"I will have it. It won't happen." A topaz gem stone and a banknote was thrown in the blazing fire raging in the metal drum which lay just before them "I will have it. It won't happen." This time a handful of rubies were dropped in with even more banknotes joining "I will have it. It won't happen." A large supply of gemstones sat right next to them, the banknotes were lying all about the place having been ripped from a destroyed safe which lay upside down to the side of the drum "I will have it. It won't happen." The whole group of gems and banknotes hit the fire, lighting it into a greenish hue with a blazing blue edge and the person controlling it all sighed "Hah, I don't like it when premonitions like this become true. But maybe it won't be so bad after all, having things always go that way is a trifle tedious."

(Standard Dimension)

"Oi, keep still, nothing's gonna get better if you keep acting like a four year old." A monotone voice droned as its owner wrapped a pair of bandages around another person's burnt arms, the tattoos now indecipherable from the burn marks. Gently they wrapped the bandages over the afflicted area, blocking out the scream from the other as they did so "There. Done. Now you can stop complaining."

"Gah! Could you have thought of a more inane method?!" The afflicted male yelled, his long blond hair moving with his head as he spied his associate "Wait, of course you could've, you probably did this on purpose."

The other male shook his head "Frankly, I'm offended that you would even accuse me of that." He was a decently tall male, probably just below 6'0 with slick backed black hair and gold-yellow bangs swept around the back forming a stinger like design amply earning him a nickname he wasn't fond of. He wore a tattered dull green jacket, a drab grey shirt, a nearly destroyed choker around his neck, a small yellow crystal earing in his left ear, tied across the entirety of his right arm was a red bandage unlike the red scarf that held back his associate's hair. He wore a full face ceramic mask that was remarkably similar to what a plague doctor would've worn beak and all, the only part of his face that was visible was his emerald eyes and he had on him a pair of black jeans loosely held together by a dusty yellow belt and he wore a pair of pointed grey boots. "We've known each other for so long and yet you still throw such horrid accusations at me, Takeshi-kun?"

The blond male, Takeshi, grunted and stood back up, running his hands back through his hair "It's exactly because of that that I know you would do that. I'm beginning to regret getting Kokichi-san to teach you."

"But if you hadn't then I wouldn't have been able to treat you, no matter how much you loathe said treatment. But speaking of the affliction, tell me how exactly you got those burns, Ta~ke~shi~-kun." The other male spoke with a sneaking darkness creeping into his words, like he was getting a morbid form of enjoyment.

Takeshi went to speak but quickly bit his tongue and swung his head away to the side "That's irrelevant, all that matters now is that it's over and we can go back to doing what we're supposed to be doing, Janus-kun."

The other male, Janus, took one look at what was happening and instantly hated it. He didn't need to be a genius to figure out what had happened, only helped that he did in fact consider himself a genius at these situations "Let me guess, I know you ran out to attack some people in order to get information on LDS, I know that from what you told me that you rarely lose any life points so it's unlikely that it was a normal outing, the damage sustained from whatever attacked you was far from natural as well, second degree burns suggest that you were irreversibly trapped by a fire which forced you to run through it to get back to me. In conclusion, after you had finished your standard duel you were caught off guard by a second assaulter and attacked. Am I right or am I right?" He deduced with a smug sense of self satisfaction.

"Tch, what do you think?" Takeshi's tone of voice was the only piece of information Janus needed to know to know he was right "That man… That man who came to me… He said he was a friend of Reiji Akaba."

"Akaba?" Janus parroted, there was one thing that he hadn't expected to hear cross Takeshi's lips "Friend of?"

Takeshi nodded glumly "Yeah. I tried to prevent him from leaving but then… Then… He pulled out this XYZ monster and without his duel disk… Set the whole area on fire." He saw that beneath his mask, Janus' eyes had widened to an impossible extent "I can count on one hand the amount of people I know that can do that. That man… That man is far from an ordinary human…"

(Elsewhere) (Same time)

"Ugh…!" Yuri groaned as he heard a beeping coming from the alarm clock on his bedside table, Yuri placed his head deep into his pillow in an attempt to ignore it in a very ineffective way. The beeping didn't stop 'I swear to god I'm going to kill the person who invented the alarm clock. This is even worse than the hospital! At least then I could wake up as I wished!' He was having such a wonderful dream too, he had finally achieved all he had wanted to, he stood on top of the world with no one even comparable to his power but just as they were about to bestow him as the King of Games for all eternity, a blue ball of annoyance glomped him with a loud cry of "Teacher!" and everything then fell apart as he sucked into an endless black void where nothing but Sora's voice reverberated.

There was a knock at the door which snapped out of his internal monologue "Yuri! Wake up! Your breakfast is going to get cold and if you're not out in the next five minutes I may as well throw it in the bin!" Yuri shifted slightly but still refused to get up letting out a grunt of indifference.

Stood on the other side of the door, Yoko wasn't impressed at her son's un-cooperativeness "Yuri if you're not out of this door in the next minute! I'll show you what I learnt as a former gang leader!"

Yuri's ears perked up as his face grimaced he knew all too well what that meant, that first time he had disobeyed her was a time in his life that rivalled all those times he went against the Professor. Despite the intense loyalty he tried to fill him with there was always the fact that kids will be kids. "Fine…" Walking out of his room he donned the Maiami high school blazer as he retraced his thoughts on the previous day, each passing second making him hate it even more 'That Shiki! Brings me to the middle of nowhere for a shitty card and he probably knew that explosion was going to happen! I wouldn't be surprised if he set it off! Then Sawatari! Little lord brat! I wonder if my precious little fly trap is grown up yet! Finally! That Sora kid is such an annoying idiot, I'll never take him in as an apprentice and if he challenges me to a duel he'll face my most powerful cards! Plus… something about his demeanour is just unsettling.'

When Yuri arrived downstairs to see an unexpected blue haired guest scoffing down a plate of pancakes he contemplated just how potent some of the venom his plants could excrete could be.

Hearing the sound of another chair, Sora looked up from his plate to see Yuri sitting across from him "Teacher!" Yuri proceed to bang his head on the table repeatedly before reaching across and grabbing Sora by his jacket.

