AN: Some cards featured in decks will be from a time later than GX. It's mostly to fill out archetypes and the cards I used I feel aren't too strong or don't fit in with how duels were structured in the GX era. There won't be any summoning methods beyond what we saw in GX either. Most decks characters use will probably see upgrades as the stories progresses but the decks and duels won't be the most optimal just like in most yugioh series.
Anyway, Thanks for clicking on the story and lets get in to it!
"Can you sense anything?" A voice asked.
"Nope. Nothing." A young sounding girls voice sighed out. "You're going to be late if we keep spending time here." She reminded her companion, who hummed noncommittally as he kept walking.
She stuck her tongue out at him before floating further ahead of him, phasing straight through any passerby so she could look at him straight on. He maintained his pace, weaving by any other people walking on the sidewalk without so much of a glance at her. He was tanned a light brown, with mid length spiky black hair he constantly had to remove from being in his green eyes. She thought he was tall for his relatively young age of 15 and his longish face was currently arranged in a scowl.
"Alex, you said Mai Valentine is like a super famous duelist still. Even if she's in the city, we're not just going to catch her randomly walking here and who says she even has the cards?" The girls voice said.
Alex glanced at her and let out a breath before moving off to a secluded spot with no one around. Chatting to the seemingly empty air around you tended to get weird looks from people. He learned that early on in life when he was first able to see the duel spirit he was talking to now. She looked like a browned skinned preteen girl with long white hair held up by a golden hair cuff. She had bandages covering her forearms and legs accentuated by golden bangle frames covering the same areas. The war paint covering her face, body, and the horns protruding from the headband she wore, she looked every part of the group of warrior women she belonged to. Amazoness Princess had been his most trusted friend for near half a decade now.
"I know! but pretty soon I'll be at the academy and unless some other random school kid has the rest of the Amazoness cards… she's our best hope." Alex said, frustrated with his lack of progress in getting the final Amazoness cards for his deck.
Of course most cards were widely available by simply buying a booster pack or buying singles, but these Amazoness cards were special. Amazoness cards themselves weren't especially rare, you could find some of them easy enough, but the ones he specifically had were seemingly Amazoness cards imbued with the spirits of the actual Amazoness. Mai Valentine was known to have Amazoness cards as well. Alex believed she had the few cards he still needed and that those few she might have were special like his. According to Amazoness Paladin, they were once a very real group of Amazon women who had lost their memories of what happened to them to end up like this long ago. Princess and Paladin believed that together, Alex and the group of warrior women were destined to be partners in some future battle and remembering what happened in their past was the key to it. He still remembered how it felt the first time he dueled with them near 5 years ago and that feeling was reason enough for him to believe them about their shared destiny.
The one card who would actually know anything about their destinies hadn't talked or shown herself though… Amazoness Queen. He owned her card, but never played her, on advice from the other Amazons. It definitely made his deck weaker, yet he trusted his companions advice. The other cards assured Alex that she was the original one as well but for some reason she wouldn't answer any of their calls. They thought it might be a case of Alex needing to prove himself in some way to their queen. He was growing increasingly frustrated in trying to find ways to do that.
"Let's just get going to Kaiba Land so we can pass this entrance exam. Maybe we'll still have some time after." Alex sighed with frustration as he started walking in the direction of where his entrance exams in to duelist academy were being held. Amazoness Sage had believed, for whatever reason, that the academy would have needed experiences and Alex, like many teenagers, believed dueling was his future so he was happy to apply.
Princess' ghostly hand tried softly patting him on the back before her eyes widened as she sensed something.
"Alex! This way!" Princess exclaimed and took off in a different direction. Alex's head snapped up and ran after her.
It took about 5 minutes before Alex had caught up to the spot where Princess had stopped at. She floated right in front of someone who seemed to be able to see her as he seemed to be looking at her instead of through her. Alex came up next to Princess to see who she sensed before going slack jawed at who was in front of him.
"Y-you're…" Alex was speechless as he stared at a tall man with extravagantly spiked up hair. It was in three layers and each layer had its own color. Everyone who knew anything about dueling knew he was. He was nicknamed the King Of Games for a reason.
"Yes, I am." Yugi Muto smiled at him. "Your friend seemed to want my attention. I don't know many people who can see duel spirits as well."
"Alex, him and his deck are the most powerful things I've ever sensed." Princess said seriously. "He has to be able to help us."
Alex just nodded dumbly still staring at who was widely considered the best duelist in the world. Yugi rose an eyebrow at what Princess had said.
