HERO TIMELINE/DUEL ACADEMY/8:50 PM

"Guess you've got two new things to look forward to uncovering, Yubes."

Jaden was currently inside of his room, the day concluded and homework successfully put off until tomorrow, now talking to his Duel Spirit. Currently, he was holding out a package to her, and she was currently trying to figure out the reasoning behind it.

"…Why Jaden, this is so kind of you. But…why?"

Jaden quirked an eyebrow.

"…well, since we got back from that mess over in the Spirit World, and I fused with you, I never really got a chance to show you just how much you've helped me since," Jaden then sheepishly smiled again. "Earthquake alarms aside."

"Maybe I should do them more often if you'll reward me like this…." The trademark mischievous grin cut Yubel's face in half once more.

"Please don't! Seriously, Drs. Bonaparte, and Crowler nearly wet themselves that time-they thought you'd gone crazy and brought back the Sacred Beasts again!" Jaden pleaded.

"I was not exactly thrilled by the experience either," Dr. Banner added, thanks to being a temporary beneficiary of his holder and Jaden's on-off pet, Pharoah, and his open-mouthed sleeping habits.

"Don't worry Jaden. As much as I would happily do for you, THOSE days are behind me." Yubel finally took the cards, them becoming as transparent as she was by her touch."And good riddance."

Brightening up notably at this, the Winged Kuriboh finally peered from behind Jaden's back, chirruping happily.

"Yeah, I know Kuriboh. And you know what? I am glad Yubel's back." Turing to the aforementioned Duel Spirit, Jaden continued.

"So these are another card type I created before. Since you ran a lot of plants and roses in the Deck you had before, these sweet cards are all Plants! They're actually called the Venis, and-"

Just then, a BANG BANG BANG cracked off of Jaden's dorm door. This ended up sending Sgt. Hassleberry on an uncomfortable trip to the floor.

Untangling himself, the Ra Yellow quickly addressed the situation with his usual flair. "JADEN, SOUND OFF! We're bein' attacked! Battle stations, man, battle stations!"

"Chill, Sarge!" Jaden quickly hustled to the door, still keeping a wide berth from the dinosaur duelist in the process. "It's just someone at the door. I wonder who it-"

The person answered for them, almost crashing headlong through the unlocked door into Jaden. The light purple hair, though, was an instant giveaway. "Blair, it's you! Why were you so frantic?"

"Yeah, ma'am…wait, what it something Chazz did?" Tyranno immediately demanded, his anger focusing on a new target.

"No, but he and Alexis are in trouble anyway!" Blair cried. "Somebody asked them both to come out to the same place! The second they were, he dueled them at the same time!"

"Hmph. And how badly did they humiliate him?" Tyranno asked, folding his arms.

Blair turned to him, and it was then that Jaden got a good look at her wide-eyed, disheveled appearance.

"That's where it gets messed up! He beat them both in one turn!"

"What?!" Jaden almost yelled, starting his comrade once again. "How'd that happen?"

"I don't know! After their turns passed, he just summoned this gigantic dragon-everything they did to destroy it just made it stronger, he cut them both down with it in one turn!" Blair yelled. "Then he noticed me watching the entire thing and before I could get away…

...the figure finally turned to Blair. Even in the bushes, she could tell that the person had known she was there the entire time.

Her theory was confirmed when the man motioned to the dragon, and it unleashed a shot at the base of the tree she was in. Though she was far from the blast, and the blast was barely even critical, the impact caused her to tumble down anyway.

Scrambling to her feet, Blair came face-to-foot with the figure, now directly in front of her. Thankfully he did not advance a further step, instead choosing to fold his arms and wait until Blair shakily rose to her feet.

"….okay, what in the world is your PROBLEM?!" Blair finally demanded of the figure.

"Not what. Who." The figure finally produced a picture from his coat and thrust it into the girl's hands. Turing on his heel immediately afterward, he continued.

