Author's Notes: All right, no activity from me in a while. I blame a lot of things, but the main thing is just sheer laziness. Anyway, I decided to rewrite the story. It's been a few years since I actually started this, but I think my writing skills have improved at least a little. And I hope to make more interesting duels. Anyway, here's the new and (hopefully improved) chaper 1.

Chapter I

The Phoenix

"Dammit Max! Do you always have to win at these tournaments?" Jayce asked his brother. Max just grinned.

"What about you? You used to kick ass at dueling. Now, you suck." Max said. He frowned a little, knowing what happened to his twin, and hating it. Hope that never happens to me… He thought.

"I hope it doesn't happen to you either…" Jayce said. He too frowned.

Jayce and Max Avus where 18 year old fraternal twins. Jayce was smaller, with dirty blonde hair and always wearing a white windbreaker that somehow magically never got dirty over a t-shirt and jeans. Max was taller, a few inches over six feet, large and slightly muscular. He always wore "cool" clothes, like jeans and T-shirts with sayings on them. He was wearing one at the moment that had a picture of a dog with a stick in it's mouth, saying "Willing to learn new tricks."

"It's that twin connection, huh?" Max asked. The two brothers had a slight telepathic link, letting the other occasionally read their mind. It was this link that Max was referring to.

"Yeah. Glad it's only thoughts, not emotions, huh?" Jayce asked.

"Dammit Jayce, get over it! It's in the past!" Max snapped.

"Sorry, won't happen again…" Jayce mumbled.

The twins finally got to their house in Neo Domino. They lived at the street level, renting a place above a ramen shop they ran. Jayce went to the kitchen and started heating up some Pop-Tarts, while Max checked the mail.

"Anything good?" Jayce asked.

"Bills, bills, junk, credit card approval that we're gonna shred, a mysterious blank envelope, and more bills. Yeah, there is." Max brought the mysterious envelope over to Jayce as the Pop-Tarts popped out of the toaster.

"Open it up bro." Jayce said. His twin opened up the envelope, and a couple booster packs fell out of the envelope. "That's it?"

Max checked the envelope. "Nothing. Just the packs." he said, handing one to Jayce.

Jayce looked at the pack Max handed him. It was plain silver, with nothing on it except his name. He glanced at his brothers and saw it had Max's name on it. "Strange…" he said, then shrugged and opened his. He pulled out the cards and saw the first one. "Five Forces? What is this?" he asked.

"You got a Five Forces monster too?" Max asked. Jayce nodded and they showed the card to each other.

Jayce's card was called Five Forces- Red Phoenix, while Max's was Five Forces- Blue Dragon. As they read the effects, they immediately put the cards in their own decks. They then checked the other cards in the packs and liked them. "We're gonna have to rearrange our decks, huh bro" Max asked.

"Oh yeah."

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"You guys run a ramen shop?"

"Yes Maria, we run a ramen shop." Max said a bit shortly. He and Jayce had known her for a few years, and Max didn't like her very much. Jayce on the other hand…

"Where's Jayce?" Maria asked, just as Max thought of his twin.

"Probably ran away when he saw you." Max snapped. "DAMMIT JEFFREY! GET THE NOODLES OFF THE STOVE BEFORE THEY BURN! WE'RE NOT PAYING YOU TO FLIRT WITH EVERY BLONDE YOU SEE!"

Jeffrey, Max and Jayce's help in the shop, quickly ran to the kitchen to stop the noodles from burning. "Why is he avoiding me?" Maria asked.

Max glared at her. "Why do you think?" He responded venomously. Maria took a step back. "Now either order something or go back to your darling boyfriend, cuz there's a line behind you."

Maria glanced behind her and realized the bigger Avus twin was right. "Tell Jay I said hi," she told him.

"If I feel like it…" Max mumbled.

Maria quickly left the shop. She walked from there, mad at Max, but she knew what he meant. Max had every right to be mad at her, she supposed. She was so lost in her thoughts, that she didn't notice the man she almost walked into.

"Hey there, beautiful. Got a minute?" The man asked.

Maria blushed. She knew she wasn't beautiful, even though two guys she knew truly saw her that way, one of whom was her boyfriend, CJ. She thought she was rather plain looking, but she knew what this man wanted. "I have a boyfriend, sorry."

The man grinned. "Then he'll be sorry to find out you're my girl now."

"Oh really?"

Maria glanced down the street, where a D-Wheel had pulled up. She recognized the rider immediately. "Oh, Jay!"

Jayce dismounted his D-Wheel, walking up to stand between Maria and the man. "I'm sorry, I don't think Maria would ever be your girlfriend." He said.

"You know who I am?" the man asked.

"No, and wouldn't care even if I did," Jayce responded.

"I'm Bandit Ace, Duelist extraordinaire! I play the best Machine deck just short of the pro leagues!" he declared.

"Oooookay… what does that have to do with trying to seduce Maria?" Jayce asked.

