Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh. How many times this must be said before you all get it through your thick heads!? Hey, I rhymed….Oh, and I don't own Metal Gear Solid either.
This story is….hard to explain. It's based off my first Yugioh fanfiction, which is called Demon Duelist Legacy. These two can be read apart from each other, though it is not advised. So if you are new to the Demon Duelist Legacy storyline, I suggest you go and read that story first before moving onto this one. If you believe that you can handle it then by all means…let the games begin!
Background: This story begins about twenty years after the events involving Valeus and the Game of the Gods. I did not come up with the concept of the Duelist's Academy. This was made by the creator of the Duel Monsters GX storyline. Because it is part of the Yugioh "family" I will not be including it as part of my disclaimer.
Legends of the Demon Duelist-Duelist Academy Arc
Chapter 1: Introducing Ichigo
Our story begins with a car speeding down a highway at speeds that have to be breaking some law, somewhere in the world….
"Dad, are we…" An agitated voice yelled over the wind that was whipping into the inside of the car from the open windows.
"I swear Ichigo, if you ask me that one more time I will make you get out and walk!" Daniel Pilkington immediately winced at the volume and tone of his voice. Normally he wasn't so angry, but this was something that was important to him as well as his son. ("A chance to become an instructor at Kaiba's Duelist's Academy. And even better, that may mean a chance to challenge Kaiba again!") Amongst the things on Daniel's list of stuff he needed to get done before he could retire was laying the smackdown on Seto Kaiba for beating him in a duel once…
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Meanwhile in the backseat of the card, Ichigo Pilkington had a completely different agenda in mind. ("This is gonna be my big chance! Soon enough, I'll get to achieve my dream!") Looking out the window, the boy checked his reflection to make sure he looked fairly presentable for such an important event.
Standing at a modest 5'6", Ichigo never really thought of himself as anything particularly special. After all, he just had chestnut brown hair and hazel eyes, which was fairly average amongst a lot of the guys his age. The shirt he was wearing was one of his best, being a bright blue dress shirt that his mother had picked out for him just for this occasion. Along with its matching blue pants, Ichigo thought that he looked pretty sharp.
Ruffling up his short hair, Ichigo wondered if perhaps he should put on a hat or something. After all, not many people reacted well to seeing humans walking around with brown-furred and black-tipped wolf ears on top of their head. But then again, since these were his going to be his future (he hoped) friends and peers, they may as well get used to seeing him as what he was. "Hey dad, can I borrow your Jinzo for today?"
Daniel rolled his eyes and the steering wheel at the same time, changing lanes to get off the highway. They were just ten minutes away from the stadium where the duels were taking place. "Ichigo, are you telling me that after all of the work you have put into your deck that you still doubt its ability to win?"
"No sir," answered Ichigo sheepishly.
"Don't call me sir," Daniel said calmly. "It makes me feel old." He came to a stop at a stoplight and looked back to smile warmly to his son. "Besides, it's not like we've ever had that much of a father-son relationship."
Ichigo grinned. "That's because you're still a teenager at heart, just like mom."
Taking his attention back to the road, Daniel smiled slightly at the thought of his son getting into this academy. ("He's trying to be a top-tier duelist. Just like I'm still shooting to be the absolute best. I'll have to challenge Yugi to another duel one of these days, as soon as I find the time.")
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As soon as they arrived, the two duelists fully understood how late they were. There was no one in the parking lot of the stadium.
"You don't think…" Daniel started.
"That the written test…" Ichigo continued.
"Has already started!?" They both yelled at once, leaping out of the car and charging towards the entrance doors.
Right before they had their hands on the door handle, a small yet strong pair of arms snapped out from behind them and grabbed both of them by the tip of one ear, effectively stopping them in their tracks.
"Now hang on there!" yelled a young blond woman in a blue uniform. "Who are the two of you!?"
Ichigo knocked the woman's hand away and pointed at the door to the stadium. "We're here for the test!"
The woman stared at Daniel. "And you?"
"I'm here for an interview with the headmaster of the Academy," Daniel dead-panned.
"Oh really? Why should I believe you?" The woman didn't exactly seem like the friendly type. As an after-thought, she looked over at Ichigo. "The written exams are about to start, so you get going."
"Yes ma'am! Later dad!" The boy spun around and ran through the double doors.
Daniel sighed and glanced at his watch. "Lady…come on now. Why would I lie?"
"A lot of people want to see the headmaster at the moment. So let's see your appointment papers," She crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently.
