This story is the one that is most intertwined with events from the actual Yu-Gi-Oh! canon out of any that I've ever written, and I'll be honest, back when I wrote it, I was really nervous about it. It tells my version of the origin of the school and some of the elements present in the second Yu-Gi-Oh! series, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. My readers, however, seemed to enjoy it, and found no issue with the story or timeline of events, so I guess it worked out. I bring this up because this chapter shows the eventual headmaster of the school as only a teacher, and the future superintendent as the headmaster, and I didn't want anyone with knowledge of the GX story to wonder if I had my facts wrong.
Chapter TwoOrientation
Two days after the entry duels Karen and I and many other students were taken to an island by helicopter. I was hoping to see the Duelist from the entry duels again, the one with the Fire Spirit Deck. I wanted to duel him. But the plane was small. It could only carry so many passengers at a time. Apparently he wasn’t one of the passengers this trip.
Oh well.
Karen and I sat together, looking out the window, trying to catch a first glimpse of the island that would be our home for the next four years. It wasn’t long before the island came into view. It was pretty big, with a river running across it and a beach along one edge. Half of the island was taken up by a dormant volcano and the surrounding forest. Even from so high up and so far away, I could make out five large buildings.
One was much larger than the others, so much so that it could only be the school itself. It was constructed with irregular pillars and domes, with a walkway leading up to the front. The next largest, which was blue in color, seemed to actually be two separate buildings which were very close together, but it was too hard to tell for sure from so high up. The third largest was a light brown, and was nestled in the edge of the woods. It looked like it had a dome. The fourth largest building was more square and colored yellow. There were almost as many windows visible on the walls of this building as were visible on the one to two blue ones, which meant the same number of rooms packed into a smaller space. It was still more than large enough though.
The fourth building was smallest. I had to wait until the plane was circling for a landing along the coast of the island before I could make out the details. This building, the closest to the river, was painted red. It was like one of those motels where they basically stack a bunch of rooms around and on top of each other with the doors leading right to the outside.
These smaller four buildings were the dorms. The blue building was, as it was called at the time, High Dorm. It was the dorm for high income students, students who had donated money to the school, invited guests, or other special cases. High Dorm would later be the home of students who had gone through a special prep program as well, but that program hadn’t started up yet. The brown building was for special honor students who came to the school for streamlined education on special projects, something that I hadn't really cared enough to look into. The yellow building was Mid Dorm, the dorm for the highest ranking duelists who weren't eligible for High Dorm or for the special fast project. The red building was Low Dorm, the dorm for students who either scored low, just enough to get into the academy, or for students who couldn’t afford the tuition and were here on the academy’s dime. Anyone who let his grades slip would also be downgraded to Low Dorm. I couldn't help but think of it as the slums of the island.
Karen and I, having been invited to attend the academy by Seto Kaiba himself, would be housed in High Dorm.
“So,” Karen asked, making conversation as the plane descended, “you looking forward to dueling the other students from our dorm?”
“No,” I answered, “not really.”
“Really?” she wondered. “Why not? I thought High Dorm was for the best students in the school.”
“One day it will be,” I said, “but until they establish that prep program we were told about, High Dorm will be dominated by whiny rich kids with deep pockets and rare cards that they don’t know what to do with. The real challenges will come from students in Mid Dorm.
“Hmm,” said Karen, “I guess that makes sense.”
The helicopter landed, and a set of moving stairs was rolled out and situated outside the side hatch. Karen and I filed out with the other passengers, and the entire group was directed toward the school. We would have to attend orientation before settling in at our dorms or exploring the island. The school wasn’t far off, and we arrived in only a few minutes’ time. The schoolyard was spectacular. The wide walkway that I had seen from the sky led right up the building, the façade of which was both interesting and appealing. The walkway was lined on either side by large rectangular stone slabs carved with the likenesses of various Duel Monsters. Each rectangle was set atop a wide base that could be used as a bench. The entire area was an architectural work of art.
Karen and I and the other passengers from the helicopter filed through the front doors and found ourselves in a wide open lobby. The walls were white and the floors were marble.
There were open stairways leading up to the next floor, and corridors stretching off to either side of the wide open room. There was a third, wider corridor straight ahead. One of the teachers, a strong-looking bald man, was waiting for us.
