It's the start of the new year, with the principal having gathered every student from every dorm to the duel arena. It was time for the yearly announcement, there for the benefit of the first years that had just arrived from the docks. Some second and third year students arrived later, however, but not without a scolding from the staff at the scene.

The principal steps forward after confirming every student has arrived. “Very well, it appears everyone is here!” He announced through his microphone, audibly clearing his throat after.

“So, as you all know, another year dawn upon our esteemed academy. I am proud to have all of you as students, and to see all who were here last year back at the academy safe and sound. However, this year is not like the others. Regretfully, Mr. Masao Noboru, former head of the Fire dorm and veteran of the academy, has resigned. However, his replacement has arrived today alongside our first-year students,” the principal droned on, taking a step back.

“Please show yourself now, Ms. Nonaka.” He gestures over to one of the entrances, out of which a young woman gracefully walked. She took to the stage set up for the principal, taking the microphone in hand and looking up at the seated students.

“Ah, greetings everyone. My name is Nonoka Izumi, but just Izumi is fine.” The woman bowed politely before continuing.

“It’s… been a while since I’ve been here, honestly. I was just like all of you, sitting on one of those many seats, looking down at our principal’s boring speeches every year. I graduated about seven years ago here, from the Water dorm. I guess I was the winner of that year, but I don’t really feel like I deserved it all that much. Pro dueling has never really been a passion for me, so I quit and decided to study to become a teacher instead. It’s actually kind of a dream come true to be here again with all of you. It’s a little ironic I’ll be the head of the Fire dorm now, but I hope to learn as much from each of you as you’ll learn from me!”

“...Thank you, miss Nonaka. Your introduction was very… flattering.” The principal commented as he took the microphone back from the new teacher, mild annoyance reflecting in his body language. He cleared his throat again and threw out his free arm to the side, posturing as if he wants to give his students a big hug.

“Now, I won’t bother you any longer with one of my boring speeches. I’m sure there’s one event you all can’t wait to see: Our yearly exhibition match! We were on a bit of a short notice, but we have a volunteer from the Synchro dorm. He wished to announce his opponent publically, so would you please take the stage for a moment?”

Before the Principal had finished speaking a white blur had shot through the crowd at sonic speeds. They dashed their way through a maze of seats and down the stairwell, bolting straight through to the central stage and sliding to a halt once he was there. A student with short blonde hairs jumped up next to the principal and snatched the microphone away from him, sending a loud ringing noise echoing throughout the colosseum.

“Hahahaha! It is I, the great Ryuji Ryumine, strongest dragon tamer of Harmonia- nay, the world! There are but two of my eternal rivals seated among you, faux tamers who claims heir to my throne! But one of them has consistently challenged my greatness! One that stands out above all other dragon users! I challenge thee, o imposter of legend! Their name, etched into the minds of the common folk, merely whispered in the depths of night, oh that very name is…!”

“Ah, excuse me?” Izumi suddenly interrupted Ryuji’s grandstanding, gently picking up the microphone from his hands. “It may be a bit sudden, but I actually had an idea while I was on the way to here. Instead of showcasing the students this year, I’d like to propose a duel between two teachers. I don’t want my students to feel uneasy around me, so I’d like to show what I’m made of instead.”

“If that's the case, how about the teacher and student have a bout for ol’ times sake?!” a voice rang out from the crowd as a man rose up. It was none other than Wataru, current head of the Water dorm. “If you win, maybe I’ll even tell you the tale where I caught a 95 pound salmon using nothing but my fishing rod and a rickety rowboat!” the man boasted with boisterous laughter from the crowd, eliciting groans from the students seated around him.

“If that’s what you wish, then I have no objections. I’m sure nobody here will have any either,” the principal says, with the boy from Synchro behind him about to point dramatically in order to shout ‘Objection!’ “...other than Ryuji. Well, you two may take over from here. If you need me, I will be in my office.” he says, confident that Wataru knows how the arena works.

Soon enough, Wataru was facing Izumi in the central arena. The two biggest arenas had platforms to hoist the duelists up into the air once it’s registered both disks, giving both of them a good birds eye view of the field. Wataru stood steadfast with his fishing rod turned Duel Disk, while Izumi calmly glanced down at her old Academy-licensed Water-dorm modeled Duel Disk. The graceful design resembling the waves of the ocean still soothed her this many years down the line.

“Don’t think I’ll hold back because you were my top student 4 years ago,” Wataru said with complete confidence, even though he had gotten how long it had really been totally wrong. Izumi giggled a little in response, seeing as how her old teacher hadn’t changed one bit. Their voices resounded through the speakers all around the arena, with their expressions being visible on the monitors mounted all around.

“If you held back, you’d lose faster than the time you caught a shark while dueling a sailor on his boat,” Izumi joked, then pointed to her old mentor with a confident grin. “Since I’ve been gone for a while, it’s only fair I let you have the first turn!”

The air was palpable in the stadium as a stiff breeze whooshed by, the match between teacher and student about to commence. Each of them took a deep breath before resolutely shouting:



Turn 1: Wataru

4000 LP flashed next to both players in a transparent window. Wataru drew his first five cards, speaking to Izumi as he did.“If you insist, then I’ll take my turn!”

The man scanned his cards, grinning when he saw what his opening move was going to be..

“Wahahaaa! Prepare to be reunited with my terrifying Fish deck! I play my field spell: The Legendary Ocean from my hand!” Wataru declared, throwing down his spell card into a slot that opened from the side of his disk. An ancient ruin rose up from the ground, reaching all the way up to both duelists. The floor below became an ocean, submerging large parts of the structures.

“I don’t need to explain to you that a field spell stays on the field and gives both of us an effect! In this case, the WATER monsters in our hand have their levels decreased by one, allowing me to summon one of the fiercest, most terrifying ocean creatures! Appear, my TERRORKING SALMON!!”

Storm clouds formed above both duelist’s heads as lightning struck around Wataru, with the card he proudly thrust into the air glowing ominously. The waves below became violent and started to swirl, creating a vortex of water. Once the storm calmed a shadow was swimming down in the sea, springing up into the air very briefly to show the crowd a glimpse of its giant, scaly figure.

Terrorking Salmon: 2400 ATK Level 5>4 WATER Fish

“GYAHAHA! Cower before the mighty salmon! Not only that, but my field spell’s effect activates to give all my WATER monsters an extra 200 ATK! I’ll set one card and end my turn!”

Wataru’s monster powered up as another card materialised behind it, the duelist taking a boisterous posture and having a broad grin directed straight at his opponent.

Terrorking Salmon: 2400 > 2600 ATK

Wataru’s Field: Terrorking Salmon, 1 Set card, A Legendary Ocean
Wataru’s Hand: 2 cards

Turn 2: Izumi

“Salmon again? Hm... I could’ve sworn you did this same turn when we last dueled, say… back when I was a student?” Izumi playfully rebutted, giving Wataru a wink before placing her hand over her deck.

“Here I go, teach! Draw!”

Sitting with the rest of his Wind Dorm students, Yute silently praises Izumi for the Principal skipping his boring speech. Terry, whose sitting beside Yute finds the duel to be awesome. "I don't think i've ever seen the Teachers duel each other before, who do you think'll win." He moves his shoulder a bit to let Yute know he was talking to him. Turning towards Terry slighty Yute says, "I'll go with the new teacher, Wataru doesn't seem like he can push out much."

"Do you think she's using a fire based deck?" Thinking to himself for a few seconds, Yute turns his attention to Terry again. "She probably hasn't had time to change her deck up. I'd say she's using her own deck." Laying back in his chair Yute lets out a sigh. At first glance it'd look like Yute is just ignoring the duel, but he's actually watching carefully, wanting to see Izumi's duel style.

