This is still a tale about a man who defies fate.

Ten Years Before Present (Post-Apocalypse)

"Shh…shh. It's okay, Yusei, it's all going to be okay."

Nine years old, Yusei Fudo buried his face into his mother's jacket, but found himself unable to cry. It felt like mind and body had gone into shock. The tears were there, he knew – he could feel them pushing at the backs of his eyes, trying to force their way out – but each was jostling and shoving against the other, and it was as if his tear ducts had become stuck and clogged from the effort of just trying to cry. It felt as if, sooner or later, his eyes would simply burst. Not too different from how his mind felt, really. But for now, he quivered and clung and tried to forget.

Tried to forget the deafening roars of that ghastly black leviathan, the shrill screams and shrieks of terrified people. Tried to forget the sheer chaos as the monster tore into the flesh of what had once been several businessmen and everyone else ran (anywhere, everywhere, nowhere, it didn't matter, just as long as it was away). Tried to forget the reverberating bellows of the man in blue and white as he struggled, even with his megaphone, to be heard over the pandemonium, shouting, "Evacuation! Evacuation! This way, this way!" Tried to forget the nauseating crunch as the great monster took his head….

Yusei was unable to fall asleep that night, the first time he'd ever pulled an all-nighter. Most kids his age didn't pull all-nighters. But it wasn't his fault. He was busy, he was really busy, he was really too busy. Busy trying to forget, trying to forget that they were underground and trying to forget that they could never go home again and trying to forget businessmen who ran too slowly and - crunch.

When he finally did sink into sleep, it didn't provide the solace, the "forgetting" that he had been hoping for. It couldn't, because when he dreamed, there were too many men there, too many men in blue and white. Too many megaphones and evacuations and – crunch.

Too much of too many things.

"Eat up, Yusei", his father grunted, passing him the bowl. The fire crackled and leapt, scattering dancing shadows on their faces.

Yusei took it. It was the most pathetic meal he'd ever seen. Calling it "gruel" might have been a compliment. But he didn't dare complain, because even then it would make no difference. He and his family had combed the next few…miles, probably, for food and hadn't scavenged so much as an apple core.

It was their two hundredth and sixty-second day underground. Yusei was okay now. Little by little, the nightmares had ebbed away, consumed instead by the sole need just to survive another day. He'd already had his tenth birthday, or at least he thought so, anyway. His parents had long lost count, and Yusei had no way of knowing that his tally was accurate, but even so he'd kept careful track – because some part of him was still sure that it'd all be over soon; that some great hero would arise or some fantastic bomb would be invented, and the monsters would go away and everything would go back to the way it had been, two hundred and sixty-two days ago….

So, his muscles ached, his feet screamed, and his stomach cried mutiny, but Yusei kept this tiny fire of private hope close, and ate his gruel without any comment.

Yusei's father raised his head, looking as if he was being nagged at by something, but also poised and alert. "What's that sound…?"

Yusei was about to reply that he hadn't heard anything, when a terrible screech tore apart the air and chilled him to the bone and his parents leapt to their feet and –

–And then it was upon them.

The next thing Yusei knew, he had been thrown off his feet and plunged into blackness. The fire had gone out. Pain quickly mingled with bewilderment – what had just hit him? Where had it come from? He forced himself upright, but a strong arm he instinctively knew to be his father's pushed him back down, just in time for the wind of an invisible blow to pass over their heads – or, well, was it really invisible? Yusei rolled over, letting his eyes adjust to the shadows, and saw it – an enormous black head, edged with a long, curved beak that tapered to a fearsome rapier. If not for the glowing white markings on its face that extended down its body, it would have been nearly undetectable in the darkness.

The Earthbound God lashed out again, and Yusei's mother leapt out of its way. It occurred to Yusei that the enormous thing seemed to be striking blindly. With the fire gone, it seemed that the vicious abomination could no longer see. (Had one of his parents put it out, hoping for this?) The next few times it struck, it came nowhere near to hitting any of them. Slowly, and keeping low to the ground as to make himself less of a target, Yusei's father grabbed his son's hand and began to inch in the direction of a side tunnel.

All at once, the Earthbound stopped moving, and Yusei's father halted along with it. It tilted the great head to one side and was very still. This confused Yusei, and he too stopped in his tracks. At this ceasing of movement, like a great heightening of the senses, the world seemed to intensify around him, the sightless behemoth before him seemed to swell even larger in size, and he gazed at it for an eternity that spanned the passing of a second, and yet even in this eternity he realized too late that he was breathing too loudly.

