"I draw!" Devack shouted, Luna throwing her hand out immediately after.

"I activate my face-down, Gift Card!" Luna shouted. "Normally, this card would increase your Life Points by three-thousand, but thanks to my face-up Bad Reaction to Simochi, your Life Points will decrease by that amount instead!"

Devack was thrown back against the wall of fire he'd created when he'd initiated his Shadow Duel with Luna and me. His body was then pushed forward, and he dropped to the ground.

[Devack: 3000 LP]

"Nice work, Luna!" I encouraged. "Only a little more now and we will have won!"

Devack struggled to his feet. "You really think so…?" he asked softly, drawing.

"I do." I told him. "We've got almost twice as many Life Points as you, your field is empty, and thanks to my Prohibition, you can't Summon your Earthbound Immortal! Face it, Devack: this is your last turn!"

Devack looked down at the card he'd drawn and smiled. "You're right… this is my last turn…! I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Prohibition!" he shouted. My eyes widened and I braced myself as a cyclone blew my card away. "Now…! I activate the effect of my Field Spell – Mausoleum of the Emperor: I pay two-thousand Life Points to call forth my Earthbound Immortal Cusillu without needing to Tribute!"

[Devack: 1000 LP]

"No!" Luna shouted.

The carving of a disembodied heart appeared in the sky, the purple flames surrounding us intensifying, before out of the shadows, the form of a massive black monkey with shining yellow indents took shape on the field [ATK: 2800].

Luna dropped to her knees, looking up at the terrifying creature with fear. "No… we were so close…!"

"We can still win this…!" I assured her.

"Really, you can't…! I activate Wild Nature's Release!" Devack threw another card onto his Duel Disk. "By targeting my Earthbound Immortal Cusillu, it gains Attack Points equal to its Defense Points!" He smiled. Devack's Monster roared, its already gargantuan form becoming even larger, edging Luna and I further back towards the purple fire [Earthbound Immortal Cusillu: ATK: 5200]. "Now… it's time for you to die! Earthbound Immortal Cusillu, attack!"

There was nowhere we could run. Cusillu's new size prevented either of us from getting very far. My blood went cold as Cusillu's hand came for Luna and I. I stepped in front of Luna, arms outstretched as I called back to her. "Luna! Stay down!" I ordered, hoping Cusillu's large digits would be unable to grab her comparatively tiny frame if she stuck close to the ground.

"Very well… you can be first, non-Signer… the child can watch you change!" Devack laughed callously as Cusillu grabbed me, wrapping one of its hands around my body and squeezing me as I screamed out in pain.

[Tyler & Luna: 0 LP]

"Tyler!" Luna cried, and then suddenly, Devack's behemoth of a Monster let go of me, dropping me to the ground.

I landed with a thud as my cold, stiff body hit the fractured Earth, my eyes still, unblinking. My whole body felt sore, and I picked myself up off the ground, my breath returning to me as I began to breathe quite heavily, not in the sense that I was tired, more like… excited.

I looked down at myself, admiring the outfit I'd become clothed in – an outfit like the rest of the Dark Signers, and the Dark Mark that had found its place on my right arm, an etching of a purple spiral.

My breathing grew heavier until I found myself chuckling, turning to Luna, who screamed in horror at my new form. A demonic cackle gutturally forced itself from my body as I – a Dark Signer – faced off against Luna.

My back ached as I sat up, finding myself having been hunched over the desk in my hotel room, the new Deck that I'd spent the whole week working on in a mess in front of me.

I turned to look over at Tim, the redhead sleeping peacefully in his bed. I was amazed that even after the week we'd had, and with the first day of the Friendship Tag Cup starting tomorrow, Tim was able to get a good night's sleep.

I however wasn't, and not just because of my nightmare.

Both mine and Tim's eyes were drawn to the door of our hotel room as someone knocked on it. I got off my bed and moved over to slowly open the door.

My heart skipped a beat as I saw a KC Guard standing with some tablets in his hands on the other side. "This is all the documentation for the Friendship Tag Cup. The High Council has asked that you read through and accept the terms and conditions of your entry and fill out the entry form and Deck list. I'll be back in eight hours to collect the information on behalf of the Council." He explained, handing me two tablets.

"Th-thank you very much," I bowed, as he did in return, moving presumably to the next room. I closed the door and walked back over to Tim, handing him one of the tablets. "Did you get that? We've got to fill out all the info on here, and they're going to collect it later."

"Hey, ain't no thing, but a chicken wing, mamacita! We got plenty o' time to do that!" Tim eased.

"I know that eight hours seems like a lot of time, but the day will be over before we know it, and the tournament's next week. We should probably make sure that we know what's going on and that, you know, you've got all the rules down."

Tim waved me off. "I got it. I got it. One Normal Summon a turn. Don't Normal Summon in face-up Defense Position. Don't try and Normal Summon high-level Monsters without Tributing. Don't activate Trap Cards straight from your hand. Don't let your Life Points go to zero. Don't pass go. Don't collect two hundred dollars."

"Hah." I gave an unenthused laugh. "Funny." I said, even though it wasn't. I focused my attention then on the tablet, and all the documents it had on it. Most of it was stuff I already knew or assumed to be the case. The tournament, named the 'Friendship Tag Cup', was a Tournament that was originally created to ease the tension between the Commoners and Topsiders. This year it would be a Tag Duel Tournament, and the winning team would be given the right to challenge the current champion, Jack Atlas, to a Duel, and if they should win, a new champion would be crowned.

I started to feel uneasy however as my eyes scanned the next line, stating that participants taken from The Facility would be made to return upon losing or retiring from the tournament.

"Um… Tim…?" I said cautiously. "So… we play, we get the boat… we lose, we go back to The Facility… what happens to the boat?" I turned to Tim, the redhead sorting through his Deck and taking out and adding in different cards, presumably filling out his Deck list at the same time.

"What? Since when was that the deal?" he asked, looking up and over at me.

"Apparently from the beginning~" I said, my eyes wide, voice starting to shake.

