Trigger Warning: To avoid confusion I will be using original Japanese names for some characters and Dub for others.

Raiden's armed guards were already waiting for him. The KaibaCorp special forces we're made up of some of the best soldiers in the world, American marines, royal armed forces from Britain, and the Japanese self-defense force just to name a few. Another thing his grandfather created. Coming up Seto made a lot of enemies most of which weren't above things such as murder so he assembled the special forces for personal security.

"Sir, your skybox is secure." Captain Yuri said in his thick Russian accent.

"Thank you, Yuri." He nodded as he entered the skybox.

The Kaiba skybox looked more like a penthouse apartment. The box stood tall at three stories high with a spiral staircase. The view overlooked the entire stadium. A personal kitchen, bar, televisions, three bathrooms, a lounging room all for entertaining guests but Raiden never had guests.

Raising his arm a holographic screen appeared, showing the tournament tree. Looking over the names of the competitors he froze when he recognizes two of the names. He knew them from Duel Academy, Koda Kinomiya, a Obelisk Blue and, Aki Izayoi a Slifer Red.

Koda was an upperclassman to him and Aki. He remembered the uproar in the dorm when everyone heard how Koda lost to a lowly Slifer Red girl. Raiden didn't much care for the status of the different dorms he knew that talent can come from anywhere. His grandfather was an orphan and rose up to become the owner of the prosperous companies in the world.

"Koda will make it far but he won't win." He commented before looking at Aki's picture, "Aki might win this though."

Looking down he saw the picture of a man with a criminal mark on his cheek. Squinting his eyes in intrigue he clicked the picture and ran a facial recognition and a background check. More screens appeared around him with the man's picture as he looked over the information.

"Yusei Fudo." He said aloud, "Recently broke out of the Facility and a resident of the Satellite." Looking into the man's dark blue eyes he wondered, "How did you become a member of my tournament?"

Going through traffic footage over the last few weeks he found Yusei's first night in Neo Domino. Yusei was riding on a duel runner no doubt of his own making but he saw someone else with him. Clenching his fist in frustration when he recognized the other duel runner and who was driving it.

"Atlas." He glared at the blonde before coming to a realization, "Goodwin, he had something to do with this. What is he up to?" He wondered before the roaring of the crowd interrupted his thoughts, "Play along for now." He said composing himself as he made his way towards the balcony.

A harsh gust of wind roared through the stadium before a twister formed. From within the swirling vortex of hair out flew Red Dragon Archfiend. Then out came the white duel runner, Phoenix Whirlwind zoomed out. The crowd let out an uproar of cheers at the sight of Jack Atlas and his ace monster.

From his vantage point, all Raiden could do is roll his eyes. A blue screen appeared before him and pressed a button. The screen flashes out of sight as he watched Jack jump his duel runner onto the pedestal. Dismounting from the duel runner Jack dramatically raised his pointer finger to the air.

"There's only one king and it's me!" Jack proclaimed causing Raiden to roll his eyes, "Let's get this started!"

The MC's voice boomed throughout the dome, "It's time to meet the lucky duelists who were selected for a chance to go head to head with Mr. Atlas. The Fortune Eight!"

A trap door in the floor slid open. Slowly rising from the ground on a platform eight duelists came into view. The crowd roared in excited cheers and applause. The cheers died down as the monitor showed Yusei's face and subsequently his marker. The crowd quickly began to spit out insults, accusations, and boos.

The jeering died out when the sound of an explosion ripped through the air. Looking up everyone saw a jumbo jet falling from the sky in a ball of fire. People began to scream, gasp and most scrambled from their seats. Before the plane crashed a white dragon flew into the sky from outside the stadium and unleashed a white beam of lightning obliterating the falling plane.

"That's the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Leo disguised as Luna said excitedly, "Isn't that cool Yusei?" He asked jumping up and down

Yusei didn't reply as he watched the dragon let out a ferocious roar. In the Satellite, everyone heard of the stories regarding Blue-Eyes White Dragon and the Dark Magician as well as their masters Seto Kaiba and Yugi Moto. They were best duelists of their era and some say they're still the best.

They clear baby blue sky began to darken into a navy blue. A beam of light shined down upon the world revealing a single man in a white suit standing on levitating circular platform. Rex stood from his seat atop a pedestal to look up at the teen. He quite literally stood over him, overshadowing the whole pedestal he sat upon.

