A/N: Welcome to my second fic. This was going to be my first one, but when inspiration calls, you just gotta answer. I'll be posting the chapters for this fic when writer's block slows me down on my Shadowchaser fic. For this one there will be no ban list guidelines. My personal belief is that the ban list inhibits the game by taking away the big hitters, broken though they may be, and taking away the fun of trying to best the big hitters, like taking out CED-EE before it can use its effect, but that's just my thing, I mean the ban list does add an extra challenge by having to make you create an alternate way of achieving the same thing you could have with the banned cards. I'm ranting aren't I? I'll just let you read the story of what happened after Jaden left Duel Academy.
Copyright: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, or any of the characters from any of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Cartoon shows. All I own, unless stated otherwise, are any characters and custom cards that I create and that appear at any time throughout this story.
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: The Next Legacy
ARC: Welcome to Duel Academy
We all know the story of Duel Academy, the prestigious school, owned by Seto Kaiba, designed to create the next generation of top duelists. How it played host to some global domination, purification, and annihilation plots all thwarted by Jaden Yuki. You'd think that now that he has graduated, things might get better for the school, right? Well you couldn't be more wrong. New dark clouds are brewing over Duel Academy, and it's going to take a special group of individuals to cause them to disperse. This is the beginning of a new legacy.
. . .
Chapter 1 A Normal Day
A new day dawns at the Duel Academy Testing Arena, as many hopefuls crowd into the stadium to take part in this year's entrance exam duels. A black car pulled up to the front of the area
"We've arrived, sirs" a voice called from inside the car. The back right door opened and out stepped two boys. One had black hair down to his shoulders which he had pulled back into a ponytail wearing a casual outfit of a gold shirt and blue jeans. The other had surprisingly natural pale green hair which was done in a traditional haircut wearing a white and grey shirt and pants combo. Before taking off, the black haired boy looked back and stuck his head back through the open car door.
"Remember Rolland," he said to the driver, "Not a word of this to Seto."
"Don't worry Mokuba," Rolland told him, "I promise you he won't hear about this from any of the staff."
With that, Mokuba closed the door and the car took off. He turned to his green haired friend.
"You ready for this Noah?" Mokuba asked.
"I am," Noah responded, "but the question is, are you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you're enrolling into Duel Academy behind Seto's back, and on top of that you have the … well, you know what you have."
They started walking to the door of the arena.
"Seto wants me to prove to him that I can take care of myself. And the only way to do that is to beat him. That's why I used some connections to get enrolled into Duel Academy, to try and better understand dueling."
"I still don't understand why I had to come along with you."
"It's because with that super computer of a mind you have, you can help me with some of the tougher assignments."
"So basically, you want me to help you cheat."
"Not cheat. More like tutor."
"Riiiiiiiiiight."
Once they got inside, they were aw-struck at what they saw. The arena was huge. It could probably fit twice the seating capacity of the Kaiba Dome, and it was filled with dozens, upon hundreds of Academy hopefuls.
"Think we're in the right place?" Mokuba joked.
"Only if you're here to accept an offer you can't refuse." Mokuba and Noah looked to see two boys about their age walking towards them. One looked like a 1950's greaser complete with leather jacket, while the other looked like a stereotypical cowboy long sandy blonde hair held in a ponytail that stretched down to his mid-back.
"Relax," the cowboy said, "he's just joshin'. Y'all are here for the entry exams, right?"
"Uh, yeah," said Mokuba.
"Hey, so are we!" exclaimed the greaser. "Name's Vinnie Baritony."
"And I'm Jethro Cartwright," said the cowboy, extending his hand for a shake.
"I'm Mokie Biaka," said Mokuba, returning the handshake. "And this is Noah Abaki."
"How do you say your last name again?" Vinnie asked Mokuba.
"It's bi-a-ka" Mokuba told them.
"Funny," chuckled Vinnie, "I could've swore you were a Kaiba."
"Really?" Mokuba said with a nervous laugh. "Why?"
"Well," Jethro said, "you do kinda look like his younger brother."
"Yeah, but that would be impossible," Vinnie laughed. "I mean let's face it. Seto Kaiba is so selfish and stuck-up; I bet he wouldn't even help his younger brother."
At this comment, Mokuba glared at Vinnie and tensed up as if he was getting ready to hit him. It was then that Noah gave him a couple elbow nudges, to snap him out of it.
"Easy," he whispered to him. With that, Mokuba regained his composure, but he was still hot under the collar.
"Now Vinnie," Jethro said, "You don't have all the facts so don't jump to conclusions. 'Sides I doubt he's all that ruthless."