"That person you see in that picture has become quite a heavy thorn in my boss's side. Him….and his Duel Spirits."

Blair did take a look at the person in the photo, and her eyes widened-for it was Jaden, battling Aster Phoenix. Then something struck her mind. "Wait...how do you know who Jaden is? And how do you know he can see Duel Spirits?"

The person chuckled.

"Right, forgot-this is still a time where such people are a rarity. Well, know that he's far from alone and that if he doesn't face me at the bridge in the next ten minutes…"

The dragon-still focused on Blair even from afar-suddenly moved once more, its claws scraping the ground of the pier and taking up both Chazz and Alexis in its talons. This did a quick job of waking them up-and spelling out the mystery man's threat.

"What the-?! AAAAHHH!" came the reply from Chazz as he stared at the beast. "Someone get me down from here! NOW!"

"Let them GO!" screamed Blair, racing past her tormentor to rescue them-before the figure and the dragon's steely glare toward her sent her backpedaling in the other direction.

"Think I've made my point. Run along now, and be sure to tell them…"

SIGNER TIMELINE/THE SATELLITE/6:06 PM

"…that whoever's starting this needs to stop before this entire block gets hurt!"

So was the declaration from the Satellite Shooting Star, as he raced over to Akiza's staging grounds. And considering what these individuals-these Signers-had gone through since their scarlet insignia had flashed upon their skin, very few would blame Yusei for his suddenly aggressive tempo.

Even then, his mind filled with the many horror stories of the fragile-though insurmountably powerful-Psychic Duelist, how Akiza had gone through so much abandonment and manipulation, by the cult-like Arcadia movement, and family and friends alike.

Until she faced down Yusei.

Until she found her way out of the pain and her independent run.

And now somebody was starting it up with her again? Did they not even know of Misty Tredwell? Sayer? The multitudes of victims in the Fortune Cup?

Suddenly, Yusei Fudo suddenly started feeling like he was probably going to have to save the instigator from Akiza. Quickly steeling himself, he all but ran off the D-Wheel the second he got in front of the half-constructed building Akiza had done battle in.

Mentally thanking himself for not snapping an ankle or two on impact, he de-linked his Duel Disk from the motorcycle and turned to the building, ready to storm.

BL-BLAHAM!

Only for a red wave of power to shatter another floor's worth of windows, causing Yusei to dive back under the protective arch of his D-Wheel to avoid instant skewering from the falling glass.

"Seriously, Akiza?" wondered Yusei amidst the echoes of shatters. "How powerful is your opponent, to have to do this much damage?"

How much indeed, for such a display from a Duelist head and shoulders above any normal human?

And now the pendulum was swaying back to a potential Akiza rescue mission. The situation was literally looking worse for the minute-but better him to solve it than another, far less sympathetic type of enforcement in New Domino.

Though this probably meant that he would have to face that instigator himself-someone who was giving a Psychic Duelist enough strain to use her powers on them.

Yep. Worse by the minute. Definitely getting…

"…worse for you, Black Rose!"

Akiza would seriously prefer that her heart stop banging in her chest so much. It was already tough enough getting away from her opponent's grasp. It took a rush of raw power to just the right spots when her accomplice left, then she bolted as hard as possible. Now her foe's…monsters…were prowling the entrances to the stairway, and the maestro of it all was sitting right in front of the elevator shaft.

In other words, the Signer's plans A and B were out the window.

Yet she could hear someone pulling up to it. Sounded like a motorcycle too. Yusei? Jack? One of the other Signers?

Or more of her foe's friends?

Seriously, how in the world did so many powerful people come to be? And WHY were they all looking to pick a fight with HER?

Akiza's mind then clicked.

Something that this girl was screaming at her during the apex of her duel. When she Summoned her ace in the hole, Black Rose Dragon, on her last 900 slivers of life. What was it...something about how she had….

