Chapter Text

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: RE-TURN

Episode ##: Everyone’s Resolve

“Mom!” Yuya Sakaki cried.

Under normal circumstances, any sane person would immediately believe that the boy who had cried out for his mother had done so in duress, having witnessed something shocking and awful being done to her.

Of course, these were not normal circumstances, nor normal people, if you wanted to be completely cynical.

And if you were being cynical, then the concept likely would have been thrown back in your face as the blond woman in the heavy white biker coat yelled in a most childish manner…

“I’m not your mom!”

Then, her face whipped into a serious, determined expression. “Right now, I’m Shooting Star Yoko! As the legendary boss of Ladies, I’ll take your final attack!” With that, she leaped back to her feet and gestured at her son. “Come at me!”

In spite of the weirdness of the situation, Yuya happily played along. So at his mother’s encouragement, Yuya slipped back into his Entertainment Duelist persona, ready to demonstrate that he’d taken her lesson to heart. 

“Alright!” Yuya declared, “Time for the final touch! Ike, Performapal Helprincess, deliver a direct attack to the boss of Ladies, Youko!” 

Yuya’s monster raised her staff with a comically large clown hand at the end into the air before using it to smack Youko Sakaki, sending the middle-aged woman onto her back. 

Youko: 900 - 1600 = 0 LP 

Yuya leaped off of the Solid-Vision platforms, the rest of the duel arena fading away as he approached his mom, who was still lying on her back. He had, of course, held back his blows, but that didn’t stop him from still feeling concern. 

From the other end, Yoko began laughing. 

“It’s been such a long time,” she sighed, “but dueling sure is the best.”

“Mom!” Yuya replied, running to her side to check on her, Shuzo and the rest of You Show Duel School gathering around. With a smile, Yoko lifted herself off the ground before presenting Yuya a card. 

“Take this as your farewell gift,” she offered, Yuya taking the card from her hand before flipping it over.

“Smile World,” Yuya mused, staring at the card, “This represents you and dad’s memories…I can’t…” 

“Dad said to pass it on to you someday,” Yoko reassured her son. “When you have a need for it. This must be the time.”

Yuya’s eyes widened. 

“Dad wanted me to have one of his most precious cards?” 

“Listen well,” Yoko admonished, “No matter where you go, never forget your smile. If you find yourself forgetting, look at this card. Remember today and remember your father.”

“Mom,” Yuya repeated, barely holding back tears. 

“And believe that you’ll definitely make it!” Yoko continued, “Yuya, you can save Yuzu-chan and you can stop this fight! That’s what I believe.” 

“I believe in you, Yuya!” Shuzo encouraged, slapping Yuya on the back. 

“And me!” Futoshi chimed in. 

“Me too!” Ayu agreed. 

“And me,” Tatsuya affirmed. 

“Everyone’s wishes will come true,” Mieru unexpectedly prophesied from the other side of the field, “that’s what I have divined.” 

“I’ll believe,” Yuya promised. “I’ll believe in the entertainment duel I inherited from Dad! I’ll bring smiles to everyone through dueling, stop this fighting, and come back with Yuzu by my side, and I will definitely come back to You Show Duel School!” 

They cheered together at the declaration, Yoko scooping Yuya up into a hug. 

“Now, before you go, let’s have one last dinner tonight,” Yoko beamed. “There’s one particular fish recipe Micchy had that I want to try right now!”

There were still many things weighing on Yuya Sakaki’s mind, and hearing Michio’s name sent a bittersweet taste in the Entertainment Duelist’s mouth. On the one hand, the Cooking Duelist had been a rather arrogant opponent at the time, but on the other, he’d proven an invaluable ally during the Obelisk Force’s attack, his defeat being horribly cruel and not deserved in the slightest. 

He could still hear his fellow duelist’s scream of pain, and Teppei’s cry of horror before he also fell in battle…but even with such a terrible memory, the Cooking Duelist’s skills couldn’t help but make Yuya’s stomach growl.

Maybe a meal would allow at least Michio and Teppei’s memory to remain intact…and with the challenges up ahead, it might be the last time Yuya would be around to eat with his loved ones for a long time.

“Alright!” He said, choosing to smile.

DUEL STATUS

Action Field: Blade Graveyard

Kudoru Gongenzaka LP: 2800

Controls Big Shield Gardna and Mid Shield Gardna, 4 cards in hand

Noboru Gongenzaka LP: 2900

Controls Superheavy Samurai Big Benkei equipped with Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer, 3 cards in hand

“Watashi no turn!” Kudoru Gongenzaka declared, drawing his card, before closing his eyes. “Noboru, you spoke before about evolving our Steadfast duel style, did you not?”

His son gave a curt, but assured nod.

“Likewise, I believe you understand the burdens that you will soon carry, beyond just inheriting my Dojo, do you not?”

“Of course!” Noboru replied.

His father’s eyes were closed, then snapped open. “Then we shall see if all of your actions to this point are up to the test! Ritual Spell activate, Total Defense Ritual!”

“A Ritual Spell?” Noboru gasped. He did not recall his father being able to Ritual Summon before, let alone use Spell cards.

“The levels required for this Ritual Summon are exactly 8! I release the Level 4 Big Shield Gardna and Mid Shield Gardna!”

Noboru watched as his father’s guard monsters, two muscular, burly warriors holding shields of varying sizes, vanished into eight ball-shaped flames that gathered onto the field, prompted then by the flames connecting into a circle, from which a pillar of fiery light burst, and from that pillar emerged a new monster.

“Stand firm against all! Let nothing pass by your body, notice, and mind! Gishiki Shoukan! Rise up, Level 8, Zettai Bogyou Daimyou !”

A massive warrior, stoic in disposition, wearing heavy samurai-based armor, sat in a meditative position, but instead of his katana lying down in his lap, it, and seven others, were arranged on his back, still sheathed. In place of a katana was a massive, elaborately marked shield that the daimyo picked up as he rose to his feet, before likewise pulling out one of the swords strapped to his back, ready for battle.

Total Defense Daimyo/EARTH/Level 8/Warrior/Ritual/Effect/ATK: 2400/DEF: 3000

“Father…you can Ritual Summon now?” Gongenzaka gaped in awe.

“It was as you said before,” his father replied solemnly, closing his eyes. “Our duel style must evolve to keep up with the times. And a master who ceases his learning has no right to remain one.”

Then, Kudoru’s eyes snapped open. “And so, consider this my final test for you! Total Defense Daimyo is able to attack while in Defense Position! Ike! Attack Big Benkei!”

“What?! But Big Benkei has higher DEF!”

“Not for long,” Kudoru smirked. “By discarding Total Defense Reinforcer from my hand, Daimyo’s DEF will increase by 1500!”

Gongenzaka watched as a leaner samurai-like warrior wielding a long shield atop a naginata threw the weapon down towards its leader. The weapon turned to energy and was absorbed into the shield wielded by Total Defense Daimyo, while the spear attached itself to the warrior’s back.

Total Defense Daimyo/DEF: 4500

“But of course, I did not do this solely to climb over your monster’s defense! Within the skillset of Total Defense Daimyo is the power to shift your monster’s battle position!”

“No!” Gongenzaka realized, watching as his primary ace monster’s defensive aura vanished, the great mechanical warrior now assuming an offensive position it was not trained to properly fight in.

Superheavy Samurai Big Benkei/ATK: 1000

“Take this one-hit killing blow!” Kudoru Gongenzaka declared. “Total Defense Daimyo, strike down Big Benkei! Great Decree!”

From behind his massive shield, the Daimyo readied his sword, before using it to strike the shield itself and slamming the massive piece of metal into the ground. From there, an enormous shockwave erupted, a blast of energy heading right for Big Benkei.

Yet despite this intimidating for-sure attack, Gongenzaka remained firm. Though they were dueling in an Action Field, where a possibility of preventing the attack was right there for the taking, it was the way of Steadfast Dueling to stay one’s ground and never move from that spot. 

And Noboru Gongenzaka had no intention of breaking that.

“Superheavy Samurai Mentor’s effect!” he declared. “I can send him from the field or graveyard to place a monster on the field into Defense Position! I choose Big Benkei!”

“That will not be enough!” his father reprimanded. “Total Defense Daimyo has the ability to, once per turn, negate the activation of one of your monster effects, banish that monster, and then inflict onto you damage equal to its ATK! Pay the price for your weak conviction! Discipline of the Insurmountable!”

As the spiritual appearance of a robotic samurai wearing rather simple robes as opposed to armor began to manifest, the daimyo drew one of his other swords, the blade glowing with blue energy, ready to strike the spirit down.

“My conviction is not weak!” Gongenzaka retorted firmly. “If I target a ‘Superheavy Samurai’ with Mentor, you cannot activate cards or effects in response to his effect activating!”

At that instant, the robotic samurai’s appearance fully materialized, and pulling out his own weapon, a strange hybrid of a rod and a sword, deflected the secondary attack before, with a strength that did not seem possible in his slim frame, slammed Big Benkei back into a defensive stance, as if to reprimand the warrior for his error, before vanishing.

The attack continued, but Gongenzaka’s ace monster stood firm now. Though he could not deflect the attack, not one stray piece of shrapnel from the ground or the swords that were now scattering all over the battlefield, or any bit of energy, impacted his master.

Standing proud and tall, Gongenzaka reached for his deck. “Because my Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer has been sent from the field to the grave, I may add 1 ‘Superheavy Samurai’ monster from my deck to my hand.”

“You have not avoided me yet!” Kudoru scolded. “Because I could not use the effect of Daimyo on your Mentor, I will simply use it on your Soulpiercer!”

Drawing a different blade, the massive warrior sent a crescent-shaped wave of energy at Gongenzaka, which impacted his duel disk and caused the image of Soulpiercer’s card to vanish.

“Soulpiercer had 1200 ATK! So you now take 1200 points of damage!”

The blue energy had not simply dissipated. It had remained on Gongenzaka’s duel disk as if it were a glowing scar. That scar then burst into red energy, creating an explosion with Noboru at the center.

Noboru Gongenzaka LP: 1700

“I will also set a card face-down to end my turn,” Kudoru said, closing his eyes.

When he opened them, he could still see that the cloud of dust had yet to fade. But as it did, he could see that though his son was bruised and scratched all over, he was refusing to let this defeat him.

“Father…” Gongenzaka began, still shocked. “Why have you set a card face-down now?”

“You ask me this question, when you yourself, my son, taught me this lesson?” Kudoru questioned. “I have my reasons for playing this particular card. As I said, this duel is your final test, and if you cannot solve the riddle in front of you, whether you win or lose, I will NOT allow you to join the Lancers!”

“WHAT?!” 

Kudoru shook his head. “Even if Reiji Akaba, his mother, or some other cretin from Leo Duel School attempts to make me reconsider or overrule me, my decision will remain firm. You will remain in this dimension, as you will clearly not be able to fend for yourself in some other world.”

Gongenzaka grit his teeth. Whatever lesson his father was trying to teach him, it was admittedly something he was not grasping. He could understand that this was a duel of conviction, but the play that had just been made…was there more to this?

Yes, definitely so. But he could not waste time just thinking about what might be about to happen. To begin to solve the riddle, he would have to actually attempt it.

“Ore no turn!” Gongenzaka declared, drawing his card.

At the same time, the situation was daunting. His father had a powerful monster that could stop his monster effects and then damage him at the same time. One mistake would see him defeated on his own turn. The set card too, was clearly going to be trouble.

Gongenzaka looked at his hand, then reached for his graveyard-slot to eject a card.

“The graveyard effect of Superheavy Samurai Mentor makes it so that you will not be able to activate effects in response to those of my ‘Superheavy Samurai’ monsters, and you cannot negate this effect!”

Kudoru’s response to this move was a simple, but audible ‘harumph’.

“I summon Superheavy Samurai Battleball!” he said, slamming the card that had caused the defeat of Gen Ankokuji onto his duel disk.

What appeared was a small, round, armored samurai-like robot wielding a spear, who briefly bounced onto the field before standing firm in front of the opposition.

Superheavy Samurai Battleball/EARTH/Level 2/Machine/Tuner/Effect/ATK: 100/DEF: 800

“I was prepared for that, Noboru!” Kudoru countered. 

“What?!” 

“Your Superheavy Samurai Battleball’s effect is indeed troublesome-you can use it to Synchro Summon using one of my monsters, and with the effect of your Mentor, I would not be able to chain to that effect,” Kudoru said, before his face became sterner. “However, it still has an unfortunate weak point!” he scolded. “You, the player, must activate it while it is face-up on the field, and at the moment of its summoning, I strike at this window!”

Gongenzaka was left to gawk as a pink-colored card flipped face-up on his father’s field.

“Trap hatsudo, Breakthrough Skill! I now can target one of your monsters and negate its effects!”

“NO!” Gongenzaka yelled, but he could do nothing as the trap took effect.

A burst of orange-colored energy sent Battleball flying, causing the little robot to tumble helplessly onto the ground.

“You got overconfident, Noboru,” said his father. “Now you have used up the one workaround you had to my Daimyo. You only have a single monster with 100 ATK bereft of his abilities, whom my Daimyo will crush on the next turn.”

“I will not give up!” Gongenzaka insisted. “I equip Superheavy Samurai Soulpeacemaker to Battleball!”

An armored, tan collection of hands, gathered in a way akin to shoulder-pads, soon equipped themselves onto the little robot.

“You still can’t use your Daimyo’s effects on this turn, so I will make the most of it! By tributing the monster equipped with Soulpeacemaker, I can Special Summon a new ‘Superheavy Samurai’ from my deck!”

At that explanation, Battleball and the equip card vanished, with Noboru’s deck ejecting a card.

“And that monster will be Superheavy Samurai Blue Brawler! In Defense mode!”

A simple, blue-colored, but still burly samurai robot appeared, crossing its pillar-like arms in a defensive stance.

Superheavy Samurai Blue Brawler/EARTH/Level 4/Machine/Effect/ATK: 0/DEF: 2000

“I’ll then discard the Superheavy Samurai Monk in my hand to activate its effect; this will allow me to take two different ‘Superheavy Samurai’ monsters in my graveyard or that have been banished, and then add them to my hand. I’ll choose Mentor and Soulpiercer before equipping Soulpiecer to Blue Brawler and ending my turn there!”

Though the crossbow-monster was now attached to Blue Brawler, it was made clear that it could not make much use of it at the moment.

“That is nowhere near the proof I need, Noboru!” Kudoru declared. “Draw!”

Gongenzaka braced himself. Thanks to Mentor returning, he now had a means of keeping Blue Brawler in Defense Position, and thanks to Blue Brawler’s effect, it could not be destroyed by battle. Hopefully, he could use this combination to stall for time.

But it didn’t seem that he would get that time as a certain Spell Card and Trap Card both returned to his father’s field.

“I now activate the grave effect of my Total Defense Ritual and chain with Breakthrough Skill!” announced Kudoru. “Starting from the second card in the chain, Breakthrough Skill’s effect from the graveyard enables me, during my turn, to once again negate the effect of one monster my opponent controls by banishing this card from my graveyard!”

“But that means-”

“Yes! Your Blue Brawler loses his indestructibility!” Kudoru revealed.

The orange energy returned, this time constricting and weakening Noboru’s monster as it lost its abilities.

“And as for Total Defense Ritual, I am allowed to shuffle it back into my Deck, and bring back one ‘Shield Gardna’ monster from my graveyard in Defense mode! Return now, Big Shield Gardna!”

The burly, giant-shield bearing warrior returned, its stoic face not changed at all.

Big Shield Gardna/EARTH/Level 4/Warrior/Effect/ATK: 100/DEF: 2600

“And now I will release him, in order to Advance Summon Total Defense Shogun!”

Yet another massive, burly warrior, wearing massive armor adorned with a red cape, with two giant swords strapped to his back as he wielded a third, along with his own enormous shield, marched onto the field, his face equally stoic and grim from the burdens he carried.

Total Defense Shogun/EARTH/Level 6/Warrior/Effect/ATK: 1550/DEF: 2500

“Total Defense Shogun goes to Defense mode when he is Normal Summoned,” Kudoru noted as his monster took a defensive stance.

Yet it was now clicking for Gongenzaka. His father had just emptied his grave of any spells or traps, via effects that took them out of the graveyard if necessary. The lesson now seemed so obvious, Gongenzaka was tempted to smack himself in the face for not noticing sooner.

And his father had noticed the look on his son’s face. “Caught on, have you? This is another way to evolve our style, and to teach you a lesson about the enemies you will have to fight. They do not have any form of honor, and so you must be prepared to face such terrible enemies while still holding true to your determination.”

“Father…” Gongenzaka’s voice trailed.

Kudoru then folded his arms, eyes closed in remembrance. “Hmph, I kept telling that fool Yusho to slow down, and yet he refused, insisting that for the sake of his Entertainment Dueling, he’d always have to keep ahead of the times. He was always moving, and very rarely ever took the time to stop and think.”

Then he sighed. “Honestly, that fool…” but his words held no malice. “Noboru, your friend, Yuya, he picked up those habits from his father...tch, seeing you two, it’s almost like looking into a mirror of our younger days…”

His son did not respond, so Kudoru continued to talk. “But, you are you, and he is himself. You are not me, and he is not Yusho…and neither of you should strive to be like us. You found your own way to evolve, and I have found mine. I can only guide and advise you this far.”

“I understand, father,” Noboru nodded.

Kudoru’s eyes flashed open. “Do not consider the reminiscence of an old man to mean I have let up! If you lose here, you will not join the Lancers!”

“I never considered that you would at all!” Noboru retorted.

“Then let us continue this battle!” Kudoru exclaimed. “I’ll have my Daimyo attack Blue Brawler! Because of its effect, Blue Brawler is forced into Attack mode!”

Superheavy Samurai Blue Brawler/ATK: 0

“I activate the effect of Superheavy Samurai Mentor in my hand!” Gongenzaka countered. “I send it to the graveyard to switch Blue Brawler back to Defense mode, and because I control a ‘Superheavy Samurai’ monster, you cannot use your Daimyo’s effect to counter it!”

First, Blue Brawler found his stance shifting, before once more, the spirit of Mentor appeared to smack him back to his senses and put him back into Defense Position.

Superheavy Samurai Blue Brawler/DEF: 2000

“Daimyo’s attack still continues!”

Once again, a blast of energy burst from the ground and destroyed Gongenzaka’s monster, who lasted as long as possible, ensuring that not a scratch fell on his master.

“I won’t activate Soulpiercer’s effect this time,” Gongenzaka grimaced.

“Then the battle phase shall continue!” Kudoru replied. “Total Defense Shogun can attack while in Defense Position as well, but in this case, it is the ATK that shall be applied for damage!”

The massive, hulking warrior ran forwards, brandishing its sword, before bringing that sword down onto Gongenzaka. The Steadfast Duelist brought his duel disk-using arm forward, shielding himself from the blow by using that arm to block the attack. He struggled valiantly against the weight of the blow, before finally, Total Defense Shogun jumped away, allowing Gongenzaka to drop to one of his knees, exhausted from the exertion.

Noboru Gongenzaka LP: 150

“I end my turn,” Kudoru declared. “This is the decisive moment son, will you prove your conviction is worth it in the outside world, or will you remain here?”

Gongenzaka returned to his feet. “I will show you that right now, father! ORE NO TURN! DRAW!”

The man drew his card with incredible force despite his exhaustion, eyes brightening when he saw what the card was.

“First, I once again banish Superheavy Samurai Mentor to make it so that your Daimyo cannot negate any of my monster effects this turn!”

Undeterred by any conflict, the spirit of Mentor appeared, slamming his rod-sword into the ground, creating a golden ripple that surrounded Gongenzaka’s side of the field. 

“Next, since you control 2 monsters while I have none, I can Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Scales from my hand!”

With that, a new, somewhat short robot samurai with predominantly green armor, bearing a yoke with metal trays on each end, appeared.

Superheavy Samurai Scales/EARTH/Level 4/Machine/Effect/ATK: 800/DEF: 1800

“Using Scales’ effect, I bring back Superheavy Samurai Battleball!”

Scales quickly flipped the yoke around, and allowing a fountain of golden light to erupt, the diminutive round robot returned.

Superheavy Samurai Battleball/EARTH/Level 2/Machine/Tuner/Effect/ATK: 100/DEF: 800

“Do you intend to use my Daimyo as Synchro Material again?” Kudoru asked.

“No!” Gongenzaka declared. “It would be disgraceful to do so at this point in the duel. If I am to prove myself, father, then I have to do that by defeating your ace monster the proper way! I will instead use Battleball’s effect to target Total Defense Shogun, for a total of 8 stars!”

“Oho?” the Steadfast Master smirked.

“With the effect of Battleball, I tune Total Defense Shogun to it!” Gongenzaka declared.

Bouncing to Kudoru’s field, Battleball transformed into a set of green rings, with Total Defense Shogun being surrounded by them, before the hulking warrior transformed into a row of six orbs of light.

“Shinobi hiding in the darkness, emerge onto this warground with a cry that echoes in the mountains! Synchro Summon! Come before us! Level 8, Superheavy Samurai Ninja Sarutobi!”

A new, short and somewhat stout samurai robot with a blue-and-black paint scheme appeared, steam and air emanating from its tube-like fingers. Slowly, it rose from its kneeling position, before striking a fighting pose.

Superheavy Samurai Ninja Sarutobi/EARTH/Level 8/Warrior/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 2000/DEF: 2800

“A new Synchro monster?” inquired Kudoru. “Impressive, but its DEF is still too low to defeat my Daimyo!”

“I’m aware, that’s why I have this move!” Gongenzaka revealed. “The second effect of Superheavy Samurai Monk is that by shuffling him and another ‘Superheavy Samurai’ from my graveyard into my deck, I am allowed to draw a card, then, if I draw a ‘Superheavy Samurai’, I can draw one more! The other monster I select will be Superheavy Samurai Big Benkei!”

“So, you are leaving it to one final draw, are you?” Kudoru mused, gazing at the last card in his own hand.

Total Defense Ditchdigger. Of course Kudoru knew the ways of hand-traps and grave-effects; he’d taught them to his son. The card was a tad situational, as the way the effect worked was that it would reflect any piercing damage by discarding itself, but Kudoru knew that Noboru’s best chance likely lay within such damage. Standing his own ground, Kudoru prepared for his son’s last attack.

Gongenzaka shuffled the two cards into his deck, and then calmly placed his hand on the deck, eyes closed, his expression serene, allowing the desolate grave of swords to have a moment of peace.

Then his eyes snapped open, and he drew.

He looked at the card, and his expression of determination did not falter. Kudoru didn’t need to know what his son had drawn, it was quite obvious what type of card it was.

“I drew Superheavy Samurai Drum! So now, I draw another card!”

Another gust of wind burst forward as Gongenzaka drew, before he quickly moved to pull out his first card. “I haven’t yet used my Normal Summon this turn. Come, Superheavy Samurai Drum!”

A monster that was a cross between a tsudzumi hand drum and an engine transmission appeared in front of Gongenzaka. 

Superheavy Samurai Drum/EARTH/Level 1/Machine/Tuner/Effect/ATK: 300/DEF: 300

“Now, I tune my Level 4 Superheavy Samurai Scales with my Drum!” he declared, Drum turning into a Synchro ring, and Scales transforming into four stars.

“Wise master of battle tactics, draw your sword and step forward onto the battlefield! Synchro Summon! Come before us! Level 5, Superheavy Samurai Swordsmaster Musashi!”

A sturdy, might samurai warrior wearing thick red armor with gold bands, dual-wielding mechanical swords with a golden, metallic groove stormed his way forward, brandishing his swords, red-hot flames bursting from jets installed on his shoulders.

Superheavy Samurai Swordsmaster Musashi/EARTH/Level 5/Machine/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 300/ DEF: 2300

“Via Musashi’s effect, I add a ‘Superheavy Samurai’ monster in my graveyard to my hand!” Gongenzaka explained. “So, I return my Soulpiercer, and via its effect, equip it onto Sarutobi!”

The rotund robot soon had the crossbow-like weapon attach itself to its arm, yet Kudoru saw that it was not shifting its stance to accommodate its armament. He quickly stole a glance to the Ditchdigger in his hand, before returning his attention to his son’s field. Perhaps he was going to try to increase his monster’s DEF?

“Sarutobi’s effect activates now!” Gongenzaka declared. “During either of our turns, while I have no Spells or Traps in the graveyard, I am allowed to destroy 1 Spell or Trap on the field, and inflict onto my opponent 500 points of damage!”

“On the field? Then you’re going to-” Kudoru realized, but his son beat him to the punch.

“Yes! I will destroy my own Soulpiercer!”

Sarutobi pulled Soulpiercer off his arm, before tossing it high into the air. From his tube-like fingers, gusts of wind were propelled upwards, quickly destroying the crossbow, before the shrapnel rained down onto Kudoru, who stood his ground despite the wind and debris being launched at him.

Kudoru Gongenzaka LP: 2300

“With Soulpiercer’s destruction, I can add a new ‘Superheavy Samurai’ from my deck to my hand, and with Mentor’s effect still in play, your Daimyo cannot negate it! I choose to add Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter!”

At this, Kudoru had to suppress a smirk. He could see it now. His son was about to cross over his defenses.

“Since I have no Spells or Traps in my graveyard, I now discard a ‘Superheavy Samurai’ monster and Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter from my hand!”

Discarding Superheavy Samurai Swordsman, Gongenzaka quickly slammed the Tuner monster onto his duel disk. What appeared was a small robotic warrior wearing an amigasa-styled hat and, true to his name, blowing on a massive conch-like flute he managed to hold in his small hands.

Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter/EARTH/Level 2/Machine/Tuner/Effect/ATK: 300/ DEF: 600

“I now tune my Level 8 Sarutobi with the Level 2 Trumpeter!” Gongenzaka announced.

On their master’s declaration, the two mechanical warriors rose forward, Trumpeter transforming into two green rings as Sarutobi transformed into eight bright stars that soon aligned with those dual rings, a pillar of brilliant light bursting forward.

"Raging deity, in unison with the roar of a thousand blades, come forth in a spiraling sandstorm! Synchro Summon! Now come before us, Level 10! Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susano-O!"

An absolutely massive behemoth, far larger than Gongenzaka’s previous monsters, manifested, swinging a massive nagamaki-styled blade before moving into a meditative position and slamming his body onto the dueling field, sitting resolutely against his rival warlord, whose own eyes narrowed as he took his new foe into account.

Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo/EARTH/Level 10/Machine/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 2400/ DEF: 3800

“Ekay! Susanowo!” ordered Noboru. “Destroy Total Defense Daimyo! Kusanagi Sword Slash!”

Susanowo obeyed, swinging his massive weapon forward. Total Defense Daimyo, despite being outmatched, grimly held his shield forward, before the two heavy weapons clashed together. The Daimyo put up a valiant struggle, but cracks were already appearing in his shield, and in the end, 3000 DEF could not fight against 3800. The shield shattered, and in that moment, Daimyo vanished, destroyed by Susanowo’s weapon.

Both Noboru and Kudoru knew that this was the end. The latter had no more monsters to defend himself, and his LP exactly matched the DEF of Musashi. Quite obviously, he had no intention of searching for any Action Cards.

“This is the end! Superheavy Samurai Swordsmaster Musashi, direct attack!” Gongenzaka declared.

“Bring it on then!” shot back Kudoru, who rose his arms to brace himself for the backlash.

Musashi was quick, bringing his swords together, before slashing them forwards, unleashing a cross-shaped blast of energy at Noboru’s father. Standing as firm as he could, the old man took the full brunt of the attack, gritting his teeth as he was slowly, but surely, driven back from his spot, and when the blast dissipated, the resulting shockwave forced him to jump backwards to dissipate the impact.

But no matter what effect the attack would have had on him physically, the results game-wise spoke for themselves.

Kudoru Gongenzaka LP: 0 - LOSE

Gongenzaka panted as the Action Field vanished. It was over. He had won.

“That was a magnificent duel, my son,” Kudoru complemented, lowering his arms as his duel disk deactivated. “You have proven the depth of your convictions…and, likewise, you have surpassed me as well.”

“F-father?” Gongenzaka asked, surprised at what he had heard.

“I’ve nothing more to teach you in this dojo. You are ready to face the outside world now. You are ready to fight with your comrades.”

Gongenzaka did not reply, but a swelling of emotions began to surge from within him. He fought to tap them down, knowing that this was not a time for tears. Quickly, he wiped his eyes, making sure to keep his dignity in front of his father. Even if there was the claim of surpassing him, it still seemed disrespectful.

“Get some rest, son. You will need it for tomorrow.”

“Y-yes!” Gongenzaka exclaimed, before bowing, knowing that this, at least, would hide his eyes. “Thank you for everything you have done, father!”

It was good that he was looking down; he hadn’t seen how his father’s eyes were all but pouring tears of joy and pride at seeing his son having grown into a man.

In the end, both taped it down, and rose to their feet, letting the adrenaline rush fade away…

Which only served to illustrate just how fierce their battle had been when the pain of his dueling injuries registered and then surged through Gongenzaka’s body.

“G-GAHHHHH!”

“Uh, er, but, first, let’s pull out the first-aid kit. THEN you can go rest and fight with your comrades!”

“YES!” Gongenzaka cried to the heavens.

“My boy, my brave, brave boy!” Furio Sawatari wept, the portly man refusing to let go of his son. In spite of his best efforts to embody the pure awesomeness he had chosen for his neo new persona, Shingo found himself crying just as hard as his old man. 

“I promise I’ll be back! I PROMISE!” Shingo bawled. 

“Surely you could do just as much good staying here, becoming the great defender of Miami City! Who’s to say those bastards won’t come back?” 

In spite of his emotions, Shingo could tell what his Dad was really trying to do. No. He would not fall for it, as tempting as it was. He would go where adventure called, to the front lines where he could be the TRUE hero!

“Take care of mom,” Shingo whispered before parting from his dad, not looking back, except to grab a few tissues, as tears continued to stream from his eyes. 

“Your luggage master?” one of Shingo’s servants, who was hefting about eight suitcases, inquired, his face utterly stoic and collected despite the load. 

“Don’t ruin the moment,” wept Shingo, blowing his nose, getting ready to head out the door, the servant sighing in response. 

“...Do you really need all of this junk if you’re going to be out fighting foreign invaders?” 

“GAH, Masumi!?” Shingo exclaimed, noticing the dark-skinned girl accompanied by her rabid sword-enthusiast friend, Yaiba. “What are you doing here!? You didn’t qualify to be a Lancer!”

“I mean, you kinda left the door open,” Yaiba pointed out with his bokuto. Indeed, the classroom that Mr. Sawatari had reserved to speak with his son, had had its door left wide open for the whole world to peek inside. From the side, Sawatari could even see his three subordinates hanging around, though they didn’t seem willing to enter.

But considering that they were either nursing bruises or bumps on the head, it didn’t take a genius to figure out why they weren’t entering. 

“You do realize that Reiji isn’t done recruiting Lancers,” Masumi sniffed, arms folded. “Or did you think that the…what? Seven of you were going to stop Academia all on your own?” 

“It’s eight of us!” Shingo countered, “And of course we’ll do the impossible! After all, the Lancers have the incredible Neo New Sawatari on their side!” 

“You go, Sawatari-san!” his minions cheered, causing Masumi to glare at them, shutting them up in an instant.

“Listen, ‘Neo New Sawatari',” Masumi growled, poking him in the chest, “Don’t think you’re some kind of hotshot just because you managed to survive a small wave of invaders. Plenty of other better duelists than you didn’t make it, like Yuzu, and almost the entire senior class. Not to mention almost everyone else from the Junior Youth league. If you don’t want to end up like them…you’re going to need all the help you can get.” 

Then, Yaiba smirked. “Besides, we spoke to the Chairwoman. She’s already fast-tracked me and Masumi onto the next squad for training. You aren’t getting away from us if you wanted to.”

“Eh!?” Shingo sputtered, “But…you guys-uh, well whatever!” he sighed, folding his arms over his chest. “I guess every army needs a reserve list, you know, the people not on the front-lines.” 

Before either Masumi or Yaiba could deliver a retort with their fists/wooden sword, Himika Akaba stepped into the room. “My, my, it seems there’s quite a show going here.”

“Ch-chairwoman!” Sawatari’s father and goons yelped, standing to attention.

“I couldn’t help but hear your conversation, Sawatari-san,” Himika said rather sweetly, even though the tone of her voice had a dangerous edge to it that made Shingo gulp. “While I appreciate your zeal and initiative, I figured I would need to lay down some rules before you are deployed.”

“R-rules?” Sawatari gulped.

“Yes,” Himika nodded. “First, and this is for your father,” she noted, giving the short politician a nod of acknowledgement, “you won’t need such an absurd amount of luxuries. You can survive well without it.”

Shingo’s heart fell as his family’s butler immediately wheeled away the suitcases.

“Noooo…” he whimpered.

“Likewise, what Miss Kotsu has said is completely correct. You will need as much help as possible concerning these enemies…or are you doubting the strategy of myself and my son?”

“N-no ma’am!” yelped Shingo as he stood at attention.

“Excellent,” Himika smiled. “Now then, Furio-san, we have some other matters to discuss. If you would.”

Sawatari’s father gulped, but obeyed nonetheless. Soon, only the LDS students were left, the group now occupying a much more barren and lonely classroom.

Masumi was the first to speak up. “Sooo, what was that about ‘Neo New Sawatari’ not needing any help?”

Sawatari’s only response was to pout.

“W-we believe in you, Sawatari-san!” called out his men, rushing over to him and lifting him up high. “You’ll defeat Academia, we just know it!”

“Y-yeah!” Sawatari managed to say despite being thrown up and down, managing a confident grin that only made Yaiba give him a look while Masumi’s expression remained stone-cold.

“Just you guys wait,” he declared. “‘Neo New Sawatari will be an enemy Academia will never be able to forget!”

By his nature, Tsukikage would not consider himself a very open individual, and it was not just because of the way he’d been trained through his clan.

The Fuma clan had been one that had begun in the old feudal period of Japan, as but one of many founded during those times of war, though significantly more barbaric than in the modern day. Back then, they were infamous as brigands, especially under their leader, Fuma Kotaro. Of course, once the Tokugawa Shogunate took over, their infamy had been reduced to merely scraping by.

Officially, that was where the records ended, as by that time, the need for ninja had been reduced, going from assassins to spies to utilizing their skills in the civilian world. What was left of the Fuma was absorbed into the Hojo, and that was the end of that.

To a degree, of course. There were still individuals who had passed down their skills, people who would never be written about in the greater history books. Yet without a purpose, there really was no need for ninja in the world despite this knowledge.

That is, until Duel Monsters was created, and like that, the old ways had found purpose again. Those few remaining who had studied the Fuma clan’s methods took to the card game, offering their services to anyone willing to employ them as player killers for both legal and underground tournaments, as well as card distribution deals. This, sad to say, was dirty work, but back then, asking about such morality would’ve gotten a member drummed out or executed. They were shinobi, not samurai; practitioners of ninjutsu did not obey the laws or orders of bushido. By their nature, there simply were no rules.

As the card game became more popular, so too did the Fuma clan begin to truly rebuild itself. With the capital and reputation they had, the once-extinct ninja clan began to swell in numbers, until they had made a name for themselves as a powerful dueling group, one that would take on any job for the right price, and train anyone willing to join their ways.

And with the dawn of the Action Duel, the re-emerging clan of ninja only saw more requests, eventually causing the Fuma clan to establish itself as one of the premier sources of capable agents, fiercely loyal to their employers, duelists who would never stop fighting until the task was finished. 

…or they were dead. 

Sitting atop the roof of LDS tower, Tsukikage thought of his brother, Hikage, and of the maniacal child who held his spirit in the tomb of that card. 

He had known death before this, had known loss before this. Yet, somehow, some part of him hoped that he and his brother would make it through to the end, even if he would never voice such a wish aloud. 

He did not cry, of course. He did not let himself show any emotions whatsoever, even more so than most members of their clan. He would save that for when it was time to avenge Hikage, when Reiji-dono’s goals to defeat Academia would allow for him to indulge in his vendetta. 

Yes, he would perform Reiji’s mission with perfect exactness, as befitted his clan. 

But this time, the mission would be personal. 

“Is he going to be alright?” Selena asked Reiji.

Before the two, in a medical room, lay Shun Kurosaki, who grimaced as several nurses and an old, grizzled doctor with a beard that encompassed his face, examined the teenager’s body. The staff had requested that Shun undress, so that they could properly examine his chest area after the injuries he had sustained when Sora Shiunin had defeated him. The rather ugly bruise that his left side sported just served as another reminder as to what the former pupil of Academia had learned.

It had first been so simple for Selena, who had naively eaten up her old school’s propaganda ever since they had taken her and many other orphans scattered throughout the Fusion Dimension into their walls. That alone had made her willing to trust Leo Akaba, the leader of Academia, the Professor, the man who had saved their world.

Then, despite her rather prodigious grades, despite being trained by several of Academia’s best private tutors…it seemed that the Professor refused to acknowledge Selena’s strength. In a place as competitive as the Academia military, it was easy for rumors to spread. And soon, gossip was abound about her being nothing but Leo Akaba’s pet. A pampered princess who was either too good or too weak to fight.

Suffice to say, it had quickly stoked rebellion in Selena, who did everything she could to be noticed as a warrior. She had tried to escape many times; though Academia was now mostly in control of the Fusion Dimension, there was always some holdout of the old days when their world had been at constant war with itself, where there was no singular faction controlling everything. Perhaps by defeating one of these holdouts, there would be no denying her strength.

But that strategy failed, for that was the day she’d first met Reiji Akaba, who had at first saved her from her ‘bodyguards’. Sadly, they had been caught, with Reiji sent back to Standard, and any hope Selena had of fighting those remnants failed when the Professor ordered the Phantasms, the black ops group of Academia, to finish them off.

She could still hear Agent Smith’s cold declaration that the remnant belligerents of the war period had been fully exterminated, as well as the deck of cards he brought that showcased their anguished faces before throwing them into the Professor’s Arc Area Reactor.

With no-one left to battle aside from those who tried to curry favor with the Professor through her, all Selena could do was polish her skills against duelists who could barely put up a fight.

There were, of course, plenty of Academia elites for her to challenge, but they refused, owing to disinterest (whether from unwillingness or believing her too weak to be worth their time), or having been given orders to not engage in combat with her. 

Frustrating, it had all been so…frustrating.

She had no equal…because said equal had never been provided to her. 

At that, Selena had to suppress a small headache, before grimly returning to the present-day.

The invasion of Xyz had begun a year ago, and as expected, she had not been called upon. Then, several months ago, Barrett, once the leader of the legendary Wolf-Pack, whose members were now nothing but ash, was assigned as her newest bodyguard.

He had been different from the previous ones, that was for certain. He had been willing to teach her new tactics that her old teachers had either withheld or simply did not know, and had gone over several war stories of his and his fallen subordinates during their time helping to unify their Dimension, or fighting in the Xyz campaign.

It had been enough for her to try a new attempt to showcase her capabilities, and once she heard word of Xyz remnants from the annoyance known as Sora Shiunin, her goal was set. Barrett, to her surprise, had agreed. Even if he was different, she had thought his orders would’ve superseded his personal motivations or opinions. But no, he had truly proved himself a standout.

Shame that when they had gotten to Standard, her first opponent was incredibly weak, and when Barrett had challenged Reiji Akaba, he was defeated by the Professor’s son.

After that, things went down fairly quickly. She’d made her intentions known to Reiji, and later attacked a duelist named Dennis, an Xyz user, thinking he was the remnant.

As it turned out, she was wrong, and when the Obelisk Force had appeared, determined to take her back, she’d been spirited away by Ninja duelists of all people, leaving her alone with her Standard Counterpart, Yuzu Hiragi.

It was then that Yuzu had begun to take a sledgehammer to what Selena had been taught. Their invasion of Xyz, promised as a step to peace, had become nothing but an excuse for her comrades to act like monsters, hunting down others with terrible brutality and cruelty. Treating the conflict as a game, not a way to create a utopia.

And though Selena had wanted to counter it, the fact that Yuzu told her to seek out the Xyz remnant, Shun Kurosaki instead of hiding or protecting him…it made her decide to determine the truth.

They’d swapped clothes (Selena still didn’t get why they had to hide behind a rock to do it), and parted ways. It was then that Selena saw at first glance this brutality when Sora Shiunin had returned, and cruelly defeated Shun, a savage and terrifying smile on his face.

Then, as they tried to escape, with several duelists covering them, they’d ended up fighting the Obelisk Force, where not only did Selena have her tactics countered, but two more duelists who had come to aid them were summarily defeated and crushed by the Obelisk Force in another example of the cruelty Yuzu had told her of.

And after the Obelisk Force had been defeated…all while Reiji Akaba dueled Yuya Sakaki, who was furious about Yuzu’s apparent loss to Academia, Shun told her his tale, confirming that it was all true. Her home world was not an honorable world of heroes, it was full of monsters in human skin, willing to destroy whomever they pleased solely for pleasure.

Now, here she was, faced with the grim reality her mentor had shielded her from, keeping her as a prisoner for reasons far beyond what she’d thought before, and honestly still did not understand.

But what she did understand was that her old home were the true villains in this conflict, and that it was her responsibility to defeat Academia.

Reiji, as he always did when being introspective, it seemed, pushed his glasses up as he answered her previous question. “That will be something the doctors will have to tell us. I at least want him to be able to fight as soon as possible for the next phase of our plan.”

“And what is that plan?” Selena asked. “I don’t want to sound too disrespectful for the ones who were defeated today, but the forces the Professor sent to capture me aren’t even close to the number needed for an invasion, and they still did this much damage to your Dimension’s duelists.”

Reiji merely gave Selena a pensive look. “It’s good that you do have that sort of perspective after all.”

Selena had to suppress an urge to grimace or roll her eyes. She knew what he was referring to.

“But to answer your question, yes, I am aware of the limitations in front of us,” continued the CEO. “We do not have the luxury of time or resources on our side. However, with the developments in the Miami Championship, our trump card, the Pendulum Summon, is well underway to being refined, and a new avenue of approach is now possible.”

“A new avenue?” Selena asked. 

But before Reiji could reply, Shun Kurosaki was already storming out of the medical bay, grunting as he put his clothes back on. Behind him, the bearded doctor anxiously followed, trying to keep his clipboard in order.

“If you said I’m fine, I’m fine. I’ve gone through worse.” he said dismissively.

“I only said your injuries weren’t irrecoverable!” protested the doctor as the two came up to Reiji.

“What’s the diagnosis?” Reiji asked, not even missing a beat.

“Thankfully, that fall he suffered didn’t break any of his ribs as I had feared,” the bearded man panted. “But still, I recommend a longer bed-rest than just jumping back into the fray!”

“I’m not going to sit back with things as they are!” Shun snapped.

The medical staff member was about to open a retort, when Reiji held up his hand.

“If Shun says he is able to go, he can go.” 

“Sir!” The doctor protested, but Reiji shook his head.

“Shun Kurosaki’s battle experience is absolutely critical for the Lancers moving forward, especially after the losses sustained after the battles with the Obelisk Force. If he claims that he has recovered and is ready for combat again, then that is what you will put on his records, understood?”

The bearded man sighed, pulling out his tablet, “I’ll prescribe you some painkillers then.”

Then he walked away in defeat.

“Well, that’s impressive,” Selena noted. “You’re tough.”

“As long as I’m not dead, I can still do something,” dismissed Shun, though he grimaced as he fitted his purple trench coat back on. “And that something is being able to fight Academia.”

Selena nodded, and saw Reiji doing the same thing. But before Reiji could resume answering Selena’s previous inquiry, a new voice rang through the room.

“Oh, there you are, President Akaba!”

Selena turned to see a man with blonde hair wearing a somewhat garish pinstripe suit, with the largest, most inherently annoying grin she’d ever seen in her life.

The man reached out to shake Reiji’s hand, which the CEO accepted, but his face, as ever, remained stoic.

“Walter Rammel,” he greeted curtly.

“Who?” Shun growled suspiciously. Selena couldn’t help but share in that suspicion.

“Pardon my manners,” Rammel bowed. “Head of LDS’ Broadway Branch, formerly Broadway Limited Inc. and associated Duel School. I just came here to see how Dennis is doing, considering that, well…I heard that the other branch students were…”

“Defeated and Carded, you do not have to dance around the issue, Rammel,” Reiji said.

“Yes, yes, of course,” coughed Rammel before looking at both Selena and Shun.

“What do you want?” Shun all but snarled.

“Merely wanted a good look at you, my friend!” Rammel laughed, before moving to pat Shun on the shoulder, to which Shun immediately grabbed his wrist, glaring daggers at the man. Selena couldn’t blame him.

“Shun, let him go,” Reiji commanded. Reluctantly, Shun relented, allowing Rammel to wring his wrist out.

Then his attention turned to Selena, making the girl feel as if some kind of slime mold was trying to drip itself onto her. 

“And…are you not Yuzu Hiragi?” 

“My name is Selena,” she growled. “And I’m going to ask the same question as Shun; What. Do. You. Want?”

“Well, I thought I’d give Dennis congratulations, of course!” chuckled Rammel, not at all fazed by Selena’s demands.

“He’s returned to the foreign exchange dorms. Room 174.” Reiji answered.

“Ah, thank you very much sir!” Rammel bowed, before quickly walking away.

Silence now fell between the three.

“Does that guy really work for you?” Selena asked at last. 

Reiji pushed his glasses into place. “As hard as it may be to believe, yes. Rammel is one of the Suits of LDS, our board of executives. I would consider him to be a necessary evil, and leave it at that for now.”

Shun gave a scoff at this, folding his arms, but not saying anything more.

“Regardless, it’s best to prepare,” Reiji continued. “Both of you get some sleep. I have work to do for the next phase. Selena, you’ve been given the room adjacent to Shun’s, so he can show you where to go. Good night.”

And with that, he walked briskly away.

Of course, Selena noticed that despite everything…Reiji still hadn’t answered her question…

“Alright, if he’s not going to talk, we might as well,” grimaced Shun. “Let’s go to bed, Ruri.”

Selena blinked. “Wait, what did you just call me?”

“Selena, I meant Selena,” Shun corrected, shaking his head.

Which just left the girl with a lot more to think about that night.

If there was one word that was going on in repeat in Dennis Macfield’s head, it would’ve been this:

Crap.

That was it, that was the word. This was not something he’d expected. He’d been hoping to just retrieve Selena and be done with his mission, but now here he was, still behind enemy lines, facing off against a threat he wasn’t prepared for. 

Then again, Eli and Master Shinra had always advised told him to keep a good look-out for one. But given that he’d been in LDS’ Broadway Branch until the MCS, with no move to act thanks to their contact apparently blowing off his assignment, all he could really do was move with the punches and hope for the best.

“Yeesh, this is gonna turn into one of those missions that lasts for a year instead of just a few weeks.”

Granted, he’d been stationed in Standard for at least two months but hey, same principle.

Looking at Miami City at night, Dennis had to admit that in the end, it wasn’t really anything special. In fact, it was quite basic. Which probably fit the Standard Dimension as a whole quite well, if he was being honest. That being said, it would be rather sad to have to burn this town, the birthplace of Entertainment Dueling, to the ground. He hadn’t disliked his time in Standard, certainly not. In many regards, it had been the most legitimate fun he’d had for a while; even with (well, especially with) the perk of having gotten good enough grades to skyrocket his way as the new ace of LDS’ Broadway Branch. 

After all, who said work couldn’t be fun?

At least, when you weren’t a stick-in-the-mud who got joy from solving math problems and working on boring model train sets.

There was a knock at the door, jolting Dennis out of his thoughts. Coughing he walked over and looked through the peephole.

Blond, somewhat spiky-and-curvy hair, and an absolutely tacky pinstripe suit. 

Dennis opened the door, and Walter Rammel quite literally waltzed into the room. “Greetings, Mister Macfield, how has the tournament treated you?”

“Better than I hoped, though I’m pretty certain there’s some heckler out there who’s going to complain.”

“Let’s hope they don’t have green hair or facial creases that make them look twice their age then!” Rammel laughed heartily.

Dennis chuckled, but his instincts as a spy were creeping in. Even with his philosophical disagreements with upper management, his training was causing a voice in his head to yell that Rammel was giving away information that could jeopardize the long-term mission, even if it was only because he had caught on to an inside joke. There was no way that Reiji Akaba hadn’t bugged the room somehow, given that he’d clearly seen more of the Obelisk Force attack than Dennis had assumed he’d needed to keep an eye on.

“Well,” Dennis coughed, “still, heckler or no heckler, it’s been…fun. Yeah, it has.”

“Excellent!” Rammel exclaimed, patting Dennis on the shoulder and shaking his hand. “Now,” he said in a quieter voice, “The train service from the airport leaves at 7:00…and while I came here in my private jet, one has to keep their backup options in mind!”

‘The Train Service Leaves at 7:00’

‘The Airport’

So Rammel had been assigned as the debriefer. At least that meant that the intel would get out, that Dennis’ comrades would know where he was.

A flash drive slipped out of Dennis’ coat sleeve, sliding into Rammel’s outstretched palm and into his own sleeve.

“Well, uh, I hope I don’t keep you waiting, sir!”

“You haven’t,” Rammel smiled. “Now, make me proud.”

Now, Dennis knew that so-called encouragement held as much water as a leaking faucet. Rammel may have been older, but in terms of superiority, the man was outclassed in so many ways. Of course, he had to keep up the illusion, and so…

“I will!” Dennis saluted.

Rammel allowed himself a smirk, one that Dennis knew was far more malevolent. It vanished as soon as he turned, but the man’s intentions were very clear.

Dennis didn't know when Rammel had left, but he didn’t need to. 

The mission was back on-track.

As part of Academia’s fearsome reputation, the institute was well-regarded as an impenetrable fortress. Ever since it had been founded by the mysterious Kagemaru, and then taken over by Leo Akaba, no attack from anywhere in the war-torn Fusion Dimension had ever successfully taken down the citadel. Instead, the school and its students had become stronger and stronger, until their entire Dimension had been subjugated, and for the first time in many decades, had finally known a measure of peace.

Of course, for someone like Sora Shiunin, being ‘impenetrable’ did not mean a lack of freedom to sneak around.

He had originally gone to Standard on special orders, orders so important that an entire assembly had been called up. 

They’d all listened to Eren Wardell, the Professor’s primary aide, express the importance of their ever-growing victory against the Xyz Dimension, and how it would soon be time to proceed to the next phase of the Arc Area Project. Said aide had then called up Sora to the center stage, and revealed that he was to be given the mission of infiltrating the Standard Dimension, beginning with the duel school ‘LDS’.

Now, Sora did usually follow his orders, but curiosity had soon caused him to discover the mysterious Pendulum Summon, used by Yuya Sakaki. He figured it couldn’t hurt to learn more about the guy…and thus began his day-to-day life in Standard.

It was…all things considered, pretty sweet, metaphorically and literally. Yuya’s mom was easily the nicest lady he’d ever met (and one who easily fell for his cutesy act), and the best cook besides (he had to suppress a snicker at telling this to the Ra Yellow/supply head Kabayama, who would’ve sunk to greater depression if told of this)...and way more relaxing than the grueling regiment of Academia.

Then came the Miami Championship, and that was when Sora found the enemy.

A remnant of the Xyz Dimension. The idea that there had been survivors had been rumored, but Sora hadn’t thought they would be in Standard. Either case, he would crush this Xyz scum right there and then.

Except somehow, this person was able to counter all of his plays, destroy Sora’s monsters one by one, no matter what juggernauts or powerhouses he managed to summon. Even his ace monster had been reduced to ash against the Xyz remnant, and in the end, Sora had suffered a humiliating defeat.

When he’d woken up, it was to face someone with Yuya’s face, but wearing dark clothing. 

The Yuya lookalike had wanted to know about ‘Ruri’, but Sora didn’t know anyone like that. He told him straight-up that the losers were turned into cards. That was that. And so, what Sora cared about was getting his own back. He had a chance for revenge and was going to get it. 

That had ended up with him and that mysterious duelist ending up in a park, and dueling…where once again, Sora had been humiliated. Even moreso when Yuya had shown up and flatout had done absolutely nothing of value. Sora had tried to summon his ultimate monster to crush that ‘Dark Duelist’, but his duel disk, probably a failsafe built into it by someone high up, just decided to teleport him back to Academia.

He’d been healed up of course, but all of his cries that there were Xyz remnants seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. He eventually went right up to the Professor, demanding to return to Standard and finish the job…and to his delight, was given it. However, he was told to capture a girl named Selena, who looked disturbingly like Yuzu, and had even been assigned a few squads of the Obelisk Force to see the mission through. 

So it was really important.

That being said, when he’d returned to Standard, Miami City had been covered in Action Dueling Fields; volcanoes, jungles, the arctic, and ancient ruins.

With no easy way to find Selena, he sent off two squads to locate her while he used his own to track down Shun. He wasn’t blowing off his mission; he could just say that Shun was an obstacle. The Professor would buy that. 

And once again, he’d found Shun (and Yuya), fighting against a bunch of worthless no-name knight-themed duelists he let the Obelisk Force deal with while he fought Shun for a rematch.

It wasn’t an easy duel, that was for certain; Shun had shown off more of his tactics, and the two had ended up fighting throughout the night, desperate to gain a victory. Sora had to admit, the Xyz remnant was certainly among the toughest duelists he’d ever fought, but he would win this duel regardless. 

In the end, he succeeded, brought forth his trump card, his Frightfur Scissor Tiger, and tore Shun’s field to pieces, sending the Xyz remnant flying down the stairs, ready to be carded and crushed. Sure, Yuzu was there watching, but what could she do? Shun was his prey, and she wouldn’t get in his way. 

Then Yuzu had pulled out an Academia duel disk and it registered that despite wearing her clothing, this duelist was Selena, who surprisingly pulled out a smokescreen trying to rescue Shun (why?).

But it was going to be pointless. Sora had cornered them, even with some no-name ninja trying to get in his way. The only issue was that Yuya and Gon-chan had popped up, but it wasn’t like they could’ve saved him.

The Obelisk Force had gotten to Shun and Selena by then, and facing off against Yuya, Sora had chosen to duel him once again. He didn’t like having a loss-record, and it was high time he showed off his true self to Yuya.

He’d tried to argue his point. How Fusion held the power to make the worlds one, how power would win out, how victory itself was the point. Yuya’s Entertainment Dueling may have been fun, but it wouldn’t do anything to unite the Four Worlds. 

But Yuya kept on fighting, and then pulled out an incredible monster that Sora had never seen before; an Xyz Pendulum Monster. His excitement grew; why was dueling Yuya so interesting? 

“This is why duels with you are so exciting!” Sora had let out.

“That’s right!” Yuya had declared. “Duels are fun! That’s why…that’s why you have to stop fighting!”

Sora, of course, refused to do so. How had he let that out? Why was Yuya so determined to stop him?

The final attack had commenced, and both were jumping, reaching to grab the final Action Card…

Only for the Action Field to vanish, Nico Smiley’s voice announcing the end of the battle royale. The duel ended with no winner. Everyone had gathered by then…and while Selena was with them, Yuzu wasn’t. 

Sora had already made the connection as Yuya had looked at him with shock. If Selena was wearing Yuzu’s clothing, then it stood to reason that Yuzu was wearing Selena’s clothing. The Obelisk Force had probably confused her for Selena.

That was not part of his mission.

So he’d vanished, to find wherever Yuzu was held within Academia.

But despite looking everywhere, sneaking past everyone who might’ve thought his actions treasonous, Sora had had no luck. He’d peeked into the prisons used for failing and undisciplined students, checked all of the duel arenas, eavesdropped on instructors, but had found nothing.

That was how he was walking atop Academia’s castle walls, frustrated that his search had brought up diddly-squat.

“Where is she?” Sora muttered, looking around for any sign of Yuzu, even if he wasn’t likely to find her up here.

“Where is who, if I may ask?” purred a sinister, yet familiar voice.

Quick as a whip, Sora turned around, expecting to face either a rival student who had managed to follow him or one of the Phantasms, but his eyes immediately widened and he jumped back in shock at who this person was.

He wore an elaborate custom purple uniform that was made up of composite parts. More specifically it was made up of a purple and light blue waistcoat with a pink cravat where a short red cape that had two flaring extensions hung from along with a short purple coat with thick cuffs and golden shoulder bands that were fastened at his collarbone. Completing the look were light blue trousers that were immaculately tucked into dark-silver colored boots.

But it was not his uniform that shocked Sora. Rather, it was the boy’s face. One that he didn’t think that he would see again so soon, mere hours after they’d last seen one another.

“Wh-what the-? Y-Yuya?” stammered Sora in disbelief.

The boy tilted his head. “Eh? Yuya? Now…hmmm…wait, wait,” he said in a voice that sounded far too close to Yuya’s for comfort, tapping his forehead and closing his eyes, as if he was deep in thought. “Yuya, Yuya, Yuuuuyaaa…hmmmm…nope, doesn’t ring a bell. My name’s Yuri, short-stuff.”

Sora’s mind screeched to a halt. He had heard of that name before. “Y-Yuri?” he croaked. “The guy who…who…” He couldn’t finish the sentence or thought, the evil associated with that name had horrified even the most hardened veterans and agents of Academia.

“Oh come on, I know I’ve got a lot of accomplishments under my belt, but you could at least try mentioning a few,” Yuri sneered, before he began to count on his fingers. “Taking out that traitor-nerd Amon when I was twelve, killing that whole slew of generals who tried to boss me around, squashing Heartland’s mayor like the pathetic fly he was, tormenting the Phantasms for my amusement on the daily, etc. etc.”

He waved and flexed his counting hand, before pointing it at Sora. “Now then, how about you?” he asked. “Are you the little candy-munching loser who screwed up a mission from the Great Irish Bore, and then screwed up an assignment from the Professor himself?”

Sora went pale and rigid. He didn’t trust himself to speak. Not to someone who was spoken of like some sort of boogeyman in Academia, and certainly not to someone who looked so much like Yuya, yet radiated malice that was the complete and total opposite of the Entertainment Duelist.

“I’ll take your silence as a ‘yes’,” said Yuri. “Gotta say, not happy with how my mission turned out. I was all set to kidnap one Yuzu Hiragi on the Professor’s orders, and then all of a sudden I got warped back home without knowing why. Maybe you know, though?”

He stepped forward, causing Sora to step back. His throat was dry as he fought to control himself.

Maybe if he had been in better condition mentally-speaking, he could have tried to figure out, or rather, remember about, what Yuri meant about suddenly getting warped away. But instead, he found himself fixating on what Yuri had said, and asking the question he swore he would not under any circumstance.

“Wh-what do you mean about kidnapping Yuzu?”

“Oh? You didn’t know?” Yuri sneered, making Sora shiver. “I mean, granted, I get not wanting to listen to Smith ramble on–I’d rather rip out my ears or just tear out his throat, but I’d have thought that someone who apparently begged the Professor himself for a mission re-do would be at least a little bit more informed.”

“N-no, y-you’re lying!” shouted Sora. “I was just assigned to take back Selena! There shouldn’t have been any mission to take Yuzu too! She shouldn’t be here! She can’t be!”

Yuri’s sneer turned into a hideously ecstatic grin. “Oho? Why would you ask a question like that? More importantly, why oh why would you care about something like that? Weren’t you just sent over to Standard as a spy on Smith’s orders?”

“Eli’s orders?!” exclaimed Sora, his mind now completely spiraling as he registered the name of the Overseer of Academia’s Phantasms being a part of this as well. “Y-you’re wrong! I was sent there on special orders that–”

“That Smith wrote up and got poached on by that old geezer Wardell because of politics or something like that,” dismissed Yuri with a small wave of his hand. “Me personally, I would sooner jump off a bridge than obey orders from the Great Irish Bore or one of the local geezers, but we’re getting off-topic, as fun as it is to talk about moi.”

Sora then realized that his back was to a tower parapet, and that Yuri had completely cornered him. There was nowhere left to run.

“See, after I came back, suddenly, in comes the Obelisk Force trickling in, all of them getting their asses handed to them. So here we are, waiting for you to come back…and then you don’t. And you not coming back means I have to listen to Smith rambling about his boring plans being made even more complicated for longer than necessary, read: longer than half a second, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and look for you, myself, and dear, dear, dear, what was with that you were doing, looking in all of our prison cells and arenas? Were you looking for someone too? Trying to poach on someone else’s captured prey, perhaps?”

Yuri’s face had been inching closer and closer to Sora’s, much to his horror. This nightmarish, twisted version of Yuya bearing down on him, pupils having turned into horrific lizard-like slits, carefully taking apart his reasons for what he had been trying to accomplish, seeing right through Sora the entire time.

 “So…got anything to say?” he asked, his face too horrific to look at. “Because if you don’t, well…”

Sora looked down, moreso to keep himself from seeing Yuri’s face, only to then see his duel disk slowly being raised up. The intent was very clear.

“The clock’s ticking…tick, tock, tick, tock…5, 4, 3, 2…”

“I was looking for Yuzu!” Sora blurted out, regretting it immediately as Yuri’s grin remained unchanged.

“Oho, can I take that as proof of you turning traitor then?” he asked, a subtle twinge of delight coursing through his words.

“NO!” yelled Sora desperately. “I still believe in Academia’s ideals and mission! I…I just needed to make sure that Yuzu was safe!”

Yuri’s response to Sora’s confession was to just pick at his ears, then flick aside whatever ear wax he’d gathered. “All I’m hearing is: ‘Wah, wah, wah, don’t hurt my new fwiends Lord Yuri, wah, wah!’” He then clapped his hands. “Sorry to say, but…that counts as becoming a traitor!”

Sora’s heart sank. This was it then, there was nothing he could do. He had heard all of the rumors about Yuri’s skill and his dreaded ace monster, a horrific creature that trumped every other ace card in Academia. Even if he did duel him, it wasn’t likely that he could win.

He shut his eyes tight, awaiting the end…

Only to feel Yuri’s hand rummaging in his uniform, dragging out all of the candy that Sora had kept there for himself.

“Sooo,” Yuri considered, causing Sora to open his eyes as most of the candy aside from one large orange Tupsi Pop was tossed off the side of the castle walls. “I always wondered how many licks it would take to get the center of these…let’s find out!”

Sora could only watch as Yuri mockingly removed the wrapping and started his work. “One, two, a-three! *CRUNCH*”

He munched on the hard candy and chocolate center, before tossing the stick aside and patting his hands down. “Three it is,” he said, before grabbing Sora by the back of his collar. “Now then, shall we get going? You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, rookie.”

“Y-you’re–” 

“Sparing you?” Yuri asked mockingly. “Oh yes, indeed! I’m quite a benevolent and magnanimous person after all! I’m very well known for it!”

That was a bold-faced lie. Sora realized it immediately. Yuri wasn’t carding him or tossing him off the side of the castle walls only because he was enjoying Sora’s misery and looked forward to seeing, or perhaps causing, more of it.

“So…shall we take advantage of my magnanimity, or do I need to get…forceful?” asked Yuri, pulling out his deck.

“N-no!” exclaimed Sora. “I…I’ll…go with you.”

“Great!” clapped Yuri. “Come along then, we need to get to the Professor, he’s dying to know what kept you for so long.”

Sora really did not want to see the Professor. But all the same…the Professor was after Yuzu? That was news to him. Why? …Perhaps if he asked, and maybe, just maybe, begged for another chance to capture Selena properly, he would have a chance to keep her safe and disprove any thoughts that he’d gone rogue. Plus, he’d be able to settle his argument with Yuya, though the thought was quashed immediately as he reluctantly followed Yuya’s twisted doppelganger back into the Academia halls.

But after they’d walked for a fair amount of time, Sora realized that the walk felt longer than it needed to be. He was quite familiar with Academia’s layout; he’d thought they would’ve reached the Professor’s throne room by now.

Instead, at a cross between hallways, Sora saw a small gathering of adults, each of them idly chatting with another until one of them saw Yuri, and immediately, all of them stood at attention.

“Oh come on now,” the purple-suited boy chuckled. “Don’t let me stop you from having your glorious adult water cooler conversations.”

“We were just about finished actually,” grumbled a short man with short, forest-green hair in an unpleasant Irish-accented voice.

The man wore a senior Obelisk Blue military uniform, where the usual blue color with white trim was inverted to white with blue trim, where the coat was slightly longer than the usual standard. Black gloves with orange gear markings adorned his hands, with the one on his right failing to hide a shine of metal that extended into his sleeve. His scowling face, marked by long creases, and a scope-like mechanical right-eye glared darkly at Sora as he came into the man’s line of sight.

Eli Smith. The second-in-command of Academia’s Phantasms, their black ops group, and the direct overseer to many of their operations…who was better known as the Great Irish Bore for his tiresome and tedious mannerisms. Every word out of his mouth, and every proposal he suggested seemed designed to make the lives of everyone in Academia overly strict and miserable, being either derogatory snark, or a long, complaining, angry rant about protocol.

"Who in their right mind thought this plank of wood was the right person to be giving any orders?" Sora thought to himself. One glance at Yuri made Sora gulp to himself, but refocusing on Eli gave him enough courage to glare at him. "At least he's good for something."

When the green-haired grouch glanced at Sora and saw the glare, he made sure to return the glare in equal measure with his remaining organic eye. "You got somethin' to say to the class, you little dosser?"

But before Sora could retort...

“...Perhaps he meant it in general?” calmly asked a person to Eli’s right. “…Though…we don’t have a water cooler installed in this hallway.”

He was a rather tall bald pale man with a face that made him look more like an alien than a human, definitely helped by him, again, being bald. His outfit was somewhat similar to Eli’s, but held the full color of an Obelisk Blue uniform, rather than the senior outfit Eli wore. Though, there was the difference in that the uniform that the tall, bald man wore was a shade darker and duller than the regular uniform, with simple armored padded-plates dotting his shoulders, elbows, forearms, knees, and shins.

Roswell, another member of the Phantasms. Sora knew of him as one of the few in Academia who didn’t seem to hate Eli…as well as a person with somewhat air-headed and out-there thoughts who seemed to toe the line of being innocent with being just plain creepy.

“Why would we have a water cooler installed in a hallway, Roswell?” asked Eli. “Wouldn’t a water fountain make more sense?”

“I suppose it would,” mused Roswell. “But they don’t have that function that lets you use them for heating up cup ramen, so…”

“Alright, alright,” interjected a towering, blue-eyed woman with shoulder-length crimson hair, with a peppy yet mature tone, clapping her hands with a sweet smile. “Let’s stay focused, everyone.”

The woman wore a large white trench coat over a black shirt (that had no issue accentuating two assets up on her chest that rivaled Yuya’s mom, nor hiding the shape of her abs) and grey-colored pants. Like Eli, her hands were gloved, but instead of any gear designs, had red markings that seemed to be a cross between rose petals and flames. Sapphire jewels dangled from her ears, and her very presence created a calming effect that Sora was immensely grateful for.

This was Hamasaki Hinode, the head enforcer for the Society of Light, Academia’s religious division, who also did double time with the espionage and assassination work that the Phantasms that Smith and Roswell belonged to specialized in. Of course, Sora preferred to know her as the nice big lady who was a total sucker for adorableness, and if he timed himself just right he could get himself some extra candy from her.

Given that she was currently balancing a large pink box in her muscular arms, the smell of freshly-baked sugar emanating from inside of it, it was really a no-brainer as to why Sora was a fan of Hamasaki. The woman was a big sweets enthusiast, the polar opposite of Eli, who despised sweets and had once tried to get them banned from Academia’s food supply, a decidedly unpopular decision that was another contribution to pretty much everyone hating him.

Sora included, of course.

“Yo, evening, Hinode-san!” greeted Yuri, his tone almost sounding genuine.

Hamasaki simply replied “Good evening, Lord Yuri,” giving a curt and polite bow.

But there was a fourth adult in the group, and Sora had never seen him before.

He was a man with blonde hair wearing a somewhat garish pinstripe suit, with the largest, most inherently annoying smile Sora had ever seen in his life. His eyes sparkled with intrigue, which just made Sora want to beat him up even more than at first sight.

“So this is the naughty child you’ve complained about, Smith,” said the man, putting a hand to his chin in thought as he focused his gaze at Sora. “At last we meet in person. You made quite an impression during your duel with Mister Kurosaki. Walter Rammel, at your service.”

He offered his hand, but Sora refused to take it. Instead he looked at Hamasaki, putting on his best puppy-dog face, trying to bank on her defending him from Eli and (hopefully) Yuri.

“Hamasaki onee-chan, who is this creep?”

Sora could hear Roswell struggling to suppress a laugh, while Hamasaki gave an understanding smile. Disturbingly, Rammel’s smile did not disappear despite the insult. Yuri, of course, just cackled while Eli face-palmed into his non-metallic hand and groaned.

“Well, he did just introduce himself to you,” chuckled Hamasaki warmly.

“Enough nonsense,” growled Eli, stepping forward. “Sora, this is the person you were supposed to rendezvous with during your first mission. Walter Rammel is a turncoat from within LDS who's agreed to help our cause. It’s thanks to him that we were able to send Dennis MacField into Standard in the first place, and I was hoping that you and he would coordinate efforts so we could capture Reiji Akaba and bring him here to Academia before he could complete his plans.”

“Plans that he’s sadly succeeded in completing,” Rammel sighed morosely.

“But noooooo, instead you got distracted no more than five minutes into your mission and abandoned it!” Eli grumbled, pointing at Sora accusingly. “Now we have to clean up your mess!”

“Oh calm down, Eli, it could be worse.” Hamasaki put in.

“How can I be calm when WE HAVE A NEW ENEMY FORCE TO DEAL WITH?!” yelled Eli, pulling at his hair in furious exasperation, making Sora wince as the Great Irish Bore engaged in yet another one of his tedious tirades, his native Irish accent getting thicker and heavier as he rambled on. “'e, s'e, hr dey who gets overconfident DIES!” he accentuated the point by slamming his left hand into his metallic right palm. “Dat’s de first basic rule av maintaineng discipline against an opposeng fhrce! This isn’t a simple mistake, Hamasaki! Shiunin’s basically 'elped give our initiative to who could become our greatest foe!”

“You got all that from one screw-up?” drawled Yuri. “Have you been playing online Go while on ten shots of espresso again?”

“Dat was only the ONE time!” Eli protested, the anger on his face causing his remaining eye to turn white, but Yuri just laughed again, taking joy in Eli’s increasingly exasperated fury and teeth-grinding.

Hamasaki seemed to consider this, then shrugged. “Well, what’s done is done. You’ll blow a gasket at the rate you’re going, so relax, and dig into the donuts! I’ve got a few left!”

Opening the box was like seeing the Holy Grail for Sora as a wide assortment of pastries was unveiled to him. Hamasaki always knew how to get the best sweets.

“It’s 2000 in de evening!” Eli spluttered. “No-wan in deir right mind would eat dat garbage at this hour-”

“I could use one,” said Roswell, immediately taking a plain glazed donut.

“Dibs on the eclair!” Rammel all but sang.

Hamasaki for her part quickly took an intricately-frosted-and-sprinkled chocolate donut.

Sora had to suppress the desire to drool. He put his hands to his chest, and in his most adorable, simpering, begging tone.

“Hamasaki onee-chan,” he begged. “Could I have two donuts instead of one?”

“So cute…” Hamasaki beamed. “Of course you can have-”

Eli slammed the box shut. “Hamasaki, Shiunin here is in trouble for his poor handling of the Standard mission. Don’t REWARD him fhr it!”

“He's still young, Eli,” sighed Hamasaki. “And probably going through a lot. He can have at least ONE donut.”

“If you put even a CRUMB into his mouth, I am going to take dat box and set it on fire!”

Hamasaki giggled, her eyes closed, until they opened with a threatening light, narrowed just enough to let out bloodlust, the smile on her face seeming to become a bit too wide. Instinctively, Roswell moved back as Rammel scooted off to the side. Even Sora felt goosebumps of fear running across his skin. Yuri however, just sneered, seeming to enjoy the sense of danger.

“No you won’t,” she said sweetly.

Eli seemed to have gone pale as he realized that he had overstepped his boundaries. Immediately, he backed away and straightened out his collar. “Er, y-yes. Of course. But only ONE donut, not two!”

“See, that’s what we call compromising!” Hamasaki beamed, her threatening aura dissipating as she handed Sora a pink-frosted donut.

Sora took the treat gratefully, but before he could put the donut in his mouth…

Yuri stepped over and grabbed the donut. “Arigatou!” he called, and then took a savage bite out of it, before spitting it out of his mouth and onto Sora’s face before tossing the rest of it at Sora’s feet. “Blech, too many sprinkles,” he complained.

Hamasaki looked at what had happened in horror, while Rammel and Roswell both increased their distance from the scene. As for Eli...

“Would it have killed you to aim for the trash can, sir?” Eli asked in his usual groaning tone, his accent lightening up. “It’s a carpet, not a target range.”

“It’s only a problem for the janitor, Smith. Just be glad it’s not you!” Yuri grinned before quickly snagging a powdered donut for himself and scarfing it down.

Eli's eye twitched, but rather than talk back to Yuri, he turned to Hamasaki. "Don't give Sora any replacement donuts, Hamasaki," he ordered, his voice lacking any of the fear he'd shown towards her earlier. "He had it and then, like his missions, failed to secure it. He won't be getting another."

A very obvious metaphor for whatever the Great Irish Bore was planning, but Sora did his best not to glare at him. Hamasaki gave Sora a pitying look, clearly wanting to give him another donut, but could tell that doing so would result in more trouble. Sora for his part, slowly wiped away the hastily chewed-up donut off his face with his coat sleeve. It was really taking all of his effort to hold himself together.

The hall was silent, before Roswell and Rammel both shuffled themselves back into the group.

“Well, uh, shall we go then?” Rammel finally asked. “I’d hate to keep our dear Leo waiting any longer.”

At this, Roswell stepped forward and loomed over Rammel. The blonde man recoiled as Roswell came too close for his comfort, the bald man's height easily putting him a head over him. His eyes darted over to Hamasaki and Eli, but they both ignored him. He tried to look at Yuri for defense, but immediately recoiled as Yuri flashed him a terrifyingly bloodthirsty smile before seeming to then lose interest and study his fingernails.

“You are to refer to the Professor by his title, nothing more, nothing less,” Roswell reprimanded, a stern look coming over what was usually such an emotionless face.

“Thank you, Roswell,” Eli nodded, focusing his gaze at the blonde man. “Walter Rammel, I'll only remind you once. You do not have the authority to call the Professor by his given name; that's an privilege very few in Academia hold. Do not break that protocol again, understood?”

“Right, right, I apologize, Master Agent Smith." the blonde man stammered. "A-allow me to rephrase. Are we to meet with the Professor now?”

“Yes,” nodded Eli. “Roswell, back away from him.”

The bald man did so, returning to his snack as if nothing had happened.

Eli then clapped his hands three times. “Maibe!” he called.

From out of nowhere, a woman clad in a black cloak and cloth-mask appeared. Sora could still make out her upper face, which showed dark-colored skin akin to Masumi’s, as well as strands of dark purple hair. Her covered face was completely stoic, her eyes not even reacting to Yuri’s appearance. Granted, Yuri only gave a disinterested glance before his attention seemed to shift elsewhere.

“We’re to see the Professor, please throw away the poison box,” Eli instructed.

Hamasaki gave him a look. “I think he means take the donut box to the break room,” she sighed, closing her eyes.

Maibe silently nodded at Hamasaki’s order. Then, one moment she was there, and in the next blink, had vanished.

“Alright everyone, let’s get moving,” Eli clapped.

“Oi, oi, don’t forget that I outrank you Smith,” Yuri said, stepping forward. “I’ll be the one ordering us to move.”

Eli’s remaining organic eye widened at this reminder, before he nodded, and stepped aside, allowing Yuri to take the lead. The dark lookalike of Yuya raised a hand-and-arm signal, causing everyone to immediately step into line as they followed him to the Professor’s throne room.

Sora didn’t very much like their resulting formation. Now, Hamasaki and Rammel were in front of him, side-by-side, behind Eli, while at the back was Roswell, keeping an eye on all of them as Yuri led the group forward. Sora didn’t particularly dislike or like Roswell, but the guy could stare at you for hours and never tell you why; it was hard to tell what he was thinking, hence his…reputation as being out-there.

But Roswell was nothing but spare gumdrops compared to the monster leading their formation.

The pressure was on as Sora recognized the route they were taking. This was going to be how they would meet the Professor? If so, Sora had to think quickly about what he would say. 

He’d lost Selena because Yuya had gotten in his way. If the Professor asked why, it was because he had to defend Academia’s honor, having lost to Yuya once before. He’d also thought that the Obelisk Force would handle it-if they couldn’t, then the failure rested on their shoulders, not Sora’s.

Yet that didn’t answer the question of why the Professor wanted Yuzu, not just Selena. Yuri’s secret mission raised more questions than answers…and more than a heavy sliver of betrayal weighing in Sora’s heart.

The opening of the heavy doors soon jolted Sora out of his thoughts as the procession made their way to the Professor’s main throne room. This in itself was rather concerning to Sora; his last briefing had been in the sub-throne room that the Professor generally used for giving out personal missions. If they were coming to his main room…then that certainly meant trouble.

Looking up, Sora could even see that the Professor’s attention…wasn’t on them. Instead, his back was turned to them, while he was watching holographic screens that appeared on the windows overlooking the Arc Area Reactor. Unfortunately, Sora was too far away to see what it was that the Professor was studying; he could only tell that his leader was using the screens in the first place as he could catch their borders. By the time Sora was close enough, whatever was being watched had been dismissed, and the Academia head was returning to his throne.

A tap on the shoulder, and Sora saw Roswell leaning over him, far too close for his liking. Why didn’t this guy get the idea of personal space?

“Bow down,” he whispered, in a hushed tone that sounded more like a hasty, casual reminder than a taunt or forceful order.

Not wanting to be beaten to the punch by the new guy, Sora obeyed, though not in perfect sync–he was the last one to be in a kneeling position.

“I’ve brought Shiunin, Professor,” said Yuri, before shooting the Phantasms a taunting sneer. “And the rest, of course.”

Sora knew that their expressions were probably still reserved and as stoic as possible, but the slight twitch in their positions showed otherwise with Eli and Hamasaki, who clearly did not like the introduction.

Leo Akaba nodded. “You may rise.”

They did so, and Yuri gave the group a dismissive look. “Well? This is your dog-and-pony show now, Smith. Just keep it short for once.”

Eli scowled, his eye twitching, but obeyed all the same. “Agent Shiunin, post!”

Now, Eli, Roswell, and Yuri split off to one side, while Hamasaki and Rammel split off to the other, leaving Sora alone to face the Professor. He gave a hasty salute, but dropped it as the Professor waved his hand in dismissal.

For a moment, Sora thought he might have a chance to speak, but the words died on his tongue as he tried to think of what to say. And before he could say anything, the Professor was the one to speak up first.

“Sora, why did you fail to retrieve Selena?” he asked in his usual calm, yet stoic and stern voice.

Here, Sora allowed himself to swallow, before giving a hesitant answer, praying that Yuri wouldn’t interrupt. “I was stopped by Yuya Sakaki. I thought the Obelisk Force would be able to handle capturing Selena.”

Upon hearing Yuya’s name, the Professor’s eyes narrowed. “Were you now?”

“Y-yes.” Sora responded, regretting that he was speaking of Yuya in a way that made it sound like he was throwing his friend under the bus to get out of trouble.

“You lost to someone using circus animals?” cut in Yuri mockingly. “Sheesh, Smith, this is why I told you not to train people who use literal teddy bears.”

“You have never brought up that kind of suggestion, nor have you ever participated in any training meetings with any division in Academia,” Eli replied curtly.

The Professor ignored the banter and instead leaned forward in his throne. “Hmmm…did Yuya Sakaki happen to summon anything…particular?”

Sora’s memories immediately flashed back to Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon. The first Pendulum-Xyz hybrid, now that he thought about it. Why would the Professor want to know about that monster?

“I had the memories of one of the Obelisk Force teams analyzed shortly before you arrived,” the Professor explained. “In those memories, Yuya Sakaki summoned a very unusual monster. Tell me, Sora, if you fought Yuya Sakaki, did he, perchance, summon this monster?”

And a holographic window opened to reveal Odd-Eyes Rebellion itself, using its effect to destroy all of the Obelisk Force’s monsters before attacking all of them at once.

“Incredible…” Sora whispered, witnessing what happened when the great dragon’s effect was allowed to rampage unimpeded.

“Sora…” The Professor warned, leaning forward.

“Y-yes!” Sora answered by reflex, standing to attention.

There was silence as the Professor considered Sora’s revelation. “I see. Thank you for that confirmation.”

“Oho?” rang out Yuri’s voice again. “Now that I didn’t expect to see. Maybe this Yuya person has some worth to him after all.”

Sora was surprised to see the Professor turn his attention to Yuri, before he wordlessly motioned for everyone in the room to gather up. When they had, he spoke up again.

“I will…consider that option,” he answered. “Nevertheless Yuri, I am expanding your mission orders. In addition to Yuzu Hiragi, you will also be assigned the task of retrieving Selena. Is that understood?”

Sora did not like the grin on Yuri’s face. “Of course, Professor. Is there anything else you need from me?”

“We will see,” replied the leader of Academia, before he turned his attention to Eli. “Now, as per your request Agent Smith, I am placing Sora back under the authority of the Phantasms. He shall report to you, as requested.”

“Thank you, sir,” bowed Eli.

“W-wait, what are you-” Sora tried, but the Professor was quick to interrupt.

“Sora, you did not succeed in retrieving Selena as I requested. That makes it twice now you have failed your mission parameters. Agent Smith has been rather particular on that topic, desiring for you to be properly trained under the Phantasm’s protocols rather than directly reporting to me, and in light of your performance as of late, I have decided to honor his request.”

And just like that, Sora’s worst fears were already being realized. If Eli had him under his thumb, then that meant there would be no way of achieving the goal of finding Yuzu. 

“Oh!” Yuri chimed in, snapping his fingers. “I also learned something, Professor, about little Sora here, if I can bring it up?”

The Professor nodded without missing a beat, causing Sora to take a step back. The instant he did, Roswell clamped one of his hands on his shoulder tightly, preventing him from moving any further.

“I spoke to Sora over here about his mission when he got back,” said Yuri, lazily pointing with his thumb. “Turns out the reason he didn’t defeat Yuya was because he retreated, thinking that I’d gotten Yuzu, and was apparently trying to free her.”

A chill came through the air, but it did not come from the Professor, who merely maintained his stony gaze. Instead, it came from Eli, whose face turned just enough for Sora to see his mechanical scope-eye, which changed from its usual shade of green to glow an ominous shade of red.

“So…Shiunin has turned traitor?” hissed the Irishman quietly.

“It looks like, yes!” replied Yuri cheerfully.

"I don't suppose you have anything past your word to prove that?" Hamasaki asked Yuri, slowly reopening one of her closed eyes as she aimed a look at him.

"Oh, I dunno," Yuri said, lazily looking at his fingers. "Your little plushie-boy's been pretty effective before, hasn't he? Two pretty big screw-ups back to back despite that track record? Preeeeetty suspect~!"

"A track record that's mostly related to his academic accomplishments rather than any major field work," Roswell idly noted, examining records on his duel disk. "He's got a few missions under his belt, but nothing groundbreaking besides his carding records."

"Not to mention we have his memories to review," growled Eli. "The proof is in the pudding, no pun intended. Shiunin is a traitor."

“I’m not a trai–” Sora began to protest, only for Roswell’s other hand to clamp down, and for both to start moving towards Sora’s throat, the fingers crawling and constricting Sora like they were centipedes.

“Roswell, kill him,” Eli ordered. 

“Better hope his hands aren’t dirty, Sora!” Yuri sang tauntingly.

“I wash and sanitize my hands on the regular,” Roswell replied, his voice not changing at all from its usual calm monotone despite the act he was about to perform. “You will not have to worry about dirt and grime staining your neck after you’re choked to death Shiunin, you have my assurance.”

It almost was assuring…had it not been for the fact that Sora felt his vision beginning to blur; Roswell’s hands were horrifically powerful, and his long fingers were digging into Sora’s throat. He tried to fight back, but despite it feeling like minutes were going by, it was likely that only a few seconds had passed. Roswell did not get to where he was by being slow; already Sora could feel his life slipping away, with the only sound being Yuya’s, no, Yuri’s amused laughter as he was executed for betraying Academia’s cause…

“Enough, Agent Roswell, release him” ordered the Professor.

Sora fell to the ground, desperately gasping for air, everything around him spinning as his world began to collapse around him. Everything seemed to be slipping away; his status, his pride, his life…and his friends.

“What do you wish for us to do with him den, sir?” Eli asked, facing the Professor. “Shiunin has admitted to treason. 'e cannot be allowed to live.”

“It simply was too soon to send him on a mission like this,” the Professor answered. “Sora, I will not penalize you for your actions, but you will answer to Agent Smith and whatever disciplinary action he views as appropriate from this point forward.”

“In that case,” said Eli as he seemed to consider options before he turned back to face Roswell. “Take Shiunin to de disciplinary cells and keep watch over him until our meeting 'ere is adjourned. Tell Stein to prepare his persahnal re-education and traineng program as well. I believe our little wayward candy gremlin is in need av…remedial lessahns.”

“Understood,” Roswell said, and Sora felt himself get picked up like he was some kind of dog or cat.

After hearing the name ‘Stein’, Sora’s first instinct would have been to escape, but he felt his strength having been drained after his near-death experience at Roswell’s hands. Still, he had to do something, anything to save himself.

“Another chance,” he croaked. “Please, give me another chance.”

“Ehhh? You want more punishment?” Yuri taunted, but Eli raised his hand as he stepped towards Roswell.

“Don't waste your breath on him sir, I'll handle this.”

Yuri blinked. “...Oh wow that kid really hit a nerve on you,” he mused, before smiling and folding his arms. “Alright then Smith, I’ll let you unload on him. Until it annoys me, of course.”

Eli grabbed the collar of Sora’s shirt, his organic eye narrowed and his mechanical one glowing an even harsher red. “Shiunin, answer this question: What is your purpose?”

Sora coughed. “T-to serve the goals of Academia honorably.”

“Right, and have you?”

“I-I…” Sora tried to answer, his loyalty to You Show Duel School and his loyalty to Academia and his comrades colliding in his mind.

That was all Eli needed to talk over him, his rage giving way to his accent once again. “Av course you didn't. We gave you de imphrtant mission av fendeng de Fourth Piece, which came bundled with de responsibility av both reinfhrceng de overall long-term plan and makeng de Pravesshr not have to give himself a fit av whrry. And what did you do? Tossed all av it in de bin despite how much you went on about 'redeemeng yooehrself' because it was apparently a better time than you ever had 'ere, enough so dat you basically went native.”

Eli’s voice was calm, but Sora could feel genuine anger in every word. This was not the Great Irish Bore’s usual, nagging raving, but raw, legitimate fury. His next words then came out clear and unaccented.

“You made us all look like a bunch of idiots, turned our mission into a joke, and even undermined us in such a mindless pursuit of fun that it would make Lord Yuri blush."

Yuri couldn't help but snort as the Overseer of the Phantasms growled, his face dark with true murderous intent. “You already blew your first and second chances, yet you think you can pull heartstrings with the Professor to make the hat trick? The buck stops here, dosser. The only thing you're getting is some much-needed discipline.”

Eli let go, then wiped his glove on his coat, as if he’d touched something distasteful. “Get him out of my sight, Roswell.”

Sora desperately turned to Hamasaki, who had folded her arms and kept her eyes shut throughout the entire process. It was a gamble, but she was his last hope. “H-Hamasaki, help!” Sora begged.

Hamasaki half-opened her eyes. Sora could see pity in them, and also a great sadness. Then, she turned to the Professor. "Sir, surely we can lighten his punishment? The Society of Light has its own remedial training programs after all."

For a moment, Sora felt relief. True, the Society of Light had its own harsh punishments, but regardless he'd much rather be placed under Hamasaki's purview than Eli's.

"Society Enforcer Hinode," the Professor said, using Hamasaki's full, official title. "...My decision is final."

Sora’s heart sank.

“I do not like having to perform such actions, but in times such as these, we must accept having to make such difficult decisions, Sora,” The Professor said. “You may take him away now, Agent Roswell.”

“Truly, he is adorable,” Rammel chuckled, which managed to ignite Sora’s fury.

“I’m just happy that Smith kept his monologues to the point for once,” Yuri yawned, his attention already looking to fade away as he turned to face the Professor.

Those were the last things Sora caught before Roswell, acting on the swift reflexes that could be expected from an elite agent of Academia, exited the Professor’s throne room in the blink of an eye, and as he did, Sora felt a twitch at his neck as his vision turned black.

And when he eventually awoke, his eyes would be greeted with surroundings that were certainly not his dorm room…

“And that disposes of that issue,” sighed Eli. “Apologies for allowing Shiunin to act in this way, Professor. It won't happen again. 'e will be disciplined for his failures and betrayal.”

“He is irrelevant,” The Professor reassured. “Sora’s actions can be dealt with at a later time. The more pressing issues must be addressed now.”

Yuri groaned at what he heard. Any time Smith was involved with anything was guaranteed to be long, dragged-out, and more to the point, boring. “We’re still not done?”

