Starting Notes:
Welcome back! In this chapter, we return to my favourite format of chapter writing—namely, moving the plot forward swiftly while still having character interactions! Let's go!
Chapter 26: Acclimation
In the Synchro Dimension:
Yuno blinked as he materialised. The first thing that he noticed was that his surroundings were rather filthy compared to either Den City or Maiami City, so that was a good sign that they had at least been transported to a different dimension. There were a lot of short, slightly dilapidated buildings around them, stains on the buildings—a mix of greys, blacks and dirty yellow. Bright green algae could be seen growing in the gaps between the roof and the walls, where water would gather, as well on the base of the odd houses. At the same time, the entire place was cast in shadows—when Yuno looked overhead, there was a rather wide highway going over their heads. The sounds of traffic were rather obvious.
Yuno looked around, and thankfully, there were two other Lancers there.
"Where is my big brother?" Reira sounded as timid as ever, eyes frantically looking around. "I have to find big brother…" They sounded close to tears. Next to him, Mion leaned down, gently patting his head.
"I know, Reira," she said comfortingly. "We'll find Reiji, alright? Just calm down for a moment. We can reorient ourselves." She met Yuno's gaze, nodding at him. "Hey. Just us around here?"
"Yes." Yuno looked at Reira. "... will he be alright? Should we find a safe place for him to sit down? Does he need water?"
Mion cracked a smile. "Reira's been through a lot," she said gently. "He gets very nervous when Reiji isn't around… so we should probably find him as fast as possible." She was carefully patting Reira's shoulder, trying to act as a comforting hand for the poor boy. Yuno had personally been against having a child so young come along, but when Reira himself had told them that it was fine, Yuno had dismissed it. Still though…
Was having a child that was so afraid here really what was best for that child?
"Alright." Yuno's duel disk beeped for a moment, and he glanced at it. The screen was displaying a notification.
[Signal found. Cannot be analysed due to anomalies.]
That must have happened because of dimensional travel messing with the tracking program. Yuno could technically use his minimal coding skills to try and fix it and run off to find Miharu. But…
Yuno couldn't just leave Reira behind, even if Mion was there. He couldn't walk away from someone so afraid. And he was pretty sure that Miharu would be angry if he did, with how much she clearly cared for Reiji's little brother.
So he lowered his duel disk and knelt down, making sure to be on the same level as Reira so that they wouldn't perceive him as a threat.
"Hey, Reira," he said gently. "We're going to go and find your brother, alright? I know that it's scary, but Myojin-san and I are here to protect you. Nothing will happen to you. And she's the duelist that's acknowledged by your brother, so you know that she won't let you down." He reached out a hand. "So stay with us, alright? It's ok to be scared, but don't run off. I'm sure that your brother would rather you be safe than off on your own and afraid."
"... I trust you," Reira whispered. His voice was barely audible at all. He reached out, touching Yuno's hand, before drawing back. "... can I hold Mion's hand?"
"Of course." Mion and Yuno exchanged a nod. They had most definitely been separated from their comrades, and while Yuno had very strong words on the idea—hadn't Nue literally predicted that exactly this was going to happen—he restrained himself from saying them in front of Reira, who was completely innocent of any of this. Mion looped her hand in Reira's. "See, Reira? You'll be alright."
"I trust you," Reira repeated. He shyly hid his face behind his other arm. "Because I trust my big brother… and I trust Miharu. And you two are their special people…"
Yuno blushed slightly, while Mion kept her face completely calm. "Well, I think that Reiji would most likely make his way to a recognisable landmark," she said. "Or find a safe base. Either way, if we try to find the tallest building here and head towards it, it's most likely the most developed area here, so it'll be more likely for our comrades to go there."
"Smart idea," Yuno agreed. "I'll follow your lead, but uh…" The orange and red-haired boy gestured upwards. "What if they're up there?"
Mion glanced up at the tall skyscrapers in the distance, connected to this worn-down area by roads that were far better maintained than any of the housing beneath them.
"Then we'll just make our way down there," she said simply, as though it really was just that easy. "Don't you agree, Sugisaki?"
… well, he had never been one to lack confidence.
"Right," he said.
Mion gestured to his duel disk. "Any sign of her?"
"I'll try working on the duel disk later," he said. He tugged at the scarf around his neck, clinging to its warmth—it seemed that it was winter in this dimension as well, similar to both his own and Standard. The wind was rather chilly here. "But for now, our priority is Reira. I'm sure that she would understand. I'm sure that she's looking for us too."
Mion nodded approvingly. She gestured for him to follow, and he did.
Miharu. I will find you again. I promise.
"Oh, this does not work out!" Sawatari grabbed at his hair, glancing around frantically. Dirty, dirty, dirty! His shoes would get dirty, and then his clothes, and then not even a premium wash would be able to clean them anymore! And more importantly—he was sitting in it right now! This was—
"Hey. Need a hand?"
Sawatari glanced up, momentarily distracted from his current spiral of stress by the calm voice. He met the dark-coloured gaze of Yuto Kamisoka, who was reaching out with a hand. Sawatari took the hand, letting the other boy pull him up.
Sawatari cleared his throat. So did Yuto.
Neither of them really knew how to interact with each other. After all, while they had been too busy to talk before, the fact still remained that the first time that they had met, Yuto had technically assaulted him. Alright, actually assaulted him.
Sawatari cleared his throat dramatically, trying to save himself from awkwardness. "Well, it seems that we're in the slums! Well—"
"I'm sorry," Yuto said calmly. "I shouldn't have assumed things and hurt you, when we first met. I should have asked questions more calmly, gone to Reiji Akaba directly, and not involved you. I hope that we can carry on working together as Lancers. Is there anything that I can do to make it up to you?"
It was a really good apology. Honestly, Yuto carried himself with an effortless confidence, calmness and a sense of genuine compassion. It was hard to not just dismiss what had happened, because it would feel too embarrassing to talk about it, but Sawatari found the confidence to speak up. "Nah, it's fine. We just have to work together, right?"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah!" Sawatari grinned. "The Great Sawatari doesn't hold grudges against comrades!"
"That's good," Yuto said. "I hope we can be friends."
Sawatari coughed. "Y-yeah well, the great Shingo Sawatari's standards for friends are extremely high! You'll have to work hard to prove yourself worthy!"
Yuto looked rather amused. However, before the dark-haired boy replied, another voice called out from nearby.
"Yuto! Sawatari!"
