Yusei tosses and turns in the bed beside me. I haven't been able to sleep at all. The weather's starting to get warmer, so I'm blaming that. I'm starting to think he's having another bad dream. I sit up in an attempt to wake him up. At least I won't be sleepless alone, the very bad thought crosses my mind. Yusei shudders in his sleep before jumping up himself. He wipes his hair off his sweaty forehead, his eyes wide.

"Ghost again?" He shakes a little, not noticing me. I wonder how many times he's woken up alone after a bad dream before we started sharing the bed.

"No." He shakes his head. "Worse."

"Wanna talk about it?" I turn the lamp on and get Yusei to move his back against the wall, I follow. He nods, taking a deep breath. He takes his time in getting words out. He seems hesitant. "It's okay. Take your time." I whisper, grabbing his hands. I place a kiss on each of the knuckles I can reach. I see the corners of his mouth upturn slightly. That's the closest thing to a smile he can manage right now.

"My father was responsible for the Zero Reverse." He gets his words out quickly. He hunches slightly. He's terrified.

"I knew he was in charge of the project, but..." Yusei looks at me, eyes wide.

"But how?" His voice is barely above a whisper.

"Back when I was in the Old Momentum, I found a picture of someone you looked a lot like you with Rex Godwin in labcoats." My brow furrows at the memory. I filled me with such rage then. I've never brought it up with Yusei until now. I never had the guts too. "I looked it up after everything. Masahiro Fudo, your dad, was the one in charge of the project."

"Yeah." He mutters. He looks like he's on the point of tears. "I just-" His voice falters. "I just feel so guilty about it. You, Jack, Crow. My family is the reason why you all lost your families." I start rubbing his back.

"It's okay baby. None of us blame you or your family for what happened." I try to smile for him. "It's not your fault." He says nothing. Something in my memory stirs. A looming figure in my head that won't go away. "It wasn't his fault either."

"It was Rudger Godwin." I wipe one of Yusei's tear away for him. "Testing was going bad, my father stepped down, knowing what could potentially happen. But it wasn't enough, Rudger overloaded the system to become a Dark Signer." I stay silent as Yusei shakes. Strangled noises come from his mouth, but there are no tears. "I just can't help but think what if things played out differently. If my father had been able to stop the Zero Reverse from happening. The Zero Reverse ruined any chance of any of us having a normal, happy life."

"That's not true. As along as I have you by my side, I'll be happy." I gently take Yusei's face in my hands. "That's all I need. I'm sure the guys feel the same way. As long as we're together." I smile, despite feeling the need to cry. Yusei seems to calm down. "Never think that I love you any less." My voice starts to crack. I know what Yusei is feeling right now. "I love you, and I always will." Yusei's eyes are wide, glistening with tears threatening to fall. I smile at him, in hopes that he'll smile back. The corners of his lips upturn more than they did before.

"I love you too." He manages to croak out. I smooth my thumb over his face, gently brushing his marker with every half moon.

"Okay, would some cuddling make you feel better?" He nods slowly. I smile, turning off the lamp. I pat Yusei's hair as I pull him into my arms. It's many hours before we fall asleep, but it's just nice.

"You're staring at my ass." I say, smoothing out my new Riding Duel suit. A nice black suit, which matches my soul according to Kaoru. I used blue lines to create a nice bodice shape, with some lines down the side for some contrast. I used dark grey pads, gloves and boots. Light blue adds a nice pop to my high neckline and boots. A job well done if I may say so myself.

"Am I not allowed?" I hear the smirk in Yusei's voice. I turn around to him with my eyebrows raised. "I am your boyfriend after all."

"I never said you weren't. I just wanted you to know that I know you're staring. I mean, you can always stare cause I know for a fact that you love my ass."

"That's true." I shake my head, smiling. I fix my collar, as I added a standard collar as well as a high neckline. "I assume you're coming with us then?" Yusei asks, grabbing his helmet.

"Nah, Kaoru challenged me to a duel. Needs practice for the WRGP, he said. You have fun dueling Aki." I grab my own helmet, on my way to my D-Wheel. "I'll see you later honey." I pucker my lips in Yusei's direction as I sit down on my D-Wheel. He smiles, giving me a kiss. We drive out together, and actually for most of the way. I like going on drives together, it's cute. Almost like a date, I think. Then, I realise we've never been on a proper date, so yeah, I'll count this as a small date.

