Hello there, and welcome to my newest fanfic, Duel Phantom! In this story, (which takes place after 'Rise of the Sacred Beasts' in the TV series, in place of the Society of the Light arc) Jaden and his friends are ready for another school year, and a certain half-ghost hero from Amity Park is trying to get in Duel Academy as well! Yeah, I know, real original...

BASIC RULES: I'm taking the TV show approach here: 4000 life points, defense mode monsters don't have to be set to be summoned (I'm not entirely sure that's even a rule). Oh, and I'm using the approach of Cyber Commander and Man Called True: If I make up a card, I provide details of it at the end of the chapter. Yay.

That's about it, actually...BEGIN CHAPPIE MODE, EXECUTE! HEEEE-YIIII-YOOOOOOO!

0 0 0

It had been a rough summer for Duel Academy.

Being on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean made an island susceptible to hurricanes, typhoons, and tsunamis. Experts had said it was unlikely any would hit, because they weren't near any fault lines, any hurricanes would be swept away, not toward Duel Island, due to the global air currents, and typhoons simply would not hit the island.

Only problem was, there was an active volcano on the island.

Sure, everyone said it was under control. They said it wasn't going to erupt. They said it was extinct. They said that about Mt. St. Helens too.

So, even with modern advances in technology, Duel Academy was pretty inaccessible for the next decade or so. So, where to send the students while cleanup was being made?

Pegasus was apparently worried about the student's safety, because, his exact words were: "I don't want those poor students of yours getting hurt, Kaiba-boy. So, I would suggest you send them to Amity Park, Oregon! Even with all the ghost attacks, Phantom-boy should protect them! I'm even designing some cards based just on him. Take a look, tell me what you think!"

"How about no?" responded Kaiba. "If you honestly believe in some ghost-turned-superhero and some stupid urban legends about ghost attacks, then feel free to go there yourself. As for me…"

"Oh, have you forgotten about that one time when the Sharks and the Flies tried to get that dirt on you, and I-"

"Fine!" shouted Kaiba, interrupting. "I'll send them to stupid Amity. But now we're even, you hear me, you psycho!"

"Now, Kaiba-boy, it's not nice to call people names…"

And so, the students of Duel Academy prepared to spend the rest of their school experience in the town of Amity Park…

0 0 0

"Jaden! Jaden! Aw, c'mon Jaden…wake up…"

"Huh? What? What's going on?" said Jaden, snapping out a good dream he was having to Syrus's pleading.

"We're here, dipstick, that's what!" shouted Chazz, angrily. "Sheesh…your snoring has keeping me from listening to my music this whole trip…AND THE VOLUME'S UP TO MAXIMUM!"

"Apparently, so is your voice…" mumbled Alexis, as Jaden peered out the window of the school bus.

-Amity Park…- thought Jaden, reading the billboard that announced that 'You're in Amity Park, a safe place to live!' –Of course, the 'safe' has been crossed out and replaced with nice…'

"Hmph," scoffed Chazz, looking at the same sign as Jaden and taking out his headphones. "Population: 3,706. With a slogan like that, it's a wonder they have a population at all."

"Aw, c'mon, Chazz! Lighten up!" Jaden shouted, turning around in his seat to face Chazz and Alexis, who were sitting behind him. Chazz was obviously overjoyed by the fact he and Alexis were sitting together.

"No, I'd have to agree with Chazz on this one, surprisingly enough," mumbled Bastion, who was sitting in the seat next to Chazz and Alexis, along with Atticus, who had the window seat, and therefore was grinning like a little kid.

"Ho boy…" said Alexis, as Chazz started shouting at Bastion for the insinuation that he was dumb/moronic/unintelligent.

"Guys, guys, calm down!" said Jaden. "You're just upset we're not going back to the island this year, and-"

"Of course I'm upset, moron!" shouted Chazz, the seat he was on practically setting on fire. "It's bad enough I have to stay in some shack of a dorm, now I have to stay in some shack of a dorm that was thrown together at the last minute in a town nobody visits! I'm Chazz Princeton! I shouldn't have to stay in some penniless dump, where the name of the best restaurant in town is the Nasty Burger!" he bellowed, indicating the fast food eatery out his window.

"Hey, look on the bright side!" said Atticus, cheerily. "Maybe we'll get to see Danny Phantom fight a ghost!"

"Oh, please," said Bastion. "You really believe the propaganda and misinformation that come out of a small town that obviously needs more tourists?"

"I hope it really isn't true…" mumbled Syrus. "I'm scared of ghosts…"

Across town, one hour later, two 15-year old students watched the opening ceremonies of Duel Academy II. Both of them had wanted to attend a year ago, but complications had gotten in the way. But now, both of them were going to attend, and attend to their responsibilities as well.

Danny Fenton and Tucker Foley walked in to take the placement exams.

0 0 0

"Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress #1, finish it!"

The applicant screamed as the instructor's monster flew through him, draining his last 1000 life points. He slowly sank to the ground as the holograms faded away and the instructor stepped off the stage.

"W-w-wait…" mumbled the student. "Please…give me another chance!"

"You'll get another chance next year," said the instructor, walking back towards the grading section.

