Notes

Hope you all enjoy!

Sorry for any mistakes.

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

PS 5 – The Storm

The following day in Yuya's duel against Kachidoki Isao, Yuto regretted a little giving him the dragon. Everyone could see that something strange happened to him and only Yuto knew the real reason. That was Zarc's influence. Even Shun asked him about it.

"Why does Yuya has Dark Rebellion?" he asked through the duel disk. They had not been able to meet face to face in recent days, but they looked for moments to update each other. Yuto always felt bad because Shun wanted to honestly stop the war and save his sister, and in the past year Yuto started to consider him a friend.

"I gave it to him after Sora returned to the Fusion Dimension," explained Yuto, "Yuya's a good kid and I have this feeling he may get involved in the war."

"I don't get it, then give him a Kuriboh, why Dark Rebellion?"

Shun wasn't buying it. However, it had been almost a year since Yuto changed. He hadn't asked about it but after that accident… Yuto wasn't the same. He started disappearing for long periods of time every few days and acted strange when the gang went out together. Even his dueling strategies had changed. He added some Level 7 monsters which didn't make much sense to him.

"Don't worry, Shun, I'll be okay."

"If you say so."

After that, events happened in fast succession; the tournament's finals started with a battle royal mode instead of normal one on one rounds, and Academia scheduled an attack to the Standard Dimension at the same time. The brothers had no time to catch their breaths.

The plan was for Yugo and Yuri to arrive to Standard because they had the same objective, seize Yuzu. Yuto also knew that Dennis was in charge of locating Yuzu and give the information to Yuri so he was surprised when he saw him dueling alongside Yuya instead in a tag duel. Giving Dark Rebellion to Yuya had been a good idea in the end because just starting the battle royal, he managed to get himself in quite a pinch.

Yuto was going to follow his brother after that duel ended but a new duel between Dennis and Yuzu caught his attention. He knew Dennis wasn't going to personally capture her, but he still got nervous. Under any circumstance Yuzu couldn't be captured by Academia. Yuto didn't personally know Dennis, having only seen him walking by in the school when he was in disguise accompanying Yuri. From what his brother told him, he was a nice guy with a desire to learn about all dueling techniques, which was sad because in Academia they didn't teach for the sake of knowlegde. It was really strange watching him flirt with Yuzu, considering his personality was kind of similar to his dad's so maybe in another universe… yeah, Yuto tried not to think about that.

After losing the game Yuzu was going to leave (with Dennis possibly following her) when Serena appeared and challenged Dennis to a fight, having him confused for a refugee of the XYZ Dimension.

Everyone is coming to Standard, Yuto couldn't stop himself from thinking, we're just missing Rin and Ruri and all of Zarc and Ray would be here.

The duel between Serena and Dennis came to an end with Serena's win when suddenly the Obelisk Force appeared next.

No! Shouted Yuto.

He was going to intervene when a fireball came down to the field and covered it with a cloud of smoke. Yuto couldn't see anything and when it went away, Yuzu and Serena were no longer there.

Who took them?

Immediately, students from LDS appeared to fight the Obelisk Force unit. Not believing much in coincidences, Yuto concluded that everything had been Reiji's move, so Yuzu and Serena must be safe. It was going to be difficult for Yugo to take Yuzu with Reiji's forces watching over her.

Having lost too much time there, Yuto decided to find Yuya. Following his gut feeling, he went to the Ancient Ruins zone and did manage to locate Yuya all right, but not the Yuya he knew.

Must be the influence of Zarc again, thought Yuto because in front of him was Yuya fighting three members of the Obelisk Force. He seemed to be at the disadvantage, however, using the already set pendulum scale he brought out an ever more powerful monster (Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon) that ended the duel in the same turn it was summoned. It was scary but impressive. His brother had never thought about combining their monsters before, when they bring him here, he was going to tell him that idea. Maybe they could keep Zarc's monsters…?

