The two stooges lead me out of the arena into some sort of office.

"Wait here." One of them said.

Yeah, like I'm going to argue with guys their size. I thought as they shut the door behind them. I let out a deep breath I hadn't known I'd been holding and went to sit down in one of the chairs.

As I sat down, I felt something in my pocket, and I took them out.

Oh yeah, I forgot that I put those two in there when I removed them from the game I thought, looking at my Mirage Dragon and Jinzo.

Question is, how'd they get into my game in the first place? I never had those cards in real life!

I took out my deck and flipped through it, looking for any cards that I did have, moving them into my hand as I found them.

I looked at my Reflect Bounder, along with a couple of spells and traps I'd gotten from booster packs. My musing was interrupted as I heard someone outside my door.

I slapped them back into my deck and put them all in my pocket.

"Still can't believe I lost to that slacker. Me! Doctor Veillian Crowler! He'll pay for this!"d

The guy that opened the door was just as odd looking as the two guys had described. Long blue trenchcoat, with a pink ruffle of all things. Not to mention a blond ponytail and some very unmasculine ear-rings.

He seemed to change his tune when he saw me, but I couldn't tell if it was a good thing or not. He still looked irritated, but was at least trying to be pleasant.

He walked past me and sat down behind the desk that was in the room, apparently looking something up on the computer.

"Hmm, not a high score on the written exam, in fact one point less and you would have failed." He said in a tone that made me want to smack him.

"Tests have never been my strong suit." I said, feeling that I might as well say something.

"Yes, well, your practical exam seems to say otherwise." He said, flipping the computer screen around so I could see it.

"You're not the best we've seen today, but you're in the top five percent." He leaned across the desk, putting his fingers together in an arch. "That interests me very much. As does that extremely rare card you used."

"Well, what can I say? I'm an interesting guy."

"Yes, well, I'm afraid that such a rare card might actually be a bad thing. A lot of people are wondering if it's stolen, and I'm afraid to let you in I'll have to confiscate it and examine it." He reached his hand out. "Your card please."

How dumb does this guy think I am? No way he'd give it back.

I didn't even move a muscle. "You said it yourself that it's a rare card. Give me a reason I should just hand it over."

He abandoned any attempt at subtlety. "Listen to me you ungrateful Slifer Slacker! You aren't getting into duel academy unless I know for a fact that all your cards are genuine!"

He looked at the computer screen again. "Like that other card of yours, what was it, Speedy Scareguy?"

"Swift Scarecrow."

"Whatever. Point is, I've never heard of it."

I scoffed. "So? You never knew about Winged Kuriboh's effect either." I said, referring to the defeat I was guessing had already happened, based on his muttering from earlier.

Well, Gx wasn't as good as the original series, but I suppose beggars can't be choosers.

"What did you just say?" he said, slamming his hands on the table and standing up.

I chuckled at his display. "Oh, I'm just pointing out that you clearly don't know everything."

He smiled wickedly. "True." He tapped a few keys on his computer and then turned it around to face me. "In fact, it seems your practical exam scores were lost, so now I don't know those either."

I rolled my eyes. No wonder they got a better villain after him. "Then I guess you'll just have to ask everyone that saw me dueling about ten minutes ago. Unless a lot of them have memory issues, I don't think they'd dispute how it went down."

"Oh, don't worry about your practical. Because you're about to have another one. Against me!"

I just smiled in anticipation. This should be interesting.


I walked into the arena again, but this time I was immediately aware of all the scrutiny I was under.

It seemed that my Envoy of the Beginning had definitely brought one, but what the beginning was would be determined by this next duel.

Crowler walked in, and I had to shake my head. "Hey teach! This is a duel, not band practice! How about you put away that guitar and get a duel disk!"

"It's a duel coat you slacker!" he shouted back.

"Oh, my mistake." I said sarcastically.

"Only the best can use one of these. Which means-"

"That you should definitely chuck it and get a duel disk?" I said with a grin.

