Signs of Renewal

by Donjusticia

Tragedy strikes when Ruri and Rin both lose their lives in a desperate escape attempt. Lost to the underworld, Ruri is about to give up when a mysterious force makes her a tantalizing offer. Witness the thrilling tale of revenge, sacrifice, friendship, and redemption as the Dark Signers rise once again to rule over a universe crumbling into war and chaos.

25. Part 1: Chapter 13 (Part 1)

Crow's theme song for this chapter, "Adrenaline," by Shinedown.

Shun's theme song for this chapter, "The Phoenix," by Fall Out Boy.

Part 1: Chapter 13 – Shadow of the Ravager (Part 1)

Despite the trepidation some Commons had felt towards watching another duel that included Shun, the one who had not too long ago destroyed the Duel Palace, the crowds that were to watch the next round of the Friendship Cup were nevertheless immense. In fact, were one to take the trouble to count the observers, one would have found that the spectators far exceeded the spectators from any previous duel thus far. Thousands upon thousands of Tops and Commons alike were packing the available seats, some of them anticipating a duel as fiery and destructive as Shun's last duel against Dennis.

Among the crowds of Commons on one of the stands overlooking a large holographic screen, an odd mixture of individuals had gathered, very few similarities between them save for the fact that, were they allowing themselves to show it, each of them bore a special, glowing red mark on their right arm.

Lizette had arrived first at the stand, closely followed by Kiryu and Natsumi. Lizette and Kiryu were sitting with a few feet between them, neither of them looking at each other, while Natsumi's head hung between them as she hung upside down with her feet gripping the benches directly above them. Lizette had made good on her word, and Natsumi looked like she couldn't be any happier than she was, drooling over her raspberry cheesecake on a stick while fan-girling over the upcoming duel between Shun and Crow.

Lydia and Joho had arrived to the meeting place a little while afterwards and had taken their seats a little to the right of Kiryu. Kiryu and Joho were having a somewhat one sided conversation, with Kiryu asking questions and Joho answering them briefly and politely, while Lydia seemed to be pushing all surrounding people away from herself as she wrapped herself in her black cloak and kept her face concealed with her bandages, a pair of sunglasses, and a wide brimmed black hat.

Semal and Adeel had been the last to arrive, having unsuccessfully attempted to find the Disciple who had escaped from Standard. Semal was sitting next to Lizette, reclining against the benches behind him as he attempted to rest from his weariness, while Adeel was sitting on the other end with his German Shepherd seeing-eye dog, Fluffals, who was being fed a stick of raw butter by Adeel.

"You'll kill that dog within a year, feeding it like that." Lizette remarked, looking completely disgusted as Fluffals snapped up the stick of butter in one gulp before panting at Adeel with a smiley dog face that made it look like she wanted more.

"She's been good to me," Adeel cooed, affectionately patting Fluffals on the neck before grimacing and rubbing one of the bandages on his chest.

"How are you doing?" Lizette asked, looking concerned.

"Adeel took a beating trying to reason with a disciple," Semal explained, patting his brother on the back, causing Lizette to look at Adeel with both shock and worry.

"Why would you risk yourself like that!?" Lizette exclaimed. "You promised me you wouldn't do that again after that disciple blinded you!"

"I promised not to walk right up to a disciple's face." Adeel clarified, rummaging through a sack while Fluffals wagged her tail with excitement. "I kept my distance this time."

"And what good did that do!?" Lizette protested, leaning over to examine the many bandages over Adeel's body. "You'll get killed taking that many risks!"

"You know I'll never give up on trying to save a disciple," Adeel replied, "not after what happened with Magnus, and not after getting to know Katashi. If those two could be redeemed, then I say there is nobody beyond redemption."

"Here, here." Kiryu agreed, nodding his head.

Lizette glared at Kiryu before turning her attention back to Adeel with a concerned expression on her face.
"Look…I know you want to help these people, but…It's like trying to help a wounded tiger. Sometimes you have miracle stories where you help them and don't get hurt, but the vast majority of the time…" Her voice trailed off as she closed her eyes, a pained expression coming over her face. "Most of the time, despite your intentions, the only way to help them is to put them down. Otherwise, they'll just maul you."

"Sometimes that is the only way." Adeel agreed. "But ever since I tortured that one disciple's body forcefully exorcising him, I promised I'd never do that again, except as a last resort when all other methods have failed."

Lizette sighed as Adeel fished another stick of butter from his sack, unwrapped it, and tossed it into Fluffal's mouth.

"At least listen to me when it comes to feeding the dog." Lizette sighed as Fluffals gulped the butter down so fast, it looked like she wasn't even tasting it.

Adeel chuckled before scratching behind Fluffal's ears while his dog closed her eyes with pleasure. "It doesn't hurt to indulge every once in a while. Right, Natsumi?" he asked, turning his head in the direction of the girl hanging upside-down.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…raspberry…" Natsumi purred, sucking on the end of her cheesecake with her eyes closed in ecstasy, seemingly unaware of the people around her.

"You know you're gonna fall right on your head." Semal said with a small smirk on his face, looking up at Natsumi as her jacket slowly slid down her midriff. "And when you do, I'm not gonna bail you out like I did with those Pelican familiars."

"I was handling those familiars perfectly well, thank you very much." Natsumi sniffed, attempting to take a bite out of her cheesecake before her jacket flopped over her face, causing her to flail her arms around and smear some of the cake on her clothing as she slapped her jacket back onto her upper body.

"You let those things travel to the Standard Dimension and then nearly got swallowed up by one of them when you tried to bait them by holding up a giant tuna." Lizette dryly commented, folding her arms over her chest as she watched the countdown to Shun's duel against Crow count down to just a few minutes left.

"She did what?" Kiryu asked, looking up at Natsumi with a bewildered expression on his face.

"I'm very creative on my missions." Natsumi beamed.

"You're an idiot." Lizette quipped.

Natsumi glared at the blonde haired girl. "Oh? So that's what you think, is it? Well, then, I guess we're not friends anymore!" she snapped before her jacket fell over her face once again. "GAH! BLAH! JACKET NO TASTE GOOD!" she hollered, flailing around her arms to put her jacket back up.

Once she had finished adjusting her jacket, she leaned back her head and moved her hand forward to take a bite out of her cheesecake…only to bite her own hand, which no longer held the cheesecake Lizette had bought for her.

"AW…OUCH…BLEH…YUCK…" Natsumi sputtered, first in pain and then in disgust, "…that tasted like…like…" she eyed her empty hand with horror and began whipping her head around, smacking herself against Lizette and Kiryu, much to their annoyance, as she searched for her cheesecake.

"Where'd it go!? Where'd it go!? Where'd it-...?" Her legs slipped off the bench she was hanging on, causing her to let out a panicked scream before falling right between Lizette and Kiryu with a loud "bang" against her head.

All around, the surrounding Commons turned their heads to stare at her, some with concern and others with annoyance.

"That sounded like it hurt." Adeel idly commented while Semal shook his head with a melodramatically disapproving expression on his face. Kiryu face-palmed.

"A-are you alright?" Joho stuttered, looking concerned.

"I lost my cheesecake!" Natsumi wept. "How do you think I feel!?"

"Oh…uhm…" Joho nervously stammered, not knowing what he should say.

"She's okay." Lizette snorted, rolling her eyes. "I've learned a long time ago that it's completely impossible for her to lose any more brain cells." She smiled to herself. "But don't worry Natsumi, I'll still love you."

"Buy me another cheesecake then!" Natsumi whined, still lying with her head buried against the floor and her jacket covering up her face while exposing her shiny midriff.

"You lost it." Lizette scolded, ignoring the puppy dog sounds Natsumi was making. Hearing her whining, Fluffals threw back her head and began howling before Adeel quickly clamped his hands over her muzzle as the surrounding Commons turned some angry looks toward him.

"Get me a new one!" Natsumi insisted.

"No." Lizette repeated.

"You promised!" Natsumi asserted, angrily kicking her legs between Kiryu and Lizette.

"Nope." Lizette replied, remaining firm.

"Please!"

"Nope."

"Please!"

"Nope."

"PLEASE!"

"Nope."

"PLEASE!"

"Nope."

"PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"SHUT UP!" Lydia suddenly snarled, her left eye glowing red beneath her sunglasses and bandages as she turned her head towards Lizette and Natsumi, who immediately shut up.

"You wouldn't hurt a kawaii little potato like me…would you?" Natsumi squeaked, peeking back at Lydia from beneath her jacket.

"You guys called us here," Lydia continued in a low tone, "So what are we waiting for? Why are we watching this stupid match?"

"We're mostly blending in." Kiryu replied in an even tone, confident that they wouldn't be overheard with the many conversations going on around them. "Once Emma and Kazama come back, we'll receive our assignments from them."

"Who put them in charge?" Lydia asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"Jack Atlas made Kazama something like a second-in-command beneath the Signers." Lizette replied. "And Emma's got a lot of experience, so they've been in charge of training us."

"Sort of like Headmaster Stephan in Standard." Adeel clarified, scratching behind Fluffal's ears.

"Yes, except I've had to figure out a lot of stuff on my own since they're away a lot." Lizette replied before mumbling, "Not that I have managed to even come close to figuring out A LOT of important things."

"You'll get it." Natsumi encouraged. Lizette, however, just looked off into the distance as if something were bothering her.

"Didn't you have a master that taught you?" Kiryu asked, turning to Joho and Lydia.

"We were caught by some Earthbound familiars when Asuka helped us.' Joho explained. "After we helped her out a bit and passed some tests, she introduced us to Seijun and Ruka, who gave us our marks. I guess you could consider Asuka our master, but we didn't really think of each other as student and teacher."

"We were all too busy surviving against Academia." Lydia agreed. "And besides, I never had much trust for teachers," she added darkly, looking off at the holographic screen.

"I heard that you guys in the Fusion Dimension had a Psychic like me who was part of the Phoenix Guard." Natsumi piped up. "What was his name again?"

"Takuma Saio?" Lydia asked. "I heard about him from Asuka and Johan, but I never met him and I don't know anything else about him except the bits I got from the data files Joho managed to steal from Academia."He's crazy. He and his sister, Mizuchi, are apparently the same people who trained Jorq, Isaac, and Moriah."

"The traitors?" Lizette asked.

"The very same ones." Lydia agreed. "They used to be part of Saio's cult, The Society of Light, before they joined Academia. Now they're some kind of commanders over some of the Professor's Special Forces. Last I heard, Jorq and his companions were leading an invasion force in Joho's home, Heartland."

"Has anyone tried to stop him?" Lizette asked.

"We've been having our own problems in Fusion." Joho muttered, clasping his hands together in thought. "And with the Earthbound as active as they have been in every other dimension…there's just been no way we could fight them AND Academia's armies at the same time."

"That hasn't stopped us." Lydia muttered.

"They've separated us from O'Brien and Johan." Joho mumbled, looking sorrowful, "And Clarisse, Hayden, Allen, Ursula, and Trisha…" his eyes fell to the ground.

"Akato…" Lydia breathed, clenching her fist, while her right eye squinted shut, almost as if she were about to cry.

A hushed silence fell over the other Phoenix Guardsmen. Adeel and Semal were both looking down at the ground, Lizette was gritting her teeth, Kiryu was looking sadly off into the distance, and Natsumi had sat up, taken a seat between Kiryu and Lizette, and had begun picking at the sleeves of her jacket.

Even Flufflals, sensing the melancholy from the other humans, had begun whining mournfully.

Adeel was the first to break the silence between the Phoenix Guardsmen. "None of us have escaped losing someone," he murmured.

"No, we haven't." Semal agreed. "Our parents."

"My parents and my sister, Sherry." Lizette growled, squeezing her eyes shut.

Natsumi remained silent.

"My dad." Kiryu whispered.

"My dad, too." Joho muttered, looking off into the distance.

"Everyone." Lydia sighed, looking down at the ground. "Academia took everyone from me. My father, my mother…" she paused for a long time, "… and my brother," she growled the last part, furiously wiping her nose on the sleeve of her jacket.

Natsumi looked back and forth between the row of depressed Phoenix Guardsmen she was sitting between before letting out a slow exhale.

"Hey…it's okay." She said, smiling weakly while putting her arms around Kiryu and Lizette. "We ain't suckers, we're lollipops. There's a difference."

"What?" Lydia asked, looking confused. From the reactions from the other Phoenix Guardsmen, it didn't look like she was the only confused person.

Lizette exhaled with exasperation. "She's trying to cheer us up." She explained. "Other than that…don't even try to make sense of what she says."

"Did it work?" Natsumi nervously asked, patting Lizette on the back.

"Nothing will work until Nozomi is gone." Lizette breathed, taking out a set of two decks from a deck holder strapped to her side and looking through the cards before putting them away again. "But you are right, Natsumi," she continued, looking back at Natsumi with a grateful expression on her face. "Mourning Sherry won't do anything to bring her back. Thank you for trying to cheer me up. I don't know how you've managed to cope after losing Miku, but I admire you for it."

She tried smiling at Natsumi, but she looked away from her, almost as if she were ignoring her.

"We might as well enjoy the Friendship Cup while we're waiting." Natsumi whispered.

Semal and Kiryu were both looking at Natsumi as she stared intently at the track-way. Eventually, Semal spoke up.

"So…what exactly is this Friendship Cup?" he asked. "I think you've explained it to me before…but how does it work?"

Natsumi's stony face instantly melted away as she became animated once more.

"It's this SUPER cool tournament that they've thrown every year for about…how long?" She asked Lizette.

"I think it's been ten years." Lizette shrugged.

"Yeah! Yeah! That's right!" Natsumi agreed, "It's a special tournament that's been going on for ten years, where people from the Tops AND the Commons can get together and…"

"…and have all the Commons lose to the Tops, because the Tops have better decks, before the Commons get sent to the underground once they lose," Lizette interrupted, causing Natsumi's face to droop once again.

"Oh…sorry, Natsumi." Lizette apologized. "I'm not mad at you, I'm just…" her voice trailed off.

"It's okay." Natsumi mumbled. "I know."

"Wasn't your family one of the Tops?" Joho asked.

Lizette glared at him.

"Oh…um…sorry…I…" Joho stammered.

"My family earned their wealth through hard work and then used their wealth to help everyone in the city, Tops and Commons alike. We never considered ourselves part of the Top clique then and I refuse to associate my family with them now." Lizette huffed.

"I didn't mean to…" Joho tried to apologize, "…I just…"

"Forget it, Joho, I know you meant nothing by it." Lydia added, placing her hand on Joho's shoulder before glaring at Lizette. "And I'd appreciate it if you would give my friend the benefit of the doubt before I stop doing the same for you."

"Well, you're awfully protective of him." Lizette growled. "I'm sure Joho must be happy thinking you're always gonna be there to protect him like a big sister…or girlfriend."

"SO ANYWAY!" Natsumi chimed in before either Lyida or Lizette could say anything more. "Aside from the…political stuff…this Friendship Cup has been SUPER interesting! We've actually got people from other dimensions showing up this year! Can you believe it!? We might even be able to convince more people of the existence of the Earthbound now that people can see we're not totally nuts!"

"Most of the people here don't believe they're from other dimensions." Kiryu commented. "They just think that the Tops have been creating some new summoning techniques to make the games more interesting."

"I hope they do learn about the other dimensions." Semal assured, looking over at the gathering crowds with a grim and determined expression on his face. "It's been impossible for the Phoenix Guard to counter Academia's actions AND fight the Earthbound at the same time with the numbers we have. And with the way Academia went after Xyz…" his voice trailed off.

"We'll need all the help we can get." Joho agreed, before turning towards Natsumi. "Did you say that there were people in this tournament from Xyz?"

"Shun is from Xyz." Natsumi answered with a grin. "And he's the best one!"

"Shun…" Joho contemplated thoughtfully, "…maybe I've heard of him but…I'm not sure. Still, I'm glad he escaped from Xyz. Apparently, there were quite a few people who managed to warp away from the invasion to other dimensions by stealing Duel Disks from Obelisk Soldiers. Almost wish I could have gone with them, but my Dad and I were captured before the Invasion even began. I wonder what this Shun guy is doing here? Blending in? Hiding?"