This cheered Mokuba up a bit, until a voice so cold it would cause blood to freeze inside the body, spoke up.
"Heh, you're right," said the voice. "He's not ruthless, and that's why he's going to lose his company."
All eyes turned to see the source of the voice. They saw a boy about their age dressed a little too formal to be participating in the Entry Exams. He was wearing black dress shorts and shoes, white socks and a dress shirt, a green tie, and a yellow sport coat. His dark violet hair was styled into one large point in the back of his head pointing straight up. His yellow eyes staring coldly at them as if staring straight into their souls.
"And you are?" Jethro asked, eyeing him for twisting his comment in the opposite direction than he wanted.
"Just the next top duelist at this school," the boy said. "None of you can ever hope to compare to my skill, so you best just stay out of my way."
He walked right in between them, knocking into Vinnie's shoulder as he went past them. All they could do was watch and stare.
"Anyone have any idea who that varmint is?" Jethro asked.
"I don't just have an idea," said Vinnie, "I have a source."
"How so?" Noah asked.
Vinnie pulled a cell phone out of his pocket.
"This little beauty is hooked up with the latest in facial recognition software," said Vinnie, "and I just took a shot of his ugly mug."
"There's an ap for that?" Noah asked.
"Better believe it," Vinnie answered.
Everyone looked over Vinnie's shoulder as he punched some buttons on the phone's keypad. "Now we just enter his pic into the search engine and …Bingo!"
On the phone's screen was an online newspaper article titled Prince of the Press joins Duel Academy classes.
"Well, well, well, look at this. We are blessed to be graced with the presence of Len Daotao, the heir to the Daotao fortune, and the next in line to run the Daotao Media group."
"What's the Daotao Media Group?" Jethro asked.
"You really are country, aren't you?" Vinnie said, giving Jethro a strange look. He turned his gaze back to his phone. "The Daotao Media Group is the largest news media organization in history. It has a hold on almost all the newspapers, tabloids, magazines, TV news stations, and news distribution websites worldwide. They make Hearst and Pulitzer look like wannabees."
"I'm sure he's not as bad as he seems," Noah said hopefully.
"Trust me Noah," Mokuba said, "he is."
"How do you know?" Jethro asked.
"Oh, uh," Mokuba said, looking around nervously and sweating, "I don't really. It's just that everything I've heard…"
"Well, you shouldn't believe everything you hear," Jethro said.
"Attention!" cried a voice over the stadium's PA system. "We will now begin the Duel Academy Entry Exams. Will the hopefuls listed on the screen please report to the designated Duel Arenas. For everyone else, please watch the screen at the end of each duel to see if you will be next into the arena. Good Luck to all of you." As the announcement ended, the video screens on the overhead scoreboard lit up, displaying the pictures of six hopefuls next to the word "Arena" and a number 1 through 6.
"Looks like you're up first in Arena 3, Mokie," Noah said.
"Well, wish me luck," Mokuba said as he walked down the stand steps to a waiting official who lead him to his arena. Standing across from him was a tall man, about 5'10", with red hair in a short ponytail, a long yellow overcoat that came to his knees and furled out and black pants and shoes.
"Hey there," he said. "The name's Norman. I'll be your test proctor for today's exam. You got a name kid?"
"Yeah," Mokuba said back to him, "mine's Mokie."
"Mokie, huh?" Norman asked, shuffling his deck "That's an interesting name."
"Well," Mokuba called back, "I'm an interesting kind of guy."
"Touché," Norman said, as he put his deck back into its slot on his Duel Disk. "So are you ready for this?" He activated his Disk.
Mokuba made the same moves he did. "Bring it!" he shouted.
"Let's Duel!" they shouted together.
(Mokuba: 8000) (Norman: 8000)
"As the proctor," said Norman, "I make the first move." He drew a card from his deck. "First, I play Graceful Charity." As he said this he placed the card in a slot on his Disk and a hologram of the card appeared on the field. "This lets me draw 3 cards so long as I discard two. Next I summon Baron of the Fiend Sword in Attack Mode." He placed a card on his Disk and a fat yellow fiend wearing a suit and wielding a glowing brown sword stood before him (ATK: 1550) "That ends my turn."
"Then it's my go," Mokuba said drawing a card. "I summon Gene-Warped Warwolf in Attack Mode." As he placed the card on his disc, a bizarre looking white, four-armed Beast Warrior wearing a metal skirt appeared in front of him. (ATK: 2000) "Warwolf, Attack his Baron with Quad-Claw Slash!" The creature ran up to the fiend and ran each of his clawed hands through it once before it blew up into a flurry of pixels. (Norman: 7550)
"Now I'll set this face-down and call it a turn." A hologram of a card appeared in front of him with its back facing the ceiling.