"Why are you here?" Yuri snarled his mind racing with thoughts about what to do with this pest "First your invasion is in my dreams then you appear in real life by invading my home! You should know by now to stop bringing in strays, mother!" Sora whimpered reliving past experiences of torture in Academia particularly at the hands of one individual and his sadistic friend.

"Yuri!" Yoko's stern voice snapped Yuri to attention as he gulped under risk of his adoptive mother's wrath "If you must know I found him wondering around the house and I couldn't help but give him something to eat…" Yoko looked at Sora as she slid another plate towards him and then one to Yuri.

Yuri raised an eyebrow as he looked at his mother's solemn expression knowing all too well what she was thinking about "You shouldn't just take any random person you see into the house mother, who knows what sort of diseases these strays could drag in."

It was Yoko's turn to raise an eyebrow "People who live in glass houses, shouldn't throw stones, Yuri dear."

Yuri sunk in his seat as Sora took this opportunity to try and press forward with his goals "Aww come on Teacher! You should be happy to see your apprentice!" Yuri's glared daggers at Sora as he mouthed something then slid his thumb under his throat.

Yoko on the other was quite enthralled "Yuri! I didn't know you had an apprentice."

Yuri twirled his hair quickly losing interest "I didn't know either."

Yoko chastised Yuri "You need to learn to show people some respect mister!"

Sora held in a laugh as Yuri once again threatened him "Why did you have to turn up?" He pushed his chair back "I need to leave now, Yuzu is likely waiting for me." He pointed his finger towards Sora as he slung his bag over his shoulder "If you follow me you'll give me a set of choices about what to do to you, I'll warn you some aren't exactly pleasant…"

"Yuzu…" Yuri panted heavily after catching up to his friend of seven years, he cursed his stamina for what was to be the first of many times this day.

"Oh, Yuri! What a surprise you're five minutes late, so much for being a genius." Yuzu said mockingly, flicking Yuri on the forehead instead of her usual flurry of fan attacks.

Yuri grunted, folding his arms in a huff "Well you didn't have to deal with a home invasion. That Sora is such a pest, smooching his way into having my mother feed him!"

Yuzu giggled "So he followed you to your house?"

But Yuri continued to ramble, lost in his own little world of anger "I swear to god if I hear his annoying high pitched voice again, his head isn't going to be on his shoulders anymore!"

However, just as he said that, a voice called out from behind him "Teacher!"

Something snapped in Yuri's brain as he wheeled around to see Sora behind him and Yuzu "Jesus Christ! Go away! Why are you following me!?"

He turned scarlet with rage as Sora grinned "Where ever the teacher goes the apprentice will follow!"

Yuri's hands shook, it took a great amount of effort not strangle the smirking Sora, his voice was at a low growl "One. You're not my apprentice. Second. You're an annoying runt whose voice is like nails on a chalkboard! And third! Stop following me!"

Sora pouted, shoving a new lollipop into his mouth despite the mountain of pancakes he had already shoved into his stomach "Come on! Take me as your apprentice! I want to learn how to do that incredible Pendulum summon! It was so cool!"

Yuri didn't know how he was going to keep his sanity, he lived a pretty normal and quite life bar a few isolated incidents but everything had really gone to shit for the last three years. Roughly around the time Yusho had vanished. "Slight problem, brat! You need pendulum cards to do it, so you can't actually do it. Sorry to let the truth crush you but facts are facts. Now could you stop talking to me, I'm busy breathing."

Sora turned to Yuzu "Come on big sis! I know for sure that you can get him to do it again if you ask really nicely! Come on, I really want to see it again!"

Yuzu replied "And why should I, Sora? One thing you should know is that Yuri isn't quite the type to do what he's asked, especially by me." She grumbled, remembering that time where Yuri had scared her into smashing the ARC system.

"Because if Teacher Yuri's girlfriend asks him he'll have no choice but to do it!" Both Yuri and Yuzu stopped on a dime and in sync with each other turned to face the other, a furious blush broke out over their cheeks as the tips of their ears turned scarlet.

"GIRLFRIEND!" Both shouted simultaneously acting like it was the end of the world and some ancient evil was destroying the surrounding area.

"Did I guess wrong?" Sora pondered innocently whilst Yuri flailed his arms wildly.

"Yes! You did!" Yuri and Yuzu looked at each other again "Why would I go out with her, she's such a crude violent women l-" Yuzu had fire in her eyes as her fan interrupted Yuri mid rant.

"Ignorant bastard who the hell does he think he is…" She stormed off leaving Yuri shaken on the ground.

Sora grinned Yuzu's sense of justice was very similar to that person's, maybe he was even gleaning part of his mentor's love for suffering "Uh, hey! Teacher! Are you ok?" Yuri held his head in pain, granted he was so used to the texture of Yuzu's fan on his face that it didn't really hurt all that much but there was definitely so more gusto behind it this time. 'Smooth move, Yuri, smooth move. Outstanding move!'

A while later in class Yuri was holding two of his pendulum cards behind a propped up English textbook "I never got those two cards back, it's a given that LDS will soon start producing their own versions and then everyone will be running about with them, I've got to make good use of it before people like Sawatari get their hands on it. The summit exists for only the top after doing everything possible."

Hanging from a tree, somehow being supported by his legs, staring through a pair of binoculars, Sora commented "Teacher, you're making such a serious face, I'll cheer you up though!" Throughout the day Sora began to pop up much to Yuri's ever growing distain which was made even more obvious as he talked to Yuzu after the school day ended.

"It's not natural to resist my urges so much Yuzu… I can feel my fingernails growing from the stress! See! The polish is cracking!" Yuri shoved his hands in Yuzu's face, the polish indeed was cracking and if she had cared to check she would've seen that his fingernails were growing too "Actually, maybe I could sharpen it enough to slash his throat!"

Yuzu sighed, this was getting ridiculous "Yuri, stop moaning, the kid is just excited."

Yuri shot a side eyed glance of disgust at Yuzu "I'll stop moaning if you let me get my hands on him and allow me to my own devices."