Daniel put down the leather carrying case that he had brought with him and popped it open. Moving assorted papers aside, the half wolf-demon stared intently into the case. Finally, he looked up at her and asked, "I was supposed to get a paper?"
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Just a few minutes later Ichigo found himself staring at his test paper and scratching the side of his head with his pencil eraser.
6) What is the fusion of Magnet Warrior #1 and Magnet Warrior #2?
("…………") He just stared at the piece of paper like it was written in German. ("What's a Magnet Warrior? Is it like Alpha, Beta and Gamma?") Growling quietly at the annoyance of the question, he moved onto the next.
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The woman continued to stare while Daniel sifted through the contents of his case. "Sir, are you sure that you have an appointment with the headmaster?"
His head inside the case at the moment, Daniel wasn't even listening. ("Piece of paper…piece of paper…How can one piece of paper be so hard to find!?")
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In one hundred words or less, please explain why one monster card (your choice) is the best in the game of Duel Monsters.
Ichigo snapped his fingers. ("I know exactly which monster to write about. Thanks dad…") He put his pencil down on the paper and started writing.
Jinzo is one of the best monsters…
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"Sir, I just got a call from the Headmaster saying that he forgot to mail you an appointment slip, so you can go in now."
Daniel slowly closed his case, stood up, gave the woman the evilest glare he could muster, and then stomped inside.
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Ichigo double-checked his answers and handed the piece of paper to the man who was walking up and down the rows of the theater classroom to make sure that no prospective students were cheating. ("That wasn't so hard.")
Then he noticed that over half of the classroom had already finished their tests and were gone. Sighing dejectedly, the half-demon stood up and went to the actual stadium. He immediately brightened up as he realized what his next test was. ("That's right…I get to duel now!!!") Ichigo was practically skipping down the halls. "I get to duel now!!! I get to duel…" He didn't get to finish his sentence as, eyes closed; he fell down a flight of stairs.
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Midas King always wore his gold vest and coat, giving him an almost kingly appearance. Luckily for people of the old world, kings were never as cruel as Midas was. Amongst the instructors, no other had a worse reputation for making sure they completely humiliated their opponents in their duels. Rubbing his blond beard, Midas glanced over at another of the instructors. "So who's the next sacrifice?"
The man grimaced at the sneer in Midas' voice. "Come now, these are prospective students. You really can't just destroy them as wholly as you have been so far."
"I do what I wish and when I wish," Midas replied, lifting his head to the head haughtily. "Who are you to think otherwise? We must make sure that every new student to the Duelist Academy is of the highest caliber and skill possible." As a little afterthought he mentally added, ("And if I get personal pleasure out of crushing the weak duelists, so what?")
"I can understand that you want to make sure all of the new students are good, but over the last few hours all of your opponents have not only lost horribly, but they all wound up leaving the stadium crying. And that was the older duelists. The younger ones…." The instructor frowned as he remembered some of the expressions on the faces of kids who couldn't be much older than ten or so. "Was it really necessary to…?"
Midas held up his hand to silence his compatriot. "Enough of your whining, friend. You, as well as I, know that we cannot allow just anyone into this school. So, who's next?" His expression was like that of a wolf waiting for its next meal to come across its sight.
Picking up his clipboard, the other instructor scratched his chin in surprise. "Ichigo Pilkington? Pilkington….where have I heard that name before?"
"He's the guy who dueled Yugi Moto over twenty years ago during that Shadow Tournament. Plus, he's the guy who is applying today for a job as an instructor at the academy." All of the instructors thought back on the footage they had seen of the duel between Daniel and the King of Games.
Midas smiled coldly and stood up. "I'll do this one." He walked towards the arena.
"Hey King! You need to get one of the examination decks!" One of the instructors held up the box of pre-made decks that were supposed to be used against the prospective students during the duel examinations.
Midas glared angrily at the box. "No! I will do this with my deck."
"Are you crazy!? How is that a fair test of the boy's abilities!?"
Midas looked away from them so that they couldn't see the cruel look on his face. "If he is as good as his father is supposed to be, he'll be able to handle it." With no more to say, he went to go get ready for his examination. ("Or as I like to call them, easy pickings…")
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"Will Ichigo Pilkington please come to arena number four? You're up." A voice called over the intercom.
Smiling, Ichigo stood up and pulled his duel disk out of his backpack. A slight smile came across his face at the sight of his device. "Alright, now it's my time to shine!" Sliding his deck into its appropriate slot, the boy turned and walked down the steps to the dueling arena.
