My old family house was pretty much how I remembered it from my Dimension. The house was. The front yard looked like shit. The grass was brown, thick and untidy. Not that I ever did anything to help around the house, it was just a statement. To be fair, I wasn't even sure if my mom and Kobi still lived there. I probably should have done some planning or investigating, instead of leaving Crow's place in a rush while everyone else was unaware. But I couldn't take a moment to think about it. All I could see when I closed my eyes was my counterpart hanging from the ceiling, and while I didn't know for sure what Kobi had done to him, I knew he'd done something, and he had to pay for what he did.

I knew at least, in my Dimension, Kobi eventually got taken to The Facility, and I hadn't heard anything about him since. Taze mentioned him very briefly and told me that fact when we met up for the first time in years at Bootleg, but when Taze found out that I had developed retrograde amnesia thanks to Sayer and the Arcadia Movement, the topic of my stepfather and what he did to get thrown into The Facility was quickly brushed aside.

I wasn't sure if Kobi getting thrown into The Facility was the same case here or not. For all I knew, he still lived here, together with my family, and my mom was none the wiser about what Kobi did to my counterpart. Hell, the house could have belonged to another person, couple or family entirely.

I pulled myself back and pressed against the wall of an alleyway as a drone flew by. From what I could tell by looking at the house from afar, it didn't seem like anyone was home. Nevertheless, I took a few deep breaths in and out, urging myself to stay strong as I walked over to the front door.

I was just about to knock when I hesitated. Someone else could have been living here, I reminded myself. Kobi might not have even lived in the house, and if he did, there was no telling what this Kobi would be like. This was, after all, a different Dimension to my own. This Kobi could have been even more violent and unruly than the one in my Dimension.

I shook my head, once again seeing the corpse of my counterpart as I closed my eyes. I reopened them, tensing my hands into fists as I knocked on the front door, my heart pounding in my chest as I waited to see if I could hear anything from inside.

No footsteps, but I could hear something sliding along the floor, getting closer to the door. The handle rattled and I instinctively stepped back, eyes wide for a moment as the front door opened, my stepdad, Kobi Banzu, standing on the other side.

Only it wasn't quite him.

Don't get me wrong. It was most certainly my stepdad standing in front of me. Same face, same hair, same eyes. But his hands, large and hairy like always, were gripping the handles of a walking frame and his legs, as thin as his arms, looked stiff and awkward.

"T-Tyler?" he asked.

He was disabled.

I wasn't sure what kind of disability he had. It had to be relatively severe looking at the state of him and considering he was walking with a frame. It could have been due to some sort of accident, or just something he was born with in this Dimension, like cerebral palsy.

I almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

A disability didn't make up for the year of abuse I'd suffered from him. Nowhere near did it, and I wasn't going to be denied that because of the fact that Kobi seemed suddenly frail. My counterpart hanged himself because of him, ended his life because it was too much for him to bear!

I reached forward, ripping the walker from Kobi's grip as his eyes widened, the man falling back and hitting his head on the tile floor.

I wasn't sure if he was dead or out cold. It certainly wouldn't have been at all satisfying for me to have him die from a fall. I pushed the walker back into the house, stepping around my stepfather's body as I invited myself inside, closing and locking the door behind me.

I left Kobi lying there for the moment, taking the opportunity to have a look around the house. Kobi seemed to be on his own for the moment – the house was an absolute shitfight – but I wasn't sure if either my mom or Joel were still living with him and just happened to be out momentarily. After all, if there was the potential for either one of them to come back at a moment's notice, I'd obviously have to be quick. That said, there's no way that either Joel or my mom would willingly live in a pigsty, so from the state of the house, I had to assume that Kobi was living alone.

Perfect.

I grabbed the back of Kobi's shirt, dragging him along the cold tile floor into the living room, pulling him up and laying him on a dilapidated couch, a thin line of sun coming through the closed blinds. I could see his chest and prominent stomach moving in and out. He was breathing, which both calmed and irritated me at the same time.

Leaving Kobi momentarily once again, I went into the kitchen, sifting through all the drawers hoping to find something to restrain him with. Thankfully, I was able to find some rope in the third-bottom drawer, which I used to tie Kobi's wrists together. It wasn't a very good knot, to be truthful, but considering the state of Kobi, it honestly didn't even really matter. I could have probably left him untied and he wouldn't have been able to do anything to me.

I sat myself down on the floor, looking up at him as a little bit of drool started to run from his mouth. I sighed, trying to imagine myself in his shoes – coming in at night drunk and beating me, but I couldn't. I admit, I was a bit of an asshole. Quiet, cold, standoffish. I hated him for trying to be a replacement for my real father, Daisuke, but it wasn't Kobi's fault. I knew that now, but I was only a kid back then. I didn't have the… the brain function to understand that. But he should have understood that as well, that I was just a child who, until then, hadn't really experienced any sort of loss or misfortune. I had no idea how to cope with anything, so for him to lash out at me like he did, and keep doing it even when I begged him to stop, there was no excuse.

And he had to pay for what he did.

I waited for several minutes until Kobi's eyelids started to scrunch, groaning softly to himself. His eyes slowly opened.

