Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh GX or any of the cards in this chapter.
It was a beautiful day for a duel and a great day for an entrance exam to the top duelling school.
At least, that was what it seemed to be. One could never be too sure on the secrets that lay behind the mask we all wear. And one person in particular was an expert at wearing such a mask. He had to be, for the dark secrets that lay behind his mask were enough to make even the bravest of viewers tremble in fear.
In his black, tattered jacket, red blazer and black jeans, Jaden Yuki didn't look like much of a threat. His carefree attitude only added to his simple nature, as he ran towards the Kaiba Dome for the Duel Academy Entrance Exams. He was smiling eagerly and was so excited, he forgot to slow down enough to make turns and avoid innocent pedestrians.
Thankfully, the person he hit wasn't someone who would go down that easily.
"Sorry," the boy apologised as he immediately bent down to pick up the cards that had fallen out of his duel disk.
"You're a duellist, aren't you?" the man spoke, his voice familiar to all in the duelling world.
The boy brushed one of his cards and carefully blew on it to throw off any dirt that might smear his monster, but he looked up when the man spoke. "Yep, I'm just going to try out in the academy."
The man chuckled and reached for the deck case tied to his belt. "You don't say."
"Yeah," the boy laughed, the looked up at the man. His eyes grew wide in recognition. "Hey… hey, you're…"
"Why don't you take this," the man handed over a monster card. "Something just tells me that this belongs with you."
The boy was surprised, but took the card from the man. "Wow, for real?"
Staring down at the card, he looked at the monster's stats.
Winged Kuriboh
Atk: 300 Def: 200
On the turn this monster is destroyed, the card holder takes 0 Damage.
"Good luck," the man said.
The boy looked up and was surprised to see the man walking away. "Hey wait! Thank you! I'll… make you proud," he said before bowing to the man's back.
The man turned around and showed the boy a thumbs up before continuing on his journey. The boy smiled and looked at the card once again.
Suddenly, he heard a weird sound. Like the sound of the monster when it was played in a hologram. The boy looked up and around, trying to see what had made the sound, but there was nothing there. But then he realised that there was an even more pressing matter.
"Uh oh," he exclaimed, looking at his watch. "The Exam!"
He quickly kicked it into high gear and made his way to the Kaiba Dome. "I can't be the next King of Games," he said as he ran. "If I'm late to the games."
Applicants to the prestigious academy were already half-way through being assessed. Each one had to duel a top third year student that was using a specified assessment deck. In order to pass the exam, each applicant had to win their duel.
It was a simple as that.
Although some didn't believe the assessment was enough to pass through to Duel Academy. Such as a snobby group of prep students watching over the duels and one frilly-looking dressed teacher.
"Hey that kid looks pretty good, don't you think Chazz?" one kid asked a black haired boy sitting in the middle of their group.
"He's a punk," Chazz turned his nose up in the air. "We went Duellist Prep school for three years, we're ready for the academy."
Below him, sitting in the observation deck was the snobby teacher. He sneered as he saw yet another applicant fail their exam and walk away with tears in their eyes.
"Good luck in Duel Monsters Community College," he said sarcastically.
Outside, attendees were marking down all the applicants that had arrived, but were surprised to hear a rustle from the bushes on the other side of the fence. It was getting late and very few applicants were now pouring into the arena.
The rustle popped its head up; it was the boy who had received Winged Kuriboh. He had made it just in time to register.
The attendees immediately rushed over to pull him over the fence and stop him from falling a dangerous height.
"You can count," the boy laughed and gasped at the same time. "Jaden Yuki, present and waiting."
At hearing this name, a figure in the window turned and stared at the boy. But it was unnoticed by anyone below and Jaden proceeded to sign in and enter the Kaiba Dome for his exam.
He wanted to get in and duel immediately, but due to his grades, his opponent was not going to be a student. Jaden was a good student, but never really took exams seriously. With this suspicion, the chancellor decided that only a teacher could bring out the potential of this young man. That meant that the duellist Jaden would be facing was none over than a teacher by the name of Dr. Crowler.
But this proved to be a good thing.
When Jaden appeared in the arena he noticed a frilly looking man with a ponytail being assisted by two female attendees.
"Alright," the teacher announced. "Test time! So tell me son, what's your name?"
Jaden immediately turned and bowed to his teacher. "Uh, Jaden. Jaden Yuki."
"Well, uh, Jaden Yuki," the teacher went on. "I'm Dr. Vellian Crowler, Department Chair of Techniques here at Duel Academy. I noticed that you scored rather low for someone with your past grades in school."
"I don't really think an exam shows the true duellist within us. It's not about the results, but how you play."
The Doctor looked furious. "I'll teach that slacker a thing or two," he seethed under his breath."
"Hey now that you mention it," the boy next to Chazz mumbled.
"This kid sure has a lot a lip, huh Chazz?" the other boy next to Chazz said.
Chazz glared and seethed at the slacker.
"Duel Vest on," the teacher pressed a button on his Duel Vest and made a dramatic display of preparing for the duel.
Jaden looked eager and drooled over the Duel Vest. "Sweet. How can I get one of those?"
