A Song from the Divines

by TheSingingSword

[Rewrite] The story of a boy named Yuri, who is taken from all that he knows and loves into a world where he must rule as High King and wield the God Cards to bring peace to the continent of Termnnia. But his task will not be an easy one, for he is surrounded by foes looking to take away his crown by any means necessary. [AU-Fantasy]

5. Band of Misfits

Yuri Montgomery - The Montgomery Palace, Aquarius

Tel. II, Year 18 4AOS (Fourth Age of the Sun)

---

The sun rose over the Montgomery Estate, its warm golden glow lit up the numerous pools and fountains around the grounds of the palace. It was a very beautiful abode that Mr. Montgomery had designed to resemble a mix between the Palace of Versailles in France and an ancient Roman palace. Surrounding the palace was a vast jungle, artificially made during the island's construction, and even an artificial mountain. There were waterfalls everywhere, even between the stairway leading up to the estate. To get to it, you needed to get past three security checkpoints, each one guarded by an elite special security force from RAPTOR that was personally tasked with safeguarding the Montgomery family.

There were hundreds of rooms in the palace, fifteen fireplaces, twenty bathrooms, a basketball court with an Olympic-sized pool in the basement, and a private beach in the backyard with its own bar and restaurant. Downstairs was a huge kitchen with everything the family's army of chefs needed to cook extraordinary and delicious food for the family, and the palace came with three arcades for the children (now grown up) and their guests.

Underneath the palace was a cave that doubled as a port to house Mr. Montgomery's collection of exotic cars and five gigantic megayachts, each one big enough to hold a landing pad for each of his helicopters, which included a military Osprey customized with luxury as his personal aircraft.

Now we follow a gleaming marble path to the far right of the estate, past a dark blue pool that doubled as a moat surrounding a small mini mansion if you will, which served as a bedroom. It was the room of our hero. And he is due to wake up any moment now from his Duel.

Hail to the King!

Seventeen-year-old Yuri Montgomery woke up with a jump and gasped for air as though he had been underwater for a long time. His body was covered in sweat, drenching his t-shirt and boxers. He slapped his forehead with his palm and rubbed away the wetness around his eyes. Even though his bedroom was stifling, Yuri felt as though he was trapped in a freezer as he lay in his bed, thinking about the horrors that transpired during the night. He bolted upright and looked at the fishes swimming in the aquarium across his bed. Their beautiful colors and elegant movements relaxed his mind so he could process what just happened.

A Duel. He was in a Duel.

The monsters that he and his opponent played just came to life and when they attacked, he felt them. The stinging of their blades, the burning agony of their arcane attacks. And the noise! His ear drums felt pounded and worn out, as though he had been at a really loud heavy metal concert. And the monsters he faced. The sheer memory of them staring him down and then getting finished off by the giant red dragon caused him to sob. It was just a dream, he kept telling himself, and he wiped his tears and sweat away with his blanket.

But...but they seemed so real. He could smell the old stones of the chapel, and the slight pinch of incense in the air. Even the sweet and musty scent coming from the robes of the magicians his opponent summoned. The Dark Magic attack! Augh! He winced, rubbing a burning sensation on his chest. It was the spot where his Magician of Black Chaos MAX slashed him across the chest with his sword. Yuri hissed as he rubbed his fingers across the skin, feeling rather raw from the match. He had the dream for more than a year now, and it was getting more and more violent. He never felt pain from his dreams before.

The thought of him never getting a good night's sleep again caused him to burst into tears. He rubbed his aching chest as he sobbed, feeling like he ran a mile. Yuri reached for a bottle of water on the night table by his desk and almost chugged it down with a few gulps. It helped a lot and his breathing slowed as he calmed down. The morning outside his window was still very dark; much more now, due to the incoming storm that was approaching. He rested his head against his pillow and closed his eyes, listening to the ambiance around him. The soft trickle of water from his Z-Tower waterfall PC and the rocky water walls that lined both sides of the hall towards his room, the wind blowing through his open window. It all brought back a sense of normalcy for him.

He was safe. He was home. Safe. Safe from...Yugi.

Hail to the King!

He gasped loudly. He sat up and looked around, wondering who said that. He breathed a sigh of relief when it was just his clock waking him. It blasted the radio station he had it set to, currently playing Avenged Sevenfold's Hail to the King.

"That had better be a coincidence," he muttered as he turned the knob to lower the volume. He took off his soaked tank top and tossed it in the corner of his room, then wiped more sweat off his face with his blanket. A beautiful pendant rocked back and forth over his chest. He grabbed it and held it tightly with his fist. It was a musical locket: gold in the shape of a shield with platinum moldings beautifully engraved on its surface. On the face of the shield was a coat of arms with beautiful scrollwork.

He opened it, and a soothing melody from a music box inside began to play. He didn't know what the name of the song was, but he called it Passionate Duelist; for those words were engraved inside the necklace.

"What the hell do you want from me?" he whispered, gasping for air.

King? He thought. No, not me.

Yuri was anything but a king. He couldn't even call himself brave. In fact, he couldn't even hurt a fly, and I mean that literally. He would take the time to grab a cup to trap the little insect and set it free outside. His parents gave him the name James Vincent Montgomery but nobody called him that these days (Only his mother did but that was when she was super mad at him). Everyone, even his mother and father, had grown to call him Yuri.

Why Yuri? Well, it meant Lily Flower in Japanese, for Yuri was often called delicate like a flower. And since most of the flowers surrounding his mini-mansion were lily flowers, people just couldn't help but call him by that name. The silly little nickname was given to him by his Russian godfather, Sergei Dargon, Mr. Montgomery's stepbrother and owner of the Ruby Dragon Gaming card shop. Sergei called the boy Yuri as a way to mock his weakness and timidness.

The wind howled, causing the frame of the mansion to creak and rumble. Yuri yawned before he gave a long and loud groan. He did not want to get out of bed. It was still the first week of school, and he was recovering from his summer sleep schedule of late nights and sleeping deep into the afternoon.

"Damn school," Yuri said in a soft whisper in case his mother was nearby. "It starts way too early and ends so late." He refused to move and remained in bed. Anxiously, he slid his thumb up and down the crisp edge of his pillowcase, for he loved the feeling it had. Often he would fold it around his finger and thumb to make it snap to relieve him of stress. It was an odd habit, but he enjoyed it nonetheless; he didn't know why.

Again, the wind howled and the mansion creaked against its force. Yuri's window was slightly open to let in a cool breeze to refresh him from the summer heat. The soothing sounds of the waves crashing on the beach in his backyard were like music to his weary ears. Even the faint rumble of thunder in the distance was a calming noise for him. He sighed and basked in the ambiance around him. It brought a sense of normalcy to the morning and calmed him down.

Monsters? Men with colorful, pointy, hair? Yeah, right.

Thunder rumbled again. Hopefully, the storm wouldn't catch him on the way to school. Yuri wouldn't mind if it caught on after his lessons, for he would just travel to godfather's card shop and play Duel Monsters with his friends.

Duel Monsters! He almost forgot.

He turned on the desk lamp on his night table. It brought a soft glow into the darkness of the stormy morning and blinded him almost. "Aaack!" He waited for the colorful flashes of light to stop flying around in his eyes before he opened the night table drawer and took out his deck. That would be the last thing he wanted to forget on a day like this. If he forgot his cards, he would be stuck in the card shop without anything to do, and he hated using someone else's deck to play.

Despite his sudden preparation for an afternoon of games, Yuri was quick to fall back asleep, still praying with all his might that his mother would allow him to stay home from school today. Or perhaps that she had slept in. Being a model, she went out frequently with her co-workers and business partners going to parties and clubs where she spent the entire night not coming back until dawn. For a woman who was more than forty years old, Yuri had to admit his mother looked quite young, even gaining the affection of his friends when they came over to study with him and play video games in the basement.

Still, Yuri was able to sneak an absence or two thanks to his mother sleeping in. He hoped he could have such an opportunity today. All was silent. But then his phone started to ring and vibrated on his bed. Great!

Yuri hesitantly picked up the phone. "Hello?" he answered sheepishly.

A scream like that of a banshee pierced through the phone causing Yuri to hold it back away from his ear. "Yuri! Yuri Montgomery! McRaven says he hasn't seen you leave your room! Do you have any idea what time it is, young man!?"

"I'm already changing, mom!" Yuri yelled back, not in the mood to deal with his mother's morning nagging, he hung up immediately.

Yuri swung his legs over his bed and sat down on the edge. He rubbed his hands up and down his face. He was so not looking forward to this morning. On top of that, he was still a nervous wreck from the nightmare he had earlier. Yuri quickly showered and dressed. Afterward, he put on his uniform for school. Or tried to. "I hate this thing," he muttered trying to fix his tie in the mirror.

"Morning, Sport," his father Jacob said, entering the master bedroom. "Need some help?"

Yuri let out a soft chuckle. "Please," he said, turning to his father.

Jacob chortled and set his mug down on the dresser by one of the windows. "A senior in high school. After all these years of wearing this uniform, you still can't get your tie straight? Come on, Yuri."

