Chapter One: Road to Duel Academania! Part 1
"Are you sure you're up for this?" a woman's voice asked. "This school's going to be pretty far from home."
A young teenage boy leaned back against the wall outside McDonalds, with his phone held to his ear. He was waiting for his cousin to get their breakfast so they could leave. Their friends were probably bored waiting for them to show up. The two of them decided to cool their nerves by grabbing a quick bite to eat before setting out to Kaiba Land for the Duel Academy Entrance Exams. This boy wore a gray collared shirt over a black long-sleeved shirt and a pair of blue jeans with black and green-trimmed sneakers. His brown hair was short and combed forward with a few strands sticking out at the top hanging to the side, and his bengs hung over his blue eyes.
"Come on, mom, I'm gonna be fine." he reassured his mother. "It's just a boarding school. I'll be back on the holidays."
"Alright, well, let us know when you get in, Jason." his mother ordered.
"Yeah. I know. Talk to you later."
"Bye."
Jason hung up his phone, and sighed heavily. Beside him, the door opened, and another taller boy in a red and white sleeveless flannel shirt over a white t-shirt, and black slacks stepped out of the restaurant with a paper bag in his hand. He had short black hair with a few spikes at the front sticking up backwards, and wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses on his face. Strapped to his back was a single-strap backpack with a messenger bag slung onto his shoulder.
"What's the time, Junior?" he asked.
"One, stop calling me that." Jason answered, grumpily. "Two, we've still got time."
He took the sandwich and hash browns offered to him, and began to eat as the two cousins walked down the street.
"Ken, do you think we have a shot at this?" asked Jason.
"O' ye of little faith, of course we do." replied Ken. "We're two of the best from our school."
"Not to mention that we're just lucky that we got scholarships. And as long as we win, we keep 'em."
"Dude, come on, we've so got this. It's just another duel."
"And that was another exam that we took last week! We didn't exactly get high grades there!"
Ken turned away, his face turning red slightly. His cousin did have a point. Their test's results could've been better.
"This is exactly what happens when you decide that video games are more important than studying." an older man's voice spoke.
Standing beside Ken and Jason was a middle-aged man dressed in a red and blue-trimmed haori with a tall white collar obscuring most of his face. He had disheveled black hair that was tied back in a loose ponytail by a gold ribbon, which was hidden behind the collar, and wore a pair of sunglasses over his amber eyes, one of which was hidden from view because of the scar keeping his right eye shut. Under the haori was the black shirt that the collar was attached to, and a pair of black pants with a single white stripe on each pant leg with metal-plated boots with brown straps. His haori was decorated with a brown leather shoulder guard with gold patterns on it and a beaded ornament dangling from it, two brown belts with a blue and white strap attached to them around his waist.
"Aw, come on, not another lecture, Auron." grumbled Ken. "It's the last thing I need today."
"I'm your mentor, I'm supposed to be helping you." Auron reminded him.
Ken groaned, and turned to face him, an annoyed look on his face.
"You know, most mentors do more than just lecture their pupils." he shot back. "Sometimes they say 'hello', and chat about what's new or something."
"I'm about as good at small talk as you are." the older man pointed out.
Ken turned away, rubbing the back of his head, annoyed.
"Hey, I happen to be very good at small talk, thanks." he grunted.
"Not according to your family." stated Auron.
"Is this about the one time with the pizza guy, or when we went to that lock-in at church? Because with the latter, you do remember that it's hard to make small talk when you can communicate with Duel Spirits. And playing Duel Monsters was a big no-no there, too."
"Are you going to keep arguing with me, or are you going to hurry up and get to the exams before you miss them?"
Ken glared at his mentor, growling in annoyance, causing Jason to intervene.
"Alright, settle down, you two." ordered Jason. "Let's just go before we screw our own chances."
