Hey everyone, I've been thinking on this idea for a bit now, and I decided that since some of the others are all doing GX/Academy fics, I'd give it a try. Please note that this fic will not have a major plot, big villains, etc. It will only be about twenty-five or so chapters in the end.

However, don't let that discourage you. This'll still be a great fic, with lots of dueling action and a few personal commentaries on life and people by yours truly. But enough about that. On to the good stuff!

Disclaimer (I'm only gonna do this once for this story)-I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh GX, or Duelist Academy. However, a large percentage of the cards used will be mine!

The Way of the True Duelist

Chapter One-Entrance Exam

In the world there are a number of different classifications of people, animals, objects and ideals. Humans like it that way. They like being able to say "That's a liberal idea," or "This is a bird," or "I'm a genius."

Indeed, being able to classify the world is one of humanities talents. One of the more common classifications is that of the people who are destined to succeed verses those who will miserably fail, no questions asked. There is no group that has potential, or a group of those who screw up once in a while. No, it's the failures and the successors.

What makes one a failure or a success? Well, when a person has lots of friends, can get by on the fact that they are well liked, and maybe have a nice smile or pretty eyes, then they succeed. If they aren't well-liked, or don't have a number of connections, then they will fail. Simple, right?

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Kazuki Katsura looked up at the daunting structure of the Tokyo Japan Duel Monsters National Stadium. It was normally used for major tournaments, such as regionals, nationals, and every five years for the World Championship. However, twice a year it was converted for the very purpose that had brought him: the entrance examination for Kaiba Corporations Duel Monsters Academy. If he passed, he'd be on his way to the best school for learning about the game, plus regular academic instruction. Since it was such an up-to-date facility, graduating from the Academy could guarantee your admittance to nearly an university in Japan, or the world for that matter.

Of course, Kazuki had a different objective. Of course he wanted to get a good education, but he had two very specific reasons for applying. First and foremost was this very stadium. When he was just five years old, one of his earliest, distinct childhood memory was of coming here and watching the World Championship match. Ever since then, Kazuki had been inspired to some day enter this stadium as a competitor and to go at it with the best in the world.

Because of this dream, he had decided to enter the Academy, hoping it could help launch him into the pro leagues. Of course, nothing was definite yet, but he was pretty sure he could make it work.

"Alright, no turning back." he said aloud as a few other teenagers his age funneled past him. Walking up to the registration desk, he quickly gave his name and was rewarded with a clipboard with an information sheet attached to it. Take the pen that the elderly man offered him, he found a padded bench and began to skim over the paper.

"'Dueling Occupation: A) Professional Duelist B) Card Designer C) Gaming CEO D) Other'" he read slightly aloud. Circling A, he continued.

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Professor Eizan Kiske, instructor of more classes at Duelist Academy than any other faculty member, and one of the most liked by the other staff, sat in the booth overlooking the various dueling fields that had been set up for the exam. However, unlike the other teachers with him, he was not actually grading anyone. No, he was one of five Professors chosen to oversee the entire event and review the scores of duelists in the end to make sure a fair judgement was given.

On the team of five he was joined by Professors Edo Idane, the head of the Osiris Red dorm, Professor Dayu Masuko, head of Ra Yellow, Professor Keiko Hitsumi, head of Obelisk Blue, as well as Professor Kita Saira, another respected teacher at the school.

"That girl, in the green tunic," Dayu said, pointing at one of the monitors in front of the five in the back of the room. He was indicating a young woman who was doing rather well for herself, even though she had thus far used only one monster. "I think she should go to Osiris Red."

"Are you mad!" Kita cried, looking at Dayu directly. It was a known fact that Dayu, despite his position, was one of the most arrogant staff members. Anyone who couldn't end their duel in five turns or less, and with less than two thousand Life Points simply wasn't worth being in his house. Of course, this often led him to push to eliminate a number of students who were otherwise qualified to attend.

Groaning in annoyance, Keiko decided to add her voice. "She's managed to keep a margin of one thousand Life Points between her and her opponent all duel long, continuously using her monster in a number of ways that I doubt you ever could have. I vote to place her in Ra Yellow."

"Agreed." Eizan added, trying to put in his vote before he had to become the decisive voice.

