The top of the Fire dorm weren't particularly picky about where they stood in the crowd, so they'd stood somewhat in the center during the entire spiel from the two teachers. You could say they were hidden in the crowd, if it weren't for the bright blazers giving them away. The five of them were chatting away somewhat, discussing what their next move was going to be. Well, except Otoishi; he was off humming a tune in his own little world.

"...so like I said, Synchro's the best option. They've got way better tech and unlike a certain someone, they're constantly improving," Sinata concluded the argument she had been building prior in the conversation, but nobody really looked convinced.

"I-I'm not sure I w-want to work together with Masaru, though... he's kind of cruel..." Kotone meekly spoke up, eliciting a groan from Sinata.

"Oh come on! We can't make our decision based on which one of them is the nicest. If we're going to team up with someone, they've got to have talent! Kien, you agree right," Sinata asked hopefully, but the round boy's brow was furrowed and his eyes closed in thought. It took him a few seconds to come up with a reply.

"I'm not so sure. I might agree with Kotone here, lord knows we can't have our little Machi get into a fight with three thirds of them all the time."

"Hey! I can keep my temper in check when I need to," Machi rebuked, but he got interrupted before he could say anything else. Out of seemingly nowhere, the Water dorm champion stood in between the group and had her finger pointed straight at Machi.

“Machi. I challenge you to a duel.”

"W-Wait, right now?!" he let fly in a slight panic, with this coming out of nowhere. Kotone was equally surprised, jumping back a little and standing even further away from the group than she had already been. The students around them began murmuring things like 'Did she just say duel?' and 'Whoa, a match between our top students this early?!'

The crowd of third-year students seemed as excited as the first and second years were in the arena earlier, putting the four fire dorm students in a tricky spot. Kien put his hand on Machi's shoulder, letting out a dramatic sigh. He told Machi not to be careful embarrass himself while Sinata warned him that refusing this one would reflect badly on their dorm.

"...Fine, fine, I get it," Machi groaned, reaching for his deck holder around the waist. He picked up his classic Jurrac deck and slotted it into the deck holder slot of his fiery red and orange Duel Disk, the rounded parts ending in jagged tips being very reminiscent of a blazing inferno. The flames spun around and slammed into place to create a C-shaped blade around the base of the machine. The students around him backed away as Machi paced around Kanna, taking a spot far enough away from her. The statue next to them stood in between the dividing line for the fields, acting as a useful separator. Machi's face held a confident grin as he ground his feet into the pavement, taking on a steadfast fighting pose.

"Bring it on!"

The Xyz group finished listening to the explanation and sat down on one of the benches in front of the building. Kaito was the first to speak up.

“Naoki what's the approach here? You said this year we should try and make more friends with the other dorms,” he paused as he searched around in his bag. “...and trying to forge an alliance might be the perfect opportunity to do so.”

Kaito added pulled out his notebook before continuing, “Unless you’re looking to team up with the strong to increase our chances- hang, on lemme take a look here who’s the strongest...” Kaito paused, opening the little book in his hands.

“So according to my notes from my past duels-” Kaito started, but he was interrupted by Naoki.

“No need, Kaito. I think we should go talk to everyone and show them we’re good people, and maybe we can toss in a duel to show them that, despite being rather passive, we’re still good duelists... actually, it has been a while since I dueled someone outside of Xyz dorm.” Naoki commented, looking at the group as a whole. Clearing her throat with a little cough, she said: “The one thing I know for sure is that as long as we work together we can get ourselves a spot in the top 3!”

Naoki finished her words of encouragement with a smile, boosting up the morale for the other four.

“...Sounds like something our Number 1 would suggest. It’s hard to picture a world where Naoki wants to team up with the best just for being the best. Are you sure you’re one of her friends Kaito?” Kou teased.

“Of course I am! I was just... gauging our options, that's all. So, where are we going? I might go talk to the dark dorm, they seem to be the hardest ones to speak with. You know, with how solitary they can be,” Kaito offered.

“Dark dorm, huh… if one of us is going to talk to them, how about I go to the light fellows? I know I might not be the best fit to speak with them, but hey, I can’t let them underestimate me for being rank 5!” Kou finished with a chuckle.

“I don’t think I can help you guys much. Besides, I’m not too confident in my deck… I think I’ll leave this up to you while I go and rethink my strategies,” Ren dismissively said to the group, getting up and leaving for Xyz dorm without giving the others a chance to respond to his departure.

“Hmm, if Ren’s out, I’ll be heading over to Water! Y’know, to see how they are doing at the start of the year… plus I want to get to know the transfer student a little more! Swain, Beatrice, you want to go too right?” Sana asked her pets, rubbing the cockatoo and petting the husky. They happily followed her as she left soon after the others.

“Speaking of showing people that we’re not bad duelists, perhaps I should start the year off doing just that...” Naoki pondered. She searched around her brain, thinking of who to duel, keeping in mind the fact that the others are already talking to most other dorms themselves. Seeing as how Fire, Earth and Wind were left…

“I’ll see if Yute wants to duel or not,” Naoki convinced herself and searched for the guy.

@King Cosmos@MidKnights@Eklispe@ThePlumbum

As Machi circled around her Kanna prepared her own duel disk; she ran her hand over the device which still gleamed like new even after all this time, the elegant blues curves ending in ragged white fringes reminiscent of cresting ocean waves. She pulled her own deck from the holder at her waist and slid it into place, prompted the disk to unfold and spin the card field into position as it registered her Nekroz deck.

When it appeared that Machi had found the right spot Kanna turned to face him, striking her own confident pose as she met his confident grin with her own impassive stare. Her posture was rigid and she stood with her body slightly turned so that her duel disk was in front of her and her other arm behind her body.

“Whenever you are ready Machi. I will allow you the choice of who goes first since I am the challenger.”

After the announcement was finished, the bounciest of the DARK dorm hopped on the spot. "Right! I totally spaced on the pairup thing! Who do you think we should make friends of, Leo? Maybe both? Nobody said it can't be both right?" Rie exclaimed.

Kota however merely glared. "I don't see why everybody is rushing to make a partnership so fast. As much as they can be allies, they can be anchors. I understand that it's Leonard's decision, not my own, but make it poorly and we all suffer."

Leo stopped and considered. "Well, it could go either way. But Kurosawa's right about one thing, I don't think we should rush into anything at any rate. Besides..." he trails off, nudging the others and gesturing towards the boy approaching them. "Odd one right?" he whispered. "Kurosawa... please don't talk. We don't need to burn our bridges before we build 'em..."

"Will we be going straight for the XYZ dorm now, or will we wait?" Terry asked impatiently. "We'll go straight to looking for someone from the XYZ dorm," Yute replied. "Should we just look for anyone or the dorm leader?," Izashi asks. "That depends on who you think it'd be easy to talk to, I personally want to talk to Kaito and Naoki.," Yute says in a more upbeat tone. Apon hearing this, Terry looks at Yute with a insanely excited look. "You usually don't even name pick anyone! What's the occasion?!," Terry asked in a rather loud voice. "Ever since I saw that duel with the Dinomist Pendulums, I've wanted to face someone with a pendulum deck."

Kei looks at Yute, seemingly dissapointed and irritated. "What about Naoki? Why do you want to include her?" "Naoki seems like she'd be one of easiest ones to approach, if anything all of them except for Sana are approachable." Reshoi looks at Yute with a blatant sense of confusion on his face. "How come Sana's unapproachable?," He ask. "I find her to be a bit odd is all," Yute replies. "If anything i'll get the first pick at Kaito," Izashi quickly interjects, having realized what Yute said. "Then it'll be who can find him first." Both duelist shake their head in agreement.

