"I activate the effect of Pitch-Black Power Stone, transferring it's last spell counter to my Mythical Beast Cerberus!" a pinkette shouted, as the continuous trap card shattered. Both heads on the creature let out a howl in unison, their attack points increasing even higher.

Magical Beast Cerberus Atk: 3900 Def: 3900

The tester across from the girl frown. Since she had put up her Swords of Revealing Light, he hadn't been able to draw a card to get him out of his current predicament. As both heads on the monster stared him down, he almost felt fear. A monster that started with less offensive power shouldn't have a treat, and wouldn't have been, if it wasn't for that trap card. On most creatures, contracting it's effects on a single monster didn't have a limit on the amount of spell counters it could gain was devastating. Especially when it gained 500 more attack points per spell counter.

Even the strongest creature they allowed him to have, a Summon Skull, had already been forced into defense position.

Summoned Skull Atk: 2500 Def:1200

With it's sacrifice, her Mythical Beast Cerberus would drop back to it's original attack value, making it much easier to deal with.

"Next, I'll equip it with Fairy Meteor Crush!" the pinkette grinned, Her beast howled once more, it's attack and defense increasing to even greater heights

Mythical Beast Cerberus Atk: 4400 Def: 4400

The tester frowned, both at the monster's immense attack value, but also at the card itself. Fair Meteor Crush allowed the monster it was equipped to do damage to an opponent's life points when they attack a monster in defense mode. Summoned Skull's defense points were to low to take a hit from that! 3200 damage directly to his life points was more than he could take!

"Magical Beast Cerberus, Attack!" the girl declared, as the monster bound forward. Fang's broke through Summoned Skull's guard, destroying it in a shower of sparks. The tester's life points hit zero, and the holograms faded. The duel was over.

"I don't think I've ever seen someone use a four star monster quite like that," he said, grinning. This girl was smart, still new, but she had good instincts and had won quite readily. "You pass. I wish you luck during your time at Duel Academy.

Louise only allowed herself one reaction. A massive sigh of relief.

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One may ask why, exactly would Louise be applying to Duel Academy, and why she wasn't at the Tristain Academy of Magic. She often found herself asking that, even if she already knew the answer. The answer was simple. Her Familiar Summoning Ritual blew up in her face, sending her to Founder knew where.

She had taken it about as well as anyone would have if they had just been forcefully ripped away from the handful of people she had ever cared about in her life. No more Wardes, no more Cattleya, no more Hentritia, no more Kirchie. Actually, the last part wasn't so bad, though she missed her self declared rivals antics more than she would ever admit to anyone.

Ultimately, she had been taken in by a small family that had apparently come across her. Somehow, despite the fact she was in no system whatsoever, she was adopted. She was given the option to leave, but ultimately decided against it for the time. For the time being, she felt it was best to have place to at least stay while she tried to find a way back. A task complicated by the swift destruction of her wand. It got caught up in one of her blasts, much to her rage.

In an attempt to distract herself from her sorrow of never being able to see Cattleya again, Louise had picked up the immensely popular card game of this Founder forsaken world. Her prior failures didn't give her much hope, but this was unwarranted.

Louise took to Duel Monsters like a duck to water. Many older duelist's were insulted by it. Good instincts, combined with solid luck, made her a fearsome opponent. She was by no means perfect, but her studious nature and excellent work ethic only added to her prowess. Louise took special interest in spellcaster themed decks. She may have been a failure as a mage, but it felt nice to have something to remind her of home.

The first successes of Louise's life brought on an ego, for a time. However, that ego would cause her to lose. It took time, but Louise gained confidence, but also humility. She was still loud, proud of what she accomplished, but also aware that others had their own power and strength. And that strength was to be respected, least it breed defeat.

Quite honestly, Louise had grown quite attached to her cards during her six months here. Her new family was far from a substitute, but they understood that and tried to help the best they could. She still felt it would be best to enroll at Duel Academy. At this rate, Louise knew she was in for the long run, so it made sense to pick up more skills, and possibly be able to make her own money.

