A/N: Part of A Multiplayer Chess Game series. In it, the role of characters is spread out quite a bit more, so Yuuya isn't always the main character. This one's set after Queen's Promotion which is still in its infancy (since that's a far bigger project), but the main thing you need to know from it for this is Asuka was the responsible for causing Roget to lose his grip on the Synchro world, and the wormhole tossed him into the Xyz one and not Yuuya. And so Roget is quickly writing up his plan B. :D

Written for:

Advent Calendar 2016, Day 13 - Three-Sided Box Challenge, super-nova
Three-Sided Box Challenge, super-nova: 6245 (give or take 100) words, 4 chapters, Masumi, Ruri, Sayaka, Jean-Micheal Roget
Diversity Writing Challenge, j2 - a multichapter with no more than 5 chapters
Easter Advent 2017: Explore Your World, Day 25 - 25-30k words total

A Bishop Capture
Chapter 1

She could become a Lancer. Yeah, right.

There was the slight problem in that no-one in LDS could sneeze without Akaba Reiji's permission and Akaba Reiji was trotting around another world with his current group of Lancers in tow. How did he expect to add to those ranks if he'd allowed no time for it, if he hadn't given them the chance to prove they could?

And on the note of chances, why was Sawatari the only one who got a second shot? That egotistical talentless boy who changed his deck every time he lost as though it was the fault of the cards not his own he couldn't grow alongside them like a duellist should.

Or maybe he was still trying to find the right combination for him. Pretty rare with how long he'd been duelling, but possible. More likely though he was just showing off the fact that he could afford to give his deck major redos and he could even buy himself back into a tournament that had seen him eliminated in the first round.

And that was the part that really smarted, because she'd been eliminated in the first round as well, under similar circumstances (because Hiiragi Yuuzu made it to the Battle Royale just like Sakaki Yuuya did) and she hadn't gotten a second chance. Nor had anyone else who'd lost to the top eight and she'd have to be both blind and deaf to not see how much Ryozanpaku School wanted Sakaki Yuuya's blood.

And Leo Duel School was blind if they couldn't grant the ambitions of their students because of a bureaucratic problem.

She already knew this crap.

…well, she'd never call Fusion crap. But the teacher who'd taken over for Professor Marco couldn't hold the candles to him and she was the top student in the course. Even if one threw in the foreign exchange student who'd disappeared into thin air so she couldn't prove her strength against him –

And that was convenient, because everyone took it as arrogance otherwise.

Never mind that she was the only one to win against You Show Duel School. Even if she had lost in the rematch.

And if she'd lost in the rematch, that meant the first defeat she'd dealt and her words had been good inspiration. So there was no reason to feel ashamed in that regard.

Yaiba's defeat, on the other hand… Well, one couldn't help but feel ashamed of a duel they couldn't put themselves forth in. Even Sakaki Yuuya, who'd come out on top. Even when he'd had the weight of his questionable innocence and the threatened closure of his father's school on top of him, he hadn't duelled like that.

But Sakaki Yuuya was a Lancer now. With Akaba Reiji. And irrelevant.

She sighed. Really, the only two options she had left to her were to defeat the invaders if they came (and she certainly didn't want them coming despite her thirst to prove herself) or catch the culprit of the attacks on Professor Marco and the other top officers of LDS…

And where had Hokuto disappeared to, on that note?

.

The silence seemed to echo, now.

One couldn't make the mistake of thinking it was over, thinking it was safe. The attacks had quietened down, surely, but that was because there were so few of them left now that they actually could hide effectively from the Academia soldiers.