"Alright, alright, don't lose your cool…" Tim muttered. "Instead of playing to play, we play to win. If we win, we get the boat. If we lose, we don't. That's all. No biggie." He shrugged.

"N-no biggie?!" I snapped. "Tim-"

"Tyler, there's no point stressin' about stuff you can't change, alright? There's plenty of real things to be stressed about, like getting a kidney stone or the water turnin' the frogs gay. Just sort your Deck out, and I'll sort mine out. We got this, don't worry."

"W-well, wh-what about Crow and-"

"No one cares about Crow!" Tim dismissed. "Look, just agree to the terms. I betcha no one's read 'em anyway. I didn't."

"Well, yeah, obviously! You didn't know we'd lose the boat if we lost-"

"We're not gonna lose-"

"How can you be sure-"

"Because I won't let us lose." Tim said firmly, looking me dead in the eyes. "You think I don't know how much this means to you? Do you really think I'd mess this up? You're not the only one with stuff on the line here! I don't wanna be here anymore than you do! I'd like to get home as well!"

"R-right… sorry…" I apologized, feeling like shit. I averted my eyes from Tim's and went back to reading the documents, even though I could feel him continue to stare at me. Everything else that I read seemed pretty straightforward, until I read another line that made my body jolt:

The Real Solid Vision system would not only be set to on, but also set to maximum. The cards would be real, and their powers potentially fatal.

"What the Hell is this…?" I whimpered.

"What?" Tim asked.

"They're going to kill us… th-the Real Solid Vision is going to be on, and it's going to be fatal. The Monsters and Spells and Traps are going to be real and… lethal…!"

Slowly, a smile started to appear on Tim's face. "Now that's more like it!" he said, rocking his head forward, scooping his Deck up, shuffling it and slotting it into his Duel Disk.

I exhaled lengthily, tidying up the pile of cards on my desk before getting up and heading into the bathroom.

I closed the door, hoping to block out as much of the sound as I could so as not to wake Tim up, before turning the light on, running some water and splashing it over my face.

I studied my eyes in the mirror, irises brown, scleras white. If I had become a Dark Signer, my scleras would have turned black, and my irises would have barely been visible as a result. My face was still bruised where Joel had hit me, which in spite of having spoken to Tim about Joel a couple nights before, I had completely forgotten about. I hadn't even been able to feel it anymore, but it could still be seen on the surface, unlike the wounds he and Kobi had given me, which were buried far below the surface.

I sighed and turned away. I couldn't think like that, I told myself. Kobi and Joel were gone, from this Dimension at least, and the two of them back home were none of my concern.

I turned the faucet off, my eyes drifting from the mirror, and when they refocused again, I saw that Apple Magician Girl was standing (floating rather) behind me in her Spirit form. I gasped a little from the shock, scrunching my face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she cooed, "I just sensed you were up. Are you okay?"

"Yeah… just had a… just had a nightmare…"

"A nightmare?" Apple Magician Girl asked. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's just…" I sighed, "it's just someone from my past… do you ever have that sometimes? You barely think about something, someone, and then one day they just randomly pop into your thoughts?"

The Duel Spirit shook her head. "Not for a long time."

"Well it's just… I-I-I don't know if you heard me talking about them before, the other day – the Dark Signers and Yliaster – I don't know if they're even a thing here, but… one of the Dark Signers, Luna and I we… we Dueled against him, a-and in real life we won, but… I had a dream… and in that dream, we lost and I… I changed…"

"What do you mean?"

"I became a Dark Signer, and Luna saw, and she was just so… afraid… but I wasn't. Like, even in a dream, where your brain is constantly trying to tell you that what you're seeing and experiencing is real, you know, if it was real, I-I should have been horrified too… but I just started laughing… like I was glad… like I didn't care if it was real or not… like I was glad to be evil…"

Apple Magician Girl licked her lips, obviously trying to think of what to say. "While I'm not quite sure what you mean by Dark Signer, what was it that you think caused you to laugh?"

"I was already laughing, but… when Luna screamed, I just lost it. I mean… she hates me, doesn't she? Why would she not? And, you know, it doesn't matter that I rescued her from the Spirit World, helped her save Ancient Fairy Dragon, stopped her from falling into the Underworld, and did my best to protect her from Devack, Sly and Lester, or that I was thrown into another fucking time stream and had my brain messed with by a God of Destruction. No, all that mattered to her was that I was wearing 'bad guy clothes'. I didn't even want to wear them, you know? I would have much preferred a Pink Floyd shirt, or, you know, the kind of stuff I've got on now." I sighed. "I mean, God, I love her so much, but it's just, like… everything up until that point didn't matter to her anymore. How am I supposed to feel about that?"

"There's not a right or wrong way to feel about anything. In some ways, I'd like to get to know you better, so that I can understand how you're feeling, but in a lot of other ways, I know who you are, because I've been with… the other Tyler. I can see in your heart that you love this Luna girl very much, and I'm sure that even if she may not feel the same way now, at some point she must have, if you and her have been through so much together. Does… does she know that you're here now, trying to get home?"

"She thinks I'm dead…" I said softly, my eyes drifting from hers.

Apple Magician Girl moved closer to me, gasping. "Of course, you said that before, didn't you? In The Facility… that your friend brought you back to life… sweetheart…" the expression on her face was clearly a pained one, and she moved closer still as if to try and hug me, but her form just passed through my own. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" she whispered.

"I left things in such a terrible state, a-and I realized that, when I saw Jack here for the first time. He… we used to be friends, i-in my Dimension. He was the last person from my Dimension that I actually spoke to. Everyone else… I just left letters for…"

My Duel Spirit's breathing was heavy, sounding almost distraught. "Go and get your Duel Disk, activate it, and Summon me… please…"

The poor girl was shivering, and while I had no idea why she wanted me to get my Duel Disk, I did as she asked, leaving the bathroom and quietly making my way over to my Duel Disk, slotting my old Deck in before heading back into the bathroom.

