Okay, in terms of notes, I have a lot of them for this story. First off, I want to say that this is basically a rewrite of Spirit Bonds but with a completely different plot and new characters.

Since this is my first attempt at a Supreme King awakens early story, I have to tell you this; the Supreme King (Haou) is not completely evil in this story, but he is not completely good either, more an anti-hero than anything (You'll get more information on what exactly I'm doing with Haou in the second chapter, since it's something that I've only seen done in a few stories that I've read). And it's because of this that Jaden and Yubel's souls are not fused together but she is still connected with him.

Another note is that my beta-reader EndlessNight025's OC is the only OC created by a reviewer that I am going to allow in this story (at least for this season. I may ask for some if I decide to do seasons 2 and 3).

Also, in terms of the cards I'm bringing in to this story, I am bringing in cards and archetypes that are new for the GX series. As of right now though, only one of the OCs I created uses an archetype that is new to GX.

Also, while this story covers the same season as Genesis, Genesis is not abandoned. I just really liked this idea and decided to type it up and see where it takes me, especially since it gives me the chance to explore an idea that has been done before in this fandom and mold it until it's not like the other stories that have used this idea.

And yes, a huge thank you to EndlessNight025 for being a wonderful beta-reader who is actually willing to beta-read two stories at once.

…I think that's everything I wanted to say. If I forgot anything then it will be put in my ending notes. I hope that you enjoy this story and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, I never have, I never will and I am only saying this once (I also don't own anything associated with the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise. Just thought I'd add that) so I will not repeat it in later chapters. I also do not own Arina Zharkov (EndlessNight025 does); the only characters I own are my two OCs.

Shadow Rise

1

The Entrance Exams

The annoying blare of the alarm clock echoed throughout the room, though the person it was supposed to wake up didn't so much as stir. Judai Yuki, though he preferred to go by his middle name Jaden, was oblivious to the blare of his alarm clock, much to the irritation of his guardian spirit and his adopted sister.

His guardian spirit—Yubel—was currently floating next to the bed, glaring down at the boy's sleeping form and wondering how in the world he could sleep through the alarm, when it was on high and right next to his head. Yubel was a half-male/half-female creature with large black wings, pale-purple skin and a black outfit. Her hair was half-white, half-blue and spiky; her eyes were heterochromatic—one was orange while the other was blue—and there was a third red eye placed vertically above and between her two eyes.

Standing in the doorway of the door and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes was Kasumi Yuki, Jaden's adopted sister. She was only a little shorter than Jaden, with shoulder-length wavy black hair with blue highlights currently dressed in a purple top, black jeans and a dark-purple jacket. Her eyes were light-green and there was a silver locket hanging around her neck with the initials KS inscribed on it.

"How can he sleep through that?" Kasumi asked with a yawn; she was currently holding a cup of water in her hand while her other hand covered her mouth.

'I'm convinced Judai could sleep through a nuclear explosion,' Yubel said, folding her arms across her chest; she was one of only two people that could call Jaden by his first name without getting him angry.

Kasumi could see and hear duel spirits just like her adopted brother but she also had another gift that she never talked about, except with Jaden, as it scared her. Nevertheless, being able to see and hear duel spirits had freaked her out when she first learned she could do it but, now, she had gotten used to it.

'I've been trying to wake him up since his alarm went off,' Yubel added.

Kasumi smiled a little. "How is it that Raiden could easily get him up but we have so much trouble?" she wondered aloud as she made her way deeper into the room.

Yubel shrugged. She didn't know. 'It's his gift, I guess,' she said.

Kasumi stopped when she was halfway across the room before proceeding to toss the ice-cold water she was carrying right into Jaden's face. Jaden yelped in surprise before jumping and landing with a thud, entangled within his blankets next to his bed.

"Kas! I told you to stop doing that," Jaden protested, glaring at her as he sat up.

"You won't get up any other way. Yubel's been trying to wake you up since your alarm started going off," Kasumi said with a shrug.

Jaden yawned as he stood up. "Why did you bo…? Wait, theexams. Damn! I was hoping to get there early," he exclaimed and, after untangling himself, dashed out of the room.

"I already knew that wasn't going to happen," Kasumi mused.

Kasumi had been adopted into the Yuki family five years earlier when she was ten, a full year after the deaths of her parents. She hadn't been very talkative during the first few years after she was adopted, as she always felt that she had only been adopted out of charity and that if she messed up, like accidentally did something freaky with her cursed gift—that's what she called it anyway—or said the wrong thing, she would be back in the orphanage. She got along great with Jaden and his older brother Raiden, though, and they helped her to integrate herself into the family and even helped to keep her ability quiet. It wasn't as if her gift was obvious, it was just disconcerting and often left her as a loner among her peers.

