1 - Game On! *Edited*

Sunset took a deep and shaky breath. The autumn breeze left light goosebumps on her skin as she stepped off the bus, looking up at the domed building that towered above her. The gold girl stepped forwards, letting the doors close behind her as the vehicle moved off to its next stop. She pulled back the sleeve of her leather jacket to look at her watch. 8:45. 15 minutes until her exam, still on time.

A few other people around her age filed past her, most passing her and heading into the building. Each with a familiar shape attached to their arms, a KaibaCorp duel disk. The invention that had created a new national sport overnight. Duel Monsters had been everywhere for what was almost the last two decades. After the Duelist Kingdom tournament held by the game’s creator, Maximillion Pegasus, and later the Battle City Tournament held by wealthiest man in the world and inventor of the duel disk, Seto Kaiba, the game really took off. Its popularity skyrocketed, causing Industrial Illusions to start expanding the game with new mechanics and playstyles.

KaibaCorp had taken their own steps in response to the game’s massive growth. Much like other sports; teams, competitions, and even training schools had sprung up all over the world. However, Kaiba’s Duel Academy was the most prestigious of them all, centered on it’s own private island, in the sea off the coast of the great Domino City.

Right now, Sunset Shimmer looked to gain entrance to the prestigious academy. Here she stood ready to take her practical exam. She had aced the written test and duel puzzle. However, that was of no surprise. Sunset had been a bit of a prodigy in Duel Monsters ever since she had first picked up a starter deck at age 12. From there she had put together her first real deck and dominated at a local tournament. Of course, this was all thanks to a certain driving motivation.

Sunset pulled herself back to reality, shaking her head rapidly. No, now wasn’t the time to think about her. All that would surface would be bad memories. She blew out a breath, strolling up to the glass doors, still feeling unsure. It had been two years since she had held a duel disk. Two years since her life had practically fallen apart and she had been left utterly alone. All of that because of one damn card, and even now she couldn’t bare to part with it. Her deck felt particularly heavy on her hip, in its box.

The doors slid open as she approached, the slightly stuffy autumn air giving way to the air-conditioned, humidity-controlled air of the dueling arena. Under normal circumstances, the building was used for local and regional championships, but today was test day. Sunset looked around the multiple dueling fields, seeing if anything caught her attention. Her eyes landed on the nearest dueling field to her, seeing a gray girl with an aquamarine head of hair with a massive monster on the field. The screen keeping track of the duel read accordingly.

Instructor: 1900

Star Cast: 1100

“Face it, kid.” The instructor called from his side of the field, “Your Cannon may have 3000 attack points, but my Sky Cavalry Centaurea can’t be destroyed by battle! Even if you do attack, your monster will be going right back to the extra deck due to Centaurea’s effect.”

“My trains have more than one way of running you down!” The girl grinned in response, her light slavic accent bleeding with smugness, “Who needs to attack? By detaching one Xyz Material, I can slam you for 2000 points of damage!”

“Oh no!” The instructor gasped dramatically.

“Oh yes! Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max, strike him down and win me my way in!” The boxy railgun leveled its green barrel at the man, an orange glow emanating from the core of the gun. With no more than a quickly loudening hum, a shell fired from the barrel and struck at him, throwing up a cloud of dust as the impact made him stumble, though left him unharmed. His life counter quickly fell to zero, winner being declared.

“Ugh…excellent duel, Miss Cast. Welcome to Duel Academy.” He stood, dusting himself off.

“Yeet!” Star cheered, bouncing up and pumping her fist, “Yeah, I made it in!” She continued to celebrate as she spun off the field, nearly plowing into Sunset.

“Uh, excuse me?” Sunset chuckled, stepping out of her erratic path.

“Huh, oh whoops! Sorry, I’m really excited!” She paused, turning to Sunset, “Hey there! I’m Star Cast.” She stuck out her hand, beaming.

“Sunset Shimmer. Pleasure to meet you.” Sunset nodded, meeting the hand with her own, the two sharing a firm handshake, “Looks like you did great.”

Her smile dipped for a moment, looking guilty, “Yeah...well I did lose a few life points...and I totally slept through the written portion, aced the duel puzzle though!”

“So?” Sunset gestured, seeing that Star was building up to a point. She had to hold back a snicker. There was more than one hopeful student that had dozed off during the exam the previous day. Of course as long as you performed well on the puzzle and practical, gaining entry was still possible.

