Xavier ran up to the people sitting at a desk outside the Community Duel Hall and asked, "I'm not late, am I?" between breaths.
One of the people at the desk said, "No, you're just in time. We were about to close the doors."
"That's good," Xavier said, catching his breath. "Now, how do I get to the examination room?"
"Down the hallway and to the left."
"Great, thanks man," Xavier said, running down the hallway to get to the room. When he got there he saw that there were a lot of people sitting down around the room. He scanned the room for spare seats before his eyes fell upon one next to his cousin, Acacia, who was also sitting for the entrance exam. He found that there were two pieces of paper with numbers on them. He said to himself, "I wonder what these are for?"
Acacia quietly said, "We'll no doubt find out when the time is right, having the same number on her desk.
Xavier said, "Heya cuz."
Acacia quietly said, "Xavier."
"When did you get here?"
"Half an hour ago. Where were you?"
"I just had to put the finishing touches on my deck."
"I thought that you had already done that last week?"
"Yeah, but then I got these cool cards that I needed to put in and…"
"Shh," Acacia whispered, noticing a man with purple hair combed back to a point off of the back of his hair moved to the centre at the front of the room.
The man said, "Hello, My name is Dr Randham, I am the Head of Techniques and Head of Discipline at Duel Academy. You all are the students that are trying to get into the duel academy that haven't gone through the Duel Academy Preparation Classes. As such I am not expecting too much from you, but please try your hardest to not disgrace yourselves too much."
Xavier quietly commented, "Good to know what they expect."
Acacia hissed, "Shut up Xavier." Xavier smirked, causing his cousin to roll her eyes at his antics.
"Now," Dr Randham said, "You may begin."
An hour later Dr Randham said, "Time's up." All of the students put down their pens. "Now, I would hope that you all have noticed the pieces of paper with numbers on your desks." There were muttered yes' and other forms of agreement coming from all of the prospective students. "Good. You will now go into the Main Hall where you will wait in the grandstand before you hear the number on the red piece of paper. Once you do you will proceed to the field that matches the number on the yellow piece of paper on your desk. Is that understood?" there were more uttered yes', but two students raised their hands. The man said, "What is it?"
The first one a girl that looked identical to the other girl that raised her hand said, "Uhh…do you mind if my sister and I duel together?"
The man pointedly demanded, "Why would we do that?"
"Well, we like to duel togeth…"
The man cut them off, saying, "No the duels are to be done by yourselves, one on one against one of the proctors."
The girl said, "Very well sir," disappointed that she and her twin couldn't duel together as they always had.
The man said, "Is there anything else?" There were no replies. "Good, then get to the Hall."
A half hour later Xavier heard his number called out. He moved down to the duel field that the yellow paper indicated that would be used for his test. When he got there he exclaimed, "I'm duelling you?!"
"I wouldn't be here otherwise," Dr Randham said as he thought, 'I won't be having you ruining the lessons for all the other students,' having read up on Xavier's father's exploits from his time at the duel academy.
"Okay, so…who goes first?"
"You, as the applicant will go first."
"Thanks, teach," Xavier said, "It's time to duel," activating his duel disk.
Dr Randham said, "Indeed," activating his Obelisk Blue Duel Coat.
Both duellists drew five cards before Xavier drew a sixth. He said, "I summon Emissary of the Afterlife(4|1600/600) in attack mode and lay one card face down. Your go teach."
Dr Randham said, "It's Dr Randham," as a card dropped into his hand from his duel coat. He said, "First I'll summon Armageddon Knight(4|1400/1200) to the field, before playing the spell card polymerisation, which lets me fuse two monsters together."
Xavier said, "I know what it does," as his father used it against him all the time when they were duelling.
Dr Randham muttered, "I should hope so." In a louder voice he said, "Regardless, I use it to fuse Masaki the Legendary Swordsman(4|1100/1100) and Flame Manipulator(3|900/1000) in order to form the mighty Flame Swordsman(5|1800/1600). Now, my swordsman, cut down Emissary of the Afterlife with your Flaming Sword of Battle."
Xavier thought, 'Damn, Fiendish Chain can't stop that thing. Ah well, at least I still have my Emissary's effect.' As his monster was destroyed, and he lost 200 life points, Xavier said, "You activated Emissary of the Afterlife's effect, which lets both of us take a normal monster from our decks, as long as it is level three or below," as he withdrew his deck from his duel disk and started searching through it until he found the card he was looking for. Once he found it he held it up for Dr Randham to see. As he did he said, "I choose my Elemental Hero Avian(3|1000/1000). Now, choose your card."
Dr Randham thought, 'So, he uses a Hero deck? Is he just copying his father?' He said, "I don't have any monsters that meet the criteria. If that's all, I'll attack you directly with Armageddon Knight," causing the black-clad knight to run at Xavier and slash down on him. He didn't make contact though. He asked, "What did you do?"
Xavier said, "I activated Fiendish Chain, which negates the effect of one Effect Monster and prevents it from attacking."
"Well done. But before we go on, why are you here?"
"Excuse me? I thought I was here to duel you…or was I mistaken?"
"That's not what I meant. I mean why do you want to enter Duel Academy?"
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"If you're just trying to get into Duel Academy because your father did, then there are plenty of othe…"
"Shut the hell up!" Xavier said, stunning the two in the audience that knew him.
Dr Randham thought, 'Well, it looks like he has his reasons.'
"Why would I want to enter for such a…."
Dr Randham interrupted him. He said, "Well, it seems that you have your reasons. I'll lay one card face down. Now, it's your go."
