At Academy in the fusion dimension, a small blue haired boy in a blue Academy uniform licking a popsicle waited for the two counterparts to cross over. After finishing his snack and moving over to a candy bar, the two came through.
"Serena! Yuya! You two finally came." Sora says enthusiastically at his two smiling friends.
"Sora! I haven't seen you since my first day at the amusement park with Rin." Yuya greets him.
"Yeah. I'm never going there with her again." Sora's face momentarily becomes pale after remembering that day. "But forget that, you guys only came to the fusion dimension once and you never saw the changes made to Academy. What is this place not good enough for any of you 8?"
"It's not Sora at all." Yuya says.
"The first trip was Yuri making amends to us. As for why we never came here after that." Serena explains then pauses to think why never decided to return. "Uh, give me a minute."
"If I had to guess, you guys subconsciously have bad memories of this place. Not that I blame all of you but trust me when I say things are different." Someone tells them. It's Asuka, who's wearing a blue Academy style teacher's outfit with thin-framed spectacles. "Things have changed here and when Yuzu and Yuri were here, the tour of the school is still an option for you guys. I recommend you take it especially you Serena."
"Hm, why me?" Serena asks.
"Well technically, you and Yuri are both still students so it's best you know what's different about your school life."
"Wait a minute. I can't go back to school yet. I'm sharing a body with other girls who have their own lives. How can I go back to school?"
"And I don't want to go to school at Academy." Yuzu, Ruri, and Rin all say simultaneously.
"Gah. Wait does that mean I have to go here because Yuri is a part of me?" Yuya asks in shock.
Asuka just laughs. "Don't worry you two. Only Yuri and Serena are enrolled here and Edo made a pardon for them until you guys eventually split. Also you don't have to worry too much about schoolwork since that's limited at the moment due to the complete overhaul of how classes work."
The two counterparts sigh with relief but notice Asuka gets serious. "Speaking of schoolwork. Mr. Sora Shiunin, you have to get back to your class right now." She points to a nervous Sora, who's trying to sneak away from punishment.
"Oh come on. No one's doing much in class plus I want to give a tour to my friends." Sora pleas.
"Yes but you don't have a pardon. So go back to class now!" Asuka demands after putting on her duel disc, which causes Sora to run off back to his class.
After that scene, Asuka leads them throughout the school to showoff the facility. Academy is such a massive place, that walking around can feel tiring especially if you don't know the way. This is a given as the place is a restored castle that covers grades from middle up to high school with the upper floors being the classes for upperclassmen or more advanced classes. Asuka leads them to the academic part where the classes are at though she's showing them around on the floor that focuses on Serena and Yuri's grade.
Asuka shows off the basic stuff such as math, history, science, duel studies, Japanese and English. It really became apparent that if Yuya did go to school here with Serena, it would be obvious what kind of students they be since Yuya felt so bored by the tour so far. All the classes so far are the ones he's been failing or doesn't care about at his regular school. The only exception being the dueling classes, but this is a dueling school.
"I seriously thought this was just a dueling school like You Show Duel School." Yuya whispers to Serena.
"No. Academy has always included work such as math so can expand our minds. The only difference from what I've seen so far is that they're being taught less like something for war and more, I don't know. Why are they studying this?"
"Well so they can learn and apply it to the world when they graduate."
"Seriously?" Serena gives Yuya a confused look.
"Great. This place is ruined." Yuri says after hearing everything.
Asuka shows them the literary class and when the two look in, they both giggle since Sora's in there. He's pretending to read, but he has his book propped up to hide the snacks he snuck in to eat.
Asuka looks at her watch. "You two better get away from the door and start moving soon?"
"Why?" Yuya asks. He and Serena get their answer when the bell rings and the classroom door they were looking into flies open to hit them. Serena had a defensive stance to avoid serious hurt while Yuya gets his face struck. The cause of it was Sora with a stuff face bursting out while he runs from the angry teacher about eating in class though he couldn't get to him because the other kids were running out too.