But they had so little left to fight with, now. Kaito was around: a ghost flittering about and thinning Academia's numbers but they kept on sending reinforcements so it never really mattered. Shun and Yuuto had vanished and they had no way of knowing if they'd been carded or they'd wandered too far, looking for Ruri. And so many of their other comrades had been carded. The entire Spade branch. Most of Clover. Kaito's family. So many people they didn't even know because the world had seemed so big back then. Now it was just too small. She knew everyone: every man, woman and child. Every family. Every orphan. Every person on their own because their family was now cards and no-one dared put the word "orphan" on them because that would be just too horrible, accepting it as irreversible –

But she only knew them because she cooked, and ladled food onto plates and bowls for them, and then washed the dishes afterwards. She only knew because she took care of their scrapes and bruises when they came in with them, and taught lessons to the children, while everyone else took their chances fighting and foraging outside. She was older! The children… Some of them were so young and yet they'd go out despite protests from their parents, from her – And then everybody would be so proud and so relieved when they'd come back and she'd wonder… She had a deck. She was a decent enough duellist (she averaged pretty highly in her class in Clover and even getting admission wasn't an easy feat). And the younger kids could learn to cook and run the infirmary and do cleaning and honestly that would help them out when they were older too and everything was the right way around again. They'd be contributing without being in unnecessary danger…

But wasn't she just trying to justify things for herself? That was also less people to forage things, and just one more to fight. If she even could fight.

You ran away from Ruri, remember.

She did remember. She remembered and she wanted to do something about that but she couldn't, either. She wasn't like Yuuto and Shun, both so strong in their own way and even stronger together. She could defeat Ruri in a duel sometimes but she could never handle Shun. He was so strong he frightened her. She couldn't handle Kaito either, and she barely even knew Yuuto. Only through Ruri. Only watching her best friend fall in love and it was sweet in a sense but she was also somewhat far away from that part of Ruri's life –

And then Academia's invasion happened and Ruri disappeared and Yuuto disappeared and it really didn't matter anymore.

And she did these things anyone could do because she wanted an excuse not to go out there, and then she wanted an excuse to go out. She looked at all the faces now. They were never alone, here, at least. She could always justify staying, though. No-one else who stayed was a duellist. Even some of the ones who went out weren't duellists but at least they didn't go out all the time. She taught them. They learnt. They'd muddle through a duel but whether they could handle Academia was another story. Whether she could handle Academia was a different story.

But still…

Maybe she was just going stir crazy leaving herself behind all the time and swimming with all those feelings of inferiority and guilt and attempting to convince herself otherwise.

.

Roget hid in a broken school and cursed his luck.

Academia were like rats in this dimension. Worse than Synchro. Worse than Fusion as well: more primitive – and he couldn't speak for Standard, having never been there before. This must be Xyz though. There was no way enough time had passed to turn Standard into this.

Not to mention the Professor's son was there. Surely that meant the world would put up a better fight than this.

Then again, Synchro had put up a good fight as well and they'd had nothing to fight with except themselves.

Damn that Asuka. And Jack Atlas. And Yuugo who'd appeared on the radar again after almost a year. And that girl the Professor wanted as his prize.

Well, those who lost the game didn't get a prize.

But he'd play again. Or so he'd thought when he'd set up his escape route but it might not work out that way, if Academia already ruled the place.

Xyz. It probably was them.

And he couldn't show himself right then, a disgrace and traitor to the Academia. Not without a better playing hand.

And it was going to be painfully difficult to get a good playing hand under these circumstances. Everyone here was Academia, except from the scrappy rats that weren't, who scurried about broken buildings and broken homes and tries to live and fight back.

As though their little fangs could do any damage when Academia had all but overrun them.

Then again, it had been the same with the Tops and the Commons. And he'd lost, in the end.

Maybe he could use whatever smattering of resistance remained to build his hand.

He would learn from his first failure, after all. And this time, he wouldn't have to contend with Tenjoin Asuka.

If he was lucky, he wouldn't have to contend with Edo Phoenix, either.

After all, this time he stood on the other side of the fence.

He brushed his long coat – then reconsidered.

If he was going to go to the rebels, he should probably look the part. Even if he wasn't in Academia colours, the state of the world showed only they could afford the luxury.

And it was a pity, too. He was rather fond of the coat.

But if he had to trade it in for a better hand, then so be it.

.

'Three more Obelisk Force sighted! They're near the You Show Duel School.'

