Author's Note: There probably won't be any established Yugioh characters appearing in this fic, though some will probably be mentioned. I wanted to tell my own story set in the world of yugioh. For reference, the cards and decks used by characters are based on the April 2005 cardpool and official banlist, AKA Goat Format.

Chapter 1: Thugs and Bugs

A boy stood before a large, decrepit looking building. It had once been some kind of corporate office, but the company had gone under several years back, and now it was mostly abandoned, or so the public thought. In truth, it was now inhabited by a group of thugs and lowlifes who banded together to establish a Dueling League of sorts. The idea was to create an environment where they could all sharpen their duel skills in an effort to one day make it onto the Pro Circuit and lift themselves out of their impoverished lifestyle. Thus far, no one in the gang had managed to accomplish this goal.

This kid aimed to change that. Deck and Duel Disk in hand, he strode into the building with utter confidence. Well, as much confidence as a seventeen year old boy who was about to confront a gang of known criminals could have, which wasn't honestly much.

"Excuse me?" he called out as he entered the main lobby. "If any of you punks are around, I'm here to become the newest member of your little League, so come on out."

The lobby was your typical corporate affair, with a reception desk directly across the from the door. An old computer monitor sat atop it, along with several other normal items for a reception desk, all covered in dust: a cup full of pens, a pad of sticky notes, an old photo frame, etc. Several chandeliers hung down from the ceiling, dimly lighting the room. The power had undoubtedly been cut from this building long ago, so the gang must have hooked up a generator. Across the room on the left was a set of stairs leading to the upper floors, and to the right a set of elevators that probably no longer worked. Three men dressed in dirty, tattered clothing descended from the staircase bearing smug expressions. They wore black leather vests over their T-shirts (or at least, they were brown now. Who knows what color they used to be), dirty blue jeans with scrapes and holes in various places, fingerless black leather gloves on their hands, and worn out tennis shoes on their feet, with the exception of the one in the middle, who opted for a pair of brown boots. Each one sported slightly scuffed up Duel Disks on their left arms.

"A kid like you wants to join the Breakers?" began the one in the middle as he slicked his dark hair back with a comb. "Cocky little punk, aren't you?" The man looked the slender newcomer up and down.

By contrast, the newcomer was dressed immaculately; a tucked-in black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows and the top three buttons undone, revealing a white tank top underneath, dark blue skinny jeans with a studded belt, black low-cut Chuck Taylors on his feet, a silver chain necklace around his neck with a sapphire pendant, a white-trimmed black paracord bracelet on his right wrist and a well-worn silver-plated watch around his left. On his right index, right ring, left middle, and left pinky fingers were several valuable-looking silver signet rings. His standard-issue Kaiba Corp Duel Disk was almost as well-worn as his watch, indicating large amounts of time spent dueling. The relatively pale boy stared back up and the hardened criminal with icy blue eyes.

"You come into a place like this dressed like that, and you think you can join us?" the man continued. "What makes you think we won't just beat you up and rob you blind?"
"The whole point of this place is to become better Duelists and escape poverty, right?" asked the boy as he brushed a few strands of his spiky shoulder-length black hair out of his eyes. "Sure, you could mug me and probably get a pretty penny out of my clothes and effects, but that money won't last long. Trust me, if you guys wanna seriously get better and make the Pro Circuit in the long run, you'll want me around. If you're smart, you'll forego the short term gains of robbing me in favor of the long term gains of having me around as a training partner."

"Oh, yeah? You talk a big game, but let's see you prove it. How about you duel my subordinate here?" he motioned to the man on his left. "You win, and you'll become the newest official member of the Breakers. You lose, and you hand over everything you have, even down to the shirt off your back. How does that sound, boys?"

"Sounds fine to me," said the one on the right. The man on the left remained silent but nodded to indicate his approval.

"I'll take that bet," replied the boy with a smile.

"By the way, you cocky little shit, what's your name?"

"Tatsumaki. And since you referred to this guy as your subordinate, then you must be Enzo, the leader."

"I see our reputation precedes us," replied Enzo, motioning to the man on his right. "This here is Manda, and the other one's Kiri. Now, show 'em what your Insect deck can do, Manda."

"With pleasure, boss," replied Manda, brandishing his Duel Disk.

Tatsumaki brandished his Duel Disk, engaging the Hologram System.

"I'll be nice and let you go first," said Tatsumaki.

"Alright then, fine!" shouted Manda, drawing his hand. "My turn! Draw!" Manda studied his hand and quickly decided on his opening move. "I'll activate Pot of Greed to draw 2 more cards. Next, I'll Set a monster and a backrow and end my turn."

"Alright, I'm up! Draw!" declared Tatsumaki. "First, I'll activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy that backrow of yours, then Normal Summon Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer and move to the Battle Phase! With that Sakuretsu Armor you Set out of the way, Kycoo will attack your monster!"

"You revealed my Set card, Man-Eater Bug, activating his Flip Effect!" declared Manda with a smirk. "He may die, but he's taking Kycoo down with him!"

"Fair enough, I suppose. I'll go ahead and pass the turn."

"Alright! Draw! I Normal Summon Howling Insect and move to Battle to attack you directly! In Main Phase 2, I'll set another backrow and end my turn!" Between Howling Insect's effect to supply him a new monster when it was destroyed in battle, and his own Set Mystical Space Typhoon to take care of any backrow Tatsumaki could Set, he had set himself up decently well.

Tatsumaki: 6800 Life Points

Manda: 8000 Life Points

"Draw!" Tatsumaki took a moment to look over his hand again. It contained Bazoo the Soul Eater, Dimension Fusion, Lightning Vortex, Graceful Charity, and his draw for turn was Thunder Dragon. He saw a potential path to victory immediately.

"I activate the effect of my Thunder Dragon, discarding it to add 2 more copies of it from my deck to my hand! Next, I activate Lightning Vortex, discarding a Thunder Dragon to destroy all face-up monsters you control, meaning you won't get the effect of your Howling Insect. Now, I activate Graceful Charity to draw 3 cards, then discard 2."

Graceful Charity netted him Heavy Storm, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and Premature Burial. He discarded the remaining Thunder Dragon and the Breaker.

"This Duel is over now," said Tatsumaki firmly. "I activate Heavy Storm to destroy all Spells and Traps cards on the field. Next, I Normal Summon Bazoo the Soul Eater and activate his effect. I remove from play Kycoo and 2 of my Thunder Dragons from my Graveyard, and for each monster removed, Bazoo gains 300 Attack, boosting him from 1600 to 2500. Next, I activate the Spell Card Dimension Fusion! By paying 2000 Life Points, this card makes us both Special Summon all of our removed from play monsters!"

"Wait, even though I don't have any removed monsters to bring back, your math is off!" shouted Manda. "I'm still at full Life Points, and you only have 7500 damage on the field! You can't beat me this turn!"

"Who said I was moving straight to my Battle Phase yet? I still have one Spell left to play. I activate Premature Burial, paying 800 Life Points to revive the third Thunder Dragon in my Graveyard! With all these monsters on my board, I now have enough damage to kill you right here! First, my Thunder Dragons will attack you in sequence! Next, Kycoo will attack! And finally, Bazoo the Soul Eater finishes the job! That's the game!"

Tatsumaki: 4000 Life Points

Manda: 0 Life Points

"Holy shit," muttered Enzo. "He OTK'd Manda. This kid's the real deal."

"Told you guys I'm good to have around," grinned Tatsumaki. "That was barely even a challenge."

"So, Tatsumaki was your name, right?" asked Enzo. "I guess a deal's a deal. Welcome to the Breakers, kid. You definitely proved your worth to our team."

"Thanks, but that was nothing, really. I'd like to take on the infamous Enzo at some point and see what you've got."

"Maybe some other time, kid. Truth be told, you came in right as we were about to go out and round up some dinner."

"Well, you guys are a pretty famous crew. There's no way you got your reputation with just three members. How many do you have?"

"Counting you now, we have a total of seven," replied Enzo. "Me, Manda, Kiri here, and then upstairs we got Jo, Taza, and Ryo."

"I'm kinda feeling like a good burger," replied Tatsumaki, turning towards the exit. "It's all on me, so round up the other guys and let's go."

"What? Are you serious? A kid like you has the money to feed six other people?" asked Manda incredulously.

"Yeah, of course I got money," replied Tatsumaki. "I would have thought my clothes and accessories you guys wanted to rob me for would have made that obvious."

"Just who are you, kid?" asked Enzo suspiciously.

"I'm Tatsumaki Yaku, son of Rin Yaku."