Reku Yamashita was on his way to school one fateful day. The day was the day for the city wide tournament, the day he was going to prove his skill. Little did he know that on that one day, his life was going to begin to change. It was the first day, of the rest of his life. But not just for him, for his friends as well. Ronin Endo, Akina Oshiro, and Sachiko Meade were also going to be involved in this ancient struggle.

They battled hard, making it to the top. Right then and there a unique fighting team was assembled. Team Zero was unlike anything else in the world. Why? Because their destinies were about to unfold, but before that, they had to win at the world tournament. This low ranked tournament was going to bolster their standings in the world.

Their next tasks were to awaken their true powers, which lied in the forms of crystals. These crystals became their most powerful cards in their deck. But they weren't the only people to gain the crystal cards, as they seemed to be forming into a powerful team of people who owned these said crystals.

Under the guidance of a woman named Kimberly, or Order as she was called by the group of kids, Reku and his friends saved the world from Kim's ex-husband, Chuck. He was known more to the kids though as a psychotic being going by the name of Chaos.

Once Chaos was dealt with, Team Zero had to move on to their next adventure, this time in the form of a great tournament. For placing so high in the world thanks to their place in the World Tournament, Seto Kaiba invited them to compete in the Tournament of Kings. There they met ancient magic the likes of which they never thought they would encounter; the sacred power of the Orichalcos. This power was wielded by the eldest child of Order and Chaos; Chime.

Though the battles were long and tiresome, putting all their talents to the test, Reku, Ronin, and Akina, with the help of some new friends, managed to overcome the power they were dealing with.

Though as that was ending for Reku and his friends, a new adventure was opening up for a boy named Kiro Rinku, and his friends Kaira Burue and Chao Ryota. Kiro held the spirits of three ancient beings in orbs that were kept in a leather glove on his hand. The only way to reincarnate these three spirits was going to be for Kiro to pass 10 trials that presented themselves to Kiro in the course of 10 nights. Once he passed all 10 of them, Kooru, Heruru, and Hebanu had their souls placed back into their respective bodies.

That all was five years ago. This is the present…

TEAM ZERO: THE LAST GUARD

Episode 1: Five Years Later

Reku pealed his eyes open as the warm light of the sun touched his skin through the pane of glass on his bedroom window. Smiling at its comforting touch, he rolled over and stretched out his arms. Turning his head he looked at, to him, the most beautiful sight in the whole world. The love of his life lay in the bed next to him, still fast asleep. Akina moved closer to him in her sleep, cuddling up to him in the early morning.

"She's so cute while she's asleep." He smiled to himself, wrapping his arms around her petit body. His eyes closed again, taking in the moment.

After they became of age, the two of them moved out on their own, together. This was their new house they had just started moving into earlier in the week. This is where they hoped they could settle down together, out on their own, and maybe even start a family together in the future. True the two of them were not married as of yet, but the thought had been passed around recently as they had been together for five years.

The two of them jerked up when a bell rang through their silent house in the early morning. They looked at each other in confusion for a second before they realized that the bell had been their door bell. Someone was summoning them, at this hour of the morning?

Reku jerked out of bed, finding a pair of pants on the floor. With a grace that only a man in a rush could have, he pulled the pants on and found a shirt also on his floor and slipping that on over his head.

"Coming!" He yelled as he dashed out of the room. The door bell rang again as who ever was standing out there was growing impatient. Running a hand through his short, black hair making sure it was presentable just as he made it to the wooden door that was their front door. He opened it, putting a smile on his face.

Outside the door stood a man about the same height as he was, wearing a black jacket with a hood pulled up over his head. From under the hood, dark green hair was visible that hung down his face. Over his eyes was a pair of pitch-black sunglasses.

"Hello?" Reku asked, still in a state of shock at how the man looked in the morning. "Can I help you in anyway sir?"

"Answer me a question." The man spoke, extending his hand. What caught Reku off guard was that over the mans hand was a yellow work glove. "Is your name Reku Yamashita."

"Yes it is." Reku slowly reached out and took the mans hand, shaking it slowly. "Why do you wish to know? And who are you?"

