Hello, everyone! We're back with chapter two! I'm so happy to see the positive reception so far! You guys make my days so much brighter, you know? It's only a starter to introduce some of the characters and set up the world this takes place in, so we probably won't get to anything too exciting for a few chapters yet. But, trust me, I have tons of excitement in store if you can hang on ;)

I'll follow the same formatting I used with Sunset Horizon for thanking all of you lovely reviewers :) In one paragraph, I'll list the names of signed-in users since I reply via PM, and anons in the next paragraph with a bit of a reply. Though we haven't seen any yet, I do ask that, even if you don't have an account, that you write in a name on the anon form. It makes it much easier to reply than having 'guests' show up. I'd appreciate it!

That said, I would absolutely love to extend my thanks to ValinNight, faithshipper24, ptd163, and Rapis-Razuri for their wonderful and supportive reviews!

And then we have LDC signing in on anon! So great to see you again! Assuming you're the same LDC from SH, that is XD If not, please let me know! Otherwise, I'm so happy to see you and thanks for the review! As I said, the start will be a little slow, but we'll pick up the pace as we go :D

This fic was beta-read by the lovely Rapis-Razuri!

And here we see the first duel, which was scripted by the amazing RealityRlySucks! Since I'm a total novice when it comes to the game, I truly appreciate your talents!

Speaking of, I would totally love to hear your thoughts on the duel format! You know, how I described effects, listed ATK/DEF values, LP counts, etc. This format is subject to change, so I appreciate your honest opinion and any thoughts on improving it for easier reading!

That said, please enjoy!

Dreamless Nightmare
Chapter 002

Friday, January 7th

She sat at her desk, one elbow propped on the surface as her chin stayed propped in her hand. Her other hand rested beside the keyboard built into her station, her finger tapping impatiently on the metal. Sighing, she glanced up at the clock on the wall, waiting. Thirty seconds… Twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven…

She turned her attention back to the instructor as he droned on about the assignment they'd been preparing for all week. Finally, the bell rang out, causing her to quickly log out of her station and jump up from her seat.

"Miss Fudo, a word?"

…

My name is Kali Fudo. I just turned sixteen three days ago, on January fourth. I'm a first year in high school at East Tops High. It's a nice school and I like it, but it gets a little lonely since I don't have any friends here.

I'm just different and there aren't many people who understand that.

I look like anyone else, but I have a condition that no one can explain. Well, not only did I inherit my mother's psychic duelist abilities, but I also have an aversion to Ener-D. No one knows what to call it or what causes it. There aren't any documented cases of this happening ever before. Yes, Ener-D is a somewhat recent discovery—roughly fifty years—but I'm still the first.

Somewhere down the road, we started call it an 'allergy' to Ener-D. That's hardly the case, but it works. Plus, it makes it easier to talk about in public if we just refer to it as my allergies. What is it, you ask? It's really hard to explain, but the simplest way is to say it's an aversion to Ener-D.

The activation of it nearby causes me a lot of pain. Even as little as a duel disk within two blocks can give me a headache to trump all migraines. It hurts so bad when that happens. That's why I don't go to Duel Academy with my friends. I would probably die within a day. Here at East Tops High, dueling isn't allowed on campus.

I've adapted to the feel of it running through buildings for power and such. Steady flow doesn't really bother me much anymore, but sudden activity can be a problem. Even something as simple as turning on a shower causes me pain.

Duel disks are a whole different story, though. The energy within them fluctuates dramatically during a duel. It spikes whenever a monster is summoned or a set card is activated, then drops suddenly when a monster is destroyed. It's bad. I literally cannot duel with a duel disk. I can ride a runner to get from point A to point B, but it's still incredibly painful. I tend to avoid it and walk everywhere when I can.

My dad, Yusei Fudo, as the top researcher of Ener-D, set up filters through our home so we can shower and use the stove without giving me that burst of pain. Once we knew it worked, he set up the same thing at my friends' houses, too.

My mom, Akiza Izinski-Fudo, has been trying to help me with my psychic powers, but it's not that much of a problem if I don't duel. If I don't use a duel disk, then I can't make them real, you know? Still, just in case something happens, I wear a barrette in the shape of a butterfly at all times to help with my powers.

