Duel Academy

Roze entered the large arena that would serve as the stadium for the entrance exams. The arena was mostly empty, with only some teachers and examiners from the Duel Academy about, along with the odd student or two. She had arrived early for her entrance exam, perhaps too early. She was quite anxious. It was not that she was a bad duelist, quite the opposite, but she got nervous while dueling in public. Especially with such a huge crowd, all their eyes boring into her. She gulped, and gripped her deck box in her hand.

She gazed around the stands that were around. She gulped again. This one the most prestigious dueling schools in the world. She had to make it in, otherwise all of her hard work would be wasted, and she would spend the rest of her days working in her parent's bakery. She shuddered at the thought, and pushed her long blonde hair out of her face. She looked around for another person who was also taking their exam. Maybe talking to someone would calm her nerves.

Comical was sitting at the stands, on the bottom, nearest to the arena. He sat facing the bench, and was placing all of his cards out. "Hmm... another one of these would be good... no, no, you gotta take master kyonshee out..." He mumbled to himself. The young man had a fidgeting leg, and hands that he could not stop cracking. Nervous as he was, this was just him being himself. "Dang it Comic, you know this deck is for reviving... take just deserts out of there..." He could not stop talking to himself, it felt ridiculous.

Revisions were done, and he was glad. Comical put away his deck and put his rest of the cards in a trunk. Hands over his mouth, he glanced out at the stadium with boredom. Not many people were around, except for those who belonged at the academy already. He looked at a nearby clock, then at his watch. Was his watch an hour ahead? Apparently so, since he took it off and put it away in frustration. He looked up from his hands and spotted a girl about his age walking about. Surprised to see someone other than students here he waved.

Roze looked up to see another person up in the stands waving at her. She brushed her bangs out of her face and walked up the stands towards him. She hooked her deck box on her belt an sat down next to him. "You got here early too huh? You nervous, or just forgot to set your watch?" She asked, and smiled weakly.

Roze began to shuffle her deck in her nervousness. Although she was looking for people to talk to, she just remembered she is incredibly shy. She just shuffled her deck and stared at the ground, waiting for a response.

"Huh..." Was the only thing Comical said, he turned red hearing that somebody saw him mess around with his watch. "Hehe, well according to my watch i was..." He made Quotation marks in the air. "On time. Apparently, I forgot to set my watch back an hour for daylight savings..." He chuckled a bit, watching her shuffle her deck. "As for being nervous... Yes." Comical scratched the back of his head, running out of things to say. "I'm not going to lie, the only reason i came was because home was a bore."

Comical seemed to look at the girl's deck for a while. The shuffling was mesmerizing, as soon as he realized what he was doing, he stopped. "I would ask what deck you used, but i would rather be surprised later." With hands over his mouth, he huffed. "So erm... any good at dueling?" He quickly regretted asking that question. "Well, of course you would have to be, or i suppose you wouldn't be here, hehe."

Roze looked up at Comic. "Well, I am pretty good. Its just I don't think I could handle dueling in front of a crowd like this. I'm shy enough as it is, with everyone watching..." she said, and trailed off, and turned red in her nervousness.

She looked at Comic's cards. "Well, you could wait and be surprised to see what my deck is. I don't think it'll be very surprising. Or good. something tells me you are probably the better duelist, the way you were just fussing over your deck. I did not put much extra effort into mine."

"Oh that's why your nervous… eh, it seems like a pretty good reason, at least your not doubting your skills." Comical looked around at the empty stands, and there were a lot. He could imagine all of those seats being filled, with all their eyes on just a few people. It seemed easy to get frightened of. "Well, just try and forget about everyone being there. I know it's a silly thing to say, but I kinda think it works."

He looked back at his trunk when she mentioned his deck. "Haha, well, then from that comparison, it's pretty easy to see who life and who doesn't, huh?" Comical laughed. "I've just been raised around deck freaks. I was always told to put only what I need, and have the minimal." It was kind of weird to mention it, considering how he was trying to come here to get away from all that. "Now, I've been sitting down for a while." Comical got up and stretched.