Meanwhile, in another part of town, another boy was skating through the city on roller blades, as fast as he could. He had spiky black hair with red highlights that was slicked back over the top of his head, with four spikes slicked upwards at the back of his head. Three bengs dangled over the left side of his face, but not obscuring his brown eyes from view. He wore a gray long-sleeved jacket over a black shirt, with matching black jeans and a gray belt with a gold buckle and a black deckbox attached to it, and black fingerless gloves. He also wore a red dragon necklace around his neck on a silver chain. The boy carried a big red backpack on his back that bounced off of it repeatedly as he skated down the street.
"If I don't get there soon, I'll lose my chance to get in!" he thought. "Stupid alarm!"
"Are we gonna make it in time?" a large black dragon asked, flying beside him.
"We'll find out. It'll be a miracle if we can get there before our turn comes around."
Rakaia Meiyo checked the GPS on his phone to see if he was getting closer, and saw that he was just a couple of streets away.
"Bingo!" he exclaimed.
He swerved around the corner, and continued his way down the street, avoiding any pedestrians in his way. When he reached the building, he was shocked to see the line of people waiting to get in. It wasn't terribly long, but it wasn't very short either.
"Well, I could do with a quick breather." he muttered.
Meanwhile, near the front of the line, a teenage girl with auburn hair and green eyes behind a pair of round glasses stood on her tip-toes, trying to see how many people were left in front of her. She wore a powder blue hooded jacket over a yellow polo top, and a pair of light blue jeans and pink and white sneakers. Standing on either side of her were five girls. One, a blue-eyed girl with blond hair in an odango hairstyle wearing a yellow long-sleeved shirt and orange overalls. Another girl had short blue hair and wore a pink sweater over a white shirt with a blue ribbon tied around the collar, and yellow skirt. The third had waist-length black hair and dark brown eyes, and she wore a red vest over a blue long-sleeved shirt and blue pants. The fourth had long brown hair tied back in a ponytail and had green eyes, and she wore a red and yellow hooded jacket over a yellow shirt and blue jeans with a green cap seated on her head. The fifth had long blond hair with a red ribbon tying some of it back, and she wore a light blue jacket over a yellow sweater with a blue collar and a pink skirt and black shoes.
"How much longer is the line?" Hailey Ryan sent, trying to see over the group of heads in front of her.
"I think about seven more people." replied the blue-haired girl.
The girl with the odango hairstyle let out a tired groan.
"At this rate, we'll never get in there!" she complained.
"Yeah, we're missing all the ogling action." agreed the girl with the ribbon in her hair.
"Have you two completely forgotten why we're here?!" the dark-haired girl snapped, glaring at them. "We have a job to do, remember?!"
"Oh, so you're not upset about missing hunk watching?"
"Guys." the auburn-haired girl sent, scoldingly.
"Hey, two down, guys!" the girl with the ponytail called. "We're almost there!"
"There it is!" a boy's voice shouted.
The six girls turned around to see Jason hurrying around the corner, and through the gate to get in line.
"Looks like we're not the only ones who were late." observed the blue-haired girl.
"LOOK OUT!" another boy screamed.
Ken was seen hurrying into view, just as a black and red blur sped by, and crashed into him, causing everyone in line to cringe heavily.
"Ooh, that's gotta hurt." muttered the girl with the ponytail.
Jason ran back over to his cousin and Rakaia, who were laying on the ground, dazed.
"Are you two alright?!" he asked.
"Why is the sky blue?" asked Rakaia. "I don't remember it being that color."
"Sing me a song about the dancing donkeys, mommy." said Ken.
Jason sighed, rubbing the back of his head.
"Yep, it's one of those days again." he muttered to himself.
Elsewhere in the city, a fourth teenage boy with wild medium brown hair, with a patch of orange on top, and brown eyes rushed down the street to head to the place where the Duel Academy Entrance Exams were taking place. He dashed through a crowd of people going about their day, focused on trying to make it there in time. The boy was dressed in a dark gray jacket which was worn over a collared red t-shirt, and dark gray pants with brown shoes, and a light gray backpack was worn on his back.
"Alright! I got my deck, and I got my gear, and I got about two minutes to get to the Duel Academy Entrance Exams before they start!" he told himself. "Oh well, at least since I'm not a student yet, they can't throw me into detention hall for being late!"
