"Open up!" Rio yelled.
The entire group had arrived at the Xyz gates, the Resistance and the Lancers. Shingo was carrying the knocked out Mina on his shoulders.
"Why me?" he moaned.
"Because." Shun replied firmly.
"That's not an answer?!"
"You're just in time." said a voice. It was coming from the tower overseeing the large fences that protected the underground base.
"Father!" Haruto yelled.
Inside was , a middle-aged man with blonde spiky hair. He wore a white jacket with red scarf underneath.
"Just in time for what?" Yuzu said.
"The gates close at night… no-one gets in or out." Rio answered.
"That sounds stupid." Shun said.
"That is my decision as leader." Rio replied, making the atmosphere even more awkward.
"We have rules; it's what allows us to survive… but not if they're stupid." Shun said.
As the gates opened, inside the large area, it was filled with tents going at least a mile ahead. There were water pumps along the sides.
"This is…. wow…" Yuzu said looking around as the gates closed.
"This is the Resistance base." Shun replied.
"But I thought it was underground?" Yuya said.
"It is. We have a large base underneath this land where we go when…. Academia raid from the skies. Thankfully they haven't for a while.. not since we got some new defence weapons made from Faker." Rio said.
"We've lost about sixty percent of all people in Heartland… but we've surviving for now." Luna added.
"This is going to be weird…" Ruri said to Yuto.
"No, it's fine." Yuto added. "I'm more worried about Shun…."
"He's changed, he's better." Ruri replied.
"I hope so… but being back in this environment and…. Rio being leader…. I can't see this ending well."
Faker climbed down the ladder and hugged Haruto. There he looked at Shun.
"I see you're back, Shun…. you took your time." Faker said with a sense of disappointment.
"Faker…."
"It's nice to see you again." Ruri replied. Faker ignored her and looked to Rio.
"We got your message that you were coming with a large group…. I prepared the cells." Faker said to her.
"Good. We will begin questioning at once."
"There's no need." Shun said to Faker.
"Outsiders…. and you've brought an ex-Academia spy who tricked you? You've grown weak, Shun!" Faker yelled.
"I've made allies! I won't say sorry for that but…. I'm sorry I left you all."
"Shingo, can't you do something?" Yuzu pleaded.
"Me?! These guys barely trust me?!"
"Did you do something…..?" Yuzu raised an eyebrow.
"No! I've been stuck on monitor duty on the frontlines!"
"Ah…. sorry, Shingo… I didn't ask… are you okay?"
"I'm…. okay, Yuto has been good company." Shingo replied more sincerely. Shingo went towards Faker. "Sir, these are the Lancers I told you about. I can vouch for them."
"…. Very well, boy… but the Academia girl goes in." Faker replied. "If you agree, Rio?"
"…. I guess. Shingo take her. Luna, you take the rest underground while Shun and Yuto, you come with me."
Underground Base
Yuzu, Yuya, Ray and Ruri were now in the underground base.
The sight made Yuzu put her hands over her mouth in shock.
The large hall had people lying on old mattresses next to each other. There were no walls or anything to keep them apart; no one had any personal space. At the far end were basic showers and a small room for cooking.
"This place is…."
"Yes, Yuzu… our home." Ruri said sadly. "Not many people choose to camp up top… they still fear bombardment from the skies…."
"This is just…. I had no idea."
"How would you? You come from a world which has a dome over it." Anna said.
"Anna, leave it." Ruri replied.
"It's true… Leo Akaba comes from the Standard Dimension…. they caused this!" Haruto pointed.
"Enough!" Luna shouted, trying to get some sense back into them. "How did they cause this? Haruto, you just want to shout at something…. stop pinning the blame on people who aren't at fault."
"Well she is!" Haruto yelled. The crowd of people were now looking up as Haruto looked at Ray.
"That's meant to be kept between us!" Luna replied.
"No! This place has a right to know that we now have two ex Academia members in our base!" Haruto continued to yell.
"She was being controlled!" Yuya yelled back.
"Ray? Are you okay?" Ruri said to her.
"I have to own it…. I was working for them." Ray confirmed to them.
"Rio knew and so did Faker, they let her in!" Ruri said to the group. "You know that Shark is being used as well, this girl was used!"
