"I am so going to win this." Varsch boasted as he eyed up the rest of the competition.

"Huh, get real, I'm the only one going to be victorious here," Sylvio argued.

"Silence both of you!" Cánrĕn ordered, flicking the back of their heads. A large scowl adorned his face at seeing his sons bickering. Well, son and step-son. As a member of the LEO Corporation he had a position to uphold, he couldn't have his sons making a bad impression. They were lined up with the rest of the contestants, waiting to enter the arena and begin the tournament. Cánrĕn was just making extra sure his sons looked presentable, and their decks were at their strongest. It looked like some stiff competition and there were rumours the current champion would be competing as well. Everyone had brought their A game and were each sure they would be the winner. Well, almost everyone was thinking this. The only thing on Yuya's mind, as he rushed through the door, was, would anyone recognise him. Sora had promised no one would be able to tell it was him, but he still felt uncomfortable. Nothing about his appearance had changed, as far as he could tell. He side tracked to the bathroom on his way to the arena to get a quick look at himself. At first glance in the mirror, nothing had changed, but as he came to look more closely, he suddenly found he couldn't recognise the person in the mirror. He didn't understand it, he looked just like he always had, but it was like his mind refused to match his reflection to his face. It must be the effect of Sora's spell, he realised. It was a great relief to him now, knowing no one would be able to tell he was here. Especially Cánrĕn and the others, he couldn't imagine the look on their faces. Actually, it was quite an amusing thought, Yuya snickered lightly to himself as he walked back to the arena. As he reached the group of participating duellists he noticed a tall man with a LEO uniform collecting invitations and panicked, Cánrĕn had taken his invite.

I won't be able to get in! He realised.

"Hey, you." The ticket guy said, spotting him. "You here to compete?"

"Well, yes but I…" Yuya stammered, taking a cautious step back. "You see…" Yuya sighed, prepared to explain his situation, slipping his hands into his pockets as he slumped in defeat. He suddenly felt his fingers brush against something in his right pocket. Curiously he pulled it out, revealing a white envelope with the LEO seal stamped in the centre. The ticket man snatched the envelope from his fingers and ripped it open to examine the contents.

"Alright, checks out, head over with the others." He said, pointing the other duellists. Yuya didn't move. He just stood rooted to the spot with his mouth hanging open. How in the world had that ticket appeared there? He didn't have one. And there wasn't anyone who could have…

Oh… He suddenly realised. Sora must have put it there for him. A soft smile graced his lips.

Thanks for everything Sora, I only wish I could repay you somehow.

He shook his head and took off to join the other contestants. He was in such a rush he didn't pay attention to his surroundings and ended up ploughing right into someone, knocking them both down.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." He apologised, hoping the other person wasn't too mad.

"Don't worry about it." They replied. Yuya noticed they had a rather scratchy voice, but somehow their tone was still calm and friendly. "Would you like a hand?" The voice said as a hand appeared in front of Yuya's face. He took it gratefully and got up to look at the person he'd bumped into. Both teens gasped and stepped away from each other when they actually saw the other. They were almost identical.

"You-you-y-you look just like me." Yuya stuttered, mouth hanging open.

"And you look like me." The other boy said, eyes skimming Yuya over and over again as if making certain his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. When it got right down to it, there were slight difference's the two could see. Yuya was much skinnier than the other teen, and his hair was flattened against his head while the others flared out to the right and was black and purple rather than green and red. He also had light grey eyes, very different from Yuya's vivid red ones. Though aside from that, the two shared the same physical features. It was really quite extraordinary.

"How? How is this-" Yuya began, but the other boy cut him off.

"I- I have to go." He stammered, looking extremely worried about something. He stepped round Yuya and began to hurry off but stopped when Yuya called after him.

"Wait!" Yuya cried out. "At least tell me your name."

"It's Yuto." The other boy said, looking back briefly, before continuing his frantic dash down the hall.

"Yuto…" Yuya murmured. The name sounded familiar somehow, but that was impossible.

"Attention all participants in the LID duel monsters' championship. Could you please make your way to the main duel field as we decide the first round match-ups."

"Oh, I better hurry or I'll be late." Yuya cried, running towards the duel field. He got onto the platform just as it began the ascent into the arena. Within moments, he was surrounded by blinding lights and the most cacophonous crowd he'd ever heard. He was sure they'd break his eardrums they were cheering so loudly.

