*KKD hummed out the melody to Precious Time, Glory Days by Psychic Lover as he looked through a collection of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards*
KKD: Ah… memories. Jaden, Syrus, Tyranno, Alexis… how I miss those simpler times for this TCG.
Pikatwig: *walks in* Tried to watch Yu-Gi-Oh in general once as a kid… didn't get it.
KKD: Oh, hey Pika.
Pikatwig: So… how old is GX anyway?
KKD: The anime is almost 15 years old now.
Pikatwig: ...what a dumb coincidence given the idea we got in mind. I honestly didn't know it was turning 15.
KKD: Crazy, I know.
Pikatwig: So… where did we get this idea from? ...honestly… I just thought it up at one point and then KKD said he'd like to do it. And it's going on your account because you're more the Yu-Gi-Oh expert. ...and to hopefully keep troll reviws away from it. Been having some issues with that.
KKD: I just try and ignore it. The worst thing you can give anything is no attention at all.
Pikatwig: Anyway… onto what can be confirmed to be changed about GX for this re-write. Well… there will be some slight alterations to the original incarnation, but we'll get to that another time. As for this… I can say one thing right off the bat… Alexis will be about as important as Jaden. They'll basically be sharing the main character role.
KKD: So in a sense, we'll be coming up with a few plots in hopes to make it work. Jaden's will often be our A plot, but we'll give Alexis more time with the B plot if we can figure out how to incorporate it in.
Pikatwig: On an unrelated note… Alexis' birthday is canonically May 5th.
KKD: Ah, a Cinco de Mayo baby. Cool.
Pikatwig: Anyway… let's go ahead and begin.
KKD: Yosha! Ikuze!
Disclaimers: Neither KKD nor Pikatwig own the rights to anything in this story except for the original concepts within. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX belongs to Konami, 4Kids, and their respective owners.
On a nice sunny day, a young boy with brown hair wearing a red shirt, gray jacket, grey pants, and red and white shoes rushed through the city streets.
"Ok, I got my deck and gear set, and I got two minutes to get to the Entrance Exams for Duel Academy. I may be late for that, but at least they can't throw me in detention for the tardy since I'm not a student yet," the boy smiled as he ran through the city and park pathways, apologizing to each person he passed on the way.
A young man was sitting on a park bench and talking to two women, one blonde and the other a brunette, having a casual conversation with the two before noticing something nearby. After dusting his blue jeans and black pointed shoes, he got up to check, his black tank top, metal wristbands, and leather choker standing out in the light of the day, but not as much as his ridiculous purple and black spiky hair with spiky blonde bangs. He was about to start walking, but stopped when he heard something.
"At your back!" the brunette boy called out, making the spiky-haired boy turn around, the brunette sliding before crashing into the older kid, dropping a wrist-mounted device and cards scattering across the ground as he fell before going to pick them up, "Sorry!"
"It's fine," the older male assured, seeing the brown haired boy dust off his cards with care, "You're a duelist, aren't you?"
"Huh? Oh yea, that's right. I'm just on my way to try out for the academy!" the younger male replied with much enthusiasm, the older male couldn't help but smile at that as the two girls he was with got up and approached him.
"You don't say..." the older male smiled, hand reaching for a card pouch on his leather belt, opening it up and reaching for a card.
"What are you doing?" the brunette female, who was wearing a yellow top, a pink pleated skirt, a white belt, and white shoes.
"Looks to me like he's about to help an upcoming new duelist in some way, Tea," the blonde girl replied as she approached, wearing a pink top under a purple leather vest and skirt, high heel boots complimenting her figure
The younger male just laughed in embarrassment at what he did before opening his eyes and getting a good look at the male before him and the women near him.
"Wha… Hey, you're…" he started, stunned upon seeing the spiky haired young man who simply held up one particular card.
"Why don't you take this? Something just tells me it'll be of more use to you now than it is for me," the older male replied, offering the card in question.
The card depicted what almost looked like a hairball with yellow eyes, green hands and feet, along with two white angelic wings.
"For real? ...arigatou," the younger male replied with a smile, accepting the card.
"Didn't you say you were heading to the academy…?" the brunette female, Tea, asked.
"You're right!"
"You'd better hurry if you don't wanna be late, kiddo," the blonde female added.
"Take it easy on him, Mai. We have places to be ourselves," the older male replied as he started walking off, "Good luck out there."
"Uh… a-arigatou, sensei!" the younger brunette replied, bowing for a moment, the older male stopping just to give him a quick thumbs up before leaving with Tea and the blonde, Mai, as the younger male stood up and rushed off to the academy.