“I totally got Slifer Red.” She laughed, “But hey, I’m still in, right?”

Sunset smiled, “Right. So, Rank 10 Trains I presume?”

“You presume correct! Pure, as well! Who needs Shaddolls when I can just run on my rails solo?” Star snickered.

“So, Rocket Arrow Express?”

“You disgust me, madame!” The two broke into friendly laughter, “So I take it that your test is coming up then?”

Shimmer nodded, “Any minute now. Aced both tests, so I think I’ve got a good shot at getting into Obelisk.”

Star whistled, “Calling your shot, hmm? Bold. I’d like to see that. Prep school?”

“Nope.”

“I’d really like to see that.” It was no secret that most Obelisks were only there because they had bought their way in or slipped in through a prep school their parents had paid for. “Probably not gonna get a standard Goat duel then. Don’t think aces get by on older format tests.”

“That how it works?” Sunset tilted her head. It had been a long time since she had dueled something out of Goat Format. Snatch Steal and Delinquent Duo weren’t around anymore for good reason.

“That’s what I heard. I mean, my tester used Marshmallon. Not really top tier techs.” She deadpanned, smirking.

That earned a laugh from Sunset, “Hope the school offers a bit more of a challenge than ‘cannot be destroyed by battle’.”

Star nodded in agreement, “Totally. If I win every one of my duels out on the island, why would I want to go here in the first place? I’m supposed to be learning, right?”

“Suppose so.” Sunset nodded, “Have anyone waiting for you on the island?”

“Boyfriend.” She nodded, “Kinda glad I’ll be getting Slifer since he’s there already. How about you?”

Sunset’s smile dipped, “Well...sort of.”

“Huh?” Star Cast raised an eyebrow, “What do you-?”

“Sunset Shimmer to duel field 9. Sunset Shimmer to duel field 9.” The intercom buzzed out an announcement from up above.

“That’s my cue. Talk later?” Sunset waved, not waiting for an answer as she strolled off to her test.

Star Cast stared after her, eyes narrowing in curiosity and suspicion, “What secrets are you carryin’ round, Sunny?” She chuckled with a wide grin, “This’ll be a fun year.”

“Shimmer?”

Several heads turned back to the source of the question. “What’s up?” A chromatically haired girl asked, eyebrows raised. “The intercom? Sunset Shimmer...you know her?”

The girl drew her mouth into a tight line, her attention finally raising back to the duels at hand, “Well well. Look who came back out of hiding.”

“Shimmer, hmm?” The fluffy one muttered, raising an eyebrow as she watched Sunset take her place on the field, “Is she any good?”

The first woman scoffed, “Of course she is. Put two and two together, Dazzle.”

The unspoken truth and mysterious atmosphere was broken by the ponytailed one sitting to the right, “Hey Stanza, isn’t that your sister?!”

Sunset Stanza pinched the bridge of her nose, “Yes, Sonata. That’s my little sister. Thank you for pointing it out.”

Rainbow Dash kicked back in her chair, “The same little sister that-”

“Let’s not dive into the past right now, hmm Dash?” Stanza leveled a glare down at the girl in the seat a row beneath her, “The Chancellor allowed us to come witness the entrance exams, so how about we pay attention?”

“I’m sensing bad blood.”

“My fist will sense your face.”

“Touchy. Well if Shimmer is half as good as you are, I can’t wait to see what she can pull off.” She grinned down at the field.

“Indeed. Perhaps we’ll have a new roommate at Obelisk soon enough.” Adagio Dazzle smirked. Stanza’s eyebrow twitched.

“It's possible, but I doubt she’ll be getting a normal welcome.” Aria scoffed, “Tester didn’t stop to grab an exam deck. Sounds like she’ll be facing something more difficult.”

“If I see a Ratpier, I’m going back to the boat.” Sonata frowned, hunching down.

“I doubt they’d ever use a Zoodiac deck on a new student.” Dash shrugged it off as another green coated man stood opposite Sunset. “No one’s that cruel.”

Down on the examiner nodded to her, “Sunset Shimmer?”

“Speaking. Soon to be dueling.” Sunset responded, a light tone of amusement evident in her voice.

“Due to your exceptionally high marks, you will be dueling against a deck made of higher tiered cards and more unusual combos. Understood?” It was clearly nothing more than a fair warning. The duel would be happening this way no matter what.