The moment I placed her card on my Duel Disk after activating it, she leapt forward and wrapped her arms around me. "Ah…! H-hey…" I flinched for a moment but eased up almost straight away.

Apple Magician Girl exhaled shakily, her breath warm, soothing. She moved her hands up to cup my face and leaned forward as I felt her lips gently press against my forehead. "You poor thing… to have everyone you care about think you're dead…" she muttered. I looked up at her, and she down at me. "Tyler," she breathed, "I promise you…" she held me tighter, looking into my eyes, "I will do whatever I can to make sure you get home…"

"Thank you…" I continued to gaze deep into the Duel Spirit's eyes, and I found myself taken by her. Not in a lustful or sexual sort of way, but a reverse-maternal one. It was a weird sort of thing to try and describe, but, I just felt a connection with her that I hadn't felt in a long time. It was hard to feel that way with my own mother due to her obliviousness regarding Kobi and Joel, and the last time I'd spoken with her, she practically disowned me. And to be honest, I hadn't really felt it with Martha when I was living at her orphanage in the Satellite either, but that wasn't her fault. I'd pretty much closed myself off by then, and I imagined the same could have been said for my counterpart… which was probably why Apple Magician Girl was going so much out of her way to help me now, because she couldn't help him before. "Thanks, Ap-Apple…" I shook my head. "I-is there another name I can a-address you by… with…? At least when we're not… Dueling? It's just… calling you 'Apple Magician Girl' wh-when we're speaking like this… just sounds a little… weird…" I muttered. "Please don't… I-I-I-I don't mean to offend you-"

Apple Magician Girl's face broke a smile, the sadness in her eyes still present, but she seemed to find the fumbling of my words endearing, whereas I on the other hand found it incredibly annoying. "It's okay, Tyler, don't worry!" she assured me. "It's just…"

"What?"

"I… I've never even told the other Tyler…"

"O-oh… I'm sorry. If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to-"

"No, I… I do," the Duel Spirit paused, her mouth hanging open for a little while. "Fizdis…" she finally said.

"Fizdis?"

"That was my name… in another time…"

"It's a pretty name." I smiled.

"Thank you…" she smiled back.

I suddenly broke into a much wider smile. "What did I do to deserve someone like you? I mean, ever since we met, y-you've done nothing but look out for me, a-and then last week when I told you and the others that I was going to make a new Deck, you were just like 'okay, that's fine'. You didn't get angry or anything-"

"Tyler," she moved to touch my face once more, cupping my head in her hands, "the first time I saw you was when you were looking at… the other Tyler and the… state he was in," she mulled over her words like it was still difficult for her to talk about, "I didn't know who you were or why you came to us, but I remember how shocked you were to see him, and how you turned to your friend and asked if he could be brought back to life… and when he said he couldn't, you asked if he could be buried… I knew then that you were someone I could trust, and that I could give my strength and support to you… I just had to pick the right moment…"

I noticed she'd been referring to my counterpart as 'the other Tyler' and not 'her Tyler', which made me feel like she'd accepted me as hers. My body jolted as I realized that my quest, my desire to get home, back to my Dimension, was one that I hadn't really spoken to her about. And it was something I should have, because it involved her, it affected her.

"Hey, um… I should have asked you right from the beginning… do you… do you want to come back to my Dimension with me? I-I mean, I just assumed that… that you would come with me, but… this place is your home, so I'll understand if you and the other Spirits would rather stay here, you know, once we get the boat back and everything…"

"Of course, I'll come back with you…" she smiled. "I know your friend has already offered to help you with the rest of your friends, but I'd like to help you there as well, if you'd let me."

"Th-that would be absolutely…" I was almost at a loss for words, "thank you so much, Fizdis. I'd really appreciate it…"

"You're welcome, Tyler…" Apple Magician Girl beamed at me. "I promise that things will be okay…" she sighed, "anyway, I'd… better let you get back to sleep, hey? Big day tomorrow."

"Yeah, I probably should get as much rest as I can…" I breathed, "i-is it okay if I… take your card off my Duel Disk now?" I asked.

Apple Magician Girl nodded quickly. "Of course, it is…" she breathed in kind. I removed her card from my Duel Disk and her physical form faded away, her hands and the rest of her body phasing through mine. The warmth I'd felt from her body gave way to the cold pre-morning air and I slipped her card back into my Deck, turning my Duel Disk off.

I turned back to her, her Spirit form watching me. I pointed my thumb back at the bathroom door. "I'm going to-"

"Mhm…" Apple Magician Girl nodded, as though nothing more needed to be said. I opened the bathroom door, the two of us stepping out as I made my way over to my bed, clambering on in. "Good night, Tyler…" she cooed.

"G'night, Fizdis…" I mumbled, "And, hey, um…"

"What is it, sweetie?"

"I… just wanted to say… thanks for… looking after the other Tyler… all those years… I'm glad he had someone like you looking out for him…"

"Yeah…" she whispered, "me too…"

Vapor trails covered the sky, the sound of fireworks blasting overhead, eclipsing the cries and cheers of the audience in the Seto Kaiba Memorial Circuit, and drowning out my very thoughts.

A large hologram of a woman 'stood' in the center of the stadium, addressing the crowd, wearing a red and white cowgirl outfit and clearly very enthusiastic. "Here we are at the Friendship Tag Cup!" she announced, easily working the crowd into a frenzy. "Get in sync with your partner and reach for victory!"

I followed beside Tim, the two of us making our way out to the Duel Field. I was worked up as well, though not in the same way as the crowd, and Tim on the other hand was completely unfazed so far. "You can do this…" I had to whisper to myself.

"And here's the first Duel! Tyler 'the Terror' Nochi and Tim Ihansha, versus Gongenzaka 'Strong' Noboru and Vokah Iaku!" The MC, Melissa Trail, called, her hologram pointing towards us.

My eyes widened and I turned to Tim. "Oh my God…! You didn't…!"

Tim grinned, showing his pearly whites. "That's your name." He smiled.

