Prologue.
The bus was loud and pretty rough, but most certainly not as much as the crowd of new students inside of it. Through the sweltering heat and poor layout of the road, people still managed to find a way to amuse themselves by talking to each other so loud you'd be deaf after coming out of it. Multiple attempts by the driver to silence the teenagers have failed, and they seemed to have given up trying altogether. The ride was grueling, long, painful and ungodly hot but only after about an hour or four the bus had finally reached it's destination. A large skyscraper like building met the children who decided to walk out first, it's well-polished walls glistening in the sun and giving off the sense that somebody may have spent a little TOO much money on the luxury this building offered. The bus driver had opened up a compartment in the bus' side, allowing all those suitcases inside some freedom by the excited crowd of people desperately searching for their luggage. A tall man wearing a business suit, with his black hairs combed to the back of his head, was guarding the front of the entrance. The students amassed one by one, him staring through the black shades resting on his nose to inspect them.
They cleared their throat, then spoke the following: "Welcome, new students. You should follow the blue line on the wall to the elevators, then go up to Arena B. You will pick up a duel disk and a deck there, and then we will commence your placement duels." Soon after the man stepped aside, letting the sliding doors of the academy building open and everyone stormed inside.
Your new academy life has begun.
Ethel Cilente
The noise and rummaging didn't bother Ethel much, who was just idly staring out of the window with her hands neatly folded on her lap. The girl was sitting alone, though that was probably caused by the antisocial aura she gave off. The entirety of the 4-hour ride wasn't really an issue to them. They'd faced longer times of discomfort, even if she did show a few signs of irritation through that robotic, absent gaze of hers. A small smile of relief couldn't help but crop up on her face when she saw the Duel Tower enter sight, it's exterior vastly more interesting than the barren wasteland around. A few other buildings are placed near it, Ethel couldn't help but mentally note why are they there? Truthfully, the teenage girl didn't know too much of the Duel Tower before she enrolled. Her parents just sort of shoved her into this mess, without even giving off a slight hint of warning beforehand...
Eventually the bus came to a halt, and a lot of people were eager to get off. Ethel couldn't help but be one of those people, though she's a lot more dignified in how she handled going off of the bus compared to some others. One particular person decided to shove another one off of the miniature staircase leading down, and both of them actually got into a fight over it after one of them had tumbled down. The bus driver was quick to break them up and scold them however. Nothing bad had come of it. The blue-haired girl actually let out a faint giggle, her face brightening up just a tad bit after witnessing such a blatant showcase of macho-ism. It disappeared as quickly as it came, Ethel's face regaining composure in just a second... Or four. The girl's turn to get off was finally there, calmly walking over to the pile of suitcases inside and carefully sorting through the mass to find hers. It was a cute yellow-and-green striped roller suitcase, large enough to carry most commodities in it. She needed the roller wheels in order to not carry her luggage for too long, with her weak physique and whatnot. Due to half the students in a panic over one thing or another, Ethel managed to quietly slip past the crowds and into the Duel Tower.
The opening hall was enormous, with a nice, clean tile floor strewn out in front of Ethel carrying the DA logo. A desk built into a wall was off to the left, housing a secretary who was busy typing away information into a relatively modern-looking computer. The walls were decorated with a few potted plants and some paintings, as well as pictures of especially successful old students of the academy. There was indeed a small and thin blue line showcasing the way to the elevators, as well as a red one towards the staircases. Some of the more macho guys from earlier got cocky and went to take the stairs, not realizing just how many floors they'd have to carry their luggage upwards. Ethel giggled again, making her way over to the first elevator. She actually just managed to sneak in with a few others, though none stood out to her.
The elevator opened up to reveal a large room, the walls having multiple layers of spectator seats built into them as well as two white fields painted on the oaken floorboards. A rather bored looking man wearing a pair of glasses was standing in front of a temporary shelf, layered with Structure decks and packs. "Ah, I see the first batch has arrived..." Almost in an annoyed tone, and luckily out of earshot, the man mumbled to himself as the students approached. "Line up in front of the display, then tell me which structure deck and pack you want. I will grab them for you, and then you should head over in that direction to that table, where you will choose you Duel Disk and Courses." He pointed over to a rather small, mahogany desk where three boxes were lined up neatly to the left of it. "You can drop off your suitcases there for the time being as well." Unfortunately for the staff member, they'd have to repeat these same few lines a few times more over.