"Like you'd hide behind your girlfriend?" Lizette idly asked, earning her another angry look from Lydia.

"Oh, no, he's not hiding!" Natsumi vehemently denied, interrupting another potential argument. "He's revealed where he's from! He's not here just to hide! He's a hero!"

"How's he a hero?" Semal asked, looking at Natsumi with a skeptical expression on his face.

Natsumi let out a little squeal of delight, causing her fellow Guardsmen and a few Commons to give her another look.

"Are you kidding me!?" she exclaimed, looking like she would explode with excitement. "Not only is he one of the best…no…THE BEST AND SMARTEST…duelist in this whole tournament, but he is also the most caring, the most brave, just, you know...AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she squealed, hugging herself with ecstasy.

"Are you okay?" Kiryu asked, watching as Natsumi began rubbing her hands together with crazed excitement.

"I have never been happier!" Natsumi squealed. "Oh, you guys just wait! Once he begins dueling…he's just…oh…HE'S FREAKING AMAZING! And he's doing it all for his little sister!"

"His little sister?" Joho asked, looking concerned. "What happened to her?"

"Hold on a sec!" Natsumi mumbled, reaching inside her massive coat and fumbling around the pockets lining the inside. After rifling through the miscellaneous contents of her pockets which included her collection of kitties, a bag of bottle caps, a pair of purple kid's scissors, quite a few key chains without any keys, one with a frog on the end, another with a plastic orange on the end, which she took the time to squish like a stress ball, several old paper wristbands, a large spoon, a plastic bag full of baby carrots…

"Who wants some carrots?" she asked, holding up the bag and attempting to shake some carrots into her hand before about half of them dumped onto the ground.

"The floor wants carrots!" she decided, before popping one of the carrots in her own mouth, throwing one to Adeel, who held out his hand and managed to catch it despite his blindness, and stuffing the rest back inside her pocket.

"I thought carrots made you sick." Lizette commented, regarding Natsumi narrowly.

"I am ninety-nine percent certain I will not get nauseous tomorrow!" Natsumi replied confidently, pumping a fistful of carrots into the air before putting them back inside the bag and tossing it onto Lizette's lap, much to her annoyance.

Resuming her search, she pulled out a single silver locket, which she paused to look at before carefully placing it back inside her pocket. With a final bit of rifling through her pockets, she finally withdrew a wad of papers with some illustrations and crudely written paragraphs before unfolding them.

"What is that?" Lizette asked, peering at the stack of papers Natsumi was rearranging.

"It's my true to life, updated daily, fan chronicle of Shun's adventures throughout the dimensions!" Natsumi explained.

"What!?" Kiryu asked, wondering how much weirder Natsumi could get. He hadn't had the opportunity to work with her before, having spent most of his time in Satisfaction Town, but he was beginning to feel grateful they hadn't been assigned together for anything.

"Ok, ok!" Natsumi hastily exclaimed, thumbing through the papers, "Listen to this!" she cleared her throat and began reading from the papers.

"Shun and Ruri had lived peaceful lives in the beautiful city of Heartland. Shun had just bought her a birthday present because he loved her."

She flipped over one of the pages, showing a fairly well-drawn picture of Shun's face, drawn with what looked like black coal.

"That's…actually pretty good." Kiryu commented, looking impressed.

"I've got a few more just like it!" Natsumi enthused, pulling out a stack of about fifty more pages and handing them to Kiryu, who looked at them with an increasingly uncomfortable expression as he scanned through the MANY depictions of Shun drawn from various angles as if she had been following him with a camera ever since the Friendship Cup began.

While he looked through the pictures, Natsumi continued with her story.

"'What is Academia doing here!?' Ruri cried, as they dragged her away.

"'Noooooooo!' Shun cried. "'I will save you!' he promised.

"And so, fighting against his evil dark side, Shun…"

"WOAH, WOAH, WOAH!" Semal protested, interrupting Natsumi mid-sentence. "Evil dark side? You're…you're moving WAY too fast! First, Shun is buying Ruri a birthday present, and then she's just inexplicably being carried away by Academia for no reason, and then Shun has a dark side which has never been established previously and…"

"Bear with me, guys!" Natsumi instructed, holding up a finger to quiet Semal and the other Guardsmen who were all giving her confused looks, save for Joho who had slipped into a contemplative expression upon Natsumi's mention of Heartland, and Adeel, who actually looked like he was enjoying the story. "This is just the first part in a three part series. All shall be revealed in time!"

"Three part series?" Semal questioned, "I thought you said this was more like a…how did you put it? Daily updated documentary of Shun?"

"Let her keep going," Adeel encouraged, cocking his ears in Natsumi's direction. "This is the first written story I've been able to enjoy since that Disciple blinded me."

"I'm afraid you kids are gonna have to wait a little longer for story time," Emma's voice barked from below.

Looking down, the other Phoenix Guardsmen saw Emma and Kazama walking up the stands to where they were seating. Walking between them, a small ten-year-old boy with short green hair was conversing with an area of empty air just next to him.

"Hey, Ruka!" Natsumi called to the same empty space of air. "How are things in the spirit world?"

"You're going to make people stare at us!" Kiryu hissed.

"Oh, come on, you can see her too, right?" Natsumi protested, putting her hands on her hips.

"I can." Kiryu whispered, "But everyone else will think we're lunatics! It's bad enough we're spouting nonsense about other dimensions to these people. The last thing they need to hear is us talking to people who don't exist."

"We don't need to act like Ruka doesn't exist." Adeel rebuked, staring in the general direction of the empty space of air Natsumi had been talking to with his milky white eyes. "But it might be smart to be discreet about it."

"Especially since not all of us can see her, even if we're Phoenix Guard." Lizette added, looking somewhat resentfully at Kiryu and Natsumi.

"I can see her." Joho remarked.

Semal stared forward, squinting his eyes as if to make out something very small before shaking his head. "I still can't."

Lydia said nothing, but stood at strict attention like a soldier awaiting her commander's orders as Emma, Kazama, and the boy between them approached.

"We await our assignments," she said in an emotionless voice once Emma, Kazama, and the boy had reached them. One of her hands twitched, as if getting ready to make a salute, but she caught herself just in time and let her hands stay at her side.

"You don't have to worry about formality." Kazama reassured Lydia, giving her his own salute. "This isn't the Public Maintenance Security Bureau, and it's certainly not the Academia military."

Lydia looked embarrassed as she slowly nodded her head. She opened her mouth as if to apologize, but Kazama cut her off with a light-hearted laugh.

"So what are our assignments?" Joho hastily asked, sparing Lydia from further embarrassment.

Kazama and Emma both gestured towards the benches, indicating for the others to sit down. Once they were all seated and had effectively blended in with the rest of the crowd, Kazama began speaking.

"I've been in contact with Aki," he explained. "She's arrived at the Nazca lines along with two of our allies, Bakari and Lupa."

"Lupa?" Lizette asked. "That mercenary?"

"Pretty much." Emma snorted.

"Like I said." Kazama repeated, "She's an ally to us, and not just because she's being paid. In fact, she came here of her own free will after Aki contacted her."

"Good thing, too." Emma grunted. "We're gonna need all the help we can get. Apparently, things are really bad down at the Nazca Lines. We've got literally tens of thousands of Earthbound Familiars gathered there, swarming the place as if they were…"

"They're gathering an army!" Kiryu exclaimed, looking disturbed.

Emma glared at Kiryu. "Don't interrupt me, junior, or it's back to the orphanage for you. But yeah. Basically we've got a whole army of spiritual familiars gathered at the Nazca Lines."

"Are they preparing for an attack?" Adeel asked.

Kazama turned to a blank space of air as if listening to an invisible person before turning to Adeel.

"Ruka thinks-…" Kazama began.

"Don't worry." Adeel reassured Kazama. "I can hear her just fine, I just can't see her. For obvious reasons..." he grimaced, waving his hand in front of his milky-white eyes.

"Excuse me, but not all of us can hear her like you! What did she say?" Lizette huffed.

"Ruka thinks they're guarding someone." Jeremiah piped in, smiling innocently at Lizette, who regarded the little boy with skepticism and annoyance.

"Who would they be guarding?" Joho asked the blank space of air, before quietly holding his gaze towards the invisible person while nodding his head as if listening.

"He's managed to create a Dark Signer…?" Adeel breathed, before nodding his head at the blank space of air.

"But I thought he was bound by his own mark." Joho added, before listening to the blank area of space with rapt attention.

"What did she say?" Semal whispered to Adeel, before Adeel quickly whispered into Semal's ear and Semal nodded his head in understanding.

"We'll be ready to do that." Kazama replied, nodding his head.

"Understood." Emma added a few moments later.

Lydia and Lizette, meanwhile, were looking increasingly frustrated.

"We'll tell them." Kiryu agreed.

"Tell us what!?" Lizette snapped. From the tone of her voice, it seemed that she was upset at more than just being left out of the conversation the others were having with the invisible girl.

"Not now." Said Emma, "Ruka's talking. Have someone else who can hear her whisper to you if you need to hear now. Otherwise, just hold your horses."

"Permission to speak, please!" Lydia asked, causing the others to look at her. She was not particularly angry, but Joho could see that she was getting annoyed, and felt guilty over not whispering to her about what Ruka was saying like Adeel had with Semal.

"What is it?" Kazama asked, looking concerned. Lydia opened her mouth to speak, but Lizette cut her off.

"WE CAN'T HEAR HER!" Lizette roared. "I don't know if you have noticed, but not all of us, even after YEARS of practicing, have figured out how to do all the things you guys can do! Isn't there a way we can hear what she says!?"

"We were gonna tell you what she was say-…" Kiryu began.

"I mean hear her directly!" Lizette snapped, quivering with rage and some other emotion that was hard to make out.

"Ruka says that if you can learn to-…" Jeremiah began.

"WELL, I HAVEN'T!" Lizette roared, startling the little boy as she stood up from her bench. "Do you think I haven't been practicing!? Don't you think that if I could have worked hard enough to learn how to see spirits that I would have done so forever ago and spoken to Sherry!?"

Lizette continued ranting at the boy, causing him to clutch at the empty space of air, which only seemed to make Lizette angrier.

"Ok, look!" Lydia snarled, standing up from her own seat and interrupting Lizette's rant. "I'm not really concerned about anyone's difference in abilities right now, alright!? I was just gonna ask if there was a way Lizette and I could hear Ruka, but if there is not, that's just fine! SO SHUT UP, LIZETTE AND JUST WAIT FOR THE OTHERS TO TELL US WHAT'S GOING ON!"

"JUST LIKE YOU WOULD LISTEN TO YOUR ACADEMIA SUPERIORS!?" Lizette snarled, turning her attention towards Lydia, who opened her mouth in shock before clenching her mouth and hands together in an enraged grimace.

"I rebelled against my Academia superiors…" Lydia quivered, the knuckles of her right hand cracking while a strange hydraulic whirring sound came from her left hand, "and promised never to be a mindless machine again!" she added, pointing to the left side of her bandaged face. "Don't…ever…insinuate that I blindly follow anyone ever again! I trust the Phoenix Guard! If they say that we have to wait, then I am fine with waiting!"

"That might be fine for you!" Lizette hissed, not backing down. "But you haven't been spending literally years trying to figure out how to do it, how to see the spirits, only to end up failing to ever say even one word to anyone you've loved who's passed on."

"Do you think I'm not just as upset as you are!?" Lydia growled, causing Joho to get up before Lydia pushed him back down with her left arm. "After I learned about that ability, I TRIED to contact my parents! Don't think I don't care; I'm just as upset as you are! I just choose not to have a temper tantrum!" Lydia snapped back, before Lizette advanced on her, their eyes leveling and noses nearly touching.

"NO, YOU'RE NOT! YOU'RE NOT NEARLY AS UPSET AS I AM!" Lizette roared, causing some nearby Commons to demand her to shut up. Lizette, however, ignored them. "You haven't spent ages trying to reconnect with a lost sibling like I have! You haven't been trying to contact your parents like I have! You say you've tried to contact your parents? I know better! After you cut off ties with Academia, you just buried your past along with your parents and cut off ties with your brother when he went crazy!"

"What did you say!?" Lydia hissed, her bandaged eye glowing an intense red, causing Joho to open his mouth in protest.

"ENOUGH!" Emma barked, standing up from her own seat, and bringing both her fists down on the two girl's heads.

"OUCH!" Lydia protested, taking off her hat to rub the violet hair that rested just above the spot she had been hit.

"You stay out of…!" Lizette growled, before Emma grabbed her by the ear.

"I've had it up to here…" Emma snarled, giving Lizette's ear an upward tug, "with your attitude!"

"Emma!" Kazama began, before he was suddenly interrupted by Jeremiah, whose mark had lit up and whose eyes had begun to glow with intense white light.

"STOP!" Jeremiah commanded in an oddly feminine voice that ought to have caused the surrounding Commons to stop and stare. Fortunately, due to the arrival of Shun and Crow at the starting line, the odd changes that had come over Jeremiah went unnoticed as the surrounding Commons began standing and shouting at the top of their lungs.

"Emma, please…" Jeremiah continued in a gentle but firm feminine voice, "…let me speak with her."

Emma grunted and let go of Lizette's ear before taking her seat on the bench. Blinking away tears, Lizette sat back down on the bench, keeping her head turned away from Jeremiah who began speaking to her.

"She wants to speak with you." Jeremiah reassured her in the same feminine voice, "And she knows how hard you are trying to see her again. But you must be patient, and you can't let yourself get angry with yourself."

"Drop it!" Lizette snapped, keeping her face turned from Jeremiah.

Jeremiah sighed. "Lizette, whether or not you wish to speak about this now, you should know that you are not alone. Sherry and countless others continue to watch over you, lending you as much strength as they can."

"Shut up." Lizette mumbled, burying her face in her arms.

"They want to speak to you as much as you wish to speak to them, but such a thing is not possible for most, and exceedingly difficult for others, even for a Signer. This method I am using now is exceedingly straining to both myself and Jeremiah. I will have to leave very soon, but please never forget that you are loved by many, both living and dead."

Jeremiah reached over to pat Lizette on the back, who was now softly weeping into her arms.

Lydia looked over at Jeremiah, noticing that he had started to develop a nosebleed. His face was also sweating, and the mark on his arm was beginning to dim.

"I'm sorry, Ruka." Lydia apologized, "I didn't realize it was such a strain. I didn't mean to…to…" She looked down at the ground, not knowing what to say.

"You did not know." Said Jeremiah, smiling weakly back at Lydia. "I wish your training in Fusion could have been more thorough, but as things are over in that dimension, it's been difficult for us to assign you a skilled mentor, but know that Seijun, my brother, Rua, and I are also thinking about you. Your struggles have not gone unnoticed by us, but we can't do everything we want to do to help you."

She looked over at Lizette and then at Lydia. "You will all need to support each other. This is the strength of the Phoenix Guard. Even if we may at times feel like we are alone, separated by dimensions, distance, or death, we can all reach out to one another, regardless of location or status, and endow each other with majestic power!"

For a brief moment, the mark on Jeremiah's arm disappeared before a larger circular mark of a dragon appeared on his back. On top of the circular mark, two elegant dragon wings stretched over each shoulder. On the far left of the mark, a dragon head with jagged teach rested against Jeremiah's lower back, while a mask-like tail glowed against the right of Jeremiah's back opposite the dragon head. Above the head, a set of claws held a rounded heart-shaped object, while a set of feet opposite the claws held a circular yin-yang mark. Just as quickly as the mark appeared, it vanished before Jeremiah's usual claw-shaped mark reappeared on his right arm. Jeremiah let out a sigh, seemingly exhausted by the effort he was exerting.

"You all need each other." Jeremiah repeated. "You can all support each other. You will NEED to support each other. Lydia, Lizette," she said turning her head to look at each individual, "I need you both to be leaders who can unite the Phoenix Guard. I need you to be leaders who can support each other, because if we become divided, we shall fall, as the People of the Stars fell so long ago. Lydia, Lizette, can you do this? Semal, Adeel, Kiryu, Natsumi, Joho, Emma, Kazama, can you all do this? Can you support one another?"