A duel rather than a boring speech, boo yah! What better way to start off the new year? Lance was eager to see the two teachers go head to head. Ryuji was funny but would probably show a less exciting duel to be honest. It was technically at teacher against teacher duel, but it felt more like a student proving they had surpassed their teacher than two equal rivals. "And Wataru leads off by summoning a powerful monster and taking control of the field, how will Izumi respond against such a powerful turn 1 monster?" Lance said to himself as he watched excited by the duel that was to come.

Akane shook her head an Lance's monologue and adjusted her glasses as she turned to watch the duel. It should be interesting to see two teachers go at it, perhaps she could learn a thing or two. The notebook the perpetually was by her side was raised and she twirled a pencil through her fingers as she watched.

Gaku was similarly excited by the immediate dueling action and promptly shouted, "Go get-em Izumi, show-em what for!", pumping his fist into the air. It was unclear as to why exactly he had chosen Izumi as person to cheer for, but doing it he was. Perhaps he liked the thought of the youth defeating their elders.

Hiroji merely observed silently, more interested in judging every student there as inferior to him and by exactly how much.

Tina was talking animatedly with one of her friends in Light Dorm, seemingly barely aware there was even a duel going on, instead asking about where that earring had come from, it was so shiny and detailed.

The sun shined down on the massive crowd of Fire Dorm students that had gathered atop the volcano. Many muttered to each-other, some in relief, some confused, others saddened. Masao Noboru had taught the majority of them for several years, with a body that looks like he was ready to suplex a Battle-Ox, and the lung capacity to shout every minute of every day. He was straight to the point and kept everyone busy, always saying there's a way to step beyond the limits a duelist currently finds themself at. That was something a lot of students took to heart.

Such words were probably the reason Machi was on top now; Though his competition hadn't made it easy on him. Hell, Noboru-Sensei didn't, either! The guy was so persistent, but that was a trait they shared: While they shouted during class, they got along great during meal time. Though all those fun times were coming to an end, today...

"Listen, all of you!" Their teacher shouted, his voice making almost everyone stand straight. The large, muscular man crossed his arms that looked almost the size of tree trunks as he looked down at his students. "I've spent MANY years training and teaching the students of Fire Dorm to break past their limits and be the best they can be! To--"



A great amount of students shouted back, enthusiastic. Many of the students pumped a fist into the sky, Machi included, though some of his fellow top students didn't share the moment. Kien was still half-asleep, simply staring at the scene in a blurry haze, and Kotone was honestly terrified by all of the noise, despite being a little used to it.

Otoishi offered a wave with a grin on his face, though stood out from the rest of the students. The only one who followed with Machi and the crowd was Sinata, who seemed to be energetic due to the atmosphere.

"THAT'S RIGHT!" Masao shouted back, a huge grin on his face. He slowly walked forward, eyes narrowing a bit and smile turning into a straight line as he stood over the official ranked top 5 of his dorm. They weren't the exact image he had for 'best of the best' but they still all had their own beliefs, and passions that they expressed while dueling; Their spirits were extremely strong.

"I'm entrusting this dorm's future to all of you! It's time for me to move on, and find a way to break past -MY- limits! You all are the last students to learn my teachings, and I expect you to continue following them towards success!" He spoke loudly, with a sense of pride. Regardless of the mistakes and idiocy over the years, it was clear he still cared about his students. "And YOU!" He added, snatching Machi up by the shirt and pulling him up to eye level. Kotone quickly flickered over to hiding behind Sinata now that Machi was gone.

"You're the top of this dorm now! You better continue using my teachings the most, because it's what got you there! I expect you to not disgrace the flaming hot teachings of dueling like an I d i o t!!"

"You're asking a bit much out of him, Noburu-Sensei!" Sinata commented, grinning.

Bushy eyebrows stroking downwards in anger, Machi glared down at Sinata. "What the hell does that mean?!"

"It MEANS you better not screw things up!" Masao shouted, the sheer force from the shout causing the boy's hair to blow back.

"Y-Yes, sensei!" Machi responded, letting out a yelp as Masao dropped him to the ground. Machi stood back up, watching as his former teacher turned away, walking towards the edge. He looked down into the pit, giving everyone a moment of thought.

"So... Nobody is going to ask why Noboru-Sensei has a boat up here?" Kien spoke up, glancing at the others.

"He has to sail off the island, right?" Machi replied, blinking. Glancing over, he noticed now that their teacher had brought a sailboat. Only someone with his brute strength could carry something like that up the whole volcano...

"But like, why bring it all the way up here? It'd be a bummer to carry it all the way down..." Otoishi added, tired from just the idea.

Overhearing them, Masao turned; Staring at them with a firm expression.



To the surprise of everybody, the volcano began to rumble. Panic set in for the students as Masao picked up the sailboat with one arm, holding it over his shoulder. With his other hand, he saluted his students.

"Continue your path to success! Prove that Fire Dorm truly is the strongest of all the dorms! I have faith in all of you!"

Without skipping a beat, Masao jumped into the volcano.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

Everyone panicked at the sight, and as the volcano shook with more intensity. Machi fell backwards as the volcano erupted, shooting a stream of lava high into the sky. Laughter could be heard, and as the students looked up, their teacher was sailing atop the lava burst! They all stared in disbelief as they watched the boat fly far into the distance, a twinkle appearing in the sky as the man disappeared from sight.

---

While most students considered the speech boring, Fire Dorm was at full attention: They were getting a new teacher, and listened intently to every word... Or, at least most of them did.

"Wake up!" Sinata shouted, elbowing Kien. The chubby boy snorted, eyes shooting open. The new teacher was introducing herself; She was a bit young, and certainly a lot different than Noboru. He felt satisfied knowing that things could potentially be a bit calmer with her in charge, it'd make things less stressful on him.

Sinata personally couldn't be more glad; A strong female duelist as their teacher? That'd be awesome! A former student that came back as a teacher, too... Something Sinata personally thought would be a good idea for herself, which felt more fortified now that she was seeing such a reality in front of her for somebody else. If she tried hard, she could be introduced like that one day.

"She looks a bit softer than Noboru-Sensei..." Kotone commented quietly, finding some peace in the idea. She'd appreciate the lack of shouting everyday, at the very least. Though she did seem very nice.

"She's hot." Otoishi said bluntly, to which Sinata stood from her seat to punch Otoishi since he was sitting a row below her. A comical-sized knot appeared on the guitarist's head as she sat back down, trying to pay attention. Kien chuckled at the sight, simply shrugging as Otoishi glanced at him.

As the talk of the exhibition match came up, Machi was on the edge of his seat. He wished he was the one dueling; He watched Ryuji, almost wanting to jump down there and start a match, though the guy got interrupted by Fire Dorm's new teacher... Who wanted to duel against another teacher! Damn, if only she decided to choose a Fire Dorm student! But two teachers going head to head would be a good duel regardless! Especially since one was the former student of another!

The duel started off strong, too. Wataru proved to be a dangerous opponent right off the bat, which actually caught Kien's attention. "A monster with 2600 Attack Points on the first turn... It may prove difficult to get rid of." He commented, focusing on the match now.

Machi rose from his seat, raising one leg and placing his foot onto the back of a chair in the row below him. He brought a fist in front of him as he shouted down at his new teacher. "You've got this! Fire Dorm is behind ya, roast that fish!"

"Why do you have to make a fool of yourself...?" Sinata questioned, sighing.

"Go sensei! You can do it!”

Jasmine bounced on her feet, standing on tiptoes as she shouted her encouragement through cupped hands. She was so excited to see a duel between two teachers; especially since it was her teacher starting off the duel with his signature field spell and a strong monster. Turning her head this way and that she looked around to see if any of the Water dorm students around her were going to take up the cheering with her, but to her dismay no one seemed willing to do so.

Sitting next to her, Kanna didn’t seem to have even noticed her shouting, so intent she was on watching the duel; she was leaning all the way forward, elbows on her knees and hands folded under her chin while her eyes held their usual scary intensity. On Kanna’s other side Touma was also watching closely, leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed over his chest.

