Partial crossover with Yu-Gi-Oh GX. Setting: Fantasy-feudal. Sort of.

GX-side companion fic will be turning up in the near future.

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The Boy with Potential

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Even though it was already October, it was sunny and warm; not hot, but warm enough to walk around sleeveless in the type of attire that certain court officials would've disapproved of, saying that it's not proper for a ruler to be walking around all dressed up in leather, looking much like a rogue delinquent with a ridiculous hairdo.

But yeah, the hair was hereditary, a genetic quirk passed down from his father's side, and the clothes… well, Yugi had always had an affinity for leather, and he didn't really see how it made much of a difference. Besides, mostly to satisfy those pesky officials, he'd taken the cape and the crown, but he'd left them both with Jonouchi after ditching the ongoing Academia Entrance Exams in favour of some fresh air and walking about uninterrupted.

It felt decidedly nice, because with the time of the day and with the ongoing exams, people had better things to do than to pay attention to the guy wandering through the park surrounding the building where the exams were being conducted right this moment.

Right now, Yugi could definitely see the merits of going to the beach after this, because although it was always interesting to see what new Duellists had turned up, no one had really captured his interest for long, leaving behind a feeling that something was missing as he had allowed his eyes to wander; to study the staff present and also the examiners for the first time in person. Skimming through the reports was one thing after all, and observing people in real life another thing.

Professor Chronos de Medici looked like a handful, and Yugi was definitely glad that he wasn't the one heading off to school. Still, to even get the chance was a privilege awarded only a few; it was elitist, and though Yugi could understand why it was necessary, he didn't like it very much.

So, fresh air it was, and that was nice in itself. Obviously though, he couldn't stay gone for too long.

"Shall we start heading back then?" he asked the spirit accompanying him.

The Winged Kuriboh crooned in response; a yes.

He turned, making it less than ten steps when the sound of running footsteps reached him and Winged Kuriboh crooned in surprise.

Moments thereafter, something collided violently with Yugi's side and he caught a glimpse of brown hair, very nearly losing his footing.

Had Kaiba been there, then he would've scoffed and muttered something about risk management and Jonouchi's uselessness as a bodyguard.

Thankfully, Kaiba wasn't there, so the point was moot, and the eyes looking up at him were startled and wide, brown, and far from what Yugi would've expected from an assassin.

He straightened, keeping his hands on top of the boy's shoulders as a steadying influence. "Are you alright?"

The boy nodded dumbly, eyes still somewhat wide but not really staring at Yugi, but at‒

"Are you here to participate in the entrance exam?" Yugi asked, glancing briefly towards Winged Kuriboh, who looked right back at the boy with keen interest.

If anything, the boy looked confused. "Exam?"

"Are you a Duellist? A Summoner?"

The buy nodded absentmindedly, glancing at something in the direction from which he had come. "Yeah, sure, but what's this entrance exam thing?"

He doesn't know, Yugi realised, and that was quite a novel experience. Even if it was only a few years old, the Academia was renowned not only in the Duellist Kingdom but also abroad. Seeing spirits and not knowing about the Academia was absurd, if not‒

Within moments, Yugi had retrieved the Spell Card from his Deck, grabbing a startled but unresisting boy by the arm. There were shadows at the edge of the park, but they scattered and dissipated almost as soon as the swords of light penetrated the air closeby.

Knowing that the swords would dissipate on their own anyway, Yugi steered the surprised boy around, nodding in direction of the building that he should really be getting back to. "I'm Yugi."

"I'm Judai. You're strong."

"I am. Would you like to be?"

-.-.-.-

It was a fairly well-known fact that the Duellist Kingdom did not operate strictly upon the principles of logic. First of all, though their rites and rules of succession did in one sense make sense, they would hardly have been applicable in any other context.

Years prior, a middle-ranked nobleman of the pre-Duellist Kingdom, one Count Crawford, had, wielding rediscovered ancient magic, toppled the previous ruler and those who had remained loyal to them.

Of course, not a whole lot amongst those lower ranked had remained loyal for very long when rumours saying that Count Crawford had dragons at his beck and call had been proven not as fictitious as the heads and the hands of the previous dynasty would've hoped.

Towards the end of things, those still left standing had all but begged Pegasus J. Crawford to become their king and that he would share his secret knowledge about the ancient magic so that the kingdom would be able to regain its previously lost territories.

Surprisingly, the conqueror had agreed to both, albeit at a condition: He would only stay as king until there appeared someone more worthy.

Putting it like that, Pegasus J. Crawford, later on often titled the Great Sage, sounded like a really noble and swell guy who thought about the kingdom and had its people's best interests at heart.