After the duel, Yuya was almost crushed by a collapsing tower. Yuto was about to call Dark Anthelion Dragon to rescue him but his friends appeared in the last second and saved him. He followed them closely from the shadows as they moved to the Jungle Area, because he didn't want to explain his presence in the battle royal or in this dimension. They already knew a lot of his existence. They reunited with another bunch of participants who also knew Yuya to try and help him. The girl with the psychic powers was using her abilities and almost discovered the truth about Zarc when suddenly Yuya got uncontrollable and almost escaped. He wasn't going to let anything else happen to him so Yuto came out of the trees shouting:

"Stop him! He may hurt himself!"

The others were surprised of seeing him but the big guy recoverd quickly, managing to catch Yuya again. Between him and Yuto they kept Yuya on the floor, after some minutes he calmed down on his own falling asleep. Yuto couldn't stop himself from petting fondly Yuya's hair remembering when his little brother used to be scared of the dark and wanted comfort. Yuya has always been a cute child.

"Who are you?" asked the big guy. If he was surprised about his similar appearance to his sleeping friend, he was keeping it well hidden.

Yuto stopped his hands and hoped none of them saw too much about his actions. It was too late to deny things so he went with the truth.

"I'm Yuto, a friend of Yuya."

The big guy (who Yuto now remembered was actually a close friend of Yuya) was going to speak when the little girl interrupted him:

"By the Spirits! You look exactly like my darling!"

Darling? Asked Yuto, no matter where he goes Yuya has fans.

The guy with the orange and pink hair was surprised too.

"You look like his clone or a twin brother? Does Yuya has siblings?"

Before Yuto could answer, the big guy beat him to it.

"Yuya doesn't have siblings but he and Yuzu did tell me about you. I'm Gongenzaka Noboru. Nice to finally meet you, Yuto."

"The pleasure is mine," said Yuto. Going with the truth had been the right choice. Although if Gongenzaka has spoken with Yuya and Yuzu then he must suspect that he wasn't from that dimension. Hopefully he wasn't going to ask too many questions in front of everybody.

"We're also friends of Yuya, I'm Mokota Michio," said the guy with the orange and pink hair, "and this guy is Tairyobata Teppei." The other one just gave a grunt as a greeting.

"Well, I'm Hochun Mieru, Yuya's duelmate."

"Duelmate?" asked Yuto.

"Ignore that," said Gongenzaka.

"How disrespectful!" said Mieru as she turned to call out to Gongenzaka.

"It's getting late and Yuya needs to rest," said Yuto hoping that by mentioning Yuya it could stop the fight before it began, kind of like with his own brothers.

It worked because everyone decided to rest and wait for Yuya to wake up.

In the Fusion Dimension, Yugo and Yuri were ready to leave to Standard when suddenly each received a message from Yuto.

EYES EVERYWHERE, PLAY YOUR PART

Akaba Reiji had cameras everywhere so they needed to act the parts expected of them, which meant evil bastard for Yuri (said Yugo) and gullible idiot for Yugo (said Yuri). It was good Yuto wasn't there to get mad about the almost duel they had before leaving.

Yugo arrived first, couldn't keep a low profile and got mistaken as Yuya a lot. Because Yuto didn't have any information about Yuzu's location he had to find her the old way, at least it gave him the chance to see the city. This Maiami City reminded him a lot about his own home. In these highways, he used to take Yuya or Yuri for a ride and in these streets, he learned to drive. He was definitely getting a little sentimental seeing the city again.

He also managed to defeat some students in a duel and saved others from the Obelisk Force, and they expected to fight Academia with this?! Standard was doom. Thinking back on it, maybe he shouldn't have defeated the Obelisk unit (enery and all that) but it had been a long time since he had the chance to duel anybody!

Meanwhile, in the Ice zone, Dennis was watching Serena and Yuzu talk with Hikage and Tsukikage close by. It looked like Serena was thinking about changing sides in the war after Yuzu's speech and decided to change her clothes with the other girl's to find someone called Kurosaki. It wasn't his job to interfere with that. His job was to keep eyes on Yuzu until Yuri came to take over. Speak of the devil and it'll appear, behind him he saw a light signaling the arrival of someone.