A long time ago, Louise wouldn't have cared about that. It spoke a lot to her that she was preparing to protect her future here. Professional dueling could make a lot of money at the end of the day, with everyone shooting to be the next 'King of Games'. While Louise didn't intend on going that far, she liked dueling, and if she could make money while doing it, why wouldn't she?

Sitting down at last, Louise took a look around the room. She saw a few of the senior students milling around, most of them wearing blue jackets. Obelisk dorm, she believed. However, most of the seats taken comprised of none uniformed students, just like herself. It seemed like all of them have passed.

Ultimately, she sat not to far away from where a boy with blue hair and two different shades of brown were standing. It seemed like they were commenting on one of the other duels that just ended.

"Examinee number 110, Jaden Yuki," the overcome blared, as the twin shaded brownette headed down towards the arena. She hadn't heard what he said to the person who had just won their own duel, but he oozed confidence.

"Is this seat taken?" a voice asked to her left. Louise turned her head to the boy who wanted to sit down. She recognized the blonde as the person dueling right next to her. She hadn't seen much of his deck, but she knew he was quite strong.

"No, not all," she said, remaining as polite as possible. He sat down next to her, his straggly blonde hair revealing his blue eyes. For a moment, his attention turned to the duel playing out before them, before wincing. Louise found herself understanding why.

Heavy Storm was one of the cards Louise would never consider running, ever. Her deck relied too much on spell cards, and her ace needed to have her field spell up. A card that destroys all spell and traps on the field, including her own, was simply too much of a risk. However, seeing that the two traps had just created two tokens, and removed the poor kids own trap card, leaving a fairly weak monster out in the open, with two cards to be tributed was simply a bit much.

Of course, the tester was missing one thousand life points, but that was likely due to some type of spell card. This didn't seem like a standard testing deck. No, this was clearly something else.

Both gold monster's shattered, as a dull glow ignited behind the examiner. Louise couldn't stop her jaw from dropping. It was massive! The creature before them may have been a hologram, but it was imposing, If real, it's shadow would be cast over the battlefield.

"An Ancient Gear Golem," the boy next to her breathed out.

"You've seen this card before?" Louise questioned, turning her head to the side. The single glowing red eye only added to its imposing figure. Gears groaned inside it's armor. Ancient indeed.

"No. More like, I've heard about it. It has an attack and defense of three thousand. It inflicts battle damage when attacking a monster in defense mode, just as it would if it's target was in attack mode. To make matters worse, when it does attack, you can't activate spells or traps until the damage calculation phase. Thankfully, the only way you can bring this monster out is via normal summon," the boy rattled off, as if he had memorized it's entire special effect. But he was right. A monstrous opponent indeed.

Ancient Gear Golem Atk: 3000 Def: 3000

Elemental Hero Avian Atk: 1000 Def: 1000

With no extra layers of defense, the poor kid's hero was going to be crushed. In a single fist swing, the bird human hybrid was crushed, shattering like glass, has his life points were cut in half.

Jaden Life Points: 2000

Crowler Life Points: 3000

Louise frowned. Ancient Gear Golem was far from unstoppable, with the right cards, of course. Odds were simply that he just didn't have any at the moment. However, he didn't seem ready to give up, so he drew. A new monster entered the field, and Louise almost had a moment.

It was small, round, clearly covered in fur, with massive eyes, tiny arms and legs, and just as small wings sprouting out of it's back. Simply put, the monster Jaden played was designed with the sole purpose for being adorable. It was joined by a facedown card.

Winged Kuriboh Atk: 300 Def: 200

Was that really the best he could muster? That level of defense was even worse! He was going to lose if he didn't do anything!

"When Winged Kuriboh is destroyed, it's owner takes no battle damage that turn," the boy explained.

"No way. An ability like that? It's completely absurd!" Louise turned. If it could negate all battle damage when destroyed on a single turn, why hadn't she run into it! Almost everyone would use one if so! Unless it was just that rare.

It seemed the duel disk agreed with his assessment, as the puffball was crushed, the brunette took no damage. Then, the face down. It was a trap card, emitting a beam of energy, resulting in an english H forming in the air. Under its crimson light, a new elemental hero was summoned. Wearing a tight suit of crimson, Elemental Hero Burstinatrix took the field in attack mode.

