Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh GX. Only the characters and some of the cards seen in this story are mine.
The clock struck eight at Domino square, alerting all who could hear. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the people were casually moving about. It was a beautiful, quiet morning. "YAHOOOOOOOO!!!" a brown haired boy with green eyes cried leaping from tree to tree to bench to whatever he could land on that wasn't floor. He wore a loose navy blue T-shirt, blue jeans and a huge ear-to-ear grin. A duel disk was strapped to his wrist and a deck to his waist, "LOOK OUT ACADEMIA, 'CUZ HERE COMES HAR-" the boy's exuberant cry was cut short as he leaped from a wall into a nearby streetlight, halting his movements. He slid down the pole slowly after hitting it, taking a moment to collect himself, "ru."
Enter Jihokyou Haruhiko
"That could've gone a bit better," Haru said rubbing his forehead as he now walked to a large building on the edge of Domino. He looked up at the tower of the Kaiba Corporation and smiled, reaching his hand out as if he was trying to grab it. He brought his clenched fist back to him and rushed off behind the building, "YAHOOOOOOO!!!" His smiled widened as a table in front of a large dome became visible. It had two ladies sitting behind and a sign over the front that said, "Duel Academy Registration." He sprinted to the table up to two ladies and shouted with an arm pumped in the air, "JIHOKYOU HARUHIKO, READY TO ENTER." To two ladies sweatdropped as one stood up and said to Haru, "A-alright, please follow me to the exam room. And please keep it down while you're in there."
"Oh, sorry." Haru said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck as he followed the woman inside.
Inside the building, several duelists applying for the academy each faced off against a proctor with different decks and strategies. Haru looked down from the stands with glee as he observed the numerous duels. "This is the arena for the dueling exam, where applicants face off against a proctor and is graded accordingly to his performance," the lady explained to Haru.
"So when do I go, huh?" Haru asked eagerly.
"Right after you take the written exam," the lady replied with a smile, much to Haru's disappointment, "follow me please." Haru quickly followed the lady with a big sigh, A written exam, he thought to himself, Who the hell thought it was a good idea to have a written exam for a dueling academy? What a pain.
"My turn, draw." a boy said drawing his card. He was a small, beige-eyed boy with dark blonde hair and wore a white dress shirt with black pants. He was in the middle of his duel against his proctor, who had 2900 Life Points and had a Metalzoa (ATK 3500/ DEF 2300) on his side of the field in an attack position with Call of the Haunted, Rare Metalmorph, which boosted the beast's attack power by 500, Fairy Meteor Crush and one facedown card. The boy had 1200 Life Points and a set monster in a defensive position. "I'll set two down cards and end my turn," the boy said with a smirk. The proctor however didn't seem amused, "Alright kid, let's see what you got. I draw." The proctor examined his hand thoroughly, smirking as he picked up a card from his hand, "I activate Harpies Feather Duster, which will destroy every Magic and Trap card you have out on the field." A great wind blew from behind the examiner, slightly moving the boy's facedown cards until he raised his had up, causing a card to flip "I activate Hallowed Life Barrier, by discarding one card from my hand I can reduce the damage from your monster's attack to zero." The boy place a card from his hand into the grave, as three druids in blue robes formed a barrier around him. The proctor merely scoffed at this, "Fine but your other down card's still going to be destroyed." The strong winds blew away the boy's remaining card was blown away however it didn't bother the boy. "I'll place one card facedown and end my turn." The boy smirked and chuckled as he drew his card, "Gotcha."
"Stupid written exam," Haru said as he raced to the arenas, "stupid, stupid written exam." He ran faster and faster towards the coliseum-esque room. Cursing the written exam more and more as he recalled the incident:
Flashback
"Alright," Haru said as he held up his paper, "I'm all finished." The lady took his paper and walked over to place it with the other papers. But froze in place and turned to Haru, with a mortified look on her face, "Um, are you sure you want to turn this in?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well," the lady began, trying to find the right words, "it seems a bit…well it's…"
"What?" Haru asked raising an eyebrow. The lady merely flipped through the pages of the exam then showed Haru one of his answers, "For example, this question says, 'name the three members of the Ojama Trio.' And instead of writing anything in the blanks here," she said pointing to his answers, which were rather poorly drawn renderings of the Ojamas with "These ones" written above the sketches, "are you sure you want to turn these answers in like this."
"Positive." Haru said proudly. The lady merely replied with an "ok" but Haru sensed there was a "your funeral." Secretly attached to it.
