[IC] Revelation Heart : A Yu-Gi-Oh Roleplay

[The Red Seelie]

Mitsuri Campus - Main Building 3rd Floor - Duel Arena September 12th 20XX

---

"ATTENTION DUELISTS!"

"Please avoid knocking each other over!" The Voice of a burly fellow would bellow over the intercom system, the man would be standing on his podium as the new first years would be bustling their way into the duel arena for their placement duels. A few rowdy students here and there as people at the entrance would mark off the attendees and give them their associated number before being directed to the stands to await their duel. There were 4 possible examiners a student would have to face, It seemed each one was a different level of strictness about the whole process as well, as one student was sent crying.

The first one was a man wearing what appeared to be a baseball uniform. His deck seemed to be sports based, and he was barking at his opponent on how to stand whilest holding a duel disk and yet at the same time he seemed to be offering positive advice to his opponents as the duels dragged on. A nice fellow all things considered if one were to be paying attention to him.

The Second one whom was to be examining the students appeared to be a rather reserved gentleman that was playing a Machine oriented deck. He was complimenting his opponents on the way they built they decks, and most of all he seemed to genuinely be smiling and having a blast. He was probably new here given his youthful looks. Still he looked the most approachable out of the bunch.

Teacher three, seemed to be a rather meek woman, who was nodding her head. She seemed to be using a spellcaster deck. Her personality seemed rather sheepish and overtly polite. But at the same time, one could see from the way she was playing she knew exactly what she was doing, though she was getting red faced when having to deal with an opponent that seemed bored with her.

Teacher Four, the one that had sent the student off crying was a stern woman that seemed to be looking down on her opponent as she bombarded them with questions mid match. Making Merciless plays and just as Merciless remarks against her opponents as she appeared to be testing her opponents resolve to keep fighting. Students that gave up would recieve her scorn the most not helped by the fact that she was a very difficult woman to please. The Deck she seemed to be playing with was based on Rock Monsters.

Now, then, all that was left was for you new students to have your placement duels against one of the four random opponents. You may have been told to do your best by one of the older students at the door as you walked in and that was all you could do. The First hurdle of many awaits!

[Ammokkx]

▂▃▅▆▇█ Miku █▇▆▅▃▂

---

Waves gently crashed against the side of the ship, its movement causing a still breeze to wade through the hair of a girl standing on its deck. The cruiser's destination was close enough to be in sight, the coast of mainland Japan stretching out in front of her eyes. She was holding a letter close to her heart. The paper was wrinkled from both the breeze and the girl's strong grip on it. A grip as tight as the leash on life itself. The girl closed her eyes, thinking back at what she had to leave behind. There was barely any luggage of hers aboard the cruiser.

"I'm sorry, mom, dad..."

...but Miku was in control of her own destiny now. She was going to Mitsuri. Nothing would stop her from that.

---

Miku was in awe the moment she stepped in front of the gate to Mitsuri's campus. It took her a few metros to get there and it was a hassle to be on time, but she'd never seen something so modern or luxurious before. Even if the entire affair was nothing compared to some of the most prestigious academies out there, she hadn't been exposed to any of that. Being in the city like this was a new experience all its own. She tightened the grip on the sports bag in her hands, one which contained all the belongings she could bring. Breathing deep, she took her first steps onto the campus. It didn't take long for the girl to get spotted out by one of the already-enrolling students. A boy with poofy, blue hair and a leather jacket waved at Miku, who froze in place.

"Yo! You lookin' to take the entrance exam, right? It's up on the third floor!" they yelled at her, pointing behind them towards the large building at the back center..

"A-ah... thank you," Miku stammered out in reply.

"Hey, duel me when you get in alright? You seem to be sure of yourself with that bag, so you must be really good! I love a strong opponent!"

Miku glanced down at the sports bag, then back at the student. "...Yeah. I will," she replied with a fiery gaze in her eyes. The boy flinched for a second before waving her off. Miku made her way through the main building and climbed up the stairwells like the student told her to. Once reaching the third floor, she was informed of both who to face and when to do so. She seated herself down, watched the duels intensely and waited for her turn to come by. Miku didn't speak to anyone there. Nobody approached her either. That probably had something to do with the intense gaze she cast at the duel fields. Eventually, though, her turn came. It was right as the latest student was sent running out of the academy, crying, caused by the teacher Miku was told to face.

"I won't lose," she muttered to herself, setting aside her bag and ruffling through it to find her disk. She strapped the blue device to her arm and made her way down into the allotted arena. There, she was about to stand face-to-face with the stern gaze of the red-headed woman. Miku didn't falter. She couldn't falter. With her steeled resolve, Miku took her spot in front of Mikia Strusse.

[NFGS0UL]

Percival was still annoyed about the note he received. More importantly, he had no self confidence, thoughts like "What if I get humiliated?" and "What if I can't even do a one proper duel?" started creeping up. He was shivering, he had to calm down before the train stops. His dreams were about to become real, he can not afford to be anxious all the time. He slowly starts to calm down.

As he walks to the academy building, he takes a look at it. The building itself starts to make him nervous but this is quickly overpowered by something, his love of dueling. He suddenly remembers why it was his dream to come here. His deck was just some leftover dragons? So what, he will do with what is at hand and earn his deck back. Maybe even upgrading it.

Even as anxious as he is, he was fired up. "Uncle, I am not going to let you down!" he thinks. After he is in, nothing will stop him. Suddenly he begins to get anxious again. But what if he could not even get in? He tries to clear his mind. It is not time for anxiety. He somehow manages to get himself to a neutral state.

He enters the main building. He follows the crowd to find where to go. He makes his best to not make eye contact with anyone. When it is his turn, he takes a deep breath. All of the thoughts suddenly vanished with that breath. He is here to duel and that is all. He takes his place on the duel arena, ready to face the teacher that he was told.

[Dexxus]

«♢◈❖⧰ Adrian ⧰❖◈♢»

---

Waves gently crashed against the side of the ship. That alone was enough to bring back dark memories. Head laid in his hands, a somewhat bulky figure, notably out of place compared to his peers, mulls over why it had to be a damn boat to bring them here. Even without the grim reminder of his purpose for coming, he had issues with seasickness. His stomach churned, as if to echo the sentiment. Still... it'd be over soon. Lifting his head to look out the nearby window greets him with a stunning view of the coastline. Japan. It'd be a hard time adjusting, but the fact that he was headed anywhere was a miracle in his eyes. He clutched the letter in his right hand tightly. It was his only possession other than his wallet, a backpack with some necessities, and the clothes on his back - and arguably, the most important one of the four.

"I guess this is it..."

...a chance to finally put this curse to rest. The infernal card glared at him from its place on the desk. Not for much longer, he thought. ...He hoped.

---

Adrian had managed to get lost several times on his journey from touching down to getting to the actual school. He didn't have the head for written Japanese, so even with the help of some very generous passers-by willing to give him detailed directions, he'd ended up taking a few wrong turns here, a few trains in the opposite direction there... but regardless, he eventually made it. The sleek, academic structure in front of him was a comforting sight to behold, when he finally found it. He was already late as it was, though, so he had no time to catch his breath out front. Someone his age and size, out of uniform and panting heavily, caught the attention of quite a few students.

"...Hey. You're not the new janitor, are you?", came a voice from somewhere in the back of the small crowd of faces staring at him. He was obviously out of place.

"N-no, uhh... heh... I'm just... hooo... oh boy... here for the entrance exams", Adrian managed to gasp out, bent over, holding his knees and trying to regain some level of composure.

There were snickers. Laughs. Even a pointed finger or two from some of the less subtle girls. But sure enough, another voice piped up. "Third floor, bud. Out back. Can't miss it." The muttering among the rest of the students continued, but he wouldn't be deterred. Couldn't be. Not yet, anyway.

"Thanks!", he proclaimed loudly, before starting to make his way towards the duel field. The crowd didn't disperse until he'd already pushed his way through them and continued onward. Heads continued to turn the rest of the way there. He wondered what kind of rumours people must be coming up with already, and he hadn't even played his first duel. "Ugh..." That was a reminder. He was anxious as hell about the actual test. He'd scraped and scrounged and even scavenged for cards to try and put together a deck that was even half-playable - but he'd been out of the game for so long, he really didn't have much in the way of options. Too bad he'd lost all his other cards behind that day in the river... They'd probably long been washed out to sea.

"Tch," Adrian muttered, looking at the Dokuroiso in his other hand. "Why couldn't it have been ANY other card that decided to follow me around?" Proceeding up the stairs, he found himself alone - aside from a young secretary, who was presumably keeping track of proceedings. He smiled at her, and she smiled back. He attempted to head through into the duel arena, and she looked incredibly surprised, standing up in a very flustered manner and babbling out that there were exams in progress and he couldn't just barge in there. Embarassed, he fumbled a quick apology, and explained that that's why he was here. She blinked more than a few times in apparent confusion, but nonetheless took down his details, and informed him of who his examiner was, and where to go to face them. He nodded, somberly, and thanked her, before heading through.

Heading to his quarter of the duel arena, he spotted a few other would-be students dotted around the seating, but the crowds were certainly thinning. Wether that was a reflection on his tardiness or the school's popularity, he wasn't sure. "Well," he gave a wry chuckle. "I guess this is it, then." Casting a quick gaze around the area, wondering who he could talk to to pass the time before it was his turn, he eventually settled on an extremely tired-looking fellow with messy black hair in the front row. "Hey there!" The boy seemed startled, perhaps even irritated by his presence - but he didn't object. That was plenty enough for Adrian to take a seat beside him.

He looked out onto the duel field in nervous anticipation. Seemed like someone was already dueling his examiner. Mikia Strusse. She certainly didn't sound Japanese. Like he was one to talk. Although, judging by the look of her current challenger, he felt he might not be waiting long. A young, bright-haired thing with looks of steel - it felt like she was going to drill a hole through the teacher with her gaze alone! If that kind of intensity was the competition he was up against... ugh. He could feel a pit in his stomach welling up. She even had her own duel disk. Must be nice. He'd have to use one of the rentals, like the joke he was. But surely someone with that kind of fire in their eyes could have some tips for him... Maybe he could catch her on the way back. In the meantime, he'd sit back, enjoy the match, and make one-sided conversation with his new and incredibly silent neighbour.

[sly13]

Thomas Arashi

Thomas could see the large campus of Mitsuri coming into view from his position inside the fairy that had been tasked with bringing new students to its doors. It was quite large and even at this distance, it looked quite state of the art by his standards. Unlike many of his peer who had spent the trip talking amongst themselves and playing pick up duels, Thomas sat in the same seat for just about the whole ride unmoving. Looking around he could see other would be students sorting their deck and going over a few last things before they reached the shore. Almost letting a “Hmf” escape his mouth Thomas again set his gaze on the school coming into view. “I will find the others.” he thought as his glance settled for a split second on his deck box attached to his belt.

As soon as the ship had made port Thomas grabbed his duffle bag that contained what he needed for his stay outside of his duel disk and deck which always stayed on his person. Throwing it over his shoulder Thomas calmly and confidently walked straight towards the main gates of the Campus.

Stepping through the threshold of what was now the Campus where he would be spending a few years he was impressed by the sheer size and magnitude of the whole campus for being so new. Looking to his left he could see the large round arena built for speed duels. “Can't wait to try that” he said to himself before he began to walk forward once again. In Front of him, he could see a large multi-layer building in front of him that clearly was the main building for the school. As he approached the building he saw a few other students entering the building ready for their entrance exams. Entering into the lobby he saw a woman seated behind the desk taking peoples name.

“Thomas Arashi here for my entrance exam.”

“Oh yes of course. You all good to go just wait in the stands until you are called.”

“Thank you,” Thomas said with a smile as he entered the large auditorium with other students already seated awaiting their turn to be called. Finding a seat by itself Tomas placed his bag down and leaned back into the chair. He watched for a few seconds before looking at the other students that were awaiting their time. To be expected most of them looked like they were nervous or scared. Looking to the side of him a few seats down he saw a girl with blonde hair appearing to be studying every duel at once with an intense glare. “At least someone else here is serious,” he said to himself before shutting his eyes to relax. Almost instantly after shutting his eyes he heard his name called and his dueling pad. Standing from his seat he walked straight to where he had been told the staging area was for the duelist. Placing his deck into his duel disk Thomas walked forward out into the arena. “Just the first step in my journey I suppose,” he said to himself as he stopped across from his opponent with a deadly serious look on his face.

[Ammokkx]

▂▃▅▆▇█ Miku █▇▆▅▃▂

---

The brilliantly red-headed blue-clad teacher would move her gaze slowly down and then up at the person that had stepped into her turf. “Another one.” She would begin before looking eyes with them. “Well you certainly at least appear to have the fire that a duelist needs. Either that or your really overcompensating for it. So why don’t you show me how strong your bite actually is.” She said as she flexed her hands a bit to ease up the tension in her muscles from drawing cards before activating her duel disk for another round. It seemed that her duel disk was of the older solid model kind.

Miku didn’t respond to her would-be teacher, at least not with words. She pulled up her arm. The rectangular device on it clapped out both sides. It projected a black blade with a dark, purple haze around it. "I won’t lose," she stated. "I’ll prove that right now."

“You, and every other person I’ve seen today has walked up to me with that exact same line.” The Teacher said as she rolled her eyes. “Many end up crumpling in their conviction. Will that be you?” She said as the automatic deck shuffling function of her duel disk whirred before stopping, as did Miku’s. “Now the rule of thumb for these entry duels is that the Students get to declare to go first or second. So what will it be girl?”

"Isn’t it obvious?" Miku retorted. "There’s no point if I’m not going all out. I’m taking the first turn!"

“Then, Girl. There is only one thing left to say.” The Woman said with a bit of hair flourish.

“Duel!”

Miku Vs. Mikia

Turn 1: Miku
Miku: 4000 LP, 5 cards
Mikia: 4000 LP, 5 cards

Miku drew her cards and fanned them out in her hand, scanning each of them over. No fusion cards, but that was fine. This hand worked for her.

”Let’s go! I’m summoning my Gem-Armadillo!”

A portal opened up on the floor in front of the girl. Out of it spun a small orangish-brown shelled creature, before unfurling from its ball and staring up at the woman on the other side of the field. Not only were its shell and underbelly adorned with orange gemstones, its beady eyes glowed with the same colour.

Gem-Armadillo: 1700 ATK Level 4 EARTH Rock

”Gem-Armadillo’s effect! When it’s summoned, I add Gem-Knight Garnet from my deck to the hand!” Miku explained. Her monster curled up back into its ball, a light shining through the cracks in its shell, before unfurling again with a new gemstone in its hand. The gemstone glowed for a moment before becoming a ray of light that shot into Miku’s deck, making her device shoot out the card she declared. She put it into her hand as her auto-shuffler did its job.

”Next up, I’m activating Soul of Fire!”

Miku slid her card into the disk. As soon as she did, a flaming circle surrounded her opponent. ”With this, you draw one card. So draw it!” the girl shouted, pointing over towards Mikia.

Mikia would nod carefully, her eyes studying the cards on the board as she looked down at her hand, carefully held in manner that would benefit a woman of class, as she drew her card and added it to her hand. The moment that happened, however, the flames surrounding Mikia grew more intense and fierce, shooting up while still circling the woman.