As soon as he stepped in he immediately felt butterflies in his stomach. Glancing up at the stands overlooking his arena, Ichigo understood why. There were a lot of people watching him, like a good few dozen or so. The half-demon felt a blush rise into his cheeks, and his ears drooped slightly. "Uhh…..hi there!" He yelled up into the crowd.
"Your opponent is right here, boy," said Midas' voice from across the arena. The instructor was wearing his favorite dueling apparatus, which was known simply as a duel coat. The set-up allowed the wearer to duel with a minimum of effort on their part, and in situations like examination days, where you were dueling for the good amount of a day, it was necessary.
Attached to Midas' chest was a disk-like device with his deck and graveyard slot installed into it. There was also a motion sensor that would activate when he waved his hand over it, so that he could instantly draw his next card. Attached to the disk was strange device that resembled a huge dueling array, with the magic and trap zones set up right behind the monster zones on a five by two grid. Each of the squares had a special suction system that would hold any card placed on it, to allow the user to move around freely without ruining his playing field. Midas had made one slight addition to his duel coat, and that was to plate it gold. "Now are we going to duel?"
Ichigo blushed even brighter as he realized what he was doing. Spinning around, he gave a respectful bow. "Ichigo Pilkington, pleasure to meet you."
Coughing sharply, Midas frowned at how distastefully nice this boy seemed. ("Damn, I'm not going to be able to make him mad as easily as I did the others.") "Yes, and I am Midas King, a professor of the Duelist Academy. Now, do you believe you have what it takes to become one of the dueling elite of the world?" He made the question seem as dramatic as possible.
"Of course sir. I believe that if you have faith in your skills, you can do anything necessary to become the very best." Ichigo smiled brightly and clicked his duel disk into place. "So, do you wanna go first?"
Midas grimaced at how bright and cheery this boy was. ("I think I am going to vomit if he keeps this act up.") Tapping the disk on his chest, Midas listened to his duel coat warm up. "Very well, I will go first." Waving his hand across the motion sensor, the instructor caught the five cards that were spat off the top of his deck. "Now, let's duel!"
Ichigo- 4000
Midas- 4000
Waving his free hand over the motion sensor, Midas caught the sixth card and added it to his hand. "Now I will begin with my personal favorite magic card, Pot of Greed!" Sliding the card into the graveyard slot of his coat, Midas moved his hand over the motion sensor and caught the top two cards on his deck between his fingers, adding them to his hand. Looking his hand over, the instructor snickered and placed two cards on the dueling board of his coat. "I set two cards face-down on my field." Two holographic versions of the cards appeared on the field in front of him.
Ichigo watched with real interest in his eyes. He was curious as to what strategy someone from the great Duelist's Academy had.
Midas tried his best to ignore how horribly cheery this boy was. "Then I play a continuous magic card called Limitless Hand." A holographic representation of the card appeared on his field. "As long as this is in play, I may keep as many cards as I wish in my hand without needing to discard down to six at the end of the turn."
"Thanks sir, that helps me too." Ichigo grinned, the expression without the slightest bit of mockery to it.
("I wonder if I am allowed to kill prospective students who sicken me.") Taking another card from his hand, Midas placed it into his monster zone. "Now I set one card face-down on my field in defense mode." A horizontal brown-backed card appeared in front of his other two face-down ones. "End turn."
Ichigo's smile turned instantly fierce, like he had been waiting for his chance to make a move. All of his original fear and embarrassment was now gone. "My turn. Draw!" He added the card to his hand and grinned. ("How perfect! I can summon one of my best monsters to the field during my first turn!") Taking a card from his hand, the boy slid it into his duel disk. "I play the magic card Polymerization, which will allow me to fuse any two monsters from my hand or field together to create a new creature!"
Midas' original uneasiness disappeared as he saw his opportunity to do some real psychological damage. "Open face-down cards, Disturbance Strategy and Appropriate!" The first of the two face-up cards shot a spray of holographic flame across the field.
Ichigo yelped in surprise and ducked, barely dodging the fake fire. "Hey, be careful!"
"Oh, I'm sorry my dear boy. Allow me to make it up to you with the effect of Disturbance Strategy. You see, thanks to it you can shuffle your hand into your deck and draw a brand new one equal to the number of cards you shuffled. Isn't that nice?" The instructor's voice dripped with sweetness so fake it might as well have been called bitter-sweet.
Ichigo paled at what that meant. "But…my fusion…"
Midas shrugged innocently. "Let's hope you draw the two monsters you wanted then." The second of the two face-up cards shimmered when Ichigo shuffled his hand into his deck and drew a new one. "Oh, just to let you know, Appropriate lets me draw two cards every time that you draw cards outside of your draw phase." Midas waved his hand over the motion sensor on his coat and it spat another two cards, which he caught and added to his hand. "Thank you for the present, my dear boy."
