-2112-

The cold of the Old Valley air made the middle aged man shiver. He sat on a chair in the middle of a large field of dead grass surrounded by a pile of garbage that shook with every small gust of wind.

He carried an annoyed expression that was especially apparent in his green eyes. In front of him sat a smug man in his late twenties with short blond hair and a sort of gleam in his left eye that just made the black haired man even more frustrated.

"You come to my property and tell me I have no right to it?" The man asked.

"Mr. Orwell, please understand," the blonde said, "but I need territory to fight my enemies. Your territory is an ideal hiding spot for me and my allies for a surprise attack."

"Darius," Mr. Orwell said. "I don't care about your territory wars. I have a family and a life to hold on to and I'm not going to travel the wasteland finding some new place because a jackass wants to use my house for a hiding place."

Darius lifted his feet then stomped them on the ground. Putting his hands on the arms of the old recliner, he lifted himself up and approached Mr. Orwell with a furious look on his face. Mr. Orwell, fed up, also stood and approached Darius until the two were less than a foot's distance from each other.

"Mr. Orwell, I will have this territory of yours." Darius grabbed Orwell's neck. "If you don't let me have it willingly, I will force you to watch me kill your wife and children. Then I will burn you alive."

Mr. Orwell began to look afraid as he struggled to breathe. Darius looked Orwell directly in the eyes and growled.

"Understand?"

Mr. Orwell kicked Darius in the shin and stepped back. He grabbed the lawn chair he was sitting in and tried to slam Darius with it, but Darius grabbed it as Orwell tried to bash him with it.

"It seems you don't." Darius ripped the chair from Orwell's hands and threw it to the side. "It's honorable for a man to protect his family from danger, so you should leave these grounds. I'll give you five minutes as a courtesy, but after that…"

Mr. Orwell ran past Darius and stumbled climbing up the pile of garbage.

Darius, smirking, walked slowly over to the garbage pile where he saw an old, metal axe. He picked it up with one hand and looked in the direction where Mr. Orwell ran, giving a large grin.

"Perfect."

-Present Day-

Dave gave a scream and stumbled right out of the bed onto the floor with a loud thud. He rubbed his head as stood up, already unable to exactly remember what woke him. The nightmare again, he figured.

He stumbled around the small bedroom to the doorway and entered the living room. Lily was making eggs while more news about escalating violence in the southern United States aired. He sat on the couch and turned the TV up.

"In today's news, a south central United States rebel group released a statement that there would be "dire consequences" for the eastern coast civilians if demands regarding shipments of oil are not met."

"Why does that stuff interest you, anyway?" Lily looked from the counter to Dave sitting on the couch with a confused look. Dave turned to her and smiled.

"It's our home." He turned the television down. "I like to hear what goes on, ya know."

Lily went back to finishing the two over easy eggs. "You know this crappy, small apartment we live in? It's our home, and I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Lily served the two eggs onto white plates and carried them both to the table in front of the couch. She went back to the kitchen to pour milk while Dave watched her.

"Besides, I thought you said stuff from the valley makes you feel on edge?" Lily brought back the milk with a couple of forks for the eggs and sat down next to Dave. Dave sighed and flipped the channel to an early morning talk show.

"I've been thinking," Dave said, "I was afraid of it. The one you were interested in?"

"Oh, you mean the Monster of the Old Valley?" Lily looked puzzled. "That was a story kids were told so they'd stay indoors during nighttime."

"I've always thought it was-"

Dave stopped himself. "Forget it," he said, "you're probably right, I'm just paranoid about this guy. The valley still interests me for all the good memories I had there."

Lily smiled. "Well, I guess I can understand." She quickly downed the glass of milk. "I never really got to understand what a mom or a dad was really like, you did."

Dave stopped eating his egg for a second to look at Lily.

"My family loved you and I love you," Dave said, "we had plenty of good memories from that place together and what happened in the end will never change it."

Lily stared at Dave for a moment. "I can't look back on what happened and think much good came of it," she said, "our lives only got better when we came here. Looking back just makes me feel chills."

After Lily finished her egg, she stood up and took the plate to the sink in the kitchen. Dave tapped the table with his finger a moment before stand up and adjusting his T-shirt.

"Sometimes I'm just a bit stuck in the past," Dave said, "can't really help it."

"It's alright, but I've seen you up at night before," Lily said, "when you're stressed you're online or at the TV obsessing over the Old Valley. It worries me."

Dave gave a concerned look at Lily while she washed her plate.

"You see me doing things at night?" Dave asked. The sound of rushing water from the faucet stopped.