"Oh, that's it. " he said, and his duel coat glowed as it activated.

"I was wondering when we'd get to that part." I said, holding my arm out. The front end of my duel disk unhinged, the five zones slid out, along with a spike at the end. As each section slid out, it was accompanied by an ominous "sknit."

Now this is a duel disk!

I glanced at the spike on the end. I just have to be careful not to take someone's eye out.

So, how do we decide who goes first? We just flip a coin or-

"I'll start us off." Crowler said, raising his hand to his deck as the coat spat a card out for him.

Or it's just first come first served.

"I'll play my ancient gear soldier in attack mode!"

A robot appeared on the field, complete with a little monitor that declared his 1300 ATK

"Then I'll set two cards face down and end my turn."

I drew my card and looked at my hand. Hmm, most of the monsters I'm holding could wipe that thing out with one attack.

I looked at his face down cards. But I'm not going to take his bait. At least one of those has to be a trap.

Mirage Dragon could easily take it out, and if they are traps I'd be safe. Trouble is, if one is a quick play spell, I'd be in trouble- Limiter Removal for instance.

And more importantly, I haven't drawn mirage dragon yet, or Jinzo.

Going to have to play it safe for now.

"Alright, I'll set a monster in defense mode, along with a face down. And to finish it off, I'll play my spell card- Card Trader!"

A guy in a mask appeared behind my face down.

"What's that supposed to do?"

I looked at it on my duel disk, wondering if Crowler was blind. The description was right on the card for crying out loud!

Unless… I looked across to his field. I could see the effects of his cards right above the ATK monitor, something I hadn't noticed before because the other guy hadn't used any cards I didn't already know.

But I got the sudden feeling that while I might see the cards the way they were back home, these guys might not.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt then and explain it.

"Card Trader's effect means that during my standby phase, if I don't like a card in my hand, I can shuffle it into my deck and draw a new one."

"Yes, well, we'll see how little good that can do you." He said somewhat snarkily as he drew his card.

"First, I'll play ancient gear castle."

A castle appeared from the ground behind him. "And thanks to my gear castle's effect, I can treat it as tribute for the summon of any ancient gear monster. And now, I'll destroy it, and my gear soldier to summon-"

"Ancient Gear Fairy Princess?"

He stopped and looked at me in irritation. "Do I look like the type of man to have such a pathetic card?"

"Trust me, you don't want me to answer that. But I will anyway. Yes."

He grit his teeth. "We'll see who's laughing after this. I summon- Ancient Gear Gollum!"

His castle and his robot were replaced by a much larger one. ATK 3000

"Wow, didn't see that coming. I mean, it isn't like you tried that against the other guy and fail- oh, wait, never mind."

"We'll see if you're still so cheerful after my Gollum Attacks!"

The giant robots fist swung at my face down card, which suddenly flipped up and disappeared.

As did Crowler's monster.

"What? What happened?" He said.

I smiled as my card appeared in my hand, and I relished the look on his face as Gear Gollum appeared in his.

"See, I'm a naturally suspicious person, so I always hate attacking if my opponent has a card face down. Because I've learned you don't always need trap cards to set a trap."

"Get to the point!"

I smiled and held out my culprit card. "The card you attacked was Dark Cat with White Tail. And thanks to its flip effect, I can send up to 2 monsters from your side of the field back to your hand, and then one monster from my field back to mine."

I could almost see steam coming out of his ears. "Fine then. I'll lay one card face down and end my turn."

"Fine by me." I said, drawing a card. I looked at it and my eyes widened. I didn't think I'd have that card in my deck!

I looked at Crowler, than back at my card. I guess it makes sense though. Obelisk is one of a kind, so I can' t have it in my deck here. I smiled. Have to admit though, this guy is a pretty good replacement. But since he still needs three tributes, I'll have to send him back.

