"I'll see you all later on. I've got a few things I need to do before the day's over. Jaden, I'm counting on you three to make these boys feel welcome. Who knows, maybe we'll get a chance to see what their dueling skills are like," Sheppard said with a grin before walking out.

"Oh yeah! that'd be totally sweet!" Jaden exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air with a grin.

"There's just one problem with that, Jaden. These two don't look like they have a deck," Bastion pointed out.

"A deck?" Red inquired, pulling on his black shirt and vest while Blue worked his way into his clothes.

"Yeah, you know? of Duel Monster cards!" Syrus chimed in.

"Duel what now?" Blue asked with a raised brow, zipping up his pants beneath the towel before hopping off the bed he was on.

Jaden, Syrus and Bastion all looked at each other. In that moment, they all came to the same realization, and Jaden, for the first time, thought that maybe, just maybe Bastion was right about the whole dimensional portal thing. Red and Blue had no idea what Duel Monsters were, and that just would not sit well with Jaden, who in that moment was determined to change that immediately.

Reborn To Duel

Standby Phase

Enrollment?

"Well, here it is! It's not much, but at least it's better than nothing right?" Jaden said as he opened the door to the room that Red and Blue would be inhabiting until further notice.

Red and Blue glanced around at the room they would be sharing. It had two desks, one by the window, the other facing a wall. A bunk bed was on the left side of the room against the wall. There was a large closet that had enough room for the two of them to put their belongings, or lack-thereof. While all of this was nice, the very fact that the two rivals would be bunking together didn't exactly sit too well with them. But what other choice did they have?

"I call top bunk," Blue said quickly as he stepped farther into the room to inspect it.

"I'm fine with bottom bunk, though I think that we should take them down later so we can feel like we have our own space," Red said with a shrug.

Blue thought for a moment and then turned to face Red. "I suppose that wouldn't be a bad idea. It's small, but it's managable," Blue replied, shifting his eyes to the desk facing the window. "I call the window desk..."

"I was gonna call that one!" Red said apprehensively.

"Too bad, ya snooze ya lose pal," Blue laughed, taking a seat on the chair by the window and propping his feet up.

Red muttered something unitelligable under his breath and let out an exasperated sigh. He could tell that this was going to be difficult.

"So guys, about what you said back in the office... do you two really not know what Duel Monsters are?" Jaden asked nervously, disbelief lingering in his tone as he spoke.

"If we did, do you think we would have asked?" was Blue's retort as he tilted his head back to look behind him.

"Well no, but still..."

"Then there's your answer, smart guy. We don't have a clue what they are or where we are for that matter," Blue continued, earning a look from Red that essentially told him to dial back the snark.

"What Blue is really trying to say is, we don't know what they are, but we would like to learn about them. Isn't that right, Blue?" Red asked with a bit of iron in his words.

Blue rolled his eyes and turned around in his chair to face them.

"Yeah, yeah. No need to get your undies in a twist Red," Blue shot back. "So, Jaden was it? what are these... Duel Monsters you seem so bent on teaching us about. Considering you couldn't stop asking about it since we left the nurse's office, they must be pretty important."

"Not just important! they're a way of life! Duel Monsters is the best game there is. It's fun, and if you get really good, you can make the pros! I'm gonna be the next King of Games!" Jaden declared boldly.

"King of Games?" Red asked with a raised brow.

"Don't tell me you don't know who the King of Games is," Jaden replied with a surprised expression.

At this, Syrus blinked. He knew that these two weren't in the loop about a whole lot, but to not know the greatest name in Duel Monster history...

"No?" Blue stated, earning a surprised exclamation from Jaden and Syrus.

"WHAT!?"

"What, is he important or something?" Red inquired.

"Is he important? more like legendary! he was the greatest duelist around. He's in our text books, his posters are in card shops, a museum features his deck!" Syrus prattled on.

"Sounds like he's a pretty big deal then," Red replied, a nervous sweat trickling down the side of his face at their reactions.