It's also because of my mom that we've had access to the best neurologists in the business to help with my condition. Since there's no known cure, the best we can do is carry sedatives in case my powers get too out-of-control. It has before. Everyone in my family and close circle of friends carries one or two at a time and my instructors keep some in case something happens at school.

A friend of the family who attends college in the city has always looked out for me as a guardian of sorts, though my big brother has always, always, been a huge support for me. He's always looked out for me and has taken care of me without asking for anything in return. We're closer than most siblings and some people think it's weird. We have been mistaken for a boyfriend and girlfriend in the past since we don't look that much alike.

I'm pale as a ghost, he's the darkest one in the family. It's an easy mistake, but it's still incredibly awkward when it happens.

Anyway, so that's a bit about me!

…

She looked up at the sound of her instructor's voice and moved to the front of the classroom where he waited for her. "Yes, sir?"

He leaned against the teacher's podium and said, "I wanted to talk to you about setting up your first-year conference with your parents. It was supposed to be before winter break, but we never received a date and time from you."

She bit at her lip on instinct and replied, "I'm sorry, Mr. Setter. My parents have really difficult schedules to figure out. I'll talk to my mom tonight and report back tomorrow. Is that all right?"

He nodded. "That should be fine. Let's just try to get it done before the end of next week, all right? If need be, only one of your parents needs to attend."

"I understand, sir." He was one of her favorite teachers, but he could be a little too severe sometimes.

"All right, that's all I wanted to talk about. Have a safe trip home."

She nodded and gave a bow. "Thank you, sir!" she said, then turned to walk out the doors. Honestly, she didn't really mind the distraction. She never left school with everyone else since a lot of the upperclassmen rode duel runners to school. Though the campus had a strict 'no duel disk' policy, students were allowed to ride runners as long as they didn't duel on the grounds or bring the attached duel disks inside.

She had made a habit of going to the girls' room at the end of the day and hiding out in one of the stalls until the brunt of the headache passed, then going out when most of the students had left. Seero would usually be waiting for her to walk her home, and they'd make the twenty-minute trek across the Tops to get back to their expensive condo.

However, when she walked outside today, she was surprised to see Seero leaning against a fence with a blonde girl next to him. It took a short moment for her to recognize her before she ran forward with her arms out for a hug, screaming, "Briaaanne!"

The girl cocked her head at the sound and smiled. "I missed you, too, Kal- Ugh!" she grunted as she was tackled in a heavy hug.

Kali smiled and stepped back after greeting her almost-sister. "How are you, Brianne? I didn't know you were getting in today! This jerk-" she muttered, playfully punching her brother's shoulder, "told me you were coming next week!"

Seero frowned. "I don't think I deserved that."

The girls ignored him as Brianne replied, "I'm all right, Kali. My parents left the States for Europe four days ago, but this was the earliest flight I could get."

The dark-haired girl set her hands on her hips and smiled brightly. "Well, I'm glad you're here!"

Seero sighed heavily and waved a hand over his shoulder in the direction of their home. "Come on. I invited Faerie and Attie over for snacks and some duels."

Brianne's eyebrow rose skeptically. "Attie? Doesn't he, you know, kind of hate you?"

He grinned brightly and started walking, setting a hand on Brianne's arm to guide her. "Heh. Yeah, Faerie helped rope him into coming."

…

"Come on, slowpoke! You're dragging me down!"

"Don't give me that bullshit, Faerie. I'm just staying at your pace."

"Hah! Then let's see if you can keep up!" the teal-haired girl called over her shoulder, then gripped the throttle of her duel runner to speed up. She glanced over her shoulder to see the blue runner with yellow and purple details keeping up behind her. So, that's how he wanted to play, eh?

…

Heya! I'm Faerie Lynn Hogan. Weird name, right? I was named after my mom's ace monster and friend, the Ancient Fairy Dragon. I go by 'Lynn' at school because it's annoying to get all the looks and explain. My friends and family call me 'Faerie,' though. Since we grew up together, they know that as my name and don't even think twice about it.