"Looks like you're outnumbered, Dayu." Edo said, a bemused look in his eye as his lips twitched, wanting to smile. Growling in frustration, Dayu threw down his pen, stood up, and began to pace.

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'"Your opponent has a set card and a Swordhunter (2450) equipped with four monsters, increasing its attack by 800. You have two cards in your hand, which are Polymerization and Scapegoat, and you have one Magister Token and a DNA Surgery set on the field. How do you land the finishing play?"' Kazuki read the question on the exam to himself. It seemed simple enough, although it was marked as a hard question. Sighing, he circled his answer.

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Tapping the red panel on the small computer screen in front of him, Eizan cast his vote to place a student in Osiris Red. The boy had done rather well, but upon reviewing the young mans written score, it was obvious he was not yet ready for the level or work that came with Ra Yellow.

"Who is next?" he asked while glancing at his watch. The day was nearly done. If he wasn't mistaken, only a few more duels were left to go.

"A young man by the name of Kazuki Katsura." Kita said, reading the name. "He's applying to the Academy for training to become a professional duelist. If his written test is any indication, he should do rather well."

At hearing this, Dayu's face lit up. High written scores meant high dueling caliber, and that meant he should be getting someone good enough for his dorm.

Eizan, on the other hand, wasn't so thrilled. Because of the boys decision to become a professional duelist, that meant he would need to be more critical of how he dueled. Tapping in a few commands, he decided to call up the boys essays, which he could read while the duel progressed. Most of his colleagues didn't see the point in this, but Eizan was known to be slightly eccentric as an instructor.

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Breathing deeply, Kazuki tried to fight off the anxiety he felt as the examiner walked onto the field. Inserting his deck into his old Duel Disk II, he drew a new hand. Although it was true when he told people that the reason he used the older model because he couldn't afford a new one, his real reason was simply the fact that he like the retro look and feel to it. Plus, he had been using it so long that it felt awkward to him to use anything else. (KLP:4000)

"I am Professor Miya Masuko, and I will be examining you today." she introduced herself, raising her arm, which had a Duel Disk IV attached. (MLP:4000) Nodding, Kazuki, unfolded his hand of cards as she did the same.

'Ok, calm down. She may be a Professor, but she's still using an examination deck, which have handicaps built into them to make it fair. I just need to beat her, and I'm on my way.'

"I summon Ancient Mystic (1700/1000) to begin with." he said as a man in gray robes appeared, twisting his fingers in a variety of symbols. "Then I'll set one card face down, and end my turn." he finished as the holographic image of the card appeared before him.

"Good opening play." Miya said, drawing a card, recognizing the deck she was using. It was one of the higher level examination decks, meaning that this boy had done well on the first half of the exam, and that she wasn't supposed to go as easy on him as she would otherwise. Despite his flourish in his opening move, she could tell that he was still trembling.

"I summon a monster in defense mode and set two cards face down. Turn end." she said as the three cards appeared before her, each one facing down, hidden from the view of everyone watching.

"Ok, my move." Kazuki said, drawing again, feeling a bit better. She hadn't started out with some kind of massive assault on him, which was always comforting to see. "I play Search for the Lost." he said, activating his drawn card. "This lets me search my deck for a card with Ancient in its name and add it to my hand." he said as his duel disk scanned his cards before ejecting a card into his hand. "And I've chosen my Ancient Civilization field card!"

Slipping the card into his field card zone, he watched happily as archaic structures appeared all around them, covering the cybernetic floor. The final building to appear was directly behind him, a temple of sorts, the highest of them all.

"This card boosts the attack and defense points of all Ancient monsters on my field by three hundred, plus a few other really cool effects, but that'll have to wait till next turn." he explained as his monsters attack rose to two thousand. "Next, I'll set one card face down and then order my Ancient Mystic (2000/1300) to attack your monster." he called as the face down card image appeared before him.

Shifting the signs of his hands a few times, the sage chanted a few seconds more before a massive dragon of water emerged and struck the defending monster, hiding it from view for a few seconds. However, as the image of the water vanished, it was revealed that the attacked monster was still standing, meaning its defense was high enough that it could not be destroyed by the attack.

"You attacked by E-Hero Clayman (800/2000)." Miya explained simply as the effectless monster revealed itself.