"S-s-so when you said you wanted to look at my form before…" I sighed, shaking my head. "You couldn't help yourself…"

Across from Tim and I stood two very well-built Duelists. The first was a young man, who, despite the roundness of his face showing youth, was quite tall and intimidating. Well he would have been if it wasn't for the unsettling combination of his hair styled in a pompadour, white jacket and wooden sandals. I recognized him as one of the boys who'd escaped The Facility with Yuya, although we hadn't really had any interaction with each other beyond that.

The second had a rather large nose, with thick eyebrows and a piercing stare, a little bit of stubble on his face, his hair styled into a ponytail. He was obviously older than his teammate, and much more serious too, or at least dressing seriously. He wore a winter zip vest around a tight long sleeve shirt and camouflage pants with steel-toed boots. His Duel Disk looked to be similar to the ones I'd already seen from this Dimension, though for some reason his had a Tokyo Girls' Style keychain hanging off the side.

"Pleased to meet you." The tall, Elvis-looking one said. "I'm Gongenzaka, but you can call me Gong. Let's have a good Duel." He smiled, activating his Duel Disk.

"My country was ravaged by the wars. Everything I had was destroyed. I started over with nothing, climbed my way to the top. And now I'm here – the Tag Cup of Friendship." The shorter one said, his voice drenched in a heavy European accent. One that, much like Sherry's (before she told me what it was), I couldn't identify. Vokah activated his Duel Disk with a sense of vigor. "Let me show you how we Duel in my country."

Tim chuckled, activating his Duel Disk. "You're funny."

I turned to Tim. "Tim, remember, we need to win. If we don't-"

"I know, I know." He cut me off. "You don't need to tell me. I got this. Chill, a'ight?"

I was sure we could win. I'd made sure that Tim was full-bottle on the rules for Tag Dueling, explaining differences in Life Points, turn order and card control. But a tournament like this was unlike anything either of us had done before, and there was absolutely no room for mistakes.

"Alright…" I sighed, being the last to activate my Duel Disk.

"Let the first Duel of the first round begin!" Melissa cheered once again, hyping the crowd.

"Duel!"

[Tim & Tyler: 8000 LP]
[Gong & Vokah: 8000 LP]

"I'll start! Appear! Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter!" Gong shouted, a short stubby machine taking up a place on his field [DEF: 600]. "I am able to Special Summon him if I have no Spell or Trap Cards in my Graveyard. Next, I Set one Monster in Defense Position." Another card appeared on Gong's field. "This concludes my turn."

"Damn. This guy's all serious. But he doesn't look it. Anyway, I guess it's my turn…" Tim muttered, drawing a card and then looking over his hand. "What to do… what to do…" he mulled.

"Tim, remember that the tournament rules state that players should take three m-m-minutes at most for a turn. D-d-don't waste time." I warned him.

"I'm just lookin'…" Tim continued to mull over his hand for a little bit. "Okay, I think I got it. I play the Spell Card Pot of Greed. This allows me to draw two cards from my Deck." The Pot of Greed appeared on Tim's field, before exploding, showering Tim in gold light as he drew two more cards. The audience started to boo, but Tim seemed to pay them no mind and continued with his turn. "Next, I activate the Spell Card Graceful Charity. This card allows me to draw three cards from my Deck, and then discard two from my hand to the Graveyard." Tim turned to me. "Right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's right."

A beautiful angel appeared on Tim's field, showering him with multicolored light as Tim drew three cards, and then tossed two cards – another Graceful Charity and a Backup Soldier – into the Graveyard. "Next, I Normal Summon Witch of the Black Forest in Attack Position." A violet-haired three-eyed witch appeared on Tim's field, mumbling incantations to herself [ATK: 1100]. "Alright, next is the Battle Phase, right?" Tim once again asked me. I nodded. "Okay, I attack your Superheavy sandwich press thing with my Witch of the Black Forest!" The witch's third eye widened, a pulse of energy ripping through and destroying Gong's Monster. "Then, I go to my Main Phase 2, Set three cards face-down and end my turn."

I nodded once more as Tim's Set cards appeared on the field, impressed with how clear and concise he was with his turn, the naming of Gong's Monster aside.

Vokah twitched, drawing a card from his Deck. "Let me show you how we Duel in my country. Proceeding with activation, Spell Card Six Samurai United! Now, ready your position, Shien's Footsoldier!" a monkey wearing a kasa and feverishly gripping a pike appeared on Vokah's field [ATK: 700]. I was briefly reminded of Zeman's monkey troop from my visit to the Spirit World, where I rescued Luna. I found myself mouthing Luna's name to myself as Vokah then Flip Summoned Gong's Set Monster, Superheavy Samurai Flutist [ATK: 500]. "Now, prepare for battle, soldiers. Entering Battle Phase, I attack with Shien's Footsoldier!"

Vokah's monkey tried to run Tim's witch through with his spear, but the footsoldier found itself frozen from the witch's power, and the monkey was vaporized.

[Gong & Vokah: 7600 LP]

"Wow, you're an idiot." Tim chided. "I literally just started playing this game, and even I know that the card with the highest number wins the battle, you bloody moron."

Vokah smirked, "That is true, my narančasta, but Shien Footsoldier's effect activates, letting me call forth his superior in combat, Hand of the Six Samurai!" a hooded dagger-wielding woman took the place of the footsoldier on Vokah's field [ATK: 1600]. "Now, I add a Bushido Counter to my Spell Card," [Six Samurai United: Bushido Counter: 1], "and continue my attack with Hand of the Six Samurai. Try to stop this!"

Vokah's new Monster dashed forward faster than my eyes could see, and before I knew it, Witch of the Black Forest had been easily dispatched.

[Tim & Tyler: 7500 LP]

"Hoćeš još?" Vokah asked.

I turned to Tim. "Tim, remember Witch of the Black Forest's effect."

"Oh yeah! I get to add a Monster that has less than fifteen-hundred Defense Points from my Deck to my hand." Tim quickly went through his Deck, pulling out a card and then showing the card to myself, our opponents, and the audience: Exodia the Forbidden One.

