I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh Gx. For the OCs, I only own Violet Hansen. Jess and Ella Crane were created by TheDaydreamer25. Kaio Mandrake is owned by Orceanos.
Chapter 1: Entrance Exams
"Oh man, I can't believe I overslept!" the two toned brunet cried as he ran through Domino City toward the Kaiba Dome. He suddenly bumped into the man with three-toned hair. The brunet's deck scattered. He hurriedly started gathering up his Duel Monsters cards.
"Sorry about that!" the boy said, standing.
"No harm done," the man replied, smiling. He held out a card. "Why don't you take this card? Something tells me it belongs with you." The teen finally looked up at the man. He seemed star struck and accepted the proffered card. The man continued forward. The teen turned and bowed.
"Thank you, sir!" he called after him. He looked at the card, which showed the image of a brown furry creature with white wings. He could have sworn he heard the creature coo.
"I think so too," the teen said before he resumed running toward the Kaiba Dome.
"Alright ladies, mark the no-shows as no-shows," a man in a long coat said to two women sitting at a table. Suddenly a voice rang out.
"Jaden Yuki's no no-show!" The brunet boy hoisted himself over the railing. The man sighed, but signed the boy in. He wasn't technically late after all.
The brunet boy, now identified as Jaden Yuki, walked into the Kaiba Dome, watching the duels below.
"Your move applicant. How will you get out of this one?" the proctor asked. His opponent was a teenage girl in a wheelchair. The proctor had Millenium Shield face up in defense mode and two facedowns. The girl had a mostly red monster with horns vaguely shaped like a heart and three facedowns.
Proctor: 2500
Girl: 1000
The girl drew. She grinned.
"First I activate my spell card Joy of Battle! Now Heart evolves into Promised Number-Gold Heart!" she said. The red monster glowed with a blindingly bright light. When the light faded, the coloring of the girl's monster had changed to mostly gold. (10/3300/2900)
"Next I activate my trap, Neo Viral Core. With Neo Viral Core, I can select one monster on your field and equip it to my monster, which will give him attack points equal to your monster's attack points!" A small red machine attached to the Millennium Shield and merged the shield with the golden monster. (10/3300/2900)
"Heart, attack the proctor!" the girl declared. The proctor activated his facedown card.
"I activate the trap Magic Cylinder," the proctor replied, "So I can deal you the damage."
"Not if I activate Nature's Reflection!" the girl retorted, grinning as she activated her trap, "You get to take the damage." The proctor smiled at the girl.
"Well played. Congrats applicant, welcome to Duel Academy," the proctor said.
"Thank you, sir!" the girl replied eagerly.
"Whoa!" Jaden said, "She must have a totally sweet deck!" He turned to one of the other duels. He watched as a black haired applicant used Ring of Destruction to end his own duel. He saw a boy with dark brown hair end with a direct attack from his samurai-like monster. A light blue haired boy finished his own duel.
"It's gonna be an awesome year!" Jaden cheered, "There are so many sweet opponents!"
"Are you already in?" a voice asked. Jaden jumped before turning to see the girl in the wheelchair.
"Nah, not yet. I still gotta duel. But I did see you finish your duel, which was totally sweet!" Jaden replied.
"Thank you," the girl replied, "Although you might have a problem if you haven't dueled yet. These were supposed to be the last duels." Jaden started panicking. The light blue haired boy appeared, as did the black haired boy.
"What's with him?" the black haired boy asked, pointing at the panicking Jaden.
"He hasn't dueled yet," the girl in the wheelchair replied.
"That is a problem," the black haired boy said, "Oh, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Bastion Misawa. What's your's?"
"Violet Hansen," the girl answered. She turned to the light blue haired boy.
"What's your name?"
"Syrus Truesdale," the light blue haired boy replied.
"Hello there," came another voice. The group looked up to see a pair of practically identical girls. On closer inspection, one twin had her cartilage pierced and the other had a tattoo on her inner wrist. Their hair was also styled differently.
"I'm Jess," the twin with the tattoo introduced, "And this is my twin, Ella." The twin with a piercing waved. The group introduced themselves (including Jaden who had suddenly snapped out of his panic).
"Is this where all the cool kids are meeting?" another voice asked. The group turned to look at the dark brown haired boy. He introduced himself as Kaio Mandrake.
