Caged in between four walls of icy steel bars, a fierce duel was nearing its end.
"I will attack you directly with Raidraptor - Devil Eagle!" Naruto shouted. His monster streaked forward and struck the opposing man down with its wings.
The crowd around him erupted into a roar of cheers as Koyama, a muscular man dressed in a white wifebeater, fell onto the ground.
His Life Points dropped to zero shortly after.
Koyama's LP: 800-0
From the audience, Rikuo, a beefy tan-skinned man with dreadlocks, grinned in ecstasy. He nudged his friend with his elbow. "I told ja, this sucker is going to make us some big bucks in the underground dueling world!"
Kaio, a lanky man with striped fade, smiled in agreement. "Turns out you're right!" He turned his attention back to the stack of money that a staff member had handed him, and greedily flipped through the bills. "This is even more cash than I dreamed of!"
They met Naruto just the other week. Their gang of thugs was celebrating yet another successful heist, when all of a sudden, Naruto barged into their territory and challenged them to a duel.
At first, they were rattled as they thought the police had managed to find them. But, they were quickly able to relax when they realized it was just a boy who was barely half their size.
Their relief turned to horror shortly after.
"Who is the strongest here?!"
They still remembered those fearsome words that the boy shouted as he toppled Duelists after Duelists.
In the end, somehow, almost miraculously, they managed to convince the boy to join them instead.
They told him that they had connections in the Underground Dueling World and that if he joined them, they could sponsor him, and then they could all make some money.
Naruto ended up agreeing to those terms, under the belief that he would be able to face even stronger opponents this way.
Within the center of the duel cage, Naruto's chest heaved up and down in rapid fashion as he had become winded from the night's activities.
Twenty straight wins….
Yet, despite this, a part of him remained unsated.
For some reason, that idiot's words still lingered in his mind.
"Does that mean you have given up something in the past?"
He bit his lips in anger, hard enough to draw blood.
"Next time, for sure, I will crush him…." He swore to himself.
…
"Huh? A handsome man who comes every day to visit his girlfriend?" An hospital staff asked as she set her stuff down by the front counter.
It was late in the night, and once again the gossips were out in full force.
"Not sure if they are boyfriends or girlfriends, but it sure feels like they are going out." Her coworker responded.
"Anyways, that guy sure sounds amazing." The hospital staff mused to herself.
"Ah… there he is…" The coworker said as she pointed at the opposite side of the hospital's glass door entrance.
She peeked over the counter, only to immediately look away.
The man wasn't who she imagined at all. Rather than a charming, prince-like figure, it was a man with dirty blonde hair and a face that looked as if he hadn't slept in days. He wore a black jacket over a white T-Shirt- both of which looked a tad bit dirty.
As he walked closer towards them with his white, jewel-encrusted shoes, he had on a scowl that welcomed no affection or sympathy.
"This guy? He looks a bit meaner than I imagined. He kind of looks like a delinquent."
"I would like to visit the girl in room 94." He spoke to them. His face was dead serious without even a hint of a smile.
The staff at the front counter smiled nervously. "Yeah, of course."
He walked off without even a word of gratitude
The door to the hospital room cracked open, and Naruto came stumbling inside. His back was hunched over and his eyes were saddled with bags of fatigue.
"I lost a duel, Rio..." His voice was low, drained, and exhausted. Tonight, he no longer had the strength to keep his defeat a secret.
"...To a loser by the name of Tsukumo Yuma." He finished.
He stumbled his way to the head of the bed and dropped to his knees. The room was dark, save for the faint lights of the monitors around them.
On top of the bed, laid a lithe beauty with long marine hair that seemed to be blessed by the essence of the sea.
The girl slept there, motionless— as if she was a fairy tale princess cursed into a deep slumber.
If she could wake up, she'd probably make fun of him for playing such a shoddy duel.
"Your family took me in when I had nowhere to go. Yet, I couldn't do anything for you."
His confession was met with silence. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought he was being denied forgiveness.
"Remember the first time I won a tournament?" He asked. "We celebrated by going to the amusement park. And then I…" He stopped as he choked on his words. He reached for the twin rings that he wore on his hands as if looking for support.
Yet, as he remained unable to continue, he could only stare out the window in regret of his past actions.
That night when Rio walked up to him in the amusement park to offer him matching rings that they could wear together, he foolishly called her idea stupid.
He never got the chance to properly apologize to her that day. At least not when she could still hear him. His pride didn't allow him to.
It was only after she got put in the hospital, that his stupid mind finally started to think clearly. But by that point, it was far too late.
"When you wake up, let's go to the amusement park again, alright?" He asked, knowing full well that there wouldn't be an answer.
The night continued on like that for a while, with him saying whatever that came to his mind while she slumbered. Her gentle breathing served as her only sign of life.
It was well past midnight when he left the hospital. As usual, his walk home was a lonely one.
"You're Uzumaki Naruto, right?"
He looked up and spotted a figure standing atop a telephone pole, backlit by the soft glow of the full moon. She stared down at him with a pair of emerald eyes that seemed to tinkle. Her gaze was almost cat-like.
"My name is Luna and I will need you to duel me." She said, her pink and black hair fluttering in the air.
She jumped from the pole and landed in front of him with a swiftness expected from a ninja. She was dressed in a white robe, with a set of ornamental ropes tied at the wrist. From her neck, two crisscrossed ropes interlocked to form a choker. In the middle of the choker, a green crystal glistened against the moonlight.
"Duel you?" Naruto asked, incredulous. "Why should I?"
"I saw you in the underground dueling ring earlier." She confessed.
"Oh, so you're a fan. If you wish to duel me, you have to join the 'league'. Though, with your looks, they might be more interested in having you do some other things." Naruto shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and started to walk around the girl that blocked his way.
"I can help you solve your problems."
Naruto continued walking without looking back. "If I had a dollar every time I heard someone say that, I would be filthy rich."
To his surprise, something locked itself onto his arm. He looked down and saw a red chain made of pure energy binding him. He traced the length of the chain and saw that the other end was locked around the mysterious girl's wrist.
"I'm afraid I can't let you go just yet." The girl said.
Naruto sighed, impatiently, and equipped his D-Pad. "Fine, let's get this over with." He tossed a D-Gazer on his face.
"I'm sorry that it had to be this way." A strange tattoo in the shape of a moon flashed into existence around the girl's left eye. Her left eye changed from green to red.
"Duel!"