Chapter 40: The Heart of the Dragon! The Calm Before The Storm!

"Yuke. He's like me," Katie shook her head in disbelief, gazing at her brother.

Kaze nodded. "Never thought I'd find another Crashlander out here, or anywhere, really," he shrugged. The man paused, tilting his head. "I have to go. I'll see you around," he nodded, turning and dashing away.

"Wha - wait!" Katie protested.

Behind them, Sawatari's Duel Disk beeped. "I've got a message," he called to the two Crashlanders. "It's from Gong,"

"Yeah?" Yuke frowned. Katie stared after the Fusion Duelist for a few seconds, before joining her brother.

"Everyone's meeting up back at the Duel Sanctuary. We should get moving," Sawatari read off. "Come on!" he declared, dashing down the road.

"Sawatari. It's this way," Yuke snorted, calling after him.

"I knew that!" the blonde barked, turning on his heel and dashing in the other direction. Katie sighed as he passed them. "It isn't that way either!" she shrieked.

"Then which way is it?" Sawatari demanded.

X

The Lancers gathered around the base of the stairs leading to the Duel Sanctuary. Yuya and Sawatari slumped on the stairs, and Gong was showing visible signs of exhaustion. Shun looked haggard, but did his best to hide it. Yuke snorted, glaring at his teammate. "Man up, dude," he huffed, elbowing Sawatari.

"No. Any more walking, and my curtains will close. Permanently," Sawatari shook his head.

"At least you guys didn't have to circumnavigate a cathedral," Gong moaned.

Flare looked at the others. "So, were all your days as boring as mine was?" she conversationally questioned.

X

"So," Cyril emotionlessly spoke. "This is Academia's forward base. Fascinating,"

"It is, isn't it?" Edo smiled, gently patting the younger boy's hair.

"I can sense the technology that has been employed here. It is exquisite," he nodded.

"You can?" Edo frowned.

"Yes. I was unaware that I possessed this ability because I have not yet had the opportunity to test it. However, it would seem that I have a talent for interfacing with technology," Cyril surmised.

"The Professor is going to be fascinated by you," the head of the Xyz Dimension's detachment smiled.

"Chief Edo!" a thin, gangly man shouted, dashing across the room to him. "Where on earth have you been? And who is that boy?"

"Noro. This is Cyril," Edo introduced the child. "He has certain skills that will make him quite interesting to the Professor. Cyril, I want you to go with him and tell him everything about your capabilities and achievements. Noro can send a fourth-dimensional transmission back to Fusion Dimension to tell the Professor all about you," he explained.

"With your level of transmission technology, a fourth-dimensional data burst could take several hours to even reach the Professor. Considering how busy a man like the Professor must be, it could be as long as two days until we receive a response," Cyril commented.

"It is an imperfect system, but it is the best that we have," Noro shrugged. "Follow me,"

Cyril snorted in a faint hint of amusement, lengthening his stride and overtaking the man in an instant. "I am currently telepathically connected to your entire building's electrical networks. I now know your base better than you do,"

"What are you talking about?" Noro demanded, dashing to catch up with the boy as he strode ahead.

"You, ought to follow me," the machine-like boy darkly chuckled in response.

Edo watched them leave, and sighed. Cyril was strange, but endearing.

A familiar shriek shocked him out of his thoughts, and he frowned. What was she doing here?

He stormed up the stairs, headed towards the VIP suites of the base, knowing full well who was intruding on his mission and preparing to demand why.

As the man reached the top floor, he swung the door open and glared.

Twin faces immediately turned to see him. "Gloria. Grace. What a pleasure to see you," Edo frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"Eh," Grace shrugged. "The mission in that interdimensional garbage dump full of mutants and freaks ended faster than we expected,"

"And somebody put in a request for help from over here, so here we are. You're welcome," Gloria curtly finished.

"I never requested help," Edo frowned.

"Oh, sweetie," Grace snorted. "We never said the request came from you. Though we really should thank Little Noroma for giving us an excuse to get out of Academia, see the world, Y'now?"

"Yes. Little Noroma has our gratitude," Gloria agreed.

Edo frowned, shaking his head in disapproval. "I will be having words with that man," he resolved.