"Yes!" Natsumi agreed, vigorously shaking her head.

"I will." Kazama agreed with a smile.

Emma nodded her head along with Adeel and Semal.

"I will." Kiryu confirmed.

"Me too!" Jeremiah enthused in his regular voice.

Joho nodded his head before turning to Lydia with an apologetic expression on his face.

"I'm s-sorry I…I'm sorry I d-didn't…you know…" he shrugged, "tell you w-what she was…s-saying."

"It's okay." Lydia whispered back, putting her hand on his shoulder. "You've supported me in so many other ways already." She looked over at Jeremiah. "I WILL serve the Phoenix Guard and uphold every one of their beliefs for the sake of freedom in ALL dimensions!"

Lizette had sat back down in her section of the bench, firmly grasping her knees as she looked down at the ground with what looked like utter shame. Slowly, she shook her head, "Yes," while keeping her eyes on the ground.

"Thank you, Lizette, Lydia, Joho, Kiryu, Natsumi, Adeel, Semal, Emma, Kazama, and Jeremiah." Jeremiah answered, in the same strange feminine voice. "Now, then…" he continued, spreading out his fingers, "Jeremiah's going to let me out of his body now, but I will continue sitting next to him, watching and listening to all of you. The first thing I want to see is for you and Lizette to sincerely apologize to one another before Kiryu kindly explains to the rest of the group what I spoke about and Kazama gives everyone their assignments."

Lydia, Kazama, and Kiryu nodded their heads towards Jeremiah, while Lizette weakly rubbed away the tears from her eyes before bringing her knees up to her chin and burying her face in them, her face stained wine-red from her recent stress and shame. Jeremiah blinked once, before wiping away the blood from his nose, his eyes having returned to their normal color.

"I'm sorry I got mad at you, Lizette." Lydia quickly apologized, sounding in the manner of someone wanting to get something over with. "I should have seen you were upset and not let myself get riled up. I know…" she paused, "I know you're not my enemy, so I shouldn't let a little…disagreement…divide us. So sorry," she finished, turning her face away.

Lizette remained silent, but nobody made any move to press her into responding.

"If it's any consolation…" Natsumi nervously began, her eyes glancing up and down between the hunched form of Lizette and the jacket sleeve she was picking at, "...when I…well…when Miku…passed away… and Jack let me join the Phoenix Guard, I also tried to speak with her. I figured it would be easy for me since I had my psychic powers and could already see Rua, Ruka, and Seijun without any difficulty. But whenever I tried to speak to her…"

Natsumi's voice trailed off as she attempted to maintain a smile on her face, "…I thought she must've been busy with something very important, and I still think that must be the case now. I think that's the case with a lot of the people who…move on. They're doing very important things in the spirit world, and that's why even Rua, Ruka, and Seijun aren't able to see or speak to all of them, including Miku. But I know she's still out there. I can feel her watching me sometimes, when I'm alone, or sad, or scared. I know it's the same for my parents too. And I know Sherry and your mom and dad are watching out for you."

Lizette slowly lifted her head from her knees and stared at Natsumi, who looked back at her uncertainly, as if bracing herself for another one of Lizette's angry tirades.

Suddenly, Lizette lunged towards Natsumi, passing above Jeremiah and the space Ruka was sitting, before grasping a stunned Natsumi in a tight hug. Smiling weakly, Natsumi began patting Lizette back, before motioning for Lydia to join in.

"Oh…uhm…" Lydia stammered, looking on the scene with confusion.

"Just do it." Semal instructed, looking somewhat exasperated. Lydia, however, looked hesitant. She was fiddling with her left arm, as if trying to hide it away, while fumbling with her jacket to make sure the left side of her chest was well covered.

"It's okay." Joho reassured her with a nod of his head. Nodding nervously back at him, Lydia slowly moved forward as if her legs had stiffened into solid iron, before shakily reaching out her right arm and patting Lizette on the back. Letting out a sigh, Natsumi whipped out her arms and pulled Lizette and Lydia into a massive bear hug, with Lizette and Lydia looking somewhat apprehensive, but not resisting the close proximity.

"Beautiful." Emma muttered. "An absolutely fantastic reconciliation. Now, then!" she barked, "Can we PLEASE get back to what we were doing before!? Kiryu, tell everybody what Ruka just told us!"

Lizette, Lydia, and Natsumi both hurried back to their seats, Lydia anxiously checking the bandages over her face, and the clothing over her left arm and the left side of her chest, Lizette looking embarrassed, and Natsumi gently humming "We Are Family," to herself. Clearing his throat, Kiryu commenced summarizing what Ruka had told them.

"Okay, so long story short…" he explained. "…as we are right now, we are pretty much outgunned. We don't know how, but somehow, despite Yuu's curse, he has somehow managed to create at least one Dark Signer. However, we think that there may be more, with the added threat of even more Dark Signers rising up should any of the Dark Signers Yuu created have enough energy.

"Right now, Aki, Bakari, and Lupa should be able to hold out in Nazca, but they'll need help if we're to have any hope of purifying the Earthbound Prison. Jack is going to stay in this city and continue coordinating the forces we have here.

"So in the meantime, in addition to providing this city security against the Disciples and Familiars we'll probably be encountering in not too long, we'll need to send some of our allies out to the other dimensions to gather what allies we have there. Once we have gathered those allies, the plan is to have everyone meet up at the Nazca Lines in order to purify the Familiars there before they can be unleashed on the world, and if possible, find out what they were guarding."

"So we don't have any idea what they are doing there at this time?" Lydia asked.

"No." Kiryu agreed. "Yuu wouldn't need any protection right now, so it's unlikely that they're guarding him. He's stuck in the Underworld, and any living person, even a Signer, that goes inside of that place would die pretty quickly without expending massive energy-…"

"Or unless that special armor we've talked about making got completed." Natsumi added, looking over at Lizette.

Lizette wiped at her eyes before nodding her head, still looking flushed. "It's far from complete." Lizette apologized. "I've been trying to work on it…but without Magnus to help us now…it's missing a lot. As it is…I doubt I will be able to make a breakthrough any time soon."

"Which is alright." Kazama reassured her, "Since we're not currently planning a campaign into the Underworld."

"But we do want to know why such a large force has been called into the Nazca Lines." Emma added. "If I'm right, the Earthbound don't have a limitless supply of familiars any more than they do Disciples."

"Correct." Kazama agreed. "We need to find out what's going on there, but we also need to make sure that we aren't so distracted by what's going on there, that we neglect the city and let whatever Signers and Disciples here roll over everyone."

"Akato came here." Joho added. "Do you think he knew about what was happening here?"

"He always loved chaos." Lydia mused. "Coming here when the city is about to be attacked by a legion of Disciples and Familiars probably sounded like Christmas morning to him."

"But we'll show him what true Christmas morning feels like!" Natsumi enthused, earning her some confused looks from Adeel, Semal, Kiryu, and Joho.

"Yes, we will." Lizette agreed, patting Natsumi on the back. "Yes, we will."

"But first, we need to strengthen our forces here." Kazama instructed. "Which is why some of us are going to need to go to the other dimensions to gather our forces there."

"Forget about the Fusion Dimension." Lydia huffed, blowing some of her violet hair out of her right eye. "Most of the guardsmen there would help us defeat the Dark Signers and then generously bring along Academia's armies to conquer what's left of this dimension after that war was finished up."

"Asuka is still on our side." Joho remarked. "And we don't know about Johan or O'Brien."

"Right." Lydia sighed. "All the Phoenix Guardsmen in Fusion who are being hunted down by both Academia AND the Earthbound are on our side. Everyone else…not so much."

"Ruka says that her brother, Rua and Seijun went to the Fusion Dimension shortly after they learned of the Dark Signer's presence in this city. They should be coming back this afternoon." Jeremiah contributed.

"Asuka would be able to see them, so communication shouldn't be a problem." Lydia mused, "And Academia wouldn't be able to stop either of them, so they should be able to spread the message to anyone left who's not loyal to Academia."

"Which leaves Standard and Xyz." Kiryu summed up.

"We'd need a lot of people to go to the Xyz Dimension." Joho muttered. "I haven't been there in a while, but I know it's extremely dangerous."

"What about Standard?" Emma asked, looking towards Adeel and Semal.

"That place is mostly secure." Adeel reassured Emma. "One guardsman could easily enter that place without any hiccups."

"There's actually an entire Phoenix Guard school now." Semal added. "The Phoenix Boarding School. It's run by Stephan, Katashi, and Subaru. If you go there, you'll be able to find a lot of help."

"So Stephan actually started that school." Kazama smirked. "And he's working with Subaru? Oh, man! I wonder how many times he has to prevent that guy from burning the building to the ground!"

"It's decided, then." Emma sighed. "We'll send one Guardsman to go to Standard, while a sizeable force stays here, and the rest head to the Xyz Dimension."

"I can go to Xyz!" Jeremiah volunteered.

Emma looked down at Jeremiah warily.

"I was thinking you should be the one to go to Standard, actually." Emma replied. "What do you think, Ruka?" she asked.

Jeremiah stared up at the blank space of air next to him, his eyes widening in protest as he listened to what Ruka was saying.

"Wha-bu…?" he protested.

"You heard her." Emma smirked.

"Fine!" Jeremiah pouted. "But only because I want to see the school."

"What about you, Ruka?" Kazama asked. After listening for a few moments, he turned to the others and announced, "She'll be staying here to watch over the city. So that just leaves figuring out who will be going to Xyz and who will be staying here."

The other Guardsmen looked at each other, Adeel and Semal nodding to each other while the others looked thoughtful.

"We'll stay here." Semal decided, indicating himself and his brother. "We came here to help a Disciple, and we'll keep looking for her before she hurts herself or anyone else."

"I'll stay, too." Kiryu agreed. "I know Rin, and so long as I'm here, I won't stop fighting until she's saved."

"I'm staying wherever Kiryu stays." Emma said, nodding towards Kiryu.

Kazama scratched his head. "So that's four staying. Shall I go to Xyz, then?"

"You should stay here." Lydia intruded. "Tactically it makes sense. You know more about this dimension than you do about the others. Joho and I, on the other hand, are both familiar with the Xyz Dimension, so we would be best suited there."

"I'll go wherever Joho is going!" Natsumi exclaimed, smiling at Joho who nervously smiled back at her while Lydia glared at her.

Lizette scratched her head in thought before exhaling slowly. "Support the Phoenix Guard," she muttered to herself before adding. "If Natsumi is going with you, then I'd better come along to make sure she doesn't kill herself."

Lydia looked over at Lizette, looking somewhat surprised. Lizette, however, did not return her gaze.

"So we have Jeremiah heading over to Standard while Lydia, Joho, Natsumi, and Lizette head over to Xyz and the rest of us stay here." Kazama summarized.

"I like how people assume I've volunteered when I haven't said anything." Joho grimaced.

"You ARE volunteering." Lydia snapped. "We're a team, remember?"

"And I'll be lonely without you." Natsumi added, earning her another glare from Lydia.

"Are we decided, then?" Emma asked.

"I'll go to Xyz." Joho sighed, while everyone else nodded.

"Great." Kazama sighed. "Then we have a game plan. Everyone who is gathering allies will meet at the Nazca Lines when they have succeeded in their various missions. Once both parties have contacted us, we'll coordinate our forces to ensure that a sufficient force remains to protect the city while the rest go to the Nazca Lines. Any questions?"

"Can I go to the bathroom?" Jeremiah asked, squirming his hips back and forth.

"Any OTHER questions?" Emma asked.

Everyone shook their heads "no."

"Excellent." Said Kazama, nodding his head. "Everyone staying to protect the city, stay here and you'll receive your assignments from us. Everyone heading to a different dimension, gather what energy you need and head out now!"

"What…NOW!?" Natsumi whined. "But the match just got started! I need to be here to support Shun!"

Kazama looked taken aback.

"Listen…" Lizette reassured Natsumi, "…you'll be supporting Shun more than you ever could here by helping out the Xyz Dimension."

"But I won't see him!" Natsumi pouted. "Can't we wait for the match to be over!?"

"Oh, just come on!" Lydia snarled, grabbing Natsumi with her left arm and dragging her off her seat with surprisingly immense strength.

"Good luck with those three girls." Semal winked at Joho, who quickly looked away and began blushing heavily.

"You coming, Joho?" Lydia called, as she and Natsumi began leaving the stand.

Joho limped after them, still blushing heavily from Semal's last comment. Once they had gone, Adeel, Semal, and Kiryu began speaking amongst themselves.

"How long do you think the poor guy's gonna last?" Adeel asked.

"Poor guy?" Semal exclaimed, "I'd kill to be in his position right now! One guy in a group of three beautiful girls…well…yeah…Lydia could count, not like Natsumi and Lizette though. Still… what more could a guy ask for?"

"Poor guy's gonna get killed with those three crazy girls." Kiryu snorted. "If Lydia and Natsumi don't tear him apart fighting over him amongst themselves, then Lizette will kill the rest of them once one of them manages to tick her off."

"That's only if Lydia doesn't kill Lizette first." Adeel grimly added.

"Glad to see you three are all so familiar with each other," Kazama commented, interrupting Adeel, Semal, and Kiryu's conversation, "because I'm assigning you three together. Kiryu, show Adeel and Semal where we keep some of the spare bikes and riding equipment and begin sweeping through the government sector of the city near the Friendship Cup Stadium. Rin was near that area if I remember correctly."

"Got it." Kiryu agreed, before motioning for Adeel and Semal to follow him.

"Here, Fluffals!" Adeel called, grabbing the leash of his dog before following the other two guardsman out of the Stadium.

As the trio disappeared into the distance, Kazama turned to Emma, a concerned expression on his face.

"When are you gonna tell Kiryu that his dad used to be a Dark Signer?"

"He doesn't need to know." Emma whispered. "That was never his true legacy, and I promised to keep that information private. I don't think that promise is rendered invalid after his death."

Kazama looked like he wanted to say more, but stopped himself.

"Come on, Jeremiah." Emma sighed, "Come with us and we'll show you how to get to Standard."

"That's okay." Jeremiah replied, getting up from his seat. "Ruka will show me. You two stay in this stand and watch the game."

"Why?" Emma asked.

"I was talking to Ruka." Jeremiah explained, "And she thinks there might be a Dark Signer here."
…

When Ruri had first heard early that morning the news of Shun's duel against a duelist named Crow, the prospect of seeing her brother again, even if it was from a distance, had filled her with happiness.

But now, as she sat atop one of the pillars overlooking the stadium while using her powers to keep herself concealed, her initial feelings of joy had become much more bittersweet. True, she was overjoyed to know that Shun was still alive and continuing to fight against Academia, but the fact that she couldn't reveal herself to him, when all she wanted to do was run up to him, embrace him, and be with him again, had filled her with sorrow.

It would have been dangerous to go to him now. Roger was looking for her, and would most certainly attack both her and her brother the second she showed up next to him. She couldn't risk hurting Shun like that for the sake of a selfish desire, not when he had selflessly given so much to continue looking for her...even as she sat watching him.

"How ironic," she thought bitterly, "that the one thing I could do to ease his pain...is also the worst thing I could do for him now."

But there was another reason Ruri was not showing herself to Shun, a reason she didn't want to think about and so thought about all the more forcefully, even as she tried to ignore her thoughts.

What would Shun think of her when he saw her now? Would he be proud of her decision to return as a Dark Signer? Would he support her in her desire to end Academia's reign and create a new universe where threats like Academia could not exist?

Ruri wasn't sure about the answers to these questions, but she knew he would be worried. How could she tell him she died, and what would he think of that revelation when he heard it? Ruri didn't think he would reject her or turn her away for becoming...

She looked down at herself, at her long black robes with white trimmings, at her cold pallid skin, and at the strange ethereal wings she had wrapped around herself like a blanket. Shun would be worried about her transformation, and who could blame him for it?

