A/N: Hello, Calamity Queen here. This is my first attempt at writing a fanfiction, so please don't hate me too much if I mess this up somewhere down the line. As a heads up, I will be using the Japanese names for the cards and characters, so I'm sorry if things seem unfamiliar at first. With that being said, I hope you'll still read and review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.
Chapter 1
The Promised Beginning
Dressed in a clean, freshly ironed black and white middle school uniform, a fair-skinned teenage girl with long ebony-colored hair slept peacefully, despite the uncomfortable stadium seat she was currently resting in and the bustling sounds of people dueling going on around her. While the girl had originally arrived at the Duel Academia testing arena bright and early in the hopes of sizing up some of the skill levels of her future peers, she had soon grown bored and had wound up dozing off before even half of the examinees had been tested. It certainly didn't help that she had stayed up rather late the previous night in order to make a few last minute adjustments to her deck, either.
Even with a pair of headphones on, blasting extremely loud instrumental music into her ears, the faint sound of nearby whimpering was still somehow able to reach the raven-haired girl, slowly pulling her out of her dreamless sleep.
As her eyes fluttered open, the light gradually returned to them, making them shine like a ruby and sapphire. Now fully awake, the girl lowered her gaze to where that whimpering had emanated from, soon laying eyes on a snow-white Akita Inu wearing white and gold battle armor. While pets weren't allowed in the testing facilities, the girl felt that rule wasn't something she had to worry about since, as far as she knew, no one else but she was able to see the little half-transparent dog that was now standing before her.
"What is it, Raiko?" she mumbled to the card spirit, pulling down her headphones so that they were now hanging around her neck.
The dog let out a short bark before looking up towards the ceiling, evidently trying to call her attention to something in that direction.
The girl looked up as well, and while she didn't really spot anything of interest, other than the lighting fixtures, she soon became aware of a voice talking over the PA system that she hadn't been able to hear before.
"Examinee Number 2, Kurayami Hikari-san... Last call for Kurayami Hikari-san..."
"Crap, that's me!" the girl gasped, suddenly bolting up from her seat. "I guess I must have been asleep longer than I thought if they're already down to the last few applicants..." she muttered to herself as she made her way down towards the dueling field, hastily slipping her duel disk over her right forearm as she ran.
When she finally reached the field, she found her proctor already there, ready and waiting.
"I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting," the girl breathlessly apologized, giving a quick but courteous bow to the man across from her.
"Kurayami Hikari, I presume?" he questioned, earning him an affirmative nod from said girl. "Well, now that you've decided to show up, let's begin, shall we?"
"Yes, sir," Hikari responded before she and her opponent simultaneously activating their duel disks.
"Duel!" the two called out as they drew their starting hands.
Proctor: 4000
Hikari: 4000
"I'll go first," the proctor announced, drawing a card. "I summon King Tiger Wanghu in Attack Position!"
As the proctor placed the card on his duel disk, a large white tiger covered in silver and red armor appeared on the field with a roar (4/1700/1000).
"Next, I activate the Permanent Magic, Burden of the Mighty. As long as this card remains on the field, all monsters the opponent controls losses 100 Attack Points times their Levels."
That was a pretty interesting combo her opponent came up with, Hikari had to admit. Due to King Tiger Wanghu's effect, as long as it remained face-up on the field, any monster Normal or Special Summoned with an Attack of 1400 or less would instantly be destroyed, and with that Magic Card weakening her monsters, it severely limited the ones she would be able to play.
"Finally, I'll set one card facedown," the man said as a reversed card appeared behind his monster. "Turn end."
"My turn. Draw," Hikari announced, drawing her sixth card before looking over what she had.
This should be good, she thought with a faint smile before picking out a card from her hand. "I activate the Magic Card, Painful Choice. I now choose five cards from my deck, and then my opponent selects one of them. That card will be added to my hand while I discard the rest to the Cemetery."
After searching through her deck, Hikari showed the five chosen cards to her opponent, all of which were monsters of the same archetype: Lightlord Magician Lyla, Lightlord Paladin Jayne, Lightlord Monk Eileen, Lightlord Angel Cherubim, and Lightlord Warrior Garos.
"I choose Lightlord Angel Cherubim," the proctor decided.
"Very well," the raven-haired girl nodded, adding the chosen card to her hand while slipping the other four into her duel disk's Cemetery slot.
