"No matter how hard you run form it, your past know just when to come back and surprise you."

-Geno Roads

Master of the Sky

"Ladies and gentlemen, the next duel is about to begin. Please return to your seats. I repeat, the next duel is about to begin."

Owen looked over at Kelli. "Come on, people are going to notice if we miss the start of another duel!"

Kelli frowned as she filled her glass up. "You're the one that suggested we get popcorn and taffy, and I can't stand to eat sticky stuff and salty food without something to wash it down."

Owen juggles the buckets of snacks in his hands for a bit, trying t get them in a better spot, and watched as Kelli slowly filled the cup up. He opened his mouth, running his tongue over his teeth, waiting.

"There, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

Owen frowned. "No, not at all." He rolled his eyes, only to get a slap on the shoulder. "Hey!"

"You're not allowed to make fun of me!" Kelli said with a grin.

"Why?"

"Because we're friends silly."

Owen shook his head. "That rule doesn't apply to friends Kelli, it applies to girlfriends."

Both of them paused as the words sunk in for a moment. Kelli looked at him, her eyes soft.

"And does the rule apply to me Owen?" She asked softly. Owen looked at her for a moment, his brain racing. On one hand, they had just meet a few weeks ago, and only been on a date or two. They were moving quickly, and it was almost unnatural for them to be dating so quickly.

On the other hand, what part of his life was natural?

"Yes." Owen said softly to Kelli, his voice a whisper. "It does apply to you Kelli. It does indeed."

"The following match will be between Rose Emendorfer and Kiarou Taylor. All standard rules apply. Duelists, ready your duel disks."

Kiarou shuffled his deck, and drew his card. Perfect…this is going to be a good duel, with this as my starting hand Kiarou had been working on his deck during the off season, getting it into perfect shape. He had trimmed the fat, found some rare cards and new combos, and knew that he was ready to take on the world.

"For my opening move, I will summon Grand Carrier-C Class to the field."

Kiarou still using his famous Armada deck. This deck revolved around the rare machine subtype known as Armada cards. Each monster was really a fighter ship, designed for invasion or intergalactic war. They were big, they were powerful, and they had a lot of sinister combos.

The ship he had just summoned was a massive ship that hovered above the arena, a common trait of his cards. It was gray, with a giant front that tapered off at the end, arching down to form the main cabin. (Atk:1600, Def: 1600)

All around Domino, people stopped to point to the VR ship. They all knew this was Kiarou's doing, and many sat down to watch the battle unfold right in the skies of their city. Kiarou set one card and ended his turn

Kiarou's opponent, Rose, was looking over her cards, planning her next move. From what he had learned from his father's quick look at the MIB files, she was a member of the Domino University' Cheth Lambda Sigma sorority. The HLS's were famous for being Harpie's duelists, their ranks including Mai Valentine and the late Amy Birchmeier-Krieg.

Rose was like a lot of the girls in the sorority. She was around 5 foot 10, with long blonde hair flowing over her womanly frame. She had the assets any man would like, and a killer smile. Literally killer. More then one man had stared at her too long and lost the duel because of it.

"I will summon Harpie's Brother in attack mode, and set this card. Now, I will attack your Grand Carrier!"

The harpie's bro raised up in the sky, his claw ready to strike, when he smashed into a shield that was around the Carrier, falling back to earth. It crashed with a start, and Kiarou smiled.

"what was that?" Rose asked as her Bro stood up, his head throbbing.

"When you attacked, you activated my trap card: Early Attack Detection. By sacrificing a spell card from my hand to the graveyard, I can negate your attack." Kiarou smiled. "But by doing so, I activate my spell card's special effect."

Rose watched as a large, black storage unit appeared on the field form the graveyard. "This is my Smugglers Parts magic card. Normally, it would need to be equipped to a monster before it's effect is used. But, it's effect can work if discarded too. When this card is sent to the graveyard, I get to roll a dice. The number I get is the number of cards I can draw."

Kiarou watched the die roll and bounce, till it stopped on the number five. He smiled as the five cards slide out of his duel disk. He was using a custom duel disk created by the Men in Black. It started out as a large disk on your wrist, but would uncoil and flip into a duel disk, with all the features a normal one would have.

Rose set one card, and ended her turn. Kiarou drew a card, and looked at his hand. He had 9 cards, and needed now to thin things out a bit.