'Well, at least now I know what kind of deck she's using.' Kazuki frowned, ending his turn.

Drawing, Miya looked her cards over again. "I play Clay Wrap on Clayman." she began, activating one of her older cards. Instantly the brown figure was encased in a light brown layer of light, dried mud. "Next I play Fusion Sage to search my deck for a Polymerization." she continued, activating the card she had drawn. Seconds later her deck ejected a card for her to take. "I set one card face down and then I play Mirage of Nightmare."

Taking her nod as a signal to go, Kazuki drew. As he added the card to his hand, he wasn't surprised as Miya drew three cards at once, filling her hand with four cards, thanks to the effect of her Mirage of Nightmare. However, he was also familiar with the cost of the card, meaning that if one of her set cards wasn't Emergency Provisions or Cyclone, then she'd have to discard three cards on her next turn.

"Like I said, this turn I get to show you the effects of my Ancient Civilization field card. While it's in play, I either draw two cards each turn, or I can skip my draw to place a card from my graveyard into my hand. However, I cannot choose the same card two turns in a row." he explained, drawing twice, giving him five cards in his hand.

"I summon Ancient Saint (1500+300/1300+300) in attack mode!" The new monster was dressed in sparkling white robes with golden cross shaped patterns all over it. "This monster powers up all Ancient monsters on my field by four hundred." he explained as his Mystic's attack rose to twenty-four hundred and his Saint's became twenty-two hundred.

"Next I'll play my face down card, Ancient Curse, which destroys one face up monster on your field." he continued as the magic card flipped up and Clayman began to decay, falling in pieces to the ground and then dried up and became dust.

"Since you destroyed Clayman, you've activated the ability of Claywrap." Miya intervened, causing Kazuki to frown. "When destroyed, Claywrap destroys one of your magic or trap card on your field. As such, I'm going to destroy your Ancient Civilization." Casting his eyes down, Kazuki listened as the city all around them crumbled to dust, unable to watch as one of his major advantages crumbled so readily around him. At the same time, his monsters points were also dropping, already losing the bonus from the field card. Breathing deeply, he renewed his resolve and continued.

"I activate my Ancient Mystic's ability. Whenever I activate a magic card, he gets a magic counter, so now he has three. So I'll sacrifice them to search my deck for a card and then place it in my hand, but I can't activate it this turn." he continued to explain, pointing towards his first monster. Pulling his deck free and searching for a card, which he placed into his hand before shuffling his deck and returning it to it's slot in his duel disk.

Looking at the five cards in his hand, Kazuki tried to think up something to do, but he couldn't play one of the cards in his hand, and the others he could play, but it wouldn't be anything critical, and he still had to worry about her two set cards. If he played the cards in his hand and her set cards countered his attack, then they would be wasted.

'No, better to hold off on playing them for now. Besides, even if she doesn't stop me, my monsters have enough power to finish her off right now.'

"Ancient Mystic (2100/1000) and Ancient Saint (1900/1300), attack directly!" he shouted. Shifting his fingers rapidly, the Mystic created another attack, this one in the form of a firebird which soared at Miya. At the same time, the Saint was holding up his hands, palms facing towards Miya as a golden orb of light formed, which he fired at her.

"I activate my face down card, Hero Spirits!" Miya shouted as her trap card flipped up. "The turn an E-Hero is destroyed, all Life Point damage I take is reduced to zero." she explained as the attacks passed through her, dealing no damage of any kind.

"Alright, I end my turn." Kazuki declared, still holding five cards. Drawing a fifth card herself, Miya looked her hand over, and then picked the one card that had been in her hand at the end of her last turn, as well as two of the ones she had drawn from Mirage of Nightmare.

"Since I drew three cards during your standby phase, I have to discard three. However, one of the ones I'm discarding is Repayment of Losses, meaning I get to draw a card." she explained, placing the cards into her graveyard and then drawing another card.

"I play the Warrior Returning Alive to return a warrior monster in my graveyard to my hand, and I choose E-Hero Clayman. Now I activate my face down Polymerization to use Clayman with the Sparkman in my graveyard to create my E-Hero Thunder Giant (2400/1500), who when summoned destroys a monster on your field with a base attack lower than his."

