Chapter 32: City of Despair! Welcome to Heartland!
Inside the house, everyone had fallen into a sort of stupor. While they were shielded from the worst of the vortex by Flare and Shun's armour, the unstable wormhole had knocked them all unconscious.
X
Edo Phoenix stood on top of a roof, surveying the blackened, charred ruins of Heartland City. "What a pity it is that such destruction is necessary to create a utopia,"
He paused as lightning crackled in the sky and struck - a single point in mid-air. More lightning bolts appeared, merging with the first and growing in intensity, until with a thunderous clap, an oddly shaped portal appeared in midair, floating forty feet off the ground.
"What in the world," Edo raised an incredulous eyebrow, but blinked in shock as what looked disconcertingly like an airborne house shot out of the portal and arced high into the air. He watched as gravity reclaimed its hold on the flying house, it's flight curving downwards, and crashed into the remnants of a suburb, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
As he looked back at where the portal had been to find no sign it had ever existed, he shook his head. "The stress is getting to me, must be. I'm starting to hallucinate,"
X
All things considered, the house had survived both transit and reentry remarkably well.
Gong, realising that the house had settled, picked himself off the ground and tried to open the front door. After a heave, it gave way, flinging a few pieces of loose debris off.
As the man watched the loose chunks of rock and metal skitter away, he gulped, realising that that was all that remained of the several-ton boulder Flare had welded to the door of the house. "That was a little too close," he gulped, stepping outside.
The metal armour was mostly gone, disintegrated. Several new scorch marks adorned the walls of the house, and, as Gong inspected the rear of the house, the patio that had been outside the back door had been reduced to kindling.
A rut that stretched for at least a kilometre indicated where the house had landed, smashing through several ruined buildings before coming to rest on a small hill that might have once had grass.
He paused, taking in the view.
It really was depressing. An entire metropolis that was easily three times the size of Miami, and likely of comparable scale to the Synchro Dimension's City, of ruins and collapsed buildings. In the distance, he could see a tall, conical tower with what had once been a decorative helix of gold encircling it. The uppermost portion of the tower had been cleaved away, leaving the eviserated golden bands twisted and jagged at random.
It was a similar story all over the city. Faded colours peeped from broken, ruined buildings, skyscrapers shrunken to charred stubs. A tower had collapsed on top of a park, crushing trees, and nearby a lonely 'T' of metal and concrete indicated where there might once have been a monorail. Gong could see the twisted remnants of a Ferris wheel partially submerged in a river, with water stained dirty brown. The sky brooded overhead, awash with stormy grey.
"It's more like heartbroken than Heartland, huh?" Flare mirthlessly laughed as she joined him.
"Obelisk Force did all this?" Gong asked in shock.
Flare glumly nodded. "It used to be so beautiful," she sniffed.
Moans from the house alerted them to the others rising, and they returned to the front door to await them. As expected, Shun was the first to emerge. He paused in the doorway, taking in the view. "So," he emotionlessly commented. "We made it,"
He stepped aside as Sawatari exited. "God bless the man who invented bathrooms!" the blonde declared, grinning wildly as the success of his plan to take refuge in the cramped downstairs toilet for the trip.
The smile slid from his face like melted butter as he took in the view. "Where the hell are we?" he finally got out.
"Shingo Sawatari, welcome to Heartland City," Gongenzaka quietly informed him.
Wordlessly, Sawatari stepped back into the damaged house and closed the door.
It was opened again seconds later by a certain blue-haired boy. "Good to see you're alright, Yuke," Gong nodded. "Yeah," the boy grinned, looking at the three people standing outside.
Slowly, he took in the view of the desolated city. "Katie?" he called.
"Yeah?" his sister responded from within the house. "I'm a little tied up," she admitted.
"There's no rush," Yuke shouted to her. "Just brace yourself when you get out here. It's pretty confronting,"
Yuya appeared in the door behind him, and his counterpart wordlessly moved over as he stepped out of the house. "This is Heartland?" the green-haired boy whispered in horror.
"If we don't stop Academia, this is gonna be everywhere," Flare quietly commented.
