Thirty minutes earlier

Yusei sent one last glance at Judai's back, and then went to work unlocking the door. He cracked it open briefly, peeking inside. It wasn't an office, like he had expected—it appeared to be some kind of hologram room, with a big table in the middle. It looked like one of those antique Battle Box tables from the beginning of Duel Monsters, only this one was a little more high tech than the old boxes Yusei had seen in the dumpsters.

Yusei slipped inside and closed the door behind him. No sign of Lua, but he could get through the door on the other side and start looking through the rest of the building. He checked his watch. They had about twenty-five minutes left of feedback loop.

"I think Judai's on the scent of something, he managed to talk his way out of that," Bruno's voice came through Yusei's earpiece. "Yusei, find some cover, that man Judai was just talking to is on his way into the room you're in!"

Yusei swore—he looked around the room, but the only thing he could see to hide behind was the table, and he didn't have time to unlock the other door. He dove behind it as the door swung open.

"Just tell him to be patient, you don't make reality bending technology overnight! We're working as fast as we goddamn can—yes, yes, all right, I'll send you the progress report this evening."

He was on a cellphone, Yusei thought as he peered briefly around the corner of the table. A tall American man with short blond hair and a ruffled suit—he must be the building manager, Clark Smith. Yusei had looked up his picture before they left. Of all the people to run into.

Yusei edged around the table as the man shut his cell phone, looking irritated as he crossed the room. Yusei moved so that the table was always in between them. He counted his breaths, and then, when the man's back was turned and he was busy jingling his keys in the lock of the door, Yusei bolted for the hallway.

He almost made it completely clear, but he was at least in the hallway when the man glanced back over his shoulder.

"Oh, are you looking for the bathroom too?" he said.

Yusei's breath caught—but it seemed like he had gotten into the hallway in time, the man thought he was just passing by the open door. Yusei's eyes quickly darted around and he noticed the door to the cafeteria was right across from them.

"They sent me on a coffee run," he said quickly, jerking his thumb towards the door. "I just—happened to see the table in there and I got curious. That's a Battle Box style table, isn't it?"

The man looked impressed, turning away from the door to look Yusei up and down. Yusei held his breath—he knew, logically, that he was disguised, but…

"I'm surprised, most people don't know what these are anymore," he said.

"I see 'em in junkyards a bit when I'm looking for elusive parts," Yusei said, trying to shrug casually. "That's a new one, though."

"Yes, it's something of a pet project among some of the staff," the man said with a laugh. "People come and mess with it on breaks. You're welcome to come take a look!"

Yusei hesitated—this seemed kind of dangerous but…

If he could do at least one thing, he could distract the man in charge for as long as possible.

"That's very kind of you sir," he said, stepping into the room.

"Do you have any cards on you? We can have a look at what this thing can do," the man said.

Yusei never went anywhere without them, but he withdrew his deck a little nervously. He had a distinctive deck and since the Fortune Cup, he hadn't been exactly unknown in the dueling circuits. Would he be recognized? But he had to distract this man for as long as possible.

"I hope I'm not distracting you from anything for my curiosity," he said.

Smith was already pulling his own deck out of his inside pocket, setting his coffee cup aside. He laughed and shook his head, pointing at the cup.

"I was just going for my coffee break," he said. "And I'm always ready to show off a bit."

He laughed again as he shuffled his cards, and Yusei cracked a smile. He just had to remember, he wasn't Yusei right now. He was some nameless repair man who was interested in old dueling tables. He would have to make absolute certain he didn't use his most distinctive cards—Stardust was out of the question.

"Yusei," Bruno's voice hissed in his ear. "Be careful...I think Sherry might be getting a little reckless."

Yusei couldn't make any acknowledgment that he had heard, so he just scratched under his ear once and then returned to shuffling his own cards.

"Let's make things a little more interesting!" Smith said suddenly. "Have you ever played Duel Monsters with memory rules?"

"Memory rules?" Yusei said, blinking.

The man's smile was wide as he set his deck on the table, then spread it out so that all his cards were scattered across the table.

"It's simple," he said. "You call out what you want to do—summon a monster, play a spell, activate a trap, etc...and then you pick a card and flip it over. If it matches what you wanted to do and the conditions are right, you can then activate it."

Yusei's stomach dropped. Goddammit—if he didn't know what he was turning over, he might reveal himself. This seemed more dangerous. Was this man suspicious of him, or just legitimately interested in a new way of playing the game?