"Wakey-wakey~" I cooed, Kobi groaning as his eyes slowly focused on me. "There we go." Once again, I kept my voice soft, low and unthreatening. "You had me worried there for a moment. I wasn't sure when or if you were going to wake up."

"What the Hell is…?" Kobi groaned again. "What…? Tyler, what? What are you doing here?"

"I was just in the neighborhood, and I thought I might drop by so that we could have a chat." I told him. Kobi's eyes widened and he looked down at his hands, realizing they were tied together. "Relax," I continued, "I just had to make sure you couldn't do anything to me. After all, we both know how you can get."

"What do you want?"

"I said. I just want to talk." I took a moment to glance around the room, before looking back at Kobi's rough, unshaven face, his eyes uncharacteristically showing fear. "So… where's mom?" I asked. Kobi didn't answer. He just looked at me with that horrible, disgusting face of his. His lack of an answer frightened me, the thought crossing my mind that, in this Dimension, Kobi ended up abusing my mom like he'd threatened to do in mine. "If you've hurt her…"

Kobi grunted, fiddling with his hands as best he could, a foolish, pointless attempt to try and free himself. "Your mother… left two years ago."

I snorted. "Good." Another thought crossed my mind. "And Joel?"

"He's… in The Facility."

"The Facility?" I asked, honestly surprised.

"He was caught… caught selling drugs."

I suddenly laughed. "Oh, that makes sense."

Kobi tried even harder to get his hands free, but was of course unable, groaning loudly. "Help!" he called weakly, as though hoping that someone outside would hear him calling.

I furrowed my brows. "Don't. Don't you dare." I told him. Kobi's breathing became heavier, and as I assumed he'd call for help once more, I roughly grabbed the bottom of his face in my right hand. With my left, I reached behind me, taking one of my shoes off, removing a sock and shoving it down Kobi's throat to gag him. Kobi struggled initially, but ultimately he couldn't do anything to stop me. "There. That's better. Silence." I paused, exhaling slowly, deeply, relishing it.

Relish.

I hadn't eaten in a while, I realized. The only sustenance I'd gotten was the nutrients in that Turbulent Juice stuff that Tim had allegedly pumped me with while I was unconscious, and I hadn't eaten at all since arriving at Crow's place either. With Kobi in his condition, I thought it wouldn't hurt to take a little look through his pantry or fridge while I had the chance. I was owed that at least.

I looked back down at Kobi. "Alright. I'll be back in a second. Don't go anywhere." I said seriously, not realizing that Kobi was literally unable to disobey me. I got to my feet, moving into the kitchen. To be honest, I didn't really have any clue what I was doing, or what I was planning to do with or to Kobi. I knew deep down that the Kobi in this Dimension was not the same one in my Dimension, and that whatever I did would not magically solve any issues I had with my Kobi, but I didn't care. This wasn't about me.

This was about the other me.

There was almost nothing in the pantry, save for some microwave rice and cup ramen, nothing that really interested me. I opened the fridge to find a similar situation. Squeeze bottles of ketchup, mustard, some spring onions, and on the bottom shelf, were various cartons of alcoholic drinks. Quite a selection.

At seeing that, part of me wanted to laugh and cry. It was so like him.

Not knowing or having had any experience with alcohol, I reached in and grabbed one of the cans of Canadian Club, closing the fridge door as I walked out of the kitchen and back into the living room where I'd left Kobi.

He was still there. Hadn't moved at all. "So this is the kind of stuff you drink?" I asked, even though I knew Kobi couldn't reply. "What's the law here for drinking? Eighteen? Twenty? Twenty-one?" I questioned. Kobi screamed through his gag, and I shook my head. "Like you'd know. You don't care about laws." I dismissed, cracking the can open. "After all, if you did, you wouldn't have done half the shit you did to me… and you wouldn't be in this mess. Unfortunately for you, I don't care about laws either." I told him. Kobi yelled through his gag as I took a sip. "Hey, this is actually pretty good." I licked my lips. "It's like Sprite, but it's got a little bit of a…" I couldn't quite describe the taste, but I enjoyed it most definitely. I took another sip, looking down at Kobi. "Hmm? You want some?" I asked, my lips curling into a smile. "Alright," I snickered, pouring some of the can out over his head. Kobi cringed. "Aww… what's wrong? Don't you like being abused? Being made to feel powerless?" My eyes widened in anger and I kicked Kobi in the face, my sock falling from his mouth, stained with blood.

"You-"

"Shut up!" I snapped. "I had to feel like that every day of my life living with you, you fucking cunt!"

"I-"

"No!" I snapped once more, this time punching him in the face. "I told you to shut up!" I repeated, feeling my heart pound in my chest, my breathing shaky and uneven. I felt sick. Even though it felt so good to hit him, I didn't like what I was doing, but I found it so hard to stop myself. I clenched my eyes shut tight and turned away from Kobi, slapping myself across the face several times before screaming vehemently.

My throat burned from my scream and so I downed the rest of the can, throwing the empty can onto the floor.