"No," replied the Professor, gesturing to Eli, whose body went rigid once again as he called up another named nobody of irrelevance.

“Agent Mat, status report.”

Walter Rammel smiled as he stepped forward to directly face the Professor. It was such an annoying grin. Hopefully Yuri wouldn't have to look at it any longer.

“Well, to serve as a reminder, Standard has declared war on the Fusion Dimension, if that is…important, of course.”

“Of course it’s important,” Eli grumbled.

"It's the most obvious topic here," drawled Yuri, rolling his eyes at how tedious this meeting was already getting, but at least he could take joy in Rammel stiffening in fear.

“I would have preferred for Standard to not become our enemy, but it seems inevitable,” the Professor sighed. “Resume, Agent Mat.”

So the guy did. “I can confirm that Dennis is now essentially in Reiji’s custody. Not because his identity was found out, but because he has been placed in his first team of what LDS calls…The Lancers. I spoke with Dennis before arriving here, all of the information he could find and observe was given to me via this flash drive, for your reference, sir.”

Yuri yawned as Eli took the flash drive, pocketing it for later. Could this get any more dull and boring? Plus, if Smith was so concerned about Academia's mission, there was an assignment right in front of the Irish dork's visor-eye that he was totally ignoring. Upper management, the pinnacle of skewed priorities.

“The Lance Defense Soldiers,” Rammel went on, “are an initiative to counter Academia. It was to create this grand organization that Reiji Akaba was involved in buying up so many Duel schools these past three years, hence LDS’ current… monopoly.”

Oh right, that little bit of background. What was it again? Oh, right. This egotistical blonde CEO got bought out by another CEO and wanted revenge because of his ego, and so sold out his entire Dimension out for pettiness and greed or something like that.

“Right, right,” clapped Yuri, who yawned again, before letting his eyes narrow for the more important matter so these dorks would get to the point. “So, are we breaking Dennis out of there, or do I have to do it myself?”

“We will utilize Dennis as an inside agent to what my son is planning,” said the Professor. “Even if Reiji should determine his cover, I have faith that he will know and be able to escape if necessary.”

"If he hasn't, then he must have a good reason," Eli noted.

Honestly, Yuri wasn't sure if any of that was a good reason. Personally he didn't find this 'Yusho Sakaki' and his so-called 'Entertainment Duel' or whatever it was called particularly interesting to talk about, but Dennis always seemed mesmerized by it. Yuri did have to admit that it made Dennis' dueling more interesting than the usual monotony of Academia, even when compared to the Phantasms as a whole. 

Still, he remembered Dennis giving that 'Yuya' guy quite a bit of respect, going by the 'kun' that the guy had been given. Respect that Yuri was not a fan of.

“Selena is also within their custody,” Rammel went on, forcing Yuri out of his thoughts. “Now, I do not know if this is presumptuous, but he believes that we have captured Yuzu Hiiragi, yet Miss Hinode informed me that we did not. What has happened exactly?”

“Dennis wasn’t able to obtain any specific intel on her possible location?” Eli asked.

“No sir, he did not.”

“Then it seems Yuzu Hiiragi is missing, truly,” the Professor sighed, rubbing the metal-plate on his head before looking at Yuri. “I had the signal that warped you back, Yuri, studied when you returned to Academia,” he explained. “It bypassed all of the spatial wards, did not stem from any duel disk, Academia-built or no, and has no match to any wavelength we have researched. Of course, we are still looking into it, but whatever it was, it has kept the fourth piece from our grasp.”

Yuri allowed a small scowl of annoyance to cross his face. “Yay…”

Silence fell amongst the agents as they all let themselves digest the information.

“Then…what do we do?” asked Rammel.

“Dennis’ location is known, as is the basics of the enemy,” The Professor mused. “These factors should inform us of what to do next. For now, it seems my son holds all of the cards, and we must play accordingly. Whatever move he makes next however, we will be able to counter.”

Yuri hoped that that would be the end of the meeting, but of course the Great Irish Bore had to talk again. The guy just drained the energy and joy of everyone and everything wherever he went.

“Professor, may I ask a question that has been on my mind?” Eli asked cautiously.

“You may, Agent Smith.” The Professor said, but his tone sounded like a warning.

Yuri groaned, his patience wearing thin. “Make it quick, Smith, this meeting is boring me, and you really don't want to bore me."

“Uh, yes sir!" Eli coughed. "So, I’ve studied Sora’s memories, along with Dennis’ pre-MCS reports, and Agent Mat’s observations, from front to back. One element just doesn’t add up: How on earth did Shun Kurosaki make contact with Reiji Akaba? From what I saw, 'e went from being on the warpath with LDS to suddenly being part of their little tournament, and enrolled as a student to boot!”

“That’s what you’re confused about?” scoffed Yuri in disgust. What was with Eli and his stupid obsession with minutia? This was why the Irishman's dueling was a special brand of boring, whether he was using one of the Ancient Gear deck recipes or his personal ones.

“Perhaps he was just desperate?” Rammel put in.

Eli turned to glare at the traitorous executive of LDS. “If 'e was so desperate then shouldn’t he have just directly ambushed Reiji in the first place?”

“Uh, well…” Rammel stammered, at a loss for words for once.

“Is needing to figure out the answer even necessary?” Hamasaki inquired, making her first verbal contribution to the meeting. 

“I say it isn’t,” shrugged Yuri, glad that the sole lady among them had sense.

Eli facepalmed. “YES! IT! IS!”

“Why? It’s obvious that the leak came from the dude Rammel offered up in exchange for Dennis,” said Hamasaki.

Yuri just pointed a thumb at Hamasaki, grateful for her shutting Eli's minutia up. “Why don’t you ever let this lady do Eli's job? She gets to the point.”

“I have my own job, thank you,” Hamasaki answered curtly.

"Oh come on," Yuri grinned, wanting to have some fun tonight. "You and your girlfriend could be work-buddies. Blind Smith with more office action!"

Eli coughed, groaned, and convulsed in disgust at the memory of the time he accidentally caught Hamasaki and Naga doing exactly that, causing Yuri to cackle. Ah, the one reason he hadn't killed Smith yet; the guy was too easy to trigger.

“Wh-wait, what ever do you mean, Miss Hinode?” Rammel managed to stammer.

“Agent Hinode, right now Mister Rammel,” Hamasaki sniffed. “The student you sent us, that orphan, Kevin, I think his name was?”

“Th-that was his name…” 

“Eli, could you go over his records?”

The forest dwarf complied, bringing up a holographic record of the most generic-looking bowl-cut looking Osiris Red guy possible.

“Kevin, to sum up in Chronos di Medici’s words, is, or rather, was, an utter drop-out boy. 'e failed to live up to any of our standards, and only made it to Osiris Red. 'e certainly had the…arrogance and bluster, but 'e crumbled in the face of stronger duelists, and yet still somehow ended up on a deployment list. 'e was reported to be MIA a week later. As a further aside…”

Rammel gulped as Eli paused, allowing the silence to take hold. 

“That happened to be right about before our Deadfall Offensive, which, according to one of our more informed spies in Xyz, had two certain duelists they’d noticed being absent from the ranks of the Resistance. One with robot birds that shot lasers and bombs, and the one with Lord Yuri’s face. Both of whom were notably found to be in Standard around that timeframe…”

“Wait, Butler Boy thought he could find Ruri in Standard?” Yuri chuckled, finding joy in Yuto's flailing around like a chicken with his head cut off. “There’s being wrong, and then there’s being wrong.”

“So that is how this all developed…” Leo mused. “My previous status in Standard is well-known to many. Shun Kurosaki must have cornered Kevin and found out about Reiji’s ties to me from him. It’s the only explanation that fits.”

“I-I’m sorry!” bowed Rammel hastily. “I-I’d hoped that I could provide Academia with a potential soldier, based on his background!”

Eli growled. “I question just what you’re teaching your students,” he managed to snarl. “I’d have thought whoever you gave in exchange for Dennis could have picked up SOME slack or be useful to us.”

“Ahem, well…” Rammel coughed, typing into his duel disk.

Eli looked at his own to gaze at the file that had been sent to him, and read over it. “Introduction of Comprehensive Tactics Curriculum …well that’s totally useless. Dad was right about teacher’s unions after all…”

“Oh, wow, that is a fail!” laughed Yuri, slapping his knee. “You produced a book even Smith finds too boring or worthless to read!”

“Yeah…we won’t be asking for any more of the Broadway Branch students, I hope you understand,” smiled Hamasaki at Rammel, verbal venom clearly lacing her lips and words.

"I-I, uh..."

"Hey, Smith, I'm gonna ask you something, and if I don't like your answer..." Yuri spoke up, deciding to finally end this nonsense.

"...What is it sir?" Eli sighed in that weary, deadpan tone that he spoke in when he seemed done with everything. Good, that meant Yuri could finally use this ass for something.

"Sooooo...you got any alternatives for your obsession with intel from Standard?"

Eli turned to the blonde guy. "Rammel?"

"I, I have looked into a few leads!" stammered the suit. "I can send them to you right now!"

Eli looked at his duel disk, and nodded. "Good. We'll go to your office tonight to scrub all the records."

"Th-then I'm-" Rammel began, but Yuri had had enough of this guy's brownnosing as he pressed the Carding button on his duel disk.

A dark, purple light filled the room. Sadly, it didn't get Eli, but it enveloped Walter Rammel completely. The blondie screamed in agony as he realized what had been done to him, unable to do anything as his body vanished into the light. When it faded, Yuri ejected a card out of his duel disk, showing the fool's terrified face, before he threw at Eli, hoping that the velocity would cut the assassin, but sadly the Great Irish Bore caught the card within the fingers of his robotic hand.

"If you complain, you can share his fate," Yuri growled. "This meeting was a waste of time."

"No complaints at all sir," Eli said, pocketing the card to dispose of later.

"I hated dealing with that guy," muttered Hamasaki darkly. 

"I would not call it a waste of time," the Professor countered, completely unfazed by the murder that had taken place in his throne room, probably because there wasn't any need to call in a clean-up crew. "We have learned much by conversing with one another tonight, and a loose end has been tied up. I expect you to complete that job, Smith."

Eli nodded, and thankfully didn't speak. Good. Yuri was just about done with this.

“Ultimately, here is where we stand. The Resistance has mostly been dealt with, and so we will take care of the factor of the Lancers soon enough,” advised the Professor. “Though my son holds our cards, he will have to utilize them sooner or later. He cannot stop the Arc Area Project, nor will he succeed.”

He then stood up, and walked over to the window overlooking the Reactor. 

“And in the end, the ideal world we have sought, the true world we have sought, will be in our grasp.”

Yuri had to grin at that. Ideal world or no ideal world, the next few days it seemed would be getting very interesting. His hunting game was not yet over, and there was new prey to hunt.

He licked his lips.

"Oh yes," he murmured to himself. "The fun has just begun, after all..."

Card List

Noboru Gongenzaka

Superheavy Samurai Mentor
EARTH/Level 4/Machine/Effect/ATK: 500/DEF: 2000
(Quick Effect): You can send this card from your hand or field to the GY; change 1 Attack Position monster to Defense Position. If you control another "Superheavy Samurai" monster, your opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to this effect's activation. (Quick Effect): You can banish this card from your GY; your opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to the activation of your "Superheavy Samurai" monsters' effects this turn. Your opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to this effect's activation. You can only use this effect of “Superheavy Samurai Mentor” once per turn.

Superheavy Samurai Monk
EARTH/Level 3/Machine/Effect/ATK: 800/DEF: 1400
You can discard this card; add 2 of your "Superheavy Samurai" monsters with different names that are banished and/or in your GY to your hand, except "Superheavy Samurai Monk". You can shuffle into the Deck this card from your GY and 1 of your other "Superheavy Samurai" monsters that is banished or in your GY, and if you do, draw 1 card and show it, and if it is a "Superheavy Samurai" monster, draw 1 more card. You can only use each effect of "Superheavy Samurai Monk" once per turn.

(Major thanks to XBrain for helping to proofread the PSCT on these!)

Kudoru Gongenzaka

Monsters

Total Defense Ditchdigger
EARTH/Level 2/Warrior/Effect/ATK: 200/DEF: 1000
If you would take piercing battle damage from a battle involving a “Shield Gardna” or “Total Defense” monster: You can discard this card; your opponent takes that damage instead. If this card is in your GY: You can discard 1 Warrior monster; Special Summon this card, then if a Ritual Monster was discarded, you can add 1 Ritual Spell specifically listed on that monster from your Deck or GY to your hand. You can only use each effect of “Total Defense Ditchdigger” once per turn.

Total Defense Reinforcer
EARTH/Level 3/Warrior/Effect/ATK: 700/DEF: 1500
When an attack is declared involving a Defense Position monster you control; you can discard this card; that monster gains 1500 DEF until the end of this turn. When a Defense Position “Shield Gardna” or “Total Defense” monster you control is targeted by a card effect while this card is in your GY (Quick Effect): You can banish this card; negate that effect, and if you do, inflict 1500 damage to your opponent. You can only use each effect of “Total Defense Reinforcer” once per turn.

Total Defense Daimyo
EARTH/Level 8/Warrior/Ritual/Effect/ATK: 2400/DEF: 3000
You can Ritual Summon this card with “Total Defense Ritual”. This card can attack while in face-up Defense Position. If it does, apply its DEF for damage calculation. If this card attacks an opponent’s monster: You can change that monster’s battle position. This card is unaffected by the effects of your opponent’s Spell/Traps. When your opponent activates a monster effect while this card is in Defense Position (Quick Effect): You can negate the activation, and if you do, banish that card, then inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster’s ATK. You can only use this effect of “Total Defense Daimyo” once per turn.

Spells

Total Defense Ritual
Ritual Spell
This card can be used to Ritual Summon any “Total Defense” Ritual Monster from your hand or GY. You must also Tribute monsters from your hand or field whose total Levels exactly equal the Level of the Ritual Monster you Ritual Summon. During your Main Phase, if this card is in your GY: You can shuffle this card into the Deck; Special Summon 1 “Shield Gardna” monster from your GY in face-up or face-down Defense Position. You cannot activate this effect the turn this card is sent to the GY.

Chapter Text

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: RE-TURN

Episode 54: The Synchro Dimension: Neo Domino City

The D-Wheel.

The next evolution of the duel disk, this machine goes full throttle in a Riding Duel, which is known as the greatest expression in freedom…

“Alright, you got the deck prepped?”

“Yeah!”

“Are you actually going to remember the strategies we practiced?”

“Yes…” he whined.

“Yugo…” 

“Alright, I will! Now let’s do this!” a boy in a white riding duel outfit exclaimed to a girl in a turquoise-and-pink outfit.

Of course, the boy knew who the girl’s name was (if he didn’t, she’d kick him in the stomach. Again.), and he knew his own name.

His name was Yugo, and her name was Rin.

And right now, they were off on their way to begin yet another attempt at qualifying for the Friendship Cup.

Hopefully, this time they would be able to make some progress. Technically speaking, anyone could simply submit an application to enter the tournament, but the Friendship Cup was a sixteen-person knockout, and they usually would only accept the best or most notable duelists, whether they were domestic or international. 

And right now, neither Yugo nor Rin qualified as such on paper.

They weren’t terrible duelists, no matter what some of their more bitter rivals in the Commons, the people who made up the vast majority of their competition-based society, would say, but they hadn’t exactly had much luck in actually winning any tournaments. At most they only got consolation prizes, such as towels, or, if the sponsors were generous enough, some gift baskets that could tide over what meager food they could get from what budget the orphanage they lived at could obtain from government-funding.

Funding that seemed to be snipped away little by little every year, given what Rin had eavesdropped on their caretaker, Honoka Kimura, late at night.

Not to mention how the deadline for the Friendship Cup was coming closer and closer. If they didn’t earn a proper win, then there was no way out of at least hundreds of applications that theirs would be picked up.

(Especially if they had to rely on Yugo’s terrible handwriting.)

Times hadn’t been easy either; their most recent attempt to qualify via regionals had ended in total disaster; they’d only had enough money to submit one application, and banked it on Yugo…only for him to lose in the first round. It hadn’t helped that while Rin was desperately trying to give him advice, one of the local Commons gangsters, Vera, had decided to spend her time mocking Rin and stoking her anger.

Suffice to say, between Vera’s taunts, Yugo's insistence on using the ‘cool’ combo, and their opponent having a lucky top-deck, the day had been incredibly humiliating and infuriating all at once.

Rin had lost patience with Yugo, the two had argued, and Rin had stormed away in a huff. Desperate, she’d ignored her better judgment and, on impulse after Vera’s insults, had tried competing in one of the underground duel tournaments that the gangster girl made her bread and butter in…a decision that had very nearly gotten Rin thrown into the Facility had Yugo not come in at the last minute to rescue her.

There’d been a lot of crying, some hugging, and an affectionate punch to Yugo’s stomach, but the two had sworn to get back on their feet and try again.

But pretty resolve didn’t change the situation they were in though. Losing a tournament at this point in time was make-it-or-break-it.

There were some advantages to this particular outing compared to their previous attempt however. Held publicly, the sponsors had managed to reserve a section of the highway track usually used for duels, and the entrance fee wasn’t nearly as expensive as the last one. It helped that this tournament was also partly a charity endorsed by the Duel Academy known as Acceleration Institute; Rin had heard that they would occasionally offer scholarships to Commons, but such offerings were rare and even rarer were those duelists who managed to earn that privilege to attend a school usually reserved for Tops. And it wasn’t like such a prize was being offered today. At best it would only look good for Friendship Cup qualifications. The rumor mill, according to their local repairman, was that some ambitious students were trying to extend some goodwill with the Commons or something like that.

(Said repairman’s cynicism showed in his belief that such students were just trying to put something on their future job resumes.)

Genuine goodwill or selfishness, this opportunity was practically a godsend, and so Yugo and Rin had begun to prepare once again.

That being said, after their last outing, they still only had enough money for one entry, and once again had to bank their chances on Yugo. Thankfully, with the lower fee, they had more time (or more accurately, less interference from hunger-stress) to do a great deal more practice with their decks than on their previous outing. 

It had required some… modifications to Yugo’s usual strategies, but the deck that had been prepped for him was one that both he and Rin could confidently say was their best foot forward.

And a showcasing of their bond, if you wanted to get sappy.

Yugo quickly ran over to the garage where they kept their D-Wheel, a rather impressive custom-built model (in their opinions of course) painted white, but with tiger stripes and yellow handles that, if you looked at them in a certain way, were themed like a hornet’s.

But when he opened the door…

His face paled. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! SOMEONE STOLE IT!”

“No-one stole the D-Wheel, Yugo, remember?” Rin face-palmed, patting her friend on the shoulder. “We left it at Tama’s for a final nightly check.”

Yugo stared at Rin for a few moments, the girl letting the hamster wheels in his brain turn spin.

Just like that, Yugo palmed his fist, remembering. “Oh yeah! ...Sorry, I was just, really excited about today, y’know?”

“Just don’t screw up like last time,” Rin sighed, shaking her head.

“Says the chick who got into a big street-fight!” Yugo complained.

Rin blushed at that. The incident might have been…mostly behind them, but it really was telling that bringing it up was one of the few times her reaction was ever a bit subdued. On the other hand, it wasn’t like Yugo ever held it hanging above her head, so he had some leeway bringing it up now.

“Shut up, you dummy…” Rin mumbled. “We need to get going.”

“Alright! And if Tama broke the D-Wheel, he’s gonna pay!” Yugo cheered, pumping his fist into the air.

“Yugo!” Rin scolded, causing him to look at her, chastised.

“That’s the least of his worries!” she said with a smile on her face.

Yugo had to grin at that. Nordic Gods he, uh…cared for this girl.

Just that, nothing more, nothing less.

Really.

“Well, you two managed to nearly stress your engine to the breaking point training for the Tops Photo Op of the week,” Tama Hagane scolded as he pulled out their freshly-polished, fine-tuned D-Wheel. “Not only that, but your spark plugs were worn down to almost nothing, and I had to install a new ignition circuit breaker. None of which are going to be cheap, y’know.”

“Ah, don’t worry!” Yugo waved, “once we win the Friendship Cup, we’ll pay you back DOUBLE what we owe!”

“Then I’ll hold you to that,” the cynical, tanned brown-haired teenager drawled as he opened up a calculator app on his duel disk.

“Wait, what? You’re gonna really put that on our tab?!” Yugo wailed.

“Yes.”

“You’re a crook!”

“And you’re a moron,” Tama replied, shaking his head before looking at Rin. “Before you two go out to fail again, if you see two other morons with blue and orange hair, tell them that Tama Hagane still remembers that they still have a bill to pay from their last check-up here.”

“Hmmmm…” Rin hummed, considering the offer and weighing it with the financial threat they’d just been handed. “How about…DREAM ON!” she screamed, cold, wrathful fire burning in her eyes.

Tama winced, rolling a finger along his ears. “Alright, alright, they probably aren’t going to be there anyway…and I was joking about the tab.”

“Wait, really?” Yugo asked, having hidden behind the D-Wheel to avoid Rin’s wrath.

“It’s on the house,” sighed Tama.

“WHOOO!” Yugo cheered.

“Really? The guy who saves every Yeager he makes?” Rin questioned, obviously not sharing Yugo’s blind trust and enthusiasm. “I’m not buying it.”

“Well, you can question it…” Tama shrugged. “Or not, it’s up to you. It’s not like I slipped a bomb or used your D-Wheel’s Duel Disk slot as a spare trash can when Haruka came in here last night with another one of those gross curry-dogs…”

The look of sheer renewed fury on Rin’s face and impending fist of death caused Tama to put his hands up defensively. “Alright, alright, I won’t joke anymore…but I meant it. Not gonna charge you anything extra for this one... Today at least.”

Rin gave Tama a suspicious look while Yugo resumed merrily dancing at not having to pay any extra money. Tama’s reply was a stoic stare, before Rin sighed in defeat. 

“Alright, it’s not like we have much of a choice.”

“Great,” Tama said. “Now get out and lose. Again.”

“There’s the Tama Hagane we know and tolerate for D-Wheel repair advice,” Rin said, rolling her eyes.

“Thanks for the free help!” Yugo called happily as he and Rin got on-board the motorcycle.

“If you open your mouth again, I AM going to charge you with debt!” 

“Then we’re off!” exclaimed Rin, putting on her helmet. “Go, go, GO!”

And twisting the accelerator, Yugo sped off, leaving Tama behind to his usual grousing.

Rin would have liked to say that they had some moments of peace on the drive. A bit of time to review strategies, or even just a little pep talk before taking their final chance. 

But in Neo Domino City, that was impossible, for several reasons.

The first was because of the people. The residents known as Commons were hardly the most friendly faces; in terms of people Rin could even try to call allies outside of Miss Kimura and the children at their orphanage, that circle was about limited to Tama, Marco, and Pedro, three not-so-wise busy boys who, at best, could only give help for D-Wheel repair or finding extra money opportunities. Everyone else was either indifferent or a rival.

Secondly, bobbing and weaving through the labyrinth-like alleyways wasn’t exactly easy.

But that really just led into the third point, in that Yugo, whenever driving, did so like crazy, and in crowded slums like these, that was just asking for trouble as people yelled in their wake.

Trouble which they really couldn't afford right now.

“Look, I know you want to test out the D-Wheel after the tune-up, but we still have to be careful!” she scolded.

“Oh come on,” winked Yugo. “What’s the worst that could-”

Given that hitting him would make them crash, Rin settled for her best withering death glare to force Yugo to be quiet.

“Alright, alright, fine…” he grumbled, slowing down and moving to a street with fewer twists and turns. “I wanted to have some fun, alright?”

Rin was tempted to give him another piece of her mind, but stopped herself. This was a new opportunity, for once, nothing seemed about to explode in their faces. Better not to jinx them.

“I know,” she sighed, taking a moment to look at the imposing structures of the various Tops Districts, entire down-town sectors situated on giant, hexagonal pillars of various heights, but no matter their individual differences, every single one of those pillars towered and loomed over the mass slums that were the Commons. “I just don’t want us to crash. Or run into some other kind of trouble.”

Her mind still kept drifting to that horrible tournament. Much as she kept trying to tell herself otherwise, there was always that ugly voice in the back of her head whispering that Vera was right and that all of their efforts would amount to nothing.

To say nothing less of every single worry that was stabbing into her brain like an array of throwing knives.

What if they lost? They would have to wait another year for the next Friendship Cup in that case. But could they even last that long? Would their orphanage still be standing, or would some debt collector stride in to claim it and kick them out to the curb like they'd done with so many other orphanages? 

Was their strategy even good enough? Did they adjust the card ratios correctly? Did Tama actually use their D-Wheel’s duel disk slot as a trash can? Did he miss a part? Did all of Yugo’s recent tricks back there suddenly damage it?

Rin could almost feel herself about to hyperventilate, when Yugo spoke up.

“Heh, if we do, then I’ll just beat them down!” 

Whether the comment was sweet or another example of Yugo’s tendency to jump into a situation, Rin could think of that later.

Since right now, Yugo had chosen to cup his left hand into a fist and palm it into his right, leaving no hands on the handles.

“THE HANDLES!” Rin yelled.

Immediately, Yugo grabbed back on, swerving the D-Wheel so that they didn’t suddenly crash. Rin could feel her heart about to leap out of her chest as her friend fought to regain control. Luckily, after some tense seconds, they were back on a steady path again.

“D-don’t. Do That. AGAIN!”

For once, her friend was sheepish. “Yeah…sorry ‘bout that.”

“Sorry? You almost turned us into roadkill!”

Most of the time, Yugo would have had a witty (at least, that’s how he would describe it) comeback, but it seemed he’d finally taken the hint for once.

So for a few moments, Rin did get some silence, but before any more intrusive thoughts could barge in, Yugo opened his stupid mouth again.

“I mean it though,” he said, a serious tone in his voice. “This time, it’s go big or go home. We’re NOT losing this!”

Given that he’d said it without crashing them into a wall or off a freeway, his voice was much more soothing than before as the intrusive thoughts in Rin’s brain were interrupted.

She could be very grateful for that.

“Just keep your eyes on the road,” she managed to smile.

“In that case…” Yugo said, a mischievous gleam in his voice…

“No.”

“But-”

“No!”

“B-but-”

“NO!”

They still bickered all the way there of course. It was that sort of friendship.

For an event held by a Duel Academy, both Rin and Yugo had to admit it wasn’t as…what was the word?

Extravagant, yes that was it.

It wasn’t as extravagant as they expected.

There were plenty of duelists at the venue, make no mistake, but even their local duel festivals had a bit more pizzazz, either to attract attention, or at least look nice.

As promised, the sponsors from Acceleration Institute had managed to reserve an entire loop section of the dueling highways to use for a track, but both Commons residents had expected either something like a toll booth, wall, or even some kind of decoration, especially if Tops were funding the event.

Instead, a girl with blonde hair and-

“Whoa, that chick’s stac-” Yugo began before Rin thwacked him on the head. He still had his helmet on, so he wouldn’t feel it that much.

A girl with long, blonde hair, clearly a few years older than them, around Tama’s age, dressed in a fairly simple dull-red uniform with a black skirt, was just wandering around the rest area near the track, calling out for names, and noting them on her duel disk. The look on her face seemed rather harried, and Rin knew that she wasn’t missing the obvious look of worry on her face.

That was the other suspicious thing; if this was an event sponsored by Tops, then where was Security?

Usually, both Yugo and Rin had to be wary of Sector Security. Their officers, from the Duel Chasers to the Ground Forces, were usually everywhere, keeping an eye on Commons, particularly when there was a risk of them trespassing into a Tops district. Simply entering one was grounds to be thrown into prison…yet an event that was being held by Neo Domino City’s most prestigious Duel School was strangely lacking them.

Instead, the closest thing they seemed to have to that were two boys, also around Tama’s age, one with dark blue hair, glasses, and a little bit of stubble, as well as one with short, but messy orange hair, both wearing blue uniforms with dark trousers, patrolling the area. Indeed, the boy with the blue hair had nodded when he’d seen Yugo and Rin arrive. 

But there wasn’t a single officer in sight.

Looking around, Rin could see another boy with wild, spiked blonde hair and a thin, visor-like pair of sunglasses messing around with what looked like old-fashion stereo equipment while a very tall girl with darker skin, her black hair done up in a long ponytail, with a severe expression on her face, watched, her foot tapping the ground in familiar impatience to Rin.

Rin was very tempted to just assume that since this was a rare charity event from the Tops, that maybe the students here either had a very low budget, or were putting the least amount of effort into this.

“Uh, Yugo?!” the blonde girl called.

“That’s me!” Yugo called back, raising an arm in triumph, while still seated on the D-Wheel, ready to go.

The girl nodded, swiped her fingers along her Duel Disk screen, and then turned, seeming to mumble to herself.

It was a hustle-and-bustle Rin was all too familiar with. Suspicion was starting to creep at her neck.

It was a shame that Yugo noticed.

“Hey, uh, are you alright, Rin?” he asked.

Rin blinked, shaking her head as she removed her helmet, looking around the venue. “I-I’m fine Yugo,” she said. “It’s just…I was expecting us to be frisked on our way here, but they just let us in.”

That seemed to set off the alarm bells in her friend’s head. Hey, she’d be among the first to admit that Yugo was an idiot, but even he had enough survival instincts to look around when told that something seemed suspicious or wrong.

“I’m not seeing anything,” he noted.

Indeed, a shorter boy with brown hair with two long bangs who seemed closer to their age seemed rather frantic, running around making sure that everything on the track was in place, directing those who seemed like tournament participants to where they needed to go. The blonde girl had now gone up to the tall girl, who nodded in the affirmative as the boy seemed to make a breakthrough in untangling the wires of his stereo set. Pointing at the shorter boy, the tall girl seemed to direct the blonde one to help him out.

If this was a low-effort tournament put together just for extra credit as Tama had suspected, then the students clearly weren’t acting like it. Rin had seen plenty of lazy Tops from afar, and while she wasn’t going to just up and say that these students were an immediate exception, they certainly seemed to be putting their best foot forward despite limited resources.

“So…where should I go next?” Yugo asked, breaking Rin out of her thoughts.

“Excuse me!” came the voice of the blonde girl, trying to make herself heard through a megaphone. “Will all tournament participants please line-up here?”

Indeed, the shorter boy was already waving a checkered flag, signaling for the entrants to come forward.

Yugo gave Rin a thumbs-up. “Well, moment of truth time!”

Rin nodded in the affirmative but still, better safe than to be sorry. “Just be careful.” She said.

“Careful is my middle name!” Yugo beamed as he rode the D-Wheel forward.

That did not give Rin much more confidence.

“You seem worried,” said a calm voice.

Rin turned, and standing next to her was a new girl with dark lavender-colored hair…or was she a girl? Her voice certainly sounded like one, though her short hair and seeming even lacking in the…upper department as it were, compared to Rin despite her also being of Tama’s age, which made her look more like a boy. But…no, looking at her face, Rin could tell that she was indeed female, which helped from how her outfit was white with gold trim, compared to what seemed to be the usual red uniform for girls.

“Me? Worried? Not really,” Rin replied, trying to hide as much of her worry as possible behind her best ‘tough girl’ impression.

“You certainly seem worried enough. And you should be,” the girl sighed, though her eyes didn't seem to focus on Rin as she said that. “I wanted this event to be just a bit…bigger, if you get my meaning.”

Rin couldn’t help but let her eyes widen in shock as she tried to process this information. “W-wait, don’t tell me you’re-?”

“Celeste Beausoleli,” the girl smiled gently (she couldn’t be any starker of a contrast from Vera if she tried), holding out a hand to shake. “I am indeed the sponsor of this tournament. My idea, actually.”

It took all of Rin’s effort to keep her jaw from dropping. She was not expecting to meet the tournament sponsor, let see that said sponsor actually seemed nice. At best she figured she’d have to deal with some unscrupulous opponent trying to either taunt her or sabotage Yugo while he was out on the track.

“Uh, ch-charmed, really.” Rin said, accepting Celeste’s hand.

Celeste gave a weaker smile at that. “You don’t have to pretend,” she sighed. “It took a lot of teeth-grinding and convincing from our headmistress to even allow this event to go through…and as you can see…” she gestured over to the boy who was still having trouble plugging in the stereo system, before Rin gave a glance to where Yugo was with seven other Riding Duelists. “We’re a bit…tangled up right now.”

“Understatement of the school year,” grumbled the dark blue-haired boy, who had pulled out a bottle of chilled water. “We can’t even get basic Security measures for this.”

Rin coughed. True that was concerning to her as well, but while the Tops might have felt comfort from Security, the Commons generally didn’t.

The boy gave her a look. “Yeah, I know, I know, Security’s a pest, but some rules make sense when you’re holding something big like this, broken social system or no broken social system.”

Celeste said nothing, but Rin could see the look in the lavender-haired girl’s eyes. It seemed this was a topic both were in agreement on.

“Granted, if some gang tries taking me or Zenshin hostage, at least they’ll find that we won’t be worth much,” he muttered.

Rin looked at the boy, then at the other one, presumably named Zenshin, who was keeping an eye for any potential stragglers or witnesses. She saw the color of their hair, and then considered the blue-haired one’s words.

“So, uhhh,” she said carefully. “Tama Hagane says that you still have a bill to pay from your last visit?”

Celeste raised an eyebrow, while the blue-haired boy’s scowl deepened as he threw his hands up into the air. “Never mind, it’s worse, Tama’s seeking to get his money back!”

Rin couldn’t help but join him in that shared bit of annoyance. “He’s always looking to get his money back.”

“So you know him?”

“Unfortunately. He’s the only mechanic cheap enough for me and Yugo.”

“You too huh? Small world…” the blue-haired boy considered, pushing his glasses into place. “Keiro Ochitsuita. Tell Tama that we’ll get to it when we have the free time. Which is to say we don’t have it right now.”

It was then that the neurons in Rin’s brain connected. “Wait, you’re from the Commons? How did you get into a school like Acceleration Institute?”

“It was before they raised the standards,” Keiro grumbled. “I still say we got lucky.”

“No, you and Zenshin are still very skilled,” Celeste admonished. “You two got in with more than just ‘luck’.”

“Tell that to the geezers who decided that after we got in, ‘ooh, this is too much, let’s throw in three written tests on calculus that only a snooty Norwegian prodigy could solve’,” Keiro mocked grumpily.

Already Rin could tell what kind of history this person had with Tama. And why he would’ve worked with him in the first place (and why she and Yugo had dismissed trying to enter this duel school themselves in favor of focusing on the Friendship Cup).

…She very much hoped that didn’t reflect on her that much as well.

But she had to admit, it felt…good. Good to talk with people who weren’t trying to immediately tear her down. Instead, one seemed to commiserate with her based on a shared history, and the other seemed pleasant enough. Certainly had to be if she’d gone out of her way to hold this tournament, even forgoing Security.

Which, unfortunately, brought up another question to mind. But before she could ask it, there was a whooping cheer from the gazebo.

“I’ve fixed it! WHOOOO! We are ready to GO. ON. AIR!” 

“Then get on air already Hibiki! We’re behind schedule as it is!” the tall girl snapped. 

“Right on that Jay-san,” Hibiki said, turning around to reveal a pair of narrow sunglasses over his eyes as he picked up the mic.

“GOOOOOOOD MORNING BOYS AND GIRLS!” The blonde MC whooped. “Are you ready to REV. IT. UP?!”

“YEAH! LET’S GO! RIDING DUEL, ACCELERATION!” Yugo cheered.

Unfortunately, though he wasn’t quite alone, as there were some responses to Hibiki’s call, the rest of the crowd wasn’t quite so receptive; of all of the duelists, only Yugo had given any form of enthusiasm. The rest seemed ready to either leave or deck the organizers in the face.

“And that’s my cue,” Celeste sighed. “Keiro, you and Zenshin continue to keep an eye out for any trouble.”

“Roger that ma’am.” Keiro saluted before heading away, leaving Rin somewhat on the outskirts of the crowd as everyone turned to face the key player, who stepped up on the stone table to make herself known.

Celeste tapped the microphone, making sure it was working properly, cleared her throat as necessary, then stood to her full height.

“I’d like to thank all of you for coming here today,” she began. “Soon begins a big event; the most important event of the year for many people in our City: The Friendship Cup. I have been asked to say a few words about what will happen over the next few days, and to give my feelings on the greatest duel tournament in the nation.”

She paused as she allowed a wave of thunderous applause, in spite of the relatively small size of the crowd, to settle at the mention of the tournament before she continued. Although she wouldn’t let it show on her face, it disturbed, even disgusted her, the kind of excitement that people had for such casual and glorified cruelty. Yet she was expected (and had been directly advised) to say otherwise.

“I would also like to take this time to announce that I have officially qualified for a place in the Friendship Cup.”

More applause followed, but it was rather subdued-she could tell that of the eight participants, only the boy with the unique white-hornet styled D-Wheel was bothering to clap while his opponents all sent their best killing intent and frustration towards her. 

“I am taking part in this tournament because I want to change this city. Every year, the Friendship Cup is held as this supposed grand celebration of the bond between the Tops and Commons,” she frowned, considering her next words carefully. “Neo Domino City is the apex of the dueling world. Those who proudly call themselves Topsiders have won their freedom and their riches, and in the Tops, there is only one rule that’s law: Only the strong survive. Many believe the Tops are a perfect, wealthy paradise, and for some it may be, but for others, it’s a never-ending fight to prove you deserve to live in wealth. Because if you don’t live in wealth…You live in the darkest depths of Neo Domino City.” 

This did not seem to motivate the crowd much. Some of the attendees looked at each other, confused. Rin in particular seemed to be glaring at Celeste, bitter cold in her eyes, while others were whispering gossip to each other. 

She wanted to continue, but it was clear that the reception was becoming…lukewarm, at best. No doubt they were starting to see her as a soapbox crier.

Sighing, she decided to just go ahead with the tournament rules. Best to salvage the event itself.

"Anyways, politics aside, the rules are very simple," she explained. "This tournament is a simple knock-out format. The winner advances to the next round, and so-on until one remains," then she paused, letting them take in those words. "However, there is no bracket system. All matches will be determined randomly by drawing your names, until the final round of course. The winner of this tournament will earn great prestige, enough to be recommended for, though not necessarily guarantee you, a spot in the Friendship Cup."

This got a much more positive reception as the duelists at the track cheered, eager for that glory, with the spectators clapping at the idea of witnessing a potentially groundbreaking series of duels.

Looking at the crowd, Celeste did her best to maintain a face of dignity, as she had been taught her whole life. She could see her fellow students giving her a variety of looks. Hibiki and Toby were looking around awkwardly, eyes darting over to her before finding the ground more interesting. Keiro’s face looked pained at the sight of the obvious failure, while Zenshin was rubbing the back of his head in what looked like pity. “Jay-san” as she allowed everyone to call her, kept her arms folded, a mask of stoicism hiding whatever thoughts were going on in her head.

And as for Hotaru, Celeste could see the look in her friend's eyes was rather pained. Hardly a surprise considering that she’d brought one of their most common shared stresses in life out in public. Though, if Celeste was allowing herself just a bit of selfishness, perhaps it was because both of them could sense that their first attempt at a project like this had generated a very…tepid response, and Hotaru simply felt bad for her.

It was a comforting thought.

Most of the crowd were now focusing on the dueling track, with Hibiki now hastily trying to direct everyone’s attention via the megaphone.

But one duelist was not.

Celeste could still feel Rin’s cold eyes glaring at her. No doubt she wasn’t exactly feeling much pity for the wealthy, privileged Tops girl.

In retrospect, she shouldn’t have been surprised, and so silently made her way off the table serving as a stage.

Rin had listened to the speech and felt tempted to boot Celeste off the stage and into a nearby dumpster. Let her live a few weeks in the trash and THEN make a speech bemoaning her life’s struggles. “Oh! Woe is me! To continue having my every whim pampered, I must put a modicum of effort into staying in the top ten! Jacques! (She was pretty sure all French butlers were named ‘Jacques’) Fetch me more platinum-rare cards for me to maintain my deck's ridiculous advantage!” 

Give…it…a…break!

She shook her head, trying to calm her thoughts. Yes, it was incredibly irritating to hear, not to mention condescending, but she supposed she couldn’t blame the Topsider. After all, if Rin had been raised like a princess her whole life, she probably would have been just as big an ass. What would it be like to live with so little hardship that going down a single ranking was considered life-shattering? 

It was something of a comfort to Rin that, in spite of the Hell she went through, at least her life experience gave her a level of perspective. Facing starvation could sort one’s priorities pretty quickly. In sorting them, she’d learned her top priorities. When it all came down to it, her family, or rather, the few companions who didn’t toss her aside the second she became inconvenient, were the most important. She’d fight for them any day, and they’d do the same for her. She certainly wouldn’t fight to assist any Topsider with their “struggles.”

And she wasn’t going to accept any charity from them. 

No, she and Yugo were going to earn their reward, and that meant making sure he didn’t screw this chance up. 

There were more than a few reasons as to why Acceleration Institute’s event had a rather…low budget than most Tops-based publicity projects.

To begin with, the idea of flat-out, no-strings attached, helping the Commons was almost always seen as foolish, and going against, no pun-intended, “Common-Sense”. There was the obligation of keeping them of course, there was no such thing as a ‘Winner’ if there were no ‘Losers’ after all. Usually, these events were held specifically to showcase why their City’s way of life, no, the system of their world , worked. The Commons were to be grateful for the help of the benevolent Tops, and if they wished to leave their status, they would have to win. 

It was as simple as that.

So when Celeste’s mentor had stepped forward to the Executive Council, explaining the purpose of this tournament…well, the only reason the Council had approved was because they simply needed entrants from their City willing to enter, so they might as well give it a go.

And that led to the next reason, Celeste Beausoleli herself. Yi had never been fond of her deviant attitude and ways, and had personally used his influence as Security’s best officer, and thus, essentially, the official right-hand man to the leader of Security, Jean-Michel Roget, to persuade the Council that, if Acceleration Institute so desired to hold this event, then they would certainly not require the help of Security to do it.

But there was yet one more reason-the reason to have held this event in the first place, why ultimately his master had allowed it to go through rather than nipping it in the bud.

Yi gazed down at the track below, his eyes peering into a pair of Security-issued binoculars, looking at the boy and girl who matched the descriptions Gallagher had given them. For now, they were the priority. He could eliminate the deviant, or see his master cut her away, whenever he pleased.

For the next few hours, he carefully watched the participants as they began to duel one another. It was dull, tedious work, but he would stick through to it nonetheless. Time passed, the event went on; Eight went down to four, and soon, that four would be down to two.

And as he witnessed that penultimate duel, Yi lifted a transmitter to his mouth…

“What would you have me do, sir?”

Jean-Michel Roget hummed to himself, twirling the chess pieces in his hand as he observed the little ‘tournament’ progress from his top Security officer’s video feed. 

“If you’re curious about the progress of this little ‘operation’ Lieutenant Yi, Gallagher has assured me that all is in-place; we’ll be ready to begin very soon. You merely need to wait until I get the results I’m looking for. What is in front of us is a vast pool of dividends to reap, from a mere chance opportunity at that. I cannot simply sit on this. Once I have observed all I have needed, you may end this little, ah, ‘Tea Party’, as it were, at your leisure.”

“I understand sir. Apologies if I sounded…too eager, but-”

“Yes, yes, no need to worry, our goals are one and the same,” Roget comforted, smirking. “I have no intention of allowing Miss Beausoleli to progress too far in her… ‘independence’ as it were. Her success is merely a backup plan in case my ‘Plan A’ fails. She must be made to know where she stands, and regardless of the outcome, she will. I have plenty of contingencies concerning her after all.”

"Very comforting to know sir, truly," responded Yi, his tone clipped and professional.

The line then went quiet, allowing the blonde man in the elegant purple suit/uniform time to think and consider his plans.

His time as head of Sector Security had been rather routine for the past ten years; hardly a surprise considering how in that decade, the status quo of Neo Domino City being preserved had always been considered the #1 priority, and he’d worked to maintain it to the liking of the Executive Council and the Tops. Of course, he had made leaps and bounds that had broken the monotony for himself, hardly a surprise considering the nature of change and advancement of a well-crafted plan. Building the proper financial and political connections, ensuring the thorough development of Security through the Real Solid Vision system, and keeping an eye on the development of the City’s duelists as a whole, whether they came from Acceleration Institute, or were recruited into Gallagher’s ranks of enforcers.

Though there were, of course, obstacles. 

To complete his dominance, Roget would need an extremely powerful scapegoat to topple, which would be rather easy if said scapegoat would bother to act like one and not live up to his title of ‘King’. And in giving the students of Acceleration Institute leeway, just to ensure that he could find a diamond in a vast expanse of gravel, said diamond was proving…difficult to control. 

But this operation, no matter how it went, would ensure a further development to see to the end of these obstacles; in all honesty, it was inevitable, hardly any great break in the monotony he considered.

No, the true break came from the participants, or rather, the boy whose duel Roget was paying very close attention to.

He’d gone over the records, why wouldn’t he? Standard operation procedure and all (as he also made sure to quash an annoying Irish-accented voice from his head in the process). It was quite surprising to learn that Gallagher’s underground dueling rings, usually a practice that went under Security’s nose (mainly because they were under orders not to intervene unless absolutely necessary, and thus tended to ignore them as an unspoken rule), had suddenly been interrupted by a mysterious Riding Duelist.

Now, Gallagher was never truly against such intrusions, these were considered acceptable risks to find potential assets, or rivals that needed to be either crushed or tamed…but this one was different. He belonged to no gang, and instead of interrupting for a shot at glory, he had arrived simply, impossible as it seemed, to rescue a friend, and leave as soon as he had.

The end result leaving one of his subordinate’s favored enforcers/recruiters in a rare moment of true hatred, breaking her usually smug demeanor, had been enough for Gallagher to inquire, and then of course, send what he had learned to Roget. Footage of the event, and even a transcript of his conversation with Vera-he’d been very thorough.

It was paying off, as Roget watched, for the second time, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon take to the skies. 

He knew the significance of that monster, and the significance of the girl its user had come to save.

And now, they’d both been lured out, like moths to a flame, to the very spot where Roget could gauge them best.

A quick buzz interrupted his thoughts.

“We’re in,”  the oily voice of the Commons gangster leader said. “Vera and her gal’s are all ready to go.”

Roget smirked, setting the chess pieces onto the board.

“Proceed.”

Duel Progress

Yugo LP: 700

Controls Clear Wing Synchro Dragon

Ino LP: 1500

Controls Graydle Dragon

Rin gulped, seeing the score. Much to her dismay, Yugo’s opponent came from an entirely different district of the Commons up North from where they lived, so any hope of seeing any familiarity with Ino’s strategies was dashed. And that didn’t even get into her techniques; focused on stealing and controlling the opponent’s monsters. Thankfully, Yugo had finally heeded Rin’s advice, and had played in a less reckless manner. 

Unfortunately, it seemed his protests to that advice were starting to haunt her; he’d stopped himself from running into any too catastrophic traps, at least remembering to disable them yes, but the grind game hadn’t been favorable and there were situations where he’d had to make a larger play just to maintain the initiative. He’d in fact, lost Clear Wing once during the course of this duel, and had just barely managed to retrieve it when Ino had summoned her ace to finish him off.

Speaking of said enemy ace monster…

“Graydle Dragon , attack!” Ino ordered.

The chimeric, metallic-slime dragon roared, firing a blast at Clear Wing.

The revival effect Yugo had used had made Clear Wing indestructible this turn…but in exchange he’d been forced to put it in attack mode.

So while the white-and-blue armored dragon adorned with green crystalline scales and wings managed to endure the attack, the same could not be said of her master.

“OUCH!” Yugo managed to snipe.

Yugo LP: 200

“Turn end.” Ino declared.

This was it, the final turn. Neither player had a card in their hand, so this would be the final turn of the duel.

They were close. So close! They’d actually managed to progress for once! If Yugo won this, they would only have one duel remaining, and if he managed to win that …

No, Rin had heard of the story of the milk maid who lost everything because she had banked everything on a single bucket that she’d idiotically tossed in her fantasies. They had to focus on the now. 

“Get her, Yugo!” She called over the crowd.

“Ore no turn, DRAW!” Yugo declared, looking at his hand.

Rin held her breath. Did he draw what they needed? Or were they doomed?

Yugo smirked confidently. Rin’s heart skipped a beat. Did he get it?

“I summon Speedroid Razorang!” He said, slamming a monster onto his disk.

A boomerang-shaped machine appeared, before its upper half split apart, revealing a more humanoid entity piloting the device, its ‘arms’ made up of the split upper half of the device.

Speedroid Razorang/WIND/Level 4/Machine/Effect/ATK: 2000/DEF: 0

“How is that going to help you?” scoffed Ino.

“This is how!” Yugo revealed, pointing at his monster. “Razorang can’t attack the turn it’s summoned, but by switching it to Defense position, I’ll be able to take 800 ATK off a monster on the field!”

Rin couldn’t make out Ino’s features, but the girl was clearly scoffing as she retorted. “That’s not going to help you at all. That’s only going to take off 200 of my LP, and with Graydle Dragon’s effect, I’ll just revive one of the Graydles in my grave and take you out on my next turn.”

“Yeah, well guess what?” countered Yugo. “There’s not going to BE a next turn!”

“You’re bluffing.” Ino scoffed.

Yugo smirked. “Nope! The duel’s over! I use Razorang’s effect on Clear Wing!”

Ino looked down at her D-Wheel, and even though her helmet was tinted to hide her face, shock was coursing through her body.

“No…”

“Clear Wing’s effect now activates!” declared Yugo. “Whenever a Level 5 or higher monster gets targeted by a monster effect, that effect is negated, the monster is destroyed, and Clear Wing’s ATK goes up by the ATK of the destroyed monster!”

“Razorang has 2000 ATK…which means…” Ino trailed off.

“Clear Wing’s gonna get 2000 more ATK!” finished Yugo. “Alright, go, Clear Wing! Dichroic Mirror!”

Razorang folded itself back up, ready to use its effect, only for Clear Wing to fly in front, its green wings shining with light that destroyed the machine, reducing it to golden particles that then flew into Clear Wing’s body, raising the dragon’s ATK in turn.

Clear Wing Synchro Dragon/ATK: 4500

Rin had already done the math. 4500 minus 3000 equaled 1500. Exactly the amount Ino had left.

Was she dreaming? She couldn’t be. W-were they?

Yugo and Ino passed by, and Rin pushed her way through the crowd, running onto the track, waving behind.

“YOU’VE GOT THIS YUGO!” She called.

“Clear Wing Synchro Dragon,” Yugo commanded, “attack Graydle Dragon! Senpu no Hell-Dive Slasher!”

Clear Wing rose high into the air, casting its silhouette over the gathered duelists. Its green scales glowed, and, diving into, its body turning, like a tornado, it slammed into Graydle Dragon, instantly destroying it.

“DAMN IT!” Ino managed to cry, barely keeping her grip on her D-Wheel.

Ino LP: 0

WINNER: YUGO

At that moment, Rin lost control of herself. 

“HE DID IT! HE DID IT!” She cheered, letting out a rush of happiness that she hadn’t felt in a long, long time. 

As Yugo performed his victory lap, the voice of Hibiki echoed throughout.

“And in a stunningly CLEAR performance, our newfound dark horse, Yugo fights his way into the final round!”

Not everyone was willing to cheer, of course. Ino limped back over to the start line, some companions surrounding her and quietly taking her away, while some others had their eyes on Yugo’s opponent, a middle-aged individual with a thin face of stubble dressed in a cloak named Shira.

But while he looked rather creepy, right now, Rin just didn’t care. When Yugo rode back over, whooping and dancing, Rin ran right over to him, and hugged him tight.

“You did it! You big stupid dummy, you did it!” she cried, letting the tears fall as she snuggled into his neck.

But for a moment, Yugo didn’t respond.

“Y-Yugo?” Rin asked, suddenly fearing the anxiety flare up again…

Only for her face to turn sour as she saw that her friend’s face was red as a radish, face seemingly stuck in an ecstatic grin.

“Oi, pay attention!” she griped, slapping him back to reality.

“H-hey! That hurt!” he complained.

But he shut up when Rin hugged him again. “Shut up…you did it…we’re nearly there!”

“Guh, uuhhhhhhhh…” moaned Yugo.

Probably just in shock at winning. Rin didn’t know exactly what it was, but she figured that that was it.

“Allllright, lovebirds,” Hibiki said, jumping right over to them, “what are your thoughts on being in the final two?”

“L-loveb-birds?” Yugo stammered.

“What are you talking about?!” Rin snarled, holding a fist in front of the blonde boy’s face. Unfortunately, the threat of being punched didn’t seem to faze him in the slightest.

“Alright, alright,” he shrugged casually. “I won’t pry evenifyourasbadassomepeople.”

Rin knew she was not missing his gaze back over to the blonde girl and Celeste, whose faces had turned the same color as Yugo’s. …Then it clicked, and she could feel her own face getting hot.

“G-get out of here you tabloid-wanting bastard!” She protested, swinging a fist at Hibiki, who just jumped out of the way, though for a second, his face turned dark before lightening up again.

“Alright, alright, since it’s clearly a special time for you two, I’ll let the tabloid insult slide,” he waved off, before letting a very dark look out from his shades. “For now.”

He then turned to the audience, who Rin knew were snickering at them. She immediately slid away from Yugo, who still seemed to be malfunctioning and began to shuffle away to the side.

“Alllrighty everyone!” announced Hibiki. “We’re down to the final two now! The rider in white, and the grim reaper himself? Which of these two will carry home the gold?!”

“NEITHER OF ‘EM!” yelled a voice.

A voice that Rin and Yugo knew very well.

“VERA!” Rin snarled.

Everyone in the audience turned as a girl with a rather cruel smirk, riding on a rust-colored D-Wheel marked with several green orbs rode into the venue. The girl was rather tall for her age, with a short bob cut of blonde hair now marked with green-and-blue dyed streaks, her face marked with a variety of criminal marks: A small triangle, stripe, and delta wedge, all of which were focused on her left cheek. The girl was wearing a black-and-brown colored Riding Duel suit, which emphasized her thuggish nature.

“So, this is what a Tops-sponsored tournament is supposed to be like?” Vera mocked, looking at the barely-decorated track and set-up. “I’ve gotta say, seeing this makes a gal satisfied with just head-cracking.”

At that moment, Keiro and Zenshin jumped in front of her.

“If you’re trying to register, you’re too late by about a week,” Keiro said darkly, Rin managing to catch a vicious light in his eyes.

“If you’re just here to watch, I’d recommend you leave,” Zenshin put in, but though the boy was smiling, it was clearly false as his eyes were lit with the same light as his companion.

“Oh, come on boys, I’m not here to watch, that’s just not in my style,” replied Vera, reclining back, before her eyes darted over to the crowd, and much to Rin’s disgust, locked sight with her.

Vera grinned. “Oh hey, Rin! Yugo! Been a while! How are my two favorite people in the world doing?”

Why now? Why, of all times?

“We’re doing just fine, thanks!” Yugo shot back. “So you can go buzz off!”

“Oh come on, we had so much fun the other night!” Vera called. “Me and Rin, in that little underground duel tournament, before you decided to jump in for….what would we call it? Hmm, a three-way?”

Everyone turned to look at Yugo and Rin with disgust, and Rin didn’t need to focus on just what they were all thinking of, given how many innuendos and crimes Vera had managed to cram into just one taunt. Their eyes were already turning hostile, and Rin felt an impulse to crawl into her suit from their withering stares.

Still, she was not letting this bitch ruin them again!

“That is NOT what happened, and you know it!” she screamed. “Take Yugo’s advice and back off!”

“Oh come now…” Vera sneered in a sweetened voice of poison. “I came specifically to pick you two up…” She then leaned back on her D-Wheel’s front, looking at Keiro and Zenshin. “How about it boys, mind if I do that? You’re kinda in my way, and I don’t take too kindly to that.”

“And I don’t take kindly to trespassers!”

Vera’s mocking grin faded as she looked upon Celeste with a look of disinterest. “Oh hey, a little Tops princess,” she drawled. “Never thought the day would come where I’d meet one in person…or…are you really a girl? Nah, you can’t be, you-”

“CAN SHUT YOUR MOUTH!” yelled the blonde Tops girl next to Celeste, spreading her arms in front of her protectively.

“‘Cept I don’t really feel like it, Miss Boobsalot,” Vera shrugged. 

“Refer to Hotaru by that again, and I will crush you here and now,” Celeste snarled.

Okay, so Celeste wasn’t all bad. Seeing people on their side, even if it was circumstantial, was good enough for Rin to take back at least some of the bad things she’d thought about earlier. 

But it seemed the Tops organizer’s declaration just had Vera’s mouth spread in a very bloodthirsty grin. One that deeply unsettled Rin. She’d already been thinking that this was payback for what had happened in the underground dueling ring, but that sneer towards someone else rather than just focusing on her and Yugo…

Then she recalled how for defense, they just had two former-Commons guarding the place. Both of whom were now shifting their bodies into defensive positions, pulling out their duel disks.

The girl named ‘Jay-san’ was already moving forward. “Toby, Hibiki, get everyone out of here now!”

But it was too late, the rumbling of D-Wheel engines echoed throughout the venue, and soon, Vera’s usual cronies were flanking their leader…along with half-a-dozen other bikers, all of them brutal-looking men with either sleazy or violent looks in their eyes. Then, someone screamed from the other side as several more gangsters appeared. Rin felt her stomach turn as she recognized them as the girls from that horrible tournament, clearly back for revenge.

Everyone was trapped.

But some were not planning on going without a fight.

“You upstarts dare to interfere?” Shira rasped, raising his duel disk. “I will show you what happens when you fight the Grim-”

“Put a sock in it old man!” One of Vera’s cronies called, a bald, burly girl with the unfortunate name of, and Rin still didn’t get why she was okay with, ‘B.Ichi’. The gangster immediately shot forward, and to the horror of everyone present, simply ran Shira over with her D-Wheel, sending him sprawling on the ground in pain.

And of course, suffering from the agony of his legs being crushed. Rin almost felt like throwing up seeing the gory scene, and quickly, panic spread as people tried to run, only to then be cornered by a selection of Synchro monsters that Rin thought were way too good for them. Yet the panic continued, and, to her horror, the gangsters had no qualms having those monsters attack the civilians.

“STOP!” Celeste cried, rushing forward with her duel disk activated, flanked by Hotaru, Keiro, and Zenshin, only for a rush of viney, thorny tentacles to appear from the other side, wrapping around all four duelists and restricting their arms, preventing them from drawing.

Rin recognized that monster, Puppet Plant, and looked at its owner.

“Junko?!” she cried, wanting to know just why someone who had professed to hating Vera and her gang was now working with them.

“And how do YOU know this hooligan’s name?!” Jay yelled, her own duel disk drawn, crouched into a defensive posture.

“I-” Rin began, only to realize just what would happen if she admitted to participating in a dirty tournament like that. Given who they were, if she admitted to it, there was a good chance she and Yugo would be barred from the Friendship Cup if one of the parents of the richer students, or even some of the middle-class residents who had come to watch, reported this.

“They tried to kidnap her!” Yugo yelled, coming to her defense. “These jerks tried capturing Rin for fun!”

Yugo was, in all honesty, a terrible liar, but for once, his explanation of, well, not the whole truth, was relieving to hear.

“What? You think there’s worth in capturing someone like Rin?” sneered Vera, rolling forward, causing the audience to part so she could face the duo directly. “I mean, maybe she’d pick up a few Yeagars, maybe even a Goodwin or two, but that would require a LOT of service in one day.”

Yugo growled, his fists clenched. 

Seeing Yugo be determined, Rin felt her inner fire coming back. She would NOT be ruined by whatever scheme Vera was concocting! 

And she really didn’t want to hear Yugo say something that could be taken the wrong way, given how things were going.

“Alright, alright,” she said, forcing as much calm as she could into her voice. “You’ve made your big, epic speech Vera, congratulations. Mind explaining just why you’re here? You say you’re just here for us, but I’ll admit, I’m flattered if you thought you needed this many people just to capture us.”

Unfortunately, that hadn’t succeeded in diminishing her enemy’s confidence at all.

“Oh, the hamster wheels in your brain are finally turning,” Vera smiled mockingly. “I’ll admit, there’s some payback in it for me, boss-man doesn’t like it when someone brings down the mood after all…but word down from the grapevine is that some very rich people were pulling off this little stupid tournament without any guards! Perfect opportunity for haggling! The little bro of the head of this City’s biggest hotel manager, the daughter of some old, Peruvian money, and the heirs to the Hanazono and Beausoleil fortunes! Imagine the cash they’ll bring!”

Toby’s face went pale, while Jay, Hotaru, and Celeste just glared at Vera.

“I dunno whether to be happy or not I wasn’t included in that.” Hibiki noted.

“Congratulations, you get to have your neck snapped with me and Zenshin,” drawled Keiro, unable to face-palm with his arms restrained as they were. 

“That’s actually the plan!” B.Ichi guffawed with the older gangster men. “No worth in some Commons trash or some brat of an obscure network head!”

"You're from the Commons too!" snapped Zenshin.

“And I've got another reason to hate that Cowgirl…” Hibiki grumbled.

“Uh, c-can we focus on what’s going on right now?” Toby stammered.

“The kid has a point,” shrugged Vera as she focused her attention back on Yugo and Rin. “We’ll be taking them, and, I dunno, waste half of the others and maybe capture the rest. But first, I’ve got a score to settle.”

“Bring it on,” Rin growled.

“Pfft, not with you,” Vera snorted, before pointing a finger at Yugo. “But he’s another story. After all, you pulled a fast one on me, Yugo. I don’t like that very much. I can crush your little girlfriend whenever I want. You come first.”

Rin felt her rage truly boil forward, but surprisingly, Yugo beat her to the punch.

“Yeah, well then we’ll BOTH take you on!”

“PFFFT HAHAHAHAHA!” cackled Vera. “Newsflash little dork, you’ve only got one duel disk, and if some hero-wannabe from over there tosses you an extra one, we crush their throat right on the spot!”

On cue, the vines holding Keiro and Zenshin began moving to their throats.

“Y’know, I’m almost glad you’ve embraced supervillainy, Vera,” Rin managed to taunt. “Now everyone can see what kind of monster you are.”

“Heh, you think that’s supposed to be a threat?” Vera countered. “I told you before, I’ve got friends in high places now. And I’m gonna make the most of that. Move aside already. I’ve got business with dragon-boy to finish up.”

Rin instead put on her helmet. “I might not be able to duel, but I’m not leaving Yugo behind. You’re taking us BOTH on together.”

“Yeah!” Yugo put in. “We’re taking you down!”

Vera laughed once again. “Oh, oh this is rich! So what? You’re just gonna ride on the back and give backseat dueling advice? We all know how THAT went down last time.”

Rin grit her teeth, but stood her ground as she definitely hopped on the back of their D-Wheel, Yugo putting down his helmet visor, ready to duel.

“Alright, this actually does work! When this is over, I can break BOTH of your necks!” cackled Vera, riding forward to the start line. “Let’s get started!”

Everyone held hostage watched with bated breath as the D-Wheels lined up.

3…

2…

1…

DUEL!

Yugo LP: 4000

Vera LP: 4000

The D-Wheels shot forward, neck-and-neck. 

“Heh, this track is easy,” Vera noted, pulling on the accelerator. “You two don’t stand a chance.”

“Well I’ve been on it more than you have!” Yugo spat. “Take this!”

Rin gripped the back of the D-Wheel tightly as they came to the first corner. Twisting the handles, Yugo pulled over to the right, just barely managing to pass Vera as they turned the curve of the oval.

“First turn’s mine!” he shouted, drawing his opening hand. “Go! Speedroid Tri-Eyed Dice !”

A blue pyramid-like object, adorned with three eyes on the sides and a jet at the base, flanked by three orbs of glowing electricity, rocketed forward to the field.

Speedroid Tri-Eyed Dice/WIND/Level 3/Machine/Tuner/Effect/ATK: 300/DEF: 1500

“And since I’ve got a WIND monster on the field, I Special Summon Speedroid Taketomborg !”

A new toy-looking robot, designed after a bamboo-copter, unfolded itself into a humanoid form, unveiling large, insectoid eyes, as it flew onto the field.

Speedroid Taketomborg/WIND/Level 3/Machine/Effect/ATK: 600/DEF: 1200

“Alright, I’m tuning Taketomborg to Tri-Eyed Dice!” Yugo declared, his monsters shifting into the Synchro formation. Tri-Eyed Dice turned into three green rings that Taketomborg flew into it, its body fading to reveal three bright level stars that quickly aligned and burst into a blast of light-green light.

"Magical sword with the form of a cross. Use your power to rend all enemies! Synchro Summon! Appear now! Level 6! Hi-Speedroid Kendama !"

What appeared was a jet-like machine, shaped into a sideways kendama, colored with blue metal, the forward tip sharpened into a diamond point adorned with bright blue gems, while a smaller somewhat-humanoid ‘pilot’ was attached to the left handle.

Hi-Speedroid Kendama/WIND/Level 6/Machine/Effect/ATK: 2200/DEF: 1600

“Alright! He brought out a Synchro Monster before that wacko chick did!” Hibiki called, having somehow managed to save the microphone, which was still connected, enabling him to announce the duel, even with everyone glaring at him. 

Had Rin looked, she would have seen a fairly defiant look on the boy’s face.

But right now, her attention was on her friend.

“Thanks to Kendama’s effect, I can banish a ‘Speedroid’ monster in my grave to hit you with 500 damage!” Yugo declared. “I banish Taketomborg!”

A spectral image of the small robot appeared, before vanishing as Kendama shot a blast of blue energy at Vera, who grunted as she took the impact.

Vera LP: 3500

“I set a card and that ends my turn!”

Rin mentally noted the situation. For a first turn, Yugo had managed to grab the initiative, pulling ahead with a Synchro Summon and inflicting damage on the first turn. She’d seen the card he’d set and while it wasn’t the most optimal one to play, at least it created the psychological image of a defense-Tri-Eyed Dice, now in the GY, would serve that purpose much better thanks to its effect of negating attacks. But she knew it was stupid to try to think that that would be sufficient against Vera.

Given that the criminal was barely fazed, Rin felt her doubts were justified.

“My turn!” announced Vera, drawing her card and placing it in her hand, before moving for a different one.

“First, I summon Magical Exemplar!”

Rin gritted her teeth as the familiar green-robed sorceress appeared onto the field, her graceful dance completely at odds with her hoodlum of a master.

Magical Exemplar/EARTH/Level 4/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 1700/DEF: 1400

“Second, I play Spellbook of Discovery! This spell card lets me target 1 of my Level 6 or lower Spellcasters, then I get to add any Spellcaster monster I want from my deck, so long as its Level is equal to or less than the monster I target!”

Rin’s eyes widened as she recalled Vera having utilized a card of similar quality in their last duel. “ANOTHER rare card?! Are you joking?”

“Oh yes sweetie, spill your secrets to everyone!” Vera mocked as the duelists turned the other curve and on the straightaway close to the audience. “But yes, it is. Yet another card you’ll never get to have in that trash deck of yours!”

“Don’t listen to her, Rin, we’ll take her down,” Yugo said in a low voice, before raising it again. “So what are you gonna add, HUH?”

“I’m glad you asked!” cackled Vera. “I add Night’s End Sorcerer to my hand! And since I used a Spell, that means my Exemplar’s effect activates, and she gets two Spell Counters!”

The runes on Magical Exemplar’s robes glowed at this.

Magical Exemplar: 2 Spell Counters

Rin was already seeing where this strategy was going. If Vera used Magical Exemplar’s effect to remove those Spell Counters and Special Summon Night’s End Sorcerer, the latter’s effect would banish Tri-Eyed Dice, eliminating their main defense.

So it surprised her when Vera instead pulled out another card.

“Go! Magical Storm Charm! This can only be equipped to a monster that can have Spell Counters on it! It gives the monster 2 Spell Counters right on the gate, and since I activated another Spell, that means my Exemplar gets 2 more Spell Counters as well!”

A small necklace bearing a small plate with a hurricane etched into the metal appeared on Magical Exemplar’s neck, while her cloak glowed once again.

Magical Exemplar: 6 Spell Counters

“How many of those do you ever need?!” Yugo yelled.

“Plenty!” Vera taunted, accelerating forward…

And then slamming her D-Wheel into theirs!

Rin and Yugo both yelled as Vera knocked into their D-Wheel, once, twice, and three times, before managing to pull ahead.

“Huh, only scratched it, ah well!” she cackled. “When I’m done with you two that thing’s going into the scrap-heap where it belongs!”

“Vera’s done an act of terrible sportsmanship!” Hibiki called, disgust clearly evident in his voice. “That’s against the rules! Penalty right there, folks so-”

His microphone was ripped away by The Unfriendly Amazon , before B.Ichi and two of the men, both of whom had a copy of Diabolantis the Menacing Mantis , surrounded him, with the monstrous black praying mantis creatures holding their sickle-like arms to his throat.

“Keep talking, and we’ll make sure you can’t ever again. You want to lose the tongue or your neck?”

Hibiki gritted his teeth, sweat dripping from his forehead as he tried not to look afraid in front of the gangsters.

“I-I mean, without me, who’s gonna do the reporting?” he managed.

Before the gangsters could punish him for this remark, the sound of a chopper began to echo in the area, answering the question quite nicely.

“Oh, of COURSE the news picks now to show up!” Rin complained.

Indeed, a helicopter was now flying over the venue, but rather than stopping over the hostages, the person now poking her head out seemed more interested in the duel. 

“Good afternoon Neo Domino City!” a woman with poofy dirty blonde hair, dressed in a wild west ensemble announced. “This is your Number 1 Dueling Reporter, Melissa Claire, here to report to you live about a developing situation! According to an anonymous tip, a gang of Commons has taken several Duel School students hostage, with a duel on the line to free them! This has rarely been seen in the City before! Just what’s going to happen?!”

“You would know you tabloid-shouting-!” Hibiki began to call, but the helicopter and the pushing of the Mantises cut his voice off before he could curse at the reporter further.

“The duel seems to have just begun!” Melissa announced. “Keep your eyes peeled to the screens! This duel is unprecedented!”

Of course, the ‘anonymous’ tip had simply been Lieutenant Yi, acting on Roget’s orders. While there was certainly merit in covering the event up, to achieve the results he needed, spreading the word certainly helped.

“Chief,” one of Roget’s attendants called from her desk, an enormous structure where other attendants and technicians sat, monitoring holographic screens that were filled with data used to keep track over Security and the City overall. “There is a message from Miss LeBlanc about the situation.”

“Tell her that everything is under control.” Roget smiled as he distributed the pieces on the chessboard.

Indeed, things were progressing just as planned. 

“Oh wow, that’s annoying,” Vera grimaced, picking at her ear. “Ah well, at least I’ll have another target when this is over. Now, where was I?”

“Surrendering and letting everyone go?” Yugo asked.

“No, that’s not it,” she mused, before snapping her fingers. “Ah, I’ve got it! Beating you two! I activate Fissure to destroy your Kendama!”

“Fissure?!” spluttered Rin as Kendama suddenly split in half, before the pieces scattered into golden dust.

Magical Exemplar: 8 Spell Counters

“Okay, that was cheap!” Yugo yelled.

“The Commons on the white motorcycle lost his Synchro Monster to a Spell card!” Melissa Claire’s voice echoed as she spoke to the audience. “With it, his field is wide open!”

“Heh, honestly, I didn’t really NEED to destroy your monster,” smirked Vera, pulling out another card from her hand. “Just needed to build up more ammo. Speaking of which, I’ll use some of that ammo and use two of Magical Exemplar’s Spell Counters to Special Summon Night’s End Sorcerer from my hand!”

The sorceress rose her hands into the air, chanting as a cloud of pinkish dust appeared above her. From that newly-formed portal, a young, brown-haired boy wearing common robes, wielding a scythe with a transparent blade, jumped onto the field.

Night’s End Sorcerer/DARK/Level 2/Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect/ATK: 1300/DEF: 400

Magical Exemplar: 6 Spell Counters

“And now for Night’s End’s effect!” sneered Vera. “I banish up to 2 cards from my opponent’s grave! Like say, Tri-Eyed Dice and Kendama!”

The young sorcerer’s expression remained stoic and emotionless as he positioned his scythe so it was reflecting Yugo’s graveyard-slot, before the images of Tri-Eyed Dice and Kendama’s respective card forms, floating in the void, appeared. Then, in the next instance, light shone through the scythe, and just like, the two cards vanished.

“Crap!” cried Yugo.

Rin tried and failed to hide a look of dread creeping on her face. If Vera chose to attack directly with Exemplar and Night’s End, that would take out 3000 LP…and if she then chose to tune them to Synchro Summon Tempest Magician …she could wipe them out in this turn.

But then, that Equip Spell on Magical Exemplar …it had to mean something. The only reason Vera might choose to Synchro Summon Tempest right away would be due to being cautious of their face-down card, and then try to rely on Tempest’s effect for instant-kill burn damage.

Rin was snapped out of her thoughts when Vera announced her next play.

“I’m playing Reload next, shuffling the Pitch-Black Power Stone in my hand into my deck to draw a replacement card! Which of course, boosts Magical Exemplar’s Spell Counters up again…”

Magical Exemplar: 8 Spell Counters

“What’s the deal with making so many?!” demanded Yugo.

“You’ll find out now!” Vera declared. “I tune my Level 4 Magical Exemplar with the Level 2 Night’s End Sorcerer !”

“Here it comes!” warned Rin to Yugo as Vera began chanting, her monsters aligning into formation.

“Chant your spells in the night and call forth a cursed storm to blow away my enemies! Synchro Shoukan! Appear! Level 6, Tempest Magician !”

From a pillar of light, what seemed like Magical Exemplar, but with darker blue robes instead of green and wielding the scythe of Night’s End Sorcerer appeared, her previous face of calm replaced by one filled with wrath. Swinging the scythe, the wicked witch brandished it violently at her enemies, making it clear what she planned to do to them.

Tempest Magician/DARK/Level 6/Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 2200/DEF: 1400

“And, as a special treat,” Vera purred. “The effect of Magical Storm Charm places the Spell Counters that Magical Exemplar had onto Tempest Magician !”

“WHAT?!” 

“Oh no!”

Similar to her previous form, the runes on Tempest’s cloak glowed as the power took hold within her.

Tempest Magician: 8 Spell Counters

“And of course, Tempest Magician’s own effect gives her a Spell Counter when Synchro Summoned!” declared Vera, a triumphant, malicious look in her eyes.

Tempest Magician: 9 Spell Counters

“Hope you remember Tempest Magician’s effect,” mocked Vera. “Because I’m gonna use it soon!”

“Well too bad, I don’t remember!” Yugo shot back.

“I DO!” warned Rin. “Yugo, if she uses Tempest Magician’s effect, she gets to remove all of the Spell Counters on the field, then we get hit with 500 damage for each! She’s managed to get nine!”

Yugo did the math in his head as quickly as he could, only for Vera to interrupt.

“Yup! And by removing them all, that’s 4500 points of damage! More than enough to bring you two down to zero!”

“What a shock!” announced Melissa. “If this effect goes through, the criminal will be able to pull off a One Turn Kill!"

Of course, everyone at the venue had a very different kind of reaction to that news…

“It’s been nice knowing you all,” Keiro sighed.

“They won’t lose that easily, Keiro!” protested Zenshin. “Have a little faith in them!”

“Dude, we just met them, that’s completely unsubstantiated no matter how you slice it.”

“Quiet you two,” Celeste ordered, before turning her attention at them. “Don’t give up!”

“See? Having a little faith goes a long way,” Zenshin chuckled.

“I can kill all of you with one order…” Junko growled. “Do as your boss said, and shut up.”

“We aren’t losing to this!” Yugo yelled in defiance, passing everyone by on another lap.

“Oh yes you are!” sneered Vera. “Tempest Magician , crush them! Skyvoid Tornado!”

Holding up her scythe, the runes on Tempest Magician’s robes dissipated, their energy forming into black, screeching bats that then were absorbed into her scythe, which now turned pitch-black, electricity coursing through the blade.

“DIE!”

Tempest Magician slammed her scythe into the ground, causing a burst of black energy akin to lightning, formed in the shape of a tornado, to flash-forward, about to destroy Yugo and Rin with one hit. There was simply no way to avoid it. The blast connected, and a massive explosion of wind tore through the track and venue.

“H-has the criminal won?” Melissa Claire asked, holding on to the side of the helicopter for dear life.

“Of course I won!” Vera laughed. “How do you like that, Yugo? No-one makes a fool of me like that and gets away with it!”

“You haven’t won at all!” Yugo’s voice called through the dust as he sped forward out of the cloud.

Yugo LP: 4000

And at his side, was a peculiar monster.

The monster was quite a departure from Yugo’s Speedroids, instead being a short, child-sized girl with teal hair, wearing a white-and-pink witch-themed outfit, complete with a white hat, barely managing to hang on to what looked like a combination of a bell and a broomstick. She had pulled out a small wand, and had conjured a barrier of cold-looking wind-gusts that were now surrounding Yugo and Rin, dissipating now as the threat of Tempest Magician’s effect had passed.

Windwitch - Chill Bell/WIND/Level 3/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 800/DEF: 800

“WHAT?!” Vera snapped. “H-how did-what? Why do you have Rin’s cards?”

“Impressed?” Rin managed to smile. “Since I couldn’t be in the tournament, I decided to do the next best thing and loaned Yugo some of my cards! And it looks like keeping Windwitch - Chill Bell was worth it! Since an effect that would inflict damage was activated, she can be Special Summoned to make it so that we don’t take ANY effect damage this turn!”

“Which means your big scary storm turned into a nice cool summer breeze!” Yugo piped up, a confident grin on his face. “Seriously, why’d we never think about using our cards for air conditioning?”

Chill Bell puffed her cheeks in indignity at this suggestion, but her reaction was nothing compared to Vera’s.

“Y-you…how did you?” spluttered Vera, before shaking her head. “Fine! Slum-trash deserves slum-trash! You two can go mixing yourselves into each other however you want! I’m not done with my turn! I equip Magical Bolt Charm onto Tempest Magician!”

Another charm similar to the previous one appeared around Tempest Magician’s next, this one now adorned with the image of a lightning bolt.

“BATTLE!” Vera roared. “ Tempest Magician, kill that brat! Tempestal Wave-slash!”

The furious sorceress obeyed, launching a wave of energy from her scythe that cut Chill Bell in half before the child dissipated.

“Magical Bolt Charm gives Tempest Magician piercing damage and the permission to let me draw a card whenever she kills a monster!” Vera growled, drawing a card as electricity flowed through both Yugo and Rin.

“Grrgghhh…” Yugo groaned. “Y-you okay Rin?”

“I can take it, don’t worry,” Rin grimaced.

Yugo LP: 3300

“Since you took out Chill Bell, her effect lets me add another ‘Windwitch’ monster to my hand!” Yugo said. “I’m adding Windwitch - Ice Bell !”

“Add as many crappy wimp witches as you want! I set a card face-down and end my turn!” Vera snapped, slamming the card she had drawn face-down into her D-Wheel.

From above, Melissa Claire continued her commentary. “What a duel! The fugitive’s One-Turn Kill was stopped, but she managed to pull ahead with a battle! Still, her opponent has added a card to his hand! Could it be his trump card?”

From his desk, Jean-Michel Roget rubbed his chin, before turning his attention to his chess-board.

Chess was a glorious game. It always helped him think, and while some might have considered it and Duel Monsters to have no relation, in many regards, the games were remarkably similar when it came to thinking ahead. Whenever it came to operations such as these, Roget always had the chessboard set-up and ready to go, either to analyze a duel or an enemy.

Right now, a black bishop had taken a white pawn, but that space had been protected by a knight, ready to intervene. Yet there were other pieces on the space, ready to intervene. A pawn protected the bishop, while, the castled rook and king were perfectly capable of taking whatever other piece was going to attack next…one of which happened to be a rook, who had an open path available to attack, along with white’s second bishop.

“It could be his trump card, or it could not be…” Roget mused. “We’ll simply have to see what is done with the taken piece…

“Ore no turn!” Yugo declared, drawing a card. “Thanks to Ice Bell’s effect, I can Special Summon her from my hand!”

Another witch with frilly pink-and-white clothing appeared flying on another bell/broomstick cross, though hers was made of a more refined crystal. She was older, but more of an early teenage like Yugo and Rin was, with long, poofy blue hair.

Windwitch - Ice Bell/WIND/Level 3/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000

“Plus, I can then bring out another ‘Windwitch’ from our deck!” said Yugo. “So I’ll be bringing out Windwitch - Glass Bell next!”

A similar witch as Ice Bell appeared, but her hair was a shorter, more turquoise color, and her outfit emphasized white instead. The bell-end of her staff had a different decoration as well, and unlike Ice Bell , who bore a purple hat, Glass Bell’ s was a dark blue.

Windwitch - Glass Bell/WIND/Level 4/Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect/ATK: 1500/DEF: 1500

“And now, since Ice Bell was Special Summoned, you take 500 damage!” Yugo said.

Ice Bell happily pointed her icicle-like wand at Vera, before a small tornado-gust of cold wind burst from it, slamming into the gangster’s back.

“GRRRRR!”

Vera LP: 3000

“And thanks to Glass Bell’s effect, I can add another ‘Windwitch’ monster from our deck to my hand!” Yugo grinned. “I add Windwitch - Snow Bell !”

“Oh! The fugitive’s opponent’s managed to accomplish so much with one card!” Melissa Claire yelled, though to Rin, it just felt like taking up dead air. Still, it felt satisfying to hear a compliment about her cards rather than an insult.

And not to mention, they had all the means to bring out their strongest trump card to beat Vera down for good! All they needed was-

“You’ve dug your grave!” Vera hissed. “Since you added a card to your hand while all I have out are Spellcasters, I can activate the trap card known as Magical Feintlock !”

A card bearing an image of a golden-gun suddenly misfiring due a spell cast by Blast Magician flipped itself face-up, before an orb of energy shot from the card, and impacted the card Yugo had just added to his hand.

“NO!” he cried, but Vera was not done as she explained the effect.

“Magical Feintlock lets me banish any of the cards you just added, and whenever monsters get banished, you can only summon monsters of the same monster type as the one that just got banished!”

Rin’s mouth gaped. “So…the only monsters that we can summon this turn are…”

“Spellcasters,” Vera finished, her cruel grin remaining. “I told you Rin, everything you do brings Yugo down! All you can do is sit on the sidelines and offer him some pretty-looking trash that can do whatever plenty of other cards can do! Now thanks to you, his big scary dragon can’t come out! I really should thank you…but it’d be more fun to beat you down and see if anyone from abroad’s interested in taking what’s gonna be left of you!”

“You…” Rin hissed, but Yugo beat her to it.

“SHUT UP!” 

This wasn’t some basic screech of annoyance as Rin had heard…what came out of Yugo’s mouth was pure rage.

“Rin is NOT holding me back!” he declared confidently. “She’s NEVER held me back! She’s always been there to help me! She’s my closest friend, and no matter what, I am NEVER letting her go, and I’m not letting you insult her ever again!”

“Oh gag me!” Vera snorted. “Listen bub, you’ve got some potential, but you’ll never live up to it acting like this idiotic dork! Actually, wait, thanks to you interfering on my boss’s turf to SAVE that piece of worthless little cooler ice, you signed your death warrant anyways! You two wanna die together, fine by me, I’ve got bigger fish to fry, like the tranny and the bimbo over there in tentacle land!”

“We aren’t dying here!” retorted Yugo. “I’m still your opponent, Vera, and this duel’s still on! You’re going down, NOW! I tune the Level 3 Ice Bell with the Level 4 Glass Bell!”

Glass Bell transformed into the four tuning rings, with Ice Bell quickly transforming into three stars of light that quickly aligned with the stack.

“Midwinter wind. Make ice and snow my power and blow through! Synchro Summon! Appear! Level 7! Wind Witch - Winter Bell! ”

Flying out of the light was Rin’s ace monster, a graceful looking statue-like monster, with a female crystal body emerging from a large green orb connected to a graceful sled-like fin protrusion large enough to stand on. The statue’s arms expanded as two massive light-blue fins, and the construct was soon flying alongside Yugo, the boy as pleased as if he’d managed to summon Clear Wing.

Rin didn’t want to cry, but…she certainly felt satisfied hearing Yugo’s words, and his actions too. He might have been an idiot most of the time, but…no matter what, she cared for him just as much.

“Take her down!” she said.

“With pleasure!” grinned Yugo. “Winter Bell’s effect lets me target a ‘Windwitch’ monster in the graveyard to give you damage equal to that monster’s Level x200! I’m targeting the Level 4 Glass Bell, so you get to eat 800 points of damage! Spirit Wind Shot!”

The orb on Winter Bell clanged like a bell, before Glass Bell’s image appeared for a moment, before a larger blast of cold wind shot forward and struck Vera in the back. 

Vera LP: 2200

Vera snarled, forced to regain control, as Yugo and Rin shot ahead.

“And I’m not done! Battle! Winter Bell attacks your Tempest Magician! Icicle Barrage Shot!”

Icicle-like rockets began appearing along the length of Winter Bell’s arm-fins, before shooting forward and impacting Tempest Magician .

“M-Magical Bolt Charm destroys itself to keep Tempest on the field!” countered Vera as she managed to resettle her D-Wheel, the charm on Tempest Magician breaking to conjure a barrier to protect its wielder from further attacks.

“But you’re still taking the damage!” Rin retorted.

Vera LP: 2000

“You two…” Vera growled hatefully. “Magical Bolt Charm’s destruction lets me put another equip spell onto a Spellcaster. This time I’m choosing Magical Downpour Charm!”

The amulet that had shattered now reformed into a new one adorned with a raindrop symbol.

“Magical Downpour Charm gives my monster ATK equal to her Level x100. With Tempest Magician being Level 6, her ATK goes up to 2800!”

Tempest Magician/ATK: 2800

“Damn it…” Yugo muttered, pulling a card from his hand. “I set one card face-down and end my turn!”

“The fugitive has taken a huge amount of damage!” Melissa Claire declared. “Can her opponent, who’s made such a resounding declaration, manage to win?”

“What should happen if Vera loses?” Yi’s voice rasped.

Roget chuckled as he rearranged the pieces on the chessboard. “Her purpose is merely to gauge him. If Gallagher still has a use for her, I’ll pull some strings when this is over. If she loses, make a show of arresting her. You do have Security members on stand-by, yes?”

“Sir.”

“Then merely keep that in mind,” smiled Roget as he studied a closeup of Celeste’s face as she struggled to keep her eyes on the duel. “And if Vera wins, well…I suppose you’ll have your opportunity in the end, Yi. A mere…accident as I seek out a backup option for the backup option.”

“I have no complaints then. I will return to my observations, sir.”

“As a sidenote,” came the oily, masculine voice of Gallagher, “I did have some other jobs for Vera in mind, since this is just a probing mission.”

“Your insight and ability to seek the long-term is, as usual, appreciated, Gallagher,” smiled Roget. “Fear not gentleman, no matter the outcome of the duel, we shall benefit.”

Idly, he then reached for the white queen…

“ORE NO TURN!” Vera roared, ripping off the top card of her deck. Taking a look at it, she grinned once again. “I play a second copy of Spellbook of Discovery ! I use it to add the Level 3 Balance Mage to my hand, and then Normal Summon him!”

Balance Mage/EARTH/Level 3/Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000

A wizard in brown robes, holding a scale in both of his hands, manifested on the field, his face hidden by his hood, aside from a stoic frown that peaked out of the shadows.

“I now use Balance Mage’s effect to increase its Level by one!” 

Balance Mage: Level 4

“A level four tuner?” Rin muttered before her eyes widened. “Yugo, look out! She’s going to summon her ace!” 

“Someone remembers how she was about to lose,” Vera mocked. “Only this time, nobody is coming to bail you out! I tune the Level six Tempest Magician with the Level four Balance Mage!” 

Her two monsters began synchronizing together, a whirlwind forming around Vera as she began her summoning chant. 

“Let the tempest unleash a cataclysm to destroy my enemies! Synchro Shoukan! Level 10! Cataclysm Magician! ”

The synchro pillar of light erupted between the six synchro rings before darkening into a swirling cyclone of gray clouds and lightning, Vera’s monster emerging from the depths of the storm. Cataclysm Magician was similar in appearance to Tempest Magician , but her gray hair had faded to a bone-white and her eyes had grown red. The scythe in her hand now had a blade on each end and the bat familiars had grown to look more monstrous with fanged, fox-like faces and clawed feet.

Cataclysm Magician/DARK/Level 10/Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 3000/DEF: 2000

“The effect of Balance Mage and Magical Downpour Charm both activate since they were sent from the field to the graveyard!” Vera declared, “With Balance Mage’s effect, I get to take one Spellcaster Tuner in my graveyard and either add it to my hand or Special Summon it in Defense Position! With the effect of Magical Downpour Charm I can Special Summon a new Spellcaster from my Deck whose Level is equal to or less than that of the monster it was equipped to! Using these two effects, I summon both Night’s End Sorcerer and Rogue of the Typhoon !” 