"Thanks," Xavier said, sarcasm lacing his voice as he drew a card. I'll summon Elemental Hero Knopse and play Rose Bud, which lets me tribute Elemental Hero Knospe(3|600/1000) in order to summon Elemental Hero Poison Rose(6|1900/2000) from my deck. Now I think I'll attack Flame Swordsman with her Petal Storm Attack." Xavier's monster extended her right arm at Flame Swordsman and a flurry of whirling petals shot forth, shredding first Flame Swordsman's armour, then the warrior himself. Dr Randham lost 100 life points. "If that wasn't enough for you, now that your monster's been destroyed, Poison Rose's effect activates, which causes it to gain two hundred attack points. She also loses an equal amount of defence points, but eh, what can you do?"
Dr Randham glanced at his remaining monster on the field and thought, 'I guess he thought that there was no real reason to attack Armageddon Knight while he has that trap on the field; and he's right, however…' I activate Pride of the Warrior, a trap card that lets me summon one warrior that has been destroyed in battle."
"Well," Xavier shrugged, "I'm done."
"In that case," Dr Randham said, letting another card drop into his hand. "I'll change both of my monsters into defence mode and then use Backup Warrior's(5|2100/0) effect, which lets me summon him when I have two monsters on the field in defence mode."
Xavier thought, 'So that's why he wanted them both on the field. If I'd known that…well…I still wouldn't have been able to do anything about it, but still, that's a pretty sweet move.'
"Now, I'll sacrifice both Flame Swordsman and Armageddon Knight in order to summon Phoenix Gearfried(8|2800/2200)." Dr Randham's Swordsman and Knight walked towards each other and burst into flames as they met. A warrior twice their size appeared in the flames. It dispersed the flames with one swing of its massive sword.
Xavier said, "Bugger."
Dr Randham said, Backup Warrior, attack Elemental Hero Poison Rose." Dr Randham's monster shot all of its guns at Elemental Hero Poison Rose in a kamikaze attack, destroying both Poison Rose and itself. Dr Randham said, "Now, Phoenix Gearfried, attack Xavier directly." Xavier gulped as Phoenix Gearfried swung his sword at him, lowering his life points to 1000. "Your turn."
As Xavier drew a card his pupils changed their colour to red. At the same time the pendant that he was wearing under his shirt glowed, his eyes reverting back to normal almost as soon as they had changed. He said, "I play Dark Fusion."
Dr Randham asked, "Dark what?" having never heard of the card before.
"Dark Fusion," Xavier said. "I'm not that surprised that you don't know of it. As far as I'm aware I am the only one that possesses it."
"So what does it do?"
"Like you probably guessed earlier, I use a Hero Deck like my dad. But mine's a little...different."
"Different how? I'm well aware that there are multiple families within the Hero archetype, but I've never heard of any of them using a card called Dark Fusion."
"Like I said, I'm the only one with it. But rather than telling you, how about I just show you what it does?"
"Just get on with it," Dr Randham said, annoyed that he was learning from a student.
"Alright then, I'll use Dark Fusion to fuse Avian and Burstinatrix(3|1200/800) together in order to form the one, the only, Evil Hero Inferno Wing(6|2100/1200)."
'Evil Hero? Where have I heard of that before? Well, time forthatlater.'
As Xavier sent Avian and Burstinatrix to the graveyard a vortex appeared above Xavier and sucked them into it. Out of the vortex appeared a menacing feminine Fiend type monster.
Dr Randham took a step back as he started to sweat and say, "What is that thing!? Wait…" he thought, 'That only has 2100 attack points.' He sighed in relief, 'Then my life points are…wait…then why…'
Xavier said, "Now that she's here I'll summon this card,…" laying a card on the monster zone on his duel disk next to the one that Inferno Wing was in. "…Winged Minion(2|700/700)."
"Winged Minion! But that can…"
"Now I'll tribute it, which increases Inferno Wing's attack points by 700, making them equal to yours."
"So what, both monsters will be destroyed, leaving us both without any monsters to protect ourselves, and it will be my turn."
"Yeah, that's not quite right."
"Care to explain."
"Well, it is now, but not after I play this card," Xavier said, placing a card into his Spell Card Zone.
Dr Randham asked, "What is it?"
"It's Monster Reborn, which lets me summon Emissary of the Afterlife from the graveyard."
"Oh."
"Now, Inferno Wing, attack Phoenix Gearfried with Inferno Blast." Inferno Wing flew up above Phoenix Gearfried and generated a massive flaming sphere between its hands and threw it down on Dr Randham's monster, destroying it. Due to both monsters having the same attack points, as Dr Randham said, Inferno Wing was also destroyed, consumed by fire. Xavier whispered, "Sorry Inferno Wing, but it was far more dangerous to leave it out there." In a louder voice he said, "Now, Emissary of the Afterlife, attack Dr Randham directly." Once Xavier's monster's attack went through, Dr Randham's life points dropped to 2300.
Dr Randham thought, 'Well, he's through now anyway, but still…' as a card dropped into his hand. "I play, Swords of Burning Light which prevents you from attacking as long as I have no monsters on my field, or you have less than five cards in your hand." 'That's bought me some time at least.'
"I summon Elemental Hero Heat(4|1600/1200), and that'll do," Xavier said as his monster gained two hundred attack points due to its effect. He thought, 'Cause that'sallIcando.'
Dr Randham let a card fall into his hand. He looked at it and thought, 'Command Knight? It's got some good defence, but I don't know enough about the Evil Hero's to be sure that that will be enough. Either way, it's better to have it out there anyway.' He said, "I summon Command Knight(4|1200/1900) in defence mode, and then end my turn."
Xavier drew a card and said, "Huh, would you look at that."
"Would you look at what?"
