Chapter Text
Nine years have I debated this.
Maybe I shouldn’t be here, and I’m not talking about finding myself in GX.
The dome-shaped building stood before me. Inside it lay the practical portion of the Exams to enter Duel Academy. I remember there were no-shows, Jaden Yuki almost being among them. Should I be one? If I do, will the canon of GX unfold here as well? That wouldn’t be so bad, would it? Didn’t everything more or less work out? Kagemaru and the Shadow Riders were defeated and the Sacred Beast cards sealed, the Society of Light fell and all of its members freed, the Academy safely returned from the alternate dimension Yubel dragged them into, and Darkness was beaten and banished from this world.
Not that those victories were bloodless. But wasn’t it better to have the deaths be known and few than to have any one of the four seasons’ villains succeed and shoot the deaths upwards to the billions? Besides, most of those who died were villains, weren’t they? No, that wasn’t right. How many did the Supreme King slaughter? How many settlements razed? And the living suffered too. Look at everything that broke apart Jaden in Season Three.
And how sure could I be that this world would follow the script laid out by the canon GX? There were too many cases of one card seizing victory, one errant card that would’ve doomed the world. With so many watersheds centering around Duel Academy, shouldn’t I position myself there in case things go wrong?
A bitter snigger escaped from me. Look at me, acting all noble. All these points I had made were those I had already made to myself over the years.
I pulled out and gazed at my deck: A mishmash compared to what I played in my previous life, yet part of a collection far stronger than its relative lack of consistency would imply. Since arriving here, with each card I obtained, I had fostered a connection with them, could feel the beating hearts and stirring souls inside. With this and my knowledge of canon and my past life, how far could I rise?
Oh, I knew I could make loads of money from Pro Dueling, if the commercials and sponsorships of famous Duelists were any indication. But what was money, measly paper bills, pieces of metal, and plastic cards compared to the power of Duel Monsters? Power enough to twist the world, revive the dead, and everything in between. There were worlds here where what the cards depicted was reality. So really, hadn’t I made my decision long ago? Isn’t this base, selfish creature, one who potentially supplanted the life of an innocent with his own even if it weren’t his own doing, who I truly was, not this virtuous shell?
An impact on my cheek snapped me from my musings, one soft and fluffy, followed by an impatient squeak and then a reassuring burble. I looked to see Watapon: Part-time pain in the ass, full-time spirit partner, in all his adorable, cloud-white body and sky-blue-eyed glory. It was shortly after I awoke in this world when I first found and picked him up from his makeshift shelter that threatened to collapse from the falling snow while he shivered, confused and weak, and nursed him back to health. Maybe I had only done it to distract myself from the reeling I felt being in this alien environment, but even if Watapon owed me his life, I learned long ago that he had a backbone in that soft body of his. In his own words, or rather his specific form of communication, he wouldn’t have stayed by my side all this time if he hadn’t seen something more in me. As for our meeting, I believed in coincidences, but this wasn’t one of them.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I said, “We can’t turn back now.” I held my deck to him, “Think this deck’ll be just enough?”
Watapon nodded with as much solemnity as he could muster. I took a deep breath and proceeded towards the entrance, recognizing the man and the two women from the first episode in charge of taking attendance speaking with another applicant. They turned towards me when they ushered her in.
“Name?” The man asked.
“Warwick Volant,” I replied, handing over my ID and papers, proof that I had passed the written portion of the Exam. I wasn’t surprised that none of them noticed Watapon; few could hear, let alone see Duel Spirits.
The woman on the left scanned her clipboard. “Yep, I’ve got you down.” She pulled out her device, “And now you’re queued. Your name will be called when an examiner is available to test you.”
“Good luck,” the man said, returning my ID and papers.
I won’t need it, I wanted to say as I entered, but in a world as crazy as this one, I’ll need all the luck I can get. I noted that each of the enclosures for the Duels was occupied as I made my way to the section reserved for applicants, while then spotting familiar faces in the stands. Zane Truesdale and Alexis Rhodes, each fixing a critical eye on each Duel to suss out any applicant with great potential, Chazz Princeton with his cronies, acting like they were looking down at ants and that they were here only because they had nothing better to do, and Dr. Crowler, already categorizing applicants into Red, Yellow, and Blue. For the most part, the stands were empty, besides a few other Academy students situated here and there. That made sense; a good amount of applicants will fail, lacking the Dueling ability that’d attract any interest.