Night’s End Sorcerer/DARK/Level 2/Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect/ATK: 1300/DEF: 0

Rogue of the Typhoon/DARK/Level 4/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 1900/DEF: 0

The rogue-like scythe-wielding sorcerer appeared once more, this time flanked by a man with wild, untamed spiky hair, his hands sparking with lightning, his upper body bare aside from a blue cloak that hung loosely on his back. The man cackled, rubbing his hands together, as if anticipating what was to come next.

“When Rogue of the Typhoon is Normal or Special Summoned, I can Special Summon one Spellcaster Tuner monster from my hand or graveyard, but since Balance Mage has already done that for me, there’s no need,” Vera explained. “The more important thing is that Night’s End Sorcerer has been summoned, which means I get to clean out some more trash from your graveyard! Say goodbye to Chill Bell and Glass Bell !” 

Night’s End Sorcerer rose its scythe again to reflect the void of the graveyard, causing the images of Chill Bell and Glass Bel l to appear before they vanished with another wave of light.

“You’re welcome,” Vera mocked. “And now to clear out the rest of the garbage. “I tune Night’s End Sorcerer with Rogue of the Typhoon!” 

“Ghosts flying through the night, converge in the sky and administer silence! Synchro Summon! Level 6, Night’s End Administrator! ”

A slightly older looking Night’s End Sorcerer appeared, but had discarded his scythe while his robes had become longer and more intricate…while at the same time, he now appeared as a translucent spirit, his mouth hidden by a much larger white scarf, some streams of golden light emanating from his body at intervals.

Night’s End Administrator/DARK/Level 6/Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 2300/DEF: 1400

“Oh! The Fugitive has managed to call out a second Synchro Monster!” Melissa Clair called out what was perfectly obvious to Yugo, Rin, and everyone else watching the duel.

“And now for his effect!” said Vera. “Since he was Special Summoned, another card in your graveyard gets banished! Time to clean up the last of the trash!”

The golden land bands around Night’s End circled around their master, causing the image of Ice Bell to appear within them, before at that moment, they converged, wiping the card away.

“And let’s not forget Cataclysm’s effect!” Vera winked. “Since she was Synchro Summoned, that netted her a Spell Counter, and by removing that Spell Counter, I can destroy a card on your field! Say good-bye to your so-called ace monster, Rin! Destruction Storm!”

Cataclysm Magician: 1 Spell Counter -> 0 Spell Counters

A black orb had been floating amongst Cataclysm Magician’s familiars, before it was absorbed into her scythe. Twirling the weapon, a massive stormcloud appeared in the sky following the scythe’s movements, before several bolts of lightning began raining down. Yugo swerved to avoid them, but Winter Bell was not so lucky as one connected, seeming to signal the others, which immediately converged and destroyed her.

“2 for 0 in my favor, bitch!” Vera taunted Rin. 

“WHAT?” B’ichi called. 

“Not you!” Vera called back. 

“Oh,” she replied. “You know…I’m starting to think my name was a mistake. Just saying.”

“Gee, you think?” snarked Jay, rolling her eyes.

Back at the duel…

“And now, here’s another present from me! Whenever one of your monsters gets wasted while I only have Spellcasters out, I can banish Rogue of the Typhoon from my graveyard before doing the same to your monster before it can go there, and then give you two idiots that monster’s ATK in damage!”

“Oh come on!” Yugo complained.

“Shut up and brace yourself!” ordered Rin.

Rogue of the Typhoon appeared once again, discarding his cloak as his entire body turned to electricity, before striking at their D-Wheel, causing Winter Bell’s card form to appear before vanishing, unleashing a massive spiraling wave of lightning on Yugo and Rin.

“GAAAAAHHHH!” The two screamed in unison.

It took every ounce of Yugo’s strength to keep the D-Wheel under control, and every amount of Rin’s so she wouldn’t fall off. Still, they managed to push through the pain, until the electricity finally subsided and the blue sky appeared over them once again.

Yugo LP: 700

“The fugitive’s opponent’s are down to their last legs!” Melissa Claire wailed. “Is this going to be a victory for the Commons criminals?!”

“Oh yes it is!” answered Vera. “BATTLE! Night’s End Administrator , attack the idiots directly! Firelit Beam!”

From his desk, Roget began moving the rook, before noticing something…

“The card set on the first turn hasn’t been used yet…and the card that was set just now wasn’t the one drawn last turn.” 

He looked up at the screen as his eyes widened, before he forced them back to calm. This was what he was waiting for, there was no need to be shocked or surprised. “Interesting…”

“I play a trap!” countered Yugo. “Windstorm in Toyland!”

A card depicting several of the Windwitch monsters playing with the Speedroids flipped itself face-up.

“Windstorm in Toyland lets me return up to three of my banished WIND monsters to the graveyard!” he explained. “I’m returning Tri-Eyed Dice, Kendama , and Winter Bell there!”

A gust of wind appeared, seeming to shield Yugo, as the spectral forms of the declared monsters reappeared.

“And don’t forget, by banishing Tri-Eyed Dice , I get to negate your attack!”

Night’s End Administrator fired a laser from his palmed hands, but Tri-Eyed Dice vanished in that instant, creating an energy shield to block the attack. Once it had, the gust of wind and the ghostly forms of Kendama and Winter Bell disappeared.

Vera gritted her teeth, but then her trademark arrogant smirk reappeared. “Hmph, ah well, fine. It’s more fitting for my ace monster to finish you two off! Go, Cataclysm Magician , attack them directly! Cataclysmic Fissure!”

The wrathful mage leaped forward, her scythe ready to take off Yugo and Rin’s heads.

“DIE!” Vera snarled.

“Trap card, Dice Roll Battle!” declared Yugo, causing a trap card depicting a red and a blue eight-sided dice colliding with each other to appear. 

“That was the card you set earlier!” Vera realized.

“Yup,” grinned Yugo, with Rin having her own triumphant smile. “Dice Roll Battle lets me banish 1 ‘Speedroid’ monster in my graveyard and 1 ‘Speedroid’ Tuner in my hand so I can Synchro Summon with them!”

“N-no…” murmured Vera. “You can’t have-!”

Yugo revealed the final card in his hand. “I banish Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice in my hand and the Hi-Speedroid Kendama in my graveyard to Synchro Summon!”

A golden six-sided die, featuring a large red eye on the forward face, with six orbs of black metal surrounding it, appearing alongside Kendama, before the die turned into a Synchro ring, and Kendama into six stars of light.

"Flap your beautiful and heroic wings to strike the enemy at the speed of light! Synchro Summon! Appear! Level 7! Clear Wing Synchro Dragon! "

Flying through the air came Yugo’s ace monster, Clear Wing roaring triumphantly as it flew high into the air.

Clear Wing Synchro Dragon/WIND/Level 7/Dragon/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 2500/DEF: 2000

Vera looked at the stats, then growled. “Don’t think I’m going to be stupid enough to fall for another one of your tricks! I’m calling off my attack!”

“Don’t be so sure!” Yugo called out. “By banishing Dice Roll Battle from my graveyard in your Battle Step, I get to force two Synchro Monsters on our field in Attack mode to battle! So it’s gonna be Clear Wing versus Cataclysm Magician !”

“Then you just killed yourself!” retorted Vera. “Clear Wing’s ATK is too low to take on Cataclysm Magician !”

“That’s why I’ve got Windstorm in Toyland’s other effect!” declared Yugo. “I can banish it and then target a WIND monster in my graveyard to give a battling WIND Synchro Monster I control its ATK! And the monster I’m targeting to give Clear Wing strength is Windwitch - Winter Bell !”

“WHAT?!” Vera cried out in shock.

The image of Winter Bell appeared for an instant, melting into Clear Wing Synchro Dragon and boosting the dragon’s ATK with a powerful blue-white aura. Clear Wing roared as its ATK rose.

Clear Wing Synchro Dragon/ATK: 4900

“4-4900 ATK…”

“No witty or cruel comeback Vera?” Rin growled. “I’m shocked.”

“I told you! Rin’s never held me back! You’re getting your ass kicked by both of us now!”

“Clear Wing Synchro Dragon,” both Yugo and Rin called in unison. “Hell Dive, Icewing Slasher!”

Clear Wing’s green wings for a moment shone blue as the dragon rose further into the air, its body twirling, sapphire-and-emerald energy mixing into a massive spiral. Then, that spiral dove down onto Cataclysm Magician, destroying the wicked witch in a single blow, before the impact of the attack slammed into Vera.

“GAAAAAAAHHHH!” The gangster girl screamed.

Vera LP: 100

“You don’t have any other cards to use, so it’s my turn now!” Yugo declared, drawing a card. “Clear Wing’s ATK might go back to normal, but that’s enough to take out your last monster! Here’s my own payback on you! Ekay! Clear Wing! Hell-Dive Whirlwind Slasher!”

Clear Wing Synchro Dragon/ATK: 2500

The energy from Winter Bell vanished, but Clear Wing continued its momentum and trajectory, aiming itself right for Night’s End Administrator , who gave off a yelp of shock as the massive dragon destroyed the spirit in an instant, the final blow being dealt to his master.

“NOOOOOOOOO!” Vera yelled as her D-Wheel came to a forced stop, the final shockwave of Clear Wing’s attack hitting her.

Vera LP: 0

WINNER: YUGO

“And that’s how we do it!” Yugo called, their D-Wheel returning to the venue.

“The fugitive has been defeated!” Mellisa Claire called. “It’s incredible!”

“NO!” B.Ichi roared. “Emica, Junko, grab the rich meat! We’re getting out of here!”

Unfortunately in that instant, a green-and-orange haired warrior girl, wielding a staff that seemed to be tipped with a feather, appeared in that instant. The warrior quickly darted over to Toby, swinging her staff, causing a gust of wind to push him right into Jay’s arms. Then, just as fast, she jumped over to the numerous Puppet Plant tendrils and swiped her staff as if it was a bladed spear…of course, the sharp, cutting gusts of wind were more effective at cutting than metal as Celeste, Hotaru, Keiro, and Zenshin were freed.

“Thanks, Jay-san!” Celeste called, as she immediately pulled out a card. “Let’s drive them out!”

Before Yugo and RIn’s eyes, several Synchro monsters appeared: an androgynous warrior-looking woman, a sorcerer in white robes wrapped around orange armor, a pterosaur-wearing mechanical armor, and a large fish-like creature that almost looked like a submarine.

“Do you wanna…” Yugo asked.

Rin might not have liked some of the Tops’ attitudes…but no-one deserved to be beaten by Vera and her gang. “Of course we’re going to help them, come on!”

“Alright!” Yugo called, palming his fist. “ Clear Wing, go get ‘em!”

Yugo’s dragon roared as it joined in the fray. Now that the gangsters’ hold was broken for a moment, several of the civilians beat a quick retreat as the gangsters’ monsters all attacked. There was no formal dueling, just a solid-vision slugfest. Monsters attacked and beat each other down, their users having to be careful about getting hit by shrapnel or aftershocks. 

“I won’t accept this…”

Rin looked back. “Yugo, behind us!”

Yugo just barely managed to turn the D-Wheel before a white-armored magician with a short wand and green skin came upon them, clearly threatening to hit them directly.

“I will NOT accept this!” Vera growled, limping forward, having removed her duel disk from her D-Wheel. “You two…you’ve ruined everything!”

“Not going to apologize for that,” Rin sniffed.

“Just as I won’t apologize for frying your asses!” Vera screamed, a deranged look in her eyes now that her bravado and position of dominance had been shattered. “ Explosive Magician ! Blow their crappy D-Wheel to scrap and-!”

A fencing saber with a blade that seemed to be made of lightning immediately pierced Explosive Magician in the chest. Both Rin and Yugo looked, and saw that androgynous, but certainly feminine warrior-lady, dressed in a prim, shining uniform right in front of them, giving them a wink as Explosive Magician dissolved.

From the venue center, Celeste gave the two a wink. “Payback for getting us out of this! Prismatica Neon Supercell, take her out!”

The warrior-lady nodded, before more lightning surrounded her, before incredibly, it solidified into armor. Yugo and Rin took that moment to drive away, before the gathering electricity surrounded Vera, who didn’t even have time to spit out a curse word before the lightning shocked her, knocking her to the ground.

But up above…

“Th-this is unprecedented!” Melissa Claire squirmed. “A brawl like this in the Tops?! W-who is going to win in this!”

“Chaofeng, Phantom of the Yang Zing !” called a voice. “Bring this rabble down!”

Flying above the battlefield, above even Clear Wing, came a majestic, multi-colored feathered dragon with enormous, vibrant wings, the beast shining with light as those wings spread.

But as they did, all of the monsters in the venue seemed to lose their strength. Prismatica Neon Supercell’s lightning-storm armor vanished, while Daigusto Sphreez’s staff had the feather at the end go limp. Even Clear Wing’s shining scales became dim and dull.

It was then at that moment, that several monsters, all wearing samurai-like clothing, their faces covered in kabuki-themed masks or face-paint, stormed onto the field, slamming juttes into every monster present, destroying them all in an instant.

“I-It’s Security!” Melissa Claire called triumphantly.

Indeed it was. Officers dressed in grey police uniforms, all of them riding the same blue-and-white D-Wheel with green warning lights, stormed onto the field, shooting nets from guns they had, or ordering their monsters to throw ropes onto anyone they could.

And they did not discriminate. Whether they were civilians still caught in the crossfire, gangsters, or even the people attempting to defend, everyone was attacked. 

Soon, everyone had been subdued.

Including Yugo and Rin, who had been forced off their D-Wheel and onto the ground, surrounded by three burly warriors in black-and-red robes that exposed their white torsos, who had tied them up with their juttes.

“Oh come on! We didn’t start this!” Yugo protested.

“Nor did you end it,” rebuffed a stern, cold, nearly-raspy voice.

The officers parted to reveal a new Security officer. Unlike his fellows, his D-Wheel was more streamlined, with the color patterns inverted, and the green lights shining from it placed adjacent with similar lavender lights. He himself had a much more distinctive face, thin and pale, his yellow eyes very prominent and judgemental as he gazed at the venue. Rin could make out lavender hair from underneath his helmet.

“Enough of the news nonsense!” he called up to Melissa. “The public does not need to see any more of Acceleration Institute’s disgrace!”

Melissa immediately went straight forward. “R-right. Let’s get out of here!” she whispered to her pilot.

WIth the helicopter gone, silence could finally take hold of the venue as everyone tried to struggle.

The officer continued to observe everyone who had been restrained. Rin did not like the look he was shooting at her and Yugo whenever his creepy eyes came up over to them.

“Where is the organizer?” he finally called out.

“She’s over here boss!” called an officer, who pulled an indignant Celeste up from the ground.

“Thank you, 227,” the leader called as he walked forward to Celeste. “You should not have done this, Miss Beausoleli. You disgrace our City and your family by holding these…pedestrian and nonsensical events.”

“We ASKED for Security!” Celeste protested. “But we were told we would have to provide it ourselves! You don’t have any right to come here and just arrest everyone!”

Okay, Rin was REALLY going to have to re-evaluate Celeste if they got out of this. Meanwhile, the lead officer just folded his arms.

“Security has every right to deem what is important to be protected, and what is not meant to be protected. And, in the end, we have graciously come in to fulfill our responsibilities to this City. You are the one who put a target on so many people here, who put everyone here in danger.”

“That’s a load of horsecrap!” Zenshin protested. “You guys didn’t come in until the last second! I bet you were just watching the whole thing!”

“Gag him,” the lead officer called as one of his subordinates did just that. “Let it be known, boy, that if news of this event were to come forward, by the rules and laws of this City, every single person currently present now is effectively a disgraceful criminal who is a threat to our City. By right, I have the power to send everyone here to the Facility, by the laws ordained by our Council.”

“WHAT?!” cried a civilian.

“We were just here to watch!”

“You can’t throw us into the Facility for looking at a Riding Duel!”

“Shock them all, including the students,” the officer said coldly.

Yugo and Rin had only a second to realize what was going on, before tasers were shot at every person restrained at the venue. Their screams were drowned out in the medley of cries that echoed throughout the venue. They hoped it would end, but it didn’t. Rin had never been tased by Security before, but from what chases she’d seen, it was quick. THIS was certainly not. She tried counting to block out the pain. 

Five Seconds. Ten Seconds. Fifteen seconds.

The lead officer raised his arm, and the current stopped. Yugo and Rin gasped in agony, as did everyone else.

“Th-this…is just brutality,” Celeste managed to choke out.

“This is discipline,” said the lead officer coldly, without a shred of remorse for what he had done. “Punishment for breaking the law. Engaging in street fights like a lowly thug, inviting Commons to an event near the Tops, and not calling for Security when needed. You have overstepped your boundaries, Beausoleli, and I will now implement the appropriate punishment for your actions.”

He turned to the gathered officers.

“SEND THEM ALL TO THE FACILITY! ALL SUBJECT TO RE-EDUCATION AND CRIMINAL MARK APPLICATION!”

Rin’s heart sank and her blood went cold. No…no…i-it couldn’t end like this.

“Please, Lieutenant Yi, there is no point,” said an oily voice.

Everyone looked as a holographic image of the head of Sector Security, Jean-Michel Roget, appeared before the lead officer.

“S-sir…” stammered Yi, who immediately bowed. “Th-the criminals…”

But Roget shook his head. “By the laws of the City, you are not entirely incorrect…but you forget how self-defense is a justification, primarily with Tops citizens. And thus, Miss Beausoleli’s response to this event is perfectly within the bounds of the laws. And let us not forget that Commons citizens within events such as these, if pardoned by the event holder, are thus also under their blanket jurisdiction.”

He looked upon Celeste, and smiled. “I believe that is an accurate summation of your actions today?”

Celeste gritted her teeth as she glared at Roget. But, in the end, she had to lower her head.

“Yes. Completely. Any and all actions done by my fellow classmates, as well as participants in this tournament, or watchers of the tournament, are under my jurisdiction and judgement.”

“And there you have it, Lieutenant!” Roget called, spreading his arms theatrically. “There’s no need to cause further scandal by sending students there, and given her acceptance of responsibility, why punish the innocent people who participated in this tournament?”

Then, he turned to Yugo and Rin. “Not to mention, sending away the young, prodigal heroes who defeated the leader of this criminal rabble? Legally, I know we will have to sweep that under the rug and downplay it for the masses, but sending them to jail for it is quite frankly, ungrateful.”

He then did something Yugo and Rin didn’t expect. He bowed to them.

“You have my thanks, ah…”

“Yugo.”

“...Rin.”

“Yugo and Rin!” Roget thanked. “You have my thanks for defeating that horrible criminal! While I cannot do anything more for you two, bound by the laws of this City as I am, I will make sure to note this if you should ever send applications to the Friendship Cup! After all, that IS why you came here, yes?”

After the violence they’d just dealt with, Rin was almost hard-pressed to remember that. But…it wasn’t like Roget was wrong.

“Well, yeah,” Yugo said.

Roget smiled, then turned back to face Yi. “Lieutenant, you will arrest ONLY the guilty parties who attacked this event. Let the spectators, participants, and organizers go free, do you understand?”

“I…yes sir,” said Yi, humbly, bowing for a moment before returning to gaze at his subordinates. “Release the ones who Master Roget designated. Send the attackers away!”

The officers looked at each other, before lamely obeying. Their monsters retreated to focus on hauling away Vera and her goons, or they untied/freed the innocent parties.

Yi shot a dirty glare at Celeste, who returned it pound for pound. Rin wondered if those two had any particular history for a brief moment, before Yi’s eyes returned to look at them. It made her skin crawl to look at those horrid yellow orbs. It felt like he was examining them all over, as if they were rats in a cage rather than people. 

But ultimately, Yi walked past them to continue observing the operation. Some other officers parted along the openings, enabling everyone who had been freed to get away as fast as they could.

“I am sorry.”

Rin and Yugo had at this point been ready to join them and ride away, only for Celeste to walk up to them, flanked by Hotaru and Keiro. The girl’s head was bowed down in remorse.

“I didn’t mean for this to happen, truly,” she said, seeming to fight to keep her tone even. 

“Eh, wasn’t your fault,” Yugo waved off. “Besides, we got to get Vera back, right Rin?”

Rin sighed. Yugo had a point there. “True, that’ll make our lives a bit more peaceful, hopefully.”

She then chewed the inside of her mouth, considering Celeste’s words from before. Might as well get this off her chest if they were going to fight in the near-future.

“...What did you mean by changing the City?” Rin found herself asking.

Celeste’s body stiffened, but all that came out of her mouth was a sigh. “In the end…a childish hope, I presume,” she then looked at the scene, the officers cleaning up what was left of the event. “Perhaps it’s only a self-righteous dream in the end.”

“C-Celeste, no…” Hotaru murmured, putting a hand on her…

“Wait, so are you two like, girlfriend and girlfriend?” Yugo asked with all the subtlety of a hammer.

WHAM!

“Gahhhh…” he groaned, Rin having shut him up by kneeing him in the stomach.

“Don’t just ask people about that out of nowhere! It’s not polite!” she scolded.

Hotaru’s face had gone red, as had Celeste’s as she suddenly found her feet interesting to look at. In the end, it was Keiro who spoke up.

“Not officially, but the way these two look at each other, it’s bound to happen.”

“Bound to happen?!” Hibiki called, having somehow overheard the gossip. “It’s like, basically that without the word!”

“Both of you shut up!” Celeste snapped, before calming herself. “R-regardless…I do thank you both for taking the time to come here. Hopefully, we can meet again.”

Well…okay, she was definitely a rich girl, but at least she’d shown some character. That was enough for Rin. For now at least.

“We’ll have to see about that,” she said. “Let’s head home, Yugo.”

“R-right, he coughed.

That was the end of that. Yugo and Rin had quickly skedaddled from the event, Rin still keeping an eye out for any Security Officers. They’d made it home without much trouble, but…still feeling the adrenaline, they didn’t quite feel like sitting down just yet. Rin quickly changed into her proper riding duel outfit, a pink-and-white uniform, before the two made a quick pit-stop at Tama’s place.

“Who did you end up dueling?” he wondered, examining the D-Wheel’s right side. “The damage isn’t too severe, just looks like paint scratches, but I recommend you check the inside just in-case.”

“Vera,” they groaned in unison.

“...Not even going to ask,” Tama sighed, pulling out a wrench to do some quick repairs.

“Wait, you didn’t watch it? It was all over the news!” Yugo called.

Tama gave Yugo a look. “My man, I don’t watch the news. It’s the same thing every time. ‘If it bleeds it leads’, when you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all,” he then gave Rin a look. “So, did you see ‘em?”

“Keiro and Zenshin?” Rin sighed.

“That’s them. How are those two blockheads doing?”

She shrugged. “Seemed to be alright. Keiro didn’t seem too happy about you wanting your money back.”

“Have YOU ever been happy owing me a debt?” Tama asked.

“...Fair point,” Rin admitted.

The repairs were quick; Tama’s original analysis was correct, and soon, the two were out on the streets again. By now, the sun was setting, and as they rode onto the freeways, a measure of peace began to roll over them as the thought occurred.

Their goal was nearing. The moment they were waiting for was almost upon them. In less than a month, the Friendship Cup, their ticket out of the Commons, would begin, and the two young riders were finally in a good enough spot to properly register.

They had no destination in mind, but after the chaos of the day, did choose to take it a bit slow.

Their aimless journey lasted for an hour, the two taking turns when it came to driving, since while it was true that they had come for a rare outing of fun...it didn’t hurt to keep practicing, since they only had the one D-Wheel and Duel Disk, and thus would have to switch between them whenever it would be their turn to duel.

Finally, they came to a fairly empty viewing lot, made solely for people who wanted to take in the view. A few similar locations had been claimed by rich Tops (Because of course they would do that), but most were ignored, and thus one of the few places that a citizen from the Commons could go to without being harassed (Most of the time, unless a particularly petty Tops resident decided to push them away for the heck of it). 

It wasn’t too different from their earlier venue, when they thought about it.

The two gazed at the sunset, casting dusk on all of the districts. To these two aspiring riders, who wanted freedom, the setting sun felt like…

“A promise.” Rin murmured, not knowing why that had come to her head. Maybe she was getting sentimental?

“Eh, what?” Yugo asked, not catching it.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Rin dismissed, before pausing to look at the sight. “It really is beautiful though.”

Yugo gazed at the sprawling city. “Yeah, it is.”

“...And it’s almost time, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

They were silent as the weight of the upcoming event came crashing down on them. Expectations for the opponents they would fight. The difficulty of the journey ahead. Knowing that they still had a long road ahead of them. 

“Yugo…” Rin said at last.

“Yeah?”

“Let’s make sure we win this.”

“Of course we’re going to win this!” Yugo protested. “After today, I’d like to see some gangster try to mug us!”

“We don’t WANT them to mug us in the first place!” Rin face-palmed.

Yugo blinked. “Oh, uh, right, same thing…”

He began thinking, which to Rin, seemed like a bit of a rarity.

“So, uh…” he began. “What would you get with the prize money?”

“A bed that isn’t infested with rats or covered with dirt,” she said immediately. “And a house with reliable running water.”

“Aw come on, Rin, that’s boring!” Yugo protested. “I know what I’m gonna get! I’ll buy one of those swimming pools in a swimming pool! And maybe a tub full of milk!” 

“Okay Yugo, I get it…” Rin sighed.

But Yugo kept on talking. “Oh, maybe we’ll get one of those rare video games!”

“All right, I know…” Rin grumbled.

“Or one of those-”

WHAM!

“All right I get it!” Rin roared as she slammed her right knee into Yugo’s stomach. “Geez…” the girl sighed in exhaustion as her friend gasped for breath. “You don’t have to describe every little thing you see in those trash magazines.”

“Oh come on! A guy can dream, can’t he?” Yugo whined.

Rin just stared at her companion. “Someday that habit of mixing up names is going to catch up to you, you know that right?”

“Oh come on! I’m good with everyone else’s names!” Yugo protested, a hint of smug assurance in his voice. “What are the chances of people screwing up mine?”

“You never know when.” Rin explained in a knowledgeable tone. “Alright, enough soaking up the sunset, let’s go home. It’s been a long day, and I think we could do with some rest. I’m driving, by the way.”

“Oh hell no, I’m driving!” Yugo replied. “I didn’t get enough miles out of it today!”

The two locked eyes at each other. Then they got into fighting stances and…

“ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS!”

And just like that…

Rin smirked. “Paper beats Rock.”

“Damn it!” Yugo wept as he and Rin walked back to the D-Wheel, ready to head home, triumphant at last after so many failures.

The last remnants had been cleared out, all except for one.

“Well, this was unexpected,” a man with dark-skin and a fancy fur-topped coat said, his eyes hidden by his golden sunglasses despite the setting sun. “Didn’t think you get taken out like that Vera…”

Lieutenant Yi watched as the head of Jean-Michel Roget’s criminal operations chuckled, seeing his new main enforcer on a stretcher, covered in burn marks from the electricity.

“P-please…s-sir, I-I just need another chance,” Vera quietly whimpered, afraid of the consequences of failure.

Gallagher however, just clapped his hands and chuckled. “Ah, don’t worry girl, I’d never do that to you. See, this whole mission was just a probe, checking to see how good those kids you dueled really were! And the big boss is pleased! So don’t worry, you and your gang aren’t going down…but I do recommend that you prep yourself. You know how they are.”

Vera’s eyes showed calm, and then, her bloodthirsty grimness returned. “Got it boss.”

“Good, good!” Gallagher laughed, clapping the side of the stretcher. “Let’s head on home!” He then looked at Yi. “And what about you?”

Yi looked at him. “I have work to continue with. You do your job, and I will do mine.”

“Alright, peace out then!” Gallagher called, before he and the rest of Security slunk away, the sun finally setting, throwing the venue into darkness before the lights of Neo Domino City came on.

Now, Yi was alone. He looked up at the sky, and removed his helmet, allowing his light, but short, lavender hair to be free.

“Your performance was excellent, Yi.”

“Sir,” Yi nodded as he gazed at the holographic image of Roget, projected by his Duel Disk.

“You look troubled, is something the matter?” Roget inquired.

“It…” Yi said, “It wasn't entirely an act, sir. I did let out my…true intent, to a degree.”

“It worked splendidly though!” complimented Roget. “I had the duel results sent over to Sozotai for analysis…our plans are progressing beautifully. Miss LeBlanc is a bit…furious, but overall, all of our objectives were reached. We come one step closer to achieving our desired world.”

At this, Yi let out a smile. “That is indeed something wonderful to hear.”

“Nothing will be able to stop us,” Roget sneered. “Now then, for the next phase of the plan, we-”

Then, a blue light filled the venue, causing Roget to pause in his speech. Yi’s eyes widened as he immediately got into a combat stance, Duel Disk raised, ready for a fight. As soon as it appeared however, the light faded, revealing a new individual, who wore a large brown cloak over an elaborate purple military uniform.

Underneath his hood, the newcomer sneered, and for a moment Roget seemed to have aged twenty years. Not that Yi could blame him. For a moment, everything seemed to turn cold, as if the person standing before them was no person but, rather…was something else. That was impossible, he was clearly a human being…

And as he looked up, Yi had to swallow a load of bile as he registered this person’s face.

A face that was a perfectly identical match to Yugo's.

The stranger looked at Roget, and then sneered, his eyes slitting as he took the head of Security in.

“Been a while Roget…I’ve got a…job, from the Professor. Okay if you could help?”

CARD LIST

Yugo/Rin

Monsters

Windwitch - Chill Bell
WIND/Level 3/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 800/DEF: 800
When an effect activates that would inflict effect damage (Quick Effect): You can Special Summon this card from your hand, and if you do, you take no effect damage for the rest of this turn. If this card is destroyed by battle or your opponent’s card effect: You can add 1 “Windwitch” monster from your Deck to your hand. You can only use each effect of “Windwitch - Chill Bell” once per turn.

Traps

Windstorm in Toyland
Normal Trap
Return up to three of your banished WIND monsters to your GY. If a WIND Synchro Monster you control battles an opponent’s monster while this card is in your GY: You can banish this card and target 1 WIND monster in your GY; increase the ATK of that WIND Synchro Monster by the ATK of the targeted monster until the end of the Battle Phase. You can only use each effect of “Windstorm in Toyland” once per turn.

Vera

Monsters

Balance Mage
EARTH/Level 3/Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000
Cannot be used as Synchro Material unless all other Synchro Materials are Spellcaster monsters. You can only use each of the following effects of “Balance Mage” once per turn. If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can increase or decrease its Level by 1. If this card is sent from the field to the GY: You can target 1 Spellcaster Tuner monster in your GY, except “Balance Mage”; either add it to your hand or Special Summon it in Defense Position.

Rogue of the Typhoon
DARK/Level 4/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 1900/DEF: 0
If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 Spellcaster Tuner from your hand or GY in Attack Position. If a monster(s) your opponent controls is destroyed by battle or card effect and would be sent to the GY while this card is in your GY and you only control Spellcaster monsters: You can banish this card; banish those monsters instead of sending them to the GY, then inflict damage to your opponent equal to the ATK of the banished monster whose ATK was the highest. You can only use each effect of “Rogue of the Typhoon” once per turn.

Spells

Spellbook of Discovery
Normal Spell
Target 1 Level 6 or lower Spellcaster monster you control; add 1 Spellcaster monster from your Deck to your hand whose Level is equal to or less than that of that monster. You can only activate 1 “Spellbook of Discovery” per turn.
(Note: This card is based off of the Hermetica, as per the Spellbook archetype.)

Magical Storm Charm
Equip Spell
Equip only to a monster you can put a Spell Counter on. When this card is activated: Place up to 2 Spell Counters on the equipped monster. If this card is destroyed and sent to the GY because the equipped monster was used as material for the Synchro Summon of a Spellcaster Synchro Monster you can place a Spell Counter(s) on: Distribute a number of Spell Counters among the cards you control equal to the number of Spell Counters the equipped monster had. You can only use each effect of “Magical Storm Charm” once per turn.

Magical Bolt Charm
Equip Spell
Equip only to a Spellcaster monster. If the equipped monster attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage. If the equipped monster destroys an opponent’s monster by battle, draw 1 card. If the equipped monster would be destroyed: You can destroy this card instead. If this card is destroyed: You can equip 1 Equip Spell, except “Magical Bolt Charm”, directly from your Deck to a Spellcaster monster you control. You can only use this effect of “Magical Bolt Charm” once per turn.

Magical Downpour Charm
Equip Spell
Equip only to a Spellcaster monster. The equipped monster gains ATK equal to its Level x100. If this card equipped to a monster is destroyed: You can Special Summon 1 Spellcaster monster from your Deck whose Level is equal to or less than that of the monster this card was equipped to. You can only use this effect of “Magical Downpour Charm” once per turn.

Traps

Magical Feintlock
Normal Trap
When your opponent adds a card(s) to their hand while you control only Spellcaster monsters: Banish those cards, then, if any monsters were banished, your opponent can only Special Summon monsters whose Type(s) are the same as that of the banished monsters for the rest of this turn. You can only activate 1 “Magical Feintlock” per turn.

Extra Deck

Cataclysm Magician
DARK/Level 10/Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 3000/DEF: 2000
1 Spellcaster Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner Spellcaster monster
If this card is Synchro Summoned: Place 1 Spell Counter on a card you can place a Spell Counter on. You can remove any number of Spell Counters from cards on the field; destroy cards on the field equal to the number of removed cards. This is a Quick Effect if a Spellcaster Synchro Monster was used in this card’s Synchro Summon. You can only control 1 “Cataclysm Magician”
(Original concept by Donjusticia)

Chapter Text

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: RE-TURN

Episode 55: How the Wind Ebbed and Flowed

Most of the time, Jean-Michel Roget considered holographic call projections a thing of technological innovation. Besides serving the basic job of long-distance communication, they also, more importantly, allowed his presence to spread beyond the confines of his office, enabling a visual representation of his will upon his subordinates, demonstrating his power to those lesser than him.

But on this occasion, where every detail on his face and body had been scanned in real-time completely accurately, he cursed how it bore open his fear of the boy who had suddenly intruded on his schemes.

“Y-Yuri-sama,” he managed to greet. “T-to what do we owe this pleasure?”

“I mean, your stooge over there clearly doesn’t consider my being here all that great, sooo…” Yuri smiled, pulling out his duel disk.

“I-” Yi began, but Roget cut him off.

“F-forgive him, please! He has had a long day concerning some…difficult enemies of his. I assure you, he respects your position.”

Roget had to pray that Yi knew what to do next; Yuri had been trained by Academia’s best instructors, elite officers, and agents, acquiring a wide variety of skills, and one of those skills (or perhaps a natural instinct further honed by training) was recognizing micro-facial expressions. Roget could barely trust himself to manage any kind of facial expression without Yuri taking it as either an act of aggression, or a look of weakness that would give the boy an excuse to cut wild.

Thankfully, his top Security officer seemed to understand, and bowed to Yuri.

“Please, accept my humblest apologies Yuri-sama,” said Yi. “As Master Roget says, I have had a…trying day concerning a personal issue of mine, and have been a bit more vigilant than perhaps is recommended in our training manual.”

“Ugh, another ‘protocol’ dude too high up where he should be,” groaned Yuri, a look of disgust from underneath his hood. “You sure this guy and Smith aren’t related somehow?”

Seeing Yuri, listening to Yuri, and hearing Yuri’s name brought fear to Roget, but hearing the name of Eli Smith, listening to Eli Smith, or seeing Eli Smith only brought indignation to Roget’s usually ordered mind. It took a great deal of effort for him to suppress the irritation, irrational as it was. After all, Smith was a mere worker ant next to the threat Yuri posed, and to showcase weakness to the latter would only invite nightmares upon nightmares as the boy would take that weakness as ‘permission’ to rampage across Neo Domino City as he pleased.

No, Roget had to deal with the dragon as swiftly as possible, not give him reason to stick around.

So, coughing to clear his throat, the head of Security gave his answer.

“I assure you, Lieutenant Yi and Agent Smith have no relation to each other, Yuri-sama, and I doubt either of us would desire to experiment with that, yes?”

If Yi was insulted in being spoken off in this way, he gave no indication of it, instead choosing to keep his head bowed and his body in a kneeling position.

Yuri seemed to consider this for a moment, then shrugged. “Hmm, point taken. Spend more than ten seconds with Smith and he’ll just babble about his model train layout or complain about paperwork. No thanks.”

Alright, so far so good…

“In that case,” Roget broached, “what exactly does the Professor require from me?”

Yuri sneered. “Whatever you’ve got that can help me locate a certain girl. Looks a lot like Selena apparently, just don’t have her name down yet…unless you’ve got it.”

And just like that, Roget could feel all of the gains of the day be robbed from him like sand slipping through his fingers.

“And, if you don’t mind my asking, who is Selena?” Yi asked quietly.

Yuri’s face turned into a light scowl. “Just the Professor’s darling pet cat or whatever,” he growled, before his voice turned venomously cheery once more. “Anyways, she’s got some lookalike running around here, just like in the Xyz Dimension. Problem is, having to deal with the Resistance hanging over her 24/7 is a bit of a pain, so I figured I’d nab the Synchro-girl before making another pass at Ruri.”

“I-I see…” Roget gulped, trying to figure out how to work with this.

If he tried to hide Rin from Yuri, that would certainly undo all of his plans. His secret project would undoubtedly be revealed, and he would find himself either in a dungeon, turned into a card, or eaten alive by one of, if not the most horrifying creature that existed in the Fusion Dimension.

He forced himself to be calm, and quickly went over Yuri’s words.

‘Ruri’ seemed to be the name of Selena’s counterpart from Xyz, alright. But if the ‘Resistance’ was hanging over her, that had to mean the Professor was still busy with the invasion there. If so, then a choice was now in front of Roget: He could either claim that Rin was not present, or try to defend her, which would only invite Academia to divert attention to him, OR he could simply divulge what information he had on the girl and get Yuri out of Synchro ASAP, keeping all of his current and longer-running plots safe and secure.

In the end, there was no choice, and Roget, from his office, began typing into his keyboard to bring up the information.

“First, the name of Lady Selena’s Synchro counterpart is Rin,” he explained. “She has just left from participating in a tournament that was held here today. While I doubt she has a large selection of friends to protect her, the boy from here who shares your face, Yuri-sama, seems to be around her near-constantly. I can give you what information I have on her and Mister Yugo’s general location, but you will have to scout her out from there.”

“What?” Yuri groaned. “C’mon Roget, really? I don’t want to use one of Smith’s lines about you screwing up record or book-keeping or whatever…”

Then his eyes lit up. “Wait, what am I saying? Of course you’d be stupid enough to screw that up!” he laughed. “Why ruin a perfectly good burn?”

Roget fought back the urge to grimace (the thought of attacking Yuri of course, was immediately quashed out of self-preservation), and tried his best to keep a calm and straight face at Yuri’s personal mockery of himself.

“I…can assure you that it is through no fault of mine,” he decided to say, hoping that this conversation would soon end. “There are numerous orphanages scattered throughout the Synchro Dimension, and plenty of people who are unaccounted for, through no fault of mine, but rather the public service agencies who hold authority over that. My job is simply to control Security, not fawn over every single orphan and homeless person that comes crawling in and out of the City.”

A green light lit up in Yuri’s duel disk, catching the boy’s attention as he looked at the information Roget sent.

“Hmmmm…” Yuri seemed to consider. “Meh, alright. Was hoping I wouldn’t have to put much effort into this mission, but ah well.”

“Do…do you require the assistance of Security?” asked Yi. “I-if that would help you.”

“Hmmm…” Yuri seemed to wonder, tapping his chin, before looking at a Security Officer who had been left behind, keeping watch as an ambulance crew began moving the stricken Shira inside.

He then turned around, and Roget knew what was going to happen before Yuri made his move. Not that it would’ve helped.

“Think fast!” Yuri laughed as he raised his duel disk, letting loose a bright, purple light at the officer, crew, and patient alike. None of them were armed, lacking a duel disk, and so when the flash enveloped their bodies, all of them only had a few moments to cry out in surprised agony as all of their bodies vanished into purple energy.

Yi had taken this moment to look up, and his eyes were wide with shock as Yuri turned around, and, whistling a jaunty tune, pulled out several cards with a yellow border…

And the screaming faces of the emergency workers, Security officer, and Shira alike.

“I’ll manage perfectly fine,” the boy sneered, drinking in Roget and Yi’s shared terror.

“40 degrees Celsius…” Honoka Kimura sighed, looking at a bed-stricken girl with red hair as Rin stood by the orphanage matron’s side, both of them wearing face masks. Meanwhile a boy a year older than her and Yugo with lightly tanned skin and red hair, dressed in a dark blue construction worker’s uniform, watched anxiously from the side of the room.

Pedro then buried his face into his hands. “How is Emily, Miss Kimura?”

“Your sister is going to need a lot of bedrest for this fever,” the matron sighed. “We should still have some medicine left thankfully, so I’m confident she’ll pull through.”

The boy clenched his hands into fists. “I’ll stay here then, and make sure-”

“Emily will do much better if you’re out there making money than sitting here getting sick yourself,” Miss Kimura rebuffed kindly, but firmly. “I’ll keep an eye on her, so don’t you worry.”

She then turned to Rin.

“Rin, sweetie, can you and Yugo do the grocery shopping for us today? I’m afraid I’m going to have my hands full taking care of Emily. The list is on the counter; if you can, try to get some extra cabbage or spinach, okay?”

“On it, Miss Kimura.” Rin nodded immediately.

The two were shooed out of the room, Pedro still clearly morose. Rin could hardly blame him. With how terrible healthcare was for the Commons (read: Barely affordable being a hopeful pipe dream at best), the only thing they could do was get some over-the-counter medicine and hope that it was official rather than some cheap snake-oil more liable to kill the patient than heal them.

“She’ll pull through, Pedro, I know it,” comforted Rin, patting one of her few friends outside of Yugo on the shoulder.

The boy sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “Nordic Gods, I hope so…”

The two exited the orphanage building and came to the front yard, where Yugo was chatting with Marco, who gave quiet laughs as the boy chattered about how he and Rin had finally won the tournament.

“So I combined Clear Wing and Winter Bell’s ATK like, WHOOSH! And then we managed to tell our badass monster together to take down that witch, and then…”

“Alright, alright!” clapped Rin, getting Yugo to stand at attention. “Funtimes are over Yugo, time for us all to get to work!”

Indeed, rather than his usual blue-and-white long-sleeved shirt, Marco had changed into a dark-grey uniform similar to Pedro’s; both were currently doing construction shifts at a project that, predictably, was for the Tops deigning to use ‘unused’ area as grounds for whatever building they’d chosen to erect in its place.

Of course, in projects such as these, many Commons tenants had been shooed out in what that space used to house; similar buildings as the rows and rows of shanties that made up most of their ‘living space’, but at least the pay was decent. Or at least, decent enough for Marco and Pedro; both boys worked themselves to the bone in whatever odd or part-time jobs they could get their hands on. Marco had to support his mother, as well as his little brother Mikey, while Pedro had to support his little sister Emily, the only family he had left. Perhaps some might have criticized them, but the truth was that the Tops would hire Commons-based contractors for manual labor for all sorts of projects. This was hardly anything new.

They’d offered Rin and Yugo to join them in their work a few times, and Rin had to admit, the prospect was tempting…

But considering their status as the oldest orphans officially living at the orphanage, the two had to help out Miss Kimura, who had no staff beyond herself, however they could. Leaving her alone just screamed disaster.

It had been the cause for some friction while their D-Wheel was being built, and Rin could hardly blame the two boys for being icy whenever that project stalled. It was stupid beyond belief, just a hare-brained scheme from Yugo distracting them from their responsibilities, or, as Rin had processed in her head and what she suspected them of thinking but never vocalized, a way to escape from everyone and leave them to rot in the Commons.

(Tama of course, had taken it upon himself, in his usual blunt way, to say exactly that.)

They’d still stood by them, despite that, and now, the only trouble was, well, what was right in front of them.

It had been three days since they’d basically won the tournament and defeated a major headache in all of their lives (Vera loved to single out Rin, but never missed an opportunity to mock or sabotage Marco and Pedro when the chance arose), but in all honesty, things felt mostly the same. True, there was still the victory adrenaline, but not a lot of tournaments were being held right now, either due to the fiasco the last one had turned into, or because it was just a few months away from the Friendship Cup, with applications or qualifications starting to close down.

That meant the usual difficulties with life in the Commons came back to rear their ugly heads: barely enough allowance to eat, backbreaking labor to barely support one’s self, and right now, having to help out a friend whose sister had become ill, with likely quarantine procedures to follow so no-one else would get it.

“No, wait! It wasn’t like, ‘BAM KAPLOOEY!’” Yugo explained, “It was more like, ‘WHOOSH! FWOOSH! SLICE! KAPLOWEY!’”

“Fortunately, Yugo’s brain would suffer no damage from an intense fever, so at least he would survive if it came down to that,” Rin silently thought to herself, rolling her eyes at his description of their duel. 

She cleared her throat. 

“Ahem…as I was saying,” she continued after managing to get Yugo’s attention, “It’s time for all of us to get to work.” 

“Wait, we’re working with Marco and Pedro today?” Yugo asked.

“We’ve got a different job today,” she sighed. “Miss Kimura’s taking care of Emily, so you and I are in charge of the grocery shopping. I’ll get the list, you get the D-Wheel ready.”

A practical use that had been more Rin’s idea than Yugo’s; as their D-Wheel came with several closable compartments, that made it near-perfect for shopping or carrying things small enough to fit. So long as Yugo never drove it too fast of course.

“Wait, so, if we’re doing the shopping…” considered Yugo.

“We need to get some extra greens for Emily,” Rin finished, putting her hands to her hips. “And if any of us gets sick too.”

She accentuated that point by pointing at the face-mask still covering her nose and mouth.

Yugo rubbed his head, and sighed, but without any petulance. “Got it, got it, I’ll go get it.”

“Take good care of her, okay?” Pedro asked pleadingly as he and Marco hopped on to two regular bikes, before they slowly pedaled away.

“We’ll do what we can!” Rin called back, before heading back into the orphanage building to retrieve the list. When she exited again, she saw Yugo, ready to leave.

They had accompanied Miss Kimura on shopping runs before, and so knew the best (cheapest places that also wouldn’t immediately kill you with their products) and usual places to go. There were no deviations despite Yugo’s constant drooling for meat; unfortunately for him, the local butcher was a burly old man with gray hair, and gave Yugo the stink-eye a fair amount, even when they miraculously had enough money for extra meat. Rin, of course, never bothered him (then again, very few people did), so he was more cordial to her.

“C’mon, Yugo, FOCUS!” emphasized Rin with a scowl. Sadly, it seemed that and the usual glint of Mister Sujihi’s enormous cleaver, who they were in eyesight of, was failing to stop her friend from making an enormous mistake.

“Urge. For. Meat. Higher than usual!” he whined.

“May I take this please?” Rin asked the produce vendor, a tanned man wearing dark blue overalls over a blue shirt, with a nose-ring adorning his nostrils and an elephant-tusk necklace hanging on his neck.

“Kid, I allow my produce out for many, but the key is always-” the man began in his somewhat nasally voice, before Rin plopped the payment down and smacked Yugo’s head with a bag full of raw cabbages.

Mister Sujihi laughed, while Zou nodded in understanding.

“Needing to get the man under control. I get it, I get it…”

“OW!” Yugo complained.

“Yugo, a kid at our orphanage is sick, and Miss Kimura is busy having to help her! I don’t care if we’ve won a tournament for once, get your head out of the clouds and focus!”

“I know, but c’mon, it’s MEAT!” the boy whined.

“Uh, careful how you say it, kid.” Mister Zou said awkwardly, rubbing his chin. “Some guys around this place mean that term in a VERY different way. Trust me, we’ve got plenty of-”

“Okay, thank you Mister Zou!” Rin called, hastily pulling Yugo and the D-Wheel away before calling out to Mister Sujihi. “Sorry for the trouble!”

The butcher grunted, then went back to cutting pork.

A few seconds passed until they were out of sight. Then, Rin began pulling Yugo by the ear.

“Seriously, get your head in the game!” she complained. “We’re not just out to win a tournament! It’s back to the usual!”

“Aw come on! We had a huge dramatic promise and everything!” Yugo whined, before screaming as Rin pulled at his ear to accentuate her point.

“‘Dramatic promise’ or not, we still have lives to live, and right now, other people close to us that we need to help! What is WRONG with you today? You’re usually able to hold yourself back better!”

“You mean he puts limits on his dumbassery?” Tama snarked, passing by with his own grocery bag.

Rin elected not to comment and gave Yugo a much sterner glare. This, finally, seemed to make him deflate.

“S-sorry Rin, really,” he said. “I…I honestly don’t know what’s come over me today.”

Rin sighed. “Just…try to keep yourself under control. We have a few more stops and then it’s back home for us.”

That should have been the end of it. Yugo was subdued now, the point finally hammered into his skull. They just had to get some rice and flour and that would be the end of the day. They’d go home, help Miss Kimura with her patient, and hope for the best when Pedro and Marco got back.

But it was then that Rin felt something. The back of her neck tingling; for a moment, she almost swore she heard the tinkling of a bell, and a low, unfamiliar hissing…no, multiple hisses? Like a collection of snakes? No, voices? Then, it felt as if a breeze began to blow in the streets, but rather than be a comforting wind, it only made her hair stand on end. Instinctively, Rin looked down at her bracelet, one of the few true possessions she’d had, and for a moment, she swore it was…glowing?

Then her eyes looked back at Yugo, who for once, had stopped blabbing, his eyes looking distant. Almost immediately, Rin threw up an arm to stop him, as if she was afraid he was going to move forward. Indeed, he did start leaning, but when his body made contact with Rin’s outstretched arm, he blinked.

“Uh, Rin, what’s going on?”

The sounds of people echoed in her ear as Rin felt her bearings suddenly return. What was that? What had just happened?

Why did it feel like a pair of unfamiliar eyes were on her?

Rin found herself looking all over, as if trying to find someone. But no…no there wasn’t anything. Tama was trading barbs with Mister Zou, but that was hardly new.

“Kid, kid, I’m telling you, these berries are FRESH!”

“They look overripe. I’m not buying ‘em.”

She took a deep breath, then looked at Yugo. “Nothing…nothing at all. Let’s…let’s just get back to work, okay?”

For once, Yugo didn’t object.

The day passed by normally…or at least, as normally as it could get. They got the remaining groceries with little trouble, and Rin helped Miss Kimura take care of Pedro’s little sister while Yugo had to work with extra chores. He didn’t usually complain, but it seemed both of them had found nothing to say after that…strange event. 

It was silly. So silly. It was just one little thing.

But why did it feel as if something terrible had come to their home? Why did Rin have this enormous pit in her stomach that refused to close up? Why was she looking over her shoulder more than usual? Why did she feel uncomfortable stepping outside of the orphanage? 

Looking at Yugo, she could tell he was having similar thoughts. He yelled at birds and pigeons that came nearby, as if they were instead hungry dogs or bears, he was jumpy when Marco and Pedro returned when usually he’d greet them with a casual wave or smile. He was extra-defensive on the D-Wheel when Tama came by to drop off a can of oil as a ‘present’ for their victory against Vera, even though both of them knew that there was nothing inherently dangerous about a can of oil.

The uneasiness didn’t vanish either.

Rin was distracted when helping to prepare dinner, much to their matron’s surprise. She’d refocused herself of course, but she very rarely screwed up the simple task of carrying vegetables over to be washed.

She picked at her food, surprising when this was the first semi-decent meal she and Yugo could enjoy without any pressure in weeks. Even her friend, who usually had a very vocal appetite, didn’t seem to eat with much vigor.

“Rin…” Yugo asked that night as they were preparing for bed.

“...Yes, Yugo?”

“Can I sleep with you?”

BAM!

“Ph-phrasing!” Rin yelled, having slapped Yugo in surprise and shock.

Also because he was fourteen now and obviously too old to need to be tucked in or something. Or was that just Rin’s anxiety talking again?

“N-not in the same bed!” he clarified, seeming to ignore the red hand-mark on his cheek. “Just…y’know…close together?”

Rin was quiet. “S-sure. I’d like that…”

They fortunately had extra cots in their garage. Why was it so surprising? They’d slept here before several times while building the D-Wheel. 

Yet…when Rin slept that night, she felt a sense of…protection that she just couldn’t explain.

The next morning when they’d woken up however, was the true shock. A banging on the door, unpleasant to hear, making Rin and Yugo groan as they got up. Yugo ultimately made it to his feet first, and shuffled over to the door. When he opened it, Pedro was there, a look of sheer horror on his face as he held a newspaper in his hands.

“Is there milk too?” yawned Yugo.

“What?! No! I got this from an old stand! There was a fire in the market district last night! Look!”

Yugo looked at the paper, but he was still rubbing his eyes. Sighing, Rin stood up and took the paper from Pedro’s hands, reading the headline. She blinked as she did, then repeated herself, feeling herself come awake as the article’s front-page became clear.

MYSTERIOUS FIRE IN MARKET DISTRICT. DOZENS MISSING. 

The article talked about how a certain shopping district, during a nightly resupply, had suddenly been attacked. Yet, from what eyewitnesses had seen, there were no gangs in sight to have caused this. Merely explosions and screaming. One witness had claimed to see some sort of nightmarish monster, hearing a terrifying laugh that he hoped to never hear again. And when forensic experts from Security had come to inspect the scene, they had found no-one present. No bodies, no injured persons gasping for breath in the aftermath. Everyone who worked at the district, as well as their nightly suppliers, had simply vanished into thin air.

That was creepy enough. But the truly disturbing fact?

The street and address given for that particular district was the same as the one that Yugo and Rin usually frequented. The names of the disappeared included the surnames of ‘Zou’ and ‘Sujihi’, people who they knew very well, for good or for ill.

“M-mister Zou’s dead?” Yugo asked quietly.

“I don’t know! He’s just disappeared!” wailed Pedro. “His stand’s completely gone! The whole district’s been destroyed! Tama says it’s like the place was flooded with acid!”

If it hadn’t been for the fact that everyone in the Commons had seen Security’s Real Solid Vision monsters enact their own cases of collateral damage, Rin might’ve thought that last part an exaggeration. But learning that only increased the fear she felt.

“Wh-what do we do?” she found herself asking.

“Heck if I know!” Pedro cried, before his Duel Disk began buzzing, picking it up, both Yugo and Rin could see who the caller ID was. “Uh, yeah, Tama?”

“You, Marco, and the two love-wheelers at my place. Now.”

“LOVE-WHEELERS?!” an indignant Rin screamed.

“W-wait, why’d you call us that?!” Yugo stammered.

“Just get over here, or I’ll stop dancing around the metaphors and double-meanings and just start using the blunt questions. Jokey-jokes for the nerves aside…I managed to record a statement from Security. Think it might be a good idea if all of us watched it.”

And that just caused the levity or…whatever it was, to fall out of Rin’s stomach. Because when did Tama Hagane ever call for an emergency meeting? Yes, the dude was paranoid, but also generally apathetic, with a philosophy of keeping away from trouble rather than get involved. It was one of the reasons why he was the only member of their ‘group’ who had never properly encountered Vera. Keeping to himself as he usually did, the ambitious gangster had never seemed to consider him as worthwhile to go after. 

He had sent them warning messages in the past, an impressive feat considering how communications in the City were usually monitored strictly (and he outright said that he was going to take that trick to his grave the one time Rin had asked about it), but those were usually about avoiding any crackdowns from Security. 

But asking for a meeting?

Rin didn’t exactly like Tama’s earlier snark, but she did find herself very willing to get a bit closer to Yugo regardless.

“When do you want us?” she sighed.

“Oh, at around teatime or however the Tops count it…I mean right now. You drive on over here with your D-Wheel, bike, or whatever you have for transpotation ASAP.”

And that was how the four had gathered at Tama’s garage, but instead of being in the garage itself, rather the apartment room connected to it. That was also rare. Tama never allowed customers into his living space (the one time he did had apparently involved a disgusting amount of curry from a slob, by his account), let alone what seemed to be his bedroom, where an old TV set sat on a dresser.

“Good, you’re all here,” he nodded. “Don’t have any extra chairs, so you’ll have to stand.”

“We literally rode here,” replied Rin. “I think we can live without those. What’s going on?”

“Yeah, I thought you said you didn’t watch the news!” Yugo noted.

“Ignoring the stupid question, I don’t know what’s going on, and that’s what scares me,” sighed Tama, pulling out a remote and pressing a button. “Watch.”

Instead of Melissa Claire reporting, a woman dressed much more professionally, with light blonde hair arranged into long curls, was present, along with a Security Officer that made Rin’s blood boil as she recognized the lavender hair underneath his helmet.

“Angela Raines reporting from one of the Commons districts. Last night, an unusual event occurred. Residents reportedly were roused from their beds after hearing unusual noises. Shortly after, several explosions racked the district. The number of missing persons has currently been counted up to 27 . While gang-violence is endemic to the Commons, what is unusual is that no gang has claimed responsibility for this assault, and even more curious is how the residents living in this block, all of whom are stated to be merchants, have seemed to vanish into thin air.”

The cameras turned, and so did Rin’s stomach as she saw that Tama’s earlier statements to Pedro were not an understatement. The buildings of the once, well, not exactly vibrant, but still bustling shopping district had been completely destroyed, stone seeming to have been melted in addition to having been crumbled. Ash blanketed the ruins, and indeed, there was not a single corpse. 

A fact that disturbed Rin more than it comforted her. Looking at the boys, she could tell that they were having the same feelings as her.

“Joining me now is Lieutenant Yi of Security, to give his perspective on this mysterious attack.”

As the officer shifted, preparing to speak, Rin glared at his face coldly. Given how he’d spoken to Celeste, and how this new reporter was treating the event like some murder mystery for the Tops’ entertainment, she could only imagine what self-serving testimony he would give.

“While your…observations are indeed interesting, Miss Raines,” Yi said, “they amount to mere speculation from the news department that we simply do not need. Yes, the damage is visible, and I assure you, we of Security are looking into the cause, but ultimately, this is most likely nothing more than a domestic dispute. And are the Commons capable of anything else but mindless violence? I understand the Tops may be a bit on edge after Miss Claire’s…riveting commentary of a few days ago, but I feel this is a mundane matter. We will of course, bulldoze the district and allow the Commons back in when all is cleaned up.”

 “But are you absolutely certain-?” resumed Angela, but Yi held up a hand.

“No further questions please. The news certainly have…OTHER responsibilities they need to get to, yes?”

With that, he turned on his heel and walked away, with officers appearing with their army of kabuki samurai, making it clear that the news were not to be tolerated any longer.

“W-wait, we have a right to-” Angela tried, only for the monsters to march forward, making it clear one more question would not be good.

Finally resigned, Angela motioned for her camera crew to back away, while she injected some generic commentary to assure the viewers that nothing was wrong.

But once Tama had closed the feed, it was clear to Rin that many things were wrong.

“So this is the benefit of a TV…” mused Marco.

Tama snapped his fingers to get him and Yugo (of course) to focus. “Yeah, yeah, TV is great and definitely doesn’t rot the brain, can anyone tell me what’s wrong with what we just saw?”

“The obvious cover-up?” Rin guessed.

“And we have a winner!” Tama declared, raising his hands to the air sarcastically, before his face went serious. “I managed to catch a glimpse of the place before Security rolled in. That’s odd enough as is. Usually they’re a lot more…on-point. Don’t know if anyone else suspects anything, but I’ve seen them raid gangs before, and they usually don’t jump around the topic this much, let alone give interviews after the fact. Suspicious ones too, to boot.”

“So…what are they trying to hide then?” ventured Pedro.

“If only I knew,” sighed Tama in resignation. “But I do know about gang violence, and this doesn’t strike me as that. No gang in the Commons just burns a place down and leaves. Usually they wait to take the money and beat a few people to send a message. This kind of wanton destruction is just…”

His voice trailed off for a moment before he continued. 

“Anyway, I wasn’t there long, but it was enough to give me the heebie-jeebies, and seeing this news report? Those heebie-jeebies aren’t going away any time soon.”

Rin really did not like this growing enigma, and looking at Yugo, it was clear that he didn’t either. His face had become unusually grim, an expression he only reserved for the most dire of situations.

Pedro sighed. “So, if I understand this, some freak accident or thing came up and destroyed our local shopping district, and now Security’s trying to cover it up…and we have no idea why?”

“That’s about the gist of things,” shrugged Tama.

“Then there’s only one thing to do!” Yugo declared.

“Hope that Crash Town’s rumors of forcing people to mine minerals for D-Wheel circuit boards aren’t true and move there?” Tama asked.

“No! We find whoever this creep is and beat them! Who’s with me?”

Rin and the guys looked at Yugo.

“NO!” Marco cried.

“We just talked about not knowing anything about this and you want us to jump in?!” gaped Pedro.

“Yugo, if this is the pattern of a serial killer like we’re all thinking, why are you suggesting that we GO TO THE KILLER?!” Tama shrieked.

Yugo backed away, clearly not expecting this response. He looked at Rin, almost pleadingly.

No. No way. That had ‘bad idea’ blaring all over in neon letters. Her instincts from yesterday were screaming at her, giving the feeling that this was not just some ordinary ‘bad idea’, or even on par with Vera.

So, she just shook her head ‘no’.

“So it’s settled then,” Tama sighed. “All of us will do our best to avoid the situation until Yugo goes off on his own, whereupon, Rin will call one of us up, worried sick, and we’ll all go to find and hopefully rescue him from certain death. Agreed?” 

“Agreed,” everyone except Yugo replied. 

“H-hey!” protested Yugo. “My plan isn't that bad!”

“Oh yes, your ‘brilliant’ plan,” drawled Tama. “Which is…what exactly? Defeat someone in a duel who we know nothing about, if it even IS just one someone, just throwing that possibility out there, by…how? Lure them in a trap with a piece of cheese and a cage? Or put on safari hats and head into the dead of night hoping we don’t get ambushed?”

“Uh, well…”

Tama shook his head. “I called everyone here so I could tell you all to keep an eye out. I’ve got a bad feeling about this situation, so keep on your toes, got it? No going off to play ‘hero’, understood?”

Yugo looked away, causing Rin to nudge him in the ribs. 

“Understood…”

“Good, my recommendation for us all right now is to lie low. If we’re lucky, this’ll blow over.”

Given the severity of the situation, Rin simply nodded with Marco and Pedro, but at the same time, that was Tama’s plan? Just hide and hope the mysterious threat would just disappear on their own? It was better thought-out than Yugo’s plan, but if Tama’s idea was just to keep running and hiding…somehow Rin didn’t see that ending any better.

But she held her tongue, and with the meeting over, grabbed Yugo by the wrist so he wouldn’t stick around to protest (ignoring him directing those protests to her), before setting him on the back of the D-Wheel while she drove them home.

“Aw come on, Rin! I was about to convince Tama we could handle it!” he whined. 

“The only way you’d ever get Tama to agree to that is if money was involved,” Rin sighed, rolling her eyes. “And even that would need haggling.”

Yugo folded his arms, pouting, but Rin kept her eyes focused on the road.

Or, at least she tried to.

There was a moment, just a brief one, where she felt that uneasy feeling from the shopping district again. She shuddered, but focused on gripping the handles of the D-Wheel, accelerating forward, despite usually telling Yugo off for huge speed boosts.

…They would talk about it at home.

So that was how the prey lived. Amusing to live like cockroaches in the multiverse’s biggest landfill.

…Seriously, this place was a freaking dump . Yuri had seen (and participated in, of course) how they’d burned Heartland to the ground, but did this place really need to be set on fire? It was already a trash heap. Fire would just improve the scenery. 

Because if this was the place that their intelligence claimed Roget wanted to rule, Yuri didn’t know whether to laugh or pity the fool.

Then again, both options were good.

Anyways, what to do, what to do?

Whoever owned that little garage was vulnerable now, as were the two blue-collar workers but…no, no. That would make the prey too suspicious and they might run off, and Yuri would rather not have to search in a potential place with a smell so bad it would seep into his uniform. Destroying that shopping district sent out a decent enough warning message on its own.

And again, destroying more of this place seemed…redundant.

At least for now.

Yuri sneered. Well, whatever the case, now the fun could truly begin. He was closing in on them. Soon, he would have his prize.

When they got home, Miss Kimura put Yugo and Rin right to work. Quarantining Emily, making sure the other kids knew not to go into her room, doing chores, etc. The busy-work helped Rin to think, something she was in desperate need of as the day went on.

She wanted that sinking feeling to go away, but it just refused to do so. Every time she stepped outside, she felt nervous, as if something was about to attack her. 

“Great plan Tama,” she thought to herself, “stay inside and get hit with anxiety attacks. That’ll be great if whatever or whoever this is decides to break in.”

It was just after lunch when they finally had a break, that she and Yugo were able to sit down and have a much needed talk.

“Okay, this is going to be the hardest thing for me to admit…” Rin said carefully, looking at Yugo. “...I’m thinking your plan of fighting whatever this is…isn’t actually all that bad.”

She half-expected Yugo to jump for joy. Instead, his jaw dropped. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised, so she decided to press forward.

“I’ve…felt really uneasy since yesterday,” she continued. “Wh-when we were out in the market yesterday, did you feel that…something was out there, watching us?”

Yugo blinked, then scratched his head. For a moment, Rin was tempted to bring up how for a moment, it had seemed that her friend had been in a trance, but he snapped his finger.

“Well, no…but I definitely could feel that there was…something out there. Like, this feeling that I needed to do more…like, that urge whenever you’re having a really good duel, and you want it to keep on going!”

“...And you’re positive that it had absolutely NOTHING to do with our recent tournament win?”

Yugo opened his mouth, but then closed it, considering.

Rin sighed again. “Look, right now, it feels to me like there’s something out there, watching me, and if I’m being completely honest, I’ve had that feeling ever since yesterday and, well…I’m probably going crazy, actually, but…but maybe whatever’s behind that attack is, well, after us.”

Yugo stared at her, and Rin found herself chuckling mirthlessly.

“Yup, it’s crazy, I’m going crazy…”

“You’re not going crazy!” insisted Yugo. “Just give me the word, and I’ll find out whoever’s behind all this and give ‘em a good beating with Clear Wing!”

Everything aside from that last part sounded good to Rin. Why did she have this feeling in her gut that anything but Clear Wing should be used?

Paranoia. It was just paranoia.

“Just…for now, whenever we go out, could you watch my back? I…I just want to be sure,” she said.

Yugo gave her a thumbs-up. “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you, Rin. Count on it!”

The sinking feeling in her gut was starting to feel less intense.

“Thanks, Yugo.”

“Yugo? Rin? Can you two come here please?” Miss Kimura’s voice called.

“Coming sensei!” the two called in unison. 

They looked at each other, and then away, Rin trying to fight back a bit of heat in her cheeks. Yeah, things were going to be okay.

Four days had passed, and that feeling of being watched did not subside. Whenever Rin went out, she adamantly refused to do so unless Yugo was with her, and vice-versa. Of course, that didn’t mean it stopped at home. She could tell that those eyes, that predatory unseen gaze, was refusing to let up or avert itself from her.

Emily’s condition meanwhile, thankfully was not too bad, but she could really do with some medicine to lessen the symptoms so she could finish her recovery. Pedro had come back, having managed to make some extra cash (because of course the Tops construction companies didn’t care that some potential, disappearance-causing maniac or bogeyman was in town), but was so exhausted that it was up to Yugo and Rin to go to a pharmacy Marco had found to get her that medicine.

The feeling of being watched became stronger and stronger as they rode the D-Wheel through the night, that feeling that any moment, they could be jumped.

Yet that jump never came, and they completed their task without issue.

“Ugggh, this week has been exhausting,” Yugo sighed.

“Tell me about it,” said Rin, deciding for just a moment to relax.

“Yugo?” Miss Kimura called. “I need you to help me with something for a moment!”

Immediately, Yugo brought himself up to attention. Both of them were ingrained to listen to their matron’s voice whenever she called for them.

“Coming, sensei!” he called.

Rin stretched, preparing to head back in, when…

“And here I thought this nerdy voice-emulation program was only useful for pranks. I might need to thank the eggheads for their work.”

She looked up at the wall, and jumped back in horror as someone in a dark brown cloak who could not have been there just a second ago stood there, perched atop like a scarecrow. Rin knew immediately from his voice that he was male, and looking at him, she could make out two things. First was a duel disk shaped unlike any she had seen in the City attached to his left wrist, and second was a pair of frightening eyes she could just make out from under his hood, along with a cold, sadistic smile that sent chills up her spine.

This was the one. He was the culprit. The one behind the danger her instincts were warning her about.

And he was here.

The gate had yet to be closed. In a panic, Rin rushed out, trying to get away from him.

“So we’re doing it this way then?” he called mockingly. “Okay, I’ll give you a headstart! Ten seconds! Ten, nine, eight…”

His voice trailed away as Rin ran away into the alleyways, desperate to get away from him.

It was only when she had run a bit of a ways, panting to catch her breath, when she realized her mistake. Why did she choose to run away into town instead of right back to where Yugo was? And even worse, why had she forgotten to grab a spare duel disk? She had her deck, but no disk to play it in! Now she didn’t even have any way to defend herself!

“Taking a break?” the stranger called. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any snacks to share!”

He knew where she was. He knew where she was.

Run.

Run.

RUN.

She turned corner after corner, street after street, trying to get away from him. But it did no good. His voice kept echoing through the alleyways, mocking her for trying to get away, as if she couldn’t escape him.

“RIN!”

Yugo’s voice. He was here.

“YUGO!” She called.

“Oh, yay, the dumber, less handsome version of me joined in our little game,” the stranger’s voice drawled, then, it became louder. “So, let’s see who gets to you first, me, or him? HAH HAH HAH!”

“Who is that?!” Yugo’s voice called out. “What do you want?!”

“It’s simple!” the stranger’s reply echoed. “Which of us can find Rin before the other one? Let’s keep quiet when we get her though, we don’t want to cheat!”

“RIN? RIN! WHERE ARE YOU?!” Yugo called out, panic seeping in his voice.

Rin had to call for him. She had to. “I’M OVER HERE! YUGO?! YUGO!!”

“Oh, does he use Fusion Summoning too?” the stranger mocked. “I didn’t know you used Fusion!” he called out.

“MY NAME’S YUGO! NOT FUSION!”

The stranger’s laughter echoed throughout the night. Rin kept looking back, praying that he hadn’t found her. Why had she given away her position like that?

Then, she had to stop.

A wall stood before her. A dead-end.

“Well, this was fun, but I’m getting tired of this little game of tag.”

Rin turned around, horrified as the cloaked stranger drew closer and closer to her, his sneer the only thing she could see in the dark.

“Now, come along with me…” he purred. “Over to the Professor’s side.”

“St-stay back…” Rin whimpered.

“Oh, you don’t have a duel disk with you, what a shame,” the stranger chuckled, ignoring her plea as he pulled out his. “Guess there’s nothing to show for it. Magic card, Predator Fragrance, hatsudo.”

Rin’s nostrils were then filled with a sweet, sickening smell. She coughed, fighting to breathe, unable to stop herself from taking in the horrific purple fog that she realized was surrounding her, clouding her vision, desperate for air after her long, panicked run.

She was tired, so very tired…

No! She had to get up, to keep fighting, but it was no good. Darkness was overtaking her vision, everything was blurring, and just like that, it was all she could see…

Why had he been so stupid? Yes, Yugo had been called stupid before by…well, pretty much everyone he was close to, but…why now? 

He’d entered the orphanage, expecting to meet Miss Kimura, only to learn that she hadn’t called him. Then, as if someone was dripping cold slime down his back, Yugo had immediately rushed back out the door, to see Rin having vanished, the gate to the orphanage opened just enough for a person to slip through.

The worst had happened, and he’d left her.

“Damnit, where is she?” Yugo growled to himself, hoping to get to her before that maniac did.

“RIN! RIN! RIN!” he called.

No reply.

Yugo drove down the street, the buildings looming over him, when the headlights of their D-Wheel shone on an unfamiliar figure getting to his feet…with Rin’s body slung over his shoulder.

“LET HER GO!” he roared, speeding forward until he stopped, just a few meters away from the stranger, ready to duel him and rescue Rin.

The figure turned, and in the light, Yugo was able to fully make out his face.

But that couldn’t be right. If it wasn’t for his helmet, Yugo would’ve rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was staring into a mirror.

Because the stranger’s face looked exactly the same as his.

Except then he grinned, and it made Yugo’s stomach churn, as if he’d been dropped into some kind of horror movie.

“Magic card, Violet Flash, hatsudo!” the stranger grinned, placing an unfamiliar card into a type of Duel Disk that Yugo had never seen before.

Bright pink-purple light shone to life in Yugo’s face, forcing him to avert his eyes and shut them tight. When the light faded, he opened them, and gasped. Because now the stranger was gone…and so was Rin.

Yugo looked to his right, then to his left, and then forward again, as if Rin would somehow reappear.

But she wasn’t there.

She was gone.

He’d failed.

He’d failed to protect her. He’d promised to protect her. They’d finally won a duel, they were finally going to be in the Friendship Cup, they were going to achieve their dream together…

And now she was gone.

“D-DAMNIT!” Yugo wailed.

Why was he so weak? Why was he so stupid? Why couldn’t he have done anything right?

Yugo felt tears start to build up in his eyes. He figured he might as well weep for her. It was all he was good for right now anyways.

Then, a green light began to glow from his D-Wheel, shocking Yugo out of his despair.

“W-wait, what is this?” he asked himself.

Slowly, incredibly, a glowing green card began to float out of Yugo’s D-Wheel. But not some new, extraordinary card. No, instead, it was Clear Wing, rising up before him.

…Why though?

“Clear Wing?” Yugo whispered.

The light filled his eyes like a trance. Automatically, Yugo reached over, and grasped Clear Wing’s card…

And then the light was all he could see. Yugo shut his eyes once again, and when he opened them once more…

His eyes were able to gaze into the gates of Hell.

Hell was an accurate word, right?

Because from the mountaintop he’d suddenly been dropped onto, D-Wheel and all, Yugo was able to see a ruined, wrecked city, set ablaze as strange mechanical monsters marched forward, crushing everything before them. Those enormous, bulky creatures that he had never seen before, along with other strange machines blasting fire and artillery wherever they went, moved forward at a slow, gradual, but unstoppable pace, destroying everything in their path.

And in the midst of this destruction, were the screams.

It was a sound that he would never forget. Hundreds, thousands of people, screaming in terror, pain, and despair as everything around them was incinerated. Even from a mountaintop, Yugo could hear the horrific wailing.

Looking down to examine things further, Yugo saw people dressed in strange red, yellow, and blue uniforms, looking like demons as they raised their duel disks, exactly the same type as the one his evil clone used, before shooting beams of a strange purple light at the fleeing citizens, who vanished whenever the light touched them.

It was horrible, yet his eyes were glued to the devastation nonetheless. What sort of nightmare land had his dragon taken him to?

Fear had already taken hold. Perhaps he should move, get away, and-

“Well, that’s surprising. I thought we’d wiped out all of the transportation Xyz had. Where’d you get the wheels, Helmet Head?” asked a light, mocking voice.

Yugo turned around, only to suddenly be tied down to his D-Wheel by tendrils of…slime? Grey, icky, metallic-looking slime that forced him down, slowly drag-turning his D-Wheel around so he could face the enemy.

Well, enemies , plural.

The first was a person with long mint-green hair and green eyes, wearing some sort of white coat-jacket lined with dark lavender over a black shirt and dark-gray trousers, wielding that shield-like duel disk, which bore a purple body with white trim, which also produced a bright yellow blade. Yugo at first thought the person was female, but looking closer at their face, was the person actually a dude? But when he thought that, the person just seemed too feminine to be a dude…

“I mean, he came out of nowhere,” said another voice. “Geez, and just when I thought we’d caught ourselves a break…”

The second person, a girly-looking brown-haired individual with glasses and short black-gray hair, stood at the back. Yugo didn’t know whether to laugh or yell, given that in the midst of what looked like the apocalypse, this person was dressed with a casual pink jacket over a dark-blue shirt and black trousers…which seemed unnaturally clean given the destruction down below. But just like the other one, this person had a shield duel disk too, with a dark blue body and purple-trim, though it wasn’t activated.

Yugo swallowed his dread. It looked like there was no getting out of this. He had to go in for the long haul.

With the screaming in the background, he managed to aim a growl at the mint-haired person. “Who are you? Are you with the bastards down there?!”

The mint-haired person looked at their duel disk, and then back at Yugo. “Nooooooooo?”

“If we say ‘yes’, what happens?” the black-haired one asked.

“So you’re comrades with those freaks! And that bastard who kidnapped Rin!” Yugo roared, trying to break free from his binds, but to no avail. He tried to reach for his D-Wheel handles, but the slime tentacles were keeping his arms firmly in place. “Grraaahhh! Damn it, let me go!”

But the mint-haired person just ignored Yugo and sighed. “Well, no use hiding our allegiance, Kagami, though, that still doesn’t answer who this guy is and where he came from.”

‘Kagami’ looked at Yugo. “What’s your name?”

“My name’s Yugo, you assholes!” Yugo yelled, “and when I get out of this, I’m taking you two down!”

“‘Yu-go’...” the mint-haired person considered. “So…are you some new recruit from Fusion?”

“IT’S YUGO YOU BASTARDS, NOT FUSION!” Yugo screamed, once again trying to break free from the slime, which refused to yield, the tentacles slamming his face back onto his D-Wheel.

“Heh, he’s funny,” the mint-haired person chuckled.

“More ‘scary’, if you ask me, Fuuga,” Kagami gulped. Good. At least one of these people was a wimp.

“You think everything’s scary,” Fuuga sighed casually, putting their hands behind their head. “Well, the guy’s clearly not from Heartland so technically he’s not on our list…”

List? What list?

“But the commander and Eli would talk our ears off if we just let him go,” Fuuga grinned slyly. “We’ll take him out here and now, then settle in for some s’mores.”

So those were his options. Fight these people, or take a chance by driving into the inferno below. Yugo managed to look down at the burning city, apparently called ‘Heartland’, and hearing that collective screaming…it took everything he had to suppress a shudder. If Clear Wing had brought him here, then that meant there was a chance Rin was down there…and fighting these two would just delay him from saving her.

“Ta-ta, kid,” said Fuuga, their grin straightening to an emotionless horizontal line. “I play Polymerization , fusing the Acid Slime in my hand with the Metal-Purpose Slime I currently have, in order to Fusion Summon and melt you to death with-”

Now!

Yugo had lowered his hands, which had caused the slime’s grip on him to loosen. It wouldn’t let him reach for his handles…but his deck was much closer right now, and poking out from the Extra Deck slot was Clear Wing’s card form.

And just as Fuuga had ordered the slime holding Yugo to fuse with some weird, mouth-shaped blue blob, he grabbed for Clear Wing’s card, and slammed it into his duel disk.

“EKAY! CLEAR WING SYNCHRO DRAGON!” Yugo commanded.

Bursting forward, the winds slashing away and throwing the two slimes, Fuuga, and Kagami back, Clear Wing roared, defending its master.

But Yugo had no time to get involved with a duel now. He quickly turned his D-Wheel around, and, taking a moment to steel himself, accelerated forward and sped down the mountain slope, heading right down for the burning city.

He didn’t look back, but there was no need to worry.

Groaning, the two agents of Academia sat up.

“Uggghh…” Kagami groaned, his hair covered in dirt from Yugo’s retaliation.

“Well, Mister White-Helmet Dude got away,” mused Fuuga.

Kagami looked at his friend. “Then, what do we do?”

Fuuga pulled out a bag of marshmallows, gesturing at the burning city. “Exactly what we were gonna do before, snack on s’mores while the grunts do the heavy lifting.”

“We’re not telling the commander?” asked Kagami. “Or Eli?”

“Hey, if they ask, we’ll just say we were, ehhhh, somewhere over on the other side of Heartland,” gestured Fuuga, pointing vaguely in the direction of a column of fiery ash. 

Kagami still looked worried. “Oh, and uh, Fuuga, did that guy’s face look…familiar to you? I couldn’t quite put my finger on it…”

Fuuga just patted their friend on the shoulder. “S’mores first, unnecessary suspicions later. Now then, you want to experiment with the dark chocolate, or add some caramel onto that?”

And so the duo settled down for the night, eating s’mores as if they were camping. Which, technically, they were doing right now. To the many civilians of Heartland, and those in the Resistance however, this night was yet one of many fights for survival, in the hellscape that their once peaceful and prosperous metropolis had become in the course of the past year.

Yugo had heard of the phrase “out of the frying pan and into the fire” and right now, that seemed pretty accurate to his current situation. He’d escaped some weird slime thing, only to now have to dodge blasts of energy, exploding shells, or even fire-breath, from that army of strange, imposing robots.

Forced to keep on moving no matter what, Yugo could barely stop and/or call out for Rin’s name before being attacked by the robots or their uniformed users.

Then again, he wasn’t the only one.

All around him were people, all of whom looked about as well-dressed as people in the middle sections of Neo Domino, being hunted down like rats by the robots. Either they would escape whenever Yugo caught them in his sight, or they would be hit by the purple light and vanish altogether.

Sometimes, he could see some other people in outfits not unlike the punk biker gangs of the Commons step up to fight the monsters, but then he’d lose them from his sight as flames or smoke billowed forward and blocked his view, or their resistance would prove useless as they fell to the monstrous army, either because of a blast hitting them, or because they would collapse and disappear thanks to that mysterious light.

If Rin really was in this place, could she have been-?

No, no, he had to believe that Clear Wing had brought him here for a reason.

“HELP!”

Yugo quickly turned, and saw a woman with scraggly, messy black hair, flanked by two young boys with black and tan hair respectively. Trapped by flaming wreckage, and surrounded by three of the uniformed maniacs, all of whom had bloodthirsty looks in their eyes that made even the worst Commons gangsters look tame and timid.

They were close by, unlike the rest. 

Living in the Commons had always been a matter of survival. That was a fact Yugo had known deep down, it was something that Rin had always emphasized, what so many of their foes talked about whenever they had to fight them. A dog-eat-dog world (even though Yugo found the idea of dogs eating each other to be gross) was what they said.

But he’d honestly never really gelled with that. He got it, he understood it, but there were good people just as there were bad.

Tama, Marco, Pedro, Miss Kimura, all of the orphans…

Rin…

So he didn’t hesitate for a moment to speed right over, yelling at the top of his lungs whatever words he could think of, if he was thinking of any at all and not just making any noise. That was enough to cause the three goons to jump out of the way as he got between them and the civilians.

“Who the Hell is this, Yonehito?” asked one of them, a tall, well-built boy with brown hair that seemed to part down into sideburns, wearing a blue uniform.

“Couldn’t tell ‘ya with that helmet, Teraoka,” a wide-looking boy with small glasses, flat-hair, and a yellow uniform said gruffly.

“Get out of our way!” a boy with a shiny brown bobcut wearing a red uniform demanded.

“You can all get stuffed!” retorted Yugo before he turned back to face the scared woman and her kids. “You three, get out of here now, find someplace safe!”

“Y-yes!” the woman said, motioning for her kids to follow, but one of them, the one with brown hair, spoke up first.

“Mister, are you with the Resistance?”

Yugo gave them all a thumbs-up. “I dunno about the Resistance, but you can call me Yugo.”

For a moment then, everything went quiet. Even their surroundings seemed to stop belching fire everywhere.

Then, fear and panic twisted the woman’s face as she gathered up her kids and ran. “NO! STAY BACK!”

“W-wait!” Yugo called, only to be interrupted by the three goons behind him.

“Oh come on!”

“If you’re with Fusion, then why’d you stop us, huh?”

“You just want the glory for yourself!”

“IT’S YUGO, NOT FUSION!” roared Yugo in annoyance. “Why are you all of you getting my name wrong?!”

He then activated his D-Wheel’s Duel Disk, causing the three students to activate their own disks in turn, generating purple sword-shaped blades.

“You better not screw this up, Kevin,” Teraoka grumbled.

The red-uniformed boy glared at his associates. “Oh, I’ll show you two!”

DUEL!

YUGO LP: 4000

KEVIN LP: 4000

YONEHITO LP: 4000

TERAOKA LP: 4000

“I’ll take the first move!” Kevin declared. “I activate the Spell card, Polymerization , so I can fuse the Ancient Gear Solider and Ancient Gear Knight in my hand for a Fusion Summon!”

“HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU MY NAME’S NOT FUSION?!” Yugo screamed.

“That’s what the summoning method’s called you idiot!” Yonehito snapped. “Fu-sion! You use a card effect to send specific materials to the graveyard to summon a Fusion Monster from the Extra Deck!”

“All of you shut up! You’re ruining this!” complained Kevin before Yugo could fully digest what he had been told.

“Then get on it with it,” grumbled Teraoka.

Kevin shot another glare at the two, and pulled out a card from his Extra Deck. “Screw it! I Fusion Summon Ancient Gear Howitzer !”

A monstrous mechanical thing that looked vaguely like a demonic skeleton stomped onto the field, both of its arms ending in hands that were just mounts for triple-gun turrets. Yugo saw data quickly running through its face as it crouched down in Defense Position.

Ancient Gear Howitzer/EARTH/Level 8/Machine/Fusion/Effect/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1800

“Howitzer’s effect lets me give you 1000 damage per turn!” Kevin snarled. “Take this!”

Yugo immediately revved up his D-Wheel, driving around to avoid the blasts, but several pieces of shrapnel still scraped him here and there.

YUGO LP: 3000

Scowling, clearly dissatisfied that his attack hadn’t done as much damage to Yugo as he had desired, Kevin set a card.

“Turn end.”

“My turn then, draw!” Yonehito declared, stepping forward. Yugo didn’t like how this guy’s beady eyes were keeping focus on him.

“ Ancient Gear Fox can be Special Summoned to my opponent’s field, so take this!”

Yugo watched as the large guy threw a card at him, which, gritting his teeth, Yugo had to accept. He caught the card and placed it in his D-Wheel, causing a fox that seemed to be made up of machines and rock, with some kind of red armoring, to appear in front of him.

Ancient Gear Fox/EARTH/Level 3/Machine/Effect/ATK: 900/DEF: 500

Yugo was puzzled. “Why’d you give me one of your monsters?”

“You’ll see,” smirked Yonehito. “I Normal Summon Ancient Gear Hunting Hound !”

Now a creature similar to the fox appeared, but modeled after a dog, and with blue armor instead of red.

Ancient Gear Hunting Hound/EARTH/Level 3/Machine/Effect/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000

Yonehito’s smirk deepened. “Hunting Hound’s effect is that while my opponent controls a monster, I can inflict 600 damage to them!”

“Wait, that’s why-!” Yugo began, but was quickly silenced as Hunting Hound jumped forward and opened its mouth, revealing a flamethrower had been built into it. Yugo barely managed to drive out of the path of the attack, the flames still managing to scorch the back of his D-Wheel with ash.

YUGO LP: 2400

“And I’m not done yet!” said Yonehito. “Since you’ve taken effect damage, Fox switches control back over to me, and sends another 600 damage your way!”

“W-wait, what?” Yugo spluttered. “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” 

But before he could protest any further, Fox raised its tail, and then, spikes grew from the back of that tail, gleaming with sharpness. Yugo braked this time, and while that saved him from getting hit again, the same couldn’t be said for the front of his D-Wheel as it took the brunt of the blow before Fox jumped back over to its owner’s field.

YUGO LP: 1800

Yugo immediately realized the danger. “ARGH! Stop it!” he protested. “You’ll wreck my D-Wheel at this rate!”

At that, Kevin snapped his fingers. “Ohhhh! So that’s what that piece of junk is, eh? I’ve heard about those in class. Aren’t those usually used by the Synchro Dimension?”

Yonehito’s eyes widened as he took Yugo in, but Teraoka only laughed mockingly. “And I thought the Resistance had modified those weird motorbikes of theirs for dueling for a second! Nah, he’s just some random Synchro garbage that blew out over here! Get in line, buster, we’ll hit your Dimension up when we’re done with the Xyz scum!”

“Xyz? Scum?! Garbage?!” Yugo questioned. “What the hell are you talking about?!”

“Oh, you don’t know?” Kevin belittled. “The world is made up of Four Dimensions! Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, and Standard! We from Fusion are gonna take over all of them and create a utopia!”

“Yeah, us from ‘FUSION’,” Teraoka emphasized, causing Kevin to growl at him while Yonehito continued to focus his gaze at Yugo.

“If he is from Synchro…" the yellow-uniformed boy considered, "then he must have warped here somehow.”

All of this was just flying over Yugo’s head. There were other dimensions? And he was in one of them?

“Ah, don’t be an idiot!” scoffed Teraoka. “He’s probably just some Xyz scum who cobbled some rusty pile of junk together so he can escape!”

“He just called it a D-Wheel!” Yonehito objected. “No-one in Xyz calls their motorbikes D-Wheels!”

“Ah, who cares?” shrugged Teraoka. “He’s a card either way.” 

Well, screw it, he might as well ask now while the goons were all talking with each other.

“Are you with the guy who kidnapped Rin?” he demanded.

“Don’t know who you’re talking about and I’ve never heard of her,” shrugged Teraoka. “Usually, we’re just out to turn everyone into cards. Don’t know what anyone was doing in the Synchro Dimension, unless it was Kevin’s friend Smith doing all of that useless stuff he loves ragging on all of us about.”