The air around me was so hot, my body felt like it was on fire, and my blood boiling. I clenched my hands into fists and tensed my body as hard as I could until I couldn't hold it anymore and just released, pushing out a big breath of air as I willed my tension to be expelled along with it. I sighed.

I started to laugh again, and I had no idea why. I got down to one knee, once again forcing my discarded sock down Kobi's throat, making him gag. "Do you realize how insignificant you are? Not even… not even on a planetary scale, no… you're literally nothing… you don't mean anything… you're not wanted or needed… you just exist." I exhaled shakily. "But, to me… you've defined my entire existence, which is honestly pathetic… for both of us. Honestly, how pathetic do you have to be to abuse a child? What? Just because I talked back to you a couple times, as any child my age would have done to a stepparent, that that gave you the right to beat me? Someone who wouldn't even fight back? Who couldn't?! Because you threatened to do the same thing to their mother?" I shook my head. "And what do you have here now? Nothing. Ever since I left here, your whole life has gone to shit, so it looks like… I defined your existence too…" I shook my head once more, and my eyes drifted to a bookcase in the corner of the room. Recognizing a collection of Little Golden Books on the bottom shelf, I smiled. "I remember these… when I was younger, my dad, my real dad, used to read those stories to me before I went to bed. Did you used to read to Joel?" I asked before chuckling. "No, you were probably too drunk to even turn the page. One story I remember was 'Little Red Riding Hood'. I'm sure even a drunk like you remembers that one, right? The one with the wolf and the grandmother? I used to think you were the wolf and I was the old decrepit grandmother, but now… I'm the wolf, and you made the mistake of letting the wolf in the gate." I turned back to my stepdad. "But I'm not a bad wolf, Kobi. I only want one thing from you: an apology. You give me that and I'll be on my way. You'll never have to see me again. You can count on that." I removed the soaked sock from Kobi's mouth.

"Help-"

I struck Kobi across the face with what I felt was appropriate and reasonable force, and then grabbed his face, forcing his lips together. "No-no-no…" I quickly hushed. "You don't say tha~at, you just say 'I'm sorry'." I smiled, releasing his lips and then wiping my hand on my sleeve.

Kobi looked at me, the once-powerful man and bringer of all my pain and suffering now petrified. "N-no… I can't…"

I frowned. "You can't what? Apologize for what you did?!" I snapped, shaking my head and sighing, trying desperately to keep myself calm. "That's alright. I wasn't expecting this to be easy…!" I forced the sock back into Kobi's mouth. He tried to bite me so I struck him in the face again, this time a little harder. "One way or another, father… I will get an apology from you… but maybe I just need to break you a bit more." I gently took Kobi's left hand into my right, gradually applying pressure as I pushed the hand back towards his arm. Kobi screamed in pain through his gag, and I forced his hand back as much as I could until I heard a satisfying pop and I let Kobi's hand go, limply dropping out in front of him.

Kobi let out a squeak as I smiled at him with false endearment. I then ripped the gag from Kobi's mouth as he coughed hoarsely with his chest. "There we go…" I cooed. "Now… 'I'm sorry, Tyler. I should never have abused you.'" I instructed him to say.

Kobi stayed silent, apart from his ragged breaths. "I'm…" he started, "I'm not… I'm not going to apologize… I can't… I didn't do anything wrong…!"

"God, you're stubborn!" I rolled my eyes. "All I'm asking for is an apology. Two words – 'I'm sorry'. That's it, that's all you have to say!"

"Tyler, please, you don't have to do this to me…" Kobi begged weakly.

"Just say you're sorry!"

"I'm not apologizing for what I did. I loved you, Tyler."

I froze.

"What…?" I asked softly.

Kobi swallowed. "A-and I know you loved me too…"

A shallow breath escaped me as I faced the terrible realization that my counterpart hadn't just been abused like I was. No, his Kobi had raped him. Though it had only been a haunting dream for me, for my counterpart, it was a bitter and disgusting reality. I didn't blame my counterpart for committing suicide. I couldn't. It was his escape from the trauma. If I was in his shoes, I wouldn't have even made it to the Satellite… or the Commons. I would have hanged myself from the ceiling fan in my bedroom.

He was braver than I was, to keep it together for so long.

He was stronger than me too, because I couldn't keep it together anymore.

I pulled out Tim's pistol and shot Kobi in the head, who collapsed back against the couch, blood splattering onto the wall behind him.

I was tired. I had to sleep. Or maybe I didn't. It was a weird feeling, to have killed my stepfather, who wasn't really my stepfather. My breathing was short, sweat caked onto my form, stinging my eyes. Tim's gun felt heavier than before.

I was surprised at how much effort it took me to open the door to Crow's place. My feet dragged along the floor as I stepped inside, alone. There was no sound I could hear, so I felt I needed to be quiet too. I went back into my room. Neither Tim nor Eric were there. I put the gun back on the nightstand and stripped, feeling in both body and mind that I needed a shower.

The shower was in the same room as the bathroom, and was clear, see-through, no curtain. I threw a clean towel over the side and got in, turning on the water, hoping the water would be able to hide my tears and disguise the pain once it all inevitably started to run.