Speaking of, one by one the applicants before me descended to begin their practical as most of the ones who were tested earlier lost their Duels. That by itself, I had learned, wasn’t an automatic failure, as it depended on how you lost, though I was confident my written Exam score meant any win meant passing. Still, from their performance, it was likely this was as far as they’d get to entering Duel Academy.
Finally, my name was called and Watapon disappeared into my deck, in case he’d be summoned. Otherwise he only came out if I really needed the support. As I went down the stairs, I caught sight of the examiner switching decks, no doubt to deny later applicants an advantage from watching previous duels.
“I’ve beaten the last five applicants, you know,” The examiner said as a greeting, “Ready to be the sixth?”
“Five applicants?” I placed a hand over my chest, “You must be a legend ‘round these parts.”
He cracked a smile. “Indeed. Tell your friends you had the honor of Dueling me.”
Nice to be matched against someone with a sense of humor. Duel Monsters were life here and all, but it’s still possible to take them too seriously. We shuffled our decks and then each other’s. He flipped a coin, called right, and opted to go first.
“I’ll start things off easy,” he said as he drew a card. He Set a monster and a back row.
“Same here; draw. I’ll Summon Blue Thunder T-45 (1700/1000).” A futuristic fighter jet materialized in his monster zone.
“Trap Hole!” The examiner said, activating his Set card. The levitating jet promptly plummeted into the hole opening beneath it.
“I knew I should’ve refueled before I left,” I said, shaking my head. I quickly glanced at the stands, all unimpressed. Tough crowd. “Fine, since I won’t be Special Summoning this turn, I’ll activate Pot of Duality.” I revealed the top three cards in my deck, added “Shield Crush”, and shuffled the rest. “I’ll end my turn with Setting three.”
“Draw. You need to be wary about putting so much on the field. You just might get hit with,” He revealed the drawn card, “Heavy Storm!”
Seriously, already? “Then I’ll activate Dark Bribe to negate and destroy Heavy Storm. The rest of my backrow is now safe, but you do get to draw a card.”
“Thank you. Here, I’ll make it up to you for destroying your monster earlier by Special Summoning Gilasaurus (1400/400).” A brown velociraptor appeared. “Doing so allows you to Special Summon a monster from your Graveyard.”
Of course, I brought back my Blue Thunder T-45.
“Now,” the examiner continued, “I’ll Normal Summon Ape Fighter (1900/1200) and have it attack your T-45!”
“The T-45 belongs on the field. Activate Trap: Widespread Ruin! When an opponent’s monster declares an attack, their monster with the highest attack is destroyed.”
Ape Fighter’s charge towards T-45 ceremoniously ended in an explosion.
“Hmph. I’ll Set one and end my turn.”
“Draw. I Normal Summon Sangan (1000/600).” 1000 ATK wasn’t a lot, but I had life points to spare. And if it were sent from the field to the Graveyard I can add a monster to my hand so I wouldn’t lose card advantage. Too bad Normal Summoning in face-up defense position wasn’t a thing here, unlike in the original. “Then, I’ll activate Shield Crush to destroy your Set monster.” When a bolt of energy from the Spell Card punched a hole into it, I caught sight of Bubonic Vermin’s face screwed up in pain. Useful to have a body on the field, had its Flip effect resolved. “While my T-45 (1700/1000) attacks your Gilasaurus.”
My T-45 charged a stream of lasers at the dinosaur. “It is an appealing target, isn’t it?” The examiner asked, “Activate Quick-Spell: Rush Recklessly on my Gilasaurus (1400 → 2100/400).” Its muscles bulged and eyes grew frenzied and it leapt up to swat the T-45 out of the air.
“I’ll chain with Forbidden Lance from my hand. Not only does your Gilasaurus lose 800 ATK, it also makes it unaffected by other Spells and Traps, so the ATK increase from Rush Recklessly no longer applies (Gilasaurus: (2100 → 1400 → 600)/400).”
The Gilasaurus’s body returned to normal, but now grasping a lance. Poor thing could only look bewildered as it tried to use it to block the lasers, to no avail.
Examiner LP: 4000 → 2900
“And,” I went on, “Since T-45 attacked and destroyed a monster, I can summon a Thunder Option Token (Machine-Type/LIGHT/Level 4/ATK 1500/DEF 1500). Now my Token will attack!”