Both of them turned to see Yuya and Kyorin emerging from a nearby alleyway. Yuto looked relieved to see Yuya, and he immediately walked over to the boy who shared the same face as him. Sawatari followed him. "Yuya," Yuto greeted. "Is Reiji Akaba around? What about the rest of our comrades?"
"I didn't see anyone around when I was teleported here," Yuya explained. "Rinsoka-san was the one to find me, and then we heard Sawatari's voice, so we rushed over."
"… I was not that loud," Sawatari said, extremely affronted and also missing the entire point of the sentence.
"So we were all separated?" Yuto said. "Yes, the same thing happened to Shun, Nue and I when we visited Standard…"
"Your sister was right that it was a possibility then," Kyorin said shyly.
"My sister is usually right," Yuto said. He glanced around. "If we're all separated, I hope Reira's safe…"
Yeah. That poor child. Not even Sawatari was optimistic enough to think that a child should be anywhere near this war.
"We should find shelter and try to figure out how we can make contact with the rest," Yuto said, clearly having the most expertise out of all of them. "And stay low."
Yuya and Kyorin nodded. Sawatari didn't, but he followed the guy anyway.
To be honest, he was feeling mildly anxious. He had expected to be here with Reiji Akaba, who could basically plan for anything, and Mion, who was a comforting presence. Instead, they were just lost and separated from each other.
Hopefully, nothing bad would happen…
Gongenzaka landed on the ground with a loud 'oomph'. He glanced around—the sky was bright blue above them, and he could see some skyscrapers in the distance—they seemed to currently be in a rather bright city, with tons of tall buildings.
"Hey, big guy," a voice groaned. "Could you get off me?"
Gongenzaka blinked, and then he rolled off, colour rushing to his cheeks. Hitoda sat up, her green hair messed up. She seemed remarkably unaffected by the state that they had found themselves in, and she casually pulled off her hair tie, tying up her hair bun once again as she stood up, looking around. Thankfully, no one seemed to have spotted them coming out of nowhere.
"This man, Gongenzaka, would like to apologise—"
Hitoda waved a hand, still smiling. "Not a big deal. I'm not some delicate flower that would get mad at an accident." She glanced around them. "So this is the Synchro Dimension? It looks a bit more similar to Den City than Maiami City, at least…"
"It's nice up here, but not down there."
Hitoda and Gongenzaka turned around. Nue walked up to them.
"I was looking around," she said. "I didn't see anyone other than you two though—so it looks like we did get separated. Good grief, Reiji Akaba…"
"What did you mean by "down there"?"
"This city seems to be ninety percent slums. Maybe even more." Nue gestured for them to follow her, and they walked towards a railing that overlooked a group of grey, old-looking buildings beneath them, far shorter than the skyscrapers. As it turned out, the city only looked beautiful in the shallowest of manners—only because these poorer settlements had been literally placed underfoot, to be hidden from the sunlight.
"There are people looking at us," Hitoda murmured, glancing around.
"There are," Nue agreed. "Let's get somewhere to hide. If someone comes up to us, you get out there and be charming, alright?"
Hitoda laughed. "I don't think that'd work, but I'll certainly try if it comes down to it! Reiji Akaba didn't exactly bring me into this group for being an idol though."
Nue rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm here for being exceedingly aggressive. So if push comes to shove, I'll certainly do the dirty work."
"What exactly are we looking for?" Dennis protested.
"Strong duelists," Kurosaki said, and Serena nodded. Dennis sighed. Just his luck to get stuck with two of the Lancers' most headstrong members… and with no one else here to keep them in check either. At least he was with Serena though—otherwise, it would have been impossible to try and keep track of where she was. Maybe he could figure out a way to get that information to the spy in this dimension…
Still though, for now, he just had to go along with them. What was the likelihood that he could change their minds, anyway?
"We're drawing attention," Dennis pointed out, gesturing to the well-dressed people that were staring at them as they walked through the streets. "I think they can tell that we're not from around her. We're not exactly dressed normally." At that, he stared at Kurosaki's admittedly badass-looking longcoat.
"That's fine," Kurosaki said. "If they have a problem with it, we'll just defeat them."
Dennis facepalmed. They carried on walking.
… there was no way that they weren't going to get in trouble here, right? What a bad time to be separated from any voices of reason…
"Mackfield." It took Dennis a moment to realise that Kurosaki was talking to him. "What made you join this war?"
"H-huh?"
"If you're from Standard." There was something suspicious to Kurosaki's gaze, though Kurosaki was always suspicious of everyone. It didn't mean that he was suspicious of Dennis in particular. "The others from Standard have a clear reason to be here, but I know nothing about your reasons. Why throw yourself into a war that you've been sheltered from?"
Sheltered from? Dennis hid a frustrated laugh. I haven't been sheltered from war since I was a child.
Externally, he smiled. "Well," he said, "don't have anyone that I want to rescue or anything like that. I just…" He searched for the conviction and the words that had caused him to join Academia years ago. He tried to carry the same feelings in his words. "After seeing that devastation back there… I just wanted to do something, anything to feel less powerless. To feel stronger as a duelist."
They would probably assume that he was talking about the Battle Royale. Dennis was not, but the words were still truthful.
His sincerity seemed to carry through. Both Serena and Shun didn't seem visibly affected by it. Neither of them were the sentimental type. "To evolve… that's my purpose too." Serena said with a nod. "But you're with Kurosaki and I, so nothing will happen to you."
"And if you're truly an ally," Kurosaki said after a moment, "then you have nothing to fear from me."
"You're an Xyz duelist, right, Mackfield?"
What's the best way to earn their trust here?
"Technically yes," Dennis said after a moment. "I learned Xyz Summoning first, but I learned how to Fusion Summon when I was training for the Maiami Championship. I didn't really want to share it because I thought that it would make you all trust me less… but I'm realising that not telling you would make you more suspicious of me." He opened up his Extra Deck, revealing a card. "My Performage Trapeze Witch."
Serena nodded. "Honesty is the best policy," she said. Dennis cracked a smile.
"Not that Reiji Akaba agrees."
Serena smirked for a moment. "True."
Kurosaki wasn't looking at them. "Let's keep going," he said curtly. He hadn't addressed Dennis's confession at all.
Dennis gulped.
Looks like I'm not getting off to a good start in this dimension…
Sitting in the Security building, a pale-skinned man with thin ashy blonde hair was viewing a bunch of records. He was dressed in a rather fanciful purple suit.