Yuri felt his tight grip tug on the tie. "Not so tight, dad!" Yuri croaked.

"You have to learn to fix this yourself, Yuri," Jacob said with a yawn. "One day, you're going to have to be wearing these on a regular basis. You know I'm not going to be around forever to help you do your ties. How are you going to attend the meetings and speak with the press with a messed up tie?" He laughed.

"I know, I know," Yuri groaned. "I'll try to learn how to do these myself, dad."

Jacob gave a nod. He sighed heavily and said: "Try not to cause any trouble this year, please."

Yuri shook his head. "Dad, all those things I did...That was...that was a long time ago."

Jacob pursed his lips. A grim look came over his face upon remembering all the trouble Yuri once caused as a youngster. He fixed his son's tie and lightly tapped Yuri's shoulder. "Off you go, Yuri. McRaven's got the Karlmann warmed up. Don't keep him waiting."

"Thanks, Dad," Yuri said, watching his father leave.

Yuri then put on his shoes, opened his small coin cabinet on his drawer and picked up ten gold coins for the day. When he had everything he needed, he slipped his single-strap backpack over his shoulder and left the comfort of his warm and cozy room. He entered the main mansion of the estate and walked into the kitchen of the palace. He entered just in time, for a chef had come up with a plate of pancakes covered with whipped cream and strawberries. Next to the plate were six delicious sausages and eggs covered with herbs.

"Thanks, Alejandro," Yuri said sitting down.

The chef bowed. "Of course, my dear boy. You need all the energy you need for school. Eat up and then nourish your brain with knowledge and wisdom. God knows you need it if you're going to ruin your father's company one day." He handed Yuri the morning paper.

"I know, I know," Yuri said taking it. "Anything new going on?"

"Not much," Alejandro said, pouring Yuri some ice-cold orange juice. "Just the usual gossip about your birthday celebration next month. Oh, and that big tournament everyone is excited about. The Millennium Tournament so I hear."

"I heard my father talking about it from time to time. He says he's got a big surprise for all the best Duelists in the world."

"Knowing your father, it's going to be big," Alejandro laughed. He bowed and said goodbye before taking the elevator down to the kitchen.

When Yuri was done with his breakfast, he tipped Alejandro with a gold coin as thanks for his service. Once he stepped outside, he placed a black beanie on his head to keep his hair safe from the rain. His father's bodyguards greeted him as he walked down the steps. They patrolled the grounds of the estate with submachine guns, and they wore tactical ponchos over their clean black suits to keep dry from the rain that was ready to douse the floating city Yuri called home.

"Good morning, sir," said McRaven, a former Navy SEAL now head of security to the Montgomery estate. He led Yuri to the garage where the armored SUV known as a Karlmann King awaited him.

"Morning, Jack," Yuri said, walking through the tropical gardens.

McRaven stayed close behind, holding an itchy index finger over the trigger of his custom AR-15. Yuri couldn't help but notice the hi-tech thermal sights which he thought was a bit much. Then again, it was necessary.

The Montgomery estate was struck by thieves and pirates performing many heists over the years trying to get what they could of the Montgomery fortune, and the most sought-after prize was Yuri. Being the son of the world's only trillionaire had its perks, but there were many downsides to it as well. The reason for so many hired guns out and about the grounds of the estate was because Yuri was kidnapped when he was just a boy and was held for ransom. He didn't remember much of that night, but his parents could never get it out of their minds. Ever since the incident, they made such a fuss for him, insisting that a squad of mercenaries follow him to school, which Yuri would constantly refuse.

"Ms. Paula at it again, sir?" McRaven asked, secretly handing Yuri a bar of Snickers from his pocket. "I heard her screaming from the balcony earlier."

"Thanks, Jack," said Yuri, happily taking the candy bar from him. "Yeah, it seems like my mom goes into bitch-mode when you least expect it. Did you hear all that?"

McRaven laughed. "Hear it? You can hear it from the other islands. Be sure to bundle up out there, sir. The weather's going to be nasty today so I heard."

"Yeah, I heard it on the news," said Yuri. He shrugged. "Or tried to," he said referring to his mother.

"Ready for your ride to school, sir?" asked another guard, who guarded the center of the garden where a beautiful fountain stood.

"Thanks, Bill," Yuri said. The guard opened the back door for him. Before Yuri climbed on, he stopped and dug through his pockets. "Happy Birthday, by the way." He tossed Bill his present. A golden Rolex watch.

"Hey, thanks, Yuri," the bodyguard said happily.

McRaven fist-bumped Bill, congratulating him for the gift and wished him a happy birthday. "Yuri, it's been a week since I took you to the gym for your workout. What's going on, buddy?"

Yuri tittered softly and bit into the candy bar. "Some things have happened lately. Weird things. I haven't been myself lately, Jack. But I promise we'll hit the gym this weekend."

"All right, and don't forget we're going to the range so we can do some more handgun drills." He patted Yuri's shoulder.

They neared the gate. McRaven got into the passenger seat in front of the SUV and told Bill to drive. After driving through thick jungles, they approached a guardhouse. McRaven rolled the window down and placed his hand on a scanner. The gate beeped and slid open.

A clap of thunder boomed across the cloudy skies and finally, it started to rain heavily. But Yuri was nice and warm inside the Karlmann King. Yuri sighed with relief and then put on his Beats, glowing brightly in punch-red LED lights, and searched through the music on his phone, wondering what song to play. He shrugged when he found his choice and let it play as he stuffed his phone into his pocket. I'm Sorry Miss Jackson by Outkast. Yuri grinned and bobbed his head up and down along with the beat of the song as the SUV drove through the gated neighborhood of Sheffield Manor.

The song mixed with the sweet tropical air calmed his nerves, still anxious and upset from the squabble with his mother, and most of all his dream. The images of the man with the colorful hair flashed in his mind. He shook his head and looked at his stealth black gauge watch and grinned when he saw it wasn't as late as his mother stressed it was.

Traffic outside the school was heavy, and Yuri didn't want to wait any longer. He told Bill to stop so he could get off and walk the rest of the way. Bill was hesitant at first, but he eventually did as he was told and dropped Yuri off on a sidewalk not far from the school. Yuri waved the men off and stood by the street waiting for traffic to go by. The crossing guard, an officer in a Kyrptek Neptune BDU and a black vest and helmet, held up his hand to stop the oncoming traffic. "It's all yours, Yuri," said the officer.

"Thanks, Roman," Yuri said, crossing the street.

All of a sudden, he wasn't feeling so tired and angry anymore. And the dread he felt from his nightmare seemed to wash away when he saw the loving faces that greeted him every morning. Again, his surroundings brought back a sense of normalcy to the day. Besides his glowing eye and being the son of the city's founder, Yuri was just your average teenager. He smiled and headed for school.

---

Pamela 'Patty' McKnight - Paradiso Primo, Aquarius

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The McKnight Family Compound a.k.a Patty's house

The alarm clock on her phone began to blast its jingle. The motor inside caused the phone to rumble in its perch. Its owner, a very lazy girl, stirred around on her bed, agitated by the noise. She was semi-awake as she started looking for the phone. She flipped from belly to her back and laid on her side, heavy eyes darting about for the blasted device.

When she saw the phone was out of her reach, she slammed her head back down, stuffing her pillow over her head, hoping it would go off on its own. The irritating buzzing woke someone else. A Shih Tzu puppy by the name of Max.

He was lying in a foam bed at the foot of his master's four-poster bed with white curtains flapping from the stormy breeze blowing through an open window. Outside her window, she had a view of the bay. The sky was pitch black from the storm approaching, thunder started to pound the skies like war drums.

A RAPTOR helicopter soared over the neighborhood, flying so low it shook the luxury compound she lived in. But it didn't even phase the girl. She merely stirred in bed and let out a loud snore.

The puppy was getting worried. He wanted nothing more than to stop the alarm from wailing; for it was a sound he did not enjoy, especially this early in the day. Throughout the summer, he was used to long and calm mornings, sometimes sleeping in until noon with his pretty owner; the platinum-haired, Patty McKnight, who was clearly knocked out from clubbing with her friends the night before despite it being a school night.

Pamela 'Patty' McKnight

Worried Patty was going to be late, or was perhaps even dead, Max yawned and stretched before he scampered away from his bed towards Patty, dodging a mess of books and underclothes that littered the floor. Patty snored softly on the naked mattress. The crisp white sheets were strewn all over the place when she tossed and turned throughout the night. Outside her window, the wind howled like a group of wailing ghosts, announcing the storm had arrived. In a matter of moments, rain heavily pounded the compound of glass in steel she called home and thunder rumbled in the skies. Cars drove by making loud swishing noises as they went down the soaked roads. The puppy whined as if it knew his owner was going to be late for school. He scurried back and forth next to the bed, wondering what to do.

Only Patty's arm was visible as it hung from the edge of her bed. Max walked to it; his tiny golden tag jingling with each step. He sniffed her fingers causing her to moan and lightly swat him away. Max whimpered softly at the sudden movement, but he was determined to wake her up. He licked her hand, and this time he got Patty to say something obscene. She pulled her arm back over her bed.