Sometimes, despite her growing certainty that her plan to change the universe was necessary, she wondered if instead of accepting the offer to be resurrected, she should have just…

What would Shun say? Would he tell her she shouldn't have done what she did? Would he have been worried about Yuu trying to take advantage of her? Would he try to dissuade her from her mission? Tell her it was too dangerous? How would she handle the situation if he responded that way?

Ruri glanced down at her elegant Duel Disk and began contemplating the duels she had been involved with since her resurrection. It was strange. For so long, she had had faith in her brother's dueling skills, in his ability to excel and protect her if need be. But now, with the immense power flowing through her, a power which seemed to only be growing stronger as she gathered more followers, she felt certain that she could defeat him with ease...should they ever come into conflict.

Wait…

Ruri shook her head in shock and frustration. Where had that thought come from? Why would she ever even think of fighting her brother? Sure, him being against her decisions was a possibility, but she wouldn't ever need to fight him over them, or at least, not in a duel. Still, the thought of earning her brother's disapproval and hurting him more in that way filled her with dread. But even as she feared his resentment, she knew that what she was doing needed to be done.

Jatun Waqar, the god that resided within her, had been speaking to her of the necessity of their plan. If they did not renew the dimensions and convert the inhabitants to a path of peace, then even if Academia was utterly destroyed from the roots up, other factions like it would rise up again. Wars would escalate as technology and dueling continued to advance, and in the end, all civilizations would suffer a fate similar to the Xyz Dimension.

Ruri had refused some of Jatun Waqar's suggestions, even as the spirit protested that she would soon run out of energy if she continued to resurrect the dead and raise disciples without needed replenishment for her rapidly draining power. Those methods the spirit suggested could not be used, not if they would end up hurting people, including innocent people.

But still, Ruri could understand Jatun Waqar's growing sense of urgency. Further war and chaos had to be prevented, even if some sacrifices had to be made to do it. There was no more time to waste, and nobody else who had the power to accomplish what she could now do.

The thoughts of one of her Disciples interrupted Ruri from her introspection.

"Ruri-Sama…" the voice of one of her Security Disciples, Nevan Bourne, called, "...we've secured the injured Security officers in a hospital like you told us while managing to maintain cover. There's no sign of the anomaly that attacked our own members, but there is…other news I thought you might want to hear."

"You know about those…Academia guys you told us about?" Nevan's partner, Garret Kinsley asked.

Ruri sighed before closing her eyes and relaying her own thoughts to her two disciples. Jatun Waqar had been extremely helpful assisting Ruri in coordinating her various forces of disciples on a moment-by-moment basis, but Ruri still felt somewhat strained as she tried to keep up with the many tasks that had to be done in so short a period of time.

"Yes." Ruri replied to Nevan and Garret. "I am aware that Academia is most likely trying to infiltrate here. Have you found one of their agents?"

"We believe so." Nevan replied. "We saw a young boy riding one of our vehicles, blue hair, green eyes, looked pretty badly wounded, but he was wearing the blue jacket you described some of the Academia soldiers wearing…"

"…plus he had the shield-shaped Duel Disk you said they use." Garret added.

Ruri let out a small exhale, recognizing the description of the boy she had dueled earlier that day. So he was still alive. Strangely, however, the news of his survival seemed utterly unimportant to her now, even with her knowledge that his survival could mean him calling in potentially dangerous backup. There were other more important things pressing upon her so much that she couldn't even feel hatred towards the merciless child soldier. All she could muster now was a stifling indifference towards the boy and his fate.

Still, it would have been imprudent to leave a loose end like that.

"Thank you, Garret and Nevan," she replied, "That agent is wounded, but still a potential threat. Coordinate with your companions and have them capture the agent if possible. If he resists capture…you'll have to put him out of his misery."

"Understood." Nevan replied.

"Wait…are you saying we might have to…kill him?" Garret asked.

"Yes, you idiot!" Nevan angrily replied, "Unless you want to have this dimension destroyed like Heartland! You saw what Ruri-Sama showed us."

"Yeah…but…" Garret protested.

"It is enough." Ruri sighed, silencing her two disciples. "Hopefully, nobody will have to die, but know that neither he nor any other Academia agent will show you any mercy. We need to be prepared to defend ourselves. If they fight us, we have to fight back harder. I need you all to be ready to do what needs to be done, or a lot more people's lives will be destroyed."

"Yes, Ruri-Sama." Nevan acknowledged without a second's hesitation.

Garret seemed to think for a moment before replying. "I'll protect this dimension."

"That's all I ask for." Ruri replied with a nod before returning her attention to the duelists, who were lining up towards the starting line. Both her brother and Crow were eager to begin dueling, their faces hardened with determination.

That face her brother was wearing, one so fierce, enduring, and resolute... it brought to Ruri's mind the face of another she had seen since arriving in the Synchro Dimension. One that ought to have brought her joy, but now was tormenting her even more than her anguish at being unable to reunite with her brother.

Ruri brought her knees up to her face, and hugged her legs as she thought of him. Why had she seen Yuto when she had been watching Yuya's duel? She had put out of her mind the absurd possibility of Yuto pretending to be Yuya, using an entirely different deck, and fooling Yuzu into thinking he was Yuya for no reason. They looked exactly the same physically, just as she looked identical to her counterparts, but she knew well enough from her experience getting to know Rin that the counterparts' individual personalities were a different matter. Those differences in personalities left identifying marks in the individual faces of the counterparts. She had looked into Yuya's face and seen that he was most definitely not Yuto. Furthermore, when she had looked at the ghostly companion floating next to him, there was no mistaking the person for her long lost friend. He was right there, somehow bound to Yuya as a spirit.

But how?

She tried recalling what Yuzu had said about meeting Yuto. Ruri did not feel that Yuzu had lied to her about anything, or otherwise attempted to misrepresent past events. Quite the contrary, everything she had said about sometimes seeing Yuto in Yuya's eyes had been confirmed to be true. Somehow, Yuto was no longer a part of the mortal plane…or, at least…not as corporeal as he had been before. Jatun Waqar had confirmed that what she had seen was indeed the spirit of Yuto, so there was no doubt that Yuto had somehow passed away.

But how!?

That question continued tormenting her. Who had killed Yuto? Had he died looking for her? Had Academia cornered him and killed him? How was Yuya involved?

She had the sickening image of Yuya being Yuto's killer momentarily flash in her head before brushing it off as ridiculous. Yuya was an entertainment duelist like Yuzu. Something like murder would be something he would be incapable of. Right?

But what if there was a misunderstanding?

The face of Yuri flashed into Ruri's mind. According to Yuzu's account, Yuto had mistaken Yuzu for Ruri when he first met her. What if he had made a similar mistake with Yuya? What if he had somehow learned of Yuri, and then, when he met Yuya, a fight had broken out? Ruri didn't want to think of Yuto acting in such a vengeful fashion, but how could she blame him if he had? She had felt those same feelings, and even now, as she thought on Yuri's cruelty, couldn't help but feel a sadistic desire to face the arrogant boy who dared to mimic Yuto's looks, and use her new powers to give that Fusion monkey exactly the payback he deserved.

What if Yuto had felt the same way? What if, in his desire to find her, he had gotten into a fight with Yuya, thinking he was Yuri, and then…?

Ruri's jaw clenched as she thought of Yuto being overpowered in some way and then killed. She still couldn't picture how Yuya could have ended up killing Yuto and binding him to himself as a ghost, and at any rate, Ruri couldn't just automatically assume Yuya's guilt like that, especially not when Yuzu had vouched for him so sincerely.

But the fact still remained. No matter what she chose to believe, Yuto was still there, bound to Yuya somehow and forced to live his existence as a spirit.

But did he really have to live that way?

Ruri began thinking of Rin and Yuzu, who had also died. She had raised them from the dead with her powers. Should she do the same with Yuto? Could that have been the reason she was chosen to bear this power? Was she to be the means of giving her loved ones a second chance at life?

The thought of Yuto standing by her side, clad in her same dark robes, bearing a mark similar to hers upon his own body filled her head, but this time, it felt more like a vision than a simple daydream, like the thoughts she had had in the Underworld shortly before accepting Yuu's offer to become a Dark Signer. She saw the two of them, holding hands while looking upon a Heartland that had been liberated from Academia's oppression and which was slowly being rebuilt. As she looked upon the vision, she felt in her heart that her homeland had been liberated because the two of them had fought Academia.

Together.

If Ruri's heart had been alive, it would have been hammering against her chest, so powerful were the emotions flooding through her at the moment. She felt at once, hope, uncertainty, anxiousness, eagerness, desire, and even, ever-so-slightly...guilt.

"Yuto!" she breathed, reaching out her hand as if to grab him from Yuya and pull him into her arms.

But he was nowhere to be seen. He was still lost to her. He had been taken from his life and forced to endure an existence Ruri was almost certain he could not have desired.

"But now…" Ruri thought with a smile, joyful tears streaming down her eyes, "with the gift I have been given, I can bring you back! Just like I did with Rin and Yuzu."

Suddenly, even as she began feeling comfort from the thought of raising Yuto from death, the thought of Rin's suffering after her resurrection immediately caused Ruri to recoil from the thought.

What she, Rin, and Yuzu had was not life. It was, Ruri thought, perhaps better than total death, but their new existence had caused them all to suffer. She couldn't just rip Yuto from the grave against his will just because she wanted him. That would be unbelievably selfish.

And what if Yuto really was content with his current existence? "What if…" Ruri thought, fear rising within her, "…he doesn't really want to be with me again?"

Ruri wiped the tears from her face and exhaled slowly, thinking about how she had approached the resurrection of Rin and Yuzu. Both of them had chosen to bear the mantle of Dark Signer by their own free will. She could give Yuto the same opportunity.

"If he accepts my offer…" Ruri said to herself, "…I will embrace him with all my heart and stand by his side forever as he copes with the changes over himself." She closed her eyes. "And if he refuses…" she swallowed painfully, "…then I will still care for him. I will thank him for all the happiness he gave me, and wish him complete happiness and contentment in his new existence."

She stood up from her pillar, nodding her head with determination, despite the anxious feelings still nagging at her. Thinking on how Yuto had continued fighting for what he believed in as he looked for her, she resolved to do the same as she sought to reclaim him.

She would continue fighting against Academia just as he had, and help others do exactly the same.

"Starting…" she whispered, looking down at Shun, "...with you, brother."

…

As Shun burst onto the track-way alongside his opponent, Crow, he couldn't have felt more filled with purpose. Academia, and other enemy factions were all around him. Dennis had turned out to be an Academia spy, the corrupt government of Synchro could not be trusted, and Sergey had recently killed an ally to the Lancers. The Lancers themselves, even if most of its members were the allies they claimed to be, had shown that they could not be relied upon. Yuto and his other friends in the Resistance had been the only comrades he could depend upon, and now, with them all gone, he was truly the last person who could accomplish the task of defeating Academia and saving his sister.

But despite his loneliness, far from feeling deterred, Shun felt driven more than ever to continue in his fight, knowing that all would fail should he fall.

His opponent, Crow, pulled up right alongside him in his shiny black-and-orange D-wheel, Blackbird.

"Just so you know…" Crow called, pulling up the visor on his helmet to look at Shun, "…even if Shinji's been defeated, I will still carry on his legacy and defeat you just like he would!"

"Today, I will determine if you are truly a friend or an enemy." Shun curtly replied, not even bothering to look at Crow, but instead keeping his attention directed forward at the track ahead.

"Same to you!" Crow retorted, turning his own head towards the upcoming track. "I'm definitely defeating you!"

From up above their heads, Melissa Clair's distinctive voice rang out.

"Our contestants are eager to begin!" she called, "This will surely be one exciting match, and one you have waited a long time for! Field activate!" she declared, snapping her fingers into the air. "Crossover Axel!"

From holographic projectors all across the city, holographic energy was spread out along with the Action Cards for Crow and Shun's duel. In front of the two duelists, a countdown timer began counting down.

3…

2…

1…

GO!

Slamming down on their accelerators, Shun and Crow rushed forward both of them, staying neck and neck with each other as they each fought to ignore Melissa Clair's commentary on the special track reserved for their duel, due to Shun's destruction of the last track, and the roar of the crowd. Each of them, instead focused all their attention on winning the duel as they fought to accomplish their respective goals.

Eventually, Shun began inching ahead of Crow, who continued fighting hard, determined not to give up the chance to go first. However, with an extra push on the accelerator, Shun blasted forward, inching ever and ever closer to the beginning line.

That's when the lane suddenly changed.

"Nani!?" Crow and Shun exclaimed in unison as, without warning, the track-way ahead suddenly rose up like a draw bridge before an adjacent pair of tracks lowered to form a completely new path. Instinctively, Shun began simultaneously pulling on his breaks and leaning to the right in order to turn his bike around and not fall of the track.

Due to his quick actions, he succeeded in evading a deadly crash, but not before Crow had managed to use Shun's loss of momentum to his advantage and pull past the track-way's checkpoint and gain the first turn.

"DUEL!" Crow triumphantly called, pulling out his opening hand.

"DUEL!" Shun angrily called back, furiously struggling to not let the strange event of the lane inexplicably changing distract him from his duel.

Meanwhile, in his office, Jean-Michell Roger watched the Duel with increasing anxiousness and trepidation.

"Make sure Shun is not harmed!" he angrily called to one of his subordinates. "I need him to lose this duel, but I need him alive if my plan is going to work!"

"Apologies, chief." His subordinate called back. "We will make sure Shun's bike does not go off the track during future lane changes."

"See that you do." Roger snarled back, before wiping some sweat from his brow. All things considered, he felt he ought to have been more relaxed with some of his plans finally going through without any pesky resistance from the Earthbound and their infernal servants.

Sergey's augmentation was nearing completion, his engineer had successfully prepared six G.H.O.S.T. for a field test, and had further promised that more were well on the way. He had Yuya as well and was preparing him for surgery as he watched the duel. His forces were also approaching Rin's orphanage, and soon he would have Shun in his custody.

However, despite this progress, he still could not rest easy. Not until the Earthbound were defeated, and, to a lesser extent, until Academia's invasion had been repelled.

"Strange…" Roger thought, "…that I'm not nearly as worried about Academia now as much as I was first thing this morning."

Ruri was also thinking the situation was strange. She, of course, had only seen two duels in the Friendship Cup, but in neither of those duels had there been such a change in the lanes. The suddenness of it struck her as dangerous. Still, both duelists had been okay, and now Crow was beginning his turn.

"The first move is mine!" Crow declared, rubbing in his initial victory even more by snagging an Action Card from the track while Shun fought to keep up. "Now the Commons' voice will be heard!"

"Oh, gee..." Melissa complained, "…can we please not do this again!? The last thing we need is for the audience to be riled up with such hateful rhetoric!"

Inwardly, she began wondering if she'd need to cut out the audio once again. Fortunately, Crow didn't launch into a passionate speech about revolution, and instead proceeded with his turn.

"I'll start by Normal Summoning the Level two monster, Black Feather - Fane the Steel Chain!" Crow declared, slamming down a card in his hand.

Alongside his bike, a blue portal opened up and a small humanoid blackbird, who was wearing ninja clothing, appeared, letting out a little raven caw before assuming a martial art pose, a holographic indicator showing an ATK of 500.

"And now…" Crow continued, holding up two cards as he and Shun passed into an area filled with overhanging skyscrapers, "…since I control a Black Feather monster, I can summon these two monsters from my hand! Come forth, Black Feather – Oroshi the Squall and Black Feather – Harmattan the Sandstorm!"

Next to Fane, two more monsters appeared through two new blue portals. Oroshi appeared as a small blackbird with feathery blue eyebrows and a large red wattle under his beak, while Harmattan appeared as a larger blackbird with heron-like legs, orange tipped wings, and a large red feathery crown over its head. Next to Oroshi, a holographic indicator showed a Level of one and an ATK of 400, while an indicator next to Harmattan showed a Level of two and an ATK of 800.

"I now activate Harmattan's effect!" Crow declared, "This little bird of mine can target one of my Black Feather monsters and increase its Level by that monster's Level! So targeting the Level two Black Feather – Fane the Steel Chain, I increase Harmattan's Level from two to four!"