He spoke, “My name is Professor Shepherd, professor of the Advanced Duel Mechanics course here at Duel Academy. You are the last group of students to arrive, which means, if you’ll all please follow me, it’s time for the orientation speech by our headmaster, Professor Kagemaru.” He gestured to the corridor ahead of us, “This way please.”
“Hah,” said a kid off to my left, speaking to three others, “don’t make me laugh. They call themselves professors, but I bet I know more about Duel Monsters than they do.”
I scrutinized the kid. He had long, sand-colored hair and gray eyes. I’d never seen a more arrogant expression on a person, except maybe Marik. I summoned a bit of magic from my Soul of Darkness, and I could see the kid’s Duel Energy. It was abundant, but unfocused.
Karen noticed him too. “He seems strong,” she said, “but he’s arrogant. He’ll have to learn to control that if he wants to do well.”
“Maybe I should teach him,” I said. I started toward the kid, but Karen stopped me.
“Please don’t start anything during orientation.”
I sighed, “Fine. I’ll just wait until after orientation.”
We followed the rest of our group into a large round open room with seating like you would expect to see in a fancy Japanese High School. The front half of the room was dominated by a stage housing a podium, behind which was a large screen. At the base of the stage were three boxes containing plastic wrapped uniforms, colored to correspond with the colors of the three dorms. The seats were already about two thirds of the way full of students. Some of them were already wearing their uniform jackets, but most weren’t.
“You all know which dorm you’re in,” said Shepherd. “Please take two uniforms of the correct color, and then find your seats. The headmaster will begin his speech shortly.”
Karen and I each routed through the box until we found the correct uniforms in the correct sizes. Her’s was a girl’s uniform and therefore wasn’t entirely identical, with inverted color placement being the only difference. Karen left her uniforms in their packages, but I removed one of my jackets and tried it on. It was bulkier than my over shirt, and I didn’t care much for the colors, so I removed it and put my black over shirt back on.
Almost as soon as Karen and I were settled, Shepherd got the attention of the murmuring crowd and announced that Professor Kagemaru was ready to begin. As he spoke, an elderly man stepped into the room. He was hunched forward, his hands clasped behind his back, and his head was almost completely devoid of hair, but his stride was brisk and his eyes were lively. I remembered hearing rumors from some of the other potential students at the exams that the headmaster of Duel Academy was a former coworker of Maxamillion Pegasus, and the sole holder of a powerful deck like no other. He was supposed to be unbeatable.
The screen behind the podium flickered on as Kagemaru stepped up behind the mic, showing a close-up of his smiling face.
“Good evening,” said Kagemaru. “I am your headmaster, Professor Kagemaru. I’ll make this brief, since you’ll no doubt want to settle into your new homes. Here at Duel Academy, we’re dedicated to providing you with the finest education anywhere. We will teach you the basic information that you need to get by in life, topping off whatever schooling you may have already experienced, but we will also teach you everything that you need to prepare for a career in one of a few possible Duel Monsters related fields. We do so by-.”
“Actually, ‘Professor’,” came a voice from the other side of the room, a few rows up, “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that.” I looked up and located the speaker. It was the gray-eyed kid again. Great, I thought. he’s wearing High Dorm blue.
“So, ‘Headmaster’,” said Gray Eyes mockingly, “how exactly do you expect to teach us anything? We’re already Duelists. What makes you think you can teach us?”
“I’ll take this one Headmaster,” said Shepherd, stepping forward, a wide grin spread across his face. He looked right into the kid’s eyes, “What’s your name, Son?”
“Jack Rollands,” said the kid, “son of energy tycoon Kevin Rollands, and the best Duelist on this island by a wide margin I;d bet. And by best, I mean better than you.”
Shepherd smiled a friendly smile, “If that’s the case, why not come down here and prove it, Mr. Rollands?”
Jack cracked his knuckles and made his way down to the floor, “Gladly!”
Shepherd activated his Duel Disk. It was a newer model with a sleeker, more compact design. The professor took a deck from his pocket and inserted it into the deck loader. Everyone was completely focused on what was happening in front of them. We’d all seen the testers’ decks, and everyone in the room was eager to see how much stronger a professor's deck was.
“Me first,” said Jack, still wearing the same arrogant smile. “I run a deck filled with nothing but the most powerful rare cards!”
“Well then,” said Shepherd, “why not let me make the first move instead. That way you can attack first and you’ll take the lead that much sooner.”
