE POOL ON FLOOR SEVEN, THE TALENT SHOW AT THE MUSIC VENUE ON FLOOR THREE AND THE RACE AT THE TURBO ARENA. THAT IS ALL." Transformer jumped off the stage and the earth trembled as he came down. The man lifted up the entire podium and hoisted it on his back, showing off just how inhumanly strong he actually was. Transformer carried the thing into the stairwell and rand down the stairs, leaving the rest of the student body to their own devices.

---

Ethel was leaning against the wall, outside of the crowd. She hated them and also hated being in one. She still listened attentively to what Transformer had to say, trying her best to memorize it all. So results were coming soon. Ethel wasn't worried in the slightest. The other thing that the man had to say was about various contests, almost none that interested Ethel. Acrobatics and Swimming was a downright terrible idea, and performing a show for an audience isn't her idea of fun. That left the race. She could race. By now Ryder had allowed all Turbo Duelists to ride on manual outside of duels, except for a few who still haven't nailed it. She was worried about one thing, though. Ethel is fairly good at driving, but there's someone there that's better.

The girl pushed herself off of the wall as Transformer's speech ended. She spotted a familiar Wind uniform with black hairs resting atop, right in the crowd. Ethel walked over and yanked Ignia straight out, dragging her off without comment. "Let's sign up," the girl suggested. Ethel didn't really specify for what, but the fact she was trying to drag Ignia toward the Turbo arena should've been enough of a hint. After about ten more seconds of dragging Ethel released Ignia, figuring she'll follow anyway. Ethel arrived at the Turbo Dueling arena without speaking another word, scouting the room for Ryder. He was sitting at the small table, ticking away at his laptop. He heard the girls enter and looked up. "Oh. Hello, girls." Ryder greeted, then looked back to his laptop. "Transformer's announcement must've ended. You here to sign up?" Ryder asked the girls and Ethel responded. "I am." Ethel flatly said, then turned her head to look at the black haired girl she was with. "Ignia?" Ethel asked her, her face about as expressionless as it gets.

---

Haas was mingled in the crowds unlike Ethel, but listened just as attentively as her. He was a little scared of the results but also felt strangely excited over the competitions. Well, he couldn't race so that one was out of the question. But that still left three others, right? Though, to be honest, he wasn't all that good at acrobatics... and Haas was a decent swimmer at best. He also only really had one thing he was really good at and it wouldn't make for an entertaining show. So the talent show was a no-go. Haas thought about the implications for a few more seconds and then came to a conclusion: "...I can't win any of these!" he cried out in despair, causing the room to go silent. Every student around Haas turned their head to look at him for randomly crying out his anguish. "...I mean... uh..." Haas was at a loss for words. "Nevermind!" The boy backpedaled and proceeded to squirm his way through the crowd, trying to go somewhere else. Maybe he'd go to the pool. Yeah. The pool.

Haas, having decided his course of action, dashed out of the crowd and bolted up the stairs. Somehow he keeps running up and down those without ever getting tired of it. He reached floor seven in about a minute, seeing some of the second and third years relaxing in the pool. The lifeguard at the scene was none other than Snipes Crosshair, who's head whipped toward the door as he saw Haas enter. "HAAS!" the man yelled, turning around. The lifeguard seat was dangerously close to the stairwell. "Sir!" Haas replied, saluting Colonel to avoid being lectured. "I am glad to see some ENERGY in a student of mine! I assume you're signing up for SWIMMING? Consider yourself signed up!" The military man informed Haas, who almost sunk through his knees in despair. He only came to the pool to scout the competition, not actually sign up for it! All the boy could reply with was an energetic "Yes sir!" It didn't reflect his actual feelings, of course. Haas went over to one of the changing booths to get changed, figuring he might as well start practicing now that he's got no choice.

Angelo groaned loudly as he was kept from bringing the duelist to justice himself but he dud report the room that the duelist cane from so he was happier knowing that the duelist got some harsh punishments afterwards.

During the next few days Angelo got the parts he needed and went to work on Ethel duel runner he made a deal with her after all. He went and saw the transformer as it talked about events and the only one that he knew he could win was the races he might not win a turbo duel but he will win a race he was the top of the class in runner maneuvers anyways. Once the announcement was over Angelo went to his room and got the last told he would need. Once he did he went to the turbo duel arena seeing Ethel and ingia already their signing up. When they finished Angelo was the next sign up for it. He turned to Ethel and said "I'm completing the final adjustments on your runner now if you want to watch. Angelo informed her as he went to her cage that held her duel runner and went to work...

