Notes

ハナテ starts playing hahaha

Which is everyone's favorite opening? I love them all but the ones from the Synchro arc must be my favorites.

Sorry for any mistakes.

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

PS 6 – The City

When the brothers found some free time back in their own dimensions, Yugo updated them about his situation. After Yuzu's bracelet transported them to the Synchro Dimension, he introduced himself and the overall situation of the City to the girl, accidentally got them in a duel against Security (Way to keep a low profile, said Yuri in a condescending way) and acted the part of the concerned friend because Rin was apparently still missing; once admitting he mistakenly took her thinking she was his friend. An awful lie, really, because he already knew Rin's location.

After some days in the city, Yuzu decided to try and convince the people of the Synchro Dimension to fight in the incoming war (Ha! Yugo thought when listening to that, Good luck with that!), and right now they were just living each day at a time. Yuzu also told him everything she knew about the war, which Yugo already knew (and even more than her), but he had a part to play. Acting has always been more of Yuya and Yuri's area of expertise, but many times having to play a part in his little brother's stagings left him with some passable abilities.

Overall for Yugo, staying with Yuzu was almost like having Rin or even his mother back, which was kind of sweet. Yugo could see that the girl really cared about Yuya and it gave him flashbacks to his own universe, although maybe less strange because technically here Yuzu's not related to them. Different universe, different people, different backstories, thought Yugo at the time, it's still strange.

Meanwhile, in the Standard Dimension, Yuto told them that Reiji announced his plan to everyone about establishing the Lancers as the warriors who were going to fight Academia in the incoming war. That Yuya had a duel against Sora (who returned to Standard for a little while during the battle royal) and couldn't convince his friend to desert Academia. That Yuya also discovered some of his friends got turned into cards and Yuzu's kidnapping (making the brothers feel guilty); that he fought a duel against Reiji (which he lost) when he learned the older duelist was manipulating the tournament for his own purposes and that he got a little depressed because of all the aforementioned events.

Yuto tried to make him feel better but it was a duel against his mother (Sakaki Yoko in this universe, a nice and lively woman in Yuto's opinion) and getting dad's special card, Smile World, which brought him to his feet. Ready to duel once again with the new purpose of saving Yuzu and stop the war. Officially Yuya was involved in the war alongside the Standard Dimension. The duel was actually quite entertaining to watch although a strange and sad experience overall for Yuto.

"You can save Yuzu. And stop the fighting, too", said Yuya's mom, Yoko, after giving his son Smile World. They just finished their duel. "That's what I believe."

"I believe in you, too, Yuya!" said Hiiragi Shuuzou, his grandfather from this universe.

"Same here!" said one of the kids that was always accompanying Yuya.

"Me, too" said another of the kids.

"I believe in you, too" said the little girl part of the trio of kids.

"Principal… guys…" Yuya was obviously quite moved.

"What about you? Do you think so too, shadow guy?" asked Yoko out loud in his direction.

She knew I was here, thought Yuto surprised at being found that easily, never underestimate a former gang member. The others were looking around trying to find him.

"Why are you watching us?" asked Yoko once again.

I hope this is not a bad idea, thought the XYZ duelist.

He went out of the shadows and could see everyone's surprised faces when looking at him.

"Who are—" started to ask Shuuzou before being interrupted by Yuya.

"Yuto!" he said with a happy face, "What are you doing here? Did you watch my duel?"

The truth almost never hurts, right?

"I was worried about you," said Yuto, "you left the stadium in low spirits. And yes, I saw the duel, it was fun."

"You didn't have to!" said Yuya coming to meet him, "I'm fine now and I know what I have to do. I'll stop the fighting with my entertainment dueling and bring smiles to everyone."

"If it's you, I think it may be possible," he said back bringing a bigger smile to the other's face.

"Yuya!" shouted Shuuzou, "Who's that!?" That was the signal for everyone to start asking questions.

"Brother Yuya, who is this?" asked the little girl.

"Why do you look like brother Yuya?" asked one of the boys.

"Are you his brother?!" asked the other boy.

"Ah! This is…" Yuya wasn't sure how to introduce him, friend from another dimension was strange.

"My name is Yuto," he said to help his brother, "and I recently came to Maiami City from one of the other dimensions. I meet Yuya and Yuzu a while ago and we became friends."

"Other dimension?" asked one of the boys, the one with blue hair, "Are you from the same one as Sora?"

"No, I'm actually from a different one. One that was invaded by Sora's."

"That's awful," said the girl.