However, Jaden was a bit of an enigma during those first couple of years too. While he was kind to her and treated her like a sister, he was also very withdrawn and often kept to himself and to his cards, rarely talking to anyone except his brother. Kasumi had thought that Jaden was simply shy but had learned the truth two years after she was adopted, when she learned that Jaden had a gift just like she had, one that was much more dangerous than hers.

To this day, Kasumi still didn't understand much about Jaden's gift but then neither did Jaden. She, Jaden and Raiden had only learned from Yubel that Jaden was the reincarnation of a powerful king of another dimension known as the Supreme King—or Haou, as that was the King's name—and that he was gifted with the power of the Gentle Darkness. Yubel had told the three of them that no one must know about this as it may put Jaden in danger and the only reason she revealed it to Kasumi and Raiden was because they were Jaden's family and he trusted them.

Kasumi always got the feeling that Yubel was keeping something from them, though, but she never let on that she felt that way. Everyone was entitled to their own secrets and it wasn't as if Kasumi, herself, didn't have secrets. She did, like the one time her gift got out of control and was the reason why she had been sent to an orphanage to begin with, especially considering the fact that she did have family left.

Kasumi sighed, not wanting to think about what happened, though her gift was the main reason why she had changed her deck. She refused to use any monsters or spell cards that dealt with fire, for she feared that her gift would get out of control, since it only ever seemed to come out whenever she was using FIRE-attribute monsters. It was because of this that people avoided her like the plague and blamed her whenever a fire would break out wherever she was, even if she had nothing to do with it. They called her a witch but, since they couldn't prove she had done anything wrong, the police couldn't do anything.

Jaden made his way back into the room. His brown hair—with a single strip of orange—was currently wet and messy; his brown eyes—that would turn to gold whenever he was extremely angry, extremely irritated or using the cards his past life's self used—still looked sleepy. He was dressed in a red shirt, black jeans and a black jacket with gold along the hem; why, Kasumi didn't know. Yubel was convinced it had something to do with being the Supreme King's reincarnation.

"How long 'till the exams start, Kas?" Jaden asked, quickly brushing his hair.

"An hour, but it's going to take us that long just to get to the train and then to the Kaiba Dome," Kasumi said.

"Not if we run when the train gets there."

'This would not be a problem had you gotten up when your alarm first went off, Judai,' Yubel said.

Jaden sighed. "Will you ever stop calling me that?" he asked.

'No. I don't understand why you don't like that name. Raiden calls you that all the time,' Yubel pointed out.

"Yeah. I know Raiden does…did, but I don't like it." Jaden didn't elaborate but then, he never did; there was a reason why he didn't like that name, Kasumi was sure of it, but she was pretty sure Yubel was the only one who knew why but just didn't understand the reason.

There was sadness in Jaden's voice as he talked about his brother. It always seemed to show up when he spoke about him, ever since Raiden disappeared along with a few other students from Academy Island the year before. Kasumi knew that Jaden was hoping to find some clues as to what happened to his brother by going to Academy Island.

"Come on, we should get going," she said, placing a hand on Jaden's shoulder.

Jaden nodded before the two of them—with Yubel floating after them—left the room.

. . .

Jaden and Kasumi ended up having to run the majority of the way to the Kaiba Dome after getting off the train in Domino City, because they had left later than Jaden thought they would. He wasn't too surprised that they were running late; he always had a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, sometimes because he was lazy, sometimes because of nightmares and sometimes because he was busy working on mastering his powers with Yubel. Usually, it was the first two, as Yubel's training didn't happen too often.

"Slow down, Jay! You know…I can't run…too far…too fast," Kasumi gasped.

Jaden glanced over his shoulder and slowed down, allowing his adopted sister to catch up with him. "Sorry," he said. He kept forgetting that Kasumi's asthma prevented her from running too much; it was a good thing she always kept her inhaler with her just in case and it was also good that her asthma wasn't as bad as it could be.

"It's…okay. Can we…take a bit of a break?" Kasumi asked. They were now jogging at a steadier pace through the park.

Jaden would have replied if he hadn't run into someone at that moment. Kasumi, unable to stop in time, ran into him, causing all three of them to fall to the ground.

"Oh, sorry, are you two all right?" Kasumi gasped.

"Your elbow's in my stomach," Jaden gasped.

"Sorry." Kasumi quickly got off Jaden who got off the person he ran into, who simply stood up.

