Hello my readers, welcome to the first chapter of Coinciding Light and Darkness. As I'm sure you already know from reading my notice, there will be a few things different from Kazuki's Grand Adventure and all I ask is that you bear with me as you read as I'm still getting used to this new plot that I spent a long time coming up with. There will still be chapters that are the same as before, just a few changes since I gave my protagonist a different deck than what Kazuki was using. Fear not, I still plan to use the Malicevorous cards I had came up with so far further along the story so I hope you keep your eyes out for them. Anyway, I'm just rambling now, please read and I hope you enjoy!


Chapter One: The Wheel of Fate Turns

I would like to say that I live a wonderful and peaceful life, but that would obviously be a lie, wouldn't it? Don't get me wrong, I have kind and caring parents and I love them, but it's because of this that makes me question if there really are gods watching over us. If there were, then why are they cruel to people who did nothing wrong? I guess what they say about the world is never fair is true, otherwise bad things wouldn't happen to good people.

My mom, for example, is a kind and caring woman who doesn't have a single mean bone in her body and is very hardworking. She always does everything she could to help someone in need and won't give up until the end. She would do volunteer work at hospitals, orphanages, and nursing homes whenever she could. In other words, she was the epitome of a kind person and the world gave her the short end of stick. You see, when I was born, my mom's health had been declining as the years went by. It wasn't until I turned eighteen that her health got so bad she had to stay in the hospital so the doctors could monitor her. After many tests, they learned that she showed signs of a type of heart cancer that they've never seen before and did everything they could for her.

One day, my dad and I were told that the doctors found a way to help my mom, but we didn't have the money to pay for the operation. So, to help raise as much money as possible, I got as many part-time jobs I could get as soon as I graduated high school. My mom always told me I shouldn't overwork myself, but I'm doing this because I wanted to, even if it took some time away from my favorite hobby. It was a small sacrifice to pay, but worth it if it means she got the treatment she needs.

"Kazuki, you really don't have to do this." Mom said, worry evident in her voice when I visited her again. She was a beautiful woman with a slender body, long blonde hair and brown eyes wearing a hospital gown.

"It's fine, mom." I said as I rearranged the flowers I bought for her in a vase before giving her a tired, yet reassuring, smile. "I'm doing this because I want to, you just worry about making a full recovery."

"You're mother's right, Kazuki." I looked to the door to see my dad standing there with his arms crossed and a concerned frown on his face. He was a man with short dark brown hair that's slicked back and brown eyes wearing a business suit. "Keep this up and you'll be the one in a hospital bed."

"I'm fine, dad." I looked back to the flowers which were a combination of white Anemones and Chrysanthemums. "Every little bit helps after all."

"That may be so." Dad sighed before approaching me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Listen son, I know that your heart's in the right place, but you need to take better care of yourself."

"I know, dad." I reached in my jacket pocket and pulled out a purple rectangular box. "But we're so close, I can't give up now."

"Is that why you entered that tournament without telling us?" I flinched at my mom's question and looked towards her to see she had a small frown on her face. "Don't think I hadn't noticed how focused you were when you rebuilt your deck, mister."

My grip on my deck box tightened slightly when I knew I was caught. The tournament my mom was talking about was a yugioh tournament that was being held tomorrow overseas and it had prize money. When I saw that it was enough to cover the rest of the cost for my mom's operation, I jumped at the chance and registered myself without my parents knowing. Ever since, I've been rebuilding my deck to counter any other deck I might face there. I even had practice matches against my mom and dad to prepare myself. I was hoping that they wouldn't notice, but it seems like I can't get anything past my parents.

"Kazuki, it's okay." I looked at mom sitting in her hospital bed with dad standing next to her and they were both smiling at me. "We know why you did it and we understand." She gestured for me to come closer and I did, taking a seat in a chair that was beside her bed before she started to gently pat my head. "I must be the luckiest mother in the world to have such a caring son like you."

"Mom." I muttered, blushing in embarrassment at how she's treating me like a child. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom and I don't mind her babying me, it's just embarrassing when she does it in public.

Dad just chuckled at seeing my face go red before pulling out his keys. "Alright, I better get Kazuki to the airport so he can make the tournament in time."

"Wait, what time is it?" I asked, looking around the room for a clock to check the time and when I found one my eyes widened in panic. "Oh crap, I'm gonna miss my flight!"

"Language, Kazuki!" Mom scolded, lightly flicking me in the forehead before smiling again. "And good luck, I know you'll win that tournament if your friends are there to cheer you on."

"Huh?" I blinked at her words before letting out a nervous laugh. "Yeah, of course they'll be there." I turned my back to my parents so they wouldn't see the sad smile on my face. 'I can't tell them, they have enough to worry about already.'

"Before I forget." I turned to look at my mom in confusion as she reached for her purse and started to rummage through it. "I want to give you something, think of it as an early birthday present." She finally found what she was looking for and pulled it out which was a card before holding out to me. "I feel this should go in your deck, Kazuki." I took the card from her before turning it over to see what it was and my eyes widened in surprise. "I know it's the darker version of your deck's ace, but remember that you can't have light without darkness and vice versa."

"And that card is a prime example of your mother's words." I looked to my dad who had a grin on his face before walking towards the door. "But enough about that, we have a plane to catch after all."

"I forgot!" I exclaimed, placing the card in my deck box before giving my mom a hug. "Thanks mom, I'll take this card to the finals and win."

"Just do your best." Mom whispered in my ear as she returned the hug. "Don't worry about the money, just have fun with your friends."

"Right." I nodded as we released the hug before following my dad out of the hospital and into his car. Just as my dad started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, my mind wandered off to what my parents said about the card my mom gave me. 'What did they mean about not having light without darkness when she gave me that card?'

"Something on your mind, son?" I looked to my dad who kept his eyes on the road.

"It's nothing, dad." I shook my head before pulling out the card my mom gave me from my deck box and stared at it in contemplation. "I was just wondering what you and mom meant about this card being a prime example of no light without darkness."