"We know who Shark was before all this though!" yelled a woman.
"Who is this girl?!" shouted a man.
"My name's Ray! I'm from the Ritual Dimension!" Ray stood firm and shouted. "I am to blame to some while others I'm not to blame…. but…. I'm working hard to fix everything regardless! Thanks to me, my best friend was taken… but I'm here to fight! My world was destroyed to ruins as well…. and I know this world fell a long time before mine but…. I know how you all feel! You can either trust me and let me help your cause or…. you can card me!"
"Ray?!" Yuzu yelled.
"No, Yuzu… I have to do this."
After Ray's words, the group of people all looked away with discomfort and murmured to themselves as they went back to their business.
"What just happened?" Yuya said.
"When people get angry, they just want to vent. If they truly wanted me gone, they would've agreed to card me. Being Yuzar's manager, he always hit out when losing…. you learn these things."
"Are you the same?" Ray said to Anna and Haruto. Ray knew Luna deep down was more trusting since her boyfriend had the same thing happen to him. Neither of them answered, almost as if they were ashamed.
"While you were knocked out…. Shun said to me you made cards? You designed them?" Luna said.
"Yeah, I love designing cards." Ray replied.
"Follow me."
Luna took Ray and the others to a smaller roomer to the side.
Inside was a computer with a scanner and printer next to it. It was connected to a power source containing black energy.
"This is… where you make cards?" Ray said.
"Yes, along with the Xyz energy needed to power the cards."
"Ray… from here we could make more cards by scanning our Pendulums…. and other cards!" Yuzu said with optimism.
"Yes." Luna said. "Faker was doing it but…. we've been looking for someone who can make cards!"
"Er…. I only ever sent cards to be designed… I never made them!" Ray replied.
"It's simple to do, I can show you."
"Go on, Ray!" Yuzu encouraged. "All cards have to be balanced otherwise the duel system will reject it…. there's no one better than you."
"Okay…. I guess I can try… but I'll need your decks." Ray said to all of them.
"No way!" Anna yelled.
"Stop being stubborn, Anna!" Luna yelled. "We have a chance to win this war! Now we have to take it!"
"But…"
"We've been lost for weeks…. struggling…. now we have a Ray of hope! ….No pun intended."
Everyone gave their decks to Ray and she took them one by one. She looked at Anna's and Shingo's specifically. Shingo's deck had been taken by Luna before she guided Ray to it.
"These are dirty…." She took a cloth from nearby and begun to clean each one.
"Hey, leave them!" Anna said.
"I'm respecting your cards! They're alive! Even before I knew of duel spirits… the cards themselves are still alive! They work with you to help you win! They are your sword!"
"Let's leave Ray alone while she does it." Ruri said. "Plus I need to see Rio and the others."
Yuto
Yuto, Ruri and Shun were all in a tent on the upper-level with the door zipped shut.
"So… you explained to Rio about everything?" Ruri asked.
"Yes… I was hiding it but…. Dark Rebellion taking over meant I couldn't hide it anymore."
"And what will she do?"
"Rio just walked off…" Shun replied.
"And she could say anything…" Yuto added.
Shun looked at Ruri and Yuto and thought back at everything he had said to the pair. His overprotection for Ruri kept playing in his mind.
"I need to apologize to you two." Shun said. The sudden change of subjects caught both off guard
"What about, Shun?" Yuto said.
"I need to say sorry for everything I've done to this point. Being back home with you two… makes me appreciate everything we've done together."
"You don't need to say sorry." Yuto said.
"Yeah we all have our own faults." Ruri replied. "Like the time I was caught and forced to watch Yuto duel against Sergey…."
"You still blame yourself for that? There was nothing you could do about it." Yuto answered.
"It was that hopeless feeling…. regardless… we've all changed and we need to make sure Rio does as well."
Outside the tent, Rio was listening in as she stood nearby.
Little While Later
Shun and Yuto entered the underground base and went to the door of the card printing machine. Ruri had said that Ray wanted to see them.
Shun opened the door and inside the room was carnage. There were many different papers all across the floor with crayons and pens. Yuzu, Yuya, Ruri, Luna, Shingo Anna and Haruto were all designing new cards for Ray to print.