"So these are the foreign Special Summoning readings that showed up around the city for a brief moment…" The man glanced at them. "Dispatch units to all of these areas, and arrest any suspicious-looking personnel."
After all, those Special Summoning readings were a mix of all Special Summoning methods, meaning that it was a sign of dimensional travel, rather than an actual duel. There had been a similar signal two days ago, though the people that he had dispatched there had ended up wasting their time with children instead, and hadn't found the ones that had actually travelled to this dimension. (Plus, they had ended up harassing the children under Arisu and Kaname's wing, and thus, two of his strongest officers had acted against said officers, which was… understandable, if unfortunate.)
Thus—there were likely other undiscovered enemies in this dimension right now.
Enemies that had to be disposed of, no matter what.
Director of Security, Jean-Michel Roget, continued monitoring the cameras.
After all, he had to check on the nature of the invaders. On whether they were from Academia—in which case, he had heard nothing about them—or if they were from another dimension entirely.
He smirked.
… if they aren't from Academia, I may have found some interesting new pawns.
"This place reminds me a little of Heartland," Yuto said as they searched around the streets for any other comrades.
"These dirty slums?"
"No, the skyscrapers." Yuto gestured to the tall buildings in the distance. "Heartland was filled with all kinds of tall buildings and towers too. There weren't a lot of buildings like that in your hometown, Yuya."
"Domino City wasn't like that," Kyorin piped up. "It was a lot more… level? Tons of residential suburbs next to each other, and most food came from cornerside restaurants and convenience stores. I only lived there for a while, but it was a fun year."
"Really? Sounds interesting."
"It would be… but I think Academia's destroyed it too." Kyorin sounded somewhat downcast. Yuto frowned—he hadn't wanted to remind her of negative thoughts. However, a moment later, Kyorin pressed her hands to her cheeks, reminding herself to stay focused. "But it's fine! We'll just have to protect this place." She glanced at the slums around them. "... besides, these people seem to already suffer a lot. I don't want them to have to suffer more…"
Yuya nodded. "It seems like this place has a lot of problems," he said. He stopped. "... do you guys hear something?"
Yuto stopped to listen. It sounded like… an engine running?
Then, a group of motorcycles burst through the streets, stopping in front of them, with some looping around them and stopping behind them.
"Stop!" One of the officers—because these were clearly police officers—said. "Your group looks suspicious! Surrender yourselves to Security for an investigation!"
Yuto clicked his tongue, somewhat disappointed.
Sawatari raised his voice. "Surrender? Do you know who my father is?"
"We're not in Maiami, Sawatari!" Yuya hurriedly whispered.
"It seems that you won't be cooperative." Their opponents raised their duel disks.
"W-wait, we don't want to fight!" Yuya tried to mediate the situation. "We just arrived here—"
"Oh? Then are you illegal immigrants?"
Yuto rubbed his forehead. "Looks like we don't have a choice," he said. "Let's go." He raised his duel disk. Yuya frowned.
"Yuto, we shouldn't—"
"We don't have a choice," Yuto pointed out. "If we waste time being investigated, then it'll be harder to find the others. We need to stay out here to have a chance."
"Well, I'm in!" Sawatari raised his duel disk too. Kyorin also raised her duel disk, and then Yuya raised his too—very reluctantly. There were eight opponents, so Yuto gestured outwards with a hand.
"Let's do two per person! Call if you need help!"
… why was he taking on a leadership role again? This wasn't exactly his forte.
However, someone had to.
"Be careful, everyone!" Kyorin pleaded, before they all turned towards their opponents.
"Let's go!" Sawatari called. "You're going to witness the Amazing, Neo New Sawatari's skills!"
[DUEL!]
Shingo Sawatari: 4000LP
Security 1: 4000LP
Security 2: 4000LP
[Turn 1: Sawatari] [H:5]
"I'll set the Scale 3 Abyss Actor - Extras and the Scale 8 Abyss Actor - Funky Comedian in the Pendulum Scales!" Sawatari called excitedly—he still hadn't quite gotten over the fact that he had his own Pendulum Monsters yet. His cool, punkish actors rose up in pillars of light.
"Pendulum Scales?" One of the officers said, sounding confused.
"Yeah, it's—"
"Don't explain it to them!" Yuto called from behind him. "Yuya hasn't taken his turn yet, it'll affect him!"
… right. He couldn't just explain their effects to the opponents for his own pride and boasting.
"With this Pendulum Scale, I can Pendulum Summon monsters from Level 4 to Level 7! Pendulum Summon! Monsters, emerge from backstage! Abyss Actor - Superstar! And also, in Defense Position, Abyss Actor - Leading Lady!"
First, a pink-skinned, tall and skinny actor in a black suit appeared, with swirly dark pink hair. He was wearing a black mask over the left side of her face. Next to him, there was a pale-skinned female fiend with pretty green braids and a purple hat. She was wearing a short blue cape, with a blue pair of boots on her feet.
[Abyss Actor - Superstar (7*/S3/2500/1800/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect)]
[Abyss Actor - Leading Lady (4*/S2/1500/1000/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect)]
"What's that summoning method? Are you cheating?"
The other officer was checking his duel disk. "There's no error though…"
"The Pendulum Summon is perfectly legal!" Sawatari said with a smirk. "Now, Superstar lets me add an "Abyss Script" Spell Card from my deck to my hand, but it's sent to the graveyard during the End Phase!" He revealed the card. "Spell Card, Abyss Script - Opening Ceremony! I will gain 500 life points for each "Abyss Actor" monster I control!" A bright glow surrounded him.
Sawatari: 4000 + 500 x 2 = 5000LP
"I'll end my turn!" Sawatari declared.
[Turn 2: Security 1] [H:5]
"I'll Normal Summon Vigilante Zeni!" A short warrior with an eyepatch appeared on the Security Officer's field.
[Vigilante Zeni (4*/1600/1200/EARTH/Warrior/Effect)]
"And by making its attack points 0, I can Special Summon Vigilante Gata from my hand!" A mechanical robot with a white face appeared in front of him.
[Vigilante Gata (3*/800/800/EARTH/Warrior/Tuner/Effect)]
[Vigilante Zeni: 1600 → 0ATK]
"I will then tune the Level 3 Gata to the Level 4 Zeni! Tear through the mist of darkness, which raises doubt, and illuminate the truth! Synchro Summon! Appear, Level 7! Sniping Heiji - Type 0!" A grey-skinned warrior surrounded by a ring of blue beads appeared on the field.
