A/N: Wow, this one was tricky to write the duel for, so I hope it comes across how I wanted. So enjoy.

"What's wrong Yusei?" Ruka whispered.

Yusei sighed as she and Rua climbed up and cuddled close to him. He had ten minutes before he had to get ready for his duel and after Rua had come crashing Aki had left him. He didn't mind. He enjoyed being with the kids. There was something calming about them. Unlike a lot of his life recently, they were interested in nothing but his comfort and attention. They'd been thrown into this war that they didn't understand and Yusei could protect them. They didn't know or care that he was their enemy, just that he wanted to help them. And he did. He really did want to help them, much to Nova's disgust. And they brought him to a comfortable medium between what he once was and what he was now most of the time. He liked being this way, not manipulative but honest and free to please himself and not just others.

"Yeah, you seem really sad," Rua agreed.

"Nothing really," he said quietly. "Just thinking."

"About Aki?" Ruka asked

"And other things," he sighed.

The door opened and Yusei looked up, expecting to see someone warning him he had to be in the arena in a few minutes, but instead, it was Kiryu. He smiled, although something didn't sit right about him just appearing there now.

"What can I do for you, Kiryu?" he asked. "I assume you've tracked me down for a reason."

"You've got a duel in a few minutes," Kiryu replied. "Walk and talk."

"You heard him, kids," he said. "Off you get. I've got to go and duel Aki."

"Yeah, you get that witch!" Rua cheered. "Uh, I mean-"

"Rua," Ruka sighed. "She's not a witch."

"I know, I'm sorry. Just make sure you win, ok Yusei?"

"I'll do my best," Yusei laughed softly. He and Kiryu walked out and Yusei noticed Kiryu was wearing a duel disk. "You're not supposed to be here, are you?"

"No, Divine's got a big transport thingy," Kiryu replied. "He was keeping me in there because I know what he's been doing the Movement."

"Oh?"

"He experiments on them, like he did with me. Only worse. He wanted to make me psychic but these were just kids who were already psychic. Thing is, he dealt with what we did to Cook, what am I supposed to do if he decided I'm not worth the effort? I'm not going back where I came from."

"I hate to break it to you, but we've got more immediate problems. Like the fact that Cook's son thinks he knows we've got something to do with his dad turning up dead."

"I didn't know Cook had any living relatives. He was always complaining about how they'd all died."

"Yeah well, he's intent on making me pay for it."

"Ok then, so how about we help each other?" Kiryu suggested. "I'll take care of Cook's boy and you get me out of Divine's way? Sound good?"

"If Godwin knows you're a Signer, he'll protect you at any cost, including making a murder charge disappear," Yusei told him. "Although, officially you're dead anyway. Stick around though." He nodded at a strange camera in the corner. "They're set up all over the stadium to look for Signers. They've already found Ruka, despite my attempts to hide her. Aki will be exposed during this duel and they already know about Jack. They'll pick you up quickly. Cook's boy Dom, he'll be around somewhere. Blonde hair, dark eyes, you'll know him when you see him, he actually looks a lot like Cook once you think about it."

"I'll get right on it. Hey, Yusei, you know Aki reckons if she can beat you while the Crimson Dragon's on the field you'll turn back into your normal self."

"Does she now?"

"Is it true?"

"No. I'd be surprised if it did. It shouldn't. No, I won't. Are you going to spoil the plan?"

"No. But you don't sound very sure."

"It's hard to sound sure of anything when all the secrets are being a held by a god inside your mind. For all I know if I do go along with his plan I'll end up forgetting everything about who I once was. Or, if something went wrong-"

"No matter what happens, I won't let them turn you into their puppet, don't worry about that."

Yusei smiled. "You'd have made a great Dark Signer, Kiryu, it's a shame the dragon got its hands on your first."

"Doesn't mean I'm on its side," Kiryu said quietly.

"No," Yusei chuckled. "I suppose it doesn't. I'll see you once the duel's over."

"Don't lose."

"I won't."

As the pair went their spate way, Nova continually scolded Yusei for daring to share his intentions with a Signer. Yusei didn't care. He'd meant what he said about Kiryu. And he trusted him more than the others, sadly. Jack had already proved he'd betray them without a second thought, Crow wasn't a part of this war although he'd stick his nose in no doubt.