Masumi blinked at that announcement. No-one moved.

Well, it wasn't LDS was what they were probably thinking. But didn't anyone remember that all their junior youth students had qualified for the semi-finals? Didn't anyone remember there was one teacher and three little kids left to defend it? Didn't Yaiba remember?

He was staring at her. Yaiba did remember. The battleground they'd fought on. She'd won. He'd gotten a draw. But all of them fought to get stronger after that. And she did lose the next bout to Yuzu, on a far bigger stage… For her anyway. She didn't care about the school. And Yaiba had lost to a guy who was almost the complete opposite to the opponent he'd faced there that day.

But for the rest, You Show Duel School was just a little town school that couldn't hold a candle to LDS. Never mind that one student from LDS made it through to the semi-finals, and two from You Show plus someone who was practically a honorary You Show member were there. Never mind that LDS had only two wins to their name against a member of the You Show Duel School… And a tag team between Sakaki Yuuya and Dennis McField that she wasn't sure counted as a victory or defeat or neither of the two on the part of LDS. Point was, their record was better in the junior youth division, and considering Sakaki Yuuya was the founder of the pendulum summoning slowly being rolled out…

'We'll go,' she spoke up. Yaiba stood with her.

The instructor frowned at the pair of them. 'Groups of at least six,' he reminded.

But somehow they wound up on their own anyway. Hopefully the other four were drawing the missing Obelisk Force member away, because they were stuck in a tag duel too. Not bad odds, normally, but she couldn't shake a whisper suddenly in her head when she activated her duel disk.

'You three… haven't seen combat.'

And judging from the pinched look on Yaiba's face, he couldn't shake it either.

The voice sounded familiar too. Someone they'd been soundly defeated by, she recalled, though the duel itself was a fog in her mind. Them being her, Yaiba… And Hokuto too. The top three students in their respective summoning courses and they'd lost that badly against a single opponent?

Then their opponents grinned: wide and menacing, and they had to shake that ghost and that fog and focus on the duel, otherwise those grins promised some painful retribution.

Obelisk Force drew before she or Yaiba could. Damn. At least all he did was summon an Antique Gear Hound Dog that blasted them with 600 points of damage. Which was a show of strength and threat if there ever was one – dealing damage on the first turn when they couldn't do a thing about it and why couldn't Wonder Quartet still be active to give them a little boost? – but the second turn saw Masumi's comeback plan foiled.

It started off well enough. As so sensing the urgency of the duel, she drew Gem-Knight Fusion from her deck and summoned out Gem Beast Lady Lapis Lazuli and, with her effect, dealt 1000 points of damage. The damage they took last turn, and interest, she thought in satisfaction. And then 1400 more from the attack, or so the plan went…

It would've worked if it hadn't been for the face-down Fusion Dispersal. As though they'd been prepared to fight against a Fusion-user and she could only gape as her monster was ripped apart into Lapis and Lazuli, and the damage she'd dealt was returned to her. And then some.

The end of the second turn and they were down to nearly half their points already. 2200 facing 3000. Wasn't anything they couldn't come back from, but to be thwarted like that so easily…

Teeth grinding against each other, she played two face-downs. And hoped they'd get cocky, seeing an easy target in the 600 attack point Lazuli.

It didn't get any better. Their decks were made specifically to counter special summoned monsters and that's where the strengths in their decks – in most people's decks, really – lay.

And then there was a raptor gliding at them, burning with far too many attack points to withstand.

No, that was a memory.

And then the fog cleared.

'Kurosaki,' Yaiba muttered. He realised it too. Kurosaki used Raid Raptors. Kurosaki about who they knew next to nothing about, who'd talked about a burning home and hunted people and the crowd had laughed it off as "being in the act". But now there were hints to it being otherwise. More than hints. Big neon signs slapping them in the face. Kurosaki had stared down at them, saw their duelling full of pretty moves but lacking the hard edges of battle, and given them a crushing defeat.

