Chapter 1 - Dawn of the New Generation

He looked at his mother sitting beside him in the town car, she was on another business call while on his way to school. This became a daily ritual ever since she decided to help his uncle run the family business. She was only family by marriage though. Once his father passed in an unfortunate accident, it was almost as if he had lost two parents.

"No I told you those numbers aren't acceptable. My husband never would've accepted mediocrity and I'm sure as hell not about to!" His mother said angrily as she hung up her phone. It was almost as if she was a different person. Colder, more realistic.

She looked at her son, the spitting image of his father, noticing a bored and disinterested look on his face. "Yumian, can you try and look a little excited, you get to start duel academy today!" She said, trying to convince him she was more invested then she really was.

Yumian looked at his mom. It was hard for him to get excited for this. His father was a dueling legend, once a world champion. The towncar came to a slow stop as the driver turned around, "Mr. Yumian sir, we've arrived to New Domino Duel Academy."

"Thanks Roland, you're the best." Yumian said with a half smile. It should've been his father dropping him off. Yumian hugged his mother and grabbed his back pack, his duel disk attached to it. He closed the door to the towncar, refusing to be one of those rich brats that makes their butler or driver do everything for them. As he walked up to the school he noticed some of the other students whisper and point from Yumian to the logo on the car that said 'KC' in front of a picture of the world.

"Roland, do you think I did the right thing in giving it to him?" Asked Yumian's mother.

"Ms. Tea, for as long as I knew his father and for as long as I have known you, the right decision was never the easy one. But I think it was time it was given to him." Roland replied as he took off. Tea looked out of the window fiddling with her wedding band still on her left ring finger.

Yumian sat down in his home room. He noticed that the class was extra chipper today, everyone kept eyeing the door waiting for the teacher to come in.

"Hey Yumian, how's it going pal?" Asked a boy with black spikey hair and a red headband.

"Oh hey Drake, it's going alright. Why is everyone in such a mood, they all seem so...chipper?" Yumian asked.

Drake Develin, the son of Duke Develin and His wife Serenity, was a second year Obelisk Blue. He and Yumian had been friends for years, practicing their basic dueling techniques while their fathers talked business and their mothers caught up and gossiped.

"You don't know do you?" Drake concluded as he took his seat next to his friend. Yumian shook his head no as they heard a collective cheer as their teacher walked in. He stood average height, wearing a standard black tie suit with a white button up. He had yellow hair that spiked tall and wide. Yumian's eyes widened at the site of the teacher as he observed him walk up to the board and write his name: Prof. Muto.

"Alright class, I think that's quite enough." He said sternly and with a smile, motioning everyone to take their seats. "Now, lets take roll..."

"Blake Aaron"

"Present"

"Lillian Denice"

"Present"

"Drake Develin"

"Present"

"Jessica Jacquelyn"

"Present"

He paused for a moment before reading the next name.

"Yumian Kaiba"

Yumian starred at his teacher before raising his hand, "Present." He said as everyone looked on at him.

Prof. Muto continued on with roll until he read the final name.

"Alexander Zincman?"

Standing tall was the second year Obelisk Blue, he had light brown hair that was slick back and was fairly handsome.

"Present Professor, and May I add it's an honor to be taught by the King of Games himself."

Yugi smirked and shook his head, "That was another life ago, besides Jaden Yuki is the current world champion, and he used to roam the halls of the South Academy. Now let's begin, this is advanced situation tactics, please turn to chapter one in your texts."

An hour and a half later the class ended, Yumian and Drake proceeded to their Live Duel Practice class. They grabbed their duel disks and went into their respective bags to retrieve their decks.

Yumian noticed something on top of his, it was a note from his mother:

'My darling Son,

I know it's been rough these last few months but I know without a doubt your father would want you to be happy and to be the best duelist you could be. I know he would want you to have this. You can do this Yumian.

Love Mom'

Yumian looked down and just noticed his deck box and nothing in particular about it. He brushed off the note and blindly took his deck and inserted it into his duel disk and allowed its autoshuffle feature to take hold.

They went out to the field and saw other students dueling hard. Yumian saw Prof. Muto and decided to try and talk with him.

"Excuse me, Professor?" He asked, getting Yugi's attention.

"Yes? Ah, young Kaiba, how may I help you?" Yugi asked before adding, "I'm very sorry to hear about your father. He was a good man, and a good friend."

"Thank you sir. I was hoping sometime you could help tell me some stories of the times you dueled." Yumian asked.

Yugi looked down at the first year Slifer Red and nodded when all of a sudden they were alerted to a loud scream.

"That sounded like Drake." Yumian said as he and Yugi ran to the source. Yumian noticed Drake on the ground after being knocked against the wall, his deck all on the ground. To the side was a Ra Yellow student who grabbed Drake by the collar.

