Yu-Gi-Oh!
Key of Light

Whooo...? What is this? A very extra special update? O.O ZoMG! XD

Yes, so I hurried and started Year Five right away. I'm glad that A Matter of Family is over; for a story necessary for the overall plot, it was a pain. And, to those of you who haven't read that story... well, you're screwed, 'cause you're going to have to go back and read it, or you won't know what's going on later. So, NYA! XP

Anywho... happy birthday goes out to my bud, Kaze, for whom the effort in making this chapter was for. Enjoy!

CHAPTER ONE – FROM HARRY'S VIEW

The hottest day of the summer had come to Privet Drive. The residence of the street had retreated to the cool indoors of their houses, while plants withered and cars remained dusty due to drought water restrictions. Well… most of the residents were inside anyway. A certain skinny, dark haired boy was hidden in the withering hydrangea bed surrounding the house marked number four.

Harry Potter gazed up from his hiding spot, looking at the open window above. His aunt and uncle were talking about him in hushed tones as usual… not that he really cared what they thought about him. Besides, listening to their harping was the only thing he had to do until the post arrived.

To say that he was excited about what might be coming to his doorstep that afternoon was a bit of an understatement. Rumors had been circulating the dueling circuit that when Kaiba Land – London opened later in the summer, there would be a grand tournament featuring duelists from all over the world exclusively invited by Seto Kaiba himself… and one of those duelists was from Surrey.

It did not take much brainpower to figure out whom.

Ages seemed to pass before the post finally came. Once the man left their front porch, Harry sprang from his hiding spot and dashed into the house, scooping up the mail that had been slipped through the door slot. Bill… bill… "You could win a million pounds"… bill…

Ah… there it was… Harry stared at the glittering Kaiba Corporation logo on the envelope, practically drooling at the sight of it. He drifted into the living room, dropping the rest of the mail into Uncle Vernon's lap, all the while staring at the mail addressed to him and ignoring the strange looks he was getting.

Admittedly, he had more important things to worry about than competitions like this. Despite the fact that the Ministry of Magic refused to acknowledge it, Lord Voldemort had arisen once more, nearly killing him and Marik in the process. He would be a fool to say he was not worried; he watched the seven o' clock news every night, waiting with baited breath to hear reports of missing people. So far, nothing had happened, and that made him even more nervous.

Hence, why he was focusing so much energy toward this tournament. Harry knew that dwelling on the inevitable was going to wear thin on his patience, and when something finally did happen, he would not be nearly prepared enough for it if he let the silence destroy him like that.

With a sound of excitement that drew raised eyebrows, Harry tore open the envelope, revealing four tickets inside. Three of them were audience tickets, each one with the name of his uncle, aunt, and cousin. The fourth, however… the forth had his name printed in glittering gold letters, with a stamp marked "Duelist" directly under it.

"YES!" Harry whooped in excitement, jumping up and down and waving the tickets, just as Dudley came down from upstairs. The pudgy teen saw the tickets, and Harry was lucky enough to save his ticket as Dudley grabbed the others from his hand.

"Kaiba Land tickets!" he exclaimed, his round face – so much like Uncle Vernon's – twisted up in shock. "How the bloody hell did you get these?"

All eyes were on Harry now, and he gulped, feeling like a deer in headlights. Excuse! Quick! "W-well… I heard you begging to Uncle Vernon to go to the grand opening… so I entered a drawing to win four tickets."

Dudley stared at him, eyes wide. "Harry…" he said, his voice barely a whisper. "You've finally proved yourself useful…!"

"Erm… thanks?"

Dudley went and practically tackled Vernon into his chair, begging for him to take them to the Kaiba Land opening. Since they had the tickets (and it was Dudley doing the begging), Harry knew what the answer would be. He headed upstairs unnoticed, slipping into his room.

