Hello everyone! I am glad you all liked the last chapter with an important win that Sawatari deserved!
Sorry for the long delay, I have started a new life as a university student and oh my god… it is very tiring. I tried to write as much as possible but life doesn't agree so this chapter was late. Sorry about that.
This chapter will be a refreshed one before the storm.
Let's get started now!
Chapter 37: The Precious Time before the New Journey
"What the hell has happened here…?"
Was Yuri's shocked question when he, Yuma, Darkness and Sora returned to tunnel of Academia. Instead of the usual silence this fortress gave off, it was filled with many students wearing protective gear while fixing the partially destroyed tunnel. Debris lied down everywhere, across the walkways and the water.
Darkness grabbed an Osiris Red and asked him.
"Do you know what happened here?"
The student mumbled, shocked by the elite's sudden appearance.
"Dark…Darkness-sama…?" He noticed Yuma, Yuri and Sora were also there behind Darkness. "Sora-sama? Yuri-sama and Yuma-sama?"
"Tell me! I have no time!" He yanked the collar of his red shirt, pulling him closer to his face.
"Ah-ah-yes!"
"Calm down Darkness-sama." Sora eased the tension down. "What the hell happened here?"
"Sora-sama, while you four and the Obelisk Force were in Standard, three people ambushed the fortress and took the hostage away."
"What?! Ambush? Hostage?!" Yuri said out loud. He frantically approached him. "Who? What do you mean hostage?"
"I am sorry Yuri-sama… the hostage was gone with them. They escaped our grasp…"
"Damn you!" Yuri punched him in anger. "It's just three people and a weak girl! Why couldn't you handle them?"
"But they are not ordinary ones…"
"Ordinary ones?!" Yuma wondered. He pried Yuri and Darkness's hands off the student. "Who are they?"
"They are…" He hesitated to answer before eventually doing it. "An adult named Yusho or some kind-"
"Yusho?! Sakaki Yusho?!" Yuma gasped at the name.
"You know him?" Darkness asked.
"Yep. He was our former teacher at Clover Branch in Heartland." Yuma explained. "Rumors said he dueled you and escaped for some reason."
"We attacked his hideout and I dueled but he escaped in front of my eyes." Darkness said, remembering the time he and Yusho confronted and dueled each other. "He used the dimension travel program… reluctantly."
"What do you mean?" Yuri asked.
"We were dueling at Heartland back then. He was injured. But suddenly a Resistance helped him and decided to teleport him out of this dimension." Darkness said with a frown look, failing to card him to help accelerate the Arc Area Project.
"All right, who's the other two?" Yuma asked the student.
"One of them is…" He worriedly looked at Darkness before continuing. "Former Honor Student Tenjoin Asuka."
"Little bratty sister…" Darkness mumbled emotionlessly, his frowned face did not help much.
"The final one is… Hell Kaiser Ryo."
Yuri became angry at being reminded of his failure. Besides the Professor, Yuri, Darkness, Sora and other high-ranking members of Academia, no one knew about this.
"Hell Kaiser?!" Yuma gritted his teeth in shock. "Your spy at Resistance?!"
"Spy?" Sora wondered.
"Ever since Professor "recruited" me, I learned a lot about how this place works! He planted a spy in many Resistance bases, then that spy waits until the right moment, which Academia will send forces to wipe it out at the most unexpected times! And that spy is-"
"Marufuji Ryo!" Darkness suddenly raised his voice. "My former friend! A traitor to Academia along with his younger brother! Just like you puny shit Yuma!" He stood close to him, eyes full with intent on killing the former Resistance soldier.
"Remember why you are here! We can cut off the deal anytime and let your mother-"
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Yuma delivered a punch to Darkness' face, knocking off the mask he was wearing. "Don't ever mention her in front of me again!"
"You piece of shit!" Darkness cursed and he got up, ready to trade a few punches with Yuma.
"Sir, please stop!" The Osiris Red student tried to stop him but Darkness flung him down to the river. He also knocked several more workers out while they also tried to stop him and continued approaching Yuma.
"You two! Stop!" Yuri stood between Yuma and Darkness. Yuri held back Yuma and pushed Darkness away forcefully. "Stay back!"
"Yuri?!" Darkness voiced his surprise at Yuri's act. "You are helping the freaking traitor?!"
"He has a reason to be, just like your friend Ryo." Yuri said with uncharacteristically calmness and smother, shocking Yuma and Sora and of course, Darkness. "For a close relative, unlike your sister Asuka!"
"You…!" Darkness became shocked but Sora quickly held him back, not wanting to have a big and unnecessary fight at the tunnel. He grabbed the mask and wore it back on his face.
Another student helped the Osiris Red up and got out of the tunnel. "Keep doing what you're doing." He told the rest of the workers.
"And by the way." That student told the higher-ups. "The Professor wants to see you as soon as you return."
"Professor? What is this?" Sora asked. "Whatever…"
"Let's go." Yuri said. They all come but clearly Darkness was hesitant to do it.
"Why did you help me back there Yuri?" Yuma whispered to him.
"…I…" Yuri did not know what to say to him.
"Don't know…"
During the way to the Professor's room, they saw what Yusho, Asuka, Ryo and Rin did to the place. Several ceilings were destroyed, and so did the control room. Luckily those were the only places that were affected. When they got to the ground level, it was completely fine besides the darkened puddle of blood near the stairs of the West Tower which was covered. There were several Ra Yellow students guarding there thanks to the infiltration.
"What is this?" Sora asked a Ra Yellow nearby.
"Diana felt off the towel and die." He reported simply and straightforwardly like a real soldier.
"That's it?"
"Yes sir."
"Professor should not have hired that bitch…" Darkness mumbled. "Her parents do not know that his friend recruited her to be a guard instead of being a teacher here. Academia really knows how to use its influence to hide its truth to the rest of the world."
"The Fusion and Synchro Dimension to be exact." Yuma corrected him in a mocking tone.
"Stop saying!" Darkness ordered in an annoyed tone.
"We're basically in the same rank, so you cannot order me."
Darkness attempted to start a fight with Yuma again but Sora and Yuri solved it quickly by forcing Darkness back.
"Stop this nonsense!" Was Yuri's only order.
They remained silent as they walked into the fortress. Later they were at the Professor's room. Large, dark, mostly empty with only a throne and several pillars were the only words to describe this room. Yuma, Sora, Yuri and Darkness all bowed down in front of the Professor.
"Professor." They said respectfully.
"Good to see all of you back, get up." He calmly said, showing nothing but calm in his face. They all knew one thing though that he was angry at their failure, especially Yuri who was sweating in nervousness.
"As far as I can see, the campaign was a complete failure. We could not capture back Selena, also you failed to capture Hiragi Yuzu and Kurosaki Ruri."
"I ah… I am sorry Professor. It's my failure…" Yuri replied with slight hesitation, as if he feared what the Professor would do if he said so.
"Don't worry, I don't blame you. At least we now know that my dear son Akaba Reiji had formed a group of duelist to fight against us. Besides as you can see, this place was under attack when you were in Standard."
"They are really good…" Yuri mumbled. "And how could Hell Kaiser Ryo survived the carding Professor? I carded him!"
"Sakaki Yusho." Was Leo's simple reply.
"Sakaki Yusho…" Yuri said, gritting his teeth in anger. "That son of a bitch…!"
"I know how much you want to make him pay for your failure, but I do not allow you to do it. He is my former friend, no one can harm him but me." Leo said firmly, his baritone voice made Yuri as nervous as always. "If any one of you dares to hurt him without me knowing, I will punish you. Got it?"
They all bowed. "Yes Professor."
Leo then turned to Darkness. "Fubuki."
He looked up at him.
"Your work is done here. Now go back to Heartland."
"Roger that." He complied and got out of his room to go to the transportation room located at the basement. As he turned around, he gave a dangerous glare at Yuma, who said nothing and remained calm.
After Darkness was out of the room, the Professor gestured the rest to stand up.
"That's it for today. You are dismissed. Take a rest, we will hold a meeting about our enemy tomorrow. We have a lot of things to do today."
"Yes Professor!" Yuri, Yuma and Sora bowed before leaving the room. After going across a corner, Sora parted ways and went to his room, leaving Yuri and Yuma behind.
"We need to talk about something." Yuma whispered to the psychotic soldier.
"About what?"
"Why wasn't Yuto carded when I tried to?"
