Author's note: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, TV Tokyo and, unfortunately, 4Kids TV. Speaking of which, I have considered using the Japanese versions of the Japanese characters' names rather than the 4Kids names, such as Judai Yuki instead of Jaden Yuki. Unfortunately, when I tried that, I ended up confusing myself, so I don't know how many other English speakers I would end up confusing. Instead I decided that I would make up a few of my own characters and give them Japanese names.
You may also notice that duels in this Fanfic give players 8000 initial life points instead of 4000. I wanted to make the rules more like the real world card game, which also means that players cannot normal summon monsters in face up defense position.
It was almost time for a new semester at Duel Academy. There was currently an exam in progress to determine which applicants would be accepted into the school as freshmen.
There were only two applicants left who were waiting to take their exams. The first was a boy named Taro Yamada. The last was a girl named Kokoro Chikara.
The head of the Obelisk Blue dorm, Doctor Crowler, was not impressed by Taro's transcripts. Intent on rejecting Taro from the academy, Crowler was using his own personal deck rather than an exam deck, much like he did to Jaden Yuki a couple years ago.
Taro's first move was to place two cards face down. He didn't even summon a monster.
Crowler then drew a card. "I activate the spell card, Trap Booster!" he said dramatically. "By discarding one card, I can activate one trap card from my hand. That trap card is Call of the Haunted!"
"How can you play Call of the Haunted when you don't have any monsters in your graveyard?" asked Taro.
"As a matter of fact, I do have a monster in my graveyard." said Crowler. "I discarded it to play Trap Booster. And that monster in the Trojan Horse!
"Since the Trojan Horse was a special summon, I can still normal summon another monster. Furthermore, if I summon an earth monster, I can treat the Trojan horse as two sacrifices! So say hello to Ancient Gear Golem!"
Kokoro was watching this duel from the sidelines. Not only did he just use up four cards from his hand to summon one monster, she thought, but they all had to be four specific cards. Why am I not surprised?
"Now Ancient Gear Golem will attack your life points directly!" said Crowler.
"Not so fast!" said Taro. "I activate my trap card, Mirror Force!"
"Sorry, but no can do," said Crowler. "While Ancient Gear Golem is attacking, you can't activate trap cards."
"Fine," said Taro. "I activate my other face down card: Scapegoats."
"Quick-play spell cards don't work either," said Crowler.
Taro cursed as he took 3000 points of damage, bringing him from 8000 to 5000 life points.
"Next I activate Giant Trunade, returning your face down cards and my Call of the Haunted to my hand," said Crowler. "Normally this would destroy the monster that was summoned from the graveyard. But the Trojan Horse is already back in the graveyard. Normally that would destroy Call of the Haunted, except that the Trojan Horse was never destroyed; I sacrificed it."
"Before Giant Trunade resolves, I activate Scapegoats, summoning four tokens to the field," said Taro.
"I place one card face down and end my turn," said Crowler.
Taro drew a card. "I activate Swords of Revealing Light," he said, "preventing you from attacking for three turns. I then end my turn."
Crowler drew a card. He now had two cards in his hand. "I activate my face down card," he said. "In case you didn't guess, it's Call of the Haunted all over again! I'm using it to summon the Trojan Horse from my Graveyard, which I will then sacrifice for my second Ancient Gear Golem!
"Next I activate Heavy Storm, destroying your Swords of Revealing Light. Yes, it also destroys my own Call of the Haunted, but as I've explained before, I don't need it any more.
Now, my first Ancient Gear Golem will attack one of your Scapegoat tokens. I should warn you that Ancient Gear Golem can inflict piercing battle damage when attacking a monster in defense mode. And since Scapegoat tokens have zero defense points, this might as well be a direct attack!"
Taro gulped in fear as his life points dropped to 2000.
"This duel is over!" said Crowler. "I attack with my second Ancient Gear Golem, wiping out the rest of your life points!"
Taro sank to his knees a his life points hit zero.
It was Kokoro's turn to duel Doctor Crowler. She bowed politely, then she and Crowler shuffled their respective decks. Kokoro could see a small spirit hovering next to Crowler's duel disk, helping him shuffle. Kokoro's eyes flashed, and a burst of energy blew the spirit away.
You may have been lucky in your last duel, she thought, and probably in previous duels as well, but your lucky streak is about to end with me.
Kokoro and Doctor Crowler each drew five cards. Then Kokoro drew a sixth.
"I normal summon Marauding Captain, allowing me to special summon Command Knight from my hand," said Kokoro rather quickly. "I then play one card face down and end my turn."
Marauding Captain's stats were Level 3, 1200 attack, 400 defense. Command Knight was Level 4, 1200 attack, 1900 defense. However, Command Knight's special ability gave all Kokoro's warriors 400 extra attack points, including Command Knight herself. Now Marauding Captain and Command Knight each had 1600 attack points.
Doctor Crowler then drew a card. He was not looking happy with his current hand. "I summon Ancient Gear Soldier (LV 4/1300 ATK/1300 DEF). I then play one card face down and end my turn."
"At the end of your turn, I activate my face down Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying your face down card," said Kokoro. Doctor Crowler's face down card was destroyed, revealing it to be Negate Attack.
Kokoro drew a card. "I summon Dark Blade (LV 4/1800 (+400 = 2200) ATK/1500 DEF). I then attack your Ancient Gear Soldier with my Marauding Captain."
Doctor Crowler's Ancient Gear Soldier was destroyed, and Crowler took 300 points of damage, reducing his life points to 7700.
"I then attack you directly with Command Knight, followed by Dark Blade," said Kokoro. Crowler took 3800 points of damage, leaving him at 3900 life points.
Doctor Crowler drew a card. "I activate Premature Burial. By paying 800 life points, I can summon Ancient Gear Soldier from my graveyard." His life points dropped to 3100. "I then sacrifice Ancient Gear Soldier to summon Ancient Gear Beast (LV 6/2000 ATK/2000 DEF). Now, Ancient Gear Beast, attack Command Knight!"
"Sorry," said Kokoro. "You can't attack Command Knight unless she's the only monster on my side of the field."
"What? Fine!" said Crowler angrilly. "I attack Marauding Captain instead."
Marauding Captain was destroyed, and Kokoro took 400 points of damage, leaving her at 7600 life points.
Kokoro drew a card. "I activate Reinforcement of the Army," she said, "allowing me to add another Command Knight from my deck to my hand. I then summon her to the field."
Since Kokoro now had two Command Knights, all her Warrior-type monsters gained 800 attack points. Now each Command Knight had 2000 attack points, and Dark Blade had 2600.
"I attack your Ancient Gear Beast with my Dark Blade," said Kokoro. Ancient Gear Beast was destroyed, and Crowler took 600 points of damage, leaving him at 2500.
"I then attack you directly with both Command Knights," said Kokoro. The first Command Knight reduced Crowler's life points to 500, and the second reduced him to zero.
Jaden Yuki and Syrus Trusdale were watching this duel from the bleachers. "Wow," said Syrus. "That girl just defeated Doctor Crowler almost as easily as he defeated that boy who applied before her."
"Yeah," said Jaden. "I wonder what happened to Crowler? He seemed a bit off. I was expecting him to at least summon his Ancient Gear Golem. That might have turned things around."
"What was your name again?" asked Doctor Crowler.
"Kokoro Chikara," said Kokoro.
"Well, Kokoro Chikara, welcome to Duel Accademy," said Doctor Crowler in a voice that didn't sound very sincere.
"Thank you very much," said Kokoro, bowing.
Something evil is coming this way very soon, she thought. When it does, I'll be ready to fight it. It will require all my strength, so I can't depend on luck.