Hello! Back for the third chapter! Hope everyone likes this so far. Big thanks to my beta Angryboy13. I also made an edit to the deck above, putting the trap Magical Hats in the deck...got it memorized.


Chapter 3: Refugees from XYZ

Last week had been hell. After beating Sora – which always made me feel better when I thought about it – I had tried to get back on Yuya and the other's trail. The problem then arose when I made several wrong turns and made the resident robins my new mortal enemies. The only positive thought that came from that was that these bastards don't sprout multiple arms...wings...whatever.

Anyways, after starting a war with those flying varmints, I finally made it to the Leo Institute...only to find that somehow Sora had gotten back up, made his way ahead of me, and found Yuya, Yuzu, and the little brats from the junior league that follow the two around – I don't really remember their names. The only thing that was left at the dueling field was a knocked out Sylvio and his buddies.

So, I had to re-think my plan. Unfortunately, my backup plan involved trying to go meet Declan Akaba. Which had...less than favorable results.

"Look, I need to speak to Declan Akaba. It's a matter of life and death."

The security guys I was speaking to looked at each other, back to me, then back at each other, and then back to me.

"Look son, we know who you are."

"Trust me mate, you have no idea who I am."

"We know you're one of Mr. Akaba's various fans. You probably want an autograph or something. I mean, what else would someone like you want with someone like him."

Noticing the tone in their voices, I cocked an eyebrow. "The hell do you mean someone like me?"

"Just look at yourself."

I looked in the polished glass of the Leo Institute and had to admit to their point. The past few weeks had not been kind to me. My hair was untamed and dirty, my clothes had various stains and holes (fucking birds!), and I looked like a bum.

Hell, I could see the stink lines coming off me.

All in all, I was the poster boy for the stereotypical teenage bum.

One of the guards must have noticed my surprised look and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Look son, there's a shelter a few blocks down. Should be some vacancies and maybe they can contact someone from child services for you."

I opened my mouth to reply – I had a rather nice one about the man's sunglasses – when a light bulb went off in my head.

"Actually, sir that would be nice. Do you have a map to spare by the way...I'm kinda new to town and don't really know my way around?"

The guard nodded and went inside, coming back out a few moments later with a tourist map of the city. Handing it to me and pointing out where the shelter was, the guards once again, politely asked me to leave.

Turning on my heels, I left. Smiling at the map the whole way.

[Remember to use line breaks]

I did end up going to that shelter, where I was blessed with a change of clothes, a place to shower, sleep, and eat. I also convinced them not to call child services and let me stay there for a few days.

"Welcome to M.E.A.L. young man." A tall man in a nice black business suit said as he approached me. "My name is Martin. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Yes sir." I responded. "You see I'm new to Maiami City and I don't really have a place to stay - "

"Say no more,"

Rose his hand, interrupting me.

"M.E.A.L exist to help those who need help. That includes having a roof over one's head and food to eat. In your case, I suppose a shower and a change of clothes would be necessary as well."

Putting his arm around my shoulder, Martin began to lead me to an elderly woman who was putting chairs out in front of an old TV.

"May, a moment of your time?"

The lady turned around, revealing an old, caring face with kind green eyes. "This young man is new to Maiami and doesn't have a place to stay. Do you know if we have any vacancies available for the near future?"

"Let me check," May said before heading off in the direction of the kitchen, coming back a few seconds later with a clipboard in hand. "As a matter of fact, we do." Smiling first at Martin, then at me, May gestured for me to follow her.

I followed the king lady into the back, a flick turned on the lights and what I saw puzzled me. It was the picture perfect example of a super janitor's closet, there was a box of gloves arranged in color, a bin of various cleaning supplies, and much more. However it was also supplied with a washing machine and dryer. Wait, they couldn't possibly want me to become their maid?!

Oh well, it can't be that bad.

Aside from maid duty, I also had to help keep some of the other people company and such. In return Martin and May pointed me in the direction of the docks, where I went almost every day, messing with my deck, picking up new cards from workers there, and looking around. Since Plan Akaba was down, I was gearing up for Plan XYZ.