Yuzu began to reach for her fan before deciding to try and talk Yuri down "Come on Yuri! If you bring that attitude to the duel school it'll just make the situation there even worse than it already is plus wouldn't your dad want you to bring smiles to faces instead of frowns would he not."

"Fine! But that won't stop me from hating the kid." Yuri slid his hands into his pockets and plastered on a fake smile as he and Yuzu walked on to You Show.

Before going into the school Yuzu made Yuri promise "Please make sure that you don't throw a tantrum."

Yuri side eyed her again "Your days are numbered if you keep making comments like that, Yuzu dear, I'm rather unpredictable~."

The two continued to bicker until Yuri decide to just give up on the conversation walking into the school and for the second time today meeting with an unwanted sight "Teacher!" Sora called sitting with the three kids causing Yuri punch a nearby wall.

"For the third time today! Why are you here!?" He was so close to saying screw appearances and just acting out his natural urges on Sora.

The kids were perplexed "But Yuri-oniichan! We thought he was your apprentice, he's been here waiting for you."

"I'm going to make this very clear children! I d-" Yuri was interrupted midsentence by an ecstatic Shuzo.

"Since he's your apprentice that means he'll be joining the duel school right Yuri!"

Yuri sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose "He's not my apprentice! Get that through that thick skull of yours!"

Sora saw the opportunity for some mischief and seized it readily "Teacher! Duel me and show me more of your Pendulum summoning! It was so cool that I want to see it up close and personal, you also get to see just how capable I am myself!"

Yuri paced over and shoved his fist in Sora's face "I'll duel you when the sky turns green and when pigs fly."

Sora smirked "But if you win I'll get off your back when it comes to this teacher and apprentice business."

Yuri's face brightened but then immediately darkened, this was all too good to be true and he had seen that look in Sora's eyes "What's the catch?"

Sora grinned, this Yuri guy was very similar after all "If I win it, you'll have no choice but to let me be your apprentice and teach me the secret behind your Pendulum Summon!"

"Fine, I'll duel you but you have to promise to keep your word otherwise you'll never see the light of day again." Yuri wasn't joking, if he lost then he would simply move onto his extra-legal methods, they always worked no matter what.

Soon Yuri and Sora were standing on opposite sides on the duel field. Sora was jumping up and down in excitement "This is going to be so cool! My first action duel!" That little add on triggered suspicious in Yuri's mind, it was odd that someone supposedly from Standard and considering LDS as a school wouldn't know about Action duels.

The field came into being around them as Shuzo declared the field he had chosen for the duel "Action Field Wildest West on!" As the name suggested it was the stereotypical Wild West setting from films, the sun falling high in the sky as the two of them were positioned in the archetypal pistol duel showdown.

As Sora became aware of the choice he began to complain "Aww! I thought this was going to be fun but instead you go and chose a boring field like this one." He crossed his arms as he huffed "Isn't there a more interesting or fun field you have?"

Yuri rubbed his temples muttering under his breath "God I'm getting a migraine, this kid just never shuts up!"

Shuzo was surprised but pressed on after finding a new field that hopefully Sora would feel is suitable, if the time he had spent observing Sora had given him anything it was the small male's addiction "Okay then! Action Field Sweets Island on!" The western setting was replaced by the dream field of a hyper active five year old aka Sora. It was an island made of desserts and all sorts of sweets, an orange river ran behind each of them.

Yuri snorted as Sora looked around in wonder 'Honestly these fields just keep getting weirder and weirder.'

"Thank you so much Mister! This is my dream come true!" Shuzo and the others all collectively awed at Sora's cuteness.

"Now are you ready?" Yuri asked once Sora had finally stopped looking like a kid in a sweet store, Sora nodded and Yuri sighed again "Finally…"

"Duel!" Both of them declared simultaneously

Yuri's LP: 4000 Sora's LP: 4000 Cardsx5

Turn 1

Yuri wanted this over as quickly as possible but he wasn't about to rush into a rash move that would leave him in a tough spot "I'll start off slow I set one monster face down and one card to my backrow then end my turn, let's see if you can beat me Sora."

Sora pouted again "Aww! I was hoping for something more exciting teacher like how you finished off that Sawatari guy with that fusion dragon of yours." Deep down Sora knew he had to be careful, anyone who looked like that demon had to be dangerous and his mentor would kick him up the backside if he dared to underestimate his opponent.

Yuri shrugged "From a gentle seed can grow a mighty oak!" He stated trying to sound grandiose and deep.

However, Sora wasn't quite following the sad attempt "English please?" He asked.

Yuri sighed, he was expecting too much from this pest "Something so small can be great in the end."

Sora clicked his tongue "Gotcha now teacher!"

This comment caused Yuri rage "Call me teacher one more time and I'll rearrange your face!" Sora snickered, it looked like his victory would depend on him get Yuri angry enough to make him slip up as he started his own turn.

Turn 2

"My turn and to start I'll activate the continuous Spell Toy Vendor!" A cartoonishly large and extravagant circular vendor materialised behind Sora "By sending this useless card in my hand to the graveyard I can draw another card and if it happens to be a level four or below monster I can special summon it." Sora sent instant fusion from his hand and drew "And it's the monster Edge Imp Sabres which I now summon to the field!" A ball rolled down the machine and opened up revelling a malicious looking set of scissors with glowing red eyes.

Edge Imp Sabres, Level 3, DARK, Effect, Fiend (1200/800).

"Next I normal summon Fluffal Leo." A plush, fluffy and adorable lion appeared beside Edge Imp Sabres, rolling over on the ground as it came into being.

Fluffal Leo, Level 4, EARTH, Effect, Fairy (1600/1200)

"He's used a continuous spell to successfully summon to monsters in a row impressive…" Shuzo murmured in muted excitement that a student this strong could possibly be joining them.

"So cute!" Was the screams of the kids and even Yuzu as Yuri face palmed and muttered something under his breath that vaguely sounded like "Could this day get any worse…"

And right on que Sora declared the beginning of his next move, the one he knew he had to make good use of if he was going to win "Now I'll activate the Spell Card Polymerization!" Everyone's head shot in Sora's direction, Yuri had a particularly shocked reaction.

