"You did that on purpose!"
"So what if I did?! Clearly you slipped up, so I technically won!"
"Oh, look who's talking! Your dragon doesn't even fit in with your overgrown weeds!"
"How dare you call my graceful Predaplants weeds!"
Yuri and Celina sounded like they were arguing about a duel they recently had. Ever since Zuzu's revival, the two have developed this heated rivalry with each other. You would think that Zarc and Ray splitting and the dimensions merging once again would bring new changes to everyone; as it turned out, there were some things that remained the same, and the Fusion duo's rivalry was one of them.
In the midst of yet another argument, Yuri took out Violet Flash from his deck. Celina saw the Spell card and, becoming angrier than she was, yelled at him not to teleport while she "talking" to him. In response, the cabbage-haired Fusion user simply gave her a deadpan expression as he activated his Spell card and teleported away. A frustrated and annoyed sigh escaped her mouth.
"Why do I even bother?" Celina muttered to herself, frustrated at Yuri once more.
Meanwhile, Yugo and Rin have recently become roommates with Crow and Shinji and all are living in an apartment/garage next to a watch shop called Poppo Time. Right now, they were working on a new Duel Runner, with Yugo on the driver's seat and the others checking the laptop to see how well the new engine was running.
"You might want to go easy, Yugo," Crow advised.
"No way!" Yugo happily exclaimed, accelerating even more. "I wanna push this baby to its limits!"
"Crow's right," Shinji said, checking the computer. "There's a slight possibility it might-"
BOOM!
The entire apartment/garage interior and everyone in it were covered in black smoke from the engine overloading. Rin yelled at Yugo for doing something as reckless as that. He was very lucky that it didn't suffer too much damage though; otherwise, they may have ended up buying a new one. For now, they'll just check it and fix any impairments it suffered.
Just then, a bright light unexpectedly appeared, almost blinding everyone in it. The light vanished to reveal Yuri, who had apparently teleported in here in the motorcycle engine's aftermath.
Yugo wasn't happy to see Yuri again. "Oh great," the Synchro Duelist said. "Did you have another fight with Celina?"
"You say that as if it's a bad thing," Yuri remarked. "I simply enjoy getting Miss Celina irritated."
Aside from that, Yuri mentioned about how he technically won a duel against Celina and how she had the nerve to call his Predaplants weeds. Even though he usually gets bored with long arguments, teleporting away is his favorite because it irritates her even more. He even managed to sneakily take her ribbon out of her hair earlier in the week they were separated. At this point, Yugo was starting to get a little fed up with his antics involving Celina.
"For someone who hates Celina, you sure like talking about her a lot," Yugo remarked.
"Almost like you have a crush on her," Shinji added.
"What?!" Yuri asked. "I do not have a crush on Miss Celina!"
"Kinda sounds like you do," Crow pointed out.
Yuri kept denying that he harbors any feelings for Celina and they are just rivals. Rin pointed out how some people who have crushes on someone tend to act harsh around them; in other words, she was telling him that he may be a tsundere. He was backed into a corner on this discussion thanks to her indication. She wasn't wrong about what tsunderes do yet he knows he wasn't in love with Celina. His opinion was final and nothing else was going to change that.
"Are you sure?" Rin asked.
"Of course I am certain!" Yuri insisted.
Rin let out a sigh. "If you insist," she said. "But try recalling what she looked like when you took her hair ribbon."
"Oh, that's easy," Yuri said. "She…" He was unaware of a small blush appearing on his face. "She…"
Yugo, Rin, Crow, and Shinji easily noticed Yuri's blush on his face. She really got him on that one. The Synchro Duelist with Clear Wing's eye color was having some difficulty suppressing his laughter.
"Stop laughing, you moron!" Yuri exclaimed. "It's not my fault Miss Celina looks too pretty with her hair down!"
Yuri instantly covered his mouth with his hands, realizing what he just said. Yugo ended up falling on the floor laughing his butt off while the rest of the Synchro crew had "called it" faces, especially Rin. She even threw out a fist bump to Crow with her left hand. As of now, the Fusion user was at his wit's end and took out his Violet Flash card again to teleport out of the apartment/garage.