End Flashback
"Some people have no appreciation of art," Haru muttered as he reached the arena. There he saw more duelists then when he first entered. He looked down at the duels waiting for his number to be called. He glanced from left to right looking for a duel that would catch his eye. He finally saw a duel between a boy with dark brown hair and equally dark eyes wearing a white school uniform and his proctor. The boy had 2100 Life Points left with Queen's Knight (ATK 1500/ DEF 1600) on the field in attack mode with two facedown cards. The proctor had 1900 Life Points with no monsters or facedown cards, "My turn," the proctor said as he drew his card, "I'll activate Fusion, which will allow me to fuse the Minotaurus (ATK 1700/ DEF 1000) and Centaurus (ATK 1300/ DEF 1550) in my hand to create Minocentaurus (ATK 2000/ DEF 1700)." The minotaur and centaur appeared briefly on the field before disappearing in a flash of light. When the light died down only the centaur's horse-like body and the minotaur's torso and bull-like head remained as one being, one grunting, snarling being. "Now attack," the proctor commanded. The hybrid monster charged at full speed, raising his axe to crush Queen's Knight. The boy merely smirked as he raised his hand, flipping up one of his cards. "I activate my trap card, Negate Attack," the proctor's monster was stopped and knocked back by an invisible force before it could harm the boy's knight. "It automatically ends your battle phase before I take any damage. Now it's my turn. Draw," the boy smirked as he drew his card, "Now I summon King's Knight (ATK 1600/ DEF 1400) in attack mode," an orange armored bearded knight stood beside the other, his sword drawn ready for battle, "and when he is out on the field with Queen's Knight, I can Special Summon Jack's Knight (ATK 1900/ DEF 1000)" a third blue armored knight appeared between the other two. The examiner smirked and pointed, "Nice move but none of those knights can beat my monster."
"Not yet anyway," the boy said pulling a card from his hand, "I activate Angel's Dice," a small, angelic creature appeared carrying a blue die in hand, "by rolling this die, my monsters gain attack and defense points equal to the number I roll times one hundred." The creature dropped its die, letting it bounce and roll as it pleased, before it landed on a one, increasing all of his knight's power by 100. The boy flipped up his last card, "Fine then I'll activate Devil's Dice. It works like my Angel's Dice, except instead of raising the attack of my monsters, it lowers the attack of your monsters." A small demonic creature carrying a red die appeared, chuckling impishly as it threw its die. Haru watched eagerly as it bounced like the last on before it landed on a three, reducing Minocentaurus' attack to 1700, "Now Jack's Knight, attack," the blue clad warrior leapt into the sky before crashing down with his sword, slitting the beast in half, and reducing the proctors Life points to 1600, "Now Queen and King's Knight attack him directly." The two remaining knights charged forward making an x-shaped slash across the proctor's body, bringing his Life Points down to zero. "Good duel," the boy said before walking away.
"Awesome," Haru said as he watched the next applicant step into the arena, "who was that guy?"
"Toshinawa Akira," a voice behind Haru replied. Haru turned to see the boy from the duel he was watching, "and you are?"
"Jihokyou Haruhiko," Haru answered, "But just call me Haru."
"A pleasure to meet you," Akira held out his hand. Haru took it and shook lightly, "Nice duel out there."
"It was nothing at all," Akira said modestly, "I'm sure you'll do just as well."
"You got that right," Haru said pounding his chest.
Elsewhere higher in the stands a boy with spiky brown hair and dark in an Obelisk Blue uniform sat watching the two converse, "Jihokyou…Haruhiko, eh?" He looked up at the ceiling musing over the name, "Hmm…Jihokyou."
"Well, this year's crop looks pretty impressive wouldn't you agree?" an older looking boy in a blue uniform asked. He had messy black hair and an intrigued smirk. To his left was an auburn haired girl who was bent over the railing, watching the duels that took place, "Maybe," she replied and glanced as a boy was blasted back by a Machine Kings attack, reducing his Life Points to zero, "some more impressive than others," she peered over at where Akira and Haru talked. The boy followed her eyes and chuckled, "Is that the one?"
"Yup."
"I see," the boy looked out at the fields for anymore talents.
"So Akira," Haru began, "which applicants have gone already?"
"All the ones between 1-85," Akira explained, "some duels have been a bit longer than others. I got number 6, but I was one of the longer duels, you?"
"I got 97, so I should be-"
"Will applicant number 97: Jihokyou Haruhiko, please report to arena 7." Haru's eyes beamed with excitement as the voice form the intercom relayed that message. He jumped up and ran down the stairs, eager to reach his opponent, This is where it all begins, Kaoru.
Next Time:
Haru: Alright now it's my turn to show what I can do.
Akira: Good luck out there, Haru-kun.
Haru: No worries, I'll beat down whoever this proctor guy is. I'll beat him no matter what he throws at me.
Akira: Um…aren't you being a bit over confident.
Haru: What the heck are those things? Batteries? This guy plans to beat me with batteries? How is he gonna- Oh…good…lord.
Next Time: Duel Exam
Battery Deck
Haru: This is what I came here for.