A blond man (though many would think he was a woman) was looking through the files in front of him.
"We're finally done," he sighed. The man who'd been out front walked up.
"We actually have one more applicant, one Jaden Yuki," the man said.
"Mark him late and tell him better luck next year," the blond man said dismissively.
"Mr. Crowler, he should get a chance," the man said.
"It's not mister, it's doctor!" the blond man screeched before returning to the files.
"Come on, he's only a little late," another of the proctors said.
"LATE IS RUDE!" the blond man, now identified as Dr. Crowler, shouted. The blond man's phone rang.
"Who is it?" he snapped when he answered.
"It's Sheppard."
"Ah, Chancellor Sheppard, how nice to hear from you," Crowler replied, going from snippy to simpering instantly.
"Just checking to make sure you're giving each applicant a fair shot," Sheppard replied, "Last year, you cut a third of the applicant for calling you Mister or Missus? Make sure that each applicant gets a fair chance alright?" The Chancellor of Duel Academy hung up. Crowler shut his phone.
"Doesn't the furry-chinned windbag understand that we have enough slackers at this school? Every applicant gets a fair chance eh? Very well." Crowler thought.
"I'll make all the arrangements for this applicant," Crowler stated, standing. The other proctors just let him leave.
"WILL JADEN YUKI REPORT TO DUEL FIELD 3! JADEN YUKI TO DUEL FIELD 3!" the intercom blared. The two-tone haired teen grinned.
"That's my cue!" he declared, making his way to the duel arena. He was raised into the duel arena and looked at his opponent.
"Who's that?" Syrus asked.
"Dr. Crowler," Bastion replied, "He has a PhD in dueling and teaches at Duel Academy."
"So, applicant, what's your name?" Crowler asked.
"Uh Jaden, Jaden Yuki," the teen replied, snapping to attention from where he'd been admiring the arena.
"Well 'Uh Jaden Yuki', I will be your opponent today. Duel vest, on!" Crowler's duel disk whirred to life.
"Sweet vest!" Jaden said enthusiastically, "How do I get one of those?"
"Hard work and high marks," Crowler replied "But you have to get in to Duel Academy first."
"Duel!"
Crowler: 4000
Jaden: 4000
"I'll go first," Jaden stated, drawing. He grinned.
"Let's start this off with Elemental Hero Avian (3/1000/1000) in defense mode!" A green-colored bird-man with a red mask over his eyes appeared and knelt on Jaden's side of the field. "And I'll throw down a facedown." A reversed card appeared behind Avian.
"Better get your game on, teach!" Jaden called.
"Yes, yes," Crowler replied, dismissively, "Don't tell me what to do. Since I'm using my personal deck instead of one of those puny decks, so I'll fail him in no time flat."
"I'll start nice and slow with the spell card, Confiscation!"
"So what's it do?" Jaden asked.
"It lets me ditch 1000 life points to force you to discard one of your cards," Crowler explained.
Crowler: 3000
Jaden: 4000
Jaden's cards were projected over his head. He had Monster Reborn, The Warrior Returning Alive, Polymerization, and Hero Signal.
"I remember these cards from when I was a naïve rookie," Crowler mocked, "Monster Reborn to the graveyard!" Jaden discarded the spell.
"Next I'll sent two cards and activate the magic of Heavy Storm!" A wind blew through the field, destroying both player's set cards.
"Whoopsie!" Jaden said, "Did you forget you had set cards too?" A dark fog covered Crowler's field.
"You mustn't speak out of turn young scholar," Crowler admonished. The fog coalesced into to golden serpentine statues.
"There is no way that's a test deck," Jess said, frowning.
"What do you mean?" Syrus asked.
"A test deck wouldn't have Heavy Storm," Ella explained.
"It wouldn't have Confiscation or Statue of the Wicked either," Violet added. Syrus still looked confused.
"The cards they mentioned can change the tide of a battle without any serious cost. The test decks are designed to balance effect and cost," Bastion explained. Syrus looked back to the battle.
"What does that mean for Jaden?" the shorter teen asked. Kaio leaned forward on the railing.
"It means it'll be quite a bit harder for him to enter Duel Academy than it was for us to enter. He has to beat one of the teachers, who's using what appears to be his personal deck," Kaio stated. The assembled teens watched the duel progress.