"I'm sorry about that," Jaden said before his eyes widened when he saw who he had run into. "Wow, you're…"

'Leave it to you to run into the King of Games,' Yubel snorted.

"You two are duelists, right?" Yugi Moto asked, not seeming concerned with the fact that two fifteen year olds had just knocked him down, and not noticing the glare Jaden had tossed at his guardian spirit.

"Uh, yeah," Jaden said uncertainly, surprised that Yugi wasn't upset, as he looked back at the King of Games.

"We're on our way to the Kaiba Dome to finish taking the entrance exams," Kasumi added.

"Is that so?" Yugi said with a gentle smile before he held out a card toward Jaden who, not having seen Yugi pulled it out, took it; it was a Winged Kuriboh card. A coo sounded and Winged Kuriboh appeared, resting on Jaden's shoulder.

"I have a feeling this belongs with you," Yugi said.

"Yeah, I think so too," Jaden said.

'Looks like another spirit has joined the family,' Yubel said.

"You two should get going," Yugi said. "You don't want to be late. Good luck, both of you."

"Oh right. Thanks. We'll make you proud," Jaden said.

"And sorry for running into you," Kasumi added, even though Jaden had already apologized, before the two of them began jogging away again, only barely noticing the smile and the thumbs up that Yugi gave them.

It took both of them another ten minutes to reach the Kaiba Dome, mostly because they were going slower as Jaden could hear his sister starting to wheeze, but thankfully the people with whom they were supposed to sign in were still there, though they were packing up.

"Wait," Jaden gasped as he leapt into the parking lot before dashing across the parking lot toward the table with Kasumi just behind him. "Is it too late to sign in?"

The two men and one woman exchanged glances before the woman said, "You two will be the last. Sign here and go through those doors."

"Thanks," Jaden said, taking the clipboard before signing himself and Kasumi in while Kasumi bent over, resting her hands on her knees and struggled to get her breath back.

. . .

Inside the Kaiba Dome, a duel that was supposed to be the last duel was wrapping up.

The applicant was a black-haired duelist in a white uniform with brown eyes; his name was Bastion Misawa and he was the student who scored the highest on the written portion of the entrance exam. He currently had 3200 Life Points and a Vorse Reader on the field (A: 1900/D: 1200) as well as a facedown card. The dueling proctor that he was facing had two monsters in Defense Mode; Gear Golem the Moving Fortress (A: 800/D: 2200) and Big Shield Guardna (A: 100/D: 2600).

"All right, new guy," the dueling proctor said. "Multiple choice; you have two monsters staring you down, do you A. throw in the towel, B. beg for mercy or C. run home to mama?"

"I choose D. none of the above," Bastion declared, revealing his Trap Card. "I activate my Trap, Ring of Destruction. With this card, I can destroy a monster on the field and we both take damage equal to its Attack Points."

A metal ring surrounded by flames appeared before encircling Vorse Raider's neck and exploding, taking out Vorse Raider and dealing damage to both Bastion and the Dueling protector.

Proctor: 0

Bastion: 1300 WINNER

"A clever move," the proctor said. "Welcome to the Academy."

Bastion bowed. "Thank you, oh wise proctor."

. . .

In the stands, watching the duel, Chazz Princeton—a spiky black haired boy with dark gray eyes, in a long dark blue blazer—heard one of his friends, Taiyou—say, "Wow. That guy's pretty good, huh?"

"Guess the rumors about him being some sort of whiz kid were true, huh, Chazz?" his other friend, Raizou, mused.

"He's a punk," Chazz said with a snort. "We went to Duel Prep School for the past three years. We're ready for the Academy. These kids don't know what they're getting into. But they'll learn…the hard way, the Chazz Princeton way."

. . .

Jaden and Kasumi had entered the dueling arena, just in time to watch the end of the duel and Kasumi had to admit she was amazed by the clever move.

"Wow, that guy really tore it up," Jaden commented.

The spiky blue-haired boy they had come to a stop next to glanced at them. He was dressed in dark blue and had gray eyes. "Yeah, that's Bastion Misawa. They said he got a perfect score on his written exams out of all of us new applicants," he said.

"Wow, really? I only got an 85, though it was higher than I thought it would be and that's only 'cause Kas here wouldn't stop badgering me until I studied. Kas got a 95," Jaden said.

"I was not badgering you," Kasumi protested.

The boy smiled a little. "I barely made it through mine. I kinda have a thing where I get test anxiety. I don't know how I won my duel. I'm Syrus, by the way."

