Pulling up at the starting line, I was startled to see a video feed appear on my screen. Rally, Blitz, Nervin, and Tank were huddled around a TV screen in one of the hundreds of dump yards in Satellite. Relief swept through my body, "There is some mercy in this world."

My annoying brother's face showed up, "Happy now?"

"Thank you for standing up for me in your chaotic way. It means a lot to me. But, I'm still going to kick you into next century."

He scoffed, "You don't have a chance."

I laughed as his face vanished. Within a couple seconds I heard the roar of his runner coming up being me. When he skidded to a stop next to me, he muttered, "You don't have what it takes to be on top of the dueling circuit."

"Then let's find out if the world is ready for me."

Both of us shot forward in near unison as the duel started. Jack eased back as he glanced over at me, "Challengers first."

Rolling my eyes was starting to be a bad habit during duels, "I summon Shield Wing in defense mode and put two cards facedown."

Shield Wing-900

He looked completely and utterly bored with my pick of monster, "I summon Twin Sword Marauder in attack mode."

Twin Sword Marauder-1600

It was my turn to be unsurprised with a move. He's going to destroy my monster, and deal damage to me twice. What a shock. It's not like he does this in almost every duel.

"He can deal out piercing damage when he attacks a monster in defense mode. Attack Shield Wing!"

Life Points Yusei=3300

I looked over at Jack, "You are aware that Shield Wing can't be destroyed in one attack, which is why you summoned your Marauder. I'm assuming that you are going to attack me a second time?"

Jack bristled up, "Yes, to both. Go, Twin Sword Marauder! Get that bird off our field!"

My life points dropped a second time, but my Shield Wing stayed on the field.

Life Points Yusei=2600

A smile spread over my face, "Here's the thing, you always summon Twin Sword or Red Dragon Archfiend whenever an opponent summons a monster in defense mode. Shield Wing cannot be destroyed until the third attack per turn. I may have taken damage twice, but I still have a monster on my side of the field."

His face went dark as my explanation came out, and he snapped out, "I end my turn."

"I may have just explained how you are predictable, but so am I. I summon my Junk Synchron in attack mode."

Junk Synchron-1300

My confidence was starting to grow as I spoke, "Next, I tune my Shield Wings with my Junk Synchron to bring out my Junk Warrior!"

Junk Warrior-2300

I pointed at Jack's monster, "Junk Warrior, take out that Marauder!"

Life Points Jack=3300

Twin Sword Marauder vanished from the field, but I wasn't done yet, "Next I activate Synchro Blast, which gives you 500 points of damage for every time one of my Synchro monsters destroys one of your monsters."

Life Points Jack=2800

Jack seemed completely unfazed by my turn, which meant that my arm was going to burn again really soon. He drew a card like a drama queen, "I summon Dark Tinker in attack mode."

Dark Tinker-1000

"Then I activate the spell Powerful Rebirth. It brings back a monster level 4 or below, increases it's points by 100, and gives it an extra level. Come back out Twin Sword Marauder!"

Twin Sword Marauder-1700

Oh, no. I wonder what in the world his next move is going to be, I thought to myself in a sarcastic manner.

He was not full of surprises, "I tune my monsters together to bring out my Red Dragon Archfiend!"

Red Dragon Archfiend-3000

Pain seared up my arm, and I gritted my teeth, Jack Atlas, you are so predictable. And that's coming from me.

Jack certainly didn't waste any time, and he immediately called out, "Red Dragon Archfiend, take out Yusei's Junk Warrior!"

Life Points Yusei=1900

With a single movement, he placed three cards, "I place three facedowns and end my turn."

I felt the temperature change, and glanced up at the sky, only to see all-to familiar purple clouds gathering, Great. It's going to come again. I drove up next to Jack, "I hope you realize that there are many innocent people that could get hurt when that overgrown lizard comes back."

The expression on his face pissed me off. But not nearly as much as the words that came out of his mouth, "A true duelist isn't afraid of what could happen during a Duel. I will keep dueling even to my last breath."

Restoring the distance between us, I muttered under my breath, "His ego is bigger than the pollution crisis on Satellite."

