So, this will be a bit more slow-paced chapter, but I think you guys might like it.

Also, forgot to disclaim: I don't own ANYTHING I am crossing over with. They are all owned by their respective owners. The only thing I own thus far is Robert, and he's an OC.

Now, with that stuff out of the way, let's continue.


Eddy woke up with a start, cold sweat drenching his body.

Scanning his surroundings, Eddy found that he was in fact in his room. It was dark, and his clock told him it was 3:35 AM. Looking over his body, he saw a few of the bruises he got from the trampling, but no 'Duel Disk' on his arm.

A sigh of relief escaped his lips. "Oh, thank god! It was only a dream," he declared, and then shuddered. "More like a trampling-induced nightmare..."

Eddy got up, and immediately felt his stomach rumble. He was really hungry, likely because he had just slept for (if his math was correct) about 15 hours. With his stomach doing the thinking, Eddy headed to the kitchen and made a sandwich.

As soon as he returned to his room, sandwich in hand, he noticed a small rectangular device on his dresser. It looked familiar to Eddy...

A little more familiar than he would have liked.

Finishing off his sandwich, Eddy looked at to the device, and the shock nearly caused him to choke. As it turns out, the familiarity of the item was no coincidence. It was the very same device that he had been using in his 'dream'.

"It can't be!" His voice rose nearly to a shriek. "That was just... a dream! It had to be!"

Eddy picked up the machine, and brought it to his wrist. A latch came out immediately, attaching it to his arm, and he saw the machine activate. He sat down on his bed, completely dumbstruck.

"B-but that would mean..." Eddy sputtered, trying to remember what supposedly went on. "That we... we got our asses handed to us by some jerk with purple hair!"

He stood up in annoyance, and looked to the Duel Disk on his arm. Memories of the 'dream' kept flooding his mind, as he remembered the hour they spent customizing the Duel Disks. One of the first things they had done was put each other into their list of 'Contacts'...

Without a second to waste, Eddy went to said list, and tapped on Double D's icon. It began to ring idly, in a similar fashion to a phone, as he waited for his answer. After about three or four rings, Eddy finally got an answer.

"Hello?"

Eddy smiled, knowing that it worked. Double D sounded very groggy - 'He must have just woken up,' Eddy rationalized - and probably didn't realize what he was answering.

"Hey sockhead." Eddy said, trying to keep his tone serious. "Are you all right?"

"Of course, Eddy. Why do you ask?"

Eddy couldn't help but let out an exhausted sigh. "It was one heck of an experience, what with the trampling, then Robert, and I was worried tha-"

"Wait a minute..." Double D interrupted, clearly shocked. "Robert? What are you talking about?"

Eddy rolled his eyes, and asked his friend "Have you even noticed what the heck you're calling me on?"

The line went silent for a few moments, and then Eddy could hear Double D scream.

'And... there it is.' Eddy thought.

"This can't be real!" exclaimed Double D. "I thought that was all a dream!"

"So did I," Eddy told him, "But apparently not."

"Eddy, how can you be so calm about this!?"

"Honestly, I don't think panicking is going to help. Now can you keep it down? My parents are gonna ask a whole lot of questions if they find out that I'm calling someone at 3:40!"

"R-right, sorry..." The line went silent once again, this time persisting for about a minute. "So, what should our first course of action be?"

Eddy thought for a few seconds, and the answer became clear. "Let's get Ed, and head to the Junkyard!"


They spent an hour alone in the junkyard, discussing the incident in full detail, just to make absolutely sure it was real. All of the details lined up, and despite their perspectives being different, the major details were the same from each side. That could only mean two possible things...

Either they all had the same exact dream at the same exact time, or they really were sent to another world. And to them, having the exact same dream down to the TINIEST details sounds like the more unlikely.

Eventually, they came to the agreement that even if they were sent to another world, they couldn't tell anyone.

The boys planned to go the entire day keeping their distance from one another, to avoid the temptation of discussing what had happened. All three had agreed that the previous day's events were to be kept secret- under no circumstances were any of them going to say something that crazy in front of others.

Though, all things considered, this was easier said than done.

"Hey, Dorky, you wanna due-"

"NOTHING!"

