Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce myself. I am Wolf General, as I'm sure you figured out already. Before we begin let me say that this is a new storyline with some ties to the foreshadowing in the last chapter of the Legends of the Demon Duelist series.

Fear not however! I have already figured out that most people (myself included) don't have the time or attention span to read what would be a long and confusing storyline which spans several arcs. Therefore, I am coming at this storyline with a fresh start in my mind. I've got some rock playing on my computer, and I'm gearing up to make sure that no one will be left in the dark about what is going on.

The 'moral' of this little addition? Treat this like a new fic, not a continuation of the Demon Duelist Legacy/Legends of the Demon Duelist series.

And with that…

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Disclaimer: If I owned Yugioh, don't you think I'd be spending this time in my basement making huge numbers of really rare cards and assembling three thousand theme decks for my own devious purposes? In other words, I don't own the concept of Yugioh, Yugioh GX and everything that comes with them. However, the OCs of this story are my property, as are all original cards used by the characters.

The Infinity Chronicles-Second Year Arc

Chapter 1: Déjà vu; the Duel Academy exam redux

It was a beautiful weekend morning, and the light of the sun poured down onto the city of Domino. It was the early afternoon already and every student in Japan was enjoying the break offered by summer vacation. Honestly, it was way too hot not to try and relax on a day like this. Even most store owners were locking up early to spend the rest of the day with family and friends.

The only place where this wasn't the case was Kaibaland, the amusement park built by and named after the infamous duelist Seto Kaiba. Normally most of the park's features were open all the time to the public. Well to those who paid the entry fee anyway.

Today though, one of the largest stadiums in the whole park was extremely busy, bustling with activity as technicians went charging from place to place, yelling to each other about making sure that they kept all holographic projectors of the stadium in top order. It was the one day of the year when the Duelist Academy, also established through funding from Seto Kaiba, held its entrance exam.

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Inside the stadium there were four large areas in the center ring that were fenced off from each other, indicating the areas where duels were supposed to take place. Within a couple of them, huge monsters could be seen battling each other.

And up in the stands that surrounded the duel rings sat two groups. The majority were simply passerby who had come to sit back and enjoy the action down below. They filled most of the seats in the stands.

Up towards the higher stands though, there were clumps of teenagers and young adults of all shapes and sizes, each of them wearing a specially made blue uniform to indicate that they were part of Duelist Academy's Obelisk Blue dorm. Amongst the three dorms of Duelist Academy, Obelisk Blue was the top and spots in it were reserved for returning students of exceptional caliber, along with those who had been part of it before the former.

Down below a bearded man in a brilliant gold-painted uniform brushed his beard with his hands as he waited for the examinee to make their move. "You should try and relax, or else you most likely will not win." In front of him stood a large crab-like creature made of rock which clicked its pincers together impatiently. Other than that there were no cards on his field. In his hand however there were six cards, the maximum number of cards a duelist could have in their hand at the end of their turn.

His opponent, a rather mousy-looking brown-haired boy stared at the three cards in his hand with uncertainty. Looking down at his duel disk, he bit his lower lip as he got a look at the life point scores.

Professor Midas King- 3200

Examinee- 400

"I…I…" The boy started to stammer, his nerve gone now. "Are you sure the deck you're using is an examination deck? Your monster is powerful."

Midas King harrumphed and crossed his arms across his chest indignantly. "Of course this is an examination deck. The monster you're facing is simply my personal favorite, Enraged Muka Muka. For every card in my hand it gains 400 attack points, so since I am holding six cards its attack goes from 1200 to 3600."

"Oh yeah…" The examinee looked down at his feet sadly. "I...gotta give up then. There are no monsters in my hand that I can summon, and no traps that'll protect me for the turn." Placing his hand over his deck sadly, he turned and started to walk away.

As soon as the holograms disappeared, Midas walked across the field and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Do not feel so bad about failing this test. Improve your deck and come back next year."

Cheering up a little, the boy nodded and walked away with his head held up a little higher than it would have been without those encouraging words.

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"What a let-down…" A sigh came from one of the Obelisk Blue students in the stands. "The level of examinees so far is terrible!"

Letting out another depressed sigh, Erika Amero ran her slim hands through her long black hair. ("What's worse is that Midas really is using an examination level deck, and he's still winning without a problem! Sheesh, what are these kids running that is making them have to give up before their life points even reach zero!") Standing up, she brushed out the skirt of her uniform. ("You know what, I'll go down there and get a closer look at the potential competition for this year.")