"The Fabled Unicore attacks you directly! Horn of Judgement!" Kaoru's life points hit 0. I slow to a stop beside him as mist pours out from his D-Wheel. "Got you there, didn't I?"

"You did." He sighs. "Got to admit that."

"Happens to everyone." I smack him on the back. "How are WRGP preparations going?" We start driving again, not anywhere in particular.

"Emiko and Anako have learned to be in the same room without trying to murder each other, so that's something. I wonder what happened." He shakes his head.

"If you find out, tell me." I'm really curious what happened, why would they stop fighting all of a sudden?

My body forces me to stop my D-Wheel all of a sudden. The throbbing in my chest echoes in my head. A familiar sick feeling claims my stomach again. A line of fire torches the sky. The lane below us shakes.

"Ghost." I say.

"What?" Kaoru takes off his helmet, having stopped as well. "They solved that problem, didn't they?"

"Apparently not." I rev up my D-Wheel, taking off for the new meteor crash site. Kaoru following behind. I doubt they let us get close, but I need to know for myself what that meteor was. Ghost showed up after the last meteor fell. I'm suspecting another Machine Emperor is about to rear its head.

"Yuuka!" Crow runs up to us at the site. I'm being forced to stand behind some tape as while Security cleans up what's left. "Can it be?"

"It's that again, alright. Any further is off-limits apparently."

"What about the meteor?" Crow asks, seeing if he can get any further, but an officer blocks him.

"Security already took care of it."

"Oh no!" Crow slaps his hand on his forehead.

"We're too late." I hear Rua cry behind me.

"Yusei." I turn around, hearing the worry in Aki's voice.

"Yeah, I feel uneasy. I have a bad feeling about this." Yusei meets my eye. The feeling's mutual.

The air in Poppo Time is uneasy for the next day. We're all waiting for another Ghost. Though, the twins coming in after school proves a nice distraction since Ruka is in a really good mood. Rua, however, has taken to lying on the ramp.

"He had perfect combos!" Ruka's blabbering on about a new exchange student in her class. It's cute. I remember being her age with my first crush. I'm currently dating said crush, but that's another story. "And Luciano always used his cards at the right time! He anticipates his opponent's moves! He's so cool!"

"It's rare that you praise someone so highly, Ruka." Yusei smiles. I think he's caught onto it too. He gives me this soft look, I think he's thinking the same thing. I wonder when Yusei figured out that he liked me. It's never actually come up. I must ask him some day.

"Because he's really incredible! Right, Rua?" Bless her, she's so cute.

"Really? I thought he was so-so." Rua couldn't sound more disinterested. He stands up, grabbing his backpack. "I'm going home. See ya." He leaves pretty quickly. I turn to Ruka, expecting some sort of explanation.

"What's wrong?" Yusei asks before I even open my mouth.

"I think he's upset because he lost his duel against Luciano." Ruka pouts slightly.

"I don't know." I shrug my shoulders. "Brothers are very protective when their sisters start talking to guys. I would know." I sigh. I see Yusei trying to hide a laugh. Ruka looks at me, confused.

Rua bursts into the garage the next day after school, calling for Yusei. He starts talking so fast that we can't understand him. Something about that Luciano kid, and having Ruka at his house. Then, he starts talking about a new Duel Disk, no, a Duel Board. Yusei lets him use the whiteboard to draw it out.

"A Duel Board?" Jack echoes.

Rua gestures to the whiteboard. "It looked like this, and it connects to a Duel Disk here." It looks like a skateboard with footholds with a Duel Disk attached at the end.

"I see. He can easily have Riding Duels. What a clever concept." Jack moves his hand to his mouth.

"Yusei, what do you think?" Rua turns to Yusei, here we go.

"Since it's a simple idea, I can build it with leftover parts, but…" But I'm too focused on building a new D-Wheel engine for the WRGP.

"I really want to defeat Luciano! I want to beat and outsmart him!" Rua looks so determined, bless him. I see Yusei's composure starting to crack. "Yusei, will you do it? Will you?"

