The weather was clear as Alex walked through the forest, the wind blowing lightly, adding the little breeze to the cool spring air. The scent of salt was light in the air, a low sound of waves crashing on the beach being able to be heard in his ears. "Sure is a beautiful day today, isn't it Foxfire?" Alex asked, his hands behind his head in a relaxed position. "Yep. What are the plans for the day?" Foxfire asked, jumping from his head to his shoulder, sitting there casually. "Nothing much really; just explore the campus and see what it has to offer," Alex replied, emerging from the forest shortly after.

To walk into an explosion. Alex instinctively dove to the side, wondering just what in the world was going on. "Not bad," a voice said, making Alex look up to see two other people there, creatures between the both of them. "Ah, a battle is going on!" Foxfire said, smiling with excitement as Alex looked at the two people. One was a duelist he didn't know the name of, while the other was... "Justin?" Alex asked, surprised that he was seeing his friend duel so early in their enrollment. A deep scowl was on his face, a glimmer of hate in his eyes. "You managed to dodge my attack, but for how much longer? Go now; make your last move!" the unknown duelist said as Justin got to his feet again. Alex was stunned to see that he was down to his last 100 life points while his opponent had...

"20000 life points?!?" Foxfire yelled, taking the words right out of Alex's mind. Alex took a look at the field and instantly lost his shock, rolling his eyes. "My move! I draw!" Justin said, drawing his card dramatically. Alex saw that there was nothing on his field, three cards in his hand. "Thank you! Now that you drew a card, my trap's effect activates! I gain a thousand life points due to my Solemn Greed!" the opponent said.

Solemn Greed: During your opponent's Draw Phase, gain 500 life points.

"You are welcome; it will make my victory all the sweeter!" Justin said, a smirk on his face. "Don't make me laugh; our life points are thousands of points apart," the person said, laughing out loud. "I will make you eat those words!" Justin said. "I wonder what the story between these two is?" Foxfire said, getting a nod from Alex. "It must be intense if Justin is showing that much anger towards him," Alex replied, leaning against a tree. "Let's watch; we are bound to find out," Foxfire said, curling up on Alex's shoulder to get comfortable. 

"I banish two monsters from my graveyard in order to special summon this monster!" Justin explained. "I banish my Shinxa, the Spark Princess, and Luxio, the Spark Prince in order to summon my ace! Come forth, Luxarian, the Spark King (2500 ATK/2000 DEF/ 8*/Thunder/ Effect)!" Justin yelled, throwing the card down on his duel disc. A bolt of thunder shot seemingly from the sky, a creature appearing on Justin's field. A four-legged beast raised up to its full height, a contempt glare in its eyes, a golden crown placed between its ears and a red cape on its back, all of its body was crackling with electricity.

Luxarian, the Spark King: During the Main Phase, discard one card: deal 1000 points of damage. When this card attacks, your opponent may not activate Spells or Traps, or their effects, until the End Phase. When this monster destroys a monster by battle, deal damage equal to the destroyed Monsters attack points.

"I activate Luxarian, the Spark King's effect! I discard one card from my hand to deal you 1000 points of damage!" Justin explained "Shock Wave!". The monster howled as a wave of electricity surged around his opponent, making him only smirk.

????: 20000- 19000 LP

"Now for my Shixa's effect! Since she is banished from the game, and I discarded a card, you take another 1000 points of damage!" Justin explained. The opponent growled, but a look of calm stayed on his face.

????: 19000- 18000 LP

"And now for Luxio, the Spark Princes effect! Since you took 1000 or more points of effect damage, it is instantly doubled, meaning you take 4000 points of damage!" Justin said.

????: 18000- 14000 LP

"Now, let's repeat that shall we?" Justin said, discarding another card from his hand, the same sequence of effects happening again.

????: 14000 - 13000 - 12000 - 8000 LP

"Once more!" Justin said, sending his last card to the Graveyard.

????: 8000 - 7000 - 3000 LP

"Now you are out of cards, thus no longer able to use you king's effect!" the opponent said, laughing out loud. Alex looked at his monster and was stunned when he saw its attack point meter. "My DragonKnight, Champion of Dragonis (4500 ATK/ 4000 DEF/ 10*/ Dragon/ Effect)has 2000 more attack points than your pathetic king! Attack me if you dare!" the opponent laughed out loud. Justin only looked at his opponent before smiling. "If you insist. Luxiaran, the Spark King, attack DragonKnight, Champion of Dragonis!" Justin yelled, getting a shocked gasp out of Alex. "But why?!?" Alex cried, but it seemed that Justin had prepared if the confident smirk on his face was anything to go by. "Remember those three cards I discarded? All of them were the same, with this effect! Since they were all discarded from my hand, your monster loses 1000 attack per each one! For three, your Champion loses 3000 attack points! Thunderous Strike!" Justin yelled. With a roar, the monster shot a bolt of thunder to the dragon monster, it roaring in pain before vanishing in an explosion. The opponent flew back, crying out in pain as he collapsed on the ground.

