Author's note: And it's back to this story again. Yay, I'm on the roll for this one again. So I did my best to make this chapter a bit fluffy and stuff. So onward to Alternate Dimension! R&R please!

Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and this story plot. Nothing else.

Chapter 3

Sweet Memories

"This stage is set for your childhood memories." I heard Kyoko said, "It's Christmas day, and you and were parents were celebrating Christmas at your place, with the Fudo family coming along to join them."

"Wow! He's so cute!" A young Crystal, about four years old, exclaimed once she opened up a small present bag, revealing a black cat plush toy, that was about a size of a teddy bear, with big eyes and a red bow around its neck, which is one of the Sanrio characters called Chococat. The young girl had purple hair and sparkling violet eyes, and was wearing a simple, blue dress.

"You like it, Crystal?" The man with sandy blonde hair and emerald green eyes asked as he sat next to his daughter on the ground. The young girl smiled and wrapped her arms around her father's neck.

"I love it! Thank you, daddy!" Young Crystal cheered.

"Ah, don't thank us just yet, Crystal." A woman with a same hair and eye color as Crystal, wearing a simple white dress with blue outline, said as she walked into the living room with a Christmas tree on one side. "Your father and I have one more present for you. It's really really special, so we decided to save this one for last."

Yuri sat next to her husband and daughter on the ground and held out a small rectangular box, covered in a red Christmas wrappings with a silver and green ribbon on top. Crystal took the box from her mother and gently (gently because she doesn't want to mess up a neat looking wrapping) opened it up and pulled out a-

"A Duel Monster Deck!" Crystal gasped as she held it up in awe. After going over a few cards in her deck, she immediately hugged her parents. "I LOVE IT! This is a best Christmas ever! Thank you, mommy and daddy!"

Crystal's parents laughed and returned her embrace, "Your welcome dear." Yuri said to her.

Crystal turned to her father, "Daddy, will you teach me how to duel?"

Before the sandy blonde can answered, a doorbell rang, getting everyone's attention.

"Oh, looks like your sister and the others are here." Yuri said before getting up and leaved the living room. Haruto turned to the young girl.

"I'm sorry, Crystal. But it looks like I have to help your mother set up the table for now." Haruto apologized, "But why don't you play Duel Monsters with your cousins, since they're here now? I think maybe Yusei can teach you how."

Crystal nodded, "Okay daddy."

Haruto laughed and ruffled the girl's hair, "That's my girl!"

As soon as the man left, two kids quickly came to the living room in excitement. One of them was a six year old boy with spiky raven hair with gold highlights and sapphire-blue eyes, wearing a black sweater and jeans. The other one was a three year old girl with long raven hair with silver highlights and bluish-greenish eyes, wearing a simple red dress.

"Hi Crystal!" The two greeted once they spotted a purple hair girl.

"Hi Yusei! Hi Yui!" Crystal got up and ran up to them. "Guess what? My mommy and daddy got me a Duel Monster deck!"

Yusei's eyes widened in excitement, "Really? That's great. All three of us can play Duel Monsters with each other now!"

"Three?" Crystal thought in confusion. She knew her cousin, Yusei, had a deck two years ago. But then that would mean…

"I got one too!" Three year old Yui excitedly pulled out a deck for her cousin to see.

"Yay! This is great!" Crystal cheered.

"C'mon! Let's duel!" Yusei said. The two young girls agreed as they set their dueling mats (wherever they got them) in the middle of the room on the floor, and began their duel in Battle Royal mode. Their happy moments continued for the rest of Christmas day, before the scene turned white.

"Aw…this is actually adorable." I cooed as the scene faded away. "We were really happy there. Well…the other Yusei, me, and Yusei's not-born-in-my-timeline sister."

Kyoko nodded in agreement. "Mmhm. A lot definitely has changed since the Zero Reverse never happened in this world."

I hummed for a bit, "But…what about my friends? Surely, they are happy as much as we are."