"RUINED ARCADIA WITH THAT DRAGON!" shouted her opponent, who was utterly disturbed by the unveiling of Akiza's trump card-but not in the way that Akiza's opponents usually were.

Defiant rage instead of mounting fear?

Surely she must have seen this monster before! Or heard of its incredible power!

But that was impossible-the only way she could have, if not through the Fortune Cup, would be through her time in the Arcadia Movement…

THAT WAS IT! This mystery foe! This woman who had called herself Evy-must have been part of the Movement, much like Misty!

It would even explain the potency of her powers-how could THAT come without exquisite training?!

"And you have the utter nerve to bring that Synchro before me AGAIN?!"

"I DO!" Akiza's triumphant words erupted from a cascade of crimson locks finally freed from her power-restraining pin-along with her capacity for patience with the vengeance-mad Psychic Duelist. "And here's how! By banishing a Plant-Type monster from my graveyard, I can turn a defending monster of YOURS, to Attack Position. And its ATK goes right to 0 as well-which means this duel's one attack away from being over!"

And with that monster called "Archendo, the Torque Mythic" as her intended target-the Defense Position monster left all alone after her well placed Fickle Fly-Trap Hole swallowed up its buddies Ariana and Tiago a turn prior-Akiza and her Signer Dragon were well positioned for victory. After all, even with 1800 LP to her name against Aki's 600, Black Rose Dragon could easily steamroll the Torque user flat.

Until Evy's next words mentally flattened her.

"Believe me, Akiza-that dragon will cause YOUR demise, not mine! And it's thanks to my structure!"

Looking back-good gracious, that bird nearly caught a glimpse of her as she ducked her head-Akiza wondered how the game would have gone had she used Black Rose Dragon's prior ability and destroyed the whole field, that "Torque Mausoleum" included. As it was she had been awestruck by how that towering building, whose original purpose only seemed to protect her WIND monsters' effects from negation…

"…has one final ability! See, this Mausoleum allows me to sacrifice it to perform a Synchro Summon-even during your turn!"

And while this woman Evy spoke, the towers were slowly being whipped away by high-velocity winds, all too real to the red-haired Psychic as well. "But the news is only getting worse for YOU, Akiza, because it's final ability allows me to use another Synchro Monster on both ends of the field to make the Summon possible if I'm Synchro Summoning a WIND Synchro Monster!"

Now Akiza's eyes widened in fear as she realized the mystery girl's endgame.

The former Black Rose Witch now knew why Evy had let Black Rose go unimpeded upon its arrival-so she could use it to summon something of her own!

This entire Duel was a SETUP!

Even as the wind picked up, Evy-still in the eye of it alongside her disintegrated castle-looked almost tree-like in her rigidity. "And it seems you know what I'm going to use too. Congratulations to you…"

Then Black Rose Dragon finally roared again. This time it was in pain, as the pieces of the mausoleum came together in a glowing sphere, and shot out violent bolts of emerald lightning-several hitting the Signer Dragon.

"…and goodbye to your Black Rose Dragon! Now and forever!" Evy's manic tone found its way back as she spread her arms wide, as if in hope of palming the violent energy sphere in her card-empty hands all by herself.

And with that, the sphere shot a continuous barrage of lighting at Black Rose, and despite its wails-and Akiza's jaw-gaping look of horror-turned into the same green energy. On Evy's field, the same thing was happening to her Torque mythic, though its cries went unheard by its master.

Without another second to lose, both columns of energy dissipated into the sphere, and the all-too-familiar golden speedometer rings burst from the electrical anomaly, signaling Evy's grand move.

But for those of you at home…

"I tune my Level 4 Torque Mythic, Archendo, with YOUR Level 7 Black Rose Dragon, to Synchro Summon…"

The column of light grew bigger and bigger, almost swamping the room and Akiza with it.

"Now's my chance!" Akiza thought.

Yet now, her awesome mental strength had apparently forsaken her, as the creature Evy summoned thrust its head out of the dying film of light. All three of them.

