Dawn of a New Year
Chapter 1: Getting a Headstart
Craig W M, steps on stage: Hello readers, I'm after all this time with a rewrite of Dawn of a New Year but this time is different for I am now co-writing this with the lovely TeamRocketDiva, come on up here girl.
TRD: Hello everyone, welcome to the fic. We hope you give this fic a chance and that you enjoy it.
Craig W M: TRD would you like to say the disclaimer?
TRD: I'd love to. Ahem, Craig W M does not own anything except for his OC, Craig Thresher and I don't own anything except for my OC, Hayley Dupree who will make a formal introduction in the next chapter. We also own our ideas but nothing else.
Craig W M: Thank you TRD and now, without further ado here is the first chapter of Dawn of a New Year
Chapter 1: Entrance Exams
The front door was slammed, and even against the shout of complaints coming from his family inside, Craig Thresher just kept running, with his Duel Disk slightly poking out of his bag, and his Deck zipped up in the side pocket. Craig had fifteen… no, fourteen minutes to make it to the Kaiba Corporation tower, where the entry exams for Duel Academy were taking place, and Craig was desperate to get in to the dueling school.
"If only I hadn't spent fifteen minutes looking for that stupid Spell Card…" muttered Craig to himself.
Craig was 15, and was attempting to become a freshman at Duel Academy, and had dirty-blonde hair, which was scruffy, blue eyes, medium size and medium build, and he wore a black polo shirt and blue jeans. Only ten minutes left on the clock.
xxxx
"Please note, there is only nine minutes to get a practical examination beginning with one of our Proctors, who are situated around the building," reminded the announcer at the Kaiba Corporation tower.
"And this time last year, it was ten minutes until Jaden challenged Crowler to a practical duel, and won," added Syrus Truesdale, a second-year Slifer watching the duels, standing next to Alexis Rhodes, a second-year Obelisk, and the two had had numerous adventures the year before concerning the fate of the world. They were hoping for an entirely different second year.
xxxx
"Faster, legs, faster!" screamed Craig, running out of energy but desperate to reach the building, and with only six minutes left, and the building around eight-hundred meters away, his chances were looking good.
xxxx
"How many Proctors are there left that can duel, Crowler?" asked Sheppard.
"Only the one, Chancellor," replied Crowler, before muttering to himself, "And whichever late slacker it is, I will personally do everything in my power to get them into Slifer…"
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Craig ran into the building with two minutes to go until five o'clock, the closing time for all applicants, and decided stairs would only delay him, and slammed his fist onto the 'up' button on the lift, and watched the numbers count down until they reached 'G', for Ground, and walked into the lift, and pressed the button for Floor 7, the floor for the applications, and cruelly shutting the electronic door on about five people, working on other floors of the building.
xxxx
"Where'd Jaden get to anyway?" asked Alexis, staring around.
"Oh, he said something about because we have to wait another hour before the boat arrives to take us to Duel Academy, he was going to get some refreshments," replied Syrus.
"Hey guys!" said Jaden, carrying stacks of food in each hand, weighing him down.
However, Jaden was immediately rammed down by a running Craig, who only had his eyes set on the nearest Proctor, who just happened to be about to be about a hundred meters away. Craig turned his eyes towards the giant digital clock attacked to the ceiling; it was fifty-nine minutes past three, and Craig ran over to the Proctor.
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"And a quick reminder; to keep you all entertained whilst waiting for the boat, we have delayed a few practical duels for you to watch, including a high scorer in the written exam; Hayley Dupree," said the announcer.
"Oh, now they tell me," moaned Craig, standing on a Duel Field opposite a Duel Proctor, who had slotted an Exam Deck into the Duel Disk he was carrying; as Craig removed his Duel Disk from his bag, and his Deck out the side pocket, and activated his Duel Disk and entered his Deck.
"So, applicant, the Deck I'm using is a Dragon-based Deck, are you ready to Duel?" asked the Proctor.
"I was ready when I left my house fifteen minutes ago," replied Craig.