Xavier said, "I just drew Elemental Hero Heat's sister, Lady Heat(4|1300/1000)," as he laid the card on his field. "Now, since I have another Elemental Hero on the Field, Elemental Hero Heat's attack points go up another two hundred points, making it strong enough to take out that Command Knight, so, Elemental Hero Heat, go ahead and attack Command Knight." Xavier's monster bounded over to Dr Randham's and punched it, his hand ripping through Command Knight's armour, seemingly with ease, before shattering the hologram into many pieces. Once it was gone Xavier didn't waste any time in having his remaining monsters attack, reducing Dr Randham's life points to zero.
Dr Xavier said, "Well done," and left the duel field, his coat swirling behind him.
Xavier cried out, "Alri-ight!" and jumped up, pumping his fist in the air as the normal proctor for the field walked on. Xavier commented, "I hope Acacia's duel isn't done yet," and ran from the hall to the one that his cousin was set to duel in.
XXXXX
As Dr Randham returned to the box seat area that he was using to oversee all of the ongoing duels he pressed the microphone in his ear and said, "Rex."
The man on the other end, Dr Rex Evans, the Head of Scientific Duelling, said, "Yes. What is it Jaque?"
"You have an Acacia Rhodes in your room, don't you?"
"Yeah, her duel is set to start pretty soon."
"I want you to oversee it personally."
"Me? But surely a proctor would do."
Dr Randham said, "I just lost to her cousin," which was enough for Rex to do as ordered. "Any problems?"
"Yeah. There's plenty of them, but I will test her myself."
"Thank you," and tapped his microphone again, cutting communications, to his counterpart in the other hall, off.
Xavier reached the grandstands just in time to see Acacia walk onto one of the duel fields. When she was standing there Acacia said, "You don't look like one of the proctors," taking in Dr Rex's really rather outlandish attire, which consisted of tight-fit white pants tucked into brown, knee-high, boots with large cuffs, he also had on a bright green tunic with a purple Ouroboros on the right breast. He also has a large brown belt with a massive buckle. That wasn't the worst of it though. He was wearing a broad-brimmed blue hat that had slightly shorter sides than the front and back. On either side was a large, lighter blue, feather.
Dr Evans said, "What do you mean by that?"
"No offence, but did you miss a pirate convention?"
"A…I'll have you know that this has been the ceremonial uniform of my family for generations."
"Well…you might want to look at a fashion magazine from the last…five thousand years or so."
"A…" Dr Evans growled in anger at Acacia's words. "I'll make you eat those words," as he activated a duel disk that looked like it was somehow made out of wood with canvas card zones. It wasn't. Acacia activated hers. "Now, you go first."
"Thanks," Acacia said, as she drew six cards. "I'll send Thunder Dragon(5|1600/1500) in my hand, which lets me add the two in my deck to my hand."
Dr Evans thought, 'Thunder Dragons? So she's going to summon Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon. Well, that's what she thinks anyway.'
"Now I activate Polymerisation, which lets me fuse my two Thunder Dragons together in order to summon the almighty Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon(7|2800/2100) to the field. A dragon, completely unlike the previous ones, emerged on the field, lightning bolts crashing all around it, but somehow hitting neither Acacia's monster nor Acacia herself. Before the lightning bolts could stop though, the large monster started to disperse. Acacia asked, "What did you do?"
"I sent Singularity Fiend(1|0/0) and Tribute to the Doomed to the graveyard, which activated Singularity Fiend's effect, to negate the special summon of a monster and destroy it."
In the stands Xavier thought, 'That's an interesting monster. But it's not going to be enough.'
Acacia said, "In that case, I play De-Fusion, which returns Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon to my extra deck and returns both Thunder Dragon's used in its summoning."
Dr Evans grimaced as he said, "My turn," and moved to draw a card.
Acacia said, "No it's not."
"Huh?"
"I'm not done yet."
"You're not?" Dr Evans asked as most prospective students only had one move to make on their first turn.
"No," Acacia firmly said.
"Very well then," Dr Evans said, moving his hand away from his Duel Disk.
"Thank you," Acacia said, irritated as she was not used to her opponents trying to cut in on her turn. "I sacrifice my two Thunder Dragons in order to summon my Red-Eyes Black Dragon(7|2400/2000)." Acacia waited until her favourite monster was on the field before continuing. "Now I'll activate the spell card Inferno Fire Blast, which lets me target one Red-Eyes Black Dragon on the field and inflict damage to you equal to its attack points." Dr Evans' life points shot down to 1600. "Inferno Fire Blast would stop me from attacking, but since it's the first turn, I can't attack anyway." Acacia said, "Now I'll lay one card face down and end my turn," placing the last card in her hand on the field.
Dr Evans thought, 'So did she go through all that to get Red-Eyes on the field?' He drew a card and said, "I activate Graceful Charity, which lets me draw three cards, as long as I discard two." He drew three cards and discarded two. "Since I just sent Lightserpent to the graveyard I can special summon it to the field. But it won't be there for very long. Because now I'm going to sacrifice it to summon Venom Boa(5|1600/1200), which lets me put two Venom Counters onto your Red-Eyes."
Xavier thought, 'Venom Counters?'
Acacia said, "Oka-ay, so what do they do?"
"Absolutely nothing. At the moment, but that all changes when I activate the field spell, Venom Swamp, which causes all monsters with Venom Counters on them to lose 500 life points for each one." Acacia's monster lost 1000 attack points.
Acacia exclaimed, "Oh no!" as her beloved Red-Eyes lost almost half of its power, making it weaker than Venom Boa.
