Well… I guess I'm here…

Tipping my head to the side to take a glance out of the window of the helicopter I found myself inside, I tilted my hand over my forehead and adjusted the angle I was leaning at, as I had suddenly found myself assailed by the blinding sunlight coming through the window and into my face.

With the light now slightly eased, I could glimpse outside enough to catch a glance of the solitary island we were headed toward, guided by the smoke billowing from the volcano that made its presence not just known, but obvious to anyone even taking a passing glance.

So this is Academy Island then…? Well… I suppose there are worse places to think this through…

As my gaze drifted from the volcano to the island itself, however, I felt a tangible shudder run down my spine, as the actual sight of the buildings, not to mention the island itself, was burned into my brain, after having seen far more than enough aerial shots of the landmass to be able to name most of the locations merely by sight.

That's weird… but… it feels… almost comforting for some reason…

However, I was shaken out of this train of thought by an elbow finding its way into my side "Hey… Marcus! Hey! Earth to Marcus!" the sharp, high voice of the guy in the seat next to me rang into my ears.

It took me a moment to process the name I had chosen when I had been asked for one, turning only slowly to look the boy in the eye, a full head shorter than me even sitting, I wasn't sure which of the vivid colours visible was more distracting: his parted, neon-green hair, his shockingly blue eyes, or the bright yellow jacket he had already donned after it had been given to him once they were actually placed. "Yes, Kyle, I'm paying attention. What do you want?" I finally manage to respond, looking the baby-faced young man in the eye finally.

"Ugh… were you even listening!? I just finished telling you about how the dorm system works!" Kyle protested, clearly annoyed.

"No… I was listening… Blue is the fancy dorm for the 'elite'…" I started to prattle off. Honestly, I hadn't been paying the slightest bit of attention, but I could simply call this to mind by memory. "Yellow, our dorm, is for the middle-of-the-road. Smart, but not typically well-connected… and Red… well… the bottom has to be somewhere…" I commented.

"Oh?" Kyle responded, shaking his head "That may be, but you don't have to put it like that…" rubbing the back of his head after defending the reds a moment. "Besides…" the younger man resumed "You got the points about the dorms… but not what I mentioned… do you know how the girls' accommodation works here?" a smirk now coming after his annoyed tone behind his questioning. It seemed my comment about the reds didn't sit well.

"You know… now that you mention it…" I started, rubbing my chin in thought. "I never actually considered that… as far as I know, most, if not all, the female students end up in Blue for some reason… Is it that big a hurdle for female applicants…?" I pondered aloud.

"See? I knew you weren't paying attention!" Kyle declared triumphantly. "The female applicants, unless they specifically request otherwise, are assigned to Obelisk Blue for administrative purposes! I heard one of the professors talking about it! Umm… Crowler, I think…"

"Yeah… that would be him, probably…" I commented, shaking my head slightly. Honestly, there wouldn't have been any way of me knowing that, as how female students were sorted into their accommodations hadn't been covered in my experience of this world's continuity before I had ended up here…

At this point, a flicker in my memory, mentally re-living the rather harrowing events of how I'd found myself here:

I had been traveling down an alley back home in an attempt to get to a bus stop on time, which was when things got… strange. The alley felt like it went on forever, even though rounding the corner should have only taken a minute, at least five had passed even at a run, while the buildings seemed to stretch, the world distorting as I passed through it, panic had effectively taken hold as I sprinted forward, finally managing to round the corner in a blind attempt to get out of this distorted mess, passing what felt like walls of hot air as I ran.

As I ran, something strange seemed to be happening in my peripheral vision: my shadow was stretching further and further down the alley, becoming more and more visible… was the alley getting brighter…?

Getting closer and closer to a light at the end of the alley, which I assumed was the way back into town, I ran headlong into an invisible wall, just before what appeared to be the end of the walls, a distorted light on the other side of the wall obscuring any features that might be on the other side.

Finally, I turned around a moment to see what the source of the brightening light behind me was, now seeing… it: an approaching wall of light, advancing toward me down the alley in a downright menacing manner. Considering how solid the barrier in front of me was, however, I was fairly certain that it would be as well…

Is this how I'm going to die?! Caught in some supernatural death tunnel by the hard light equivalent of the garbage masher?!