When the door closed, Yuya was in such a daze that he got caught in all the other students roaming across the halls to head to their classes. It was a confusing mess as he looked for Serena or Asuka. He accidently bumps into one student that seems familiar to him.
"Watch it." The large student growls at him. He's in a red uniform, wearing glasses, very muscular with dark skin and reddish brown hair that's slicked back into a pony tail. Yuya apologizes but is distracted because the student looks familiar. As the student walks away, another red uniformed student calls out to him.
"Hey BB hurry up. We'll be late for swim class."
"Huh, BB." Yuya says to himself before he realizes that that was the Battle Beast. The fact he doesn't look, act, or sound like a feral animal anymore shocks him so bad all the pendulum duelist can do is point with his mouth hanging open.
As the crowd clears, Serena picks Yuya up by his collar and cape. "Hey be careful Yuya. I almost lost you, and snap out of whatever it is you're doing so Ms. Asuka can continue the tour.
"B-b-but that, that, was BB. He, he's nothing like how I met him and he's just going to swim class." Yuya still mutters in a shock while Serena drags him.
"Swim class? Academy doesn't have a swim class." Serena brings up.
"It does now." Asuka explains. "Professor Leo removed almost all of the equipment he was using for his plan so we have some empty space and the a number of rooms and facilities used to train the students as soldiers were redesigned for new rooms for education or other purposes that makes this feel like a school. We're still renovating most of them, but now the students can enjoy many sports and art."
"Sports and art? What do you mean Ms. Asuka?" Serena wonders.
"Well other than a swim class, we now have a drama club, home economics, and archery club along with others that we're developing for the extra room. By the way, those three things I mentioned before, Dennis, Sora, and the Tyler sisters are in those respectively."
"Wow. That's great everyone's finding something fun to do at this school isn't that right Serena." Yuya smiles.
"This place has changed too much." Serena whispers to herself at the surprise of how different Academy is.
As they continue the tour, Asuka shows them a massive campus flyer board with many flyers about upcoming events and future clubs and classes. Yuya looks around at it with enthusiasm since the stuff looks neat like how there will be a bake sale soon by the home economics class, recruitment for the drama club, and what surprisingly makes him very happy, a flyer to help form a movie riffing club.
He turns to Serena. "Man Serena, if Academy does get half of this stuff it'll be amazing to go here."
"Possibly." Serena says with a flat expression.
"Is something wrong?"
"You can be honest with us Serena." Asuka says.
"I'm sure this is good for the other students but I don't know if this is for me. Other than the dueling classes, the Professor wanted me to be a soldier. No, he trained me to be one but prevented me from using those skills so he could keep me locked to revive Ray. Honestly, I don't think this new Academy has anything I'll like." Serena opens up until Yuya puts a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey that's not true. I mean we've been discovering stuff about ourselves for over a week and will find out more in the following one. I'm sure you'll find something."
"Possibly but I don't, huh." Serena was about to be doubtful until she notices a specific flyer. Not wanting Asuka, Yuya, or any of the counterparts to figure out which one it is, she just looks around at some of the others for a bit before taking out her duel disc. She uses the camera function on it to snap a picture of the flyer she was looking at quickly before asking for the tour to continue.
"Ok, but before we continue can I ask a favor from you two?" Asuka requests.
"What kind of favor?" Yuya asks.
"Are you guys still doing that dueling to try and split each other thing I heard about?"
Some time later in a massive stadium used for Academy's big dueling events, all the students gathered here by Edo Phoenix. Next to him are Asuka, Yuya, Serena, and other members of the staff with Yuya and Serena wearing their duel discs. With his face and voice ready to be broadcast like an announcer at a big game, Edo makes his announcement to the student body.