"See four yourself." Kyoko snapped her fingers, causing the scene in the doors to change again, only that this one seems to keep on moving very quickly.

The scene changed to black first, before turning into the living room again, only with slightly different furnitures. There was a young boy with spiky orange hair and grey eyes, whom I recognized as Crow, had just opened up a new Duel Monster Deck, and started jumping for joy. A little baby boy, who was one the floor with him, started clapping when he saw his older brother's excitement.

Then, the scene changed where there was a little girl with jet black and ocean blue eyes opening up her presents, which contains a few books, toys, a hand-made duel disk, and a new Duel Monster Deck. I recognized the girl as Yuna, and she ran up to her parents with big smile on her face and hugged them.

That scene faded, only another living room to show up, revealing two young kids with two new shiny duel disks on their arms. The older one with blonde hair and amethyst eyes, whom I recognized as young Jack, was challenging a girl younger than him, who has a same hair color and eyes as him. And that, I'm assuming that might be Jack's younger sister.

Then, the scene changed, revealing two kids playing Duel Monsters on the couch. Based on the icy-blue hair color and golden eyes on him, I assumed that the young boy was Kiryu. And the girl next to him, same hair and eye color, was his little sister.

Next, the next scene revealed another two kids playing Duel Monsters. Both of them have dark brown eyes, but one of them was a boy with spiky dark brown hair while the other one was a girl with scarlet red hair. I immediately recognized the girl as Akane, while the boy was her late older brother, Sho. Suddenly, a toddler with a same hair color as Akane walked up to his two older siblings, but then tripped over a box and started crying. Both Akane and Sho noticed this, and went to the toddler and try to cheer him up.

The scene faded, only to change to a different living room. A young boy with dark blue hair and dark brown eyes was with a woman with same hair and eye color as him, opening up a present. I recognized that boy as Aoi. He managed to unwrapped a small present in his hands, revealing a brand new Duel Monster deck. He looked up at the woman and started smiling. The woman in returned, smiled back and gave him a hug.

I felt a warm smile on my face as the scene faded. They all look so happy there…even Aoi, I thought. I turned to Kyoko. "Do you mind if you can fill me in on their back stories? Like who are their siblings and such?"

"Not at all," The red head responded. "You should already known that Yuna's parents worked at the Reactor with yours and Yusei's father. The baby who was with Crow was named Yoshi. Crow adored him very much. Their father is a mechanics while their mother is a teacher. But few years later, Yoshi suffered a disease on his legs and needs to undergo operation, but their parents couldn't even afford it yet."

I gasped, "That's terrible!"

"And the blonde girl with Jack is his sister, Alexandra. Alex for short. Their father is a business man, while their mother works at a department store." Kyoko continued, "Don't worry. Alex is healthy and fine, so you'll be seeing her again later. And it seems like you known Akane's siblings, so I'm going to skip that. Just so you know, her family owns a dojo."

I laughed a little at that part. I can totally imagine that.

"Kiryu Kyosuke had a little sister named Kasumi. I suggest you should take a good look at her before we head to the next scene, because you won't be seeing her soon."

I raised an eyebrow at her, "Why?"

Kyoko gave a sad look in her eyes, "She passed away due to cancer, so Kiryu became an only child. Not only that, both of his parents died in a car crash couple years after that."

"Oh…" I muttered with pity. Then Kiryu was the only one so far who lost his family so far. And that…really sucks.

"As for Aoi, the woman that you saw with him was his mother." Kyoko said. "She left his father and raised Aoi on her own, while working in the orphanage with a woman named Martha. Just to let you know, Kiryu was placed in that orphanage after his parents died."

That's good. Martha is a good woman, and I like her. At least Kiryu has her to take care of him. And I'm also glad that Aoi is also with Martha and his mom. It kinda surprised and saddened me to think about her, because I remember Aoi breaking down right after he went back to Satellite to see her again, only to find out that she committed suicide.

"So…do we all meet each other later?" I asked.