Erika Amero was a second-year student of the school, and second-year student of the Obelisk Blue dorm. (Note: If you have gone to a special prep school then upon entering the academy, if you pass the test, you are eligible to join Obelisk Blue, despite the previous rules.) She was also known as the Dark Demoness of Duelist Academy, but for very good reason. Standing at about 5'2", she wasn't exactly a terrifying person to behold. In fact, with her petite frame and attractive face any ordinary boy would find her cute.

Of course, appearances were deceiving. For one thing, Erika's eyes were colored gold, like the eyes of a wolf. And on top of her head were a pair of wolf ears with fur the same black color as the rest of her hair. That was why she was called the Dark Demoness of Duelist Academy, because she was really a demon. Well, half-demon technically, but that wasn't something she took pride in.

As she walked down the steps towards the lower area of stands, she overheard something that immediately caught her interest. Close to the steps she was walking down a group of girls in street clothing were discussing and giggling over something quietly. Unfortunately for them, Eri's wolf ears weren't just for show. She could hear what they were saying as clear as day.

"Did you hear? There was another sighting!" A blond-haired girl said to her two friends. Her excitement about whatever they were talking about is what had caught her attention. They were whispering about it like it was some kind of great secret.

"Of course. You know I'm always up to date about any sighting of him." A slightly chubby brown-haired replied to her friend in a 'know-it-all' tone. "After all, I'm one of the highest ranked members of the Starlight Savior fan-club!"

Eri sweat-dropped at hearing that, and kept walking down the steps. It was another conversation about the mysterious 'hero' who called himself Starlight Savior. He had showing up in random places across Japan over the course of the summer. She had met him once, a few months ago. At the time she was sure he was insane, but apparently insane was popular with other girls her age these days.

Reaching the safety railings that separated the stands from the sudden drop that led to the dueling rings; Erika rested her elbows on the cool metal bars and looked across the ring to look at the digital screen that indicated who was dueling in which rings. ("I shouldn't have even come. I knew I'd just be sitting here for hours on end without anything to do.")

Her ears perked as she heard someone gasp off to her side, sounding as if they recognized someone or something. Glancing out of the corner of her vision in the direction of the gasper, she immediately recognized who it was. "Erian?"

Said person was a teenager that looked to be about sixteen or so, more or less her age. And the reason she immediately recognized him is because there was no living thing on the planet that worse fashion sense than he did. Erian had bright green hair and yellow eyes. He always wore a red baseball cap, orange t-shirt under an indigo jacket, a pair of blue jeans, and purple sneakers. To her fashion sense, he was a travesty of nature. Of course, he was either too stupid or too carefree for other's opinions to affect him. "What are you doing here?"

Rolling her eyes at his stupid question, she tugged on her blue jumper gently. "I wonder why."

Blushing slightly, he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh yeah…you're a student of Duelist Academy too. I guess that's why Ichigo told me to be careful around you, huh?" Tapping his chin with one finger, he looked as if he was trying to remember something. "Eri, do you know what a 'soul-consuming force of evil' is?"

The demoness blinked at the random question. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, Ichigo said something like that when he warned me to keep away from you." Erian titled his head to the side quizzically as he saw a couple of veins bulge on Eri's forehead. "I didn't understand what that meant, so maybe you could…"

Eri's hand curled into a fist and she brought one hard punch down on the railing in front of her, the metal making noises of protest as she dented it. "Let's…" She creaked her neck to look at him, wearing a fake smile to conceal the boiling anger at a certain someone she was holding right now. "…just say that the next time you see Ichigo, please bring him straight to me, alright?" When Erian nodded she took a deep breath and cleared away certain heated thoughts of her fist and a certain other half-demon's face. "Anyway, the bigger question is why you are here."

Erian grinned widely, like a child who was extremely proud of something. "I'm here to take the examination! I already took the written part, and now I'm just waiting for my turn to be called!"

The demoness suddenly had memories of the times she had watched Ichigo try to show Erian how to duel. ("I didn't even know you could overload a Duel Disk's computer by inserting multiple cards into the same disk slot…") More or less, a few months ago Erian didn't know the difference between a Duel Disk and a toaster, much less how to actually play the game the disks were meant for. However, his teacher was Ichigo Pilkington…and if there was any idiot meant to teach someone about dueling, Ichigo was the man for the job. His ability to duel was his biggest strength. It was also one of his only strengths too.

