"Zhis light…" Sherry breathed. "So beautiful…" She shook herself. The worst of the threat was over. "Let's get going, Mizoguchi."

He nodded, following her lead. The two of them took off on their duel runners.

/

Jack beamed up at the light above the city. "So, you finally managed to pull off an Accel Synchro, huh, Yusei? Kaz, I'm going to head over to him."

Kaz smiled. "Right."

/

"What's with all the light?" Leo gasped. His eyes shone.

"I think it should be safe to leave now," Sasha said.

"Then we should," Luna grabbed her brother's arm. "We'll text you when we find the others!" she called over her shoulder.

Jarra waved back to her. "We'll be waiting!"

/

The wind and chaos had died down. Pushed back by the light. It wasn't entirely safe yet, but Lise dropped the energy shields. The hospital would be okay.

"Everything is in good shape here," Crow reported, the hospital doors closing behind him.

"That's good," Akiza sighed, getting to her feet. She smiled down at Haruka. "It's safe to go back inside now."

"Thanks, big sis," Haruka wiped her eyes, and gave Akiza a hug.

"We should get going," Lise said quietly.

"Right," Crow winked at her. "Let's go find your boyfriend."

Lise turned pink, but she didn't deny it. She could feel the new power and strength he had acquired. But Lise wouldn't be at ease until she saw Yusei was okay in person.

/

Yusei: 300

Placido: 1800

"I've caught up to you with my new power," Yusei said. "My Shooting Star Dragon!"

Vizor breathed a sigh of relief. "You finally managed to do it, Yusei!"

"So that's the new monster you received from the Gods?" Placido seethed. "Don't think this makes you my equal! I will NEVER accept the power of a mere worm like you! I activate the effect of Speed World 2! I reduce my speed counters by ten to destroy Shooting Star Dragon! Eat this!"

"I activate Shooting Star Dragon's ability! I can remove this monster from play once per turn! When this effect is activated, one of my monster's attacks is negated!" Yusei countered quickly. He had his new monster, and unlocked a new ability, but he couldn't let his guard down yet!

"Dodging my attack, huh?" Placido's fists shook. He would not lose. This boy's powers meant nothing. "I end my turn."

Yusei wasn't wasting any time. "Using its effect, Shooting Star Dragon returns to my field during the End Phase! Now let's go, Shooting Star Dragon! Our counterattack starts right now!"

/

"Placido's done a lot more bragging than winning," Luciano noted. He'd been surprised at first, but the duel was dragging on so long he was starting to get bored. "But one good thing is this one duel has increased the Circuit by a lot. But he's been way too careless since the beginning of this duel."

"But this duel alone will not be enough to complete the Circuit," Joel said. "We must use the powers of the Signers even more…"

/

Placido took the duel back onto one of the main streets.

"My turn!" Yusei drew a card.

"No matter how many times you evolve your monster, its attacks will continue to be negated by Skiel Carrier 5 every turn," Placido reminded him. "And Wisel Guard 3 will protect me from a second attack. Don't go thinking you can beat an invincible Mechlord Emperor so easily just because you have a new lizard!"

"Are you sure about that?" It was Yusei's turn to smirk.

"Say what?"

"I activate Shooting Star Dragon's effect! Once per turn, Shooting Star allows me to reveal the top five cards of my deck. And Shooting Star can attack the enemy monster according to the number of Tuner monsters I draw!"

Placido's eyes narrowed. Shooting Star Dragon doesn't follow normal attacking rules?

"I have to rely on Shooting Star Dragon's effect to beat him. There's no other way to win against that five-monster monstrosity," Yusei muttered to himself. He put his fingers on his deck. "These next five draws will show us what fate really has in store!"

He closed his eyes. This would be everyone's win. He wasn't the only one who had protected the city. He could feel it; his friends. Their power was giving him and Shooting Star strength!

/

Luna and Leo were rocketing as fast as they could on their duel boards through the city.