Lily dried the plate and placed it on a nearby white shelf. Turning back to Dave, she placed her hands on the white counter and looked into his eyes from across the room.

"Sometimes I don't sleep." Lily lifted her hands and started to walk back into the living room. "So yeah, I catch you doing things."

"I'm just keeping up to date, it's… really nothing to be worried about," Dave said, "I swear."

"…I just want you to know I'm here for you." Lily walked over to Dave and put her hand on his shoulder. "It scares me when you do this. You haven't done it in years and you only started doing it again when the tournament was announced."

Dave shook his head and walked to the door. Visibly shaking, he turned the key and opened the door to step outside. Lily, left hanging, gave an annoyed look and went to clean up after Dave's mess of dishes.

-Dueling Track-

After walking the usual path, Dave stepped into one of the garages at the large stadium. Darrel, waiting for him, looked around the garage.

"Where's Lily?" Darrel asked. "Today's her day to duel."

"She and I had an argument, you could say," Dave said, "I sort of just left the apartment and came here."

"You two arguing?" Darrel laughed. "Don't really think I can imagine that."

"She's just overly concerned about me." Dave took his deck box from his pocket and looked over at the one duelist on the other end of the garage. The duelist was in entirely black Duel Runner gear and sported a purple tag with the words "Clovis" on it in black lettering.

Dave walked to Clovis and held hand up to offer a handshake. Clovis, who practically towered over Dave in height, looked down at Dave and gave a smirk.

"I heard a couple of people in the arena talking about your duel yesterday," Clovis said, "I'm here to train for the Dyson Championship."

Clovis shook Dave's hand.

"I haven't seen you around here," Dave said, "are you one of the contestants from Germany or something?"

"I'm from the Old Valley, actually," Clovis said, "I'm considered second best on my team."

Second Best. The words rang even harder in Dave's head than the mention of the Old Valley.

"Who leads your team?" Dave asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Given his perfect record, I'm not going to give you a name." Clovis frowned. "He doesn't want anyone looking for him before the ceremonies start. It'd increase the risk of people finding out his strategy."

Dave began to process what he knew about this perfect record duelist, but was interrupted buy Lily grabbing him on the shoulder and pulling him to her.

"Lily, the he-"

"What was that, exactly?!" Lily asked. "You don't just walk out when we're talking about serious things like that. It worries me even more!"

"We'll talk about it when we get home, just not in public, alright?" Dave tried to comfort her by putting his hand on her cheek, but she jerked her head away.

"Look, I want you to sit down and think about this while I duel," Lily said, "this guy is mine."

Clovis stepped up to the two of them and put his indigo helmet on.

"If the girl wants to duel me, so be it," Clovis said, "but she will lose."

"I can't turbo duel you, so I was hoping for a ground duel." Lily looked over at Darrel and Dave's bikes, wishing she had brought her bike in from the repair shop.

Clovis took his helmet off and walked over to his sleek blue and indigo duel runner to grab the duel disk off of the interface. He placed his helmet down and turned his green eyes to Lily.

"An even easier win, then." Clovis watched Lily take her duel disk from a nearby shelf.

Despite her frustrations, Lily gave a little smirk as she set her life points to 4000. Clovis, with a darker smile, set his counter to 4000. Both duelists drew their opening hands.

-Lily LP: 4000

-Clovis LP: 4000

"I prefer to not let my opponent gain an early advantage, so I'll go first." Clovis drew his sixth card. Scanning his hand for a moment, he grinned and placed a monster on the field.

"I'll begin with Steelswarm Caller." Clovis said. A humanoid bug creature starting to form from a thick black star-like substance until its translucent wings to started to flap. It flew out of the substance and grappled on top of the garage, looking down at Lily.

Steelswarm Caller: 1700 ATK/0 DEF

"I'll set two cards face down and end my turn." Clovis looked around the silent garage, admiring his Caller giving color to the otherwise relatively gray and light garage.

Lily smiled. "Is that supposed to scare me?" She drew and without hesitation placed her first monster on the field.

"I summon Fabled Gallabas." Lily said. From a vortex of light that formed on the nearby wall, a large armored green skinned demon jumped out of the wall. A large mace made a crashing sound behind him, followed by the rustling of the chains as the demon began to pull the mace forward.

Fabled Gallabas: 1500 ATK/800 DEF

"With its effect, I can discard a card to destroy one monster you control with defense less than my Gallabas' attack." Lily discarded a Fabled Lurrie to use Gallabas' effect.