“Oh darn, and here I was ready to out your Scapegoat. Heh. My deck and I will be ready for anything you can throw at me.” She returned his questioning glance with a confident smirk.

“Very well! Then let us begin.” He engaged his disk, drawing his initial hand, “Teachers before students, so I’ll go first.”

“Fair enough.” She accepted, glancing over her own opening hand with a nod, ‘I can work with this.’

Examiner: 8000

Sunset: 8000

“I’ll start my turn with the spell card, Brilliant Fusion!” He slipped the green bordered card into his desk, a hologram of it materializing on the field, “With this, I can summon a Gem-Knight monster from my extra deck with materials from my deck.”

“Oh gee, is it gonna be Seraphinite?” Aria blew out a breath from above, “Extra normal summon. Whoop de doo, what a play.”

“A well known play it may be, but that doesn’t detract from what it does. It's still a good opening to many boards.” Stanza reminded, “Plenty of things you can branch off into from there.”

“By sending Galaxy Serpent and Gem-Knight Lazuli to the Graveyard, I can Fusion Summon Gem-Knight Seraphinite to my field in defense position!” An armored figure appeared on his field, kneeling down with it's blue cape fluttering behind it. However, it looked like it had trouble holding itself upright. (5/2300/1400)

“Though of course with Brilliant Fusion’s secondary cost, your monster’s attack and defense both become zero.” Sunset noted, “This doesn’t matter though as Seraphinite lets you Normal Summon a second time on the turn of her summon.” (5/2300/1400 → 5/0/0)

“Oh, is that what I’m doing? Don’t expect bonus points for knowing a standard play, kid.” The instructor fired back, “Since Lazuli was sent to the grave, I can add Galaxy Serpent back to my hand.” The yellow card slid out from his disk, “And why wait when I can summon it now?” With a swish of his arm, the translucent blue serpent slithered onto the field, an aura of stars behind it. (2/1000/0)

‘Tuner.’ Sunset recognized, ‘Seraphinite is level 5 and Serpent is a 2. Level 7, is it a Clear Wing? That’ll be harder to deal with as a 1st turn play. That and he still has another summon. A level 1 tuner could boost Clear Wing into a first turn Crystal Wing.’

“I tune my level 2 Serpent with my level 5 Gem-Knight!”

“Wait, what?” Sunset blinked. It wasn’t uncommon for people to forego Seraphinite’s effect and just use it for a free Synchro target, but it still fell under the category of unexpected.

“I Synchro Summon Power Tool Dragon!” A yellow robotic dragon was brought to the filed in a gust of wind, a blue excavator and a green drill serving for its arms. It gave a mechanized growl. (7/2300/2100)

“What?” Sunset repeated. That was a little more uncommon.

“Well...been a good few years since I’ve seen one of those things.” Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Looks like we’ve got an equip deck? That or that may be the strangest first turn Synchro I’ve seen in a good few months.”

The examiner pulled forth two more spell cards, “I equip my Dragon with the spells White Veil and Moon Mirror Shield! With these, neither your monsters nor your spell and traps will be a worry. I end my turn from there.” A white glow enveloped the Dragon, a gold and silver shield adorning its right arm, seemingly glowing with a powerful light.

Sunset sighed, taking inventory of her hand as she drew, considering her hand.

“White what?” Star wondered from her place on the sidelines.

“Sunset here can’t activate Spells or Traps when the equipped monster attacks and if said monster destroys one of her monsters, it also destroys her entire back row.” A young boy joined her in spectating. He waved at her, a wide grin across his purple face, “Heya, I’m Spike.”

“Star Cast. How’d you know that?”

He chuckled, “It came up while I was studying for the exam, all the good that did me in the end.”

“Failed?”

“Fell asleep and drooled on my scantron.” Spike blushed a little harder.

“Should I welcome you to Slifer now or later?” Star joked, “Cause I don’t think I did too well on the theory portion either.”

“Later.” Spike laughed in turn, refocusing on the duel, “I want to see where this is gonna go.”

“Right, my move! I start by summoning Solar Flare Dragon!” The ground before Sunset burst into flame, a long serpentine creature of pure flame and magma coiling out from the inferno, beedy green eyes glaring out at it's opponent. (4/1500/1000)

Stanza hummed with a tight frown, “Looks like her deck hasn’t changed… good for her.”

The others looked back at their friend, concerned expressions decorating each of their faces at the venom in her voice, “Fire stun?” Sonata tried guessing.

