Duel Academy, Academy Island
August 26, 2027
10:19 AM
Bastion Misawa sat in his seat aboard the flight to Duel Academy, deep in thought. Even though his exam yesterday had been scheduled for late in the afternoon, he had arrived at the Duel Arena early in order to scope out his potential classmates, firm in the belief that it was never too soon to get a head start on analyzing possible rivals. The applicants had included a fair number of good duelists, of course, but nobody Bastion didn't think he could easily surpass.
Nobody, that was, except for Jaden Yuki.
When the boy had said he was the best duelist there, Bastion had been skeptical— in his experience, people who went around bragging like that were usually just full of hot air. Now, though… now he didn't have any trouble believing Jaden Yuki had been the best duelist in the arena, at least among the new applicants. There had been many returning students there as well, come to scope out the potential freshmen as they waited for the plane to Academy Island, and Bastion of course couldn't say much about Jaden's skills in relation to theirs, since he hadn't seen them duel.
Among the new students, though? Jaden was definitely a cut above the rest. Which would have been enough to interest Bastion on its own, but his curiosity had been doubly peaked because he'd never heard of the boy before.
Bastion had made a point to memorize all the names of the students who'd scored in the top twenty percent on the written exam, so he'd recognize them when they were called to duel. Needless to say, Jaden Yuki's name had not been in that top twenty percent— and yet, he had defeated Duel Academy's Vice-Chancellor and demonstrated apparent mastery of a new and difficult technique— fusion summoning.
Fusion had only been introduced by Industrial Illusions a few short years ago, after a significant archeological discovery made on a previously unknown island in the Mediterranean. At first, the fusion cards that had come out of that discovery had been in high demand, everyone eager to try it out, but the method's unique challenges had caused many to take Fusion out of their decks and go back to Ritual and Tribute.
The problem with Fusion, as many complained, was that it was "backward". Tribute summoning could be done with generally any low-level monster, and ritual spell cards laid out the specific requirements for summoning in their text. With Fusion, however, you needed the specific cards— the "Fusion Materials"— and the general spell card, "Polymerization". It was sort of "backward" compared to tribute and ritual, which required general monsters and specific spells, and had been a pain in the neck for many experienced duelists to adapt to.
Jaden Yuki, however, had pulled off a flawless fusion summon without batting an eye, with practiced ease, and even used a Grade A Fusion monster to boot. (Just because Bastion didn't use the method didn't mean he didn't do his research— he had, as he'd revealed to Syrus yesterday, heard of Flame Wingman before. Grade As required exact Fusion Materials, making them almost impossible to summon. Grade Bs were a bit easier, usually only requiring Fusion materials of a specific Archetype.) For Jaden to execute such an advanced play, and yet to not have fallen in the top twenty percent on the written exam…
Had he just been having a bad day when he took it? Was he perhaps an idiot savant, challenged in all areas except practical (as opposed to theoretical) dueling? Or, perhaps, had he deliberately gotten a low score? But why? Why wouldn't an up-and-coming duelist want to be noticed, especially considering they'd applied to get into an elite Duel School?
It was a puzzle, but Bastion had always been very good at puzzles, and he wasn't going to back down from a challenge as enticing as this. (He made sure to revisit the idiot savant theory after he ran into Jaden on the island and discovered that the other boy hadn't realized his uniform was red because he'd been assigned to the Osiris Red dorm.)
Osiris Red Dorm, Duel Academy
August 26, 2027
11:27 AM
Later that morning, "Jaden", unaware that he had just become the new object of study for an analytical genius, was enthusiastically exploring the lowest ranking dorm at Duel Academy— the one that was to be his home for the next year.
"This isn't a dorm," Syrus said miserably. "It's like an outhouse with a deck."
"You kiddin' me? Check out the view! This place is great!"
"I concur," said Elemental HERO Avian. "Look at all that open sky!"
"And the water," Bubbleman added. "Do you think we could go for a swim later?"
"Perhaps we should check inside first?" Burstinatrix suggested. "Yuki can't live out on the deck, you know."
"Sure I could," Yuki spoke up, grinning cheekily. "At least while the weather was nice."
Burstinatrix rolled her eyes. "But the weather won't alwaysbe nice. Just in case, you should at least have an idea of where you can hibernate during the rainy season."
Yuki laughed. "Good point. Come on, Sy; let's check inside!"
Syrus trailed behind, his hopes for the inside considerably lower than his friend's.
"All right. This one here is our room," Yuki announced, rather unnecessarily, after opening the door to 2B.
