Beginning A/N: This story is one that I've actually wanted to write for a long time, but I never managed to get around to it because of all of the plot bunnies that I've had to deal with over the years. Hopefully, this one will do much better once I can actually focus on it long enough to write out the plot effectively. In any case, I hope that you enjoy this story! Also, before we begin, I want to thank my good friend, and fellow fanfiction author, DJ Rodriguez, for collaborating with me on the story's intro scene which will be present at the beginning of every chapter. So please, go and check out his stories, he writes amazing content, and I highly recommend his Monsters and Magic series, as well as his story, Danny Phantom and the Gates of Hell. Thanks again for your help, DJ Rodriguez, I literally couldn't have written this intro without you! Also, for the sake of this story, Duel Academy is a college instead of a high school, so all of the characters will be college age. Okay, on to the story. Thank you all for your patience.
Side A/N: Oh, uh, before we begin though, I should find it fair to warn you that I DO NOT KNOW WHEN THIS STORY WILL BE UPDATED WITH NEW CHAPTERS. I'm being serious here. I absolutely do not want my inbox to be flooded with reviews telling me to update the story or asking me when the next chapter is, because I don't have a set update schedule for this story! Okay? Alright. On to the story. Thank you for understanding. Also, for context, here are some examples of the ages of everyone in this story after the time skip.
Yugi: 18 years old
Syrus: 18 years old
Chumley: 21 years old
Alexis: 18 years old
Jasmine: 18 years old
Mindy: 18 years old
Zane: 22 years old
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh GX, or Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's!
Intro by DJ Rodriguez
The screen is a black background that shows a shadowy silhouette, and during the five-second drum solo, the shadowy being is illuminated to show that it is Yugi Motou. However, he is in his previous form back when the show first started. But when the drum solo ends, he is almost instantly covered in golden light. The camera shows him growing, and the light explodes in tiny sparkles to show his current grown-up form which is similar to Yami Yugi!
Going fast makes me feel alive.
My heart beats in hyperdrive.
Do you think you can win?
Only if I lose.
Yugi smirks at the camera, and he jumps in the air. The black background quickly shifts to show a highway above water! The scene is moving fast, and Yugi lands on a special kind of bike called a Duel Runner. It is customized and modified for him, with the bike bearing the colors and theme of a certain Dark Magician.
Just let destiny choose.
Appearing beside as he drives the vehicle is a dark-red color orb, which explodes and takes form… showing the form of the Red Dark Magician! His face shows his eyes serious and firm, not like how he was when he belonged to Arkana long ago. He looks to his master, who turns to him as well. Both nod their heads to one another, and the camera does a close up of Yugi Motou's serious face for a split second before it shows the back forms of the duo as they head towards a city in the distance, which is
soon shown.
I can hear you breathin'.
I can see you comin'.
I can feel the wind.
It's blowing me around.
The scene cuts to showcase the prestigious school known as the Duel Academy, the camera showing a prime shot of the entire school and the island it rests at. The camera zooms in a little until the scene switches to showcase the blue dorms that belong to the Obelisk Blue students, which look like a castle out of a fairytale. The camera zooms in to the front of the castle, at the lake edge where there are three young women who are prepping their own unique Duel Runner vehicles. The ladies turn to face the camera, to show that it is Alexis Rhodes, one of the top female students in the Academy. Behind her are her dear friends; on the left is Jasmine, and on the right is Mindy.
They wave to the audience, the two friends behind Alexis giving cute & flirty winks to the male audience members. At their sides are their Duel Monster cards, a single card glowing and rising up from the decks. They hover at the side of the girls, and soon expand and explode to reveal Duel Monsters! At Alexis's side appears Cyber Tutu, who waves to everyone with a cheerful expression. With Jasmine is Mermaid Knight, who lifts her sword into the air and stands by like a guard besides her Duelist. And by Mindy's side is the Duel Monster Cyber Harpie Lady, who is in a fighting stance to show that she
will protect her.
Take a shot at me runnin' side by side.
It's a blur as… I go by.
The scene shifts, the camera doing a fast transition with blue and white lines. The camera soon shows the Boys dormitory, and it is at a garage of sort as someone is working on a Duel Runner. The person turns to face the camera, and it shows it to be young Syrus Truesdale. The young man is also an Obelisk Blue student, and he smiles to the camera. And from behind him emerges another Duel Monster, as it is Quillbolt Hedgehog. It waves to the audience before landing and lying flat on Syrus's
head, who looks amused at the hedgehog's actions.
The scene shifts to show an alluring dark-red haired woman, who is standing beside her own Duel Runner in a stadium of sort. The camera zooms in on her face, which is protected by a white mask. Said mask is soon removed, the camera zooming out a little to show the face of a lovely lady known as Akiza Izinski! She has a serious look on her face, the camera zooming further away a little to show her entire upper body. She then shows her right arm, which glows and shows to all an intricate tattoo of sort which labels her as a Signer. She pulls out a Duel Card, and it glows and floats out of her hand to be above her. It then explodes and transforms into the fabled Black Rose Dragon! It roars out to everyone, then fills the screen with a flurry of black rose petals. The music continues on as the petals stay on the screen for a moment, then they are swept away to reveal a scene where the entire cast that has been shown so far are together! The camera shows their faces, looking determined and serious. The camera than goes around them to show the audience who they are facing. In front of them are their rivals and enemies; the Dark Signers with their Earthbound Immortal monsters behind them in the sky.