"I'm Kasumi," Kasumi said.

"And I'm Jaden," Jaden said. "But that means you're in, doesn't it? Congratulations." He slapped Syrus hard on the back and the smaller boy stumbled. "Kas and I'll be in too once we have our duels."

"You haven't dueled yet?" Syrus echoed.

Kasumi frowned. "No," he said.

"Oh, uh, then you two might be in trouble. I heard that Bastion's duel was the last one."

Jaden fell over while Kasumi groaned. "I blame you," she said, glaring at her adopted brother.

. . .

Sitting in the stands and watching the end of Mr. Misawa's duel was Doctor Vellian Crowler, Headmaster of Obelisk Blue, Vice Chancellor of Duel Academy, Techniques Professor and Department Chair; he certainly had a lot of titles. He was a tall, blond man dressed in an Obelisk Blue uniform but with gold trimming and pink ruffles on his collar, shoulders, upper chest and sleeves and he also wore crescent-shaped earrings.

"A fine batch of new students we have this year," Crowler mused; he wasn't counting the mediocre—i.e. those ranked as Slifers—students.

"Indeed," one of the teachers sitting around him said.

"Excuse me, Mister? We have two last minute applicants who have arrived to take their tests," one of the men in charge of the signing in outside said as he came to Crowler's side.

"Did you just call me Mister?" Crowler demanded.

"I'm sorry. I'm new here, Miss."

Crowler's eye twitched. "I happen to have a PhD in dueling, so it's Doctor," he snapped. "And you can just tell those truants to come back next year!"

The other teachers exchanged glances. "Ah, come on, Crowler. We've got time for two more duels," one teacher sitting behind Crowler said.

"Yeah, give 'em a chance," another teacher said.

"Late is rude!" Crowler snapped through gritted teeth, slamming his hands onto the table in front of him. "I have no time for slackers!"

His phone rang at that moment and he pulled it out of his phone. "Hello, who may I…?" he began after answering the call.

"Crowler, it's Sheppard," the voice of Chancellor Sheppard sounded on the other end; how he knew to call at that exact moment, no one will ever know.

"Oh, Chancellor Sheppard, how nice of you to call," Crowler said pleasantly, which caused a few teachers to roll their eyes.

"I wanted to call to make sure everything is running smoothly. We wouldn't want a repeat of last year, when you cut a third of the applicants because they called you 'mister' or 'missus'. Just makes sure everyone gets their fair shot."

Grinding his teeth together, Crowler said, "Of course, Chancellor," before ending the call, standing up and adding to the teachers, "If you'll excuse me, I will be right back."

"But who will be the applicants' dueling proctor and which examination deck will be used?" one teacher asked.

"Leave that to me," Crowler said with a smirk. He'd deal with these slackers himself.

. . .

"Hey, Bastion, tight duel!" Jaden said as Bastion sat down in front of them.

"Thank you," the black-haired duelist said politely.

"From the looks of things, you could be the second best duelist here," Jaden said.

"Hey!" Kasumi protested.

"Okay, third best."

"Kasumi Yuki, please report to exam field four. Kasumi Yuki to exam field four,'" a voice over the intercom said.

"Did you put my name first on the sign in sheet?" Kasumi asked.

"Maybe," Jaden said with a sheepish smile.

Kasumi sighed.

"Good luck, Kas."

"Thanks, Jay."

"Wait, if I'm third best, who's first and second?" Bastion asked.

"Me and Kasumi, of course, in that order," Jaden replied.

. . .

"Did he just say Yuki?" That question came from a blonde girl in the female-version of the Obelisk uniform—a white top with blue trimming, blue miniskirt, blue boots and blue fingerless gloves—her brown eyes were wide with shock. She was Alexis Rhodes.

Standing next to her was a tall dark-blue haired boy in a long, white blazer with blue trimming and gray eyes. He was Zane Truesdale, the Kaiser of Duel Academy. Though his face remained expressionless, Alexis could tell he was just as surprised as she was by the mention of that last name.

"Do you think she's related to Raiden? He did say he had two siblings," Alexis said.

"It's possible, but Yuki is a common last name," Zane said; his voice betrayed nothing of what he was feeling. He glanced at her curiously before adding, "How do you know about Raiden anyway?"

Alexis looked back at the dueling arena, knowing Zane was only asking that because this was her first year at Duel Academy, she had gone to Duel Prep School like most of those who were in Obelisk Blue—with the exception of some of the girls, who only got in because Obelisk was the only dorm with a girl's dormitory—and that was how she knew Zane, but Raiden had not gone to Duel Prep School. "He was one of Atticus's closest friends. He was the one who contacted me, told me about Atticus's disappearance and kept me updated on the search for him but he disappeared a week after my brother."