"That sounds interesting," Yusei said, trying to keep his voice smooth. "All right, let's try it."

He spread his own cards out on the table, tightening his jaw as he waited for Smith to make the first move.

"I'll summon a monster," he said, flipping over a card. "Ah, what luck!"

Level six Hexa Knight, Yusei read. It's effect would let it be special summoned when the opponent had no monsters on the field—that was a lucky draw. The table hummed softly and a miniature Hexa Knight rose up out of the table, standing up and hefting its shield.

"I think I'll end my turn with that," Smith said. "Do you get the idea?"

Yusei nodded quietly, glancing over his cards. The chances of drawing a monster were very slim—it would take a miracle to know which was which without looking. That's why it was called a memory duel, he guessed—the more cards you turned over the more you would know the location of. Besides, Yusei didn't have to win, he just had to buy time.

"I'll summon a monster," he said, choosing a card at random. No luck—it was Scrap-Iron Scarecrow. He memorized the card before flipping it back down, at least he could block one attack next turn. "I'll activate a spell." No good there, either, it was Junk Synchron, and when he tried to activate a trap, he turned over a spell.

He couldn't find anything he could actually do, but at least he had found the locations of a few of his cards, and he could start making a strategy. This was—actually a kind of fun way to play, he thought. He felt a little excited in spite of himself for his next turn, his mind turning with plans for the cards he had revealed.

Smith took his turn then, humming softly.

"Let's see...I think I'm going to..." he started.

A cell phone jingle buzzed from his front pocket, and his brow furrowed with irritation.

"One moment please," he said, pulling his phone out and flipping it open to look at the caller id. He frowned and hit to answer.

"What is it? I thought I told you I was—"

He stopped halfway through the sentence, mouth hanging open and his face briefly going pale.

"Oh, my apologies, sir, I thought you were someone else—yes, yes, this is him."

He listened for a moment, and then his face changed, eyes flickering towards Yusei. Yusei tensed in spite of himself—something was wrong.

He didn't have a chance to react, though, before Smith reached under the table and hit a button. Yusei whirled at the sound of the door crashing shut behind him. He swore—he heard the lock click shut and he knew he was trapped. What—how—

"Yes, sir, I have him here," Smith said, eyes fixed on Yusei as Yusei whipped around. "Yes sir."

He closed his phone and tucked it back into his pocket.

"Mr. Fudo, is it?" he said. "My apologies for the inhospitable treatment, but my superior would like to have a few words with you."

"How did you know?" Yusei said, knowing there was no point in playing dumb after that.

"Let's just say we had an anonymous tip," Smith said. "Well...we have some time before security gets here...how about we finish our game while we wait?"

The man's smile was much crueler, now, and Yusei felt his blood go cold. How did they find out? Oh god, Bruno and Sherry and Judai—

"Y-Yusei, I think they got us, Sherry and I are falling back, I think we're going to get cornered—meet us in the warehouse at the end of the hall, we should be able to get out that way!"

That was if Yusei could get out of this room! His jaw clenched and his fists rolled up under the table. Would that button Smith had used open the door? He knew he could take the man on easily enough; he was a skinny, slender sort of person that had clearly never lifted much more than a sheaf of papers.

"Open the door," he said.

"Now, now, is it like a duelist to run away from a match?" Smith said with a laugh. "By the way...I'm going to be activating a spell. Fair Exchange."

Yusei tensed against the table—he didn't know what to do, he had to get out of here! He was going to have to fight him and then see if he could either break the door down or hack his way out.

A buzz started at the base of his skull. What was that? That tingling sensation? It was almost like—almost like a tiny, tinny voice in the back of his head, so far away that he couldn't hear it. What...was it?

"I can send three cards from my deck to my graveyard, and for the combined levels of any monsters sent to the graveyard, I can destroy as many cards in my opponent's deck."

Shit—while Yusei had been distracted by that voice, Smith was actually making a really good move—

"I wonder if fate will smile on me for this one," Smith said with a laugh, turning over his first card—level ten Decago Knight.

Yusei's entire body tensed up as Smith turned over another Decago Knight—and then another. A total of thirty levels—thirty cards from his deck! Shit, he didn't have time for this—

Summon me.

Yusei almost choked—the voice was there again, only it was loud enough for him to hear this time—a tingly, fizzy sort of voice that felt like it was made out of sparkles.