She shifted around in her sheets. The girl was only clad in a gray midriff top and black lacy underwear for she stripped out of her pants earlier in the night to keep her cool from the night's humidity. Her ceiling fan spun at maximum speed, but failed to cool her, as did the fan on her desk. Patty groaned and buried her head even deeper under her pillow to block out the noise and find a cool spot for her face. She was not looking forward to waking up and going to school.

Max realized that his master was nothing but lazy and lost his patience. He growled and began to bark. He hopped up and down while dashing back and forth across the length of Patty's bed. He knocked over a tin container with a collection of common, non-foil Duel Monster cards which she had neatly arranged the night before. The noise of the tin crashing against the ground and Duel Monster cards fluttering all over the place finally woke her.

"Baby, baby, what is it?" Patty managed to say, forcing herself up by her arms.

Patty leaned over her bed to look at him. A curtain of long, messy, blonde hair with pink highlights flowed over her shoulder, almost touching the girl's wrist. The butterfly necklace of sterling silver, centered with a rainbow opal hung from her neck. It caught the meager light of the stormy morning and flashed.

Patty puckered her lips and made kissing sounds to calm her puppy. Being a teacup puppy, Max was so small he could fit in both her hands. Patty cupped them together allowing her dog to walk into them. She lifted him up, kissed his head, and rubbed her nose with his before placing him on her pillow.

"What the hell's the time?" she asked, laying on her side as Max walked about, getting comfortable. The surface of the pillow was still radiating with Patty's warmth, giving the puppy a sense of calm and making him sleepy.

Patty petted his back gently with her fingertips, the gold and silver star and heart charms on her bracelet flashed and clinked against one another. She sat up, crossed her legs, and finally reached for her phone. It lay at the end of her bed, buried under a pile of underwear, shirts, and socks. Finally, it rang no more and the morning was silent, save for the rain tapping the roof.

"I hate school," she said, rubbing her eyes from sleep.

She scratched the back of her leg and grumbled in her throat. Her butterfly necklace swung to and fro over her chest. Max started to stand on his hind legs and swatted at the necklace with his paw. Patty giggled softly, watching him try to hit her necklace for a couple of minutes, then lifted him up over her head.

"I wanna stay in bed and play, too, babe. But, I'm a senior now. I can't skip school like I once did."

She set him down on her pillow, then pondered the fact that this was her final year of high school. "Man. It's my last year already? Pretty soon I'm off to college." She slapped her thigh with confidence. "I know this year is going to be different. It will be! It must be. I promised Yuri I'd leave my old habits behind. I've got to focus on my studies. If I pass, I can graduate and I can put this shit behind me. Right, Max?"

There was no answer.

"Max?"

She looked down to see if Max was listening, but he was knocked out. The puppy found serenity with the alarm finally off and being in the warmth of Patty's pillow. Patty sniggered softly at the sight of him. He looked like a tiny brown furball.

"Lucky for you, you can keep on sleeping," she said. She gently got out of bed so as not to wake him. "Yeah, lucky indeed." She headed for the window. "You get to stay home and chill while I have to go out on this beautiful rainy day."

Patty stretched and scratched the back of her leg again. Her skin was itchy from sweating the whole night. "Uh oh!" she said when she heard the bus's engines rumbling in the distance. Being late for school was not how she wanted to start off the day, especially with it being the first week. She skipped her shower, quickly brushed her teeth, and had five minutes to put on her uniform and fix her hair. She quickly put on her backpack and grabbed her phone. "Where's my ring!" she cried out, frantically searching around for the piece of jewelry she deemed lucky. She tossed clothes and books into the air and finally found the ring under her bed.

"Thank goodness!" she breathed, sliding the butterfly ring on her finger. She examined it for a while and kissed it before she tip-toed to her bed to kiss Max on the head causing his tail to wag joyfully.

"See you after school, baby," she whispered.

She left her room and went down to the kitchen. Her black stiletto boots caused the floor to thump loudly with each step. The fact that she lived in a giant compound made mostly of glass didn't help. It seemed as though every move she made was amplified loudly. She cringed from the noise and damned it. Patty stood on the step frozen in worry. She did not wish to wake her parents. That would really suck if they woke up. The last thing she wanted was to get punched in the stomach before school. She darted into the hallway after leaping off the last step.

Patty sulked to the counter to prepare a meager breakfast of toast with plain butter and jelly. Her parents were asleep on the couch, knocked out from binge-watching their favorite television series the night before. For this, she was glad, because most days she would find them arguing with one another, or yelling at her for not cleaning the mess they made. She tucked the toast between her teeth and filled Max's dog bowls with food and water before she exited the house. She strolled into the gardens of the estate she lived on, walked around the large fountain in the courtyard, and waited in front of the gate to take the bus to school. As she got on, she quickly made her way to the back of the bus — secluded just the way she liked it. As she passed a lot of boys' heads turned. Her sweet perfume awakened a few of them, and she got some awkward stares from the other girls.

Once she sat down, she put on her earbuds and started blasting songs on her phone. The other students continued to stare at her. They could hear the loud riffs of the guitars blasting through her earbuds. Patty ignored them and stared at the passing neighborhood and the dark ocean behind the lines of giant mansions. As the bus got closer to the central island, Phobos Island, she noticed holographic billboards advertising a big tournament set to take place next summer.

The Millennium Tournament.

She had heard so much about it in the papers. Phobos Corp claimed it was going to be unlike any tournament the world had ever seen. Thinking about Duel Monsters, Patty unzipped her backpack and took out her deck.

At the bottom of the deck was her most prized card. A Ghost Rare Zera the Mant.

The monster was a giant, armored, behemoth of blue with a purple cape that had a devastating ATK of 2800. Patty had won many Duels with that card, which she could have sworn came out of the blue. She woke up one morning and just saw it in there, complete with the card needed to summon him. A Ritual Spell; for Zera the Mant was a Ritual monster that needed to be summoned with a specific spell card. It was truly rare and unique.

And yet, she loved and hated it at the same time. She loved the card because of the awesome rarity it was made in, and that it granted her so many victories the other students gave her the nickname The Grim Reaper of Aquarius. She also hated the card because...as odd as this sounds, it had a strange influence over her as she grew older and older.

Ever since she got the card, Patty was plagued with erotic and bizarre nightmares, and she heard demonic whispers in her head, telling her to do outlandish things, which drastically changed her character and her look. Once a girl who was polite and very shy, Patty started to grow rebellious, and sometimes...very uncaring. She cussed a lot, resorted to wearing revealing clothes when she went out with her friends, and started doing drugs. She also found herself going to underground nightclubs, and drinking excessively even though she was underage. Despite her prodigious talents as a Duelist, mathematician, artist, and family friend to the House of Montgomery, her reputation at school began to grow more and more negative.

Patty sighed heavily, wishing for a new start this year. She looked around to make sure no one was watching and kissed her deck before putting it back into her backpack. It would be another fifteen minutes before the bus reached the school, so she leaned her head against the window and fell asleep. But suddenly the bus came to a screeching halt. The sudden jerk caused Patty to wake up. She took off her earbuds, wondering what in the world was going on. The bus driver opened the door and said, "What can I do for you, ma'am?"

An elderly woman stepped onto the bus causing Patty to shrink in her seat. It was her grandmother. Mrs. Valerie McKnight had been staying with Patty and her family for the weekend as she recovered from her surgery. Really? Really? Her grandmother really just flagged down the bus? Honestly, Patty thought, what a miraculous recovery.

"I'm looking for my granddaughter," the woman cried out. "So sorry to stop your ride, but this is important. Patty? Patty?" she looked around and spotted her granddaughter hiding in her seat. "Oh, there you are, you silly girl." She reached into her purse. "Darling, you left the house in such a rush that you forgot your pads!" She held the package up for all to see.

"OOOOH!" everyone — even the bus driver — cried out, cringing at the embarrassment they felt for Patty.

"Ooooooh," Patty moaned as she sunk into her seat, wishing that she would just disappear.

---

Nick Rogers - Slums Underneath the Central Island

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Nick's House in the Aquarium Slums

Nicholas Rogers's annoying alarm buzzed relentlessly, shaking both the night table it was perched on and the frame of Nick's bed. He forced himself up and smashed the alarm clock with his fist, finally shutting it down.

Nick Rogers

He cursed through his teeth, so his foster mother could not hear him. If there was one thing in this world she couldn't stand, it was foul language. Even though it was still early in the morning, darkness still enveloped Nick's room. He climbed down his makeshift bunk bed and sulked to the window, pulling the curtains apart.

Only a bright grayness filled his room, but there still wasn't enough light to illuminate the whole of it. That was because, where he lived, he could never see the sky. He lived in a townhouse in the shanty part of Aquarius where the poor and downtrodden lived in makeshift houses built of wood and junk underneath the titanic plates and columns holding up the big city above them. Doomed he was to live in the underbelly of Aquarius, stuck under the shadows of the plates and the tall highways that connected the other islands to it.