"Welcome one and all to the LID duel monsters' championship. The duelists you see before you will be battling it out in one-on-one duels to decide the best duelist in our entire city."

The stadium was flooded with cheers and screams from the crowd. Yuya smiled and shut his eyes, listening to the roar of the crowd. It was wonderful. This must have been what his dad felt when he duelled. No wonder he loved it so much.

"Now, our first duel will be between Sylvio Sawatari and …"

What the… Yuya thought, he'd heard his name spoken, but at the same time it didn't sound like it, as if he was unable to match his name to his face. His eyes widened as he realised it was more of Sora's magic at work. Wow when he said no one would recognise me, he really meant it.

"Duelist's please take your positions." The announcer said.

Yuya and Sylvio both went to each side of the duel field and switched on their duel discs.

"Hey, good luck!" Yuya cried, waving at Sylvio, who scoffed arrogantly.

"You'll be the one needing luck." He said, and with that their duel began.

(not gonna bore people with the details here, just think of their second duel, you know the good one where they finally made friends, except Sylvio doesn't pendulum summon and when Yuya does it's for the first time and really shocks people. I'll give you some key scenes though.)

"Ahh…" Sylvio cried as he was blasted back by his opponent's attack. This duel was not really going his way, and it made his blood boil. How dare this mysterious clown make such a fool out of him. There was something familiar about him but he couldn't quite put his finger on it…

"Thank you, thank you." The mystery duelist laughed happily, waving both hands at the cheering crowd. Sylvio watched him carefully and suddenly he remembered why it was so familiar.

Flashback

Sylvio was walking home from his training at LID when he suddenly heard the sound of a duel going on. He looked over to the park across the street to see none other than his step-brother Yuya, and that friend of his, Gong, having a duel. Yuya was leading at the moment, he called an attack that sent his friend sprawling on the floor and dropping his lifepoints incredibly.

"Yeah!" Yuya cried. "Thank you, thank you." He waved to his imaginary crowd.

Flashback end

As he connected the memory of Yuya with the duelist he faced now, the spell over him was broken and he was able to see it was Yuya he was facing.

But how… How did I not recognise him? He thought. Well, it doesn't matter… once I tell father… His thoughts suddenly halted as a far better idea came to him. Why have his father order Yuya out so he won by default, when he could defeat Yuya and humiliate him in front of all these people. Oh yes… He thought with a smirk. That will be fun…

Skip to end of duel…

"And the winner is ….." The announcer said, once again unable to connect Yuya with his name. Sylvio was able to now, in fact he was still trying to figure out how he didn't before. Well would have been, if he wasn't busy being stunned about being defeated. It wasn't the kind of defeat, or duel for that matter, that he'd been expecting. It was sort of… fun. At the end he'd totally forgotten his plan to destroy Yuya, and just thought about giving his all to this duel.

"Hey, great duel." Yuya said, appearing in front of him, offering a hand. Sylvio looked at if for a moment, then surprised even himself by taking it. "You duelled well, you almost had me quite a few times there." Yuya laughed happily. Sylvio still couldn't understand why Yuya was always so cheerful and friendly, but for the first time in his life he didn't care. He felt he had learned a bit about Yuya through this duel, and found he wasn't as annoying and useless as he'd first thought.

"You too, Yuya." Sylvio said. Smirking at the shocked look on Yuya's face when he called him by name.

"How? How did-" Yuya stuttered, suddenly feeling scared. If Sylvio told Cánrĕn… He'd be dead.

"I don't know how you managed this Yuya." Sylvio said, shaking his head. "It's quite remarkable."

He then walked past him, feeling satisfied.

"Wait?" Yuya cried, rushing after him, grabbing his hand to stop him from leaving. "Are- are you going to…?"

"Tell?" Sylvio guessed. Yuya nodded, beginning to shake slightly. "No." He said simply, removing his hand from Yuya's.

"You- you're not?"

"No," Sylvio turned around, unable to look Yuya in the eye as he admitted this. "That was a fun duel, and you better win this tournament, or else I'll look even worse." He smiled, relieved to have finally been honest. With both Yuya and himself; then left before Yuya could say anything else.

Yuya stammered for a bit, then finally smiled. Suddenly not all that interested in why Sylvio had suddenly decided to be kind to him, after all, he knew the power of a good duel.