Wasurenai yo hajimete no yume (Don't you forget your first ever dream!) *Jaden was shown running towards something. A storm of cards raining down as he picked up the pace.*
Oitsuzukete (Keep up with the chase!) *Alexis saw him running and offered her hand to him.*
KEEP HOLDING ON! *Jaden smiled and accepted, the screen flashing white before switching to the title*
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: The Rewrite
Te ga todokanakute akiramekaketeta BROKEN DREAMS (The broken dreams out of my grasp that I was about to give up on) *Jaden was shown fast asleep in class, Alexis softly giggling at him nearby as she watched*
Okizari no yakusoku (Broken dreams, A deserted promise) *Jaden and Alexis sat together, attempting to study, the background flashing to show their preferred monsters*
Mune ni sasatta mama nukenai kimi no kotoba wo (Your words stuck in my heart, that I can't pull out) *They looked out at the campus, seeing their friends doing various things*
Nando mo kurikaeshiteru (I've been repeating them over and over again) *Jaden smiled towards Alexis and she simply smiled back while they looked over their decks*
Ima kaze ga senaka wo oshiteru (And now, the wind is pushing at my back.) *The two stood out by the shore, the winds blowing their hair as the waves crashed on the shore*
GET UP! BURNING HEART bakuhatsu shisou (Get up! Make your Burning Heart erupt!) (LET'S TRY AGAIN!) *The two friends smiled before they were seen rushing across campus, soon joined by the likes of Syrus, Bastion, Blair, Mindy, and Jasmine*
Umarekawaru ima wo nugisutete (Cast aside these times reborn) *Jaden was then shown being heckled by various Obelisk Blue students before he challenged them to a duel and beat them.*
PRECIOUS TIME (PRECIOUS TIME), GLORY DAYS (GLORY DAYS) *Alexis was then shown in a duel against some other Obelisks before she was seen with Jaden against Professor Crowler and Chazz*
Ichido dake no LIFE (You only live once) (LET'S TRY AGAIN!) *Shots of Bastion, Syrus, Blair, Mindy, and Jasmine were seen with some monsters they specialized in standing nearby them.*
Iroaseta sekai wo akaku nure! (Coat this faded world red!) *Jaden and Alexis stood back to back, seeing the dark forces arise in an ominous smoke before a light shined from the two that drove it back*
TAKE A CHANCE (TAKE A CHANCE), SHOUT IT LOUD (SHOUT IT LOUD!) *Alexis held up a Mass Hypnosis card which caused various people to to her*
Jibun dake no STYLE (It's your own style) *Jaden could only snicker in response before the two high fived*
Wasurenai yo hajimete no yume (Don't you forget your first ever dream) *Cards flashed across the screen again, showing off the various fusion monsters before Jaden and Alexis appeared*
Oitsuzukete (Keep up with the chase!) *The two turned to the camera and gave Jaden's two-finger salutes*
KEEP HOLDING ON! *They were then seen on campus with their friends nearby, the main building in the background, and the logo above their heads*
Turn 01: The Drawing of Fate! The Path of the New King of Games
Over at the academy, a blonde girl finished off her training opponent and brushed her hair out of her face. She smiled with some relief as she walked out of the duel arena she was set in before going up the stairs to the rafters so she could observe other duelers. She then felt like somebody was watching her and turned to see at least thirty males, plus about sixteen or so females, all staring at her. She sighed a bit before joining a dark blue haired young man in a white and blue uniform similar to her.
"I was afraid of this…" the blonde sighed, "Gonna be thought of as just eye-candy like Moto-san's older sister…"
"Not entirely true," the young man replied, "Most of them just admire your figure, Alexis, that is true. They don't see you as much else, unless the girls or a select few boys admire your skills. Students tend to think we're an ideal couple just because we proved to be the top of our class."
"I guess…" the blonde, Alexis, responded.
The two looked down to see students in the middle of their dueling exams.
Outside, an official stood with two women ready to sign students up. Though their task was mostly done, the male held up a megaphone to be safe
"Last call for anybody who still needs to try the dueling segment of the entrance exam. I repeat, last call for anybody who still needs to try the dueling segment of the entrance exam!" an official called out.
"Matte~!" the brunette yelled out, getting the trio's attention as he climbed over a fence and ran over, stopping to catch his breath before standing and giving a peace sign, "Jaden Yuki, present, accounted for, and ready for the exam, chief!"
"Jaden… Jaden… Jaden…" the official muttered as he looked over the list.
"Last name's Yuki… my bad…" the brunette, Jaden, informed.
The official looked over the list and saw Jaden on it, "What timing. The Chancellor was worried we'd have to shut some students out. A couple more minutes and we would've closed down. Follow me, Yuki-san."
Inside, a young blue-haired boy with glasses sighed, wiping the sweat off his brow with his grey uniform sleeve as Jaden walked over to the seat next to him. The two witnessed a young man in a white uniform staring down one of the dueling proctors for the exam, on his field being the monster Vorse Raider along with a few facedown cards.
(Entrant: 3200)
The proctor stood confident with headgear to hide his eyes, with Shield Gardna and Leghul on his field.
(Proctor: 1900)
"Entrant, it's time for your next move. Two monsters are staring your singular monster down. So multiple choice, what will you do? A. Throw in the towel? B. Beg for mercy? Or C. Cry home to mommy!" the proctor called to the entrant in an almost militant voice, but the student appeared unphased.
"I'll go for D. None of the Above, and activate my trap card!" the entrant declared, his facedown flipping up to reveal a trap card, Ring of Destruction.
"I see. You had a trap prepared. Care to explain?"
"Gladly. You see, Ring of Destruction allows me to equip it to any ATK position monster, destroying it, and we both take damage equal to that monster's ATK points!" the entrant explained as a ring of grenades wrapped itself around Vorse Raider's neck before the ring exploded, destroying the monster.