Around Crow's Harmattan, a swirling cloud of sand enveloped the monster, which let out a low shriek as its Level rose from two to four.

"The stage is now set for a Synchro Summon!" Crow declared, extending his hand towards his monsters, "I tune my Level two Fane and my Level four Harmattan with my Level one Oroshi the Squall!"

Shrieking in unison, all three of Crow's monsters spread out their wings before taking flight, Oroshi taking the lead, before Oroshi morphed into a single green ring which enveloped the other two birds as Crow began his summoning chant:

"Spread your jet black wings and slice across the air with the force of a storm! SYNCHRO SHOUKAN! APPEAR NOW! LEVEL SEVEN! ASSAULT BLACK FEATHER - RAIKIRI THE SUDDEN SHOWER!"

Above Crow, the skies darkened as a pillar of white light from the Synchro Summon shot into the dark clouds before disappearing. In a massive thunder clap, Crow's Synchro Monster, a large humanoid bird man in heavy armor, with one metallic white wing and one feathery black wing, descended to his field. Next to the monster, a holographic indicator showed a Level of seven and an ATK of 2600.

"Summon as many monsters as you want." Shun taunted, using Crow's momentary diversion of attention towards his own monster to obtain a lead, "I will tear them all down."

"Not if I tear you down first!" Crow retorted, throwing down a Spell Card. "I next equip my Raikiri with Spinning Blade of the Trailblazer!"

In each of Raikiri's hands, a large crescent-moon-shaped blade appeared, which Raikiri expertly twirled around before posing with one blade outstretched and one blade held back, ready to strike. Next to Crow's monster, a holographic indicator showed its ATK rise to 3400.

"Spinning Blade of the Trailblazer gives Raikiri 800 more attack points, but that's not all it does!" Crow explained with a smug expression on his face as Shun continued pressing his small lead. "Once per turn, I can inflict 400 points of damage to you for every Synchro Material I used to summon him! That's three materials so you take 1200 Points of damage! GO RAIKIRI! TRAILBLAZER TORNADO!"

Shun heard Crow's explanation, but he was focused on something else. His small lead against Crow hadn't been wasted, for up ahead, just within his reach, an Action Card rested on the trackway, light reflecting off the bubble in which it was suspended.

Slamming down on the accelerator, Shun launched his bike forward, gunning for the Action Card with all his might even as Raikiri began pursuing him, slashing its crescent blades through the air and sending three blasts of air his direction.

Shun leaned over, reaching his hand out for the Action Card…

When the lane changed again.

Eyes widening with shock, Shun was forced to quickly right himself as the lane ahead rose up and the Action Card disappeared before an adjacent lane formed to his and Crow's left. With a grunt, Shun noticed his bike's autopilot automatically guide his vehicle into a slower left turn, giving Crow the ability to pass by him while Shun simultaneously received three violent blasts of wind against his face, nearly knocking him off his bike while reducing his Life Points to 2800.

Shun, however, though frustrated, remained undaunted. He had faced far worse hardships during the invasion, and none of that had succeeded in breaking him. And he was about to show Crow why.

"Monster effect activate!" Shun angrily retaliated, slamming a card onto his Duel Disk. "Raid Raptor - Avenge Vulture can Special Summon itself from my hand since I took damage!"

Next to Shun's bike, a large sleek robotic vulture appeared to his field before a holographic indicator appeared next to the monster, showing a Level of four and an ATK of 1700. Flying silently and invisibly above the two duelists heads, Ruri couldn't help but smile with pride at her brother's quick recovery.

"Remember this, Crow." She thought to herself, "No matter how much you damage my brother, he will NEVER stop fighting!"

"You place a lot of faith in Shun." A mature feminine voice mused within Ruri's mind.

Ruri nodded her head in agreement. Although it had been shocking at first to hear Jatun Waqar speak, she had gradually gotten used to the spirit's council and commentary.

"You know of my thoughts towards him." Ruri replied. "I mean every bit of them. He is the greatest man I have ever known."

"Including when compared with Yuto?" the spirit teased.

Ruri smiled wryly at the comment. "That, my dear Jatun, is none of your business."

The spirit seemed to chuckle at her comment. Most likely, she was perfectly aware of the full extent of Ruri's feelings towards both individuals and had no real need to speak with Ruri to know of them. It wasn't an arrangement Ruri particularly enjoyed, but she had managed to tolerate the inconvenient breach in privacy out of respect for the spirit and because the spirit, unlike other companions, could be completely and utterly discreet.

Meanwhile, on the duel lane beneath Ruri, Crow had already managed to come up with a counter of his own.

"Ha! Did you forget about Raikiri's effect?!" Crow asked with a smug grin, as he pulled his bike in front of Shun to keep him from passing him. Above his head, Raikiri readied his weapons as if preparing to strike once again. "Once per turn, I can destroy cards on the field equal to the Number of Black Feather monsters I control. So with one Black Feather on my field, I can destroy that Vulture of yours right away!"

"A shame your brother's play was countered so quickly." Jatun Waqar commented as she and Ruri watched Raikiri toss both of his crescent blades into Shun's Avenge Vulture. Whirling through the air, the blades easily sliced through the thin joints connecting the robotic vulture with its metallic wings. crashing to the ground, the robotic vulture shattered into shards of scrap metal before exploding in a burst of sparks.

However, neither Shun nor Ruri looked concerned. On the contrary, Shun was giving Crow a hardened but calm look, as if he had expected his vulture to be destroyed.

"Wait for it." Ruri instructed as she felt Jatun's puzzlement.

"I can see it in your mind now." Jatun replied.

"I did not forget about your monster's effect." Shun retorted, pulling another card from his hand, "My vulture was bait!"

"WHAT?!" Crow exclaimed, looking back at Shun with a stunned expression on his face.

"Monster effect activate!" Shun declared, slamming down his card with a calm and calculating expression on his face before extending his hand forward towards where a blue portal had opened up. Through the portal, a pitch-black robotic bird with wings like a spy drone, a pair of missiles tucked under the wings, and a set of six, large, red robotic eyes, appeared to Shun's field, a holographic indicator showing an ATK of 1200.

"Since you destroyed my Vulture…" Shun explained as Crow continued to look on with stunned disbelief, "I can Special Summon Raidraptor - Ambush Lanius from my hand, and when I do, you take 1000 points of damage!"

"Oh, come on!" Crow protested, "Does everything I do enable you to summon another monster!?"

"Ever since the invasion," Shun explained, "My life has been a never-ending battlefield! I am always prepared for the worst! Raidraptor – Ambush Lanius!" Shun ordered, pointing his fingers at Crow, "Surprise strike!"

Letting out a high-pitched shriek, Ambush Lanius let loose the pair of missiles tucked under its wings, launching both of them straight at Crow as he leaned on his bike to make an upcoming turn.

"ACTION MAGIC! STRENGTH TRAINING!" Crow countered, slamming the Action Card he had picked up earlier. "Up to twice per turn, during this turn, if I take any effect damage, I can reduce that damage to zero and then add that damage to Raikiri's attack points!"

Crow's Raikiri launched himself in front of the two missiles and braced himself for impact. Holding out his armored left arm, he knocked aside one of the missiles before it could hit Crow, causing the missile to spin uselessly away from its target, before bringing both his crescent blades down on the other missiles, slicing it into three segments which exploded into holographic dust. Letting out a mighty roar, Raikiri flexed his feathery muscles as his ATK rose from 3400 to 4400.

"Turn end!" Crow declared, turning his attention back towards the road. "I've faced a lot worse than that as a Common," Crow recounted. "You'll have to fight a lot harder if you're going to defeat me."

"The Resistance has faced far more than mere oppression." Shun retorted, earning him a nod of approval from Ruri. "But no matter how great our trials have been, we have always managed to overcome! I will defeat you, for the sake of every one of my comrades, living and dead, and for the sake of my family! ORE NO TURN! DRAW!"

"I'm here for you, Shun." Ruri whispered from overhead, "Whether you know it or not."

"Summoning Monster!" Shun declared, slapping a card onto his Duel Disk. "Raidraptor - Napalm Dragonius from my hand!"

Over Shun's head, a large robotic bird with a very long serpentine metallic tail, a blue head, and a pair of smaller bird wings appeared to the field. Next to the monster, a holographic indicator showed an ATK of 1000.

"I will next activate the magic card, Raidraptor Call!" Shun declared, throwing down a spell card. "With this card, I can Special Summon a Second Napalm Dragonius from my deck!"

Twisting its long serpentine body through the blue portal, a second Napalm Dragonius joined its brother before opening its mouth and letting out a shrill cry that was accompanied with a small breath of fire from its mouth.

"Those look more like dragons than birds." Crow commented, giving Shun's two new monsters an appraising look.

"And for good reason." Shun replied, stretching his hand towards his monsters. "I next use both of their effects! Each Raidraptor – Napalm Dragonius can inflict 600 points of damage to my opponent's Life Points! Go! Napalm Firestorm!"

Flying parallel with each other, each of Shun's Napalm Dragonius rose into the air before arching back their heads simultaneously and letting loose a fire-hose blast of orange flame from each of their large beaks as the thrusters on their wings pushed them forward towards Crow's bike.

"Direct Crow to H-827." Roger ordered as he monitored the duel.

Just as the wall of flames was about to reach Crow, the two Napalm Dragonius suddenly halted their coordinated attack as the track in front of the two duelists rose up before both duelists were forced into an abrupt right turn through a pair of large skyscrapers.

Gripping the handle of his bike tightly with his right hand, Shun stretched his left hand forward towards his two monsters.

"Continue with the attack!" he ordered, managing to stay upright.

Obediently, the two Napalm Dragonius looped back around before charging towards Crow and releasing another jet of flame towards his bike. However, not too long after making the turn, Crow managed to grab an Action Card.

"ACTION MAGIC! ENCORE!" Crow called out, as he felt the heat from Shun's attack steadily increasing. "This lets me target an Action Card in my Graveyard and use its effect again! The card I choose is Strength Training! So now, I will reduce the damage from your two Napalm Dragonius to zero and add that damage to Raikiri's Attack Power!"

Once again, rather than take damage, Crow's monster quickly jumped forward. This time, however, rather than attempting to swat away the flames, Raikiri began performing a quick barrel roll through the air, holding out his two crescent blades and generating a massive tornado, which blew back the flames and scattered the two Napalm Dragonius, who retreated back to Shun's bike.

Resuming its original position, Raikiri struck a muscular pose before his already massive ATK of 4400 rose to 5600.

"Why do the lanes keep changing?" Ruri asked herself, looking on with frustration as the erratic change in the duel lane messed with her brother's strategy once again. Was this supposed to make the duel more exciting, or were the managers of the duel worried about Shun destroying something important and trying to redirect his explosive attacks to another area?

Either way, it was becoming very annoying. Still, even with this latest inconvenience, Ruri was confident her brother would still achieve victory like he always did.

"You can make your monster as strong as you want…" Shun remarked, pressing down on the accelerator in order to catch up to Crow, "…but in the end, it won't matter!" he extended his hands towards his three Level four monsters. "I overlay my two Napalm Dragonius with My Ambush Lanius! With these three Level four Monsters, I construct the overlay network!" Shun proclaimed, watching as each of his three monsters changed into three separate streams of purple light before draining into a large galaxy-shaped black-and-gold Xyz Portal that appeared on the ground in front of Shun before exploding into a blast of multi-colored light, as he commenced his summoning chant:

"Mighty Falcon Lurking in the Shadows, extend your talons, sharpened by adversity and spread the wings of your rebellion! XYZ SHOKAN! APPEAR NOW! RAIDRAPTOR - RISE FALCON!"

Letting out a mighty high-pitched shriek, Shun's signature ace-monster descended from the sky, flapping its metallic wings through the air as it extended its massive metallic talons towards Crow and his monster. Next to the monster, a holographic indicator appeared and showed a small ATK of 100.

"You went to all that trouble just to summon that monster?" Crow asked incredulously, staring at the Xyz monster's insignificant ATK.

"Equip Spell, Activate!" Shun continued, ignoring Crow's comment, "Raptor's Ultimate Talons! By equipping Rise Falcon with this card, it gains 700 ATK and it cannot be destroyed by card effects!"

Over Rise Falcon's feet, a set of massive crimson talons with glistening chrome points on the end appeared.

Lowering one foot to the ground, Rise Falcon seemed to test out one of the blades, letting out a pleased shriek as the sharp claws smoothly and effortlessly left a gash in the track-way like a diamond on glass. Next to the monster, indicators showed its ATK rise to 800.

"Rise Falcon effect's activates!" Shun declared, pointing up to his bird, which absorbed one of its glowing overlay units into its chest before letting out another high pitched shriek and soaring high into the air. "I detach one Overlay Unit to have it gain attack power equal to the combined attack of all Special Summoned monsters you control!"

"NANI!?" Crow exclaimed in disbelief as Shun's Rise Falcon burst into flames like a phoenix as its ATK rose to 6400.

"It doesn't matter how weak we appear." Ruri murmered.
"No matter how powerful our enemies become, the resistance will always overcome!" Shun proclaimed, unknowingly finishing his sister's sentence. "BATTLE! EKAY, RISE FALCON! ATTACK RAIKIRI THE SUDDEN SHOWER! BRAVE CLAW REVOLUTION!"

Swooping into a rapid dive, Rise Falcon extended its flaming talons towards Crow's Raikiri, intent on destroying the monster. Crow sped his bike forward, attempting to reach a distant Action Card, but both Shun and Ruri could easily see that he would never make it to the distant bubble in time.

However, as Rise Falcon approached Crow, the lanes changed once again, causing both Ruri and Shun to gasp with shock as, with the miraculous and timely change in the lanes, Crow was immediately redirected to a nearby Action Card, which he was able to easily pick up while Rise Falcon was forced to pull up and recommence its attack anew.

"Something's wrong!" Ruri silently hissed, eyes narrowing at Crow's unbelievable luck. It had been one thing to notice the lanes frequently changing during the duel, but now Ruri was beginning to notice a pattern in the changes. Was it just coincidence that every one of the track changes had occurred whenever Crow had been threatened?

"I will not be deterred!" Shun roared, "Rise Falcon, continue your attack! BRAVE CLAW REVOLUTION!"

Crow watched as Rise Falcon ignited into a flaming bird once again and swooped down towards his monster before looking at the Action Card he had drawn.

Unfortunately, despite his luck, the Action Card was a card called Nullify, something that couldn't help him now.
Raikiri raised up his blades to parry the attack from Shun's charging falcon, but before he could even do anything, Rise Falcon quickly swiped past Crow's monster, slicing apart Raikiri's blades and leaving a massive flaming gash in the monster's chest as it raked across the monster with its sharp burning talons. Letting out an anguished cry, Crow's monster exploded in a fiery blast, scattering feathers everywhere as shockwaves from the attack slammed into Crow, reducing his Life points to 3200.

"Looks like your Action Card couldn't save you this time." Shun commented, fixing Crow with a hard glare from his eagle-like eyes.

Crow brushed aside the comment, looking away from Shun before placing the Action Card in his card holder for later.

"I don't need Action Cards to beat you." Crow retorted. "My true strength can be found in the bonds I share with my Common friends! With the strength of those bonds, I will certainly defeat you!"

Shun glared back at Crow, saying nothing in return.
"Ultimate Talon's Effect Activates." Shun finally continued, staring up at his Rise Falcon, who had returned to his side, "Since Rise Falcon inflicted Battle Damage to you, I can add one Rank-Up-Magic Quick-Play Spell Card from my deck to my hand!" He added a card to his hand before shuffling it in with the rest of the cards. "Setting one card face down! Turn End!" Shun declared, as his Rise Falcon's ATK dropped back to 800.

"Just wait Shinji, Damon, Tony, Frank, Amanda, Tanner." Crow thought to himself. "I haven't forgotten why I'm fighting. I will certainly win this tournament for you!"

