ALL NOVEL Skip Ahead
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
A slim teen with reddish brown hair walked through the dense forest in Sylvans Park. Carrying a Neo-Spacian theme backpack over her shoulder. 'Hmm, where did he say it was again?' After a few minutes of walking, they found what they were looking for, a cave with two twisted trees hiding the entrance. Moving some branches out of their way, they entered the cave. Smiling at the sight of a dismantlable table and chair being illuminated by sunlight peeking through holes in the ceiling of the cave. They approached a teen sitting at one side of the table looking through a binder of cards, who smiled and waved at them when they noticed them approaching.
"Hello Annie, did I make wait?"
"Nah, I just got here. Let's go, Jack, it's getting late." Jack nodded, packing away his card binders. Dismantling the tables and chairs, he put the pieces into a giant hiking backpack where he keeps his stuff. The sight of her best friend and rival wearing a backpack half his size never fails to amaze her. She still remembers the time when her dad almost threw his back when he tried to carry it. "So how was today's client? Got anything interesting?" Jack laughed while shooting her a knowing look.
"Who do you think you're trying to fool? You can just ask if I got anything that can improve your deck."
"Hmph! I have no idea what you're talking about." She crossed her arms, avoiding his gaze,
"Hahaha, don't worry you'll always be the first one to know when I get something that might interest you. I can't disappoint my number one client now can I?" Jack laugh once more when he noticed her ears turning red. He only stopped when he noticed her glaring at him. "Ok, ok I'll stop. And to answer your earlier question, I haven't gotten anything interesting since the last time I showed you my stock. But today's client was quite satisfied with today's trade, so I can say that today was another great day for the Garbage Collector." Annie frowned at the name.
"I still don't know why you decided to go by that name. You should have chosen a name that doesn't suggest that you collect and trade away trash."
"Hey, I quite like the name."
"Yea, but I feel that you should have chosen a more flattering name than Garbage Collector."
"I think the name best suit my trader moto. One man's trash is another man's treasure. Most of my more profitable trades are for cards that others offered me because they were nothing more than trash to them. Take the Starlight Road that I got from a client because they use a Predaplant deck. To them, it was a trash card they got from their older sibling, but to my client that uses Stardust, it was a treasure that they were willing to trade a lot for. At the end of that trade chain, I managed to acquire the Instant Fusion and Miracle Fusion you were looking for."
"Yea, and I appreciate you trading me those cards. But all I'm saying is that you should choose a better name than Garbage Collector. Maybe The Merchant, or Arms Dealer, something like that."
"Those names sound too generic, I want something that stands out." They continued talking until they reached Annie's house, after waving her goodbye he continued walking home. As he walked he thought about his best friend. 'She hasn't changed one bit over the years, well not really. Her duelling skills did improve a lot over the years, but I still lose most of our duels against each other. Too bad she still refuses to use anything but HEROES, it makes it easy to tech against her. I can use one hand to count the number of times she used a deck that wasn't a HERO deck or an archetype she considers cool looking.' Reaching his house he opened the door, being greeted by the sight of his dad cooking while his mom set the table.
"Ah you're just in time for dinner, hurry up and wash up so we can start eating." He nodded before rushing upstairs to his room to put away his backpack. After washing up he went down and ate dinner with his parents. The family ate in silence before Kate spoke.
"Are you ready for the entrance exam to DUEL Academy tomorrow?"
"Yup, I'm confident that I'll pass the written and practical exams."
"Good luck, we won't be able to drop you off at the site of the exam. But know that both your dad and I are cheering you on."
"Thanks, mom and dad." After the families chatted as they finished their dinner, Jack went to his room. Grabbing both of his decks and binders out he looked through them, making sure that both decks are as strong as they can be. 'Hmm, which deck should I use? I have more experience with my EVO deck, but my Adventurer Token deck is more reliable.' Opening his laptop, he looked over the exam info. 'There are two exams for DUEL Acadamy. The written exam tests the student's general knowledge, ranging from language, science and even Duel theory. Afterwards is the practical exam, where the student duels one of the examiners. The written exam is graded like other tests, while the practical exam is graded on how well you do. Meaning I don't have to win, just show that I have enough skill and potential for the academy.' Jack frowned after reading the last line.
'That's very vague if I have enough skill and potential? Who decides that? I'm also guessing that the examiners will hold back against the students, otherwise, some might not even last long enough to show off their skills.' Jack rubbed his aching head. 'There are too many variables for me to account for. I'll just decide which deck to use when I meet my opponent.' He was knocked out of his musing by the ringing of his Duel Watch. Seeing that the call is from Annie, he answered. "What's up, Annie?"
"Just calling to wish you luck for tomorrow. We might not see each other until after the exams, so I decided to call now just in case."
"Thanks, Annie, and I wish you luck for tomorrow too." They spent the next 30 minutes talking about how to make last minutes improvements to their decks. "We should go to bed early, we need to be plenty rested for tomorrow. Good night Annie."
"Night." After hanging up, Jack put away his laptop and placed both his decks on top of the nightstand. However, after 15 minutes of just laying in bed, he sat up and grabbed his laptop.
"Ok, maybe a few more minutes of research. You never know I might have missed some crucial information that might impact how well I do tomorrow." Only after an hour of reading did he finally fall asleep. Meanwhile, as Jack read up on past exams, Annie look was looking through her HERO deck. Smiling as she thought about all the fun she would have at the academy.
"I can't wait to ace this exam and start attending the academy. Just imagining all the duels I'll have makes me restless. I'm also one step closer to showing the world what HEROES can do!" As she held up her HERO deck she noticed a brown light in the corner of her eye. Turning her head she only found her Kuriboh deck laying on the nightstand next to her bed. Rubbing her eyes, to make sure that the deck wouldn't suddenly glow, she frowned. "I must be tired if I'm starting to see things. I should probably go to bed."Placing her HERO deck down, she was about to go to sleep before she picked up her other deck.
"Should I bring you?" Looking through the deck she squinted at the deck. "Probably not, it's not like I'll use it anyways." She placed the deck down beside her other one. Annie fell asleep with thoughts of all the potential adventures she will go on with her rival.
While both the kids sleep, a man in a lab coat typed away on his computer. Grinning at what the data is showing him. He was only brought back to reality by the sound of his Duel Watch ringing, looking at the time he answered. "Hello, who is calling me at this hour."
"Ah, sorry to bother you this late at night Dr.Romach. It's just I noticed you decided to accept the teaching job, I wanted to know why you changed your mind." Romach laughed as he glanced at the data being displayed on his computer screen.
"It's just a project I'm working on that is close to being finished, and the data I acquire while teaching would be very valuable for me for it."
"Ah, while I'm happy you accepted the job. I'm obligated to inform you that you are not allowed to gather data on the students for personal reasons."
"I fully understand, all the data I need is on the duels. Data that is available to all teachers, so I'm not gathering anything personal from the students."
"Hmm, ok Dr.Romach if that's all you want, then I see nothing wrong with that. I'm looking forward to working with you. And thank you for accepting the job offer."
"No, thank you for allowing me to have this job." As the call ended, Romach looked through the data once more. "And thank you for giving me the perfect opportunity to gather all the data I need to finalize project DS. There should be plenty of suitable subjects that would have the honour of being part of this project." Once Romach finished downloading all the data to his USB, he stood up and turned off the computer. Grinning as he left his office, leaving no trace that he was ever there.