Ethel looked through all structure decks, but none really caught her eye on the first look. She scanned again and immediately spotted something she wanted to claim; A Genex structure deck. However, just as Ethel was about to speak up someone beat her to the punch and claimed it for their own. This actually disheartened the teenage girl. A small curve downwards appeared on Ethel's lips, disappointed in herself for not being faster. She looked again, finding something that looked pretty cool but she had no idea if it was actually good or not... Ethel turned towards the staff member, then asked him: "E-Erm... C-Could I please have Black-Winged revolution please? O-Oh! A-A-And a copy of Duelist pack: Crow!" Her sheltered life actually made the girl quite nervous, stuttering over their words and actually getting a few laughs by others directed to her. Ethel's discomfort grew, but the bored teacher just gave her the structure deck and card pack without muttering another word.
Wanting to get away from that as quickly as possible, Ethel made her way over to the desk. There was a form and a pen there, the rectangles where she was supposed to fill in the information being completely blank. The intention was for the students themselves to write down their name, Duel Disk and two courses of their choosing... Ethel quickly scribbled a few things down, resting her suitcase afterwards. When she looked over to inspect the Duel Disks she saw three kinds: A standard Academy-style dueling disk meant for being extremely easy to quickly activate and slide in cards, a hybrid Duel Disk made for being Compatible with most Duel Runners and a lightweight folding disk to allow more mobility for the user. From a glance you could tell these were meant for the different types of students that applied, each course having their own disk that'd fit neatly with their lessons. Still, students were free to choose any of them. Ethel went for the Hybrid disk, knowing that even through it's the heaviest out of all of them, she'd be able to use it pretty well in her studies.
After having finished everything she needed to, Ethel made her way over to one of the seats in the corner of the room. Luckily the seats were built in a rectangle formation, so it wasn't too hard to hide herself away. Being seated on the bottom row, Ethel put away her chosen gear on the seat next to her and looked through her structure deck.
Haas Mesman
Haas slept through the entire ride. That's right, he slept for four hours in the ungodly heat, and STILL wasn't awake. He was quite literally the last one to get off, as the bus driver came back on to shake Haas from whatever dream they were having. They jolted up instantly, shouting "Thanks!" and rushed down out of the bus once he realized how ungodly late he was. The sports bag Haas had used to store his belongings in was already on the floor, someone must've flung it out in a desperate attempt to find their own luggage. Due to those four hours of sleep, Haas was fully charged with energy. He picked up his belongings, flew them over his shoulder and dashed into the Duel Tower faster than Sonic the hedgehog on steroids. There wasn't any time to take the elevator, so instead of doing the smart thing, Haas dashed straight up the staircases. He didn't even get tired from all that endless running, nevermind the fact there was weight on his shoulders.
Haas triumphantly bust through the door, having SOMEHOW made it before the kids in the elevator have. The teacher was just explaining to the group before him what they needed to do. The boy, having somehow gained the hearing capability of a police dog, picked up on the instructions and dashed over, leaving a few students quite... Confused. "Zen and Punishment please!" Haas clapped his hands in front of his head and bowed, hoping to whatever god was out there that it wasn't claimed yet. And by some miracle, it indeed wasn't. The staff member had actually let out a small chuckle, Haas making for some good entertainment. They handed him his card pack, causing the teen to silently enact an entire fanfare in his head.
Haas made his way over to the desk with the papers on, tossing his luggage onto the pile as he filled out the form with almost illegible handwriting. The guy was just a tad overexcited at the prospect of being able to be a pro duelist, sliding over to the Duel Disks and carefully glancing over them. He picked up the standard academy model, which had been updated over time to add extra deck compartments and two pendulum zones that slide out of the circle in the middle. Feeling pretty pleased with himself, Haas made his way over to the various audience seats and took the closest one he could get, grinning like an idiot when checking out his new cards.
