Chapter 1: Not a Normal Day

"My turn! Draw!" I looked at the cards in my hand and nodded. "I summon Constellar Kaus!" Several stars floated together as a white centaur warrior with a bow and arrow appeared. "Now, Kaus! Attack directly!" The monster fired an arrow into my opponents stomach, sending him flying back.

LP: 0

WIN!

"Yes!" I took off my Duel Gazer and Pad, putting them in the holders on my belt. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright." He groaned as I helped him up. "Man, you really are strong! I can't believe you haven't entered any tournaments yet!"

"Trust me, tournament competitors are on a whole different level to me." I admitted. "But thanks for the vote of confidence."

"No problem, now I'd better see if anyone else wants to Duel me before class restarts. See ya!" We waved to each other as he sprinted off.

My name is Lennox Mori, I'm male, 13 years old, and a duelist. I live in Heartland City, this large beautifully coloured area that you would kill to see at night, where I attend Heartland Academy, the middle school, with all my friends and fellow Duelists.

I suppose I'd better start with appearances. I'm caucasian, around average height for my age, with dark blue eyes and crimson hair that is mostly swept back, apart from the front where it turns into two blonde strands that curve down behind my ears and reach my shoulders before spiking up, making a sort of 'V' shape. I was currently wearing the standard Heartland Academy uniform in red to define my year.

"Hey! Lennox!"

I turned to see a guy with black and red hair running towards me, almost tripping over himself with enthusiasm. "Looks like you just beat that guy! So come on! Duel me!"

I sighed. This guy was Yuma Tsukumo, a classmate of mine. I've seen him with Kotori and Tetsuo a couple of times, and he's also with me in my lessons. The reason I'm not saying I don't know him that well is because...well...it's hard not to when he's the guy who falls asleep in class and fails at everything, not to mention the shouting. Plus, he really sucked at Dueling, hasn't even learned the basics!

"Are you sure about that, Yuma?" I asked.

"Of course I am! Let's Duel! C'mon already!" He persisted.

Kotori came over to us. "Yuma, stop bothering Lennox."

"I'm not! I just want a Duel!" He whined.

"How about this, Yuma. I'll Duel you tomorrow, no holds barred." I said.

"For real?" He smiled like a little kid at a carnival. "Your on, Lennox! But you'd better keep your promise!" He then ran off to Duel someone else.

"Thanks, Lennox!" Kotori thanked me as she followed him. It was obvious she had a crush on him, it's just he was too dense to figure it out. Still, he wasn't bad, just...inexperienced. REALLY inexperienced.

The rest of the day passed by quickly and I began walking home. As usual I passed by the card shop and walked inside.

"Afternoon, Lennox." The shopkeeper routinely greeted me with a smile.

"Hey, Ging." I greeted.

"Which one is it gonna be today? Or do I even need to ask?"

I chuckled. "The usual, please."

"You got it." He reached behind him and grabbed a card pack as I dug into my pocket for my chores money and placed it on the counter in exchange for the pack. I quickly opened it and shuffled through the cards, ending with me pocketing them. "No luck?"

"No luck." I confirmed with a nod.

"Listen, Lennox. Xyz Monsters are no easy thing to come by." Ging assured me. "Besides, the Deck you've got there is pretty good. Trust me, I know my stuff."

"I know, Ging. I love my Deck, just an Xyz would be nice, y'know?" I shrugged. "Maybe its a sign that I'm not ready for one yet."

Ging crossed his arms. "I don't believe in any of that spiritual stuff, but Xyz or not, your a good Duelist in my eyes kiddo."

"Thanks, see you later!" I waved as I walked out of the shop and headed home.

My house was a quaint little one, with a plain garden and two trees, yellow bricks, blue doors, a red roof, and a whole ton of windows. As I jogged up the steps, I noticed an Obot picking up leaves. "Woah! Woah! Hey!" I ran in front of it. "I've told you Obots a dozen times! Cleaning up leaves is my job! You guys get the pavements!"