"You're quite welcome…" Ichigo said curtly. ("This guy is a jerk!") Fanning out his new hand, the boy growled quietly at the sight of one of the necessary monster cards for his fusion, but not the other. "I can't complete my fusion." The holographic Polymerization card that was face-up on his field faded away.
Midas gasped in surprise. "Oh, did my little play interfere with your plans?"
Ichigo took one of the cards in the middle of his hand and placed it onto his disk. "Nope, now I'll just have to defeat you using a slightly different method of attack. First though, I summon Cyber Shadow-Assassin (1000/1000) in attack mode!" There was a flash of prismatic light across his field as a lean humanoid creature in skin-tight black clothing and wearing a futuristic-looking helmet appeared on the field.
"Attack his face-down monster now!" With a wave of its hand, the Cyber Assassin now had a knife made of prismatic energy in its grasp. It charged across the field and slammed the weapon down on top of Midas' face-down monster card.
The face-down card faded and was replaced by an ugly green goblin with a pair of strange jars under its arms. Grumbling angrily, the goblin threw out its arm and smacked the knife of energy away.
Midas shook his head sadly at his opponent. "My dear boy, you've just run head-first into my Goblin of Greed. (1000/1800) Because of the fact that my monster was in defense mode, you get to keep your little Assassin, but you do lose 800 life points." His sneer said that he was truly enjoying watching Ichigo fail.
Ichigo- 3200
Midas- 4000
Ichigo looked down at his hand of cards. ("Alright, well that was a waste of time.") Then his eyes caught a glimpse of one of the cards tucked in between two others in his hand. ("Heh, now it's my turn to play a little trick.") Taking the card, the boy slid it into his duel disk. "I set one card face-down on my field and end my turn." A holographic representation of the brown-backed card appeared on his field. "End turn."
Midas waved his hand over the motion sensor on his coat, catching his next card and adding it to his hand. "You're not made of the right stuff for this school, boy. Perhaps you should go back to your home and come back next time with a new strategy."
Ichigo glared back at the gold-covered instructor. "How can you be so quick to judge my strategy? You've only seen one of my monsters so far."
"I have a knack for these things. It's easy to tell a good strategist from a bad one." Midas slid a card from his hand into his duel disk, a brown-backed card appeared face-down on the field next to his face-up Limitless Hand card. "I set one card face-down on the field."
Then he grabbed a card and placed it on his dueling field next to his Goblin of Greed. "Then I summon Muka Muka (600/300) to the field." A little crab-like creature with a stone upper body appeared on the field. "Thanks to its special ability, it gains 300 extra attack and defense points for every card in my hand." The crab monster sprayed steam out of the cracks in its stone body as its attack strength shot up. (1800/1500)
("With the way his deck has been working so far, that means that this guy is going to get his monster a lot stronger really fast.") Ichigo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Now was not the time to get afraid.
Snickering, Midas pointed at the Cyber Assassin. "Muka Muka, chop that thing down. Claw Pincer attack!" The little crab screeched and charged across the field towards the black-suited assassin monster.
Ichigo tapped a button on his duel disk and his face-down card flipped up. "Open face-down trap card, Cyber Virus! This will infuse my Assassin with his ultimate weapon!" The black-suited monster crossed its arms across its chest and chuckled as the claws of the Muka Muka slashed through it. Instead of exploding though, the Assassin turned into a prismatic mist that fell over the crab creature, which screeched and started to run around wildly.
Midas blinked in confusion as his Muka Muka started to run crazily around the field. "What did you do to my creature!?"
Ichigo smiled and pointed to his trap card, which was face-up on the field. "Cyber Virus negates all damage I would take from losing my Cyber Assassin, and it also infects your monster with a powerful bug that will place it under my control until the end of my next turn. At the end of said turn, your creature will be destroyed if it is still on the field." The boy knew he had the upper hand now.
Midas thought otherwise though. "So, you think I'm in trouble?" Taking a card from his hand, he placed it face-up on his dueling field. "Then I suggest you take a lesson from a real duelist. From my hand I'll activate the quick-play magic card Mystical Space Typhoon, which will destroy your Cyber Virus and free my creature from its control!" A sharp wind slashed through the prismatic mist that surrounded the Muka Muka, instantly removing the controlling virus from its system. The crab creature stumbled shakily over to Midas' field, its attack points dropped because now he only had three cards in his hand. (1500/1200) "And I'll end my turn, my dear boy."
