Making the Cut
It was once again a bright morning in Domino City, although a cold wind was blowing. People where going about their business as a lone teenager made his way to the Duel Academy Entrance Exams. He was garbed in a gray jacket, which was covering a white tee-shirt. Dark blue jeans and a pair of white Converse All Star Hi's completed the ensemble.
Like many others his age, Paul Takeshi played the popular game Duel Monsters, and with the release of the newest set "The Shining Darkness," he had finally completed his deck.
Looking down at his watch, he realized that if he didn't hurry up he was going to miss the registration. Running through the park in front of the Kaiba Corp. building, he thought about nothing other than getting there on time...
Standing at a table, neatly stacking up the entrance forms, Georg Ito heard someone running up to him which caused him to look up. "Is it... too... late for me to... still sign... up?" the person asked in between pants to get his breath back. "Nope, you're just in time kid. You're lucky though, any later and you wouldn't have made it as I was just about to send these last forms down. Ahh well, just fill in this and then head through to the main hall. All the other applicant are in there for the Practical Test. I assume that you have already took the Theory Test...?" Finally regaining his breath, "Paul, the name's Paul. And yeah, I took it last week. Anyway, thanks for this."
Five minutes later Paul was walking down the corridor to the Main Hall, all the while not believing that he was actually here. After loosing his parents in a car crash 5 years previous, he had been living with his grandparents ever since, and one of the few things that had helped him recover from the shock was when he started playing Duel Monsters. Starting off with an Elemental Hero deck, he had since moved on since then with the advent of Synchro Monsters to the deck he now used.
Entering the Main Hall, he gazed out in wonderment at the sight. Standing at the top of several rows of tiered seats, he was looking down at several duels taking place. One in particular caught his eye, another boy, roughly the same age as him was dueling one of the Examiners. On his field was Dark Valkyria in defense mode (DEF: 1050), two face-downs and one card in his hand and 500 life points. His opponent however had Endymion, the Magician (ATK: 2700) & Magician's Valkyria (ATK: 1600) both in attack mode, Call of the Haunted face-up, and Magical Citadel of Endymion, no cards in his hand, and 1900 life points.
"I attack your Valkyria with my Valkyria. Go, Mystic Scepter Blast," the Examiner declared."Next, I attack with Endymion, Go, Magical Blast!" Just as soon as he did so though, the Applicant activated his face-down. "I activate my reverse card – Infernal Flame. By discarding one card from my hand I can destroy your attacking monster and inflict damage to your life points equal to half of it's attack. Go, Infernal Flame!" As soon as he finished explaining the card effect, a stream of dark flames shot from the image of his card and destroyed both Endymion and Call off the Haunted. "Hmph, even so, I end my turn." the Examiner scoffed as his life points went down to 550. With this the applicant drew his next card. "Yes, thank you fate. I activate my Allure of Darkness. This allows me to draw two cards, but afterwards I must remove 1 DARK monster from my hand. I remove my Darklord Zerato. And next I activate my Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen. With this card I can special summon any FAIRY type monster from my hand. So now I summon Athena (ATK: 2600). Next I activate my only face-down, go Escape from the Dark Dimension. I can now special 1 dark monster that has been removed from play. Come on out Darklord Zerato (ATK: 2800). Now Athena's effect activates, dealing you 600 points of damage." With that Athena gathered a ball of light energy in it's hand and fired it at the Examiner wiping out the last of his life points.
Paul was amazed at how lucky the Applicant was at being able to pull-off that combo at such a time. As he looked up he noticed the applicant who's duel he was just watching walking towards him. "Nice combo there," he said. "Cheers mate, pretty sweet ehh. I guess Lady Luck had my back just there. The Names Michael Akimasa, but my friends call my Mickey. You?" he replied, offering his hand. "I'm Paul Takeshi..." Just then the announcer called out that he had to report to Duel Field 7. "That's me, how about I get you here after my duel." Paul said as he started down the stairs towards the indicated Duel Field. "No problem, and good luck down there."
As Paul reached the Duel Field his opponent was standing opposite him. "I'm your Examiner, Lioside Hiroshi, Kid. Give it you best shot and good luck." he announced while pulling five cards from his deck after he placed it into his Duel Disk. "No problem, and it's Paul to you," Paul replied while doing the same.
After this the both declared "DUEL"
Lioside: 4000
Paul: 4000
"I'll go first, draw," Paul declared pulling a new card and adding it to his hand. Looking down at his hand, he thought about all his possibilities. "I activate Graceful Charity, which allows me to draw three cards, then afterwards discard two." Doing so, he then continued with his move, "I then summon Infernity Beetle in attack mode (ATK: 1200), then play 2 cards face-down. Turn end." The beetle monster then appeared from a rainbow sphere and the 2 cards then materialized face-down.
