A/N: Welcome to the sequel to my Reverse of Arcadia fic and the last season of the 5D's era of this ongoing series. Time has past since the end of the last chapter of Reverse of Arcadia, and reference will be made to an adventure that happened in the time between. I was tempted to write it as a full fic of its own, but instead I decided to only include references to it in this fic, keeping the reader a bit in the dark, and maybe do flashbacks to it later. Essentially, along with some fic exclusive side events, the adventure was the events of the Wii game "Duel Trancer" but with slight modifications mentioned in this chapter (and also no characters from this upcoming season that appeared in that game, like Sherry LeBlanc, were involved at all in the events despite appearing in the game itself).

Chapter 1: Shattered Bonds, Broken Bones

Six months after we had defeated the Dark Signers, the world was at peace and the city was closer to that dream of being reunited than ever before. Satellite was linked to New Domino City by the Daedalus Bridge and much of it was renovated by charities and businesses that saw a chance to get cheap land and cheap labor. In another step forward for many people dreams, it was that cheap land and labor, along with government grants for people setting up businesses there, that gave people the chance to start the new business they had always wanted to. It was easy to tell that it was the first steps into a golden age. There was even a monument built to celebrate the new era of unison, though why it was a towering upside teardrop with a glass faux diamond at the top was a mystery to me at the time. Though it did look like an infinity symbol reflected in the water, but that only made slightly more sense.

But I digress, the heroes responsible for the new peace, myself included, had moved on with their lives since the struggle, but banded together once again a few months after the war had ended. They fought remnants of my past in more ways than one. The simplest were the left over copies of me from a twisted experiment, each of them bearing the marks of the defeated Dark Signers. The worst were the Transcenders, robotic super duelists from a forgotten empire and led by the revived king of that empire, who was my ancestor and the first bearer of the Claws of the Crimson Dragon. It was a rough ride for everyone involved.

I've told you this before, but Yusei, Crow, and Jack moved into a place in the city and got jobs there. Crow still helps raise Satellite orphans and eventually moving into a different place close by with my sister Mei, who despite everything was mostly her old energetic self. She's graduated from Duel Academy now and is going to a local college while working as a trainee teacher (pretty much a tutor) at the Duel Academy. Aki had decided to finish her education and was in her senior year at the academy thanks to advanced placement. The twins Leo and Luna were in the middle school branch of the Academy too. Though, honestly I'm not sure how exactly they are all doing.

It had been months since I'd spoken to any of the Signers. While the world was at peace like I said and the Signers had moved on with their lives, I had moved apart from them. My last moments with them being a fight and break-up with Aki in the middle of the night and decking my best friend. They were living their new lives while I stayed in one place, spinning my wheels and fuming about things none of us had any control over and holding onto grudges that even then I knew were pointless and unjustified. I was a wreck, and in no shape to make amends or help out the person in my life that had more reason to be wreck: my mother.

After my dad's death during the Dark Signer conflict, she tried to put on a brave face but it was obvious she was just hiding how much she missed him. It was like half of her was dead. We'd catch her crying alone a lot and even a few months later she was clearly still a wreck. She'd nearly had a breakdown when I went to stop that mess with the leftover clones and the Transcenders. She's a lot better know, but I can tell the weight of everything is still heavy on her. Actually, soon after coming back from defeating the Transcenders we discovered one reason she'd been taking it so hard. My mom was going to have another kid. She'd found out not long after the mess with the Dark Signers was over and been hiding it from us. It was twins again too. In three months I'd have a kid brother and a kid sister.

I was in no state to be a good big brother though. Back then, everything was just happening around me, without me. I spent most of my time in the apartment I'd set up in the garage of the family house. I'd either work odd jobs, tune my duel runner, duel folks, or help my mother around the house. That last one was a rare thing though considering the other family member that had moved back in after graduating college.

On that fateful day six months after the Dark Signer business, I was staring into the bathroom mirror at the scars I'd earned in that struggle, applying some cream that was supposed to lessen scarring. It was stupid I know, those creams don't work on claw marks from wounds that nearly cleaved off arms or burns in the shape of fell markings that burned to the outside from within. It was more an act of semi-psychotic desperation. An effort to do something... anything about them. I couldn't stand the sight of them. More than just a hideous deformity, they were proof of the monster that I was inside.