Zane nodded slowly. He only knew Raiden because of Atticus as well. "If they are related, let's see if she's as good as he was," he said.

"Considering she's going against Crowler, I'd say she needs all the help she can get," Alexis mused.

. . .

I'm dueling a cross-dresser? I hope I don't lose. Yubel will probably never let me live it down, Kasumi thought as she gazed at the blond dueling proctor who had a duel vest on him.

"All right, test time. So what is your name?" the proctor asked.

"I'm Kasumi Yuki," Kasumi replied.

"Well, Kasumi Yuki, I am Doctor Vellian Crowler, Department Chair and Techniques Professor here at Duel Academy."

Kasumi raised an eyebrow at that but decided against responding.

"Are you ready?" Crowler asked.

Kasumi nodded, activating her duel disk. "Let's do this," she said.

"Duel!" they both called out as they drew their opening hands.

Crowler: 4000

Kasumi: 4000

"I'll start, if you don't mind," Kasumi said, drawing her sixth card. "And I'm summoning Jain, Lightsworn Paladin in Attack Mode."

She placed the card on her disk and a silver-haired warrior in silver and gold armor appeared on the field, holding her sword as if ready to attack (A: 1800/D: 1200).

"Next, I'll place one card face down and end my turn, which means I have to send the top two cards of my deck to the Graveyard because of Jain's effect," Kasumi added, placing one card into a card slot and then placing the top two cards of her deck to her Graveyard.

"Very well, it's my turn now," Crowler said, drawing a card. "And I think I will start out with something simple. I play the Spell Card, Confiscation." He held out the card before inserting it into a card slot. "This allows me to look at your cards and discard one of them as long as I pay 1000 Life Points."

Crowler: 3000

Kasumi: 4000

Kasumi, wondering what Crowler was playing at, watched as her four remaining cards—Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter, Charge of the Light Brigade, Glorious Illusion and Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon—appeared in front of Crowler.

"I'll go with the most powerful monster in your hand. Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon to the Grave," Crowler said.

Good thing I have other monsters I could use, though I wonder why he didn't go with Glorious Illusion. Guess he doesn't see it as a threat. Big mistake, in my opinion, Kasumi thought as she placed the card in her Graveyard slot.

"Next, I will place two cards face down," Crowler added, slipping two cards into two of his card slots before adding, "And now I activate Heavy Storm to destroy all Spell and Trap Cards on the field."

Kasumi shielded her face as the wind picked up and her facedown, as well as both of Crowler's, shattered into pixels. "Why'd you do that?" she wondered aloud.

"You'll find out soon enough, young scholar," Crowler said with a smug smirk.

. . .

"Heavy Storm? I don't think that's a test deck," Bastion said.

"Why do you say that?" Syrus asked.

"Because it's a rare card that can change the tide of a battle without serious cost."

"Uh oh, that's not good," Syrus said worriedly. "But she doesn't look worried."

"I think she's just wondering why Crowler did that," Jaden said.

. . .

"Crowler's using his own deck? This duel is over," Taiyou commented.

"Yeah, no one can compete against an expert's deck," Raizou agreed.

"I think I'm going to enjoy Crowler wiping the floor with this kid," Chazz said with a smirk. Even if she is kinda cute…wait, where'd that come from? He thought. "I wish they treated all other second-rate duelists that apply at this academy the same way."

. . .

"What an elitist snob," Alexis muttered. "Bullying some kid with his very best cards."

"You're too soft, Alexis," Zane said calmly. "I just hope we get to see that legendary rare card Crowler has stashed away in that deck of his."

. . .

"Ready for your next lesson," Crowler asked.

"Bring it on," Kasumi said.

Dark clouds began to appear on Crowler's side of the field and two worm-like tokens appeared. "Very well, then. To continue, the two Trap Cards that were sent to the Graveyard were two Statue of the Wicked cards. Do you know what that means?" he asked.

"I get the feeling you're about to tell me what it means," Kasumi said dryly.

"Yes, I am. When they're sent to the Graveyard, I get two Wicked Tokens. I now sacrifice my two Wicked Tokens to summon Ancient Gear Golem!"

The statue-like tokens vanished to be replaced by a robotic giant with working gears for joints and a single glowing red eye (A: 3000/D: 3000).

. . .

"That's it. That's his legendary card," Alexis gasped.

"Now it looks like we're about to find out what makes it so legendary," Zane said.