The rest of the group also reacted to Sora's use of the card "So he can fusion summon, that must mean he's an LDS student right?" Tatsuya asked around the group as they all l looked on in awe as they saw a blue and red swirling vortex appear behind Sora, this would be the firt time they had seen someone other than Yuri fusion summoning up close.

Edge Imp Sabers was sucked into the vortex forming a blinding yellow light with Leo following behind the pair of scissors "I fuse together my Fluffal Leo and my Edge Imp sabres! I fusion summon! Level 6! Frightfur Tiger!" The vortex dissipated and roaring out of it came a patchwork and Frankenstein's monster like blue tiger with scissors from Sabers stuck through the middle with a deadly sheen to them.

Frightfur Tiger, Level 6, DARK, Effect, Fiend(1900/1200)

"Tiger's first effect is that it gains 300 attack points for each Fluffal and Frightfur monster on my field but sine I only have it only goes up by a lame 300!" Sora declared.

Tiger's ATK: 1900 – 2200

Sora grinned, this next part was going to be fun! "Tiger's second effect is that it destroys cards on your field equal to the amount of monsters used as a fusion material for its summon so say goodbye to your facedown monster and your set card!"

"That's some effect but completely pointless in the end." Yuri watched uncaringly as his facedowns were ripped to shreds. Mentally he was already three steps ahead and cackling manically as he lured Sora further into his trap.

"Battle! Frightfur Tiger attack Teacher directly!" Yuri simply stood as Tiger's claws threw him back into the lake behind him with a loud splash

"Yuri!" The kids shouted concerned about their role model but were relieved as he climbed out of the lake and back onto the island completely drenched from head to toe.

Yuri sent a glance down at his clothes and groaned "Ugh, that's going to take an age to dry." He really shouldn't have let that happen.

Yuri's LP: 4000 – 1800

Yuzu certainly hadn't expected this to be as competitive as it was, she was actually concerned for once that Yuri might lose although he did tend to work in mysterious ways. "Well, he certainly is good. He got rid of Yuri-oniichan's entire field and he also manged to drop Yuri's life points below half!" She heard Ayu say from next to her.

Shuzo nodded in agreement "That's some monster he has got there! Yuri has to be at his best if he's going to beat it!"

"I end my turn." Sora looked over to see Yuri lying on his back panting "What's wrong Teacher? You seemed so confident that you were going to win just a moment ago!" He said with a certain degree of malice, emulating the one who had taught him all the tricks of the trade.

Yuri dragged himself to his feet, concerns over his clothing vanishing. "Don't be so cocky! I can assure you that I'll still win! It's only inevitable after all!"

Turn 3

"And it all starts here with the Spell Predaplant Recycling by sending Predaplant Banksiogre in my hand to the graveyard I can draw two card." A smirk grew on Yuri's face "I believe you've been waiting for this moment Sora and everyone else don't blink now or you'll miss it! Using Scale 1 Predaplant Stapelia Worm and Scale 5 Predaplant Sarraceniant I set the pendulum scale!" The two plants appeared either side of Yuri in pillars of blue light as the rainbow coloured word Pendulum flashed on Yuri's duel disk. "With this I can summon monsters level 2 through 4 simultaneously! Swing Pendulum of the soul! Draw an arc of light across the aether! Pendulum summon! Come forth Predaplant Moray Nepenthes and Predaplant Spinodionaea!" The two venomous, deadly and faithful plants landed upon the ground, their roots immediately digging in.

"Wow! It's so cool up close!" Sora yelped giddily, bounding up and down like a kid on his sugar rush which very likely was the case.

However, "I now activate the effect of my trap Fusion Reincarnation from my graveyard, which you so graciously gifted me by destroying it with your Tiger, by banishing this card it allows me to add Polymerization to my hand." Yuri swiped the card quickly adding add it into his hand with a dramatic flourish, Fusion Reincarnation had a rather simplistic design, a Polymerization card lying on top of a grave "I must thank you destroying this card earlier." Sora grunted, he'd been lured into a trap, if his mentor saw him now then he'd be in for the ass kicking of a life time.

Sora was shocked when Yuri's eye threatened to slit like those of the demon's "I now activate Polymerization! Fusing my two Predaplants together! I fusion summon! Show him the power of your illustrious grace! Level 8! Starve Venom Fusion Dragon!" The dragon plant hybrid sored into the air as it buried its way up from the roots that the other two plants had left behind. Sora didn't really take in its monstrous appearance, instead he saw the image of a horrendous and demonic red dragon that spit hellfire.

Starve Venom Fusion Dragon, Level 8, Fusion, DARK, Effect, Dragon (2800/2000)

Yuri grinned wildly, channelling the few remnants of his Academia self which still stubbornly clung onto to him "When Starve Venom is summoned it gains the attack points of one special summoned monster on you field and since you've only got one, Starve Venom gains a 2200 point boost!" Vines shot out from Starve Venom and burrowed their way into the tiger, sucking the power from it with Starve Venom letting out a far too satisfied moan once it was finished.

Starve Venom's ATK: 2800 – 5000

He had finally reached the end of his plan, it had gone exactly as he thought it would, he really was a genius after all. "Hey, Sora, there's one thing I've neglected to mention about Pendulum. Turns out that they also function as a spell card of sorts, meaning they have extra effects such as this one! I now activate Stapelia Worm's Pendulum effect since your monster's attack points are higher than what they started off at your monster's effect is negated and its attack drops to zero." Once the vines of Starve Venom had retreated, Stapelia Worm slipped out of the column of light and wrapped its way around Frightfur Tiger, preventing any burst of power coming out of the tiger.

Tiger's ATK: 2200 – 0

'Not good!" Sora thought as he ran off to collect an action card showing off his surprisingly high athleticism as raced.

Yuri took flight on Starve Venom in order to block Sora's path as vines extended blocking any exits "Now I'll give you a chance…If you agree to stop following me around and calling me Teacher I'll let you live and you get another chance of possibly defeating me. But if you say no, well… Let's just say it won't be very pleasant!" Sora remained silent unable to comprehend the situation at hand, his mind flashing back to the one and only duel he had had with Yuri's doppelganger "I'll take that as a no then! Starve Venom direct attack!" Sora was blown back by the sheer force as Frightfur Tiger was vaporised in front of him.

