“Dude! I can’t believe we’re done with middle school already!” shouted a red-haired boy, his eyes matched a shade of deep, blood-red ruby, his skin was dark and he had a scar over his left cheek, he was sprinting down the road, many feet ahead of his friends walking with him, a dark haired boy with shining blue eyes, and a brown haired girl with deep emerald eyes. Both had a tan shade of skin, and were walking side-by-side. “Hurry up guys!” he shouted, turning back to them.

“Why are you always in such a rush Axle?” sighed the young girl, “It’s not like your Grandpa’s card shop is going anywhere.”

“But he said he’s got a surprise for all of us Emily! I wanna hurry up and get there already!” shouted Axle, he hated waiting, especially when he wanted to go somewhere.

“Calm down man, we’ll get there.” Replied the dark haired boy, his hands were covered with scars from working in gardens.

“I know but you guys are going to slow!” shouted Axle, about to break into a run again.

“Or maybe you’re going too fast…” said Emily, shuffling her feet along the path.

“GAH!” Axle let out a sigh and slowed down, allowing the two to catch up. “So Riku, are you finally going to ditch that broken old plant deck you used all through middle school?”

“Please. My Plants are beautiful and majestic, much better than your barbaric Dark Worlds.” Retorted Riku, defending his plant deck.

“Barbaric!? My Dark Worlds are powerful and mythical, you’re just jealous because you were the 2nd best duelist in the school.”

“Grr…” Riku’s pride was getting attacked, he didn’t like it. “Right here, right now! Let’s duel!”

“Hah! Thought you’d never ask!” Axle turned on his duel disk, it was the basic academy issue, it matched Riku’s.

“Boys will be boys…” sighed Emily, sitting down between the two, watching the duel.

“Alright, I’ll take the first draw!” shouted Riku, and I’ll begin by summoning Lonefire Blossom, but you know its effect already, I sacrifice it to summon Giga Plant!” The grotesque looking monster appeared in front of Riku, staring down Axle. “And with that I’ll set 2 cards and end my turn.”

“And just HOW is THAT thing “Majestic” Riku?” mocked Axle, jokingly.

“You know, he has a point Riku-kun, that thing is very ugly.”

“That’s because you don’t know how to see its true beauty.” He sighed. “It lies in its potential, not its appearance.”

“Man, you sure do talk a lot.” Axle laughed, “I activate the spell card, Dark World Dealings! Each of us draw one card, then, discard one card.”

“I know your card effects bro, we’ve been dueling with these decks since elementary.”

“I know, but some people may not.” Replied Axle with a poker face.

“Huh? Did something just shatter?” said Emily, poking her head up.

“I discard Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World!”

“And that brings him to the field. Seriously, I know your deck like the back of my hand.”

“Shut up and let me talk will ya? I then activate Gates of Dark World! You all know what this does.”

“Theres that shattering noise again!” spoke Emily, looking around

“Goldd, attack his Gigaplant!” Axle was sure this duel was going to be his.

“Ha, you really think I would allow myself to be attacked so easily? I activate my trap card, Dimensional Prison!”

“Awh, damn.” Said Axle, watching his Goldd disappear from the field, “You had to do that?”

“Well yeah.” Interrupted Emily, “You think he would let you destroy his monster?”

“Well I wasn’t hoping he would destroy mine! I set 1 monster, and 2 cards face down, I end my turn.” Axle was irritated, he was so sure his attack would go through.

“You never think during duels Axle, that’s why you won’t win. I summon Naturia Cherries!” called out Riku as the twin cherries appeared on the field, “Now… lets see how you handle this…”

“He summoning HER” though Emily, scooting back a bit.

“I tune my Naturia Cherries to my Giga Plant, Black Petals scatter in the moonlight, merge and form the true beauty of a rose, awaken, Black Rose Dragon!” The majestic creature appeared in a hellstorm of rose petals, its guttural roar caused the ground to quake. “I then activate its effect, destroying all cards on the field.”

“Damn…” thought Axle, watching his trap cards, Dimensional Prison, and Deck Devastation Virus disappear. “I know where this is going… monster reborn…”

“I then activate monster reborn!” continued Riku, resummoning the dragon. “Now, Black Rose Dragon, attack his life points directly!”

“Ahh hell!” shouted Axle, shielding himself from the dragon’s attack, the life point counter on his disk dropping to 5600.