"It's kinda small, huh?"
"Hey, you're a small guy." Syrus couldn't argue with him there. "Anyway, I like it. This'll make a sweet pad for our first year here!"
"Your first year here. I'll probably end up stuck here all four years while you move on to bigger and better things."
Yuki scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Sy, we're gonna have to work on that confidence." Ever since entering middle school, Syrus had been overly self-deprecating, especially compared to his extremely talented (but incredibly bland) older brother, and Yuki had never really known what to say to get him to feel better about himself. Telling him to stop comparing himself to Zane seemed like a good start, in theory, but it never seemed to work.
Yuki forced a grin. If he started getting depressed, there was no way Syrus would snap out of it. "But first, let's work on this pad!"
He started by opening the curtains, letting in a much-needed stream of sunlight. Sparkman appeared and nodded approvingly. "Much better. This place was far too dark and gloomy."
"Personally, I like dark and gloomy," Necroshade, the spirit of Yuki's Elemental HERO Necroshade card grumbled, hovering in the one corner not lit up by the sun.
"Alright, we'll keep one curtain closed and one open," Yuki compromised, closing the right one. Necroshade sighed in relief.
"Hey, Jay?" Syrus said nervously, "There are three bunks. And three desks." He poked his head into the adjacent bathroom. "And three toothbrush holders. Do you think we have another roommate?"
"Well…" Yuki ducked down to look under the lowest bunk, then straightened and stood on tiptoe to peer into the top one. "Unless he's hiding in the shower, I don't think so."
Syrus swallowed hard. "You want me to check?"
"No need," Bubbleman, another Elemental HERO, said, emerging from the bathroom. "There's no one here but us."
"Bubbleman says we're the only ones here. Guess they didn't have anybody else to put in with us. Hmm." Yuki lifted a hand to his chin, thinking hard. "Aha! The Elemental HEROs can have the third bunk!"
"You cannot expect me to share a bed with these buffoons," Burstinatrix, the only female among the HEROs, said, sniffing in disdain.
"Buffoons?" Avian squawked indignantly.
"Settle down, you two," Necroshade said. "We appreciate the offer, Yuki, but I don't think all six of us would fit. And as spirits, we don't need much rest anyway."
"Oh right, I forgot." Yuki laughed. "Looks like the top bunk's gonna remain empty for now, Sy. Come on, let's go get our stuff so we can start moving in!"
...
Since Yuki's idea of "moving in" seemed to be "make as much of a mess as possible", he was finished fairly quickly and decided that the two of them should go exploring around campus. He was determined to distract Syrus from the fact that they were stuck in the so-called "worst" dorm (Mr. Kaiba really wasn't being fair to Osiris with this ranking system of his, Yuki thought, or to the color red in general). He pointed this out to Syrus, who seemed to cheer up a bit at the idea of being "red hot", but the rest of his metaphors went unheard by his best friend because Yuki had suddenly felt that pull that could only mean one thing: there was a duel nearby.
Yuki's skin began to tingle as the urge to go, go, go drowned out all else. His heart pounding, blood rushing in his ears, Yuki took off running.
"Wait up!" He faintly heard Syrus calling behind him.
"There's some kinda duel action goin' on in there!" Yuki pointed to a large building up ahead.
"And of course you just have to go and check it out. You know, sometimes your sixth sense for dueling can be a real pain."
It had always been a peculiar trait of Yuki's that he could tell when a duel was going on somewhere in his vicinity. Usually, it was pretty cool— they used to try and fool him with an upgraded version of hide-and-seek, where he would be blindfolded and spun around in circles while two people snuck off to start a duel in a secret location. He always found them, no matter what they tried to confuse him. Atticus Kaiba, before he'd disappeared, used to bring friends over and sucker them into betting against Yuki's sixth sense, and it had worked out quite lucratively for him— until his mother found out what he was up to and made him give it all to charity.
In those cases, it was fun. Things got dangerous, however, when that sixth sense led him to less-than-friendly duels— like when he'd walked right into the middle of a gang war instead of going straight home from school. Since this was a private island owned by KaibaCorp, which had some of the best security in the world, Syrus didn't think they could be walking into anything dangerous, per se, but to be fair, they didn't even know if they were allowed… wherever Jaden's dueling ESP was taking them.
"It's over this way— I'm sure of it. Ah, it's in the air, Syrus. Can't you just smell it?"