Erian waved his hand in front of Eri's face for a few moments, wondering what she was daydreaming about. "Hello? Eri?"

"Would Erian…err…" The voice over the speaker went silent for a few minutes. "Would Erian please come to dueling ring number four, you are up." There was some muttering over the intercom about 'damn kids' and 'not writing their last names down on the registration form', and then it turned off.

Grinning to himself, Erian marched off towards the stairs that led to the dueling ring. He had already forgotten all about Eri, who was too busy remembering the time Erian had thought that a Duel Disk and pop-up toaster were meant for the same purpose, and resulted in a rather interesting scenario for the fire department that day.

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Making sure his Duel Disk was on nice and tight, Erian stood patiently on his side of the dueling field. Across from him there stood the gold-dressed and gold-bearded professor from before, Midas King. "Hey, I know you! You're that grouchy golden guy! Hi, remember me?"

Midas almost lost his composure over that, but he quickly recovered before visibly getting angry. "I don't think anyone could possibly forget you, even if they tried, Mister Erian." Last year Erian had spent the last two months of the semester as a guest of Erika Amero's father, Rikuo Amero. To say that he caused nothing but trouble would be an understatement. ("The worst was that none of it was malicious. It was hard to get mad at somehow as oblivious as him.") "Mister Erian, you may have been given special treatment when you were a guest of our school last year, but if you intend to actually become part of this prestigious academy then do not expect any mercy from me. Am I making myself clear?"

Gulping at the deathly serious tone in Professor King's voice, Erian flicked the switch on his duel disk that activated it. It expanded its 'limbs' and unfolded into its duel mode. "Okay…let's duel…"

Professor King waved his hand over his gold-colored and jewel-encrusted duel coat, which matched perfectly with his clothing and with his hair. It hummed to life and he adjusted the attached duel field so it was resting comfortably on his body. "Even though this is an examination level deck, I assembled it myself. Therefore, do not expect an easy battle. Duel!"

Midas- 4000

Erian- 4000

Waving his hand over the motion sensor on his coat, Professor King caught the top card of his deck as it was spat free from the unit attached to his gold uniform. "I will go first, Mister Erian." Fanning out the other five cards in his hand, he pursed his lips. ("When he was spending his time with us at the Academy last year, this boy had no deck. Therefore, I cannot predict what his first move will be.") "I set one monster in face-down defense mode." A face-down brown-backed card appeared on his field in a horizontal position. "With that I will end my turn. It is your move, Mister Erian."

Erian absent-mindedly drew the top card of his deck and added it to the other five cards he was already holding in his hand. "Now, let's see…" His yellow eyes went from card to card, reading the text of the cards to remind him of what each one did. ("Just do what Ichigo and take it slowly.") "I'll start with Elemental Hero Bubbleman in attack mode." A blue-armored superhero appeared on his field and struck a pose. (800/1200)

Up in the stands, Eri's eyes widened at the card that Erian had widened. ("He's playing an Elemental Hero deck?") Thinking about it though, that didn't make sense considering this was Erian. She didn't know him as well as Ichigo did apparently, but he didn't seem like he had a grasp of the game that allowed one to play such a complex deck.

Erian craned his neck forward to look at the text of the summoned card. "Oh yeah, when Bubbleman is summoned and I have no cards in play I may draw two more cards." Pulling two more cards off of his deck, he added them to his hand. ("Okay, I summoned for the turn. Now let's see…Ichigo said next up was to determine whether or not it was wise to attack.") Looking at his monster's attack points, he shook his head quietly. ("Let's see, he said that if my monster has less than 1000 attack points I shouldn't attack face-down monsters…") "I'll place a card face-down on the field and end my turn." A face-down brown-backed card appeared behind Bubbleman.

Professor King frowned at how long such a simple move had taken the boy. "Mister Erian, are you sure that you are up to joining the elite of Duelist Academy?"

Erian tilted his head back and tapped his chin while he thought about that. "I think so…"

"You don't sound it." Waving his hand over his Duel Coat's reader, Midas caught the card that was spat off the top of his deck. "I flip summon my face-down monster." A large grey rat appeared on his field. "Giant Rat (1400/1450) has far more attack points than Bubbleman, so now I attack!" Clacking its teeth together, the beast bit down on Bubbleman's shoulder and the superhero exploded.