“I AM NOT FRIENDS WITH SMITH!” protested Kevin, rage pouring from his mouth. “I hate the guy! He won’t even let me-”

“Everyone hates Smith, you’re not special,” Yonehito interrupted calmly, pushing his small glasses into place. “Anyways, regardless of where this guy is from,” he then gave Yugo a predatory growl. “We’re gonna crush him! I use Fox’s second effect!”

“Oh come on, how many effects does that stupid thing have?” complained Yugo, forcing himself back onto the duel.

“Just this,” replied Yonehito. “Fox can change its name to that of any other ‘Ancient Gear’ monster I control or that is in my graveyard. My grave’s empty right now, so I think I’ll just have Fox take on Hunting Hound’s name!”

The red coloration on Fox’s armor changed color to blue, and energy began to coat the robot until it looked like an exact replica of Hunting Hound.

Ancient Gear Fox -> Ancient Gear Hunting Hound

“And now you can see another way to do a Fusion Summon!” Yonehito declared as if he were a teacher in a classroom (mind, the most education Yugo had ever had was home-schooling by Miss Kimura whenever there was time). “ Ancient Gear Hunting Hound’s third effect lets me use it and other monsters from my hand or field to conduct a Fusion Summon so long as I have another ‘Ancient Gear’ monster out!”

“What?! That’s not fair!” protested Yugo. “I still don’t get how this stupid summoning technique works!”

“Too bad, so sad!” Yonehito rebuffed, any and all levity gone from his voice as he seemed to focus more on the duel. “Using Hunting Hound’s effect, I fuse it and the Ancient Gear Fox I currently control that is treated as Hunting Hound to Fusion Summon!”

A spiraling portal of orange-and-blue appeared behind Yonehito, as Hunting Hound and the imitator jumped in front, turning into red-and-blue colored lights that began mixing together.

"Mechanical beasts who carry on the ancient spirits, flock together and become one with new power! Fusion Summon! Appear now! Level 5! Double Ancient Gear Hunting Hound !"

Jumping out of the portal was a creature that looked almost pretty much like a Hunting Hound, just with an additional mount for a second head.

Double Ancient Gear Hunting Hound/EARTH/Level 5/Machine/Fusion/Effect/ATK: 1400/DEF: 1000

“Just 1400 ATK?” Yugo asked in spite of himself.

Yonehito’s response was simply to slot another card into his Duel Disk. “I equip Double Ancient Gear Hunting Hound with Ancient Gear Power Core ! This gives the equipped monster 200 ATK times its Level, and with Double Hunting Hound’s Level being 5, that gives it 1000 ATK!”

The twin-headed robot dog roared as a purple energy core phased into it, coating it with a glowing yellow aura, the twin sets of eyes glowing with power.

Double Ancient Gear Hunting Hound/ATK: 2400

“And now,” said Yonehito. “I attack you directly with my Double Hunting Hound!”

Yugo’s eyes almost broke out of his helmet in shock. “HUH!? NO! YOU CAN’T DO THAT! STOP!”

But it seemed a legal move after all, and the double-headed robot charged at Yugo, the heads roared savagely.

Yugo revved up his D-Wheel again, gaining speed as he pulled a card out of his hand. “ Speedroid Menko’s effect! I can Special Summon it from my hand when I’m attacked directly and that puts all of your monsters into Defense mode!”

A flat board-like device with gears laden in the frame and several jets at each corner flew up into the air, before slamming into the ground, releasing steam everywhere. At seeing the smokescreen, Double Hunting Hound paused, and pawed at the ground, bowing its head down as it shifted to Defense Position..

Speedroid Menko/WIND/Level 4/Machine/Effect/ATK: 100/DEF: 2000

“Dang it, a hand-effect,” Yonehito grunted. “I activate the Continuous Spell Ancient Armageddon Gear and set the rest of my hand face-down to end my turn.”

A spell card depicting some gigantic war machine flipped itself onto the field, while two set card backings appeared, flanking it.

Yugo could already see Teraoka moving a hand towards his deck. Immediately, he accelerated forward, driving head-first into their formation, ripping a card from the top of his deck. “My turn, draw!”

Looking at his hand, Yugo grimaced. Besides Menko, he’d drawn no monsters for his starting move. He looked at the card he drew, hoping it was a monster, ideally a Tuner…

And he grinned when he saw that it was. “I summon Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice !”

Appearing now was the golden and red-eyed dice machine, flying in front of its owner as they sped in-between the three goons, who immediately turned around as Yugo drove behind them, turned again, and sped towards them.

Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice/WIND/Level 1/Machine/Tuner/Effect/ATK: 100/DEF: 100

“Alright, here we go!” declared Yugo. “I tune my Level 4 Speedroid Menko with my Level 1 Red-Eyed Dice !”

The two machines quickly assembled into the Synchro formation, Menko transforming into four stars that soon aligned with Red-Eyed Dice’s single ring.

"Lively soul of swordplay. Come, Level 5! Hi-Speedroid Chanbara !"

A robotic-humanoid whose body was connected to a sword-shaped jet flew onto the field, both of his arms holding katanas. Seeing this, the three goons jumped backwards to give Yugo a wider berth as he sped past them again.

Hi-Speedroid Chanbara/WIND/Level 5/Machine/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 2000/DEF: 1000

But that didn’t quite seem to faze them.

“Double Hunting Hound’s effect!” Yonehito countered. “Whenever you Normal or Special Summon monsters, once per turn, I can put a Gear Acid Counter on it!”

A purple glowing gear appeared in front of Chanbara, rotating slowly, but ominously.

Hi-Speedroid Chanbara/1 Gear Acid Counter

“What the Hell’s that?!” demanded Yugo.

Yonehito shrugged. “I’m not telling you. Try and find out instead!”

This was a trap. This was definitely a trap. Yugo halted his D-Wheel as he tried to look at the field. Both of the monsters his opponents had out right now had low DEF scores of 1800 and 1000 respectively. Chanbara at its weakest could take out both of them…

But this was a trap. So obviously a trap. Luckily, Yugo had an option to bait it out.

“I activate Hidden Shot !” he declared. “This lets me banish up to 2 ‘Speedroid’ monsters from my graveyard to destroy that many cards! I’m banishing Menko and Red-Eyed Dice to take out both your Howitzer and Double Hunting Hound!”

This was usually a pretty good combo, if Yugo wanted to puff out his chest. Bring out a Synchro Monster then banish the materials with Hidden Shot to quickly take out problematic cards. It was one that even Rin rarely found fault in.

But when the dual blasts of pink energy burst from the card and impacted his enemies’ monsters…

“ Ancient Gear Howitzer is unaffected by all other card effects!” Kevin sneered.

Yonehito for his part, simply ejected his Equip Spell from his duel disk. “And Ancient Gear Power Core not only destroys itself to protect the monster its equipped to, it being destroyed lets me bring out another ‘Ancient Gear’ monster from my Deck whose Level is equal to or less than that of the monster it was equipped to!”

Yugo felt his stomach sink in disbelief. “WHAT?!”

“ Double Ancient Gear Hunting Hound’s Level is 5, so I Special Summon a second copy of the Level 3 Ancient Gear Hunting Hound from my Deck!” declared Yonehito, ignoring Yugo’s outburst.

Another one of the robot dogs appeared, growling in that weird, mechanical noise.

Double Ancient Gear Hunting Hound/ATK: 1400

Ancient Gear Hunting Hound/EARTH/Level 3/Machine/Effect/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000

At this, Yugo lost patience. He wasn’t going to move forward letting his opponent build up his defenses. “Alright, you asked for it! Chanbara, attack Ancient Gear Hunting Hound !”

“Double Hunting Hound’s effect!” Yonehito declared, pointing at Chanbara, who had begun to jet forward. “Anytime a monster with a Gear Acid Counter battles, it’s destroyed at the start of the Damage Step!”

“Oh crap! Chanbara, wait!” spluttered Yugo.

But it was too late. The Gear floating next to Chanbara vanished, only to then appear on the back of Double Hunting Hound. Connecting to the gears on the monster’s back, the gear was launched at Chanbara, instantly destroying it.

“NO!”

“And now for Ancient Armageddon Gear’s effect!” declared Yonehito. “This card will be destroyed on my next Standby Phase, but until it is, anytime a monster is destroyed, the controller of that monster takes damage equal to the ATK of that monster on the field!”

Yugo realized his error. A potentially fatal one at that. “Chanbara had 2000 ATK…”

“And you only have 1800 LP left!” said Yonehito. “You lose, Synchro Trash!”

The spell card began to glow with golden energy, and Yugo quickly looked at his hand, desperate for an out. He then saw a spell sandwiched between two traps, and recognized the name. Wasting no time, he took the card and slammed it into his D-Wheel’s disk.

“ Speed Refresh , activate!” declared Yugo. “I can gain LP equal to the Level of 1 ‘Speedroid’ monster in my graveyard x500! I target Chanbara to get back 2500 LP!”

A spell card depicting Kendama and Chanbara receiving, of all things, an oil change whilst they were charging forward, appeared on Yugo’s field, glowing with green energy that quickly swirled around him like refreshing wind. But just as soon as it did, the blast from Armageddon Gear slammed into Yugo, the whirlwind barely protecting him and his D-Wheel from further damage. Yugo found himself slamming his hand onto his head to keep his helmet on.

YUGO LP: 1800 -> 4300 -> 2300

“So he basically got 500 LP back,” Yonehito muttered.

“Chanbara’s also got an effect when it’s destroyed!” Yugo revealed. “I get to add one of my banished ‘Speedroid’ cards to my hand! So I get back my Menko!”

“So you’ll be able to block another direct attack,” grumbled Yonehito.

“You got that right!” said Yugo. “I set two cards face-down and end my turn!”

At this, Teraoka stepped forward. “Pathetic,” he spat. “Do you really think this is going to stop us? Two set cards and a weakling-monster we all know about? If this is all the Synchro Dimension has to offer, then we don’t have to worry about you people at all.”

He then drew his card, and placed it in his hand. With that, he began chuckling, a sadistic tone in his voice that honestly creeped Yugo out.

“Let me show you the real power of Academia,” Teraoka said, before fury overtook his eyes as he slammed two cards into his Duel Disk.

“First, Ancient Gear Fortress , and secondly, Ancient Gear Catapult !” he declared. “With the effect of Ancient Gear Catapult , while I have no monsters on my field, I can destroy any card on my field, and then bring out an ‘Ancient Gear’ monster from my Deck, with no regard to its summoning conditions!”

That last part briefly puzzled Yugo, but he shoved it out of his head. This guy was planning something big.

“I destroy Ancient Gear Fortress , and with it being destroyed, I can bring out the strongest monster of the elite! Ancient Gear Golem , come forth!”

A spell card depicting a massive fortress was destroyed, and when it did, Yugo felt the ground tremble before a gigantic hand that seemed to be made out of stone and metal burst out of the ground behind Teraoka. Watching with wide eyes, Yugo saw the rest of the juggernaut, some kind of humanoid robot with a helmet-shaped head, climb out of the hole that had been dug. 

Ancient Gear Golem/Level 8/EARTH/Machine/Effect/ATK: 3000/DEF: 3000

“Wait, you brought a monster with 3000 ATK just like that?!” Yugo gaped.

“And there’s more where that came from!” Teraoka roared. “ Ancient Gear Fortress usually makes my Ancient Gear monsters untargetable, indestructible, and impossible to respond to, but if it ever gets destroyed, it lets me pull out another ‘Ancient Gear’ monster from my hand or graveyard! Fly forward, Ancient Gear Wyvern !”

A robotic creature primarily made up of turquoise metal-and-stone that looked like a framed-version of a dragon or dinosaur, just with wings in place of arms, flew onto the field, hissing at Yugo before it flew around the giant Golem.

Ancient Gear Wyvern/Level 4/EARTH/Machine/Effect/ATK: 1700/DEF: 1200

“My Wyvern lets me add a new ‘Ancient Gear’ card whenever it’s summoned!” declared Teraoka, a card already being ejected from his Duel Disk. “I Normal Summon this card now! Ancient Gear Hunting Hound !”

“...Wait, again?! ” complained Yugo in spite of his situation as the now familiar robot dog appeared.

Ancient Gear Hunting Hound/EARTH/Level 3/Machine/Effect/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000

“Yes, again, and again! Because as it happens, I also have two more Hunting Hounds in my hand,” Teraoka sneered. “So with the third effect of the Hunting Hound on my field, since I have other ‘Ancient Gear’ monsters out, I fuse all three Hunting Hounds together!”

"Mechanical hounds who carry on the ancient spirits, flock together and become one with new power! Fusion Summon! Appear now! Level 7! Antique Gear Triple Bite Hound Dog !"

All three Hunting Hounds got into formation, turning into red, blue, and yellow lights that all blended together, before what emerged from the portal was a three-headed version of the robot dog, all three of said heads growling and baring their metal fangs at Yugo.

Triple Ancient Gear Hunting Hound/EARTH/Level 7/Machine/Effect/ATK: 1800/DEF: 1000

“Battle Phase!” Teraoka declared, a bloodthirsty glint in his eyes. “Ancient Gear Wyvern attacks you directly!”

“ Speedroid Menko’s effect-” Yugo began, but when he attempted to pull Menko out of his wrist-dealer, his arm and the card glowed with a pale-blue aura, and Yugo found to his horror that Menko would not budge.

“Wyvern prevents you from using monster effects when it battles!” Teraoka growled. “Now take 1700 damage to the face!”

Yugo quickly took his hand off of Menko, and moved to his Duel Disk. “Then I’ll play the Trap card, Speed Barrier ! It summons as many ‘Speedroid Tokens’ to my field as possible in Defense Mode when you attack! Since I don’t have any monsters out, that means five tokens!”

A group of small robots with bulbous, colorful bodies appeared in a group, all in a defensive posture, guarding their master.

Speedroid Token x5/WIND/Level 1/Machine/ATK: 100/DEF: 100

Surprisingly, Teraoka just looked at Yugo’s play with some curiosity. For a moment, the rage was gone…and then replaced by a horrifying sneer of satisfaction.

“HAHAHAHA!” the brute cackled. “You just signed your death warrant Synchro trash! I’ll take advantage of the replay rule now and have my Golem squash one of your pathetic tokens!”

“Does it matter?” Yugo couldn’t help but snap.

“Of course it matters,” Yonehito put in, his arms folded. “ Ancient Gear Golem , whenever it attacks, disables the opponent’s Spells and Traps, as well as inflicting piercing damage whenever it battles a Defense Position monster.”

“Meaning that you’re about to take 2900 points of damage and die!” roared Teraoka. “And since this isn’t a direct attack, your Menko’s useless, and you can’t use your other set card! Now GET SQUASHED!”

Yugo drove back as far as possible to get away from Golem, but it did no good as the massive juggernaut slammed one of its massive hands onto a token, sending dust everywhere.

“HA! HA! HE’S DEAD!” Teraoka cheered.

“I could’ve beaten him myself,” grumbled Kevin.

Yonehito however, saw that his Ancient Armageddon Gear card was now glowing, which, if their opponent had been defeated, it would not be doing. “No…something’s wrong!”

Indeed, when the smoke plume cleared, there was Yugo and his D-Wheel, still standing proud, albeit a bit grimy from the ash, shocks of golden energy traveling through Yugo, as per the effect of Armageddon Gear.

YUGO LP: 2200

“He’s still alive?!” Teraoka gasped.

Yugo had to give a grin at them. “Sorry, but Speed Barrier makes it so that I don’t take damage from battles involving the Speedroid Tokens, period. And with just 100 damage from your spell, I’ll be surviving this round.”

“You’re surviving nothing!” Teraoka snapped. “Ancient Gear Wyvern, attack the second token!”

The draconic metal skeleton obeyed, diving down and slamming its tail into one of the small machines. Yugo grimaced as another shock from Armageddon Gear coursed through him.

YUGO LP: 2100

Teraoka swung an arm, gesturing over to his third monster. “Triple Hunting Hound is able to attack your monsters up to three times a turn, so now I’ll be tearing apart the rest of your tokens! Get them!”

The mechanical cerberus was quick, devouring the rest of Yugo’s monsters, tearing them apart. This time, the Armageddon Gear card mustered a smaller shot that, unfortunately, smacked Yugo upside the head.

YUGO LP: 1800

“Stop that!” Yugo protested. “You’ll destroy my helmet at this rate!”

“I don’t care!” roared Teraoka. “ Ancient Gear Wyvern prevents me from setting cards for the rest of the turn, but I can still play Damage Off Zone ! Now all Battle Damage is halved, and if I were to take Battle Damage greater than my LP, I can send my spell to the grave and pay half to reduce it to zero!”

“Of course,” Yonehito noted, pushing his glasses into place. “It doesn’t protect against effect damage.”

Teraoka turned to the boy with the bobcut and red uniform. “You wanna prove you can fight with the big boys Kevin, wipe out what’s left of that Synchro Trash’s life!”

Kevin growled. “Oh, I’ll show you, and I’ll present this Synchro Trash’s card to Smith so I can get a better job!”

“Like that’s ever gonna happen,” Yonehito whispered to Teraoka, who chuckled.

“It’s my turn again!” Kevin declared. “ Ancient Gear Howitzer’s effect now activates! Take another 1000 damage!”

Yugo attempted to dodge, but it seemed that whatever had been said to make Kevin mad was making his monster’s shots more accurate. Yugo halted his D-Wheel just in time to avoid one blast, and had by this point dodged two others, only for the next three to all slam into Yugo himself and launch him off his D-Wheel into the rubble.

YUGO LP: 800

“Take that, you Synchro trash!” Kevin cackled. “Now get up so I can finish you off!”

Groaning, Yugo climbed out of the rubble. As he had feared, his helmet had come loose, and tumbled off his head.

“Damn it…” he groaned, looking it over for any damage, before glaring at the goons.

Yugo wouldn’t understand what happened next for quite some time. One moment, all three had had grim looks of satisfaction and bloodlust, but now that they were getting a view of Yugo’s face without his helmet on, it was as if all three had seen a ghost. Their faces went pale, and instead of being twisted with rage, were now twisted with fear.

“...Oh…Egyptian Gods what have we done…?” Yonehito whimpered.

Teraoka was silent, but Kevin was shuddering violently.

“Pl-please, I-I didn’t know! I SWEAR I DIDN’T KNOW! PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!”

“I’M NOT STAYING HERE! I WANT TO LIVE!” Teraoka finally snapped, slamming on his duel disk and vanishing in blue light.

“WAIT FOR US!” the other two goons cried, vanishing in blue light as well.

WINNER: YUGO (BY DEFAULT)

“W-what was that all about?” Yugo coughed as he shook the ash out of his hair, before putting his helmet back on.

The noise from before had begun to die down, but the fires were still active. They had begun to move forward, and were now leaving this spot behind.

Which meant that Yugo was totally alone.

A lot of things had been thrown in front of him. Other dimensions, weirdos who wanted s’mores, maniacs destroying an entire city, a person whose face was the same as his…

A lot of mysteries, but no time to solve them. Yugo had a mission to do, and he was going to achieve it.

“I’m going to find you Rin, I swear it!”

With that declaration, he propped his D-Wheel upright again, and continued to drive into the flaming rubble, determined to find his friend, no matter what. 

CARD LIST

Yugo

Spells

Speed Refresh
Quick-Play Spell
Target 1 “Speedroid” monster in your GY; gain LP equal to that monster’s Level x500. During your Standby Phase, if you have one or fewer cards in your hand and this card is in your GY: You can banish this card; draw 1 card. You can only use this effect of “Speed Refresh” once per turn.

Traps

Speed Barrier
Normal Trap
When your opponent’s monster declares an attack: Special Summon as many “Speedroid Tokens” (WIND/Machine/Level 1/ATK 100/DEF 100) in Defense Position as possible. You take no damage from battles involving a “Speedroid Token”. During your opponent’s Battle Step: You can banish this card from your GY; you choose the attack targets for your opponent this turn.

Academia

Monsters

Ancient Gear Fox
EARTH/Level 3/Machine/Effect/ATK: 900/DEF: 500
You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) to your opponent's side of the field. You can only Special Summon “Ancient Gear Fox” once per turn this way. If you take Effect Damage, switch control of this card, and if you do, take 600 damage. This effect can only be used once while this card is face-up on the field. Once per turn: You can target 1 "Ancient Gear" monster you control or in your GY; this card's name becomes the same as that monster until the end of this turn.

Spells

Ancient Gear Power Core
Equip Spell
Equip only to an "Ancient Gear" monster. The equipped monster gains ATK equal to its Level x200. If the equipped monster would be destroyed, destroy this card instead. If this card equipped to a monster is destroyed: You can Special Summon 1 "Ancient Gear" monster from your hand or Deck whose Level is equal to or less than that of the equipped monster, ignoring its summoning conditions. You can only use this effect of "Ancient Gear Power Core" once per turn.

Chapter Text

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: RE-TURN

The Ruined Worlds

The room was dimly lit with an eerie green light. A good lighting for interrogation. Usually, he would have left this to the Disciplinary Committee, but given who had been brought in for questioning, the responsibility fell on his shoulders.

Eli Smith, his arms folded, glared at the three Duel Soldiers who had been brought in for the crime of desertion, though they continued to claim it was a ‘Tactical Retreat’.

Perhaps it could be confirmed as a retreat if they examined the memories of Kevin, Yonehito, and Teraoka, but that procedure was reserved for analysis of unknown variables, failed scouting missions, and infiltrations. There was no point in wasting valuable tech on these three, nor any time to argue the matter.

So, with that note, best to consider how to engage with these idiots.

Kevin was glaring at Eli with weak defiance. Unsurprising, given his history.

Yonehito was looking at the table in shame. At least the fool could affect it, even if the shame was self-centered. The moron and his two friends from Ra Yellow had once attempted to transfer themselves over to the Society of Light, claiming that it was because they believed in the religious doctrine. Almost immediately Hamasaki had seen right through them and declared their intent to be out of a combination of laziness and hormones (Eli had made sure to put the trio through numerous disciplinary ethics classes after hearing that). 

Teraoka was trying to give Eli his most wrathful glare, believing he could intimidate (as many of the students called him) the Great Irish Bore. Eli would’ve felt more fear from a vanilla bean drenched in hot sauce. The arse could try to push a front of bravado as much as he could, but Eli had once caught Teraoka and his own two friends, Yamanaka and Harada, pathetically trying to steal extra field rations during a training exercise specifically designed to test a student’s mettle with limited supplies, and had failed them immediately for their little stunt.

Had it been some random students who kept to the middle of the pack and didn’t quite stand out with such violations and failures, Eli would have been inclined to believe their excuse, but given these three’s respective screw-ups and track records, he was obviously more inclined to believe this as just another excuse for them to worm out of their work. 

After he had mulled this over, Eli placed his hands on the table, and then began to speak up. “So then, uasals…I don’t suppose you're going to tell me the truth of why you suddenly deserted your positions? Or are you going to lie and force me to resort to thumbscrews?”

“T-Tactical Retreat sir, honest,” Yonehito stammered, but then Teraoka (stupidly) spoke up.

“You think I’m afraid of you?! HAH! I’ll only be afraid if I have to hear some long-ass rant on the history of screwdrivers and wrenches! I'm not scared of any complaining dwarves! I'll never break!”

Eli sighed. Maybe he should have left this to Tsumaka or asked Roswell to do it. This wasn't worth skipping steak pie night.

Thankfully, he'd already jumped behind Yonehito before Teraoka could register that his interrogator wasn't in front of him any more. Or that the second that he'd finished his rant, he was already having his head slammed onto the table.

“AARRRRGGGGHHHH!” Teraoka yelled, but Eli just slammed the eejit's head onto the table again, still thinking that he'd missed dinner again. Hamasaki would never let him hear the end of it.

Yonehito and Kevin jumped, but Yonehito found his collar in the grip of Eli's robot hand, before he was thrown against the wall, moments before Teraoka's body slammed into him, thrown there by Eli as well.

"Honesty's always the best policy balachs," reminded the man who had once been known as the Death Weapon, his tone as deliberately dry as possible. "Ye know what the rules are."

"I-I, uh...uh..." Yonehito gulped. "T-Teraoka!"

But the bravado of the Obelisk Blue student had already crumbled, with him trembling and stammering as he registered his bloody nose and finally seemed to realize that the guy who was half-made of metal was not someone to brazenly taunt.

"Speak clearly you two," Eli droned, letting his accent take over, "you're Ra and Obelesk students fhr Armityle's sake What are you like? Surely you can answer wan question?"

But the two only clammed up, stayed silent, and refused to talk.

Eli sighed and cracked his neck, slamming his right foot into Teraoka's knee, causing the brute to howl in pain, before driving the left into Yonehito's stomach.

"I can do this all night boys," Eli said, looking bored as he continued to beat the two slackers. "I'll even ask for my dinner to come in 'ere if I need to."

But by that point, the two had already been beaten to a bloody pulp. Still alive, but barely conscious. That just left one Osiris Red student with a brown bowl-cut, cowering in the corner.

“Kevin, do you have anything to say?” Eli calmly inquired as he pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the blood off his boots.

“Y-yes sir,” stammered Kevin in confirmation as he did so.

Pausing to breath in and out through his nose, Eli gave Kevin a very calm and cool glance. “Good. Now then, if you could, Kevin. Explain exactly why you three deserted your positions.”

“L-lord Y-Y-Yuri sir,” the transfer student gulped. “W-we didn’t know it was him, a-and we, uh…”

Eli raised an eyebrow. “You know, I appreciate lying as much as I do with not talking. Lord Yuri wasn't assigned to this attack. He was assigned to Synchro for a mission and came back earlier tonight. I just got back from putting away the results of that mission in fact.”

He decided not to divulge what those results were exactly. Top-secret and all that, even if Eli still thought creating a specific cell for Rin off the main fortress limits was a waste of resources, and had it made clear while escorting the girl all the way over to it.

“Th-that’s just it though!” Kevin protested, his words becoming more assured now that he thought he could defend himself. “This guy, he had a D-Wheel, a-and those are only from Synchro, r-right, guys? L-Lord Yasumaro taught us about them.”

Unfortunately, all Yonehito and Teraoka could offer at this point were groans of dazed pain. Kevin froze up when he realized this as Eli walked closer, looming over the transfer student menacingly. 

But the fear in Kevin's voice was genuine; Eli had gotten a good enough read on the kid to know that he did not have the skills to fake that kind of emotion. Might as well confirm in that case.

“Knowledge of a topic doesn’t automatically guarantee that your claim is true,” he finally said, deciding to put Kevin's story to the test. “Confirm your Duel History and then I’ll see if you’ve decided to play hooky or not.”

If Kevin had stammered and tried to make an excuse, Eli would’ve known it was bullshit. Instead, the boy just nodded. Rather confidently, Eli had to admit.

“Maibe, their Duel Disks!” he called. 

Maibe Nekhbet strode out of the shadows, pulling Kevin’s duel disk from her black cloak. Of course a student’s Duel Disk would be confiscated whenever they were brought in for questioning. They hadn’t checked the data yet, but considering that they were just low-ranking soldiers, there was very little need to.

Still, Eli had to admit, curiosity was building up.

Maibe placed the Duel Disk onto the table, and plugged in a USB cord. A holographic representation of the most recent duel in card form was input, showcasing a three-on-one duel that at first progressed normally for whenever an Academia team cornered a duelist…until it came to the opponent’s turn, when a Synchro Monster was played.

“Pause,” commanded Eli.

Maibe did so, and Eli narrowed his gaze at Kevin. “Well, it seems that you weren’t lying after all.”

Kevin breathed a sigh of relief, but then Eli continued.

“Instead, you three morons let an interloper from the Synchro Dimension waltz in and witness our operations, failed to capture or interrogate him so as to learn his motivations, and allowed cowardice to dictate your actions when you all stood a good chance of defeating him.”

“B-but sir, he—” Kevin attempted to say, but Eli’s response was to snap his fingers, at which Maibe pulled out a long length of metallic cord from her cloak that quickly wrapped around Yonehito and Teraoka...before the two screamed in pain again as the electricity coursed through their bodies.

“Kevin, you’re aware of our intel, yes?” Eli asked. “About how there’s a duelist within the ranks of the Resistance who also bears a similarity to Lord Yuri, yet clearly uses a different deck and dragon? I don’t see our soldiers ever giving Yuto Oshiro a wide berth, do you?”

Kevin trembled. Eli scowled. They'd really considered this idiot for intelligence, yet he wasn't even reading basic orders? When Dennis' mission was done, Eli was going to have a long talk with Rammel's choice of transfer students. Huffing through his nose, Eli turned to his cloaked, quiet subordinate.

"Maibe, take Yonehito and Teraoka to have their memories of this operation and interrogation wiped and assign them and their companions to Deadfall. Either they can redeem themselves or they can die as proper cannon fodder.”

Maibe nodded as she shut off the current and retracted the whip. Yonehito and Teraoka collapsed onto the ground, fully unconscious from the torture they'd undergone. The cloaked duelist then picked them up by the backs of their collars, and dragged them away into the shadows.

Which left Eli alone with, well, the…

“Absolute failure,” he spat in disgust, no longer able to hold back his frustration. “First you bombed every single qualification that could prove we could get some use out of you, second, when we try to create a use by having you start over from the basics in Osiris Red, you barely pass your classes, and finally you volunteer for deployments you’re about as ready for as a baby deer is ready to face an anaconda!"

He then grabbed Kevin by the collar and dragged him back to the table, plopping the boy back into his seat before continuing. "We try not to be wasteful Kevin, but you are significantly testing my and Lady Naga’s patience. And don’t think the Professor is impressed either, you don’t even register as a dust speck on his radar.”

Kevin slammed his fists on the table. “SHUT UP!” he demanded. “I only agreed to this because Mister Rammel promised me power! But you won’t give it to me! It was my only option! I needed to prove myself, I–”

“Will shut your idiotic trap!” interrupted Eli. “Listen up, Kevin. When Rammel said he would provide us with a student that had no significant connections or relations that could open up a spot for Dennis when we initiate Operation: Hassan, I was hoping that this student would prove to have either hidden talent, or some kind of mental discipline that would serve as the bedrock to properly develop the required skill set. You have shown me neither of these, nor any other acceptable traits!”

“I’m–” 

“Completely reckless, arrogant, and grandstanding. Traits that are going to earn you either an early death on the battlefield, or mind-destroying trauma if, by some dark miracle, you survive.”

“Traumatized playing a Hunting Game? Hah! No way!” said Kevin, folding his arms, only to be jolted back to focus when a chain suddenly wrapped around his left hand and dragged him onto the table.

Eli, holding one of the retractable chains he kept hidden in his wrist, scowled at the boy and growled. Hearing that kind of stupidity proved just what kind of garbage they'd traded for Dennis. No more point in trying to train the eejit, as far as Eli was concerned, Kevin was beyond help. Best to wrap this up quickly.

“I have a report to make based on what you have explained and an…explanation owed from someone else. I am also going to give you a warning, Kevin, the last warning I'll be giving you.”

He lifted his other wrist, and shot a second chain ensnaring Kevin’s other hand, before dragging the rebellious and useless youth across the table. Eli then picked Kevin up by the collar, glaring at him.

“You need to remember that you know things that a student from Academia should not, all because you once lived in Standard. The only reason I didn’t have your memories wiped was because I have never once held any expectation to send you out into the field. Not then, and certainly not now.”

Kevin glared back at Eli, but tears were welling up in his eyes. Probably because the eejit was so focused on making a name for himself he was falling into despair that his ‘legend’ would never develop or expand.

Why did this fool not understand his purpose? A borrowed cog to use in Academia’s war machine. That was all he was going to be. Why did he refuse to embrace that? There was something inherently satisfactory in seeing and acknowledging one’s place in the great machine. 

Eli retracted his chains back into their launchers, freeing Kevin, before he shoved the idiot back into his chair.

“You are staying here at Academia. Understand? And if you ever head out again and dare to come back with your tail between your legs, I am going to card you myself. Are we tracking?”

Kevin looked at his hands.

“Are. We. Tracking, Kevin?”

“Y-yes…sir,” the boy finally breathed.

“Good,” Eli said, heading for the door. “Tsumaka will send you back to the Osiris Dorms. Keep tonight’s events in your head.”

He didn’t bother looking back, instead simply exiting and allowing the Disciplinary Committee to handle the wayward student. 

That was that, as far as Eli was concerned. If Kevin did choose to head out again, Eli was honestly going to bank on the Resistance carding him and then write him off. The kid looked no different from Academia’s regular soldiers, and him meeting the Synchro Counterpart of Yuri was a coincidence. Nothing more than that. 

Of course, if a certain detail did get out, that could become problematic.

Out of habit, Eli raised his left arm, typing his thoughts into a document via his Duel Disk.

Now, for the critical question. How did the Synchro Counterpart get to Xyz in the first place? Did Roget manage to recruit him? It was the only logical answer that Eli could think of for the moment. Public details about the situation of the Synchro Dimension had remained mostly sparse, owing to Roget’s slowness (i.e. deliberate sabotage) to fulfill the intended vision of aligning with the Dimension. 

It had made sense at the time; two worlds that put a great emphasis on power dominating over all should of course ally with each other, but it seemed that those efforts had failed. The Executive Council of Neo Domino City had balked at every treaty and suggestion, no matter how many drafts Academia's best diplomats and lawyers had sent.

Either Roget had been discreetly editing them to suit his purposes, or the council of geezers were so stuck in their ways, they simply wouldn’t accept a treaty unless it benefitted their isolationist policy or calcified status quo. Eli wanted to believe the former...but he'd met the Executive Council, and his instincts were cynically informing him that the latter seemed more likely.

At this point, if it wasn’t for a certain mad scientist in Roget’s employ, Eli would’ve just had the asset, who had been inserted to keep an eye on Roget, simply burn the Frenchman to death in a "tragic accident” and slot one of the other Phantasms in his place, but as it was, Shiki could only send back occasional street layouts or other mundane details that, while useful to plotting invasion routes and reconnaissance, simply weren’t the keys that could immediately knife Roget in the ribs, and even those risked her deep-cover status.

(The news report that showed off the Synchro Counterparts were a bit of an exception to the rule though.)

Shiki could obtain the intel of course, but sending it out was another story. Not until they had more manpower to spare did Eli feel comfortable about loosening those restrictions. She could only do so if she ever saw an emergency which…

Could Shiki have been captured or subverted? No, he would be the first to gladly admit that they got along like oil and water, but Eli would vouch for Shiki’s skills, on top of her devotion to Hamasaki easily overriding any idea that she could be subverted. 

And even if Roget had something Shiki personally wanted, Eli had a hard time imagining that that would be sufficient for her to want to work with him. Shiki had been deliberately selected as the asset that was both dangerous enough, and obscure enough (relative to Roget’s ego anyways) for this mission after all. Not to mention that Shiki had a low opinion of Roget. Even lower than her opinion of Eli, which was impressive given their shared history.

The assassin grimaced, pausing in his typing to keep his mind from going off on tangents.

If there was an emergency, Shiki would have already been here by now, either reporting to Hamasaki or Lady Naga. Eli would have to trust Shiki on that, despite the woman's...quirks. Regardless, paranoia and micromanagement were as efficient to problem-solving as drinking water and iced tea were capable of soothing the tongue and stomach after eating overly spicy hot wings. 

Eli’s duel disk showed no new notifications anyways, so that was that. Maybe he was just overthinking this.

(Everyone around him did say that after all...)

Still, he would have to call in Roget about this. Perhaps even pay Synchro a visit himself–Yuri had fulfilled his mission and gotten what entertainment he could, so relying on him for that would be a bust. Roget would probably lie, but that was to be expected. Eli had known Roget long enough to know of the man's tells and tactics, and if he was going to continue lying...well, Eli was an assassin after all, no need to think about what to do then.

That still left the problem of actually dealing with the Synchro Counterpart.

That was also easy enough. Just delegate the task to Fuuga and Kagami, stationed in Xyz so as to use their respective talents of disguise and hacking to weaken and entrap the Resistance. He’d send them the information, and they’d brief the Commander-in-Chief. Simple as that. Until they knew more, it was a senseless waste of resources.

He was about to transmit the information, when he turned a corner and bumped into the last person he wanted to meet.

“Oh, Smith. A magnet for trouble as always,” sighed Yuri, in a tone of voice that had all of Eli’s danger instincts flaring. 

A tone that seemed bored on the outside, but hid only irritation. A look in the eyes that seemed drowsy, but in reality held more bloodlust than anything Eli could ever hope to display, or had ever seen from anyone he had met in his life. Yuri had an intent that, for the life of him, the assassin could not discern from a genuine desire to kill, or simple boredom.

If there was ever a time to panic, now would be that time.

But Eli knew that if he did that, then Yuri would kill him right there and then.

So instead, the assassin held his ground, and cleared his throat. “A-apologies, Lord Yuri,” he began. “I was merely on my way back to the office.”

He tried to move forward, but much to his horror, Yuri stepped to the side to block his way. Eli moved to the right, and Yuri followed. He moved to the left, and got the same result.

“Do you…need something from me, sir?” asked Eli, cautiously and trying not to grit his teeth.

Yuri smiled. Eli did not like that. He didn’t like anyone smiling on principle of course, but with Yuri, literally everyone in Academia knew that a smile on him meant nothing good for anyone.

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t,” the Professor’s so-called top enforcer said. “I heard about how some students deserted and thought I might pay them a visit. I'm in a good mood right now after this evening’s hunt, so I figured I might celebrate with some nice… hazing we’ll call it, hmmm? Just to cap off the night.”

On the one hand, there was merit to that. Cut their losses, feed the rabble to the Dragon. On the other hand, they’d encouraged Yuri’s bloodthirst and urge for mischief numerous times in the past, and those decisions had created more than enough tragedies to make for an entire chapter in their textbooks and a specific hazard to note in all of their TMs.

Realizing there was no good option here, Eli folded his arms to try and look disapproving and said, “Sorry to spoil the celebration, sir, but I've already taken care of this 'terrible trio', you might call 'em, so really nothing else for us to do here, let's go back and get to work?"

His suggestion, in his nervousness, sounded more like an uneasy question, causing Eli to curse mentally. It didn’t help that his attempt to keep walking forward was immediately cut off as Yuri, who hadn't moved, stopped him by simply holding out his hand to block his chest.

“Hold up there, steampunk-man, I’ve still got a question for you. You can take the time to answer that, can’t you?”

Eli blinked, not liking where this was going. “Uh, well, I-I suppose I can, sir. I would like to let you know however that I've still yet to finish my Penrhyn Quarry layout, so it's obviously not ready for presentation.”

“Yeah, because I’m so invested in your hobbies, Smith,” drawled Yuri sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “No, it’s just, well, I read the report–”

“You actually read a report?!” exclaimed Eli in shock.

Yuri chuckled. "Of course. It's fun to mess with people who think I don't.”

Eli sweat-dropped, knowing full well present company was included. 

“Anyways, that report talked about a duelist playing a card game on a motorcycle, who apparently, just happens to look like yours truly,” Yuri continued. “So, y’know, that got me thinking, since there’s apparently that house-husband dude all the way back in Heartland, always keeping a watch over a certain other girl…”

“You, uh, have something planned, sir?” Eli asked as his superior’s voice seemed to trail off.

Yuri gave Eli a look. “Nah, I’m just spitballing–yes, duh I have something planned! What, you’re the guy always making plans from A to Z with $, %, and & contingencies and you didn’t have anything up your sleeve for this? For shame.”

Eli felt his face turn hot from the indignity. The assassin always prided himself on his work ethic, and hearing a person who spent most of his time lazing around all day like Daitokuji’s pet cat criticize him in that regard made his blood boil. He very much wanted to punch Yuri in the face, or knife him in the gut, but just barely managed to remember that, well, he was speaking to Yuri , not some Osiris dropout-boy.

“I…have a plan, sir,” Eli managed to say through gritted teeth. “I was, in fact, drafting it just now.”

“Well, you can take a load off tonight Smith, because I’m making the plan now!” smirked Yuri. “Isn’t it wonderful?” 

That little remark made Eli's thought dam break. "You?! A plan?!" He blurted out. "Am I supposed to believe a rabid tomcat who just has to always play with his prey before eating it, has the discipline to implement an actual strategy?"

"Ah, you actually let it out. Therapeutic, isn't it?" Yuri said with a flash of his teeth, quickly making Eli's mind realize he may have just jumped over the line. He started to sweat bullets, but Yuri just laughed. "But you'll see.  I'm just as capable of drawing up a plan as you, and I don't need nearly as much pen to do it."

Then, quick as a whip, and without Eli even registering the act until it was too late, the right-hand man of the Professor had already pressed a button on his Duel Disk and was downloading all of Eli’s collected data, bypassing all of the assassin’s personal firewalls and encryptions in a flash. 

“What are you–?” he began, but Yuri held up a hand.

“Quiet, please, doing work,” he said, keeping a level-face, but Eli, who felt his eye twitch, knew that the boy was deeply enjoying this from the tone of his voice.

“Hmm, hmm…Roget sending that idiot to Heartland? Wow you are way off the mark there,” Yuri chuckled, “let’s see, treaty draft, treaty draft, treaty draft, treaty draft, oh come on, is all the stuff in here PDFs of rejected old people papers? Eugh, delete.”

“Wh-what?! No!” protested Eli, but Yuri just shot him a pitying glance.

“My guy, if they’ve said ‘no’, is there any point in keeping this stuff here? You’ve got enough digital copies stashed somewhere else, why take up your duel disk’s memory with this junk? Oh, and deleting this, uh, what is it? 3D body case? …Actually, I don’t even know what this is, a caterpillar-shaped water tank?”

“That is a custom-made–!” Eli began, but Yuri beat him to the punch.

“Delete,” he smirked. “Okay, now, notes on one of Hamasaki’s, uh, pets…welp, delete. Then again you’re not the type of person to ever keep the good stuff in here anyways.”

“It’s against regulation to have filth in an Academia-owned hard-drive!” spluttered Eli.

“Street plans, street plans,” Yuri went on, ignoring Eli. “Well I can tell you at least one of THOSE is wrong. Now then, alright, notes on Roget, but like, why? I didn’t even know he was worth keeping notes on…ah, there we go!” he said, face briefly lighting up before a look of disappointment took over. “Why, this is the same stuff I read as before…dang. Yeah, you better leave this one to me, Smith. You haven’t gotten anything relevant down here at all! Delete.”

And with that, Yuri cut the connection his duel disk had established with the other disk’s very indignant owner. Eli trembled with rage, but did nothing. What could he do? Even if it weren’t against regulation, he knew better than to start a battle he couldn’t win. He had to keep calm. His indignation was just more entertainment for Yuri. Best not to give him what he was looking for.

Then again, what would happen when the tomcat grew bored?

“I’ve got my own plans for Fusion-kun and Butler-boy,” Yuri said, smiling as he turned away. “Just sit back and let me handle this one, Smith, and by the end of the week, the Professor will be up by one Ruri Kurosaki.”

The purple-suited enforcer then walked away in the dark corridors, his footsteps, and more terrifyingly, his sinister chuckling, echoing throughout the halls.

Eli didn't know if his job had just been made or less stressful, but if Yuri was actually getting to work, then maybe miracles could happen.

There were too many of them that night. Just way too many. Ultimately, Yugo had to back away into the area that the mysterious, horrible bloodthirsty army had cleared up, and settle in a burned-out, solitary building for the night.

He’d had to sleep in derelict shacks before if he got too far away from home, but these were…different, in a way. 

Damaged, burned, destroyed. Whereas it felt private and almost cozy back home, here, it felt…empty, as if all the life that had been present had just been drained away. It was unsettling to Yugo. As bad as things had been in the Commons, he never could’ve imagined destruction like this. A city burned to ash, attacked by giant monsters and bloodthirsty people who didn’t seem to care about status, just that they could kill you…

Maybe his home wasn’t all that messed-up, if places like this existed.

As Yugo got up, he slowly removed some planks of wood and sheet metal that he’d used to hide his D-Wheel; it worked well enough in areas with too much Security, and it seemed to work here as well.

That just made him think about what those people had said.

There were multiple Dimensions, and according to them, Yugo lived in the Synchro Dimension, and this was the Xyz Dimension, home to this new City, Heartland, a target by people from the Fusion-no, Him, wait, no, just Fusion Dimension, who wanted to make some kind of…what were they trying to make? An umbrella or something or other?

“Argh! This is so confusing!” He thought to himself. “Right now, what matters is that Rin’s stuck in a place like this and I have to find her!”

Thankfully, he’d managed to hide in an abandoned bakery, which, as luck would have it, still had some stale bread left in the packaging, so it was still edible. Honestly, it tasted better than even the actual fresh rolls from home, which just made him wonder why someone would want to destroy a place that made good food. Living in the Commons, wasting food at all was something even Yugo, a self-admitted idiot, would call stupid right there and then. Fasting due to a lack of food or needing to work on something he could get, but destroying it? Why would someone do that?

Still munching on the roll, Yugo stuffed as many of the leftovers into his D-Wheel as possible. He was gonna need as much energy as he could get, depending on how long he was stuck here. 

Poking his head out of the bakery’s destroyed windows, the ash-blanketed streets were empty and quiet, with absolutely no-one around. The silence was deafening after the chaos of last night, and if Yugo was being honest with himself, creepy.

It just made the sound of his D-Wheel being revved up all the more noticeable. Yugo even had to turn around, making sure that no-one heard him and was after him.

But no-one came.

So he began driving, and finally could get a full sense of the devastation in Heartland.

Almost every single building was covered with ash and soot. The further Yugo went, the more rubble he saw, to the point where he didn’t even know if this was supposed to even be part of an apartment, tower, or whatever.

“Rin? Rin! RIN!” He called out.

He cried and yelled for her until his throat went hoarse and dry from the yelling and the dust, but nothing. Not even an ambush from those soldiers.

Ultimately, he’d forced himself to slow down. Not out of exhaustion, he did have personal transportation, but because in-between his screaming and the dusty, sooty air, Yugo found himself unbearably thirsty. Unfortunately, the bakery had lacked potable water.

Which meant he was forced to try to find a source instead.

He drove into an area that might have been a park once. Gazing around, he saw what looked like the remains of a fountain, and saw, to his relief, a stream of water still pouring out of it. Unfortunately, he hadn’t remembered to bring any containers.

Still, water was water. He’d come back with some containers for later, but for now, he placed his lips to the stream, and drank as much as he could.

He didn’t know how much time passed. Thanks to all of the ash, the sun was completely hidden by a thick veil of gray, gray, and more gray. All he knew is that he had to spend a fair amount of time going back and forth, trying to remember where he was, making sure that he had all of his supplies. He hated having to spend time on something that wasn’t finding Rin…but he was thirsty and hungry, with the only upside being that thanks to his D-Wheel, at least he wasn’t exhausting himself too badly.

So he could at least resume his search fairly quickly.

But with how big Heartland seemed to be, looking like it surpassed the size of Neo Domino even as a big setting of ruins, even that seemed fruitless.

Eventually, he had to stop his D-Wheel and move on his feet to let out his frustrations. “ARGH!” Yugo complained, kicking at a fallen lamp post and immediately regretting it a second later, jumping up and down in pain.

His frustrations didn’t stop there, unfortunately. The day continued to pass with no progress whatsoever. The entire city seemed deserted. He only knew that night-time had come when a brief clear-up revealed a full, bright moon, and a pitch-black sky besides.

Which meant the young Riding Duelist had no choice but to return to his burned-out husk of a hideout, and camp out there once again.

“Rin…are you really here?” groaned Yugo to himself.

She had to be. Why else would Clear Wing bring him to this place?

Find Rin. Find Rin. Find Rin.

He repeated those words to himself, over and over, even as he slept, clinging to them as a lifeline.

He had to focus his mind. Focus it solely on Rin. All of their memories together. Every moment they shared. The good times, the bad times. Everything and anything…

“Yugo, Yugo!”

*SNORE*

“WAKE UP YOU IDIOT!” yelled Rin.

“Gah! AH!” Yugo cried, shooting up from his meager bed.

“For crying out loud, stop oversleeping!” Rin scolded, her hands to her hips. “Have you forgotten what day it is today?!”

Yugo blinked, looking at his friend. She was dressed in her white-and-pink Riding Duel outfit, her helmet on one of the dressers. Why was that? Wait…

The boy felt his lips tremble. “R-Rin? Is that you?”

Rin stared at Yugo. “Have you really forgotten what day it is?”

“Uhhh…”

“It’s the day of the Friendship Cup, remember!?”

Of course. How could he have forgotten? This was the very tournament he and Rin had spent their whole lives preparing for! And he’d chosen to oversleep? What was wrong with him?

“Right! I’ll get changed right away!” Yugo cried, jumping out of bed and grabbing his own Riding Duel outfit. 

He was as good as his word, quickly changing his clothes and grabbing Rin’s hand so they could get to the D-Wheel. Immediately, he put on his helmet, and once Rin was safely seated behind him, the garage door was opened, and they sped out into the streets.

“Alright! Get ready Jack, we’re coming for you!” Yugo cheered.

Rin gave no reply, her hands oddly rigid as she clung to his back. 

This made Yugo a little uneasy. Rin wasn’t exactly what Yugo would call cheerful , but she certainly had her moments that were just cute and not hot, or both, or however Yugo was thinking. But he expected her to at least pump up a little cheer after she’d woken him up.

“Hey, Rin–” Yugo began, turning his head, only to see something horrifying.

Rin’s eyes were glassy, and the reason why was clear.

Her body was starting to, incredibly, and disturbingly, fade away. Her arms had become transparent, and already her hands had vanished. Slowly but surely, so too were her legs.

“Y-Yugo…” she croaked weakly.

“RIN!” cried Yugo, his eyes darting around the highway, desperately trying to find something that would help her. A hospital? A doctor? One of those labs in those old comic books the Tops threw away?

“Yugoooooo, help…”

He was helpless to do anything but watch as she faded away.

“RIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNN!” wailed Yugo. “Come back! PLEASE!”

He stopped his D-Wheel, despite being in the middle of a road, which was thankfully (and strangely) deserted. Letting it fall, he ran back, hoping to maybe catch her, or find her, but…

“It’s useless you know,” said an oily and unpleasant voice.

Yugo turned back, blinking tears out of his eyes, as he saw that person. That person with the cloak, whose face was identical to his own.

“You’ll never find her,” he said, lips curling into an evil grin, one such that Yugo had never seen before on any human’s face. “I already have her.”

Rage filled Yugo’s face. “You bastard,” he growled. “GIVE HER BACK!”

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” the evil clone laughed, his cloaked body distorting, his face being consumed by darkness as everything around Yugo seemed to burn away. 

The ground around him crumbled, until it was just him on a lonely piece of broken road, versus an enormous creature of darkness, cackling at him in his face and voice.

“You will never find her. You failed her. You. Are. WEAK!”

“I’M NOT WEAK! I’M NOT!” Yugo roared in defiance, drawing a card from his deck.

“GO! CLEAR WING SYNCHRO DRAGON!”

Hearing his cry, Yugo’s ace monster took to the darkening skies, roaring as it attacked the shadow, which began to shift into a draconic form of its own as it moved to clash with Clear Wing.

There was a flash of light, and–

“GAHHHH!” Yugo screamed, waking up in a cold sweat.

He looked around, and it hit him.

His surroundings were rubble and ash rather than rot and dirt. His D-Wheel leaned against a wall covered in soot stains.

It had all been a dream. The one consolation was that more of the night sky had begun to clear up.

Not that it helped right now.

Yugo growled, before slamming his fist against one of the burned walls. “DAMN IT!” he screamed, not caring if anyone heard him.

The ashes were starting to clear away. At least for the moment. Once, the city of Heartland had been a breathtaking spectacle at night, the bright, colorful lights of the great metropolis contrasting nicely with the night sky and gorgeous blue waters of the sea.

Now, however, the only light that could ever come to this city, or any city in the Xyz Dimension for that matter, was those few moments when the sky cleared, and if the moon happened to be full.

This was one of those nights, but it wasn’t as if the full moon was revealing anything particularly pleasant.

That which had once been shades of turquoise, emerald, amber, and spinel were now all a uniform ashen gray, with the sea now choked with soot and debris. It was truly a sobering sight. But a necessary sight nonetheless for the sake of their goal.

Dennis Macfield liked to think he was a bit more steadfast than the average Academia grunt. Sure, they talked a big game when surrounded by the posters and the propaganda, but when it came to actually performing the necessary work, a sizeable segment…quieted. Not that they rebelled or showed any signs of insubordination. No. That was something very few dared to do. But many soldiers, when confronted with their deeds, became more or less a machine. Emotionlessly carrying out their orders with a certain dead energy. Those became useful cannon fodder. 

Another sizeable segment reacted differently to the carnage. Those embraced the brutality and tried to one-up each other with ever more vicious hunting games. Such zealots were also great cannon fodder. 

Dennis chose to be neither. 

It was one thing to merely be “possessed” by the vision of Academia, a whole other thing to examine it for what it was, face it without hesitation, and, through intelligent examination, come to the conclusion that, regardless of its flaws and horrors, it was right . Dennis was one of these. Not a naive fool, nor a bloodthirsty hunter. He was one who understood every aspect of his beliefs, the beautiful and ugly, but embraced it anyway. Someone who used his intelligence . 

Of course, he was certainly not going to speak about “intelligence” with present company right now.

Because while Kagami Akizora was usually considered the very definition of a nerd, the one thing the usually shy and withdrawn intelligence agent did take pride in was his booksmarts. And while Fuuga Mizumaru wasn’t exactly the definition of a barbarian, considering their long, mint-green hair lacked a single speck of ash, and their white coat and gray trousers were totally immaculate, the s’more half-stuffed in their mouth didn’t really indicate any kind of introspective thought right now.

Case-in-point, when they spoke up, “So, run this by me again. Dennis, you said that Yuri, Yuri , of all people, wanted us all together for some kind of plan of his? Since when does that creep make plans?”

Dennis sighed. “Well, first off, Yuri’s not that bad, Fuuga-senpai.”

“Not that bad?” Kagami gaped, his glasses slipping from his delicate face. “He’s the most terrifying person in all of Academia! He’s killed as many of our guys as he’s killed Resistance members! He makes all of our other scary agents look like cute figurines! How is he ‘not that bad’, Dennis?!”

The Entertainer shrugged his shoulders. “You just have to know him, I guess.”

Fuuga and Kagami looked at each other, but then said no more. Fuuga chomped up what was left of their s’more, while Kagami returned to examining the holographic display projected by his duel disk.

The trio of Phantasms had received a message from Yuri, commanding them to be at a set of coordinates based on Dennis’ last reconnaissance of a Resistance-run refugee camp. Based on that discovery, as well as a further check from Kagami’s intel, there was a very good chance that they had finally locked onto Ruri Kurosaki’s position. 

They’d all quickly been caught-up on events; Yuri had just completed a mission in Synchro, obtaining the third piece to the Arc Area Project, Rin, and it seemed now that Yuri, seemingly riding high on his success, was out to finish the mission that had eluded him and several others throughout this entire invasion, by capturing the second piece at long last.

That in itself was strange. Yuri rarely ever led missions. In fact, he barely participated in them. Usually he relied on Dennis as his gofer or messenger, and was otherwise a creature of whim who attacked the Resistance or any Academia dissenters whenever he felt like it. Even a mission as critical as this, even with orders from the Professor, would have been left to scouts before calling in Yuri to finish the job.

What in any of the four Dimensions had convinced the dragon-user to step up to the plate and take charge? It was a mystery to all of them, including Dennis.

Even more unusual was asking for the help of Fuuga and Kagami. Yuri considered the latter to be the biggest otaku and wimp in all of Academia, worth even less praise than Eli, while he tolerated the former for their quick wit and casual attitude. Only tolerated, of course. Regardless of the duo’s reputation as a skilled disguise artist-and-hacker combo, Yuri had never once approached them for assistance on, well, anything, at most just choosing to scare Kagami for fun despite the nine-year age gap between the two.

Then, there was a flash indicating a dimensional distortion, and Dennis left his speculations to focus on the man of the hour, who arrived, a brown cloak worn over his unique purple Academia uniform.

“You’re here, Yuri,” Dennis greeted warmly. “For a moment, I was starting to think this was a prank.”

Yuri’s smile widened slightly. “Well, I suppose you could call it a prank in some form. After all, we’re going to be setting up the biggest wild goose chase the Resistance has ever known, and then, poof, they’ll be wondering where Ruri went.”

Fuuga cleared their throat, causing Yuri to direct his attention over to the duo.

“Is that why you’ve called for us, sir?” they asked as Kagami hastily stood to attention.

“Right on the money, Fuuga,” chuckled Yuri. “It’s a fairly simple plan, you disguise yourself as some civilian, soy-boy over there keeps watch, Dennis directs me to the prey, and then I take the prey.”

Kagami flinched from the insult, while Fuuga considered Yuri’s plan. Dennis, for his part, was starting to wonder if this was a prank after all. He’d helped with a few prior schemes to capture Ruri, some much more thought-out than this, and they had failed for one reason or another. Hell, he’d even worked with Fuuga and Kagami before, and this, well…

“Uh, is that it?” he decided to ask.

Yuri snapped his fingers, as if he’d forgotten something. Dennis just knew that he hadn’t though. “Oh, right, forgot to mention the key to this scheme.”

And pressing a button on his duel disk, a holographic representation of someone who looked near-identical to Yuri appeared. The only difference was that he wore a white motorcycle outfit, and his facial expression was a bit goofier than Yuri’s.

Kagami jumped at seeing the doppelganger. “Th-that’s the guy from before!” he cried.

Fuuga face-palmed, while Yuri just grinned.

“Oho, so you two knew about him already?” he asked. “My, my, is someone being lax? I might have to take…disciplinary actions into my own hands then. Fair warning, I’m nowhere near as soft as Smith.”

“Well, at least you won’t read the procedure manuals to us while we die,” quipped Fuuga.

Yuri looked at the agent, who kept as level a face as they possibly could. Yet Dennis could see them sweating as Kagami cowered behind them.

Then, Yuri started laughing. “Ahahahaha! You get a pass for that, Fuuga,” he said casually. “Telling Smith about this is punishment enough for you two anyways. What did you think was more important? C’mon, tell me .”

That part sounded like a warning, so Fuuga answered, “S’mores sir. We were roasting s’mores.”

Once again, Yuri cackled at that. “Ahh! Yes, that IS more important! Hahaha! Ahhh…”

Silence fell as the three allowed Yuri to have his amusement. Dennis fought to keep a smirk off his face, not envying the duo whatsoever. Fuuga’s face remained outwardly calm, while their hacker friend seemed frozen, from what Dennis could see, anyways.

But, the laughter faded, and Yuri breathed in and out as he put his hands to his hips to explain his plan. “Alright, nitpicky loose-ends aside, this moron, appropriately named ‘Fusion-kun’, is the same as the goth-butler somewhere down there, and somehow ended up here in the Xyz Dimension. Everyone following?”

Dennis and his senior colleagues gave a nod.

“Now, if Smith were here, he’d probably say something like; ‘we’re going to eliminate that unknown factor from this mechanical equation here and now’ or something boring like that,” Yuri continued, making a rough exaggerated mockery of Eli’s deadpan Irish accent as he did so. “But me, I see something different. We can use this idiot to our advantage.”

It then seemed to click in Fuuga’s head as they gave an ‘ooooh’ sound. “I get it! We’re going to use this guy’s name and sudden appearance as a decoy to draw the Resistance away from Ruri!”

“Full points, Fuuga!” grinned Yuri, clearly enjoying the prospects of the mission. “And it just so happens that we have two experts here in the art of false-flag operations! You two will find Fusion-kun, see how he’s making the news around here, seed some rumors in the Resistance, and bada-bing, bada-boom, they’ll be too focused on hunting him down to notice when I snag Ruri.”

Fuuga only slightly deflated at the prospect of such a demanding assignment with so many moving parts, but they nodded in acknowledgement. Kagami gave a much quicker one, looking glad that Yuri hadn’t come to enact some elaborate trick on him.

“And you’ll want me to do my usual?” Dennis asked. “Just so you know, this is probably going to be the last time I can go incognito in the Resistance. They’ll get suspicious after this if I show up again.”

“Eh, Smith says you’ll be going to Standard after this,” Yuri shrugged. “So no skin off any of our bones, your secret identity will be safe, and I’ll get some…jollys.”

No-one voiced any questions at that. It didn’t take an expert, psychologist, or overly-obsessed author to know that the prospect of entertainment was the real reason Yuri had taken up leading this mission.

So Fuuga hoisted Kagami over their shoulder, and quickly sped down back into the ruins of Heartland, while Dennis and Yuri eyed the refugee camp below, ready to begin their assignment as the moon began to vanish behind the thick clouds of ash once more...

Day 2 of being in Heartland.

Yugo had barely gotten any sleep after his nightmare, slipping in and out of consciousness. He was usually a much heavier sleeper than that, but now? Not so much.

“Alright, this time, Rin…” he said to himself. “This time, I’ll find you.”

Now that he had some of the lay of the land, Yugo went to refill his water supply, checked his food, and began searching for something, anything in this City. At least he now knew where not to look.

Not that he knew where to look exactly . At this point, he would be okay, with, well, anything or anyone, but…

Wait.

Yugo stopped his D-Wheel. Something was wrong. He knew this feeling. The feeling you got when you were about to be mugged in the Commons.

It was actually good that he did stop, because then there was a loud CLANG, and Yugo saw, of all things, a katana embedded in the ground right in front of his D-Wheel.

“You there, identify yourself!” a voice called. Unfortunately, though Yugo could tell that the voice was female, he couldn’t tell where they were.

“What’s it to you?!” he snapped, letting his natural defensive instincts take over.

“Give us your name!” ordered another female voice. “We’ll decide if you’re friend or foe!”

Yugo gritted his teeth. Was everyone here out to get him? “My name’s Yugo! Now tell me who you are!”

Silence. And that silence stretched on for several tense seconds. 

Then, just like that, Yugo was suddenly blindsided as four roguish-looking girls, each with a noticeable red scarf worn somewhere on their bodies, all about seventeen or so, seemed to jump out from the ruined buildings, each of them brandishing their duel disks, surrounding the Riding Duelist. One of them, a girl with messy black hair that had the tops arranged to almost look like cat ears of all hairstyles, wearing an armored coat that made her look like a cross between a samurai and a delinquent, stepped forward, picked up the sword, and held it at Yugo.

“So,” she began, causing Yugo to recognize her as the one who had spoken up before. “I thought it was just stress from some of the refugees, but it's true. A Synchro Duelist aligned with Fusion.”

“My name’s YUGO, not Fusion!” he couldn’t help but scream, which only prompted all four girls to summon out monsters that Yugo had never seen before, cornering him.

“Shut your mouth,” hissed one of the other girls, a red-hair with tanned skin and raggedy-looking clothes and shorts. “You’re with Academia, you just HAVE to be!”

“We’ll give you one chance,” said another, a girl with spiked blue-and-black hair done up in a ponytail, wearing a blue jacket. “Come with us peacefully…”

“And we won’t take ye out!” finished the fourth, who was wearing a bandana on her head.

For a moment, Yugo considered the idea, after all, they might lead him to Rin. She herself would’ve given him that kind of advice. But right now, he wasn’t exactly in a talkative mood, so his response to this demand was…

“Shit, I don’t have time for this!” Yugo hissed, quickly turning around and accelerating in the opposite direction to get away from his opponents.

“After him!” ordered the black-haired cat-girl. “Don’t let the pawn of Fusion escape!”

“Who’s a pawn of Fusion!?” demanded Yugo.

The response was for three of the girls to start rushing at him. That in of itself was perplexing to Yugo. They didn’t have D-Wheels, yet they were sliding at him at decent enough speeds, their monsters following. 

Managing a quick look back before their monsters began to attack, Yugo saw, of all things, rollerblades on their feet. Since when could roller-skates keep up with a D-Wheel?! Yugo had heard jokes about D-Boards used by the Tops, but those were basically toys totally incapable of matching the speed of even a custom-built Commons D-Wheel! Yet here were a bunch of suped-up rollerblades easily capable of that!

“Damn it...SYNCHRO SUMMON!”

And so the on-and-off dueling began with Hi-Speedroid Kendama and Hi-Speedroid Chanbara working to protect their master from the relentless assaults until he was able to escape by skidding into an abandoned subway tunnel.

When he exited the tunnel, far away from his newfound enemies, Yugo dismounted his D-Wheel, and looked up to the ashen sky in sheer frustration. He seemed nowhere closer to finding Rin, and it seemed that no matter where he went, people were getting in his way.

“RARRRRGGGHHHH!” he yelled to the blackened heavens, slamming his fists into the ground.

That pretty much called it quits for the day, because now, anytime Yugo tried to make progress, he would suddenly be attacked by another one of these rogue duelists. He never got their names, and never stayed long enough to finish a duel with them. He had more important priorities.

But it was clear that he couldn’t stay in Heartland anymore.

So, Yugo now found himself camping out in the mountains where he’d begun his quest, ignoring the cries of his stomach for more food. He was used to going some fairly long periods without nourishment after all, and both he and Rin had had more than a few experiences sleeping on the streets whenever they strayed too far from home. 

He still had some of his provisions, but getting more was going to be hard, if not impossible now.

For a moment, he wondered if the two weirdos from before would be present, but they’d seemed to have cleaned up shop. All Yugo saw now was a two-day old used-up firepit that smelled more sweet than savory, much to his dismay.

There wasn’t much to the mountains, unfortunately. Yugo had to contend with sleeping in the shrubbery for some protection.

“Dang it…” he groaned.

“Ruri! Ruri!” cried his friend.

“####!” he said. “We won’t find her at this rate!”

“Damn it, so this was Academia’s plan from the start?!” #### growled. “First they bring in a pawn of Fusion from the Synchro Dimension, and now they’re starting to hunt her down!”

“######’s looking for her right now!” said #####. “If anyone can find Ruri, it’d be her!”

“That’s not good enough!” #### snapped. “Yuto! We’re going! And you had better not stop me!”

Of course he wouldn’t. They just needed a plan…but in this situation, it might  just be better to head out. They already had people on the lookout for the Pawn of Fusion. Best to search themselves. Hopefully, they would succeed in finding Ruri.

“I’ll take this route, you and the guys take the other!” he said. “I won’t let Academia take her away!”

With that, Yugo’s eyes snapped open as he woke up from a tangle in the shrubbery.

“PFFATT!” He yelled, spitting out an ash-coated leaf.

What…what was that?

He looked at his D-Wheel, and saw a faint green glow coming from it. Yugo immediately untangled himself from the shrubs, and hopped onto his D-Wheel, removing Clear Wing’s card. Yet as soon as he could tell that Clear Wing was glowing again, the glow faded away.

Yugo blinked. His instincts were telling him to return to the City. Something was going down…something that might be a clue to finding Rin.

Immediately, Yugo revved up the engine, and shot down the mountainside.

This, he imagined, was Day 3. Tempting as it was to take a familiar route, Yugo didn’t want to be cornered by any of those weird, rogue duelists again, and certainly not meet up with any of the uniformed whackadoodles. Still, that did make him think as he traversed the city, passing by yet more ashen, ruined structures.

“Just what is wrong with this town?” Yugo grumbled to himself, stopping his D-Wheel on the road he was taking. “And is Rin really here?”

“Rin, hey, Rin! Are you here? RIN! Can you hear my voice, RIN!”

But the only reply was the white rider’s echo.

Yugo sighed, looking around. There really was no sign of Rin anywhere. Not at the tops of the destroyed buildings, not behind or in front of him on the road, and nowhere near a street that was located on a lower level, where…

HIM.

Yugo’s blood boiled as he recognized his face. The face identical to his, now uncloaked to reveal a cold, determined face wearing a dark cape over a set of ragged gray-and-dark-green clothes. It was the evil twin from before. It had to be. 

“YOU!” The Synchro user roared. “I found you, you bastard! Don’t you even TRY running this time!”

The caped-duelist didn’t seem interested in Yugo’s inquiry, and replied with one of his own. “Are you with Academia?”

“...Huh?” Yugo asked, anger ebbing slightly from confusion, but only for a moment as his evil twin continued to speak.

“I heard something about Fusion! Are you the Pawn from Synchro?”

And just like that, the anger returned.

“Who’s Fusion?! My name is Yugo! And I’m gonna beat the hell out of you right now!”

With that, the Synchro user’s D-Wheel’s disk portion activated, emitting four prongs of green-light, arranged in a vague arrow-shape. 

Seeing this, the bastard activated his duel disk in response, revealing the blade to have the same purple color as the light it had emitted before. Yes. That was him. It HAD to be. Yugo was now completely sure of it.

“You ARE from Fusion!” Yugo’s opponent shot back.

“Listen to when people are talking!” the Synchro user roared, accelerating off the road and diving towards the bastard.

DUEL!

YUGO LP: 4000

OPPONENT LP: 4000

“I’m going first!” Yugo declared as his D-Wheel slammed onto the ground. “Since I don’t control any monsters, I get to Special Summon Speedroid Terrortop right from my hand, and since I summoned him, that means I can add another ‘Speedroid’ from my deck to my hand!”

A series of red tops, glowing with energy, and connecting to each other in a similar fashion to a centipede’s joints, arose to the field, levitating above their user.

Speedroid Terrortop/WIND/Level 3/Machine/Effect/ATK: 1200/DEF: 600

“And guess what, the monster I added? I’m bringing him out right now!” Yugo said. “I summon the Tuner Monster, Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice!”

The large golden single red-eyed dice monster manifested next to the top-centipede, pulsing as the orbs manifested.

Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice/WIND/Level 1/Machine/Tuner/ATK: 100/DEF: 100

Yugo raised his arm to his second monster. “I activate Red-Eyed Dice’s effect! I target another Speedroid I control, and then a level between 1 and 6, making that monster’s level equal to the one I pick! Meaning my Terrotop is now a Level 6 monster!”

The die pulsed again, with all six of its orbs shifting position to surround Terrortop instead.

Speedroid Terrortop/Level 6

“Alright you bastard, get ready! I tune the now Level 6 Speedroid Terrortop with my Level 1 Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice !”

The die-monster transformed into a green ring, while the tops faded into six stars that lined up inside the ring.

"Spread those wondrous and beautiful wings, and strike down your enemies at the speed of light! Synchro Summon! Appear now! Level 7! Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!"

From the star/ring formation, a horizontal beam of light burst from behind Yugo, flying upwards until a flash of green light shone through, and Yugo’s ace monster took to the skies, roaring viciously as it flexed its arms, flying behind its master.

Clear Wing Synchro Dragon/WIND/Level 7/Dragon/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 2500/DEF: 2000

“Synchro Summon…” The bastard-duelist said. “So, that confirms that there’s a pawn of Fusion working in the Synchro Dimension after all!”

“Will you shut up about that?” The white rider griped. “It’s getting fucking annoying! I set two cards face-down and end my turn!”

Two face-downs appeared on each side of Yugo’s D-Wheel, before vanishing.

“Alright you ass-wipe, come on! I’ll take down whatever you have!”

“Let’s see you try to back those words up!” the caped-bastard retorted. “Draw! I’m starting off with Twin Twisters ! I discard a card to destroy 2 Spells or Traps on the field, in this case, your face-downs!”

“Aw come on!” Yugo griped as Burning Sonic and Dragon’s Bind were blown away by two small tornadoes. He’d been hoping to use them to lock his opponent down, but instead his back row was already out of commission before he could even activate them.

“Next, I Normal Summon The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm !”

The bastard’s first monster was a silver, broken knight’s helmet and disembodied hands, with blue spectral energy leaking out of the construct. Yugo was able to see through the knight’s broken visor a blank, blue face with two dark spots for eyes, which he had to admit was slightly unnerving. 

The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm/DARK/Level 4/Warrior/Effect/ATK: 1500/DEF: 500

“I then activate the effect of the monster I discarded; The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak, in my graveyard! By banishing it, I can add 1 ‘The Phantom Knights’ card from my Deck to my hand! I choose to add The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine , and then set it face-down!”

The set card manifested, surprisingly enough in the Spell & Trap Zone, but Yugo’s foe wasn’t done yet.

“ The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine can be activated on the turn it is Set when I have no Traps in my graveyard! I will activate it right now!”

When the card flipped face-up, another blue-specter monster floated out of it, this time being a plate of steel-gray chest armor with blue flames emerging from where the limbs should’ve been located.

The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine/DARK/Level 4/Warrior/Normal/ATK: 0/DEF: 300 (Currently not treated as a Trap Card)

“Wait, what the hell?” Yugo spluttered. “Not treated as a Trap card? Since when do Trap Monsters do that?”

“My Phantom Knights aren’t regular Trap monsters,” the bastard replied curtly. “When they use their effects, they are not treated as Trap cards when summoned as monsters, freeing my Spell & Trap Zones for more of them! But that’s the least of your problems. I overlay my Level 4 Cloven Helm and Shade Brigandine !”

The two ghost-warriors turned into thick streams of purple energy, flying through the air until a galaxy-portal opened up in the middle of the dueling field, causing them to dive into it. Just as they did, a pillar of blue energy burst from the portal, and a massive creature began to emerge.

“Formed from pitch-black darkness, to fight those foolish enough to oppose it with its treacherous fangs! Descend now! Xyz Summon! Rank 4! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!”

A dragon, whose scales were colored in shades of blue and purple, roared, staring Yugo down. The creature had longer and more skeletal wings than Clear Wing, and was shaped a bit differently, being more bipedal in nature as it had two long legs that ended in fully formed feet. The claws were also adorned with two large blades, and the chest adorned with gray armor. A massive ram-like blade in-between two sharp tusks jutted out to serve as the beast’s chin, and its body was covered in purple-and-pink orbs.

Yet, despite the beast’s obvious differences to Yugo’s dragon...he still couldn’t help but feel that the beast was familiar, almost as if he was staring down another version of Clear Wing. A burning feeling, like heartburn, was building in Yugo’s throat, and he only felt more enraged staring at this relative of his dragon, wanting nothing more than to tear it apart.

Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon/DARK/Rank 4/Dragon/Xyz/Effect/ATK: 2500/DEF: 2000

“So first you copy my face, and now you copy my dragon?!” Yugo roared. “Who the hell do you think you are?!”

“I’m the one who is going to defeat you!” the bastard yelled back, rage taking his face over as well. Yugo didn’t know why though. What did Rin’s kidnapper have anything to get angry about?

“Go! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, attack! Lightning Disobey of Rebellion!”

Obeying its master, the purple dragon’s chin-fang glowed violently with blue energy, with electricity building in its wings, before it flew forward, aiming to kill its rival.

“Fight back! Clear Wing Synchro Dragon, Helldive Whirlwind Slasher!”

The white dragon roared back in defiance, and flew upwards into the air, building green energy in its wings, before spiraling downwards to face its opponent head-on.

The two dragons clashed, both seeming equal in power. When one moved, the other maneuvered perfectly to counter it. Yet it was a savage battle to determine which dragon would be on top. Which one would survive. Which one would be devoured by the other!

But they were equally matched in strength. One final head-on collision ended with a burst of energy that consumed both dragons, destroying them both and kicking debris and dust from the ruined city everywhere.

When it cleared however, both duelists were still standing tall, glaring daggers at each other.

“Damn it…” Yugo growled, hating how his field was bare.

“Over there!” a rough, male voice called.

Yugo looked forward and saw a boy around Tama’s height, dressed in a tight purple trench coat, running towards them, flanked by yet more duelists similar to the ones that Yugo had fought earlier, being dressed in worn-down, battle-scarred clothing that seemed to mix into the dark ruined city.

“Grrr,” growled Yugo. “Reinforcements.”

Yugo would’ve loved to tear the bastard’s allies apart. He really would’ve...but another set of instincts kicked in. He had no monsters to defend himself, and so if any of them decided to make a battle royale duel, it would probably not end well for him. 

With no other choice, Yugo revved up his D-Wheel’s engines, and stormed away, ending the duel with no result.

As he got farther and farther away, it began to dawn on Yugo that despite his hopes of finding Rin, he’d come no closer to doing so. She was nowhere near the bastard, meaning that she might’ve been somewhere else. The thought that he had just gone on a wild goose chase was immediately chased out of his mind. He couldn’t give up hope. Rin was out there, and he would find her!

He had to.

“I swear I’ll find you Rin! Count on it!” Yugo yelled to the sky, forcing away tears that threatened to form as a brilliant light consumed him and his D-Wheel…

“Did you find Ruri?” Shun demanded.

Yuto Oshiro slowly shook his head. He didn’t speak. He didn’t have to. Some part of him knew now that the enemy had won.

“Damn it!” growled Shun.

They had heard from several refugees that they had brought in the camp hidden in one of Heartland’s former stadiums, that a mysterious duelist on a motorcycle, named ‘Fusion’, had suddenly appeared during the last raid. At first it had seemed too outlandish a story, but the fact that the story could be collaborated showed that there was merit in investigating.

As well as dread.

The Resistance knew about the existence of the other Dimensions, they had to, given their enemies. But up ‘till now, Synchro and Standard were total unknowns. The fact that a Synchro Dimension duelist who answered to the word ‘Fusion’ had now appeared indicated that Academia had agents there as well, and they were starting to participate in the invasion. 

Which meant that they would have two worlds to fight, not one.

And it seemed that whoever this was had just helped Academia immensely. No more than a day had passed, and suddenly, Ruri had gone missing. Sayaka had volunteered to go find her, as had several others…but it was clear that this was no coincidence. This pawn of Fusion had come to help Academia kidnap Ruri. It hadn’t been the first time they’d singled her out, for whatever reason.

“We’re going to have to keep looking,” Yuto said at last. “This was clearly a distraction. We might still have a chance to find her.”

“Yeah!” cried the voice of Allen Kozuki. “We can’t stop here!”

Shun seemed to perk up from this, though Yuto could tell that he was not smiling underneath his facial bandana.

“Let’s go!” Yuto ordered, causing Shun, Allen, and the rest of their team to immediately turn heel.

They would find Ruri. They had to find her. Yuto had lost so many friends to Academia. He couldn’t lose Ruri as well.

Hiding behind the rubble, and now sneaking off, Yuri smirked to himself. That went by like a treat. It seemed Smith’s nerdy underlings could be useful after all.

Fuuga and Dork-chan both had disguised themselves as refugees, a tactic they’d used in the past, and could still rely on since the Resistance really couldn’t dismiss saving innocent civilians, so long as they weren’t caught.

It had been quite lucky that Fusion-kun had managed to run into a few of the prey already. That just made their plan work even better.

As predicted, the Resistance had sent out several of their members to scout out for who they now called the “Pawn of Fusion”. With QRT Code keeping track of them all, and Fuuga providing some false clues, by this time, Ruri had been isolated, with Dennis keeping an eye on her until it was time to collect.

Now, usually, Yuri had never really cared about schemes, finding it grunt work better left to Smith and the Otaku chick-wannabe. But…this one was different. He had heard it the instant he’d dragged Rin over to Academia, to be tormented by one of Smith’s long-complaints before being thrown in a specialized cell. 

His dragon, crying out. Now, Yuri was no stranger to his dragon’s voice (well, voice s plural). He prided himself on being the one at Academia with the greatest bond with his personal ace monster. Others might have had their quirks, but Yuri knew that his bond with Starve Venom Fusion Dragon was special.

It was hearing that voice, and learning that some random mooks had come back seeing his Synchro Counterpart, that had motivated Yuri for this.

Though, he had to admit, he was a bit disappointed. He’d succeeded in getting Fusion-kun and Butler to fight, but sadly, that fight seemed to lack…what was it? Oh right, ‘OOMPH’. He’d wanted a more violent clash than what he had seen, and had been tempted to join in himself, if it hadn’t been for the pesky Resistance.

Ah well. Somehow he knew that this was far from the end. …And honestly, that idea gave him the greatest amount of pleasure and anticipation of them all.

“So, are you ready?” came a message. “I have Ruri’s coordinates for you.”

Yuri sneered as he saw how easy it would be to capture his prey. It was time for the real fun to begin.

“You go on and head home, Dennis. Leave the rest to me.” Yuri typed.

He licked his lips. This had been a very interesting day indeed.

“Yugo!” called a familiar voice.

Yugo opened his eyes, looking at where he was.

He was home.

It was early morning, and he was home again. Miss Kimura ran up to him, with Pedro and his little sister following behind.

“Where have you been?!” his caretaker cried, embracing her charge. “You and Rin have been gone for three days!”

Three days. He’d been away from home for three days…

And had come back completely empty-handed.

“Rin was…” Yugo trailed off, his bravado from his prior declaration already trailing away.

“Was what?” the boy asked, instinctively grabbing onto the younger girl.

“She was kidnapped, okay? Are you happy?!” he yelled. “She got taken by some bastard who looked like me and now she’s gone!”

Yugo had heard that men should never cry; these people claimed that it showed weakness. But Yugo didn’t give a damn about that right now. Right now, his strength just seemed to leave him, and he was left bawling over the shoulder of the one person he and Rin could really call a guardian, with one of the few friends he and Rin had outside of the orphanage lending a hand.

He told them the full story, of course, leaving them in a state of disbelief at how outlandish it was...but considering the evidence that it had indeed happened before their eyes, they really had no choice but to accept it.

The story reached Marco and Tama’s ears, and both offered condolences, however they could.

“I’m…oh Nordic Gods, I’m sorry, Yugo,” said Marco. “I–I know what it’s like to lose someone close to you.”

“Rin’s not dead!” protested Yugo, but really, the end-result was obvious.

She wasn’t in his life anymore. She’d been cruelly and evilly ripped away from him.

For his part, Tama was silent, but said that he would put all of Yugo’s payments on his tab. He could be repaid later. Ideally when Rin came back because Tama did not trust Yugo with money.

“So…yeah…I don’t know what else to say, dude,” he said sympathetically. 

“So much for your ‘plan’!” Yugo couldn’t help but say bitterly.

He almost expected Tama to retaliate, but the mechanic merely looked to the ground in shame instead. “That’s on me then.”

Maybe it would’ve been better if he’d punched Yugo. At least that way he’d have something to scream at instead of the horrible realization that he’d failed.

Failed.

Failed.

FAILED.

Miss Kimura did attempt to file a Missing Persons report, but Security barely paid it any mind. People disappeared all the time in the Commons, they reasoned, either because of gang violence, human trafficking, forced conscription into the underground labor camps, or because they were thrown into the Facility for life and never seen again.

The caretaker was usually a calm and amiable person, but even she had her limits. Thankfully, she was able to calm herself, knowing of Security’s rather heavy-handed retaliations against even the most minor of complaints.

It still just kept hammering into Yugo’s head about how powerless he was.

He knew, at least, that Rin wasn’t dead. Why put so much effort into kidnapping her? Especially when Yugo had seen the deed.

That, at least, gave him hope.

He needed power, he needed to look. He couldn’t stay in one place forever.

So he spent his days tearing through the streets, mind bent on finding Rin’s kidnapper, but no luck.

Yugo knew, deep down, that his only method of finding Rin was Clear Wing’s mysterious power to teleport himself in-between dimensions, but much to his chagrin, it never worked when he wanted to. He tried all sorts of measures and plans to get Clear Wing’s powers to work, but none of them even got a glow out of the card.

When he tried asking Tama about it, the only response was, “My man, I work with machines, I don’t know anything about magic, glowing ace monsters!”

“It’s my only lead!” argued Yugo.

“And I don’t know anything about it!” Tama stressed. “Your only hope would be a library, and none of us exactly have the means to get a card there!”

So that meant Yugo needed to find out what that method was.

Bit by bit, Yugo began discarding that which he considered unimportant in his quest to find Rin. He spent less time at home, and more time on the streets. He didn’t pay much attention to local news, tuning out anything that he considered a distraction. He ate only when his stomach couldn’t take much more, and he found himself sleeping less and less.

One night, Yugo was resuming yet another high-speed rage ride. If anyone happened to take a closer look at the boy, they would see heavy bags underneath his eyes, and a crazed, almost desperate look. They might’ve even seen a pale-green light sparkling on and off from his eyes as well. His clothes were messy, or at least messier than usual, and his D-Wheel, once polished, was coated in grime.

“I’ll find you Rin...I’ll find you…” Yugo whispered softly, trying to keep his eyes open.

He started down another street, recognizing it as the one that would take him down to Tama’s garage. He mentally went over the route he could take there to go home, but if he did that…

“No! Gotta find Rin! Need to find...her…”

Yugo felt his stomach growling. He hadn’t eaten for awhile...but he was used to it. He could go another night without any food. Without any fruits...or even some nice, juicy meat…

He shook it off, accelerating so that he could jolt himself awake with the incoming wind. And indeed, this would’ve worked…

Had it not been for the fact that there was a sharp turn up ahead, and in Yugo’s way was a tough wooden fence. Of course, he blasted through it no problem...but as a large number of discarded trash bags, associated refuse, and random bits of concrete were scattered behind it, his momentum quickly ended as he crashed, causing him to slam onto the ground, helmet dangling from his head.

“R-Rin...I’ll save you...don’t worry…”

And then darkness overtook him.

“Is he okay?”

“He wasn’t too badly bruised when I found him. Miss Kimura’s getting him some soup now. Damn that idiot, he cost me my last two cups of Red Demon’s Noodles!”

“Is this really the time for that?”

“Well, no, but stupid costs extra. In this case, extra for me.”

“Dude, you know what he’s going through right?!”

“No shit, of course I know, and I also know–”

“Quiet! Both of you!”

“Y-yes sensei…”

“Um, right, ma’am…Sorry ma’am.”

Slowly, Yugo opened his eyes. He looked around. Surrounding him were Miss Kimura, frantically preparing something warm in a bowl, and a very ashamed-looking Pedro and Tama. Yugo noticed that he had been dressed in his casual clothes of a plain blue t-shirt and gray shorts, and there was no sign of his riding suit.

“Where am I?” he murmured.

“Oh, thank goodness, you’re awake!” Miss Kimura sighed with relief.

“You feeling okay, dude?” Pedro asked.

“I swear...we can’t leave you alone for one second without you doing something stupid,” Tama sighed, shaking his head.

“One more word out of you, mister, and I’ll kindly ask you to leave my orphanage this instant!” Miss Kimura snapped.

Quite clearly intimidated, Tama backed away, letting the caretaker fuss over Yugo. Without hesitating, she shoved a bowl of hot noodle-soup (Which Yugo recognized as Red Demon’s Noodle) in front of him, along with a banana, glaring at him with a look that mixed anger and worry. Feeling a twinge of shame, Yugo silently picked at his food...until he realized how hungry he was and began chowing down on the hot meal, almost choking until a glass of water was handed to him, allowing him to force it all down, before taking a deep breath.

Everyone was silent as Yugo finished eating. Once it was clear that he had swallowed it all and there was no risk of him gagging again, the verdict was passed.

“I can’t believe you were found in such a state!” Miss Kimura scolded. “Dirty, half-starved, and lying in a pile of rubbish to boot!”

“I was looking for Rin!” Yugo protested, but the caretaker put up her hand.

“And she would NOT want you to die!” she yelled back, causing everyone to balk.

It was rare for Miss Kimura to ever raise her voice, and whenever she did, it made everyone, even someone as snarky as Tama, or as angry and defensive as Rin, clam up and listen.

The caretaker took a deep breath to calm herself, then gave her instruction. “Now, you are going to stay and recover. Once you are back on your feet, you’ll stay here and help with the chores. You’ve neglected them for too long. You are not to leave the orphanage for two whole weeks. I’ve already asked Tama to store your D-Wheel and riding uniform until then, so don’t get any ideas about sneaking out!”

Yugo was speechless.

“B-but Sensei, I have to save Rin!” he cried. “I don’t know what that weird bastard did with her! I don’t even know if she’s okay!”

“No talking back. young man!” Miss Kimura said firmly. “Just…listen, Yugo, alright?”

“But!”

“No ‘buts’!” she reprimanded sternly. “Yugo, listen, do you think it will do Rin any good if she learns that you’ve died looking for her? Think about how that would make her feel! You’re not going to save Rin by driving yourself raggard! Instead, you are going to get a good night’s sleep and a hard day’s work starting tomorrow, and that is final, Mister!”

“But-” Yugo tried, only to start feeling sleepy.

“I didn’t think that over-counter stuff would ever kick in…” muttered Tama from the corner.

“C-c’mon…” Yugo yawned. 

His bed was just so comfortable...he almost forgot what it was like to sleep in one...and his tummy felt nice and warm too.

“See you in the morning champ,” winked Pedro, but the expression on his face wasn’t his usual peppy grin, but rather sad and morose.

“Yeah...g’night…” Yugo managed to get out before he got knocked out cold.

Next morning however, he shot up from his bed, and was scrambling to find his D-Wheel, only to find Miss Kimura, Pedro, and Marco instead, with Pedro handing Yugo a broom and a note from Tama (filled with complaints, before casually informing Yugo of the punishment he’d been handed).

It didn’t help that a crowd of the younger orphans was standing behind him, looking at him with very anxious faces.

Yugo would readily admit that he was an idiot...but even he was able to get the message.

He felt incredibly guilty that he wasn’t able to resume finding Rin, and even more so that he was locked up for even trying. He found himself doing twice the normal amount of chores that before, he and Rin would do together (If they were able to coordinate, but while they could work in tandem around complex machinery, regular household duties were a whole other story), as well as helping Miss Kimura with duties that he’d previously neglected.

