Not Quite the Same
Summary: AU Strong Ishijima accepts Yuya's challenge to duel in his father's place when Yusho fails to make an appearance. Just because their dimensional counterparts, doesn't mean that they have to be practically identical.
AU Explanation: There is no three year gap between Yusho's disappearance/Academia's attack on Heartland but everyone is the same age except Yuya's three years younger (11), Yuto and Ruri are three years older than Shun (making them about 19-21 given Shun is about 16-18) and Yuri and Serena (called Artemis after the male cat in Sailor Moon and the Grecian deity of hunting) are genderswaped.
{~~~}
The Action Field was activated. The crowd roared and cheered for what was to be the pinnacle of Action Duels. Pioneer and Champion of this new form of dueling, Sakaki Yusho, against the Sledgehammer of LDS, Strong Ishijima. It was a duel that promised to be filled with twists and turns, excitement and entertainment…
If Yusho Sakaki bothered to show up.
Yuya squirmed in his seat. His dad had never missed a duel before, especially one this important.
The audience was growing restless. Some started murmuring and these soon evolved into boos and jeers, calling the no-show a coward.
"Mom, Dad's going to make it, right?" Yuya said, fiddling with his pendulum. "He's just running a bit late. He'll be here any minute now."
"Yes, all we have to do is be patient and he'll arrive." Yoko replied, but it was more to reassure them both rather than the actual truth.
The presenter Nico Smiley wiped the sweat form his brow. "Well, since Sakaki Yusho is a no show, the winner of this duel due to forfeit is…"
"My Dad will be here!" Yuya cried, running to the edge of the stands. "We just need to wait a bit more and he'll be here."
"But it's almost been an hour…"
"Then duel me until he gets here!" the boy yelled.
The crowd burst into laughter.
"That kid against Ishijima?"
"He won't even last a turn against the Sledgehammer!"
"Proves how much of a coward that Yusho is. If he doesn't want to duel, he sends his brat in his place."
"Shut up all of you!" Yuya said. They didn't understand. His dad wasn't a coward and he'll prove it. "My dad taught me everything I know about dueling and I can beat Ishijima!"
There was an uproar of protest. A little boy barely out of elementary school defeating a Pro League duelist? Impossible.
Smiley was about to tell the boy that no, it wasn't possible that he could duel his father's opponent when Ishijima stopped him.
"Let the boy duel." The Sledgehammer said. "He has a burning spirit that will make up for his father's cowardice. The audience came for an entertaining duel, it's our job as entertainers to give them one."
"Yes…but–" Smiley sighed. Ishijima accepted the challenge so they might as well let the duel take place. At least they wouldn't have to deal with ticket refunds. "The challenge has been accepted!" he announced. "The duel between LDS's Sledgehammer and the Sakaki boy will now commence! Duelists locked in combat…"
Yuya leaped from the stands and onto the Action Field. He'll show the world his dad's Entertainment Dueling. "Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters! They storm through this field!"
Strong Ishijima prepared his duel disk. Though he admired the boy's determination, Sakaki's son had a snowball's chance in hell of winning. "Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of Dueling!" He continued the chant. The duel would be quick but he will try to make it as entertaining as possible.
"ACTION…"
"DUEL!"
"I'll take the first move!" Yuya declared. He felt everyone's eyes turn on him, the pressure of being on stage. He felt stage fright creeping up on him. This was his very first public performance, his debut into the dueling world. What if he messed up? What if he couldn't do his dad's style justice?
The boy turned back to where he had been sitting. Big-Sis Yuzu looked just about ready to blow a fuse, the dreaded fan ready in her hand. Both Uncle Shuzo and Big-Bro Gongenzaka were on the brink of tears but there was an encouraging glint in three pairs of eyes. Ayu and Futoshi were cheering him on and his mom, despite looking worried, was ready to support him all the way.
He could do this.
"Let's get this show started! I summon my good buddy Performapal Hip Hippo and end my turn."
His loyal monster appeared and Yuya mounted him, dashing through the Action Field in search of the all-important Action Cards. Odd-Eyes Dragon glistened in his hand. If he played his cards right, he could win this duel with a one-turn-kill.
Like he had seen his dad do many times before, Yuya took a deep breath and proclaimed, "Ladies and gentlemen! Prepare to swing into action because the real fun is just getting started!"
{~~~}
Yuzu gasped as the dark duelist discarded his mask.
Sure it was a little stupid, scrap that downright idiotic, to go charging into the warehouse all by herself but she had to stop Sawatari before he could hurt Yuya again. If that stuck-up idiot could justify stealing from a little kid, Yuzu didn't want to know what else he could be plotting.
She knew there was something familiar with the mysterious man when he intervened in her challenge. He may use Xyz monsters, act like that something was going to jump out of the shadows at any moment and dress like a post-apocalypse rebel but that could not shake the sense of familiarity away.
But now that Yuzu could see his face…
"Uncle Yusho?" Sawatari and his goons had long since fled, leaving her alone with a man who shared a scary resemblance to her disappeared pseudo-uncle.
The man didn't look exactly like the elder Sakaki before his disappearance, but rather the young man alongside a younger version of her father in the photo albums, back when action dueling was just starting out.
"You're not Ruri." Not-Yusho muttered, disappointed. "You're too young but you look so much alike…"
Before either of them could say anything more, the warehouse doors slammed open to reveal a puffing Yoko.
The man met Yoko's eyes.
"Yu-Yusho?!" Yoko exclaimed. She knew he wasn't her husband but the similarities were there but there was also the reminder of someone else.
"Mom?" The man whispered, eyes wide with disbelief. He opened his mouth to say more but then Yuzu's bracelet flashed and he was gone.
