Adam Hartfield wasn't nervous. He hadn't been nervous in years. Not since he'd met his Duel Spirit. He could feel the creature pulsing in his deck, ready to rise and be unleashed. He placed a hand over it.
Soon.
Soon.
He reached his arena and found a slender Asian man standing across from him. The man smiled and raised his hand in greeting. "Hello! You're Adam Hartfield, correct?"
Adam nodded. "I am. And you are?"
"Oh, I am Professor Banner. I'm one of the Dorm directors at the Academy." He raised his Duel Disk. "We'll begin whenever you're ready."
Adam smiled "I'm prepared." He activated his Duel Disk, the device sliding into place.
"DUEL!" Both of them shouted.
"As the challenger, it is only fitting that I make the first move," Adam said, drawing his hand and examining his cards. He smiled to himself.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted his sister, racing into a seat overlooking his arena. She grinned down at him and gave him two thumbs up. She'd passed! Adam smiled. Now he had to win.
"I'll begin by setting a monster face-down in defense position. Then, I'll place a card facedown and end my turn," Adam said as he placed the cards. "Your move."
"I see. I draw," Banner said, pulling a card. "I'll begin by summoning Gemini Elf (1900/900) to the field in Attack Mode." The twin elves appeared in a swirl of light, both of them leaning up against each other for support. "Now, I think I'll attack your face-down monster." The elves surged forward, slashing through the card. As the card flipped, it revealed a large turtle with a massive stone pyramid on it's back.
"You've destroyed my Pyramid Turtle, Professor. When it's destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, I can call forth any Zombie-type monster from my Deck with less than 2000 Defense," Adam said. He pulled out his deck and looked through it carefully. He smiled as his eyes fell on his Duel Spirit. Not yet. But soon. "Now rise from the grave and deliver your infernal wrath, my Malevolent Mech - Goku En (2400/1400)!"
A curl of blue flame appeared on the field. Jagged black crystal erupted from it, creating a winged being of stone and flame. It roared at Banner, blue flames dancing from it's chest and wings.
The teacher looked entirely unconcerned. "Oops! It appears I moved a little too swiftly," he said. "I'll place two cards face down. That will end my turn."
"Then I draw," Adam said, adding the card to his hand. He raised his eyebrows as he drew his Duel Spirit. It wasn't usually this pushy. Perhaps it had something to do with his opponent. He looked up at Professor Banner, who smiled blissfully at him.
No, surely not. The man was harmless. Still, it was an option to keep in mind.
"I bring forth my Zombie Master (1800/0) in Attack Mode," Adam said. The white skinned figure clawed its way out of the ground, cackling madly as it entered the land of the living. "And by discarding a monster from my hand, my Zombie Master can tap into her dark magic. Now she can target the remains of any Level 4 or lower Zombie in the Graveyard and imbue it with false life! Arise, my Pyramid Turtle (1200/1400)!"
Zombie Master reached her hands into the ground, crackling with purple electricity. She pulled up, dragging the partially decayed form of Pyramid Turtle up and onto the field. The lumbering creature moaned. "And now, I attack your Gemini Elf with my Malevolent Mech – Goku En!"
"Now you're the one being too hasty," Banner said. "I activate my Spell Card Rush Recklessly. This increases the strength of my Elves by 700 points until the end of this turn. (1900 - 2600)" The Elves suddenly charged, shredding the Mech apart with their nails. Shards flew back and struck at Adam, who hissed and flinched away. (Adam: 4000 - 3800)
"A fitting end for my great beast," Adam said with a nod. "And thus will I end my turn."
"Oh, it is my turn? I draw," Banner said. He looked at his hand and sighed. "My, my. These proctor decks seem to be quite formidable this year. I play Tribute Doll. This allows me to Tribute my Gemini Elves to Special Summon Wingweaver (2750/2400)." Feathers began drifting up from the ground, forming into a six-winged angel in a golden robe. She descended down, wings flared to the side. "Of course, Tribute Doll prevents Wingweaver from attacking this turn. But I am not yet done. Next, I summon Luster Dragon (1900/1600) and then activate my Trap Card Call of the Haunted to return my Gemini Elf (1900/900) to the field." To the left of Wingweaver rose the two increasingly familiar elven ladies. They laughed as they returned, blowing a kiss towards Adam. To Wingweaver's right, there rose a large blue dragon, its scales shimmering like jewels.
"Luster Dragon, attack his Zombie Master!" Adam flinched again as the dragon breathed a stream of rock crystals through his monster. (Adam: 3800 - 3700)
"And Gemini Elf, destroy his Pyramid Turtle," Banner ordered. The two elves shot forward again, once more ripping the turtle to pieces (Adam: 3700 - 3000).
"My Turtle's effect activates once more," Adam said, pulling out his deck and searching it. "I shall call forth my Double Coston (1700/1650) in Defense mode." Two grey spirits emerged, twisting around each other in the air. They giggled at the field, looking towards the array of dangerous monsters across from them.
"I'm interested to see where you go from here. I end my turn," Professor Banner said. Adam looked up into the crowd. His sister was leaning forward, watching him intently. She frowned heavily, glancing back and forth between Adam's largely empty field and the Professor's well populated one.