"Yusei is…" Luna trailed off, looking down at her glowing arm.

/

"Asking for strength, I see," Jack smiled at his glowing wings. He was almost there.

/

"We'll give you as much power as you need!" Crow declared.

He, Akiza, and Lise had noticed their glowing body parts.

"You have all our feelings," Akiza said.

Lise took the lead of their trio. She wasn't sure what to say to him. Nothing seemed right, or like it could summarize everything she was feeling. Everything I have…is yours…my love…

/

Yusei smiled. He knew. He could feel it in every fiber of himself. The love of his friends.

"The first draw!" He turned the card over. "Is a Tuner monster; Junk Synchron!

"The second! The Tuner monster; Nitro Synchron!

"The third card! Tuner monster; Debris Dragon!

"The fourth draw! Tuner monster; Effect Veiler!"

"Four tuners?!" Placido's eyes were practically bugging out of his head. "The hell?! That's impossible!"

"And…my final draw! This is for our future! The fifth card is the Tuner monster; Hyper Synchron!"

"NO! FIVE ATTACKS?!"

"Go!" Yusei commanded. Every piece of the dragon, of his friends, was with him. "Shooting Star Dragon! Stardust Mirage!"

Yusei's new dragon split into five identical version of itself. All different colors; red, orange, yellow, green, and blue. The red dragon swooped in to attack first.

Placido swallowed, sweat dripping down his brow. He could still survive. He knew he could. "The first battle is negated by Skiel Carrier 5's effect!"

The orange dragon swooped in after the red dragon vanished.

"Wisel Guard 3's effect activates! Once per turn, it can't be destroyed in battle! The second battle is meaningless!"

The orange dragon hit Emperor Wisel's shield, vanishing.

"But I still have the third battle!" Yusei reminded him. "Attack Wisel Guard 3!"

The green dragon's attack connected! The Emperor's right arm was blown completely off!

"The fourth battle! Attack Wisel Attack 3!"

The yellow dragon took out Emperor Wisel's other arm!

Yusei: 300

Placido: 100

"And the final battle! Shooting Star Dragon, attack Skiel Carrier 5!"

The blue dragon, the very last one, swooped clean through Mechlord Emperor Wisel. At least, what was left of it.

"Insanity!" Placido screamed. "The Mechlord Emperor…! Me…! We were beaten by a mere human?!"

Yusei: 300

Placido: 0

Finally, finally, finally…the duel was over. Yusei had won! For now, the city was safe.

An explosion, almost as big as the statue built between the Satellite and New Domino City rocked the duel lanes. Placido went spinning out of control. His torso separated from his duel runner, as did his sword. The bike skidded to a halt immediately, but what was left of Placido's body and sword went a tad further.

Yusei pulled up to a stop right by Placido's top half. "Oh god, are you okay?" Yusei wasn't sure if he should call an ambulance or…something? Wires, gears, and parts dangled out of his severed body half, not blood and guts… So it was kinda up in the air…

Joel's mean-spirited chuckle filled the air. "There is no need to show pity towards this man after such a loss."

Placido's body, sword, and duel runner rose up to the jewel above Yusei. The center statue above the duel lanes dividing Satellite and City…

"If he found out he was pitied by the enemy, it would ruin his pride as an Emperor. A loss of this magnitude is enough punishment for this man as it is."

Two more figures in white stood atop the jewel statue. A small person, and an extremely large person. Placido, if he were still in one piece, would have been the medium sized person.

"You!" Yusei recognized the smaller figure. "You're the one who attacked Leo and Luna!"

Luciano shrugged. "I was just testing them out a bit. But Placido went and stole your program so he could design his Diablos Army. Though it was all a wasted effort in the end! Look at what a mess he's become!" He laughed cruelly at the pain and destruction riddling Placido's body.

"The program!" Yusei connected one of the many dots to questions they still had. "So he stole the program and created the Ghosts!"

