Hello everyone, I really wanted to try my hand at writing a scenario where Rio was the Main Female Lead. After having been inspired by multiple fanfics of this same concept, I figured I may as well write my own version. Along with 5D's, Zexal has always been my shared Number one favorite Series, so many of my favorite all-time Yu-Gi-Oh! Characters are from Zexal and 5D's.

A few key changes in this story:

- Rio is the same age as Yuma, meaning she will be his classmate. She still shares the same birthday as Shark though.

- Rio is Yuma's Childhood Friend, and the first chapter takes place during their last duel before the actual events begin. Though, Yuma still hasn't met Shark during this period, so basically their first meeting is still the same. He only knows Rio has a brother, but he doesn't know who it is.

- Synchro Monsters are going to appear in this story. I remember how badly I wanted Kite to Synchro Summon, he was so close to mastering every up to date Summoning Method in Zexal.

- I'm going to come up with lots of Fan-Made Cards, you can leave suggestions if you have any fan-made card ideas of your own.

- Galaxy-Eyes Cloudragon will appear as Kite's Duel Spirit, because after seeing a lot of solid fanarts with him and Kite, I just wanted him in the story. Utopic Onomatopoeia may appear as Yuma's Duel Spirit as well, but I'm not entirely sure.

- I'm going to combine the Manga and Anime for this one. So expect to see Manga Characters in this as well.

I believe that is enough for now, I hope you all enjoy the first chapter!

Chapter 1: A Tale of Two Friends, Light and Ice!

On a sunny day in the beautiful, futuristic city of Heartland, we find ourselves at a park that happens to be one of the many tourist attractions that help shape up the city's charm. Currently, there were many kids and adults having fun talking, walking and playing around with each other in the park.

"Catch me if you can Yuma!" a seven-year-old girl said giggling as she tried to run away from the boy named Yuma, who was chasing her. The girl had pale skin, dark blue hair with light blue bangs, dark pink eyes, pale skin and her attire consisted of a purple summer dress and purple shoes.

"Oh you're so gonna get it this time Rio! I'm gonna Jet!" Yuma exclaimed proudly. The seven-year-old boy had tan skin, red eyes, and black and red spiked hair that points out and upward. His attire consisted of a red vest with an orange shirt underneath, black shorts and red shoes.

"Be careful you two, we don't want you to hurt yourselves now, do we?" The blue-haired girl's mother called out to the kids with a warm smile, while sitting on a bench where she wasn't alone though, since there was a young teenage girl sitting right next to her. The young teenage girl had dark red hair, which was tied in a ponytail, purple eyes and a purple summer dress.

"You better not get into any trouble Yuma, or you're so gonna get it when we get back home!" The young teenage girl strictly warned as she witnessed her younger brother chasing his friend. As the kids soon vanished disappeared from sight, Yuma's sister let out a heavy sigh. "I'm just glad that Yuma is happy again after our parents went missing. Rio really does know how bring the best in him, if I had known throwing a water balloon at his face is all it would take to bring him back to his senses, then I would have done it weeks ago."

"Yeah she heard about how upset Yuma had been lately, and so she asked me if we could arrange a playdate. She then asked me if I could buy some water balloons, I just asked her what for, and you know what happened next." Rio's Mother explained.

"I wish I brought a camera with me, oh how I would have loved to add this moment to the family album. Say Mrs. Kastle, where is Reginald? Does he ever go outside?" Kari asked about her son, who happened to be Rio's older brother by one year.

"Well Kari, I was supposed to bring Reginald along today, but like always, he's dueling with his friends. He says, he wants to play in official tournaments one day, so he's been practicing with his friends non-stop." Mrs. Kastle had hoped that her son could try spending some time with his little sister outside today, but he was always so focused on dueling together with his friends.

Kari's smile slipped upon hearing the word dueling, her eyes turned dark as she stared intently at the ground, muttering to herself. "Dueling huh?"

"Is something the matter?" Mrs. Kastle glanced at her with concern, causing Kari to face her with an expression of sadness.