Behind them, Katie, having pulled herself free of the blanket, skipped out. The usual jaunty bounce in her step rapidly slowed and died as she saw the greying ruins. "What is this place?" she whispered in horror.
"Welcome to my home, Katie," Flare quietly told her friend.
"It's even worse than I expected," the girl shivered.
"Come on. We can't stay here," Shun assertively took command. "This will have attracted a lot of attention from Obelisk Force. Everyone, gather what you can carry and get moving," he demanded.
"Come on, sis," Yuke gently rubbed his sister's ears. "Let's get our stuff,"
X
A few minutes later, Yuke and Katie had packed the important possessions into their backpacks. Flare had collected her packs full of cards from the Synchro Dimension trash from the TV room, and Shun was helping her carry them.
Gong was carrying Sawatari, who had finally been prised out of the bathroom. "Come on, you big baby," he grunted. "There's no going back now,"
"Where are we going?" Yuya asked Shun.
"The Resistance hideout. They'll recognise me and accept you all," he explained.
"So you don't need me?" Flare asked for confirmation.
Both boys looked at her in surprise. "I left some of my gear stashed on the outskirts of town last time I was here and if we're staying here for a while, I'd like to go get it," the girl explained.
"Fair enough. I'll send you the coordinates once we get there," Shun told her. She nodded.
"Good luck," Yuya offered her with a wan smile.
"You too," Flare winked, before turning and pausing. "Mind keeping an eye on these for me?" she asked him, handing Yuya her bag of cards.
"Sure," he nodded, shouldering the pack and smiling at her.
"Thanks," she grinned, and dashed away.
"Hey, where's she going?" Sawatari demanded, watching her leave.
"Getting some stuff to help. We'll meet her at the Resistance base. Follow me," Shun commanded, turning and striding away.
After a moment's hesitation, the others followed him.
X
"Master, we regret to inform you that, although the backwoods were successfully subjugated, the Lancers escaped," Gloria explained to Leo Akaba via video-uplink.
"Unfortunate," he sighed. "But it doesn't matter either way as it turns out. Selena never went to the Crashlands. She washed up here in Fusion and we picked her up," he informed his subordinate. "Therefore, your mission was a complete success. Return to Academia at once, and bring everything back with you. No point wasting resources in that interdimensional junkyard," he snorted.
"Yes sir," Gloria saluted and hung up. "You heard him, everyone! We're moving out!" she shouted to the troops camping around her.
X
In an impressive feat of parkour, Flare leapt over a crumbling wall and rolled to her feet as she landed. She looked back and breathed. "Really is amazing what a life on the run can do for your reflexes and agility," the redhead muttered to herself.
She clicked open the compartment of her Duel Disk that contained the Cyber Dragon Neon card her father had given her, and his words floated back to her on the breezes of memory. "Keep it safe, and when this all blows over, take it to the basement of our house. You'll know what to do,"
"I don't know what you meant, but I'm gonna figure it out, dad. Our old house isn't far away, and the basement's sure to have survived the attack," she thought to herself. "Oh, I miss my D-Wheel,"
After a few minutes of dashing through grisly parodies of places she knew and loved, she reached the street she had lived in less than four months ago. The redhead swallowed her memories of the past and walked down the street to her house once more, letting herself in through the gate and looking up at her house.
The roof had caved in on the upper level, but the ground floor of the two-storey building seemed mostly intact. Therefore, the basement had to be fine.
Flare produced her keys from her Duel Disk and unlocked the front door. Miraculously, it was fine, and she entered with no problems. Her feet softly fell on the carpet of the hall.
It was surreal, returning here after so long, she reflected, pulling a framed and dusty photograph from the mantelpiece. It showed Flare when she was ten, doing a pose she thought looked cool, and her Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon behind her. The dragon almost seemed to be smiling.
She picked up another photograph. Herself when she was twelve, and being presented with an award. Her father was there, and both were smiling as she held up her certificate.
After a second's thought, she stuffed it in her coat pocket and moved on, shutting out the memories and focusing on her objective. She swept through the corridor and opened the door that led to the basement.