Looking up to see the building he was supposed to be at, he double-timed and continued heading for it, apologizing and excusing himself as he passed through groups of people, who stared in surprise as he hurried off. However, he finally hit a speed bump in the form of a tall man in a black sleeveless shirt with a studded buckle collar, and black leather pants with blue jeans, a black belt with a silver buckle hanging under the first one, which was a different style and hung around his waist. He also wore a pair of brown shoes, and black and silver wristbands, the latter matching his outfit. The boy crashed to the ground after bumping into the man, and several of his cards and his dueldisk fell out of his backpack, causing him to immediately begin picking them up.
"Sorry." the boy apologized, turning to the man, with a good-natured smile.
The man watched as the boy continued picking up his cards, dusting off the dirt from one of them.
"You're a duelist, aren't you?" he asked, a smile on his face.
"Yep! I'm just going to try out at the Academy!" the boy responded cheerfully.
This brought about a chuckle from the man standing behind him, as he reached into the deck box attached to the belt hanging below the one around his waist.
"You don't say." he said, smiling still.
The boy finished picking his cards up and putting his dueldisk back into his backpack, before getting up to put his hand behind his head, chuckling sheepishly.
"Yeah!" he said.
Then he opened his eyes and realized who he was talking to. The multi-colored, spiky hair, those violet eyes, that outfit. He was in awe. Was he just speaking to...?
"H-Hey! You're...!" he said, with wide eyes.
Yugi Moto held up a card, holding it out for the kid to take.
"Why don't you take this?" he offered. "Something just tells me that it belongs with you."
He watched the boy, still stunned, take the card, and walked off.
"Good luck." he told him.
The kid turned to him, smiling.
"Thank you!" he said. "I'll make you proud!"
He bowed to the King of Games out of respect, which caused Yugi to turn back, shooting him a thumbs up, then continue on his way. The kid watched him leave, unable to believe his luck. He not only met the King of Games, but was also given one of his own cards too! He looked down at the card again in awe. It was a Winged Kuriboh card, one of the cards in the Kuriboh archetypes. Suddenly, he heard a faint cooing sound, and looked around, startled. Where did it come from? Then he suddenly remembered he was late for the exams, and took off, pocketing the card as he ran.
"I can't be the next King of Games if I'm late to the games!" he told himself.
Back at the Duel Stadium of Kaiba Land, Ken, Jason, Rakaia, and the other girls had successfully checked in to take the final parts of their exams. While Jason was dueling, Rakaia and Ken sat back in the bleachers, holding ice packs to their heads, while the auburn-haired girl stood beside them.
"You two are lucky that you didn't crash into each other very hard." she told them.
"I've been hit with far worse." Ken responded with a lazy wave of his hand.
"Like what, a history textbook?" asked Rakaia.
"...It was a calculus textbook actually."
Both Rakaia and the girl sweatdropped at him.
"Attention, Rakaia Meiyo, please report to Exam Field 2." a voice on the P.A. System called. "Hailey Ryan, please report to Exam Field 1."
Ken watched as Rakaia stood up, and walked with Hailey, the auburn-haired girl, away from the bleachers.
"Good luck." he called.
"See ya." said Rakaia.
The two of them made their way to different duel fields in the stadium, and as they walked, they passed by some bleachers where some of the other applicants were sitting. Three in particular paid close attention to them. All three of them wore similar blue and white jackets. The boy on the left had spiky brown hair and dark eyes, and the boy on the right had short, wavy blue hair and wore a pair of glasses in front of his gray eyes. The boy in the center seemed to be their leader, and he had spikier black hair and gray eyes.
"Rakaia Meiyo and Hailey Ryan?" the brown-haired boy asked. "Where've I heard those names before?"
"Simple, he's a dragon duelist, and she runs a Sailor Moon themed deck." replied the black-haired boy. "They're nobody special."