"It's just that, Yuma wants the same thing, well rather he wants to become the Duel Champion, but I don't feel like letting him duel, not after what my dad told me. Dueling could change his life he said, but he didn't clarify if it would be for the better or for the worse."

"It's okay to be concerned Kari, maybe you should talk to Yuma about this and maybe from there, you can decide what course of action you want to take?"

"Yeah, I guess talking to Yuma may be able to help me think things through. Thanks Mrs. Kastle!" Kari managed to let out a small smile and kept on conversing with the older woman about her plans for the future.

Both Yuma and Rio kept on running around in the park, the former was irritated by the fact that Rio didn't seem tired at all.

"Come on Yuma, I can't believe you're still too slow. It's hard to believe that you are good at sports when your running form is wacky." Rio teased.

"Says... the one... that gets... easily scared by cats!" Yuma retorted in between breaths as he stopped running, holding his knees as he was too tired from running. His words caused the girl to stop right in her tracks as well and turn around to glare at him angrily.

"I told you not to mention that every time we hang out together!" Rio accused, walking up to him with her arms folded.

"Give me a break, how can you call yourself an Ice Princess, if all it takes is a cat to make you melt." Yuma joked as he rolled his eyes.

"Come on Yuma! You know cats are scary!" Rio said as an excuse to defend herself with. Her fear of cats stem from a past incident where she accidentally stepped on a cat's tail and ended up getting clawed in the face. Luckily it wasn't anything too major, just a silly incident that her brother even to this day makes fun of her for.

"They're not scary, it's just you being weird Rio." Yuma always found that particular thing about her weird. Even though he may not be fond of animals all that much, but even he could admit that cats aren't anything to be afraid of.

"I'm not weird!" Rio replied, inside her mind, she told herself that the princess of ice is anything but weird.

"Yes you are, weren't you the one who basically ate ice cream cones everyday. Have you seen anyone else eating ice cream cones during winter?" Yuma still couldn't understand how someone can eat something so cold when the weather itself is cold.

"Maybe you should try doing that yourself, eating ice cream cones during cold winter nights are always the best. It just gives you a calming feeling. Anyways, enough about me, how about you? Have you finally gotten better at dueling?" Rio wondered.

"I like to believe I did, I guess we just have to get our game on to find out!" Yuma was excited to duel Rio again, it had been a while since their last face-off.

"Have you even won your first duel yet?" Rio hoped that her best friend had finally put an end to his losing streak.

"What is this, are we playing 20 questions or something?" Yuma replied, he knew they were not playing twenty questions, he just wanted to dodge the question. Even in the current moment, the truth is he had never defeated anyone in a duel before, never against his parents, his classmates, and even his grandmother beat him with her old school cards. He's probably on the biggest losing streak possible on the planet, but that will never stop him from trying to jet and become a Dueling Champion.

"I'm just trying to make sure this duel isn't as one-sided as our other 47 duels." Rio pointed out, Yuma has never come close to winning against her in any of their duels.

"I can't believe you're still keeping count?!" Yuma stared at her incredulously.

"Trust me, you losing this many times to me is nothing. When I'm dueling against my big brother, he's nearly impossible to beat. We've had over 50 sibling squabble duels and he has won every single one." Rio informed, even though she always acknowledged her brother's superior skills, she can't help but be annoyed when he always tries to rub it in with the constant reminders that he was the one who taught her how to duel. One of these days, she was going to teach her brother a lesson and finally taunt him back.

"Sibling squabble duels?" Yuma wondered out loud.

"Well, we usually duel whenever we disagree about something. Like this one time I called my brother out for not being able to sleep without a night light and he got mad, then he promised to absolutely destroy me this time, which he did. Sometimes, I just hate the fact that he's the one who taught me how to duel, he sure loves to gloat about how that makes him a stronger duelist than me.' Rio explained, rolling her eyes when she said that last part.

"Say, you've always mentioned you had a brother, but how come I've never met him before?" Yuma always wanted to meet this so-called dueling prodigy brother of hers, even after knowing Rio for a long while now, he still never had the opportunity to meet him face-to-face.