And they couldn't exactly be mad at him, if that was all that stood between them and certain defeat in this battle. They needed something – something that could turn it all around. Her fusion monster had been ripped apart. Yaiba's synchro monster had been blasted sky high, and now they had an almost completely empty field. Yaiba still had a face-down and the indestructible X-Saber Pashuul, at least. That was something. Getting nailed with its 1000 point cost per turn was not, leaving them with a measly 200 points.

And something had to be done about that Antique Gear Double Bite Hound Dog and its gear counters.

She blinked at what she'd drawn. Or maybe not. Except she could have used that card last turn.

She must have been frowning something fierce, because Yaiba grinned. 'Trap Booster,' he said, activating the final face-down they shared and discarding a card for its cost. 'Have at it, Masumi.'

She grinned. This was more familiar. And just the way they rolled. 'I activate the trap: Fragment Fusion! I fuse Lapis and Lazuli from my graveyard. Return, Gem Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli!'

That was 1500 points of damage she happily dealt.

'Then, I banish Lazuli from my graveyard to add Gem-Knight Fusion to my hand.'

Yaiba's grin widened. Sure, it had failed twice in a pretty close space of time, but this was her signature and the pride of her class. 'I activate Gem-Knight Fusion to fuse Gem-Knight Roumaline with Lapis Lazuli on the field. Come forth, my second Lapis Lazuli!'

And that was another 1500 points of effect damage.

Game over, finally.

.

'Come with me,' Allen offered. Or asked.

It didn't matter. Being asked like that gave her a ready excuse, especially since Allen knew well enough not to wait for a verbal response from her.

In fact, if Allen had been around more often, he'd have dragged her off already. They were just spread too thin. It had been too long, and they'd been combing every inch of Heartland looking for their lost comrades… Or their cards.

They always found a card or two at least. Even now.

They tucked themselves away in a corner: a corner away from prying eyes. And that made Sayaka shiver because what was it that Allen wanted to say that he didn't want even the other Resistance members hearing.

But when he started, explaining where they'd searched and who and what they'd found and who they hadn't, it wasn't anything particularly personal at all. Yes, they lost more friends but they'd lost almost everyone already. Yes, they found a couple new mouths to feed, and some food to feed them with. Yes, they'd been able to fill the containers on the way back (since numerous people had disappeared filling them, they went in groups and all of them duellists, nowadays). Yes, they found a few people carded – no comrades, thankfully, but that was a small mercy in a world they'd already lost more than they could spare in. And that was from a purely materialistic perspective. They'd lost far more than they could bear but that wouldn't stop them from potentially losing it all.

And they searched for what they lost and hoped to find again, because that hope was the only rope they had.

And so Allen wrapped up with a 'still no sign of Shun or Yuuto, or Kaito.' As though he was trying to comfort her, he added: 'Shun and Yuuto might be together. As much as Shun tries to pull the lone bird act, Yuuto's pretty good at keeping an eye on him.'

Yuuto was good at keeping an eye on Ruri too but that didn't stop her from being kidnapped. Even if that was an unfair thought because she'd been the one who actually saw it, the only one who knew for sure she hadn't been carded straight away and yet she was still in Academia's hands… Everyone else was going off her word of mouth and who knew how many doubted her…

But it really didn't matter because they had no proof she was carded and that meant they could still find her alive and well. And the same went for their other missing comrades – in particular Shun, and Yuuto, and Kaito. Most of Clover couldn't say that. They had a hefty stack of cards to prove otherwise. But the first were innumerable people: people they recognised, people they didn't. The first wave that was indiscriminate and thinned the city before the duellists realised they could summon their monsters to be real as well and started to fight back.

She gripped the duel disk on her other arm. That had turned from something they enjoyed to a weapon they used to fight for their lives, and their hope.

'Sayaka.' Allen was looking at her. 'There's more, now.'

'A new wave?' Her eyes widened in horror. There was so few of them left, and they had so much manpower. 'They'll have enough to cover the entire place.'