Rose looked up as Comical stood and stretched. "Well, you'll still be sitting for a while yet. I think we have an hour before the exams start. Then I think they go by last name." She said, looking down at the arena. She sat a while longer, continuing to look down.

After a while, more and more people began to file into the stadium. "I guess we'll be starting soon." She said.

"Last name huh?" Comical stood there and counted to himself. He felt really silly. "Ok well I'm 'S' so, I guess I'll be one near the end." Comical Shizuoka had really nothing to do, he pulled out his watch and tried fixing it's time. " dang it I hate these things…" after a while, he was able to adjust the time.

Comical saw the room start to fill up with people, it looked like quite a lot. He couldn't help but feel a little bad for his new friend. "Hey, you tell me when you go up, ok? I'm going to try and get some Z's before all this begins." The young man took off his jacket, and put it atop his case, using it as a pillow as he layer his head on it and fell asleep."

Roze sat and watched as the duels began. "Well, I'm an H, so I will probably be up soon." she said, feeling butterflies in her stomach. She watched new hopefuls duel, some winning, some losing. She gulped and waited as the names got closer and closer to hers.

Her heart jumped when she heard her name announced. "Roze Hayabusa, please report to the dueling arena." She shook the boy next to her awake. "Alright, I'm up. Wish me luck." She said and she walked down the steps and stepped into the arena.

"Wah... huh?" Comical said as he rose from the bench. He scratched his eyes and looked around. He heard them call the girl's name, and he thanked her for shaking him awake. "Ah... Okay, good luck Roze." Comical said after a yawn and a stretch. He got up and walked towards a railing, trying to get the best view at the arenas from where he was standing. He waved at Roze along with his wish good luck. "This will be fun..." He mumbled to himself.

Roze stepped into the arena, her duel disk strapped tightly to her arm. She watched as a Duel Academy tester stepped into the arena opposite her. "Well, looks like we have another little whelp who thinks she is good enough for Duel Academy." He said. Roze lowered her head, and felt all the gazes of people boring into her. She then brushed her hair out of the way and activated her duel disk, remaining silent. The instructor smirked, "Alright, ready to lose?" He said.

They both drew their opening hands. The tester smiled. "Lets start this off. I play the Alexandrite Dragon!" Roze was slightly shocked. That was a pretty powerful monster for its level. It was Roze's turn. She drew her card. "First, I play my Foolish Burial, and send a Red Eyes B. Dragon from my deck to my graveyard." She said, "And then I play a monster of my own, my Red Eyes Wyvern. But it won't stay there for long, cause I banish my Wyvern to summon my Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon!" She said, playing one of her most powerful cards. "I then use his special ability to bring my Red Eyes Black Dragon back from my graveyard!" She said, as another dragon appeared on her side of the field. She heard applause coming from the stands, and instantly realized she was being watched by hundreds of people. She instantly turned red. "And now I attack!" She said, as both her dragons attacked, destroying the tester's monster and dealing direct damage. The tester's life points went down to 800. "And I'll put down a tr...face down, and that will end my turn." She said.

The tester smiled. "So you got a powerful monster, but I got this. I play the spell card Dark Hole! This destroys all monster on the field!" Roze winced as her dragons were destroyed. "I then play the spell card Double Summon. This allows me to normal summon twice this turn. First I summon another Alexendrite Dragon. But I sacrifice it right away to summon the Summoned Skull!" he said, as a large skeleton fiend appeared on the field. "Now attack her directly!" the tester said, and attacked Roze, lowering her life points to 1500.