"I can sense you as well. Your souls… they seem entwined. It reminds me of some time ago." Yugi said looking between them both smiling. "What can I do to help you?"
"Oh r-right. Uh, I don't know how to explain it. My Amazoness deck is special. They say they were a real group of warrior women long ago who's forgotten their past. The deck isn't complete and I think completing the deck might help them remember." Alex tried to explain as simply as he could with Princess nodding along. He also felt that completing the deck might help prove himself to Amazoness Queen.
"It's true! Alex is also destined to be our partner in a great battle in the future. I know it." Princess said with a big smile towards Alex before frowning as she looked back toward Yugi. "But I think the only one of us who remembers anything is my mother, Amazoness Queen, and she won't talk or even see us really."
"I see. I've never heard of a duel spirit refusing to talk or refusing to cooperate with other spirits. Especially in a deck of their own archetype." Yugi pursed his lips in thought.
"Uh, it's a little more than that. The other girls say I shouldn't even use her in the deck. We think she may not see me as worthy of using her or her partner, Amazoness Tiger, yet." Alex shamefully said rubbing the back of his head. Yugi's eyes widened in surprise but before he said anything Princess jumped in.
"Which isn't true! I don't know what's her problem but Alex's our partner and he's won even without her! We love dueling with him, he's more than worthy!" Princess vehemently defended her friend.
"It's good to see how close your bond is." Yugi chuckled "Still, I'm sorry but I don't see how I can help you. May I see your Amazoness cards?"
"Yeah, of course." Alex said handing the cards to Yugi. "I was hoping I would run in to Mai Valentine honestly. She's probably the most famous person to use Amazoness."
Yugi closed his eyes as he held the deck of cards in his palm. Princess got a far away look in her eye as if in a trance before she faded back in to the deck. Alex's eyes bugged out as he could see a gold aura surround the cards and Yugi's hand. Yugi just hmmed as the aura continued in intensity.
"Interesting. Your cards are a prideful group. The connection to you is undeniable though." Yugi smiled as he opened his eyes. "There is something different about your Amazoness Queen and Tiger card. I don't know if it has anything to do with you, but I think you were on the right track with Mai. I believe some of these same cards were in her deck a decade ago. The others weren't and it makes me wonder just how they found their way to each other and to you?" Yugi asked more to himself than to Alex, who figured Yugi was probably trying to remember if he knew when Mai had gotten rid of the cards.
The question made Alex think of just how he had gotten the deck in the first place. It was near 5 years ago now when Alex's parents had moved to Domino City because of their jobs. It had offered them way more money and enough sway to get him a spot in a sort of exclusive duel camp for kids his age sponsored by Industrial Illusions. It was some of the most fun he'd ever had as a kid and the last week consisted of tournaments pitting councilor vs councilor, sponsors vs sponsors and camper vs camper. He didn't win the tournament or really even come close, but was still approached by a mysterious woman who simply said she was from the Industrial Illusions group and that this deck belonged to him. Amazoness Princess was floating next to her and his life changed.
"Mai never gained the full Amazoness deck she was looking for, but I know she's always felt a connection to them. I don't remember her getting rid of the cards either. She might have what you're looking for." Yugi explained refocusing from his memories, getting an excited smile from Alex.
"Really? that's great! How can I reach her? Is she in the city? Will she even meet with me?" Alex rattled off his questions quickly.
"She's not. I'll get in touch with her. She'll meet with you, trust me." Yugi assured.
"Thank you so much Mr. Muto." Alex said gratefully before he remembered that pretty soon he'd be on an island going to Duel Academy. "Oh… but I'll be at Duelist Academy for nine months soon if I pass the exam today. That's going to be a problem isn't it?"
"So, you'll be one of the students at Kaiba's school?" Yugi chuckled "I don't think it'll be a problem to get in touch with you there, me and Kaiba have some history. Give me your information."
Every duelist knew about the history of Yugi Muto and his greatest rival, Seto Kaiba. Their Battle City tournament duel is still considered the best duel ever. Alex must've watched it dozens of times while growing up.
"R-right of course." Alex took out his PDA and gave Yugi his information before noticing the time. He needed to get to his test! "Thanks again Mr. Muto but I have to go!" Alex said over his shoulder as he ran off in the direction of Kaiba Land.
…
Despite worrying about being late, Alex had actually made it to Kaiba Land in decent enough time. He gave his information at the check in and now he just had to wait for his name to be called. The arena was huge and had multiple dueling fields so dozens of student hopefuls could test at the same time. The stands on the side of the fields were packed with teenagers buzzing with nervous energy. He could even see that some of the teens in the stands were already wearing the uniform of Duelist Academy. Probably older students who came to see the incoming freshmen.
