And with that we finally turn to the consequences of last chapter! Also Ghidorah gets his official debut at long last, hope you are excited for that one! Now without further ado, let's jump right into it again! Oh yeah, this chapter and the ending notes might contain a spoilers for Yugioh Vrains, forgot to mention that.
Chapter 3: The Six Dimensions
After a few moments, the king and his guards reached the lone duo standing in the hallway. The king was wearing an outfit similar to those of his children. It had an overall better look, which is understandable when looking at the hierarchy. He had white hair (which still possessed the same color from his youth by the way, he's just 56, so they didn't turn into that color because of his age) and frankly, he looked quite young for a man of his age. He had light blue eyes of almost the same color as his adopted son and despite that he had been running at full speed just a few seconds ago, his posture was impressive, fitting his title in every possible way. The most striking feature however, was the silver crown on his head that had a big sapphire in its middle. After a short break in order to catch his breath, he addressed Yuga. "Hey Yuga, we heard an uproar coming from here, so we ran straight to this hallway from the main tower. You must have been stopped on your way to dinner, so what happened here?"
"I'm glad you ask, dad, something interesting happened here indeed! But I doubt that you will believe me entirely, it's quite the bizarre story if you ask me."
"Bizarre? In how far?"
"Do you remember our discoveries during Project Amenotejikara?"
"Wait, do you want to tell me that...?!"
"Yes, father. There was an intruder from another dimension in this very hall just a few moments ago! And this cloak over there belonged to him!" He said, pointing at the clothing that Yuri left behind.
"Wait, other dimensions?!" Rexanus, the leader of the royal guards and also Yuga's best friend, exclaimed. "You mean like other worlds?!"
"Exactly!" The king firmly replied, shocking Rexanus and the other guards. "My science department discovered the existence of other dimensions around two years ago. Since then, my scientists worked to create a device that would allow us to cross dimensions in order to visit them. However, we lacked the final spark that carried us over the boundaries of our world, so we haven't managed to do that just yet."
"And how weren't we, the royal guards, the persons closest to you – apart from your children of course – informed about that?! Why did you tell Yuga about it, but not us?! What if otherdimensional intruders tried to attack you instead?! We could have prepared for such an assault if you told us, so why did you remain silent about that topic?!" Rexanus exclaimed, his voice filled with anger.
"I understand your point, Captain." The king answered. "However, the existence of other worlds was top secret and apart from me and the ones who discovered it, nobody was intended to know about the other dimensions. Well, Yuga was also informed because he will be the king in case anything happens to me. What would have happened if I told you about it, tell me? You would have probably mentioned it to you family and the other persons close to you. Then they would have told it to their relatives and friends and then the whole cycle would have just simply repeated on and on. Eventually everybody in this dimension would have known and then it would have been only a matter of time until this whole world descended into chaos. I was merely trying to prevent fear from spreading in this world, for the sake of my people!"
"I see. I guess I wasn't thinking this through entirely. I'm sorry for offending you, my king!" Rexanus apologized, bowing his head.
"Don't worry Rexanus, I understand how you feel." he reassured the guard. "Now then,...", He said, turning towards Yuga, "tell me more about that intruder, please!"
"Very well. He was about my age, had purple hair and came from the Fusion-Dimension, according to his own words that is. He said that he was tasked by a person called "The Professor" to abduct Shiryu and bring her to him."
"Oh is that so?!" The king replied, his voice barely containing his anger. "And what did he do in particular?"
"He sneaked into the castle and set up a trap in this hallway. When Shiryu was on her way to dinner, following me after she had insisted that I should go forward while she would come after me in a few minutes, he emerged from his hiding spot and charged towards her, trying to take her down before she could react. He would have probably succeeded, if I didn't went back to check on her that is. I intervened and threw him away from her before he could get his filthy hands on Shiryu."
"Well done Yuga!" The king proudly smiled at Yuga to thank him for protecting his daughter. "What happened then?"
"He explained his backstory to me and told me why he was after her. Oh, and he also engaged me in a duel!"
"You were dueling against a guy from another world?! I guess it were the sounds of that duel then that drew our attention. Your tattered uniform tells me it must have been quite the battle, so how strong was he?"
"Pretty strong to say the least." Yuga said while pressing a few buttons on his duel disk in quick succession. After a few moments, it started emitting a glow that enveloped him. When it faded away, Yuga's royal attire was back to normal. "God bless our Real Solid Vision!" He murmured to himself. Then he continued talking to Ghidorah. "If he was telling the truth, which I am inclined to believe, he had a 100 percent win ratio."
"HAD?" The king asked him, stressing the word. "So you defeated him, is that what you're implying here?"
"Yes father, I did indeed defeat him. He used a strange summoning mechanic though."
"A strange summoning mechanic?"
"Yep, apparently there are six dimensions, each of them possessing an unique summoning technique. From what I can tell, the dimensions are named after their respective summoning methods, since that guy was using something called Fusion Summon."
"Fusion Summon?"
"Yeah. Apparently it is a summon mechanic performed from the Extra Deck, just like my Chō Gishiki. To pull it off, you need a special spell card called "Polymerization". With it, you can fuse monsters from your hand or your side of the field in order to summon a stronger monster from the Extra Deck."
"Wait, how can you tell that you can also fuse monsters from the hand?" Shiryu exclaimed. "After all, he was just merging monsters from his field during your duel!"
"That's true Shiryu, however, I just simply looked up his card on my duel disk and read it when he played it. I'm able to do multitasking, you know?" He grinned at her jokingly, prompting her to giggle a little bit.
"So there's this Fusion-Dimension with their Fusion-Monsters, I see! Did he mention some details about the other dimensions as well?" His adoptive father continued.
"He did, actually. Apparently one of them is called the Synchro-Dimension, while the other one is known as the Xyz-Dimension. According to the scheme this probably means that there are Synchro and Xyz Summoning as well. Also he mentioned another dimension called Standard, which seems to have multiple summoning methods. However, he also revealed something pretty bad for us when he mocked me during our duel."
"What do you mean by that, Yuga?" The king asked.
"He said that Gishiki Summoning was a technique known in all of the dimensions. While the other methods are exclusive to their own respective dimension, with the exception of Standard having probably all of them, our mechanic is present in all dimensions."
"So you're saying those Fusion Bastards have access to our signature summoning mechanic?"
"It would appear so. Looks like we need to make a good plan if we intend to fight back against Fusion properly!"
"Wait Yuga, are you saying that you intend to wage war against the Fusion-Dimension?!" Rexanus asked in a shocked tone.
"Of course I do! They are the aggressor after all! They tried to kidnap Shiryu and from that freak's story it is likely that they already attacked the Xyz-Dimension!"
"Wait, they invaded another dimension already?! On what scale was that attack, Yuga?! Do you know any details regarding that Xyz-Invasion?!" The king asked in a concerned tone.
"Well, when that purple haired bastard told me about it, it sounded more like an all-out war than just a simple infiltration like this one right here. I suppose that Fusion intends to subjugate all of the dimensions in order to rule supreme over everything."
The surrounding people were shocked about that revelation, even some of the usually calm and stern guards started trembling in fear. Even the king lost his composure, sweat drops forming on his forehead. After a while, when everyone had calmed down a bit, the king continued with his questioning.
"I see. So I guess that the Gishiki-Dimension will soon have to enter the interdimensional war if they attack us as well. Did he say anything about the sixth dimension?"