"Technically, it was the Vice-Director, Lazar, that did the stealing," Luciano corrected with a sniff. "But the second he realized he was in danger, he took off running like the little clown he is!

"Just how many lives will Placido go through before he realizes he's inferior to us?" Luciano was already bored with talking about Lazar. He reached into Placido's hand, ripping out the deck of cards still there. "Damn bastard, taking my cards without asking! Oh whoops, I took your whole deck by accident. But it's not like they're any good to you while you still can't move," Luciano snickered. "Huh?"

"Yusei!" Lise pulled up on the street with Crow and Akiza not far behind. Maybe it was the fact that what turned out to be a creepy cyborg had been saying his name for what felt like hours. Maybe Yusei was just glad to see Lise. But either way, hearing his name from Lise's lips was like he'd walked into a dream that he never wanted to wake up from.

She wasn't sure what to do or say now that they were face to face. Lise knew she couldn't…they still couldn't touch each other. Not without a lot of hurt still… She settled for wrapping her fist in the coattails of his jacket. Sure, Yusei's new riding gear look was, dare she even think it, sexy, but she'd missed his longer jacket too. It wasn't the same, but she still felt his warmth and love. "I'm so glad you're all right."

Yusei did the same. He tugged, with a little bit of the playful nature he'd used to tickle her, on one of Lise's zippers. His smile small, but warm. "It's always good to see you."

Crow chuckled a little, waving and gesturing to himself and Akiza. "We're here too."

"Us too!" Leo announced.

Jack pulled both twins in aboard their duel boards. They'd met up along the way, and Jack was more than happy to let his friends hitch a ride.

The team was back together. Team 5Ds, plus Vizor who remained quiet in the very back. Facing down the threat from above.

"So," Jack dismounted. "Who are they?"

/

Sherry and Mizoguchi were on their way at breakneck speed. The faces of their friends, Team 5Ds, and the strange white clad people above them filled Sherry's monitor.

"Seems the magnetic disturbance has settled down," Mizoguchi said.

"Zhose men…" Sherry zoomed in on the two white-cloaked people.

Her answers were just ahead.

/

"Yusei Fudo…Elizabeth Kururugi…Jack Atlas…Crow Hogan…Akiza Izinski…Leo and Luna Collins… Seems your cast has arrived," Joel commented like he was listing people for his upcoming play. "What we stand on is the monument that symbolizes the union of Satellite and New Domino City. How ironic that fate has allowed us to meet beneath it."

"So you guys were behind all the Ghost attacks?" Crow's hands curled into fists.

"Who are you people?!" Jack shouted up to them.

"Looks as though we have not provided a proper introduction," Joel blinked. "How rude of us. We are the three Emperors of Yliaster."

"Yliaster?" Luna murmured.

"I am the leader, Joel."

"Wha?" Luciano exclaimed. "You're the leader?"

Joel gave him a look.

Luciano chuckled nervously, clearing his throat. "Never mind! Then I guess, I'm the sub-leader, Luciano." He pointed down at Placido's body. "And this guy's our lowest member, Placido!"

"Yliaster, why are you doing this to New Domino City?!" Yusei asked.

"'Why?'" Luciano mimicked in a nasty voice. "As if we need a reason to do what we please with the likes of you."

"I don't mind," Joel shrugged. "I'll tell them."

"Eh? You sure it's okay to talk?"

"It's not like they can do anything about it."

"Guess you have a point," Luciano admitted.

"Our objective is to change the future," Joel said simply.

"The future?" Lise said.

"Yes, the future."

Jack scoffed, raising his fist. "That kind of thing isn't for you to decide! It's for us to decide for ourselves!"

"Oh really? Shall we settle this now?" Luciano taunted. He rolled his eyes. "You're all so dumb!"

"Come again, you brat?!" Jack growled.

"It's hardly that simple," Luciano replied, unusually serious. "If you people took care of the Earth properly, we wouldn't be here in the first place!"

Yusei shook his head. None of this was making sense. "What do you mean by changing the future?"

