A/N: I've received some comments about borrowing plot elements from the manga when I said I wouldn't and have also been called out for not delivering on the hints I promised of what other game I'm borrowing from when I said I would. So yes, I openly admit to taking that duel with Sect pretty much straight from the manga. It's the same as any fan fic writer repeating canon events. That's the last element I plan to use. As far as the hints thing, the hints are a bit off schedule, I'm sorry. Though if you read the situation the started this whole thing with Danny that in itself is a hint, and this chapter is the follow through. The game I'm borrowing plot elements (but no game mechanics) from is (drum roll please) Yugioh! 5D's: Wheelie Breakers, a racing game based on turbo dueling but not featuring the card game rules. Also, this chapter illustrates the main difference between Kaigen's eventual deck in my previous story and Koyou's. While similar in many ways, Kaigen's deck is focused on spell counters and spellcasters, while Koyou's is more of a warrior deck. More differences will show themselves as the story moves on.

Episode 4: Gemini Accelerate! (Alternate Title: Gearing Up)

"Duel runners are more maneuverable than most people think, but if you can't control that added ability you'd fly off easily. Since the tires generate a kinetic field when turning at high speed they have more grip, but the tires stop touching the ground, if you shift your weight you can turn much faster guiding the bike with your hips. Just think of the runner as an extension of your body." Yusei gave me tips on steering as he ran over where all the controls were and what they did.

"Right. Seems simple enough. If it steers like that I should keep relaxed. Alert as well, but looseness would probably help."

Yusei nodded, glancing over at the thug Danny preparing himself not far away. His runner was a simple one, somewhat like one of the retro sports bikes I'd seen in Yusei's collections of really old bike magazines. My friend warned me quietly, "And be careful, since this is a lap race they might invoke Speed World. Regular spells won't work in that kind of Turbo Duel."

"No, he won't do that."

"How can you be sure?"

I smirked as I looked at my opponent out of the corner of my eye, "Take a look at him, he's still overconfident even though I destroyed him in our last duel. He relies on spells for his own combination and he's intent on proving his defeat in spite of using it was a fluke."

"I see, you're probably right. That bunch has never been known for being too bright."

I noticed Danny's crew leaving to find a place to watch from, "Anyway, I'll try not to crash, and I'll stay a good distance away so I can avoid it when he inevitably tries to ram me in anger. You go ahead and head to the viewing platform."

Yusei nodded and departed. I fired up my runner and revved the engine to life. Not far away, Danny chuckled and gave me a look as arrogant as when he first met me. "Time to prove that skill wasn't just a fluke. Show me what you've got! One lap around the course, 4000 life points, no Speed World. First one back here wins."

"I know, are you ready to lose again Danny-boy?"

"Shove it rookie!"

The signal man began the countdown from five, when it hit three I started revving up rapidly, trying to time the power of the engine. If I did it right I'd get great acceleration off the starting line, if I overdid it I would spin out. It wouldn't occur to me until later that Yusei hadn't told me about that trick, I had just innately known it. Regardless, when the signalman said go, I shot off the starting line like a bullet, leaving Danny in the dust as Yusei had done to Sect. The difference was that Danny was enraged, as if he'd been slighted. Sect however had been in awe.

Even though Danny was trying to pour on the speed, I was pouring on just as much, so he couldn't catch up. We both new the rules. The first one past the first turn would literally take the first turn. As we neared it, a noticed Danny slowing down, but I didn't. I could hear Yusei and a few others shout a warning, something along the lines of me going too fast, but I twisted my hips and leaned, spreading my knees a little by instinct for stability. At the speed I was going, the runner leaned over, so much so in fact that if I hadn't nailed my vision forward I might have been scared and panicked. However I could feel the closeness of the road by the change in air current on my knee. The point really came across when that same knee hit a rock that was on the ground and sent it flying at the same moment I accelerated through the end of the turn.

Passed the first bend in the lap around the area, I lost a little control and the back end of my ride wobbled at little, causing me to dovetail a bit. Nothing I couldn't handle though, "So it's my move, I draw!" looking at my cards I smiled and unleashed my strategy, "I summon Gemini Soldier!" a small lad in a green and white riding suit appeared, flying beside my speeding runner.

Danny looked at the little monster and its feeble attack points and laughed, "Are you kidding? It has only 500 attack! It's useless!"