"Oh." He pressed on the brakes at a stop light and turned his head to face me with a small smile. "What we meant is that darkness can be used for good, just as light can be used for evil." He pointed to the card in my hand before pulling out a quarter. "Think of light and darkness as the two sides of this coin."

"A coin?" I raised an eyebrow as I took the quarter to look at both sides as my dad pressed the gas when the light turned green.

"Right." Dad nodded in response, giving me a side glance before turning his eyes to the road. "I want you to flip it for a moment and tell me what comes up."

I was really confused now, what's my dad trying to tell me by flipping a coin? I shrugged before flipping the quarter and let it land in the palm of my hand. "It's tails."

"Let's say that the result you flipped was darkness." Dad explained, giving me another side glance. "Does that make the coin evil?" I was still confused but I shook my head. "The same could be said about light being good, whether something is good or evil depends on who wields it."

"Depends on who wields it?" I repeated, looked at the card again before pulling another card out of my deck box and held them side by side. I sighed, shaking my head before returning the cards to my deck box. "No good, I don't understand what you're trying to say, dad."

Dad just chuckled and started to ruffle my hair while keeping one hand on the wheel. "Don't worry, just give it time and you'll understand eventually."

"Dad, both hands on the wheel!" I yelled in panic at seeing only one of my dad's hands on the wheel.

He just laughed and returned to having both hands on the wheel as we neared the airport. I can never understand how my dad can drive with one hand like that, he even drives like a mad man sometimes. Well, that's bound to happen if you have a racing gamer for a father who takes what he learned in a game and tries to do it in real life. Makes me wonder how he hasn't gotten a single ticket or stopped by a cop all these years. I guess I should explain, both of my parents are otakus, hence my name.

"We're here." Dad's voice brought me out of my thought to see that we're indeed at the airport and that he parked outside the entrance. He blinked as if realizing something before looking at me. "By the way, what are you going to do about a change of clothes?"

"Oh, don't worry about that." I said, letting a nervous chuckle as I placed my deck in my deck box. "My friends went on ahead of me with everything I packed."

"Oh, that was kind of them." Dad said with a smile and I could have sworn it looked relieved. "You should really introduce them to us someday."

"Yeah, maybe when I get back." I replied, hesitance in my voice as I opened the car door and climbed out. 'Can't introduce people who don't even exist, I'll just buy what I need when I get there.'

"Good luck in the tournament, Kazuki." Dad said, giving me a thumbs up before closing the door and rolled the window down. "I know you're going to do great."

"Thanks, dad." I gave my dad a smile before walking in the airport and proceeding to the check-in counter to get my boarding pass.

They skipped checking my luggage since I didn't have any before proceeding to follow the gate information on my boarding pass. Going through security and finding the right gate was easy enough, now I just had to wait for them to start boarding. To pass the time, I pulled out my deck box and took out my deck to make some last minute changes. My eyes landed on the card my mom gave me and gave it a good long look. I felt the corners of my lips lift up in a smile before taking a card out of my extra deck and replacing it with the card I was staring at.

'I promised to take it to the finals and win.' I thought as I stared at the card that I placed on top of my deck. 'And I never break my promises. I'll win this for you, mom.'

When I heard that my plane is gonna start boarding, I placed my deck in my deck box and pocketed it before walking over to board the plane. As I waited in line to board the plane, I took notice of someone wearing a black cloak walking past the gate agent which confused me as it seemed like no one was stopping them. When it was my turn, I asked the gate agent about the cloaked figure and got even more confused when she responded that she saw no cloaked figure walking past her. I shrugged it off as me imagining things before proceeding to board the plane and finding my assigned seat where I saw the cloaked figure again. Our eyes met and I felt a chill go down my spine when I saw those glowing red and purple eyes. I blinked for a moment and the figure was gone which left me a little freaked out that someone could just vanish into thin air. With a shake of my head, I continued to my assigned seat and sat down as the flight attendant explained where everything is and how they worked in case of an accident.

It wasn't long before the plane started going down the runway as I looked out the window to watch our ascent. After the plane straightened itself out, I pulled out my deck box again and took out the card my mom gave me which was an xyz monster. I thought back to what my parents said about light and darkness but still couldn't understand what they were trying to tell me no matter how much I tried. There was a slight movement in my peripheral and I looked over to see that cloaked figure again staring at me. The figure pointed out my window which I followed to only see the clouds and the left wing of the plane. When I looked back to the figure, they were suddenly in the open seat next to me before snapping their fingers. The plane shook violently when the engine on the left wing suddenly exploded causing the other passengers to scream.

"Now is that not a lovely sound?" The figure next to said with a blissful sigh and I looked to them as once again my eyes met their crimson and purple glowing eyes. "Their screams of fear and despair always gives me a sweet sense of joy."

"You caused that explosion?!" I asked in shock as the plane tipped downwards as it quickly descended and the air masks were deployed from above the seats. "Why would you do that?!"

"Oh, so you can see me." The figure commented, completely ignoring my questions as they leaned closer and I leaned back to keep as much distance from them as possible. "Ah yes, I see it, you will do nicely."

"See what?" I had an unnerving feeling as their heterochromic eyes seem to flash for a moment. "What are you going to do?"

"This!" The figure suddenly thrusts their hand towards me and through my chest making me scream in fear and pain. The figure just laughed when they heard my screams as it felt like their hand was tightly gripping something deep inside me. "That's right, keep resisting, it will just be more fun for me!"

"W-why are you doing this?" I asked through gritted teeth, gripping their arm with both hands to try and pull it out of my chest, but they wouldn't budge an inch.

"Because you can see me." The figure replied, and I knew they were smirking from how their eyes seemed to show delight in seeing me in pain. "That makes you a candidate for accomplishing my goal."

"N-no, I refuse!" I yelled in denial as I doubled my efforts to remove their hand, but with every second that passed, I felt my strength slowly leave me.

"I am not giving you a choice, boy." The figure chuckled before leaning his head so it was next to mine so they could whisper in my ear. "I am sparing you the agony of dying with these pathetic humans. You would not want your poor mother's condition to get worse if she learned you died, do you?" My eyes widened at what he said about my mom and I couldn't stop myself from shaking my head. "Then let go of my arm and resign yourself to your fate." My grip on their arm slowly started to loosen before my arms fell to my sides. "Good boy, now to make you my servant for all eternity."