"Yeah!" Crow agreed. "Don't give us some crap about you three knowing what's best for the future!"

"But we know the future already."

"What?"

Luciano's small face had turned fierce. "As long as you guys are in it, the future is as good as poisoned!"

"Bastard!" Jack shouted up to the small boy. The kid's attitude was really pissing him off.

"All that Luciano said is fact," Joel said. "Yliaster was created by the Gods to maintain and balance the Earth, the Spirit World, and their inhabitants."

"Build and maintain history?" Yusei whispered.

"Our organization has existed since the beginning of time. Quietly and anonymously controlling the events occurring on Earth. You can try, but none of you will ever see or understand the full extent of what I'm telling you."

"Don't lie!" Crow shouted. "That's ridiculous! Are you saying all the politicians and world leaders around the world are your allies?"

Joel rolled his eyes. Humans were so slow sometimes. "It would be nonsensical for every single human being running around to know of Yliaster's existence."

"So what're you talking about?!"

"Just like all living things in the world are part of a food chain pyramid, the standings of this world also take on a pyramid form. A very small section of human beings stands at the top, under our rule. Granting them control over select countries, we in turn receive their aid in guiding the world's history!"

"That can't be true…" Akiza clutched her hands close to her chest. What did that mean for her father?

"Zhen my mozher and fazher were also a part of your agenda?!"

"Sherry?" Lise knew she had heard her, but where was she?

"Don't expect me to remember all the people that have vanished for the rightful path of history!" Joel's eyes narrowed. Where is this new voice coming from?

"Zhen I'm going to make you remember!"

Sherry burst out of nowhere. Aboard her duel runner, she went full throttle up the side of the Jewel monument.

"Shery, no!" Lise called out to her.

But Sherry wasn't listening. She drove up high enough, and jumped her runner. Her front wheel was aimed directly for Joel. "I'm taking my revenge RIGHT NOW!"

"Insolent child," Joel growled. He ducked and came up with his hand outstretched, grabbing Sherry's duel runner in midair!

"What?!"

"Something of this lowly caliber is hardly capable of killing me!" Joel tossed Sherry and her bike away like they were nothing.

Sherry jumped off, landing on the jewel along with the three Emperors. Her duel runner was not so lucky. It splashed down into the water, sinking.

"My lady!" Mizoguchi followed his young charge up the jewel monument. He aimed his duel runner straight for Joel.

Luciano jumped up onto Joel's shoulders. Just as Mizoguchi jumped off his duel runner, Luciano jumped to meet him. Joel back handed Mizoguchi's duel runner, smashing its front, and sending it flying into the air. The bike promptly exploded. Mizoguchi pressed a button on his duel disk, activating a hidden knife. Luciano held Placido's sword. The two blades met in midair.

"What?!"

"Don't think weak attacks like that will work against us!" Luciano snickered as he kicked Mizoguchi away.

"Mizoguchi! They won't go down that easily!" Yusei called up to him.

"My lady?!" Mizoguchi ignored Yusei's warning. The only person he cared about was Sherry, and what she wanted to do.

"Humans truly are an arrogant, insolent bunch," Joel commented dryly. "Repeating the same history over and over, corrupting their creations until the decay into nothing. However, that is where our strength as part of Yliaster comes into play to keep them in line. We step in to prevent you foolish human beings from choosing the wrong path, and we offer advice on what the correct path to choose is. Yet, no matter how many times we modify history, we have been unable to stop the coming tragic future!"

"Tragic?" Yusei said.

Lise's eyes were wide. "Future?"

"Yusei, the Momentum your father created, and Elizabeth, whose father used the Momentum to create Zero Reverse, the creation and corruption of Momentum is fated to lead the world to its doom. We hoped Roman Goodwin would destroy Momentum when we used him, but Zero Reverse only made Momentum more powerful! We decided to take control of this era, so we can directly fix this timeline."

"Fix?" Crow frowned. He didn't like where this was going.