This had been her father's 'lab away from lab', as he had jokingly put it. Beyond that, it was where he did the things that pushed the boundaries of what was technically 'legal'. The authorities of Heartland turned a blind eye because his research was so promising and helpful.
She emerged on a steel gantry overlooking a large chamber hewn from the rock. Obviously, Obelisk Force had not discovered it, because it was still in pristine condition.
Much of the chamber was taken up by a glass/plastic containment dome. Chambers to the side acted as Dr. Abakir's laboratories, and there was a viewing chamber mounted near the top.
It was here, in this chamber, that her father had performed his tests and calculations as to the nature of her powers and how better to control them. It was here that she had created and first summoned Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon.
Flare smiled at the fond memories as she descended the stairs, and let herself into the lab, holding the card between two fingers. "Cyber Dragon Neon," she muttered. "What do I do with you?"
The redhead paused as she heard a beep, and the monitor in the back of the room flickered on, revealing her father's face. It was obviously a recording, and it had been taken in his study at the holiday house.
"Ryuna, my darling," her father told her. "This is a recording, but you being the smart little thing you are you already know that," Flare pulled up a seat and watched intently, shivering a little. It had been months since anyone had called her by her real name.
"I've set this message to be an automatic recording to be played when the security cameras detect your presence. I sincerely hope that I'm there with you, but knowing that something is going on and our home is being invaded, I cannot in good faith assume my survival and must make preparations for my demise," he narrated.
"Typical dad," Ryuna smiled to herself.
"I trust that you are still in possession of the Cyber Dragon Neon I gave you," he continued. "What I felt it would be best not to tell you while we were potentially at war - especially given that, knowing you, you'd insist on being a major player," he smiled ruefully, shaking his head a little. "was that, even though it took me seven years, I managed to replicate the success I had all that time ago,"
The redhead sat bolt upright and stared at the card in her hand. "You're kidding," she breathed. "No way you managed to find another monster capable of Spirit Unison,"
"That's right," Dr. Abakir smiled, as though he could hear her. "I found another monster capable of Spirit Unison. Now, my plan was to use the data from this particular experiment to glean more information about the process and practicalities of Spirit Unison, but," he sighed. "I unfortunately have to assume the worst. There is a machine in the next room," he explained. "All the monitoring equipment has been set up, so that the data can be recorded even if it proves to be useless to you. I managed to charge Cyber Dragon Neon with the Unison Energy just before we escaped Heartland. Just place it in the terminal and, well, you'll see," he smiled.
"You got it, dad," Ryuna nodded, but her father's voice interrupted her. "Ryuna, and I say this as your father, sweetheart, not as a scientist; please don't feel that this experiment is an attempt to replace you or anything of the sort. You're my daughter, and that won't change no matter what. And I've done this all for your sake,"
He paused, staring straight at the camera. "If this is the last you ever see of me, I love you, sweetheart,"
A warm, salty tear trickled down his daughter's cheek. "I love you too, dad," Ryuna whispered as the recording ended.
Swallowing her grief, Flare picked up the card and turned away, walking into the other room. She did her best not to look at all the familiar panels and readouts, and scoured the room for the card scanner she had been told about.
It didn't take long for her to figure out what he had been talking about. A tall, cylindrical device was in the centre of the room, with a control panel in the centre. The control panel had a slot that was the perfect shape for a card.
"No sense in wasting time," Flare told herself, crossing over to the machine and setting the card into its reader. "Do your stuff, dad,"
After a second, the machine lit up. Lights blinked and readouts shook, as Cyber Dragon Neon glowed with silver-green energy, which was slowly sucked away. The redhead honestly had no idea what it all meant, but there was an odd sense of déjà vu plaguing the back of her mind. The process . . whatever it was . . . didn't take long to complete, and Flare blinked in surprise as steam started to be released from the gaps between the machine's parts. "This can't be right," she muttered to herself. "Why is there steam?"
"Why would there not be steam? When water heats beyond 100 degrees Celsius, steam is produced," a voice responded from within the large machine.
Flare blinked. "Okay, why is my dad's machine talking to me, and why is there suddenly water?"