Yuri recalled the moment. Honestly he did not know how Yuto could survive being carded like that. After a duelist lost, his or her Duel Disk which acted like a shield will stop working, making that dueslit vulnerable to the carding process. That was what happened to Yuto, but somehow he survived it which bothered them greatly. Darkness and Sora were not there to witness it and they did not need to know, neither did the Professor. This would be their secret for a while.
"I really don't know." Yuri replied.
"And that is not the only strange thing. You need to remember that you share the same faces as the other three boys."
"Yuya, Yuto and Yugo." He chuckled at Yugo's name, remembering what he did with his emotions. Yuma gave him a glare.
"Selena-ah sorry, Ruri also shares the same faces as Yuzu, Rin and her. This is definitely not coincidental and the Professor does not open anything about it, even for us." Yuma pointed out.
They stood there saying nothing, thinking about the strange things happened today, the secret Professor hid them. Eventually they could not hold it anymore.
Yuri sighed. "Maybe I need to take a day off, resting. You take care your mother, she may need you now."
"Uh… fine." Yuma said awkwardly and walked off.
Suddenly he stopped. "Yuri?" He said, not turning around.
"Yeah?"
"I want you to be honest."
Seconds passed, only silence.
"Why are you nice to me now even though you want to kill me earlier?"
Yuri froze, not knowing what to say.
His inner conflict rose up.
On one hand, he swore to himself that he would only care about himself after that moment, three years ago…
When the only person who treated him like a real friend and life partner betrayed him.
On the other hand, he still could not get rid of their images, their warm ones.
Barrett… his only father figure…
Selena…
…
His former friend…
And now Yuma as well, though it would be more because of his predicament…
"What's wrong with me…?" Yuri asked, hoping anyone who could read his mind help him find an answer.
But there was no one since he did not say a thing.
"Huh… Stupid Yuri…"
He finally managed to answer.
"Your mother…"
Yuri finally returned to his room, leaving Yuma wonder for a bit, before he eventually went to his mother's room as well…
"You are injured. Let me get you help." Asuka said, and without giving Rin a second to voice her refusal she escorted her. They went across a corner before getting into a room.
"We're here." Asuka said as she knocked the door.
Seconds later, a male voice could be heard. "Who's there?"
"It's Asuka. We got a patient to help." She said.
"All right. Come in."
Asuka opened the door. There was a person dressed in a white longcoat like that of a doctor sitting at the desk at the right corner of the room opposite the door.
"Hello Asuka. Good thing that you're back. Where's the patient?"
"She's right next to me." Asuka stepped to the sides, allowing the doctor to see Rin. She had brushed all over her faces, arms, hands and legs from the torture and escape.
"Is this the girl you, Ryo and Yusho-sensei freed from Academia?"
"Yes."
He greeted Rin. "Hello. What is your name?"
"My name is Rin." Rin answered.
"Rin. Nice to see you. Don't worry, we are not here to hurt you, we are here to help you, protect you from Academia."
"Thank you…" She whispered warmly, for now she was sure she would be fine after all the nightmare.
"Rin, come to the doctor, you need help." Asuka told her, and Rin accepted. He did a full check-up on her, it took quite a while with all of the usual tasks that Rin found it surprising since she never had one before, which surprised the doctor and Asuka.
"I uh I… I am sorry, I never go through a damn long process like this-" She frantically explained very nervously.
"It's fine." Asuka reassured her. She did not say anything more because she knew why Rin never had a medical check-up like this: being an orphan. Luckily, the doctor understood it as well.
"Here are your medicines. Take it according to the instructions I give you and you will be fine." He handed Rin the bag of medicine and two pieces of paper.
"Thank you." Rin thanked him politely. She and Asuka got off the room.
Asuka then guided her to the shower room to get Rin to clean herself up nicely before taking a rest. Rin was touched by this as she rarely got a proper shower back in Synchro.
"Thanks a lot Asuka-san."
"No problem." Asuka said back and got clothes for her. She took the basket then she went to the locker nearby and opened it. She took a long, thoughtful and solemn look on the only clothes inside it.
A sleeveless white shirt and a pink skirt, along with a white belt and a pink pad…
"Brother…"
…
…
This was Asuka's clothes that her brother brought for her when she was younger. He brought it as a birthday present to her. At first she disliked it due to getting another skirt to wear on, but after her brother went to Academia to learn Dueling there she missed him a lot, so she decided to wear it to remember him before eventually enrolling in the school as well.
Or rather, a military base that Professor had corrupted which she never saw it that way until six months ago.
She was taught to be a trained soldier and eventually she got to the rank of Honor Student, which gained her a lot of fame. Her beauty also helped it a lot. With this, she was excited to be on the front lines to fight alongside his brother, who was sent there before her as the leader of the Academia base in Xyz. But then a female Osiris Red student confessed what Academia really did, she also told her that her brother Tenjoin Fubuki was too brainwashed by Academia's teaching that he could not be swayed anymore. Too shocked by this, Asuka decided to leave with her on a speedboat at night. But as they were about to get ashore the security guards that Academia hired spotted them and carded the poor Osiris Red on sight. To her luck, Sakaki Yusho was there to rescue her. From there she became his number one student and along with Ryo they helped many other students disillusioned with the Professor's teaching escape and form a Duel School underground, where they were taught to bring smiles with their Dueling instead of horror. To be honest Yusho, Asuka or Ryo did not completely know if this would work 100% or not and surely it would not work on her brother, but it worked out pretty well for others so far.
Asuka snapped out of her trance when Rin spoke up.
"Asuka-san?"
"Ah…yes?"
"Can you please tell me more about how you escaped?"
"Uh, yeah. I think I should… and maybe Ryo as well."
She then proceeded to tell her everything about her wanting to be in the front lines, realizing the real image of Academia and escaping, exactly what she recalled earlier.
"To be honest, I never realized you were captured." Asuka told Rin. "This is probably some kind of top secret in there, only few members know this. But after what happened today, a lot will know."
"It may be good I think. Many students will realize more about Academia and escape." Rin guessed.
"Not too much. Their teachings are surprisingly effective and if you try to escape, security guards can card you on sight. I was lucky to be here."
"Card on sight…" Rin slightly gasped, finding it similar to the situation of her hometown. She sighed deeply. "Haizz… They surely do not even care about the lives of the students don't they? They are their pawns to battle in their place after all."
"Pawns are expendable, they have many pawns to spare. That's how Academia sees us." Asuka said bitterly. "Unless you are truly devoted to it like a cultist. That's what happened to my brother."
"You have a brother?" Rin voiced her surprise.
"Yes. His name is Tenjoin Fubuki, or Darkness as he calls himself. He joined Academia before I did, which by then he was appointed as the Commander of the Academia force in the Xyz dimension. He told me that he was fighting for a glorious purpose, uniting the four dimension. I did not think much about it back then and I thought Academia was doing the right thing, so I tried my best during my stay at Academia to prove my skills to the Professor to be able to stand in the front lines. But then I found out what Academia really did and hated it, I tried to warn my brother about it but their teaching brainwashed him, he told me he hated me for not sharing the same beliefs about Academia, he even threatened to card me as well…" Asuka told the story with sadness slowly became more evident during the later part.
"So you escaped on your own." Rin concluded.
"That's right. And the rest is story. I love my brother, but I don't think I would be able to bring him back to who he used to be, a loving brother…"
"During the time like this." Rin tried to lighten Asuka's mood. "It's best to hope. You cannot bring him back now, but you can hope. Hope that you can talk through him one day, hope that your brother will understand you one day. Thanks to hope, I was able to survive the competitive society with Yugo and others back in City."
"I hope so." Asuka said, forcing a smile.
Rin peaked out of the rug of the shower room. "Thank you Asuka-san. Hope you can bring your brother back."
"No problem. Here's your clothes."
Rin took the basket and was surprised to see it had pink on it.
"Oh! Pink! It's my favorite color! How do you know Asuka-san?"
"I honestly don't know. But I do think a girl living in a harsh condition like you wouldn't like pink!"
"I like the pink color. Appearance can be deceiving you know." Rin wore the clothes and got out.
"It's beautiful! It fits you a lot Rin!" Asuka complimented Rin on her new clothes.
"Thanks a lot Asuka-san. I wonder one thing, is this… your clothes?"
"Yes." Asuka confirmed. "My brother brought this as a birthday present for me. I was not really a big fan of pink skirt at that time but I respected him. I used to wear it when he joined Academia."