”Now you take Soul of Fire’s curse. When you’ve drawn your card, I select one of my Pyro-type monsters from my deck and remove it from play. Once I do, you take half its attack points as damage, and the monster I’ll remove is...” Miku paused, taking the card that shot out of her deck and revealing it to the teacher. ”...my 1800 attack Gem-Knight Sardonyx! With Soul of Fire, that means your life goes down by 900 points!”

The flames encircling Mikia finally engulfed the woman, burning the lifepoints away from her.

“Ah, a simple move of attrition I see. Give and take, like all things in life.” Mikia would smile with that same fiery look in her eye as her life points were reduced by 900. “But, I am most sure you know. The game isn’t over until my Life points hit zero, and that draw was just what I needed to rise to your challenge.”

Mikia: 4000 LP -> 3100 LP 6 Cards in hand

The cream-haired challenger stood resolute in response to the taunting. ”Then bring it. With this, I end my turn.”

Turn 2: Mikia
Miku: 4000 LP, 4 cards, ‘Gem-Armadillo’
Mikia: 3100 LP, 7 cards

“My turn then. Draw” She said as she drew from the top of deck and studied the cards on hand. “No facedowns huh? Bit rough over there for you isn’t it.” She said eying her opponent. “Well no matter. I summon Chronomaly Nebra Disk.” She said as placed the card down on her duel disk. A gentle thrum from the battlefield in front of her as the flat relic rose to her side of the field, it then shone with a strange light.

“The Effect of Nebra Disk, activate! With this effect I can add any Chronomaly card from my deck to my hand, Of course I will add the continuous spell card. ‘Chronomaly Pyramid Eye Tablet’!” From within the strange light the card became manifest and turned around revealing the spell card she had chosen before fading. Her auto-shuffler whirring immediately after.

“And I will of course proceed to immediately activate it.” She said placing it down. Almost immediately there was the noise of rock moving against rock as the tablet, much larger than that of her Nebran Disk appeared on her side of the field. “The effect of the Tablet increases the attack points of all my Chronomaly monsters by 800”

‘Chronomaly Nebra Disk’ 1800 ATK -> 2600 ATK

Miku’s face tightened. ”2600 ATK...” she muttered, eyes fixated on the Nebra Disk.

“Hey, Eyes up here yes?” The Teacher said her duel disk hand on her hip. “Well I suppose we’ll move to the battle phase then if you want to see it in action so badly. Nebra Disk! Attack her Gem-Armadillo with Solar Glow!” She said pointing a finger to the Orange-tinged mammal. The Disk charged up with energy from the sun and moon, as it fired a beam of light directly at Miku’s monster. Gem-Armadillo tried to roll up and shield itself, but the beam was too strong and had it shatter regardless. Miku held up her arms to shield her eyes from the gust created by the shockwave.

Miku: 4000 > 3100

Miku lowered her arms and remained stoïc. ”A chronomaly deck… with one blow, my life’s already equal to yours.”

“Interesting right?” She said without a change in expression. “I hope though that your next turn is just as interesting as ancient history.” She then set 2 cards. “I’ll just set these two and end my turn like that.”

Turn 3: Miku
Miku: 3100 LP, 5 cards
Mikia: 3100 LP, 4 cards, ‘Chronomaly Nebra Disk’, ‘Chronomaly Pyramid Eye Tablet,’ 2 S/T

”Then it’s my turn. I draw!” Miku yelled. She gave the card only a cursory glance before activating it. ”I activate my Gem-Knight Fusion! By sending two Gem-Knights in my hand to the graveyard, I fusion summon!”

The girl picked up two cards from her hand and showed them to Mikia. One was a pitch-black Gem-Knight, while the other was the Garnet she added to her hand last turn. The two were slotted into her graveyard, which made them raise from the ground behind Miku. An arcane swirl opened up, making the both of them glow and mix into one form inside of it.

”Beautiful Garnet shimmering in the light, combine with the Obsidian as black as night. In this radiance, awaken a fierce new power! Gem-Knight Ruby!”

Emerging as only a shadow at first, the shimmering figure inside of the vortex soon got form. It spun both itself and the axe in its hand around, once and several times respectively, as the warrior’s cape fluttered back behind them. It stabbed the butt-end of the axe into the floor and let out a muffled cry of war.

Gem-Knight Ruby: 2500 ATK Level 6 EARTH Pyro Fusion

“Ah, and so the gemstones have finally learnt how to shine have they?” The Teacher said as she swished back her hair with her hand. “Alright then Kiddo, lets see how bright you shine.”

Miku closed her eyes. ”Gemstones shine because there’s light to illuminate them. Most of them are still hidden in the ground, beautiful and pure. The power of my Gem-Knights doesn’t come from the light.” the girl explained as her voice trailed off. She then shot her eyes open and declared ”They come from each-other! Gem-Knight Obsidian’s effect activates!”

Behind Ruby a black vortex inscribed with runes on the side opened. Flames shot out of that vortex before molding themselves around an orange gemstone. ”When it’s been sent from my hand to the graveyard, I’m allowed to call back one of my Gem-Knights! Return, Garnet!” Miku shouted in explanation. The raging fire gave way to a solid form, that of the previously fused monster.

Gem-Knight Garnet: 1900 ATK Level 4 EARTH Pyro

”Gem-Knight Ruby’s effect! By tributing one of my gems, I can increase its ATK equal to that monster’s! Gem integration!”

Garnet jumped up into the air as Ruby raised his hands. The armor around Garnet’s gemstone became nothing more than a shell which crumbled away, leaving the stone itself to glow and exude power. That power was gathered inside of Ruby’s hand, who glowed the same brilliant orange as Garnet.

Gem-Knight Garnet: 2500 > 4400 ATK

Miku threw her hand out in front of her. ”Here we go! Battle Phase! Gem-Knight Ruby attacks Nebra Disk!” she declared. Ruby grabbed the axe he’d stabbed into the ground, gripping onto it with both hands as he lunged forwards.

“Ah, so it is an attack like that huh?” The Teacher said getting into this a bit more as she flipped over one of her face downs. “But not so fast, I’ll activate my trap card. ‘Butterflyoke’” She said as she revealed the card, depicting a person drowning as butterflies flew around them. “A tragedy to be sure. But not as tragic as what it does. Now Ruby, Enter defense mode.” She said as she pointed at the attack monster that was forced into a kneeling stance. “And that's not all. Butterflyoke equips itself to your monster. Allowing me to have some fun with it later~” She said now with a smirk as the yellow butterflies flew around the monsters body.

Gem-Knight Ruby: 4400 ATK > 1300 DEF

“How does that feel? To have your attack negated so easily.” She said with an eyebrow raised.

”...”

Miku didn’t respond. She glared at the teacher, then looked at the glowing trap on the field and finally glanced down at her remaining hand. ”...I’m fine. I can still fight,” she mumbled to her cards, picking up the two remaining ones and slamming them down.

”I set two cards and end my turn! At this moment, Ruby’s ATK returns to normal.”

Turn 4: Mikia
Miku: 3100 LP, 0 cards, ‘Gem-Knight Ruby,’ 2 S/T
Mikia: 3100 LP, 5 cards, ‘Chronomaly Nebra Disk’, ‘Chronomaly Pyramid Eye Tablet,’ ‘Butteflyoke’ 1 S/T

“My turn then, Draw.” She said as she looked at Gem-Knight Ruby. “I activate the effect of Butterflyoke, I change Gem-Knight Ruby back to attack position.” She said as the Knight was forced to stand up once more.

Gem-Knight Ruby: 1300 DEF > 2500 ATK

”Are you planning on another attack with Nebra Disk?” the young girl asked in response.

“Not quite, Not quite. But you’d like that wouldn't you.” The teacher said as she placed down another continuous spell. “I activate my continuous spell card ‘Attack the Moon’ with it whenever I change the battle position of one of my Rock monsters I get to destroy one of your spell or trap cards! And of course I will be changing Nebra disk to defense position.” She emphasised with a hair flick.

Nebra Disk 2600 ATK -> 1500 DEF

The Disk turned blue and dull, as her continuous spell card glowed, and destroyed one of Miku’s face down cards. The trap was raised and instantly shattered, with Miku shielding herself from the particles. ”My Half Counter…!” she lamented, grimacing at the loss.

“Now, allow me to show you something.” The Teacher said as gently moved a card between her fingers. “Because I control a Chronomaly monster, I can activate the effect of this card in my hand.” She said as she revealed it. “Chronomaly crystal skull. By discarding this card I can add one Chronomaly monster from my deck to my hand and with it I’ll add Chronomaly Winged Sphinx” She said as she discarded the skull. The animation of a skulls head being smashed as she searched the Winged Sphinx would be played. Her auto shuffler whirred.

“Now then, lets get down to business. I summon Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet in Attack position” She said as the multi-limbed mechanic monstrousicity appeared on her side of the field. “And with it I’ll construct the overlay network!” And with that a swirl of cosmic proportions appeared on her side of the field

Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet 0 ATK -> 800 ATK

“Go, my level 4 Nebra disk, and my level 4 Cabrera Trebuchet” They both disappeared in a gold and brown light that plunged into the cosmic swirl. “Bring forth something much greater then yourselves! I Xyz Summon, NUMBER 36, CHRONOMALY CHATEAU HUYUK!” She yelled as a orb began to rotate, and from its core, a large floating structure appeared. But that wasn’t all. Soon blue light began to surround and encompass the structure as if akin to a force field.

Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk 2800 ATK, 2 Materials

“But thats not all. By detaching one material from my Chateau Huyuk. I can reduce the ATK points of your Gem-Knight monster to zero!” She said as one of the orbs was consumed by the central orb of her Xyz monster with began to flare up with blue energy. Before binding Ruby in that same blue energy.

Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk 2800 ATK, 2 -> 1 Materials
Gem-Knight Ruby 2500 ATK -> 0 ATK

”Ruby!” the girl yelled at her monster. She looked back to Mikia with a pained expression. ”No way…!” Miku said, one eye closed as if to brace for what to come. ”So this is Xyz summoning...” she mumbled to herself, equal parts impressed and terrified of this power.

“Go. Battle phase. Huyuk attack her Ruby with Ancient Laser” The Xyz monster whirred in response as it began to charge up its attack. Before firing it directly at the Gem-Knight that was so helplessly bound. ”Nnnh…! Gha!” Miku groaned as she couldn’t keep her balance, being sent flying onto her back from the huge shockwave created from the attack.

Miku: 3100 > 300 LP

“Come on, Get up. The Duels not over.” The Woman said strictly, almost demanding that her opponent stand and keep fighting. Miku pulled herself up from the floor, lightly bruised from the knocks, but nothing too major. The girl took a little to regain her balance, but when she looked back at Mikia, there was still that same fiery look in her eyes as Miku held since the start of the duel. ”I don’t… need you to tell me that! I’m going to win this!”

“Now that's the fire I’ve been looking for all day. Show me what makes you blaze girl. Show me the fire that fans your flames of victory.” The woman said with a for once. Genuine smile of proudness having been only smirking all duel this was a change. “I end my turn. Impress me ok?”

Miku smirked. ”Yeah… because I was waiting for this! Trap activate: Balance of Judgement!” she yelled. The trap sprung open and glowed brightly, depicting a god holding a scale out in front of him.

”I should be glad you destroyed my Half Counter… because with this card, I draw cards equal to the difference on our fields! I control only one card, and you four! That means I draw three cards from my deck!” Miku shouted, putting her hand on top of the deck holder in her disk.
(This is it. If I don’t draw the right cards here, I lose. Yumi… I’m going to win, enter this school and become a student, just like you told me to!)
”Here I go! Draw!”

Turn 5: Miku
Miku: 300 LP, 4 cards
Mikia: 3100 LP, 3 cards, ‘Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk,’ ‘Chronomaly Pyramid Eye Tablet,’ ‘Attack the Moon,’ 1 S/T

Miku looked at the four cards she now held. Yeah, with this… with this she could definitely turn this around!

”I activate the effect of the Gem-Knight Fusion in my graveyard!” Miku shouted, both it and Ruby shooting out of the disk. ”With this, by banishing the Gem-Knight Ruby in my graveyard, I return it to my hand! And then I’ll activate it,” she continued, placing it right back to pick up two cards from her hand. ”I fuse my Gem-Knight Topaz and my Gem-Knight Lapis!”

Topaz and Lapis rose like Obsidian and Garnet before them, one a lean suit of armor while the other was a petite girl. ”Noble gemstone which soothes the spirit, combine with the playful soul of the immature form! In this radiance, awaken a bright new power! Gem-Knight Prismaura!”

Out of the vortex appeared a proper knight, shield at the side and rapier pointing forwards as if to issue a challenge. All the gems adorning its armor shined brightly, even in the lighting of this arena.

Gem-Knight Prismaura: 2450 ATK Level 7 EARTH Thunder Fusion

”Let’s go! I banish my Lapis to add Gem-Knight Fusion to my hand, and discard it immediately to activate Prismaura’s effect. With it, I can destroy one card on your field. Naturally, I choose Huyuk!” Miku declared, pointing at the monster. Prismaura mimicked her with its rapier, charging up some kind of energy at its tip. ”Gem Purity!”

“Not so fast!” The teacher said as the monster absorbed its remaining material to produce its net. “I use the effect of Huyuk to target your Prismaura! Reducing its attack points to Zero!” She said while it was charging. Prismaura and Huyuk both shot out their respective beams, one destroying while the other binded.

Gem-Knight Prismaura: 2450 > 0 ATK

“Now, I need to activate my trap card. Stonehenge methods!” She said as the card flipped up on her board. “When one of my Chronomaly monsters is destroyed I can special summon a level 4 chronomaly from my deck. I summon Chronomaly Golden Jet In Defense position!” She said as the golden rocket-shaped monster floated down onto her board before turning a dull blue.

”Not yet… I’m not done just yet! Quickplay Spell; Dimension Explosion!” Miku showed her card to the teacher, a gust of wind whirling behind the girl. ”I return one Fusion monster to my Extra Deck and both players can summon up to two of their banished monsters! Come back to me, Ruby! Lapis!” The Teacher smiled as she knew what was coming.

Prismaura dissipated inside of a soft yellow light, out of which sprang both the powerful Ruby as well as the childlike Lazuli.

”Gem-Knight Fusion! I banish Garnet, add it back to my hand, and activate it again!” Miku continued her combo, holding up the last remaining card in her hand. On it, a small Gem girl similar to Lazuli was depicted. She popped out of the card and jumped over to her friend, the both of them high-fiving and holding hands as they were lifted up into the Fusion pool. The Teachers grin grew wider.

”Combine now, innocent and playful souls. One is not complete without the other, so awaken your true power in this radiant light! Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli!”

For the last time a new fusion monster appeared. A beautiful lady knight, wrapped in a blue robe instead of armor, with only her core gem in the middle to adorn the outfit. She descended down gracefully, hands folded in front of her.

Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli: 2400 ATK Level 5 EARTH Rock

Miku threw her hand forwards. ”And when Lapis is sent to the graveyard by a card effect, Lazuli is added back to my hand.”