The water burned my cold skin, but I didn't adjust the temperature right away. Not until I saw steam start to rise up around me. Tears flowed from my eyes until I couldn't tell what had come from me and what had come from the showerhead.

What even mattered? He wasn't my real stepfather, so why did I kill him? Why did I feel like it mattered? The Tyler in this Dimension never even knew me, and yet I felt obligated to do something. I wasn't going to kill him, it wasn't my place to kill him, but I was glad I did.

It was eerie how similar and yet so different our lives were. One moment, one decision changed everything. I shouldn't have been shocked at that. If Luna hadn't have kissed me, we wouldn't have started a relationship, and if I hadn't have teamed up with Zone, we wouldn't have had to end it.

And just because I killed this version of my stepfather, that didn't really change anything. My counterpart here was still dead. And all the other Dimensions. Did they have a version of Kobi in them abusing a version of me too? How many versions of me were there? And what did it matter that I managed to kill one Kobi?

It didn't.

"Hey, whatcha doin'? Havin' a shower?" Tim asked. I hadn't even heard him come in. In my stupor, my retarded brain had forgotten to lock the door.

I pulled the towel down and around me, getting it soaked as it covered my privates, the water continuing to run. "Wh-wh-what are you doing in here?!" I stammered. "Can't you hear the water running?!"

"O'course I can. You're having a shower." Tim leaned on the sink, looking at me as though he didn't even care or know that I was naked.

"Yeah, well it's rude to walk in on someone in the shower!"

"What? Is it because you're naked and I'm not? Do you want me to get naked too-"

"No!" I blurted.

"Shame." Tim shrugged. "Anyway, that tomato-haired kid told me that they're trying to get an army together to help fight against the people of the Fusion Dimension."

I sighed. "Yeah, Tim, I don't-"

"Apparently they're going around sealing people inside cards and syphoning their energy for something. It's terrible! We need to do something about it!"

I narrowed my eyes. "You were perfectly content to let the Kmart Dimension do its own thing. Why do you want to interfere in what this Fusion Dimension is doing?"

"'Cause these guys aren't sticking to their own Dimension. Yuyaas said they're going around to other Dimensions and just attacking people completely unprovoked. That's terrorism, and terrorism is wrong!"

"Look, Tim: I just want to go back home to my Dimension. I honestly don't care about what some randoms in another Dimension are doing. They don't care about me, so why should I care about them?"

"That's how they feel about you. They don't care. That's why they're doing what they're doing, and if you ignore them and pretend that they're not there, eventually it's going to reach a point where you won't be able to ignore them anymore. The world is made up of things that we like and don't like; you can't pick and choose what you like and just get rid of everything else. That's ignorant. If the Fusion Dimension's going around to other Dimensions then it's only a matter of time before they get to your Dimension. You think the Fusion Dimension's not gonna come for you? Get rid of you and everyone you care about? I might not be around to save you, and you might not have my gun either."

I was about to yell at Tim, tell him to shut up, when I realized what he'd said, and froze, the warm water of the shower feeling much colder. "W-w-w-what…?"

"Did it feel good? Taking someone else's life?" Tim's tone wasn't stern. It was almost a casual question to him, and Tim seemed to know that as well. "You know, it's a slippery slope."

"You don't know wh-wh-what you're… talking about." I said, and I immediately wished I didn't.

Before I could even react, Tim reached through the glass, shattering it and wrapping a hand around my neck, hoisting me up and pinning me to the back of the shower.

"I don't know what I'm talking about?!" Tim asked incredulously. "I've killed more people than you could imagine. And I've done things that would really give you a reason to try and kill yourself. I've killed for fun, defense, revenge. Hell, just because the pay was good, but once a killer, always a killer. And there are nights I wish I wasn't. You took someone else's life. I hope you can live with the guilt."

"I don't feel guilt-" I squeaked out, Tim tightening his grip around my neck.

"Bullshit. You'd better feel something now, or else you'll never stop. Who was it? Who'd you kill?"

"M-my stepdad…!" I croaked.

"Your stepdad?!"

"In this Dimension, Kobi… raped my counterpart. That's why he killed himself. I couldn't let Kobi live."

Tim's expression softened, and I felt his grip immediately loosen. His eyes averted mine, wandering aimlessly around the room, until he finally said "I'm sorry…" and let me go. Tim turned and walked to the doorway, leaving me in a shower with a water-drenched towel, surrounded by bits of broken glass. "I would have done it too…" Tim sighed. "Just… don't let it happen again…"

Tim left me the bits of broken glass to clean up after I'd finished my shower. Even though I was clean, I still felt like shit.

What was I supposed to do? I was trapped in an unknown land with no way of getting home, surrounded by strangers, and forced to face the realization of my own insignificance. Kobi's life didn't matter, my life didn't matter. How could it when there were potentially infinite versions of us? What did it matter if one of us met our end?

I just felt so lost and alone. It was at times like this that Luna would say something to get me out of my funk. Something like 'I don't care how many versions of you there are, Tyty. There could be a million of you, but it wouldn't matter to me. You're you and this you is the only one that matters to me! I like you just the way you are!'.

I missed her so much. But of course, Luna probably didn't feel that way about me now.