. . .

Jaden whistled appreciatively. "That's an awesome monster. Man, I've always wanted to take one on," he said.

Syrus stared at Jaden, shocked. "Either you're really brave or you're nuts," he said.

'Both,' Yubel said.

Shut up,Jaden thought.

. . .

"Ancient Gear Golem, attack her Paladin, Mechanized Melee," Crowler ordered and Kasumi shielded her face as Crowler's Golem threw a punch that caused Jain to shatter and took out some of Kasumi's Life Points.

Crowler: 3000

Kasumi: 2800

Kasumi lowered her duel disk. Well, I'm going to have to figure out a way to get rid of that Golem, or I'm done, she thought.

"You're turn, Ms. Yuki," Crowler said.

Kasumi drew a card. Okay, since Ancient Gear Golem can deal piercing damage, if he attacks Ryko, I'll lose. And yet I'll be able to activate Ryko's effect before he's destroyed but after damage calculation. But I'll need to make sure I still have Life Points if I wanna stand a chance at winning.

"I'm going to start by activating the Spell Card, Dian Keto the Cure Master to increase my Life Points by 1000," she said, placing the card on her disk and she was surrounded by a blue light as her Life Points increased.

Crowler: 3000

Kasumi: 3800

"Then I'll place a facedown and Set one monster in facedown Defense Mode and end my turn," she finished.

What is she planning? Crowler wondered as he drew a card. "Go, Ancient Gear Golem, attack her facedown monster, Mechanized Melee," he ordered. "And since the monster's in Defense Mode, you're inflicted with piercing damage."

Good thing I increased my Life Points then, Kasumi thought, shielding herself as Golem's fist slammed into her facedown card and flipping it up.

Crowler: 3000

Kasumi: 1000

"Ready to give up? I'll definitely understand. I mean, the Academy's not for everyone," Crowler said with a sneer.

"I don't give up. Besides, I knew you were going to do that," Kasumi said, lowering her duel disk and Crowler frowned. "And I also know about your Golem's ability. I can't activate any Spell or Trap Cards until after the Damage Step but I can activate monster effects and that's what I'm going to do. When Ryko is flipped up, his Special Ability activates after damage calculation and before he's destroyed, allowing me to target one card on the field and destroy it and I choose your Ancient Gear Golem!"

Crowler as well as the majority of the audience gasped as a light surrounded Crowler's Golem and he exploded followed soon after by Ryko.

. . .

"Pure luck!" Chazz exclaimed, surprised to find the pretty amateur destroy Crowler's best and most powerful monster.

"Maybe this girl is better than we think she is," Taiyou suggested tentatively.

"Shut up. She got lucky," Chazz growled.

. . .

"Impressive move. She sacrificed one of her monsters to take out Crowler's best monster," Alexis mused.

"But she has to discard three cards from her deck now. If she is not careful, she'll deck out, but she doesn't seem in danger of that right now," Zane said.

Alexis nodded, knowing that was one of the drawbacks of a Lightsworn deck.

. . .

"Clever," Bastion said with a nod. "She knew that if Crowler's Golem had attacked her facedown monster, it would have ended the duel so she prepared herself and then sacrificed one of her monsters to take out Crowler's Golem."

'That is one of the drawbacks of Ancient Gear Golem. No Spell or Trap cards can be activated during the Battle Phase, but it says nothing about monster effects,' Yubel mused.

"Dr. Crowler doesn't look too happy," Syrus said.

"He did just lose his best monster. I'm not surprised," Bastion said.

. . .

"Of course, now I have to discard the top three cards of my deck," Kasumi said before proceeding to do just that.

Crowler coughed. Impressive but she's still not passing, he thought.

"I'll place one card face down and end my turn," he said.

"My draw and I activate Card of Sanctity so that we both draw until we have six cards in our hands," Kasumi said, playing the Spell before drawing four more cards while Crowler drew five.

"Then I activate my facedown, Glorious Illusion," she added, revealing her Trap Card depicting a female Lightsworn monster surrounded by light. "This card allows me to Special Summon a Lightsworn monster from my Graveyard in Attack Mode. I choose Jain, Lightsworn Paladin." A moment later, a cylindrical cone of light appeared and the silver-haired warrior reappeared on the field (A: 1800/D: 1200).

"But I'm not done. Now, I sacrifice Jain in order to summon Celestia, Lightsworn Angel," Kasumi added and Jain vanished to be replaced by a beautiful blue-haired woman with large white wings and white gloves carrying a staff with a sun topping it (A: 2300/D: 200).