"What?" he mumbled automatically.

"I said, thirty cards go from your deck to the graveyard," Smith said. "What's wrong, Mr. Fudo—I thought you were a duelist with some pride. You know, if you win, the door might unlock."

Yusei jaw clenched, and he slowly gathered up thirty cards from the table, setting them aside. He only had ten cards left, and he had been so flustered he was sure he had scooped away Scrap Iron Scarecrow. He had nothing to block Smith's next attack.

"I'll summon a monster," Smith said, sounding smug as he easily flipped over another monster—Triangle Knight. He must be cheating, how was he getting everything he needed? "They'll both attack you directly for a total of twenty seven hundred points!"

Yusei flinched as the Solid Vision swords briefly glanced over him, and his hands dug into the table. He had to do something to get out of here. Fighting Smith hand to hand seemed like the fasted option—

SUMMON ME.

Yusei gasped, the voice feeling like a soft punch to the gut. What—who was that? The voice was all...fizzy with sparkles—no, not sparkles. With stardust.

Yusei's eyes flickered to his extra deck. Was...was Stardust...talking to him...?

His hand moved over the table almost by itself.

"I activate the effect of a trap sent to my graveyard, Limiter Break," he said. "When it's sent to the graveyard, I can special summon one Speed Warrior from my hand, deck, or graveyard."

Smith just smirked a bit as Yusei shuffled through his graveyard to find Speed Warrior, the miniature roller skater appearing on the field.

"A last ditch effort to be sure," he said. "But I admire your tenacity, using the graveyard to make up for your lack of skill in this version of the game."

Yusei wasn't listening, his hands were in autopilot.

"I summon a monster," he said, reaching for a card—he didn't know how, but he knew what it was.

Clark's smirk drooped a little when the card revealed was Junk Synchron.

"And what do you think you can do with that?" he said.

"This," Yusei said, feeling a grin start in spite of himself. "First, when Junk Synchron is summoned, I can special summon a level two or lower monster from my graveyard. I'll summon Sonic Chick!"

Sonic Chick squealed as it appeared on the field, pattering across to meet the other two holograms.

"And then, when I have a Tuner on the field, Quillbolt Hedgehog can be summoned from the grave!"

The little hedgehog bounced onto the field and joined them. Yusei could see Smith's eyes flickering between the cards, his lips moving as though counting levels.

"It adds up to eight," he said for him. "I'll tune Junk Synchron with Speed Warrior, Sonic Chick, and Quillbolt Hedgehog."

At. the back of his mind, Stardust hummed with excitement, vibrating Yusei's entire body. What was happening that he could all of a sudden hear Stardust?

That wasn't the most surprising thing that happened, though. Because when the synchro summon animation began, those glowing green hoops were much, much bigger than the dueling table should have been able to handle.

Smith actually screamed as the light condensed and a full sized Stardust Dragon materialized inside the room. Yusei was shoved back by the sudden tail in the room, pressing him back gently against the wall. Stardust was too big for the tiny room, hissing as it twisted its head around. It shoved its face into Smith's, making the man scream again and fall to the ground.

"What the hell!" he shouted. "What are you doing?!"

I would really like to know the answer to that myself, Yusei thought dizzily.

Stardust's head swung around then, staring at Yusei. It huffed once, and Yusei actually felt air ruffling his face, a cool, metallic sort of scent on the dragon's breath.

You should have summoned me much sooner, Stardust huffed.

Then it opened its maw and Yusei swore, ducking down underneath its tail.

The silver, crackling energy exploded through the door, melting it instantly and leaving behind a hole with melted metal edges.

Go. Now.

For just a second, Yusei couldn't move. What was happening? He wasn't a psychic duelist, he didn't have the power to hear or see spirits like Judai and Luka, what was—how was this happening?

GO! Stardust screeched, and Yusei scrambled to his feet. He grabbed his cards off the table, shoved them into his pocket, and bolted into the hallway. He could still hear Stardust stomping around inside the tiny room and wondered dizzily how much damage his dragon was doing—part of him wondered wildly for a moment if somehow he had lost Stardust, like he was leaving the dragon behind.

But then he felt a soft, fizzy feeling like carbonation right underneath his skin, and he knew in his gut that Stardust was back in his deck.

He could think about what the fuck had just happened later. Now they had to get out of here.

Yusei bolted down the hallway towards the warehouse on the other side where Bruno had said he and Sherry were going. He hoped to god that Judai had heard too and was on his way...