"Cleaning, cleaning." The machine persisted.

I sighed as I turned it around and pushed it on its merry way, though looking across the lawn I was pretty grateful for it doing half the job. Ignoring the chore for now I walked up the door and looked to my right, noticing a violet car of all colours parked in the driveway. "Yep, she's home." I opened the door and walked in. "I'm home!"

"Is that you, Lennox?" A voice called from the kitchen before a woman walked out. She looked fairly young with long blonde hair trailing down to the small of her back with a cowslip at the top, wearing a white apron over her pink shirt and jeans that deliberately hugged her curves. "Hey there! How ya doing?"

"Fine thanks, Amy." Amy was my Auntie. She didn't like me calling her Auntie though because it made her feel old. Don't know why it would, she's 26! "Whatcha cooking? Smells really nice."

"Chicken and green bean ramen." She said proudly. "Hey Lennox, can you do me a favour?"

"Sure, what?" I asked as I put my bag away neatly.

"Go up and talk to my brother, will ya?" She groaned. "He's been moaning all day about wanting his son to get home."

I snickered. "Gotcha, thanks!"

"No prob!" She called as I jogged up the stairs, slowing down as I reached my dads room. I slowly opened the door to find him lying in bed as usual, a sickly look on his face. His red and golden hair and beard flared out across his face, making it look like a lions mane, or a 'stupid sun' as my Auntie called it.

"Hey dad." I greeted him.

"Lennox!" His sickly look instantly vanished as he sat up with a big grin on his face. "There's my boy! How was school, son? Get any wins today!?"

"Yeah, three in a row." I smiled.

"That's my boy!" He instantly reached over and grabbed his D-Pad from his desk, a standard model with an orange colour, and put on his red Duel Gazer with a golden body. "Get ready, Lennox! 'Cause I'm gonna give you a Duel you'll never forge-Cough! Cough! Urgh..." He flopped back onto his bed.

"For the last time, dad, don't push yourself." I said with a half-lidded stare.

"Right, right, spoilsport." He mumbled. "Doesn't mean I can't still Duel."

"Sure it doesn't." I chuckled as I got out my Deck. "Let's just Duel the old fashioned way."

"Now your talking!" He grabbed a placemat and put it on his bed, as we both placed our Decks down and got our five cards in hand.

"DUEL!" We both cried.

Later, me and Amy were eating downstairs after I brought a bowl up for dad, slurping away with a ravenous appetite.

"He tried to climb out the window again today." Amy absentmindedly mumbled. "You'd think after 5 years he'd learn to just rest...but that's my brother for you."

"That's the way dad always is." I stated as I finished and started clearing the table.

"Yeah, yeah, he'd have broken something if I hadn't come back in time." She nodded. "It's a good thing Mr. Heartland let me off early." Amy had worked at Heartland Towers ever since she came over from England, and she'd risen up from maintaining Litterbots to just under the mayor, Mr. Heartland himself. Apparently its just a lot of boring computer work, but it gets really good pay at least.

After finishing the dishes I visited dad again and we had another Duel, before long it was night time and I was sitting on his bed, sorting through my cards, when he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Your mother would be so proud of you." He smiled.

I returned the smile as I looked at the prized portrait on his bedside table. My mother was a beautiful woman with light green hair that was as long as could be, and soft, blue eyes that sparkled brilliantly. She had passed away when I was 8, and my dad caught the same illness as her. He never showed signs of getting worse or better, and doctors were at a loss for even identifying it, so we were allowed to keep him at home, and I'm always grateful to Auntie Amy for supporting us.

I walked into my room, quite a simple one, with a blue bed and green wallpaper, yellow carpet, a writing desk, books, the usual. I walked over to my cupboard and opened it, taking out the cards I got today and carefully placing them on the huge stack of cards I already had (it was a nightmare that one time they fell over). Before you ask, no, I am not a horder, I just never have the heart to throw away any of these cards. I donate them and trade them, yes, but never toss. After all, I love thinking about how someone took the time and effort to create the picture on the front, draw up the effect, take time and planning into every single card. I really think card creators don't get enough praise (despite their massive wealth), but maybe I'm just overthinking it and they're mass produced in a factory or something...still, though.