“I discard Swift Scarecrow,” The examiner said, discarding the Monster card, “to negate your direct attack and end the Battle Phase.”
A rickety scarecrow emerged. Flimsy as it was, it was still enough to block the red beam from my Token.
“I end my turn.” I stole a glance at the Duels around me and another at the audience. I had a few eyes from them on me. Maybe my Duel was the most interesting, though at the moment that didn’t seem to be a high bar.
“Draw. How about I give you a breather?” The examiner asked, as if his life points were higher. “I activate Nightmare’s Steelcage. It stays face-up for two of your turns and while it does, no monster can attack. I end my turn.”
So, really, my monsters can’t attack, I thought, considering my opponent’s empty field.
“Draw.” Cannon Soldier. No point Summoning it here. “I end my turn.”
“Draw. I end my turn.” The examiner said. He didn’t seem concerned that his field remained empty.
“Draw. I end my turn, and that’s the second one since Steelcage was activated.”
“Draw, and correct.” The examiner moved the Spell Card to his Graveyard, “Just in time for Dark Hole!” I rolled my eyes as my Monsters were swallowed up. First he draws something that destroys all Spells and Traps, then something that destroys all Monsters.
“Since Sangan was sent from the field to the Graveyard, I’ll add a monster with 1500 or less ATK from my deck to my hand.”
The examiner continued, “I’ll banish my Swift Scarecrow to Special Summon The Rock Spirit (1700/1000). And it’ll attack directly!” The Spirit ‘pulled’ a boulder from the ground and hurled it at me…
…Only to hit scrap. “I’ve got my own scarecrow: the Trap Card, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow. It negates the attack and returns to being Set.”
He nodded approvingly, “You’re doing a good job defending yourself so far. I’ll Set one and end my turn.”
“Draw. I Normal Summon Peten the Dark Clown (500/1200),” producing a masked clown in green and yellow motley, “Then I activate Creature Swap. We each only control one Monster, so we switch control of them.” The air around our Monsters shimmered, obscuring them, until both materialized opposite of their positions. “Now, I attack my Peten (500/1200) with your Rock Spirit (1700/1000)!”
Before a rock hit him squarely in the face, Peten, judging from his body language, made himself look offended, but I could tell he was just giving a performance. Really, he enjoyed it when he could participate in screwing over my opponents.
Examiner LP: 2900 → 1700
“And since Peten being sent to my Graveyard is the last thing to have happened, I’ll Summon another one from my deck in defense by banishing the one in my Graveyard. I end my turn.”
“Draw.” The examiner snorted. “You have any S/T removal? Because I activate Swords of Revealing Light and end my turn. It stays face up for three of your turns, and while it is, you can’t attack.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if a vein became visible on my forehead. Of course he’d draw into another stalling card. “I do… I just haven’t drawn it yet. Draw.” It was The Beginning of the End. I didn’t have nearly enough DARK Monsters in my Graveyard to activate it. “I end my turn.”
He drew, then I drew Barrel Behind the Door and set it. That could be useful. He didn’t have many Life Points left after all.
He drew and set a Monster. I masked my relief when I drew Scapegoat and set it. Even better, this was the third turn, so ‘Swords’ was destroyed. It won’t be long until I can proceed with registering for the Academy.
“Draw. First I activate my Set card, Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Scrap-Iron Scarecrow.” I squinted at the Typhoon’s heavy winds as it surged towards my facedown. “And look what I have in my hand, it’s Graceful Charity!” The examiner grinned. He proceeded to draw three cards and discard two. My frustration mounted. A +1 at this very moment. Of course. “And you’re going to love this. I Flip Summon my Monster: Avatar of the Pot, because I drew Pot of Greed!”
“Oh for the love of—!” I jabbed my finger at him. “That is complete bullshit!” I heard a few snickers from the audience. It was nice to know my misery brought them joy.
The examiner laughed too, but sympathetically. “This will be a mitigating factor in your practical. Promise. Anyway, Avatar’s effect lets me draw three cards by sending Pot of Greed to the Graveyard. Then I’ll Tribute it to Summon Dark Dust Spirit (2200/1800). When it’s Normal or Flip Summoned, it destroys all other face-up monsters on the field.”