[Sniping Heiji - Type 0 (7*/2400/2000/EARTH/Warrior/Synchro/Effect)]
A Synchro Summon immediately…
"I'll send a card from my hand to the graveyard to use the effect of Sniping Heiji - Type 0! I will destroy a monster you control and inflict 400 damage to you!"
Sawatari blinked. "W-what?"
"I will destroy Superstar!" Golden coins rained down on Superstar, destroying it immediately. Sawatari's life points fell.
Sawatari: 5000 - 400 = 4600LP
"Attack Leading Lady!" The monster ran forward, crushing the poor girl underfoot. Luckily, she was in Defense Position, so Sawatari took no damage.
However, before Leading Lady was destroyed, she smirked, and dark energy surrounded her.
"Since Leading Lady was destroyed by battle, I can set an "Abyss Script" Spell from my deck to my field!" A set card appeared on Sawatari's field.
"I'll end my turn! You're no match for us!"
[Turn 3: Security 2] [H:5]
"I will Normal Summon Vigilante Zeni!" The Security Officer declared. Sawatari blinked. Were they all just using the same deck? Just like Academia? Sure enough, the man also brought out Vigilante Gata, and then Synchro Summoned Sniping Heiji - Type 0.
"Attack directly!" The monster dashed forward, hitting Sawatari with the blue beads.
Sawatari: 4600 - 2400 = 2200LP
"I'll end my turn!"
Sawatari reached out for the top card of his deck, feeling nervous all of a sudden.
No.
I'm the great Sawatari. I won't lose my confidence here—that's the best part of me!
[Turn 4: Sawatari] [H:2]
"Draw!" Sawatari declared. "I'll activate the Spell Card, Abyss Actors' Dress Rehearsal!" He revealed the Spell. "At the start of the Main Phase 1, I can add a "Abyss Actor" monster and "Abyss Script" Spell from my deck to my hand! And now, swing, pendulum! Return from the Extra Deck, Abyss Actor - Superstar! Abyss Actor - Leading Lady! And come from my hand, Abyss Actor - Wild Hope!" The two monsters from before appeared, along with a new monster—a cowboy in a dark tracksuit, with a toy gun in his hands.
[Abyss Actor - Wild Hope (4*/S2/1600/1200/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect)]
"And now, I'll use Superstar's effect to add another "Abyss Script" Spell Card from my deck to my hand!" He placed it down. "I will activate the Spell Card, Abyss Script - Rise of the Abyss King! Since I control three "Abyss Actor" monsters in Attack Position, I can destroy up to three face-up cards on the field! I will destroy both of your Synchro Monsters!"
Both copies of Sniping Heiji - Type 0 exploded. Sawatari cheered.
"Yes! I'm so great! Witness this, the Great—why do you still have monsters?"
Both Officers now controlled a copy of Zeni and Gata, all of them in Defense Position.
"When Sniping Heiji - Type 0 is removed from the field, I can Special Summon its materials to my field! And on the turn that Gata is Special Summoned, it can't be defeated by battle!"
Ah.
"Since you control a monster, I can Special Summon Abyss Actor - Extras from my Pendulum Zone!" An amalgamation of three blue-skinned, one-eyed demons appeared, with hats on their heads.
[Abyss Actor - Extras (1*/S3/100/100/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect)]
"I will activate my Spell Card, Abyss Script - Fantasy Magic! This turn, if Extras battles your monster, it returns to the hand at the end of the Damage Step!" Clearly, they were trying to stall until their next turn. He had to take out one of them during this turn. "Extras attacks Gata!"
Sawatari took damage, but the monster was returned to his opponent's hand.
Sawatari: 2200 - 700 = 1500LP
"And then, I will have Leading Lady destroy your Zeni!" The other warrior was wiped out. "And Wild Hope and Superstar will attack you directly!" The two monsters tackled the officer, slamming him into a building.
Security 1: 4000 - 1600 - 2500 = 0LP
"I will use Extras' effect and place it in the Pendulum Zone." That way, his opponent couldn't just destroy Extras with a strong monster and win. "Over to—" Their duel disks buzzed.
[INTRUSION PENALTY: 2000LP]
Kyorin: 4000 - 2000 = 2000LP
"Rinsoka?" Sawatari said, blinking. "Wait—you already defeated your two?"
"Uh, three," Kyorin said. "There's a few more of them coming…" She shook her head. "I'm sure you can win! I'm not looking down on you. But I don't want us to be caught up here—so I'm just going to help you to wipe them up!"
Sawatari nodded after a moment. "Feel free," he said, because what was he going to say? 'Don't help me, let us get trapped?'
[Turn 5: Kyorin] [H:6]
"Draw!" Kyorin glanced at her hand. "I will discard Nekroz of Brionac from my hand to add another "Nekroz" monster to my hand. And then, I will Normal Summon Ariel, Priestess of the Nekroz!" A girl with light blue hair in a witch's hat appeared.
[Ariel, Priestess of the Nekroz (4*/1000/1800/WATER/Psychic/Effect)]
"I will use Ariel's effect. By revealing the Ritual Spells, Nekroz Cycle and Nekroz Mirror in my hand, I can increase her Level by 2!"
[Ariel, Priestess of the Nekroz: 4* + 2* = 6*]
"And then, I'll activate Nekroz Cycle! I will tribute Ariel to Ritual Summon a "Nekroz" Ritual Monster from my hand or my graveyard. Cold glaciers that rise in the presence of the icy sigil. Be channelled into the mirror formed from ice, and bless the young warrior! Ritual Summon! Level 6! Nekroz of Brionac!" A young man with red hair appeared, rising out of the graveyard. He was dressed in armour made of ice, reflective edges sharp enough to cut skin. It made the icy blade that was in the young man's hand practically superfluous. Two icy wings beat slowly behind him.
[Nekroz of Brionac (6*/2300/1400/WATER/Warrior/Ritual/Effect)]
"And Ariel's effect triggers. I will add a non-Ritual "Nekroz" monster from my deck to my hand." She revealed another card immediately. "Ritual Spell, Nekroz Mirror. Shurit will serve as the full tribute in my hand. Dragon of the ice barrier, with the wrathful nature of the protector, be channelled into the mirror formed from ice, and bless the young princess! Ritual Summon! Level 7! Nekroz of Gungnir!"
The red-haired woman appeared, dressed in similar armour to the young man. Sawatari blinked—two Ritual Summons in a single turn?