"No, he just mentioned the number of dimensions, but not the sixth one in particular. There's one more thing about the stranger which I have to say though. It's pretty important as well."
"Then tell me about it, Yuga!"
"Very well then. That guy looked like..."
"That guy looked just like Yuga!" Shiryu exclaimed, not being able to hold back anymore. Once more the surrounding people showed a strong reaction, the shock clearly visible in their eyes.
"He looks… just like Yuga?!" Ghidorah stammered while looking directly into the eyes of his daughter.
She nodded. "Yeah, he does, he might have other eye and hair colors and come from another world, but his lineaments are exactly the same!"
"Is that true?!" The king addressed his adoptive son.
"Yeah dad, it is. And the similarities don't end there as well. He also possesses a dragon, just like my Bile Throat. It's name is Starve Venom Fusion Dragon."
"Starve Venom... Fusion Dragon?!" Rexanus stuttered, not wanting to believe that his best friend had a doppelganger with a dragon similar to Yuga's.
"And that's not all, my friends." Yuga continued. "Apparently that guy, Yuri, had to fulfill two similar missions to the one from just now in the past. And you never guess who in this hallway looks just like those two girls he kidnapped!"
"Don't tell me...", The king stammered, "… that they look like my daughter?!"
"They do! They are called Rin and Ruri, originate from the Synchro- and the Xyz-Dimension respectively, and share Shiryu's face as well. I guess a pattern is emerging here!"
"A pattern?" Shiryu asked her boyfriend.
"Yeah, think about it! Six dimensions, each of them containing one summoning method, dragons with a similar naming pattern that contains the respective summoning mechanic, versions of you and me, etc, etc."
"Right, now that you mention it, there seems to be a pattern indeed! His dragon was called Fusion Dragon and your Bile Throat's full name has its summoning method in it as well! So do you believe there might be a Synchro Dragon or an Xyz Dragon as well?"
"Most likely. But it doesn't end there, Shiryu! What about our counterparts? If there are two versions of me and three of you, there might be even more of us as well!"
"Six dimensions, six dragons, six Yugas?! Is this some kind of satanic enigma?!" Rexanus exclaimed in exasperation, visibly sick of the entire topic and just wanting to have a rest from all that dimension-stuff.
'You wouldn't be too wrong with that,' Zarc remarked from within Yuga's mind, 'some people might actually call me the devil!', smirking while saying those words.
"Also one more thing Shiryu, have you noticed that your bracelet was glowing brightly during my duel with Yuri?"
Shiryu gasped. Now that she thought about it, she could actually recall her bracelet shining when Yuga was fighting against the duelist from Fusion. She had neglected it because of her fear of seeing Yuga getting defeated and therefore herself being abducted by the purple haired boy AND of course since Yuga's dark persona resurfaced once more, stronger than ever before. But now that he mentioned it, she remembered that it was indeed shining in a light blue color, almost as if it was warning her about something.
"You seem to remember it, I suppose?" Yuga said while gazing upon his girlfriend's facial expression. "By the way dad, didn't you say you had no clue where that bracelet of hers came from?" He addressed the king.
"No, I actually have no idea how my daughter came into the possession of that bracelet, I only know she had it since her early childhood."
"More mysterious things, I see! Then it might be quite possible that it is connected to this dimension-stuff as well! Maybe her counterparts have such bracelets as well then! But since we won't get anything from just speculating, let's hear out someone who might have more information about it! Isn't that right, Dorian?" Yuga addressed the court musician standing behind the guards.
-"WAIT WHAT?!"- Everybody, except Yuga and Shiryu of course, exclaimed. -"Are you saying Dorian is related to this dimension-matter in some way?!"-
"I guess it's best to make it short and hear his side afterwards!" Yuga said. "Yuri, the guy I dueled against, said that Dorian was originally from Academia, the place where that Professor seems to reside. He was tasked to create sound based weapons for the incoming war against Xyz, but he fled to our dimension because he didn't want Fusion abusing his talents for their atrocities."
"It all makes sense now!" Rexanus exclaimed, realizing the same thing as Yuga did a few minutes ago. "This composition he wrote out of fear of that mysterious boy called Yuri, which he named Starve Venom after that person's dragon! He was from another dimension all along!"
"Is that true, Dorian?!" The king asked his court musician, shocked about the sudden revelation.
"It is, mylord. But I promise that I wasn't trying to bring harm to this world. I was merely trying to escape from that cruel place and its people who wanted to turn my passion into a weapon that was intended to assist the eradication of the Xyz-Dimension!" Dorian exclaimed while bowing his head to the king, his fists clenching and his voice filled with submissiveness as he apologized to the king, but also containing immense anger as he described his reasons for leaving Academia.
"I believe you, Dorian." The king said. "And just like I took you in as my court musician three years ago, I shall now grant asylum in this dimension to you!"
"Thank you sincerely, your majesty!" Dorian thanked the king while bowing his head even further.
"However..." The king continued.
Dorian looked up again. "Yes, your majesty?" He asked with a bit of concern in his voice.
"As a compensation, I want you to tell me everything you know about the Fusion-Dimension!"
"Yes, mylord!" Dorian eagerly responded, nodding with his head. "As a token of my gratitude, I'll gladly tell you everything I know! Where do I start with my story? Yeah, Leo's arrival might be a good point to start." He pondered. "I was born in the Fusion-Dimension, where usually nothing special happened, it remained like that for several decades. That drastically changed however, when a man called Leo Akaba arrived in our dimension. He brought Real Solid Vision to our world and quickly gained followers in the Fusion-Dimension. He then established a dueling school on an island, which he called Academia. There, he started training duel soldiers in order to invade other dimensions. Leo Akaba is also known as the Professor and basically the sovereign of our world, as well as the driving force in the interdimensional conflict. I was hired to work for Academia, an offer I accepted because I believed that I could help our world flourishing even further by working for the place that symbolized its progress. However, my initial enthusiasm vanished after only a few months, when I learned about Academia's true colors. At that place I also met Yuri, the psychopath who tried to kidnap our princess today. Around five years ago, I could already see how twisted and evil he was. He was probably being corrupted by the ruthless military education the Professor subjected all of his students to. He overshadows even Yuga and his dark side, because unlike him, he is never acting without any malice or cruelty. He is like an animal, only seeking its next prey, wanting to kill everything in its sight. He was even avoided by the other students, who feared him because of his power and viciousness. Because of the terror from my encounters with him, I composed Starve Venom, just as you said. Years later, when Leo tried to force me into creating weapons that cause the air to oscillate, immobilizing people who don't wear protective gear, I decided to leave the Fusion-Dimension in order to keep following my passion instead of witnessing how the Professor misused it for his gruesome wars! I then arrived here in this peaceful dimension and the rest is history I guess."
"Thank your for sharing your knowledge with us, my dear Dorian! I still have some questions though, would you mind answering them?"
"Of course not, mylord! Ask right away!"
"Very well then, what's the aim of Academia? What are they trying to accomplish with their war?"
"The Professor brainwashes his students with a story about the noble goal of uniting all six dimensions into one by conquering and assimilating them. However, I believe that he's just a megalomaniac who seeks world domination. Maybe he has more goals we don't know about yet, he's not the type of person to share a lot of information with his subordinates, so I don't know about them."