"Oh a lot of hard work and dedication," bragged Dr. Crowler. Of course, he thought. First you have to be accepted into this school. And with me using my own deck, that should be impossible.
Crowler hadn't liked the thought of a flunky entering his prestigious school and so had switched the test deck with his own cards for Jaden. He had tried to deny the application, but the Chancellor had called to remind Crowler that every student should get a fair entry pass. After all, even though he hadn't done his best, Jaden still had managed to gain a pass.
But Crowler didn't know how good a duellist he had right now in his clutches. He didn't know the full truth behind the grades. For this boy wore his mask better than any other in the world. A mask of happiness and carefree attitude. A mask of childhood innocence. It wasn't as though Jaden thought his life as unbearable, but his past was… complicated to say the least.
Jaden activated his own duel disk and drew his five cards in one go. The good doctor blinked before going back to the battle at hand. After all, there was much at stake in this game.
"Get you're game on teach," Jaden grinned and flashed his teeth.
Jaden: 4000 LP
Crowler: 4000 LP
Looking at the five cards in his hand, he then drew another and smiled. "Sweet," he murmured. "Okay, for my first move, I'm gonna summon Elemental Hero Avian in defence mode."
A winged hero, with a red eye mask and white feathered wings appeared on the field, kneeling down with his hands crossing over his chest.
Elemental Hero Avian
Attribute: WIND
Type: Warrior
Level: 3
ATK / DEF: 1000 / 1000
A winged Elemental HERO who wheels through the sky and manipulates the wind. His signature move, Featherbreak, gives villainy a blow from sky-high.
"Then I'll throw down a face down." Another card appeared behind the Elemental Hero, face down on the arena. "It's your move teach."
"Yes, yes, quite," Dr Crowler extracted a card from his deck. "Don't tell me what to do." Looking at his hand, the professor made a decision and smirked at the idea of the pummelling he was about to deliver. "For my first move, I play the spell Confiscation."
Confiscation
Card type: Spell
Property: Normal
Pay 1000 Life Points. Look at your opponent's hand, select 1 card in it and discard that card.
"This allows to take a peek at your hand and send one to the grave. So I pay one thousand life points and send one of your cards to the graveyard."
Four of Jaden's cards appeared in front of the Doctor, giving away more than just a card to banish. Though the teacher didn't seem all that impressed with what he saw.
"I have no idea what some of these cards are and the rest seem rather infantile compared to the rumours I've heard about Mr Yuki," Crowler mumbled. "I'll just have to go along with it. Maybe he's using a different deck than the one he usually uses. It's not uncommon for new applicants."
"Monster reborn to the grave," he said, pointing to a card in the middle of his view. After that he selected two cards from his hand and placed them on the field, before he selected another card to play. "I now play the spell, Heavy Storm, to destroy all the cards on the field."
Heavy Storm
Card type: Spell
Property: Normal
Destroy all Spell and Trap Cards on the field.
A great gust of wind spread through the field and destroyed all the face-down cards on both sides. Including Jaden's Hero Barrier.
"With my Statue of the Wicked cards destroyed, I can summon two Wicked Tokens to the field in attack mode."
Two Egyptian snake statues sitting on hieroglyphic pedestals rose onto the field and stared forebodingly at Jaden.
"Now I sacrifice these two tokens to summon out the Ancient Gear Golem to the field in attack mode."
The statues glowed and were swallowed by the floor, before a strange, rusty-looking, steam-operated, giant robot appeared in their place.
Ancient Gear Golem
Attribute: EARTH
Level: 8
[Machine/Effect]
During battle between this attacking card and a Defence Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent. [If/When] this card attacks ... cards cannot be activated.
ATK / 3000 DEF / 3000
"Golem," Crowler barked. "Attack with Mechanized Malay."
The great hulking giant raised his right fist and swung it down on the Elemental Hero with brute force. The poor hero never stood a chance and Jaden gritted his teeth as he heard his Avian cry out in pain from the graveyard.
Quickly, Jaden regained his composure and looked to the professor. "So much for him, but better luck next time, hey teach?"
Dr Crowler smirked and pointed to the boy's duel disk. "You should know, that when my Golem attacks a monster in defence mode, the difference between that monsters defence points and my Golem's attack points are deducted from your life points."
Jaden: 2000
Jaden smiled as his life point gear adjusted to the recent change. "I knew that but it matters not. I still have some cards in my deck, just itching to tear into that Golem of yours. I've always wanted to face one."
Two spectators in white and blue uniforms raised their brows at that comment.
"He's staring down that legendary rare monster like he doesn't have a care in the world," the first one, a boy with teal hair and a stern expression, spoke. "I guess the youth and inexperience makes for strong naivety, huh Alexis?"
"Maybe," the girl, Alexis, murmured. "But I can't get over the feeling that there's more to this kid than meets the eye. I think we're about to see why he's not so scared of the Ancient Gear Golem real soon. I just hope we can figure out this kid before we get the chance to duel him, Zane."
Zane shook his head. "I guess we will. But what do you mean when you think there's more to this kid than meets the eye."
"Just that," Alexis shrugged. "And I get the feeling that I've seen this kid somewhere before. I just can't remember."
