History of the Azure Dragon

Mateo looked up at his dragon, the Shining Dragon – The Revelation as blue flame blasted off him towards both Mateo and the other duelist, Shiho. Pain. Burning. Their Life Points hit zero at the same time. The Crimson Dragon appeared, and he felt… Oddly stagnant. He guessed he accepted the death that was approaching. But then something strange happened. Shiho Bengo. Someone who was destined to be his mortal enemy, stood up against the Crimson Dragon. That was all Mateo could recall as he woke up abruptly on a cot. He gasped for air, as his Crimson Mark of the Dragon began to glow slightly. The whispering he could hear in the room beside his stopped, and the door slip open, greeting him to a familiar sight.

"Look who's awake!" Crow Hogan shouted, smirking. Mateo looked at his friends, confused.

"I… I don't understand."

"What's not to understand? You're in a safe place!"

"I should be dead."

"Poppycock." The hooded old man behind the room shouted as he pushed his way to the front. "Where you got that misguided misconception, I'll never know."

Mateo started to speak, but the man silenced him. "Ah. No words. We have been waiting for you to awaken so that we may speak."

"Speak about what?"

"The history of the Azure Dragon." The man grumbled as he pulled his cloak off and hung it on the hook, revealing his long white beard. Suddenly his staff looked very familiar to both Mateo and Luna.

"…the Dark Sage?"

"Torunka?" The man looked between both Mateo and the blue-haired girl, Luna, and started to laugh, to the confusion of everyone.

"Both correct."

"Who the hell is Torunka?" Jack Atlas asked, his Australian voice piercing the room.

"I am… Well, was… The spirit of the Dark Sage. In the Spirit World, they called me Torunka." Torunka explained. "Eleven years ago, when you all faced the threat of the Dark Signers, Luna was called into the Spirit World in order to find Regulus and save the Ancient Fairy Dragon. The Spirit World was being affected by the Minus Curse and de-aged most of the spellcaster spirits into children, myself included."

"How did you wind up in the real world?"

"The Ancient Fairy Dragon came to me again a couple of years ago and asked me to come here with her."

"Why?"

"She believed that when the time was right, it would be… Couth for you to learn about the Azure Dragon from someone familiar"

"We already know about the Azure Dragon." Mateo said, and Torunka looked over to him.

"Not everything."

"Then what are you waiting for, old man? Tell us!" Jack demanded.

"You must learn patience, Jack Atlas."

"For all we know, the Signers of the Azure Dragon could be preparing to attack us right now!" He countered. "We know they inflict real damage, and they can cause a lot of harm! If you have nothing good to tell us, then I'm leaving!"

"I may not be a spirit any longer, but I still have powers!" Torunka waved his hand, and Jack was transformed into a white Chihuahua, and fell to the floor with a thud.

"Torunka!" Luna scolded, as Crow and Luna's twin brother Leo laughed at the small dog Jack had been transformed into, causing him to growl back at them. Torunka snickered for a second before sighing.

"Fiiine." He whined, exasperatedly, before waving his hand, causing Jack to be transformed back into a human, the way he was. Jack prepared to take a swing, but the hand of Yusei Fudo grabbed his arm. He looked back at him, and Yusei shook his head. Jack aggressively shook Yusei off him, but he sat down regardless. "Well, now that all of the excitement has been dealt with, it's time I told you about the Azure Dragon."

The Crimson Dragon and the Azure Dragon are brothers, but they're of different worlds. One born to Light. One born to Darkness. But within they're opposite. The Crimson Dragon was born to Light but it has the potential for great destruction. The Azure Dragon, born to Darkness, has one of the biggest hearts in creation.

Ten thousand years ago, during the first Great War of the Light and Darkness, the ultimate of the Demons of the Earth, the Red Nova, schemed to fill the heart of the Crimson Dragon with corruption, ultimately making it a being of Darkness and forcing it to unleash its ultimate power. But the Red Nova did not count on the heart of the Azure Dragon. It planned to protect its brother, even if it meant falling into the trap himself.

The Red Nova's trap corrupted the Azure Dragon's heart and turned it into a cruel being of destruction, always trying to mimic the strength of the Crimson Dragon. Even going so far as to spreading its energies into other entities. The dragons, and then their Signers. When the Crimson Dragon realized what the Red Nova had done, it granted one of its Signers the power of Burning Soul and sealed it away.

Torunka finished his tale before he sat down on a chair. "Oof. Damn sciatica."

The room was silent for a moment. Everyone had a stern expression, except for Mateo, who looked angry. "Do you expect me to believe that the Azure Dragon is an entity of Darkness, yet it was good once upon a time?"

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"Everything I've ever seen in this war is that the Light is good and the Darkness is evil. Setting aside the fact that it seems like every time I defeat something evil, something else takes its place," Mateo answered, "I haven't seen any evidence that the Darkness could be good."

"Take your friend Shiho." Torunka pointed to Shiho. "His energy comes from the Azure Dragon, yet his heart is as full of light as yours. As for the seemingly unending force of evil you need to face, that can be attributed to cosmic rebalancing."

"Cosmic what now?"

"Cosmic rebalancing is a universal constant keeping the Light and Darkness in balance. When one gains more power, something has to change to make the other remain balanced," Torunka explained. "Ten thousand years ago, the Azure Dragon intervened and prevented the Darkness from gaining immense power. Recently, an entity changed sides. You may know her as Illeya."

"What's she got to do with all of this?"

"Don't think that there will be no repercussions for Illeya changing sides."

"Mateo, why are you arguing?" Luna asked. "He may do stupid things, but he knows what he's talking about."

"Because I've never seen a single shred of evidence to support what he's saying."

"You spent half of your life being raised by the very entity that changed sides from the Dark to the Light, what did you expect?"

"How DARE you!" Mateo stood up. "I don't have to listen to some old man who may as well just be a dusty card that no one ever uses! Seriously, tributing Dark Magician AFTER successfully using Time Wizard? Sadistic bastard."

"How dare YOU!"

"What are you gonna do, turn me into a yorkie? You don't scare me, not with your 'powers' or your rhetoric about cosmic rebalancing or good Darkness. Jesus." Mateo picked up his jacket and headed out the door.

"Mateo, wait…" Luna stepped forward, but Mateo turned to her.

"Where did you dig this fossil up?" With that, he left. Luna stood in the middle of the room, everyone else silent.

"Torunka, I am so sorry about him, I've never seen him so worked up."

"You have nothing to apologize for. He needed to hear what I had to say. Now it's just up to him to learn for himself." Torunka sighed. "The comments on my summoning condition were kind of harsh, though. I didn't get a choice, it's not my fault."

"Torunka, what happens if the Azure Dragon wins?" Shiho asked. Torunka turned to him.

"In the state the Azure Dragon is in, if it were to draw on the Crimson Dragon's power as well as its own, it could destroy the entire planet." He sighed. "I don't know exactly how many Signers it would take for the Azure Dragon to equal or exceed the Crimson Dragon, so I would highly recommend you avoid losing. For all our sakes."