"I think you might have a point there,", Yuga suddenly spoke up, "and I also think I figured out some of those hidden plans already!"
-"WHAT?! How do you know?!"- Everybody exclaimed, shocked from the abrupt statement of the Gishiki Prince.
"Well, look at it this way: Why would the Professor send out one of his elite soldiers just to catch a single girl – THREE TIMES IN A ROW! There must be a deeper reason why he wants to collect those girls looking like Shiryu. Maybe that is even his actual objective, since he prioritized kidnapping Shiryu instead of just invading our dimension for his noble goal. Also one question Dorian, have you seen a girl looking like Shiryu in your dimension by chance?"
"I have, actually. I met her at Academia when I was still working for Leo Akaba. She is called Serena, has purple hair, green eyes and wears a bracelet just like her. It has a purple gem and a different design, but it seems to be of the same kind as the one Princess Shiryu owns. The Professor hid her away though and looked after her very carefully, isolating her from the outside world, so the theory of our young master might be correct after all." Dorian deliberated.
"I knew it! That confirms it for good." Yuga said while deliberating himself. "The Professor needs Shiryu, Serena, Rin, Ruri and the two other girls for his plans. They might even be the key piece of the sinister plans he's currently plotting inside his dark throne room in Academia. Anyway father, let's plan our next moves now!"
"Alright then Yuga! What are you suggesting?" Ghidorah replied.
"First off, we get going and eat dinner. I can't think clearly when I'm hungry!" He started walking towards the exit and the small group laughed at that remark, making them relax a bit from the previous, stressful conversation as they followed him. "Then we contact the science department and check whether the data we gathered from Yuri's little visit here was sufficient enough to complete our dimension traveling device. If that's the case, we use that new power to cross dimensions. I shall go and gather intel about the other dimensions and after that, we plan our next steps. Does this sound acceptable to you?"
"Why do you have to travel to the other dimensions all on your own?!" Shiryu exclaimed, concerned about the safety of her boyfriend. "There are surely other people who can do that instead of you!"
"That might be the case, Shiryu. But since you were targeted by them, this thing just became a personal conflict between me and the Fusion-Dimension!" She blushed at that comment, her face tuning away to prevent him from seeing it. "Also I'm the most suitable to infiltrate the other dimensions because of my current body condition, which helps me at espionage, and my status as a representative of our world, which helps me if I should clash with some officials. There's no one else who can do that apart from me, please just accept it! I will be fine and I guarantee you that I will return unharmed. I have to if I want to see your pretty face again, right?" He smiled at her after saying those last words.
"Okay then,", She finally admitted, her face bright red from Yuga's flattery, "you may scout the other dimensions. But you'll have to give me a really good kiss if you want my permission to leave this world!"
"That can be arranged quite easily!" He approached her in an instant and gave her a big smooch on her lips. She laughed and happily kissed him back.
'Despite all his confidence and seriousness, I sometimes can't help but find him absolutely adorable!' She thought while she continued kissing Yuga. 'I'm such a lucker that I was able to meet this guy!'
Meanwhile Ghidorah and the rest of the group were chuckling quietly while observing the young couple in front of them. 'Ah, young love!' The king thought, smiling at the sight of his daughter and adoptive son showing their affection towards each other. 'I hope they get more time for their relationship again when this interdimensional war is finally over. It would be a damn shame if they didn't! ' And with that, they left the hallway, slowly advancing towards the main tower.
Days later...
Shiryu was currently walking circles in the yard where she and Yuga were having the conversation right before Yuri had appeared. It had been three days already since her boyfriend had departed for his mission and she was quite worried about him, despite knowing that he wasn't the kind of guy who couldn't take care for himself. When the king's science department confirmed that the energy readings they had gotten from Yuri's arrival were indeed the missing piece for their device, they upgraded Yuga's duel disk and gave him a function that enabled him to cross dimensions. He had left soon after that, but not before he had reassured Shiryu once more that he was intending to return no matter what. That didn't prevent her from being nervous about the whole thing though. When she began yet another worried lap around the yard, she suddenly froze as she felt a pair of arms wrapping around her waist from behind. A person leaned forward to the side of her head and whispered in her ear. "Walking around in circles? You sure don't have much trust in my abilities if you do stuff like that. But I guess I'll take your concerns about me as a token of your love, so I'm not mad at you for being unnecessarily worried like that!"
She turned her head around leftwards, looking into the familiar face of her boyfriend. "Geez, don't scare me like that Yuga, for a moment I thought it was that creep again!"
"I'm sorry about that, guess it was a little bit tactless in consideration of the latest events." Yuga shrugged his shoulders.
"Don't worry about it, I'm not mad at you just like you're not mad at me for putting so little faith in you. I guess none of us is perfect, right? But anyway, I'm glad that you're finally back!" The both of them completely turned towards each other and their chests met in a tight, mutual embrace. "Did you have any difficulties or was everything going according to plan?"
"No, everything went just fine. I was able to gather a lot of information too, would you like to hear it? You would be the first in this world to get that kind of background-info about the other dimensions!"
"Wait, you haven't told father yet?"
"Of course not. I just arrived here and I decided to pay you a visit first. You should know by now that you always come first for me, no matter what! And since you will probably just tell dad everything that I will say to you now after I'm finished – like you always do –, it's not that big of a deal anyway!" They broke the embrace after that.
"I guess you are right with that. Now tell me about your discoveries, I'm genuinely excited about the other dimensions – inhabitants, summoning methods, looks, everything!"
Yuga chuckled about Shiryu's eagerness. "Well then, where do I start? How about the other summoning mechanics first! There are six of them in total, namely Pendulum, Synchro, Xyz, Fusion, Link and our Gishiki of course. While Pendulum, Synchro, Fusion, Xyz and Link are indeed special to their own dimensions, ours is actually common in every dimension. However, it seems to be an underdog in those places, since it is inferior to the normal summon mechanic of each world. Nobody in the five other dimensions seems to have Chō Gishiki though – lucky for us – , so I guess that was to be expected. I already had the assumption of that being the case when Yuri reacted so surprised to it during our duel, but now we know it for sure. The great exception to this rule is Standard, which has every summoning mechanic except Link."
"So that's about everything regarding where you can find each summoning method. Now I'd like to know about how to perform them, please!"
"Very well, my princess!" Yuga playfully bowed to her. "It will be my pleasure to do just that! Since you already know both Fusion and Gishiki – oh, and you can actually fuse monsters from your hand as well by the way – , I shall start with Xyz. Xyz-Monsters are cards of black color and are being placed in the Extra Deck like most of those methods. To pull it off, you require multiple monsters of the same level. Once you have gathered enough of those monsters on the field, you can overlay them to summon an Xyz-Monster from your Extra Deck that has a rank equal to the levels of its materials."
"Wait, overlay? What's that? And what about that rank-stuff?"
"A rank is like an alternate form of levels, if I had to describe it shortly. They are black stars on the top of the card, you know, where we have the levels of our monsters. Just imagine the red part of the level-stars being black, then you have a rough idea of how ranks look like. But in a duel, they are treated as something entirely else though. Effects that affect levels don't work on them, because unlike some people in Standard believe, having a rank doesn't mean having level zero."
"Okay, so do you mean cards like Burden of the Mighty or Gravity Bound don't work on them?"