"Heh, once she seen me cream you in a duel, she won't want to be with anyone else!" Ace said.

" 'Cream me'?" Jayce shrugged. "Fine, you beat me, she can be your girlfriend, but if I win, you leave us the hell alone."

Bandit Ace grinned. "Sounds good to me!" he exclaimed as he activated his Duel Disk. Jayce detached his Disk from the D-Wheel and activated it. "Duel!" they said at the same time.

Jayce's LP: 4000

Ace's LP: 4000

"I'll start things off!" Ace said. He drew a card. "I summon X-Head Cannon (4/1800/1500) in Attack Mode, then play one card facedown. I end my turn."

Jayce drew. "And I'll begin mine!" He glanced at his hand: D.D. Survivor, Helios- Trice Megistus, Five Forces- Red Phoenix, Hand Destruction, Caius the Shadow Monarch and D.D. Crow. Damn, I can't summon it yet. Oh well. "I summon D.D. Survivor (4/1800/200) in Defense Mode, then I reverse a card! Turn: End!"

Ace laughed. "Oh, scared are you? Very well, I play Double Summon, allowing me to normal summon twice this turn. I summon Z-Metal Tank (4/1500/1300) and Y-Dragon Head (4/1500/1600). Then, I remove them from play to fusion summon XYZ- Dragon Cannon (8/2800/2600)!" Ace yelled. Jayce frowned. "Then I activate his effect: by discarding one card from my hand, I can destroy one card you control. Bye-bye D.D. Survivor!" Jayce scowled as his monster was sent to the Graveyard. "Now, with no monsters on your side of the field, I can attack you directly! But first, I activate Common Charity! By removing a normal monster in my hand from play, I can draw two cards!" Ace laughed as he removed a second X-Head Cannon from play. "Go, XYZ-Dragon Cannon!" Ace laughed as he lowered Jayce's Life. "End my turn."

Jayce's LP: 1200

Ace's LP: 4000

"My turn then…" Jayce said as he drew. Dunno why I even decided to Duel this guy… I know I'm just gonna lose. I just wanted to help Maria…He shook his head. NO! I will help her! Just think! Jayce glanced at the card he drew. It's a long shot, but maybe… "I activate my Spell Card: Trade In! This allows me to draw two cards by discarding a Level 8 monster!" Jayce said. "I discard Helios- Trice Megistus!" Jayce drew his two cards, D.D. Warrior Lady and Macro Cosmos. "Next, I play Hand Destruction. I'm sure you know what it does, we both discard two cards, then draw two cards," Jayce said. He discarded D.D. Warrior Lady and Caius the Shadow Monarch, drawing D.D. Warrior and another D.D. Survivor. Ace grumbled as he discarded then drew.

"Happy you drew some lousy cards?" Bandit Ace asked.

"Heh, you'll see. Next, I discard D.D. Crow!" Jayce exclaimed. "I can discard him whenever I want, and when I do, I get to remove a card in either players grave from the game. And I'm doing it to your Double Summon!"

"Ya know kid, there was a Limiter Removal in my grave. Why didn't you remove that?" Ace asked as he removed his spell card.

"It honestly didn't matter, as long as I discarded my Crow. Now, I special summon this: Five Forces- Red Phoenix!" Declared Jayce.

"Wh-what is that?" Bandit Ace asked as a giant red bird engulfed in flames appeared.

Jayce grinned. "This is my new friend, Red Phoenix (10/3000/3000)! He can only be special summoned when I have five or more monsters in my graveyard, and none on my side of the field. That's why I kept discarding." Jayce explained.

Ace frowned. "Damn, that's clever…"

"I know. Now, I activate his special ability: I can special summon one monster from either player's Graveyard to my side of the field!" Jayce said. "And I summon D.D. Survivor again! (4/1800/200)! Next, since your field is empty, I attack directly with both my monsters!" Jayce declared. I can't let Maria down again. He better not have a Kuriboh in his hand.

"W-wait! This will do 4800 to me... No! I can't lose!" Ace yelled in panic.

Jayce's LP: 1200

Ace's LP: 0

"Grr… You'll be hearing from me and my friends, punk!" Ace said as he stomped away.

Jayce turned to Maria. "Hey there."

Maria smiled. "Thanks. You Dueled great." She laughed a little. "I didn't expect you to pretend to be my boyfriend though."

Jayce shrugged. "I didn't. When did I say I was your boyfriend?"

Maria flinched. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he lied.

"Jay, I'm sorry about what happe-"

"I said I'm fine," Jayce interrupted her. "You should probably go home. CJ's probably wondering where you are."

"Jay…" Maria fell silent as she saw him get on his D-Wheel and ride back to the Ramen Shop. She sighed, signaled a taxi, and went home.

Max saw Jayce walk into the shop, but the minute he saw his face he knew his twin was in a foul mood. He just let him go upstairs. You're wrong bro. We share emotions too, he thought, hoping Jayce would hear him. He grumbled then yelled at Jeffrey some more.