(Entrant: 3200-1300)
(Proctor: 1900-0)
The crowds cheered in response to the student's victory as the entrant cheered a bit.
"You have surpassed expectations, applicant. Congratulations, and welcome to the Academy," the proctor replied, the entrant bowing out of respect.
"Arigatou, sensei," the entrant responded.
"Is there anybody left?" an official asked.
"One left," someone informed, "A last minute applicant arrived for his dueling exam, one Yuki Jaden."
Jaden walked up to the field, smiling in amazement at the area around him
"...kid doesn't look very strong…" the bluenette with Alexis commented.
"I don't know, he seems rather interesting," Alexis responded.
Meanwhile, with some of the staff above, they were trying to determine who to send down for Jaden's exam. However, one person in particular, a man with a blue cloaked uniform and long blonde hair with a strangely effeminate air, seemed to glare at Jaden with intense hatred.
"One student left, huh," a female commented.
"Yuki Jaden… name rings a bell," a male commented, "...didn't he get mentored by the King of Games or something? He's actually quite the prodigy despite being late."
"That miscreant is no prodigy. As the head of Obelisk Blue's dormitory, I know talent when I see it, and I've seen many a student claim to have trained under Seto Kaiba, that fool Joey Wheeler, and far too many claim they were mentored by the King of Games. I won't let any slacker sully the name of our fair establishment!" the blonde scoffed.
"...no… I remember hearing somewhere that somebody with the last name Yuki was, at least, mentored for a month by the King of Games. From what rumors spread, he's a surprisingly talented duelist."
"Yeah. It made headlines that he took on somebody for that long," another teacher added.
"I'm surprised you didn't hear, Dr. Crowler. This young boy is who is said to have trained with Moto-san for a month," yet another staff member tossed in, "He's the only guy who lasted more than one week being trained by the King of Games."
"Is he now? Well then, perhaps I should be his exam proctor for the occasion," the professor, Crowler, scoffed as he stood up, "I'll also be sure to wipe his smug grin off his face and keep him from entering Duel Academy ever."
"Pardon me, Si-er, I mean Doctor," one of the officials interrupted, holding up a case of exam decks for the proctors, "Which of the exam decks should we use?"
"Those won't be necessary, I assure you. I'll handle this boy myself. If he really is the Dueling Prodigy, he needs a real test," Crowler shrugged off before going to get his duel gear.
People continued to stare at Jaden as he waited for a proctor to show, Jaden himself looking confused.
"What gives? Where's the exam proctor?" Jaden wondered aloud, looking up with a somewhat bored look.
"Tch. Look at this loser. Only a month with tutors and I went to Duel Prep for 3 years. He's gonna lose," a black spiky haired male in a blue cloak scoffed.
"That kid looks familiar. He almost seems like he's been in the news before," the young bluenette in gray added.
"He'll need all the luck he can get," the black haired student in white who finished his duel not long before noted, "It appears he's up against a stern proctor."
"I doubt he'll make it. Looks like he hardly woke up in time with that hair of his," the blue haired male next to Alexis wondered.
"I dunno… he sure seems rather interesting…" Alexis commented.
Jaden simply continued to wait in the arena before Crowler stepped in with a special base for a deck strapped to his chest and a large duel disk tray in his hand strapped to his waist.
"Alright! Test time! State your name for the record, applicant," Crowler called out.
"Yuki Jaden," Jaden responded, a bit shocked by Crowler's sudden presence.
"Well, Yuki Jaden, I'm Dr. Vellian Crowler, Department Chair of Techniques and Headmaster of the Obelisk Blue dorm at Duel Academy."
"Department Chair? Neat. Though I almost assumed you were just some regular teacher based on your outfit. Gomen."
Crowler couldn't help but sweat drop in response to Jaden's nervous comment, other students murmuring in the stands before he cleared his throat.
"I heard that you are a prodigy, but I don't see it. You're late, you know. Or at least you would be if you were attending one of my classes right now," Crowler scolded.
"Hey, I got here in time!"
"By technicality, but I'm willing to listen to reason and will allow you to take the exam to prove your skill," Crowler declared, hand to the base on his chest, "Duel Vest, Activate!"
With that, the base on his chest spat out his hand of five cards while the tray lit up, leaving Jaden a bit confused.
"He's toast," one student commented.
"Nice to see you, kid," the guy with blue hair commented.
"Good luck," Alexis whispered.
"By the way, where'd you get the fancy tech, teach?" Jaden checked.
"Hard work and high marks, and you may earn a customized Duel Disk as a reward," Crowler shrugged off, 'Assuming you get into Duel Academy to begin with, which I'll make sure you won't."
"Here we go," Jaden smiled as he got out a duel disk similar to the one Yugi Moto used and got out a starting hand. People gasped in response to seeing this Duel Disk from the Battle City tournament that resembled Yugi's as Jaden examined his hand, "I'm ready. Get your game on, professor!"
(Crowler: 4000)
(Jaden: 4000)
"Very well. As per rules, I will allow you to take the first turn," Crowler told Jaden
"Alright," Jaden smiled, "I'll start by playing Elemental HERO Avian in DEF mode!"