"Exactly! Now about the other thing you've requested. Overlaying means stacking all of its materials on top of one of the monsters. Then you place the Xyz-Monster on top of he pile. The monsters beneath it then become the Xyz-Monster's Overlay Units. Before you ask what Overlay Units are, let me just continue my little lesson please! Xyz-Monsters draw most of their strength from their Overlay Units. To activate most of their effects, they have to detach those units – which means sending them from the pile beneath the Xyz-Monster to the graveyard. They usually have very powerful effects that compensate for their limited amount of Overlay Units. But when they run out of ammo, most of them become quite useless to be fair. Although there are cards that let you reattach materials to them, this seems to be one of their biggest weaknesses."
"Okay, that sounds quite interesting to be honest! How about Synchro?"
"Oh, good topic, because when I first saw some of those cards, I thought that they were the opposite of Xyz, so lets make an antithesis and continue with them, shall we? They possess a white color separating them from the black Xyz-Monsters. Despite the obvious difference in colors and their lack of ranks, they also share a few things though. The first of them being the importance of their materials' level. To put it simple, Synchro-Monsters are nothing but a sum of monster levels. You need a special kind of monsters called Tuners though."
"Tuners?"
"Yeah, monsters that possess this characteristic have the word "Tuner" printed on the card, just like our Gemini- or Spirit-Monsters. For a Synchro Summon you usually need one Tuner-Monster and one or more Non-Tuner-Monsters on your side of the field. Then you add up their total levels and summon a Synchro-Monster of that level from your Extra Deck by sending its materials to the graveyard. Just like Xyz, Synchro Summoning seems to have a few variations and hidden techniques, similar to our Chō Gishiki, but I wasn't able to gather concrete information about them just yet."
"That's okay, you aren't some kind of god, so you can't archive everything in just three days. Now what about Link?"
"Link-Monsters are dark blue like our Gishiki-Monsters and have, unlike both of the previous methods, neither a level nor a rank."
"Wait, what do they have then if they don't possess any of those?"
"They have a so called Link Rating. Let me explain, because their whole system of Duel Monsters is different because of that. There are five Monster-Zones, five Spell- & Trap-Zones and one Field Spell-Zone on their boards, just like we have. However, there are two Extra Monster Zones too, which are located exactly on the border between both players fields, above the second and the fourth Main Monster Zone respectively – or the second and the third if you count by the rules of summoning order. In those zones, Link-Monsters are placed. These monsters have a number of arrows on them, which can point to all eight of the traditional cardinal points. To summon a Link-Monster, you need a certain amount of monsters on your field. It doesn't matter what kind of levels these monsters have, the only thing that might play a role is the type of those monsters – Effect-, Normal- or other Link-Monsters for instance. When you've gathered the required number of monsters, you can send them to the graveyard to summon a Link-Monster from your Extra Deck which has a Link Rating – and therefore an amount of Link Arrows – equal to the number of monsters you used for their summoning. The Link-Monster then goes to the Extra Monster Zone of the corresponding player, which is the one above the fourth Main Monster Zone from that player's perspective. While Link-Monsters usually can't be placed in the Main Monster Zones, you are still able to get them in there. Because once you have a Link-Monster in your Extra Monster Zone, other Link-Monsters can be summoned in one of the five normal zones, if you have a Link-Monster with an arrow pointing to that zone that is. Even if the monster in your Extra Monster Zone is destroyed, you can still continue to summon new Link-Monsters from your Extra Deck. The only condition is having a Link-Monster with an arrow pointing to that Zone or a free Extra Monster Zone belonging to you."
"So swarming the field and creating a network of monsters pointing to most of the zones is the quintessence of Link-Monsters, is that what you're trying to say?"
"Absolutely! Also two more things: Link-Monsters don't have a defense position, which makes them pretty vulnerable against the Mirror Force-Cards for instance. Also cards that would put them into defense position like Book of Moon don't work on them, keep that in mind! Now for the second thing: You don't always need to send a collection of new monsters to the graveyard for a Link Summon. You can for example also sacrifice a Link 2-Monster plus another monster in order to summon a Link 3. Also there seems to be another mechanic called Extra Link."
"Extra Link?"
"Yeah, Extra Link. You know, normally a player can only use one of the Extra Monster Zones at a time, namely your one on the right hand side. But if you manage to build a chain of Link-Monsters pointing to each other – which is called Co-Link by the way – that goes all the way from your Extra Monster Zone to the empty Extra Monster Zone of your opponent, a Link-Monster can be summoned to that zone. Because some Link Arrows seem to be quite rare, however, you often need three or four monsters to fulfill that condition. But if you can pull it off, you essentially lock your opponent's Link Summon. If the enemy player doesn't have any Link-Monsters left on his field and your own Link-Monsters don't point to any of his zones, you essentially win the duel in that dimension by constructing an Extra Link, since without their signature mechanic, their decks often lack strength."
"Wow, that sounds really awesome! How about the last method, Pendulum, if I remember correctly?"
Zarc appeared in his spectral form at that and smirked. 'The last? By far not!' He stated with a knowing grin.
"Pendulum was only recently invented in Standard. Apparently a boy called Yuya Sakaki somehow managed to transform some of his monsters into those Pendulum-Cards during his duel against the champion Strong Ishijima. And you never guess how that Yuya person looks like!"
"Don't say that he is your Standard-Counterpart!"
"Ding-ding-ding, 100 points for Shiryu! Yes, he is, and he also owns a dragon like my Bile Throat called Odd-Eyes Dragon, an Effect-Monster. Well it used to be an Effect-Monster at least."
"Used?"
"You remember how I said he transformed his monsters, similar to how I transformed my normal Rituals into Chō Gishikis?"
She nodded.
"Well, now it is called Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, one of said Pendulum-Monsters. Similar to me he seems to be the only person who owns them, but I have a strong feeling that Standard's authorities are pretty keen on getting their hands onto those Pendulum-Monsters as well. They are a mix of monsters and spell cards – in terms of both artwork and effects. Apparently they have both a level in the normal spot, but also a Pendulum Scale beneath the card's artwork."
"Pendulum Scale? That sounds quite confusing to be honest. So what are they now, spells or monsters?"
"Both actually." Yuga calmly replied.
"Ehhhh?! But how?! This sounds pretty weird, not gonna lie!" She retorted in a confused tone.
"I'll explain it to you. Since you already seemed to understand Link, you should be able to understand Pendulum as well. Pendulum-Monsters are multi-functional. They can be summoned like any other monster, and in that case they also have effects like any other monster, you're with me so far?"
Shiryu nodded.
"Good! Now there's a second way to use them aside from summoning them like normal monsters. You can also place them into two special spell zones at the ends of your duel disk, just like the Link-Dimension has two additional monster zones, you understand what I mean?"
"Yes, I do. I guess you explained Link to me before Pendulum so I would have a comparison, is that right?"
"Yeah, I figured it would be easier to understand if I did it in that order. Now, those two spell zones are called the Pendulum Zones. While being in these zones, Pendulum-Monsters possess different effects from their normal ones. These are their Pendulum-Effects, which are printed on the card in a box above the normal effect box. As long as monsters are in the Pendulum Zones, they use these effects rather than their normal effects. But while having those Pendulum-Effects is quite nice at times, this isn't the main feature of the mechanic."
"So you mean there's more to these Pendulum-Monsters than just their two kinds of effects?!" Shiryu exclaimed.
