"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Laozi, Ancient Chinese Philosopher
And so it begins... Peter Cullen?
Peter Cullen: Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Raiders; Aiden gave Tetsuya the lecture of a lifetime in order to help his friend create his Duel Raiders. Aiden also gained another card to add to his deck from Yuya, and struggled with the reality of having to rebuild his deck. However, overnight his deck seemingly evolved through the power of his two blank cards. What does this mean for Aiden and his friends? What exactly are the two blank cards taking refuge in Aiden's Deck holders, and what power does his newly evolved deck hold. One of those questions will be answered soon, because the ARC-V is finally upon us. Aiden and his friends will have to duel with everything they got if they want to make it into the First round. Will they achieve a glorious victory, or suffer an agonizing defeat? All these questions and more will be answered right now, in another exciting installment of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Raiders.
Chapter 9
Two days have passed since the incident with Aiden's deck, and the Qualifiers for the ARC-V have finally arrived. Mizuki and Tetsuya are currently standing in front of the Maiami City Stadium, awaiting their Team Captains arrival.
"Is he always like this?" Tetsuya asks.
"He usually shows up with a couple of minutes to spare. Give him a little more time." Mizuki replies. Suddenly, the sound of Duel Raider Motors fills the air as they turn to see Aiden come to a stop, his helmet covering his head.
"Hey guys, Sorry I'm late." he says.
"A few more minutes and you would've been." Mizuki replies.
"What took you so long?" Tetsuya asks.
"I was running some final checks on my deck, had to add a few spells and traps to even the odds until I can fill my extra deck with something other than pendulum monsters."
"We've been standing out here for two hours waiting on you to put your deck together?" Mizuki crosses her arms and looks at Aiden with an unconvinced expression. Seeing this, Tetsuya does as well.
"Alright, you guys caught me. I was Dueling Yuya one last time." Aiden explains.
"Who won?" Tetsuya asks.
"That my friend is not important right now," Aiden then grabs his two friends by their wrists, " Because we need to finish registration." Aiden then drags his friends into the stadium.
Once inside, the trio of friends walks up the the registration desk with their duel disks in hand. The lady currently attending to registration looks up upon hearing them enter and smiles as they approach her.
"Good morning," she greets, "How can I help you?"
"We're here for the ARC-V Qualifiers." Aiden states.
"Okay, are the three of you a team?"
"Yes Ma'am."
"Alright, i just need to check your duel disks to get an overall win percentage." Aiden and his friends hand the lady their duel disks and she connects them to her computer. After a few minutes, the overall percentage appears on her monitor.
"Alright," she says, "You three have an overall winning percentage of 81.3 percent." The screen then shows the duel schools they are enrolled in. "You Show Duel School, Leo Duel School, and Neo Heartland Duel School's Spade Branch. You three are ready, just need a team name and emblem." The lady returns the duel disks as Aiden is given a form to fill out. "Put your team name at the top. Then in the three spots beneath it you will place the names of your team members. I would presume Mr. Yamato is the Team Captain?"
"Yes Ma'am," Aiden replies while finishing the form and returning it along with a flash drive, "Here You go."
"Thank you," The lady then inserts the flash drive into her computer and on the monitor appears an image of Yuya's pendulum broken in half, the top and bottom halves separated by a face down duel monsters card. "Now this emblem is unique," She hits a few buttons and the emblem show up on the three friends D-Pad screens, "Welcome to the ARC-V tournament, you three will be in locker room 33A. Good luck." Aiden smiles and waves as he and his friends head to the locker rooms.
"So do we just wait for our team name to be called?" Tetsuya asks while sitting on a bench in the locker room he and his friends were given. It is pretty standard with a couple of benches and a TV to watch the duels taking place before theirs. Three lockers sit against the wall and two bathroom doors sit on either side of them, one for each gender.
"Yeah, pretty much." Aiden replies, looking through his deck. Mizuki is busy watching the TV for the announcement of the tournament's beginning.
"Mind filling me in on what our positions are Mr. Team Captain?" Aiden sighs and places his deck in its holder.