"If that's all anyone has to say, let's hurry and find XYZ dorm." With that last part by Yute, the entire group disperse, going in different directions. Only person who hasn't left to find the XYZ dorm is Kei, who has stood there, silently pondering to herself.

@Satoshi Kyou

[@Satoshi Kyu]

"Eh, who's this?" Hiroji said scornfully as Kuo approached. "Why would such a boring looking person dare approach the Light Dorm hm? If you're here to duel get lost, no one is interested in dueling the bottom rung of the XYZ dorm." He was clearly aggressive towards the smaller duelist, but Hiroji tended to be that way towards everyone.

"Hey now let's at least give him a chance, what's the deal, you looking for a group up or what?" Lance said curiously, he didn't see much of another reason for an XYZ dorm student to be approaching another dorm so suddenly. If he did want a team-up, well he'd have to go through Hiroji first honestly, the guy could be a bit of a pain when it come to, well just about anything. At the very least he was useful for setting a high bar.

Tina piped up, "Maybe he wants to make friends, and the beginning of the year is the best time to do it, do you want to be friends with me? I'm Tina by the way, 4th rank Light Dorm Duelist!" She was bouncy as usual and got close to Kuo as she talked, eager to hear his response.

Gaku was more interested in the duel between Machi and the water dorm champion and made his way over there to watch without a word to the others, figuring they had the situation under control.

Akane said nothing, merely observing curiously.

Kou

Kou pretty much expected the reception he got, being the fifth position of his dorm "Well you got their attention, now what?” he thought to himself.

A few moments later, someone else popped in to introduce herself in a rather cheerful and friendly manner, it vaguely reminded him of Sana. “Oh, the name’s Kou. Nice to meet you!” Kou responded in a polite manner, but then he realized that nobody actually called him by his name.

“Wait, hang on… AM I THAT PLAIN!?” he almost shouted out loud but managed to keep himself from looking like a fool.

“Am I forgotten that easily? We went through 2 years in the same classrooms and you all don’t remember me?” Kou asked the group. ”Anyway, I’m just here to make myself known and perhaps make some friends here. It's another fresh year here, and we don't really speak with you folks too often.
“We gotta start making changes, especially now that alliances are a factor here. So, in case we end up as allies, it’s nice to finally speak with you guys... even if it’s rather awkward.” Kou spoke to the group, uncertain about if he got his intentions across properly.

Kaito.

Kaito noticed the dark dorm students looking at him. “Ah you guys were in the middle of something?” he asked.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be here for long if you guys are busy. I’m just here to start the year off on the right foot and talk to you all at the start of the year. Ah, by the way, the name’s is Kaito Nonaka in case you forgot. I’m happy to see you all once again,” Kaito formally re-introduced himself to the group despite knowing them for a while. “How about it? You guys up for hanging out for the day?”

Naoki

Naoki was about to walk to the wind group but said group happened to find her instead. Or, rather, their leader had. “Ah, Yute! How are you doing today? ...Actually, truth be told, I’ve been looking for you. I was wondering if we could just talk for a bit,” Naoki cheerfully asked. Even though she wanted to duel, she wasn’t the type to just walk up to someone and challenge them out of the blue.

---

“You sure you want to risk that? ‘Cause I ain’t going easy on you!”

Students gathered around the two top students and murmured as 4000 Life points flashed on a display next to both duelists. Once the two of them were ready, both shouted in unison:

”Duel!”

Turn 1: Machi

“I’m taking the first move! My turn!”

Machi drew five cards from his deck in one motion, fanning them out in front of him. His face excitedly lit up when he saw what his opening hand was, picking out the middle card and slamming it down on his Duel Disk.

“I’ll start off with my Jurrac Velo!”

A ring of fire circled on Machi’s field for a second before it burst upwards and became a brief spiral, dying down to reveal a comedically proportioned velociraptor who’s red head, green body and blue claws stuck out like a sore thumb. It let out a low growl and swiped in Kanna’s direction with its claws.

Jurrac Velo: 1700 ATK Level 4 FIRE Dinosaur
Machi picked up two more cards from his hand, briefly stared at them with a goofy grin and threw them down into his disk as well.

“I’ll set two cards and end my turn! Now come at me,” he taunted while throwing out his fist in Kanna’s direction.

“Will he really be okay…?” Kotone mumbled to Kien and Sinata. The three of them were staring from the side at the dueling duo, with mixed feelings about the situation. Kien pulled up his shoulders in a shrug as a reply to Kotone, though he didn’t intend to leave the girl without a proper answer.

“Knowing him? I’d be more surprised if she didn’t give him loads of trouble. Then again, I don’t think they’ve ever dueled… so who’s to say how this’ll go?”

“Don’t lose Machi! Show her the burning passion of the fire dorm!” Sinata cheered from the sidelines, shouting as loud as she could afford to.

Turn 2: Kanna

Kanna drew her five starting cards at the same time as Machi, quickly scanning her hand before turning her attention back to her opponent and watching his turn to see what he would do.

The monster was of little concern, 1700 attack would not be hard to overcome, but those two cards set in the backrow were troubling; although Kanna knew Machi used a Jurrac deck she was unfamiliar with his style of play having never faced him before. Those cards could be anything.

When Machi passed control back to her at the end of his turn Kanna drew and added a sixth card to her hand before selecting another card and placing it in her monster zone. “I summon Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz in attack mode.”

A pool of water appeared on the field, bubbling and writhing before a humanoid figure began to rise up out of it, until a robed and bearded man holding a staff and wearing a sword at his waist stood on the field.

Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz 1500 ATK Level 4 WATER Spellcaster

Machi smirked as he saw the attack value of the Nekroz monster. “Nice try, but you can’t defeat my Jurrac Velo with that!”

Kanna didn’t rise to the bait, simply pulling another card from her hand and slotting it into her spell and trap zone. “Just watch. I play Nekroz Kaleidoscope.”

Ice began to form around the Great Sorcerer's feet, encasing them in ice before rapidly growing to encase the figure entirely in a frozen shell. The silhouette could still just be made out inside the small iceberg, becoming more visible as it began to glow from within the ice. “Using this ritual spell I tribute Great Sorcerer to ritual summon Nekroz of Unicore.”

The ice began to crack and split before bursting apart to reveal the glowing figure within; he was taller and younger than the Great Sorcerer, with a flowing cape, shimmering white clothing and a horn on his forehead and wielding a sword.

Nekroz of Unicore 2300 ATK Level 4 WATER Spellcaster Ritual

“And since I tributed Great Sorcerer I get to add one Nekroz Spellcaster Ritual monster from my deck to my hand.” Kanna’s Duel Disk slid out one of her cards and she revealed it to be Nekroz of Valkyrus to Machi before adding it to her hand. Then, selecting another card from her hand she played another spell. “I then equip Ritual Weapon to my Nekroz of Unicore, boosting its attack by fifteen hundred points.”

The sword in Unicore’s hand was replaced with a glowing blue Pata and the attack value displayed for the monster rose from 2300 to 3800. “With this I enter the battle phase and attack Jurrac Velo with Unicore.”

“Not so fast!” Machi threw out his hand dramatically, a smug smile on his face as he put a halt to the Water dorm champion’s momentum. “I activate my two trap cards!”

The two traps opened up, with the one to the left of Machi glowing first. “With Survival of the Fittest, I can equip it to a monster and raise its attack by a thousand points!”

