Hey everyone! I've finally got a new story! And this one is also being turned into a webcomic! In fact, I'm writing in tandem with my artist! If only Fanfiction accepted links, but alas! If any of you know how to link a DeviantArt account or Tumblr on my profile, please help me. Until then, I can only credit my artist and editor by name: Felix Brunschede and Matthew Rhodes! Thank you both so much for help working through this!

Also, this is a monthly series, so don't expect me to go dark! Even if it's only once a month, I will give you one chapter. Maybe two, but don't count on it. Made-up cards will be listed in the end-note.


The town of Moonvale. Named such because of the clear view of the moon and stars, and that was also its main drawing point. It's not the busiest town with the main business being tourism, but it was by no means small. It had enough of a night life to draw out the locals, and in particular, one new arrival to the town. This newcomer had long blonde hair held in a ponytail with a cobalt-blue streak near the end. This is Yuko, and this is where our story begins.

"Ah, that's perfect. Gimme 'nother!" She slurred out, setting her glass back down on the counter. She began to dig through her pockets for money to settle up with her tab, before she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She turned around and saw one of the club security guards. "Excuse me miss, Haven't you had enough to drink?"

Yuko giggled, "Heehee, nope. I intend to party all night!"

The guard was not amused. "Are you even old enough to be in here?"

She nodded her head, "Yup! Of course I am!" While she was only 18, she had paid the cover, and as far as she could remember she hadn't ordered any liquor. Maybe the bartender got her drink mixed with someone else's? "Now can I please drink in peace?"

The guard wouldn't leave her be. Look, kid. You're clearly drunk. I'm going to call you a cab home, alright?" With this, she showed her intoxicated state by tearing up.

"No! Mommy and Daddy don't know I'm out here! Please don't make me go home! They'll be mad and yell!"

The guard sighed. He was not paid enough to deal with this. "Fine. You can leave out through the back. Will that do? And if your parents ask, you weren't here." She looked a minor, so that was best for both of them. "Just… be careful, okay?"

Yuko smiled, leaning on him to get to the back door, which opened into a surprisingly well-lit alley. As soon as she was out the door, she heard it close behind her.

A few shaky steps later, she found herself collapsing onto the pavement. She put out her hands to absorb the impact instead of her face as she took a few seconds to re-orient herself. "Alright, I'm good now… I think…" She muttered to herself, slowly getting up and brushing her hair out of her eyes. "Eh?" She wondered, as something in the corner of her eye caught her interest.

She slowly made her way over to the point of interest carefully, one hand on the wall of the alley to keep herself upright. She slowly bent down to pick up the small object, finding it to be a bundle of cards. "Not just cards… Duel Monsters cards." She muttered in surprise as she looked at them. "Hyozanryu…" She said, looking at the first one. "Doesn't look all that special."

The monster was a Level seven normal Dragon, with 2100 attack points and 2800 defense points. It wasn't all that powerful, but it wasn't weak by any means either. As she looked through the other cards, she found they were all related in some way to Hyozanryu, or were other dragon-related cards. Yuko looked at the cards again, shrugged, and put them in her pocket. Someone had dumped them in a dirty alleyway, so they must not have wanted them. Finders keepers, right?

As Yuko wandered around the empty streets, the cool air helped her sober up for the most part. As she became more aware, she realized that she needed a place to sleep. She couldn't go home since she was supposed to be asleep at home, and she didn't know the town well-enough to find anywhere nice on her own. Her only option was to find somewhere to spend the night. She began to lose hope until she saw a notice taped to a telephone pole.

It wasn't very detailed, it just had a nearby address that said there was a room for rent. It didn't have a listed price, but Yuko decided to check it out anyway. It was better than sleeping in the dirty alley. She took the notice and double-checked the address. She knew where it was, since she had passed the street earlier and she was confident she could find her way back.

After a bit of stumbling, she regained her footing and began to walk off toward the address with the room she so desperately needed. As she got close, she saw it wasn't a house like she expected, but a shop. She saw someone sitting outside with black hair and wearing a green jacket. He was using the light from one of the streetlights while working on what looked like a metal box.

