Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

The Beginning of Destiny

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, its spin-offs, or its games, just the main character and the extras I throw in.

This chapter takes place during both parts of 'The Duel Off' episodes.

It has been a week and a half since the Crimson Duelist has made himself known to the world again, and life at the academy return to a somewhat steady calm. While classes are still going on, there is a meeting between Sheppard and the department heads, along with Will and Zane, about the upcoming interschool duel between Duel Academy and North Academy.

This was an annual event, where in a form of rivalry, mainly with the Chancellors, both send in their best duelists to show who has the best material. Which is mainly what the meeting is about, having to explain certain changes happening this year.

During that time, as predicted, everybody is divided on whether Will really is the Crimson Duelist or not. The believers were the ones that watched the duel for a good long time, even seen Will bring out the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon out to reveal that he is the real deal. Other believers are the friends of those who witnessed it, and are hoping to see for themselves the card that is said to give the Egyptian God Cards a good hard fight.

The non-believers are composed mostly of the rich kids in Obelisk Blue, along with a few teachers. These are the ones who believe that if the Crimson Duelist were to come to the academy, he would be in their dorm, where the best of the best belong, and not with the lowlifes. Plus, since it involves Will, who to them is defying the pecking order that was laid out, they just don't want to see it out of fear. Fear that if it does become true, the backlash from how they treated him would be horrifying.

Right now, while everybody else was in class, Sheppard was explaining to those present, "So this year, the annual interschool duel is going to be different from the others, considering that this time North Academy has requested that we have two duels, while a third serves as a tiebreaker."

"Why don't we have Zane battle in both of them?" Crowler yelled out, "He should be more than capable of putting them in their place."

"No, actually they are going to use a couple of first year students, their top two duelists, and we would have to respond in kind." Sheppard said.

"Besides, Professor Crowler, you wouldn't want to make the Academy seem like a one trick pony now, would you?" Will said, as he was standing next to Zane. Before Crowler could yell out his response, "And I'm guessing there is something else you plan to tell us, right Chancellor?"

"Sharp as always Will." Sheppard responded, with a big smile, "Yes, as it turns out, since rumors has already spread about the return of the Crimson Duelist, North Academy has issued that it would be a battle between you and their second best. Mainly since they believe it to be a fabrication on our part."

"So I'm the one who has something to prove, huh?" Will said, getting a nod, "Oh well, pretty sure the reaction everybody gets should be spectacular enough as it is."

"Now hold on, are you saying you want this boy to represent us as the Crimson Duelist?" Crowler yelled out, point towards Will with hatred that wasn't hard to miss.

"Well, considering that the rumors now come with a name, we don't really have much of a choice if the Academy is to keep its credibility." Sheppard said, with his carefree smile on his face.

"But he is a Ra Yellow and . . ." Crowler yelled out, wanting to make sure that one of his Obelisk students be used as the Crimson Duelist.

"Hold the phone Professor." Will said, interrupting the man, "What does me being a Ra Yellow has to do with anything? Why should it matter to the outside world what color jacket I wear?"

"Yes Crowler, why is Will's jacket color so important?" Sartyr asked, "Your dorm has been doing a good job representing the school, so how about giving students from the other dorms a chance to represent the school?"

"Indeed Dr. Crowler, after all, this batch of first years has quite the variety," Banner added his two cents, "It never hurts to shine the spotlight onto the other dorms."

Before Crowler can yell at his fellow teacher, "Crowler, enough." Sheppard yelled out, with his face being serious, reminding everybody who the highest ranking official in the room is. When the only blonde in the room shut up, "This time around, you don't get to disagree and get what you want. Seto Kaiba has sent a letter saying that he was told about the conditions and agrees to them, along with the fact that Will does get to duel, no questions asked."

Now this caused all of Crowler's plans to evaporate immediately. If Seto Kaiba himself is demanding this duel to be allowed to happen, it means that he would be watching it himself, or have somebody he trusts doing it for him. It also means anything he tries to do would could result in brutal retaliation if he were to try anything against Will. So all Crowler can do is seethe due to this predicament.

"So now that is cleared up, does anybody have an recommendation for who gets to be in the first duel?" Sheppard asked, his smile returning full force.

This was when Zane spoke up, "Jaden Yuki." He said, mentioning the person he has a strong respect for.

"Ah yes, one of the finest duelists to come out of the first years." Sheppard said, as most of the room is in an agreement.