…

"Hurry!" Tanner called to his companions, Amanda and Frank, as they struggled to keep up with him. Despite his much smaller size and shorter legs, it seemed like the small round-faced child had developed super-speed as he raced forward and jumped down a tall stone wall in his attempts to get to the track-way where Crow was dueling.

"Be careful!" Amanda warned, following behind Frank as he jumped down the wall. "Security is still out! If we're not careful, we might get caught!"

"But I need to get to Crow!" Tanner insisted, ducking underneath a gap in a chain-link fence before Frank and Amanda followed behind, with her tearing another hole in the bottom of her already ragged dress as she did, much to her annoyance.

"We'll get to him." Frank reassured the hyperactive little boy, as they dashed across a street, passing by a patrol of Security officers before they could notice them. "Don't worry, we'll be able to support him like we promised we would!"

"Do you think Crow has the card I gave him?" Tanner asked, as they clambered up the steps of a very tall and wide overpass, at least twenty-five meters tall and seventy-five meters wide.

"Scapegoat?" Frank asked, picking Tanner up and carrying the little boy up the stairs when he had stopped in front of them to pant for breath. "I actually hope he isn't using that one. It's not that good."

"Frank!" Amanda scolded, putting her hands on her hips as Tanner began looking upset.

"I'm just saying!" Frank protested. "It's good for stalling, but it can't really do that much."

Tanner started to cry.

"Now look what you've done!" Amanda scolded, bonking Frank on the head, who was looking a little guilty, if not somewhat pained by her blow, before taking Tanner from him and giving the boy a little hug.

"Don't worry…" she soothed, "…Scapegoat is a great card, remember what Crow showed you when Frank was beating you with Colossal Fighter?"

Tanner blinked at Amanda, wiping away some tears with his pudgy hand before nodding his head.

"You were getting beaten by Colossal Fighter." Amanda recounted as she carried Tanner up the steps. "The only thing you had protecting you were your Scapegoat tokens, and Colossal Fighter had already destroyed one of them. You summoned Genex Controller, but it didn't have much attack, and we all thought you were gonna lose because Colossal Fighter had thirty-six hundred attack. Do you remember what happened, then?"

Tanner nodded. "Crow showed me that even if my monsters weren't that strong when they were apart, if they were united, they could become stronger."

Amanda nodded her head. "Remember how surprised we were when you drew United We Stand and beat Colossal Fighter with Genex Controller after you equipped your monster with that card?"

Tanner nodded his head, smiling proudly to himself.
"I still beat you though…" Frank began, "…I had a copy of De-Spell, so I was able to…"

Amanda gave him an angry look.

"But…it was still a really good move." Frank hastily corrected, as all three of them clambered on top of the overpass before looking down at the distant track-way. "I guess Scapegoat can be pretty good if you use it right."

"Crow will have that card." Amanda reassured Tanner, "And he'll be able to win with it."

Tanner happily nodded his head before rushing over to the edge of the overpass to lean over the railing. As he anxiously awaited the arrival of Crow, Tanner thought hopefully on the strength Crow had shown him when his monsters became united. Just like he had helped them stay strong when they were together, Tanner would be here to help Crow stay strong as he faced his new opponent.

…

"Ore no turn! DRAW!" Crow declared with determination, yanking a card from the top of his deck. Looking at the card he just drew, he grinned.

"No matter how many times we Commons are beaten down…" Crow confidently explained, "we will always be able to come right back! And I'm about to show you how! Since I control no monsters, I can Special Summon the tuner monster, Black Feather - Gofu the Hazy Shadow, and when I do, two Hazy Shadow Tokens are Special Summoned to the field with it!"

Above Crow's bike, a massive tornado burst onto the track-way, knocking Shun's bike back and forcing the Xyz duelist to close his eyes as dust was blown into his face. In the center of the tornado, a small birdman bound in chains sneered at Shun through a hazy mist before stretching out his two wings and summoning two transparent ghosts shaped like birds. Holographic indicators showed that Gofu had a Level of five and a DEF of 0, while the two Hazy Shadow Tokens had a Level of one and a DEF of 0.

"Gofu is a bit different from other tuner monsters!" Crow explained with a smug expression on his face, "You see, instead of Synchro Summoning a monster from the Extra Deck, Gofu can use his effect to allow me to Synchro Summon a monster that's in my Graveyard!"

"WHAT?! YOUR GRAVEYARD!" Shun exclaimed, looking shocked.

"Correct!" Crow affirmed, a determined expression coming over his face as the two ghostly birds whirled around Gofu like a tornado as they, Gofu, and Crow become obscured by a swirling vortex of hazy dust.

"This is the power of Commons! This is the power of Phantom Synchro Summoning! I tune Gofu with my two Hazy Tokens!" he declared, extending his hand towards his monsters as Gofu vanished inside the mist with a shrill cry, before Crow began his Synchro Summoning chant:

"Spread your jet-black wings once again and rise from the grave with the force of a rain storm! PHANTOM SYNCHRO SHOUKAN! APPEAR NOW! ASSAULT BLACK FEATHER - RAIKIRI THE SUDDEN SHOWER!"

Bursting forth from the phantasmal haze of dust, Raikiri rose to the field once again, spreading out his powerful heterochromatic wings and roaring loudly, as Rise Falcon shrieked right back at the monster.

"Since that Talon Card prevents your Rise Falcon from being destroyed by card effects, I'll just destroy your equip card instead with Raikiri's Effect!" Crow declared, extending his hand towards his monster, "Ekay, Raikiri!"

Unsheathing his sword, Raikiri sliced the blade through the air, sending a shockwave of electrically-charged wind straight into Shun's monster, slicing off the sharp ends of Rise Falcon's upgraded talons before the rest of the equip card exploded in a shower of holographic sparks and Rise Falcon's ATK dropped to 100.

"NOW! GO, RAIKIRI, ATTACK RISE FALCON!" Crow ordered, extending his hand towards Shun. Raising his sword into the air, Raikiri charged forward, wings propelling him forward with immense speed as he prepared to cleave the robotic falcon in two. Shun, however, looked ready to meet the attack.

"Monster Effect Activate! Raidraptor - Booster Strix!" Shun countered, showing a card in his hand. "By banishing this card from my hand, Raikiri is destroyed!"

A small, blue robotic owl with large rocket boosters for feet appeared behind Shun's Rise Falcon before igniting both its thrusters, causing Shun's monster to rocket forward to meet Crow's monster.

"He is quite persistent." Jatun Waqar commented as Ruri watched Shun's counterattack. "I can see why you admire him as you do. I wonder…" the spirit mused before her voice slowly faded into the back of Ruri's mind.

But Ruri wasn't listening to what her spirit was saying, for she was watching the track. Now, with Shun about to gain the advantage once again, she would be able to see if the theory that had formed in her mind on the nature of the duel was correct.

"ACTION CARD ACTIVATE! NULLIFY!" Crow declared, throwing down the Action Card he had picked up earlier. "I can activate this card once per turn if you activate a card or effect! This will negate the effect of your Booster Strix and hit you with 500 points of damage!"

Just as Rise Falcon was about to ram into Crow's Raikiri, the effect of Crow's Action Card sent out a blast of energy into Shun's monster, knocking back the robotic falcon before causing the attached Booster Strix to malfunction and explode. Shrieking in pain, Rise Falcon flailed through the air, desperately flapping its somewhat damaged metallic wings as it attempted to right itself.

Shun was faring no better as the blast from Crow's Action Card slammed against his bike, causing Shun to grit his teeth in pain as his Life Points dropped to 2300. However, leaning forward on his bike, Shun took advantage of Crow's focus on his attack to speed forward and pass Crow, heading towards an Action card up ahead.

Anticipating what would happen next, Ruri swooped down, heading for the same Action Card her brother was heading towards.

Sure enough, just as Shun was about to reach the Action Card, the track ahead rose into the air, cutting off Shun's chance at survival before a new track formed to the left, with no Action Cards ahead for many meters.

"What's going on!?" Shun exclaimed, staring in utter disbelief at the track-way ahead as yet another lane change thwarted his plans.

Even Crow was looking confused, however, thinking of the people he was fighting for, he brushed aside the concerns arising in his mind and refocused his attention on his attack.

"Continue the attack, Raikiri!" Crow ordered, "Finish this duel!"

"YOU WILL NOT GAIN A VICTORY YOU DIDN'T EARN!" Ruri mentally roared as she swooped down and grabbed the Action Card Shun was headed towards before it disappeared. Flapping her translucent wings through the air with all her might, she raced ahead of her brother, cursing the unfairness of the situation.

"How dare Roget do this!" Ruri snarled, shaking some hair from her face as the speed of her flight blew it into her eyes. "Were you planning on getting to me by striking at my brother!? Well, congratulations!" she hissed, a sadistic smile coming over her face. "You've managed to tick me off! Now you're about to learn what happens when I stoop to your level and decide to cheat!"

She dropped the Action Card, which reformed its floating bubble, onto the track ahead of Shun, before launching herself back into the air and praying for Shun to make it in time.

"You helped him." Jatun commented, "Even though it was technically against the rules."

"I wouldn't have done it if this duel wasn't already rigged." Ruri replied. "I'm not going to let Roget win here!"

Jatun Waqar seemed to be considering her words.

"I wish to assist you in this," the spirit finally whispered. "I have seen your brother's nobility for myself and have seen the opposition he has faced. He has remained a powerful force even as others have tried to knock him down. He is driven in his goals, ruthless towards his enemies, and eternally loyal to his allies."

"He is." Ruri whispered, watching with growing anticipation as Shun charged forward.

Down on the track, Shun was fighting desperately to find a way to escape defeat, but he could think of nothing he could do. His Booster Strix had been countered, leaving him with no other options but finding an Action Card.

However, when he had tried to obtain the Action Card, the lane had changed and led to a lane where there was no…

…No…

Shun's yellow eyes widened as he spotted it up ahead. Where there had once been empty air, just a few feet from him, there was an Action Card suspended in its bubble. Reactively slamming down on the accelerator of his bike, Shun rocketed forward, snagging the Action Card and playing it just as Raikiri sliced through his Rise Falcon, causing the massive robotic bird to explode in a massive fireball.

"ACTION MAGIC! RECOVERY!" Shun declared, glowing with an aura of golden energy just as shockwaves from Raikiri's attack slammed into his bike, causing Shun to get enveloped in a massive explosion.

Racing ahead, Crow zipped through the explosion while Melissa Clair declared his victory from up ahead.

However, contrary to what Melissa reported, instead of the smoke clearing away to reveal a defeated Shun, Shun's bike suddenly rocketed out of the smoke, a holographic indicator displaying his Life Points at 2400 instead of at 0 like everyone was expecting.

"Before the damage went through," Shun explained before Crow could protest, "I activated the effect of the Recovery I obtained! This card enabled me to gain Life Points equal to the ATK of the attacking monster, raising my Life Points to forty-nine hundred before I lost twenty-five hundred from Raikiri's attack. With this card, I have enough Life Points to continue the duel!"

Up above, Ruri silently rejoiced that her brother was still undefeated.

Over in Roger's office, it was a different story.

"HOW DID SHUN GET AN ACTION CARD!?" Roger roared over the intercom at his subordinates, who were supposed to be monitoring the duel and making sure Crow's victory was assured.

It was absolutely unbelievable! He had Shun! HE HAD SHUN! He was just about to quickly and smoothly take Shun into his custody WITHOUT having to resort to interrupting the Friendship Cup to arrest the teenage boy on the spot, subsequently risking a riot from the Commons. But now, because of a brilliant display of incompetence from his subordinates, who had ASSURED him that the lane change led to no Action Cards for Shun, Shun had, beyond the Chief of Security's wildest beliefs, obtained an Action Card, one that not only allowed him to barely stay in the game, but one that could potentially enable him to turn the game around with the Rank-Up card Roger KNEW he had set!

Sure enough, just as Roger had predicted, Shun activated it.

"Now for my true recovery...and my victory!" Shun declared, extending his hand towards his face-down card. "Quick-Play Magic Card, Activate! Rank-Up-Magic - Death Double Force! With this card, I can Special Summon Rise Falcon back from my Graveyard and then Rank It up for a monster whose Rank is Double that of my Falcon! NOW, RISE FALCON! OVERLAY!" Shun ordered, triumphantly raising his hand into the air as his Rise Falcon rose up from the graveyard through a black portal in the ground.

Shun began his summoning chant: "Dauntless falcon, hoist up the flame of anger, become the flash of light that burns the land to ash! RANK UP, XYZ CHANGE! RISE UP AND SOAR! RAIDRAPTOR - SATELLITE CANNON FALCON!"

As the Xyz Portal burst into a blast of multi-colored light after Rise Falcon completed its transformation, Ruri looked on in wondrous awe upon the brilliant white robotic bird, remembering with fondness how Shun had used the monster in his last duel to defeat Dennis and avenge both herself and their fallen comrades.

She was not the only one who remembered the monster.

"I remember that monster!" said Crow ominously, as the sunlight glinted off Satellite Cannon's brilliant crimson and white armor. "You may have beaten that Dennis kid with that monster, but you won't beat me! Not so long as I have the bonds I share with my friends! I set two cards face down! Turn end!" Crow declared, setting down two cards from his hand.

"Do you think your brother can win now, even if Roger still controls this track-way?" Jatun Waqar asked Ruri as she continued flying above the two contestants.

"He would have won long ago if Roget wasn't intervening," Ruri replied. "But if he tries to rig this duel again, I'll be here to thwart his plan once again!" she resolved, clenching her fist in anger.

"I will be there to help you." The spirit agreed before seeming to almost smile to herself. "And there is another who has agreed to help us at this time. With his help, I believe we can not only help Shun win this rigged duel, but take control of this entire match from Roget's unworthy hands."

Ruri's eyes widened at Jatun Waqar's statement. As she continued flying, she felt as if there was another distant presence that had entered her being. Her body felt colder and darker, but also stronger and more empowered as the presence took hold.

"Who are you talking about?" Ruri asked, nervously fingering her bracelet.

"My father." Jatun Waqar replied simply.

"You have a father?" Ruri asked, surprised that the godly entity that lived within her had family.

"He is currently bound, just as I was bound before I found you." Jatun Waqar explained, "But we remain close, just as you remain close with your own brother. That despicable Dark Signer, Yuu Hashimoto…" the spirit snarled, surprising Ruri with the immense rage that began flooding her body, "…has consistently blocked him from enacting His will. But thanks to your power, He finally has an opening through which He can exercise His power!"

"What are you talking about?" Ruri asked, wondering what the spirit was talking about. Yuu had introduced himself as a servant of the Earthbound. How was he holding a god equal to Jatun Waqar back?

Jatun Waqar seemed to read Ruri's thoughts.

"Have you never wondered…" Jatun Waqar asked, "…why Yuu Hashimoto bears so many marks upon his body when you, Rin, and Yuzu each bear only one?"

Ruri blinked as she remembered the many marks that had adorned Yuu's body when she had first met him. At the time of her resurrection as a Dark Signer, she hadn't thought much on the fact that she had been endowed with only one mark…no…with one spirit, Jatun Waqar.

But now… it did seem rather strange that Yuu had borne so many marks. Every time she had used her power to resurrect someone as a Dark Signer, that person had been bound to one Earthbound God. Just ONE Earthbound God. She thought again on the dozens of marks all over Yuu's body. Was he really binding THAT many spirits inside himself all at once!?

Ruri felt a shudder of discomfort pass through her body. She had not minded Jatun Waqar's presence, and had even slowly come to grow close to the spirit who shared her vision of defeating Academia. At times, her godly way of thinking seemed foreign to Ruri, but she could not deny that Jatun Waqar possessed immense wisdom. Still, the concept of having that many spirits inside one person seemed like an unnatural arrangement to Ruri...like trying to ride a dozen horses at the same time rather than forming a bond with just one.

"Where you bound to Yuu before?" Ruri cautiously asked, "What is happening with Yuu? Why does he have that many spirits bound to his body?"

Ruri felt feelings of immense displeasure and fury from Jatun Waqar, none of it directed towards her, but instead, directed towards the Dark Signer who had first enabled Ruri to rise from the dead.

