So here's something that I've been stewing over for a while. This story is going to mar a first for me. I have not yet written a fanfiction made up of purely original characters until this one. Kingdom Harmony is a series made up of pre-established characters, so I need to make a conscious effort to ensure characterization is accurate. With this story, I can make the characterization how I see fit.

I'm not sure how this will be received, but I'm excited for this project all the same. This is YU-GI-OH! The Legend of Charles Ikari.


He walked down the street with careless disposition, the sunglasses on his face protecting his eyes from the sun's rays. His baseball cap hid his hair well from full view—not that he wanted to wear it, but a certain someone was adamant about it. Completing the ensemble was a blue varsity jacket, cyan jeans, and black boots. He looked to be in his late teens, likely 18 years of age.

He passed by a park, taking notice of a few children. They were playing a game of Duel Monsters, the most popular game in the world. The duelists comprised of a boy and a girl, both in grade school by the look of it. The boy had messy brown hair and green eyes. He wore a simple red shirt, blue shorts, and white sneakers. The girl had long, natural red hair and blue eyes. Her attire consisted of a white blouse, a yellow overall dress reaching her lower knees, white socks, and black mary janes. The boy had another kid behind him, likely his friend. Both the boy and the girl wore standard duel disks, handy arm mounted devices that made the effects of a duel seem life-like with the use of hologram technology. All duel disks had slots to hold the main deck, the extra deck, the graveyard, and the banish zone. There was also a holographic projector on the very top of the disk displaying both player's fields and lifepoint value. Attached to the disk was a blade that consisted of the five main monsters zones with two extendable plates for the extra monster zones. There were also slots underneath the monster zones to insert spell and trap cards.

Kaiba Corp held the original patent for the duel disk, but as the decades passed, other companies produced their own versions of the device, but not without some legal battles from Kaiba Corp itself. Custom made duel disks were quite common as well, if you had the know-how regarding holograms.

As much as he wanted to watch this duel between two obviously budding duelists, he had an important arrangement to attend to. Should be no less than a five minute walk to his destination.


He walked back the way he came with a wide smile on his face, pizza box in hand. As he walked back towards the park, he noticed the two kids from before. He saw the girl's field was empty and the boy's had two monsters in play, two dragon monsters specifically.

"Now, I attack you directly!" the boy proclaimed. The more ferocious of the two dragons roared in might and breathed a stream of fire at the girl. Thankfully, the fire wasn't real, only a holographic projection. It didn't stop the girl from shielding herself with her arms as she cried out in defeat. Duel disk holograms still had a small degree of kinetic force behind them, nothing remotely lethal thankfully. The recoil of the direct attack forced the girl to fall flat on her back. She clearly lost the duel.

"Nice dueling, girly!" The boy sneered.

His friend behind him laughed at the girl's expense, "Where'd you learn to duel, preschool?" his insulted.

"Alright, cough 'em up!" The boy approached the girl and roughly grabbed hold of her arm and yanked her deck right out of her duel disk.

"No, please!" the girl pleaded, pushing herself back up, "I spent so long to get those cards!"

"And what are you gonna do about it?" the boy mocked, shoving the girl back down. Both he and his friend laughed at the girl as she started sniffling, tears threatening to spill out.

The teen looked at this scene with fire in his eyes. How dare this kid use dueling as a means to coerce others. With clenched fists, he stormed ahead.

"Hey!" he yelled, getting all the kid's attention, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Hey, back off!" The boy shot defiantly, "We made a bet and she lost."

"And that gives you the right to act like this?" the teen fired back, "Duelist's should play with honor. You should never try to steal another person's deck!"

"Didn't you hear me?" The boy fired back, "We made a bet! She owes me her stupid deck."

"Alright, then," the teen relented, but he wasn't about to let this go. It was a risk, but it was the right thing to do, "Then duel me. If I win, you return this girl's cards. If you win, I'll let you take my deck," he opened a small carrying case attached to his belt, pulling out it's contents to reveal a deck of cards.

"Your deck?"

"It's got a lot of Super and Ultra Rares in it," the teen enticed, shaking his deck for emphasis.

The boy smirked, "Alright, fine then!" if this chump wanted to lose his cards too, then so be it.

The girl didn't speak a word. She spent this whole conversation listening, shocked that someone so readily stood up for her. She was even more caught off guard when the teen turned to her.