Midas- 4000

Erian- 3400

Erian pouted at the fact that his monster had been so easily beaten. "Jeez, you're good."

Midas sweat-dropped at how the boy said that after only one turn and one attack. "You'll have to excuse my skepticism, but I do not feel you're ready for this type of school. End turn."

Erian drew and looked at his hand again. ("Okay, I need a monster with higher attack power than his.") One of the cards already in his hand caught his eye, and he grinned. "Let's try this. I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight in attack mode." A black and grey metal knight appeared on his field. (1800/1600) "Gearfried, attack his Giant Rat!" The warrior jumped across the field and slashed its sword down the rat's chest, blowing it apart. "Yay!"

Midas- 3600

Erian- 3400

Eri blinked at the sudden shift of monsters that Erian was using. ("Is Bubbleman just in his deck for the draw effect? Why?")

Midas removed his deck from its slot on the Duel Coat's chest piece and fanned it out. "When Giant Rat is destroyed as a result of battle and sent to my graveyard I can special summon an earth attribute monster with 1500 or less attack points from my deck to the field." One card slid up from the stack, which he placed into in the pocket of his jacket. Shuffling his deck, he replaced it back into his Duel Coat. "My choice is Enraged Muka Muka!" A giant crab-like monster made of stone appeared on his field and clacked its claws repeatedly. (1200/600)

Erian kept grinning. "But your monster doesn't have enough attack points to take down Gearfried. Anyway, I guess I'll end my turn."

Midas waved his hand across the motion reader once more, and it spat out a card which he added to his hand. "You're too naïve, Mister Erian. For every card in my hand, Enraged Muka Muka gains 400 attack and defense. However, before I power it up I summon this monster." A much smaller stone crab appeared in play. "This is Muka Muka, the weaker version of my Enraged Muka Muka." (600/300) "For every card in my hand it gains 300 attack and defense points. At the moment I am holding six cards, so the power of my two monsters increases." (1200/600- 3600/3000) (600/300- 2100/1800)

Erian gaped at the two monsters. "Uhhh…"

"Now's not the time to be surprised, Mister Erian! Enraged Muka Muka, attack Gearfried now! Claw Crusher!" The crab monster scuttled forward and slammed one claw down on the knight, blowing it apart.

Midas- 3600

Erian- 1600

Midas sighed. "It's over. Muka Muka, attack his life points directly." The smaller crab scuttled towards Erian rapidly, clicking its claws together.

Sweat visible on his brow, Erian hit the button for the slot he had placed his face-down card in. "I activate this card, Sakuretsu Armor." A suit a metallic demonic armor appeared in play. "This destroys one attacking monster." Letting off a purple glow, the armor exploded and took the Muka Muka with it.

"…." Both Midas and Eri stared at Erian like he was insane.

"What?" Erian spouted out, sounding incredibly nervous. "What'd I do wrong?"

"Why didn't you activate your Sakuretsu Armor trap card earlier to destroy my Enraged Muka Muka or my Giant Rat?" Midas rubbed his temples with his fingers, eyes closed now.

"I could do that?" Erian smiled. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind next time."

"Right…" Midas groaned quietly to himself and inserted a card into one of the slots on his dueling field. "I place one card face-down and end my turn." (Enraged Muka Muka: 3200/2600)

Erian drew. ("So far so good, I haven't lost yet.") Looking at the drawn card, he frowned and folded all of his hand cards together. With his free right hand, he started to reach for his deck. "Hang on a second, I don't have any monsters in my hand…"

Professor King narrowed his eyes darkly. "Mister Erian, you aren't about to switch a monster from your deck out with a card in your hand, are you? That would be called cheating…and it's something that the Duelist Academy looks very down upon…"

Erian's hand slowly retracted from his deck and he re-fanned his cards out. "Really? But Ichigo let me do it when he was teaching me…"

"This isn't a classroom yet, Mister Erian." Midas motioned to the Enraged Muka Muka hissing on his field. "This is a duel, and in a duel you cannot expect anyone to let you break the rules just because it makes things convenient for you. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yeah…" Erian looked down in the dumps down. ("Without a monster I can't defend against his attack, and his monster is so powerful…") Suddenly he had an idea. Plucking four cards out of his hand, he started to insert them one by one into the magic/trap slots on his Duel Disk. "I place four cards face-down and end my turn."