Crowler on the other hand didn't agree. Unlike Will, who seems aware of what he is doing to him, Jayden is a different story. That boy is a walking mockery of what he believes a duelist should be, to where his dueling should be as bad as his grades. But no, despite having the lowest grades, his dueling is one of the highest ranking in the academy. Yet he already knew of one person. "I recommend Bastion Misawa," He said, trying to keep himself calm, "His test scores are one of the highest in his class and his dueling is just as good as young Jaden's."

This got everybody else to agree to that option. "You make a good point Crowler." Sheppard said, thinking about it. "Okay, we well have a duel off to decide who gets to represent the academy for the upcoming duel." Turning to the pair, "Zane, what do you think?"

Giving off a smirk, "It sounds fine to me." Zane said, giving off a brief answer.

Turning to Will, "Since you are friends with them, what do you think?" Sheppard asked.

Giving a slight chuckle, "I believe Professor Crowler just made their day." Will said, getting their attention, "While those two are good friends, they have also been itching to duel each other for a good long while. And this duel is just the drive they need to make things happen."

After adjourning the meeting, everybody went about their days, back to their duties. Although Crowler couldn't help but notice the look Sheppard was giving him, one that pretty much says 'watch yourself.' While some people might mistake Sheppard as a bumbling fool, even Crowler made that mistake more than once, but behind that smile is somebody who is more than capable of laying down the law when push comes to shove.

"Crowler, please make sure to let all of your Obelisk students know exactly why they need to be careful." Sheppard said, getting his attention, "Because we both know that anything they do before the duel well reflect upon you."

That was more than enough to scare Crowler into trying harder to keep his dorm from doing something really stupid. He was already in serious hot water ever since the entry exams. When he decided to play his own deck to duel Jayden, instead of one of the decks teachers are required to use, he was undermining Sheppard's authority. By doing this after Sheppard overrode him, Crowler pretty much said that he was going to make sure things ended his way, not his boss's.

Then came the first exams, when Crowler tried to rig it to where both Jayden and Will end up getting defeated badly. When he approached Sheppard on having a couple of the duels being mixed dorms, the Chancellor was more than willing to give it shot. But afterwards, Sheppard was beyond livid for being used like that. Especially after telling Crowler how Dorothy approached him after the duel about how he confiscated most of the rare cards that were meant to be given to one student at a time. And to hear from Chazz himself how he got all those cards, it really set him off because of the impact it had on the other students. Because from an outside perspective, Crowler was playing favorites by making sure his best first year student got all of the best cards. So as punishment, Crowler has to work for less pay, way less, in order to pay for a new batch of rare card packs in order to make things right with the other students.

The latest straw to go off the camel's back was when Crowler brought in the Paradox Brothers to decide the fate of Jayden's and Syrus's future at the academy. While nobody likes being left in the dark, but when out of the blue you see two professional duelists who made a career out of tag team dueling, one couldn't help but question the mentality of the one behind it all. After that duel, even though Sheppard enjoyed seeing Jayden into a withering mess because of the punishment papers he has to write, he still confronted Crowler about his actions. Even revealed how he knows the full truth about the incident at the Abandoned Dorms, and how it was just those two students in particular that got the attention of the Disciplinary Squad was more than suspicious of itself.

So now, with Seto Kaiba having a small, but strong, hand in this duel, Crowler would be crossing through a mine field guaranteed to annihilate him and everything around after one wrong step. And considering how many of his students have some serious axes to grind when it comes to Will, he would have to issue a mandatory, all has to attend, dorm meeting. One that issues an order to leave Will, and those close to him, alone, along with the consequences that were to follow once Kaiba gets word of what has transpired. While Kaiba did pick the order of the dorm colors, he will not accept insubordination from anybody, not even from somebody wearing blue.

Once he left, Sheppard went back to his office, to go over some information that came to his desk via KaibaCorp. Information about a pair of brothers who are also interested in this interschool duel between the academies.

Duel Academy Entrance-After Classes

The group was just stepping out of the building getting ready to enjoy the rest of their day. When the teachers gave the announcement for the upcoming duels outside of the second exam, the excitement could be felt in the air, mainly for the duel between Jaden and Bastion. To see two top students for the honor of representing the academy.

What really rattled some cages was when the teachers explained the second duel involving the Crimson Duelist, and that Will is going to be dueling under that title. The cages that were rattled were the Obelisk students with a big chip on their shoulders, and seriously bruised egos. That, and along with parents that have power through their money, believe that the Crimson Duelist should be somebody from the Obelisk Dorm. More specifically, one of them, and not some lowly Ra student who has not bothered to learn his place on this island.