"And because I sacrificed the monster I summoned with Glorious Illusion, that card is destroyed as well," Kasumi added.

Now I won't have to send cards to my Graveyard during my End Phase, not that in matters since this duel's over, she thought.

She smiled as she added, "Looks like this duel's over."

"It is not," Crowler said with a scowl.

"Oh it is. I activate Celestia's Special Ability. Since I summoned her by tributing a Lightsworn Monster, I'm allowed to send the top four cards of my deck to my Graveyard, target up to two cards you control and destroy them. Since you only have one, that'll have to do." She placed four cards into her Graveyard slot before Celestia pointed her staff toward Crowler's facedown card and it shattered into a dozen pixels.

"Doesn't matter, you slacker. Your monster doesn't have enough Attack Points to take me out. Such an amateurish mistake," Crowler sneered.

"By herself, she can't take you out, Dr. Crowler," Kasumi agreed.

He didnotjust call me a slacker! We were only a few minutes late! She thought angrily before taking a deep breath to calm herself. The last thing she needed was to lose her temper; while her gift seemed only to work with FIRE-attribute monsters, that didn't mean she couldn't accidentally make a monster with a different attribute's attack a bit hotter than it was supposed to be.

"But when I activate Rush Recklessly, she will," she added after she calmed down. She placed the card on her duel disk and Celestia was surrounded by a faint silvery glow as her Attack Points increased (A: 2300-3000/D: 200).

"Now go, Celestia, attack Crowler directly with Celestial Strike," Kasumi ordered and Crowler shouted as a beam of light shot from Celestia's staff and slammed into him, sending him flying to the ground.

Crowler: 0

Kasumi: 1000

I don't understand! She's a slacker! And she beat me!Crowler thought, shocked.

"I passed, right?" Kasumi asked as Crowler got to his feet.

I won,so I better have, she thought.

The teacher just glared at her before stalking off.

"I'll take that as a yes."

. . .

She's still an amateur, Chazz thought. That was pure luck. No one can beat Crowler's deck.

"Guess she's better than we thought she was," Raizou mused.

"She got lucky," Chazz growled.

. . .

"Way to go, Kasumi. You won," Syrus said as Kasumi rejoined them in the stands.

'Very good duel,' Yubel said.

"Yeah, that was a sweet match," Jaden said.

"Jaden Yuki, please report to exam field three, Jaden Yuki to exam field three," the voice over the intercom said.

"Good luck, Jay," Kasumi said.

"Ah, I don't need it. It's what I do best, after all," Jaden said before he left the stands.

'Don't get cocky, Judai,' Yubel ordered.

Jaden scowled at the use of his first name, even though he really should be used to it by now. Fine, fine. I wonder who my opponent is, he thought as he made his way into the exam field, slipping the duel disk onto his arm as he did so. Imagine his surprise when he found out he would be facing Crowler too.

'Ten bucks says he tries to pay you back for his defeat at the hands of Kasumi,' Yubel said.

Fool's bet, Jaden thought. 'Cause I'm positive that is what he's going to do.

. . .

"Another Yuki?" Alexis mused. "Wonder if they're all related."

"It's possible," Zane said.

. . .

"How much do you wanna bet Crowler's going to take out his loss to me on Jaden?' Kasumi mused.

"I won't take that bet as I'm sure they will. You two have the same last name but don't look alike. Are you related?" Bastion asked curiously.

"Not by blood. I was adopted into Jaden's family," Kasumi said.

"Oh."

. . .

"So, son, what is your name?" Crowler asked once he and the second of the two latecomers were standing across from each other.

"Jaden Yuki," Jaden replied calmly.

"Very well. As you likely already know, I am Doctor Vellian Crowler, Department Chair and Techniques Professor," Crowler said.

"Yeah, I know. I really did think you were the mascot, though," Jaden said with a shrug.

Yubel rolled her eyes but there was amusement in them while Crowler's eye seemed to twitch.

"Yes, well, are you ready for your test?" he asked.

"Get your game on, teach," Jaden said, activating his duel disk.

"Don't tell me what to do," Crowler muttered, also activating his duel disk.

"Duel," they both declared as they drew their opening hands.

Crowler: 4000

Jaden: 4000

"I will be going first this time," Crowler said, drawing his sixth card. "And I will start out by playing the Field Spell, Geartown." He slipped the card into the Field Spell slot and the arena changed. Now they were in a city of spinning gears and gear-shaped buildings.