Not only that, but Pedro cheerfully came down a few times, requesting Yugo to help him with some of his and Marco’s work as well, specifically stating that it at least came with a cost-free lunch (Though he’d have to work his keep to get a proportionate amount of food). Yugo would’ve preferred saying ‘no’, but Pedro, with that same smile on his face, informed Yugo that his compliance wasn’t a factor.

So Yugo found himself either helping to lug around trash (With a cart, not a D-Wheel), help fix broken doors, windows, and stairs, or just work with hard labor construction jobs, on days whenever Pedro and/or Marco dropped by.

He tried to escape over to Tama’s place during one of these ‘excursions’, but the young mechanic resorted to assaulting Yugo with his wrench in order to keep him out, before hauling the prospective Friendship Cup duelist back over to the orphanage.

Needless to say, Yugo did ultimately understand what they were doing (Which was helped by the fact that he was on a regular eating-sleeping schedule again), but that didn’t mean he particularly found the “lesson” to be enjoyable. As soon as the two weeks were up, that night he made a beeline over to Tama’s place, whereupon he found his D-Wheel to be…

“Completely polished?” Yugo gaped as he observed the machine. It was completely clean, with not a speck of grime to be found.

“Honestly, the fact that you let it get that dirty is disgusting,” Tama grunted. “Seriously dude, take maintaining your D-Wheel more seriously. I can give you a full list of the problems beyond dirt smearing the paint.”

He did in fact via a clipboard. Yugo grimaced as he looked over the results of how his mad searching for Rin had taken a heavy toll on their D-Wheel.

While he did so, Tama capped off the ‘moral of the story’. “I don’t think Rin’s going to give a damn if you show up to save her all covered in mud or whatever nasty stuff you crawl in, but being all skeletal and riding a vehicle that looks like it’ll rust and break apart any second is a whole other story.” 

Yugo found himself imagining that…

“Rin…RIN!” Yugo’s skeleton rasped as his D-Wheel emerged from the depths of the swampy underworld.

“AHHHHHH!” Rin screamed before running away back to the nice friends she made in whatever other Dimension she’d been trapped in. 

“Yeah, yeah…” Yugo muttered, causing Tama’s eyebrow to twitch furiously at Yugo brushing him off.

“Listen to me when I’m talking to you!” he barked.

“Nah, I get it,” Yugo replied calmly. “Thanks. Seriously, I mean it. You guys kept me from self-destructing.”

“Well, for all the good that did, you’re welcome,” Tama grunted, shrugging his shoulders. “So what are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to put our D-Wheel back home and get some sleep so that first thing tomorrow, I can get back to finding Rin!” Yugo replied as he drove off.

Tama looked at the distance with bemusement, shaking his head. “Well, they say you can never dampen the enthusiasm of a moron.”

As Yugo drove into the night, he started to hear an echo in his head. It was faint at first, so he thought he was hearing another rider, such as Vera or whoever but the echo turned into something far stronger and clearer than a person’s voice or the sound of an engine. 

Yugo recognized the sound of a dragon’s roar…

Clear Wing’s roar…

Then, in his duel disk, a bright green light began to glow, and the roar of the dragon became even stronger.

“Wait, is...is this…” Yugo asked, not daring to hope.

But it was. The light became brighter, and Yugo immediately accelerated, knowing what was happening. 

“Alright, I get it...let’s go Clear Wing! Let’s beat that bastard to a pulp!”

Yugo drove in the light, feeling himself get transported at long last. He didn’t know where he would end up, but he knew that when he did, he would be ready for anything that got in his way. The path before him was clear, and nothing could stand in his way!

Except, as it turned out...there was something in his way.

A large, sturdy lamp-post.

CRASH!

“Oh come on!” Yugo griped, ripping his helmet off as he surveyed the damage.

Thankfully, it seemed that whatever alloy Tama had used to refurbish the front of the D-Wheel was much more resistant than the previous one, as there was barely a scratch on the motorcycle. The same could not be said for the lamp-post, which had been totaled and fallen like a great oak tree.

“Geez…” Yugo muttered as he looked up and saw…

There, on a gazebo, stood the opponent from before.

Anger and determination flooded Yugo’s mind.

“I found you, you bastard!” he growled. “Last time we got interrupted, but not this time!”

He was ready. 

To say that the past 24 or so hours of Yuzu Hiragi’s life had been chaotic was an understatement.

Then again, her whole life had been chaotic for the past month or so.

It had all started from a simple duel offered to her friend, Yuya, to duel against the world champion, Strong Ishijima, who had only won his title by default due to the mysterious disappearance of Yusho Sakaki, Yuya’s father. 

There, backed into a corner, Yuya had suddenly unveiled a completely unknown summoning technique to win the day…a victory that had been short-lived when the people lining up to register for You-Show Duel School quit in disgust, believing that the Pendulum Summon, as it was called, was some exclusive trick to him. 

The days that had followed were hardly any better. A total jerk from LDS, Shingo Sawatari, had tried to steal Yuya’s Pendulum Cards, and then You Show’s newest student, Sora Shiuin, well…suffice to say his enrollment had been messy. 

But it was the appearance of that mysterious boy in a black outfit, named Yuto, that was the most shocking. Not just because his Duel Disk was somehow able to generate Real Solid Vision outside of a duel arena, not just because he’d suddenly appeared out of nowhere, but because he shared Yuya’s face. Swap out their clothing, and the two looked identical.

It had all culminated in the Miami Championship. Sora had turned out to be some sort of psychotic student from a terrifying force in what was, shockingly, a duel school from another Dimension entirely, known as Academia, attacking Shun Kurosaki, who had come from the same Dimension as Yuto, apparently engaging in some kind of ‘Hunting Game’ where the losers were turned into cards.

As if that wasn’t enough, during that tournament, Yuzu had encountered a girl who shared her face just as there was someone who shared Yuya’s face, and that was Selena, from the Fusion Dimension, who apparently believed that these horrible attacks were justified in pursuit of some noble cause. Yuzu had had to explain how that wasn’t the case, and to prove it (and to shake off pursuers looking for Selena), the two had swapped clothes, with Selena told to confirm that brutality with Shun.

What followed was probably the most horrific experience in Yuzu’s life as the one from the Fusion Dimension who shared Yuya’s face, who called himself ‘Yuri’, appeared. As an opponent, he was utterly terrifying and sadistic. Yuzu hadn’t succeeded in inflicting a single point of damage on him, and was forced to flee in desperation.

She’d lost all hope, begging for Yuya to save her…

But instead, now she was on the back of something called a D-Wheel, stuck in what was called the Synchro Dimension, at the mercy of a boy named Yugo, who, like Yuto and Yuri, also shared Yuya’s face.

And right now, they were stuck escaping from, of all things, the police for daring to trespass on some ‘higher’ property, to the point where Yugo had had to engage in a type of dueling on a motorcycle that Yuzu had never seen before, to hold them back, and then perform trick after trick to get away for good.

But even after descending the highways and entering the Commons where he lived, the boy was still driving recklessly and quickly. Far too fast for Yuzu’s liking, and, of course…

“Why are we still going so fast?!” she screamed. “If Security’s after us, won’t driving this fast tell them where we’re going?”

“I’ve driven this fast on these streets plenty of times!” responded Yugo. “Besides, we need speed to get away from them! Just need to find a hiding place!”

Yuzu wasn’t at all familiar with where they were, but Yugo clearly was. He seemed to see a place that caused his eyes to gleam, and he accelerated once again.

“OH COME ON!” Yuzu wailed, but it did no good as Yugo sped down a narrow street, then braked just as suddenly.

“Alright, this place’ll do!” he said.

“I-is it over?” whimpered Yuzu, holding onto the edges of the D-Wheel for dear life, even though they’d clearly stopped.

“Well, it’s not over by a long-shot if Security’s still out there, but at least we’ve got a place to hang low for the night,” said Yugo, before walking up to a door and knocking on it. “YO! TAMA! I NEED SOME HELP!”

Looking up at where they were, it looked like some kind of small, personal garage situated underneath an apartment of some kind. The place wasn’t marked, so it just looked like any of the other buildings in the slums…

Slums…

Yuzu had, of course, heard of poverty. It was taught in her classes, and Miami City did have one or two bums lying around…but experiencing or seeing it on this scale was something else.

An entire civilization built on Winners and Losers. Almost like the way Academia seemed to work, except you traded death for starvation. The thought made her shudder.

Yugo, for his part, kept banging on the door, until a voice from the other end yelled: “Go away! I don’t help criminals!”

“Oh come on, Tama, don’t be like that!” protested Yugo.

“I saw the news!” ‘Tama’ shot back. “You and Rin can lovingly reunite in a nice alleyway somewhere that ISN’T here. I don’t have any protection for you two to use! And Rin, you’re forking over your boyfriend’s tab!”

“G-GAH!” blushed Yugo, his face turning red-hot. “Th-that’s not it all! F-for one, I didn’t actually find Rin! A-and we aren’t boyfriend or girlfriend!”

“Oh, so you’ve moved on, fantastic,” Tama drawled. “Now go away so I can go back to sleep.”

“This is serious!” protested Yugo. “She looks like Rin, but she isn’t!”

“Oh, sure!” a boy with tanned skin and dark hair that looked to be about Shun’s age grumbled, opening the door with one of the most sour expressions Yuzu had ever seen, before he set his eyes on her. “Yeah, no, the jacket looks like something Rin shoplifted from wherever the serial killer dude was from, but that’s definitely her!”

Yuzu was more than a bit startled…but even moreso when Yugo suddenly ran over and removed the helmet she was wearing. “No! C’mon! See? She’s Yuzu, not Rin!”

Tama gave Yugo a flat look. “...So when I call Security to pull you in, should I specify that you need to be in a padded cell or…”

“Oh come on! I’m telling the truth!” Yugo complained.

“And I also saw you get in trouble with Security!” said Tama. “Seriously, why did you pick a fight with them? Especially when we talked about them being suspicious before Rin got kidnapped? This is the EXACT reason we tried to stop you, and you go and do it again the moment you’re free! Idiot!”

Yuzu was more lost than ever (and she’d thought she and Yugo had managed to catch each other up), but slowly climbed down the D-Wheel nevertheless to interrupt the two boys’ arguing. “Um, wait, what do you mean by that, exactly?”

Tama looked at Yuzu as if she was some kind of two-headed freak. “...Y’know, the destruction of the market district? Mister Zou ascending to heaven because an evil doppelganger of Yugo killed him and a bunch of other vendors before whisking you off to…wherever you were sent. We had a whole thing about it? I outright laid out a plan!”

“Yeah! Hiding low, and that turned out REAL good!” Yugo snapped.

“Well, you got Rin back in the end, so it worked!”

“I’M NOT RIN!” Yuzu screamed, before holding a hand up to her mouth, afraid of being overheard by Security.

Yugo put his hands to his hips in smug triumph. “See? She says so.”

“...right…” Tama replied, eyes narrowing. “Okay. I’ll play along. Just let me ask a couple questions. Favorite ice-cream flavor?” 

Yuzu blinked. “Uhh…Lavender?”

Tama looked at Yugo. “What the hell kind of ice-cream flavor is that? Some Tops gourmet option?” 

Yugo just shrugged, so Tama looked back at Yuzu, before stepping out of his apartment/garage and folding his arms, eyes narrowing in seriousness.

“How do you usually beat up Yugo for being an idiot?”

“HEY!” Yugo protested, but Yuzu just gaped at Tama, not knowing whether or not pulling out her harisen fan was an appropriate answer or not.

Seeing that he wasn’t getting an answer, Tama changed tactics. “Main attribute of your Deck?”

“L-LIGHT?”

“Ace monster?”

“M-Mozarta the Melodious Maestra.”

“Name of the last female duelist you fought.”

Yuzu blinked. “Solo, or in a tag-match?”

Instead of specifying, Tama narrowed his eyes, before looking at Yugo. “...So…I’ll let you two in, and uh, you can catch me up.”

“Finally!” Yugo exclaimed.

Yuzu was still lost.

But she was very appreciative of the hot tea that Tama boiled for them once they’d successfully brought Yugo’s D-Wheel into the garage. A hot drink was just what Yuzu needed to wind down after the sheer flurry of activity she’d been through. Tama only had a simple metal folding table with foldable chairs, but they might as well have been anchored to the ground for Yuzu after having to ride on that horrible motorcycle.

“So…” Tama grumbled, sitting down. “Fill me in.”

Yugo attempted to, but he kept tripping over his words, forcing Yuzu to pitch in. Thankfully, she was able to organize it all much better than he could. Tama took a little while to come around to as heady a concept as “interdimensional war” but after submitting herself to more of his tests and questions, along with an actual Fusion Summon, he eventually relented. She also learned a few details that Yugo had left out; it seemed that Yuri’s hunt for Rin had involved him going after numerous innocent people (something Yuzu confirmed to Tama’s clear dread by unveiling the carded forms of Olga and Halil), and that Tama, after formally introducing himself, suspected that Security was in on some sort of conspiracy after Yugo and Rin had participated in a local tournament. 

“Problem is,” the mechanic sighed, “I can’t tell if this was deliberate or just a symptom of the Tops’ usual paranoia of the Commons. But Security hasn’t broken down the door yet, so it might be the latter? At this point, I don’t know.”

He looked at the cards Yuzu had placed on the table, and rubbed his hands on his face. “This is just peachy. So in addition to the usual problems, we’ve got an entire Interdimensional War hanging over our heads. I might as well start investing in a safety bunker at this rate.”

“Hey! We know more than before, that’s gotta mean something!” protested Yugo.

“Didn’t you already tell him that your magic bracelet isn’t controllable or something?” Tama sighed, directing his gaze at Yuzu.

“It only activates like this whenever I’m near someone who looks like Yuya, or whenever he’s nearby,” she replied. 

Tama raised an eyebrow and looked at Yugo. “Seemed like it worked just fine with Yugo in his place. And wait, if your bracelet can do that, why couldn’t Rin’s? She had one too, but it didn’t do shit to banish Yuri out of our lives or anything like that.”

Yuzu looked at her bracelet. Just when she thought she’d started getting some handle on how it worked, here was a new puzzle to mull over in her head. “I…don’t know. I’ve only just started learning how mine works.”

“Look, at least we know who we have to fight, that’s good, right?” Yugo asked. “And if that creep shows up here again, this time we’ll know how to deal with him! I’ll beat his ass and make him take me to Academia and save Rin!”

For a moment, Yuzu felt her heart stop. Why did she feel such dread at that idea? Defeating Yuri should have been obvious, but a feeling in her gut told her not to let such a duel happen.

She knew that Yuya now held Yuto’s dragon…what if something similar happened if Yugo and Yuri fought?

“And how the hell are we even going to find this guy if he can just teleport wherever he wants to in the multiverse?” groused Tama. “Plus, if Academia is invading other Dimensions, we might want to consider what that means for our home as a whole. It won’t matter if you save Rin only to come back home to a pile of ash.”

Yugo deflated at this, and Tama turned to the upper floors of the garage. “And anyways, before we can tackle that problem, we’ve got the issue of you two being fugitives right now. …So…ugh, Nordic Gods…for now, you two might as well sleep here. I don’t have any sleeping bags though, so you’ll have to make do with some old blankets I’ve picked up here and there. You can try heading home in the morning, but just do NOT get seen, got it?”

“Don’t worry, we won’t get caught, you can count on me!” Yugo said with a thumbs-up.

Tama looked at Yuzu. “You have my condolences, girl. I do hope you have experience with idiots.”

Yuzu sighed. “I have one at my home.”

“Please don’t take this the wrong way then, but I pray I never meet him. One moron is enough,” Tama said as he left to get the blankets.

Yuzu didn’t, of course, while Yugo kept griping at the mechanic. Instead, she chose to focus on finishing her tea, and when Tama brought the blankets, was quick to lie down, hardly surprised at how exhausted she was.

She had so many questions right now. More than ever, if she was to be honest. What was to be her fate? Would she ever reunite with her friends? Would she see Yuya again? What did this Dimension have in store? And when would they have to fight Academia again?

Answers that, sadly, could not be answered right now, as Yuzu drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V RE-TURN

Episode 56: The New Factors: Security and Acceleration Institute

“Nggghh…”

Slowly, Yuya stirred, opening his eyes. Groaning, he got up from his bed, and stretched. On his desk was his deck and duel disk, and on the floor: En, Core, Kilo, Watt, Polka, and Dot, all still sleeping. En stirred a bit and rolled over slightly, but the little corgi ultimately remained asleep.

Yuya gave a small smile when he saw the pets. He’d gone right to bed after dinner, exhausted after the past few days, so he’d probably forgotten to close his door, allowing them all in. Nevertheless, the sight was a welcome one.

Especially with the journey that was ahead of him.

He started his prep the way he would any morning before a duel, relying on any and all familiar motions to his routine. Washing his face, grabbing his deck and duel disk, and sliding down the pole in his house in place of a staircase for breakfast. 

His mom had prepared a full stack of pancakes. The last stack he’d get to eat for quite some time.

“Eat up!” she said. “You can’t duel on an empty stomach! I made these Wheat Pancakes with one of Micchy’s breakfast recipes!”

“They look delicious, mom!” Yuya said, feeling especially grateful.

His mom’s cooking was as delicious as he’d anticipated, and Yuya made sure to savor every bite of each individual pancake. Reaching for a glass of orange juice, Yuya chanced to look at the empty seat where Sora used to sit every morning and a pit quickly formed in the young Entertainment Duelist’s stomach as he was reminded about what he was about to set off to do.

That he was going to cross Dimensions, not just to find Yuzu, but also defeat an evil empire that used dueling to wage war. An empire that Sora had been a part of.

Yuya felt himself staring off into space as the memories from the Battle Royale surged back into his mind, remembering the cruelty of the Obelisk Force, and the moments of his final duel with Sora…as well as the pitch-black rage he’d felt seeing it all in action, trying everything he could to stop it, this horrible perversion of the Entertainment Dueling his father had taught him.

“Is something wrong, sweetie?” 

Yuya blinked, and saw his mother at the sink, washing up some of the dishes. Realizing that he’d stopped mid reach for the orange juice, he quickly grabbed the cup.

“E-everything’s fine mom!” he replied.

Everything wasn’t fine. But Yuya resumed eating his breakfast, thinking for a moment to chew a bit slower, to savor this normalcy for just a little bit longer.

Yet no matter his mood, Yoko Sakaki’s cooking was too tasty and filling to just pick at, and Yuya still found himself eating every bite sooner than he had hoped.

Putting down his fork, Yuya took a deep breath as he looked at the door. Once he stepped out, that was it. It would be time for his…well, mission to begin.

“You ate them all up!” smiled Yoko. “If I’d known you’d have such an appetite, I’d have made more!”

He fought back his tears, and then immediately hugged his mother. He didn’t want to upset her, but knew that he was going to be leaving soon. He wanted at least one final moment with her.

As usual, Yoko seemed to understand, and returned the hug.

“I believe in you, Yuya, don’t forget what I taught you,” she said softly.

Nodding, Yuya embraced his mother for a few more precious moments, before slowly breaking away, and taking a deep breath as he grabbed his duel disk. “I won’t!” he said.

Finally, still with a heavy heart, Yuya exited the house, where outside along the road, a member of LDS’ Elite team was waiting, opening up a door to a limousine, beckoning for him to come in.

Yuya had honestly never imagined himself riding in a limo before, but if he did, he’d have expected it to be after some enormous win in the Pro-leagues, not to get shipped out for war. Neither the driver nor the LDS Guard spoke, which made it simultaneously more and less awkward for Yuya. He resisted the urge to fidget and squirm, instead doing his best to simply look out the window and at Miami City for what would be one final look for a long time.

But they reached Leo Corporation with no issue. When they did, Yuya was told by the guard to give him his duel disk for mechanical upgrades, and directed to head for one of the elevators, where, when he was just about to get in…

“Gongenzaka?” Yuya gaped.

His friend nodded in affirmation, either oblivious or not caring about the fact that his face was covered in bandages.

“Good morning, Yuya,” he said.

“Uhhhhh…” 

“Is something wrong?” Gongenzaka asked as the two entered the elevator.

“Well…your, uh, face,” said Yuya.

“Ah, that,” Gongenzaka replied as the doors parted, revealing a burly man with black-and-gray monochrome hair and sunglasses. If Yuya recalled correctly, the man’s name was Nakajima.

“Please, this way,” Nakajima said, leading the two down the hallways.

Once they were down a fair distance, Gongenzaka finally answered, “My father and I had a duel to test my resolve.”

“So, the bandages?”

“You can call them proof of that resolve,” replied Gongenzaka, his tone stern and resolute.

Yuya couldn’t help but let out a mirthless chuckle. Yeah, that sounded about right. It seemed everyone had been having similar thoughts about the journey they were about to embark on.

By this time, they had been led to a large door, which Nakajima opened up, revealing that all of the other Lancers had already arrived. 

“You’re late, Yuya Sakaki!” Shingo Sawatari complained. “It’s 100,000 years too early for you to make me wait!”

Dennis Macfield, who was off to the side, smiled. “I don’t really know if you’re getting at being early or late with that analogy.”

“Shut up! The Great Shingo Sawatari doesn’t need to explain himself!” Sawatari shot back.

Yuya ignored them to focus on Selena. He still had to remind himself that this wasn’t Yuzu, but rather her Fusion counterpart. He recalled how Yuzu had seemed so confused and lost back when she had first met Yuto, not knowing anything about him or what his goal was. Was this the way she’d felt? This creeping sense of doubt, fear, and uncertainty?

He was just about to think of something to say to Selena, as a conversation starter, when a voice echoed through the room.

“You’re all gathered, I take it?” Reiji Akaba asked.

Yuya looked up, as did the others, as from a spiraling staircase, the LDS CEO began descending to their level. Yuya noticed that, in the crook of his arm, Reiji was carrying a small black box.

Sawatari just snickered. “So, it’s the President who shows up last.”

When Reiji reached the bottom, Dennis rushed up to greet him, saluting. “All seven members of the Lancers have gathered, Captain!”

“It isn’t seven,” answered Reiji, causing Dennis to balk.

“Oh, right, right, sorry sir, you’re counted as well, so it’s eight. My apologies, sir!”

“It’s nine,” Reiji clarified without moving.

Yuya grimaced. Someone else had been chosen to go along with them? He remembered that the Youth Team had had a surviving member from the Obelisk Force’s assault, so was it the survivor who would join them?

“Reira will come with us as well,” confirmed Reiji.

Yuya looked up, and saw the small child, who he recalled had dueled Ayu, Futoshi, and Tatsuya in the Junior Championship, slowly walk forward from the upper level. Their head was covered in a hood over a baseball cap, and a small patched-up teddy bear was held limply by their small hands, trailing behind.

“Are you insane?! We’re not bringing a child to a battlefield!” Shun Kurosaki protested.

Yuya had never thought he’d agree with Shun, but he was certainly thinking the same thing. He’d seen how violently the Obelisk Force and Sora dueled. Why was Reiji bringing his younger sibling? What sort of plan was he concocting this time?

“Reira’s ability is equal to everyone here,” Reiji assured, as if the matter of skill was more important. “They will not be a hindrance.”

“He can’t be older than ten!” Shun spat in disgust. It looked to Yuya that even with Shun’s habit of dueling brutality, the Resistance member still drew the line at bringing children into the crossfire.

But Reiji seemed to think otherwise and had his priorities on another matter. “ They are that age, yes,” he answered.

Sawatari leaned forward, tauntingly. “What?! Are you saying that some brat duels as well as me?” he yelled, seeming to ignore the entire age issue.

“They’re held in such high regard, that’s amazing,” remarked Dennis, also looking like he’d missed the boat on that.

“Both of you, shut up!” Shun barked. 

Sawatari just snorted crudely. “What? I’m having a hard time believing that some Junior-class level duelist is able to match up to myself, the master of Pendulum!”

Yuya saw Reira turn away from the scrutiny. He really did feel bad for the kid, and could certainly relate to their circumstances. 

“How are you the master of Pendulum?” protested Gongenzaka to Sawatari. “The one who discovered and mastered it first is Yuya. And anyways are you even realizing the implications of bringing a child along with us?”

Yuya smiled at his friend’s support, but then returned his attention to Reira. He was willing to help fight Academia, but not by dragging someone who was the age of the You-Show trio into their fight.

And Shun seemed adamant on this as well. “I am not accepting this! I won’t allow a child to be dragged into an attack on Academia!”

“We are not going to Academia,” replied Reiji calmly.

Yuya stared at the CEO, and he could tell that everyone else was shocked as well. 

“What?!” demanded Shun angrily.

“Our current destination is the Synchro Dimension,” Reiji confirmed. “My observations of everything that has transpired so far has led me to believe that they have yet to be dragged into the war between Dimensions. This is an ample opportunity to forge an alliance to bolster our forces.”

“Bolster our forces?!” Shun growled. “I joined this team thinking that we were going to invade Academia and rescue my sister! And you want to waste time recruiting more people?”

Reiji pushed his glasses into place. “I do not engage in fights I cannot win. We did not announce the threat of the Fusion Dimension to everyone in Standard for nothing. As we speak, we are preparing additional Lancers for training. To liberate the Xyz Dimension, and to stop Academia’s plans, we require more active duelists. It is a matter of simple logistics. The Synchro Dimension is an excellent opportunity to find more comrades. I intend to have them ally with our Dimension.”

Yuya had caught the mention of the Xyz Dimension, and it was clear that Shun had as well, given that he’d frozen up briefly when his home was mentioned, but then he turned on his heel.

“Fine, you can go forward with another recruitment scheme, but I’m not going to wait around,” he declared. “I’m going to rescue Ruri myself!”

He started to make for the door, but when he passed Selena…

“You’re not going to make it very far,” she warned, causing Shun to turn around.

“Academia trains elite duelists on a daily basis and gives them top-tier training in endurance, strategy, and battle tenacity,” the former Academia duelist explained, her arms unfolding as she began to list possible opponents off her fingers. “Fleet Admiral Schiff, Hell Kaiser Marufuji, Dark King Fubuki, Lieutenant Mistral, Society Enforcer Hinode, and Chief Phantasm Naga; those are just some of the elite duelists that serve the Professor’s will. You’re not going to make it past all of those heavy-hitters on your own.”

“Which ultimately proves my point,” Reiji put in. “As it stands right now, we do not have the strength to challenge Academia in any regard. Going to the Synchro Dimension provides an excellent opportunity not just to recruit, but to gain practical experience. Extensive preparations are often the key to victory after all.”

“Reiji’s plan makes sense,” stressed Selena to Shun. “We have to be ready for war and make every preparation for victory.”

Shun still looked ready to storm out, so Selena stepped forward. “It’ll be alright. The Professor won’t mistreat Ruri. He never did anything like that to me. Me, Ruri, Yuzu, we all share the same face, and we’re all important to the Professor’s plans.”

Yuya perked up at the mention of Yuzu as Selena continued. He also heard Dennis make some strange sound, but ignored it.

“Why do you think he ordered Ruri to be captured? Why did he just want the Obelisk Force to bring me back to Academia?” she asked. “I don’t know why he’s trying to gather us together, but he wouldn’t put in all that effort just to hurt us. Ruri should be okay.”

“What about Yuzu?” Yuya asked, seeing that Shun looked somewhat placated and needing a lifeline of his own. “You’re sure that the Professor won’t hurt her, will he?”

Selena looked at Yuya. “He wouldn’t,” she said. “IF Yuzu actually was at Academia.”

Yuya gasped as Selena turned to face Reiji. “Yuzu wasn’t captured by Academia, was she?” she inquired. “If she were, I don’t think you’d be progressing with your plans so casually, nor bring up the Synchro Dimension at all. Am I right, Reiji Akaba?”

The LDS president closed his eyes. “Your skills of perception and instinct are quite advanced, despite your lack of social grace.”

Yuya felt something rushing into him. Was it hope? “Answer me, Reiji!” he demanded. “What really happened to Yuzu?!”

“Yuzu Hiragi is not at Academia, you are correct,” Reiji replied. “Our footage of the Miami battle showcased her dueling against an agent of the Fusion Dimension, before a duelist from the Synchro Dimension interrupted the match. For some reason, one that I’ve yet to determine, she vanished with him.”

“EHHHHHHHH?!” exclaimed Dennis, before he covered his mouth. 

Yuya didn’t have time to think about that. His brain was all jumbled, the pieces scattering about and slotting back into place. “Yuzu…Yuzu’s in the Synchro Dimension?!” he asked worryingly, praying that this miracle was true.

“Correct,” answered Reiji. “During the battle, that Synchro Dimension duelist managed to defeat an entire squadron of the Obelisk Force immediately, the very one that defeated our Youth team. Seeing that duelist is why I am convinced that the Synchro Dimension has very powerful allies to offer to us.”

Hope was now fully flowing in Yuya. His friend hadn’t been taken by the enemy. Yuzu was still out there. She was safe, or, as safe as she could possibly be with the way things were now. A weight felt like it was being lifted from his shoulders.

“Yuzu saved me,” Selena affirmed, looking Yuya square in the eyes. “I won’t let Academia take her!”

Looking at the girl, Yuya had to admit, her determination was familiar, but…different in some way from Yuzu’s. Even so, he nodded, glad to have a comrade in saving his friend. Feeling Gongenzaka’s sturdy hand on his shoulder, Yuya felt even more relieved.

Though, he couldn’t get why Dennis seemed so pale all of a sudden.

“Do you get it now?” Selena asked Shun, causing Yuya to turn his attention back to the Xyz user. “If we’re going to save Ruri and the Xyz Dimension, we need to make this alliance with Synchro!”

Yuya saw Shun’s shoulders loosen as he turned to face Selena. 

“I still don’t like it…” he admitted, but then seemed more interested in the floor. “But I’ll go along with it. For now.”

“Then, if all inquiries are settled…” Reiji said, motioning for Reira, who was still on the upper level, to join them.

Nakajima stepped into the room, carrying a box that held everyone’s duel disks.

“You will find that all of your Duel Disks were upgraded with technology we reverse-engineered from a Resistance duel disk,” Reiji explained. “With this, our disks will be capable of dimensional transportation and projection of a specialized independent Action Field.”

Yuya had just taken out his duel disk, when suddenly Shun was looming over him. “That reminds me, we never did finish our conversation before…”

That was true, wasn’t it? Shun had waited for Yuya in the Ancient Ruins field, wanting to know about how Yuya had obtained Yuto’s Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Then they’d been interrupted–

Shun then glared at Reiji. “And I’ve only allowed you to look at my duel disk, I never let you hold onto it for any longer than an hour!”

“You are correct, yes, that we used your fallen comrade’s duel disk as a reference to reverse-engineer the technology,” Reiji replied matter-of-factly. “No need to beat around the bush.”

Shun growled at the CEO before returning his attention to Yuya. “You said before that Yuto entrusted his dragon to you? How do I know you didn’t take his duel disk as well?!”

Yuya felt himself about to answer, when for a moment, everything started to seem…distant.

“I believe in Yuya,” Yuto said.

Shun’s eyes widened.

“Yuya is definitely a comrade we can trust. Who you can trust. He’d never do anything to betray us.”

Yuya blinked, feeling himself return to reality. What was that? He felt like he’d spaced out for a moment. He looked at Shun, and the Xyz user’s harsh face had softened significantly.

“Is…is something wrong?” Yuya ventured.

Shun looked away. “N-nothing. I’ll…accept you as a comrade. For now, anyway.”

“Then if we may continue,” Reiji went on, as if there hadn’t been any interruptions or last-minute catch-ups. He presented the black box he had been carrying, and opened it up to unveil several card packs. “Each of these packs contains Pendulum cards and other upgrades to implement into your decks. I want you all to get a good preview of them. Pendulum Summoning and Action Dueling will be our weapon to use in the Other Worlds; use them to your heart’s content, and master them both in the battles to come.”

He passed this second box around, with everyone pulling out a pack or two that had their faces printed on the metal foil. Yuya wasn’t exactly fond of using LDS cards given his history with the duel school, but he’d already let it out in front of everyone that he’d needed to get stronger after Reiji had defeated him in that duel after the Miami Championship. So, he swallowed his distaste, pulled out the cards, read them briefly, and slipped them into his deck.

One pack was left however, and Reiji opened this up himself.

“This card, Dimensional Transportation, has been encoded with a rough frequency for the space-time coordinates of the Synchro Dimension. To ensure that no-one is separated, the frequency in each card has been tested to precisely match, thanks to the saved frequencies used as a reference in Yuto’s disk. If everyone would take a copy…”

Yuya and the others did so, before each of the cards were inserted into their duel disks, casting a cyan glow.

“When I give the signal, we will transport to the Synchro Dimension, be prepared,” ordered Reiji.

Yuya held his breath, nervous, but as ready as he could to start his new journey.

“Dimensional Transporter, activate!” Reiji declared.

Blue light filled the room, and Yuya shut his eyes, keeping out the glow as best as he could. He felt his body seem to leave everything entirely, as he seemed to fall and rise up again and again. His feet searched for solid ground, until, as quickly as the process had begun…

“We’re here,” Reiji said.

Yuya opened his eyes, seeing everyone gathered, but with their surroundings now completely different from before.

“Welcome to the Synchro Dimension,” the CEO announced, pushing his glasses into place.

The streets of Miami City seemed so quiet. Even on a weekend, the vibrant center of Action Dueling was expected to still be quite busy; duel schools would even hold weekend classes to attend, and even if not, the streets and parks would be filled with people cheerfully dueling. But in light of the recent announcement of an Interdimensional War being waged, classes in all local and Duel schools, regardless of grade level, had been suspended for the weekend in preparation of new lessons, and no-one was exactly willing to head out, fearing another attack from Academia.

Throughout that eerie quiet, Ayu, Futoshi, Tatsuya, Shuzo Hiragi, and Yoko Sakaki all stood on the hillside riverbank that stood in front of their Duel School, looking up at the sky, where an airplane had just taken off.

“I wonder if Yuya and the others left already…” Futoshi wondered.

“It would’ve been great if we could have seen them off,” sighed Ayu.

“But in the end, our thoughts reached them. That’s what’s important,” said Yoko confidently, but wistfully.

“It would be great if my thoughts have reached them as well,” said the voice of Nico Smiley, the yellow-suited manager walking up to join the group, much to their surprise.

His hands were in his pockets, and the toothbrush-mustache promoter looked up to the sky as well. “Yuya-kun was my dream,” he sighed. “I’d wanted to have him groomed into a top duelist, able to stand on the summit of the world, surpassing the way his father did all those years ago.”

Tears were forming in his eyes as everyone watched him.

“But,” he managed to say, “I believe in him and the others all the same. And that they will return, triumphant!”

“He will return!” enthused Tatsuya. “He promised!”

“Big bro Yuya would never break a promise!” Ayu confirmed.

“And when he comes back, he’ll be able to thrill all of us again!” Futoshi joined in.

Shuzo grinned. “That’s the way, kids! Before that day comes though, let’s make sure that we all try our best as well!” Then, he spread his arms open, cheering to the skies. “FIRE IT UP YUYA! Get your blood all pumped up!”

His cries called to the bright blue sky, as everyone gazed at a plane that had taken off, as if to symbolize the journey their friends had undertaken. A journey that they would return from triumphant.

“Anything?” Eli’s voice grunted through the transmitter.

Atop a building that looked upon LDS Tower stood Roswell of Academia’s Phantasms, his binoculars examining the top floors of the massive structure. He peered through the windows, but found that they were protected to be one-way view only. The agent switched to heat-vision, and for a moment caught several gathered heat signatures in a mostly empty room that vanished just as he managed to lock on to them.

“Well,” he began, “I think I did find them, but uh, I think they, uh, just teleported out.”

“I should never have agreed to a mission that had a timetable allowing for a good night’s sleep…” Eli grumbled.

Roswell found himself shrugging, even though Eli couldn’t see him right now. The Irishman was usually considered a lost cause glued to his chair if left alone in the office, which usually required one of his fellow Phantasms to force him to get some shut-eye. “I don’t see any particular problem. No matter where they go, we’ll know where they are by the end of the day.”

“True,” admitted Eli. “But so long as we’re here, there’s no harm in scouting them ahead of time while we collect intel of our own…intel that we can personally judge for ourselves.”

“Remind me again…where is Lord Yuri?” Roswell asked.

"The Professor told him to help us out with the recruitment scheme,” grumbled Eli. "He was told not to kill the Persons of Interest...but he was also allowed to use his own 'judgment' so I wouldn't hold my breath that we get out of here with new members for later on."

“Mmhm, I’m in the thick of the city now, so no harm done. Where are you?”

From his vantage point, standing behind You-Show Duel School, looking at the gathered children, parents, and surprise appearance of Nico Smiley, Eli merely typed his location into his Duel Disk as he listened in on their conversation. Sadly, it didn’t seem that there were any loose lips, or rather, any relevant information. He had to give Reiji Akaba credit for holding intel tightly to his chest.

“You’re not going to…” Roswell transmitted.

“It’s too early to take hostages at this stage,” replied Eli, though he kept his eyes trained on Yoko, Shuzo, the brats, and Nico regardless, feeling the whirring of the mechanical retina of his prosthetic eye as he studied the group. “Our current objective is to collect the information that Sora was too neglectful to gather, since Rammel had to return to his office in America to keep his cover.”

“As thorough as always,” Roswell noted.

“We aren’t in a position to rely on the luxury of time, Roswell,” sighed Eli quietly, turning his attention away from the You-Show group and slinking into the shadows as he left. “We must destroy this Dimension to complete the Arc Area Project, and we will not make the mistakes we made in Xyz. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have had to worry about a lone messenger pigeon who slipped from our grasp and galvanized these people to action.”

“To be fair, we have achieved most of our objectives in Xyz at this point.”

“And yet, by underestimating the residents of the Xyz Dimension and using that as opportunity to screw around, we’ve been glued into a year-long grind that’s drained our time and resources far more than I would consider acceptable,” Eli growled quietly as he slunk away from You-Show Duel School. “I won’t have that error be repeated again for the sake of idiotic ‘Hunting Games’. Standard and Synchro will burn and they will burn fast. I won’t let our mission be stopped, whether it be by these Lancers, or people who are more interested in building a trophy binder than doing. Their. Job.”

“Does that statement about time-loss count whenever we go pigeon-hunting or fishing?” Roswell asked in his usual bland tone, nonplussed by his friend’s usual grumblings. "We do have that game-hunting trip planned out in our schedule next month, but I can edit that out if the timing is inconvenient.”

“If we faffed around as much as the average Academia soldier does whenever we go out meat-hunting, we’d have starved to death all those years ago, so no they…don’t…count? Or…I mean…? Bah, we’ll discuss that comparison later,” Eli grumbled as he discreetly jumped across roofs. "First, I might as well check that we need to tell Master Shinra to prepare a new training regiment."

His contact with Roswell now shut off, Eli activated the tracker function of his duel disk, and saw that Yuri was currently located in a park forest. 

"Oh fer cryin' out loud, I know he understands stealth..." 

His surroundings blending until he was jumping across trees, Eli reached the source of the signal, and landed on the ground. He was not shocked at what he saw.

"H-help us, Gen!" a bald boy in a black boys-school uniform wailed.

For that boy and three other delinquent-looking fellows were held in the tentacles of a dragonic creature cloaked in darkness, the beast hissing as it seemed to sample its newfound prey.

The large, muscular boy dressed in punk-like clothing of his own, complete with a jacket, was doing nothing of the sort, instead having played a trap card that was shielding him from the dragon as his comrades were being eaten alive.

"Forget about it! I'm the one who's gonna survive this!" Gen Ankokuji growled. "You four can enjoy becoming dragon mulch!"

Gen then looked at his group's opponent, a boy who looked so much like Yuya Sakaki, but who was nothing like the Entertainment Duelist. "This doesn't make sense...you're a wimp! How can you be this strong?"

"Ugh, mistaking me for that Yuya guy again?" yawned Yuri. "Y'know, that guy over there thinks you have potential, and you want to squander it by insulting me?"

Gen looked as Eli strode forward.

"Is he any good, sir?"

"He didn't die to Starve Venom the moment I summoned him, unlike these goons," Yuri shrugged, pressing his duel disk to card Gen's minions, who yelled as the dark light consumed them. "But that was just because he used them as meat-shields. It was funny to see their reaction, buuut that's a dime-a-dozen at Academia. You still want to use this guy? I'm already losing interest. Next card I play kills him."

Eli looked at Gen, who, though clearly nervous and scared out of his life, was still standing. 

"Well, did you give him the pitch?" he asked.

"If you think I'm going to read anything you wrote out-loud Smith, you've lost it," scoffed Yuri. "I'm only helping you with this recruitment stuff to get some warm-ups in before the big mission."

The overseer fought the urge to twitch his eye. Yuri giving any assistance at all was getting the dog onto the road as it stood. So instead, he looked at Gen square in the eye.

"Alright, Mister Ankokuji. We have a proposition for you. It is of course, up to you if you want to accept it."

Yuri smiled coldly at Gen. "The choice is 100% percent yours to make. Really, it is."

Perhaps this mission would be fruitful after all.

“This dump is the Synchro Dimension?” Sawatari asked.

Selena had never seen any pictures of the Synchro Dimension, nor had been told about Academia’s specific plans about how to deal with it. At most, all she had caught from Eli’s usual grumblings was that the “agent assigned to Conquistador” was being troublesome. She had, of course, tried to pry, but was immediately discouraged by Smith’s direct superior. Respecting Eli was laughable, but Lady Naga was a very different story, so Selena had left that issue alone.

But she had to admit, Shingo Sawatari’s observation seemed very on-point.

The nine Lancers were all bunched up in a dirty, metallic-looking alleyway. Scattered on the ground was trash and oil, and Selena could plainly see graffiti marking the walls. And, as she looked around, the alleys seemed much more labyrinthine compared to the nooks and crannies she had seen in her initial arrival to Miami City.

Up until now, Tsukikage, the ninja, had been silent, but he was the one to respond to Sawatari’s question. “The coordinates seem to match. I don’t doubt for a moment that this is the Synchro Dimension.”

“Keep an eye out,” warned Shun, already striding ahead. “I doubt Reiji’s told any of you this yet, but there’s a pawn of Fusion here in the Synchro Dimension.”

“That, I believe can be disproved,” cut in Reiji. “Given the summoning readings from earlier, I believe whoever the duelist who vanished with Yuzu Hiragi, the one who fought the Obelisk Force, is the individual in question.”

Shun turned to face the CEO. “You can’t be serious. We were there! Whenever we asked if he was with Fusion, he confirmed it!”

“Are you certain that you didn’t confuse his name with Fusion?” Reiji pleasantly asked. “I had audio on all of the duels of the Battle Royale. It seems his name is Yugo, not Yuugo,” he deliberately pronounced. “I can understand how you’d make that error though.”

“What’s he talking about?” Selena asked Yuya.

The Entertainment Duelist shook his head. “I really don’t know.”

“Oi, oi, I thought we were done with all the catch-ups!” Sawatari complained.

Shun scowled and went back to scouting ahead. Reiji merely adjusted his glasses as Reira clung onto his hand. “The context here is irrelevant, though it pays to be cautious nevertheless. Academia very likely has spies installed here in the Synchro Dimension, so keep sharp.”

“Do you know anything about them then?” Tsukikage asked Selena. “Anything you can tell us about how Academia’s operations will be of great help.”

She turned to face the ninja duelist, knowing already that her answer would be dissatisfactory. “The Professor never allowed me to watch or participate in any missions or meetings,” she sighed. “If we’re talking about what’s relevant to our current situation, I did try getting put on a Synchro mission once, but all I got were a bunch of complaints from the overseer. I don’t have anything except a codename: ‘Conquistador’.”

“Worthwhile intel regardless,” Reiji mused as the group continued walking.

“Are you sure that’s relevant, sir?” Dennis asked. “If it’s just a codename, that doesn’t give us a lot to work with, does it?”

“Any bit of information on how the enemy operates is worthwhile in some way,” replied Reiji. “And it helps us stay alert towards any dangers.”

Selena had to admit it, she was impressed at Reiji’s thoroughness. But at the same time, right now, their current location told them nothing about what to expect, and everyone was reacting in different ways. Yuya seemed to jump between gazing and thinking, while both Gogenzaka and Tsukikage were keeping an eye out for potential enemies. Sawatari, annoyingly, was complaining about how dirty the alleyway was, so she elected to shut his voice out of her ear. Dennis, for his part, looked pale and a bit jumpy, but when he caught her gaze at him, he coughed and tried to look forward.

Strange.

But before Selena could think about that more, the group halted, with Shun having given a hand-signal to stop. For a moment, Selena had to blink as her eyes adjusted to the exit of the alleway.

“Tsukikage, in front,” ordered Reiji.

The ninja nodded as he and Shun took up security positions. Selena, of course, immediately strode up forward, with Yuya striding up alongside, but before they could make it out, Tsukikage held up a hand.

“What are you doing?” demanded Selena.

“Look up,” Tsukikage said in a hushed tone.

Selena did, and her eyes widened. Not from how the town square looked; outside of the alleys was a bustling metropolitan area, with people walking around, entering harsh-looking skyscrapers made of white-and-gray glass and metal. Several people were driving around on strange-looking motorcycles, and at several corners on the streetside, people in dark-gray suits, wearing sunglasses and helmets, walked around at a slow pace. She could tell from instinct that these people were police officers.

But that was not the reason for her shock.

That came from how on a giant video-screen, capable of being seen from pretty much any vantage point, a woman with long, blonde, twin-tailed-styled curled hair and a red suit, was reporting on how two fugitives from last night had managed to defeat a Duel Chaser and were still on the loose.

And plastered on that screen were close-up images of a boy in an unfamiliar white outfit, and a girl in a very familiar red outfit from Academia. After all, Selena had lent that outfit to a certain someone two nights ago.

“Yuzu…” Yuya breathed. “That’s Yuzu! That has to be!”

“But who is that other person?” Gongenzaka asked. “His face…it looks just like…”

Selena took another look at the screen, and the gears of her brain stopped briefly as she realized that the face of the boy in the helmet looked identical to Yuya.

“Is…is that the person here who looks like me?” Yuya asked Reiji. “Yu-go?”

“It would seem so,” replied Reiji, his voice then directing itself towards Shun. “If he is considered a fugitive here, I believe that proves that he is not associated with Academia, yes?”

Shun just grumbled.

“Wow, that’s uh…impressive,” said Dennis, clearly at a loss for words.

“Oh come on! Enough about people who look like Yuya and Yuzu! Where are the people who look like me?!” Sawatari complained. 

Reiji ignored this, and turned to face Selena and Yuya. “Both of you hide your faces immediately,” he ordered. “Tsukikage, do you have anything to work with for disguises?”

The ninja nodded in confirmation, and seemed to pull out from nowhere the cloak Selena had worn when first infiltrating Standard, albeit with all of its insignias removed, as well as a longer version of Yuya’s school uniform coat with a hood. “Selena-dono, Yuya-dono, please put these on.”

“What?” Yuya asked, clearly not ready for this as Selena took back her old cloak. “Why do I–?”

“We cannot afford any mishaps right now,” warned Reiji. “For our plans to progress, we need to establish a base here in the Synchro Dimension and being on the wrong end of the law will not help that plan.”

“Plus, it doesn’t feel all that hot, so I doubt it’ll be that bad,” Dennis advised. “Do you have any coverings for the rest of us?”

“That would simply be too inconspicuous,” Tsukikage replied.

“You’re a freaking NINJA!” exclaimed Sawatari.

In an instant Tsukikage vanished in a flurry of activity, only to reappear in a new outfit. He had retained his scarf to hide his mouth, but the rest of his clothing had been changed completely. Instead of his ninja uniform, he wore a simple dark blue bomber jacket over a gray shirt and dark blue jeans, and simple black shoes. Likewise, his scarf hung much more limply and had been tied up in several knots so it did not fray outward as much as it usually did, whilst the long ponytail of his blue hair had been deliberately undone, allowing it to flow down naturally.

Sawatari and Dennis looked shocked at their ninja companion’s transformation, while Gongenzaka simply put a hand on Yuya’s shoulder.

“We have no choice, Yuya, you can put up with it, yes?”

Yuya sighed in defeat, and took the longer coat, making sure to pull the hood over his head. By this time, Selena had already draped her own overcoat back on.

“Are we ready to head out now?” she asked.

Reiji nodded. “Is the path clear?”

“We’re clear,” confirmed Shun, who put on a pair of dark glasses.

And so, the nine Lancers finally walked into the streets of the Synchro Dimension. Selena kept her posture straight and sure, keeping in mind what training she’d gotten from Barrett in ensuring that she didn’t attract any attention. Thankfully, this city seemed so busy that no-one was really noticing a crowd of nine more people. At most they might have noticed how they were all grouped up together, but turned their heads to continue with…however civilians lived their lives.

That was another thing Selena had to realize that she’d been completely ignorant about. She wasn’t stupid of course; even though she, as sheltered as she was, knew that while Academia Island was quite large, there was no way it could hold everyone who lived in the Fusion Dimension. She knew that nearby on the mainland was the seaside town of Venix that could be reached by boat, but she’d never gotten an opportunity to go there. She’d once tried to join the home guard for a chance to do so, but the Professor had denied her request.

She would never admit it (and would punch anyone who suggested it), but right now, she honestly felt safe bundled up like this. With so many people everywhere, who she now knew were not duelists, it would’ve just been chaotic for her to figure her way out.

“So, Mister President, now that we’re here, what are we gonna do?” Sawatari asked.

Reiji did not answer immediately. Selena saw that he was engrossed in his duel disk, and while he was mostly in front of her, she was just able to catch the corner of his eyes under his glasses. The CEO’s eyes were focused, but on what, Selena had no clue.

“I want everyone to check their duel disks. See if you can connect to the internet or communicate with one another,” Reiji suddenly ordered.

“Eh? How’s that supposed–” Sawatari began, but Gongenzaka was quick to interrupt.

“My disk doesn’t seem to be able to do that,” he confirmed, letting the sound of static reverberate for everyone.

“Geez, communications seem to be pretty tightly monitored in this Dimension…” whistled Dennis.

“Who’s bright idea was that?!” Sawatari screeched. “How are you supposed to do anything if you can’t surf the web?”

Shun’s head darted quickly around. Selena thought he had perhaps found enemies, but it seemed that he was just looking to make sure they weren’t being spied on before he spoke up. “I was able to connect to Standard’s internet signals when Yuto and I arrived there. We should be able to do the same in Synchro.”

Selena pulled out her duel disk, trying to see if her disk could connect instead, but got the same response. Unresponsive static to any non-dueling application within her disk.

“What does this mean?” Yuya asked.

Reiji adjusted his glasses. “It could mean a great many things, but for the moment this could potentially limit our options in establishing a base here as well as personal communications with one another if we need to split up and run into trouble. Our first priority is to fix this so we can proceed with our original objective.”

“Oh come on! I thought there’d be bad guys to fight!” whined Sawatari, but Reiji just ignored his remark. “I didn’t come to another dimension to run Wi-Fi repair! I want some action!”

“You should be glad we’re not being thrown into a fight immediately,” Gongenzaka admonished. “We just arrived and you wish to cause trouble?”

“The Captain did say that we’re in enemy territory,” pointed out Dennis. Selena had to admit that he wasn’t wrong. She was now starting to look around for any source of danger, but at most, there were only the police officers keeping watch. Still, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy at how much the Synchro Dimension seemed to monitor its residents. Not even Academia had managed such control.

 “We don’t even know who we’re supposed to be fighting!” The Steadfast Duelist continued to protest.

“We do,” scoffed Shun, his gaze clearly vigilant at the streets, directed at the officers. “We’re looking for any agents of Academia. Even if that one Synchro duelist wasn’t working for them, there’s still a good chance that the Fusion Dimension has infiltrated this city somehow. They could very well be behind these communication regulations to make sure no-one interferes with their plans.”

“I uh, don’t think that everyone around us is working for Academia though…” commented Yuya.

“So we’ll just ask around,” said Selena, cracking her knuckles. Just because mostly everyone was a civilian didn’t mean there couldn’t be some duelists around…

Then again, the only ones that seemed to be duelists at all were the officers, who didn’t seem to be particularly focused on them. And it would probably go against Reiji’s orders if any of the Lancers dueled them right now.

“Please don’t…” groaned Yuya.

“Well I can’t just stand around doing boring stuff!” Sawatari complained again. “The Great Shingo Sawatari, condemned to become an internet repairman, what could be worse than that?”

His stomach then growled, causing everyone to groan as he coughed in embarrassment. Selena had to restrain herself from slapping the idiot upside the head. He wanted a fight yet couldn’t control his appetite or diet? Maybe it would be better to wait so they wouldn’t disgrace themselves.

“Well, while we’re figuring out a plan, maybe we could duel to pass the time?” suggested Dennis.

“And reveal to the enemy that we’re here?!” Shun hissed in clear revulsion. “Have you ever run a recon or infiltration mission before!?”

Dennis coughed. “Oh, no, no, certainly not!”

“Our current course of action,” Reiji broke in, silencing the others. “...Should be to solve the issue without drawing suspicion to ourselves. Adjusting the frequencies of our Duel Disks to match the Synchro Dimension’s own or figuring out a way around the blocks is paramount, but there’s no need to be so dramatic. However, there are other goals to achieve as well…”

He pulled out a wallet and from there pulled out several bills of yen before handing them to Sawatari. “You did not notice earlier, but we did, in fact, pass by a cake shop. Your task is simple, Sawatari. I want you, Gongenzaka, Yuya, and Selena to go to that shop, and attempt to make a purchase, if possible. Report back after you’ve confirmed that.”

Selena knew that the look of confusion on her face was shared by Yuya and Gongenzaka. What on earth was the president of LDS thinking?

“The rest of us shall wait over there,” Reiji continued, pointing at a park on the other side of the street. “Return there when you’ve completed your task.”

Sawatari’s annoying mouth sadly began drooling. “Oh yes sir! I’ll accomplish this vital mission immediately!” he heroically declared, as if he’d been given the honor of directly fighting Academia’s greatest duelists instead of going on some glorified errand.

“How is this supposed to help us find our way around here?” demanded Yuya. “Every second we waste, Yuzu’s in danger!”

“For now, we’ll have to put our faith in…Yugo, I presume his name is,” Reiji answered. “We will not make progress by recklessly charging in or wandering around aimlessly. To proceed with our goals, we must understand how this dimension works.”

Gongenzaka looked at Sawatari’s arrogant expression in disgust. “How is any of this progress?”

“Monetary exchange,” Reiji clarified. “As I said before, I intend for us to establish a base in this Dimension, but with the communication issues we’re facing, more obstacles could stand in our way.”

“Why do we need to establish a ‘base’?” Shun growled. “We can survive by hiding in the alleyways perfectly fine!”

“Noooo!” Sawatari screamed in horror, causing Selena to grimace as passerby looked at him strangely before going on with their day. “I can’t sleep on the sidewalk! I need a proper bed!”

Shun elected not to reply, but Selena was pretty certain why he didn’t need to.

So as usual, that responsibility fell on Reiji’s shoulders.

“To explain the need for a base, it would behoove us to make our side appealing to whatever political issues or factions we will face here in the Synchro Dimension, rather than raise unnecessary suspicion,” Reiji cut in again, pushing his glasses into place as he looked at Shun. “Given how this Dimension seems to protect itself, it would work out in our favor if we did not waste time in forcing potential allies to glean our motivations, yes?”

Selena saw Shun flinch, and she could feel that at least some spirit of the CEO’s lecture was aimed at her as well. With that in mind, she sighed, rubbing her temples. 

“Alright, we’ll do it, just buy some cheap donut or something, alright?” she asked Sawatari.

“I can’t–” the Abyss Actor user tried to reply, only for Reiji to clear his throat.

Sawatari deflated. “Alright, fine. But if there’s something I like, I’m getting it!”

And he stomped away, Gongenzaka groaning as he walked behind him. Selena followed, but saw Yuya hesitating. “Come on!” she called.

“R-right!” he replied, and quickly caught up.

The walk was mercifully brief. Selena hoped to be done with this as soon as possible (and tried her best to push out Agent Smith’s annoying voice in the process; she could just hear him rant about the purpose for all of this minutia), given Sawatari’s disgraceful behavior and likelihood that he was going to eat whatever they bought by himself.

The door opened with a ‘cling’ of the bell as the four Lancers walked into the cake shop, Selena’s nostrils being overwhelmed by the smell of sugar. She’d visited Academia’s kitchens before (mostly to use one of the few privileges the Professor allowed her to have when she got fed up and needed to blow off steam), but never had she faced scents this strong before.

As for the guys, while Gongenzaka and Yuya didn’t seem to react at all, Sawatari was already drooling over the wide selection of sweet pastries.

“Oh, this is too much!” he cheered. “What to get, what to get?”

A woman at the counter with long, wavy cinnamon-colored hair and a chef’s outfit seemed to gasp at this. “Oh my!” she said in an overly sweet voice that sounded incredibly fake to Selena. “Are you that excited for our cakes? Might I recommend the chocolate diamond flavor? I promise, it’s a decadent one suitable for your needs!”

Yet this made Sawatari straighten up, as if he was remembering his proper role. For a moment, Selena dared to think that his flamboyant act would end and he would get to the point, but instead…

“Oh, my apologies madam, I forget myself,” he said dramatically, lowering the tone of his voice. “I must be a gentleman for my mission…and select those blueberry-and-honey mini-cakes instead!”

Gongenzaka cringed at the display, while Yuya seemed content to pull his hood down; even if he didn’t share his face with someone wanted by the police, being associated with Sawatari seemed to be the last thing he wanted, and Selena could hardly blame him. At this point, she was tempted to just take the money away from Sawatari and order something cheap to spite him.

But the person behind the counter showed no displeasure at all. “Ah, of course!” she said, clapping her hands. “That’ll be 40 Goodwins!”

At this, Sawatari gave a haughty chuckle. “Aha, my dear lady…how much is that in…uh…Yen?”

The woman’s face stayed bright and cheerful, but Selena felt an edge in the atmosphere the minute she registered Sawatari’s question. “I’m terribly sorry sir, but we don’t accept Yen. It’s either Yaegers or Goodwins.”

Well, that confirmed Reiji’s suspicions about money in this Dimension. It was now time to make a quick escape and report back, but it seemed Sawatari had forgotten the true purpose of their task as he instead forged onwards.

“Well, uh, surely you can accept Yen, yes?” he asked, his haughty demeanor briefly faltering. “My father, the mayor, holds considerable influence, so you can understand not wanting to burden him with this?”

But the lady at the counter instead narrowed her eyes, her smile starting to slip into a frown. “Unfortunately sir, our city doesn’t have a mayor. And I don’t recall any of the Executive Council being young enough to have a son your age.”

Sawatari’s mouth fell open, all of the pompous and forced grace gone from his body language and face. “B-but, that’s impossible! My papa has all kinds of influence!”

“Unfortunately sir, if you can’t pay me, you don’t get the cakes,” the lady said, all of the forced cheer gone from her voice, her face twisting itself into a scowl.

“Apologies ma’am,” Gongenzaka put in, reaching for Sawatari’s shoulder. “We’re new to this City and my uh…companion’s not used to how things work here. We’ll take our leave now.”

“I’m not leaving without my cakes!” protested Sawatari childishly.

“You literally can’t buy them!” Gongenzaka yelled. “You heard what she said! This store doesn’t accept yen!”

“Oh come on, surely you can run a trade, right?” Sawatari begged, breaking away from Gongenzaka and leaning over the counter, much to the woman’s disgust. 

Selena felt a small sense of kinship with the lady, who looked down at Sawatari with a scornful look. “We don’t run trades here, sir. So please leave.”

“Oh come on!” continued Sawatari, pulling out the money Reiji had given him and desperately throwing it at the woman. “At least let me speak with the manager!”

The woman gave a triumphant sneer. “My apologies, but you’ll find I am the manager. And the cook as well.”

“Th-then maybe you should let me eat it to prove that your cooking is good!” Sawatari cried desperately.

“Or I could call Security and have you hauled away for trying to squirm out of your payment,” the woman replied casually, pulling out a circular-shaped duel disk.

“O-oh, OH!” Sawatari went on, jumping away from the counter (and Gongenzaka reaching for him in frustration). “How about instead, we duel, and if I win, you give me the cakes?”

For a moment, Selena thought that the cake shop owner would take Sawatari up on the offer, but instead she kept her disk in the call position and began to dial a number.

“W-wait, you can’t do that! DON’T!” Sawatari screamed, now tackling the woman, who began hitting him back, enraged.

“Get off of me! Now I really have a reason to call Security!”

“Sawatari, stop that at once!” Gongenzaka demanded, but the idiotic Abyss Actor user refused and continued his temper tantrum of a wrestling match.

Selena face-palmed, preparing herself to join in on the brawl to grab Sawatari, but instead heard the doorbell ‘cling’ again…and saw that Yuya had left the shop, now content to stand on the edge of the sidewalk.

“Selena!” Gongenzaka began, now having to deal with both Sawatari and the cake shop owner clawing at each other like alley cats. “G-go get Yuya! I’ll try to de-escalate this!”

Fully fed up with the idiocy, Selena found herself nodding and exited the shop. Thankfully, Yuya had not run off further and was instead looking up at several television screens. She found herself following his line of sight, but the newscreen had already changed to regular reports, this time discussing an upcoming expo for some company she’d never heard of before.

She looked back, seeing Gongenzaka still arguing with Sawatari and the cake shop owner, so that just left the two of them alone, for the most part.

“Oi, come back and help us out!” she barked.

Yuya turned to face her, but instead of answering her demand or re-entering the shop, he just looked back down at the street. Selena was about to take physical actions into her hands, but seeing Yuya’s face at the moment caused her to scrunch up her own as blurry images seemed to flash through her eyes. It was strange though. Yuya’s face, at first, wasn’t, or rather, shouldn’t be something she was familiar with. She did recall seeing it from somewhere though, but…where? As she was trying to remember, she saw that Yuya was now looking at her, and she cleared her throat awkwardly. 

Suddenly, she felt her urge to drag him back having diminished, and an awkward silence now fell between the two.

“So, uh…are you feeling okay?” she found herself asking, not knowing what else to say.

Yuya sighed, a melancholy smile on his face. “Yeah, I’m fine. Really, I am.”

Selena felt herself get jolted back to reality proper with that obviously untrue answer as she put a hand to her hip. “Really? You’re sure you’ve got your head in the game?”

The smashing of glass that could be heard from within the store seemed perfectly timed as the answer to that, but Yuya only gave a sheepish smile.

“Really, I’m all here,” he insisted. “Yuzu’s not at Academia after all. I just need to find her now.”

Selena found herself huffing. “The problem is exactly where she is in this Dimension. We don’t even know where we are right now here in Synchro. Plus, y’know…”

But before she could point at the rampaging elephant in the room, Yuya instead just looked forward. “That doesn’t matter. I’ll make sure I find her no matter what.”

Selena couldn’t help but chuckle grimly at that. “Heh, well, Academia and I might have different definitions of honor now, but I approve of that attitude. Better than the idiots over there.”

“Gongenzaka isn’t–” Yuya began, but when Selena specifically pointed back at whatever mess was forming in the cake shop, undoubtedly because of Sawatari, he stopped talking. 

Turning back to face the street, he sighed, and then spoke up again. “So…how are you holding up?” 

Selena raised an eyebrow. “Holding up, what exactly?”

“No, it’s, well, a figure of speech,” Yuya chuckled morosely. Selena bit her lip, but held her tongue. She could tell he wasn’t trying to mock her. “I mean, you lived in Academia, right? What was it like?”

Oh. Well…That was certainly a question.

“Not much really to say,” Selena shrugged automatically. “I was raised there my whole life.”

“Your whole life?” Yuya asked. “Do…did you have parents?”

“If I did, I don’t remember them,” she answered without much emotion. “Academia was always taking in orphans all over the Fusion Dimension, so I remember at least that much when I was four or five. After that, well, pretty much every minute was focused on dueling practice. Maybe I could call the Professor a parent, but that’s only because he was the only adult who really seemed interested in me.”

She saw Yuya cringing from his hood. “What?” she growled.

“Uh, well, uh, the phrasing on that part,” he admitted. 

Selena rolled her eyes. She’d ask about that later. 

“So, you’ve lived your whole life just to duel?” asked Yuya, trying to get back on track.

“Pretty much,” Selena replied casually. “Mostly everyone I’ve met, it was all just to duel them. I wanted to stand out, so I worked hard at it. Especially when they tried using me just so they could earn credit with the Professor. That was tiring enough on its own. I wanted to stand on my own merits, but as I got older, the Professor wouldn’t let me take any advanced courses or training. Everyone in Academia is ranked from Osiris Red, to Ra Yellow, and Obelisk Blue, with Blue students as the most elite. He never let me get past Red.”

“Heh,” Yuya chuckled bitterly. “So that means you weren’t allowed to go past Junior then?”

“I’m gonna guess that that’s the Osiris equivalent in Standard?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess so,” nodded Yuya hesitantly.

“All the more reason why I wanted to get out,” she grumbled. “Of course, that was back when I thought our whole thing was just to reunite the worlds, and that everyone in every world were proud warriors themselves.”

She gave a look at the mingling crowds or wandering civilians on the other side of the road, or driving down the street in their personal vehicles, not a single one of them giving off any feeling, indication, or even aura of a duelist. “I never really thought that it’d be so different.”

“Well, I can’t say if Synchro is exactly the same as Standard,” admitted Yuya. “But yeah. We have a lot of Duel Schools, but not even LDS has that much power in our Dimension. I know some Duel Schools act as boarding schools, but they’re not Dimension-wide. Heck, it’s why they’re called Duel Schools in the first place. We have classes at regular schools, then go to the Duel School after.”

“Academia handled all of that at once,” Selena commented.

Yuya chuckled again, but his eyes seemed glazed over. If he had anything else to say, he wasn’t saying it. Gongenzaka clearly was having trouble reigning Sawatari in against the shop owner, based on the volume of frosting being splattered onto the windows, and Selena really didn’t want to let any silence drag on.

“So…how did life go for you and Yuzu?” she decided to ask, having nothing better come to mind. “Had to be better than what I had to deal with.”

She honestly did expect something like that. Learning about how her Dimension was rotten was one thing, but learning just what they were threatening to destroy was another. And at least Yuya seemed to have friends instead of suck-ups.

“It…it was,” he admitted, his voice growing weak and stiff. “But then…well, I don’t think you’d have heard of this. Three years ago, my dad disappeared.”

Well, fuck. How was she supposed to comfort him on that topic?

“Disappeared?” she asked.

“I still don’t know why. It was the championship match and he just…vanished,” Yuya croaked, seeming to make great effort to get those words out, and hints of regret within his voice for revealing it in the first place. “No-one knows why. Everyone said he was a coward, but, well…”

His voice, already feeble, was faltering, becoming faint and trailing away. Yeah, Selena had definitely stepped on a landmine here.

“Was he?”

“What?”

“Was he actually a coward?” she asked, more firmly this time.

“No!” Yuya protested loudly, but it seemed his retort was a bit too loud, as someone unfamiliar walked up to them.

“Is something wrong?”

Yuya turned, giving both himself and Selena a good look at the newcomer.

He was hardly anyone spectacular. His voice sounded fairly girlish for a boy despite the energy in his tone, but everything else about him was as average as any other person Selena could think of. He had simple brown hair that was slightly wavy in the back, with two long bangs dangling down from the top of his hair, and with three shorter ones in-between. He wore a blue uniform that almost reminded Selena of Academia, but this uniform lacked any military accouterments and looked more like one of the suits that some of Academia's lawyers would wear

“Uh, no, no, nothing’s wrong!” Yuya quickly claimed…unfortunately forgetting to hold down his hood enough.

Selena was quick to notice and managed to pull it back down, just in case the stranger saw his face, but it was too late, he’d already seen. The boy took a step back, his face clearly shocked. Selena saw his eyes dart over to hers, and it seemed a second shock had overcome him as he seemed to recognize her face as well.

Damn it, they’d been compromised. Selena was about to take out her duel disk and activate Lunar Eclipse, when the newcomer spoke up.

“Yugo? Rin? Wh-what are you two doing here in the Tops? Security’s already looking for you two!”

Selena felt the gears in her head grind to a halt. What did this guy just say? 

“Wait, y-you know Yugo?” Yuya asked, completely forgetting that his identity was supposed to be hidden.

“What are you talking about?” the boy asked. “I saw you at the tournament last month, and then last night on the news! Why are you still here in the Tops? You should be hiding! If someone finds you out, you’ll be sent to the Facility!”

“No! You’re wrong!” replied Yuya, his eyes now lit with determination as Selena realized that they had a proper lead to follow. “My name isn’t Yugo! This is Selena and I’m Yuya! We’re trying to find Yugo and a girl who looks like Rin!”

“W-wait, what?” the boy asked, his head clearly bursting with the information Yuya had just dumped into it.

“Let’s take things step-by-step,” Selena said, deciding to let her training from Academia come to use concerning information gathering. 

So she immediately grabbed the stranger by his collar and forced him against a nearby lamp post. “We’ll be asking the questions here. How do you know our Synchro Counterparts? Who are you? And are you with anyone we should know about?”

“G-gah! W-wait?! Synchro what?” the boy spluttered.

“Selena, stop!” cried Yuya, grabbing her arm. “That’s not how to ask someone a question!”

“Eh? It’s not?” she asked curiously.

“No, it isn’t!”

“Then how are we supposed to get this guy to understand what we want?”

Yuya sighed. “Just…just let him down, I’ll try to go over this slowly.”

Selena chanced a glance at the kid, who trembled in her grip. “...Fine, but I’m keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t get away.”

So she let him down, and stepped behind the stranger while Yuya took a quick look around, probably to make sure they weren’t being watched, and then sighed as he began his way of doing things. Whatever those ways were.

“So…” Yuya began, “Can you tell us your name?”

The other boy looked like he didn’t want to answer, but the situation must have seemed so strange, he answered nevertheless. “M-my name’s Toby.”

“Okay…Toby,” said Yuya, hitching his breath to make sure he wasn’t tripping over his own words. “You said before that you met Yugo and Rin. Do you know where they are?”

“Eh?” Toby asked, clearly still thinking that Yuya and Selena weren’t who they said they were. “I-I mean…yeah, your clothes are different but…”

“We’re completely different people,” Selena snarled, not in the mood to let the situation keep dragging out, cracking her knuckles to show she didn’t want to waste any more time on this topic. “So answer the question.”

“Yeeek!” squealed Toby, squeezing his eyes shut. “I-I don’t know! They’re from the Commons! I don’t know where they live! I’m from the Tops!”

“Commons? Tops?” asked Yuya.

“Y-you don’t know?” Toby wondered, his eyes opening. “H-how is that possible? Y-you have to know!”

“Well we don’t,” huffed Selena. “So spill the beans or I start spilling your teeth from your mouth.”

“Selena!” Yuya scolded, before scratching his forehead. “Sorry, she’s…getting used to new people,” he said. “Please, continue.”

But instead of calming Toby down, Selena could see that the Synchro resident was becoming more and more unnerved. Whether or not it was fear of how she would pummel him was anyone’s guess. “H-how can you not know what the Tops and Commons are? That’s a basic fact of life!”

Yuya held up a hand, probably a good thing, since Selena felt another blunt retort building up in her mouth. “I’ve never actually heard about Tops or Commons before, Toby. Where I’m from, and where Selena’s from, we don’t have anything like that. I’m being honest. It’s…honestly a pretty long story, if you can believe.”

Now Toby just seemed confused. “I-I mean…” his voice trailed away, as he looked over Yuya, and, with great reluctance, Selena, eyes carefully examining their clothes. “Just…okay…this is, way above anything I’ve seen before, just…give me a moment to think about this.”

Selena grimaced, but Yuya raised his hand. “It’s alright, take your time, please.”

Toby sighed. “Let me just grab something first. Wanted to get my sister one of Miss Amari’s cakes. She’s getting stressed out with the Friendship Cup starting up, so I figured it’d do her good.”

It took Selena and Yuya less than half a second to realize how terrible of an idea that was. 

“WAIT!” they cried together, but it was too late.

Toby opened the door to the cake shop, calling out, “Miss Amari!” and getting a face full of pie in the face.

DUEL IN PROGRESS

SAWATARI LP: 900

Controls Abyss Actor - Superstar in Monster Zone and Abyss Stage - Barrier Curtain. Abyss Actor - Funky Comedian and Abyss Actor - Devil Heel in the Pendulum Zone. No cards in hand.

MISS AMARI LP: 1800

Controls Burning Swords of Revealing Light, no cards in hand.

GONGENZAKA LP: 3200

Controls Superheavy Samurai Susanowo (Cannot attack), no cards in hand.

“Ahahaha!” gloated Sawatari, cream and frosting stuck to his hair. “You made a big mistake, challenging the Great Neo New Sawatari, woman!”

“Why did you block me off?!” Gongenzaka yelled, furious.

“You kept trying to help my opponent! Have you forgotten that we’re supposed to be comrades?!” Sawatari shot back. “It’s only natural you be made a member of the audience!”

“You think I’m afraid of you?” snarled the cake shop owner. “My mother is 800 times more frightening than you!”

“Ha! I’m far superior to anyone’s mother!”

The cake shop owner’s response was silence as she drew her next card. 

Looking at it, she then smirked as she slammed it into her duel disk. “I activate the Spell card, Rekindling!” she declared. “Now I Special Summon from my graveyard as many FIRE monsters with 200 DEF as possible! I revive Flamvell Fireguard, Neo Flamvell Lady, and Neo Flamvell Raptor!”

In a burst of fire that caused Selena, Yuya, and Toby to take a step back in shock and surprise (Selena was still dumbstruck at how a three-way duel had managed to occur in the time it took for her and Yuya to talk), three fiery monsters emerged.

Flamvell Fireguard/FIRE/Level 1/Dragon/Tuner/Effect/ATK: 1100/DEF: 200

Neo Flamvell Raptor/FIRE/Level 4/Dinosaur/Effect/ATK: 1700/DEF: 200

Neo Flamvell Lady/FIRE/Level 4/Pyro/Effect/ATK: 1600/DEF: 200

“Now, Flamvell Fireguard lets me add a ‘Flamvell’ Spell or Trap to my hand, Neo Flamvell Raptor’s effect will banish a card from your graveyard, and after it does that, Neo Flamvell Lady will send a new monster to my graveyard!”

Sawatari yelped as a monster was blasted out of his graveyard slot by the flame blast of a massive, flaming dinosaur-like creature, before the cake shop owner raised an arm to the air.

“Great construct of flames, emerge in a ruined world, and return it to life with fire! Synchro Summon! Level 9, Armored Flamvell Rudragon! ”

An enormous, flaming armored… mass with wings appeared from the Synchro pillar, roaring viciously at Sawatari.

Armored Flamvell Rudragon/FIRE/Level 9/Pyro/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 2900/DEF: 200

“Using Rudragon’s effect, I resurrect that monster of yours that I banished! So now your Abyss Actor - Harried Reviser is working for me!”

A strange, demonic man in black-and-purple, with enormous eye-bag markings on his face, appeared on the field, sitting in a black, cushioned chair, hurried writing down several scripts, but then losing his temper and flinging them to the air in what was either despair or rage.

Abyss Actor - Harried Reviser/DARK/Level 5/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect/ATK: 1400/DEF: 1900/Scale 7

“Now, I don’t know why your cards look like some funky Spell-and-monster hybrid, but this card says that it can blow up any Spell or Trap on the field, and so I’m getting rid of your Abyss Stage - Barrier Curtain!”

“GAH!” screamed Sawatari as his spell card was destroyed, causing a large stream of red cloth that had protected his field to be set ablaze and turned to ashes.

“Now I’ll banish your Spell from your graveyard, so my Rudragon can gain 700 ATK!” roared the cake shop owner.

The flying mass of metal and fire rose up into the air, devouring a phantasmal image of Sawatari’s card before the flames from its body grew in intensity.

Armored Flamvell Rudragon/ATK: 3400

“Now destroy his Superstar!” the cake shop owner ordered before Sawatari could react.

In an instant, a blast of fire shot from the creature’s mouth, incinerating Abyss Actor - Superstar in seconds.

“G-GAAAHHHHH!” yelled Sawatari as he was blown back.

Sawatari LP: 0

“Sawatari!” Gongenzaka cried in alarm.

“Now…” the cake shop owner growled, “I–

“Another mess, Miss Amari?” sighed Toby, seemingly nonplussed by the mess on his face and in the shop, versus Selena, whose mouth was agape at the scene, and Yuya, who was similarly bewildered.

The owner’s scowl suddenly did a 180 into a large grin, and the Real Solid Vision vanished. “Oh, Toby! Nice to see you again!” she greeted, clapping her hands together, seemingly forgetting about Sawatari and Gongenzaka, the latter of whom stayed warily away.

“Well, uh…maybe I should come back later…?” Toby ventured, only for the cake shop owner to wave a hand.

“Oh, this? Easy enough to clean,” she said, pulling out a card from her pocket and inserting it into her Duel Disk.

In an instant, a tornado of bubbles swept through the entire cake shop, re-arranging displays that had been minorly knocked over, or cleaning up total losses until they were sparkling. Selena held up her arms to keep the bubbles out of her eyes, but she needn’t have bothered. The whirlpool vanished as soon as it manifested, and it was as if there had never been a mess to begin with. 

Then, the cakes that were now missing from their perches suddenly returned.

“I tell you, this Real Solid Vision stuff is a treat,” the cake shop owner huffed, putting her arms to her hips. “Clean-up has never been easier!”

“W-wait…th-those cakes were…” whimpered the defeated Sawatari.

“Miss Amari is uh…a bit eccentric,” Toby chuckled, the effect having cleaned up his face as well. “Real Solid Vision display cases help to well…lower inventory loss.”

“You’re still not getting any cake with that not-cash stuff, kid,” the cake shop owner growled at Sawatari. “Since you lost that duel, you don’t have any more reason to stay, so get out of my shop.”

“Oh, uh…well, Miss Amari,” said Toby hesitantly. “They’re uh…with…me, I guess?”

“These people?” Amari asked, most of her disdain focused on the still floor-prone Sawatari. “...They’re with you? When would Misty-san ever associate with someone like… that?”

It was a bit cathartic to see Sawatari sprawled on the ground and disdained by Amari’s thumb, but Selena had to remember that they had a mission to complete. Thankfully, it seemed that, whether he was willing to trust them or no, Toby had some kind of rapport with the shop owner, given that he continued speaking with her.

“Well, there is Kate,” the boy chuckled nervously.

“Bleeeeh, point taken,” Amari said, sticking her tongue out. “Anyways, let’s see…”

The woman’s casual tone became more professional as she looked at her duel disk. “Ah, right, pre-paid. I’ll get your order right away!”

She quickly went back behind the counter and into the back, giving the Lancers some time to catch their breath. Gongenzaka sighed and dragged Sawatari to his feet, before immediately confiscating the money and pocketing it.

“H-hey, that’s mine! The president–” the Abyss Actor user started to protest, but…

“Shut up already!” Selena roared, bringing her fist down like a hammer to slam Sawatari back into the ground. “You nearly screwed our whole mission over!”

A massive, steaming lump had already formed on Sawatari’s head, and he let out a weak, defeated groan as Gongenzaka picked him up once more. He didn’t protest Selena’s actions in the slightest and instead just walked over to where Yuya and Toby were, the latter flinching as he took in Gongenzaka’s size.

“Uh…hello?” he whimpered.

“Greetings,” replied Gongenzaka politely. “And you are…?”

“T-Toby, sir,” trembled the boy. “A-are you uh, friends with uh…these two?” he asked, pointing at Yuya and Selena.

“I am, yes,” Gongenzaka replied. “How do you know them?”

“Well…uhhh…” Toby tried to say, but stalled.

It was a long enough pause for Miss Amari to emerge from the back with an opened box with some kind of brown, glazed cake with a strange circuit-like pattern emblazoned on it. “Here’s the sachertorte you ordered!”

Immediately, Toby slipped away from the Lancers, and instead looked to check on the order. He nodded in confirmation, and Miss Amira quickly closed the box and handed it over to him. “Pleasure doing business with you! Tell Misty to knock down those old dorks!”

“I will!” replied Toby, before he quickly turned around to leave. Too quick for Selena’s liking though.

He had just exited the shop, when she quickly followed behind and grabbed him by the shoulder. “Oi, don’t forget about us.”

“Oh…right…” he gulped.

“Pardon me for asking this again, but…what happened?” asked Gongenzaka, catching up.

“Well…” said Yuya, rubbing his hooded head sheepishly.

They talked on the walk back, with Sawatari thankfully subdued (and hung over Gongenzaka’s shoulder silently crying to himself), allowing them to finally catch up on everything that had happened. Toby finally opened up about when he had met Yugo and Rin; at some sort of event held by his Duel School, Acceleration Institute, and upon seeing that neither Selena or Yuya were aware of, or remembered anything about it, from the various matches, to the suspicious activity of the head of Security, he sighed, rubbing his forehead.

“I guess that means you two are who you say you are,” he groaned. “What have I gotten myself into? What’s going on?! I just wanted to do something nice for my big sister!”

“Honestly, I’m just glad you’re taking this better than earlier,” remarked Selena, her arms folded.

“Because I’m not being threatened!” Toby protested, prompting Gongenzaka to pat him on the shoulder.

“Regardless of what has happened before, thank you, you’ve given us helpful information. And once again, I apologize on behalf of our friend here. She er, grew up in harsh conditions, I believe.”

Selena’s eye twitched, partly from embarrassment at her comrades having to cover for her behavior, and partly from paranoia from when her past had ever been revealed to Noboru Gongenzaka (i.e. Never, to her recollection).

Anyways, Toby sighed, and then his face turned serious. “Okay, you guys say you’re from…some other Dimension or something like that. I don’t know how much of that I can buy right now, but…”

Silence, as the boy stopped walking, seeming to think.

“What is it?” Yuya asked.

“Do you need to know more about our situation?” Selena asked; they had only told Toby so far that they were from other Dimensions, not the full situation concerning Academia.

“Well, maybe later,” the boy replied. “It’s just…well, it’s a really dumb idea, why am I even considering it?”

“What idea?” Gongenzaka asked.

Toby stayed quiet for a few seconds, then stepped forward and turned to look at the four Lancers. “There’s a friend of mine that needs help. I’m wondering if you guys could do that for us.”

“We don’t have–” Selena began, but Toby raised his hand, his expression now neutral.

“Even if this story about you being from another Dimension is true, that still means that you probably don’t have anywhere to stay, right?” he asked, a hint of deviousness creeping into his voice.

Selena did not like the way the boy’s demeanor had shifted. It was a tone she was familiar with, having heard it plenty of times from arrogant students who had rubbed their supposed “superiority” over a mere Osiris Red in her face. It was a tone that indicated that Toby believed that he had leverage over the Lancers, and Selena felt uneasy at the idea.

“W-wait, do you know a place for us to stay?” Sawatari asked eagerly, squirming his way out of Gongenzaka’s grip and jumping back onto the sidewalk.

Selena wanted to rip off the fool’s head for gleefully handing a stranger any form of leverage, but Toby was already answering before she could get the chance to.

“Well…I’m gonna have to convince my sister, but yeah, I know a place,” said Toby, coyly.

“There’s nine of us though,” Yuya said. “That’s way too much for one house!”

“Oh, it’s not a house,” Toby replied, huffing with pride. “My sister owns one of the biggest hotels in the Tops! You guys could get a room or two there!”

“Thank you!” wept Sawatari, prostrating himself before Toby as if the boy was Armityle herself. “I couldn’t stand sleeping on the streets! Come, I’ll take you to our leader!”

Selena was about to retort, but Gongenzaka clapped a hand back on Sawatari’s shoulder. “There’s no need to be so dramatic; while we were talking, we already made our way back.”

He pointed to an intersection, and on the other side of the street were the other Lancers, with Shun Kurosaki and Tsukikage standing on guard, Dennis Macfield sitting down at a fountain, and Reiji Akaba continuing to tap at his duel disk, while his little brother clung to him.

“Well, that’s convenient,” Yuya said, his voice having a bit more energy to it. “Let’s head over!”

Selena found herself the last person to cross the street, lost in thought as she was. Hopefully, they weren’t making a big mistake here.

Shun tried his best to keep his face stoic, but right now he was fuming, his mind racing, and he knew fully well that he had an enormous scowl on his face betraying his emotions despite resolving to keep his temper down. 

Yes, he had agreed to come to the Synchro Dimension, but he still felt reluctant to be here, especially if he was engaging in ‘missions’ with the ‘goal’ of figuring out a way to stay so they could do the very task they’d set out to do in the first place! He still would have needed his arm twisted to join the Lancers on this diversion even if Yuto wasn’t dead or…whatever had happened to him. 

Why, in that moment, had he outright seen his fallen friend in Yuya’s place? Just what was going on?

His mind briefly raced back to a few events during the invasion surrounding Yuto that had seemed rather arcane, if only because squads of particularly dangerous or persistent Academia soldiers that had previously been such a threat had been destroyed without a trace thanks to the Phantom Knight user. 

Now, Shun considered Yuto a very skilled and powerful duelist, but he also knew his friend’s dueling style. It was careful, precise, and reserved, never once using more than the appropriate amount of force. Seeing Yuto’s enemies be so totally obliterated sent a primal urge of rejection through Shun. Perhaps some didn’t notice, but he certainly did.

So did Ruri, who Shun knew had been with Yuto at least once during those times. Yet no matter how he pried, she never told him, only telling him to have faith in Yuto and not abandon him.

That seemed like common sense, so why had Ruri been so cagey about the details? He’d thought about broaching the subject once or twice, but had never followed through. 

At least, not until that attack…the one just before when Ruri had been kidnapped. Yuto had been separated from everyone else during the vicious onslaught, but had ultimately returned to them nevertheless.

Except when he finally managed to reunite with them, it was with blood splattered all over his face and clothes. Not his own blood of course, but that of the enemy. Shun had only felt relief at the time, but Ruri had run up to Yuto in horror, before their friend threw up onto the ground and disgracefully collapsed. 

It was a state of shock and trauma even beyond the usual horrors Academia had inflicted on them; only later would Shun learn that one of the direct underlings of the Commander-in-Chief of the Academia forces, one Major David Rabe, had seemed to single Yuto out, and Yuto had only escaped by delivering a lethal blow on the cruel Major and his forces. David had been particularly infamous for his cruelty and willingness to rise in the ranks to the detriment of even his own comrades, so Shun wouldn’t be shedding any tears that another monster of Academia had left the world. 

But all the same, however that battle had gone down, Yuto had become utterly despondent, retreating to his tent, with only Ruri able to keep him company. 

Then, not too long afterwards, Ruri had said to Shun after she had gotten some more water for Yuto…she would need to tell Shun something. Something that Yuto had kept secret about himself since this terrible and evil invasion had begun.

But that revelation had to wait, not least because of the usual things getting in the way. More wounded who needed treatment, and meetings with other members of the Resistance…but Shun had foolishly thought that he and Ruri would have time to catch up. Yuto eventually did stabilize, and Shun just had to discuss some things with the leader of their Spade Branch first, and then learn just what secret Ruri had held so close to her.

If only Shun had known that that would be the day she would vanish. He could feel his mind slipping back to that day, and the struggles that had followed.

Academia had taken her, they knew that much. But why her? Why go to the trouble of kidnapping her? What did they want with her?

Those questions had tormented Shun in the days that had followed, and he was thus very glad that he had a target to vent his fury and anguish on. 

When Academia launched their next offensive, Shun had jumped into battle wanting to do nothing more than to destroy them. This was the last straw. They had killed his friends, destroyed their dreams, but throughout it all, Shun had sworn to endure for the sake of his family and best friend. But with one of those two fetters gone, all Shun had left now was revenge.

It was at the very end, when all of their forces seemed to have retreated, that Shun had cornered one final duelist. A weak Osiris Red with brown hair arranged in a bobcut. He begged for mercy, just like everyone else…but before Shun could card him…

“Please! No! I’m not from Fusion, I swear! I’m from Standard! Please, don’t kill me!”

Shun’s fingers stopped, centimeters away from his duel disk. It could be a lie…but…

He remained still, glaring at the Osiris student, staying silent as the fool squirmed. Let him feel the fear that had plagued them all during the Hunting Games. 

“Wh-why aren’t you answering!?” wailed the fool. “I’m telling the truth! I…I was brought here from LDS in Standard to join Academia!”

Now he had something worth discussing. “What do you mean by LDS?”

The student trembled, pulling out a strange badge made up of English letters that were arranged into a vague wing-shape. Shun marched forward and grabbed the badge from the student’s hand, examining it carefully before pocketing it in his coat.

“Keep talking,” he ordered. “Answer all of my questions.”

The student nodded disgracefully, tears in his eyes. 

“If you’re from the Standard Dimension, why are you fighting alongside Academia?”

“I-I was told that they wanted to keep an eye on the Professor’s son! They wanted a representative from Standard and-”

“Who is the Professor’s son?” Shun demanded, immediately latching onto the critical information he had been given.

“R-Reiji Akaba!” the student stammered.

