1 Chapter One: Duelists' Run

Chapter 1: Duelists' Run

Sunrise over the Anima Badlands. The city of Anima sat in the dead center of the Harmony region; the place where four topographical climates met as one and expanded ever outward. To the south of the city outskirts stretched the desert Badlands, as the people of Anima called it, among other less flattering names such as the Slums, the Sandtrap, and the Smuggler's Hole. It was often labeled as the place where the misfits and lower tier citizens of Anima went to make their living. If the Badlands were known for two things, one was the predawn sunrises that cast the sky in a beautiful, purple canvas. The other was Duelist's Run.

The small, desert town on the outskirts of Anima was quiet as the first rays of dawn crept over the infinite horizon. The only sound to be heard was the hum of a motorcycle as it cruised into the lot of a rundown gas station. The bike was jet black in color, and the rider's legs fit into the slots of two appendages that stretched upward like the wings of a wyvern. The rider was dressed head to toe in a red motorcycle suit with a black, skeletal-looking design. His helmet was painted like the head of black dragon with a solid red visor.

The rider pulled up to a gas pump and shut off the bike. He slipped the hose into the bike's gas chamber and allowed it to fill up automatically. In the meantime, he trudged around the crummy station, planting what appeared to be a series of firecrackers at each corner of the lot. The sun had still yet to appear in the distance. He guessed that there were few people awake in town to even spot him or see what he was doing. With that thought, he returned to the pump and hung up the hose, mounted his motorcycle, and just waited.

An hour later, 21-year-old Damien Rayne woke in his bed. He stared up at the ceiling of his apartment for a full minute before his mind came back to him. It felt as though some strange sense in the back of his head had woken him, and it made him look cautiously around the small bedroom.

Eventually shrugging it off, Damien pulled himself out of bed and stretched his back with a series of loud pops. Damien had been brought up in the plaza district of Anima City. Having never known his parents, he was raised by his aunt and uncle along with his younger cousin, Felicity. When he was sixteen, his aunt and uncle were tragically killed in a monorail derailment in the city. Unwilling to let Felicity and himself be taken into foster care, Damien moved out to the Badlands and found work as a mechanic. But that wasn't the only skill he attained. Among his new peers, Damien delved into the worldwide phenomenon of Duel Monsters, which was extremely popular throughout Anima. He wanted to get into it as a boy but his aunt and uncle wouldn't allow it. Here in the Badlands, however, he quickly discovered his talent for it, built an ideal deck of his own, and soon after, Felicity began to follow in his footsteps. Speaking of Felicity, Damien listened and could hear the sound of the TV playing downstairs. It was 6:30 on a Saturday morning; only one reason his cousin would be up so early.

"Draw your last pathetic card so I can end this, Yugi!"

"My grandpa's deck has no pathetic cards, Kaiba! But it does contain...the unstoppable Exodia!"

Felicity's eyes were glued to the screen as she watched her favorite anime. Her eyes only left to glance down at the deck of trading cards cradled in her hands, staring into the demonic-looking Egyptian face of the card which read, "Exodia The Forbidden One". At a time long before she was born, this may have been regarded as one of the most coveted cards known to Duel Monsters, but she was thirteen now, and this card and all others bearing its name we're deemed virtually worthless by the public. At least in gameplay. Well no, she thought, in media too. It had been many years since even the mighty Egyptian God cards could be called mighty. Times changed, but that didn't stop Felicity. She had been captivated by Exodia from day one when she first watched the anime protagonist, Yugi Muto - or rather the Pharaoh - suddenly wipe the floor with Seto Kaiba's ego. In spite of all the criticism she got from her peers, she was determined to find the perfect dueling formula for Exodia, and so she spent the last several years collecting all the different Forbidden One cards she could find, in the hopes of finally being accepted into Anima's dueling academy so she could get out of this desert hole. But she was quickly beginning to wake from that dream. Once she turned fourteen, she would officially be too old to apply for the academy.

"Up early for a Saturday," Damien said as he lumbered down the stairs and toward the kitchen. "Haven't you watched that episode a million times?"

Felicity rolled her eyes. "You know I always start my mornings this way."

"Most people would go for a run," Damien joked.

"Well, everything I am I get from you!"

Damien laughed as he slipped into the kitchen, listening as Yugi emerged victorious over his arch rival in the other room. He poured two glasses of milk and headed back into the living room, where his cousin continued to fiddle with her cards.

"Rebuilding your deck again?"

Felicity gave a soft sigh. "Derek challenged me to a duel on Monday."