The card slid out of Miku’s graveyard, and she carefully picked it up. The girl let herself be distracted for a moment to give it a gentle smile. ”You and me together, okay…?” she whispered to it, before turning her gaze back to Mikia.

”I’m going to win… no matter what! Lady Lapis Lazuli’s effect! By sending Prismaura from my Extra Deck to the graveyard, I inflict 500 points of damage for each Special Summoned monster on the field. With three of them, that’s a total of 1500! Gem Unity!” Miku shouted. Prismaura’s Prism appeared in front of Lapis Lazuli. She hovered her hands next to it, causing it to glow a soft blue. Suddenly, it shot out a blast in that same color straight at Mikia.

Mikia brought her arms up as the shockwave pushed her back, her red hair waving in the sudden gust. As she pulled her arms down. “Very well.” The Teacher quietly before said throwing her arms wide. “Hit me with the rest of your resolve!” She yelled with a laugh

Mikia: 3100 > 1600 LP

”Yeah… I will! Battle Phase!” Miku shouted, matching the excitement of the teacher. ”Gem-Knight Ruby attacks Golden Shuttle!”

Ruby’s axe coated itself in flames as the knight jumped up in the air, spinning himself around to come crashing down on Golden Shuttle. The flames spread all the way to the teacher, burning away more of her lifepoints. ”Ruby’s effect deals piercing damage,” Miku explained with a grin.

Mikia: 1600 > 500 LP

Mikia grinned as another shockwave, smaller then the last caused her red hair to blow a little. Oh this kid. This kid, was going places it seemed.

This was it. The final attack. Miku breathed heavily, her heart was pounding out of her chest. She looked up at her Lapis Lazuli, who looked back at her. Even though it was just a hologram, Miku could feel kind encouragement in those eyes. She looked back down again at the Lapis in her hand. It felt reassuring. Miku threw her hand out back towards Mikia.

”Alright… here I come! Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli! Attack directly! Unity Flash!”

With her final attack declared, Miku raised up her Duel Disk. All of her Gem-Knights, both banished and resting in her graveyard, appeared as transparent ghosts behind Lapis Lazuli for a moment. They glowed, then combined as one mix of light in between her palms. The fusion monster sent the strength of all the Gem-Knights combined straight at Mikia in one, great blast of light.

Mikia: 500 > 0 LP

WINNER: MIKU!

”I did it… I won...” Miku stammered out, before breathing a sigh of relief. She picked up the cards from her Duel Disk’s blade as the solid vision generator inside of it cooled down and shut off, ejecting all other cards from the disk as well. As for the teacher...

There was a beep from Mikia’s duel disk as it ticked down to zero and subsequently deactivated. It seemed the teacher was smiling a bit as she walked over. “Now usually the one that beats me would get all cocky about it. I hope that's not you. But yes. You passed, with flying colours actually, So hold that to your chest kid. Good job.” She said with a smile before it reverted back to her usual smirking. “Now don’t screw up on the other hurdles that may come up and you’ll fit right in here. Head back to the stands and wait for when you can collect your band. Trust me though, I’ll put in the good word.” She said with a chuckle.

Miku was stunned. She didn’t know what to say for a moment. The girl had been looking forward, practicing, studying for this day… but she never expected to get told that. Nothing was over yet, but after having come all this way, it sure felt like such. Relief washed over her as the girl meekly looked down, a small blush forming on her cheeks. ”Yes… thank you so much!” Miku responded, bowing before running away in embarrassment. The iron resolve she showed mere moments ago was all but melted away.

[King Cosmos]

I'm a long way from home.

It was the only thing Kaito could think as he saw the inside of the duel arena; even putting aside the technological marvel that was the arenas themselves, split into four and all currently in use by one applicant or another, the room itself was large enough that everyone in his hometown could have fit inside it with plenty of room to spare. It was enough to make him stop and stare, his mouth hanging open as he ruined his normally stoic appearance by acting like a country bumpkin.

The whole day had been like this so far, one amazing sight after another from huge ferry to the endless city to the campus itself. He'd seen cities before on TV, he wasn't completely out of touch with reality, but seeing it in person was another thing entirely; the size, the scale, the grandeur. It was intimidating, in a way, it made him feel small and out of his depth; it made his stomach do flips.

Seeing the duel arenas, the holograms and the duels taking place was reassuring, something familiar, a place he understood. He could compete there, level the playing field. It was a relief.

He found the teacher he was supposed to be duelling just as her last match ended, the applicant walking away with a dejected look on his face, and Kaito eagerly stepped up to take his place. "Okay, let's get this started."

[sly13]

Thomas Arashi

Thomas walked out into the bright light from the tunnel where he had been waiting along with a few other duelists that were waiting to go. Looking across the field he saw his opponent waiting patiently for his challenger. “Odd choice of clothing.” Thomas thought when he saw the man was in a full Baseball uniform. “I'll beat him either way.” he thought to himself. looking up to his Procter Thomas called out “So your who I have beat to get into this academy? So be it.”

“Big words punk,” The man said as he stood firm, feet placed equidistant apart as his arm reached up to his duel disk, A more recent model. As the solid light, with a white hue on the edge of the blackboard would appear. “Rule of thumb for these duels kid. You decide if your swinging or batting. First or second got it?” His words were fast strict and clear like all coaches should be.

“Really gonna stick with the coach gimmick huh? Well to each their own.” Thomas said as he lifted his arm activating his duel disk. Being an older model, the sides flew forward linking together before moving to the side as Thomas brought it to be parallel to the ground. He noticed the coach and most people always had new versions of the duel disk but he had to admit that he had a soft spot for the older style of things. “I think I will start our little show here if you don't mind coach,” Thomas called out setting his gaze on his opponent.

“Duel!” They would call in unison

The Duel

Turn 1: Thomas
Thomas: 4000 LP, 5 cards
Coach 4000 LP, 5 cards

Looking down at his hand Thomas liked what he saw. “It would appear as if fate smiles on me today. I'll start by setting one card face down in defense mode.” after finishing this a large graphic of the back of a card displayed itself on the field. “Then I'll place one card face down and end my turn.” causing a card back to appear behind the monster he had just set. Thomas stood awaiting his opponent's move

Turn 2: Coach
Thomas: 4000 LP, 4 cards
Coach 4000 LP, 5 cards

“Alright Punk, Taking it slow to ready yourself for your opponent. I suppose then it's up to me to come swinging at you. I draw” The Coach said pulling the card from the top of his deck as he looked at it and added it to his hand.
Coach then raised a card. “Time to play ball, I summon U.A Midfielder in attack position.” He said slamming the card down on his duel disk. Almost immediately the robotics clad individual ran onto the field from out of nowhere and showed off his dribble game with a mechanical ball.

“But that is not all, I’ll activate the effect of the U.A Mighty Slugger in my hand. By returning Midfielder to my hand, I can special summon it. You got that Maggot?” He said as Midfielder disappeared and a larger meaner monster appeared on the board. Testing their swinging game with a mechanical baseball bat.

“Now let's test your monsters catching game. Battle phase! Slugger, Hit them with Home-run Smash!” They said. Their monster wound up their swing as out of nowhere a mechanical ball appeared smacking into the bat. Which was quickly batted away. Right towards the facedown monster!

The ball slammed right through Thomas’s face down card revealing a large goat with white fur before shattering into a million pieces. “Thanks, coach because you just activated my cards special ability. You see when he’s destroyed by battle he leaves me with a few presents in the form of tokens.” After completing these two smaller goats appeared. “But that’s not all coach. Next, I’m activating my face down Nordic Relic Laevateinn.” After finishing the face-down trap card showed itself as a large sword appeared above the arena. “Thanks to this card when a monster destroys a card by battle I can choose it and send it to the gave.” Lifting his arm in air Thomas called out while bringing his hand down pointing at the large monster. “Now Relic destroy his monster.” Without further delay, the sword came shooting at the monster like a projectile.

The Slugger tried to bat away the sword but to no avail as the sword penetrated it, causing it to shatter. “Good job punk, but if you thought I was not expecting you to activate a battle trap you got another thing coming.” Coach said. “Before I end my turn I am going to activate the spell card. Monster Reborn!” He said, as his Slugger soon appeared on his side of the field. “Round two, batters up, But he won’t be meeting you on my next turn. Instead, I’ll activate the effect of U.A Blockbacker! Special summoning him in defense position” He said as the slugger disappeared and was replaced by a mechanical American Footballer, holding a spiked rugby ball beneath his arm, before kneeling and fading to blue.

“I’ll set one card and end my turn.” He said finishing up.

Turn 3: Thomas
Thomas: 4000 LP, 4 cards, 2 Tokens
Coach 4000 LP, 4 cards, UA Backblocker, 1 Facedown.

“I draw.” Thomas proclaimed as he lifted the card up to his face. ‘This should help if that proves to be a problem’. He thought to himself while looking at the lone face-down card on the field while adding the card to his hand. Grabbing the monster he wanted to summon Thomas through it down against the duel disk. “I Summon Guldfaxe of the Nordic beast in attack mode.” Appearing in front of Thomas came a horse rearing up before slamming its hoofs down snorting through its nose ready for a fight. “Now it’s time for you to witness true power.” Lifting his hand into the air Thomas called I synchro my level 4 Guldfaxe with my two levels three tokens.” As he said this his monster floated into the air turning into starts as a bright light shines through all of them.

As the light dimmed down the arena over him filled with dark clouds as thunder could be heard. Soon the clouds parted giving way as a massive monster started to descend from the clouds. “I’m sure you know the legends of old but in case you don’t let me remind you. There are many Nordic gods that have domain over many different things but there is only one who has domain over thunder!” Finishing this the large figure landed behind Thomas with a growl that said it was ready for a fight as it gripped tighter to its hammer. “I give you the almighty Thor Lord of the Aesir and god of thunder!”

“Hold it right there. I’m giving you the red card. The effect of Blockbacker activates. When you special summon a monster, It gets changed to defense position and its effect is negated until the end of this turn!” And with that Thor would be leapt at and then tackled onto its knees by the manly Blockbacker as the Coach took a bodybuilder pose. “That is the art of sports. Sports that can force even a god to kneel.” He said with a laugh. As Blockbacker returned to his side of the field.

Thomas looked on in anger as he saw his almighty god drop to a knee at the effect the man’s stupid football player. “Your gonna pay for that,” Thomas said in anger at what the man had done. I’ll place two cards face down and end my turn.” He called out looking dead straight at the man.

Turn 4: Coach
Thomas: 4000 LP, 2 cards, Thor, Lord of the Aesir, 2 face downs
Coach 4000 LP, 4 cards, UA Backblocker, 1 Facedown.

“My turn punk, Draw.” Coach said as he looked down at his hand. “I’ll activate this card from my hand. All sports players need a stadium. I activate the field spell Ultra Athlete Stadium!” He said as he slotted it in. Almost immediately the surroundings of the two duelists transformed from the standard metallic sheen of the school stadium to what appeared to be a massive sports stadium.
Blockbacker looking right at home.

Thomas looked around as he was now surrounded by a stadium still but this one was full of fans cheering on their favorite sports teams. “Trying to give yourself an advantage I see. Either way, it's gonna be a loss for the hometown hero I'm afraid.”

“You say that but I’ve never lost a game on the home field.” coach said with his arms crossed. “Now I’ll summon someone familiar. U.A Midfielder!” The dribbler was now back on the court alongside the beefy American footballer. “This triggers the effect of my Field Spell. When I normal summon an Ultra athlete I can add 1 from my deck to my hand and I’ll be adding U.A Perfect Ace!” He said revealing the card. His decks auto shuffler whirred.

“And of course I’ll activate the effect of the Perfect Ace in my hand returning midfielder to the hand to special summon him!”

“Ah ah ah.” Thomas said waving his finger in front of him. “I don't like the sound of that so how about we get that off the field.” after saying this one of his two face downs lifted up showing an old man looking on as a figure was struck by lightning. “I activate the trap Solemn Strike! With the low cost of 1500 life points, I can negate the summoning of that monster and send it straight to the graveyard.” right after his explanation, the old man appeared behind Thomas as he was struck by some form of energy. After Thomas’s life points decreased the energy reformed and shoot directly at the card the coach was about to play.

Thomas 4000LP -> 2500 LP

Coach frowned for a bit as his monster was destroyed but would keep going. “Alright then punk, thanks for opening a path. I’ll activate the effect of the card in my hand. Mystical Space Typhoon!, targeting your face down card!”

Throwing his hand up Thomas yelled “In that case, I'll activate it” revealing itself the trap card showed a large belt quickly appearing in front of it before it was destroyed by the winds of the coach's spell card. Attaching itself around Thor's waist making his eyes glow once more. “With this, my monsters Attack and Defense points are doubled this turn."

Thor: 2800 Def -> 5600 Def.

“Tch, Now that is a muscular monster, Good job kid.” Coach said as he set a card face down and ended his turn.

Thor: 5600 Def -> 2800 DEF

Turn 5: Thomas
Thomas: 4000 LP, 2 cards, Thor, Lord of the Aesir
Coach 4000 LP, 4 cards, UA Backblocker, 2 Facedown.

“Thanks, Coach. Now I Draw.” Thomas called out looking at the card he had just drawn. “Well this sure isn't going the way I was hoping it would,” Thomas thought to himself while he looked over the field in its current condition. “First I'll change Thor back to Attack mode where he belongs.” after calling out Thor Stood from his Kneeling position and returning to his towering form over the field. Well just to be safe I’m activating Thor’s effect.

“Oh? Your activating his effect are you?” Coach said with his arms crossed.

“Yes and that means that your monsters effects are negated this turn. Next, I'm going to activate the Equip spell Nordic Relic Draupnir Increasing Thors attack by 800." With the card on display, a set of gauntlets Appeared and attached themselves around Thor Bolstering his attack

Thor: 3500 Atk -> 4200 Atk

“Now then Thor Show our friend here what true power really is by destroying his monster with Thunder Strike!” Hearing this Thor Lifted his Hammer High overhead as he brought it straight down on top of the Football player sitting in the middle of the field.

“Not so fast, I’ll activate my trap card. U.A Penalty Box!” Coach said as the card flipped up on his side of the field. “Now at the start of damage calculation, I can banish your face up monster until the end of the second end phase of your turn!”

“Not after I activate the spell card Forbidden Lance!” showing his card a large Lance appeared in Thors Hands decreasing his attack by 800 hundred. “With this Thor may lose 800 attack this turn but he can be affected by your spell or traps this turn either. Now then Thor! Strike that monster down!” Continuing on his already downward motion Thor's weapon came crashing into the Coaches Back Blocker with a massive impact.

There would be a ‘Crash’ as Coaches monster exploded. Though he merely stood there. “You cleared the board now what?” He seemingly seemed unimpressed

“I'll set one card face down and end my turn. Your move Coach.” after saying this Thomas looked down at his duel disk. “Please guide me through this.”

Turn 6: Coach
Thomas: 4000 LP, 2 cards, Thor, Lord of the Aesir
Coach 4000 LP, 4 cards, UA Penalty Box, 1 Facedown.