Alex found himself an empty seat next to a girl, with mid length pink hair, who was messing around with her PDA. She looked calmer than most of the other teens in the stands who were frantically looking through their decks before their duel test.
The testing to get in to duel academy was easier than Alex had expected. It consisted of a written portion, which was taken the week before, and if you did well enough there, then there was this practical test. The duel proctor had to play a test deck with, what should be, really common cards as well. Losing would most likely see you out of contention for a spot at the academy even if you aced the written portion.
Alex was actually relatively calm about having to test in front of hundreds of other students. He wasn't one to brag honestly, but he knew he was a good enough duelist to beat a test deck.
"Attention, the testing will now begin. The first group of students are…" The proctor started to say over the microphone.
Alex wasn't one of the first students being tested so he took out his deck to look through one last time and see if there were any cards from the small group he had in his bag that he wanted to rotate in. He didn't know what would be in the test duelers deck so he thought against changing anything of any significance.
"Nervous?" The girl with the pink hair he had sat next to asked.
He looked up and got a good look at her face. She looked young, younger than the other teens in the stand at least, probably because she looked small even while sitting. Although he was relatively certain you had to be a certain age before even being able to apply, so she must be at least 15 like him. She had a good natured smile as her amber colored eyes looked at him waiting for an answer.
"Nope. Excited mostly." He smiled back. "I'm confident in my cards and my ability to play them… Well most of them." He muttered the last part to himself frowning.
"Oh? What kind of deck do you have?"
"I run Amazoness cards mostly." Alex said, expecting the look of surprise he got from her. Most people didn't expect a teenage boy to have a group of warrior women as his deck.
"How about you?"
"Nice! That's different than most, but hese are my babies. These two are going to help me go pro." She said excitedly as she took out two cards that had similar art to each other.
"Uh." Alex eloquently stated while he tried not to let his skepticism show as he studied the two cards.
One card had a very young looking girl in an all black outfit and a hat with black bunny ears. Ebon Magician Curran. The other card had a very young looking girl with an all white outfit and a hat that resembled a Scapegoat token. White Magician Pikeru.
Alex was skeptical of that goal if her ace monsters were really those two. They were not known to be particularly strong cards and were clunky to use effectively in almost any deck. Even if the other cards were designed around making them work. His skepticism must have shown on his face because the girls smile turned in to a scowl.
"You're just like everyone else! Looking down on these cards and on me!" She accused with some heat and a scowl. Before Alex could say anything in his defense he was interrupted by the proctor.
"Akari Maki, please come down to duel field B7 for your exam. Akari Maki, duel field B7." The proctor stated. Some duels must've ended quickly.
"Guess I'm up then." The pink haired girl, he now knew was named Akari, stood with the scowl still in place and started walking to the stairs. Now that she was standing up, Alex could see how petite she actually was. She must be near the shortest student there.
"I hope you pay attention. Me and these cards are going to prove everyone wrong… we have to." She said looking over her shoulder at him before making her way down the stairs.
Alex felt like an idiot. Cards mattered, sure, but what mattered more was how the duelist played those cards, and for all he knew Akari was amazing with her deck. He really would need to apologize if he got to see her after her duel. For now though he planned to do as she said and pay attention to her duel. At least that was the plan until…
"Alex Drakos, please come down to duel field A2 for you exam. Alex Drakos, duel field A2." The proctor called out as soon as Akari's duel started.
Alex almost groaned in frustration at the interruption before realizing this was his time show his stuff and get in to Duel Academy. He broke out in to an excited smile and walked quickly down the steps to the spot where he would be dueling.
Waiting at the dueling field was a rather plain looking man smiling gently at him as he walked up. He shook Alex's hand as he met him in the middle of the field to shuffle each other's decks.
"Good luck Mr. Drakos, Let's have some fun yeah?" The duel proctor said before they each walked to their respective duelist spots.
"I think we should respect your betters and let me go first huh Mr. Drakos?" The duel proctor let his gentle smile turn in to a sneer. (Alex: 4000/ Proctor: 4000)
'Okay… From overtly nice to asshole. Maybe he's just trying to psyche me out.' Alex thought as he drew his five cards. He took a deep breath and waited for the proctor to take his turn.
"We'll start off nice and slow for you. I'll set one monster in face-down defense position. Then I'll set one card face down and end my turn. Simple enough yeah?" The proctor asked mockingly. "Let's see what you can do"
"My draw then." Alex drew a card to bring his hand to six. Alright, this was definitely something to work with. "I'll summon my Amazoness Swords Woman (1500/1600) in attack mode."