"Ray, how about this?" Yuzu said. Ray looked at it and it was an ugly doodle of a fairy. The colouring was ugly and the wings were both different sizes. Yuzu had also forgotten to draw a second eye.
The group all looked at it and burst into laughter, even the polite Ruri couldn't help herself.
"Yuzu…. this is terrible!" Ray yelled.
"Hey! Couldn't you be less harsh?!"
"No! Trust me I tried to put Yuzar down many times but that moron just made worse and worse drawings! You're other drawings are just…. horrific!" Ray took another Yuzu drawing. "I don't even want to know what that is! Do the world a favour and never try to draw something, please because I'm sure someone would be blind." Ray shouted as he pointed to a corner of the room, "Do us a favour and stop using crayons!"
looking Monster to create it… also we're giving life to new duel spirits… this is important! Plus it's art, this is important!"
Ray looked at Yuya's drawing and her eyes almost bled. It was Performapal Hip Hippo except he was muscular, it was flexing with a big smile. It was miles worse than Yuzu's.
"Yuya! You can't draw either and you've not put any effects down!"
"I didn't know!" Yuya replied with an innocent look on his face.
"Go to the corner! You have no future in this either!" Yuya went over and pulled his goggles down; Yuzu put her hand on his shoulder.
Ray looked at Haruto's cards and were impressed with the art and effect meanwhile Anna's cards were poorly drawn trains.
"Anna…. this is-" Before Ray could reply, Anna had pulled out her canon and held it up.
"Think about what you say!"
"Woah!" Ray said as she stood up.
"I don't take advice from outsiders!
"Anna! Don't!" Ruri pleaded.
"Calm it!" Yuzu said. "Ray is just trying to help!"
"We shouldn't trust her or anyone!"
"Anna hates people judging her… but Anna you don't need to do this!" Ruri pleaded.
"I've had enough of this." Anna opened the door and walked out.
"The cannon is only for show most of the time." Luna explained. "Ignore it."
"Anyway, Haruto, these cards are good… I'll make them! I need someone to help me as well, will you?"
"I um….." Haruto looked at Luna and then to Ruri.
"This is an important job, one which will last all night, I need you." Ray promoted.
"Okay… I guess." Haruto stuttered.
Academia – Heartland
"What do you sense?" Marina said to Ancient One.
"I smell my brothers nearby….. They battled recently… they… are in that base."
"But the Resistance base is well protected! No-one can get near there!" Shark responded.
"You're a human, a primitive!" Ancient One replied.
Ancient One walked down the stairs from the tower, he was ready to hunt.
"Marina, Edo follow me." Shark said. "You can see what Ryo has been doing… and building…"
….
A steel caged built near Heartland Tower. The black bars were made of steel, enough to hurt anyone who would hit it. Around the sides were Academia soldiers cheering. Ryo was watching alongside them.
Inside the arena were two male duelists each connected with dark collars, they were dueling. The two duelists each had battered clothing and a red scarf hanging from their waists.
"Evilswarm Exciton Knight, attack!"
A humanoid-insect in white amour slashed across the duelist's waists, the user hit zero lifepoints and dropped to his knees.
"No… please… no!" the duelist begged.
The user screamed out as a bolt of electric went through his body from the collar. The watching students all cheered while Ryo looked bored. The winning duelist turned away in shame.
The shocking stopped and user dropped to his knees with a blank look on his face.
"Get them out of here." Ryo ordered. Two students took the losing duelist away on a stretcher while another took the other student down another side door.
"This… is what you do?!"
Ryo looked to his side and saw Marina enter with Shark.
"Welcome." Ryo said who leapt down from his chair.
"You… torture Resistance?! They should be cards!" Marina bellowed.
"Leave us!" Ryo ordered to the watching crowd, they all dispersed quickly.
"As I said, I've carded at least eighty percent… I keep the rest for me and my men to enjoy! Don't worry, they don't die… they battle and battle!"
"That… sounds sick! At least when they're a card, they're free of pain!"
"When did we care about what our prey feel?!" Ryo replied with a clenched fist.
"Academia fights with honour!"
"This is honour… they give us entertainment!"