"I was getting tired waiting for you," said Dennis, "you finally came, Yuri."

They talked for a little and when they saw Yuzu, they found her surrounded by the Obelisk Force.

They must think she's Serena, thought Yuri. A common mistake if you only looked at the clothes. Dennis explained to him about the change of clothes between the girls confirming his suspicion. He needed Dennis and the Obelisk Force to leave so he could "pursue" Yuzu until Yugo came for her. Maybe if he sent him a message they could wrap this out quickly.

Suddenly, two students from LDS fell from above seeing the two of them. If only they hadn't interfered, Yuri couldn't have turned them into cards. Yuri could admit he wasn't the nicest person to be around because he has a strict way of judging people; while Yuya and Yugo were all smiles, Yuto and he were the serious ones that will do anything to protect their brothers. Having to turn people into cards was harsh but necessary, better he and Yuto are the ones to do it and not Yugo. It will all be worth it.

With that out of the way, Dennis left to continue the battle royal the next day. He sent back the Obelisk Force unit and now there was only Yuzu and him. Knowing Reiji was watching, he needed to act his part well and as Yugo said: be the evil guy. He had to give it to her, this Yuzu had more fire than the one he met in their world in the past, like their mom when she got mad at them. If she wanted to duel, he was going to duel her. It sure was going to be an interesting experience. After all, he had time to kill until Yugo appeared.

The next day, Yuya felt someone looking at him and asked:

"Mom?"

"Not quite, how are you feeling?" said a voice he didn't expect to hear again.

Opening his eyes, Yuya found a face that mirrored his own looking back at him.

"Yuto?"

"Yes, and you didn't answer, how are you feeling?"

"I— I'm fine, what happened? Yuto, why are you here?"

Yuya sat down and looking around noticed he was now in the Jungle Zone with a lot of his friends still sleeping around an extinguished campfire. When he turned around to the other boy he noticed he had been sleeping in Yuto's legs and flushed a little. He wasn't a little kid!

"Don't worry about it," said Yuto knowing exactly what bothered him. Being with Yuto gave Yuya the feeling that he was an open book.

"Do you remember what happened?"

"Just seeing some people of Academia turn some duelists into cards, after that nothing," said Yuya. Yuto had a worried look on his face when listening to that. Yuya thought it was probably related to how people were turned into cards. In truth, the other boy was worried about Zarc's presence in Yuya, this was the first time he had seen such a big manifestation. Not even his brothers or he had that ominous presence.

Then Yuto told him what happened in the Ancient Ruins and that Academia has invaded the Standard Dimension. Midway in the story the others woke up and now they were trying to decide what to do regarding the invaders. Yuya didn't have to think a lot about it, he was going to stop them.

"There's no way I can convince you to not take part in this war?" asked Yuto.

"I don't believe dueling should be used as a weapon, dueling should bring smiles to people," said Yuya back, "I believe I can change Sora's heart too, he's my friend and I'll not give up on him."

"You really are a nice guy, Yuya," answered Yuto, "all right, if nothing I say will change your mind, at least be careful."

Yuya gave him a smile and suddenly remembered:

"Ah! I should probably give you back Dark Rebellion, I don't know how it got in my deck—"

"Keep it, as a way to stay safe."

"Are you sure? Kurosaki told me it's your ace monster."

"Don't worry," said Yuto, "I have an even more powerful monster with me."

The others were surprised to hear that Dark Rebellion was actually Yuto's monster. Also, that monster was already a strong card on its own, what could Yuto have that was even stronger?

"Let's go, then!" said Yuya.

"You go there, I'll catch up with you guys later," said Yuto, "there's someplace I need to be."

"Be careful, Yuto," said Yuya.

Everyone separated and Yuto went to the Ice Zone where he knew Yuri was waiting.

Meanwhile, in said Ice Zone. Yuri was getting tired of pursuing Yuzu, after seeing Starving Venom Fusion Dragon, she ran away.

Where the hell is Yugo? Thought Yuri irritably. He always brags about how he's the fastest of the four of us but when you really need him, he's late!