Sora (4000 – 0)

Yuri: Win!

"Yuri won!" The kids cheered for his victory as Yuzu's attention was drawn to the result she let out a small smile glad that Yuri.

The action field disappeared as Yuri turned his head down to Sora in front of him "Well Sora, it looks like I won you remember o-."

Yuri was interrupted by a laughing Sora "That was so fun Yuri! Dueling with you is cool!"

Yuri was taken aback but quickly recollected himself "What's with calling me by name all of a sudden instead of teacher? Did it lose its lustre?"

"No, it's just that since I can't be your apprentice anymore, I'll just be your friend! And friends call each other by their first names, isn't that correct?" Sora reached up and patted Yuri on his shoulders.

"No! Touch me again and it'll be the last thing you'll ever do!" Yuri ranted as Shuzo came bursting into the room.

"So! Since you're Yuri's friend, does that mean you'll be joining our school?!" He yelled with his usual firebrand level of enthusiasm.

Sora playfully thought for moment "Yeah! Why not? This place is more interesting than LDS anyway!"

Shuzo fist pumped, close to crying in that very moment, having two new students in as many days left in positively in rapture "Yes! I'll go get the paperwork!"

He left the room over joyed as the kids entered "If you're not an LDS student than how do you know how to fusion summon?" Ayu, Futoshi and Tatsuya said in harmony.

Yuri placed his index fingers together as the kids prodded Sora for information, something was definitely wrong here, that fusion summoning was something that shouldn't have that much power if he really come from Standard, there was only one place that he knew which had the ability to teach such a powerful Fusion "Well…" Sora scratched his head as if looking for some sort of excuse, showing yet another sign of lying "Nah! Don't worry about where I'm from! All you need to know is that Fusion is normal where I come from!"

Yuri immediately perked up, his suspicions all but confirmed as he wasn't aware of any place in Standard where Fusion was natural and how he deflected the question only helped to confirm it fully. 'This settles it this boy is from Academia, just like me, but why is here? Has the Professor sent someone to retrieve me? No… He would've already taken me much sooner if he wanted that. There's also the question of how did he get here…'

"Now, now, don't be so quick to blame me, Reiji-kun." Shiki drawled, sat in his office at the Enchanted Underworld Duel School, a screen showing Reiji was propped up in front of him. A glass was held in his hands instead of his usual rose, his fedora was also nowhere in sight. "A plan is only as good as the component pieces, I didn't realise that your students were such lousy pieces of trash. He's the one you picked out? I'm sure that you've got better kids there than that, otherwise my school would've supplanted yours by now."

"Then yours must be worse than mine, logically speaking of course." Reiji responded with an insult of his own "However, Sawatari's defeat is something that can be brushed over. What cannot be is the fact that sometime after the duel ended, three people decided to interfere."

Shiki leaned into the screen, his eyes sharpening with intent "Oh? Is that so? Who were these interlopers then? I thought you kept pretty tight security around the place, you do keep a bodyguard one you at nearly all times…" He snipped, tapping sharp fingernails against the desk.

"That's not the point, Sogami. What matters here is that one, if not all, of these people is an enemy spy." Reiji said seriously, trying his best not to lose his temper with Shiki's provocations, he simply wouldn't allow him to dominate the conversation again. He brought up a picture of Sora interacting with Yuri and the group.

"Tch, of course, I simply wish that your father would send someone interesting this time. The last lot were all beaten by Loveless like it was nothing, my Loveless needs to feed on stronger blood." Shiki chuckled, those truly were tedious times as all those worthless souls who thought they could infiltrate the Standard dimension fell before Loveless' powers, nothing was a challenge for them. He could only think that by now Leo had gotten wise to how all of his previous spies kept mysteriously disappearing and sent the new one into a place as far from Shiki as possible. "I'll get someone on his case, don't you worry about that. He'll be burnt to cinders before you blink."

"Ah, yes. That reminds me of something I was also going to mention to you." Reiji muttered, pushing his glasses back up his nose "Next time I would much prefer it if you didn't set the entire area on fire next time, it can't be covered up forever."

Shiki threw his hands up in mock surrender "Oops, my bad. It's only that every once in a while I like to conduct an experiment of my power and see if the person is strong enough to actually come face to face with me. I don't have time to waste on the useless. Although it may please you to know that the person I caught this time was one of those XYZ fragments you were searching for, turns out he was busy whilst I was taking Yuri-kun with me."

"Would you care to give a full description?" It was more of a demand than a question yet Shiki complied anyway.

"Let's see. He was about 6'2, long blond hair that's sort of spiky in a way with something red holding it in line, black tattoos over his arms that are probably based off duel monsters from their dimension. If I remember correctly he had some very striking purple eyes, they looked cold, dark, despairing yet determined. He would appear to be someone of a strong will, quite the interesting little person." Shiki said, taking a drink from his glass and running his finger around the rim of the glass. Just as Reiji was about to speak, the sandy haired male cut him off "Perhaps it would do you good to not interrupt people when they're speaking, Reiji-kun. There is indeed another person with them although I know not of who they are exactly at this time, but I can only assume that since you've not captured them on camera then they're a person who takes care to stand in the shadows and out of sight. They're likely organising themselves in a brawn and brains duo, this blond being the brawn and X being the brains."

Reiji folded his hands under his chin and smirked "Heh, I don't like it but I have to admit that your assessments are always correct, that does seem to be the most logical reason behind why this second person hasn't appeared despite the fact we know of his existence."

"Nice to see we've come to a reasonable, non-confrontational solution this time." Shiki smirked as well "Now, I do believe that you mentioned that the Academia spy wasn't the only one who invaded that little exhibition duel?"