Gazing lovingly at his ticket, Harry headed over to his mirror and stuck the slip of paper in the frame… before he paused, looking at his shoddy clothes. He picked at the hand-me-downs, letting out a sigh; his school clothes he could not really wear without his aunt and uncle having a fit, and all of his home clothes were dingy and old like the ones he was wearing. After a moment, he shrugged, trying to keep positive. There were a lot of strange looking duelists out there (hell, look at Yugi); maybe people would just take it as one of his quirks.

Harry shrugged again, before going to his bed and pulling out his trunk. Flipping it open revealed his Duel Disk III and card box right on top, and he took the two items, setting them on his bed and slipping the trunk back under. He did not have many cards – just the ones that Yugi and the others had given him, all of which were in Japanese.

Settling down on the bed, he took out his translation list and the cards that went with them, and started to get to work…

-.oOOo.-

The summer days seemed to crawl by, and Harry practically melted in relief the day they all piled into the family car to go to the tournament. He kept a tight grip on his backpack loaded with, as far as anyone else knew, snacks and other refreshments. It was not a total lie; he had some pocky in there that Draco had given him to try ages ago (fortunately, the fudge had not melted yet). Obviously, what really made the bag so bulky was his Duel Disk and deck… but they did not need to know that, at least not yet.

Harry stared outside in concern. The highway leading to Kaiba Land was packed. Cars were lined up for miles, and he would bet his wand most of them were heading toward the new facility. Fortunately, they had gotten quite close before they got stuck in traffic, thanks to Dudley's insistence that they leave early.

A long and tedious half hour passed, before they were finally able to get to the parking lot. Another fifteen minutes passed before they actually got to park. From then on it was a mad rush up to the stadium entrance. Harry was not really paying attention; he was observing his ticket, which said he had to go to through the side entrance instead of the main lobby. How was he…?

Uncle Vernon suddenly stopped in front of him, shouting at a car and driver that had nearly run him over as it turned the corner. Harry took that as his cue to slip away, quickly making it to a sign pointing toward the side entrance. Following it around revealed a small, unassuming door guarded by two men in immaculate black suites… and one, blonde young man who was pacing back and fourth anxiously.

Harry blinked. "Jounouchi, right?" he asked.

The blonde looked up, grinning from ear to ear. "Harry-kun! Glad you remember!"

Harry yelped as Jounouchi ran over to him and practically bear-hugged him. "Your English has improved," he observed, trying to wiggle away.

Jou rolled his eyes as he let him go. "Oy… Kaiba make… made me practice," he corrected himself, rolling his eyes again. "Said I wouldn't come to tournament if I didn't. Tight ass."

Harry laughed, only to cut himself off as the older boy picked at his clothes. "Oy, oy! Kaiba say you'd be wearing bum clothes."

"Well… it's all I have that I can wear…" Harry replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. Jounouchi just grinned again – really, he seemed incapable of anything else – before taking the young wizard's hand and pulling him toward the guards.

"No worry," he said. "Brought old clothes with me. Should fit."

Harry blinked in surprise, feeling a bit like Dobby in the respect that Jou would let him wear his clothes, even if they were old hand-me-downs. Really, sometimes he thought he was lucky to get Dudley's old clothes…

He showed the guards his ticket, and they were allowed through. Jou paused a moment to grab a backpack that was obviously his, before propelling him toward the nearest men's rest room and pushing him into a stall. The older boy handed him the clothes over the top of the stall, and Harry ended up coming out a moment later dressed in a white shirt with green trim and baggy blue jeans. Jou applauded his look, before handing him a bag.

"I… 'borrowed' these from Yugi-kun," he said sheepishly. "Give you some style."

Harry blinked in surprise, before opening up the bag to reveal a black and silver wristband and a gold bracelet. He grinned, putting the trinkets on as Jou nodded approvingly. Once his "style" was on, Harry went for his own bag, pulling out his duel disk and placing it on his arm.

"Now you look like duelist," Jou stated.

Harry did not think anyone could give him a better compliment at that moment.