Elemental Hero Burstinatrix Atk: 1200 Def: 800

Then, to Louise's shock, the brunette played his entire hand. First came The Warrior Returning alive, returning Elemental Hero Avian to his hand, before it joined its fellow hero in attack mode.

Elemental Hero Avian Atk:1000 Def:1000

Things then got strange, as he played the spell card Polymerization. Both monsters created a whole much stronger than it's parts, in the form of Elemental Hero Flame Wingman, which entered the field.

Elemental Hero Flame Wingman Atk: 2100 Def: 1200

"That still falls ten hundred short," Louise said. It's ability, if it had higher attack points, would allow the brunette to win outright. "He could win right now, but he just falls short!"

"Really?" the boy next to her questioned. Louise raised her eyebrow. He had been the one explaining things this entire duel. He seemed sense her surprise. "What? I'm more familiar with American Elemental Hero's, not the ones released in Japan." Oh. That would explain the accent.

"When Flame Wingman destroys a monster in battle, it inflicts damage equal to the destroyed monster's attack points," Louise explained. She hadn't fought many Elemental Hero decks, but they were annoying, always spamming Polymerization or other fusion cards to summon monsters faster than her board could remove them.

Finally the last spell was Skyscraper, a field spell. Both of them realized that was simply game over. Louise had this played on her once, at it turned even the weakest heroes into surprisingly hefty beatsticks. The blond simply shuttered. All too many times had he been on the receiving end of this card.

Dark buildings erupted from the ground, creating a sprawling cityscape. Much like of a comic book, Flame Wingman was perched overhead, staring down at the golem. It proceeded to jump, wreathing itself in flame. There were no face downs to stop the attack. No cards in the hand to disrupt it's assault. Ancient Gear Golem fell, crushing what remained of the testers life points.

Jaden Life Points: 2000

Crowler: 0

"That was impressive," Louise grinned, as Jaden danced around bellow. Down by 1000, and able to not only seize the upper hand, but win as well. She would need to be at her very best if they were to duel. At the very least, he would make for a good rival. A much better one than Kirchie, that was for sure!

"I have to agree," he said. "Though I don't think I have your name." Louise gasped slightly, realizing her rudeness.

"I'm Louise," Louise said, extending her hand. "You?"

"Ruby. It's nice to meet you."

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"Remember, due to Freya's ability, you can't attack her when I have another fairy type monster on the field, and Victoria's, which forces you to attack her before any other fairy type monster," Jack taunted, a feat that he only allowed himself to do due to board. Freya, Spirit of Victory, Victoria, and Zeradias, Herald of Heaven, were arrayed on his board.

Freya, Spirit of Victory Atk: 100 Def: 100

Victoria Atk: 2200 Def: 1900

Zeradias, Herald of Heaven Atk: 2500 Def: 1200

Field Spell: The Sanctuary of the Sky

The tester was looking at his hand intently. His last play wiped out 2200 of his own life points trying to kill Victoria with his Red-Eyes Black Dragon. How was he supposed the know the duelist before him had acquired a card like Honest? The act of discarding it had boosted Victoria's attack by that of the attacking monster.

"Very well. I place a facedown card and end my turn," the tester said. It was Magical Cylinder, a trap card that redirected an incoming attack back at it's owner. He was aware it wouldn't win him the match, but it would bloody the kid's nose a bit.

"My turn, which means I draw!" he said, taking the top card off his deck. "I'll start it off by activating Victoria's second ability! Once per turn, if my opponent has a dragon type monster in their graveyard, I can resurrect it under my control!" The tester frowned, as Red-Eyes returned to the field, covered head to tail is some type of golden armor

Red-Eyes Black Dragon Atk: 2400 Def: 2000

"Now, Victoria, clear the way to his life points! Attack his Spear Dragon!" the duelist declared, seemingly heedless of the danger awaiting him.