"Is what you still believe or is that your emotionless heart?!" Marina replied.
"I don't have a heart…. I threw it away!"
"Ryo, cease this now!"
"Not happening!" Ryo smugly said. "Don't we watch the same back in Academia… watching people who don't follow orders… fight as punishment?!"
"That's different! These people don't follow our culture! They… deserve better!"
"Don't you need to find your girlfriend?" Ryo replied.
"It's late…. we will begin tomorrow." Marina answered.
"Fine…. Edo… you've been very quiet…" Ryo taunted him for an answer.
"It's no bother to me." Edo answered.
"See he gets it!" Ryo said who walked out. The three duel disks bleeped and each looked at it.
"Noro…. what's he doing here?!" Edo said.
"This can't be good…." Marina added. "Let's go."
Outside
"It doesn't bother you?" Marina replied to Edo.
"Well…. it doesn't? You care too much about non-Fusioners."
The three were walking back to the tower; they were awaiting a special guest.
"I… don't care about them… but they deserve a better ending!" Marina replied.
"Well…. we have to agree to disagree." Edo answered. "Let's go see what the clock guy wants."
Inside
Inside Noro stood firmly with his stopwatch out. Ryo was already standing there, arms crossed as the others arrived.
"You're all very late!" Noro said. "No wonder you don't achieve anything!"
"We've done more than you ever could!" Edo replied.
"Regardless…. you all now report to me."
"Excuse me?" Ryo said.
"You…. heard me!" Noro stuttered with fear before finding his courage.
"Leo sent you to oversee us?!" Marina replied.
"Yes! I'm in charge of you all! Leo's orders come through me!"
"So you're a puppet?" Ryo added.
"No! I have my orders and my orders are to order you!"
Marina could only sigh and agree.
"Since it was Leo who ordered it….. fine." Edo answered back.
"Not fine!" Ryo went over to the smaller man and grabbed his waistcoat.
"Ryo!" Marina yelled.
"Listen, I have things running as I like. You go and tell Leo Akaba exactly that."
"I… I….!" Noro was struggling to wiggle out of Ryo's clutches.
"Enough!" Marina put her hand on Ryo's shoulder and he turned around while letting go of Noro.
"You dare defend this rat! He was the one who was at your tribunal, the one who made you use the other disgusting summoning methods!"
"I know but…. we have to follow the orders!" Marina shouted back.
"Enough of this!" Ryo walked down the steps of Heartland Tower as Noro readjusted his waistcoat.
"Now… get to work!" Noro said. "Find the disgraceful duelist called Gloria and Edo as well as Shark, work out how to end the Resistance base once and for all."
"Yes sir!" all three replied.
Bottom Level – Heartland Tower
"I'm surprised you didn't lose I-"
Edo was interrupted as Marina slammed her fist onto the wall.
"Okay I was wrong."
"Woah! Stop being angry… it doesn't suit you!" Shark added. "Before Noro notices, let's take a break I need something to drink."
Lancers – Night
As Ray worked through the night, the Lancers had to settle down for the night.
Due to the lack of mattress, some were force to share the same one including Yuto and Ruri and Yuzu and Yuya.
There was one blanket for each and due to the cold air, everyone wore their clothes while sleeping.
Shun and Shingo were forced to share one and the two, as expected, did not get along.
"Move over!" Shingo yelled.
"I'll beat you with this pillow!" Shun responded.
"You dare!"
"SILENCE!" Rio shouted from across the room. "Don't make me use Anna's rocket!"#
"It was his fault!" Shun and Shingo said at the same time.
"Anna, get me your rocket!" Anna responded.
"Fine!" Shun replied. "I'll go sleep outside!"
"Suits me!" Shingo said as he quickly fell back to sleep, this time stretched out the whole mattress.
"I can't believe we have to put up with this again…." Yuto said who shared with Ruri.
"Leave them, I'm sure Shun and Shingo will become great friends."
"But he makes him so angry?"
"I know, which means they're quite similar." Ruri replied.
"I don't see it but you're the better judge of character." Yuto said.
"Trust me; come the end of this, they'll be good friends….. We're a team now, we need to protect one another."