The President pushed his glasses up, allowing the sheen to hide his eyes, the picture of two cloaked figures lurking on the field near Sawatari's unconscious form "Sogami. I wouldn't be telling you this if I didn't believe that you know who these people are or where they came from, so tell me; or else everything will be released…"

Shiki sighed, shoving his glass off screen and picking back up his usual rose "I suppose all good things must come to an end. Do I know who these two in particular are? That's something that I admit I know nothing of, although if you were to ask me what group they belonged to I would know that. However, I would have nothing to gain by telling you so, boy. In fact, the only one with anything to gain would be you and I'll lose everything. Now, I've got other things to do, goodbye, Akaba."

"Sogami, wai-" Shiki cut off the feed before Reiji could finish his sentence. Silently, he moved out of his office and into one of the nearby classrooms. He knew that the person he was looking for would be there without fail, he always was, the one person he knew he could count on in this situation. 'That kid is deluded yet I suppose he was right about lying low for the moment, that spy is still being eliminated regardless.'

(Unknown Location)

"The clock of destruction." Large ornate golden doors cracked open, the design of a large Coptic cross present on each of them. As the light poured into the room the sound of chanting voices drifted through the air, numerous white cloaked figures flanked on each side of the corridor just beside the shiny marble columns.

"Engraves times of atrocity." A lone figure wandered purposefully down towards the throne sat on the end of his path. His shirtless torso, hands, neck and arm were covered in bandages, all except for a section on his back. A singular golden yellow eye poked out of the shadow of his white hood.

"Silent snares." Each person the figure passed looked at him with cruel sneers and jeers, the one section on his back that wasn't covered by bandages was scarred beyond belief and the large black eye birthmark was visible for all of them to see.

"Nobody can escape." That singular eye scanned the room, he knew where his end goal was but the danger was what came in the middle, any of these fuckers could pounce on him and he'd be damned to eternal suffering if that happened.

"Born in secret."

"A tale shadows whisper." Honestly, this place could get really dramatic and cultish at times, it fit his asshole of a roommate's attitude, the Omni giddy, flamboyant, devoted and sadistic person he was.

"Dance in the abyss of hell." He approached the end of the corridor and kneeled down on one knee with his head bowed down, that asshole was of course kneeling right next to him. He wanted nothing more than to take a hold of that fucker's precious hair and rip it to shreds.

"Now, the curtains rise." The person sat on the throne, whom they were kneeling to, had a pretty standard attire of the other members, the major difference with him though was that his cloak was black in order to distinguish his ranking, it had white trims running down the front of it, and on the back was a golden Coptic cross. Three crosses were placed onto his person, one on his neck, another on his hand and a final one across his forehead. Each one having rosary beads holding them in place. In terms of physical looks he had short blue hair which was swept across the right side of his face, the hair on the right of his head being longer than the left which was more shaved back and maintained. His eyes were purple and had sharper pupils than usual.

"Rise." The voice of the man sounded almost bored yet contemplative, it was measured like every word he had picked was deliberately meant to get all the information out in as few words as possible. The two of them did as told. "Dai-chan, report."

"Yes, Nesta-sama." The voice of Daiki Welt spoke, any mirth replaced with a tone of sycophantic devotion and obsessive admiration. It made the other want to throw up his lunch, the sacrificial lunatic had so many faces he could be considered a totem pole. "As you ordered I was able to track down the target, however, some force that I'm still not quite sure where it came prevented me from fully extracting the target and fulfilling the mission to the fullest extent. I'm sorry, Nesta-sama."

The man, Nesta, had no physical reaction to the news. That's what made him so terrifying, his face was a cinder block, nothing came and nothing went. He was like a man who had cracked the secret of life and was totally at peace with the world to the point where nothing bothered him. Although, the yellow eyed male could attest that the man was far from that on the inside. "You have no need to be. Outcomes do not matter if it benefits the Guild." He then turned to the other male "Demi, your report, everything you've done that is."

He breathed a sigh and then spoke "Welt and I went to observe a duel between the key's boyfriend, whom had tried to protect her on that night where he reappeared, and a conceited asshole from LDS. Naturally I don't see any need to say who won. While it may seem to be self-contained, we believe that there were multiple parties other than us watching it like Reiji Akaba."

"And how do you come to this?" Nesta said, his long fingers curling at the edges of the arm rests.

Daiki spoke up "We had left after the last turn, however, the bandage wasting machine in an attempt to stop me from having even the slightest bit of joy in my life decided he wanted to investigate further. We waited for the other group to leave before approaching the scene itself, the conceited duelist and his posse were unconscious so we searched them. We just so happened to find this on the leader of the group." Out of his cloak, Daiki pulled out a small earpiece which Sawatari had been using to communicate with Reiji. "The assumption was that since the other had taken some of the key's boyfriend's cards and attempted to use them during the duel, that someone was talking him through it and we came to the conclusion that it was most likely Reiji Akaba."

"Noted. Dai-chan, Demi, you two did well. Dismissed." Nesta stood up and looked down at the pair briefly before vanishing into the darkness behind the throne.

Daiki looked to where he went with shining eyes "Thank you so much, father!"

The other male smacked the back of Daiki's head shortly after those words left his lips "Pack it in, dipshit. Is your brain melting out of your ears again!?"

Daiki smirked and playfully winked at his associate "I'm not the one who's more of a mummy than a man, Nii-sama!"

Enraged by Daiki's antics and the jeers, which had ended when Nesta spoke, staring back up again. The yellow eyed male threw down his hood and growled, spiky blue hair with green bags falling over a bandaged right eye were exposed to sight. The features of a one Demil Kaimia stood out as he slammed his hand over Daiki's throat "Say that one more time and I'll make good that promise!"

The navy blue haired male rolled his eyes and pried Demil's hand from his neck casually "Say what, Nii-sama? Aren't I allowed to call my brother that?" Daiki grinned seeing the unbandaged eye dilute "It's almost like you want nothing to do with me anymore, Nii-sama! That hurts me more than anything physical you can do!"

Demil turned away and pulled on the bandages over his eye "I preferred "Bandage wasting machine" to be perfectly honest."

Daiki flicked one of earrings as he watched walk away "I still prefer Nii-sama. It's so sad that I have to act that way in front of father, if only he could understand."

"You're a pain, Daiki." Was all Demil said as he left the room entirely with a frowning Daiki following him.