Either he didn't hear my mutter, or he didn't care. But I popped my neck before starting my turn, "I activate Descending Lost Star, which brings back a Synchro monster from my graveyard on the condition that he looses a level and his points will be 0. Come on back Junk Warrior!"

Junk Warrior-0

"Next I summon Hyper Synchron in attack mode."

Hyper Synchron-1600

I made eye contact with Jack, "You know what's coming when I have two level four monsters on my field. I tune them together to bring out my Stardust Dragon!"

Stardust Dragon-2500

My arm started glowing again, and I could feel all of the Signers like we were right next to each other. Aki's mental and emotional exhaustion swept through me. Luna's terror did as well, telling me that she likely hadn't been able to leave before the duel. But most of all, I could feel Jack's arrogance. And I was sure that they could feel my pain and fury.

Shaking my head to clear it, I kept going, "Since I did a Synchro summon with Hyper Synchron, my Stardust gains 800 attack points."

Stardust Dragon-3300

Jack chuckled, "I activate Tuner Capture, which allows me to do just what the name suggests. And I am taking Hyper Synchron and putting him in defense mode."

Hyper Synchron-800

He's going to de-Synchro his dragon and then use my monster to regain the advantage.

"Alright, Stardust, attack his Red Dragon Archfiend!"

Once again, he interrupted me, "I activate Tuner's Mine, which sends my Dragon back to the extra deck and replaces him with the monsters used to summon him."

Twin Sword Marauder-1000

Dark Tinker-1300

Called it, "Keep going Stardust, and take out whichever one gets in your way."

I had never seen Tuner's Mine before, so I just covered my bases to avoid looking like a fool if it had an effect he didn't tell me about.

Dark Tinker floated in front of the attack and Jack spoke up, "Due to Tuner's Mine, the Tuner has to take the attack."

Of course it did. And now I'm powerless to keep that Dragon of his off the field, "I can still activate Synchro Blast, and since a synchro monster attacked you, you take 500 points of damage."

Life Points Jack=2300

Jack's voice was starting to grate on my nerves, "Now that your turn is over, I am going to Synchro summon my Dragon again!"

Red Dragon Archfiend-3000

"And since I also used Hyper Synchron, my dragon gets the same 800 point boost."

Red Dragon Archfiend-3800

Through the mark, I could feel Jack's confidence and cockiness rise, "Now attack Stardust!"

To my shock, I felt a flash of annoyance coming from both dragons. I turned off my microphone before looking at them, "Sorry about this."

I turned it back on as my life points dropped.

Life Points Yusei=1400

"Due to Hyper Synchron being used to Synchro summon both dragons, both are indestructible in battle."

Jack apparently wasn't done, "Next I activate Fiend Cannon. If my monster doesn't destroy yours in battle, you get 500 points of damage."

Life Points Yusei=900

In the literal blink of an eye, the pain in my arm went from 'touching a lightbulb' to 'falling directly onto a pile of red hot coals'. Another blink later, and a familiar red light filled the stadium. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jack looking up, just as I was. The Crimson Dragon steadily filled itself in, then lunged towards us at the speed of lightning, swallowing up our dragons, then us.


It took a hot minute for my vision to clear up after the blinding light that came from the Crimson Dragon, but when it did, my stomach relocated to my pinky toe. We were driving on a road made of light, with no visible land in sight, "What the heck?"

Looking behind me, I saw Luna and Aki floating in red tinted bubbles, both looking just as confused as I was. Jack's voice drew my attention back to the front of my runner, "It can't be."

A large Southern-American looking tower stood in the direction that we were facing, and Jack's eyes were wide with shock.

I pulled up next to him and shouted, "Jack, you're the only one here with any info on that thing. So share the knowledge so we're not as confused as Crow is when we talk about money!"

"Goodwin told me about these nutters that worshiped the Crimson Dragon. They were called the people of the stars."

The glowing road started to tilt up, and we approached the top of the tower. Five people stood on top with both arms in the air, four of them had the signs that I had seen on us, while the fifth had a red mark that I hadn't seen before, "Jack, they're like us!"

He looked down at them as we passed, "I guess that there are a lot of Signers throughout history."