“Alright kid, Let's make this quick. I draw.” Coach said as he added the card to his hand, smirking slightly. Alright then Punk, I’ll start off by normal summoning U.A Midfielder once more. Which activates the effect of my Stadium! Adding a Dreadnought Dunker to my hand.” He said as he went through the motions.

“Now I’ll activate the effect of my U.A Dreadnought dunker in hand. Returning U.A midfielder to my hand to special summon it!” He said as the dribbler disappeared revealing a man wearing mechanical basketball gear, alternating his ball hand as he looked at his opponent with a smirk of victory.

“You ready punk?”

“Bring it,” Thomas said preparing himself for whatever was to come next.

“Alright then kiddo, I’ll activate Feast of the wild Level 5! With this card I can special summon 2 level 5 monsters from my hand or graveyard. I’ll summon my Mighty Slugger, and Perfect Ace to my field. Of course, they cannot attack or use their effect this turn, but that doesn’t mean I can’t use the effect of the monster in my hand! U.A midfielder come on out!” He said as he returned Mighty Slugger to his hand. “Now I’ll activate the effect of my U.A midfielder! By returning another U.A monster to my hand, Which will be Perfect Ace. I can special summon another one from my hand. Come on out Mighty Slugger!” And once again the baseball wielding man was standing before Thomas. Menacing palming the bat in his hand as they looked at them., Now I’ll activate my field spell. Once per turn if I special summon a U.A monster, I can give all my monsters 500 ATK“

U.A Midfielder 1200 ATK -> 1700 ATK
U.A Mighty Slugger 2300 -> 2800 ATK
U.A Dreadnought Dunker 2500 ATK -> 3000 ATK

“I’ll also make use of the equip spell in my hand. U.A Power jersey Equipping it onto my Dreadnought Dunker!” Coach was really getting into it now as his basketball player decked himself out in a cybernetic outfit.

“It raises his Attack by 1000 points”

Dreadnought Dunker 3000 ATK -> 4000 ATK

“Now I’ll activate the spell card, Back-up Rider. It increases a monster on my side of the fields attack by 1500 Points until the endphase. I’ll use it on my Dreadnought Dunker!”

Dreadnought Dunker 4000 ATK -> 5500 ATK

“Battle phase. Go! U.A Midfielder, Attack Thor!” He said pointing at the god, the dribbler coming over. “You know what that means right? I’ll activate the effect of my penalty box to banish your god!”

Looking down at his duel disk Thomas could see his defeat charging straight at him. “Either way I lose. But this way you go down fighting,” he said to himself as he looked up to Thor who was waiting for his orders. “Ill activate my face down. Go Solemn Warning. And by paying 2000 of my life points I'll destroy your Penalty box.” letting out a yell as he was struck by lighting Thomas’s life points counted down to 500 as the energy went for Penalty box destroying it.

Penalty Box was blown up as Midfielder looked up at the gigantic Thor.

“Now go Thor attack with Thunder Strike!” as the god's eyes glowed lifting his large hammer overhead bringing it down on the poor mechanical athlete in front of him.

The Athlete exploded and Coach was sent reeling back from the mighty blow. Shooken for once.

Coach 4000 LP -> 1500

“But That won’t be enough kid. Go, Dreadnought Dunker.” He said as the basketball player leapt forward, and slammed dunked a massive spiked ball directly at Thor. “Any last regrets kiddo?” Coach said eying him

Thomas stood there as he watched the basketball player charging his beloved card. “I knew it wouldn't save me. But know we go down fighting. Go Thor, Thunder Strike!!” with that Thor lifted the hammer in an attempt to smash the oncoming monster before it could reach him. As the two finally met Thomas stood unmoving fully prepared for what was coming as the massive explosion filled the arena flashing right past Thomas reducing his life points to zero.

The monsters would fade and Coach would smile. “Well, you didn’t win the battle, but you won the war of the heart. Protecting your soul to the very end. Good Job kiddo.” They said as they smirked. “You're in, and I expect to see more of your dueling in the future.” and then he barked loudly. “IS THAT CLEAR PUNK!”

Thomas stared at the man for a second. “Thanks, coach,” he said calmly before his smirk returned to his face. “Don't worry I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of me here.” after finishing he returned his cards to his deck box before turning around to exit the arena. Just before he walked off the pad he turned to the man “It was a good duel sir, but I will get you next time." As he made his way to the arena he stopped when he entered the small ‘locker room’ as he took a seat looking down at his card. After a short time, he put the card back in its place as he saw some others coming back from their entrance exams.

[pandapolio]

Hider

Jon watched from the bleachers as multiple duels were happening down below. While some of the duelists on the floor were decent Jon hadn’t seen too many that were very exceptional. The teachers seemed to be quite good, which had risen Jon’s hopes for learning much while he was here. He was not extremely worried about passing the exam for the fact he has done all he can to prepare. From here on out it is merely a game of chance, a game Jon was determined to win. Deciding it was nearly time for his duel to begin he stood up and stretched, groaning as he felt his tense back get some relief. Now making his way down the steps he could see a few interesting people about to start their duels. Trying to remain focused on what was about to happen he looked straight ahead and placed his hands in his pockets.

As Jon walked across the floor he felt his jaw tensing up. As he thought about the possible ways the duel could go his body once again became tense. Feeling himself tense up he began shuffling his deck. The familiar motions put him at ease and let him focus on his surroundings. Watching the other duels going on around him he saw the majority of students choosing to go first. While Jon understood why some times it was better to go first, but most of these people were too over eager. Going second allows you to gain early control by learning what kind of cards your opponent plays with. Going first meant you were playing blind and didn’t know what to prepare for. Looking at his watch he realized it was probably time for him to begin his duel. As he made it to the field he would duel at, he watched a kid his own age walk away with his head down, defeated by the teacher.

“Guess it’s time to see what I’m made of.”

[King Cosmos]

"Okay, let's get this started." That was the words the teacher heard as she looked up embarrassed. “O-oh sorry for making you wait.” She said red faced as she fumbled her deck a bit as she slotted it back in duel disk after standing there in contemplation before his approach.

“R-right ground rules. The rule we were told to tell you is that you get to decide to go first or second. If you want to go first that's ok.” She said meekly. Her eyes looking down at the ground as if embarrassed to have all the eyes staring at her. This wasn’t her native country after all and her japanese was a little rusty.

Kaito took his time preparing his own deck, retrieving it from his pocket and slotting it into his old fashioned duel disk with deliberate care as he considered whether to go first or second. In all honesty it wasn’t a difficult question and his answer was always the same whenever it came up anyway, but he liked to at least give the appearance of considering his options instead of jumping into things hastily. ”In that case I’ll go second.”

Kaito vs Miss Mihitsune

Turn 1:Miss Mihitsune
Kaito: 4000 LP, 5 Cards
Miss Mihitsune 4000 LP, 5 Cards

“Ok, I’ll go first then.” She said studying her drawn hand of 5 cards. “I’ll keep it simple.” She said smiling. “I’ll set one monster face down, and this card behind it.” She said as she set one monster and one facedown spell/trap. It seemed like such an unassuming play. “Sorry if it wasn’t the spectacular opening you were hoping for.” She said. Shuffling her cards about in her hand as her mind whirred.

Turn 2: Kaito
Kaito: 4000 LP, 5 Cards
Miss Mihitsune 4000 LP, 3 Cards

If Kaito was put off by his opponents lacklustre opening move then he didn’t show it, his expression unreadable as he looked over his opponents set cards. “I draw.” Kaito added the top card from his deck to his hand before selecting another card and placing it in his centre Monster zone. “I’ll get things rolling by summoning Kabazaul in attack mode.”

A swirl of blue energy appeared on the field, a circular effect reminiscent of a whirlpool, before bubbling upwards like a water spout; a large creature, red-skinned and with a round body like a hippopotamus, rose up from within that spout, announcing its arrival with a roar.

Kabazaul: 1700 ATK Level 4 WATER Dinosaur

“Next I’ll equip it with Phantasm Spiral Crash.” Kaito placed a spell card in the zone directly behind his Kabazaul, the monster glowing briefly with an intense red light which faded but left an aura of the same colour around the creature in question. Behind the dinosaur the outline of a large and fearsome looking dragon could be faintly seen, red eyes glowing menacingly.

“I enter the battle phase. Kabazaul! Attack the face-down Monster.” With another roar, somewhere between the bellow of an elephant and the roar of a lion, the red-skinned dinosaur charged. Heavy footsteps carried it forward towards the face-down card on the teacher’s side of the field.

The Facedown card would flip over to reveal, Blast Magician. The red clad wizard would look up at his adversary and the two would clash off of each other after a short struggle.

Blast Magician: 1700 DEF Level 4 FIRE Spellcaster

“Hmm.” A slight note of disappointment was Kaito’s only reaction as his monster failed to crush his opponent’s, Kabazaul bouncing back to his side of the field as it met a monster with defence equal to its attack. “I end my turn.”

Turn 3: Miss Mihitsune
Kaito: 4000 LP, 4 Cards
Miss Mihitsune 4000 LP, 3 Cards

“That dinosaur is cool!” The Teacher said giving her opponent a thumbs up of approval of his taste in monster cards. “Reminds me of someone I knew that loved to use Ultimate Tyranno” She said with a soft chuckle before realising she was stalling.

“Sorry I draw.” She said drawing her next card. Adding it to her fanned out hand she looked out towards her opponent carefully. “Alright I’ll change my Blast Magician to attack mode!” She said shifting its position on her duel disk.

Almost immediately the magician stood up clutching its staff in a readied position, ready to attack.

Blast Magician: 1400 ATK Level 4 FIRE Spellcaster

“Alright, let’s step up the tempo. First things first. I’ll activate my field spell! Magical Citadel of ENDYMION” She said as she placed the card down in slot that opened for it on her duel disk. Suddenly the area around them changed, they would be standing in a courtyard, mystic symbols everywhere and behind her stood a gigantic tower.

“Whenever I activate a spell card, my Blast Magician gains a spell counter” She continued, her monster raising its staff, as a single swirling ring of runes appeared near the tip of it.

Blast Magician Spell Counters: 0 -> 1

“Now I’ll show you my favourite method of summoning!” She said with a grin, as she placed a monster card in her spell and trap card zone. What!

“I’ll place Servant of Endymion in my Left Pendulum Zone!” She said as the monster raised up on her side of the field in a column of light. The monster twirled its staff

Servant of Endymion: Left Column, Scale: 2

“When I set a monster in my pendulum zone, it counts as a spell card. So you know what that means.” She said with a grin.

Blast magician swirled his staff and gained another ring of runes near the tip

Blast Magician Spell Counters: 1 -> 2

“But that's not all, my field spell also gains spell counters!” She said with a grin as the massive tower gained a small ring of runes near the top.

Magical Citadel of Endymion Spell Counters: 0 -> 1

“I’ll also activate my upstart Goblin, I draw a card, and you gain 1000 Life points.” She said smiling at her opponent. As she drew the card from the deck, Kaito enveloped in a green aura that quickly faded.

Kaito 4000 LP -> 5000 LP

“And of course that means my Blast magician and citadel, and even my servant of Endymion. They all gain spell counters!” She said with a grin. The Giant tower behind her gained another larger ring of runes.

Spell Counters

Blast Magician: 2 -> 3

Magical Citadel of Endymion: 1 -> 2

Servant of Endymion: 0 -> 1

“And now the final part of your first hurdle, I’ll activate my spell card. Spell power Mastery!” She said placing the picture of a shadowy spellcaster channeling a spell. “With it I can add one Endymion card from my deck to my hand, and place a spell counter on a card. I’ll add my Magister of Endymion to my hand, and place a spell counter on my Citadel! Of course they still all gain spell counters!”

Spell Counters

Blast Magician: 3 -> 4

Magical Citadel of Endymion: 2 -> 4

Servant of Endymion: 1 -> 2

Her Citadel gained two more large rings. “And I’ll normal summon the magister I just added to my hand.” She said as she placed it into her monster zone.

Magister of Endymion: Level 3 EARTH Pendulum Spellcaster, ATK 1500

“I think that's enough spell cards, time for some monster effects, I’ll activate the effect of my blast magician, by removing 3 spell counters from it, I can destroy a monster with 2100 or less ATK, I’ll be destroy your monster now!” She said as the blast magician raised its staff.

Spell Counters

Blast Magician: 4 -> 1

Three of the four rune circles around Blast Magician’s staff flew away from their slow orbit, trailing streaks of arc-lightning as they headed straight for the Kabazaul on Kaito’s side of the field. They formed three rings around the dinosaur, before detonating in a blast destroying it. Kaito raised his arm to cover his face against the resulting cloud of dust, his furrowed brow visible above his sleeve.

The ghostly image behind Kabazaul remained for a second longer, thrashing around soundlessly in either pain or rage before it too was destroyed, fading from existence as the equip spell was sent to the graveyard alongside the monster.

“Alright that clears the field. Battle phase! Magister, Blast Magician! Direct attacks!” She said pointing at her opponent with a grin. “Magister also gains a spell counter when he declares an attack”

Spell counters

Magister of Endymion: 0 -> 1

Endymion and Blast Magician both raised their staffs firing off a bolt of arcane energies together at Kaito. Zapping him with the full knowledge of their arcane minds.

Kaito braced himself for the attack, ducking his head lower behind his raised arm and closing his eyes before the bolts of magical power struck him. The two attacks erupted in a plume of smoke that obscured Kaito’s side of the field for a few moments; as he waited for the dust to clear, the only thing he could hear was the life point counter of his duel disk ticking down the damage he had just taken.

Kaito 5000 LP -> 2100 LP

“Turn end.” She smiled simply.

Turn 4: Kaito
Kaito: 2100 LP, 4 Cards
Miss Mihitsune 4000 LP, 1 Card, 2 Monsters, 1 set card, 1 Field Spell, 1 Pendulum Scale

The smoke surrounding Kaito finally cleared, the young duelist looking a little concerned as he saw just how many cards his opponent had in play compared to his empty field. Once he realised the teacher could see him he forced his expression into a more neutral state, straightening his posture and drawing another card from his deck.

“My turn. I draw.”

Seeing the card he had drawn, Kaito placed it on the field without bothering to add it in his hand first. On Kaito’s side of the arena, etched into the flagstones of the courtyard and replacing the existing magical symbols a six-sided sigil began to appear, drawn by an invisible hand. “I play Dust Barrier. You seem to like your spells, but with this in place they won’t have any effect on my Normal Monsters.” As the sigil completed itself, the lines at each corner connecting to each other, a translucent barrier like a beam of sunlight peering through the clouds separated Kaito’s field from his opponents.

“Ah but I still benefit, I gain a spell counter on my citadel, Servant and my Blast Magician!” She said as they gained a ring of runes each.

Spell Counters

Citadel: 4 -> 5

Blast Magician; 1 -> 2

Servant: 2 -> 3

Kaito’s eye twitched as three more rings appeared on his opponent’s side of the field; it seemed he couldn’t even play his own spells without the teacher benefiting. “Now I’ll play a Monster. I summon Giant Red Seasnake in attack mode.” Another whirlpool like effect bubbled up from within the spaces between the courtyard’s flagstones, a large and dangerous looking snake with a frilled head erupting from its centre.