'Mom, dad, I'm sorry.' I weakly thought as a tear left my eye and trailed down my face. The figure jerked their hand back and it felt like they were tearing me from the inside out. I couldn't move, I couldn't breath, I couldn't do anything except hear the figure laugh in triumph and feel them still clutching me tightly. 'What did they do to me?'

"What a brilliant soul." The figure commented, tightening their grip on me and I felt something sharp digging into me. "So full of hope and light, but not for long."

"Zolmar!" I heard another voice, I couldn't see anything but it sounded like a woman. "You have no right to be here, return that boy's soul and leave this realm at once!"

"I'm afraid it is too late to return it." The figure, Zolmar I think was their name, replied with a sadistic chuckle. "He let me take his soul, therefore he has no reason to return to his body."

"You used his mother's condition against him!" The woman shouted in anger, why was she angry? "You took advantage of the weakness in his heart to make him allow you to take his soul!"

Zolmar responded with a low chuckle that slowly rose to a maniacal laugh as their grip on me got tighter the longer they laughed. My consciousness slowly started to fade the tighter Zolmar's grip on me got and I could feel he was doing something to me and I didn't like it. "It doesn't change the fact we now have a contract and he will be my servant for all eternity!"

"I will not allow that!" Before I knew what happened, I heard what sounded bells ringing and Zolmar screamed in agony as their grip on me loosened slightly. I was surrounded by warmth and whatever it was that Zolmar was doing to me slowly disappeared. "Begone!"

"Curse you, Aria!" Zolmar yelled in frustration, fully letting go of me and I felt a pair of gentle hands catching me and held me close to them as if protecting me. "This is not over, I will accomplish my goal and there is nothing you can do to stop me!"

"Maybe not me." I heard Aria mutter under her breath as she held me tighter and I couldn't help but feel safe in her embrace. "But one day, someone will." She sighed sadly as her grip on me loosened slightly. "I am so sorry, Kazuki."

'How does she know my name?' I thought in confusion but I couldn't dwell on it as I felt my consciousness fading again. 'So tired, I want to go to sleep.'

"Rest, Kazuki." Aria said softly and I slowly began to see again at the sight of a beautiful fair skinned woman with long scarlet hair and topaz eyes smiling softly down at me. "I may not be able to return you to your body, but I can preserve it and send you somewhere safe until Zolmar is dealt with." She held up a hand before an orb of light formed over it with a golden padlock with a green gem in the middle inside it. "I am afraid you will feel some discomfort, but please bear with it."

I didn't understand what she was saying, but I did feel uncomfortable as it felt like my mind was being split in two, but it didn't hurt at all. In fact, it felt nice and liberating, like a weight has been lifted and that whatever she was doing to me was alright. Eventually, it didn't just feel like my mind was splitting in two, it did split in two with one being a blank slate while the other held all my thoughts and memories. I was so disoriented, I didn't know which mind was supposed to be mine anymore.

"Both are your mind, Kazuki" Aria explained, almost as if she heard my thoughts, and I heard regret in her voice. Because I could see again, I saw that she looked regretful for some reason. "In order to hide you from Zolmar, I must split your soul in two and hide the one with your knowledge inside this lock."

'So I really did split in two?' I thought in astonishment that such a thing was even possible. I still couldn't move, but I see what looked like another me floating next to me with a blank look on his face. It wasn't until I processed the rest of Aria's words that I started to panic. 'Wait, why does it have to be this way?!'

"It is the only way to keep you safe." Aria explained, placing a gentle hand on my cheek in a way to help calm me down. "Zolmar will stop at nothing to have you under his control, like he has done to many others." She shut her eyes tightly, almost like she was remembering something painful before opening them to look me in the eye. "I refuse to let that happen to you, and this is the only way to keep you out of Zolmar's clutches."

'Why is she going through so much trouble for me?' Try as I might, I just couldn't understand why a complete stranger like Aria would put so much effort for an ordinary guy like me.

"You will understand when the time is right, Kazuki." Aria said, an encouraging smile on her face as he held out the gold lock to me. "You have my word that I will find a way to return you to your body."

'Promise?' I didn't know why I thought that, but it seems she heard my question anyway when I saw Aria nod her head. Hesitantly, I reached for the lock and when my finger touched the gem, it began to shine brightly. I looked to my lookalike and gave him a small smile as I somehow knew what was going to happen to me. As I was pulled into the golden lock, I had one last thought before my consciousness faded to nothing. 'Until we meet again, my other self.'


I slowly opened my eyes before sitting up in my bed as I stretched my arms and letting out a long, loud, yawn. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes before climbing out of bed and stumbled through my dark room to turn the lights on. Once I found the light switch and flipped it on, I went over to my drawer and pulled out my uniform for school. I looked up to the door in my ceiling that led to the attic and sighed when I heard snoring.

"He's still asleep?" I muttered to myself in exasperation but there was a smile on my face. "Better wake him up or we're going to be late."

I climbed up the built-in stairs and opened the door to the attic to see it was still full of ancient artifacts and in the hammock snoozing away was the person I came to wake up. The person in question is a teen with tan skin and black and red spiked hair that points out and upward. He wore a red-white t-shirt, grey pants, and around his neck with a black string was a uniquely shaped golden key with a green gem. I looked down to the object hanging around my neck with a brown string which was a uniquely shaped golden padlock with the same green gem in the middle. I approached the teen and gently started to shake his hammock.

"Yuma, wake up." I only got an incoherent mutter before swatting my hand away and turned his back to me. I tried shaking the hammock a little harder this time while poking him in the side. "We're going to be late, Yuma."

"Mmm, duel fuel." Yuma muttered in his sleep, drool pooling down the side of his mouth as he nibbled his pillow slightly.

"Alright, you leave me no choice." My eyes had a slight glint to them and I smirked before taking a deep breath. "Yuma, someone stole your key!"