"Koko! You have guests!" that previously mentioned family member called out and came into the bathroom so unannounced that I barely had time to react and conceal my scars with a shirt.

"Dammit, Koishii! Knock!" I chucked a tube of toothpaste at her, which she deftly caught and tossed back onto the sink as if nothing happened. "And stop calling Koko already, my name is Koyou."

The bubble girl cocked her head sideways, causing her long white ponytail to swoop over to one side, "Come on, guests! Get yourself sorted and come see them! You barely talk to anyone these days."

"Who is it?"

She straightened up, then went on one of her usual long tirades, "Officers Trudge and Mina from Sector Security, they said they wanted to consult you about something. They talked to Mom for a bit already, not sure what about but she's not trying to hide freaking out, so it can't be another end of the world level thing. God those are annoying. You'd think four would have been enough, but no there had to be six. God, I am too old for this mess. Back in my day, all you had to worry about was making sure your robes weren't out of style and you didn't mess up your spell quiz. Boy though, Master Endymion would bewitch you one good if you messed something simple up."

Did I mention Koishii was adopted? And a card spirit born from the soul of a mage from ancient Greece? 'Cause, you know, my family is so weird that we adopt Silent Magicians that talk a lot like it's a totally normal thing to do. There's a long story behind it, but that's a tale for some other time. Right then, I was getting dressed while mentally sorting the useless prattle from the needed information.

"You didn't hear anything about what they want?"

"Oh, uh no. Nothing. Like I said though it doesn't seem huge, but if they are consulting the family that fights the supernatural every so often its probably something weird and duel related. Maybe shadow duels. Again. Seriously why do those keep cropping up no matter how many times they get sealed?"

"I don't know. Anyway, tell them I'll be out in a minute."

"Right." On that note, she headed out of the room, very nearly skipping simply because she walks that way. Why? Hell if I know.

I finished getting ready quickly and went out to meet my guests, coming out of the bathroom and down from the loft into the garage area, "Officers."

Mina gave a polite greeting, as we didn't really know each other that well, "Ah, Kou-san, is this a bad time?"

"Not particularly. I assume this visit is important enough to warrant a mild inconvenience."

"Yes, yes it is. We already spoke to your mother about this issue, since she's the one with the most experience, but we thought we should breach the subject with you too."

"Shadow games?" I deduced. After all, that was really the only thing that Sector Securities would call upon my mother's expertise in. Unless they have a shortage of people with the math expertise of a high school math teacher.

Trudge shrugged, "We're not sure. To put it bluntly someone is running around challenging people to turbo duels and wrecking them."

"The damage is beyond a simple collision." Mina added.

"Bad enough to make you think it's a shadow game... How often is this happening?"

"Twice a week this guy appears out of nowhere on the speedway with no registry information and takes people out." Then he just fades off the grid. People have started calling him Ghost."

I motioned to a table off to the side and went to grab some folding chairs, "Have a seat. I can't really give you any more information than you wouldn't have gotten from Mom," setting the chairs up I moved to the fridge, "but if you have any more details I could help you look into things. If someone is running around challenging people to shadow games, I'm more qualified than the standard policeman for this job."

Mina sat down calmly, "Thanks."

Trudge, however, remained standing. I could tell he had to ask a question that he didn't want to.

It didn't take a genius to figure it out either, "It's not me, and the other Signers can't challenge people to shadow games." I answered it plainly. "Do you two want something to drink?"

"No, I'm good." Trudge fidgeted, "I didn't think you were the one, but-"

"You had to ask. I'm the only one you know of that can do that." I turned to Mina, "Thirsty?"

"A glass of water would be fine." she smiled back, "Any help you could provide us would be appreciated. If you could come by the precinct some time and give a primer on these dark duels it would help if we run into one in the future."

