Notes

We're officially at the start of the anime. Guess who makes an appearance?

Sorry for any mistakes.

Yu-Gi-Oh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, Shueisha and Konami.

PS 4 – The Calm

The Standard Dimension was Maiami City.

After three months of war, the city brought with it a breath of fresh air. The city wasn't the same as the one he remembered, there wasn't a stadium for riding duels and some buildings were missing, but his grandfather's duel school was there, and his house was almost the same. The most important thing was that Yuya almost felt like his own brother too. He obviously wasn't the same though, the Yuya of this universe was a little more serious and didn't seem as smart as his brother, but his sentimentality and his dueltaining abilities were similar. He really missed his own brother.

Being in Maiami City made him discover a new development unknown to Academia.

"Sora and Yuya are friends?!" asked Yugo.

"Why must Yuya always get himself in trouble?" said Yuri under his breath.

Of all the people to become friends with, Yuya managed to attract the spy.

Yuto was over a building watching Yuya, Yuzu, Sora and some kids on their way for some ice cream. He had already made contact with Shun, who was stalking LDS students to obtain information about Akaba Reiji.

"There's even more," said Yuto, "Yuya invented pendulum summoning in this dimension."

"What?!"

"How?!"

Yuto didn't know who said what, but he still told them what he discovered.

"It seems one month ago during a duel against a pro duelist he performed the first pendulum summoning of this dimension. Yuri, you said his dragon was Odd-Eyes Dragon, right? Well, it changed to Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon."

The line went silent while Yugo and Yuri tried to assimilate that.

"Guys, you don't think this is related to Zarc, right?" asked Yugo a little worried.

He hasn't been dueling as much as before, in the other hand now Yuto and Yuri were dueling almost every day and they could feel the wicked presence inside of them.

"Yuto, watch over Yuya," said Yuri.

"You don't need to tell me."

Maybe dueling Sawatari wasn't his greatest idea yet but he wasn't going to let Yuzu be attacked. Now she was aware of his existence, however, maybe the shock could confuse her and she could forget about him (obviously, that didn't happen). Still, if he had known the difference in abilities compared to the Sawatari he knew of his universe, he would have never interfered. His brothers laughed at him for being an idiot with a knight complex. That event made Reiji meet Yuya which then made Yuya and Yuzu learn fusion summoning. Yuri was very proud saying it was obvious because it was the best method ever.

He also told them the difference in actions duels from the ones they knew. In this universe there are a whole bunch of action cards and not just one per turn. Moreover, as Yuya was the inventor of pendulum summoning in this dimension, their father of this universe was the pioneer of action dueling. The Sakaki kids were used to fame but this was too much.

After his duel against Sawatari he got the chance to experience Yuzu's bracelet powers firsthand and it became important to find some way to stop them. They needed to be able to be with Yuya, but Yuri thought that kidnapping Yuzu to slow down the Professor's plan that close to the beginning of the invasion was going to mess up with their own plan. Further calculations proved that for it to work, they needed even more life energy than what the ARC Area Project required. Yugo put on the table the idea of taking her to the Synchro Dimension when Academia invaded the Standard Dimension, that way they could gain some time. They all agreed.

The next new development was that Shun got involved in Reiji's own plans against his father. Apparently, Standard Dimension had more defense than they all first thought. The upcoming tournament was going to work as a way to find strong duelists to fight the incoming war. The brothers could already foresee Yuya getting involved in that.

In said tournament, Yuto enjoyed a lot Yuya's duel against Sawatari. It just reminded him so much of his own brother. He couldn't help to smile from his performance. During the duel between Shun and Sora, Shun uncovered Sora's true nature as a member of Academia, went overboard with his anger and sent him to the hospital. Although Sora wasn't completely innocent after his own harsh words, at the moment, Yuto thought he deserved it a little.

That night when the matches were done for the day, he was watching from a roof close by because Yuya and his friends wanted to meet with their friend. When suddenly, he saw Sora leaving the hospital through a window and decided to follow him; he was an Academia spy after all.

"I'll find that XYZ scum and make him pay." Yuto heard from Sora. Maybe he can't call himself Shun's friend after everything he has done to him and the XYZ Dimension, but that doesn't mean he was going to let someone else hurt him any more.

"Are you looking for Kurosaki Shun?" said Yuto from behind Sora managing to startle him.

The kid stopped running and turned around to look at him.

"Are you his friend? Are you XYZ scum too?!" shouted Sora.