'And yet they let us run about like we're trapped rats, picking us off one by one.' He snorted. 'They treat us like sport but they're afraid, even now. They think we've got what it takes to band together and fight back.'

'We do.' She released her hold on the duel disk and intertwined her fingers, instead. 'We're through the moment we don't.'

Subjectively speaking, of course, because it came down to hope rather than the objective fighting strength they housed. Because if they had a decent force, they could have stormed the Academia soldiers before they'd sent reinforcements and the balance of people and power had shifted too drastically against them.

'Sayaka.' Allen leaned back. 'There aren't many safe places left.'

'I know.' They knew, but they were being pushed further and further back, and thinned out all the while.

'It's not safe for you to be here alone. You… against all of those soldiers if they came.'

Ah, so he was worried about that. She relaxed a little – because, for her who wallowed in indecision, waiting for the inevitable was far less painful than taking the initiative. 'Everybody's learning,' she said quietly. 'And we've got plenty of cards to build well-balanced decks with.' Cards of duellists who'd fallen. Cards from stashes and shops they'd pawned. The Academia duellists were more concerned with people, at first. Didn't do anything to stop them getting weapons. Just staked those places out, and food, and other supplies. Basic necessities that they knew their prey would come seeking. And cards, at least, didn't run out.

'They're not getting any practice,' Allen frowned. 'Not against Academia soldiers. And we can't exactly take them out.'

'You can.' She'd thought about this, after all, and here was the perfect time. 'Like a buddy system. A more experience duelist with a least experienced one. We can't afford more than one experienced duellists here anyway. We're stretched too thin. And once they gain more experience, they can take others. As long as no-one goes alone.'

Like Shun. Like Kaito. Like Ruri.

But maybe Shun wasn't alone. Maybe Yuuto was with him.

Or maybe Yuuto had also gone off on his own.

'You've thought about this.'

'I have.'

Allen considered her. 'And could we rotate the experienced duellist, at least? You've had almost no experience against Academia yourself, you know. Even if you have trophies in your corner.'

'One trophy,' she corrected, and that was a sore point Allen didn't realise because she'd defeated Ruri for that trophy. And then let her be snatched when she'd stood an equal or better chance against her opponent without making use of that.

'More than me.' But Allen didn't shrug like he would have, once. He was giving her a considering look instead. Piercing things together from all the clues she'd scattered about. 'Tony's hurt his leg. He'll be stuck here for a few days so let's get you out.'

And then he was pulling her by the wrist.

'Now?' Sayaka exclaimed – though really, that was the most effective way to deal with indecision.

'Yes, now. We haven't got enough water to last through the night. Hasn't one of the kids come down with a fever.'

'Ah… that's right.'

Water. They were off to fetch water… from the same place Ruri had been snatched up from.

.

It was a surprise they'd gone through all that trouble and couldn't defend against effect damage. And once Masumi realised that was their weak point, she harped on it whenever she duelled. And her point average went up. Her win rates went up – and as callous as it was to admit, her carding rates went up as well. Because it was too dangerous to leave them uncarded. The escape of Shuiun Sora had proven that.

Even if it was stupid of them to not protect themselves against the very same thing they dished out themselves. Were they that arrogant? Did they think they were so special that only they would deal a healthy dose of it? Which might have been true because most decks weren't equipped to win a duel without a battle… But it wasn't impossible. It wasn't even improbable. Most duellists had at least one way of dealing effect damage. They didn't bother so much with prevention in Miami simply because the action magic cards covered that just fine. They had better cards to stack their deck with.

But someone who didn't have that fall-back – or even when they were duelling outside of an action field…

Or maybe it was simply more common here than in that Fusion Dimension those Obelisk soldiers had come from.

That didn't seem likely, though. The footage revealed to them had been heavily edited but they could see snippets of the truth around them as well. The fact that Akaba Reiji had picked the best of the best. The fact that the youth division had failed the selection process and vanished off the face of Miami City (except Sakuragi Yuu, who was simply hiding out in his one-bedroom apartment after Akaba Reiji had wrung him for information).