"Derek? The popular kid you always talk about? Are you sure it was him who challenged you?"

"Oh, shut up," Felicity groaned. "He was making fun of my deck, so I'm filling it with my best cards to beat him. Someone has to put him in his place."

Damien took a deep breath as he set a glass of milk on a TV tray next to his cousin. "And do you ever consider you always lose because you keep putting these cards into your deck?"

"I lose because I haven't hit my stride yet. I just need to find my perfect Exodia strategy."

"You lose because you're chasing strategies that don't exist."

"Well, we all can't be as good as you, can we?"

"Hey, you know I offered to help you build a real deck."

"I just need to get into the academy any way I can."

"Liss," Damien sighed, "I can't afford to send you to the academy. I can barely afford this life!"

Felicity straightened out her deck. "That's why I was thinking about entering the upcoming tournament. You know Anima's tournaments offer scholarships. I don't need you to pay for me, I just need to practice!"

Damien lowered his head and laughed. "I liked your jokes when you knew they were just that."

"Hey!" Felicity cried, looking offended.

"Come on, you know those duelists are top tier, right?"

"I've watched them before. They're no better than you! I don't understand why you don't join more tournaments, cousin."

"Because I can't afford that either!"

"Oh please!" Felicity scoffed. "It's because you spend all your extra money working on that stupid runner."

"Ok," Damien said as he clapped her on the shoulder. "Put your cards away, stop thinking about it, and go get ready. I've got nothing going on today so maybe we'll go into the plaza district."

Felicity managed a smile and swallowed her glass of milk before jumping up and retreating upstairs to her room. As he watched her disappear, Damien sighed as he sincerely wished he could find a way to help his cousin get what she really wanted. Life in the Badlands wasn't easy, and he knew that if she wasn't able to get out soon, she never would. Damien stood up to head out of the room, but a faint sound in the distance caught his ears, and he turned to gaze out the apartment window.

The mysterious rider sat at the gas pump for well over an hour. Eventually, the manager realized he had been sitting there and came out to ask if he was alright. The rider did little more than turn his head to look at the old man before returning his attention to seemingly nowhere. The manager threatened to call the police if the motorcyclist didn't leave. The rider did not move.

As the manager stepped back into the gas station to pick up the phone, the faceless rider took out what looked like a cell phone and keyed a few buttons. Suddenly, the firecrackers he had previously planted went off, shooting up into the sky one at a time. They were loud, enveloping the small town in a thunderous shroud like gunfire. Each one shot several hundred feet into the sky before exploding in fiery bursts of black and red. The gas station manager cursed as he stepped outside to see the commotion. The rider started up his bike, as if out of nowhere, and sped off down the jagged road.

Damien watched the firecrackers go off from his apartment window, narrowing his eyes as he believed he recognized those black and red patterns. He didn't say a word, but as if he had completely forgotten about his own cousin, he turned to head out of the den and bounded down another set of stairs leading into the apartment's garage unit.

Damien flipped on the single lightbulb hanging in the garage, revealing an old-looking, silver car. It was unlike any regular vehicle one would find driving the streets every day. It was smaller than usual; it only stood as high as Damien's chest and its tiny cabin only had a driver's seat, with the passenger area taken up by a bulky computer system.

Damien snatched a single key from a hook by the door and climbed into the driver's seat. He started up the car, which roared to life as it ejected a cloud of exhaust into the area. He pressed a button on a small remote that hung on the cabin ceiling, and the garage door behind him opened. Damien backed out onto the street, checked to see that nobody was in sight in his immediate area, and planted his foot down on the gas pedal, speeding off out of the shabby neighborhood. He drove until the dusty town started to become the barren desert, and the last thing he passed was a rotting sign painted with the words, "Duelists' Run".

Once he was on the desert track, Damien flipped on the cruise control. With one hand, he pressed a few buttons on the cubic console installed beside him, and the system hummed to life. He then pulled down the sun visor overhead, revealing two decks of cards strapped onto it. These ones were different than Felicity's. They were slightly larger and the back faces were designed much closer to those of the classic anime. These were the real deal.

Damien opened up a tray in the console. He then grabbed one of the decks and slipped into the right-hand slot of the tray, proceeding to grab the second deck, which was much thinner, and dropped it into the left slot. As the tray swallowed up the decks, Damien grabbed a pair of sunglasses and put them on. Only the left side of the glasses was shaded. The other lens was clearer, and there was a single Bluetooth earpiece that rested snugly in his ear. As the computer system booted up, the clear lens flashed a series of words that were read aloud through the earpiece.