Dr Evans said, "Oh yes. Venom Boa, attack Red-Eyes Black Dragon." Venom Boa launched itself at Acacia's Red-Eyes and slithered up its legs and around its body, as it did Red-Eyes tried to get it off of it before Venom Boa bit into its neck, shattering it into pieces. He smirked and said, "How do you like tha…" then he saw Red-Eyes rematerialize on the field with all of its attack points. He demanded, "What did you do? I just destroyed that."
"Yes. You did," Acacia said, angry that it had happened.
"So how did…"
"I activated Red-Eyes Spirit, which special summons a destroyed Red-Eyes Monster when it's been sent to the Graveyard."
Dr Evans thought, 'Well, no matter it's still weaker than…wait. No. The only reason that Venom Boa was stronger than it was because it had two Venom Counters on it, but now it doesn't have any. Hmm…Venom Swamp will decrease its attack points, but it will still be enough to destroy Venom Boa.' He said, "I'll activate Field Barrier, which stops you from going after my Venom Swamp and lay two cards face down. That'll be all."
Acacia saw her Red-Eyes lose five hundred of its attack points and asked, no, demanded, "What just happened?"
Dr Evans said, "That would be the other effect of Venom Swamp. At each player's end phase it places a Venom Counter on each monster with the exception of 'Venom' Monsters and, due to its first effect, that causes each monster to lose five hundred attack points."
Acacia thought, 'Well if that's not the most annoying…' she sighed and said, "Well, nothing I can do about it now," and drew a card. Seeing it she said, "Huh. Would you look at that."
Dr Evans demanded, "Would you look at what?"
"I think I'll make use of that Field Spell you've got there."
"That's not possible. I find it highly unlikely that you have any Venom Monsters, so you can't use its effect for your advantage."
"Oh, I'm not talking about its effect."
"You're not? Then…?"
"It's a Field Spell."
"Your point?"
Acacia said, "It lets me summon this card," placing a monster on the field. "Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon(7|2400/2000)."
Dr Evans said, "Malefic?" and thought, 'I've never heard of Malefic monsters.'
Xavier thought, 'So she did bring it.' As Acacia said, "Yeah, it's every bit as powerful as my Red-Eyes. The only downsides are that it is destroyed when there's no active field spell and I need to remove a Red-Eyes Black Dragon from my deck to summon it."
Dr Evans said, "Then I can just…" he trailed off as the thought, 'Wait. Field Barrier prevents the destruction of Field Spells. Damn it!' came to his mind. He scrunched up his face at being used like that.
"Anyway, for now, I'll have Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon attack Venom Boa with its Dark Mega Flare." Acacia's full-powered dragon destroyed Dr Evans' only monster, inflicting 800 points of damage.
Dr Evans said, "I activate Damage = Reptile, which lets me summon a monster after I take battle damage from a battle involving a reptile monster, as long as its attack points are equal to, or less than the damage taken." Acacia grunted, having wanted to finish off the duel on that turn. "So, I think I'll summon Cobra Jar(2|600/300) from my deck. Now I'll activate my other face-down, Book of Moon, which lets me switch the position of one face-up card into face-down defence position..."
Acacia glanced at her Red-Eyes and thought, 'Well, looks like you won't be attacking just yet.'
"…and I choose, Cobra Jar."
Acacia exclaimed, "What? But why?!" not comprehending why he would not choose to save his own monster, not that she could attack anyway.
As Dr Evans' monster changed its battle position he said, "Confused are you?" not really needing an answer. "Continue your attack and you will find out why."
"Well, I would, but unfortunately that's not possible right now, so I'll switch my Red-Eyes into defence mode and end my turn here."
Dr Evans thought, 'She didn't attack? But why? Red-Eyes could easily destroy Cobra Jar. And there is nothing on my field that could stop it, so why…' then he looked at her Malefic Red-Eyes and thought, 'Unless that thing has some ability that she didn't tell me about. Even so, it was smart for her to switch her Red-Eyes into defence mode since Venom Swamp doesn't affect a monster's defensive powers.' He said, "I'll lay one card face down and end my turn." Acacia's monsters lost five hundred more attack points each.
Acacia drew a card as she thought, 'They're so weak…' and closed her eyes as she felt tears almost well up at the thought of what had been done to her most beloved cards. 'Damn that Venom Swamp. Well, that's not important right now. What is is getting through that Cobra Jar.' She drew a card. She thought, 'I could use this now, but it wouldn't do me any good. I couldn't attack and at the end of my turn it would lose a fifth of its attack points.' She said, "I'll attack your Cobra Jar with Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon and end my turn," causing her Malefic monster to fire an orb of black fire at the face-down card on Dr Evans' field, causing a green viper in a jar to appear before shattering into pieces, a miniature version of the monster appeared in its place. Blinking, Acacia asked, "Uh…what just happened?"
Dr Evans said, "Allow me to explain. When Cobra Jar is destroyed it summons a Poisonous Snake Token, which…well, you'll find out soon enough."
"Well, if you say so," Acacia said, "I end my turn," causing her Red-Eyes to lose another 500 attack points at the same time as her Malefic Red-Eyes. She tuned Dr Evans' rambling out as she thought, 'Okay, so what can that token do? He said that it can do something so…hmm…token monsters generally have some effect themselves, most of which help the monster that it is summoned by, but that was summoned by its destruction, so that's not it. Other than that there are those that assist in the summoning of more monsters, but there is only one, so that's not it either. Maybe…hmm…if that's the case then I need to be careful in how I go about destroying it.'
As Acacia ended her turn, in the stands, Xavier thought, 'Tokens? That sounds interesting. Maybe I should find some for my deck.'
Acacia tuned back in when Dr Evans was saying, "…The other effect of Venom Swamp now activates, destroying your Red-Eyes."