"And, because of this Field Spell, I can summon an Ancient Gear monster with one less sacrifice. Since my Ancient Gear Beast only needs one sacrifice, I can summon him directly to the field without one," Crowler added, placing the card on his duel disk. A robotic canine with gears for joints, long sharp front teeth and yellow eyes appeared on the field (A: 2000/D: 2000).

"And then I'll end my turn with that," Crowler said.

"All right, my turn," Jaden said, drawing his sixth card before he examined it. He smiled a little before glancing at Yubel. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Yubel smiled. 'Let's do it,' she said.

"I think I'll start out by playing Polymerization to fuse Elemental Hero Clayman and Elemental Hero Sparkman in my hand in order to summon Elemental Hero Thunder Giant," Jaden declared.

Two monsters—a giant made out of clay with a small red head and a warrior clad in blue-and-gold armor—appeared on the field before they fused together. They were replaced by a giant man in golden armor with a sphere of crackling blue energy in his chest (A: 2400/D: 1500).

"And then I'll activate Thunder Giant's Special Ability. By discarding one card, Thunder Giant can destroy one monster on the field so long as their original Attack Points are less than his," Jaden said with a smile before discarding one of his cards and pointing to Crowler's Ancient Gear Beast. "Take out his Ancient Gear Beast, Thunder Giant."

'Right away, Jaden,' Thunder Giant declared before sending a bolt of lightning toward Ancient Gear Beast and it shattered into a dozen pixels.

"And what makes this move even sweeter is the fact that Thunder Giant still has his attack. Go, attack Crowler directly," Jaden ordered and Thunder Giant nodded before unleashing another blast of lightning that slammed into Crowler and sent him skidding backwards.

Crowler: 1600

Jaden: 4000

"And I'm not done," Jaden said before he held out the card he drew at the beginning of his turn. "Now I activate the Spell, De-Fusion to separate Thunder Giant back into Sparkman and Clayman."

Thunder Giant vanished to be replaced by the giant monster made out of clay (A: 800/D: 2000) and the blue-and-gold armored warrior (A: 1600/D: 1400).

Crowler's eyes widened. "No!" he cried.

Jaden smirked. "Now I have two more monsters that can now wage a direct attack. Sparkman, attack Dr. Crowler directly with Static Shockwave," he ordered.

'As you command,' Sparkman said before unleashing a burst of static electricity that slammed into Crowler and sent him flying to the ground.

Crowler: 0

Jaden: 4000

"And that's game," Jaden said, giving Crowler a two finger salute. "So, does this mean I'm in?"

How could that slacker beat me on his first turn? Crowler raged silently. If I had a card that could've stopped that attack then this wouldn't have happened. That slacker got lucky. That's all there is to it.

He pushed himself to his feet and stalked off.

"Uh, teach?" Jaden said but Crowler ignored him as he left the exam field.

. . .

"He defeated Crowler on his first turn?!" Taiyou exclaimed.

"He got lucky," Chazz grunted though he, too, was surprised that Crowler had been defeated by an amateur on his first turn.

. . .

"An FTK against someone like Crowler. That's impressive," Alexis said.

Zane nodded in agreement, mildly impressed. "He must have drawn the cards he needed right away. That doesn't happen often," he said.

"I think both he and his sister, if Kasumi is his sister, do have futures here, don't you?" Alexis asked.

Zane didn't respond and simply walked off.

. . .

"I can't believe he beat Crowler on his first turn," Syrus exclaimed. "But yay, he won!"

Nice. I could use some good competition, Bastion thought.

"Congratulations, Jaden," Kasumi said as Jaden joined them in the stands. "I'm surprised you did an FTK, though."

Jaden shrugged. "I had the cards to pull it off so I decided to go for it," he said.

Didn't get a chance to use Winged Kuriboh but oh well, next time,he thought.

"Looks like we're both in, though," Kasumi said with a smile.

"I told ya we'd get in," Jaden said, smiling back.

And now I'll be able to see if I can find any clues as to what happened to my brother,he thought.

. . .

A/n what do you think?

Blaze: well, that was the first chapter of my brand-new Yu-Gi-Oh! GX story

Darth: cool

Jaden: who are you?

Blaze: no one, Judai

Jaden: don't call me that!

Blaze: (chuckles)

Crowler: what is going on?

Blaze: (pushes Crowler into pit of magma) the next chapter will cover some things concerning the Supreme King/Haou, introduce EndlessNight025's OC and cover the incomplete first duel between Jaden and Chazz

Darth: cool

Blaze: yup. I hope that you enjoyed this first chapter, and I hope that you enjoyed that I made it different from the episode. As always, reviews are much appreciated.