Underlined – Cards' names

Bold – Life, ATK, or DEF points

Italic – thoughts

Deep in the confines of cyberspace, a 10-year old boy dressed in white was wondering if there was anything exciting going on as he wandered through the matrix of online data. Yet, as he wandered, the boy couldn't help but notice that nothing had changed except for what the info contained. Can this get any more boring? Why isn't there anything fun to do? Noa Kaiba thought as he observed the electrical currents that flowed around him and sighed. Everything was the same and it bored him to no end. Ever since that time his own missile system had destroyed his original stronghold—the network that his father Gozaburo had originally made for him after his death—he had been wandering around cyberspace for what seemed like eternity. He had managed to avoid being erased from existence unlike his father when he discovered an emergency connection to the Internet that was originally built by his father in case something went wrong and he had to escape.

He had stayed in cyberspace for decades and the boredom he had to deal with had made him almost as ill-tempered as he was during his stay in Gozaburo's virtual world. The only thing keeping him from going insane was the fact that he was no longer confined to just that world and that he had access to almost anything that was in the reach of cyberspace. He was master of this world and could do as he pleased; he could hack websites and bring down entire networks and companies if he wanted to, enter PC systems and interact with people through their own computers (although he never tried that due to his shyness when it came to confronting people), make use of any digital apps for his own pleasure, educate himself using the various online education tools on the internet, and even duel real-world and artificial opponents via dueling sites where he could pretend to be a computer program or hide his identity behind the anonymity of virtual reality. Yet, despite having all of this, he was still unsatisfied.

What Noa Kaiba wanted most was interaction with other humans. However, the only people he felt comfortable interacting with were people he already knew. Unfortunately, there was no way he could get any contact with them; he had tried hacking KaibaCorp with the intent of talking to his adopted brothers but both Seto and Mokuba had increased the security level to such an extent that even the Neo Domino City security couldn't access KaibaCorp without their permission and he still couldn't locate Yugi Muto or any of his friends' PC systems online and the official sites Yugi and Katsuya Jounouchi used were too difficult to hack and didn't accept any email. Due to the barrier of security, there was no way he could even contact people he personally knew. As a consequence, Noa fell into a state of depression.

All of this seemed to change one day. After he hacked into Neo Domino City's security system, he saw a multitude of images and information that he wasn't aware of come up. One of these images was that of a young girl with teal hair that appeared to be around the age that he died. He didn't know why but he felt something when he first saw her. He didn't know why, but he started to use the security system to acquire more information about her and also see more images of her. He learned that her name was Ruka and she appeared in the system surprisingly often; if was as if the directors had some interest in her. Noa also saw a picture of the three directors but didn't pay much attention to them.

That changed when he saw a student who resembled one of them at the Duel Academy Ruka attended. He had hacked into their system with the intent of spying on her and seeing what kind of person she was through the school's security cameras. Noa could see that she was kind to everyone and well liked. He also noticed that she was constantly watched and followed by a boy with teal hair who Noa later learned was her twin. He had continued spying on her for several days when he all of a sudden noticed a new student come into her class. It was one of the directors—the redhead known as Lucciano. He didn't know why, but Noa started to feel incredibly jealous after seeing Ruka's behavior change around him. He knew that Lucciano wanted Ruka in the same way he wanted her and there was no way he would tolerate this.

Lucciano was talking to Ruka when all of a sudden she was dragged away by an angry Rua. Rua told him that Ruka has something she must attend before turning to her and whispering to her not to talk to Lucciano. Lucciano hissed in disappointment as the signer girl's brother was interfering with his mission. He then noticed his phone ringing. What now?! He thought as he picked up his phone.

"Hello?" said Lucciano

"Listen Lucciano, I don't know what your intentions are, but stay away from Ruka! She's mine!"

Lucciano was stunned. He looked around and saw Rua sitting on a bench with his sister. If it's not him then who?

"Who are you?"

"That doesn't matter. You're obviously intending to do something with Ruka. Be assured that I won't allow it."

"I'm not going to take any orders from you, whoever you are!"