Nick opened the windows to his room. A fierce wind smashed him in the face and knocked a few action figures off their shelves. The loud cacophony of foul mouthes, South American music, fierce winds, and seagulls flying under the plates greeted him. The waves smashing against the hull of the floating island almost drowned out the rest of the ambiance of the slums. Heavy machinery operating in the junk level just above the slums

"Another day in paradise," Nick said, lazily scratching his ass.

Oddly enough, Phil Collin's song titled Another Day in Paradise was playing from a radio perched on the window of a poor vendor's food truck. The people down here were poor, dirty from head to toe, and making a living off whatever they could find.

The people up top. Well…well they didn't have a care what went on down here. This place and the people living in it were beneath them. Literally. The poor souls who got stuck down in Los Angeles Rojas were people who were unfit to live in Aquarius or refugees or immigrants who tried to sneak in and got caught.

The people up top called them Stowaways since they were living beneath the plates the way a stowaway would if they were hiding aboard a ship. Phobos Corp and their military arm, RAPTOR, didn't do anything about it. Due to some deal with the mafia running the streets of Aquarius, the Stowaways were allowed to build their rundown city out of the trash they would scrap from the garbage dump.

"Today is going to be the day!" Nick Rogers said, looking out the window of his room. A home. Considering where he was, he was thankful to have that.

Nick's foster mother, Consuelo, had saved enough money to buy a building crafted from three giant containers fused with a wooden house to use as a home and a place to conduct her business. Nick and his adopted brother, Sam, lived in separate rooms on the second floor, while Consuelo was quaintly living on the third floor, which was a studio apartment. She was an immigrant from Lima, Peru who paid a syndicate known as the Martinetti Family to get her to Aquarius, so long as she paid back her debts afterward. Lately, she was falling behind on her payments making Nick worry. The Martinetti family was a dangerous faction. Falling behind in payments usually led to being taken off the island. Or worse.

"If I can just win the tournament next month!" Nick whispered to himself. "Consuelo will have enough to pay back those jerks."

"Niiiick!" Consuelo called from downstairs. "Hurry the fuck up or I'll get the chankla!"

Yikes! Nick quickened his pace. As he looked for his uniform, he saw a picture of the Phobos Tower on his laptop. That building is the tallest structure in the western hemisphere and it was about to get bigger; for construction was almost complete on a fourth tower that was being made to commemorate the founder's son, Yuri. "Bah!" Nick scoffed and closed his laptop. He couldn't help but feel offended every time he looked at that building. It made no sense that there were some in this world who could stand to live in tall and luxurious ivory towers like that and sleep soundly at night while people like Nick and his family suffered from a provincial life in the slums. If they had the technology to create an artificial sun to power this floating monstrosity, as well as make it sail around the world like a boat, why couldn't they do something to improve the lives of everybody down here? As much as he wanted to diss the tower, he couldn't, because his best friend was the son of the owner of said tower.

"Yuri," Nick said, tying his shoes. "I know you and I are like brothers, man, but can't you do something to help us out down here?"

Nick had tried to convince Yuri to aid his family with their financial troubles, but even though they were the closest of friends, Yuri was quite spoiled and sometimes rotten to the core. Yuri always refused him, and his father - though aiding Nick with a few scholarships now and then - was not keen on aiding those less fortunate than himself, especially if they were stowaways who paid crime lords to get them into Aquarius.

"Nicholas! Samuel!" Consuelo called from down below. "Apúrense (Hurry up!). The guards are not patient men. If you don't go to them on time, they won't let you up. You don't want to be late for school."

Nick quickly dressed in his uniform, which was badly creased and wrinkled, and even stained with chili sauce. He put on his trademark beanie with the symbol of the Earth Attribute in Duel Monsters embroidered on the front, and hurried downstairs where his brother, Sam, was sitting at a booth helping himself to a bowl of Fruit Loops.

"What up, bro!" Sam said.

Nick high-fived his little brother. "Hurry up so we can head out, man. The ferry's about to leave soon. I can't be late for school because I'm in enough trouble as it is with Mr. Montgomery."

Sam sneered, his cheeks bloated; for they were full of the cereal. "Yeah, you almost flunked last year, dude. He was plenty mad at you. If you screw up your senior year, you can forget about going to college."

"It's no laughing matter!" Consuelo said, approaching the booth with a plate of waffles for Nick. "Mr. Montgomery trusted you to have good grades, mi amor, but you constantly failed him. Had it not been for those after-school programs, you would have flunked your junior year. Promise me you'll get Duel Monsters out of your head and focus on your studies."

Nick sat down in the booth, quickly cutting the waffles with his fork. "But, Consuelo, there's a big tournament coming up. If I win, you'll have more than enough money to pay back the Martinettis and keep the restaurant going strong."

"I appreciate your trying to help, Nicholas," Consuelo said, running to the kitchen to check on the chickens she had to prepare for lunch that day. "But that is a huge gamble. There are no guarantees you'll be successful."

"Especially not with that deck," said Sam.

"Shut up, Sam!" Nick snapped.

"Hey! Hey!" yelled Consuelo. "I will not have that kind of language here, Nicholas!"

Sam sniggered silently and pointed at Nick. Nick shot him a grim look, baring his yellowed teeth.

Once done with their breakfast, they kissed their foster mother goodbye and walked through the slums dubbed Los Angeles Rojas.

A mariachi song called Las Gaviotas was playing loudly on the intercoms conveniently placed around the slums. Sam put his hood over his head. They passed through a gap beneath the plate above them. From it, he spotted the Phobos Towers, the upper half was completely covered by clouds.

"Look at the size of that thing," said Sam. "I still can't believe it no matter how many times I see it. Someday, we're gonna move out of here and live in a place like that!"

"It's not a place to live," said Nick. "That's where Duel Monsters is made. But it is on the central island where all the big dogs of Aquarius live. I promise we'll move there someday."

"You don't even have any rare cards in your deck," said Sam. "Let alone monsters with more than thirteen hundred points."

"Oh yeah, well you just watch," Nick said approaching a vendor selling cards from a caged window to his small convenience store.

Nick bought a Metal Raiders pack with the money he was supposed to use for his lunch.

"Come on, Lady Luck," Nick said shaking the pack for good luck. "Watch you get nothing," Sam said, eating one of the candies.

"Oh yeah, you just watch!" said Nick.

He opened the pack anxiously and pulled the cards out. There were nine cards per pack with a chance for an ultra-rare or even a secret rare.

He flipped through the cards.

Griggle. Kagemusha of the Blue Flame. Water Element. Wood Remains. Candle of Fate. Zone Eater. White Dolphin. Electric Snake, and finally his rare card.

It was a normal rare known as Furious Sea King, whose name was imprinted in silver letters.

"Oh, yeah," Sam said sarcastically. "Those are real tournament winners in there."

"Okay, so maybe my luck was bad with this pack. But it will get better soon, you'll see."

"Sure it will," said Sam. "You said that last time." Nick pocketed his new cards and gave Sam a stern look.

"One day, Sam, I'm going to make you eat your words."

They walked across the slums and approached a metal gate guarded by two RAPTOR soldiers. "Passport?" One of them demanded.

Nick and Sam showed them their passes to get to the top of the plate. The guard nodded and handed their passports back. "So you're a senior now, eh, Nick."

"Yeah, that I am," Nick replied. He stuffed his passport into the pocket of his school blazer.

"I hope your grades are good. If they are, you could get a good job. Something that can pay you lots of money so you don't have to come up and down all the time."

"He wants to be a pro Duelist," said Sam. "As if."

"Geez, tell everyone, why don't ya!" Nick barked at him. "Seriously, man, you're such a pest."

"Whatever, dude, don't be late when picking me up. I can't wait to see my darling Patty again."

"All right you two," laughed the guard. "Get moving. Good luck this year, Nick. Don't waste the opportunity Mr. Montgomery gave you. You've got a million doors open to you."

Nick and the guard fist-bumped. "Thanks, Miller. See you later."

---

Yuri - St. Augustus Senior High School

---

"Hey, Yuri. Earth to Yuri…Yuri? Yuri? HEY, ASSHOLE, WAKE UP!"

"Huh…wha?" Yuri snapped out of his daydream.

He was in the middle of a Duel which brought back the images from the dream he had last night. Truth be told, it was not the first time he had seen the man with the golden pyramid around his neck. The man visited Yuri in his dreams since his seventeenth birthday a year ago, and they only got worse as his eighteenth year was fast approaching.

Eighteen. It was an age most kids in the floating metropolis of Aquarius would brag about and be excited for. It meant independence, the blooming into adulthood, and more lavish and adventurous lifestyles. But because of the intense nightmares, Yuri was feeling more dread than happiness.

"Hello! McFly? You in there, McFly?" Nick said referencing one of his favorite movies. He sat on the other side of the lunch table. His arms were crossed over his chest and his poorly kept cards quivered in the grip of his hand. He gazed impatiently into Yuri's abnormal green eye. "Let's go, Yuri!" Nick grumbled, tapping his cards on the table.

