The Void.
An infinite space of emptiness, a plane of nothingness shrouded by the very essence of darkness itself. It is a dreadful place, where time and space literally meant nothing to the whole universe. The oldest and the most primordial force to be created since the beginning of time, the Void had existed as not an idea, but a dimension where anything and anyone was sent to oblivion by a force of an explosion or a great disaster, never to return to the plane of existence ever again. In the great river known to many as time, only a select few had ever tried to experiment with such a nonexistent force, but none prevailed.
Instead, a number of people focused with studying on how to defile the existent laws of time and space itself. Some had created man-made gravity for astronauts in their trip to outer space. Some had created interdimensional teleporters focused on traveling through different dimensions with otherworldly energies. Others had created an augmented reality and invented special viewing gazers to help them see that reality. In the future, few had invented machines to help them travel back and forth through the very fabrics of time. All in all, the future of the universe was expanded greatly upon the creation of technologies and the game that helped mould that very same, future: Duel Monsters.
What started out with a simple card game full of monsters and magic quickly expanded into an empire where Duelists young and old spent their days, shaping their own future around their beloved cards. Cities and schools were built from those cards, tournaments created champions and legends were born. Such legends were created not from the cards, but from the very Duelists who Dueled for their homes, their friends and with their hearts.
One such legend was the King of Games himself, Yugi Muto. After his grandfather, Solomon Muto returned from an archeological expedition from Egypt, Yugi Muto received a box containing a special puzzle that held the spirit of an unnamed pharaoh from the time of Ancient Egypt, when Duel Monsters were played with actual magic and monsters encased in stone tablets. After completing the puzzle, Yugi's soul was bound with the spirit of the unnamed pharaoh's soul, and the two formed a powerful team, one that would be told for years on end.
Their legend began with a Duel against the egotistical Seto Kaiba, who cared more about his title as Champion, his company, Kaiba Corp and himself more than everyone else he had met. After Kaiba met defeat by the unbeatable "Exodia," Yugi's name became widely known across the entire world, expanding more so after he defeated the sinister forces of the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion J. Pegasus in the final rounds of the Duelist Kingdom Tournament and defeating Yami Marik in a Shadow Game in the finals of the Battle City Tournament with the help of the power of the Egyptian God Cards. With the help and the support of his friends and his family, Yugi Muto and his spirit partner, Yami Yugi had earned themselves the title of the King of Games, the best Duelist who had ever drawn his first card.
Another legend, ten years or so later after Yugi Muto's story had ended with a tearful goodbye, was a Duelist who had the rare ability to see and hear the spirits of the Duel Monsters cards. Jaden Yuki, a Slifer Red of the prestigious Duel Academy, began his story with a chance encounter with a slightly older Yugi Muto and a single Duel Monster card. After making his way to the academy, Jaden Yuki proved himself to be one of the best Duelists ever to set foot on Duel Academy Island, though it was more than what anybody could say about his grades.
With the power of his "Elemental HEROs" cards at his disposal, Jaden defeated the forces of evil that also dared to set foot on the island, such as Kagemaru, leader of the Seven Shadow Riders, Sartorius, the vassal of the Light of Destruction and Yubel, a manipulative demonic Duel Monster with nothing more than trying to accomplish the ultimate goal of fusing twelve different dimensions into one destructive force. Jaden may have been pushed into a corner in more than one instance, but with his friends by his side cheering him on, he always followed through and won his way to become the second legend of Duel Monsters history.
The third legend of Duel Monsters is one who would ride his way towards a better future. Yusei Fudo, son of the late scientist, Prof. Fudo dedicated himself to ensuring the future shone bright for the citizens of New Domino City through Turbo Dueling, a type of Dueling done on special motorcycles run by a special kind of energy. Orphaned during the Zero Reverse disaster that separated New Domino City from Satellite, Yusei Fudo, Jack Atlas and Crow all grew up in a foster home, not knowing that destiny had much more in store for them. After discovering that he was part of a special group of people called the Signers, Yusei joined forces with Jack, Crow, Akiza Izinski, Leo and Luna to defeat the dark forces of the Dark Signers, vassals of the demonic forces of the "Earthbound Immortals," who wanted nothing than the destruction of the entire world. Joined together by the good forces of the Crimson Dragon and the SIgner Dragons, Yusei and his friends defeated the Dark Signers, led by the devious Roman Goodwin and restored peace between New Domino and the Satellite.