Yuko slowly approached him. "Um, excuse me." She began, causing him to look up at her. "But I was wondering if this was the right place? I was interested in renting the spare room, if it's still available. Or at least stay for just tonight."

The boy set aside what he was working on and stood up. "This is the right place. What're you willing to pay for it?"

Yuko shrugged, wracking her brain for what would be a fair price. "Um, how about a hundred dollars for every two weeks?"

The boy grinned. "Well, that's way better than I was hoping. The room's yours…"

"Yuko." She helpfully supplied.

"Yuko." He repeated, finishing his sentence from earlier. "But the thing is, I will need a deposit before I can give it to you."

Yuko took a step back in surprise. "Eh? Why?"

"To make sure you don't crash here and then run off tomorrow, of course." He replied, matter-of-factly. "So, can you pay?"

Yuko frantically searched, but she only had her bank card; all her cash was gone. So she was stuck until the banks opened the next day. "Please! I really need a place to stay!"

The boy looked over her. "Well, I guess I can accept some form of collateral as payment. How about those hair decorations? They look like they're worth a pretty penny."

Yuko grabbed her ponytail and held it close to her protectively. "My beads? No way! No! Not in a million years!" She shouted.

The boy shrugged. "Well, you're loss I guess." As he opened the door, Yuko ran up and stopped him. He looked back, giving her an annoyed look."

"What about these cards? I'll give you these in exchange!" She pleaded. He brushed her aside and headed inside, before coming out a second later with a duel disk attached to his wrist. He picked up the thing he was working on and tossed it to Yuko, who clumsily caught it.

"Put it on. I just finished fixing it." He said. "Since you have cards, we can make this interesting." Her eyebrow raised and gave him a questioning glance. "We duel. If I win, I get your beds and your cards. If you win, you can have the room and I'll even give you that duel disk to make it a fair trade." He smirked, "Well?"

Yuko thought it over and decided it was worth it. She was never a competitive player, but how good could he really be? "You're on…"

"Yamato." He supplied for her.


The two stood cross from each other, as they activated their Duel Disks. Yuko watched in surprise as a hard light construct came out of her Duel Disk. It looked like a slightly curved play mat with the deck, graveyard, and Extra Deck spots removed. The counter for both of hem displayed 400 Life points.

Yamato gave her a look. "Are you seriously surprised? Have you even used a Duel Disk in the last five years?"

Yuko shot him a nasty look. "O-of course I have! Let's just get started!"

"Duel!" They both shouted.

(Yuko: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand)
(Yamato: 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand)

"I'll go first," Yamato said, "So I don't get to draw a card. Though I don't need it. I'll start by summoning BB King Pen Shopkeep!" (0 ATK) An old humanoid penguin puffing on a cigar appeared and stood in front of Yamato.

"A monster with no attack? It must have a special ability, doesn't it?" Yuko asked.

"Of course. When King Pen is summoned, I'm allowed to search my deck for a Blackwing card, and add it to my hand." Yamato took his deck out of his duel disk before selecting one card, "And since BB is shorthand for Blackwing Brawler, I can add BB Ostrich Catherine to my hand. And with her effect, if the only monsters on m field are BB monsters, I can special summon her to the field."

As he played the card, a humanoid ostrich wearing a black dress and holding a fan appeared on his side of the field. (1300 ATK).

Yamato wasn't finished though. "Since another BB Monster is on the field, King Pen can't be targeted by attacks, effects, spells, or traps. I'll set one card face-down and that will end my turn.

Yuko drew her card to start her turn. "Alright, my move!" She quickly glanced at her hand. She didn't have any spells that could deal with the face-down card, but maybe the deck she found wasn't all that bad. "I summon Masked Dragon in attack mode!" (1400 ATK)

A dragon with a red underbelly and white scales appeared on her field. It let loose a roar, though neither of Yamato's monsters appeared to be phased. Yuko was more than ready to echo her monster's enthusiasm. "Masked Dragon, attack Ostrich Catherine!"