Ichigo grimaced. ("This guy is a lot better than I am giving him credit for. He's countering all of my moves with relative ease.") "It's my turn." He snapped the top card off of his deck. "Draw!" He already knew that there were only a couple of moves he could do at the moment, and one of them wouldn't get him anywhere.
Taking a card from his hand, the half-demon slapped it onto his disk in a horizontal position. "I summon Cyber Shadow-Guardian (0/2200) in defense mode!" A metal robot appeared on his field in a crouching position. It shuddered and then was surrounded by a bubble of prismatic light. "I end my turn."
Midas waved his hand across the motion sensor on his duel coat, catching the card it spat to him. "Alright, from the looks of it you are in need of help with the cards in your hand, eh?" He smiled slyly. "Allow me to offer you some assistance." Grasping a card from his hand, he played it onto his dueling field. "I play Card Destruction, which forces us both to discard our hands and draw cards equal to the number that we would have discarded."
"Would have?" echoed Ichigo.
Midas rolled his eyes and pointed to his Goblin of Greed. "You must not have done very well on the written test, because a question about the effect of Goblin of Greed was on it."
Thinking back, Ichigo snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah! When Goblin of Greed is on the field, neither player discards cards from their hand from card effects." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm sorry about that, but the Goblin of Greed really isn't that good of a monster."
"WHAT!?" roared the instructor, who was now blushing furiously at the howls of laughter that came from his peers who were watching the duel. "The Goblin of Greed is an excellent monster! After all, how many creatures do you know of that let us draw cards equal to the number of cards in our hand?"
Waving his hand over the motion sensor thrice, Midas caught the next three cards from the top of his deck. "Since we don't have to discard our hands, Card Destruction just lets both of us get three new cards. So bite your tongue, boy!"
"Of course, my apologies professor." Ichigo smiled, though this was rather fake-seeming compared to his other smiles. Drawing three cards from his deck, the half-demon's eyes lit up at the sight of the cards he had drawn.
Midas pointed to his Appropriate. "And thanks to the effect of Appropriate, I draw two cards because you drew two cards." Moving his hand over the motion sensor on his coat, the instructor caught two more cards from the top of his deck. This brought his hand up to eight cards, and his Muka Muka's attack strength up to 3000 points. "And now I'll tear down your little shield. Muka Muka, crush it!" The crab monster charged across the field and slashed right through the robot, blowing it apart.
Ichigo bowed his head slightly in quiet apology to his monster. ("Forgive me for throwing you out there to die.")
The Muka Muka returned to Midas' field. With a cold grin on his face, the instructor slid the creature card from his field into his graveyard slot. "Now I sacrifice Muka Muka to summon an even more powerful version of itself."
There was an explosion of steam that sprayed across his field as a creature that looked like a king-size version of the Muka Muka appeared on the field. "This is my mighty Enraged Muka Muka!" (1200/600) "And unlike its younger brother, this monster gains 400 extra attack and defense points for every card in my hand!" A huge amount of steam sprayed out of the cracks of the monster's armored hide as its attack points sky-rocketed. (4000/3400)
"4000 attack points!?" Ichigo looked horrified at the sight of something that could chop through his life points in one strike. "That's insane!"
"Well if you are as good as you're supposed to be then you will find a way to defeat my creature, eh boy?" Midas sneered at how impossible this situation seemed for his opponent. ("You'll never be getting into this school. Not if I have anything to say about it.") "End turn for now."
Ichigo clenched his fist quietly as he fully understood just what Midas wanted. Then his anger faded and was replaced by laughter. "So, you're nothing but a bully who picks on the weak? This can't be an examination deck that I am facing, can it?"
Midas snarled, "How dare you!!! I am a duelist elite, and I do not have to listen to you call me names!"
"How many names did you call your previous opponents?" Ichigo replied evenly. "You're intimidation tactics aren't going to work on me." The half-demon lifted up his deck. "And whether that is your real deck or not, I'm going to defeat it. Just you watch. My turn. Draw!" He snapped the top card off of his deck and added it to his hand.
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From up in the stands, a blond-haired young Japanese man wearing a blue uniform watched the duel progressing below with interest. "So Professor King is using his greed deck against a prospective student?" He smiled coldly. "That boy doesn't stand a ghost of a chance."
"Yes, of course he doesn't sir," one of the other blue uniformed students off to his side said quickly. "Of course none of them can defeat you in a duel, Hitokage-san."