To hell with that.

Turning on my heel back toward the unseen barrier in front of me, I now attempted a kick at the barrier, feeling like I had just hit a large window in front of me, but not damaging it at all.

Not wasting any time, I charged into the barrier, which, apart from causing my shoulder to begin searing in pain, caused small cracks to appear in the wall, as the light from behind me grew closer and closer, almost daring me to try to escape it.

Come on…! Come on…!

Charging into the wall again and again, despite the pain shooting from my shoulder through my arm, I smashed into the wall over and over again, causing the crack to grow larger and larger in the wall, until, just as the light wall was about to crush me into the glass, I was finally sent through the glass in my final attempt, reaching the other side in a sprawling dive.

"Marcus? Marcus…? Oh, not again! He's zoned out again!" a familiar voice then called me out of my memory. Snapping back into reality, my eyes found their focus on the young man next to me, before I realized he was trying to ask me something else.

"Oh… sorry about that… everything's just been so hectic lately, having trouble keeping focused…" I then commented, rather impressed by this point with how on-the-spot my explanations were up until this point.

"Heh, didn't seem to be a problem during your test… You know… I still never really got where you came from… most applicants have to work through the process for months before even getting a spot in the examinations… but you managed to get added in at the last minute…" Kyle then commented, looking out the window himself at the academy.

"Oh… right… that." I started "Well… if you'd really like to know… I wasn't exactly expecting to take the selection test myself…" rubbing the back of my head lightly as I started to recount the tale for him. That much of the statement I'd made was true.

How did I get into the exam?

Once I finally got back to my feet, I looked around the area at the end of the alley. It was strange… the alley leading back looked exactly like the one at home: dreary and dark, lined with dark brown brick on one side, and what looked like flat white stucco on the other. Stepping over the invisible boundary back into the alleyway, absolutely NOTHING felt different about from how I felt now: strangely normal, considering a moment ago I'd had a searing pain in my shoulder and arm, and literally slamming through a wall of plate glass.

Speaking of which…

Turning on my heel, I looked at the ground where I'd fallen, small shards of glass seemed to simply fade into dust, before I realized that, despite the look of the alley behind me, it ceased before it should have rounded the corner, ending only in a fire escape for the brown brick building.

Well, that's not good…

Rushing over to the wall, I ran my hand over the brick on the wall: unfortunately, it felt no different from a normal wall, the rough texture of the brick against my hand told me that it was NOT the same as the wall I'd forced my way through.

You have GOT to be kidding me…

Now, finally scanning the area outside of the alleyway, I definitely wasn't at home, as I didn't recognize ANY building on this street. I'd taken the route many times, and definitely knew what the area normally looked like…

Why was I still trying to find familiarity!? I LITERALLY just escaped death from a wall of hard light after an alleyway stretched on forever…! Something was happening here!

Taking a moment, I took stock of the situation: I was in the middle of a strange city, zero idea of where I was, zero ID that would be acceptable here (most likely), no usable money, and not even the slightest clue of what to do! This is… well, I'm screwed.

"Hey!" a deep voice then called out to me. Turning on my heel, I spotted the source of the voice: a man in a black business suit and sunglasses, leaning against a car and looking rather impatient. "Yeah, you! Come here!"

Starting toward the man, rather confused, I spoke "If you are looking for directions, you may wish to ask someone else… I'm a little lost myself…" rubbing the back of my head as I attempted to quickly get out of this situation so that I might come up with an idea.

"Lost? You wouldn't happen to be on your way to the duel dome, would you?" he then asked, sounding rather bemused at the moment.

"Duel dome…?" I started to ask, an inkling of information that might give me a lead on where exactly I was. It wasn't much, but it was something. Deciding to chance asking a question in the direction my brain had jumped in, I asked "Would you mean the KaibaCorp duel dome? If so, then yes, I've been looking to go there all day!"

That much was true. I had actually just come from a tournament on my way home and had been musing how awesome it would be were I actually able to duel with that kind of technology. I was prepared to hear something along the lines of 'what are you talking about?' and for him to mention some kind of gladiator-style fighting or something, before he simply gave a nod.