"With at least four different Lightlord monsters currently in my Cemetery, I can now Special Summon the mighty Judgment Dragoon from my hand!"
Hikari placed the card on her duel disk and a massive red-eyed dragon covered in stark-white feathers emerged on the field, its large wings outstretched (8/3000-2200/2600).
After taking a moment to admire her monster, the girl resumed her turn. "I now activate Judgment Dragoon's effect: by paying 1000 Life Points, I can have it destroy every single card on the field, except for itself."
Proctor: 4000
Hikari: 3000
After Hikari's Life Points dropped, her dragon surrounded itself in a glowing white light as it prepared to use its destructive power.
"In that case, I'll activate my face-down, the Instant Magic, Shrink," the proctor proclaimed, revealing his reverse card. "By applying this card's effect to your Judgment Dragoon, I can halve its original Attack Points until the end of this turn."
With its Attack now at 700, Judgment Dragoon unleashed a super-nova-like blast upon the field, destroying all of the examiner's cards. With Burden of the Mighty now gone, the dragon's strength rose to 1500, though it was still a far cry from its usual power.
"You may have crippled my dragon, for the time being, but that still won't stop me from finishing things this turn," Hikari revealed with an enigmatic smile.
"Oh?" the examiner questioned.
The girl gave a curt nod as she picked out another card from her hand. "By banishing Lightlord Monk Eileen—a LIGHT monster—from my Cemetery, I can now Special Summon Somber-Black Dragon Collapserpent from my hand."
Out of a cosmic portal appeared a black and orange limbless dragon with spiked bat-like wings and a small black hole emanating from the center its chest (4/1800/1700).
"And since I still have my Normal Summon, I'll use it to bring forth Eclipse Wyvern in Attack Position."
Alongside the other two dragons came a black and silver wyvern decorated with bright red patterns all over its body (4/1600/1000).
"Battle: Judgment Dragoon, Somber-Black Dragon Collapserpent, Eclipse Wyvern, direct attack!" Hikari ordered.
With loud roars, her three dragons simultaneously unleashed their attacks upon the proctor, knocking out all of his Life Points in a matter of seconds.
Proctor: 0
Hikari: 3000 (winner)
"The Examination Duel is over," the proctor announced after recovering from the loss. "Congratulations. You've won."
"Thank you for your time, sir," the girl replied, bowing graciously.
~x~x~x~*~x~x~x~
Well, that went by a lot faster than I thought it would, the black-haired teen mused to herself as she absentmindedly continued to her stroll towards the stadium's exit. After witnessing the end of Examinee Number 1, Misawa Daichi's, duel, she decided to take her leave since his duel was meant to be the last one of the day.
With her headphones back on and only mildly paying attention to her surroundings, she failed to notice a blur of black and red quickly racing in her direction and soon collided with said figure, causing her to fall back onto the ground.
"Ow..." Hikari winced in pain, her tailbone sore from having landed directly on it.
"...right?" she vaguely heard the sound of someone uttering. "...hear me? Hello?"
"Huh?" the girl asked, pulling down her headphones and finally looking up.
There, she saw a boy with two-toned brown hair, wearing a black and red school uniform, gazing down at her with a pair of chocolate-colored eyes.
"I asked if you were okay," he reiterated his previous inquiry.
"Yes, I'm fine," she nodded as she then proceeded to pick herself off the ground, ignoring the hand the boy had offered her, feeling she was capable of doing so without any assistance.
She then began to dust off some of the dirt that had gotten on her black tights, mumbling something about having just washed them under her breath as she did so.
"I'm really sorry for running into you like that," the boy apologized under a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his head with his hand in a sheepish sort of way.
"It's fine, really," Hikari insisted, just wanting to wave the whole thing off. "Next time, just try to slow down a little and, in turn, I'll try to do a better job at paying attention to the things around me, 'kay?"
"Uh, sure..." he grinned.
She smiled back. "Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really have to get going."
Giving a short, apologetic bow as a last farewell, Hikari then promptly made her exit, leaving the boy curiously staring after her for a few seconds before suddenly remembering that he was wanted over on the dueling field to take part in his last-minute Examination Duel, and then quickly took off soon afterwards as well.
~x~x~x~*~x~x~x~
"Today was a pretty good day, huh, Raiko?" Hikari asked, twisting the knob on her bedroom door open.
The Lightlord Hunter gave an energetic bark, and then hopped up right onto the girl's bed. He yapped happily again before burying his furry neck under one of the pillows.