“Something like that.”

That seemed to kill the questions bubbling up for now. Dash and Adagio shared a glance. Stanza wasn’t exactly a warm person as a whole, but this was new. Whatever had happened between the sisters had to have been terrible.

“I’ll end my turn with two cards face down.” Sunset admitted, the cards appearing at her feet, backs decorated in large brown and black spirals

“Bold, given my White Veil.” The examiner chuckled back at Sunset.

“Perhaps, just don’t forget that Solar Flare Dragon’s effect activates during the end phase, burning you for 500 points of damage.” She shrugged it off with a smile. The dragon let out a hiss, hurling a fireball at him from it's maw.

Examiner: 7500

Sunset: 8000

“I think I can take a little heat.” He chuckled, drawing his card, “Now that it's back to me, I’ll activate Power Tool Dragon’s effect to reveal three Equip-”

“Response!” Sunset interrupted, “Fiendish Chain!” One of her facedown card flipped up, a heavy green chain shooting out of it's image to wrap around Power Tool, constricting it's movements. “With your Dragon ensnared in this chain, it won’t be activating anything nor will it be attacking.” He frowned back at her, crossing his arms, “Though before I can let you continue, I’ll activate my other facedown, Blaze Accelerator Reload!” A silver missile launcher of sorts rose to her field, three barrels empty of it's ammo. “Just to be ready.” She winked.

“What’s that do?” Star hummed.

“Nothing yet. Discard a Volcanic monster to draw, but it looks like Sunset doesn’t have one at the moment.”

“Right.” Her examiner relaxed somewhat, seeing that it wasn’t going off, “Well if my dragon cannot make use of his ability, I’ll simply have to set two cards and end.” Another two facedowns appeared, one in the spell/trap zone and the other next to Power Tool Dragon, ending his turn.

“Sorry about that.” Sunset ‘apologized’ as she drew, “Oh, that’s a shame. I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your White Veil!” The crowd laughed as the classic card was activated, forming a vortex that accelerated to the other side of the field, shattering the holographic veil into pieces, “And if I recall correctly, it's destruction deals 3000 damage to you, no?”

He grit his teeth in response as his duel disk shocked him with white energy, depleting his life points rapidly.

Examiner: 4500

Sunset: 8000

“I summon my Royal Firestorm Guards!” Onto the field slithered a snake-like creature of red and cream. He hissed at it's opponent, baring its fangs as beady green eyes glared at him. (4/1700/1200) “Normally, this would allow me to shuffle 4 monsters from my Graveyard into my deck, but as it's looking pretty bare right now, I’ll just have to live with one more monster on the field. However, you should never settle for just two when you can have three! I activate Double Summon to bring out a second Royal Firestorm Guards! I overlay my two Royal Firestorm Guards in order to build the Overlay Network!” With that declaration, the two snakes dissolved into their own clouds of golden stars, shooting upwards and forming a spiral, forming together and growing into a single new shape. “I Xyz Summon Number 101: Silent Honor ARK!”

Before them descended a large silver spaceship, two glowing orbs of light circling around it. The center of the ship glowed red as a cyan ‘101’ illuminated on it's side. (4/2100/1000) “By detatching two of my ARK’s Xyz materials, I can treat your Dragon as its Xyz material .” She smirked as the two balls of light winked out of existence, ropes of light firing down from the ship and slowly dragging the Synchro up and into it. A new light forming around it a moment later.

“Well...darn…” The examiner frowned. “Well played, Miss Shimmer. 101 is always a good card to run in the Rank 4 toolbox.”

“Rank 4 toolbox?” Spike glanced, over at Star Cast, blinking at the alien term.

“It's just a term used for commonly used Rank 4 Xyz monsters. Number 101 is a really common one since he steals a monster.”

“And with your dragon over here, that means your Moon Mirror Shield is destroyed as well.” Sunset reminded.

“Indeed. I now place it on top or on the bottom of my deck by paying 500 life points! I choose top!”

Examiner: 4000

Sunset: 8000

“Be that as it may, you still have a monster face down, so I’ll take care of that right now! Solar Flare, attack the face down!” Sunset called out, the dragon snaking forwards as the card flipped up, revealing a frowning goblin on its knees, holding up a pot.