Midas waved his hand across the reader on his Duel Coat and caught the card it gave him. "Because of the number of cards in my hand, the power of my Enraged Muka Muka increases." (3600/3000) "Enraged Muka Muka, attack Mister Erian's life points directly! Claw Crusher!" His monster started to move in for the kill.

Eri sighed. "Looks like he loses…" She started to turn away as the claw of the Enraged Muka Muka came flying down at Erian's head. ("I shouldn't have expected anything from…") Midas' gasp of surprise instantly brought her spinning around to see what had happened. The Enraged Muka Muka's claw hovered a few inches from Erian's face, frozen in place by some unseen force.

Midas widened his eyes slightly. "So this time you actually set a trap for me that you intended to activate, hmm?"

Erian adopted a rather confident smile he had seen Ichigo use many times. "Yeah, I'm not that bad. My face-down trap card was Blast with Chain, increasing your monster's attack points by 500." Up in the stands, Eri face-fell. (4100/300)

Midas felt a couple of veins on his forehead surge up. "You…you understand you just raised my monster's power, correct? And that battle still continues, so you just lost, Mister Erian."

Erian scratched the side of his head in confusion. "What do you mean I lost?"

"You didn't stop my attack and Enraged Muka Muka…" Midas suddenly wondered why his monster had stopped. Its attack increase shouldn't have caused a replay, so battle should have progressed as normal.

Eri lifted her head up slightly to look over the railing. ("Yeah, why did its attack stop?")

Erian snapped his fingers. "Oh, sorry! I forgot to tell you I activated these cards in chain." One of his other cards was face-up. "Emergency Provisions lets me send magic and trap cards on my field to the graveyard to gain 1000 life points per card." His two face-downs disappeared.

Midas- 3600

Erian- 3600

Erian removed the two cards from his disk slots and flipped one of them up for Midas to see. "I sent Trap's Trap and Divine Soul to the graveyard."

The Professor's eyes showed that he understood now. "Trap's Trap, when sent from the field to the graveyard, lets you destroy one trap card in play….and Divine Soul lets you special summon one level four or lower angel type monster from your deck to the field when you have no monsters in play. By activating Blast with Chain, chaining Divine Soul to it, and then chaining Emergency Provisions to them both…"

"That's right." Erian pointed at his Blast with Chain trap card. "By the effect of Trap's Trap, I destroy Blast with Chain." The card shattered. "When Blast with Chain is destroyed while face-up because of an effect, I may destroy one card in play. Obviously my choice is Enraged Muka Muka." The giant crab monster howled painfully and exploded. "And by the effect of Divine Soul, I special summon Shining Angel from my deck to the field in defense mode." A white-robed angel appeared on his field in a crouching position. (1400/800)

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Eri was standing now, eyes wide in amazement. "That's incredible. Despite the fact he seemed incompetent, he knew which cards to set and in what order to activate them to gain the greatest benefit."

"Indeed. While he might be a fool, he's a fool with potential." The sound of nearby footsteps told her immediately who it was. Dressed in a blue boy's uniform, a spiky black-haired teenager about the same age as her walked up and looked out at the dueling field with his deep blue eyes. "It's obvious that he at least has some tiny bit of skill."

"Good to see you again, Adriel. I assume you spent most of your break training to beat Ichigo in a duel, right?" Eri snickered smugly.

Adriel Zaytel was one of Duelist Academy's best duelists. His affinity with dragon monsters was uncanny. Of course, at first he had used that skill to his advantage, bullying others out of their rare cards by challenging them to ante duels. For a time he was untouchable.

Then last year he met Ichigo Pilkington, and had been defeated soundly in a duel. Since that time he had spent his waking moments honing his dueling skills to match those of Pilkington's and soon the day would come when he would trample Ichigo under his heel. Well, at least that's what he thought. "There's no need to mock me, Amero. I'm more than capable now of defeating that fool than ever before."

"That's just the same song and dance, Adriel." Eri looked back down at the dueling field and continued to smile, though this time it wasn't malicious.

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Midas rubbed his chin for a few moments, and then clapped his hands together a couple of times, offering a small bit of applause for Erian. "I will admit I didn't expect a move of that complexity from you, Mister Erian. However, that simply means I will stop reserving my resources as I have been." Snapping one of the cards in his hand up, he continued to appear mostly stone-faced. "I activate Mass Restoration. This magic card can only be activated when I have lost one or more monsters on my field as a result of an effect used by you. At the cost of ending my turn, I may now revive all monsters destroyed by one card effect. I choose the effect of Blast with Chain." His Enraged Muka Muka reappeared in play. (3200/2600) "Of course this means that it is your turn."