Asahi and Keita were nowhere to be seen unfortunately. They arrived early to claim the front row seats for themselves at Kanna’s insistence, but Asahi had refused their invitation and said he would arrive later. He was probably sitting somewhere at the back by himself as usual; the thought of it made Jasmine a little sad and she made a note to go spend time with him later. Meanwhile they hadn’t even been able to find Keita, and it was anyone’s guess if he had even remembered to show up. Maybe another student had dragged him along with them.

With a sigh Jasmine retook her seat, but was out of it again almost immediately as she leaned over to speak to the others. “So who do you think is going to win?”

Touma shifted in his seat to look at her, before turning back to the arena. His heavy brow crinkled in thought as he considered the duel. “Well, it’s only been one turn so it’s hard to say. Wataru summoned a good monster and the other teacher is only new, so maybe she isn’t that experienced yet? But we haven’t even seen what deck she has and Wataru isn’t exactly the best duellist at the academy.”

“He got his field spell out early, that’s good for him. It’s a strong spell and he knows how to use it to his advantage.”

Turning towards the best duellist in the Water dorm, Jasmine and Touma were surprised to hear Kanna suddenly speak up. Though, from the way she hadn’t moved and with how quiet she was it was like she was speaking only to herself.

Kanna should know very well how strong A Legendary Ocean could be as she had used it for years in her old deck, before switching to Nekroz. Wataru couldn’t use it as well as her father did but it was still a powerful tool in the right hands.

“Terrorking Salmon has fairly high attack so it will be difficult to beat on the first turn, and he has a card set for protection; it all depends on what Miss Nonaka does next.” Kanna turned to look at her teacher’s opponent with a slight crease on her brow. “Although, Wataru has always been a better teacher than a duellist. It wouldn’t surprise me if his student was better than him.”

"Honestly, I think it's a miracle that anyone graduated under this guy..." One of the many young men amongst the student body smirked. "Bluster, theatrics and attack points? None of those things really win duels now, do they?" Kota flatly stated with a self-satisfied smugness.

"Kurosawa! There's nothing wrong with having fun with your duelling is there? Besides, all of the tutors are masters, even the other ones to ours!" Rie interjected, almost bouncing on the spot. "Anyway, what's Mr. Second Place know about winning anything?"

"For you, I'll ignore that comment this time. Don't say that again. Speaking of you, where's everyone else?"

"Present and correct." came a voice from behind the two, his accent noticably separating him from the rest of the student body. For the most part Leo looked like he had only just risen from his bed, although the truth was that he had almost never actually headed to sleep in dread of the new year starting. "I can't find Ayane anywhere and Tetsuya said something about 'waking him up before noon'."

"Well, it's up to them if they wanna miss the first duel of the year, now quiet and lemme watch!" Rie rebutted, raising a hitherto-unseen foam finger into the air. "Whoo! Somebody kick somebody's butt!"

Ryuuji had solemnly made his way back to the seat next to Hyousuke, who gave him a pat on the back out of pity. Masaru slowly turned his head to look backwards over his shoulder at the duo, as he was seated in the row in front of them.

"If you wanted to make us look bad, you've done a great job out there." Masaru growled to his dorm-mate.

"Come on, dude. Ryuuji couldn't have known the chick was going to steal his thunder," Hyou responded in an attempt to mediate the situation. Masaru jerked his head away from the two of them while Emi, who was seated next to him, didn't even bother to glance in Ryuuji's direction. She remained stoic and indifferent towards the whole situation. While the dragon-boy was burying his head between his legs in utter shame and defeat, the other three looked down into the arena. Hyousuke leaned forward and crossed his arms over the back of both Masaru and Emi's seats.

"Yo, any idea where Keitaro went?" he asked, noticing the absence of their fellow top student. The blond-haired boy next to him perked up and jumped to his feet, holding out his hand in front of him.

"He has fled our honorably field of battle in pursuit of strength and mischief, an unending journey to-!"
"He's skipping out. Again."

Ryuuji grabbed his heart as if it stopped beating for a moment, the sting of Masaru interrupting his grand speech being cause enough for a cardiac arrest on its own. He slumped back into his seat as the duel started to get underway. The water dorm's teacher started off strong with his field spell, but Emi jerked up her chin at the sight.

"Weak," she commented briefly, with Masaru nodding in approval. Hyou raised his hand and laughed a little, signalling his response.

"I mean, sure, if it were me down there, I'd have synchro summoned to put on a show. But, like, the monster's still got 2600 attack you know? And then there's the set card too," he chimed in.

"He's up against a former pro. She shouldn't have any issue with something of this caliber." Emi replied in monotone.

"I'm honestly not expecting much out of her. Students back then must've been weak if they lost to the water dorm," Masaru snidely commented, glancing off to the side. He spotted their signature uniforms far off in the crowd and narrowed his eyes in disgust. The dorm was full of weaklings, even down to their champion. In fact, someone like her making it to the top proved that fact. If their best couldn't beat a duelist like that then they weren't a threat in the tournament this year. Masaru turned his attention back to the duel, as he was still intent on paying attention despite his hostile feelings. The teacher was going to be for the Fire dorm, so the show she put on would tell him a lot about their state this year.

"Now what'll you do, miss Nonaka...?"

A blue-haired student had narrowly avoided getting seen by the new Fire dorm teacher by ducking away from sight. After a while, he re-surfaced to spectate her duel with his dorm mates who were all waving to him so he could join them.

“Kaito, that’s your sister? The one you were talking about?” a girl with jet-black hair asked him after tapping him on the shoulder. She also asked “Do you think she stands a chance?” once she confirmed he was paying attention to her.

“Yeah, assuming she didn’t change her deck as it can be a terrifying thing to face. If this is the same Wataru sis wrote me about back when she still attended the school then she should have this in the bag.” Kaito responded, ready to take notes from the duel in his notebook.

“Kaito, you didn’t say anything about your sister being this cute,” a young brown haired boy suddenly spoke up to address Kaito, said boy appearing to lean forward in order to get a better look at her.

Kaito looked up from his notebook after noting down that Wataru’s style appears to be playing large monsters. “Hm? You think so? I don’t really know about it,” Kaito responded with uncertainty.

Shortly after his response, another girl pitched in. “Yeah she is, though you’re pretty cute too Kaito-kun” she teased.

“Ha? I thought you said I was the cute one!” Kou responded to Sana with surprise, taking it a little too seriously. A sigh rang out from behind the both of them.

“I feel like both of you are pretty average, honestly.” Ren responded.

Kaito turned to Ren “Nobody asked for your opinion! ...but you’re right Kou is rather average looking.”

The conversation continued for a few more moments until the black haired girl interrupted.

“I think you’re all cute, but Kaito-kun, didn't you want to watch her duel? Her turn is about to begin.” Naoki said in an attempt to stop their conversation so Kaito could watch the duel.

Kaito nodded, paused for a few seconds and then realized what Naoki said. “Oh, crap, you’re right! Guys, just leave me alone and let me watch the duel. You all talk amongst yourselves, okay?”

Izumi added the card she had drawn to her hand in favor of picking up a different one. She held it out in front of her, between the index and middle finger with the artwork facing Wataru.

“Since I don’t have any Dinomist monsters, but you have your Salmon, I can special summon my Dinomist Brachion!” Izumi declared, throwing the card down on her old academy disk. A vortex opened up beneath the two of them on the field, splitting apart the waters to make way for a steam-powered tank of a machine. Nobody was quite sure how it managed to stay afloat on the water, considering all it had were triangular caterpillar tracks to move around on and a boatload of rocket launchers on its back, but the monster managed to settle. It roared fiercely from its half-painted purple head, extending its neck upwards like the dinosaur it was modeled after.