Roze yelled at herself in her head. In her nervousness she forgot her face down card was a Dark Bribe, which could have stopped either of those spells. "Oh well, no time for that now." She said, and drew a card. "First I activate the spell card Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two additional cards. Now, prepare to meet your doom, I play the Red eyes B. Chick." She said, as a small baby dragon appeared on the field. "You seriously gonna beat me with that?" He asked, laughing. Roze shook her head, "No, cause every dragon has to grow up someday. I sacrifice my chick to summon a Red Eyes B. Dragon!" The instructor smirked, "Still not enough attack points to beat my Summoned Skull!" the tester said. Roze nodded, "Your right, that is why I sacrifice my dragon to summon my Red Eyes Darkness Dragon." She said, as a larger dragon appears on the field. "And it gets 300 attack points for each dragon monster in my graveyard! That gives him 3400 attack! Now, attack that Summoned Skull!" She said. The dragon attacked, eliminating the fiend monster,and dropping the tester's life points to 0. The holographic monsters disappeared from the field, and Roze let out a deep sigh. "I'll catch you later." she said, and left the arena. After doing some paperwork and technical stuff, she went and sat down next to Comical.

"Well... that was a very fast duel..." Comical said, chuckling. He sat there for a while, until he was close to being called. "You weren't bad at all, I don't see why you doubted yourself at all." Comical grinned and playfully punched her shoulder. "Ah, now lets see If I can do this faster..." He thought for a second before he continued what he was saying. "... and I'll make sure i win, I don't want to get a fast loss, but that's pretty obvious, Heh." He stood up and took his turn at the arena.

Roze smiled. "Ya, lets see if you can do it in one turn." She said, "And not make a mistake like me." She said, putting her deck away. "And you better win. You don't want me going to Duel Academy without you." She said teasingly. She pulled away slightly when he gave her a friendly punch, not really being used to being touched by people.

Comical walked into the arena, duel disk in hand. He stood waiting for a minute, until his tester decided to walk in though the other side. "Good day doctor, mister, sir." The boy said as he bowed. "Good day to you as well, young man." The tester replied in a chuckle. Comical motioned his hand out, signaling the tester to go first. He never did like the first move.

The Duel started as soon as both duel disks activated and they got their hands. It was the testers turn and he took a card out from the deck. "Draw! I'll start off by setting two face downs, and special summoning Gilasaurus from my hand due to his effect! Now, i tribute him to summon Dark Driceratops! you can go now." Comical drew his card and chuckled, this hand was quite funny. "Well... i guess this hand is good enough to end this quickly..." He shuffled through his hand, looking at possibilities. "First i will activate the spell card terraforming! Allowing me to add one Zombie world from my deck to the hand." The card ejected from his deck and he picked it up. He activated zombie world, turning the field into a swamp, with the stench of the undead. "Now, by discarding marionette mite from my hand, i can take control of one zombie type monster on your side of the field!" The professor laughed and exclaimed. "Young man, you can not just assume that my Dark driceratops is a zombie type monster can you?" Comical pointed at zombie world. "Actually, i can." He said as marionette might fled to the grave yard, and dark driceratops flew to his side of the field. "Now, i attack you directly!" Said he, attacking his opponent, bringing his life points down to 1600. He ended his turn and the dark driceratops changed back onto it's owners control. The tester drew and and set his card face down, then attacked comical directly, bringing them to the same amount of life points. It was Comical's turn once again, his draw was satisfying. "I activate the spell card pyramid of wonders! I also summon Malevolent goku En without tributing, since there is another zombie type monster on the field." Comical declared an attack on the dark driceratops, with his pyramid of wonders giving malevolent mech 200 more Attack points. The monster shattered, and the tester was left with 1400 life points left. The tester drew a card, and it turned out to be another gilasaurus. "I special summon my second gilasaurus onto the field, and activate the spell big evolution pill, by tributing my gilasaurus I can normal summon level 5 or higher dinosaurs from my hand without tributing." He then brought out his black tyranno, with 2600 attack. "Now son, let me teach you how to take risks in a duel." He commanded his black tyranno to attack the malevolent mech, which would have destroyed them both, yet only the tyranno died. "Hah, looks like someone didn't read pyramid of wonders so good... If exactly one of my monsters would be destroyed, i could destroy the pyramid instead!" It was now Comical's turn, and it was clear what to do, he declared his direct attack and became victor. "Ah, i apologize for my reckless attack, i do hope to see you soon." The tester said as Comical left the stadium and went back to the stands. "Well... that was longer than i expected."

