(Thirteen Years Later)

Chapter One: Birthright

It was the most powerful card in Yoshi Hiroku's collection, yet in all his life he'd never once used it in a duel. Diamair, the White Crystal Dragon: a Wind-Attribute, Level 10 Monster with 3000 attack points, 2300 defense points, and enough special abilities to keep any opponent on their toes. It had once belonged to Yoshi's father and had, indirectly, led him to his death.

Yoshi sat down on the corner of his bed and turned Diamair over and over in his hand. Though he had been only three at the time, he could still clearly remember the night he received the rare card. Prince Jimu himself had arrived at their house around midnight, forcing Yoshi's mother and sister to sit down before revealing the bad news. In addition to his condolences, he had given them five of the six crystal dragon cards, saying that Professor Hiroku would've wanted it that way.

Now, excluding a few old photographs, Diamair was the only thing Yoshi had to remember his father by. The card had always seemed too beautiful, too majestic to be used in a battle as if it were just any random card, but now Yoshi was beginning to wonder if he might not try it out, just once. Using it to become a great duelist would've certainly made his father proud, but what would happen if Diamair were to ever be defeated? Using the mighty dragon would feel like Yoshi was testing the strength of his own love for his father.

Then again, Prince Jimu used his black crystal dragon in every one of his decks and he hadn't been defeated in decades. Prince Jimu! Yoshi had almost forgotten; it was two o'clock, which meant the big charity battle between the Prince and some challenger from New Asuka was about to begin. He leapt off the bed and turned on the television, just in time to see the two combatants enter the filled dueling arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer cried, "It is my honor to welcome you to a special treat on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. Today, I give you a duel like no other, a veritable clash of titans between Takuni the Terrible, reigning champion of New Asuka, and Prince Jimu, heir apparent to the Old Asukan throne. For a few brief hours, the war will be suspended, meaning that each player carries with them the trust and support of an entire nation. Duelists, please shuffle your decks and let the carnage begin."

Yoshi took a step back from the TV and watched as the podiums rose on either side of the playing field. The New Asukan champion was a burly man with neatly trimmed blue hair and a suit almost completely covered by dueling ribbons, but he looked no match for Prince Jimu, his raven hair tied back in a pony tail and his cape fluttering in the summer wind. Jimu's father, the reigning king of Old Asuka, was getting on in years, and some wondered if, in his mid-thirties, Jimu would be a worthy successor. But Yoshi knew that if the Prince was half as good a king as he was a duelist, Old Asuka had nothing to worry about.

Both players waited for their decks to be shuffled before picking up their starting hands. Yoshi had no idea what kind of deck Jimu would be using today, but it was certain to contain Obsidiusk, and Yoshi could only hope that he'd get a chance to see it played. The Prince had always been something of an idol to Yoshi; excluding Yoshi's own sister, Jimu was the only person in the world publically known to possess a crystal dragon card.

At that moment, there was a loud knock on the door and Yoshi instantly regretted leaving the volume up so loud. He thought about turning off the TV, but it was already too late; Akira must've heard the announcer's opening statement.

Yoshi swung open the door to find his sister standing there with her arms crossed and her golden hair pulled back behind her ears, a sure sign that she wasn't happy.

"Uh… hey Kira," he stuttered.

She tapped one foot against the floor. "Please tell me you aren't intentionally watching that murderer exercise his ego in front of a stadium full of people."

For thirteen years now, Kira had held to the theory that Prince Jimu was responsible for their father's death. She maintained that, even if he hadn't killed him directly –itself a strong possibility in Kira's opinion- he'd at least convinced the Professor to go on the trip that had ended with his death.

"I never said I was rooting for the guy; I'm just hoping to see him play Obsidiusk."

"If you want to see how a crystal dragon card is really used, I have plenty of my old duels on tape." Kira was the two-time national champion of New Asuka, and her own signature card, Ambrilliant, the Gold Crystal Dragon, was the centerpiece of most of her decks.

"Don't forget that if it wasn't for Prince Jimu, neither us would even have our dragons."

"Oh, I'm not forgetting. How could I ever forget the night our glorious leader tried to repay dad's life with a handful of Duel Monsters cards? Or the night he first came to our house with a full police escort, demanding that dad go with him on a suicide mission into enemy territory?"

Yoshi had to admit that, if it wasn't for Prince Jimu and his crazy theory about the legend of the crystal dragons, their lives would've turned out very differently. Their mother had never been the same after the loss of her husband, and soon afterwards, she'd begun suffering from migraines and tiredness spells. When Yoshi was fourteen, she'd gotten terribly sick, and they'd had to sell three of the crystal dragon cards to pay for a series of complicated surgeries. Nothing had worked, however, and their mother had died, leaving Kira to take care of both of them. That's when, only seventeen, she had begun competing in major tournaments, using the prize money to pay off the house and anything else they might need.