"By eliminating New Domino City."

Yusei gasped. "What did you say?!"

"And you expect us to believe this pack of lies?" Jack wasn't buying it.

"It's your choice whether or not to believe us," Luciano said. "But the fact of the matter is that the curse of the Fudo and Goodwin families is still carried with them."

"A curse…" Akiza muttered. I thought this psychic power of mine was a curse! But it wasn't something that could taint an entire timeline! What does this mean?

"I won't let you do zhat!" Sherry yelled. She regained her footing, dashing for Joel.

He batted her away, like her duel runner earlier. With his other fist, he punched off Sherry's helmet, and held her in the air by her shirtfront. "Coming at me in such a lowly way! You maggots cannot call yourselves real duelists!"

"My lady!" Mizoguchi gasped.

"We're only interested in real duelists," Luciano sneered.

Sherry was not about to back down. These people were responsible for the deaths of her parents! She wrapped her legs around Joel's massive arm, and used her body weight to pull backwards. Her shirt ripped from Joel's grasp, Sherry hung on, attempting to separate Joel's arm from his body. "I'll take zhis arm wizh me zhen!"

Joel was starting to get irritated. "Just how far does your foolish incompetence take you?"

"What?"

Joel raised his arm. He refused to allow such a pitiful human to jerk him around even more. "Go join your parents!" He tossed Sherry off the monument!

"My lady!" Mizoguchi jumped off the monument after her.

"Sherry! Mizoguchi!" Lise let go of Yusei's coat and rose into the air. She wouldn't let Sherry die. Nor Mizoguchi.

Mizoguchi grabbed Sherry as they fell. He pushed a different button on his duel disk. A parachute shot out, expanding in the air. His and Sherry's descent instantly slowed.

"You two okay?" Lise hovered nearby, just in case.

It took a few seconds for Mizoguchi to respond. He and Sherry had been badly beaten. Their pride injured. "Yes, thank you."

"Good," Lise nodded. She turned back to her team, giving them a thumbs up.

They returned the gesture. Everyone was okay.

"Joel, Luciano," Akiza cupped her hands and shouted up to them. "What do you mean you're going to destroy New Domino City?!"

"If you want to know the extent of the truth, duel us in the WRGP! We will be entering as the final challengers," Joel said.

"What? You are? How?" Jack scowled.

"All the answers lie within the WRGP," Joel said. He paused, his gaze pointing upwards. A new meteor, a tablet, was entering Earth. "Seems mine has finally arrived."

"What's he mean?" Crow grumbled. He'd had about enough of these guys.

Luciano grinned, pointing up. "He means that!"

A golden meteor was headed right for them!

"What do we do?" Leo trembled. That thing was huge!

"Run!" Akiza cried.

Luciano giggled at their retreating backs. "What's the point in doing that now?"

The meteor came closer, and closer! Even though Team 5Ds was trying to get out of the way, they wouldn't make it in time. They covered their eyes as the tablet's glow became too bright.

Joel extended his left hand. The meteor, his tablet, stopped in its tracks, hovering in the sky.

"He stopped it?" Luna whispered.

They watched the stone tablet leak balls of light. Light that collected in Joel's hand. The light vanished, and in its place rested five cards. The tablet turned grey, cracking up and down, and exploded into pieces that rained down into the waters below.

Joel activated his duel disk. He placed his five new monsters on the field.

The track and waters below rumbled.

"What now?!" Crow threw up his hands exasperatedly.

"This is my power!" Joel declared. A watery figure erupted from the ocean.

A pale yellow-gold mechanical monster emerged from the waves. Like the other emperors, it had the same infinity-based chest emblem. It resembled a vehicle and a person with lobster-like arms, and treads for legs. The monster was also practically three stories tall!

"Mechlord Emperor Grannel! Team 5Ds, you must win in the WRGP if you wish to face off against us! That is where the truth lies! Let's go!" Joel raised his hand, transferring Placido.