The misshapen velociraptor on Machi’s field let out a loud, distorted roar as it began to glow with a fierce red energy, growing in size until it was nearly twice as tall to match the way its attack increase.

Jurrac Velo: 1700 > 2700 ATK

Once Survival’s effect had activated, Unicore’s attack went through, destroying Jurrac Velo even with the empowering effects of the trap card. The damage Machi took was reduced significantly from it, however. Jurrac Velo exploded in a fiery blast as Unicore pierced its body with his Pata, sending Machi’s jacket and hair fluttering in the wind and his life points tumbled down to 2900. A stray fireball streaked across the field after a short glow from Machi’s other trap and struck the ground in front of Kanna, who threw up a hand in front of her face to keep the dust from her eyes as she lost 500 life points.

Kanna LP: 4000 > 3500

“Surprised? ‘Cause because of Backfire’s effect, you’ll take 500 points of damage each time you destroy one of my FIRE monsters! But it’s not over yet, Kanna. Thanks to Velo’s effect, after he’s destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, I get to summon another Jurrac monster from my deck!”

Machi’s Duel Disk ejected a card, similar to how Kanna’s had done earlier and he slammed it down on his Duel Disk the first chance he got.

“Let’s go, Jurrac Monoloph!”

Another ring of fire burst upwards from the field, eventually fading to reveal a small, cartoonishly shaped dinosaur with a blue body and yellow extremities, though both its tail and head were wreathed in flames.

Jurrac Monoloph: 1500 ATK Level 3 FIRE Dinosaur Tuner

“Not bad Machi. With that, I will end my turn.”

Turn 3: Machi

“My turn! Draw!”

Machi swung his arm around, but he didn’t even bother to look at the card as he exchanged it for another in his hand. He threw down another monster on his Duel Disk, right next to Monoloph.

“Next up is my Jurrac Iguanon!”

Like the two before them another vortex of stray flames popped up, circling for a little while before giving shape to yet another dinosaur. This time, it had an elongated neck and the beak of an avian. The flames didn’t leave, however, as they coiled around its green neck and blue body with pink stripes, covering the creature like a mantle.

Jurrac Iguanon: 1700 ATK Level 4 FIRE Dinosaur

Machi could barely contain his excitement as his fists trembled and he threw out his arm forward. His emerald eyes gleamed with the genuine joy of a small child.

“Monoloph’s a tuner, so I tune my level four Jurrac Iguanon to my level three Jurrac Monoloph!”

Monoloph ran forward and jumped into the air, fading into three futuristic, green rings lined up in the middle of Machi’s field. Iguanon kicked up some dirts as it followed soon after, turning translucent and revealing four little stars inside of itself as it passed through. Once it got to the middle, the dinosaur’s form was completely gone as the shining balls of light lined up neatly inside of the rings. Machi raised his fist up in the air and started to chant.

“The roar of time echoes like a blazing inferno! Witness the everlasting will of life! Synchro Summon! Revive, Jurrac Giganoto!

As Machi finished, a blinding light engulfed the inside of the three rings, ending in an explosion which sent shockwaves throughout the student body. Flames adorned a yellow skull, holes poking through to reveal the red skin underneath. The dinosaur was about three times larger than the others before it, towering over both duelists with its scaled blue body. The creature’s extreme muscles tensed up as it bellowed out a roar, making its presence known.

Jurrac Giganoto: 2100 ATK Level 7 FIRE Dinosaur Synchro

Kanna took in the monster appearance, having to crane her neck just to see the creatures head, but strangely she didn’t seem too concerned. Machi threw out his arm in front of him again now that his monster was on the field, saying: “Now I’ll activate Jurrac Giganoto’s effect-!”

“No, you won’t,” Kanna interrupted Machi, her clear, calm voice cutting through the noise. Nekroz of Unicore held the pata on front of his face and began to chant something with his eyes closed, a blue aura engulfing him as he did. Unicore finished with a sharp glare in Giganoto’s direction, swinging the pata sideways as the aura followed suit and bound across Giganoto. It started to freeze over as the legs were slowly being engulfed in frost, the dinosaur letting out a pained cry as the ice crept up, slowly making the flames on the dinosaur’s body die out.

“As long as I control my Nekroz of Unicore, any Extra Deck monster you summon will have their effect sealed,” Kanna explained. “You’ll have to find another way to beat my deck.”

Machi didn’t look any less confident as the water dorm champion shut him down, picking up another card from his hand. He held it next to his face with the back turned to his opponent.

“Then how about this? My Spell card: Tail Swipe!”

The boy flicked the card around to reveal it to Kanna, with Giganoto gaining a burst of energy. Fire engulfed the monster’s entire body, melting the magic spell Unicore cast on it. The dinosaur swiped its giant tail across Mana’s field, slamming into Unicore as it flew backwards and onto the ground. The pata broke, falling next to it, as well as the armor having been cracked from the impact. The monster glew a bright yellow before vanishing into little sparkles, gathering in Kanna’s hand to form a new card. For the first time the Water dorm trainer looked perturbed, an angry set to her brow as she watched her field be wiped clear.

“I see… Tail Swipe only works on a level five or higher Dinosaur monster, letting it return up to two monsters to the hand. So Machi summoned it to get rid of the Ritual Weapon empowered Nekroz of Unicore…” Kien muttered as he nodded in approval at the way Machi was playing. Sinata pumped her fist into the air and started cheering even louder than before.

“Alright, way to go Machi! You’ve got her now!”

Machi rubbed the underside of his nose with his free index finger, one eye closed as he looked incredibly proud with a dumb grin plastered across his face.

“How’s that? Now I can activate my Giganoto’s effect so it gains 200 ATK for each ‘Jurrac’ in my Graveyard! Since there’s three, that means…”

“Six hundred…” Kanna finished Machi’s sentence, watching the flames the dinosaur had gathered to get rid of Unicore’s spell concentrate onto the skull, making the entire thing blaze instead of just the tips of the eyes.

Jurrac Giganoto: 2100 > 2700 ATK

“Battle! Jurrac Giganoto, attack the other player directly! Jurassic blaze impact!”

The dinosaur lowered its skully head and brushed its feet against the dirt like a bull, rushing forward after a slight pause. The ground shook with each step the colossal monster took as it charged headlong towards Kanna, though as it crossed the line onto her side of the field it was stopped in its tracks as it ran head first into a figure wearing black and red armour with gold and purple trim. Before him he held a short spear with a large, multiple-pronged head with both hands, using the shaft of the spear to hold back Giganoto’s advance.

Behind him Kanna stood with her arm held out to the side, holding a card between two fingers with its face turned to Machi so he could see the blue colouration. “By banishing a Nekroz card from my graveyard and discarding Nekroz of Valkyrus from my hand I can prevent your attack and end the battle phase.”

Kanna slid the card in her hand into the graveyard and as she did the two clashing monsters broke apart, Valkyrus throwing Jurrac Giganoto back onto Machi’s side of the field with a push of his spear before slowly faded from sight. “And because I banished Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz from my grave, I can send Exa, Enforcer of the Nekroz from the deck to my graveyard.” The duel disk popped a card out of Kanna’s deck, which she pull free before also sliding it into her graveyard.

“Damn it!” Machi cursed, looking back to the only card left in his hand. He scanned both it and his field, only having Backfire and Giganoto sticking around after all of that.

’Seems like I don’t have a choice anymore… I’ll have to risk it on this card!’