"What about that letter he sent us, after mom died? The one that made you my legal guardian, even though you weren't even an adult at the time."

"I was a month shy of eighteen, and he sent that letter out of guilt, not pity. But I didn't come in here to argue; I came here to have a duel. And if you could kindly turn off the television, I'd still very much like to have one."

Kira spent most of her time nowadays thinking up strategies and building new decks, and Yoshi was her favorite guinea pig to test them out against. Not that he minded; it gave him a chance to improve his own skills and learn from one of the best duelists in the country.

"Alright, let's compromise: the television stays on, but I'll turn the volume down."

"Mute it, and you've got yourself a deal." Kira pulled a deck of cards out of her pocket and sat down cross-legged on the floor with her back to the TV. Yoshi grabbed his own deck from underneath the bed and realized he still had Diamair in his hand. Deciding it was now or never, he inserted it into his deck and sat down across from his sister. After all, Kira was certain to have Ambrilliant and her deck, and this way Yoshi might stand a chance against her. He used the remote to mute the TV, where Prince Jimu and Takuni's duel was already well underway, though the Black Crystal Dragon was nowhere to be seen.

Yoshi and Kira cut each other's decks and drew five cards. The latter studied hers for a moment then said, "Rock-paper-scissors to see who starts?"

"That's okay, you can go first. You always win at rock-paper-scissors anyway."

Kira's mind was like clockwork when it came to games, and rock-paper-scissors was no exception. Yoshi had never once beat her in a game of pure strategy, and the few times he had managed to scrape a win at Duel Monsters were due to overwhelming luck. Like Kira always said, a broken clock is still right twice a day.

She shrugged, said "Suit yourself," and drew another card. "I summon one monster in face-down defense mode, and set one more card. Your turn."

Yoshi looked at the cards in his hand. He had quite a few normal monsters, which made sense considering that he was using what Kira called a "Vanilla Deck." She'd always insisted that decks with a strategy were more likely to win than those with pure power, so Yoshi had filled his deck with both: monsters that were strong in attack but lacking in special abilities, and plenty of spell and trap cards to support them.

"I'll start by summoning Luster Dragon in attack mode." No sooner had he placed the card on the field than Kira was flipping over her face-down card.

"I activate the trap card Bottomless Trap Hole, which not only removes your monster from the playing field, but from the game entirely."

"Great, I've only made one move so far, and you're already winning."

Kira smiled and moved the Luster Dragon card to the side of their playing area. "I've been winning since before the duel started. Your first mistake was letting me go first; if I had gone second, you could've summoned Luster Dragon before I would've had time to set my trap. Anything else or is it my turn now?"

"Not yet." Yoshi glanced through his hand again and was glad to see that he already had a good combo. "I activate the spell card Two-Man Cell Battle, which lets me special summon a level four normal monster during the end of each of my turns. And now I'll use it to summon Nin-Ken Dog."

Nin-Ken Dog was a Wind-attribute monster with a strong 1800 attack points and 1000 defense points, meaning that it should be able to defeat anything Kira could throw at it, and would also come in handy if he drew Diamair in the next few turns.

"Now," Kira said, drawing a new card, "I'll flip over my face down monster card to reveal…"

Yoshi couldn't help but burst-out laughing. "Batteryman Micro-Cell? You're using a Batterymen deck? Even you can't win using a deck full of those." The Batterymen archetype was known as one of the weakest in the game, and Batteryman Micro-Cell only had 100 attack and defense points.

"I wouldn't be so sure. You of all people should know the potential of monsters that most people consider weak. Do you remember that kid with the mohawk I beat in the national semi-finals last year? Well, he won his regional championship using a batteryman deck."

Kira had a point about the dormant potential in every card, but Yoshi wasn't buying it quite yet. "I'll believe it when I see it. Go on."

"Well, by flipping Batteryman Micro-Cell, I activate one of its special abilities, allowing me to summon another Batteryman monster from my deck, and I choose Batteryman AA." She found the card in her deck, placed it in her monster card zone, and reshuffled. Yoshi wasn't worried though; Batteryman AA only had 1000 attack points for each one of its kind on the field, meaning it was far weaker than his Nin-Ken Dog. "I now summon a second Batteryman AA from my hand."

That could be a problem. With two Batteryman AAs on the field, they would each have 2000 attack. Yoshi looked at his hand, already trying to come up with a way to defeat them next turn.

"Now," continued Kira, "I attack with all three of my monsters, destroying your Nin-Ken Dog and reducing your life points by 2300. Your turn."