"Yeah, a lot more in fact. You see, this is where those Pendulum Scales come in. Just like all monsters have a level, all Pendulum-Monsters also have a Pendulum Scale. When you place two Pendulum-Monsters in your Pendulum Zones, their full power is unleashed. Because then you are able to pull off a Pendulum Summon once per turn!"
"Pendulum Summon?! And how does that work, I have absolutely no clue from your previous explanations yet!"
"Don't worry, even its creator Yuya Sakaki needed some time to figure out his new mechanic, over 200 practice duels with his friend Gongenzaka in fact, so it isn't really a shame if you haven't guessed how it works within a few minutes, Shiryu!"
She smiled sheepishly at that remark. 'Guess I was expecting too much from myself again. I should probably just lean back and let him explain instead of trying to achieve everything by my own.' She then resumed to paying him attention.
"Allow me to teach you about it!" Yuga continued. "By setting the Pendulum Scale, meaning two Pendulum-Monsters in the Pendulum Zones, you are able to simultaneously summon a variety of monsters from your hand whose levels are in between your scales. So if you for example set a monster with a scale of one in your left zone and a monster with a scale of eight in your right zone, you can summon any monsters with levels from two to seven from your hand."
"Wait, summoning multiple monsters, even high level ones simultaneously?! Isn't that a little broken?"
"It is, and it doesn't end there! When Pendulum-Monsters are destroyed, doesn't matter if they serve as monsters or as spells at that time, they are placed face-up in the Extra Deck rather than going to the graveyard! What's more, they can be revived from there again by Pendulum Summoning, as long as the required scale is set of course."
"Monsters that are spells at the same time and can be both in the Extra- and Main Deck? That sounds pretty bizarre to be honest! But it also seems really powerful, since they can just come back over and over again!"
"Oh yeah, it sure is powerful. Pendulum Decks excel in sustained fights because of their regeneration abilities, yet they still have one deep flaw."
"A flaw? What do you mean by that?"
"Think about it carefully, Shiryu. You need two monsters to set your scale, and they need to have the right scale too, if you don't want to limit your possibilities. Then you also require fitting monsters in your hand. All these requirements thin out your opening hand, so if you go all-out against a Pendulum-Duelist early, you can easily overrun him before he gets his reviving cycle going. So my Bile Throat, which is an OTK-machine, can easily defeat Yuya for instance, especially since its absorption effect triggers before the destroyed Pendulum-Monsters go to the Extra Deck and therefore hard-counters them!"
"Wow, that's true Yuga. You've been analyzing all the other summoning methods parenthetically while collecting information about them. That's so like you, thinking about how you can counter your opponents before you even get to duel against them!"
"I guess that might be true, that's actually one of my habits. But because of the incoming war this might be useful though, so I felt like mentioning it."
"You're right about that one, I suppose. You never know when such things come in handy. Now tell me about the other dimensions, please! How do they look like? How do their inhabitants live? Since we're already on it, how about beginning with Standard?"
"Very well." Yuga replied. "The people in Standard live a happy, carefree life. In the place where I gathered my intel, Maiami City – which seems to be the Standard-Counterpart of our Gishiki City by the way –, the people enjoy dueling in their free time as they lead a quite peaceful and idyllic life. Their city is near the sea, just like ours, and possesses a modern look despite the several parks and green areas it has. It also has two rivers, which support the quiet and beautiful atmosphere even further." 'Since I have no idea about the connections of Reiji Akaba's Leo Corporation and the Professor's Academia yet, I will leave out that part for now!' Yuga thought. "There are several Dueling Schools that teach all the summoning mechanics except Link and the people in Standard developed a special type of dueling, so called Action Duels."
"Action Duels? That sounds quite entertaining to be honest! Tell me, how do they work?" Shiryu asked.
"They use Real Solid Vision to create special battlefields on which they duel, so called Action Fields. They can be castles, volcanoes, forests, everything really, no matter how bizarre it is. They run around on these fields with their monsters, which are tangible through Real Solid Vision, and interact with them in order to outsmart their opponents by being one step ahead of them. Special spell cards are scattered around the field at the start of the duel, so called Action Cards. These Action Cards can be picked up by the duelists and can then be activated to grant them certain benefits – or disadvantages, if they happen to pick up an Action Trap instead. While each player may only hold one Action Card at a time, they usually have strong effects that can save you from pinches when used correctly."
"Wow, that's really cool! I'd love to have one of these Action Duels someday! And I bet you would excel in those too, I mean, with your body condition, you could just dash around the field and collect those Action Cards with ease!"
"You're probably right about that. However, I still feel conflicted about the whole Action Duel-thing."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
"You see, Action Duels might contribute to the colorful and exiting lifestyle of Standard, there's no doubt about that and I like that lifestyle a lot as well. However, I feel like the existence of them has dulled their dueling skills a bit, always relying on Action Cards in order to save themselves from a tight spot. What if Fusion decides to invade Standard? These people, softened by their love for Action Duels, wouldn't even have the slightest chance if the were thrown into a real fight against the well trained soldiers from Academia!"
Shiryu gulped at that statement. "You mean... Academia is already planning its invasion on Standard?"
"I have no actual evidence about that, however, I have a strong feeling that Academia has already installed some agents in Standard to scout the dimension and collect information that might help to achieve their goal. But anyway, let's stop talking about that unpleasant topic. While I was observing my Standard-Counterpart, I stumbled across another quite interesting person!"
"Don't tell me you found my Standard-Counterpart as well!" Shiryu exclaimed in a shocked tone.
"Yeah, I did indeed! She shares your face, has pink twin tailed hair and wears a bracelet like you do. Her name is Yuzu Hiragi and she appears to be the daughter of the man who owns the Duel School that Yuya is enrolled to – so in a way the relationship between them is similar to ours, I guess."
"That's true. How about their behavior towards each other? Are they a couple as well?"
"No, from the looks of it they are just good friends." Shiryu started to sigh, but she was cut short by Yuga's next words. "However, they seem to have a huge crush on each other, they're simply too afraid or too proud to admit it to anybody, even though you can clearly see that they are in love with each other, even if you only spy on them for a couple of hours like I did."
"Wow, are all our counterparts like this?" She asked him sweat dropping.
"Since both Rin and Ruri are currently being held in Academia, I can't really tell you about their relationships to the Yu-Boys of their respective dimensions..."
"Yu-Boys?" Shiryu interrupted him. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Because all my counterparts' names seem to start with "Yu", I decided to create that term as an abbreviation. Whilst we're at it, I called your counterparts the "Bracelet-Girls" since you all possess one of those things. Can I now continue with my explanation?"
"Yeah sure." She scratched the back of her head, embarrassed that she had interrupted her boyfriend like that. He had surely done a lot of work within these last three days, so interrupting him mid sentence was kind of rude now.
"Thank you. And it's alright by the way, I know this is a lot to take in, so just interrupt me if you have any questions or something!" He offered to her.
"That's very nice of you Yuga! Now please continue your story!"