X

Finally, the exhausted Lancers reached the top of the Duel Sanctuary. "I am getting straight into my sleeping bag and I am not coming out until tomorrow," Sawatari vowed, strolling through the front doors - and nearly being bowled over by Allen as he rushed outside. "You guys! Finally! Did you find -"

"No," Gongenzaka sighed. "Obelisk Force has that Cyril boy,"

Allen stared at him in confusion. "What? No! Who cares about some traitorous kid?" he demanded. "It's Sayaka! She's missing!"

Yuya's eyes shot open. "What?"

"When? How long ago?" Ryuna urgently asked her childhood friend.

"A couple of hours. One of the refugees told me she went looking for you and Shun, that she wanted to prove she wasn't a useless little girl that needed to be protected," Allen shook her head.

"Why would she think that?" the redhead demanded in confusion.

"I don't know," her friend sighed, shaking her head. "But that doesn't matter. We have to get looking!"

"Allen," Gong gently shook his head. "We can't. We're all exhausted,"

The teenager stared at him in shock. "Wha - how can you say that?" he demanded. "That's Sayaka out there!"

"Not me," Ryuna shook her head. "I'm the only one who hasn't Duelled all day. I'm still running pretty hot. I'll manage,"

"I will come too," Shun frowned.

Ryuna and Allen's eyes met, and he nodded. A tremor ran through her body, but she composed herself and shook her head. "No. You're as tired as everyone else is, Shun," she told him. "Rest. All of you," she commanded the other five. "When you feel up to it, come join us if you think you have to," Her eyes flashed, and Flare's lips curled into a cocky grin. "But the two of us will probably be back with Sayaka by then,"

"If you're sure," Yuya slowly nodded, shepherding the others inside in Sawatari's wake.

As soon as they were alone, the two redheads looked at each other. "Looking for Sayaka will be a lot faster if I use my true form," Flare muttered.

Allen reached up and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Not yet. It's still daylight," he shook his head, gesturing at the steadily dimming layer of clouds. "Well, it's not dark enough that you wouldn't be noticed," he corrected himself.

"By the time we get to the bottom of those stairs, it will be," Flare retorted with a warm smile.

"Race ya to the bottom!" Allen cheered, tapping his heels together. Wheels unfolded from the back of his boots and lifted him into the air, locking into place as they glowed with Solid Vision light. He sped off, smoothly rolling down the stairs as the Solid Vision tyres compensated for the uneven terrain.

"Hey! That isn't fair!" Ryuna shouted, dashing after him with an expression full of exhilaration.

"Who needs fair?" the boy demanded, then gasped as a tendril of fire wrapped around his leg and hoisted him into the air.

"I dunno. You?" Ryuna giggled, dashing past him and dispersing the tendril in her wake. He fell to the ground, and spat gravel out of his mouth in irritation. "I'm coming to get you, Ryuna Abakir!" he shouted with a grin, firing up his skates again and dashing in pursuit.

Eventually, they reached the bottom of the stairs again, and sat down on the bottom step. Allen leant on his friend's shoulder as they caught their breath, and Ryuna didn't really mind.

"It's gonna be dark enough that you can shift soon," he breathed.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"I still think you should be more open, y'now? That girl from the other dimension is part fox, and none of the Lancers care about that," Allen encouraged her.

"Maybe not. But there's a big difference between furry ears and a tail, and a two-storey-tall destructive dragoness," Flare reasoned, shaking her head.

"I, uh, actually always thought you looked really nice like that," Allen admitted.

"Really?" Ryuna frowned, eyeing him.

"Yeah. You're strong, and proud, and kinda attractive. And that's just your dragon form," he continued.

"You think so?" the girl smiled, warmth flushing through her cheeks.

"Yep," Allen nodded, shameless and proud. "But we can talk about that later. Come on, we need to find Sayaka," he suddenly declared, jumping up and starting to dash back into the ruins.

"But I want to talk about it now," Ryuna sighed, but rose to her feet nonetheless and followed him.

The two found a secluded spot nestled between two buildings in the ruins. Ryuna looked around nervously. "You sure this street is big enough?"

"I know your exact dimensions. You'll be fine," Allen waved if off with an eager grin. "Come on, transform!"