Originally, I had wanted to go to Declan Akaba, explain what was going on with me, and basically spill the beans on the entire story. Barging into a rich school and demanded to meet the CEO really wasn't a good idea now that I think about it. Back to the important parts, I was hanging around the docks waiting for the right visitors.

And here they are now.


(With Sora)

In his own opinion, Sora Perse lived a simple life. The life of a soldier – and a damn good one. He followed his orders, he turned people in cards, he invaded other dimensions, and he ate lollipops. Hell, ever since he could remember it, his life had been simple.

He had gone to Duel Academy, excelled as a Fusion Duelist, excelled in the physical fitness program, excelled in the technology program. But Sora never thought of these accomplishments as anything out of the norm – he had always been smarter, stronger, better than kids his age.

"Except for...him,"

A flash of purple running through his head, a shiver crawled down his spine.

However, the past few weeks had been anything but simple. The Professor had sent him to this dimension – dubbed Standard by the man himself – on a mission:

•Infiltrate the Leo Institute

•Learn their secrets

•Locate the girl with the silver bracelet, Zuzu Boyle & watch over her

After arriving in the Standard Dimension, Sora knew something had gone wrong. Instead of being sent in the vicinity of the Leo Institute Sora was instead sent to the middle of the city.

Not understanding what had gone wrong, Sora proceeded to make his way to the Leo Institute when something caught his eye. It was Zuzu Boyle, walking alongside some kid with tomato hair and what appeared to be a peacock disguised as a human.

Sora had done a double take when he saw the face of the boy near Zuzu. It looked exactly like him. The face...the eyes... alone the resemblance to that monster made Sora nervous.

However, orders were orders, so Sora followed. The peacock had stated loudly that they were going to Leo Institute and, Sora saw it, he could wipe out two birds with one stone.

At least that's what he thought.

While following Zuzu and the others, Sora noticed that someone was following him. And not very well either. Leading the person to a back alley away from the main group, Sora had confronted the stalker. The kid was around his age and tried making some excuses before revealing who he was. A survivor of XYZ.

Sora's rage ignited, remembering the humiliation at being played by that punk. He had assumed that the kid was a nobody, just some XYZ trash that he could deal with in his sleep. Instead, the kid's deck had been quick and efficient, countering his combos and making him waste his cards. If he just had a better hand then the kid would have already have been a crumpled card in a trash can.

But he learned. Sora knew that the kid wasn't some dueling prodigy, just some lucky punk.

"I won't be happening again, never." Sora thought darkly as he followed Zuzu into an abandoned warehouse. "The next time I see Jonathan White nothing will stop me from turning that punk into a card!"

Speaking of carding, Sora knew that something was wrong in this city. He had been at the You Show Duel School when the students from the Leo Institute had shown up. During that time two events struck Sora.

The first was something he had already seen coming: Declan Akaba knew how to Pendulum Summon and had developed his own Pendulum Cards. All of that was to be expected, seeing as how Declan was the Professor's son. Hell, the Professor had ordered that no one should EVER engage Declan Akaba in a duel.

The other news, however, unnerved Sora. Someone was going around and carding teachers from the Leo Institute. While Sora couldn't care less about those teachers, he was concerned about the possibility of a rouge Duel Academy student. It had happened before and said student's either went one of two ways: they went to that underground Duel School back in Fusion, or they broke – mentally that is – and began to card people at random while hopping dimensions.

After checking with the Professor – who admitted that, as of now, there were no other agents in Standard aside from him and Dennis – Sora became more and more apprehensive about being outside for too long. He was confident in his skills and knew he could handle nearly everyone he came across, but if someone was good enough to hurt him...Sora just didn't want to be asked a million questions by people (mainly Yuya's mom or Yuya himself) about how he got those injuries.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Sora looked around the place Zuzu brought him to. A normal warehouse on the docks, but something screamed out to Sora. A lifetime of being trained to be a soldier had installed a soldier's danger instincts in the pintsized duellist. Said instincts were now screaming 'DANGER!'.

"Sooooo what do you need Zuzu?"

"During my duel with Julie I... well. I was destroyed, utterly. I want to change that, to be able to stand and fight with the best of them and in order to do that, I need to evolve my dueling so I did my research and it turns out my deck supports Fusion so Sora, can you please teach me how to Fusion Summon?"