Acacia started to say "What do you…" then saw her Red-Eyes disappear from the field. She exclaimed, "What just…"
Dr Evans sighed and said, "I just got through telling you that Venom Swamp will destroy a monster that reached zero attack points through its effect."
Acacia looked at her Red-Eyes card as she moved it from the field to the graveyard, thinking, 'Sorry Red-Eyes.'
"From here I'll summon Venom Snake(3|1200/600)," which summoned a snake that screamed 'danger' in its appearance, "and activate its effect, which adds one Venom Counter to a monster you control. Since you now only have Malefic Red-Eyes on the field, it's not hard to guess which." Acacia's monster lost another 500 attack points, making it reach zero, causing it to be destroyed like Acacia's normal Red-Eyes.
Acacia thought, 'Well, at least my monsters can attack on my next turn with Malefic Red-Eyes off the field.'
"Now, I'll have Venom Snake and Poisonous Snake Token attack you directly." Dr Evans' monsters coiled back and flung themselves at Acacia, biting into her arms, causing her to lose 1400 life points. Dr Evans said, "I think that'll do it for now," to make it seem like he could do anything else, which he couldn't.
Acacia drew a card as she said, "Since Poisonous Snake Token's attack dropped to zero, it gets destroyed." She laid the card she drew face down on the field as she said, I'll lay one card face down and play this card,…" placing the card that was already in her hand into the Spell/Trap Zone on her duel disk and activated it. "…D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation," which caused a monster to come flying in from the distance behind Acacia before landing in front of her.
Dr Evans said, "Not that!"
Acacia said, "Yes, that," with the Red-Eyes that she removed from play earlier standing in front of her. "Red-Eyes, destroy his Venom Snake." Acacia's Red-Eyes breathed a flaming orb down onto Dr Evans' snake.
Dr Evans said, "Not so fast," activating his facedown card, the flaming orb dissipating just before it hit. "You just activated Butterflyoke, which equips itself to one of your monsters and changes it to Defence Position. In addition to that, once per turn, I can change that monster's Battle Position."
Acacia sighed and said, "Bugger. Well, if that's the case, then I'm ending my turn."
"Why thank you," Dr Evans said as Acacia's Red-Eyes' attack dropped to 1900 "I summon Venom Serpent(4|1000/800), and activate its effect, which lets me place another Venom Counter on one of your monsters. Then I'll end my turn."
Acacia sighed as her Red-Eyes lost another 500 attack points and said, "You really like using that same old trick, don't you?" She drew a card. "I activate Vicious Claw, which increases Red-Eyes' attack points by 300." She thought, 'Of course, it's still not enough to beat his Snake, but his Serpent is wide open.' "I'll switch its position into attack mode and attack Venom Serpent."
Dr Evans thought, 'Hmm…I could use the trap to change its position, but then again…'
Venom Serpent was destroyed. Acacia, half-expecting the move, shrugged and said, "I'll end my turn here," satisfied with taking away 200 more of the, quite frankly, creepy proctor's life points.
Dr Evans drew a card and thought, 'Hmm…Not much use now. I might as well put it into play though.' He said, "I'll play one card face down and attack Red-Eyes with Venom Snake."
As Venom Snake launched itself at Acacia's remaining Red-Eyes she activated her facedown card and said, "I activate my trap, Castle of Dragon Souls, which increases the attack power of a monster I control by banishing a dragon from my graveyard. So I'll get rid of Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon in order to power-up the Red-Eyes I have on the field." When Venom Snake collided with Red-Eyes it shattered into many pieces, taking with it 400 of Dr Evans' life points, and his remaining monster. When it was gone Acacia said, "My turn," and drew a card. "I'll play Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two cards," Acacia said as she sent the card that she just played to the graveyard and drew two more. "Now I'll lay two cards facedown and end my turn."
As Acacia's Red-Eyes lost more attack points, Dr Evans thought, 'Why did she leave her Red-Eyes in attack mode? She clearly understands the rules of my Venom Swamp as she switched her last Red-Eyes into defence mode. Hmm…does she want me to attack? Well, I will, but first I think I'll do something about those facedown cards.' He said, "I activate Mystical Space Typhoon, which will destroy a spell or trap card on your side of the field."
Acacia shrugged and said, "Alright, which one will it be?"
Dr Evans thought, 'That's strange. It's almost as if…' He asked, "Did you want me to destroy one of your cards?"
Acacia said, "Make a choice and find out."
Dr Evans grunted and said, "Fine, I choose…the left one."
Acacia grinned and said, "Thanks for that."
"Excuse me?"
"When you chose the left one you activated its effect."
"An effect? What effect? Wait! You can't have a monster card in the spell card zone!"
"Oh, but I can, when the monster is Silver Sentinel(4|1500/1300) anyway."
"Silver…"
"Silver Sentinel can be Set as a Spell card and now that it's been destroyed its secondary effect takes place. When your turn is done I can summon it to the field and destroy a face-up spell card."
"You can…" Dr Evans growled. "It won't matter. I'll attack Red-Eyes with Venom Snake."
"I'll activate Metalmorph, which increases the attack of my Red-Eyes by 300, which makes it equal to your monster."
Dr Evans thought, 'I'm going to need a monster out to defend myself thanks to that silver-whatsit.' He said, "In that case I'll activate Stop Hammer, which will stop an attacking monster." Venom Snake slithered back to Dr Evans' side of the field before Dr Evans continued talking. "Unfortunately, Stop Hammer reduces the stopped monsters attack points by five hundred, but it's worth it. I'll switch Venom Snake into defence mode and end my turn."