"My draw!" Norman shouted as he drew a card. "I'll set this monster facedown as well as this." Two facedown cards appeared in front of him, one in front of the other. "That's all for now."
"My move!" Mokuba said as he drew. 'He's planning something with that face-down monster. I better get rid of it fast.' He thought.
"I play Polymerization!" a vortex instantly opened behind him. "Now I can fuse together the Mystic Horseman and Battle Ox in my hand to bring out this bad boy."
A centaur with blond hair, brown fur, and a blond tail and a minotaur with red and gold armor appear and were instantly sucked up into the vortex. After a flash of light a new monster appeared on the field. It had the upper body of Battle Ox, complete with armor, though a lot more muscular, and the lower half of Mystic Horseman wearing a harness. (ATK: 2000) "Meet my Rabid Horseman. Then, since I still have my normal summon, I'm bringing out Spear Dragon." A blue dragon with a cream underbelly and a head whose snout drew itself into a very sharp-looking point appeared. (ATK: 1900) "Spear Dragon! Attack!"
Spear Dragon opened its mouth and unleashed a powerful cyclone aimed at the facedown monster.
"Sorry, but I can't let you do that!" Norman hollered before his facedown flipped. "I activate my Negate Attack Trap Card." A vortex of a different kind appeared and absorbed the whirlwind. "B+ for effort kid, but you didn't take my Trap Card into account, at least that's what I suppose. Anything else?"
"Other than switching Spear Dragon into Defense Mode by its own effect," Mokuba told him as his Dragon crossed its wings in front of itself, "I'm good."
"Well, then," Norman said as he drew, "I think it's time to reveal my mystery monster." He turned the card over on his disk and a purple beetle standing on its two back legs, wearing red shorts which had two satchels strapped to its back, holding junky objects as if it was trying to sell them at a bargain. "Meet the Magical Merchant, and when he's Flip Summoned, I take cards off the top of my deck until I get a Spell or Trap Card. Then, that card gets added to my hand while the rest go to my Graveyard."
Norman started to pick up cards, tossing them into his Graveyard after looking at them. After what Mokuba thought were about thirteen cards going to the Graveyard, he added the next one to his hand. "Next, I'll play Pot of Greed, letting me draw two cards."
He did so, and as he looked at the cards in his hand, a sly smile crossed his face.
"Let's see how you handle this. I play the spell card I got from my Merchant, my Synthesis Spell Ritual!"
The card instantly appeared on Norman's side of the field.
"Now I'll offer Magical Merchant along with three monsters from my hand to bring out my Magical Lycanthrope in Attack Mode."
As he spoke, the holo-forms of a skull shrouded in a purple mist, a menacing green and blue flower with a thorny stem, and the rotting corpse of a fiendish clown appeared before being absorbed along with the Merchant by the card, creating a bright flash of light. As the light faded a grey-furred, yellow-eyed, feral-looking werewolf wearing tattered blue pants and Cybernetic implants was left standing on the field. (ATK: 2400)
"Now I play another Pot of Greed."
He drew two more cards.
"Next, I play Cost Down, discard one card to bring out my Beast of Talwar."
Once he placed the card in his disc, a tall dark green fiend wielding two curved swords appeared next to Lycanthrope.
"Talwar, take out his Warwolf."
The fiend raised its swords as they charged with a dark energy.
"I activate my Trap Card," Mokuba said as his face-down lifted, "Gift of the Mystical Elf. This gives me 300 Life Points for every monster on the field, giving me an extra 1500 Life Points." (Mokuba: 9500)
"Well, Talwar's attack still goes through!" Norman remarked.
With that the fiend leaped into the air, with his swords raised high over his head. He then crossed the swords, and swung them downward releasing the dark energy in an X-shaped cross-slash that sailed through the air, striking the mutated wolf and causing it to explode into shards of its former image. (Mokuba: 9100) The force of the blast whipped against Mokuba, causing him to shield himself from it and the hologram shards that flew by him before evaporating into pixels. They may have been holograms, but they were real enough to make even a strong man flinch.
"What's the matter, kid?" Norman asked. "Can't stand Solid Imaging?"
"Sorry," Mokuba said sheepishly, "first time with all of this."
Up in the stands, Noah held his head in his hands. 'I told him we should try practicing with the Duel Disks on,' he thought.
"Well, if you thought that was bad," Norman said pointing to his werewolf, "just wait until Lycanthrope is through with your Horseman."