Out came a tanned, muscular, and tall woman with a sword as big as her torso. She had wild red hair and purple clothing made out of what seemed like bones and large teeth.
"I'll move in to battle phase! Attack his face down card Amazoness Swords Woman!" The hologram of his Amazoness Swords Woman rushed forward with a yell and slashed down at the set monster.
Instead of the sword slashing the card in two, the card flipped up to show a blue colored dragon, laying on his stomach, unconcerned as the Amazon's sword bounced off the dragons hide.
"The Dragon Dwelling In The Cave (1300/2000) defense is too high for that pathetic attack." The proctor taunted.
"That's alright with me 'cause my Amazoness' effect means that any battle damage I would take from her battles is actually dealt to you instead!" Alex explained as the proctors life points took the 500 points of damage from the difference. (Alex: 4000/Proctor: 3500)
"I'll throw in two face downs and end my turn."
"Good, now I can show you how to duel properly. Draw!" The proctor drew to bring his hand up to 5. "First, I think I'll get rid of one of those set cards. I activate my Dust Tornado! Destroy the one on the right!"
The proctors set back row card flipped up and brought a surge of winds over to Alex's side, destroying his set Amazoness Willpower.
"Oops, hope that wasn't important for any plan you might have. It won't matter much longer though. Next I'll play the spell card Fissure!" A crack in the monster zone underneath Alex's monster opened up and swallowed up his Amazoness, destroying it.
'Tch, not good. I won't be stopping any damage from getting me this turn. and against a test deck of all things.' Alex frowned at being caught so wide open here.
"You're not looking too happy there Mr. . Don't worry I'll end the misery soon. It starts with me sacrificing The Dragon Dwelling In The Cave in order to summon my Gravi-Crush Dragon (2400/1200)" An almost all black dragon, with way too much muscle for an animal, roared in to existence on the proctors side of the field. "And that's not all because I'll boost it up with my Rush Recklessly! (ATK: 2400-3100) Lets see how you handle this! Now go my dragon and crush his dreams of making it in to Duel Academy!" The dragon hologram gave a roar and charged straight in to Alex, knocking him back. (Alex: 900/Proctor: 3500)
'I can see why they make the proctor try to sike you out with the mocking asshole schtick. It works apparently' Alex mentally growled. He took a breath to calm the nerves as he lowered his arms from trying to defend the attack. The jab about not making in to duel academy had got to him.
"You could just surrender you know?" The proctor mockingly suggested. "No? Oh well, then I'll set 1 card and end my turn." (ATK: 3100-2400)
"I draw!" Alex drew to bring his hand to 4 cards. As soon as he drew the card, his duel spirit best friend appeared next to him. Perfect. Princess gave him an eager grin, ready to make an appearance in this duel.
"I'll start with repaying you for that Dust Tornado by playing Mystical Space Typhoon!" It was Alex's turn for a storm surge of winds to emerge from his side of the field. It formed a typhoon that reached to the Proctors side of the field and sucked up the set back row, destroying it.
"Next, I'll summon my trusty Amazoness Princess (1200/900) and as soon as she's summoned her effect activates! It allows me to add 1 Amazoness spell or trap from my deck to my hand. I'll go with the field spell Amazoness Village and activate it right away!" The duel field changed as it was surrounded by walls made of spiked wood. Huts of differing materials popped up all around the two as ground below them transformed in to grass and dirt. Amazoness Princess looked around happily as her attack power grew. (ATK: 1200-1400)
"You can change the field however you'd like! It's still not enough!"
"Good thing I'm not finished then!" Alex shot back quickly. "Now, I'll activate the spell card Amazoness Spellcaster! It switches the original attack stat of our two monsters for this turn!" Princess' ATK surged to 2600 with the added 200 bonus from Amazoness Village while the dragon's ATK shrank down to 1200. "Now Princess show off your might and slay that dragon!" Amazoness Princess ran forward and thrusted her spear multiple times quickly in to the beast making it shatter in to particles. (Alex: 900/Proctor: 2100)
"And one last thing, as soon as I declared my attack, my Princess' second effect activated! It allows me to send the last card in my hand to the graveyard in order to summon an Amazoness in defense position. I chose my Amazoness Paladin! Who gains 200 ATK from my field spell and an extra 100 ATK for every Amazoness I control including herself!
(1700-2100/300)" Next to Amazoness Princess appeared a muscle bound woman wearing a white hood and ripped cape. She crouched down defensively with her blade in front of her ready to defend.
