He gazed into the monster's glowing eyes...

And felt that he was in even more danger than before.

"Fight me! Duel me! Fight until you fall! Until I am the last one standing! Until this world is destroyed! Fight me!"

With a hideous snarl, the towering dragon loosed a stream of light from its jaws, engulfing the entire field of Konami's vision with a growing purple flame.

"Shit!" Enzo shouted, clamoring to his feet upon seeing the incoming assault. He quickly moved forward, stepping in front of Konami before activating his Duel Disk. "Gotta think fast! Mirror Force!"

Activating the Trap just in time, Enzo watched as a shimmering forcefield materialized in front of him, protecting himself and Konami from the dragon's deadly assault. Under the weight of the attack, the Mirror Force shimmered and cracked, but ultimately held before flinging the spiral breath high into the sky.

It exploded several moments later, sending a shower of smoke and golden sparks down onto the streets.

"What's this?" a rumbling voice seemed to echo from the dragon's head. "Someone managed to deflect my attack?"

"Oh man," Enzo muttered, "Is it just me or is that dragon talking?!"

"Don't just stand there gawking at it," said Konami, having climbed back to his feet during the ordeal. "Let's get going before it attacks us again!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Enzo replied.

Moving quickly through smoke caused by the dragon's attack, Konami and Enzo made their way to a nearby alley before crouching behind a corner to watch. Their bodies tensed as the smoke cleared, knowing that despite having avoided the previous attack, they weren't entirely in the clear.

"Foolish humans, decided to play hide and seek, have you? No matter, I'll find you soon enough! After all, this entire world is our playground!" the dragon roared.

Its wings then bulged and split across the sky, lifting the behemoth off the ground. Heavy gusts of wind began to assault the surrounding area as the dragon flapped its wings once, twice, and then - it took off.

A sonic boom echoed through the landscape, shattering brick and glass alike as the dragon vanished high into the sky to search for new prey. Konami and Enzo stared at the scene in shock, scarcely able to comprehend just what they had seen.

"What - What's going on here?" Enzo sputtered.

"That's what I'd like to know," a feminine voice called out from behind him.

Konami stilled, then slowly turned his head to regard the individual who had spoken.

It was a female, a girl; one who from the look of things appeared to be around their age. She had long, dual-colored hair that stretched down past her shoulders and was dressed in a gray camouflage bodysuit - probably used to help her hide amongst the city debris. Unfortunately, the large pink goggles on her face didn't do much for the look, though the firm line her mouth was set in implied that she meant serious business. At the very least, it was enough to make both Konami and Enzo pause.

"It's not often that I find someone who can escape from one of them unscathed. Even less one who has access to a card like Mirror Force! Tell me, where do you come from? You don't look like any of the survivors that I know."

"We're..." Enzo began, trailing off as he tried to think of a suitable explanation.

"We're not from here," Konami answered in his stead. "Wherever 'here' is."

"Not from here? What's that supposed to mean? Are you from one of the sites overseas?" the girl asked. It was then that she must have glanced a little closer at them, as she suddenly gasped and moved toward Konami quickly. "Hey, those wounds! Don't tell me that you got hit by that blast after all?!"

"No, these...these are from something else," Konami grimaced, turning his gaze away from the girl to glare at the gaping holes in his body. "...and they aren't important."

"That's nonsense! If you run around looking like that, you won't last a day," the girl replied while looking at his leg. "Not that I expect you can run at all, with a wound like that..."

"I can move just fine," Konami spat. "Not that it's any of your business."

"Of course it is," the girl replied, surprising him. She took another step forward, "You're a survivor stuck out here just like the rest of us, which means that it's our duty to help one another. Come on," she continued hurriedly, "I can take you back to my hideout. It's not far from here, and I'm certain that the old aid kits we have stashed around will be able to help patch you up!"

"Sounds like a plan to me," Enzo said, speaking for Konami. "And while we're at it, you can explain to us what that giant dragon thing was."