"Oh, my goodness! Tim is attempting to Summon the legendary Exodia!" Melissa shouted.

Vokah's eyes widened. "Exodia… Nemoguće…" Vokah's eyes then narrowed. "Alright! Sada ćete ga dobiti! Comrade, Superheavy Samurai Flutist, attack directly!"

I twitched as Tim was struck by Superheavy Samurai Flutist's attack, Tim himself completely unmoved.

[Tim & Tyler: 7000 LP]

"Not bad…" Tim muttered.

"I finish my turn with two face-downs. Tvoj red sada." Vokah threw two more cards onto the field.

I swallowed audibly, looking down at the cards in my hand as I drew. I had nothing in my hand that could take down Hand of the Six Samurai, but I could protect myself from her, at the very least. "I'll Set two cards face-down." I said, Setting Magic Cylinder and Trap Jammer, "and then… I Set a Monster in Defense Position." I placed Royal Magical Library [DEF: 2000] face-down too. "Th-that's it from me."

"Then it's my turn! Draw!" Gong shouted, drawing a card. "Take the field! I Normal Summon Superheavy Samurai Scales!" Another robotic-looking samurai appeared on Gong's field, this one looking much sturdier than his flutist [ATK: 800]. "Next, I activate the effect of Superheavy Samurai Scales: If he is Normal or Special Summoned, I'm able to Special Summon a Superheavy Samurai from my Graveyard! Return to the field, Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter!" Gong's Monster reappeared on the field in pristine condition [ATK: 300]. "Next, I Special Summon another Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter to my field in Defense Position!" [DEF: 600]. "And now, I tune my Defense Position Trumpeter with my Scales! Rise your war cry, divine ogre! Show yourself. On this battlefield of segregation! Synchro Summon! Now depart for the front! Level six! Superheavy Samurai Ogre Shutendoji!"

My eyes widened as a massive behemoth of red and yellow, its left hand clutching a spiked club in its massive fingers, appeared on the field [DEF: 2500].

"Alri~ight!" Tim cracked his neck and brought his hands to his sides. "Here we go! Now it's gettin' interesting!"

"Nice work, comrade," Vokah smiled.

Gong smiled back, before turning to face Tim and me. "I activate my Shutendoji's effect! Since there are no Spell or Trap Cards in either mine or my partner's Graveyards, I can destroy all Spell and Trap Cards you control."

"Shit!" I shouted.

"I think we might need to censor that." I heard Melissa say, Gong's Monster bashing its club on the ground, the shockwaves from the hit wiping away Tim's face-down cards along with my own.

"No, no, no!"

"Chill out, dude, we're all good. We've got a Monster sittin' pretty in Defense Position." Tim seemed not at all phased by the fact that we had no backrow.

"Next, from my hand, I equip Superheavy Samurai Soulshield Wall to Shutendoji, raising its Defense Points." A green shield with serrated edges appeared on the field, attaching itself to the right arm of Gong's Monster [DEF: 3700]. "Now, I enter my Battle Phase and activate Shutendoji's final effect, allowing him to attack while in Defense Position, applying his Defense Points during damage calculation!"

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! We are so screwed!" I yelled.

"The battle formation is ready! Attack, Superheavy Samurai Ogre Shutendoji!" Gong shouted. My Royal Magical Library was defeated in an instant, crushed under the weight of Shutendoji's club. "Now, fight, Flutist!"

Now it was my turn to take the brunt of a direct attack. I braced myself, tensing every muscle in my body I could, using my Duel Disk as a shield. While I didn't end up taking as much physical damage as I could have, the force of the attack was still enough to knock me to the ground.

[Tim & Tyler: 6500 LP]

Gong threw his hand out the moment I'd gotten to my feet. "Go, Hand of the Six Samurai! Attack directly!" he shouted. I took an uneasy step back as Vokah's Monster withdrew her dagger from its case and threw it right towards my head. I flinched, Tim reaching out and catching the dagger between two of his fingers as though he didn't even have to think.

[Tim & Tyler: 4900 LP]

Tim looked at the dagger for a moment before throwing it back to Hand of the Six Samurai, who caught it in its case. Just watching everything transpire made me feel so out of my depth.

"I activate Superheavy Samurai Flutist's effect! I Tribute him to Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Blue Brawler!" Another massive tank of a Monster, this one reminding me of Yusei's Junk Warrior, appeared on Gong's field [DEF: 2000]. "Your turn."

I was just so overwhelmed. I couldn't take it. "Oh my God, oh my God-"

"I'm your God, Tyler! And I'm telling you to shut up!" Tim cut me off, and I of course stopped talking right away. I was amazed, to be honest. I was freaking the fuck out, but the only thing Tim was irritated by was me. I watched him draw a card from his Deck. "I play Monster Reincarnation, discarding another Monster Reincarnation to add Royal Magical Library from Tyler's Graveyard to my hand. Then, I Set a Monster and end my turn."

"No! Do something else!" I pleaded, absolutely desperate.

"It looks like Tyler the Terror is the only one feeling the terror!" Melissa remarked.

"That's not funny!" I snapped.

"I thought it was funny." Tim said, giving Melissa a thumbs up, the MC blushing.

Vokah smirked, drawing a card from his Deck. "Are you ready? It's time I end this skirmish. Proceeding with activation, Equip Spell Legendary Ebon Steed! This increases my Hand of the Six Samurai's Attack Points by two hundred." I watched as Hand of the Six Samurai jumped up as a black horse appeared underneath her as she landed, sitting astride it with fierce determination [ATK: 1800]. "Prepare for battle, comrade, Shutendoji! Attack!" Once again, the Set Royal Magical Library fell to Shutendoji's massive club. "Hand of the Six Samurai, uništiti!"

Hand of the Six Samurai rode towards Tim atop her steed. Tim smiled. "Bring it on!" he shouted, taking the Monster's blow like it was nothing.

