Cat: Why hello... Did ya miss me? I'm really sorry. Just give me a few weeks to settle down to my new timetable and homework load and there will be a set day of release once again.

Rena: So that was a good episode! So exciting!

Cat: Please review!

Rena: This story is in Yuzu's POV. Please give me some artistic licence. If i put some stuff that isn't in the anime in here, don't flame. There would be no point in reading, if it was just the anime in words.

Chapter 21- Beyond the Pendulum

Once again, I found myself in a dojo stadium in the centre of town, sitting on my legs on a mat and watching Sora duel. This was duel five, so he was nearly finished in his murdering of other duellists. His opponent was slow and not the best duellist but he did put up an entertaining match. No, it wasn't Yuya. The opponent was skilled in 'stage duelling' so, they were currently battling it out on a stage, with an audience.

Sora's opponent spoke slowly and dramatically, such as a traditional performance. He even had the make-up and stage dress and everything. However, he was already down to 100 life points, much to the delight of Sora's new fan club who sat around me, mesmerised.

I was sitting in a tactical position. I could see Sora's hand perfectly and I could see every card he drew, so long as he drew it dramatically (so, I had no problem seeing it). I now knew Sora's cards well enough that I was formulating strategies as he duelled, and dead chuffed that he used quite a few similar ones.

However, through all of this, the duel was definitely dragging.

"You might give Yuya's Entertainment Duelling a run for its money!" Sora praised his opponent, not concentrating at all.

"Hey!" I called, straightening up slightly so he could see me in the gloom of the crowd. "Stop messing around and draw already! You're going to end it this turn!"

He knew it too, that was the annoying thing. Sometimes, I thought Sora was like a cat. He enjoys playing with his prey, even if they don't realise it. After a little grumble, he pulled out his final card and I grinned as I saw the glinting monster.

"Yes! Here it is! Edge Imp Scissors!" Sora cheered, holding it in a position so I could see it very clearly. "I've shown you all my cards so far, so you know what's in my hand, right? What should I do next?"

"It's obvious!" I replied, feeling pleased that I knew the right answer. "You use fusion to fuse Edge Imp Scissors and Furnimal Bear in your hand!"

"That's right!" Sora praised. "Looks like you've got it now, Yuzu!"

Ching! 10 points to moi!

As Sora activated the spell card, I moved along with him, pretending to hold the said card and slam it down on an imaginary disk. I imagined that I was the one summoning the creepy bear, not Sora. And I had to do it right.

"The monsters I choose to fuse are Edge Imp Scissors and Furnimal Bear!" I muttered, showing a non-existent opponent my non-existent Fusion card.

"Fusion Summon!" Sora and I announced loudly, in the same pose, summoning Sora's favourite monster, Des-Toy Scissor Bear in attack mode and we both attacked, sending the actor flying, crashing into the wall and making the Action Field flicker slightly.

Sora had (once again) won. He smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

I clenched my fists, feeling hyper after the duel. "I won't think about unnecessary things anymore!" I promised the blue-haired boy. I have to completely master fusion summoning for the Junior Youth Championship! In order to defeat Kotsu Masumi!"

Sora nodded, jumping down from the stage to stand beside me as I stood up. Pushing through Sora's admirers, we made our way to the docks, so I could practise the rare summoning again.

It was fast to get there, walking down alleyways that I never knew existed, which Sora knew like the back of his hand. I was buzzing, pleased that I knew I could finally do it and I was going to and I was going to wipe the floor with Sora (in an unofficial match, so he didn't lose his chance of entering the JYC).

Finally, I could smell the salt in the air and the pong of fish. We were close, our destination just past the fishing boats and fish market.

"I would have ended that duel one turn earlier!" I announced suddenly, after our long walk of silence. "You're opponents monsters attack was only 1500. Instead of summoning Furnimal Bear there, you could have summoned Furnimal Lion with 1600 attack points and…"

"I know that," Sora grinned, his lollipop jammed between his teeth. "I just wanted to show you fusion summoning! It seemed you didn't get it last time, after all."

"Well, I've got it now!" I said enthusiastically, pumping my arms. "I've gotten enough practise too! All that's left is to polish my skills in a real match!"