"Maybe if today's pollen count was lower…"
Main Building, Duel Academy
August 26, 2027
11:58 AM
Chazz Devlin— or Princeton as he was officially known here— sat glaring at the rows of bleachers in front of him, an entire thunderstorm in his expression. He should have known better than to hope that the son of the King of Games would make good on his promise "to be a regular nobody" at Duel Academy. Oh, sure, he was using an alias and had gotten himself placed in Osiris Red, but with the way he'd arrived late and then mopped the floor with Crowler? There was no way he wouldn't be the talk of the school now, even if nobody knew who he was.
When Dr. Crowler had taken the field using his own personal deck, Chazz had been somewhat hopeful that he would actually manage to take Yuki out, and that all his problems would be solved before they'd even begun. He'd been dreading the day he'd have to attend school with Yuki Muto the entire year, and it had nothing to do with the slacker's smart mouth, as he'd led Topher and Conklin to believe.
Chazz had always counted himself as Yuki's rival, his antithesis, in anything and everything they did. True, the two of them hadn't seen much of each other growing up— usually only at New Year's, when the reunions planned by Mrs. Muto (and hosted by Mr. Kaiba, because he had more room) were held.
Yuki had always been better at everything than Chazz. He was better at making people like him, at making friends, at getting attention, and at succeeding in the things he tried. He had a natural charm and charisma that had the adults eating out of his hands, while the other kids rallied around him like a Pied Piper. Meanwhile, Chazz could only hang around in the background and sulk because he was never invited to be a part of their games.
It was infuriating, especially since when Chazz did manage to one-up him, Yuki didn't seem to care.
This suit was custom-made by an Italian tailor. It cost a fortune.
You went to Italy? That's great! What was your favorite place you saw?
My Dad's new game hit the market and sold out in forty-eight hours.
That's too bad. Do you think they'll be able to make more?
I'm attending an elite boarding school for future duelists.
A boarding school? Don't you miss being with your parents?
No, actually, Chazz hadn't missed being with his parents, because there was nothing to miss with his father working all the time, and all his mother ever did was nag and criticize.
As terrible as the annual get-togethers were, Chazz always gritted his teeth and bore it, knowing that eventually it would end and he wouldn't have to see Yuki Muto, or any of his adoring fans, for a whole year.
Those good old days were over. Now he was going to have to deal with the little ray of sunshine every. single. day. There was no escape.
Technically, Chazz was supposed to be watching the duel going on between Topher and Conklin, but he'd ignored it in favor of sulking. He'd still been dimly aware of the familiar sounds of an active duel, though, and now he suddenly realized that they'd stopped. He looked back at the arena and realized he couldn't see Topher or Conklin anywhere.
Chazz frowned. It was unlike them to leave without telling him…
"Chazz, that applicant who beat Dr. Crowler is here."
Of course he is, Chazz thought darkly, internally groaning. He couldn't see whatever was going on because of the staircase blocking his view, so he grudgingly dragged himself to his feet and came down about halfway, because it would raise Topher's and Conklin's suspicions if he didn't come to see. As much as he despised Yuki Muto, he didn't want to have his cover blown any more than anyone else, thank you. He'd had enough of people using him because of who his parents were.
Pushing those unpleasant thoughts aside, he turned his best glare on Yuki and willed him to go away.
Yuki, of course, was unfazed.
"Oh, hey! What's up? My name's Jaden—"
"I know what your name is," Chazz cut in. All of them had been briefed on each other's aliases months before arriving, Jaden's especially since he was using a fake personal name and not just a fake family one. "And I also know that you're an Osiris Red, and that this is the Anubis Blue Duel Stadium. You don't belong here, so get out."
Jaden pouted. "Harsh."
"This here's Chazz Princeton, and he was the number one duelist back in Duel Prep School, so make sure you pay the proper respects, got it?"
"Yeah, he's gonna be the future king of games— the best duelist in the world!"
"Can it, you two," Chazz snapped, the conversation wandering into dangerous territory. The last thing he needed was Yuki Muto thinking he intended to challenge his father for the King of Games title. True, that was what his mother always insisted he would do one day, and Chazz let Topher and Conklin think what they wanted, since they didn't know who he really was, but he was already an outcast among his parent's friends and their families. He didn't need to give them reason to mock him on top of the ostracization.
"Really, Chazz? You want to be the next King of Games?" Chazz clenched his fists tighter. He could see the scornful laughter in Yuki Muto's eyes, hear it in his tone. Oh, how he wanted to punch that stupid, grinning face—
"This sure is a motley crew."
