Chapter 28: Fusion Dimension! Welcome to You Show!

The boat docked at the pier to Acatopia, the satellite town to the island of Academia that existed solely to support it, and provide entertainment to the students when they got breaks from their 'studies'. On weekends, the pubs, ice rink, bowling alley and occasional friendly Duelling tournaments did a roaring trade.

Yuri graciously stepped off the boat and courteously extended a hand for Kisara to follow him.

With a flying leap, she leapt from the seat and landed on all fours, before straightening up and smirking at her disgruntled boyfriend. "So, where are we going?" she questioned.

"I was thinking that the bowling alley might make a good first stop. Since I know you like the game so," Yuri smiled, offering her his hand. She took it and he lead her up the stairs leading to the main parts of the docks, and the main parts of town. They didn't worry about the boat being stolen, it had the Academia logo on it and no one in Fusion Dimension would possibly do anything to hinder the efforts of the beloved Academia.

Well, no one except a certain rather lost blonde male.

"Academia!" Yugo fumed as he watched them leave from behind a warehouse. "And that's the guy who kidnapped Rin!" He took a deep breath. "Don't worry about that. Revenge is for later. Rescuing Rin is for now,"

As soon as he was certain they were gone, he dashed inside the warehouse to the inside of a previously empty crate. There, his D-Wheel sat, covered by a tarpaulin. "Okay. No one's gonna steal you," Yugo told himself, locking the crate and leaving the warehouse. He dashed down the stairs and jumped into the boat. "Okay. I'm gonna find Rin and get out. Easy, right?"

He looked over the console and paused. "How do I start this thing? Urge, you'd think that after riding a D-Wheel for so long, I'd be a brilliant pilot. At least they left the keys behind,"

X

Oblivious to the attempts of the would-be thief, Yuri and Kisara strolled down the Main Street. Around them, people paused and stared, offering them nods, grins and a couple of respectful bows.

Kisara skipped ahead, basking in the attention. "Wow, they adore us," she observed.

"What do you expect? We're senior officers in the army that is going to create utopia," Yuri shrugged.

"Well, yeah. But I feel like a god with all these people staring and smiling," the white-haired girl giggled.

"Not too far from the truth," Yuri muttered to himself, knowing Kisara's power, and nodded. "Well, you are Leo Akaba's daughter. That means a lot," he pointed out.

"Yeah. Hey, maybe I should put on a little show for them? Just a bit of fun," Kisara grinned to herself.

"No. Not here. Save it for the other dimensions," Yuri admonished her, affectionately stroking her cheek.

"Fine," Kisara pouted.

"Now, would you mind horribly if we stopped at that French place before we go to the bowling alley? I am rather in the mood for a croissant," Yuri suggested, and Kisara nodded with a grin, showing her pointed teeth. "Sure. I could go for a crepe,"

At a nearby cafe, two girls sat with extremely similar faces. Selena, though, was wearing a pair of sunglasses, and Yuzu had a scarf covering the lower half of her neck, so little resemblance could be found.

"Keep quiet. Don't say anything. They probably won't notice us if we don't draw attention to ourseives," Selena quietly mouthed to Yuzu, who nodded, trying to calm her furious heartbeat. She felt certain that Kisara could somehow sense her fear and use that to track them.

Selena, too, was worried. Yuri and Kisara were the first two members of the Academia forces to become residents of the Dragon's Den. And they were both barely ten metres away from her. If they realised she was here, she was dead.

The Dragon's Den was a special building that had originally gone by the name Horakhty Tower, after the ancient legend of the Creator God Horakhty. It had been built by Leo Akaba for motivational purposes, and only the very strongest, the true shining stars of Obelisk Force, the top 0.1% were allowed to live there. The idea was that every soldier in the army could look up at the great white Horakhty Tower and dream of someday being granted a room in that building, and that dream would drive them, inspire them to reach new heights of their own strength.

Naturally, the first two people to become residents of Horakhty Tower were Yuri and Kisara. And it rapidly became a favourite game of the two to conduct Duels with each other on the sloping conical roof of the tower, their dragon's clashing and battling each other with intense fury and excitement as they pursued each other around the spire. So often was Starve Venom Fusion Dragon and the rest of Yuri's poisonous repertoire seen clashing with various members of Kisara's arsenal of blue and white dragons that the tower rapidly gained a second, far more commonly used name; The Dragon's Den.