Six glowing eyes affixed themselves upon their latest prey as Evy finally bellowed, "…the Torque Triumvirate-Jarin, Dynas and Hoi!"

Several seconds later, Akiza's LP faded away to 0, her jarring impact with the wall being the only thing keeping her from following suit.

When the girl made toward her again-to take her stated prize in the beginning, Akiza's Psychic powers-she obliged, through one manifested Seed Cannon.

Evy's cry set her heart-and feet-racing again, and Akiza bolted down the stairs from their cataclysmic clash, one thought now wholly occupying the mind of the former Black Rose Witch.

"I have to find the other Signers…have to find Yusei…anyone that exerts this much power…"

"...will demand my best when I face them down!"

Yusei's rushed walk past the cloaked figures crowding the entrance to the half-constructed building would normally not have drawn his eye-even in the Satellite, there weren't exactly many places of luxury for its residents to currently rest their laurels at night-if not for two immediate issues that propped up the second he touched the doorknob.

1) The rush of adrenaline Yusei had felt had blinded him to the exact nature of what these stragglers looked like-with their unnaturally pale, yet healthy looking skin, their dimly glowing eyes, their bared teeth-signs that these strangers he was trying to get past were not entirely what they seemed.

2) Trying would soon become the operative term in regards to his Signer rescue mission due to the comically large pieces of weaponry and blades the five strangers carried-a scythe, a spiked shield, a scimitar, a pair of gauntlets, and a rail-cannon-which would all be levied either in front of his body or at Yusei's head the second that the Satellite Shooting Star touched the door.

"Exactly what's going on?!" he yelled at the five intruders. "And what are you still doing around here? There's a Psychic Duel happening now, get away!"

Yusei's stolen glance at the blown-out top floors of the complex did not make the stranger's weapons lower an inch-nor did it change the decibel of the new arrival's voice, coming upon a Duel Runner themselves.

"There you are. So glad I caught you in time."

But to Yusei's surprise, this rider was not Jack Atlas-in fact, he could not tell who it was, as the cockpit of the Duel Runner was protected by a bubble of black metal, the same as the one that made up the body of the vehicle. Sleek and shining, the bright shapes the moon cut out in the Duel Runner seemed to be all that separated it from the light-bare road Yusei had pulled off of. But the equally white lines outlining the strange vehicle brought up a more chilling possibility of who this mystery guest could well be.

"You do realize it's dangerous for you to be here right?" Yusei pleaded with her. If these weapon-sporting strangers were her cohorts… "And if these are your goons, tell them to back off!"

The Duel Runner-and the person inside it-simply revved the engine in response, the near-painful glare of the white outlines forcing Yusei to shield his eyes.

When they died down, the voice came out again, cracked and vibrant-almost oddly so. "Don't see why. Considering you and I are about to spend some…quality time together. Plus…."

And with that, the strangers parted to allow a clear Path between Yusei and his Duel Runner, though the twin blades impeding his path to the door stayed put. "…these darlings don't much like being called 'goons.'"

"I'm not sure why I should care- one of my friends is stuck up there an-"

"She'll be okay." The Duel Runner backed up again. "I'm what YOU have to worry about now, though. Actually looking forward to seeing how you fare in a Turbo Duel against me, though. Win, you get to continue playing the shining knight."

Yusei looked at the building, then finally relented. "For your sake, you'd better be telling the truth. Now call them off."

"Sure thing." And at the rider's whistle, all five of the would-be-bodyguards threw off their cloaks…

…and vanished into thin air. Shocked, Yusei looked at the thin air they once occupied, then back to his new obscured nemesis, before stonily walking over to his D-Wheel, the realization of what could very well be happening now banging around his skull like a firecracker. How in the world did that….?

Oh NO.

If they were monsters…and the mystery rider had full reign over them to the extent they manifested themselves…even the Duel Runner should have given it away!

But how in the world did a Dark Signer survive after Goodwin's ascension?!