Ignoring him I continued, "I set two cards face down and end my turn."

"My draw!" Danny grinned wide and pulled a card from the top of his deck, "I activate the spell card Trap Booster from my hand. By discarding one card I can activate a trap card from my hand. I discard Emissary from Pandemonium to activate Call of the Haunted! That's right, my Emissary is coming to the field!" The huge... quite indescribable monstrosity was summoned, like some slightly draconian abomination from the underworld, one that boasted 2600 attack. Danny wasn't done though, "Next I summon Warrior of Zera!" the familiar green-armored warrior joined the battle, "Next I activate Gift of the Martyr! Sacrificing Emissary to give Warrior of Zera 2600 more attack until the end phase. Next I activate the last cad in my hand: Battle Tuned. With this I removed one tuner monster in my graveyard to give a monster I control its attack points, permanently. So Warrior of Zera's attack points are 6800!" He laughed like some kind of lunatic, "Beat this you scum! I attack your Gemini Soldier!"

I rolled my eyes, "God, you're so bad at this game! I activate my face down card: Power Frame! This trap negates your attack, then equips to the monster you attacked, raising that monster's attack to the same as your attacking monster's."

"Wait a minute! NO!"

Looking over my shoulder, I smirked, "That's right. While your Warrior of Zera will lose 2400 when Gift of the Martyr wears off, my Gemini Soldier will still have the full 6800 attack power you used this turn. Learn your lesson, Danny. Blunt force won't get you anywhere against me, or in life! Since you're out of cards and attacks, is it my turn?"

The thug spoke through gritted teeth, "Turn end."

"I'll draw then." I looked at the card and placed it in my hand, "I spend my normal summon on Gemini Soldier. As a gemini monster he gains an effect when I do this. Watch it in action! I attack your Warrior of Zera!" The small soldier threw a dart with terrible force, it's 6800 attack cutting through the Warrior of Zera's 4400 like butter and dealing 2400 damage to Danny, Out of nowhere, a warrior in fiery red armor and cape joined my field.

"Where did that come from! With that you-"

"It's over Danny. Whenever Gemini Soldier battles, I can summon a different level 4 or lower gemini monster from my deck. Meet my Evocator Chevalier! His 1900 attack points are more than enough to end you, and because you rely so much on brute force, there is no stopping it! So, EAT THIS!" I braked suddenly, turning on a dime and speeding towards Danny, impaling him on my Chevalier's holographic attack as if we were jousting, and sending Danny flying back off his bike. Well. MY bike. There was no need to finish the race, his life points were toast.

The crowd varied between disappointed at the match's brevity and impressed at how completely I'd crushed my opponent. Most seemed to agree though that Danny needed to improve before he would be in the same league as duelists like Yusei and me. You can't just pump your monster to insane levels of power and expect to win all the time. It might work sometimes, but without back-up, you are asking for defeat.

Danny just didn't seem to get that, "Impossible! You stacked your deck! There's no way you could do that so easily!" (A/N: Deck stacking is a means of cheating by putting your cards in a specific order. Some people jokingly claim Zane Truesdale and Lotten do this.)

"I have a hundred other ways to beat blunt force. My deck specializes in neutralizing it. You can't come at me with nothing but that and expect to win. You want to make it best two outta three? I'll even let you modify your deck and come back."

"You arrogant little-! You're saying no matter what I do I can't win?"

"Huh?" I was taken aback and raised an annoyed eyebrow at the insult, "Of I'm not saying that. I just want to give you a fair shot. I don't want any doubt as to which of us is better, either way it comes out. You should be happy that I'm not calling you out on the bet right now and giving you another shot!"

"You bastard!" he took out a duel disk from a compartment on his runner and strapped it on, slotting his deck, "I'll crush you here and now!"

A crowd was coming over from the stands, but I didn't look away from my aggressor. One of the random onlookers supported me, "You fool. Just cut your losses and learn from it. Clearly you've lost to the superior duelist."

"Shut up! I'll show this punk! I challenge you to duel! Full life points! Let's see how long your luck can last."

I glanced over and spotted Yusei shortly before he shouted my named and tossed me my own duel disk. Slotting my deck, I stared my opponent down, "Well, if you want to cheat these people out of a good turbo duel, we can settle this right here and show them a good normal one. You really should change your strategy though."