A little less than a year afterwards, the rumour spread, and was eventually confirmed, that the top two Duelists in Academia were in a relationship. This added to the concept the abstract theory, spread by one Dennis Macfield, that the Dragon's Den was their 'nest', finally cementing the new name of the tower to the point where even Leo Akaba himself occasionally forgot its proper name and referred to it as the Dragon's Den.

Even though other Duelists eventually rose through the ranks and were granted access to the infamous tower, prominent examples being Edo Phoenix, the twin Duelists Gloria and Grace Tyler, and even Selena herself - even though retrospectively she wondered if this had been a result of Leo's inexplicable attempts to ensure that she remain in the Fusion Dimension at Academia - the tower remained famous for its first two inhabitants.

And they were both less than ten metres away from her. She felt like the sweat rolling down her back could fertilise the plants in Yuri's garden.

She breathed a silent sigh of relief when they moved away from her. "We have to move. Now. Before they come back," she quietly told Yuzu.

"And go where?"

Selena took a deep breath. She had spent yesterday evening, last night and all of this morning so far keeping Yuzu safe. She knew how to avoid the clutches of Academia, she had done so herself with great efficiency.

"I don't know. But it has to be somewhere that they would never go," she muttered to herself, thinking.

"How can we do that when we don't even know why they're here? For all we know they're on a date," Yuzu pointed out.

"That's ridiculous," Selena shook her head. "The bowling alley. They'd never go there,"

"If you say so," Yuzu nodded.

X

"It's about time!" Yugo grinned, steering the speedboat away from the docks and towards the island. "Hang on, Rin! I'm coming!" he shouted.

He was met with silence as the boat ploughed through the ocean.

"How far away is this place, anyway? Thank god for GPS,"

X

"A 1v1 best of three match, please," Selena politely requested, giving the lady some cash. "Thank you," she nodded, offering the two a set of bowling shoes. "You're in lane six," Yuzu took them up, and they stepped out of the reception into the large main room that contained eight bowling alleys.

"Now what?" Yuzu asked.

"Now, I dominate you at bowling. By the time we're done, hopefully whatever mission the dragons are on is complete," Selena explained as she lifted a ball and bounced it in her hand a little, testing its weight. "Too heavy," she snorted, picking up another one. "Much better," she smiled at the dirty green ball, before taking a position at the end of lane six and carefully rolling the ball down the lane.

The purple-haired girl fist-pumped. "Strike!"

Still looking around nervously, Yuzu offered her counterpart another ball of the same size. "Nope, too heavy," Selena shook her head, dropping it back on the rack and retrieving her green ball from the automated ball retrieval system. "Okay. I gotta knock over that last pin in the corner very carefully," she held her tongue between her teeth and rolled.

Yuzu watched, impressed, as the ball perfectly hit the last of the ten pins. "Perfect!" Selena grinned. "Top that, Yuzu!" she smirked, whirling to give her friend a high-five - and froze.

Standing in front of the doorway, bowling shoes in hand, were Yuri and Kisara, who seemed equally shocked.

Yuzu turned, and squeaked at the sight of the two of them. "My my, Yuzu. What a pleasure to see you," Yuri maleficiently smiled.

"Fire escape," Selena hissed to Yuzu, who imperceptibly nodded.

"And what a surprise to see you again too, Selena. Now. I don't suppose you two will come quietly?" Kisara asked.

In response, Selena clutched Yuzu's hand and pulled her away, dashing across the room and down the maintenance strip between lane eight and the wall. The door leading to the fire escape was straight ahead of them.

"Get down!" Yuzu suddenly squealed, and Selena tucked into a tight ball, dropping to the ground and rolling forwards, pulling Yuzu with her. Milliseconds later, a mauve bowling ball thanked into the wall where her head had been, and fell down, narrowly missing Yuzu's feet.

"Next time, aim at their stomachs," Yuri suggested as Kisara hefted another bowling ball. "What are you waiting for? Go after them!" Kisara snapped, throwing the second ball. Yuri obliged, running after the two girls, as the ball fell short, crashing into the polished wood of lane seven with a thunk and rolling to the side. "Stupid heavy balls," the girl fumed, rushing after the three.

Selena shoved the fire escape door open and dashed out onto the street, Yuzu following her. "Split up. We'll meet at the cafe at sundown," Selena commanded. "Got it," Yuzu nodded, turning and dashing in the other direction as Selena ran back towards the Main Street.

