Trouble blooms

The trio began their walk out of the academy, heading to the Slifer Red dorm one last time before Clay would go to the Obelisk dorm. He invited them to join him for a meal at the Obelisk dorm sometime, not wanting to part ways with his friends indefinitely.

"Heck yeah, who can say no to free food!" Jaden was quick to agree to the visit to the dorm, never one to miss out on food. "Just say the time and I'll be there in a jiffy."

"I'll go to, I want to see Zane while I'm there and have a talk with him." Syrus had a determined look in his eyes as he spoke. After having the talk with Clay and Jaden he was going to try his best to see Zane again.

The three ate their food and chatted for the rest of the night. When it was time for Clay to leave he paid Professor Banner a visit to say somethings in private.

"I want to thank you Professor, if you hadn't given me that loan on the first day then I wouldn't have been able to make it this far in Duel Academy." Clay bowed his head to the head of the Slifer dorm. "If there is anything that you need in the future, please let me know."

"Oh please, how could I do that to one of my students. Now, you better go before it's lights out at the Obelisk dorm." Banner opened the door and led Clay out of the room.

"Yes sir, I'll see you tomorrow for class!" With one final wave goodbye Clay left the Slifer dorm and made his way to the Obelisk Blue dorm and his new dorm room.

Walking in, he was met with the gazes of multiple students. They all despised Clay, especially the ones who he had beaten in his most recent public duel. Their stares didn't bother him though and he just continued walking to the stairs for the second floor where the dorms were.

"Keep staring all you want, you aren't going to get any better at dueling by doing it." As Clay reached the stairs he spoke loud enough for the entire room to hear his words. They were furious, this newbie thought they could insult the entire dorm on his first day!

The students began cursing at Clay, but he ignored them, heading to his room to settle down and rest. Opening the door to his room Clay couldn't help but be surprised at the difference between Obelisk and Slifer. He had seen what it was like in old video games and the anime, but seeing it in real life was another thing altogether.

The room had a king size bed for him to rest on, a sofa on one side of the room in front of a massive TV, and a balcony overlooking the lake. The room was massive, allowing for multiple students ample room to do whatever they wanted without much worrying about space.

"This is the life." Clay walked over to his bed, turned around and fell down. He sunk into the bed, relaxing his muscle and mind from the day he just had. He was so exhausted that he fell into a deep sleep right then and there.

***

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

The sound of an alarm clock blared into the ears of Clay. He stretched out his arms, lifted his body and looked around at his room. The alarm clock was still going off, causing Clay to have to roll off the bed to turn it off.

"Guess I should get ready for school." Clay walked to a door in the corner of his room, opening it and discovering a bathroom. "I thought this was a closet, I guess I have my own bathroom now."

Deciding that this wouldn't get to his head he hurried to take off his clothes and took a shower. With this being one of the best showers he had had since he came to this new life, Clay ended up staying in longer than he would have liked.

Walking out with a towel over his waist, Clay proceeded to get ready for his day. While getting ready a knock sounded from the other side of the door.

"Clay, it's me, Riley. Dr. Crowler said that you wanted to have a talk with me?" Riley's voice came from the other side of the door.

"Riley, come in." The door opened and a brown curly hair boy walked in. His brown eyes looked at Clay with frustration and fascination. Frustration as he was angry he had been beaten so badly and fascination as his former opponent wanted to talk to him and only him.

"I wanted to see you and talk about the duel we had." Clay motioned for Riley to take a seat on his couch. "Your deck is different from the other duelists isn't it? The other duelists focus on strong monsters, trying to beat down their opponents with big attack points, but you had a card that allowed you to damage me."

Riley remembered how he could damage Clay and how he wanted the other duelists to think the same thing. Unfortunately they didn't have any cards that could let them deal any damage, only big beat sticks.

"Yes, I don't really think that everything can be solved by using big monsters, but because of that strategy I don't have the chance to survive many turns before I am overwhelmed by monsters." Riley came clean about his troubles with his deck and his ideas about dueling.

"So, the problem you're facing is you can't survive long enough to beat your opponents." Clay summed up the trouble Riley was facing in a short sentence. There had been times when this was a problem he had faced as well, not having enough monsters to defend himself.

"Yes, if you put it like that that is the issue I am facing." Riley looked at Clay with confusion written on his face. "I don't understand why you're explaining my problems."

"You are one of the duelists who had piqued my interest, not relying on brute strength to beat someone." Clay walked in front of Riley and squatted in front of him. "I want to make you one of the best of the best. I want to make you someone I can rely on."

After hearing the reasoning of Clay wanting to chat, Riley wanted to laugh in his face. How was someone, who just came into the top dorm, going to make him, one of the weakest from the top, the best of the best? There was no way that this was going to go the way Clay had envisioned this.

"How are you going to make me one of the best duelists at this school?" Even though it sounded like a ridiculous plan Riley was still intrigued by the possibility of improving.

"I'm going to have you treat life points as a resource instead of something that needs to be protected." There was a plan in Clay's mind about how he was going to accomplish this task, but only a few cards came to mind when he said what he was going to do for Riley.

This was a huge shock to Riley. Life points being treated as expendable? This was something that he had never heard of before. You win when your life points are higher than your opponents, so why would someone intentionally lower their life points.

"You must be crazy if you think someone is going to go for something like that." This time Riley did laugh out loud.

"Oh really, give me a few days and I'll gather the cards and make a deck that will change your mind." Clay was going to give his all for Riley. If he could have someone that could hold his back then he wouldn't have to worry in the future.

"If you can show me that I can treat life points as resources I might show some interest." Riley was fine as long as he was able to be the best. "But, until that time I don't think I will be able to around you. The others are planning to take you out, put you in your place."

Riley rose from his seat, heading towards the exit before turning around and looking at Clay. "When you prove to me that your method is possible I will start staying by your side." With that Riley walked out of the door.

A smile on Clay's face could be seen if you looked inside his dorm. He had finally found someone who he might be able to rely on when the Shadow Riders come searching for the Sacred Beasts. He walked out of his room and headed to his classes.

The rest of the day was classes, lectures and glares from other students. The students never approached Clay but they gave him glares that, if possible, could kill. Clay ignored them however, acting as if he didn't notice them.

After Classes he went to the shop to find the cards he needed for this new deck of his. He had plenty of DP from beating those 20 duelists in one duel.

"Clay, it's so good to see you!" Ms. Dorothy called out to Clay as he walked into the shop. "What can I do for you?"

"Hi Ms. Dorothy, I'm here looking for some specific cards. Do you have a catalogue that I can look at and browse?"

"Sure, give me a second to go grab it for you." Ms. Dorothy walked away into the back of the shop, coming back with a book in her hands. "This is the catalogue for the cards we have, if you want anymore than we can order them for you but it will cost you a bit more DP to buy them from the mainland."

"Thank you." Clay started looking through the catalogue for anything that he could use. There were a few cards here and there but he couldn't find all the cards he needed. He wrote down all the cards from the catalogue and the cards he needed purchased from the mainland and handed the list to Ms. Dorothy.

"Are these all the cards you need? I'll go grab the ones we have and place the order for the ones on the mainland." Ms. Dorothy walked into the back again and after a few minutes, came out holding a few cards in her hands. "These are the available ones currently. I'll place your order by the end of the day."

"Thank you very much Ms. Dorothy. Now what do I owe you for these cards?"