Chapter 3: Desert Dream

Due to Sector Security find out their hideout, everyone had to relocate the base to another section of the Satellite. Soon Yusei speed down the tunnel after making sure the authorities were not following. Leo had a stop watch and a laptop nearby, clocking Rua on his Duel Runner as it sped by. Rua soon came to a stop and asked, "How was that? Faster or slower?" Leo looked at the watch and typed a few things on the laptop.

"Sorry, Bro. It's been the same." Leo sighed. Yusei had instructed them to do tests on their Duel Runners for a big plan. He got off his Runner and made his way to Leo to see what he was talking about.

"Ugh. I made several adjustments and it still doesn't go faster!" Rua cried out in frustration. At this time Rally and the gang soon enter to station. "Hey guys. How's it going?" Rally asked. Rua simply grumbled and went to work on his Runner. Leo chuckled and greeted their friends, "Hey. Just tuning our Runners." Yusei walked over to Rua and started helping with the black Runner, talking with him in a low tone.

Rally walked to a table and placed a few rolls of paper on them, "We got them. Just like you asked, Yusei." The papers unrolled to reveal a map with a few blueprints of what appears to be a factory of some kind.

Yusei had calmed Rua down enough and made his way over to the table, calling the twins over as well. "What's this?" Leo asked curiously. The older male pointed, "This...is the blueprints of the trash plant that connects the Satellite to New Domino City. Every month they do a three minute maintenance on the pipeline, stopping the flow of trash in that period." Yusei explained. "That maintenance is tonight. Our chance to get into the City and find Jack." The twins nod in understanding.

Yusei looks at the time, 3:46 pm. They had time before they put their plan into action. "You two should take a nap. You'll need to be ready for tonight." Both of the twins groaned.

"But Yusei..." Leo begun.

"What about our Runners? We need to work on them" Rua finished looking a Yusei with pleading eyes.

Yusei shook his head, not falling for the twins pleading, "I'll work on them. Now get some rest." Grumbling, both twins went to a set of benches and laid down. It took a while, but Yusei smiled as he soon heard their soft snoring. Chuckling to himself, he set out to work on their Duel Runners. Something caught his eye in Rua's Runner. Reaching in a compartment he pulls out a few pieces of paper. One was a picture of Jack, Crow, Yusei and the twins. The other seemed like a set of blueprints. Looking at them, Yusei became curious. "This could work..."

Rua and Leo were contently asleep. The bench seemed a bit more comfortable after a bit, although it felt bumpy...

Rua grumbled as he moved, trying to get comfortable only to get a mouthful of sand as a result. Jumping up he looks around. They were still in the station, except that there was no one there. Dust and sand covered most of the floors. "Yusei...?" Rua called out. The man wasn't anywhere to be found. Their Duel Runners were gone as well. Looking around more he spots Leo still asleep on another bench, quickly rushing to his twin and shaking him. "Wake up. Leo..."

"But I don't want any..." Leo moaned, making Rua all the more determined to wake him up. "Leo... Crow's eating your breakfast." Rua stepped back as Leo shot up quickly, "I'll kill him if he touches my food!" Realizing that where they were, her glared at his brother.

"Sorry, it was the only way to wake you up. Besides, something's wrong..." Rua motioned to the station they were in. Leo looks around, standing up and taking in their surroundings. They both begin to walk towards the exit Leo asking, "Where's Yusei and the others? And our Runners?" Rua shrugs as they make it to the entrance, though the door looks like someone set off a bomb on the other side. The twins struggle for a bit to get the door open, eventually relying on a nearby crowbar to pry the blasted thing open.

They were shocked and horrified at the sight that awaited them. The Satellite, their home, was covered in sand. Junk piles and ruined building dotted their vision, buried in dunes like some of those apocalyptic movies they watched when they were younger. New Domino in the distance didn't look any better, scaring the twins even more.