"Then, are you going to fight with the Lancers, too?" asked the other boy, the taller one.

"I will," if Yuya's fighting then so is he.

"Really?" said Yuya. He wasn't sure why, but he liked the other one a lot. The XYZ duelist made him feel safe. He had never thought about having siblings, but being with Yuto must feel like that.

Yuto just nodded.

"Great!" said Yuya.

"Yuya, why don't we go back home so you can prepare for tomorrow?" asked Yoko, speaking for the first time in a while.

"Right! Everyone, let's go! Yuto, are you coming?" asked him Yuya.

"Maybe I should—" he started to say but was interrupted by Yoko.

"You're welcome to our home, come along."

He was taken along for a nice dinner at his home-not-home with everyone else. The reason became obvious when after finishing with the food, he helped by taking the plates to the kitchen and heard:

"Are you sure you didn't have more children?" asked Shuuzou.

"Seriously?" said Yoko back, Yuto could hear the skepticism in her voice, "You're asking me that? Maybe we should ask ourselves what Yusho has been doing?"

Not wanting his dad-not-dad to be in trouble with his wife, he decided to intervene.

"I'm not Yusho's son," he said as a way of entrance. Well, in this universe at least I think I'm not, thought Yuto, technically probably Yuya neither, could it be Zarc…? No point thinking about that.

"Oh! You heard that," said Yoko, "I could never judge you by my husband's mistakes if you are actually Yuya's half brother. I'm actually pleased to meet you. You look like a good and responsible young man."

Shuuzou had the common sense to leave them alone.

"I'm sure, I'm… not Yuya's brother," that was harder to say out loud, but technically also the truth, "for some strange reason me and Yuya look alike but I can say for certain we're not related."

"Well, that's sad," said Yoko, "I was thinking I had acquired a new son."

Yuto blushed. This woman was really nice, the Yuya of this universe was lucky to have her. Never could compare to his own mother, but she was nice.

We will take her son, thought Yuto, but we will save him from a worse fate.

"Don't worry, dear, I'm only half joking. If you ever need a place to stay, you're welcome here. No child should know the pain of war," said Yoko.

"Thank you, ma'am" said Yuto.

"Nothing about that, call me Yoko."

"Thanks… Yoko."

"Much better," she said with a smile. "Now, can you do me a favor?"

It surprised him, but he still nodded.

"Can you please look out after Yuya? That child can get in quite some trouble and is not as confident as he tries to show." She said with a soft smile on her face.

"I— I will, Yoko."

"Thank you, Yuto."

He's the worst.

The next day, the people who were going to become Lancers were in Reiji's office. Sawatari Shingo, Serena, Tsukikage, Dennis Macfield, Gongenzaka Noboru, Sakaki Yuya, Kurosaki Shun and Yuto. Even though Reiji didn't saw Yuto duel in the battle royal; Yuya, Gongenzaka, Kurosaki and Sawatari vouched for him. The latter wasn't happy about Yuto joining because of their last duel but he admitted he had good skills. Reiji and his brother Reira were joining, too. There was a little discussion regarding Reira's participation because of his age, but Reiji didn't change his mind.

With that settled, Reiji revealed his plan to go to the Synchro Dimension to gather allies. Yuto thought it was actually a good move because Academia was a lot stronger than they thought (having been a part of it for almost a year). He had to convince Shun to go and Yuya got convinced after learning that Yuzu was there.

Serena also revealed the Professor was searching for girls that looked like her and now more people were going to prevent Yuzu and Serena from being taken. This helped their own plan as well because having Serena with them will extend the war. Yuto hasn't been able to contact Yuri about the amount of life energy still needed, after arriving to the Synchro Dimension he'll send him a message.

Reiji also gave them modified duel disks; that way they could do action duels and fight with pendulum summoning in the other dimensions. Although Yuto wanted to use Dark Anthelion Dragon it was better to not call attention to himself, he could manage just fine with the rest of his deck.

The plan was simple and supposed to go without complications, but the moment they arrived at the Synchro Dimension, problems didn't stop appearing everywhere.

Their arrival to the Synchro Dimension came with some problems because everyone got sent to different parts of the city.

Yuto was alone.

During the last year since he arrived in this universe, he came to know well Heartland City and he practically lived in the Fusion Dimension during the weekends, but the Synchro Dimension was unknown territory for him. He wasn't completely oblivious as Yugo loved to talk about whatever new road he found, and the city reminded him of Neo Domino City back in his world; a city he visited some times as a kid.