“My Scrounging Goblin’s defense is too high for your Dragon to conquer!” The examiner responded. (4/1000/2000) “And because he technically inflicted damage to you, I can add a Good Goblin Housekeeping to my hand! Of course I’ll activate the one on the field now, letting me draw another card.”

Examiner: 4000

Sunset: 7500

“No matter. Silent Honor ARK has enough attack to destroy your Goblin. Take it out, 101!”

“Not quite! I discard the Goblin King from my hand and Tribute Scrounging goblin!” He announced. Sunset’s pupils dilated. “I Special Summon Darkness Neosphere!”

Sunset took a small step back, eyes widening as a tall red-haired fiend rose to the field, veins of dull colors crisscrossing and bulging on its body, centering on a large eye over its heart. Two wings extended from the creature’s back, one feathered and the other leathery. (10/4000/4000)

“I’m going to knock some sense into that head of yours! Go, Darkness Neosphere! Destroy that thing already!” The voice echoed in Sunset’s head harshly. With a sharp sake of her head, Sunset returned her focus to the duel at hand, “I cancel my attack!” As the ship powered back down, she grit her teeth, “I end and Flare Dragon burns you once more.”

Examiner: 3500

Sunset: 7500

The man smirked as he drew another card, “I set a card and summon Goblin King!” A small green creature sat upon a throne, dressed in royal robes and donning a tiny purple and gold crown, grinning wickedly. (1/0/0) “My Goblin King gains 1000 attack and defense for every other Fiend on the field.” (1/0/0) → (1/1000/1000) “But that is rather miniscule to deal with your current monsters, so I’ll equip it with my Moon Mirror Shield!”

Sunset sighed, eyeing the shielded Goblin up with a frown, “That spell is getting really annoying. Could you maybe...not do that?”

“Oh, my apologies. I can do this instead,” He snarked right back, gesturing to her flaming dragon, “Darkness Neosphere, destroy Solar Flare Dragon!” The fiend lept forwards, it's face tearing open as a single giant eye glared out at at the dragon, firing out a beam of dark energy to rip it apart.

Sunset stumbled back in slight worry, a look of fear on her face as he life points fell, memories flashing back across her mind once more.

Examiner: 3500

Sunset: 5000

Stanza gave a slight chuckle as she watched the level 10 run over the fiery dragon, “Good times, eh little sister?” Her smile dipped into a frown after, recalling what had come after that back then.

“And now my Goblin King will attack to destroy your 101!” The puny goblin stood from his chair, raising aloft his shield as it began to glow brighter, firing off a beam of white and gold energy into the air, striking the spacecraft, throwing up a massive cloud of fire and smoke as it connected.

Examiner: 3500

Sunset: 4900

“Not quite! 101’s effect activates!” Sunset called through the debris, “By detaching the stolen material, 101 isn’t destroyed!” As declared, the smoke cleared to reveal the space ship still humming in place, the last golden orb now gone from the localized orbit.

“Heh, alright. Your turn, Shimmer.” He gestured.

“I’ve had worse situations before.” Sunset nodded, drawing into her next turn, “I’ll start with the trap card, Reckless Greed. I draw two cards in exchange for skipping my next two Draw Phases.” A swipe of her deck added two more cards to her hand.

“Replenishing the hand. Excellent choice. I’ll chain with Good Goblin Housekeeping. Since I have another in the Graveyard already, I draw two before returning a card to the deck.” He explained, performing said actions with a shrug at the chosen card.

“Right…” Sunset sighed, looking down at the cards drawn and froze once more, ‘Oh...right. I haven’t touched this deck in years. How did I forget?’

“Sis, did you seriously just tribute summon a Level 5 with no attack points?”

“Appearances are deceiving. This is just the calm before the storm! Because with what comes next, I’ll decimate you!”

Sunset gulped as her own words echoed through her mind. ‘I left them both in there, didn’t I? ...oh God, please don’t wake up…’

Stanza sat forwards, high above the bleachers, glaring down at the field coldly. ‘...it's in her hand. Go ahead. Summon it. I dare you. Show everyone here what kind of duelist you are.’ Dash and the others leaned away in surprise, not expecting the sudden cold aura.

“I use the effect of Blaze Accelerator Reload! By sending Volcanic Slicer to the Grave, I can draw another card.” Sunset resettled her focus, “I turn 101 to Defense and set two cards facedown. I end.”

“So we’re at the halfway point right?” Spike looked back and forth curiously.