"It's nice." Rin said. "I never got a birthday present, I don't even know my birthday either…"
The room became silent as Asuka and Rin stopped talking, neither knowing what to say. Finally,
"Alright. You had a harsh day, let's take a rest shall we?"
"Uh… fine. And sorry about that Asuka-san."
"No need to, I don't mind. Really…" Asuka reassured the blue-haired girl. She then escorted Rin to a guest room which she said Yusho had reserved for her the moment he got information about her.
"He planned that far ahead?" Rin said with surprise.
"Yes. Once he plans something, he will do his best to finish it, and the aftermath as well. He's kind, caring and understanding."
Asuka used a key to open the door to Rin's room. Since they were underground, the room was dark. Asuka solved it by turning the light on.
A pretty large room with decent space, a large bed on the right corner, a desk besides it and a closet on another corner. There was also a bathroom on another end as well.
"It's nice! And clean!" Rin exclaimed.
"Glad you like it. We are not sure if this suits you or not." Asuka said.
"You, Ryo-san and Yusho-san has already done a lot to me, I owe you for life. You don't need to say that!"
"We help people in need. Now take a rest."
"Thank you." Rin replied. Asuka handed her the key and walked off the room. Rin took a long time admiring the room. It was way better than the one she had in the orphanage which was small, dark and had leak spots all over. She mentally thanked Yusho, Ryo and Asuka a lot for freeing her and giving her a comfortable room to recover. She realized she would need to repay them somehow so she shut down her plan of escaping.
After applying the paste tube on her skin and rubbing it, Rin turned on the ceiling fan, turned off the lights and went to a deep sleep.
"Thank you a lot, Yusho-san, Ryo-san and Asuka-san. I will never forget what you did for me. And Yusei, Aki, Yugo…"
"I will see you soon…"
She closed her eyes, losing herself in a deep sleep.
After the duel between Sakaki Yuya and Sawatari Shingo, everyone took a rest while Reiji went back to work. According to Nakajima, Reiji would be creating new Pendulum cards for the Lancers, which bothered Shun at first since he did not want to work with someone else but he eventually did with the persuasion from his sister Ruri. Aki, Yugo, Yusei and Selena went to LDS and stayed in rooms where Reiji had reserved for, Selena and Yuzu had traded their clothes back. Gongenzaka was now practicing Dueling with his father to gain his approval to be a Lancer and Sawatari was taking care of his father whose assistant was now in his place. As for the Synchro people, they kept their D-Wheels at the underground garage where an LDS worker said he would check on it to see how it worked Shun, Yuto and Ruri decided to tell the truth to everyone involved, namely Shuzo, Yoko and the kids after Reiji had neutralized the nano substance in her body.
Yuya first got into the house to see Yoko. She froze when she saw him and Yuya did as well. Tears began to form in her eyes and without wasting any more precious seconds she ran to Yuya and hugged him tightly. Yuya hugged her back just as strong and cried as well.
"Yuya…! Yuya my boy! You are finally here! I have finally found you…!" Yoko mumbled between hiccups.
"It's fine mother! I am glad you are fine!" Yuya said back, tears running down from his face and into Yoko's shirt. Shuzo looked on warmly, smiling.
"Where have you been Yuya? Do you know how worried I was? You stupid! You're too stupid Yuya! You scared me a lot in those days!" She berated Yuya with pure caring. Beneath those words were the sweetness only a mother could give to a person, and Yuya knew it very well.
"I am sorry mom, I know I have failed you. I made you worry but I am sure I will not do it again."
They remained silent for a while, not separating from one another before they eventually did, returning to the real, harsh world.
"All right mom, let me go."
After separating himself from Yoko, Yuya looked at Shuzo.
"Ruri is waiting outside as you want to. I will call her in. And please, don't be too harsh on her."
At the door of the Hiragi residence, Ruri signaled Shun and Yuto to stay outside, she would only get inside with Yuya and Yuzu.
"I know you two want to accompany me, but I need to do this alone."
"We cannot let you do this Ruri!" Shun protested.
"I must be the only one to go in there. I lied to Yuzu's father, I need to apologize him, Yoko-obasan and the kids as well." Ruri insisted.
"We will help her, don't worry Kurosaki, Yuto." Yuzu told him. "And Kurosaki, please don't hurt Yuto." Yuto awkwardly looked at her before sweatdropping at the sight of the angry Kurosaki Shun.
"Stop brother! Don't embarrass me in front of them!" Ruri sighed. At this time, Yuya opened the door and waved a hand to them.
"Come on, let's get inside! Yuto and Kurosaki stay outside, you are not involved in this."
Ruri and Yuzu then got inside. They saw Shuzo already standing in the hallway and were slightly startled.
"Father?" Yuzu nervously said.
Shuzo took a long look at the teenagers, especially the purple-haired girl.
"Everyone. Get inside. We are going to have a long talk. Yoko has already dealt with the kids, she's inside right now."
Without further awkward eye contacts they got into the living room. True to Shuzo's words, Yoko was sitting in seiza looking at them seriously.
"Sit down." Shuzo said and sat in the seiza position as well.
Yuya, Yuzu and Ruri reluctantly do the same, especially Ruri who sat the rightmost, opposite to the adults.
"You know why we are here." Shuzo started. "We need to get things straight. First off Ruri."
"Yes Shuzo-san?" Ruri said.
"You are not from here, or rather, this dimension as you may paint it. Why did not you tell us earlier?"
Ruri looked at him nervously, not sure about what to say. Yuzu gave her a look of comfort, urging her to say.
"Yes I am not from here." Ruri finally answered, trying her best to keep dignity. "I did not tell you and anyone else earlier… because I did not what else to do back then. I escape a capture attempt and got into this dimension. I was alone in here, I know no one in here, I did not know what to do, then I met Yuya, and Yuzu…"
"From there you lied to me and my daughter." Shuzo said, still as calm as ever but there was visible rage and disgust in his voice. "Why did you hide it from us Ruri?! You could have told us way earlier! If you had done that, we could not have had a strange situation like this!"
"I wanted to say everything to all of you ever since I met you, but I knew I couldn't." Ruri explained. "I cannot say that I am from a warzone in a different dimension to you, you might think I was crazy and you might force me out, which I could not risk to…" She looked down, not seeing anyone.
"Ruri…" Yuzu called her friend's name in sadness. "Father, please stop! Ruri could not hold herself any longe-"
"Don't!" Ruri suddenly said, also suddenly became serious. "I can say it all, don't worry about me. I must say it all."
Yuya gave a look of understanding. "Got it."
"Thanks." Ruri nodded a thank-you to Yuya. She then looked at Shuzo and Yoko again. "I am not sure if this helps at all, but I swear I thought about what I did to all of you every day. I always felt guilty, sometimes I could not sleep well at night. Since Reiji prevented me from seeing Yuto and Shun, I only have Ryoga to help me, but I know it would not be enough." At the name of Ryoga, Yuzu and Yuya closed their eyes sadly.
"Ryoga?" Yoko noticed. "What happened to him?"
"He is in a card that Yuto holds." Yuya said.
"I'm… sorry…" Yoko apologized.
"Don't feel too hard about it Yoko-obasan, we lose comrades every day." Ruri said in a thing-that-happens-everyday voice. "I should be the one. At that night Yugo dueled Yuya because of a misunderstanding. His friend Rin was kidnapped by the one who also wanted to kidnap me, Yuri. He shares the same face as Yuya, Yuto and Yugo." With all of the same face thing, this did not surprise Yoko and Shuzo anymore.
"Yuya lost, and suddenly his body was gone, his mind got inside Yuto." Ruri said nervously, knowing how shocked Yoko and Shuzo would become.
"What?! My son was inside Yuto all the time?!" Yoko said out loud in shock.
Yuya nodded at her mother. "Yes. It happened mother, Shuzo-san. I don't know why, just like how Yuto was not carded by Yuma."
Yoko managed to remain calm, not pressing any further. "So that's what happened…" She sighed. "What strange would happen soon…"
"Then somehow I got separated." Yuya continued. "Since a lot of people know already, I do not hide this. Don't worry about this mother, Shuzo-san, just know I am fine now, okay?"
"We'll do… for now…" Shuzo muttered. "Continue Ruri."
"Uh… yeah." Ruri said. "After that, Yuto lost consciousness, Yuzu and I carried him to Yoko-san to get him help."
"So my daughter knows about this too." Shuzo eyed at his daughter, who slightly jotted back. "People are hiding things from me!"