Acacia said, "Since it's the end phase of your turn, Silver Sentinel returns to the field" as her Silver Sentinel arrived on the field. "Since my Sentinel is back on the field, I'll activate its effect and send Field Barrier to the graveyard." Dr Evans grunted as he moved his card to the graveyard. "Now, it's my turn. I'll start off by tributing my Red-Eyes equipped with Metalmorph in order to summon Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon(8|2800/2400) to the field." Dr Evans closed his eyes as he foresaw the rest of the duel. "Now, I'll use Silver Sentinel to attack Venom Snake." Silver Sentinel shot Venom Snake right between its eyes, shattering the hologram. "Now, Red-Eyes, attack Dr Evans directly with Flash Flare Blast." Acacia's most powerful Red-Eyes shot a ball of white flames at Dr Evans, burning away all of his remaining life points. Acacia said, "And that's game." She turned around on the spot, searching the grandstand for her cousin and, finding him, ran off of the arena floor and into the grandstands to watch the rest of the duels with him.
XXXXX
As Acacia moved to where she saw her cousin, another duel was starting up. It was between a proctor and a girl with brown hair in a high ponytail that was naturally streaked with blonde. She had two curly locks, which were a constant irritation, falling on either side of her nose. She said, "It's time to duel!" as she drew six cards. "I play Akakieisu(3|1000/800) in defence mode, and place two cards face down, ending my turn," the girl said.
"Alright, now, my turn," the proctor said, drawing six cards of her own. "I play Allure Queen LV3(3|500/500)."
'Allure Queen? Aren't the Allure Queen's a little too powerful to have in an Entrance Exam?' the girl thought before demanding, "Isn't that a little much in a test?"
"I don't think so. Everyone here knows who your father is, Koyuki Moto..."
In the stands Xavier, along with just about every other duellist, thought, 'She's related to the King of Games!?'
"...I thought that I would honour your father's legacy by giving you a test worthy of your blood." Koyuki growled at, once again, being compared to her father. "Now, I activate Allure Queen LV3's ability. During my main phase I can equip one level three or below monster to my Allure Queen, like your Akakieisu. Now, I place one card face down and end my turn."
Koyuki thought, 'Damn, I wasn't expecting that. If she had attacked I would have been able to summon my Dark Magician Girl; plus, there's that face down, I wonder what it does. Since Allure Queen can't be upgraded until the proctor's next standby phase, I need to destroy it before then. But she can just sacrifice Akakieisu to save the Queen. Damn.' "Draw!" Koyuki said as she drew a card. She looked at it and grinned. She said, "I'll be taking Akakieisu back now."
Xavier thought, 'They're both using Spellcaster Decks?'
The proctor said, "That's not possible."
"Oh but it is. With this magic card that I just drew."
"What magic card?"
"I play, Axe of Fools."
"What? But that will raise my Queen's attack points by one thousand."
"Right. But it also negates all effects of the monster that it is equipped to, including the one attaching my Akakieisu to your Queen."
'Damn! Now I can't even sacrifice my Queen to level up...wait a sec...'
"Now, Akakieisu, return to me." Akakieisu returned to Koyuki's side of the battlefield and faced the Allure Queen with an evil grin, doing its creepiest dance in irritation. "Now, thanks to Akakieisu being back on my field, I can summon my favourite monster. The ever so cute, Dark Magician Girl(6|2000/1700). Now Dark Magician Girl, Dark Magic Attack." Dark Magician Girl pointed her sceptre at the Allure Queen and shot a black beam of magical energy at it.
"You activated my trap; Negate Attack." A cyclone whipped up in front of Allure Queen LV3, preventing Dark Magician Girl's attack from destroying the proctor's Queen. Koyuki sighed and said, "I end my turn."
"Good." She drew a card. "Now, I sacrifice my Allure Queen LV3 to summon Cybernetic Magician(6|2400/1000)."
'So it's not just the Allure Queen's. It's probably her own deck, and a Spellcaster one at that.'
In the stands Xavier thought, 'Cybernetic Magician? I've never heard of that card before. Well, I suppose that it's really not much of a surprise as I don't really take too much notice of cards outside the decks that I've created.'
The proctor said, "I could activate my Magician's special ability, but since your Magician's attack is already 2000 points, it is irrelevant. Next, I'm going to play Monster Reborn in order to resummon my Allure Queen from the card graveyard, and..."
"Wait just there," Koyuki called. The proctor raised her right eyebrow. "Thanks to you Special Summoning a monster to the field I get to play Extra Veiler(2|600/200) in defence mode."
"Very good. However, now I remove my Monster Reborn from the game in order to summon Spell Striker(3|600/200) from my hand before playing Mage Power to increase my Allure Queen's attack power."
Koyuki thought, 'Great, she'll attack my Dark Magician Girl with Cybernetic Magician before destroying my Extra Veiler with Allure Queen, attacking me directly with that Striker. Well, that's what she thinks anyway.'
"Now, Cybernetic Magician, attack Dark Magician Girl with Light Magic Attack!"
"Not so fast. I activate Spellbinding Circle."
The proctor grimaced. "Fine then. Allure Queen, attack Extra Veiler." Extra Veiler was destroyed. "Now, I'll attack you directly with Spell Striker and set one card..." The proctor exclaimed, "Huh?" as a strange looking monster appeared on Koyuki's field.
"Do you need me to explain? Fine then," Koyuki said, not waiting for an answer. "Battle Fader(1|0/0) can be summoned when you declare a direct attack, ending the battle phase."
The proctor grunted and said, "Fine, I'll set one card face down. That'll be all."