All five boys turned at the sound of the voice to see Alexis Kaiba— or Rhodes, as she was known at Duel Academy— standing in front of them, with her arms crossed disapprovingly. Three of them knew who she really was. One of them knew how much more she was— and it made him want to punch Yuki Muto even more.
"When did she get here?" Syrus Wheeler, who was barely noticeable standing behind Yuki, asked, blushing fiercely.
"Hey, Alexis," Chazz said smoothly, seamlessly slipping into his suave ladies' man persona and offering a charming smile. "What brings you here?"
She looked at him with the same thinly veiled disdain she always did, but Chazz didn't let his smile waver. "I'm here to remind you about the Anubis Welcome Dinner— you're late."
"Oh, yeah." Chazz had forgotten all about it. He turned away so no one would see his embarrassment. "Come on, guys." Topher and Conklin were quick to fall into step behind him as he exited the stadium, leaving the three Musketeers to themselves.
...
"I see he hasn't changed a bit," Alexis said, glaring after the only heir to the Devlin legacy.
"I never could figure out why Chazz was always so grouchy," Yuki admitted, scratching the back of his head.
Alexis rolled her eyes. "Simple. He's just a jerk."
"Maybe. I'd like to duel him, though. If he was really the best back at Duel Prep School— whatever that is— then I bet he's got some sweet moves. I didn't even know he was into dueling all that much. He never asked to join those mini-tournaments we held at the New Year's Eve reunion parties."
"Like I said, he's a jerk." Alexis glanced at the clock. "You should get going. The Osiris Welcome Dinner's about to start, too."
"Right. We'd better go, Sy." Jaden turned and took off, once again leaving Syrus in the dust.
"Hey! Wait up!"
"Oh, hey!" Jaden called back to Alexis, turning around once more to face her and jogging in place, "What was the last name you're using again?"
Alexis laughed a little. Of course, he'd forgotten. "The same one my brother used— Rhodes. Alexis Rhodes."
"Right, I knew that! See ya around!"
"If you knew that, why did you ask?" Syrus demanded as the two of them faded from sight.
Chumley is a useless character, which even the actual writers of the show realized because they got rid of him after the first season. In this universe, he's been written out completely.
Originally, Jaden goes running off to find some "duel action", but all he finds are Topher and Conklin in a duel arena talking, which makes no sense unless duel arenas themselves can lure Jaden to them?
Fusion summoning and "Polymerization" being new at the time this fic is set obviously creates problems for previous canonical events. In this alternate universe, the modern "Polymerization" didn't exist until about 2022. For those (like myself) who are detail-oriented, here is a list of all the changes this altered aspect of reality results in:
"Polymerization" is shown in episode 1, 23, 30, 33, 53, 56, 73, 78, 85, 88, 93, 94, 99, 103, 108, 109, 111, 112, 131, 132, 148, 159, 188, 190, 192 and 200 of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters without being played in a duel. The cards shown in those shots would have to be different.
Yugi vs. Weevil (1&2)/Yugi vs. Joey/Yugi vs. Bandit Keith. In this universe, "Gaia the Dragon Champion" is a ritual monster instead of a Fusion, so Yugi uses a ritual spell, similar to "Breath of Acclimation", to summon it instead of "Polymerization".
Yugi vs. Gansley/Yugi vs. Rafael/Yugi vs. Orichalcos Soldier/Yugi vs. Leon/Yami Atem vs. Yugi. In this universe, "Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast" is a ritual monster instead of a Fusion, so Yugi uses a ritual spell, similar to "Breath of Acclimation, to summon it instead of "Polymerization".
Kaiba vs. Joey (1). In this universe, "Rabid Horseman" is a ritual monster instead of a Fusion, so Kaiba uses a ritual spell, similar to "Earth Chant", to summon it instead of "Polymerization".
Pegasus vs. Yugi (2). In this universe, "Thousand-Eyes Restrict" is a ritual monster instead of a Fusion, so Pegasus uses a ritual spell, similar to "Contract with the Abyss", to summon it instead of "Polymerization".
Yugi vs. Strings (Kek). In this universe, "Humanoid Worm Drake" is a ritual monster instead of a Fusion, so Strings (Kek) uses a ritual spell, similar to "Advanced Ritual Art", to summon it instead of "Polymerization".
Johnson vs. Joey. In this universe, "Kamionwizard" and "Dragoness the Wicked Knight" are ritual monsters instead of Fusions, so Johnson uses ritual spells, similar to "Contract with the Abyss" and "Breath of Acclimation" to summon them instead of "Polymerization".