He ignored me, "I'm the challenger, so I'll go first!" he drew his starting hand and one more card.

Danny: 8000, Koyou: 8000

I pulled out my own starting hand, "Wasn't it the other way around when we did a duel like this. You like changing the rules?"

He ignored me, "I summon Warrior of Zera! Next I'll equip him with Legendary Sword!" the warrior's normal weapon was replaced by a simple gold-handled blade that raised its attack and defense from 1600 to 1900, "Next I activate the continuous spell card Forge's Heart! Now for every equip spell they have, my monsters gain 200 attack points! I set a face down card and end my turn." (A/N: Forge's Heart doesn't exist in the real game. It's exclusive to fan fiction. In fact, you'll be seeing a lot of made-up Equip Card support in this fic.)

I looked at the field, Warrior of Zera was packing serious heat at 2100. I didn't have Power Frame in my hand either, or any monsters that I could get out fast enough that could win. I'd have to play with what I had, take some damage and come back at him later, "I set a monster and two face down cards. Turn end."

"What? No miracle plays?" he laughed, then drew a card, "I summon another Warrior of Zera. Then I'll attack your set monster with my first."

"I activate my face down card, Ultimate Offering. With this I can normal summon as may times as I want as long as a I pay 500 life points for each extra summon. I can use this during your battle phase as well, so I tribute my set Evocator Chevalier to summon Knight of the Red Lotus!" A dark figure in rugged black and blue armor and fiery hair appeared in my monster's place wielding a huge sword made up of many scythe-like blades.

Danny: 8000, Koyou: 7500

"Ha!" Danny mocked, "It only had 2100 attack, both our monsters will be destroyed and I have more than you do! Get him Warrior of Zera!"

"My other face down activates: Kunai with Chain!"

Danny looked incredibly shocked, too shocked. Then his expression turned to a smile, that was all I needed to know.

"Kunai with Chain equips to one monster I control, raising its attack by 500." Danny moved to activate his own trap, but I wasn't done, "It's other effect switches the attacking monster to defense mode."

Warrior of Zera was ensnared by the chain and Knight of the Red Lotus dragged the monster into defense mode, even though the battle would have seemingly gone in my favor. On the sideline, Rally looked to Yusei, "Why'd he shift it into defense mode? He could have destroyed it."

Yusei shook his head, "No, look at Danny. He was about to activate a trap in response. Koyou saw it coming. Since Danny isn't triggering it, it must have been a card to boost attack."

"So if Koyou hadn't switched the monster to defense, Warrior of Zera would get 500 from the trap and another 200 from his spell."

"That's right. He would have lost the battle."

Danny was clearly annoyed. Since he didn't have the attack power with his other monster to beat mine, even with that Kunai trap, he was out of attack options, "Turn end!"

"My turn! I draw!" My new card was Black Pendant. "Perfect. I activate the effect of Knight of the Red Lotus. One time per turn I can special summon a level four or lower normal monster from my graveyard. Gemini Tutorial #2: Gemini monsters count as normal monster in the graveyard! So I special summon the monster I tributed to summon my Knight in the first place, Evocator Chevalier!"

Danny growled, "That's so wrong! That's not fair! A level 6 monster that's pretty much free to play?"

"Regardless, you'll have more to get mad about in a second, because I spend my normal summon to activate Evocator Chevalier as an effect monster." The warrior's shoulders erupted into flames of destruction, "His effect lets me send an equip card I control to the graveyard to destroy any card on the field. So I send Kunai with Chain to the grave to destroy your first Warrior of Zera."

"No!" Danny protested as his monster, and the spell equipped to it, went to the graveyard.

"Next I equip Black Pendant, sending it to the grave to destroy your set card."

Danny gritted his teeth, "I activate Blast with Chain! It equips to my remaining monster before being destroyed. When destroyed while equipped it takes out one card on your side of the field! I destroy your Knight of the Red Lotus!"

Crap! I'd called it wrong. It wasn't his Rising Energy trap at all! "Fine, but when Black Pendant is sent to the grave you take 500 damage. And I'll be attacking your monster with my Chevalier, destroying it and dealing 300 more damage."

Danny: 7200, Koyou: 7500

"I set one card face down and turn end."

