Code of the Duel Chapter 1, a Yu-Gi-Oh + Code Lyoko Crossover fanfic

A/N: Okay, this story wouldn't leave me alone, so I went ahead and typed the first chapter. Please don't expect a speedy update because I need to work on my other stories. Nevertheless, I will work on this story when I get the chance.

Code of the Duel

Chapter 1 – A Crushing Victory

The All-Sports Stadium at Domino University was packed full of spectators, each of which were filled with excitement over the event they had all come to witness. For the first time in ten years, the college's football team, the Domino Dragons, had made it to the regional championships and were only one game away from winning the entire eastern conference. That winning game was what these people had all gathered to see. Loud cheers rang out form the bleachers as the Dragons' fans cheered their team on to victory. From the announcer's box, a male college student with green eyes and long black hair held up by a fancy red sweatband tapped a microphone and cleared his throat.

"And we're down to the very last minute of the fourth quarter, here at the Domino All-Sports Stadium," the boy said with a flair. "Thank you all for joining us here on this wonderful fall afternoon, and for those who are listening in on our radio station or watching on our TV station, we thank you as well. I'm Duke Devlin here with my trusty co-host, Ryo Bakura. Bakura, what do you have to say about the recent resurgence of our team to ascend to the nationals?"

"Well, I'm amazed that they were able to make it this far after such a long time, Duke," the white-haired boy sitting next to Duke spoke into the microphone. "The last time that the Dragons made it to the eastern regional championships, they were stomped out by the very same team that they face now, the Arakawa Tech Thunderstorms. Now the Dragons are in a dead tie of 29-29 against the Thunderstorms."

"That's right, Bakura," Duke nodded, "but the Dragon's fight isn't over yet. They've kept the score even up to now, but if they want to come out on top, they need to pull out a last-minute lead, or else the Thunderstorms will dominate the Dragons during overtime. With only five minutes left to play, it will take a miracle for the Dragons to break the Thunderstorms' defense and score enough points to clinch the title and a spot in that Japan American Football Association's biggest tournament, the prestigious Rice Bowl."

"Well, that would be a great honor to be sure," Bakura said, "but it won't be easy. They've had a rough season, barely managing to clear out their opposition up to now. Luckily, the Dragons have kept a steady pace in this game thus far, and both teams look like they're at the end of their rope."

Suddenly, Bakura noticed something happening on the field. "But wait, what's this? The opposing team is making, and I mean this literally, a last-minute substitution." The Thunderstorm's coach whistled and waved at one of his team's players, who had an average build for an American football player, and he hustled back to the box. They talked for a minute, the player nodded, and he slapped hands with another player, who was very well built, and he hustled to the other player's place on the field. When Bakura got a good look at the number on the jersey, he gasped in shock.

"Uh-oh, Duke!" he said, pointing to the Thunderstorm's line. "It looks like the Thunderstorms have pulled out their final trump card! They've called out number 17: Keiji Nakamaru! He took the team to the nationals last year, and he seems bent on beating the Domino Dragons and taking his team to the nationals this year as well!"

"Things don't look good for the Dragons, thanks to this play," Duke added, shaking his head.

The whistle blew, and the bulky player darted across the field, deftly dodging the Dragons' players in his way, until one of them ran to block his path. He lowered his head and, using his helmet as a battering ram, knocked the player down and sent him spiraling several feet backwards. The crowd emitted a harsh hiss as the Dragons player, with a number 7 on his jersey, finally come to a stop on the 40 yard line on the Dragons' side of the field.

"That looks like it's gonna leave a mark," Duke said. "That was number 7, Koji Nagumo, and from here, he looks like he's going to be sick. The coaches are signaling to get him off the field, but Keiji isn't getting any kind of a penalty for this. To top it all off, the timer's still going after this play. If the Dragons don't get back into this, they can kiss the championships goodbye. I wonder why the refs didn't call that play."

"That's awful suspicious, Duke," Bakura added, looking at the enemy team with a new look of suspicion.

Duke then saw the referee make a motion with his arms, and he sighed. "They're agreeing to take off a member of the team, but it's not going to be Keiji. If he manages to keep this up, the Dragons are in for a world of hurt."

Just then, he noticed the coach for the Dragons give a talk to the benched tem members, and he then thrust his fist into the air, the team cheering and raising their fists as well. As the medics got Koji off the field, another player from the Dragons marched onto the field and took his place. This player was a lanky, long-legged young man, but he had a lot of muscle that could clearly be seen if one looked at him closely enough. As soon as Bakura saw this player, his face lit up with a big smile.

"Hold on, Duke!" he cheered. "Don't count the Dragons out yet! They just called a trump for a trump!"

"You mean that…?" Duke began.

"That's right, they did!" Bakura said, and the fans erupted into cheers when the new player showed his jersey off to the crowd. "The Dragons have called on their ultimate weapon, the one player who single-handedly won the first three games of the season! That's right, everyone! Here comes Number 39: the Big J himself, your Domino Dragons' new team captain, Jumping Joey Wheeler!"