"I activate my trap card, Magical Cylinder! Victoria's attack it redirected towards you!" he knew he couldn't win, the resurrection of his Red-Eyes told him that. His last turn was a fallacy, but he wasn't aware of how much, as the card in his opponent's spell and trap zone flipped up.

"I have a trap of my own! Divine Punishment! When a spell, trap, or monster effect targets one of my fairies, I can activate this, negate it's effect, and destroy it!" his opponent was grinning at this point. Beams of light arced from his field spell, symbolizing their connection, before filling the bucket played on the field full of holes. As Victoria charged, it shattered, allowing the dragon slaying fairy to strike down it's farget.

Spear Dragon Atk: 1900 Def:0

Victoria: Atk: 2200 Def: 1900

The small dragon, with a spear like snout, attempted to defend itself, but couldn't, being cleaved in half, before shattering like glass.

Tester's Life Points: 1500

Duelist's Life Points: 4000

"Now, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, attack your former master directly!" the monster roared at his command crushing the last of the testers life points.

Tester Life Points: 0

Duelist's Life Points: 4000

All monsters faded from the field as the duel came to an end.

"Congratulations. You pass. I wish you luck at Duel Academy." the tester said, bowing slightly.

Ruby grinned. He was in!

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Life had made a bit of an odd turn for Ruby around six months ago. Moving all the way to Japan wasn't easy by any stretch. Leaving everything you ever knew behind wasn't pleasant. He dropped the Duel Monsters at age ten, not long after winning a Regional championship. He attempted to get back into it, but never really succeeded. The card he had won, The Splendid Venus, unnerved him constantly. A tickle, all the way at the back of his mind.

It wasn't until later, when everything had abandoned him, he understood. His Splendid Venus as different than all the others. It held a duel spirit inside. His ace in the hole and his rarest creature. She didn't show up much, and he was thankful for it. He liked succeeding or failing based on his own merit.

But suffice to say his skills had improved, drastically. His deck revolved around fairy type monsters, focusing on bouncing cards between his hand, field, graveyard, and ones that had been removed from play. It allowed for powerful, high speed special summons to overwhelm the enemy with raw force. Simple, yet it had proven it's worth countless times. Most of his strongest monsters were 2800 attackers. With the spells and effects at his disposal, much greater heights could be reached. Safe to say, he had plenty of power.

Why go to Duel Academy? Ok, technically, he could have got in much easier than this, seeing as the job Ruby's parents had dragged them out to Japan were for Kibacorp. They worked under the man who owned the whole Academy. Doing something would have been literal child's play, but honestly, he preferred his pain.

Heck, he didn't even need to resort to resurrecting Red-Eyes, he simply did it to add insult to injury. His four star or less monster had it handled. No need for him to reveal his strongest monsters before the crowd of students. After all, a guy needed to have some secrets, right?

Ruby made his way through the throng of people, avoiding the upperclassmen while looking for a place to sit down.

"Examinee number 110, Jaden Yuki," the intercom suddenly blared, causing Ruby to jump a little, to his embarrassment. He was easy to startle and scare, and as a result, could never play a horror game. Finally, he decided on a seat, one that happened to be next to a small girl. She was short, extremely short, likely even more so than the tiny bluenette he could see. Her hair was a bright pink color, making her stick out from the crowd.

"Is this seat taken?" he questioned, drawing her attention, revealing pink eyes and a youthful face. Baby face would be a good term for it, however, those pink orbs held a fierce look that could not be ignored.

"No, not at all," she grinned, her politeness showing through. Ruby returned the smile, taking the seat, before turning his eyes to the duel. A choice he immediately regretted. Heavy Storm raged, creating two tokens and destroying any facedown cards. Both tokens created by the facedown cards, in fact. Tokens that were used to summon a much more horrifying monster.

Ancient Gear Golem rose, and he breathed out it's name, apparently such loud enough for the girl sitting next to him to hear.

"You've seen this card before?" she asked. He could hear rumblings from the older students. It seemed they were also aware of this monster's reputation. Extremely rare, though not as rare as Venus, it was one of the handful of monsters a equal to Blue Eyes White Dragon.