Giant Red Seasnake: 1800 ATK Level 4 WATER Aqua

“Then I’ll equip it with Phantasm Spiral Wave.” Placing another spell card on his duel disk, the giant snake began to glow with an aura similar to the one that had appeared around Kabazaul earlier, this one yellow in colour, as another ethereal image of a monstrous serpent appeared behind it with glowing yellow eyes. “With this my monster is not destroyed the first time it would be destroyed by battle.”

At the same time, another ring of runes faded into existence around Miss Mihitsune’s monsters and tower.

Spell Counters

Citadel: 5 -> 6

Blast Magician: 2 -> 3

Servant: 3 -> 4

“Giant Red Seasnake! Attack Blast Magician!” The snake burst into action, swimming through the air just above the ground with an undulating motion as it raced towards the spellcaster with three rings of runes surrounding it.

“I won’t let my monsters die so easily. Magister effect activate!” She said raising her hand up. “By removing 3 spell counters from my side of the field, I can special summon a monster that can use spell counters, From my deck! And the monster I’ll choose is Defender, The Magical Knight!”

She said as the shielding guardian appeared on her side of the field.

Spell Counters

Blast Magician: 3-> 0

Defender, The Magical Knight: 2000 DEF Level 4 LIGHT Spellcaster.

“So who are you attacking now huh?” She asked.

“My plan hasn’t changed. Giant Red Sea Snake, destroy Blast Magician.” The monster, which had hesitated as Defender appeared on the field, surged forward towards its original target, closing in on Blast Magician with its fangs ready to strike.

Blast Magician would be struck by its fangs, but its body would hold firm as a shielded arcane barrier would appear around it, The force however would cause the teacher to stagger back. “The effect of my Defender activates, by removing a spell counter from my side of the field I can prevent the destruction of my Blast Magician.”

Spell Counters

Magister of Endymion: 1-> 0

Miss Mihitsune 4000 LP -> 3600 LP

Upon seeing that Blast Magician was still on the board Kaito responded with a slight narrowing of his eyes, brows lowering to show his displeasure. However, since his Giant Red Seasnake had survived until the end of the battle phase after battling, he could activate the effect of his equip spell.

“Now the other effect of Phantasm Spiral Wave activates. I summon Phantasm Spiral Dragon from my deck.” The duel disk ejected a card from Kaito’s deck, which he took and placed in his monster zone. Behind Giant Red Seasnake the ethereal image of the wyrm began to solidify and become real; the Phantasm Spiral Dragon reared back its head and let loose a deafeaning cry.

Phantasm Spiral Dragon: 2900 ATK Level 8 WATER Wyrm

“The equip card Phantasm Spiral Wave transfers over to Phantasm Spiral Dragon and you discard one card from your hand.” Pulling two more cards from his hand Kaito slotted them into the open spaces on his duel disk. “I play two more cards face down and end my turn.”

The teacher sighed as she sent a lightning vortex from her hand to the graveyard. That would limit her options.

Turn 5: Miss Mihitsune
Kaito: 2100 LP, 0 Cards, 2 Monster, 1 Equip Spell, 2 Set Cards
Miss Mihitsune 3600LP, 0 Card, 3 Monsters, 1 set card, 1 Field Spell, 1 Pendulum Scale

“My turn right, Draw.” She said drawing her next card. Nothing particular impressive.

“I’ll activate Spell Power Grasp!” She said place the spell card. “With it I can place a spell counter on one of my cards and add a copy of this card to my hand.” She said placing the counter on Citadel and her deck whirring as she pulled out another copy of the card.*

Spell Counters

Citadel: 6 -> 8

Blast: 0-> 1

Servant: 3->5

“And now I’ll activate the effect of my blast Magician once more! Using 5 spell counters from Citadel of Endymion I can destroy your Phantasmal Spiral Dragon!!” She said pointing at it. The Circle runes flying towards her opponent’s monsters.

Spell Counters

Citadel: 8 -> 3

As before, the circles surrounded Kaito’s monster, the wyrm thrashing against the restraints before they detonated. The monster was destroyed, the cloud of dust and smoke from the explosion rolling over Kaito’s half of the arena.

As the cloud began to clear Kaito swept a hand in front of him, disturbing the dissipating smoke into swirling eddies as he activated one of his face-down cards. “I activate Torrential Reborn. When a Water monster I control is destroyed and sent to the graveyard I can bring them back to the field.” From high above them the sound of rushing water could be heard as a sudden deluge fell towards the arena, the cascade forming a temporary waterfall. Within the water a pair of glowing eyes could be seen, a large silhouette forming within the curtain and as the water ceased to fall Phantasm Spiral Dragon was left in its wake.

Phantasm Spiral Dragon: 2900 ATK Level 8 WATER Wyrm

“What’s more, you take 500 points of damage for each monster brought back by this effect.”

Miss Mihitsune 3600 LP -> 3100 LP

She looked at the monster and nodded slowly to herself. “Ok this has become a little more difficult. No matter.” She said as she pointed to her monster in the pendulum zone. “I activate the effect of my Servant of Endymion “By removing three spell counters from it I can special summon it from the pendulum zone, and one master from my deck that can have spell counters placed upon it.”

There would be quiver on the field as the very citadel tower swung open its great gate, revealing a very large and very opposing magician. Oddly shaped staff in hand, he stepped onto the battlefield. The Largest and opposing of them all.

“I summon. Endymion, The Mighty Master of Magic!” She said with a triumphant glee.

Servant of Endymion: 900 ATK Level 3 WIND Pendulum

Endymion, The Mighty Master of Magic: 2800 ATK Level 8 DARK Pendulum

Spell Counters

Servant: 0 -> 1

Endymion: 0- > 1

Eyes widening, Kaito craned his head back to be able to see all of the monster his opponent had just summoned. It was certainly impressive, but even so it’s attack didn’t match up to that of his own monster; the outcome of this duel hadn’t changed.

“Alright, I’ll activate the effect of my Servant Of Endymion, by discarding a card I can place a spell counter on every card that can have a spell counter on it!”

Spell Counters

Citadel: -> 4

Servant of Endymion: 1 ->2

Endymion: 1 ->2

Blast Magician: 1->2

Defender, the Magical Knight: 0 -> 1

Magister of Endymion: -> 0 -> 1

The Massive amount of rune rings that appeared were a spectacle. The runes swirling around her board with great mysticism. She then narrowed her eyes. “Alright Endymion I see the path to victory.” She said quietly to herself with a chuckle, the teacher of magics looking back at her for just a moment and giving a simple curt nod. “Alright, Battle phase, Servant of Endymion attack that Giant Red Seasnake!”

Kaito had to wonder why someone would launch an attack against a monster so much stronger than their own; there had to be some trick involved, either an effect of Servant that he didn’t know about or something to do with that face-down card that his opponent hadn’t used yet. Either way, he wasn’t going to let this teacher have their way. “I activate Justi-Break.”

The remaining face-down card on Kaito’s side of the field flipped up, briefly revealing the image on its face before it was obscured by the multiple bolts of lightning that shot out from it. Each monster on Miss Mihitsune’s side of the field was struck one after another, starting with Servant and working up to Endymion himself. “When you attack a normal monster I control, all monsters on the field are destroyed except for face-up attack position normal monsters.”

Her monsters stood firm, as Servant returned to her hand, and a dispelling effect struck every monster on her field freezing them of the effects of the lightning. Endymion looking enraged at Kaito’s insolence. “The Effect of Endymion, by returning 1 card with a spell counter to my hand, I can negate the activation of that effect and destroy it!” Teach said as she gently twirled servant. The only card in her hand. “Plus Endymion gains her counters!”

Spell Counters

Endymion; 2 -> 4

The flow of electricity suddenly reversed, the bolts turning back on themselves and striking Kaito’s face-up card instead. Justi-Break broke apart, leaving Kaito with a perturbed look on his face as he glared up at the enraged Endymion. “Okay then.”

“Endymion attack that Giant Red Seasnake, with Calamitous Curse!” Teach declared, point at the monster. Almost immediately after Endymion raised his staff, the monster would be annihilated by a massive pillar of arcane energies.

Kaito 2100 -> 1000 LP

“With that I’ll place Servant back in my pendulum zone.” She said placing the monster back where it belonged “This of course adds spell counters back to all of my cards.” She said, opting of course to not endanger the citadel by using blast magicians effect.

Spell Counters

Citadel: 4 -> 5

Blast Magician: 2-> 3

Turn 6: Kaito
Kaito: 1000 LP, 0 Cards, 1 Monster, 1 Equip Spell
Miss Mihitsune 3100LP, 0 Cards, 4 Monsters, 1 set card, 1 Field Spell, 1 Pendulum Scale

“I draw.” Kaito drew his next card with slightly more force than was necessary, his agitation over this duel beginning to show through in small ways. ”I equip my Phantasm Spiral Dragon with Phantasm Spiral Crash.” A red glow overtook the colossal wyrm, fading to a faint aura outlining it, and a creature of equal stature appeared behind it, like a shadow come to life with glowing red eyes.

“I attack your Defender with my Spiral Dragon. With the effect of Spiral Crash I’ll inflict piercing damage even if it’s in defence mode.” With a mighty roar the dragon charged towards the shield-bearing knight.

“I’ll meet your attack head on, Defenders effect will activate, preventing its destruction!” She yelled back

Spell Counters

Defender: 1 -> 0

Phantasm Spiral Dragon clashed into the heavy shield and for a moment it looked like Defender was going to be crushed beneath the assault, only to rally and throw the dragon off instead. “Even if it survived you still take the damage, and that let’s me activate its other effect.”

Miss Mihitsune 3100 > 2200

The red glow surrounding Phantasm Spiral Dragon began to fade, while at the same time the shadow standing behind it grew darker and denser until there were two Phantasm Spiral Dragons arranged before Kaito. “When I deal life point damage to you I can summon another Phantasm Spiral Dragon from my deck. What’s more, the equip card moves to the Spiral Dragon I just summoned.” To illustrate this, the newly arrived Spiral Dragon began to shine with a red aura and a third dragon appeared behind the two, barely visible.

“Lastly, I get to change one of your attack position monsters to defence mode.” On his opponent’s side of the field, Endymion dropped to one knee and held his staff outwards as if in defense. The teachers eyes sparkled.

“You have two of them? Interesting most interesting. Endymion you ok?” Her Monster spoke not a word as it stared at the enemy with what seemed like studious intrigue and mired fury

“Since he was summoned during the battle phase, my Spiral Dragon can attack this turn. Phantasm Spiral Dragon, crush her Endymion.” Like with the last, the second Spiral Dragon charged towards its target.

“Understand this now Kaito, I said I wouldn’t let a single one of my monsters be destroyed, especially not the monster has is my soul! I activate the effect of my Magister of Endymion!” She said raising her arm.

“By removing 3 spell counters from my side of the field, I can special summon a spellcaster monster that can have spell counters placed upon it from my deck. The monster I’ll be summoning will be one of the citadels pet projects! Mythical Beast Medusa!” She placed the magically infused monster down on her field. It hissed and growled,

Mythical Beast Medusa: 1500 ATK level 4 LIGHT Pendulum Spellcaster

Spell Counters

Blast Magician: 3 -> 0

Phantasm Spiral Dragon halted in its charge, momentarily distracted by the new arrival. Kaito too was curious about it, especially why the teacher had decided to summon it now of all times. This was his chance to take out Endymion while it was vulnerable, but he couldn’t discount a potential threat. “Phantasm Spiral Dragon, attack Medusa.” The large wyrm shifted its weight to point itself at the new target before resuming its charge, clawed feet digging into the flagstones of the courtyard as it pushed forward.

“Big Mistake.” She said simply “I activate the effect of my Medusa! By removing 2 spell counters from my side of the field I can halve the attack of your spiral dragon!” She declared pointing to it

Spell Counters

Citadel: 5 -> 3

Phantasmal Spiral Dragon ATK 2900 -> 1450

The Spiral Dragon crashed into Medusa, the impact having far less of an effect that it should have given the previous difference in attack values. Instead of being destroyed, Medusa wrapped its tentacles around the Phantasm Spiral Dragon, squeezing the wyrm as it tried to break free until the monster broke apart. A moment later the third, shadow-like dragon also faded away as the equip card was also destroyed.

Kaito 1000 > 950

Preventing destruction, negating card effects, summoning monsters on his turn and now halving his attack; this teacher certainly had a lot of annoying effect monsters. “I’ll end my battle phase. Since my Phantasm Spiral Dragon battled this turn and still has Phantasm Spiral Crash equipped, I get to summon another Spiral Dragon from my graveyard.”

A whirlpool of swirling water, larger than any of the ones before, appearing on Kaito’s field. “You can try and protect your monsters as much as you want, but the sea is relentless.” A wing appeared first, bursting forth from the water with a splash, soon followed by a pair of curled horned attached to a hideous head filled with vicious fangs. “I’ll summon my monsters as many times as it takes, I’ll chip away at your deck like the tide against a cliff face” The Phantasm Spiral Dragon fully emerged from the whirlpool, glowing with a yellow aura as the Phantasm Spiral Crash card transferred its effects. “I’ll remove the foundations of your tower one wave at a time.”

“I end my turn.”

Turn 7: Miss Mihitsune
Kaito: 950 LP, 0 Cards, 2 Monsters, 1 Equip Spell
Miss Mihitsune 2200LP, 0 Cards, 4 Monsters, 1 set card, 1 Field Spell, 1 Pendulum Scale

She smiled at his response. “I suppose I should end this then? I draw” She said drawing her card. “I change Endymion to attack position.” She said as her monster changed position standing up. Staring down at the enemy dragon-serpent. “Alright, time to welcome you to the academy with a bang. Medusa! Use your effect to halve the attack of one his spiral dragons.”

Spell Counters

Citadel: 3-> 1

Phantasmal Spiral Dragon: 2900 ATK -> 1450

“And Endymion, Finish them off, Climatic Calamity Curse!” She said with a grin on her face. As Endymion proceeded to magically nuke Kaitos monster into the dirt with a giant pillar of arcane energies.

Kaito 950 > 0

Winner: Miss Mihitsune!

It was only after the duel ended that the shyness and embarrassed look slowly crept back on Miss Mihitsunes face. She started bowing profusely. “Sorry Sorry Sorry, I was meant to go easy on students.!” She spoke hurriedly jumbling her words together in her apologetic embarrassment.

“But I do believe that you showcased enough. Thanks for the duel.”

Letting out a sigh Kaito removed his dec from the duel disk, the remaining holograms on his side of the field fading away. He closed his eyes, head falling forward as he spoke to himself under his breath. “I did say I wanted a challenge didn’t I?”

Raising his head again, seeing the embarrassed teacher bowing and apologising, Kaito gave a bow of his own and called out to his opponent in a louder voice. “Thank you for the duel. Does… does this mean I’m accepted?”

“Well, I can’t give you confirmation just yet, but I have a strong feeling that you are. Since even though you didn’t win, you showed the qualities for the potential to be a great duelist.” She said smiling.