"Yep!" Kyoko said. "Most of you meet each other at the Duel Academy. Well, you and Yusei met them first. Yui got into the Academy later, because she developed psychic abilities at a young age and had to go to the special school for that."

I thought for a minute, before becoming frozen stiff, "Wait…that 'special school' you were talking about can't be run by-"

"Oh no no. Don't worry. It's not run by the Arcadia Movement, if that's what you were thinking. Hakase doesn't want to put his daughter in that place, because he doesn't trust them." Kyoko interrupted.

Good, cuz I rather if he didn't. Even I never really met her, I can't imagine a sweet girl like Yui being in that horrible place, I thought.

"Because of her high IQ, Yui skipped a grade and ended up in a same class as you," Kyoko continued, "At the same time, you and Yusei decided to introduce her to your friends on her first day to the academy during their school activities. Let's see…Yusei's seventeen, you're fifteen, so that makes Yui fourteen."

Yusei, Yui, and Crystal were in their respective Duel Academy uniforms and entered outside with groups of students in various grades around the Dueling Ground Fields and Turbo Tracks, only to be greeted by an orange hair teen.

"Yo, Yusei! Crystal! You two came just in time!" Crow started speaking and did a special handshake with the raven hair teen.

"Hey Crow. There's someone I want you to meet," Yusei said as he placed his hand on the raven hair girl's shoulder, "This is Yui, my younger sister, and also Crystal's younger cousin."

Crow smiled and held his hand out to the younger girl, "Hey Yui. I heard a lot about you from Yusei and Crystal. The name's Crow, by the way."

Yui smiled and shook Crow's hand. "Likewise. Is 'Crow' your nickname or something?"

Crow laughed nervously and scratched his temple, "Eh…no. Both of my parents named me that. But I like that name to be honest."

Yui laughed at this, causing Crow to turn red in embarrassment. "Sorry. I couldn't help but find that funny. Anyway, I heard from onii-san that you have a younger brother."

"Well you heard right!" Crow responded while ruffling the girl's hair playfully.

"That reminds me, how's Yoshi's doing?" Crystal asked in a worried tone.

"He's doing better so far," Crow replied, "But we're still struggling to get the money in for the operation."

"Sorry to hear about that." The purple hair girl said, "But I hope things will work out soon."

"Yeah. Thanks." Crow said thankfully. "Anyway, why don't you come with us, Yui? We still have a lot of friends to introduced to you."

The four went to the bench, where a lot of students were watching the duels, and went to the one where eight people were sitting. A blonde hair girl with amethyst eyes, another girl with jet-black hair and piercing blue eyes, another girl with scarlet hair brown eyes (and the only female in the group wearing a boy's uniform), a girl with burgundy hair and amber eyes, a man in his early twenties with same eyes color as the scarlet hair and brown hair, another boy with blue hair and dark brown eyes, and a pair of teal hair twins; one boy and one girl.

"Okay. Let's start, shall we?" The orange hair teen said, "This girl here is Alexandra Atlas. Aka, Alex for short." He pointed to the blonde.

"That girl is Tsukina Yuna." Crow pointed to the jet black hair.

"This is Izayoi Aki." He pointed to the burgundy hair.

"Hitomi Akane. And that's her older brother, Hitomi Sho." He pointed to the scarlet hair and brunette respectfully.

"That's Akiyama Aoi." Crow pointed to the blue hair.

"And these two are Rua and Ruka Heartlily. As you can see, they're twins." Crow pointed to the teal hair twins. Everyone exchanged greetings to Yui, before the orange hair teen turned his eyes back to her. "This is our usual hangout spots, and you're free to hang out here whenever you want. So what do you say, Yui?"

The fourteen year old raven hair glanced at her brother and cousin, who smiled back at her, before turning to her new friends, "I don't see why not."

"Awesome!" Crow climbed up the bench and plotted a sit next to Yuna. Meanwhile, Yusei sat next to him, while Crystal took a seat next to Aoi with Yui sitting next to Alex.