Craig: 4000
Proctor: 4000
"I'll start," said Craig, "And straight away, I'll activate Graceful Charity; now, by discarding 2 cards, I can draw 3,"
Craig picked up three cards from his Deck, and discarded two Level 5 cards, named Delta the Magnet Warrior and Eta the Magnet Warrior, one of which were blue, and the other were red.
"Is that all?" asked Proctor.
"Nope, next, I'll Summon Zeta the Magnet Warrior in Defense Mode(1000/1000), and if Zeta is Summoned, and it's the only monster I have, I can give up 500 Life Points and bring out Omicron the Magnet Warrior(1000/1000) as well!"
Craig: 3500
Proctor: 4000
Two monsters appeared on Craig's field, one of which was yellow, and the other of which was orange, and both were the same shape, below average size of a human and straight bits of machinery stuck out everywhere.
"Now, this is where it gets complicated, because Magnet Warriors, they don't need Polymerization to fuse, they can connect automatically; so Zeta and Omicron are going to fuse together, and form… Zetacron the Magnetic
Warrior(2000/2000)!" explained Craig, as magnetic bolts shot out of each monster, as they reassembled themselves, to make a orange monster of the same size, with a laser from each warrior before it on its arms, "Zetacron, let's roll! And that's all for now,"
"Excellent, I'll match your Zetacron, with my Cave Dragon (2000/500)," said the Proctor.
A stocky dragon with horns on the front appeared opposite Zetacron, and looked towards it with a anger look, breathing smoke from its nostrils.
"Unfortunately, my monster has the same Attack Points as yours, so I'll play a card face-down, and activate my own Graceful Charity! So… discard two, draw three," finished the Proctor, discarding Red Eyes Black Dragon(2400/2000) and Negate Attack.
"And it's back to me!" said Craig eagerly, drawing out his card, "I'll play a face-down card to end my turn,"
People have began gathering around the duel field, having already dueled and been placed into their dorms, some looking happier than others.
"I activate the face-down I played earlier, Burst Breath! By sacrificing Cave Dragon, I can destroy all monsters with less or equal Defense Points then his Attack Points, and that's 2000!" explained Proctor, as Zetacron was destroyed by a burst of fire from Cave Dragon, who then disappeared as well, "And then, I'll Summon Decoy Dragon(300/200) in Attack Mode!"
A small egg appeared on Proctor's side of the field, before it cracked open into a light-blue dragon with bucked teeth.
"Decoy Dragon?" wondered Craig.
"And he's going to attack your Life Points directly!" attacked the Proctor.
Craig: 3200
Proctor: 4000
Decoy Dragon flown over to Craig, and exhausted enough from the flying, was just about able to breath a small flame at Craig, who just looked at the dragon.
"I'll end my turn there," said Proctor.
"And it starts mine!" began Craig, "And I'll Summon out, Gamma the Magnet Warrior(1500/1800) in Attack Mode!"
The light red, slightly round monster jumped onto the field eagerly, and waved at Craig, as Craig waved back slowly, looking at Gamma as if he was some sort of psychopath.
"Anyway… Gamma, attack his Decoy Dragon!" said Craig, as Gamma pulled out a dagger from his pocket, and ran at the Decoy Dragon.
"You forgot about Decoy Dragon's ability, when he's attacked, I can bring out a Level 7 Dragon Monster from my Graveyard, and you have to attack that monster, so meet Red Eyes Black Dragon(2400/2000)!" said Proctor, as the colossal black dragon appeared on the field, and stared down at Gamma.
"But… I never destroyed Red Eyes," replied Craig.
"Correct, however I discarded it when I activated Graceful Charity. And now, Red Eyes, attack that Gamma with Inferno Fire Blast!" attacked Proctor.
Red Eyes Black Dragon powered up it's fire blast, before flying into the air and blasting it towards Gamma menacingly, who was destroyed at the first touch of the ball.
Craig: 2300
Proctor: 4000
"If that's all, I'll activate my face-down, Magnetic Repair! Now, for every Magnet Warrior that's currently lurking in my graveyard, I gain back 500 Life Points, and I count four!" said Craig, looking
"Alright… I end my turn with a face-down," said Craig.