"Oh man, that was too funny!" Yugo exclaimed.
Rin smirked in satisfaction. "'Bout time he got some payback for kidnapping me."
Before anyone knew it, the same bright light flashed in front of their eyes as an embarrassed and mad Yuri teleported out of the apartment/garage, leaving the Synchro crew the only ones left. Seeing that they were still covered with some black smoke from the engine mishap, they all decided to wash up before resuming with working on the Duel Runner.
Back with Celina, she was still annoyed about the fight she had with Yuri. She figured she would talk to Lulu to help try and calm down. She took out her Duel Disk and opened up the webcam app to call her, only to find out the XYZ user was at the spa. She was getting a facial, based on the mask on her face with cucumber slices on her closed eyelids, and some robots were giving her a manicure. She even had curlers in her hair and was wearing a robe.
"Uh… Lulu?" Celina asked. "What are you doing?"
"The Kastles invited my family to a grand party tonight," Lulu explained. "The richest people from Heartland are attending, so I have to look my best."
"So how are you holding your Duel Disk?" Celina asked.
"Lillybot is holding it for me," Lulu answered. "I know she's one of the older models, but she's still pretty useful."
"Lillybot?" Celina repeated.
Lulu's Duel Disk turned around to have the webcam briefly aim at Lillybot's face. Celina waved "Hello" at her as Lulu explained that this bot used to be her nursemaid at a young age. The Fusion girl was interested by this information until something struck her mind. Was her XYZ counterpart even at the spa? She immediately asked while the thought was still fresh in her head.
"Where are you?" Celina asked.
"The spa room in the family household," Lulu answered.
This initially shocked Celina, but she shook it off since she should have known Lulu lives with a wealthy family. Celina told her that she wanted to talk to her about Yuri and their most recent argument. She mentioned about the bickering on who made the bigger blunder during a round of Duel Monsters and how he teleported away with his emotionless expression yet again. She admitted that she could honestly care less about where he went off to.
"Normally I would say those are the signs of a crush, but this is Yuri we're talking about," Lulu said. "He's the worst."
"I know," Celina agreed with a groan. "That jerk thinks he knows everything!"
"Not to mention he's as ugly as his personality," Lulu added. "Have you seen his tacky choice of fashion?"
Celina nodded in response to her question. She also noted about the Duel Academy students combined having a better fashion sense than him and Lulu couldn't agree more. If she was going to be honest, this rivalry seemed to be more like an enemyship because most rivals at least know when to tolerate each other. She even confessed that she would rather hang out with Sylvio because he isn't as sociopathic as Yuri despite having the same nobility.
"Oh, really?" Lulu asked, intrigued. "Do tell."
"Sylvio is a pretty decent guy," Celina admitted. "His dueling style is fun to watch and I wouldn't mind facing off against him in a sparring session."
Lulu was pretty excited to hear that. "Sounds like you have a crush on him."
Celina blushed upon thinking about that possibility. "I'm not sure," she replied. "We never really got to spend a lot of time hanging out, but I wouldn't mind getting to know him more."
Lulu smiled wide. "Lillybot, contact Sylvio and tell him to visit the southeast park," she instructed.
"YES MISTRESS LULU," Lillybot replied.
Southeast park? That's where Celina was currently at. She asked Lulu what she was doing and the dark-purple-haired girl responded that she's helping her Fusion counterpart get a chance to connect with him. In other words, a date is being set up for the two. This surprised the indigo-haired girl; she never thought about going on a date with Sylvio. After Lillybot made the contact, she said he'll be heading to the southeast park in about 15 minutes. Still smiling, Lulu thanked the robot and reminded Celina to get herself ready—nothing too fancy, just brushing her hair and a few touch-ups. She wished her good luck before the two girls ended the webcam conversation. Here's to taking a breather from Yuri, Celina thought.
Meanwhile, Yuri had teleported in front of a random restaurant, still humiliated and angry about what happened back at the apartment/garage. It wasn't his fault he likes Celina having her hair down. Besides, people can like someone without having romantic feelings for them, right? …Right? A few minutes later, he encountered Sora walking by with a cherry lollipop in his mouth.