His father clasped a hand over Yusei's mouth – but he, too, was not quick enough. With a high-pitched shriek, the Earthbound's beak cracked through the air like a deadly whip in motion, and Yusei squeezed his eyes shut in terror, and then –

Crunch.

There it was again, that dreaded noise. The sound of two hundred and sixty-two days. Yusei heard it, but did not open his eyes. He felt that his back was pressed up against dirt, and figured that he must have backed up against the wall in fright, without even realizing it. (That didn't really explain why his hands suddenly felt warm and wet, though.) The Earthbound God was fast…too fast to dodge, maybe…he waited…but its attack never came.

He opened his eyes and thought he might collapse of shock. His back wasn't pressed up against the wall, it was…pressed up against the ceiling. Somehow he was taking up all the space in the corridor, neck arched against the roof, palms pushing against the ground. Except that they weren't his hands – because each finger boasted a hooked claw the length of a…a bike tire, at least. And said claws were currently crushing the neck of a birdlike Earthbound into pulp. It had died quickly, but that sadistically pointed beak was still partially ajar, trapped in the hateful death-song of surprise and fury.

Yusei relinquished his grip on its corpse and tried to back away, but suddenly he had become the behemoth and the tunnel was too small for him. To his dismay, he promptly stepped on his own tail (thereby discovering that he had a tail), and winced loudly – or thought he did, because all that came out was a pained-sounding growl.

From the corner of his eye (which was suddenly far more acute than before), he caught sight of his parents. His mother's expression communicated little more than dumbstruck shock, and she was grasping, perhaps unconsciously, at the wall for support. His father staggered once – eyes wide, mouth thin, face white. Well, not that he could blame them, actually. Yusei was feeling a bit disoriented and off-balance himself….

With this thought, the world seemed to expand and fold in on him, and Yusei felt that his back (or his wings, or their membranes) was starting to chafe rather painfully against the ceiling, and then he didn't feel the ceiling at all. Instead, there was the vague sensation that he was falling backwards, and….

When he next opened his eyes, Yusei found that he was lying on his back, rather dazed. He flexed his fingers against the dirt, and felt the scrape of dirty and slightly chipped fingernails in the stead of deadly, honed claws. So, he had transformed back.

At this movement, his mother's worried face entered his field of vision almost instantly. The slight aura of stunned confusion still lingered about her, but her main expression was that of concern. "Yusei, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine", Yusei told her, and tried his hand (well, tired face muscles) at a reassuring look. "But…I don't really get what just happened any more than you do."

"There's nothing wrong with that", she informed, and embraced him. He returned the hug, if a bit awkwardly, and sat up once she had let go.

This turned out to be something of a mistake. As soon as he had straightened, his head whirled as if plunged into a small tornado, and he quickly lied back down again, squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to dispel the sudden nausea. Though confused at first, he quickly realized – that transformation from before must have drained his energy terribly. Wait…but in that case….

Yusei turned his head carefully as to avoid coaxing the dizziness back again, and gratefully found that it did not return. He spotted his father stoking the fire again – not to mention mussing his own hair, a habit of his when lost in thought – and asked, "How long have I been out?"

"Only five minutes or so", his mother answered for his father. "You seemed to grow dizzy and fell over…. You transformed back as you fell, and your father caught you and laid you down. Are you sure you're alright?"

Yusei took a moment to consider how he might word his condition without promoting unnecessary fuss. "Yeah, I'm sure. I'm just exhausted…I'll be fine."

His mother nodded and did not ask again. His father, on the other hand, turned to them, looking troubled. "I…may have heard of something like this happening before."

Yusei's mother glanced up with such speed that Yusei felt dazed just watching her. "Wh-what…? When was that, dear?"

"It was…not too long before the…Earthbound incident, actually", Yusei's father admitted. "A few months before those accursed monsters appeared, I was working late one night…and received an unexpected visit from a coworker."

Dr. Fudo bent only slightly over the keyboard, murmuring gently to himself, watching with an intense focus that was nearly intimidating as fragments of code scrolled slowly down the screen. Almost haphazardly, he found a small typo and automatically corrected it. The clock read 21:47, signifying that he had been at the lab for over twelve hours now, but in truth, he hadn't felt more awake in some while. There was something about this particular segment of code that begged his attention, seized upon it, and refused to let go. He remained in his seat as if magnetized. Perhaps it was fate then, that he was there to witness when a tall figure stumbled through the door.