In truth though… not so much. It made for a lovely fairytale though, or good propaganda for the later regime.

King Yugi Muto ‒ or Muto Yugi as he was known in his native region of Domino ‒ was a king that was both alike and not so alike his predecessor. With the help of the spirits and his allies, he had managed to beat the former king at his own game; in a Duel of conjured spirits.

Of course, it had taken time and effort and more than just the former king to beat, but that had been the beginning of his ascension to the throne. But what is a king without a court or without knights at his beck and call?

Sensibly, yet also not so sensibly, King Yugi had appointed a few of his best friends and several of his former rivals as members of his court, knowing them to be capable people and awarding them titles appropriate of their stature and position, not to even mention temperament.

In the Duellist Kingdom, one's position and importance was largely linked to one's ability to conjure ‒ Summon ‒ and control spirits, and to wield magic to strengthen them or to weaken their opponent, either in a championship of mock battles called Duels or actually out on the battlefield against enemies of the Duellist Kingdom.

Some have called this ‒ appointing his former rivals to positions of power ‒ reckless, while others have called it a brilliant strategic move; keeping one's friends close and one's enemies closer and whatnot. In truth though, King Yugi hadn't been all that worried about that, appointing people more on the grounds that they had proven themselves capable and was as such potentially useful.

The Knights System had been sketched out and implemented way before King Yugi had ever even thought about actually becoming king. As such, instead of having a hierarchy of multiple steps of archdukes, dukes, marquises, counts, viscounts, barons, baronets and so on, the system of the Duellist Kingdom was fairly simple: There was a king, currently King Yugi, and beneath him were a bunch of knights of differing ranks and responsibilities.

King Yugi had formerly been the Black Magic Knight and later on also the Knight of the Sky Dragon Osiris, ranked first in the kingdom. Obviously, he'd had several other ‒ more or less flattering ‒ titles as well, and even though he was now king, he still retained his rank as the Knight of the Sky Dragon Osiris and also that of the Winged God-Dragon of Ra and the Giant God-Soldier of Obelisk, affectionately referred to as Obelisk the Tormentor.

Together, these three spirits were known as the Sangenshin, the Three Phantom Gods, and to become king, he had obtained them all through Duels using the Ante Rule, which basically meant that the winner was allowed to pick one of their opponent's Summoning Contracts, usually a card, and add it to their own Deck, that is to say their own collection of Summoning Contracts and magic-infused Effect cards.

Ranked second in the Duellist Kingdom was the Knight of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Kaiba Seto (to the Domino region) or Seto Kaiba (to the rest of the kingdom). Most people just called him Kaiba though. For a brief period, the contract of Obelisk had belonged to Kaiba, but in losing that, he had also lost his right to become the next king of the Duellist Kingdom.

If not for his fierce pride and lack of patience for dealing with fools, then Kaiba would've likely staged a coup d'état and put himself on top. Having had a great view of all the trouble that it took to be a sovereign though, Kaiba had moved on and invested his bitterness in hard work, simply because few other people in the administration were even remotely competent.

In addition to being a top-ranked Dragon Knight and ranked second in the entire kingdom, Kaiba was also the leader of the Duelling Corps ‒ commonly referred to as the Kaiba Corps ‒ which was the military of the Duellist Kingdom. In addition to leading the military, Kaiba had, in response to dropping standards amongst Duellists, launched himself into a project to remedy that, emerging as the cofounder of Duel Academia.

Duellists were people with an inherent affinity to Summon and bond with Spirits also known as Duel Monsters. To deal with their steadily dropping standards, Kaiba had allied himself with an ageing relic of the past, Kagemaru, and founded the first Duel Academia out on a volcanically active island out in the middle of nowhere and far away from the prying eyes of the population and the Duellist Court.

Viewing it as a moderate success, Kaiba had then granted permission for similar establishments in the different corners of the kingdom, adding North, South, East and West to the already existing Central Academy. Frankly, Kaiba hadn't bothered all that much about those, figuring that if they were smart, they would take after Central and if not, then they were hardly worth the trouble. In the end, with few exceptions, only top graduates from Central made it into the KC anyway.

Achieving knighthood was one thing; it wasn't particularly hard, because since there were plenty of Duel Monster Spirits out there, there had to be at least a few of them willing to enter into an exclusive contract. To count, one had to have a contract with something worthy, and worthiest of them all were the contracts made with dragons.

Of course, even the most shining record had its smear in the shape of one or a few individuals who did not live up to expectation. For Kaiba, the Knight of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, no one exemplified this better than Jonouchi Katsuya, the current Knight of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, whose position, rank, and sheer existence continued to offend him.