Luciano scowled. "Do we even have any use for this guy anymore?" He swung Placido's sword, opening a white portal.

"This is goodbye, Team 5Ds," Joel said. He and what was left of Placido vanished into the portal.

"Bye bye!" Luciano taunted childishly, following Joel.

"But wait!"

It was too late. The Emperors were gone. So was Mechlord Emperor Grannel. The sky was blue, they'd won the day, but the team felt anything but victorious.

/

The stadium screens popped back on. Thousands of audience members were able to finally relax.

"Power's back," Jose said.

Jarra took a deep breath. "What a relief! That was way too scary!"

Sasha nodded, a tiny smile on her lips. "Lise and her friends might be dangerous, but at least they're not boring."

Carly sniffled over her broken camera. "Such a big scoop! I didn't capture anything, and my camera's fried!"

"Tell me about it," Garrett sighed.

/

"What the hell do we do now?" Crow demanded. He felt like he had more questions than answers.

Vizor climbed back aboard his duel runner.

"Wait!" Yusei stopped him. "You're the one who told me about Accel Synchro. A Synchro that can fight against those Mechlord Emperors. The same power the Emperors have. What does it mean?"

Akiza frowned at Vizor. It wasn't the first time she'd seen him, but he seemed different. Her new chi sight powers made her feel like her vision was blurring. Had his chi changed? And why did it look and feel so familiar?

"I don't know," Vizor replied. "All I knew is that you would complete Accel Synchro. However, if I were to think about it, only one person could grant you such power. You could call it a God of Destiny. Perhaps it guides lost people to their correct path."

"God of Destiny?"

"You are the only one who can choose the path, Yusei. Along with your new power, Shooting Star Dragon." Vizor took off before anyone else could ask him more questions.

/

"Urgent news!" Angela informed the public during her news report bulletin. "A massive incident has occurred during the WRGP being held in New Domino City. After a massive assault of turbo duelists, the highway is no longer accessible. A large amount of damage has been reported. In order to handle the cleanup of this incident, the Public Security Maintenance Bureau has temporarily suspended the WRGP until a cause behind the incident is disclosed."

/

"So…what does this all mean?" Leo demanded. "The city has zero proof of Yliaster?"

The team, plus Sherry and Mizoguchi, were comparing notes back at the team's place.

"What did the Security Bureau say?"

Jack shook his head. "Electricity was cut off during the incident."

"There were no pictures taken by security cameras, and the memory chips in the Ghosts were wiped clean," Crow added. "We have no proof at all."

"But we know Yliaster exists," Sherry reminded them all. "What do we do? If Team 5Ds continues with the WRGP, like zhey told you to, zhere's no doubt you'll be walking right into zheir trap."

Mizoguchi's eyes narrowed. He crossed his arms. "The even orchestrated the event to begin with."

Yusei nodded. "Even so, we're going through with the WRGP. They said they'd be entering as challengers. If that's the case, we can settle things then."

"Yeah," Lise agreed. Her soft blue eyes were fierce with determination. This issue was, after all, personal. "We can't let another disaster repeat itself. We'll stop them with our evolved cards!"

(The Emperors are still fucking shit up! But I am glad to get Placido's duel with Yusei out of the way. The Japanese version is slightly better, but the duel still goes on FOREVER. It makes sense in this context though. Yusei needed to regain his confidence, strength, and sense of self after everything that's happened.

And now, thanks to the city being destroyed the kids get to take a break! I'm so excited for this chapter! I hope you all are too! Also, *wink, wink* coming up is the Bonds Beyond Time movie! I'm so excited to write my favorite characters with legendary duelists Yugi and Jaden! It's gonna be so much FUN! Paradox was a flawed, yet brief villain, but I enjoyed him. And who DOESN'T like the Malefic monsters? Those monsters are fucking awesome, am I right? Or am I right?

Anyway, here's to the next few chapters being awesome! I can never say thank you enough to all my readers. New or still with me after literal years, thank you to each and every one of you!)