And why strike now?!

Yusei didn't dare to ask why their signature Earthbound Immortals-those terrifying soul-harvesting battle-immune monstrosities-hadn't shown up yet-and by extension if such a move was because they hadn't been pushed hard enough to need to Summon them.

But add in that they'd likely taken down Akiza first, and this might be…

NUMBER TIMELINE/ASTRAL WORLD/?

"..the craziest thing I've ever been involved in."

The response arrived from the flooded high tower of the eponymous realm. Sitting at the edge of one of the waterfalls erupting from the broken formation of the tower, almost looking ready to fish it from the reel he held in his hands, was a kid with a mop of scruffy teal-blue hair slightly pointed backward, and a nearly identical beard of the same color. Though, what he was hoping to catch seemed to be rather eccentric, as the lure at the end of his reel was a customized blue Duel Disk with white curling highlights and golden gems set into its base. "And I'm already starting to regret coming back to this timeline."

"Speak for yourself, my brother-in-arms…" said the person next to him, clad in silver and gold robes, a near perfect contrast with his 'brother's' silver and blue sleeveless suit-and currently flicking two cards in his hands. Both of which had black star-crossed borders. "…this moment's been a long time in the making for me."

"You're still up over that Kite fellow?" The blue-haired man looked to face him. "Thought that our goal was to test out Yuma and Shark, mate."

"They can wait. That…Photon-using prick…is the one who fleeced my flock for his single-minded quest for Numbers." Finally, the robed man's shuffling stopped. "And I WILL keep this tragedy from being my portion in this world."

"Ooooh, so mystic here," Then the kid stopped, reeling up his Duel Disk as a thought flashed through his head. "You're not using that new Galaxy-Eyes monster you made are you?"

"And if I am?"

"We're supposed to keep the outside damage to a minimum. This plan's supposed to be precise, Percy!" The kid almost stood up in surprise, though his reeling in continued. "And that monster you've made is completely unstable! There won't be an Astral World left if you-!"

"That there IS an Astral World left after you broke out the floodgates to handle Eliphas is a miracle, Tidus!" Percy shouted back at his fellow traveler. "And nothing is too good, nor any damage too great, to ensure that heartless lunatic never harms another Duelist again! Assuming he hasn't in my absence! People are still CARDS because of his actions! Or have you forgotten-?!"

At that moment Tidus finally retrieved his Duel Disk, latched it onto his arm in one swift motion, and levied it at Percy's head, cutting him off mid-rant. Before Percy could continue, Tidus then whipped out a small picture of his own-featuring a girl with pink-silver hair, white clothing, and a customized Duel Disk.

"You. Are NOT. The only person in the Aspect. Who's lost someone they care about to these Number Hunters." With that, Tidus turned on his heel again, idly noticing the wave that was chasing the group had now ascended three stories high but was still slow enough for their run to put it a respectable distance. "And pretending you are is impressing no one but Save."

"Save can handle herself, you worry about splitting the group." Percy finally activated one of his cards onto his Duel Disk, and a gigantic red-gold phoenix with four legs suddenly appeared above the breached tower. "And make sure you find that Astral fellow too-letting him get away with Eli may cost us later."

"When they show themselves, man, calm yourse-" And then, Tidus noticed a rather familiar white-and-gold-armored warrior using its makeshift shields to divert the flow of the tidal wave. "Speaking of such. Guess we have to get our feet wet anyways."

Another card activation lit up the tower, and soon, more monsters erupted, following the ebbing waterfall to the group that had been chased by its stream….

Well, until a certain observant oddity and his Number stepped in.

"UTOPIA, USE LIGHTWAVE SHIELD!"

And with the Xyz Warrior's attack, the water parted. Astral would appear a second afterward, slightly banged up. Staggering behind him was Eliphas, clearly showing the effects of a brutal Duel in this monster-manifesting dimension. But in front of him was a far more unstable Yuma Tsukumo.

