"Attention everyone in the building! There are intruder's on the premises! I repeat, there are intruder's on the premises! Lethal use of dueling is authorized! Do not let them escape alive!" "GOD DAMN IT JASON, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THIS TIME?!" My earpiece shouts at me. "Okay okay, so things didn't go according to plan! But hey, mission accomplished and I'm on my way out right?!" I say, making a desperate attempt at humor as I make a run for my life.

"THE CHIEF'S GONNA HAVE YOUR HEAD FOR THIS YOU KNOW THAT?! THIS WAS A SIMPLE INFILTRATION TO GATHER INTEL, BUT LOOK WHAT YOU DID! HOW THE FUCK DO YOU ACCIDENTALLY GET LOCKED INTO THE MAINFRAME SERVER ROOM?!" "Ok, Ryoko, please just shut the hell up for a minute!" I duck left into an empty hallway, or so I thought. "THERE HE IS, GET HIM!" I immediately turn around and start running back the way I came. "God you make things so difficult Jason, just hold on, I'm enroute now. I'll clean up your damn mess. AGAIN."

A moment later the wall next to is blasted to bits, with a gaping hole now occupying the space it was in. "Well come on, I'm not gonna wait forever." I look up and see my partner, Ryoko Umi, standing atop her Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon, the stars in her galaxy disc sparkling just like her eyes. Oh, did I mention yet that my partner is hot as hell?! Jet black hair, bright blue eyes, and a massive bust to boot. All in all, my kind of girl. And she's only a year younger than me, so hey, it's not out of the realm of possibility right?

I smile and jump up, grasping her outstretched hand and pull myself up next to her on the dragon. In the background I hear the automated P.A. system saying something about evacuation. "All staff, please evacuate the facility. Repeat, please evacuate the facility. Containment in the Moment reactor core has failed. For your own safety, please evacuate in an orderly fashion, and have a nice day." Our Dragon roars, and suddenly we're shooting off into the sky, flying away faster than their bullets can travel. "What the hell were you thinking?! You could've gotten yourself killed, AGAIN!" I Chuckle slightly and take a seat next to her. "Yeah but I didn't did I? It all worked out in the end, and hey, mission accomplished. Everything is back on track here, just as it should be." Behind us, a huge explosion can be heard, as well as seen very easily.

I turn back to look at Ryo, my personal nickname for her, and smile. "See? Exactly according to the original history. Now Yusei will grow up in the satellite and become the savior he was meant to be." Ryo merely shakes her head in a mixture of disbelief and disappointment. "The chief is gonna peel your dick like a banana when we get back to base, you know that right?" Ryo asks softly turning away from me. "Yeah yeah, the bitch will skin me, but hey, I'll still be alive right? Not like I'm not needed. After all, we're the best at what we do!" I say trying to bring some light to this dark situation. Ryo grunts and stares off into the distance.

"You can't be serious! Chief come on, don't screw with me here, this is unreasonable, not to mention completely unfair and unnecessary!" I say desperately, trying to reason with my insane boss. "For the last time, my decision is final. You've screwed up enough together to make the entire department hate you. The two of you are done, finished, terminated, hasta la vista, like the terminator told ya. You're being reassigned to solo patrol. But don't worry about Lieutenant Umi, she'll be assigned a new partner. One that won't hold her back for once." I stand there in disbelief as my world crumbles around me. Solo patrol, a literal death sentence, even for the most experienced patrollers.

But maybe I should explain what's going on here first. My name is Jason Storm, and I'm a member of the Xeno Force, an elite group of duelists who patrol the timelines of our world, making sure that nothing deviates from its natural course of history, and bringing those who tamper with history to justice. Ordinarily, we work in teams of two, three at most, but that's normally only when we're training a new recruit. For the unlucky ones who get sent out on solo patrol, well, they don't normally make it. timelines are dangerous to those who don't belong to them, people like us. "Chief please, I'll do anything. You can't do this! This is a death sentence!" I say pleadingly. She only stares back at me, eventually dropping her head with a sigh and walking back around behind her desk. "Look Jason, you're one of our best agents, but you're too much of a wildcard. You go off on your own without backup, and then expect to be rescued when things go wrong, WHICH THEY ALWAYS DO, and on top of that, Ryoko already put in a request for a trainee a while back."

I'm stunned at that last part. Ryo put in a request to train a newbie without telling me? The room is quiet for a moment and then the chief continues. "Look, if you're really that worried about it, then how about this. We recently got a large number of recruit recommendations in from the scouters, and most of them are enroute as we speak. So here's what I propose, and this is the only offer you're getting: Take on a trainee, take em under your wing and show em the ropes. Do that, and I'll consider putting the two of you back together again. And I won't tell Lieutenant Umi about this if you don't. I'll just tell her that you're temporarily separating to focus on your new trainees, got it? So what's it gonna be hotshot?"

"Damn it!" I swear as I walk out of the chief's office. "Why the hell do I have to train a newbie? I never asked for this responsibility!" I spot Ryo leaning against the wall, checking her phone while she waited for me. "So how'd it go?" She asks without looking up. I continue walking without paying her any mind. "Wha- HEY!" She reaches out and grabs me by the arm, holding me in place. "What's the matter with you?" she asks me, almost sounding worried. I turn around to face her. "What's wrong? Oh, nothing much, just that I've got to take on a damn recruit!" I say irritated. "Ok, what? I'm going to need an explanation."

I sigh and walk over to a nearby bench, watching my co-workers walk around, getting ready to go on patrol. I see a few with recruits of their own. They look almost, happy. Ryo takes a seat next to me and stares at me, obviously expecting an explanation. I sigh again and tell her what happened with the chief, leaving out the part about us being seperated. When I'm finished she nods in understanding. "Yeah I can see why you'd be upset now." She says. "So when did you put in that request huh? I thought you said that recruits were a waste of time, something for the old paper pushers who wanted to get back out in the field and prove they were still worth something?" I ask her, still not wanting to look at her. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see her shrug her shoulders. "I did, but then I saw how they all looked when they were with their trainees. They looked, happy, at least to me. And I decided I wanted to see what could make them feel that way, so I put in a request. I didn't think you'd mind, seeing as how you normally like to do things on your own anyway.

I grunt and look away. "I just wish you had told me is all. Because now, I'm being pulled into all this drama, and all I want is to get out of it." Ryo puts her hand on my shoulder. "Hey, listen to me for a sec ok? And look at me to, it's rude to not look someone in the eyes when they're talking to you." I sigh and turn to look at her. Her face is serious, and she looks at me with this determined look in her eyes. "All you got to do is take on a trainee right? So technically, all that means is that you just have to take them out on a single mission. After that, if you don't like them, you can just pawn them off on someone else who actually wants a recruit to train. After that, you're home free and this is all over right?" Damn, she's actually right. "Alright, fine. I'll take the damn recruit. One mission right?" I ask Ryo. She nods back at me. "Then I'm gonna make sure that it's the best damn mission that they ever go through in their career! And then, I'm done with them." I say with a growing smile. "Well there you go, problem solved. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go ahead down to the duel room to go and pick out my rookie." Ryo says as she gets up. "Hey! Wait for me!" I say scrambling to get up after her.

To be continued….