"In that case how about we duel? Just go to a secluded place and take out a computer and we can duel. You win and I'll leave you alone. Does that sound fair to you?"

Lucciano thought of this for a minute. He still had about 40 minutes of his lunch break and he could easily falsify history if something went wrong.

"Very well. I'll go to the library and duel you using one of the computers there. But first, at least tell me your name."

There was a silence on the phone. "My name is Noa."

Lucciano quickly went to the most secluded part of Duel Academy's library and turned on his laptop. Before he even turned on the Internet a small screen showing a young boy dressed in white all of a sudden materialized on his screen.

"Greetings Lucciano," Noa said "it's been a long time since I've dueled anyone and I'm eager to make you my first victory in a long time."

"Look, let's just get this over with. I only have about 35 minutes left before class starts."

"Very well then. You have your deck with you right? Just put your hand on the screen if you do and we can duel."

Lucciano was hesitant at first. He could sense that this Noa was just as sinister as he was. But nonetheless, he had a mission to complete and he couldn't afford to let Noa interfere with his attempts to gain the signer girl's trust. He quickly put his hand on the screen.

In an instant, he was sucked into the computer and ended up in a typhoon of numbers—he was in the binary system. Suddenly he was in a white empty space and Noa stood before him.

Lucciano glared at Noa. "This is quite impressive; dragging me into cyberspace for a duel. But let's just get this over with already."

"You don't seem so shocked. Have you experienced virtual reality before? If you did I wouldn't be surprised, considering your status as head of the city's Security." Noa replied.

Lucciano found this to be genuinely surprising. How does he know of my status? If he knows that then he might be a threat to the ultimate mission of Yliaster. "Let's just start dueling. I've never been in virtual reality before but nonetheless I'll easily crush you and then I'll have you erased so you won't be able to interfere with my mission anymore!"

Noa laughed. "There's no way I can be erased; many have tried that before but it's never worked. But anyways, let's just start dueling." As he said this, a Battle City-era duel disk materialized on his arm. "And if you think you can erase me if you win, then I'll just imprison your mind within this virtual world and escape to the real world in your body. It'll be the perfect opportunity for me to interact with Ruka."

A duel disk suddenly materialized on Lucciano's right arm. A deck suddenly appeared in it. He looked through it and saw that the cards were the ones in his own deck. Lucciano was surprised, but he was determined to destroy this Noa quickly. He activated his duel disk.

"Let's duel!" Noa 4000LP Lucciano 4000LP

"I'll go first." Noa declared as he drew his card. "I'll first activate the continuous Spell card Spring Of Rebirth and I'll also play Magic Reflector to protect it." As he said this, a card with an image of an angel perched above a fountain materialized and a force field enveloped it.

"Next I'll play two cards face down and summon Yata-Garasu in attack mode." A black crow materialized as he spoke 200 ATK 100 DEF. "Now I'll end my turn. But Yata-Garasu will return to my hand because it's a Spirit monster and I gain 500 Life Points due to my Spring Of Rebirth." Noa 4500LP

Lucciano sneered. "Is this some kind of joke? You're leaving yourself wide open for an attack and all you're really doing is increasing your Life Points." He said as he drew his card. "But if that's the way you're going to duel then be my guest."

"Hmf. I'd advise you not to underestimate me. You have no idea who I've manage to nearly defeat in the past." Noa retorted.

"I don't care about your past," replied Lucciano "but anyways, first I'll summon Jowgen The Spiritualist in defense mode." As he spoke, Jowgen The Spiritualist materialized in front of him 200 ATK 1300 DEF. "Thanks to this monster, you'll be unable to special summon any monsters. And I'll place two cards face down and end my turn."

Now it was Noa's turn to laugh. "My deck is almost entirely composed of Spirit monsters that can't be special summoned so you just wasted your turn for nothing!" Lucciano merely frowned.