Though, he might not have even noticed had said figure not proceeded to knock down the trash can. Dr. Fudo jumped and spun around in his chair, the small-but-harsh light of his computer screen just enough to illuminate the face of the intruder, who at the moment was bent double and leaning heavily on the wall.

"R-Rudger?" Dr. Fudo nearly sputtered in his disbelief, and leapt to his assistant's side, only to receive his second shock of the evening.

Rudger's face seemed as if it might have jumped out from a horror film. His eyes were wide and staring, and his cheeks were streaked with sweat and redness as if from overexertion, but the rest of his face was as pale as death itself. He twitched and shivered visibly, and when Dr. Fudo approached, Rudger grabbed weakly at his sleeve and mumbled incoherently.

"What? What is it? What's happened to you?" Dr. Fudo demanded urgently, but decided that allowing his assistant to calm down came first. He attempted to maneuver Rudger over to a chair, but the man proved too heavy. Straining, Dr. Fudo pulled the nearest chair over with his foot instead and heaved Rudger into it.

Rudger then found himself facing the light of Dr. Fudo's screen, the sight of which seemed to slowly relax him. Steadily, his breathing slowed, and the pallor of his face returned to normal. Dr. Fudo waited patiently for the man to collect himself. In several minutes, the only obvious hint to Rudger's previous, panicked state was the damp vestiges of sweat upon his face.

As Rudger stared blankly forward, it seemed to Dr. Fudo that the man still wasn't quite in his right mind yet, though he couldn't put a finger on why he thought so. But at the very least, he appeared to be calm enough to answer some questions, so Dr. Fudo asked again: "What happened to you?"

Rudger looked at him, and hesitated for several seconds before answering. "I have been chosen by the Crimson Dragon."

Dr. Fudo blinked. Of all the answers he might have expected, this was most definitely not one of them. "Pardon?"

"I can fly", Rudger whispered. "I have wings. I have claws. I have scales." Seeing Dr. Fudo's bewildered expression, he lowered his gaze. "I am sorry. It is not easy to explain to one who has not been blessed like I have. But…I can do so much more now. If I wished to, then…" He hesitated again, as if contemplating a thought he found intriguing but did altogether approve of. "…I could kill you."

"Dr. Fudo", someone stated abruptly, and the person who was named whirled around again to receive his third shock of the night – his other assistant was standing casually in the doorway. "Please forgive my brother. He has had a little too much to drink tonight. I apologize that he bothered you; it will not happen again. Do you mind if I were to take him off your hands?"

Dr. Fudo glanced between one assistant and the other, but Rudger seemed to have no more to say. And so, he saw little more choice than to reluctantly oblige.

"My transformation has something to do with this…'Crimson Dragon', then?" Yusei asked immediately.

"Perhaps, and perhaps not", his father mused. "Either way, I suppose I should have paid more attention to the incident when I could have. When I spoke to them again the next morning, Rudger seemed to have no recollection of what had occurred, while his brother continued to insist that it had only been the ramblings of an unfortunately drunken man…. At the time, I couldn't think of any better explanations, so I simply accepted that as the truth. But now…it seems I was wrong to have let the incident go so easily."

"Well, that's all in the past now, and you can't change that", Yusei's mother replied. "Rudger and his brother might not even be alive right now. What's important now is to figure out what this means for Yusei."

"I think", Yusei began carefully, "that, if I really can shapeshift because of the will of the 'Crimson Dragon' you mentioned, then maybe I should put it to use."

"To use?" Both of his parents glanced at him. "For what purpose…?"

Yusei said nothing, but both of his parents caught the obvious way his gaze flickered to the prone corpse of the Earthbound God.

"You can't!" Yusei's mother blurted out immediately. "They're monsters! And you're…."

"A dragon!" Yusei insisted.

Yusei's mother opened her mouth to protest again, but Yusei's father got there first. "Yusei", he said sternly, "do you remember why your name is 'Yusei'?"

Yusei faltered. "It…it's for the Yusei particle you discovered, Father, which unites other particles and brings them together…just as I am meant to do."

Yusei's father nodded. "Now, if your transformation ability can help to relieve humanity of the Earthbound Gods that are terrorizing us, and to unite our fragmented people, then I think it should be used for just that."

"Dear!" Yusei's mother cried out, but Yusei's father held out a hand for her to wait.