"No one wants to do it dad!" Yuzu said. "But things were too much back then."
"After that Yuto disguided himself as Yuya, which is why he acted strangely as you may have seen."
"Yuto's masquerading as Yuya?!" Shuzo gasped. "So that's why…! I saw his behavior to be very off… I should have realized this sooner! You and Yuto and Shun played us all! Where is Yuto?!"
"Please don't bring him in." Yuya talked Shuzo off. "Please keep this between us!"
"That's everything that had happened ever since I came here that I hid from all of you. I know this mistake is very big, I caused everyone involved misery…" Ruri sadly whispered. "I am ready for any punishment you may give me Shuzo-san, Yoko-obasan, Yuya and Yuzu…"
"Ruri! Don't say that!" Yuzu said to Ruri with concern. Being girls were already a big disadvantage, Yuzu knew it very well, and she tried her best to talk Ruri off this, but it did not seem to work.
"Shuzo-san…" Yuya said. "Please, don't be too harsh on her… She's a war victim…"
"Stop Yuya." Shuzo said firmly, scaring Yuya and Yuzu. Yoko tried to say something but she realized she couldn't. The rage on his face was enough to shut her up.
"I never thought I could be manipulated like this! By a FREAKING GIRL WHO LOOKS LIKE MY DAUGHTER!" He roared, everyone jotted back.
Shun and Yuto could hear the outburst and became worried.
"Shit! Ruri!" Shun gasped worriedly. "I need to get inside!"
"Stay here Shun!" Yuto grabbed his arm, stopping him from charging. "Learn some manners! This place is peaceful, not a warzone where you could storm in and card anyone in there!"
Shun's face hardened, he knew what Yuto said was right. "So you tell me I have no other choice but to let my dear sister be in misery like that?!"
"Yes. We should be lucky he does not call us in, otherwise things could get much worse!" Yuto calmly explained. Shun eventually gave in with a deep sigh.
"Ruri… please try your best…" Shun could only hope for her.
"I hate you a lot Ruri. I regretted bringing you into my house!" Shuzo said harsh words at Ruri, who sadly looked down in shame. "I should never have done that! Even worse you and Yuzu share the same face! Every time I see you, I see Yuzu in you! I care about you just as much as my daughter you know that?! I cannot believe a lookalike of my daughter could have done such a thing!"
"Shuzo-san!" Yoko said.
Shuzo kept silence for a while, no one dared to talk anymore.
Yuya, Yuzu and Yoko felt worried inside.
Ruri desperately tried to keep her stream of emotion in check.
Shuzo breathed heavily before regaining normal breath again.
"But I understand why you had to do it Ruri."
"What?!" Ruri gasped.
"I understand why you had to do it, I understand you never wanted to do it to us in first place. If I were you I would do it as well. After all you are from a war zone, you have seen horrible stuffs which we never imagine. I am surprised that you still managed to be nice and kind to others, you are even against carding them as Yoko said."
Ruri looked at Shuzo in shock, unable to believe what she was saying.
"Sawatari is right, only forgiveness can truly bring happiness to people, of course it does not apply in war." He said these words carefully and with complete understanding.
"So… what you are saying is…" Ruri muttered. Yuya, Yuzu and Yoko looked on hopefully.
"I forgive you for what you have done to us. You cannot be blamed for what you have done." Shuzo finally said with a warm smile.
Ruri felt extremely happy inside. For all she had done, she could not imagine she had been forgiven. She bowed multiple times, saying thanks to Shuzo repeatedly.
"Don't do it Ruri! Just get up!" Shuzo said slightly uncomfortably. Why do girls express her emotion way more than boys, even though it can be very awkward? "Please stop it!"
"I don't know what to say at this Shuzo-san! You are very nice to me that I don't know how to repay!"
"Then don't do it again okay? I don't like lying." Shuzo calmed her down.
"I guess…" Ruri said gently. "Thank you… a lot… Shuzo-san, Yoko-san… I will not do it again."
"See Ruri?" Yuzu smiled at the purple-haired girl, holding her shoulders. "Things will be fine."
"Yeah…"
"Now you don't have to worry about that anymore Ruri." Yuya said to her.
"The same cannot be said to Shun though." Shuzo became serious again. "He caused more damage to others than you or Yuto. He carded several innocent people, ruining the lives of their family members. I can forgive you, but I cannot forgive him, traumatized by war or not. Remember that."
Ruri could only remain silent. She could not deny what her brother had done, even her boyfriend Yuto could not stop him from basically murdering LDS workers.
"I will talk to my brother about this." Ruri promised.
"And one more thing."
"What Shuzo-san?"
"Hope your relationship with Yuto can stay long and well!" Shuzo teased, lightening the mood.
"I will try… Shuzo-san." Ruri told him embarrassingly, the rest kept themselves from laughing at the spot.
"Okay, everything is done here, you can go with Yuto and your brother." Yoko told Ruri.
"Thank you. Goodbye Yoko-san, Shuzo-san." Ruri said goodbye and went outside.
"Remember to go back here for dinner!" Yuzu told her.
After Ruri went outside, Yuya turned to Shuzo.
"I'm glad you forgive her Shuzo-san. I would have done the same thing sooner. She's gone through a lot of things and I did not understand it. Now I have to pay the price with the carding of Shark…" He muttered bitterly. "Staying inside Yuto's mind messed me up greatly, to the point I nearly forgot my father and his ideals…"
"At least you got it back, thanks to Sawatari." His mother confronted him sweetly.
"Yeah, I own him a lot. You won't believe this mom, but I got a clue about father from Yuto!" Yuya revealed.
"What?! Sakaki Yusho?!" Shuzo gasped in shock. "Is it true Yuya?!"
"Yes Shuzo-sensei. Turned out my dad traveled between dimensions, and from Reiji's words, he's probably trying to stop Akaba Leo."
"Is Akaba Leo the former President of LDS who mysteriously disappeared years ago?" Yuzu asked to be sure.
"Yep." Yuya answered. "My father is in the other dimension, probably Xyz or somewhere else. I know you may not like this mom, but I need to join Lancers to find him."
"You know I am not going to let you do that Yuya!" The mother tried to stop him.
"But I have to mom! Mom, Shuzo-sensei, I know your dueling skills, but it will not be enough to fight Academia. I am the best person to do the job even though I never wanted to. Let me do it mom, please understand…" He said in a pleading tone.
Yoko knew what her son said was right. She was proud his son had matured a lot recently, and even though she never wanted her son to do that dangerous dimension travel thing, she had to let him do it.
"Fine." Yoko agreed.
"I will join him as well." Yuzu spoke up. Reiji recruited me to be a Lancer, and Yuya needs someone to watch after to avoid him doing dangerous stunts!"
"And father!" Yuzu looked at Shuzo. "I know you don't want this like Yoko-obasan but I am a Lancer now, I have the responsibility to protect the four dimensions like Yuya. I will protect Yuya, Ruri, Masumi and others, I will help Yuya and others protect the peace this multiverse deserves! Besides, I now have an enemy I need to beat."
"Darkness right?" Yuya said.
"Uh!"
Shuzo looked at his daughter longingly and lovingly before eventually giving in. "I understand. Yuya, please protect her. You are the person closet to her."
"I will." Yuya reaffirmed.
"It's done Yuto, brother. Shuzo-san has forgiven me." Ruri told the guys, who smiled.
"Nice Ruri!" Shun congratulated. "I know it!"
"But he also told me he will not forgive you. For all what you have done to the people here." She switched her voice tone to serious mode.
Shun remained silent, remembering the atrocities he had done in this dimension. He did not know why, but from the inside he felt nearly nothing, he did not feel any guilt or shame. He realized that he had probably gone too far…
He looked at her, then Yuto, and finally spoke up.
"We need to talk."
…
…
Later they were at the café in the supermarket Yuto had gone in earlier, they had chosen a quiet spot to let this conversation go without any trouble from the outsiders. Shun was sitting right next to Ruri and Yuto sat opposite to them thanks to Shun warning him not to touch his sister.
Shun looked at his best friend seriously. "Okay you two are here now. Tell me honestly, and fully, how long have you two been in a relationship?"
Yuto took a deep breath. He knew he could not hide this forever from Shun anymore, he needed to come clean. He looked at Ruri, telling her it would be fine and he began.
"First off, yes, we have been in a relationship." Yuto said carefully, noting Shun's gasping. "The moment I got to meet your family and Ruri, I have been falling for her since." Yuto continued without a single cent of fear, Ruri felt very warm inside, realizing her boyfriend had started liking her the same time he liked her. Shun took notice of Ruri's expression and felt a pain in his chest.