"Hey, can I borrow your duel disk?" The little girl muttered a reply and unhooked the contraption from her arm, presenting it to the teen. He was about to accept the disk before he suddenly remembered: He had a pizza box on him, "Oh, Can you hold this for me? I need both my hands for this," the girl nodded again, exchanging both the box and the duel disk. Now the teen secured the strap mechanism onto his forearm. As he walked towards his opponent, he stopped in his tracks and hurriedly turned towards the girl. The look on his face suggested what he had to say was of the utmost importance, "Don't eat any of my slices. If you eat just a single pepperoni, I'll know!"

The girl nodded, both out of agreement and bewilderment. Now that that super important matter was settled, he turned to his opponent once more.

"Hey, are you ready to duel or not?" the boy rudely asked.

"I'm always ready," the teen answered. The holographic projectors on the bottom of each duel disk sprang to life, and the holographic displays on top showed each player with 8000 lifepoints. Everything was set. The only thing left to do was start.

"Let's duel!"

The boy had the first move, "I summon Divine Dragon Ragnarok in attack mode!" the boy placed a normal monster card on the middle monster zone of his duel disk. In response, a large serpent-like dragon suddenly appeared between the two players in a flash of light, Divine Dragon Ragnarok (Lv. 4, LIGHT, Dragon, Atk. 1500, Def. 1000). It's realistic appearance betrayed the fact it was just a hologram, "And I set card on my field and end my turn," the boy inserted a card into the slot underneath where his dragon was, creating a projection of a giant face down Duel Monster's card.

The boy smiled deviously, obviously feeling good after his last win. The teen appeared to have a more calm disposition, seeming very confident. The girl looked on with the box in tow. She hoped this duelist could save her cards. It would be awful if he lost his deck because of her.

"My turn, I draw!" the teen reached into his deck and pulled out his card in a dramatic fashion. He took a look at his hand to consider his current options, "From my hand, I summon Tuningware," a small and unimposing monster appeared on the teen's side of the field, Tuningware (Lv. 1, LIGHT, Machine, Atk. 100, Def. 300), a tiny scarfed robot with a frying pan on it's head.

"Is that all you got?" the boy jeered, "That thing hardly has any attack points. There's no way it could beat my monster."

"I'm not done yet," the teen interjected, clearly having more moves at his disposal, "I discard one monster from my hand to special summon Quickdraw Synchron," After inserting one card into the graveyard zone slot, another monster appeared, Quickdraw Synchron (Lv. 5, WIND, Machine/Tuner, Atk. 700, Def. 1400), a small bot with the appearance of a cowboy. It was still an unassuming monster weaker than the boy's dragon. Normally, level five and above monsters required the tribute of a monster already on the field, but Quckdraw Synchron's effect allows for a special summon.

"He summoned two monsters on his first turn!" the boy's friend shouted.

"Whatever!" The boy sneered, "It's still not enough attack points!"

"Dont be so sure just now. Now's when the real fun begins!" the teen warned, causing the boy duelist to scoff, but a quick glance at the teen's wide smile made him stumble, "You see, I know my monsters by themselves aren't that powerful, but it's another story when they combine their strengths. Quickdraw Synchron isn't just any monster. It's a tuner monster. And because it's on the field with a non-tuner monster, I can do this!" the teen pulled his arm back before pushing it forward with his palm raised, "Level five Quickdraw Synchron tunes level one Tuningware!"

"No way! A synchro summon!" the boy's friend panicked.

Synchro summoning was a method of summoning that required the use of a tuner monster, such as Quickdraw Synchron, and a non-tuner monster, sometimes more. The combined levels of the monsters determined what monster would appear. Quickdraw Synchron disappeared into five lights that transitioned into five symmetrical green rings. Tuningware jumped into these rings, its body glowing before dissipating into a single white star.

The teen held up his hand and proudly proclaimed, "When hopes and dreams come together, they form a power like no other! Now, Synchro summon! Come forth! Nitro warrior!" The star within the rings grew in size. It then started to take on it's own shape. Appearing on the field in a burst of light was the synchro monster, Nitro Warrior (lv. 7, FIRE, Warrior/Synchro, Atk. 2800, Def. 1800), a large muscular green warrior with horns on it's head and an abdomen that also served as a nitro booster.

"Woah! That thing's huge!" the boy yelled. That was enough attack points to beat his monster.

"Hey, thats cheating!" the boy's friend shouted, "Both monsters had a combined level of six, but that thing is level seven!"

"Tuningware can act as a level two monster for Synchro summoning," the teen explained, "Two plus five equals seven."

"Oh…"

"Also, when Tuningware is sent to the graveyard as Synchro material, I draw one card," the teen reached into his deck and pulled out a card to add to his hand.

"This isn't good…" the boy muttered. Nitro Warrior had way more attack points than his dragon. The boy was only able to watch in fear as his dragon stood helplessly. That's when it occurred to him. That's right, he had a trap.

"I activate my trap card, Threatening Roar," the boy shouted in a panic. The face down card on his side of the field flipped up to reveal a trap card, special cards that needed to be set on the field for a turn before getting to activate, "When this card is activated, you can't declare an attack this turn."

"Not bad, you were able to save your monster from an attack," the teen complimented before inserting a card in the slot underneath his Nitro Warrior, "I set one card face down and end my turn. Your move."

"I draw," the boy looked at what he drew and gave a smug smile, "I tribute my dragon to summon an even better monster. Say hello to Strong Wind Dragon!" The little girl shuddered in fear. That was the monster that made her lose her duel, Strong Wind Dragon (Lv. 6, WIND, Dragon, ATK. 2400, DEF. 1000), an imposing cyan dragon with green wings.

"When Strong Wind Dragon is tribute summoned, it gains attack points equal to half of the tributed monster! Half of 1500 is 750, leaving my monster with 3150 attack points!"

"That's way more points than Nitro Warrior!" his friend exclaimed.

"Say goodbye to your monster. Strong Wind Dragon, attack!" the boy's dragon rushed forward, about to strike down Nitro Warrior. It would have been destroyed, if not for…

"I activate my trap card, Scrap Iron Scarecrow!" the teen's set card flipped up.

"What?! What's that do?"

"When Scrap Iron Scarecrow is activated, it negates one attack," a metal scarecrow appeared in front of Strong Wind Dragon, stopping it in it's tracks and forcing it back to its position on the field, "That's not all, after my trap's effect resolves, it sets itself back on the field instead of going to the graveyard," it was true. Scrap Iron Scarecrow flipped back down instead of disappearing.

"What?! That's no fair!" the boy whined.

"I'm sure you must have some way of dealing with Scrap Iron Scarecrow tucked away in your deck."

"Whatever" the boy huffed, "I set one card and end my turn," he glared at the teen, whose sunglasses made his expression unreadable.

"You obviously have some dueling instinct, but you're far from a true duelist!" the teen's cheery demeanor swapped over to something more serious, "A real duelist fights with honor. You should respect your opponent and never think about stealing their cards."

"Oh, yeah? What do you know?!" the boy fired back. What did honor matter? Winning is the only thing that matters.

"I know I'm going to win this duel on this next turn," the teen answered with extreme confidence. Confidence that caught the boy off guard.

"What? You're bluffing!" The boy wasn't worried. Even if this guy could beat his monster, he had Defense Draw set. It could negate an attack and allow him to draw one card.

"My move!" the teen declared, drawing a card from his deck, "I activate the spell card Tuning," spell cards were used to provide a variety of effects. Unlike trap cards, they didn't need to be set to activate their effects, "With this, I can select one Synchron tuner monster from my deck and add it to my hand, so long as I discard the top card from my deck!" he reached into his deck and searched the exact card he needed. Once he had it in hand, he took the top card of his deck and put it in the graveyard slot, "Now, I think I'll play the monster I just got, Junk Synchron!" the teen placed onto the field Junk Synchron (Lv. 3, DARK, Warrior/Tuner, Atk. 1300, Def. 500), a stocky humanoid monster wearing orange round glasses, junk armor and a white scarf, "Because I successfully normal summoned Junk Synchron, I can special summon a level two or lower monster from my graveyard. I special summon Junk Converter," a second monster appeared next to Junk Synchron, Junk Converter (Lv. 2, EARTH, Warrior, ATK. 400, DEF. 200), a robot that looked like it was made from recycled parts.

"Hey, wait! That wasn't in your graveyard!" the boy accused.

"Did you already forget? Tuning sent the top card of my deck to the graveyard," the teen reminded.

"Oh, yeah…"

"Level three Junk Synchron tunes level two Junk Converter!" Junk Synchron transformed into three green rings before Junk Converter jumped in, dissipating into two bright stars, "The stage is set. Now with your power, we will vanquish evil! Now, Synchro Summon! Come forth! Junk Speeder!" the teen's Synchro summon resulted in Junk Speeder (Lv. 5, WIND, Warrior/Synchro, ATK. 1800, DEF. 1000), a monster wearing futuristic silver armor with goggles on his face and wheels on his feet, "I activate Junk Converter's effect from the graveyard. Whenever it's used as Synchro material, I can special summon a Synchron tuner monster from my graveyard in defense mode. Welcome back, Quickdraw Synchron!" the tuner monster repeared on the field in face up defense position. If it was destroyed in battle while in defense mode, the teen wouldn't lose any life points, "Now Junk Speeder's effect kicks in! When Junk Speeder is successfully Synchro summoned, I can special summon as many tuner monsters from my deck as possible in defense mode."

"You can do that?!"

"Because I have two empty slots on my field, I can summon two tuner monsters. I summon to the field Nitro Synchron and another Junk Synchron!" along with a second Junk Synchron appeared another tuner monster, Nitro Synchron (Lv. 2, FIRE, Machine/Tuner, ATK. 300, DEF. 100), a monster that was literally a nitrous tank with a cartoonish face, arms and legs.

"He filled up his entire field in just a few moves!" the boy's friends exclaimed, "This guy's nuts!"

"I'm only getting started," the teen continued, "Level three Junk Synchron tunes level five Junk Speeder!"

"He's gonna Synchro summon again?!"

The rings and stars appeared as the teen started chanting, "Great beast of the stars, heed my call! Soar high and illuminate the night sky once more! Synchro Summon! Come forth, Stardust Dragon!" a majestic and intimidating monster appeared on the field and let out a fantastic roar, Stardust Dragon (Lv. 8, WIND, Dragon/Synchro, Atk. 2500, Def. 2000), a spindly, bright silver beast with blue highlights.

"It's so pretty…" the girl uttered, admiring Stardust Dragon's majesty. She had been silent throughout this entire duel, but she managed to utter a word once she saw Stardust's brilliance. The boy, however, was far less impressed.

"That's still not enough attack points to beat my dragon."

"Who said I was gonna attack with Stardust Dragon?" the teen said, "I still have another tuner monster on my field, Nitro Synchron!"

"What, again?"

"Level two Nitro Synchron tunes level eight Stardust Dragon!" the rings and stars appeared once more, "When the world is plunged into chaos, call upon the champion of Righteousness! Now, Synchro summon! Come forth, Satellite Warrior!" another large and imposing Warrior monster appeared on the teen's field, Satellite Warrior (Lv. 10, DARK, Warrior/Synchro, ATK. 2500, DEF. 2000), a yellow and white armored giant with four satellite panels on its back forming an X shape.

"You did all that just for that guy?!" the boy mocked. He had no need to be worried after all, "He's still not strong enough to beat my dragon!"

"There's more to Duel Monsters than just attack points," the teen informed. Every move he made thus far had been part of his plan. Now was the time to play it out, "I activate Satellite Warrior's effect. For every synchro monster in my graveyard, I can target the same number of cards on your side of the field and destroy them. I sent two synchro monsters to the graveyard this turn. That means I can destroy two cards."

"Hey, wait, I only have two cards on the field!" boy realized, now seeing how much trouble he was in.

"That's not all, for every card Satellite Warrior destroys, he gains 1000 attack points."

"No way!"

"Now Satellite Warrior, Orbital Bombardment!" Satellite Warrior flew up, emitting bright energy from his panels. In an instant, two blue lasers struck both the boy's monster and set card. They both exploded in a mess of polygons. Afterwards, the teen's monster gained an extra 2000 attack points, making it's total 4500.

"No! My field's empty!" the boy shouted.

"Relax, you can still survive this attack," his friend consoled, but his tone suggested he was freaking out as well, "His monsters only have 7300 attack points between them."

The teen smirked at this remark, "Sorry to disappoint, but I have to disagree."

"What?!"

"Because I played the spell card Tuning earlier, Nitro Warrior's effect activates. During damage calculation, Nitro Warrior now gains an additional 1000 attack points. That brings our total to 8300."

"What?!" the friend cried.

"Wait, don't do it!" the boy pleaded, but his prayers went on deaf ears.

"Nitro Warrior attacks you directly! Burning Knuckle!" Nitro Warrior lunged forward and struck directly with his fist, making the boy flinch back and leaving him with 4200 life points remaining, "Now, it's Satellite Warrior's turn! Skylight Strike!" Satellite Warrior flew ahead, his fist pulled back ready to attack. The boy looked on in shock as the monster's attack struck true, throwing him onto his back. The boy's lifepoints depleted to 0.

"Good game," the teen said as his monsters disappeared, indicating that the holographic projectors switched off. Meanwhile, the boy was picking himself back up.