"Hiya Yuri," Sora said. "What's up?"
"Do you mind?!" Yuri snapped. "I'm not in the mood to talk!"
"Yeah right," Sora said. "You're clearly upset about something."
"Those Synchro Duelists humiliated me!" Yuri ranted. "How dare they accuse me of having romantic feelings for Miss Celina!"
"Do you?" Sora asked.
"Of course I don't!" Yuri exclaimed. "But it's not my fault she has beautiful hair!"
This was very weird. Everyone knows Yuya, Yuto, and Yugo harbored feelings for Zuzu, Lulu, and Rin. Why on earth would a group of Synchro Duelists believe Yuri had a crush on Celina? It's not like they assumed he does have one because you know everyone says about "assume"… Never mind about that; what really matters is Sora may have an idea on how to cheer his Fusion friend up.
Sora proceeded to take out his Duel Disk and started typing. "What are you doing?" Yuri asked.
"Sending Dennis a text to meet me at Card Craze," Sora answered, referring to a local card store that originated in Domino City. "You're welcome to come."
"No thank you," Yuri said.
"Are you sure?" Sora asked. "There's a new booster set featuring Fusion cards."
This appealed Yuri a little. As a Fusion user, it never hurts to find the right monsters that correspond with their Fusion monster, whether it is special summoned with Polymerization, Super Polymerization, or any other Spell cards effects like Fusion Gate. He also had occasional thoughts about finding other cards to come up with new strategies that work with his Predaplants, maybe even trying to get new Predaplants to include in his deck.
"Fusion cards?" Yuri asked.
"Yeah," Sora innocently answered. "I'm hoping to pick up some Fluffal or Frightfur monsters, but there's a possibility that the set could include some new Predaplants."
What do you know? Great minds do think alike. Yuri depicted which Predaplants were available at Card Craze, and after checking his deck, he may have figured out which ones he hasn't gotten yet.
"Very well," Yuri said. "I accept your offer."
"That's the spirit!" Sora cheered. "Hopefully there are still some booster packs left for sale."
Sora and Yuri then headed down the street to head to the card shop and meet Dennis there. It never hurts to spend some male quality time, so maybe that's what Yuri may need: hanging out with his Obelisk friends for a few hours.
Back at the southeast park, Celina had finished getting ready for her date with Sylvio. With a little over five minutes left, she walked towards the park entrance to wait for him. As she stood there, she tried to relax about the argument from earlier today. Yuri was always thinking highly of his cards, and not every blunder was done on accident; even if she did slip up, he was the one who set her up like that on purpose. It was executed rather well, but it still doesn't change the fact that everything he does annoys her. Seeing it was for his own amusement, it was working. He was constantly winning at these emotional games, trying to find the right buttons to push. She sighed and figured spending some time with Sylvio can relieve any stress she has.
Before long, she spotted a figure walking down the sidewalk. Speak of the devil; it was Sylvio. Based on the time it was, it was safe to say he arrived on time. "Celina," the Dueltainer said. "What a surprise to see you."
Celina smiled a bit, happy to see a friend again. "I know," she said. "We haven't spoke to each other for a while."
"And yet so much has happened to us," Sylvio said. "How are things going for you?"
"Pretty alright," Celina answered. "I'm glad to have my body back. While I didn't mind having someone to talk to, I didn't like being forced to spend time with Yuri."
"I can't blame you," Sylvio said. "He did unintentionally help destroy the dimensions."
"I really needed a break from him," Celina said. "He's been on my nerves for a while. Every time he duels, he deliberately acts annoying!" She let out a sigh. "Sometimes I wonder if he does that on purpose."
"Well I know what might cheer you up," Sylvio said. He proceeded to activate his Duel Disk.
"You want to duel me?" Celina asked.
"Certainly," Sylvio replied. "My dueling style is all about entertaining the crowd. And who knows? Maybe I'll entertain you as well."
Celina took out and activated her Duel Disk as well. With fierce determination in her eyes and a smirking mouth, she was ready to duel against Sylvio. It was nice to finally take a breather from Yuri and bond with not only a member of the Lancers but a friend as well. With the shout of "Let's duel!" from the two, the duel had begun.