"Alright," Aiden explains, "The qualifier match will be a best of three series, the order of duelists is decided by the team captain. Mizuki wanted to duel first so you will go after her. Should series go 1-1, the team captains will face off to decide the winner."
"And where do we go if we win here?"
"A win here sends us to the first round in the Synchro Dimension. 128 teams are currently trying to qualify, half of them will fail to do so. 64 teams will face off in turbo duels in Synchro, then we got to XYZ for round two and the Sweet 16 where duelists will battle it out in an old fashioned standard duel. If we win in XYZ, we go to Fusion where the Elite 8 and Final Four will face off in Action Duels. And finally, the last two teams standing return here to the Pendulum dimension and face off in Duel Raids to decide the winners of the ARC-V."
"Okay, any idea who the team to beat is?"
"Fusion has been the reigning champions five years in a row, so most likely them."
"Are they really that good?"
"Tetsuya," Aiden places a hand on his friends shoulder, "for the past five years, Fusion has had at least ten or more teams qualify for the ARC-V. All of them from Academia's honors student program. Rumor has it that this year the top six Duelists are taking part in it so we better watch our backs."
"Oh yeah," Tetsuya chuckles, "I remember when their teams came to Heartland a couple of years ago." He then goes wide eyed, "I have never seen Heartland's citizens use so much profanity during a duel."
"How bad was it?"
"Think of a sold-out stadium filled with nothing but XYZ dimension fans and the two teams currently dueling are both from Fusion." Aiden goes wide eyed as well.
"Holy crap."
"Yeah, it was pretty bad." Mizuki then turns to her friends.
"Hey guys," She says, "The tournament is beginning it's broadcast." Aiden and Tetsuya rush over to her and take their seats on both sides of the bench Mizuki was occupying as the Leo Corporation logo appears on the TV screen.
"SCREW YOUR PROPAGANDA!" Aiden exclaims while throwing a roll of toilet paper at the screen. Tetsuya can only look at this in shock while Mizuki laughs at her friend's actions. The logo then disappears as the opening ceremony begins. The video that plays shows images of the four dimension shortly after the dimensional war ended, several cities in ruin, and a couple of families left homeless in Heartland.
"And to think," Tetsuya says, "It was all caused by the will of a single man."
The video then explains how the dimensions came to where they are today, showing several images of the relief effort with the Lancers taking charge of directing resources to those in need.
"Anybody else feel like they've seen this in a video game?" Aiden asks.
The video then cuts to the ARC-V championship, and talks about how it began before stating Fusion's five year reign of dominance. This is met by a loud booing sound that can be heard from outside the locker room.
"It's been Twenty years and everyone still hates them?" Tetsuya asks.
"No," Aiden replies, "People hate Fusion because they keep winning."
The video the displays the 64 team bracket used for the tournament and begins filling it with names of teams who have already qualified in the other dimensions. When it stops, the bracket shrinks and moves to the top of the screen as an overhead shot of Maiami Stadium shows up. The camera then cuts to Reiji Akaba, who is sitting in a Luxury Box overlooking the stadium with his mother and a twenty year old Reira, holding a microphone up to his mouth.
"Lets the ARC-V, BEGIN!" Reiji exclaims as several fireworks go off in the sky above Maiami Stadium.
Aiden and his friends smile at this; now that the ceremonies are through, the dueling can begin.
"It's to see the Akaba family in attendance." Mizuki states.
"Yeah, I got to meet Reiji the other day actually." Aiden states.
"How?" Tetsuya asks.
"Well..."
Two Days Ago...
"You woke me up at 7:00 A.M. to run your protege's deck through the Leo Corporation's Card Index?" Reiji asks in an irritable tone.
"Yes." Yuya states.
While the two former Lancers are conversing, Aiden is in the lounge with Reira, the two of them dueling on a practice mat they have placed on top of a coffee table.
"So... are you a boy or a girl?" Aiden asks. Reira looks up from the duel and stares at Aiden with a blank expression upon hearing this.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you." Aiden quickly apologizes before returning to the duel, Reira doing the same as Aiden begins his turn.
"You really asked Reira that?" Mizuki asks in shock.