Roze stood up and cheered as Comical won his duel. "Ya! You go Comical! Beat that lousy tester!" She cheered, louder than she would normally have, louder than anyone would expect of the normally quiet girl. She clapped, on got some odd stares fro students around her. She instantly fell quite and sat down, looking at her feet.

Comical walked back to Roze. "Lousy tester huh?" He laughed. He Comical sat down next to her and nodded his head. "I have to agree with you, that last move was pretty lousy..." He packed put his cards away, and secured them in his trunk. "I ought to say, this wasn't as showy as yours." He said, looking around at the other students, who returned to doing more important things. "So, anything you want to do while we wait?" Comical said, looking at his watch and observing other duels.

Roze shrugged. "Nothing in specific comes to mind." She said. "And of course I was flashy, that comes with using giant dragon monsters." She said, patting her deck. "Much cooler than rotting zombies and whatnot." She said, teasingly. "I guess we can just talk and watch duels while we wait." She suggested.

"oh, hahaha." Comical laughed at the remark. "Zombies may not be flashy, but they really know how to get people mad." He scratched his head after what he just said. "I dont suppose thats such a good thing." He laughed again. "So, Roze, what brings you to try and come join Duel academy anyways? Boredom, like me?" He chuckled. "I suppose i don't need to ask, you showed me enough during your duel."

Roze brushed her bangs out of her face. "That is true. Although if I wanted it to be really flashy, I would go with Elemental HEROs." She said. "The reason I'm going to Duel Academy? Well, my dad was really into dueling. My mom didn't like it very much, but he got me hooked. He gave me my firt card too, my Red Eyes B. Dragon." She said, showing Comical the card.

"I have to agree, elemental HEROs are flashy, very fun to use too."He said pulling out his trunk and patting it. "Eh, i got a couple in here, not enough to make a good deck though." Then he put it away and pulled out his deck box. "As for your reason to come here, it sounds pretty good, my parents never really liked dueling, they just left me to do what i wanted." He opened up his deck and looked through it. "... Also, that red eyes of yours is pretty nifty... I got something similar."He chuckled as he pulled out the card 'Red eyes zombie dragon'To compare with her's.

Roze examined the Red Eyes Zombie Dragon. "Looks neat, but I still prefer my original." She said, sliding the card back into its box. "I'm surprised parents who don't support dueling would actually let you go to Duel Academy. My dad was all for it, but my mom wanted me to go to medical school." She said. "But why am I complaining. Knowing how bad I am in social interactions, you might be the only friend I'll make here."

"Your original?" Comical chuckled. "I can see why, red eyes has always been a really cool card. " He put his cards away and laid back. "Well, i'm sure glad you didn't go to medical school, or else nobody would have been here to talk to when i got here so early." Comical laughed. "Social interactions huh... I have never really been good at interacting with others, but i guess i have gotten better, seeing as how this happened. Not to worry though, If I do end up somehow being your only friend, I'll try and be a good one."he finished as he grinned.

Roze smiled. "Maybe we can be tag team partners. My Red Eyes and your zombies would make quite the combo." She said. The entrance duels had begun to wind down, with many duelists going home heartbroken. Roze felt sorry for them, wishing that they all could go, or get a second chance. She checked the time and stood up, "Well, I better get home and pack. I'll see you at the boat later." She said, referencing the vehicle that will take them to the Academy.

"Tag team partners? Sounds interesting..." He pondered at the idea for a moment. "Well, i will be looking forward to that. Farewell." He said, as he turned to leave home.

"Ok... we got this... my trunk... some of these... and there!" Comical said, He finished stuffing his personal belongings into a back pack; only the things he could not go without. It was a bit heavy but he could handle it. Comical gave his family goodbyes and got left his house, mounting his bike, and riding to the dock. His pack made him a little slower than usual, it was heavy after all. After a while he made it. Found the boat to the duel academy, and was let aboard, waiting for others.

Rose was already on the boat, with a couple suitcases with her. She arrived early to make sure that she got through security alright and got comfortable before the boat left. She was sitting in the common area, and waved at Comical when she saw him walk in, motioning for him to take a seat.