"Mom! Did you find Big-Sis?" A boyish voice yelled.
Little Yuya skidded into the warehouse with the rest of You Show Duel School hot on his heels.
The two women looked from the young boy to the place where the mysterious man once stood. While he did share similarities with a younger Yusho, he was almost identical to what an older Yuya would look like. A very broken, traumatized older Yuya.
{~~~}
Sakaki Yuya was eleven years old, nearly twelve considering his birthday was in several months' time. Therefore, he would take part in the Junior category of Maiami Championships. But as the pioneer of the pendulum summon, the boy would be an invaluable asset in the upcoming war, a potential member of the Lance Defense Soldiers despite his age. For a proper assessment he need Sakaki among the Junior Youths.
It took a lot to convince the board to allow the boy participate in the Junior Youth category but his stunning win against Strong Ishijima worked in his favor. If Sakaki could get his win rate to 60% against Junior Youth duelists, he would be allowed.
With Sakaki joining his list of possible Lancers, Akaba Reiji slightly frowned. He knew it was wrong to turn a child into a soldier but morals had to take second place in an interdimensional war. If his father could train deadly child duel soldiers, then so can he.
{~~~}
Yuto didn't know what to think when he met his Standard counterpart for the first time.
The little boy, Yusho he assumed based on Standard Ruri's outburst in the warehouse, had appeared chasing the Academia soldier. After the child soldier had teleported back to his own dimension, Yuto was left to deal with a very tiny version of himself.
Considering that Standard Ruri had called his "Uncle", Yuto had assumed that his Standard counterpart was as old as he was if not older. At the very least he expected a teenager about her age. What he wasn't expecting was a tomato-colored bundle of questions and too much energy. The kid couldn't have been out of elementary school and he was getting mixed a in an interdimensional war!
Yuto was never good with kids. Shun was an absolute terror when he was younger, throwing glares and whatever else the younger Kurosaki could get his hands on his way the moment Ruri declared him her boyfriend. All his attempts to dissuade his mini-me from getting involved with the Academia, that the grown-ups can handle it so he should just stay home a focus on entertainment dueling, fell on deaf ears and the kid just wouldn't stop jumping around!
They were soon interrupted by the fusion pawn crashing into a lamppost and challenging him to a duel. Yuto felt a hint of pity for the synchro teen, another young life destroyed by this damn war, but he was the enemy and he had to keep little Yusho safe. But the boy kept getting in the way and the teenager was too hotheaded to notice the kid in the path of his motorcycle.
Yuto wondered what higher power he angered to be cursed with two reckless brats for dimensional counterparts.
{~~~}
Yuzu was perfectly comfortable as a girl.
Artemis was perfectly comfortable as a boy.
That made meeting a gender-swapped interdimensional counterpart all the more awkward.
Yuzu knew that an older version of herself existed in Ruri, so why not a guy version? A guy version from fusion that wholeheartedly believed that every duelist was a soldier and that attacking the Xyz dimension was completely justified.
Convincing him to swap clothes with her took longer than it would have been if they were the same gender but they needed to get the Obelisk Force off his trail if Artemis were to meet Kurosaki. He needed to see what the Academia was really doing and not an idealized goal.
His uniform was too baggy in some places and her clothes were too tight in others but it would have to do.
It took a while for Yuzu to convince the fusion boy to get moving but by the time she is surrounded by the Obelisk Force, Artemis was back on his search for the Xyz remnants with a different goal in mind.
As she activates her duel disk, Yuzu idly wonders what a female version of Yuya would be like. She soon discovers that the answer is down-right terrifying.
{~~~}
Akaba Reiji had been expecting some protest from the Lancers' parents when he announced that he planned to take their children to another dimension to fight in a war.
What he wasn't expecting was for Sakaki Yoko to nearly run him over on her motorcycle.
"Give me one good reason why I should let you take my baby away from me Akaba." The former gang leader snarled, ramping the engine of her motorcycle up.
"Well, you see Mrs Sakaki…" Reiji adjusted his glasses and tried to look as collected as possible after being chased around an action field by an angry mother. "Yuya is the pioneer of pen-"
Reiji was cut off as he scrambled out of the way of Yoko's charge.
"Try again, punk!"
"It would be a valuable exp-" Screech. Jump. Dodge.
"Wrong answer!"
"He defeated three-" Move now!
"Yuya's not going anywhere!"
It took him a good three hours and a duel to convince Sakaki Yoko to let her son go. By the end of the ordeal he was covered in scrapes and bruises with a new respect for advance summoning.
If only he had mention Reira sooner.
{~~~}
"BIG SIS YUZU!" Yuya cried as he jumped into 'Yuzu's' arms at the end of the Battle Royale.
When he was on stage, Yuya was confident, silly, and goofy and all the other things a good entertainer should be. But then those two fighter guys tried to push him into lava and he had to make friends with Yuto's scary dragon only for the scarier Academia soldier guys and Sora with a creepy smile appeared then Yuto got really angry and his pendulum made the scariest dragon ever then the flippy fortune lady told him that there was something very dark inside him and then he couldn't find Yuzu and the cooking guy and the fish guy got turned into cards and then he duel Sora over lava…
Overall, it was just too much for Yuya to handle for one day. He made new friends, he lost friends and his friends turned evil. Yuya was almost twelve and that made him a big boy but growing up doesn't mean that he had to give up cuddle time. All he wanted to do now is snuggle in Big Sis Yuzu's chest and forget all his worries…
But something was missing.
Yuya looked up into 'Yuzu's' eyes, which were green now instead of blue. "Where did your boobs go?" He asked.