Sora looked at the pinkette with interest. He could understand why the girl would want to get stronger – she was weak, the duel against that fake fusion duelist had shown Sora that. But when he looked into her eyes Sora could tell it was more than that. He saw a fire burning inside of Zuzu, a fire that told him that no matter what; Zuzu would be a duelist capable of standing alongside Yuya.

"What the hell. It won't hurt anyone and if it makes her stronger it'll be easier to keep an eye on her for the Professor."

"I can do that. But I'm going to need you to listen to me every step of the way. In order to fusion summon like I can, you need to follow my directions to the letter."

Whatever Zuzu was about to say was cut off as a figure moved into Sora's peripheral vision and leapt. Their Duel Disk powered up with the blade coming down on Sora.

Spinning on his heels, Sora managed to turn his own Disk on quick enough to block the incoming figure, causing him to come to halt, deadlocked with Sora.

"Now things become interesting."


(With Jonathan)

I was hidden behind a pair of shipping crates, peering out from behind to confirm that Sora and Zuzu had gone into the warehouse. Knowing that two rather noisy duelists would be following them soon, I began to run into the warehouse, ducking behind a few crates to keep myself hidden.

"Sora will you please teach me to fusion summon?"

I nodded to myself as everything I remembered was falling into place. That meant that Yuto would appear-

BZRT!

Right about now. While Sora was deadlocked with Yuto, I snuck around to be behind Yuto, waiting for the right time.

It came running through the front of the warehouse in the form of Julie Crystal, the Fusion Summoner from the Leo Institute. If my memory served me right, she was currently looking for the guy who caused her professor to 'disappear'...oh right, that was Shay. Gonna wanna talk to him about that, can't just have him violently lashing out at civilians.

Shaking my head, I watched as Julie pulled out her own Duel Disk, the orange bar light up.

"No time like the present,"

I ran out from behind the crates, running full tilt at Yuto.

My movement caused the assembled foursome to look at me with mostly shocked expressions – except for Yuto and Sora, the latter of who looked really, really...really pissed. Making my way over, I stood behind Yuto, before raising my left arm and activated my Duel Disk.

The two girls looked at me nervously before Julie decided to speak out. "Who are you? And are you with this guy?"

"Heartland."


(Yuto's POV)

This day was getting frustrating as the stranger it got. First, all my efforts to find Shay were in vain. Then I find that girl who looks like Lulu – Zuzu – talking with someone from Duel Academy.

At that point, I attacked the boy, to prevent him from corrupting the young girl. However he stopped my surprise attack, unfortunately. Which means I have to duel one of Duel Academies stop soldiers without backup Thank's a lot Shay.

Then another girl comes in demanding an answer about someone being carded – Shay's work no doubt. I was going to take them both on, THANK'S A LOT SH-

THAN another duellist ran out from behind. He stood beside me and activated his Duel Disk, but something was wrong.

On top of the fact that the assembled girls looked confused as to which this kid was, the Obelisk Force flunky looked pissed at seeing the guys face. That told me that whoever he was, whatever his origins, he was neither friend of Duel Academy nor these two. Then the boy opened his mouth.

"Heartland."

Heartland. That one word stopped my heart beat. My home...my destroyed home. My mind ran through possibilities after possibilities about how that kid knew about Heartland City. Was he a native I had never seen? Was he a Duel Academy spy? Was he a turncoat? The possibilities grew and yet each new answer seemed as unlikely as the next.

What happened next was a blur. Zuzu's bracelet glowed and I began to feel...tingly. Like a string gently untangling from a knot. The boy grabbed me before I could turn around, I was gone.


(Jonathan's POV)

The thing about teleportation is that it's not all the same. When Dr. Blue transported me, it felt like I was being torn apart, atom-by-atom. With this though it was more...gentle. Like hard pasta turning soft. Another thing to keep in mind was that my first two teleport left my mental state completely aware of the travel. In other words, I could consciously feel my very essence traveling through time and space to reach the desired destination. With this it was instantaneous. Honestly, I'm writing that off as Ray being much less of an asshole than Manhattan.

Looking around, I noticed two things. One was that I was on the roof of a building staring up at the Leo Institute Tower. The next was...oh shit!

