Author's note: Trying something a little new here, only showing part of a duel and focusing more on character interactions. Also, I found FanFiction's horizontal lines! Future chapters should be a little more readable now.

I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its spinoffs, cards, or characters.

"How did you find us?" Paradox asked the executive.

"All of this city belongs to Tanaka." was the reply. "No one can hide from us, try as they might. Now, please leave. Immediately."

Paradox replied, "You claim authority, but what power do you have that can force us?"

"This." was the businessman's reply, stepping aside to allow several armed policemen to enter the hotel room.

"Stand aside, Paradox. I'll handle this." said a furious Z-one.

"You'll 'handle' this?" cackled the Tanaka executive. "There are only two ways you can handle this; you can leave peacefully, or you can die. Your little machinery may look impressive, but I very much doubt it can stop a bullet. Now go, I will not warn you again."

"You imbecilic humans! Is this truly all you care about? Your weapons, your violence, your hatred, your destruction? It has been over a hundred years, and yet it seems so many humans cannot understand these simple facts: your wars and weapons will lead to naught but utter destruction. I have seen to much pain caused by mankind's apathy. I will not let it happen again! See now, how your power matches up to mine!" At his last declaration, Z-one raised a hand towards the assembled police. Startled, they aimed their guns at Z-one, but before any of them could pull the trigger, their guns disintegrated, all at once.

Stunned, the executive asked Z-one, "But... how did you..."

"Nothing that humanity every has or will accomplish can possibly hope to stand up to time, the most powerful force in the universe. Through time alone, all shall return to dust. I simply sped up the natural decay of those toys by a factor of millions."

"If you have such power, why not just dissolve us all right now and be done with it?"

"You humans DO NOT LEARN! True, I once thought like you, that I should use power to accomplish my goals, no matter the cost. But, I LEARNED! Death and destruction cannot solve problems, only create them! If I am to save humanity, it must be through leading them to truth; to righteousness. I cannot and will not solve this problem with murder."

One of the policeman, by far the youngest, addressed Z-one. "Is... is it true? Were we destroying mankind?"

"Of course we were!" snapped another. "It's just as he said; we were just too foolish to realize it. We justified our actions, saying that we were just following orders, that we were just doing our jobs. But that is no excuse. Tanaka are tyrants, and we are their weapons." The officer then turned to Z-one. "I know that we have made many mistakes, but please, let us join you. Let us make things right."

At that declaration, chaos spread among the assembled officers; one or two cheered in agreement, others murmured dissent, while the remainder remained silent, either scared or undecided.

"Enough!" shouted the executive. "You are all Tanaka Corporation employees. Anyone who aids this rabblerouser will be arrested for treason. You know how Tanaka treats traitors."

"Every word that comes out of your mouth only makes you look more and more pathetic. You rule only through fear, and now that these people see another way, do you honestly think they will stay with you?"

"Everyone who is still loyal to Tanaka! Stop them! Stop them, and be rewarded!"

"But... our guns..."

"Then duel them!"

"Us against all of them?"

"Pitiful. Aporia, Antinomy, all humans who wish to change their fate, come with me. Paradox, defeat them, then meet us at the location 'he' told us about. You alone should be enough for opponents such as these."

"Even now you mock me! Very well then. Destroy this "Paradox", and then arrest everyone!" The Tanaka executive and his remaining officers brandished Duel Disks, as did Paradox. The rest of Yliaster led their new allies out of the room.

"Duel!"

"Z-one? What is it?" asked Hideo. "What are all of these police officers doing here?"

"I managed to convince them to join our cause. Unfortunately, it seems that Tanaka already found out where we were hiding. I know you do not have the space for even just us in Yliaster, but please, allow us to use your house just for a few hours. We need somewhere for Paradox to find us, as well as a temporary base of operations."

"Temporary base? For what, if I may ask?"

"For everyone's families."

"Our families?" asked one of the officers. "What do you mean?"

"I am afraid that all of your families will have to vacate Ueda for the time being. They are spread out far too thin for us to protect, and Tanaka's retribution will be swift and decisive."

"Vacate?" asked another. "But, where will we go?"

"Ark Cradle, my floating fortress. Gather your families, and whatever possessions you can, and bring them back here. We leave in four hours."

"Four hours? You break this kind of news to us, and then expect us to be ready in just four hours?"

"I understand that this is difficult, but that is all the time we have. They will find us here shortly. On that note, Hideo, what will you do? Will you come with us, or just feign ignorance when Tanaka comes calling?"

"I am too old to be ashamed by running away," responded the old man. "I will come with you. I have nothing left in this world that matters, nothing that I desire to take with me. Just allow me to contact Masaso. I would like to convince him to come with us, but he is young and stubborn. He will wish to stay and fight."

"Looks like you're the only one left." said Paradox to the Tanaka executive. (Paradox 1100 LP)

"Yes, but I'm far stronger than any of those lowlifes."

"Perhaps, but as you have just 1500 Life Points remaining and are facing down my Sin Cyber End Dragon, I doubt there is much you can do regardless. I set one card facedown and end my turn." As Paradox spoke, he pointed to the masked, three-headed, mechanical dragon floating above him. (4000 Atk)

"Don't think you've won! My turn, draw!"

The Tanaka executive grinned maliciously as he saw his new card. "Alright, time for your fate to be sealed! I activate Dragon's Mirror! This Spell Card lets me Fusion Summon a Dragon-type Fusion monster by banishing monsters from my field and Graveyard. Thus, I banish Hieratic Dragon of Eset, Hieratic Dragon of Gebeb, Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord, Hieratic Dragon of Su, and Hieratic Dragon King of Atum from my Graveyard, so that I may summon the all-powerful Five-headed Dragon!"