"Now give me your rarest card! You lost you fake blue boy!" Yelled the student.

"Enough!" Shouted Yumian, "You obviously won, that should be enough, you don't need to take it further."

"Who dares to speak to Kevin Karden, the best Ra Yellow has to offer!" Asked Kevin

"I do, Yumian Kaiba." Yumian Shouted. The entire dueling field went quiet.

"Did he say?"

"Kaiba?"

"Didn't his dad just die?"

Kevin scoffed and laughed. "Oh please. You think because daddy was one of the best you're the same? Then let's throw down baby Kaiba!"

Yumian hated bullies, never could stand them. It's why he would get suspended for fighting so often when he was younger. He activated his duel disk and took place on the dueling field opposite of Kevin.

Kevin smirked, "So baby is tough is he? Then let's say if you win, I'll stop playing for Ante and even apologize to your little friend. But if I win then I get your two rarest cards." Kevin finished as he activated his duel disk in return.

Yumian nodded in agreement.

"DUEL!" They both shouted.

Turn 1: Yumian 4000 / Kevin 4000

"I'll go first." Yumian said. He drew his initial five cards and looked at his hand. His eyes widened as he looked on at five cards that looked familiar but he knew that they weren't a part of his deck.

"What's wrong?" Asked Kevin, "Don't tell me baby is already regretting his choice?"

"Not in a thousand years..." Yumian said. He hadn't meant a word of course.

"This...this isn't my deck. This looks more like fathers. I can't back down now, I'll just have to adapt. Let's see...Vorse Raider is a solid choice, Flute of Summoning Dragon, I also drew a Shrink, a Negate Attack and Pot of Greed." Yumian thought to himself.

"I activate the spell card Pot of Greed, this card allows me to draw two cards from my deck!" Yumian said as he shouted and drew the correct number of cards.

"A Kaiser Seahorse and a Monster Reborn, not bad." Yumian thought.

"I place two cards face down and then I set a monster and end my turn." Yumian said as he placed Kaiser Seahorse, Negate Attack, and Shrink face down.

Turn 2: Yumian 4000 / Kevin 4000

Kevin sinisterly smirked, "This will be all too easy," he said as he drew, "Ha! This is great! I summon Sky Scout in attack mode!"

*Sky Scout/Level 4/Winged Beast/Wind/ ATK 1800 / DEF 600*

"I then activate the spell card Mystical Space Typhoon! This can destroy one of your spell or trap cards, and I pick the one on the right!" Kevin said as he pointed, just then a massive tornado appeared and wiped over the set card that revealed to be Yumian's Negate Attack.

"Argh!" Yumian grunted as the force of the tornado blew past him, he using his arms to shield his face.

"Next, I attack your face down monster with Sky Scout!" Kevin declared as the winged beast monster soared through the sky, coming down and striking down on the face down Kaiser Seahorse. The 1800 Attack was more than enough to eat at Kaiser Seahorse's 1650 Defense. "I place two cards face down and end my turn!"

Yumian thought as he drew. He placed the newly acquired Interdimensional Matter Transporter in his hand.

Turn 3: Yumian 4000 / Kevin 4000

"I summon Vorse Raider in attack mode!" Declared Yumian as he placed the card on his duel disk and watched as the warrior type monster materialized in front of him.

*Vorse Raider / Warrior / Level 4 / Dark / ATK 1900 / DEF 1200*

"Vorse Raider Attack!" Said Yumian, "Upon declaration I activate my face down, Shrink, and target Sky Scout!"

*Shrink / Quick Play Spell Card / Target 1 face-up monster on field; its original ATK becomes halved until the end of this turn.*

The crowd ohed and awed at the combo play as if they were watching Seto Kaiba himself play. Yugi smiled watching the young boys remembering a similar tactic being played against him years ago.

The two monsters clashed as Vorse Raider, now 1000 points stronger charged forward. The warrior type monster using its bladed weapon sliced through the winged beast.

"I set one card face down and end my turn." Yumian said as he placed Interdimensional Matter Transporter face down in his duel disk.

Kevin smirked, "I flip over another Mystical Space Typhoon and I target your face down card!" Kevin said pointing at the now destroyed Interdimensional Matter Transporter.

"Now I flip over my face down...Ring Of Destruction!"

*Ring Of Destruction / Normal Trap / During your opponent's turn: Target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls whose ATK is less than or equal to their LP; destroy that face-up monster, and if you do, take damage equal to its original ATK, then inflict damage to your opponent, equal to the damage you took. You can only activate 1 "Ring of Destruction" per turn.*

"And with it I target your Vorse Raider and burn each other for 1900 points of damage!"