[Tim & Tyler: 3100 LP]

"Turn end." Vokah bowed to us.

"Damn it…" I muttered, drawing. "I need something here…" I whispered. I drew Defender, the Magical Knight, but wasn't sure how useful he would be if he only ended up being destroyed by Shutendoji. "I activate Monster Reincarnation! I discard Defender, the Magical Knight to the Graveyard to add Tim's Witch of the Black Forest to my hand." I said, doing exactly that. "Finally, I Set a Monster in Defense Position and place one card face-down. That's all."

I honestly felt sick. I knew what the ramifications would be if we lost, but it seemed as though I'd completely underestimated the kind of skill that these tournament players had, and more importantly, overestimated the kind of skill that I had. I knew I wasn't the best Duelist, but I helped defeat the Dark Signers, for fuck's sake! That had to count for something! I clenched my hands into fists. I couldn't give up. I couldn't lose.

"If the shoe was on the other foot, and you gave me mercy, I'd take that as an insult, so I hope you don't mind if I, Gong, attack with all my power!" Gong shouted. "My turn! Draw!" Gong drew and I cringed. "Appear! Superheavy Samurai Swordsman!" Another massive Monster appeared on Gong's field [ATK: 1000]. "Now, let's battle! Shutendoji, attack!"

Tim's witch was reduced to a bloody pulp under the weight of Shutendoji's club.

"I activate Witch of the Black Forest's effect, adding Apprentice Magician from my Deck to my hand." I said, revealing the card to Tim and our opponents. My line of thinking was that if I was lucky enough to get this down on the field, it'd buy us a couple more turns, and I'd hopefully be able to find something to get rid of Shutendoji.

"Alright, Hand of the Six Samurai, direct attack!" Gong shouted. Once again, Vokah's Monster charged forward, this time towards me. I flinched, cowering like a fool as I closed my eyes.

I felt myself get pushed to the ground as I heard Tim grunt.

[Tim & Tyler: 1300 LP]

"Pathetic…" Tim muttered.

I opened my eyes to find that Tim had taken the attack for me. "Tim…" I whimpered.

"Attack, Superheavy Samurai Swordsman!" Gong shouted. Tim once again intercepted Gong's Monster's attack, protecting me from any physical harm.

[Tim & Tyler: 300 LP]

Tim turned to me with steely-eyed conviction. "The Hell's the matter with you?" he asked. "Get up." He told me. I shakily got to my feet, my entire body swaying from side to side with each heavy breath I took. "You want to win, don't you?" he asked me softly.

"Of course." I replied.

"Then why have you given up? We still have Life Points left." Tim pointed out.

"We… w-we can't-"

"Rule number one of battle: there's always a way to win." Tim assured me. "Do you trust me?"

"T-T-Tim…!" I groaned.

"Do you trust me?" Tim repeated, staring into my eyes.

I willed myself to stop shaking. "Yes… yes, I do."

"I end my turn." Gong announced.

Tim nodded, drawing a card from his Deck. Looking at it for a few moments, Tim observed the Monsters staring us down before sighing. "I pass my turn."

I could have sworn that my heart stopped as Tim said those words.

Vokah brought a hand up and clenched it into a fist. "This Deck was constructed with superior Slavic engineering, and I will show the people of Neo Domino City that my country is not to be underestimated. And I shall do this by winning this here Tag Cup of Friendship. You put up a struggle, Nochi, narančasta, but it's time I end your suffering-"

"Look at your hand…" Tim smiled. Vokah looked down, his expression dropping at the sight of the cards in his hand.

It was then that I realized that the cards I'd been facing had vanished from the field. Gong's Shutendoji, Blue Brawler and Swordsman, along with Vokah's Hand of the Six Samurai were nowhere to be seen.

"Huh? Wh-what the…?" I mumbled.

"Pickar ti maternal! What is this?!" Vokah shouted.

"N-no way… it's Trap Hole…" Gong muttered.

"Trap Hole?" I asked.

Tim started chuckling to himself as I looked on at our opponent's field. All five Spell and Trap Card Zones had been filled, but every single card was face-down. I watched Vokah start to breathe just a little bit quicker, removing his Deck from his Duel Disk. An alarm sounded, seeming to come from the speaker on Vokah's Duel Disk.

"No! It's all Trap Hole!" Vokah shouted, sounding legitimately horrified as he dropped his Deck, a shower of purple cards dropping onto the arena floor. I gasped as I saw that each card that had landed face-up was indeed a copy of Trap Hole.

I turned back to Tim, who was now laughing heartily at the fact that our opponents' field, and by the sound of things their Decks as well, had somehow completely changed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I… don't know how to explain this, but it seems as though the cards on Gongenzaka's and Vokah's fields have completely changed." Melissa seemed to be at a loss for words as she addressed the crowd. "We're not sure exactly how, but… there doesn't seem to be an error with the Duel System or the Duelists' Duel Disks, so we have to permit this as a technically legal move." Melissa swallowed. "Vokah, however, has removed his Deck from his Duel Disk of his own volition, and his Duel Disk has activated the cheat prevention alarm. Vokah will be disqualified from the Duel and the team will be penalized."

[Gong & Vokah: 5600 LP]

"Jebim ti mater!" Vokah shouted.

The audience seemed to be at odds, a low uneasy murmur making its way through the crowd as Melissa continued. "If Gongenzaka wishes to continue the Duel-"

"No…" Gong admitted sadly. "I, Gong, cannot win with no teammate and only Trap Hole. I surrender."

[Gong & Vokah: 0 LP]

"W-well then…" Melissa once again sounded unsure of what to say. "By default, the winners are Tim Ihansha and Tyler Nochi!" She cheered, most of the crowd cheering only out of obligation, the majority likely being just as confused as I was by what had transpired.

Tim turned to me. "Told you we'd win. You just needed a little faith."

"What the Hell did you do?" I asked softly.