"Well let's just say he loves dueling just as much as us. Dueling for him is an obsession, once he tried to sneak out from class just so he can duel with his friends from another class who had recess, but the teacher caught him in the act. The teacher called our father, and oh boy Reginald received an earful from our parents that day. He always spends his free time dueling with strong opponents, so that's why he isn't here." Rio always thought about what would happen if Yuma and Reginald were to meet. Reginald probably would call him a terrible duelist right away, and say things like how this was a utter waste of his time or duelists like you give us a bad reputation. Or he might actually be kind for once, but that's something she doubts.

"So dueling means everything to him. I bet I can take him no problem!"

"If you say so Yuma." Rio shrugged, knowing if her brother and Yuma were to duel now, it would be totally one-sided. She then noticed something golden hanging around his neck. "By the way, what's that around your neck? I've never seen you have one before?"

"Oh this?" Yuma clutched the object in question with his face turning sad in the process. "This golden pendant was the last thing my father gave me before he went on that last expedition."

"Oh I'm sorry Yuma... I didn't mean..." Rio didn't mean to remind him about his missing father, she had a tendency to be extra curious when it came to things. Now she just wished she didn't notice his golden key.

"No worries, my father taught me that I should be smiling and looking forward to the future. Also, I already knew this playdate was a ruse to get me to cheer up? Am I right?" Yuma asked, wanting to make sure that he was right about Rio trying to cheer him up.

"Guess you caught me" Rio replied with a relaxed smile. "What gave it away?"

"Well I figured it out the moment you threw that water balloon at my face and made me chase you all the way here." Yuma explained how he figured out, he then allowed a radiant grin to form on his face. "Thanks Rio, I really appreciate you doing this for me. You've always been a great friend."

"I always got your back Yuma, but anyways, are you up for a duel now?" Rio then brought out her D-Pad that was resting in her right palm.

"You know I am!" Yuma was already on it as he threw his D-Pad into the air, prompting Rio to do the same a second later.

"Duel Disk go!" they both called out in unison as both D-Pads attached themselves to their respective owner's duel disk, activating them.

"Duel Gazer, let's roll!" Yuma exclaimed as he and Rio both put on their Duel Gazer over their respective left eye. Yuma's Duel Gazer was white and yellow with a green lens, while Rio's was the same, except that she had a purple lens.

"This duel will take a cold turn before you know it Yuma!" Rio declared.

"Augmented Reality Vision Link Established." The duel pads called out as the AR Vision Link was set in motion.

Yuma Life Points: 4000/Number of cards in hand: 5

Rio Life Points: 4000/Number of cards in hand: 5

Yuma 1st Turn:

"You can have the first turn Yuma! I know I'm going to win anyway!" Rio gave her friend an innocent wink.

"You shouldn't be so sure about that Ice Princess, because I'm gonna jet! Let's go, I DRAW!" Yuma drew his card in dramatic fashion by leaping into the air. He landed on the ground two seconds later and instantly placed the card he just drew onto one of the monster zones on his duel disk. "I summon Gagaga Magician in ATK Mode!" Yuma's Magician appeared right beside him, staring coldly at the girl in front of them.

Gagaga Magician: ATK: 1500/ Level 4

"Since the person who goes first can't attack, I'll end my turn!" Yuma said calmly as he passed over the turn to his best friend.

Yuma Life Points: 4000/Number of cards in hand: 5

Rio Life Points: 4000/Number of cards in hand: 5

Rio 1st Turn:

"Wow! that's a new one. I'll admit he looks pretty cool, are you using a new Deck?" Rio wondered as she looked Yuma's Magician in awe.

"Yup, I'm using my father's cards, back during his childhood, my father used to be one of the best duelists in town. Even if he was more into exploring different ruins, secret passages and all that stuff, he still loved dueling with all his heart, which is why I'm going to honor him by becoming a Dueling Champion with this Deck!" Yuma spoke with resolve. Unbeknownst to him, the hologram form of Gagaga Magician turned to look at him. If it weren't for the scarf covering the lower side of his face, his smile of approval would have been visible to his master. "

"I see, that's really cool of you Yuma. So does that deck contain any Xyz Monsters?" Rio asked with excitement, wanting to know if the Deck that originally belonged to her friend's father had any Xyz Monsters that could make the duel more exciting.