After a determined nod to himself, Machi picked up the card and slid it into his Duel Disk.

“I’ll set one card face-down and end my turn!”

Turn 4: Kanna

“My turn, I draw one card.” Kanna quickly drew and added another card to her hand, barely glancing at it before sweeping out a hand to indicate towards her barren field. “As I control no monsters I can banish Nekroz Kaleidoscope and a Nekroz monster from my graveyard in order to search a Nekroz Spell card from my deck and add it to my hand.”

A single card popped out of Kanna’s deck, but while she was adding it to her hand the boy opposite to her interjected.

“I was waiting for this! I activate my face-down Shared Ride!”

The card in Kanna’s hand glowed briefly, shooting a ray of light towards Machi’s deck. The top card had the same aura around it as he drew it in a wide arc.

“Now each time you add a card to your hand this turn, I get to draw another! If it’s a race, I’m not going to lose!”

“As you wish. Just try to keep up.” Kanna said as she silently fumed from Machi drawing his card with a cocky grin. “Because I banished Exa from my grave I also get to special summon Great Sorcerer back to the field.” Another bubbling pool of water appeared on this field before rising up to retake of the form of the bearded, robed figure of the Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz.

“Next I’ll send Nekroz of Unicore from my hand to the grave to return Valkyrus to my hand.” Kanna slid a card from her hand into the graveyard slot on her duel disk, only for another card to immediately slide out into her waiting hand. The ray of light shot towards Machi’s deck again, who raised his Duel Disk up to catch it.

“Sorry, but my Shared Ride works from effects that add from the Graveyard too!” Machi explained as the girl added her card back to her hand. Machi lowered his disk again and drew another card from his card’s effect.

“Now I’ll play Nekroz Mirror and tribute my Great Sorcerer and banish Unicore from my graveyard in order to summon Nekroz of Valkyrus to the field.” as Kanna placed a spell card on her duel disk the image of a large, ornate mirror began to materialise behind Great Sorcerer. The mirror didn’t reflect an image of Great Sorcerer but instead showed a different monster entirely, one recognisable as the figure that had blocked Giganoto’s attack the previous turn.

A blinding flash of light covered the field, forcing most of the students spectating to shield their eyes. When the light faded both the mirror and Great Sorcerer were gone, replaced by the more imposing figure of Nekroz of Valkyrus.

Nekroz of Valkyrus: 2900 ATK Level 8 WATER Spellcaster Ritual

“As you know, because Great Sorcerer was tributed I can now add Nekroz of Gungnir to my hand.”

“What, not intent on slowing down? ‘Cause now I’ll draw another card!” Machi continued to taunt, both duelists retrieving their respective cards. Kanna threw her hand out forward.

“I then enter into the battle phase and attack Giganoto with Valkyrus!”

The armoured figure charged forward with his multi-headed spear held in front of him like a lance while Giganoto roared defiantly. As he get close Valkyrus thrusts the spear up into the large dinosaur’s underbelly, causing it to let out a roar of pain before the flames around its head flare out of control and the monster explodes. The aftershock created by this shoved Machi backwards a little, shielding his face with both arms as he let out a grunt.

Machi LP: 2900> 2700

From behind the dust cloud created by the explosive battle a purple glow emerged, with a few stray shard of flaming Giganoto streak across the field to strike the ground all around Kanna. The tails of her uniform jacket whipped all around her body from the force of the impact.

Kanna LP: 3500> 3000

Machi clutched his fist and triumphantly held it out in front of him, boasting with “You still lose more lifepoints due to my Backfire’s effect!”

Rather than respond, Kanna placed one card from her hand into a spell or trap card slot. “I set one card and end my turn.”

Turn 5: Machi

“Then it’s my turn! Draw!”

Machi couldn’t wait to place the card into his hand, a gust of wind being created from the force of him swinging his arm around. It was quick to die down and only became a breeze when it hit his three friends in the crowd.

“Isn’t he getting a little too excited...?” Kotone worriedly murmured from the back, but Sinata was quick to respond.
“I’d be shocked if he wasn’t, ‘cause that duel looks super fun! I can’t stand he let his monster go down so easily, though.... Come on Machi, GET IT TOGETHER!!”

“H-Hey, I’ve got everything perfectly together!” Machi yelled back hurriedly before looking back down to his hand. Magic Planter, Wave-Motion Cannon, Double Attack, Shrink… damnit! Nothing but Spell cards! As things stood, it was only going to get worse!

...wait a second.

“I activate Magic Planter from my hand!”

A bowl full of toxic waste formed underneath Machi’s Backfire, submerging the card and causing steam to rise up as it burns inside the cauldron.

“Sending one face-up trap on my field to the graveyard lets me draw two cards!”

The boy rested his hands on top of his deck, hand trembling from both anxiety and fear.

’C’mon, deck… don’t let me down now…!’

“Draw!”

Machi drew with his eyes closed, only opening his right one ever so slightly to look at the two cards he drew. As soon as he did, his usual confident and beaming smile crept back up on his face as his eyes widened in excitement.

“Alright! I knew I could count on you! Here I go, Kanna! I activate the Spell card: Monster Reborn!”

The earth rumbled with Machi’s activation of the iconic card, splitting open to let a blazing inferno erupt from beneath. Out of the rift jumped the monster that Kanna had destroyed just moments earlier: Jurrac Giganoto. It bellowed a powerful roar at its 2700 ATK points flashed in the window next to it.

“Not yet, I’m not done yet! Next up is Double Attack! I’ll discard the level 10 Jurrac Titano with it to allow Giganoto to attack twice this turn, and because a Jurrac monster was sent from my hand to the Graveyard...”

Machi didn’t even finish his sentence as the flames on Giganoto rampaged out of control and started to engulf its entire body, creating a silhouette of fire.

Jurrac Giganoto: 2700 > 2900 ATK

“Double attack lets Giganoto attack twice this turn! Let’s go, Giganoto!”

Kanna raised an eyebrow inquisitively. “If you attack now, you’ll destroy both our monsters. Don’t tell me you played Double Attack just so you could raise Giganoto’s attack enough for this?” Kanna questioned with a flick of her hair, but the boy didn’t slow down one bit.

“No way, I’m finishing it right now! I’ll activate Shrink from my hand so your Valkyrus’ attack is halved!”

Unlike its name implied, Valkyrus did not shrink on Kanna’s field. He merely fell to one knee, stabbing the spear into the ground next to him and clutching his heart to keep himself somewhat standing.

Nekroz of Valkyrus: 2900 > 1450 ATK

“ALRIGHT! GOOOO MACHI!!” Sinata cheered from the sidelines and Kotone seemed relieved as well. Kien, however, sternly watched on as Machi was about to land the final blow.

“I’ll end it with consecutive attacks! Giganoto, push through her Valkyrus and end it with a direct attack! Jurassic Blaze Impact!”

The flaming body on Machi’s field raged out of control as it stomped on the floor, causing it to shake and having some students in the crowd lose their balance. Like a blasting rocket, the spiraling mass shot forward towards Valkyrus. The ornate warrior barely held his spear up in time to block the attack, causing a huge explosion to erupt from the field.

“Alright, I did it!” Machi cheered to himself, but as the smoke cleared…

Kanna LP: 3000 > 100

...Nekroz of Valkyrus was still standing there while Kanna’s lifepoints trickled down to a critical low-point.

“W-Wha… but how?!” Machi cried out in disbelief, the girl on the other side of the field barely phased by the entire event that just transpired.