That was partially the reason why they weren't all too surprised with the Ancient Gear monsters. They were becoming more and more known the more they were played and one advantage any opponent had over them was diversity. If they restricted themselves to the same archetype, it would only be a matter of time before they had the entire archetype drawn out, and the ability to arm a wide array of decks against them. On the other hand, the Academia warriors were yet to pick up the art of the Action Duel, and then there were Pendulum Monsters being rolled out, and the wide variety of decks their opponents employed that contained cards that didn't all seem to exist in other worlds… Really, the people of Miami City had a huge advantage against their invaders.

And yet they couldn't stamp it out that quickly. Was it because their best were already stripped away by the vanguard? Or was it the lack of experience with this different kind of duelling, the need to win as soon as possible instead of the most statement-inducing of ways. And sure, that different between people, what statement they were aiming for. You Show Duel School was all about fun and smiles. LDS didn't have as much of a unified front as that. They all wanted to be the best but what the best wound up meaning differed. Like Sawatari, who wanted to be an Entertainment Duelist too. Like Akaba Reiji, who wanted the world to see his unshakable formation and struggle to crack through it and fail. And when he'd found that mode of summoning he didn't have – that Pendulum summon – he'd worked to adapt it as quickly as possible… and then spread it, so it was no longer the unfair advantage lording over them all.

Masumi wasn't exactly a fan of Strong Ishijima, but he could feel sorry for how the man had lost to a form of summoning no-one knew and therefore didn't know how to counter. That was pretty unfair. Totally different to somebody using a Ritual summon because people know it and it's been around for longer than any of the other summoning types (sans Normal and Advance summon). And she'd never seen Sakaki win a duel without pendulum summoning… And never saw him lose a duel either, despite his mediocre record. All that pointed toward Pendulum summoning being the reason behind his successes and once Pendulum summoning took off in earnest, they'd all be able to match that…

Still, the duel with Sawatari had been pretty fun.

And the duel with Kachidoki had been silencing.

There was something else there. Maybe that was why Akaba Reiji had jumped into the duel between their schools. Even if she couldn't see it. Even if Hokuto hadn't been able to see it. Maybe Nico Smiley had seen it too. Maybe that was why he'd chosen Sakaki Yuuya for the exhibition match in the first place and the hype of him being the son of the previous champion had been just the convenient cover.

But none of that mattered now. Sakaki wasn't here. Neither was Akaba Reiji. Nor Hokuto. It was up to people like them to defend their city, and the researchers at the Academia to find a way to turn Hokuto and Professor Marco and all those other carded people back to normal. And find a way to stop Academia coming through and increasing their numbers and if they ever gained a foothold, they'd overrun them within months.

Well, she wasn't about to let that happen and neither were a lot of other people. That's why LDS had expanded so much. So many more students, all determined to learn Pendulum summoning… and not only that, but the other summoning methods as well. They'd seen Sakaki Fusion summon and Xyz summon… and she wondered why he didn't Synchro summon, too. It was doable, and made easier by Pendulum as well… And honestly, Fusion was probably the one least advantaged by the advent of Pendumon. Fusion and Ritual. A lot of people underappreciated Ritual summoning.

But that wasn't her problem. She wasn't an all-rounder. She wasn't a Ritual summoner. She was a Fusion duellist, through and through. And Pendulum summoning would serve as a way to further that, for her. Just like Synchro summoning had been for Gongenzaka Noboru after the draw against Yaiba that had clobbered his pride.

Just like the duel against Hiiragi Yuzu had clobbered both their prides, in turn. Pendulum opened up far more possibilities than just summoning multiple monsters in a turn. Being able to Fusion summon in the middle of the battle phase was a gem, after all. And there'd be more. LDS would create them. She'd find them. Use them. Grow stronger with them and all the while not lose the foundation of her deck, of her duelling. Become a Lancer. Save the people that mattered to her. One day… become a warrior in the truest sense of the word, with the sword her father had guilded for her.

.