"By the way, is Sho a student here by any chance?" Yui asked. "He kinda looked a little old to be one, no offense really."

Akane started laughing at that remarks, "Sorry about that. And no, my brother isn't a student here anymore. He just recently graduated."

"Got that right, little sis," Sho said, "I just work here as a substitute teacher at the same time, as a sponsor for a special dueling program."

"Wait. What kind of dueling program is it?" Yui asked.

Alex was the one to answer, "You know how these idiots started their own club, and excluded the members of whoever they either don't like or thought they were different." Yui nodded. "Yeah. See, before Sho graduated, he started his own club that are fit for any duelist around here, regardless of age and gender, and he benefited this program in order to help anyone around here, especially the ones with…special abilities." Alex trailed off the last word, sounding like she doesn't want to offend anyone by saying it.

Yui raised her eyebrow, "You mean, psychic abilities."

"Uh…yeah." Alex admitted. "Only the three of us here possessed that ability. That'll be Aki, Yuna, and Aoi."

"Oh…I guess that makes four of us now." The raven hair girl said, earning confused looks from the few people in the group. "I have one too."

"Huh. Really?" Aoi stared at her in interest, "No wonder I sensed that from you."

"Same here." Yuna and Aki nodded in agreements.

"Who's this little squirt sitting at my spot?" Yui turned around, only to be met by the death glare of a teenager who has the same hair and eye color as Alex's.

"I…I didn't know there's assigned seats especially at this place," Yui replied calmly.

"C'mon Jack. Just take another empty seat at the bench," Alex suggested, "Besides, she's new here anyway, so she doesn't know."

"Hmph." Jack scoffed and sat next to Yusei.

"Sorry about that. That's my brother, Jack." Alex said, "He can act like an arrogant jerk sometimes, but he's a really a nice guy to hang out with."

"So almost all of us became friends with each other at the Duel Academy, even Aki and the twins," I noted.

"Correct. But let's not forget your other friend there." Kyoko said, "You remember what I said about Kiryu living in the orphanage and Aoi's mom working there along with Martha?" I nodded. "Some of you went there to volunteer to take care of the kids, and it pretty much brought you guys a lot more closer."

The scene changed again, revealing the same orphanage that Martha owned and the one I remembered living in when I was little. Some of us (Yusei, Yui, Crow, Aoi, Kiryu, and myself) were playing with the kids happily while Martha and Aoi's mother stood aside by the doorway with the smiles on their face. It seemed to make it so much better, because I know how some of us really love kids, especially rowdy ones. The scene changed to white before Kyoko had to close the door.

"And that's it for this scene." Kyoko said. "There's more to come though."

"There's more?" I stared at her, questionably, "What's more to show? At least, everyone are really happy there."

"True. But things don't stay that way." Kyoko's face suddenly turned dark, "It was as Darwin quoted it. 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times'. You wouldn't believe how true it was once I show you the next scene. Because everything and everyone you cared for will dissolved, all because of death."

I froze. "Wait…who…who dies?"

The crimson hair stared at me sadly. "I can't tell you, but I can show you. Why not open the door next to you right there?"

I glanced to another door beside me and hesitantly opened it slowly, revealing another flash of white light to the next scene.

Author's note: HA! I put up a suspense for the next. Ah, let's see how will this turned out. I guess this will be a good time to tell you that the death scenes will appear in the next chapter...for a very good reason! Two, actually.

If anyone of you wonder what Chococat looks like, he's looks like the cat from my profile picture.

Also, Yoshi is not an OC. He's actually Crow's little brother from the 5D's manga version, and like the manga, he's suffering from a disease on his leg. And while the manga version implies that Crow was convincing Yoshi to undergo operation, I made it to the point where his parents couldn't even afford to pay for Yoshi's operation yet.

I guess that's enough explaining for now, but I hope you like it. And I also hope you'll read the next chapter once it gets updated.

R&R?