Hibiki looked up, seeing the Red-Eyes Black Dragon towering above her. She couldn't help but smile at seeing the monster again, but now wasn't the time. The Duel Monsters and Noise had gotten over their initial shock (well, she assumed the Noise were shocked), and were ready to fight back.

"I activate Dash Warrior's ability!" Hibiki called. "He gains 1200 attack points during battle!"

Dash Warrior glew as his attack points jumped up to 1800.

"Dash Warrior!" Hibiki pointed her finger. "Dash Dynamic!"

The wheeled warrior sped forward, jumping into the air and performing a somersault. It drove its heel into a Water Omotics, causing the monster to shatter with a splash.

"Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" Hibiki yelled. "Dark Flame Shot!"

The dragon obeyed, unleashing a red ball of flames at a Gene-Warped Warwolf, sending the beast warrior up in flames.

"Aw yeah!" Hibiki did a fist pump. "That's what I'm talking about!"

"Look out!" The little girl yelled.

A Spiral Serpent and Phantasm Spiral Dragon both roared, charging blasts of water their mouths. Hibiki was about to play another card, until she heard a voice.

"I activate the spell card, Black Luster Ritual!"

Two pots and a stone tablet materialized between Hibiki and the Duel Monsters.

"And I sacrifice Gaia the Fierce Knight and The Six Samurai - Yariza, to ritual summon the Black Luster Soldier!"

As soon as the stone tablet rose, a sword beam shot across the ground, tearing through Spiral Serpent. Phantasm Spiral Dragon stopped the attack at the lost of its comrade, before roaring at the new enemy that had just emerged; the Black Luster Soldier.

Hibiki widened her eyes, as a blue D-Wheel ramped off a roof, before landing in front of her. Riding the vehicle? None other than Tsubasa Kazanari. Her D-Wheel was in dueling mode, and Black Luster Soldier lay on the summon pad.

"I won't let this continue." She declared, raising her helmet's visor. "I'll take care of this myself."

INTRUSION PENALTY: 2000 LIFE POINTS

Tsubasa winced slightly from an electric shock, as her life points dropped to 6000. But she didn't let it keep her down.

"Chaos Blade!" She called.

Black Luster Soldier tore through the monster hordes like wet paper. None of them could even touch Black Luster Soldier's impressive 3000 attack points.

Hibiki let the little girl hug her tightly as she watched Tsubasa go at the monsters. It was quite amazing seeing Tsubasa easily handle everything. But something was different about Tsubasa's dueling, though Hibiki couldn't really pinpoint why.

She then noticed that Tsubasa… didn't have any cards, and was seemingly tapping at nothing but mid-air to command her monster.

"Chaos Blade!"

With one last call, Black Luster Soldier slashed apart the last of the monsters, completely emptying the field of Duel Monsters and Noise. Once that happened, their monsters started to fade. Tsubasa turned, and wistfully looked up at the fading Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Once their monsters were completely gone, Hibiki's hair went back to normal. Tsubasa narrowed her eyes at Hibiki, and while she did feel a little intimidated, she didn't back down.

Am I gonna get my answers now? She wondered.

The authorities had managed to clean up everything after the Duel Monster attack. The little girl had been reunited with her mother, and that gave Hibiki great relief.

"Well, now that that's done." Hibiki said. "I guess I can go back home now-"

"Not so fast."

Several men in suits had lined up around Hibiki, with Tsubasa standing in front of them.

"You have to come with us." She said.

"Oooh, I get it!" Hibiki said, holding up her arm. "So I gotta duel my way out of this, huh? Well consider that a challenge-!"

CLICK!

Hibiki looked down to see that her hands were suddenly in handcuffs.

"Apologies." A young man with brown hair said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Wait, shouldn't this be the part where I duel you or something, and that decides if I come with you?" She asked as she was escorted into the backseat of a car.

"We don't do that here." Tsubasa said.

"Whyyyyyyy?!" She yelled as the car drove off.

Hibiki whined for most of the car ride. It wasn't that long, but it was uncomfortable. Not the car, no. Have you ever been handcuffed with your Duel Disk still on? It wasn't fun.

But what surprised her was that they were stopping at the school. Why were they back here.

She stayed silent as she was escorted down the halls to an elevator. The man in the suit scanned a pass into an elevator

"Hold on to something." He said.