The machine suddenly swung open, revealing a young human boy. He looked as though he were more or less eleven, with hair that was somewhere between onyx and silver, and pale green eyes. He was dressed in a grey shirt, with shorts that were a lighter shade of grey, and barefoot.
After stepping out of what Flare now realised to be a chamber, he immediately reclaimed the Cyber Dragon Neon card. Flare watched as thirty-nine other cards appeared out of thin air around it, creating a Deck. The boy pocketed it and immediately crossed to the computer bank nearby, placing his hand on the terminal. "What's he doing?" Flare suspiciously squinted.
"How odd. It appears that my capabilities have been inhibited somehow," he observed, removing his hand.
"What?" Flare blinked.
"You are Ryuna, correct?" the boy questioned.
"Yeah?"
"I am Cyril. Your father attempted to initiate my creation in order to discover more data about your previously unique state of being. However, due to the interdimensional war, this effort has been halted," the boy - Cyril explained.
"Wait, so you're, like, my brother?" Flare blinked.
"I do not believe we are related," Cyril shook his head. "However, the DNA of the forms we find ourselves in is likely very similar, so if that could be referred to as being related then I suppose we are,"
"Uh, right," Flare frowned.
"I believe that Dr. Abakir thought that I deserved to be granted life in this form, even though he would not be around to gain any data from my creation," Cyril surmised. "I require a Duel Disk," he declared. "Where can I obtain one?"
"Slight problem with that, resources are low and I doubt we can spare one," Flare replied.
"Then I shall take one from the enemy," And with that, the boy swept out of the room. Flare took a second to process this, before realising his intention and dashing after him. "Hey, wait! You don't mean to take one from Obelisk Force, do you?"
"Of course I do. If our allies cannot spare a Duel Disk, then I am certain that our enemies can. One way or another," Cyril responded, marching up the stairs that led back to the house at a surprising speed.
Ryuna slowed, reluctant to leave the place she thought of as home. She stepped onto the gantry bolted to the ceiling and looked down at the dome of glass and memories. Her feet stopped moving as the door to the house above swung shut behind her . . . brother, she supposed. Kind of.
The place was full of treasured experiences. Duelling her father to test her power. The first time she had summoned Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon.
As though they had their own volition, her hands pulled out the card for Assault Flare. "Wouldn't you have loved to see this, huh dad?" Ryuna muttered to herself, looking at the card, before returning it to her Extra Deck and turning away from the chamber.
Flare looked back up at the door. "Focus. I've gotta stop that kid, he has no idea what he's doing. Taking on Obelisk Force? No way,"
And with that, she dashed after Cyril, slamming hate door to the basement behind her.
And by sheer force of habit, she locked the front door behind her when she left.
X
Shun confidently breezed through the rubble, his cloak billowing behind him as he purposefully crossed the city. The other three Lancers, accompanied by Yuke and Katie, followed him, less confident. Gong had flatly refused to carry Sawatari once they were far away enough from the house that he was confident Sawatari couldn' find the way back, so the blonde huffily kicked at a small chunk of rock as he walked.
Katie stuck close to Yuke. "This place is freaky," she gulped.
"The other dimensions aren't all like this, right?" Yuya appeared to his counterpart, and Yuya shook his head. "Heartland's the worst right now. Synchro Dimension's not great, but it's better, and back home in Standard," he smiled to himself. "I miss Miami,"
"Me too," Gong agreed.
"Quiet!" Shun tossed the word over his shoulder. "There's an Academia patrol nearby,"
"So?" Sawatari snorted. "It's Obelisk Force. We can take them,"
"The ones in Synchro Dimension were inexperienced and didn't expect our resistance. The Obelisk Force in Heartland is the Obelisk Force that's been in Heartland since the invasion. They're battle-scarred and not to be messed with. Quiet," Shun hissed.
The group crouched as footsteps approached. "What are they doing?" Katie whispered.
"Hunting survivors," Shun responded, quiet as the wind.
But their cover proved effective and they were not discovered. A few minutes later Shun rose and beckoned them on. "Let's get moving. We need to find the a Resistance,"
X
It didn't take long for Flare to find Cyril.