"Not really, but don't worry, one day I'll surely get one." Yuma always loved Xyz Monsters, but he always struggled to acquire one, heck, even to this day he has never even managed to get a clear look at the cards with black outlines. One of these days he would surely get one. Rio's excited tone died down upon hearing that.

"That's a bummer! I was hoping this duel could be more spectacular with Xyz Monsters!"

"Huh, what do you mean? You don't have any Xyz Monsters either last I checked!" Yuma pointed out as he recalled that in all of their duels so far, Rio had never ever Xyz Summoned.

"You'll see what I mean later. Anyways, it's too bad you chose to summon Gagaga Magician in ATK Mode instead of placing him face-down." Rio warned, causing Yuma to stare at her with confusion. "It's my turn, I draw!" Rio looked at the card she drew with a smile, placing it in her hand, but not before picking up the furthest to the right. "Perfect! I activate my Spell Card, Fissure! This card allows me to destroy one face-up monster with the lowest ATK Points on my opponent's field, well seeing as you only have Gagaga Magician, this really is a no-brainer."

"Oh no! Not my magician!" Yuma called out in worry, but then he heard something rumbling, and looked over to see the ground beneath Gagaga Magician opening up. Yuma's trusted ally then fell into the opening and a second later, the separated ground quickly restored itself.

"Looks like you're defenseless Yuma dearest! I summon Aurora Phoenix!" Rio's purplish-blue aurora-inspired Phoenix quickly flew around the field as soon as she manifested. The Phoenix gave an evil grin upon catching the sight of her favorite victim, who also happened to be her mistress' friend.

Aurora Phoenix: ATK: 1600/ Level 4

Effect: When it is Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned, if there are no other monsters on your side of the field, Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower WATER Winged-Beast monster from your hand.

"No! Not that bird! Why did she have to end up in your Starting Hand!" Yuma complained, he hated having to go up against this bird, due to him having dueled Rio enough times previously to know what this monster's effects were.

"Yes, it's that bird. Now I activate Aurora Phoenix's effect! If there are no other monsters on my side of the field, I can special summon 1 Level 4 or lower WATER Winged-Beast monster from my hand. So come on out, Aurora Wing!" Rio's next monster was a beautiful winged creature who embodied the essence of the Aurora with her bluish-green colors. Aurora Wing was now hovering in the air right beside Aurora Phoenix, ready to help her comrade out in dealing with Yuma.

Aurora Wing: ATK: 1200/ Level 4

"Oh great, that's just what I needed, another Aurora Bird to help hurt and freeze me!" Yuma said sarcastically, he decided it would be better to throw his two cents in before he were to take direct attacks from the Aurora Duo.

"Totally! Freezing and hurting others is what me and my monsters do best!" Rio giggled, she was able to sense Yuma's sarcasm, but she could care less. She just simply decided to let her monsters do the talking. "Alright, you first Aurora Wing! Attack Yuma directly!" Aurora Wing instantly heeded her mistress' command, and quickly blasted Yuma with a miniature stream of aurora-colored snow. Yuma quickly covered his face and was hit by the attack.

Yuma Life Points: 4000 - 1200 = 2800

"Follow suit Aurora Phoenix!" Rio's stronger monster grinned evilly once again, and with hyperspeed she was covered in an aurora-colored aura and rammed into Yuma, causing him to fall flat on his back down on the ground.

Yuma Life Points: 2800 - 1600 = 1200

"Ow! That hurt!" Yuma complained as he got up a few seconds later. He was going to pay Rio back for that.

"Good job you two!" Rio praised her monsters. "I set one card face-down, and I end my turn!" Rio declared as her face-down card appeared virtually on the field in the middle spell trap card zone.