Yamato smirked. "I was hoping for that. I reveal the quick-play spell, Forbidden Chalice! This card lets me give a monster 400 attack points for one turn, at the cost of negating its effect. And I'm giving it to Catherine!"

The bird took the cup in her hands and took a drink from it, before being surrounded by a faint blue light. (1300 - 1700 ATK)

Yuko's monster breathed out a jet of flame which Catherine ran right through, before giving Masked Dragon a powerful kick, causing the scales covering its face to crack, before it exploded into billowing smoke.

Yuko took the card and slotted it into her graveyard. "Whenever Masked Dragon is destroyed, I can summon a Dragon with 1500 or less Attack Points from my deck!" Yamato was intrigued by this. Was she going to try and prepare a tuner? Or was she setting up for a Cyberdark deck?

"I choose Element Dragon!" Yamato nearly facefaulted. Unless she was setting up for something elaborate, it seemed she had just grabbed the strongest monster she had. A pale pink dragon with green wing membranes and orange plumage on its neck appeared to stand before Yuko. (1500 ATK)

"I'll place two cards face-down, and that's all from me." Yuko said, as two hidden cards appeared in front of her. "So, does this mean your Chalice wears off?"

Yamato nodded, as the glow around Catherine disappeared. He had been expecting a real duel, but here was a complete rookie in front of him. Well, he said he wasn't going to be easy on her, and he meant it (1700 - 1300).

(Yuko: 3700 LP, 3 cards in hand)

(Yamato: 4000 LP, 3 cards in hand)

Yamato drew a card. "My turn!" He added his new card to his hand, before smiling. "Your Element Dragon may have more attack points than my monsters right now, but that'll change soon enough. I summon BB Tommygun Emu in attack mode!"

This one was again a humanoid bird, but it had a gun in its hands and a fedora, making it look like a 1920s gangster (1800 ATK).

Yuko looked down at her cards nervously, and Yamato took that chance to launch his attack. "Alright, Tommygun, attack her dragon!" What he didn't expect was to see Yuko smirk as he did.

"I activate my face-down card!" She flipped it face up on her field, revealing it to Yamato. "Zero Gravity! This forces all monsters to change battle position!" Tommygun Emu dropped to one knee and lowered his hat over his eyes (200 DEF). Catherine raised one leg to stand in a guarding stance (500 DEF) and King Pen just sat down cross-legged (1800 DEF).

Yuko's Element Dragon was also switched, covering its body with its wings.

"I end my turn." Yamato snarled, as Yuko drew her next card.

"Alright! I start by switching Element Dragon to attack mode, and next I'll summon Spear Dragon, also in attack mode (1900 ATK)! Also, since Spear Dragon is a Wind Attribute monster, Element Dragon can attack twice!" A green aura surrounded her dragon, "Now go! Destroy his Emu and Ostrich!"

Yamato looked unimpressed as he played a trap from his hand. "Since I have three Blackwing cards on the field, I can activate the trap Black Sonic from my hand. And you're going to love what it does!"

Yuko sighed. "Something tells me I really won't, but what does it do?"

"It banishes all your attacking monsters from the game."

"Oh, okay, well I can- wait WHAT!?"

A portal of energy opened up, drawing the two dragons into it, and Yuko reluctantly took the two dragons and sent them to the banishment slot on her Duel Disk. Looking at her hand, she realised nothing she had could help her. "I end my turn."

(Yuko: 3700 LP, 3 cards in hand)
(Yamato: 4000 LP, 2 cards in hand)

Yamato drew and added his new card to his hand. "Well, Looks like you're wide open. Catherine, attack directly!"

The bird ran forward and used her momentum to slam her foot into Yuko's stomach, making her reel from the kick as her life points went down. "

You can take more than that, I hope." He said with a triumphant smirk on his face. "Because regardless, Tommygun Emu still hasn't attacked!"

