AN: Just an idea I had. This Jaden grew up on the streets, dueling to survive. He no longer has Yubel (she's going to end up in the deck of whoever he gets paired with, having gotten to them before Duel Academy starts to urge them to find the Supreme King) but he has gained another powerful dark aligned duel spirit who told him of his nature and helped him develop his powers.

AN2: Also, before anyone comments on it I know that Future Fusion doesn't work the way I mentioned in this chapter, but it's how they showed it working in the GX anime.

King of Shadows

Chapter 1

-Sheppard-

"Really Chancellor Sheppard, I don't see why you felt the need to fly all the way out here yourself." Crowler simpered as they walked to the duel testing arena, the practical exams for this year's applicants about to start.

"Crowler, last year you cut over half our applicants for asinine reasons." Sheppard gave the man a severe look as the flamboyant irritant recoiled "We had to rapidly readmit them partway through the year just to avoid a lawsuit and it was only your tenure that you're even still employed." Thankfully, the wannabe clown knew to keep his mouth shut at that "But more than just that, there's a specific duelist that I know if I didn't come here, you'd have tossed out instantly."

"A specific applicant?" Crowler blinked dumbly "And what makes you so sure I'd kick them out?" in response, Sheppard pointed to where he could see the young man in the stands. Dirty, painfully thin, and in ragged clothes. Even still, his golden eyes were sharp and piercing. "Blegh, he's filthy." Crowler sneered "I don't see why you'd intervene in stopping me from looking after the school's reputation." Crowler began flipping through the applicants in his tablet "And that abysmal written exam! Why are you defending this boy?"

"Because he managed to get Seto Kaiba's personal attention." Sheppard pinched the bridge of his nose, a headache forming as it always did when he had to deal with Crowler "This boy's appearance and his low written exam score are due to the fact that the poor boy has been homeless for several years, he never finished his basic education. Even still, he managed to get a deck together and has kept himself fed by dueling. He'd win food or other things to trade for food and clothes as needed. Kaiba is interested to see what our academy could do with a young man such as this. Someone who dueled to survive, resulting in a great deal of practical ability, but without the refinement of theory."

"He can't be that good." Crowler looked skeptical, the man having an absurd notion that only duelists from an elite prep school could make it anywhere in the field.

"Kaiba seems to think so. He's even authorized that the boy is to duel a professor who isn't restricted to a basic testing deck." Sheppard flipped through the Yuki boy's profile "Seems to use dragons primarily. Even managed to get his hands on some strong ones." He saw Crowler's eyes light up, the man likely hoping to defeat this boy and prevent him from entering the academy. Seeing the Clown rush off, Sheppard leaned back in his chair, curious about this boy that had caught Kaiba's eye.

"Would Jaden Yuki please report to Duel Arena one. Jaden Yuki to Duel Arena one." The bored announcer called out as the painfully thin boy walked down to the arena, the other applicants all noting their current state of dress.

"Poor boy is too thin." Nurse Fontaine frowned as she sat down next to him, "He the one you mentioned to me?"

"Indeed." Sheppard nodded before giving a wry snort "I give it five minutes tops before Dorothy is trying to mother him and feed him constantly."

"You're being generous." Fontaine snorted bemused as Crowler and Jaden took their places, the stench of Crowler's attitude unfortunately still reaching them.

"I'll go first." Crowler sneered "And play the spell card confiscation! By paying a thousand life points I can look at your hand and send any one card of my choice to the graveyard." As the man spoke, Jaden's expression was impassive, large holograms revealing a hand which had four dragons and a polymerization. Two of those dragons could be summoned right away but the other two were decently rare. Tyrant Dragon and Felgrand Dragon. "Hmmm, some decent monsters for someone of your…station." Sheppard could feel the killing intent from the boy rise, eyes sharp and dangerous "I believe I'll get rid of Felgrand Dragon for now."

"Very well." Despite his less than healthy body, Jaden's voice was firm and clear. A surprising amount of confidence and weight behind it as he sent the high-level monster to the grave.

"Next, I'll set two cards face down before playing heavy storm." Crowler's smugness was sadly warranted, the man legitimately knowing how to duel well, even if his personality left much to be desired.

"Lots of students aren't recognizing the strategy." Fontaine noted as the observed the various students whispering, many mocking Crowler's dueling skill while those who did recognize it were more interested in how stoic and unphased Jaden was.

"And by destroying my two face down copies of Statue of the Wicked, I get two wicked tokens!" Crowler's face was near manic, a state the man always got into whenever he got to someone his favorite monsters "But don't worry, they won't be here for long. I sacrifice them to summon my Ancient Gear Golem!" the colossal iron beast rose from the field as many students who hadn't seen it all gaped or freaked out. With three thousand attack and defense as well as two strong abilities it's no wonder why. "And to wrap it all up, I think I'll play the last card in my hand, card destruction."

"Meaning there goes Tyrant Dragon and two monsters that Jaden could have been guaranteed to summon to have at least some defense." Fontaine sighed, the Nurse and head of Obelisk Blue's girl's dorm having never been fond of her colleague.

"But he might have given young Jaden something even stronger." Sheppard cautioned, noticing young Jaden's downright vicious smirk implying just that.

"My turn." Jaden drew, vicious smile still in place "I start by playing future fusion." The boy took five cards from his deck as he spoke.

"Is he summoning Five Headed Dragon?" Fontaine asked wide eyed, many in the stands wondering the same after the clear dragon theme showed by the first hand.

"By sending five Cyberdark Monsters-" the Chancellor missed the next few words, having to struggle not to let his shock, or near heart attack, show at hearing that name "to summon Cyberdarkness Dragon!" a massive mechanical beast rose up, one that was different from the monster Sheppard knew.

"It only has two thousand attack and defense." Crowler scoffed "Must have been some weak monsters you tossed.

"When special summoned," Jaden continued unphased "I can equip one machine or dragon monster from my graveyard to it, and the Cyberdarkness dragon gains attack equal to that monster." Tyrant dragon rose up, the Cybernetic horror latching onto it as the beast's attack rose up to four thousand nine hundred. Crowler was suddenly looking much less confident. "But I'm not done." Jaden's smirk was going from vicious to predatory "Now I play the spell card Cyberdark Impact!" another one the Chancellor didn't recognize "This lets me take the monsters Cyberdark Horn, Cyberdark Edge, and Cyberdark Keel from my hand, field, or graveyard, shuffle them back into my deck, and summon the Cyberdark dragon!" the more familiar metal monster rose up "And much like Cyberdarkness, he gets a new friend." Felgrand dragon got absorbed this time, raising Cyberdark to four thousand attack points "Along with getting another hundred attack for every other monster in my grave."

"I…it's okay, I can still survive this turn and make a comeback." Crowler tried to reassure himself.

"For my normal summon I'll bring out Axe Dragonute." Jaden smirked, the field making his victory that turn perfectly clear.

While Crowler begged for mercy, Sheppard looked down at his tablet, noting a message from Kaiba 'I saw your expression during that duel. I want you in my office for an explanation immediately."