While technically speaking a member of the KC, Jonouchi "the Mongrel" Katsuya had outright refused to take any orders from him and though displeased at the other's lack of proper respect, Kaiba had been pleased reassign him to the king's bodyguard simply because then Kaiba wouldn't have to be a part of said protection detail himself and then he wouldn't have to see either of them outside of strictly official business.

Currently ranked fourth in terms of raw potential was the Knight of Elemental Heroes, Edo Phoenix. While definitely a bit young and green for Kaiba's tastes, the other did seem to have a fairly good head on his shoulders. Recent events having come to light with the other's continued association with the fortunetelling whack jobs of the Society of Light, Kaiba figured that he might have to change this assessment and it would suffice to say that he wasn't very pleased about it.

Edo Phoenix was still young however, and unsavoury interests aside, he did have a great deal of potential. As such, Kaiba wasn't entirely ready to throw him aside just yet. In fact, rather uncharacteristically of him, he was willing to give the other a second chance to start over. Unfortunately, this time around, unlike that time with the academies, Kaiba would actually have to get the king's permission to go through with it.

Surprisingly, King Yugi had proved all too agreeable.

"You get to send Edo to Academia if I get to take the next week off."

A week of enforced regency was likely to try his patience, but with the alternative consisting of dealing with crazy fortune-tellers and cult leaders, Kaiba had his priorities sorted out.

Of course, looking at the end result, then he probably should've reconsidered or at the very least assigned someone more capable as the king's chaperone, considering the king's penchant for making trouble whenever left unsupervised for long enough.

Exasperated, Kaiba held his hand out for the seal of approval. With trained ease, Kaiba Mokuba handed it to him and looked on as he planted it firmly on the infuriating yet strangely convenient report that had just landed on top of his desk.

"Mokuba."

"Yes, brother?"

Kaiba retrieved a letter from his inner pocket and handed it over. "For the Ghouls."

"The Ghouls?"

The Ghouls had been founded by the former Knight of the Winged God-Dragon of Ra, Marik Ishtar, and had since his defeat officially disbanded. Unofficially, it still remained, albeit on a very small scale with just Marik Ishtar himself, his former minder Rishid and yet another former nuisance, Bakura Ryou. Considering that the former hailed from a family of tomb keepers and the latter possessed a great number of contracts with the Duel Monster Spirits of the undead, the naming seemed strangely appropriate.

"Just because Yugi doesn't utilise his resources doesn't mean that I won't. The Dark World's been acting up again, the Society of Light and the Seven Stars Assassins are both on the move, and I'd rather not head into this one blind if I could avoid it."

Mokuba nodded, ever understanding. "And Yugi?"

Kaiba pinched the ridge of his nose, anticipating an oncoming migraine. "Not unless the world's ending. If this becomes a big thing, then he'll probably make use of it to look for a potential successor."

Little did he know that King Yugi was already way ahead of him.

-.-.-.-

"Here, take this. It's a lucky card."

"Thanks?"

"Winged Kuriboh has taken a liking to you."

"That's… good?"

"May the Spirits be with you."

-.-.-.-

True to Yugi's initial assessment, Professor Chronos de Medici was quite a handful. But, equally true to Yugi's assessment, Chronos wasn't more than this Judai guy could handle.

More interestingly, Judai had managed to Summon several Duel Monster Spirits of the Elemental Heroes series that had been exclusively contracted to Edo Phoenix prior to this.

Needless to say, people were surprised.

Needless to say, Yugi found himself both amused and intrigued.

"Interesting guy," Jonouchi comments afterwards. "Wish I'd be able to Duel him sometime."

Yugi wouldn't mind that himself either, as long as it was on friendly terms. "I suppose we can officially strike Edo as the Knight of Elemental Heroes then."

Jonouchi shrugged mildly at that. "It's that guy. He'll probably be back with a new set of Summoning Contracts by the end of the month."

Yugi had nothing to say to that; it was true after all. "We lost two potential Dragon Knights last year. There's still Marufuji, but we need more to fill out our ranks and Kaiba usually won't bother with Knights who aren't contracted to dragons."

"You could give them to me though," Jonouchi offered, covering up a big yawn. "Or to your grandpa, since he's the guy who whipped me into shape."

Yugi smiled slightly at that. "Grandpa's getting old, and Academia's got better facilities for that."

Jonouchi pointed. "Is that your newest candidate for knighthood, Yugi?"

Yugi gave the now distant Judai one last considering look. "He's definitely got potential."

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