Yuri. There was an odd history behind how he got his name. It was a name given to him by his uncle, Sergei. He wasn't called by the masculine term, Yuri, meaning Farmer in the Russian language. Uncle Sergei teased him by calling him, Yuri, the Japanese term meaning lily flower because Sergei often joked that the boy was like a flower, for he was tender, sweet, and very shy.

Yuri gave a yawn and covered his mouth with a polite hand. "Sorry, Nick. Didn't mean to keep you waiting."

Nick began to grow impatient. "Come on man, I ended my turn five minutes ago!" Nick leaned back in his chair, the steel groaning while trying to move along with him. "What's gotten into you?"

Yuri groaned and ran a hand through his jet-black hair. His bangs, hanging on the left side of his face, slid through his fingers and bounced back into position. He took his eyes off his Dueling hand and looked around the cafeteria of St. Augustus Senior High School.

"Oh nothing," he said. He started grinning at the paper ghosts hanging from the ceiling and the laughing Jack-O-lanterns of orange construction paper taped to the walls. A black banner reminding the students of the Homecoming Dance was hung over the hallway leading to the cafeteria with the words in orange glitter and decorated with silhouettes of witches, cats, and a haunted house by a full moon with an orange backdrop.

Nick shook his head, frustration boiling in his chest when he realized Yuri was flat-out ignoring him. "We lost him again. What gives?"

"Sorry," Yuri said in a rather monotonous, yet chilling tone. "I was up all night."

Nick scratched his chin and said: "Up all night? Doing what? We didn't have that much homework."

"I had a dream," Yuri said as he sighed.

"Dreaming again?" Patty said with a warm smile. "You're such a weirdo, Yuri."

She was watching the game from the windowsill behind Yuri overlooking their table in the cafeteria. Nick made a nasty sneer as he looked at the pleated black skirt of her uniform. The sunshine in the window behind her made her glow like an angel. The storm was finally over, so now they would have no trouble going to the card shop to play for the rest of the afternoon.

"What was it this time?" Nick asked, scratching his head and admiring Patty's legs. He absolutely adored her. Her anime doe eyes, her beautiful curves, her long legs, and her blonde hair with its pink streaks flowing all the way down to her buttocks. Because of the color of her hair, and that cunning smile of hers, Yuri and the others often joked that Patty resembled Marin Kitagawa from the anime My Dress Up Darling.

Believe me. None agreed to that more than Nick, for it was one of his favorite shows and Marin was a character he considered his waifu.

"So what exactly were you dreaming about, little guy?" Patty asked.

"I saw two men in a Duel," Yuri answered.

"You sure it wasn't you?" Patty asked, kicking her legs back and forth playfully from her perch.

Yuri nodded in reply as he looked back at her. "I'm sure it wasn't me. The man's opponent was Mr. Hairdo."

"Him again?" Patty said in shock. She leaned her head to the right in amazement. This was the fourth time Yuri complained about having a nightmare with this mysterious character. Knowing that Yuri had another dream about him caused her stomach to start freezing over. After all, it wasn't normal to be seeing the same recurring characters in your dreams so consistently was it?

"What did he want this time?" Nick leaned forward. "And are you sure this dude, Mr. Hairdo, was Dueling wasn't you, bro?"

"Yeah, I'm really sure it's not me," said Yuri, scratching his forehead. "He kept calling the other Duelist 'prince'. And I know it wasn't me because they Dueled at a level I haven't seen before. The two of them were masters of their craft. The Duel they played was just...beautiful. And I know for sure it couldn't have been me because they used monsters I haven't seen before. Any of you hear about Synchro Summoning?"

"Synchro what?" said Nick.

"What about Xyz Summoning?" Yuri asked. "Pendulum Summoning? None of that ring any bells, you guys?"

"Sounds new to me," Patty said with a shrug. "Are they a new concept your father has made up?"

Yuri grunted and shook his head. "I asked him, and he said he didn't know what I was talking about."

"Hmm." Patty scratched her chin. The tiny black stars on her fingernails glimmered with each movement. She narrowed her bright greenish-blue eyes and started pondering the mystery. "That's odd."

Yuri scratched his head again, this time a little more hectically. "As I said, he was called Prince. And I'm no prince."

Patty giggled at his words. "No, but you're the heir to the biggest fortune in the world. That kind of makes you a prince. Ah, yes! A Prince of Duel Monsters."

"I don't think so," said Yuri.

Patty leaned forward and patted his shoulder. "You'll always be a prince to me, Yuri."

Nick watched with an ear-to-ear grin as Patty crossed her long legs before he said: "And what did Mr. Hairdo say to the other guy? This prince?"

Yuri shrugged at the question. "He said it was almost time for him to come home or whatever."

"Come on?" said Nick. He suppressed a laugh because he knew how sensitive Yuri was. His lips trembled and he sniffed. "You are home, dude. What the hell have you been smoking, kid?"

"You're so weird, Yuri," Patty said with a shake of her head.

"Well, I too have a dream," said Nick.

"You do?" Yuri asked.

"Yes!" Nick stood up, placed a hand over his heart, and held out his other hand clutching his cards dramatically. "I have a dream…that, my fellow men, won't be judged by the color of their skin. And that Yuri would finally wake up and make his move!"

Yuri scoffed in annoyance and leaned back in his chair. He felt the back of his head hitting Patty's knee.

"Nice to know your essay on Martin Luther King has increased your IQ by a few points," Patty said. She rubbed Yuri's temples, causing Nick to go red.

"They just won't stop," Yuri groaned. He patted Patty's hands and thanked her.

"Yeah, right, dreams," Nick said laughing out loud. "He knows I beefed up my deck with an arsenal of new butt-kicking monsters. In that case, I don't blame him for stalling. Well, Yuri, are you going to make a move or what?"

"Nope. I end my turn," Yuri replied, rather droll.

"Without playing anything?" Patty asked. "That's pretty risky, dude." She waved to flag down two of their friends, who noisily entered the cafeteria.

"Are they at it again?" asked their South Korean friend named Carter Kim. He jogged into the cafeteria after she was done helping his friend with a project in the chemistry lab. He was wearing his signature black fedora and changed out of his uniform to be in his casual clothes, which he styled to resemble Prince Noctis from Final Fantasy XV and Yozora from Kingdom Hearts.

"Yup, this game is just that addicting," replied his lab partner, a tall and well-built black young man whose name was Tyson. He stood over Nick, arms folded over his chest. "I was hoping to go up against Yuri, but it looks like Nick beat me first. How's the match going?"

Patty moved her head from side to side and pursed her lips. "Well, it's not looking good for Yuri."

Tyson let out a hearty laugh. "You serious? Nick's beating him?"

Nick sneered, flashing his unhealthy teeth. "Okay, Patty, we'll just see how excellent Yuri is after this."

He rubbed his rugged chin whilst putting on his thinking cap, wondering what monster to play next. He had a Burglar, Hinotama Soul, M-Warrior #1, Skull Servant. "Ah," he said when he found the monster he wanted to use.

"Here we go. I summon my Furious Sea King." He slapped his card onto the paper playmat.

"So, guys, tell me again how this game works?" Carter asked. "Uncle Sergei really motivated me to get into the game."

"It's quite simple," said Patty. "The cards have attack points on them. Players can pit their monsters against one another as well as cast spells and set traps. Each player starts off with 8000 Life Points. However, since this is a casual game and we're short on time, Nick and Yuri are playing with 2000. The one who can get their opponent's Life Points to zero wins."

Nick attacked Yuri's monster; a reptile called Drooling Lizard. Patty did the calculations on her iPhone deducting the difference between their monster's attack points from Yuri's Life Points. She made a worried click with her tongue. The chibi Zera the Mant keychain on her phone jangled when her wrist jolted from the shock of Nick taking the lead over Yuri.

"Damn, Yuri, Nick's brought you down to your last nine hundred Life Points. You gotta play smart if you want to win this match, man."

"Nice card, huh?" boasted Nick, he held up the Furious Sea King for her to see. "And rare, too — notice the silver lettering. Bet you don't have anything that can stand up to him, eh, Yuri." He looked up at Patty and gave a flirtatious click. "Pretty impressive, eh Patty?"

"It's a nice card," Patty admitted with a scowl; for she could see that Nick's eyes were not facing hers. She glared at him disapprovingly and crossed her arms over her chest to block the view from his insensitive gaze.

Carter, being a well-known gentleman and advocate for the fair treatment of women, was also quite heavily offended and snapped his fingers over Nick's face. "You, sir, need to stop focusing on her boobs and worry about what Yuri will play next."

"He's right," Patty said. "I can see it right now, and it's not going to end well for you. So you better set a trap or something."

Yuri would have scorned Patty for giving Nick the warning, but he didn't care. His mind was still fogged by his strange dreams. Besides, Nick didn't pay any attention to her warning. He was quite confident with his new monster, despite having such a meager ATK, and resorted to flirting with Patty again. And, again, she rejected his love, not that it mattered. There was no crushing that spirit of his, it was like a piece of iron. Nick never gave up no matter how badly Patty rejected him. She told him once that it did not matter what he did, she would reject her from now until doomsday.