"My turn," Koyuki said as she practically ripped a card from her deck and glanced at it. It was Pot of Greed. "Alright! I play, the spell card, Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two more cards." When she saw her cards she said, "Okay, I remove my Akakieisu and my Extra Veiler from the game in order to summon Chaos Sorcerer(6|2300/2000)." A magician clad in dark mystical robes appeared on the field next to Dark Magician Girl.
The proctor seeing a chance to finally get her hands on the card that she had been looking for for years, said, "Wait!"
"Yeah?" Koyuki looked up at the proctor with a blank look on her face.
"What say you we increase the stakes a bit here?"
"Increase them?"
"Yeah. Let's include the ante rule for this battle.
"The ante rule? But I need to beat you to get in, don't I?"
"No. For other duelling academy's, yes. But for ours you only need to display the potential for greatness in duelling. Winning is not necessary and you've more than proven your talent."
"Oh."
"To expedite it, why don't we say the strongest monsters we have on the field."
"My Chaos Sorcerer?"
"Yes; and I'll put up my Cybernetic Magician. It's the rarest card in this deck."
"Hmm..." Koyuki said, thinking, 'Well, I've pretty much won it as it is, so I don't see why not...but there must be some reason that she's so confident. Ah well, why not.' "Okay, you've got yourself a deal."
'Heheh, when she attacks I'll activate Fairy Wind, destroying that annoying Spellbinding Circle card, making my Cybernetic Magician the strongest monster on the field.'
"I activate Chaos Sorcerer's effect."
"It's effect! But then you can't declare an attack with it!"
"I know. But I'll do it anyway. Since you use a Spellcaster deck, you probably already know, but if there is a Chaos Sorcerer on the field he can target one face up monster card and banish it. So say goodbye to your Cybernetic Magician." A black hole appeared above the Cybernetic Magician, drawing it in.
"You've still only got one attack, and it won't inflict that much damage."
"You may be right. We'll see about that though, because now I'm tributing both my Dark Magician Girl and my Chaos Sorcerer in order to special summon my strongest magician, the all-knowing Sorcerer of Dark Magic(9|3200/2800)." A magician clad in robes so dark that they seemed to pull in light. "Now, Sorcerer of Dark Magic, destroy that Allure Queen with your Dark Magic Attack." The Sorcerer pointed his staff at the trembling Spellcaster and shot a wide beam of dark magical energy at it. The proctor's life points were reduced by 2300 points. "I end my turn."
The proctor thought, 'Damn it! At this rate I'm going to lose my Cybernetic Magician one turn after I made the stupid suggestion.' "My turn," the proctor said, drawing a card. "I play, the spell card, Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two cards." She drew two cards. Her eyes widened at the cards that she drew. "I sacrifice my Spell Striker in order to summon the DDM - Different Dimension Master(5|1700/1500), in defence mode. Then, I'll activate his ability by sending a spell card to my card graveyard in order to return my Cybernetic Magician to the field, and I'll also put him in defence mode."
Koyuki drew a card and sighed as she said, "Sorry teach, but I'll be taking that card now."
"What do you mean? I have two defensive monsters and you only have that Sorcerer of Dark Magic, whose only effect is to destroy trap cards, and my only trap card is useless in this situation."
"I play the spell card, Fairy Meteor Crush and equip it to my Sorcerer." The sorcerer was surrounded by a red mystical aura. "Now, my Sorcerer, attack the Different Dimension Master." The proctor sighed as she let the attack go through, unable to stop it.
When the proctor's life points hit zero she walked on to the battlefield, meeting Koyuki in the centre. The proctor smiled as she held her Cybernetic Magician out to Koyuki. "Well, as per the terms of our wager, here's my Magician."
Koyuki took it before looking at it and thinking. She said, "Well...to tell you the truth...ummm..."
"Ms. Hanawara," the proctor supplied. "I'm actually the teacher for spell and trap cards."
"Really?"
"Yeah," she smiled.
"Well, Ms. Hanawara, the truth is that I actually have two Chaos Sorcerers, though I only ever use one of them. So...if you still want it..."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Alright!" Ms. Hanawara said, hugging Koyuki, melding her large breasts and Koyuki's own, slightly smaller, ones together, gaining a rise out of all of the male applicants, and even a few of the female's. Koyuki, blushing, reached into her card belt when she was let down and picked her other Chaos Sorcerer and gave it to Ms. Hanawara, who said, "I wasn't telling you the whole truth either."
"What do you mean?"
"I've got a few copies of the Cybernetic Magician back at Duel Academy, but it is the rarest card in the deck that I have with me, so we'll call this a card exchange rather than a wager, huh?"
"Sure."
"And don't tell anyone about this either, because we would both get in trouble."
"Alright. No problems there. Dad wouldn't forgive me if he discovered that I had lost my card in a bet. Well, anyway, thanks for the Magician," Koyuki said, waving farewell to the teacher as she left the battle area.
At the same time Acacia arrived next to her cousin and asked, "So, what's happened since I left?"
Xavier said, "You just missed a pretty awesome match."
"Oh?" Acacia said, surprised since her cousin didn't give out compliments too often.
"Yeah. It was the daughter of the King of Games against the proctors own deck, or, from what happened afterwards, one of her decks."
"Really?"
Xavier said, "I wouldn't lie," even though he knew that Acacia wasn't questioning his honesty.
"What kind of decks did they use?"
"The proctor seemed to use a Chaos Spellcaster deck whilst Koyuki used a Dark Spellcaster Deck, though it could be that she also uses a Chaos Spellcaster Deck."
"Really? Why's that?"
"Well, there was a wager made about three quarters of the way through, that ended up being a trade, a Chaos Sorcerer for a Cybernetic Magician."
"Huh...well, I guess only time will tell."