Erian drew. ("Okay, what should I do now? Well let's see, I've only one trap card in my hand and I want to save it for later. Therefore…") "I activate the magic card Different Dimension Capsule." A green and yellow sarcophagus appeared on his field. "I select one card from my deck and remove it from the game. In two turns, that card will enter my hand." Removing a card from his deck, he took a deep breath. "In two turns my sure-fire card will be in my hand. Until then I end my turn."

"Your sure-fire card?" Professor King moved his hand over the motion reader on his Duel Coat and caught the released card. "You're starting to sound a little more like an actual duelist, but we will see how good you really are." Looking at the card he had drawn, an amused smile crossed his face. "This should be interesting. First, I play the magic card Pot of Generosity, shuffling two cards from my hand back into my deck." Selecting two of his hand cards, he placed them on top of his deck and pressed the button on his coat that automatically shuffled his deck.

From up in the stands, Adriel frowned slightly at that. "Shuffling cards back into his deck? That isn't Professor King at all…"

"No, there's a reason for it." Eri was also frowning, but for a different reason. "And once you've seen it you'll understand."

Midas inserted a card into his dueling field. "I place one card face-down." A card appeared behind the Enraged Muka Muka. "Also, I play the continuous magic card Gold Mine." Behind him a giant clearly labeled entrance to a mine appeared. "As long as this card remains in play, both players draw an extra card during their draw phase."

Erian giggled to himself. ("He doesn't realize he drained his Enraged Muka Muka's attack points to just 1600.")

"From the sound of laughter I hear, you think I've made a mistake." Midas shook his head slowly. "That will be your undoing, Mister Erian! I activate Card of Sanctity!" The last card in his hand disappeared and a holy glow fell over the field. "When this magic card is activated, both players draw cards from their deck until they are holding six cards." He started to wave his hand over the Duel Coat's motion reader, drawing card after card until there were six in his hand.

Erian removed three cards from his deck nervously.

Adriel just smiled darkly in understanding. "I see. Those two shuffled cards must have been monsters. And by returning them to his deck he was able to maximize the gain from his Card of Sanctity."

Midas pointed at the Shining Angel. "Enraged Muka Muka, attack with Claw Crusher!" The giant crab hissed and slammed its claw down on the angel's head, blowing it apart.

Erian braced himself against the backlash from the attack. "When Shining Angel is sent from my field to my graveyard as a result of battle, I may special summon a light attribute monster from my deck that has 1500 or less attack points." A female magician with pink hair appeared on his field. "I special summon Magician of Faith to my field." (300/400)

Midas chuckled. "Mister Erian, Magician of Faith is a flip effect monster. By special summoning it in attack mode to your field you've lost the chance to use its effect." Inserting another card into his disk, he watched as it appeared in play. "I activate the continuous magic card Limitless Hand. This card, while in play, makes it so that our hands have no maximum limit. Also, I play the magic card Pot of Greed." A smiling green jar appeared on his field. "This allows me to draw two cards." Adding two more cards to his hand, Midas barely flinched as the jar exploded. "And with that I end my turn."

Erian looked down at the Different Dimension Capsule that was still in his magic/trap slot. ("In one more turn I'll have my chance, but until then I'll just have to hold out.") He drew once. "Like the effect of your continuous magic card said, I get to draw an additional card." Now he was holding eight cards in his hand. "I might not look that good, but you need to understand something special about me. My deck isn't like any kind of deck you've ever faced before. First I activate the quickplay magic card Book of Moon from my hand to select one monster in play and flip it face-down." His Magician of Faith disappeared, replaced by a face-down horizontal card. "Now I place four cards face-down on my field." Four cards appeared on his field, one after another. "End turn."

Midas waved his hand over the motion sensor on his Duel Coat twice, adding two cards to his hand. "Now then, let's…"

Erian suddenly smiled cheerfully. "Gotcha." One of his face-down cards flipped up. "I activate the trap card Heavy Slump."

Sucking in his breath, Professor King realized what Erian had meant before. "Heavy Slump can only be activated when I have eight or more in my hands, at which point all cards in my hand are shuffled into my deck and…"

"You draw two." Erian gave the Professor a thumbs-up. "Sorry, but I always wanted a chance to use that card."