I grabbed some ice and then got her some water, "Honestly, there's not much to know. The pain is real, the rules are law, and you lose you die. That's it. I'd give them a lesser version by manifesting the attacks as light damage, but honestly... I don't have precision control of the ability, or much at all these days if I'm being totally honest. I either shut it off or risk going haywire again. My body can't even take using it anymore."

"Oh."

"I do still have high resistance to it though. So going in I'd be able to handle a lot more damage."

"We hate asking you to help on this after everything you've already done and been through, but-"

"Did you ask Yusei?"

Mina's expression changed. Even though she tried to hide it I knew she was aware of the falling out I'd had with the others. She and Aki had become fairly friendly since the Dark Signer mess, so Mina might even have known the reason Aki and I had broken up. She didn't bring the matter up, "No, not yet. We wanted to consult your mother and you about it first, given your experience. If you had turned us down we were going to ask them though."

Bringing all the Signers into the statement by saying 'them' when I had specifically said 'Yusei' made it all the more clear she was aware of the animosity and trying to avoid it. Not that it mattered. I went over to my desk and rifled through some parts in search of specific ones, "Just tell me the area the guy appears in and I'll go see if I can lure him out and stop him. Just in case, I'll make sure to install a duel monitor and rig up a transmitter to it. That way if I get in a duel you'll know and be able to monitor it."

Trudge nodded in approval, "Thanks a lot. Like Mina says, sorry we're making you do this. I'm sure you're plenty busy with preparing for the WRGP and all."

I glanced over at a flier for the event that I'd gotten in the mail. The World Riding Grand Prix was a huge event scheduled for later in the year. A turbo duel tournament with teams of three facing off in a relay-like format. The flier for it depicted Phoenix Gearfried as a memorial salute to my father. At the bottom they also announced a ball was to be held a short time before the tournament and that a World Tag Grand Prix was also going to precede the main event in salute to the Tag Force Tournaments my father used to be a big deal in.

"I don't have a team." I stated bluntly, going back to looking for the parts.

Trudge was apparently not in the loop, "Huh? What amount- OW!"

I wasn't looking their way, but I figured Mina had elbowed him, and continued cutting him off by changing the subject, "Thanks either way. We really appreciated you putting yourself at risk like this."

"Well, I don't appreciate you asking this." an uncharacteristically angry voice came from the stairs to the loft. I looked over, even though I knew the voice belonged to Koishii, who have apparently been lurking in the stairs and listening in, "Koyou has done enough for you people, gotten hurt more than enough times trying to protect this city."

"Koishii-" I tried to stop her.

"What's the point of Sector Securities at all if you can't even do your job?"

"Koishii!" I raised m voice firmly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw neither officer was arguing against her point. Instead they looked a little deflated, "I'm sure they stop all sorts of duel crimes every day. It's not like I'm out there stopping every theft, assault, or cheater in the city. They only came to us because this is outside their area of expertise."

"Then let me do it for you."

"No." I shook my head as I shot down the idea without hesitation.

"I can handle it."

"I'm doing it."

Koishii stepped heavily over to me, determined and annoyed, "Why does it have to be you? Why are you-"

I snapped, "This isn't up for debate."

"Koko-"

"End of discussion. Get back in the house and mind your own business."

"This is-"

"Go."

With a huff, Koishii stormed off, slamming the door behind her.

"And stop calling me Koko!" I yelled after her.

Trudge and Mina had that look on their face that you get when you're over at a friend's house when they have an argument with their family that has nothing to do with you.

I wasn't in the mood to reassure them, "So, about the location."

Mina was hesitant, "There was no need to be so harsh with her. If your family doesn't approve, we can-"

I held out my hand, "The location."

"If you're sure." Mina pulled a notepad out of her jacket and jotted the information down, "The Ghost appears in the following neighborhoods in the duel lane. Be careful, Koyou. Nobody wants to see you get hurt."

I didn't reply, simply grabbing the parts for the transmitter and moving to install it on my bike. Only once it was underway did I say anything, "You can see yourselves out."

Trudge excused himself, but Mina lingered. See looked at me with concern, "Aki was right, you have changed."

I stood bolt upright. Furious, I barely kept myself from yelling, "Get out of my apartment right now."