"I'll use card trader's effect and trade out the card I just drew with another one."

Of course, now I'm going to have to do that shuffling thing, which I was never good at. What I need is a system from 5ds.

I put my card on top of my deck and got ready to pull it out, but pulled my hand away as the duel disk started shuffling for me.

Well, speak of the devil.

I took the top card from my reshuffled deck, and added it to my hand. Hmm, card destruction. Well, with that I could get rid of his Gear Gollum, but do I have anything in my hand that I could still use?

I took a quick peak at my hand and decided that I didn't.

"Alright, first I'll play my face down card, Heavy Storm. I don't think I need to remind you that it destroys all spell and trap cards on the field."

I was disappointed to see my card trader go, but I reasoned that I'd probably get something better in a moment. Plus, if he did have trap card, now I'd be clear to attack anyway.

Crowler laughed.

"What's so funny? Did you look in a mirror?"

"You're not the only one that can set a trap. You destroyed my two statue of the wicked trap cards, which means I get two wicked tokens to defend me."

Two ugly looking snakes showed up on his side. 1000 Def.

"And you can only summon one monster, so I'll still have one left next turn. Which means I can tribute it and the ancient gear castle in my hand to summon back my Gollum." He laughed wildly.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, because broadcasting what you're going to do is such a good idea." I said sarcastically. "Besides, now , I play Card Destruction!"

He recoiled in horror and looked at the cards in his hand.

"I assume by your reaction you already know what it does. Now, we both discard everything in our hand and draw the same number of cards we ditched."

I drew three new cards, and was pleased at what I saw. "Hey Crowler, you know how you wanted to see that super rare card of mine?"

The look on his face was priceless, and after letting him sweat a moment, I decided to come clean.

"Well, you won't be seeing him just yet."

He let out a sigh of relief.

Did I say I'd come clean? I meant mostly clean.

"On the other hand, you will be seeing his older brother."

Now he just looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I summon Senju of the Thousand Hands, which lets me add any ritual monster card to my hand."

My deck shuffled itself and spat out the card in question.

I added it to my hand and smiled. "Now, I play the spell card- Black Luster Ritual!"

I put it on the field and a gateway appeared. "Now, since I have to give up monsters whose total rank is equal to 8, I'll tribute the Senju on my field and the Mirage Dragon in my hand, and summon the Original Black Luster Soldier!" ATK 3000

It was nearly identical to Envoy of the End, minus some slight changes in color.

"So say goodbye to one of your tokens."

My soldier sliced through it as Crowler flinched.

"Good luck summoning your Gollum now. That'll do it for my turn."

"Oh, will it?"

He drew his card and looked at it in such a way that I was immediately worried.

"I play- Monster Reincarnation! Now, by discarding one card, I can add any monster from my graveyard back to my hand."

I saw the card that popped from his graveyard and sighed.

I shook my head. "Seriously, you have got to get some other monsters in there. I mean, what sort of idiot depends on a single monster card for everything?" I reconsidered. "Well, I guess Kaiba always does that with Blue-eyes, but he can at least pull it off. Plus, there's the fact that he's rich, so that also makes him better than you."

Crowler looked pretty annoyed. "We'll see about that. I'll play Ancient Gear Castle, and summon Ancient Gear soldier. Then I activate Double Summon so I'm allowed a second Normal Summon this turn. And now I'll use both as Tributes and summon back my Ancient Gear Gollum!"

He smiled as the monster came back. "But since attacking would only end in a tie, I'll end my turn with a face down card."

And I'd bet it's a trap. Hmm, better play it safe.

I drew and was pleased to see what I had.

"I'll play one card face down and end my turn."

"Fine by me." He said. "I activate my facedown card, Limiter Removal! Which means now my Gollum's power increases to 6000! Which means your Soldier is wide open!"

His fist pulled back, and I pushed the button on my duel disk to activate my face down. Nothing happened, and I looked at the disk angrily, then shook it. What's the matter with this thing?