Her new monster stood about a foot taller than her, a massive upper body encased in yellow armor and a protective covering over the head, while purple pants covered the legs. Lifting his arms over his head, lightning began to focus between his palms, generated by the energy spines on his back. Hurling the blast at Ancient Saint, the figure was instantly incinerated.

"Finally, I play Thunder Clap!" she persisted, playing her final card. "To use this card, I must have either an E-Hero Sparkman or a thunder fusion monster that he is a part of. It destroys one monster on your field." Instantly a cluster of lightning bounced from the spines on the back of the massive monster, obliterating Kazuki's monster. "Now, Thunder Giant, attack!"

"Reverse card open!" Kazuki shouted as Miya's monster began to charge energy for his attack. "Corrosion of Earth effects one of your monster zones and weakens any monster on that zone by five hundred attack points for each turn my trap has been set face down. It's been set since my first turn, so Thunder Giant loses fifteen hundred attack points, just like any other monster you summon to that zone." Finishing his explanation, Kazuki watched as the massive superhero shrank down to less than half of his normal size. However, it did not prevent Thunder Giant (900/1500) from flinging the ball of electricity at Kazuki, pushing him back a feet or two. (KLP:3100)

Since Miya no longer had any cards in her hand, Kazuki drew. Seconds later, Miya filled her hand again with four cards. "I play the card I grabbed with Ancient Mystic, and it's called Ancient Records. It allows me to search my graveyard for an Ancient card and add it to my hand." he said as a card was slipped into his hand from his graveyard. "And the card I've chosen is Ancient Civilization."

With a rumble, the field card returned to effect, the white marble buildings rising all around them. Already Kazuki felt better, with his field card surrounding him again. Grabbing another card, he activated it. "Unearth the Past revives Ancient Saint (1500+300+400/1300+300) with an added five hundred attack points." Instantly a large collection of dots of light formed before the young man, fading to reveal the white-robed man, his attack points rising to twenty-seven hundred as a result of his own effect, plus the field card and the revival card.

"Next I'll summon Ancient Seer (800/2200) in defense mode. Using its effect, I will flip a coin. If I guess the flip correctly, I may take back one card from my graveyard. If I am wrong, then I must discard the top card of my deck." he explained as a man in silver robes and who also was obviously blind appeared. Taking a coin from his pocket, Kazuki flipped it several feet into the air, snatching it between his fingers as it fell. "Tails." he said before turning his arm and unfolding his fingers. Much to his disappointment, the coin was displaying the heads side. With a frown, he dropped the top card of his deck into his graveyard.

"That could have gone better." he muttered aloud. "Ancient Saint, attack Thunder Giant!" he commanded. Again firing a bolt of gold light from his palms, the powered-up saint blasted apart the weakened hero. (MLP:2200) "I set one card face down and end my turn."

"Impressive comeback, even if your coin flip didn't work." the professor complimented, and then, in a rather childish manner, she winked at Kazuki, who blushed slightly.

'I just realized how young she must be. Come to think of it, with a body like that, I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't any more that twenty or so, meaning she must be a recent graduate of the Academy.'

Glancing at her five cards, Miya chose four and placed them into her graveyard. Then she took the last card she had and turned it around to show Kazuki that it was a monster, which she then laid down in defense mode. "This is E-Hero Bubbleman (800/1200), and if he's the only card in my hand he is special summoned. If he's the only monster on my field when summoned, I get to draw two cards." she explained, drawing two cards.

"I activate the effect of one of the monsters I discarded last turn, my E-Hero Necro Darkman, who allows me to special summon a monster from my hand without tribute, and I will use him to summon my E-Hero Edgemand (2600/1800) in attack mode." Her monster was tall, at least six feet, and dressed in tightly fit gold armor, with long horns sticking out of the sides of his head, a golden cape, and large blades on each of his forearms.

"Next is the magic card, Card of Sanctity, so we each draw until we hold six cards." she explained as she turned the card around to display it to Kazuki, who complied and drew four cards while she drew six.

"I play two Miracle Fusion cards!" she shouted, flipping the two identical magic cards around. "This card allows me to remove fusion components from my graveyard from play as if I were performing a regular fusion." she explained. "So I will fuse my Necro Darkman with my Sparkman, and the Wildman I discarded this turn with my Clayman to create E-Hero Black Lightning Striker (2200/1400) and E-Hero Earth Crusher (2000/2000)."