The hail of holographic bullets did hurt and as Yuko crossed her arms in front of her to block them, it still felt like she was getting shot by rubber bullets. "I'll end my turn there."

Yuko grit her teeth as she drew. She knew that her situation was dire, since she only had 600 Life points left. She looked at her hand, and remembering what her face-down was, saw the opening she needed. "I summon Hunter Dragon in attack mode (1700 ATK)!"

Yuko thrust her hand forward. "Now go! Attack the Emu!" She ordered. The dragon launched itself forward, but before it could reach its target, it was riddled with bullets. Yuko saw her life points drop again as she revealed her face-down card. "I activate the trap card: Rope of Life!"

She went on to explain, "By discarding my entire hand, I can revive the monster destroyed by battle and give him an extra 800 Attack points. So come back Hunter Dragon!" Yuko called, as a holographic rope pulled her dragon back to the field (1700 - 2500).

"Now change your attack target to Ostrich Catherine!" This time, nothing stopped Hunter Dragon from ripping the bird apart, causing smoke to billow out from either side before it disappeared, with Yamato's life points dropping significantly. Yuko smiled, feeling this was her game. "I'll end it here."

(Yuko: 500 LP, 0 Cards in hand)
(Yamato: 2800 LP, 4 Cards in hand)

Yamato drew another card. "Well, this is the end for you. I release Tommygun Emu and King Pen to tribute summon Blackwing Brawler Chief!" A large humanoid penguin with muscles that stood a head taller than Yuko. "And since he was tribute summoned, all BB monsters gain 300 attack, including him (2300 ATK - 2600 ATK)."

"Now go! Crush her dragon!" Yamato ordered, which the chief was more than happy to oblige, just grabbing Hunter Dragon and delivering a powerful punch to it's stomach, instantly causing it to explode into a smoke cloud. Yuko felt the colour drain from her face as the bird kept walking toward her, and punched her. "Oh, I forgot to mention," Yamato said to the winded Yuko, "If my Chief destroys a monster, you take damage equal to that monster's level multiplied by 100. Lucky for you, Hunter Dragon is only a level 3 monster."

Yuko was sweating bullets. No cards in her hand, only 100 life points left, and even if she was able to defend, she'd still lose because of the Chief's effect. She looked at her deck. She had to have a game changer in her deck. She closed her eyes, and drew the card, needing a miracle. She drew, her arm out wide, and she looked at the card out of the corner of her eye.

"I activate Silver's Cry!" She said, placing down the spell card. This spell lets me revive one Normal Dragon monster from my graveyard!"

Yamato gave her a bored look. "So what? You're going to revive Hunter Dragon?"

Yuko shook her head. "Not exactly. I have another. Remember those two cards I discarded for Rope of Life? Both of those were monsters, but only one was normal. Come forth, Hyozanryu!"

A dragon, covered from head to toe in glittering diamond scales appeared and roared as it appeared on Yuko's field (2100 ATK).

Yamato rolled his eyes. "So what? It's still too weak to win you the duel."

Yuko simply opened the slot where her Extra Deck was stored. "Normally, I need two Light Dragon monsters, but I can also use a Level 7 "Hyozan" monster to construct the Overlay Network!"

Heart encased in brilliant crystal

Break free of your gilded cage

Open the gates and let your rage break free-

"What are you doing?" Yamato asked her in a deadpan.

Yuko blushed, embarrassed. "Making it all dramatic. You know, like the pros do on TV."

Yamato sighed. "First off, you're a beginner. Stop that. Second off, it sounds stupid."

"It does not!"

Yamato began to talk in a mocking impression of Yuko's voice. "I call to you in prose of purple. As purple as a fresh-blooming violet-"

"Shut up! XYZ Summon! Fiery Hyozanryu!"

Hyozanryu went into a swirling purple and golden portal and out came a similar monster. Its diamond scales, instead of being smooth was jagged and sharp. The wings were gone and on its feet were wicked-looking talons. Its underbelly was also a deeper orange with some red (2300 ATK).

