By Any Other Name

by Phaerix

When Torey Adams goes to school, he's expecting awe-inspiring holograms, new experiences, and the thrill of a good duel. When the duels become much more than what he bargained for, can he handle it when it's not just his life points at stake?

1. Dawn of a New Duel

Preface/Foreword/Beginning Notes

This story requires some basic knowledge of the game mechanics themselves. However, I will explain certain things like card effects and monster appearances and whatnot. Fret not; I won't leave you all in the dark.

Life points, the "Hit Points" in Yu-Gi-Oh (GX) will be displayed every time there is a change. When a monster is summoned (or pointed out) its statistics will be displayed as in the following manner: (Level/Attack/Defense). They will also be displayed when there is a change in any of the statistics.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, nor do I own the card game itself. I own most of the characters here -- most resemblances to existing, non-Yu-Gi-Oh! Characters are intentional. Any character that I do not mention at the end of the first chapter the character was introduced in that bears a resemblance to a character you are aware of is not intentional, and is coincidental. I swear.

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Chapter 1: Dawn of a New Duel

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The sun shone in through the open window, curtains flaring in the pleasant breeze. Golden rays crept upon a pair of closed eyes, causing them to flinch and retreat under the covers. All that remained was a shock of tossed brown hair. The figure under the covers grunted.

From beyond the door of the bedroom, an older female voice bellowed, "Torey! Wake up! You're going to be late!"

'Torey' refused to move. His entire head was now under the covers, with a pillow for an added sound barrier.

Noting the silence, heavy -- or angry -- footsteps made their way across the hall to Torey's door. Upon reaching it, thick, dull sounds struck the door, accompanied by constant cries of "Torey!" reaching in through the cracks under the door. Torey remained hidden. Finally, as if fed up, the female's bellowing ceased, and the door was at rest.

From beneath the covers, Torey breathed a sigh of relief, and pulled the covers away from his face. He had amber eyes set in a soft face, framed from above by his short brown hair.

The door flew open, revealing a tall woman graced with similar features as the bed-ridden boy. Her form was slightly wrinkled and covered in a plain pink dress, though it commanded an air of superiority and all-encompassing power. Her own brown hair was tied in a loose ponytail, though it showed much less age than her face. In fact, her hair was gleaming in the morning light. "Torey Adams! Get yourself out of bed this instant! The boat leaves in half an hour!"

It took a few moments for the words to sink in. "It's already seven-thirty?!" he cried out. "I'm going to be late!" He jumped out of bed and dove into his closet. In a muffled tone he yelled, "Thanks Mom!"

By that time she had already gone back to the kitchen. Torey rummaged through his closet and tossed out a backpack, a pair of pants, a shirt, miscellaneous bits of important clothing, a duel disk, a profane term, and a pair of sneakers. "Alright. That should be everything. Though I probably shouldn't have tossed the disk," he mumbled, shaking the boomerang-shaped device. He made his way into a pair of khaki pants and a green shirt, stuffed everything into his backpack, slipped on his shoes, and dashed out of his room into the kitchen.

"Torey, you're going to need a lot of help once you get there. If I'm not around you're going to be in a world of hurt every morning," his mother joked.

Torey wasn't very amused, and gulped down a glass of milk. He took the piece of bread on his plate and ran to the door. "Thanks again Mom! Take care!"

"They just keep getting younger and younger..." Ms. Adams mused.

On the road, a boy with brown hair ambled towards the sunrise. "She is right, though," Torey said to himself. He took a mild pace towards the docks nearby. "Already going out on my own... with just a bunch of cards. Then again I am going to a school that teaches me how to use these better." He took out a card from his green deck box, and held it up to the sun. "We're going to do great. I can feel it."

In the distance he could see the ocean, its pristine blue sheen, the ruddy brown planks of the docks, and finally, the polished white hull of the boat, with the letters "S.S. Academia" painted neatly on its prow.

"There it is! My ticket to good times!" he smiled, and dashed for the boat.

Several hours passed. Along with breakfast, there was a fair number of things left behind on the trip.