Gallabas swung his mace upwards, crushing Caller into a black tar-like substance that started to drip from the ceiling. Beside Gallabas formed another demon, this one small as a baby but with a large grin and two black wings.

"My Fabled Lurrie is summoned when it's discarded off to the graveyard." Lily gave a look of confidence.

Fabled Lurrie: 200 ATK/400 DEF

"I'm going to tune my level one Lurrie and level four Gallabas to synchro summon." Lily raised her hand while Lurrie turned into a star that entered a slowly dissolving Gallabas' body. The two merged into a greater demon with two large wings, pale skin, and long lanky arms.

Its face shapeshifted constantly and it carried an old tome in its right hand. Looking to Clovis, its head turned to that of a wolf's and started to growl.

"I summon Fabled Danta!" Lily said.

Fabled Danta – 2400 ATK/1200 DEF

"Now, I'll attack you directly!" Lily commanded the demon to strike Clovis. It opened the book it held and a pile of spiders crawled from the pages onto the floor, swarming to Clovis.

Clovis, still calm, placed a monster from his hand to the monster zone on his duel disk. A hornet like creature with large, humanoid arms and legs appeared from the black substance where Caller was destroyed. It flapped its two yellow wings to blow the swarm of spiders away.

The creature landed on the floor and shielded Clovis.

"This is my Steelswarm Jacket," Clovis said, "If I have a Steelswarm in my graveyard and I'm attacked directly, I can special summon it from my hand and end the battle phase."

Steelswarm Jacket: 1900 ATK/0 DEF

Lily, frowning, set a card and passed to Clovis. She was still confident, but she was aware of Clovis' potential to ruin her field.

Clovis smirked and looked into Lily's eyes after he drew his card.

"I win."

A purple outline of the Steelswarm crest formed on Clovis' right hand. With a blink, his human eyes had the pattern of compound eyes on them.

"…You're a psychic duelist?" Lily asked, looking surprised. Dave stood up from his chair, but Darrel grabbed his arm.

"I'm an extremely powerful one, dear." Clovis looked over to Dave and Darrel and shook his head. "You two can calm down, I won't hurt her."

Dave jerked his arm away from Darrel's gripped and stood cautiously as Clovis played his next card. The thoughts of whoever was better than Clovis began to rush into his mind again.

"I pay 500 life points to activate my Infestation Ripples." Clovis flipped the trap card. "I can special summon a Steelswarm monster from my graveyard."

Clovis LP: 3500

Clovis snapped his fingers. From the black substance, Caller emerged unscathed and hopped next to Jacket. The two started to turn into black substance when Clovis placed a new monster on the field by sending Jacket and Caller to the graveyard.

A heavily armored creature emerged from the pile of black waste. It scanned the area with its two metal antennae until two blue lights lit up inside the creature's helmet. The elytra of the beetle rose several times before settling back.

"This is Steelswarm Longhorn."

Steelswarm Longhorn: 3000 ATK/0 DEF

"With Caller's effect, when it's tributed, I can summon a level four or lower Steelswarm monster from my deck." Clovis grabbed a Steelswarm Antlion from his deck and placed it on the field.

A hairy but armored humanoid insect on its fours crawled out the black ooze that was near Longhorn. It snapped its two steel pinchers together and gave a low growl at Lily.

Steelswarm Antlion: 1500 ATK/0 DEF

"Now, with my Longhorn's effect, I can pay 1000 life points to destroy a monster you control." Clovis looked at the nervous Dave and Darrel before snapping his fingers.

Clovis LP: 2500

Longhorn walked to Danta, whom he dwarfed greatly in size. Longhorn gave a horrific screech and almost instantly crushed Danta's head into dust by grabbing it, leaving the rest of Danta's body to fall to the floor and dematerialize.

Lily looked in a horrified awe as the creature stared at her through its black visor.

"You can be calm, gentlemen," Clovis said, "Death is not harm. It is quick and painless under my control."

Dave tried to rush onto the battlefield, but he stopped when he felt the black substance sticking to his shoe. He stepped back and tried to wipe it off on the floor, but it turned into a variety of bugs before his shoe hit the ground. They scurried off.

"Don't kill her!" Dave began to look hurriedly back and forth at Clovis and Lily. Darrel, a yard away, was trying to think of a way to stop the duel.

Antlion began to snap its pinchers quickly and Longhorn clenched its fists.

"Is it the fear she'll die a gruesome death?" Clovis asked. "If you were at her deathbed, you wouldn't beg her cells and immune system or her brain for mercy, boy. A dead body is a dead body, no matter how torn or ruined."

"…What are you?" Lily cut in and looked at Clovis.