"Attention students of Duel Academy. Right now Academy has been gradually improving itself and growing so that all of you can become strong and amazing duelists but also strong and amazing people as well. One way of doing that is by expanding and learning not just from this place but other places and people. As such, we'll be having an expedition match involving our very own Serena and Yuya Sakaki from the Pendulum Dimension. Not only will they be showing all of you fusion and pendulum summoning but you will also witness it done in an action duel."
Many students clapped then discussed amongst each other what an action duel will be like. The ones who dueled or know Yuya and Serena all smirked knowing what will happen. At least they thought they did. Yuya and Serena get up so they can begin their duel by going to the center of the stadium. The two shake hands and go to their respective spots. This is when the big surprise that only Edo, Asuka, the staff, and the earlier informed Yuya and Serena knew.
"Now Action Field on!" Edo says. Underneath the stadium, an action field generator turns on and creates the field for where they'll duel, Castle of Chaos. Edo explains to the students about the basics of an action duel such as how it uses real solid vision not only to make a solid environment that duelists can interact with but also action cards which they can pick up and use. So long as they only have one in their hand at a time. With the ball of action cards flying around in the air, Yuya and Serena begin.
"Ladies and gentlemen! It's show time!" the two simultaneously declare.
"Duelists locked in battle!"
"Kicking the earth and dancing alongside their monsters."
"They storm the field."
"Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of dueling."
"Action. Duel!" With that, the action cards scatter and Yuya and Serena activate their roller boots.
Yuya: 4000 life points.
Serena: 4000 life points.
"I'll let you start things off Yuya so you can show them how it's done." Serena offers.
"Thanks Serena. First, I play the continuous magic card Dazzling Performapal Entrance then I start the show. With Scale 1, Stargazer Magician, and Scale 8, Timegazer Magician, I set the pendulum scales." Yuya plays his two signature magicians.
Yuya's scales: 1-8.
"Now I can simultaneously summon monsters with levels 2-7. Pendulum summon! Appear, Performapal Silver Claw in attack mode and Performapal Gumgumouton in defense mode."
Performapal Silver Claw. Level: 4. Dark. Beast/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 1800. Defense: 700.
Performapal Gumgumouton. Level: 5. Earth. Beast/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 900. Defense: 2400.
"Now Dazzling Performapal Entrance activates. Since I have no cards in my hand after I pendulum summon, I can draw cards equal to the number of Performapal monsters I pendulum summoned just now so I draw 2 cards. I end my turn." Yuya rides Silver Claw with Gumgumouton following after him in its defensive position.
A good number of Academy students are impressed but their focus turns on Serena to see what she'll do since she's Academy's own. "I draw and with Scale 1, Lunalight Wolf and Scale 6 Lunalight Lemur, I set the pendulum scales." The students are awed by the sight of two Lunalight monsters, one a purple wolf and the other with the appearance of a green lemur appear in pillars just like Yuya's magicians.
Serena's scales: 1-6.
"Now I can simultaneously summon monsters with levels 2-5. Pendulum summon! Appear, Lunalight Indigo Coyote and Lunalight White Rabbit!"
Lunalight Indigo Coyote. Level: 4. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Effect. Attack: 1700. Defense: 1400.
Lunalight White Rabbit. Level: 2. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Effect. Attack: 800. Defense: 800.
"Now I use Lunalight Indigo Coyote's effect. Since she was special summoned outside her own effect, I get to add a fusion or Lunalight card from my deck to my hand. Now I activate White Rabbit's effect to return your two magicians to your hand since I control two Lunalight monsters." Serena gets her new card, and White Rabbit swings her hammer to have a shockwave send both Stargazer and Timegazer back to Yuya's hand since they were technically magic cards.
"Now I banish both thanks to Lunalight Wolf's effect to fusion summon! The lively white rabbit illuminated by moonlight. The scavenging coyote moving through the night. Spiral into the moon's gravity and become a new power. Fusion summon! Level 7! Lunalight Cat Dancer!"