“Hard to say. Some duelists can last 10 turns at 100 Life Points and win, others can’t last one turn at 8000. The game can go a lotta ways. Sunset’s playin’ some level of Volcanic Stun and this guy is playing...Goblin Equip?” Star blinked, shrugging, “I don’t know, this is one of those ‘out there’ decks. Like Dimensional Eatos.”

“D-what?” Spike blinked back at her, “Eatos?”

“Sorry, it's uh...conceptual decks tend to be my thing when I’m not playing my Rank 10 deck. Don’t worry about the terminology. My point is, this deck is weird as heck and definitely something you wouldn’t expect to deal with.”

“I see.” Spike blinked, not really seeing, but that’s what Duel Academy was for, more or less. With a shake of his head, he returned his attention to the duel as the instructor started his next turn.

“I draw and activate Upstart Goblin. You should know the drill. I draw another card, you gain 1000 life points.” As the spell activated and cards were drawn, Sunset’s points increased, her frown holding steady. “Not that such an meager boost matters of course. With 5000 damage on board, you won’t survive much more.”

Examiner: 3500

Sunset: 5900

“Now then! Goblin King, destroy Silent Honor Ark!” Another lightshow from the equipped shield fired it's way up into the ship, and with no materials left to detach, the ship detonated, crashing down to the field and off to the Graveyard.

Sunset could only brace from what came next.

“Darkness Neosphere, attack directly!” The fiend came charging forwards, stopping just short of Sunset as a terrifying single eye opened in the center of her face. It left little time for another unfortunate flashback, a purple beam of energy firing out and into her.

“Ahh!” Sunset yelped in surprise as an invisible force pushed her back, smoke floating up from the arena as her Life Points dropped dramatically.

Examiner: 3500

Sunset: 1900

Stanza chuckled, “Make your next move count, Sunset. It'll be your last otherwise.”

“Isn’t it over already?” Sonata asked with a curious expression, “Reckless Greed skips this Draw. With that one card in her hand, she’s done.”

“Don’t forget her back row, Sonata.” Aria cut in, “She’s still got facedowns.”

“Indeed.” Stanza cut in, “From what I recall of my sister’s deck, providing it hasn’t changed, she only runs Reckless Greed because she can make up for the condition. Even if it means just-”

“I activate another Reckless Greed!” Sunset declared, flipping up another of the trap.

“Doubling down.” Stanza finished with a chuckle, “Volcanics are fairly consistent if nothing else.”

Making up for the lack of her draw phase, Sunset smiled at her new hand, “Time to rid you of your monsters! I activate Blaze Accelerator Reload effect to send my Volcanic Scattershot to the Graveyard and draw a card!” As she did this, a small red whelp appeared on the field, hissing shrilly as it climbed into the back of the cannon.

“What’s it doing?” Rainbow blinked, leaning over the edge of the railing to watch.

“Volcanic shenanigans.” Stanza sighed in annoyance, remembering the play fondly.

“You see, when Volcanic Scattershot is discarded by the effect of my Accelerator, not only do you take 500 damage, but I can send two more from my Deck to the Graveyard to wipe your board clear of monsters!” Sunset declared, pulling free two more from her Deck to discard as well.

“What?!” The examiner gasped, taking a step back, “My Neosphere!”

“Is history!” Two more fledgling creatures appeared behind the launcher, climbing up into the remaining slots as the device hummed with energy. “Fire away!” The three blazing projectiles fired out with great speed, slamming into the other side of the field with a loud BOOM.

This only helped less as Moon Mirror Shield activated, forcing him to place it at the bottom of his deck. “Not bad…”

Examiner: 1500

Sunset: 1900

“Call of the Haunted summons back Solar Flare Dragon.” She smirked, the fiery drake returning from the grave, “Then I’ll activate Vanity’s Emptiness and end my turn.” She finished with a nod, a trap raising to her right. “As long as Vanity’s Emptiness is on the field, neither of us can Special Summon.”

Examiner: 1000

Sunset: 1900

“Wonderful.” He sighed, drawing once more. “Hah! Dark Hole! Not only does this destroy your dragon, but thanks to a card leaving your side of the field, Vanity’s is destroyed as well!”

Sunset frowned, “So it seems.” As the swirling vortex of bent space eradicated her lone dragon, the trap detonated as well, leaving Sunset open.

