Author Note: Hey people! It's ShadowFire again!
As some of you may know, once in the past I have made a story with the same name. But because of lack of interest and inability to come up with content I simply choose detele it and act like such a story never existed.
However, around a month ago I got new ideas about the story and chose to try and reboot it, make it into something better. So after almost a month the storyline and characters were completely rebooted.
So, now about the story itself; it takes place in the future world close to ours. With Konami being the creators of the game and all, but the difference is that Solid Vision has been developed and is used in the game. Duel Spirits and supernatural powers also exist.
Also, before we get started I want to warn your that this story uses Original Summoning Methods, Card Properties and other mechanics that don't actually exist in the game or anime. So if you don't like such things, just don't read it.
And now without further ado...
Let's the Story start!
A brown haired boy sat in his desk, staring out the window. His violet eyes were staring at the blue sky and his mind was wandering. He paid no attention to the lesson being held while tapping the desk with his pen. The boy was 16 years old and his height was 5 foot 8. The boy was wearing the school uniform that consisted of a blue closed jacket over a simple white shirt and black jeans. The only thing that differs him from the rest was a golden pendant left for him from his mother.
"Arata, are you paying attention?"
The voice of a man brought the boy out of his thoughts. He turned to look at the teacher. He was holding an open book, labeled "Math".
The teacher's words have redirected the attention to the entire class at the boy.
"This will be in the test so you should pay attention." The man told him.
"Yeah, yeah. I already know that." Arata said with a dismissive wave.
The ringing of a bell echoed through the hallway, signaling that the class has ended. The man closed the book in his hands and walked out.
Arata put his pen and notebook in the bag and processed to leave when a boy approached him.
The boy had long blue hair tied into a ponytail. His school uniform was letting out a vibe of carelessness as the jacket was opened to reveal the pale green shirt underneath. That was Arata's best friend and classmate – Richard.
"You got plans for tonight." Richard said handing a piece of paper to Arata and whispered to his ear. "The cops are sniffing around so be careful. The new address is on the paper. Remembered it and then destroy the paper."
"Yeah, yeah. I already know how that works." Arata said putting the paper in his pocket. It has been almost a year since he joined in this business. For so much time he has learned some important things, like how to not get caught by the cops and how to get rid of evidences. Both of those skills have saved him from prison many times.
The two boys took their bags and made their way out of the classroom.
They now walked down the hallway. Even thought it was just Wednesday most of the students have rushed out of school with the boys being ones of the last to leave the building.
"So you won't be coming with me this time?" Arata asked crossing his arms behind his head. Richard was the one who got him started with his job and since then they would always go there together.
"I don't have a match tonight." Richard answered while writing a message to someone with his phone. "But you should be careful. I heard that Zayne wanted to fight with you again. He has been doing arrangements with the organizers and even paid them just for that."
"You are saying that I have to prepare myself for a fixed match?" Arata asked thought he wasn't really surprised. In fact, before Arata came into the picture the name Zayne Borges used to be popular among the Underground. He has been known as a very weighty kid with connections.
That's until one day he was paired to fight against Arata and lost the match in the most humiliating way possible. From there on, Zayne swore to get revenge and never stopped bugging his so called rival.
"I don't think he would do that." Richard answered while chatting on the phone. "Even that crybaby has enough dignity to fight you fairly. After all, if rumors spread out that he has been buying his matches it would hurt his reputation harder than a lost."
"You have a point there."
The two made their way to the empty entrance and waved each other goodbye. From here on the two friends took their separate ways.
Without any company Arata was left to roam the mostly empty streets on his own. The reason for that was because at this time of the day people were still at work. The only companion that Arata had right now was the sound of the wind.
In around fifteen minutes the boy reached his destination, a two story house. Arata unlocked the door and walked inside. He took off his shoes and threw his bag on the ground next to them.
"I'm home!" Arata shouted.
The only response he got was the silence that was reigning over the house. Arata hasn't been expecting anything else. This was the same response he got and yesterday, and the day before that, and in Monday. The week before that. The month before that. Nobody was there to greet him. To ask him how his day was. Nobody was there to listen to his problems and achievements. To tell him that things will get better, to praise him.