Stepping off of the ramp of the boat, Torey surveyed the scenery. An island with a volcano in the far east, with numerous buildings built next to it. Many forests and points of elevation were visible, offering nearly any sort of geography a student at this institution could have wanted.

Ahead of the docks and the lighthouse was a large group of people about Torey's age. The crowd was immensely diverse -- far too many differences among everyone to distinctly point out anything besides the age range: teenage.

Torey walked ahead, straight to the back of the crowd. At the front there was a man raised upon an unseen platform. The man was dressed in a maroon trench coat-type uniform, and spoke into a microphone held in his hands. "I would like to welcome you all, prospective students. I know most of you have already taken your written exams and would love the chance to show off your dueling skills in the practical exams, but I would like a choice few words with you before that." He cleared his throat. "I am Arthur Kans, the principal of this institution. I suspect that most of you are here to advance in possible dueling careers, or at least finely develop your abilities enough to be proud of yourselves. Therefore, I wish to serve you all these next three years to the best of my abilities." He smiled. On closer inspection, he was rather tall, though young, blue-haired, and well-built. He also seemed a little under aged to be the head of any institution.

Standing in the back, Torey felt the pressures of boredom sink into his being. "Okay. Thank you, sir. Now let us go!"

Beside him a boy with spiked scarlet hair nodded. "You're telling me. I bet he could go on for another hour if he wanted to." He wore a bright red jacket, and his hands were neatly shoved into his brown pants' pockets.

"Yeah. He looks young enough to," Torey added. Turning to the redhead he asked,"Say, what's your name?"

He seemed happy to oblige. "The name's Roy Flagrun. I aim to become the number one fire duelist in Duel Academy! ...and maybe the world!" He shot his finger into the air. His equally scarlet eyes betrayed a deep, inner fire.

Torey laughed. "I'm Torey Adams. I don't have a goal like that, really. But I do want to make myself better. And this," he fished out his deck box, "is going to be my ticket there!" After taking it out and holding it in front of him, he quickly noted, "Actually... I do want to be the best. But these are still going to be my way to the top!"

Principal Kans was still going on. He had a water bottle, but it was clearly empty. "And with that, I believe you should all head to the main facility. There are staff members set up around the perimeter, so you can't get lost." Some snickers rose from the audience. "I'm serious." More snickers. "Yeah. You're all dismissed."

"Well Torey, I guess we should get going. Don't want to be late for our first test!" He dashed on ahead to the blob of at least one hundred teenagers.

"W-wait! Roy!" He stopped in his tracks. He pointed to his chin and stared at the clouds. "Hmm," he began. After a minute or two he came to a conclusion. "His name sounds like mine! Kind of."

Unfortunately, Flagrun was already too far ahead to notice.

"Damnit," Torey uttered before running off.

The main building of Duel Academy was a hemispherical structure with various pillars and columns adorning its outer features. Three towers rose from the ground around the main building, each topped with a colored hemisphere: red, yellow, and blue. They corresponded to the different dormitory options for the students at the academy.

The island had plenty of walking space and a rather sizable amount of clearings for picnics. Or duels. Island residents were usually inclined to the latter, but sometimes there were a choice few who opted for the more peaceful option. Duels were generally allowed at any point during the day, though staff members encouraged students to refrain from nighttime dueling.

Within the main building, one would find that it appeared much like a college-level facility. The first floor contained the main arena for official duels, which seats roughly four hundred total students. The second floor housed the school offices and auditoriums. Classes were held in a seminar-type format, which received mixed reviews from students and alumni. The institution also doubled as a college preparatory if the student(s) felt the express need for a rigorous academic schedule along with the dueling aspect of the curriculum.

Needless to say, first-year students avoided the academia when they could.

Within the pristine sheen of the white walls, Torey and Roy found themselves utterly lost.

"Wow..." Torey began.

"This is awesome," Roy finished.

They both grinned and headed for the lower arena.

The basement level contained the largest open arena space, set up with white lines indicating six spaces to duel. Given the size of certain monsters, the necessary space was placed between each area. The entire space itself was roughly four hundred feet in diameter. The six spaces were set up in rows of three, leaving plenty of space for students (and sometimes faculty) to give it their all. There were already six duelists making their stand against six proctors.

