Dawn of the Dragons

By: Phoenix Ride

Ch.1: The Promise

"Leo!" yelled Luna, as she watched her twin brother fall off the highway because of Machine Emerperor Skiel's attack.

Yusei, Crow, Jack, and Akiza who were watching the duel from the sidelines stopped thier duel runners imediately from the shock of seeing Leo fall. Suddenly a strange sensation passed through all five of the Signers, and all of thier dragon marks began to glow.

It wasn't long until the Crimson Dragon itself appeared. The sight of the magnificent dragon surprised everyone, including the duel's unseen spectators. A red floated down from the Crimson Dragon's claw and engulfed Leo, allowing the unconious boy to float gently to the ground.

After Leo was safe the Crimson Dragon gave a final roar and dissappeared.

"Enough!" said Lucciano, pausing the screen " we watched this duel over and over agian, but still haven't come up with an answer onto why the Crimson Dragon appeared to save this boy!"

" Calm down Lucciano" said Placido " it is strange that the Crimson Dragon would save someone who is not a Signer, or doesn't have any special powers what so ever. Don't you agree Jose?"

"Maybe" said Jose " but this Leo may have more potential than we orginally thought. Lucciano, bring him to me, I want to duel this runt myself,"

At that moment Leo couldn't tell exactly where he was, only that it was black. Not one single source of light penatrated this inky veil.

"Am I dead?" thought Leo.

Suddenly, two red lights shown through the darkness, illuminating the fearsome form of a large black and red dragon. The dragon's ruby red eyes locked on Leo and the blue-haired felt hypnotized by the dragon's fiery gaze.

" I can help you achieve want you always wanted" said the dragon " swear your loyalty to me and I will awaken your true power,"

Leo didn't know what to make of the dragon's strange offer. This whole thing had to be dream, dragon's don't appear out of nowhere. Deciding to play along with his wild imagination Leo agreed to the dragon's terms.

The mysterious black and red dragon smiled a toothy grin, threw its head back and roared. When Leo jolted awake, the dragon was gone, as was the darkness, but not the eerie feeling that was creeping up the young boy's spine.

Looking to his left Leo saw his duel deck neatly stacked and picked up the first card from the top. When he turned it over the card picked was revealed to be Power Tool Dragon.

"Something's going down old friend" said Leo to his Power Tool Dragon " I don't no what it is, whatever or whoever it is, is going to wish they never messed with us,"

After thier battle with Lucciano, Luna wasn't sure if Leo would ever wake up agian. Machine Emepror Skiel's powerful attack had knocked Leo out cold for days. Fortunately, Leo was now nearly recovered. He slept and ate more often, but Luna took that in as normal brother behavior.

A call came ringing in on the video phone, Luna pressed the 'recieve' button and Dexter's face popped on screen.

"Hi Luna" said Dexter " just calling to remind Leo to come to the movie theater today. Horror House 5 is this season's number one hit!"

"I don't know why you boys like horror movies so much" said Luna " they all end the same. It gets boring after awhile,"

"Bite your tounge!" shouted Dexter " the Horror House series is A-rate material all the way!"

"More like X-rate" said Luna " still I'll tell Leo that you called,"

With those last few words, she hung up the phone.

Meanwhile, Jack Atlas was taking a little breather from working on his runner for the WRGP and decided to pay his friend, Carly Carmine, a visit. What he didn't expect to find was to find the clumsy reporter in the middle of a cleaning spree.

The look on Carly's face was frantic, but when she saw Jack, her body froze and her cheeks flushed in embrassment.

"What's going on here?" asked Jack " you've never been so eager to clean before,"

" I know its embrassing" said Carly " but my cousin is going to be arriving at any minute, and I have to get this place before she..."

Carly's eyes landed on her wall clock, realizing to time, she freaked out and shouted...

"And I'm going to be late picking her up at the airport!"

"No problem" said Jack " hop my duel runner and let's go,"

With Jack's help, both him and Carly made it just in time to greet the brown-haired girl just as she stepped out of the terminal. The two girls hugged each other instantly and introductions were quickly made.

"Cousin Tiffany" said Carly " I like you to meet, Jack Atlas,"

"Nice to meet you Jack" said Tiffany " I'm Tiffany Malone,"

"Tiffany Malone?" said Jack " where have I heard that name before? Oh yes, you're that reporter famous for the interviews of the three orginal champions; Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey,"

"That's me" said Tiffany " and just because I'm thirty-years old doesn't mean I can't still kick your but,"

"Tiffany's the one who gave me my fortune-telling deck" said Carly " her deck however is built out of the cards she won from every duelist she ever beat,"

"She must be pretty good then" said Jack " perhaps we will duel sometime,"

"Yes" said Tiffany " perhaps we shall,"

Later that evening, at 5 o' clock, Leo met Dexter at the movie theater to watch Horror House 5. The two friends emerged from the building two hours later, thier skin drained of color, and their eyes wide with fright.

"That was almost as scary as Horror House 4" said Leo, trying to hide the fact that he was shivering " I can't wait for the sequel,"

"I can't wait to get home" said Dexter " come on Leo, its getting dark,"

But as the two friends started the long walk home a figure suddenly jumped out of the shadows knocking both boys out. A few minutes later, Dexter awakened, trying to convince himself what had just happened had been a dream.

A quick look around proved otherwise, and his heart instantly throbbed with fear and worry. Leo was gone!