Yuri paused for a moment when he exited, letting Kisara catch up. "You go after the pink girl. I'm taking Selena," he commanded, the paused as he saw Kisara pull a Duel Disk from inside her shirt. "You got it replaced?"

"Arrived last night," Kisara smirked. "And duelling pinky into the ground is gonna be the perfect way to break it in,"

"Have fun, and remember, no carding. The Professor needs them alive," Yuri took a second to kiss her on the forehead, before rushing after his former comrade.

"Fine, but only because daddy says so," Kisara sighed, turning and running in the opposite direction.

Yuzu dared a glance behind her and sighed in relief to see that Kisara was chasing her, not Yuri. She was a lot more scared of the boy than his girlfriend - though, come to think of it, she had never actually seen this girl before. Regardless, Selena was afraid of her, so it was prudent to be scared.

"Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man," Kisara hummed to herself as she pumped her legs. "Why did daddy have to say no powers when I'm in Academia or Acatopia? It'd make this a lot easier, and who cares if a few . . . dozen . . . buildings get levelled," she huffed to herself, slowly gaining on her prey. "So this is what it feels like to take part in a real hunting game," she wondered. "It's even more fun than I expected!"

Yuzu turned into a narrow alley and made another turn again, hoping to lose her pursuer in the maze of alleys between houses. After a few moments she emerged back onto a road and, after running across a bridge with water flowing beneath it, she paused and leant against a dock post, huffing and puffing with the effort.

Beneath her, a gondola passed, piloted by a figure hidden by a black cloak.

The girl froze when she heard Kisara's voice mockingly call, "Come out and play, Yuzu Hiragi,"

"Can she track my scent or something?" Yuzu demanded. "No way she could follow me that fast,"

"Oh, there you are," Kisara smirked, and Yuzu looked up in horror to see her standing at the apex of the bridge, her Duel Disk armed. "So, are you gonna let me take you back to the Professor, or are we going to have to Duel?"

Yuzu armed her own Duel Disk. "I'm never surrendering!"

A smile traced its way across Kisara's lips. "Oh really? Good. This will be fun,"

Suddenly, someone leapt in front of Yuzu, facing Kisara. "So terribly sorry to burst your bubble, Blue Burst," the figure shook their head and threw off her cloak.

Kisara blinked in surprise and cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, it's you! You're that girl I beat when I first arrived at Academia! How have you been?" she pleasantly smiled, rushing forwards and extending a hand for a handshake. "Come on, we can take her back to the Professor together,"

Yuzu stiffened when she heard those words, but the newcomer shook her head, her brown hair waving back and forth. "Sorry, but I'm not going to let that happen. After the horrors I've seen Academia commit, I'm not doing anything to aid them ever again,"

Kisara paused, and her hand dropped as she took a few steps backwards. "Really? Aww, that's a shame, and you seemed so nice too. I really hoped we could be friends, Asuka,"

"I'll never be friends with someone who would so callously turn people into cards," Asuka shook her head. "So, you're on my side?" Yuzu asked, still panting.

"You get your breath back. I'll take care of her," the brunette told Yuzu, who nodded.

"Really? Well, this should be entertaining," Kisara snorted, and their Duel Disks established the connection. "Entertaining, huh? That's right," the girl nodded. "Unfortunately, I don't think my Duelling would ever make you smile,"

Yuzu froze when she heard this. Duelling to make people smile? That was Yuya's philosophy. Which he had gotten from his father, who had disappeared three years ago . . . could it be that this Asuka knew Yusho Sakaki?

"Whatever," Kisara snorted. "My turn. Draw," she grinned, drawing her card. "I activate Blue-Eyes Alternate Dragon's effect in my hand. I can Special Summon it by revealing a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in my hand," she declared, revealing the Normal Monster, and a pale blue dragon appeared on the field. "Now, I play Ancient Rules. This lets me Special Summon my Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my hand," she simpered, summoning her second 3000-ATK monster. Asuka frowned suspiciously.

"I don't get to do this much, so feel lucky that you get to see it!" Kisara smirked. "I Overlay my Level 8 Blue-Eyes White Dragon with my Level 8 Blue-Eyes Alternate White Dragon!" she commanded, and a shining white Overlay Network sucked her monsters in. "Appear from a world of knights and dragons, legendary warrior of dragon souls! Xyz Summon, Rank 8!" Kisara chanted as a great silver dragon arose from the portal. "Arise and bring death to all that stand in my way, Divine Dragon Knight Felgrand!" she declared, and a tall, gold-clad warrior appeared, brandishing his sword.