He needed to find Yuya and the others quickly. Out of all dimensions, this one gave him the worst feeling; he didn't know if it was because of the social division or the people, nevertheless, he wanted to complete the mission as fast as possible and leave. He tried to contact Yuya or Shun or Reiji or anyone multiple times, but it seemed the interdimensional jump messed up with the communications in his normal XYZ duel disk and his provided Standard duel disk, at least he could still talk with his brothers with the Fusion duel disk. At the rate he was going, he was sure going to obtain one of each dimension.

Yugo was very happy when he told him he and Yuya were in the same dimension as him and then got mad when he learned that Yuto lost their brother in the city.

"You're the most protective of us!" shouted Yugo through the screen of his duel disk, "And you lost Yuya here of all places! He has a thing for getting in trouble, who knows what will happen to him?!" He was very much worried.

"I wonder if Yuya's skill to get in trouble is a universal constant?" asked Yuri out loud. He wasn't mad at his brother because he didn't think it was his fault, he blamed Reiji and his stupid plan. Even getting allies in Synchro could not be enough to beat Academia.

"Academia has an agent here, right?" asked Yuto.

"Yes, Jean-Michel Roger," said Yuri, "he was sent to Synchro almost three years ago and his mission was to take control of the city from the inside to make the invasion there more swiftly."

"Roger…? I know that guy!" said Yugo in realization, "He's the head of Security."

"Oh, I see," said Yuri with a growing grin, "he's another megalomaniac, then."

"What're you talking about, Yuri?" asked Yuto.

"According to his reports, the guy hasn't taken control of Security yet and asked for some special cards to make his move, which is obviously a lie and the guy just wants the city for himself."

"That bastard! It's been three years since he became head of Security and has made the life of the Commons ten times worst than it's supposed to be!" Yugo didn't like the city (except for the amazing Duel lanes) and preferred to spend his time in the Fusion Dimension, but the people he met were good and kind; they didn't deserve the lives they were living here.

"You guys need to be careful to not get in his way," said Yuri, "this guy must be smarter than we think considering he took control of Security in less than a year."

"Fine, Yugo, don't try to engage him," said Yuto signaling his brother out. Sometimes the youngest of the triplets could act blindly when getting emotional.

"Fine!" he shouted back with a little pout.

"Yuri, how's the supply of life energy going?" asked Yuto changing topics.

"We're at 63%, and the ARC Area Project is at 75%" said Yuri, "almost everyone in XYZ has been turned into cards but we're still not close enough. With these numbers I don't think Academia will perform a full scale invasion in Synchro or Standard, maybe just quick attacks to places with high concentrations of people. I think… we need to take matters into our own hands."

Yuto already thought of that as a possibility, they'll need to start turning people into cards themselves.

For the ARC Area Project, getting to 100% was the minimum requirement for the machine to work and having over 100% would make the union of the dimensions faster. They believe when the union starts, Akaba Leo will want it to be as fast as possible, meaning he'll be aiming for a higher % before starting the machine. They needed at least 12% more to make their plan work.

"I'll do it," said Yuto, "Synchro doesn't know about the war; therefore, the population will think people disappearing is Security's doing."

"Yuto, I can—" started to say Yugo but was interrupted by his brother.

"No, you need to watch over Yuzu," said Yuto, "there's also the possibility the moment the Professor has all girls, he'll start the machine with just 100%."

"Maybe even less," said Yuri, "the machine has a high range of success even with just 85%, it'll just be slower."

Yugo's face showed how worried he was about his oldest brother doing all the dirty work by himself. It wasn't fair it was his two brothers doing all the bad stuff (kidnapping, lying, betraying friends, turning people into cards, etc.) when they were all in this together. As older brothers they wanted to protect him from the worst of it, but he was as responsible as them. And honestly, the difference between the three of them wasn't much. Because of some minutes he was treated as the youngest when Yuya's not with them.

"Fine!" said Yugo who wasn't happy at all, "it seems I cannot do anything now!" He didn't like to feel useless.

"You're doing an important part of the plan," said Yuto, "and think about this, I'm still looking for Yuya, in between that I'll do the other thing and you can tell me the best people to start with."

That got Yugo's attention. There were some people the city could benefit a little from not having for some time. With that, they ended the conversation.

Over the next few days, Yuto started turning people into cards while searching for Yuya and the others. He didn't want to attract too much attention, so he was careful and usually did it at night.