With that, a humanoid figure clad in green and white feathers resembling a superhero took the field, his left hand and feet covered in red talons with two wings appearing out of his back before he took the field, landing in a kneeling position with his arms across his chest.
(Elemental HERO Avian; Lvl 3; ATK: 1000; DEF: 1000)
"Since I can't attack, I'll throw down a facedown and end my turn," Jaden declared as a card appeared behind Avian, "Your move, Prof!"
"Of course, just don't tell me what to do," Crowler muttered under his breath, drawing a card, 'This fool has no idea I'm using my own personal deck instead of the test ones. I'll be sure to dominate him for sure, sending him home in record time.'
After examining his hand a bit, Crowler smirked.
"Let's begin with a simple move this turn. I'll start with the spell… Confiscation!" Crowler announced.
"Uh… how's that work again?" Jaden checked.
(Crowler: 4000-3000)
"At the cost of 1000 Life Points, it allows me to look at your hand and discard one of your cards to the graveyard," Crowler informed, the holographic screens showing him the cards in Jaden's hand, "Hmm… simple cards, all common for starting Duelists. I recall a lot of these in my own youth. Ah yes, send Monster Reborn to the graveyard at once!"
The card in question shattered as Jaden sent that card to his graveyard.
"Alright. Simple move to start off with, professor," Jaden commented.
"But I'm not finished just yet. I'll place two cards facedown on the field," Crowler announced, two cards appearing on the field before him, "And to cap it off, I play Heavy Storm! This destroys every other spell and trap card on the field."
With a massive gust of wind that caught Jaden off guard, his trap card flipped up and shattered, but at the same time, Crowler's own trap cards shattered as well, though Jaden didn't notice that Crowler smirked at the destruction of his own cards.
"Pretty tough first move… but I've faced tougher, especially seeing you wrecked your own traps," Jaden retorted with a calm smile.
"You are supposedly the only person in the world to last more than a single week being mentored by the King of Games. Puh-lease. No one could hold a candle to the King of Games. Even if you did, you would've had time to study many different cards, including my two trap cards."
Suddenly, the field began to get covered in smoke, confusing Jaden.
"This card is called Statue of the Wicked, which lets me Special Summon two special Wicked Token monsters out on the field!" Crowler announced as two golden monsters appeared on the field, looking menacing as they stared at Jaden.
(Wicked Token: Lvl 4; ATK: 1000; DEF: 1000)
"Wait… that's not the testing deck!" one of the proctors realized.
"Statue of the Wicked, Heavy Storm, that deck must be Crowler's personal deck!" another proctor added, "What is he doing?!"
"Let him," somebody in what looked to be a throne said boldly.
"But, sir-"
"If this kid was truly trained by Yugi, then he'll be able to overcome this easily," the person in the throne responded, smirking with intrigue.
"That's serious cheating right there. I can't believe he plans to kick down this guy just because he's late," Alexis commented.
"Guess this is how they weed out the slackers," Zane scoffed.
"Zane, I doubt that highly," Alexis stated.
"Personally, I don't care as much. I'm just curious to see that card Crowler has been keeping in the wings for a while now."
Alexis could only sigh in response, looking to Jaden with worry.
"Gotta admit, I'm always learning, and this will be interesting to find a way around," Jaden commented with a smile.
"Naturally. I am an excellent teacher, after all. But I won't end my turn yet. I tribute my two Wicked Tokens," Crowler replied, the token monsters burning up as Crowler set down his last card from his hand, "And I summon Ancient Gear Golem!"
With that, a giant robotic golem made of stone and gears resembling an ancient gladiator arose onto the field, towering over Jaden and most everyone watching.
(Ancient Gear Golem; Lvl 8; ATK: 3000; DEF: 3000)
"And now my Golem, attack that feathered fiend with Mechanized Melee!" Crowler ordered, the giant golem eye flashing red before punching Avian so hard it shattered into pixels.
(Jaden: 4000-2000)
"The heck…?!" Jaden muttered.
"Didn't you know? Ancient Gear Golem deals piercing damage, meaning if he attacks a monster in DEF mode, the difference between that and my Golem's ATK are dealt to you as damage," Crowler laughed as Jaden growled. Crowler then gave a bold look, "I'll end my turn… and offer you a chance to surrender and leave this school with your dignity in tact. It's only fair that you be offered at least."
"Not gonna happen," Jaden retorted, almost smirking, "I won't run."
"Then take your turn and be done with it."
"Gladly!" Jaden responded, suddenly hearing a cooing from his deck, 'What the heck? What is that…?'
He quickly drew his card, revealing it to be Winged Kuriboh.
'Winged Kuriboh? ...right. Never forget what sensei taught you…'
Jaden got knocked back by a powerful wind force as his life points reached zero. He looked up to his mentor and sighed, "How are you this strong? You've got the most insane amount of luck I've ever seen."
"It's not luck. It's the Heart of the Cards. You must trust that your deck will give you what you need in a pinch, and allow you to utilize your best strategies to break you out of any bind," Yugi informed, pulling out Winged Kuriboh from his deck along with a basic Kuriboh card, "Take these Kuriboh cards for example. They may seem insignificant, but in a tight pinch, they can pull off a miracle for you, Kuriboh allowing you to discard it to save you from an attack."
"Neat. But… what about Winged Kuriboh?" Jaden asked.