"But anyways," he said as he drew his card, "I'll summon Yaksha in attack mode 1900 ATK 1500 DEF and thanks to its effect, I can send one of your face down cards back to your hand!" As Noa spoke, the blue-skinned spirit materialized and pointed one of his swords at one of Lucciano's face down cards. The Emperor of Yliaster could only grimace as his face down Negate Attack was returned to his hand. "Next I'll equip my Yaksha with Sword Of Kusanagi. This gives him the ability to inflict piercing damage." One of Yaksha's swords disappeared and was replaced with the Sword Of Kusanagi. "Now Yaksha, destroy Jowgen The Spiritualist!" Yaksha leapt towards Lucciano's monster and proceeded to slice it to pieces. Lucciano merely gritted his teeth at the fact that he couldn't stop the attack since his face down Trap Stun was currently useless. Lucciano 3400 LP

Lucciano was slightly pushed back by the damage. Why did I actually feel the damage? He thought. Noa could sense what he was thinking and explained. "In this realm, I control what happens so I made it so that we both feel pain whenever battle damage is inflicted. But I'm sure it's nothing to you. Anyways, I'll end my turn and Yaksha will return to my hand. The Sword Of Kusanagi will also return to my hand although it'll go to the graveyard first."
Noa 5000LP

Lucciano growled in annoyance and drew his card. "You'll pay for that!" He said as he looked at the cards in his hand. It contained Torrential Tribute, Negate Attack, Meklord Emperor Skiel Infinity, Morphing Jar, and By Order Of The Emperor. Perhaps I can get rid of those Spirit monsters by making him discard them. "I'll place three cards face down and place one monster in facedown defense mode and end my turn."

Noa drew his card, Yamata Dragon, and proceeded with his turn. "I'll bring out Yaksha again 1900 ATK 1500 DEF. And I'll have him send one of your face down cards back to your-" However, Lucciano was prepared for this. "I activate my trap card; By Order Of The Emperor!" A Trap card with that name materialized next to Lucciano and emitted a ray that enveloped Yaksha. "Thanks to this card, I can cancel the effect of your monster. Of course, you get to draw a card to compensate."

Noa drew his card and smirked when he saw what it was. "You've just made things much easier for me. First, I'll equip my Yaksha with the Sword Of Kusanagi so I can inflict piercing damage to you. Next, I'll also equip the card I just drew; the Orb Of Yasaka! When a Spirit monster equipped with this card destroys a monster, I gain life points equal to the original attack of that monster." Lucciano was shocked by this turn of events. "Now," Noa continued "Yaksha, destroy that face down monster!"

The two equip spells materialized in Yaksha's hands as he destroyed Lucciano's face down monster which was revealed to be Morphing Jar 700 ATK 600 DEF. Lucciano fell back as he took the damage Lucciano 2100 LP and Noa seemed to glow as his life points rose Noa 5700 LP. However, Lucciano did manage to smile this time. "Thanks to the effect of my Morphing Jar, we each discard our hand and draw five new cards. That will get rid of some of your Spirit monsters." He said. Noa said nothing as he continued his turn. "I'll remove from play the Susa Soldier in my hand and the Yamata Dragon in my graveyard so I can special summon Izanagi 2200 ATK 1000 DEF and Yamato-No-Kami 2200 ATK 1200 DEF." As the two monsters materialized, Noa explained their effects. "Izanagi lets me keep Spirit monsters on the field instead of returning them to my hand. However, I won't exploit that effect this turn. Yamato-No-Kami can destroy one of your Spell or Trap cards after it destroys a monster. But anyways, I'll place one card face down and have Yaksha and Yamato-No-Kami return to my hand as I end my turn." Noa 6700 LP

Lucciano drew his card and started his turn. He looked at the card he drew, Degenerate Circuit, and realized that it might be useful against Noa's Spirits. "Alright," he said as he made his move "I'll summon Sky Core in defense mode." As he spoke, an egg-like machine materialized in front of him 0 ATK 0 DEF. "Next I'll activate Pot Of Greed so I can draw two cards and I'll also activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy one of your face down cards." Noa was anticipating this move. "I activate Dust Tornado! Thanks to this card, your Spell is negated."