"However", Yusei's father continued, "please consider the situation. You have only just learned to transform. It was not of your free will, but through sheer instinct. You successfully defeated an Earthbound, but it was entirely by accident. Afterwards, you were unable to maintain the form and momentarily lost consciousness. Do you understand the point I am trying to make?"

"I…I believe so", Yusei answered.

Yusei's father looked him in the eye. "My point is, before you plan to bring others together, you must first bring yourself together. Do you understand?"

This time, Yusei nodded. "Yes, Father. I understand."

Despite his father's words urging caution, however, the truth was that Yusei could barely wait to begin his campaign against the Earthbound Gods. Transforming into a dragon turned out to be easier than he had originally guessed – the real trick to it was the energy that it drained out of him.

A few times a week, Yusei was allowed to practice changing into a dragon. This was just as well, too – Yusei didn't think he could transform much more frequently than that. The second time he transformed, he lost consciousness as well, but only for two minutes. The third time, he keeled over, but did not pass out. The fourth time, he could maintain his balance almost perfectly.

After that, he practiced mostly his endurance. During the first few sessions, transforming required so much energy that he was literally unable to shapeshift for two days afterwards. However, he became used to it quickly, and soon found that he was able to hold the transformation for up to fifteen minutes. And, as if the ancient symbol of the dragon had brought new fortune to them, it seemed that even food was starting to become less scarce as well. No longer were Yusei or his parents kept up all night by the voracious, double-team gnawing of thirst and hunger.

Luckily for Yusei, it seemed that progress fueled progress. With the apparent and unexpected surge in food supply, he had more energy to practice maintaining his dragon form. Staying transformed for nearly a half-hour each day, Yusei learned to use his long and unwieldy tail to his advantage, instead of allowing it to trip up his movements. He began brief monthly excursions to the surface, both to test his flying skills and to bring back food for his family. His mother worried for him every time, of course, but always trusted her son not to try anything too reckless.

And so their lives went on in this manner, for a couple of years. There were a few close brushes with Earthbounds, but Yusei never got the chance to confront them.

But, of course, there eventually came the day when everything changed.

Seven Years Before Present (Post-Apocalypse)

Navigating the narrower tunnels of the underground had always been a bother in dragon form. For this purpose, though, at least the dragon's keen eyes were a godsend.

Taking advantage of an open space to flap his wings before tucking them in tightly, Yusei entered the next tunnel at a slight downward angle. The resulting landing was not his most graceful, and threw up vast clouds of dust, but he had achieved his purpose.

"Welcome back", his mother greeted as he gently laid down what he had just harvested – a good pound or two of fruit, taken from the surface. There were no animals caught this time. "You took longer than usual this time, Yusei – I was beginning to grow worried…."

Yusei looked around, his crest dangerously close to brushing the ceiling. "Err…. Where's Father?" he asked in as quiet a tone as he could manage, which still came out as a low growl.

"Collecting water in the bowl you found last week", his mother answered. "We just happened to find a small reservoir nearby while waiting for you. I imagine he should be back any minute n –"

"YOU TWO! RUN!"

Yusei's mother whirled around, while Yusei's head really did hit the ceiling in his surprise. Yusei's father was sprinting as neither had ever watched him sprint before, the last droplets of water trailing from a small, slightly cracked bowl he held in his hands. Gradually gaining on him was an enormous Earthbound, alighted by its own eerie blue light, the low ceiling forcing it to move forward on all fours. The first thought Yusei had upon seeing it was that it seemed to have no head, and then he thought no longer. Snarling with both aggression and excitement, Yusei lunged forward, and felt a rush of adrenaline as his first slash connected with the Earthbound's shoulder.

The Earthbound roared in agony and staggered, its humanlike arms bulky, but not necessarily suited for supporting the weight of its upper body. Yusei was about to attack again, when he felt a tug on his tail and heard his mother's voice: "No! Don't fight it, Yusei! You don't have the time to –" Yusei instinctively strained to look back, thus exposing his neck, and immediately regretted it.

In the next moment, an unimaginably crushing force had clamped itself upon Yusei's neck. His jaw fell open as if to scream, but could not manage even a strangled croak. The Earthbound had reached out with one gargantuan palm and fastened it around his throat, and in that instant, it seemed that head and body had already disconnected. The dragon's mouth opened and closed, opened and closed. What was air? What was breathing? One moment of complacency had cost him! A dragon? He didn't feel like a dragon. More like a dying fish, or perhaps a drowning man.