Meanwhile, standing behind the railing above their seats, two people in similar blue outfits didn't seem to share that idea. One was a girl with long blond hair and hazel eyes, and the other was a boy with shoulder-length blue hair and dark blue eyes fixed in a moody expression. The girl wore a white sleeveless shirt with blue trims, and a blue miniskirt and boots, while the boy wore a white and blue-trimmed jacket that was the mirror opposite of the three boys, and blue pants and brown shoes.
"It looks like the rivalry lives on." the boy mused.
"What do you mean?" asked the girl.
"I know that boy. I've faced him in a few tournaments. He's pretty good."
"Is he? Well, this duel ought to be interesting."
A short time later, Rakaia appeared onto the field on a platform attached to one side of it, and he saw an old man wearing dark sunglasses and a purple coat stood on the opposite side of the field, wearing a dueldisk on his arm. This was the duel proctor he was to be dueling.
"So, Mr. Meiyo, are you ready?" the old man asked.
Rakaia responded with a smirk.
"Am I ready to earn my place at the Academy, you mean?" he asked. "Of course. And I aim to win."
"We'll see about that." stated the proctor.
"You're right. Talk is cheap, action's what counts right here, right now!"
The two of them activated their dueldisks, and drew five cards from their respective decks. The older man drew another card from his deck to kick off the duel.
"Allow me to set things up, son." he said.
"Bring it on." challenged Rakaia.
"Very well."
The proctor took another card from his hand, and held it and the card he drew up.
"I'll start with two Continuous Spell Cards, both called Ground Collapse." he announced. "By playing these, I can put two Monster Zones out of commission with each one, so that allows me to remove four of them from the picture in total on your side."
Rakaia looked down at his dueldisk and sure enough, four of the Monster Card Zone slots on it were deactivated.
"Next up, I summon the Raging Flame Sprite in Attack Mode!" continued the proctor.
He placed another card from his hand onto the field, and a small witch wearing a brown pointed hat on her head with feathers in it, and a green shirt with orange shorts and green boots. In her hand was a golden wand with a green orb perched on top of it. This monster had 100 ATK.
"If that isn't bad enough for you, I've got two more surprises for you." announced the proctor. "A facedown card, then a third Continuous Spell called the Wave-Motion Cannon."
He placed a card facedown first as he said this, then another card face up in his dueldisk. A very high-tech looking cannon appeared on the field with many gadgets and gizmos attached all over it.
Up in the bleachers, Ken leaned forward against the railing with one arm propped up on it, while his other hand was pocketed. Behind him, Auron appeared with three other people. One was a boy about Ken's age with blue eyes and spiky brown hair, but wore a black and gray hooded jacket with short sleeves and red trims over a black shirt, and black pants and red straps on it, and black and yellow sneakers. He also wore a pair of fingerless gloves that matched his shirt. The second was a young man with long spiky red hair and green eyes, and he wore an orange, yellow, and black sleeveless jacket over a white tank top, a pair of beige khaki pants, and red and white sneakers with black socks and laces. The third was a boy with spiky blond hair with blue eyes, and he wore a short-sleeved jacket that was half white and half black with straps around it and the Keyblade Master emblem holding them together in front. Underneath this jacket was a gray vest, and beneath that was a high-collared black shirt, a pair of dual-colored gray pants with black and white trims, and dull green and grey shoes with gold-colored socks. On his wrist was a black and white checkered wristband, and he wore a chunk of dull green and gray metal on his left shoulder sleeve. All four of them gathered around the railing to observe with their friend.
"So, what's that do, Ken?" asked the blond-haired boy.
"Wave Motion Cannon is a pretty scary card when you're on the receiving end of it." explained Ken. "See, for each of your Standby Phases that passes after you play it, it gains a counter."
"I don't see how that's scary." the red-headed man said.
"One counter equals a thousand points of damage, now times that by four."
"Okay, now I see it."
"Now explain to us why he left that weak monster in Attack Mode." the brown-haired boy requested.
"Oh, the Raging Flame Sprite is a monster that can attack directly, and gain a thousand ATK pts. for each successful direct attack."