A siren screamed through the building, then, and Yusei swore. Doors burst open and people starting flooding out in all directions, filling the hallway. Yusei put his head down, pulled his hat over his eyes, and darted around the flood of people towards the warehouse. He smacked into the door with his shoulder and fumbled with the handle—locked?

But it opened, then, and he tumbled through, Bruno grabbing him by the shoulders and finding his eyes, wide and wild. He wasn't in his disguise anymore, and neither was Sherry—that meant Yusei's disguise had dropped too, and that meant Judai wasn't maintaining them anymore.

"Where's Judai?" Bruno said.

"I—I don't know, he didn't get here yet?" Yusei's heart fluttered with panic—if their disguises weren't holding and Judai wasn't here, did that mean he had gotten caught? No, no, he must just have needed to redirect his magic, there was no way Judai could fall so easily.

Sherry shoved the door closed behind them, leaning her shoulder against it as she peered through the thin window. Yusei had the space of a breath to take stock of their location.

They were in a huge warehouse, or maybe some kind of testing facility. Five large stands held what appeared to be giant pods, like futuristic magna train cars. Huge shipping containers lined the walls, with some sort of computer apparatus at the foot of each of the pod stands. The ceiling had some kind of apparatus that looked like it was meant to pick up the pods and move them along a series of tracks at the top, which ran to the end of the room where a glass panel took up half the wall, a space just big enough for the pods to go through. There must be something else that they had to go to on the other side of the glass.

"Here he comes!" Sherry said suddenly. "He's got Lua!"

Yusei's attention snapped back to the door. Sherry yanked it open and Yusei slipped around her—Judai careened down the hall with an unconscious Lua flapping on his back. Yusei reached out and caught him by the shoulders, drawing his arms around both him and Lua and pulling them inside.

Judai almost melted against Yusei, his arms sagging and almost losing Lua. Bruno caught the boy before he slipped off of Judai's back, gathering him up into his arms.

"Are you okay?" Yusei asked. "What happened to Lua?"

Judai just gasped for breath, face burrowed against Yusei's chest.

"He's—soul in spirit world," Judai mumbled. "It's fine, I—we can find him, we just have to—get his body to safety."

Yusei nodded, holding Judai tight against him. He seemed so shaky, more shaky than Yusei would have expected out of him, even considering their situation. He ran his fingers briefly through Judai's hair, trying to help him calm down.

"How did they find out?" Sherry said, locking the door and peeking through the window. "What happened?"

Yusei shook his head, still holding Judai tightly.

"I don't know; I was trying to distract Smith, when he got—he got a phone call, and that's when he knew and he tried to lock me in."

"You mean someone sold us out?" Bruno said, eyes wide. "But—who even knew we were—"

Judai stiffened in Yusei's arms, and Yusei looked down at him quickly. Judai's fingers tightened into Yusei's shirt, his face looking pale and strained, eyes wide. He looked like he was going to be sick.

"Judai?" Yusei said. "What's wrong?"

Judai shook his head—he didn't look like he could speak, he was still breathing so heavily.

"We need to get out of here before security realizes we're in here," Sherry said. "There should be another exit into the loading dock on the other side of this room. We can circle around and rendezvous with Johan in the back—"

"No!" Judai said suddenly.

Everyone looked at him, surprise ringing in Yusei's ears.

"What?" Yusei said. "What's wrong?"

Judai looked like he was about to pass out. He pushed out of Yusei's arms and put a hand to his forehead.

"We—" he started. He swallowed, his voice sounding tight. "I saw—"

He bit down hard on his lip, shaking his head and closing his eyes. Yusei took his shoulders.

"Judai, what is it?" he said. "Please, just say it."

"We're out of time!" Sherry said. "Security guards coming this way, we have to go!"

She shoved on Bruno's back, pushing him towards the other side of the room. Bruno hefted Lua into his arms and scurried off. Yusei grabbed Judai's hand and they both bolted. He wanted to stop, to make sure he knew what was wrong with Judai, what was making him act like this, but he knew they didn't have time—he wanted to stop and talk about what had happened with Stardust Dragon, too, but there wasn't any time for that either. Could he do it again? Could he bring out Stardust again to give them some extra time?

He didn't feel any of the same fizz from before, and he had a feeling it wasn't going to work again.

They reached the other side of the building. Bruno had transferred Lua over to Sherry while he fumbled for his tools, trying to unlock the door.