"What?!" Yuma's red eyes shot wide open and tried to hop out of his hammock only to lose his balance and fall flat on his face to the floor groaning in pain.

"Morning sleepy head." I greeted, smirk still in place while I crossed my arms as Yuma sat up rubbing his face.

"Yusa, why do you always do that?" Yuma complained, still rubbing his sore face with one hand while the other gripped the key around his neck.

"Because it's the only way to wake you up." I replied, gripping the lock around my own neck and giving Yuma an apologetic look. "I hate using your key like that, but if I didn't then we would be late for school."

"It's fine, Yusa." Yuma said reassuringly as he got to his feet and grinned my way. "I was the one who told you to use any means to wake me up."

"But that still doesn't make it right, Yuma." I argued, looking at the picture frame that sat on the window sill next to Yuma's hammock and tightened my grip on my lock. "Dad gave us your key and my lock, I just feel like I'm spitting in his face every time I use your key to wake you up."

"Come on, bro." Yuma placed an arm over my shoulder as we both looked at the picture of our parents. "I'm sure dad doesn't mind. Heck, he'd probably laugh if he saw how effective it is to get me out of bed."

I chuckled when I thought of it and Yuma was right, dad probably would have laughed. I looked down to my uniform still in my arms and shrugged Yuma's arm off my shoulder. "Well, we better get ready for school now."

"Do we have to?" Yuma pouted and I just laughed as he reluctantly started to gather his uniform he threw all over the place.

"I know you don't like school, bro." I said, picking up his tie and tossed it over to him which he caught. "But think of it like this, a good duelist doesn't only need skill and talent, but also a good amount of intelligence."

"I think you hang around those bandmates of yours too much." I heard Yuma mutter under his breath and I just rolled my eyes in amusement.

I should probably explain, I'm in a band with a few childhood friends and I'm the lead vocalist. It started out as a joke when our hotheaded friend suggested it, but as we continued to joke around about it, we eventually got serious about it and started a band. We call ourselves Rising Phoenix but we never debuted because we're waiting for the right opportunity to present itself. When we first started practicing, we were absolutely awful and I cringed every time we replayed the recording we made. But as we kept practicing, we got better and better and now we're ready for the day we actually debut.

"Just get ready, I'll use the shower first." I said, climbing down the stairs to my room and leaving it to go to the bathroom for a shower.

As I took off my clothes and tossed them in the hamper, I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror with my lock still hanging around my neck. Aside from my pendant being different from Yuma's and that the red spike in my hair is a slightly lighter shade but barely noticeable, I looked exactly like Yuma. Well, it's not surprising since we're identical twins and can sometimes do that twin telepathy everyone talks about. I chuckled when I remembered how we used to freak everyone out when we finish each other's sentences and talk in sync. I took off my lock and set it on the counter before getting in the shower to get myself clean. After my shower, I quickly dried myself off before putting on my uniform and lock and got out of the bathroom to go downstairs where I saw my sister Kari talking to her boss about a scoop.

"Morning, Kari." I greeted her as I walked by her to get to the kitchen opening a cupboard to pull out a bag of bread before placing a couple slices in the toaster.

"Morning, Yusa." Kari greeted back, not turning her head to face me. I can never figure out how she's able to tell mine and Yuma's voices apart because they sound identical too. "Can't talk right now, I'm getting the details on a lead."

"Alright, don't let me stop you." I said as I put away the bread and reached for a plate when my toast popped out of the toaster. I took them out of the toaster and onto my plate before setting it on the table. "Oh right, butter." I walked over to the fridge and opened it to grab the butter followed by a butter knife out of the drawer before sitting down at the table. I smeared some of the butter on my toast before cutting them diagonally in half. "Time for breakfast."

"Toast again?" Kari asked, looking to me as I said my thanks before taking a bite. "Yusa, can't you eat something other than toast in the morning."

"Iph phaf an eve do koo." I replied, mouth still full and Kari just gave me a blank stare so I swallowed and repeated myself. "I said it's fast and easy to cook."

"And here I thought you were the twin with manners." Kari sighed before getting back to her holo-screens. "I guess that's proof that twins will always be the same no matter what."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at Kari's words.

"Nothing, go back to enjoying your toast."

"Morning." Yuma greeted as he walked into the living room with a yawn before looking my way. "Hey, Yusa, can I have some?"

"Sure, Yuma." I picked up a slice and tossed it to my brother who easily caught it in his mouth. "Nice catch, bro."

"Oh brother." Kari rolled her eyes before giving the both of us one of her scolding glares. "The both of you are in middle school now, little bros, act like it." Yuma and I just pulled an eyelid down and stuck our tongues out at her which she returned with a scoff. "Yeah, real mature you two."

"Jealous that we know how to have fun and you don't?" Yuma and I asked in sync with teasing grins. When we saw that Kari's eyebrow was twitching, Yuma and I panicked and quickly ran to the front door to put on our shoes. "We're going now!"

"Ah, my sheet music!" I suddenly yelled as I looked through my bookbag frantically. "Blazer's going to kill me if I forget that!"

"You mean this?" Yuma asked, holding up a few sheets of paper that had musical notes and words written on them. "I saw them on your desk and picked them up for you."

"You're the best, Yuma." I sighed in relief, taking the sheets of paper and stuffing them in my bookbag.

"I know, no need to state the obvious." Yuma replied with a smug grin and his chest puffed out.

"Now if only you were a straight A student." I added, smirking when Yuma facefaulted as I put on my shoes.

"Hey, I can get straight A's if I wanted to!" Yuma shouted, holding up a fist as if to prove his words true.

"Sure you can." I nodded, still smirking as I opened the door to see our grandma Haru sweeping outside and I gave her a goodbye kiss on the cheek. "Bye grandma, see you after practice."

"Have a nice day, Yusa." Grandma said with a sweet smile. "Don't strain your voice."

"I won't." I looked to the front door to see Yuma was struggling to put on his last shoe because he's rushing it. "Slow down, Yuma, we have time."