“Right. I’ll… guess I’ll just wait and see then.” Turning away from the teacher, hopefully before she noticed how defeated he looked, Kaito stepped down from the arena and returned to the stands.

[NFGS0UL]

When William anxiously had made his way up to the designated arena, he was met with a resounding yawn from the presiding instructor. Not that it was aimed at him specifically, evidenced by how the man was clearly turned away from his opponent and covering his mouth. Once it was out of his system, said man turned to face in Percival’s direction and took note of the boy. He gave a friendly wave.

“Yo! Apologies for that,” the man sheepishly apologized, rubbing through his scruffy hairdo. “Sorry; all these duels have been tiring. So you’re up next for today, huh?” he continued, stretching his left arm forwards. The man pulled on a lever that was hidden behind the circular device on said arm, having it make a whirring noise as five slots opened up and started to spin around. They slotted in one-by-one and formed a full field. “Been taking a lot longer than I should lately, so let’s get this started! Name’s Roland, by the way, just in case they hadn’t told you. Let’s have some fun with this!”

“Name’s William.” The boy said reluctantly, it was clear that he was afraid of something. His eyes were the eyes of a duelist but, with a hint of something that should not be there. “Now let’s duel!”

“Hell yeah! That’s the spirit,” Roland shouted in excitement. “First or second, kid? The challenger decides the rules!”

“Uhm… you can go first…” William said to the teacher.

Roland Vs. William

Turn 1: Roland
William: 4000 LP, 5 cards
Roland: 4000 LP, 5 cards

“Alright then, let’s do this! My turn,” the teacher said as he fanned open the five cards he’d drawn from his deck. With a confident nod he picked up one of the cards in it immediately and slammed it down onto one of his duel disk’s monster slots. When Roland did so, he made sure to clarify that “I’m summoning Yellow Gadget to start off with!” and the portal to make it such followed soon after. Out of it popped a little yellow robot, half a gear stuck in both its crotch and either side of its shoulders.

Yellow Gadget: 1200 ATK Level 4 EARTH Machine

The machine deftly took its place. Once it had, the teacher’s deck suddenly went crazy. It searched top-to-bottom for something as it wildly shuffled cards around. Roland laughed it off and rubbed the back of his head again. “Ah- sorry about that. I haven’t managed to fix its locating system yet… When Yellow Gadget’s summoned, he adds Green Gadget to my hand.” It didn’t take too incredibly long to have the device find its card, jutting it out so Roland could grab it. Then the deck shuffled once more, for good measure.

Roland slotted in his Green Gadget and picked up two more cards so he could insert them behind Yellow Gadget. A spell rotated into view on his field, depicting a machine exploding on the backdrop of a ruined city. Next to it, another card formed face-down. “I’m going to be setting a card and activating Machina Armored Unit to end my turn with,” Roland clarified. “Now, when you destroy one of my machines, I can call another from my deck, as long as its attack points are lower. Show me what you’ve got!”

Turn 2: William
William: 4000 LP, 6 cards
Roland: 4000 LP, 3 cards, Yellow Gadget, Machina Armored Unit, 1 Set card

William’s eyes suddenly lit up as his turn was up. “I can do this, even with this deck,” he mumbled to himself. “It is my turn now!” He drew his card. It was obvious for any experienced duelist that he was trying to think of something. Calmly placing a card on his duel disk, “I summon Luster Dragon,” A shiny dark blue dragon was brought to the field. “Now attack his Yellow Gadget!”

“I like that spirit of yours, kid!” Roland yelled back at William. Luster Dragon fired its breath at Yellow Gadget, engulfing the small contraption and reducing it to ash. Roland’s life was knocked down a little.

Roland: 4000 > 3300 LP

The spell card on Roland’s field emitted a bright light as his deck started to shuffle around again. The teacher waggled his finger and explained what it meant. “Too bad for you, though. That attack was pretty reckless, as now I can summon Boot-Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo from my deck!” As soon as the explanation finished, Yellow Gadget’s ashes began to whirl around themselves and formed into a new shape. A single-eyed, white-and-brown robot with a huge hole in its chest. The new robot looked to be deactivated, as it wasn’t moving at all.

Boot-Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo: 0 ATK Level 4 EARTH Machine

“That all ya got?” Roland taunted William, a smirk on his face.

“Ugh! I set one card and that is it.” William said, ending his turn.

Turn 3: Roland
William: 4000 LP, 4 cards, 1 Set card
Roland: 3300 LP, 4 cards, Boot-Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo, Machina Armored Unit, 1 Set card

“I’m not going to go easy on ya, kid! Draw!” Roland cried out. He slotted his drawn card into the hand and picked up another. He explained that “Since I added this guy to my hand last turn, I’ll summon him!” and slammed the card down onto his disk. “Come, Green Gadget!” he yelled, the portal heralding its arrival opening up next to Dread Dynamo. The machine was similarly short and stout like Yellow Gadget, though this time its main gear was the entire torso. Roland’s deck whirred, he added the card ejected from it to his hand and then said as an aside: “And, of course, he adds Red Gadget to my hand as well!”

Green Gadget: 1400 ATK Level 4 EARTH Machine

“We’re not done yet, William! Now my gadgets show their true power! Green Gadget, combine with Dread Dynamo!” the teacher continued to rattle, his newly summoned monster jumping into the open slot inside Dread Dynamo’s chassis. Green Gadget’s torso rotated around and the other machine whirred to life because of it. Its eye glew a menacing red while the creature powered up.

Boot-Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo: 0 > 2000 ATK

“This is the power of my Gadget monsters!” Roland proudly exclaimed. “And it’s only going to get better! I activate my trap card: Rare Metalmorph!”

The Set card on Roland’s field sprung to life, depicting a metal coat reflecting a beam of sorts. The card glew for a moment before circling itself around Dread Dynamo. The machine’s rusty shell began metamorphosing into a new, shinier hull. Roland tutted from behind his monster. “Don’t forget I had that around, now! Because with this card, Dread Dynamo’s attack goes up by another five-hundred!”

Boot-Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo: 2000 > 2500 ATK

The teacher threw his arm out and yelled “Battle!” while his monster rushed forward. With one, powerful punch it shattered the sapphire scales of Luster Dragon and knocked the wind out of William’s life. Not long after, Green Gadget popped out of Dread Dynamo’s shell to deliver another knock, straight into the boy’s gut. Roland’s monsters then returned to his field after finishing the job.

William: 4000 > 3400 > 2000 LP.

“O-oi… you alright?” Roland asked sheepishly. “Sorry, my bad… I get a little loose when dueling. Show me what you’ve got, alright? I’ll set a card and leave it up to you!”

Turn 4: William
William: 2000 LP, 5 cards, 1 Set card
Roland: 3300 LP, 3 cards, Boot-Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo, Green Gadget, Machina Armored Unit, Rare Metalmorph, 1 Set card

“Hmph! My turn.” William said trying to sound like hyped. After he looked at the card he drew, his eyes rolled, “Of course...” he mumbled to himself. “I set one monster and one card and that… that is it.”

“Wait… for real?” Roland asked. “Well… whatever! If you’re not going to come at me, I’ll just take the fight to you!”

Turn 5: Roland
William: 2000 LP, 3 cards, 1 Set monster, 2 Set cards
Roland: 3300 LP, 4 cards, Boot-Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo, Green Gadget, Machina Armored Unit, Rare Metalmorph, 1 Set card

“I draw!” the teacher cried, nodding to himself briefly before picking up a different out of his hand. “You’ve seen Green and Yellow, now get ready for Red!” he continued. The robot that popped up had two eyes this time around, even if they weren’t on the same y axis coordinates as each-other. Its main gear was also on the back this time around.

Red Gadget: 1300 ATK Level 4 EARTH Machine

“The duel isn’t going to last very long like this, y’know? I’ve got more than enough attack to finish you off. But I bet that Set card of yours would take care of that, huh?” Roland commented with a bemused smirk. “I’ll take it, though! A real duelist doesn’t back down from a challenge… let’s go, Dread Dynamo!” he yelled, the machinal soldier quick to respond by boosting itself forward in an attempt to tackle William’s Set monster.

Willam with a bit of excitement commands “I activate Magical Hats! Now you will have to destroy 3 cards to reach my life points.” William had a faint light of hope lit up inside him as 3 Magical Hats appeared in front of him. One of them swallowed up the Set monster on his field. The trio of hats then shuffled around each-other rapidly, settling in a random position.

“A guessing game, huh? I’ll strike the middle one!” Roland commanded, Dread Dynamo’s trajectory unimpeded. The construct struck the piece of headwear and it shattered, revealing nothing underneath. “I’ve got two more shots,” the man declared undeterred. “Strike the left one!” Green Gadget popped out of Dynamo and smacked down onto the hat, but Roland missed for the second time. “Now there’s only one left, right?”

As Green popped back into Dread Dynamo, Red rocketed itself forward. It grabbed the hat, tossed it to the side and gave the monster on William’s field a bop. It shattered in two as the after-image of Lord of D screamed into the void, its particles shattering and carried by the wind. Roland recalled his monsters and added: “Turn end!”

Turn 6: William
William: 2000 LP, 4 cards, 1 Set card
Roland: 3300 LP, 3 cards, Boot-Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo, Green Gadget, Red Gadget, Machina Armored Unit, Rare Metalmorph, 1 Set card

“Here I go.” William said trying to hype himself up. “Since I drew a card, I activate Jar of Greed to draw one more card.” When he looked at the card, he wanted to believe the card in his hand was his key. “I activate Lightning Vortex!”

“Yeah, that’s more like it kid! Unfortunately, your key card came too late. Trap, Activate! Destruction Jammer!” Roland shouted back, pointing his right arm towards the set card on his field. It opened and a barrier quickly expanded, blue yet transparent. The lightning raining down on his field got caught up in it, cracking down but not managing to shatter. Roland tossed a card into the graveyard to explain that “It’s too bad, but just as you discard a card to wipe out my field, I’ll discard one to protect it!”

William was quite surprised. After a second of his mind wandering off, he realised what his opponent was. He is not supposed to be surprised. “I play, Swords of Revealing Light!” He said with panic in his voice, as a number of sword shaped light appeared over Roland’s monsters. “After that, I activare Shard of Greed and that is the end of my turn.”

“Swords of Revealing Light, huh? That means I can’t attack for three turns…” Roland commented, rubbing his chin. “Say, you’ve been playing on the defensive ever since I got rid of that Luster Dragon of yours. Is something the matter?”

“I guess it was not that hard to figure my mentality out.” William said. “I can’t do anything with this deck. It is an incomplete mess and I can’t trust it to duel with it.” His voice sounded bored and frustrated.

The teacher frowned and stopped his movements, lowering his Duel Disk arm to let it hang loose. The other was put on his hip. “So is that what you really think of your deck?” he asked, the cheery demeanor from before replaced with a cold tone. “Listen, kid. A deck is a duelist’s soul. If you can’t trust in it, how could you ever expect it to listen to your feelings? If all you think of it is negativity, the deck will never work for you.”

Roland sighed.

Turn 7: Roland
William: 2000 LP, 1 card, Swords of Revealing Light, Shard of Greed
Roland: 3300 LP, 3 cards, Boot-Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo, Green Gadget, Red Gadget, Machina Armored Unit, Rare Metalmorph

“It’s my turn!” the teacher yelled after having raised up his disk again, drawing the card with fierce gusto. He smiled. “Well, if you’re not going to believe, then I will! I activate A Feather of the Phoenix!”

A purple, archaïc portal opened up in the middle of the field, engraved with runes on every side. One of Roland’s cards glowed a bright white and he tossed it in there, only to have a different one return out and take the previous’ place. “With this card, I’m allowed to discard another to return Yellow Gadget to the top of my deck. And with that, I’ll set another card as well,” Roland continued, slotting the remaining card in his hand behind Dread Dynamo.

“Alright, kid. Next turn, I’ll show you just what my deck is capable of. I’ll show you the bond between my gadgets and me! Now take yours!”

Turn 8: William
William: 2000 LP, 2 cards, Swords of Revealing Light, Shard of Greed
Roland: 3300 LP, 0 cards, Boot-Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo, Green Gadget, Red Gadget, Machina Armored Unit, Rare Metalmorph, 1 Set

“Now it is my turn!” William was trying to trust his deck. His eyes started to glow with a duelist’s spirit when he saw the card. “I set one card and end my turn” This time he sounded different and he had confidence.

“Just hold on one moment! Before your turn ends, I activate my trap card: Stronghold the Moving Fortress!”

An iron giant materialized behind Roland as he activated his trap, one who extended both his arms and held them in front of the rest of his monsters, acting as their shield.

“This trap summons itself as a monster!”

Stronghold the Moving Fortress: 2000 DEF Level 4 EARTH Machine

Turn 9: Roland
William: 2000 LP, 1 card, Swords of Revealing Light, Shard of Greed, 1 Set
Roland: 3300 LP, 1 card, Boot-Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo, Green Gadget, Red Gadget, Stronghold the Moving Fortress, Machina Armored Unit, Rare Metalmorph

“I summon my Yellow Gadget and switch Stronghold into attack mode!” Roland yelled out in one fierce move. The construct from the start popped onto his field, waved at William and then jumped into one of the three slots in Stronghold’s chest. Green Gadget popped out of Dread Dynamo to do the same, with Red Gadget following soon after. Together, the three of them activated the golem’s full capacity. It rose from its crouched position, revealing the extent of its size as Stronghold towered over the arena.

Stronghold the Moving Fortress: 2000 DEF > 3000 ATK

“See that? This Stronghold is the monster I can call out using the bonds of my cards! When all three gadgets are combined, it shows the true extent of its power! Now show me yours, kid! This is your last chance to turn things around. Turn end!”

Turn 10: William
William: 2000 LP, 2 cards, Swords of Revealing Light, Shard of Greed, 1 Set
Roland: 3300 LP, 0 cards, Boot-Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo, Green Gadget, Red Gadget, Yellow Gadget, Stronghold the Moving Fortress, Machina Armored Unit, Rare Metalmorph

“Alright. Trust the deck, trust the deck... ” William mumbled to himself. “I draw!” He shouted with power. “First, I activate my spell card, Shard of Greed to draw two more cards!” William looked at the cards he drew, a faint smile appeared on his face. “Now I activate my trap card, Call of the Haunted!” A small black portal appeared in front of the flipped card. “With that, I bring back my Lord of the D.!” William jammed another card on his duel disk. “Now I activate another spell card which is a favorite of mine, Flute of Summoning Dragon! With this I will summon 2 more monsters to my field. I summon my two Rabidragon cards to the field!”

Two playful dragons appeared out of their cards as William summoned them. “With Rabidragon 1 I will destroy your Yellow Gadget!” Rabidragon shot a white ray out of it’s mouth targeting the Yellow Gadget as it shattered and destroyed. Roland raised up both arms to shield himself from the shockwave created by the blast.

Roland: 3300 > 1550 LP

“Now, Rabidragon 2, attack his Stronghold the Moving Fortress and end this duel!”

Stronghold’s chassis had been bust wide open, both Red and Green gadgets falling right out of it and scattering. The golem struggled to stand, jittering as it tried desperately to hold itself up with its massive arms.