I got out of my uniform and hung it up for tomorrow then got into my PJ's, a short sleeve black shirt with a dark pink dragon head on the front (a gift from my loving Aunt.) and some white and red checkered baggy bottoms before hopping into bed and drifting off to sleep.

ZEXAL

The next morning was Friday, and so dressed in my uniform I headed off to school. Although, today something was different...the classroom wasn't as loud, there wasn't as much noise in the gymnasium, no splashes in the pool...it was just so...dull.

I didn't realise until break what was wrong, as I noticed Yuma, who looked really down for some reason, walking towards me.

"Hey, Yuma." I greeted him cautiously. "Oh, right! You wanted me to Duel you today. Well, I'm ready when you are."

"Sorry, Lennox." He replied glumly. "I don't feel like Dueling today."

Now THIS was a shock. The one thing that everybody knew about Yuma was that he loved Dueling, despite how bad he was. To see him turn down a Duel meant something was wrong.

"Oh, hi, Lennox." Kotori greeted me, sadly.

"Uh, hey, Kotori." I replied. "What's wrong with Yuma?"

"Oh, he's felt bad ever since yesterday." She said. "When his pendant got broken by Shark."

"Shark?" I recalled. "He broke that pendant?"

"Yes, and now Yuma's been glum ever since. I don't really understand, but I know it was a gift from his father."

That struck a nerve in me, I knew Yuma's loss of his parents, which was kinda relatable to me, and to hear his fathers gift getting broken sounded really bad.

"What about his usual...Kattobingu?" I asked, remembering his 'catchphrase'.

She shook her head. "Nothing. His spirit really seems broken."

"Geez..." I rubbed the back of my head, honestly feeling sorry for Yuma.

"I'd better keep an eye on him. See you later, Lennox." She waved as she ran after him.

I sighed. "Goddamnit, Ryoga..."

I walked home later that evening, dad had thankfully nodded off the entire day, I didn't want him to see me looking so unfocused. I kept thinking about the situation with Yuma and Shark...to be honest, I considered Shark a friend, we'd met in the hospital when my dad and his sister were in, and we bonded a bit. But recently it felt like he was drifting more and more into a bad crowd. I don't know if it was guilt or whatever, but it just felt like I was losing him.

Still, on the other hand, I didn't want to butt into this business of Yuma's after Tetsuo explained the whole thing to me. I was worried, obviously. Shark is stronger then me, so how is Yuma of all Duelists going to beat him? In the end, I decided to stop worrying about it and just let my mind be at ease. After all, tomorrow was the weekend!

ZEXAL

Saturday morning, and I was up at the crack of dawn! As I didn't have to wear my uniform, I got on my standard, favourite clothes; an open aquamarine short sleeve shirt that was cream coloured on the inside, over a long sleeve half orange half green shirt, the green and orange seperated by a zigzag across the stomach and at the shoulders, with the orange being at my chest whilst the green covered my waist and sleeves. This went with a pair of dark blue trousers with yellow streaks along the edges, and black slip on shoes with green around the soles, side and back.

"I'm heading out!" I called.

"Just be back for dinner!" Amy called.

"How could I ever miss a meal?" I chuckled before setting off out the door.

My main focus for the weekend was to see if I could find anyone to Duel, maybe do a bit of cheap labour for pocket change card money, and see if I could find where Yuma and Shark would be Dueling, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see it.

I ran up a flight of stairs and continued on the upper path levels, but I couldn't find anyone with a D-Pad, just shoppers and runners. I decided to go up higher, with no luck, so I went higher still, and found myself alone on one of the uppermost platforms.