????: 3000 - 2000 LP

"Luxarian's effect! You take damage to your monsters original attack points! Reaping of Taxes!" Justin said, his monster glowing faintly.

Justin: 100 LP

????: 2000- 0 LP

His opponent stayed on the ground as Justin walked over to him, glaring down at him for a moment, his hand cocked back in preparation to punch his opponent. Alex moved to stop him, a glare on his face, but he was stopped when Justin held it out flatly, a smile on his face. "That was a good duel! I can see how much you improved!" Justin congratulated as his opponent took his hand, Justin pulling him up as he laughed. "Yeah, you're telling me! I had you down to your last 100 points!" the slightly shorter teen said, beaming happily.

Alex must have made a noise, because Justin and the teen turned to him, waving to him. "Oh, hey Alex! What's up?" Justin asked as Alex walked over to them, a curious look in his eyes. "Nothing much. That was a sweet come back, by the way!" Alex said, getting a chuckle out of Justin and the teen. "And who are you? That was a sweet dragon you had on the field!" Alex asked, smiling in a friendly fashion to the teen.

"My name is Kyle, and Justin is my Senpai!" the teen revealed, making Alex blush a little while Justin cuffed him on the head before turning to Alex. "If you tell anyone, I swear I will...," Justin trailed off, a fire in  his eyes, making Alex hold his hands up in surrender. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me! I will take it to the grave!" Alex said, meaning it. Getting a nod from Justin, Alex blushed a little when Justin kissed the other teen. "Go back to Ra and study hard; you might be able to beat me yet!" Justin told him, getting the teen to giggle before running away, promising he would.

"Okay. I guess you are exploring as well?" Justin said, getting a nod from Alex. "Good, let's move then. I will give you a tour!" Justin said, getting Alex to smile as he was led by the other teen. "Here at Duel Academy, when you duel and win, a certain amount of Duel Points, or DP for short, is added to your Duel Disc's Crystal Chip. You can check it at any time, so you will always know how much you have. Also, if you so wish, you and your opponent may agree upon a wagered amount of DP to give if either one of you loses. Where you spend your DP, you go to the card shop, our first stop," Justin said.

A shack was in front of them, several posters revealing sales and things like that, as well as a new arrival of Fire packs. "You run a Fire deck right? You go get some; there on me!" Justin said, getting Alex to look at him. "You sure?" Alex asked, only to get a nod from Justin. "Yep; I already won ten duels, all sent by Kyle to help me warm up for the duel we had," Justin explained, getting Alex to nod again as they walked into the store.

"Welcome to the Card Shop! If you need help, don't be afraid to ask!" a chubby woman said from behind the counter, getting Alex and Justin to nod. "Yes, as a matter of fact. Ma'am, can you tell us where the Fire packs are?" Justin inquired, getting a laugh from the woman. "Don't have to be so formal! Just call me Dorathy!" the woman said before showing them where they were. "Pick what you want, okay sweetheart? I will be at the front counter if you need my help again," Dorathy said, her grey eyes shining with kindness as she left them to there own devices.

Alex just decided to pick up two of them, the picture being of Foxfire himself. "Sweet! I am on a pack! About time everyone realizes how important I am!" Foxfire said, puffing out his small chest with pride; Alex jumped a little, forgetting he was still on his shoulder. "Is this all?" Dorathy asked when Justin placed them on the counter, getting a nod from the male. After paying for them, Justin told Alex to go ahead and open them. "Excuse me, do you know of the forbidden list here on Duel Academy? Can I look through your cards and tell you which ones are banned?" Dorathy asked when Alex was about to open them, saying the last one when he answered in the negative. Handing her his deck, Alex opened the packs, laying out the cards fan-style. "Hmmm. I could use these two cards for sure," Alex said, pointing at a Level Limit Area-B and a U.F.O Turtle. "Oh! How about this one Alex?" Foxfire said, jumping off his shoulder and landing on a card, one that Alex looked over. Upon reading it and what it did, he nodded, agreeing immensely.

"Excuse me, it looks like you have three banned cards," Dorothy said, holding out the three cards in question separate from his deck. "Then I will replace them with these," Alex said, doing just that, thanking Dorothy for her help. "Have a good rest of your day you two!" Dorathy said, getting a wave from the two as they left the store. "Thanks, Justin; I will be sure to put them to good use," Alex told the other student. "No problem; next, the school!" Justin said in a way that made Alex laugh a little.

"Yeah, to the Academy!" Alex said, following Justin to the school that would change his life.

Till next time,

Peace out mi Duelists!