"Xyz Summon," Asuka repeated, frowning. "I don't know what that is, but it doesn't matter,"

"Oh," Kisara grinned. "I think it will. I'll Set a card and end my turn!"

"Very well," Asuka agreed, and drew. "My turn. I Normal Summon Cyber Petit Angel from my hand," she declared, and a small pink robot with wings appeared. 300 ATK. "When Cyber Petit Angel is Normal Summoned, I can add a Cyber Angel or a Machine Angel Ritual from my Deck to my hand," she commanded. "I add Machine Angel Ritual!"

"Congratulations. You gonna summon something more impressive than a robot tennis ball now?" Kisara rolled her eyes.

"I activate my Ritual Spell Card; Machine Angel Ritual!" she commanded. "By Tributing Cyber Angel - Benten in my hand, I Ritual Summon! Come, Level 6! Cyber Angel - Idaten!"

A tall, blue-skinned warrior clad in a white robe arose on her field. 2000 DEF. "Idaten's effect. When she is Tributed, I can add one LIGHT Fairy-Type monster from my Deck to my hand," Asuka commanded, taking a card from the bottom of her Deck. "I add Cyber Angel - Vishnu," she commanded.

Kisara, very deliberately, yawned.

"And now, I play Preparation of Rites! This allows me to first add another Level 6 Cyber Angel - Idaten from my Deck to my hand, then add Machine Angel Ritual from my Grave to my hand!" Asuka commanded, and her hand increased by two. "I Set a card and end my turn!"

Kisara snorted. "I see being away from Academia hasn't improved your Duelling, not one bit. Oh well. My turn, and draw," She drew her card and smiled. "No need for Summons or anything just yet. Blue-Eyes White Atom Dragon! Go, attack! Take advantage of that glaring hole in her strategy she calls Cyber Petit Angel!" she declared, and her Xyz monster charged the tiny monster, who squeaked in horror.

Asuka was impassive as Kisara destroyed her monster, wiping 2500 of her Life Points out in one go. "Turn end," the girl cutely smirked.

"My turn, then. And I'm not letting you win," the brunette growled. "Draw,"

She looked at her card. "I'm not wasting time with someone like you. I have to win this now. I play Machine Angel Ritual! By Tributing my Cyber Angel - Idaten on my field, and another in my hand, I Ritual Summon! Angel of light with unrivalled power! Come forth to this dark world and shine your light upon all creation! Descend! Level 10! Cyber Angel - Vishnu!" Alexis commanded, and a huge, blue-skinned warrior lady appeared in front of them, wearing a pink and purple leotard with a long, flowing cape. "The effects of the two Tributed Idatens activate, and all Ritual monsters on my field gain 1000 ATK and DEF!" Alexis commanded. Vishnu grew from 3000 to 5000 ATK.

"Five thousand attack points? Whoa!" Yuzu gasped.

"And now, Cyber Angel - Vishnu's effect! When she is Ritual Summoned, all monsters on your field that were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck are destroyed and you take 1000 damage!" Asuka commanded.

"Not happening! I activate Divine Dragon Knight Felgrand's effect! By using one Overlay Unit, I render your monster's effects negated, and she is unaffected by other card effects this turn!" Kisara snorted. Her Rank 8 cleaved an Overlay Unit in two and absorbed its energy, before firing that energy in a ray of light at Vishnu. Her effect failed, and her attack was negated.

"Battle, then! Vishnu! Attack her knight!" Asuka commanded, and her fairy I lied, charging forwards and destroying the monster. Kisara took 200 damage,

"I end my turn, and now the effect ends, correct?" Alexis questioned.

"Yup," Kisara grudgingly nodded, and Vishnu's ATK rose to 5000 once more. "But that doesn't matter, because it's my turn now! I draw!" she commanded, and white streaks trailed her card as she drew. "I Normal summon Elemental HERO Prisma from my hand!" she declared, a crystalline warrior appearing. "I activate Prisma's effect! By sending Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my Deck to the graveyard, Prisma's name becomes the sent monster's name!" The warrior bent light around itself with magic, until a holographic image of Blue-Eyes was created. "I Set a card and end my turn!" Kisara commanded.