Tim smiled at me, tapping his nose with his free hand and saying nothing. The sound of footsteps caused me to turn forward towards Gong who was standing across from us, Vokah feverishly picking up his cards. "Congratulations," Gong said, "I don't know how you did it, but… I'm not going to complain. If the Duel System didn't encounter any errors, then… just… congratulations." Gong spoke calmly.

Tim smiled again. "Check your Deck." He said simply, Gong doing as he was asked, a smile crossing his face.

"My cards…"

"Back to normal." Tim smiled.

"Tim and Tyler will be advancing to the second round, which will begin tomorrow. For now, we'll move on to the next Duel of the first round. Would Thomas 'Dinosaur' Hakozaki and Slade Burodi like to come forward? They'll be Dueling Adam Gureka and Shanon Horitsu!" Melissa's cheerful voice once again swept across the stadium, my eyes on Vokah and his cards that had returned to their original states.

Once Vokah had collected his cards, Tim and I made our leave from the field, Gong and Vokah leaving from the opposite end of the arena.

"You still haven't told me exactly what it is you did back there." I said to Tim.

"You put in a lot of effort. I didn't want to see you waste it." Tim said, turning to me. "We could have won even without it. In another timeline, I would have assembled Exodia on my first turn and we would have won anyway. It's just a shame that in this one, I wasn't so fortunate, and I had to use my God Power so we could win. I mean, the only reason I held back was to see how strong they were-"

"God Power?" I asked.

"Don't think about it." Tim instantly dismissed his own statement. "Just know that I won't be doing that again."

Tim's insistence that I didn't think about our Duel with Gong and Vokah was completely insane. It was all I could think about. One moment we were on the verge of losing, and the next, Tim magically swapped the cards our opponents were using with multiple copies of Trap Hole. What concerned me the most about the whole thing was that, aside from the crowd and Melissa's reaction, no one seemed to have a problem with it. I thought we would have been stopped or questioned by KC Guards or the High Council after leaving the arena, but we weren't. We were allowed to return to our room unimpeded. It was like they wanted us to win.

I sighed, sitting up on my bed and looking over at Tim, who just stared out the window of the hotel room. "So… you called yourself a God before…"

"Yep…"

"Care to explain what you meant?"

Tim drew his eyes away from the window. "What do you define as a God? Someone with powers beyond mortal comprehension? Someone who has control over death? Someone who, really, can do whatever they want, without worrying about things that 'matter' to 'other people'?"

"Well then… what kind of God are you? What's your title?"

"Title?" Tim asked.

"Yeah. Are you a God of Destruction? Creation? Preservation?"

"As I said, I can do whatever I want. And that – the Ultimate Freedom – is what makes me a God." Tim dismissed. "Anything more specific than that is just an unnecessary label, really."

"Right…" I turned away, as my thoughts drifted to that of the Duel. Looking down at the new Deck I'd made, I couldn't believe how close I came to losing.

No. In my eyes, I did lose. The only reason we won was because Tim used some voodoo black magic bullshit. I might have gotten a bad draw, and Tim might have gotten a bad draw, but in our circumstance, we shouldn't have let that happen. We should have prepared for all contingencies and fine-tuned our Decks to make sure that we'd never have any dead draws.

It was my fault. In terms of Dueling experience, Tim was a novice, while I'd been playing since I was a kid, and at least had some decent experience under my belt from Dueling opponents like Devack, Roman, Rex, and Lester. I should have guided Tim better, I should have been stronger. But instead, I cowered, and Tim had to end up protecting me.

"We're never going to get home…" I muttered.

"Sure we will." Tim assured me.

I shook my head. "No… no we won't. Not together anyway. On your own, you might have a chance, but I'm just dragging you down." I placed my Deck down beside me and clenched my fists, tears welling up in my eyes. "I'm never going to get home, and I'm never going to see Luna or Yusei or anyone else again…"

"Are you crying?" Tim asked. "Why are you crying?"

"Because I can't do this, Tim, okay?!" I snapped, feeling tears run down my face. "There was, like, a little part of me that thought I could do this, but it's obvious that I'm way out of my depth here. We only won because of… whatever the Hell it is you even did. Without you, I would have lost."

"You get rattled pretty easily." Tim stated like it wasn't obvious. "Listen, I might have only just started playing Drooling Monsters, but if it's anything like Snap, Poker, or Uno – which, by the way, I'd kick your ass at Uno – it's not just about the cards you have. There's a certain amount of luck in it too. Yeah, we might have been a little unlucky with our draws, but that's literally just the luck of the draw."

"Yes, but we shouldn't be put in the position where we need to draw the right cards to make a decent play. I should have adjusted my Deck better so that no matter what I drew, I'd be able to make a decent play. But our Deck lists are locked in now, and it's too late to change anything."

"Dude, did you see that Nintendoji thing? How it destroyed all our Spell and Trap Cards? That's pretty damn overpowered."

"Says the guy who stacked his Deck with multiple copies of Pot of Greed and Graceful Charity." I pointed out.

"Yeah, is that why the audience was booing?"

"I'm not too sure about here, but where I'm from, the general consensus is that cards like those are broken, and it's considered good form to not use them in a Duel."

"That's stupid." Tim told me. "If we want to win, we have to use whatever cards we can to do so. You do want to get home, don't you?" Tim asked the familiar question, turning to me.

I nodded, wiping away my tears.

A thought popped into my head. Grabbing the remote from the table, I turned on the television which was automatically tuned to the station broadcasting the Friendship Tag Cup Duels.

"What's up?" Tim asked.

"We should see what Decks our opponents are using." I told him. If we couldn't make any more adjustments to our Decks, then the least I could do was check out what Decks our opponents used so we'd have some idea of what we'd be going up against in the next round. After all, we went in blind against Gong and Vokah and we weren't prepared, but like this, we were able to see what cards they had in their Decks, how they played, and hopefully, that would help us if we had to face either team the following day. The screen showed an aerial shot of the Duel Field where all four participants could be seen.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Tim agreed.

My eyes widened as the camera panned to one of the competitors.

"It's him…" I found myself saying.