Lunalight Cat Dancer. Level: 7. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 2400. Defense: 2000.
"Now I use Lunalight Lemur's pendulum ability to once per turn special summon Lunalight Indigo Coyote since she was a non-fusion Lunalight monster banished from the field so come back my Coyote. Then I add Lunalight Black Sheep thanks to my Coyote's effect and I use my sheep's effect to discard her so I can add Polymerization."
"Now I play Polymerization to fuse Cat Dancer and Indigo Coyote. The beautiful beast dancing in the moonlight. The scavenging coyote moving through the night. Swarm in the vortex of the moon's gravity and become a new power! Fusion summon! Level 8! Lunalight Panther Dancer!"
Lunalight Panther Dancer. Level: 8. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 2800. Defense: 2500.
Serena wanted to go after Gumgumouton to stop its effect and power up her monster, but she sees Yuya reaching an action card quickly thanks to riding his Silver Claw. To stop him, she has Lunalight Panther Dancer attack Silver Claw instead. Yuya tries to reaches for the action card he spotted while riding his wolf but Panther Dancer's first knocks them back but doesn't destroy Silver Claw thanks to her effect.
Yuya: 3000 life points.
Serena's monster goes in for a second attack but Yuya activates Gumgumouton's effect to negate the destruction. However, Yuya still takes the damage.
Yuya: 2000 life points.
After that she destroys Gumgumouton, sets 2 cards, and ends her turn. "Alright Yuya, you better get on with the show."
"Don't worry I will. First I draw then reset the scales with Timegazer Magician and Stargazer Magician."
"Trap activate. Fusion Hurricane." Serena says causing Yuya and his magicians' eyes to widen.
"I pick Panther Dancer so that I can destroy magic or trap cards equal to the number of materials used for her summoning, which is 2 so I destroy your Timegazer and Stargazer." A blast of wind comes from Serena's trap and Stargazer and Timegazer are both destroyed.
Yuya rethinks his strategy. "Very well then I'll set the scales with Scale 3, Performapal Big Bite Turtle and Scale 7, Performapal Momoncarpet."
Yuya's scale: 3-7.
"Now I activate Big Bite Turtle's pendulum effect to reduce Odd-Eye's level in my hand by 1. Now I pendulum summon! Come back Performapal Gumgumouton and appearing now, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"
Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Level: 7 (now 6). Dark. Dragon/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000.
"I was wondering when he was going to summon his ace." Sora comments while eating.
"Yeah. Yuya and Serena are both putting a good show. Though Serena's obviously ahead." Dennis says.
In another part of the stands, Grace Tyler gushes over Odd-Eyes' appearance. "Look sis. Yuya summoned his dragon. It's so pretty."
"Please tell me you still aren't chasing after that boy?" Gloria Tyler wonders with embarrassment for her sister.
Nearby them, BB stares intently at the duel. "What will you do next?"
"Since I pendulum summoned one Performapal monster, Dazzling Performapal Entrance let's me draw a card. Now I take both Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and Performapal Silver Claw and I tribute them to fusion summon!" Yuya commands causing BB to smirk. "Prideful silver wolf. Become one with the arcane dragon to create a new power. Fusion summon! Level 8! The ferocious dragon with luminous feral eyes! Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"
Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Level: 8. Earth. Dragon/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 3000. Defense: 2000.
Seeing a fusion monster summoned through contact fusion wows the students and they await Yuya's next move.
"Now Beast-Eyes attack Panther Dancer. Blazing Spiral Storm!" Beast-Eyes releases its attack and destroys Serena's monster.
Serena: 3800 life points.
"That's not all. When Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon destroys a monster, he inflicts damage equal to the attack of the beast-type monster used to summon him take 1800 damage from Silver Claw."
Serena: 2000 life points.
After the astral form of Silver Claw evens out their life points, Serena gets up to activate her second face down. "I activate Lunalight Reincarnation Dance to add two Lunalight monsters to my hand."