"I'm your next door neighbor." The man spoke, motioning with a nod of his head towards his house. "The name is Kiro Rinku. I just happen to see you moving in here the other day, and I just had to stop by and greet you. I remember years ago when I saw you in the papers. You and your team mates."

"Oh, for like, the Tournament of Kings?" Reku asked, taking his hand back from the strange new man. "Yeah, well, it was nothing major. Its not like you live next to a famous star or anything."

"Oh, but it is just like that." Kiro said, bending down and picking up something Reku hadn't noticed before. It was some sort of white gadget that Kiro quickly slapped onto his wrist. Holding it up, it appeared to be some kind of duel disk. "You are a great duelist to accomplish that kind of thing. And I am here to see just how good you really are. If you would give me your time of day in a duel."

"And if I refuse?" Reku asked, still standing in the door way half asleep.

"Then I'll just consider you a coward and weak. Maybe even a cheater for those awards that you won with your 'skill'." Kiro's tone was mocking, degrading on many levels. He was doing everything he could to provoke Reku into a duel.

Yawning, Reku turned and took a few steps back in his own home. "Alright, if you wait outside for a few minutes while I get my stuff together, I'll duel you." And with that, he shut the door on Kiro. Walking back into his house he began to search for his duel disk. "I don't like him." Reku growled under his breath as he made his way back into his bedroom.

"Who was that?" Akina asked, coming out of a bathroom that was next to their room. She was dressed and running a brush through her long, sandy blond hair.

"Some ass. I think he said his name was Kiro or something like that." Reku pulled open one of the drawers on his dresser, flipping through a few articles of clothing until he came to a box. Opening it, he pulled out a stack of brown backed cards. "He wants to duel me, to 'test my power'". Reku moved his fingers to mimic the quotation in his words.

"Why did you accept?" She asked, opening a set of doors that led to their closet. Reaching into it, she seemed to be searching for something.

"I don't know. Mainly to shut his loud mouth up." He said, walking across the room to her. She turned around, presenting him with a emerald green duel disk, Kaiba corp. standard model with a few changes. This duel disk was a gift to him, Akina, and Ronin when they were first granted their crystal cards. "Thank you honey." He smiled, kissing her on the lips as he took the device from her hands.

Minutes later, the two of them were walking out the front door of their new house. Walking out onto their front law, they found Kiro standing there with his arm crossed across his body.

To their surprise, Kiro bowed slightly to Akina.

"The famous Akina Oshiro I presume." He said in the kindest voice he could find. "It is an honor to meet you, I am Kiro Rinku."

"Um…Hello Mr. Rinku." Akina sweat dropped at the kindness of the covered man standing on her front lawn. From what Reku sounded like just moments before when they were standing in their bedroom, she thought this guy was going to be a complete jack ass to her. Rather, she seemed to respect her on some level. Though from the look of him, she guessed that respect was something hard to earn from him.

"Kiro is just fine." He spoke back, still forcing his voice to be kind. Turning, he looked back at Reku. "So, are you ready to proceed?" He uncrossed his arms and held out his duel disk that was on his arm.

"No, I'm ready for a shower and breakfast." Reku sarcastically said as he separated himself from Akina and too his spot across the field from Kiro. Pulling out his deck, he began to shuffle it.

"Well, as a high ranked duelist, you should know that there is no rest that is granted to you. You will have to earn your rest." With that, Kiro began to shuffle his own deck of cards. With a few good shuffles, he slammed the deck into his duel disk. From the front of the white dome like wrist gadget, a duel field began to flicker into existence. It was formed from a pure reflection of lights. "It's a special model." Kiro said, noticed the awestruck look on both Reku's and Akina's faces.

"I see." Reku nodded slowly, placing his own deck into his green duel disk. The arms of the device folded out, making the dueling field. The lights and buzzers warmed up, preparing for the start of the duel.

Reku-4000 L
Kiro-4000 LP

"Alright, its time to begin." Kiro announced, pulling the top five cards off his deck and glancing over their faces. Reku doing likewise. "I start this game, draw!" He yelled, snapping the top card off his deck and adding it to his hand. "Before I start, I do want to tell you that I want to see just how strong you are. I'm not going to be holding back on any account."