From who could Arata expect such attention anyway? His mother has died shortly after his birth, so he didn't even have any memories of her. The only thing that remained for him to look after were the pictures of a woman with long red hair and the same violet eyes as his.
His father was an adventurer of some sort. Because of that he was absent for the most time. Actually, because of his job Arata's father has started living in another country and would come to visit his son once every eight or ten months for a week or less before going to another expedition. The only thing that reminded Arata that he has a father were the money that he was sending him.
Then, there was his aunt. She was the younger sister of his mother and the only other remaining family that the boy had as well as his legal guardian. Thought that didn't mean much since just like with his father his aunt was often away due to business. Because of the complete lack of parents Arata had learned how take care of himself from a young age.
He walked into the living room. The room was of average size, the floor covered by a carpet, a table in the middle of the room with a TV remote and a vase full of white roses on it, a TV screen on the wall with a bookcase on each side of it, a big window with a curtain over it stopping any light from passing through.
Arata walked to the couch opposing the TV screen in the other end of the room and fell on it. Crossing his right leg over the left one and putting his arms behind his head the boy closed his eyes. The only plans he had for today was the fight. Problem was that there were seven whole hours to cover until then. And Arata had absolutely no idea what would to do with so much time. The usual actions, watching YouTube videos and playing games, have gotten boring. Of course he could hang out with friends, but reality is that he doesn't know anyone expect Richard who seems to have problems on his own right now, so this options was out too.
Just as Arata was wondering what to do, the doorbell rang. He opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling for a few seconds before deciding to sit up. The doorbell then rang again, reminding the teen about its existence.
The annoying sound has started to give Arata a headache, remind him what exactly his day was missing. The boy remembered that he wasn't able to have a good sleep in days. Because of that his head was hurting like it's about to explode. The lack of sleep has also leaded to him forgetting things and was probably the reason why he had such a bad time keeping his focus this week.
Soon the doorbell rang again. Already irritated, the boy got up and walked toward the door. Arrata put his hand on the door knob and opened the door.
In front of him was standing a man, a courier to be more specific. He was an old man without much of a hair, a big moustache covering most of his mouth; his clothes consist of a grey full body uniform, a cap in the same color and brown boots. There was a large cardboard box next to the man. It didn't take Arata too long to understand what is going on. There was only one person in the world that could send him a package.
As an adventurer his father loved exploring places that are said to be associated with ancient magic and fairy tales. He also had the troublesome hobby of collecting antique objects, so he sends Arata some that he had found in his adventures every once in a while. Those objects would stay in the house until his father come home and make a deal, selling them to some famous museum.
"You father sends you something again. Thankfully it isn't a statue." the courier told him jokily.
"Yeah." The boy answered unamused by the joke. "It's probably another weird thing. Where must I sign?"
"Here. Thank you! Phew, knowing your father I expected something heavy, but strangely it's actually light. So, may I ask what this thing is?"
"You guess is as good as mine. The old man never tells me anything beforehand. " Arata answered and took the box. It wasn't exactly light, but surely it wasn't made from rocks or something other heavy material.
Arata brought the box into the house and set it next to a wall. Then he walked back to the couch. He took out his phone and set the alarm to wake him up after a six hours. After that Arata feel face-down on the couch, feeling completely exhausted. After all he needed to rest well if he wanted to do his absolutely best tonight and win.
The six hours of rest felt just like a moment. The night has come and the moonlight was now shining over the city. Arata walked around with hands in the pocket of his pants and eyes looking around restlessly. He wasn't wearing his school uniform anymore; his new outfit consisted of a black jacket over the same white shirt, blue pants and black sneakers.
Arata walked into one of the city's many alley. It was right behind an old factory with the street lamps shinning dimly, just enough for Arata to avoid walking into a wall. From what he could make out the building seemed to have been abandoned for many years; there wasn't a single unbroken window and on places the bricks used to build it were visible. The place was unnerving for Arata. He could feel a cold and uninviting vibe coming from the building.
Then he reached his destination; a heavy metal door rusted from the time with a single lamp shinning on it. And next to it was a man smoking a cigarette. He was 6 foot 2 tall with wavy black hair and brown eyes, wearing a simple blue t-shirt and black jeans. His name was Gudo, the man who first got Arata started in this business.