Inserting his whole hand back onto his deck, Midas pressed the deck shuffle button and then waved his hand over the motion twice, adding two cards to his hand. "That's fine, I'll still beat you with my face-down card." One of his face-down cards flipped up to reveal a picture of a green goblin running off with a bag under its arm. "Steal and Run allows me to redraw cards until my hand returns to how it was before an effect was affected." Waving his hand over the motion sensor of his Duel Coat, he replenished his hand back to eight cards. (Enraged Muka Muka: 6000/5400)

Erian gulped in fear. ("Oh man…")

"Also…" Midas inserted two cards into his dueling field slots. "I activate the equipment magic cards Big Bang Shot and Ancient Infusion." His Enraged Muka Muka hissed and became covered in glowing red fire. "The monster equipped with Big Bang Shot gets a 400 attack point boost and when it battles with a defense mode monster it can still deal you battle damage." (5600/5200) "And Ancient Infusion prevents you from activating traps when my Enraged Muka Muka attacks, or from affecting it with traps either. In other words…this is the end. My Enraged Muka Muka has 5600 attack points, and when it attacks your 400 defense Magician of Faith you'll lose 5200 life points."

Erian gritted his teeth. "Not yet…I activate my face-down Lightning Replay trap. This card allows me to discard one card from my hand to activate one quickplay magic card from my graveyard. My choice is Emergency Provisions." His two other face-down cards vanished.

Midas- 3600

Erian- 5600

Midas smiled. "That's fine. Enraged Muka Muka, attack his Magician of Faith with Big Bang Claw Crusher!" The crab ran right over the face-down monster and crashed its claw down on the boy's body.

Midas- 3600

Erian- 400

Closing his eyes, Midas held up a single finger. "While your ability to survive is impressive, you won't make it through the next turn at this rate. Because my magic and trap zones are all filled, I will end my turn though."

Erian looked down at his deck and sighed sadly. "I'm not going to get to hang out with Ichigo anymore while he's school."

"Who said a stupid thing like that?" An amplified voice echoed across the stadium. The sound of sneakers against floor seemed to echo across the ground as a single shadowed form walked across into the light. It was a teenage boy of about sixteen years old or so, with short brown hair and a pair of hazel eyes. There was a pair of wolf ears similar to Eri's on top of his head. He wore a pair of blue jeans and a jeans jacket, both of which looked like they hadn't been washed for days. Over his shoulder rested a dark green traveling bag. "No offense to Professor King, but from the looks of it you're about to mop the floor with him." Grinning, he wiped a little bit of dirt from his face. "Go for it Erian!"

Adriel rolled his eyes and looked away from the man he had trained hard to defeat. "How does he do that?"

Eri shrugged. "His ability to show up at exactly the most dramatic time is one of those few strengths he has. He's still an idiot though." Suddenly her right eye started to twitch. "Oh yeah…that comment he made to Erian." Turning, she started to stomp towards the boy who was about to suffer her wrath for his insults.

Erian sweat-dropped as Ichigo's cool entrance was ruined by his sudden need to retreat, quickly followed by Eri's screaming chase after him. Then he looked at his deck. "You know what? Ichigo's right." He drew and pointed at the green sarcophagus that was on his field. "I activate the effect of Different Dimension Capsule at this time." The sarcophagus shattered and he added the removed from play card to his hand. "Then I activate the magic card Pot of Greed, which as you said lets the user draw two cards." Adding two more cards to his hand, he inserted three cards into his disk spaces. "I set three cards face-down. End turn."

Adriel sighed. ("And here it sounded like he was going to try and win too.")

Midas waved his hand over the motion sensor on his Duel Coat, adding a card to his hand. "At this time Gold Mine activates, letting me draw a card…" He started to reach for the motion sensor.

Erian held up a hand. "I activate the counter trap Light Force Negation! This trap negates one card when it is activated! That means you can't draw that extra card."

"That was foolish, you'll still lose in the end." Midas reached for one of the cards in his hand.

"Who said I was done?" Erian suddenly seemed much more confident. "My deck's real power is the power of negation, and that power is shown through this monster!" Flipping one of the two cards in his hand over, he revealed a monster card with a picture of purple and black almost-metal dragon. "Dark Ruler Vandalgyon's effect activates when I negate the effect of one of my opponent's cards with a counter trap card. At that time, he is special summoned!" A roar shook the stadium and the giant dragon represented in the picture appeared on his field, flapping its steel wings repeatedly. (2800/2500)

Midas smirked. "What's that going to do, considering your situation its attack points don't mean anything, and Big Bang Shot makes sure even if you did summon it in defense it would be for naught."