"After a full year, we began dating. I don't know how you would feel, but I can promise you that we have not gone too far yet, I know my limit and I have always controlled myself. I never did anything that upset your sister Shun." To be honest, the time they nearly lost it was when they both lost control of themselves (they knew) and Yuzu stopped them fortunately. Nobody can control themselves 100% when they are alone and their instincts rise up.
"So you tell me that you have liked her since two years ago, right at the moment I introduced you to my family?" Shun asked Yuto just to be sure, the crossed arms began shaking, his hands formed into fists.
"Brother…" Ruri whispered worriedly. "Don't…"
"Not your turn to talk yet Ruri."
"Yes." Yuto simply answered.
Shame and disgust were visible on Kurosaki Shun's face, the former for realizing his best friend was dating his younger sister for full two years without him knowing, and the latter for not controlling Ruri tougher, making her fall in love when she was not old enough.
"How could you have done that…" Shun whispered dangerously. "How?"
"I don't know. Love just comes, it's natural Shun." Yuto tried, wrong way.
"Natural?!" Shun raised his voice. "Do you know who you are dating?! Ruri! My sister! She is just 14 back then and now 16! Just like you! You two are too young to be in a relationship!"
"We don't know how long this relationship would last, but we try our best not to upset each other every time. To be honest Shun, I'm always afraid about this, about this relationship. I fear I would eventually hurt you... your family… and Ruri…" Luckily for Yuto, Shun allowed him to say in full before he took the lead.
"Yuto…" Ruri felt sad for him, he had held this pain within himself for a long time, even in front of her he could not talk since he knew she would get hurt badly.
"If you know this, you shouldn't have dated her…" Shun gritted his teeth, his face full of anger.
"I only know this when I started dating her Shun." Yuto tried to explain. "Every men only knows this when they start dating a girl."
"Huh…" Shun chuckled. Ruri and Yuto froze, holding their breaths. They knew Shun would throw uncomfortable words at Yuto if he had this expression.
"Only know…? Lucky I do not have to know this up to now…" Shun said in a bitter voice, as if he was criticizing himself. "I never know you have done this far Yuto, I have let you in my inner circle too much…"
"Ruri." Shun suddenly turned to his dear sister.
"What brother?" Ruri nervously said back.
"What he said was completely right. I just want to know, do you like him back?"
Ruri hesitated before answering. "Yes…" She blushed slightly, Yuto felt warm from the inside.
Shun sighed deeply, shaking his head in denial. "What have I done…" He buried his face with his right hand.
"Brother, it's not your fault! It's mine! I did not listen to our parents and your teachings!" Ruri tried to say something to at least make Shun feel better.
"What brother am I to let my sister loose like this!" Shun berated himself openly this time, not hiding his disappointment anymore. "What brother am I!"
"Brother stop! I told you it's not your fault! It's my-"
"It's my fault Shun!" Yuto chimed in, stopping Shun and Ruri from antagonizing themselves any further. "I should never dated her Shun! I should never! Please stop hurting yourself Shun! I am responsible, not you or Ruri! I am!"
"Yuto…" Ruri whispered, she felt tried seeing her two important men in her life right now (her parents were carded) taking the blame.
They did not say anything for a while, opting to keep silence since they did not know what to talk right now. This moment seemed like eternity for them, they each saw their mistakes and saw the consequences at the same time. Yuto felt a massive pain inside his heart, his actions had caused two members of a family he got the privilege to know to feel bad about him and themselves, he now hated himself too much. He should have never started this relationship with Ruri, knowing how bad it would be, but he could not stop it somehow. What should he say to Shun and Ruri right now…?
"Shun…" Yuto tried to say something.
"Shun… I'm sorry…" He looked down, unable to look at them anymore. "I should never… done…"
"That…"
"Shun… Yuto…" Ruri thought sadly. "Why is a good relationship always destroyed by a girl…?" She should never thought about it for a single second…
Shun sighed deeply again before taking a sip of the coffee, trying to clear his head for a response. He knew he needed to finish this conversation in the best way possible to not hurt his sister any further, and Yuto as well even though he would not admit it.
"Yuto."
The boy in question nervously looked at him.
"Whatever is done, it is done…"
Ruri patiently saw Yuto and her brother, holding her breath since she was not sure how this talk would go.
"Ever since we started becoming friends, I never thought anything bad about you, and I should never do it anymore… I love Ruri a lot, I love her just as much as I love my parents, but I know we alone cannot take care of her and help her grow up at the same time. She needs another person to help her when we cannot do it. But I never thought that person was you."
Yuto and Ruri remained silent, not completely sure what Shun meant.
"During the war, my parents were carded by Yuma and Academia so Ruri only has me and you to protect her. I am always grateful for that, really. You keep her alive during the war, and when Ruri was gone, she has Shark, Yuya, Yuzu and Shuzo-san to protect her. Especially they gave her sanctuary and a reason to duel with smiles again which I sadly will never get a chance to say thank to. So…"
Shun looked at Yuto deep in his eyes, wanting him to promise one thing.
"I will not stop your relationship with Ruri anymore. Ruri trusts you and you do not disappoint her. I have no moral rights to stop you two."
"Shun…" Yuto and Ruri whispered. They were not sure how to react to this.
"From now on, I want you to promise me that you will always protect her, you will not hurt her feelings, never. You break her heart, I'll break your neck."
"I will." Yuto said, Shun and Ruri could clearly see heartiness in his voice. There was it, Shun was now sure his best friend will always make his sister smile when he could not. He could sigh in relief now, knowing part of his burden as an older brother had gone.
"Thank you brother." Ruri thanked Shun. "But I also have one thing in return that you must also promise."
"Go ahead Ruri."
Ruri paused, gathering all what she needed to say.
"You must not card innocent people anymore. Ever. You see what you have caused? Ryoga and I were in Reiji's mercy and we are all still in now, Yuya and his friends do not forgive you and they probably never will. I am still ashamed of it."
Shun simply answered. "I promise." A quick answer, too quick for all of the bad things he had caused for the carded victims and their families, but he had no choice.
The Synchro Lancers had changed into their usual clothes that they had brought along after taking probably the best bath they had ever had for a while (mainly for Yusei and Aki who were once from Tops). Reiji called Aki, Yusei and Yugo to his office to talk about their home place and what to do next (also their culture and D-Wheels), but Yugo was not there due to drinking his sorrows at a bar pretty far from LDS. Reiji planned to recruit the duelists from the Synchro dimension to fight Academia, so far he had three and it usually would be enough to go straight to the Fusion dimension. But another information from them caught his interest: the Security director Jean-Michel Roget.
Aki and Yusei knew one thing though: if they said it all, Reiji and the Lancers would not be willing to help them so they only mentioned Roget and his possible secret. And this was enough to force Reiji to derail his primary plan of going to Academia since Reiji thought if Academia managed to turn Synchro to their side then the Lancers and his plan overall would come to waste, the four dimensions will be at chaos for forever.
"Kurosaki Shun will not like this considering his personality." Reiji said.
"There is no choice if you want the long-term goal." Yusei persuaded.
"Lest you destroy this entire multiverse." Aki added.
Reiji adjusted his glasses, coming into a conclusion.
"We will hold a Lancers meeting tomorrow morning. I will send a message to others."
In Tsukumo Mirai's room (Yuma's mother), Yuma was helping his mother to sit up. He put a pillow on her back to help her lean back. The usually bright and caring mother was now very skinny due to cancer, not counting numerous coughs that she and Yuma had to endure. Even after many radiation therapies in Academia using probably the most advanced and revolutionary radiation machines that Akaba Leo personally created, Mirai's condition was still pretty bad, she still needed several more to become stable and who knew how many more she could endure. Yuma took a bowl of food and sat down besides Mirai to feed her.
"Eat this mom, it will make you feel better." Even though Yuma did not know how this sentence would help his mother, he still did because at least this could be one of the few things he could do. The mother understood this and said nothing. He put the spoon filled with food to his mother's mouth and she slowly ate it.