"Not taking any chances." Yuma said as he finally got his shoe on then went to kiss grandma goodbye before grabbing my arm and dragged me down the steps. "This time, I'll beat Bronk to school!"

"You do know that Bronk has a skateboard, right?" I asked as we raced down the streets of Heartland city.

"Yup, which makes all the more challenging." Yuma flashed me a confident grin which I returned as we each vaulted over a couple litterbots that suddenly got in front of us.

"My thoughts exactly, brother." I said and we both laughed at how in sync we are.

"Yuma, Yusa!" Yuma and I looked to who called out to us to see it was Bronk riding his skateboard. "You guys wanna race to class?"

"Let me think." Yuma and I said with a thoughtful look before smirking confidently and picking up the pace to run past Bronk. "You're on, Bronk!"

"You guys are going down!" Bronk declared as we approached a flight of stairs and Bronk rode down a line in the middle, letting gravity make his go faster. "Haha, good luck catching up now slowpokes!"

"Gloat while you can, Bronk!" I called out as Yuma and I picked up the pace again and skipping a couple steps.

"We're gaining on ya!" Yuma said, finishing my sentence.

"Gain on this!" As Bronk reached the bottom of the stairs, he kicked a litterbot making it spin out of control and in Yuma's way causing him to crash into it scattering trash and Yuma's cards all over the place.

"Yuma!" I stopped running and knelt down to see if my brother was okay. "You alright, Yuma?"

"Yeah." Yuma replied, using an arm to push himself up. "Bronk's going to get in duel period today."

"Let's pick up your cards first." I said, gesturing to the scattered cards on the ground before picking a few up. "Don't want the litterbots to mistake them for trash."

"Alright." Yuma nodded and started to help me pick up his cards. We had to push a few litterbots away when they reached for a card, but we managed to get them all. "Man, that was a close one."

"Yeah, they should reprogram those litterbots." I said in annoyance, glaring at a litterbot that we ran past. "They should at least tell the difference between cards and trash."

"Tell me about it!" Yuma exclaimed, holding his bookbag close to his chest so his deck wouldn't fall out again. "How dare those litterbots call dad's cards trash!"

"Yeah." I nodded in agreement as we soon arrived at the school Yuma and I attended, Heartland Academy. "Well, we better get to class and hope the day passes fast."

Yuma just nodded, still clutching his bookbag close to himself as we entered the school building. I reached into my own bookbag to pull out my deck, shuffled it, and flipped the top card over to reveal a monster card. I'm not superstitious or anything like that, but I do use my cards for fortune telling to see what my luck of the day was. The spell cards means it'll be my lucky day while the trap cards mean that my luck is going to suck. Monster cards, on the other hand, use their levels to determine how lucky I'll be. The higher the level, the greater my luck is and it seems I drew a level six monster.

'So, I guess this means I'll have an okay day.' I mused as I stared at the monster I drew for a moment before returning it to my deck and shuffled it again. 'Let's see about Yuma.' I turned the card over and wasn't surprised to see it was a trap card. 'Why does lady luck hate my brother so much?'


It was a typical day at school, Yuma taking on dares and failing them while I stood to the side to give him my support. The first was to vault over twenty vault boxes to set the school record, Yuma ended up crashing with a few bumps on his head. The second was to hold his breath in the pool for a lap, he opened his mouth and swallowed a lot of water. The dares kept on going until I finally drew the line when it was almost time for duel period.

"So, Yuma." Tori said as she walked between Yuma and I on our way to duel period. "You and Yusa going to compete again?"

"Of course." Yuma replied, bringing a fist up with a grin on his face before looking my way. "And I'm gonna win, Yusa!"

"Dream on, Yuma." I grinned back to my brother as I pulled out my duel disk, which was black in color, and attached it to my wrist. "How about the loser has to do whatever the winner says for a week?"

"You're on!" Yuma said before he ran through the crowd of already dueling students with Tori hot on his heels.

"And there he goes." I chuckled before walking in the opposite direction my brother ran to find an opponent. 'I wonder what I should make him do tomorrow.'

"Competing with Yuma again, Yusa?" A familiar voice asked in amusement, when I turned to face the person, I could practically feel my cheeks heat up in a blush. Walking my way was a girl with fair skin, long blond hair that reached her mid back, and large blue eyes. "I swear, you twins are so competitive."

This girl is Sora, our band's keyboardist, and someone I've had a crush on since elementary school. She's pretty much anyone's idea of the perfect student, good grades, great at sports, not to mention a pretty face. But it wasn't all this that made me have a crush on her, no, it was her personality. Sora is the nicest person you could ever meet, she's a good listener, gives great advice when you're down, very determined when she sets her mind on something, and always there for her friends and family.

"Hey, Sora." I greeted, trying to will away the blush on my face, and pulled out my deck to give it a good shuffle. "It's just how we bond, I guess you can call it a guy thing."

"Clearly." Sora let out a small laugh and the blush was back with a vengeance with how cute the made her. "You're the same with Blazer and the other guys."

"I can't help it." I shrugged as I placed my deck in its holder before walking around to find an opponent with Sora walking beside me. "Whenever I duel, it gets my blood pumping so fast I can hardly contain myself." I looked down to my lock and ran my fingers over the unique engravings along the edge. "And this lock my dad gave me gets me pumped up even more."

"Doesn't Yuma have a similar pendant?" Sora asked, staring at my lock before looking up in thought. "Some kind of key or something?"

"Yup." I nodded in confirmation, lightly tapping the green gem in the center of my lock. I chuckled lightly which got Sora's attention as she looked at me curiously. "I was just remembering how I joked about our pendants being cursed when Yuma and I were little."

"Why would you make a joke like that?" Sora asked in confusion and I can understand why she would ask that.

"To be honest, I don't know." I lifted my lock up to eye level by the string to stare at the gem. "It's just, whenever I look at my lock, I always hear this voice that no one else can hear."

"Wait." I gave Sora a side glance to see that she was shaking slightly and I think she turned a few shades paler. "You don't mean you're hearing a ghost, are you?"