Slade Burodi.

I want you to get on your knees and beg me not to kill you.

I knew the name sounded familiar. He was one of the guys going for their Duel Runner Licenses the same time as Akiza. Only this version of Slade was different. Instead of having brown hair with red extensions, this one had blond hair with blue extensions. His face was a little different too. This Slade had a cleft lip and deep blue eyes instead of a dark gray.

Even so, Slade's altered appearance failed to rid the growing sickening feeling in my stomach. Slade did attempt to kill Akiza, after all, and he threatened to kill me. As far as I was concerned, he wasn't punished as harshly as he should have been. A broken arm was nothing. Akiza could have been paralyzed or killed from what he and his friends tried to do.

"He a friend of yours?" Tim asked.

"No."

"Oh." Tim seemed to sense the venom dripping from my voice. "Well him and whoever his partner is seem to be dominating those other two."

"That's Thomas Hakozaki." I said, as a close-up of said Duelist popped up on the screen. "I don't know the guy personally, but in my Dimension, he's a pro. Apparently, he trained under Rex Raptor, who was one of the Legendary Duelists before my time. I don't know if that's the case here but judging from the fact he's using Dinosaur cards and has the nickname 'Dinosaur', I'm sure it's safe to assume it's a similar thing here."

"You think they could be trouble?"

I nodded. "Trouble for me at least."

"Don't sweat the small stuff." Tim grinned, patting me on the back.

Whatever Monster it was that Thomas had on his field ripped through Gureka's Sentry Soldier of Stone. I looked to the side of the screen where a sidebar showed information on the Monster, a Dinosaur-Type called Ultimate Conductor Tyranno. That was all the information I could get before the screen switched to show Gureka's and Horitsu's Life Points fall to zero.

"Damn… I wish I got a better look at that…" I muttered, turning to Tim. "At least we know Thomas does in fact use Dinosaur cards."

"And it looks like we'll be facing them in the next round tomorrow."

"I don't know what cards Slade uses."

"Well it doesn't matter if you know or don't know. We'll still win either way." Tim said. I turned back to him and saw that he somehow had a cowboy hat much like Melissa's on his head, the rim covering his face.

"How the Hell do you do that?" I asked. Tim sighed, once again tapping his nose with a finger before nodding off.

"I enter my Battle Phase! Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir, attack Zoodiac Drident! Reflect Shout!"

My eyes were glued to the television as the blue-haired Fairy blew out a fierce whirlwind, obliterating the dragonic Beast-Warrior.

"And it. Is. Over! The winners are Yuya Sakaki, and, securing the victory, Zuzu Boyle!" Melissa shouted with overt enthusiasm.

"Damn, she's good…" I whispered, briefly glancing down to write some more notes on scrap paper.

"Al~right! Let's keep this up and move on to the next Duel!" Melissa hyped. "Introducing 'Hero' Chojiro Tokumatsu and Armstrong Takasu!"

I looked back up at the TV to see two men walking out to the Duel Field. One a tan heavy-set fellow wearing a black Sector Security uniform, and the other a tall and thin fair-skinned man in an olive-green robe. I recognized the latter as being one of Yuya's fellow Facility escapees.

"And now, introducing their opponents!" Melissa continued, but I didn't have to hear their names being called. I knew who they were as soon as the camera cut to them.

I wasn't even sure if what I was seeing was real, or how I was even still alive, as I thought my heart would have stopped beating completely at the sight of them.

Leo and Luna.

I knew it was them right away. The way they were dressed, the way they looked. This version of Leo looked much the same as the one from my Dimension. Same clothing, same hairstyle, the only difference between him and the Leo I knew was a look of malice or sadism on the face of this one. Something I would have never seen or expected to see on the face of a twelve-year old.

Luna on the other hand, expression-wise, actually looked quite similar to the one from my Dimension, at least when I last saw her. A look of painful disinterest on her face, not unlike the look that my Luna gave me on the Ark Cradle all that time ago. She had the hood of her jacket pulled over the top of her head, her light green hair not in pigtails, instead completely down from what I could see.

I started to hyperventilate, my body trembling like the pathetic shit it – I – was. That beautiful infectious smile that my Luna used to have was something I myself had stripped from her. I was the one that gave her that glazed look, that expression of hatred, that cold exterior. I might not have been the one to push her to it in this Dimension, but in mine, I was. It was my fault. And I never said sorry, except in that stupid fucking letter, and by then of course, the damage had already been done. I'd been going through my dreams as though they actually meant something, but the only thing that they did mean, that they showed, was how much of a pathetic piece of shit I was.

I couldn't watch anymore, and I turned the TV off with the remote, dropping it onto the carpet as I sighed. I looked over at Tim, asleep in the chair. I probably could have blasted black metal right in his face and he'd still have been able to sleep through it.

I walked over to the bedside table, picked up the phone in my room and dialed. With each second that passed, my nerves became shakier and shakier.

"Tyler…" Apple Magician Girl's pained voice came from behind me, and I glanced back to see the Duel Spirit seated on my bed.

"Not now, Fizdis." I dismissed. It was obvious that she'd sensed my distress and was attempting to appeal to me, but I just couldn't deal with her. I kept my ear pressed to the phone, and eventually, a young woman's voice came through the other end of the line.

"Good evening, Room Service, Stephanie speaking. How can I help you?"

"Yes, hi, this is… um…" I tried to say my name, Tyler, simple, but I couldn't get the damn word out, the line going silent.

"Hello?" the woman asked.

"Y-yes, I'm still here, sorry, I-I-I-I've got a speech impediment."

"That's okay, sir, take your time."

"…I-it's Tyler Nochi here, um… room two-seventeen… I-I-I was wondering if I could get a b-b-b-bottle of champagne brought up to the r-room, if that's okay."

"Okay, room two-seventeen…" the woman muttered, and I could hear her typing away on her keyboard. "Okay, no problem, Mr. Nochi. Someone will bring that up to you momentarily."

"Thank you." I said, and I hung up the phone.