Andre had no real interest in any of the activities stated by Transformer. Instead he had more important things to do like study and fine tune his deck a bit more in terms of possible strategies. The incident with that dark dorm scum of the earth just made him all the more certain things were just spiraling out of control. The least likely chance to encounter someone troublesome was in his room with the door locked. On the other hand though Ben Carson figured now would be the best chance he got to actually put his physicality to good use! He loved sports, from baseball to soccer and everything in between. He wanted to see if he could get a new special prize but he figured there was probably someone here more talented than him. Still it was nice to at least try maybe he could win! Ben hoped everyone, above all else, would have fun! The reason the school did this was to promote relations among students with a good old fashioned contest. After eating Ben decided that he would go over and sign up for the swimming contest "Hey guys come cheer me on when I try out alright!?" Ben said with a fist bump towards one of his friends in Club Team Awesome as they sat together eating. The crew happily agreed they'd be there for him.

Honestly, how in their right minds could the school come up with such ideas without including the prospect of dueling was beyond Vincent. He was quite noticably bored when the announcement was made, barring the important little tidbit about people rising and falling which made him perk his head up a little. Vincent knew that he wouldn't be very good at any of the activities. He was a decent swimmer, not all that fast but he could swim. There wasn't any point in entering a competition he couldn't win because of his slow speed. He couldn't race either because he had never even driven a vehicle before, let alone a Duel Runner and he'd rather not be sent home on hospital leave because he broke his spine when he inevitably fell off the vehicle. Then there's acrobactics. Vincent smirked to himself at the thought of how much he sucked at it. Yeah, no, he wasn't going to be doing that anytime soon.

The only part of the annoucement, barring again the placement changes, that held anything of note for Vincent was the Talent Competition. Even then, Vincent knew his only talent was playing people at card games and he severely doubted they would allow him to duel on stage. So why even bother entering such a pointless competition?

Moving through the crowd of students Vincent brushed past a group of people wearing purple jackets. They shot him looks of annoyance. People from the Dark Dorm. Rumour had it that it was growing larger as the weeks passed and that it was mostly filled with people close to expulsion for doing some pretty bad things. Rumour also had it that those Dark Dorm students were participating in some Illegal Dueling, mainly having to do with people stealing cards and electrocuting eachother. Vincent had heard these rumours while walking around and watching some duels these past few days. It was literally all he had been doing, besides eating and sleeping, after the 'duel' with Shinrei. These rumours Interested him somewhat. Maybe it would be something to quench his bloodthirst for a while, going down and beating Dark Dorm students has at least got to have some merit. Plus, it sounded like fun.

Hidden under his brown hair, Vincent smirked. He pulled out his deck from his back pocket, finally having something to do. From what he'd learned, given a little time in a duel, he usually kept control and won. Vincent put his deck back in his pocket and walked off. The Dark Dorm visit sounding more appealing the more he thought about it, because after all, Vincent was always looking for a good fight.

Hayato and Hayate had listened to the announcement and listened carefully to the possible contests and thought about which one would be best for him and started to think about the events one by one "Acrobatics? what a joke... i'm a samurai not some sort of ninja... Swimming... I can't swim... a talent show huh... maybe I can make these people appreciate the way of the samurai along with some other things..." Hayato had decided and was about to turn to Hayate who sadly had already run off without him "Haya- oh... left already...?" Hayato was about to ask her but scanned around for a potential partner for his talent show and noticed someone who looked like a samurai himself and started to approach him "hey... you look like you know how to handle a sword... i'm looking for a partner for the talent show... I'd like to demonstrate the way of the samurai in the talent show... You able to help me out? if not I'll have to find someone else..." Hayato quickly asked judging the other person's appearance though he struggled to get the correct words out

@Joshua Tamashii

The past few days had been pretty boring for Camryn, all told, even with Dark Dorm out and about, and apparently beating up random students. While it was definitely the main topic of all the school gossip, she hadn't really seen anything happen, per se. She kinda regretted taking so long to pick out some food when she went to get lunch with Megan, since she apparently found a Dark Dorm guy in the card shop and shouted at him until he left. It would've been fun to beat up someone who sounded like they definitely needed it. Plus there were some weird rumors about Dark Dorm students doing some underground dueling and anteing rare cards, which was definitely interesting. Oh well. Maybe some other time.