'I forgot, Sora's scared of ghosts.' I thought as I remembered one halloween when I dressed as a ghost and she wouldn't stop screaming until I changed costumes. I couldn't help the small grin on my face as I let go of the string to let my lock hang against my chest. I turned to face Sora and got up to her face with my arms up in front of me, hands hanging limply, before speaking in the most ominous voice I could muster. "Night after night, the menacing sound of footsteps echoes down the empty hallway."

The end result was immediate as Sora started to scream in terror and running with me chasing after her while laughing maniacally. We got a few curious glances but were ignored as if this was normal, which it was. Ever since elementary school, I would tease Sora about her fear of ghosts when it was mentioned and I would let her pummel me as an apology. It was a weird way to show how close friends we were, but it works for us as we never mean anything ill about our actions. After chasing Sora around the school yard and letting her pummel me for who knows how long, duel period was now over and I went to meet up with Yuma but couldn't find him anywhere. When I finally found him, my brother looked sad and the fire that usually burned in his eyes dwindled so much you'd think they were snuffed out or something.

"Yuma!" I called out and he turned his head to face me before letting it hang to stare at the ground. "What's wrong, Yuma? You look like the world's about to end."

"I'm fine, Yusa." Yuma said softly, giving me a smile I knew had to be forced. "We better get going before we're late for class."

'Okay, now I know something's wrong.' I frowned in worry as I walked beside my brother down the hall to our next class. 'Yuma would never worry about being late to class unless he was one tardy away from detention. What happened when we split up to make him like this?' I gave my brother a side glance and looked up and down his body for anything that might be the cause. When my eyes landed on Yuma's key, I couldn't stop the gasp that left my mouth when I saw that half of it was missing. "Yuma, what happened to your key?!" Yuma's hand went up to his key and clenched it tightly before running into the school building. "Yuma!"

"Tori, do you know what happened?" Sora asked, looking towards Tori in concern and I looked at her too, hoping she knew what happened with my brother.

Tori seemed hesitant to say anything, but she sighed and gestured for the both of us to come closer which we did. "Shark, the school bully, broke his key when Yuma bet it in a duel to get Bronks deck back."

"What?!" I couldn't help but shouted in shock and anger at what I just heard before looking in the direction my brother ran in. "That does it, no one makes a member of my family sad and gets away with it!" I looked to Tori with a tight fist raised while my other hand gripped my lock. "Where's Shark, I'm giving him a one way ticket to the hospital!"

"Yusa, I know you're mad, but you need to calm down." Sora said softly, gently placing a hand on my fist and urged me to lower it. "What would your parents think if they saw you resorting to violence?"

My body went tense at the mention of my parents before I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and lowered my fist. "Sorry, I lost my cool when I heard Yuma's key broke."

"It's alright, Yusa." Tori said sympathetically, looking past me in the direction Yuma ran before looking back to me. "Shark said he'd duel Yuma this Sunday at the station courtyard."

"I see, thanks Tori." Was all I said before I turned my back to her and Sora and began to run after my brother. 'Yuma, you don't have to duel Shark to get Bronk's deck back, I'll make sure of it.'


The days went by and Yuma was still sad about his key breaking and wouldn't take on any dares. I offered to give him my lock, but he refused saying that it was important to me like his key was to him. I couldn't stand to see my brother acting so pitiful that it strengthened my resolve of what I was about to do. On the day before Yuma's duel with Shark, Bronk found the other half of Yuma's key and gave it to my brother who was dead set on dueling Shark to set him straight. I felt the same way as Yuma, Shark takes his bullying too far sometimes and needs to be stopped.

So when it was the day of Yuma's duel with Shark, I woke up really early to look in my closet and found the clothes I was looking for which was a red vest with a white hood and a purple sleeveless shirt with a green "D" symbol on it, white pants with designs of three orange moon crescents attached to one another with yellow outlines at the bottom, and a white brown-stripe belt and changed into them. Once I was finished changing, putting on a brown fingerless glove on my left hand, a black protective pad on my right elbow and a thick, dark blue bracelet with light blue gems and red outlines on my right wrist, I climbed up into the attic to see my brother sound asleep in his hammock with his broken key still around his neck. I felt bad for what I was about to do, but it had to be done, so I walked over to Yuma as quietly as I could and carefully removed his key before putting it on. I looked down at my lock before removing it and putting it in my pocket before leaving the attic.

'Sorry, Yuma.' I silently apologized to my brother as I left my room and climbed down the stairs. 'I know you wanted to be the one, but I'll teach Shark the lesson he needs to learn.'

"Yusa." I jumped and turned around to see grandma staring at me with a small frown on her face. "I know what you plan to do and I don't think it's wise."

"I know, grandma." I sighed before going to the front door to put on my shoes. "But I made up my mind and there's no changing it."

"Yuma won't be happy when he finds out."

"I'll take him being mad at me any day." I gripped Yuma's key hanging around my neck as I opened the front door before looking back to grandma and giving her a small smile. "I'd do anything for my brother, even take his place to teach a valuable lesson to a school bully."

Grandma just continued to stare at me before sighing and a small smile also graced her face. "I won't stop Yuma if he comes after you."

I just nodded before running out the door and down the steps before I began my trek to the station courtyard to wait for Shark. It felt weird having Yuma's key around my neck instead of my lock especially since half of it was missing and it was lighter than my lock. But I paid no attention as I sidestepped a litterbot that got in my way.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Yuma." I stopped running and looked over to the source of the voice and almost let out a groan when I saw who it was.

"What do you want, Ryu?" I questioned the boy who had spiky black hair and crimson red eyes wearing a black sleeveless shirt and black torn pants with a chain around his waist and a spiked bracelet on his right wrist.

"A little birdy told me you plan on dueling Shark today." Ryu said with an amused chuckle before he slowly started to approach me. "Do you really think you stand a chance, Yuma?"

"We won't know unless I try." I retorted, hand hovering over my duel disk.

Ryu is one of few people I wouldn't be caught dead with in a locked room. He's the type of guy who likes to make fun of people with Yuma and I being his favorite targets. Ever since our parents disappeared, Ryu was always there to say that they abandoned us or some other hurtful things. Overtime, Yuma and I learned to ignore his comments and he eventually stopped until he decided to crush us in duels. And I'm usually the prime target for the one time I embarrassed him in front of everyone when I spilled water on his pants and everyone said he wet himself.