Stronghold the Moving Fortress: 3000 > 0 ATK

As Rabidragon’s blast approached the teacher, he let his disk hang loose. “That’ll do, kid… that’ll do.”

Stronghold shattered. An explosion rang through the arena, forcing Roland to his knees as his machines fell all around him.

Roland: 1550 > 0 LP

WINNER: WILLIAM!

Roland picked up his cards, slotted them into the deck and let his disk spin back into its stand-by mode. The man pushed himself back up to his legs, dusted off his sleeves, then gave the boy a thumbs up. “A real duelist never stops believing in their deck. That’s what they call a miracle,” he repeated, walking over and giving William a pat on the shoulder. “Never lose sight of that. Welcome to Mitsuri, kid.”

William was smiling, he was one step closer to his dreams.

[The Red Seelie]

"What a round of spectacular duels!"

The Headmaster of the Academy

The Headmaster would say with a clap of applause as the duels for the day would come to a solid conclusion after an albeit lengthy process of duels. There was after all only 4 teachers to manage so many new arrivals The Headmaster would have to make notes to include more teachers for the next entrance examination. Indeed, this took too long for his liking that it would cut into his speech, he'd have to keep it short then, as keeping the students that passed here for too long would be foolish.

"Now, as for those that finished their duels early and for those that have just finished their placement duels, while the teachers you duelled review the duels today, I want to talk to you all about dreams. Perhaps you have a dream or aspiration that drives you, or perhaps you are one the many that are still trying to find their dream to follow, but take it from an old man like me. Once you find what you want. Strive for it! Push harder and push through until you can grasp it." The elderly headmaster said with eccentric movements before he pulled a muscle causing him to stop with a wince. "And" he said slowly straightening up. "Make sure to have fun on the way to achieving it too." he said with a wise old smile.

A few minutes later, the reviews would be finished, and the headmaster would be listing out names. "For those that have particular impressed their interviewers through raw power and a potential to be the greatest of the great. The highest dorm, Raviel Royal Blue. The students in this dorm include..." He listed off a bunch of names. None one of importance would be heard

"Now, Those that have showed Great potential, but were just shy of the highest dorm, Hamon Gold." The Head would say with his cheerful tone as he listed of the names, Kaito, William and Thomas would hear their names here. Which of course meant that meant the ones left would have either passed by the skin of their teeth (or had a really strict reviewer) or would have to try at another academy.

"Ah, and now for those students that have perhaps the greatest potential of them all, but are held back by some sort of character flaw that their examiners picked up upon. Or perhaps their duelling simply needs work." The Headmaster would say as he read out the names. Miku and Yukata was listed.

There would be a great flurry of steps as what was once a packed stadium fit to the bursting would slowly ease up to be a nice well filled out stadium, no cramped spaces anymore as the schools dueling room was returned to its expected capacity, Of course it was soon going to be empty considering the next port of call.

"Now that everyone is aware of their placements, uniforms will be given to you in the size you filled out on the application form in time hopefully for tomorrows round of lessons. The key to your individual dorm rooms is a keycard, This keycard is also used at the cafeteria and card shop as identity verification, as well as to stop the any one student from buying out all the card packs." He chuckled. "With that being said, I wish you all luck moving into your dormatories."

Further Dorm info! as well as placements

Dorm rankings: (The highest two are only holdable by second and third year students)

1 Royal Blue
2 Gold
3 Scarlet

Dormitories & Student Placements:
Raviel Royal Blue: YOU GET NOTHING
Hamon Gold : Kaito Morita, William Percival Copeland, Thomas Arashi, Lucille Descartes
Uriel Scarlet : Miyazaki Miku, Kyouka Yutaka,

Check the dorms tab for dormitory conditions:

[Ammokkx]

▂▃▅▆▇█ Miku █▇▆▅▃▂

---

*Click.*

Miku stepped inside her new room. Relief washed over her. She was safe, at least for the moment. The studying, the practice... it paid off in the end. She dropped her sports bag onto the ground and took a seat on the bottom of the bunk bed placed inside the room. It meant she probably got a roommate soon. Not too surprising, with how she was placed among some of the worst students. It felt frustrating and humiliating, doubly so with how hard she fought to be enrolled, but the frustration was nothing compared to the burning flames in her heart. Flames of perseverance. She wasn't going to take it lying down; if anything, it just made her even more determined to rise up the hierarchy. She had everything to lose.

*Click.*

"O-Oh! Hello..."

Miku perked her head up. The door's opening followed by a soft voice caught her attention. A young girl stood in the entryway, one hand on the handle of her rolling suitcase. The girl was short and had brown twin tails held together with a large red ribbon.

"You got assigned to scarlet, too?" Miku asked the newcomer. They nodded, but also twiddled their fingers a little.

"Mmm... mhm, yeah. I-I'm surprised, honestly... I thought I would be rejected for sure," she replied. "A-ah, by the way, my name's Honika Suzuki! Uhm... I'm sorry if I'll be a bother," the girl was swift to apologise.

"Oh, uh... it's no problem. Really.
"...You can, uh, choose which bed you want. I'm indifferent," Miku told her.

"Ah... uhm..." Suzuki stumbled. She didn't seem very comfortable with it.

"...oh, uh, nevermind. I'll just... take the top one if you can't choose."

"A-ah! Sorry, I should've-"

"No, it's fine. Really."

Miku averted her gaze and got up from the bunk. She crouched down to her luggage and began with the unpacking. Suzuki shuffled into the room, but Miku only heard silence from the other girl for a while after the door closed. When she turned to look back, Suzuki was just standing there. Frozen.

"Oh... am I in the way or something?" Miku asked.

"...N-no! It's nothing, uhm... excuse me then," the other girl replied. Then she began unpacking as well. Her face was red as a beet, though. A few minutes of awkward silence passed between the two of them as they got the room set up. Surprisingly, out of the two of them, Suzuki broke the silence with a question. "Uhm... what's your name?"

Miku blinked. "O-oh... right, sorry," she stammered. "It's Miku. Miku Miyazaki. I hope we get along," Miku answered with a bow.

"Mhm... yeah, I hope so too."

They continued to unpack. When Miku got done sorting the wardrobe, she took a step back and accidentally bumped into her new roomate. She heard a bunch of things scatter to the floor, along with a "Eep! Oh, no, my cards..." from Suzuki. Miku turned around.

"Oh, sorry! Let me help you," she offered and immediately began picking up the scattered deck.

"Oh, uhm... thank you," the other girl said. With the two of them it didn't take too long to collect all of them. Suzuki averted her eyes though. She clutched the deck tightly to her chest. "I-I know what you're thinking! B-but they're all my precious friends so, ah, uhm..."

"No, don't worry about it. Really. Here, I'll let you look at my deck to make up for it..." Miku answered her. She'd forgotten to take her Duel Disk off in all this time, so she could easily slide out her cards and show them to Suzuki.

"Wow... so you use fusion too... I think I'd struggle to fight it, though..."

"Want to try it?"

"H-Huh?! Like, right now?!"

"...Yeah. I think you're probably a lot better than you give yourself credit for."

"No, I'm, really, uhm, not... b-but if you want to, I, uhm, I don't mind dueling, so..."

These two were going to be just fine with each-other.

[sly13]

Thomas Arashi

Thomas couldn't say that he was surprised by his placing in the dorm tier list he had given a pitiful showing for his first duel at the academy, and more importantly, he made Thor look bad in the process. It was still irritating but not unjustified he supposed. Looking Around him he good to see that some of the students were just happy to be allowed into the school which was something that he just couldn't understand. As the headmaster finished his announcement of his duel Thomas glanced down at his duel disk slightly before grabbing his bag and heading towards his dorm-like the rest of the students.

As he drew closer to his assigned dorm room he grabbed a small piece of paper out of his pocket that had received describing the dorm arrangements. Double checking that the numbers matched up he slowly opened up the door to see a rather well upkeep dorm with two beds in it along with a desk for each person and a few other furniture items but nothing over the top. Throwing his duffle bag off to the bed that was now his he slumped back in the chair to his desk. “Glad today is done,” he said out loud to himself as he let out a heavy sigh.

Digging through his bag for a second he pulled out a small ornate wooden box that had carried his first cards in it. Setting it down on the table along with his duel disk he let his gaze settled on the two items. Reaching for the deck holder on his belt he pulled out his prized and favorite card and placed it between the box and duel disk. “I swear I will make it up to you.” he thought in his mind almost as if he was saying a prayer or something.

[Grey]

It ended with the sound of shattering glass.

The final monster had fallen in a maelstrom of ice and fire, and with it came the iconic sound of lifepoints rapidly reaching zero. Smoke and steam lingered over the battlefield, creating a dark cloud concealing the two duelists within.

The first to come into view within the slowly dispersing mist was a boy with monochrome hair and blue eyes.

"Five turn checkmate," he said, allowing his arms to fall limply at his side. A wry smile played at his lips.

Then, finally, the digital haze cleared, revealing the final score for all to see.

Coach Yoshiwaru Go: 3400 LP
Applicant Kyouka Yutaka: 0 LP

The boy ran a hand through his hair, letting out a loud, bitter laugh at the sight.

"And here I was thinking I make it just a little further than that!"

𝖪𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗄𝖺 𝖸𝗎𝗍𝖺𝗄𝖺

Yutaka was not looking forward to hearing his results.

Honestly, his performance out there was just embarrassing. That was some absolutely degenerate gameplay on his part--he'd have to fix that next time. In hindsight, he shouldn't have gotten greedy and committed all of those resources into that third turn combo. And that Sphere Kuriboh save? Not actually a save; it would have been one two turns later, though. But who the hell expects a counter-play like that?

'Probably a better duelist than me, lol.'

But what was really embarrassing about losing here was that he'd promised his ride back that he wouldn't. And then he did. And now he would definitely roasted for it, especially if it meant having to get yet another letter of recommendation from the guy. All in all, it was definitely a ride back home he wasn't in any rush to get to. Not that he was ever in a rush to go home in the first place.

At any rate, as one of the final contestants, Yutaka did not have to wait long for the duels to finish and the final judgement to begin. In a way, this was both a blessing and a curse. Whether the lack of gathering dread was worth the finality of judgment remained to be seen.

The old man went on about bonds or heart of the cards or effort, hard work and victory or whatever. He'd tested for enough dueling schools to last him a life time; he'd probably heard just about every permutation of that presentation. Instead, he spent the entire introduction brazenly reading new manga chapters on his phone.

Yutaka only started paying close attention once names were called. He didn't expect to hear his name in the upper echelons of the graduates. He didn't even expect to hear it in the middle. Yet he listened to these most intently of all.

It would be impolite not to know the names of your future opponents, after all. And there was the possibility, however slim, that he would be recognized in this category.

Of course, Yutaka would not be recognized in these categories, and it seemed that he wasn't being recognized in the lowest bracket either. For what seemed like aeons, names were called again and again for Uriel Scarlet. But the most important name of all refused to show itself. It would be a lie to say he wasn't getting a little on edge at that moment; he was wound tighter than a spring.

But then he heard it.

The one thing he had been waiting for.

The words that made an old man's badly-amplified voice sound like the choirs of heaven.

"Kyouka, Yutaka."

And at that moment, Yutaka leapt from his seat and roared.

"AHA! FUCK YEAH!"

He had, against all odds, succeeded in getting one school acceptance out of the dozens he had applied for. He pumped his fists triumphantly. He beamed like an idiot (which he was). He did a little jig. He...

...took a seat.

Because it was dead silent now. And people were staring.

...

They were still staring when he sat back down.

Yutaka coughed and leaned back, intertwined hands cradling the back of his head like he was a cool guy out of some trite anime. "...What're you all lookin' at?" he quipped to nobody and everybody, nudging his chin in the direction of the stage, "Old man's talkin'. Respect your elders. Pay attention."

Ironically, he was too excited to pay much attention as the rest of the names were called and the judgement drew to a close.

Once the gym had cleared out, Yutaka withdrew his phone and dialed a familiar number.

"Sup, aniki? Sorry to disappoint, but it looks I'm gonna have to cancel that ride back."

[King Cosmos]

Kaito Morita let out a sigh.

Despite not managing to defeat his opponent he had been accepted into the academy and despite not even managing to reduce his opponents lifepoints by half he had been placed in the middle dormitory. Apparently, his performance during the entrance exam was considered quite good by whoever it was who decided these things, but even so he couldn’t help but walk with his head low and his eyes firmly directed towards the ground as he went in search of his dorm room.

It just wasn’t possible for him to feel good about a defeat like that, even if it was to a teacher; Kaito hadn’t lost a duel that badly since he had first started duelling. It was clear his opponent was much more skilled than he was, even more skilled than his grandfather, which just went to show that being the best duelist in your small town didn’t mean much of anything. The world was a big place and it was filled with duelists of much greater skill and talent than Kaito or anyone he had ever duelled, which was exactly why he had left his fishing village to come here, but it didn’t make the loss bother him any less.

And the speech! Before the final turn of the duel Kaito had lost his composure, broken his stoic façade as he so rarely did and made a big dramatic speech about how he was going to defeat his opponent, only to lose the very next turn. The embarrassment of that was going to linger for a while; he was definitely going to think about it any time he saw that teacher from now on. If nothing else, it taught him to restrict such grandstanding to the start of his turns and not the end of them.

Finding his dorm room, Kaito opened the door using the keycard he had been provided, taking a few moments to figure out how it worked, and stepped inside. It was larger than he had expected, certainly larger than his room back home though the lack of clutter may have contributed to that feeling; it was also, as it turned out, already occupied. He was about to leave and offer a quick apology to the other boy when Kaito noticed the two beds and desks and realised what was going on, instead he stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him. “Hey, I’m Kaito. I guess we’re roommates?”

@sly13

[NFGS0UL]

William was relieved that the entrance ended well for him. He still finds the idea of trusting his current deck weird. However it served him once, it can do it again, right?

After checking the room number 5 times ,he slowly proceeded, fearing that he had a roommate.

He opened his door and there was only one bed. He joyfully punched the air before he realized the door was still open. Felt embarrassed, he closed the door.

It was a relatively normal room, better than his uncle's living room. Bed was also pretty soft, another improvement as this was much nicer than a small old couch.

After he completely moved in, William realized that he forgot his only friend, his guitar. "Dang it!" he mumbled, "I need to find out how can I get that shipped in". He looked at his deck "Also I need to start getting along with this fella."

[LunarStandard]

Lucille was not surprised at all to hear that she made the middle dorm. Her performance during placement was certainly not terrible: she didn't get blown out like some of the other students. In fact, she even managed to edge out a win. But nothing about that placement duel was motivating, and that showed in her dueling. Duels like that are not what she is here for. She's only interested in real power.

She stalked up to her room with her luggage and keys. Second floor, just beside the elevator. In this way, at least, she considered her luck good. After a cursory slide of the key card, Lucille entered her new home away from home. Her eyes darted from left to right and back again as she scanned the room. Bed, desk, nightstand, closet, everything seemed to be in order.

With nothing out of the ordinary that she had to report, Lucille closed the door behind her and left her suitcase by her desk as she took a seat. She took out her deck and looked at it for a moment before spring flourishing the cards from one hand to the other. Then, setting it on the desk in front of her face-down, she took the card from the top and looked at it.