Adam placed a hand on his deck and closed his eyes. This was it. He wasn't going to get another shot at this. He needed to win the game now. He could feel his Duel Spirit thrumming in his hand, ready to be unleashed. He drew the card and examined it. He grinned.
"Professor Banner, I'd like to thank you for proctoring this exam. But should I have my way, this will be the final turn!" Adam said. "I activate the Field Spell Card Zombie World!" He slapped the card into the slot. Immediately deep blue began to emanate from him. The ground became covered in decaying and rotting corpses. Someone in the audience gasped audibly. He heard his sister laughing as he played the card. Knowing her, she probably had an idea of what was going to happen.
Time to prove her right.
"The dark magic of this card warps the very world itself, changing all creatures that walk it into Zombies!" As he spoke, Gemini Elf, Luster Dragon, and Wingweaver began to rot and decay. Pieces of their bodies sloughed off, exposing muscle and bone beneath.
"Then, I shall activate Pot of Greed! This allows me to draw two more cards. And now, I use my facedown Call of the Haunted in order to bring forth a true monster! Witness as your fate is sealed! Be birthed from nightmares and haunt all who oppose me! Despair From the Dark (2800/3000)!" The ground cracked, orange light spilling out. It erupted into a ghastly demonic form which roared in triumph.
"When did you..? Ah, with your Zombie Master! Of course," Banner said, nodding along with enthusiasm.
"Yes. Speaking of whom, I activate Monster Reborn, which returns Zombie Master (1800/0) to us once again." The skeletal woman surged from the ground, her cold cackling filling the air as she landed next to the demonic Despair From the Dark.
"An impressive field presence. But not enough to destroy my monsters," Professor Banner said.
"Agreed. But that's what this monster's for," Adam said. "I Tribute my Double Coston! And because I am using them to summon a Dark Attribute monster, they count as two tributes! Which allows me to summon my ultimate monster!" The ceiling darkened as swirling mist gathered in the air. Two glowing red dots appeared in the depths of it. "Rise from the grave and bring fear to the hearts of my enemies! Take your rightful place as the ruler of the dead! Come forth! Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon! (2400/2000)" Adam bellowed.
With a shriek, the decaying dragon descended on the field, landing with an audible crash. It roared, the sound echoing across the entire stadium. In the audience, someone screamed. He could hear his sister's two Spirits calling for the dragon's attention. The dragon glanced back towards Adam and gave a nearly imperceptible nod. This was his Duel Spirit. His companion. His second best friend. Adam nodded back.
"Now I'll use the power of my Zombie Master once again! And by discarding a monster, she can call forth more lost souls to do my bidding! Return to us, Double Coston (1700/1650) in Attack Position!" Once again, the two spirits appeared, this time alongside an array of powerful creatures.
"Now is the time for battle and for the dead to claim this world from the living! Despair From the Dark, attack and destroy his Wingweaver! Nightmare Stream!" Adam said. The gaseous orange demon reared it's head back and unleash a stream of screaming faces that blasted apart the six-winged angel. (Banner: 4000 - 3950)
"Well done. But how will you get past my remaining monsters, I wonder?" The Professor said, smiling widely.
"Like this! Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon! Destroy his Gemini Elf with Necro Blast Attack!" Adam ordered. His Duel Spirit shrieked in response, spitting a ball of sickly black energy at the Elf, obliterating it. (Banner: 3950 - 3450)
"Now, the effect of my Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon can activate. Whenever it destroys an opponent's Zombie monster, I can special summon it to my side of the field," Adam said as Gemini Elf broke from the ground next to him. Both elves had visibly had their necks broken, their skin rotten and crackling with black energy.
"Your elves proved quite formidable. Let us see how you fare against them! Gemini Elf, attack Luster Dragon!" Adam ordered. His stolen monster lunged forward, clashing with the crystalline dragon. "And because both have 1900 Attack points, both are destroyed."
"YEAH! THAT'S HOW YOU DUEL!" His sister shouted from the stands. She immediately sat back down, looking embarrassed. Adam laughed and shook his head. She really needed to relax more.
"And that leaves me wide open. Very good!" Banner said with his perpetual smile.
"Indeed. Zombie Master, Double Coston, finish this duel!" Adam ordered. His monsters rushed forward, ripping past Banner and dropping his life points to zero.
"Very well done," Banner said. "Congratulations on passing your exam. And welcome to Duel Academy."
Adam disabled his Duel Disk, putting his cards back into his deck. He bowed. "Thank you, Professor. You've done me a great service in dueling as well as you did."
As he headed out of the arena, he stole a glance up at his sister. He flashed her a thumbs up and she stood up, heading from her seat. The two met in the hallway, heading out from the arena.
"How'd you do?" Adam asked.
"Didn't even touch me," Harriet said with a smirk. "Not that you'd know what that's like."
"You've been in the same position, if you'll recall," Adam taunted back. They grinned and then hugged each other tightly.
"We're in," Harriet whispered in disbelief. "I can't believe it. We're in."
"Yeah. We did it. We made it," Adam whispered back. "Ready for a great three years?"
Harriet pulled back slightly. "Hell yeah."