The girl watched on with held breaths, impressed with what she just witnessed, "Wow…"

"Woah, this guy's crazy!" the boy's friend uttered, "He took away all your lifepoints in one turn."

The teen in question approached his defeated opponent, "Now keep your word. Return this little girl's cards!"

"FINE!" The boy roared, taking out the girl's deck from his pocket. In a fit of rage, the boy threw the deck onto the ground, splattering the cards all over the pavement. This turn of events shocked everyone, even the boy's friend. The boy then turned and ran off, his friend begrudgingly following behind.

"HEY!" The teen yelled, outraged that the boy would do something so scummy. He didn't pursue. It was a fool's errand to chase after the boy. Besides, someone had to console the girl. She broke into sobs the second the boy slammed her deck onto the ground, "Don't worry, I'll gather up your deck," he said kindly.

The girl managed to calm down somewhat, "Y-you will?"

"Of course," he answered without hesitation.

The girl looked at the shaded teen with sparkles in her eyes, "Thank you," she said gratefully. She couldn't remember the last time someone was ever this nice to her.


"That's all of them," the teen said as he picked up the last card. As he was picking up all the cards, he noticed something. He ran on the assumption that the girl was using a starter deck much like the boy had. However, looking at the cards, the opposite was true. This looked like a professionally constructed deck, something that could have beaten that boy's deck easy. With the complete deck in hand, he walked back over to the girl to hand it over, "Here."

"Oh, thank you so much, mister!" the girl squeaked, receiving her cards back with a wide smile on her face.

"Say, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"How exactly did you lose to that kid? This looks like a competently made deck. How'd you lose to his starter deck?"

"Oh, I don't know how to duel," the girl meekly answered, "That was the first time I ever dueled."

"Okay, but, how'd you get a deck like this? This is not something a newbie scrapped together," did she borrow this deck from a relative or something?

The girl answered with a perfectly straight face, "I gathered those cards because their voices spoke to me."

"I'm sorry, what..?" the teen muttered. The cards—spoke?

"I know it doesn't make sense, but it's true. They spoke to me so I gathered them up," she looked over to her savior to see he had his mouth hung low. The girl's mood shifted immediately, "I knew it! You think I'm weird, too!"

"Not really," the teen answered, "I think it's cool you got such a special connection with your deck," the girl looked back over at the teen, who had a smile on his face, "It kinda reminds me of how I see my deck."

"Really?"

"Yeah," the teen pulled out his deck out of the duel disk, looking at it with critical eyes, "I've used this deck for a long time now. It's almost become a part of me. I wouldn't give these cards up for anything."

"When you were dueling, I could sense the spirits of your cards," the girl looked over to the teen's deck, "They seemed to be very happy with you."

"Good to know my monsters like me," the teen said with a smile on his face. He pressed a button on the bottom of the duel disk to release the strap, allowing him to slide it off his arm. He walked back over to the girl and handed the duel disk back to her, "Thanks for letting me borrow this," in return, the girl returned to him his pizza box, "Well, I guess I should be going now," he walked past the girl back towards the park's exit. As he did so, the girl called back.

"Hey, I never got your name."

The teen turned around to oblige her request, "Oh, It's Chuck. Mind telling me your name?"

"It's Sarah."

"Well, Sarah, I'll see you around, okay?" Chuck gestured a wave goodbye before turning back to leave the park, for real this time. As he left, Sarah put a finger to her chin.

"Maybe he can help me…"


And that's chapter one complete. Perhaps the greatest challenge when writing this chapter was figuring out how to write the duel. Unlike the show, I can't use any visuals to dictate stats or card types. I think I found a good way to portray duels in a written format that doesn't make it seem like a boring play-by-play.

Okay, now to address the elephant in the room. You may have noticed that Chuck's deck is similar to one Mr. Yusei Fudo of YU-GI-OH! 5Ds fame. Let me explain. Chuck's deck is based off of the deck I use in YU-GI-OH! Master Duel. The duel featured in this chapter is actually a modified replay of a duel I played in that game. My deck is a heavily modified version of the Synchro structure deck in Master Duel you can get when you start playing. I use this deck because A) it's fun, and B) 5Ds is the best YU-GI-OH! series in my opinion. The current iteration of my deck doesn't even run Nitro Synchron or Nitro Warrior anymore. Let's just say that they're in the side deck. I have devised an in-universe explanation for why Chuck uses a deck similar to Yusei's, but that is for sometime in the future.