"W-what happened? Is this..." Leo begun, hoping this wasn't real. Rua didn't want it to be true, but they were going to have to make sure. "Come on. there has to be someone around here. Maybe they can tell us what happened." The boys begin their long trek through the ruined Satellite. Everywhere they looked, it was just almost like a desert. Their hope of finding anyone became slimmer with each place they visited. They even went to Martha's and found even that was deserted.

Due to it being so hot, Leo and Rua were thirsty and tired. The reflecting metal and glass didn't help the situation the two were in. They slowly begun to give up hope until they noticed a cloaked stranger in front of a video store. They were at least happy that there was someone left, maybe he could tell them what had happened. As they approach, they notice that he had a crate nearby him. I seemed to be full of glass bottles. "Excuse me sir?" Leo begun.

At first the stranger looked at them. They couldn't see any of his features. The best they could make of him was the lack of his left arm, which made them both unsettled. He reached over and pulled out two bottles and wordlessly tossed them to the boys. "Ummm... Thanks, but we're kids. We don't drink."

The man simply replied. "Neither do I. Have started and never will. Too much sorrow to drink myself to death." They look at the bottle and realize it was sparkling water. Taking his kind gesture, they open the bottle and drink. It was sweet and refreshing, at least in this desert. Rua finally pulled the bottle from his lips and asks, "What happened?"

"That, my friend, is a question I've asked myself for a long time..." He tapped the glass display window behind them. The twins look to see several sets of TVs (eight if you count the broken on at the bottom) set with static. At first that's all there was. However, upon closer inspection, there were faint images in each screen. In one, it looked like some blackened blob of sorts with blue lines. In another it showed a sort of fortress over a city. Various other images were shown, including a imaged of a mirror. Rua and Leo were confused at the next few: one of a knight and another of a two monsters with a crystal between them.

"Sir, what's this supposed to mean?' Leo asked. The man tipped his bottle back before answering, "I don't know to be honest. Could be something that happened. Possibly a cryptic message of some kind. I even came up with a few crackpot theories. One of which sounds more reasonable..." The boys look at him curiously, "Maybe a series of simultaneous events in different timelines, even dimensions, cause them to ram into each other. This could have been that result."

"Is there a way to stop it?" Rua asked, causing the man to chuckle. "You believe all this is real?" Both Leo and Rua look at each other. Do they believe all of this? The man continues, "Say it is real. That all of this happens. How can you stop it? The best you can do is prevent the events in your timeline from occurring. Or at least the negative effects of it leaking out into other timelines." The boys give him a confused look.

"Never mind. Just forget it." He sighed, "You wouldn't understand at your age."

Leo soon asks, "How do we get back home?" The man points to a set of footprints in the sand. "To be honest, you two aren't the first ones to pass by here. I'd follow in their foot steps if I were you. Before you go..." He pulls two more bottles out and hands them to the twins. "Good luck." The two thank him as start following the path he laid out for them.

The man smiles as they move further and further away, "Good luck, you two. I'll see you soon..."

(Sometime later...)

Leo and Rua had been walking for what felt like hours, and yet the sun hadn't set at all. It hadn't moved a bit in the sky above, which made them ponder a bit. They begun to pass by buildings that they swear looks familiar to them, yet they never have seen nor been to the place before. A GAME store was one of them. Another being a sort of amusement park. It wasn't long before the trail ended at a glass like pyramid. The darn thing had to reach the sky with how tall it was. The thing was opaque, making it hard to see what was in it.

"So you have finally arrived..." A old senile voice called behind them. Both boys turned around to face a teal cloaked figure with a oaken staff in his hand and a grey beard. He too was without his left arm, just like the man they met before. "Who are you?" Rua asked. The old man stared at them before answering, "I'm a Guardian. I keep an eye on this pyramid that you boys see right now. Have been since the Collision."