Hikari watched the little spirit's theatrics for a while and then proceeded to get things for the coming day organized. A list of what was required, recommended, and prohibited at the Academia already resided on her desk. Another list showed what would be distributed upon arrival to the island.
"Wanna watch the news, Raiko?" she asked, flipping on the plasma wide-screen mounted in a corner. The latest Pro Duels and results were being broadcasted. Quickly scanning the names and noticing none that were very appealing, she continued around the room, throwing some things on the bed that she would pack. Toothbrush... undergarments... an interesting book or two... some chocolate for instant energy before tests...
"And tomorrow's duels: Edo Phoenix versus D. D. Scientist."
"Some people think of the weirdest nicknames..." she muttered, glancing once at the screen, and then looked back down to fold the clothing. The door creaked slightly, and a figure stepped into the room. Raiko disappeared instantly, and a slight grin formed on Hikari's face. Only one person had the tenacity to open the door without knocking in this household. "Or should I say, some people have the weirdest names?"
"I thank you deeply, Kurayami Hikari," the boy said back.
"Anytime, Edo Phoenix." she replied, just as mockingly. Then, the joking ended, and she put down her last piece of clothing. "So, what's up?"
"Nothing much," he answered. The taunt in his voice had ended as well. "I just want to congratulate you for the entry examination scores and your duel with the proctor."
"You saw it?" she asked.
"Every move... Well, both moves," he replied back. "One turn finishes are impressive. It's a wonder why Saiou hasn't let you duel in the Pro circuit."
"Maybe because he's busy dealing with a fifteen-year-old dueling troll," Hikari suggested.
Edo snorted. "Right, he doesn't need to deal with two, for now."
They looked at each other for a few seconds in silence before he broke it. "Seriously though, I think sending you into the Pros would be a better idea than sending you to Duel Academia. Honestly, do you need it?"
"We don't all have two PhD's, Edo," the girl acknowledged. "Besides, maybe he knows that my mother would care that I get a full tuition. Maybe she always wanted me to go to Duel Academia, or something. She knew Kaiba Seto well and even funded a huge part of Duel Academia's creation, after all."
"Your mother was a Pro Duelist, too. But whatever. I cannot argue with your rock head. Duel Academia would be a new... experience, I guess." To add to his surrender, he shrugged his shoulders. She had won the argument, again. "Don't fail, or Saiou will never field you."
Hikari looked at him like he wanted a beating, right there and then. She stepped a foot closer, and looked into his dark blue eyes with her mismatched ones. "That's why you never went to Duel Academia. He knew you would fail." She placed her hands on her hips to emphasize her point.
"You know, Kurayami? Some of my intelligence should rub off on you," Edo commented, a look of smugness and disgust mixed on his face. He crossed his arms to emphasize his point.
"You know, Phoenix? Maybe it's your overwhelming stupidity that's rubbing off on me," Hikari answered back. She strengthened her glare and held it steady for some time before they both relented, laughing.
Edo was the one that broke the laughter first. "Hikari? You're like my only family these days: like my sister. When I say don't fail, I really mean it."
Hikari looked at the boy. "Trust me, failing isn't in my repertoire." For the past few years, he'd been her only family as well. She looked at the silver-haired Pro as her brother. The truth is that they would have actually been made a real family officially, if fate had only played out a little differently and hadn't taken their parents from them…
He chuckled. "I don't doubt it. Good luck, nonetheless. Who knows what goes on in a remote island several hundred miles away from civilization?"
At that, the black-haired girl laughed. "Geez, you make it sound like I'm being shipped away to some tropical jungle."
"You could be attacked by wild chimpanzees. Be careful," he commented gravely.
Then, he stepped closer and hugged her. Fiercely. "Saiou tells you to do things for a reason," he said in a much softer voice than when they were previously taunting each other. "That's why I'm telling you to be careful. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't watch for the giant chimpanzees."
Hikari rolled her heterochromic eyes slightly at his last statement, but returned the hug. "Phoenix... what could possibly go wrong at Duel Academia?"
A/N: And that's the end of the first chapter. Anyone who knows even a little Japanese must have realized how oxymoronic my character's name sounds, but that's okay. After all, that name helped me come up with the deck I'm using for this story, which happens to have a pretty strong Chaos theme to it.
Well, that's all I have to say, at the moment. See ya!