"Either way, it would seem like our time at Duel Academy won't be too boring after all."
Acacia commented, "Looks that way."
XXXXX
A week later the students that took the entrance exam all received a phone call, either congratulating them on passing, or giving them the bad news. As it was, Acacia's family were staying with Xavier's, spending the time together before the kids went to Duel Academy as they all knew would happen. At the current time, Xavier was sitting opposite a girl that had blonde hair in pigtails that had blue streaks running through them. It was his sister, Antonia. Xavier bit his lip, thinking, 'I could use Infernal Prodigy's effect to summon it, then sacrifice it for Dragon Seeker, which would let me destroy her Snowdust Dragon then I'd attack her directly to win the duel...but...' Xavier sighed and said, "I activate Infernal Prodigy's(2|300/600) effect, which lets me Special Summon him to the field as long as I have no monsters. Then I'll tribute it to summon Dark General Freed(5|2300/1700) and equip him with H - Heated Heart, increasing his attack points to 2800. Now, I'll use him to destroy your Dragon."
Antonia said, "Sorry big bro, but I activate Mirror Barrier, which turns Freed's attack back at him." Xavier moved his card from the field zone to the graveyard, leaving his field empty. "Now, I'll attack you directly with Snowdust Dragon(8|2800/1800), which means I win again!"
Xavier blinked and rubbed his eyes, feigning surprise, while thinking 'she's just getting more and more insufferable.' Xavier sighed and said, "Well, we better pack up, I can smell dinner coming."
Antonia said, "Yay! Dinner!" and ran out to the kitchen, leaving her cards on the table.
When Antonia was gone, Acacia, who had been sitting next to Xavier the whole time, said, "Xavier, why didn't you..."
Xavier sighed and said, "Mum. She saw me obliterate her one day and told me in no uncertain terms that I wasn't to do any such thing again. Remember when she asked you to stop using your Red-Eyes upgrades while you were here?"
"Yeah."
"Well that is why."
Acacia whispered, "Surely Auntie Alexis can see that you just letting her win won't..."
Xavier sighed and said, "Probably, but..." Xavier sighed again.
"Well, at least when we're at Duel Academy there will be no more of that."
"Agreed," Xavier said as the phone rang.
Since Acacia was the closest to the remote handset, she answered it, saying, "Hyello, this is the Yuki residence...yeah, Xavier's here. Why? Oh! Well...do you mind my asking if I got in?...Acacia Rhodes...I did! Yipee!" Acacia jumped for joy at getting into the Duel Academy. "Wait, what? Why? I defeated my guy in two moves...Well, if you say so...Okay, I'll give you to Xavier now." Acacia turned to her cousin and said, "It's the Duel Academy."
"Yeah," Xavier said, "I kinda already guessed." Acacia looked up, remembering her first reaction at the news and shrugged, easily seeing how her cousin came to his belief. She handed the phone to him. Xaiver said, "Hello...Yes, this is Xavier Yuki...Uh huh...uh huh...Alright. Thanks," playing it cool.
Acacia said, "So?" Eager to know her cousin's results.
"Well...I did get in, but..."
"But...?"
"I got into South Academy."
"Really!" Acacia exclaimed.
"Yeah," Xavier said, saddened that he would be unable to go to the same academy as his, and his cousin's parents, along with Acacia herself, went to.
"That's awesome!" Acacia said.
"Come again?"
"Well, it turns out that I'm headed there too. Though I can't imagine why."
"Yeah. I thought that we'd be headed to Central Academy after our performances." Xavier sighed and said, "Well, I guess there must be some reason, even if we don't know it."
"Yeah," Acacia agreed. They then went into the kitchen to tell their respective parents what they just learned.
XXXXXXX
A/N
Character Descriptions
Xavier Yuki
A slim boy of 16 years; He has blonde hair that has brown tips kept in no particular hairstyle, sufficing with whatever it was like when he got out of bed that day. One day his father found him playing with the Evil Hero cards that he had kept from his time in the Dark World and got really angry. That night the Evil Heroes contacted Jaden and told him that they were to be for Xavier as his Elemental Heroes were for him. The next day Jaden gave his son a bunch of Hero cards, including all of the Evil Heroes along with a Dark World Duel Disk and told him to make a deck. Over time he included more Fiend cards.
Acacia Rhodes
16 year old that is tall for her gender. She has long black hair held back by a black headband. About a week after Xavier was given the Dark World Duel Disk it was Acacia's birthday and Alexis gave her Camula's Duel Disk. Alexis retrieved it when she was diving in the lake on Duel Academy Island.
Koyuki Moto
A sixteen year old that is a pretty standard height for her age, though she does have larger than average breasts. She has brown hair, which she ties back in a ponytail; she also has two blonde locks that curl around either side of her nose, which was a constant irritation to her, that she inherited from her father and one similar one that somehow was always almost completely horizontal to the right. She hates it when her opponents compare her with her father, even though they do use similar decks.
When she was about twelve she entered a competition held by KaibaCorp to design a custom Duel Disk that would be made to the specifications and design handed in. Three months later she received the Millennium Duel Disk. It used the same bladed design of the Orichalcos duel disks wielded by Dartz's minions, except the base colour was silver with golden coloured Egyptian hieroglyphs where the Atlantean runes had been on the original. She didn't win, but Kaiba had it made anyway in a rare moment of nostalgia.
One day Yugi found Koyuki playing with his Dark Magician Girl and went to Industrial Illusions, which was still headed by Pegasus at the time, and requisitioned a set of Dark Magician cards to be made in Arkana's colours. He still had the Dark Magician that he had won from Arkana and wished to be able to easily tell the difference between his deck and his daughter's.