The spirits of the five Egyptian dragons appeared briefly on the field, merging together and forming a singular, massive dragon. (5000 Atk)

"Now, tremble in fear at my awesome power! Five-headed Dragon, attack Sin Cyber End Dragon!"

The manyheaded dragon let out five simultaneous energy blasts, destroying Paradox's corrupted Cyber End Dragon and dropping him to just 100 Life Points.

"I... will not... lose..." said Paradox, nearly collapsing from the force of the attack. "I activate my Trap Card, Sin Tune! When a Sin monster I control is destroyed, this Trap lets me draw 2 cards."

"Draw all the cards you like. Nothing can save you now. I end my turn."

"Nothing, huh? We'll see... I activate Sin World's effect. Now, rather than draw a card for my turn, I can add a random Sin monster from my Deck to my hand. Let's see what fate has in store..."

A card shot out of Paradox's deck and into his hand. "Perfect. First off, I send the Synchro Monster Stardust Dragon from my Extra Deck to the Graveyard, so that I can Special Summon Sin Stardust Dragon!" A black and white dragon emerged, massive claws coming from its limbs.

"Pathetic. Even your Sin Cyber End Dragon couldn't stand up to my Five-headed Dragon; this weak monster has no chance at all!"

"Perhaps not, but I have more to do. I then summon the Tuner Monster Sin Parallel Gear!" An amalgamation of floating gears appeared next to the dark Stardust.

"A Tuner Monster? I thought your group hated Synchro Monsters!"

"Synchro Summoning is the means by which humans speed up their evolution. Greedy and selfish humans, through Synchro Summoning, bring nothing but despair to this world. I, however, am not human. Any Synchro Summon I perform will have no effect on mankind, but it will certainly help me in this duel! Level 2 Sin Parallel Gear tunes Level 8 Sin Stardust Dragon! Born from the threshold of the dimension of Darkness, time to lower the curtain of destruction on the stage that surpasses time and space! Synchro Summon! Arise, Sin Paradox Dragon!"

Sin Parallel Gear split into two rings of energy, which Sin Stardust Dragon flew through. As it did so, it began also to turn into energy, the two energies melding together, resolving to create a sinister black dragon, white spikes running down its back. (4000 Atk)

"Even after all that, you can do nothing more than match your worthless Sin Cyber End Dragon. Stop wasting my time!"

"Oh, my Paradox Dragon is far different. When Sin Paradox Dragon is Synchro Summoned, I can Special Summon a Synchro Monster from my Graveyard. Return to me, Stardust Dragon!"

The blue dragon returned to the field, eclipsed by the larger Paradox Dragon (2500 Atk)

"One weakling, two weaklings, it makes no difference!"

"You're the one with a weakling now."

"What are you talking abou... What! Why does my Five-headed Dragon only have 2500 attack points?"

"Due to Sin Paradox Dragon's other effect, all of your monsters lose Attack equal to the total Attack of all Synchro Monsters I control. In other words, my Paradox Dragon is strong enough to end this duel in one attack. Go, Anomalic Blast!"

Sin Paradox Dragon loosed a massive burst of dark energy, which, though unable to destroy Five-headed Dragon, was enough to knock Paradox's opponent to zero Life Points.

"Impossible! I'm an executive at Tanaka! I can't lose!"

"I was defeated by humans only once in my life. Someone like you would never be capable of breaking that record." With that, Paradox turned and departed.

"Daddy, who's that?" a young child asked his father. "He's scary. Why is he making us leave? I don't wanna leave! Daddy, mommy, help me!"

"Shh, shh, it'll all be OK. We're here for you."

Z-one walked up to the child and attempted to comfort him. "I apologize for pulling you from your home. I know that it is not something you can understand yet, but I promise you, we will protect you."

"No! Scary man! Daddy! Help! Make scary man go away!"

"Now, Z-one," said Antinomy, walking up, "you walk around in that armor and your voice is all distorted. It's no wonder children would be afraid of you. I know you want to help, but I'm afraid that this is one task you aren't suited for."

"I suppose you are correct, Antinomy," said Z-one, going away from the scared child. As Antimony approached in his place, the child's mood began to lighten. "Nice man!" the child said, trying to tug at Antinomy's visor.

"This doesn't come off, so I'm afraid I can't give it to you. Once we get to Ark Cradle, though, I'll try to find you something better, does that sound good?"

"Yay! Better! Better!"

"Attention everyone. It is now time for us to head into Ark Cradle. I have ordered it to land here, and it will arrive momentarily. When it does, please board in an orderly fasion, one at a time. We, the lords of Yliaster, will be taking the rear."

As if on cue, the ruined Satellite landed just then, creating a massive tremor. The gathered crowd was stunned for a moment, but managed to compose themselves and begin boarding. Though there were some hiccups, mostly involving children, within 10 minutes everyone had boarded successfully. Aporia, this time, addressed everyone as Ark Cradle began to rise into the air. "Thank you everyone for coming. If you head down the hallway to your left, you will find sufficient living area. Down the right hallway is a meeting room. We will be having a meeting tomorrow at 11 o'clock to discuss our plans. Anyone who wishes to help rid Ueda of Tanaka's influence is welcome to attend. That is all."

As their guests began to settle themselves into their new home, Z-one and the others retreated to his personal chamber.

"Already we have gained many recruits," said Paradox. "This bodes well."

"It does indeed. Nonetheless, be prepared; our fight is only just beginning."