"Okay, I might have gone a bit overboard." I admitted, looking across Heartland. "Nice view though." I leaned over the edge and stared across the city. "I can see why mum and dad both came here, Heartland really is colourful, it just lifts your spirit right up!"

I looked down at the people walking below me. "Mum was a great Duelist, she could use Xyz Monsters easily...I want to be as good as her someday...but am I good enough right now?" I looked up. "I'll have to find that answer out myself."

I then realised something. "Good god, I'm talking to myself spiritually, I am NEVER going to be alone this long again. I'd better head back down." I turned towards the flight of steps.

Squelch.

...Ohhhhhh nooooo...please don't tell me I just stepped in dog crap.

I tentatively lifted my foot up and stared at the bottom, but instead of finding a brown streak across my shoe, I found a blob of red goo instead. "What the..." Cringing, I pulled the goo off. It wasn't slimy, and it wasn't sticky, it felt like jelly in a way. "Gross, what is this?" I flicked it off my hand, only to see there was more around my feet. I followed the trail with my eyes to see a big puddle of it.

"That is disgusting." I stated with a disapproving look. "What is this? Some kind of joke?" I walked over to the puddle and looked at it. "It's funny though, I don't remember this being here when I came up..." I knelt down next to it, and as quickly as possible, stabbed it with my finger, causing it to ripple like water. "Weird..."

Blub.

I jumped, and looked at the goo, which seemed to be...moving? "Huh!? Why is this stuff-wah!" I cried out as the goo started shifting more frantically, the splotches all around it suddenly came to life and slid their way to the main puddle, merging with it.

I frantically backed off as the puddle began to rise and mold itself into a shape. It made itself look humanoid, with two arms, three fingered hands, two legs, toe-less feet and a skinny torso. Its head was spherical, and a yellow light suddenly flashed inside it, which became a single yellow ball for an eye.

I could only stare at the thing. What was I supposed to do!? A blob of goo just turned into...into humanish goo! You ever seen that happen!?

The eye shot around wildly in its head, observing its surroundings like a steroid induced goldfish in a glass bowl, before finally coming to rest on me.

It stared for a bit before I actually responded. "Uh...hello?"

The eye blinked. "D..."

I jumped again, I certainly hadn't expected it to talk! But its voice was weird, as if it was constantly speaking underwater.

"D...Duel." It said.

"Duel?" I echoed in confusion.

"Duel." It repeated, pointing to my D-Pad.

"Er...yyyyyeah, I Duel." I really didn't know what to do in this situation. "Do you...have a name, or something?"

The thing raised its left arm, and suddenly the goo on its arm stretched into a Duel Disk, the goo stretching out further to form monster and Spell/Trap zones, and I watched as forty cards slid out of its body and into its holder.

"Duel." It persisted.

"Y-You want to Duel me?" It nodded. "I never thought I'd get challenged to a Duel by a blob of goo...what am I supposed to do here?"

"Duel."

"Yeah, you said that." I crossed my arms in thought. Dueling didn't exactly have any restrictions on Duelists...but it was a blob of slime!...Ah screw it, a Duel is a Duel, and I'm always up for one! "Alright, goo! I accept your challenge!"

"Duel Disk, set!" I got out my standard yellow coloured D-Pad and equipped it to my left wrist, the zones folding out.

"D-Gazer, set!" My D-Gazer had a sharp sky blue lens and an arrowhead shaped red and silver body with the clip curving around behind my left ear (as I wore it over my left eye). The goo's eye glowed brightly, showing that it didn't need a D-Gazer.

"AR-Vision, Link Established." A voice said as 0's and 1's surrounded us, with various information screens such as what other Duels were happening nearby appeared.

"DUEL!"

Lennox vs. Unknown LP: 4000

I looked up at the things player screenshot and name, only to find its name listed as 'Unknown'.

"I'll go first!" I said. "I draw!" The cards in my hand appeared in front of me as holographic images so I could study them: Miracle Card, Constellar Acubens, Double Summon, Level Booster, Constellar Zubeneschamali, and Constellar Algiedi.