"Very well." Reku nodded, still kind of sleepy in the conversation. "Though I wouldn't disgrace you by holding back." He quickly threw in at the end of his statement, placing his hand over his mouth as another yawn escaped his lips.

"You don't seem very serious to me." Kiro said, noticing the yawn after the comment. "Oh well, you'll wake up when the fire works begin. I summon out my Gravekeeper's Assailant (1500/1500), in attack mode."

A black robed assassin appeared before Kiro, wielding a wavy, Egyptian style dagger in its hands. Covered in solid black, the monster looked kind of like its master. A pair of eyes stared out from the folds of its black mask.

"And cover one more card on my field face-down. Your turn Reku." Kiro announced as he slid one of the other cards in his hand into his duel disk of light. With a flash of yellow and white light, a brown backed card appeared on the field behind his assassin.

"A Gravekeeper deck?" Reku's eyes widened at he appearance of the monster. He was now fully awake, realizing just what he might be up against. "Not a very easy family of monsters to take down. This may be a bit tougher than I first thought." Slowly, he pulled the top card of his deck off and added it to his hand to make six cards. Pulling one of the cards out, he slapped it down on his duel disk. "I start by summoning Warrior of the White Flame in attack mode (2000/0)."

A battle torn warrior appeared on Reku's field, snapping a thin, double sided blade through the air. White flames licked off the blade it whipped through the air. He wore an old, silver breastplate the looked battle scratched up and chipped in a few spots. Red cloths draped out from under its breast plate and shoulder pad, which were also of the silver, battle torn armor.

"During each of my standby phases, my Warrior of the White Flame will lose 500 attack points, transferring those points to his defense points." Pointing a stiff finger at the black covered monster. "Though, this turn, he has more than enough points to take out your monster. Attack!"

Snapping its blade through the air, the warrior launched itself through the air, preparing to attack the monster that rested on Kiro's field. Winding his sword back across his body, the monster swung forward, cutting through the body of the waiting monster on Kiro's field with one swift motion. A loud explosion rang through the neighborhood as the monster blew up, showing Kiro in white embers.

Reku-4000 LP
Kiro-3500 LP

"I suppose that ends my turn." Reku said, examining the cards in his hand. Lowering his hands, he noticed that Kiro was frowning. And, even though he couldn't see through the sunglasses that still rested on Kiro's face, he could just tell that the eyes underneath were glaring with malice at him.

"Well, I guess I was expecting you to be more challenging." Kiro said, drawing the top card off his deck. "First off, I activate my face-down card. Rite of Spirit revives my Gravekeeper's Assailant in attack mode (1500/1500)"

The brown backed card on Kiro's field flipped up, glowing for a few seconds before it spit out the assassin again onto Kiro's field. Snapping its dagger up, the monster was more than ready to seek revenge on the monster that stood on the opposite of the field from him.

Kiro pulled one of the other cards from his hand, placing it on the side of the pure white dueling plate. With a suction sound, the card was pulled into the plate, sending a rainbow of light through the disk as it read the cards info.

"Field magic card go; Necrovalley!" Kiro announced, snapping his arm up into the air. From all around the dueling field, large stone walls began to skyrocket into the sky. The walls blocked out the sun that was still resting on the horizon in the morning. White fog began to filter into the canyon were Reku and Kiro were dueling, creating a ghostly like feeling to the area. "Necrovalley increases the attack of my Gravekeeper's by 500 attack and defense points (Gravekeeper's Assailant 2000/2000), as well as cuts out all cards that would affect the graveyard."

"So my graveyard is off limits." Reku's eyes shifted downwards to the slot on his duel disk that was his graveyard. "Necrovalley is the home of the Gravekeeper's. This duel just got ten times harder with it in play." Reku bit his lower lip at the thought of the magic card that now surrounded him.

"And I summon out my Gravekeeper's Cannonholder (1400/1200) (1900/1700) in attack mode." Kiro announced, slapping the monster card down onto his duel disk.