"It's no good, they've manually locked the whole building down," Bruno swore. "I'm going to have to fry the circuit board."

"Can you do that?" Sherry said.

"If I have enough time!"

Yusei turned towards the door, fists up—he didn't have his duel disk, but he could fight if he had to. The door on the other side of the room bulged as the security guards tried to force their way through—it seemed the manual shut down was slowing them down too.

A loud feedback sound briefly coursed through the room, making Yusei clap his hands to his ears with a groan. It squealed once more before a voice came out over the speakers.

"You are currently surrounded, Mr. Fudo and friends," Smith's voice came through the speakers. "Even if you get that door open, guards are already waiting outside. We ask that you turn yourselves over quietly."

"Not a chance, you fuck!" Sherry shouted.

Smith tutted softly into his microphone.

"Let's make a deal, can't we? My employers are interested in having a chat with Misters Fudo and Yuki. If the two of you turn yourselves in along with the boy you've so rudely kidnapped, the other two can go."

"Yeah, right, like that's an option," Yusei muttered.

He looked around the room for something, anything that he could use. What about those pods?

Yusei bolted across to the closest stand, looking over the display screen. His head spun just looking at it—this was absolutely nothing like any of the technology he had worked with, and he couldn't quite make heads or tails of it. He knelt down and pried the case off of the control panel, searching through the wires. What was this for? He fiddled with a few wires, fumbling for his screwdriver. Maybe he could make something explode, that tended to make people back off. He wasn't sure what this system was for, but anything with wires could be convinced to catch fire.

"Mr. Fudo, I wouldn't play with that," Smith's voice echoed through the room. "In fact...I'd step back before you get burned, because I'm about to turn the system on."

Yusei jerked his hands back from the wires just in time as the machine groaned to life. The air got thick for a moment, and he almost choked—static filled the space and he could feel his hair starting to stand on end. What was happening?

He stumbled up to his feet, falling back against Judai's supportive hands.

"What is that?" Judai shouted over the sudden loud hum in the room.

Yusei looked up to see what Judai was staring at—and his throat dried up.

Through the glass panel on the other side of the room, the air was turning a deep, smokey magenta. It swirled slowly at the ceiling like some kind of upside down hurricane, the ceiling seeming to open up right at the center and into a white bubble of light. Yusei's eyes leaped back down to the panel.

"Oh my god," he mumbled. "That's—that's still theoretical."

"What is going on?" Sherry shouted.

"Yusei, do you know what this is?"

Yusei's whole body tensed, and he had to wipe the sweat off of his brow.

"It's—it's some kind of particle splitter, but it's on a larger, bigger scale than I thought was possible," he said. "They're—they're literally splitting reality in here, Judai—we need to get out, now!"

The air was getting so thick and heavy, it was hard to breathe. When he tried to jog back over to Bruno and Sherry, it took enormous amounts of energy just to peel his feet off of the ground. He had read about shit like this in scientific journals but it was illogical, completely out of range of today's current technology.

"Is that a time splitter?" Bruno asked, looking up from his work to find Yusei's eyes, his own eyes wide.

"I think so," Yusei said. He felt a strange sense of comfort knowing that at least Bruno understood just how terrifying this was. The pods were probably built for insulation against this kind of shit, but if the rest of them were in here too long...they'd be sucked into the wormhole, and if they didn't just die instantly from the immense gravity, there was no telling where—or when—they would end up. "How long before you get the door open?"

"I don't know," Bruno said, sounding frightened. "We'll get caught out there anyway."

"You leave that part to me," Judai said, but he was breathing really hard, and Yusei wondered how much strain he had been through today.

"Well these bastards aren't taking me alive," Sherry said viciously.

Yusei winced. He didn't exactly want to die in here.

"If you promise to surrender, I'll turn the machine off," Smith said over the speakers. "That's all it takes. Stop this foolishness and just hand yourselves over."

Judai grabbed for Yusei's hand, and Yusei automatically gripped it back.

"I'm sorry, I should be able to do something," Judai whispered. "But—ugh, this air...I can't focus..."

He looked even paler than before, and horribly exhausted. Yusei was feeling it too, the air was getting even harder to breathe and he felt like he was getting compressed. He couldn't focus either. He squeezed Judai's hand, pulling him closer to him so that they were standing shoulder to shoulder.

"Hang in there, we're going to get out of here," he whispered.