One girl had already summoned a massive, winged black dragon. Its burning red eyes glowered down at the proctor, who stepped back slightly. She spoke. "It is inadvisable for you to fear it. It is a hologram."

The proctor stammered. "Y-you shut up! You just surprised me, is all! I expected fairies, not this thing!"

Logically, he would not truly be far off, if going by the girl's appearance alone. She wore her flowing pink hair in a single ponytail that flared out behind her. A single lock of pink hair trailed down her cheek. Her stoic eyes were a cool blue-gray, and she wore a dull grayish-red dress. At first glance she would be construed as a cute little girl. She barely stood up to the proctor's shoulders.

She tapped the device attached to her left wrist, a duel disk similar to the one that Torey had. "I still have four thousand life points, and you have about half of that. Your field is empty. I have a Red-Eyes Black Dragon on the field. Any last words?" (7/2400/2000)

Girl: 4000

Proctor: 1600

"Uh..." The proctor was still in shock, and could not find any words to spew.

"Well, I suppose not." She shrugged. "Inferno Fire Blast!" She pointed towards her opponent, and her mighty beast charged a black-and-red fireball in its mouth, blasting it at her opponent.

Girl: 4000

Proctor: 0

The smoke cleared, and her opponent cleared his throat. "Ahem. Tercia Tessana, welcome to Duel Academy."

"Thank you." She merely turned and walked to the nearby staircase. Torey and Roy both stared as she approached.

"Wow..." Roy began.

"You were awesome!" Torey finished.

Tercia stopped and stared. "Thank you." She blinked and walked on.

Torey and Roy were somewhat put off. The former was the first to speak. "Well, that went well."

"You're telling me."

The intercom began beeping. "Will Roy Flagrun please report to Area 1? I repeat, will Roy Flagrun please report to Area 1? Thank you."

"Well," the redhead stretched. "That's my cue. You seem like a cool kid, so I hope we both pass. Later!" He bolted down the steps, slipping on his duel disk on the way.

Torey sighed. "At least I'll get to watch."

The intercom once again came online. "Will Torey Adams please report to Area 6? I repeat, will Torey Adams please report to Area 6? Thank you."

He blinked. "...Guess not." He followed after Roy's example, and stepped down onto the closer end of the area. Across from him was a proctor. Incidentally nearly all of the proctors looked the same, though this one had thick, black sunglasses framing his face.

The proctor cleared his throat. "Applicant, shuffle your deck and prepare to duel."

With a grin, Torey complied, slipping the deck into its designated slot. The disk lit up, and the five spaces on the boomerang portion of the disk built for cards did likewise.

"Duel!" They both cried.

Torey: 4000

Proctor: 4000

Torey drew a card from his deck. "I'll start it off with this, Morphtronic Cameran!" With a flash of light, a human-sized camera emerged, unfolding itself to reveal a humanoid robot with red inner parts. (2/800/600) "Wow, this looks cooler in white light. I'll put down two face downs, and end my turn."

From above, looking down on the fight from the railings nearest the upper walls a trio of blue-clad students conversed among one another. What caught their interest was the fight occurring far below. Behind a small black-and-red robot stood a boy with short brown hair.

A girl with long locks of light brown hair passively leaned over the railings. She wore a mostly standard issue uniform for her dormitory, Obelisk Blue: a white long-sleeved blouse with blue trimmings, a blue skirt, and blue boots. Green eyes completed her fair face. Beside her were two male members of the same dorm.

To her left was a boy in a blue trench coat-style jacket with white trimmings, dark blue jeans, and black sneakers. His teal eyes betrayed little in the way of emotion (notably, neither did his own fair face), and his dark gray hair was styled like an arrangement of icicles around his head. His jacket had noticeably looser and longer sleeves than most, resembling a kimono. There was a long lock of hair that trailed down his cheek, ending similarly to the rest of the icicles.