"Fine, draw." Lioside then added the card to his hand. "I activate my own Graceful Charity, then I summon Cyber Harpie Lady in attack mode (ATK: 1800). Go, attack Infernity Beetle with Cyber Slash." One of Paul's face-downs suddenly flipped face up, "Go, Infernity Inferno, by discarding up to 2 cards I can then send the same number of 'Infernity' cards to my graveyard." As he said this he placed 2 cards from his hand into his graveyard slot, then fanned out his deck and again placed two cards into his grave. As soon as this was done, Cyber Harpie Lady flew straight at Infernity Beetle and tore it to shreds. "Now I activate my second face-down, go, Infernity Reflector, by discarding all cards in my hand when Infernity Beetle is destroyed, I can then re-summon it in attack mode and inflict 1000 points of damage." Infernity Beetle then re-appeared on Paul's field, and then fired a dark beam at Lioside. "I end my turn with 2 face-downs.
Lioside: 3000
Paul: 3400
"I draw, and because I have no cards in my hand, I reveal Infernity Archfiend in my hand to special summon it in attack mode (ATK: 1800). Now because I have no cards in my hand, through my Archfiends effect and add Infernity Launcher to my hand." Adding the card to his hand, he then activated it. "I now activate Infernity Launcher's effect. By sending it to the grave I can special summon 2 Infernity monsters, come on out Infernity Necromancer in defense (DEF: 2000) and Infernity Destroyer in attack (ATK 2300). Next I release my Infernity Beetle in order to special summon to 2 more from either my deck or graveyard (ATK: 1200 x2). Now go Destroyer, attack Cyber Harpie with Zero Destruction." With that, Destroyer flew towards Cyber Harpie Lady and destroyed it with a punch to it's stomach. "Now Destroyers effect activates dealing 1600 points of damage. Go, Infinite Vortex." With that, a golden vortex surrounded Lioside as his life points where drained.
Lioside: 1400
Paul: 3400
"Now to end this, go Archfiend. Hell Pressure." Suddenly above Lioside appeared several runes, that then opened up and a massive red hand started to fall on him. "Reverse card open: Hysteric Party. By discarding1 card, I can special summon as many Harpie Lady monsters as possible from my grave. Be reborn, Cyber Harpie Lady (DEF: 1200), and Harpie Lady 1 (DEF: 1400)." Both winged monsters then appeared in defense mode in front of Lioside as the red hand then crashed down on Harpie Lady 1. "With that, I end my turn." Paul then declared, slightly annoyed that Lioside had been able to escape defeat.
Lioside: 1400
Paul: 3400
" I draw, then I activate my face-down: Elegant Egotist. Now I can summon Harpie Lady Sisters" With that, the set of three Harpies appeared in front of Lioside in defense (DEF: 2100). "With that done, I now release my two monster in order to summon Harpies Pet Dragon in attack mode. (ATK: 2000)" With a roar, the great red dragon appeared just behind Lioside. "Now I activate my Monster Reborn and summon Harpie Lady 1 in defense mode (DEF: 1400). And because of both of my monsters effects, my dragon gains a power boost - 600 points to be exact. Now go my dragon, attack Infernity Destroyer." Rearing it's head back, Harpie's Pet Dragon gathered energy in it's maw, then fired it at Infernity Destroyer "That ends my turn."
Lioside: 1400
Paul: 3100
"Draw," Paul stated before then setting the card he just drew face down in his Spell/Trap Zone. "I activate Necromancer's effect and summon Infernity Destroyer in attack mode (ATK: 2300). Now go Destroyer, end this, attack Harpie Lady 1. Zero Destruction." Once again Infernity Destroyer flew across the field and destroyed the beast. "Now because I have no cards in my hand, Destroyer's effect once again activates. Go: Infinite Vortex." Once more, Lioside was surrounded by the golden vortex, and the last of his life points drained away.
Lioside: 0
Paul: 3100
"Well done, Kid. Nice dueling. You've got potential." Paul rubbed his nose in slight embarrassment, and then shook Lioside's outstretched hand. "Cheers, and I'll try no to waste it."
Featured Card:
Infernity Destroyer
ATK: 2300 / DEF: 1000
When you have no cards in your hand, when this card destroys an opponents monster by battle and sends it to the graveyard, inflict 1600 damage to your opponent.
A/N: You may have noticed it used Tag Force Professors/Security names, so for filler duels that may come up, I will be using characters from the Tag Force games. Also this is the first thing I've posted so please, give all the constructive criticism that you can, I welcome it greatly. Also, tell me if I should make this a crossover, or I should put it into 5D's.