The first monster to appear on her field looked much like the blue clothed Sparkman, only larger and his clothing was black and the gold patches of armor were now silver. The second was a man with dark skin and large muscles, wrapped ins thick armor that seemed to be made of clay, with a massive hammer in his grasp, one end of it spiked.

"When my Black Lightning Striker is summoned, he instantly destroys one of your monsters, no questions asked." she began her explanation of her monsters effects as a bolt of black electricity struck Kazuki's powered up Ancient Saint. "Also, you cannot chain to the attacks of my Black Lightning Striker, and he'll destroy one of your cards each turn, regardless of attack points, but I must pay 500 Life Points each turn for him."

"And Earth Crusher?" Kazuki asked.

"Earth Crusher has both a trample effect, allowing him to deal damage through your defenses, and the effect of destroying one of your magic or trap cards each time it does damage."

"In that case, I activate my face down trap card, Ancient Labyrinth!" Kazuki called as he pressed a button on his duel disk and a large maze appeared on the field, separating the three large heroes and locking them away at separate points. "This trap card prevents you from attacking me for three turns. Basically, it's a trap card version of Swords of Revealing Light."

"If that's the case, then I'll end my turn." Miya conceded. However, she had four cards in her hand, meaning that as Kazuki drew a card, she did not.

"First off, Ancient Seer's effect activates again." he began, flipping his coin again. "Again I call tails." Flipping the coin into the air, he caught it seconds later, and this time grinned as he got the side that he wanted. Reaching down to his graveyard, he caught the card he gave him. "I got back Unearthing the Past, which I'll use to special summon my Ancient Saint (1500+500+400+300/1000+300) once again. Then I'll summon my Ancient Magician (1700+300+400/1100+300)." The new magician was dressed in light blue robes and armed with a staff. "This monster gets two attacks each turn."

"Excellent play." the professor acknowledged with a nod.

Blushing slightly at being complimented by the professor, Kazuki continued his move. "Ancient Saint (2700), attack his Edgeman!" he ordered. Firing the now usual blast of gold light, the young monk destroyed the target monster. (MLP:2100) "Ancient Magician (2400), attack Black Lightning Striker!" Lifting his staff, the blue robed sorcerer released a crescent wave of energy that sliced through the air on its way to striking the target monster.

"I activate my face down card, Hero's Noble Struggle!" the professor countered as the wave continued to move towards her, but was suddenly halted as pixels of light gathered together between the attack and her monsters. Seconds later the lights faded, revealing E-Hero Edgeman, only his armor was cracked and chipped and various lines of blood could be seen where the plating was missing. "This card revives an E-Hero you destroyed this turn until the end phase. You have to attack that Hero first." she explained.

"But he has twenty-six hundred attack points, and my Ancient Magician only has twenty-four hundred points." Kazuki moaned.

"That's the point." the instructor said as Edgeman raised his right arm and slashed down, his bladed arm shattering the wave of magical energy, causing a ripple to surge backwards and strike the sage, destroying him instantly. (KLP:3000)

"I set one card face down. Turn end." Kazuki groaned as his plan was soundly countered. Seconds later, Edgeman vanished, and then Miya drew, giving her five cards in hand. However, because she had not drawn any cards from Mirage of Nightmare, she did not have to discard any.

"First I must pay five hundred Life Points for my Black Lightning Striker being on the field." she started as her Life Points ticked down slightly. (MLP:1600) "I activate Burial from Another Dimension, returning the four monsters I removed from play last turn to my graveyard." she said, taking the cards from her pocket and inserting them into her graveyard. "Next, Black Lightning Striker destroys your Saint." she continued as another bolt of black lightning reached down from the heavens and annihilated Kazuki's monster.

Taking a card from her hand, she slipped it into her magic zone. "Hero's Great Sacrifice allows me to send one E-Hero on my field to the graveyard to gain double it's attack points as Life Points, so I choose E-hero Bubbleman."

Turning on his heal, the blue-armored hero bowed to her and then dissolved, becoming a number of lights that melted into Miya's duel disk, raising her life points by sixteen hundred. (MLP:3200) Still holding three cards, she turned to her monsters.