He stepped up onto the platform and glanced back to see Kiryu disappearing into the halls. He hoped he was right to trust him. He turned his attention back to Aki, who had that stupid mask on again.

"Are you hiding from me, Aki?" he called. "You think if you hide away and call yourself the witch you'll be able to hurt me and not feel anything?"

"I don't see why you should get the benefit of having your good half locked away and not me, Yusei," Aki replied coldly. "This way, neither of us will take it easy on the other."

"I wasn't planning on it anyway," Yusei said.

Aki 4000

Yusei 4000

"I'll take the first turn," Aki called. "And I'll place my Wall of Ivy in defence." ATK 300/DEF 1200 "Then I'll set one card face down and end my turn."

"My draw. I summon Speed Warrior." ATK 900/DEF 400.

"That's not your Dark Skater," she whispered. "It looks like it but-"

"Well, I figured if you wanted to save my better half so badly, I'd show you just what he was capable of," Yusei replied. "This is his deck, completely free of my influence for this duel alone. He's as powerful as I am. Let me show you. During the first battle phase that Speed Warrior is on the field, its ATK doubles. Now, Speed Warrior, destroy her Wall of Ivy!"

"When Wall of Ivy is selected for an attack, I can special summon an Ivy Token to your field."

Speed Warrior swung and shattered the wall as an Ivy Token appeared. Yusei just smiled. His normal deck was something powerful. He had impressive cards and the knowledge to use cards other people thought useless, as Nova constantly told him. He didn't really need Nova's help. But it was fun to have the dark cards in his deck, they got the job done quicker and with more destruction. They eliminated any weakness there might have been.

"I end my turn."

"I activate the trap Cursed Ivy to revive my Wall of Ivy then end my turn."

Yusei frowned and glanced at his new card. Something was different about Aki now, but he didn't have time to puzzle over it. He wanted to prove a point. "I tribute my Speed Warrior to summon Turret Warrior. And due to Turret Warrior's effect, it gains the ATK of Speed Warrior." ATK 2100/DEF 2000. "Now, let's get rid of that Wall of Ivy once and for all."

"When Wall of Ivy is selected as an attack target I can special summon an Ivy Token to your side of the field." The blast from Turret Warrior tore through Wall of Ivy and another two tokens appeared. "When Cursed Ivy is removed from the field you gain another two Ivy Tokens."

Yusei glanced at his field. He knew what she was doing now. She was letting her deck control her rather than letting her emotions cloud her vision. Smart. She was trying to fight Yusei the same way he fought, with cold calculating indifference. It's was a shame she wasn't facing Yusei anymore. Nova was in control now, he'd locked Yusei's mind away. He was too unpredictable at the moment, so he took Yusei's body as his own.

"Your move, Aki."

"Draw." Her blandness was starting to annoy Nova, he needed to unleash her true powers. "I activate Seed of Deception to special summon Dark Verger. Next I tribute Dark Verger to summon Rose Tentacles." ATK 2200/DEF 1200 "Rose Tentacles gains an extra attack for every Plant-type monster on your field at the start of the battle phase. Rose Tentacles attack his Turret Warrior!" The vine shot out, smashed through Turret Warrior and went to strike Yusei, but he caught the vine and tossed it away with only the slightest graze across his palm. "I know you're powerful, Yusei, or whatever you really are, but I am stronger."

"Then come at me, witch," Nova taunted. "Show me how weak I am compared to you."

"Rose Tentacles! Whenever Rose Tentacles destroys a Plant-type monster it inflicts 300 points of damage and when a Token is destroyed you take another 300. Thorn Whip!"

The vines continued to swing out, shattering the tokens. Aki needed to concentrate to get the thorn vines around Yusei and get control. Nova didn't smile, it was hard but he kept blank. The witch had control of him the vines around his body and lifting him from the ground. But it didn't brother Yusei or Nova. Even as Aki began to laugh. That was perfect. She finally was letting go.

"Look at you, you call yourself powerful," Aki giggled. "You call me witch, but I have control over you and could kill you right now. But I want to beat you, if only to prove how weak you are by beating you and casting you from Yusei's mind and body."

Rose Tentacles dropped Yusei and he hit the ground with a thud, landing on his feet. It jolted and would have broken the legs of a normal person, but Yusei was already dead. It didn't matter. And the crowd was screaming for the witch to be slaughtered. Nova was going to give them what they wanted.