Realizing too late that she'd stepped on a land mine, Mina struggled for something to say.

"GET OUT!"

The officer quickly left and I fought the impulse to through the transmitter aside. Fortunately, I was so far gone as to let anger get the better of my common sense. The part was easy enough to put in. The process only took me five minutes. I was no genius mechanic like Yusei, but I had gotten a lot better at it than I had been after spending so much time with little other than runner maintenance to spend my time on. Grabbing the sword shaped duel disk I'd inherited from my father, I strapped the thing, scabbard and all to its place on the side of my runner. It was a black, sporty bike in a somewhat older style than was common these days. The frame's shape somewhat resembled the angles of a horse, but a closer look with the rider mounted unveiled a subtle resemblance to a chariot. That was the name of it too: Black Chariot.

Some fine tuning aside, I sensed someone watching from the door that connected my place to the house. Tuning, I saw my mother there, still very much with-child. She didn't say anything, but I could read the look on her face. It spoke volumes and made it clear she knew knew the situation.

"I'm going."

"I'm not going to stop you." she replied simply. I could tell she didn't like it or the fact that I was saddled with a responsibility to protect others, but she also knew it was pointless to try and argue.

I didn't say anything in reply and just mounted my runner, starting it and unleashing the savage roar of the engine.

It was Mom that was the next to speak, "I'm not going to tell you how to live your life either, or scold you for being like this."

Again I said nothing.

"Just get the job done, be safe, and in your own time get out of this rut you are in and get better. I know its painful, and I won't pretend to understand, but just don't let it win."

She was talking about the forces of chaos sealed within my body. The family burden, the other things I had inherited from my father, the thing that made my chest burn and ache whenever I got angry or sad... which was most of the time.

"That too. I was mainly taking about the anger and sadness though."

"Hmph. You're pretty good at reading minds."

"I lived with your father for over twenty years you know."

I nodded. I'm not sure why. It really wasn't something that warranted a nod, "Anyway, I'll be back in time for dinner. Take it easy and don't push yourself to hard."

She frowned, "Be careful."

Without replying, I hit the button to open the garage door and sped out. I was on the highway not long after and downtown withing minutes. The areas Ghost was taking down duelists in were pretty typical of what you'd expect. Imagine an interstate highway, now picture a stretch of that road near a town that was a hub for travel to other parts of a larger area, and that the area we're talking about is not the focal point of anything major. None of those applied to New Domino City of course, it had long ago become a mecca for duelists, waned in popularity, and then enjoyed another upswing lately. Especially with the budding technology coming from it, the new network of turbo dueling tracks along the highway, and the upcoming tournaments. What I'm trying to have you picture is the traffic in the endangered areas and the kind of areas they were. They saw a reasonable amount of traffic, but not enough for many witnesses. That and no one bothered lingering long because it was just a road to somewhere better. You could see lots of duelists passing by, not paying anything or anyone any mind, so the odds of them paying a random duel in a city full of them enough attention to tell something was up were tiny. In fact, because of the nature of the area, noticing something strange would be abnormal unless you were hunting for it. Ghost was exploiting simple psychology through a good knowledge of the area.

That didn't mean he knew the area though. It did, however, mean that whoever it was, he was smart. It wasn't random either. If it were a thug the areas would not be so well selected. This guy had a purpose in his actions. Probably thinning out the competition for the WRGP. If that were the case, and he did indeed have the ability to inflict real damage in duels, it likely meant he had some greater goal in mind for the competition itself. It was hard to picture some guy so motivated by greed that he would use his power just to win a tournament being smart enough to pick precise hunting grounds and dodge the police for so long. There had to be some other motive, even if it were as small time as getting at someone involved with the tournament. I was just making educated assumptions while I searched, but gut instinct backed by logic are the key to good deductive reasoning. I'm sure a ton of cops would back me up in that.