"Black Lightning Striker and Earth Crusher will attack you directly for game. Sorry, but it seems that you weren't ready for this institution." she said, her tone vibrating with her sincerity.

"Hold it!" Kazuki shouted, slashing his arm through the air. "I'm not out yet. I activate my set card, Enchanted Relic! This trap card makes it so that you can't target my field for battle this turn." he explained as a thin golden disk with various symbols etched into it and encrusted with jewels appeared in the air in front of him. Seconds later it released a ring of energy from its edges which expanded rapidly until it had reached the borders of the dueling ring. As the two attacking monsters grew closer, they were halted by an invisible barrier that had set itself up in the wake of the expanding ring of energy.

"Good save." Miya concluded. "I'll set one card face down and end."

Drawing his two cards thanks to his Ancient Civilization field card, Kazuki barely noticed as Miya drew twice from her magic card. Holding five cards, he tried to think up some way to get through her monsters.

"First off, Ancient Seer's effect. Heads." Flipping the coin into the air, he missed catching it as it fell, and so was forced to go based on whatever side of the coin was facing him when it landed. Sighing, he looked back up at his proctor. "Tails." Taking a card from his hand, he slipped it into a magic slot. "Card Destruction, so we each discard our current hands and draw new ones of the same number of cards."

With a nod, Miya slid her cards into her graveyard. "You shouldn't have done that, not that it matters. You made me discard Friendog (800/1200), who lets me take back a Polymerization and a fusion material monster and put them into my hand." she explained as she added the two cards her graveyard submitted to her to the hand of four she had drawn seconds before.

Grumbling at this slight development, Kazuki shook it off and looked at his new hand of four. "I sacrifice Ancient Seer to summon Ancient Priest (2200+300/1800+300) in attack mode." In a flash the young blind man disappeared and was replaced by a new man in scarlet robes and a staff with a halo with a number of rings at the head. "This monster allows me to once per turn discard one card from my hand, and I may then return one card of the same type from my graveyard to my hand. So I'll discard one magic card to get back Ancient Curse!"

Sliding a card from his hand into his graveyard, Kazuki happily accepted the card offered to him. Without a moments hesitation, he rammed the card into his magic zone, and the black and silver clothed hero collapsed before crumbling to dust.

"Next I'll play Power of the Ancients, permanently increasing the attack of my Ancient Priest by one thousand!" A circle of light with various symbols appeared under the feet of the holy magician. Out of the circle emerged a number of ribbons of energy with various runes lining them, twisting around the magister, raising his attack to thirty-five hundred.

"Ancient Priest, attack E-Hero Earth Crusher!" he commanded. Clenching a fist, save his index and middle finger, the priest held his hand close to his chest, moving it rapidly to create a number of varying signs. After a moment, he slashed down with his staff, firing a stream of white energy which cut the clay-armored fighter in two. (MLP:1700)

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Up in the observation booth, Professor Eizan continued to watch the duel with interest. He had long since finished reading the applicants essays, and felt compelled to pay close attention to the match. Every now and then he and his colleagues would grab their pen and scribble a note down as they watched him struggle against the E-Hero deck. It was one of the three strongest examination decks available, so the fact that he had lasted this long spoke a great deal about his skill level. In truth, the only weakness built into this deck was that the magic card, Skyscraper, had not been included in it.

"The boy has some promise." Dayu muttered as they continued to watch. As one, the other four turned their heads, shocked to hear such a declaration from the elitist.

Turning back to the monitor, Eizan shrugged it off. Of course, Dayu was right. The question in Eizan's mind, however, was not whether or not the boy would win. No, he was asking the exact opposite: why hadn't he already won?

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"My turn." Miya called, drawing a card. "I activate my drawn card, the quick-play card known as Storm of Relief, which forces us to sacrifice all magic and trap cards and then gain one thousand life points per card. So I'll lose my set card and my Mirage of Nightmare!" she called as she flipped the card around. Seconds later her magic card and set card exploded, giving her more life points and meaning she didn't have to discard two cards. (MLP:3700) At the same time, the maze pattern on the ground that had held back her monsters from attacking exploded, increasing Kazuki's life points as well. (KLP:4000)

"Next I play O-Over Soul to revive my E-Hero Burst Lady (1200/800) to my field." In a blaze of rose red flames, a female hero appeared. She had long black hair, a golden cap of sorts on her forehead, pushing her bangs back. Her clothing was a simple, skin-tight leotard that also covered her arms and legs, while a small mask was fit over her eyes. In each of her palms she also carried a ball of flames.

