A/N: Chapter 4 is a lot shorter because I couldn't figure out what to fit in before the start of the Preliminary round of the WRGP. Enjoy :D

Yliaster.

Divine had mentioned them by name once in a while when he didn't know Aki was listening. They were mysterious evil organization that the Arcadia Movement was seeking out to destroy. When she questioned him about it in the past, he said in that gentle mocking tone, "Dear Aki, you don't need to remember any of these little details. You're far too important to be spending your time stuck in this adult drudgery." And so, she attempted to forget the meetings she would sit in on, not as a participant but as a tool, a weapon, a show of power for Divine towards his co-conspirators.

Yliaster.

The chill of the wind carried this word from Sherry's mouth to Aki's ear. A shadowy organization that controlled everything, that could change the world by manipulating events through small triggers. An organization that had no qualms about creating orphans to further their goals. Sherry's somber story of her past reminded Aki of the countless orphans she met through the Arcadia Movement. Orphans supposedly created by lackluster parents who didn't understand their children's gifts of psychic ability.

"Stardust Dragon!"

Sherry showed no fear, no shock, not even apprehension when she could finally get a better look at the psychic duelist, only the faint whirr of Ener-D between the two. For the first time, Aki felt a form of kinship. There was something to the way Sherry dueled. It wasn't just her ability to read Yusei's emotions and strategies. Perhaps, if Sherry hadn't been scooped up in the arms of Mizoguchi on that fateful night, Divine might have become her new guardian. Aki felt sick at the thought of such a possibility.

Yliaster.

"Have you heard of Yliaster?"

"You mentioned them when we first met, Sherry," Aki answered. "You told me about how they..." She trailed off, unsure if she wanted to even say it. "Killed your parents."

Sherry nodded. "That story... I can't believe I forgot I told it to you. I didn't tell you that Yliaster had been searching for me because my parents had created this card." A strange Spell Card was handed over to Aki. "It's called Z-ONE. It was hidden in a stuffed bear that my father gifted to me shortly before he was killed. I snuck into the Security headquarters because they have a machine in the basement for scanning and registering new Duel Monster cards. When I scanned this card, the machine did not detect any irregularities but that light..."

"That light swallowed me up and I saw that thing," Sherry finished, shuddering. "What in the hell was that thing? It felt like I was being looked at from all directions at once, like my mind was floating in the ocean."

"Carly and I saw the same thing." Aki stood up and looked around the hotel room for a pen and some paper to draw on. A worn writing pad and a pen later, Aki carefully sketched an image of the object she'd seen in the white space. It reminded her of a magatama in shape but sharper. Perhaps more like a chambered nautilus.

Aki wasn't a great artist but her sketch seemed suitable enough for Sherry. "I was also in that space with Bruno and Yusei. For some reason, they'd been at the Security building as well. I have no idea why. I didn't think it was reasonable to ask them. What were they doing there?"

The two women thought about it and the silence was broken by Aki's growling stomach. Sherry laughed while her friend blushed in embarrassment.

"I should get you and Carly something to eat. Follow me. There's a nice barbecue place nearby."

The sun beat down on Carly as she slumped over her D-Wheel in exhaustion. Sherry had spent the entire day putting the team through situational duels and testing the flexibility of their Decks. "Tough coach" was putting it lightly. "Sherryyyyy... you ever considered going into the military?" Carly asked, stretching her arms. "You'd make a great army sergeant."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Sherry replied, taking off her helmet to inspect something on her D-Wheel's screen. "Team, our time at the practice track will be over soon. Aki." The redhead, who was nodding off on a bench nearby, perked up at the sound of her name. "You're up. Test me with this specific deck. I compiled a copy of Team Armor's Jonathan's deck. Jonathan is their leader and I want to see if his cards are any match for mine in a real Riding Duel. These aren't tournament legal cards, just copies that should be compatible for practice."

"Got it!" Aki took the cards from Sherry's hand and quickly looked through them. With each card that passed between her thumbs, her brow wrinkled. "Are these... really the cards that are used by Team Armor's leader?"

"You've noticed, right?" Sherry was wearing a wry smile. "There's not a single Spell or Trap card in that deck. It's entirely supported by Monster effects. The strategy I want to build against it would be best with-"

The deep rumble of an engine interrupted their conversation and Sherry glared in the direction of the noise. A bright red convertible slowed to a halt by the three women, its massive front supported by three wheels and its back supported by two. The rich leather seats left an unpleasant smell in Carly's nose. The driver, a man with short bright yellow hair and reflective single lens sunglasses, flashed the three a smile. Sherry looked closer into the interior of the car and, lo and behold, there was a Duel Disk built into the car dashboard and the shining lines of Momentum running through the haptics of the car itself.

