Chapter 1 - Prologue of the split Dragon Demon

Surrounded by darkness; in a world unburdened by reality, Yuya lays in exial, unaware of the how, or why he remains in this glooming prison. "Yuya!" A female voice calls out in the darkness. It feels familiar to Yuya, but he doesn't recognise the owner. "Yuya!" Another voice screams out of the nightmare. This time that of a male voice, but this too was unrecognisable to him. "Yuya!" More voices call out; in a burst of panic Yuya falls to his knees, clutching his hands over his ears to drown out the voices. "YUYA!" A demon voice this time lumes over him. He didn't know it's original, but his mind felt fear. With tears in his eyes, he looks up to see nothing. Looking to the floor again, his very soul being crushed by the isolation, another voice calls to him. "When you feel like crying, laugh." These were the words of his father. "Dad?" Yuya looks ahead of him, hoping to see his father. Instead, he's greeted by the silhouette of someone with tall spiky hair, wearing attire fitting that of a cowboy. Their faces were shrouded in darkness, but their hazy eyes looked upon Yuya with purpose. "Push forward with courage, and the happiness will come swinging back at you." A blinding light shrone behind the silhouette, causing Yuya to shield his eyes.

Yuya awakens in a cold sweat, springing out of his bed. He gasps and breathes heavily, as if he was drowning. He hears the birds tweeting outside the window. Getting out of bed, he pulls the curtains open. The light from outside makes him blink rapidly, his eyes not yet adjusted to the light. "Yuya! Are you up?!" His mum calls out from down the stairs. "I made pancakes." Yuya, upon hearing his mother's voice, smiles, cheering up a little. Before going downstairs, Yuya grabs his clothes from his chair, instinctively picking what feels right. Grabbing his orange shirt and green trousers; taking his school uniform jacket and wearing it as a cape. From under his chair, he grabs a pair of red boots, not remembering how he got them. He grabs his goggles while walking out of his bedroom door. Before coming down, he feels something missing around his neck. Patting his chest, he feels nothing.

Shrugging it off, he slides down the pole in his house downstairs. He can smell the sweetness of the Pancakes his mum made. "Did you use the recipe from Michio's cookbook?" He asks, taking a seat by the dinner table. With a sparkle in her eyes, she holds out a plate with two large pancakes, and sets them down. "I think this is my best one yet. I'd just hope cutiepie Michio would love them." Yoko becomes animated, adoring the very idea of the cook duelist. As Yuya takes an awkward look away from his mother, he starts to eat his breakfast. Looking over at a vacant chair by the table, with the syrup placed close to it. "Are we expecting anyone?" He asks in a confused voice.

Yoko stops gushing about Michio when Yuya asks this. "What do you mean?" She relies with a confident tone, almost like she was ready for his question. "I don't know. It just feels like someone is missing here. And I don't mean dad." Yoko looks over at the side of the table, and sees the syrup. "Oh. Nah, I just placed that down there, and forgot about it." She pushes the bottle closer to Yuya before grabbing herself a plate to enjoy her breakfast. She takes a sigh of relief, hoping that to be the worst of it.

After breakfast, Yuya pulls his boots on, and grabs his duel disk, before leaving for You Show Duel School. Yoko looks back at her son as he leaves. A single tear falls from her cheek as he leaves her sight, not sure if she'd see him again. Yuya rushes onto the street. His boots turn to roller skates as he speeds off down the road towards his duel school. He's unaware of the men in suits, and security cameras that are on him at all times.

Yuya arrives at the duel school. Ayu, Futoshi and Tatsuya are already there, whispering between themselves about something, Yuya is out of ear shot to hear. "Morning." He says, passing them to sit on one of the chairs layed out. The trio look at him with a look of concern, unaware of if it's really Yuya. He looks around confused. "No Noboru? Must be busy with something today." He looks around more clearly. "Where's Syuzo?" He asks, speaking in a confused tone. "Um, Yuya?" Tatsuya comes forward to Yuya. "Teacher is going to be busy with something, so before classes, can we have a duel?" Leaping off the sofa, Yuya stands before his fan. "Sure. Would be fun to have an opening duel." The other two students watch from a distance, before following them into the arena. While this is happening, Syuzo sits in his office, clutching a picture of Yuzu in his hands. He holds it close to his chest, looking to the side, out the window he sees the duellists preparing to duel. In the corner of his eye is an invitation for Yuya. "Will this work?" He asks himself, trying to swallow his sadness.

"Duelists locked in battle!" Yuya starts the battle cry. "Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters!" Tatsuya takes the baton from here, continuing the speech. "They storm through this field! Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of Dueling!" Together, they declare the final part of the cheer, before everyone calls out in a single cry. "ACTION! DUEL!"

Tatsuya 4000LP

VS.

Yuya 4000LP

"I'll start my turn." Tatsuya begins his move. "I activate the Spell Card, Machine Entertainment Report. I can send 2 cards from my hand to the graveyard, to add 1 Spell to my hand. I discard these 2 cards here." Tatsuya discards a spell, and a monster from his hand. "I added Monster Reborn to my hand. And now, I'll use it. I revive Entermachine Gadget Giant!" Tatsuya revives his ace monster from the graveyard in defence mode. "I'll end my turn with 2 face-downs."