Yuto was showing me just how much he appreciated my actions earlier by lifting me up by the collar. To make things worse he walked forward while carrying me until my entire body was hanging off the edge of the building.

Looking down then back at Yuto, I tried to lighten the mood by doing what I do best: sarcasm.

"You know, I've always wanted to go bungee jumping."

CRACK

Quick as a flash, Yuto had punched my face.

"Ahh! That's my eye!"

"The rest of your body is going to go splat if you don't tell me who you are and how you know about Heartland."

Yuto demanded Zarc's anger was defiantly inherited.

"Hey man take it easy! I'm on your side." I exclaimed, waving my hands frequently.

"Talk, my arms are getting tired."

Gulping, I tried thinking about what to say next before Yuto lost his patience and I ended up like a crushed tomato.

"Ok soooooooo...I'll only tell you when Shay Obsidian is here to listen."

Wait, that was a stupid thing to say. Shit! Me and my big ducking mouth. I wonder if Dr. Blue allows second chances?

Yuto seemed to stiffen and pulled me face to face.

"If you're lying then it would be better for me to take care of you now. Because if Shay knows you're lying-"

"Yeah yeah I'll become a damn trading card, I get the picture,"

I said before smirking.

"But if Shay and yourself want to find where Lulu Obsidian is and how to defeat Duel Academy then you're gonna need me alive."

Yuto's eyes widened at the mention of Shay's little sister before pulling are back onto the roof and dropping me down. I breathed deeply while clutching my throat, all the while ignoring Yuto's pointed glare. Turning to face the still glaring eggplant, I nodded in appreciation.

"Don't go thanking me just yet. We still need to find Shay."

"That's easy." I said while spinning my finger around. "He's on one of the rooftops looking at the Leo Building."

Yuto's glare turned flat.

"You do realize every rooftop in this city can see the tallest building in all of Maimai?"

"Oh...well do you have any better ideas?"

The pointed stare I received told me everything I needed to know.

"Ok, then I guess it's the old-fashioned way."

Yuto didn't bother to respond, simply pointing a finger behind me. Quickly turning around, I saw a figure in purple dropping down from a nearby building, landing in a crouch in front of us. The figure had a dark red scarf covering the lower half of his face, while his eyes were covered by a set of goggles, which did nothing to hide the glare clearly aimed at me.

"Ahhh...mission accomplished Yuto." I said, trying to mask the nerves that climbed my body.

"So now that everyone's here why don't we get down to business and -"

"I heard everything,"

Shay cut me off while striding over towards me, stopping a few inches from me, his form towering over me like an obelisk. "I heard you mention my sister and that you know a way to save her."

"Yep, and I actually-"

"There is only one reason that I can think of why you would that."

Shay interrupting me again while poking my chest rather hard.

"You're a Duel Academy agent, aren't you!"

Shay's accusation rang out through the air affecting the three of us differently. Yuto raised his arm, preparing his Duel Disk. Shay... I couldn't really tell what was going on in that head of his. Couldn't see his facial movements or anything, though I imagine he was glaring at me.

As for myself, well...

"HAHAHAHAHAH!"

After getting over the shock of Shay's accusation, I began to snicker, which soon turned into a full out laugh.

"Oh boy, you think I'm a Duel Academy spy! That's rich coming from the guy who's going around concealing his identity and turning people into cards!"

I shot back at Shay, who stiffened for a moment before grabbing me by the collar and pulling me closer to his face.

"What was that?!"

My shit eating grin seemed to intensify.

"Sorry was I not clear? You go around hiding your face, challenging the innocent people of this city to duels, and then card the loser. That sounds oddly what the Obelisk Force would do."

The two of us continued to stare at each other, neither one backing down. Eventually, Shay dropped me on my butt than walked over to Yuto and beginning to quietly discuss something. Climbing to my feet, I waited for the two to stop talking, while also trying subtly prep my Duel Disk for a fight.

A few minutes later the two looked back at me, both still glaring, before Shay removed his glasses and lowered his scarf, his yellow eyes bearing down on me like a raptor...huh that worked for him.

"You have 10 minutes to tell us everything we need to know about Lulu. If you don't -"

"I spend some time as a card?" I guessed cheekily.

Shay's eyes narrowed even more. "No. Worse."