I can hear you breathin'.
I can see you comin'.
I can feel the wind.
It's blowing me around
The scene transits to show Yugi Motou now riding his Duel Runner, and behind him in a V-formation are the others! It shows to the left side Alexis and Syrus. On the right is Mindy and Akiza. Jasmine is directly behind Yugi Motou. All look determined as they race towards the Earthbound Immortals, their Duel Monsters present along with Dark Magician Girl with Red Dark Magician! And also Sonic Chick besides Cyber Harpie Lady. The camera goes into an aerial position where it shows the team racing along the road towards the city that is being held by the Immortals. It stays there for a moment before it changes, now showing a galaxy backdrop with a shadowy figure in the middle of the swirling galaxy. The person is a male, and holds up four cards.
See the sun arising
Fire in the sky
Greatness thrusts itself into our lives.
The Duel Monster cards glow golden, and they leap from his hand to turn into these monsters. From left to right are Junk Warrior, Turbo Warrior, Nitro Warrior and Junk Synchron. The monsters appear briefly, showing their poses before they turn into blue-white energy and go upward. The camera follows, where up in the starry sky the energy combining and forming into a new Duel Monster which is the Stardust Dragon! The camera shows an impressive shot of the mighty dragon, which roars loudly. The camera turns so that it is now using Stardust Dragon's point of view, and a red orb appears in front of it. The orb flashes red and morphs, changing into a fierce beast that is known as the Red Archfiend Dragon, which roars loudly.
The scene changes to show Yugi Motou racing on his vehicle, then the song climaxes and ends when he leaps in the air. The scene is soon frozen, showing the Duelist in mid-air, and behind him are his companions who are also frozen in postures on their Duel Runners with their Duel Monsters over them.
Prologue
Watching from their home in the realm of the Duel Spirits, the Divine-Beast monsters known as the Egyptian Gods watched as things seemed to go downhill quickly for their pharaoh's descendant. The Egyptian Gods in question went by the names of Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon, and The Winged Dragon of Ra. And then there was the Divine-Beast monster who stood above even them on the power scale: Horakhty.
And watching with them was none other than Mana, the spirit of the Dark Magician Girl.
Obelisk the Tormentor is an absolute behemoth of a monster with a humanoid build. He has eyes that are completely red, with a face that looks like a snarling mummy, and an intricate set of horns surrounding a light blue gem in his head that forms a sort of crest or headdress. He has blue skin, a pair of wings, although it's unknown if these can be used for flight, his hands and feet are tipped with claws, and his body is covered with bulging muscles that show how much pure physical power he has.
Slifer the Sky Dragon is a crimson red dragon with a body plan that's very similar to the dragons depicted in Chinese mythology. It has a similar crest and gem on its head as Obelisk, but it also has a smaller, secondary mouth above its primary one.
The Winged Dragon of Ra is by far the most powerful of the three individual Egyptian God monsters, and bears a striking resemblance to what could happen if a dragon were to crossbreed with a phoenix, having a regal feathered crest on its head, jaws that looked more like a bird's beak, and large wings covered in feathers rather than the typical bat wing-like appearance of most other dragons. Its eyes are red like Obelisk's, but its body appears to be made entirely out of living gold.
Finally, there is Horakhty, the Creator of Light, and the one Divine Beast that can only appear when the three Egyptian Gods merge into one. She bears the appearance of a regal woman in Egyptian robes and a golden headdress. She also possesses a pair of feathered angel wings on her back with feathers that have the appearance of gold.
As for the Dark Magician Girl, A.K.A., Mana, she has long blonde hair that's sort of spiky and messy at the same time, if that makes sense, with porcelain skin and shining blue eyes. She also has these marks on her cheeks that make her appear to have a permanent blush. Her outfit was similar to that of her teacher, Mahad, the Dark Magician, but it was obviously much more feminine. Her hat and dress were a light blue with pink trim, she had a black pendant with a pentagram symbol around her neck, and she carried a wand that curled inward at the top that she used to harness her magical powers.
They saw how their chosen one's life had taken a drastic turn for the worst after Atem had earned a second chance at life with a new body, no longer having to share a body with Yugi. At first, things had been great. Yugi and Atem got along like brothers and treated each other as such. They socialized with Yugi's friends, and it was as if Atem had been part of the group since it first formed. Which, technically, he had been. But after a couple of months went by, things started to change for Yugi and everything around him. No one quite knows how it started, but they know that the changes were not for the better.
Yugi's friends all drifted away from him and flocked to Atem. The former Pharoah and now Number One Duelist in the world, the King of Games, seemed to be under the impression that now that he had a body of his own again that Yugi's job as his vessel had been complete. That he no longer needed the lad. But it wasn't just the loss of his friends that affected the young man. No, this was something far more devastating than a simple loss of his friends.