He dimly felt his feet leave the floor and panicked, thinking that the Earthbound had lifted him up…but wait, was that possible? The touch of his mother's hands left his tail, and the Earthbound's grip…loosened? No, it wasn't, it couldn't…. Yusei lifted a palm, and froze with dread as he watched silver scales darken and regain their color, watched claws retract and round out into grubby, worn nails. Now he understood. His mother had just warned him, he didn't have the time to fight, and she had been right. His endurance had reached its end. He was turning back into a human.

The Earthbound God paused for a moment, evidently confused that it was suddenly holding a young boy instead of the dragon neck it had clearly been grasping earlier. But it recovered quickly. Its grip tightened, and this time Yusei really did yell in pain. His arms were pinned to his sides, his ribs were on fire! He heard something snap, and pure agony shot through his left shoulder – he closed his eyes instinctively, and then –

All of a sudden, the Earthbound roared, the vice-like grip fell apart, and Yusei felt himself plummet…into what felt like someone's arms. Yusei opened his eyes in time to witness his mother falling back from the force of having caught him.

He stuttered something vague in his shock that was quickly interrupted by a yelp from his father. Ignoring the stabs of pain traveling up his arm, Yusei scrambled frantically to his feet and looked up.

Still howling in pain, the Earthbound swung its arm at Yusei's father, who barely leapt out of the way. Clasped in his bleeding palms was a jagged chunk of rock, while a similar one was lodged deep into the Earthbound's ankle. Now Yusei knew what had caused the Earthbound to drop him. Even as he realized this, however, his father could not run from the giant forever. He felt an urgent tug at his sleeve, no doubt from his mother again, which then froze as the Earthbound painfully tore the rock from its foot and plunged it deep into the stomach of Yusei's father.

Crunch.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Yusei screamed, and moved to run forward, but his mother found her strength again and forced him down. What little he saw of her face seemed to be in hysterics – jaws clenched as to avoid crying out, tears streaming down her cheeks in abrupt rivulets. And yet, she somehow maintained her calm.

"Let me go, Mom!" Yusei shouted, even while she grabbed him with both arms and clutched him tightly to her chest. "LET ME GO!" That couldn't be his father, obviously. It wasn't possible. His father wouldn't die…not to a monster like that. It wasn't possible. His father was strong…his father was smart…his father believed in him…. Surely, his father wasn't that torn and bleeding corpse in the corner. Surely, an Earthbound hadn't just severed his father's arm from him. Surely, those weren't his father's sinews and intestines strewn across the floor. Surely, his father wasn't…wasn't…could not be…not in a million years would he ever….

"Y-you…you have to run, Yusei", his mother choked out, and he could feel her shuddering from the sheer effort to force back her tears. "I'll delay the Earthbound. You…you must go on. You must survive."

"What are you talking about?" Yusei nearly lashed out at her, both sides of his face burning with tears. Was she asking him to abandon his father and save himself? …But that ISN'T your father, remember? It isn't…!

His mother spoke no more, so he did not either. Slowly, she got to her feet, and pushed him behind her, in the opposite direction of the Earthbound. The minute she let go, however, it seemed as if his legs were no longer connected to his mind – because he ran.

He ran on, and on, and on. He ran through tunnel after tunnel, as fast as his legs could possibly carry him, and still he ran on. Soon, he had run for so long that every step created burning needles in his legs, and still he ran on. He did not know where. He did not know why.

He no longer cared.

Yusei opened his eyes to a looming stack of hay. No, wait…that wasn't right. He squinted a bit. Was it a giant carpet? …In front of his face? Get a grip on yourself, Yusei. He blinked a few times to clear his eyes, and now that he had, the object turned out to be a makeshift roof, clumsily built from straw mats bound together and layered atop each other. He closed his eyes. He couldn't remember why, but it felt as if heavy weights were strapped to every muscle in his body. He could hardly move, much less summon the energy to care what the ceiling looked like, so he slipped back into slumber again.

When he next woke up, it felt like several hours might have passed. Or days, whichever it was. Even though sunlight was impossible underground, he distinctly remembered his surroundings being darker last time he'd awoken…. Speaking of which, where was he? Now that he was better-rested, he felt much more alert. From what he could feel, he seemed to be on…a bed? With a pillow and a blanket, to boot…. Exactly how had he wound up here? The last thing he remembered was….

Crunch.