"Authenticating registered duelist - Damien Rayne."

The augmented reality system sprang to life. Damien watched as a notification popped up indicating that the system was scanning for an opponent, when suddenly…

"Opponent detected."

Damien glanced out the driver's side window to see the mysterious motorcyclist ride right up to his side. He turned his head to look at Damien, and he assumed they were locking eyes through his visor. The holographic lens of Damien's glasses named his opponent as Jace Redd.

"I was wondering when you were gonna come to town," Damien said.

"I never disappoint!" Jace's voice echoed into Damien's earpiece. "You've taken something of mine. I've come to take it back!"

"Come and try," Damien uttered through his teeth.

With that, as if acting as one, the two shifted their duel runners into high gear, watched their holographic lifepoint count rise to 4000, and declared, "LET'S DUEL!"

"I'll kick this off!" Jace reached up with his right hand and cycled through his AR visor's holographic rendering of his five-card opening hand. "I'll start simple, by summoning Black Dragon's Chick!"

Black Dragon's Chick [*1]

ATK 800 DEF 500

Damien watched as the advanced holographic system read Jace's card down to its last detail and rendered it onto a virtual field in front of the two of them. His heads-up display was imprinted on the lens of his glasses, but as long as the two of them were linked in the duel, the field would remain fixed in front of their runners, and the first monster to appear on Jace's side appeared like a large, red egg with a baby black dragon hatching out of it. A pitifully harmless creature, but Damien knew exactly what was coming.

"Now," Jace continued, "I send my newborn dragon to the graveyard to activate its special ability!" With that, the infant monster vanished as if swallowed up by a virtual vortex. "This lets me summon my deadly beast, Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"

Red-Eyes Black Dragon [*7]

ATK 2400 DEF 2000

Jace's side of the field was taken up by an enormous black-armored dragon with glowing red eyes, closely resembling the design on his motorcycle suit.

"I'll place a card face down, and that'll end my first turn!"

Damien saw a single face-down card appear on his AR lens, indicating his opponent's final action. "Simple indeed," Damien taunted. "And predictable. Alright, I draw!" He made a swiping gesture with his right hand to add a sixth card to his HUD. "Your dragon's formidable, but I'll end it just as easily as you summoned it! I discard one card from my hand to special summon this; The Tricky!"

The Tricky [*5]

ATK 2000 DEF 1200

Damien's side of the field generated his first monster, which looked like a mysterious, caped jester with a large, red ? on its chest, and one where its face should've been.

"But that's not all! Let me introduce you to my Overlay Parasite! When it's sent to the graveyard this turn, and a monster is special summoned to my side of the field, it's then summoned to the field itself, and it's level matches the first monster's!"

Overlay Parasite [*1>>5]

ATK 0 DEF 1000

Just beside his first monster, a small monster appeared, taking the shape of creepy, blue cephalopod-like creature with eight tentacles. Each was a different length than the others, and the longer they were, the more stars were printed on them, from one to eight. The monster was holding up the one tentacle with five stars on it, indicating that it was matching The Tricky's level of 5.

"Here it comes," Jace muttered to himself.

"I overlay my level 5 Parasite and The Tricky to build the overlay network and Xyz Summon!"

Xyz summoning: the act of overlaying two or more monsters of the same level. It was easy enough to perform if one held the right cards, and the results were almost always rewarding. For Damien, it was the key to unlocking his signature card.

"Come forth, Aeonic Guardian Metatron!"

Aeonic Guardian Metatron [R5] {O-2}

ATK 2000 DEF 1500

Damien's The Tricky was shrouded in a magnificent orange light while Overlay Parasite was swallowed by a green light, and the two swirled together into a mass of energy that ultimately reshaped itself into an even mightier monster. Aeonic Guardian Metatron stood tall in a glistening, dark blue suit of armor, wielding a golden spear in it's right hand. On its chest plate was displayed a shining, gold symbol: two triangular shapes beside one another and pointing downward, and in the middle, between their inner slopes, was a full diamond shape. The other two monsters used to summon it remained on the field as glowing orbs encircling their new host. Damien's signature monster was on the field on his first turn, and though it wasn't powerful enough to destroy Jace's dragon yet, he had that covered.

"Aeonic Guardian Metatron has the ability to use your monster's power against it! By sending one of its overlay units to the graveyard, it gains attack points equal to your monster's level x 200!"

Aeonic Guardian Metatron [R5] {O-1}

ATK 3400 DEF 1500

One of Metatron's glowing orbs vanished and its attack instantly increased by 1400, making it more than strong enough to wipe out Jace's monster.