Yuri didn't blame her. Though good friends since a very young age, everyone in the group agreed that Nick was not decent-looking. And to make matters worse, he reeked of his own body odor. He didn't care too much about his person, not even showering after gym class. He, Yuri, and the others ran the tracks in the tropical afternoon heat and he was sweating profusely. When class was done, he just slapped some body spray on his person and washed his face in the sink before dressing up for class again.

Carter smelled the nasty odor, made a gagging sound, and walked away fanning the air with her hand. "Oof, it smells like shit up in nyah,"

"God DAMN, Nick!" Tyson said scooting towards Yuri's spot while waving the air in front of his face. "You need to shower after gym class, dawg. You reek like the ammonia in the frog we dissected last year."

Patty scoffed and tapped her fingers on her biceps. "Humph! You are so juvenile, Nick. Can we go back to the game please?"

"Yeah, please, I have work later," Yuri said recollecting himself.

Nick nodded in agreement. He checked his watch for the time and grinned seeing he had time to spare for the task he had to do later. He bobbed his head. "Well, Patty's good looks almost distracted us from my victory. You're still stalling, Yuri. I can tell you got nothing that can stand up to my rare Furious Sea King."

"Yeah, it's a nice card," said Yuri. "But he's not good enough to contend with this." Yuri put down an even stronger monster on the mat.

"Black Dragon Jungle King. Attack!"

Yuri's beast was ultra-rare with gold letters and a holographic background, shaming Nick's Furious Sea King and his miserable silver lettering.

Patty whistled and said: "Wow, twenty-one hundred attack points! See Nick? Now THAT'S an impressive monster. Nice moves, Yuri."

"Son of a bitch!" groaned Nick. "Not him again. With an attack strength like that, he demolishes my Sea King and my Life Points."

"Another gift from Sergei?" Carter asked.

"Oh no," Yuri corrected. "Patty gave him to me. It was part of her collection."

"Oh yes, indeed," Patty said. She picked up a card binder that was fashioned to look like an evil grimoire.

Patty's Grimoire Card Binder

"Wow!" her friends said in awe. Even though they'd seen it over a dozen times, it was still a sight to behold. It was loaded with many, many pages full of rare and powerful cards she collected over the years. "Yuri's card came courtesy of Patty's Black Book," she said, waving it to and fro. "He deserved it for helping me out with my English Literature class last year."

"Thanks, Patty."

"So Patty is how you get your best cards, huh?" said Tyson.

"Not exactly. Uncle Sergei sometimes helps me out when it comes to finding cards for my deck. I get a free pack with every A plus I show him in my report card."

"Well you are a hard-working kid," said Patty. "That must mean you got plenty of packs last semester when our grades came in."

Tyson laughed and playfully slapped Yuri's shoulder. "You sure the cards Yuri has in his deck have nothing to do with the fact that his father created the game?"

"My dad would never do such a thing and you know that," Yuri said, looking up at Tyson. "It wouldn't be fair to the other players if he pulled favors."

"Whatever you say, pal," said Nick.

A student watching the matches nearby from his table shook his head. "Eh, he's good but he's not as good as Andre Martin."

"Andre who?" Yuri asked.

"Oh, he's the new kid in school," said Patty. "He's supposed to be really good or something."

"He is," said the fellow student. "Me and my friends took him on three on-one and he whooped us all. Yuri's Black Dragon Jungle King is mere peanuts compared to some of the tough monsters Andre's got in his deck."

"Oh, really?" Tyson looked down at Yuri with a cocky smirk and folded his arms over his chest. "Well, I don't know about you, but Yuri's going to be President of Phobos Corp one day and he's going to be the lord and master of Aquarius. Not to mention he's going to practically own the game once he takes the helm of his father's empire. My man's smart, too. What he lacks in strength, he more than makes up for with his smarts. See, Yuri doesn't go in guns a-blazin' with tough monsters. He's got strategy. That's how he wins his games."

"I get all that. But no disrespect to the future President of Phobos Corp but beating the same guy over and over again doesn't really count as good. If you guys think you can go against him, he's downstairs in the first-floor cafeteria. Some guys have set up a gauntlet-style match against him. If you hurry, you can get there on time and face him. But like I said, he's good. I wouldn't be surprised if he already finished those guys off."

"We'll just see about that," said Patty. "Thanks for the info, bud. Come on, guys. I wanna see this Andre Martin guy for myself."

"Is he really anything special?" Carter asked.

"I never got that vibe?" Patty said. She jumped off the windowsill to grab her things from the table. She slid on her backpack and pulled her loose skirt up. "Come on. I think this'll be fun. Maybe the school's got itself its new Duel King."

They left the cafeteria, took the escalators downstairs to the first floor, and hurried to the cafeteria. There was a crowd of students in there, mobbing around one of the tables. Seeing that Yuri was coming through, the other students parted to let him and his friends pass. There was a young man with styled blonde hair drawing his first card as his next victim sat down to take him on.

Andre Martin

He had big black glasses with lenses that could turn dark on sunny days and a black round piercing on his left ear and on his right index finger, he had intricately designed rings.

Andre Martin. That was him all right. Patty stood next to Yuri to see the match. She nudged Yuri on the arm and pointed at Andre to confirm it was him.

"I'll let you go first," said Andre. He was shuffling his deck, his cards protected by sleeves with fancy regal frames to give the monsters a royal look.

"Not that it matters," said his opponent. "I summon Celtic Guardian in attack mode. And I'll set a card face-down and end my turn."

"Not bad. For a rookie," Andre chuckled. "I activate the spell card, Banner of Courage. This will increase the ATK (Attack) of my monsters by 300 during battle. Next, I play Double Summon."

The other students ooohed at the spell card.

"Double Summon!" Carter almost croaked. "That's no easy card to find around here."

"Why's that?" Nick asked with a scoff, trying his hardest to remain unimpressed.

"It's in the name dumbass," said Patty. "Come on. Double Summon. What do you think it means? He can conduct two normal summons in one turn."

"Two monsters?" Nick gasped.

Andre held up his cards. "I summon Millennium Golem and Judge Man in attack mode."

"Wow!" the students all said.

Andre held up a spell card with two fingers. "Next, I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon to blow away that face-down card of yours."

"My Mirror Force!" the opponent hollered.

"I saw past your bluff," Andre laughed. "Now I activate the spell, Tremendous Fire. This will deal 1000 points of damage to you. I lose 500 but it's a small price to pay. Then, I'm equipping Millennium Golem with United We Stand."

"Another rare spell!" Tyson said over the gasps of the other students. "That card will increase his ATK by 800 for each monster he has out on the field."

"That it does," said Andre. "This will increase my golem's ATK to 3600! I'll attack your Celtic Guardian and end the game."

"NO FAIR!" shouted the student.

"Get out of the way!" the boy's arrogant companion said shoving him to the side so he could sit down. "You always were the weakest, man. Let me take over!"

"Are you the last one?" Andre asked. "I sure hope you are. I've got a train to catch."

"Don't worry, this will be quick. I summon Launcher Spider in attack mode and then I set two cards face-down and end my turn."

"Draw!" Andre said. "I'll set a card face-down and summon a monster in defense mode. I end my turn."

His opponent drew. "I summon Cyber-Tech Alligator in attack mode. Then I'm activating my face-down card. The spell, Ultimate Offering. Now I can make an additional summon by paying 500 of my Life Points. I'll pay a thousand to summon Spikebot and Rude Kaiser. Now I've got four monsters against your puny face-down card! I'll attack first with Launcher Spider."

"You've activated my trap card. Trap Hole of Spikes. This will destroy your Launcher Spider and then you take damage equal to half of its attack points."

The opponent dropped his cards. "I...I lost."

"Wow," Patty whispered. "He beat that guy on his own turn."

"Stupid move," Yuri said walking away.

"Who?" Patty asked. She followed him out of the cafeteria. "Hey, where ya going, Yuri? Who made the stupid move? Andre or his opponent?"

"His opponent for one. We have 2000 Life Points. It seemed kinda dumb for that guy to waste them so carelessly like that. Like the guy upstairs told me. Easy opponents are nothing to brag about."

"I'll say," said Tyson. "But you're no easy opponent, Yuri. Why don't you take on Andre Martin and show everyone in school who's really the best?"

"Yeah, take him on, Yuri!" Patty said, grabbing hold of Yuri's arm.

Yuri shook her arm off and he patted her head. "Calm down, tiger. And I can't now. You heard what he said. He's got a train to catch. And we've got a bus to ride. We gotta pick up Nick's brother from school. We need to hurry or I'll never hear the end from Consuelo about how irresponsible we are."

"Why don't we pay the shop a visit? I could use some new powerful cards for my deck. Maybe I'll even beat you."

"Keep dreaming, kiddo," Patty said jumping off the windowsill and grabbing her backpack. "Yuri's twice the Duelist you'll ever be."