The two new boys and the red-haired man suddenly gulped nervously. Auron didn't seem to concerned though.
"It's only the first turn, and he's backed the guy into a corner." he observed. "How do you think he's going to counter this?"
"We'll find out." said Ken. "Anyone bring popcorn?"
Down below, Rakaia was beginning his turn. He drew a card from his deck, then placed it in his hand.
"Okay, I've got less than four turns to end this duel before I lose my chance to get into the Academy." he thought. "I can't use my Lord of Dragons and Flute of the Summoning Dragon combo because of the Ground Collapses, but there is something I can do."
Rakaia took one card from his hand, and placed it on the dueldisk.
"I'll start by summoning the Red Eyes Black Chick in Attack Mode." he stated.
A small chibified black dragon with red eyes appeared onto the field, chirping excitedly. It had 800 ATK pts..
"Ah, yes, the Red Eyes Black Chick, the card with the ability to help you bring out the Red Eyes Black Dragon quickly with only one tribute, even in the turn it's been summoned." commented the proctor. "Is that what your plan is?"
"Not exactly." replied Rakaia. "See, I like to start off small, and you can't get any smaller than this little fella."
He then took another card from his hand, and held it up.
"And you don't have to be big to play this card." he continued. "It's called Dragon's Gunfire, and I can either destroy a monster with 800 DEF pts. or less, or deal 800 pts. of damage. But since I'm gonna have my Chick attack anyway, I'm gonna deal some extra damage."
The Red Eyes Black Chick then fired a fireball at the proctor, causing him to lose 800 life points, leaving him with 3200. The people in the bleachers watched, impressed, at the move he made.
"Smart move." the blue-haired boy standing behind the top railing mused. "Instead of destroying the monster, he decided to go straight for the opponent's life points."
"But there's still the matter of that facedown card." the girl beside him pointed out.
"That's why he must not have jumped into bringing out the big guns yet. Just as I expected from him."
Rakaia smirked proudly at the move he made. He was a fifth of the way to victory. Now it was time to move in for the assault.
"Check them, little guy!" he declared. "Fireball Spark Fury!"
The small dragon inhaled deeply, then launched another small fireball, but this time at the small witch on the opposite side of the field.
"Not so fast, junior!" responded the proctor. "You've triggered my Trap Card!"
The set card on his side of the field flipped up, and two identical tubes appeared on the field before the sprite. The fireball flew into one of them, and then exited through the other.
"Oh, boy." gulped Rakaia.
That was all he could say just as the fireball collided with him, causing him to grunt in pain. His life points dropped by 800 leaving him with 3200, just like his opponent.
"Well, it could've been worse, I guess." muttered Rakaia.
He took a card from his hand, and set it in his dueldisk, causing it to appear on the field behind his dragon facedown.
"I'll end my turn with a facedown." he said. "That's it for me."
The proctor nodded, and drew a card to begin his next turn, then placed it in his hand.
"Before I begin my turn, my Wave-Motion Cannon gains a counter." he announced.
Sure enough, the cannon started to power up, and one of the bulbs lit up with a bright light. Then the proctor held up one of the cards in his hand.
"I summon the Dweller in the Depths in Attack Mode." he stated.
As he placed a card on the field, a large cave appeared on the field, but there was no monster. It had 1500 ATK pts.. Rakaia and the baby Red Eyes Dragon looked at each other, then tried to peer into the cave.
"So, uh, where's the monster?" the former asked. "Or is that thing just gonna go 'ooga booga booga'?"
"Nobody knows what the Dweller in the Depths look like," replied the proctor. "What you see is what you get."
Jason, who was in the middle of a duel beside them, suddenly looked up in thought.
"That reminds me." he muttered. "I have to give my dad a call later, and say hi to my bro."
Back in the other duel, Rakaia noticed that the ATK meter for the new monster was going up until it hit 2400.
"Hey, how come that thing's gaining ATK pts.?" he asked.