No. No, he didn't want to remember that.

"How are you feeling?" someone asked, and Yusei was surprised to hear the voice of an elderly man. He turned his head to see a wrinkled face peering serenely down at him through thinly cracked glasses. The old man's Japanese was halting and had a slightly unpleasant accent, but otherwise was not difficult to understand. The man retreated to his seat, a wooden chair in front of a beaten desk. Perched upon the desk was a lamp that flickered every now and then, explaining the source of the light. Yusei opened his mouth to speak, but the man held up a finger to stop him. "Well, your life doesn't seem to be in danger. Alright. You must have many questions, so I'll try to answer as many as I can." He paused for a moment. "My name is Ansel, and this is my house. One of our village kids found you unconscious a few miles from here – Saiga, it was, and – "

"Oh, is he awake?"

Yusei turned his head again. This time, the speaker was a tall man in his late twenties or his thirties, his bangs conspicuously longer than the rest of his brown hair, a cloud of stubble shadowing the lower part of his face. Though his clothes were dirty, they were not altogether un-presentable. A tattered bag was clutched in his wide, bony hands.

"See for yourself", Ansel chuckled to the newcomer before gesturing towards him. "Yusei, this is Saiga. He's the one who brought you here to the village."

Yusei couldn't help himself. "…Is he your definition of a 'village kid'?"

Saiga burst out laughing. "Oh, don't mind Ansel here", he managed through thick guffaws. "He calls everyone 'kid'."

"I've wanted to do that ever since I was fifteen, and now that I'm in my old age, it's finally justified", Ansel quipped, and Yusei wasn't sure whether the man was being serious or not. "Oh, and Saiga, is that…?"

Saiga quickly recovered himself. "Yep, it's what you asked for", he said, sounding quite triumphant. "Though, some of them were very difficult to get my hands on. I hope you're grateful, old man."

"Saiga, Saiga", Ansel commented, taking the bag from him, "you know couldn't possibly repay you for how much you've done for me, even with my life. Truly, my gratitude should go without saying."

This last statement reminded Yusei of his own situation. "I'm very grateful too, for your saving me", he said quickly, and gave the strongest nod he could possibly muster while lying down, in hope that it would invoke the image of a polite bow. In this movement, something strained against his right shoulder as if tightly bound there. He moved the blanket slightly to find that said shoulder was wrapped in bandages.

Saiga smirked, but it was an expression of friendliness, not arrogance. "No need for the formality. We 'underground-ers' ought to help each other out – we're all in more or less the same boat, after all."

Yusei wasn't sure how to respond to this. In the three or four years he'd spent traveling with his family, most of the other people they'd met underground had been flighty, selfish, mistrustful types – the kind who guarded their food and supplies with the fierce attentiveness of a watchdog, and were quick to swipe yours if you turned away for even a moment. Sure, they'd heard of how several villages had formed despite the universal hardship, but hadn't bothered to think much on them due to how rare they were rumored to be. Never before had Yusei imagined that a village might be a place where an unconscious boy might be taken in and given refuge, instead of being searched for useful belongings and left for dead.

It was then that Yusei realized how hungry he was. But first, there was still something he had been wondering about. "Ah…Mr. Ansel?"

The old man turned to him. "Just call me Ansel! Everyone does."

"Okay…. Ansel, exactly what's the name of this village?"

Ansel nearly tipped his chair over in his laughter. "Well! To tell you that you're in a village, and then forget to tell you its name…I must be going senile." He adjusted his glasses and smiled at Yusei. "Welcome, my friend, to Satellite Village. And, you are…?"

"I…I'm Yusei. Yusei Fudo."

Author's Notes: Important! I am going to be modifying some of the earlier chapters for a while, but it's no major changes - just minor fixing, so you can ignore it. You might not even notice a difference.

Now that that's been said, I am very, very sorry for the delay regarding this chapter! ;n; The summer is actually a very busy time for me, but that doesn't justify the fact that I'm two months late. I'm truly sorry. Hopefully the fact that this chapter is almost twice as long as usual makes up for it a little. (Then again, it's the darkest installment so far.)

Believe it or not, we're still not even CLOSE to done with Yusei's backstory. The next chapter is just as long as this one... That reminds me, I still haven't let everyone know how I write these chapters. I sort of work on two chapters at once, to be sure I don't make any continuity errors. That also explains a little about why I'm so slow. OTL OTL OTL But in any case, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! (In some form, anyway.)