Joey waved to the crowd, basking in the glorious moment, before he took his place at the huddle.

"All right, guys," the blond captain said to his teammates, "we're down to the wire here. Either we go all-or-nothing with a touchdown, or we go for a quick and easy field goal. In other words, we go out with a cinder of glory or a blaze of victory."

"I know," one of the players said. "We should try the new move you came up with!"

"But it's never been tested before!" another complained. "The risks would be enormous!"

"It's either that or nothing at this point!" a third player said. "Besides, I'm sure our captain is behind us all the way and isn't afraid of the risks, right captain?"

"Heh," Joey grinned. "Risk is my middle name. Now let's do this, team!"

"Right!" they all cheered, and broke the huddle.

Joey took the middle stand, and the others lined up behind him. The Thunderstorms' lined up, and Keiji took the lead for them, grinning smugly at the young captain.

"He's just a punk kid," he said to himself. "All he knows is how to fail in all of his classes and fail in a stupid card game. I'm the best in everything, and I won't lose to this pipsqueak if it's the last thing I do."

Joey couldn't hear what Keiji said, but he knew what he thought. That just made him grin even wider.

"Red-Eyes right!" he barked out. "Red-Eyes right! 24-21! 24-21! Hut, hut, HIKE!"

He threw the ball under him, and the players from the Thunderstorms charged at the player behind Joey. But he threw it to one of the players that passed around the advancing wall of players, and the wall moved to him. The Dragons lined up around the Thunderstorms in the loose shape of a dragon, and each member threw the ball to another player on the other side, with the Thunderstorms changing going after which player currently had the ball. At last, Joey, who was at the head, caught the ball and made a mad dash to the goal. The Thunderstorm players' eyes widened in surprise. They had never seen anyone move this fast before, and they were unsure if they could stop him.

Keiji, though surprised, was quickly overcome with rage as he charged at Joey. His mocking scowl was replaced by a look of pure hatred. He thundered after Joey, and was catching up easily.

"You're pretty fast," he growled, "but no one beats Keiji Nakamaru or the Arakawa Thunderstorms!"

However, as he charged at Joey, he tripped over a loose piece of the turf, and he fell to the ground, grinding his body in a line into the artificial grass. He struggled to his feet, but Joey was already inside the goal box, jumping for joy as the crowd burst into cheers of excitement.

"He did it!" Duke cheered. "Joey managed to pull of his new Red-Eyes technique and score a lightning fast touchdown, bringing the score up to 29-35 with the Dragons in the lead!"

"Now all he has to do is keep up defense for another minute and they Dragons will have their first eastern regional championship victory since the founding of the league!" Bakura added. "Of course, the question now is, will he go for the point after the touchdown, or will he go for a two-point conversion?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Duke chuckled as he pointed at the field. "Joey's going for the conversion, same as always."

"But can he keep up his lucky streak that's helped him this far?" Bakura asked, which made the crowd visibly tense up with anticipation. "There's less than a minute left, and the clock's about to tick!"

Joey took his place at the starting line, and when the whistle blew, took off like he'd been shot out of a cannon. The Thunderstorms tried to take him down, but other members of the Dragons dashed up to prevent this from happening. At last, only Keiji was standing against Joey and his victory. He dashed up behind him, and was within enough distance to grab the ball form Joey. But Joey pumped his arms, threw his head back, and made a last minute burst of speed, giving a mighty roar. He dashed forward like a man who was running from a ghost, and he crossed the goal line in less than ten seconds. As he dashed, a clump of turf was ripped off the ground by Joey's cleats and went down Keiji's throat. He crumpled to the ground, clutching his neck as he choked on the artificial turf.

The crowd exploded with cries of euphoria, and the other team members slapped their foreheads and hung their heads in defeat. Keiji ripped off his helmet, punched the ground, and scowled. There was no way that his team could catch up now. There were only fifteen seconds left in the game. As he looked up, he saw Joey approach him and held out his hand, grinning warmly.

"That was a great game, Keiji," he said. "You fought well."

"Tch," he spat, not returning the gesture. "You're just a kid. We've been at this our whole lives, and here you come along talking and playing like you know everything. You're all just a bunch of kids to us." He then sighed. "Still, I know when I'm beaten. You win, Joey." He then got up and walked off the field and back to his team's box.

As Joey turned around, the rest of the team and the crowd cheered loudly, and Joey waved to them all with a huge smile on his face. He did a jump of victory, and the other team members, along with the coach, grouped around Joey and hoisted him onto their shoulders while the crowd chanted his name.

"Joey! Joey! Joey! Joey!"

"That's right, folks!" Duke cried. "After a last-second lead over the Thunderstorms, Jumping Joey Wheeler wins it again! The Dragons win the regionals and are going to the nationals in two months!"

"And until that time comes," Bakura said, "we thank you all for watching and we'll see you in Tokyo for the Rice Bowl! Keep it here on DTV for live coverage on your Domino Dragons as they battle for the Rice Bowl Cup and unbridled glory! This is Ryo Bakura and Duke Devlin signing off from the Domino All-Sports Stadium, saying have a great day, everyone!"