Sadly, it had taken even less time for him to find Obelisk Force.
She watched from the top of a hill as the eleven-year-old faced off with a patrol of red-jacketed Academia soldiers. "You wanna Duel, kid?"
"Correct," Cyril retorted.
"How? You don't even have a Duel Disk," the man snorted.
"I don't need one!" he declared, taking a stance. A blue tattoo appeared on his face as he raised his Deck.
Flare squinted as she rushed towards them. "Is that a D-Tattoo?" she asked in confusion. D-Tattoos were archaic technology from the days a good few years ago when Duels took place using an Augmented Reality system, that was seen using an eyepiece called a Duel Gazer. D-Tattoos were an upgraded version of a Duel Gazer, and involved using cybernetics to implant the technology of one directly into a person's eye. It was an archaic method and hadn't been used in years.
The soldier blinked in surprise as his Duel Disk registered a connection. "Alright then?" he shrugged. "I'll take the first move. I Normal Summon Ancient Gear Contortionist from my hand," he declared, and a spindly stone robot appeared on his field. 1200 ATK. "I activate Contortionist's effect. I can send an Ancient Gear Fusion monster from my Extra Deck to the Graveyard, and his name becomes that monster's until the End Phase! I send Ancient Gear Double Bite Hound Dog!" The card went to the Graveyard, and Contortionist changed form and rearranged its parts until it looked exactly like the two -headed Fusion monster
"I now play Polymerization, and fuse the Ancient Gear Hound Dog in my hand with the Contortionist turned Double Bite Hound Dog! Come, Ancient Gear Triple Bite Hound Dog!" the soldier declared, and a three-headed stone dog appeared on the field and howled. 1800 ATK. "I Set a card and end my turn!
"Very well," Cyril nodded. "Fusion Summon. A fascinating technique," he observed. "I shall have to learn it," he resolved.
Flare blanched as she reached them. "What? Learn Fusion?"
"It is logical to utilise all possible tools that might be at your disposal," Cyril shrugged. "Now, it is my turn. I draw," he declared, taking a six-card hand from the Deck in his pocket. "While I control no monsters, I can Special Summon Cyber Dragon from my hand in Attack Position," he declared, throwing a card into the air.
Flare and the soldier watched in surprise as the card transformed into a massive mechanical serpent. "That's new," she observed as the monster was revealed to have 2100 ATK.
The soldier blinked. "That's enough to destroy Triple Bite," he slowly said.
"Correct. Cyber Dragon, attack," Cyril declared, and his dragon obliged. Metal clicked and creaked as it charged, and smashed into the Fusion monster, destroying it in an instant. "I Set one card and end my turn," the boy emotionlessly declared, dropping a card to the ground, where it grew to a full-size Set card.
"Then it's my turn again! And you'll pay for that, Xyz scum!" the soldier snorted, drawing. "I play Call of the Haunted and revive Ancient Gear Triple Bite Hound Dog from my Graveyard!" he declared. "And I'll now activate the Equip Spell, Ancient Gear Tank! By equipping this to Triple Bite, I increase his ATK by 600!" he declared, and the monster's ATK became 2400. "Attack! Destroy that Cyber Dragon!"
"I activate my Trap, Attack Reflector Unit! Using this upgrade, it's now time for Cyber Dragon to transform!" Cyril declared as parts emerged from the Trap and installed themselves onto Cyber Dragon. "My monster is now Cyber Barrier Dragon," he smiled as a metal mane appeared on Cyber Dragon's neck, projecting a force field that protected it from the attack. "2800 DEF,"
A replay occurred, and the attack was cancelled. "Turn end," the soldier frowned.
"Then is it my turn," Cyril emotionlessly pulled another card from his pocket. "I activate my Continuous Spell, Cyber Reconstruction Pod!" He threw the card into the air, and it transformed into a large metal chamber. "I activate my Pod's effect! By Tributing Barrier, I can Summon a Cyber monster with a lower Level from my Deck!" The dragon slithered into the pod and emerged lacking its new additions and back to 2100 ATK. The only exception being that it was now painted with lines of glowing green energy running across its body in jagged patterns. "Come, Cyber Dragon Neon," he emotionlessly vocalised.