Condemned Witch. This card has been with her for so long now, she's never took it out of her deck. Even now, she can almost feel it pushing her forward. Setting the card down on the desk beside her deck, she crossed her arms and wondered what it was she would find at this school, or even if there was anything here for her at all. With a sigh, she uncrossed her arms and stood up from her chair, moving toward her suitcase to begin the long and tedious process of unpacking.

[The Red Seelie]

The next morning, the lessons would be going ahead as planned, Lucky for all the students doing turbo dueling on the open-topped track, the weather was clear, not too bright either, perfect for the track. The weather wouldn't really matter as much for those doing action dueling as it was an internal stadium.

For those doing Turbo Dueling

Turbo Duels

"What a great day for racing!" Mr. Valentine would say as he stretched, walking over to the growing number of students that had lined up at the entrance to the turbo duel Arena, hands clapping together as he looked over the students. "Alright Students, Good choice choosing the better course, Generally speaking I'm supposed to go through a dozen or so lessons on how to safely ride a duel runner, But that isn't quite as fun as giving you all a taster of what turbo dueling is like, Thus you'll be using the duel runners onboard cruise feature, in order to get a feel for it! That said I recommend you all get a tracksuit and helmet on, since you don't have your own feel free to find a spare in your size, as even if the runners are speed restricted, I don't wanna lose my job cause one of you kids decided to throw himself from the runner. With that all out of the way, he'd soon be going over to the small teaching assistant group to help set up the runners.

After that, he came back and started to pair students up for duels. "Alright that everyone except..." He looked at the lone female student and put his hand on the back of his head, as if apologetic for this scenario occuring. "Well, Thats annoying, Got no partner huh, Well I still want you to experience turbo duels, So I'll be your op ponent."

Matchups

Sly vs Grey
Red vs GM-NPC

For those doing Action Dueling

Action Duels

For those wishing to try action dueling. The early birds would be greeted with a large box at the spot they were supposed to meet their teacher, The rest of the student would pile in, some noticing the box, others just commenting on when the lesson was going to start. Until eventually!

Poof!

A puff of smoke would rise from the box as a stage magician would twirl her cane with an expert flourish, "Hey hey!" She would say with a grin as she looked at all the students that had come. "Well well, the smart ones have arrived. Choosing a better course and all." She said hopping off her box. "Well, long story short, welcome to the action dueling arena, Try not to hit your head on any solid-vision kuribohs. As you all know, Action dueling is all about using action cards to create a much more spectacular performance!" She said hands up in a sort of cheer.

"So as this is your first lesson, How about I see where you all fair, One pair at a time." She said as she started partnering people. Eventually coming to someone who didn't have a partner. "And you miss" She bowed. "I suppose will be dueling myself."

"Alright everyone, Lets make this spectacular!"

Rule addition

A most spectacular stage!: Players can activate field spell cards in order to change the environment on the half of the battlefield they are on. Action cards on this side are redistributed. Some duelists use this for the benefit of getting around.

Matchups

Ammokkx vs GM-NPC
NFG vs King Cosmos

[sly13]

Thomas Arashi VS. 𝖪𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗄𝖺 𝖸𝗎𝗍𝖺𝗄𝖺

Pulling the duel runner up to the starting line Thomas took a moment to look over his opponent for today's lesson. The kid looked determined but something about him screamed weakness to Thomas. He couldn’t really remember him from the placement duels which probably meant he wasn't all that special. Placing his deck into the slot and laying his duel disk down in the front he looked back over the other kid beside him. “You ready to lose today?”

“Please. I’m prepared to lose every day,” the kid scoffed. He had already slotted his equipment into the runner. By the way, he was just reclining in the seat, this wasn’t his first time around the track. “You wanna keep talkin’ trash or do I have to mention how you stole my hairstyle?”

Thomas let out a small laugh at the comment. “Good one.” He said in a sarcastic tone “let’s hope you're better at duelling then you are at comebacks.” As soon as he was finished he started up the duel runner and sped off down the track.

That first exhilarating rush of speed was short-lived, however. His opponent quickly tore past his runner, overtaking him like a squall. It seemed that this Yutaka kid really was as experienced with a duel runner as he looked. But would his duelling be up to the same standard? That remained to be seen.

The first turn would be his, after all.

My Hider

Turn 1: Yutaka
Yutaka: 4000LP, 5 cards
Thomas: 4000LP, 5 cards

Above the roaring engine and rushing wind came a brief crackle as the receivers in their helmets connected. His opponent’s input feed was quiet, but Thomas could swear he heard something that sounded like a sigh of relief once Yutaka had successfully crossed the starting corner.

His next words were much clearer.

“Draw!”

“I’ll throw down two face-downs....” The backs of two cards flashed into existence alongside the duel runner ahead of before fading out. “And then I’ll summon this little guy in attack mode! Take flight, Winged Kuriboh!”

Winged Kuriboh Level 1 LIGHT Fairy: 300 ATK

The flying furball that had materialized next to Yutaka’s duel runner wasn’t the most intimidating card in the world by any stretch of the imagination. Was this really the best he had? He was in Scarlet...

“You’re up, hotshot.”

Turn 2: Thomas
Yutaka: 4000LP, 3 cards
Thomas: 4000LP, 5 cards

“I draw!” Thomas called out as he placed the new card in his hand. Looking at each card he began to formulate a plan. “Well I think ill also start off with three face-down cards.” throwing his cards into their slots three cards backs slowly appeared on the side of his Duel Runner. Next, I'll Summon a monster in attack position. As the card appeared on the track a white goat jumped out of it grinding its teeth back and forth.

Tanngrisnir of the Nordic Beasts, Level 3 Earth Beast

“Now then Tanngrisnir go destroy that little furball,” Thomas called out with a yell as the monster in front of him let out a snort as it stopped grinding its teeth for a brief moment before charging straight into the Winged Kuriboh shattering it into pieces.

...However, his enemy’s life points didn’t budge one bit.

“Confused? When Winged Kuriboh is destroyed,” Yutaka explained, “I don’t take any battle damage. For the rest of the turn.”

“And with that ill end my turn.”

Turn 3: Yutaka
Yutaka: 4000LP, 3 cards
Thomas: 4000LP, 3 cards

“Then I’ll start mine! Draw!” Yutaka declared, swiping a card from the top of his deck. Almost immediately, he slotted it into his duel disk. “Show ‘em what’ cha got, Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz!”

Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz WATER Spellcaster: 1500 ATK

From an intricate sigil emerged an aged sage, as if rising from a pool of water. In his hand was a staff enshrining a brilliant mirror matching the one on his waist. Adorning his body were blue robes embossed with gold.

“Time to return the favour. Great Sorcerer, get that goat!”

The wizard raised his staff with both hands, reflecting the image of Tanngrisnir in the mirror atop it. A triad of ice shards crystallized into existence above Thomas’ monster before descending in time with the slamming of the staff.

Tanngrisnir exploded in cold burst.

Thomas: 4000 LP -> 3700 LP

“Now matter cause you just gave me what I was looking for. You see when Tanngrisnir is destroyed I get two levels 3 tokens added to my side of the field.” after finishing two small scapegoat like creatures appeared on the field before him. “But that's not all I'll also activate the effect of Tanngnjostr and summon him to the field in defence mode."

“Hm. Okay, sure. No big deal,” Yutaka replied, “Guess I’ll just end my turn, then.”

Turn 4: Thomas
Yutaka: 4000LP, 3 cards
Thomas: 3700LP, 2 cards

“Well to start my turn ill activate the trap card Solemn wishes. This card allows me to gain 500 life points every time I draw a card.” as he explained the card one of his face downs lifted up showing a woman posing as if before a camera. “Now then I draw!” as Thomas drew a green aura glowed over the card before moving to encompass him as well as increasing his life point counter.

Thomas: 3700 LP -> 4200 LP

“And just like that your small amount of effort is done away with,” he said with a cocky grin as he continued to speak. “But that is gonna be the least of your worries in mere moments. Now I'll activate Tanngjostr’s other effect by switching him to attack mode.” after stating this Thomas’s duel runner ejected at card out of the deck for Thomas to grab. Grabbing the card he immediately threw it down on the duel disk. As the card appeared on the field a large horse came sprinting out of it rearing up in the air before slamming its hooves back down.

“Don't worry you won't be seeing him long because now I'm going to use my level 4 Guldfaxe and my two levels 3 tuners to synchro summon the god that will bring about the end of this duel.”

As he said this the three monsters floated into the air before turning into stars and forming a line. As a bright green light shined through them before disappearing to reveal the sky to be filled with storm clouds. As the clouds began to part a large figure wielding a massive Warhammer began to descend to the arena. Throwing his hands in the air, Thomas yelled out, “Now I call forth the god of thunder Thor Lord of the Aesir.” when the creature finally came to a stop its eyes glowed yellow for a brief second signalling its readiness for battle.

Thor Lord of the Aesir: LV:10, Earth, Beast-Warrior: 3500 ATK.

Thomas stopped for a moment as Thor towered over him. Usually, he would just attack and keep his face downs for incase something happened but something was pulling on him to crush his opponent into dust and squash any thought of Yutaka winning. “You know I just had a great idea. Why don't we make this better? I'm activating my spell card, Nordic Relic of Draupnir and equipping it to Thor bringing his attack even higher. But that's not all, oh no you don't get off that easy. Next, I'm activating the trap card Horn of the Phantom Beast.” as Thomas called this out Thor’s helmet received a large set of horns stop it and his gauntlets grew in size and became more distinct.

Thor Lord of the Aesir 3500 -> 5100

“Now it's time for your puny little spell caster to get pulverised. Go, Thor, Crush him with Thunderstrike.” hearing this the massive form of Thor lifted up the hammer before bringing it down towards the poor spellcaster reducing it to dust...!

“Not so fast,” Yutaka cut in. He slotted a card from his hand into the graveyard. “I’ll send my Sphere Kuriboh to the graveyard to force your Thor into defence mode!”

Alongside his duel runner appeared a sleek and wingless, mechanical-looking version of the Winged Kuriboh destroyed earlier. It didn’t linger on his side for long, however, because it went flying between Thor and the Great Sorcerer.

“Oh no you don't I am not letting this happen again. I'll activate the trap card Solemn Strike” after declaring this Thomas’s face down rose up as old-looking man appeared behind Thomas. Raising his hand the old man struck Thomas with lightning reducing his life points by 1500.

Thomas: LP 4200 -> 2700

As the lightning shocked THomas it spread out to Sphere Kuriboh, negating its effect and sending it flying back to Yutaka’s duel runner in shame. He cursed.

With nothing left to prevent its strike, Thor’s hammer descended upon Yutaka’s monster.

Yutaka: 4000 LP -> 400 LP

“I'll put one more card face down and end my turn,” Thomas smirked, as his duel runner took the lead, “I’d give you one turn before this duel over so you better make this next move count.”

Turn 5: Yutaka
Yutaka: 400 LP, 2 cards
Thomas: 2700 LP, 1 cards

“Tch… I’ll draw...” Yutaka intoned through grit teeth. By the sound of his voice, it seemed he was trying--and failing--to keep his head clear in spite of the overwhelming pressure from the monster looming over him, and the diminishment of his life points. For a few long seconds, Thomas didn’t hear anything from the duelist behind him, and the display hadn’t indicated that he drew.

And then it did.

“...YeeeEEES! And what a draw it is! Holy crap! What are the chances of that?” The moment he finished giddily boasting his luck, a spell card flashed to life alongside his duel runner. “I activate the effect of Nekroz Mirror!”

From the spell card came a stylized mirror, which bore a glowing sigil within its reflection.

“Using its effect, I can banish any Nekroz monster in my graveyard as a tribute, and I’ll choose Level 4 Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz!”

A light shot from Yutaka’s duel runner into the mirror floating above him. For a brief moment, Great Sorcerer appeared before disintegrating into four blue flames.

“But that’s not all,” he added, “I’ll activate the effect of Level 1 Sphere Kuriboh, too! When I ritual summons, I can banish it from the graveyard instead of tributing a monster from my hand or field.”

Like Great Sorcerer, Sphere Kuriboh flashed into existence before becoming yet another flame in the mirror.

“Reflections on the water’s surface, show me the glimmer of justice that lies in catastrophe!” Yutaka thrust his hand out. “Armor up! Level 5! Nekroz of Catastor!”

The blue flames began revolving, picking up speed until they were little more than blue circle encircling the mirror. Light gathered in the reflection, slowly building until it burst into a pillar of light. Then, from that light emerged a draconic warrior clad in cybernetic armour. Chained to his chest was none other than the mirror used to call him forth.

Nekroz of Catastor WATER Dragon: 2200 ATK

“But that’s not all,” Yutaka continued, “Next I’ll activate the equip spell card Ritual Weapon!”

The Dragonoid extended his arm, allowing the white light gathering around its arm condenses into a golden crossbow with arcane patterns.

Nekroz of Catastor: 2200 ATK -> 3700 ATK, 1200 DEF -> 2700 DEF

“Now attack his Thor!”

Nekroz of Catastor took aim with the Ritual Weapon and let lose a cyan beam.

“Please, you think that’s gonna stop the mighty Thor? We'll show you real strength. Go Thor crush him with Thunderstrike.” With that, Thor lifted the massive hammer overhead prepared to bring it down on the incoming enemy and its attack.

A great explosion rocked the track as the two met in battle. By the end of it, only one would be left standing. And the one that emerged from the blast unscathed was...

“Ever heard the saying ‘It’s not the size, it’s how you use it’? Well, it’s something like that.”

...Yutaka’s Nekroz of Catastor, a monster with far fewer attack points than Thor.

“You see, Catastor over here destroys any monsters summoned from the Extra Deck when it fights ‘em, like that big guy back then,” he explained. “Now that that problem is outta the way, I’ll set a card and end my turn.”

A face-down card appeared and disappeared on the track.

“Seems I’m gonna have to call a rain check on that prediction of yours, huh?” Yutaka grinned. Thomas could practically feel the excited smugness radiating from his voice. “What did you say earlier? Better make the next move count?”

Thomas remained silent as he waited and listened to Yutaka clout it seemed. Once his opponent finished, however, Thomas let a cocky smirk settle on his face as the clouds above returned to the that of storm clouds and lightning began to stretch across the sky. Not a moment later the floor in the arena opened up as the towering figure of Thor began to rise out of the ground. “Did you really think that a god could be kept by the card graveyard?!” as he finished the mighty image of Thor took his place on Thomas’s side of the field once more. “Of course I have to remove my Guldfaxe from play but that a small price to pay for Thor.” With that, the duel runner ejected his declared card from its slot. “But of course you have a debt to pay as well in the form of 800 life points.” at this statement lightning began to build at the horns of Thor's helmet. “I said you had one turn to finish this or I would, and times up.” Throwing his hand into the air Thomas shouted “Thor end this duel!” his eyes lighting up for a brief moment the lightning arched down straight past his monster.

“Well, fu--”

It was the last thing Thomas heard before the great roar of thunder, and the sound of life points falling into oblivion.

Yutaka: 400 LP -> 0 LP

WINNER: THOMAS ARASHI