Hibiki had a bit of a hard time grabbing onto the railing, with the Duel Disk making things a bit clunky. She eventually managed to hold onto it, just as the elevator shot down. She practically yelled the whole way down, before it slowed. Opening her eyes, she was surprised at what she was seeing. It was like a huge dome, and the walls were covered in some sort of ancient language. She couldn't make out what it was, with how fast they were moving.

She was smiling at the new sight, before Tsubasa spoke up.

"Smiles have no place where we're going."

Hibiki was silent, before she asked. "Don't you like dueling?"

Tsubasa looked surprised, turning back to face Hibiki. "What are you talking about?"

"I've been watching all your professional duels ever since you went solo." Hibiki said. "But you don't smile at all. Don't you like dueling?"

"I…" Tsubasa shook her head. "A foolish question."

The elevator ride was quiet for the rest of the trip.

After a quiet trip like that, there was quite a bit of mood whiplash. Confetti poppers went off, as there were signs welcoming Hibiki, along with a few tables with several snack assortments.

"Sector Two of the Disaster Relief Squad, the duelists of mankind greet you!" A tall, muscular man with red hair said.

"...what?" Hibiki said, confused. Behind her, Tsubasa practically facepalmed.

"Come on, put on a smile!" A woman with glasses and a labcoat said, holding up a phone to take a selfie with Hibiki. "Let's take a photo to commemorate the first day of our friendship!"

"Don't do that!" Hibiki shouted, pulling away. "How would it look if I was handcuffed in my photo?!"

"Well, we could always give you a criminal mark instead." The scientist lady said. "The tech hasn't been updated at all though, so it'll probably sting-"

"Um, you're scaring her." The brown-haired man said, noting Hibiki had become practically white as a sheet.

"It was just a joke." Ryoko said, twirling a bag around her finger; one that Hibiki recognized.

"Ah! My bag!" Hibiki yelled. "How do you have that?! And how do you know me?! ...and can you take these off please?"

Needless to say, Hibiki's first meeting with Sector Two was a bit confusing.

"I'm back…"

Hibiki collapsed on the floor of the dorm room. Miku walked up to her and knelt down.

"What took you so long?" She asked.

"It's a long story…" Hibiki groaned.

"I saw in the news that there had been Noise sightings again." Miku said. "I got worried."

"Sorry…" Hibiki apologized.

"Well…" Miku smiled. "As long as you're okay. The food might have gotten a bit cold, but it should still be good."

"Yay…"

School went by surprisingly fast that day. Hibiki had stayed behind at her desk, looking at her cards. She stared at the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, thinking back to last night.

"That was the first time I ever used it…" Hibiki quietly said.

It had answered so well to her, that it was almost as if she had used the card for years. She couldn't figure out why she felt that way though.

Hibiki had just finished slipping all the cards into her deck box, when Tsubasa walked in.

"Oh, Tsubasa-san?" Hibiki said.

"I'm supposed to escort you to headquarters as a material witness." She said.

"Huh? ...wait-"

She was in the handcuffs again.

"Oh come on!" Hibiki yelled. "Whyyyyyyy?!"

Hibiki found herself in the underground base once more. The day before, Hibiki had been introduced to the staff of Sector Two. The muscular man with red hair was Genjuro Kazanari, Tsubasa's uncle and leader of Sector Two. The woman with glasses was Ryoko Sakurai, the head scientist. As for the rest, the man in the suit that had escorted her earlier was Shinji Ogawa, and the two that were manning the computers were Sakuya Fujitaka and Aoi Tomosato.

"I've finished the analysis for your card." Ryoko said. "Sure enough, it's the one from a few years ago."

"So it is Kanade's Red-Eyes Black Dragon…" Genjuro said.

"Wait, what makes this card so special?" Hibiki asked. "I know it was an ace card of Joey Wheeler, but a lot of duelists have the card, right?"

"Have you never looked at the card up close?" Ryoko asked.

Hibiki shook her head, looking at the card. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to see that made it so different. There was a starfoil rare shine to it, but this wasn't something unique, and there were plenty of cards with this pattern on them. What was so unique about…?

"Wait a sec..." She looked closer. "That's not a star pattern…"

"Ah, you see it now." Genjuro said.

"There's a wing pattern on the card." She realized.