[Nekroz of Gungnir (7*/2500/1700/WATER/Spellcaster/Ritual/Effect)]
"Shurit will add a "Nekroz" Warrior Ritual monster from my deck to my hand." She added another card to her hand, making for three cards in her hand. "I will activate Preparation of Rites. I will add a Level 7 or lower Ritual Monster from my deck to my hand, and then add a Ritual Spell from my graveyard to my hand." She placed down a card. "Ritual Spell Card, Nekroz Mirror!"
A third Ritual Summon?
"I will banish Shurit from the graveyard as the full tribute. Fabled unicorn who cuts the strings of fate. Be channelled into the mirror formed from ice, and bless the ancient sorcerer! Ritual Summon! Level 4—Nekroz of Unicore!" A warrior with a white braid appeared, wearing silver armour, with a blue cape. He also had a unicorn's brown tail as a second cape, with brown fur tied around his waist.
[Nekroz of Unicore (4*/2300/1000/WATER/Spellcaster/Ritual/Effect)]
"Gungnir's effect! I will send a "Nekroz" card from my hand to the graveyard and destroy Zeni!" The stronger vigilante blew up. "Unicore destroys your other monster, and Gungnir and Brionac attack you directly!" Cold wind blew through the street, wiping out the other officer.
Sawatari stared, wide-eyed.
Security 2: 4000 - 2500 - 2300 = 0LP
Winner: Shingo Sawatari & Kyorin Rinsoka!
"Let's go!" Kyorin grabbed his hand, pulling him along. Yuya and Yuto had begun running too, even as more officers chased after them. They could all hear the rumbling of engines from behind them, ready to catch them—
"Spread your jet-black wings, and storm forth in tandem with the roaring thunder! A slash of lightning! Synchro Summon! Cascade, Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Sudden Shower!" A large shadow appeared overhead, and Security ducked for cover. Then, four riders on motorcycles sped by, each of them grabbing one of the Lancers and speeding off.
Sawatari had been about to start shouting, but in the end, as they left Security in the dust, he forced himself to shut up.
At least wherever they were going couldn't be worse than prison, right? He was a delicate guy!
… though he might throw up if the bikes carried on like this—oh god, why were they getting faster?
"You! You there! You look like strong duelists!"
Serena, Kurosaki and Dennis turned around. There was a dark-haired man there in a flamboyant white suit, grinning with so much confidence that it was practically blinding.
"How would you like to face off against others in magnificent duels?" The man asked. "The strongest duelists—and if you win enough, you'll win an invitation to the Friendship Cup!"
"The Friendship Cup…" Dennis muttered in confusion.
"Oh? Are you looking down on the greatest tournament of our fine city?" The man grinned. "Interesting! You are outsiders then—I wasn't sure at first! Well? Do you want to see the strongest that our city has to offer?"
"Sure," both Kurosaki and Serena said.
"Excellent!" The man gestured to his car. "Shall we, then?"
"... I just want it known that I think this is a bad idea," Dennis said resignedly.
"But if strong duelists all go there, our comrades might go there as well," Kurosaki pointed out.
… yes, but everyone except for you two are logical, functioning human beings who don't run off to fight strong duelists on impulse.
Dennis, quite obviously, did not voice this. He just followed them.
Maybe there was a sense of morbid curiosity to why he was doing so.
(Seconds later, a group of Security Officers drove by. Seeing nothing, they reported their results back to their higher-ups.)
"So I meant to ask," Hitoda said, as the three of them relaxed in a cafe. For all that she had claimed that she wasn't particularly charming, the suspicious cafe owner that had been staring at them as they walked in had been pacified by a sweet smile from her. The currency was the same between dimensions, and so, Hitoda had cheerfully walked up to the counter, flirted with the cafe owner a little, ordered them some drinks and brought them back to the table.
'I can see why your cards are literally called 'Charmers' now,' Nue had said, and Hitoda had giggled.
Gongenzaka had just watched, mildly stunned by what was going on.
Hitoda carried on talking. "But what exactly is Steadfast Dueling?"
"It's dueling while standing still in a single spot," Gongenzaka said. "That is this man, Gongenzaka's philosophy—the philosophy that I have inherited from everyone before me in the Gongenzaka dojo. A dueling style that cannot be moved. True to our foundations."
"So why do you duel with that style?" Hitoda asked, still smiling as she tilted her head. "Is it just because of your family?"
"Of course not! I, this man Gongenzaka, believe in the ideals of Steadfast Dueling. That's why I choose to follow them!"
"Ideals," Hitoda murmured. "Interesting… and that's reflected in the cards you use too, right?"
"Correct. No tricks, no Spells or Traps. No Action Cards."
"... well, if it's what you believe," Hitoda said, shrugging. "Then I don't have anything against it. I was just curious, that's all. The idea of someone dueling for ideals… I never met someone like that."
"Are the people that you know all very practical then?" Nue raised an eyebrow. "Sugisaki doesn't seem like that."
"Yuno?" Hitoda chuckled. "He has no ideals. He just does what he feels like—and that's not me criticising him. It's just true. To be a Charisma Duelist, you can't have ideals. They'll eat you alive."
Gongenzaka frowned. "Do you view ideals as such a terrible thing?"
Hitoda shrugged. "It's a personal opinion. The things is, our avatars are a mask. People love us for them, and so, no matter what, if you have ideals… either you compromise them while wearing the mask, or you suffer because you can't show them through the mask."
Just as Gongenzaka was about to speak up, the door opened. Two officers walked in. They spotted them and were about to walk over.
Nue kicked Hitoda under the table. Hitoda looked somewhat annoyed, before she forced a smile on her face. She managed to convince the officers that they were just Tops who were eclectically dressed for the occasion, trying to understand what it felt like to be a different person. The officers left a moment later.
Hitoda sat back down. "But anyway, how about using Spells or Traps that can banish themselves from the graveyard?" She pointed out. "Then, you wouldn't self-sabotage."
"But that would mean that this man, Gongenzaka, is still trying to subvert his ideals," Gongenzaka said. "An ideal is something that we stick to, no matter what."
"... I can respect that," Nue said after a moment. "Even if I have no ideals either."
Hitoda smiled, and she did not reply.
On instinct, Mion, Yuno and Reira had hidden at the sound of engines. The people who had shown up looked like they were rather hostile—like they had been looking for something. Yuno breathed out a sigh of relief when they left.
"Alright," Mion said. "Let's carry on moving towards the taller skyscrapers."