With that, the werewolf leaped into the air, soaring right towards Mokuba's Rabid Horseman. As it drew closer, it drew back its right claw and thrust it forward, slicing through Mokuba's Horseman, causing it to shatter. (Mokuba: 8700)
"To make matters worse on your part, Lycanthrope's special ability now kicks in. Now for every Normal Monster in my Graveyard, you lose an additional 200 points from your score. Go! Shadow Dance Howl!"
The enhanced werewolf let out a long, eerie howl. As the sound waves flew past Mokuba, they knocked him to the ground. (Mokuba: 4700)
"I'll end it there," Norman said. "If you really want to get into Duel Academy, you're gonna have to do a lot better this. So let's see what kind of comeback you can mount."
Mokuba slowly picked himself up off the ground.
'Man,' he thought, 'if I don't draw something good now, it's all over.'
Norman looked on deep in thought, 'Hm, he's a novice in every sense of the word, but I can sense a lot of potential in him. I only hope he can make it through this.'
Mokuba took a long look at his deck before he finally reached for it.
"Here goes," he said as he drew. He looked at the card.
'Hey,' he said in his head, 'this could help. It managed to get Seto out of a few tight spots. So, maybe it can help now.'
"I'll set this face down," Mokuba said as the card back appeared before him, "and end my turn."
"That's it!" Norman said with a look of shock on his face. "You do know you're losing don't you?"
"Yeah, but I know that this will help me turn things around." Mokuba called back.
'Where did this confidence boost come from?' Norman wondered. "Alright, if that's how you want it." He drew. "I'll summon Dancing Elf in Attack Mode."
A beautiful blonde-haired female winged elf in a light blue dress and red shoes appeared next to Norman's other monsters. (ATK: 300)
"It maybe a bit of overkill, but better safe than sorry. Beast of Talwar, attack!"
The fiend charged again and raked its swords against Mokuba's facedown card.
"Well, dat's dat," Vinnie said.
"That just about wraps up this rodeo," Jethro added.
"Pity," Len scoffed, "I expected more from him, but I suppose it you use a beatdown deck, you're bound to fall on your face."
"Don't count him out yet," Norman said with a smile. "Look."
All eyes fell on the field to see the facedown card that should have been destroyed by the sword-wielding fiend start to spark madly.
"What's going on?" Norman inquired, as the sparking card lifted to reveal the image of some sort of space pod in the artwork.
"A Cyber Jar?" Eyes wide in shock, Norman knew what was coming. The card exploded in a great white flash that blinded everyone in the arena, even those still in their own testing duels. The light faded to reveal the field clear of all monsters. Mokuba and Norman lowered their arms, as they had to shield their eyes from t he light and reach for their decks.
"With Cyber Jar's effect, now that the field is clear, we draw five cards and then Special Summon all Level Four or lower monsters we draw," Mokuba explained as he drew. "I'll summon Familiar Knight and Berserk Gorilla, both in Attack Mode."
A knight in fancy armor, and a large gorilla both appeared, ready to fight as knight drew his sword and the gorilla fiercely beat his chest.
(FK ATK: 1200) (BG ATK: 2000)
Norman then drew his five cards. "I'll set two monsters on the defensive and then summon Gagagigo and 7 Colored Fish in Attack Mode," he then said.
Two facedowns, a lizard man, and a fish with scales every color of the rainbow appeared on his field. (G ATK: 1850) (7CF ATK: 1800)
"Not bad kid," Norman continued, "but you're gonna have to do better than that to keep me from winning. Gagagigo, attack Familiar Knight."
The lizard man charged at the warrior and delivered a powerful punch to his gut, causing him to shatter. Gagagigo than leaped back to his position on the field.
(Mokuba: 4050)
"That's about all I can do for now. This is your last chance, so don't blow it."
"Oh, I won't!" Mokuba exclaimed as he drew, but when he saw what he drew, his eyes grew wide in fear and he stood there frozen.
'No,' he thought, 'not THIS card! Not yet!'
Up in the stands, Noah saw Mokuba's face and knew what happened. 'He drew it. I told him to take it out if he wasn't ready yet, but do I know anything? No, I have a super-computer mind, what do I know?'
Norman noticed the change in his opponent's demeanor. 'He either drew something really good or really bad. Question is, which is it?'
"I … uh …" Mokuba started. "I play Dark Core discarding the card I just drew to remove my Berserk Gorilla from play." As he slid the card into his Graveyard, the gorilla vanished from sight.
"Then I play Card of Sanctity, letting us draw until we have six cards." They did so.
"Now I'll set two cards facedown and then play Card Destruction."