How could God be so cruel to Yuma and Mirai? That was the question Yuma asked himself every day since three years ago and he still did until now. At that time, Mirai was diagnosed with cancer which was a huge shock to Yuma's family and Yuma himself since he was only 13, too young for the hurtful truth. His family opted to hide this from their friends and relatives to help her continue her and her husband's job as world-renowned adventurers, they even bribed their private doctor to hide the truth from the world. However after nearly two and a half years, Mirai's condition worsened, she was unable to pursuit her job anymore, she was put in a special room in Heartland National Hospital to get treatment to her cancer. The family would visit her every day, Yuma and his father would take turns helping Mirai. Yuma knew the risk of letting others know about his mother's cancer so he hid this from his friends, no one knew about this expect him. Sadly during the Heartland Duel Tournament for several Duel School branches, the first day to be exact, Yuma's family got into a car accident that took the life of Kazuma. Since a tournament was going on, this was not reported. Soon after that, the invasion started…
As Yuma continued feeding her mother, he remembered how he got into here…
…
…
Yuma stayed in the hospital, taking care of her mother and fighting Academia at the same time. He asked the people in the hospital not to spread the news about his mother to the outside world in fear of Mirai being used as an advantage. One day they sent forces to attack the hospital, this attack destroyed most of the hospital and Yuma knew it, but he could not carry his mother to safety Yuma got surrounded by Obelisk Force and he leaned himself against the door to his mother's room. When they surrounded him and was about to duel him someone did an emergency call.
"Professor?!" Said an Obelisk Force with blue gems on his face in an alarmed tone.
"Professor?!" Yuma thought.
After some exchanges, he turned off his Duel Disk, the rest did the same.
"What is this?! What do you want to do?!" Yuma demanded why in fear. He was now the only shield for his mother.
"I know your mother is in that room."
Yuma froze. "They know…?" He frantically thought. "What should I do…?"
"I don't know what you are talking about? No one is in here right now but me and you!" Yuma tried to divert their attention.
"Don't lie. The Professor said so and his words are the truth." That Obelisk Force said.
Yuma paled, fearful for his and his mother's lives being sealed in cards. He readied his Duel Disk, ready to battle.
"Don't try. You are alone, you cannot beat us six at the same time, and we are here to help."
"Help?!" Yuma chuckled. "You call this help when you were about to card me earlier? Stop this joke!"
"We really mean it. The Professor wants to help your mother."
"My mother…? You must be joking! Get the hell out, or I will force you to do it the hard way! The machines are dead because of your attack!"
"Stage four cancer will kill your mother real soon, unless you join us and take your mother to Academia. He has the machines that can help her."
Yuma thought about this proposal. It was true that Yuma could not trust any of those Academia son of bitches, but he could not deny that his mother would die real soon if she could not get proper help.
"Think about it, the Professor has created machines that can help stage four cancer. Don't let your mother die in vain."
…
…
Did he need to be reminded this was an extremely dumb choice, but also the only one at the same time? He knew he had sold his soul to the devil, but in exchange his mother got helped and now she was much better than before the war. To be honest, he found the Professor really intelligent despite being the man who caused misery to his Heartland; he was able to create a machine that can treat stage four cancer patients and improve their health condition, therefore saving his mother's life. Now while Mirai's condition was still bad, it was much better than before.
"Thanks my son, I feel better now." Mirai told her sweet son warmly (devil to everyone else).
"It's good." Yuma softly told her back. Seeing her mother healthy and smiling at him again warmed him deeply, he might be able to forget the thing he did a bit. "With this, you will be fine soon."
Despite still smiling, Mirai was fighting not to shed tears every time, the tears for her condition, the sorrow for Yuma's predicament and the deep regret for her Heartland citizens. Yuma always tried to talk her out of it and she knew she could not press him. She knew he had done bad things to Heartland and to himself just to get her treatment, and there was no going back.
So at least what she could do is to keep herself positive to keep Yuma positive as well.
Thankfully Yuma understood, she was so proud of her son, only 16 but he was so mature, he knew what he did and he did not have second thoughts, all for her.
Which was why she felt ashamed of herself a lot, a Heartland citizen who was now getting help from her enemy…
"I'll get you some fruits. Hang on mom." Yuma told her mother before taking the bowl and getting out of the room.
He never got to the kitchen though because as soon as he got out of the room for quite a distance, he leaned himself against the wall and began openly sobbing.
For some reason, the Professor was standing right in front of him.
"Don't cry Yuma." He confronted him.
"Don't cry…?" Yuma faced him, pure hatred on his face. "You force me to join in your side, to allow my mother to get help! Not that I am grateful!"
"I lost my father, I lost my Heartland, I lost my friend, and now I may lose the only place I can belong to! I hate you for running my life! I hate you a lot!" Yuma muttered uncontrollably. He sobbed even more and eventually broke down.
The Professor did something Yuma never thought of before: he gave him a hug to confront him.
Yuma was surprised by this gesture. What did he want from him that he did this? Sympathy? Loyalty?
Or both?
Yuma tried to pull off the arms, but for some reason he could not pry them off, probably because he was still crying.
The Professor remained still, not fighting Yuma.
Yuma eventually stopped fighting and reluctantly hugging Leo back, accepting his act of caring him for a moment, and what he knew for the rest was nothing…
He let his emotions control him, crying louder and louder…
He hated the Professor, but he also owned him for helping his mother…
Yuri saw it all, he was standing near Mirai's room. He felt saddened for some reason he did not know, but he felt it. He looked at the resting Mirai, remembering his parents…
He realized Yuma was similar to him in many ways…
Rin got up, the light hitting her face was the first thing she saw. The long sleep clearly worked wonders, she felt much better now. She stretched her muscles and got out of bed, not forgetting to tidy it up nicely. That was what Aki taught her: you need to act feminine to fit with your gender, this is very important as you get older.
She got out of her guest room and walked around the underground school. The more she inspected the more she respected Yusho for managing to open a school below the ground, recruit escaping Academia students and evading Academia's sweeping all at the same time. As far as Rin saw, the school consisted off several rooms used for practicing Dueling, some more for teaching Dueling and basic school subjects. The students in here learned how to duel to bring smiles to others which they said was from Yusho's teachings.
"Duel should not be used to separate people, it should be used to connect them…" Rin agreed completely with this ideal, even though what happened in City and Domino City was a complete opposite. She promised to herself she would spread this ideal across City one day, with Yugo, Yusei and Aki.
For some reason, probably by instinct, she found the room Yusho was staying. She opened the door and saw him there.
"Hello… Yusho-sensei…" Rin decided to change the honorifics to fit in this place more.
"Hi Rin. You're awake." Yusho greeted the girl. He got off his chair and approached him.
"Thank you for giving me a place to stay, I will never forget this."
"You're welcome. Seeing you are fine is good for me. For now, you will be staying here until you fully recover, in the meantime, you can do anything you want in here, just don't get outside, the security is tight out there."
"Thank you Yusho-sensei, I guess… I have no place to go now…" Rin muttered. "Where is Asuka-san and Ryo-san?"
"They are going outside to buy foods." Yusho answered.
"I wonder how you can fund this school." Rin wondered.
Yusho chuckled before answering her, in probably the largest sly smile ever.
"Credit card fraud."
Rin widened her eyes in shock, she did not think Yusho would use this dirty trick!
"What?! You mean you hack into credit cards?!" Even though she was from the slums, she did not the basic stuffs in the world, and credit cards was one of them.
"We are at war, methods do not matter." Yusho explained matter-of-factly.
"I see…" Rin said.
"And one more thing." Yusho suddenly said, slightly nervously. "I don't know why, but you do look like two girls I know."
"Me?! I look like another one?!" Rin gasped.
"What? You know this?"
"There is a girl in Academia named Selena, she and I have the same faces." Rin explained. "Who is the girls you know Yusho-sensei?"
"My friend's daughter. Her name is Hiragi Yuzu."
"Hiragi Yuzu…"
"She has pink hair in pigtails but her face looks exactly like you. And another one is a student in the Space branch in Xyz, Ruri. Kurosaki Ruri. She has long purple hair, she is from the Xyz dimension." Yusho showed Rin the images of Yuzu and Ruri.
"This is definitely not coincidental, there must be a reason why." Rin speculated. "And not only the girls, the boys as well."
"Boys?!" Yusho narrowed his eyes at this another detail. "What do you mean?"
"My childhood friend is a boy named Yugo. I was kidnapped by a boy named Yuri, and they share the same faces."
"Boys as well?!" Yusho voiced his surprise. "If what you say is correct, there will be two boys from Standard and Xyz who fit this criteria as well. One of them is…"
"Yuya. My son."
"Your son?"
"Yes Rin. There will be another boy like this as well."