"He is. I'm shocked you guys don't know. I thought everyone knew about him," Jaden added with a confused look.

Red and Blue looked at each other. Having been rivals for ages, it didn't take much for them to reach the same conclusion on a lot of things. They knew that while it was unbelievable for them to not know who this "King of Games" was, they also knew that if Jaden and his friends found themselves in their world, they wouldn't have a clue who anyone was either. They wouldn't know who the Elite Four were, or the Gym Leaders. The two trainers looked back at Jaden and Syrus as they whispered to each other about the current dilemma.

"So... back to our original question. What are Duel Monsters?" Red asked, taking point on the conversation.

Jaden took a deep breath and reached into his deck holster and pulled out a deck of about forty cards. Reaching into it, he pulled out a single card and flipped it over to reveal what appeared to be a man dressed in a green, feathered costume with wings and a mask.

"This is Elemental Hero Avian! see, this is what's called a monster card," Jaden explained as Red and Blue got closer to inspect the card.

"He looks pretty cool. So... they're just cards then?" Red asked, earning a laugh from Jaden.

"Just cards? they're not just cards, Red! in a duel, they come to life!" Jaden exclaimed happily, reaching for his duel disk. "This is what's called a duel disk. You put the card here," Jaden explained, turning on the disk and placing the card onto the monster card zone to demonstrate, "and then..."

At first, nothing happened. But after a few short moments, a brilliant light appeared in a single spot in the room, and bursting forth from it was the emerald clad hero himself, spreading his wings in a showy display before landing on the ground in a power pose, crossing his arms. Red and Blue blinked in slight surprise. They were used to monsters materializing from their alchemic spheres, but coming out of a card was definitely new. Curious, Red walked up to Avian and reached out to touch him. However, instead of feeling a physical being, his hand went straight through!

"What the--!?"

Jaden laughed and removed the card from the duel disk. As he did, Avian quickly disappeared.

"It's just a hologram, a projection of the monster that's in the card. They're not real or anything, but with these," Jaden explained, pointing to his duel disk, "they sorta become real. Pretty sweet huh?"

"That is pretty cool, I'll admit that. But let me ask you something," Blue chimed in, "you mentioned something interesting when we left the office... something about Pro Dueling, as in... professional? like a job?" Blue inquired further, earning a nod from Syrus.

"Yeah, the pros are where it's at! see, when you graduate from here, you'll have a shot at competing in the Pro League. That's where the fame and big money comes in," Jaden added excitedly.

"Wait, did you say big money?" Blue asked with a raised brow.

"He did, and there's more to it than that," came Bastion's voice, prompting those in the room to turn towards the new entrant.

"Oh, hey Bastion! we were just telling these two about Duel Monsters," Jaden said with a grin.

"So I heard. I just came from Chancellor Sheppard's office with a message for these two," Bastion informed the group, gaining Red and Blue's attention.

"Oh? and what's he want with us?" Blue asked curiously.

Bastion walked farther into the room and leaned against the desk nearest the door.

"He wants to meet the two of you in the office. Something about getting you two enrolled here," Bastion said with a smirk.

Red and Blue looked at one another with a slight degree of uncertainty. Enrolled? in Duel Academy? how it would play out was beyond them, considering they knew nothing of Duel Monsters, save for the miniscule amount of knowledge they had imparted to them by Jaden and Syrus. However, what they did know, was that they were pretty much stuck. Stuck in a world they didn't know, with no sure-fire way to get back to their own world. With a nod to one another, the two faced Bastion and stood up.

"Lead the way then. It sounds like an interesting proposal to me," Blue chimed in, walking over to Bastion, followed by Red.

"You guys are gonna be enrolled here!? sweet! now we'll get to teach ya how to duel!" Jaden exclaimed enthusiastically.

"We'll be looking forward to it," Red replied with a faint smile before walking out with Blue and Bastion.