Even though they were told that is nonnegotiable, and that Seto Kaiba gave clear orders to make the duel as is, some of those things didn't seem to sink in. Some of them started to demand Will to duel them for the title, only to be told, even told them to go talk to Kaiba. This has been going on for the rest of the day, with them pestering him to duel, only to be left stewing in the end.

Turning to the two stars, "Well Jaydan, Bastion, I wish you both a good duel." Will said, finding a way to wish them luck without the risk of sounding like he is playing favorites.

"Thanks Will." Jayden said.

"Thank you Will." Bastion responded.

"Good luck to you too, Will." Chumley said.

"I doubt he'll need it though." Aeris said with a big smile, while giving his hand good squeeze.

"Why is that?" Alexis said, a little surprise at the girl's confidence in her boyfriend.

"Well, because chances are, North Academy probably thinks Duel Academy is trying to blow its own whistle when it comes to me." Will said.

Bastion picking up what he was saying, "So what they are doing is calling our bluff, not realizing the potential danger waiting for them." He said.

"Exactly." Will said.

"Ha, you a danger, don't make me laugh." Everybody turned to see an Obelisk boy, a well-groomed rich one, approaching them, while his friends stayed a good distance away.

"No, I just make you look pathetic." Will said, making his friends laugh, even some of the boy's friends started to chuckle.

Not taken being mocked lightly, the boy grabbed Will by the coat, and got into his face, spitting in his face like a rifle firing, "Listen you Ra Reject, you have been coming out on top long enough. It stops now." He yelled out, "You are going to start living like the low life that we demand of you."

Thinking that this boy would bow down to his authority, Will shocked him by first grabbing a piece of coat, and using it to wipe off the spit, "If you want to become better than me, than you are going to have to work for it. No way am I reducing myself just to make a pompous fool look better just because they feel offended." When he was done wiping his face, he looked the boy into the eyes, "Just because you are in a higher ranking dorm doesn't mean you have authority over anybody. The only thing that proves your worth on this island is how much into it. If your scores are not in any of the higher brackets, then it means you have to try harder." Once his eyes started to look deep into his, "And if you don't release me right this second, I'm going to making you do it."

"Ha, the moment you touch me, is when my parents well sue your family for every . . . Gah!" The boy yelled out, before Will grabbed his wrist, and gave it a tight squeeze.

"You know, the one thing I find sad is how the rich kids always seems to use their parents as some kind of shield. Like they enjoy being inside their shadows." Will said, squeezing the boy's wrist hard enough to make him release his coat, "You think you can do whatever you want without consequence, but guess what, you can and held accountable. So back off."

After releasing his hand, Will started to walk away, with his friends not too far behind.

When the boy's friends ran up to see if he was okay, two of them, one of them being a girl, were about to start chasing Will down. Yet what stopped them, "Don't you dare try to attack them." Was Zane stepping onto the scene, "He has already proven himself to be stronger than you, so leave him be with your prides intact."

"But Zane, he is a Ra Yellow and is already the highest ranking student in our year." The boy said, trying to justify his actions, "And now that he is going to be representing the academy as the Crimson Duelist, somebody needs to stop him."

Zane shook his head, before giving them a look that froze them into place, "If Will is at the top of your class, then it means he has earned it. If Will is chosen to be the Crimson Duelist, then Chancellor Sheppard made that choice for him." He said, shocking them that he is actually defending somebody from a lower dorm, "And finally, Crowler has issued a mandatory dorm meeting, requiring everybody to attend within the hour. No exceptions, so you better start heading there to hear what he has to say." Turning towards the girls, "And chances are, Professor Fontaine is probably going to be having one for the girls as well, so you better hurry."

When he started to leave, some of them seemed to be getting some ideas, "Before you think about ditching, you might want to make sure you have all of the facts first, and foremost, otherwise you would be getting into some serious trouble." Zane said, not even looking.

Looking at their leader, all he did was give off a huff, before leaving. Indicating that he was going to follow Crowler's demand to be at this so called important meeting.

Hey everyone, here is the latest. Sorry it isn't much, just being having troubles concentrating lately, mainly due to seasonal allergies hitting hard. Also been thinking about trying out some new projects, things that would help me take a break from anything with a screen for a while. Read and Review, and have a nice 4th of July.