"I will tell you later, but I do not wish to speak of it now." Jatun Waqar sullenly mumbled. "For now, understand that where we were once gravely limited, through you, many of us have found our path to freedom. Through you, I and my father can now give Shun the power he has long deserved."

Ruri swallowed as she slowly processed the spirit's words before returning her attention to the duel.

"We'll see if it comes to that." She whispered.

"I will be here when you make that decision, and will support you whatever decision you make." Jatun Waqar promised, fading once again from Ruri's immediate consciousness.

"ORE NO TURN! DRAW!" Shun proclaimed, yanking a card from the top of his deck before extending his hand towards his large monster. "Satellite Cannon Falcon effect activate! By detaching one Overlay Unit, Raikiri loses 800 attack points for every Raidraptor in my Graveyard. I count Rise Falcon, Avenge Vulture, Ambush Lanius, and my two Napalm Dragonius, so your monster loses 4000 attack points!"

In front of Satellite Cannon Falcon, the ghostly images of each of Shun's fallen monsters appeared before transforming into dust and getting absorbed into Satellite Cannon Falcon's central orb. Letting out a high-pitched shriek, Satellite Cannon Falcon aimed a set of six forward-facing cannons towards Raikiri before unleashing six intense bursts of energy into Crow's monster, sending Raikiri flying backwards as his ATK dropped to 0.

"BATTLE! SATELLITE CANNON FALCON! ATTACK RAIKIRI! AVENGING LIGHT!" Shun ordered as Satellite Cannon Falcon launched itself into the air with its large green thrusters. However, unlike in his duel with Dennis, Satellite Cannon Falcon didn't fly all the way up into space, but simply rocketed about five miles into the atmosphere before unfolding the panels on its back and charging up its cannon for a devastating attack, the large golden energy mark of the Raidraptors materializing over its back.

'Trap Card Activate!" Crow countered, extending his hand towards his Trap Card, "Black Feather Surprise Assault! When you attack a tuner monster I control, which Raikiri is thanks to its effect, I can Special Summon one Level five or Lower Assault Black Feather Synchro Monster from my Extra Deck by negating its effects and changing its ATK and DEF to 0! So give a warm welcome for Assault Black Feather - Sohaya the Summer Rain!"

From up above Crow's head, a thunderbolt slammed into the field, bathing the surrounding area in a momentary flash of light. When the light dimmed, a smaller bird man with dark blue wings appeared next to Raikiri, letting out a determined "Ha!" as a holographic indicator appeared next to it and showed an ATK of 1500, which quickly dropped to 0.

"It doesn't change anything." Shun retorted, pointing his finger at the still weakened Raikiri. "Satellite Cannon Falcon, continue the attack!"

"It changes everything!" Crow bellowed, raising his fist into the air. "Witness the true power of the bonds we Commons share! With the power of Surprise Assault, I can immediately perform a Synchro Summon using my Level seven Raikiri and my Level five Sohaya!"

Letting out a loud shriek, Satellite Cannon Falcon fired a massive beam of energy down at Raikiri, blasting a hole into a nearby sign as the column of energy descended to the field below. However, before the energy blast could connect with Raikiri, Raikiri and Sohaya both launched out of the way of the blast before Raikiri morphed into a set of seven green rings, all of which enveloped Sohaya as Crow commenced a new summoning chant:

"Legendary Jet-Black Wings! Soar through the sky and strike down with the almighty power of a thunderstorm! SYNCHRO SHOKAN! APPEAR NOW! ASSAULT BLACK FEATHER - ONIMARU THE DIVINE THUNDERBOLT!"

As Crow's new Synchro Monster burst free from the column of light, the entire sky above Crow's head was bathed in lightning. Crow's new bird man wore elegant black-and-orange metallic armor with lightning-themed patterns. His right wing was bare, with pitch-black feathers, while his left wing was metallic. In his hands, the monster wielded a large lightning-bolt shaped sword which crackled with intense electricity as he sliced it through the clouds. Letting out a thunderous roar, Crow's new monster flexed its muscles as a holographic indicator appeared next to it and showed an ATK of 3000.

Shun looked around the field after the monster appeared, trying to spy an Action Card, but found none.

"So now you have a monster whose power is equal to mine." Shun reluctantly admitted, gripping the handles of his bike. "Very well, then. I end my turn!"

"They won't be even for long!" said Crow, placing his hand on top of his deck. "THIS IS FOR ALL OF MY COMRADES! ORE NO TURN! DRAW!" he roared, yanking a card from the top of his deck. Looking down at the card he had just drawn, he smiled when he saw what it was.

"Scapegoat." He murmured, remembering the good-luck card Tanner had given him. "Thank you, Tanner, I will not let your feelings go wasted!"

"I set one card face-down!" Crow declared, setting Scapegoat face-down. "And now, BATTLE! ASSAULT BLACK FEATHER – ONIMARU THE DIVINE SWELL, ATTACK RAIDRAPTOR SATELLITE CANNON FALCON! BLACK LIGHTNING STRIKE!"

"But our monster's attack powers are equal!" Shun protested, "They will just destroy each other!"

"Not with Onimaru's effect, they won't!" Crow countered. "You see, because I used only Synchro Monsters to summon him, Onimaru gains a whopping three-thousand attack when he battles your monster! GO, ONIMARU! ATTACK AND END THIS DUEL!"

"NO!" Ruri protested from up above as Crow's monster began charging up towards Satellite Cannon Falcon with extreme speed. Knowing that Shun would not be able to obtain an Action Card with Roger interfering with the duel, Ruri raced towards the nearest Action Card.

"It is time, Ruri!" Jatun Waqar called from within Ruri. "Will you accept our help!?"

Ruri hesitated for only a moment as Onimaru came just a few feet from connecting with Satellite Cannon Falcon, who tried in vain to evade the swift attack as Onimaru's ATK swelled to 6000.

"DO IT!" Ruri called back, "Let's defeat Roger, TOGETHER!"

Ruri snagged an Action Card from a track-way separate from the one Shun and Crow were riding on before feeling immense power from an outside source flow into her mark before coursing through the veins in her arm and into the card she had plucked from the track-way.

As she carried the card towards her brother, she felt the card transforming in her hand as the card became enshrouded in shadows and the picture and text changed.

"The Action Card will not be enough!" Jatun warned. "Extend your hand towards your brother! Unleash the energy I and my father have given you into his deck and grant Shun the power he needs to obtain victory!"

Ruri did as Jatun Waqar instructed, holding out the hand not holding the Action Card and launching a stream of black shadow into Shun's deck before depositing the transformed Action Card in front of Shun. Shun, alert as ever, did not fail to notice the sudden appearance of the Action Card, and though surprised once again by its sudden appearance, did not hesitate to lean over and snag it from the track-way.

Above his head, his Satellite Cannon Falcon was desperately struggling to evade Onimaru's furious attacks, launching energy blast after energy blast at the lightning swift bird man as Onimaru continued damaging Satellite Cannon Falcon's metal armor with swift strikes from his blade and bolts of lightning he summoned from the surrounding clouds. Shun would need to activate the Action Card now if he had any hope to stay in the duel.

However, once Shun had raised the Action Card to his face and looked at it, he stared at it with confusion.

Earthbound Shroud.

Its effect wouldn't save him, but even with this disappointment, Shun was still determined to not lose, as hopeless as it looked for him. There was still a path to victory. If he activated the Action Card quickly, perhaps he could find another Action Card and activate that one before he lost.

"ACTION CARD, ACTIVATE!" Shun declared, "EARTHBOUND SHROUD! With this card, I can target one Earthbound or Enshrouding Spell Card in my deck and activate it immediately!"

"What good will that do?" Crow asked, fairly certain he had neither heard of Shun using either Earthbound or Enshrouding cards (whatever those were).

Roger was similarly confused, though any confusion he felt was greatly overshadowed by his complete and utter disbelief.

"EARTHBOUND? EARTHBOUND!?" He shrieked, hopping up and down from one foot to another like a madman dancing a jig. "WHAT'S GOING ON!? HOW!? WHY!?"

"…Chief?" One of his subordinates nervously asked.

"STOP THE DUEL!" Roger roared. "STOP THE DUEL, STOP THE DUEL, STOP THE DUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL!" he bellowed, tearing at his hair as his face became a pale mask of complete and utter horror.

Meanwhile, on the track-way, Shun continued his turn.

"Even if it can't do anything…" Shun replied, "…I can still…"

Shun was suddenly interrupted when, to his complete and utter surprise, a lone card popped out of his deck before glowing with intense electric-yellow energy.

Curious, Shun pulled the card from his deck and stared at it.

What was it?

Upon looking at it, Shun suddenly felt as if a massive dark cloud had overshadowed him and the rest of the field. All time around Shun seemed to slow to a standstill as the entire world darkened and a deep male voice filled his head.

"I have heard your cries, child." The voice rumbled with the deep rumbling of a thunderstorm.

Shun looked around in stunned disbelief, trying to make sense of what was going on. All around him, he saw the city in utter ruin. Looking desperately around, Shun saw with horror the terrifying forms of Antique Gear Chaos Giants rampaging through the Synchro Dimension city, legions of Academia Soldiers marching through the streets and carding every Synchro soldier and civilian in sight.

Shun tried to speak, but all he managed to get out was a hoarse, "What…?"

"I have watched you, child." The voice continued, "I have beheld all your struggles, all your pain, and all your fears. I know what is to come. I have foreseen the dangers the people of this dimension are blind to!"

"Who…are…?" Shun gagged, struggling to comprehend the madness that had suddenly gripped him, but feeling unable to speak. He was in a lot of pain, feeling as if a massive surge of energy had entered his body and was threatening to make him explode.

But it was not just physical pain. Emotionally, he was feeling intense rage and fear, the kind he felt on the battlefields of Heartland, only this was even more intense. He was sweating, clutching at his chest, feeling like he would, at any second, get caught by his enemies and destroyed unless he destroyed them first!

"Your enemies are all around you." The voice continued, "One is before you even as we speak! Remember what your enemies have done to your homeland!" The voice instructed as the scene of the city around Shun instantly transformed into an image of Shun's ruined home of Heartland.

Shun's eyes widened with shock.

"What's happening!?" Shun bellowed, panic flooding through him now. "Who are you!?"

The voice however, didn't respond with words. Instead, Shun caught glimpses of something powerful. Something massive. It was bathed in thick black clouds, which rumbled with angry thunder. Appearance wise, it looked avian, like a massive ancient and ghostly vulture. Even as Shun caught glimpses of the creature, Shun could feel the creature staring down at him.

"Remember what they have done to your friends!"

Images of Shun's comrades in Synchro getting transformed into cards before getting collected by Academia filled Shun's mind. Reliving the scene in his mind, Shun couldn't ignore the intense wrath rising inside him like a raging fire. Why was he seeing this!? Was this about to happen again!? No! He couldn't let it happen! He HAD to stop it!

"Remember what they have done to your sister!"

Ruri's face flashed before him.

"RURI!" Shun called in horror, before a set of demonic hands grabbed away the image, roughly dragging his sister into the shadows. Inside him, the fire of Shun's rage intensified into the fires of a raging volcano, threatening to break free and destroy everything in its path.

"Remember these things." The voice instructed. "And accept my miracle I have given to you! Rejoice, my child! For you have the power to stop this evil! You have the power to avenge your homeland, friends, and family against your enemies! Rage against the ones who destroyed your home!"

Shun could feel it, the rage was there, growing ever stronger!

"Rage against the ones who destroyed your friends!"

They were gone. Slain by his enemies. Shun saw and heard them laughing. Not an ounce of remorse for the people they'd murdered! Not an ounce of justice brought against them!

"Rage against the ones who took your sister!"

They had taken her! She who had done nothing to deserve her fate! Someone completely good and innocent! Why had she suffered!? Why weren't they suffering!?

"RAGE!"

It was growing! The rage was growing!

"RAGE!"

It hurt now! But Shun welcomed it, embraced it! He would have his enemies suffer the same! Let THEM feel this pain!

"RAGE!"

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Shun screamed.

"RAGE!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"RAGE!"

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Shun bellowed, feeling like he would explode.

"RAGE AGAINST YOUR ENEMIES AND SMITE THEM ALL WITH MY POWER!"

Shun felt renewed purpose and power coursing through his veins. He looked down the dark track-way at his distant opponent, Crow, who had been frozen in time, and clenched his fists with fury. He saw him now for what he was. He had had his suspicions before, but now he was absolutely certain!

He was an enemy. Just like Dennis had been. He was another opponent he had to tear down in order to defeat Academia and save his sister! Everywhere was a battlefield for Shun, ever since that horrific day of the invasion so long ago! But Shun knew that no matter how many enemies bore down against him, he HAD to destroy them all! And with the card he had been given, whether by miracle or not, Shun somehow knew with absolute certainty that he COULD win!

There was only one thing that was still bothering him.

"Who are you?" he called to the voice, this time with much more strength and purpose than fear.

"I am your future." The voice replied. "I have chosen you to carry out MY will! Through me, you shall obtain your victory against ALL your enemies! Take the card I have given you, and grasp that future NOW!"

Shun's head jerked back as he awoke on his bike. He felt blood leaking from both his nostrils and both his ear openings, his throat was dry and raw, and an immense pounding headache was thundering against his skull.

But despite his pain, Shun felt extremely energized and empowered, as if he could destroy all of Academia with his bare hands if he chose to.

And he did choose to.

"RANK-UP-MAGIC: ENSHROUDING FORCE ACTIVATE!" Shun roared, eyes glowing with electric-yellow light as he slammed the card onto his Duel Disk. "With this card, I can multiply my Satellite Cannon Falcon's Rank by Negative One and then I can Dark Xyz Summon one monster from my Extra Deck with a rank that's two ranks higher!"

"Shun?" Crow nervously asked, noticing the blood trickling down Shun's face and the mad glow in his enraged eyes. Roaring like a tortured demon, Shun threw back his head as a column of shadow exploded around his bike, rocketing up towards his Satellite Cannon Falcon, which became engulfed in a sphere of thick black shadows. As the shadows grew in size, Onimaru was thrown back from Shun's monster.

"SHUN!" Ruri called, her voice filled with concern as she watched her brother's pain.

"Fear not!" Jatun Waqar reassured Ruri, "He is becoming empowered! Soon, his pain will grant him the power to overcome all of our enemies!"

"WHY IS HE BLEEDING!?" Ruri panicked, eyes clamping over her mouth as she witnessed the terrible effects of the card she had given her brother in the hopes that it would help him.

"You must have faith!" Jatun instructed. "My father shall not allow Shun to die, and neither will my father! Because Shun is neither Dark Signer nor Disciple, he is suffering much strain upon his mortal body, but the sacrifice MUST be made! You know this, Ruri! Remember the pain you have endured! If this is not done, then Shun will fall into Roger's hands, and soon, all of our plans will be for naught!"

"I can't leave Shun like this!" Ruri wept.

"Look more closely upon your brother." The spirit reassured Ruri. "See for yourself. He is not in true distress. He welcomes the power you have given him, despite his pain. Respect his wish to struggle and let him overcome the pain in order to gain the ultimate victory!"

Ruri looked down upon her brother, noticing that Jatun had spoken truthfully. Shun was bleeding from the strain, but he didn't look tortured or distressed. Riding his bike with a godly aura of energy emenating from his body, Shun looked more mighty and godly than Ruri had ever imagined him to be. She was still concerned, but Ruri nevertheless decided to hold back as Shun's monster began transforming, promising herself that she would intervene if Shun's condition worsened.

Within the sphere of darkness, Shun's Satellite Cannon Falcon began shrieking in pain as its body turned translucent, revealing eight gold-black spheres inside of its body, which slowly changed to a creamy translucent color before Satellite Cannon Falcon's body once again became opaque.

"With this…" Shun groaned, pain tearing through his body even as he felt immense strength and power coursing through his veins, "…my path to victory begins!" From one of his eyes, Shun felt a trickle of blood run down his nose like a tear.

"You're hurt!" Crow exclaimed, pulling back his bike as Shun continued bleeding.