Dinomist Brachion: 2000 ATK Level 5 WATER Machine

“...and now, I normal summon Dinomist Plesios!” Izumi continued, placing down another card. The new monster that rose from the vortex was a lot better suited to the environment, having four float pads to rest comfortably on water level. It kept its half-painted, ocean blue head close to the sea while the targeting scope jutting out from the side started to lock onto Terrorking Salmon.

Dinomist Plesios: 1700 ATK Level 4 WATER Machine

“And after that I activate Dinomic powerload! This’ll boost my attack a little further, three-hundred points to be exact!”

The spell card flashed on Izumi’s side of the field, sending electrical shocks towards both Brachion and Plesios. Their eyes lit up and they both let out a fierce howl, with their systems going into overdrive as they start powering up. At the same time, however, they seemed to shrink just a tiny bit.

Dinomist Brachion: 2000 > 2500 ATK, Level 5 > 4
Dinomist Plesios: 1700 > 2200 ATK, Level 4 > 3

“Hang on… 2500 and 2200? I swore 2000 + 300 was 2300 and 1700 + 300 was 2000… Did I miss something?” Wataru asked himself, scratching his head. After thinking it over for a minute and taking a glance down at his Duel Disk, his jaw dropped wide as he realised the mistake. “Shave my salmon! My legendary Ocean!”

“That’s right, teach! Not only that, but its additional effect will seal your trap once I attack! Speaking of which... I hope you haven't forgotten my monster effects as well,” Izumi chimed in with a wry smile, with Plesios’ targeting reticle flashing as compartments opened up from its neck. Needles launched out and pierced through the ocean, shooting right into Terrorking Salmon. The next time it jumped up from its hiding place, its strength was visibly weakened.

“...’cause for every Dinomist card on my field, your monsters lose a hundred attack points!”

Terrorking Salmon: 2600 > 2400 ATK

“Wait, but if you do that… then are you saying that my oceans are useless?!” Wataru replied in horror, fixing the jaw he dropped with his response.

“Mhm! Sorry teach, but it’s time to battle! Dinomist Brachion, attack Terrorking Salmon!” the former student declared, pointing her finger straight at Wataru.

After Izumi’s declaration, Dinomist Brachion let out a powerful roar. The firearms on its back started to unfold in full, showing a mass of explosives aimed squarely for Terrorking Salmon’s bony head. The machine bode its time, with the opportunity arising when the salmon jumped up from the surface level. In one volley, Dinomist Brachion unleashed its full arsenal on the poor fish who was soon engulfed in a cloud of steam and smoke, rocking the arena from the sheer force of the attack. When the smoke cleared, all that remained was a single plate of smoked salmon floating on the ocean surface.

Wataru: 4000 > 3900 LP

“Now that your salmon’s been roasted, my Plesios shall attack you directly!”

“Wait, did you say... directly?” Wataru responded apprehensively, slowly turning his head to look down at the ocean below.

The second machine’s eyes flashed as its targeting reticle locked onto Wataru above, with the missile compartment on the side opening up and launching one straight at the man. It hit him right in the stomach, exploding immediately upon contact. The man flew onto his back atop his platform on the sky, a cloud of smoke temporarily surrounding him. When it dissipated, Wataru was revealed to be burned to a crisp.

“T-That... didn’t hurt at all!” he defiantly rebuked, coughing up a little bit of smoke in the aftermath.

Wataru: 3900 > 1700 LP

“And with that, my turn is over… After I set two cards, of course!” Izumi ended with a wink, two cards with their backs turned upwards appearing on either side of Dinomic Powerload.

Izumi’s field: Dinomist Brachion & Plesios, 2 Set cards, Dinomic Powerload
Izumi’s Hand: 1 card

Turn 3: Wataru

Wataru groaned and pushed himself up from the hard surface of his platform, taking back his steadfast stance. He grinned broadly at Izumi, clenching his fist and inhaling a good breath of air.

“Hahaha, a passing grade! But if you think something that simple will knock me down, me, the great fisherman Wataru, then I shall show you a show once again that that is clearly false! ...after… I…. draw my card.” Wataru cleared his throat, realising he started his boast too early. His grin only widened when he saw his drawn card. His eyes darted from the card to Izumi, pointing it towards her with the face aimed at the ground.

“You’re not the only one who can summon multiple monsters from the hand! I discard my Nimble Angler to Special Summon White Stingray from my hand!” Wataru slammed his Angler in the graveyard slot, making it glow briefly as another portal opened up in the ocean. From it jumped exactly the monster which you could imagine, a white stringray with two blades at the bottom of its fins.

White Stringray: 1400 ATK Level 4 > 3 WATER Fish

“But it’s not over yet! This ocean creature is the herald of a great calamity, a mighty storm, as I activate TORRENTIAL TRIBUTE!” Wataru bellowed at the top of his lungs, the waters below becoming fierce and violent, threatening to consume every creature on its surface.

“Not today, teach! I’ve got something special lined up for you. Trap, activate! Dinomists Howling!”

The set card to the right of Izumi sprang up, revealing the artwork of two of the robotic creatures screeching on a backdrop of scorching hot lava nestled between loose rocks. A force pulse emanated from it, blurring some of the environment.

“With this, I can set two Dinomist cards from my deck directly into the Pendulum scales! Come, my scale six and three Dinomist Ankylos, Pteran!”

The sky darkened as two transparent pillars rose up behind Izumi, an orange bird creature and an armored armadillo-like dinosaur rising up inside of them. Below the prehistoric bird a large ‘3’ glowed, while a ‘6’ did the same for the armadillo. Between the two of them a beam of light was circling around itself.

“Gyahaha, impressive Izumi! But this display won’t save you from the currents below! Why, this one time I was out at sea…” Wataru began trailing off, but Izumi interrupted him before the man could get going.

“Sorry teach, but with my Dinomist Pteran I can prevent the destruction of my two monsters!” Izumi continued, the creature swooping down from its pillar to grab both Plesios and Brachion in each of its talons. As White Stingray was enveloped in the current, both of the former champion’s monsters were safe up in the sky. Once it subsided, Pteran gently put each of them down again before collapsing from exhaustion and falling deep into the sea, never to be seen again.

“And what’s more, Pteran was a Pendulum monster, which gets sent to the Extra Deck instead of my Graveyard! Seems like I foiled your plan, huh? Should’ve activated that trap last turn!” the woman teased, but Wataru merely laughed it off.

“Naïve, Izumi! It seems you still have much to learn after all! Behold!”

From the waters, two more creatures sprang up. One of them was similar to the stingray from earlier, only coloured blue at the top and was, in fact, a mantaray. The other was a small torpedo-shaped fish with two protrusions from the top and bottom.

“Due to the effect my Nimble Angler, I have Special Summoned both Nimble Manta and Nimble Sunfish!” Wataru laughed, even though his two monsters were soon weakened by Plesios.

Nimble Manta: 800 > 600 ATK Level 2 > 1 WATER Fish
Nimble Sunfish: 1000 > 800 ATK Level 2 > 1 WATER Fish

“These two will be perfect for this! I now tribute my two monsters and summon one of the mightiest creatures of the wide ocean! Behold as I summon Hyper-ancient shark Megalodon!”

The waters below started to shift again, but this time its power was so great it shook the ocean floor below as well. As the creature was rising, Wataru opened his mouth again to say “_{I caught one of these, you know! In fact...}” but his voice was drowned out as it came closer and closer. The ocean split apart, drowning out the rousing tale Wataru was telling as a gargantuan creature, a brown shark with plated metal armor at the bottom, revealed itself. It swallowed up both Sunfish and Manta in one bite, casting a shadow over part of the arena as it blocked out the sun.

“...Which is what you will be faced with now! Tremble in fear at its mighty form, hahaha!!”