"So in short, we have four boys who share the same faces, and four girls who do too." Rin recapped. "This is not normal, and probably Akaba Leo knows this, for some reason he sends Yuri to capture me, Ruri and probably Yuzu as well."
"Dammit… Akaba Leo…" Yusho cursed under his breath. "You are such a dick… Wait!"
"What Yusho-sensei?!" Rin asked.
"That's it! He corrupted Academia, which is Fusion. He invaded Heartland of Xyz, and from the files I gathered when I, Ryo and Asuka rescued you he sent people to attack Maimai City, Standard…"
Rin realized. "Then there would be no reasons he wouldn't attack City. The Synchro dimension. My hometown!"
"This is bad…" Yusho muttered.
"He's going to attack my home town and probably turn it into his side as well! We need to stop him!"
"But this is just speculation! How can we sure that Leo will invade the Synchro dimension?" Yusho pointed out one missing thing in their prediction.
"There was one person. The director of Security in my dimension."
"Who?"
"Jean-Michel… Roget." Rin told him.
"Jean-Michel Roget?!" Yusho exclaimed.
"Yes. Rumors said three years ago he just appeared in city and became the director of Security. He introduced something that City did not have that time…"
"And it is…" Yusho guessed.
"Real Solid Vision." Rin finished.
"Yeah… Real Solid Vision… that bastard stole the invention of Akaba Leo and became an overlord in there…"
"What?! Real Solid Vision was created by Akaba Leo?!" Rin said in shock.
"Yes." Yusho confirmed. "He's really intelligent. He knows a lot. He created Real Solid Vision in collaboration with me."
"You helped him?"
"I originally wanted to use it to popularize Action Dueling in Standard. I am the inventor of that. Akaba Leo shares that goal as well, but for some reason he is using it for war. Sad to see a friend like this…"
"You and Akaba Leo are friends?!" Rin realized Yusho and Leo had a big history with each other.
"Formerly. According to Ryo, Roget did not want to unite the four dimensions but he wanted to build his own empire to oppose Leo so he attacked Synchro." Yusho said.
"By turning it into his goldmine…" Rin guessed. "He's also capturing Psychic Duelists as well."
"Physic Duelists?"
"Duelists with the ability to make Solid Vision real, just like Real Solid Vision but they naturally have the ability to inflict real damage in duels. He started this campaign three years ago as soon as he took the throne. He said they are abomination that must be eradicated. But I know he still has a lot of Psychic Duelists at his disposal, he may be using them for his bad plan! Yusho-sensei, please get me to City! I need to protect my home town, the kids and my friends!"
"Sorry Rin, but I cannot." Yusho sadly denied.
"Why?! I can't be staying here when my friends and the kids are in danger every day from Roget! I need to go back there! I can be sure Roget is opposed to Academia, but what he does is unforgivable, and Academia may attack him and in turn City as well! Please! Yusho-sensei, bring me back there!"
"I cannot let you go alone, not even stop him! You are targeted by Academia, if you go there, Roget may capture you for his interests! You will be in danger! Don't forget I have my own students here to take care of! I cannot tell their parents or bring them back to their families because Academia will card them if they know!"
"Then what am I going to do?! I cannot be a useless person! I need to do something!"
Yusho sighed. This girl was really stubborn and strong. She was like Yuzu in that aspect, she would not stop doing what she aimed to.
"So how about this… I do have a plan in there, but it is very risky…" Yusho revealed. His face became grim at this mentioning.
"What plan Yusho-sensei? Please tell me!"
"It's not complete yet, and it is very dangerous…"
"Just tell me! I want to see my friends again!" She insisted.
"I don't know if this can even be called a plan or not. But here it is: I want to send Ryo to Synchro to warn them about Roget. If what you said was true, there would be several forces who oppose him, and since he attacked Standard, Reiji would form Lancers to go to Synchro as well."
"Lancers?! Reiji?"
"It is a team Reiji created to fight against Academia. He is the leader. He's Akaba Leo's son."
For all of the strange things happened today, Rin did not react to this revelation. She simply muttered this under her breath.
"I was called by Reiji as soon as he knew about this crazy plan of Akaba Leo. I am the first Lancer. I transported to Fusion to stop him, but I got to Xyz instead. Eventually the war happened and I was sent to this place. I knew at that time I was alone so I could not fight Academia, so I gathered as much allies as I can."
"I now have Ryo the best student in You Show, so I want to send him to Synchro to stop Roget and protect that dimension. And now since Leo attacked Standard, Reiji would form the Lancers to go to Synchro as well."
"So Ryo-san and I will go to Synchro and join the Lancers and stop Roget and Academia." Rin said.
"Right. But to do that, we need a dimensional transporter, which was not completed yet." Yusho said and guided Rin to the lower level, where as soon as Yusho put on the lights, a machine was revealed to Rin. It was the same model as the one she saw in Academia but it was not finished yet.
"I have a student who have some skills with machines. And now I have the materials from the rescue mission, this machine will be finished soon." Yusho said.
"So I will be back to City soon." Rin said with hope.
"You will. I promise. But it will take time. You can do some other things while we are finishing the machine. I promise you will be in your home soon." Yusho promised the blue-haired girl, touching her shoulders firmly.
"Thank you… Yusho-sensei." Rin thanked him back, looking at the machine optimistically, hoping for that reunion day which she was sure it would come real soon.
After talking things out, Yuto, Shun and Ruri went to LDS where Reiji had reserved three rooms for them, on the grounds that Shuzo or Yoko would not allow Shun to enter their homes. It was 10 pm and Yuzu was about to go to sleep, she was back in her sleeping clothes: a sleeveless light pink cotton shirt which was slightly see-through and dark blue shorts. Her Duel Disk suddenly rang, signaling someone was calling her.
Yuzu picked it up and received the call. "Hello, who's there?"
"Yuzu, come outside." Came a slightly roughed voice.
"Yugo?!" Yuzu recognized the voice. "Why are you calling me?"
"Just come outside, there is something I need to talk to you." He then cut off the call.
Yuzu wondered what Yugo would say to her, but she decided to go outside. She also secretly had one thing she wanted to talk to him.
The door opened, Yuzu came out. There was Yugo outside, his face slightly reddened, indicating…
"Yugo?! Are you… drunk?"
"Yeah… recover a bit… don't worry… I will not do anything-uh…" Yugo mumbled but suddenly stopped when he saw Yuzu in a rather revealing outfit. In this most of her legs and her "features" were revealed to him. Yugo suddenly felt something uncomfortable between his legs.
He desperately tried to control himself, not showing anything outside besides looking down. He learned that lesson when he peaked into the bathroom while Rin was… taking a bath…
Yuzu wondered what happened to Yugo and even though she would not admit it, she got an idea on what.
"You are drunk… because of Rin alright?"
"Yeah… You have Yuya, Yuto has Ruri, I… not so much…" Yugo muttered incoherently. "Anyway I want to…" He brought his hidden left hand forward and showed Yuzu something. "Return this to you."
Yuzu looked at that thing in complete shock. "What…? My… bracelet?!"
She took it and inspected it. "And it's complete! It is not broken?! How? I am sure you broke it!"
"Yep. After I recovered a bit from alcohol, I went back to the place used to be covered in ice and found this. It was complete, never broken for some reason and I swear I did not use superglue. Look, I know it's strange, and not even counting the risk of you seeing me drunk like this, I don't know…"
He slightly blushed before continuing. "If I could control myself…"
Yuzu felt self-conscious after Yugo said that. She subconsciously stood back a bit and held her hands up defensively. "Ah… please… don't say that in front of me."
"Sorry." Yugo apologized. "It seems that this bracelet teleports me and Yuto whenever we or Yuya are close. You may need to take it away somehow. That's it, I will go now."
Yugo walked off, slightly losing balance due to still being drunk but Yuzu stopped him.
"Yugo wait!"
"What?" He turned around.
"Let me call a taxi to help you get back to LDS, and I want you to help me with something."
"Help you what?"
Yuzu hesitated before she said…
"I want you to…"
The next morning, Yuya and Yuzu got up ready for this mission. They changed into their usual clothes expect Yuzu who wore long black pants instead of her usual dark red skirt thanks to an advice Yugo gave her last night. Yuzu also opted not to bring her bracelet for Yuya, Yuto and Yugo's sake.
Shuzo and Yoko adjusted their child's clothes and gave them the deepest hug they had ever given. They wished them luck.