This time, Lucciano laughed. "That's exactly what I was hoping for! Since your means of destroying one of my Spells or Traps is gone, I play the continuous Spell card Degenerate Circuit!" A network of electrical currents suddenly enveloped the field. "As long as this card is on the field, whenever a monster is returned from the field to the hand, it's removed from play instead. And because my Sky Core can't be destroyed once per turn, I'll be able to survive another turn and come up with a way to crush you."

"In that case I'll just crush you this turn!" Noa declared as he drew his card. "I'll activate Magical Mallet and send three cards from my hand back to my deck and draw three new ones." As Noa drew his cards, he suddenly became confident that victory was his. "Now, since I can't lose at this point, I'll tell you what one of my face down cards is. It's a Spell card known as Sebek's Blessing. This card can only be activated after one of my monsters inflicts direct damage to you. But when that happens, I gain Life Points equal to the damage inflicted. And I have a monster that can attack you directly; my Inaba White Rabbit!" He immediately played the card and a white rabbit holding onto a rocket appeared 700 ATK 500 DEF. "Now, you said your Sky Core can't be destroyed once per turn. But that won't be enough because I'll just have three monsters attack it! I'll remove from play the Yata-Garasu in my graveyard so I can once again summon my Yamato-No-Kami!" As the Spirit appeared, Noa became more confident in himself. "Next, I will summon my ultimate monster! I play the ritual Spell card Shinato's Ark!" A giant Ark suddenly appeared. "I will now sacrifice my Hino-Kagu Tsuchi from my hand so I can summon the almighty Shinato, King Of A Higher Plane!" The Ark collapsed and a divine, multi-winged, deity emerged 3300 ATK 3000 DEF. Noa laughed as he saw victory in his grasp. "Hahahaha! Now there's no way I can lose and after my victory, I shall leave this virtual prison by taking your body! Then I'll be able to take Ruka for myself!"

Unfortunately for Noa, Lucciano had anticipated this move. "I'll tell you right now that I do not have any interest in Ruka in the same way you do—my mission is actually to kill her!" Noa was shocked to hear this. "And I'm only telling you this because there's no way some computer virus like you could save her or inform her. Also, your monsters are quite impressive, but you fell into my trap." Lucciano said with a smirk.

Noa couldn't believe his ears. If he wants to kill her, why is he flirting with her? But he quickly pushed that thought out of his mind and went back to the duel. "How am I in a trap?! I have four monsters out and I can easily wipe you out!"

Lucciano started to laugh maniacally. "Hahaha! I told you in the beginning that I'll crush you! And I'll do so right now; since you just summoned a monster, I can activate my face down Trap, Torrential Tribute!" An enormous wave suddenly swamped the field and destroyed all monsters on the field. Noa was left speechless. "It only gets better from here. Since Sky Core was destroyed by a card effect, I can summon Meklord Emperor Skiel Infinity, Skiel Top, Skiel Guard, Skiel Attack, and Skiel Carrier to my field!" The five parts of Meklord Emperor Skiel materialized and then started to assemble together to form an enormous birdlike robot 2200 ATK 0 DEF. Noa couldn't believe what was in front of him. There was nothing he could do anymore this turn. "Tch, I end my turn."

Lucciano eagerly started his turn as he drew his card and paid 500 Life Points to keep Degenerate Circuit out Lucciano 1600 LP. "I'll first sacrifice my Skiel Carrier so I can special summon Skiel Carrier 3!" Skiel Carrier disappeared and a more upgraded version attached itself to Meklord Emperor Skiel 2400 ATK. "Now I'll sacrifice Skiel Carrier 3 so I can bring out Skiel Carrier 5!" Meklord Emperor Skiel gained another upgrade 2600 ATK. Lucciano eagerly screamed his next move. "Meklord Emperor Skiel, attack Noa directly!" A gun suddenly emerged from the Meklord Emperor and it shot a beam at Noa that exploded on contact. When the smoke cleared, he was barely standing. Noa 4100 LP