Hyper-Ancient Shark Megalodon: 2900 > 2700 ATK Level 8 > 7 WATER Fish

“Don’t forget, though! With Dinomists Howling and Ankylos on my field, Plesios’ effect powers up by another two hundred!” Izumi explained as Megalodon weakened underneath the sedative effect of the chemical compound inside of Plesios’ needles.

“No worries, because I haven’t! Here it comes, Plesios! Prepare to become fish food!” Wataru declared boldly, the gargantuan monster on his field opening up its maw. This act on its own caused the currents to shift, pulling water in towards the Megalodon. Plesios was caught in the frantic shifting of the waters and couldn’t activate its jets in time to escape, making it swallowed whole once Wataru’s monster snapped its mighty jaws shut. A gust of wind shoved Izumi backwards, caused from the sheer force of the thing.

Izumi: 4000 > 3500 LP
Hyper-Ancient Shark Megalodon: 2700 > 3100 ATK

“And with that, your effect ends. If I recall correctly, pendulum monsters do not go to the graveyard and move your Extra Deck right?” Wataru asked, confirming how pendulum monsters worked. He grinned and pointed at the other monster on Izumi’s field.

“Because if so, then I will have Dinomist Brachion sail right there! With my Megalodon’s effect, I can destroy one monster after having dealt battle damage!”

Megalodon turned and slammed its tail against the water, creating a huge tidal wave which hurled itself right at Brachion. Izumi merely held out her hand in response, with Dinomist Ankylos jumping down from its pillar and extending its rough shell to act like a protective barrier, shattering it but keeping Brachion safe. Wataru cried out with a resounding “What?!” as Izumi merely waggled her finger.

“Sorry, teach! Ankylos can negate an effect targeting one of my Dinomist monsters, and moves to the Extra Deck for his troubles!”

Wataru crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking straight towards Izumi. “Very well. I still control my 3100 attack Megalodon. I’ll end my turn with that, as my hand is empty.”

Wataru’s Field: Hyper-Ancient Shark Megalodon, A Legendary Ocean
Wataru’s Hand: 0 cards

Turn 4: Izumi

“You haven’t changed a bit since my last duel with you, huh teach? It’s really awesome to see your deck back in action again, but… I think it’s about time I’ve shown you how much I’ve grown since then. Alright, my turn! Draw!”

Izumi swung her card in a wide arc, only returning a knowing smile to her deck once she saw what she drew. Wataru turned his nose up and put his hands to his hips, gazing at his former student with expectation gleaming in his eyes. “Then prove it to me by overcoming this obstacle!” he challenged Izumi, though they didn’t need words to communicate that Wataru already knew she’d make him proud.

“Here I go! With dinomist Howling’s other effect, I send Dinomist Brachion to my Extra Deck to return your Megalodon to the hand!”

Brachion let out a fierce battlecry and charged forwards, straight at Wataru’s monster. The creature was big and imposing, but also awfully slow. It did not have the time to react to the full force ramming and was knocked back into the water, but so was Brachion as it fell apart from the sheer force of the impact.

“A rookie mistake, Izumi! You’re all out of monsters now!” Wataru berated her, but his grin betrayed his true expectations.

“My deck is a Pendulum deck, teach. Pendulum monsters’ greatest strength is that they’re immortal, and I’ll prove that now! With the scale 3 Dinomist Spinos and Scale 6 Dinomist Rex, I set the Pendulum Scale!” Izumi cried out as she thrust back her arm before throwing it across her disk, bright rainbow letters on its display flashing PENDULUM. Like Pteran and Ankylos before them, Rex and Spinos rose up into two pillars on either side behind Izumi. Spinos was a red painted robot with a large fan-like portrustion from its back, while Rex looked like a classic tyrannosaurus if it had cool robot armor and guns mounted to it.

“Swinging between scales 3 and 6, my monsters shall be reborn! Pendulum Summon!”

As a portal opened up in between the two pillars and shot down four beams of light into the ocean, it started to rumble again. Izumi quickly tapped her Duel Disk again, revealing the last card on her field.

“While I summon my monsters, I activate Dinomist Rush to bring out my final monster! Come forth, Dinomist Brachion! Pteran! Plesios! Ankylos! Stegosaur!”

The ocean split apart beautifully and sent sparkles flying across the arena as all five monsters sprung up from between it. They lined up, one for one, glinstering in the beautiful sun. It reflected on Izumi as well, making her seem like the goddess of the ocean as the light breaks to form a rainbow around her. Wataru almost shed a tear of pride as he watched his old student, seeing her all grown up and independant now.

Dinomist Ankylos: 1500 > 2000 ATK Level 4 > 5 WATER Machine
Dinomist Brachion: 2000 > 2500 ATK Level 5 > 4 WATER Machine
Dinomist Plesios: 1700 > 2200 ATK Level 4 > 5 WATER Machine
Dinomist Pteran: 1800 > 2300 ATK Level 4 > 5 WATER Machine
Dinomist Stegosaur: 1600 > 2100 ATK Level 5 > 4 WATER Machine

“It’s been fun, but… I have to end it now. My dinomist! Let’s finish this off with a spectacular goodbye! Attack Wataru Directly!” Izumi declared, throwing out her hand. Wataru nodded approvingly.

“I’m proud of you, Izumi. You’ve really grown up- wait, directly?” Wataru asked briefly, doing a double take as he saw all the artillery primed and ready to fire at him. Immediately his demeanor breaks as he holds out his hands in front of him, frantically waving and shouting “Nonononono hang on for just-!”



When the smoke subsided, all you could see was a pile of smoke. Wataru’s voice rang out very distantly, but was still audible nonetheless. He was trying his best to shout “_{I’ll see you students at the doooooorrrrrmmmm…!}” and a loud crash of water soon followed it. Izumi visibly got just a little worried seeing as how she just sent him flying off to who knows where.

Machi watched on with his dorm mates as their new teacher took her first turn; The Fire Dorm champ sitting back down to watch the duel closely. She started her turn off with a special summon, and the name of the card sent him into processing-mode. He watched as the monster appeared, blinking as he observed it's form. Things seemingly clicked in Machi's head as his eyes widened.

"Hey! That monster looks like a brachiosaurus!" He said, grinning. He looked over at the others, seeming pleasantly surprised by his observation. "Our teacher must use dinosaurs too! How cool is that?!"

"Look again, Machi." Sinata responded, staring down at the monster. Machi's head tilted slightly as he glanced back at the duel. "You see the tracks? And the rocket launchers?"

Machi blinked, leaning forward with narrowed eyes as he looked at the monster again. Shortly after, he recoiled back into his seat, shocked. "Eeeeeehhh?!" Machi exclaimed, staring down at the monster. "I didn't even notice! What the hell is that about?!"

"Dinomist monsters are machine-type, with water attribute!" Sinata explained. "Makes sense, since she was a Water Dorm student. This also means she can take advantage of the field spell... Wataru might be in trouble."

They watched on as a second monster was summoned; Dinomist Plesios. Kien smiled, nodding to himself. "Heh, he's in trouble alright." He said, observing the strategy on the field.

"Why's that? Terrorking Salmon is still stronger... R-Right?" Kotone questioned, uncertain of how she was going to defeat the higher attack monster.

"Watch." Kien insisted, smile remaining.



The group continued watching, as the duel went on. Their teacher seemed to be gaining the upperhand with the help of her Dinomist cards, and the Fire Dorm was pretty hype about it. A majority of them stood up as their teacher summoned five monsters to her side of the field, planning to mount a full-scale assault on Wataru's life points.

The final blast was huge, and... Poor Wataru had gotten launched away! Though the Fire Dorm students were mostly concerned with the victory, cheering, clapping, celebrating her victory. Machi was on his feet, jumping up and down, fists shaking as he cheered. Kien remained seated but offered a small addition to the dorm's applause. Sinata stood and clapped, while Otoishi's pinkies were in his mouth, his whistling being a loud addition.

