Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V re:Scaled

Chapter 6

Tree of Life

"Escuridao's effect! This card gains 100 ATK for every Elemental HERO in my Graveyard! Dark Concentration!"

"So what?! Even with four HEROes in your Graveyard, you still don't have enough ATK to win! I bet you feel like an idiot right now after acting all high and mighty like that!"

Elemental HERO Escuridao ATK: 2500 - 3000

"T-three thousand ATK?! But... but that doesn't make any sense! You only sent four HEROes to your Graveyard! This has to be a trick!"

"You're right, Sora. I only sent four HEROes to my Graveyard."

Eyes widening in realization, Sora's skin went pale and he began to sweat. "Don't tell me that...! No! NO!"

Pulling the bottom card out of his Graveyard, Judai held it up for his opponent to see. Elemental HERO Burstinatrix. The card he'd set on the very first turn of the duel, which Sora had destroyed with Fluffal Leo.

"Lesson three. If you've followed lessons one and two... you've won. Battle. Escuridao attacks directly! Dark Diffusion!"

Sora LP: 3000 – 3000 = 0

As the dust settled from the final attack, it became clear that Sora had vanished. The Professor... no, Leo Akaba probably sent him back to Academia, Judai thought to himself. That... complicates things. Leo is about to find out both who he is and where he is. That, and the fact that Johan's been freed from whatever was controlling him. This is bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, BAD.

'Calm down, Judai,' he thought to himself. 'Leo knows my identity now, but from how Sora and Johan were acting, he suspected as much already. Jeez, and after I went through the trouble of putting the costume and deck together. Still can't believe Sis thought the hood was lame... Wait, that's not important right now. What's important is that we lay low for a while. Then again, that's easier said than done when the whole city, or maybe even country, is-" his thoughts were interrupted by Johan flicking his forehead with his index finger.

"You alright, Judai?" His best friend asked. "You were spacing out again," he said, waving his hands around for emphasis.

"I'm alright. Thanks. You should probably stop waving your hands around like that, though," the brunette grinned.

"How come?" The Crystal Beast user asked as he lowered his hands, seemingly confused.

"It makes you look ridiculous," Judai chuckled.

"What?! Not as much as you did with that cloak and hood!" The blue-haired teen exclaimed.

"What?! C'mon, it looked cool and you know it! The only person who thought it didn't was Sis!" The HERO player yelled, clearly agitated.

"Pretty sure no one aside from her, me, and Selena have even seen you wearing it to begin with," Johan deadpanned.

"Yeah, but if they did, they'd all-" Judai began, before being cut off.

"Not to interrupt, but, uh... who are you guys, exactly? And why is Yuzu with you?" Yuya asked, feeling extremely awkward in the situation he found himself in.

"Oh, sorry! I sort of forgot you were here." Judai explained, blushing as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm Judai Yuki. The lamer over there is Johan Andersen," he began.

"Yeah, that's- What did you just say, Judai?!"

"Moving swiftly along, the girl is Selena. Who're you? Oh, and who's Yuzu?" He finished nervously, as Selena attempted to hold Johan back from lunging at his best friend.

'It's like he's a completely different person compared to just a few minutes ago. How do I even start with this guy?' Yuya thought, hanging his head as he wondered what horrible deed he must've committed to end up like this. 'Was it that time I swapped Yuzu's lunch with a frog when we were kids? I think I still have bruises from her fan. Or when I said Gongenzaka's deck was terrible because it had no Spell or Trap cards? I shouldn't have questioned it! Or maybe the time I dressed up as a clown when I dueled Ishijima?! … Actually, that one was pretty funny.'

"Uh, hello? I asked you a question. I answered yours, so could you answer mine now?" Judai asked, lightly shaking the younger boy.

"Gah! I-it's Sakaki! Sakaki Yuya, sir! I mean - I-!" He sputtered. That was what he said clicked.

"Kinda jumpy, aren't you? Well, it's nice to meet you, Sakaki!"

"It's Yuya Sakaki... Not Sakaki Yuya..." he muttered, pulling his goggles over his eyes as they began to water. 'I am going to have a heart attack before this is over. Seriously.'

He had to find Shun. He had to find Shun. That was what Yuto thought as he trudged along in the icy wasteland of Wonder Quartet. At least the goggles Reiji gave him to replace his old ones kept the arctic breeze from whipping against his eyes. He briefly wondered how the person he took the spot of in the finals would've fared. To account for Yuto's placement in the Maiami Championship, one of the other competitors was randomly chosen and disqualified. Halil, he believed his name was. It was for the greater good, since he was one of the only people here with experience dealing with the Fusion Dimension, but it didn't mean he didn't feel guilty about it. Whoever this Halil was, he must've worked hard to get there, so it felt wrong to him to just take the boy's place like that. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of boots crunching the snow beneath them. Wordlessly, he activated his Duel Disk. Another day, nothing changes, he thought.

The throne room. Possibly the most important room in all of Academia. It was large... imposing, even. Coming in here always gave Sora chills. But here he was, about to come before the Professor. Already a terrifying prospect, but one made even worse by the fact that he failed. His memories had already been probed, meaning there was no way he could try to fudge things and make himself look better. Well, here goes nothing. If he's lucky, he won't get carded.