"With pleasure! Right, now where was I? Oh yeah, our counterparts, alright! Even though two of your doppelgangers were kidnapped by that freak Yuri, I could tell that both the Xyz- and the Synchro-Couple were pretty close as well. The Xyz-Couple – Yuto and Ruri – knew each other since quite a while. Yuto is also a good friend of Shun Kurosaki, Ruri's older brother. While their relationship was cut short due to Yuri being the giant asshole he is, they always seemed to be quite close in that regard as well, so I suppose you could say that they were like us in a way. My Link-Counterpart is a very calm and stoic person who doesn't show a lot of emotion, but I believe he likes his girl a lot as well, maybe even the most of them all. Yuri and Serena barely know each other, probably because of the Professor, so I think they are the exception to the rule. Now for the last couple, which I can only guess about as well: Yugo and Rin grew up in the same orphanage and from the stories I've heard about their childhood, Rin was always the more reasonable of the two who scolded him if he messed up something again." Shiryu giggled at that part. "Usually, she would punch him in the gut whenever he did something really stupid. However, they were still really good friends and cared about each other a lot, so I bet they have that kind of relationship as well."
"I see. So in a way you are indeed the strongest of all, since you had enough courage to confess your love to me so openly!"
"That's true I guess." Yuga laughed and gave her a brief kiss on the cheek. Shiryu blushed as a result and she continued the conversation a few moments later. "And what about the general atmosphere of Synchro? How is it like?"
"Let me answer your question with another question: Have you read "The Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels?"
"You mean that thing those German guys wrote around 150 years ago? Yes, I have, why do you ask?"
"Imagine the exact opposite of it, then you have a rough idea about the mentality in the Synchro-Dimension."
"Wow, that sounds horrible! Is it really that bad?"
"It is even worse than "that bad": Ninety-nine percent of Neo Domino City's wealth – that's the Synchro-Counterpart of our city by the way – is controlled by the Tops, the upper class that makes up only one percent of the city's population. The other ninety-nine percent of its inhabitants are called the Commons, who have control over the mere rest of one percent of the city's wealth. That class system counts for the whole Synchro-World as well, although it's a bit more open and fairer in the rest of that dimension. In New York for instance, the Commons control at least five percent of the city's wealth instead of just one like in Neo Domino."
"How is something like this class system still intact?! Haven't the Commons rebelled against the upper class yet?!"
"They have, quite often in fact. Unfortunately, the upper class also controls the executive and its henchmen, meaning the police works only for them. The Synchro-Dimension follows one simple rule: Win and rise to the top, or lose and fall into the bottomless abyss of despair. The poorer part of the population lives in dirty slums filled with nothing but filth, while the Tops enjoy their lives full of luxury and abundance in their penthouses and villas in the upper part of the city. If I were to call that system with one word, it would probably be "Capitalism³ ", because no matter where you look, everywhere things work according to that rule."
"Wow, that's terrible! That sounds like some next level dystopia-shit to me, not gonna lie! I know we also had our problems with poverty here in Gishiki City, but you already fixed all of those, unlike those Top-Snobs who hold the Commons down on purpose to maintain their power and their wealth! I can't help but feel angry when I hear that people in the ruling position abuse their power for their own sake like that! It just makes me furious from hearing it!" She clenched her fists, her teeth gritted, barely being able to contain her anger.
Yuga put a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. "I know why you feel this way, and I couldn't agree more with you. This system is deeply flawed and needs to be abolished instantly! Once we set foot into the Synchro-Dimension, we're going to change this system for the better! But for now we just have to deal with it. There are bigger problems than Synchro right now, you know?"
"Right, I almost forgot about Fusion already!" Shiryu said facepalming. "How about Link, how is that dimension like?"
"Link is a highly modern place, even more than our dimension and more futuristic than Synchro if you ask me. They might not have all those classic stuff you'd expect from the future and the atmosphere is more similar to Gishiki or Maiami City than Neo Domino. However, their progress in terms of technology is still unquestionably way higher than in any of the other five dimensions. They have a network called LINK VRAINS, which allows its users to dive into the virtual reality and duel there, similar to how Standard has those Action Duels. Around two decades ago, however, Den City and the rest of the Link-Dimension faced an overwhelming threat when a bunch of artificial intelligences developed in a place within that network called "The Cyberse". They continued to evolve on their own and threatened to take over the human world by manifesting there, trying to subjugate everything, kinda like in Terminator. However, they were stopped by a man called Ryoken Kogami, who formed a team to defend the world against the A.I.s – the Knights of Hanoi. They cooperated with the company which was responsible for creating LINK VRAINS – and therefore indirectly the A.I.-Threat as well. Because they were ashamed that their work was causing a worldwide crisis, the CEO of SOL Technologies, Akira Zaizen, decided to support the Knights of Hanoi with everything they had. At some point even his sister, Aoi Zaizen, joined them and together with her and the other members of the Knights, Ryoken Kogami was able to defeat the A.I.s in a war that took over two years and was fought in the VRAINS network as well as in the outside world – both with traditional weapons and artillery as well as with duel discs. Afterwards, they became heroes and up until now all of the Knights are still respected by the general public, the same thing goes for SOL Technologies, a now worldwide operating company. After that, SOL Technologies used the data it had gathered from the people that used VRAINS before and during the war in order to implement some of its features into real life. They developed special arenas where they could do Speed Duels, something they had tested in the VRAINS network before. These Speed Duels beat even the Riding Duels of Synchro in terms of flashiness, you can believe me with that. While the people of Synchro only duel on motorcycles, so called D-Wheels, the people in Link went even further. Just like in the Synchro-Dimension, they drive around in circular duel arenas. However, instead of motorcycles they use hoverboards for that. They glide on them on a circular track, a few feet suspended in the air, while dueling and sometimes doing a few tricks when they want to entertain the audience."
"Wow, dueling on motorcycles and hoverboards? That sounds really awesome as well, why do we just stand around when we duel?"
"Don't worry, only Link, Synchro and Standard have these kinds of dueling. The rest of the dimensions still does the same good old standing-around-while-dueling-stuff which you already know."
"Okay then, I guess our situation isn't so bad after all. Now then, we have two dimensions left! How about the rest?"
Yuga's expression turned dark at that question as he scowled. "Well, Fusion has this Academia you already heard about. It recruits people from all around the dimension and turns them into mindless slaves who help the Professor to achieve his sinister goals. The Professor rules the place with an iron fist and any disloyalty is severely punished. Any students that try to leave Academia or deserted it already because they have an actual brain and don't support its atrocities are either brought back to it, or, in harder cases, quickly eliminated."
"What do you mean by... eliminated?"
"When I first heard about the method, I didn't believe it to be honest. But that changed when I entered the Xyz-Dimension!" He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, nails digging into his skin. "They killed everybody, Shiryu!" He hissed. "THEY TURNED THEM ALL INTO CARDS!"
Shiryu was speechless, her eyes wide open in terror. "They turn people into cards?!" She slowly uttered while taking a few steps back, her voice barely even audible under her hand covering her own mouth in horror. "How is that even possible?!"