"You know any other duel domes around here? But that at least means you're the guy I was waiting here for…" taking a glance down at his watch, he nodded "Exactly on time, too… you sure you were lost?"

"I thought I was…" I managed to reply "…but it looks like I'm in just the right place… at exactly the right time… crazy how coincidence works, right?"

Wait… was my voice always that high? Did I gain a couple octaves after smashing through that window…? I'd have to look into that soon…

"Yeah, I guess… come on and get in… the arrival period for applicants to the preliminary exam is just about over…" he then stated, gesturing to the car.

Merely nodding, I could feel my knees starting to wobble as I started toward the door of the car "Do you need some help with that, kid?" the man then asked with a light chuckle as I continued toward the door.

"N-no… no… I'm fine." I protested, before managing to get into the car. I was taking quite the risk with this: getting into a random car with a strange guy in a suit just because he gave an interesting answer to a question I asked.

But, really… wasn't exactly swimming in options… I had the feeling that doing this, I would find out one way or another what was going on here…

"You know…" the man driving now started to speak again after getting the car moving "I wasn't really sure he was being serious about meeting an applicant way out here… Not exactly standard procedure… but you showed up down to the minute when he said you would… but he never actually told me… what is your name…?"

He waited there for someone he wasn't sure was coming, without knowing either their name, or what they looked like?

He must have a hell of a lot of faith in whoever told him to wait there…

When it came to my name, however, I had the distinct feeling that giving my real name might somehow lead to unintended consequences should something happen later, so I racked my brain for something which hopefully wouldn't sound too absurd "Marcus… Marcus Kolstet." I spoke, the first time somewhat reluctantly, but a little more confidently the second time.

"Marcus, eh? All right then. We'll have a little bit of paperwork to complete when we get there, but you should be certain to take the test today… the written test will be administered should you complete the duel test successfully…" he then informed me.

"Oh, good. Thank you for informing me…" I spoke plainly, enough of a smile on my face to keep him content while my brain bounced back and forth, trying to sort through enough questions to form them in my own head.

Something, or rather, someone, was going to great lengths to help me…

Who was this? Who was 'he'? Why were they helping me…? How did they know I would be here…? What year is this…? Is this really where I think it is…? How do I live here…?

What sort of exam was this…? Did he mean…?

However, as I continued attempting to think through this, we passed through the city, where I caught a proper glimpse of something that rendered the result beyond doubt: the unmistakable KaibaCorp tower, flanked out front by a pair of Blue-Eyes White Dragon statues.

Bless that egotistical billionaire's love of those dragons!

Again coming back to reality, I realized I, again, had yet to tell him anything, trying to remember my place to a bemused Kyle "Oh, right… my exam… well… like I said, a short time before, I hadn't expected to actually take part in the examination, as I hadn't done the written portion yet…" I explained "…though they seemed rather more understanding than I would have expected… still have no idea why…"

"Oh? Yeah… well, I can see why you weren't expecting to do the practical exam then… normally they're really strict about that kind of thing… That doesn't make any sense!" Kyle snapped at me.

"Yeah… like I said… I don't get it either… apparently whoever spoke to the school for me did a REALLY good job convincing them to allow me the chance to take the test…" I conjectured, no real idea who or what my apparent benefactor might be, but grateful to whoever-it-was nonetheless.

"That's beyond a mere 'great job'… academically, that's as close to a miracle as you'll get…" Kyle observed, a noise of assent from the seat behind us, as someone else seemed to be listening in on the tale.

Great… now the whole school's going to know I had some kind of special arrangement to get in! So much for being inconspicuous until I could figure out what was going on here…

"Well… anyway…" I resumed, returning to my own memory "Once I got there, though… I managed to get to a seat soon enough to catch the end of some guy's test… green hair, you might know him…" smirking a little as he quickly got what I meant.

"Oh? You saw that? Yeah, the tester didn't really have much chance once I got going… that last card destruction is what did it…" Kyle commented proudly before pointing at me. "Pretty sure EVERYONE saw yours, though, you WERE one of the last ones, after all…"

"Yeah… I don't know how I got through it…" I commented, a slight smirk across my face. Honestly, I was impressed with how well my deck had worked out, despite being patchwork, at least, it was compared to what I would normally build...