Kotone scrunched up in her seat, applauding meekly and getting overshadowed by the group she was with.

"YEAH! That was AWESOME!" Machi shouted, hyped over the duel. Why shouldn't anyone be hyped? Their new teacher just wiped the floor with Wataru, and made a great first impression on the Fire Dorm.

Student defeating teacher... It kind of made Machi wish he had challenged Noburu-Sensei before he left.

He'd duel that man one day. After he's broken his limits and increased his talent as a duelist. However long that took...

"A quick response using the enemies field against him resulting in a massive direct hit. Two merciless machines flay a fish and fire offensively." Lance said thoughtfully as the next turn progressed. It was really unfortunate for Wataru that his opponent shared his attribute, and thus the benefits of his field. Next turn was when it really kicked off though. "A swift series of destructions and protections, the failed effort perhaps not so failed after all, resulting in a frightening fanged fish flying from fishy friends to fight ferociously." Lance observed, spitting off rapid fire alliteration with little trouble at all, merely resulting in an eye roll from Akane.

"Interesting, thought his initial ploy failed, it was merely the first step of a plan to bring out an even more powerful monster, regardless of its success. A most effective two pronged play." Akane said as she scribbled something down in her notebook.

"Yet there is no defeat in Izumi's eyes, do I sense a turn around? Oh! The enemy field cleared and a amoury's worth of arsenal is brought to the field to attack directly to finish off Wataru who has no cards left to play!" Lance said dramatically as the resulting explosion drained Wataru of his remaining Life Points.

Gaku let out a resounding cheer as Izumi finished off her opponent, "YEAH IZUMI YOU REALLY SHOWED HIM THE POWER OF YOUTH!" Not that Izumi and him really fell into the same level of 'youth', but that didn't seem to be stopping him.

Ryuuji got over himself fairly soon after Masaru's devastating blow to his psyche, cutting in at around the third turn of the duel.

"The ruler of the sea is in peril! His field is wide open, up against fierce machines invulnerable to the tides below! Is there a way out of this situation, or will he remain hopeless, ever desti-?"
"Shut up."

Emi was quick to silence the over-dramatic boy, him sinking back into his seat in silence. The fear of taking his dorm's wrath head on drowned out his need to speak up. Masaru's face held a cocky grin as he stared at the monitor, enjoying the blow to the teacher's lifepoints. Meanwhile, Hyou only got more excited as the duel continued.

"Whoa, she uses Pendulum? She's pretty good with them, too!" Hyou commented as Izumi activated her scales from the deck, taking even more interest when she brushed off Wataru's counterattack with ease. Ryuuji perked up at the mention of Pendulum, the cogs in his brain starting to twist and turn. By the end of it, his face twisted into one of horrific realisation.

"By the gods... the lady's deck bears resemblance to that of my arch nemesis! If this is the truth, then the worst has yet to come!"

The three of them turned their head towards Ryuuji in confusion. As if hit with a wrecking ball, however, they all reached the same epiphany. Izumi re-setting her Pendulum scales was met with tense anticipation. "There's no way..." Masaru mumbled to himself as a drop of sweat rolled down his forehead. The quakes from the summon were intense, with five monsters glistening in the reflection of the ocean. Amazement filled the eyes of the other three as Masaru watched in shock and awe. The duel ended in a bright explosion of artillery raining down upon the enemy, leaving them all stunned.

"T-this amount of power...! Did it really come from that pathetic teacher's dorm?!" Masaru stammered out, a mix of fear and anger palpable in his voice. Hyou merely laughed it off even as the other two shared the same amount of bewilderment.

"I'd start worrying more about the Fire dorm if I were you," he nonchalantly teased the top student of his dorm, who was too stunned to glare back at Hyou.

While most of the students were cheering at the duels dramatic finish, the front row of the Water dorm section was mostly quiet.

Jasmine was the first one to react, politely clapping for Ms Nonaka while she watched their teacher disappear in a cloud a smoke with a sympathetic look on her face. “Aww, poor sensei. I hope he’s ok.” Despite his intimidating appearance Wataru was a lot gentler than most people realised and she hoped he wasn’t going to take his loss too hard. She wasn’t sure if his loss being to a former student was going to make it worse or give him a sense of pride.

The next to move was Touma, who shifted in his seat and began clapping as well, his large hands producing a much louder and deeper sound that Jasmine’s. “It sucks that she had a deck that could use his field spell as well; he might as well have not played it.”

In the seat between the two of them Kanna remained silent, though she had repositioned herself so that her hands were clasped in front of her mouth. Looking closer Jasmine could see that Kanna was biting a thumb, a habit she displayed whenever she was thinking hard about something, usually duelling, and which Jasmine thought of as her ‘analyst pose’.

“Field spells affect both players equally; it’s important to consider that your opponent might benefit from it as well and how they might use it against you. Or how you might use their field spells against them…” Kanna always fell so easily into little lectures like that, thinking out loud for the most part but she always had some tip or trick to share with them. Jasmine had always thought that Kanna would make a good teacher herself one day, if she could ever think about anything other than becoming a pro-duellist. “That said the level changing effect of A Legendary Ocean is more powerful than the attack point boost. Sensei’s deck was better equipped to take advantage of it, but the duel was over before he could do anything. She had him on the run from her first turn.”

Touma turned to look as Ms Nonaka again, seeing her in a different light now that he had seen her so thoroughly thrash their teacher. He reached up to scratch the back of his head nervously before speaking. “Man, pendulum decks are scary. No matter what you do to their field they just bounce back twice as hard. Their cards don’t even go to the graveyard when they’re destroyed.”

The rest of the students were still cheering with the loudest shouts coming, unsurprisingly, from the Fire dorm students. It was loud enough that gradually their attention was pulled away from the centre stage and towards the rowdy students. Even Kanna was looking at them. “I’m going to challenge the Fire dorm first. Everyone’s going to be impressed with the new teacher after this. We can’t let Machi’s head get too big.”

Jasmine turned an exasperated expression on Kanna, not that the other girl was paying enough attention to her to notice. “You’re thinking about challenges already? The year hasn’t even started yet!”

Kanna finally turned to look at Jasmine, sitting back in her chair and giving her friend a look that made the taller girl sigh. It was impossible to try and turn Kanna away from a course of action once she had decided on it. “There’s no reason to wait. I want us to show everyone how strong the Water dorm is this year. I won’t settle for anything other than the best.”

"Brutal." Kota smirked. "She attacked without reserve right from the word go, didn't give him a chance to find his feet and make his moves. I'd call that impressive and perhaps... maybe there isn't so much shame in being defeated by her. Still, if this is the Water dorm's tutor, it still stands to reason they should be our first target, yes? Prey on the weak?"

"I don't know, I just want to play that guy who keeps rhyming. I want to see the guy keep his capers capricorn... I don't know, I can't do it. I just wanna see how long he can keep it up for!" Rie cut in, taking stock of the Light dorm and the boy throwing out alliteration after alliteration. "I think I saw him here last year..."

"Unlike you, Tsubasa, I actually keep tabs on our competiton. Basically, he is probably what would happen if Tetsuya could drive himself to give a damn. He was a nobody over the last two years, but something tells me that there is real skill in him. Don't let our dorm down if you challenge him."

Leo didn't contribute to the conversation. In fact, he wasn't thinking about who he would duel, but rather how he would. This year would be tough, no doubts and he knew that he might just need the power of his rarest and strongest card to make it through... but then, cards didn't have dark whispers in the ears of the other students like they did for him. Leo ran his finger over the suppressor that he laid over his left ear. He felt... strangely calm after being home for the year's break, too. Maybe, just maybe...?

"I wish I could've been down there!", Terry said excitedly. After watching the duel he found it hard to contain his excitement after watch the two teacher's. "I bet you wish that could've you, right Yute?" In his attempt to tease and get Yute just as amped as him, Terry pokes him several times in his side. The most his annoying poking does is aggravate Yute. To quell his friends curiousity, Yute turns his head towards him.