Genjuro nodded. "Similar to a starfoil rare, Kanade-kun's cards all have this special pattern thanks to the bond she shared with them. Tsubasa's cards have a similar pattern."

Tsubasa slid the Black Luster Soldier card out of her deck box and held it up. Sure enough, there was a wing pattern on the card. It was identical in shape, but it was mirrored.

"I'm sure you remember the D-Gazers that Kanade-kun and Tsubasa used?" Ryoko said.

"Yeah." Hibiki nodded.

"Well, those were a special invention created by yours truly." Ryoko said. "I based them off of the older model, but gave them a twist. Not only are they an extremely useful HUD projector-"

"Hud?" Hibiki asked.

"Heads-Up Display." Ryoko explained. "It keeps track of the duel for you. But the interesting part is where the duelist comes in. When you first register with a D-Gazer, it syncs up with your cards, giving them a special pattern based on your duelist spirit."

"Though that does beg for another question." Genjuro said, turning to Hibiki. "How did you get your hands on these cards?"

Tsubasa narrowed her eyes at Hibiki, almost as if daring her to say she stole them.

"She gave them to me."

Tsubasa blinked. "...she… she what?"

"She gave them to me." Hibiki repeated, pulling Red-Eyes Black Dragon from the deck box. Her hand was trembling as she remembered that day. "I almost lost after taking the Five-Headed Dragon's attack… but she told me not to give up on life since I wasn't out of the game. Then she gave me the cards, before..."

She didn't have to finish. Everyone knew what had happened as they all had solemn looks on their faces.

"So she gave you the Red-Eyes Black Dragon to take care of…" Ryoko said. "I suppose you can think of it as her farewell present."

Tsubasa put a hand over her face, before leaving the room. Hibiki thought she saw tears before the girl left.

"Um…" Hibiki spoke up to try and lessen the tension. "So you all fight the Noise and rouge Duel Monsters?"

"Mmhm." Genjuro said. "Sector Two is an organization that keeps an eye on events like these, making sure that the threat is under control. But that's proving to be difficult."

"How come?" Hibiki looked down and saw a deck box on Genjuro's waist. "You can duel too, can't you?"

"I can. Most of us here can, but not against the Noise." Genjuro said. "Only a select few can fight with the Noise, and you are one of them, Hibiki Tachibana."

"Me?" Hibiki said. "Why can I fight them?"

"The Noise are not normal duelists." Genjuro said. "As inhuman creatures, they play by a different set of rules. Only those that can communicate with duel spirits can duel them."

"Duel spirits?" Hibiki asked.

"If Genjuro just summoned a monster, it would be a soulless hologram." Ryoko said. "But you, Hibiki? Do you notice anything different when you duel?"

"I…" She thought back to all her duels, including her two encounters with the Noise. "The monsters… they talk to me."

Ryoko nodded. "I saw the footage myself, and it's true, Hibiki. You treat your cards not as tools or toys, but rather living beings on equal footing. That's why you can fight the Noise, because of your strong bond with your monsters."

"With that said…" Genjuro crossed his arms. "On behalf of the second branch of the Japanese government's Disaster Relief Squad, I would like to ask for your cooperation. Hibiki Tachibana, will you join us as a duelist in the great war against the Noise?"

Hibiki looked at Red-Eyes Black Dragon. The design on the card seemed to sparkle. Smiling, she made her decision.

"I'll do it." Hibiki said, determination in her eyes. "It's what a true duelist would do."

Genjuro gave a nod of approval.

"And helping people is something I like doing… who knew I'd be doing it like this?" Hibiki laughed, rubbing the back of her head, causing a few chuckles from the others. Though the comedic moment was a bit ruined by the alarm that sounded. It was a good thing that both Fujitaka and Aoi were at their desks.

"A Noise appearance has been confirmed!" Fujitaka said.

"We'll handle it." Genjuro said. "Tell the First Branch we have it under control."

"I've located them." Aoi said, pulling up the screen. "It's a small group, but they're within 200 units of the school!"

"They're quite close." Genjuro said. "Where's Tsubasa?"

"She already ran off to confront them." Ryoko said, sighing. "That girl…"

"Then I should go too!" Hibiki said, already heading for the door.

"Ah! Hold on, kiddo! Take this with you!"