“Okay fine,” said Jack, “sounds good to me.”
“Then I draw,” Shepherd announced, “and I’ll simply set two cards and end my turn.”
“I knew you were weak!” said Jack, as holograms of Shepherd's hidden cards appeared at his feet. “When I win, everyone on this island will know that I’m the best. I’ll as good as own this place! I summon ‘Koa’ki Meiru Drago’ in attack mode!” A blue dragon with four wings and strong arms and legs appeared. On its chest and on the top of its head were symbols resembling bio hazard signs (ATK: 1900). “I play ‘Double Summon’,” Jack continued, “and I tribute ‘Drago’ to summon my heaviest hitter, ‘Koa’ki Meiru Valafar’!”
The dragon gave way to a tall, humanoid demon with a body made of stone and molten rock, with spikes down his arms, legs and back, broad fiery wings, and the same symbol on its chest, arms and knees (ATK: 3000).
“If that’s the case,” said Shepherd lightheartedly, “I’ll defend myself with the Trap monster ‘Cyber Shadow Guardna’.”
A black robot shield made up of overlapping metal plates and multiple bade-like wings appeared to face Jack's demon. The monster became a shadow, reforming into a paler-colored duplicate of ‘Valafar’, right down to his Attack points (ATK: 3000).
Jack ignored him, “I reveal ‘Iron Core of Koa’ki Meiru’ in my hand to activate ‘Core Denseness Compression’, letting me draw two cards.”
He drew and his smile widened, “I play ‘Kishido Spirit’. While this card is in play, my monsters aren’t destroyed in battle against a monster with the same Attack!” ‘Valafar’ was wreathed in a blue aura, “’Valafar’, attack!”
“Reveal,” said Shepherd, “the Trap card ‘Ultimate Offering’. I pay five hundred Life Points (4000-500=3500) and tribute my ‘Shadow Guardna’ to summon ‘Cyber Cannon’ in attack mode!
“When ‘Cyber Cannon’ is Normal Summoned,” Shepherd explained, “I can choose and destroy one monster on the field, and deal damage to its controller equal to half its attack.” A simple robot with tank treads for feet, with a cannon for an arm, appeared (ATK: 0). It fired its cannon at ‘Valafar’, but the blast was deflected by a purple barrier.
“I activate ‘Shield Sphere’ from my hand,” said Jack. “This card prevents the destruction of my monster, but ends my turn. I discard ‘Iron Core’ from my hand during the End Phase to keep ‘Valafar’ in play. Make your last move.”
“Gladly,” Shepherd replied with a hearty smile. “I draw, and I activate ‘Polymerization’, fusing ‘Cyber Cannon’ on the field with ‘Cyber Ogre’ in my hand, summoning ‘Cyber Cannon Ogre’.”
A massive robotic ogre with long, sharp claws appeared beside the cannon. The two merged together, forming a massive legless machine with a huge upper body, massive forearms, a cannon on each shoulder, and a much, much bigger cannon for a head (ATK: 1500).
“When ‘Cyber Cannon Ogre’ is Fusion Summoned,” Shepherd explained, “I select a monster on the field and destroy it, and deal damage to its controller equal to half its Attack. I choose ‘Valafar’!”
‘Cyber Cannon Ogre’ fired its head cannon, blasting ‘Valafar’ apart.
“No!” cried Jack. The ‘Ogre’ fired its shoulder cannons next, hitting jack directly (4000-1500=2500).
“Finally,” said Shepherd, “I attack, and I activate ‘Limiter Removal’, doubling the Attack of my monster.”
“No,” said Jack, “I can’t lose!”
Shepherd’s monster (ATK: 3000) blew away the last of Jack’s Life Points. Shepherd beamed, “It seems, young man, that you can.”
As Shepherd’s monster faded away, Kagemaru said looked to the gathered crowd and said, “To answer Mr. Rollands’ question, that’s how.”
Card of the Day:
Cyber Cannon Ogre
Played by: Shepherd
I think I mention this in a commentary later on (or maybe that was on yugiohcardmaker), but I had so much fun writing for Shepherd in this story, mostly because the theme of his deck was so well defined, and yet very few cards were ever made which fit that theme, so I got to make a bunch of them myself. Like this one, a monster which is fairly weak physically, but can deal huge damage with its cannon.
Original Cards in This Chapter:
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