"Sora Shiun'in. I've been expecting you," the man began, his visage obscured by the shadows of the room. Only a few people knew what he truly looked like, and even fewer knew his real name. Sora... was not one of either of those types of people. For all he knew, the Professor was a horrifying monster with a name only the wind could pronounce. It wasn't likely, but still, it could happen, he thought. Speaking of which, he almost forgot to kneel. He quickly corrected that mistake. "I expect nothing but the truth from you. I'll know if you're lying, and you will be punished accordingly, if you try to deceive me. Now, what happened?"

"I'll start by saying this. It's like we thought. Koyo Hibiki is really Judai Yuki. For one reason or another, he's chosen to fight against us," he spat, still frustrated after his humiliating defeat. That bastard Judai played him like a fiddle. Well, never again. Things will end differently next time, he said to himself. "Unfortunately, we lost Johan. I don't know when he decided to betray us, but the fact is that he did. It's no big deal, though."

"I see. A pity that we lost two of our key players, but we'll have to make do, I suppose," the Professor said to himself.

"What?" Sora laughed. "You have to be kidding me. A single Blue was one of our 'key players'? And a Red on top of that? I didn't know you had a sense of humor."

"Silence, boy," the man commanded. "You speak of things which you do not understand. Do not underestimate Judai because of his rank. As you have already seen, he is well above even the average Blue student. If he so chose, he could even give Yuri a hard time, if not defeat him. Regardless, you failed in your mission to retrieve Serena and capture Koyo, or rather, Judai. Your punishment will be lightened for bringing us valuable intel, however. Once that is done, report to the underground arena. I have arranged a special training partner for you. You are dismissed."

Once Sora left the room, the man pressed a button on his throne to call one of his scientists to the room. Specifically, the Doktor. He had been making strides in using cards to control people as of late, and recent events had the Professor worried. It was time to begin work on one of his contingency plans.

The white-haired man kneeled as he entered the room, making sure to show respect in front of his benefactor. "You called?"

"Yes. It seems that the situation regarding the Arc Area Project has become... complicated. Prepare to begin Project Malum," the dark-skinned man directed as he descended the staircase leading to his throne.

"I take it we have a rat problem, then?" the Doktor cackled gleefully. Any other man would've been unnerved by his behavior, but to the leader of Academia, it made one thing clear. Things would go smoothly from here on out.

"That is correct. I trust that you will aid me in seeing it through to the end."

"Yes, of course," the pale man smiled, licking his lips. "It'll be absolutely... wonderful. But where, oh where, to begin, I wonder?" He laughed darkly.

"Begin with Venom."

"Venom? It makes sense, but shouldn't we save the best for last?" the Doktor asked. "We're in no real rush, after all."

"Get it done. We can discuss the rest afterwards."

"Y-yes. As you command," the scientist said, bowing before exiting the room.

Pulling up archive footage of the Graduation Duel from four years ago on his Duel Disk, the Professor sighed.

'I really didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice. It always pains me to use such difficult methods, but I will if I must. I prefer that anyone from Academia who fights in this war does it voluntarily. The less disappointed she is, the better. She would never have approved of anything I'm doing right now, but if I can bring her back, it will all be worth it. Even if she hates me for it, at least she'll be back. If nothing else, I pray she'll come back to life before he does. The man who took everything from me. From everyone. I'm not blameless, though. I had a hand in creating that demon, whether intentional or not. Why did God take her instead of me? Instead of the billions of innocent people that fell victim to his rampage? Why did I survive? What is it that I'm meant to do?'

"You see spirits, too?"

"Yeah, it's something I've been able to do since... never mind."

"I've always been able to. Kind of makes you wonder, though, doesn't it? Why is it that not everyone can see them?"

"Why do you expect me to know that?"

"I don't. I just happened to think about it."

"Oh. Hey, I just remembered. We never finished that match earlier, did we? Ready for round two?"

"Only if you are. It'll be another tiebreaker."

"Warning you now, I plan on making that two-hundred-and-one wins."

"Not if I have anything to say about it. That two-hundred-and-first win is mine."

"DUEL!"

Another chapter, another months-long wait. Gotta love work sometimes, amirite? And now, without further ado, the Review Response Corner.

Guest 01's Review: Wow. So... ur making a First POV on Judai here? And u r using manga characters, right? I didn't finish the whole anime so I'm not sure but based on my research, some the ppl mentioned in this chap are from the manga. Anyway, nice of you to update again, I thought this fic was dead, but it's a good thing it isn't. Well, that's all for now. Cya. Don't take so long to update next time.

-01, out! •ᴥ•

My Response: Yeah, some of the characters are from the GX manga. Not essential material, given that I'm covering everything needed to understand the manga stuff in reARC-V in reARC-V, but it's a pretty good read nonetheless. Also, nah. I don't usually abandon fics, but I'm a lot busier now than I used to be. Can't update once every three days anymore. Also, I, uh, failed miserably at that last part.