I put the rest of the glass shards into the trash and sighed, keeping the soaked towel wrapped around my waist as I headed back into my room. I was half-expecting Tim to be in there, but he wasn't.

I closed the door and walked over to the closet, interested to see the kind of clothing my counterpart liked and wore. I opened it to find the contents of the closet split in two, one side presumably belonging to Eric and the other to me. I presumed the right side was mine because the left side had a framed picture of Eric along with a couple other people in it resting on a shelf that side, while the right side shelf was empty.

"Damn…" I muttered. The me in this Dimension had some stylish shit. None of it was honestly the sort of stuff I'd wear, but that was really only because I'd never gotten an opportunity.

I pulled a white French cuff shirt out, along with a pair of navy blue jeans and a belt. I wasn't really sure if I could pull off the 'belt look', but if there was ever a time in my life that I could have, it would have been now, thanks to my slimmer figure and improved physique. I also grabbed a blue vest jacket, along with an old pair of Air Muscle-looking shoes. Probably just cheap knock-offs. Not that I really cared.

I dressed myself in a hurry, worried that Tim would walk in on me in another compromising position, before dusting myself down and tidying up my hair in the mirror.

"Hey,"

I straightened up, noticing Eric standing by the door, his frame just barely visible in the corner of the mirror.

I kept my eyes focused as I fiddled with my hair. "Eric, hey," I spoke softly. "I, um… I didn't know you were here…"

"Shinji, Crow and I went off a little earlier to go and get some more food for the kids. We couldn't find you – didn't know where you were, but we saw you'd left your Duel Disk lying around, so we knew you couldn't have gone far." Eric explained.

I glanced over at my Duel Disk, propped up against the wall. I walked over to it, picking it up before slotting the gauntlet over my left hand. "I hope you don't mind me keeping it." I said. "I mean, I know in the note he left, the… the other Tyler had planned to give it to the kids, but…"

"Ty, as far as I'm concerned, it's yours." Eric smiled. "I haven't told anyone else, by the way."

"I'm not going to tell anyone either." I assured him. I noticed him staring at me with an expression I couldn't discern, so I turned to him. "What's up?"

Eric's eyes veered from mine. "Those clothes suit you. You look good in them." Eric shook his head. "Anyway, if you want to eat anything, you'd better come now. Otherwise there won't be anything left. The kids are eating pretty much everything."

I smiled. "Thanks, Eric."

Eric and I made our way from our room out into the kitchen. As Eric had said, Amanda, Frank and Taren were stuffing their faces with chocolate and cookies, while Tim was eating some baked beans from a tin. "Hey, slow down or you'll choke." Shinji told the kids.

"No we won't!" Taren said, his mouth full of chocolate.

"Hey, Tyler, good to see you're back. You gonna eat or what?" Crow asked. "Better get in before the kids eat it all."

"Alright," I said, walking over and taking some crackers from atop the pile of food and nibbling at them.

"You know, you're allowed to eat as well." Shinji said to the kid in the light blue hoodie. The kid looked at the food but didn't move. Shinji sighed, handing the kid a donut. "Here, you have to eat something." He smiled.

Through Shinji's simple offer of food, I was reminded so much of my time when I first came to the Satellite. I was cold and alone, with some of the residents not exactly being friendly towards me after I told them I came from New Domino, but Yusei and Crow… they were the exact opposite. They were so welcoming to me, a stranger, an outsider. They took me back to Martha's orphanage and asked her if I could stay, and of course Martha, being the kind woman she was, accepted. They didn't have to give me anything, but they gave me everything, and now Shinji and Crow were doing the same for Yuya and the others, as well as Tim and me.

"Crow, I never said…" I paused, finding it difficult to say what I wanted to say, both because of my stutter, and because I'd never said it to my Crow when I had the chance. "You're a really good friend, and I'm really th-thankful that I know you…"

I noticed Crow get a little flustered and he smiled. "Oh, th-thanks, man…"

"Is this one okay?" Shinji asked Yuya, motioning towards the hooded kid.

"Riley's…" Yuya paused, sighing. "I don't know. I wish I did." Yuya lowered his voice just a little. "To be honest, I've never seen Riley smile, or even really speak."

"Maybe she's on the spectrum?" Tim suggested, mouth full of beans. "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

I nearly choked. "'She'?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's a girl, Tyler." Tim told me.

"What?"

"Trust me. Remember the checkout chick at the Kmart…" Tim paused, "place… it's like that…" he said.

"What? But-"

"Trust me." Tim repeated. "I've been around people all my life. I can tell."

"How can you tell?"

"I just can!" Tim shouted. "Besides, it shouldn't matter what someone's sex or gender is. It's what? Twenty-twenty-two now, right? Come on, Tyler, get with it."

"I wasn't…" I sighed. "Oh my God…"

Tim and I had seemed to have gone off on our own conversation, as Crow and Yuya seemed to be talking about something completely different. I don't even think they were paying attention to us.

"I just want to bring smiles to everyone through my Entertainment Dueling, and make everyone feel happy." Yuya said.

"In my experience, the best way to make people happy around here is to make sure they're fed." Crow said, closing his eyes.