That was it. All he needed to say was that one word. That one word was enough to fully convince me that if I didn't tell them the truth, or even if they didn't like what I was saying, I would most likely end up dead. Like the 'Do not pass go, do not collect $200' type of dead.

I gathered my memories of the ploy, most them camerather swiftly – especially those about Lulu and Yuto. Taking a deep breath, I stood up and looked them both in the eye – which was hard given that the one of mine was beginning to swell.

"Now please listen to everything before asking questions,"

I take a deep breath.

"All of this-" I said while gesturing around. "-this dimension, your dimension, the Fusion Dimension. None of that existed. Not until two decades ago only one dimension existed. This dimension was like this one, as well as your own, except for one key difference: all three summoning methods - Fusion, Synchro, XYZ – all of them were used by the duellists in this Original Dimension. There was one duellist that had mastered all the summoning methods. This duellist was named Zarc, and he was well on his way to becoming the Number 1 duellist in the world. But then Zarc went mad. Driven insane by the bloodlust demanded by the crowds who watched him duel, Zarc used the technology of his universe and became a monster. In a rampage, Zarc tore through his dimension, destroying everything in his path. Hundreds died, both in attempts to stop Zarc and in attempts to run away."

Taking a breath, I looked at the faces of the two in front of me, which displayed disbelief at the news that their dimension wasn't real.

"Fortunately for the world at large, there were two people who had the bravery and intelligence to combat Zarc's new power and form. A girl named Ray and her father, Leo Akaba."

Shay's eyes widened in anger his mouth opening – most likely to call bullshit on that – when Yuto put an arm in front of him, stopping him.

"Not now,"

The taller teen to back off, a scowl still on his face.

Nodding in gratitude, I continued.

"Leo Akaba used his intellect to create four cards. These special cards could be used to defeat Zarc. Leo intended to use the cards himself – a move which required one to sacrifice their own person for the greater good. However, Ray, who went on to use them she, stole the cards from Leo's lab. In doing so, she separated herself and Zarc into 4 beings each – 4 girls for Ray and 4 boys for Zarc, each fragment carrying a piece of Zarc or Ray's being. In order to prevent Zarc from ever coming back – by way of reuniting the four fragmented boys – Ray made sure that one of her fragments would always be near one of the boys."

Stopping again, I looked at the two XYZ users. I could see that Shay was lost, or he didn't care, I really couldn't tell. Yuto, on the other hand, was putting the pieces together, with horror dawning his face.

"I'm assuming the two of you can connect the dots from there."

"Not really."

Shay's scowl never leaving his face.

"In fact, all you did was tell us some fairy tale. Am I really supposed to believe that Leo Akaba wanted to save the world? Or that there was this demon who - "

"I never told you about Zarc's ace cards." I said cutting Shay off.

"He wielded 4 powerful dragons, known as the Supreme King Dragons. He had one for each method of summoning: Fusion, Synchro, XYZ, and Tribute. These dragons were purified by Ray and sent with each of Zarc's components, in order to keep those cards apart as well. These purified cards are known as Odd-Eyes Dragon, Starving Venom Fusion Dragon, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon, and-"

"Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon."

Both Shay and I looked at Yuto, who was looking down, his face unreadable. "That's what you were going to say right?"

I nodded. "That's correct. Yuto...you are one of the components of Zarc. And if my memory is correct, you've also met the other avatars of Zarc."

Yuto didn't respond, too immersed in what I could only assume was an existential crisis. Shay, on the other hand, was more...annoyed. "Is there a point to this story?"

"Use your head Shay." Yuto said quietly. "He wouldn't be telling this story if it wasn't both true and relevant to the situation."

I nodded. "Yep." I thought about what needed to be said next, before choosing the third route: Fuck It.

"So Yuto is one of Z-Arc's components and Lulu is one of Ray's. Any questions?"

That comment seemed to really set Shay off something fierce, as one moment he was standing in front of me, vibrating with rage, and the next...

"AGGGH! THAT'S MY EYE!"

...Well let's just say it was going to be a long night.


Cut!

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. If you liked the way this is, go click the name at the top and read other works of mine. Also, big thanks to Angryboy13, my beta reader.

TheSaintsFollower, signing out.