In front of him, a Egyptian monster wielding a redwood cannon appeared, placing the weapon on his shoulder and taking careful aim at its target. The monster smirked slightly, pleased with the current field status that appeared around him. Nodding slightly, he waited for the orders to be given from his master before launching its attack.

"And my Gravekeeper's Assailant has an ability that activates when I have Necrovalley on my field." Kiro announced, pointing towards the warrior monster on Reku's field. "When it attacks a monster, I can change the position of a monster on your field. So go my Assailant, attack his Warrior of the White Flame, changing him to defense mode as you do."

Nodding with its orders, the assassin jumped high into the air above Kiro and its ally that still awaited its orders. Snapping the curvy dagger down, the monster took careful aim at the attack target, closing its eyes and concentrating all of its energy into its weapon. A light blue aura began to form around the metal blade, streaming off and crashing into the breastplate of the warrior monster, dropping it to its knees instantly. With a diving swipe, the Gravekeeper's Assailant slashed its sword through the monster, causing it to explode like it had done to the assailant just the turn before.

"And go my Cannonholder! Blast his life points directly!" Kiro yelled out, snapping his arm down towards Reku. The monster sneered, happy that its orders were finally given. Taking one last second to aim, the monster sent out a cannon ball of white and yellow energy. Rushing across the field in a blur, the attack crashed into Reku, causing him to scream out which echoed in the walls of the valley.

Reku- 2100 LP
Kiro-3500 LP

Frustrated, Ronin threw the map he was holding into the back seat of his car. Placing his hands over his head, he sat there with his head buried for a few moments while he thought what to do.

Ronin's black car was parked on the side of the road in a calm neighbor hood. No one else was driving up or down the paved road that he could see, and all the houses still looked peaceful in the early morning light. A gentle breeze blew, rustling the trees that surrounded the street in a plentiful number.

Looking around, Ronin tried to decide on his next move. He had to find somewhere, or someone, to ask for some directions. He hated to admit it, but he had found himself to be completely lost. Shifting his head around, he found a smile creeping across his face as a sandy blond haired woman came strolling down the street next to him. She looked innocent enough, but Ronin didn't want to seem like the threatening one. Waiting until she was almost by the car, he rolled down the driver side window and stuck his head out.

"Um, excuse me ma'am." Ronin called out, startling the young woman. She was fairly well built, not at all bad looking by Ronin's standards at all. Some of those kinds of thoughts even creped into his head when she turned to look at him with a pair of brown eyes. Unlike Reku, Ronin hadn't been so successful in the department of love.

About a year ago, after a while of fighting and disagreeing, Sachiko decided she had had enough and left Ronin. Of course, like the old saying goes 'you don't know what you've got until its gone', Ronin soon realized how good of a thing Sachiko was to him but, she had already left and refused to come back to him. Leaving him heartbroken and completely alone, literally, as Reku and Akina moved away recently and all he had ever known as friends with them.

"Yes?" The woman's voice entranced Ronin imminently, soft and pleasant. "Is there something I can help you with sir?" She asked, finally getting his attention back to the conversation at hand.

"Um…yeah." Ronin fumbled with a mess of papers on his passenger side seat until he came to a small sticky note. Turning, he handed the woman the small note. "I am looking for some friends of mine. They just recently moved to this neighbor hood and I'm not quite sure where they live yet. Could you direct me towards this address?"

"hmm…" the woman rubbed her chin slightly as she stared at the piece of paper. "Well of course I could! This address is in the same neighborhood as a friend of mine I was on the way to see this morning." She handed the paper back to Ronin through the car window.

"Oh, so we were going the same direction." Ronin smiled slightly. "Care for a ride then? You could direct me to the place quickly that way." He asked, waiting patently for a response from the woman that was now leaning against his car.

Brushing a lock of her blond hair out of her face, she nodded slightly. "Sure, that would be fine." She walked quickly around the small black car, opening the passenger side door. Hesitating, she judged if Ronin was really trust worthy before she got into his car.

"Oh." He smiled, moving the pile of papers out of the passenger side seat so she could have a place to sit down. Once throwing the mess into his back seat he reached out his hand to the woman who was still standing outside his car. "My name is Ronin. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Reaching back, she took his hand in her delicate hand and shook it gently. "Nice to meet you Ronin, my name is Kaira and the pleasure is all mine." She smiled, finding some inner reason to trust this strange man she had just met, she quickly jumped into the seat next to him and closed the car door.