"ASTRAL! It's so great to see you again-I mean, I never thought you'd be in any trouble-but we still came as fast as we could to help you-and-and-" Tori's thumping hand on Yuma's head straightened the Duel Carnival Champion's thoughts-and more than several of his wild locks. "S-sorry Tori. Anyways, what's the danger we have to face?" Yuma took a side glance to Utopia, still splitting the surge of water around the group. "Besides the plumbing, of course."

Astral's eyebrows lifted. "Plumbing, Yuma?"

"Explain another time, Yuma," Eliphas panted. "Right now, our Astral World is currently under invasion by another world that is fusing with ours. Their champions have already confronted us. And I…have not fared well against them."

"Wait, what world?" Rio asked, moving to the wavering Eliphas, "I mean, we've seen the waterfalls, but-."

The second Rio's hand came into contact with Eliphas' shoulder, her questions were instantly answered, as her eyes shot to the sky and her sentence ended in a scream.

For the aforementioned world-apparently only visible to the Astral entities, loomed over the formerly starry sky of the Astral World like a twisted mirror's reflection. Scattered among that parallel dimension was a wasteland of charcoal-black craters and ruined buildings with lighting roaring into the sky of Astral World like hungry vipers. And along the outline of the dimensional hole was an endless column of sickly flickering white-yellow light, the sky itself looking as if it had come aflame with a way-too-close black sun in its epicenter.

Needless to say, the sight was not welcome to the former Barian's eyes-or the Barian king's, either, once Shark latched on to Rio to stop her screaming and was similarly stunned by the new view. "Yuma, may want to take a look at this."

"C'mon Shark, can't it wait till we figure out who's flooding this place-YAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Yuma had now bared witness to Rio and Shark's vision. "Astral, what is THAT?!"

"That…is like nothing I have seen before, Yuma." With another motion, Utopia's long-held Lightwave Shield ripped a chasm in the empty road, channeling the water from the stream, and buying him enough time to properly address his best friend. "But it is not all. The two warriors that have come from that world…

"…are coming for us right now!" The cry came from Kite, and the eyes of the large group all turned to him

Immediately, those eyes also widened at the gigantic phoenix-like bird screaming out of the air and towards them. The rumble at ground level hinted at the arrival of another threat, coming with a new surge of water that threatened to wash over the entire group. "Everyone, Summon your Xyz Monsters, now!" Eliphas yelled, readying his Duel Disk. "The Numbers that were once of your world are at our disposal, but we must hurry!"

The obliging Duelists called upon the Overlay Network in earnest.

"Go, Dododo Wizard and Number 55: Gogogo Goliath!"

"Crush 'em whole, Bahamut Shark and Number 73: Abyss Splash!"

In almost record-setting fashion, a horde of Xyzes started flittering out to back-up Utopia, and his four fellow Xyzes-until the growing pool to the left of Utopia starting bubbling again.

And without a warning, the wave came up again-this time, though as a gravimetrically impossible wall of liquid that started ringing around the various Xyzes, separating them-and their holders- from each other. Everyone, of course, except Mizar and Kite- the former only having enough warning to use his summoned Galaxy Stealth Dragon to take to the skies and evade impact, the latter already airborne and now spinning with Orbital 7 to avoid the crashing tides.

Only this time, the waves did not simply recede, they transformed-into the tentacles of a thoroughly oversized jade-green octopus monster. In its clutches were most of the Xyz squadron, now wrapped up in its many tentacles.

"Yuma!"

"Astral!"

Surprisingly, this dual cry did not come to its recipients from their other friends, now currently in the vicinity of a large sea monster-the shock of its arrival had bought their stunned silence. The reply instead came from the sky, where one Galaxy-Eyes user's Xyz dragon and the other's all-purpose android were currently jetting to face the phoenix-carried man still heading towards them. "We'll keep this intruder off your back-keep that monster away from your friend's backs!" Mizar yelled.