The companions laughed as they left the school grounds and stayed together until the sun went down. Around seven, they parted and said goodbye. As Yuri walked home, he listened to Benny Mardones' Into the Night. If there was one thing Yuri loved more than anything in the world, it was walking home from work, traversing from island to island while listening to songs from the 80s and the 90s. The stars were starting to twinkle overhead as if lighting his way home.

He felt no need to rush home and found a bench to lie on so he could listen to his music, enjoy the scenic ocean view, and wonder if he was going to have another Yugi or Yami dream again but before he could dwell on the thought, he got a text from his mother, asking him to buy a tub of ice cream on the way home to serve after dinner. "Yeah, yeah, some ice cream," he thought to himself. "I can't think of him now. I've been having such a good day."

He stopped at a nearby drugstore and found what he needed. After paying for the ice cream, Yuri walked past the park and heard little children's voices from deep in the park calling out monster names. He knew they were just Dueling. He leaned on a railing over the park to see the action, but there was not one Duel going on all around the illuminated fountains bursting from the ground.

A whole bunch of them were taking place. Kids of all ages were trading cards, Dueling and having lunch, and ordering burgers, hot dogs, and ice cream from the stands in the park. There were flat-screen televisions near the eating areas so the kids could watch the 3D battles going on as they ate. Duel Monster Cards had microchips inside of them, and when played on special tabletops, the monster was displayed on the screens. Yuri smiled and leaned on the rusty black iron rail to watch the games taking place below.

"Okay now I summon my Seismic Crasher!" shouted a boy in a black baseball cap. The warrior appeared on the screen making the boy quite confident. Their friends cheered and jumped seeing the monsters on the liquid-crystal display next to the Dueling table. Seismic Crasher did battle with another boy's Musician King; a guitar-wielding spellcaster who used music as his weapon of choice.

Duelists of all ages ran around in excitement, looking for opponents to Duel and people to trade cards with. Underneath a willow tree perched by a pond, Yuri spotted a few boys from the elementary school getting ready for a Duel.

"There's no way you can win this time, Eddie. I bought a lot of cards this week and made my deck super strong!"

The other kids oohed and ahhed.

"If you think you can beat me with your 'new cards', Tim? I say we have a match!"

Yuri smirked watching them march to an open field. The screens turned on making them look like they were playing in a meadow and they were off.

Vendors selling booster packs, clothing and snacks yelled out their wares. Meanwhile, the Duel Screens displayed dragons as they took off into the sky blasting away other monsters.

Yuri gave a chuckle when he listened to the hooting and whistling of glee when beautiful female monsters like G.B Hunter and Gemini Elf were summoned.

"Hey, Yuri!" someone called out. Yuri saw Nick, Tyson, Carter, and Patty on the other side of the street under the light of the lamp waiting for the cars to pass.

When the cars stopped rolling by they all sprinted toward their friend.

"Wow!" Yuri said with a laugh. "Can't I ever walk around Aquarius without running into you guys? What happened? I thought you guys were going home?"

"Forget it," said Carter. "The night's still young and there's so much to do now that Duel Monsters is starting to pick up speed with all this new tech and card sets. So we decided to come to the park and get a taste of the action. Care to join us, Yuri?"

"Yeah, Yuri," said Tyson. "Stay with us a little. It's our senior year, man. We need to spend as much time with each other as possible."

"I wish I could you guys, but I've really got to be heading home."

"At least check out the festivities going on in the park for a while," Nick insisted. "Come on. Just a for a couple of minutes?"

"Well..." Yuri thought, "all right. Just for a few minutes. After all, Tyson's right. It's our last year as kids. Pretty soon, we're going to start building our lives."

"Wow," said Patty. "I can't believe we graduate this year. We're on our way to college."

"Damn, I know! Already?" Tyson said rubbing his cheek. "I remember us playing at the park pretending to be knights. Pretty soon we'll be going to different universities."

"Don't fret about it, big guy," said Yuri. "It's still the second month of the school year. There's still plenty of time for us to see each other before then."

"What's with the ice cream?" Tyson asked. Yuri looked down at the bag.

"Oh, this?" Yuri answered. "These are some treats for dessert. Where's Sam? I thought you guys were going to go get him. Did he go home?"

"Yeah, Consuelo picked him up," Patty replied. "And a good thing too. I was just about ready to toss him into the sea. He asked if we wanted to play basketball right after we left the shop. We did, but it was a quick game thanks to Tyson's keen eyes. Turns out, Sam only wanted me to play so he could look up my skirt as I made my shots."

"What a creep," said Carter. "Nick, you outta do something about that kid."

Nick shrugged. "Boys will be boys. What are you gonna do?"

Patty rolled her eyes. "What do you think, Yuri? Should Sam stop hanging out with us? This is getting way out of hand. Yuri? Yuri?"

"Basketball goood," Yuri muttered.

Patty crossed her arms over her chest in disgust at his awkward expression. She raised an eyebrow and stepped back, cringing at how he looked. "Uhhh, what are you thinking, Yuri?" Patty sneered.

"Nothing," said Yuri. "Come on, let's check out the park. I heard they've got some new stuff down there."

"He's right," said Nick. "Let see what they got."

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Tyson said rubbing his hands together. "Gonna get me some new cards!"

Yuri followed his friends down concrete steps into the park. There were lamps on the sides of the steps lighting the way.

"Hey wait for me!" called Carter.

"Some things never change," Patty said shaking her head.

Children scurried around with excitement, and young adults sat under the trees trading cards or having a snack. There was a song playing on one of the television screens next to the card stand.

It was the latest song of the beautiful pop singer: Crystal Anderson; a blonde girl with stunning heterochromia eyes and a smile that could melt one's soul.

Nick and Tyson were staring at the screen mesmerized by her beauty and her rich and sugary sweet voice as she sang her cheerful love song at the beach, shaking her hips and smiling at the camera. The words came out of her mouth like a whisper just making her look even cuter.

"Ah," breathed Tyson.

"Beautiful," whispered Nick. "One day my Dueling skills are going to be so good, I'll impress her!"

"Will you guys get a grip?" groaned Patty. "She's just another no-talent pop singer."

"I beg to disagree," said Yuri, his cheeks turning red. "She's a cut above the other artists. Unlike them, she can actually sing, and she sings about beautiful things."

"No talent!" barked Nick. "She's the heir to the Anderson fortune, can sing like a goddess and she's the current United States champion!"

"Is that so?" said Patty, raising an eyebrow with disbelief.

"You don't follow pro-Dueling do you?" asked Tyson, placing his hands on his hips and shaking his head.

"I'm more concerned about my art." Patty crossed her arms over her chest. "Not that I'm gloating or anything. I want to make cards more than I want to play them."

"You hope to work for Phobos Corp as a card designer?" Carter asked, biting into a sandwich he just bought with the last of his money. "That's sweet."

"Oh, hey!" said Nick. He ran for a stand that was selling rare cards. Tyson, Patty, and Carter followed. Yuri stayed behind watching Crystal sing her song.

"Oh, Yuri, not you too!" snapped Patty.

"Oh…coming," Yuri said following her.

Nick was drooling over the cards. Their colorful foil sparkled in the lights of the black iron street lamps. "Look at the power on this guy!" He said pointing to a ritual monster called Super War Lion.

"My deck could use a powerhouse like him. I'll take it."

"Uh, you might want to do a rain check on that Nick," Patty said pointing out the price.

"Five gold coins!" Nick cried out. "That's robbery."

"Plus his ritual card," Carter said pointing at the Spell Card needed to summon the lion.

"Aw no!" Nick cried. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a dollar. "How much do you have?" he asked his friends.

Tyson reached into his pocket, taking out all the money he carried. He only had three silver coins as he already spent most of what he had on a water-based structure deck for Carter.

Carter only had one silver coin but he was secretly carrying twenty gold ones in emergency money in his back pocket.

Patty scoffed and hitched up her skirt doing a curtsy as a gesture to show she had nothing. Yuri shrugged, for he spent all the money he had buying ice cream and gifts for his mother's birthday party. That was the last he had of last week's paycheck.

"That's all guys got!" Nick groaned. "A bunch of rich kids like you can't spare to give their buddy five measly gold coins."

"That's the way the cookie crumbles, Nick," Patty teased with a leer. "And even if we did, we're not entitled to give it to you."

"Maybe you forgot, I saved Yuri's life."

"Maybe you forgot, that was a long time ago," Patty countered. "Mr. Montgomery in good faith let you hang with Yuri and pay for your education. That's more than a bottom dweller from Los Angeles Rojas will ever get in their lifetime."

"Bottom dweller!" Nick shouted.

Yuri stepped in front of Nick to keep him from getting at her. "Cool it, Nick. And Patty, that's not cool."

"She thinks she can call me that just because her father hunts them down for a living."

"Seriously, Patty," said Tyson. "Cool it, will you? Nick may live in the slums but he's no less our friend. And he is the hero who saved Yuri from that goon who, need I remind you, was your ex-boyfriend. I won't stand to hear you call Nick some bottom dweller. I won't. You keep it together or I just may not speak to you anymore. Got it!"