"Agreed," Yuno said.
As they snuck along, Reira spoke up.
"Mion… are you angry with my big brother?"
Mion's face fell for a moment. She sighed. "I might be," she admitted. "But it has nothing to do with you, alright, Reira? I'm not mad at you."
Yuno cleared his throat. "Because Sawatari's your brother, right? You don't like that he was put in danger by Reiji Akaba?"
Mion shrugged. "I'm definitely not happy about that. But I guess the thing that I'm the unhappiest about is that he didn't tell me about anything. If he had, I might have been able to help out."
"It's not that he didn't want to tell you," Reira said, sounding rather shy. Yuno glanced at him. "He just wanted to bring you back to Maiami City, after your father sent you away… and he didn't want to stress you out right after you came back."
"... then he really should have just told me that." Mion put a hand in her pocket, though she was still holding Reira's hand with her other hand to reassure the young boy. "Look, Reira, I appreciate you trying to help your brother's absolutely disastrous social skills, but he's going to have to be the one to fix things between him and all of his Lancers himself, alright?"
Yuno cleared his throat. Mion and Reira both looked at him. "To be fair, I'm not exactly totally against Reiji Akaba's way of doing things," he said. "Maybe it's just 'cause I'm used to things being hidden from me, and those things working out later on. Miharu clearly knew a little more than I did in the Championship…"
"It doesn't mean that those things should be hidden from us," Mion said firmly. "If there's no trust, there is no capacity to build anything beyond an uneasy alliance. We will only ever be strangers with the same enemy, and I don't want that for the Lancers. There is a chance for us to be something more."
Yuno looked at her.
"Yeah," he said after a moment. He smiled brightly. "I'd like for the Lancers to become something more, too. If we were all friends… I think I'd like that."
He could always do with more friends, and he never wanted to let go of any friends that he had.
Miharu glanced at the code that had clearly been messed up by dimensional travel. It would take her a while to fix this and troubleshoot it.
But it was picking up a signal, as warped as it was. Therefore, Yuno had to be in this dimension now.
She just had to fix this, and then she would find him.
Wait for me, Yuno. And if the rest are with you, I'll bring Yuzu along too. We'll find you all again.
"Our current forces have failed to find any of the invaders?" Roget paced around the room. "That's simply unacceptable!" Apparently, one group had encountered a group of four, but the group had managed to escape with some Commons' help.
He pulled up the image of the group that had been captured. Four people there. A girl with blue hair, a boy with blond and brown hair, and—
What.
Two boys with the same face as Yuri were running away, side by side on the screen.
Roget gritted his teeth. He had discovered the importance of the girls with the same face when Academia had asked him to search for that green-haired psychic girl, but to think that there were boys with the same face too… come to think of it, that boy from Kaname's orphanage had the same face as them.
But he needed them in custody. Who knew what they were here to do?
This Pendulum Summon… he had never heard of it. And if the others were from Xyz or Ritual, they might figure out his true nature early.
If he needed them in custody… he might as well dispatch his strongest officers right now to track them down. Them, and the other four groups that had shown up around his city.
He pressed a button, issuing a call for his highest-ranked officers to come to his office. Then, he simply observed and waited.
The first one to arrive was Arisu, who was holding onto a cup of coffee in her hand, clearly annoyed to have been called up. Honestly, she was probably the most insubordinate of the Elite Officers—but she was also one of the strongest duelists in the city, and thus, Roget had figured that it was better to have her under his thumb than not. (And it wasn't like she could leave even if she wanted to, not with the debt that she owed him.)
Then, two of the other Elite Officers arrived as well. One of them was a young woman with dark orange hair, looking rather quiet and bored—her hair was in braids, and she was wearing a dark grey long-sleeved shirt and a long, demure-looking white skirt. She was wearing a sunflower hairpin on the side of her head. Next to her was a dark-haired young man with purple eyes, wearing faded dark blue jeans and a dark green jacket, with a white undershirt. He was idly flipping a coin through the air as he walked in.
"So, Director," the dark-haired man said, smirking, "what are we doing today? It's rare that you call all four of us here."
"We should wait until all four of you are here," Roget said.
Makoto Toyama raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What do you mean?"
There was the sound of a hand hitting the wall. Roget turned to his left to see the familiar pale figure of Kaname leaning on the wall.
"... how long have you been here?" He asked. Kaname raised a palm. "Five minutes?" She nodded.
… alright. Roget did not enjoy looking stupid, but luckily, he could just shake it off. "There are some suspicious people that have shown up in the City," he said. "We need to try and keep this under wraps for now, but…" He clicked a button, playing the clips that he had chosen.
"Pendulum Summon! Monsters, emerge from backstage! Abyss Actor - Superstar! Abyss Actor - Leading Lady!"
"Ritual Summon! Level 6! Nekroz of Brionac!"
"Xyz Summon! Rank 3! The Phantom Knights of Break Sword!"
Roget had taken a risk by showing the final clip in front of Kaname and Arisu, and while the two of them didn't visibly react, there was no way that they hadn't caught the dark-haired boy's resemblance to their brother.
Good.
He would need them to be aware of that resemblance, so that they would react in the way that he wanted them to.
"Pendulum, Ritual and Xyz Summon?" Makoto said, sounding surprised. "I've never heard of any of those summoning methods…"
"Neither have I," Roget lied. "But I picked up a very strong signal of summoning energy at five different spots in the City earlier. That summoning energy was odd… it didn't match natural readings. When I sent Security groups to investigate, they found these four near one of the signals. I believe that several of these groups have invaded our city through some method of teleportation, and the fact that they're trying to hide makes me suspicious of them."
"... since the normal members of Security have failed to bring this group in, you're hoping that we're strong enough to defeat them, despite our unfamiliarity with their methods." The orange-haired woman, Chino Otobashi, said.
"Correct," Roget said. "I trust that there is no need for empty flattery here—it is simply true that you four are my most reliable officers. Track down these groups and send them to the Facility, so that we can hold them first, before I properly interrogate them." He waited the right amount of time for it to be interpreted as hesitation. "About those two boys… I believe that I have seen a boy with the same face as them before."
"Yugo's hair and deck is completely different from theirs," Arisu immediately said.
"I do not believe in coincidences. But until we capture these two, we cannot be sure that your brother is not simply masquerading as someone else and hiding the truth from you," Roget pointed out. "As you are the one who cares the most about figuring this out, should I hand this over to you, Kirijo?"