"Please." Ryu scoffed as he waved a dismissive hand. "You and Yusa couldn't duel yourselves out of a paper bag."

"I don't have time for this." I muttered as I walked past Ryu only for him to stop me by putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Hold on, Yuma." Ryu turned me around before pulling out his duel disk and attaching it to his wrist. "Before you duel Shark, I want to have the pleasure of crushing you first."

"I just said I didn't have time for this, Ryu." I narrowed my eyes at Ryu before turning to continue to the station only for Ryu to get in front of me. "Get out of the way."

"Not until we duel." Ryu had a predatory grin on his face as he moved when I moved to make it impossible to get around him.

"Guess I have no choice." I growled out as I pulled out my duel disk and tossed it into the air as it expanded and attached to my wrist. "Duel Disk, set!" I reached into my pocket and pulled out my duel gazer which was black and green with a purple lens. "Duel Gazer, ready!" Ryu put on his duel gazer, which was red with a green lens as our surroundings got covered in code.

Augmented Reality Vision Link Established

"Let's duel!" Ryu and I shouted as we drew our starting hands.

"I'm going first, I draw!" I declared as I drew my card, putting it in my hand, and took another card to place on my duel disk. "I summon Gogogo Goram!" A larger version of the card I played appeared on the field before a red one-eyed automaton with iron arms holding a mace came out of it.

Gogogo Goram/EARTH/Level 4/Rock/ATK: 2300/DEF: 0

"Wow, talk about going strong." Ryu commented as he let out a low whistle before smirking. "However…" Gogogo Goram brought its mace in front of itself and got on its knees signifying it switched to defense mode and Ryu laughed. "Poor Yuma, you're so bad you don't even know how your own cards work!"

'Laugh while you still can Ryu.' I thought as I watched Ryu laugh away before eyeing a card in my hand. 'Because when you attack, that's when I'll nail you.' I took the card and entered it into a slot on my duel disk before a face-down appeared on my field. "I place one card face-down and end my turn."

Yusa: 4000

Ryu: 4000

"That's all you're going to do?" Ryu drew his card and smirked before playing it. "I summon Lancer Dragonute!" I grew nervous when a green bipedal dragon wielding a lance flew out of its card and landed next to Ryu. "Now this is a real monster, Yuma."

Lancer Dragonute/DARK/ Level 4/Dragon/ATK: 1500/DEF: 1800

"But I'm not done." Ryu took another card from his hand and played it to reveal it was a spell of a dragon's foot stomping on a wooden structure. "With Stamping Destruction, my Lancer Dragonute is going to stamp out your face-down and 500 of your life points!" Lancer Dragonute flew up into the air before quickly descending down on my face-down and dispersing it into particles that pelted me. "Now to take away more of your life points when Lancer Dragonute goes after your Gogogo Goram!"

"My Gogogo Goram's in defense mode, Ryu." I pointed out as Lancer Draonute turned toward my monster and took to the skies again before descending down with it's lance positioned to pierce through my monster. "I won't take any damage."

"That might have been true with other monsters." Ryu smirked as Lancer Dragonute picked up speed. "But with my Lancer Dragonute, it's able to deal damage even if your monster's in defense mode."

"No way!" My eyes widened in shock when the lance pierced through Gogogo Goram, causing it to explode and blow me off my feet and onto my back.

"And that's how you knock down an overachiever folks!" Ryu declared as Lancer Dragonute floated by his side again..

"Don't celebrate too soon, Ryu." I said as I got back to my feet and took a card out of my deck and sent it to my graveyard. "Since you destroyed my Gogogo Goram, I had to send a Gogogo monster from my deck to the graveyard."

"Ooh, I'm so scared, I place two cards face-down and end my turn." Ryu said as he took two cards from his hand and placed them in his duel disk before two face-downs appeared on his field "Come on, Yuma, if that's the best you've got then you're just wasting your time dueling Shark."

Yusa: 2000

Ryu: 4000

"This duel is just getting started!" I drew my card and smiled when I saw it was exactly what I wanted before slapping it onto my duel disk. "I summon Gogogo Aristera & Dexia!" I smirked when a pair of arms made of rock burst out of the ground behind me.

Gogogo Aristera & Dexia/EARTH/Level 4/Rock/ATK: 0/DEF: 2200

"That's what you were so excited about?" Ryu raised an unamused eyebrow before gesturing to the monster I summoned. "You just summoned a pair of useless arms with no attack points."

"I'm not done yet, Ryu." I smirked as a purple circle appeared in front of me. "Since I have a Gogogo monster on my field, I can summon Dodododwarf Gogogoglove from my graveyard!" out of the circle came a man dressed like a viking with a face mask wearing a pair of large iron gloves that he pounded together.

Dodododwarf Gogogoglove/EARTH/Level 4/Rock/ ATK: 0/DEF: 1800

"That doesn't scare me, Yuma." Ryu laughed to the point of tears as he pointed at my monsters. "So what if they're the same level, I know for a fact that you and your brother don't have any xyz monsters in your decks!"

"I wasn't planning on xyz summoning." I said matter of factly which ceased Ryu's laughter as I point to Aristera & Dexia. "As long as I have another Gogogo monster on the field, Aristera & Dexia prevents any attacks you plan to throw my way."

"What?!" Ryu's eyes widened in shock at what he just heard. "Yuma's not smart enough to come up with something like that!"

"Yusa!" I jumped when my real name was called out and I looked behind me to see Yuma running towards me wearing the same clothes as I am. "I finally caught up to you!"

"Yusa?" Ryu looked between Yuma and I before it finally seemed like he connected the dots and pointed at me. "You're not Yuma?!"

"No, I'm a clone." I replied sarcastically with a deadpan look on my face before facing Yuma again and let out a small chuckle when I saw that my brother was glaring at me. "I guess grandma told you?"