"Awesome! I summon Constellar Algiedi from my hand!" A white armoured Spellcaster with 1600 ATK materialised from sparkles. "Now her effect activates! When Algiedi is summoned, I can Special Summon a Level 4 monster from my hand! C'mon, Constellar Acubens!" A Machine type formed together with 800 ATK.

"And when Acubens is summoned, all Constellars I currently control gain 500 attack!" Algiedi and Acubens were boosted to 2100 and 1300 ATK respectively. "I set a card and end my turn!"

"Turn. Draw." 'Unknown' said as its one eye looked at its hand...it was kinda creepy. "Summon. Goo Shadow."

A purple puddle of goo formed in front of it, which rose up into a flat figure with a bending tail connecting it to the 'X' for a foot, it had long flat fingers and was wearing a blood red scarf with thin whipping ends, whilst there were two holes in its face acting as eyes, as well as an innocent crescent shaped smile, with what looked like two little devil horns on its head.

Goo Shadow, Level 4, Aqua, DARK, ATK: 1400 DEF: 1200

"Goo?" I'd never heard of an archetype like that before, but I had to admit it was ironically fitting.

"Activate. Blood Lust." The Spell was primarily red with an enraged figure in the centre. "Monster shall gain 800 attack." Goo Shadow gained a red aura as its ATK became 2200.

"Damn, it's attack is higher!" I gasped.

"Attack, Algiedi." The shadow giggled before sliding over and pulling its arms back in preparation.

"I activate my Trap, Miracle Card!" The Trap showed a golden shooting card in the center of a sparkling galaxy. "When my opponent declares an attack, I draw a card, then apply an appropriate effect depending on the type of card I drew!"

I placed my fingers on the top of my Deck. "I'm ready! Draw!" I looked at the card and smiled. "I drew a Monster Card! Constellar Kaus!" I revealed the card. "Due to Miracle Card's effects, my monsters cannot be destroyed by battle until the End Phase!" Algiedi and Acubens glowed golden as Goo Shadow impacted Algiedi.

Lennox's LP: 3900

"Blood Lust allows attack twice." It said. "Attack, Acubens." Goo Shadow giggled again before punching Acubens.

Lennox's LP: 3000

"Set card. Turn end." It finished.

'So it actually knows how to Duel.' I thought. 'Okay then, no holding back!'

"My turn! Draw!" I placed the drawn card in my hand and picked another one. "I activate the Spell, Double Summon!" The card spun into augmented existence. "With this, I'm allowed to Normal Summon twice this turn! Firstly, I'll release my Constellar Acubens..." The robot disappeared. "To Advance Summon Constellar Zubeneschamali!" A new robot appeared from the sparkling ashes of Acuben, with 2100 ATK.

"When Zubeneschamali is Summoned, I can add a Constellar from my Deck to my hand!" I fanned out my Deck and picked a card. "I choose Constellar Sombre!"

"Also, I summon Constellar Kaus!" The white centaur with a bow and arrow appeared. "Okay, Kaus! Activate your effect!" Kaus drew back a light arrow into its bow. "Up to twice per turn, I can increase or decrease a Constellar's Level by 1! I'll increase Zubeneschamali's!" Kaus fired skyward as the arrow burst into sparkles that rained down on the machine, boosting its Level to 6.

"I use Kaus' effect again to increase Zubeneschamali's Level once more!" Kaus repeated its action, boosting its fellow Constellar to Level 7.

"Finally, I activate the Spell, Level Booster!" The card showed a Gogiga Gagagigo pulsing with power as 8 Level stars rose up around it. "With this, all monsters I control gain 100 attack points times their own Levels until the End Phase! With Kaus' and Algiedi's Levels at 4, they get 400, whilst Zubeneschamali gains 700!" The monsters gained a white aura as Kaus' ATK became 2200, Algiedi's 2500, and Zubeneschamali's 2800.