Ryoko tossed Hibiki something, and she caught it. Looking in her hands, it looked like a black earpiece.

"Use it once you get outside." Ryoko said. "It'll handle the rest."

"Um, okay!" Hibiki said. "Got it!"

She ran out the door, to the elevator that would take her up.

"You made one for her already?" Genjuro asked. "What if she said no?"

"Eh, I had a feeling she wouldn't." Ryoko said.

"She knows the danger and yet wants to help." Fujitaka said. "She's a kind girl at heart, isn't she?"

"And a quite an impressive duelist too." Aoi said. "I looked at her dueling record in the school's files."

Genjuro looked at the screen and his eyes widened. "An 87 percent win streak?"

"Her only losses and draws were to a single student." Fujitaka said. "Her roommate, Miku Kohinata."

"Hmm…" Genjuro said, looking at the name in thought.

Hibiki practically jumped out of the elevator, before making her way outside. She looked at the earpiece in her hand, putting it in her ear.

"Okay… now what?" She said. "Ah!"

She felt the earpiece unfold, extending over her head. They made a set of headphones, and she reached up to feel horns on the top.

"This is my D-Gazer?" Hibiki tapped the tips, careful not to prick her fingers. "Wow, that's pretty cool."

The HUD briefly flashed in front of her left eye, before showing her a holographic screen colored gold.

Please activate your Duel Disk and insert your deck within the deck slot.

Hibiki listened, holding up her arm to activate her Duel Disk, before slipping the cards in. She marvelled as the left part of her headphones started to scan the cards, before they ejected, letting her take the cards back.

Scan complete. Card registration successful. Welcome, Hibiki Tachibana.

Hibiki looked down at the cards, widening her eyes at seeing the pattern. Her cards now all had a sun pattern on them. They all practically shone. She looked at the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, which no longer had the wing pattern and was replaced by her sun pattern.

"Okay, what do I do now?" Hibiki said aloud. "I need to get to Tsubasa-san quickly. I know! I'll summon Speed Warrior again-"

Please put your deck in your deck box.

Hibiki looked curious at what the HUD was telling her, but she listened, slipping her cards away.

Say the name of the card you require.

"Okay, uh… Speed Warrior!"

A holographic screen appeared in front of her, materializing a Speed Warrior card that was glowing gold.

Tap the card to summon.

Hibiki reached forward and her fingers tapped the card. It dematerialized into data, before she saw a familiar glow, and Speed Warrior was at her side.

"Whoa!" Hibiki said. "I don't need to use my cards?"

"That's right!"

Hibiki put a hand to her headpiece to listen further to the familiar voice. "Ryoko-san?"

"I'm sure you remember the earlier iteration of the D-Gazer that Tsubasa and Kanade used, right? Well, two years was plenty of time for me to take things to the next level. The new D-Gazer scans your cards and leaves the special pattern to not only indicate they're yours, but it also converses with your Duel Disk and D-Gazer to create holographic cards for you to use. No card damage here!" Ryoko explained.

"That's amazing, Ryoko-san!" Hibiki complimented.

"I appreciate the praise, but don't you have somewhere to run off to?" Ryoko asked.

"Ah! Right!" Hibiki remembered, before jumping on Speed Warrior's back. "Let's go, Speed Warrior!"

Her monster nodded, before rushing off towards the sound of battle.

"Chaos Blade!"

Black Luster Soldier cut a Tri-Horned Dragon in half, destroying it and the Noise that had summoned it. The monsters kept on coming, but they were no match for her monster's sheer power. She wondered if she should try summoning a new monster to the field, but she found it pointless since her monster was so powerful.

They're all falling so easily. It was foolish of them to try and take me on. There's only their leader left now-

She heard a demonic screech, and widened her eyes. There was a massive fiend on the field with three blue masked faces.

"A Masked Beast Des Gardius?!" Tsubasa shouted.

The massive monster raised its claws and slammed down on the shield of Black Luster Soldier. The monster tried to keep up its defenses, but its shield shattered, before the soldier itself followed soon after. Tsubasa grit her teeth, wincing as her life points dropped to 5000. She fell to a knee, and quickly tried to summon another monster, but the beast was practically upon her.

"Shield Wing! Protect Tsubasa-san!"

Tsubasa widened her eyes as a green pterodactyl-like monster took the hit, but didn't shatter despite having 0 attack points.