That lug following me? That's my twin brother, Atticus Leonard Hogan. Despite how weird his name is, he'll get really bitchy if you call him anything other than 'Atticus.' Despite that, our friend, Seero, constantly calls him 'Attie.' I swear he's just trying to piss him off.

Anyway, we're sixteen years old and on our tenth year of schooling at Duel Academy, the first year of high school classes. I don't know how, but he doesn't even show up for class half the time and he still gets better grades than I do. Wait, maybe I exaggerated that. He's lucky if he shows up once a week.

He can really annoy me sometimes.

Anyway, so we're twins. Besides the fact that we look almost the same, we're pretty much opposites in every way. I'm a girl, he's a guy. I use a fire-based deck, he uses ice. I'm outspoken and hotheaded, he's like a brick with emotions. Even so, we've always got each other's back in any situation. Except when he goes underground dueling. That's his problem. Even a sister has to draw her lines.

Atticus has always been more about breaking the rules than I have. When we were thirteen, he went and dyed his formerly teal hair to a bright red. Beats me why. It only makes him look more like him.

So, our parents are Crow and Ruka Hogan. Our dad is a famous duelist—among the top three solo duelists—who competes in tournaments around the world. Our mom is a grade school teacher who really is great with little kids. Because our dad is never home, Atticus and me started to resent him. What good is a father that's never there for his kids?

We have a little sister, too. Her name is Pearsy. Pearsy Regina Hogan. She was named after one of our dad's role models, a guy named Robert Pearson. Whatever. She's a sweetheart, a total doll in comparison to us twins. She actually likes our dad.

Anyway, yeah. So we're pretty good friends with the kids of our parents' friends. Seero Fudo is my closest friend out of all of them because we like to tinker with our duel runners together, but I'm not super close to any of them.

Oh, I forgot to mention it. I work after school in an auto shop. We repair everything from duel runners to cars, and we'll even take on small engines like lawn mowers, if needed. I learn a lot there and make some pretty decent money for a high schooler. It gets me what I need and keeps me from home for a few extra hours each day, anyway.

So! That's where we're at now.

…

The pair of twins sped across the Daedalus Bridge, moving from their home in the former Satellite towards their friend's home in the Tops. Seero had invited them over for some duels after Brianne Atlas had come back into town and she had decided to take him up on the offer. After guilting her brother into joining her, they set out for the fancy condo in the center of the city.

It didn't take much longer for the two of them to reach their destination. Turning into the parking garage placed beneath the complex, they drove to the back for the guest parking and stopped in two adjacent spaces.

Faerie climbed off of her yellow runner and shifted to pull off her helmet, leaving the duel disk in place. No point in bringing it. They couldn't use it around Kali, anyway. Glancing over her shoulder, she made sure her brother was following with his own helmet under his arm as they moved up towards the booth where the building security stayed. As they approached, a man in a crisp beige suit and a matching hat stepped out and asked, "How may I help you?"

Faerie flashed a quick smile and, knowing her brother wouldn't engage in any unnecessary social interactions, said, "Seero invited us for some duels, Jackson."

Every friend of the Fudo family knew the gate manager, Jackson. He was there every day from ten in the morning until ten at night. To this day, Faerie still wasn't sure if he had a social life or if Jackson was even his first or last name. Regardless, he was a friendly face who took an effort to talk to all of the regular guests of the building.

He offered a short bow and said, "Of course. One moment, please." He turned and stepped back into his booth and slid the glass door shut before picking up a phone and pressing a single button. He didn't have to tell them what he was doing. It was practically routine for the guests of anyone who lived in a condo. The gate manager would call the floor expecting the guests, and they would give confirmation to let them up. It was a simple security measure.

A moment later, Jackson walked back out of his booth and gestured towards the elevator, saying, "Mr. Fudo awaits."

"Great! Thanks, Jackson!" she chirped, moving over to the parting doors. Once she and Atticus got inside, Jackson moved back to his booth and turned the key to give them access to apartment C32. The ride up thirty-two floors took a while, but it was spent in comfortable silence between the two siblings.

Finally, the doors split to reveal the entry to the Fudo home and Seero coming out of the kitchen with a plate of snack food. Grinning brightly, the ebon-haired teen greeted, "Hey, guys! Come on in!"