Frustrated, Danny drew again, smiling at the draw card, "That's more like it. I summon Armed Samurai – Ben Kei!" A hooded, arrogant looking warrior appeared, "Next I equip him with Mage Power, giving him 500 attack for every spell or trap I have on the field. Next I use Arms Recycle. You know this card right? I can equip a spell card in the graveyard to a monster on my side of the field. I choose Legendary Sword! That's 300 from that, 1500 from Mage Power, and 400 from Forge's Heart for a total of 2700 attack power! I attack your Evocator Chevalier!"

My monster shattered, taking away 800 life points, "Gah!"

"I'm not done! Ben Kei can attack one more time for each equip spell he has on! So I attack you directly two more times! HAHAHA!"

Rally cried out, "Koyou!"

The holographic blades knifed into me dicing my life points to pieces. "GAAAH!"

Danny: 7200, Koyou: 1300 (A/N: The irony of the fact that if Danny had insisted on 4000 life points he would have just won does not elude me.)

"What was that about brute force not working on you? Seems' to be working just fine to me!"

I thrust out my hand, "I activate Damage Condenser, discarding one card to summon a monster from my deck with attack power equal to or less than the damage I just took. I choose the 1500 attack power Blazewing Butterfly!"

"What good will that do? I end my turn!"

I drew a card, "It doesn't matter how badly I'm damaged, there's nothing you can do to beat me. No matter how much attack power you bring to the table it will never be enough! I activate the equip spell card Supervise! When equipped to a gemini monster, that monster gains its effect without needing a second summon. Blazewing's effect let's me tribute it to special summon a gemini monster in my grave with its own effect active. I revive the monster I discarded to activate Damage Condenser. RISE UP! PHOENIX GEARFRIED!"

Blazewing flew up into the air and came crashing down, turning the ground into a small patch of lava. From this a white and crimson warrior sprang explosively from the afterlife. With massive sword and sturdy shield, the warrior towered over the enemy, one shoulder plate of its armor ablaze with power and it white cape blowing in the wind.

"Oh no! It's got 2800 attack! That's stronger than-"

"The other effect of Supervise activates as it is sent to the grave, I special summon a normal monster from my grave, Evocator Chevalier! And don't forget I've yet you normal summon! I bring forth Gemini Scorpion!"

"Not that again!"

"That's right, whenever he's summoned I can call out a gemini monster of level 4 or less from my hand! I bring out Tuned Magician!" the spellcaster stepped out from Scorpion's shadow and suddenly I had four monsters on the field when I had started with only one, "Time to pay you back for that attack! Phoenix Gearfried! Attack his Ben Kei with Falling Cutter!" The warrior hefted his massive sword and drove it down onto Ben Kei, straight through the weapons his target tried to block with, "Now! Chevalier, Scorpion, Magician! Attack him directly!"

"WAIT A MINUTE! AGHH!"

Danny: 1800, Koyou: 1300

"Turn end!"

Danny gawked at the field, "This is impossible! No matter how much power I throw at you you just keep coming back at me! This is impossible! This is madness!"

"This is gemini!" I declared, "Now make your move!"

The thug drew a card and look at it in dismay, "I... set a monster. Turn end."

With no face downs to protect him, he didn't survive my next battle phase.

Danny: 0, Koyou: 1300

The crowd cheered and the person that had spoken up for me before walked over to the crestfallen Danny, "Now you should pay up, since you lost." Looking at the man, something seemed awfully familiar about him. He red hair combed to one side and his posture was far better than most of the crowd. He was dressed in a trenchcoat, his clothes looking new and well maintained.

I grabbed my head in pain from a jolt of memory, I remembered... something... an argument? I couldn't tell what was going on, it as like trying to watch a muted TV with another TV blaring loud in the background and trying to understand the show. A duel runner, large tubes bigger than a man, the sounds of a duel that didn't match the picture in my brain. The pain, it was like when I first woke up, like my brain was trying to make room for something that wasn't supposed to be in there, and collapsing in on itself at the same time.

"What kinda name is Divine?" A voice in my memory, my father's, said as I blacked out.

Next Chapter: The Fated Destination

In the next chapter, we meet a new character with a strong connection to Koyou, a story exclusive archetype debuts, and Koyou receives his own runner. Or does he? Will he be joining Yusei as the junk wielder makes an attempt at entering the city? What is the leader of the Arcadia movement doing in Satellite and what connection does he have to Koyou's past? Not all questions will be answered, but stay tuned!