"No. More like, I've heard about it. It has an attack and defense of three thousand. It inflicts battle damage when attacking a monster in defense mode, just as it would if it's target was in attack mode. To make matters worse, when it does attack, you can't activate spells or traps until the damage calculation phase. Thankfully, the only way you can bring this monster out is via normal summon," Ruby recited, remembering everything he could about the monster. While not being able to special summon it was a massive drawback, it was dangerous, especially when all you have is a monster with 1000 defense points protecting your life points.

In an instant, the creature was destroyed, removing half of Jaden's life points. The elemental hero stood no chance. Ancient Gear Golem was just as strong as the rumors said. Though, it was by no means unstoppable. But could this kid pull it off? He was no stranger to the Elemental Hero archetype. In fact, his younger brother ran his own.

However, America and Japan, for some reason, had different elemental heroes. So Jaden's deck was completely new to him. He hoped the hero duelist was able to pull something out of his hat. They always seemed to be able to. It's how hero's simply did things.

Winged Kuriboh. Weak in most terms of attack and defense, it more than made up for it by it's special ability. Each variation of the card had a similar ability that revolved around negating battle damage. Winged Kuriboh had the ability to negate all battle damage on the turn it was destroyed. He had searched for that exact card for quite some time, but never had much luck. When he could track down someone willing to part with it, which was a rarity in and of itself, the cost was too much. Even if he did, the support cards that went with it were rarer and even more expensive.

"When Winged Kuriboh is destroyed, it's owner takes no battle damage that turn," Ruby said, as the girl's face seemed to twist in an emotion akin to annoyance. Which then turned into something akin to surprise.

"No way. An ability like that? It's completely absurd!" she turned, her increase of volume nearly bursting his eardrum. Her mind seemed to be lost in thought as Winged Kuriboh was also destroyed. Jaden took no damage from the attack, and activated a trap card, special summoning a new Elemental Hero.

Once again, it was Jaden's turn. First Warrior Returning Alive brought back Avian to his hand, before entering the field, giving Jaden two small monsters. Next a staple of Elemental Hero decks, Polymerisation, entered the field, fusing both monsters he had in play.

Flame Wingman was the result. It looked decently massive, and likely had an effect of it's own, but he wasn't aware of what it was.

"That still falls ten hundred short," the girl next to him said, and he frowned. He had no idea what it's ability was, but she seemed to think it was good. "He could win right now, but he just falls short!"

"Really?" he asked, confused. That had to have been one powerful ability if Jaden could win if he had one-thousand more attack. She turned to him, seemingly confused. Right, he had given off the impression he knew everything. "What? I'm more familiar with American Elemental Hero's, not the ones released in Japan." He tried to keep the accusative tone out of his voice.

"When Flame Wingman destroys a monster in battle, it inflicts damage equal to the destroyed monster's attack points," she stated, as he nodded. Well, that made Louise's assessment very correct indeed. Now, how exactly would Jaden raise his monsters attack points?

Skyscraper hit the field, and he winced, hard. Out of all the Elemental Hero support cards, it was one of the few printed in both America and Japan, and it was popular, for good reason. When an Elemental Hero attacked a monster with larger attack points, it gained one thousand additional attack points. This just made his brother's Elemental Hero's all the more annoying.

And it had just won Jaden the match. The newfound hero's strength grew even more, increasing by just enough to bring down the Ancient Gear Golem. Wreathed in flame, it dived down towards the target, smashing it's defenses and tumbling down onto the tester. Ending the match.

"That was impressive" the pinkette grinned, as Jaden danced on the floor below. He was good, quite so. Likely better than his brother in his mastery of Elemental Heroes. Ruby would be hard pressed to defeat him, that was for certain.

"I have to agree." Ruby grinned as well. This Jaden, would be the perfect test of his skills. "Though I don't think I have your name." the girl gasped, if only just now realizing that fact. He was just as guilty of that as well.

"I'm Louise," she extended her hand, "You?"

"Ruby. It's nice to meet you."

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I have no idea why there hasn't been a reverse summoning crossover between GX and Familiar of Zero. It just seems like a perfect fit! Either way, I hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll see you next time!