Kaiba vs. Joey (2). In this universe, "Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon" is a ritual monster instead of a Fusion, so Kaiba uses a ritual spell, similar to "Sprite's Blessing" to summon it instead of "Polymerization".
Marik (Kek) vs. Yugi. In this universe, "Egyptian God Slime" is a ritual monster instead of a Fusion, so Marik (Kek) uses a ritual spell, similar to "Advanced Ritual Art", to summon it instead of "Polymerization".
Rex Raptor vs. Joey (2). In this universe, "Horned Saurus" is a ritual monster instead of a Fusion, so Rex Raptor uses a ritual spell, similar to "Contract with the Abyss", to summon it instead of "Polymerization".
Akefia vs. Kaiba. In this universe, "The Duke of Demise" is a ritual monster instead of a Fusion, so Akefia uses a ritual spell, similar to "Contract with the Abyss", to summon it instead of "Polymerization".
Serenity vs. Nezbitt. In this universe, "Perfect Machine King" is a ritual monster instead of a Fusion, so Nezbitt uses a ritual spell, similar to "Earth Chant", to summon it instead of "Recycling Plant"
- The effect of "Recycling Plant" is changed to:
Summon to the field, from your deck or your Graveyard, Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on a Machine-Type Fusion Monster. If you then Special Summon that Fusion Monster, that monster can attack during this turn.
Yugi uses "Polymerization" against PaniK, a duel that does not happen in this universe.
Both Para and Yugi use "Polymerization" in the tag duel of Para and Dox vs. Yugi and Joey, a duel that does not happen in this universe.
Johnny Steps uses "Polymerization" in his duel against Yugi, a duel that does not happen in this universe.
Yugi uses "Polymerization" against Seeker, a duel that does not happen in this universe.
Joey uses "Polymerization" against Mako Tsunami, a duel that does not happen in this universe.
Bonz uses "Polymerization" against Akefia, a duel that does not happen in this universe.
Virtual Kaiba uses "Polymerization" against Total Defense Shogun, a confrontation that does not happen in this universe.
Yugi uses "Polymerization" in his tag duel with Joey against the Big Five, a duel that does not happen in this universe.
Both Kaiba and Yugi use "Polymerization" against Noah, duels that do not happen in this universe.
An unnamed kid uses "Polymerization" against Joey in his dream sequence, which does not happen in this universe.
Yami Atem uses "Polymerization" against Yugi's soul, a duel that does not happen in this universe.
Some of the issues are not so easily fixed, so when I get around to writing Yu-Gi-Oh! DM: What Might Have Been, these duels will have to be somewhat rewritten/replaced to compensate for the disappearance of "Polymerization":
Kaiba vs. Yugi (2&3).
Yugi originally uses "Polymerization" to summon "Black Skull Dragon" to defeat "Gate Guardian". This confrontation (not really a full duel) will have to be altered.
Yugi and Kaiba vs. The Big Five.
KC DuelTek 1000 vs. Kaiba.
Yugi and Kaiba vs. Dartz.
KC Dueltek 760 uses "Polymerization" to summon "Five-Headed Dragon", which is a forbidden card in this universe, so this scene will have to be altered.
Yugi vs. Vivian.
Since "Polymerization" and Fusion are newer and therefore not as common at the time Yuki and friends are attending Duel Academy in this universe, some things have been/will be altered in this fic to reflect this change:
"Polymerization" is canonically one of Chumley's cards, but he has been written out of this universe
Syrus (who doesn't start using Fusion until later in this fic) uses "Polymerization" in his tag duel with Jaden against Para and Dox, a duel that does not happen in this universe.
Syrus is also shown to have "Polymerization" in his deck on several occasions, so logically in this universe, it would be replaced with a different card.
The character Damon is shown to have a copy of "Polymerization", but he has been written out of this universe
"Polymerization" is included multiple times as part of Yugi Muto's deck. Since "Polymerization" wouldn't have existed at the time Yugi became famous, logically in this universe it would be replaced with a different card, probably "Breath of Acclimation".
The character Slade Princeton uses "Polymerization", but he has been written out of this universe.
Alexis (who doesn't start using Fusion until later in this fic) uses "Polymerization" against both Yuki and Amnael, duels that do not happen in this universe.
Alexis uses "Polymerization" against Titan, but he has been written out of this universe.
The character Princess Rose uses "Polymerization", but she has been written out of this universe.