"Yea, I wouldn't have mind seeing how well i'd do against them. They have the intense skill you'd expect a teacher to have." Looking forward at Izumi a sudden thought hits Yute. "Maybe your idea wasn't as stupid as I thought Terry." Rather than saying it with his normally serious voice, there's a hint of excitement that both Terry and Kei notice.

"We'll really clean house with everyone this year! With our ace getting pumped for my ideas!". Terry suddenly jumps into the air, startling the students sitting around them. "Settle down, there isn't a guarantee i'll follow through with it", Yute says with a large amount of annoyance present in his voice. "What's Terry on about?", Reshoi asks with curiosity. Realizing how much he's spilled Terry instantly covers his mouth.

"It's something between just me and him.", Yute answers Reshoi. Uncovering his mouth, Terry tries to quickly divert the subject before another question can be asked. "But what about pendulum summoning though!? We should look into them some, don't you think?". Looking at Terry with slight irritation Reshoi gives Terry a look. "You just want to summon 5 monsters at once don't you?", Reshoi says teasingly.
"Yea! Just look at how Izumi used them!", Terry replies back. While the two go back and forth Yute looks around, wandering where Izashi could be.

Turning behind him Yute sees the excitement, plain as day on Izashi's face."I have to face off against her! A opponent that strong!", Izashi says excitedly while jittering in his seat. Letting out a sigh, Yute looks forward, waiting on the assembly to end.

As soon as the first of Izumi’s monsters dropped onto the field, Kou looked back at Sana. “Hey Sana look at that… I don't think I’ve ever seen that monster before. Have you?” He asked, curiously. Sana quickly shook her head, unsure herself. She looked to her friend for an answer. “Naoki, you’re a collector right? You know anything about Dinomists?” She asked out of curiosity. “I’ve heard about them and own a few copies, I think, but I’ve never seen them in action before...” Naoki replied.

“If you’re all so interested, I can run you through it all.” Kaito said while closing his notebook. “I don’t think I’ll get much out of studying this duel, anyway” he continued and beckoned his friends closer. This is so they could take a closer look at the duel. After they were all in position, Kaito proceeded to point things out. “Dinomist monsters like to be on the field together. Their true potential unlocks when multiples of them are gathered together…” Kaito trailed off as Izumi summoned Plesios.

“...Further, they are a battle archetype. Through their effects, they weaken the opponent and strengthen themselves. Once they’ve got their sights set on a target, they won’t relent until the enemy’s been neutralized. They’re true war machines.”

“Sounds like a terrifying deck to face.” Sana replied to Kaito’s last comment.
“Definitely sounds like it, there might even be a chance that it could beat my deck...” Kou threw in afterwards.

The duel continued on like this, with Kaito explaining the basis of his sister’s deck while his friends occasionally chimed in with their own blurbs to rationalize it to themselves, until finally Ren spoke up at the end of it all.

“It sounds as ferocious as my Raidraptors, however, they appear to overwhelm rather than adapt. Like how the Dinomist trample over there enemies, my Raidraptors-”

Ren was cut off. Even though after the duel ended the students had a little time to chat among themselves and discuss what they had found of it, he didn’t have enough time. The excitement died down alongside Ren as soon as some microphone buzzing caught everybody’s attention, the principal’s voice ringing through the speakers. He stood alone, with Izumi having already scuttled off back into the arena hallways.

“Thank you for the wonderful duel! Now, first year students, please gather outside of the arena walls. Myself and miss Nonoka will give you a tour of the academy grounds to get you all familiarized and settled in. The second and third year students have gotten instructions on where to go back at the docks, so please move to your assigned locations.”

The principal spoke with vigor and charm as he made the short announcement, handing the microphone back to one of the staff nearby to start the cleanup of the arena. The crowd dispersed as the third years were armed with the knowledge of where to move themselves towards. The instructions handed out earlier told them to gather at the main building at the center of the academy, in between the black and white towers, where the head of both the Xyz and Synchro dorm were waiting on them. They moved in one large group, mostly, unsupervised as the staff trusted their judgement. Still, it was noticeable to see that very few students talked to people outside their dorm on the way there, having the assembly look more like a rainbow-coloured parade from a bird’s eye view.

The students had to pour in by going around the back of the academy, the five-piece rectangular shape being impressive no matter how often it’s gazed upon. The centerpiece being the biggest, going outwards in a symmetrical manner with two progressively smaller rectangles on either side. The cream walls indicate its rather stunning age, as the building has been towering here for an impressive amount of years. The small pyramids dotted around the edges of the roof atop the centerpiece made it look like it was wearing a royal crown. The reception was waiting atop the staircase to the main gate, with a slender woman wearing a labcoat hardly taking notice of the students as she tapped away on a tablet in her hand. The older man next to her, however, smiled upon seeing the arrival of the students.

“Before we get to the point. please feel free to make yourself comfortable. After all that walking, I’m sure you would appreciate some rest.” the man said to the student body.

“Noir, I have no desire to keep them longer than is needed. Let us just get straight to the point,” the woman next to him chimed in, briefly looking up from her tablet to see the student body scatter and take seats on both the stairs and the few benches a little further. With a sigh, she turned her attention back to the device.

“Alright now everyone is seated, I would like to personally say, welcome to your third year! Ah, you know, back when I was a third year in my old school, I was a rather devious fellow. Duel monsters were quite the thing, and I always dueled the first person-”

“Noir!” the woman sharply reprimanded the old man, giving him no time to continue his ramblings. Before another word came out of his mouth, the woman began to speak again despite her lack of interest towards the student body.

“You all have more responsibilities now that you’ve come to your last year here. For those of you who still don’t know, I’m Aiko Chinen, the staff representative of the Synchro dorm. You’ll all have to fight for your dorm like in previous years, but your wins and losses will be accounted for more than ever. In other words, don’t fail.” she warned the crowd, eyes darting up to Noir’s to signal his turn to speak. His response was to step forward before addressing the crowd, clearing his throat as he did.

“Well, as you all know, hittin third year means another thing comes into play: The ‘team-up’ system. The system works like this; Any dorm may form an alliance with the Xyz or Synchro dorm. In exchange, both dorms will be gaining from the other’s wins and losses and have access to each other’s special facilities. For example, if you were in an alliance with Synchro and defeated someone outside of either of your dorms, both Synchro and your dorm would both be getting points added to your global ranking.”

The man finished his example by pointing at one of both the Water and Synchro dorm students, as if to suggest an alliance between the two of them. Aiko picked up where Noir left off soon after, though still refusing to look up.

“If both of you manage to score in the top three at the end of a season, it will only make it easier for both dorms to climb up the next ranked season. Accomplish this at the end of the year and you graduates are rewarded with hard to obtain cards. If there’s no questions, you all have the rest of the day to spend how you see fit. This explanation is the last mandatory event for today.”

Aiko finally pressed a button on the side of her device and put it inside of her lab coat, looking down at the teenagers amassed in front of her with complete apathy.

Lance naturally moved along casually to where they were to assemble next, taking his time to admire the view, regardless of the fact that he had seen it many times before. Then, once assembled, another speech began and they were told about the team-up system and left to their own devices. "Team-up eh? I guess that means only two of the elemental dorms will get to team up, it's a race then!" Of course while teaming up with another dorm gave you more ability to gain points, it also increased your ability to lose points. If you teamed up with a weak dorm they would simply drag you down. It seemed best to wait to see how the other dorms preformed and then make an alliance accordingly. Besides, if his dorm preformed well enough it would be the other dorms that came to him!