"More! Then I set a card face down and end my turn."
"Now I draw. I now pendulum summon! Appear, Lunalight Tiger and Lunalight Blue Cat."
Lunalight Tiger. Level: 3. Light. Beast-Warrior/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 1200. Defense: 800.
Lunalight Blue Cat. Level: 4. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Effect. Attack: 1600. Defense: 1200.
"Now since these monsters were both just special summon this turn, I can do what you just did and contact fusion them. Two beasts appearing under the moon. Go into the moon's gravity to awaken a new power. Fusion summon! Level 7! Lunalight Porcupine Dancer!" Serena's new monster is a red skinned woman in a skimpy outfit and covered in porcupine quills that have a metallic grey luster.
Lunalight Porcupine Dancer. Level: 7. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2500.
"Serena summoned a fusion monster that's also a pendulum monster!" Sora shouts.
"See. I told you she's ahead." Dennis says.
"Now I activate Lunalight Wolf's pendulum effect by banishing Panther Dancer, Black Sheep and Indigo Coyote! Elegant beast dancing on the moonlight wilderness! The beast lurking in jet-black darkness! The scavenging coyote moving through the night! Swarm in a vortex of the moon's gravity and revive with a new power! Fusion summon! Level 10! The king of beasts dancing atop the summit of the moonlight wilderness! Lunalight Leo Dancer!"
Lunalight Leo Dancer. Level: 10. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 3500. Defense: 3000.
"Now Lunalight Leo Dancer attack Beast-Eyes!" Leo Dancer swingers her sword at Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon but thanks to both Gumgumouton preventing his destruction and Momoncarpet's effect to half all damage Yuya will take, Yuya doesn't take much and his dragon survives.
Yuya: 1750 life points.
"Now Leo Dancer's effect activates. Since she just attacked, she'll destroy all your special summoned monsters." Leo Dancer stomps on the to make a shockwave that'll destroy all of Yuya's monsters. However, he rolls off Beast-Eyes tail and grabs an action card from a platform.
"Action Magic Bracer. At this moment, Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon can't be destroyed by card effects."
Although Yuya's dragon is safe, it's now his only monster so Serena attacks again with Leo Dancer's second attack. The Lunalight monster decapitates the dragon and deals what little damage she can.
Yuya: 1500 life points.
"Sorry Serena but with Performapal Momoncarpet in my pendulum zone, you won't be able to do much damage to me." Yuya gloats.
"Oh really." Serena reveals an action card. "Action Magic Extreme Sword. Thanks to this card I increase Lunalight Porcupine Dancer's attack up by 1000 attack points so she now has enough attacks to finish the duel and since I control another Lunalight monster, you can't target her with effects. Now Porcupine Dancer direct attack."
Yuya rolls as Serena's monster spins with its sharp quills but he grabs a card that's on the ground. He plays Action Magic Energy Biscuits to increase his life points by 500 but he still takes a significant amount of damage.
Yuya: 250 life points.
"Well worth a try. I set a card and end my turn."
"My turn draw! Yes! First I activate my facedown card. The trap card Pendulum Curtain Change!" Red curtains fall over both of Yuya's pendulum zones. "Now thanks to this card, I can send up to both of the cards in my pendulum zones to my extra deck face up and I can replace them with other pendulum monsters from there so long as their scales are different. So let's say farewell to Big Bite Turtle and Momoncarpet and welcome the returns of Stargazer Magician and Timegazer Magician." The curtains drop and Stargazer and Timegazer bow at their return.
Yuya's scales: 1-8.
"Now pendulum summon!" Appearing on Yuya's field are the returns of Silver Claw, Big Bite Turtle, Momoncarpet, Gumgumouton, and, of course, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon.