"That voice…" Tsubasa realized.

"Tsubasa-san!" Hibiki shouted, as Speed Warrior wheeled over and put her down. "Don't worry, I'm here now!"

Tsubasa widened her eyes as she saw Hibiki press the holographic screen in front of her, tapping a card. Sakurai-san gave her the D-Gazer?

"Shield Wing can't be destroyed by battle twice per turn!" Hibiki shouted. "Good thing that Noise Duels don't use battle damage, huh?"

The Noise said nothing and commanded Masked Beast Des Gardius to attack Speed Warrior. But Hibiki was quicker, as she tapped a holographic card.

"I summon Road Synchron!" Hibiki shouted, summoning the road roller-like tuner monster took to the field. "With my level 2 Shield Wing, and level 2 Speed Warrior, I tune them with my level 4 Road Synchron!"

The engine on Road Synchron's back began to rumble, before it transformed into four rings of light. Shield Wing flew into the rings, and Speed Warrior ran through them, before the two turned transparent, becoming four stars.

"Gathering hopes will evoke a new horizon! Become the path its light shines upon!" Hibiki chanted, before raising her hand. A light shone through the rings. "Synchro Summon! Dash onward, Road Warrior!"

The light faded, revealing the powerful Synchro Monster. A tall, mighty warrior of white with a road on its back, boasting the same amount of attack points as Black Luster Soldier.

"Then I activate my spell card, Synchro Boost!" Hibiki said, tapping the screen. "Road Warrior gains a level and 500 attack points!"

Road Warrior clenched his fists, as he became level 9, and his attack jumped to 3500.

"Go! Road Warrior!" Hibiki pointed. "Lightning Claw!"

Road Warrior's eyes glinted red, before it charged forward and drew a clawed arm back. The claw glew with white energy, before sparkling with electricity. He plunged it into Masked Beast Des Gardius's chest, causing the fiend to roar and explode. Road Warrior took the explosion point blank, but was unfazed. The monster simply dusted his hands before crossing his arms and fading away.

"Yes!" Hibiki did a small fist pump.

"All Noise signatures have faded away. You took care of the last one, Hibiki-chan." Hibiki heard Aoi's voice through her comms, letting out a sigh of relief. She turned to see Tsubasa still on the ground. She walked over and held out a hand, but Tsubasa slapped it away before getting up herself.

"Uh, Tsubasa-san?" Hibiki asked.

The Idol Duelist said nothing as she walked away. Hibiki was a bit upset at how Tsubasa was treating her, but then noticed Tsubasa stopped walking.

"So Sakurai-san gave you the D-Gazer?" She asked.

Hibiki guessed this was probably Tsubasa trying to actually make conversation with her. Well, she wasn't gonna throw away this chance.

"Oh, uh, yeah." Hibiki said. "My cards even got a nice sun pattern on them. I was surprised that it even worked on Red-Eyes since it already had a pattern and-"

Tsubasa whipped around, her expression one of utmost fury. "You. Did. What?"

Hibiki could feel herself shrinking. "I… let the D-Gazer scan the cards Kanade-san gave me…?" She squeaked out.

Tsubasa's hands shook, before she turned on her heel and activated her D-Gazer and Duel Disk.

"Um… what are you-"

"Duel me, Hibiki Tachibana!" Tsubasa roared. "You've tainted Kanade's cards… the only remnants that prove she existed in this world!"

"Wait!" Hibiki raised her hands. "I didn't mean to-!"

"Cease the needless prattle!" Tsubasa shouted. "Duel me this instant!"

Hibiki gulped, before activating her own equipment. She watched as her opening hand materialized onto the screen.

She had always wanted to duel Tsubasa.

"Duel!"

But not like this.

A/N: I skipped over a good chunk of the intro, since not a lot has changed. Besides, I already wrote it for Symphogear X2. I'm not gonna write everything that happened in canon twice.

I forgot to mention a small disclaimer. Not everything is gonna be solved by playing a children's card game.

What's kinda funny is that I wrote the last scene while listening to One-Winged Angel. Kinda fitting and hilarious.

Next time! A duel between Hibiki and Tsubasa! Who will win between the two survivors of the Zwei Wing Concert? Or will Genjuro come in and stop the fight?

Feel free to leave a review. See you all next time.