After an unseen coin toss, Sylvio was given the honor of deciding who went first. "Ladies first," he simply said.
"Very well," Celina said. She checked her starting hand. "I'll start things off by setting the Pendulum Scale with Lunalight Wolf and Lunalight Tiger!"
With Celina's Scale 1 Lunalight Wolf and Scale 5 Lunalight Tiger set, she can now summon any monsters between Levels 2 and 4, which she did by Pendulum Summoning the Lunalights Black Sheep, Purple Butterfly, and White Rabbit.
"I see," Sylvio said. "You're mixing things up."
"Indeed I am," Celina said. She set a card face down. "But don't worry. You'll see Cat Dancer later on."
Elsewhere, Yuri and Sora were both nearby Card Craze. The candy-loving teen directed his cabbage-haired friend to follow him around the corner; the card shop was only a few buildings away from the street corner. He changed his directions to turn right at said street corner and the two ended up reaching their destination. To their surprise, Dennis also showed up by going a different way. It only delayed him by a few seconds, but it didn't matter.
"Yuri?" Dennis asked. "You came too?"
"I needed a break from Miss Celina and Sora bribed me with the possibility of getting new Predaplants," Yuri explained.
"So Sora told you about the new booster set," Dennis concluded.
"Yep!" Sora cheerfully said. "You interested in it too?"
"Not today," Dennis replied. "I'm actually thinking about switching decks. The Performage cards aren't really my thing."
"True," Yuri agreed. "XYZ is not a good fit for you."
Fortunately, the Card Craze employees are skillful at choosing an archetype based on a Duelist's personality, ideals, and which special summoning technique they're experts at. This greatly comes in handy when the customer wants to exchange their old deck in favor of a new one. The Fusion trio walked through the shop's double doors to see how busy it is. So many people were heavily invested in getting the new booster set.
"Wow!" Sora exclaimed. "There's still a lot of booster packs on sale!"
"I'm not sure if we could afford a lot," Yuri said.
"Relax," Sora said, taking out his Duel Academy student points card. "Cards are on me. Take as much as you want."
Dennis brought his Performage deck to Customer Service for exchanging. Not long after that, one of the employees scrolled through a list of archetypes on the computer, examining each one to conclude which one is a best fit for him. They eventually settled on Shaddolls, an archetype primarily consisting of DARK monsters—having searching and field advantaging Flip effects and advantage regaining second effects after being sent to the Graveyard—that center around the special summon restricting/punishing El Shaddoll monsters.
As for Yuri, he was having a hard time figuring out where the Predaplants would be, especially since how crowded the place is. Another employee assisted him in maneuvering through the crowd and brought him over to one of the booster sets. He asked the cabbage-haired teen to show him what kind of cards he does have based on the archetype. After some thorough searching, he gave him a booster pack that contained the Predaplants he doesn't have. Yuri looked to see Sora getting some booster packs as well. The only difference is he was having an easier time handling the crowd.
Several minutes later, after the cards were paid for, the trio were walking down the street, checking out what they have purchased.
"Frightfur Wolf…" Sora read. He checked the card's stats. "Not bad. This should give the Obsidians a run for their money."
"Well I'm happy with my new deck," Dennis said. "These Shaddoll monsters are a better fit for a Fusion Duelist such as myself."
"What did you get Yuri?" Sora asked.
Yuri opened his booster pack, checking the cards he got. "Let's see…" he said. "Predaplanet, Mark of the Rose, Miracle Fertilizer, Battle Fusion…"
As Yuri was skimming through, he stopped at a card that he couldn't take his eyes off. It was a Fusion monster called Predaplant Chimerafflesia; not only were its stats very useful, the card's illustration was what really piqued his interests. He became extremely happy that he pulled out a "beautiful" creature from the booster pack. No doubt Chimerafflesia would make a nice addition to his deck.
"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed, peaking up to see the card. "That's a secret rare! Nice pull!"
"But look at the artwork!" Yuri praised. "I have never seen such a finer specimen! A fine addition to my lovely Predaplants!"