"The Dweller in the Depths gains 300 ATK pts. for each Continuous Spell Card I have on the field." replied the proctor. "And with three of them on the field, that equals 900 bonus points. And with this extra card, that'll change it to 1200."
He placed another card from his hand in the dueldisk, and it appeared onto the field.
"This card is called the Burden of the Mighty," the proctor explained. "As long as this card is face-up on the field, your monsters lose ATK pts.. 100 times the card's own level."
Sure enough, Red Eyes B. Chick's ATK dropped by just 100 pts..
"It may not do much on that little baby of yours, but that doesn't matter." stated the proctor. "Because my Dweller is still far stronger than it anyways."
A giant, black, clawed arm that looked like a dragon's arm shot out of the cave, and made to grab for the frightened baby dragon.
"Don't worry, little guy, I've got you covered!" shouted Rakaia. "I activate the Trap Card Negate Attack!"
The set card behind the Red Eyes B. Chick flipped up, and projected a forcefield that staved off the clawed arm, protecting the little monster.
"And with this, that little sprite of yours can't attack either because this Battle Phase is over." declared Rakaia.
His opponent smirked in response at him, impressed with the move. He ended his turn there, and so Rakaia started his. He drew a card from his deck, smiled at it, then held it up.
"Alright, now this is where it gets good!" he declared. "I use my Chick's ability to bring out the Red Eyes Black Dragon to the field in Attack Mode!"
The Red Eyes Black Chick started to glow with a fiery orange light, then it morphed into a fully-grown dragon with 2400 ATK pts., but thanks to the Burden of the Mighty's effects, it dropped down to 1700.
"It's still not powerful enough to take on my Dweller in the Depths." the proctor reminded his opponent. "My monster has 2700 ATK pts., a full 1000 pts. over your monster."
"But even in it's weakened state, my dragon's got enough firepower to burn your Sprite to a crisp." Rakaia shot back. "But let's see what else I can do first."
He looked back at his hand, scanning it quickly for a card he can still play. Then he found one, and took it out.
"Alright, I play the Spell known as Reload." he called, placing it in his dueldisk. "By shuffling the cards I have left in my hand into my deck, other than this card, I can draw the same amount afterwards."
He placed the two remaining cards in his hand back into his deck, then shuffled them in, and drew two new cards.
"Awesome." Rakaia exclaimed, happily, as he held up a card. "I drew a Pot of Greed card, a duelist's best friend for emergencies."
He drew two more cards from his deck, and his smile grew wider.
"Now I activate the Spell Card Inferno Fire Blast." he announced, holding up one of the new cards he drew. "With it, I can hit you with the Red Eyes Black Dragon's full fury, at the cost of it not being able to actually attack this turn."
The Spell Card in his hand began to glow, and the Red Eyes launched a massive fireball at the proctor, striking him directly. His life points dropped by 2400, leaving him with 800 remaining. Rakaia then placed his remaining two cards facedown in his dueldisk, causing two new facedown cards appearing behind his dragon.
"I'll play these two facedown, and hand it off to you." he finished.
The people watching this duel were beginning to get impressed by how well he played, and the duel even got the attention of the trio of boys who had misjudged him earlier. The boy and girl standing behind the railing were also watching the duel, and the girl was becoming impressed with Rakaia's skill.
"You weren't kidding, Zane." she commented. "He's not bad at all."
"He does well under pressure for a kid who runs a deck full of firebreathing dragons." Zane said, his ever-serious expression not changing.
The proctor was now beginning his turn, and he drew a card from his deck to start the turn. Then another bulb on the cannon in front of him lit up.
"Should I activate the cannon's effect now, or later?" he wondered to himself. "I don't know what those two facedown cards of his are, and I have no card in my hand that can show me what they are or take them out."
He placed the new card he drew in his hand, and raised a hand towards his Raging Flame Sprite.
"This time, my Flame Sprite will lead the assault!" he decided. "And her special ability allows her to attack directly!"
The small witch flew up high into the air, and fired several small sparks towards Rakaia. The teenage boy didn't bother raising up his arms to shield himself. He was now down to 3100 ATK pts..