"Doesn't matter how much you're fed." Yuya argued. "Without a reason to smile, it's not real happiness."

"What are you saying?!" Crow snapped. "That you can only be happy if you smile? That doesn't make any sense!"

Shinji put a hand to his forehead. "Crow…"

"It's obvious that you've never had to worry about where your next meal's coming from." Crow said to Yuya, a stern voice unlike anything I'd ever heard from him before. "You probably shouldn't talk about things you don't understand."

"What the heck do you mean 'I don't understand'?!"

"How many days have you gone without food?" Crow asked. Yuya's expression faltered. "None, right?" Crow continued, "Of course, I bet if you did, it was your choice to. We don't have a choice here, we're lucky to have what we have, and for us, food comes first." Crow sighed. "Honestly, your way of thinking just proves you've had an easy life."

"That's not true!" Yuya insisted. "I-"

"Alright then," Crow sighed once more, "we'll get another opinion. Hey, Tim! You're impartial. What's more important: having enough food to eat, or smiling?"

Tim swallowed a mouthful of beans. "I don't really care, but I think you guys are oversimplifying things-"

"I never said smiling was 'more important'! I said that smiling was happiness!" Yuya shouted.

"That makes even less sense! What the Hell does that mean?!" Crow shouted back.

"Why don't you both just settle it with a Duel?" Shinji suggested.

"Yeah! Okay! And then whoever wins is who's right!" Crow smiled.

"Fine with me! I'll show you the power of my Entertainment Dueling!" Yuya shouted, leading the way outside.

"Alright, kids! Follow me and place your bets!" Crow cheered, Amanda, Frank, Riley and Taren following him outside as well, clutching various bits of food in their hands.

"What's going on?" Tim asked.

"I think Crow and Yuya are gonna Duel." I told him.

"That card game, right?"

"Yep. You want to watch?"

Tim grunted, getting up from his chair. "Yeah, might as well see what all the hype is about."

"I really just wanted them to stop talking…" Shinji cringed, himself, Tim, Eric and I quickly leaving Crow's place and heading over to the vacant lot of land next to it, Yuya and Crow staring each other down as the kids sat against the fence.

"So is this a thing where I can pick it up as I go along, or is this gonna be really complicated?" Tim asked.

"Um…" I pondered how to say it. "It's probably easy once you get the hang of it, but, I mean, you're probably not going to know what's going on. It looks cool though."

"Alright! Are you guys ready? You might be able to catch a glimpse of a Pendulum Summon!" Yuya shouted.

"What the Hell's a Pendulum Summon…?" I mumbled.

"Wow! What's that?" Amanda asked.

"Show us!" Taren shouted.

"What an ugly child…" Tim muttered, looking Taren's way as we approached.

I nudged him. "Don't be mean…"

"Look at him!" Tim whisper-shouted. "His nose is a hamburger!"

"What are you saying?"

"Same with that Eric guy." Tim moved his head to motion at him. "Look at that face, it's just so…" Tim shivered, "ugh…"

"You know, you were making fun of my weight before you went ahead and basically violated me to change it. Does it make you feel good about yourself when you put other people down, Tim? Make you feel like a big man?"

"I hadn't really thought about it like that…" Tim said sullenly, his expression suddenly brightening, "but yes, yes it does!"

"I'll show you the power of food!" Crow shouted, pointing at Yuya. "You stubborn fool!"

"I'll make you see that smiling is the most important thing in the world!" Yuya shouted, he and Crow activating their Duel Disks.

"Oh, sweet! Boosto Gear!" Tim shouted.

I turned to him, confused. "What are you even saying?"

"Duel!"

[Crow: 4000 LP]
[Yuya: 4000 LP]

"I Summon Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame in Attack Position!" Crow shouted as an almost anorexic-looking bipedal bird with giant black wings appeared on his field [ATK: 1600].

"Ah! What the heck?!" Tim asked.

"That's the Monster on the card." I explained. "The Duel Disk uses Solid Vision technology to create a three-dimensional hologram of the Monster and has it appear in the real world."

"Cool." Tim leaned forward, placing his head in his hands as he looked on with interest.

"Actually, this is Real Solid Vision!" Crow smiled. "Check it out." Crow moved forward, ruffling the feathers of his Blackwing as my eyes widened, expecting it to pass through the hologram.

"W-wait, so that… that thing's a real Monster?" I asked.

Crow turned to me. "I thought you knew that, Tyler…"

"It was a replacement for the Duel Link Solid Vision System." Eric explained, cutting Crow off, which I was thankful for. "Remember, your Duel Disk's got access to both modes on it."

I looked down at my Duel Disk. "O-oh yeah! I knew that." I lied.

"I don't know what half of you are talking about, but this looks pretty cool." Tim actually sounded interested, but of course, his statement about Real Solid Vision being 'pretty cool' wasn't. If my experience Dueling Devack or Lester had taught me anything, it was that Shadow Duels or anything similar, where real damage is a factor and a Duelist could potentially hurt themselves or die was a bad idea. And this Real Solid Vision thing made it sound like every Duel in this Dimension was basically a Shadow Duel. The old Akiza would eat her heart out, I thought.

Wait… did Akiza even exist here?