“Not game quite yet, but my Scrounging Goblin will make quick work of you yet!” The kneeling creature returned, a new one in the lineup, “And he’ll attack you directly!” As this was said, the goblin hopped to his feet, screeching at Sunset and tossing the Pot of Duality it held at her, earning a surprised flinch from Sunset as her points fell from the unorthodox attack.

Examiner: 1000

Sunset: 900

“Close game.” Dash nodded.

“Close, but I’m thinking it's done.” Stanza shrugged, standing now.

“Wait, what?” Rainbow turned, glancing at the others in confusion, “Why?”

“Not, bad, but this is over, I’m afraid.” Sunset smirked, not even looking at the card she’d drawn, “I’ve won, and it won’t even require another attack. I set a card and Special Summon Volcanic Queen to your side of the field!”

“What?!” His eyes widened as his goblin started to burn from the inside out, screaming in pain as another figure burst out from within him, wings cracking through it's back and tearing out to reveal the fiery creature. (6/2500/1200)

“Your move.” She chuckled.

“Wait...really? That’s it?” He looked back at her, “You gave me a 2500 attack point monster and played nothing else?” He scoffed, drawing his card, “Well, I-!”

“Thunder of Ruler.” Sunset activated the set card from last turn. “You cannot declare an attack this turn.”

“Ah...I see…” He sighed, “Then I’ll simply knock out your life points nex tur-...” He looked up at his gifted monster, seeing it slowly turn around to face him. “...what’s it doing?”

“Oh, I should’ve explained.” Sunset chuckled, “You see, at the end of your turn, if you don’t tribute another monster you control, Queen inflicts you with 1000 points of damage!” Sunset shrugged with a grin, “Good game.”

“...” He blinked, chuckling as he nodded, “Good game indeed, Miss Shimmer, welcome to D-” He was cut off as he was overtaken by a roar of fire from Volcanic Queen.

Examiner: 0

Sunset: 900

“...welcome to Duel Academy.” He sighed, an applause rising from the audience around them.

Sunset couldn’t help but giggle at the sight. It was times like this she almost thought her dragon timed the application of its effect. “Thanks.” She responded, the two making their ways off the field after a handshake in the center, the holograms around them vanishing as their duel disks disengaged.

“C’mon.” Stanza turned amidst the cheers below, “Don’t want to miss our ride back to the island.”

“Not eager to meet with your little sister, Stanza?” Adagio asked in a light teasing tone.

“Let’s go, Adagio.” Stanza repeated, glancing over with a ticked glare.

She clearly wasn’t ready to drop the subject, but Adagio nodded compliantly, shrugging the matter off, “Very well. Let’s get back to the dorm. Don’t want to miss dinner the first night of the new semester.”

Rainbow held back for a moment more, glancing back at the retreating girl with curiosity, “Hmm. Oughta be a fun year.” She snickered with a nod, following the other four back to the ferry.

Star and Spike were the ones that met Sunset on the way off the field, Spike making sure to introduce himself before continuing the conversation, “That was awesome, Sunset! I’ve got no idea how I would’ve dealt with a deck like that!”

Sunset just smiled, “It was nothing. Looks like the deck was meant to catch me off guard. Thankfully though, have a knack for dueling, time off or not.”

“Humble, humble. You did great!” Star cheered, “Always good to see the Xyz crowd doing work! But, uh, why’d you freeze up earlier?”

Sunset blinked, “Oh, uh, drew a card that I forgot to side, was worried about it throwing off my strategies or bricking me.” She lied with ease, just as she had been doing ever since she had obtained it.

Even so, Star seemed to buy it, “Oh, well it happens to the best of us. You can probably fix that later once you settle down in your dorm.”

“Right, for now though, we need to get moving!” Spike reminded them, “The boat’ll be leaving in twenty minutes and the doors close in ten! Sunset was the last test, so come on!” He clapped his hands quickly, motioning for them to follow.

Blinking, Star chased after the shorter boy, Sunset giving a light chuckle and doing the same. ‘Huh, not even at the Academy yet and I’ve already had two gravitate to me. That’s certainly something. As long as I keep things on the down low and certain cards hidden away, maybe this Duel Academy thing won’t be so bad.’ She smiled gently as she kept pace with her companions out to the docks, a fresh chapter in her life ready to begin, and a small mystery still lingering in the corner of her mind with a buried past.

Author's Note

Christ alive, this took way too long for me to get out. Like, my God, really. That said, its finally up and hopefully more clean than the first rendition.

Hope you all enjoy.