"That was the card dad gave me," Flare frowned.a
"I now Normal Summon Cyber Dragon Core," Cyril declared, and a black worm glowing with red energy appeared with 400 ATK. "When Core is Normal Summoned, I can add a 'Cyber' Spell or Trap Card from my Deck to my hand. I add Cyber Repair Plant," With mechanical precision he pulled a card from his pocket.
"What are you planning?" the Academia soldier frowned.
"I activate Neon's effect. I target Core and change his Level to anything between two and five! Therefore, I change it to five!" he commanded.
Flare frowned. "Two Level 5 monsters? Is he setting up for an Xyz Summon?" She remembered watching him create his Deck, and dismissed the thoughts about where the cards had come from. "He doesn't have an Extra Deck,"
Suddenly, Cyril's green eyes were glowing. "Answer my call, soul of the doomed!" His voice, somehow amplified, echoed to the heavens. "Grant me your power in my hour of need!" The boy very deliberately turned in a seemingly random direction and focused.
As Flare and the soldier watched, a card flew from the sky and arced through the air, before reaching Cyril's hand. "I now Overlay my Level 5 LIGHT-Attribute Cyber Dragons Core and Neon!" he declared, and a brilliant gold Overlay Network appeared.
"Card of the doomed, hear my cry! May your fallen master, Hokuto Shijima, accept me as needing your power!" Cyril invoked. A circle of circuit-like white energy appeared at his feet, and behind him a ghostly white spectre of a sixteen-year-old boy with hair that could just barely be recognised as purple spikes appeared. "I Xyz Summon Constellar Pleiades!"
A tall, yellow-and-golden warrior rose from the Overlay Network as the spectre behind him nodded in approval, before vanishing. "I activate Constellar Pleiades' effect. By using one Overlay Unit, I return a monster on the field to the hand," Cyril intoned, and white light shone from underneath Ancient Gear Triple Bite Hound Dog, before it was blasted back into a card and returned to the Extra Deck.
"Constellar Pleiades, direct attack," the boy declared, and the monster charged. With a sweep of its sword, the soldier was reduced to 1200 ATK.
Flare was still in shock. "Where did the Xyz Monster come from?" she thought aloud. "That's impossible,"
"Nothing is impossible," Cyril responded. "The owner of this card no longer requires it. It is not being used, and the owner has granted me permission to use it. There is no logical reason for me not to use its strength,"
"But where did you actually get the card from?" Flare spluttered.
"Is that relevant?" he shrugged. "I end my turn,"
The soldier was shivering in shock. "How did you do that?"
"That information is not relevant," Cyril slowly said as though talking to a child.
"O-okay. My turn, draw," the soldier gulped. "I-I Set a monster and end my turn -"
"And during your End Phase, I activate Constellar Pleiades' effect and return your monster to the hand," Cyril sighed, leaving his opponent with an empty field as it became his turn and he drew. "Constellar Pleiades. Attack," The monster obeyed, and reduced the man's LP to zero.
The cards vanished, returning to Cyril's hand, and he calmly walked towards the man. "Stay back. I-I don't know who or what or whatever you are, but don't hurt me! Please!"
He grunted in shock as Cyril pressed the release button for his Duel Disk's straps and pulled the device from his wrist, before turning away. "Thank you," the silver-haired boy nodded, rejoining Flare. "What are we going to do now?" he asked in the same monotonous voice as was evidently normal for him.
Flare gazed at him in confusion. "Kid, you're creeping me out," she admitted. "Did that Pleiades thing belong to a dead person?"
Cyril expertly removed the soldier's Deck from the Duel Disk and replaced it with his own, removing the Fusion monsters in the Extra Deck and pocketing them for future study, and placing Constellar Pleiades in the Extra Deck slot instead. "Its past is irrelevant," he informed her. "Now, it belongs to me,"
"Right," Flare gulped. "We should meet up with the other Lancers," she decided.
"Who are the Lancers?" Cyril asked.
"Friends of mine. And I can't imagine they'll be too happy to have picked up another stray," Flare shook her head.