"Presenting the president and owner of KaibaCorp, Raiden Kaiba!" MC declared before being interrupted by Blue-Eyes White Dragon's roar.

The dragon flew circles over the stadium before landing behind Raiden. A set of stairs appeared before leading towards the nine duelists. From the perspective of the participants, it appeared that Raiden had white wings sprouting from his back as he descended the stairs with Blue-Eyes White Dragon directly behind him.

When Raiden made it to the foot of the stairs Blue-Eyes let out a mighty roar before taking to the sky with a single beat of its mighty wings. The owner of KaibaCorp looked to MC. The Master of Ceremonies quickly understood and stepped back.

"Welcome to the Fortune Cup!" Even without a microphone, Raiden's voice boomed throughout the dome, "Where eight chosen duelists will vie for the chance to battle Jack Atlas and claim the title of King or Queen." The crowd cheered excitedly before Raiden continued, "But I've decided to raise the stakes. The winner of this tournament will not only get the chance to duel Jack but they will also be one of the first to receive a state of the art dueling disk." He announced before raising his arm, "It is the second coming of the Duel Links. With these headsets, you can duel anyone from around the globe."

Duel Links, as well as the virtual duel disk, was supposed to be a success but a horrific crisis that coincided with the initial release harshly reduced sales numbers. But now that everyone has long forgotten about said crisis Raiden decided on an upgraded rerelease.

"With the neural scanning tech, you can duel anywhere. Such as the moon." He stated before the entire stadium transformed so that they were all sat in a crater. In the sky, we're the stars and the planet earth, "Or a roman colosseum." From the moon to an oval-shaped Colosseum made of ivory stone under the clear blue sky.

Everyone looked around awe. Leo gazed around in frantic excitement, "Isn't it cool Yusei!" He gushed.

"It's certainly impressive." The older duelist replied keeping his eyes on Raiden.

"I'm definitely going to win, that duel disk is so awesome!" The boy bounced on his feet.

"Try you're best." Yusei replied.

The Satellite could see something hidden in the sky blue eyes. He sees the loneliness in the eyes of the KaibaCorp president. When those sky blue eyes turn to him Yusei didn't look away.

"And lastly regarding Yusei Fudo." The stadium fell into a tense silence as Raiden turned to address them, "I see potential within him. My own grandfather, the man who revolutionized duel monsters, who created the very first duel runner was once a lowly orphan before he rose up to become one of the most influential and successful people in human history. Where we come from does not define us our actions do!" He declared patiently before turning back to see Yusei, "When I see Yusei Fudo I see a duelist good enough that my own company handpicked him out of everyone in Neo Domino. And I look forward to seeing him duel, are you with me!"

Unexpectedly the crowd erupted in applause and cheers. Coming from the sky Raiden's duel runner landed behind the president. The whole stadium watched in awe at the flying duel runner. Raiden mounted the duel runner and turned to the crowd once more.

Purple eyes met blue as Jack glared at Raiden who glared back. There's always been hostility between the two. Jack wanted to keep his past a secret but Raiden figured it out and Raiden didn't like how Jack escaped, on a stolen duel runner with a stolen card.

Looking away from the champion Raiden turned to the crowd, "Let the Fortune Cup commence!"

MC quickly got back on track, "And now let's look at the bracket shuffler to see who will duel who in the first match."

Landing his duel runner on the balcony of his skybox. Dismounting from the runner he looked up at the monitor. He himself is not only curious to see who will duel who but excited. Days on unending meetings, documents, and schedules leave him craving for the action of a good duel.

When the pictures finally stopped the matches were decided.

Luna vs Grieger

Yusei vs Hunter

Aki vs Gill

Frank vs Koda

"This shall prove to be interesting." Raiden muttered before making his way to the railing. Looking down at the duelist he saw the only one not looking at the brackets.

Aki.

Raiden will never forget the last time they saw each other. It was during their second year, he had the highest grade in Obelisk Blue and he was allowed to choose his opponent for the end of the year and he chose her.

1 Year Ago

Grasping hands together Raiden and Aki shook hands, their eyes never breaking contact. Raiden felt his hand being squeezed so hard it that it will defiantly have bruises later. Breaking their grasp they turned and walked to the opposite sides of the field. Once again turning around they faced each other.

Raiden has been curious about Aki for some time now. She's beaten an upperclassman from Obelisk Blue and left him beaten and bruised. Some said to chose someone else someone less skilled them her but he shrugged them off. If his grandfather knew that knee that he had the chance to battle a talented duelist but chose to face some mediocre duelist he would never live it down.