"Hello, ladies. The name's Jonathan, I'm the leader of Team Armor," he introduced himself, adjusting his open button up. Carly wanted to hurl from the overpowering smell of his cologne. "You're that all women team I heard about. Team Emotion, right? You're all thinking of competing seriously in the Grand Prix? It's not a fashion show, y'know." A stick of spearmint gum was tossed into his mouth, held delicately between his too perfect teeth. "Maybe you all should stick to something less fast paced."

Sherry didn't respond, sizing him up, forcing her body to relax, anything to make sure Jonathan didn't have anything to comment on. Aki crossed her arms and glared at him, also choosing not to respond. Carly, however, had not been cued on this.

"Yeah we are!" Carly exclaimed, sitting up straight on her D-Wheel. "We're gonna compete and win! We won't lose to anyone at all! Especially not to you and your old fashioned sexism!" She puffed out her chest with pride.

Jonathan laughed, holding his head with one hand as the other held onto his steering wheel. "You're an awfully funny woman if you think I'm being sexist. I'm just telling the truth as it is. Women don't belong in the world of Riding Duels." He turned his head to look at Sherry. "You're Sherry Leblanc, the black horse of the Grand Prix. Wanna take a ride with me? I know a nice French place nearby and an even nicer beach just down south."

Carly and Aki felt the temperature drop several degrees when Sherry's eyes met Jonathan's under his sunglasses. "I'm not interested in men who need training wheels to drive," the Frenchwoman responded in a neutral tone. "Move along. We have twenty more minutes on this track and you're in our way."

"Yeesh," Jonathan exclaimed, smiling the entire time. "You've got a real ice queen here. I'll leave you ladies alone then. See ya!" He revved the convertible and sped out of the track.

"Sherry." Carly's voice broke the silence. "Let me duel Aki when she uses Jonathan's deck." There was a fire in her eyes that neither Sherry nor Aki had ever seen before. "I'm going to pummel him to dust! We can't let a guy like that win the WRGP! We're not letting Team Armor get past their first round! They're going straight to the loser's bracket!"

She turned towards her teammates with a wild grin. "That guy won't know what's hit him! Aki, c'mon! Let's make use of these last twenty minutes!" She revved her D-Wheel and took off, Aki making chase.

Alone at last, watching her teammates duel each other on the track, Sherry breathed in deeply and unclenched her fists, her body releasing stress in slow even amounts. She massaged her brow with her fingertips, inhaling and exhaling slowly, focusing on her teammates instead. "I'll train on the sandbag for an extra half hour tonight," the blonde thought. "I was close to smashing his head into his steering wheel..."

With permission from the Academy, Aki received a week off from school to participate in the WRGP. She had been sitting nervously in the teacher's office, hoping her request would be accepted. She became even more nervous when the teacher dialed the number for the Chancellor's office. The Chancellor personally came down from his office to congratulate her on her participation in the WRGP and signed her permission form.

"You're the prodigy of this academy," he boasted, fixing his ever crooked yellow tie. "When you get to the stadium and you see the crowds before you, stand proud. You represent the future of riding duels!" He let out a laugh.

"Thank you for your words of encouragement, Chancellor," Aki said, shaking his hand while unable to hide her joy. "I will win!"

"You'd better. Even if you don't, I'll be rooting for you the entire way!"

Aki left the Academy grounds in high spirits. She had to tell her parents about the news. Her steps ended at a the corner of the city block where she waited patiently for the light to turn. Aki felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She turned around. The other people waiting to cross seemed relaxed. Something felt off.

"Does no one else feel that?" Aki wondered.

The light turned green and Aki lifted her foot to step forward.

"Stop. Don't even think about it," a sassy voice demanded. Aki stepped back, the others around her crossing the street and glancing behind them to get a look at the strange school girl who hadn't moved. "Look to your right, down the road. Do you see them?" Aki turned her head to the right. The front of a gold D-Wheel peeked out from behind a delivery truck. Suddenly, the sound of a horse neighing echoed through the street and everyone turned their heads towards the source. The golden D-Wheel turned around the corner, accelerating towards Aki.