"You think Shun would protect himself from Shingo? Or the other way around?"
"Yeah… they will."
"I hope you're right…." Yuto tried to get comfortable but couldn't.
"You know once we rebuild Heartland… we won't ever have to sleep on such a terrible mattress again." Ruri whispered.
"Rebuild? That'll take years?"
"It doesn't matter if it takes a long time… we can rebuild it together… with everyone."
"Yes… that sounds like the future I want to live in." Yuto replied with a happy tone.
"And maybe who knows Ryouga can be back and we can celebrate him and Luna married!" Ruri replied.
Yuzu and Yuya were also trying to sleep but neither could either. Both were too busy being uncomfortable physically and mentally. The mattress sucked but so did sharing it with your best friend.
"So Yu-"
"So Yu-"
Both Yuzu and Yuya tried to talk but both interrupted each other. They looked at each other with red faces.
"You first, Yuzu." Yuya insisted.
"Well… you're in the same room as Yuto… he only got possessed a few hours ago… what if he.. or …"
"You can say it. Odd-Eyes."
"Yes… what if you or him or both…. awaken?" Yuzu replied. "Without Ciel…."
"I know…. I feel the same way. I'm endangering all of you and I'm sure Yuto feels the same way."
"The Resistance haven't done anything about it…. "Yuya sat up. "I'm really worried about all of this… if it hadn't been for you and the other girls…. we would be evil."
"Don't say that." Yuzu replied.
"It's true… the dragons would've taken over."
"They're not evil… we know it was Starving who gave them the ideas… Odd-Eyes was corrupted due to his anger-"
Before Yuzu could continue, Warrior emerged but Yuzu or Yuya didn't notice. The Magicians and Mozarta both grabbed her and stopped her from interrupting.
"Why are you stopping her from talking?" Yuya said.
"Because Yuzu told us not to let her." Time responded.
"Because Yuzu ordered us." Star added.
"Why, Yuzu?"
"I said it to them earlier… I know we've had a long day so… "
"Now tell me, Yuya, what makes you a good person?" Warrior said.
"Me? I make people happy…. I guess I'm a good friend?"
"Then hold onto those thoughts. They'll make you different from Odd-Eyes…. See, Yuzu, I can give good advice!"
"I know… just not at three AM! Don't sprits sleep?"
"Of course we do… I just sleep during the daytime!"
"Wait spirits can sleep?" Time said with surprise.
"Errrrrr yeah… what have you been doing for all these years?"
"I forgot! I've been awake all this god damn time?!"
"No wonder you're always in a mood…." Star mocked to his brother.
Ray/Haruto
Ray and Hartuo were working on the cards at the machine. Ray was sorting out all the technical details while Hartuo passed her the materials.
"And what happened afterwards?" Haruto asked.
"Then Academia wrecked my whole dimension. I was aware of it but I couldn't do a thing as… Academia was inside my mind." Ray replied.
"No but before that…. how many got carded?"
"Oh…. I'm not so sure." Ray added back. "Academia's attack was quick and…. clearly didn't survive as well as Xyz."
"And what did you feel after being… controlled?"
"I couldn't remember much at first then it flooded back… then I got depressed then…. I figured out nothing will change if I don't act. So here I am… acting." Ray said. "You're worried about Shark."
"Do you think we can save him?"
"You're also thinking about your brother. Of course they can both be saved!"
"I think so… I hope so."
Ray was working on a complete new deck, next to her appeared her spirit, Spiritual Samurai.
"So this new deck will still hold your values?"
"Of course, just… it's time for a change."Ray thought back."Of course with you still in it!"
"I never thought making cards like this would be so fast?" Haruto questioned.
"Yes well the Pendulum Cards help. It's like an air pump to a tire… once it starts, it's quite quick!"
Once Ray finished speaking, she saw that Haruto had fallen asleep on the desk.
Outside the Base
Gloria wandered through the cold streets during the night. Gloria had served in Xyz so she knew the location of the base but she was also aware of its defences.
Gloria slumped down in an alleyway, holding her body to keep it as warm as possible.
A/N
Thanks to Rom as ever.
Samueljoo – I will consider that idea, thanks dude.
Fantasymaker76 – Yuzar is on his way!