"I'll let you go first." Raiden stated before his duel disk folded open.

"You'll regret it" Aki replied as her own duel disk activated.

"We'll see."

Raiden: 4000 LP

Aki: 4000 LP

They both drew five cards before Aki drew an extra card. Raiden watched her features carefully looking for any indication of a tell but saw nothing she had a good poker face. He glanced down at his cards but didn't show any indication of satisfaction or disappointment.

"Let's begin." Aki declared before placing a card, "I'll activate Seed Cannon! Every time I summon a plant monster I can add a spell counter to this spell."

A continuous spell card appeared on the field.

"And then I'll summon Evil Thorn in attack mode." She declared before placing another card on her duel disk.

Evil Thorn Level: 1 Atk/100 Def/300

A wilting flower appeared with a thorn-covered seed. Raiden raised his brow curiously.

"Then I'll activate Evil Thorn's ability!" She added, "By sacrificing my Evil Thorn I can inflict 300 hundred points of damage to you directly!"

The seed exploded launching thorns at Raiden. He knew that the hologram would look painful but he never expected to actually feel it! Stunning back a step he raised his hand to his shoulder. This is how she beat Koda to a bloody pulp.

Raiden: 4000 - 3700 LP

"And in addition, I get to summon two more Evil Thorns in defense mode." Aki said placing two more cards, "With this, I end my turn."

Evil Thorn Level: 1 Atk/100 Def/300

Evil Thorn Level: 1 Atk/100 Def/300

"Seed Cannon now has three counters." Raiden mumbled.

Looking at Aki he saw the satisfaction in her eyes, satisfaction with his pain. Standing tall he drew a card. Looking down at what he drew he made his move.

"I use the spell card One for One!" He announced, "By discarding my Rider of the Storm Winds I am allowed to summon one level one monster." He took a card in hand and summoned it, "I summon the Maiden with Eyes of Blue!"

Maiden with Eyes of Blue Level: 1 Atk/0 Def/0

A spitting image of his grandmother appeared on the field. His grandfather made this card as a gift to her which she loved. She gifted it to him for his birthday. Afterwards his grandfather made two more copies along with a whole archetype which he gifted to him.

"With that, I end my turn." He stated.

Aki glared at him. She felt insulted at his move. He takes her so lightly thinker her to be a weakling. Summoning such a weak monster without any face-down cards to protect it.

"You think I'm so weak that you summon such a pathetic monster!?" She demanded before drawing, "I'll make you pay."

"My deck has no pathetic monster." Raiden said to deaf ears as she started her turn.

"First off I'll tribute another thorn making you lose more life points." She declared as another Evil Thorn exploded.

Raiden braced for the pain this time. He stood his ground when the sharp pain hit his abdomen. Meeting Aki's eyes he saw the angry look she gave. Behind it, he saw the insecurity she held deeper inside.

Raiden: 3700 - 3400 LP

"Then I'll activate Fragrance Storm!" She said revealing a spell card, "By destroying one of my Evil Thorns I can draw one card and since it was a plant-type monster I can draw a second card as long as I reveal the first to you." She states before revealing her card.

Lonefire Blossom. He didn't recognize the card.

Drawing a second card before summoning, "I summon Lonefire Blossom!"

Lonefire Blossom Level: 3 Atk/500 Def/1400

"But it won't be here for long since I use it's ability. By sacrificing one plant type monster I can special summon another plant from my deck!" She announced before Lonefire Blossom wilted away, "Then I'll summon Gigaplant!"

From the wilting plant grew a giant monster. This monster came armed with rows of teeth, pincers like a mantis, whipping vines as well as six eyes. It roared at him viciously.

Gigaplant Level: 6 Atk/2400 Def/1200

Smirking at the pain she's about to inflict, "Since my Seed Cannon now has five spell counters I'll send it to the graveyard inflicting even more damage to your life points."

A barrage of seeds barrels towards Raiden pummeling him. The pain became too great as he fell to his knee. How is he feeling this!?

Raiden: 3400 - 900 LP

"Time to end this!" Aki declared, "Gigaplant, destroy his pathetic maiden."

Gigaplant launched a swarm of vines at the spellcaster. Before the vines could ensnare the maiden a white field of energy protected her.