The first outburst was Eddy's, at lunchtime. Kevin stared at him, confused. Eddy, feeling the eyes of practically everyone in the cafeteria fix on him, blushed and pulled at his collar nervously.

"I HAVE TO... UH... COME UP WITH SCAMS!"

Eddy ran out of the cafeteria faster than most people would consider possible. By this point, most other kids simply shrugged and moved on with their day, but Kevin's curiosity flared. "He's back to scamming people?" he muttered. "He hasn't done that in three years..."

Little did Kevin (or anyone else) know that this would not be the only confusion that people would be subjected to that day...

"Rolf?"

"Here!"

"Nazz?"

"Here."

"Eddwa-"

"NOTHING!"

The second outburst was from Double D while he was in class, only a few minutes after the Lunch Period had ended. He looked away in embarrassment, and asked the teacher "May I please have a pass to the nurse? I feel sick."

The teacher, caught by surprise, had no idea how to react; he simply wrote up a hall pass and sent Double D on his way. . Double D took it with insane speed, and left the room even faster, leaving everyone to wonder what was going through his mind to elicit that kind of reaction.

But one of them was not content with just wondering...

"Teacher, may Rolf have a hall pass as well?"


Double D used the hall pass as an excuse to sneak up to the roof (their usual hangout spot from last year). He was not too surprised to find Eddy up there as well - mainly due to the fact that Eddy skipped class often - because he was certain their situation was the same.

"So," Double D asked as he walked over, "Did you almost crack as well?"

Eddy shrugged. "I don't know what happened. It just felt like all the weight of the situation hit me at once."

"I can relate," Double D told him, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "I don't know what came over me. Just out of nowhere I screamed..."

"NOTHING!"

Both Double D and Eddy looked down, determining that the open window was where the scream had come from. No doubt it was Ed, nearly cracking under the pressure as well. "He'll probably be up here in a few seconds, I'm sure." Eddy said, and barely ten seconds later, they heard footsteps coming from behind them.

They turned around to see the door open, revealing Ed. He looked shocked and scared, and that had both of the Eds worried. "GuysI'msosorry!" He exclaimed incoherently, "Ialmosttoldeveryone! Everyoneisgoingtoaskaboutit! Thisisallmyfault! Weneedtorun!"

"Ed! By all means, be hysterical," Double D told him, "But please, don't say too much too quickly! You need to breath!"

Ed took a deep breath upon Double D saying this, and it appeared to calm him down a little.

"And besides that, we did pretty much the same." Eddy added on, dropping his backpack to the ground. "In thinking about it, it might have something to do with that I brought this..."

Eddy rummaged around in his backpack for a few moments, before pulling out his yellow Duel Disk. The other two Eds gasped in shock.

"You mean you brought yours to school as well!?" Double D exclaimed, placing down his backpack and pulling out his red Duel Disk. "I thought I was the only one!"

"Oh! Me too!" Ed dropped his backpack, and pulled out his Duel Disk. "That's so cool!"

Eddy looked to his Duel Disk, and attached it to his arm. He took a few seconds fiddling around with the apps, and saw one that he didn't understand. "Return to Hub? What do you think that one does?"

Double D placed his fingers on his chin for a moment, before telling them both his theory. "Considering the circumstances of how we acquired the Duel Disks in the first place, I'd say that returns us back to the same place where we fought Robert - a place I can only assume is called 'the Hub'."

Eddy thought on this, and immediately realized that made about as much sense as anything else that was going on with these Duel Disks. "So, we get the option to return back?" Eddy stopped for a moment, and considered the option. On one hand, they could go back and learn awesome new Dueling techniques, including that 'xyz summoning' Robert showed them...

... But on the OTHER hand, they'd probably be the laughing stock of the entire place after that duel.

"Whoa, what are those!?"

The Eds looked over to see Kevin and Rolf looking at them, particularly eyeing the devices that were on their arms. The Eds realized there was no way they were going to escape this, and they were probably going to have to either come up with a convoluted lie or come clean.

'Or... we could go with option three.' Eddy thought, eyeing the options on the screen of his Duel Disk. 'Are you sure you want to return to the Hub early?' was what the popup said, and as Eddy weighed the options, he was absolutely sure.

Both Kevin and Rolf began to walk towards, them, Eddy pressed the 'Yes' button. Double D saw this, and was about to protest, but the deed was done before he could.