Camryn shook her head slightly. The past wasn't important now; what was was Transformer's announcement. The prospect of moving up to Light Dorm was definitely exciting, but it was the talent show that really caught her attention. Ooh, a riding competition! I bet I could beat anyone at that! Plus, even if I can't, it's good experience for when I become a Turbo Duelist. I'd better go sign up right away! And with that internal mini-monologue, she wove her way out of the crowd and ran all the way to the Turbo Dueling arena, finding Ryder signing up two other girls, whom she recognized somewhat. She mentally dubbed them "weirdo birb girl" and "perv/10", using what she remembered from what little she had seen of their personalities, and got in line behind the two, panting slightly from her run over.

Nathaniel walked out of the first floor lobby with a wrinkle in his brow as he weighed his options. He could rule out the race immediately. And while he wasn't a bad swimmer, he also wasn't great at it either. That really just left the athletics and the talent show.

Nathaniel had always been fairly limber, and he had been getting some physical conditioning with Brad. Still, acrobatics seemed way out of Nathaniel's league. In the controlled environment of an Action Field and with Solid Vision assistance, then maybe. But there was no way Nathaniel could just do that by himself.

So that only really left him with the talent show, although even then, Nathaniel still felt himself with a sense of dread. He remembered back to his embarrassing display during his placement duel. Getting in front of those same people again and performing for them did not distill him with any sense of confidence. Still, it was his only realistic option. Perhaps he could just go with something low-key. His mother had taught him the piano. Maybe heading to the music venue would be a good starting point.

With that, Nathaniel headed into the elevator and rode up to floor 3.

The days since all the bad shit happened that Maisy somehow avoided by the seat of her pants passed by her like normal, mostly filled with studying and trying to find ways for her deck to improve. And also trying not to scream everytime Transformer talked. He is a scary man, don't think he ain't. Luckily, Maisy was getting used to it, so she was only cold sweating a tiny bit. The wonders of modern deodorant.

Gulping nervously as she heard the bit about "Some will rise and some will fall". She hadn't managed to pull off many wins in her time here...did that mean she was going to get demoted? Or expelled!? Shaking the thoughts of a humiliating expulsion from her mind, Maisy figured that if she wanted to stay where she was, she needed help...or to get luckier. But one was way more easy and actually possible, so she wanted to go with the former. For now though, she knew that what Transformer was talking about sounded pretty fun! Competitions that weren't dueling, and that didn't randomly involve dueling, like eating cucumbers after eating spells and traps, and riding on a roller coaster while dueling and also trying not to die.

Wondering for a moment if she should make her breakout debut as a stand up comedian in the talent competition, the sound of an Acrobatics competition seemed like her best bet. She was, an Action Duelist, after all. One who had taken Gymnastics lessons throughout grade school. Smiling confidently, Maisy knew she could definitely have a shot at something as simple as that, and ran off to...screw it, today she'd take the stairs up! Figuring it'd help to get her back into a semblance of an athletic mindset, Maisy decided to jog up the nine flights of stairs to go sign up for Acrobatics. "I just hope they don't make me wear some Cirque duel Soleil outfit..."

Leander Xenovia

Leander stood waiting as he stared at Transformer at the podium. Currently nothing of significance was happening, but it seemed that that would soon change. Transformer began his announcement about the possible rank change that would occur for the students, then quickly moved on to the multiple events that would take place. At first, Leander was merely curious about the events. None of them were related to Duel Monsters at all, after all. A couple of them did sound fun, though, so that was a good thing. Transformer also announced that there would be rewards for winning the events, which made Leander instantly hyped for them. An awesome new spanking hot Duel Disk and a one-of-a-kind card? Leander certainly could not resist such a treat.

First things first, though, was actually picking an event to participate in. The Races were clearly out of the question because he was not part of the Turbo Dueling class, so that left Swimming, Acrobatics, and the Talent show. Leander also crossed Swimming off the list. He actually had no idea how to swim, and attempts to do so in the past caused him to sink like a stone. The Talent show sounded fun, but Leander didn't know what to do for that event. He thought about it a little, but ultimately decided to disregard that one as well. That meant there was one lucky winner on his list of choices: the Acrobatics event. With his mind set, Leander ran off towards the elevator, intent on reaching the Gym on the tenth floor.