Yuko began to explain her card. "Normally, Fiery Hyozanryu gains 200 attack and defense for each Overlay Unit, but I'm going to detach its one and only in order to destroy a monster whose attack is lower than its defense. And if I do, you take damage equal to that monster's level times 200! Not destroy the Chief!"

Fiery Hyozanryu let out a breath of blue fire that engulfed the humanoid bird and left nothing behind as Yamato's life points took a huge hit. It also left him defenseless, something Yuko was going to capitalize on. "Fiery Hyozanryu, attack for the game!"

Yamato crossed his arms in front of his head as another wave of fire came at him, dropping his life points to 0.

(Yuko: 100 LP, 0 Cards in hand)
(Yamato: 0 LP. 4 Cards in hand)

"Yes! I win!" Yuko shouted in joy, before walking over to Yamato. "So, I get the room and the duel disk, right?"

He sighed, as he straightened. "The duel disk is yours. You get the room tonight. Tomorrow, you gotta pay."

He opened the door to the shop, dimly lit by a lamp in the corner. He led her behind the counter and up a flight of stairs to the second floor. He opened a door and flicked on a light. Inside the room was a simple bed, a bedside table with a light on it, and a dresser. Along the wall was a window with the curtains drawn, so the night sky was visible. The rest of the room was bare. "Here you go. You can decorate it later. Bathroom's at the end of your hall, on the right. Any more questions?"

Yuko shook her head, "Nope. I'm good for tonight. Thanks, and goodnight." She said with a small wave.

He gave her a nod of acknowledgement before walking out and leaving her alone. "Night."

Yuko turned off the light before flopping back onto the bed. She didn't realize how tired she actually was. She unstrapped her duel disk and placed it on the bedside table before giving one last look at the moon before falling into a deep sleep.


Remember to review! Constructive critisism is always helpful!Now onto cards:

BB Shopkeep King Pen

Level 3, Winged Beast/Effect, DARK

0 ATK/1800 DEF

When this card is Normal Summoned, choose one "Blackwing" card in your deck and add it to your hand. If there is another "Blackwing Brawler" on the field, this card cannot be targeted for attacks or by card effects.

BB Ostrich Catherine

Level 3, Winged Beast/Effect, DARK

1300 ATK/500 DEF

If there is another "Blackwing Brawler" on the field, this card can be Special Summoned from the hand to the field. Once per turn, you can target one of vour opponent's set monsers and turn it to face-up attack position (Flip Effects are not activated). On the turn this effect is used, this monster cannot attack.

BB Tommygun Emu

Level 4, Winged Beast/Effect, DARK

1800 ATK/200 DEF

This card can attack once for each monster your opponent controls. While you control this face-up card, all effect damage dealt to you is cutin half.

Blackwing Brawler Chief

Level 7, Winged Beast/Effect DARK

2300 ATK/800 DEF

When this card is Tribute Summoned, All "Blackwing Brawlers" gain 300 Attack Points. Once per turn, you can banish one "Blackwing" card in your Graveyard. If you do, this card is unaffected by Spells or Traps until your opponent's End Phase. If this card destroys another monster, the owner of that monster takes damage equal to the destroyed monster's level x100.

Fiery Hyozanryu

Rank 4, Dragon/XYZ/Effect FIRE

2300 ATK/3200 DEF

2 Level 4 LIGHT Dragon Monsters

This card can also be XYZ summoned using one Level 7 "Hyozan" Card. This card gains 200 Attack and Defense Points for each Overlay Unit attached to it. Once per turn, you can detach one Overlay Unit to destroy one monster with Attack lower than this card's Defense. The owner of the destoryed monster tkesdamage equal to the destroyed monster's Level or Rank x200


And here is the introduction to two of our main characters, along with two new Archtypes we're building. I'm sure there are questions, but we can't show our hand just yet. They'll all be answered in time. Remember, Favourite and follow to catch the next update, and reviews are always great!