"Someday, if you get this card, you'll understand. Now, let's go again."
'Right. Heh… Heart of the Cards,' Jaden thought, briefly seeing Winged Kuriboh wink at him, 'Well, he might just save my butt right now.'
"Ok, I'll summon Winged Kuriboh in DEF mode!" Jaden declared, setting the card on his disk as the little fluffball with wings appeared on the field, "And with a card facedown I'll end my turn."
(Winged Kuriboh; Lvl 1; ATK: 300; DEF: 200)
"HAHAHAHA! A Winged Kuriboh? My dear boy, I'm a master technician, and a Kuriboh is pedestrian to me. Even WITH wings, it's DEF is too weak to stand up to my golem, typical rookie mistake," Crowler scoffed, taking his drawn card.
"Then you don't understand one thing I was taught and took to my heart."
"And what is that, fool?"
"The Heart of the Cards. They'll always allow me to pull what I need from my deck," Jaden declared. A few people in the crowd gasped in response.
"Hmph! I highly doubt it. Even if it did, it seems to have failed you. Ancient Gear Golem! Attack that Kuriboh with Mechanized Melee!" Crowler ordered, the giant golem slamming its fist into Winged Kuriboh, making it shatter.
'Sorry, my friend. At least you looked cute...' Jaden thought.
"Hmm. You sure your Battle City disk is updated? You may need to get it checked, your life points haven't changed," Crowler noted.
"Huh?" Jaden spoke before looking to his disk and smiling, "Nah, my gear's fine, Prof. See, on the turn Winged Kuriboh's destroyed, I take zero damage!"
Crowler, in response to that, went completely pale as he gasped, the entire auditorium also gasping.
"Wow! Nice play," Alexis gawked.
"He got lucky… he had to have gotten lucky… besides, not everyone could know every technique. Sometimes an obscure technique like that would go unnoticed," Zane scoffed.
"Yea, well that kid sure got it down when he needed to."
"That there is proof he was trained by Yugi. Only my rival would know to utilize a card like that in such a clutch situation," the man in the throne declared.
Jaden smiled as he sent Winged Kuriboh to the graveyard.
"Fine, fine, I suppose your lame little monster saved you for another turn there," Crowler scoffed.
"Slow down there, Prof! You can destroy and send any monster I have to the graveyard or banish them, but it's uncalled for to disrespect the monsters like that!" Jaden yelled.
"Oh, yes. I forgot how attached you new duelists get with your monsters, all trying to be like the King of Games himself. I'm sorry," Crowler waved nonchalantly.
"You should be. By destroying Winged Kuriboh, you activated my trap card!" Jaden smirked as his facedown flipped up to reveal an H signal in the night sky, "It's one of my favs, HERO SIGNAL!"
(Insert Song: Jaden's Theme)
With that, a beam of light shot up, hitting the ceiling to shine the stylized H, much to everyone's amazement.
"This card allows me to Special Summon a Lvl 4 or lower Elemental HERO from my deck or hand, and I choose Elemental HERO Burstinatrix!" Jaden called out as a red flame appeared before a pale green skinned woman clad in a red skin-tight suit with black hair and a golden bird-like headdress appeared from it.
(Elemental HERO Burstinatrix: Lvl 3; ATK: 1200; DEF: 800)
"Now, if you're done gawking, I believe it's my turn. Heart of the Cards, don't fail me now!" Jaden declared, pulling out another card, adding it to the two cards left in his hand, "This next one's for you, Winged Kuriboh. First, I activate The Warrior Returning Alive to return Avian to my hand, and I'll summon him to the field!"
Avian then reappeared, soaring above Jaden, landing next to Burstinatrix.
"Fair enough, another mistake. Everyone's entitled to more than one. Would anyone like to-" Crowler started.
"Hold up! I'm not finished," Jaden interrupted, "Yea, they're weak alone, but their specialties are best utilized when united, and I'll demonstrate that with my spell, Polymerization! I choose to fuse Avian and Burstinatrix! Hero of Air, Heroine of Fire, soar high into the sky and send your fiery winds down upon the villain you stand before!"
As Jaden declared this, Avian and Burstinatrix leaped into the air, turning into their respective elements before combining into a fire tornado.
"FUSION SUMMON! ELEMENTAL HERO FLAME WINGMAN!" Jaden shouted.
The fire tornado burst, revealing a green scaled, reptilian humanoid with one white feathered wing and a red dragon's head on his right arm along with a red dragon's tail.
(Elemental HERO Flame Wingman; Lvl 6; ATK: 2100; DEF: 1200)
"You may have Fusion Summoned, but its ATK is 2100. It comes well short of my monster!" Crowler declared.
"Then I'm gonna teach you something, Professor. Heroes have a battle arena fit just for heroes! I activate the Field Magic Spell, Skyscraper!" Jaden smirked and announced, inserting the card into a spot that flipped out of his Duel Disk, the arena suddenly getting filled with buildings, and when done, Jaden and Crowler were standing in the streets of a city at night, surrounded by skyscrapers with Ancient Gear Golem standing amongst them like a kaiju attacking the city, Flame Wingman standing atop the very top of a skyscraper in a dramatic, heroic pose.
