Researching Ryan

Winter Break had come to a end and the rest of the students were returning to Duel Academy.

Chumley got off the boat and was greeted by Jaden and Syrus.

"Yo Chum, how was your holiday?" Jaden asked with a big grin on his face.

"It was nice, I got to spend some time with my dad." Chumley said.

"Does your dad still want you to work in his sake factory?" Syrus asked.

"Well kind of, he told me that he wishes me the best of luck and he hopes I can make my own way in the world, but if things don't work out there's always a place for me at the factory." Chumley said.

"Don't worry Chum, by the time you leave the academy I'm sure you'll be a great duelist." Jaden said. Chumley smiled, although he wasn't sure if Jaden was right about him. The three left the dock and returned to the Slifer dorm to catch up on what happened during the holidays.

"Wait you're kidding me, Jaden really tried to take on Zane." Chumley said, shocked.

"Of course I did, I'm not afraid of any opponent." Jaden said with pride.

"So who won?" Chumley asked. At this point Jaden became silent.

"Zane won, in one turn." Syrus said.

Chumley had to hold in a laugh.

"Hey, it's not funny." Jaden said.

"Well looking back on it now, it was a little funny." Syrus said with a chuckle. Jaden was about to protest but instead broke out in laughter.

"I guess I did aim a little too high that time." He said.

After the three stopped laughing they continued to talk about everything they did during the holidays.

Alexis was happy to see Mindy and Jasmine again, but a small part of her wished the holidays would last longer.

"Hey Alexis." Jasmine said as she ran up and hugged her.

The three walked back to their dorm talking along the way.

"Alexis, you'll never guess what." Mindy said as she moved some of her hair back to show she was wearing earrings. "I got my ears pierced."

Alexis smiled, Mindy had wanted to get her ears pierced for years but her parents would always tell her no.

"How did you convince your parents?" Alexis asked. Mindy flashed a sly smile.

"Well I didn't, they don't know I got them pierced yet." She said.

After arriving at their dorm the three decided to continue talking in Mindy's room. Her room was like all the other girl's rooms expect she had decorated her walls with posters of her favorite boy bands and resting on her pillows was a teddy bear that she always slept with.

Mindy and Jasmine had both explained everything they had done during the holidays and were now asking Alexis what she did.

"So Alexis, was it boring while we were gone?" Mindy asked.

"Not really, I spent most of the holiday with Ryan." Alexis said. As soon as she said Ryan's name Jasmine's eyes widened.

"WHAT, YOU SPENT THE HOLIDAYS WITH A BOY!" She shouted.

"What's wrong with that?" Alexis asked.

"But Alexis, he's a boy." Jasmine said.

Alexis sighed, she was beginning to wish that she hadn't told Jasmine anything.

"Jasmine, I know that you don't like boys, but Ryan's really nice." She said.

"Oh please, what do you we even know about him." Jasmine said.

"We'll know everything in a minute." Mindy said.

Alexis and Jasmine turned to see that while they were talking Mindy had logged onto her computer. Alexis looked over Mindy's shoulder and saw that she was typing up Ryan's name into the search engine.

A article about him came up and Mindy began reading it.

"Name Ryan Walker. Father Dustin Walker. Mother Sherry Walker. Sister Michelle Walker." She said. Alexis remembered what he had told her about his parents, but never mentioned their names.

"Wow, it says here that when he was twelve he got 3rd place in the junior national dueling championship." Mindy continued. As she read the next part, Mindy's eyes widened.

"Oh my god." She said in shock.

"What is it?" Alexis and Jasmine asked at the same time.

"It says that after he returned from the national championship, his mother, father and sister were discovered dead." Mindy said.

"Strangely, the doctors couldn't find the cause of death. It was like they just dropped dead."

Alexis and Jasmine were shocked at what they heard.

"Does it say anything else?" Jasmine asked. Mindy continued to read.

"It says that he doesn't have any immediate family so he lived on the street before enrolling in Duel Academy and that's everything it says about him." Mindy said as she read the bottom of the page.

After Mindy finished reading Alexis couldn't help but feel guilty. She felt like they had invaded Ryan's privacy. Even Jasmine wished they hadn't read about his past. Despite how badly she felt, Alexis was still curious.

'I wonder what he did during his time on the street.' Alexis thought.

After leaving the boat Bastion headed straight to the Ra Yellow dorm. He had spent a lot of his holiday time working on new strategies to defeat some of the best duelists in his class.

After arriving at his dorm Bastion was met by Amy a Ra Yellow girl who spent most of her time practicing her cooking. She was half a foot shorter than Bastion and had long blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Bastion you're back. Do you want to come to the dining room we're having a welcome back party, and I made some cookies." Amy said nervously with a blush forming on her face.

"Sorry but I have to do some work first. I'll join the party later." Bastion said, not noticing the disappointed look on Amy's face.

Bastion entered his room and started to put the finishing touches on two decks he had been working on. After a half hour Bastion finished both of his new decks.

'There I have one deck to counter Jaden, and one to counter Ryan.' He thought.

After his work was done Bastion left his room and decided to join the other yellow students for the welcome back party.