"Why do you like Predaplants?" Dennis asked. "We have been friends for years, yet you never explained why you like those particular cards."
"Because no one else wanted to duel with them," Yuri explained. "Whenever the other students bought booster packs, any Predaplants they received were thrown into garbage cans. But I was able to see the beauty in them, so I retrieved every Predaplant that was discarded and constructed a deck with them. It just happened to be coincidental that Starving Venom works so well with them."
But deep down, he knew the true reason why. As a kid, no one at Duel Academy wanted to duel him because of how powerful he was. They feared him so much that he was left alone, from stepping aside to not approaching him, but he didn't mind. He enjoyed defeating his opponents, but his skills and talents resulted in him not having any friends before meeting Leo, Sora, and Dennis. To Yuri, his Predaplants were his first friends because they were regarded as outcasts by society and he saw the beauty and strength the cards and the cabbage-haired Fusion user respectively had in each other, which was why their chemistry proved essential during the Interdimensional War.
After a few seconds of silence, Yuri cleared his throat. "So, shall we see if Leo can let us test our new cards?" he suggested, wiping away any possible tears on his face. "This Mark of the Rose Spell card seems fitting for my dueling style."
"Certainly, Yuri," Dennis agreed.
"Alright!" Sora cheered. "To Duel Academy!"
While Yuri, Dennis, and Sora went off to visit Duel Academy, Sylvio and Celina's duel was about to reach its end. "Not bad, Sylvio," Celina remarked. "But let's see how you'll do once I beef up Lunalight Panther Dance with Crimson Fox and Kaleido Chick!"
Celina activated Polymerization from her hand, allowing her to fuse Lunalight Panther Dancer with Crimson Fox and Kaleido Chick to Fusion Summon Lunalight Leo Dancer. Suddenly, her En Moons marking started glowing on her forehead, in which Sylvio noticed.
"Again…?" Sylvio mused to himself.
"What?" Celina asked.
"Nothing!" Sylvio lied. "Carry on!"
"Alright," Celina said. "By equipping the Spell card Mystical Moon to Leo Dancer, her attack points increase by 300, allowing me to destroy your Superstar and ending this duel!"
With an increased ATK of 3800, Leo Dancer attacked and destroyed Abyss Actor - Superstar, bringing Sylvio's LP to 0. At the same time, Celina's marking stopped glowing once the duel concluded.
"What a wonderful duel, Celina," Sylvio said, approaching the Fusion Duelist. "But I couldn't help but notice your forehead glowing whenever you fused your monsters."
"My forehead…?" Celina asked.
"Yes," Sylvio said. He proceeded to move Celina's bangs aside, revealing her marking. "What's this?"
"Oh, that?" Celina asked, referring to her marking. "I got it after Ray was separated the second time. Leo said it's based on the symbol of En Moons, the Natural Energy Card that 'created' me."
"How interesting," Sylvio remarked, his hand slowly moving from Celina's forehead to her cheek. "And it seems to glow whenever you Fusion Summon."
Sylvio was right; since En Moons "created" Ray's Fusion reincarnation, it would make sense for her marking to glow when she Fusion Summons a monster. Seeing how the Natural Energy Card ends with "Moons", it also means the glow only happens when she uses the Lunalights archetype. Does that also apply with Zuzu, Lulu, and Rin when they perform their respective special summons with their archetypes?
Celina was going to have to answer these questions for later because she couldn't help but blush as Sylvio caressed her cheek. There was something about him that she couldn't stop thinking about; he had a similar nobility-like personality as Yuri, but he generally acted more gentlemanly and charming based on his looks and mannerisms. She became convinced that she may have started developing a crush on him.
"Sylvio…" Celina said, still blushing. "Would you like to eat lunch with me?"
"Hmm?" Sylvio questioned.
"I want to discuss dueling styles with you," Celina explained. "Maybe you could be a better rival than Yuri."
"Certainly," Sylvio answered. "I do hate seeing such amazing dueling talents from a beautiful girl go to waste." As he said that last line, he carefully untied Celina's hair ribbon and placed it in her hands.