To her right was a boy in similar dress to her own uniform, with tightly-bound sleeves on a white jacket with no coattails and (of course) blue trimmings. He wore black pants and blue shoes. Rust-colored hair adorned his head, arranged in uneven spikes. His eyes were of similar color to his hair, a rusty reddish-brown. He had a slight tan, bringing out the earthy colors of his hair.

The girl was the first to speak. "Reun, what is that down there at six? I can't make it out." She had a light, soft voice.

Reun, the rust-haired boy, replied, "Seems like one of those Morphtronic things. Like Transformers." His voice was fine and cultured.

"You mean like in that movie?" she asked.

"Yeah." She trained her green eyes down to the field again. The proctor had summoned an Axe Raider (4/1700/1150) to his own field, and sent him to charge at the brown-haired boy's robot. It was cut in half and exploded.

Torey: 3100

Proctor 4000

The girl sighed. "Too bad. He's already a fourth of the way down and he didn't use either of his face down cards."

"Love at first sight, April?" Reun teased. He was immediately met with a backhand to the face.

"In your dreams, Reun..." A vein pulsed in her forehead. "So Rei, do you think that kid has a chance?"

The dark-haired boy shrugged. The cloud they appeared began to dissipate.

Torey grinned through the smoke, and proudly declared, "Alright! I activate Cameran's effect! I can now summon a level four or lower Morphtronic from my hand, like this one! Go, Radion!" Another light flashed on the arena, displaying a massive human-sized portable black radio. It unfolded itself, with a small bulb with an antenna for a head, and its chest was an LCD display. It spun its power cable like a flail (4/1000/900). "And since it's in attack position, it and any other Morphtronics gain 800 attack points!" (4/1800/900)

"Very well," the proctor nodded. "I will lay a facedown and end my turn."

"And mine begins!" He drew a card. He slapped it down onto the disk, crying out, "With this! Magnen!" A blue horseshoe magnet with red poles spun out from the light, unfolding itself to create yet another robot. One of its poles divided to form its feet, the other became a backwards-facing horn. It released a number of sparks. (3/800/800) (3/1600/800)

"Impressive, applicant. Well, what do you plan to do? My Axe Raider is on the field with a face down card behind it."

"Well, sir... I just plan on gunning it. Radion! Attack that Axe Raider! Morning Star Cord!" Torey cried out. On command, the radio robot spun the cord madly, loosing it and its prongs towards the axe-wielder.

Shaking his head, the proctor raised his hand, flipping up his trap. "Negate Attack. I think it's self-explanatory," he drolled, as a flaring blue barrier appeared to stop the flying cord.

"Dang. So close. Well, since I can't attack anymore this turn, I'll just leave the turn like that."

The proctor, clearly unimpressed, continued on, as this was his job. He drew. "I summon Vorse Raider in attack mode!" (4/1900/1200) Another axe-wielder rose to the field, with a more fiendish appearance than the noticeably human Axe Raider. "Now, Vorse Raider! Attack Radion!" The monster charged towards the robot, though was pulled towards the magnet robot. "What's happening?"

"Before anything happens, I flip up Waboku!" Torey exclaimed. "Thanks to it, I take no battle damage and my Magnen is safe, to boot." The magnet robot was surrounded by a film of energy, protecting it from the blade. "So. Magnen's a magnet. If he's in attack mode, you have to attack it only with the monster with the highest attack.

Meanwhile, the trio of blue-clad students ambled down the steps to get a closer look at the next wave of student candidates.

April appeared impressed with the applicants thus far. "Hey, do you two remember the girl with the Red-Eyes?"

"Sorry, April. No student has red eyes here," Reun said bluntly.

Upset at the blithe remark, April whirled and stared into Reun's eyes. "The dragon, you dimwit. The dragon!"

Reun sweatdropped. "No jokes. Got it," he noted, waving his hands defensively and shrinking back. "Yeah. She seemed a little strange. I thought she'd be a little... bubblier, given her appearance."

"No, I mean... she looked familiar," she said distantly. "I can't help but think that we've seen her somewhere before."

Reun stood up, giving off the impression of an intellectual. He stroked his beardless chin, and in the manner of a sage he thought long and hard. He looked back up to the top steps, where Tercia gazed down at the duels below. "I can't say for sure. The pink is definitely recognizable."

April looked worried. "Any ideas, Rei?"

Rei shook his head.

The proctor seemed amused as his darker fiend returned to his field. "Impressive move, boy. I will lay a face down card and end my turn." A card back appeared behind the two axe-wielding monsters.

Torey, seemingly very excited, drew a card from his disk. "I'll play the spell Accelerator!" A small turbine and exhaust system attached itself to the back of a translucent image of a boom box, and dove into Torey's deck. The exhaust system exploded, destroying the face down Mirror Force on the proctor's side of the field. "You just saw its first effect. I can pull a Morphtronic monster from my hand and send it back to my deck. Then I can destroy one of your cards! Oh, and draw a card too." He pulled another card. "And now I'll equip Magnen with the Morphtronic Engine!" A small golden power unit attached itself to the magnet monster's back, revving and pulsing power into the machine. "This gives level three or lower Morphtronics double their original attack strength!" he happily cried out as the magnet's sparks grew wilder. (3/2400/800)

The proctor braced himself.

"Magnen, attack Vorse Raider with EMP Wave!" the magnet complied, balling up its mechanical hands and loosing a pulse of distorted air at the fiend, shattering it.

Torey: 3100

Proctor: 3500

"Radion, Morning Star Cord!" the plug careened towards the orange-skinned warrior, giving it the same fate as its fellow axeman. "Your move!"

Torey: 3100

Proctor: 3400

Grunting, the proctor drew. "I will lay Giant Soldier of Stone in defense mode!" A large cinderblock warrior crossed its arms over its chest. (3/1300/2000) "And I'll leave another face down for you to play with."

"Alright then," Torey noted as he drew. "I'll play another Accelerator, returning Clocken to my deck to destroy your face down card!" A small rectangular stopwatch was burst into Torey's deck, allowing the unit to destroy the proctor's Sakuretsu Armor. "And another card for me!"

"Damn it!" the proctor shouted.

Grinning, Torey rose on the momentum he built up and slapped a card onto his disk. "This is it! My one-way trip to victory! I summon Morphtronic Datatron in attack mode!" (3/1200/600) (3/2000/600) An orange canister-type lighter unfolded itself, revealing yet another robot. The lighter's windscreen was shaped like a cannon, and stuck out from the lighter's cap.

"This won't end well," the proctor mumbled.

"You bet it won't!" He exuberantly pointed forward, like a general on the field of battle ordering his troops. "Magnen, EMP Pulse!" The magnet monster cupped its hands, and shoved them forward in the likeness of a famous fighter, loosing another pulse of distorted air to destroy the cinderblock warrior. "Radion! Datatron! Morning Star Cord and Ignition Blast!" The radio twirled its cord and the lighter began sparking, and as the former threw its pronged weapon, the lighter's fire surged alongside it and they impacted the proctor simultaneously.

Torey: 3100

Proctor: 0

The trio of students in blue looked on in earnest interest. They saw the proctor still standing among the smoke, and saw his hand outstretched towards the brown-haired boy. The boy joyously ran up to the proctor and--without remorse--violently shook his hand with a vibrant look on his face.

All one could hear from his mouth were the words, "I'm in!" repeated several times.

Reun ran a hand through his rust-colored hair and idly noted, "Well, hey. That kid got in."

"That kid with the phoenix won, too," April replied. "So that's at least three interesting kids we can watch for."

"I take it I'll watch the pink-haired girl, Rei can watch the phoenix-kid, and you can watch the brown-haired boy! We'll be like babysitters!" Reun happily suggested. He was immediately met with a hard right hook to the face from a whirling April.

"I really wonder why you haven't died yet."

Roy had completed his match just moments before Torey, and his grin and fiery eyes could not belie his joy. As soon as the two met after Torey finished being accepted, they stuck out their fists and lightly punched each other's knuckles. They both laughed. "Well," Roy began, "looks like we'll be here from now on."

"You got it."