The Resistance kids didn't come back, but Academia were checking every inch and so Roget made his escape. And it was slow going, because the soldiers were all recent graduates and young and so much smaller than him, a fully grown adult. But he managed, because he didn't want to engage them. Not after his defence had been torn to shreds, and his plans, and his confidence as well. His drive was still there, but he was a lone king on the board and he needed to work his way up to a full board again.

The outside world really wasn't any better. There were less soldiers out at least, since they were busy combing the building for the most part, but the world was in shambles. Worse than the Commons. Too few people scurrying about like rats –

Oh, there were two. A boy and a girl, moving slowly and carefully… But not slowly and carefully enough.

He followed them. Straight to a water supply. Which was useful to know, but he could hardly believe Academia didn't have people guarding them. Or at least keeping an eye on them. Looking at how the boy always went first, how the girl always hung a step behind and seemed to fight the instinct to cling to the other's sleeve and her eyes went everywhere. Still, they didn't catch him.

Unless they did. The girl had frozen suddenly, before giving in to her earlier instinct and tugging at the other's sleeve and mouthing something. The boy stiffened too, turning to stare… Not at him. To his left. Three students in Orisis coats who stepped out with identical smirks. 'Looks like we've been spotted,' one said.

'Too bad. We usually leave the low profile kids alone. Need to leave some rats behind, right.' The second grinned.

'But we don't want a plague,' said the last. 'Since you spotted us, looks like you two are getting stomped.'

So they were planning on creating a Commons for their own sport, were they? Roget tucked himself further into his hiding place to watch. It was an opportunity that had fallen right into his lap.

The boy muttered something to the girl. She backed away a bit, then shook her head and set her chin. So it'd be a three on two duel, then. Though the girl was quaking in her boots so who knew if she'd count for anything at all.

Still, numbers weren't everything. And rats weren't as powerless as they appeared. He'd learnt that, from Asuka and from the Commons. She'd rallied up an impressive force, in the end.

He could do the same, or even better. But first, he had to know what he was working with – and worm himself in, as well. And that meant watching, and waiting, and emerging as the hope against despair: the classical hero scene to save his first two pawns.

.

Sayaka was relieved Allen was there with her. Allen was familiar. Rough around the edges, but one of her best friends and, really, the only one still here. Their friends from Clover were all gone. The only other one left was Kaito and even that was in doubt. He'd stormed off on his own after that terrific yelling match and they'd heard only snippets of his exploits still. Striking back where he'd been struck. Thinning a tide that only rose back up and he couldn't do it on his own. He'd never be able to do it on his own. But he wouldn't accept their help. They couldn't even find him to help… And would it even matter if they could? They were no army. Not now, anyway. Maybe not ever, even if every person they'd saved became a duellist that could earn the Championship title in their old, peaceful, word. That might be enough. Or it might not. They had to hope it would be, or else they'd find something else: something that'd help turn the tides in their favour because hope was the only thing that kept on going, kept them trying, kept them searching for the people still tucked away, and for food and water and supplies to keep them all alive until those seedlings of hope in their hearts bore fruit.

But reality was far more terrifying, and she fought to not give in to that terror. There was nobody but them now. They'd slipped past Academia soldiers already and now they were at the water tap but that was wrong. It was all wrong. No way they'd just leave the tap unguarded, no matter how many times they came to get water and left again. They just picked and chose their prey. They were here, somewhere. She could feel their eyes on him – or that was her own paranoia. Didn't matter. Allen was filling the containers. She had to make sure they couldn't sneak up on –

Oh crap. There they were. Two boys and a girl in red jackets. And they caught her staring, surprised looks morphing into smirks.

They'd been planning on letting them go, or so they said, but not anymore.

Allen snapped at her to get away, readying his duel disk. She backed away. One step. Two. Wait!

She couldn't just back away and leave him to face all three of them on his own. She'd done that already, and that regret was like an acid hole in her soul. 'I'll fight too.' Her voice quavered. Curse it. But Allen turned and saw the determination in her eyes, regardless of what else her body said, and he nodded. 'Then let's do this together.'