"Now that the cast is all here. It's time for the star to show. I play Polymerization to fuse all five together. Creatures who came from the aether! Merge with the dazzling dragon of spectacular eyes to show a new wonder! Fusion summon! Level 8! Dragon of combined forces! Gestalt-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"
All five monsters merged to create a mix-matched humanoid monster that appears to have his torso made from Odd-Eye's body, arms similar to Gumgumouton and Silver Claw, and legs that resemble Big Bite Turtle and Momoncarpet.
Gestalt-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Level: 8. Light. Dragon/Fusion/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 3000. Defense: 2000.
"Not bad Yuya." Serena sounds impressed until she brings something up. "But Lunalight Porcupine Dancer's other effect makes it so that you can't attack it as long as I control another Lunalight monster and when you attack another Lunalight monster, it'll gain 500 attack points so Leo Dancer is your only target."
"That won't be a problem because when Gestalt-Eyes is fusion summoned, he gains 100 attack points for every single other pendulum card on the entire field and in every player's extra. You have 1 in your extra deck, I have 5 in mine, and there are 5 on the field in the pendulum zones or monster zones other than him. So Gestalt-Eyes gains 1100 attack."
Gestalt-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Attack: 4100.
"Now I activate his other effect. For each pendulum monster used to summon him, I get to pick up cards from the top of my deck and for each pendulum monster picked up this way, will be the number of attacks he gets this turn. Now Combined Pendulum Star Power!"
Yuya picks up his five cards, represented by a pendulum swinging to reveal 5 stars each a different color: red, blue, green, yellow, and pink. Each star bursts one by one to reveal the cards. The first is Hippo Carnival. The second shows Xiangsheng Magician then Performapal Lizardraw. The fourth shows Performapal Revival and the last star bursts to reveal Performapal Drummerilla. Yuya got three pendulum monsters so his monster can attack thrice this turn.
"Now Gestalt-Eyes Pendulum Dragon attack with Pendulum Sword Swing!" Gestalt-Eyes creates an energy sword and first attacks Leo Dancer. Serena tries to activate her trap card but Timegazer Magician prevents it since Gestalt-Eyes is a pendulum monster. She also can't use the action cards because of Stargazer Magician's effect.
Yuya's dragon and Serena's lion woman's swords clash but Gestalt-Eyes wins out destroying her.
Serena: 1900 life points.
Then it attacks and destroys Porcupine Dancer since she can now be a target.
Serena: 300 life points.
Finally, Gestalt-Eyes Pendulum Dragon attacks Serena directly.
Serena: 0 life points. Yuya wins.
With that the action field disappears, and Yuya goes to Serena. She quickly gets up and brushes off the dust from the attack. When Serena sees Yuya, she smiles and the two fist bump as the students applaud their duel.
Later, the two counterparts are leaving Academy to head back to the portal to head home.
"After our duel, I signed up for Ms. Asuka's Duel Entertainment class." Serena informs Yuya as they leave.
"Really that's great. See you did find something here you'd like." Yuya gives her a side hug while smiling.
"Actually I haven't. It's still dueling, just a different style. It's not the same as with you where you can be a showman."
"Oh. So do you have some kind of idea of what you may like to take at Academy once you split."
"I kind of have some idea of what I want to do here, but I want to keep it a secret for a while."
"Ok Serena that sounds fair."
After the two crossover, Serena arrives at the Hiragi home. However, she doesn't greet Shuzo and instead runs straight up to Yuzu's room and gets out her duel disc and the calendar of when everyone's day is.
"Hey you just passed my dad without greeting him." Yuzu scolds her fusion side.
"Sorry, but I need to check something." Serena looks down at her duel disc to look at the photo she took. She made sure there were other flyers around it and it wasn't in the focus that much. That way, if her counterparts look at the picture, they don't know what flyer she was looking at. She sees the date on the flyer then looks at the calendar.
"Yes! I can go." Serena cheers but then looks closer on that day.
"Figures there would be a catch."
Note: If you're wondering why this chapter was so late, it's because I was in the hospital for 2 weeks. I'm mostly better now.