Back at the duel, Jaden was drawing his next card and looking at his hand as he figured out a strategy. "Okay, so I have one monster to destroy with either three-thousand attack points or more, or I could use special ability of a trap, spell or monster card. Simple enough, I'd say this duel was in the bag."
From the card he just drew, Jaden knew that there was going to be more to this strategy than just the play from his hand.
"First, I activate the spell card, Midnight Persona."
A card depicted a black sky with a full moon in the middle. In the middle of the picture, stood a winged shadow.
Midnight Persona
Type: Spell
Property: Normal
Take one Level 7 or below Midnight Guardian from your deck, hand or graveyard and place it on your field in attack mode.
"This spell card allows me to summon one Midnight Guardian from my deck and I choose, the Midnight Guardian: Scorching Phoenix."
Midnight Guardian: Scorching Phoenix
Attribute: FIRE
Level: 6
[Warrior/Beast]
Effect 1: Summon a max of two Midnight Guardians from your hand when this creature is special summoned.
Effect 2: Negate the special ability of all monsters on opponent's side of the field.
ATK / 2000 DEF / 2000
On the field, a black, fiery phoenix with red eyes appeared.
"With Phoenix on the field, I can now summon the Midnight Guardian: Howling Wolf from my hand in attack mode."
A pure white wolf with ice blue eyes jumped from the glowing card on the field, and snarled at the good professor.
Midnight Guardian: Howling Wolf
Attribute: DARK
Level: 5
[Warrior/Beast]
Effect 1: Discard one card from hand and select a spell or trap from your deck and activate immediately.
Effect 2: Select a level 4 or below monster from your hand and summon it.
ATK / 1500 DEF / 1000
"And this wolf has a special ability too. I can select any spell or trap from my deck as long as I discard one card from my hand."
Jaden carefully chose his card and sent it to the graveyard, then selected a card from his deck. "With Elemental Hero Burstinitrix gone, I can now activate the spell: Guardian's Wing."
A trap card with a large black feather depicted rose onto the field.
Guardian's Wing
Type: Trap
Property: Normal
Discard one card to activate, for one turn you can add the attack points of one of your opponent's monsters onto a monster of your choice.
Crowler raised one brow, not really impressed with the boy's efforts so far. "What does that do?"
Jaden smirked. "First I discard one more card and then I can add the attack points of your Golem onto my Scorching Phoenix."
Midnight Guardian: Scorching Phoenix
ATK / 5000 DEF / 2000
Jaden looked to his monster and pointed towards the Golem. "Now attack with Fiery Blaze."
The phoenix took to the sky and plummeted down in rein of black fire, engulfing the Golem in a fiery rage. The Golem clanked and shrieked before shattering with Dr. Crowler looking on in horror.
But Jaden wasn't done. "Don't forget about my Wolf. He would love the chance to battle too," he looked to his last beast. "Attack with Protective Bite."
The wolf leaped onto Dr. Crowler who was thrown to the floor, before the creature took a massive bite into his vest's monster and spell zones.
Crowler: 0
With that, Jaden had won the duel and in just two turns. Crowler couldn't believe his eyes, especially when he looked to big screen for a confirmation of the points. He had no choice but to allow this boy into the school, despite his earlier attitude to the written tests.
Jaden did his signature pose, two fingers from his left hand pointing at the fallen opponent with a small smile. "That's game," he finished.
Alexis was impressed by the defeat. "That kid's got a future here. Looks like I was right huh, Zane?"
Zane frowned. "I guess, but this was just his first duel. We'll have to see how good he really is when he comes to the school."
Across from the two observers stood a shy-looking boy with glasses and grey-haired confident looking boy wearing white.
"He seems rather cool, huh Bastion?" the shy boy looked nervously towards the grey-haired.
"Nice," Bastion smirked. "I could use some competition. And you Syrus, do you want to duel this boy?"
"Huh?!" the shy boy, Syrus, jolted. "Are you crazy? I can't duel that well!"
Meanwhile Jaden was dancing around, celebrating his entrance to the Academy. "I made the Academy," he cheered. "I'm in! Yeah!" Finally he stopped dancing and pulled out the Winged Kuriboh card, smiling softly at the monster. "We're both in! I forgot to say welcome. Welcome to the family."
He placed the card back into his deck box and made his way back to the entrance of the Kaiba Dome. But as he was leaving, he failed to notice a dark figure, standing tall and proud, watching over the young boy.
It was a man with brown hair and ocean blue eyes. He frowned as he watched the young boy skip out of the Kaiba Dome and into the streets below. There was something about this Jaden; something that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Something he knew he should look into further, else the desire for answers would overwhelm him.
Reaching for his phone, he dialled a number fast.
"Get me everything you know about Jaden Yuki. I want to know where he lives and who his parents are, ASAP!"
With that, the phone was slammed back onto its hook.
It's here!
The long awaited re-edition of Spiritual Bonds. Further re-editions will also be in the works, but I need to work with the flow. I hope that you've enjoyed my writing skills so far and I long for the comments and tips you can give me to improve.
May Your Souls remain in Your Hearts
AspieWriter