"I guess so." He sighs, giving in.

Rua seems so happy. He doesn't leave Yusei's side the entire night. Actually building it is the easy part, Yusei says.

"I don't get what's so great about this Luciano guy anyway?" He pouts.

"Right." I realise that I'm going to have to be the one to give this talk, given the constant absence of their parents. "When girls get to your age, everything starts changing." Yusei gives me a strange look, as if surprised that I'm the one talking about this. "Honestly, you're just going to have to accept the fact that she might like boys, or girls maybe, who knows? I mean if that person is a murderous psychopath, then yes, being protective is acceptable. If they're harmless, let your sister be happy. You don't want to end up like my brother, Kaoru, do you?" Rua goes to answer but I stop him, knowing he looks up to him in some regard. "No. You don't." Rua's more confused than anything by what I say. He falls asleep at around eleven on the desk beside him. I chuckle.

"Will I put him in your room? Can't let the kid sleep like that, he'll end up with back problems like someone else we know." I get Yusei a pointed look.

"I guess." Yusei stretches his back, I hear it crack and I cringe. "You can crash on the couch, I'll probably be up all night."

"When you go asleep, I'll go to my actual house and sleep. You're not pulling another all nighter, you hear me?" He nods, whether he wanted to or not is another story. Despite what I say, we end up sleeping on the couch together.

Rua goes out practicing on his new Duel Board, since it is the weekend and all. We have another chill day in the garage. Yusei works on his own D-Wheel for once. I suddenly feel sick. I jump up, holding my head forward. Yusei's Signer mark starts glowing.

"The mark…" He says. Jack comes into the garage, his mark is glowing too. "Ruka…"

I don't bother putting on my Riding suit, going straight for my pads. Nobody says anything as we drive out immediately, looking for Ruka. The Machine Emperors. They're striking again. I can feel it in the pit of my stomach.

"Yusei! Jack! Yuuka!" Crow calls out from behind on the highway.

"You came!" I look back and see Aki alongside Crow in her Riding Suit. If I wasn't focused on driving and not puking at the same time, I might have made a funny joke. We drive through one of the few tunnels. When we emerge, I spot a giant robot flying above the lane beside us, no, a Machine Emperor. It feels like a blow to the stomach. Ruka. I feel her aura. Rua's too.

"A giant robot?" Crow asks. No, worse.

"The same one Ghost used?" Aki pipes up. Yusei accelerates to get a better look.

"No, it's not the same. But the mark on its chest means it's part of the same group." The strange infinity symbol on its chest, that's what he's referring to.

"So there are multiple versions?" The panic is clear in Crow's voice. It's just as I expected. Yusei does a double take in looking at the lane.

"Ruka! Rua!" He screams over without a second thought. I pull up the duel on my monitor. Oh no. Ruka's already Synchro Summoned.

"This is bad!" Even Jack sounds shaken. "She already summoned Ancient Fairy Dragon!"

"My turn!" Their enemy starts their turn. All of their Speed Counters already at 5. "I activate Machine Emperor Skiel Infinity's effect! Once per turn, Machine Emperor Skiel Infinity absorbs a Synchro Monster on your field!"

"Absorb a Synchro Monster? This is what Yusei was talking about!" I hear Rua panicking over the speaker.

"Sealing Synchros away!" I feel my stomach drop again.

"He does it too." Green tendrils come out from Skiel. They start wrapping around Ancient Fairy Dragon, completely constricting it.

"Ancient Fairy Dragon!" The dragon starts glowing and is dragged towards Skiel. "Ancient Fairy Dragon…" Ruka murmurs.

"Stop it! Release Ancient Fairy Dragon!" Rua cries out as the dragon disappears into Skiel's chest cavity. A small gasp escapes from my mouth.

"Ancient Fairy Dragon was absorbed." Ruka cries.

"Oh no! We were too late!"

"I took Ancient Fairy Dragon!" Their opponent cackles. Their aura. It's just like Ghost's. That can't make sense. Ghost was a robot.

"If only I remembered earlier…" I hear Rua muttering over the speaker. Their enemy does a flip using the side of the lane. "Luciano... Ruka, that's Luciano!" What?