"A force for suffering sent to make this boy feel the worst pain." Clovis looked at the sun glare on the nearby window. "I've been trained by one of the best duelists in existence, so I get whatever job I'm assigned done. No bargaining, no chances of survival. You are just food for my insects and I am the bringer of pain."

Dave screamed as Longhorn rushed to strike Lily's head, but she flipped a trap card before Longhorn could complete its attack.

"I activate The Darkest Light!" Lily Yelled. "This will negate your attack and let me special summon a light attribute fiend type monster from my hand!"

A vortex of light appeared, stunning Longhorn. Out of the portal came a grim reaper-like creature with wings that began to expand. It stared down Antlion and cackled a bit before settling down.

"This is my Fabled Urustos," Lily said, "and my Fabled monsters gain 400 ATK if I have two or less cards in my hand like I do now."

Fabled Urustos: 1500 ATK 1900 ATK/200 DEF

Clovis gave a robotic sounding laugh as his voice started to sound corrupted.

"This is still going to end in you being cleaned off the pavement." Clovis gave a grin at a panicked Dave. Clovis ended his turn – two cards in hand, a face down, and his two monsters.

Lily's single monster and three cards as she drew were far more modest, but her draw helped boost some of her confidence in winning. She immediately played it.

"I activate Fabled Cross!" Lily placed the normal spell. "I can discard a card to special summon a Fabled monster from my graveyard."

A revived and revitalized Danta came to the field once more, this time carrying a more fearful look.

"With Urustos, Danta's ATK is raised from 2400 to 2800." Lily looked at her discarded card. "Additionally, when Fabled Krus is discarded, I can Special Summon a level 4 or lower Fabled monster from my graveyard. I'm selecting my Fabled Lurrie."

The winged creature return to the field and perched itself on Urustos's bony shoulder.

"Now, I'm tuning Urustos and Lurrie for another synchro monster of mine." Lily said.

The death-like creature combined with Lurrie to form a golden armored and black winged demon that formed from the particles of Lurrie and Urustos. It clenched its fists and gave a confident smirk as it smashed its feet on the ground.

"This is my Fabled Ragin."

Fabled Ragin: 2300 ATK/1800 DEF

"When he's Synchro Summoned while I have less than two cards in hand, I draw until I have two. " Lily drew a card and looked over to Danta. "With Danta, whenever a Fabled monster is Synchro Summoned, I can draw a card."

Despite her two synchros, she didn't have anywhere near the power to overrun Longhorn. Her Danta had returned to his original attack with Urustos gone and she had to start thinking carefully about the cards she had just drawn.

"I can't say I'm unimpressed," Clovis said, "you aren't weak. But I'm glad; I don't like my prey easy."

"I'm not your prey." Lily looked at Clovis and then back at her hand, shaking.

"I summon Fabled Kushano!" Lily placed a new monster on the field.

A plague doctor looking winged demon holding a large tome formed next to Ragin.

Fabled Kushano: 1100 ATK/800 DEF

"Now, I'm going to tune my Ragin and my tuner Kushano!" Lily stared at Clovis directly in his compound eyes as she performed this summon. Ragin stretched his wings flew into Kushano, shattering both into a mess of particles that formed a new monster.

A mess of a creature formed and stood before Longhorn and Antlion. It had the torso of a human and the legs and head of a mule with peacock feathers behind. It outstretched its arms and pointed to both Antlion and Longhorn.

"This is the almighty Fabled Ba'al!" Lily yelled. The creature finally let out a hellish scream, causing Longhorn and Antlion to scurry backwards.

Fabled Ba'al: 2900 ATK/2500 DEF

Lily drew a card for her Fabled Danta's effect and gave a confident smile with no fear to Clovis.

"With Fabled Ba'al's effect, I can discard a Fabled monster from my hand to destroy a card you control." Lily discarded Fabled Ashenveil and pointed directly to Longhorn.

Clovis let out a laugh with his corrupted voice. "I chain my Infestation Wave!"

Longhorn turned into a purple light that formed into a card, returning to Clovis' hand. Out of the black substance came a tentacle that impaled the fearsome Ba'al, destroying it.

"It returns a tributed Steelswarm monster from my field to my hand to destroy a card you control." Clovis looked at Lily. "Now what?"

"Well, I guess I win then." Lily looked at the shining light in her graveyard come from the demon's effect.

"When Ba'al is destroyed, I can discard a Fabled monster to summon one of synchro material monsters used to summon Ba'al."

As soon as Lily revealed Fabled Cerburrel in her hand, Clovis hit the "Zero" button on his duel disk.