"Anyway, getting back to the Duel, from my hand, I activate the effect of Blackwing - Bora the Spear! Since I control a Blackwing Monster other than it on my field, I'm allowed to Special Summon him!" an impressive-looking creature of red, yellow and blue feathers appeared on Crow's field, holding a black lance in its grip [ATK: 1700]. I had to say, it was very comforting to see Crow using Blackwings. "Lastly, I'll Set one card and end my turn."

"Alright! My turn!" Yuya drew before turning to look our way. "Ladies and gentlemen! Are you ready?!"

"A-are you talking to us?" Frank asked, his mouth full of potato chips.

"Yes I am," Yuya bowed. "I wish to invite you all to see a splendid performance from my Performapals! I Summon Performapal Friendonkey in Attack Position!" My eyes widened as a shifty-eyed-looking donkey appeared on Yuya's field [ATK: 1600]. "And, when Performapal Friendonkey is Normal Summoned, I can also Special Summon a Monster. So, from my hand, I Special Summon Performapal Silver Claw in Attack Position!" a wolf with a yellow and pink bowtie around its neck appeared in front of Yuya [ATK: 1800]. Next, I activate the Spell Card Smile World!" Yuya cheered, different-colored smiley faces quickly taking up the field.

"Tyler, what does that do?" Tim asked.

"I don't know, Tim." I hushed.

"I will tell you!" Yuya hyped. "This card increases the Attack Points of all Monsters by one hundred for each Monster on the field!" [Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame: ATK: 2200] [Blackwing - Bora the Spear: ATK: 2100] [Performapal Friendonkey: ATK: 2000] [Performapal Silver Claw: ATK: 2200]. "Now I enter my Battle Phase! My Silverclaw Attacks your Bora the Spear! But, when my Performapal Silver Claw declares an attack, all Performapal Monsters I control have their Attack Points increased by three hundred until the end of the Battle Phase!" [Performapal Friendonkey: ATK: 2300] [Performapal Silver Claw: ATK: 2500]. Yuya's wolf pounced atop Crow's winged-beast, and shredded him with a scratch of his glistening silver claws.

[Crow: 3600 LP]

"So, you basically just have the creatures fight each other?" Tim asked.

I nodded. "More or less. The goal is to get your opponent's Life Points to zero. Crow just lost four hundred Life Points because of the difference in Attack Points between his Monster and Yuya's and you're not even listening, are you?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"And now! Performapal Friendonkey attacks Shura the Blue Flame!" Yuya pointed towards Crow's Monster and Friendonkey snickered, taking Crow's other Monster down as well.

[Crow: 3500 LP]

"I end my turn, so now the effect of Smile World ends and the Attack Points of my Performapal Monsters return to normal." Yuya explained, the smiley faces fading away [Performapal Friendonkey: ATK: 1600] [Performapal Silver Claw: ATK: 1800]. Yuya tapped his shoes together and bowed theatrically. "That's the end of act one."

"My turn!" Crow shouted. "I activate Cards for Black Feathers, banishing my Blackwing - Fane the Steel Chain from my hand to draw two cards from my Deck." Crow's Fane the Steel Chain appeared briefly on the field before all but its wings disappeared, and Crow drew from his Deck. "Lastly, I'll Set one Monster in Defense Position and end my turn."

"Anyone hear sirens?" Tim asked.

"Time for act two!" Yuya drew. "I Summon Performapal Salutiger in Attack Position!" a wide-eyed tiger dressed in a red military uniform, adorned as well with a yellow and pink bowtie, appeared next to the rest of Yuya's Monsters [ATK: 1700]. "And now I'll enter my Battle Phase and attack with Performapal Silver Claw! And you know what that means! Now its effect activates, and all my Performapal Monsters gain three hundred Attack Points!" [Performapal Friendonkey: ATK: 1900] [Performapal Silver Claw: ATK: 2100] [Performapal Salutiger: ATK: 2000]. Crow's Set Monster, Blackwing - Decay the Ill Wind [DEF: 1000], was destroyed.

"Yeah, those are definitely sirens. I think we should be concerned." Tim said, looking around.

Yuya pointed at Crow, who grimaced in the face of his Monsters. "Performapal Friendonkey! Attack directly!" he shouted, and Crow was knocked to the ground by the shifty-eyed donkey.

[Crow: 1600 LP]

"And now Performapal Salutiger! Attack directly!"

And just as Crow got to his feet, he was knocked down once again.

[Crow: 0 LP]

"Alright!" Yuya cheered, his and Crow's Monsters fading away. "That's the power of smiles and happiness!"

Crow picked himself up and dusted himself down. "I just got dead draws with my Cards for Black Feathers. If I hadn't, I-"

"So this is what you guys get up to when we're not around!"

We all turned to see two of Yuya's friends walking up to us. "Sylvio! Celina!" Yuya shouted.

"Where have you two been?" Shinji asked.

"We went into the City to see if we could find any clues on Zuzu's whereabouts, as well as see if there were any strong Duelists who could join us."

"And?"

Celina shook her head. "Nothing. Supposedly, the best Duelist in Neo Domino is that person Jack Atlas, but as for Zuzu…" Celina sighed.