It took Shun only a few seconds to realize the weight of this revelation. Leo Akaba, The Professor had a son. His own family, located in the Standard Dimension. If Shun could take this son hostage himself…he could arrange for a trade. Hostage-taking was hardly a moral act, but when dealing with the monsters of Academia, Shun could easily accept and practice the phrase; ‘An eye for an eye’...

“I-I’ve told you everything I know!” the student blurted out. “Now please! Let me go! Spare me!”

Shun didn’t want to give this buffoon any more time than he needed to. 

He pressed the button. 

Afterwards, Shun presented his information to the rest of the Resistance, expecting the full support of his comrades, but to his fury…

“No,” Moyen Kazamuki said firmly.

Shun’s eyes widened in anger, and he slammed his fists on the war table. “Why not?! If we do this, we could end this war! Bring Ruri back!”

The leader of the Spade Branch rubbed his forehead, pushing aside some of his black hair, and sighed. “Shun, you need to see the bigger picture. I understand you want to save your sister, but I have hundreds more brothers, sisters, moms, and dads to take care of. We need to prioritize the people who are still with us here.”

“I’ll go alone!” Shun pleaded. “You won’t have to worry about anything!”

Moyen then gave Shun a much sterner stare. “So, in other words, you want to intrude on Standard, on a lead that you did nothing to further investigate on besides a name, potentially wasting time, energy, and worst of all, a possibility of calling for help, just on the chance that that will convince the Professor to let Ruri go?”

“We won’t need Standard’s help!” protested Shun.

Moyen folded his arms, his voice now becoming stern. “Shun, we’ve been working with all of the tech we’ve got left, trying to finally reverse-engineer Academia’s interdimensional transportation to find allies. It’s our Dimension’s last hope. Your goal, no matter how you try to spin it, is only going to jeopardize that mission. I’ll keep the information you’ve given in mind, but we are not discussing this any further tonight. Please leave, I have to speak with the other Resistance leaders. We need to get ready, there may be another offensive coming soon.”

“No! I, We have to–”

His protests were muffled as his own comrades betrayed him at that moment, dragging him out of Moyen’s tent. They didn’t throw him out, but his attempts to break through were all met with equal opposing force.

But Shun would not give up. He would save Ruri, or die trying. No-one would get in his way. Not even his comrades.

Now, what Moyen had said was true. The Resistance had taken what had remained of their dimension’s technological resources that Academia hadn’t destroyed or plundered for themselves, and had been working on projects to try to reverse-engineer Academia’s technology, though often at a great price. Obtaining both the Real Solid Vision program and hardware, as well as the ones required to card people, for example, had come at a great price of both people and time. 

As for the technology to teleport between Dimensions? That had been more difficult to decipher with the resources they had, with Academia’s relentless attacks, along with their own intelligence network sabotaging what progress had been made. Not to mention the dissenting opinions of those who feared that Academia themselves already had allies in the other two Dimensions.

But desperate times called for desperate measures, and they had begun planning diplomatic trips, to see the situation in Standard or Synchro, and try to gain allies to help fight against Academia.

Shun tried to rationalize what he was doing. He would be in and out of Standard quickly. That wouldn’t harm Moyen’s ‘decision’ or ‘plan’ in the slightest. 

“Is this it?” he murmured to himself, downloading the program into his duel disk.

“O-oi! What are you doing?!” crowed an annoying voice.

“Nothing in particular, Orbital 7,” grumbled Shun. He still never understood what had driven Kaito to build such an annoying robot companion.

“That looks like something to me! While Masters V and Kaito are out, I am the one in charge of guarding the lab!”

“Dust-cleaning, Dust-cleaning,” hummed another, more feminine robotic voice.

“O-oh, Obomi, I wouldn’t have forgotten about you! Equal partnership of course!” Orbital 7 backtracked. Shun also didn’t know how or why an automated voice was able to emote love of all things.

But at least that gave Shun the distraction he needed. “You won’t have to worry about a thing,” he said, inserting a Dimensional Transporter card into his duel disk. “Tell Kaito and Master V that I’ll be right back.”

“A-ACK!” Orbital 7 screamed. “Wh-what are you doing Kurosaki?! O-oh, I have to tell Master Kaito immediately! This is terrible!”

Those were the last words in Xyz that Shun heard, as blue light filled his eyes, forcing him to close them as he crossed Dimensions for the first time.

Shun had found himself in a place that was called Miami City. Looking around, it had not been difficult to determine where LDS was. Their headquarters towered above the rather suburban-looking metropolis. If this was where Reiji Akaba lived, finding him would not be difficult. The rest of the day had been spent researching, learning, and creating a strategy to bring the son of the Professor into his clutches.

Seeing the widespread presence of LDS in Miami City, Shun had ultimately decided it would be best to get Reiji’s attention. Attack the personnel, send them over to their master, and draw him out. If he was indeed with Academia, then Shun would feel no guilt about destroying the minions of the Professor’s son.

Yet a complication had arisen, when, at the very end of the day…

A hand reached over, grabbing Shun by the shoulder. Instinctively, he reached over, intending to counter-attack, but stopped when he saw who it was.

“Yuto?”

“Shun, stop this,” Yuto demanded.

“Wh-wha, how are you?” Shun stammered.

“Thankfully, Master V had a spare Dimensional Transporter he was working on,” explained his friend. “I came to bring you back home. This mission of yours is completely insane. Doing this won’t bring Ruri back.”

Shun’s shock now turned to rage. “How can you say that?!” he roared. “Ruri, Ruri, was singled out and taken by Academia! They’re going to do terrible things to her, I just know it! If there’s even a chance I can save her, I don’t care what I have to do!”

He then glared at Yuto. “And I thought you cared about her too.”

That did it. However subtle it was, Shun could see anger sparking in Yuto’s eyes at the accusation. “I do care. I’ve never stopped caring for Ruri, not once in my life.”

“Then you should join me!” said Shun. “I already have a plan in mind!”

“Moyen’s plan was–”

“Completely invalid,” scoffed Shun. “Reiji has to be associated with Academia. There’s no point in allying with him.”

“You don’t know that,” warned Yuto.

“Then explain this!” Shun hissed, revealing the badge he’d taken from the Academia Exchange student. “I got this from an Academia student claiming to be from this Duel School. They’re in league with Academia, I just know it!”

Yuto looked at the badge, then reached over and took it, staring at it for what Shun knew was more than a few minutes. Finally, Yuto gave Shun a heavy look. “...I’ll ask around to learn more about this.”

Grim satisfaction flowed through Shun’s mind. “So you’re in?”

“...I’ll do what it takes to save Ruri and our home,” Yuto answered. “That’s all.”

Well, that was the best he could hope for, but it seemed that Yuto shared the same fires of revenge that he did. That was more than enough for Shun.

And now, after many twists and turns, from the revelation that Reiji was against his father the entire time, to confronting Sora Shiuin, fighting the Obelisk Force once again, and learning about Selena…

Here was Shun in the Synchro Dimension, Yuto apparently lost, and he himself was no closer to getting Ruri back. And how was the rest of the Resistance doing? For a moment, he dared to think about going back but…no. This was what they had wanted, right? And he had faith that they could defeat any other attack from Academia. His comrades would not fall.

They would have to wait just a little bit longer was all.

But Astral World above, Shun hated the waiting game he’d been forced to play. He was never one for sitting on his ass and letting the enemy come to him, and his mind was running through countless worst-case scenarios as his eyes, hidden by his sunglasses, analyzed the streets for any sign of Yuya and Selena’s return, or for any new potential enemies.

Shun would freely admit he did not know Yuya very well. All he saw was someone who, he was told through some strange phantom sight, was someone Yuto endorsed. Shun had allowed his mind to wander back, and parsing through his memories, he wondered if what Ruri had kept secret to him was part of this strange puzzle.

…But thinking about Ruri just led him to think about Selena next. A girl that pained him to look at, all thanks to her face looking exactly like Ruri. Shun was glad he hadn’t seen Selena in her Academia uniform; just the idea of Ruri wearing the colors of that place made him sick to his stomach. The idea that she would try to kill him under their control, even moreso.

He wondered if he should extend some gratitude towards the Standard Dimension girl who shared Ruri’s face. According to Selena, it was Yuzu who convinced her to change her mission from simply hunting Shun down to instead asking him about the Invasion of Xyz. And it seemed, to her credit, that Selena was quite willing to fight back against Academia after hearing of their horrid actions.

Shun had observed Yuzu during the Miami Championship, and he still remembered the shock at seeing her debut a Fusion Monster from Sora Shiuin’s instructions. He’d left before the final blows had been dealt, but he had stuck around to near the end. Yuzu’s style was quite different from Ruri’s, and that had been enough for Shun to distance her from his sister in his eyes.

At least, for that moment. He only tentatively accepted the Lancers as allies, nowhere near enough to be considered comrades yet, but if he did have to save Yuzu before Ruri…he would do so. 

It didn’t change however, as his mind continued to wander as he kept watch on the streets, that he didn’t know those three very well, to say nothing of the other Lancers.

Right now, Shun had been joined in his vigil by Tsukikage the ninja duelist (even if his garb had been changed to hide his profession), and at least he kept his mouth shut, helping to keep watch. Dennis Macfield on the other hand, seemed to be futilely trying to access the network, but was keeping to himself, and a quick glance at his face betrayed any sense that he was truly focusing on the task at hand. Shun remembered how Dennis hadn’t participated in the previous battle against the Obelisk Force, and wondered just what Reiji saw in the so-called Broadway student.

As for Reira Akaba, the fact that Reiji was willingly bringing a family member, one so young in fact, into the danger zone, disgusted him. At least with Heartland or Academia, Shun had some knowledge of either the land or anticipation of enemy forces so as to protect them. The Synchro Dimension, with this unknown city, was for all intents and purposes a place where anything could happen. What was Reiji thinking?

And on the matter of the LDS CEO himself, while Shun was confident that he was against his father, the man’s methods were a chip off the old block, as it were. He kept secrets close to his chest, and kept information on a strict need-to-know basis. He’d hidden Yuto’s disappearance and treated the circumstances as a distraction from their current mission…a mission that Shun had never been informed of until the very last minute.

Now, the bastard’s focus was on things Shun considered totally unnecessary and irrelevant. Monetary exchange differences, politics, and establishing themselves in this city itself? Why go through all of this trouble just to recruit allies? The only relevant issue was the one of communication, and right now, the only person who seemed to be working on it could very well be more focused on some random app on his duel disk!

Shun felt he would start to scream from the tedium, when his eyes caught the return of Selena, Yuya, Gongenzaka, the idiot, and…who was that?

Crossing the street with the other four Lancers was an unfamiliar boy with brown hair and an unfamiliar blue uniform. Which, as Shun examined it more closely, bore an uncanny resemblance to an Academia uniform, albeit it was more akin to the prep-school style of LDS.

Immediately he held up his duel disk, and to his left, Tsukikage followed.

“Wait! Wait!” cried the idiot, who rushed forward, waving his arms. “We’ve hit the jackpot!”

The stranger winced hearing this, and Shun wished that the idiot would calm down. He would admit that he was the last person to ever advocate it, but they did not need to make a scene right now.

“Jackpot?” inquired Dennis, who had gotten up to greet their teammates.

“Heh, heh, the president will be happy to know that I, Shingo Sawatari, have solved the problem of our needing room and board!” the idiot gloated smugly.

“You nearly screwed us over, you moron!” protested Selena with a furious fire in her eyes. “You’re the one who got into a fight! It was me and Yuya who found this guy!”

“Our money isn’t any good, by the way,” Gongenzaka rumbled, sharing Selena’s disgust for the idiot as he walked over to Reiji and handed over the yens.

“W-wait, you guys are using yen?” asked the stranger.

“Is that not an acceptable currency?” Reiji asked, striding right up to the front to confront the stranger, without asking who he was, seeming to take Yuya and Selena’s discovery in stride.

The stranger briefly backed away from Reiji, but managed to straighten himself up, despite the look of hesitation in his eyes. “W-well…it is still in some areas in Japan, but generally we use the Ylias-System of currency. Yaegars and Goodwins, y’know?”

“Can yen be exchanged? If so, what is the rate?” Reiji pressed on.

“Uh, let me check…” replied the stranger, who pulled out his duel disk. “I’m uh, not up-to-date…”

Shun could see the glint of interest in Reiji’s eyes. It wasn’t just for this goal; already the CEO looked like he was calculating numerous priorities and moves to proceed with.

“1 yen goes to about 0.0065 Goodwins,” the stranger confirmed.

“Thank you very much,” Reiji said, pushing his glasses into place. “Now, to get to the point, could you explain who you are?”

“Uh, m-me?” stammered the stranger.

“He says that he’s met Yugo and Rin,” Selena interjected. “We found this guy by chance. From what he’s told us, there’s something fishy going on in this Dimension.”

“S-something fishy?” asked Dennis nervously.

And so Selena took up explaining everything they’d apparently talked about, with the stranger, whose name was Toby, interjecting to cover anything that she might have explained inaccurately. Shun made sure to remember what had been described in detail. If this was a critical lead, he had to make sure to follow up on it. Given that the story involved some Duel School getting involved with Ruri and Yuto’s Synchro Counterparts, that definitely made it worth listening to.

When they’d finished talking, it was Yuya who spoke up. “This is the lead we need to find Yuzu! I know it is!”

Reiji however, merely raised a hand, before looking at Toby again. “The information you’ve given us is critical to our mission, and it seems that our investigations could very well dovetail with what you have witnessed.”

“Yeah…about that…” said Toby. “What is your mission? What are you guys after?”

“You sure seem to be eager to trust us,” Dennis glibly whistled. “I’d at least be questioning five or so details of our story, if I were a stranger.”

“Don’t jeopardize my chance at a comfy bed!” protested Sawatari before Shun could do more than shoot a nasty glare at Dennis’ comment, even if the LDS exchange student had a point.

“Uh, well, uhhhh…” Toby muttered, seeming to realize that he may have overstepped a boundary thanks to Dennis’ words. 

“I assure you, our end goal is benevolent,” said Reiji. “But I would like to know a few more things, Toby, if you are willing to answer my questions.”

“Uh, sure?” Toby said, clearly uneasy.

Reiji cleared his throat. “The story that I’ve been told is quite illuminating, but one detail has stuck out to me, if you’d indulge my asking it.”

“And that is–?”

“Can you tell me more about this…Jean-Michel Roget?” Reiji asked.

Shun’s ears perked up. Now here was something relevant he could grasp onto. An identity to an enemy.

“Uh, well…” replied Toby, rubbing the back of his head. “I…honestly don’t know that much about him. He’s the head of Security, and he’s been here for a long time. That’s about it. Maybe my sister knows a bit more, but if so, it probably isn’t much.”

Reiji considered this, then nodded. “Well, a lead is a lead. You’re our best hope as a guide right now Toby. Could you assist us in that regard? I promise that I can compensate you for your time via becoming a client for your sister’s business.”

“Well…uh, okay, where do you need to go?” Toby asked, his voice still hesitant, but his eyes clearly telling another story.

And just like that, Shun’s irritation returned as the group was guided to, of all things, a damn bank office.

“Oh come on, why do we have to stop here first?” groaned the idiot. Shun tried not to vocalize how for once, he actually agreed with Shingo Sawatari.

“If you want your bed so badly, we need to ensure we can pay for it,” Reiji said, unveiling a large aluminum briefcase and handing it to Tsukikage, before pulling out his wallet. “Wait in the lobby as I make the payments.”

At last, Shun could no longer hold his voice back. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” he roared, this close to grabbing Reiji by his damn scarf. “Why are we pussyfooting around like this? Don’t we have comrades to find? New ones to recruit? Why are we wasting our time with this nonsense?!”

Toby and Reira had backed away in fright from Shun’s outburst, while Tsukikage moved forward defensively. Sawatari was probably trying to say something, but given how his loud, screeching voice sounded muffled (Shun wasn’t exactly looking in the idiot’s direction), either Gongenzaka or Selena had elected to shut him up somehow.

But Reiji, as infuriatingly calm as ever, merely pushed his glasses into place. “One must have patience to achieve their goals, Kurosaki. We have just begun to understand how this Dimension works, and this will help us further that understanding.”

“How?!” Shun and Yuya asked in unison. Shun actually looked back. Yuya Sakaki agreed with him?

But Reiji merely brought up a hand. “I’d rather we not, as you claim we are, waste any more time. Please wait as I prepare our monetary resources.”

“You can’t be–!” Shun began, only for a strong hand to grab his shoulder. Instinctively, Shun tried to turn around to counterattack, but Noboru Gongenzaka held firm, tanking the hit and holding Shun’s arm tight.

“It’s irritating, I know, but we have to stick together on this. I don’t like taking Reiji’s side, but you must be patient, Kurosaki.”

Shun gnashed his teeth, loathing the suggestion, only for Tsukikage to walk up and whisper into his ear. “Treat this as enemy territory,” he instructed. “Lay low.”

For a moment, Shun was tempted to laugh. ‘Enemy Territory’? If it was a bank run by Academia, then this place would certainly count (and be worthy of getting blown to smithereens), but his instincts, trained to search for the sign of any hostility, cast about, allowed him to examine his surroundings.

The lobby they had reached was primarily made of silver, white, and teal metals, with bank tellers lined up in their various booths, and several ATMs built into the walls, where several civilians were lined up. That was hardly anything worth noting. But what was worth noting were the several police officers, dressed in grey uniforms, patrolling the streets outside, or even standing as sentries in the bank itself.

Shun stole a glance at Yuya and Selena, their faces thankfully concealed by hoods. If those were removed, the Lancers would be attacked on the spot and…

He hated it when the other side had a point. 

Still fuming, Shun crashed onto a cushioned chair and tightly clasped his hands together, watching as Tsukikage rejoined Reiji and Reira to engage in their activity. The other Lancers likewise, remained where they were, though Dennis seemed interested in trying to spark up conversation with Toby, much to Sawatari’s annoyance (“are you trying to get my bed?!). Yuya, Selena, and Gongenzaka stuck together.

The seconds turned into minutes, and those minutes began to slowly rack up. Finally, when nearly a whole hour had passed, Reiji and his entourage returned.

“Our efforts were successful, it seems,” he said, before looking at Toby. “Now then young man, if you would guide us further?”

Darkness and Light. Two sides of the same coin. Two delicious flavors of ice-cream when mixed properly with strawberry. Wait, no, that wasn’t it. Ah, right. Most of the computer laboratory was in darkness, and the light that emerged was from several monitors, the way reverse cookies-and-cream ice cream worked.

Yes, that was a much better idle thought, and she could definitely go for some lunch when she was done with this damn simulator puzzle! 

“Nggh…” she groaned, hacking away at her controller, gazing at the card on the field. “C’mon…”

The woman with the long, messy, spiked salmon-colored hair grit her teeth, pushing her spiral glasses back into place with her black-gloved hands, focusing her efforts on the virtual opponent.

“Almost there…” she said.

Then came the final blow, and…

OPPONENT LP: 0

WINNER: KUREI SOZOTAI

“Ha-ha!” Kurei cackled in triumph, adjusting her dirtied white lab coat. “That’s one for me there! …Which means I’ve probably gotta update that part, don’t I, big guy?”

Looking up at the shadows, Kurei gazed at a single red eye, buried under tendrils upon tendrils of cords, which looked back at her and glowed in confirmation. As did the scarred, marked mouth underneath the massive body cloaked in darkness and metal make a crooked smile to match.

Grinning in satisfaction, she turned her attention to the next program, only for a purple light to go off.

“Eh? Wait, is that–?”

Now, Kurei knew that there were other Dimensions. She’d even occasionally checked out the Xyz Dimension on behalf of her boss, but never long enough to be noticed by the Resistance or Academia (which meant that she never had any time to steal any good Xyz tech thanks to Academia either wrecking it or hogging it for themselves). Roget had dismissed Standard as a threat, and so she’d decided that any Dimension-threatening factor would just be coded with purple to cover all bases.

She’d recently uploaded a program to track any names of interest throughout Neo Domino City’s networks. From banks to businesses, any and all data banks that had “suspicious” activity would be immediately alerted to her.

Granted, she had to admit that if Academia had any notion of being clever, then relying on this program was honestly a shot in the dark. She’d only uploaded it about a month ago after Roget had nearly had a mental breakdown over that creepy dude named Yuri, who had shown up to wreck his most recent plan, but the installation was more to appease her boss than anything she was excited to do. Any competent agent should be able to dodge its notice.

But anyways, the program had alerted her to two things.

First, was a transaction and account registration made by one of the banks. The client had set up an account and then had exchanged all of his Yen for Jaegers and Goodwins.

“Ugh, obsolete money, bleeeehhhhh…” Kurei groaned.

Only about half of Japan still used that old, outdated form of currency nowadays. Slowly but surely, the money of Neo Domino had been spreading across Japan, supplanting its age-old money system, and eventually, the Synchro Dimension would know of only one currency. But until that day that Kurei didn’t really care about, it was hardly unusual (which meant it was boring and tedious) to see exchanges. No, what was unusual was the name, or rather, the sur name, attached to the transaction.

Now, Kurei had to wonder if there was something wrong with her glasses, because she was quite certain that this was a name she’d never get to see in this type of program.

But there it was, the last name of “Akaba”. The very same last name belonged to Leo Akaba, the Professor of Academia.

Quickly, Kurei moved to access Security’s network and history, trying to pinpoint the name. The account had been registered at a location for Lazarus Bank. Soon, security footage of the location was presented to her, and she immediately began identifying faces. At one of the booths, the one that had registered the account and the subsequent transfer, were three strangers. One was clearly a child clutching a ragdoll of a teddy bear, the other was a dude in a blue jacket, and the final person, clearly the leader based on his posture and speaking to the teller, was a tall-looking man with a young face, silver hair, glasses, and a very distinctive scarf.

While Kurei could not yet identify any names to the man’s companions, given the name that had been registered, she knew that she could attach a name to the one in the center. 

The one who definitely called himself Reiji Akaba.

Studying the footage intensely, Kurei watched as Reiji excused himself, and then he and his two companions joined another group of people she didn’t recognize…except…wait, was that?

Kurei grinned. “Well, well…Misty’s little brother’s involved in this? The plot thickens.”

Reiji seemed to converse with the group, first Toby, then addressed the rest. Kurei, for some reason, found that her attention was drawn to two of the individuals in the group. Both seemed to be wearing hoods; one white, and the other dark blue. That was…intriguing.

The group of ten then left the building, and Kurei quickly switched to other surveillance devices, watching them, studying them.

Well, well…now things were truly getting interesting

And the fireworks were undoubtedly going to be spectacular once she contacted her boss…

The first step was complete. Now, to take stock of what they had to work with.

Reiji knew fully well that despite his initial analysis of the potential of the Synchro Dimension from Yugo’s duel against the Obelisk Force, that there were still so many unknowns regarding it. Elements like culture, relation with the Other Worlds, overall strength of its duelists, and many more.

But their Dimension needed more duelists to fight for it. Reiji had checked the formation of new teams of Lancers, and while a second team was already being prepared and combat training was to begin at each LDS location overall, Academia still had the edge in experience, time, and resources. His father’s plans had kicked into motion three years ago, but Reiji had examined every single one of his father’s files that had been left over, and those had shown that this had all been in-place for at least twice that period of time.

Perhaps he would have discovered more with time, but…

No, that was an irrelevant memory right now. Best to focus on the present.

It was a stroke of luck, and a very intriguing thread, that Yuya and Selena had come across someone with in-roads to a greater conspiracy. Toby’s story about Yugo and Rin, moreso about the sudden appearance of Jean-Michel Roget, was incredibly tantalizing. Reiji was already running theories in his mind about the man, and hoped that his little…registration act could act as potential bait. Not likely but still a possibility to consider and plan for.

Toby’s ties to a new Duel School, this…Acceleration Institute, was also worthwhile. That alone provided a wealth of potential recruits, depending on the impression the Lancers made and the skill level of these duelists.

But what was concerning was this mention of “Tops” and “Commons”. Reiji had never heard of such terminology before, and Toby’s story hadn’t explained what those terms meant. Reiji doubted that they indicated anything good however. 

Even so, he was certain that he and the Lancers would have that answer soon enough. The goal of establishing a base was moving forward; there was no need to interrupt it or distract their guide.

With an account set up and funded from LDS’ finances properly converted into Synchro currency, time had not been wasted, and Toby had decided that the group should head to his sister’s hotel at once. A good decision, given Shun’s impatience. Reiji had taken precautionary measures to ensure that the Resistance Duelist would not do something foolish, but feeding his temper was a poor move right now.

Due to the size of their group, Toby had taken the Lancers to a bus stop, urging them to hurry. 

“If we want to get there soon, we can’t afford to dawdle! I know the times like the back of my hand!” he said.

“Oi, Dennis, hurry it up!” ordered Shingo.

“J-just need to make sure I’ve got everything!” Dennis called.

“What could you possibly have left behind in that bank?!” squawked Gongenzaka.

Before Dennis could reply, Selena grabbed his wrist and dragged the Broadway transfer student along, and the Lancers hastened their group’s pace along the sidewalk. Reiji walked briskly in front, with Toby clearly not enjoying having to speed-walk to stay just ahead. Reira, their hands clinging to their brother’s, did not complain or speak as they followed.

They soon reached a bus-stop, with the transit shelter gleaming with holographic advertisements instead of pre-made pictures. A small crowd of people had gathered, and were boarding a large double-decker bus.

“C’mon!” Toby called.

Just as the last person entered the doors, Toby and Reiji reached the bus entrance, the latter managing to shift into the flow of the crowd as if he’d been there from the start. Good reflexes, in Reiji’s eyes, as he and Reira followed suit. Shun and Yuya were next, followed by Sawatari, then Gongenzaka, before Selena shoved a nervous Dennis aboard the bus, all with Tsukikage having kept an eye on the group from the back.

“All passengers boarded,” rang an automated voice in a female tone as Tsukikage entered. “Please take a seat.”

“Stay together,” Reiji ordered, his sharp eyes darting around the seats. Most of the previous passengers chose to head up top, which left plenty of open seats on the bottom row of the bus. Most of the group sat in pairs; Yuya and Gongenzaka, Sawatari and Toby, Selena and Dennis, and of course, Reiji and Reira. Shun chose to sit on his own, while Tsukikage made sure to sit on the seat on the other side of the aisle as Reiji and Reira.

Soon, the bus was moving, and a tour guide with red hair and a dark-blue uniform was quick to start speaking.

“Welcome, one and all, to Extreme Vic Tours!” she announced. “Here, we’re devoted to giving you the best tours around all of Neo Domino City!”

Reiji tuned out the tour guide’s voice when Toby spoke up. “The usual route will take us near our hotel. We can get off there.”

“Excellent,” Reiji replied, though he shot a subtle nod at Tsukikage; on the off-chance that this was a trap, then the ninja would know to eliminate Toby immediately.

As the bus moved forward, Reiji pressed a function on his duel disk to record audio. However their communications were being jammed, audio recording seemed to still be functional, and there was no point in drowning his thoughts out with the details provided from the tour guide’s explanation of Neo Domino City. Better to save them for later, since it would be foolish to throw away a source of information.

Granted, what was being recorded and what he was listening to did not seem too prudent. Most of the tour guide’s “information” tended to skew toward advertising for a variety of products sponsored by in-town celebrities rather than anything prudent about the City itself. Reiji was no stranger to marketing, it played an enormous role in establishing a company like LDS after all, but being on the receiving end of it rather than reviewing it with Nakajima or his mother certainly made his brain ache from the obnoxious commercialism.

He glanced out the window as the bus seemed to leave the district they were in, now passing onto a large bridge, and it was here that Reiji’s eyes focused.

The bridge, or freeway, as it were, seemed to connect massive, enormous hexagonal pillars, each the size of entire districts, holding those districts, rose into the air at varying heights, with some connected to one another by floating chrome or glass prisms that hung in-between each district. And by looking down however, at the base of the pillars, Reiji could spot a flood of brown-and-green. For a moment, his mind thought that they were some kind of rice fields or farmland; it wasn’t out of the ordinary for suburban civilians to grow their own crops even in more urban areas back in Standard, but looking closer, Reiji realized that these were no farmlands, but rather densely-packed buildings. Decrepit, old buildings that couldn’t be more different from the fragmented metropolis above if they tried.

“Eugh, what are those things?” Sawatari muttered.

“We’re this high up?” asked Yuya.

“Whoa…” breathed Selena in awe.

Good, the other Lancers hadn’t needed to follow any instructions to look down and had caught the detail themselves. This seemed to present an opportunity for some relevant information.

“Now, if you will look over–” the red-haired tour guide continued, and that was what prompted Reiji to raise his hand. “Yes?”

“Those buildings down below, what are those districts?” he asked.

The tour guide gave a look of confusion. “Why, those are the Commons districts sir. I don’t know why you’d ask about those. Nothing worth looking into whatsoever.”

“Why aren’t they worth looking into?” Yuya asked. It was no surprise he would ask such a question, if that was where Yuzu might be.

“They’re just Commons, of course,” answered the tour guide dismissively. “I’d imagine tourists come here for the glories and innovations of Neo Domino City’s Tops! Certainly not the Commons, unless you’re here to propose some redevelopment plans! Now then, if you please, we can go to the real wonders of our fair city! Over there…”

“Okay, what the heck’s up with this Tops and Commons stuff?” Selena whispered harshly at Toby.

“Yes, please inform us,” Reiji concurred quietly, passing a glance at their guide. “We Lancers do not have these terms where we come from. What do they mean?”

At this, Toby sighed, but the Lancers, aside from Shun, were already turning in their seats to look at him. He seemed uncomfortable with their gazes, but he ultimately answered the question.

“That’s what we use to refer to the upper class and lower-class citizens of this City,” he explained. “It’s a model that a lot of surrounding cities have taken up all over the world. Tops refer to the “winners” and Commons refer to the “losers”. That huge district at the bottom down there is where the Commons live.”

“That’s horrible!” exclaimed Yuya; Reiji looked quickly, but it seemed the tour guide had returned to focusing on the usual advertising rather than interrupting him. 

Toby shrugged. “It’s…just how things work here. My sister once worked as one of the world’s top fashion models before she moved on to running our hotel. She’s had to master a lot of skills to do it, from business, to communications, and dueling, of course.”

“Dueling is a sign of social status here?” Gongenzaka asked.

“Yeah,” nodded Toby, “everything here is hyper-competitive. That’s how our society works. Dueling is one of the biggest hallmark skills you need to have to get around. Win, and you live here in the Tops. Lose, and…well…”

The boy looked out the window, leaving no unspoken terms as to the fate that awaited a so-called “loser”.

A society controlled by dueling status? That was…interesting, if Reiji wanted to be generous. Then again, everything about the Fusion Dimension that he had seen so far showcased a world that emphasized using dueling as a weapon of conquest. The Xyz Dimension, from what he had gleaned from Shun, seemed to at least have a mentality akin to Standard’s, where dueling was meant to be a method of fun and simple competition. But the Synchro Dimension seemed to take the competition angle to an alarming extreme, if this terminology was so ingrained in the minds of everyone present, and pervaded their culture.

Now Reiji had to consider how that cultural indoctrination factored into a proposal to fight Academia. Would it make Synchro more willing to fight them, or would it make allying with this Dimension more difficult?

…And if there was indeed a mole, or rather, a “Pawn of Fusion” as Shun put it, somewhere in the Synchro Dimension, that would complicate matters further.

“So…your sister worked hard to keep you two here?” asked Yuya.

“Yeah, she has,” confirmed Toby. “Our parents died when I was younger, and she pretty much took care of everything. She’s done a lot to make sure that we’re where we are today.”

Reiji looked at Toby’s lap, where the box from the cake shop sat. He considered this detail carefully. Negotiating with Toby’s older sister would be his first foray into figuring out the psychology of the Synchro Dimension. He could not afford a mistake there.

“So…” Dennis put in, hands folded behind his head as he leaned in his chair, “what exactly do you want us to do? From what you’ve told us, it’s hard to believe you can get anything from this city for free, and I can’t imagine you just want us to pad out your allowance. What is it you need from us exactly? Help your sister out with the family business?”

“Oh, no, no! Nothing like that!” waved Toby, who gave a small laugh. “Misty screens employees more strictly than Security does with new recruits!”

He continued to chuckle about that for a few moments, before calming down. “It’s just…I have some friends back at school. I don’t know if this a coincidence, or me going crazy, but…I think you guys might be able to help us out with a problem there. My sister’s been putting me under some really strict curfews ever since last month’s event after how that went down, so I haven’t been able to do much.”

Quite a stretch to be honest, but the in-roads Toby had given them worked out splendidly for Reiji’s goals.

“Wait, it’s Saturday,” Yuya noted. “Your school has weekend classes?”

“Uh, sometimes,” said Toby. “But it’s also partly a boarding school, so some of my friends actually live there.”

Reiji took this moment to steer the conversation back under control. “All good things to know. Rest assured, you can see that the size of our team makes assistance a non-issue. We will do everything we can to assist you, Toby.”

“You will? Thanks!” said the boy.

Now Reiji was sure that their guide was more than a bit quick to trust, though the strange phenomenon with Yuya and Yuzu and their counterparts certainly “helped” as it were. Even so, he would pursue this lead nevertheless.

“How long until we reach our destination?” Selena asked.

“Uhhh…ten more minutes, I think, depending on traffic,” Toby replied as the bus crossed over the bridge and entered the next district.

Ten minutes to think then. Reiji looked out the window to examine the new district, but his eyes caught a policeman riding a strange, blue-and-white armored motorcycle with lavender-colored headlights, not unlike the one Yugo had ridden, driving right alongside them.

The man’s eyes were hidden by a black visor, but Reiji could feel that their eyes had met. Not too long after that feeling however, the man quickly accelerated forwards and turned a corner while they continued to go straight.

It seemed that there was another topic to discuss.

“Tell me more about this…’Security’,” he immediately instructed, causing Toby to jolt. “You said before that they failed to protect you and your friends, and I can surmise enough from what we’ve seen that they are this city’s police force, but I would like to know more about their role in that regard.”

“Uh, well, that’s pretty much all they do,” answered Toby. “They’re supposed to help keep the peace in the City, either by keeping down crime, or monitoring the progression between Tops and Commons in the districts. They’ll sometimes try to catch a criminal on their D-Wheel, and that…well…it makes for, uh…good television, I guess?”

“Television?” Gongenzaka asked.

“Sometimes, criminals try to resist by dueling,” Toby explained. “Security is authorized to duel them to bring them in, and that usually results in, well, TV crews joining in…”

“Oh, so they show viewers high-speed chases then!” Dennis chimed in with a snap of his fingers. “Very interesting!”

Toby’s face went dark. “Yeah…it’s not so fun when they’re doing it at your expense…plus, one of my classmates really doesn’t like the head reporter for her opinions on these things, and I’ve been leaning in his camp recently.”

“How strict are they with their monitoring?” inquired Tsukikage, Reiji noticing the ninja duelist’s eyes paying attention to the streetlights, likely seeking out cameras.

“Pretty strict,” Toby replied. “You need special permissions to connect to the wider internet, and if you do get caught by them, they engrave this tattoo called a ‘Criminal Mark’ onto you so they can track your movements with the microchip embedded in it. And that’s if they let you out of the massive detention facilities they have in the first place.”

“Do your best not to be marked or caught then,” Reiji instructed the Lancers.

“O-of course we won’t!” declared Sawatari. “We’ll be on the right side of the law through thick and thin! The Great Shingo Sawatari is a shining pillar of moral character!”

“You picked a fight with someone over cake. You’re the last person to talk about obeying the law right now,” Selena drawled, arms folded in disapproval.

Sawatari deflated, and Reiji tuned out the boy’s protests to continue thinking. Yet another factor to consider as he began running through plans, team formations, and objectives.

That confirmed it then, they were in the belly of the beast, and there was no turning back. 

“That uniform…there’s only one person in Academia with that particular style…And if she is here, then…”

Jean-Michel Roget sat at his desk. Annoyingly, Security had yet to capture Yugo and, for now, who he assumed was Selena. Only “assumed” since there was always a chance that Rin, given her past in the Commons, could have stolen Selena’s uniform and escaped from Academia.

Granted, Roget doubted that the Professor would give a complete stranger from another Dimension such freedom of movement. He himself had observed Selena from afar whenever he’d been forced to report to Academia directly, and he knew exactly the extent of her liberty. Her sheltered existence, locked away in the Southern Tower, made most who knew of her assume she was a pampered teacher's pet. No wonder she had tried to escape. 

The Professor would, of course, be even more protective of Rin now that one of his jewels had escaped. Roget wouldn't have been surprised if her new room was going to be a maximum security dungeon cell at this point.

Thankfully, he was still a month away from his next reporting date, and by that time, Roget hoped to have completed his plans to fully fortify the Synchro Dimension into his own personal kingdom.

Yet that could very well be immaterial. Regardless if the individual in the uniform was indeed Selena, somehow whisked away to Synchro by Yugo, or even Rin in one of Selena’s uniforms, then Academia was undoubtedly going to follow after her. Roget had to suppress a shudder at who they might send. The Professor had a wealth of agents he could order to retrieve their princess, all of whom were unpleasant and troublesome in their own ways.

Obviously, there was the risk of Eli Smith, the infuriating Irish bore who had been assigned to oversee Academia’s interdimensional espionage, whose no-nonsense attitude promised boundless headaches from the man’s intrusive nature, horridly rude personality, and his annoying insistence on covering every angle.

…Which would likely result in Smith bringing a team of his fellow Phantasms to join him. Individuals such as Roswell, Lieutenant Mistral, Mizumaru, and Akizora, long-standing teammates of Smith who bore their own unique talents that made them incredibly vexing people to deal with, individually and collectively.

Other possible threats included agents from Academia’s old days. Master Shinra and Titan for example, former mercenaries and assassins who preceded and helped to found the Phantasms in the first place, with the former acting as that division's primary trainer while the latter continued to act as an independent spreading misery wherever he went. Then there were the Tyler Sisters, a duo of elite envoys trained by the late Tania, notorious for their battle-crazed mentalities. Or perhaps the Professor would bring Barrett, the leader of the destroyed, yet still legendary Wolfpack, back into service. Roget recalled seeing the old soldier shadowing Selena as her newest bodyguard during his last report, and Barrett’s devotion to his duty was quite well-known and commanded great respect among all of Academia’s troops. He certainly wouldn’t approve of Yugo taking either Selena or Rin.

But if any of these people, or others, were due to arrive, Roget had confidence that the secret assets he had been preparing could deal with them. It would be incredibly cathartic, for example, to smash the Great Irish Bore into pieces, and it would be quite a satisfying victory to send relics like Barrett or Titan to their graves with the advancements in dueling tactics Roget had perfected during his time in Synchro.

But there was one individual who Roget knew would consider his preparations mere speedbumps. Who was superior to all of the persons of interest Roget had and hadn’t thought about. 

The ultimate Duel Soldier of Academia. The Dragon who all feared would devour them. The nightmare who had taken one step into the Synchro Dimension and reminded everyone of their place with his presence alone.

Yuri Fujiki.

Roget shuddered. He prided himself on his ability to place key individuals where they were needed, like any good grandmaster of Chess. Just with a glance of their abilities or actions, he could achieve a rough idea of where they were placed, and where he would move them along his board. Yet his mind could not come up with any sort of plan for Yuri. The boy was chaos and evil incarnate, a far greater threat than some infuriating Irishman or old warrior. Eli and Barrett were both skilled opponents who could plan four or five moves ahead, but Yuri? Yuri kicked aside the chess board. All Roget could see in his mind when trying to factor in Yuri was a hungry, ravenous darkness that was eager to devour and destroy anything and everything in its path. His return to the Synchro Dimension could be catastrophic.

Which meant that retrieving Yugo and Selena was even more critical. Even if the Professor succeeded in taking Selena back (ideally Roget didn’t want to lose a bargaining chip this time), Yugo might work as the means Roget needed to counter Yuri. He was not privy to all of the information that Leo and his Scholars kept hidden to their chests, but Roget had a general idea that those individuals with the same face had some kind of power within them.

And if he was going to survive against Yuri, he would need to fight with as much power as possible, and in this case, fire with fire.

Of course, even if Yugo was not willing to cooperate, Roget had his…methods of persuasion, as it were.

Still, looking at his chessboard, Roget loathed how disorganized it had been while he had been running simulations in his head nonstop for the entire morning. Scowling, he rearranged them back into their starting positions, before two notification lights, one pink and the other lavender, began ringing in his office.

The last thing he wanted right now was for his thoughts to be interrupted, but any and all reports and updates had to be considered. Information was key, after all. Roget bit back his tongue on the inconvenience and started up a joint video conference as two individuals appeared on screen.

One was hidden in a dark laboratory, her pink, spiked, messy-and-greasy hair flared about as she grinned, and the other was clearly in daylight, riding his D-Wheel through the streets of Neo Domino City, his features aside from stray strands of lavender hair hidden by his Security Uniform and helmet.

“Lieutenant Yi, Doctor Sozotai,” Roget greeted, clasping his hands together. “It is rare for you both to call me at once. What updates do you have? Anything on Yugo?”

On the right side of the screen, the Security officer shook his head.

“I’ve checked directories and reports, but our bureaucrats are horrendously incompetent. I have a general search area mapped out from the tournament that Acceleration Institute held as well as Gallagher’s intel, but no sign of Yugo or Selena anywhere, sir.”

Roget did his best to keep his composure. It was difficult though. An Academia asset could appear in Neo Domino City at any moment. He’d done his best to keep his ambitions hidden from the Professor, and while Roget was certain that Yuri did not care, someone like Eli or Agent Shinjutsu would be pouring all of his energies into dismantling Roget’s great plans for Synchro. 

And even then, with someone like Yuri, mistaking “not caring” for “not knowing” could be fatal. If the Professor gave Yuri the order because he’d found out about Roget’s plans…

No, no. He was worrying too much. He only had to worry about this, not–

“Heeeeyyyyyyy!” chimed in the voice of Kurei Sozotai via the most scratchy, deliberately annoying cheerful tone possible, her grinning teeth illuminated by the darkness of her laboratory. “I have news too!”

“Is it important news?” sniffed Yi dismissively. “Or is it just an update on your glorified retro-video game programming process? I already received your little update, so Master Roget only requires MY presence, not yours.”

“Well fine then, Mister Mao,” Kurei replied, turning his nose up. “When I finish my homebrew of Skyfreed, I WON’T let you play it! And you’re not keeping me out of this meeting anyways!”

“I could easily kick you out if I so wished! And why on Earth would I willingly rot my mind with such a worthless thing anyways?!” snapped Yi.

Before Kurei could shoot an answer back, Roget slammed his hands on his desk to get his top scientist’s attention, keeping his face as outwardly calm as he could.

Now, officially Kurei was merely the Chief Engineer of Dimension Express, but as the CEO of the company was someone who Roget had installed after Bolger’s… “ accident”, there was really no meaningful limit to that title. The top technology manufacturer in Neo Domino City, whose products encompassed anything from basic appliances to D-Wheels and Real Solid Vision itself was fully endorsed by Security, which gave Kurei free reign to observe whatever projects Roget had going on. Granted, she considered the basic work, i.e. the training of Security Officers and production of their armaments to be dull, but Roget had made sure to give her more…challenging assignments as it were, to placate her.

That was the only downside, if Roget was to be honest with himself. Kurei was essentially a personification of madness, very difficult to properly direct, and a creature of whim not unlike Yuri. But even madness had desires, and whimsy was a character trait easily leveraged by a trained master. She and Roget had, more importantly, found common ground in a certain issue, and so their partnership had reaped many mutual dividends for each other over the years.

Even so…

“Let’s organize everything one-by-one,” he instructed calmly. “Ladies first, Sozotai. Speak.”

“Well, that’s the thing…” she said. “The program I put in to keep an eye out for any Academia hackers or infiltrators finally flagged someone, and I had Yi go take a look at that guy. You uh…might find this interesting.”

The video feed on both Kurei and Yi’s screens was replaced with security footage, one that was from a Lazarus Bank, and the other from the hidden camera function in Yi’s helmet. Both shared a common feature, a stranger with silver hair dressed in blue-and-silver clothing, his attire adorned predominantly by red-framed glasses and a massive red scarf.

A name then appeared to join the description, and Roget’s eyes widened.

“‘Reiji Akaba’?” Yi mused.

Akaba. The surname of The Professor. No, no, it was a coincidence, wasn’t it?

But as Roget focused on the man’s face, he could tell, regardless of it being a first impression, that there was an eerie metaphorical resemblance to a certain someone Roget knew and loathed with all of his being. The cold, stoic stare, the way his eyes darted around with deadly focus, the unflappable, emotionless countenance…all of which were traits inherent to the Supreme Leader of the Fusion Dimension.

“Leo Akaba…has a son?” he asked quietly. 

Roget had never known the Professor to have a family. He knew that Leo came from the Standard Dimension, but that was all that he’d been allowed, or rather, cared, to know. 

After all, how was he supposed to know that some “visiting” scientist would take over Academia just a few short years after he had been brought there?

“Well, that’s what it looks like,” chimed in Kurei.

“I followed him up to District T10-3961,” confirmed Yi. “He was traveling with a strange group of individuals…and Misty Lola’s younger brother.”

Being the top Duel Chaser and Security Officer, Lieutenant Yi was host to a wide variety of privileges, which he used to deadly efficiency. Loyal to the point of fanaticism, Roget could find very few others who could willingly be his right-hand man in his schemes…and that loyalty was reaping its own rewards as Yi presented a thorough scan of all of Reiji’s apparent allies.

Most of the individuals present, Roget could not identify. He did, however, know of young Toby Lola as a student at Acceleration Institute, and more importantly, the younger brother and potential weak point of Misty Lola, the proprietor of the Hotel Lola, the most highly-ranked and finest hotel that Neo Domino City had to offer. That establishment had housed many rich foreign donors over the years, and that made the Lolas a worthwhile asset to Roget’s plans. The boy himself had not stood out much beforehand, being more important as prime hostage leverage to the persons of interest he was associated with, but now he seemed to be bringing the son of the Professor right to Roget’s doorstep!

Though…that was not likely due to any grand scheme on his part. Yi of course had provided footage of young, foolish Toby from not just today, but stretching back many months in the past. It seemed that this had been a routine journey for him until he had run into Reiji’s group by sheer chance.

Two of the people had hoods up, which of course raised Roget’s suspicion. But the rest did not match anyone in Neo Domino City’s registration, and their clothes were far too good to be anyone from the Commons.

Except for one.

“...You should have continued to tail them, Lieutenant Yi,” Roget scolded. “One of those individuals, Dennis Macfield, is the personal gofer of that horrid dragon-boy, Yuri Fujiki, who paid our fair city a visit last month!”

From his perspective, Roget saw Yi grind his D-Wheel to a halt. “What?”

Roget rubbed his forehead. “While Yuri mostly works alone, and I have ample testimony as to what has happened to almost everyone who has tried to direct or control him, Dennis Macfield is the sole exception. He and I have never met directly, but a person who is not subject to Yuri’s destructive whims whatsoever might as well be a legendary folk hero at Academia. …Of course, if he is here…”

Already his mind had reached the worst possible scenario. Were these individuals newly-minted Phantasms? He knew that a training program of new prospective agents had been arranged by Smith and his masters, and a prodigy like Dennis being put on such a team made a dreadful amount of sense. With such personnel and Yuri, Roget could already envision the destruction they would wrought, and then…

No, no, do not think that way. Do not jump to conclusions, he told himself.

“Sooo…use the Tsar Bomba?” Kurei asked, gesturing over to a tangled mess of wires covering a humanoid silhouette.

Do not jump to conclusions, think several moves ahead.

“That will not be necessary,” replied Roget, resisting the urge to use one of his secret weapons right out of the gate. Instead, he continued to evaluate these strangers.

If this was a team of new Phantasms, then their conduct was astonishingly amateur. Roget knew of the group’s training standards; another name for the Phantasms, as coined by their division’s founder, had been Ainjing, Chinese for Silencers, and they lived up to that name in every possible way. Regardless of each member’s personal quirks, they moved with quiet and swift efficiency, and their training curriculum was set to standards so high that it had even been implemented into the training of the Obelisk Force, who they held authorization over.

And the Phantasms did not merely rest on those laurels, they displayed attitudes to match the strict standards they set. Lady Naga, Agent Smith, Master Shinra, and Lieutenant Mistral took assignments very seriously; if the Professor had requested a Phantasm for a mission, they would select that individual carefully and deliberately.

Such a blatantly open formation was not in their playbook, it was much too sloppy. 

“Did you record audio of them, Yi?” Roget asked carefully.

“Yes,” confirmed the Lieutenant. “They seem totally unfamiliar with the ways of our City, asking Mister Lola several questions about how the Tops and Commons work. Their tones seem sincere, unless someone in Academia is skilled at lying?”

There were indeed. Smith had a strange honesty to him despite his position, but individuals such as Fuuga Mizumaru or Enzo Gaetano, and of course, Lady Naga herself, were all incredibly skilled and smooth deceivers. But Roget couldn’t imagine them or anyone they worked with making such blatant statements in the open like that.  

And Yi had just begun to play back the audio; what little Dennis Macfield had spoken oozed of insincerity, easy enough to pick up on. Roget personally considered himself rather skilled at detecting such changes in tone from his diplomatic experience, and Dennis wasn’t even trying to hide his intentions.

Why? He should know better than that! Otherwise Dennis would have to endure an endless amount of Smith’s monotonous, annoying ranting, the way Roget had to whenever he was forced to make his loathsome check-ins to keep up the illusion that he was still under Academia’s thumb. No-one, not even Yuri, would ever willingly face such horrendous torture.

Unless…

Roget put a hand to his chin, a hypothesis forming in his head. “Yi, play the audio you recorded from the beginning.”

“Understood sir.”

The head of Security drank in every word that Yi caught, and one in particular was music to his ears.

“Lancers…they call themselves ‘Lancers’,” grinned Roget. 

“Then they’re in for a WORLD of suffering!” Kurei cackled. “But anyways, I looked more into the account that Reiji guy made. He put it under a business account known as ‘Lancers Defense Subsidiaries’!”

Roget used this moment to breathe a small sigh of relief. “Then I believe we can rule them out as having any association with the Fusion Dimension for now. If this were an Academia-backed team, they would never advertise themselves so blatantly, not even to act as a diversion, and they would have certainly been briefed about the culture of this Dimension already.”

“But what about Macfield?” Yi pressed on. “Why is he here?”

“Yes, that’s the main…complication,” Roget grimaced. “Are you tracking their progress, Sozotai?”

Kurei’s video feed switched to a map of Neo Domino City, following the route that the tour bus was on. It was slowing down in the vicinity of the Hotel Lola, and the instant it did, security footage showed Reiji, Toby, Dennis, and the rest of this strange group disembark, all but telegraphing their destination.

“Hack into the Hotel Lola’s systems, it’s not the first time you’ve done it to collect intel on ‘guests of honor’,” ordered Roget to Kurei. “Yi, do not engage with them yet, but remain in the vicinity so we can eke out a plan of capture, understood?”

“Will do sir,” Yi confirmed, before signing off.

“Finally!” Kurei cackled in delight. “Things are getting interesting around here!”

Roget’s only response was to finish reorganizing his chess board, before opening up with a pawn to a center square. “You could say that, yes,” he murmured, before his eyes focused on Reiji Akaba’s head.

He had made one mistake with an Akaba before in the past; he would not make another.

The Hotel Lola was a massive silver building that seemed much more like a fortress, appearing as a great many towering cylinders lumped together in a manner akin to a honeycomb that loomed over the Lancers. As they arrived before leaving the bus, the tour guide explained its history, which Toby had already told them, before segueing into how said owner was considered by many to be one of the most beautiful women in their City.

Toby had blushed nervously and looked away as a holographic image of a graceful raven-haired woman with light blue eyes dressed in a dark maroon outfit that exposed a good deal of a very ample bosom. Selena noted that that must mean that the woman had a very elite status; Academia’s strict dress codes (enforced by the Great Irish Bore) did not allow most of the lower-ranked to dress however they desired. Continuing, thin, blue tear-drop shaped sapphires adorned two necklaces and a forehead gem, whilst the woman’s feet and lower legs were dominated by white shoes and long white stockings; the legs that stuck out from the hem of the dress were bare past the knee, and the arms too were bare. The woman herself had put her body in quite a seductive position, seeming to deliberately entice whoever was in her sights.

“Whuuuu…” drooled Sawatari.

Clearly, Misty Lola’s dress had successfully done so to Shingo Sawatari.

“We’ll be getting off here,” Reiji Akaba called as the bus halted.

The tour guide continued her blatant advertisement for a place that the Lancers had already decided to go to as they disembarked, and of course, as they did so, Sawatari continued to loudly fawn over Misty. The sound of him panting intensified as they neared the hologram before getting off.

“Will you stop that?” Shun growled as they finally disembarked from the bus. “It’s disgusting.”

“Just because you can’t appreciate beauty–” Sawatari began, only for Gongenzaka to again clamp his shoulder down on the fool to stop him from talking. Selena had to thank him for that; now that her eyes were free to look at the sidewalk, so too were her fists to punch out idiocy.

“Uh, sorry about…him,” apologized Yuya to Toby.

But Toby only chuckled. “He’s not the first person who’s done that seeing my sister, and he won’t be the last. I’m used to it.”

“So, uh,” Selena coughed. “Are we heading in or what?”

“That, we are,” Reiji confirmed, before turning his attention over to Toby. “Unless there are issues?”

Toby thought for a moment, and then a shocked grimace sprung on his face. “Oh…yeah, there uh…might be. You guys might want to stick by me…you’ll know when you head inside.”

Well, that was ominous. Selena could see Shun and Tsukikage’s hands reach for their respective duel disks. She figured she ought to prepare as well. What kind of threat lay within that hotel?

As the group passed through a set of strange, revolving glass doors, there didn’t seem to be any particular threat. Selena scanned her surroundings, observing a massive two-floor lobby with an enormous glass/crystal chandelier enhancing an image of elegant brown-and-gold paneling that made up the room. Gazing at red-leather chairs and planted indoor pine trees, Selena thought she might find an enemy, but instead just saw how busy the place was, with numerous well-dressed people either mingling about or entering/exiting, and bellboys and bellgirls urgently making their rounds. The only time Selena had ever seen such activity before was when students were getting ready to be deployed for missions.

Near the end of the lobby was a wall where several individuals in suits stood, and Selena groaned seeing that there were people lined up to speak to each one. She looked for any lines that were short, and a portly man in a business suit walked away to reveal a completely open line.

“Over there!” she pointed, but as she did, Toby just groaned.

“I really hoped that that wouldn’t be the case,” he said. “You’re still gonna need me, I think.”

“Much obliged,” Reiji said, before he strode up to the open desk, the Lancers and Toby following, where a woman with glasses and a stern expression stood. A nametag on her shirt read: ‘Kate’.

“Can I help you?” the woman asked in a stern voice.

“Good morning,” Reiji said. “I would like to book a room for nine.”

The woman’s eyes almost seemed to bulge out of her head and shatter her glasses. “Are you mad?!” she gasped. “This is the Hotel Lola! Not some cheap Commons-motel! If you want a room, you will need a reservation! And…and just look!” she cried, gazing at the gathered Laners. “Nine people?! You’ve gone totally mad!”

“Are the rooms all full?” Reiji asked, calmly and undeterred.

“Are you paying attention?!” Kate spluttered. “The answer is no!”

“No?!” whined Sawatari. “But I need a soft bed to sleep in!”

“We’ll survive,” huffed Shun. 

Selena scowled, then turned to Yuya. “Oi, why’s she not letting us in?”

“Well, usually when you want a hotel room, you have to book ahead of time…and in a place as ritzy as this, well…” Yuya explained.

“I’ll try to reason with her,” said Toby, managing to pry himself through the crowd of mostly Standard duelists and heading up to the front desk.

“T-Toby-sama, you’re with this rabble?” Kate spluttered in shock.

“Uh…I…guess?” he replied with a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his hand and lifting up the cake box he’d gotten for his sister. “It was…kind of an accident.”

“All the more reason then!” Kate exclaimed sternly. “You know that Misty-sama has been keeping a strict eye on you ever since those Commons criminals tried to abduct you! How you ever got out of our sight is beyond my comprehension!”

“It’s not that hard to slip out,” murmured Toby to the side.

“What was that?!”

“Ah, nothing, it’s nothing!” Toby answered, louder this time. “Anyways, we probably have some available rooms, don’t we? These guys are all new to the City, so we can’t just turn them away.”

“You know fully well that the Friendship Cup coming up means that we have to screen our guests with even greater scrutiny than normal, Toby-sama!” scolded Kate. “Have these individuals done something to you? Should I get Misty-sama?”

“Eh, no-no, y-you don’t have to do that!” denied Toby, but then…

“Toby, who are these people?” asked an unfamiliar voice that was soft, but had a hidden edge to it.

Toby froze in place, and Selena felt herself and the other Lancers clear a path; it seemed all of them instinctively knew to do so for this person. 

The woman from the hologram image, this time dressed in much more conservative clothing consisting of a rather elegant dress made of green, white and yellow cloth, whilst her feet were adorned with strap-on high heels. Notably, both of her necklaces and head-gem were maintained in her apparel, and even this outfit notably exposed her cleavage from before, though not quite to the prior extent.

“Misty-sama, please tell this rabble of–” Kate began, but Reiji was quick to interrupt.

“My apologies, ma’am,” he said. “My name is Reiji Akaba, head of the Leo Corporation and its Lance Defense Subsidiary. We are new to this City and have arrived on rather urgent business. If you are skeptical, here is the proof.”

He then pulled out an LDS business card, a badge, and some new card Selena hadn’t seen before, but she presumed it was whatever he was trying to hide the Lancers with on the legal side of things. 

But while Misty took these things and studied them intently, Selena, now getting a good look at the woman’s eyes in the flesh rather than via a holographic project, could tell that whatever her intent was, it would not be in the Lancer’s favor. Her brow had subtly furrowed, betraying the apparent calm on her face.

“Very good,” she said at last, pocketing the details. “Now then, please leave.”

“Wait, WHAT?!” Sawatari screamed.

Misty ignored the outburst and looked Reiji square in the eye. “It’s quite easy to forge a business certificate in this city,” she said. “And I have no reason to believe your rather flimsy story either.”

Selena and the other Lancers tensed as Misty pulled out a dark-green-and-black circular duel disk. “Let’s try to end this peacefully, shall we? I noticed that Security has several officers nearby, likely due to that idiotic stunt last night. Perhaps I should call them in right now?”

“Yes!” cheered Kate.

“No!” wailed Sawatari.

“Don’t think for a second that we’re going to be kicked out after all we’ve had to go through,” snarled Shun, activating his duel disk immediately. 

“Kurosaki!” Yuya protested.

“If that is how you wish to proceed, then I’ll grant that wish,” Misty said, her voice far too calm for the situation, placing her own duel disk on her arm and about to press a button, all but likely to summon forth Security. Selena looked and saw people noticing the commotion, and they seemed about ready to either run or call the police themselves.

Damn it, everything was falling apart, there was no way they could–

“STOP IT, SIS!” protested Toby, his voice louder than any previous time Selena heard him speak, getting between Shun, Reiji, and Misty, arms already raised.

Hesitation flashed before Misty’s face briefly, but it was all too soon before it faded, her eyes narrowed, and her lips curled into a large frown. “Toby…I don’t know what is going on, but you need to come over to my side right away. I’ve warned you about strangers again and again.”

Selena knew that she wasn’t missing out Toby was sweating buckets out of nervousness. She filed away the why for a later point of investigation if it came down to it.

“Look, I…I just have a feeling about them, okay?” he begged. “Can you let them stay? At least for tonight?”

“Absolutely not!” protested Kate. “Misty-sama, we aren’t a motel!”

Misty did not respond to Kate’s protest, but Toby’s justification clearly hadn’t settled well with her. “I already warned you about participating in that rally event with no Security Officers around, and you were nearly taken hostage,” she said. “And now you’re trying to bring even more danger to yourself? Do you understand the risk you’ve taken?”

Selena was quite grateful that Toby had shared the details of what had happened last month. It quite explained why his sister wasn’t exactly fond of the Lancers staying. Granted, even she had to admit that Misty had a point. Even if Selena had to admit that her hunt for Shun had been…sloppy in hindsight, at least she’d had an objective and rough method to complete it. A ‘feeling’ wasn’t enough to get a person through a mission unless that person’s intuition was incredibly refined to the point of clairvoyance.

“Uh…” Toby gulped.

“I know we may seem suspicious ma’am, but your brother does have a point,” interjected Reiji smoothly. “Within twenty-four hours, I can assure you that we can prove ourselves trustworthy.”

“That, I doubt,” Misty sniffed with disdain. “I don’t know what exactly you told my little brother to trick him, but it will not work on me. I’ll give you one final chance to leave peacefully, and that will be all.”

“B-but…comfy bed…” wept Sawatari quietly before Selena and Gongenzaka hastily covered his mouth.

Reiji pushed his glasses into place. “Very well then, I will take my business elsewhere. Let’s go.”

Sawatari continued to cry in protest, but his mouth was muffled by the combined force of Selena’s palms and Gongenzaka’s hands. Shun seemed ready to attack, but Tsukikage held his arm, silently warning him not to.

“Please,” begged Yuya desperately, his face slowly starting to peer from his hood. “We need this place! I need to–”

“Oh, we’re perfectly fine, Yuya-kun!” Dennis interrupted, forcing Yuya’s head down with his arm. “Look on the bright side, we’ll save a lot more money this way! So sorry for his rudeness madam!”

Dennis bowed in front of Misty, but the woman did not react, instead choosing to stoically fold her arms, watching as the Lancers left.

“Sorry,” Toby murmured gloomily. 

Selena would have responded with a rude remark, but her attention was divided between keeping the idiot quiet, and making sure that Misty wouldn’t attack them, which was probably going to happen if she dissed her younger brother for his uselessness. …Then again, he’d at least gotten them a lead, so Selena had to concede that it wasn’t a total loss.

It was a small comfort as the Lancers vacated the Hotel Lola, with Reiji motioning for them all to follow, probably to get as far away from Misty as possible.

They went down several blocks, Selena now keeping her eyes peeled for Security. If Misty had been so willing to call on them earlier, there was no guarantee that she would hold back even after the Lancers had left.

Once they had though…

“That was completely pointless!” hissed Shun angrily. “I told you it would have been better to just camp out in the alleyways!”

“I don’t want that!” cried Sawatari, slipping away from Selena and Gongeznaka. “I told you, I need a bed for my beauty rest!”

“It wouldn’t work anyways,” Reiji clarified, shifting his glasses into place. “With the way this Dimension’s police force monitors and controls things, hiding out in the streets would only bring unnecessary attention to us. Besides, we’re not quite out of the game yet.”

“We aren’t?” asked Gongenzaka.

Reiji turned to face everyone. “Our order of events has merely shifted. I don’t intend to lose out on the Hotel Lola yet, it’s an ideal base, and I intend to secure it for our purposes.”

“How the heck are we supposed to get in there, then?” Selena groused. “The hotel owner won’t even let us book a room!”

“Simple,” Reiji said matter-of-factly, pushing his glasses into place. “We prove ourselves by following the leads we already have. We know that Toby attends a Duel School known as Acceleration Institute, and thanks to what we’ve learned about the Tops and the Commons, we’ve been able to narrow our initial search area for Yuzu Hiragi and Yugo right off the bat.”

Dennis however, raised a hand. “But uh, Captain, if they’re in that huge slum down below, won’t that still make looking for them a needle in a haystack?” 

“Hence why it is best that we begin combing the area immediately,” Reiji replied. “I believe that there are no objections?”

Yuya immediately turned around. “None at all.”

“You’re not going alone,” said Gongenzaka. “I’m joining you.”

Dennis shrugged. “I shouldn’t leave a fellow Entertainment Duelist hanging, so count me in!”

“Good,” Reiji said before Selena could get a word in. “We’re going to be splitting into teams of three for this assignment. Selena, Sawatari, and Shun, I want you three to investigate the lead on Acceleration Institute.”

“What’s the point if we’re not getting a snazzy bed to sleep in?” protested Sawatari.

Selena scowled at him in disgust. “Why should that be the point?” 

“Do you want us to find Lancer candidates at this school?” Shun asked, his voice now much calmer now that it seemed he had a target to aim at.

Reiji adjusted his glasses again. “It would certainly be beneficial, yes. Toby may have been a bit too trusting for his own good, but the fact that his mind connected us to solving whatever problem arose in the aftermath of the meet where he met Yugo and Rin shows that he’s privy to a detail that his sister is not. Consider that your main objective, but if you do determine any possible candidates to join the Lancers from there, inform me when you can.”

Then, Selena remembered something. “Wait, what about the communication issues? If we split up, we can’t talk to each other!”

“That is what Tsukikage, Reira, and myself will achieve,” Reiji confirmed. “We are going to investigate this Dimension’s power-structure, which dovetails into figuring out how to solve that issue. I want everyone to memorize the Hotel Lola as a meet-up point for later tonight. If all goes well, I believe we can skirt over the ‘lack of reservation’ issue.”

“And if it doesn’t work out?” Shun asked.

“Then we move on to Plan B and find a cheaper location. It won’t be ideal, but we’ll still have a base of operations to work with.”

Sawatari groaned at the idea of sleeping in a lower-quality room, but Selena was just glad that all of their issues seemed to be covered and organized. Already her mind was starting to hit ‘mission mode’.

“Begin!” Reiji ordered. 

“Pffffft, they didn’t even manage to get a room! AHAYEYEYEYEYEYEEYE! Oh, there’s lame and then there’s LAME! AHAYEYEEYEYEYEYE!” Kurei cackled in a manner befitting a hooligan.

“I should be out of their sight. What should we do, sir?” inquired Yi, ignoring Kurei’s snorts.

Roget tapped his chin. Kurei’s hacking of the Hotel Lola’s security system and Yi’s own listening equipment had given him the complete picture of what the Professor’s son was aiming for. Now he was certain that these people, aside from Dennis of course, were no Phantasms. Such a display of incompetence was indeed worthy of Kurei’s uproarious and crass laughter.

He could have ordered them captured, but Reiji’s naming of Yugo had included a very un familiar name, whilst the audio recordings had caught Roget’s memories of a certain other girl’s voice.

Which of course brought its own share of mysteries.

“Well, we’ve come across a fascinating revelation,” he said to his minions at last. “It seems that Selena is not with Yugo, but rather…with these…Lancers instead. …And I do recall Yuri naming a ‘Ruri Kurosaki’ the last time he was here…”

“Can we get to the point then?” groaned Kurei.

Roget chuckled. “Well, I can’t imagine that these people are from the Xyz Dimension. I should think the Resistance would be much more cautious with back-door dealings after the invasion after all. ‘Yuzu Hiragi’ being the identity of the girl with Selena’s uniform and face leaves just one Dimension from the rest.”

“So they’re from Standard,” Yi growled with distaste. “What does that worthless Dimension want with us?”

“Well that’s something we’re going to find out, Yi!” Roget clapped. “I want you to tail the group with Dennis on it. Determine all of their identities, and don’t let yourself get caught. Have backup ready to secure him once you believe it is necessary, but try to see how much information about themselves they’ll be willing to blurt out to one another. No need to waste interrogation resources when our enemy is advertising everything about themselves after all.”

His top enforcer saluted silently.

Roget then turned to Kurei.

“Send out drones for you and myself to utilize,” he instructed the mad scientist. “You will monitor the group Selena is with, and I will monitor the Professor’s son. We will first determine what they want before acting. We may have been given a golden opportunity to take advantage of.”

Kurei snickered. “Agreed. Things are FINALLY getting interesting!”

The video feeds vanished, before three new ones appeared; one from Yi’s perspective, and two from the surveillance drones Kurei had launched. Roget sat up straight in his chair, rearranging the pieces on the board, imagining three simultaneous games at once in his head, all of which had Black to move.

“Now then, son of the Professor,” Roget murmured to himself. “Let us see what you are capable of.”

Finally the tedious nonsense was over and done with. Now Shun could get down to what was truly important; finding strong duelists to help the Resistance defeat Academia. 

…Unfortunately, his so-called ‘team-mates’ did not exactly have the most optimal approach to doing so.

“So…uh…does anyone know how we’re gonna get to this Synchro duel school?” asked Shingo Sawatari.

“It’s simple,” answered Selena. “We investigate the City. It’s just a matter of figuring out what to investigate first.”

“Then where should we go, genius?”

Selena paused, clearly thinking. To Shun, it looked like she had jumped over a few steps in her plan. Another difference from Ruri.

That was another thing to consider about Selena, if he ever tried to compare her to his sister. Mainly in that it seemed she was the complete opposite of his sister in terms of how they approached situations. Where Ruri was calm and methodical, Selena was brash and tended to jump towards a solution without looking where she leaped. She was also significantly ruder and blunt, versus how Ruri tended to be incredibly polite; it took quite a bit for her temper to ever show, both before and during the invasion.

And so, knowing that he had to focus, as well as get his ‘team’ to focus, Shun now took it upon himself to answer the question and lead the mission. 

“It’s best if we go over the lead that we have available to us,” he said, turning to face the two rookies. “We use the information that the Synchro student gave us concerning the Acceleration Institute to pinpoint where it is.”

“He didn’t even tell us where the damn place is!” groused Sawatari, though whether his irritation was from having to earn his keep or them not getting the location from Toby, Shun couldn’t tell. “How are we supposed to find it?”

Before Shun could answer (by looking at a map) his ears, sharpened from experience, picked up the sound of running. Shun looked up from Selena and Sawatari, and saw Toby Lola running towards them once again, the boy panting breathlessly.

“Oh…phew, I-I managed to find you guys again,” he panted.

“Eh?! Y-you came back?!” Sawatari gaped. “Does this mean–”

“N-not, much time,” gasped Toby, waving away the idiot’s question. “M-my sister…”

“TOBY!” A stern and angry voice echoed in the streets, almost demonically, based on the tone.

Shun looked, and conveniently, there was an alleyway. “In here,” he motioned.

It didn’t take long for the shorter duelists (sometimes Shun cursed his height) to follow him there. If Misty was after her brother for disobeying her, then there was no time to lose.

“Do you have something else to tell us?” Shun asked, or, well, demanded, letting his Resistance instincts take over. The boy was not quite an ally, but he was their best in-roads to clarify their intel and if he was so willing to give it, even disobey his sister, then there was no need to force the information out of him.

“Quick, r-run, GASP, run-down,” coughed Toby as he tried to stand up, quickly handing Shun a piece of paper with an address written down. “There’s a friend of mine who’s been really down in the dumps ever…since that, whew, tournament. We, haven’t had any luck in getting her back on-track…or, well…”

Here, he seemed to either hesitate, or he was trying to figure out how to articulate the issue.

“TOBY!” roared Misty’s voice again, after which a loud hissing followed.

“Holy crap!” Sawatari screeched in an incredibly loud pitch. Loud enough for Shun to look at the center of the alleyway and take a step back as he saw a helmeted head that seemed to mix a human’s face with a snake’s body creep into the alley, and then hiss in confirmation, causing more heads to appear.

“No time to learn, we’ll just find our way there and do what we can,” ordered Shun sternly, making sure that Sawatari didn’t delay them with any stupid questions by taking his turn to clamp a hand over the idiot’s mouth. He then gave Toby a look he would only give to Ruri if she had, on rare occasions before the invasion, snuck out or stayed past a curfew. “You reunite with your sister, understand? Not a lot of people get to do that.”

Toby looked puzzled, and Shun cursed inwardly. How’d he let that slip out? He’d refused to show any mercy back in Standard, and even with new allies to coordinate, he should not have let that out. Whatever, he’d frame it with pragmatism if anyone asked. They’d stuck around too long. Now was the time to get moving.

“Let’s go!” Selena ordered. If anything, at least she was a fast learner. That was very much like Ruri.

“B-but–” Sawatari tried to say, but Shun quickly lifted him up over his shoulder again, and quickly sped down the alley, with Selena following after activating that Lunar Eclipse card to hide their tracks.

Shun did find himself sparing a glance, seeing Toby at the end of the shadows, with the looming figure of Misty, her duel disk active, a massive monster behind her, catching up over him before the darkness fully concealed both sides of sight. He elected to ignore it. He was not here to inquire about personal connections. He had not done so in Standard, and he would not do so here.

They ran a fair distance before feeling assured that Misty had not tried to pursue them, call any police officers, or simply failed to catch them. Once they were sure they were safe, Shun already had his eyes to the horizon, searching for the next place to go.

“Can you put me down already?!” demanded Sawatari.

“How are we going to get to the Acceleration Institute?” asked Selena, correctly choosing to ignore the whining idiot as Shun dropped him onto the ground. “That lady’s probably already called up Security to look for us.”

Shun was already considering that as he looked at the address that had been handed to him. He’d only gotten a glimpse of Neo Domino City, but he could tell that its expanse was massive. Far larger than Miami City, and rivaling Heartland besides. Reaching the Acceleration Institute in a timely manner on foot was impossible, but Shun did not trust the metro services, for reasons that the Synchro Dimension had already made obvious an hour into their arrival.

“Read off the address, R-I mean, Selena,” he said.

Selena growled, clearly having caught Shun’s verbal slip-up, but did so nevertheless. Shun tried to access the address via any satellite imagery, but no dice. He could not connect to the network.

“We’ve no choice,” he growled. “There’s only one way to find Acceleration Institute now.”

“And that way is…what?” asked Sawatari.

Not bothering to answer right away, Shun looked at Selena again. “Do you have anything else that can cloak us?” he asked.

The girl shook her head. “Only if you want us to look like a thundercloud. What idea do you have?”

Wordlessly Shun activated his duel disk, and immediately summoned three copies of his signature Raidraptor - Vanishing Lanius.

“We’ll take to the skies,” he explained. “If we can hide ourselves, I can use my Vanishing Lanius monsters to track down, and then take us to the Acceleration Institute ourselves. The only problem is us being seen.”

“Don’t you have any camouflage cards?” Selena asked. “If there’s one thing I was able to glean from the invasion, it was from the complaints of the overseer about finding Resistance Members.”

Shun grimaced at what was probably an honest assumption (or stereotype if he wanted to be cynical), but forced his face to look as stoic as possible as he answered. “No.”

He didn’t go into more detail, but the truth was that when needed, he preferred to remain in the shadows and use gusts of wind to escape whenever he was out in the field. Invisibility effects tended to come from other members of the Resistance whenever they went out on team missions with Shun. 

“Then we’re screwed,” scowled Selena. “Even if the place is close by, it won’t mean jack-shit if we don’t get there in time and everyone leaves.”

Shun sighed. “Then we’ll have to take a slower route, I’ll see if–”

“Oh hey, I’ve got one!” Sawatari put in.

Both Selena and Shun turned to face the Abyss Actor duelist, who had pulled out a card that seemed to fit the bill.

Abyss Script - Sneaking Comedy

The artwork depicted Abyss Actor - Big Star followed by several younger members of what appeared to be his troupe, except Big Star was totally unaware, as some of these members seemed to jump behind the stage props, as if they’d practiced this particular routine before.

Reading the effect likewise, showcased that it just might be what they need.

“What?” Sawatari asked, his voice turning smug as he realized that he had solved their dilemma. “Are you two wondering how you would get anywhere without the Great Shingo Sawa–”

“Just play the damn card already!” Selena snapped.

“Alright, alright,” huffed Sawatari as he slotted the card into his duel disk.

Right there and then, the three summoned Vanishing Lanius seemed to vanish into their scenery, but as Shun walked over, he could still feel his monster’s body heat underneath the cloak. He didn’t grin in satisfaction, but he enjoyed the feeling of progress.

“Alright, get on,” he ordered.

Sawatari blinked, as if he’d finally registered what Shun’s plan was. “Wait, y-you were serious?! We have to get on those things? What if I fall? Do you want me to report this to my papa?”

“JUST GET ON!” Selena roared, uppercutting Sawatari and sending him flying into the invisible beak of a Vanishing Lanius in the process.

…Yup, definitely different from Ruri, Shun noted to himself. Had Ruri been in this situation she would have never smacked Sawatari like that. She was far too kind for that.

No matter what Allen said about her having some kind of “evil smile”. It was probably untrue, given Sayaka’s reaction whenever Allen complained.

“Synchro Summon, Daigusto Vedir!”

“Intercept it, Prismatica Fluorescent Flash!”

The two monsters, a massive hawk-like creature surrounded by swirling detached feathers, and an armored figure surrounded by multi-colored electricity, began to clash, neither monster giving an inch, until a flash of lightning surrounded the hawk, and seemed to destroy it…until the feathers that had been surrounding it now surrounded its opponent, and conjured a massive tornado that sent the lightning paladin away.

Their wielders, for their part, continued their race. One rode a custom-designed black D-Wheel with white circuit patterns emblazoned with the outline of a heron, while the other rode a light lavender D-Wheel with yellow-and-green highlights, a customized paint job of the more recent mass-produced “Super D-Wheel” models.

“I set a card to end my turn!” Jay-san declared.

“Then it is my turn,” Celeste Beausoleli announced, “DRAW!”

“Well, I think our Prince is officially back on her feet,” Zenshin Torimichi chuckled.

Keiro Ochisuita however, pushed his glasses back up, the usual scowl on his face not matching his friend’s enthusiasm. “You say that, but I think she’s still angry about last month.”

“Well who wouldn’t be?” the orange-haired boy asked. “I’d be pretty pissed too if the big project I was planning got rained on by Security not wanting to do their jobs! I tell you, they were pretty much inviting those gangsters to attack us!”

“I don’t like inviting conspiracy theories, but…” began Keiro, only for his eyes to turn to look at the girl sitting in the stands next to them. “Well, you have anything, Hotaru?”

Hotaru Hanazono blinked, having spaced out watching Celeste’s duel. “Uh, um…no?” 

After that disastrous tournament, though she tried her best to hide it, Celeste’s behavior had shifted. Anyone could see it, especially Hotaru.

Usually, the Prince of Acceleration Institute held herself in a near-perfect, dignified manner befitting her title and station. Gracefully bowing whenever greeting someone, her demeanor remaining ever-so-elegant no matter what obstacle was in her way, there was a reason she was their school’s ace and a candidate for the Friendship Cup. 

But a change had come over Celeste in the past month. Her dueling style had shifted from an emphasis on elegance and beauty, to an erratic style that was sometimes swift and ruthless, and other times sloppy and riddled with errors. Her behavior had become much less elegant, with her spitting out a ruthless piece of snark or dry wit that she usually saved for when she was certain no-one could hear her. She’d become brazen at times as well, sometimes dragging Hotaru with her, not to their usual tea shop, but to a coffee place instead.

Granted, they did frequent that place enough to be regulars there as well, but Hotaru had memorized much of their shared routines. Enough so that she noticed the difference when their visiting ratios shifted.

After all, every Prince needed a guard, and while there was no-one who “officially” held the job or title, that was the duty Hotaru had assigned herself to. Granted, she wasn’t overprotective; Celeste would chaff at such a thing, and Hotaru really had no interest in being that…obsessive anyways. Rather, whenever she sensed things were being too stressful for her friend, she would assist in little ways. Providing her a snack if needed, giving an excuse to keep away…certain individuals, or even just lending a shoulder whenever Celeste needed support.

They were small deeds, but had happened a sufficient number of times that their other friends had nicknamed Hotaru as The Prince’s “Knight”, but Hotaru had no wish to really make that title public, for a multitude of reasons.

“Are you just enjoying the sight then, Knight-san?” Zenshin asked, jolting Hotaru out of her thoughts and back into the present-day.

Such as how it made it all too easy for her friends to tease her about their friendship together.

“N-no! Th-that’s not it at all!” she protested, making Zenshin give a cheeky giggle.

Keiro however, just stared at her, his glasses reflecting the sunlight so that his pupils could not be seen. Hotaru loathed that look. Of their friends, it was either Jay (as they always had trouble with the Quechan pronunciation of her name), or Keiro who tended to state their mind the most bluntly, but between the two, it was Keiro who tended to be the most direct.

Granted, unlike Jay, he (and Zenshin), had come from the Commons, so he didn’t see much usage in “Tops” niceties.

“...You’ve got a lot on your mind, don’t you?” he asked.

Case-in-point.

Hotaru pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her face. “You got me. I’m…I’m worried about her.”

“Such a caring girlfriend,” Keiro drawled, folding his arms behind his head.

“C-Celeste…T-the Prince isn’t my girlfriend!” Hotaru stammered.

The blue-haired boy rolled his eyes. “Yeah, no, I’m going to say it right now. You two have been pulling this soap opera drama of yours for way too long at this point. You say you aren’t dating, and then you two stop at tea shops, coffee shops, and always seem to be able to share a piece of cake with each other every single week together. What part is missing? The part where you two rip each other’s clothes off and–”

“Okay, okay, Keiro, she gets the picture,” Zenshin said, sliding over to put a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

It was really good for Keiro’s sake that Zenshin had intervened. Hotaru really did not want to make a scene, given how her fists were clenched and her face beet-red.

Why couldn’t it be the afternoon? Why did it have to be the morning? Why did she agree to Jay-san summoning everyone to the track on a Saturday?

Well, almost everyone. Toby had his curfew from Misty and Hibiki was helping his folks with their business. …At least that meant the aspiring announcer wouldn’t be announcing everything off the top of his lungs.

Looking back at the track as Celeste traded blows with Jay however, Hotaru knew that she really couldn’t refuse such a summons. Or rather, wouldn’t. Even so, she had to clear up the air!

She breathed in and out of her nostrils, slowly. “Look, Celeste and I…are friends. Secret friends mind you–”

“Literally everyone on this track can see it,” interrupted Keiro, prompting Zenshin to knock him on the head.

“Secret friends,” Hotaru hissed, emphasizing the word ‘secret’. “For reasons you two should know already. I help her out here and there, and that’s, uh…well it.”

“Which means you don’t have any clue on her ‘private lessons’ with the Headmistress still, right?” asked Keiro, rubbing his head, seemingly unfazed by Zenshin’s blow.

Ugh, it was this issue again.

“One, please don’t use ‘private lesson’ like that, okay Keiro? It sounds…skeevy,” Hotaru said, her voice nearly about to gag. “Second, if our Prince doesn’t think it's worth talking about, it isn’t worth talking about…”

Seeing that the bespectacled boy was going to open his mouth again, Hotaru quickly followed up. “And third, given what happened at the track, Celeste probably has a perfectly good reason not to tell us about what’s going on ‘behind the scenes’,” she said, making sure to put air-quotes on the last three words.

That was the major elephant in the room. It was no great secret that Celeste was considered the favorite of Headmistress LeBlanc, being her prized protege and the one endorsing her title as ‘Prince’. Plenty of people talked about it, and most of the discussion was either envy, begrudging respect, or the occasional suspicion that something unsavory went on behind closed doors. 

Hotaru loathed that last part for plenty of reasons. Far too many to list in her head right now.

But one thing that everyone in their friend group, including her, had picked up on, was that there was something going on behind-the-scenes. Not something inappropriate, but rather some kind of backhanded dealing. They’d started to see it when trying to become more active with their charity projects, how the Executive Council had balked at the very prospect, and how that horrible officer, Lieutenant Yi, had done everything in his power to weaken the project when it had gotten through…

Most incriminatingly of all, there was the behavior of Jean-Michel Roget when their project had gone awry and they’d been attacked by a mob of Commons gangsters, with Security’s response to the attack being not only to arrest the gangsters, but trying to arrest the audience as well.

Keiro and Zenshin were no strangers to such conspiracies; Hotaru had heard of their stories living in the Commons, and she knew they were no fiction. Jay-san’s family had some loose political connections with Security, and thus she always seemed to be aware of something going on, even if they were just rumors. Hibiki was always searching for information given his desired career, and Toby had been exposed to his sister’s paranoia so many times he'd been ingrained with that kind of instinctual suspicion.

Which had sadly contributed to a slowly-growing wall between Celeste and her friends. Whatever secret the Prince was holding to her heart, she wasn’t spilling. Not even to Hotaru.

Jay had claimed that today’s duel was only meant to be a weekend practice match without the stress of other students, rivals, or assignments weighing everyone down, but Hotaru wouldn’t have been surprised if this was actually an attempt to get the Prince to reveal just what their Headmistress was planning. Hotaru couldn’t deny her fears of a worst-case scenario, and she knew that such scenarios were forming in Hibiki, Keiro, and Zenshin’s heads.

Granted, the latter was pretty good at hiding that kind of suspicion as his eyes drifted back to the arena. “Oh hey! The duel’s about to end!”

Keiro looked up and Hotaru quickly turned around, her full attention on the track.

“Prismatica Fluorescent Flash, direct attack!” Celeste ordered.

The lightning-clad valkyrie charged, her armor fully formed, as she brought down her sword, and with it, a lightning bolt, down upon Jay-san. The student council president resisted the urge to scream, and brought her D-Wheel to a controlled stop as her LP hit…

Jaillita LP: 0

“And the winner is the Prince!” called Zenshin.

Silence filled the empty racetrack. Annoying as he could be, it just wasn’t the same if Hibiki wasn’t the one doing the announcing. 

But that didn’t matter right now. What did matter was Hotaru jumping down the stands, a bottle of ice-water and a wet towel in hand, as she ran up to Celeste, the androgynous girl removing her helmet and shaking off the sweat, before presenting the cooling equipment to her friend. 

“Here you are, my Prince,” she said.

Celeste smiled. “Thank you, my Knight.”

“Oh, just get a room already!” Keiro yelled.

“Shut up!” Jay-san ordered before Celeste or Hotaru could shoot their own rebuke, removing her own dueling helmet and striding over to the two. “That was a much better duel than last time, Prince,” she said, giving her own bow of courtesy. “You seem to be getting your wits back.”

“The Friendship Cup is coming up soon,” Celeste answered. “I have to make sure that I’m ready for it.”

“Your participation is confirmed, yes?” Jay asked. “There’s been no-one trying to remove you from the circuit or anything?”

“I know that bigoted snake wants to do it,” Celeste muttered, unfortunately loud enough for both Hotaru and Jay to hear.

“He’s been trying to remove you from the tournament roster?” asked Jay, seeming to pounce onto the information like a hawk.

Celeste blinked. “Oh, no, no! N-nothing like that at all!” she claimed. “Just his usual…complaining and claiming I ‘don’t know my place’ or that I’m ‘unnatural’ or a ‘disgrace to my ancestors’.”

That didn’t sound like “nothing” to Hotaru.

“He’s awful!” she exclaimed. “What does he get out of it, saying terrible things like that to you? You’re our Prince, our most cherished duelist and top student!”

“His prejudiced brain hates anything he deems a ‘threat’ to the social order,” Celeste bluntly replied, her eyes going dark as she looked at the ground. “The Council says that they don’t endorse his words and that ‘everyone deserves a fair shot’, but that’s just so they can dress up his intentions.”

Hotaru seethed. She tried to be fair to people, even those as nasty as say, Andrey Lebedev, heir to Dimension Express who was constantly seeking to drag Celeste off her throne and force her to be ‘his’. After all, he was just a spoiled brat. Yi however, was nothing but brutality and evil, but the fact that he was Security’s top officer, and right underneath Jean-Michel Roget meant that he would be seen as a hero despite his dogmatic attitude.

And while Hotaru had only met him when their group had to go up to the Executive Council to present their case for their project, she could tell that there was another reason for his horrible attitude towards Celeste and herself.

She was still thinking about a way to get back at the zealous police officer when there was a ringing sound from Celeste’s duel disk. The Prince immediately checked it, and her eyes widened.

“I have to leave! Something’s come up!” she said. 

“Annnd what would that be?” asked Jay, who deftly slid over to block Celeste from her D-Wheel, which was helped by her great height.

“It’s from Headmistress Leblanc! Now move!” 

Celeste didn’t wait for a response; she managed to slip past Jay, hop aboard her D-Wheel, and speed away to the racetrack exit. Their school included roads for some individuals to park their D-Wheels, including the headmistress herself, so it was no shock to Hotaru that Celeste could leave so easily.

Jay however, did not seem pleased. “Damn it!” she snarled. “I had an answer there! Is the headmistress psychic?”

“No, that would be the guy who Jack beat when he became King,” cut in Keiro as he and Zenshin walked over to join the girls. “But you were getting there…I think.”

“Yeah, because learning that Security’s top officer is literally the worst out of all of them is such a grand revelation,” said Zenshin idly.

“It was something!” insisted Jay, though her face looked disgusted at the idea of using Yi as a lever to invade Celeste’s privacy.

…Speaking of which…

“So you did just call us here to interrogate the Prince!” Hotaru yelled. “You didn’t want to help her out at all!”

Jay looked a bit guilty, granted, it was hard to tell since she stood at least a head above everyone, even Zenshin. But she soon stood up straight as she looked down at Hotaru. “I wouldn’t say that the second part is true…”

But Hotaru would have none of it. “But the first part definitely is!” she exclaimed. “Why can’t you guys leave this up to Celeste’s judgment? She knows what she's doing!”

“Yeah, and we don’t know what she’s,” said Keiro. “Everyone else thinks her and the Headmistress are master and student because ‘the elite train the elite’ or ‘the elite group with the elite’ or some other shallow thing, but c’mon. That whole outing from last month reeked of something fishy going on, and I’m just going to say that it was most definitely a set-up.”