"Is that the best you can do?" he asked.
"See for yourself." the older man answered. "Since she attacked directly successfully, she gains 1000 extra ATK pts.."
As he said this, the ATK meter for the Raging Flame Sprite went up to 1100.
"Now, Dweller from the Depths, take out his Red Eyes Black Dragon!" the proctor called.
The dark claw reached out again, and grabbed the Red Eyes Black Dragon by the throat, and dragged it into the cavern. The only sounds that you could hear coming from the cave, was the Red Eyes being destroyed. Rakaia's life points dropped by 1000, as he raised an arm to shield himself.
"Thanks, by destroying my monster, you triggered one of my facedown cards." he said.
One of the set cards flipped face up, and started to glow.
"Red-Eyes Spirit?" the proctor gasped.
"That's right, and with this, my dragon returns to the field." said Rakaia. "Welcome back, Red-Eyes!"
The destroyed Red-Eyes Black Dragon returned to the field with a triumphant roar.
"It's still not enough to take down my Dweller of the Depths, and on my next turn, my Wave-Motion Cannon will decimate you and your chances of getting into this Academy." the proctor reminded the young teen. "So this is your last chance to show me what you've got."
"You want it?" asked Rakaia. "You've got it!"
He drew his next card, and held out his hand towards his last set card.
"I activate my facedown card!" he shouted. "Red-Eyes Fusion!"
The card flipped face-up, and everyone around him in the bleachers gasped in amazement.
"I hold in my hand a Level 6 Tiger Dragon, and with it, I can fuse the two dragons I've got left into the mighty Meteor Black Comet Dragon!" announced Rakaia. "I know, 'why not fuse the Meteor Dragon with this guy?' The answer is simple, this Fusion isn't restricted to those just those two, Red-Eyes can fuse with any Level 6 Dragon I've got."
The card in his hand glowed with a bright light, as the Tiger Dragon appeared onto the field and began to merge with the Red-Eyes Black Dragon in a swirling vortex. In it's place was a flame-covered black dragon that was bigger than either one of the previous dragons. It had 3500 ATK, which decreased by 800 because of Burden of the Mighty.
"It's still not strong enough to defeat my strongest monster, and it doesn't have the ATK strength to finish off my life points this turn if you attacked my Flame Sprite." said the proctor. "You're out of luck."
"I wouldn't count me out just yet." Rakaia told him. "Unlike it's predecessor, the Meteor Black Comet Dragon has a special ability. By sending a Red-Eyes from my hand or deck to the graveyard, I can deal damage to you equal to it's ATK strength."
He searched his deck for a card, and took one out.
"Bingo! The Red-Eyes Wyvern should do the trick!" he declared. "And it's got more than enough points to wipe you out!"
The spirit of the Red-Eyes Wyvern appeared, and roared once before flying over to it's master's opponent. The proctor gasped in surprise as the dragon drew closer, and was slashed by it. He dropped to his knees as his life points fell to 0, and the holograms faded away.
"Oh, yeah!" Rakaia cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "I'm in!"
"You certainly are, young man." the proctor told him. "Welcome to the Academy."
As Rakaia hurried back up to the bleachers, laughing about his victory, the three boys in blue watched with surprised expressions.
"That nobody's got some moves, huh, Chazz?" the blue-haired boy asked, speaking in a Southern accent.
"Perhaps, but he's still nobody special to me." decided Chazz, the boy with the spiky black hair.
Rakaia ran up the stairs until he was nearby where Ken was standing and stopped when he saw the multiple people standing around him.
"Hey, that was so cool!" the brown-haired kid exclaimed, excitedly. "You work pretty well under pressure, huh?"
"He'd have to be if he wants to last five minutes against us." the redhead stated, coolly.
Rakaia appeared shocked at the sight of the new strangers, and pointed at them.
"Hey, those are Duel Spirits!" he gasped.
"Indeed they are." replied Ken. "They're also friends of mine."