Yoshi drew another card while Kira wrote down 5700, the number of life points he had left. But now he had the perfect card to get him back in the game: Justi-Break, a trap which, when activated, would destroy all monsters with special abilities on the field, meaning all of Kira's Batterymen. The downside was that it only worked when one of her monsters attacked, which meant he had to ensure that she was going to make one.

"I summon Thunder Kid in attack mode and use it to destroy your Batteryman Micro-Cell."

With 700 attack points, Thunder Kid was one of the weakest monsters in Yoshi's deck, but it had been one of the first cards he'd ever owned, and it worked well with some of his spell and trap cards. For now though, 700 was more than enough to send her monster to the card graveyard and lower her life points to 7400.

"By destroying my Micro-Cell," Kira stated, "you've triggered its second ability, allowing me to draw one card. But for now, it's still your turn."

"Then I set one card face-down. Go."

Kira drew yet another card, bring her hand total back to six. "I'll start by attacking with my two Batteryman AAs, triggering your trap card. And judging by the smile when you drew it, I'd guess it's a Mirror Force."

As shocked as Yoshi was the she had anticipated his trap, he was even more shocked that she had walked right into it regardless. "Not quite," he said, revealing the Justi-Break, "But in this case, it has the same effect. Both your Batteryman AAs are destroyed. So… if you knew it was a trap, why did you attack?"

"All good things in time, little brother. For now, I'll just set one monster face-down on the field."

As usual, Yoshi had no idea what his sister was up to, so he drew his next card and was pleased to see that it was another great trap card, one that would throw a wrench into any of her plans. But first he had to get rid of her face-down monster. It was probably another Micro-Cell, and Yoshi had the perfect strategy for getting rid of it. "I'll lay one card face down, then summon Mad Lobster. Next I'll equip Big Bang Shot to him, increasing his attack to 2100 and giving him the ability to damage your life points even when attacking a monster in defense mode, which I'll now demonstrate."

Kira flipped over her monster card, but it was a Batteryman DD. A defense of 1900 meant that Mad Lobster only dealt 200 damage to her life points, but at least she didn't get to special summon another monster to the field or draw a card. And now Thunder Kid was able to attack her directly for an additional 700 points of damage. With no cards left in his hand, there was nothing more Yoshi could do this turn.

Kira drew a card and laid it on the field straight away. It was a card Yoshi knew well because it was one of her favorites: The Calculator, which gained attack points equal to 300 times the combined level of all over her monsters. Right now though, that only gave it 600 attack, still not enough to even destroy Thunder Kid.

"Now perhaps you'll understand why I allowed all my monsters to be destroyed by Justi-Break. By removing from play two Batteryman cards in my graveyard," She placed her Batteryman DD and Micro-Cell next to Yoshi's Luster Dragon, "I can now summon the trump card of my deck: Batteryman Industrial Strength. Now I'll-"

"Not so fast, Kira." As soon as Yoshi saw its 2600 attack points, he knew what he had to do. "I activate the trap card Torrential Tribute, which destroys all monsters on the field." This included Yoshi's Mad Lobster and Thunder Kid as well, but it was necessary to destroy her ultimate Batteryman, and the look on his sister's face was more than worth it.

"So be it. It's your turn now, but I hope you draw something good, because now you have no cards on the field or in your hand."

Yoshi certainly hoped so too. He drew: Birthright. It was a good trap card, but whether it was enough to turn the duel around remained to be seen. He set it and ended his turn.

"Let's see," Kira said, moving her eyes across the five cards remaining in her hand. "I think I'll start by summoning another Calculator, and using it to deal 600 more damage to your life points. And I'll end my turn by laying one trap card face-down."

Yoshi noticed that she specifically said "trap" card, giving away the fact that it wasn't a quick-play spell card or some sort of a bluff. Unless, of course, she had made the slip on purpose in order to prevent him from attacking, which, knowing Kira, seemed likely.

He drew his next card. It was United Resistance, a level three monster with 1000 attack. It would do for now. "I summon United Resitance to the field. Then I activate my Birthright trap card, which allows me to special summon any normal monster from my graveyard, and I choose Nin-Ken Dog." He wanted to choose the slightly more powerful Luster Dragon, but since that card had been removed from the game entirely, it couldn't be selected by Birthright's effect. But Nin-Ken Dog was plenty powerful enough to get the job done. "Now, Nin-Ken Dog-"

"Ah, ah, ah." Kira waved a finger and shook her head. "Just some friendly advice, but I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Sorry sis, but I'm not falling for it. Your trap card doesn't scare me. Nin-Ken Dog, destroy her Calculator."

Kira's smile faded. "Well, you were right: my trap card was nothing to worry about." Then a brilliant grin covered her face, and Yoshi knew he had just made a costly mistake. "Nevertheless, you really should've listened to me when I told you not to attack. I was being…" She revealed one of the cards in her hand, "…Honest."