[Gadget Giant LVL 6 Earth Machine DEF 2000]

Yuya draws for his turn. He looks to his hand, and smiles. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Prepare to witness my signature play! I set the Pendulum Scale with Timegazer Magician, and Stargazer Magician!"

[Timegazer LVL 3 Dark Spellcaster Scale 8]

[Stargazer LVL 5 Dark Spellcaster Scale 1]

"I pendulum summon from my hand 3 monsters! Entermate Whip Snake, Entermate Swordfish and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

[Whip Snake LVL 4 Earth Reptile ATK 1600]

[Swordfish LVL 2 Water Fish ATK 600]

[Odd-Eyes LVL 7 Dark Dragon ATK 2500]

Yuya has a brief flashback to his duel with Strong Ishijima, where he summoned the same three monsters in one turn. He thinks about where it leads him from there. As he thinks peacefully about the duels that followed, he thinks about his duel afterwards with a girl with pink hair, yet he doesn't recall her name. "I activate my trap card!" Yuya snaps back to reality as Tatsuya has a play against him. "I activate Alert. It allows me to activate a face down continuous spell. I activate Attraffic Control. Because you have 3 monsters, you can't declare an attack." Yuya's heart starts to pump as he prepares his count measure. "That's what you think. I activate..." He is cut off mid-sentence, as the duel is cancelled due to an override.

Looking to the side, he sees Syuzo standing off in the corner, holding the invite in his hand. He comes forward to Yuya, unable to look him in the eye. "Oh hi, teacher. Tatsuya said you were busy so I thought we'd have a quick..." Syuzo presents the invitation to Yuya. "Here." Yuya opens the letter like it was a chocolate bar housing a golden ticket. "Yuya Sakaki. You've here by being invited to attend the finals of the Miami tournament to decide who is the ultimate winner. Present this at the stadium as proof of participation."

Yuya looks at the words clearly. "Miami tournament?" Images flash in his mind of his duel with Shingo using Yosenju. He feels the emotions he had when he overcame Isao Kachidoki, and the enjoyment he had duelling alongside Dennis Mackfield. His visions start to get cloudy as he sees nothing but destruction, and horror. He feels that overwhelming sadness from before, his grip tightening on the letter. Syuzo sees this as he looks down at the boy. Any anger he had towards Yuya at this moment had left him. He sees him clearly as what he is. Another victim. Reaching out, he takes Yuya's hand. He snaps out of his nightmare to see Syuzo kneeling before him, looking him in the eye. As tears run down his face, followed by a wide, innocent smile. "I'll win for You Show!" Grabbing his hand, the pair raise their fists to the air. "You'll make us proud. Yuya!"

Their celebration is cut short however, when the letter lands on the floor, and Tatsuya picks it up. "It's today. And in 30 minutes." They freeze in the air, mouths opened wide like the scream painting. Syuzo grabs Yuya by the arms. "There's no time to lose! Class field trip!" The five of them strap themselves into Syuzo's minivan, and they beline it towards the stadium, going fast enough to get there, but slow enough that it's legal. "Yuya, I already sent a message out to your mom about this, don't worry. Make sure to bring your A game. You may end up coming out a whole new man." He drops the four of them off at the stadium entrance to get registered, and for them to get a seat.

As Yuya enters the building to sign in, he's greeted by a familiar face. "Noburu!" He calls out, seeing his long time friend walking back from the check in desk. "Are you here to see me play?" He asks him, only to be met with his invite. "You could say that." The girl behind the desk calls out. "Yuya Sakaki?" She asks, holding her hand out upon seeing the letter. He steps forward and gives her the invite. "Yep, it's you. Just a moment please." She registers Yuya into the computer, and is given the all clear. She hands him a gold pass which will allow him to enter the arena. "Thank you."

The announcer comes onto the speakers. "Will all duellists come to the arena please." The duo head down the hallway, while Yoko and Syuzo enter to take their seats with the other three. Yuya and Noboru enter the stage to a crowd of cheers from everyone around them. Yuya waves to the people at the stands, while Noboru gives his best to hide his excitement. Coming to the centre, they are greeted by the third duellist of the tournament, Shingo. "Look what the cat dragged in." "Shingo. It's been sometime." Noboru greets the spoiled duellist with a friendly hand shake. "Hopefully, we'd get to see which of us is the better before they duel Yuya."

Yuya looks a little puzzled. "I didn't realise you two were so close. When did that start?" Noboru looks to Shingo waiting for his response. "Oh, y'know. When you try to stop a dimensional war, you learn to make friends with your comrades..." Noboru kicks Shingo in his leg, knowing he had said too much. Yuya, still looking puzzled, just plays it off like they just online game together.

The announcer calls out on the speakers again. "With all 4 duellists here, let's begin the duel!" The three of them are now in confusion. "But, there's only three of us." The arena gets replaced by an all terrain Field Spell for an action duel. Above them stands the fourth, and final duellist for the event, Tsukikage. "There's no need to hide the truth any longer Noboru. We've been given the all clear to show him."

End of Chapter 1...