---

Michelle Kine

The lack of anything happening, combined with Transformer's stern gaze at all the students, made Michelle wonder what was even going to happen. From the atmosphere, it seemed like there would be an announcement, though what that announcement would be about Michelle had no idea. Fortunately, Transformer was already beginning the announcement. Michelle was somewhat concerned about what her current position would be, but that thought was quickly pushed aside with the other announcement about the other events. A talent show, swimming, and acrobatics? Michelle doubted she would be decent at any of them. Acrobatics was out of the question, considering she wasn't exactly the athletic type. The same went for Swimming, plus she was a little too self-conscious about wearing a swimsuit to do such a thing comfortably. As for the talent show, well..... as far as Michelle could tell, she had no talents worth showing off.

All in all, not a great selection to choose from. Still, perhaps they were worth watching. Michelle had little idea which one should would actually pick, but she figured she would come to a decision later. For now, she decided to head over to an elevator. Michelle set off, letting fate choose her path.

Joshua spent the next couple of days going through the norms of school life, trying to stay awake through the classes that didn't involve his ability to hear being reduced by an overly loud old man, living through the classes that did, and enjoying the occasional duel when he had the chance and could find an opponent to do so with. This day was definitely a little different though, as he and the rest of his fellow first years were gathered up and brought to the ground floor where Transformer was standing on his own private bit of floating metal.
"Great, the human megaphone has his own private grandstanding stage." He muttered before listening to the announcement. The news of people being moved up and down in the dorms was no surprise to him, he kind of figured that would happen at some point. He also figured that he was likely going to be one of the ones to fall. Well, if that was the case, he would deal with it. The only part of the announcement that he really cared about was the announcement of the competitions. He immediately knew which one he would go for and set off to sign up, but before he could, another boy approached, talking about... something about samurai. "Sorry mate, but I know nothing about samurai. This is simply how I like to dress. So I can't help you with something like that. Sides, I plan on signing up for the acrobatics competition, if I can get more details on it. If it aint my thing... well, guess I'll put up with this disc a bit longer. Anyway, good luck with your samurai thing."

With that being said, Joshua headed to the gym.



Amelia went through the school days as best she could, keeping up her studies, learning to live through Transformer's shouting, and trying to improve her dueling skills. She had learned to avoid the students in purple uniforms and made sure to do so as best she could, usually with a good deal of success. This day, she was gathered with her peers, though she remained as distant as possible. After listening to Transformer, she went over what he said. The thought of being promoted and demoted didn't scare her. She was already in the lowest dorm, so she had nothing to fear... right. As for the events, she would have to pass on them. She couldn't do the swimming or acrobatic events, given her heart condition. She doubted that she would be able to wear a swimsuit in front of a crowd anyway, the mere thought causing her face to become very red. She knew nothing about racing so she would have to pass on that and she had no talents to speak of in her mind. Sighing, she got up and headed off to find something to eat.

Megan listened to Transformer talk, freshly amazed every time he spoke at the amount of volume he could put out. It was quite exciting really. They were getting rank adjustments, playing in special events with the tantalizing rewards of custom discs and one of a kind cards. The first contest that caught Megan's eye was the swimming one. She'd spent a year on the swim team. Oh and Transformer picked up the podium and walked out with it. That was a thing that happened. More support for Megan's secret belief that the man was a cyborg or robot of some kind. Anyway. Megan quickly ran up to floor 7 to get into a swimsuit, scope out the competition, and get a little practice in.

Hayate, who had left her brother straight after hearing the announcement, was excited about the competitions. Hayate was going to drag Hayato into whatever she would join, but she really couldn't wait to sign up. She rushed to her room to get her swimsuit. While in her room, she wondered if acrobatics would have been a better choice. Hayate opted to go for swimming anyway since she always loved the thrill of racing in a group.