Yuzu was a little afraid. First, she thought this guy was the Yuya-look-alike, Yuto, but he was a different guy altogether. Maybe he was the equivalent of Yuya from the Fusion Dimension, the same way Serena looked like her but from the Fusion Dimension. The only time she heard Kurosaki talk he confused her with a girl named "Ruri", so maybe there were multiple people that looked like her. Right now she couldn't think about that because this guy was on a whole different level. Who even carries a whip?! He was a duelist from Academia who only followed the Professor's orders, even she had managed to convince Serena to talk with Kurosaki before taking any action.

Yuya, I need you, thought Yuzu closing her eyes. She really wanted her closest friend to be there with her. Right now, she was hiding but knew the Yuya-look-alike was going to find her soon. Then, her bracelet started to shine. If memory served her right, the only times that happened were when there was a Yuya-look-alike and Yuya came for her.

Maybe Yuya is close…? She was surprised when she saw a motorcycle coming to her direction. It stopped before it could impact with her and a guy in a white riding suit went down of it. Taking out his helmet, in front of Yuzu was another Yuya-look-alike.

What's going on?! Yuya has three people who look like him?!

Before she could speak, the guy beat her to it.

"Rin! I was looking for you!

Eh?

The guy came closer when once again her bracelet began to shine, this time engulfing her and the new mysterious guy and, unknown to her, transporting them to another dimension.

Yuri got to see Yugo and Yuzu disappearing. Observing his surroundings, he used his whip to destroy all the cameras watching him. In a secret room in the stadium, Reiji cursed because it appeared this new Yuya-look-alike wasn't fooled as everyone else.

"You can come out now," said Yuri out loud. From close by, Yuto stopped hiding and went to meet Yuri.

"Yugo took her?" asked Yuto.

"Yes, saw it with my own eyes," said Yuri who was checking something in his duel disk, "it seems they were sent to the Synchro Dimension by her bracelet, how convenient." Each of the boys had installed in their Fusion duel disk a dimensional tracker to know in which dimension each brother was at any given moment. Yugo was actually going to use his duel disk to transport them and claim it was his monster card that did it (not the perfect plan but maybe no one would look too much into it), but Yuzu's bracelet worked in their favor.

"Yuzu's bracelet transported them?"

"Yes, it's strange. When I was transported by it, I was still in this dimension just in another place, with Yugo they went to another dimension."

"Maybe it's because there were three of Zarc's reincarnations together?" said Yuto, "The more and closer they are, the bigger the need for a larger distance."

"I'll just think it was plot convenience," said Yuri, "we don't know how it actually works."

Yuto decided to leave it alone. You don't question the good things in the universe.

"What are you going to do from now on?" asked Yuri instead. Yugo was going to keep Yuzu busy in the Synchro Dimension and Yuri had to return to Academia and wait for his next mission. Without Yugo there, it was his turn to work in any missing details for their plan. It was going to be a little lonely, not that Yuri would ever admit it out loud. Yugo did get to finish the programming, but they still needed to make some modifications to the ARC machine.

After a moment of silence Yuto answered him:

"I'm going to watch over Yuya."

"Wouldn't expect anything different," said Yuri laughing a little. Yuto really had a knight complex and got worried about Yuya very easily. Each of the brothers cared about Yuya in their own way. Yugo loved to spend time with him and make him laugh, Yuri liked to tease him for his attention and teach him things, and Yuto watched over him like a mother hen and encouraged his hobbies. He kind of did it with all three of them but with Yuya it was easier because he was the baby brother.

"The Standard Dimension just got involved in the war and we know Reiji is planning something, I'll act as a spy I guess."

"A double spy, you mean, because you already betrayed the Resistance in the XYZ Dimension, no?"

"Then, you're also acting as a double spy and betrayed Academia."

Being the oldests was a lot of hard work but everything they did, they did it for their family.

Author notes

But seriously, why was Yuzu's bracelet the only one with that power? I'm taking advantage of it.

This chapter has one of my favorite lines, anyone can guess? :D

Prepare yourselves, we're going to speedrun the anime.