The dust cloud that erupted drowned my irritated growl. I reflexively put a hand in front of my eyes as shadows flitted within the cloud, tearing apart my Monsters. That was the second card he had that wiped them out.
“Since Peten was destroyed by that effect,” I said, “I banish it from my Graveyard to Special Summon the third one from my deck in defence position.”
“That won’t protect you as well as you think it will. I activate Double Summon. I Normal Summon Marauding Captain (1200/400), which lets me Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Monster from my hand: Enraged Battle Ox (1700/1000)!”
I quickly did some math in my head.
“My Ox does Piercing Battle Damage, so it’ll be the one to attack your Peten (500/1200)!” The Ox’s axe cleaved Peten in two.
Warwick’s LP: 4000 → 3500
“Now my Captain (1200/400) and Spirit (2200/1800) attack you directly!”
I knew it was all holograms in the end. But with how real it looked that a man was swinging his sword at me and a red and black demon with spikes and yellow eyes was lunging at me, I couldn’t stop myself from flinching.
Warwick’s LP: 3500 → 2300 → 100
I grimaced after feeling their blows, like cold static, wash over me. Once they returned to their side of the field, I held my deck up to my eyes. “I could’ve sworn I put Mirror Force in here…”
That drew a few more chuckles, including from the examiner. “That’s the end of my turn. Per its effect, Dark Dust Spirit returns to my hand,” he concluded.
“Then I activate Scapegoat during your End Phase.” Miniature sheep appeared in four of my Monster Zones.
The examiner raised his eyebrow. “Did you let nerves get to you? You could’ve used those tokens to block the attacks from my Captain and Spirit.”
“I’ve got a good feeling about the rest of the Duel. I mean, after all the crap I went through, I think I’m due for a gamechanger like Pot of Greed, right?”
My opponent, amused, shrugged. “Draw and find out.”
I did the first, but not the second. “Actually,” I revealed a card already in my hand, “I Normal Summon Cannon Soldier. Its effect allows me to Tribute one Monster and inflict 500 damage to you. Best of all, it’s not once per turn! So I tribute each of my four Tokens to deal 500 damage each!”
The leftmost Token glowed white before reshaping into a ray that suffused the Cannon Soldier. Then—
BOOM. A burst of pale yellow energy erupted from the Soldier and streaked over the heads of the Captain and Ox, towards the examiner, prompting him to put a hand in front of his face. I supposed bright lights being directly exposed to your eyes wasn’t a safety violation here.
Examiner LP: 1700 → 1200
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Examiner LP: 1200 → 700 → 200 → 0
That was that. The audience murmured. Looks like they hadn’t seen an applicant pass in a while. I removed Cannon Soldier from my Duel Disk and returned it to my deck. “Sorry for breaking your streak,” I told the examiner.
“There are plenty of applicants left,” he replied, unbothered. He nodded towards me. “Congratulations. You had a harder test than most. And granted, it’s almost never during the entrance exams, but stranger things have happened than what you saw in my last turn that allowed Duelists to pull off reversals. Or near-reversals in my case, so be prepared for that.”
Don’t I know it? The protagonists have done it countless times. “I will.” I replied. “Is there anything left I need to do to register?”
“Just one thing. You know who to speak to to complete the process?”
“The staff at Room 25, which is up near Entrance 30.” With that, we bid each other farewell. As I ascended the stairs to my destination, Watapon emerged from my deck, excitedly squealed, then nuzzled my cheek.
Smiling, I asked, “The deck being just enough was exactly right, huh?” Watapon gave an affirmative hum. I admit, that was cutting it a bit close, but I didn’t want to show everyone what I could really do or the full picture of what cards I had stored.
When I neared the middle of the stairs to Entrance 30, I caught bits and pieces of conversation from the audience.
“...lucky.”
“...almost lost.”
“...Slifer Red for sure…”
Getting into Red would be a problem, not because of the substandard accommodations, but because I’d almost certainly interact with Jaden, Chumley, and Syrus, especially since the former two can hear, and in Jaden’s case, see Duel Spirits. The further away I can stay from them, the more likely the canon will play out.
Registration was a straightforward affair. Anticlimactic really, especially considering what might await. Riches? Power? Glory? Trauma? Enslavement? Ruins? Or maybe I’ll accomplish nothing and just be another ordinary person in the background. And that wouldn’t be so bad. Not at all.