"Now, I will summon Stream Fighter in attack mode." On the field, a small ship roared out of the card, circling the Grand Carrier. It had a main cockpit, a large slipstream engine, and an orbular cannon on it's belly. (Atk: 500, Def: 200) "And that is not all. I activate Machine Duplication, summoning form my deck 2 more Stream Fighters from my deck to the field." Two more ships appeared, circling around the larger vessel. "Now, my Fighter's effect is that as long as they are on the field, they increase each other Stream Fighter ship by 500. So, my Stream Fighters all increase their attack to 1500." Kiarou smiled and set one more card face down, ending his turn.

Rose frowned. "You are very tricky Kiarou, but you are untrained. I have studied under the students of the greatest harpie duelist to live, Amy Birchmeier."

Kiarou nodded. "And my respect to the woman. However, I have been trained under Dr. Kevin Allen, one of the legends of the first era of dueling, who beat your Amy in a duel."

Rose frowned. "He cheated her! He is nothing more then a con artist that stole the match from our fallen leader."

Kiarou frowned. "Your leader is nothing more then…." He stopped, and for some reason, he could not finish the insult. So, he merely shook his head. "Just duel, alright?"

Rose nodded. "Very well. I will start by playing Harpie Girl in attack mode." A cry was heard in the arena as the blonde haired and pinked winged teenaged Harpie flew onto the field, next to the bro. "Next, I will declare an attack on your Grand Carrier."

As the bro flew up, it once again slammed into the shield as Kiarou discarded another spell card. She frowned and ended her turn.

"Now it's time to clear the field. I'll start by having my Stream Fighter attack your Harpie Girl!"

The small fighter broke away from the group and hurtled at Harpie Girl, it's cannon blazing with ionic death. But right as the beam struck her, it bounced at Harpies bro, who flew up and destroyed the ship with ease in a grand explosion. Kiarou's jaw dropped.

"You activate my trap card: Harpie's Hand Mirror. This card redirects one attack to another Harpie card, namely my stronger Harpie's Brother." The girl blew on her mirror and spun it. "And this card is now an equip card to my Harpie's Girl." (Kiarou- 5700)

Kiarou frowned, shifting his now 1000 atk fighter and Grand Carrier to defense, waiting to see if Rose had more tricks up her sleeve.

And she did.

"Now, at the start of my turn, I think it is time to change the field to something more suited to my winged warriors. I activate Harpie's Hunting Ground."

Kiarou watched as the ground below them transformed into a barren patch of earth, with no where to hide. While his machines were still high above the field, he had a bad feeling about all of this.

"This card has two effects. First off, all winged beasts gain an extra 200 atk points." As she said this, the Harpie Girl and Bro both flew a bit higher, their attack rising. "Next, I will summon Harpie Lady 3 to the field."

They heard a shriek, and the spike blue haired harpie flew onto the field, diving down right at Kiarou, he ducked, and watched as she flew straight at his Grand Carrier. The Armada ship trembled, and it's shield shattered.

"This card also allows a summoned harpie to destroy 1 trap or spell on the field." She smiled and then glared at the Grand Carrier. "Attack."

All three harpies raced up, the Lady and Girl taking out the two fighters, allowing Harpie's Bro his clear shot. He drove straight into the ship, and after a few moments, the Carrier began to flicker. Then, it's surface began to erupt in small fires, and then, it nose dived, slowly falling onto the field with a mighty blast that shook the duelists.

But it remained on the field.

"What is going on?"

Kiarou smiled. "There is a reason that my Armada ship is called the "Great Carrier." For every one of your standby phase that my Carrier was on the field, I can summon a monster or monsters with a total level equal to that. My carrier was on their for three standby phases, so I can summon this: Anti-Invasion Burgoth." On the field, the remains of Great Carrier exploded, revealing the hovering ship, it's satellite dish raised and ready. (Atk: 1300, Def: 1000)

"This card allows you to only attack once per turn. But since that card was special summoned, I can summon this card, my Stream Interceptor." On the field, another Stream Fighter appeared, only this one had a cannon on each side as well as on the bottoms. "This card, while starting out at 500 atk points, gains 500 attack points for every monster on your side of the field, making it a 2000 attack monster. Now, I can't attack your girl or Harpie bro, but your Harpie Lady 3 is wide open. Stream Interceptor, attack!"

The ship flew down into the arena, firing at the Harpie Lady. She let out a cry and shattered into a thousand pieces. (Rose-5500)

Rose drew her card and nodded. "First, I will summon Birface to the field." The bipedal bird flew onto the field, hovering just next to Harpie's girl. "Now, Harpie's bro, attack Anti-Invasion Burgoth with crimson claw!"

The bro flew down and struck the ship with it's claw, the machine cracking and falling apart. But when it broke, a strange black orb appeared. Kiarou laughed. (Kiarou-5000)

"Thank you, my friend." He smiled as the ball shook. "I am able to activate my trap card: Fiery Demise. When an armada card is destroyed, it's main engine goes into overdrive, destroying every monster on the field."