As Alex's turn ended, Amazoness Princess ATK went back down to normal.
(ATK: 2600-1400)
…
Up in the highest part of the stands, two duel academy students leaned on a railing watching the hopefuls take their duel test. The girl seemed more interested than her male friend who looked around indifferent to the whole spectacle. One duel in particular caught the girls eye.
"Princess Curran burn damage for a win. Don't usually see that huh Zane?" The girl student said. She watched as the girl, who had just won, strode confidently back up to her seat in the stand. She was always interested in more challenging female duelist to go up against and the pink haired girl duelist who won with a Princess Curran was, at least, certainly unique.
"She played her cards well." Zane said simply. His friend rolled her eyes good-naturedly knowing Zane wasn't the most talkative type.
"Hopefully she's in obelisk so I can test just how good she is."
"Already making a rival out of her Alexis?" Zane asked the now named Alexis. "Mindy and Jasmin will be heartbroken."
Zane wasn't one to show much emotion either, so Alexis knew by the corners of his mouth twitching up that he was teasing her. She gave him a little shove in response.
"Shut up. How about the guy using Amazoness? He's in a hole but that's another unique one." Alexis asked focusing on the dueling match going down on the A2 field.
"Better to watch than all the dragon decks being used at least." Alexis gave him a flat look. "I use machines. Not dragons." Zane stated as if it were obvious.
"You use Cyber DRAGONS! That totally counts." Alexis laughingly countered. "But you're right, it is a better watch right now. Let's see if he can make a comeback."
…
"An okay turn Mr. Drakos, but you're still far behind and it's my draw!" The draw brought the proctors hand to 2. "Alright then, I'll start off with my Nin-Ken Dog (1800/1000) in attack mode!" A bipedal brown dog in ninja garb appeared at the ready to attack.
"This game ends here! I activate my drawn Stim-Pack equip spell! It powers up my monster 700 points! (ATK: 1800-2500) now attack his Princess and wipe out the rest of his life points!" The ninja dog rushed at Amazoness Princess.
"This isn't over yet! I activate my trap Amazoness Archers!" A group of warrior women appear with bows at the ready and rained arrows down on to the ninja dog. "It causes your Nin-Ken Dog to lose 500 ATK!"
(ATK: 2500-2000)
'Sorry about that Princess but it'll be worth it.' Alex apologized, in his head, to his friend as he watched her get destroyed by an attack from the ninja dog. She appeared next to him to stick her tongue out at him before fading in to the card graveyard. (Alex: 300/Proctor: 2100)
"Now my Amazoness Village other effect activates! When one of my Amazoness' are destroyed it allows me to summon another one with an equal or lower star level. I choose my Amazoness Blowpiper!
(800 -1000/1500)" A tall blue haired Amazoness appeared with a blowpipe made of bone and metal brought up to her lips.
With no cards left to play and his attack for game countered, The proctor simply smiled as he ended his turn. (ATK: 2000-2500) If Alex drew almost any monster it would almost certainly be over.
"I draw and during my standby phase my Amazoness Blowpiper can choose one monster and make them lose 500 ATK! You know what to do blowpiper." The Amazon brought the blowpipe up and blew a dart straight in to the ninjas dog neck.
(ATK: 2500-2000)
"This is it! I'll summon my Amazoness Trainee(1500-1700/1000)" A black haired teenage Amazon, carrying a whip as her weapon, appeared next to her sisters. "I'll switch my Amazoness Paladin, who gains another 100 ATK for having another Amazoness on the field, (ATK: 2100-2200) in to attack mode and attack your Nin-Ken Dog!" The paladin's sword slashed right through the ninja dog. (Alex: 300/Proctor: 1900)
"Now, Trainee! Blowpiper! End this duel and attack his life points directly!" Both Amazons attacked at the same time causing an explosion. When the dust clear the proctor stood there with a kind smile as his life points dropped to zero. (Alex: 300/Proctor: 0)
The proctor met Alex in the middle of the duel field and shook his hand happily.
"Sorry about the taunts, but the ability to duel with the pressures an unruly opponent can cause is a vital skill in dueling. Congratulations Mr. Drakos and I'm sure you'll be welcomed to Duel Academy."
'That… was harder than I thought. Seems like we have work to do if I ever want to be worthy enough to use Queen and Tiger.' Alex mentally sighed. He was more down on his win than Princess who appeared next to Alex buzzing with excitement at the result of the duel. His friends excitement was infectious though and it boosted his mood. He guessed he should just be happy to have won and punched his ticket to Duel Academy.
He'd prove himself at Duel Academy. He was sure of it.