By the time I had completed the required paperwork (most of it was already filled out by someone), I had already worked out a set of rules for how I should duel until I knew more about how things worked here: no synchro summoning, or anything past that, or anything else the duel disks might reject – the last thing I needed right now was being accused of using fake cards… though, I could put in a few things that I knew wouldn't be on whatever light restriction list that might exist here, a mental list partially assembled of what absurd cards I could add to that list later.

Now stepping into the arena block, it looked rather more intimidating than I would have imagined: an enormous structure, surrounding the combatants on all sides with steel walls except for the ceiling… then row upon row of seats, many of them filled with the other prospective students… perhaps it WAS some kind of gladiator arena… after a fashion.

"Are you ready to begin, young man?" the instructor across from me asked.

"Of course I am, sir… who shall begin?" I then requested, deciding to play it safe for now.

"You may not be as ready as you think… exam rules state the proctor goes first, kid…" the instructor responded condescendingly, to a general murmur from around the field. I couldn't catch what they were saying, but the general feeling of derision was palpable.

That doesn't make sense, though… I'm fairly certain Jaden went first when he did his exam! Perhaps Crowler figured he could end the duel more quickly if he had first attack… and he was in a position to bend the basic rules…

"Which I will now do! Game on! (My LP: 4000 / Proctor LP: 4000) I begin with the spell card Level Limit – Area B! In case its effect eludes you as well, any level 4 or higher monster face-up on the field is forced to defence mode! I will also set a monster face down, and two more face-down cards! Your move!"

A feeling of unease continued to well in my gut as I drew my first card: no matter the new rules, I would still draw going second, which I had been grateful I wouldn't have to remember. "All right then… I'll start with the spell card Solar Recharge! I discard my Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter to draw two cards, as well as send two further cards from my deck to my graveyard!" Looking down at the two cards I milled, I let out an involuntary groan.

"You may wish to also work on maintaining a straight face… I can read you like a book right now…" the examiner commented, looking across at me.

"Yeah, I get it…" I couldn't help but respond. "I continue my turn with Mystical Space Typhoon, in order to destroy your level limit spell card! Now I summon to the field Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress in attack mode!" (ATK: 1700) deciding to merely test the waters a little, I stated "I enter my battle phase."

"Now I respond with my face-down card! Gravity bind! You're not getting at my monster yet… no monster level 4 or above can attack now!"

Nodding across at YET ANOTHER explanation of a card I fully understood, I then continued "Well then, I guess I will end my battle phase… I then activate Lyla's effect, shifting her to defence mode, while destroying your last face-down card!" watching a negate attack get shattered before setting a single card face down "After I set my face-down card… you may go…"

As I started to remove cards from my deck without saying anything, his voice responded "…and what do you think you're doing?" which caused me to realize the mistake.

"Oh, apologies… I'm so used to doing this without thinking I forget to explain… Lyla's ability causes me to send my top three cards to my graveyard at the end of each of my turns…"

"I'm going to issue you a warning… take another action out of turn, and you will be removed. Do you understand?" the instructor stated sternly.

"Oh, of course, sir…" I responded sheepishly. I wasn't used to such a high-strung gaming environment when I dueled, so this was rather foreign to me. Besides… everyone knows what lightsworns do during the end phase… right?

"Very well then. I draw! Now, I flip summon Morphing Jar Number 2! (ATK: 800) By it's effect, we both now shuffle our monsters back into our decks, and reveal our top cards until we each have the same number of monsters we sent back!"

I was so tempted to blurt out 'excavate', but managed to suppress that particular urge as I shuffled Lyla back into the deck. Revealing another copy of Solar Recharge before reaching a lumina, I stated "I set Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner face-down!" (DEF: 1000)

"I now set Morphing Jar face down!" (DEF: 600) the proctor finished, sending the two spells he got before that to the graveyard, as I sent solar recharge to the graveyard. "I also summon Rocket Jumper in attack mode!" (ATK: 1000)

"Bit of a small one, isn't it…?" I blurted without thinking.

"Yeah… it is. That's the point. This little number is allowed to attack your life points directly, while being a low enough level to escape gravity bind! Attack!"