The other top 4 spoke of their own opinions regarding the team-up. Akane was of the same mind as Lance, best to wait and see if a team-up would prove valuable. Gaku was eager for a team-up but he wasn't sure with who exactly. Tina didn't care much either way but thought it would be nice to make more friends. Hiroj of course was of the mind the Light dorm had no need for allies and was very vocal about his feelings as such, after-all, who needed other weaker dorms to help them?

With all the speeches and talks finally over Yute felt a bit relieved that he could get on with his plans. Before he could start his walk back to the Wind Dorm, Terry and Izashi stopped him. " Hey Yute. You heard it right? The teaming up with dorms thing?" Izashi asked. " Yea I heard it. Did you guys want to give it a try?" Yute asked them, slightly curious as to how they might answer. " Yea we could use the strength from them", Izashi answered with a rather brute force answer. Yute immediately dismissed the thought of using their strength when they have their own. Turning toward Terry in a attempt to see if he could understand what they should actually do, " Terry, what do you want us to do?"
Thinking to himself for a minute he perks up. "Oh! We'll trick them into staging certain events for us! No cheating though."

Yute let's out a large sigh. Curious enough that their answers didn't suffice, Izashi and Terry stare at Yute in wonder. "Where's Kei and Reshoi, I don't want to repeat myself twice." " Reshoi was talking to Kei about going to the Synchro dorm," Izashi says dully. Before Yute can say anything, Terry has already walked off to the go and bring them back. While they stand around waiting, Izashi constantly watches the other students, likely looking for one that gives a good challenge. Thinking to himself, Yute begins to find that Izash could become a lot of stronger if he wasn't allways trying to instantly challenge someone. "He never stops to think about his style and his deck composition.

Coming back with Reshoi and Kei, Terry calls out to Yute who is relieved that they came back. "You have a idea for Synchro and XYZ dorms?" Kei immediately ask. "Rather than using their duelist, It'd be best if we got some XYZ monsters and Synchro mosnters from them to strengthen our deck," Yute answers. "Anything to avoid teaming up with a dorm, right?" Kei replies, somewhat irritated. "It isn't a completely bad idea, but the help from other dorms, whether it's cards or student help would be a huge help." Terry says, trying to get Yute onboard. "We can easily get any specific XYZ or Synchro monsters you need without the XYZ and Synchro dorm. Althought we can only choose one."

"We'd be able to get Synchro monsters with little problems. It we're going with one of them I'd rather go for XYZ." Kei says, solidifying her choice. Terry, Reshoi, and Izashi shake their heads in agreement with Kei. "I guess we'll go for a team-up with XYZ dorm." Yute's answer comes off as a bit disinterested.

Worthless.

If Masaru had to sum this entire charade put forth by the school up in a single word, it was that one. He's known nothing but the pair-up system since coming to the academy, having spent his last two years getting familiar with its intricacies as he dueled like the faceless mook he was. Those memories are awful; being stuck at the bottom, wanting desperately to improve and yet never reaching the heights you struggled to reach. Now that he was at the top, standing as the sole ruler of the mountain, it felt hollow and empty, having to rely on some other faction to even have a sliver of a chance of getting anywhere...

It's almost as if his dorm wasn't considered good enough. He hated that thought.

"Hey, you think we should go get Keitaro?"

The boy perked up at the question posed by one of his dorm-mates, namely by Hyousuke. After the announcement was over, he seemed to have nonchalantly kicked himself away from the comfortable spot against the founding principal's statue so he could stroll on over. Masaru had wrung away from his fellow top Synchro students as to avoid them, watching from a remote spot in the courtyard, so Hyou's sudden appearance was met with a scowl.

"And why do you suddenly care?" Masaru asked warily.

"Well, 'cause you look like you want to be anywhere 'cept here!" Hyou answered with a laugh, taking a step forward and throwing his arm around Masaru. The latter was too stunned to push him away in the moment.

"C'mon man, you need to loosen up. Besides, if we don't find him, who knows what trouble he's kicking up?"

"Fine, I get it! Just... get your hands off me."

Masaru pushed Hyou away and started to pace off, with the other boy trailing after with calm steps. Knowing Kei, they both had a pretty good feeling he was stirring up stuff in the Ruins like he usually did. Unless someone happened to look in the direction of the not-so-dynamic duo, they could slip away relatively easily from the crowd.

Once the teachers had dismissed them most of the surrounding students began to slowly disperse, people beginning to go about their day or just milling around with their friends as the air started to fill up with the low susurration of human activity. The tree Water dorm students were among those still hanging around, though none of them had spoken since the speech had ended. Of course, it was Jasmine who first broke the silence.

“We get to team up with another dorm? How exciting!”

Touma looked around, his height allowing his to look straight over Kanna’s head to speak to the transfer student. “Oh yeah, I forgot you’re still kind of new here. It only comes into play in your third year, though I never really understood why they set it up that way. It seems kind of complicated.”

Shifting around until she was facing her classmates properly, Jasmine placed her fisted hands on her hips and similarly spoke over her friends head. “Well I think it’s fun!” If her beaming smile was anything to go by she really believed what she was saying, though her expression shifted to a more serious one before she continued. “Besides, you’ve spent two whole years only really getting to know people in your own dorm. It wouldn’t hurt you guys to make friends outside of that for once. Right Kanna? Wouldn’t it be great to team up with Naoki?”

The Water dorm’s top student was silent, which seemed to be the theme of the day, but rather than be annoyed at being ignored yet again Jasmine just frowned in concern. Though her face showed little emotion the set of her shoulders and the tightness of her jaw gave away the anger she was feeling. Why did Professor Noir have to point at Kanna of all people when making his example of an alliance? It wasn’t like she didn’t understand Kanna’s reasons for disliking the Synchro dorm. Or Asahi’s. Or Touma’s. She just wished her friend wouldn’t waste so much energy on it.

It would make it so much harder for her to convince Kanna to team up with the XYZ dorm as well, as was made painfully clear when Kanna finally turned to face her and responded in predictable fashion. “We don’t need to team up. Our dorm is strong enough without anyone else’s help.”

Jasmine crossed her arms across her chest and looked down at her friend, meeting fiery, determined eyes with her own shimmering blue. “Nobody is saying we aren’t. We all know you and Asahi could take on anyone in this school and win. It’s not about that. Teaming up with the XYZ dorm might be the best option for us; it’ll give us a better chance of earning points and its one less dorm we need to worry about fighting. We should do what is best for our dorm.”

It was an old battle fought on a new battleground; once more Jasmine was trying to get her best friend to loosen up while Kanna stubbornly tried to forge her own path, with no help from anyone else. Jasmine could be equally stubborn at times and for some reason the disarmingly bubble student was often able to make Kanna’s own determination falter where no one else could; even if such victories were only ever short lived.

Kanna closed her eyes and let out a sigh. “Ok. I see your point, but I’m not making any decisions yet. We need to have a meeting, all five of us, to discuss this; see if you can find Asahi and Keita and meet me back at the dorm.”

“Alright, I’m on it. I’ll see you two later.” It was almost a surprised when Touma responded, both girls having nearly forgotten the boy with how involved they were in their own thing. By the time they turned to wave him off the oversized student was already walking away from them.

Jasmine watched him go with an abashed look on her face. “We should try not to fight in front of other people. I’ll go find Asahi; I have an idea where he might be. What are you going to do?”

In lieu of answering Kanna looked over her shoulder towards where a group of Fire dorm students were still hanging around talking. “I’m going to make sure people know who we are.”

Thinking back to what Kanna had said back in the auditorium Jasmine couldn’t help but roll her eyes exasperatedly. “Ok, fine. Just stay out of trouble. I’ll find you once I’ve found Asahi.”

The taller girl grabbed Kanna in a quick hug before walking away, giving a quick wave over her shoulder before disappearing into the crowd. Waiting until Jasmine was completely out of sight, Kanna took a deep bracing breathe before spinning around and marching over to the gaggle of Fire dorm students until she was standing in front of one in particular.

“Machi. I challenge you to a duel.”