“...I would have to agree,” said Jay, responding before Hotaru could. “It lined up too perfectly. Especially the aftermath. I know Headmistress Leblanc raised a desire for an inquiry, but from what I’ve heard from my father’s contacts, one was never launched and the incident was only broadcasted as far as Yugo’s duel with that gangster. They definitely covered it up.”

“It isn’t the first time they have,” sighed Zenshin. “Me and Keiro saw plenty of Security backwards dealings when we were out in the Commons. The whole thing felt like one of their stings, but kind of in reverse or…something. Just don’t know what they were after…”

It was too much for Hotaru.

“Are you three even listening to yourselves right now?!” she demanded. “It almost sounds like you’re… suspecting the Prince!”

Keiro gave her a flat look. “That’s because we are, duh.”

Hotaru felt herself about to lunge at the other boy for his rudeness and admittance, but Jay was already on her, holding her by the shoulders and keeping her from moving.

“Look, Hotaru,” the Peruvian girl began. “It’s not that we think Celeste is up to no good or in cahoots with Roget, but so much isn’t adding up. We just want to know what is going on behind the scenes, that’s all.”

“And between you and me–” Keiro started, before Zenshin covered his mouth.

“You’re not helping,” the orange-haired boy interrupted.

So Jay continued. “We’re not doing this because we want to do something like throw Celeste under a bus or take her spot…hell, I don’t even have any interest in it. Being the student council head and seeing my extended family’s drama gives me enough stress in my life. But…we do want to help her. You’ve seen it, we’ve seen it. However it went down, her confidence took a hit, she’s seemed shaky and paranoid over the past month…something has to be done now.”

“Lifting the burden, you know?” Zenshin put in. “Besides, we can take whatever Security throws at us! Look at me and Keiro, we dealt with them plenty of times!”

Keiro might have had a snarky interjection, but Zenshin still held his hand tightly over his companion’s mouth, so all Hotaru could hear was muffled protests.

That was good, it let her organize her thoughts. But while a part of her could see where her companions were coming from, the more emotional core had other words to say.

It was a shame she wasn’t able to vocalize them as all four students suddenly felt a set of strange, yet powerful gusts of wind. They quickly shifted their stances, trying to find the source of the wind, before a shimmering, curtain-like effect appeared right above them, before revealing three strange bird-like cyborg creatures that each had someone riding on them. Then, the birds vanished into particles, and three individuals dropped to the ground.

Two of them landed on their feet, a tall, pale-skinned boy with feather-shaped blue-and-black hair, and someone in a strange, black coat that covered their form.

The third person, dressed in a school uniform Hotaru had never seen before however, landed on his face, and gave out a shocked cry as he impacted the pavement of the racetrack.

“GAAAAHHH! Warn me next time, Kurosaki! You’ve injured my handsome face!”

“Ehhh, I’d think it’d be a ‘six’ at most even if you didn’t get flipped onto the pavement like a pancake,” drawled Zenshin as he, Keiro, Jay, and Hotaru herself quickly activated their duel disks.

Hotaru’s mind began racing as she looked at the sudden appearance of these strangers. The tall boy, dressed in a trenchcoat, his eyes hidden by sunglasses and his mouth by a red scarf, had an unfamiliar style of duel disk equipped to his arm with a blue blade, where three monster cards were situated. The cloaked figure had likewise pulled out a red duel disk with an even more unfamiliar style, being a shield-shape projecting a blue sword-like blade.

(The third person’s unfamiliar green duel disk, while active, wasn’t in the best position to be used since its owner seemed more concerned with fixing his horrendous hairdo.)

Were they more Commons gangsters? Or from some foreign criminal group? 

She got her answer when the tall boy, who was situated in the middle of the formation, seemed to nod in approval. “You already have your duel disks active and you’re realizing that we’re threats. That’s a good first sign.”

“A good first sign for what? Some pervert’s fighting duel fetish?” growled Keiro. 

“Some…what?!” spluttered the person in the hood, who Hotaru realized was a girl based on her voice. “Where the hell did you get that from!?”

“He’s got a lot of insults running in his head,” replied Zenshin. “In cases like these, I tend to let him loose.”

“None of which answers the immediate question,” Jay cut in, her eyes sharp and focused. “Who are you people? Are you some Commons gangsters trying to pick up where your predecessors failed, or are you trying to silence us for discussing something we shouldn’t be?”

“Common gangster!?” the blonde-and-brown haired boy replied in revulsion. “I’m the Great Shingo Sawatari, a heroic Lancer! Not some horrible delinquent!”

“If you’re a Lancer, can you just put a spear up yourself so we don’t have to deal with you? I don’t think anyone will complain, not even other blonde people,” drawled Keiro in response.

The sounds coming out of ‘Shingo Sawatari’s’ mouth were as terrible and screeching as Hotaru expected, but still satisfying. She doubted he would have anything to offer to the conversation at hand anyways.

“We’re not gangsters or delinquents,” replied the unknown female, though she clearly seemed to have her own offense at Keiro’s comments, based on the tone of her voice. “We’re trying to gain allies, and we need to test your strength.”

Now Hotaru was completely lost. Taking a quick sideways glance, she could tell her friends were as well.

“...What.”

“Okay…maybe they’re a bunch of insane role-players? Didn’t expect that on my bingo card of life, but there you go,” said Keiro.

“Role-player?!” snarled the boy in the middle, seeming to take great offense to the term.

So much so that he returned the three monsters that had been on his duel disk previously to the blade, summoning them once again, before the trio suddenly vanished, and a larger, more terrifying bird letting out an awful screech appeared before them. The winds whipped up, and Hotaru found herself struggling to stay on her feet.

“Kurosaki, what are you doing?!” yelled the hooded girl.

‘Kurosaki’ didn’t answer, but Hotaru wasn’t planning on bending down. Already she was pulling out a monster from her Extra Deck, and she could see her friends doing the same.

“Stop him now!” ordered Jay, as she summoned Daigusto Eguls to counter the other bird monster.

The earth rumbled as a massive, mudfish-like creature arose, ironically to help steady the group, as a pterosaur-like creature appeared to join the bird in fighting off the other monster’s winds.

And to give the formation an offense, Hotaru summoned forth her trusty ace monster to join the battle.

“Arcanite Magician, attack!” she ordered.

The white-robed indigo-skinned wizard appeared, holding their green orb-tipped stave high. Assisted by the winds of their ally monsters, Arcanite was quick to fire several rounds of magic, which easily broke through the winds produced by the other monster and managed to impact it…but failed to actually kill it. The shadowy monster let out a shriek of vengeful anger, and took to the skies. The instant it did, it shot out a beam of purple light that surrounded all of their monsters, before that light returned to the bird monster, which quickly became engulfed in flames.

“That…is not good,” gulped Zenshin.

Even from down on the track grounds, Hotaru could feel the heat from Kurosaki’s strange monster. Her legs trembled. She had never seen a monster this… vicious before. Her attention broke, only to see everyone else.

Her friends, who were looking at the imminent attack.

And her newfound enemies. Sawatari gawked at the sight above while Rin, now that her hood was done was…wait, what? 

Hotaru blinked. The winds generated by the battle and the heat had managed to blow down the girl’s hood. She’d only met that girl once and only seen her face again on the news, but that was unmistakably Rin’s. 

“GO! Raidraptor - Rise Falcon!” Kurosaki ordered. “Destroy their monsters!”

Instinct took over as Hotaru stepped forward and tore a card off from the top of her deck as the flaming bird began to swoop down.

“Trap card, Arcane Dismissal!” she yelled. “Since there’s a Spellcaster Synchro Monster on the field, all monsters on the field are banished until the End Phase!”

The Real Solid Vision was quick to do its part as the orb of Arcanite Magician’s staff turned white, and the sorcerer was quick to act as a whirlwind of pure white, shining energy was emitted from the staff that they rose into the air, before slammed the bottom end into the ground, spreading the vortex and instantly getting rid of all of the monsters that had been played.

Hotaru did her best to keep her stance, despite panting as the adrenaline rush died down. From the other end, Rin whistled.

“Impressive,” she said.

Though his face and mouth were mostly concealed, Hotaru couldn’t help but smirk as ‘Kurosaki’ seemed irritated, based on his body language and how he actually staggered backwards in shock.

“Good work, Knight-san!” Zenshin called, cracking his knuckles.

“Not the time!” she snapped back.

Jay seemed to agree, given how she broke from their formation and rushed at Kurosaki, before striking at him with her hands, forcing him back, before she just as quickly made an upwards kick, snagging his scarf on her shoe and revealing his mouth in the process.

She moved in for another strike, but it seemed Kurosaki was back on his guard as he blocked her. When Jay moved in to tackle him, he instead, to Hotaru’s shock, managed to instead use her momentum to throw her onto the ground. At the very least, she’d managed to grab his sunglasses.

The other two were too shocked to intervene, but they did manage to activate their duel disks. Just as soon as they did though, Keiro and Zenshin followed Jay’s lead to attack them.

“I don’t know who you are, but I’m not getting kidnapped by another gang!” hissed Keiro at Sawatari.

Zenshin however, stopped just short of battling Rin, instead immediately jumping back. “W-wait, w-why are you with these guys?”

“What are you doing here, Rin?!” Hotaru called at the top of her lungs, which, surprisingly enough, caused Keiro to pause before he could duel Sawatari, while Kurosaki’s scuffle with Jay paused, and thus the Peruvian girl quickly got back to her feet and jumped back onto their side of the track, scanning the unmasked people with her strict grey eyes.

“...You heard my friend, explain yourself at once, Rin,” Jay ordered. “Why are you here, and why with these hooligans?”

Rin however, instead snapped back something utterly delusional. “My name isn’t Rin!”

“Oh, don’t go thinking that some jacket is able to hide your identity,” growled Keiro. “We can see your face, clear as day!”

Surprisingly, Rin blushed, and felt around her head, realizing with embarassment that her hood had been blown away. Just as quick, her face’s sour expression returned, and she looked at Kurosaki angrily.

Now that his face was revealed, it was honestly refreshing to see that there was some shift in his facial expression. He seemed slightly embarrassed himself, but his face quickly became stern as he strode in front of his teammates, coming closer to their group.

“Halt, or we will attack again!” Jay threatened.

“I’m honestly tempted to see it,” said Kurosaki, bending down to pick his scarf back up and adjust it around his collar. “At least you’re able to fight back. That’s better than what I was hoping for, but you’re still not good enough to fight Academia.”

He paused, letting the final word drift in the air.

Unfortunately, if he was going somewhere with his words, none of them knew what he meant by ‘Academia’ at all. Even the tenseness of the atmosphere seemed to dissipate at the term.

“...You’re not really fighting the allegations of being a delusional role-player my guy,” drawled Keiro. “If you’re going for ‘male Academia’ or something like that, we have a Knight, currently-absent Prince, and President here who most certainly do not have certain organs to identify with the male gender.”

“How can a Prince not be a dude?” asked Sawatari, which earned him an elbowing from the strangely-dressed Rin.

“G-GAH! What was that for?”

“I’ve been listening to your stupidity all day!” snapped Rin. “I’m not in the mood!”

“Not really defeating the allegations of being Rin then,” said Keiro.

“Enough,” ordered Jay. “Zenshin, keep Keiro quiet. Now.”

“On it!” Zenshin said all too cheerfully before pulling out a piece of duct-tape and slamming it onto his friend’s mouth.

Hotaru did not feel interested in knowing why Zenshin was carrying a roll of duct-tape with him. Or rather, did not want to know why as her mind drifted to an idle suspicion that all-too-soon became a horribly impure thought that she quickly purged from her mind with an empathetic shaking of her head. 

So instead of thinking about that, she forced her attention back to the sudden stand-off they were facing. Keiro had been shut up, but despite the gag on his mouth, the blue-haired youth’s green eyes were still sharp. As were Zenshin’s orange and Jay’s grey. Hotaru blinked as she realized what was passing through her friends' minds.

Intrigue. They were starting to become interested in this stranger.

And instinctively, Hotaru knew why.

“Give us your story, from the top,” said Jay, already smoothing regaining control of the situation, as per her talents as Student Council President. “We…got off on the wrong foot before, I’ll admit to that, but in our defense, we were attacked last month by a horrible criminal gang. So we’re…a bit trigger happy…though it seems you are as well.”

Kurosaki’s eyes narrowed. Just what was he thinking about? He then spoke up.

“So you do know about Academia,” he growled.

“Oh no, not in the slightest,” Jay replied, waving her hand and giving as calm and casual of a tone as possible. “But we have seen suspicious activity that may or may not align with the factor you’ve brought up.”

Like a hawk, Hotaru saw Jay’s attention turn back to Rin. “So if you answer our questions, we might help you with your…assessment, or whatever it is you’re planning.”

“And if we don’t?” Rin growled.

“Then we drive you away from our school,” Jay said matter-of-factly. “You’re trespassing onto private property, and I’ll flat-out admit that between that act alone and how you just arrived five minutes ago, you haven’t done much to engender trust.”

“That goes both ways,” Kurosaki replied.

“Definitely so,” Jay confirmed coolly, folding her arms. “Now then, you,” she pointed at Rin. “You claim that you’re not Rin. I find that hard to believe since we just saw a person whose face is exactly like your own last month, and last night on the news as a wanted criminal. What possessed you and Yugo to go out on Security like that?”

“So you know about them too?” Rin asked. “Are you Toby’s friends?”

Keiro would have used this moment for some snarky reply, but since his mouth was shut, he could not. So instead, it was Zenshin who stepped in.

“Yup, yup, yup,” he confirmed. “But if you aren’t Rin, then what is your name?”

“...Selena,” the girl said after a moment’s pause, clearly suspicious of how the people who were adamant that she was Rin were now suddenly accepting of that so-called fact.

Hotaru felt something bubbling in her throat. They weren’t, they seriously weren’t.

Jay, Zenshin, and Keiro looked at each other, and then nodded. Then they turned back to the group of strangers. Kurosaki and ‘Selena’ as she called herself quickly moved on guard in response, clearly expecting something underhanded with how the situation was developing.

“There’s likely much to discuss,” said Jay calmly. “We have one more question, and then we’ll decide whether to take you up on your challenge Mister Kurosaki, or call for Security to throw you three out onto the streets.”

“NO! Don’t do that, I’m too handsome for jail!” wailed Sawatari, who was then punched into the ground by Selena.

“You are REALLY not helping!”

Jay ignored it and instead immediately asked her question. “What is Academia? And if you can answer that question, could it possibly relate to a certain matter?”

For a moment, Hotaru thought that Kurosaki would attack or lash out at Jay’s question. Obviously that was not something she would want but it would be predictable and at least she could have a reason to get rid of these people.

Instead, Kurosaki replied. “An evil force trying to invade other Dimensions. …Does this relate to whatever Toby told us?”

“MMMPPPPHHHHHMMPPPHH!” tried Keiro. But whatever snarky reply he had was still muffled by the duct-tape.

“There’ve been a lot of things happening here for some time,” Jay said. “How much did Toby tell you?”

The pit in Hotaru’s stomach opened up, taking the bubbling anger in her throat down to fester even more as she heard Selena recite the entire horrid event that had sparked this suspicion of the Prince into her friend’s minds. From the girl's words, it was clearly a second-hand account, no sign at all of her having been there. Her tone was genuine and forthcoming, despite her blunt and relatively husky voice. But that did not change the fury building up within Hotaru.

Jay put a hand to her chin, thinking. “...I don’t know how much I can believe the idea of some ‘evil force’ in another Dimension…at least, right now anyways, but since you know…well, honestly the fact that Toby blurted it out was incredibly stupid…”

Keiro ripped the tape off his mouth. “And us just accepting it!” 

Before Zenshin pulled out another piece to slap onto him. “It’s weird, I know,” he said, not missing a beat. “But when you have previous weirdness lurking around, it makes the new weird seem sensible.”

“You should hope that no-one saw our…skirmish,” warned Jay. “But you’ve given us an invaluable lead to a question we’ve had on the back of our minds…and I hope the answer isn’t something none of us want.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Kurosaki warily.

“You see, the one who organized that event is–”

“Our top student!” roared Hotaru, the pit within her erupting in fury. “Our Prince! The one whose honor was crushed by Security and those horrible criminals!” 

“Mmmphhh…” cut in Keiro’s grunts.

Hotaru ignored him and strode forward before everyone, her eyes narrowed at Kurosaki. “You say you’ve come here on our friend’s advice? You’ve done nothing of the sort! How do we know you aren’t lying?”

“We aren’t!” protested ‘Selena’.

“If you aren’t,” said Hotaru, knowing the risk she was going to take next. “Then you, Kurosaki!” she declared, pointing accusingly at him. “You claimed you wanted to see our strength! There’s only one way for a duelist to know when someone is being honest here, and I think you know what it is!”

“Hotaru, wait, this isn’t–” Zenshin attempted to say, but Hotaru was having none of it.

“Shut up! I won’t let our Prince be disgraced like this!”

She could see, from the sudden looks of shame on her friends’ faces, who was the real source of that ‘disgrace’. Not that her anger at Kurosaki was falsified at all. He’d tried to attack them, and brought a slew of mysteries that they really did not need now. And her words certainly weren’t false. If a duelist wanted to prove themselves trustworthy, dueling was the best way to see their true intentions.

And if there was one thing a Knight did for her Prince, it was to protect their honor.

She glared at Kurosaki defiantly. “Well? Does that fulfill your quota, or are you going to reveal your true colors now?”

Unfortunately, the look in Kurosaki’s eyes was something she couldn’t exactly make out. Some kind of mix of familiarity, doubt, and intrigue? But whatever it was, he clearly had no issue with her declaration as he shrugged.

“Alright, if you’re willing to fight, I won’t stop you. But I don’t intend to hold back,” he warned.

“I don’t plan to either!” declared Hotaru as she turned on her heel. “Follow me!” she ordered. “If we’re going to have a duel to know your intentions, there’s only one kind that works best!”

“Wait, Hotaru, is this really necessary?” ventured Zenshin.

She glared at him. “Was it necessary to try to bargain with that man?”

Zenshin gulped. “Well, uh…”

“It might have been a mistake, yes,” cut in Jay, who put a hand on Zenshin’s shoulder before turning to Kurosaki. “Please follow Miss Hanazono and myself to the D-Wheel garage. We should have a spare suit and loaner model for you to utilize.”

“You’re helping out now?” Hotaru couldn’t help but say bitterly. “You don’t want to negotiate with the intruder?”

“I’ll admit I jumped the gun,” Jay replied smoothly. “But you’re right. This method will help us all out far better.”

Hotaru knew from that tone of voice that Jay had already come up with some new backup plan. …Fine then. As long as it was a plan against the stranger and not something to help him.

“Why are you needed?” Kurosaki asked.

“To make sure you don’t try to knife my classmate in the back,” the student council president shot back. “You wish to earn our trust, and that obviously hasn’t happened yet.”

If Kurosaki was going to comment on how Jay had managed to shift her stance thrice now, he didn’t take the opportunity and instead grunted as he followed the two of them to the garage.

He thankfully continued to be silent as Jay pulled out a dark purple ‘Sturdy’ model and presented to him a Riding Duel suit. Both of them, of course, changed in private, before returning to mount their D-Wheels. From her D-Wheel, a sharp, streamlined model with yellow-and-blue lining patterns based off of the custom build of their school's headmistress, Hotaru glanced at Kurosaki, who seemed to be analyzing his own D-Wheel as he felt around, grasping the handles.

“...What, is this your first time riding a D-Wheel?” she couldn’t help but snap.

But if she was expecting an angry comeback, she didn’t get it. 

“If you’re the one asking me this, then you’re already lowering my expectations for this duel,” he replied matter-of-factly.

Hotaru huffed through her nostrils, forcing herself to remain calm as she rolled out of the garage and onto the track. There was no point in letting her temper get the better of her. To defend the honor of The Prince, the Knight had to, in turn, maintain her own grace and elegance.

The two of them lined up at the start line. Glancing back, she could see that Keiro was, unfortunately, ungagged, while he, Zenshin, ‘Selena’, and Sawatari sat in the stands, with the latter two sitting on a row in front of the former. Good, that at least meant they were keeping an eye on these people.

Jay herself took to the front of the stands, where a control unit was stationed to initiate the Riding Duel. Pressing a button, Hotaru’s head snapped forward to attention as a holographic start sign display was projected in front of the two duelists. There would be no turning back after this.

3…

2…

1…

GO!

RIDING DUEL, ACCELERATION!

SHUN LP: 4000

HOTARU LP: 4000

No-one could have known what was watching them. Or who. Just another example of how brilliant she was. Kurei had to snicker to herself, so she did.

Fly drones. A simple concept, but complex to build nonetheless. A practice in delicate circuitry, and perhaps the best spy system available to a tyrannical dictatorial regime paranoid that risked being discovered and destroyed by another tyrannical dictatorial regime.

The difference being that one allowed her to work however she pleased, and the other was made up of geezers who would put restriction after restriction on her, all for the high crime of wanting to expand her knowledge.

She couldn’t help but snarl as she thought about that. Being bound by petty, stupid rules, she was almost glad to have lost her original limbs to have reached that revelation. The idea of being a scientist, yet willingly placing limits on one’s curiosity…how could you call yourself a scientist at all by doing so? Jean-Michel Roget’s desires might have been petty–Kurei certainly didn’t consider him a grand leader with a worthy vision…but she could relate and understand wanting to be free. His motives could be as petty as possible, but the fact that she had been given unlimited funding and free reign to experiment however she pleased meant that she would give him whatever he needed.

He would have his kingdom, and she would get her fun. Win-win, really.

Right now, she was having a great deal of fun in fact; once she had discovered these ‘Lancers’ as they called themselves, Kurei had immediately called on her spy drones to keep an eye on ‘Beta’ Squad as she decided to call them, and already she felt she’d drawn the jackpot. A remnant of the Xyz Dimension, based on his duel disk’s design, her first look at how Standard duelists played, and finally, well…

She’d already sent an update to Roget. Those stupid, vapid Acceleration Institution girls thought that Rin had returned to their lives, when in truth it had been Academia’s little princess, if what Roget had told her about Selena was true.

Yet for all of the Lancers’ grand plans, none of them knew they’d been caught in Kurei’s little web. She snickered to herself when the morons thought that they could hide themselves from her machines. Real Solid-Vision monsters and constructs generated their own heat, and her miniature fly drones were equipped with infrared scopes. It was child’s play to trail them all the way over to Acceleration Institute. She almost wished Yi could watch this; he already hated Celeste’s group for being full of “sinful” dispositions, and watching them suffer a loss never failed to put a smile on his face. Had he listened in on their conversation as well, he would have definitely taken the opportunity to try to drive a further wedge between the so-called ‘Prince’ and her companions. 

He was that kind of person after all.

Kurei much preferred general sorrow and despair herself. Why limit yourself to a few groups of people when you could make everyone suffer? It just wasn’t right. Everyone died if you subjected them to enough shocks. Kurei could personally vouch for that. 

She’d killed plenty of Commons and Tops alike that way after all.

And while she had to admit to being a bit miffed that she hadn’t been able to contribute to destroying any parts or killing any natives of the Xyz Dimension, she had to admit that the potential to see how a member of the Resistance dueled compared to a member of a supposed “elite” Duel School was quite enticing. She wondered about getting some popcorn. This duel would be a very interesting opener indeed…

Chapter Text

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V RE-TURN

The Elusive Falcon

“Do you know why I’ve called you here?”

Standing straight, Celeste Beausoleli had to shake her head, careful to maintain the perfectly poised posture ingrained into her muscles since childhood. 

“N-no, directrice,” she replied.

Sitting before her was an emerald-eyed woman with long, flowing blonde hair, with the front arranged into curling bangs. The woman wore a primarily white riding duel uniform jacket over a charcoal vest that came with side lace-skirts, whilst the entire uniform itself was marked with red accents and lining. Her shoulders were adorned with two grey pauldrons, and a red undershirt was clearly visible underneath her outfit.

Merely seeing the woman’s face made Celeste flash back to the day that this person had marched right towards the elite Duel School and challenged its former headmaster, Rudolph Heittmann, to a duel. A match that was only the first step to her reforms to galvanize the student body and raise the school’s reputation and prestige far beyond what it had been at the start, even if two Commons students had ‘slipped in’ as some derogatorily whispered. A mentor Celeste always respected but sometimes had difficulty speaking to as evidenced by the nameplate on the desk:

Headmistress Sherry LeBlanc

But mentor or no, Celeste hadn’t been given much of a reason as to why the headmistress had summoned her. She had only received a message to report, and her mind was too burdened with the…issues, as it were, that she’d been dealing with to give the message much thought.

In lieu of responding, Sherry tapped a finger on her desk, and projected a live holographic video image of… him.

“ Chef de la sécurité Roget,” bowed Celeste by instinct. “You grace us with your presence.”

She hated greeting the head of Security in any manner implying politeness or respect, but she had been instructed to do so by her mentor, and had been trained since birth to immediately defer to those higher up in power. For terms of respect…and to ensure the potential of favors down the line.

There were plenty of other things to be disgusted about whenever she thought about that last lesson, but Roget’s voice speaking allowed Celeste to focus solely on him, ironically thanks to the man being a sickening topic all on his own.

“Good timing, Prince Beausoleli,” Jean-Michel Roget greeted in his usual slimy tone. “I do wish we were meeting under better circumstances, but a complication has arisen.”

It took all of Celeste’s willpower not to send some form of defiant snark towards the slimy egomaniac given how his schemes seemed to go. How her mentor had managed it for three years straight was a problem even the Prince wasn’t sure she could ever solve.

“What is this complication?” she asked cautiously.

“I can answer that!”

Celeste had to fight even harder to keep from grimacing as the face of that annoying engineer from Dimension Expression popped up in a video monitor. She’d only ever met Kurei Sozotai a few times, but she’d quickly realized during those meetings that she was someone to stay far, far away from.

“So, to be exceptionally blunt, some losers from another Dimension popped up, and right now they’re trying to kill your girlfriend!”

Celeste managed to disguise her eyebrow twitching as a look of minor skepticism. Yes, she’d heard of the descriptions Roget used for the savage culture of his old home, but even so, she had plenty of confidence in her Knight fighting such people. And anyways, knowing Kurei’s… quirks, those words could easily be an exaggeration.

Indeed, the words that followed next seemed to confirm her suspicions.

“Please, Doctor Sozotai, that’s hardly an accurate summation,” Roget admonished his head scientist calmly. "I doubt Miss Hanazono is in any more danger than she usually creates for herself."

Celeste was glad the current situation enabled her to hold a consistent glare, because it helped disguise her specific hatred of the leverage that Roget had from determining that particular secret of theirs.

Not taking a moment to wait for a response, Roget continued. “I merely asked Doctor Sozotai to keep an eye on a group from what I believe is the Standard Dimension, a place that is not known at all for worldwide violence and madness. They have split into teams and she was assigned to keep watch on one that has…well I won’t mince words, intruded onto Acceleration Institute’s grounds.”

Celeste now finally witnessed on a new holographic video screen showcasing Hotaru on her D-Wheel dueling a stranger riding one of the regular loaner models the school possessed.

“Who’s that she’s dueling?” she demanded, eyes turning back at Kurei, who seemed to be taking great interest in the unfolding situation.

“Hrmmmm…” Kurei wondered, taking a deliberate pause as she seemed to consider an answer, but refused to say what it was.

“Get on with it!” snapped Celeste in annoyance, snapping her fingers to focus the pink-haired maniac’s short-attention span.

The mad scientist cheekily shrugged, her tongue obnoxiously poking out of her mouth. “I don’t really know, actually! He ain’t from Fusion though, that’s all I can say for now!”

“I would like for us to watch this duel,” instructed Roget calmly. “There is much we can learn that will benefit our plans.”

“Agreed” Sherry said, before snapping her fingers. From the side of the room, a burly man with sharp sideburns stepped forward, his stoic expression never shifting.

“Mizoguchi, head to the arena and keep an eye on things,” instructed the Headmistress. “If the situation gets out of control, do not hesitate to intervene.”

Her bodyguard gave a quick bow of acknowledgement. “I shall do so, my lady.”

“Uh, what exactly constitutes ‘gets out of control’?” asked Kurei, a distinct tinge of disappointment in her voice at the prospect of violence being stopped.

“I simply would rather potential assets not be destroyed so soon,” Roget interjected to clarify. “Miss LeBlanc has the right idea. Mizoguchi, ensure the safety of the students. Once the duel is over, I will summon Security to deal with these interlopers.”

He paused, an irritating, smug smile on his face, before having one final note to say. “And no, Lieutenant Yi will not be amongst them. He has his own assignment concerning these people.”

Celeste saw Mizoguchi acknowledge Roget, but it was only with a quick nod before he turned on his heel. Celeste knew that she wasn’t hallucinating the flicker of disgust on the burly man’s face. They were likely having similar thoughts about the situation right now (or just the usual shared displeasure of their actions seeming to further Roget’s detestable designs). Crimson stars above, everything had become so complicated…

All Celeste could do right now to steady her thoughts was to look at the track, her eyes focused on her Knight, wishing for her victory.

SHUN LP: 4000

HOTARU LP: 4000

Hotaru was familiar with the track in front of her, having practiced on it almost daily like everyone else in their group. It was neither difficult nor complex, a simple oval track that surrounded a sandy field to cushion impacts from Riding Duels, but even if the track wasn’t particularly unique or complex, she expected to have the feel of home-court advantage and take the first turn.

Instead, Kurosaki, after seeming to fall behind Hotaru briefly, suddenly sped up, overtook her, and stole the first corner with ease.

From the stands, Shun’s teammates looked on with the Acceleration Institute students. And unfortunately, it seemed one of them had taken it upon himself to vocalize certain questions…

“W-wait, since when could Kurosaki do that?!” spluttered Sawatari.

“You didn’t know your own teammate could ride a D-Wheel?” Keiro asked in his usual suspicious manner.

“I didn’t know people could duel on motorcycles at all!”

“D-Wheels,” Jay emphasized, her arms folded. “Specialized vehicles used for dueling, built and originating from this very City. Do you need a more thorough explanation?”

“He better not need one,” grumbled Selena, glaring at Sawatari with an extremely intimidating look, making the foppish boy go pale as his voice quivered to nothing. 

“...So…elephant in the room here then,” said Zenshin, stretching his arms. “You told us that you’re not Rin, and that you guys came from some other place and heard about that incident from Toby that we all already knew…”

“Zenshin, get to the point,” sighed Keiro, rubbing his forehead.

“So…can you give us the full story?” the orange-haired boy asked.

Selena looked at the three Synchro Dimension students. It was clear to her that they had some context about the Interdimensional War, but did they have enough, or were they trying to get her to reveal something? Part of her wanted to remain silent on the question, or misdirect…but damn it, she couldn’t come up with any kind of lie right now. They had enough of the truth it seemed that they’d take apart any fib or deception she might say.

…It might have honestly been easier just dueling them.

But in the end, Selena huffed in resignation, and began to explain her situation to the students…

And meanwhile, back on the track…

“I take the first turn!” Kurosaki declared. “I’ll start by summoning Raidraptor - Tribute Lanius!”

Slamming a card onto the D-Wheel, Kurosaki conjured forth a sturdy-built bird-like creature covered in blue armor and short thick wings with jets adorning them. On the creature’s back, in a cockpit-like structure, was a strange symbol, while its bird-like head had two vertically-positioned cerulean eyes. Despite the creature’s colorful appearance, Hotaru could not help but be a bit unsettled.

Raidraptor - Tribute Lanius/DARK/Level 4/Winged Beast/Effect/ATK: 1800/DEF: 400

“During the turn that I Normal or Special Summoned Tribute Lanius, I can send 1 ‘Raidraptor’ card from my deck straight to the graveyard!” explained Kurosaki. “With this effect, I send Raidraptor - Mimicry Lanius to my graveyard!”

Hotaru grimaced, her trepidation of the monster giving way to irritation thanks to Kurosaki having taken the initiative. “And I’m going to guess that there’s a reason you want to put a card there, right?”

Kurosaki did not answer Hotaru directly, but his next words confirmed her suspicions. “By banishing the Mimicry Lanius I sent to the graveyard just now, I can utilize its effect to add another ‘Raidraptor’ card from my deck to my hand!”

A slightly smaller robotic bird creature with thick, curved golden plating and blue energy brimming from its body and wings flew out of Kurosaki’s graveyard slot, before it vanished into his deck. After the D-Wheel automatically shuffled the deck, a single card was ejected, which Kurosaki swiftly took.

“The card I add is the monster, Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius,” Kurosaki said. “Since I control a non-Fuzzy Lanius on the field, I can Special Summon it from my hand! Come!”

A much smaller robotic bird with abstract wings flew onto the field, a thinner and smaller head adorning its dull purple-and-blue body.

Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius/DARK/Level 4/Winged Beast/Effect/ATK: 500/DEF: 1500

Hotaru blinked as she examined the stats of Kurosaki’s new monster. “Wait…what are you trying to do?!” she called.

Kurosaki only gave a cursory glance at Hotaru before focusing back on the track. 

But Hotaru’s mind was racing. Was this man’s strategy to gather the materials for a higher-leveled Synchro Monster? He’d already used up his Normal Summon, so this couldn’t be for an Advance Summon, and on the off-chance that he was a Ritual user, why bother putting his materials onto the field?

“I overlay my two monsters!” Kurosaki declared.

“‘Overlay’?” Hotaru cried out in shock.

The two robotic birds transformed into bright, sparkling purple lights that flew into a strange, spiral-shaped galaxy-like portal, from which a pillar of blue light quickly erupted.

“Burning wings of the noble hunter, flock forward with your talons, and rend the enemy! Xyz Summon! Soar! Rank 4, Raidraptor - Infernal Eagle !”

A new mechanical bird swooped down onto the field, being twice as large as Kurosaki's previous monsters, large plate wings flapping ferociously. The monster's color scheme was a mix of red and blue, with two pairs of vertical black eyes on its head, from where a yellow beak from which flames sparked forth, emerged. The monster let loose a fearful shriek, indicating its intention to destroy that which was in front of it, as two orbs of purple light circled around it.

Raidraptor - Infernal Eagle/DARK/Rank 4/Winged-Beast/Xyz/Effect/ATK: 1800/DEF: 1600

Selena had just finished explaining how she and the other Lancers had come from another Dimension, and had just started to pull out her Lunalight Cat Dancer to serve as a visual example, when she and everyone else heard one of Shun’s Xyz Monsters screeching, drawing their attention back onto the duel.

But while Selena was just noting that it was a monster she hadn’t seen her teammate play before, the Acceleration Institute students seemed floored by what they saw.

“Xyz what?” Keiro gaped, his glasses looking to fall off his face.

Zenshin let out some mix of a groan and a shriek. “T-The hell is that? That can’t be legal!”

“...Yet the duel hasn’t come to a forced close,” Jay said with a grimace before her eyes turned back to Selena. “...I suppose this is proof of you and your companions coming from another Dimension?”

“Heh, if you’re this shocked, you’ll be even more shocked later on,” Sawatari said smugly.

Before Selena could punch the fool once again, the three Synchro students did so instead, their fists pounding Sawatari’s face and sending him sprawling along the bleachers. Well, if anything, at least they didn’t tolerate foolishness. She could easily respect that.

Not that she was going to leave Sawatari off the hook.

 “If you don’t have anything to say, then stay down!” she ordered. “No-one wants to watch a duel with that kind of stupid attitude!”

“...Okay, you, I hate the least,” Keiro admitted approvingly.

“You like anyone who can punch or insult people,” quipped Zenshin.

“I do not like the way you said that,” Keiro grumbled.

“Even so…Xyz Summon…” mused Jay before she looked back at Selena. “And do you have some strange method of monster summoning as well?”

Selena decided that there was no point in being shown up by Shun. She stood up, pulled out her Cat Dancer long enough for everyone to see her ace monster’s purple border, and then activated her duel disk. Slamming the Polymerization card into the spell slot, Selena quickly unveiled Lunalight Blue Cat and Lunalight Purple Butterfly, letting them see her two monsters appear before the Fusion Portal. 

Then, she began to chant.

"Cat prowling through azure darkness! Butterfly wielding violet poison! Spiral into the moon's gravity and be reborn with a new power! Fusion Summon! Come to me! Beautiful beast that dances in the moonlight! Moonlight Cat Dancer!"

Dancing atop the stands, Selena’s signature monster appeared, a tall, graceful cat-lady with two long pink tails, dark pink hair and light pink skin clothed in an elegant tribal-esque dress of blue, purple, and magenta, her head adorned with a fancy headdress that bore various golden ornaments that likewise also decorated her body. She then pulled out twin daggers and began moving around gracefully with them, before posing atop the stands and letting out a seductive “Me-ow”.

“That’s…” Keiro considered.

“A rather elegant monster, yes,” cut in Jay before Zenshin could say anything, holding up a hand to ensure both he and Keiro did not say anything further. “And this is a…”

“Fusion Monster,” Selena said, her dueling arm to her hip. “It’s a type of monster that’s summoned using the Spell card, Polymerization, which sends monsters from the hand or field to the graveyard as the materials.”

“Yeesh, it sends from the hand?” quizzed Zenshin, managing to duck under from Jay’s gaze. “That’s an advantage.”

“Dis -advantage, more like,” Keiro drawled, rolling his eyes at Cat Dancer, who seemed quite offended by the bespectacled boy’s tone, and made it clear with a quiet hiss. Keiro took a few steps down the stands, but his mouth kept moving. “It needs three cards at minimum; Synchros and even that weird Xyz method just need two. I don’t see the appeal.”

Selena’s eyebrow twitched. She’d heard this kind of talk about card advantage from Smith before, but it was one thing when it was spoken by the resident nerd-grouch and a whole other thing when it was being said by a total stranger from another Dimension. 

It probably would have been more diplomatic to just take Keiro’s criticism, but while Selena had no more pride in her old home, her dueling style was another thing altogether.

“Don’t underestimate it!” she retorted, clenching a fist forward. “You don’t know what kind of tactics there are in Fusion Summoning, for one, and you’ve never fought me before either, so keep that in mind!”

“Indeed, we don’t,” said Jay, ever the diplomat, as she smacked her hand atop Keiro’s mouth. “Thank you for the demonstration, it was most informative.”

Sawatari began moving an arm up weakly from his prone position, but Jay and Selena quickly slammed their feet atop his face, not wanting to hear any of his nonsense.

Meanwhile, back at the duel field, Hotaru caught a glimpse of Selena’s apparent ace monster, but quickly turned her attention back to the matter at hand, because without missing a beat, her opponent was already making his next move.

“When Infernal Eagle is Xyz Summoned,” Kurosaki explained, “it gains 300 ATK for each ‘Raidraptor’ monster attached to it. Since I used two, it gains 600 ATK!”

The wings of the monster flickered; it didn’t take long for everyone to realize that they were being set ablaze. Blue and purple flames appeared in a dual-layer, coating the metallic wings in the process.

Raidraptor - Infernal Eagle/ATK: 2400

Hotaru looked warily at the unfamiliar monster, subtly slowing down her D-Wheel so she could try to make herself some distance from it.

But it didn’t seem that Shun was planning on allowing her to escape. 

“I activate the second effect of Infernal Eagle!” he declared. “By detaching 1 overlay unit, I can inflict 400 points of damage to my opponent for each Special Summoned monster on the field! The only one present right now is Infernal Eagle itself! Take this!”

Orange flames flickered in the metallic bird-monster’s beak, before it blasted a fireball right at Hotaru. The increased distance did nothing to help; Hotaru had no choice but to grit her teeth as she took the blast head-on. 

“Hotaru!” yelled the Acceleration Institute students.

“Are you all seriously scared of 400 damage?” Selena asked in disbelief. 

“When it’s from a crazy person, yes!” shouted Keiro.

Thankfully, the damage being low to start with ensured that while Hotaru and her D-Wheel were a bit singed from the flames, neither were damaged too severely.

Hotaru LP: 3600

“Effect damage on the first turn?” grumbled Hotaru. “You play rough, that’s for certain.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Shun scoffed. “If that low amount of damage is causing you to gawk, it’s making my expectations for you people go down. Anyways, when Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius is sent to the graveyard, I can add a second copy to my hand.”

His deck slot ejected another card, which he idly took into his hand, before pulling out two others.

“I set two cards face-down and end my turn.”

“Sooo, what are your thoughts so far?” tittered Kurei’s voice over the transmission.

From the safety of his office, Roget studied the opening turn of the duel, simulating an opening on his chessboard, mulling over what he had seen. So this boy truly was from the Xyz Dimension. Interesting. He knew that Standard was not particularly bound to any summoning technique, but the ferocity of this duelist was plain to see. He couldn’t be from anywhere else but Heartland City, to have survived the hellscape that Academia had turned it into.

Of course, Roget had kept himself as up-to-date on the goings-on in Xyz as he could, sending out Kurei to scout it out discreetly whenever possible. This, of course, was because looking up any updates on his own would be too suspicious with Academia’s cyber-security, or catch Eli’s unwanted attention and create a slew of plan-unraveling issues. 

That being said, Roget wasn’t particularly interested in offering asylum to anyone in the Resistance; such a tactic was high-risk, low-reward. To Roget, their purpose was to act as a buffer, so that Academia would focus their energies on destroying them, instead of coming after him. The longer the Resistance held out, the more time Roget had to prepare his grand design.

Now of course, the situation had clearly changed, and the mystery of these ‘Lancers’ grew ever deeper. Not only were they made up of duelists from Standard, but Dennis was among their numbers alongside Selena and an Xyz Remnant.

On that note, Roget decided to quickly make a note of Selena bringing forth her ace monster as a demonstration to Celeste’s companions. Those teenage fools had been sticking their noses in where they didn’t belong. While Roget could appreciate the Prince having her own set of pieces, her lack of control over them meant that they were less assets and more…sacrificial icons to deal with when the time was right. Them learning about the Other Worlds would probably be spelling more complications down the line, but one issue at a time.

Roget spared a quick glance at Yi’s typed updates, and it seemed Dennis was not yet up to anything dangerous. So back to the main problem, what to achieve with Shun’s duel against Hotaru?

He was so busy thinking, that he almost missed the commentary from Acceleration Institute’s ‘Prince’.

“You seriously underestimate Hotaru,” Celeste said. “She would never falter from this low amount of damage.”

“I’m talking about Sir Bimbo’s opponent, not Sir Bimbo herself,” Kurei snarked back. “It’s not everyday an Xyz user pops up!”

Roget saw Celeste simmer at the derogatory nickname towards Hotaru, the Prince’s hands balling into fists. She looked like she wanted to retort, but was trying to control herself by staying silent. 

The ‘try’ soon turned to ‘failed’ as Celeste shot back, as calmly as she seemed able to. “And you imply that I particularly care about this ‘Shun Kurosaki’? I quite frankly do not.”

“Well, if you care about him not leaving your girlfriend behind needing more stitches than a torn-up mummy…” 

Roget sighed. While he privately was already considering this duel to serve as a way to make it clear to the ‘Prince’ about her purpose in his plans, she still had a purpose and he didn’t need her gallivanting off to waste it. Nor waste his time by falling for Kurei’s immature baiting and filling his ears with the sound of pointless bickering. 

“Let us say that it is too early to tell for now, Sozotai,” Roget interjected, his voice smooth and confident as he began to feel that he was grasping the situation. “Let us all continue to watch.”

As he did, he looked down at Sherry, who was staring at the screens intently. A glimmer of intrigue was in her eyes. 

Hardly surprising, and blatantly obvious too. Celeste’s attention seemed laser-focused on her not-paramour and the potential of victory, but Sherry was clearly thinking ahead with both the duel and the note of Selena. It was something Roget could appreciate, so long as those thoughts were ultimately aimed properly. Discreetly, and by habit whenever a new factor arose, Roget placed a bishop and a queen down on the board, his mind furious with scenarios as the battle continued to unfold.

“I draw!” Hotaru declared, looking at her starting hand.

She spared a quick glance at her opponent and his unusual monster. Xyz Summon? She’d never heard of such a thing. Tribute and Ritual Summons yes, but those were very rarely ever considered proper alternatives to Synchro Summoning. Just who was this man? Was he really a member of the Commons gangs? Or was he part of something worse?

No, the mysteries could wait. Right now, she had to beat Shun.

“I Normal Summon Assault Sentinel!” Hotaru declared, slamming a card down.

A lion-like man with a scarred face, wearing a hooded cloak-and-gray armor jumped onto the field, brandishing an advanced sniper rifle in the process. 

Assault Sentinel/EARTH/Level 4/Beast-Warrior/Effect/ATK: 1600/DEF: 800

“I activate the effect of Assault Sentinel !” said Hotaru. “By releasing it, I can Special Summon another monster from my hand or Deck that mentions the card ‘Assault Mode Activate’ in its effect text!”

Assault Sentinel vanished in a cloud of golden sparks that soon coalesced into a small orb as Hotaru’s deck was auto-shuffled, preparing to eject the card she wanted.

“Come forth, Psi-Reflector!”

A small bulky, robotic-looking fellow with green, white, and black armor appeared on the field, his hands glowing with green energy as traces of an energy-based keyboard appeared before him. His fingers were quickly typing on that board with intense speed as he gazed at his surroundings.

Psi-Reflector/DARK/Level 1/Psychic/Tuner/Effect/ATK: 400/DEF: 300

“When Psi-Reflector has been summoned, I can add Assault Mode Activate from my deck to my hand!” Hotaru said, her deck ejecting the trap card in question.

Shun however, had no reaction to this. 

Undeterred, Hotaru continued. “By using the second effect of Psi-Reflector, I reveal the Assault Mode Activate I just added in order to resurrect the Assault Sentinel in my graveyard! When I do this, I can raise its Level by any amount from 1 to 4! I choose to increase my monster’s level by 2, so that it becomes Level 6!”

The energy in Psi-Reflector’s hands glowed and solidified, until it conjured a misty purple graveyard portal, from which Assault Sentinel quickly jumped out from, his stance seeming like he had never left in the first place.

Assault Sentinel/EARTH/Level 6 (originally 4)/Beast-Warrior/Effect/ATK: 1600/DEF: 800

“And there’s more too!” explained Hotaru. “Assault Sentinel’s second effect! By revealing the Arcanite Magician in my Extra Deck, I treat Psi-Reflector as a Spellcaster monster!”

Assault Sentinel aimed his gun at Psi-Reflector , but when he fired, a mark that seemed to resemble a stylized silhouette of a certain monster appeared on his ally’s body rather than killing him.

Psi-Reflector/Spellcaster

“All is now ready! I tune the Level 6 Assault Sentinel with the Level 1 Psi-Reflector!”

The two monsters quickly got into formation. Assault Sentinel vanished, transforming into six stars of light, while Psi-Reflector transformed into a single Synchro ring that the stars lined up into before being shot through with energy.

“Mystic sorcerer of lost arts, advance those arts into the future, and unleash your wisdom onto the world! Synchro Summon! Level 7, Arcanite Magician !”

From the energy blast an androgynous-looking sorcerer with dark purple skin and white hair appeared, wearing orange armor adorned with green orbs that was covered in a white cloak that wrapped tightly around the armor. In their hands was a large staff tipped with another green orb, and they brandished it confidently at their foe.

Arcanite Magician/LIGHT/Level 7/Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 400/DEF: 1800

“Arcanite Magician gains two Spell Counters when summoned,” Hotaru went on. “And not only that, but for each one they have, they gain 1000 ATK! With two Spell Counters, that’s 2000 ATK!”

Two lights glowed from underneath Arcanite Magician’s cloak, the sorcerer’s gaze now focusing on the enemy field.

Arcanite Magician/ATK: 2400/2 Spell Counters

“So now both of our monsters have equal ATK,” Shun commented, looking back at Hotaru, who was still trailing behind. His first one, which Hotaru noted to herself.

“Not for long, I’ll admit,” she said, winking. “Arcanite Magician’s effect! By removing 1 Spell Counter, they can destroy a card on your field! So by removing 2, I can destroy 2 cards! I think I’ll start with your face-downs!”

She’d hoped for another comment indicating surprise, but Shun remained annoyingly silent. Hotaru let out a brief hiss at that. “Go Arcanite!” she commanded. “Take out his backrow!”

Arcanite Magician waved their staff, causing two orbs of fiery green energy to appear. Beckoning with the staff, the orbs fired at Shun’s field, flipping up his backrow cards and destroying them immediately.

Arcanite Magician/ATK: 400/0 Spell Counters

“Why would she focus on Kurosaki’s set cards?” Selena asked, now sitting back down and having deactivated her duel disk as Sawatari weakly climbed back onto the bleachers. “She could have taken out his Xyz Monster with that effect.”

“You’re the one who brought up strategy earlier,” replied Jay calmly, pointing at Arcanite Magician specifically. “Watch.”

“Since I control a Spellcaster monster,” Hotaru said. “I can Special Summon Paladin of Arcanite from my hand!”

A knight-like individual wearing a strange set of purple armor appeared, before brandishing a sword with a green blade that glowed with energy in her right hand, while a shield with orange flame markings around the border and a green gem in the center was wielded in her left.

Paladin of Arcanite/FIRE/Level 4/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 1900/DEF: 800

“Next, since Paladin was summoned in this way, she puts a Spell Counter on a card that I can put a Spell Counter on! Power-up once again, Arcanite Magician!”

Indeed, Arcanite Magician twirled their staff as a flash of energy from Paladin’s shield was transferred to their staff.

Arcanite Magician/ATK: 1400/1 Spell Counter

“And now that I have another Spell Counter,” Hotaru breathed. “I can take out your Infernal Eagle! I use Arcanite Magician’s effect once more!”

Another orb of green fire appeared, and Arcanite immediately blasted it at Shun’s monster. Infernal Eagle let out a screech of pain as the fireball impacted and quickly destroyed it as the Xyz monster vanished into an array of sparks. 

“Alright! His field’s wide open now!” Zenshin cheered.

“I activate the effect of the Raidraptors - Return in my graveyard!” announced Shun. “When a ‘Raidraptor’ monster I control is destroyed by a card effect, I banish this trap card in order to add a new ‘Raidraptor’ card from my Deck to my hand! The card I chose is Raidraptor - Call!”

A card was ejected from Shun’s duel disk, which he quickly added to his hand.

Arcanite Magician/ATK: 400/0 Spell Counters

“That won’t change what’s coming for you!” Hotaru declared. “BATTLE! Arcanite Magician, direct attack!”

“From my graveyard, I activate Raidraptors - Readiness!” Shun responded.

Hotaru was shocked. “Another effect from the graveyard?!”

“When I have another ‘Raidraptor’ card in my graveyard, I can banish Readiness in order to make all damage I take this turn zero!”

A barrier surrounded Shun and his D-Wheel, and when Arcanite Magician fired a blast of energy from their staff, it harmlessly bounced off and dissipated.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me! He had two backup plans?!” Zenshin yelled in shock. “Who is this guy?”

“HAH!” Sawatari declared, causing everyone to grimace, even Hotaru down on the track as his smug voice made an unwelcome return as the two duelists passed by the stands on another lap. “You haven’t seen anything yet! Kurosaki may be skilled, but his tricks are nothing compared to the Great Shingo Sawatari!”

“Alright boys, I may have lost to Yuya Sakaki, and the president may have taken away my Yosenju deck, but I still declare this to be a great day!” Sawatari declared to his goons. “The public has finally seen my dueling skills, and thus I’ve taken the first steps to becoming a True Duelist!”

“HERE! HERE! HERE SAWATARI-SAN!” the trio called.

“That’s great kid, really great,” grumbled their waiter, a man with black hair and maybe more than a bit too much eyeliner. “But could you get your foot off the table so I can serve you your order?”

“Huh?” Sawatari asked, only to see that yes, the waiter had brought him the slice of his favorite sweet milk apple-and-berry pie topped with a nice drizzle of honey that he’d ordered.

“Ah, thank you!” he said, tossing a yen for a tip at the waiter before sitting down to eat. “Itakidamasu!”

He pulled out a fork and quickly put a piece into his mouth. He shivered in ecstasy, tasting the wondrous flavor of the pie. “So gooooood!”

“Uh, Sawatari-san,” one of his minions asked. “Not to be a downer, but don’t you think we should have stuck around for the next match?”

“Oh please!” Sawatari waved off. “What could possibly be going on right now that requires my attention?”

He didn’t notice how most of the other patrons had their eyes glued to the television screen, as a monstrous robotic red bird began firing missiles at a deformed sheep-like monstrosity, destroying the terrain and buildings surrounding them in the process.

Of course, there were obviously far more important matters to attend to as right now, there was pie to be eaten.

“Do you even know how Kurosaki duels?” Selena grumbled. 

“Of course I do!” replied Sawatari. “He uses Xyz Monsters that blow stuff up!”

“...I presume you do then?” Jay asked Selena, ignoring Sawatari completely. “Care to enlighten us, or is that information you don’t plan to give up?”

Selena coughed and looked down at the bleachers. Rather than look defiant or shifty however, Jay noticed that she was instead blushing and looked slightly embarrassed. 

“...Ohhhh, you don’t know either,” Zenshin sighed, then he blinked as he realized what that meant. “Wait, if you don’t know, then–!”

“Calm down,” Keiro said with gritted teeth. “Hotaru’s not out yet. It’s only the second turn.”

Keiro wasn’t wrong, but Jay could just feel the bad vibes from this duel now that it was fully underway. Selena and the idiot were supposed to be Kurosaki’s teammates, yet neither had an idea of how he truly played beyond his finishing moves. That left an unknown element, and in Jay’s experience, unknown elements were usually rather hazardous.

Her instincts screamed that whoever this Shun Kurosaki was…he was not an opponent to be taken lightly. Not just because of his skills, though she had to admit, she had never seen a duelist like him before. But more to the point, everything about him seemed dangerous. His eyes seemed trained to seek death, with a terrible fire burning within them. And not a flame that was out-of-control, but one that fueled a calculated and deadly opponent.

Indeed, the more she analyzed the duel, the more the entire turn seemed to have been planned in advance. Set cards that likely had on-field effects in addition to ones in the graveyard, and preparations for the next turn, as if Shun had been anticipating that his monster would be destroyed. Hotaru had fallen into a double-and-triple wired trap, and had failed to reclaim the initiative from Shun as a result.

And Jay could tell that once Shun had that initiative, he would not let go. 

“I set three cards face-down to end my turn!” Hotaru said, causing three card backings to flank her D-Wheel before they vanished.

Jay held her breath. What would Shun’s next move be?

“I draw!” the Xyz user declared, his eyes seeming to focus on the card he drew before he put it into his hand-slot and drew a different one. “I summon Raidraptor - Napalm Dragonius!”

Shun’s new monster once again seemed akin to a robotic bird, this time with three eyes, but the tail end of its body elongated like a serpent rather than an avian creature, with the end looking more like a misplaced dragon’s tail than anything that should be on a bird. Flames seemed to burst briefly from its mouth, making it clear why the monster had its name.

Raidraptor Napalm Dragonius/DARK/Level 4/Winged Beast/Effect/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000

“Next, I activate the Spell card, Raidraptor - Call!” said Shun. “It allows me to target a ‘Raidraptor’ I control to Special Summon a monster with the same name from my deck! Fly out! A second Raidraptor - Napalm Dragonius!”

The emblem that seemed to be on all of these ‘Raidraptor’ monsters appeared in the sky, and a second dragon-bird hybrid creature quickly flew onto the field, joining the first.

Raidraptor Napalm Dragonius/DARK/Level 4/Winged Beast/Effect/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000

“Now for their effects!” Shun explained. “Each Napalm Dragonius, once per turn, can inflict 600 damage to my opponent! With two of them out, that means 1200 damage! Take this!”

Both birds’ eyes gleamed red, before they opened their maws and shot two massive streams of fire right at Hotaru.

Immediately, Hotaru swerved, trying to avoid the attacks, which seemed more intensive than the previous damage. Unfortunately, though she avoided the worst of the initial blasts, Jay watched in horror as the two birds seemed to persistently blast their flames at Hotaru, until they managed to connect. And then, everyone heard her yell in pain, moments before the flames subsided. 

Hotaru managed to stay on her D-Wheel, but smoke was clearly trailing from her body; she had taken a more intensive hit.

Hotaru LP: 2400

“Is that all?” she taunted despite the more obvious burn marks on her riding duel suit. “I’ve felt worse from Hibiki’s singing voice!”

“She’s not wrong,” Zenshin said, if only by instinct, given that his body posture was quite tense.

Jay only spared a glance at him before returning her attention to the track, because it was clear that Shun wasn’t done yet.

“Once again, since I control a ‘Raidraptor’ monster, I Special Summon Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius!”

A second small bird appeared, flying in-between the larger Dragonius-style avians.

Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius/DARK/Level 4/Winged Beast/Effect/ATK: 500/DEF: 1500

“He’s got three Level 4 monsters now,” realized Keiro, dread evident in his voice.

“I overlay my three monsters!” Shun declared, causing the three birds to transform into purple light-streams that flew into another galaxy portal, before a new burst of energy arose as Shun’s new monster emerged.

“Obscured falcon, raise your sharpened talons in front of adversity, spread your wings of rebellion! Xyz Summon! Appear! Rank 4! Raidraptor - Rise Falcon!"

A new armored bird appeared, this one possessing larger wings and well-built leg-like attachments on a fairly robust robotic body. Disturbingly, two small thin arms grew from its chest, while its eyes were an uncanny set of six arranged in a hexagonal pattern. It let out a terrifying screech, clearly interested in one thing and one thing only; the complete eradication of the enemy.

Raidraptor - Rise Falcon/DARK/Rank 4/Winged Beast/Xyz/Effect/ATK: 100/DEF: 2000

“The monster from earlier!” exclaimed an agitated Keiro in realization.

“It only has 100 ATK?” Zenshin muttered.

“Kurosaki would never summon a monster that weak with three materials,” said Selena, causing Jay to turn her attention to the stranger, who had her hand over Sawatari’s mouth, the idiotic fool’s face looking like it might pop like a balloon with the stupidity that the cloaked girl was restraining. “You know it has to have a powerful effect.”

Right on cue, Shun rose a hand into the air. “Rise Falcon’s effect! By detaching 1 overlay unit, it gains ATK equal to the ATK of all of my opponent’s Special Summoned monsters!”

Hotaru gasped in horror. “Wait…that’s the power you used before, isn’t it?”

Shun did not reply, instead letting his monster’s effect speak for itself. Auras of orange and white respectively surrounded Paladin of Arcanite and Arcanite Magician, before they shot into Rise Falcon, whose body became covered in fire thanks to the jets installed in its wings.

Raidraptor Rise Falcon/ATK: 100 + 400 + 1900 = 2400

Now, Shun’s monster could certainly be said to not be weak. Yet that did not seem to deter Hotaru.

“E-even so!” she protested. “Paladin of Arcanite makes it so that you can’t attack any Spellcaster monsters with 1000 or less ATK! Arcanite Magician is safe!”

“Pointless,” Shun scoffed. “Rise Falcon can attack all of my opponent’s Special Summoned monsters once each.”

“If Paladin’s destroyed, that’ll be 500 damage,” Keiro counted. “Then if Arcanite gets destroyed, that’s 2000 damage…”

Meaning that the total of 2500 damage would be just enough to reduce Hotaru’s LP to 0, and leave her at Kurosaki’s mercy, or lack thereof.

“And, of course, since the overlay unit I detached was Fuzzy Lanius, I add the third copy to my hand,” Shun said idly as he retrieved the card from his duel disk.

But that was clearly the calm before the storm.

“BATTLE!” Shun declared. “Raidraptor - Rise Falcon, rend and tear all of our enemies! BRAVE CLAW REVOLUTION!”

The enormous, flaming bird rose high into the air, before divebombing onto the field. It happened so fast that Jay’s eyes could not keep up. One second Paladin of Arcanite was there, the next, the magic-using swordsman had been cut to ribbons. And yet…

Arcanite Magician was still there, their staff within Rise Falcon’s talons, and yet refusing to let go of their weapon and yield to the flaming monstrosity.

Hotaru LP: 1900

“What?” Shun asked. “Why wasn’t your monster destroyed?”

Jay saw Hotaru smirk. “My trap card, Assault Mode Activate!” she explained. “I Tribute Arcanite Magician to Special Summon an ‘/Assault Mode’ monster from my Deck whose name includes Arcanite Magician’s in it! GO! Mode Change! Arcanite Magician/Assault Mode! ”

Arcanite Magician’s eyes lit up, as a light-pink aura surrounded their body, until, in a flash of light, they swung their arm, forcing Rise Falcon back with a wave of energy. The energy quickly dissipated, revealing Arcanite Magician, but transformed. The cloth worn over their armor no longer wrapped around it, instead appearing as a cape for a wizard garbed in purple armor with thick orange armored trimming that looked akin to flames. The green Spell Counter orbs were now all visible, and now seeming to be in their true form, Arcanite Magician glared seriously at Rise Falcon, as if daring the monstrosity to attack.

Arcanite Magician/Assault Mode/LIGHT/Level 9/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 900/DEF: 2300

“Just like in their base form, when Special Summoned, Arcanite Magician gains 2 Spell Counters!” said Hotaru, as two of the green orbs on Arcanite Magician’s armor glowed.

Arcanite Magician-Assault Mode/ATK: 2900/2 Spell Counters

“And now her monster’s stronger than Kurosaki’s!” cheered Zenshin.

“Don’t forget the replay rule,” Jay reminded. “Kurosaki can call off his attack.”

“But…”

Jay turned to see Selena, who was looking at Rise Falcon carefully. “Will he call it off though?” she asked quietly.

Immediately looking back at the track, Jay saw Shun accelerating forward. As a trained D-Wheel user, she knew how to read the body language of Riding Duelists to anticipate their next move, along with their riding technique. And when a Riding Duelist accelerated, that usually meant…

“Continue the battle, Rise Falcon!” Shun commanded, proving Jay’s instinct correct.

“You’re still attacking?!” cried Hotaru, astounded that Shun seemed willing to crash his monster into hers. “But…your monster will–!”

“Brave Claw Revolution!” Shun declared.

Rise Falcon let out another horrific shriek, before diving at the sorcerer. Not even batting an eye, Arcanite Magician raised their staff, firing a blast of white-hot energy at Rise Falcon. The mechanical bird’s flame covering did nothing to stop the blast, which pierced right through the creature and killed it instantly.

A shockwave of damage impacted Shun as Rise Falcon vanished, but his pace did not waver. Jay looked at him. If anything, he seemed… satisfied?

Shun LP: 3500

“When an Xyz Monster I control that has material is destroyed, I can activate the Quick-Play Spell, Xyz Contingency!” the brutal duelist revealed. “Since Rise Falcon had two materials, I can draw two cards!”

Shun drew his cards, but then pulled out another. Jay could see that it had been in his hand from the start, and was not among the new ones. She wondered if Hotaru had noticed this detail as well…

“During the turn a ‘Raidraptor’ Xyz Monster was destroyed, I can activate this card. Rank-Up Magic Raptor’s Force! I target 1 ‘Raidraptor’ Xyz monster in my graveyard, and when I do, I Xyz Summon an Xyz Monster that’s one Rank higher, using this monster for the Xyz Summon!”

“What on earth?!” Jay found herself shouting out in astonishment.

“What’s he trying to do now?!” screamed Zenshin.

A graveyard portal opened, and from it, Rise Falcon emerged, only to transform into a stream of purple energy that flew upwards into a galaxy portal that quickly burst with energy.

"Ferocious falcon. Break through this fierce battle and spread your wings! Destroy our gathering foes! Rank Up Xyz Change! Appear! Rank 5! Raidraptor - Blaze Falcon! "

A creature cloaked in a red aura emerged, throwing that aura off to reveal itself. It resembled Rise Falcon in shape, but the armor had changed from a blue-and-green color scheme to red, and seemed much more streamlined. Some parts had thicker armor, while other pieces seemed to have been discarded. Instead of six eyes arranged in a hexagonal patter, two clusters of four green eyes each dotted the new monster’s head. The monster let out another shriek, clearly ready for battle.

Raidraptor - Blaze Falcon/DARK/Rank 5/Winged Beast/Xyz/Effect/ATK: 1000/DEF: 2000

“So this is Rank-Up,” Selena muttered. “First time I’ve seen it in action.”

“Mind explaining it then?” Keiro grumbled.

Selena looked at him, and then back at the track. But she obliged. “It’s apparently the ace technique of duelists from the Xyz Dimension. It uses Xyz Monsters of lower Ranks to bring out Xyz Monsters with higher ones.”

“So it’s kind of like Accel Synchro, in a way,” Jay muttered to herself. “This Xyz Dimension sounds…intriguing.”

But any further thoughts, questions, or comments would have to wait, as Shun was continuing his turn. “Blaze Falcon can attack my opponent directly. Go!”

“Y-you had this as a backup plan already, didn’t you?!” Hotaru managed to shout before a bolt of energy was blasted from the robotic bird’s beak, directly impacting her and causing her to slow her D-Wheel down to maintain control.

Hotaru LP: 900

“Her LP’s in the red!” yelped Zenshin.

“One more hit and she’s dead!” Keiro called.

And indeed, Shun seemed very determined to finish the job. “Whenever Blaze Falcon successfully inflicts battle damage, I target a monster on your field and destroy it! GO!”

The lower armor on the legs opened up, unveiling an array of missiles. Missiles that quickly shot out from the slots, aimed at Arcanite Magician.

Quickly, Hotaru slammed her hand onto her D-Wheel, prompting a card to be flipped up on her field.

“Counter Trap, Arcanite Barrier!” she countered. “An attack or effect that targets an ‘Arcanite’ monster is negated and the card destroyed! Eat your own missiles!”

A green barrier was quickly conjured up by Arcanite Magician, which indeed deflected the missiles and sent them back at Blaze Falcon. The bird attempted to fly away, but the missiles were soon exploding, locking it in, until one made a direct hit, turning the bird into ash.

“...Hmph,” Shun grunted. “I set two cards face-down. Turn end.”

“This is getting intense,” Kurei chuckled, tossing a piece of popcorn into her mouth. Looking at her screen, she could see that Celeste’s attention was firmly on the duel, given that she wasn’t commenting on Kurei’s words. 

A low growl came from the other end of the room. Kurei knew that voice well, and discreetly muted herself and paused her hologram project so no-one could see her talking to her…secret project.

“Don’t worry,” she said, turning to face an eye that glowed an ominous red. “You’ll get your time in the spotlight, comrade . For now, just…watch. This duel is the opener to some very entertaining times.”

At hearing that, an enormous grin emerged from the darkness, one that Kurei was quick to match with her own.

“So let’s not be impatient, alright? Let’s savor this…”

She was doing better than LDS’ so-called elite, that was for certain. But this level of dueling was still not quite there. Hotaru’s skill was evident, but proper battle experience was clearly not present in her dueling. She was doing well-enough that she had the advantage now, but she kept falling into his traps and making his backup plans live.

And now, Shun had successfully whittled down her LP from 3600 to 900. The gap was evident. Still, he had to admit he was in a bit of trouble; he legitimately hadn’t expected that counter. 

Perhaps it was unfair…but, no. No, he couldn’t take any chances. His duels in the battle royale had shown that. He had subconsciously dismissed Sora Shiunin in their rematch and it had cost him. If it hadn’t been for Selena, Shun would have been carded, either by Sora, or by the Obelisk Force when they came and attacked, striking down two other finalists and very nearly taking all of them out.

He spared a glance at the girl, then back at the track. Focus.

Even if Reiji had explained that they had confused Yuto’s Synchro counterpart for an enemy, the possibility of an enemy was still there. He’d gotten a birds-eye view of Acceleration Institute as they landed; while the school was not as large as Academia, though still grander in scope than LDS, he couldn’t dismiss the possibility that someone here used Fusion Summoning.

Hotaru was admittedly only one opponent, but Shun had to verify, just to be safe.

Not to mention that said verification would give him a chance to make a comeback. This would be the key point, he felt.

“I draw!” Hotaru declared, looking at her hand.

Assault Monk, Assault Revival and the just-drawn Magical Gem of Arcanite.

Not the worst hand, she had to admit to herself. On her field, her last set card was Pitch-Black Power Stone. It would definitely be useful for a final push.

She thought about summoning Assault Monk normally but, no. Shun’s trap cards had been troublesome enough. She needed to make sure she had a backup plan in order to respond to his own. Especially since already, cards were being flipped up on his field.

“On your Standby Phase,” Shun announced, “I activate a Double Trap! Raidraptor - Target Flag, and Raidraptor - Ricochet! ”

Hotaru watched as the mark of the Raidraptors first etched itself onto Arcanite Magician’s face.

Thankfully, the Xyz-user was already explaining the effect. “When activated, Raidraptor - Target Flag targets a monster my opponent controls. I then draw a card and we both confirm whether it is a monster, spell, or trap. When the targeted monster leaves the field, you must show me your hand, and any cards that match the type of card that I first revealed will be destroyed!”

“...Eh?” Hotaru couldn’t help but let out in confusion. “Isn’t it a bit too late to try destroying my hand?”

“I draw!” Shun declared, ignoring her, before revealing the card, which appeared on Hotaru’s D-Wheel monitor.

“The card I drew is a Trap card, Raidraptor - Contingency! So when your Arcanite Magician is destroyed, I can destroy all of the traps in your hand!”

Well that was pointless. Not that Hotaru was going to blurt that detail out to her opponent. Maybe his second trap had a purpose?

“Meanwhile, the effect of Raidraptor - Ricochet is as follows,” Shun went on. “As long as I control it, my ‘Raidraptor’ cards, except for it, cannot be destroyed by card effects, while once per turn, if a ‘Raidraptor’ monster I control is attacked, or if I would take a direct attack while I still control another ‘Raidraptor’ card, I can destroy your attacking monster, then inflict damage to your equal to half of its ATK.”

Hotaru grit her teeth. Arcanite Magician currently had 2900 ATK. Meaning if she tried to attack Shun now, he’d finish her off. Assault Monk’s ATK was just low enough for her to survive, but Shun had enough LP to tank that hit anyways.

Meaning he’d now forced her into a situation to…destroy his trap card? 

She looked at Assault Monk again. Well, alright then. If her calculations were correct, she’d still manage to reduce his LP to 0 this turn and then kick him out of Acceleration Institute.

“I activate Arcanite Magician/Assault Mode’s effect!” she declared. “By removing 2 Spell Counters, all the cards on your field get destroyed!”

Two orbs of energy were absorbed into Arcanite Magician’s staff, before an enormous blast of bright green fire shot forward. Immediately, a barrier of gray energy appeared, surrounding Shun. It quickly evaporated in the face of the blast but also succeeded in dissipating it…

And causing the flames to bounce right back at Arcanite Magician, destroying them.

“What the–?” Hotaru gasped.

“If Raidraptor - Ricochet is destroyed, it destroys 1 card you control,” Shun explained. “It also lets me draw another card.”

“ARGH! He keeps countering her plays! She’s not making any headway!” Hotaru heard Zenshin cry out.

But at this, she had to smirk. “Don’t be so certain I’m out just yet.” 

“I’ll be the judge of that,” scoffed Shun. “But first, show me your hand! Since your monster was destroyed, I now destroy Target Flag, and so you have to reveal your hand!”

“Alright,” Hotaru said breezily. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

She revealed the contents of her hand. If Shun had any reaction to it, he wasn’t showing it. Instead, he just remained silent again. That was perfectly fine. If that was all his defense had, then it was time to counterattack at last.

“Assault Monk’s effect!” Hotaru announced confidently. “Whenever an ‘/Assault Mode’ monster of mine goes to the graveyard, I can Special Summon her! Come out!”

In a burst of fire a lightly tanned muscular woman with red hair done up in a ponytail, an eyepatch on her eye, wearing a combination of a torn-up miko outfit with a martial arts gi and military uniform appeared. She palmed a fist into her hand, an excited grin on her face as she quickly made a series of moves, before finally settling into a proper combat stance.

Assault Monk/FIRE/Level 4/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 1700/DEF: 200

“And there’s more!” Hotaru declared. “Assault Monk targets that ‘/Assault Mode’ monster, gaining ATK equal to their Level x100! With Arcanite’s /Assault Mode form being Level 9, that’s 900 more ATK!”

A golden aura surrounded Assault Monk, empowering her as she flexed her muscles.

Assault Monk/ATK: 2600

Hotaru pointed at Shun. “Let’s get back to the battle phase! Assault Monk, give that creep all you’ve got! Resounding Flaming Fists!”

Assault Monk leaped at Shun, and unleashed a flurry of flaming punches, causing him to flinch and slow down his D-Wheel as he took the up-close-and-personal hits. Hotaru then accelerated, finally gaining alongside so she could get a good look at him. She glared at him as strongly as she could, making it clear that he was unwelcome, and that she was going to deal the finishing blow.

Shun LP: 900

“Their LP’s are both equal!” Selena cried.

Though Hotaru felt satisfied at finally dealing a substantial blow, she saw Shun was still focused on the road. Her confidence began to waver. Was this another trap of his? No. He didn’t have anything on his field and had seemed to use up his graveyard effects. 

She growled. She would not fail her Prince. She would crush this maniac here and now!

“I activate Assault Revival!” she declared. “I banish Assault Mode Activate from my graveyard, destroy the monsters I control, and Special Summon 1 ‘/Assault Mode’ monster from my graveyard, ignoring the summoning conditions!”

A flash of light burst over the field. Assault Monk vanished, and in her place, Arcanite Magician, garbed in their Assault Mode armor, now stood.

Arcanite Magician/Assault Mode/LIGHT/Level 9/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 900/DEF: 2300

“But Assault Monk isn’t going down without a fight!” Hotaru continued. “When she’s destroyed, I can Special Summon another Level 4 or lower monster from my Deck that mentions Assault Mode Activate! Come out, Arcane Apprentice!”

A small wizard-like creature wielding a small wand and bearing a small flame in their hands appeared. They were completely cloaked, with only a small pair of beady eyes showing through.

Arcane Apprentice/FIRE/Level 2/Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect/ATK: 1000/DEF: 400

“This is the end!” Hotaru roared. “Go, Arcanite Magician, direct attack! Assault Magic Attack!”

Arcanite Magician quickly pointed their staff at Shun and charged an enormous blast of flaming yellow energy that threatened to strike him down. Hotaru clenched her teeth. This blow had to work, it had to as the blast came closer and closer to Shun and his D-Wheel…

Only for Shun to pull a card from his hand.

“I activate the Trap Card, Raidraptor - Contingency! When I have no monsters on the field, I can activate it from my hand!”

“A hand-trap at this point?!” Hotaru yelled in desperate frustration. “You’ve got to be kidding me! How are you doing this?!”

But Shun only ignored Hotaru as he thrust a hand forward, his D-Wheel now accelerating forward as the trap card, which depicted several smaller mechanical bird creatures rising up from a cliff, in the midst of an ashen sky.

“Raidraptor - Contingency’s effect lets me target a ‘Raidraptor’ monster in my graveyard, and then Special Summon it,” he explained. “Resurrect now! Raidraptor - Blaze Falcon!”

A graveyard portal opened up, and a column of dark purplish black miasma erupted into the sky. Then, from that column, Blaze Falcon flew onto the field, in a defensive stance, its body glowing a light lavender to indicate Defense Position.

Raidraptor - Blaze Falcon/DARK/Rank 5/Winged Beast/Xyz/Effect/ATK: 1000/DEF: 2000

Hotaru’s next words were shared in unison with her classmates.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?!”

“Who is this guy?!” Zenshin yelled, grabbing his hair.

“I’ve never seen a person ride a D-Wheel so smoothly anywhere. Not from the Commons, and not from the Tops,” Keiro groaned, massaging his temples.

“Hey, I didn’t even know he could ride a motorcycle!” Sawatari shot back. “Don’t go glaring at me!”

“Can we focus on the duel?” Selena complained. 

“Why is it so important to you? What are your plans?!” countered Jay.

Still ensconced in Headmistress Leblanc’s office, Celeste dearly wished she could be down there right now, leading her friends in driving these intruders off of Acceleration Institute’s property. Much as she had resigned herself to the dealings of the shadows to achieve a brighter end, it didn’t mean she had to like it, nor was she ignorant of her friends’ growing suspicion of her.

It felt pointless to hide this secret in that regard, but on the other hand, her mentor’s instructions had been clear. But the trouble it was causing was reaching a boiling point. 

She had been told that it was the job of the ‘lower-ranked’ to work for those in power, that it was their purpose to head out into the field. She’d heard of it from her parents, and had even heard of it as a form of duty from Mister Mizoguchi when she once broached the topic of how he’d come to Headmistress Leblanc’s employ.

But that didn’t mean she liked it. It felt like she was pawning off her responsibilities onto someone else, especially when they didn’t know how or why they were in danger. 

She still begrudged how her tournament project for the Friendship Cup, her first real attempt at making some waves of change in the City, had not just been crippled from the start and then smashed to pieces, but had quickly been co-opted by Roget to achieve some mysterious endgame that either her mentor was not privy to or had elected to keep secret even from her protege. At least Sherry seemed to share her frustrations.

And now, a new issue presented itself in the form of duelists from Other Worlds, with the one Hotaru was dueling being particularly ruthless in his conduct. Celeste usually held great confidence in Hotaru’s skills, but witnessing ‘Shun Kurosaki’, as the drones and duel data indicated, counter every single one of her plays and even lure her into traps, was becoming increasingly alarming.

Even with their LP tied, Celeste couldn’t stop the tension in her body. If she clenched her fists even tighter right now, she was sure she would be drawing blood.

“Relax your posture,” Sherry advised, causing Celeste to whip her head around to face her teacher.

“If you are going to fight this man later, then reserve your anger for the dueling field,” Sherry said, her hands on the desk. “You’ll do yourself no favors using up your energy now.”

It took all of Celeste’s restraint to stop herself from protesting. Her eyes looked up at the projects of Roget and Sozotai, and she thus turned her attention back to the duel. She had to keep up her faith in her Knight.

Even though her heart ached to jump in alongside her.

“Main Phase 2!” Hotaru declared. “I tune my Assault Arcanite with Arcane Apprentice!”

“A Level 11 Synchro Monster?!” Selena questioned.

“She’s having to resort to that monster now?” said Jay in a tense voice. 

The answer came when Arcanite Magician flew into the rings that Arcane Apprentice transformed into, the sorcerer’s body vanishing into stars, before those stars aligned as a new burst of energy rushed through them.

“Great Magician of Advanced Arts, unleash your arcane knowledge and discoveries, and enlighten your fellows to achieve greater heights! SYNCHRO SUMMON! Descend now! Level 11, Superb Arcanite Magician!”

What appeared now was Arcanite Magician once more, but their once-orange-and-black armor now had white in place of orange, with the graceful curves of the old armor replaced with more exaggerated ones. Their staff had now enlarged, with some small spikes on the tip where the orb of magic was, and their white cape had now turned black. The reinvigorated sorcerer quickly flew next to their master, ready to continue the fight.

Superb Arcanite Magician/LIGHT/Level 11/Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 1400/DEF: 2800

“And just like before, Superb Arcanite Magician gains 2 Spell Counters when Synchro Summoned, and for each Spell Counter they have, that means 1000 more ATK!” Hotaru yelled, her eyes narrowed as she glared at Shun.

Superb Arcanite Magician/ATK: 3400/2 Spell Counters

“If only it were still the battle phase ,” Hotaru thought to herself. But no matter. She’d been forced to bring out the big guns now, and with them, she was going to win this duel come Hell or high water!

“Also, Arcane Apprentice allows me to add a certain card to my hand when used for a Synchro Summon!” she continued. “I add a second copy of Assault Mode Activate to my hand!”

Shun didn’t even seem concerned. Hotaru clenched her hands on her D-Wheel handles even harder. Was he that confident in a victory for himself?

If he was, then Hotaru was happy to disabuse him of any notion of victory as a card flipped-up on her field. “Now, Pitch-Black Power Stone! This card gains 3 Spell Counters when activated, and once per turn during my Main Phase, I can transfer one of its Spell Counters on another card I can put a Spell Counter on! But there won’t be any need to, because Superb Arcanite can, once per turn, remove Spell Counters from anywhere on the field to banish an equal number of cards you control and in your graveyard!”

Pitch-Black Power Stone/3 Spell Counters

“Take out his Blaze Falcon!” Zenshin cried, his voice sounding more desperate than enthusiastic.

“I intend to!” she replied fiercely. “I remove all three of the Spell Counters on Pitch-Black Power Stone in order to banish your Raidraptor - Blaze Falcon, Rise Falcon, and Tribute Lanius!”

“Useless,” Shun spat. “If I activated Raidraptor - Contingency while my LP is 1000 or less, the monster it Special Summons is immune to destruction and all of your card effects for the rest of this turn.”

Hotaru’s D-Wheel paused and jolted as shock caused her to lose her focus, before she twisted the accelerator and shot forward again. “...You could have used that card during my first attack…but you deliberately took it to give your monster more protection?! Damn you! Who are you?! What do you want!?”

“I have no reason to explain that to you right now,” scoffed Shun. “I need to fight a stronger duelist! End your turn already, you’re disgracing yourself as is!”

A wire snapped in Hotaru’s brain as she snarled in indignant fury.

“Don’t think that means you’re getting out of this scot-free!” she yelled. “If I can’t take out your Blaze Falcon, I’ll get rid of the Rank-Up Magic Raptor’s Force in your graveyard instead! Take them out, Arcanite!”

Superb Arcanite Magician twirled their staff, drawing out the Spell Counters from a large black stone with a pyramidal-like shape within it. As it did, the stone shattered and vanished, while the counters transformed into balls of ethereal green flames that were then shot into Shun’s D-Wheel, causing the image of the declared cards to appear before they vanished into a vortex.

“Next, Magical Gem of Arcanite!” the furious Knight barked. “This puts a Spell Counter on one of my Spellcasters, then if I used this on a Synchro Monster, I can draw an extra card! Be empowered now, Superb Arcanite Magician!”

One of the gems on Superb’s armor glowed brightly, indicating the receiving of power.

Superb Arcanite Magician/ATK: 4400/3 Spell Counters

“And now I draw another card!” Hotaru said, before looking at it, and setting both cards face-down.

“Turn end.”

“This will be the final turn,” Roget muttered to himself.

He had to admit, the strength and cunning of the Resistance’s dueling had shown itself very well here. Shun’s usage of his cards was timed perfectly, and no matter how many times Hotaru seemed to counter his plays, Shun seemed to have already anticipated that and had his own backup plan, if he wasn’t bringing Hotaru into his orbit to start with. 

Impressive. Marvelous even.

He had to be that at the minimum, to have survived Academia’s year-long siege on Heartland and the greater Xyz Dimension. It would be folly to ignore such potential for his own as Roget idly placed a black knight on the board, forking a bishop and a rook in the process.

Roget discreetly muted himself, and then typed a message over to Kurei, prompting her to turn towards him. She must have muted herself as well.

“What do you have concerning Mister Kurosaki’s skills?” he asked. “I know you obtained some schematics from the Xyz Dimension when I sent you there.”

Kurei grinned. “Remember Dimension Express’ latest D-Wheel model?”

Roget did indeed. He’d been appraised of it by Nikolaj Lebedev, Dimension Express’ current CEO. It was due to be unveiled in the upcoming annual D-Wheel expo that the company held.

Giving a nod, Roget watched as Kurei pulled up a window on her computer to display for him, showcasing a 3D-generated image of Dimension Express’ newest D-Wheel model. The shape and recommendations were all noted as one of the few things she had successfully managed to salvage from those brief trips to the Xyz Dimension without drawing Academia’s notice.

The blueprints showcased a unique wide-wheel design that Synchro Dimension mechanics didn’t employ, and the remains of a hyper-streamlined model that, according to Kurei’s notes, was twice as energy efficient as the best mass-produced model in Neo Domino City.

It was thus not difficult to assume that this was where Shun Kurosaki got his expertise in handling a D-Wheel. Roget briefly wondered as to why Selena had no knowledge via her instruction from Academia, but given that he remembered about how the little ‘princess’ was only ever interested in dueling with cards alone, it was no surprise that this was a revelation to her as well.

Roget watched Kurei toss another piece of popcorn into her mouth as he dismissed the feed and returned his attention to the duel. 

With this information in play, what did this tell of the duelists he was planning to create? If they were this weak, then that meant that there had been no point in investing time and resources in the Acceleration Institute at all.

And if that were true, what did that mean for the other forces in the network he’d striven to build?

“Is this the strength of the duelists fighting in that Interdimensional War?” asked Sherry from her desk, gazing at Roget’s hologram projection.

Quickly, Roget unmuted himself and reactivated his hologram. “I would say so, yes. I did have Doctor Sozotai engage in some observation of the Xyz Dimension, but only for progress checking on Academia’s invasion, not to observe the duelists who were present there.”

He paused, stroking his chin. Partly to keep up the image of the wise chess grandmaster who could anticipate all moves before him, and also partly to organize his thoughts if Sherry was to contribute.

“Does this strength concern you?” he asked.

Sherry only let out a mirthless chuckle. “My students haven’t had the opportunity to truly experience the world. I’m not concerned. Given a chance to learn from this, I’m confident that they can adapt.”

Roget would never admit it, but that was an elucidating thought that he mentally zeroed in on. Yes, it was just the beginning of the game, nowhere close to the finishing moves. It would do him no good to overthink and needlessly punish at this stage. Instead, it was better to watch the duel to the end. And of course, idly message Security to start preparing to storm the arena. No sense in letting such a powerful factor roam free.

Not to mention the prospect of seizing Selena. That would certainly be a boon to his plans.

There was no danger, and that fact alone was enough for Roget to begin confidently moving the pieces on his board once again.

Hotaru looked at the field and at Shun’s hand. Her hand was empty, of course.

Shun only controlled the single, solitary Blaze Falcon, whilst his hand had the last copy of Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius , and one of the cards he’d drawn from his trap combo. 

Meanwhile, Hotaru controlled Superb Arcanite Magician at 4400 ATK, and had a double-trap of her own. Time to take stock of her options.

First, Assault Mode Activate would allow her to bring out the /Assault Mode of Superb Arcanite Magician, if the need arose, and once that was on the field, she would have access to the Assault Counter she had also set to negate another card or effect, which seemed to be Shun’s bread and butter.

Of course, this was assuming that Shun wasn’t aware of the timing Hotaru was aiming for. The instant his Main Phase began, she would use the effect of Superb Arcanite once more. The protection of Raidraptor - Contingency had now worn off, and Superb’s effect could be used specifically during either player’s Main Phase or Battle Phase. If she banished Blaze Falcon, that should avoid any further Rank-Up shenanigans, and if Shun did try to bring out a replacement monster, well, that was why she had her traps to begin with.

‘Bring it!’ She thought to herself.

“Draw!” Shun declared.

Hotaru looked ahead, tempted to bite her lip. ‘C’mon, move to the Main Phase already…’

“During my Standby Phase, I activate the card I just drew. Quick-Play Spell, Rank-Up Magic, Revolution Force!”

“WHAT?!” shrieked Hotaru.

“This card, during my turn, allows me to target 1 ‘Raidraptor’ Xyz Monster I control, and Xyz Summon a new one that is one Rank higher!”

Flames began to form underneath Blaze Falcon, a new galaxy portal opening up overhead, ready to receive a new monster.

Immediately, Hotaru slammed her hand onto her D-Wheel. “I chain with Assault Mode Activate! Get ready! MODE-CHANGE! I Special Summon–”

“Nothing,” rebuffed Shun. “Quick-Play Spell, Raidraptor - Stun . While I control a ‘Raidraptor’ monster, I can target and negate one of your face-up cards. I negate the effect of Assault Mode Activate.”

A bolt of lightning was shot from the beak of Blaze Falcon, impacting Hotaru’s card and dulling it in the process.

“And as that card requires a cost to activate, your monster is Tributed and lost,” Shun said matter-of-factly.

Following that declaration, Superb Arcanite Magician , who had begun transforming into their ultimate form…vanished in a cloud of sparks, to Hotaru’s horror.

“No…”

“And now,” resumed Shun. “I rank-up my Blaze Falcon !”

The flames fully consumed Blaze Falcon, who flew into the Xyz Portal, which burst with energy. Slowly, in the flames, an even larger mechanical-bird creature began to form, this one fully black, resembling some strange enormous fighter jet with a bird’s head atop it. The creature’s thick, enormous metallic wings slowly unfolded, as a terrible creature began to appear.

And all the while, Shun was chanting.

"Prideful falcon. Spread your wings, dyed in the blood of heroes, and charge through the path of revolution! Rank Up Xyz Change! Appear! Rank 6! Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon !"

That beast now showed itself, releasing an even louder shriek as it flew high into the air, looming over Hotaru, who could do nothing but watch helplessly.

Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon/DARK/Rank 6/Winged Beast/Xyz/Effect/ATK: 2000/DEF: 3000

“This is the end!” Shun declared. “ Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon, attack her directly!”

Revolution Falcon screeched in compliance, slots on its wings opening up to reveal themselves as massive bay doors containing payloads.

Hotaru’s eyes widened. He wasn’t going to…was he?

“Carry the will of the broken and lost, and eradicate our enemies!” ordered Shun, causing his monster to fly up even higher into the air, the jets on its wings flaring into activity as it prepared to attack. “Revolutionary Air Raid!”