As the strange-looking rocket creature hurtled toward me, I felt myself take a step back at the sudden onrush of the figure, almost knocked off of my feet by the impact of the hologram's attack. (My LP: 4000 - 3000)

"Your move, kid. Though, you're going to have to do better than you have been to impress me…" he then commented honestly. It seemed he wasn't the only one that thought that, as the atmosphere from the crowd had an almost hostile air to it.

With what seemed to be continuous taunting from the examiner, and the constant murmuring from the audience, it felt as if there was a growing pressure in my brain, a rising irritation that made me want to shut the audience up, and just destroy the examiner.

This is ridiculous… this day has just been too much!

First I nearly die in an alley, then I fill out enough paperwork to practically fill a BINDER, and now that the duel's going down, they plan to berate me and piss me off at every turn!?

Well… He wants me to impress him, does he…?

"All right then, you've got it! My turn!" I shouted, with a little more hostility than I originally intended. Drawing my next card, I couldn't help but smile a bit "Let's get started! I activate the spell card Charge of the Light Brigade! I now send the top three cards of my deck to my graveyard, in order to search my deck for a level 4 or lower lightsworn monster, and add it to my hand! I'll take Jain, Lightsworn Paladin!" adding the monster to my hand, I looked at my graveyard "Though that's not the only monster I got… when Wulf, Lightsworn Beast is sent from my deck to my graveyard, I summon it to the field!" (ATK: 2100)

"Neither will help much… did you forget my gravity bind trap?" The proctor asked.

"Not at all. I just don't care. I now flip summon Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner! (ATK: 1000) I activate her special ability! By discarding a card, I can special summon a lightsworn monster in my graveyard! Though, if I already have a lightsworn monster in my graveyard, I can special summon the one I discarded if it is also a lightsworn! I now do exactly that, discarding my Jain, Lightsworn Paladin in order to special summon her to my field! (ATK: 1800) Now… as for your gravity bind… I tribute my Lumina in order to summon Celestia, Lightsworn Angel! (ATK: 2300) As for her ability, when I tribute a lightsworn in order to summon her, I can send the top 4 cards of my deck to my graveyard, in order to destroy up to 2 cards on your side of the field!" sending the cards, I then stated "I now destroy your gravity bind, as well as the face-down morphing jar on your field!" watching them shatter, I moved to the next point of my turn, "Now… Jain! Attack Rocket Jumper! When she attacks a monster, she gains another 300 attack points!" (ATK: 1800 - 2100)

As Jain cut the rocket in half, I could feel some level of pride as I watched the examiners life points drop (Proctor LP: 4000 - 2900) "All right then… Wulf! Direct attack!" (Proctor LP: 2900 – 800) "Now… Celestia… let's wrap this up! Direct attack!" The angel following up Wulf's attack with a blast of light toward the examiner. (Proctor LP: 800 – 0)

"I believe that'll do it…" I finished, not really able to come up with some manner of over-the-top game-winning phrase off the top of my head. Honestly, I was just glad the rather exhausting experience was over for now.

"Not bad. You need to improve your semantics, but your gameplay foundation is solid." The examiner concluded.

"Yeah, I wasn't really sure what to think that first turn, but you just exploded out that second turn…" Kyle commented. "Though you seemed to get pretty worked up by the time you started that second turn…"

"Yeah…" I couldn't help but reply, rubbing the back of my head, somewhat embarrassed that it had gotten to that point. "He was turning the screws on me, though… so I just let him have it…" I explained, trying not to think about just how angry he and the audience had gotten me, nor could I really tell him what actually happened before that.

Though, honestly, the duel itself was easy compared that huge written test they'd made me complete between the end of the duel and their takeoff time. The questions weren't particularly difficult, but there were a lot of them to be done in a rather hurried timeframe.

"Couldn't have done that badly on the written test, either, or I wouldn't be in yellow, now would I…?" I then considered aloud. "Either way…" I resumed, now looking down at the island again "We seem to be descending now… let's get ready for our arrival…"

Yeah… get ready… hopefully then I can figure out what was going on, or, perhaps more importantly at this point, WHEN it was going on…