Hayate had quickly started to repack her bag once again, taking out most of her crafting paper since she wouldn't want it to get all soggy and unfoldable. Hayate quickly left her room and ran to take the stairs towards to the pool to sign up. It did not take her too long to arrive at the pool. Sadly, due to her habit of running, she slipped. The girl was able to break her fall by swiftly transitioning into a short roll forward and sighed afterwards. "That was a close one... General! I am here to sign up for the swimming competition," Hayate said. She completely forgot his title wasn't General but Colonel, unfazed by the fact she almost fell onto the hard poolside floor.

Hayato sighed in response to the other person leaving and scratched his head "I'll have to find myself a teacher to help me out instead then" Hayato said to himself searching for teachers to ask for the stuff he needs for his backup plan

Ignia was inside the crowd. By herself without Ethel. So she was noticeably not the happiest but at least she was alert to her surroundings as she didn't have a person whom she admired distracting her. The whole rising and falling thing didn't distract Ignia at all because if she still got to be with Ethel, her friend, ranking didn't really matter. Ignia was going to become a pro Duelist with Ethel's help! So when the competitions were spoken out by the announcer. Ignia had already decided her position... Whatever the hell Ethel was doing. Did Ignia see herself as partially obsessive about her 9/10 friend? Probably. Most definitely. Then out of the crowd, a hand with a blue sleeve grabbed her and without a word pulled her out. It took her only a moment to realise which person it was, mostly cause of the voice. Ethel was doing the usual of leading the way. Of course, Ignia would follow.

The entire journey was basically silent but they arrived at the spot Ignia had suspected the entire time. They were at the Turbo Dueling arena, not to duel this time sadly but instead they were doing something that could be seen as 'almost' equally as fun. Either way at Ethel's suggestion of signing up Ignia was noticeably pleased, after all, Ethel was the one who had picked her out of the crowd and asked her if she wanted to sign up. It made Ignia feel wanted for once. Speaking up she said. "Ryder I also want to sign up as well." She was grinning while she said it, obviously, this was making her feel happy. Then Angelo came over and the smile disappeared from her face like a breeze in the middle of autumn.

She had a very skewed perspective of Angelo from what she had seen. So she wasn't completely happy when he came over but it seemed he had business with Ethel to do with the Duel runners so Ignia kept her own mouth shut. Hoping that whatever was happening was over soon enough.

Ryder nodded at Ethel and Ignia, who both voiced their desire to be a part of the raise. "All right, let me just jot that down... You girls are the first to sign up," the teacher shared with the duo. Not too long after Angelo entered the room, also wanting to be a part of the race. "Hey, hey! Angelo! I didn't doubt you signing up, you have a lot of confidence. Still, don't get complacent. Sudden surprises throw you for a loop, I've noticed!" Ryder openly joked with Angelo, trying to get a nice mood going. Then Camryn popped out from behind the boy. "Camryn! You too, huh? Sheesh, you kids are just flooding in. Good thing you're claiming your spots so soon, at this rate we'll be full in no time!" The black haired teacher voiced how pleased he was. Seems like the kids really liked driving. He quickly typed in Camryn's data into the system, registering her as the 4th racer. "Oh, right," Ryder suddenly said before anyone could flee. "The race isn't going to be held on our tracks. Our school's been working together with the 'Fudo Research and Advancement Company' to develop some new technology that we're going to debut with the race. It's really neat," Ryder explained. He then shifted his attention back to that laptop, as if glued to the screen. "The tracks are free to practice and you can theoretically duel if you want, but I don't recommend it at the moment. If we find a duel to be occupying a track for too long, we'd need to remotely shut it down so people can practice."

---

On floor three was a music venue much like Transformer described. Nathaniel had rather awkward timing, since the room he stepped into had a serene melody resounding within. It looked a bit standard, podium in front with desks scattered at random. Several students were playing several instruments in harmony, but they were soft and gentle. There was an acoustic guitar played by a green haired girl in Light in the corner of the room, the flute played by Shiyu somewhere in the back, a harp being played by a dark dorm student of all things along the leftmost part of the wall and a soft piano tune from the front, played by a black haired boy in Earth who seemed to stare attentively at the music sheet in front of him. Everyone was so lost in the song that they completely ignored Nathaniel, playing on without a care. The song itself had something melancholic to it, a slow pace with notes that evoked the feeling of reaching for something that has long passed. It repeated the same few sounds often, but always mixed them up to make new combinations and drive up the symphony. It came to a climax about midway with a bombastic display, then slowly trickled out the energy until it was just a few simple notes to end it with.