Hitokage Seijitsu frowned over at his 'friend'. "Shut up and let me watch this in piece. A good duel is best watched in silence."
The other boy wilted quickly and watched the duel.
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Ichigo looked his seven cards over carefully. ("Now let's see, what can I work…AHA!!") Grabbing a card from his hand, the boy slid it into his duel disk. "I set one card face-down on my field." A holographic representation of the card appeared in front of him.
Midas watched the face-down card warily. ("Why would he play that before playing a monster?")
Taking another card from his hand, Ichigo was about throw it onto his disk…
Midas motioned to his face-down card. "Reverse card open! Reveal Compulsory Draw! This trap card forces both players to draw one card from their deck." Waving his hand over the motion sensor on his coat, Midas caught the card from the top of his deck.
Ichigo placed the card that he was about to play into his hand and drew the top card of his deck.
Midas waved his hand over at his face-up Appropriate trap card. "And as before, I get to draw two cards whenever you draw cards outside of your draw phase." Waving his hand over the motion sensor, the instructor caught two more cards and added them to his hand. Fanning out his cards, he revealed a hand of ten cards.
"And that means that my Enraged Muka Muka gains a total of 4000 attack points from its special ability!" The giant crab creature was now covered by so much steam that it looked almost like an illusion. (5200/4600)
Ichigo paled slightly at the sight of something with an amount of attack he never would have thought possible through just one effect. "That's incredible…"
"Isn't it though?" Midas sneered. "And all of those attack points are going to tear right into you next turn."
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From up in the far upper balcony of the arena, Daniel gritted his teeth and glared over at the Headmaster. "Is this how you run your academy!? You're putting my son against someone who is running a full tournament level deck."
Calmly the Headmaster, an older bald man with kindly brown eyes, looked over at Daniel and sighed. "Midas King is one of our strictest instructors. If it pleases you, then I will talk to him about this after the duel has ended."
Daniel shook his head. "Oh no, after this is said and done I'll have a little talk with him." Cracking his knuckles, the half wolf-demon didn't look like he really wanted to talk very much. It looked more like he wanted to beat Midas' face in.
The Headmaster placed his hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Calm yourself, or is this what you will be teaching students at my Duelist's Academy? That violence is the answer?"
Daniel forced himself to calm down. Stiffly turned to face the Headmaster, he bowed apologetically. "Excuse my anger, please. I am just distraught over the fact that my son is about to lose."
"Are you so certain?" The Headmaster motioned down to the arena, and to Ichigo. "He's your son, so I'd think you would have noticed the look in his eyes."
"Look?" Daniel brought his gaze down to his son, and then he felt it. ("He doesn't intend to lose.")
Smiling slightly, Daniel felt his original anger fade. "Alright, let's see if he can pull this off."
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Ichigo grabbed a card from his hand and slapped it onto his duel disk. "I summon Cyber Shadow-Soldier (1600/1600) in defense mode!" A muscular humanoid in a futuristic suit of armor and wearing a helmet that obscured its features appeared on the field in a crouching position. "End turn!"
Waving his hand over the motion sensor on his coat, Midas caught another card from his deck and added it to his hand. "And now this duel ends here."
Ichigo didn't like the sound of sincerity in the instructor's voice. "What do you mean?"
Smirking coldly, Midas took a card from the stack he was holding and placed it down onto the dueling field behind his Goblin of Greed. "It's because of my equipment magic card, Graceful Wings!" A pair of angelic wings exploded out of the back of the ugly goblin. "This will raise the attack and defense scores of the equipped monster by 300 times the number of cards in my hand!" (4000/4800)
("Oh great, another monster with over 3000 attack points,") Ichigo thought sarcastically. ("At this rate I am going to get overwhelmed.")
Turning the Goblin of Greed card on his dueling field, Midas motioned to the now standing monster. "Goblin of Greed, attack his Cyber Shadow and open up his defenses for my Enraged Muka Muka!" The pudgy green monster stomped across the field, lifting both of its two containers to crush the cybernetic warrior.
Ichigo had other plans though. "Reverse card open, Shadow Optics activate! This will allow me to sacrifice a Cyber Shadow creature on my field to create an exact copy of a creature that you currently control!"
The Cyber Shadow-Soldier exploded into digital bits and was replaced by the hulking form of the Enraged Muka Muka. "And since Shadow Optics copies the exact stats of your creature, its attack bonus still applies!" (5200/4600)
Midas shrugged nonchalantly at the sight. "Just like the card says, it is an illusion. Your monster fake will fade away at the end of the turn."