"What? Luciano?" The new exchange student is connected to Ghost? What in the world is going on?

"You've found out too late! My monster's effect activates! Machine Emperor Skiel Infinity gains the attack points of the Synchro Monster that it absorbed(ATK:2200-4300)!" I grit my teeth at this kid's high pitched voice.

"4300 attack points!?" Rua starts panicking.

"I activate Speed Spell - Summon Close from my hand!" Luciano continues. "When I have 4 or more Speed Counters, you can't Special Summon this turn!"

"Again?" Rua cries.

"I see through your strategies! Machine Emperor Skiel Infinity attacks Rua directly!" A green beam of light starts flying towards Rua. I go to shout over to him, but Ruka moves between her brother and the blast.

"I activate my trap, Twinkle Wall! By taking damage equal to half your monster's attack points, I can negate that attack!" Ruka takes the damage, screaming. Her life points now stand at 350.

"Ruka!" Rua screams.

"I set one card and end my turn." The throbbing in my head settles a tiny bit as Luciano ends his turn.

"My turn!" Rua starts his turn, now their Speed Counters stand at 6. "I summon Morphtronic Scopen(ATK:800)! When Scopen is in attack position, I can Special Summon a Level 4 Morphtronic monster from my hand once per turn! I Special Summon Level 4 Morphtronic Boomboxen(ATK:1200)!" No, he couldn't be. "Level 3 Scopen tunes Level 4 Boomboxen! In order to protect world peace, courage and power, dock together! Synchro Summon! The emissary of love and justice! Power Tool Dragon(ATK:2300)!"

"A Synchro Monster? That's why you're not good." Luciano says, taunting Rua.

"What's he thinking? Synchro Monsters don't work against him!" Jack shouts.

"No. Power Tool Dragon deals with Equip Cards. Rua has must have a trick up his sleeve." I turn back to Jack, who merely nods at me.

"Rua!" Ruka screams.

"Then, I activate Speed Spell - Summon Speeder from my hand! When I have 4 or more Speed Counters, I can Special Summon a Level 4-or-below monster from my hand. I Special Summon Level 1 Morphtronic Vacuumen in defense position(DEF:0)! When Vacuumen is in defense position, it can equip a monster on your field once per turn!" There it is. I knew Rua had a strategy.

"He's going to remove Machine Emperor Skiel Infinity from the field so that he can battle with Power Tool Dragon!" Crow cheers. No, it's not going to work. I realise suddenly.

"Vacuumen equips Machine Emperor Skiel Infinity!" Rua declares.

"I activate the trap, Convert Ghost!" Luciano interrupts. "When an effect targets a monster on my field, I can switch the target to a monster in the graveyard!"

"He dodged it!"

"Your strategies are weak. They don't work against me." Despite Luciano's words, Rua's aura doesn't quiver. He has a back-up plan. That's why he has Power Tool Dragon.

"I set one card and end my turn." And that facedown card is it.

"My turn!" Luciano declares, but Rua interrupts him.

"I activate the trap, Power Break!" Here we go. "When Power Tool Dragon is on my field, all equipped and absorbed cards on the field return to our decks!"

"What?" Luciano exclaims.

"For every returned card, the opponent takes 500 points of damage!" A smile breaks out on Rua's face. Skiel's attack returns to its normal 2200, and Luciano's life points drop to the same amount.

"Ancient Fairy Dragon!" Ruka smiles too as the faded image of the dragon flies overhead, before returning to her duel disk.

"I won't let you have Ancient Fairy Dragon! I'm not a Signer, but I'm proud that Ruka has the mark of a Signer! Ancient Fairy Dragon is proof that she's a Signer, so I'm going to protect it!"

"Rua…" These kids are so cute, I'm really warming up to them y'know.

"He took back Ancient Fairy Dragon." I hear a sigh of relief from Jack.

"Rua was planning to take Ancient Fairy Dragon back from the start!" The grin is clear in Crow's voice.

"He did it." Aki smiles.

"Yeah." I see the relief in Yusei's face when he turns to look at me. I smile back.