"What are you doing?!" Crowler shouted.
"I'll tell you! Flame Wingman, attack that Ancient Gear Golem!" Jaden declared as the one-winged hero flew towards the giant golem.
"Tch! You're making another mistake, your field spell hasn't lowered my Golem's ATK points at all!" Crowler scoffed as Flame Wingman hit the ground and leaped up at the golem's head.
"You're right, it hasn't, but that's not the point of the field spell. However, since your Golem was technically stronger than my Flame Wingman, Skyscraper grants my HERO a 1000 ATK boost!" Jaden informed, Crowler looking panicked.
(Elemental HERO Flame Wingman; ATK: 2100-3100)
"WHAT?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"
"Flame Wingman, attack with Skydive Scorcher!" Jaden ordered as his Elemental Hero, now far higher in the air dove back down towards the golem, covered in fire, punching down through the giant with his flaming dragon fist, creating a massive explosion that stunned everyone still watching.
(Crowler: 3000-2900)
"I-Impossible! That is my most powerful monster!" Crowler gawked.
"Oh, and did I forget to mention Flame Wingman's own special effect? When he destroys a monster, the attack points of your monster are dealt as damage to your Life Points."
"No… no way…" Crowler panicked as his Golem crumbled and crashed on top of him.
(Crowler: 2900-0)
"Gotcha!" Jaden declared with a two-fingered salute.
(End Insert Theme)
The crowd then cheered for Jaden as the field returned to normal, Crowler looking infuriated.
"Impossible… there's no way that delinquent could defeat me," Crowler growled as Jaden reset his deck, pulling out the monster cards that he used, smiling at all four, including Winged Kuriboh.
"...now, I feel like an idiot that I didn't recognize sensei and his friends this morning…" Jaden admitted to himself.
Later that day, the students were all flown towards the academy, many of them looking out at the ocean to see the island that the school was set up on and looking amazed.
"Wow…" Jaden gawked in amazement.
"Yea, amazing, isn't it?" a young bluenette with glasses added as he walked over to Jaden, "Hello."
"Hey," Jaden smiled.
"I-I don't believe we met. I'm Syrus… Truesdale Syrus," the bluenette said.
"Yuki Jaden. Just call me Jaden."
"I still can't believe that Kaiba allowed that kid to get in. He only passed the dueling exam. He bombed on the written exam," Crowler growled.
"Oh, calm yourself, Dr. Crowler. At least he acknowledged your title unlike some students who confused your gender, or flat out called you Mister or Missus," a black haired man with super squinted eyes and glasses wearing a white shirt, red tie, and black pants calmly noted, making Crowler grit his teeth.
"I refuse to believe he was taught by the King of Games…"
"I didn't say anything about that…"
The students soon arrived at the school and were allowed to explore a little. Jaden smiled as he explored near the docks before he saw some students with room assignments walking around.
"Hmm… let's see…" Jaden muttered as he looked around. He then noticed Alexis and got her attention, "Where do we go for room assignments?"
"Main building just north of here."
"Thanks," Jaden smiled as he headed off.
A bit later, Alexis found one of the two main blue dorms. They looked almost like castles and they were equally elaborately decorated both inside and out.
"Wow… now that's fancy," Alexis gawked as she walked around a bit, "It does feel a bit cozy."
Some people then looked towards her and seemed to try to get her attention while she explored a bit. She simply ignored the people while managing to find her dorm
"Hello," a voice called, getting Alexis' attention as she turned to see a redhead and a black-haired girl in uniforms like hers, "Looks like we're roommates."
"Nice to meet you two. I'm Alexis," Alexis smiled.
"Jasmine," the redheaded girl smiled.
"And I'm Mindy," the black-haired girl waved.
"Pleased to meet you both. So… mind my asking you two if either of you have the key to the room?"
"Oh, the dorms don't have keys," Mindy informed.
Alexis paled a bit as she began to look worried while Mindy opened the door.
"What's the matter?" Jasmine asked.
"GET OUT!" Mindy shouted.
The two looked in to see three male students were in the room and looked like they were about to go through their girls' belongings.
"...that answer your question?" was all Alexis said in response.
"More or less…" Jasmine admitted as the two helped Mindy get the guys out.
Jaden, now in a red uniform, got out his new phone with the list of rooms. He met up with Syrus as the two were now walking towards their dorm.
"Hey, neat. Looks like you and I are in the Slifer Red dorm, Sy," Jaden smiled.
"Nice that I'll know somebody in my dorm," Syrus added as they saw the black-haired young man they saw win a duel before approach, only now he had his own uniform on.
"Oh hey. Bastion Misawa, right? You in Red, too?" Jaden checked.
"Well, you do have my name correct, I am Misawa Bastion. As for the dorm, we don't share one. I'm in Ra Yellow, you can tell by the jacket colors," the young man informed.
"Soka," Jaden nodded
"Please tell me you didn't just now figure that out," Bastion sighed.
"I know they separate people by rank in terms of both written and dueling exams, I'm not THAT stupid!" Jaden snapped.
"Gomen! I didn't mean to offend you, Yuki-san," Bastion apologized, "Is it appropriate to check if you are perhaps color blind?"
"It's fine about the name thing. As for the color thing, I was busy reading the directions to the dorm, so I didn't notice," Jaden explained.