When he managed to get back in contact with the Lancers it was to the worst news possible. Tsukikage told him (by Reiji's instructions) it was better for him to not get involved and watch things from afar in case he was needed. There was no way he was going to stay put and wait with his arms crossed. He contacted his brothers immediately because they needed a change of plans like yesterday.

"Yuto! What happened?!" shouted Yuri first thing after connecting. He looked a little tired. Right now, trainings were harder than ever because Academia was testing strategies to fight pendulum summoning and he was one of the guinea pigs, and during the night he went to check things for the plan.

"What's going on, Yuto?" asked a worried Yugo. With the message TOMATO IN DANGER, something must have happened to Yuya.

"Let me explain," said Yuto, "after arriving in this dimension, Yuya along with Sawatari, Serena and Reira were almost caught by Security, they were saved by some locals, but the police still caught them later and put them in prison—"

"Prison!?" shouted his brothers at the same time. Yugo was the one who knew how horrible prison was, having heard stories about it. Yuri was just plain worried about Yuya.

"Don't interrupt me, they managed to escape and were caught again, but this time by the Administrative Council—"

"The Administrative Council!" now it was just Yugo who shouted in surprise.

"What did I just say!" Yuto was close to losing his patience and of all the brothers, he was the one with a great deal of it.

"Sorry, continue."

"As I was saying, the Administrative Council caught them. They were taken to the Main Building and Security wanted to demand their custody to send them back to prison but Reiji managed to strike a deal. After explaining their situation, the whole dimensions' issue and the war against the Fusion Dimension, the Administrative Council said they would considerer an alliance if the Lancers proved to be good duel warriors."

"How must they prove it?" asked Yuri.

"By participating in something called the Friendship Cup."

"Ah!" exclaimed the synchro duelist.

"By your reaction, you know what I'm talking about right?" asked Yuto.

"The Friendship Cup is a tournament to unite Tops and Commons, the winner gets the title of King. In reality, it's just a show for the Tops and a way to give hope and control the Commons," explained Yugo, "Rumor has it that the losers are send to an underground facility where they work until the end of their lives."

"Well, Yuya has to participate in the exhibition duel against someone called Jack Atlas," said the oldest brother.

"Jack Atlas?! He's the current King," Yugo didn't want to admit it, but he was a little envious of that, "Yuya will get crushed by him, he may be good, but Jack is in another different level; he's a pro duelist. Also, I don't think this Yuya knows how to do riding duels. He'll be sent to the underground facility."

"Yuto, do you think you can take Yuya out of it?" asked Yuri, "Maybe it's time he stays with us until the machine is ready, he's been getting in too much trouble lately and the least attention he gets to himself, the better."

"I don't think that's a good idea," said Yuto back, "he trusts me, but I don't think he'll come quietly, and we still need more time, we just started to collect more life energy."

Yuto and Yuri were throwing ideas about what to do back and forth. Yugo had a different idea altogether that maybe could work… no, he was going to make it work.

"I'll participate in the Friendship Cup and watch over Yuya," he said out loud. It shut up his brothers and they were going to reject his idea, but the look Yugo was giving them make them think twice before speaking. There were only some things that could get Yugo this serious, and the protection of his family was one of those.

"Okay," conceded Yuri, "you need to be careful too, remember Roger will be watching."

"Fine, don't do anything too reckless," Yuto gave up in the end. Now his two baby brothers were going to participate in a dangerous tournament, at least when it relates to riding duels and/or their family, Yugo always gave it his all.

"What about Yuzu?" asked Yuri.

"That's a funny story actually, she already wants to participate in the tournament. She thinks that way she will get to tell more people about the interdimensional war. Now, the two of us will enter."

It was decided.

Author notes

How was it? :D

Welcome to the Synchro Dimension, the Lancers have now criminal records.

It's sad we never had Yoko talking with any of the other boys, adults must think a different thing when looking at them.

I think in english siblings don't usually refer to each other as "brother"/"sister" but I like that from japanese and I do call my own brothers "brother" from time to time so I had the kids call Yuya "big brother Yuya" instead of Nii-san/Nii-chan (For those who may not know, Nii-san is older brother in japanase, the original kanji is read as Ani, but other readings include Nii)

In tha japanese manga (I bought it along with the english version and my japanese is okaish to read it) the triplets never refer to each other like that, probably to keep their relationship as a big reveal because even twins refer to each other with that... at least according to anime they do. Yuya only refers to them once as Nii-san which automatically confirms him as the youngest. After the big reveal he still calls them by name, but that's probably because he only just recovered his memories.

Thanks for reading!