"She didn't have to say anything." Yuma walked towards me which made me a bit nervous if I'm being honest. "I knew what you were planning the moment I noticed my key was gone." When Yuma was in front of me, he grabbed me by the vest and pulled closer so he was looking me in the eye. "What were you thinking, Yusa?!"

"I'm sorry, Yuma." I apologized softly, shamefully turning my eyes away from my brother. "When I heard that Shark broke your key, I wanted to teach him a lesson that bullying is wrong and I thought if I pretended to be you I would have my chance." I sighed as I reached for Yuma's key that was still around my neck and held it between my thumb and index finger. "I also wanted to protect you from any harmful words he might have said."

"That's why you did it?" I could only nod my head before Yuma suddenly wrapped his arms around me in a hug which surprised me. "Yusa, I can take care of myself." When he let go of me, Yuma gave me a smile lifting up his broken key and putting it on before running past me and Ryu. "And I'm going to beat Shark for the both of us!"

"Yuma!" I was about to run after my brother when Ryu got in my way again. "Move it, Ryu!"

"Not after that stunt you pulled, Yusa." Ryu said with a glare and I knew he was out for blood now. "This is the second time you made a fool of me and you're going to pay!"

"It's your fault for not paying close enough attention!" I shouted, pointing to the red spike of my hair. "Can't you see that my hair is a few shades lighter than Yuma's?!"

"Who can tell that?!" Ryu shouted back before he pushed me back hard enough I was standing where I was when the duel started. "You're not going anywhere until my dragons wipe the floor with you for making a fool out of me!"

"Since you're not giving me any choice, I'll just end my turn." I gritted my teeth that I couldn't chase after Yuma before I reached in my pocket to pull out my lock and put it on.

Yusa: 2000

Ryu: 4000

"Get ready, Yusa!" Ryu shouted as he drew his card and placed it in his hand before grabbing another and playing it. "Because my Axe Dragonute is going to teach you a painful lesson!" This time, a black bipedal dragon wielding an axe appeared next to Lancer Dragonute.

Axe Dragonute/DARK/Level 4/Dragon/ATK: 2000/DEF: 1200

"You still can't attack because of Aristera & Dexia." I said as the said monster laced its fingers together and placed them in front of me and Dodododwarf.

"I know that, that's why I'm activating the Dragon's Gunfire spell card!" Ryu declared as he played a card that had a dragon firing a ball of fire. "This card deals you 800 points of damage when I control a dragon-type monster!" Axe Dragonute opened its mouth and fired a ball of fire that hit the ground in front of me before exploding which knocked me to my back again. "That'll do for now."

Yusa: 1200

Ryu: 4000

I pushed myself back to my feet before drawing my card. 'What do I do, my monsters aren't strong enough to get around his monsters.' I looked at Ryu's two face-down cards with worry since he didn't activate a single one of them. 'Not to mention I still have to deal with those face-downs.'

"Any day now, Yusa." Ryu said impatiently, tapping his foot in irritation. "My dragons are hungry and your pathetic monsters are on the menu."

"We'll see about that, Ryu." I muttered as I took a card from my hand and played it. "I activate the spell Monster Reborn to bring back my Gogogo Goram from the graveyard in defense mode!" The graveyard opened and Gogogo Goram came out in defense mode. "Now thanks to its ability, Goram switches to attack mode and is going straight for your Lancer Dragonute!" Goram raised its mace before charging straight for Lancer Dragonute.

"Not happening!" Ryu declared as one of his face-down cards flipped face-up revealing a sword scraping off scales from a dragon's back. "With the Scale Shave trap card, my Lancer Dragonute isn't going anywhere!"

"But your life points are still going to take a hit!" I reminded as Goram's fist connected with Lancer Dragonute's lance and the shockwave pushed Ryu back a little. I took two cards from my hand and placed them face-down. "It's your move, Ryu."

Yusa: 1200

Ryu: 3200

"You're gonna get it now, Yusa." I flinched at the hostility in Ryu's voice as his face became feral and I could have sworn I saw a purple around him when he drew his card and played it to reveal a large red dragon with a gem on its forehead biting into a giant stone soldier. "I activate the Dragon Crunch spell card! I select one dragon on my field and destroy all of your monsters in attack mode whose attack points are lower than my dragon!"

"What?!" My eyes widened in shock and watched in horror when Axe Dragonute started to sink its fangs into my Dodododwarf and my Aristera & Dexia dispersing them into particles."

"Next I summon Golem Dragon!" Ryu declared as a dragon covered in stone took its place between Lancer Dragonute and Axe Dragonute.

Golem Dragon/EARTH/Level 4/Dragon/ATK: 200/DEF: 2000

"Next I overlay level 4 Lancer Drgaonute, Axe Dragonute, and Golem Dragon!" Ryu raised a hand as Lancer and Axe Dragonute became purple light while Golem Dragon became an orange before they shot into the air as a galaxy-like portal opened. "With these three monsters I build the overlay network!" The lights entered the portal one by one before it exploded as what I think was a 57 appeared over Ryu's right eye. "I xyz summon Number 57: Tri-Head Dust Dragon!"

The number "57" appeared and flashed green before a cloud of dust rose out of the overlay network and began to change shape into a three-headed dragon with a red gem that had the number 57 in the center.

Number 57: Tri-Head Dust Dragon/FIRE/ Rank 4/Dragon/ATK: 100/DEF: 2600

"What the heck is that thing?!" I shouted as I took a few steps back in shock that Ryu summoned a monster I've never seen before.

"It's the beginning of your end, Yusa." Ryu grinned before laughing maniacally into the sky. "And you're just the start!"

'I don't know what that thing is.' I broke into a nervous sweat as the three-headed dust dragon let out a powerful roar. 'But I have a feeling I won't stand a chance against it!'


I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and I look forward to reading your reviews to hear your thoughts on this new development. Criticism is always welcomed as it's how we writers improve our stories to the best of our abilities because you take the time to put in your thoughts and what you think would make the story better as it progresses. For now, I must bid you all farewell. Be sure to stay safe during this time of crisis and I look forward to seeing you all again!