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I stared at the screen on my computer for a few more minutes until a knock came at my bedroom door. I paused the recording, and went to my door. As I opened it, I was greeted by a very familiar and welcoming sight: the pink hair and green eyes of my girlfriend, Aelita Schaeffer. In case you were wondering, Aelita was living with me while her old home, the Hermitage, was getting remodeled by my dad's contractor friend to its former glory so that she and her parents could live in it again.

"Hi, Jeremy," she smiled. "What are you doing?"

"Hi to you too, Aelita," I smiled back. "I'm just watching international sports news."

"Since when do you do anything like that?" she laughed.

"Just look at this," I replied, and showed Aelita the video on my computer. As she saw this, she raised an eyebrow.

"Who is that?" she asked.

I grinned. "Don't you recognize him?"

"Not really," she shrugged.

"That is none other than the man who has now propelled the Domino University Dragons to the most prestigious Japan National American Football Tournament, the Rice Bowl!"

"The Rice Bowl!" she gasped. "That's the Japanese equivalent of the American Super Bowl! Who did it?"

"None other than 'Jumping Joey Wheeler' himself!" I cheered.

"Joey Wheeler?" she gasped again. "Isn't he that Duelist you always talk about, the one who came in second place at the Duelist Kingdom Tournament, and who scored fourth place in Battle City?"

"He also won the 2006 All-Japan National Duel Monsters Tournament, if you recall correctly," I mentioned.

"Didn't he only win because his final opponent cheated?" she asked me.

"No, that was his next to last opponent," I shook my head. "The former Champion from 2001, Weevil Underwood, tried to cheat against him in their Duel by peeking at and tampering with Joey's Deck, but he was caught at the end after Joey beat him. Now he's been banned from the World Duel League for life."

"That's a little harsh, isn't it?" she furrowed her brow.

"Not exactly," I said. "Ever since he lost to Yugi Mutou, the King of Games, his Dueling has gotten worse, and he was revealed as a slime ball who extorted his popularity on his fans for the sake of rare cards. Not to mention the time he and Rex Raptor crashed the KC Grand Championship for the opening of Kaiba Land USA."

"Well, then I'll say that he got what he deserved," Aelita frowned. "But what's so great about Joey?"

"I like how he's never backed down from a duel, even if he had no chance," I said, holding my head high. "In fact, after I heard about him in Duelist Kingdom, I looked up his Deck and strategies in the tournaments he entered before and after Duelist Kingdom, and I've even managed to acquire a copy of his famous Red-Eyes Black Dragon. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it."

"You collect Duel Monsters cards?" Aelita looked at me with fascination.

"I got into it because of Duelist Kingdom," I nodded, reaching into a drawer and pulling out a small blue box, which held my deck of Duel Monsters cards. "Have you ever played it before?"

"Not once," she shook her head. "I've heard of it, even before Lyoko, but I never got the chance."

"Maybe I can give you a few lessons," I grinned. "After all, I did win a little contest a few years back."

"That sounds nice," she smiled, and plopped down onto my bed. "How come you've never talked about this until now?"

"I was distracted by Lyoko," I replied, "but now you and I have all the free time in the world, apart from searching for colleges."

I reached into my deck and pulled out my Red-Eyes Black Dragon. "This is a monster card, okay?" I said. I then took more cards from my Deck and laid them out on my bed for her to see. "There are three types of cards: monsters, spells, and traps. You build a deck with 40 of these cards and battle against another Duel Monsters player, or what's called a Duelist."

"Okay, this sound interesting," she nodded, looking at each card with wide, curious eyes. "How do you battle with these?"

"Monsters have attack power and defense power," I replied, pointing to the numbers at the bottom of my Red-Eyes Black Dragon. "These powers are used to attack your opponent's Life Points. The first player to reduce an opponent's Life Points to zero wins the Duel."

"Okay," she said, rubbing her hands together. "Do you have some spare cards lying around?"

It just so happens that I do," I snickered.

I reached under my bed and pulled out a medium sized trunk-like suitcase. I opened the locks, and showed Aelita the contents of the case. Her eyes widened as she saw the inside.

"Wow," she gasped. "That's a lot of cards."

"I did a lot of collecting before I came here to Kadic," I smiled. "Now are you here to talk, or are you here to Duel?"

"Let the cards I pick do the talking," she grinned, while making her selection. I smiled, waiting eagerly for the result and the Duel that would follow. It would be the first Duel Aelita had, and I intended to make it a memorable one.

A/N: So here's the opening, I hope you like it! Please wait until I get caught up with my other stories before I work much more on this.

UPDATE 8-9-2013: Okay, I forgot to mention that there's a bit of a ZEXAL reference/joke in here. For those who catch it in a comment first, a virtual cookie will be rewarded, along with a feature in my third chapter!

-JeremyX signing off!