Slowly, Ronin pulled away from the curb, following the direction that Kaira pointed him in.

"You think I'm out yet Kiro?" Reku asked, placing his hand on the top card of his deck. With a jerking motion, he snapped the top card off his deck. "I'll just show you otherwise. Draw! I'll start by setting one of my cards face-down on my side of the field." Reku slid the card he had drawn into his duel disk, it flashing into life on the field in front of him. "And I'll be summoning my Flare Ninja (1500/1200) in attack mode. With his special power, I'll summon out my Flare Samurai (1500/1200)."

Two showers of bright light erupted on the field before Reku and his set card. From the right hand column of light came a monster in a black and red body suit. All of his body was covered save the spot by his face where two eyes peered out at the world. Next to him, his duo in crime appeared, a black and red armored samurai monster. On his head he wore a helmet with a star design on the front, the sides coming down smoothly against the side of his dark skinned face.

"Dual summoning two monsters with equal stats." Kiro smirked. "And both of those stats are far to low to deal any damage to my powered up Gravekeeper monsters. So do answer me a question, how did you get so much credit as a good duelist if you play moves like that?" Kiro was acting as smug as he possibly could, pointing to the newly summoned monsters with an accusing finger.

"We shall see." Reku smirked back, waving his arm across his body. "But until then, I will just be ending my turn on that turn."

"Then I will have to do more damage to you." Kiro began to reach for his deck of cards. "I draw, and summon out my Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier (1500/1000) (2000/1500) in attack mode." The tan skinned Egyptian monster appeared on Kiro's field, snapping around a very decorative Egyptian style spear. Smirking, it began to gain power from the field card that was around it. "My Spear Soldier can deal damage through defense, so even if you decide to defend, you won't be safe. But for now, he'll be attacking your Samurai monster!" Kiro snapped his arm out, motioning to the waiting samurai monster.

"You've really thought I was so bad at this game that you'd attack even though I have set a card on my field and then played a weaker monster out in attack mode?" Reku pressed on of the buttons on the back of his duel disk. "I got to where I am, because of my skill and cards. And because I fought better skilled, and apparently better looking, opponents in my time. Trap card: Mirror Force!"

"Mirror Force!" Kiro's eyes widened at the trap card that flipped up. He watched with horror as the metal tip of the spear crashed into a reflective barrier that sprung up around the attacked monster. "Mirror Force destroys all monsters on my side of the field in attack mode when I attack, which at this point is every one of my monsters." Kiro grimaced at the activation of the effect of the card, sending rays of light back and piercing through the chests of the three monsters that belonged to Kiro, destroying them instantly.

"I see you understand the effect of my trap card." Reku smiled wide as he watched Kiro slid the three monster cards into his graveyard.

"Shut up and take your turn already." Kiro growled, bringing his lips at the corners of his mouth upwards, baring some rather sharp teeth that at first sight scared Reku to see.

"Draw." Reku said, still staring at Kiro's mouth, though it was closed tightly now. Did he really see a pair of fangs in his mouth? Maybe it was just too early in the morning for him to be dueling like this. "I set this card face-down on my side of the field." With a flick of his wrist, the card he was holding found its home in the slot on his duel disk. "And next I'll just have my two Flare monsters atttack you directly."

Blasting their way across the field, Reku's two monsters slammed into Kiro, forcing him to slide back across the lawn with the shock wave from the attacks. His eyes darted down at the white wrist gadget on his arm as it started to beep.

Reku- 2100 LP
Kiro-500 LP

"Why not summon something else and finish me off?" Kiro asked, cocking an eyebrow at Reku. He slowly walked back up to his dueling spot on the field. "I mean, you just now gave me another turn to fight back against you. I could turn this duel around right at this point." He placed the gloved hand on the top card of his deck, waiting for Reku to claim that his turn was over.

"Well, who knows?" Reku shrugged, looking over his hand. "Possibly because I don't have a monster I can summon…" He sweat dropped at his opponent's lack of knowledge. Bringing his eyes up, he smiled warmly. "Oh yes, your move."