"I was not aware that I am being referred to as a homeless dog," Cyril frowned, cocking his head thoughtfully. "I cannot say that I approve,"
"Jeez, are you related to an Astral being or something?" Flare snorted, recalling a bedtime story she had heard about non-corporeal beings from a place called Astral World. Supposedly, they talked exactly like Cyril was.
She started as a ping echoed from her Duel Disk. "That's the noise for when I get a text. Shun must have found the base," she surmised, opening the message.
"What?" she gasped in shock.
Cyril leant over and saw the sender ID. "That person is not named Shun," he observed.
X
Asuka smiled at Yuzu as they snuck into a well-hidden cave in the side of a mountain. "What is this place?" Yuzu asked in wonder. It had taken them most of the day since escaping Kisara to reach this location, whatever it was.
"This is You Show Duel School," the brunette smiled as they descended the stairs.
"You Show?" Yuzu blinked in shock at the familiar name.
Asuka showed her into a passage and led her down the subterranean corridor. Yuzu paused in surprise as they passed a large glass window looking into a Duelling gym of some kind, where several students were honing their skills. "This is a place where lots of people who escaped Academia can stay in safety. Just like you," she explained.
"Yeah?" Yuzu asked, a little overwhelmed.
"Come with me, I'll take you to the headmaster," Asuka took her hand and led her into a side passage. "Headmaster?"
The pink-haired girl was shown into a spacious office at the end of the corridor.
Seeing who was reclining in a chair at the office's desk, she froze.
With a knowing smile, Yusho Sakaki looked up, launching into an obviously-pre-prepared speech as he did. "Hello. I'm sure you're very confused right -" He froze mid-sentence, recognising the face in front of him. "Yuzu? Yuzu Hiragi?"
"Mr. Sakaki," she whispered in response.
"Do you two know each other?" Yuzu frowned.
X
"Stay here," Shun commanded the others as they cautiously crouched behind a wall. A building that Shun had identified as the entrance to the underground complex inhabited by the Resistance. "I'm gonna look around inside and see who's there,"
"Okay," Yuya nodded. "Hear that, everyone?" he called down the line. A chorus of positive responses was his answer, and Shun took off.
Minutes passed in silence. "I'm bored," Sawatari huffed, taking out his Duel Disk.
"What are you doing?" Gong frowned.
"Playing Angry Birds," he shrugged.
"Well for the love of god mute it!" the samurai trainee fumed.
A few moments later, Shun returned. His face looked a lot less happy than they had hoped. "What is it, man?" Yuke frowned, sensing bad news.
"They're gone. There wasn't a single person there," Shun slowly said in shock, still coming to terms with the fact.
"What?" the others gasped in horror.
"Oh, so I can't have background music but let's all yell out, huh?" Sawatari snorted.
A/N
A/N
New chapter! Woot! Also new Heartland summary! I'm gonna change the summary with every new arc.
New cards for Cyril;
Cyber Dragon Neon
Level 5/LIGHT/Machine/ATK:1600/DEF:2100/Effect
You can Normal Summon this card without Tributing. If you do, this card cannot declare an attack during the turn it was Normal Summoned this way. Once per turn, you can target one 'Cyber Dragon' monster you control and declare a Level from 3 to 5; it becomes that level. These changes last until the end of the turn. This card's name becomes Cyber Dragon while it is in your hand, on the field or in the Graveyard.
Cyber Reconstruction Pod
Continuous Spell Card
Once per turn; You can Tribute one Machine-Type monster; Special Summon one 'Cyber' monster from your Deck with a lower Level than the Tributed monster. If this card is sent to the Graveyard; You can target one LIGHT Machine-Type monster in your Graveyard; add it to your hand.
Also;
Ancient Gear Contortionist
Level 3/EARTH/Machine/ATK:1200/DEF:400/Effect
Once per turn; You can send one 'Ancient Gear' Fusion monster from your Deck to the Graveyard; this card's name becomes the sent monster's name until the End Phase.
So, thanks for the support, Leafeon, no other reviews for the third time running.
And we finally find out Flare's real name. Ryuna Abakir. :)
Peace!