"Step back! Now!" the voice yelled. Aki stumbled backwards, a great cloud of dust billowing up from the D-Wheel speeding by. But through the dust, Aki's eyes locked with the duelist's eyes under their helmet for just a moment and Aki couldn't shake off the feeling of eyes on her. After a short moment, the redhead crossed the street and continued her way through the city.

"Hey, buddy, aren't you going to say 'thanks' to me?" the voice asked in a grumpy tone. Aki jumped from the voice and looked around her for the source. Nearby citizens eyed her nervously. "Not there. I'm here. Take out your cards!" Aki quickly entered a card shop and took out her deck box from her bag. She thumbed through her cards until she landed on Bloody Rose Witch.

Bloody Rose Witch winked at her and Aki blinked, wondering if she'd imagined it. "Remember my promise from your dream?" the Witch asked, her voice hovering above Aki's head. "I promised I'd help you defeat the Lord of Blood. But now that you summoned me from the Spirit World, I guess I'm stuck with you for a while." A fluffy white hem brushed against Aki's forehead and amethyst eyes locked against hers. "It's good to meet you, Aki."

The redhead heard the bell above the door ring, a small group of students entering, their dreams in their hearts and their pocket money in their hands. Aki reached into her jacket for her phone and put it to her ear. "It's good to meet you as well, Bloody Rose Witch," Aki greeted with a smile. "Let's continue our conversation outside."

"The human world sure has changed a lot," Bloody Rose Witch commented, floating towards a windowed shop displaying antique television sets for sale. "I haven't been here in a long time."

"You mentioned that I summoned you. How exactly did I do that?" Aki asked, keeping her phone held to her ear.

"You have the right claw of the Crimson Dragon," the Witch responded in a matter-of-factly tone. "Just like Ruka, you too can reach into the Spirit World and summon us. This is merely an extension of your psychic abilities. Didn't you ever wonder how exactly your powers worked?"

Aki thought about it. She had been born with the ability to bring Duel Monster cards to life, to bring them to a realm outside of the solid vision holograms. Divine had given her the longest explanation for the phenomena, claiming it was something to do with her brain waves manipulating the matter around her to a form she desired. Then later, it had been explained away as a gift from the Crimson Dragon.

"Each part of the Crimson Dragon gifts its Signer an ability. You are the right claw of the Crimson Dragon that holds onto the Spirit World," the Witch explained. She stopped in front of a massive WRGP poster. "You're participating, right?"

Aki removed the phone from her ear, eyes tracing the outline of the Phoenix Gearfried printed in bold colors. "Yes. I am. And I'll win."

The first day of the WRGP preliminaries began with great fanfare and Aki had to silence her phone from all the congratulations and encouraging messages she was getting from her classmates and relatives. The garage was tense and Sherry had her gaze set on something far into the distance, shutting out all noise from the arena above and around them. Carly was sitting on her D-Wheel, trembling from both anxiety and excitement. She'd swapped out of her glasses for contacts.

"It's time." Sherry's voice broke the tension. "Team Emotion, let's make our way to the pit." The garage door lifted slowly and the three women walked out with their D-Wheels into the blinding lights of the stadium. Aki's heart was racing, drumming a rhythm in her ribs that she could barely make out over the noise of the crowd around her.

"And here we have Team Emotion, lead by Sherry Leblanc!" the Master of Ceremonies screamed into his microphone. Aki squinted her eyes at him. His pompadour was a dark purple and his outfit was blue instead of pink. "And we shall now begin with the first duel of the preliminaries! Team Emotion versus Team Armor! A true battle of the sexes!"

Sherry's eye twitched in annoyance. "Our first match starts in twenty minutes! Teams! To your pit lanes!" The cheering reached a peak and Sherry led them to the pit lane where Mizoguchi sat under the covered pit stop. He sat up, brushing off his dress pants, and he bowed towards Sherry.

"Madame," he greeted. Mizoguchi turned to the other two members of Team Emotion. "Ladies, I will be watching over the duel here. And I nearly forgot. Per your request, Madame, I have created the team baton patch." He reached into his pocket and pulled out an embroidered jacket patch with "Team Emotion" sewn in flowery cursive. The letters were sewn in dark blue, crimson, and lilac. Sherry slapped the patch onto her left arm, a confident smile on her face.

"We'll win, won't we, Carly, Aki?" Sherry asked, putting on her helmet. She put out her gloved fist and the other two fist bumped her. "Let's destroy Team Armor."

A/N: Thank you for reading! The next chapter will be uploaded soon!