"Oi! You waste of bandages! Wait up!" Daiki yelled once they were through the doors, grabbing Demil by his shoulders "I just remembered something! That earpiece wasn't the only thing that we took from that ass. Why didn't you show them to father!?"

Demil craned his head slightly, just enough to see a part of Daiki's frown and make him turn his gaze to the ground "Because I didn't want to, do I need to say anymore?"

"That's bullshit and you know it! Or did you forget that I can tell when you're lying, Nii-sama!" Daiki bemoaned, acting exactly like a younger sibling when the elder one took something of theirs.

However, the navy haired male soon found a fist expectantly wedged deep in his gut. "Then use that brain of yours and figure out my reasoning. You know Nesta just as well as I do, you know what he'd do if he got a hold of them!" Demil dug his fist in deeper "For our own sake you better not tell anyone about this."

When Demil pulled his fist out, Daiki collapsed to the ground with a cry of 'Nii-sama!' mixed with a grunt of pain "Now if you don't mind, I've got places to be."

(XYZ Dimension)

"Hmph, what a barren wasteland." A flash of white moved across the destroyed rooftops containing the form of a one 17th Progenitor Mamoru Tepes. He took a stop on the roof he was currently on to survey the runs of the town that had been his home for 18 years "I fail to see what made this place such an attractive invasion target, then again, understanding the motives of livestock and especially the ones that make up Academia isn't something that I should be troubling myself over."

He started back up on his roof hopping journey, it was annoying that he was unable to properly stay in one place for more than a day or two. He was religiously hunted by the Resistance on levels which his Great Grandfather had told him could only be matched by the prosecution of the 1st. Those were dark days in the family's history and one he didn't want to remember all that much. For now he was focused on finding somewhere he could hide for the night, the locations he could go to were getting few and far between and it wouldn't be long as he was forced into a confrontation that wasn't on his own terms. He ran through a mental checklist of all the places he knew the peskiest people were in relation to his possible hideouts 'Misaki-san, keh, she's not going to be awake any time soon. Kurosaki-kun is probably with Yuto-kun in search of Kurosaki-san so even if they do come near they'll not pay me any attention. The rest of the livestock is inconsequential.' It was an insult to the entire family that they had to run from the livestock they were far more powerful than and he'd be sure to send an even stronger message next time when he was ready to strike once more.

He gracefully landed back on the ground and into the shadows. Times like this were times where he wished that his family wasn't so set on white clothing, it made it awfully more troublesome to hide. The white haired Progenitor flipped his hood up and peered out once more to check no one was nearby. 'Good… It's all clear.'

"Despite that time we spent together, there's one thing I don't understand about you." As he had begun to move Mamoru was halted to a stop, a look of genuine surprise crossing his shadowed face and numerous swears crossing over in his head. He knew that odious voice. "Naturally, if one were to think things through logically then you wouldn't be anywhere near here, yet I know you to be like that, I believe at our last meeting you described dueling very much like a puzzle so it would be unusual if you didn't put the world in that same view."

The owner of the voice made his way out of the darker area. Mamoru considered himself a decent height but this guy reached a height of 6'4, making him easily the tallest member of the group and, to put it very lightly, built like a truck. His hair, like Misaki's, was predominantly black but his had a vague purplish violet hue to it. It was naturally straight in its style but as a result of what had become constant hair pulling had developed into a more wavy style with some of it hanging in perpetuity over his face. His clothes consisted of a stained white shirt, black cloak that rivalled Yuto in how tattered it could look. He had grey loose trousers on and white trainers that had been worn down and tainted grey over the past year. Finally, he wore the red scarf of the resistance in a manner similar to Shun with it functioning like it was meant too. "Basically what I'm saying, Mamoru, is that you're a remarkably easy person to read."

Mamoru smirked wryly "Ah, Kokichi-kun, truly impressive as always. If you two weren't as big pains in my asses as you are, I'd have already vanished off of the Resistance's radar." Whilst he was his usual self on the outside, mentally he was in the process of screaming his lungs out. He couldn't believe that he had fucking forgotten arguably the biggest pain in his ass next to Misaki and one that he wasn't ever going to forgive, a one Kokichi Tachi. "And if it wasn't for that first meeting then this wouldn't be such a permanent feature on my person." He pulled his non duel disk arm and pulled back his suit's arm, bearing his pale skin. "Fuck you by the way."

"Heh, not exactly what I'd call my best work, like I said back then, I could've slashed all three of the veins in your arm." Cut deep into the white haired Progenitor's arm was a deep and precise gash that formed a skull like design with horns and wide eyes "If you were to ask me, I was too angry at that time to strike with as much precision as I would've wanted and to possibly consider the ramifications."

"Amore, Amore, I love you so. Carina, Carina, my adorable kitten~." Mamoru said with soft and melodic sing song voice, hiding his wound back within its white confines "So what do you want with me, Kokichi-kun? You have me right where you want me, do you want to take me back to the resistance like a baying hound so you can make me apologise for all the people you say I've wronged? Or perhaps you'd like to finish your business and grant me another scar? Preferably on my other arm, it's symmetrical that way."

"Such a lovely voice, shame you didn't become a singer, Mamoru." Kokichi said dryly, eyeing Mamoru cautiously. "As for what I'm going to do with you…I don't want to make a scene in front of the others, that'd be most dramatic and for someone who loves the shadows it would be fairly ironic for you to be exposed in that way. No, whilst you deserve everything that comes your way, it's not in the nature of a doctor to take away life."

"So you're just going to let me get away, Kokichi-kun?" Mamoru asked knowingly, however, if there was one constant in this dimension it was that Kokichi wasn't the typical kind of Resistance member.

(Flashback) (Six months ago)

He still remembered it clearly. Lying on that makeshift gurney in one of the Resistance's bases had made him think many thoughts that he never thought he would have to do. Thoughts of failing his family and betraying the title that had been bestowed upon him with such pride. He had never been so angry at the livestock before in his life, the mere fact of what had happened was insulting to his being.