My eyes were drawn to something approaching us as we continued to follow the path. A sight that I had only seen on maps. Satellite from above. It somehow made me sad and proud at the same time to see how broken it was, but still functioning.

Purple flames exploded across the surface of Satellite, ripping down buildings at breathtaking speed. It rapidly formed the shape of an abstract spider, and the flames grew higher as we shot past.

Fear grew inside of all of us, and it took a large amount of my consciousness to hold back my powers, "Please let this be a terrible dream."

Jack was trying to have a tough face, but between my powers and the mark I knew the truth, "Maybe it's the future?"

"Not if I can help it."

We passed it before we could see anything more, and pretty soon everything looked the same as when we first arrived.

My musing was interrupted as Jack pulled up next to me, "We need to keep dueling!"

"Are you kidding me? We need to get back to earth!"

He looked at me as if I were an idiot, "If dueling was the way we got here, then dueling is the only way for us to get back. So I place two facedowns and end my turn."

Taking a deep breath, I bit back a few choice comments, "I activate Silver Contrails, which gives one of my Wind-Attribute monsters 1000 points for one attack."

Stardust Dragon-4300

"Now attack!"

Life Points Jack=1800

The way he cried out in pain made me concerned, Am I able to deal real damage like Aki?

I cautiously kept going, "Even if your Archfiend also can't be destroyed in battle, Synchro Blast's effect comes into effect, and you lose 500 points."

Life Points Jack=1300

Yet again, Jack cried out in pain, and his runner skidded a bit. My heart raced as I ended my turn, "Now Stardust's points return to 3300 and I place three facedowns."

Stardust Dragon-3300

Jack shook his head, and started his turn, "Archfiend, attack Stardust Dragon!"

Life Points Yusei=400

A scream ripped out of me as it felt like part of my soul was taken in the attack. Once I got my breath back, I activated one of my traps, "I use Crossline Counter, which takes the amount of damage I just received, doubles it, and then gives that boost to my dragon's attack points. My dragon then returns the attack."

Stardust Dragon-4300

"Attack Jack!"

Life Points Jack=800

It took a little while for Jack's breath to get back to normal, "I activate Overboost, which gives me four extra speed counters for this turn, but next turn they drop to one."

He shot ahead with his speed boost, "Next I activate End of Storm! This card destroys everything on the field, and for every monster destroyed, the handler gets 300 points of damage."

Stardust dissolved as I spoke, "I release Stardust, and its effect is negated."

For once, Jack actually seemed to have a plan, "Then I activate Sneak Exploder, which means that you take 500 points of damage during your next turn for every monster I have on my field."

Let's see what your plan is, Jack, "Stardust returns, and I activate Meteor Stream, which gives you 1000 points of damage when a monster returns from the graveyard."

A cackle came out of his mouth, "Of course you use that again! I activate Crimson Hellfire, which doubles the damage and sends it back to you."

Despite the fact that Jack had a pretty solid plan, he wasn't the only one to think of new strategies since our previous duel. A smile crept onto my face, "Thank you for this opportunity. I activate Shining Silver Force, which stops your card effect and then destroys every trap or spell card on your field."

Once his turn was over, he slowed down and I got to pass him.

His expression was priceless, but I wasn't done, "Since it's my turn now, I activate Final Attack. If I remove two speed counters, I can double the attack points of one of my monsters. This monster will be destroyed at the end of the turn, but it's worth it."

Stardust Dragon-5000

Please don't let this hurt him too much, "Take us home Stardust!"

Life Points Jack=0 Defeat!

Justice spun out of control as the light around me drastically changed, and I narrowly avoided hitting the wall of the duel arena.

Next thing I knew, I was fighting my runner to avoid crashing. I glanced around, looking at the stadium once again, including Jack lying on the pavement. I ripped off my helmet and ran to him, "Are you alright?"

The words coming out of him were weak, and punctuated by his heavy breathing, "I lost. How could, I lose, again?"

"You just needed tougher challenges to improve. And you will."


A/N: Thanks to Let's-Go-To-Vermont and TheEmoStranger for reviewing on the original version of this chapter!