"Ah, I see. Well compared to my dorm closer in the middle of the island, your dorm-"
"Can we get going, now?" Syrus asked.
Jaden nodded as he looked back at his phone for directions, "See you later, Bastion."
"...are you sure we have the right place?" Syrus asked.
"Yep. This is it," Jaden informed.
The dorm they stood in front of was a bit run down despite the seaside view and looked more like a motel of some kind instead of a dorm building.
"You sure this isn't a dump? It feels more like we ended up in the wrong location and were left with the leftovers…"
"C'mon, look on the bright side. We have a great view," Jaden encouraged.
The two were now inside their dorm room, which looked fairly standard for a dorm room, decked with a triple bunk bed, a few desks, a shared closet, a bathroom, and a small makeshift kitchen area.
"I can get used to it," Jaden smiled as he set his bag down, "First thing first… do we have anywhere safe to store things?"
"Looks like we have space in the closet. Why?"
Jaden took off the Battle City Duel Disk and placed it in the closet, "There."
"Why do you even have that?" Syrus curiously questioned.
"Gift from my mentor. He gave it to me before I finished my training with him."
"Wow. It must be nice to have been trained by somebody famous," Syrus commented.
Jaden simply shrugged his shoulders a little in response as they started to get settled in.
"Keep the curtains closed for now. Best not disturb our other roomie," Jaden whispered to Syrus.
Syrus closed the curtains to allow their sleeping roommate to rest.
"Are boys breaking into the girl dorms a common occurrence?" Alexis asked a school official.
"Unfortunately, yes. They really do keep trying to do who knows what in spite of all the security precautions taken," the official explained.
"Oh boy… this is going to be a long year…" Alexis sighed as she walked back to her dorm room.
She saw Jasmine and Mindy looking to each other and talking about something. Alexis looked around to see the dorm room was decorated like a 5 star hotel room with various accommodations, large beds, at least two closets, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a large screen TV, several desks, fancy computers, and even what looked to be some sort of pool.
"Makes me feel like a queen," Alexis admitted.
"This is crazy," Jasmine added.
"I like it," Mindy smiled.
Alexis sat down and then looked to the door for a moment, "We're going to need to make sure that intruders won't be a recurring problem…"
"How do you suggest we do that?" Jasmine asked.
"...going to need to figure that out," Alexis responded.
"What type of dueling do you want to specialize in?" Mindy asked.
"Hmm?"
"Y'know. Like what types of summoning do you prefer? Y'know, Rituals, Fusions, Xyz and Pendulum?"
"I would like to focus in Ritual Summoning," Alexis admitted.
"That's a rarity to be sure. Heard many students here prefer Fusion, but I hope to learn a bit about Pendulum Summoning," Jasmine commented.
"I thought you were going to ask about the occupation/duel hybrid," Alexis stated.
"What's that?" Mindy asked.
"Basically, as a precaution, the academy requires that students not only learn dueling, but also learn about some other job just in case."
"Oh~, that's a new one for me," Mindy admitted.
"Sounds a bit familiar, but I'll need to look into it," Jasmine responded.
"I'll admit that I'm thinking mine over," Alexis informed, "I want to look around and see what's offered before I decide."
"Fair enough."
A few hours had passed and Jaden was now exploring a bit more of the campus. He roamed around the area before he eventually came across what looked to be an arena. He looked amazed, seeing how massive it was, unaware of the face of Obelisk the Tormentor plastered all over.
"Pretty cool…" he gawked as he walked on into the arena, "I wonder what's going on over here…"
"Hey!" a voice called out to Jaden, making him turn to see some Obelisk Blue students, "What are you doing here?"
"Uh… I was just exploring the area," Jaden explained.
"Didn't you know this arena is for Obelisk Blue students only?! Get lost, you Slifer Scum!"
Jaden looked confused before looking at the Obelisk faces and gave an innocent shrug, "My bad. I didn't know-"
"Slifer Scum don't belong here! Get out unless you want to get a beating!"
"Leave him alone," a female called out. Everybody turned to see it was Alexis, "Just because this is our place, doesn't mean you get to boss other people around.
The Obelisk Blue students all began to swoon over Alexis. Jaden, meanwhile, just shrugged his shoulders and walked away.
"Hold up, Slifer Slacker!" the black spiky haired boy snapped, stopping Jaden, "I challenge you to a duel!"
"You can't. Our opening night dinners are about to start soon," Alexis pointed out.
The Obelisk Blue student just sighed in response, "You get off with a warning today, Slifer Slacker! Next time, you won't be so lucky!"
The Obelisk students then ran off, apart from Alexis.
"Hey, thanks for that! What's your name?" Jaden asked.
"Alexis Rhodes."
"Nice to meet you, Alexis. I'm Jaden. I'll see you at the dinner!" Jaden smiled, running off.
The opening night dinner was soon underway. All three dorm classes were at the main building and each were waiting around for somebody to give an opening speech before they all ate.
"Pretty cool…" Jaden smiled as he looked at his new Duel Disk, which was much smoother in edges with a central blue cover around where the life points were shown, mostly white plastic with LED lights all over, and in Jaden's case, it was accented in red compared to other students who had it in blue or yellow.