"Now I'll play the Polymerization I drew to fuse her with E-Hero Featherman (1000/1000) from my hand." Seconds later a swirling vortex appeared behind her and in flew the red garbed woman and a man in green with white wings who appeared only for a second. After a minute of distorting their images, the vortex stabilized, revealing a figure with green skin, thick muscles, and a mask that appeared to be draconic. However, his right arm, instead of the muscular, green one with five clawed fingers that was on the left side, it had what appeared to be a black dragon head. From its back sprouted just one angelic wing, finishing the rather odd combination. "This is Flame Wingman (2100/1800)."

"That monster hardly has any attack points as far as fusions go. Does it have an effect?" Kazuki commented, his voice sounding hopeful that there was no effect. After all, this woman was a professional when it came to dueling mechanics, and so if she summoned this monster to face his powered-up Ancient Priest, there had to be a reason, right?

"He does have an effect, yes, but that's not why I summoned him." the instructor continued, holding up the two cards that remained in her hand. "I use the Polymerization I retrieved with Friendog to fuse Flame Wingman with Sparkman!"

'He's using a fusion monster as a fusion material monster?' Kazuki gasped to himself, having never considered such a possibility. Yet, here it was. Right before his eyes the blue and gold armored Sparkman and the green-skinned Flame Wingman were entering a fusion vortex together.

What emerged had to be one of the most magnificent monsters Kazuki had ever seen. Covered in thick cybernetic armor, the new monster stood about the same height as the Flame Wingman had. His legs were thin, but appeared to be powerful, as did his arms, all wrapped in the silver armor. And now, instead of the single wing of the Flame Wingman, this new monster had two identical wings, each one lined with long, metallic feathers on the outer edges.

"This is Shining Flare Wingman (2500/2100)!" Miya introduced.

"Whoa!" Kazuki muttered in awe. "Cool."

"It gets better." she persisted. "Shining Flare Wingman gains three hundred attack points for every E-Hero in my graveyard. I have Flame Wingman, Sparkman, Burst Lady, Featherman, Edgeman, Clayman, Earth Crusher, Black Lightning Striker, Wildman, Bubbleman, Thunder Giant, and Necro Darkman all in my graveyard." she declared, listing the twelve monsters who would power up her monster.

"Also, he has inherited the effect of his previous form, Flame Wingman. When he destroys a monster, that monsters attack points will be taken from your life points." she explained with a small wink and smile. "Now, Shining Flare Wingman (6100/2100), attack Ancient Priest (3500)! Shining Shooter!"

Soaring silently up to Kazuki's monster, the hero began to charge an orb of silver-blue light between his hands. Once he was just a few feet away from the scarlet robed magician, he fired, burning him away, as well as twenty-six hundred life points from battle damage. Then, as his life point counter ticked down, the effect of her monster took over to deal him another thirty-five hundred points of damage. (KLP:0)

To Be Continued...

Next Time-Kazuki's lost already? But if that's the case, then how is he supposed to get into the Academy? To enter as a Dueling Major, you can't possibly get enough points just from the written exam to get in. Wait, what's that? The Professors are arguing?

Next Time-Rise to Defend

There you have it. The beginning of my Academy fic. Interesting start, no? For those new to my writing style, I hope you enjoyed it, and that you will continue to read this as I work on it, as well as my other story, Return to Battle City: Wandering Souls, and it's new sequel, Era of Souls: Guardians Eclipse.

Also, for cards used, understand that most of the E-Heroes used already exist, but I either used their Japanese name (Ex-Edgeman is the Japanese name for Blade Edge), or I used a card that has thus far only appeared in the Japanese version (Ex-Shining Flare Wingman). However, a few of the cards used were by me. They include:

Thunder Clap, Storm of Relief, Black Lightning Striker, Earth Crusher, Hero's Noble Struggle, and all of Kazuki's cards (Except for Card Destruction and Corrosion of Earth). Also, Repayment of Losses belongs to Seeker of the Soul. You'll see it a lot in my works, and even more so in his.

See ya.