"That goes for me, too," said Yuri. "Come on, you guys. I thought we were family."

Patty sighed. "Whatever. Sorry, Nick."

Nick shrugged. "Apology accepted. Maybe you can make it up to me with one date."

"Oh, screw you, Nick!"

The group paused and then broke out laughing. They had their moments every once in a while but because of the bond they shared, those moments never lasted long.

"You can afford one booster pack," said Tyson.

"Guess you're right," said Nick. "I'll take one pack, please."

"Come on, Nick," said Yuri. "Just keep saving money for a car. You should use it to help Consuelo with a delivery service or something. You guys would make a killing if any of that Peruvian chicken made it up here."

"That's right," said Patty. "It would be a great way to repay Consuelo for bringing you here."

"Patty makes a good point," said Yuri. "We shouldn't spend money on cards anymore; we're too old for this man."

"We're never too old for Duel Monsters," said Nick, taking his pack from the cashier's hand. "I can't spend enough. I've got to beef up my deck so I can Duel in the pro leagues."

"There are no guarantees," Yuri said, shaking his head. He admired Nick's determination, though.

"Yeah, you'd first have to prove yourself in the independent circuits," said Tyson. "And even then, as Yuri said, there's no guarantee big players like the WDF (World Dueling Federation) or Dragonfire will find you. You'd be stuck in the independents for years, maybe forever; and they only pay like fifteen hundred a month."

"Not enough to pay rent man," said Yuri.

"Maybe you guys forgot, I'm good."

"You've got six wins and forty losses," said Patty. "Not the best ratio."

"Do you guys have anything better to do than to walk all over my hopes and dreams?"

"We're not trying to keep you down man," said Yuri. "It's just the reality of life. Things don't always go as planned for some of us. Why don't you just go to college and get associates so you could at least make a comfortable living? You can't base your life on Duel Monsters alone."

"Easy for you to say," pouted Nick. "You live with the richest man in the world."

Patty scoffed. "But he doesn't leech off his father. Yuri still goes out and works. Don't take Yuri's fortune as an excuse for your miserable life, Nick."

"Oh no, bro, your ice cream," said Carter.

Yuri looked at the bag and saw some of it ooze out of the box all over the plastic bag.

"Damn!" he cursed and quickly ran.

"Where are you going?" Nick called out.

Yuri held out his arm as he continued to run from the park. "I've got to get this back to my mom! See you guys at school!"

He heard his friends call out their goodbyes. He climbed up the steps and disappeared around the next corner.

As her friends left, Patty stood by the fountain, watching as Nick, Tyson, and Carter waved goodbye and went back to their islands. When they were out of the light of the street lamps, Patty gave a heavy sigh and made her way to the docks and ride the Ferris Wheel.

How fast the years have gone by, she thought as she climbed into a vacant cabin of the Ferris Wheel. It seemed like only yesterday that she and Yuri met those three in the fourth grade. Now...now they were seniors. And all three of them had aspirations and goals of their own that they would follow.

Despite the wisecracks that they tossed at one another and their troubled pasts, they had developed quite a friendship. And it hurt her deeply to know they would soon go their separate ways. Patty made herself comfortable in her seat and stared out the window at the beautiful city she called home. She placed her palm under her chin and sighed dreamily, thinking about her friends and where they would be going in the next few months.

Tyson, being the son of the owner of a five-star chef, would soon inherit his father's empire and he was going to New York to learn to be a chef at his father's culinary academy. Carter was on the fence about what he wanted to do. A part of him wanted to open his own gaming shop one day like Sergei's but since he was really good at cosmetology, perhaps maybe he'd have a go opening a barber shop. She knew deep down he could be successful at any of them. He was already such a hit as a hairstylist for most of the girls at school. Nick, well, Patty had her doubts, but she knew Nick long enough to know that if he wanted something, he would work his damnedest to get it. And what he wanted more than anything right now was to be a professional Duelist so he could travel the world and take care of Consuelo and little Sam.

And Yuri. He was the only thing on her mind. What was to become of him? She looked up at Phobos Towers, dominating everything on the islands. To think he would soon be up there sitting in that office high above the clouds. Would she ever see him again?

"Stupid," she muttered. "I can't have feelings for him. It's just not meant to be. What would Yuri want with a girl like me?"

She started to worry. He would inherit the Phobos Empire at a young age. Regardless of his glowing green eye, there were some girls in the school that found Yuri sexy and his glowing eye added more mystery to him, which they found quite irresistible. To say nothing of how he developed his body.

She heard rumors that he fought in underground fight clubs in their freshman and senior year. And with muscles like the ones he had, she started to think the rumors were true.

She shook her head. "No," she said to herself, biting her lip. "No, no, no. Not after what happened last time."

Patty sighed again and admired how the lights of the Ferris Wheel lit up the night and made the glossy, black waters of the Atlantic burst with color from the thousands of beautiful rainbow-colored neon and bulbs that adorned the Ferris Wheel.

As she sat there, she wondered if she and Yuri could really share something special with one another. Her doubt would always win.

"If I don't want him...then why am I so worried someone else will take him?" she whispered, staring out into the ocean. She spotted RAPTOR patrol boats zooming through the water and one of the floating guard towers far off in the distance that formed the protective triangle-shaped perimeter around the islands.

Anyways, Yuri was young and very rich. The richest boy in the world his father would often boast. And it was true, with a multi-trillion dollar inheritance in the future, who could argue with those words? The girls would be flocking to his doorstep and for as long as she could remember, Yuri was a boy who was desperate for a girlfriend. She wanted to take that to her advantage.

"We'll see," she whispered, now looking at the city. "Yuri. You're one weird dude, but I know with all my heart, that you're going to grow into a man of great importance. Please be mine."

---

Lore

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The Islands of Aquarius

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Phobos Island: Home of Aquarius's top earners and the center of the island chain. The Phobos Tri-Towers dominate the other islands. The island is shaped like a five-pointed star and is nearly the size of Manhattan. It is beautifully adorned with natural environments, plaza-sized aquariums, and a skyscraper known as the Bustamante Building, which stands a few feet shorter than the Burj Khalifa and doubles as a waterfall that falls into a grand lake with fountains that shoot water hundreds of feet into the air. On its own, not too far from the center, are the small chains known as Eden Island and Sapphire Island, home to the island's most elite residents and guests.

Neros Island: A recreational island where the students of Phobos Academy and St. Augustus Senior High School mostly go to relax after a long day of lessons. The world-famous Ivory Clocktower rules from its spot at the top of Athennia Hill, overlooking the island like a castle fit for a king. There are golden beaches, forests of tropical ponds, and the Duel Dome where Duelists can play the game of Duel Monsters with an interesting twist. Naros island has its own small chain of three islands branching off of it consisting of Enron, an industrial zone where ships come to unload and load cargo. Azalea, which houses a vast collection of animals for its safari; and Martin island, which is home to high-end neighborhoods and the little town of Paradiso Prima.

Gondolin Island is where the elite Phobos Academy resides. The school grooms its students to become future entrepreneurs, leaders, and Duelists. The RAPTOR security forces have their base of operations at the harbor to the south of the island.

Then Alejandra Island and finally Mobius Island which house the citizens of Aquarius.

---

Bakura's Report

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The little prince has become so precious to the family. He has a beauty to him possibly unseen in this world. Perhaps it has to do with his heritage in Feldia. He has cinnamon skin, is black of hair, and has a face like a cherub, some winged humanoid in Earthling mythology. I can confirm he has that glowing green eye everyone talks about. What does it mean? What does it do? How did he get it? I have a theory as to how, but I will not speak of it. I won't even dare write about my speculation, for those Sisterhood bitches are nosy, and no secret is safe from them.

The boy to this Montgomery family is...perfect. So beautiful and pure is he that Jacob and his wife thought up a lie to make it seem as though they had given birth to this gift. The media fawns all over him. Everyone flocks to see this perfect baby and believe it! They believe their lies. They believe the man I gave Yuri to and his wife had something to do with this child. It makes my job of keeping him hidden all the easier. The lie has been burned into everyone's minds like a raging wildfire.

It amazes me how gullible everyone here is. And it amazes me how little things like a beautiful baby boy can cause the people of this world to go in such a frenzy. Then again, they don't seem like a very smart bunch. Some hate each other because of the color of their skin, political affiliations, pretty much anything really. These people just really don't like each other. They walk around all day, noses stuck to these strange devices that connect them to a network full of mundane things like cat pictures, half-naked girls wiggling the butts for money, and songs from the musicians of this world. Can I even call these dimwits musicians? All I hear is noise. Ugh. And they keep on repeating the same phrases over and over again like moronic robots. Hashtag, hashtag, hashtag! That's lit!

Goddesses, these people are so stupid. It's no wonder Dimensional Mages avoid this place like the plague.

It almost brings me great pain to know we have to keep him here, but this place is so mundane and insane that even the Sisterhood avoids coming here. Nevertheless, Marik is casting a spell on the Gates that will hide the boy's power from them should they decide to look here. Although I doubt that's going to happen any time soon.