"... sure." Arisu shrugged. "I'll search the Commons area, if you give me the data and the locations of the signals you found… sir."
"That is exactly what I want to hear," Roget said with a smirk. Just as he had planned—how else could he get them to act out of emotion, rather than logically?
"Well," Makoto said with a yawn, "guess I'll search the Tops then. Mizuchi—"
Kaname raised her hands, signing.
"You want to go with Kirijo?" Makoto said, blinking. "Alright then." He smirked. "After all, it's your call, miss Security Overseer."
Kaname nodded.
"Alright then. Otobashi, you're with me." Chino nodded, and Makoto turned back to Roget. "Well, Director, we'll head out for the hunt now."
"Good," Roget said. "Do not forget what will happen if you let me down."
At that statement, three of the four Elite Officers bristled. Makoto's coin fell from his fingers to the ground, a flash of anger in his eyes. Arisu turned away swiftly, though her fists were clenched tightly. Chino pressed her lips together, the nails of her left hand raking against the walls. Roget could see the silent, furious sentiment in their body language
Roget kept on smiling, reveling in their anger—because what were they going to do against him anyway?
Don't forget that I own you. If you turn against me, all of you lose everything.
And even if you turn against me, well…
There's a reason that I set up King's Gambit. There is nothing that any of you can do.
Kaname looked directly at him, that single amber eye blinking slowly. The only gaze in the room on him that was not angry—and the most foolish of the Elite Officers, because she didn't even know to be angry at him. She nodded after a moment. Her fingers ran over the small keyboard attached to her duel disk, and the text-to-speech program in her duel disk spoke up robotically. "Of course not, father," the robotic voice said. Then, she turned around and left, and the other three left as quickly as they could.
Roget pressed a button, closing the automatic door to his room.
Then, he laughed.
"You can't be Academia," he said, looking at the screen displaying the three boys and the girl. "So the other dimensions must be unifying against Academia. Unsurprising. But I can't have unknown elements in my kingdom."
He walked across the room, to a chessboard. He brushed his fingers against a pawn, pressing it down and sliding it forward. There was a click, and the chessboard split in half, moving apart, revealing another computer screen below that booted on. This was his private computer—a computer that no one else in Security knew about. He began scrolling down a spreadsheet. He opened up a few new rows and registered the newcomers in the spreadsheet. He marked them all as unresolved threats. Then, he closed up the computer, leaning back.
"Now, let's see what kind of members you have recruited to be a part of this…"
"This place?" Kurosaki said sceptically. "What kind of strong duelists would we find here?"
Dennis had to agree. They were currently underground, in front of a large track, with crowds around them that were loudly cheering for the duelists that were currently below them.
"Well, first, we have to test your strength!" The man from before, who had informed them that his name was Gallagher, placed a hand on Dennis's shoulder, and Dennis fought the urge to shake him off. "You! You seem like the greatest performer out of the three of you! How about it?"
Serena and Kurosaki both bristled at the very idea of Dennis being better than them. Before they could do something stupid, Dennis nodded.
"I'll give it a try," he said.
"Great! How are you with motorcycles?"
"... what—"
Oh, thank goodness for autopilot.
Dennis rode along the track. This was not safe in the slightest—but in a way, Dennis did relish in acrobatic stunts, so the adrenaline was a familiar feeling.
"In our ring today!" Gallagher declared from above. "Mukuro Enjo, the blazing fast duelist, who has won eight duels in a row thus far! Remember—if you win, we can grant your wildest dreams, but if you lose, it's the end of you!"
Dennis cursed under his breath. So he was right. It was something similar to Sanders' training arena…
Well, he wouldn't lose then.
"And as his opponent, there is a newcomer, Dennis Mackfield! Let's see if he brings something unique to the table!"
My dueling will make us stand out…
But I don't think I have a choice now.
His opponent, another guy on a motorcycle—sorry, a D-Wheel—approached him. "You're going down," he said.
Dennis grinned. "Maybe!" He said. "But I'm not going down without a fight!"
[TURBO DUEL!]
Dennis Mackfield: 4000LP
Mukuro Enjo: 4000LP
[Turn 1: Mukuro] [H:5]
A Turbo Duel? Dennis frowned. What was that?
"I'll start!" Mukuro called. "I'll activate the Continuous Spell, Call of the Mummy! And since I control no monsters, I can Special Summon a Zombie monster from my hand. I will Special Summon Skull Flame from my hand!" A tall, skeletal figure in a red cloak appeared, flames appearing all around it.
[Skull Flame (8*/2600/2000/FIRE/Zombie/Effect)]
"With Skull Flame's effect, I will Special Summon Burning Skull Head from my hand, but I can't declare an attack this turn!" A gigantic, realistic-looking human skull appeared in front of him, wreathed in flames.
[Burning Skull Head (3*/1000/800/FIRE/Zombie/Effect)]
"And since I Special Summoned Burning Skull Head from my hand, you take 1000 damage!"
Oh! An effect damage deck?
Then Dennis was the worst opponent for him.
"I'll Special Summon Performage Flame Eater from my hand and make that effect damage 0!" Dennis called. The purple ball with a blue wizard's hat appeared in front of him, floating in front of his motorcycle. The flames that Burning Skull Head spat out were swallowed up by the small purple shadow of a monster.
[Performage Flame Eater (4*/1200/1600/FIRE/Spellcaster/Effect)]
"What?" Mukuro gasped. He recovered after a moment. "Well, I'll end my turn!"
[Turn 2: Dennis] [H:6]
On his duel disk, a notification screen appeared.
[Dennis: Speed Counter(s): 1]
[Mukuro: Speed Counter(s): 1]
Huh? Dennis glanced at the counters. He couldn't exactly ask what they were, because that would expose him as someone who didn't belong here. He had to win before this thing became relevant. Was there a way for him to win without Xyz or Fusion Summoning at all?
… no.
"I will set the Scale 3 Performage Bonus Dealer and the Scale 5 Performapal Plushfire in my Pendulum Scales!" He declared, much to the surprise of his opponent and the entire crowd.
"You what?"
"With this Pendulum Scale, I can Pendulum Summon Level 4 monsters! Pendulum Summon! Performage Trick Clown! Performage Ball Balancer! Performage Damage Juggler!" Three small clowns with googly eyes appeared on his field, and Mukuro Enjo let out a loud sound of surprise.