From the bathrooms, Jounouchi led him out along a stretch of hallway to a door marked "Duelist Prep Room". The older boy swung the door open to reveal the… gangliest collection of people Harry had ever seen in his life. The rumors were not kidding; Seto had invited people from all over the world all right, and from all walks of life too.

Off to one side, there was a short kid with green hair and giant glasses talking to another boy about his height wearing a beanie with tuffs of brown and purple hair sticking out. They both turned when Harry and Jounouchi entered, sneering at them (particularly Jou), before going back to their conversation.

"Watch out for those guys," Jou whispered to him. "The one with glasses is Insector Haga, and other is Dinosaur Ryuusaki. Haga's sly; he'd do anything for win, even sabotage your deck. Ryuusaki isn't as bad, but since he associate much with Haga, I wouldn't trust him as far as I throw him."

Harry nodded. "Noted," he murmured. He let his gaze drift over the others. There was one in another corner… Harry was not sure if the person was male or female. The person had too much of a flat chest to be a female, yet the way the rest of the person was built made it hard to say for sure. Either way, Jou murmured he did not know anything about them, so Harry let it drop, instead letting a dark haired man waving around what looked like a fishing spear catch his attention.

"That's… Kajiki Ryota…" Jou muttered, sweatdropping. "He's… energetic."

"Understatement," Harry replied dryly. Next to Kajiki (enduring his ranting) was a tall, very well built blonde man that looked like he was more comfortable in a gym than anywhere else.

"I hear of him, but never face him," Jou whispered. "Think his name is Rafell…?"

"Raphael?" Harry asked.

"That it," Jou replied, nodding. "Really respects cards, that one. Too much. Never lets his monsters go to the grave."

"You're kidding?" the young wizard asked, blinking at the tall duelist with respect. As much as he dueled, he never managed to go through a round without having one monster stay in the graveyard. He almost looked forward to dueling this one…

"Out of the way! You're ta— Jounouchi?"

Jou turned… before quickly straightening and running a hand through his hair as if that would help tame it somehow. Harry turned as well… and could instantly understand why Jou had rushed to make himself presentable. Behind them was a rather… buxom blonde, wearing a purple and black outfit that left very little to the imagination.

"Mai-san!" Jounouchi exclaimed happily. "It's been a long time… I was starting to think I'd—"

Jou was cut off as a man just a bit shorter than Mai with spiked brown hair (which made up for the height difference) came up from behind her. He wrapped his arm around her waist, raising an eyebrow at Jou, who starting growling when he touched her.

"Who's the puppy dog?" the man asked, sneering as Jou's growls got louder. Mai turned her nose at Jou, tossing the man behind her an almost seductive smile.

"No one important, Varon dear," she said, starting to lead him away. Varon turned toward Jou as they passed, who had developed a look akin to a wounded puppy.

"Better not bother my girlfriend again, mutt," he sneered.

Jounouchi watched the two of them retreat to their own private corner, his hands balled up into fists.

"Ano yarou!" Jou snarled, gnashing his teeth as Harry backed away, privately glad he did not know what that meant.

"Easy, koinu-kun," came a voice from behind them. "I may just have to drag you away to get your shots."

Jou turned, looking like he was about ready to deck whoever it was behind him, but he stopped before his fist got too high. Harry turned as well to see a dark haired young man about Jou's age, wearing black slacks and shirt with a red vest. The man idly twirled a strand of hair about his finger, making an earring with a die attached to it swing back and forth, as Jounouchi grinned.

"Otogi!" he exclaimed. "What hole did Kaiba drag you out of?"

Ryuuji Otogi just rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "The business hole. DDM has been quite popular in both America and Japan. I'm judging from the crowd this has drawn that it might be popular in this country as well."

"DDM?" Harry asked, blinking up at him.

Otogi turned to him in surprise, before he smiled. "Dungeon Dice Monsters," he clarified. "A board game I created using dice instead of cards to summon monsters."