“Unfortunately for you, I discarded my Nekroz of Gungnir to prevent Valkyrus from being destroyed this turn.”

Just before the blazing inferno had made contact with her monster, Kanna slid her card into the Graveyard. Valkyrus was quick to get covered in ice, acting as a second layer of armor which shattered as soon as it came due to the sheer heat of the impact. However, this last-minute move had saved Kanna’s monster just in the nick of time.

“...D-Damnit… I’ll activate Wave-Motion Cannon! During my next turn, I can send it to the graveyard to deal you 1000 points of damage! Turn end!”

A green, almost completely round device that was as comical looking as it was menacing popped up on Machi’s field. The tubes on the top of it were filled with all sorts of liquids and the exhaust chutes on the back inactive as the machine seemed content to rest right where it was.

Nekroz of Valkyrus: 1450 > 2900 ATK

Turn 6: Kanna

Kanna did not draw her card immediately, instead staring at the strange machine on Machi’s side of the field with furrowed brows. With her life points under 1000 the Wave-Motion Cannon’s appearance on the field had set a definitely time limit on this duel; if Kanna was not able to increase her life points or do something to prevent the spell from activating before the end of her turn then Machi would win by default.

Of course, she could always just win this turn and end the duel in her favour, and the two cards already in her hand should allow her to do that if, and only if, she drew the appropriate card this turn.

If Kanna felt any apprehension over the fact that the end to this duel would be determined by pure luck then it didn’t show. She calmly drew a single card from her deck and turned it so that she could see what it was, allowing a small smile to creep through as she saw what it was.

“I activate the trap card Sealing Ceremony of Suiton.” A blue clad ninja appeared on the field, rising out of the ground, before he snapped his hands together to form a hand sign; suddenly a swirling vortex of water appeared around him, one bizarrely populated by large tadpoles wearing ninja headbands. “By discarding Zefrasaber, Swordsman of the Nekroz I can banish one card from your graveyard; I’ll be removing your Jurrac Titano from play.” The card in Kanna hands was snatched away by one of the tadpoles, while at the same time another tadpole dived into the graveyard slot of Machi’s Duel Disk. A short moment later, they emerged carrying a card in their mouth and hopped out.

“S-Shoot! If you remove one of my Jurrac monsters, then…” Machi worriedly said as he glanced up at the colossal dinosaur on his field. A window flashing attack points opened up next to it, the numbers slowly trickling down.

Jurrac Giganoto: 2900 > 2700 ATK

“Next I’ll play Nekroz Cycle.” Kanna placed the card in one of her spell slots and on the field a large gold gemstone appeared, shedding motes of golden light as it hovered under some unknown power. “I tribute the Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz in my hand to the graveyard in order to summon the Nekroz of Gungnir in my graveyard to the field.” As Kanna placed the last card in her hand into the graveyard another card was ejected into her hand, which she promptly placed on the field. The glowing gem on the field began to glow even brighter before a flash of light which dazzled all observers burst forth, fading to reveal a new figure. Light purple armour, blue, dragon-like wings and tail and flowing red hair, Nekroz of Gungnir hovered silently next to Valkyrus.

Nekroz of Gungnir: 2500 ATK Level 7 WATER Spellcaster

“Sending Shurit to the grave activates it’s effect, letting me add a warrior type Nekroz monster to my hand. I’ll be adding Nekroz of Trishula.” Not that it will matter if I cannot end this duel this turn. Nonetheless Kanna retrieved the card that popped out of the deck, the single, solitary card the only one in her hand.
“Wait, hang on a sec…” Machi interrupted Kanna and started to count on his fingers.

“1… 2… 3… hey, hang on a sec! Shurit’s a level three! How could you ritual summon a level seven without at least another level four?!”

“Simple. Shurit’s effect allows it to be treated as any level for the ritual summon of a Nekroz monster. Now I’ll attack Giganoto with Valkyrus.” At the command the warrior leapt into the air with a roar, twirling the three-headed spear above his head with unnecessary flourish as he rapidly approached the gigantic dinosaur. Valkyrus brought the spear down on his opponent, cutting a violent red line through the creature which bursting apart a moment later. Machi raised his arms up to shield himself from the shockwave, standing firm as he’s shoved back a few centimeters.

Machi LP: 2700> 2500

“Next I’ll attack directly with Gungnir.” Kanna did not gloat as the red haired spellcaster charged forward, pointed sceptre held before her; she gave no cocky victory line as some other duellists were fond of doing in the moment of victory. Though Machi’s hand was empty, his field all but clear and her victory all but assured, she was never one to celebrate prematurely when the duel was not over yet. It would not do to make herself look foolish by claiming victory, only to then be thwarted at the last moment.

“Wait, no, hang on… you’re joking, right?!” Machi blurted out, glancing down at his Duel Disk. No monsters and only a single spell on his field…

Gungnir stopped her charge a few feet from Machi, raising her sceptre and chanting a few arcane words before unleashing a barrage of magical icicles that struck her opponent directly.

“G-guh…. GUUAAAH!!” Machi screamed as he was thrown off his feet by the force of the attack, hurled a few meters backwards into the dirt. He slid across the floor for a solid second, a holographic window popping up next to him to signal his loss. His three dorm-mates as well as some other students crowded around him, checking if he was okay.

Machi LP: 2500> 0

Winner: Kanna Hayashi!

Even with her victory confirmed Kanna did not feel like gloating, nor did she even look particularly pleased. Looking down at her duel disk she almost winced at the number showing her remaining life points; one hundred was the number that separated her from utter defeat in this duel. Nor did she like the fact that Machi was only one turn away from victory, nor that she had needed to rely on drawing the right card in the final turn in order to win. Granted she only need a Water-attribute monster and her deck was filled with those, but she hated leaving anything up to chance.

This was not a victory that she could feel proud of. The Fire dorm champion had pushed her further than she had arrogantly thought he would when she challenged him; had she really challenged Machi just to prove something about the Water dorm? Had she really thought challenging one of the top duellist in the school was something to be done so casually?

While Kanna was deep in thought, Kien and Sinata supported Machi back onto his feet.

“How the heck did you lose with a lead like that?!” Sinata complained, but Machi just shoved himself away from the duo.

“C-Can it, okay?! I thought I had her for sure on that last turn…”

“So did everyone else. But you got ahead of yourself. There was no way you would have won in that turn; don’t you remember the card she added to her hand earlier?” Kien chimed in, crossing his arms and sternly looking at the other boy. Machi just defiantly turned his head away from Kien.

“How was I supposed to know it had an effect like that?! Guuhh… this sucks. I embarrassed the entire dorm on the first day….”

“T-That’s not true… l-look,” Kotone pointed at the crowd around them having been whipped up into a frenzy, talking about how amazing the duel was. Machi just scratched the back of his neck, head still turned away.

“Whatever… losing just feels awful. It’s fine now because it’s a pickup duel and all, but I can’t make that same mistake again when we duel again for real…” Machi mumbled, raising up his Duel Disk. He pressed a button to make a certain card slide out of his Graveyard: Jurrac Giganoto. He put on a grin and looked up again, towards the opponent that had just beaten him. He took a deep breath and shouted:

“Hey, Kanna! Just ‘cause you’ve won today doesn’t mean I’ll give up! Next time we duel it’ll be in the arena, and that’s when I’ll win!”

Machi’s shout broke Kanna out of her maudlin thoughts, the victorious duellist looking across the still empty space between them at the Fire dorm’s elite. Forcing a smug smile onto her face Kanna removed her deck from her duel disk, the device rotating into its inactive configuration as it shut down. “The Water Dorm is always ready to accept any challengers. Any time you feel ready to duel me again Machi, I’ll be waiting.”