A realization popped up in her head almost as fast as—if not, faster than—when she developed her first crush. She may have found a good match in Sylvio. Yuri was never this kind to her and their constant bickering was a sign that they would most likely try to strangle each other. As for Sylvio, he seemed nicer and was interested in cherishing their dueling rivalry. With this in her mind, the two left the southeast park to look for a restaurant to have lunch.
Meanwhile, the Obelisk trio were at Duel Academy testing out their new cards. Leo had given them permission to do so after hearing about the Card Craze booster set sale that was going on. At the moment, they were currently dueling out in the schoolyard in a Battle Royale style.
"Go Frightfur Wolf!" Sora exclaimed. "Tackle that flower!"
"I activate Mark of the Rose!" Yuri replied. "By Banishing Predaplant Flytrap from my Graveyard, I shall take control of Frightfur Wolf, protecting my darling Chimerafflesia from harm!"
"And I chain that with the Trap card Shaddoll Core to protect my life points and allow me to Fusion Summon a new monster during my next turn!" Dennis added.
The three were all having fun dueling each other. Even back then when they were still enrolled in Duel Academy, they had Battle Royales with each other and reveled in the entertainment they brought to one another. Now here they are, in the newly-revived Original Dimension, having an enjoyable duel with each other at the school they all attended. It was just like the old days.
"I see you're having fun as always."
The three former Obelisk Force soldiers noticed Leo had arrived. "Professor Akaba!" Dennis exclaimed. "What is it?"
"I couldn't help but notice how in-sync your dueling is among yourselves," Leo said. "Maybe your skills would work better in a team."
"A team?" Sora repeated. "I don't think that's tournament-legal."
"Until now," Leo continued. "I just got off the phone with Declan. He informed me that after speaking to the Vanguard Association, he decided to host a Team Duel Tournament in a few weeks."
"Vanguard?" Yuri repeated in disgust. "You mean that cheap Duel Monsters rip-off?"
The Vanguard Association is a company that's best known for the Cardfight Vanguard card game. The people who play said game are called Cardfighters. They have a heated rivalry with Duelists about which card game is better: Vanguard or Duel Monsters. Yuri calling Vanguard a rip-off is understandable because Duelists believe it is mimicking the Duel Monsters playing style and Cardfighters are being delusional due to them claiming Cray (the planet that's featured in the franchise lore) is a real place. On the other hand, Cardfighters claim that the Duelists are uncivilized due to having a lot of cards other than basic monsters. All things considered, why the H-E double hockey sticks would Declan host a Team Duel Tournament after talking to Vanguard Association? Are the companies going to co-host this upcoming event?
Sora let out a groan. "Why would Declan talk to those delusional people?" he asked in disdain. "Did they manage to convince him that their pretend planet is real?"
"Not exactly," Leo explained. "While the Vanguard Association is rather insane with their ideals, their tournaments are for teams of three people. After learning that this format is to promote trust and teamwork, Declan thought that might be a good thing to help restore trust among Duelists after the Interdimensional War."
This actually left Yuri, Sora, and Dennis somewhat flabbergasted. Usually, when it comes to teaming up, the duels are either done in a tag team or a Battle Royale, but Team Duels were generally illegal in tournaments up until now. But of all the people Declan spoke to, it had to be with the CEO of Vanguard Association. Still, it was a reasonably nice decision of him to make Team Duels tournament-legal, and seeing how well the three worked together and had fun over the years, this could be their big chance to utilize it in a few weeks.
Yuri smirked. "Are you suggesting that the three of us should register under a team?" he asked.
"Certainly," Leo answered. "You were the best Obelisk Force soldiers."
"Count me in!" Sora cheered.
"I don't approve of Declan getting the idea from those Vanguard people, but I do like the idea of working together with my friends," Dennis said.
"I can already tell this was an excellent idea," Yuri happily said.
With this in mind, the Obelisk trio eagerly agreed with Leo's suggestion to register for the first ever Team Duel Tournament. Despite the new change being inspired by a rival card game, they all knew this was going to be a great change for not only them, but for the other Duelists as well. Three different decks will mean a whole new variety of strategies for Dennis, Sora, and Yuri.