Mamoru's memories over exactly what had happened were fuzzy at best, he knew that he had been struck on the arm during the male livestock's attack after he underestimated the sheer desire the sack of shit had to leave a message for him. That had happened roughly four turns into the duel, the turn before he planned to bring everything to a glorious conclusion. It must have been telegraphed as the livestock put everything he had into trying to win that turn, he didn't get that far. Hell no, Mamoru would've soon jumped off a cliff than let anyone beat him.

However, duels in the XYZ dimension had devolved to something much more barbaric than those in Standard, Synchro and even Fusion. It had all started to go downhill when the Obelisk Force had starting attacking people with their monsters, Ancient Gear Hunting Hound being the most common card of the lot had inflicted countless injuries. They relentless chased anyone who dared try to run away, usually the resulting impact would result in at least one or two limbs being shattered instantly, leaving the victim with no room to escape. Sadistic grins being the last things these poor souls would see before a blinding purple light sealed them in the confines of a card for the rest of their foreseeable life.

Initially, the Resistance hadn't flowed the brutal attack pattern, instead using their monsters in a purely defensive manner, shielding the innocent and then drawing the Obelisk Force troops into a duel to give the civilians time to slip away. Yet they couldn't keep it up forever, it wasn't simply enough just to protect anymore and they too started attacking with as much force as possible.

Mamoru ran his hand over the afflicted area. Such grace and precision combined with fervent anger had been forever carved into his skin. This wasn't a wound he was going to be able to patch over instantly, in fact when it was placed in conjunction with the shock of it happening, the mass blood loss from another section that was thankfully stitched back up had led to him fainting and waking back here.

It was when he noticed said stitching that he wondered who had patched him up, he wasn't presently aware of any Resistance Duelist who had an iota of medical prowess.

He tried to pull himself off of the gurney carefully but found himself unable to do so. Was his body really that weak? He couldn't have lost that much blood, could he? Was there something wrong with his nerves? He swung his head about in attempt to see if there was anyone about that could possibly help him out. Although he immediately slapped himself internally for having such an idiotic idea.

However, to his fortune (?) He found that there was indeed another person casually sat in the room reading too himself. The very same shitbag livestock that had slashed him in the first place "Come to gloat, have you?" Gah, even his voice sounded weak and limp, this was one growing hell after another.

The male took his eyes briefly off the page "Good to see you're finally awake." As he stood up images of a thin, robotic humanoid clad in silver, medieval armour, armed with a cup-hilted rapier and wearing a distinctive helmet with a jewel embedded in its forehead and several pointed down projections protecting the mouth and cheeks, flashed within Mamoru's mind "I'm Kokichi Tachi, I'm what you may call the main medic of our Resistance branch."

"Why'd you save me?" The words fell out of Mamoru's mouth before he could fully comprehend what was happening.

"It's what's called the Hippocratic Oath, every doctor is sworn to protect the life of their patients no matter who they should be and must not allow for any harm to come to them." Kokichi stated as if it was obvious "I regret what I did to you as well, Mamoru Tepes."

Mamoru laughed bitterly, so it was a pity thing, that's why this man who looked he could crush a normal human under his foot with no issue had decided to help someone like him "I don't want the pity of livestock."

"This isn't pity, this is duty." Came Kokichi's stern voice, Mamoru felt something from this guy from the moment he said that, perhaps this was the type of man he could grow to respect "Let me get this clear, Mamoru. No matter who you may be at your core, no matter what reprehensible act that you may commit in the near future, you're still a member of the Heartland community."

The reasons of the livestock were always so amusing to Mamoru and his family, cursed with such short life spans that they put such emphasis on protecting what they already had. "Is that what you were thinking when you sent your monster to slash me?"

Kokichi pulled on one of the strands of his hair closer to his face and started to twirl it around his index finger "If I wanted to I could've sliced all three of the veins in your arm and maybe taken the whole thing with it."

"Hmm, interesting." Mamoru hummed, this one was certainly interesting "Are you going to hand me over now? I've caused you enough trouble so wouldn't it be the most logical course of action?"

"Indeed." Kokichi agreed then smirked "However, they don't know that you're the one I found. They're currently out at the moment as well so it's just you and I." He then stalked over and leaned down on the gurney, kneeling at the side "And maybe. Just maybe. I want to talk to you more."

(Flashback end)

"Do you still think that was the optimal solution, Kokichi-kun?" Mamoru asked with a saccharine kind of sweetness in his voice.

"Not for the greater good." Kokichi responded with the authority of a doctor giving a diagnosis "But not necessarily one that I regret." He added on with a sardonic smile. "To answer your previous questions, I'm not going to do anything to you, and yes I will let you go. Do no harm, remember?"

"So what do you want? I hardly think you stopped me just to " Mamoru said, suddenly transitioning into his far more deadly persona, one that Kokichi had seen first-hand on that day.

"Not so much for me but for Yuto and Shun, don't try and bullshit me and say that you don't have the piece that's needed, I saw you hand one over to the other two." Kokichi could see Mamoru already fishing around in his cloak for something "Think of it this way, Mamoru. With them gone that's simply two threats out of your way to your goal and my goal, surely that would be the most logical solution to the problem for the two of us?"

Mamoru finished searching through his cloak and folded his hands under his chin "Hmm indeed that would appear to be the case." He then dropped something on the ground in front of Kokichi "Now, I expect that the usual preconditions apply. Nothing happened here, did it?"

Kokichi bent down and picked the small metal piece up, it was incredible that something so small could enable the ability to launch a full scale invasion "Nothing of sort." He said as he faded back into the shadows with Mamoru also taking off after a small laugh.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to all of them, a solitary figure was watching on, eyes of red and gold and an ebony feather clutched tightly in their right hand. "Found you, Stray Dogs."

A/N: So this was more of a set up chapter for what's about to come next instead of a majorly plot heavy chapter, the duel with Sora had to happen and it did so but there are still things happening behind the scenes. You can probably already guess the next chapter and what's going to happen there as that needs to happen too as well as the ramifications of it which I'll put into the chapter too since not much is going to change from the original in that regard. After that though, the canon set path will be blown away, the settings may be the same but the plot points won't be , savour the sanity and cleanliness before it starts to fall.

Nothing much left to say other than I hope to see you in the next chapter.