"Now we can start! Zubeneschamali! Attack Goo Shadow!" The machine nodded as it sped forward and stabbed the shadow with its swords. The resulting burst of light caused my opponent to wobble in an unstable manner.

Unknown's LP: 2600

"Goo Shadow's effect." It said. "When destroyed, summon another with 0 attack and defence." A second Goo Shadow rose up, its stats both dropping to 0.

"Well then I'll take them all out!" I declared.

"Trap Card. Fear Instinct." The card showed a pair of blood red eyes menacingly glaring. "When monster destroyed, ends Battle Phase." The red eyes materialised and flashed at my monsters, causing them to back off.

"Damn, I went in too strongly." I muttered. "I end my turn, with my monsters attacks returning to normal, though Algiedi still has her boost from Acubens." The white glow left the Constellar's.

'I underestimated this thing.' I thought. 'It knows how to Duel well. But...what exactly is it?'

Just then, I felt something.

Call it an intuition, or a hunch, but I felt like the world suddenly stopped for a few brief seconds. It was like a grim shadow had just floated past me, or a cold wind had just blown.

It felt like something horrible had happened.

"What was..." I thought aloud, but then I noticed something about my goo for an opponent.

A light was glowing on its head, where its face should've been. A red light, that...kinda...looked like the number 48.

"Turn. Draw." It stated. "Summon. Goo Shadow." A second Goo Shadow joined its buddy. "Activate. Level Force." The Spell showed a man in pain as a red aura pushed him down. "Reduce Level of monsters by 1." The Goo Shadow's dropped to Level 3.

'What is it doing?' I thought.

"Overlay, two Level 3 Goo Shadow's." I gasped as the two monsters turned into streams of purple energy.

"No way in hell!" I yelled. "This thing can Xyz Summon!?"

A galactic portal opened up at its feet. "Build Overlay Network with two monsters." The two purple streams dived into the portal in a sparkling explosion.

"Appear! Number 48!" A long scythe with a red 48 on it followed by a ball of tattered red cloth appeared. "Ghostly reaper. Shadow Lich!" The red cloth opened to reveal a half skeleton that looked down at me menacingly, as two purple lights orbited it, and its 1800 ATK appeared in an info box next to it.

"Number...?" I breathed heavily in fear as the ghastly monster loomed over us. "This thing...it feels pure evil!"

"Numbers..." The slime spoke. "Numbers...destroy...everything!"

"Destroy?" I echoed, looking up at the 'Number'. "This monster..."

Number 48, Shadow Lich, brandished its scythe with a menacing laugh...

Goo Shadow: If you control a Level 4 monster, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon 1 'Goo Shadow' from your Deck with its ATK and DEF reduced to 0.

Blood Lust: Target 1 monster you control; it gains 800 ATK and can attack twice. these changes last until the End Phase.

Miracle Card: When a monster your opponent controls declares an attack; draw 1 card, then apply one of the following effects depending on the type of card you drew:

Monster Card: Your monsters cannot be destroyed by battle until the End Phase.

Spell Card: Double the Battle Damage you recieve from that attack.

Trap Card: Negate the attack.

Level Booster: All monsters you currently control gain 100 ATK x their own Level, until the End Phase.

Fear Instinct: When a monster you control is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, end the Battle Phase.

Level Force: Reduce the Level of all monsters you control by 1.

Hello! This is the test of my ZEXAL story! It has been published after my 5D's test chapter and is soon gonna be followed by my GX test chapter, so check those out too if your interested!

If you don't know what this is about, I am currently doing a story on Arc-V, but since I'm all caught up on the episodes now, I decided to test out ideas I had for the other series' in the meantime, and asked readers to vote for which they wanted to see. 5D's placed first, ZEXAL second, and GX third, so I am posting them in that order. Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's: Beyond Limits went up yesterday and GX shall be up Sunday.

So, I hope you enjoyed reading this test chapter! If you liked it, leave a review! The most popular out of the three might get continued!