"That's true." Erian just kept smiling. "Vandalgyon, when special summoned by its effect, creates a different effect depending on what kind of card my counter trap negated. For example, in the case of my counter trap negating a magic card, you take 1500 points of damage!" Roaring, the giant dragon released a purple fireball that slammed down onto the professor.

Midas- 1900

Erian- 400

"Also, I activate another trap card!" Another of Erian's set cards flipped up. "Bomb Wiring destroys one monster in play. When that monster is destroyed the controller of it takes 500 points of damage. My target is Enraged Muka Muka!"

Midas pointed at his monster, which clacked its claws together. "Have you forgotten the power of Ancient Infusion, which activates now? Your trap effect is useless!"

Erian pointed at his last set card. "I know that. However, I reveal another Light Force Negation!" The Ancient Infusion card shimmered away. "Because its power was negated, your equipment card no longer can work in favor of your monster." A line of purple wire appeared wrapped around the Enraged Muka Muka's body. "And I have one more thing to play." Flipping the last card in his hand over, he suddenly giggled childishly. "Another Dark Ruler Vandalgyon was in my hand." A second of the giant dragons appeared in play. "And like before when I negated a magic card, you take 1500 points of damage!"

Professor King's eyes widened. "And with the 500 damage from Bomb Wiring…" Then he Enraged Muka Muka exploded at the same time that the Dark Ruler's fireball crashed into his body.

Midas- 0

Erian- 400

As the smoke around him cleared, Midas stood up and chuckled loudly. "You were the black horse in this duel, Mister Erian. I didn't think you were even going to harm my life points, much less actually manage to defeat me." Turning on one heel, he walked away without another word. ("He did well…though his mistakes at the beginning will cost him points.")

Erian saw Ichigo run by the ring, which was strange since he shouldn't have gotten past the security posted there. "Ichigo, I won!"

"I knew you could do it!" Still screaming, Ichigo disappeared out the other entrance to the duel ring right as Eri came charging by.

"Come back you coward! I'll show you what happens to those who insult me behind my back!" The demoness was moving just about as fast as Ichigo had been, so they were going to be at this for awhile…

Erian didn't mind though. It was great just seeing his best friend again.

------------------

The hum of a computer was the only thing that could be heard.

DATA PROMPT ONLINE, CONNECTING TO HOME SERVER…

WAITING…

…

…

…

CONNECTION ESTABLISHED…

The computer beeped loudly and the speakers crackled. Blue light from the featureless screen was the only thing in the room, but it was too dark to make out who was sitting at the computer.

Once more the speakers crackled, and a garbled voice came out of them. "This message meant for all field agents. Your reports on the defense capabilities of this planet are expected within the next few weeks, this world's time of course."

The hands of whoever was sitting in front of the computer started to type rapidly, the clicking of the keys the only noise in the apparently cramped little room.

This is Agent Four of group sixty-three reporting in. The school year at Duelist Academy will be starting in two weeks. I have already sent all gathered information concerning the strange darkness energy reported all across the island.

EXCELLENT WORK, AGENT FOUR. THE OTHERS ON YOUR TEAM ARE CURRENTLY COMPLETING THEIR TASKS AS WELL. WE EXPECT YOU TO PERFORM ADMIRABLY IN FINDING THE TRAVELERS FOR US.

I will not fail you.

The screen hummed and went dead.

To be continued…

Author's Notes: My poor fingers are finished…but it was worth it. First, don't expect this kind of length to all my chapters. This is more than double the length of the chapters I normally post.

Secondly, welcome to the Infinity Chronicles. We'll take good care of you here.

Thirdly, character submissions are welcome at this time. However, I would prefer you please submit them under the Infinity Chronicles forum that is under my account name, if you could. There is a thread there called Character submissions, or some such thing. Posting them there will greatly increase the chances that your character will actually make it into the story. Students, teachers, etc. Anything is welcome. Keep in mind if you character has nothing to do with Duelist Academy though, they're going to have to have one incredibly convincing and interesting story for me to change anything to accommodate them.

Alright, Wolf General over and out until I've cooled off my poor fingers.