Harry's eyes widened, instantly interested; drawing a chuckle out of the two older boys. Otogi offered to show him out to play some day, which got a rapid nod out of him, just as another blonde girl entered the room. This one was much younger than Mai, however, with her hair pulled back in pigtails. Judging from the look on Jounouchi's face when he saw her, he knew her as well… and not in the same manner he knew Mai.

"R…Rebecca…" he muttered. "Good to… see you again…"

The girl put her hands on her hips. "Don't strain yourself pretending to be glad to see me, Jounouchi!" she stated huffily.

"No, no! I glad to see you! Really!" Jou exclaimed, sweatdropping.

"That wasn't very convincing…" Otogi muttered, drawing a dog-like whimper from Jou.

Rebecca "harrumphed" in annoyance, before she got a starry look in her eyes. "I didn't even want to come here. The only reason I came was for the chance to see my darling."

"Your… darling…?" Harry asked, almost afraid of the answer, considering the girl's bad attitude.

"Um-hum!" she replied, nodding rapidly. "Yugi Mutou."

There was enough sweatdrops between Jounouchi and Harry fill a miniature pool.

"Uhh…"

Rebecca skipped off before Harry could get a word in edgewise. All three of them watched her leave, more sweatdrops adding to the collection.

"Do you want to tell her that Yugi is, essentially, gay?" he asked Jou and Otogi.

"Nope," the other two replied, shaking their heads… before Otogi jumped in surprise, realizing what Harry said.

"Wait, when did that happen?" he asked. Jou and Harry just sighed.

-.oOOo.-

An hour later found Jounouchi wandering to where he was supposed to go to meet his first opponent of the tournament. They had all been privately given information on where they would need to go, but were not told with whom they would be dueling against. That was just fine with him; as long as he survived long enough to put that Varon bastard in an early grave, he did not care whom he dueled against.

He arrived at an antique car display, and it was taking him everything he had not to stop and drool over the cars. Admittedly, Japan had the better modern cars, but it was the older, foreign cars that really awesome…

"Oy, oy, koinu-chan," came a mocking voice. "Looks like we meet again!"

Jounouchi snarled, turning to where Varon was standing with an arrogant tilt to his stance. He was about to snap at him, to curse him out for daring to call someone that had proven himself an excellent duelist time and again like he had a puppy… when he caught sight of the duel disk on his arm…

Uh oh…

-.oOOo.-

Harry ran through the massive Kaiba Land complex, heading toward his first duel of the tournament. The opening ceremonies had been… interesting, to say the least. Even over the cheers of the crowd, he heard Uncle Vernon's exclamation of surprise when his name was announced, along with Dudley's shout of outrage. It took him everything not to grin in triumph at that; he had officially one-upped his cousin.

At any rate, the Kaiba Land complex was massive, with more than just duel rings littering the place. There was also a miniature amusement park, complete with roller coasters, Ferris wheels, and a zoo. His first duel was to take place at the Tyrannosaurs display within the zoo… so when he saw who his opponent was, he was not too terribly surprised.

"Ah, so you must be Jounouchi's friend," Dinosaur Ryuusaki said, turning as Harry approached. "I wonder if you're a mutt like he is."

Harry raised an eyebrow as he gradually came to a stop. "What's with everyone calling Jounouchi a dog?"

Ryuusaki snorted, rolling his eyes. "Because he's the useless underdog that no one should ever count on."

That got a frown out of Harry. He gave the shorter boy a hard look. "I consider that 'useless underdog' one of my friends," he stated hotly.

"Ha!" Ryuusaki exclaimed. "Then I'll send you to the dog house along with him!"

He held out the arm his Duel Disk was on, ejecting the holographic pods, before letting the two panels slide together. Harry followed suit soon after, sliding his deck into the holder.

"Don't underestimate me," he stated. "This may be my first tournament, but I'll still take you out!"

"Bring it on!"

"Duel!"