'What's his game?' Norman wondered as he slid his hand into his Graveyard and drew six new cards and Mokuba did the same with his three cards.
"Next I'll activate the Soul Release I set before playing Card Destruction, removing five cards from my Graveyard from play."
Five cards slid out of his Graveyard and he placed them in his pocket with the Berserk Gorilla Card.
"Now I summon Gyaku-Gire Panda." A large, savage panda appeared with a roar on Mokuba's field as he placed the card on his disk. (ATK: 800)
"One thing you should know about this cuddly little bear is that he doesn't like competition. In fact, he gains 500 Attack Points for each of your monsters so he can rip it apart."
The panda roared louder than before as his skyrocketed. (ATK: 2800)
"So, you finally got something good out on the field," stated a confident Norman. "But what else do you got?"
"You're about to find out!" Mokuba yelled out as confidence started to flow through him again. "I activate my other facedown, Dimension Fusion!"
"WHAT!" Norman shockingly asked along with Vinnie, Jethro, and Len; while all the while, Noah simply smiled. 'He's about to bring this to a close.'
"By giving up 2000 Life Points," Mokuba explained, "I get to back as many of my Monsters that have been removed from play as I can." He pulled four cards out of his pocket. (Mokuba: 2050) "So let's welcome back these four. First, Tri-Horned Dragon…"
A large, wingless, blue scaled dragon appeared on the panda's far left, armed with sharp claws and three even sharper horns on top of its head. (ATK: 2850)
"Then, Spiral Serpent…"
A huge, vicious, blue-skinned sea creature appeared between the dragon and the panda. (ATK: 2900)
"Judge Man…"
An old, but still buff, man appeared on the panda's far right, dressed regally in armor and a cape, wielding a large mace in each hand. (ATK: 2200)
"And finally, Berserk Gorilla…"
The large gorilla that Mokuba played earlier reappeared in his last empty Monster Card Zone. (ATK: 2000)
"He's amassed an entire army to his field," Vinnie stated in awe, "but then, even so, the math is still a little not in his favor."
"He still has two cards left in his hand," Jethro told him. "I bettin' they're somethin' that'll bring 'im a win."
"The odds of that are completely against him, 'Tex,'" Len scoffed. "While he may have put up a fairly decent wall…that is all it is."
"Looks like luck is on my side," Mokuba told Norman, "as these last two cards are just what I need to win this. First, I equip Fairy Meteor Crush to Spiral Serpent."
The strange sea serpent glowed with a strange now power.
"Then I'll use Wild Nature's Release to add the defensive power of my panda to its attack power," he continued, as the bear roared even more savagely than when it first appeared. (ATK: 4400)
"Well, I'll be…" Jethro stated softly.
"No way…" Vinnie muttered just as awestruck.
"Impossible!" Len shouted as left the reclined position he was in since the start of the duel. "How could he have gotten all the cards he needed like that and beat the odds?"
"Well," Vinnie said looking at Len, "it as been known to happen in a lot of places."
"But not with a beginner like him!" Len spat out.
"Time to end this," Mokuba proudly stated. "I attack you with all of my monsters!"
With that, all of his monsters took a ready stance. First, Gyaku-Gire Panda charged forward and mulled one of Norman's facedowns, which revealed itself to be a green-skinned man with shackles on his wrists, ankles, and around his neck. (Norman: 4150) That was then followed by a powerful jet stream of water was launched out of the mouth of Spiral Serpent and washed away the other defensive monster, a wispy soul of a tiger. (Norman: 3350) Then, both the dragon and the judge ran forward, attacking the remaining monsters as the dragon swallowed the fish whole (Norman: 2300) while the warrior clubbed the lizardman over the head with one of his maces. (Norman: 1950) Finally, things heated up for Norman as the gorilla breathed out a stream of fire from its mouth that ended up giving Norman a case of hotfoot. (Norman: 0) Norman stood firm taking it all like a true duelist.
"Congratulations, Mokie," he said, "welcome to Duel Academy."
"You…" Mokuba stuttered, "You mean I did it?"
"You sure did," Norman told him.
"ALRIGHT!" screamed Mokuba at the top of his lungs as the crowd of hopefuls, aside from Len and Noah, cheered. Len was simply sulking because some "rookie" got lucky, while Noah had another thought in mind. 'He had to have drawn that card. That's the only reason why he froze.'
Just what is this mysterious card that Mokuba drew just before his winning move that made him freeze in fright? Well, that will be explained next time as history repeats itself in Enter the New Dropout Boy.
A/N: Questions? Comments? Just post a review or send me a PM, and all to troubles are through…well, at least troubles concerning this.