The Proctor looked all but ready to obliterate Craig to the ground with his Red-Eyes again, but looked slightly worried at Craig's face-down card, before drawing his own.
"Excellent, I'll use that later, but for now… Red-Eyes, attack Craig directly! Inferno Fire Blast!" repeated Proctor, as Red-Eyes blasted Craig to the ground again, "And then Decoy Dragon will do the same!"
Craig: 1600
Proctor: 4000
"I'll end my turn there," finished Proctor, looking happy at his play so far.
Craig remained on the ground for quite some time, before his silence eventually turned into laughter, and he stood up slowly.
"I don't remember having so much fun dueling before; you're making me play to my best, and my best, will be enough!" complimented Craig, drawing his card eagerly, "Excellent, I activate Tribute to the Doomed, by discarding one card, I can destroy one card you have out, so bye-bye Red Eyes!"
Craig put Magnetic Factory into his Graveyard, and a group of bandages wrapped around Red-Eyes and pulled him into the ground, as the dragon did it's best to resist, "Now, meet Alpha the Magnet Warrior, in Attack Mode (1400/1700), and he's going to attack Decoy Dragon, as he's already activated his effect, he can't do it again!" explained Craig, and Alpha took down Decoy Dragon.
Craig: 1600
Proctor: 2900
"And there goes the Dragon population," joked Craig, triumphant at his victory over Red-Eyes.
Proctor drew, nerve-wracked at his empty field, and looked over at his card, and looked smug again.
"So you've taken down my Red-Eyes, but the Dragons will evolve; so meet my best monster, and by discarding White-Horned Dragon, Exploder Dragon and Luster Dragon, I can Summon Montage Dragon (?/?)!" said Proctor, as the three-headed blue dragon trampled onto the field, "And his Attack Points are determined on the Levels on the three discarded Dragons x 300, so with 13 Levels altogether, Montage Dragon gains 3900 Attack Points!"
Montage Dragon let out a giant roar of flame and smoke, and the spectators quickly took cover, and Craig looked fearful of the enormous dragon.
"This duel is over; Montage Dragon, attack his Alpha the Magnet Warrior!" battled Proctor, as Montage Dragon powered up a three-fold attack, and fired towards Alpha.
"Wrong! Activate face-down, a personal favourite, Magical Hats! It surrounds my field with 4 hats, with my Magnet Warrior concealed in one, and you have to guess where it is," Craig retaliated.
Montage Dragon, under order of Proctor, fired his blast at the far left hat, although it was an empty hat.
"I'll end my turn there then, I guess, but a face-down as well," finished Proctor.
"Here we go… Looks like I can't do much, so I'll play two face-downs; each underneath a separate hat," said Craig, "I hope you're lucky,"
Once again, the hats shuffled round, each one concealing a different card.
"Take a pick, you've got a one in three chance; but before you choose, think, what else have I hidden under these hats?" questioned Craig, arms folded whilst watching Proctor draw his card and look at the hats as if he was attempting to find out what was underneath.
"So, these are the conditions, I hit your Magnet Warrior, it's all over, and I win, but if I hit your face-downs…" began Proctor.
The Proctor continued to stare at the hats closely, attempting to figure out the riddle, before looking happy at his decision.
"Now, Montage Dragon! Attack the middle hat!" attacked Proctor.
Montage Dragon prepared an attack in each of its head, before they all came together, and blasted towards the middle hat, and the colossal explosion that followed surrounded the floor in a grey haze, making the field unclear, and as the fog slowly faded.
xxxx
"Hey Sy? Can you see anything?" asked Jaden, standing by the walls on the edges of the building.
"Hold on Jaden, let me just activate my X-Ray Vision," joked Syrus, sarcastically.
"OK, I can wait," replied Jaden, not yet able to understand sarcasm.
xxxx
Eventually, the haze cleared, and only two hats remained.
"What happened? Did I win?" wondered the Proctor, staring around the field, before eventually turning to the Life Point Counter on his Duel Disk, "How'd you get 5500 Life Points?"