He isn't that different from the Sora I met, thought Yuto, a little crazy.

"Follow me."

Yuto took them to a big park with a stage where there was no one in sight. He knew (because of Shun) that there were cameras everywhere so he needed to be careful to not reveal anything by accident, otherwise Yugo and Yuri will not let him hear the end of it.

In a secret location, Akaba Reiji was watching reruns of that day's duels. Gongenzaka Noboru and Hiiragi Yuzu would be good additions to the Lancers. Yuzu even managed to defeat one of LDS's most promising students. Sakaki Yuya was able to give an excellent performance as expected of him; his abilities in pendulum summoning were also improving. Standing close to him was Kurosaki Shun who was providing his insight of the participants.

"Sir, we have received a message, Shiunin Sora has escaped the hospital," said Nakajima, one of Reiji's closer workers.

"Track him down, use the cameras to find his location," said Reiji.

That caught the attention of Kurosaki who moved a little closer to see the screen better.

"We have found him, sir" said one of the workers managing one of many computers in the room.

In the screen, they could see the image of Sora in a park preparing to duel.

"Who is his opponent? Turn the camera so we can see what he's looking at," said Reiji.

Separating the screen, now they could see Sora and an unknow guy who looked remarkedly like…

"Is that… Sakaki Yuya?" asked Nakajima.

Reiji was going to comment when Kurosaki said:

"No, that's my friend, Yuto. He came after me from the XYZ Dimension."

"Oh, so there was another person from XYZ in Standard," said Reiji.

Kurosaki didn't answer that. Reiji will need to request a review of all videos to see if they could identify him. He can't have an unknown fighter doing as he wants in his city. The duel between Sora and Yuto started with Sora apparently with the advantage, but after Yuto managed to summon Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon, he turned the tables in his favor.

"If you think you can defeat Shun in your condition, you're mistaken," they heard Yuto say, "you need to retreat or leave this Dimension all together, you don't belong here." Yuto didn't have much sympathy for this Sora, however, thinking about the one from his universe made him take it easy on the other. Maybe he could make him leave so Yuya could be safer.

"I'll not leave! Not until I defeat Kurosaki! Not until I have captured all XYZ fugitives! And that includes you!" said Sora, "It's impossible for me to lose, us from Academia don't lose!"

If there was any doubt before, this just dismissed it. Shiunin Sora was a spy from the Fusion Dimension. Then, Yuto's worst fear came running in the direction of the duel. Yuya was coming to the aid of his friend Sora.

Damn it, Yuya! Thought Yuto. In all their time in this universe, he and his brothers have been trying to keep Yuya outside the war and, except that interaction with Yuri almost a year ago, they wanted to keep their existences a secret too. Although, that last thought was already impossible because Yuya wasn't that surprised at seeing him, expecting Yuzu to forget about their encounter had been stupid.

"Sora!" shouted Yuya, "What are you doing? You can't duel in your condition."

"Be quiet, Yuya! Don't get in my way!" said Sora.

"You should do as he says, and back off," said Yuto, hopping to get Yuya out of here. The cameras were still watching therefore he couldn't just talk freely with him.

Maybe his face was a little harder than he intended because his words had the opposite effect and Yuya got out his duel disk.

"I won't allow you to hurt my friend," said Yuya, "if you want to battle, I'll be your opponent!"

No Yuya, thought Yuto. He has dueled against his brother before, but never like this, as if he was the enemy. Curse you, Sora! Why did you have to become friends with Yuya?!

Yuya received the 2000 life points penalty for his intrusion and managed to summon his ace monster on the first turn. He had seen the monster before and it was impressive, similar to Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon maybe with just more color. He certainly wasn't expecting the strange feeling when both his dragon and Yuya's were on the field at the same time.

Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon were calling out to each other.

This must be because of Zarc, thought Yuto. He hasn't had the chance to duel his brothers since arriving to this universe (being as busy as they were with completing their plan) and they would need to keep postponing it if this is what happened. Yuya tried to destroy his dragon, but Yuto wasn't going to let him do it that easily. He didn't considerer Yuya a threat; Sora on the other hand wanted to hunt him and turn him into a card. The two friends started a discussion because Yuya failed to make any damage and his brother was trying to convince Sora to stop the fight.

"Sora, what's going on?" asked Yuya, "Even in your duel with Kurosaki you were acting and saying strange things. Why do you want to hunt this guy? No! Why are you even hunting people?!"