A weary grin etched itself into the girl's cheeks. "You just want to ride on me again, don't you?" she knowingly asked.

"It's been months. I missed it," Allen justified himself.

"Alright, alright," she shook her head, sliding off her Duel Disk, before inhaling and releasing her power. Caught up in the rush of fiery energy, she felt adrenaline and exhilaration surge through every fibre of her being, flowing through her and demanding release.

And almost before she knew it, Allen had shrunk away beneath her and was gazing up at her warm, dark-scaled form in excitement. She experimentally raised her foreleg, inspecting the long, ebony talons. "Yep, it worked," she softly growled, bending down and lowering her neck to the ground. Her friend eagerly clambered onto her neck and shimmied his way towards its base, nestling into the smooth bones underneath her thick scales. Ryuna gently raised her head once more, and shivered in pleasure as she felt Allen's hand rubbing the sensitive points near her wing joints.

Like an arrow, she darted out of cover and onto the road, spreading her wings wide and throwing herself into the air, flapping steadily towards the clouds. Allen whooped as the ground fell away.

Once she was about two hundred feet in the air, the dragoness levelled out and began to circle above Heartland, searching for signs of life.

"Holy crap," Allen breathed, looking down. "That's a lot of soldiers," Ryuna softly growled.

Sure enough, far beneath them, there was a massive gathering of Obelisk Force.

"Let's leave them alone. Don't poke the sleeping dragon," Allen suggested, realising his words' irony seconds later. "Sorry! Didn't mean that!" he apologised, registering his friend's baleful red-eyed glare.

Ryuna huffily blew a ring of smoke, dropping a little to continue to search for Sayaka.

"Wait, there's someone down there," Allen noticed, eyeing a building.

Invisible against the black clouds, the dragoness swooped overhead. "It's not her," she reported, gazing down at Kaze.

The man suddenly looked upwards, fixing his gaze on the faintly glowing form. He squinted, but shook his head. "Boring," Kaze hissed, looking away.

"Uh, Ryuna? Bank around and take a closer look at that Obelisk Force patrol," Allen suggested, spotting a squadron of soldiers in the street below, and the dragoness obeyed, carefully tilting her wings and eyeing it. Her eyes shot open.

They were too far away to hear anything, but Sayaka's white bun of hair stuck out like a sore thumb against the soldiers. "Aw, crap," her rider whispered.

"They're not carding her. They're taking her hostage," Flare frowned, raising a scaled brow. "Let's get them,"

"No, wait!" Allen cried as she made to dive. "They're too close to the main encampment. If we attack, the entire army will be on us in seconds,"

"We can't just do nothing!" the dragon growled.

"We won't. We'll go back to the Sanctuary and get the others, then we can all work together to get her -" Allen interrupted himself as his mount suddenly shook violently. "They've got Cyril!" she hissed.

The stocky boy squinted, and vaguely made out a small shape. "Hey . . that guy standing next to him is Edo Phoenix. He's the guy in charge!"

Flare's heart sunk like a stone. "He really is a traitor," she whispered in shock. Allen awkwardly patted her back. "Hey, hey. Uh, you've still got us? And the Lancers?"

The dragoness softly growled, wheeling away and back to the Duel Sanctuary. "Fair enough. Alright, we'll rest up and attack first thing tomorrow," she agreed, landing in a street and shifting back to her human form. Allen landed carefully and handed her Duel Disk back. "Let's go,"

By the time they returned to the Sanctuary, the others had all fallen asleep in their little room. Other than the night watchman outside the front doors, not a soul stirred in the Sanctuary.

They paused outside the door that separated the boys' and girls' quarters. "Well, goodnight," Ryuna awkwardly smiled at her friend. Kiss him! something shouted in her brain.

"Goodnight," Allen agreed, nodding awkwardly. This is the best opportunity you've had in forever! Go for it!, a voice screamed at him from the back of his mind.

"See ya!" the girl declared, back-pedalling and closing the door behind her.

"Yeah. See ya tomorrow," he sighed, turning in.