It actually didn't take me nearly as long as I thought to find the guy. One challenge came from a registered guy that I beat without much effort, but that wasn't the target. The Ghost appeared a few minutes later, and my gut told me he had been watching. There was just something in the air and the way he challenged me. The fact that he went after me and not that guy I lost provided some more clues to his motivations that I'd take the time to ponder later. The way he positioned himself was very deliberate. There was a lot of method in the way he sent the challenge entirely through the system, announcing himself before being seen and being dead center behind the target so he would be in perfect view from the duel runner's screen. Then the most telling part: he moved right where the target would most likely look back when it sank in that they were locked in a duel with an unregistered duelist. It made it very clear there was precision it what he was doing, a process. How? He pulled to my right side instead of the usual left. People look over their non-dominant shoulder when they look back. Ghost knew I was left-handed, which meant he'd seen my duel. The extra effort hammered home the methodical nature of his actions. He was waging a psychological attack, trying to intimidate or at least manipulate the target's thinking.

I digress, I hit the button to officially accept the duel and set it to race mode. None of the Speed World rules, just a race while dueling. Victory could either come from beating you opponent in the duel or by reaching a goal first. We moved into the combat lane and the course set a goal point for us.

It was only then that Ghost spoke, his voice arrogant and had a synthetic tinge to it, I assumed he was using a voice changer, "I'll start things off, setting a monster and three face down cards. Turn end."

He was baiting me in, not going for any extra speed or trying to slow me down. It was obvious from his mannerisms that it was a ploy. I started my turn with a draw and set to work powering through the deceit, "I activate the continuous spell Herculean Power and use its effect right away. When my opponent controls a monster while I do not, I may special summon a level four or lower gemini monster from my hand. I special summon Future Samurai." A slender swordsman blade in blue robes and wearing a futuristic visor stepped onto the field from thin air, drawing his katana as he arrived. He was followed by a knight in blue armor engraved with silver magic runes and bearing a matching sword and shield, "Next, I normal summon Tuned Swordsman and equip it with," as I played another spell the magical knight burst into flames, "Supervise. This equip spell can only be equipped to a gemini monster and bypasses the need to normal summon them a second time to gain an effect. Tuned Swordsman's effect? He becomes a tuner monster!" I motioned for a synchro summon, Tuned Swordsman emitting four rings from his shield that Future Samurai dashed into and became rings as Swordsman joined him, "I tune my level four Tuned Swordsman to my level four Future Samurai!" The two monsters formed an outline of a massive, brutish dragon, "Fires of destruction, flames of creation, an irresistible force denies the advancing doom! Synchro shokan! Charge on through," the outline descended, becoming a scarred black dragon a massive pair of forearms and a burly head designed with ramming and tearing, "Black Brutdrago!"

I was so involved in what I was doing that I was careless and forgot to watch my opponent's reactions to them. It was a grave error that caused me to miss the smile that must have crossed Ghost's face as I summoned my ace monster.

I continued, oblivious of what was to come, as a pillar of fire erupted from where Tuned Swordsman had been, and it rose again, "When Supervise is sent to the graveyard, it revives a normal monster from the graveyard, and gemini monsters count as normal monsters in the graveyard." Next I held up a gemini monster from my hand and discarding it, "I discard a gemini monster to activate Black Brutdrago's effect. The card you set first is destroyed by Preemptive Punishment!" the discarded card appeared before the black dragon, who inhaled it and shot it back out as a fireball that shattered the trap in question, which was one I didn't recognize. "Black Brutdrago will crush your set monster!"

The monster flipped revealing a large white egg that was clearly mechanical. It had no attack or defense, but it also didn't get destroyed by my attack, "Once per turn, Wise Core is not destroyed by battle!"

"Then I take it out with Tuned Swordsman instead!" the knight rushed forward.

"No you won't..." the man grinned, "I will. I activate Spark Breaker, destroying Wise Core!"

"What? Why would-"

"The effect of Wise Core activates, special summoning Meklord Emperor Wisel, Wisel Top, Wisel Attack, Wisel Guard, and Wisel Carrier! These five parts combine to form Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity!" the monsters indeed resembled parts of a large robot, and they combined to form one. A massive one with one eye, white armor plating and a blade on one arm. Right on the chest was an infinity symbol. What I didn't get was why he seemed so confident when all it had was 2500 compared to my dragon's 3000. Ghost was kind enough to clarify, "This is over for you and your abomination. Wisel exists to cleanse the unneeded from this world, and this world has no need for synchro monsters."