Judai looked up at him, and Yusei was shocked to see that there were—tears in his eyes.

"Yusei," he mumbled. "I saw something—in Smith's office—it was—"

Judai didn't get to finish his sentence, because the wall exploded.

Debris tumbled down over the floor as light poured through the hole. Yusei had to squint, through his hand over his eyes against the sudden explosion of sunlight.

He had never, ever been more happy to see thorny vines crawling in through the crack than he was right then.

Aki stood silhouetted at the top of the rubble, her duel disk held high and hair whipping in the wind from Black Rose Dragon's wings.

"Let's go!" she shouted.

Yusei grabbed Judai by the shoulder and whipped him towards the hole, then grabbed Bruno and heaved him up to his feet. Sherry was already going, clambering up the rubble with Lua in her arms. Aki dropped to one knee and reached out. She grabbed Sherry's arm and then one of her vines snaked out to cradle Lua, pulling him out through the hole. Yusei started climbing up too, and another face appeared in the space.

"I've got you!" Johan said, catching Yusei by the elbow. "God, what happened in there?"

Johan heaved Yusei up and over the entry, and Yusei's head spun as he dropped down onto the solid bulk of what appeared to be a mammoth.

"Car's out," Johan said, gasping for breath. "They almost got me in the parking lot, lucky for us that Aki and the others showed up when they did."

Yusei couldn't see for the sunlight for a few minutes, but as his vision returned, he saw the chaos of the parking lot. Manjoume's Ojama King was pile driving a trio of security guards, while Asuka's trio of Cyber Angels held off a group of guards on motorcycles. The air whined with the hum from one of Shou's helicopter monsters. He hung out the side, reaching out a hand.

"I can't get any lower than this, let's go!" he shouted.

Johan steadied Yusei up on top of the mammoth, helping him make the jump for Shou's hand. Shou heaved Yusei up into the copter with some difficult, and then Bruno followed after him. Judai clambered up next, and then Johan was swinging in behind them.

"Where's Sherry and Lua?" Shou asked.

"Aki's got them," Johan said, gesturing. Yusei leaned out a little from the helicopter monster to look—Aki crouched on the back of Black Rose Dragon, lifting off into the air with Lua cradled against her, Sherry holding onto her back for dear life.

They lifted off, away from the building, leaving the wreckage and chaos behind. Yusei's heart hammered in his chest as he leaned back into the machine, trying to get his air back. They had—somehow—made it. They were all okay, they had Lua, and they were out.

Yliaster has a time machine, he thought suddenly, it hitting him all at once. They can make wormholes—that shouldn't be possible yet. We don't have the technology in this era yet—

Yusei's blood chilled.

Is Yliaster from the future...?

Judai time traveled to his era somehow. Could he have possibly gotten involved with Yliaster in another timeline, and fallen through? Was that what had happened?

Everything is connected somehow, he thought. I—I need to talk to Judai about this.

He turned towards Judai, mouth open, but then something made him stop. Judai's face was still pale and drawn, as though they hadn't just gotten out of a scrape safe and sound. He was staring across the helicopter bay. Yusei followed his gaze to...

Johan? Why was he looking at Johan like that?

Johan all at once seemed to notice Judai's stare, and he looked up from where he had been glancing down at the world below.

"Is something wrong?" he said. Concern washed over his face, and he shifted forward. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt when we busted through?"

Judai swallowed. He licked his lips briefly.

"I...need to talk to you," he said quietly.

Johan's lips parted, his brow furrowing.

"What happened in there?"

He glanced quickly at Yusei, but Yusei shrugged—he didn't know what was getting Judai so worked up either.

Judai's eyes dropped to the floor.

"When we get back," he said. "We need to talk."

Johan looked...worried, his brow furrowed and shoulders tense.

"O...kay," he said, looking uncertain. "Are you okay?"

Judai just looked at the floor. Yusei tried to slide his hand across the floor to touch his hand, but Judai's fingers skittered away, so subtly that Yusei wasn't sure he had done it on purpose or not. Something had really spooked Judai...what was wrong?

He guessed he was going to have to wait, too.

At the very least...they had gotten Lua out. They were together again. Everything was going to be okay now...right?

A/N: Lol you guys have to wait another chapter before we talk about the mysterious picture of Johan heheeeee

Yusei seems to be doing some interesting things, though, I wonder what that's about? Guess you'll all have to wait and seeeee~