Yuma Life Points: 1200/ Number of cards in hand: 5

Rio Life Points: 4000/ Number of cards in hand: 2

Yuma 2nd Turn:

"That's it, I'm turning this around! I Draw! I summon Gogogo Golem in ATK mode!" Yuma's monster appeared in front of him, he was already eager to pummel some birds. "Easy there Golem, we'll do this one at a time. I play the Equip Spell, United We Stand!" Yuma played the card he just drew, this card would definitely give him a big advantage over Rio. "I equip this to my Gogogo Golem, who gets 800 ATK and DEF for each face-up monster cards I control, so his ATK only rises with 800 for now!"

Gogogo Golem: 1800 ATK 800 ATK = 2600 ATK/ Level 4

"From what I remember, Rio has never used a high-level monster against me, and she prefers to power up her monsters through spell cards! However, the more monsters I control on my field, the stronger my Gogogo Golem becomes, so I got this in the bag thanks to this card. " Yuma proclaimed inside his thoughts, already thinking he has this in the bag.

"Wow, now that's one tough looking Golem, especially for one that has 2600 ATK Points!" Rio felt bad for whichever one of her monsters Yuma decided to flatten first, but she already had something planned.

"Don't think I have forgotten about Aurora Wing's effect, she can revive herself from the Graveyard if she gets destroyed in battle, right? So, in that case I'm taking down your Aurora Phoenix first. Gogogo Golem Attack!" Yuma commanded. His Golem was already on the move, quickly making his way towards Aurora Phoenix.

"I don't think so, Yuma! I activate my Trap! Aurora Barrier!" Rio called out, as her face-down card flipped up to reveal itself.

Aurora Barrier:

Effect: When an opponent's monster declares an attack on a WATER Winged-Beast monster: Target the attacking monster; negate the attack, and if you do, inflict 300 damage to your opponent for each card in your hand.

"Aurora what NOW?!" Yuma yelled out as Gogogo Golem was just a second away from delivering a powerful punch to the malicious Aurora Phoenix, only for him to be knocked back when an aurora-colored barrier formed around Aurora Phoenix.

"Barrier! It's not that hard to pronounce." Rio rolled her eyes and continued. "Thanks to Aurora Barrier. if an opponent's monster declares an attack on a WATER Winged-Beast monster, I can negate the attack. However there is another thing going for it, I can deal you 300 damage for each card in my hand. I have two, so you'll be taking 600 points of damage!" Rio calculated as the cards in her hand began glowing, and unleashed two blue-colored beams of light towards Yuma, striking him.

Yuma Life Points: 1200 - 600 = 600

"Ugh! Didn't know I'll be the one taking damage on my own turn!" Yuma was really impressed with Rio's dueling skills, he was inwardly laughing at how his friend was able to turn the tables on him once again when he thought it was going to be the other way around. "I guess, I can't do anything else but end my turn."

Yuma Life Points: 600/ Number of cards in hand: 4

Rio Life Points: 4000/ Number of cards in hand: 2

Rio 2nd Turn:

"At least my monster is still the strongest one on the field. The more monsters I summon, United We Stand will continue to increase my Gogogo Golem's attack strength!" Yuma was convinced that Rio didn't have anything to counter his two card combo, so when it's his turn again, he's going to summon a monster and then go deal some massive damage to her life points.

"Is that so? I draw!" Rio smiled confidently at Yuma, not seeming fazed by Gogogo Golem's power. "It's time I show you my surprise Yuma! I'm using the card my brother gave me this! I hope you have noticed that I have two Level 4 monsters on the field, right?"

"No way! Rio, you can Xy-" Yuma didn't get to finish as he was cut off by Rio swiping her hand to the side.

"I Overlay my Aurora Phoenix and Aurora Wing! With these monsters, I build the Overlay Network!" Rio's monster turned into blue orbs that entered a spiraling red portal on the ground. "I Xyz Summon! Descend from the skies, Ice Beast Zerofyne!" Rio called out as her Xyz Monster unveiled herself with two blue orbs circling around her.

Ice Beast Zerofyne: ATK: 2000/ Rank 4/ OVU: 2

"Woah! That's amazing!" Yuma was in awe by Rio's Xyz Monster, finding her to be very cool looking. "But Gogogo Golem is still stronger!"