Noa glared at Lucciano as he ended his turn. "You'll pay for that!" He said as he drew his card. "I'll summon Yaksha in attack mode but I won't activate its effect since you can just negate it with By Order Of The Emperor." As Yaksha materialized, Lucciano wondered what Noa was up to. "I'll now activate the continuous Trap card, Spirit's Invitation! When this card is in play, when a spirit monster returns to my hand, I can also send one of your monsters back to your hand. And I'll send your Meklord Emperor Skiel Infinity back to your hand but thanks to your own Degenerate Circuit, it'll be removed from play and all of the other parts of Meklord Emperor Skiel will be destroyed!" Lucciano was surprised by how Noa easily came up with a counterstrategy. However, he had a way of preventing this. "You have a great strategy but that won't help you at all since I'm going to play my Trap card; Trap Stun!" Noa mentally cursed Lucciano for this. "I'll end my turn. But you'll need to attack me two more times to defeat me. If I use Spirit's Invitation on my next turn, victory shall be mine!" He declared triumphantly as Yaksha was removed from play.

Lucciano drew his card and then realized that he won. "Looks like you're about to lose Noa. I activate Limiter Removal!" Noa couldn't believe this. It can't be. All of Lucciano's Skiel monsters that had attack points had them doubled and the combined strength of Meklord Emperor Skiel increased 5200 ATK. "Meklord Emperor Skiel, attack him directly!" The Meklord Emperor once again shot a beam at Noa who could only scream in agony as it hit him.

Noa 0 LP

Winner: Lucciano

As soon as Noa's Life Points hit 0, everything became white and Lucciano found himself sitting at a desk in Duel Academy's library. There was a laptop with a black screen in front of him. Lucciano looked at his watch and saw that there were only 10 minutes left before class started.

He was about to pick up the laptop when the screen turned white and some letters started to materialize. THIS ISN'T OVER YET! YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME! AND I WILL GET RUKA BEFORE YOU KILL HER! The screen then turned black again.

Lucciano glared at the laptop as he put it away and headed towards his class. He had won the duel, but he had temporarily put his mission at a huge risk. But more than that, he still felt rage towards that Noa. The nerve of that worthless computer virus. I'll have him erased later! He thought as he headed towards his next class.

The next class was technology. To his great chagrin, Lucciano saw that their assignment involved dueling with computers. Fortunately, he found out that everyone would be assigned a partner from the class to duel with. Although Lucciano was relieved that he wouldn't have to face Noa again, he was still annoyed when the teacher paired him up with an equally annoyed Rua. He quickly switched to his school deck and turned on his laptop as he prepared to duel Rua via computer.

Meanwhile, Ruka was the only person in the class without a partner. Consequently, she was left with no choice but to use her computer to find a random computer program duelist. Ruka didn't have any problem with that. As she turned on her Internet and went on the site the teacher instructed her to go to, a strange message appeared.

GREETINGS RUKA. MY NAME IS NOA, AND I SHALL BE YOUR OPPONENT.

Noa Kaiba observed the screen in front of him. Such beautiful eyes. He though as he got his deck ready. He was wondering whether he should just drag her into cyberspace right now but didn't want to risk attracting attention. He decided that he would duel her while pretending to be a computer program. You'll pay, Lucciano. He thought as he activated his duel disk. I'll train Ruka in a way that she'll be ready for anything you try to her. How ironic that your target will be your end…

A/N: This is a possible scenario of a duel that could happen if Noa Kaiba successfully survived the destruction of his virtual world. Although this is only implied in the dub, I believe that it is still possible in the original considering how much control Noa has over his world. I decided to pit Noa and Lucciano against each other because both of them are somewhat psychotic duelists with a troubled past (Noa being neglected by his father and jealous of Seto and Lucciano (as Aporia) seeing his parents die in front of him). Although Noa's complete deck was never shown, it's clear that he focuses on Spirit monsters which made his deck easy to build. On the other hand, Lucciano's deck has barely been seen and it is mostly Skiel-based. However, a few of his cards focus on Lockdown strategies hence I chose to show his deck as Lockdown oriented.
I await your reviews. Postitive and constructive criticism is welcome. Flames are not.