"Hey! Arata my boy!" Gudo shouted happily and ran toward Arata. He put his arm around the boy's shoulder and started laughing.
"You came earlier today." Gudo commented as the two walked together. "Are you so impatient to duel?"
Arata didn't answer the question. It has been already a year and half since they meet, but Arata is still feeling just as uneasy around Gudo as when Richard first introduced him to the man. Was it because he was a criminal or maybe it was due to that smile on his face that didn't match the sinister look in his eyes? Arata didn't know, but was sure that the less time he spent around Gudo the better for him.
As soon as the two walked into the factory Arata could already head the loud voices of the crowd that has gathered inside. Some of the cries were pleased while others were filled with curses. Pushing through the crowd the two made it in front of a large cell with iron bars.
Inside the cell were two men. Each of them having snapped to their left arm a disk with an arm blade attached to it. One of them took a card from his hand and put it on the blade. A large humanoid bird appeared on the field wearing a white vest and holding a bow in its hands. Soon a bar showed next to the creature 'Shinobird Kannagizuru [Wind/Level 4/ATK: 1500/DEF: 1500]'.
That was Yu-Gi-Oh! A very famous card game. It has been famous even since it came out, but the real hype for the duelists started when Solid Vision was developed. Konami started producing duel disks which were able to bring the monsters to life. After this the history off dueling has completely changed. From there on game continued to evolve and with the time many of the mechanics changed and new were added.
The various companies that were brought later one left their own marks on the game as well in the form of their own summoning and other additional mechanics. This not leaded to Ritual, Synchro, Xyz and Pendulum become just a small part of the various summoning methods that became available, but due to those changes the decks and archetypes released from then on also gained even more off an individuality and possibilities to evolve.
The cheers of the crowd brought Arata to reality. The duel has ended and a group of men had to carry one of the duelists out of the cell. That's the reason why those duels were illegal and organized in such places, hidden from sociality.
In order to prevent real damage during a duel each duel disk had a damage setting. Due to this the duel disk used in those duels are specially modified so that real damage is applied and also increased.
"Now that's what I like to call a good duel!" Gudo shouted on a microphone inside the cell. "But things are going to only get more exciting! For all of you guys looking to make some big money this could be the luckiest day in your life!"
Arata knew that was going to happen next so he snapped the duel disk on his hand and put his deck in, the device shuffling it automatically. The boy then walked toward the cell; it was time for a show.
"On my left side is someone that I'm sure all of you are familiar with!" Gudo announced as a person stepped by his side. "Our strongest duelist who with the amazing win rate of two hundred fifty and seven victories got to be known as 'Lord of the Underground'! The one and only, Zayne Borges!"
It was a boy with spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. He was standing 5 feet 9 tall; his clothes consisting of a white vest with golden lining, a grey shirt underneath, a golden belt and white loafers. His name was Zayne Borges - Arata's self-proclaimed rival.
"And now to my right! Making his way from the bottom of the dueling world, in just a year, he became an unbeatable champion! He is the only duelist know to have been able to defeat the 'Lord of the Underground'! That's right everyone! It's Arata Godbell!"
The crowd went wild as Arata walked into the cell. For the short time that he has been dueling Arata was able to get a reputation as a skilled duelist. Zayne shoot his rival a cocky smirk as if the result of the duel has already been decided.
"Which of those two duelists will the Goodness of Victory smile upon? Now is the time to make your bets and win some profit! Let's the duel begin!" Gudo shouted and walked out of the cell which was then locked up. The crowd went wild again, literally yelling their bets.
"I'm betting two thousand and six hundred on Zayne!"
"I'm betting all my money on Arata!"
"This time you are going to lose by my hand!" Zayne shouted loudly and help up his duel disk. "After I'm done here you are getting a six week trip to the hospital!"
Arata just rolled his eyes and held up his duel disk as well. Zayne was making the same threats every time the two dueled, though last time he has said eight week in the hospital.
『Zayne LP: 8000, Hand: 5 (VS) Arata LP: 8000, Hand: 5』
The two boys started at each other. On the left side was Zayne with his vicious smile. On the right was Arata with a sharp look in his eyes. He had made up his mind long time ago. Arata would get rid of this annoying rival for good.