"Jaden… have you noticed that people aren't treating you or me very nicely?" Syrus asked.
"Wonder why…" Jaden responded.
"I can tell you," Bastion called as he walked over to them.
"Bastion?"
"It's because of a hierarchical system I've learned while talking with an upperclassmen, with students divided into sorts of social castes based on dorms," Bastion began, "As you know, there's Obelisk Blue, Ra Yellow, and Slifer Red."
"Given who's in charge around here, I can already guess who's got best treatment," Jaden commented.
"You're right. Obelisk students are usually the highest ranking students, placed there based on the highest marks, prep school work, and the like. Ra Yellow students are on average the middle ground, showing they have some talent and good grades, but aren't the best or the worst.
"Ironic since Ra is the strongest of the Egyptian God Cards," Jaden commented.
"Then there's the Slifer Reds, sometimes called the Red Wonders due to it sounding like a wonder how most students there are able to stay here," Bastion continued.
"Some Obelisk Blue students called me a 'Slifer Scum' and 'Slifer Slacker' earlier…" Jaden stated.
"That's why. The Obelisk students likely feel very privileged to get that position, and abuse it like nothing else."
Jaden simply sighed a little before he noticed Alexis was talking to somebody. He then looked around and saw all of the girls were in blue, "...wow. Seems like all of the girls are in blue. I don't know why that is…"
"Nobody knows why that is…" Bastion responded.
The lights then dimmed as the spotlights shined onto the stage to reveal a familiar brunette in a long white cloak with the initials KC on it, silver buttons and blue lapels, on top of a black shirt, pants, and shoes while having an earpiece to act as a microphone.
-Your attention, students. I congratulate you all on making it to the most prestigious academy for dueling in the world. Your skills are going to be honed, refined, and mastered until you leave in three years time, proving to be the best duelists in the world! Many students who graduated before you have went on to become champions of various leagues across the world and even challenged the King of Games. Keep up you training, expand your horizons for dueling, and you may get a chance to challenge him or even be a tester for new summoning types that KaibaCorp is currently working on. I will keep you posted on the new types as time goes on. Until then, may your dueling journey be prosperous.-
With that, the speaker then left and the lights resumed their normal positioning, students applauding before they were allowed to get their meals.
"This is going to be an interesting year," Jaden smiled.
Jaden (narration): Ore no turn!
Alexis (narration): Next time, on GX: The Rewrite…
Crowler: I'm surprised that a Slifer Slacker is even here on time…
Jaden: Don't mock us too much. Remember that I beat you?
Crowler: I'll show that boy yet… *smirks* Perfect…
Jaden: Hi, Alexis.
Alexis: What're you even doing here, Jaden?
Jaden: Just passing by. Somebody asked me to show up...
Duel 02: A Duel of Hearts? Rise, Etoile Cyber!
Jaden and Alexis: Get your game on!
KKD: Very good start, if I do say so myself.
Pikatwig: And finished in time for the Duel Queen of Obelisk Blue's birthday.
KKD: Happy birthday, Alexis. As for the story itself, so far it does feel similar to the show, but we kinda made Crowler feel more like J. Jonah Jameson than usual, Jaden's much more competent, and there are far more references to the original show, like how Kaiba's actually able to attend the Academy's big events like greeting new students.
Pikatwig: This is an AU, so that explains it.
KKD: Right. Regardless, I do enjoy how we portrayed the cast.
Pikatwig: Glad to hear. Though… question real quick.
KKD: Yeah?
Pikatwig: Do you know if that Switch Yu-Gi-Oh game is out yet? I've seen somebody uploading footage of it, but I didn't find it on the eShop.
KKD: It is out in Japan, but it won't be out in America until the summer. Which is odd seeing it already has the multiple translations, and you could get the game if you have a Japanese account, or get the physical Japanese copy.
Pikatwig: Ah, ok.
KKD: Yea. We'll keep that in mind, but I hope you all enjoyed this.
Pikatwig: I will comment that we will be somewhat retelling some of the anime, but not all of it. Just parts of it. Even then, it'll get spaced out after the next chapter. I just skimmed about the third episode and saw potentially interesting things we can do with it.
KKD: And we won't completely use all the same cards, as we'll include either brand new cards, or cards used by the cast in other media.
Pikatwig: Yeah. Though… do note that I'm still at a novice level about this series.
KKD: Part of it is on YouTube, y'know…
Pikatwig: Yeah. I'm just busy.
KKD: I know. But I'll do my best to help with it.
Pikatwig: Anyway… favorite part?
KKD: Hmm… hard to say.
Pikatwig: I liked the Fusion Summoning chant that Jaden had as well as the finisher he did on Crowler. Based on what I've skimmed… that man is going to need some karma.
KKD: Yea. Very nice as we could come up with original stuff like that, and good that Crowler could get that kind of karma. And speaking of summoning, Kaiba did hint at other styles that may appear later, but we'll see.
Pikatwig: Yeah. Anything else you can think of to say?
KKD: ...Hmm… Nope, other than I'm still working on another Yu-Gi-Oh! related story, and so this can be considered a form of practice for that story.
Pikatwig: Alright then. Wrap up time.
KKD: Jaa ne.
Pikatwig: Just Live More.