"Okay, I'm certain we're surrounded by police." Tim sighed, lying back against the fence. "Oh well."

"What are you going on about, Tim?" I asked. I looked around and realized that we were all surrounded by Sector Security officers.

"Oh, shit!" Crow shouted.

"Told ya so, Slimy Joe…" Tim muttered.

"What do you want?" Eric asked.

One of the officers walked forward. "We're here to place you all under arrest for harboring these four fugitives. It would be in your best interest if you all came quietly." He stated with a rough, gravelly voice.

"I'm not going down without a fight-" Shinji said, before he was knocked out by a Sector Security officer.

"Shinji!" Crow shouted, before getting restrained and cuffed himself.

"Anyone else want to try and resist?" the officer asked. I panicked, unsure of whether to try and fight back or not. I looked to Tim for guidance, but he was just staring off into space, looking at an anthill, his arms conjoined and outstretched, freely allowing an officer to cuff him.

Even though the last time I Dueled was on the Ark Cradle against Akiza and Joel, and I had no idea how to use my counterpart's Deck, I wasn't just going to stand down. "Fuck this." I said defiantly, activating my Duel Disk.

"You really think you can stand up to us?" the officer laughed. "Alright…" he shrugged, tapping on his helmet. "This is Officer Kurihara apprehending Commoner Tyler Nochi. Let's see what you've got!"

"Ty!" I heard Eric's voice, and then a bunch of other Sector Security officers after his.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"If you want to get to him, you'll have to take us down first!"

Then, the officer who I assumed to be Kurihara spoke up. "It doesn't matter. I'll take care of this Commoner scum in no time!" he said proudly, activating his Duel Disk.

"Duel!"

[Tyler: 4000 LP]
[Kurihara: 4000 LP]

"I'll start!" I said, drawing a card to begin my turn. My eyes widened as an alarm started blaring, the sound coming from the speaker on my Duel Disk. I looked down at the screen to see the words 'Illegal move. -2000 LP' on the screen.

[Tyler: 2000 LP]

"That's just like you Commoner scum, trying to cheat the system." Kurihara remarked.

"What the Hell are you talking about?! All I did was draw a card!" I protested.

"Just make your move!" Kurihara snapped.

I looked down at my hand. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to win with half of my Life Points cut from the get-go, but I at least had to try. "Alright, I Summon Chocolate Magician Girl in Attack Position!" I shouted, a young aqua-haired Spellcaster appearing on my field, two bat wings protruding from her back [ATK: 1600]. "Next, I activate her effect, allowing me to discard Dark Magician Girl from my hand to the Graveyard to draw a card." I placed Dark Magician Girl into my Graveyard and drew a card from my Deck, smiling. "But she won't be staying there for long! I activate the Spell Card Dark Magic Veil! By paying one thousand Life Points, Dark Magician Girl returns to my field!"

[Tyler: 1000 LP]

The black magic circle appeared in the sky, radiating a powerful luminescent glow as Dark Magician Girl appeared next to her younger companion [ATK: 2000].

"Not bad, for a Commoner…"

"I'll end my turn by placing two cards face-down." I slid Dark Horizon and Magicians' Defense into play, leaving Apple Magician Girl and Magical Dimension in my hand.

"My turn." Kurihara drew a card from his Deck, but no alarm went off, so I wasn't quite sure what the deal was with mine. "I play the Spell Card Raigeki! All monsters you control are destroyed!" he shouted, thunder bolts raining down from the sky and obliterating my two Magician Girls. "Now go! Search Striker!"

I had no time to prepare myself as Kurihara's Monster, some sort of cybernetically-enhanced super soldier, appeared on his field [ATK: 1600] and shot me in the chest with one of his guns.

[Tyler: 0 LP]

"Well," Tim began, moving his shoulders about, "you got your ass kicked, didn't you?"

I sat beside him, in the back of a Sector Security van, along with Crow, Shinji, Eric, Yuya, Celina and Sylvio. The eight of us had all been restrained, weird glowing red handcuffs around our wrists. In spite of this however, Security hadn't confiscated our Decks or Duel Disks. Mine was restrained in a glowing red bubble instead due to its size.

I turned to Tim. "Excuse me?"

"Well you said you'd played this game before, so I assumed you'd, I don't know, be good at it. You were talking it up before, saying it was your Dimension's bread and butter."

"I've n-never had a game where I lose half my Life Points on the first go. Besides, I put up more of a fight than you did. You let them capture you." I reminded him.

"Ever heard the expression 'don't let the wolf in the gate'?"

In spite of the predicament I found myself in, I felt like laughing. "I have."

"And what do you think they're doing?" Tim sighed, resting back against the van.

"This is ridiculous!" Sylvio shouted. "Let me out right now, or my father will hear about this!"

Tim turned to Sylvio. "Your last name better not be Malfoy…" he warned, "I've had enough of you lot to last me a lifetime."

"What?!" Sylvio seemed puzzled by Tim's statement, as was I, though I didn't say anything.

"Where are they even taking us?" Yuya asked.

Crow looked up from the floor and into Yuya's eyes. "The Facility."