"Well… Aren't you confident!" Sora smirked. "Then I guess I should have you show your Fusion Summoning. I've been wanting to have another match for some time now."

"You're on!" I cheered.

Then, I heard footsteps and sensed something moving in front of us. We both looked up to see probably the second-last person I wanted to see right now.

"You're… Kotsu Masumi!" I exclaimed, amazed to see the exotic looking student standing before me once again, with the same expression.

"Do you know what's going on inside Miami City right now?" she demanded, not giving us an explanation why see was here or what she was doing. Just another typical LDS student.

"What do you mean?" I asked. Did she mean the JYC? That was no secret. She was probably already qualified. No, she had to be, if she was LDS's best current Fusion summoner.

Looking closely at her, I saw that there were bags under her eyes and her cranberry-coloured orbs were slightly glassy. She looked like she hadn't had a sleep in days. "The repeated assault incidents by a mysterious duellist." She informed us.

Masumi explained that many LDS members had vanished in several days and couldn't remember what had happened.

"Disappeared?" I asked her.

"They're all gone!" she snapped. "Marco-sensei and members of the LDS top team… They were all attacked and never seen again… This is just a rumour from within LDS but…"

A teacher and the top team!?

"Please!" She surged forward slightly. "Tell me where I can find him! You know, don't you?!"

"Him?" I blinked. Who was she talking about? I didn't know anyone who assaulted-

"The one who was with you back then, the black-masked man!" she cried.

Oh.

That guy.

She pointed at us. "It was all because you let him get away!"

"You can't be serious…" I stared at her, wondering if it was the sleep that was clouding her vision. Didn't she realise that we weren't exactly best pals either!? "I don't know anything!"

"Don't lie to me!" she screamed. "Marco-sensei has disappeared! The kind and strong Marco-sensei has…!"

I didn't want to be cruel and point out that, even though I felt sorry for this 'Marco-sensei' person, I had no contact with him and had no idea what she was talking about really.

"He might be suffering somewhere right now!" she continued. "That's why I have to find him as soon as possible!"

Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes when she faced me again but it didn't make me feel sorry for her, it made me feel worried for myself because her maddened look made me feel like, no matter what pain 'Marco-sensei' was going through, I was about to go through worse.

"Hurry up and tell me where he is!"

"I already told you, I don't know!" I shouted back.

"Then why were you with him at the scene of the first incident!? If you insist of feigning ignorance, then… Then as a duellist, I'll force an answer out of you!" She pointed her duel gear straight at me.

"An LDS fusion summon is no problem at all for you now," Sora smiled, still sucking his candy. "You could take her out in a jiff!"

"You're saying I should accept her challenge?" I asked, still feeling unsure. My fusion summoning was decent but I had only been learning for a few weeks. Masumi had been learning for years.

"Yeah, and besides, you've been saying for a while now that you've had enough practice, and all you need to do is polish your skills in a real match!" Sora pointed out, as if it was that simple.

I stared at my duel disk. Should I do it? I still wasn't 100% sure…

However, Masumi was now having a rage over Sora's previous words of encouragement to me.

"Who's going to be taken out in a jiff!?" she roared. "Did you forget how badly she lost to me!?"

"Well," Sora turned away from her. "The Yuzu here now is on a different level from back then."

"How is she different!?" she demanded.

Sora winked. "She understands that LDS fusion summons aren't actually a threat now."

That was enough to push her over the edge and Sora knew it. "Those words are an insult to Marco-sensei, who taught me Fusion Summoning!"

So that's who 'Marco-Sensei' is!

"I won't forgive you! I'll beat some sense into you first!" she exclaimed, no longer interested in me.

"Huh? You want to duel me?" Sora said. "I don't think you should, you'll just hurt your confidence more…"

"Shut up! LDS is the strongest!"

"You're LDS!?" a voice demanded. We all froze. Who was that!?

Then, something hard slammed into me from behind, causing me to lose grip on my disk and for it to clatter on the floor, spraying my precious cards everywhere. I joined them, face down on the concrete, the world spinning, wondering what had just hit me.

Pulling myself up, I saw a figure wearing a long, dark purple coat, dark trousers and a red scarf, facing Masumi with a duel disk.

"Are you… the culprit of the repeated assault incidents?" she questioned him.