"You really need to learn how to be more patient Yuma! An Xyz monster's true powers reside within their Overlay Units, not in their ATK Points! I activate Zerofyne's effect! By deatching one Overlay Unit, I can negate all face-up card on my opponent's field, so that means the effects of your United We Stand and Gogogo Golem, get neutralized! Now your Gogogo Golem's ATK Points become 1800 again! Perfect Freeze!" The blue-haired girl added as her Xyz monster quickly flew into the air, glowing golden as she stopped in mid-air. She then unleashed light blue colored lasers from her wings towards towards Gogogo Golem and the spell card, United We Stand. Upon contact, both the spell card and Gogogo Golem were slowly being encased in ice, with the latter grunting in pain.

Gogogo Golem: 2600 ATK - 800 ATK = 1800 ATK

"Oh no, not my Gogogo Golem!" Yuma knew there was nothing he could do to save his monster from destruction now, but at least he will be able to survive another turn. "Xyz Monsters are really powerful, with one effect she neutralized my whole combo."

"There is one more thing Yuma!" Rio yelled, gaining the attention of her friend. "After using this effect, Ice Beast Zerofyne gains 300 ATK Points for every face-up card on the field, including herself. There are three cards currently face-up on the field, so now she gains 900 ATK Points!"

Ice Beast Zerofyne: 2000 ATK 900 ATK = 2900 ATK

"That's enough to wipe out the rest of my life points!" Yuma yelled as even he could calculate that the damage he would take from this next attack, it was more than enough to wipe out the rest of his life points.

"Exactly! Now go, Ice Beast Zerofyne! Attack Gogogo Golem with Icicicle Storm!" Rio commanded as she wiped her right hand out to the side, allowing her monster to twirl around in the air as she glowed light blue. Zerofyne then brought her hands up the into the air, before swiping them to the side, firing a stream of icicle shards at Gogogo Golem, who tried to shield himself from the attack, but to no avail as Zerofyne's icicle shards managed to easily disperse him into particle, causing Yuma to be blown away by the explosion.

Yuma Life Points: 600 - 1100 = 0

Winner: Rio

"Looks like I beat you again Yuma!" Rio jovially called out to her friend, as she then slowly walked over to Yuma, who had recovered from the attack and was now sitting on the ground with his eyes shadowed. "So, what do you think about my Xyz monster? She is pretty cool, don't you think?" Rio continued as she offered a hand. Yuma returned her gesture as she helped him up.

"She is not just pretty cool! SHE IS THE COOLEST!" Yuma cried out in happiness as his shadowed eyes faded away, revealing the adorable eyes of a kid who had just been granted his biggest wish ever.

"Thanks Yuma! I really owe it to my big brother! If I didn't have this card, you may have actually won this one!" Rio admitted, she didn't have any other way to take down the Gogogo Golem and United We Stand combo besides Xyz Summoning Zerofyne. She made a mental note to thank Reginald later for this gift.

"Man, I wish I could Xyz Summon too! Ice Beast Zerofyne is a real Ice Queen! One day, I'm going to get an Xyz Monster just as awesome as her!" Yuma declared, nothing was going to stop him from acquiring one.

"Oh Yuma. How about this, I promise to give you a Xyz Monster as a gift one day!" Rio suggested, surprising her friend.

"Really, you would do that for me!?" Yuma asked his friend.

"Of course, why wouldn't I, you're my best friend after all! I want us to become the best duelists in Heartland one day! I'll be the Queen of Duels and you'll be the Duel Champion!" Rio stated, she wanted to realize her dream alongside Yuma.

"Yeah, we're gonna Hi-five the sky and take the dueling world by storm!" Yuma proclaimed as he gave his friend a high-five.

"I think we should get back to my mother and your sister, I can ask them if we can get some ice cream if you want?" Rio suggested.

"Yeah, I would love to eat something cold after an intense duel like that." Yuma agreed as they began making their way back towards Mrs. Kastle and Kari.

And done! Yeah this was really fun to write, I hope you all enjoyed it, and feel free to leave a review and/or add it to your favorites list.