"Looks like we might get to see Dr. Crowler's rare monster," a tall teen with dark teal hair said. The blonde girl next to him said nothing.
"Hey, Chazz, I think Crowler's gonna summon that rare monster of his," a teen with spiky brown hair. A teen with black rooster-spiked hair smirked.
"Now I'll sacrifice my two Wicked Tokens to summon Ancient Gear Golem (8/3000/3000)!" Crowler declared dramatically. A giant rusted robot appeared behind Crowler. One eye glowed red.
"I always wanted to one on!" Jaden declared, grinning confidently. Crowler scoffed.
"Ancient Gear Golem, attack his monster!" Crowler commanded, "And my Golem can deal piercing damage!" The giant golem punched avian, a translucent fist punching Jaden.
Crowler: 3000
Jaden: 2000
Jaden's bangs shadowed his eyes and his shoulders shook.
"It's okay if you start crying," Crowler said condescendingly, "Duel Academy isn't for…" Crowler trailed off when Jaden started laughing.
"You really know your stuff teach," he called across the field, "But my monsters and I have a bond." Jaden drew, revealing the card the man from earlier had given him.
"Speaking of which," Jaden thought. "I summon Winged Kuriboh (1/200/300) in defense mode! I'll set a card facedown and that's it for me!" Crowler drew.
"For a superior duelist such as myself, a Kuriboh is rather pedestrian, even one with wings," Crowler stated pompously, "Ancient Gear Golem, attack!" The giant golem punched the Kuriboh, but Jaden's life points remained the same.
"Check your gear, your life points haven't changed," Crowler snapped.
"My gear's fine," Jaden explained, "Winged Kuriboh's effect makes it so that I take no damage the turn he's destroyed."
"He should have guessed that Winged Kuriboh would have a damage-negating effect," Violet commented.
"Yeah, I mean Kuriboh negates damage by being discarded," Kaio added. He was stubbornly not looking at the girls.
"Wow, a technique the good doctor didn't know," the blonde girl said.
"He can't be expected to know every technique," the teal haired boy replied.
"That kid sure knew it," the girl retorted.
"So your lame little monster saved you," Crowler said.
"Hey! Just because you beat him doesn't mean you get to call him lame!" Jaden declared, "Besides, since you destroyed Winged Kuriboh, I can activate my trap Hero Signal!" The area above the duel arena lit up with a stylized H.
"Come on out, Elemental Hero Burstinatrix (3/1200/800)!" A red suited heroine appeared in front of Jaden. Crowler had no choice but to end his turn.
"My move," Jaden said, "And I'll start by activating my spell card, The Warrior Returning Alive. So come on back Avian (3/1000/1000)!" The winged hero reappeared on Jaden's field.
"Now I'll activate Polymerization to fuse Avian and Burstinatrix to form my Elemental Hero Flame Wingman (6/2100/1200)!" A vaguely draconic winged man appeared in front of Jaden. Before Crowler could say anything, Jaden continued.
"Next I activate the field spell, Skyscraper." A metropolitan city rose up around the arena.
"Such an amateur mistake," Crowler scoffed, "You haven't changed my Golem's attack points one bit." Jaden grinned.
"No, but it'll change Wingman's," he replied, "When an Elemental Hero fights a stronger monster, the Hero gains 1000 attack points." (6/2100-3100/1200)
"Flame Wingman, attack that Golem! Skydive Scorcher!" Jaden commanded. Flame Wingman leapt off the top of a skyscraper and pierced right through Ancient Gear Golem's head. Crowler panicked as his monster was defeated.
Crowler: 2900
Jaden: 2000
"Not only that, but my Wingman's ability deals you damage equal to the attack points of the monster he destroyed," Jaden added. Crowler gawked.
Crowler: 0000
Jaden: 2000
"That's game," Jaden finished, throwing the teacher a two-finger salute, "Guess I pass, huh teach?" Crowler just stared in shock as Jaden was lowered out of the arena. He rejoined his friends in the stands.
"Cool duel man," Kaio congratulated. The rest of the group gave their own congratulations as they headed for the doors.
That was the beginning. That was when everything started to change. When we started to change. We didn't know about the shadows. We didn't know how rapidly things could change.
After all, it was only the beginning.