There was a sound, akin to a whistling noise…and it was then that the track shook as Hotaru braced herself on her D-Wheel, watching as massive bombs fell from the sky, before they started impacting the track and causing enormous explosions all around her.

“NGGGHHH!” she gritted, trying to keep control over her D-Wheel as the bombs exploded around her, fruitlessly avoiding shrapnel and enduring countless shockwaves.

“HOTARU!” she managed to hear her friends cry out in horror before the noise of the explosions drowned them out.

Now left completely alone as smoke, ash, and dust filled her eyesight, Hotaru found her D-Wheel handling becoming increasingly unsteady as Kurosaki’s ruthless bombing continued. She couldn’t hold out much longer, and for a moment, the smoke plumes cleared…to reveal a bomb about to detonate right in front of her.

As she realized the end had come, only one thought came to mind.

‘Celeste, I’m sorry.’

Then the bomb ahead burst, caused her to lose her balance, and she and her D-Wheel crashed, skidding across the wrecked track. Another explosion occurred around her, sending her flying. After that, darkness overtook her as she slammed onto the ground, her ears ringing from further explosions.

“What is this?!” demanded Sherry, rising from her chair in anger and causing it to topple over.

Both women watched as the bombs continued to fall, destroying the track, and through the smoke and her tears, Celeste saw Hotaru’s body crash onto the track, her precious Knight unconscious, her D-Wheel flung further ahead, before it was smashed to pieces by another bomb exploding, sending shrapnel everywhere before the ash cloud covered the entire track.

“HOTARU!” she screamed, abandoning her prim, polished posture and calm demeanor as she ran from the room, body bursting from the doors. 

To hell with these stupid plans. She’d been a fool to follow these schemes. The consequences should rest on her shoulders, not her friends. If her mentor was calling out to her, she wasn’t hearing it as she ran down the hallway, fueled by fear for her friend’s safety…

And hatred and rage towards the men who had harmed her. Jean-Michel Roget and Shun Kurosaki both.

Hotaru LP: 0 - LOSE

WINNER: Shun

Only now, with his opponent’s LP gone, did the Real Solid Vision finally deactivate. Unlike with LDS’ stadiums, where the entire smoke effect was simulated, Shun was quite familiar with what happened to real structures damaged by it. While his Revolution Falcon vanished, the damage that had been inflicted had not.

He still hated and loathed the memories of Academia destroying his home with it, but he had long-since learned to fight fire with fire.

Plus, if they were in enemy territory, this would definitely send a message to any spies in the Synchro Dimension that the Lancers were not to be toyed with.

The effect on the track had been immense. The bombs had fallen without discrimination. Massive holes of asphalt and concrete had opened up, and craters of sand were evident in the mid-field. Smoke and fire from the aftereffects of the Real Solid Vision had, of course, not faded away, and yet in the midst of that, Shun continued to ride flawlessly, driving one further lap on the track as the smoke slowly cleared away, before coming to a stop at Hotaru’s stricken, ash-coated form.

Well, he hadn’t been trying to kill her, but considering what this bike-riding style of dueling offered, he wasn’t surprised that a loss would result in a catastrophic wipeout, Real Solid Vision or no. The girl didn’t seem dead.

“Hmph, better than most of LDS, but still nowhere near the amount of skills or conviction I’m looking for,” he grunted.

He then got up from his D-Wheel, removing his helmet and shaking his head. “Now, who’s next?” 

The remainder of the smoke cleared, with a green-and-orange haired girl brandishing a staff-like weapon inches from Shun’s face while a larger turquoise bird that bore a green-haired girl riding atop it with a lightning-infused staff flew threateningly above him.

Eyes narrowed, stern, and threatening, the girl who called herself Jay had activated her duel disk, projecting a white blade from a dark-green body as she now stood defiantly in front of Shun, her height fully clear to him. Her white-grey irises were burning with a fiery light, focused like those of a hawk bearing down on her enemy.

“Then it’s you,” Shun said, not letting an inch of mercy or regret make their way into his voice as he detached his duel disk from the D-Wheel.

“I have no interest in fighting you,” Jay answered, her voice quiet and deadly. “I am here to destroy you.”

“Hmph, then I have only one answer to that,” Shun replied.

Not giving his enemy a chance to speak again; he had seen her scheming nature earlier, Shun quickly pulled out Blaze Falcon and summoned it forth again, sending Jay’s monsters back. She was quick to recover though, and quickly gestured at her monsters. 

“Stop him now! Daigusto Sphreez! Daigusto Gulldos! ”

“Overlay Regen!” Shun declared, slamming the spell card into his duel disk. “Blaze Falco n gains an overlay unit! With it, I detach it to destroy all of your monsters and inflict 500 damage to you!”

Blaze Falcon screeched as the missile launchers on its hips opened up and began firing missiles at the enemy monsters. Though it was a near point-blank attack, Jay’s monsters were surprisingly fast as they began dodging the missiles. But not quite fast enough. Daigusto Sphreez had to stop as a missile exploded in front of her, allowing a second to make contact and destroy her. Daigusto Gulldos tried blasting them with lightning, but the girl and her steed were suddenly struck from underneath and were quickly wiped out.

Several more missiles now landed near Jay, throwing her back onto the stands from the explosive force.

“Selena, Sawatari, move!” Shun commanded, knowing that their business here had been concluded. 

“Kind of stuck right now!” Sawatari yelled.

Shun looked up, and saw that both of the males had engaged his fellow Lancers in battle; Keiro against Sawatari, and Zenshin against Selena. Already both sides seemed to have brought out their primary ace monsters, and seemed ready for their respective duels to intensify.

Growling, Shun was quick to act. “Blaze Falcon! Attack them!”

“You will do no such thing,” rumbled an unfamiliar voice from behind.

Immediately, Shun jumped back to intercept a Duel Disk strike from a tall, well-built man in a suit. Despite his attack, his side-burned face was surprisingly stoic despite the scowl on it. Growling, Shun managed to force the stranger aside before jumping back to a safer distance and slamming another card onto his Duel Disk.

“Raidraptor - Force Strix!” he commanded, summoning forth his trusted armored owl.

“I summon Kenjutsuka of the Six Samurai!” declared the stranger, summoning forth a strange futuristic young man in some strange samurai-style armor. Quickly, the warrior intercepted the talons of Force Strix, who was forced to retreat.

“As I control a ‘Six Samurai’ monster, Trainer of the Six Samurai follows!”

Now a much older, shorter man dressed in similar armor appeared, but he was quick to start transforming into the rings associated with a Synchro Summon.

“Thanks to the effect of Kenjutsuka, I can now summon this monster!” the stranger said as he began chanting. “When two blades meet, the sword of loyalty will appear here! Be my loyal servant! Level 7, Driven Daredevil! ”

An old, wild warrior burst from the resulting Synchro column, wielding armor that seemed similar, but different from his materials, along with a variety of weapons that included a katana and more scimitar-esque blade in his hands.

Shun felt tempted to scoff. He could easily deal with that–

“And by the second effect of Kenjutsuka, I can summon this monster to join my team! Appear! The Six Samurai - Irou!”

A grim-looking warrior in the same futuristic armor appeared, though unlike the previous monsters, this one’s armor was color coded with glowing purple lines. He wielded a long black katana, and quickly, with a single sword strike that went towards the ground, and then suddenly lifted up, Shun saw his Force Strix be sliced in two.

Shun cursed, but his attention had been on Force Strix long enough for Driven Daredevil to brandish his two swords to strike at and destroy Blaze Falcon. Once again, Shun was quick to reach for his duel disk to summon out another monster, but the stranger and his monsters were quicker to react. The stranger slammed his hand onto Shun’s duel disk to deactivate it before ripping it away from his arm, before his ace monster was behind Shun, both blades now mere centimeters away from his neck.

“I will not allow you to harm my lady’s students any further,” the man growled.

“Mister Mizoguchi!” Zenshin called.

“Miss Jalita, if you can, help Hotaru!” Mizoguchi ordered.

Shun saw ‘Jay’ stagger to her feet. Though she seemed dazed, she didn’t seem completely out of it, nodding immediately and began making her way over to the fallen Hotaru.

“Explain why you are here,” growled the apparent bodyguard. “Now.”

Shun gritted his teeth, then looked at the man’s duel disk, and his eyes widened as he gazed at the blue katana-shaped blade.

“You’re with Academia aren’t you?” he hissed. “The Pawn of Fusion!”

“Pawn…of Fusion?” Mizoguchi asked, his voice slow and cautious after the energy he had previously shown. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb!” retorted Shun. “Your duel disk’s shape is in the shape of a sword, exactly like those of Academia!”

“My duel disk was designed like this as per my deck’s philosophy and the oath I swore to protect my lady,” the suited man rebuffed. “As for this ‘Academia’, I have no idea as to what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t lie to me!” Shun roared, but he saw his duel disk lying on the ruined ground, out of reach, and he realized that he was now at this man’s mercy. “You’re with the enemy,” he said, lowering his voice. “I just know you are.”

“I do not know who this ‘enemy’ is,” replied Mizoguchi sternly. “But I certainly hope that they are only about as half as bloodthirsty as you are.”

Shun’s response to that was silence as he glared at the strange protector hatefully.

“Are you okay, Hotaru?” asked Jay, causing everyone’s attention to fall onto the fallen Riding Duelist.

Hotaru coughed, and groaned as the taller girl slowly helped her to her feet. “I’ve…been better…”

Selena found herself looking at the girl a bit longer than she’d intended to. But why? For all intents and purposes, their mission was following what she had been doing in Standard, at least in terms of testing duelists. She’d heard that the duelists of Synchro were considered worthy adversaries from various announcements after all.

…But that gnawing feeling of what she’d learned in Standard was getting to her. Did Kurosaki really have to go that far just to test someone? He’d completely devastated the track in front of them just to take down one duelist, who was quite frankly lucky not to have been blown to smithereens.

“Are you feeling guilt right now?” Zenshin asked, all levity gone from his voice.

Selena turned back to face him. It seemed hurting his friends was enough to change his entire demeanor. It was honestly shocking. 

But…showing weakness right now? She couldn’t afford to do that.

“I knew the risks of my mission when I accepted them,” she said, letting her usual instincts take over. “We’re here to stop Academia, and we need to know if you guys are strong enough to fight with us.”

“I’m not fighting alongside people whose idea of ‘testing’ someone is to try to kill them,” replied Zenshin in a voice that sounded too calm for the situation. “Keiro, take down the blonde guy.”

“I have a name you know!” Sawatari protested, before he and his Abyss Actor - Superstar were blasted onto the ground by a tidal wave of mud from some fish-like monster behind the blue-haired duelist.

“Shut up,” Keiro said, jumping down from the bleachers and onto the ground.

Selena took a step back alongside her Cat Dancer as Zenshin’s strange dinosaur-plane monster seemed ready to charge up an attack.

“HOTARU!” yelled a new voice.

Everyone turned to see a duelist in a white uniform riding a horse-shaped D-Wheel speed onto the field, before she tore off her helmet and ran up to Jay and Hotaru.

“Are you okay? Hotaru, please, answer me!” the arrival wailed in desperation.

Selena made sure to take stock of yet another stranger. Her voice was feminine enough to tell she was a girl, though she seemed rather…boyish, having short dark-lavender hair and wearing a pair of trousers rather than a skirt. Her white uniform in particular stood out from the blue and maroon uniforms worn by her peers, reminding Selena of the Senior levels of Academia’s dorms.

“P-Prince?” croaked Hotaru.

“Just…Celeste will do, okay? We don’t have time for titles right now!” the girl replied, tears clearly in her eyes as she seemed to draw near, but stopped, given Hotaru’s condition.

“Lady Celeste, you did not need to come here,” said Mizoguchi after giving a quick nod of acknowledgement before returning his visual attention to Shun.  “I and the others have this situation under control. You should not attempt to endanger yourself.”

“I am quite capable of selecting my own battles, Mizoguchi!” snapped Celeste as she faced Shun. Selena couldn’t see the girl’s face, but she knew that if she could, it was probably engulfed in white-hot fury right now. “You! I will never forgive you for hurting my friends! Put your duel disk back on, you fils de pute!”

But before Shun could fire off his own retort, or before anyone else could respond, there was a loud sound of what seemed to be…sirens?

“Damn it!” Selena cursed as numerous more D-Wheels sped onto the premises, all of them of the model that she knew belonged to the local police, the word ‘Security’ emblazoned on them.

The Security Officers quickly encircled the premises, surrounding the duelists. As soon as they had, a holographic projection of yet another individual, wearing a strangely familiar purple coat, appeared, towering over everyone.

“There is no need for you to dirty your hands, Prince,” said the blonde man, his arms folded behind his back as he looked down, seeming to take stock of the Lancers as Selena followed the movement of his eyes.

“My people can handle this. Security, arrest them, if you will.”

Author-Made Cards:

Shun Kurosaki

Extra Deck

Raidraptor - Infernal Eagle
DARK/Rank 4/Winged-Beast/Xyz/Effect/ATK: 1800/DEF: 1600
2 Level 4 Winged-Beast Monsters
If this card is Xyz Summoned: Increase its ATK by an amount equal to the number of "Raidraptor" monsters attached to it as material x300. You can detach 1 material from this card; inflict damage to your opponent equal to the number of Special Summoned monsters on the field x400, then if the only Special Summoned monsters on the field were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, you can destroy 1 Spell/Trap your opponent controls. You can only use this effect of "Raidraptor - Infernal Eagle" once per turn.

Spells

Xyz Contingency
Quick-Play Spell
When an Xyz Monster with material you control is destroyed by battle or card effect: Draw cards equal to the number of materials that monster had when it was destroyed. You can only activate 1 “Xyz Contingency” per turn.

Raidraptor - Stun
Quick-Play Spell
If you control a "Raidraptor" monster: Target 1 face-up card your opponent controls; negate its effects. You can banish this card from your GY; Set 1 "Raptor's Gust" from your Deck or GY directly to your field, and if you do, it can be activated this turn. You cannot activate this effect the turn this card is sent to the GY. You can only use each effect of "Raidraptor - Stun" once per turn.

Traps

Raidraptor - Ricochet
Continuous Trap
“Raidraptor” cards you control, except “Raidraptor - Ricochet”, cannot be destroyed by your opponent’s card effects. You can only use each of the following effects of “Raidraptor - Ricochet” once per turn. If your opponent’s monster attacks a “Raidraptor” monster you control OR attacks you directly while you control a “Raidraptor” card, except “Raidraptor - Ricochet”: You can destroy that opponent’s monster, then inflict damage to your opponent equal to half of that monster’s ATK. If this card is destroyed by a card effect: You can destroy 1 card your opponent controls, then you can draw 1 card. 

Raidraptor - Contingency
Normal Trap
Target 1 “Raidraptor” monster in your GY: Special Summon it in Defense Position, then if you have 1000 or less LP, it cannot be destroyed by battle and is unaffected by your opponent’s card effects for the rest of this turn. You can only use this effect of “Raidraptor - Contingency” once per turn. If this Set card is destroyed by a card effect and sent to the GY while you have “Raidraptor” monsters in your GY: You can Set this card to your field, and if you do, it can be activated this turn. If you control no monsters, you can activate this card from your hand.

Hotaru Hanazono

Monsters

Assault Monk
FIRE/Level 4/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 1700/DEF: 200
If an “/Assault Mode” monster is sent to your GY: You can target that monster; Special Summon this card from your hand, and if you do, it gains ATK equal to the targeted monster’s Level x100. If this card is sent to the GY because it was destroyed by battle or card effect, or was used as Synchro Material: You can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower monster that mentions “Assault Mode Activate” from your Deck or GY, except “Assault Monk”. You can only use each effect of “Assault Monk” once per turn.

Extra Deck

Superb Arcanite Magician
LIGHT/Level 11/Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 1400/DEF: 2800
1 Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner Spellcaster monsters
If this card is Synchro Summoned: Place 2 Spell Counters on it. This card gains 1000 ATK for each Spell Counter on it. During the Main Phase or Battle Phase (Quick Effect): You can remove any number of Spell Counters from your field; banish an equal number of cards from your opponent’s field and/or GY. You can only use this effect of “Superb Arcanite Magician” once per turn. If this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent: You can target 1 Level 9 or lower Spellcaster monster in your GY; Special Summon it, then if it was an “Arcanite Magician” monster, it gains 1 Spell Counter .

Spells

Magical Gem of Arcanite
Quick-Play Spell
Target 1 Spellcaster monster you control that you can put a Spell Counter on; place 1 Spell Counter on that monster, then if a Synchro Monster was targeted, draw 1 card. During your Standby Phase, while this card is in your GY: You can reveal 1 Spellcaster monster in your hand; add this card to your hand. You can only use each effect of “Magical Gem of Arcanite” once per turn.

Traps

Arcanite Barrier
Counter Trap
When an “Arcanite” monster you control is targeted for an attack or an opponent’s card effect: Negate the attack or effect and if you do, destroy that opponent’s card.

Chapter Text

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V RE-TURN

Episode 57: An Entertaining Diversion

“Phew…glad that’s over…”

Crow Hogan never considered himself a superstitious person. He’d heard of the usual delusions,  ‘throwing salt over your shoulder prevents bad luck’, or as he liked to call it: wasting precious salt, but had never chosen to believe in it like some people did. He was more concerned with the cold, hard day-to-day reality right in front of him.

This usually meant getting up at around 5 in the morning, making sure that Amanda, Frank, and Tanner’s breakfasts were ready to go, calling to confirm that Shinji, Damon, and Tony were able to cycle around for keeping an eye on the kids, checking over his D-Wheel for maintenance, and then checking the specific app he’d managed to install into his Duel Disk for anyone who was placing orders for Blackbird Delivery, before making his rounds for the morning.

In that regard, Crow found himself somewhat grateful that he was actually able to run his own business despite not having a proper degree or certificate, not to mention the resources, time, patience, or booksmarts to get one. He had known someone who did but he was quick to quash that memory as being irrelevant.

What was relevant was that he succeeded in establishing some independence for himself to earn enough money to make a living, which was as good a life in the Commons as one could get.

Obviously, it wasn’t perfect. Blackbird Delivery didn’t shy away from order types. Grocery pick-up, take-out, construction supplies, if anyone needed something transported, Blackbird Delivery was the way to go. Any issues from the job primarily arose from any accidents whilst driving on the D-Wheel, or having to tiptoe around Security, who would not hesitate to arrest him for speeding whilst Crow was on a deadline. Likewise, there was the occasional whiner who would criticize one thing being out-of-place, or the rare crazy person who requested something really expensive from a Tops District, places that Crow only ever ventured towards to get the lay of the land just in case he would need to. 

Actually going into the belly of the beast was a no-go most of the time obviously.

Today’s issue was primarily from the sheer volume of orders. Maybe it was because the Friendship Cup was coming up, which just gave Crow another reason to hate it, or perhaps it was because there was actually something in the air besides the usual smog. Maybe it had something to do with the mysterious destruction of one of the shopping districts last month? He’d made a semi-decent profit, but the going back-and-forth between stops, even taking on multiple deliveries at once and only mixing up a few of them twice had been utterly exhausting.

Parking the D-Wheel alongside the fence that guarded the abandoned warehouse and office complex that Crow called home, he was looking forward to a rest. He’d check in on the kids, and maybe see if Tony was willing to cover a few extra hours while he slept before diving back into his next shift.

Giving a yawn, Crow removed the Blackbird Delivery jacket he’d made for himself to look more legitimate, slung it over his shoulder, and began walking towards the front door.

That’s when he felt a strong sense of unease stirring within him. Crow was well familiar that usually either Amanda or whoever’s turn it was to keep watch over the kids would be greeting him before he even stepped through the gate. He was halfway to the stairs and the place was oddly quiet.

“Frank? Amanda? Tanner?” he called. When he heard no response, he called again. “You there Tony?”

Still nothing.

Quick as a flash, Crow tossed his jacket aside and ran up the door, fearing for the worst.

“Guys!” he called again.

Still nothing. 

Crow immediately started looking around the empty living room, looking for any signs of a struggle. The blinds were dirty as ever and the concrete floor dusty as usual, but there was no sign that anything violent had happened. Had Tony taken the kids out on a field trip or something? No, that couldn’t be it, of the four of them, he was the one most likely to stay put unless instructions had been given to him.

His eyes then fell on a note, sticking out like a worm in the dirt, and Crow ran towards it immediately. 

He quickly read it over, and his eyes widened in horror.

‘Crow, Tony had to go home early because of a stomach issue. Damon picked him up, but Shinji’s too busy to come. Frank and Tanner said they wanted to prove they could do things on their own and help you and they left for the Tops.’

‘...I’m going after them. They should know not to go out without your permission! I’ll take responsibility! Don’t worry!’

‘-Amanda-’

Crow groaned as he slammed a hand on his forehead. “Ohhhh! KIDS!”

There was a lot he could say to scold the three of them, but what was most important was making sure they were safe and not in Security’s hands. He knew of their lack of mercy towards even children, and especially how Topsiders tended to react towards even seeing a Commons, as was given as an example on the news last night, according to Shinji.

There was no time to waste.  Filled with new energy, Crow snapped his Riding Duel Helmet back on, jumped onto his D-Wheel, the Blackbird, and sped back out onto the streets. It seemed he would have to jump into the belly of the beast after all. The safety of the kids depended on it.

“Wow, you got both of them that fast?” Dennis asked as he and a certain other boy walked down the hallways of Academia.

Yuri Fujiki chuckled. “Of course, because I’m amazing like that. Fusion-kun and Butler Boy are going to be running around like chickens with their heads cut off while Ruri and Rin get the luxury treatment here at Academia.”

“The Professor’s treating them like royalty?”

“Pfft, like I know what he wants to use them for,” shrugged Yuri. “I know he’s put them in the same kind of Tower that the kitty-cat princess gets to live in at least.”

So Dennis left it at that. It seemed that everything was going their way. Two more of the Pieces had been secured, and with Ruri in Academia, that meant that there would be no more need to hold back their assaults. The next few attacks were going to be much more intense than before, and with any luck, the Resistance would finally crumble.

“Well, now that that problem has been dealt with, what do you say we get breakfast?”

“You’ll be getting it in the office, Agent Macfield,” came an unpleasant-sounding Irish voice.

“Ugh, Eli,” Yuri groaned in disgust as the Overseer of the Phantasms stepped forward in front of them.

Dennis looked at the side and saw that they were indeed about to pass by the door that led to the Phantasms’ office spaces. At least that meant there wouldn’t be far to walk.

“No time to waste, come in,” the Overseer said curtly, snapping his fingers at Dennis to get him to hurry up.

“You know I’m still here, right?” Yuri drawled as he entered the office before Dennis could. “You better hope you have enough food for me too.”

Dennis followed after and saw Eli shake his head. “This has nothing to do with the Professor’s experiments, sir, just the regular espionage. You don’t need to be here.”

“So what’s on the menu?” Yuri asked as he browsed the room, eyes on breakfast trays that had been brought up. “Oho, that’s quite a lot of food on this plate? Who’s food is this?”

“Mine, so sir–” Eli began, only for Yuri to grab a fork and stick it right into the full Irish breakfast that was probably the Overseer’s food.

Eli looked at his stolen in dismay, prompting Dennis to hold back his amusement.

“Mmm, mmmm, mmmm!” Yuri moaned in delight. “Delicious! Oh, to miss out on a breakfast like this, I’d hate to be that loser!”

The overseer’s eye twitched before he sighed in defeat. “...Agent Macfield, to the desk, now.”

The lavender glow of the holographic constructs and data emanating from the high-tech table clashed with the green light given off by the Arc Area Reactor that the room overlooked, and it was at the center of these mismatched lights that the Overseer of the Phantasms was now situated, his fingers steepled while his left organic beady pupil and right mechanical scope-eye stared darkly at Dennis.

“Given what’s going on, I’ll be to the point,” Eli said.

“You are?” gasped Yuri in faux-shock as he sat to the side of the table with the stolen breakfast. “Hell has finally frozen over!”

Eli took a deep breath, trying not to fall for Yuri’s taunts. Sometimes Dennis had to feel a bit of pity for the Overseer. His job was thankless, drowning him in paperwork and mission assignments, even though Beatrix and Hamasaki said that was more Eli’s fault than a fault of his position. The man seemed to only ever thrive in misery, and very little ever seemed to brighten his mood.

Yuri probably wasn’t helping, making noises of satisfaction as he chowed down on what was supposed to have been Eli’s food.

“Resuming…” Eli said with gritted teeth. “Thanks to Lord Yuri and yourself, Operation: Preta has been given the greenlight to enter its final stretch. The Resistance will be destroyed, and we can move on to the completion of Operations Conquistador and Hassan.”

“Eh?” Dennis asked, confused. “Operation: Hassan? I know that Operation: Conquistador is the mission to invade the Synchro Dimension, but…Hassan? What’s that for?”

“What else? To invade the Standard Dimension,” Eli grumbled. “Did you really think we were going to just leave it alone?”

“Honestly with the way you complain every day, it’s hard to tell,” Yuri quipped, eating another forkful of bacon.

Eli sighed again. “Lady Naga and I talked with the Professor about this. Can I trust both of ye to keep this next piece of information confidential?”

“Of course!” Dennis answered.

“I’ll probably forget about it in the next twenty-two minutes anyways,” shrugged Yuri.

“Good enough,” Eli sighed. “The Professor has been trying to run countless experiments for an alternative, but in the end all simulations point to the same result if he doesn’t do it. In order for the Arc Area Project to succeed, we will need the Life Energy of everyone in all Four Worlds. Otherwise, instead of uniting them, we’ll end up destroying them.”

“Eh? How?” gasped Dennis, shocked by this revelation.

“Dennis, don’t encourage him to talk more,” Yuri groaned. “He looks for any excuse to ramble and rant.”

“Again, I’m trying to brief here, sir. Lady Naga has already warned me about that…er, quality of mine in this year’s evaluation.”

“Only you would find that to be a quality instead of a defect, Smith,” Yuri sighed. “But if you have to, spill it, what makes the souls of the people of Standard so special? I would have thought we’d go after them anyway to complete the collection, if you know what I mean.”

“That’s actually not inaccurate,” replied Eli. “To sum it up, the Life Energy of every denizen in one of the Four Worlds each has a different quality corresponding to it, reflecting how those Dimensions each represent a Summoning Technique. Fusion would bring those energies together, Synchro will harmonize those energies, and Xyz enables the expansion and refinement of those energies. What Standard would provide is the stabilization of the reaction of those unified energies. Otherwise, we’d either get some space-time vomit nightmare or blow everything up.”

Dennis felt his mouth gape at this newfound information. Yuri on the other hand, just munched on a piece of toast.

“Okay, great, so we have more work to do. Heaven for you, Hell for everyone else. What do you need Dennis for, Smith? Tell me so I can start scheduling the deadline to dissolve your flesh.”

Dennis chuckled at this, while Eli cringed. But, the overseer kept going.

“We are beginning to advance Operation: Hassan,” he explained. “Personally, I’ve been trying to get this moved forward for the past three years, but the Professor has been refusing my plans until recently.”

“I can only imagine why. Was it because your plans kept putting him to sleep, Smith?”

“Are you going to be saying anything to contribute to this conversation meaningfully?!” Eli finally snapped.

“Oh, but I am,” Yuri said. “I’m keeping you from boring us to death with my masterful quips. But, if you want to be permanently shut-up…”

Dennis hid his discomfort as Yuri pulled out his duel disk. “I’d be happy to oblige.”

Eli backed down with a grimace, then focused his eyes back on Dennis. “I might as well explain the situation.”

“Be quick, I’m almost out of food,” Yuri said.

“Er, right,” Eli went on. “One piece of information the Professor kept confidential, even from most of us Phantasms, is that he has family in the Standard Dimension. You both are aware that he is not from the Fusion Dimension, correct?”

“Get to the point,” Yuri growled.

“Alright, alright,” Eli said. “When the Professor moved from Standard to here in Fusion full-time three years ago, we learned that he had a wife and son in the former Dimension. That son, Reiji Akaba, tried to come here to find his father, but was quickly sent away before he could do much. After learning about him, one of my side-projects has been keeping up-to-date with that kid, paying special attention to how he’s taken over the Professor’s old company, the Leo Corporation, and how he’s been increasing that company’s power by buying up Duel School after Duel School. I can only conclude that he is preparing for war in order to fight us.”

“You sure it’s not just some secret project that Naga’s in on but you aren’t?” Yuri drawled, leaning back in his chair.

“Positive,” Eli replied with full seriousness. “Thankfully, Reiji’s buy-outs and buy-ups have earned him more than a few enemies, such as the people who have had to take up positions at LDS controlling their old businesses as subsidiaries of the Leo Corporation. We managed to subvert one of those to our cause, and that has allowed for a slot to be opened up for a convenient transfer student…”

“With the mission being…” Dennis said cautiously.

“To neutralize Reiji before he can become a threat,” Eli answered bluntly. 

“Then just blow up his big fancy corporate headquarters like in that one show,” said Yuri. “Isn’t that part of your job description?”

“I’m not a crazed bomber, sir, I’m an assassin!” Eli retorted.

“The difference being…?”

“One’s a job, and the other’s mental sickness!”

Yuri gave Eli a look. “You’re implying that you’re actually sane? By Armityle that is a revelation.”

“My point,” growled Eli through gritted teeth. “Is that the Professor has forbidden us from harming his son. So this mission needs to be done carefully and via the long-term. Agent Macfield, you will report to the Standard Dimension under your cover as an LDS student, and in one month’s time I will send another agent directly into LDS’ power center. If you, they, and the turncoat work together, we should be able to capture Reiji and bring him to Academia. And, if you can find the Fourth Piece in the process, well then…”

Now it was Eli’s turn to give Yuri a look. For once, the bloodthirsty grin Yuri gave wasn’t a threat towards the Great Irish Bore.

“Alright, I understand that,” Dennis finally said with a nod. “But, may I ask just one question, please?”

“If it’s about what to pack, just make sure it’s for at least six months to be safe,” replied Eli dismissively.

“Well, uh, thank you for that clarification, sir, but my question is, what about Synchro?” Dennis asked, which caused Eli to narrow his remaining eye. “I’ll admit I’m not privy to all of the details, but…why all the focus on Standard? Haven’t there been more, er, critical complications for the mission in Synchro? At least that’s what I’ve heard from your…erm, complaints.” 

“Dennis, again, don’t let him ramble, please,” pleaded Yuri.

“No, no, he needs to know this,” said Eli. “Conquistador is still scheduled to occur right after Preta anyways.

The Irishman waved his hand, prompting a holographic image to appear. What appeared was the image of a man with short, well-groomed pale blonde hair. His long face belied an arrogant persona, but one of dignity as well, creating an air of confidence and indicating a gentlemanly nature.

“Are you aware of this man, Agent Macfield?” Eli asked.

“Uh, no?” Dennis replied, not truly familiar with this individual.

“I doubt you would be, he’s from before your time,” Eli explained. “His name is Jean-Michel Roget. Last heir to the Roget Conglomerate, the former primary sponsors of Academia’s old superintendent Kagemaru. After the Professor took over Academia all those years ago, Roget sold out his family and their fortune so that he wouldn’t be executed along with the rest of Kagemaru's loyalists, before brazenly entering the Synchro Dimension as an infiltrator ten years ago. A year after that, when we began drafting the formal invasion plans, his mission was folded into what we know as Operation: Conquistador.”

There was the sound of snoring, until Yuri suddenly straightened up in his seat. “Oh…dang, that was so boring it put me to sleep.” 

He then looked at Dennis. “Eh? You haven’t left yet? Is Eli still rambling?”

“I’ll finish this up soon sir, I promise,” Eli said. “Roget may still report in-person once or twice a month, but his unproductive time in the Synchro Dimension all but confirms that he has likely gone rogue. I’ve already inserted an anonymous asset into Neo Domino City to keep an eye on him and try to get Operation: Conquistador back on track.”

“How you can consider Roget a threat is beyond me, Smith,” Yuri sighed, looking ready to leave. “We done here yet?”

“Uh, I just need to ask one more thing, Yuri, really,” Dennis said.

Yuri gave Dennis a look, shrugged, and slouched into his chair.

“Just out of curiosity’s sake, who is more dangerous to Academia? Reiji or Roget?” Dennis asked.

Eli gave Dennis a cold, hard stare. “Reiji, without a doubt. Roget is attempting to build himself an unassailable fortress, so we do not kick down his precious sandcastle. Reiji, on the other hand, is attempting to forge himself a sword. A sword that would destroy all that we’ve worked to build in a single stroke. Does that answer your question? If so, get going. You deploy in five hours. You are dismissed…”

He then looked at the dirty, empty plate before Yuri and sighed. “And I now need to get a frozen breakfast out of the freezer…”

It wasn’t long before Yuri and Dennis were out of the office. The revelations they’d both been handed weighed heavily on Dennis’ mind, though it seemed Yuri, as per usual, didn’t seem to care.

“Well, looks like I’m heading out again,” Dennis sighed wistfully.

“Hmph,” Yuri scoffed. “A mission from Smith is hardly worth anything. You let me know if there’s any trouble, okay?”

Had anyone else heard what Yuri had just said, they would be in shock. Dennis however, felt a small twinge of comfort from his friend’s words.

“Ah don’t worry Yuri, it’s Standard, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Back in the present-day, after careful contemplative reflection, Dennis had to admit he had tempted fate with that sentence a few months ago.

“I always knew eyes were going to catch onto me, but this is enough to give anyone stage fright,” he chuckled to himself grimly as he trailed behind Yuya and Gongenzaka, completely aware of the Security Officer who was tailing them.

Not that they needed to know…

Yet.

Where? Where was she?

“Yuzu!” Yuya called, but to no avail. She was nowhere to be found in the crowds of people walking along the streets.

He’d been running for…how long had it been? Ten minutes? Fifteen? Twenty? Whatever, the amount of time wasn’t important. What was important was finding Yuzu and bringing her home before Academia or Security got their hands on her. Nothing else mattered right now, nothing.

“Yuya!” called out Gongenzaka, who began panting as he caught up.

“Gongenzaka!” exclaimed Yuya, only for him to pause as he took his friend’s heavy panting and sweat-covered brow into account. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve been…through worse,” the Steadfast Duelist gasped as he quickly straightened out his posture. “But you need to slow down! You’ve been running for half an hour at this point!”

Yuya blinked. “It…it’s been half an hour?”

It was then that whatever adrenaline rush he’d gone through ended and Yuya found himself now gasping for breath, his throat feeling dry and his lungs about to collapse. His throat felt sore as well. How long had he been yelling for?

“I understand you want to find Yuzu, but we need to have a plan,” insisted Gongenzaka, wiping his forehead. “Running ourselves ragged won’t help us find her.”

“Good,” panted Dennis as he caught up to the two. “I could use a drink. Let’s head back to that district from before. I think we have the right money now.”

Yuya stared at Dennis. “How is going back to where we started going to help us?”

“Yes, it’s not like it’s hard to find a water fountain or vending machine here,” said Gongenzaka. “We can just rest and make a plan from there.”

Dennis blinked. Then he snapped his fingers. “Yuya-kun, Gon-chan, I think you’re looking at this from the wrong angle.”

“Gon-chan?!” snarled Gongenzaka at the nickname, but that didn’t deter Dennis from continuing.

“We heard the story from Toby didn’t we? And he told us about how this city’s social structure works. Yugo’s from the Commons, and right now we’re in a pretty ritzy district based on the hotels and restaurants around here.”

Dennis chose that moment to turn around and gesture at the buildings surrounding the three Lancers. Yuya didn’t see how any of these could be considered ‘ritzy’ or ‘fancy’ given how dull and lifeless they seemed thanks to their chrome plating, cold steel designs, or white-and-grey colors at first, but many of the people around them were dressed fairly fancily, and it was hard to notice the presence of sleek, streamlined, almost futuristic cars that drove around. They had just left an elite hotel too…

“Sooo,” continued Dennis. “If we want to find our friends, it’ll be better if we go back to that other district!”

Gongenzaka seemed to realize whatever plan Dennis had cooked up. “So you’re saying it’ll be better if we retrace our steps, and said steps are located in a place theoretically closer to where we can find a way into the Commons?”

Yuya hadn’t thought of any of that, but Dennis just snapped his fingers. “Precisely, Gon-Chan!”

Gongenzaka growled at the nickname, but he looked like he acknowledged Dennis’ intention. “It’s not a terrible plan,” he admitted. “Are you willing to follow it, Yuya?”

On the one hand, Yuya didn’t want to follow it, if only because he still felt incredibly restless. But…as he looked around again, there was clearly no sign of Yuzu around here, and he had a sinking feeling that these rich individuals wouldn’t know or care if he asked them where she was. 

Plus, he had to admit, he was legitimately parched and his feet felt somewhat sore. “Alright, let’s do it,” he said.

Thankfully, the trip back to their starting point wasn’t filled with any drama. It didn’t take long for them to hail a taxi, and once they made their destination clear to the driver (as best as they could anyways), the trio of Lancers found themselves at the same district as when they had begun, walking past the bank that Toby had brought them to and returning to the town square from last time.

“At least this is a familiar place,” Gongenzaka said. “We can try to reference it as a rallying point if we need to.”

“You know quite a bit about this sort of thing, Gon-chan,” said Dennis in a tone that sounded…was it approving? Yuya couldn’t tell.

“Yuya, Yuzu, and I have had plenty of experience exploring Miami City,” curtly answered the Steadfast Duelist. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

Dennis considered this. “Huh, alright then. Anyways, let’s head back over to that shop!”

Yuya blinked, remembering what exactly they’d dealt with there. “Uh, are you sure Dennis? Gongenzaka and I met the lady who runs it. She’s…kind of eccentric. Maybe we can just go to another place?”

“Agreed,” said Gongenzaka, who grimaced and folded his arms. “You weren’t…there…Dennis.”

If there was one thing Yuya knew about Gongenzaka, it was that he wore his heart on his sleeve. It made him a strange, but warm cross between eccentric and dignified, someone Yuya could always depend on. It usually meant that no matter the situation, he would confront seriously and with head-on determination. It was a rare sight for him to openly express emotions such as embarrassment or horror. Yuya hadn’t seen how the Steadfast Duelist had gotten into a duel against Sawatari and the cake shop manager, but it was clearly a level of weirdness that Gongenzaka was not eager to revisit.

And to be honest, neither was Yuya. The lady had threatened to call Security on them thanks to Sawatari’s behavior after all, and he wasn’t keen on getting thrown in jail.

“Oh come on,” said Dennis as he walked over to a vending machine, inserted the coins, and pulled out some water bottles, before tossing one of each to Yuya and Gongenzaka in turn. “She can’t possibly be that bad.”

“The answer is still no,” said Gongenzaka firmly as he uncapped the water bottle.

“Well, we could certainly head over there for lunch!” insisted Dennis.

“It can’t have been that long since breakfast!” protested Yuya, before his stomach started growling from the exercise and a clock in the center of the park began ringing that it was noon.

Dennis whistled. “Time does go fast when you’re trying to play dashing knight, eh, Yuya-kun?”

Yuya spat out his water, his face turning hot. “T-there’s nothing dashing about this! And I’m not playing around!”

Dennis chuckled, only to stop as Gongenzaka glowered at him. Laughter petering off, Dennis instead took another swig of water from the bottle and gasped in relief.

“Well,” he said. “I suppose we are burning daylight. I wonder what restaurants the Synchro Dimension has to provide us?”

Yuya wasn’t really all that interested. He would be perfectly fine with a plain old sandwich shop right now. He didn’t have any appetite for anything fancy, for way too many reasons to consider before he started going crazy again over the weight on his shoulders. Just get the food and find Yuzu, that was all he needed to think about.

He didn't need to think about everything that had been said to him in the past.

“Duels with smiles...with your power, give them to the world...and everyone's futures...smiles..."

“You mean to say that as long as Yuzu Hiragi is safe, whatever happens to your other Carded comrades doesn’t matter?”

“Like I said, you are naive, you cannot hope to save Yuzu Hiragi the way you are now.”

“I’m asking if you can become an example!”

“Who cares about the Lancers when you couldn’t even protect one of your own?!”

Just all he needed to think about…

“We don’t need to go for anything too complicated,” said Gongenzaka, breaking Yuya out of his thoughts. “A few sandwiches will do us well. Nothing fried of course.”

Dennis chuckled. “You’re talking to a guy from the Big Apple, Gon-Chan. Don’t you know how much Americans love to deep-fry things?”

“Then you have a diet to reconsider,” Gongenzaka scolded as he turned around, his attention on the streets. “Let’s go.”

Not in the mood for any further distractions, Yuya was quick to obey, though he found his attention focused on the street and sidewalk rather than the sights. Besides, he’d just been down this street earlier today, no point in thinking about what it looked like.

Dennis meanwhile, kept pointing around at the restaurants as if he was a tourist.

“Oh, pizza would be wonderful! No, wait, ramen! Fresh Red Demon’s Noodle? Interesting! Oh, but there’s always gourmet burgers! And of course, dessert!”

“No,” grumbled Gongenzaka, standing in-between Dennis and Miss Amari’s cake shop. “We don’t need to consume any empty sugar calories.”

“Burgers then?” asked Dennis, unfazed.

Gongenzaka sighed in resignation. “We might as well, there’s no point in being picky, let’s–”

“GET BACK HERE BRATS!”

The three Lancers jumped in shock and surprise as they saw an angry Miss Amari up ahead on the sidewalk, swinging a large cake knife and chasing after two small children carrying an assortment of pastries in their arms.

“Hurry up Tanner!” called one.

“I-I’m trying Frank!” whined the smaller of the two.

The surreal sight lasted for about a second or two. Then, in a flash, the kids who weren’t looking where they were going slammed right into Gongenzaka and Dennis, causing them and their sweets to crash onto the sidewalk.

“Owwww…” groaned the older of the two, a boy wearing a large cap.

The smaller boy, who had a somewhat chubbier face, looked back, and then tears started forming in his eyes out of fear as Miss Amari drew near, fire in her eyes.

“Do you brats have any idea how stressful catering is nowadays? Do you? Especially when you have to roll up an entire fully-loaded cart up a hill?! I’ll give you one for–!”

“STOP!” Yuya and Gongenzaka yelled, Yuya drawing forward immediately as Gongenzaka instinctively shielded the kids as he sometimes did with Ayu, Futoshi and Tatsuya.

This didn’t do anything to reduce Miss Amari’s rage. Instead, it seemed to flare up even more. “You two again?!” she snarled. “Are these brats your accomplices to steal my recipes?!”

“Wh-what? No!” stammered Yuya. “B-but you can’t just go around swinging a knife at children!”

“I’ve swung plenty of knives at people and only injured a few pervs in my life!” the crazy baker lady retorted. “Now either hand those kids over to me, or it’s going to be me tearing them to pieces or Security that’ll throw you all into the slammer! And this time I’ll actually have them do it!”

Yuya was beginning to realize just how insane this woman actually was. Luckily for him, Dennis stepped in casually, light on his feet. “Well now ma’am, there’s no need to be violent. What exactly did these two children steal from you?”

Miss Amari scowled, looking down at her wasted pastries that had scattered on the sidewalk. “I think you can figure that out for yourself, so–”

Dennis then walked forward, his speed surprising everyone, including Miss Amari, who backed off as the Broadway student, using his gloved hand, deftly and swiftly took the cake knife out of her hand. Yuya managed to catch Dennis’ face, and saw a gentle, disarming smile that seemed to be exuding a calming influence strong enough that even Yuya suddenly felt the tension in the air be sapped away.

 “If it would please you madame, I know of a way to smooth this over. Perhaps you have a few selections to…overlook this?”

Flexing his hand, Dennis brought out one coin, before that coin slipped into his sleeve and emerged as four held between each of his fingers, before those also vanished when he clutched his hand, and seemed to conjure a stack of bills, neatly arranged like a flower bouquet.

“I believe this covers the damages and a purchase?” he winked.

Whether it was the sight of money or whatever energy Dennis was giving off, Yuya saw Miss Amari’s face do a 180 as her angry scowl turned into a bright and cheerful smile. “W-well…I suppose that does! Please come in and–you won’t be like that… other one, will you?”

Dennis chuckled, his tone of voice far more genuine than the simpering tone Sawatari had displayed earlier. “Certainly not, ma’am. Please, allow me.”

Acting as ever the gentleman, Dennis opened the door to the shop, allowing the owner to walk in first. As she did, he turned to Yuya and Gongenzaka and winked. “You guys head back over to that square, I’ll only be a moment.”

For a moment, Yuya and Gongenzaka found that they could not speak. Then, as they got their bearings, they lost that opportunity to do so as another voice broke through the sudden silence.

“There you two are!”

The two Lancers turned around, seeing a young girl maybe a year or two older than Ayu with puffy burgundy hair arranged in two bunches. She was pointing at the two boys, who immediately tried to go back behind Gongenzaka, only for the girl to quickly start grabbing at the older one.

“Crow said not to sneak into the Tops, Frank! Why’d you go and drag Tanner with you?!”

The older boy quickly extricated himself from the girl’s grip. “We need to prove ourselves, Amanda, duh! Crow keeps coming home later and later! We need to show that we can take care of ourselves!”

“You almost got chopped up by some psycho lady!” countered Amanda. “And now you’re with a bunch of strangers! Crow and Shinji warned us about them!”

That made the boys blink as they looked up, registering the presence of Yuya and Gongenzaka at last.

“Who are you guys?!” Frank demanded as Tanner ran next to Amanda. “Tell us now!”

“Um, well,” replied Yuya sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head as his mind kept trying to register what was going on. He’d been in Synchro for less than a day and already he felt overwhelmed. “It was really a coincidence…”

“Indeed, think nothing of it,” said Gongenzaka. “But…why are you children here without your parents?”

The younger boy, Tanner, looked down shamefully. “Uh, C-Crow…”

Amanda quickly shushed him. “Don’t just give out information like that! We have to go back home, right now!”

“Eh?” gasped Yuya, suddenly imagining seeing Ayu, Futoshi, and Tatsuya in the place of the three Synchro children, lost and unable to find their way in a big city. “Are you sure you know where to go?” 

“There’s plenty of routes if you know where to look!” Frank said with a grin, only to falter as Amanda glared at him.

“Leaving already?” asked Dennis, causing everyone to jump as he seemed to slide back into the scene easily. “And I’d gotten this for everyone to share!”

He was carrying a large box in his hand, opening it to reveal a set of mini-cheesecakes, all of them artfully decorated and carrying a variety of flavors.

There was a grumbling, but it did not come from Yuya or Gongenzaka’s stomachs. Rather, it came from the kids, who quickly brought their heads down in embarrassment.

“Crow said not to eat with strangers,” Tanner mumbled, the young boy’s tone of voice indicating that in contrast to this advice, that he very much wanted the cakes instead.

“Well, uh…” Yuya chuckled nervously, knowing that the boy technically wasn’t wrong about that.

Gongenzaka seemed about to speak up, but Dennis was quick to make a ‘tsk, tsk’ sound. “Everyone, we’re having a rough time right now, yes? There’s no harm in simply sitting down for a snack! And I know the perfect place!”

“...A dark alley so you can kidnap us?” asked Amanda, clearly trying her hardest to resist the temptation of cake versus Dennis’ intent.

“He does have that, ‘Get in the van’ type of appearance….” Frank admitted.

Dennis blinked, and immediately gaped as he shook his head vigorously to deny it. “No, no! Certainly not!” he said in disgust, dropping his overly happy tone for a more genuine to-the-point one. “I only mean that there’s a park not too far from here. We can eat and then you three can be on your way.”

The growling of stomachs, this time coming from everyone, ultimately stopped any further argument, and it wasn’t long before Yuya found himself at the park for the third time that day.

He didn’t have much of an appetite, but took a cherry-swirl cake nevertheless while Dennis contented himself with one sprinkled with almonds, allowing the kids to choose what they wanted, whereas Gongenzaka stuck to a plain one, his eyes shut as he clearly wanted to eat something that wasn’t all that sweet. Yuya could hear his friend’s grunts of displeasure as Gongenzaka basically nibbled at a single large bite he’d taken.

“So…why did you three come up here again?” asked Dennis after some time had passed and at least one cheesecake had been eaten. “We’re new to this City and don’t know much of our way around here.”

Amanda merely glared back, and now even Frank seemed to get a look of suspicion on his face. Both children seemed ready to bolt, but then the youngest of them spoke up.

“We wanted to help Crow!” he said.

“TANNER!” both Amanda and Frank scolded.

“Crow, Crow,” Dennis mused. “I don’t think that name sounds familiar…”

“Given that he lives in this City and we don’t, that’s understandable,” Gongenzaka said to Dennis in a reprimanding tone before turning to the kids. “You don’t have to explain to us why you needed to do this, but if you truly wish to help your father, then running off on your own won’t help.”

“Well, uh, he’s not our dad, dad–” Frank began, only for Amanda to hush him.

“That’s enough!” she said, before turning to the three Lancers and giving a quick bow. “Thank you for your help, but we really have to get going.”

“...Are you…sure you know where to go?” asked Yuya incredulously, finding it hard to believe that three young children could navigate a city as large as Neo Domino and not get lost.

“Like I said earlier, we know all the routes!” said Frank proudly, ignoring Amanda’s flailing of her arms to get him to shut up again. “It’ll be a cinch heading back!”

“Really?” asked Dennis, whose attention seemed to be on the streets for whatever reason. “Are you sure you won’t get picked up by the police? Surely they won’t leave children like you alone forever.”

That did it. Whatever the trio of children was thinking, Yuya saw their faces quickly turn paranoid and nervous. Their heads darted back and forth, as if afraid that Security was lurking behind every corner. 

Given that he was currently having to wear a hood on his head to prevent people from thinking he was Yugo, Yuya couldn’t blame the kids for that paranoia, but it was one thing to have the police on you when they thought you looked like someone they considered a criminal. It was a whole other thing to see children be afraid of the very people who were supposed to protect them.

“D-don’t worry!” Yuya tried to comfort. “We haven’t encountered Security yet, and I’m sure they’ll help you find your–”

“No they won’t!” cried Tanner. “They’ll arrest any Commons who trespass into the Tops! Kid or adult!”

“You don’t think that lady called them on us, do you?” asked Frank.

“She wouldn’t have if you stayed at home like Crow told us to!” protested Amanda. “Now we have to get out of here, fast!”

“Now, now, I don’t recommend that,” soothed Dennis before Frank could bite back a retort, before he pulled out a few copies of several wand-based spell cards and threw them into the air.

Yuya watched as the cards suddenly glowed, and the wands they depicted materialized via Real Solid Vision, landing in Dennis’ hands as he deftly began to juggle them.

“Wow!” exclaimed Tanner, stars in his eyes. “How’d you do that?”

“A magician never reveals his secrets,” Dennis winked.

“You’re a magician?” Tanner asked.

“Does it matter what he is?” Amanda chastised. “We need to get going before Security gets here!”

Dennis chuckled. “What’s the rush? I think you’ll be safer if you calm down a tad with the show. Trust me, it’ll help keep Security off your backs. Took quite a bit on my part to calm down that baker, but it never hurts to be cautious.”

This caused Frank to turn to Amanda. “He’s got a point, y’know.”

“We wouldn’t even be stuck like this if you weren’t trying to steal things!” she shot back.

“Now, now, no fighting!” scolded Dennis as he tossed the wands into the air, before catching all of them, balanced them in his hand, and then transformed them back into cards. “It ruins the show!”

“Show?!” Tanner asked, in awe.

Yuya saw Dennis’ eyes twinkle. What kind of plan was he cooking up now?

The answer came the second the Broadway student turned and faced Yuya. “Of course! You kids deserve a special treat! How about it, Yuya-kun, shall we show off what Entertainment Dueling can do?”

“Eh?” Yuya found himself gasping.

“Dennis, this is a waste of time,” Gongenzaka said firmly, standing up and sweeping his jacket of cake crumbs. “I don’t like the idea of leaving children on their own, but they clearly know their way around this city far better than we do, and we have our own job to do. Having this duel slows both parties down.”

But Dennis waved a hand. “I think we lost any right to sneak away after the hotel incident,” he said. “Besides, to suppress the entertainer within ourselves will only make for trouble down the line!”

Gongenzaka began to open his mouth to argue, but Dennis was faster.

“And besides, having a show can attract attention! If the kids are out without permission, our duel can serve as a beacon to their guardian, and it might just let Yuzu and Yugo know that we’re here to boot! Win-win, really!”

Yuya found himself stepping up with that. Dennis was finally starting to make sense. Instead of just looking around blindly, he could at least take the chance of letting Yuzu know that he was here, and that he was looking for her. It wasn’t illegal either, so long as his hood remained on for the duel, then if Security was around, then at least they couldn’t arrest him on identity charges.

Plus, looking at the kids, Yuya couldn’t help but feel bad for them. What kind of world was the Synchro Dimension that children were at risk of being subjected to police brutality for simply not having as much? He could already see why Frank and Tanner would be motivated to steal, and they certainly didn’t deserve to be arrested for that.

“Alright, you’re on!” said Yuya.

Dennis snapped his fingers. “That’s the spirit, Yuya-kun! Let’s get this Entertainment Duel started!”

Both duelists pulled out their duel disks, getting into position as Crow’s kids headed towards where Gongenzaka was, the Steadfast Duelist still staring at the scene unfolding before him.

“Duelists locked in battle!” chanted Dennis.

“Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters!” Yuya chanted in turn.

“They storm through this field!”

“Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of Dueling!”

The two drew their opening hands and declared together…

“ACTION…”

“DUEL!”

In all of his years of working for Security and Jean-Michel Roget, Lieutenant Yi had never seen something so… surreal.

He had busted and dismantled numerous Commons gangs in the past, which had their own quirks here and there. The Magician’s Four for example, a group of thugs who thought for whatever reason to dress up like wizards whilst vandalizing the town, or the Spiders, a cult-like group that claimed to worship the apocryphal gods of the Underworld, to the point of attempting strange and sickening rituals that still made Yi’s stomach churn as he remembered examining the crime scenes they’d left behind.

He had of course destroyed them, and countless other Duel Gangs and criminal organizations, but somehow, whatever was in the Earthbound pits of Hell, he found himself befuddled and confused by the behavior that he was seeing.

Dennis Macfield clearly knew that he was tailing him. Yi didn’t quite have whatever training Academia’s soldiers and assassins had undergone, but he was capable of telling that from the boy’s body language and listening in on his words that he in turn knew that Yi was on his trail.

Yet Dennis’ method of…distraction? Delaying? Signaling to spies that they still hadn’t found, whatever it was, was so unusual Yi didn’t know if it was secretly brilliant or something out to make him think that he’d been slipped drugs in his morning coffee.

The entire situation was completely out-of-the-ordinary. Yi had expected some sort of clandestine military operation, based on what Roget had told him about Academia, but to see it take the form of what was called an ‘Entertainment Duel’ was still making Yi wonder if he was dreaming or high.

Immediately, Yi pressed a button on his uniform to begin transmitting to his master.

“Yes?” buzzed Roget’s voice.

“Sir, the Academia asset and his allies have stopped at Cross-Site Park, in District T07-5657,” explained Yi, keeping his voice low as he spied on the group from the shadow of the alleyways. “They’re…and I don’t know whether or not to say that this makes sense, attempting something called an…Entertainment Duel. …Do you have context of what that is?”

“Entertainment Duel?” mused Roget. “I’m aware that Dennis has a bit of a…stage magician reputation at Academia, but that specific terminology eludes me. It’s likely tied in more confidential matters that I have not been able to obtain for our usage, though I must admit I find the idea of such a concept threatening us to be laughable.”

Yi personally did not find the idea laughable. He did not like unknown elements, and this kind of dueling, yet another thing that seemed to serve a purpose of invigorating the Commons, seemed cut from the same kind of cloth that that rebellious fool Celeste Beausoleli seemed to dabble in far too much for her own good.

Yi gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stay calm. But even so, the situation was greatly testing his patience.

“Right now, they’re preparing for some insipid duel to entertain some orphans and try to attract the attention of the people they’re searching for. Should I intervene?”

He dearly wanted to, but his master’s next words calmed him.

“No need. I’ve secured the three Lancers who invaded Acceleration Institute, and brought in the students present for that incident for questioning. If this group is looking for the same people we’re searching for, then there’s no need to stop them right now. Let them have their fun. And on that note…transmit the duel via video. I believe I will need to see this.”

“Accessing cameras now,” Yi automatically obeyed.

He contented himself with that knowledge about what would happen afterwards. Yes, let the Commons have their bread and circuses. When that was over, then Yi would enact justice on those who dared to defile the natural order of the world.

He just had to sit through some terrible play first. He could do that.

YUYA LP: 4000

DENNIS LP: 4000

“FIELD MAGIC, CROSSOVER! ” announced an automated voice in both player’s duel disks.

Yuya looked up, seeing the familiar blue orb of Action Cards floating above, before several blue platforms made out of energy were generated around the park area, casting the place in a blue aura-tint. Once they had, the Action Card bubble burst, scattering the Action Cards everywhere.

“Action card?” asked Tanner. “What’s that?”

“One step at a time, children!” announced Dennis. “The first turn shall be mine, Yuya-kun, and I’ll begin with the Continuous Spell, Performage Dynamic Flare!”

A green spell card image depicting several Performage monsters doing some sort of fire show manifested onto the field, glowing as its effect already took hold.

“When this card is activated, I reveal one ‘Performage’ monster in my hand,” Dennis explained. “Then we both take damage equal to the revealed monster’s Level multiplied by two hundred!”

“Eh? Why damage both players?” Frank asked.

“That’s weird!” said Tanner.

Amanda said nothing, merely choosing to study the field with calculated interest.

Yuya however, began to brace himself to get an Action Card. It seemed that Crossover was the default Action Field that Reiji had chosen for the Lancers, and it looked fairly simple. Simply navigate the platforms to reach the Action Cards or navigate around the base environment. 

But it was already too late to get moving as Dennis revealed his monster.

“I reveal Performage Plushfire!” he announced.

The spell glowed, and Yuya watched as a thick stream of undulating fire erupted from the card and began to hover into the air, ready to strike…

Until the blast suddenly collapsed, and was sucked up into the mouth of a familiar monster that looked like an inflatable black balloon dressed up in a clown-and cape attire. The monster then seemed to swirl the flames around in its mouth, before pointing itself upward and spitting them out in the form of colorful fireworks that burst harmlessly in the air.

Performage Flame Eater/FIRE/Level 4/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 1200/DEF: 1600

“That’s–!” Yuya began, but Dennis interrupted with a snap of his fingers.

“The answer, of course! Whenever effect damage would be inflicted to a player, I simply Special Summon Performage Flame Eater to reduce the damage to zero. Both Yuya-kun and myself are unharmed, and we got quite the fireworks show as well!”

“Oooooohhh!” Frank and Tanner clapped, while Amanda started to look mildly interested.

“Of course, there is more to this combo!” Dennis declared. “Once per turn, if I summon a ‘Performage’ from my hand, my Dynamic Flare’s second effect will activate and allow me to draw a card! If the card is a monster, my opponent takes damage equal to its Level multiplied by a hundred! If the card is a spell or trap, both of us will gain five hundred Life Points!”

And with a flourish, Dennis drew his card. He looked at it, and smirked.

“ Level 4, Performage Mirror Conductor,” he said. “So sorry Yuya-kun!”

Before Yuya could even make a move for an Action Card, the spell card on Dennis’ field glowed, and generated a small firework rocket. Yuya only had a moment to register before the rocket fired at him.

“EHHHHHHH?!” he wailed before the rocket exploded right in his face, coating him with ash, and leaving some embers on his hood, which thankfully remained over his head.

YUYA LP: 3600

“Oh, what’s going on here?” asked a passing voice.

“A duel?” noted another.

Yuya, still somewhat dazed, saw that a small crowd of people was beginning to gather around them.

“Oh? Welcome everyone!” greeted Dennis. “Is there anyone else out there who wants to watch the show, hmmm?”

More people seemed to gather, though Yuya didn’t see any major increase in the size of the crowd as he shook his head to get over the shock of Dennis’ Dynamic Flare.

“Hmmm…maybe improv is a bit too above my paygrade,” Dennis muttered.

“What?” Yuya asked, wondering what was going on in the Broadway student’s head now.

Dennis waved his hand in dismissal. “Oh, nothing, Yuya-kun. Well, this has been a fine opening act! I set two cards face-down and end my turn!”

Two card backings appeared, before fading away with Dennis’ spell card as his turn came to an end.

“Well then, Yuya-kun, we’re starting to get an audience, so don’t disappoint!” he said, closing his eyes as he clapped.

But Yuya didn’t notice how Dennis’ right eye had opened slightly, aimed at the alleyway, giving a subtle glare to a certain someone who had, indeed, failed to join with the crowd…

Yi gasped. He felt it, a piercing stare of awareness. Now there was no doubt that Dennis Macfield was aware of his presence. He’d never felt this kind of perceptive aura from any gangster or criminal before. Not from Synchro anyways. It felt almost like the aura he’d sensed from that boy, Yuri. Nowhere near as strong, but familiar and ominous all the same.

Part of him wanted to back away. Standard procedure after all, when an officer is compromised.

Another part of him knew that he had to stay for the mission, but he now was certain to not go in alone.

“Calling in backup,” he spoke into his communicator. “Arrest Corps, I request you in here now. Utilize Ground Defense Tactics and associated uniforms. Romeo Division, requesting to send Officers R-092, R-886, R-354, and R-996 to me. Permission for deck variance granted. Engage in pre-duel strategizing whilst en-route. Enemy match will be transmitted to facilitate.”

“Sir,” came a chorus of voices, two male, and two female.

“No complaints, sir?” Yi asked.

“None at all!” replied Roget in a somewhat flippant tone. “Already I’m getting everything organized…continue to keep watch, Lieutenant.”

“My turn, draw!” Yuya declared, looking at his hand.

Dennis had made a fairly modest start, Yuya had to note. Much as he wanted to show off to the crowd and the kids however, he still needed to remember that Yuzu was here. He had to get her attention, and right now, that meant winning this duel.

“Alright, for my first move, I summon Performapal Friendonkey!”

What appeared was a grey-and-white donkey creature with a smug face and carrying a load of boxes over his saddle. The donkey jumped onto the field, giving the audience a look.

Performapal Friendonkey/EARTH/Level 3/Beast/Effect/ATK: 1600/DEF: 600

“Ewwww!” Amanda exclaimed, sticking out her tongue in disgust. “That thing’s gross!”

“That’s your idea of an opening play, Yuya-kun?” asked Dennis. “I expected more.”

Yuya couldn’t help but feel a bit irritated, given that this was Dennis’ idea to begin with. “I activate Friendonkey’s effect! I Special Summon Performapal Silver Claw from my hand!”

Bursting out from Friendonkeys boxes emerged a grey-and-white furred wolf with a blue mane collar and chains. On his forward paws were two elongated claw weapons, which he slashed around and growled before landing on the field, giving the audience a much more confident look than his comrade monster.

Performapal Silver Claw/DARK/Level 4/Beast/Pendulum/Effect/ATK: 1800/DEF: 700/Scale 5

“And because a ‘Performapal’ monster was summoned, I can follow that up with Performapal Helprincess!”

The third monster on Yuya’s field took on the form of a girl with purple hair wearing a purple dress and headgear, with her hair arranged into long twintails, while her right hand carried an old landline phone, and her left carried a green staff with a large white glove hand at the end. She gave the audience an enthusiastic look, before taking her place with Yuya’s other monsters.

Performapal Helprincess/DARK/Level 4/Warrior/Effect/ATK: 1200/DEF: 1200

“Oh wow, that kid managed to get out three monsters at once!” said one person.

“Doesn’t look all that bad!” 

“He’s built up his field just like Crow!” exclaimed Frank.

Despite everything, Yuya did allow himself a small smirk, before he pulled out another card from his hand. “I’m following that up with the equip spell, Performance Ribbon! You’re up, Silver Claw!”

The wolf howled as a colorful ribbon banner replaced his chains, causing him to paw in excitement as he looked at Dennis’ Flame Eater, who began to sweat, realizing that it was likely to be popped by Silver Claw’s talons.

‘Alright, with this, I have my gameplan,’ Yuya thought to himself.

First he would use Silver Claw’s effect upon its attack, which would boost the ATK of all of his Performapals by three hundred, including Helprincess and Friendonkey. He hadn’t explained this yet, but Performance Ribbon would grant Silver Claw an additional attack, which would mean not only a powered up direct attack from Silver Claw, but enough so that either Helprincess or Friendonkey, likewise powered up, would deal the finishing blow.

Then, he was jolted out of his thoughts as Dennis whistled.

“Not a bad start at all, Yuya-kun,” he noted. “But it lacks a bit of…pizzazz, you know what I mean? I was hoping for a different kind of second turn play.”

Meaning Pendulum. Yuya had to admit that it would have made for a more spectacular show. But his hand had no Pendulum Monsters right now, only Performapal Discover Hippo and a trap card. This formation would have to do.

“You’ll have to content yourself with this,” said Yuya seriously. “Battle! Performapal Silver Claw attacks Performage Flame Eater!”

Howling, Silver Claw, began charging, snarling at Flame Eater, who immediately began to panic as it saw the sharp blades draw nearer and nearer.

That panic only increased once Yuya revealed his monster’s effect. “When Silver Claw battles, all of my ‘Performapal’ monsters get three hundred more ATK!”

A lavender aura quickly took hold of Yuya’s monsters, boosting their strength.

Performapal Silver Claw/ATK: 2100

Performapal Friendonkey/ATK: 1900

Performapal Helprincess/ATK: 1500

“Oh, that’s not good!” Dennis said, clearly unconcerned. “In that case, I activate a trap! Performage Smoke-Out!”

A trap featuring a clown bouncing on a ball vanishing in a puff of smoke as a jack-in-the-box styled clown took over flipped up, and Dennis was quick to explain the effect.

“Performage Smoke-Out allows me to effectively tag-out a monster!” he revealed. “So by returning my Performage Flame Eater to my hand, I can Special Summon Performage Plushfire from my hand, in Defense mode of course, and have it become the new target of your attack!”

And just as the name stated, Yuya watched as a puff of smoke enveloped Dennis’ field, confusing Silver Claw, who struck at nothing. Then, the smoke cleared, revealing a glowing red plushie in the shape of fire emerging from an upside-down wizard hat.

Performage Plushfire/FIRE/Level 4/Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000/Scale 5

Growling, Silver Claw quickly shredded the new plushie into sparks, but Dennis just smirked as he proceeded with his next move.

“Alright, now for two effects!” he announced to the crowd. “First, let’s resolve Plushfire’s! Since Yuya-kun destroyed it, I can Special Summon a new ‘Performage’ monster from my hand or Deck! So from the latter, I’ll conjure up Performage Stilts Shooter!”

A more knight-like monster wearing purple armor, and riding along two green lance-shaped stilts rocketed onto the field, quickly brandishing his weapons in preparation. 

Performage Stilts Shooter/EARTH/Level 6/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 2200/DEF: 0

“And now the effect of Dynamic Flare activates again!” Dennis declared. “I draw another card, and we’ll see what it is! Will it be a monster, a spell, or a trap? Place your bets folks!”

“Monster!” said Frank

“Trap!” called Tanner.

“Spell!” yelled Amanda.

The rest of the crowd threw out their own vocal votes too. Yuya could see that said crowd was slowly growing, with more and more people stopping by to watch their duel.

“Well then, let’s see!” said Dennis, drawing with a flourish as flames and sparks danced around the card, which he slowly turned around to reveal…

“Another monster!” he grinned. “The Level 4 Performage Fire Dancer! That’s another four hundred points of damage for you, Yuya-kun!”

This time, instead of a rocket, four rings of fire burst out of the spell and slammed into Yuya with concussive force, causing him to stagger and roar from the impacts.

YUYA LP: 3200

Now feeling irritated, Yuya stepped forward again and pointed at Silver Claw. “That doesn’t matter! Performance Ribbon allows Silver Claw to attack again, and that means his effect will trigger once more!”

Growling as the ribbon gave off a bright aura, Silver Claw howled, lending strength to himself and his fellows once again.

Performapal Silver Claw/ATK: 2100 -> 2400

Performapal Friendonkey/ATK: 1900 -> 2200

Performapal Helprincess/ATK: 1500 -> 1800

“Welp, need to find a solution for that!” Dennis said, before looking up at the platforms and starting to jump around them with great skill and acrobatic grace.

“Eh? He’s jumping around the field?” cried Tanner.

“That looks interesting!” said an adult in the crowd.

“What’s he looking for though?” asked another.

Yuya knew however, and he was helpless to stop Dennis from grabbing an Action Card. Even so, he had to press onwards. “Destroy Performage Stilts Shooter , Silver Claw!”

The wolf obeyed, and though the knight tried to fight him off, it was no good, Silver Claw bit at the left stilt, and used that to jump upwards before slashing downwards, carving out Stilts Shooter’s back and destroying him instantly.

DENNIS LP: 3800

“Action Magic, After Image!” Dennis responded. “Since you destroyed Stilts Shooter, I can Special Summon an After Image Token that shares his Type and Attribute!”

A rippling mirage-like clone of Stilts Shooter now appeared where he had been destroyed. Silver Claw, still on Dennis’ side of the field, looked up at the new monster with confusion.

After Image Token/DARK/Level 1/Spellcaster/ATK: 0/DEF: 0

“That won’t change anything!” declared Yuya. “Performapal Helprincess, destroy the After Image Token!”

“Mage’s Fortress, activate!” replied Dennis. “As long as I have only Spellcaster monsters on the field, my opponent’s monsters cannot attack!”

A wicked, complex right out of a fairy tale appeared behind Dennis, guarded by a strange, massive gate. Before Helprincess could even make a move, the illusionary token vanished behind the gate, and she could do nothing but knock helplessly, even trying to call on her phone, but it did no good.

The gate stayed shut, protecting Dennis’ monster and his LP.

“Damn it!” Yuya cursed, now letting his own Action Duel instincts take over as he jumped across the platforms, eyes darting around until he found an Action Card of his own.

“Now the other guy’s doing it!” said another person in the crowd.

Ignoring the commentary, Yuya was quick to activate the card he found. “Action Magic, Quick-Draw! I draw 1 card, but if I find any more ‘Quick-Draw’ Action cards this turn I have to banish them! DRAW!”

Looking at the card, Yuya’s eyes narrowed. He would have to end his battle phase to play it, but as long as Dennis had Mage’s Fortress out, he wasn’t able to attack anyways.

“Is that all?” Dennis called.

Yuya ignored Dennis, jumping across the platforms until he found another Action Card. Looking at it confirmed it to be the card Draw Lock, but Yuya had no particular interest in using it right now.

“I move on to Main Phase 2!” he announced. “Because of this, Silver Claw’s effect ends.”

Performapal Silver Claw/ATK: 2400 -> 1800

Performapal Friendonkey/ATK: 2200 -> 1600

Performapal Helprincess/ATK: 1800 -> 1200

“But that now means I can play this!” said Yuya. “I activate the Spell card Magical Thunder! Now I discard another Spell card to destroy a card on the field! I discard the Action Card I just drew to destroy Mage’s Fortress!”

A massive lightning bolt erupted from the skies, destroying Dennis’ trap and exposing his field once more, but to Yuya’s concern, Dennis only wagged a finger in response.

“Tsk, tsk, Yuya-kun, you should realize that destroying Mage’s Fortress triggers its backup effect, allowing me to draw yet another card!”

Yuya grit his teeth in frustration watching Dennis’ hand grow for his counterattack, knowing he had no other option right now but to tough it out.

“I set one card face-down to end my turn,” he said.

“And at the end phase, the After Image Token fades away,” replied Dennis as the mirage of his Performage Stilts Shooter vanished.

“So…what were those cards they were grabbing at?” Amanda asked, triggering questions from the larger audience as well.

“Yeah, grabbing at cards all over the field? That’s against the rules!” one person heckled.

“Cheating, more like,” said another.

“Why would I want to jump around during a duel?” complained a woman.

Dennis shook his head in disappointment. “Tut, tut. Oh Yuya-kun, what kind of Action Card debut was that? No, what kind of Entertainment Duel is this? Look at the audience, heckling us.”

“Oh, brother! These guys stink!” shouted a random old man in the growing crowd.

Dennis quickly turned around with a bow to face the crowd of people. “Allow me to explain, good citizens! An Action Duel takes full advantage of Real Solid Vision to create interactive environments for the duelists to move around in. Why would you want that? Why, to gain those Action Cards to achieve either a myriad of effects, or even serve to further your combos, as you saw in that recent exchange we had! I assure you, it isn’t cheating!”

Dennis’ spokesman skills continued to impress it seemed, as now that the audience had been given an explanation, their tone was starting to change from confusion to intrigue.

“So it’s an athletic dueling style?”

“Y’know, it would be convenient to have a card like that when your hand goes away…”

“Sounds like a weight-loss program in action!” said the woman from before.

Now that the audience had been pacified, Dennis turned to face Yuya, his face still showing disappointment. “Come on, Yuya-kun, this is an Entertainment Duel. The kind of dueling you’re showing off is like that of a robot…or…”

Dennis’ face lit up as it seemed a lightbulb went off. “Like that of an evil villain.”

From the side, Gongenzaka finally spoke up. “Like an ‘evil villain’?!” he exclaimed. “How would you get that from one turn!?”

“I mean, that donkey looks kind of creepy,” Tanner put in.

“I told you!” said Amanda.

Performapal Friendonkey’s response to these allegations was to just make his grin even wider, causing Amanda to scream and making Frank and Tanner wince in disgust.

“What does that guy mean by an evil villain?” asked a man in the crowd.

“Is that the bit they’re going for?” another wondered.

Dennis smirked, and then turned to the audience once again. “Oh yes, indeed everyone!” he announced, pulling out a top hat and adorning his head with it. “From this point onwards, it’s a fight of good and evil! Let myself, the Entertainment Hero, Dennis Macfield, defeat the evil demon spirit known as Yuya Sakaki! Rest assured good citizens, I will do everything I can to stop him!”

The crowd murmured to each other, but all of it seemed to be intriguing to them. The trio of kids next to Gongenzaka were clearly excited, all of them getting up and looking pumped.

“This is so cool! A fight between a hero and a villain!” said Frank.

“Go, go! Entertainment Hero!” cheered Tanner.

“Do your best!” called Amanda.

Dennis grinned at the ovation. “Fear not citizens. You’ve only seen one part of the evolution of dueling, and I shall show you even more! With its power, I will banish the evil demon spirit!”

“Why make Yuya the villain though?!” protested Gongenzaka.

It was only now that Yuya felt his brain connect with everything that was going on. He was supposed to play the role of the bad guy?! How did that happen?

“My turn!” declared Dennis. “Heroic, Draw!”

A sparkle of light followed Dennis’ arm as he drew his card, before placing the card into his hand and pulling out two more. “At this moment, I set the Scale 3 Performage Mirror Conductor and the Scale 6 Performage Fire Dancer into the Pendulum Scale!”

Quickly, Dennis slammed two monsters with orange-and-green borders into the ends of his duel disk. Yuya knew exactly what that meant as a mirror-like mage and a jester-woman in a red outfit wielding two rings appeared in two massive translucent blue pillars, with stylized numbers appearing beneath them, a ‘3’ and a ‘6’ respectively.

Performage Mirror Conductor/Scale 3

Performage Fire Dancer/Scale 6

PENDULUM

“Good citizens!” Dennis announced. “Now is the time to unleash this new style! I behold to you all, the Pendulum Summon!”

“Sir, are you seeing this?!” Yi’s voice transmitted as Roget watched the footage on his security cameras.

“Indeed I am,” he answered, tapping his finger on his monitor. “Action Duels…Pendulum Summon…what has happened in the Other Worlds?”

“Should I move in?” asked Yi.

“Negative, let the duel proceed,” Roget replied. “I don’t know what Dennis’ motivation is for allowing us to see this, but it seems we’ve no choice but to let it play out. I’m already spreading the transmission to the allies in our network. You can all see this, everyone?”

Monitors opened up before Roget, unveiling the faces of each of his subordinates that made up the secret consortium he called Yliaster.

Gallagher Luz, who controlled the majority of the underground dealings and provided Roget with recruits from the Commons gangs.

Nikolaj Lebedev, the current CEO of Dimension Express, who Security had an exclusive contract with, giving Roget in-roads and control over technology and business sectors at the same time.

Kurei Sozotai, the head engineer of Dimension Express…as well as Security’s operations, whose work was invaluable in crafting weapons and cards to secure Roget’s physical power.

Sherry LeBlanc, the Headmistress of Acceleration Institute, completed Roget’s influence over the Tops via educating their children into proper duelists instead of lazily resting on their laurels.

Head Warden Takasu Armstrong, who controlled the Facility and prison operations throughout Neo Domino City, cementing and securing Roget’s control over rebellious and/or undesirable elements.

And one more who was not quite a part of this group, but was kept around, the door open if he should ever wish to join them officially.

“Trust me, I’ve got my eyes on the prize,” said Gallagher. “Wish I was there in person right now. Shame this got dropped on us out of the blue.”

“What profits can we make from this, I wonder?” Nikolaj noted, thumbing his long, black hair.

“I’m already analyzing the duel energies,” confirmed Kurei, her ever-present manic grin wider than usual as she studied the duel. “Ooooh, this is gonna be exciting, AYEYEYEYEYEEYEYEYE!”

“These are comrades of those who stormed into the Acceleration Institute, yes?” Sherry asked darkly, having yet to depart her office.

“Who cares? We gonna arrest them?” snorted Takasu, picking at his nose hairs.

“I should hope so,” replied Lieutenant Yi.

The final member merely scoffed, but he seemed intrigued nevertheless.

Roget for his part, merely clasped his hands together, regarding the network of subordinates he’d spent so long building up for the inevitable takeover and war that was to follow. “Patience, everyone, your questions shall be answered in due time. For now, we must carefully observe this duel. This new factor of the Pendulum Summon concerns our faction greatly…especially what it means for the Interdimensional War.”

That did it. Roget saw the looks on the members of his inner circle turn grim as they halted their banter and questions. A good sign, if he was to be honest.

Quickly, he began setting up his chessboard again, placing a black bishop and two pawns onto the board, whilst preparing a white knight to fork them.

“Let us see what happens next,” he said simply.

“Let us begin!” declared Dennis, causing Yuya to brace himself for what was to come.

“Right now, I can summon Level 4 and 5 monsters simultaneously! Behold this heroic summoning method! PENDULUM SUMMON! ”

The sky, having long since been filled with blue clouds of magical ether, a faint trace of a circle being drawn above, now opened, and both a red and a blue light emerged from the hole to take the form of Dennis’ previous monsters.

“From my hand, Performage Flame Eater, and from my Extra Deck, revive! Performage Plushfire!”

Performage Flame Eater/FIRE/Level 4/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 1200/DEF: 1600

Performage Plushfire/FIRE/Level 4/Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000/Scale 5

“Pendulum Summon?!” gasped the trio of kids.

“Correct!” confirmed Dennis with a snap of his fingers and a twirl of his hat. “The latest evolution in dueling! By simply placing the appropriate Pendulum cards into the Pendulum Scale, not only am I able to summon multiple monsters from my hand, but Pendulum Monsters from the Extra Deck as well!”

“He can do that?!”

“That should be illegal!”

“But…it does look impressive…”

“Can you do it too, mister?” Tanner asked Gongenzaka.

Gongenzaka, his arms still folded, looked down at Tanner and nodded. “Indeed. But I think you’ll find that Yuya’s capability of doing so is far higher than Dennis’.”

“News outlets are closed, correct?” Yi asked in his transmitter.

“Affirmative sir,” came the voice of R-996. “We are closing in on the location.”

“Good,” growled Yi. The last thing he needed was that insipid cowgirl reporter coming in to make his job more complicated. “As a warning, we are not to waste any time when I give the arrest order. These are not opponents to take lightly, understood?”

“Sir,” R-996 replied curtly.

Now, Yi stared at what Dennis had explained, before examining the transmission of the duel that was being recorded to his duel disk by Kurei. Annoying as she was, she did have her uses.

But while Yi was brainstorming a strategy to defeat the Pendulum Summon and the complexities it bore, Roget was watching on with intrigue at seeing it in action.

“Strange, why didn’t Kurosaki use this technique against Hotaru?” Sherry asked.

Roget shrugged. “I believe we’d need a very thorough interrogation to get that information out of him,” he replied.

“I’m hooked!” grinned Gallagher. “Imagine what we could do if we snagged our hands on those bad-boys! What else can they do?”

“Well, we’re about to find out,” said Roget, fingers traced over the white bishop.

“Don’t forget, I still have my Dynamic Flare up!” said Dennis, returning his and the audience’s focus to the duel. “Since I summoned a ‘Performage’ from my hand, I can draw once again! Place your bets everyone!”

As the audience began calling out, Dennis drew his card. “HEROIC DRAW!” 

Then he looked at the card, and grinned. “Your luck today is quite bad, villain!” he declared to Yuya, who braced himself for what he knew was coming. “I drew yet another monster! Performage Gust-Tosser! That means another four hundred damage! Unveil your true form to us now!”

Yuya was about to try his hand for an Action Card, but it looked like everytime it was played, Dennis’ spell card’s visual effects changed, because now there was a sudden gust of wind and a spark of fire, and Yuya screamed, jumping up and down as flames now suddenly covered his body.

“Look at that demonic, ghoulish form!” Dennis announced to the crowd. “Is that not a villain or what?”

“You just set him on fire!” growled Gongenzaka in objection. “What kind of hero does that to someone?!”

“I-I’m fine, Gongenzaka!” Yuya called back, finally managing to put out the fire, though obviously that did nothing to stop the drop in his Life Points.

YUYA LP: 2800

“You’ll truly be fine, oh demonic villain spirit, when you are pacified!” declared Dennis. “Now that she is in my hand, I Normal summon Performage Gust-Tosser!”

Dennis’ new monster took on the form of a mix between a clown and a geisha with dark green hair and a light green kimono, who spun gracefully onto the field, wielding twin fans as she danced around, before posing for the audience.

Performage Gust-Tosser/WIND/Level 4/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 1700/DEF: 1200

“Now for her effect!” Dennis announced. “I can return a ‘Performage’ card to my hand, though if it is a monster, I won’t be able to Normal Summon it!”

But then, his voice got deeper as he continued smugly. “Of course, Special Summoning is still fair game. So I’ll return my Flame Eater to my hand!”

Gust-Tosser was quick to dance around Flame Eater, before conjuring a mini tornado that saw the balloon monster vanish, allowing Dennis to pull the card from his duel disk and back into his hand.

“And now, the time has come for this heroic performance’s star!” he announced. “I overlay my Level 4 Gust-Tosser and Plushfire!”

The audience gasped as they were introduced to the Xyz Summon for the first time. Dennis’ monsters transformed into streams of red and green light, before flying into a galaxy-styled portal that then expended a pillar of energy.

"Show must go on! Artisan of the air, swing across the stage with grace! Xyz Summon! Appear now! Rank 4! Performage Trapeze Magician! "

A baton was flung into the air, before yellow energy strings emerged from both sides, forming a trapeze, as a tall, thin white-colored masked magician jester-like monster jumped out of nowhere to grab onto the trapeze. The mage performed several quick tricks on the trapeze, before the strings dissipated, and he struck a pose, greeting the audience with his arrival.

Performage Trapeze Magician/LIGHT/Rank 4/Spellcaster/Xyz/Effect/ATK: 2500/DEF: 2000

“Xyz Summon!?”

“Another new summoning technique?!”

Yuya could see that the crowd was in awe, and Dennis had them eating out of the palm of his hand. 

As for those who were enthralled, but for different reasons…

“First Pendulum, now Xyz?” gasped Yi. “How is this possible? I thought Dennis was from Academia! He should only be utilizing Fusion Summoning!”

Even Roget had to admit that vocalizing the explanation was more an effort to calm his own nerves.

“Do not forget Yi, that Dennis is a Phantasm. They are the hidden elites of Academia. They do not obey the propaganda and traditions that the lower-ranked members and oafish generals espouse. Whatever method they deem necessary for victory, whether it be using the summoning techniques of other dimensions, to underhanded combos and the mixing of deck types, they will utilize it along with whatever other tactic they have at their disposal with cold and cruel efficiency.”

He mulled over his next concern. “And remember, Dennis is the one individual in Academia who is able to work with Yuri, a person who surpasses all of Academia’s elites, and I assure you that Dennis’ skills are indeed very much a factor in that relationship.”

There was no time to be foolish or play around. He needed to make his point clear to his subordinates. “Pay attention, all of you. The current crisis developing before us here at Yliaster could be a matter of life or death, and I would rather we survive.”

While they all acknowledged his orders, he privately reflected on his own ambitions.

Those in particular, needed to survive no matter what.

“Don’t think that I just brought out Gust-Tosser to keep Flame Eater in reserve, villain!” Dennis said. “When she’s used as an overlay unit, she can return a Special Summoned monster to the hand and give you damage to half of its ATK! Bye-bye doggie!”

Yuya knew what this meant. A phantasmal image of Dennis’ clown-geisha appeared as she waved her fans to conjure a tornado that surrounded Yuya and Silver Claw, scattering Friendonkey and Helprincess in the process. Yuya cried out in alarm, doing his hardest to keep his hands onto his hood so that he wouldn’t be mistaken for Yugo, before managing to grab onto one of the platforms to ride out the storm.

When it had ended, Silver Claw had vanished, and Yuya had no choice but to return him to the hand, as well as grimace as his LP continued to drop from Dennis’ burn games.

YUYA LP: 1900

But even so, he now had a chance to counter-attack!

“Performance Ribbon’s effect activates!” Yuya declared. “Since it was destroyed, I can now add Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon from my deck to my hand!”

Yuya’s duel disk quickly ejected his ace monster, to which Dennis gave a fitting reply of sorts.

“Oh no!” he gasped to the audience. “The wicked villain’s devilish ace monster! Quickly everyone, we must stop him now!”

“Do your best!” cried the kids.

“Dennis! Dennis!” the growing crowd cheered.

Of course, Dennis was already eyeing Yuya’s face-down card.

“Probably his last resort,” he chuckled to himself. “No sense in going in unprepared.”

He then gestured to his Fire Dancer, who began to glow and dance with her hoops in hand. “I activate my Performage Fire Dancer’s Pendulum Effect!”

“Pendulum Monsters still have effects when scales?!” questioned an audience member.

“Indeed!” Dennis said. “Pendulum Monsters have two distinct effects! One when they are monsters, and another when they are in a Pendulum Zone! It’s just one facet of their many abilities! But as to what Fire Dancer’s is…”

He winked at the audience. “Let’s leave that as a surprise and move on to my Performage Trapeze Magician! His effect lets me detach an overlay unit so that one monster on the field can attack twice this turn! And of course, that’ll be Trapeze Magician himself as the star of this act!”

Trapeze Magician picked up his baton and struck one of the overlay units, absorbing it as he glowed with a bright yellow aura.

“Battle!” Dennis declared. “The heroic Performage Trapeze Magician attacks the villainous Performapal Friendonkey!”

Friendonkey’s grin finally loosened slightly at the insult, but soon began to panic as Trapeze Magician flew towards him.

“Oh no!” realized Gongenzaka. “If both of Yuya’s monsters are destroyed by this double attack, he’ll lose!”

“Not yet!” declared Yuya, flipping up a trap card on his field. “Last Minute Cancel, activate! This puts my monsters into defense mode and lets me put them back in my hand when they’re destroyed!”

Quickly, Friendonkey and Helprincess shifted into defensive stances, letting the lavender aura of defense envelop their bodies as they braced for Trapeze Magician’s assault.

Performapal Friendonkey/DEF: 600

Performapal Helprincess/DEF: 1200

“That would be a clever move, villain!” taunted Dennis. “But all for naught! You see, when I used Performage Fire Dancer’s effect earlier, it was to grant my Trapeze Magician piercing damage capabilities!”

“What?!” gasped Yuya.

“And with your monsters’ defensive stats, there’s not much more to say! Performage Trapeze Magician, continue the attack and destroy Performapal Friendonkey!”

It was now or never, Yuya quickly began jumping across the platforms, looking for the one thing that could get him out of this bind.

“Is he looking for another Action Card?” asked Amanda.

“You can’t escape the pursuit of justice!” declared Dennis as he took to the platforms as well.

There! Yuya quickly grabbed a card on one of the platforms. “Action Magic, Damage Banish! It negates the battle damage from this battle!”

But Dennis had found one as well. “Then I’ll counter with this! Action Magic, Spark Shot! By targeting my Trapeze Magician, each time it destroys your monsters in battle this turn, you take 300 points of damage!”

“Damn it!” Yuya cursed, but there was no more time as Trapeze Magician struck Friendonkey with its baton, shooting the donkey up into the sky like a baseball before it dissolved into golden particles.

As the electricity began to rain down on Yuya however, he saw the voltage suddenly increase in power, before a larger shock blasted him onto another platform. He screamed, barely managing to hang on by instinct, before his eyes fell upon a nearby Action Card, which he grabbed before landing on the ground, where he just managed to stick the landing.

“And one more thing!” Dennis put in. “By banishing my Performage Stilts Shooter from the graveyard, I can make an instance of effect damage you take this turn equal to a higher amount that was inflicted earlier! Meaning that that 300 from Spark Shot is now the same as the damage you took from my Gust-Tosser!”