Yugi lost his only remaining family.
That's right, the night before as the five Duel Monster spirits were watching Yugi's life, they bore witness to the death of 'Grandpa' Solomon Moto, who passed away peacefully in his sleep one night.
Yugi was absolutely devastated that day. And he was the only one, besides the priest, to attend the old man's funeral as Atem and the rest of his former friends had decided to go to an arcade that day. Mana was quietly sobbing as she saw the light in Yugi's eyes dim to the point that his once vibrant purple eyes looked dim and almost black.
Horakhty closed her eyes and shook her head as she said, "I warned the pharaoh about this. I warned him not to grow arrogant and complacent, not to take his partner for granted, and now look what has happened."
"Indeed." Obelisk said in a baritone male voice. "And now, young Yugi has lost much of the life that he was once so full of."
"That boy has done so much for the whole world since completing the Millennium Puzzle all those years ago." Ra said in a regal sounding feminine voice. "He has dealt with the evil spirit in the Millennium Rod taking over that young tomb guardian, destroyed the Seal of Orichalcos and the Leviathan, and even helped put a stop to Zorc Necrophades once and for all. And this is how he is repaid? With abandonment and betrayal?"
Slifer said nothing, but the low growl coming from the mighty dragon's throat showed just how pissed off the beast was.
Mana herself was doing her best to stop the flow of her tears, but she just couldn't. In the time that she has been in Yugi's, now Atem's, deck she has found herself growing more and more attached to the young man. It took her some time and more than a few talks with Mahad about it, but she finally realized that she had developed a romantic attraction towards Yugi. At the time, she had been almost certain that he would inevitably get together with that ungrateful brunette, Tea, but after seeing her sudden shift in attitude and how she clearly had feelings for Atem and not Yugi, in essence leading the poor boy on…
Mana wanted to throttle her!
And frankly, none of the Egyptian God monsters or her master would stop her.
Slifer knelt down and nuzzled the saddened young woman in an attempt to offer comfort, which Mana was very grateful for. But still, they were somewhat lost about what to do in order to help Yugi as they saw that he was packing a bag and getting ready to leave Domino City. Maybe forever. And they already could see that another threat, bigger than even Zorc, was beginning to awaken from its long slumber. And Yugi was chosen as one of those who would battle the darkness and bring peace to the world once again.
As well as help usher in a new era of Duel Monsters.
"The fact remains that Yugi has a new destiny to fulfill, but I fear that he may not wish to face this destiny alone. He may not be so willing to build new bonds after his oldest and greatest ones have been so callously severed like they have. What do we do, Lady Horakhty?" Obelisk asked.
"We shall help Yugi Moto. And I have a plan to do so." Horakhty said as she began to make preparations.
Meanwhile, in the human world, Yugi had just finished packing what he would need. The Game Shop that he ran in place of his grandfather was closed and locked up, and Atem was fast asleep. Which made this the perfect time for him to make his move and leave for good. Once he was certain that Atem had fallen asleep, Yugi had packed up all of the essentials that he would need. He packed his personal towel, toothbrush, toothpaste, a few changes of clothes, and his savings. He also took some of his Duel Monster cards, including a card that he had won in Battle City but never really had a reason to use. Until now, that is.
It was the red and gold colored Dark Magician that was once owned by one of Marik's Rare Hunters, the former magician Arkana. Yugi hadn't liked how Arkana treated his cards, this Dark Magician in particular, and had taken the card even though he couldn't use it due to the card being shaved like it had been. He kept it in the gold sarcophagus that once held the Millennium Puzzle just in case, and when he went to take the card he found that, miraculously, the card had been repaired! It was no longer damaged due to Arkana's actions! All Yugi could think of is that there was some residual magic in the sarcophagus from holding the Millennium Puzzle for so long. And that magic somehow 'healed' the red Dark Magician's card.
Yugi wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth and placed the card into his deck case. Along with a few booster packs that he hadn't had the chance to open just yet so that he could build himself a new deck. With his preparations complete, Yugi closed up his bag and left the Game Shop that had been his home for the past fifteen years. He took one last look at his old home before walking off into the distance towards the nearest bus stop. Unknown to Yugi, however, his actions would lead him onto a new path. A path that would lead to Yugi truly becoming the greatest duelist in the world…
And the hero that it truly needs.
***To Be Continued…***
Ending A/N: Sorry that this chapter isn't as long as I was hoping that it would be, but I just couldn't think of any additional dialogue that could really get this story moving. I'll definitely be making the next chapter much longer than this, so I hope that the length of the next chapter will make it worth the wait. Again, special thanks to DJ Rodriguez for helping me write the intro for the story chapters, he was a big help with that! Also, I have a story that I'm working on for October through December called Korra's Nightmare Before Christmas(Reposted), so if you haven't yet, go and check it out and maybe leave a review if you want to. As always, thank you all so much for reading and I'll see you all in the next update.