The two of them made quick work of their shoes and followed their friend into the sitting room, where Kali and Brianne sat at a table with a duel in progress. A quick glance at their whiteboard used for counting Life Points revealed Kali to be at 1300 and Brianne at 1400. Kali's field was empty, while Brianne had Twin-Tiger Sabertooth (3/1400/800), her ace, Twin Tiger Beastmaster (7/2700/1800), and a facedown.

The teal-haired girl sat down on the couch next to Brianne to watch over her shoulder, wondering if Kali could turn this around. The girl had the genes of two to the greatest duelists, but she didn't get a lot of practice since she could only play tabletop.

Placing her fingers on the top of her deck, Kali announced, "My turn! Draw!" Slipping the top card off, she glanced down at her hand of four cards before plucking one and setting it in the Field Card Zone. "I activate Gothic Tarot – World of XXI! With its effect, I special summon Gothic Tarot – Magician of I (1/300/500)."

Faerie set her hand in her chin as she mused. Gothic Tarot – World of XXI let her special summon one level four or lower Gothic Tarot monster from her hand each turn. Adding in that Gothic Tarot – Magician of I was a tuner… She might be able to turn this around, after all.

Kali continued, saying, "Next, I normal summon Gothic Tarot – Ace of Roses (?/?/?). Because of its effect, it becomes level three like Sabertooth. Its secondary effect activates, allowing me to special summon Gothic Tarot – Death of XIII (7/2400/0) from my graveyard!"

Her Ace of Roses was an interesting card. It was one that had to be used when strategy called for it. It was a card with no level, attack, or defense of its own, but copied the opponent's card opposite its position. It had to be played in the first available position and if there wasn't a monster opposite, it would default to level one with zero attack and defense. With each different level, it gained a different ability. At level three, Ace of Roses was able to special summon one Gothic Tarot monster from her graveyard. There were three other 'Ace' cards that worked similarly, but had different effects.

"I activate the effect of Death of XIII! By tributing a monster on my side of the field, I can destroy one of yours. I sacrifice Ace of Roses to destroy your Beastmaster!" she said, moving to set her card in the Graveyard as Brianne glided her fingers over the Braille to make sure she put the right card in hers. "Now, Magician of I tunes Death of XIII in order to synchro summon Gothic Tarot – Judgment of XX (8/2600/1900)! Because Magician of I was used as synchro material for another Gothic Tarot monster, the Synchro gains one thousand attack points!"

Thirty-six-hundred attack points. This was turning around in Kali's favor quickly. Not to mention, she'd easily destroyed Brianne's best monster with an effect. However, there was still the factor of Brianne's set card. What did she have in store?

Atticus sat sideways on one of the couches with his feet resting on the armrest, helping himself to some of the veggies from the snack tray while watching the match. He was silent as usual, but something in her twin brother's eye told Faerie that he already knew the outcome.

Kali bit her lip and said, "I activate the effect of Gothic Tarot – Judgment of XX! Once per turn, I can glance at the top card of my deck. If you guess the type correctly, I send it to the Graveyard. Otherwise, I add it to my hand and you discard the top card from your deck."

"Before that," Brianne cut in, "I activate my trap, Twin-Tiger's Ambush! When you try to activate a monster effect while I have a Twin-Tiger monster on the field, I can tribute my monster to negate the effect and destroy your monster. I tribute Sabertooth to destroy Judgment of XX!"

Her face fell for a quick moment, but she covered it up as she moved her card to the Graveyard and said, "I set one card and end my turn."

"I draw," Brianne said, adding a card from her deck to her hand and brushing her fingers over the name to read it. "From my hand, I activate Twin-Tiger Monolith. Then, I tribute it to activate White Twin-Tiger Monolith!"

Faerie had wondered what she was up to when she'd activated Twin-Tiger Monolith. Its effect allowed her to normal summon two Twin-Tiger monsters in one turn instead of normal summoning any other monster. White Twin-Tiger Monolith was an upgraded version that could only be played when the base version was tributed. It had the same effect, but gave all Twin-Tiger monsters on her side of the field an additional five hundred attack points.