Rose's eyes grew wide as the core began to shake, and with a blast of light, exploded. The arena was filled with white energy, blinding all as the scream of the harpies filled the arena. When the dust settled, everything was gone. But as Kiarou smiled, a new machine faded into view.

"But that's not all. You see, when all my machines were destroyed, I am able to summon from my hand my next Armada card, my DarkHole Rider." A long, tapered cone with a flat end appeared on the field, a long extension running from it's top to the back engine, where the command station was. (Atk: 2500, Def: 2100)

Kiarou watched as his ship lowered it's nose till it's cannon was aimed right at Rose's chest. Kiarou drew his hand to his throat, and with a quick slicing motion, signaled his monster. It's main cannon rumbled, and Rose could see a dark black energy form. She braced herself, and felt the explosion strike her, sending her flying down.

"Your turn" (Rose-3000)

Rose stood up slowly, shaken, but finally returned to her spot. "Actually, it's not. It's still your turn."

Kiarou frowned. "what do you mean?"

"You see, when you were watching your ship appear, I had placed a trap card on the field. And now, I activate it. Reveal Harpie Nesting Ground!"

Kiarou watched as a single nest of eggs appeared in front of Rose. Slowly, one began to shake.

"You see, this trap is a simple one. When you do damage to me, I am allowed to have one of the eggs in this nest open, revealing a monster of equal or lesser strength then your monster. Your Rider has 2500 attack points, meaning I am able to special summon to the field this, my most powerful monster: Harpie's Pet Dragon!"

The grand pink dragon appeared on the field, letting out a roar at the DarkHole Rider. Kiarou merely shrugged. "My monster still ahs 500 atk points on it."

Rose smiled sweetly. "Does it now? Funny, it doesn't look like that way when I play my Harpie Lady 1" A new harpie lady flew to Rose's side of the field, grabbing the long chain around the dragon's neck as it roared, it's atk increasing to 2300…..then 2600. Kiarou looked on in shock. "My Harpie 1 increases all wind monsters by 300, a nice bonus." She smile faded. "Harpie's Pet Dragon, show him your true power! Grand wing!"

The Dragon flapped it's wings, a gust catching the ship off guard. It began to shudder, it's engines trying to style stable but it was a useless fight. It spun off, and collided with the earth, shattering in pieces as Kiarou shielded his face.

"And now, Harpie Lady, attack Kiarou directly!"

"AAAAAAA!" Kiarou let out a painful cry as the taloned feet of the harpie ripped into his chest. He took a deep breath, trying to fight off the agony. (Kiarou-3100)

Rose looked at him as her dragon and harpie watched on in amusement. "What will you do now Kiarou? I have two high power monsters on the field, and you have nothing. How can you touch my lp when it's guarded so well? Our late leader, our fallen sister, Amy, taught that in order to protect life, you must trust those you deem to guard it. And I trust these harpies with my very heart. What do your soulless machines have that can stop my monsters?"

Kiarou merely drew, and shook his head. "You know, my teacher, Doc K, also has a lesson. He taught me that no matter how big the blockade, there is always a way around it. And I have the monster to do just that." He held out his card. "I summon SlipNeedle to the field."

In the sky, a thin ship rocketed around the arena. It had an incredible thin, cylinder shaped body, elongated to a massive engine added on. It settled behind Rose and idled. (atk: 1800, Def:0)

"My SlipNeedle as just the effect my friend Kevin hinted at. This card can attack your lp directly, but then, it's attack is lowered to 0, and must stay in attack mode. FIRE!"

The body of the ship shot off from it's engine and slammed into Rose, sending her onto the field. Her monsters floated above her, looking down as she stood up. "This that all? That can't say you now." (Rose-1200)

Kiarou shook his head. "Oh, there is more. You see, I have been holding onto a card now for the entire duel, waiting for the perfect moment to unleash it's power. And now, it's time to reveal it and finish you off. I activate my finisher: The Andromeda Incident."

As he said this, a card appeared. It featured DarkHole Rider colliding with Big Core, both exploding in the darkness of space. Kiarou smiled as his SlipNeedle glowed. "This card forces us both to select one monster on the field and destroy it, dealing ourselves that many atk points to our lp. My SlipNeedle has 0….which way will you die?"

Rose looked at both her monsters, and realizing she was dead no matter what, placed her hand on her deck. The monsters faded and she closed her eyes. "I am sorry Amy."

As she walked off, Kiarou merely watched.