"Really? How interesting. My turn! Draw!" Asuka declared. "Vishnu! Attack and destroy that warrior!" she commanded, and Kisara obligingly let it happen, and she took another 3300 points of damage, leaving her with just 500 left. "I Set one card and end my turn," Alexis decided.

"Good. Because it's time to finish you off!" Kisara commanded. "I Summon the White Stone of Legend from my hand!" she commanded, and a white crystal appeared on her field. "Now I play Silver's Cry! This allows me to Special Summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my Graveyard!" she declared. "Return, my monster!" Her blue dragon roared in triumph. "I Tune my Level 1 White Stone to my Level 8 dragon!" she declared. One ring, eight stars. 1 + 8 = 9. "I summon you, great ghostly dragon! Descend from heaven in radiant white to show this guy we can put up a fight!" Kisara chanted as white energy engulfed the ring and stars and a body took form. "Synchro Summon! Level 9! Ethereal white dragon with phantasmal blue eyes! Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon!"

Her great translucent dragon appeared. 2500 ATK. "I activate Spirit Dragon's effect! By Tributing it, I can Summon a Synchro monster with the same Type and Attribute, but it's destroyed during the End Phase!" she declared. The ghost vanished, replaced by a similar-looking, but more corporeal dragon. "So appear, Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon!" she commanded, and her dragon did.

"If that's what you were going to do, why not just Summon that in the first place?" Alexis snorted.

"I think she's got a plan," Yuzu gulped.

"Got that right!" Her white hair swished in the sunlight. "I play Dragon's Mirror! By banishing two Blue-Eyes White Dragons, one Blue-Eyes Alternate Dragon, my White Stone of Legend and Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon, I can perform a Fusion Summon using monsters in my Grave as material! So I summon the mighty, the ultimate, the unstoppable perfect five-headed beast, my Five-Headed Dragon!" Kisara chanted. A massive golden headless dragon arose. 5000 ATK. First, two heads that looked identical to Blue-Eyes White Dragon emerged from the space where its neck should be, mounted on two long heads. The ghostly neck of Spirit Dragon followed, accompanied by the streamlined, aerodynamic skull of Alternate.

Somewhat anticlimactically, a white crystal emerged in place of a fifth head.

Kisara shuddered, clutching her chest. "Summoning that thing always makes me feel a little sick," she admitted.

"I can see why," Asuka nodded.

"I honestly highly doubt it, but whatever," her blue-eyed opponent shrugged. "Now go, Five-Headed Dragon! Destroy that Ritual Monster!"

"They have equal ATK. They'll both be destroyed!" Yuzu realised.

"Sorry, but Five-Headed Dragon can only be destroyed by battle with a LIGHT-Attribute monster!" Kisara smirked.

Asuka rolled her eyes. "Cyber Angel - Vishnu is a LIGHT-Attribute," she informed her opponent who blinked, watching the two monsters destroy each other. "Huh. Well, there's a first time for everything," she absent-minded let shrugged. "But whatever! Azure-Eyes! Attack! Finish her off!" Her silver dragon roared and charged.

"I activate Magic Cylinder. Your monster's attack is negated and you take damage equal to its ATK," Asuka commanded. Two massive cups appeared, and Azure-Eyes flew into one, before shooting out of the other and ramming into Kisara. The attack threw her backwards and her LP hit zero.

For the first time, the brunette turned to Yuzu. "Come on. She won't stay down for long, and we have to get away before she recovers,"

"How? We'll never outrun her," the girl protested.

Asuka smiled, and turned and jumped off the bridge into the river. Yuzu rushed to the edge and looked down in shock - to see her new friend perched on a gondola. "Come on! I'll catch you!"

Yuzu took one look at the rather scary dragon-like girl lying a few metres away, and jumped.

Sure enough, the other girl caught her. "What about Selena? She was with me, but we got split up," Yuzu asked.

"We'll look for her later," Asuka promised, "but we need to escape now," she pushed the boat off, and it sailed down the river. "Where are we going?"

"A little place called You Show Duel School," the girl grinned.

X

"Starve Venom. Attack," Yuri emotionlessly commanded, and his dragon did as was commanded, knocking Selena to the ground and reducing her LP to zero.

She looked up to see Yuri gazing down at her. "You're coming with me,"

A/N

A/N

Well, that went 'well'. I'll make this short; no new cards or reviews this chapter, so peace!