Ichigo grinned and pointed at the Goblin of Greed. "That's true, but your Goblin of Greed is already attacking, so you're about to lose your monster."
Midas wouldn't let himself be baited though. "I'm going to lose 1200 life points. That's nothing compared to what my Enraged Muka Muka will be doing to you next turn."
Fanning out his hand, the half-demon shook his head and pointed at the Enraged Muka Muka shadow on his field. "The copy keeps everything about the monster it copies. So in the case of a creature like Enraged Muka Muka, its effect stacks with the number of cards in my hand and yours." (7600/7000)
Everyone in the stands watched in amazement as the Enraged Muka Muka shadow on the field almost casually chopped right through Midas' Goblin of Greed, as well as almost all of the instructor's life points.
Ichigo- 3200
Midas- 400
Midas King was nearly speechless at the mere thought of suddenly being but a small breath's worth of life points away from defeat. "You little….arrogant…" He calmed instantly. "Very impressive, boy. However, I think it's time for me to pull out all of the stops against you."
"What?" Ichigo found it hard to believe that this guy was holding back at all, until he realized something that seemed to obvious to miss. "Oh no…"
Fanning out the ten cards in his hand, Midas snickered. "Do you think all of these cards in my hand are just for show? Each and every one of them serves a unique purpose for crushing insolent brats like you." Taking two cards from his hand, the gold-clothed instructor placed them on his dueling field. In between his Limitless Hand card and his Appropriate card, two brown-backed face-down cards appeared on the field. "I set two cards face-down, and then I reveal one of them."
The card flipped up and a golden spot-light fell over the Enraged Muka Muka. "This is my continuous magic card Star of the Show. As long as it is in play, all creatures on your field cannot be played in defense mode. Also, each of my turns all of your monsters must attack the creature that has been selected by my card." The Enraged Muka Muka clacked its claws together in anticipation. "End turn."
Before Ichigo could even think to make a move, Midas flipped up his other face-down card. "And my other face-down card is the continuous trap card called Royal Decree, which negates all trap cards on the field except for itself!" A crackling field of energy appeared around the instructor's Appropriate trap card. "This means that if you try to set trap cards instead of summoning a monster to defend yourself, you will be wasting your time."
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From up in the stand, Hitokage sighed and threw up his feet. ("For a second there I actually thought that weakling stood a chance against Midas. I guess I was wrong.") Coldly, he got comfortable so that he could fully enjoy watching the boy's confidence get completely destroyed.
Meanwhile, in another part of the upper classmen stands, a pair of golden eyes watched the field appraisingly. ("So, can you pull this off?")
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Laughing, Midas raised his hand to point at Ichigo. "Give it up; this duel is at its end. You've already lost, and you know it. So return to the gutters from which you emerged, Dog-boy!"
Gasps came from most of the students and faculty. Never before had Midas King been so openly hostile with anyone before…normally he would hide behind veiled words and masterful twists of the tongue. For him to be so angry towards a complete stranger seemed…uncharacteristic.
Ichigo had his eyes closed and his face lowered towards the ground. His shoulders were trembling gently, like he was upset about something.
"Aw, what's the matter little dog, did I make you sad? Feel like running home to mommy?" Midas seemed like he was diving in for the psychological kill.
"I….I…am not…." Ichigo's eyes snapped open, the hazel orbs burning with a mix of anger and intensity. "….a DOG!" His snapped up his duel disk. "It's my turn, draw!" Drawing the top card of his deck, he added it to his hand and looked over all of the cards at his disposal. "And I'm about to show you that trying to win your duels by being an evil jerk won't work against someone who believes in their skill!"
Grabbing a card from his hand, Ichigo slid it into his duel disk slot. "Activate the magic card Magic Shard Excavation! By discarding two cards from my hand I can take back one magic card from my graveyard!" Grabbing two cards, the half-demon slid them into his graveyard slot. The disk beeped and spat out the card he wanted. "So I'm taking back my Polymerization!"
Midas snickered. "Unless your fusion has more attack points that my Enraged Muka Muka, why should I care!?"
"Because not everything has to do with strength…sometimes a sharp wit can defeat the mightiest foe." Ichigo slid a card from his hand into his duel disk. "Activate the magic card Monster Reborn, which will revive Cyber Shadow-Assassin!" There was a flash of prismatic light as the black-clothed warrior reappeared on the field.
Grabbing another card, Ichigo slapped it onto his duel disk. "That's not all, because I am summoning Cyber Shadow-Trainer (300/1200) to the field in attack mode!" A bearded man in a black jumpsuit appeared on the field. "His special ability raises the attack power of all Cyber Shadow monsters on my field by 500 points!"