"I'm Sora, and this is Ventus, Lea, and Auron." the brown-haired boy introduced, pointing at each of his friends. "How's it going?"
"Man, good to know I'll probably know somebody at the Academy who has the same gifts I do." responded Rakaia. "That is if you make it into the Academy."
At this moment, the voice on the P.A. system spoke again.
"Will Ken Warren please report to Exam Field 2?" he called. "Bastion Misawa, please report to Exam Field 4."
Ken looked up at the ceiling, and grinned.
"Looks like we're about to find out." he said. "Come on, guys, we've got a duel to win."
He led his four Duel Spirits down the stairs to take their test, just as Jason and Hailey were returning. Meanwhile, the trio of boys who had turned their noses up at Rakaia and Hailey were now looking at Ken.
"Check that kid out." the blue-haired boy said, smirking. "He looks like a circus clown."
"Bet his skills are pretty lame." the brown-haired boy agreed. "Guess they're letting anyone apply into this school."
He and his other two friends laughed at his little quip.
Meanwhile, outside of the building, the man at the check-in station checked his watch for the umpteenth time. There was no line of teenagers waiting to get inside, so he and the two ladies working the station were getting ready to close up.
"Well, ladies, that's it." the man announced, looking at his colleagues. "Mark all of the no-shows no-shows."
As the two women were about to do so, they heard a voice calling out to them from nearby.
"Wait!" a boy's voice shouted. "I'm no no-show!"
The trio of grown-ups looked around until they saw a hand scrambling around to grab the metal railing, scaling it's way up to the top. Attached to it was the boy who was running late earlier. Panting heavily, the boy looked up at them, a big grin on his face.
"You can count Jaden Yuki as present, thank you!" he called, holding his hand up in a victory sign. "Well, just so long as I don't lose my grip!"
The new first chapter of the GX fanfic with some changes. For starters, duels with the OCs will be seen, and new OCs will be featured. Hailey's first duel won't be featured until later, and Jason's as well. Also, I switched from a Final Fantasy deck to a Kingdom Hearts one to create a backstory for the S2 fanfic, and retired the RAD deck. Anyone who wants to use it, message me, and I'll post the rest of the cards on my DeviantArt account. Let me know if you do want to use it.
Hailey Ryan is owned by Peach Wookiee, Luna Tenshi and Rakaia Meiyo are obviously owned by Rakaia The Dragon Duelist, Sega Rivera (who will be featured in later chapters) is owned by Sega herself, Will Rosen is owned by 15animefreak15, Laura is owned by Hyruleepona, Taryn and Jessi Yuki are owned by Dyusu, Rose Renea is owned by maymay85985 now known as RoseTheOneForeverUnloved, Peter Salvatore is owned by a1993, and a mystery character is owned by Neo-Warkid4. As for my OCs, Ken and Jason, they're owned by me and my cousin, along with more OCs to come.
Don't own the original series part of the plot, but I did tweak with it a bit. The main plot is owned by Kazuki Takahashi and everyone else who helped bring Yu-Gi-Oh! GX into this world. Final Fantasy is created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and Kingdom Hearts is owned by Tetsuya Nomura and Shinji Hashimoto, both games series were developed by Square Enix, formerly known as Square before merging with Enix. Let me make this very clear, I do not own Square Enix, or anything made, published, or developed by Square Enix. I'm just a fan of their work. Sailor Moon, both anime and characters, is owned by Naoko Takeuchi.
Bonus note (12/13/17): Peach Wookiee has posted a design of Hailey Ryan on Deviant Art if anyone's interested. It was posted either days or weeks ago, and I kinda forgot to mention it. Apologies. I've been doing some researching for multiple stories fanfic and non fanfic-wise and chores. I'll be updating around Christmas. I've added another character to the fanfic. A new one, well, not exactly new, but...well, I'll let you guys be the judge of it. *insert Chris McLean-like laughter here*
Update (9/19/18): New poll is up. Will end in a week when I re-post the FOP fic's new chapter. Check it out on the profile for more details.