"I will be fine mom, don't worry." Yuya assured Yoko.
"I can take care of myself, and I will protect Yuya and others." Yuzu firmly said.
Shuzo and Yoko saw them off, despite their smiles were still in their faces, behind it was worry.
LDS gave them a limousine for each and rode them to the building. They said nothing as they looked longingly at the city, they would be missing this place soon.
When they arrived, Nakajima took them and Gongenzaka who was already there to the top floor.
"You are not wearing your bracelet." Yuya whispered to Yuzu.
"It will separate you from Yuto and Yugo, so I do not bring it." Yuzu explained.
"Gongenzaka… your face…" Yuya said, noticing brushes and tapes on the large teenager's face.
"To show my resolve, I had a serious duel with my father last night." Gongenzaka explained. Yuya chuckled.
"How strong…" Yuzu complimented in her mind.
Yuya opened the door to the meeting room, they saw Kurosaki Shun, Kurosaki Ruri, Yuto, Tsukikage, Selena, Sawatari Shingo, Dennis Macfield, Yugo, Izayoi Aki and Fudo Yusei were already there. Shun and Yuto were looking down the city, Selena was staring at the sky, Sawatari was calling his father's assistant, checking on his health, he took a night long to watch over him as indicated by his black eyes. Yugo glanced at Yuzu before looking away, holding two cards that he had asked Reiji to create.
"Hello everyone. I am late." Yuya greeted the Lancers.
"Oh Yuzu! Hello!" Ruri told Yuzu, who smiled back.
"You are all there?" Reiji spoke up. The Lancers all turned to see him on the spiral stairs. Reiji walked down.
"Huh! So the President has finally appeared." Sawatari said mockingly.
"All 13 Lancers are there and waiting for your orders, captain!" Dennis told Reiji excitedly.
"Not 13."
"Oh I am sorry, including you and it will be 14."
"15 to be short." Yuya looked up at Reiji. "Reira will come too." True to his words, Reira was staring down from above emotionlessly.
Shun gasped. "We're not taking a walk in the park! You bring that kid to fight Academia? He will be nothing more than a burden!"
"God damn you Reiji! You bring a kid to a warzone?!" Ruri gritted her teeth in anger.
"Reira's ability is comparable to all of you." Reiji calmly explained his choice. "He's not a burden."
"Comparing to me?" Sawatari said.
"Oh? The captain trusts you a lot, you must be awesome!" Dennis admired the kid. "How old are you?"
"He's clearly a primary school student!" Sawatari voiced. "He's only a kid, and you are to say he can be compared to Sawatari Shingo Reiji?" The kid frowned and turned away.
"Whatever it is, I do not accept him! Leave him home!" Yuto demanded.
"We are not going to Academia." Reiji revealed, shocking Shun, Yuto and Ruri.
"What?"
"The place we are going is the Synchro Dimension."
"Synchro Dimension? Not Fusion?!" Yuto wondered.
"Why? I don't care!" Shun protested. "We have 14 people, more than enough to attack Academia right away! Stop that bullshit plan and go to the Fusion Dimension now!"
"The Synchro Dimension as of now is still not invaded yet." Yusei suddenly began to talk.
"But we are sure that the director of Security in there Jean-Michel Roget is from Academia." Aki said, shocking the Lancers.
"What?! There is a mole of Academia in the Synchro Dimension?" Ruri gasped in shock.
"Yes." Yugo confirmed. "We believe that he's trying to colonize our home town to build a force just as strong as Academia using Psychic Duelists to invade Synchro and Standard and destroy Xyz completely, probably from Akaba Leo's orders."
"Psychic Duelists?" Selena wondered.
"Psychic Duelists are people who can cause real damage in duels, Izayoi Aki is an example." Yusei said seriously, Aki activated her Duel Disk and did something that caused the Real Solid Vision to deactivate.
"You deactivate Real Solid Vision?" Gongenzaka noted.
"See this." Aki summoned Dark Verger and ordered it to attack the piece of wood near the wall, which broke down completely.
The Lancers looked on in awe.
"Awesome…" Sawatari mumbled.
"So this is… Psychic Duelists…" Shun muttered.
"They are very powerful, and there are a lot of them in Synchro. Three years ago however, Roget declared a mass capture and eradication of Psychic Duelists, he called us abomination. Many are captured, and probably killed." Aki narrated, she could not hide her sadness and hatred when she told.
"No way…" Yuzu covered her mouth.
"The power of Psychic Duelists and Real Solid Vision actually can be combined together to create a very powerful force in Duels that is much stronger than what Academia could do." Reiji explained. "And if Roget has them in his disposal, he can either bring them to Academia to be used as Duel Soldiers by Professor or simply, to control the Synchro Dimension. If that happens, not only Xyz is in chaos, Synchro will be too, and Standard as well."
"Shit…" Yuya muttered. "So that's why…!"
Shun grunted, giving in to Reiji's plan, not saying anything anymore.
"So in short, my plan is to go to the Synchro Dimension and find a way to save that dimension from Roget. Is everyone disagree with my plan?" Reiji asked. "If you do, please raise your hands up."
No one did.
Shun, Yuto and Ruri were about to but they sighed, eventually not doing it.
"Nobody? Good." Reiji concluded. "Don't forget that Akaba Leo definitely has a plan to all of us, especially Yuzu, Ruri and Selena. Rin was captured by Academia and he will not stop until he captures you three. Storming in right now will simply feed him food for his plan."
Yuzu silently went to Yugo and he gave her the two cards she asked him to create. All of this was done without the rest knowing, even Reiji and Yuya.
"Thanks Yugo." Yuzu whispered. "This is what I want."
"No problem."
"And now…" Reiji clicked a button, the wall behind him suddenly slid, revealing a room whose lights were already on. Inside it was numerous tables and bookshelves filled with Duel Monsters cards.
"What is this?" Yugo asked.
"It's the room that I have reserved for all of you. In the table are Pendulum Cards I created for all of you categorized by name. Pick yours."
"Pendulum Cards… Interesting…" Aki smiled slyly.
"Now we can test those out!" Yusei said.
"Also in the bookshelves, there are generic cards that can go in any Decks if you want to. Pick whatever you want to improve your Deck and skill. One by one."
Reira came down and joined the group. The Lancers went to the room and picked the cards one by one. After this was done, Reiji guided them to the basement where Yugo, Aki and Yusei's D-Wheels were staying.
"Is this what you ride Yugo?" Yuzu asked.
"Yes. It is called a D-Wheel." Yugo told the group. "This is what we use to duel in City." He, Yusei and Aki climbed on their own D-Wheels.
Reiji gave each of the Lancers a special card and turned on his Duel Disk and clicked something. Everyone's Duel Disks beeped up.
"What is this?" Yuzu wondered.
"It's the one-shot dimension travel program, reverse-engineered from the one used in those of Xyz."
"Xyz?!" Shun gasped. "It was you right? Last night you stole my Duel Disk!"
Reiji chuckled humorously. It was fun playing with Shun's emotions for him. Yuto and Ruri both glared angrily at him.
"Allow me to continue, this program allows your Duel Disks to create an Action Field and perform an Action Duel. Pendulum Summon and Action Duels are our best weapons, I did that to allow you to freely use it to your advantage. Now, use the cards I gave to you."
They pulled out the card. Dimension Mover.
"The coordinates of the Synchro Dimension has been encoded into it. Place it in your Disk and wait for my command."
After they did, Reiji did the same and clicked the screen. The rest also did it.
"Transporting to the Synchro Dimension, activate!" The Lancers were engulfed in blue particles before disappearing completely from the garage.
They are now in the Synchro Dimension.
Nice! It's finally finished! Man, university took a big tool on my passion for writing.
I originally wanted to have a duel here but I decided to save it for later since focusing on character is more of my cup of tea. And there you go! Ruri is forgiven, Yuto got Shun's trust and approval, Rin got some page-time!
We are now close to the Synchro arc, and I can promise you it will be different from the anime. The part with Yuto, Shun and Ruri personally got me pretty hard, probably since I am a bit more emotional than others.
I have a request: I need a list of handtraps that was around OCG/TCG during the Synchro arc. List them in review or PM (I recommend the latter).
And now for probably the darkest preview ever in this story…
Next Chapter Preview
War Crime: Nothing is Exaggerated
Continuing to act alone, Tenjo Kaito and Kamishiro Rio argue over the former's lone wolf tendencies, but a very inhuman act forces them to work together…
This is matrixnis, out!