Once it was over, someone started clapping from the rightmost wall. Behind a desk sat Mei Rayne, the fusion instructor. She had a neutral look on her face, but it wasn't bad. "You four certainly are improving. You're still missing a few notes in the middle though, and Alex seems to struggle with keeping up the consistent pace still. It's improving, though." Mei instructed the four, who didn't really respond outside of a few murmurs and a nod. Shiyu was the first to notice Nathaniel enter, flinching. "Uh, miss, I think someone has some business with you," the boy told her. "I told you, just call me by my name. I hate being called 'Miss'." A bit annoyed, Mei turned her head towards the door to look at Nathaniel. "Honestly, I saw you enter a little while ago. I just didn't want to bring it up to not disrupt their performance. What brings you here?" she asked Nathaniel, a small smile playing across her lips.

---

In the gym stood Melchior with a microphone, golden ponytail swaying side-to-side violently alongside his head. "NO NO, THAT'S WRONG!" Melchior screamed into the microphone and the scream came back. It rang loudly in the room, deafening both the students already inside as well as Maisy, Joshua and Leander whom had just entered. You couldn't quite tell what year the students were from since they weren't in uniform, but they looked older so it was probably the second or third. They were practicing basketball, apparently, as the ball that had just missed the hoop stuttered and landed in Maisy's hands. "Could you please toss that back to us?" one of the female students asked her. Melchior turned his gaze towards the trio who'd entered. "Oh my, Excuse me!" he spoke, still into the microphone. The volume was set so high that this deafened everyone in the room once again, including the bombastic announcer himself. Speaking of whom, he seemed to stand on an incredibly heightened vault. Melchior carefully moved away the microphone from his mouth before speaking again. "These students wanted to play a match and get some commentary, so I obliged. What's bringing you here?" Melchior asked quizzically. One of the older students quickly added "You three are free to join in, if you want. We're down a player for Celice's team, anyway." 'Celice' seemed to be the blue-haired female who asked them to toss the ball back earlier, who whipped her head around with a look of annoyance on her face. "We're fine, Styve!" she shouted back at him.

---

Hayate's excitement wasn't a good thing, it seemed. She nearly fell down and almost hurt herself badly which would have earned enough ire from Colonel, but then she misnamed him as 'General'. Whilst it was a higher rank, Colonel has not yet earned himself the right to be called that. "HAYATE! How many TIMES do I have to TELL you that RUNNING is FORBIDDEN in the POOL?! And I have made it CLEAR that my rank is COLONEL and not GENERAL!" Colonel shouted at her angrily. "I will GRANT your REQUEST to enter the SWIMMING COMPETITION. But as a PUNISHMENT for RUNNING you will have to make EXTRA HOMEWORK on XYZ SUMMONING! Now go get CHANGED so you can PRACTICE!" Colonel finished lecturing the excitable student, then noticed another sneaking in through the door. "MEGAN! I ASSUME you are here to SIGN UP too?" Colonel shouted at the red-haired girl.

---

The dark dorm hallways were surprisingly empty when Vincent came to visit. Not a single soul was in sight. They must be somewhere else or locked up in their room, because this wasn't normal. But a few tremors might have given away the cause. Something gigantic was slowly stepping towards vincent. Each footstep felt like- no, WAS a miniature quake. The quakes got more intense the closer the figure drew, until they stopped. When Vincent would turn around, he'd see the chiseled chest of the most infamous teacher of the entire school towering over him. "GULFUS VINCENT," Transformer started off. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE DARK DORM HALWAYS? YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO WALK AROUND HERE. HEAD BACK TO YOUR OWN DORM." The tall structure of a man commanded the (comparatively) small boy.