The girl frowned at the mention of the beast, then glanced at the two boys. Konami wondered what sort of expression she was making beneath those goggles of hers.

"Wow," he heard her whisper instead. "You two must not be from around here if you don't even know about that."

But as she began to explain, Konami found that he couldn't hear a single word she said. As a matter of fact, he couldn't hear anything at all. It was as if someone had cut open his ears and stuffed them full of foam. A sharp pain rang through his gut, and then - he collapsed.

"Konami?" Enzo asked, glancing back to his friend with a shocked expression, but Konami didn't hear him. He heard nothing more...as he faded into the sweet embrace of the void.

"Konami? Konami!? KONAMIIIIIIIII!"

-TFS-

Konami's eyes shot open and he gasped for air. The terrible dream was gone, replaced only by the dull throb of the loud boat horn announcing their near arrival. Groaning, he pulled himself out of bed, content to leave his cabin and watch as the ship pulled into Academia Harbor.

Many other passengers as he stepped out into the hall, all apparently following the exact same train of thought that he was. It was to be expected, he supposed; the ship he'd boarded was built for the sole purpose of transporting new students from the mainland to their new home, after all. With a weary sigh, Konami scratched an itch on the back of his neck before following the crowd out into the open deck.

A soft breeze and a clear sky awaited him, along with the imposing image of the one thing he wanted to see the most: Duel Academia, in all of its fine glory!

"Huh," he heard someone grumbled from the crowd, "Looks darker than I thought it would be."

As Konami locked his gaze upon the rapidly approaching island, he found his thoughts to be in tune with the speaking individual. The island, and what few buildings Konami could make out from the ship, looked nothing like it did in the pamphlet. Where were the lush forests, the colorful buildings, the Golden Egg Sandwiches?! This was - This was -

"This is an outrage!" someone snapped loudly, drawing Konami's attention away from Academy Island along with several other students in the crowd. "I thought I ordered the Elite Cruise Travel Plan? What am I doing here with these commoners?!"

A closer look revealed the shout to have come from a dark-haired Obelisk Force student - one whose spiky hair struck sharper than any bolt of lightning itself.

"I'm Chazz Princeton and I demand a refund!"

"I'm-I'm very sorry sir," one of the ship's staff apologized, "but I'm not sure what you're talking about! Academia Cruises has never carried an Elite Travel Plan, so I'm afraid you must be mistaken..."

"Don't you try to give me the run-around," the self-proclaimed Chazz spat back. "I have a receipt right here! It says it comes with free drinks, free food, and school sightings free of commoners and Neanderthals..." he pointed to the crowd, "like them!"

There was some murmuring amongst the crowd then, and Konami had the feeling that the Princeton fellow wasn't exactly putting himself in anyone's good graces. Fortunately, it seemed as though the commotion had finally drawn enough traction to garner the attention of the school's upperclassman. A small group of them had approached the rest of the crowd, following the lead of a tall, serious-looking boy whose face was recognizable anywhere.

"Oh my god,"

"Is it really him?"

"Zane..."

"What's going on here?" the world-famous Zane Truesdale asked the crowd, his stern expression and solemn gaze striking fear into the hearts of men...and making some of the female students swoon.

"Looks like it's that Princeton kid again," another upperclassman noted, earning a sigh from Zane.

"Alright, I'll handle it. The rest of you can head on back," Zane ran his gaze across the crowd. "That goes for you lot too. We'll be landing soon. Instead of dawdling out here, you should be making sure you're ready to go. Of course, if you want to fall behind that's your own business. Just don't blame me when the Professors come calling for your head."

With those words, he stalked off toward Princeton and the ship staff, leaving the crowd in awe once more. Amongst them, Konami stared at Zane's back with a solemn expression. One day, he would surpass that fellow...and everyone would look at him the same way.

Because Konami Kyber was nothing if not ambitious, and one day...

He'd be the best there ever was.

-END-