The three Academia soldiers readied their duel disks as well. Two on three. A Battle Royale. The tag team rule wasn't going to protect them.

'Go first,' Allen hissed, 'before one of them can.'

Going first would mean she'd have at least some defence out. Though Allen would have none.

'I – ' She quickly glanced at her cards. Ooh, Little Fairy. 'I summon Little Fairy.'

The three Academia soldiers stared at her – then burst into laughter. 'That weakling,' they chortled. And they were right. Little Fairy wasn't going to hold up to a beating, and she should've been on the defensive in the first turn anyway.

'Calm down,' Allen advised. 'You've got four other cards in your hand. Ignore them for now.' He shot a glare across the field, that didn't accomplish anything at all.

But his words did. Sayaka closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could do this. She was a decent duellist, and even if she'd rushed her first move, her deck had always supported her. There'd be something more she could do.

There was. 'I use Little Fairy's effect. I discard one card to raise it's level by one.'

They laughed harder. 'Destroying your hand now, little girl?' the other female mocked.

Ignore them, Allen had said. Sayaka took a deep breath. 'Monster Reborn! I return Dancing Fairies from the graveyard. Now level four Fairy Cheer Girl and Little Fairy, Overlay! Become the angel on the battlefield who smiles for the heroes that keep on fighting! Xyz Summon! Appear now! Rank Four: Fairy Cheer Girl.'

She breathed a sigh of relief when that was over. The three Academia soldiers in red coats were struck momentarily dumb. They weren't deal with a little 800 attack point monster. They were dealing with an Xyz monster more than twice as strong.

But then one of them snorted. '1900 attack points? What a weakling. We'll crush it soon enough.'

Sayaka shivered at that. They were right. One could normal summon a monster as strong as that. It wouldn't take much to beat it and she didn't have anything in her hand to help. She could stop their Fusion summons. Maybe. Probably. And she could protect Allen and her Fairy Cheer Girl for one turn, but that was it. It'd be up to Allen. 'Sorry, Allen.' She closed her eyes.

'Open your eyes,' he snapped at her. 'Concentrate. Don't cower. You're a good duellist Sayaka, but that's no good if you cower.'

I know. I know, but…

'One face down card, and I set Artifact Scythe as well as per it's effect. Turn end.'

Two different people slapped their foreheads at the opportunity that slipped away. But they were only human, and opportunities could always slip away from them. Opportunities they missed until they were pointed out. Opportunities that were only seen in hindsight.

But as long as there was another chance, they could try again. Try to reach again. Next time.

Next time.

Note #1 – using the Arc-V duelling rules here. 4000 life points, 2000 intrusion penalty, players start with five cards and the player who takes the first turn starts straight from main phase 1. Hence why Asuka is out of cards in the second turn.

Note #2 - using the battle royale rule employed in the Shun and Yuuya vs. Academia duel in the Xyz Dimension (before Kaito helps out), one of the Academia soldiers target Yuuya who hasn't had his first turn yet. Which means anyone's fair game. Sayaka starts the duel. Allen is a sitting duck until he can get his turn in.

Note #3 - Sayaka's deck is really underdeveloped in the anime, and none of what she has is really a sustainable archetype in itself. And since Asuka's deck is also largely Fairy based, I shopped around a bit for what other cards I could put in Sayaka's deck. Eventually, I settled on the Artefact archetype. They're a bunch of level/rank 5 light fairy monsters and monsters in the main deck can be set as spell cards and then special summoned if those set cards are destroyed during the opponent's turn. And since they're level 5, Little Fairy can be used to summon them. The other ideas I had wouldn't employ Xyz monsters or would have made a Ritual monster the staple of her deck and I didn't want either of those. Allen's deck on the other hand has a set archetype (even if it means borrowing Anna from ZEXAL's cards). And Masumi's not a problem. The Gem Knights are pretty well established in TCG, even if they didn't shine too many times in the anime.