Hiroji snorted, not even deigning to give Kuo a response and turned away to watch the duel.

Tina gave him a puzzled look. "Are you sure? I don't usually forget people... I guess you are just pretty forgettable!" She said cheerfully, seemingly not at all bothered by the fact that she had insulted him. Perhaps to her, it wasn't an insult at all.

Lance shrugged, "Tina's got a point, you aren't exactly very flashy are you?" He asked, giving a little twirl that causing his jewelry to twinkle, as though accenting the difference between them. "That said, were you looking to make allies? If so I'd have to ask you pick someone to duel, to see if you... stand out enough." Lance said, obviously not trying to be rude but not terribly impressed either.

Gaku naturally continued watching the duel with great interest, cheering when Machi crushed his opponent down to 100 LP and also cheering when Kanna turned it around and took the victory. He was more interested in the fact that the battle was exciting than which participant won. He was all fired up after seeing the duel and ran back to the rest of his dormmates. "Hey this dude is still around? You looking for a duel or something, I'm all pumped up after seeing that great duel!"

Akane remained silent.

Emi carefully watched the duel between Machi and Kanna from the stairwell up to the main building, keeping her distance so she wouldn't be mingled in with the crowd. Her head was comfortably resting in the palm of her right hand as her eyes scanned the two duelists from afar.

"Leaving me to scout out the competition... I'll get back a you for this, Hyousuke," she mumbled to herself, her glare fixed on the moment Machi looked to be ending the duel. When the smoke cleared and Kanna's monster was still on the field, Emi couldn't help but frown. How did a hothead like Machi ever get to the first place in his dorm?

While Emi was brooding up on her perch, Hyou was busy dragging Masaru all across the island. The white-haired one of the duo casually held his arms behind his back while a whistled tune escaped his lips. The other half of the pair seemed to be getting more irate with his counterpart every passing step. The two of them were walking down the path towards the earth dormitory, the cool shade of the trees tempering the mood just a little.

"Somehow, I feel as if following you around was a bad idea. I'm not here to socialize with the first years, Hyousuke!"
"Don't be so uptight, man! I managed to wrangle us away from those dark dorms well enough. My first guess might've been wrong, but maybe Kei is somewhere around- hey, did you hear something?"

Hyousuke stopped in his tracks, causing Masaru to bump into him and recoil backwards. The synchro dorm's ace covered his nose in mild pain, glaring back at his companion.

"Fngh! Watch where you're-!"
"G-GHUAAA!"

Both of them tensed up at the sound of someone's screams echoing in the forest. They briefly put their differences aside as their eyes met, nodded at one another, then ran to investigate. What they found was both their objective and the worst case scenario, all rolled into one. Keitaro stood there, a full suit of blue Armor monsters equipped onto himself, staring down a badly bruised Keita, the fifth best duelist from the water dorm. Keita's field had a Gagaga Gardna on it as he breathed heavily, a mere 300 lifepoints flickering next to him. Masaru and Hyou quickly motioned their hands in front of their eyes to activate their Duel Tattoos, able to quickly check out Keitaro's 1600 lifepoints.

"Tch...! You're pathetic...! This entire duel you've been doing nothing but hide behind your monsters! It's too late to be sorry or fight back, though. I'm through with this. I activate Fissure from my hand!"

The ground beneath Gagaga Gardna split apart, making the warrior fall in and get destroyed. Keita's field was now wide open, and it didn't look like he had another set card or anything in his hand to protect himself.

"Keitaro! What the heck do you think you're doing?!" Hyousuke yelled from his vantage point while Masaru just sighed and slapped his hand against his head. Keitaro only gave a cursory glance back in the duo's direction and spat towards Hyousuke. That's the only answer he bothered to give before looking back and revving up the gauntlet on his right arm. The display next to it flashed 1000 ATK points.

"Get ready, wimp! I'll use my Burning Knuckle to Direct Attack!"

Keitaro's Overboost and Active Guard both opened up their jet-boosters as the delinquent was launched forward, pulling back his fist only to ram it straight into Keita's gut. Spit followed the already-beaten guy as he was launched back against the tree that was behind him, the shock from the impact rustling it and causing a plethora of leaves to scatter downwards. Keitaro's armor cards vanished off his body while Keita's deck was scattered in front of him, the badly beaten boy being crumpled up against the tree and unable to fight back. Keitaro walked forward and picked up a single card from the pile. He turned it around to show Keita that his Gagaga Cowboy was now in the delinquent's hands. Keitaro chuckled and grinned as he looked down upon his defeated adversary, pompadour casting a dark shadow over the left half of his face.

"You lost, so this is mine now. Got it?"

"So, we got the whole day to do whatever, right? What do you guys want to do now?" The raven haired one of the bunch questioned as he felt a gentle tug on one of his locks, giving him the okay to let down the messy haired girl on her own two feet. The Dark Dorm members, as usual, kept a rather low and quiet profile, save for Kame and Elliot, who were either commenting on the duel between the teachers, or butting heads about why the new Fire Dorm teacher won. They were currently standing in somewhat of a circle, each sharing a curious glance with the ones next to them to see if they had any ideas on how to answer Elliot's question. Soon enough, Kame took this as her chance.

"Don't you think we should at least talk about this whole 'team up' thing before one of you guys decide to waste my time?" She questioned, placing her hands on her hips as she did so.

"I thought we would team up with Xyz. They're nice people from what I've seen." He answered simply, much to Kame's annoyance, her bob swishing as she turned her head to look directly at Elliot.

"Okay, either you're stupid, or blind, because the Synchro dorm is also an option."
"But they got the Ice Queen herself on their side..."
"Don't call her that, you ass." Kame snapped, stepping closer to the much taller boy as a form of intimidation. "I know you just want to team with them so that you have an excuse to talk to that weird animal girl you've been crushing on. What's her name again...?" Elliot seemed to get heated up at this as he brought his balled fists up in a defensive motion.
"Her name is Sana, you uncultured swine, and I LOVE her."
"Yeah, sure. And I love making my grandmother cry." She hummed dismissively.
"Oh for fuc--"

"Guys. W-We're in public..." William's soft voice caused the both of them to stop and look around. No one seemed to be paying much attention to them, but the gray haired boy knew when they would start yelling at each other. Best to stop them now then to let them keep going with insults that'll sooner or later start hurting people's feelings, and that they did, apparently unaffected, thankfully, by each other's words. Bellatrix could only snicker at their back and forth, while Felicitas seems to be looking somewhere else, both seeming not to care too much of they kept going or not. "But Kame's right, we should at least talk about it. Maybe leave it to a vote like usual." Ah the 'usual'. Liam was always the one to offer the 'usual', but it always led to more fighting and inevitably no decision being made. Not that it really mattered most of the time. Yeah, they always got on their nerves, but once it was all over they'd just forget about it. Hopefully it was the same for this case as were all the others.

"You know this'll turn out not working, like always, right? It never does when me and him have different opinions." Kame frowned as she folded her arms. "I want Synchro and Elli wants Xyz, right?" She questioned, earning a simple nod from the glasses wearing boy in question. "So that means Bella's gonna choose a side..." She trailed to let the devil horned girl make her choice.