"'bout time." Kiro growled, snapping the top card off his deck and swinging it around in front of his face. "I set these cards face-down on my side of the field, ending my own turn just that fast." With a ripple of light, two set cards appeared on Kiro's field in all of its glory. The only thing standing between Reku and his life points.

"Interesting." Reku scratched his chin at the defensive wall he could see Kiro building. This wasn't the toughest duel he had been in, nor the most intense, but it sure wasn't easy. "Draw." He announced, sliding the top card off his deck and looking at its face. Adding it to the hand he already had, Reku prepared to finish this duel, or unveil some of Kiro's trap cards. "Go my Flare Ninja! Attack his life points directly now!"

"Reveal trap!" Kiro shouted, one of his set cards flipping up on his field. "Dead Spirit Zoma, a trap monster that will serve as a protective wall between you and me." Kiro smirked as a dark purple dragon monster popped out of the trap card. Sliding, the continuous trap card slid under the monster, indicating that it was in defense mode (1800/500).

"I don't care if you have a defense." Reku smirked, "Flare Ninja still destroys it before you go onto the attack with it." The black clothed ninja launched high into the air, whipping its arm across its boy and sending a wave of shurikens racing across the field and slicing through the strange monster, causing it to explode in yellow flames.

"You fell into that trap perfectly." Kiro's head lowered towards the ground. His fangs poked out from the corners of his mouth once again. "When my Zoma card goes to the graveyard, the monster that destroyed it in battle has its attack points taken out of your life points."

The yellow flames whipped across the field, engulfing Reku whole and causing him to step back by the heat produced in the hologram.

Reku- 600 LP
Kiro-500 LP

"Ok then." Reku watched his life point's drop from the effect of the monster. He wiped off a few beads of sweat that had started to form on his brow. Kiro wasn't a push over, and he could tell that this wasn't Kiro's full power. It wasn't his full force either, but at the present, they were not push overs. Holding up his arm, he pointed to Kiro with his palm. "Flare Samurai attacks then, what else you got to protect yourself?"

"This." Kiro pointed to his set card. "It's called Rite of Spirit. I'm sure you'll remember it from earlier in this duel as well. I get to revive one of my monsters to my field, in attack mode, and I choose Gravekeeper's Assailant (1500/1500) (2000/1000).

With an up rush of yellow and white lights, the trap card activated, brining with it the familiar dagger wielding monster. The power of the field magic card around him increased his power once again, placing him higher than either of Reku's monsters.

"So what will you do now?" Kiro smirked, watching the samurai sheath its sword once again, slinking back to Reku's field next to the ninja monster that was still standing there. "I mean, you obviously can't over power my monster. What will you do?"

"I'll just end my turn." Reku growled, angry at the way Kiro was talking to him. Who did he think he was, its not like he had been playing very dangerously himself. Why in the hell was he criticizing Reku's dueling when his was no better?

Just then, the duel was interrupted as a car pulled up to the curb in front of the yard. From the car emerged Ronin and Kaira, both of them running up the lawn to see what was going on. They looked back and forth, wondering what sparked a sudden duel this early in the morning.

"Thought so." Kiro smirked, his fangs once again being shown from under his top lip as he brought his attention back to the duel. Reku stared at the teeth for a second, but still didn't want to say anything about them. He took a few seconds to glance at the new viewers that stood on the side of the field so to direct his attention from Kiro's odd teeth. His attention was snapped back though when Kiro's voice rang through the morning. "Go Assailant, attack his samurai now!" Kiro ordered, holding his drawn card in his right hand.

The black assassin jumped into the air, snapping the wavy dagger across its body, drilling it deep into the body of the warrior monster that stood on Reku's field. Nodding in pleasure, the Gravekeeper's Assailant withdrew the dagger and hopped back to Kiro's field. A few seconds later, the samurai started screaming, exploding with the wound it sustained.

Reku-100 LP
Kiro-500 LP

"And it's your turn." Kiro added the card he had drawn to his other cards he already held in his hand. "What will you do to fight back from only 100 life points?"