Sadly, I misunderstood the function of the monster and got arrogant, "Since you changed the monsters on the field I can redirect Tuned Swordsman's attack, and it looks like that thing is still five monsters, so I attack Wisel Attack!"

"I activate the effect of Wisel Guard, redirecting the attack to it." the robot intercepted the attack with its shield arm, which was shattered, but was in defense mode. No damage was done to Ghost.

"Fine." I prepared for more surprises, setting a card before... "I end my turn!"

"Then I will start mine. I draw, then activate the effect of Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity! Once per turn, I attach a face up synchro monster my opponent controls to Wisel, who gains that monster's attack points!" the chest of Wisel opened, and tendrils shot out, ensnaring Black Brutdrago, who was helpless to resist.

"What?" Though I'd seen a similar effect in the struggle against the Dark Signers, this was more specific, and far more deadly. Wisel's attack climbed all the way to 5500 points. In a turbo duel that was more than enough to take me out in one hit. I pondered activating my set card, but waited. The timing wasn't right.

"Now, Wisel attacks Tuned Swordsman!" the towering mech dashed forward blade first at the much smaller monster.

The timing had become right, and Tuned Swordsman vanished as I sprang into action "Is that all you got, 'cause I've got the quick-play spell card Gemini Spark! By tributing a level 4 gemini I control I can destroy one card on your field and then draw a card. I choose my stolen Black Brutdrago, and when it is destroyed and sent to my graveyard it-"

"It won't be going anywhere." Ghost grinned, "I activate my trap card..."

"No..." I was crestfallen... if he negated Gemini Spark I would be wide open with no defense!

"Ghost Convert, by banishing a machine type monster I negate the effect of your spell and then Ghost Convert resets on the field. Black Brutdrago is not destroyed, but you are still wide-open. Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity attacks you directly!"

Stunned, I stared at my grave. If that spell had gone through I'd have reduced Wisel back to 2500 attack, and Brutdrago's effect would have summoned the monster I'd discarded to activate his earlier effect: Phoenix Gearfried and all 2800 of his attack points. I would have been able to turn it around. My play was perfect... It just wasn't good enough.

Quickly snapping out of it and turning my bike I tried to brace for the impact, but there was just too much power behind it. All I'd done was make all 5500 attack points hit the side of my bike... through my left leg. "AGGGGHHHH!"

The blade didn't manage to cut, but the force shattered the bone and amazingly bent the bike itself in two. I went down. Hard. Somehow I instinctively held onto my runner through the whole thing, which was a bad thing. As I rolled it slammed into me and rolled over me, cracking ribs and then slinging me over it. It collided with the barrier on the side of the combat lane and I felt more bones breaking and went a little deaf as the weight of the bike shifted to my helmet. It cracked, but reduced the impact enough to only knock me out and put a lot of pressure on my head rather than popping it like a melon.

The next thing I knew I was hearing the beeping of a heart monitor, the shuffling of frantic feet on what must have been hospital floor, and a familiar voice, "Koyou! Koyou, can you hear me? I'm here!"

"Yusei..." I strained to speak, stopping to adjust my breathing to avoid the pressure and pain in my lungs.

"I'm here! I'm here!"

"It... eats synchro monsters. Don't..." I tried to warn him in detail, but everything went dark.

Next Chapter: Broken Beacon

A/N: There is going to be another time skip between now and the next chapter, as we skip to after Koyou is mostly recovered. This will also mean we are skipping over the mostly filler episodes were Yusei duels the guy at the school, Crow duels the junk guy, Jack fights the loan shark, and Leo and Luna meet ghosts. Assume those happen as the do in the show, but with one or two mentions about Koyou's condition and short mopes about the broken friendship, with Yusei wondering if Koyou trying to warn him meant that Koyou doesn't truly hate them after all.

Also, don't worry, what exactly happened that caused the falling out will be revealed in time.