"Ooo! Let's go Synchro. It's fun to say!" Bella said with a toothy grin, her canines practically forcing Kame to step back.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. And then you're gonna choose whichever side has the least amount of votes because you can't think for yourself." This time she glared at Liam, expecting him to do something different, which he didn't. "And Felicitas never cares, so we're stuck on a tie!" She yelled towards the end, lacing her fingers through her hair in annoyance. "We really need to find a better way of doing these things, because we always end up nowhere using them." She huffed.

"I don't like her that much either sometimes..." Elliot paused to smirk when Kame stuck her tongue out at him. "...but she does have a point. We should talk about it over some food, that'll get our brains turning! Right Feli?" He questioned, finally acknowledging his best friend, and the top ranked of the Dark Dorm.

"..."

"Feli?"

"..." When he didn't get a response the second time, The turned to look at whatever the beige haired girl was looking at. From what they could tell, it just looked like some other students passing by, but upon closer inspection, they came to realize what managed to catch the petite girl's eye.

"Wow, how did I miss his hair?" Liam remarked as he placed a hand on his chin.

"Yeah, I tend to do that a lot myself. He kinda blends in and doesn't blend in at the same time." Kame admitted.

"But look at his eyes! They're so pretty~" Bella ended it with a coo, flexing her fingers in a grabbing motion.

"Damn, it really has been a hot minute, huh?" The raven haired boy sighed almost dreamily.

"He kinda looks like you, but with blue...hair."

"Oh that's right, you haven't really talked to Kaito that much, huh...we could introduce you properly Feli!"

"...Why?"

"Because he's getting cloooossseerrrr~" Bella snickered excitedly, sliding up to her tippy toes in anticipation.

"Ah you guys were in the middle of something?" The boy questioned once he was close enough. Before any of the others could speak and ultimately embarrass all of them, Liam took the reigns.

"Ah, n-nope! Don't worry about us! Was there a-anything you needed?" He asked, practically feeling the four pairs of heavy gazes cast upon the blue haired teen.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be here for long if you guys are busy. I’m just here to start the year off on the right foot and talk to you all at the start of the year. Ah, by the way, the name’s is Kaito Nonaka in case you forgot. I’m happy to see you all once again. How about it? You guys up for hanging out for the day?" He then asked, only to receive a slight glare from Kame.

"Nonaka? As in Izumi Nonaka?" She questioned. Despite the constant battles they've had together, she never even thought about what his last could even be. That, or she just didn't care and forgot about it.

"No way, are you related to her? Or is it just a coincidence?" Elliot then asked, lilac eyes wide and curious.

"Do...Do you use Pendulums too?!" Felicitas asked as a bit of life flashed into her eyes. Speaking of eyes...

"Kaito, darling! It's great to see your lovely eyeballs once again!" Bella snickered, nodding approvingly at what...um, at who was in front of her.

"Come on guys, g-geez..." The dark skinned male sighed before giving Kaito an apologetic smile. Of course they all knew each other, aside from Felicitas, but seeing as the other started the new year with a little reintroduction, Liam decided to do the same with everyone else following suit. "It's nice to see you again, Kaito. I'm William Nikos, but of course, I prefer Liam." He said, before looking to the others.

"Oh! Bellarix Layn. Bella!"

"Kame Hiro, ranked third in the Dark Dorm, but of course you knew that. I've already started working on a timetable for times we can duel throughout the school year. You better be ready."

"No need to reintroduce myself, but she would like to." Elliot grinned smugly before placing a hand on their first rank, prompting her to speak.

"...I'm Felicitas Weiner...it's nice to meet you..." The leader concluded with a slight wave before looking back up at Elliot, who decided to take the lead.

"I think it'd be cool if we hung out! We can be a little weird, but I'm sure you don't mind. Plus, we wanted to maybe ask you some questions about your dorm?" The boy smiled before continuing. "We don't go out much, so anywhere that suits your fancy's cool with us!"

Looking up Kei realizes all her friends have left, seemingly to go find an alliance with a dorm. Feeling more bothered than she should be, Kei walks off in a random direction. While she walks through people, she notices a medium sized group gathered in a circle. At first she was wondering who it could be that's dueling, when she examines it a bit closer she notices a distinctive monster, Darklord Amdusc. She lets out a heavy sigh apon coming tot he realization that Izashi got caught up in a duel instead of following the plan they originally had. Wondering who it is he could be dueling, she breaks through the crowd to get a front row seat to the duel.

" I activate Amdusc's effect! I pay 1000 life points to use a Darklord trap in my cementery!," Izashi confidently says, knowing in his mind that he's about to seal the deal on the duel. Amdusc raises his head into the air, with his horn pointing straight into the air. A faint dark glow can be seen from the top of it's horn, a dark energy swarms out from his horn and surrounds Izashi. As the energy takes the life away from Izashi a card in his hand is sent to the grave.
" The card I activate is Darklord Enchantment! I'm taking control of your Master of Oz!" From Amdusc's horn, a massive magic circle appears above it. In the center of this magic circle many tendrils emerge from it. Izashi sets his sights on Master of Oz, and following his signal the tendrils wrap around him, lifting Master of Oz into the air and dropping him on Izashi's field.
" Now Master of Oz! Direct attack!". The giant swings his fist at full force into the Unlucky Student, dropping his remaining life points to 0. Sitting down shocked, the student laments over his loss to Izashi, taking it rather hard.
" If you've got time to be sad about losing then you've got time to improve." With that said, Izashi walks off in the opposite direction, leaving the crowd mumbling about his recent win.

Feeling this is less than interesting, Kei walks off again, this time in search of Yute. While she walks around she wonders if he's had any success in finding an alliance.

While feeling massively bothered by that duel Izashi continues to ignore the fact that he should be searching for an alliance and instead wanders around, looking for another challenge. While walking around aimlessly he notices something to the east, a familiar red and black monster. " That dick...",he mutters to himself silently.

" It's only the start of the year and there's already dorm leaders going at it",Terry says sadly. " Something as big as that should only be in a tournament, or one of my contest..,"he says in a rather defeated tone. Terry continues to walk around rather bored. While he walks around, almost dragging his feet he hopes that everyone else is having better luck than him.

Touma’s quick retreat from the square had nothing to do with not wanting to be caught up in the argument between Kanna and Jasmine. It was simply a coincidence that he had taken the first opportunity he could to extricate himself from that situation and then left fast enough that neither girl could say anything to stop him. Or at least, that was his story and he was sticking with it.

It was never a smart idea to get between those two when they were like that; few people in the academy could stand up to Kanna’s iron will when she had made her mind up about something, but even she occasionally gave ground when Jasmine felt strongly enough to oppose her. Nothing good would come from him trying to add his own opinion into the mix, not that he had any strong feelings about the matter either way. Whatever the others decided to do about this partnering thing was fine with him; he would just go along with the decision and focus on his own duelling like he always had. So long as they didn’t end up making an alliance with the Synchro dorm.

Speaking of which…

Up ahead he could make out the backs of two other students, both wearing the signature white uniforms that marked out the members of the Synchro dorm from the other dorms; what’s more, judging by the blue and white hair the duo sported respectively, it was none other than the king douche himself and his second-in-command. Well, speak of the devil and he shall appear; of all the people he could have run into it would just have to be Masaru wouldn’t it?

Touma was just considering turning around and heading back the other direction when a sudden shout from off to the side stopped him. Evidently the other two had heard it as well, as they gave each other a quick look before rushing towards the noise. It was only at this point that Touma looked around and saw where he was; in his haste to leave the square, of his own accord and for no other reason, he had been walking in a random direction for a while now, somehow ending up on the path to the Earth dorm. How or why he had ended up here wasn’t important however, as he too rushed into the trees to investigate the noise.