"What, it's a legitimate question." Aiden retorts.
Two Hours Later...
"Locker Room 33A..." Yuya says while walking through the halls of Maiami Stadiums inner workings. He and Yuzu had arrived late and missed the opening ceremonies for the ARC-V, but managed to arrive before Aiden and his friends match. Currently, they were trying to find the locker room he and his friends were currently occupying.
"I think we took a wrong turn." Yuzu states, both adults having walked for close to 45 minutes since arriving to the stadium.
"Nonsense," Yuya retorts, "We should be right where the attendant said they would be." He then turns and spots the locker room he was looking for. "What did I tell you?"
The two adults then open the door, only to immediately shut it upon seeing Aiden and his friends all down to one knee with their heads bowed and eyes closed.
"What are they doing?" Yuzu whispers.
"Maybe it's some superstitious thing?" Yuya whispers back.
Aiden and his friend then each place one of their hands in the middle of their circle, one on top of the other with a tight grip before they break the huddle and rise to their feet.
"You guys ready?" Aiden asks.
"You Kidding?" Tetsuya states before going to grab his Duel Raiders he constructed before the tournament, "I was born ready."
"We've been planning to do this for a long time Aiden," Mizuki states, "Time to show the four dimensions what we're made of."
Aiden smiles at his friends responses, then looks past them and spots Yuya and Yuzu.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He asks with a smile. Yuya and Yuzu then enter the locker room.
"Just came to wish you guys good luck." Yuzu explains, "We'll be in watching the duels from box seats so we'll have a full view of the action."
"How'd you manage to get that?" Tetsuya asks while putting on his duel raiders.
"Tetsuya, you seem to be forgetting that we're professional duelists." Yuya replies.
"Oh yeah." Aiden then steps forward.
"Thanks for everything Yuya," He states, "I don't really know how I can thank you for everything you've done." Yuya raises his hand to silence Aiden.
"Aiden," Yuya begins, "Just win the ARC-V, that will be thanks enough." Yuya then reaches into the pocket of his pants and pulls something out. "But before you duel, you're going to need this." Yuya then throws the object at Aiden.
Aiden catches it in one hand, and goes wide eyed upon seeing a necklace chain coming out of his closed hand. Opening it, he is stunned at what he see's.
"Your Pendulum?" he asks while staring at the necklace.
"I get the feeling you're going to be needing it more than I will in the battles to come." Aiden's friends both walk up close behind him to examine the necklace Yuya gave him with wide eyes.
"Yuya," Aiden replies, "I, I don't know what to say."
"Don't say anything, just duel with your heart and win the ARC-V."
Right as Yuya finished, an alert popped up on Aiden and his friend's duel disks.
"Looks like we're up next." Mizuki states while grabbing her helmet from her locker.
"Time to show pendulum what an XYZ duelist can do." Tetsuya adds, placing his deck and extra deck into his duel disk.
Aiden smirks at this and does the same, but not before putting on Yuya's necklace. He then puts on his helmet and zips up his jacket, the necklace tucked away inside it.
"Alright guys," Aiden states, "how's about we introduce these people to the Pendulum Breakers?"
Mizuki and tetsuya nod at this and the trio leaves their locker room, Yuya and Yuzu looking on as the three teens fade into the light of the Stadium entrance.
"So the pendulum swings towards the next generation, huh?" Yuzu asks, her eyes changing from blue to purple.
"I guess it does." Yuya adds, his eyes changing from red to gold.
Both adults eyes change back to normal after Yuya finishes speaking, and the husband and wife duo head begin making their way to their seats. But not before hearing the crowd begin to roar.
And the ARC-V begins. Sorry for the teasing last chapter, but I need to put the teams together and decide on who the Pendulum Breakers first opponent will be. (IT'S MY STORY, SO I CAN CALL AIDEN'S TEAM WHATEVER I WANT)
Stay tuned for next week when the ARC-V qualifying duel begins, because Mizuki kicks things off with the first duel for Team Pendulum Breakers.
And I plan to have the full match (Two Duels) in the next chapter, and then end it with a cliffhanger.
Until next time, RAID ON!