"Because duelists from Academia don't lose against XYZ scum, much less a refugee!" shouted Sora back, "the Fusion Dimension is the one that took over the XYZ Dimension!"

"Academia? XYZ Dimension? Fusion Dimension?" said Yuya, "What are you talking about?"

Everyone was listening to Sora's words, even the people not present. Yuto needed to do something or the cat was going to be out of the bag and Yuya will really get involved in the war.

"This guy," said Sora while pointing at Yuto, "and Kurosaki are not from this world. They're from the XYZ Dimension and I'm from the Fusion Dimension. My teammates fought greatly, and I'll not let their glory be tarnish." Sora was going to return to the duel when suddenly a light started to come out from his duel disk.

"Stop! I don't want to go home yet!" he shouted sounding scared.

Yuto recognized the light, Sora was going to jump dimensions. The light engulfed him completely and when it disappeared he was gone.

Perfect, with Sora gone Yuto could talk to Yuya, first he needed to destroy the cameras. Giving the whole park a quick overview with just his eyes, he decided that they must be in the light posts.

"Sora! Hey! What happened? What did you do to Sora?" Yuya asked him.

Yuto knew it was a little sooner than what they wanted, but maybe he could start gaining Yuya's trust. To do that he he has to go with the truth or at least a part of it, after all, Yuya didn't need to know everything.

In another part of the city, Kurosaki and Reiji determined that Sora was forced to jump dimensions because he revealed his identity.

"Your friend returned to the Fusion Dimension," explained Yuto, "he wasn't from this world."

"Other world? You're speaking nonsense!"

This Yuya doesn't seem to be as open-minded as my little brother… thought Yuto.

"Are you saying there are other worlds besides this one?"

… Or maybe I'm underestimating him, I don't really know him.

"That's right," said Yuto.

"I don't believe you! Bring Sora back!"

No, not as open-minded.

Yuto decided to continue the duel and use it as a cover to destroy the cameras, that way they could talk without outsiders. In his next turn he performed an attack with Dark Rebellion and with the impact, destroyed the nearby light post. Then, started dueling in defense. If this Yuya was anything like his brother, he would notice his doubt to fight and stop the duel. Proving to be similar to his brother yet again, Yuya stopped.

"Get the cameras online! We need to know what is happening!" said Reiji from his base of operations.

Yuto, thought Kurosaki, what are you planning? Kurosaki knew that attack to the light post was on purpose because he told him the existence of the cameras.

Now, what to tell Yuya? Thought Yuto. Yuya was asking a lot of questions and he needed him to know some things but not to get involved. Guess we can never keep him in the dark.

"What Sora said is partially right. Shun and I are from the XYZ Dimension and he is from Academia which is in the Fusion Dimension. Academia is a duel school that trains duelists to be soldiers and… they recently attacked the XYZ Dimension. The world you know is actually divided in four. You live in the Standard Dimension and there are a XYZ, Fusion and Synchro Dimensions as well. In every dimension they specialize in a summoning method, except Standard which has them all."

Yuya went quiet. It was a lot to take in. Yuto remembered one year ago when he was the one receiving all this information.

"I… I don't believe you," said Yuya.

What? Thought Yuto. He wasn't expecting Yuya to completely dismiss his words.

"I don't believe people could use dueling to invade another world."

Yuya, you're too kind. That kind of thought can get you killed.

"Well, you need to believe it," said Yuto, "you have proof in Sora's words and Shun's actions. His little sister, Ruri, was taken by Academia. Shun duels like that... no, we duel this way because we have people we want to save no matter what. They are not good people, Yuya."

Yuya didn't appear sure of his words and if Yuto can't convince him to be careful, then he needed him to at least not get involved with the fight.

"Yuya, you seem like a nice person," said Yuto, "I saw your duel in the championship and I know you may have good intentions but this is war. A war that could arrive here when you less expect it, you need to be careful and not get involved."

"How can you ask me that when my friend Sora is involved in it?" said Yuya.

You really are too kind, thought Yuto.

"Listen Yuya—"

"Yuya!" shouted a female voice getting closer.

No, Yuzu, thought Yuto and before he knew it, he was engulfed in a bright light and disappeared.

Yuto got transported to another part of the city.

Damn it, thought the XYZ duelist, I didn't get to convince him and his stubborn ass will get involved in the war. He has to inform his brothers of the recent events, something he wasn't looking forward to do. Suddenly, a duel disk in his pocket started to vibrate, it was the one from the Obelisk Force. He was always carrying both; the one from XYZ to keep up appearances and duel and the Fusion one for pretty much everything else.