“Your turn Axle.” Said Riku, setting a card face down.

“Alright… I need to get that dragon off the field…” he thought. “Okay… I activate the effect of Gates of Dark World.” He banished his Goldd, then sent a Grapha to the graveyard. “Grapha’s effect activates, destroying your Black Rose Dragon!”

“Tch… Such a shame.” Grumbled Riku as he watched his dragon explode.

“It’s not over yet, I summon Broww, Huntsman of Dark World! But he’s not goona stick around, I’ll return him to my hand to special summon Grapha to the field. The gates open to reveal the wicked realm, come forth the master of the dark, Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark Word!” In a dense fog, Grapha arose out of the ground, slamming down with force as he landed. A drop of sweat trickled down Riku’s brow, he never liked seeing the monster from the sidelines, much less when it was staring him in the face.

“Gah! I hate that thing, it’s so grotesque.” Riku tried to hide the fact that the dragon terrified him.

“Grapha! Attack him directly!” shouted Axle, the giant dragon reared his head back, firing a purple beam of energy, Riku had to shield his eyes from the attack, the counter on his disk dropped to 5000.

“Heh, that was a good turn, but it won’t last.” Replied Riku, drawing his card. “I activate the spell card, Dark Hole!” Axle’s dragon was sucked into the black void that appeared on the field. “I then activate my face-down, call of the haunted, to bring back Black Rose Dragon!”

“Oh man…” thought Axle, he knew he was done for.

“I then summon Rescue Rabbit, and use its effect, I banish it to special summon 2 Bean Soldiers! I then overlay them, summoning #39 Utopia!” The glowing warrior arose out of the Xyz pathway, pointing his sword straight at Axle, Riku was about to call the attack when they heard a call from over the hill.

“Axle, Riku, Emily!” called an old man, about 6 feet tall, with a scruffy grey beard.

“Grandpa!” called Axle, as the monsters disappeared.

“Hey, I was wondering what was taking you so long. So I came looking for you.” Continued the scruffy man, running towards them.

“So Grandpa, what did you have for us?” asked Axle, meeting the old man in front of a bridge.

“Well yes, with school being out and you guys going into the Duel Academy next week, I decided to get you 3 presents. I had to pull a few strings, and call in some favors, but I got each of you your own one-of-a-kind decks.” He concluded with a huge smile.

“Our own custom decks!?” shouted Emily, running over next to Riku.

“Wow, thank you so much Grandpa!” shouted Axle, jumping for joy.

“Yes, your welcome, now, Axle, here you go.” He handed Axle a black deckbox with an elaborate, blood red pentagram, Riku’s was a red box, that had a black rose imprinted on the front. He handed Emily a sky blue box, with a crossing magic staff and sword.

“Wow awesome!” shouted Axle, “But why does it have a pentagram on it?” He wondered, worriedly.

“Well, that’s because you use fiends very well, however, the Dark World type was holding you back, so I had Pegasus create the Hellions, modeled after your mastery of fiends.

“I’m guessing mine has something to do with Black Rose Dragon?” said Riku, examining his box.

“Why yes, and entire archetype built around that dragon.” Replied Axle’s Grandpa.

“And seeing how you already have your sign- errr… Signature Dragon, I felt it was time to give Axle and Emily’s theirs. They’re ready for it.” He handed Axle a synchro dragon, it was black with blood red running through it. To Emily he gave a serene looking dragon, it had a blue to it that was calming. “Axle, Emily, these dragons I am giving you are special, protect these cards with your life. Axle, you are given the Red Dragon Archfiend, it is the strongest of the 6, and most deadly. Iris, you are given the Ancient Fairy Dragon, she is the most effective of the 6, easily protecting and recovering your life points. Riku… you hold the Black Rose Dragon, the most beautiful of the 6, its power alone can wipe your opponents away. You three, use these dragons in your decks, and you will see their importance.”

“But Axle’s grandpa, you still haven’t explained my deck!” called Emily, with a huge grin.

“Oh, yes, you are given the Spellblades, this spellcaster/warrior archetype is extremely versatile, they rely on both Xyz summoning and Synchro summoning.”

“Grandpa, what did you mean by “The Six”?” asked Axle, eyeing the new dragon.

“You’ll find out someday, for now, let’s head back to my game shop.” The 4 headed back over the hill and towards Axle’s grandpa’s game shop.