Aki 4000

Yusei 1500

"I end my turn," Aki said quietly.

"My draw," Nova said. "Look at yourself, witch. You claim to be in control, better than me, but I'm something worse. I'm the God of Dar Gods. I'm a Demon in human form. And I won't allow you to take this from me. I will destroy you. I place Shield Warrior in defence." ATK 800/DEF 1600 "I then set two cards and end my turn."

"Draw. I activate my trap Ivy Shackles. Now, during my turn, your monsters are treated as Plant-types," Aki called. "Now, Rose Tentacles gains a second attack. Thorn Whip!" The vines once again shot out and once again Nova was able to avoid them and not take any psychical damage. "And don't forget Rose Tentacle's effect."

Aki 4000

Yusei 1200

"You're doing more damage to the stadium than me," Nova laughed.

Hey, let me out, Yusei snapped. You're being reckless with my body!

Nova sighed, stop whining, Yusei, we're going to win.

Nova, let me go. Let me have my body back.

"Well, if this direct attack goes through, you'll feel my pain, demon," Aki hissed. "Rose Tentacles, direct attack!"

"I activate Card Defence," Nova said. "I send a card to my Graveyard and negate your attack, then draw a card. Looks like I live on."

As the whip bounced off the shield wind tore around the stadium, smashing the glass and ripping up pieces of the ground. But he stood his ground and waited.

"I end my turn."

"I summon Junk Synchron," Nova said. ATK 1300/DEF 500 "This is one of Yusei's favourites. You should hear my host screaming. He begs to be released. He doesn't want me to hurt you. Too bad. I can bring Speed Warrior back to the field using Junk Synchron's effect and then I'll tune them to bring out my Junk Warrior!" ATK 2300/DEF 1300 "Next, I equip Junk Warrior with Junk Barrage."

In the sky box, Jack watched this new Yusei carefully. This was even more dramatically different than before. Recently he'd been like a dark version of himself, but this was something completely different. Godwin opened a call to the Mc and he frowned. Now what?

"Call off the duel," Godwin ordered.

"Why?" Jack snapped as the MC asked more respectfully the same question.

"Because we need to be realistic, if we don't stop this duel here to the public will get hurt. Yusei will move on to face Jack and Aki will be removed from the Stadium immediately."

There was uproar as the MC relayed the news. Jack frowned and stood at the window, watching Yusei. Yusei turned up at him and glared at them, eyes burning crimson with rage. Jack knew this wasn't even a dark Yusei, this was the Dark God, and it wanted blood more than anything. He backed away from the glass, not wanting to see it anymore. His friend wasn't like that, and he didn't want to see him like that.

"Why?" Jack snapped. "Why did you really want to cancel that duel?"

"There was a huge spike of negative energy and it's been building around Yusei," Godwin replied. "Your friend was getting ready to destroy the whole stadium and most of the surrounding area."

"You're kidding."

"I'm not. These Dark Gods can get their hosts to do almost anything," he snapped. "There is no limit to their evil and power and there is nothing they won't do. Zero Reverse was caused by them. And Yusei is more powerful than expected. He's beyond belief. I won't risk that much destruction. I thought by keeping the Satellite separate I would spare the city the horrors they bring."

"If I beat him, will that defeat the Dark God?" Jack asked.

"The Crimson Dragon can remove the Dark God once he's beaten, but only if the soul it too wants to break free," he replied.

"Yusei doesn't want to be under that thing's control," he said quietly. "I spoke to him, the real him, he was freed by our marks and he told us he could be saved."

"Perhaps you should go and check on Crow in the time you have between now and this evening?"

"You're avoiding the answer."

"Go home, you've got a few hours before your title match. Calm down and prepare. It won't be impressed that we removed its prey."

"What would he have done to her?" Jack asked, although he almost didn't want to know.

"There would have been nothing left of her to be found."

Jack was right, he didn't want to know. And it didn't help his nerves. He wanted to beat Yusei more than anything. Not only for his pride and title but to save him from this demon inside him. He didn't understand what had happened to Yusei, and he hoped Crow was well enough to make sense, just that it wanted his blood and it had talked Yusei into believing it was his fault somewhere deep down, since it was only releasing and magnifying what he felt to the level where it took him over. Yusei hated him on some level. If nothing else, he had to save him to make up for abandoning him.