"So, how'd young Jeremiah do?" said a nearly bald-headed man with white hair, apparently a judge.

"Pathetic," said the instructor. "He barely scratched my life points." With these words, he held up his duel disk, which was still shutting down. 3800 was the number shown.

"Hmm. Pity," said the judge. "He did so well on the multiple choice and written exams, too. Well, perhaps the last applicant of the day will join the minority that has gotten in this year."

"I'll be the judge of that."

"Dr. Crowler!" both of them said, surprised at the teacher's entrance.

"What do you mean?" asked the instructor.

"Wait a second…" said the judge, a little startled. "You were serious when you said you'd be dueling one of the applicants yourself!"

"My good man, I never joke! In fact, I would duel al of these young aspiring duelists myself, if it were not for rules against it. I'm lucky I found a loophole that even got me to duel one! Now, announce it over the intercom that I'm about to duel."

"Sigh…fine…" said the judge, flipping on the intercom and taking a deep breath…

MEANWHILE…

"I can't believe they didn't even let me duel an instructor!" groaned Tucker, who was in the front row, sitting next to Sam, who was sitting next to an empty seat with a piece of paper taped to it that had "Reserved for Jasmine Fenton" on it. "My test answers were utter genius! How can anyone accuse me of knowing nothing about Duel Monsters?"

Sam, who was looking through her deck, occasionally putting in a card or taking out one, just sat there, listening to him rant. Finally, she turned to him. "How many cards does Jar of Greed let you draw?"

"Huh?" said Tucker. Sam continued to stare at him, waiting for an answer. "Er…two?"

"Wrong, the answer was one," corrected Sam, who then went back to her deck.

"Oh, sure, ask me the one thing I don't know! Come on, another question!"

Sam turned to him again. "Which monster represents the eternal struggle for good and evil in a human soul, and can go down either road when you play a certain field spell?"

"Um…well…" stalled Tucker.

"Warrior of Zera. If Pandemonium is played, it becomes Archfiend Zerato, a powerful Fiend. If Sanctuary in the Sky is played, it becomes Archlord Zerato, a powerful Fairy. What is the effect of Prickle Fairy?"

"Um…your opponent takes 400 points of damage each turn?"

"No. The answer was: None of your Insect-type monsters can be attacked. What Machine type monster could, due to its effect, defeat a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon if you have four other machines out?"

"I know this one!" exclaimed Tucker, "Perfect Machine King!"

"See, there's your problem," said Sam, turning to her deck once more.

"What, now?" said Tucker, confused.

"You don't care about a card unless it happens to be a machine, and even then, only if it's in your deck," Sam said without looking up, as she shuffled her deck.

"Um…so?" said Tucker.

"You can't just go around playing your cards and hoping your opponent doesn't have something that can stomp you. You need to know what kind of strategies are out there; what certain decks with certain themes can do."

"Oh yeah? Well, if you're such a hotshot, how come you didn't apply to come here?" challenged Tucker.

"Because this school is for people who one day want to go into dueling careers. Pro circuits, card designing, maybe even teaching at one of many dueling schools. I don't plan to do any of that. I duel for fun, not for profit."

Before Tuck could respond, the intercom switched on. "Will everyone please take a seat and vacate the dueling platforms? Dr. Crowler, this year's new chancellor, will be dueling our final applicant, who got the highest score on the pretest: Danny Fenton. Thank you."

"The chancellor?" said Tucker, confused again.

"Sorry I'm late. Looks like I got here just in time!" said Jazz, as she slipped into her seat.

"Yep," said Sam.

"Although I didn't think you would show…" mumbled Tucker.

"Hey!" shouted Jazz. "I may not like dueling, but I support my little brother! Wait…he got the top score? Way to go, little bro!"

"Yeah, occasionally Danny does his homework," said Sam, as Danny walked in from the doorway on the right, and a tall man walked in from the left…at least, they thought that was a man.

MEANWHILE, WHERE DANNY WAS WALKING IN…

To the left of Danny, a group of students from last year watched him walk in. "Hey!" shouted one of them.

Danny turned.

"So, you're that Fenton guy, huh? Going up against Dr. Crowler is tough, but I'm sure you can beat him. After all, I did, and I barely passed the pre-exam!"

Danny looked confused, as the student in all black behind the red-coated student mumbled out a "Yeah, and I still think it was a technical glitch that he passed…"

"Anyway, my name is Jaden! Jaden Yuki!" with this, the Slifer stuck out his hand, smiling. "Good luck out there!"

Danny looked at the hand for a bit, then smiled and took it in his own. "Thanks," he said, simply, before walking up to the dueling platform to take his placement exam…

0 0 0

Sorry, no duel in this prologue! However, there will be in the First Chapter. Also, you'll note that in the duel, most of Dany's cards are made up. Reasons for this may be explained next chapter, may be explained later. I already know why this is, I just need an appropriate place to write them in...

EDITED 9/03/06: Corrected a few typos. Changed all mentions of "Adacus" to the correct "Atticus".

EDITED 9/15/06: Bumped Danny and Tucker's ages up a year to make it legal for them to enter Duel Academy.