A flash of light surrounded Eddy, nearly blinding the other four in the process. As it faded, they realized that Eddy was gone, and that people were now staring from the open window...

"For crying out loud, Eddy!" Double D mumbled, almost angry enough to start cursing. "Now this will just make things a lot more complex!"


The light faded, and Eddy was left staring at the ceiling. He looked around and realized this was the room of the 'Hotel' he had been in the day before. Things seemed slightly different, but it was no doubt the same place.

"Welp, I got out of that one easy enough." Eddy declared, able to relax for a moment. "Now to see what's up with this world."

He got up off the bed, and first took notice of the bathroom connected to his room. In it was a mirror, and he could see his reflection in it...

And almost immediately, he knew SOMETHING was off.

He headed over, and surveyed his reflection. A lot of things seemed different about it, but he wasn't exactly sure what. Maybe it was the fact that he looked taller. Maybe it was the fact that his hair looked better. Or maybe it was the fact that for once he could actually see his eye color - a very deep bluish-green - without having to pay close attention. But whatever it was, he looked and felt different. (1)

"This is too weird," Eddy said, taking in all the small details, when suddenly he heard a knock at the door. "Now who the hell could want to see me?" The knocking continued, and knowing it probably wasn't going to stop, Eddy headed to the door, and opened it.

He was greeted by the sight of a young man, standing a little taller than Eddy himself, with messy brown hair, and a small blonde braid coming down from behind his right ear to about midway down his chest. His eyes were red - or at least as far as Eddy could tell, given that his left one was covered up by a cloth eyepatch - and he was dressed in a reddish-brown overcoat with a grey undershirt, dark grey cargo pants, and black shoes.

And upon first sight, Eddy had to wonder what the heck he was looking at.

"Hey there!" The young man said, his voice lively yet calm, "You must be the new neighbor."

"New neighbor?" Eddy questioned, before the pieces clicked. "Oh yeah, there are a bunch of these places."

"Has the transition been rough for you?"

Eddy cocked his head to the side, and simply told him "Not really. I only just now came back."

The man smiled. "I see. Did you tie up all the loose ends back home? I made the mistake of not doing that."

Now Eddy was starting to get confused. "What are you talking about?"

The man took a minute to clarify the whole thing to Eddy. Apparently, anyone brought to the Hub has a maximum of 24 hours to tie up any loose ends in their own worlds. After that, they are brought back to the Hub.

"So, the fact that you're here means you are stuck." The man finished, giving Eddy a few seconds for the info to sink in.

And as for Eddy himself, hearing all of this was a shock to the system. He had assumed they would be forced to return, given that the machine asked if he wanted to return EARLY, but to know that he couldn't go back...

That just was too much.

"Man, I can't believe I did something that stupid!" Eddy said aloud, becoming increasingly annoyed at the situation. "Now what am I gonna do!?"

The young man just smiled. "Well, since you're going to be here for a while, why don't I show you around? I think you might like it around here."

Eddy shrugged. "Sure, why not?" He said, exasperated. "I've got nothing better to do."

"All right!" The young man exclaimed. "Oh, but where are my manners?" He extended his hand for Eddy to take. "My name is Littlefoot. Nice to meet you."

Eddy tried to hold back a chuckle. "That's a strange name, but whatever." He said as he accepted the handshake. "I'm Eddy."

With introductions out of the way, Eddy began to follow Littlefoot, heading down to the courtyard. He was completely unsure why he was following him, or why he had even agreed to this in the first place. Hell, right now he wasn't even sure if his wits were completely about him.

But with nothing better to do, he might as well TRY to understand this place.


Footnote

(1): Basically an in-universe excuse to imagine them all anime art style and everything.

So, with a second chapter, I introduce our first crossover character - Littlefoot from the 'Land Before Time' series. And I'll admit, Littlefoot probably doesn't make sense to be a duelist, but I did it for a very good reason.

I did it because I WANTED to! XD

But in all seriousness, the Land Before Time is a series I love with all my heart, and I thought adding in a character from it to this story would be fun. And besides that, I have plans for him as a character, which I hint to a little in his design.

So yeah.

As always, read, review, all that good stuff. Next time we return, Eddy will be forced to face his first REAL challenge as a Duelist.

Until next time!