My runner pulled to a stop in front of a huge stone tablet that had created yet another crater. It stood so tall that it was difficult to see the top from where I was standing, "I can't believe it."

Before I was aware of it, I found myself only a foot away from the stone. My arm rose up without conscious thought, and gently rested against the piece of cold rock.

I fell forward, through a vortex of spinning cards, landing roughly back in the strange dimension with the same stranger hanging from the ceiling like a bat, "Who are you?"

"So, you've acquired new strength. What will you do with it?"

I glanced down to see a strange card in my hand, "Huh? What is this?"

Nothing was in the picture frame, just a bunch of white lines.

"Clear Mind. The card that makes an Accel Synchro possible."

My hand shook slightly as I gazed at the seemingly innocent card.

He started floating backwards, "If you follow the path that you think is right, you'll end up where you belong."

As I started to chase after the suddenly retreating form, my foot landed on uneven earth in the crater, "How did he do that?"

My head twisted to gaze at the tablet, which was now completely blank, "Woah."

Thunder came from the city, and I ran to Justice. It wasn't easy, but she navigated to the top of the rim, giving me a perfect view of the disaster that was going on in New Domino.

Dark purple clouds hung low over the city, making it impossible to tell whether the lighting or dirt was the cause of the buildings losing their sparkle. All of the streets were empty, the duelists either defeated or fled once I became the only target. Everyone else had probably hid once things went sour. Smoke pillars drifted up probably from where the defeated duelists ended up.

I'm going to save you guys, just wait a little bit longer.

Sliding my new card into my deck, I revved up Justice's engine, and shot forward.


Explosions came from in front of me, and a voice broke through the headset, "What, don't you have any strategies left? Or are they all gone with those two cards?"

The other voice just growled in return, and I sped up.

"Wait, who's coming up behind us?"

I smirked as the others came into view. Four Ghosts, Mechlord's owner, and Vizor, "Fudo Yusei returning for round three!"

Vizor's face showed relief, though he didn't smile, "I'll handle the minions. You take down the main one!"

He received a nod, and I shot forward, looking over at my opponent, "You ready to fight?"

"Of course. I'll take you both out at the same time!"

Suddenly his attention went to his screen, "What are you talking about? No, how dare you think that I will lose against her!"

His fist slammed into the screen, and he muttered just barely loud enough for me to overhear, "I don't care if she received new strength, I will always win."

There was no sanity coming from his single eye, "I will show you MY true power.

The other eye started glowing red, and he pulled a sword from somewhere, stabbing it down as he stood up. Green light swirled around the runner, and numbers flew around the swirls.

Every inch quickly got covered by computer code as he suddenly flew up in the air, his helmet folding down into his neck. He slammed back down into the runner, and cords flew out from behind the seat only to connect to his back. The sword handle folded down and split in half, turning into a glowing half-circle. All of his cards flew onto it, leaving only the sounds of the runners on the road.

Vizor broke the silence, "So that's his true form. I was wondering."

The stranger turned towards me, "Fudo Yusei, you will not be able to escape this time. Let us duel!"

Okay, Yusei. No need to freak out. Just the monster that gave you nightmares for months and a guy who is clearly a psychopathic android. Nope. Nothing to worry about.

Then the shattering happened.

Every piece of glass, regardless of how durable it normally was, exploded away from the strange man as he flew down the track like some strange centaur.

Fury rose up inside of me, and I flung my hand forward. His runner slowed down, and he shot me a glare, "How did you do that?"

"Apparently it's called mechanokinesis. Or in other words, I'm the Queen of Machines. Ruin my city like that again, and I will figure out how to get you to explode."

He proceeded to dig himself a wonderful hole, "If you dare to fight back against us, you are opposing the will of Iliaster, and that I will not allow!"

"Great. The crazy group that destroyed my life is mad at me. Whatever will I do? Oh, wait. That's right, my plan was to kick your sorry butts"

The single eye he had narrowed, "How can you know so little and still receive a stone tablet? I'm going to crush you so easily!"

I filled my hand with cards, "No one destroys my city and gets away with it."

Once he started laughing, I could tell that he was definitely a robot, "You'll be crushed! But if you want to interfere in this duel, that's fine with me!"