Speak of the devil and he'll come, thought Yuto.

Connecting the call he got the angry faces of both Yuri and Yugo.

"What have you done?!" shouted Yuri.

"I thought you're supposed to be the responsible one!" said Yugo.

No point in trying to deny it when they seemed to already know something happened.

"How do you guys know already?"

"Sora returned to Academia," started to explain Yuri, "and the professor examined his memories. I have my new mission, go to Standard and secure Yuzu. I still don't have the exact time, but it may be sooner than what we expected."

"We'll need to do our backup plan then," said Yuto, "Yugo, think you can come here and take Yuzu first? You can say you got her mixed up with Rin and wanted to take her back to Synchro."

"I can't go right now," said Yugo with a frustrated expression, "I still need to finish some details of the program… Ah! With Yuya's help this could have been done months ago."

"Speaking of Yuya," said Yuri, "what did you told him? And don't try to deny it, I saw some of Sora's memories too."

"I wasn't going to," said the oldest, "we knew sooner or later Yuya was going to somehow get involved and we need him to be careful and trust us. I told him some things but nothing that could warrant suspicion of me. Before I could tell him more, Yuzu appeared and I got transported. Guys, we need to find some way to stop that."

"We're still brainstorming," said Yugo, "but it's difficult when we don't have a single clue of how her transportation actually works."

Yuri looked down to his duel disk after sensing the arrival of a new message and let out a curse word.

"We have an additional development," he said, "Serena has escaped."

"Really?" said Yugo with a grin on his face, "little spitfire you got there, honestly it was only a matter of time." The few times they saw her while accompanying Yuri she didn't give the image of a happy and relaxed person, although Yugo could argue that everyone in Academia was too serious and a little crazy, which was the reason Yuri probably fits right in. It was also strange seeing her, considering her resemblance to their mom, but appearance was the only thing they had in common.

"Apparently she has gone to the Standard Dimension," continued Yuri.

"Damn," Yugo's grin disappeared.

Damn, indeed, thought Yuto. Now Academia will send an Obelisk Force unit to retrieve her which means more problems for Standard which means another way for Yuya to get in trouble.

"I'm worried about Yuya, guys" said Yuto, "if he gets turned into a card…"

The three brothers were worried about him, but they can't just kidnap him and keep him a prisoner until everything is ready. There are some lines they didn't want to cross and even if he's not their Yuya, he's still a Yuya.

"We can just hope he's smart and strong enough," said Yuri.

In the end, they decided Yugo was going to take Yuzu the moment Yuri was send to Standard. He wanted to work in the program until the last possible second. Programming was not exactly his area of expertise and he will need to keep an eye on Yuzu when they go to the Synchro Dimension.

Yuto was still worried about Yuya. He was considering becoming a pawn of Reiji to better protect Standard, but that could put a lot of spotlight in him, and Reiji's purpose went against their plan because he wanted to stop his father. After all, they still needed the war to continue for the life energy required.

Later, while resting from the day's events, his thoughts went back to Yuya and his last duel against Sawatari. He was just starting to use fusion summoning, however, that and pendulum summoning would not be enough to win against Academia; his previous experience with the war in Heartland City showed you needed more to survive. Looking through his cards, he stopped at Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon. During his duel with Yuya he used the monster and it had a strange reaction when fighting Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. He completely forgot to tell his brothers about that. Will need to tell them later, I suppose. Suddenly, Yuto had an idea.

When Yuto was sure the city was sleeping, he went to his old home. It was never actually his home but it looked close enough. He went to Yuya's window and carefully entered his room. It looked similar to his room back in their universe. Maybe a little less messy and with less books. Back in their universe, his little brother was always trying new tricks and doing experiments. Yuya was sleeping uncovered so Yuto put the sheet back on him. He found Yuya's duel disk on the desk and took it. He got a strange feeling after touching it which was probably related to Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Taking out the extra deck he took his own Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon and put it in.

"I hope this can protect you, Yuya," murmured Yuto.

At the time Yuto would not even suspect the half of it.

Author notes

Anime Yuya is here :D

The first part of the anime is really fun. Yuya does many things and meets lots of people, Yuto can't keep up with him.

Here we have a major difference from the anime, Yugo didn't have any reason to go to Standard so Yuto is still here! But take note, this is the anime so yes, we have Zarc even when the guys are not the original ones ;)

I like it when siblings do or think similar things without noticing, and with triplets I think it must happen more.