Midas rolled his eyes. "This is so ridiculous. Why are you wasting my time with these weaklings?"
"Patience, my dear professor." Ichigo slid another card from his hand into his duel disk. "And now I summon my favorite card! Activate Polymerization, fusing Trainer and Assassin together!" The two monsters were pulled together into a swirl of shadowy energy.
When the swirl faded away a single humanoid figure stood on the field. It was distinctly male, with a tight black bodysuit pulled over its muscular frame and a black bandana wrapped around its forehead that fluttered on an invisible wind. Arms crossed across its chest, the monster stood confidently against the huge monster that was across the field from it.
Ichigo was smiling from ear to ear. "This is the true pinnacle of my deck, the power of the ultimate Cyber Shadow agent! Special Operative-Snake!" (2000/1800) The espionage monster opened it eyes and looked back at Ichigo, who nodded to it. "Snake, attack Enraged Muka Muka now!" Bending at the knees, Snake charged across the field towards the crab monster fearlessly.
Midas threw back his head, roaring laughter echoing across the arena. "So you're sending your favorite creature to an early demise!? That's fine with me! Enraged Muka Muka, counter-attack!" The crab monster lifted its pincers to chop through the charging Special Operative….
A huge explosion rang out from the side of the ring, causing everyone to spin their eyes to the corner of the arena where the explosion had gone off. All that was there was a cloud of smoke…
"Hey, Professor Midas!" yelled Ichigo.
The golden-clothed professor spun back to his field and gaped at the sight in front of him. His Enraged Muka Muka was looking at the spot where the explosion had gone off, and that meant its attention was completely taken away from the monster that was charging towards it. "Turn around, you stupid creature!"
"It's too late, because the special ability of my Special Operative-Snake has just been activated." Taking a card from his hand, Ichigo slid it into his graveyard slot. "By discarding one card from my hand and sacrificing my battle phase, I may use Snake's Sneak Attack effect. This will allow him to destroy one monster on the field with an original attack lower than his, and deal damage to its owner equal to that original attack total."
A silence hung over the arena as the black-suited mercenary slid to a stop right underneath the huge body of the Enraged Muka Muka and threw something onto its underbelly. Spinning around, the monster returned to Ichigo's field.
Everyone in the stands stared down at the field, and at the Enraged Muka Muka, which continued to stare at the cloud of smoke in the corner of the field.
Midas paled considerably as he realized what this meant. "This is impossible…you're…."
Ichigo nodded to Snake. The mercenary pulled a black device out from a pouch at its waist and held it out for everyone to see. It was a detonator, and his thumb was on the little red button that would trigger the explosive he had attached to the underbelly of the Enraged Muka Muka. "Sorry, but you just lost!" Snake pressed the detonator button. In one screeching flash of light and smoke, Midas' monster was gone along with the rest of his life points.
Ichigo- 3200
Midas- 0
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Up in the stands, Hitokage stared at what should have been impossible. ("He just defeated Professor King…that's….impressive.") A slight smile found its way onto his lips. He was going to have to look further into this Ichigo Pilkington, and find out just what made this boy so powerful.
From another part of the stands, the golden eyes looked approvingly at Ichigo. ("Excellent…he's much better than I thought.")
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"That's my boy…" Daniel felt his chest swell with pride.
The headmaster glanced over at Daniel. "Do you still want me to speak to Professor King?"
The half wolf-demon shook his head. "Nope, that won't be necessary." He grinned. "I suppose my son made it into your school, eh?"
Eyes sparkling, the headmaster extended his hand to Daniel. "That he did. And so did you. Welcome to the Duelist's Academy, Professor Pilkington."
Daniel was all too happy to accept the handshake, though his eyes still were looking down at the now-dancing form of his son. ("Ichigo….that's my boy.")
To be continued....
Author's Notes: There we go, first chapter off. This is much longer than I normally write them, but I thought it best to make sure this beginning was good. I hope it was good enough. Read and review.
Also, I'm looking for characters/decksfor the students/faculty of the Duelist's Academy. All I ask is that you give at least a basic physical description and a personality for the character. As for decks, all I need is a general idea of what the deck theme is. (It can be completely made up, like Ichigo's Espionage Deck, or it can be a real deck theme if you wish.)
Oh, you may want to learn about the Duelist's Academy from Duel Monsters GX too. Just use Google and type in Duel Monsters GX. It should give you a website that tells you about the show and the Academy.
Other than that, not much else to say. Let me know what you think of the new story idea in your review. Later.