"This would be pointless to continue, I suppose." Clovis looked onward at Lily, clenching his fists. As soon as the black substance and holograms vanished, Dave made a rush at Clovis. Clovis laughed a turned into a swarm of hornets that escaped the garage through a crack in the window.

The three of them looked at each other for a few moments before Dave and Lily ran to hug each other while Darrel watched the swarm of hornets far off in the distance flying away.

"I'm sorry about this morning, Lily, I'll be honest with y-"

"It's fine…" Lily patted Dave on the back before letting go. "Just don't hide anything anymore. We have to be honest to each other, especially now."

Darrel looked at them and smiled before frowning again. "Why do you think he surrendered, exactly?" Darrel looked out the window again.

"Maybe he thought I won?" Lily raised her hands up. "Anyway, we should really talk to the police about this. A psychic duelist like him in town is very, very bad, especially if he's going to be in the Dyson Championship."

Darrel himself went off to get an officer from nearby while Lily and Dave stayed in the garage together.

"Ha, these demons of mine have given me quite a bit of confidence." Lily looked at Dave.

"You said you couldn't sleep sometimes," Dave said, "Why?"

"I think about things like you do," Lily said, "But not as obsessively. I just… sulk, I guess. I can't stand thinking of the damn place but it just never leaves my mind no matter how hard I try to forget."

"Like a haunting story, I guess?" Dave looked at Lily. "You think those Fabled cards are just a foul reminder of it all?"

Lily looked at the cards on her duel disk. "I suppose they might be."

-Felgrand City Outskirts-

The swarm of hornets rematerialized into Clovis out in a near-empty field only occupied by one other person. Riker, standing by a campfire, looked at Clovis and turned his head.

"You scouted the boy, correct?" Riker asked.

"I tested his emotions." Clovis panted. "His girlfriend cut in so I dueled her, but I stopped as soon as she had a serious advantage on me. Duel could've gone on much longer, but I chose to end it so nobody would get hurt this time around."

"How did he respond?" Riker asked, staring deep into the fire.

"I could tell he loves her deeply," Clovis said, "she and that other boy are probably two of the only things he has left after what happened in the valley."

"Just some unfinished business from my days in the Old Valley, I suppose." Riker stood and looked off in the distance, seeing bustling town's lights even in broad daylight.

"The opening ceremony is tomorrow and I'm probably going to be a suspect for what I did back there." Clovis looked at Riker, who shrugged.

"Kenneth and I will provide an alibi," Riker said, "I presume you left no evidence so no proof will exist and you'll be accounted for."

Clovis smiled. "Good."

"The Path of Water doesn't want us slouching, neither does Ra." Riker looked up at the sun. "DeCarte Freeman doesn't mean much to me, but I suppose I should pit on the allusion of caring about the mission Ra set me out to do."

Riker began walking with Clovis back towards the town, faint sounds of a train in the distance.

"When midnight comes on the perfect day, I will see to it the last of that wretched family dies a painful death." Riker muttered to himself.

-Lily and Dave's Apartment, hours later-

The two sat on their couch, enjoying popcorn as they watched their old-timey movie from the early 2000s. Dave, simply grateful for Lily to be alive, held her close.

"We have a lot to solve, but we'll get through it," Lily said, looking up at Dave. "Just remember that we can solve it together so you'll get better sleep. Maybe I can do the same."

Dave nodded, watching the sun set outside. The opening ceremonies were tomorrow, and he'd surely want to get a good night's sleep for them. He briefly thought about Clovis and wondered if the police would ever catch him, but let his thoughts go so he could immerse himself back in the movie.

-Freeman's Office-

An old man, looking outside, watched the fruits of his labor function. The bright flashing lights of the Dyson Sphere on the individuals petals were beautiful to him and represented a great achievement, but still served as a reminder for something much darker.

He wore a red suit and had a green tie. Despite looking to be nearing his 100s, he was quite mobile and had a clear mind. He walked over to his desk chair and in it, looking at the name "DeCarte Freeman" plated on top of his desk in gold letters. As the sun went down, DeCarte gave a slight chuckle.

"He must be furious right now," DeCarte said to himself, "I bet he'll be gunning right for me tomorrow."

DeCarte looked to a picture of a younger version of him and a man in a black suit and tie shaking hands at a convention meeting for "Resolution of the Energy Crisis".

The other man looked to be from Africa and had the name tag "Amun" on the front of his suit. DeCarte shook his head and set the photo on his desk down, not wanting to look at the man any longer.

"How far he fell…"