Mecklord Emperor Wisel-2500

Life Points Yusei=4000

Life Points Placido=4000

Alright, Yusei. Just be careful with Synchros, and figure out your new friend. This should work. Just ignore the advantage he has, and the ridiculous name, and everything is fine.

"I send Quillbolt Hedgehog to the graveyard in order to summon Quickdraw Synchron. But since I have a Synchro on my field, I can bring Quillbolt back from the graveyard!"

Quickdraw Synchron-700

Quillbolt Hedgehog-800

"Then I normal summon Needle Soldier!"

Needle Soldier-100

Please don't let this be a mistake, "I tune the three of them together to summon Junk Destroyer!"

Junk Destroyer-2600

Apparently Nuts and Bolts found that funny, because his metallic screech of a laugh came out, "Are you brain dead? Why would you summon a Synchro monster?"

"There's this little thing called strategy, and I'm fairly good at it. See, Junk Destroyer's ability allows him to DESTROY as many cards as non-tuners used to summon him. That means two cards go away. I choose the body section of your monster, and the facedown card you have."

He lazily held his hand up, "I activate my trap card, Divergence. When a machine-type monster on my field is attacked or selected by a special ability, I can change the target to another of my monsters. I choose Wisel Carrier, which cannot be destroyed by card effects."

I bit my lip as the effect destroyed Divergence, but not any of his monsters.

"A Synchro monster is completely worthless!"

Taking a deep breath, I responded with: "Junk Destroyer. Just attack."

"Wisel Guard takes the blow, don't you know that?"

Nodding, I kept my tone even, "Yes, but when Needle Warrior is used in a Synchro summon, that monster can deal piercing damage."

Life Points Placido=2600

He glared at me, and I shrugged, "2 Facedowns and I end my turn."

Clouds gathered over us, and he started yelling about fate or something. But I did what I did when anyone spoke of that subject: I acted like he wasn't speaking. Until he screamed: "Everyone in this world!"

Lightning crashed behind him, and wiped out the energy in the whole city. Not a single building was spared from his wrath.

He jerked his card out from the port, and all but screamed his words, "I summon Wisel Guard 3 in defense mode!"

Of course you do.

The stupid robot gathered together, and turned towards me, "Collect that piece of trash!"

"I activate Star Shift. I can return a Synchro on my field to my deck, and replace it with a Synchro that is the same level. Say hello to Stardust Dragon!"

Stardust Dragon-2500

He glared at me, "I place one card facedown."

Almost there. This plan should work.

"I summon Bicular in defense mode, then activate Emerging Awakening. When I summon a monster, I can remove another from play until the next turn. My opponent then takes damage equal to that monster's level times 100. Hope you don't need those 800 points."

Bicular-200

Life Points Placido=1600

"But the best part of this spell is the fact that Stardust will return next turn with an extra amount of points equal to that of the ones you lost. I place one facedown and end my turn."

Prepping for Accel Synchro, I slowly drifted in front of the idiotic android, who immediately started yelling at me, "I do not ride behind miserable humans! I activate Explosive Blast. This destroys one machine type monster that didn't participate in a duel this turn. Then you take damage equal to its level times 400. I choose Wisel Carrier."

It drew up behind me, and a sudden burst of heat shoved me forward as metal screeched apart.

Life Points Yusei=3600

"Then I summon Skiel Carrier 3 in attack mode!"

Meklord Emperor Wisel-2300

So the one who attacked Luna and Leo works with him. They must also have been behind Jack's attack because the cave where he was held vanished just like the house that Luna and Leo visited. How much did they want to get rid of us?

"I then sacrifice it in order to summon Skiel Carrier 5!"

Meklord Emperor Wisel-2500

My mind was split in half on how to react to the monster's new form. On one hand, it was still extremely massive and deadly. But on the other, it looked ridiculous.

Then the world seemed to fly up and down, and I could only focus on keeping my runner upright. But the freakshow didn't stop laughing, "Face the ultimate form of my creature! None of your pathetic Synchro monsters can possibly stand up to him now! Meklord Emperor, attack her pathetic Bicular!"