X

As the next day dawned, Flare slept in. The tiny room that was currently occupied only by herself and Katie - who had decided that she was comfortable enough to sleep away from her brother - and the vulpine girl watched as tiny trails of fire burst out of her nostrils when she snored. "She and Allen should kiss already. They obviously have a thing," Katie decided with a cheeky grin.

The girl absent-mindedly opened her Duel Disk and pulled out her Number cards. She sniffed, letting their unique spiritual energy waft into her nostrils and inspected it, "They're weird, but in a good way," Katie decided, tucking them away.

Flare stretched and yawned, smacking her lips. "Morning!" her roommate chirped, smiling broadly.

"Hey," she groaned, massaging her temples. "I still feel tired,"

In luau of a verbal response, Katie wafted Number 59: Back The Cook under Flare's nose. "Smell the pancakes," she encouraged her.

The scented card did the job, and with a mighty yawn the redhead was up and ready to go. "I want a card that smells like pancakes," she huffed.

"Mine!" Katie whined, snatching it away.

The door swung open and Gong loomed over them. "Breakfast is ready," he boomed with a smile, which slipped as he realised Sayaka was still missing. "You didn't find her?" he sighed.

"Obelisk Force is holding her hostage," Ryuna frowned. "It would have been suicide for me and Allen to go in alone,"

"So, what's the plan?" Gong asked as the two girls arose and passed around him.

"I'll explain over breakfast," Flare decided, leading the way.

When they arrived, the boys were all seated around a table. "Good morning," Yuya smiled. The two little dragons were darting around the table, cheekily stealing food from anyone who failed to guard it well enough. Yuto was nowhere to be found.

"So, no one knows anything about this Kaze person other than that he's from the Crashlands?" Sawatari continued the discussion that had obviously began before the girls arrived. "How is that possible? No one can get out of the Crashlands,"

"We did," Yuke pointed out. "And Obelisk Force wouldn't have come if they didn't have a way to leave. Plus, he uses Fusion, maybe he's with Obelisk Force?"

"Then why would he be fighting against them?" Shun calmly reasoned.

"No, he reminds me of Shinsei and Megan," Yuya pointed out. "Two people I met in the Synchro Dimension. Shinsei used Pendulum and Synchro, while Megan used Pendulum and Xyz. Now this Kaze guy used Pendulum and Fusion. See the pattern?"

"It doesn't matter!" Allen shouted, slamming his fist on the table. "Who cares about this Kaze guy when they've got Sayaka?!"

"He has a point," Shun nodded. "We need to rescue her,"

"I'm one hundred percent on board with that," Flare agreed, taking a seat and digging into the tinned meat they were eating. "I say we go as soon as we're done with breakfast,"

"We need a plan," Yuke pointed out in response. "We can't just rush in,"

"Well, we can't split up, or they'll pick us off one by one," Gong pointed out.

"It sounds like our best bet is to stick together and smash through the ranks," Yuya decided.

To everyone's surprise, the door suddenly swung open, and Kite Tenjo emerged, his familiar frown etched into his features. "Well, you can all count me in," he declared.

"Kite?" Shun blinked in genuine surprise.

"You're joining the Resistance again?" Allen eagerly asked, gazing up at the tall blonde.

"No," the boy snapped, leaning against the wall and purposefully ignoring the chair Katie offered him. "But I'm not letting those bastards take Sayaka. So," he paused, refusing to meet anyone's gaze. He pointedly avoided Flare's. "I'll agree to a temporary truce," Kite admitted.

"Good to have you on board," Yuya smiled, reaching over and offering a handshake.

"Let's just go," he huffed, rejecting the entertainer's offer.

A/N

A/N

I know, I know, broken hiatus and junk. I think that I've figured out a relatively foolproof design for the rest of the Xyz Dimension arc, which will last three to five more chapters, depending on how things work out. Look forward to the next chapter, guys. I'm hopeful it'll be a major climax for the story. ^^

Unfortunately, after the Xyz arc is over the hiatus will be back on until the show stops airing. Sorry, but I figure the extra time will make the story better.

Also, if you haven't got the memo, I am officially working on my own original novel, titled Ghostwriter. I'm sure you all understand that that has to take precedence over fanfiction, which, as much as I love it, is a hobby.

So, no new cards, or Duels, so peace!