Following the glimpses of white coats he saw through the foliage Touma arrived on the scene just in time to see a black coated figure pick a card up off the forest floor; though he couldn’t see his face the obnoxiously large and ridiculously shaped hair style gave them away immediately and Touma couldn’t keep the sneer off of his face as he recognised Keitaro. His presence, coupled with the scream, could only mean trouble; especially since he had had a nagging thought in the back of his mind for a while now that the scream had been familiar.

When he saw the person slumped against the tree Touma froze shock, though a rapidly rising anger meant he didn’t stay that way for long. “Keita!” If the blue blazer hadn’t given it away the mop of vivid red hair, the colour far livelier than the person it belonged to, definitely would have. Touma rushed towards his fallen dorm-mate, bumping Masaru aside in his haste, coming to a stop as he kneeled down next to Keita.

The smaller boys face was a mess of bruises, one eye swollen completely shut and his lip cut and bleeding; he was breathing heavily and hadn’t responded at all to his shout, but he seemed to be awake at least if a little out of it. Glancing down Touma could see that Keita’s duel disk was still active, though his deck had fallen out and his cards were scattered around him.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened here. Keitaro’s duelling style had always been a little excessive and it wasn’t rare for his opponents to walk away from a duel with him with a couple of bruises to show for it. Even so, he had never seen things go this far; although, that may have had something to do with the fact that all of the duels he had seen Keitaro fight had been in front of an audience. Away from the arena or the crowds, away from prying eyes, was this the kind of duellist Keitaro was?

Standing up suddenly Touma spun to face Keitaro, who was still looming behind them. He grabbed a handful of the other student’s shirt and pulled him forward to snarl in his face, ignoring the fact that the other buy stood a couple of inches taller than him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, punk?”

@Ammokkx

Kaito looked at the dark dorm and smiled “Izumi? You mean the new teach? Yeah she is my older sister” Kaito responded to the question Kame but directly answered Elliots as well “She is a former champion when she attended this school best of water dorm 7 years ago, you didnt know?” Kaito asked Kame quickly before looking at Feli nodding at her pulling out a pendulum card to let her confirm

Kaito looked at Elliot after he accepted the invitation “Great, how does the mall sound? I think i need to get some supplies my pens are running out after that we could maybe hang out at the Arcade in our dorm, old man Noir for some reason doesnt mind that other students come in, he said something about arcades should be open to everyone”

---

Kou vs Gaku

Kou looked at Gaku, who seemed to be pumped up ready to duel consider he appeared to gesturing for him to duel “You know, that sounds like a challenge to me, I Accept your challenge!”

Gaku was pleased, “Alright, let’s get this thing going! Make your move and kick this thing off.”

Kou scratched his head “Xyz Dorm has the house rule of challenger goes first so i’d like to honor my Dorm and stick with those rules, next time we duel perhaps we will forgo that”

Gaku seemed confused. “Well that’s stupid. The challenger took the first move to challenge, so they should take the second move to play. Whatever, I’m in a good mode so I’ll go first.”

Lance seemed amused by the whole thing and shrugged to himself, taking a few steps back to watch and gesturing for everyone else to do the same.

Tina chattered away happily, “Oh this should be fun, it’s always nice seeing Gaku get fired up about his duels.”

Hiroji simply said, “Gaku I hope you know better than to lose against a rank 5 from another dorm.”



Tina cheered, “Hey that was a good fight, I think that’s the most even match I’ve seen Gaku fight.”

Lance had a neutral expression. “Hey, it was pretty back and forth I’ll give you that. I think Gaku might’ve been taking it a bit easy on you though. If that’s all you came for I guess we’ll see you around.”

Hiroji seemed vexed but didn’t say anything. After all, Gaku technically hadn’t lost. “Disappointing.” Was all he said before stalking off.

Akane seemed to have written some notes down but it was hard to tell given that she always seemed to have her notepad out and scribbling something down in it, whether or not it was about the duel was anyone’s guess.

“Alright you did pretty good, but don’t think that’s the end of this. Tomorrow we’re dueling again, and we’ll see how well that defense of yours holds up in round two.” Gaku said vigorously, having recovered very quickly from his disappointment with the duel.

“Tomorrow!?” Kou called out surprised “Well if you insist, My dorm pride will never die you know” Kou responded clearly pretending to be cool walking off to his dorm thinking to himself

---

While silently searching for members of the Xyz dorm, Yute comes to an abrupt stop after hearing his name called. Recognizing the voice Yute rushes up to her. “Naoki, Hey I was actually just looking for you myself. What did you want to talk about?,” he asked wondering what she had wanted with him, and making sure to keep it in the back of his head to bring up the alliance.

Naoki was surprised to hear he was looking for her. “Nothing important,’ she replied.”I was hoping we could just talk. You know, talk.” Naoki simply replied thinking of a way to transition to talking Yute into a duel.

Wanting to get straight down to business Yute decides to not bug around the question “I was looking for you because I wanted to talk about a alliance between the Wind and Xyz dorms.”

Naoki was shocked to hear that immediately “W-well... that was a sudden change of pace,” Naoki was surprised to hear that coming from someone she doesn't get to talk to often but quickly straightened up. “Sure, we can talk about that. You’re not thinking of starting one now, right?” Naoki asked to make sure Yute knew what he was getting himself into.

“While I would usually do more research for certain things like this, my group seems to think we need one immediately.” Thinking on it for a second, a brief moment of confusion washes over Yute’s face. “Wait, did you not come looking for me to talk about an alliance?” Yute asked, thinking that he might be missing something a bit important.

“I was more hoping we could get to know each other a little more... I don’t really know much about anyone, other than our own dorm and a few others outside of it.” Naoki explained, but shortly after had an idea: “But since you brought this up, why don’t you show me what you can do?” She activated her duel disk as she finished her sentence. “If you win, we’ll join up and start an alliance. If not... I’ll just decide based on your performance.” Naoki tried her best to come up with conditions that would disguise this duel as something official, rather than a duel for fun. The thrill of a duel like this did secretly excite her, though.

“Right… After this regardless of if I win or lose we’ll get to know each other,” Yute replied. Feeling nothing wrong with her terms for forming the alliance, he raises his duel disk. “ I’m vastly different than from my first year, and with the Xyz and Synchro dorms power i’ll be even better.” While his face displayed the same look he generally had, Yute was a little more excited than usual since he’d be facing off against Naoki, a number one from another dorm.

“In that case in xyz dorm we always have our personal rules of challenger goes first,which in
this case oddly enough would be me,any objections to that?” Naoki asked politely

“No objections here” Yute said with a unintentional stern voice.

“Let’s get straight to the point then shall we?” Naoki said inserting one of her decks into her disk with a rather seemingly forced serious tone

Yute inserts his deck into his duel disk, only giving a slight nod to Naoki, showing his agreement.

“Duel!”



“And that's the end of the duel,” Naoki said to herself before looking at Yute “Ah I don’t like lying, so I’ll be honest immediately that wasn't actually a test I um… just wanted to duel someone outside of my dorm, you are not mad or anything right?” Naoki fiddled a little bit with her fingers

“I am mad, but that wouldn’t be my reason,” Yute says with a unbreaking poker face. Rather than say anything more he just silently stares at her, pondering his loss.

“Well I’ll consider your alliance offer for now. I think I better check up on Ren though,” Naoki said to Yute before running off to Xyz dorm.