"Academia has a feature installed in their duel disks that allows them to card people once they defeat their opponents. You should know, Heartland City and the rest of the Xyz-Dimension was once an idyllic and peaceful place where people enjoyed dueling, just like currently in Standard. But that all changed when the Fusion-Dimension attacked. From the stories I heard, they arrived there one day out of thin air, summoned their robotic Ancient Gear-Monsters and attacked everything and everyone in sight. It wasn't long until Heartland was burning in the flames of the invasion. Because Academia mercilessly turned everybody into cards, no matter if they were duelists or just normal citizens, the Xyz-Dimension formed a resistance group to oppose the invaders. They were badly outnumbered, however, and quickly lost their comrades in the fierce battles. While some of them are still alive, the main fight is over now. The Resistance is just a guerrilla-group, only attacking when they see an opportunity. But usually the Academia soldiers are the ones who come out on top in the fights because of their sheer number advantage. They roam around in the ruins of Heartland and hunt down the last members of the Resistance and other Xyz-Survivors. The only exception to this rule is Kaito Tenjo, a self proclaimed avenger who lost his family during the war. He hunts down Academia soldiers and mercilessly turns them into cards. He once belonged to the Resistance as well, but he left it to wreak his vengeance against Academia. He is known under the synonym "The Demon of Revenge", mainly because of the summoning chant of his ace monster, Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon. Because he is on a rampage and daily cards students from Academia, the commander-in-chief of the Fusion-Forces in Xyz, Edo Phoenix, is trying to take him down since quite a while now, but they haven't managed to catch him yet."
"That sounds really messed up! I can't believe Academia could do something so cruel and inhumane!" Shiryu said, her voice halfway in between fear and anger.
"You are right, but you only heard about the situation from me. If you had seen it yourself, it would be a totally different story! THE XYZ-DIMENSION IS NOTHING BUT BURNED OUT BUILDINGS AND RUBBLE RIGHT NOW! EVERYTHING WAS TURNED INTO RUINS! THE SURVIVORS ARE STARVING TO DEATH AND THE STUDENTS OF ACADEMIA MADE A GAME OUT OF THE SUBJUGATION OF XYZ, DECLARING IT A HUNTING GAME WHEN THE ATTACK BEGAN! THEY EVEN COMPETE ABOUT WHO CARDS THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE! THEY LAUGHED LIKE MADMEN WHILE THEY TURNED INNOCENT PEOPLE INTO CARDS! THE SURVIVORS ARE SO TRAUMATIZED THAT A MAN ALMOST FAINTED FROM FEAR WHEN I JUST WANTED TO ASK HIM A FEW SIMPLE QUESTIONS! THEY ARE SO AFRAID THAT YOU CANNOT EVEN APPROACH THEM LIKE A NORMAL PERSON, NO MATTER HOW NICE AND CALM YOU BEHAVE!" Blood started dripping from his palms, his face twisted in sheer anger.
"Yuga..." Shiryu said, concerned about her boyfriend because of his outburst.
"I have made up my mind, Shiryu! For all their atrocities and their terror, Academia has to pay dearly! They carded everyone, destroyed Xyz, tried to take you away from me! Those deeds cannot go unpunished! I shall go to the Fusion-Dimension once more, march right into Academia and take revenge for all the horrible things they have done!" He turned away from her at those words.
"Wait Yuga, you don't have to go that far! I know this kind of behavior is inexcusable, but you don't have to put your life on the line just for petty revenge!"
"I have to do this Shiryu! It's not just for you, but for all the innocent inhabitants of the Xyz-Dimension as well! Even though I'm not from their world, I still feel responsible for them and their deaths cannot be in vain just like that! I have to avenge everyone now, and while I'm at it, I will carry the very same thing to Academia that they've brought to Heartland and its citizens before!" He said, the last sentence in a mysterious, sinister tone.
"The very same thing? What do you mean by that?" She asked him.
He chuckled. "Isn't it obvious? Technically it is already official by now! But I'm going to personally announce it to the Professor and his servants, to confirm it formally as well! What I'm planning to declare is… WAR!" His eyes widened at the last part while he turned around to her, gazing at her with an eerie look as he uttered the fateful word.
"War?! But that will trigger a conflict of interdimensional scale!"
"Doesn't that conflict already exist because of the Professor yet? I merely tell him that our side is entering the battle as well!" He retorted.
Shiryu gritted her teeth. 'Damn it, he's right! But still...'
"I will go there and devastate everything, take revenge for all the lives these bastards took! I will give them a taste of their own medicine!" He announced.
From his look, Shiryu could clearly tell that she wasn't able to change Yuga's mind about his plans anymore. "But please try to hold back at least!" She pleaded. "I don't want to see you giving into your dark side again!"
"I can't really promise you anything,", Yuga said while walking away with an emotionless expression, "but I will try at least. Tell father about the things I've just explained to you. I'm going to leave shortly!"
"Oh Yuga,", Shiryu said in a worried tone full of concern, "this war is really taking a toll on you!" He walked away farther and farther until he vanished from her sight completely. "I hope the people from Fusion won't suffer too severely from your wrath!"
A few hours later, Yuga was entering the throne room. Ghidorah heard him coming and turned towards him.
"I've heard about the news from Shiryu. Good job on gathering intel about the other dimensions!"
"Thank you, father!" Yuga replied politely.
"I also heard from Shiryu that you are planning to take revenge on Fusion. Is that true?"
"It is, father! For all the things those bastards have done already, they will have to pay the price now!"
"I understand your rage well. I myself am still furious about their attempt to abduct my daughter!" His fist clenched and unclenched a few times, displaying his own desperate fight to maintain control over his feelings. "You may go and wreak revenge on Fusion. But much like my daughter, I ask you to hold back."
"I can't promise you anything either, but I will try to."
"Fine! I give you one day for your operation starting now. I shall await your return, my son. Go and take what you will!" He said, giving his adoptive son permission to fully unleash his wrath.
He bowed to the king for a second, then he turned away from him and pressed a few buttons on his duel disk. A blue portal opened up, in which he stepped into. When it disappeared, Yuga was nowhere to be seen.
Academia, Fusion-Dimension...
Leo Akaba, also known as the Professor, was annoyed to say the least. He was currently walking down the hallways of Academia because he heard a couple of weird noises coming from there. His best soldier, the undefeated Yuri, had failed on his mission in Ritual, which exasperated Leo incredibly. 'I will probably have to resort to more extreme measures if I want to get the girl from Gishiki. Oh well, where there's a will, there's a way.' He continued walking down the floor of the Academia hallways. 'Strange, why aren't there any students in the hallways? They should have a break right now, so why is none of them here?' He took another step and heard the sound of his foot stepping onto water. 'Huh, why is the floor wet like that? This is getting weirder and weirder!' He turned around the corner into a hallway on the right hand side of the previous one. Not even a second after doing that, he stumbled over something right at the edge of the corner, making him fall to the ground. "What the..." He began. ( 3; reference) His words were cut short by the realization about what he stumbled over, however. As he turned around, he gazed into the dead eyes of one of his students. He wore a yellow jacket – therefore he was a Ra Yellow, one of his mediocre students. He had black hair and leaned on the wall of the hallway. The most striking thing about him, however, was the big hole in his chest, almost as if he was pierced by a giant claw or something. When he turned around to the opposite direction, he saw other students as well. His eyes started widening. The shocking thing which they all had in common: Everyone of them was either lying on the ground or leaning against the walls in a similar position and neither of them seemed to be alive. Leo's mind needed a few seconds to process what he had just seen. But once the realization hit his brain, he started hyperventilating. "Impossible! It can't be! It can't be! It can't be!" He whispered in fear, getting a little bit louder with every repeat. Leo continued to advance through the hallway, the fluid on the ground turning out to be blood. As he alternated between looking left and right, he caught sight of piles of dead students, wearing jackets of all kinds of colors – blue, yellow and red -, stained with blood and a mysterious green liquid. Some of them were pierced like the first student, others were covered with the green fluid which cauterized their faces, arms, torsos, everything that came in touch with it really. As he looked closer, he saw that a lot of them had bite marks all over their bodies as well, most of them missing one or more limbs, which seemed to be bitten off. Some really unlucky ones were even chopped in half along their waistlines, separating them in two halves, a sight not the least bit pleasant to behold. The floor was stained with pools of blood which had formed around the corpses. The smell was unbearable, a stench mixed of blood, the caustic fluid and decay rose into his nostrils, almost causing him to vomit as a result. "No, it can't be! IT CAN'T BE!" He cried out. Leo looked to his left and saw another body lying on the ground. The body of the young man abruptly ended at the shoulders. He thought he spotted the corresponding head a few feet away from it, but he didn't dare to look more closely out of sheer horror. As he turned left into the main hallway, he encountered several dozens of new corpses, killed in a similar fashion than the previous ones. Much like in the previous hallway, there were also scratches on the walls and the blue carpet on the floor was torn in some sections. Some parts of the hallways were seared as well, a few flames still burning brightly. "No, impossible! Who could have done something like that?!" He was barely able to keep up his composure, to not empty his whole stomach from the terrors unfolding before him. Slowly, he approached the great gateway leading to his throne room. He noticed that the right door leaf was partially open and entered the room through it. While doing said thing, he had to look to the right side of the throne room, where he saw a figure kneeling on the ground. When he recognized who it was, his eyes widened even further. "Wait Yuri, what are you doing here?! What's going on?!"