Crowler laughed. "Did you not realize that when my Gollum attacks, you can't activate any spells or traps until the end of the damage step?"

... Ok, so much for Scrap Iron Scarecrow. Frick, how did I miss that?

His fist flew forward, but I suddenly remembered something. "I play Necro Gardna's effect from my grave!"

The card slid from my grave, and I held it up to show him. "When I played card destruction, this is one of the cards I tossed. And thanks to his effect, when it's in my grave and you declare an attack, I can remove it from play and negate your attack." I shoved it in my pocket.

The giant fist fell to the ground. Crowler grit his teeth in irritation. "You haven't won this duel yet, and you never will!"

I chuckled. "I agree with you on half of that statement. Or have you forgotten the cost of Limiter Removal? During the end phase, any monster affected by it goes right to the grave!"

He grit his teeth. "I know that! Which is why I'm going to summon another Ancient Gear Soldier in defense mode before I end my turn."

His monster crumbled into pieces as he said this.

I might've stopped that Gollum once, but I doubt it'll stay down for long. I need to end this on this turn.

I drew and was pleased to see an old friend. "I summon Reflect Bounder in attack mode!"ATK 1700

Crowler rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry, is that supposed to scare me?"

"Not really. He's supposed to scare your soldier! Reflect Bounder, wipe it out!"

A laser beam charged up in his chest mirror, and it obliterated Crowler's monster.

"And now that Gear Soldier is gone, I'll attack with the Black Luster Variety!"

Crowler was knocked to the ground as his sword connected, and his life points dropped to 1000.

"That'll do it for my turn I think."

He got back to his feet, fuming. "You won't win as long as I'm standing!"

"Then I guess I'll have to knock you back down."

He drew, and he instantly slid the card into his duel coat. "I activate Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two cards."

He drew, and his face darkened when he saw them.

"I summon Ancient Gear Cannon in Defense Mode and place one card face down."

I drew, looking at his face down card. It seemed like it was a mere bluff, but I wasn't sure I could take a risk like that.

And my new card would be no help at all if it was a trap.

Well, I don't remember him having any real good traps, besides using Limiter Remover as a quick play. And he can only have one of those in his deck, so it can't be that.

Eh, what the heck.

"Reflect Bounder, wipe out his Ancient Gear Cannon!"

Crowler started biting his nails as he watched his monster be destroyed. Yeah, he was bluffing. Man, it's a lot easier to tell if someone's actually scared here, considering that they're actually being attacked by monsters instead of just losing a card game. Nonetheless-

"And now, Black Luster Soldier- I think you know what to do."

My soldier lunged forward and attacked him directly, finishing him off. He swayed on his feet a moment before he fell to the ground with a groan.

I chuckled as the holograms faded. "See you in class teach." I said, turning to walk out of the arena.

I got a full five steps out before I stopped and realized the implications of what was going on.

By this point, I was doubting that this was a dream.

Which means, I just qualified for duel academy, which shouldn't actually exist. Not to mention the holograms, and the fact that there's a giant audience watching people play a children's card game!

Ok, I guess it isn't just for kids here, but that's beside the point.

The point was, that I was in some sort of weird alternate dimension or something.

I looked at my now shut down duel disk, and my deck. One card appeared to glow, and I didn't even have to look to figure out which one it was.

Well, RB always saved my but in duels back home, so I guess it's appropriate that it came around for the ride.

I took it out of my deck to look at.

Because no matter how I got here, it's pretty obvious that there's only one way I'm going to get back home. And that's by dueling.

Man, this is either going to be the most fun I've ever had- or it's going to suck balls because I'll lose my soul or something.

Well, on the brightside, at least I won't have to deal with that stupid kid Yuma. Thank god I got zapped here before I was dumb enough to watch that show.

Well, that'll do it for now folks.

Again, reviews would be very much appreciated. Anyways, see you later.