And just like that, Yoshi knew he'd lost the duel. Honest was one of the most unfair cards in Duel Monsters, yet according to internationally standard rules, up to three of them were still allowed in a deck. When discarded from the hand to the graveyard, Honest increased the attack of a battling Light-attribute monster by the attack power of its opponent. In other words, her calculator now gained 1800 attack points in addition to its original 600, meaning it was now more than powerful enough to destroy Nin-Ken Dog and reduce Yoshi's lifepoints by another 600. To make matters worse, the Calculator kept the attack bonus until the end of the turn, which meant Yoshi didn't dare attack with his United Resistance.

"Fine. Your turn."

Kira drew, and somehow her smile got even wider. "Don't feel too bad, Yoshi. Even if I hadn't used Honest, you still would've lost. I just drew the last card I needed to complete a nearly unstoppable combo. Watch and learn. I'll start by sacrificing my Calculator to summon the level six Batteryman Charger, whose special ability allows me to summon another Batteryman monster from my deck. I choose my third and final Batteryman AA. Now," She laid the card she just drew on the field, "I use Inferno Reckless Summon, which allows me to summon my other two AAs from my graveyard. Of course, if you have any other United Resistances in your deck, you're allowed to summon it as well."

Yoshi did have one other, which he placed on the field in defense mode, trying to do the math to see if he would survive to see his next turn.

"I actually don't need to use this card," Kira continued –she had always been far quicker at doing damage calculations- "But I will anyway, for the sake of completing the combo. I reveal my face-down spell card, Short Circuit. Because I have at least three Batterymen on my side of the field, this card lets me destroy every card you have, leaving you open for a direct attack. I have four monsters on my side of the field, each with 3000 attack points. Ergo, I win."

Yoshi sighed. He should've expected as much. If there was a player alive who could find a way to use the Batterymen effectively, it was his sister. He hoped that she would use the deck in an upcoming tournament; if champion-level players also lost against it, he wouldn't feel so bad. "Well, I guess you can say that experiment was a definite success."

"Are you kidding me? It took me six turns to beat you; this deck's way too slow. Still, it might be fun to use every now and again, to teach overconfident jerks a lesson in humility."

"Hey!"

Kira laughed and wrapped an arm around him in a consolation hug. Victories always made her strangely giddy. "I didn't mean you, silly. But now that you mention it, I do have a few suggestions to make about your deck, if it's alright with you."

"Yeah, shoot."

"Well, if you're going to be using normal monsters, there are some cards you're definitely going to need. Wait right here."

Kira ran across the hall to her room and was back thirty seconds later, handing him a half-dozen cards. "These three are all Heart of the Underdog, which is really the only reason anyone uses a Vanilla Deck these days. It increases the draw power tremendously, especially if you can get more than one on the field. This one is Non-Spellcasting Area, which makes your monsters immune to spell cards, which should go well with these two Nightmare Steelcages."

Yoshi accepted the rare cards and placed them in his pocket, realizing as he did so that he hadn't gotten a chance to use Diamair in the duel. But he might as well keep it in the deck now, as long as he added in a couple more Wind-attribute monsters to-

In an instant, Yoshi's head exploded with a pain so agonizing he was certain his skull had been shattered into dust. He heard his own scream like an echo in a torture dungeon, and his vision was obscured by blinding whiteness. For half a moment, he managed to gain control of his senses –enough to glance at the television where he spotted two great beasts battling amongst a storm- before the world fell away and his mind was engulfed in pure nothingness.

Then, all of a sudden, Yoshi realized that the pain was gone. He could still see nothing but white in every direction, and he felt pleasantly weightless, like his soul was flying outside of his body. And maybe it was. Whatever had caused the pain in his head must've killed him, meaning this infinite brightness had to be the afterlife.

Do not be afraid, child, for no harm has befallen you.

The voice was soft and beautiful, yet not a voice at all. It was like a thought sent directly to his soul, a memory of sound entering his mind without ever being heard.

There is no need to fear me, for I am your friend. You are confused. Ask your questions, and I shall explain all.

Yoshi tried to ask where he was, but found that he had no mouth.

You are safe here, within your own mind. In the outside world, you are still in your bedroom, unconscious, though more time has passed there than here, and it will not be long before I must send you back.

Whoever this being was, she –for the voice was distinctively female- could apparently read his thoughts.

No, not read, not exactly. I heard your thought just as you normally would, just as you are now hearing mine.

Sort of understanding what she meant, Yoshi tried asking himself the questions he wanted to ask her. It felt odd addressing a being inside his own head. Who are you? What do you want with me?

Is it not obvious to you by now, my old friend? I am Diamair, the White Crystal Dragon, and I wish to help you change the world.