"Aeonic Guardian! Attack his Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" Damien's monster spun its spear in hand before hurling it at its opponent with blinding speed. The Red-Eyes Black Dragon let out a shriek as the spear pierced its armored chest before vanishing as if it shattered into a million pieces. Jace ducked his head as if to dodge the holographic projectiles, and his lifepoints took the difference of the monsters' attack values as they dropped to 3000.

"Thanks for destroying my dragon, Rayne!"

Damian raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Thanks to your reckless attack, I can activate a powerful trap you've never seen!" Jace outstretched his hand, and just like that, his face-down card on their HUDs flipped up, revealing it to be a pink-framed card. A trap. "Ensnared Ritual! This trap allows me to banish the monster you just destroyed in order to summon a powerful ritual monster in its place with a level equal to its own!" Suddenly, a rotating blue circle appeared on the field where Jace's dragon had just been. "Say hello to my Black Knight of Red-Eyes!" From the blue-patterned circle emerged a brand new monster; a knight in black-charred armor with two wing-like appendages on its shoulders similar to those on Jace's bike. It wielded a massive sword and had a fierce, red glow emitting from the eye slit of its helmet.

Black Knight of Red-Eyes [*7]

ATK 2800 DEF 2000

"How do you like my knight in shining armor?" Jace sneered.

Damien growled through his teeth. "I set a card face down and end my turn." His Aeonic Guardian's attack points dropped back down to 2000.

"You won't get the drop on me that easily! Now it's my turn! I'll start by reinforcing my knight with Black Pendant!" Jace played his holographic spell card, Black Pendant, which increased his monster's attack strength to 3300. "Next I activate my Black Knight's special ability! Once per turn, it allows me to banish a dragon-type monster from the graveyard, then it gains 500 attack points for every dragon currently banished! Between my Red-Eyes and my Black Dragon's Chick, my knight gains an additional 1000 attack points!" Damien watched as Jace's monster jumped up to 4300 ATK, more than twice that of his own. "But why stop there? The fun's just beginning! I equip my Black Knight with the spell Megamorph! While my lifepoints are lower than yours, my monster's attack points double, giving it a mindblowing 8600 attack points! Say goodbye to your prized monster, Rayne, and the rest of your lifepoints! Black Knight of Red-Eyes, attack his Guardian now!"

"I don't think so! Reveal face down card!" Damien's face down spell flipped and revealed itself. "My Shrink magic card cuts your monster's attack points in half! You may destroy my Guardian, but my lifepoints remain in the game!" Just like that, Jace's Black Knight's attack points dropped back down to 4300. Damien watched as his beloved Guardian was obliterated and his lifepoints slashed down to 1700. He was at a grave disadvantage, but suddenly, a grim smile appeared on his face. "And you know what that means. Since my lifepoints are now lower than yours, your Megamorph spell reverses its effect on your Knight!"

Black Knight of Red-Eyes' attack points went from 8600 before its attack to a decimated 2150 at the end of Jace's turn. He growled under his breath. He planned to overwhelm Damien and finish him in one swift stroke, but it had completely backfired. He may have emptied Damien's field, but he knew that wasn't going to stop him trying to turn this around.

"My turn!" Damien swiped in the air to draw a new card. This duel was already as intense as their drive speeding down Duelists' Run. "Just what I needed! I activate the spell Monster Redemption! At the cost of half of my lifepoints, it allows me to resurrect any banished monster, and I know just the one. I'll bring back to the field your Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"

Jace watched in horror as his banished dragon was suddenly return to the field, on his opponent's side. "You just couldn't resist, could you?"

"You know me! Now comes the fun part! I play Polymerization, to fuse your Red-Eyes with my Aeonic Saber Knight!" Damien discarded his Aeonic monster to the graveyard along with Jace's dragon in order to Fusion summon…

"Show it to me!" Jace hissed to himself.

"Appear! Black Eternal Dragon!"

Black Eternal Dragon [*10]

ATK 3500 DEF 2400

The holographic field was suddenly overshadowed by the largest monster yet. The Black Eternal Dragon dwarfed Jace's Red-Eyes Black Dragon in comparison. It was a magnificent beast whose body was painted like a galactic canvas, with jet-like streams of red, blue, and gold coursing through its body like blood. This was it. This was the card Jace had come for. The card taken from him by his formidable opponent. It was the only monster that could be summoned with the aid of both their signature monsters: one Red-Eyes Black Dragon, and one level 5 or higher Aeonic monster. Right now it was strong enough to destroy Jace's Knight along with more than half his remaining lifepoints. Removing his Red-Eyes from banishment cut his Black Knight's attack points by another 500, and he knew the worst was yet to come.