Leo was confused, "What's the Collision?" The man sighed. "Its the event that caused this..." He gestured to the sandy dunes surrounding them. "I...We had the power to stop it. Be all of us failed. Now only I remain..." Both boys looked at him in confusion as he continued, "Imagine five trains, all going on their own tracks. None of them were ever to cross paths with each other. However, someone intervened and somehow set them all heading towards the same intersection... At the exact same time..."

Rua whispered, "They crashed... hard." The old man seems to nod in agreement. "Each of us from different timelines, different dimensions, were chosen to prevent that. However, we couldn't find out in time what caused all of our timelines and dimensions to change their course..." Both Leo and Rua looked at each other worryingly, "Yusei..."

"However..." he said, catching the boys attention, "You might be able to, along with the others..."

"What do you mean?" Rua asked. The old man didn't answer them. Instead the ground begins to shake beneath them, making the twins fall over as the old man begins a chant.

"Light and Dark, join and become one...

Dragon of Crimson, guide their light...

Dragon of Immortal Darkness, protect their shadows..."

Rua and Leo are soon hoisted into the air, suspended by chains as they struggle and cry out for help. The senior's chant continues to ring out in their ears as the sky becomes cloudy above. The pyramid begins to crack as the chains hold them above it.

"Divine Gods, serve as their prayers...

Sacred Beasts, serve as their wraith..."

The glass structure below them shatters open as Rua and Leo's eyes begin to glow. Roars echo across the desert as wings, emerge from the structure. The chains pull the twins right arm out and expose it, lines beginning to etch themselves across them.

"Dragons of Fusion, combine their strength...

Dragons of Syncro, tame their power...

Dragons of the Overlay Unit, control their energy...

Dragons of Pendulum, curve their future..."

The twins scream as the monsters in the pyramid turn into light and make their way to them seemingly vanishing into both of their arms.

"Great Dragons of the light,

Grave Rulers of the Shadows,

Serve these two in their journey,

By their right as Guardians,

Let them turn destiny."

With that the ritual was complete, both twin siblings had passed out from the intensity of the process. On their arms now were 7 distinct marks, all but 2 faded from view as the man from before approached along with the senior. "Are you sure about this?" He asked as the sands begun to pick up around them, slowly covering the twins who had been set down by the chains afterwards. The old man replies, "They have many trials ahead. But I'm sure they will do just fine. I've yet to be proven wrong." The man chuckles as he walks away...

"Leo? Rua? Wake up!" Yusei and Rally were shaking the twins, causing the both of them to jump up and look around frantically. Yusei had to hold the both of them to clam them down as they both were breathing heavily. "You guys OK?" Le and Rua look around, making sure everything was there. Then, they look at their arms, nothing there it seems. Sighing, Leo says, "Yeah, we're good."

Rally then says, "Good, because it's 10:45!" Both Leo and Rua jump up and scramble for their Duel Runners, Yusei chuckling behind them as he gets ready with his own. They soon set off for the trash recycling plant.

(Meanwhile at Security H.Q...)

The Chief had called Trudge in about his duel with the Satellite duelists he encountered. He hands the officer a deck. "This is a specialized deck, used by some of our best patrol units for dealing with perpetrators using Duel Runners. It should help you apprehend that those Satellites."

Trudge takes the deck and begins to leave when the Chief calls back at him, "Trudge, I suggest taking one of those twins out first." Smirking, Trudge knows just who to go after...

Well, that's chapter 3 done. To answer some possible questions:

1) Yes, they have more than two marks. No, only two will be active for this Arc (potentially 3 later down the line).

2) This chapter was more of a set up for more Arcs after the Time Cradle Arc.

3) The men mentioned in this chapter will have important roles throughout the Series.

4) Unless people didn't get the hint, there will crossover Arcs. When? IDK.

Other than that, how was this chapter? I'll let you guys in on one thing, The God monsters and Sacred Beasts will be Syncro monsters. I already have a general idea for how to do the tuner monsters for them. But, I will not be relying on them too much (or try to). It's mostly going to be their Syncro dragons running the show. See ya next time!