"How dare you! I'll make you regret angering me until I crush you!" Luciano clenches his fist. "I activate Speed World 2's effect! By removing 7 Speed Counters, I draw one card from my deck!" His Speed Counters drop all the way back to 0. "I activate the trap, Sky A3! I send Skiel Attack on my field to the graveyard! That lets me Special Summon Skiel Attack 3 from my hand(ATK:2200-2400)!"

"It powered up!" Rua cries.

"Then, I release Skiel Attack 3 to Special Summon Skiel Attack 5(ATK:2400-2600)!" Again? This kid can't be serious.

"How many times will he power up?"

"I activate Skiel Attack 5's effect! Machine Emperor Skiel Infinity attacks Rua directly! Die!" My heartbeat rings in my ears. Everything starts slowing down. A red beam of light hits Rua, causing a plume of smoke as his life points hit 0.

"Rua!" Ruka stops moving completely. I hear the pure pain in her voice. The impact is enough for Rua to fly off the lane. My D-Wheel stops by itself. My hands don't move fast enough to summon a monster to catch him. My head starts throbbing. I can everyone's auras throb too. There's a burst of red light and a roar. The Crimson Dragon appears and stretches out its wings.

"The Crimson Dragon!" Ruka cries out as the dragon summons a ball of light that catches Rua midair. I run the edge of the lane.

"Rua!" My voice is strangled. I see Rua gently lowered to the ground, the faint red light around disappearing.

"He's safe!" Aki shouts beside me.

"The Crimson Dragon saved him!" Crow cheers.

"Ruka!" Yusei shouts over to the next lane. "Rua is safe!"

"Everyone!" I hear Ruka's voice faintly.

"I'm going down to him to make sure he's alright." I say, moving back to my D-Wheel. I exit the duel on my monitor, summoning two monsters to get myself and my D-Wheel down there. Rua's out like a light. I lift his head into my lap. A bit scuffed up from the duel, but it doesn't seem like anything too serious. My head starts throbbing again when I notice a faint light on Rua's right arm. I look at it. The shape of a heart. It looks like… No, that can't be. Rua isn't a Signer, that's not possible. As quickly as it comes, it disappears.

"Ruka!" Rua jumps up. He scrambles, looking around. I keep him from standing up. "Uh, Yuuka!" He seems shocked to see me. "Where's Ruka!?"

"She's fine." I look up at the lane above us, searching for her aura. The duel is over, I think. "It's you we should be worried, you had us all worried back there."

"Sorry about that." He scratches the back of his head in embarrassment. "I think I'm good to stand up now." I give him a hand in standing up. He was right.

"Come on. Let's get back to everyone else." I take Rua's Duel Board and try to put it in what little storage space I have in my D-Wheel. Rua decides to just hold it. It ends in the space between us as Rua rides with me. Rua holds onto my waist tightly, which makes me realise that I might be driving a little too fast for him.

We stop in front of where Luciano's mansion used to be, only to find a large grassy field. The skyscrapers of the inner city are just a little bit behind us. This makes no sense.

"There's nothing here." Crow says, stating the obvious.

"That's strange. It was here. There was a huge mansion! Right, Ruka?" Rua scratches his head in confusion.

"Huh? Yeah." Ruka nods.

"Are you sure?" Jack asks.

"Neither of them are lying, I can tell from their auras." I answer.

"I know!" Rua's eyes light up like he has an idea. "Let's talk to Bob!"

The Bob he has referring to is a boy I recognise from his class. "Luciano? Who's that?" That's his answer to all of this.

"Who?" The confusion is apparent in Rua's voice. "The transfer student from Duel Academy East School!"

"Duel Academy East School? What are you talking about? See you." Bob walks off, shrugging his shoulders.

"What's going on?" Rua turns to us.

"I don't know." I answer.

"We're facing powerful enemies." Crow closes his eyes in thought.

"They're changing history as we know it." Aki says.

"It doesn't matter who we're facing! Jack Atlas will defeat them!" I sigh at Jack's usual antics.

Yusei meets my eyes. I see the panic lying just behind them. Accel Synchro. That's what's on his mind. We need to master it, and soon, if we stand any chance at facing the storm that's coming for us.

A/N: Chapter 46, Double Crossed, was rewritten slightly. If you're interested, it's worth a re-read.