---

Ethel looked pleased at Ignia's reply, her mouth softly curling up into a small smile and her eyebrows softening from their usual stiffness. Then, Angelo entered and the breeze that hit Ignia seems to have washed over Ethel as well. Her face instantly transformed into a scowl. Still, after Ryder's explanation finished it didn't seem like he had any plans of hitting on her. "Then it's done in time for the race," she flatly stated. It was more to affirm her own conclusion than really something to keep the conversation going. "I'll pass." she responded to the invitation, then grabbed Ignia's hand and dragged her over to a nearby bench. She wanted to avoid Angelo as much as possible. Ethel sat down with a sigh, motioning for Ignia to take a seat next to her. "I don't get him." Ethel started the conversation, folding her arms onto her legs. "One moment he's perverted. The next he acts as if we're friends. Then he's business." she started to vent, the scowl softening a little. "He's... Inconsistent. Why?" She asked a bit blankly, resting her head on the wall behind her. "Your opinion?" Ethel asked Ignia that question. She'd turned her head towards her, a questioning look overtaking Ethel's features. Honestly, Ethel didn't get to spend a lot of time with her friend like this. She's always hopping from one class to another, or getting caught up in a duel with someone.

---

Haas finished changing. His black and blue swimming trunks had never failed him! He stepped out of the changing room with confidence, spotting Hayate nearly breaking a nose near Colonel. The boy flinched at the sight, then sighed in relief as she saw her recover. Then the teacher started to shout loud enough for the whole room to hear. Hayate wanted to swim as well, huh? "An energetic girl such as her... I've got my competition cut out for me!" Haas thought to himself, then looked at the pool. One-hundred meters in length, five meters deep near the diving boards and one meter deep near the changing rooms. He'd have to be able to clear the entire length in as short of a time as possible, three times. "No time like the present..." he mumbled to himself. The boy calmly walked over to the other side and waited for a few people to dive in before standing on one of the platforms. Lane three was a little occupied, but wasn't crowded enough to not let him get through.

"Alright, here I go!" Haas shoutted to himself and took a deep breath. He stretched out his arms, bent forward and jumped. He entered the water like a bullet, going in fast but slowing down halfway. Haas quickly swam up to the top and drew breath before stretching out his left arm and swinging it forward. He started to do the 'Crawl', the standard swimming method if you wanted to go for speed. He felt the water smoothly being parted as he swam, holding his breath and breathing in when necessary. Around midway he dove into the water, just as a test, and tried to go up as fast as possible again. Resuming the crawl, it didn't take too long for Haas to reach the other end of the pool. He climbed out to look at his first time. One minute and a half. Even accounting for the small dive into the pool, that was still way too short for a single lap. And the competitions were within a week. He'd have to practice hard, it seems. "Ugh... Great." Haas complained and made his way back over to the diving platforms. This time he'd try two lengths, just to see how it goes.

A Angelo worked on Ethel's runner Angelo considered the words of his instructor. Sudden surprises threw Angelo for a loop? He didn't know that was the case but then again it was the instructor who could best tell the weaknesses of a rider. Although who wouldn't be surprised if something unexpected happened? As he worked on the runner he considered why Ethel wouldn't want to watch him make the final adjustments to her duel runner. He decided that she was with a friend so maybe she just wanted to take it all in at once.

After a few more minutes he sighed finally done with her runner. He then sent a message to Ethel 'runner finish, rating of 1-5 on your satisfaction. If dissatisfied for any reason will readjust for no extra charge'. Once the message was sent he grabbed his tools and put her runner under a sheet so she could reveal it herself. He then went back to the main building so he could change and put his tools away. Once he did he would go back and practice with his duel runner so he could be ready for the race. A race on the track is something he is not ready to lose.

Ben had finally gotten up with two of his group members in their wind dorm uniforms in tow. Yuma, and Zazaki were the two who decided to go along with him this time. Marie and the others deciding that it would be unfair if all six of them came along. The younger kids looked up to Ben as a guy willing to fight for them and no way was he willing to disappoint them in that regard. Ben had a duty too look out for those who couldn't find it in themselves to defend themselves or at least have the confidence to find friends. Ben saw it that he was the guy who could make other people feel better even if it meant being that clown or that guy who was the stereotypical jock leader. He didn't see it as being a tool he saw it as helping people who needed help and that's all that mattered to him at the end of the day. If he could spend his days making people smile what's not to like?

Regardless of Ben's personal thoughts Zazaki simply looked up at him as she wondered how well the 'boss' was going to do. Yuma felt that he should do his best to cheer on the boss. Both of them were simply glad to be there to support their friend. Ben walked up to the sign ups and quickly got through the whole ordeal before gong to get changed and having his friends sit down somewhere. Ben had quickly stopped on the way down to the pool to grab his own swimming trunks he had packed just in case he heard there was a swimming location nearby. Good thing he was prepared.