"Next, I summon Twin-Tiger Chronicler (3/800/800) from my hand. With the effect of White Monolith, it gains five hundred attack for a total of thirteen hundred! Your field is empty, Kali. Chronicler attacks directly."

She flipped her set card, saying, "I activate my trap, Gothic Tarot – Justice of VIII! When I receive damage, you take the same amount!"

Kali – 0

Brianne – 100

Brianne smiled and clapped her hands together, saying, "I still win! If only my chronicler had a hundred more attack points… Then we would have tied! Good game, Kali. You're getting really good!"

"Thanks!" she chirped as she started stacking her deck again. "I've been making Seero practice with me more than ever now."

Faerie grinned. "Nice! I wish my useless brother would practice with me."

Atticus only rolled his eyes and muttered, "We know each other's decks inside and out. A duel between us is just a pointless waste of time."

She shrugged. "It's still practice."

Seero looked up from where he'd sat next to his sister. "All right, then! Who wants to duel our champion?"

Atticus popped a baby carrot in his mouth and leaned back on the armrest. "This is boring. We need a real competition."

Faerie shot her brother a dark look and said, "By all means, give us a real competition, then."

Without saying a word, he reached a hand in the back pocket of his black skinny jeans and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Tossing it towards the rest of them, he rolled to lay on his side with his back to them and muttered. "There."

Seero snatched it up and unfolded it, reading the letters off the small poster, "'Annual Youth Tournament sponsored by Urbanomics. Welcoming all duelists from ages fifteen to eighteen to participate in a mixed match of both standing and riding duels. Signups are due by January fifteenth. Come test your mettle against other…' Blahblahblah…" He looked up at the begrudged teen lying on the couch and said, "Dude! Why haven't you mentioned this before?! A sponsored tournament? There could be scouts at something like this! I am so in! Anyone with me?"

Kali just smiled and sat back, tucking her knees against her chest as she watched her friends for their reactions. Brianne cocked her head and asked, "When is it?"

Seero glanced down at the poster again and said, "Uh… January twenty-first and twenty-second."

The blonde smiled and said, "I'm in! I know for sure that I'll be here through January. Maybe longer."

Faerie shrugged. "Might as well. I wonder if Jules would want to join?"

Kali shook her head. "He can't. He just turned nineteen in October."

"Oh, yeah…" she murmured. "It was worth a shot, at least. He could use a break from all of his Uni work."

Seero grinned and looked back at the poster. "You guys have no idea how excited I am for this."

Atticus groaned and pulled a throw pillow over his head, grumbling, "I never know how excited you are for anything, Seerotonin."

Faerie stretched her small stature as far as she could to slap her brother over the back of the head, then turned back to the others and said, "Well, ignoring that jerk, I'm excited, too!"

All right! Now we meet Seero's little sister and Crow's and Luna's twins! What are your thoughts? Seero will be the main-main character (akin to Yusei in the anime), but these others will be main characters (like the rest of Team 5D's), so I'm hoping to introduce them at a comprehensive pace.

Oh, and I'd like to apologize for all of the thematic cards. The decks are still in development, so they don't have a lot of spells or traps that branch out of their archetypes just yet ^_^

Also, in case anyone is curious (and I think I mentioned this in the last chapter), I posted some old sketches and non-spoiler profiles of the characters on my Facebook! There's a link to my page on my FFnet profile if you're interested :) I've also been working on a newer, digital set of full-body images that I've been posting on both DeviantART and my Facebook, so you can see those there, too. Again, I won't ask names.

I'm also on Tumblr if you'd like to follow me or chat with me! The links to my two blogs are on my profile, too.

I'm serious about that Livestream I mentioned! Is anyone interested? I would love to connect! For those of you who may not know, I'd be the only one on camera in that. You guys would just be names in a chatbox, so don't be worried about me stalking you. I wouldn't do that, anyway, but I digress.

So, yeah! Talk to me! I'm totally open to answering questions and making friends!

Please review!

-Valk

P.S. Friendly reminder: Please let me know what you thought of the duel format! Was it easy to follow? Would you prefer arrows showing old LP to new? I am totally open to suggestions and comments! Thank you so much!