"I've come back from even lower before." Reku assured Kiro, sliding the top card off his deck and whipping it through the air until it was in front of his face. "And this is the magic card that will end this duel right here, right now." Sliding the card through the air, Reku placed it in front of one of the slots on his emerald green duel disk.

"What kind of card is it that will finish me in this turn?" Kiro asked, waiting for Reku to slid the card into his duel disk. "I dare you to try anything. Anything at all."

"I will." Reku sneered, sliding the card fully into the slot on his duel plate. "Magic card, Tremendous Flame activates!" A rainbow of colors surged through the duel disk as the magic card began to activate, appearing in front of Reku in holographic form. "This magic card deals you 1000 points of direct damage, while dealing me only 500 points of damage."

"What?" Kiro's eyes widened as he realized Reku was going to tie them. "Why would you play a card like that?" Kiro was soon washed over though in a wave of red flames spurting out of the card image. Covering his face, he waited for the flames to pass before he looked up at Reku again.

Reku-0 LP
Kiro-0 LP

"Why? Because it allowed me to win this duel easy." Reku smirked, acting like a teenager with a secret his opponent didn't know. This, of course, pissed Kiro off immensely.

"What are you talking about!" Kiro snapped, clenching his right fist into a ball. "You lost too, this game ended in a tie." Ronin, Kaira, and Akina looked at Reku once again, they believed Kiro to be right, and according to the scores, that was the case.

"Well, you're wrong." Reku pointed to his field. "Or did you not realize that I have a card that forced its activation just a second ago. This card is a trap card known as Spark of Life. It instantly activates when my life points hit zero, increasing my life points to 500 before the duel is counted as being over."

Reku-500 LP
Kiro-0 LP

"Meaning; I win." Reku smiled as the holograms vanished from the field. Picking his cards up off his duel disk, he let it fold up and began to walk back to his front door where Akina still stood and was watching the duel.

Kiro just stood there for a second, the duel plate of light vanishing from the side of his duel disk. The cards on and in it dropped to the grass below. That really wasn't what he was expecting to happen.

"You're better than I first believed you to be, Reku Yamashita." Kiro turned his head to stare at the black haired man who was now standing with the woman he loved. "I will admit that I have lost, this time anyways."

"Reku…Yamashita…" Kaira started to walk slowly across the lawn to were Kiro was standing, stopping she turned to face Ronin once again. "That would make you…Ronin…Endo…"

"Yup, that'd be me." Ronin rubbed the back of his head with his hand, smiling dumbly at the girl who was letting a limp finger hang in the air as she realized who she really was pointing to.

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CARD OF THE EPISODE:

Necrovalley
Field Magic
As long as this card remains on the field, negate the effects of Magic, Trap, and Monster Cards that affect a card(s) in the Graveyard, and neither player can remove cards in the Graveyards from play. Also, as long as this card remains on the field, increase the ATK and DEF of all monsters that include Gravekeeper's in their card name by 500 points.

Kiro: "Welcome humans. This is a new section to these stories, a Card of the Episode. The first, and today's card, is that of my very own deck. Necrovalley; the home of my Gravekeeper's. This card not only gives my monsters a power boost on both the attack and defense by 500 points, but cuts off all use of cards that affect the graveyard. Except some of the other cards I keep in my deck, but I still make the use of being the only player to access the graveyard. Over all, a good card to maximize the power in my deck, hope you see the potential in this card that I do."

A/N: Welcome one and all to the first chapter of my new fic; Team Zero: The Last Guard. This is going to only get better and better, that is something you can bet on. If you've been a fan of my Team Zero series, or even my Last Guard of the Spirits fic, than you'll most likely enjoy this fic. Though, I will not penalize you if you have not read my Last Guard of the Spirits fic, but it is highly recommended to understand some of the things I'm going to be hitting on in this story. I will though make things clear, and explain what is needed to know, if you feel brave and want to continue into this fic without that knowledge under your belt already. The same thing is going to apply for my previous Team Zero fics; Team Zero: Duelists, Team Zero: Crystals, and Team Zero: Orichalcos.

Until I update next though, have a nice day folks!
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