My adorable monster shattered, and the monster drew close again as he monologued, "The beauty of my monster's new part is that with Skiel Carrier 5, you take 300 points of damage every time that one of your monsters is destroyed!"

Heat shot from the giant eyesore, and I took a deep breath to center myself.

Life Points Yusei=3300

"You forget the fact that when Bicular is destroyed, I can summon Unicycular in defense mode."

Unicycular-100

His red eyes were starting to creep me out as he laughed, "I place one facedown. What are you going to do to protect your precious dragon this time?"

My deck gave me just what I needed, and I looked at him, "You miss him? Well he's back!"

Stardust Dragon-3300

"Then I summon Turbo Synchron. But he's only coming out to tune up my Unicycular and create Synchro Tuner Formula Synchron!"

Synchro Tuner Formula Synchron-1500

"Once per turn, he allows me to draw a card from my deck. Isn't that handy?"

I sped up, the world starting to blur around me, "But I'm going to use him for an Accel Synchro."

Placido sped up, and everything started shattering around him again, "Are you going to fight fate? You'll never accomplish anything but destroy the city just like your father did when you were a child."

"That was Illiaster's fault, not his. And I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR BLOODLUST!"

The world turned red as I sped up, and I felt calm swirling around me as a new roar exploded out, "I Accel Synchro Shooting Star Dragon!"

Shooting Star Dragon-3300

Nothing existed for a couple seconds except for me and my dragon, and then I was harshly spat out behind Vizor and Placido. Struggling to regain control, I shot forward to ride next to Vizor.

He smiled as he looked over at me, "You finally did it! Good job."

As Shooting Star flew above me, his light filled up the entire city, nearly blinding anyone who looked up at him

"I will not be defeated by such a vile worm! My turn!"

Technically, I didn't end my turn, jerk.

"And I use Speed World 2's effect! I remove 10 Speed Counters in order to destroy your Dragon!"

Taking a deep breath, I spoke, "Shooting Star Dragon can leave the field at any point during my opponent's turn, and when he does that, one monster on your field can't attack. So, you can't attack me."

He glared at my two facedowns, "I end my turn."

"Shooting Star Dragon returns."

A scoff came from in front of me, "That beast isn't going to help. Skiel Carrier 5 can negate the first attack every turn, and Wisel Guard 5 can negate another attack. Next turn you won't be so lucky to avoid my monster."

"Oh, I'm so scared. But you didn't realize that my Dragon has a different ability during my turn. Once per my turn, I can draw 5 cards from the top of my deck. For each one of those that is a tuner, he gets an attack. So the special effects of your two monsters isn't going to help much if I draw over three."

I place my hand gently down on my deck, and my mark pulsed as I drew the first card, "Junk Synchron."

My right shoulder ached slightly as a small part of my back burned.

"Nitro Synchron."

As the words came out of my mouth, pain shot through my gut while another portion of my back burned.

"Debris Dragon."

Yet again my back burned, and I knew that my brother was driving over to find me.

"Effect Veiler."

The pain on my back increased, and I was scared of the dark, but happy to see Shooting Star's light.

"Hyper Synchron."

I felt the love of my family wrap around me as Shooting Star split into five different colors, "Looks like my deck doesn't like you very much."

He paled, "It can't be."

"Red, attack to get rid of Skiel Carrier's effect!"

The red copy shot forward and exploded against the monster.

"Orange, get rid of Wisel Guard's effect!"

It shattered, and I let a smile onto my face, "Green, take out Wisel Guard 5!"

Placido yelled, "Synchros are scum! None are worthy!"

"Yellow, take out Wisel Attack 3!"

The explosion was magnificent, and Placido screamed wordlessly as his life points plummeted.

Life Points Placido=300

"Finally, Blue, I need you to take out Skiel Carrier 5!"

It shot under the monster, and clipped Placido, sending him spinning out of control.

Life Points Placido=0 Defeat!

He exploded, and his top half flew off and skidded as his sword clattered even further past the monument.

Pulling to a stop, I slowly got off as Vizor stopped behind me, "Are you alright Fudo-sama?"

"Yeah, just tired of shadow duels."


A/N: Thanks to Daniel Kazami and Copper001 for reviewing on the original version of this chapter!