Despite growing up in a rough time and having known that his father was part of the Ener-D project that created Zero Reverse, Yusei decided to use all of his power to ensure that New Domino City never fell in another time of depression and hopelessness. To that end, Yusei continued to keep his head up, his Deck ready at the draw and the wheels of his prized Duel Runner guiding him towards the future and made sure never to look back at the past again.
Further down that same future was the fourth Dueling legend known to the history of Duel Monsters. In the city of Heartland, where Litterbots ran around free and Augmented Reality Duels hit the world by storm, a young energetic Duelist lived to take whatever life threw at him and turned it all into a challenge, despite him failing in the end. Yuma Tsukumo, son of explorers, Kazuma and Mira Tsukumo was just a Duelist with poor skills when an Ante Duel with the school bully, Shark, changed his life around forever. After meeting with a demonic door that released 99 "Number" cards all over the world, Yuma met Astral, an otherworldy, amnesiac entity who soon became his most staunchest friend and ally on their quest to collect 100 "Number" cards and restore Astral's memories.
Collecting the "Numbers" was no cakewalk for Yuma and Astral, as they had to battle against forces who wanted to see Astral and his home, the Astral World destroyed by the very cards they intended to collect. With the help of Shark and the lone wolf Number Hunter, Kite Tenjo, Yuma and Astral faced off against the combined evils of Dr. Faker, who used Kite's little brother, Hart's energies to destroy the Astral World; Vetrix, the man who was mutated into a younger age by the effects of the Barian World and used his sons to get revenge on Dr. Faker; and Vector of the Seven Barian Emperors, who orchestrated Yuma's downfall with some nearly disastrous results! Without the support of his friends, the guidance from Astral and the power of Zexal, Yuma would never have lived to high five the sky another day!
All four of these legendary Duelists lived to preserve the future of Duel Monsters and the wellbeing of their homes. Even though they might have been defeated at least once or twice, Yugi Muto, Jaden Yuki, Yusei Fudo and Yuma Tsukumo would keep to their feet and live on to Duel to their heart's content. But on one particular day, their lives would be changed once more by a newer, more powerful threat; a threat that endangered not only the game of Duel Monsters, but the entire timeline of Duel Monsters itself! Now, with the help of their friends, old rivals and former enemies, the Four Legendary Duelists will take up their Duel Disks and stand side by side for the greatest battle they had yet to face!
For tonight, emerging from the unformed space of the Void, a floating shadow slowly appeared. The floating shadow took the form of a humongous needle-shaped spaceship, made entirely up of futuristic metal and lights traveling down the center like blood traveling through the veins. The spaceship's height was taller than the diameter of planet Earth and the top part consisted of a full arc circle. Positioned exactly from each other were four small separate domes circling around one particular dome much larger than the other four.
Inside that large dome stood five figures, unrecognizable by the shrouding shadows. One of the figures in the front appeared as a silhouette of a cloaked figure. Deep, rhythmic, metallic breathing was heard from the man's face while the only light shining were tubes running through his arms, legs and torso. The silhouette and the other four shadowed figures stood by as they watched the tiled walls of the dome played Duels from each of the four timelines, all coinciding with the four heroic Duelists of all time, like a room full of flat-screen TV monitors merged into the walls. The cloaked man in the front nearly retched as the four Legendary Duelists spoke their signature catchphrases.
"It's time to Duel!"
"Get your game on!"
"Let's rev it up!"
"I'm feeling the flow!"
Hearing enough, the man with the deep breathing shut the monitors off, each one of them shutting out after another with a blink. The cloaked man turned around as the room grew dark with the last of the monitors switched off and walked towards the exit, his boots making a clinking-clanking sound with each step taken. The other four figures stood aside while the man stepped outside then followed him out into the chambers. While the man walked down the chambers towards his control station, he uttered a single phrase. It was a phrase he never thought to have said after he lived an unknown number of years after the Final Disaster. He spoke it in a voice so deep and metallic, that even the figures following him caused a slight shiver in their nerves.
"Good-bye... Legendary Duelists."