"Right!" Yuma and Astral then turned to face the beast, whose eyes now locked on the group-several of whom reeled at the intensity of the stare-Shark and Rio nearly dropping Eliphas in the process. "Ready, Astral?"

"It's been too long," replied the oddity. "And now..."

DYSTOPIA OF DESIRE/?/?

"...their little games come to an end," said the Aspect leader, looking into the blight-white sky of the Dystopia of Desire. "Ironic, considering what started them."

And the Astral World stared back at her through a gap in the sky, the barriers of the world now held by a widening circle of electricity, fueled by the lightning bolts spawning out of the world that the sprawling Dystopia of Desire floated above.

"Time to Duel."

And with that her silver-bordered card left her hand-and shot into the atmospheric breach, the white-clad warrior within it coming to life as the hit the thresh.

*** EXTRA SCENE/NUMBER TIMELINE/? ****

The skyrocketing of a figure through the warped sky of the Astral World-and toward the great tower-was noticed by Kite and Mizar.

They, however, would soon put it out of their minds as the phoenix carrying their newest opponent, Percy, finally managed to hit one of them with a gout of flames-in this case, Kite Tenjo. His similar trajectory to the ground-accompanied by Orbital 7's proclamations of doom, gloom and rusting into nothingness-would be stopped only by Mizar and Galaxy Stealth Dragon swooping down and grabbing him. They would head for the spire-like towers to touch down, and Percy would follow them.

The next person to realize it was the cosmic crusader Astral, at the start of his attempt to perform a ZeXal Morph with Yuma, along with the rest of his friends at hand.

This being-shrouded in a comet-like trail of purple flames-not only took his attention but left Yuma at a rather awkward pose in front of the menacing sea monster looming over him.

But the third and final 'charm' in seeing the spiraling silhouette was from Vetrix and his family. "Well, this journey of ours just picked up, hasn't it!" the Argent Patriarch said as he noticed the light of the phenomenon.

"Wait, what are you talking a…bout…." Quattro's inquiry was drawn away upon noticing the figure. Trey was similarly stunned.

It was Quinton, however, that realized the implications of the ominous sign. "We need to move, Quattro! All of us! Now!"

Because the figure's trajectory was not a straight line-but a curve. A curve that was now making a direct, several-hundred-mile an hour-beeline for the four Duelists of Argent Chaos.

They would only put out seven feet of separation from the incoming entity-Vetrix through a wildly uncharacteristic barrel roll-before the figure touched down and tore a trench in front of the Astral Tower's entrance.

Needless to say, whoever had arrived was in a mad rush to destruction. And it seemed that so was the rest of Team Yuma.

Let's begin bringing back the Tinklebell of Context with these two chapters up and over with.

So right now, we've covered 4 of the 6 members of the Aspect in terms of personality, let's shine a tad more light on it before the second part of Open Season.

Percy- is kinda a bit of a zealot. But he's a good reason for his anger-and it includes a rather unfortunate and unresolved part of Kite's former life as a Number Hunter. Anyone who's heard of Number 56: Gold Rat may know what this entails.

Tidus- is a more laid-back man, but he's lost a person too, and blames it on one of Yuma's friends. Want a hint here? Look at the monsters Shark summons. Tidus definitely will, and it'll cut a chance encounter with Vetrix's family short (oooooooooh, spoilers.)

Evy- oh baby, what is it with them getting mad at specific peripheral heroes and their flagship monsters? Almost like there's a method to their madness...? But yes, she is the Torque user-and another Signer will be facing her in the next chapter, don't you worry Akiza fans. Look at the last chapter, it should be clear.

?- Is the mysterious Duelist who cuts off Yusei from rescuing Akiza. Don't wanna give too much away on them, especially considering their tendency to secrecy-but notice the weaponry on their charges-and also the fact there are five of them-and finally, that they appear to be animate monsters.

We'll be continuing this episode arc soon, folks. Stay tuned!