Jace suddenly hit the brakes on his bike. Damien's head whipped back before grinding to a halt himself. "What are you doing?!" Damien called to him.

Jace flipped out the kickstand on his runner and dismounted it. He pressed a button on the bike's centerpiece, and the whole thing detached from the bike and onto his arm, forming a standard duel disk. "Let's finish this," he uttered, "on foot."

Damien hesitated for a brief moment before pressing a button on the side of his AR computer. A slot opened up and he slipped his hand inside, allowing his own duel disk to detach with his deck inserted. He switched on his runner's e-brake and stepped outside.

The two stood ten yards away from each other. Their monsters had reoriented themselves in front of their respective controllers. They just stared at each other for a moment, sweating in the scorching desert heat, before Jace finally spoke. "I already know what you're about to do. Just finish it."

Damien just nodded his head. "I banish Aeonic Saber Knight from my graveyard to activate my Eternal Dragon's special ability! Your Black Knight loses attack points equal to Saber Knight's. Saber Knight has 2100, and since your monster only has 1650, its strength drops to 0." Jace just allowed his duel disk arm to fall limp. He had already surrendered. "Time to end this!" Damien declared. "Black Eternal Dragon! Finish him! Annihilate the rest of his lifepoints!"

Jace could only stand and watch as his opponent's mighty dragon charged up and fired a brilliant, iridescent beam of raw energy that completely engulfed his Black Knight of Red-Eyes, and with no attack points to stand a chance, his monster was blown away in a powerful holographic explosion that inflicted a devastating 3500 points of damage to his lifepoints.

As Jace's lifepoints hit 0, and the augmented reality system deactivated, Damien gave a deep sigh of relief. He watched in silence as his opponent dropped the duel disk from his arm, allowing it to clang on the ground. He reached up and began to remove his helmet, revealing a young, blond-haired face no older than Damien himself. The two just stared at each other with stern eyes, before Jace finally managed a grin, and Damien couldn't help but laugh.

"Your dueling style hasn't changed a bit, has it?" Jace called to him in a much less serious tone of voice.

"Maybe it will when you finally learn how to beat it!" Damien replied. With that, the two of them stepped forward to meet in the middle, where they clasped hands and pulled each other into a friendly embrace.

"How've you been, buddy? It's been too long!" Jace said.

"Same old life, my friend! You in town for the tournament? It's the only time we ever see you again."

"You know I am! And I was kind of hoping to win back that Eternal Dragon my father gave to us. Really could've used it."

"You know you can't summon it without my help, though," Damien contested.

"Exactly. That's why I was hoping I might convince you to join me in the tournament. We'd make an unbeatable team, just like the old days!"

"I wish I could, but that would take money I just can't afford to blow right now. I'll be disappointing Felicity again this year because I don't have the money to get her into the academy."

"Speaking of which, how's the little one doing?"

"Driving me crazy!" Damien joked. "Come on back, Jace. She'll definitely be thrilled to see you. Like you said, just like old times!"

Meanwhile, deep within the underground sewer system of Anima City, a hooded figure knelt in the center of a dark chamber. The area was lit only by a few lanterns hung here and there, and he could barely make out the dozen other cloaked people standing around him in a semicircle. Just before him lied a shallow basin filled with a thick, silvery substance, carrying with it a thick, rubbery scent, but he tried not to let it bother him.

"You have come far to make it here," one of the surrounding hooded figures said in a deep, echoing voice. "To bear the mark of the DarkLight. Your mark is that which you carry with you and have poured your very soul into." The hooded man speaking stepped forward to the edge of the basin and began to empty the contents of a small flask into the liquid. The flask's contents just as thick and tinted red like blood. The initiate's blood to be exact. "With this blood you have surrendered, you give birth to your mark, a beast unlike any the world has seen this far."

When the last drop of blood hit the basin, the silvery liquid began to glow and churn before finally evaporating completely. Once it had all disappeared, it had left behind nothing but a single card. This card was rather peculiar, with a multi-colored frame of red and silver split down the middle. The initiate picked up the card, allowing his mark to imprint on him forever.

"The DarkLight is all-powerful," the hooded speaker continued, "and very soon, the world will learn to embrace it as we have. We will undo the very constraints of this dogmatic reality. Only one step remains. Now, go fellow disciples, and bring the last of the relics to me!"