"I activate my maiden's ability." Raiden panted as he looked up at Aki, "She's switched to defense position but that's not all." He said standing up on shaking legs, "I can now special summon my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

A beam of white energy appeared behind Maiden with Eyes of Blue. Blue-Eyes' silhouette appeared before the white energy faded revealing the dragon in all its glory.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon Level: 8 Atk/3000 Def /2500

"As I said before, my deck has no pathetic cards." He reminded looking up at Aki, "I take every duelist I battle seriously including you."

Aki gasped at the announcement.

"I wanted to duel you because of how skilled you are and by the state of me I can say you are better than the majority of the Obelisk Blue students." He stated shocking Aki even further.

"I-I set one card face down and I end my turn." She said less confidently.

Forcing his hand to stay steady as he drew Raiden looked at his hand, "I use the spell card Burst Stream of Destruction! This card allows my Blue-Eyes to attack your monster without going into my battle phase."

Blue-Eyes White Dragon unleashed a beam of white energy and destroyed Gigaplant. This frustrated Aki, her face down was suppose to destroy Blue-Eyes when it went to battle.

His hands stopped shaking as he stood tall, "There is a downside to this card though, my dragon can't attack this turn. But that won't be a problem now that I'll synchro summon!"

Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Maiden with Eyes of Blue turned into stars. The stars flew around before lining up together three green rings appeared around them.

In a pillar blinding white light forcing Aki to flinch. When the beam flashed out of existence a pure white and gold dragon appeared. The dragon roared at Gigaplant.

Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon Level: 9 Atk/2500 Def/3000

"Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon attack her directly with ethereal white lightning!" He ordered.

White energy began to radiate from Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon's body before the energy focused at his mouth. The dragon finally unleashed a focused beam of lightning. Aki was blinded by the beam before it made contact.

Aki: 4000 - 1500 LP

"I place one card face down and end my turn." Raiden said setting a card.

Glaring at Raiden she drew her next card. Raiden noticed that her eyes still held anger but hatred didn't coincide with it anymore.

"I summon the tuner monster Twilight Rose Knight in attack position!" She declared slamming another card on her duel disk.

A childlike knight in black armor with blue hair appeared.

Twilight Rose Knight Level: 3 Ark/l000 Def/1000

"And I'll use Twilight's special ability and special summon Lord Poison from my hand!" She declared before summoning a second monster.

Lord Poison Level: 4 Atk/1500 Def/1000

"And now I'll synchro summon my monster, Black Rose Dragon." She declared as the two monsters turned into stars.

Raiden watched as a beam of light appeared before a vicious black and red dragon appeared. Its wings appeared to be rose petals and its tail appeared to look like a vine with thorns.

Black Rose Dragon Level: 7 Atk/2400 Def/1800

"I activate Black Rose's special ability!" She stated as Black Rose Dragon began to beat its wings, "All monsters in the field will now be destroyed."

"Not so fast!" Raiden rebuffed, "I active my dragons ability, by tributing it I can special summon another light dragon synchro monster." He explained as Blue-Eyes Spirit faded away in flurries of lights, "I summon Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon!"

The flurries of light reformed to make a shimmering silver dragon. It roared maliciously towards Aki. The girl glared at the dragon.

Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon Level: 9 Atk/2500 Def/3000

"My dragons ability protects it from your effect but your dragon is long gone." He informed before Black Rose Dragon shattered to pieces, "But that's not it, I reveal my face down card. Cosmic Blast!" The trap card flipped up revealing the trap, "Since by Spirit Dragon was removed from the field you take damage equal to its attack points."

"But that means. . ." Aki tried to form the words.

"It's over Aki." Raiden said as Blue-Eyes Spirit dragon appeared.

The dragon unleashed a blast of such intense light everyone in the arena shielded their eyes. Aki kept her eyes open wanting to face her defeat without cowering.

Aki: 1500 - 0 LP

When the light faded everyone watched in silence at the two duelists. Raiden stood on shaking feet and Aki stood motionless. The silence was tense, suffocating.

Without a word, Aki turned around and walked away. Raiden looked at her confused before trying chase after her but his legs buckled. Falling to the ground he saw Aki walking out of the stadium before his vision faded to black.

Aki didn't return to the academy the year after. Raiden had skipped a year and graduated early so he can take up his position at KaibaCorp. No one heard of Aki after that day and Raiden always wondered where she ended up. He felt responsible for her missing her chance at graduating and leaving her family.

Now she's here participating in his tournament but he didn't know she was here, "Rex." He glared at the man, "What are you up to?"