The Chancellor's office was quite spacious. It had an incredible view of the campus in the form of a window that took up one section of the room. There were two doors on either side of the room and a large desk in front of the window. Beside it was a table with a few potted plants on it. Standing behind the desk, facing the window, was the Chancellor himself. Hearing the two young boys enter, he smiled and turned around to greet them.

"Red, Blue! I see you got my message, that's good!" Sheppard said with a cheerful grin and a twinkle in his eye. "Why don't we get right down to business. I'm sure Bastion informed you of the nature of this visit?"

"Er... yeah, something about enrollment?" Red began.

"That's right. I've decided that it would be best if the two of you were enrolled as students here at the academy. Now, I understand that your knowledge of Duel Monsters is very limited, but that's what this school is for, to teach you our way of life!" Sheppard said with a smile.

"There's just one problem with that," Blue piped up, crossing his arms as he spoke, "we don't have any cards. We can't exactly learn how to duel without them can we?" Blue finished.

Sheppard chuckled and shook his head.

"That's not going to be a problem, because I've already solved your little issue. I've arranged to give you two some credits that you can use to exchange for card packs in the shop as well as buy some of the cards on display," Sheppard explained. "We can't have you two here without at least providing you some cards to use."

"Are you sure? I mean... that's rather generous of you but--"

"We'll take it!" Blue cut in, earning a raised brow from Red. "Hey, this guy's offering us free credits, whatever those are, and a way to learn to function here. Remember what Jaden talked about? apparently this game is pretty lucrative..." Blue said in a hushed tone.

"Yeah, but..."

"But nothin' Red. Besides, I kinda wanna learn how this works. So, Chancellor Sheppard was it? we're in," Blue decided getting a sigh out of Red before he agreed too.

"Excellent! now, if you two will just take these," Sheppard said as he reached behind his desk to take out two duel disks. "They were the only two left in stock. We have a new shipment coming in soon, but I think these will do the trick for now."

Red and Blue blinked as they looked at the disks. It struck them as oddly coincidental that both disks were red and blue. With a small degree of hesitancy, they took the disks respective of their names and placed them on their arms the way they saw Jaden demonstrate.

"The credits are in your disks. Think of them as your own personal ID," Sheppard explained. "Your credits are in there at the moment. You've been given enough to gather some card packs from the shop and build a working deck. Spend them wisely you two, as a deck must be constructed with care. Put your heart into the cards and they will be like lifelong companions."

At these words, images of Red and Blue's teams flashed through their minds. They knew what the man spoke of, and even though they didn't have them in this world, they knew they were out there somewhere, and if they were going to someday return to their home, they would need to learn how to live where they were now.

"Thank you, Chancellor Sheppard. We'll do our best," Red replied with a smile.

"Glad to hear it! now," Sheppard paused, pressing a small button on his desk as he spoke, "Sadie, if you could come to the office, I have a task for you!"

"Be right there!" came a cheerful voice from the speaker on his desk.

"Sadie, our card shop employee will show you guys to the shop. She'll assist the two of you in buying card packs and when you're done, you'll be able to build your deck," Sheppard added with a grin.

After a few moments, the door to the office opened and in walked a young brunette with long hair and deep brown eyes, wearing a shop uniform consisting of a pink dressy shirt with straps that connected to a blue skirt. She had on a visor with the Duel Academy logo on it.

"Ah, there you are Sadie! If you would be so kind as to show these two gentlemen to the card shop, that would be wonderful. They're being enrolled here and will be needing cards to make a deck. I trust you can handle it?" Sheppard asked.

"You can count on me, Chancellor," Sadie said with a bright smile, eagerness in her eyes as she looked at the two boys.

"Excellent! now if you'll excuse me, I have some work to catch up on. When you two are done, you may return here so we can fill out the rest of the paperwork for you two," Sheppard said with a bright smile.

Red and Blue nodded quietly and turned to follow Sadie out of the office.