He didn't answer. Masumi stood rooted to the spot, paralysed with fear.

"Duel me!" the man demanded.

"Stop it, Shun!" another voice shouted from the sky. We stared up to see a shadow land beside the figure- Shun. "Stop being so reckless!" he gripped Shun's arm with his hand and stared at him.

I could have sworn my heart could have stopped. It was him.

The last person I wanted to see.

"Yuto!" Shun hissed.

Was that the Dark Duellist's name? Yuto?

"I thought I told you before! This isn't our battlefield!" The Dark Duellist- Yuto- said, tugging his mask off and revealing his face. "I told you that they aren't our enemies!"

Shun threw Yuto's grip off his arm and yanked down his scarf so he wasn't so muffled. "This is MY battlefield! In order to get Ruri back, I have to do this!"

Ruri? Who's Ruri?

"If you get in my way, I'll defeat you too!" he exclaimed.

I heard Masumi's voice distantly in the back of my head, calling for backup.

"Wait! We don't know if he's the culprit yet!" I protested, tearing my gaze away from the two arguing strangers. They both glanced at me and the one I had never seen before –Shun- made a pained noise.

"Ruri!" he cried, facing me. I backed away.

"Why is Ruri here?" he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. He tugged his shades off to reveal eyes of an eerie golden green. "Did you get away?! Did you manage to escape on your own!?"

"Huh?" I squeaked.

I was about to open my mouth and ask who this 'Ruri' was but I didn't get a millisecond because Yuto was already there and punched him painfully in the gut. His eyes bulged and spit flew from his mouth onto the floor, as he began to crumple.

"Ruri…" he whispered.

"She is not Ruri," Yuto hissed, as he caught Shun in his arms and held him in a fireman's lift. He bent down and lifted one of my many cards that lay scattered around the pier, courtesy of Shun. He gazed at it and held it up to me, revealing it to be Fusion.

"This card doesn't suit you," he said.

"Well, that's too bad," Sora sang, leaning on one of the massive orange cargo boxes used on ships. "I don't like hearing that about presents I give people though. I wouldn't mind showing you just how amazing that card is!"

"Sora!" I exclaimed. I knew this would happen. Sora had been wanting a duel with the Dark Duellist- Yuto, ever since they had met. They stood glaring at each other, stormy grey versus emerald green. I stood in between them. "Cut it out!"

"Masumi!" a voice screamed from the distance. We all looked up to see Masumi's LDS friends and Yuya running towards us.

Wait! Yuya! Stop-

There was a violent flash of pink light and we all covered our eyes.

I looked back at Yuto and Shun and, unsurprisingly, they were both gone.

"He disappeared," Masumi said weakly.

"Yuzu, are you ok?" Yuya asked, running closer towards me as I continued to stare stupidly at my wrist.

"He disappeared again… And those people kept saying I am and I'm not Ruri…"

"What are you talking about?" Yuya asked, looking bamboozled.

"I don't know," I choked, feeling the tears whelm up in my eyes. I covered my face to hide them as the spilled out. "I don't know what's going on anymore! Or why my bracelet shines and they disappear when you came near!"

"Yuzu…" he whispered, still not understanding but realising that I was in distress. He stared down and saw my cards, lying abandoned and waiting to be washed into the ocean at the next gust of wind. "Why're they thrown around like this?" he asked, as he bent down and picked them up.

"Here," he said, passing them all to me with my disk. I took them miserably, not meeting his gaze.

"LDS is here!" Someone announced. At that, Masumi flew off, screaming apologies and explanations about why the culprit escaped.

"Looks like things are going to get troublesome here," Sora said, pushing my back so that I walked forward, away from the scene. I walked obediently, images of Shun and Yuto bouncing around in my head.

Cat: So, i actually knew his name was Yuto before this chapter (due to so many reviews saying so) but i only wrote his name now because that's when it was revealed. So, yeah. Thought i should say that.

Rena: And a big thanks to everyone who reviewed! We are now at 104 reviews! This is now my most reviewed story!

Cat: Let's try for 200!

Rena: A shout out for all reviewers will go up in a bit!

Cat: So, todays question! What has been your favourite Arc- V episode so far (1-21)?