The addressed person turned to him, his forehead full of sweat. "S-sor-ry Profes-sor,", He began weakly, the exhaustion clearly visible on his face, "we tri-tried to stop this madman who attacked Ac-ca-de-mia, b-but we were not str-strong enough to take him do-down!" He coughed up some blood while saying those words.
"We?" The Professor turned around towards the left side of the throne room to see his other special student, Serena, kneeling on the ground in a similar fashion to Yuri. She didn't seem to be injured to Yuri's degree, which relieved Leo because he needed her for his special plan. However, he couldn't really say that she was in good shape either, having a few minor cuts and bruises and being exhausted just like Yuri. She looked at him with a face filled with nothing but exhaustion, disappointment and frustration.
"I'm sorry Professor, I was trying to get your acknowledgment by taking down that guy, but I wasn't good enough to defeat him! I'm ashamed to be so useless in times of need! I will except any punishment you deem worthy for my failure!" She slowly uttered. Suddenly a voice called out from in front of Leo.
"Oh, don't worry Serena, you're not the one who's being punished today! The person who is going to pay is the man next to you, Leo Akaba, the Professor of Academia!" Leo slowly looked up while approaching the stranger with the pace of a snail, his eyes widening with every word the unknown voice said. "After your little attempt to disturb the peace of my dimension, I decided to go to this place and take my revenge on you and your henchmen. I defeated the little servant you sent out to my world once more, along with that girl right there." The man told. Leo's hyperventilation intensified once more, increasing with every step he took towards the throne. "For now I shall stop with my punishment. But remember, that for every further try to harm my world, I will repay you tenfold!" The Professor finished fully raising his head and looked upon the figure. It was a young man of about 14 years, casually sitting on his throne, his legs resting on the left armrest. He was wearing royal attire and had a big emblem on his chest, which depicted a white "G" within a blue rhombus, which had silver dragon-like wings attached to its sides. Behind the throne, a giant blue-grayish dragon was lazily lying on the ground, its head poking forward on the right side of the throne. The dragon raised its head a bit to allow its master to pet it. Suddenly Leo's view was superimposed with another image. The Professor saw another young man within his mind, a man a few years older than the one before him, who had white hair and sat on the debris of an enormous stadium. He also petted the head of a dragon in a similar fashion, a red colored dragon with dichromatic eyes. Leo's eyes widened further while returning his attention to the stranger. The boy stroked his dragon for a while before turning back to Leo. "Tremble before our power! Greetings from the Gishiki-Dimension...", He started while smirking, his facial expression slowly twisting into a malevolent grin, eyes turning into slits and glowing dark blue. Leo collapsed onto his knees.
"...SAIKYŌ!" He finished.
NOTES:
And there it is guys, another chapter done. First there's some fluff (aren't Yuga and Shiryu adorable together?), then followed up by some horror as Yuga brutally kills some Academia students (they deserved it though). We get an overview about all the dimensions and Yuga travels around to do stuff. Also Leo has Vietnam... er, I mean Zarc-Flashbacks. Oh yeah, the third note appeared. The last scene is basically just a giant reference to Re-Zero Episode 14, so I put the video into the playlist for comparison (the reading of Rem's letter is equivalent to Yuga's little speech by the way). It was just a perfect inspiration and since it is also the most prominent Theater D-scene in a the show, I couldn't help but include it in my story. You find it in the usual spot. Ah right, the violence in that part is one of the reasons why I wasn't sure about the rating, but I wanted to describe the massacre quite vividly. Don't worry, something of that scale won't appear again anytime soon. Oh yeah, remember how I told you that "the Strongest/Saikyō"-thing will happen again? Looks like it did! Yuga uses it to assert some dominance by making it clear which dimension is superior, further emphasizing the fact that he just took out dozens of Academia students.
Also about the backstory of Link, I had to change a few things from the Vrains-canon since Yusaku doesn't exist in this story. The Knights of Hanoi got a promotion from the villains to the heroes and Revolver became the saver of the world since the A.I.s are indeed evil in this story (And if you are saying "NO, you can't do that, they are so cute, friendly and appear as not the least bit evil even once in the original series!", then you clearly haven't watched Vrains Episode 12 carefully enough where Ai freaks out after Yusaku wins against Revolver, transforms into a Cyberse-Abomination, bites off one of Revolver's arms and almost kills his Vrains-Avatar in attempt to gain Revolver's data or whatever Ai wanted to do with him had he been allowed to. That thing looked pretty scary, not gonna lie! Also, late edit, Vrains Episode 68 just came out today. And guess what Lightning declares? That he wants to take control over humanity alongside Windy and the others Ignis, getting rid of them eventually! Evil, I tell you, even with their defensive motive of protecting themselves! In here, they are just even more evil, so making them the antagonists in the Link-backstory seems fine to me). Oh right, Akira also got a promotion. From the Security Manager of SOL Technologies to its CEO (all people higher in the hierarchy of SOL Technologies like the Queen and the other people who use chess pieces as their code names don't exist in here by the way). So in a way, he's the Reiji of the Link-Dimension now, I guess. But after all, they did such changes of history and circumstances with all the other dimensions as well, so it is pretty normal that I also did it with Link, I guess. I also had to change some of the rulings because of Link, since I can't keep them like they are IRL in an Arc-V fanfiction (because how the heck is everybody getting Link-Monsters? It's just super weird and boycotts all other dimensions if they need Link-Monsters to have more than two Extra Deck-Monsters out at the same time). Also there's a rule that says you can only use the Extra Monster Zone on your right, alongside the old summoning order rules (or not rules, rather the way Yu-Gi-Oh games are coded most of the times). We will get to those rules and the Link-Dimension in a few chapters!
In the next chapter Yuga continues his raid in the Fusion-Dimension. As always, review and comment please, any feedback is welcome!
Until next chapter,
Haoh Ryu Z-ARC out!