The explosion was heard throughout the courtyard and the shockwave pushed Yumian two feet back.

"Go ahead and draw." Yumian said.

Turn 4: Yumian 2100 / Kevin 1100

Kevin drew and began to laugh, "You're time is just about up baby Kaiba! From my hand I activate Monster Reborn!" He declared as he activated the normal spell card that allowed him to special summon a monster from either players graveyard.

"I target your Vorse Raider!" Kevin shouted as the newly destroyed Vorse Raider appeared on his side of the field, "And I special summon him in attack mode! Now Vorse Raider attack him directly!"

Vorse Raider charged at Yumian and swung his blade down, the force of the attack knocking Yumian off of his feet and to the ground.

"Ha! Little baby Kaiba, you're done for, on my next turn, I'll attack you with your own monster and wipe out the last bit of your pathetic lifepoints. I end my turn, now draw your last pathetic card!" Kevin finished.

Yumian got up from the ground. Memories of he and his father from when he was younger and even from just before he died started to flood his head.

"Yumian, have I ever told you the most important lesson I ever learned about dueling?" Seto Kaiba asked his son.

"Strike first, strike hard, no mercy?" Yumian replied sarcastically. Seto messed with his sons hair, the same as his. I'm the hallway to the home office they were in was Tea Gardner-Kaiba as she watched her son and her husband laughed and enjoyed their time.

"You know, when I first met your mother that was my philosophy, she hated my guts. I thought I could win by powering my way through everything. But a friend of both of ours taught me something that took me a while to grasp." Seto said.

"What's that?" Asked Yumian.

"The heart of the cards...you have to place your faith in your deck to provide whatever card you need right when you need it." Seto explained with a smile.

In that instance Yumian snapped back to the present.

"Go ahead baby Kaiba, I said draw your last pathetic card from your weak deck! It's all about power!" Kevin shouted.

"You know Kevin, one day you may just understand it's not about power...it's about heart, and I believe in the heart of the cards!" Yumian shouted, Yugi looking on and smiling.

Turn 5: Yumian 300 / Kevin 1100

Yumian focusing all his belief, all his will, and places into this one last draw. Staring back at him was just the card he needed.

"From my hand, I activate Monster Reborn, now return to me, Kaiser Seahorse!" He declared as Kaiser Seahorse reappeared in front of him.

Kevin just laughed "Haha! That monster only has 1700 attack points, there's no way it can stand up to Vorse Raider!" He said.

Yumian smirked, "Are numbers the only thing you think about? Because even though I brought back my monster from the graveyard, he isn't sticking around for much longer...You see, Kaiser Seahorse has a special ability."

Just then Kevin's eyes widened.

*Kaiser Seahorse / Level 4 / Light / Sea Serpent-Effect / ATK 1700 / DEF 1650 / Effect: This card can be treated as 2 Tributes for the Tribute Summon of a LIGHT monster.*

"When I sacrifice Kaiser Seahorse for a tribute summon of a Light attribute monster, it counts as two. Now, I tribute my Kaiser Seahorse in order to summon..." Yumian started as Kaiser Seahorse disappeared in a flash of light.

Yugi's eyes widened, "Is he really going to summon it!?" He said.

Yumian slammed the card he had just drawn down onto his duel disk.

"Not a single card can stand up to this!", Yumian started "I call on Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Out of a blinding light, a massive white dragon with blue eyes appeared, the sheer force from the summon itself sent shockwaves throughout causing some fo the students to stop completely in their tracks and take notice of the legendary monster.

*Blue Eyes White Dragon / Level 8 / Light / ATK 3000 / DEF 2500 / Dragon: This legendary dragon is a powerful engine of destruction. Virtually invincible, very few have faced this awesome creature and lived to tell the tale.*

Kevin was frightened at this point, "It can't be! That's impossible! Only the real Seto Kaiba used that monster, he had the only ones...unless..." he paused mid sentence.

"Unless I inherited his deck, as his son, as a Kaiba...I continue my fathers legacy!" Yumian said with pride. "I move to my battle phase. Blue Eyes, lay waste to your enemy...WHITE LIGHTNING!!!" Yumian shouted as he declared his attack. The legendary dragon charged an energy beam in its mouth and let out a powerful roar as it fired its attack at Vorse Raider and completely decimated its foe.

Kevin screamed as the shockwave from the attack sent him flying to the ground three feet behind him.

Result: Yumian 300 / Kevin 0

Winner: Yumian Kaiba

Victory by: Reducing Opponents Life Points to Zero

The duel field disappeared as Yumian looked around him and felt the stare and whispers of all his classmates on him. Yugi just looked on and clapped in applause, soon, the rest followed suit.