The sky used to be so clear and blue. Their home was bright, laughter filling the air, the chatter of children and their mothers as they walked through the streets, their fathers in their suits kissing their loved ones goodbye as they head to work.
And then…
The earth shakes, a loud explosion, and suddenly everyone is screaming and running for their lives as a raging inferno sweeps the streets. Large mechanical monsters decimate buildings, and level concrete as they march forward, a vanguard of uniformed Duelists flanking them with diabolic smiles on their faces.
Fingers clench on a doorway that is still intact, and Kurosaki Shun grits his teeth in anger. He has to be patient, if he acts too soon, he will disappear like his parents did, like so many of his comrades already have, and he can't risk leaving his sister and his best friend to fend for themselves. It is not that he underestimates their skill, it's just a brotherly instinct that drives him to act alone while they search for places to hide.
A rustle has him tensing up, but only relaxes when he notices the sound is coming from under his feet. Gold eyes drift down to see a torn flyer beneath his shoe and he bends down to pick it up to examine it.
It's an old advertisement for a dueling tournament that should have been held days ago. After a few seconds, he lets out a short bitter snicker and crumples the paper into a ball to stuff into his pocket. Before all of this, he had dreamed of entering that same tournament, to become a Duelist Champion.
Ruri and Yuuto had cheered for him, telling him that they believed he would surely make it to the finals, though Yuuto had winked and revealed that he too planned to sign up and told Shun to 'not go easy on him' if they ever met up in a match. But now, it was wiser to forget his dreams and to focus on the reality that was now.
There. His patience has paid off. A single Academia Duelist is wandering around. Easy pickings. Activating his duel disk, Shun shows himself to the invader and challenges them.
His dreams had shifted, he wants to rid his world of Academia, and that is one dream he intends to make into his reality.
"Duel!"