"My face-down card that you attacked, Draining Shield. This absorbs your attack and converts in into Life Points for me, and now I'll also activate my other face-down, Shadow Spell!" explained Craig, as chains shot out of the ground, and trapped Montage Dragon in it's grasp, "This disables your Dragon from attacking, and reduces its Attack by 700," (3900/3900 – 3200/3900)
"Fine, I'll just end my turn, good luck defeating my Montage Dragon, even if it has 700 less Attack Points," reminded the Proctor.
"I was just wishing the same thing," replied Craig, before thinking to himself, "Thing is, what are the chances I can draw the right card? Just about nothing, but nonetheless, here we go,"
Craig drew his card, and stared at it, and a huge grin grew on his face, and then speaking out cheerily, "Well, I take it back now, I'm glad I'm spent fifteen minutes looking for this Spell Card,"
xxxx
"Craig! You've got twenty minutes before it's five o'clock; you might want to hurry up!" yelled Craig's dad up the stairs.
Craig was frantically looking for a card that he considered handy in a tight spot, and reached under his bed, and feeling the card, and quickly pulling it out, he realized it was the card he was looking for.
"Finding you had better help me somehow," spoke Craig quietly, piling it onto the side pocket of his bag.
xxxx
"I activate the Spell Card, Magnet Conjunction!" activated Craig.
"That's the move that made you grin so much?" said the Proctor, not looking impressed.
"Well, you see, Magnet Conjunction allows me to resurrect any amount of 'Magnet Warriors', as long as I pay 1000 Life Points for each one. So, welcome back to Zeta, Omicron, Delta and Eta, the latter two I discarded through Graceful Charity," explained Craig, as each Magnet Warrior appeared one after the other onto the playing field.
"Hooray, you brought your pawns back," said the Proctor, sarcastically.
"Their not pawns, their Magnet Warriors!" yelled Jaden from the stands, still not understanding sarcasm.
"Remember the Fusion I did earlier? Well, Zeta and Omicron are going to do it again, forming Zetacron the Magnet Warrior(2000/2000); and followed by Delta and Eta forming Depsilon the Magnet Warrior(2600/2300)!" fused Craig, as the four small Magnet Warriors transformed into two bigger ones.
"Still useless," said the Proctor, not aware of what was to happen.
One last thing, Zetacron and Depsilon, fuse together, and form the King of all Magnets… Omega the Ultimate Magnet Warrior(4100/3700)!" added Craig, as the new navy blue Magnet Warrior, which was about two times the size of a human, flew down from where it began, with the robotic wings it had, and landed on the ground, "And then I'll add Rirkoyu, a card that takes half of Montage Dragon's Attack Points, and gives them to Omega, so I hoped you enjoyed this duel whilst it lasted," (3200/3900 – 1600/3900)(4100/3700 – 5700/3700)
Omega grew more and more until it was about the size of three humans, and took its gigantic sword out of its holder, and hung it over his back, waiting for the command.
"Omega! Let's roll!" attacked Craig, as Omega ran over to Montage Dragon and swung the sword, and took off all three heads at once.
Craig: 1600
Proctor: 0
Craig looked next to him, and there was a ghostly figure next to him, about half the size of him, it was his Duel Spirit, Beta the Magnet Warrior, of which gave him the thumbs-up, and a wink, before vanishing again, as Craig shuddered.
xxxx
"Congratulations to our newest addition to the Slifer dormitories, Craig Thresher, who just defeated his Proctor, of which I'm sure you all sure, what with it being the only duel on," said the announcer, "But don't think that's the last of the duels, remember, there is a few delayed duels that we have delayed for your entertainment, so don't go anywhere, because first up is Hayley Dupree!"
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TRD: Well that concludes the first chapter, we hope that you enjoyed it.
Craig W M: Keep an eye out for the next one, to be written by TRD soon.
TRD: That's right, this chappy was written by him. Is that everything Craig?
Craig W M: I think so, wait aren't we forgetting something?
TRD: Ya know I think we ae, hmm, oh!
Craig W M: I know!
TRD and Craig W M look at each other and then at the readers and make big puppy dog eyes: PLEASE REVIEW!