"SILENCE, ENEMY!" Shun roared, voice gaining strength and power as it took on a godly quality. "I HAVE NO NEED FOR YOUR PITY! ALL THE PAIN, ALL THE SUFFERING, ALL THE DEATH WE HAVE ENDURED, I SHALL AVENGE IT ALL NOW WITH YOUR BLOOD! GO, MY SATELLITE CANNON FALCON! OVERLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

Roaring like a demon, black lightning began ripping through Shun's body as he arched his head up to look upon his Satellite Cannon Falcon, which began shifting shape within its sphere of shadow as the sphere of darkness dragged his monster down to just above his own head. Once the sphere of darkness had descended, the surrounding shadows slowly dissipated, revealing, to Shun and Crow's utter surprise, Shun's Raidraptor – Revolution Falcon, flying above Shun's head.

"What?" Shun asked, looking upon his Xyz Monster with confusion.

But there was something wrong with Revolution Falcon. Its armor looked blackened and rusted, as if it had been decaying for thousands of years. The monster was quivering with what looked like fear, bolts holding its metallic body together rattling as it trembled and let out weak croaks of pain. Despite the intense rage Shun was feeling, and his determination to sweep away his enemies, Shun couldn't help feel horror at his monster's suffering. Looking into his monster's robotic eyes, Shun could almost swear his monster was pleading with him to stop.

It got worse.

Letting out a shriek of terror, Revolution Falcon threw back its head, rending the air with its cries as Shun, Ruri, Crow, and the rest of the audience looked on, some with horror and others with excitement. In an explosion of dust and rusty metal, the outer casing of Revolution Falcon's metallic body blew apart, revealing something that took Shun's breath, and the breath of almost every other onlooker away.

Beneath the metal armor of Shun's monster was the emaciated and wounded body of a large featherless cyborg falcon. A massive life-support system was hooked up to its chest, pumping blood through its thin body like a heart, while another device expanded and contracted over the bird's chest like a pair of mechanical lungs. Its thin wrinkly flesh was covered in scars, and its two feet were completely missing, replaced with small metallic prosthetics.

"Why?" Shun murmured, trying to understand what he was seeing. Why was this wrinkled and emaciated creature living inside his proud and majestic Revolution Falcon?

Shun's thoughts were abruptly interrupted as, without warning, a massive golden mark, which Shun couldn't quite make out, appeared over Revolution Falcon's bare chest, causing the emaciated cyborg to roar with even more pain as its body slowly turned translucent, and it compacted into a singularity that began forming in the center of its body.

Shun felt another wave of intense pain, but it was quickly overshadowed with feelings of rage, determination, and empowerment as he raised both his hands into the air and commenced his summoning chant in a deep and powerful voice that sounded like two people talking instead of one:

"Restless and persecuted falcon imprisoned for too long within a hard metal shell, shed the cold metallic prison from your scarred and wounded body, enter the black void, and rise up again in flames as a ruthless predator whose fiery vengeance obliterates all in your path! RANK UP, DARK XYZ CHANGE! UNLEASH HELL! RAVAGE RAPTOR CARPET BOMB CONDOR!"

From the center of the singularity, massive bolts of black lightning launched themselves into the sky and into the surrounding area, blowing holes into buildings, streets, and cars as more and more of the surrounding space seemed to get sucked into the vortex in space and time.

Imprisoned within the Executive Council building, Reiji, Reira, and the Executive Council watched the duel, some with worry on their faces, some, like Reiji, keeping their faces impassive, and others, like the Chairman, looking delighted.

"You did not mention Shun possessed the ability to Dark Xyz Summon." The Chairman smiled, delighted by the variety of new summoning methods the tournament was showing.

"Shun has never possessed that ability." Reiji curtly replied, narrowing his eyes at the scene of destruction.

"Pardon?" The Chairman asked, looking confused.

Reiji, however, was not listening to the Chairman, his attention was focused on someone else.

"Hurts!" his adopted brother, Reira, cried out in agony, eyes bugging out of his head as he clutched the sides of his blue hood with his hands. "It hurts! It hurts! It hurts so much! Stop it! Stop hurting it! Stop hurting it!"

"Reira!" Reiji called, kneeling down to hug his brother against his chest in order to comfort him. But nothing seemed to be able to calm the boy's distress.

"They hurt!" Reira continued, "But they're angry! So angry! Stop it! Stop it! Stooooooooooooooooop iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!" he screamed, rending the air with his agonized cries.

"WHY HAVEN'T YOU STOPPED THE DUEL!?" Roger raged, at his subordinates.

"The controls aren't working!" one of the subordinates panicked.

"Our computers won't respond!" another one replied.

Suddenly, all the power in the Public Security Maintenance Bureau Headquarters abruptly went out, leaving everyone inside in total darkness, before the power switched on again.

However, when the computers flickered back into life, they had changed.

The screens of every computer in the facility had darkened, their entire surface dominated by a large golden mark-shaped vaguely like a vulture. Its wings were broad and tall, like a set of two tombstones, while its feet were spread out over a large triangle-shaped tail on the bottom. Its head was thrown back, with the beak reaching into the air, as the entire mark glowed with intense light.

"CHILDREN OF SYNCHRO!" A deep and powerful voice boomed across the intercom of the building, causing everyone working inside the facility, including Roger, to stop and stare with their mouths agape. "YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO BE THE FIRST TO TAKE PART IN THE GREAT ASCENSION! REJOICE, OH CHILDREN OF SYNCHRO, FOR YOU SHALL BE PART OF A NEW UNIVERSAL ORDER!"

"What's going on!?" Roger breathed, looking desperately around. One of his subordinates, a brown-haired lady, entered the room.

"Chief!" She exclaimed, "We don't know how it happened, but somehow somebody has seized control over our system! Whoever they are, they're broadcasting this message throughout the city!"

Roger screamed at the subordinate, who ducked out of the room as he threw his chessboard at her in sheer fury.

But her words were true, all throughout the city, Commons and Tops alike were watching the duel with their mouths agape as the voice continued to address them.

"YOUR LEADERS HAVE LIED TO YOU, THINKING THAT THEY COULD RIGHTFULLY RULE THIS WORLD! BUT YOU ARE LEAD FAR ASTRAY BY THEIR FOOLISHNESS!"

"Uhm…" Melissa Clair murmured, not sure what to say. "…it seems that Shun's new summoning method…Dark Xyz Summoning…has quite a few surprises."

"What's going on?" A Common in the stands whispered.

"Earthbound!" another elderly man whispered.

"What is going on!?" Ruri whispered to her spirit, panic entering her voice once again.

"Be still my child." Jatun reassured Ruri. "My father simply likes to have a bit of dramatic flair accompany each of his entrances, even if he is merely exhibiting the tiniest bit of his essence and power at this time."

"The voice!" Ruri protested.

"It is like when you and I have spoken as one." Jatun explained. "Right now, my father and your brother are in sync. Their wills align. Look upon your brother if you have doubt."

Ruri looked down at her brother and gasped with a mixture of shock, surprise, worry, and awe as she gazed upon him.

Meanwhile, Shun was surprised to find that despite the loudness of the voice addressing the entire city, the source of the voice...was himself. Despite his shock, however, he continued his address, feeling empowered and elated, like it was his very purpose to carry forth the message of the voice.

"AT THIS TIME, MANY OF YOU DOUBT MY WORDS, MANY OF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU HEAR…NAY…MANY OF YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN TRUTHS YOU ONCE KNEW ALL TOO WELL! BUT YOU SHALL SOON LEARN! YOU SHALL ALL SOON SEE! I HAVE CHOSEN THIS ONE TO OPEN YOUR EYES! NOW, BEHOLD THE POWER OF A TRUE GOD'S SERVANT!"

Above Shun's head, the growing singularity expanded into a raging hole in time and space as the surrounding space seemed to collapse into itself, sucking in the surrounding loose matter. From within his Extra Deck, Shun pulled out a clear translucent card with six crème-colored stars on the right side of the card.

Slamming the card over his Satellite Cannon Falcon Card, Shun let loose a massive shockwave from the center of his card, slamming into Crow's bike and blasting out the glass of the nearby skyscrapers as a massive black monster unfolded from the center of the singularity.

Letting out a demonic ear-splitting raptor shriek, Shun's new monster caused Crow to cover his ears in agony as it drowned out the other sounds of the city. Ravage Raptor – Carpet Bomb Condor looked like a cross between a B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber and a massive flaming robotic condor. Its broad metal wings, just short of the length of a football field, were a deep black with fiery orange-red tips glowing like metal straight from the furnace.

Its wings were flexible, enabling the monster to flap them through the air as a set of fiery-red thrusters propelled the monster silently through the air at supersonic speeds. Its talons were massive, a single foot big enough to pick up an entire bus. On its chest, a red symbol similar to the double R's of the Raidraptor blazed against its chest with burning yellow flames, but this mark was larger and spikier than the standard Raidraptor mark.

From the front of its plane-like body, a massive, metallic black neck stretched out, crowned by a black robotic head shaped like a condor's head. On top of its head, a large, metallic crown adorned the top of its head and ran down its metallic beak, while a small metallic fin shaped like a wattle ran under its beak and neck.

Unlike most beaks, the beak of Carpet Bomb Condor was lined with jagged teeth like a T-Rex, while a fire burned deep within its gullet. Over its face was a massive metallic mask with three V-shaped robotic eyes stacked atop one another, which glowed with burning red light like lasers. All over its body, lines of red-hot magma burned against its metallic body with a lurid orange glow, like the monster had recently bathed in a volcano. In the center of the monster's chest, a single patch of translucent metal revealed a large, shiny black crystal inside its body.

Letting out another loud cry, the monster spread out its wings, fiery lines burning against its skin, before a wave of shadow emanated from the center of the monster's body.

In defiance of the midday sunlight, the entire track-way was bathed in a deep darkness, causing Crow to cry out in astonishment. Along the edges of the track-way, purple flames erupted into existence, some of them tearing apart cars and buildings beneath the track-way as they cut through the ground.

Standing on the overpass, Frank, Tanner, and Amanda stood frozen in fear as the same wall of flame roared past the sides of the overpass, cutting away the stairs on either side and trapping the three children within a massive wall of purple flames.

"Emma…" Kazama murmured in stunned surprise, watching as the devastation to the track-way and surrounding city grew, "…what do we tell Natsumi about Shun?"

"What…the heck…is going…on!?" Emma heaved, barely able to breathe as the words of the demonic message and the reality of what was happening on the track slowly sunk in.

"This is my gift to you, brother." Ruri murmured as she watched the events unfold, staring up at Shun's and his new monster with a mixture of silent fear and awe. "Please be safe. Please let it help you. Please forgive me if I have hurt you in any way!"

Shun was not feeling hurt at all now. Shun was feeling elated, far more elated than he had ever felt in his entire life! Looking down at Crow with a pair of glowing yellow eyes, he regarded his opponent as an insect, an insect he would soon sweep aside.

"Now…" Shun breathed in his normal voice, an ecstatic smile coming over his features, "…now after all this time, we shall finally have our revenge! Ravage Raptor – Carpet Bomb Condor, rain down death!"

FEATURED ORIGINAL CHARACTERS

Name: Adeel Haddad / Original concept by: AngeLight952 / Deck: Canine / Allegiance: Phoenix Guard / Status: Active

Name: Semal Haddad / Original concept by: kaploblast / Deck: Celestial Hero / Allegiance: Phoenix Guard / Status: Active

Name: Lizette Leblanc / Original concept by: Donjusticia / Deck: Angelic Armor (other deck unrevealed) / Allegiance: Phoenix Guard / Status: Active

Name: Kyosuke Kiryu II / Original concept by: FanOfKings / Deck: Infernity / Allegiance: Phoenix Guard / Status: Active

Name: Natsumi Kazuki / Original concept by: Shimmering-Sky / Deck: Celestial / Allegiance: Phoenix Guard (when she's not too busy with the Shun fangirl club) / Status: Still mourning the loss of her cheesecake

Name: Joho Okubyona / Original concept by: CorinnetheAnime / Deck: Unrevealed / Allegiance: Phoenix Guard and Freedom Fighters / Status: Active

Name: Lydia Shiunin / Original concept by: CorinnetheAnime / Deck: Unrevealed / Allegiance: Phoenix Guard and Freedom Fighters / Status: Active

Name: Jeremiah Frisk / Original concept by: Solphage / Deck: Video Games Hero / Allegiance: Phoenix Guard / Status: Active

Name: Emma Grayson / Original concept by: Donjusticia / Deck: Stygian / Allegiance: Phoenix Guard / Status: Active

Name: Nevan Bourne / Original concept by: Maes Lawliet / Deck: Graydle / Allegiance: Dark Signers / Status: Active

Name: Garret Kinsley / Original concept by: Donjusticia / Deck: Survivor / Allegiance: Dark Signers / Status: Active

Name: Fluffals / Original concept by: Donjusticia / Deck: ? / Allegiance: ? / Status: Happy to be a dog?

FEATURED FAN CARDS

Crow's Traps

Black Feather - Surprise Assault/ Trap/ Normal/ When your opponent declares an attack on a face up "Assault Black Feather" Tuner Monster you control, you can Special Summon one Level 5 or lower "Assault Black Feather" Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck or Graveyard. Its effects are negated and its ATK and DEF become zero. Immediately after this effect resolves: Synchro Summon one "Assault Blackwing" Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck using only those monsters as Synchro Materials. (If you cannot Synchro Summon a "Black Feather" monster from your Extra Deck using those monsters, banish those face-up monsters).

(Original concept by: Nox Descious)

Shun's Monsters

Raidraptor - Ambush Falcon/ DARK/ Level 4/ Winged-Beast/ Effect/ ATK 1200/ DEF 1500/ When a "Raidraptor" Monster you control is destroyed by battle or by an opponent's card effect, you can Special Summon this card from your hand, and if you do, inflict 1000 damage to your opponent

(Original Concept by: Nox Descious)

Shun's Extra Deck

Ravage Raptor – Carpet Bomb Condor/ Stats unrevealed / Effects unrevealed

Shun's Spells

Raptor's Ultimate Talons/ Spell/ Equip/ Equip to a "Raidraptor" Monster you control. It gains 700 ATK. Also, it cannot be destroyed by card effects. Once per turn, when the equipped monster inflicts battle damage to your opponent, you can add one "Rank-Up-Magic" Quick Play Spell Card from your deck to your hand.

(Original concept by: Nox Descious).

Rank-Up-Magic Enshrouding Force/ Spell/ Quick-Play/ Target 1 Xyz Monster you control: Multiply its Rank by -1. Then, you can Dark Xyz Summon 1 Dark Xyz Monster from your Extra Deck that is two Ranks higher than the targeted monster, using the targeted monster as a Dark Xyz Material. (Xyz Materials attached to that monster become Dark Xyz Materials on the summoned monster). Other effects unrevealed.

(Original concept by: Donjusticia. Modifications contributed by: Nox Descious).

Action Cards

Nullify/ Spell/ Action/ When a card effect is activated, negate the activation of that effect and inflict 500 damage to your opponent. (You can only activate 1 "Nullify" per turn).

(Original concept by: Nox Descious).

Recovery/ Spell/ Action/ Target one monster on the field. Gain LPs equal to its ATK.

(Original concept by: Nox Descious).

Strength Training/ Spell/ Action/ Up to twice per turn, during this turn, if you would take effect damage, you can change the damage to 0, and if you do, you can target one monster you control: That target gains ATK equal to the damage you would have taken.

(Original concept by: Nox Descious).

Earthbound Shroud/ Spell/ Action/ Target 1 "Earthbound" Spell Card OR 1 "Enshrouding" Spell Card in your deck and, if the activation timing is correct, activate the targeted card immediately with this card's effect.

(Original concept by: Nox Descious).

Special thanks goes out once again to the "Signs of Renewal" team. Thank you Nox Descious for creating Shun's Duel against Crow and to CorinnetheAnime for proofreading and editing. Special thanks also goes to Shimmering-Sky for helping me get Natsumi's character just right. God bless you all everyone and stay tuned for the exciting conclusion to this duel! Until next time, I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving!