Author's Note

Okay, so here I am, back on Fanfiction after an...extended hiatus. For those of you who are reading this for a second time, welcome back and I'm sorry I've been out of touch for so long! If you submitted an OC before, unfortunately, I will ask you to re submit him/her. For those of you who are reading this story for the first time, let me clarify a few things. Because of the massive time difference, Synchro monsters will be used in this fic. I plan to use Xyz monsters EVENTUALLY, but not right now. I will go through OC submission rules at the end of the chapter. With all of that out of the way, enjoy!

"I can't believe this!" cried Zach as he sprinted toward the docks. He couldn't bear to be embarrassed again, not after what happened at the Duel Academy entrance exams. He was mopping the floor with his opponent until his duel disk just shut down on him. Normally, he would have been disqualified, but Zach did well enough on the written portion and performed spectacularly until his disk shut down. On top of which, the proctor had taken a liking to Zach, so they decided to make an exception. The only thing was that Zach would be placed in the Osiris Red dorms, as opposed to Ra Yellow.

Zach just seemed to have that effect on people. How could you not like him? Zach was a bit short for his age, at least by American standards, normal height by Japanese ones. He had messy golden blonde hair, and friendly brown eyes.

Though, his talent for getting people to like him wouldn't do much good here. He had no idea what time it was, but he was sure the boat to duel academy was getting ready to leave. Then, he saw it, the massive cruise ship with the Kaiba Corp and Duel Academy logos on it. Standing before the walkway up to the massive ship were two guards in traditional black tie suits. Talking to them was a small girl, with short brown hair that contained light brown streaks.

"Yes, I made it," Zach muttered to himself. "Hey, wait for me!" he cried. The two men and the girl all turned to him. The girl's face beamed, and she waved at him.

"There you are, Zach!" she cried. "What took you so long?"

"Mina?" said Zach, with a touch of relief. The brown eyed, brown haired girl was one he had met at the entrance exams. The girl was a ball of fire. She was cheerful, hyperactive, enthusiastic and passionate about almost everything. The girl had so much energy; Zach was almost intimidated by it.

"You're lucky, kid," said one of the men in the suits. "If not for your girlfriend here, the boat probably would have left by now."

"Ah, no," Zach started, "she's not my—," but before he could finish, his arm was nearly yanked out of its socket by Mina, who was now dragging him up the walkway.

"C'mon Zach, everyone's waiting," the girl said, as she dragged Zach's arm.

"Everyone?" asked Zach, trying to free his arm from Mina's grip. She was surprisingly strong for her size. "Who's everyone? The only person I know on this boat is you."

Since they were now on the boat's deck, Mina let go of Zach's arm and looked at him with that intoxicatingly bright smile of hers. "Don't worry, I have some other friends on this boat who asked me to meet them here. Speaking of which," she turned her attention to a tall boy with shoulder length black hair, "Ryu, hey! Over here!"

The black haired boy turned and smiled as Mina waved at him vigorously, then quickly jogged over. "Yo, Mina, good to see you again. I take it this is your friend?" he said turning toward Zach, sticking out his hand.

"It's Zach," he said taking the tall boy's hand, "Zach Weiler."

"Sick name," remarked Ryu. "Mine's Ryu, Tamanaki Ryu."

"You're Japanese?" asked Zach. "You speak English pretty well."

"I moved to the states when I was really young, but my parents still taught me Japanese culture and traditions. I can speak both languages fairly well. Now let's get inside, it's starting to get cold out here."

Once the three got inside the cruise ship's main hall, they made their way toward two people standing near a table. The first was a young man, about as tall as Ryu but with long, light blonde hair. The second was the most beautiful girl Zach had ever seen. She had an hourglass figure and golden blonde hair that traveled down to her waist, accompanied by emerald green eyes.

The girl was the first to notice the three. She smiled and waved. "Ryu, Mina, there you are. They were just about to serve dinner, I was afraid you'd miss it." It was then that she noticed Zach. "Oh, who's this?"

Ryu turned to Zach. "Zach, I'd like you to meet a couple of friends." Ryu pointed toward the boy, who scratched the back of his head nervously. "This guy's name is Chase. He's a tad shy, but great once you get to know him."

"H-hello," said Chase nervously.

"And this here is Tits Mcgee," said Ryu, to which the blonde girl punched him in the back of the head.

"I swear to god, if you call me that one more time, I'll break your neck," said the blonde girl, gritting her teeth.

"Oh c'mon, it was a compliment," Ryu said sheepishly. "Don't take it so seriously."

The blonde girl blushed and covered the rather large bulge in her chest with her arms. "It's not funny Ryu. You know how sensitive I am about my looks. Do you know how hard it is not having any friends of my own gender?"

"Okay, I'm sorry," said Ryu. Zach couldn't tell if he said it reluctantly or sincerely. "Anyway," continued Ryu, "this is Becca. She hangs out with us because we're the only ones who don't ogle her or envy her."

"Sorry you had to see that," Becca said to Zach. "Like I said, I don't like it when people talk about the way I look."

"Its fine," said Zach with a shrug. "Everyone's sensitive about something. I used get angry every time someone commented about my height."

"Let's take a seat," said Ryu. "Zach, you have your deck right? Why don't we duel? Without our disks, of course."

"Sure, why not?" replied Zach. The five of them sat down at the table, while Zach and Ryu pulled out their decks. Just as they were shuffling, Chase nearly jumped out of his chair as someone put a hand on his shoulder.

"What's goin on bro?" said the man standing behind Chase. Everyone at the table except for Zach frowned at the appearance of this new person. He looked almost exactly like Chase, except his hair was dirty blonde instead of light blonde. "What're you doin hanging out with these losers? Why not come sit with some duelists closer to your level?" He glanced at Ryu as he said this.

"Who's this guy?" Zach whispered in Mina's ear.

"He's David, Chase's twin brother," Mina whispered back. "The difference between them is like Yin and Yang."

"Piss off, David," spat Becca. "Why don't you take your cronies and leave your brother alone."

"So the beauty of Pegasus Prep comes to the rescue," mocked David. "It's not my fault if I want my little bro to move up in the world, is it?"

"David, please," begged Chase. David raised an eyebrow and turned to his brother. Chase looked down at the table. "I'm hanging out with my friends. Can you please leave us alone?"

"You want me to leave?" asked David, who smirked. "Tell you what, if you can beat me in a duel, I'll leave. How does that sound?" When Chase didn't respond, David snickered. "How about the rest of you? If any of you can beat me in a duel, I'll leave you alone. So, who wants some?"

Zach growled, and stood up aggressively. "I'll take you on!"

The others turned to Zach with surprised looks. David raised an eyebrow. "I remember you. Aren't you that kid whose disk shut down in the middle of the practical exam?"

Zach's face turned bright red. "Yeah, so what?"

David sneered. "You've got guts kid. Fine, I accept. Though, I'd advise you to borrow a duel disk. You don't want a repeat of the entrance exams, do you?"

"Zach, are you sure about this?" questioned Becca. "David was one of the strongest duelists at our prep school. Beating him won't be easy, on top of which, he likes to humiliate his opponents. You might not be able to handle this."

"Well I won't know that until I duel him, will I?" Zach retorted. "Besides, this guy's a bully. Someone needs to put him in his place."

"Zach," pleaded Becca, but she was stopped by Ryu, who held out a duel disk for Zach. At first, Zach was surprised by the gesture, but then smiled and took the disk.

"Thanks man," he said to Ryu, after fitting the disk on his arm.

"Any time," responded Ryu. "Besides, you're right. Someone needs to put this guy in his place."

The whole room saw that a duel was about to take place, and made room for the two duelists. David and Zach walked away from each other until they were 30 feet apart.

"You sure you wanna do this kid?" asked David, activating his duel disk. "Now's your chance to call it quits."

"What kind of a duelist would I be if I backed down now?" retorted Zach, activating the disk around his arm.

"Have it your way," responded David with a shrug.

"Duel!"

Zach: 4000

David: 4000

"I'll go first," said David, drawing six cards. "I summon Skull Servant in defense mode!" he cried as a skeleton in a black robe appeared in a crouching position (DEF: 200). "Now I play a card face down and end my turn."

"Oh great," moaned Chase. "He's using that deck."

"This Zach kid won't know what's coming until it's too late," said Becca.

"If that's all you got, then it's my turn! Draw!" cried Zach, adding a sixth card to his hand. "I summon the level three tuner monster Ghost Warrior in attack mode! (ATK: 1400)" A man garbed in a white samurai outfit with a blue breastplate and red demon mask rose to the field, wielding a six foot long spear. Under the red mask, his eyes shone an eerie yellow.

"Now, Ghost Warrior, attack his Skull Servant! Partisan Strike!" The ghostly figure charged at the skeleton with its spear held out in front. "And when Ghost Warrior attacks, it gets 400 atk during the damage step! (ATK: 1400→1800)" The white warrior drove its spear into the skeleton, causing it to shatter into thousands of tiny pixels.

"I activate the trap card Human-Wave Tactics!" cried David. "During each of my end phases, I can summon a number of level two or lower normal monsters from my deck equal to the number that were destroyed this turn."

"Fine," said Zach, "I'll end my turn."

"And my Human-Wave Tactics comes into play, letting me summon another Skull Servant from my deck. (DEF: 200) Now I draw," said David, adding a fifth card to his hand. "I summon my third Skull Servant in defense mode." Yet another skeleton in black robes appeared on the field. (DEF: 200) "I place one card face down and end."

Zach grimaced. He knew something was up. "I draw!" he yelled, bringing his hand size to six. Zach smirked. "I use the effect of my Phantom Horse (ATK: 700)! If I control a face-up Ghost Warrior, I can special summon this card from my hand!" Seemingly from nowhere, a faintly glowing white horse leapt onto the field. It bore a violet saddle and silver face mask. "Now, I tune my level three Ghost Warrior to my level three Phantom Horse!" The white samurai suddenly turned into three green rings, while the white horse floated into the middle of the three rings. "In death, there is life and the road to salvation. Become my guide and illuminate the path to heaven! Synchro Summon! Strike him down, Phantom Paladin! (ATK: 2600)" A column of light shot through the three green rings. As the light dissipated, the new monster was revealed. It looked more like a Fusion monster than a Synchro. It was a samurai in bulky white armor, mounted on a glowing white steed with the same armor, wielding a long partisan spear.

"Not a bad monster," remarked David. "So what does it do?"

"You'll find out soon enough," said Zach. "But first, I summon my Brave Knight in attack mode (ATK: 1900)!" A knight in gleaming white and gold armor rose from the ground, slashing his gleaming broadsword once. The knight had an engraving of a lion outlined in royal blue on its chest.

"Now I attack your Skull Servants with both of my monsters!" Both monsters ran right through the two skeletons, causing them to crumble into dust. "When Phantom Paladin destroys a monster in battle, its effect kicks in!" Zach's Ghost Warrior slid out of his graveyard. "Now I can take a card from my graveyard and shuffle it back into my deck." He took the card and slid it into his deck, then watched as the deck shuffled itself. "I end my turn with that. Go ahead and use your Human-Wave Tactics."

"Nah," said David with a shrug. "I don't really feel like it." He drew a card from his deck, sneering as he did so. "This is where the duel ends. I summon King of Skull Servants in attack mode!" This time, a massive skeleton rose from the ground. This one had a thick, tattered, dark blue cloak surrounding it, and glowing red eyes. (ATK: ?/DEF: 0)

"What does that do?" asked Zach, taking a step back.

"Its attack points go up by 1000 for each Skull Servant in my graveyard, and I have three, so that's 3000 attack points. (ATK: ?→3000) And now I activate the equip spell Opti-Camouflage Armor! This card can only be equipped to a level one monster, but that monster gets a devastating power. It can attack directly!"

"That's not good," said Ryu.

"Zach, no!" Mina cried.

"I attack with King of Skull Servants!" cried David. From under the giant skeleton's massive cloak, a gust of wind surged toward Zach, knocking him off his feet and causing him to hit the floor hard. David laughed wildly. "You're in over your head kid! There's no way you could ever beat me, not in a million years! You might as well quit now!"

"Not a chance," said Zach as he stood up

Zach: 4000→1000

David frowned. "So you still have some fight left, do you?"

"Gimme a break," spat Zach. "A duel's not over until the last card is played!"

"Cocky runt," scoffed David. "Fine, I'll end my turn."

"Then it's my move. Draw!" cried Zach. He looked at his newly drawn card and smirked. "I play one card face down and switch my monsters into defense mode! Turn end."

He must have set a card that can get rid of my King of Skull Servants, thought David. "Whatever your face-down is, it won't work! Draw!" David sneered as he saw his draw. "I play The Lady in Wight, in defense mode! (ATK: 0/ DEF: 2200) When she's on the field, level 3 or lower Zombie type monsters are unaffected by my opponent's spell/trap cards and can't be destroyed in battle!"

Becca sighed. "Well, that's it. At this point, Zach's done."

"King of Skull Servants, attack directly for game!" cried David.

"Stop!" cried Zach. "I activate my face-down card!"

"That won't work! My King is unaffected by spells and traps, remember?"

"Then it's a good thing this card doesn't target your monster! I play my quick-play spell Sword Break! This card destroys one equip card on the field! Sorry, but this game's still on!"

David's eyes widened in shock as his Opti-Camouflage Armor shattered into thousands of pixels.

"Not only that," continued Zach, "but I can draw a card from my deck!" Zach drew, giving him three cards to work with. "Alright, continue your turn."

David growled. "So what?" he scoffed. "You're only delaying the inevitable. King of Skull Servants, attack his Phantom Paladin! Bone Crush!" The giant robed skeleton swung its massive boney arm, hitting the mounted paladin head on, causing it to explode.

"I end my turn. Now draw your pathetic card!" commanded David.

Zach took a deep breath and looked at his hand. He had a few options, but nothing that could take out his King of Skull Servants, not with The Lady in Wight in play. C'mon deck, he thought, give me something I can use. He smirked as he looked at his newly drawn card, playing it immediately. "I activate the spell card Reload! I return my hand to my deck, then draw three new cards!"

"Fine," spat David. "It won't help."

"Oh no?" retorted Zach. "We'll see about that!" He drew his three new cards, and couldn't help but smile. The three cards he just drew were exactly the combo he needed. "Okay, I'll start by activating the spell card, Share the Pain!"

"Share the Pain?" asked David, slightly surprised. "What does that do?"

"It's an old card," explained Zach, "One of the first spells in the game in fact. It forces both players to tribute one of their monsters!"

"And then what?" questioned David.

"Then nothing," responded Zach. "We each tribute a monster. That's it."

David scoffed. "What a joke. My King of Skull Servants is protected by my Lady in White, remember?"

"Oh I know all about your Lady in White," retorted Zach. "So I know that while she protects all of your level three or lower zombies, the same doesn't apply to her. Looks like your Lady is going to the graveyard!"

"Awesome, " cried Ryu. "Now his King can be taken down with spells and traps!"

David smirked. "You know all about her, do you? Well, then you also know her name is treated as Skull Servant while it's in the grave, so my King get 1000 more attack points. (ATK: 3000→4000) Not only that, but you have to tribute your Brave Knight as well."

"Believe me, I know. In fact, I'm counting on it," Zach said with a smirk, discarding the level four monster to the graveyard. "Now I'll summon someone who you might recognize! Go, the level three tuner, Ghost Warrior! (DEF: 800)"

David lifted an eyebrow as the spear-wielding samurai leapt onto the field, landing in a crouching position. "What good'll that do?" he questioned. "Even if you are able to summon another monster, there's no way you'll be able to come up with a Synchro strong enough to take down my King of Skull Servants."

"That's what you think!" said Zach, with bolstered confidence. "Now I tune my level three Ghost Warrior with the level three Phantom Horse and level four Brave Knight in my graveyard!"

This statement surprised the onlookers. "He's doing what?" exclaimed Becca.

"Hold on!" David protested. "You can't use monsters from the graveyard in a Synchro, and I know for a fact that Ghost Warrior doesn't have that effect!"

"Your right, he doesn't," said Zach matter-of-factly. "Now shut up and watch! I'm about to show you a new type of Synchro!"

"A new…type of Synchro?"

Faint images of Brave Knight and Phantom Horse appeared on Zach's field. The two images then turned into beacons of light which began to flow into Ghost Warrior. "The lone warrior unites with the souls of his fallen comrades to unleash a new power! Become my guide and illuminate the path to heaven!" Suddenly, Ghost Warrior was enveloped in a vertical pillar of multicolored light. "Reborn Synchro! The pillar of light, Valkyron the Slayer!" The rainbow light faded to reveal a creature unlike any of the spectators had ever seen. It was had an angelic presence, having a humanoid figure made up of clean, layered white armor. It had two glass eyes, one blue, one red, and its head seemed to form the shape of an arrowhead with a white spike jutting out on either side. From its back flowed six wings made of nothing but multicolored light. (ATK: 0)

"You must be joking," scoffed David. "A monster that can beat my King? With what? It doesn't have a single attack point."

"Maybe not right now," retorted Zach, "but it's got two effects. First, it can't be destroyed in battle."

So then why is it in attack mode, thought David. "And the second?"

"Whenever it attacks," Zach answered, "Its attack become equal to the attack of the monster it battles!"

"It does what?" muttered David in a stunned tone. The spectators were just as surprised.

"So then that means he can take down any attack position monster David throws at him," said Chase.

While the spectators of the duel were fairly impressed, both Becca and David knew that there was a big flaw in this plan. The realization caused David to form a smirk. "So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and attack."

"I'll get to that in a minute," said Zach with a cocky smirk. "But first, I'll play my last card, the equip spell Rainbow Sword and equip it to my Valkyron!" The hilt of a blade appeared in the grasp of the angelic figure made of the same white metal. From this hilt, a blade of Rainbow light extended, reaching to about six feet. David raised an eyebrow, noting that the monster's attack points didn't change.

"Valkyron, attack!" cried Zach, punching the air. "Rainbow Strike!" (ATK: 0→4000)The light of Valkyron's blade began to glow brighter, and he charged forward. Just before reaching King of Skull Servant's feet, the angelic figure leapt into the air and brought down the blade, cutting the monster in half and causing it to shatter.

"Oh, by the way, Valkyron has one more effect," stated Zach, surprising David. "When it destroys a monster in battle, you take damage equal to half the destroyed monster's attack!"

"Say what?" cried David. A gust of black wind hit David head on. The gust seemed to physically burn his skin, though this could not be seen.

David: 4000→2000

When the wind subsided, David couldn't help but sneer. He began to laugh wildly. "Nice try kid, but there's one thing you didn't count on. I activate King of Skull Servant's special effect!" A copy of Skull Servant slid out of David's graveyard. "When it's destroyed in battle, I can remove a copy of Skull Servant in my graveyard from play to special summon it from my graveyard! Be reborn, King of Skull Servants!" A giant skeletal hand clawed its way out of the ground. It pushed down to give the giant skeleton it was attached to enough leverage to slowly rise out of the ground. (ATK: 3000)

"Nice try kid," cackled David, "but I was the best duelist to come out of Pegasus Prep School! A low-life like you has absolutely no chance to beat me!"

"You're wrong."

The spectators were surprised with Zach's statement. "You still doubt my strength?" spat David. You really still think you can beat me?"

"Well, yes," said Zach, "but that's not what I meant. What you said before, about your King of Skull Servants."

"Yeah," said David, slightly confused. "What about it?"

"It's not that you 'can' revive it," continued Zach, "you have to. Its card text doesn't give you a choice."

"And this is relevant how?" asked David, raising an eyebrow. "You're still going to lose."

"We'll see," said Zach with a smirk. "Remember my equip spell, Rainbow Blade? Didn't it strike you as odd that it didn't cause my monster's attack points to increase? Well that's because it gives my Valkyron yet another effect. It allows him to attack all monsters on your side of the field once each."

David's heart sank, horrified at the implications Zach made. "No way," he whispered.

"I don't understand," said Mina. "Why's that so special?"

"Each time King of Skull Servants is revived," replied a stunned Becca, "it's treated as a new monster, which means Zach can attack it."

"Which also means Zach can destroy it and inflict damage equal to half its attack points," said Ryu with a smirk. "The best part is David can't stop his King from reviving, meaning—."

"—Meaning he can keep attacking and inflicting damage until David's life reaches zero!" finished Mina. "Way to go Zach!"

"Valkyron, attack!" roared Zach. "Rainbow Strike! (ATK: ?→3000)" The angelic figure swung in an arc, releasing a crescent of rainbow light that sliced through King of Skull Servants and hit David straight on.

David: 2000→500

David scoffed as a Skull Servant slid out of his graveyard and King of Skull Servants tried to claw its way out of the ground once more. (ATK: ?→2000) Its lower body hadn't even risen to the surface yet before Valkyron landed on the top of its head and drove the sword right into the middle of its skull. The skull slowly began to crack, and eventually exploded, taking the rest of the skeletal figure with it. The angelic figure leapt out of the explosion, skidding to a halt on Zach's field while David cried out in anger.

Zach: 1000

David: 500-0

"He did it," cried Mina, and the entire hall of the ship erupted with cheers and applause. They didn't care that Zach won, but they were so impressed by his comeback that they just couldn't help themselves.

"Nice one kiddo," said Ryu with a wide grin, as he grabbed Zach in a headlock and began to ruffle his already messy blonde hair. Becca, Chase, and Mina walked over to the two.

"Great job," said Becca. "Sorry I didn't have more faith in you."

At first, when Zach didn't respond, her heart began to sink. Then she noticed his face turn bright red and his attempts to escape the headlock becoming more frantic.

Uh oh, she thought. "Ryu, let go!"

"What?" asked Ryu in a somewhat mocking tone. "We're just having a little fun."

"RYU, seriously!" shouted Becca, as she and Chase tried to pry Ryu off of the squirming blonde duelist. While the rest of the new academy students went back to their seats and David stormed off in disgrace, two pairs of eyes still remained on the short, blonde haired duelist. One was a student, one wasn't.

"That card," muttered the student. She was an average height, slender girl with light blue eyes and long, waist length, rose-pink hair pulled back by an embroidered white and blue headband. "Do you think he's one of them?" she asked the man next to her.

"Not sure," said the man. His features were hidden by a brown trench coat with the collar popped and a brimmed hat. His only distinguishable features were his emerald green eyes. "If he is, we'll find out soon enough."

Hope you all enjoyed! Now, about the OC's. Obviously, I need their name, physical description, personality description, deck type, what year they are, and which dorm they're in. They cannot have any relation to any canon characters, but they can have some relation to any of the OC's used in this story. You do not have to include a backstory, but doing so would give me a better feel for you character. Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, they must have a GOOD, SOLID REASON for being in the dorm their in. This means no Slifer Reds with overpowered, tournament level decks, unless that character has a special reason for ending up there.

Card of the Chapter

Valkyron the Slayer

LIGHT

Level: 10

ATK: 0/DEF: 0

Fairy/Synchro/Effect: 1 face-up LIGHT tuner + 2 or more non-tuner monsters in the graveyard. This card can only be Synchro summoned by removing the above monsters from play. This card cannot be destroyed in battle. When this card selects your opponent's monster as an attack target, increase the ATK of this card by an amount equal to the attack of the targeted monster. When this card destroys your opponent's monster as a result of battle, inflict damage equal to half the attack of that monster to your opponent.