[Performage Trick Clown (4*/1600/1200/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Effect)]
[Performage Ball Balancer (4*/S3/1000/1800/EARTH/Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect)]
[Performage Damage Juggler (4*/1600/1200/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Effect)]
He now had four monsters on the field.
"Since I Pendulum Summoned at least 3 "Performage" or "Performapal" monsters from my hand, Bonus Dealer's Pendulum Effect activates! I can draw 2 cards!" He swiped up two cards from his deck.
"What the hell is that?"
"Just don't worry about it!" Dennis called back. "I'll activate the Spell Card, Polymerization!"
Up in the stands, Kurosaki tensed up.
"Looks like he really can use Fusion then," Serena commented. "So he was holding back more of his strength than I thought, huh?"
"... are we sure that we can trust him?"
"I'm not distrusting him just because he uses Fusion," Serena said, shaking her head. "I'd be a hypocrite."
Kurosaki tensed up. "... there's no intensity to the way that he's dueling. If he's an Academia member, I can't currently see it in his dueling—he doesn't seem seasoned in war." He pinched his nose. "Let's just see."
"I'll fuse Performage Flame Eater and Performage Damage Juggler! Acrobat that freely manipulates even the pain! Merge with the infinitely form-changing strings that connect people, and become a new witch that spurs the sky! Fusion Summon! Appear, Level 7! Performage Trapeze Witch!" Dennis declared. A witch in dark but colourful clothes appeared, swinging through the air on a trapeze with a loud, cheerful laugh.
[Performage Trapeze Witch (7*/2400/1800/DARK/Spellcaster/Fusion/Effect)]
"Fusion?" The crowd was in an uproar now.
"I'll then overlay the Level 4 Ball Balancer and Trick Clown!" Dennis declared, because if he was going to tear off the band-aid, he might as well rip it all off. "Show must go on! Artisan of the air, swing across the stage with grace! Xyz Summon! Appear now! Rank 4! Performage Trapeze Magician!"
[Performage Trapeze Magician (R4/2500/2000/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Xyz/Effect) (OU:2)]
"I will detach one of Trapeze Magician's Overlay Units to grant it two attacks this turn!" Dennis called. "Encore Flare!" Trapeze Magician glowed brightly, one of its Overlay Units dissolving into light.
[Performage Trapeze Magician: OU:2 - 1 = OU:1]
"I will then have Trapeze Magician attack your Burning Skull Head! And when a "Performage" monster I control battles, Trapeze Witch lowers its attack points by 600!" Darkness swarmed the skull, weakening it.
[Burning Skull Head: 1000 - 600 = 400ATK]
The monster was destroyed, and Mukuro Enjo's life points fell.
Mukuro: 4000 - 2100 = 1900LP
"Wait, you lower their attack points?" Mukuro's eyes widened. "No! No! I can't have this happen! I was so close!"
"Trapeze Magician's second attack!" The male sorcerer dashed forward, the trapeze sliding through the air. Trapeze Witch giggled, weakening the monster with her powers again.
[Skull Flame: 2600 - 600 = 2000ATK]
The monster was destroyed in a single hit. The crowd roared.
Dennis relished in it.
Mukuro: 1900 - 500 = 1400LP
"Finish it, Trapeze Witch!" The playful witch swung forward, smacking Mukuro to the side, nearly causing him to crash.
Mukuro: 1400 - 2400 = 0LP
Winner: Dennis Mackfield!
Dennis came to a stop, but before he could say anything, people charged in, dragging Mukuro Enjo away. Dennis watched, somewhat horrified as the man clawed at the arms of the people dragging him away.
Was that the fate of the people who lost down here? They had to get out of here immediately—
Then, there was a shriek. Another one. And as Dennis tried to listen in, he heard a voice shouting.
"Security! Security is here!"
Security? So people were here to shut down this illegal operation?
"Mackfield!" Dennis spun around, and Kurosaki was reaching down a hand from the railings above. "We have to go!"
Dennis blinked. They weren't just running without him?
… why did that make him feel so happy?
He reached up, grabbing Kurosaki's arms, and Serena and Kurosaki pulled him over the railing, helping him up. Gallagher was nowhere to be seen—he had likely run immediately.
Dennis gestured towards the corridor that they had come into the arena through, which was currently deserted. "That way—Gallagher probably left through there! We can try to go through there too!"
Serena and Kurosaki nodded, and the three of them headed for the exits, trying their best to dodge around the panicking crowd. As they made their way into the corridor, they found Gallagher on the ground, doubled over in pain. However, there was no sign of who had clearly hit him. Serena ran on ahead, and Kurosaki and Dennis followed her. However, as they were passing by a doorway—
A dark figure dashed right out of the doorway, slamming straight into Kurosaki and knocking him straight to the ground. There was a sharp crackling sound, and Kurosaki seized up for a moment.
Serena whirled around, looking furious.
The dark figure held up a taser over his shoulder, smirking darkly. "We were still thinking that it would take a while longer to track you guys down," he said. "Only came here because it was a stop on the way… who knew that you would show yourselves right in front of us so easily? Either you're a dumbass, or you genuinely don't know you're being hunted."
"Huh?" Serena shook her head. "Are you from Academia?"
"Academia? What's that?" The man shook his head. From in front of them, a woman with dark orange hair was blocking off the way out. "No, we're just humble officers of Security. And you two are the invaders who use the odd summoning methods, right? We're here to take you in."
Serena, who was looking concernedly at Kurosaki, stood up straight and glared at them. "We're not being stopped here!" She shouted.
"So you do want to fight us?" The dark-haired man chuckled. "Sure. Let's see how strong you really are!" From behind him, the woman prepared her duel disk as well. "You're facing two of the strongest duelists in this City, so I hope you're prepared!"
Duel 1 Summary: Shingo Sawatari & Kyorin Rinsoka vs Security 1 & 2
Duel Format: Battle Royale
Turn 1: Shingo Sawatari
Sawatari sets the Scale 3 Abyss Actor - Extras and the Scale 8 Abyss Actor - Funky Comedian in the Pendulum Scales. Sawatari Pendulum Summons Abyss Actor - Superstar (7*/S3/2500/1800) in Attack Position and Abyss Actor - Leading Lady (4*/S2/1500/1000) in Defense Position. He activates Superstar's effect to add Abyss Script - Opening Ceremony from his Deck to his hand, activating it to gain 500 life points for each "Abyss Actor" monster he controls. [SS: 4000 + 500 x 2 = 5000LP]
Turn 2: Security 1
Security 1 Normal Summons Vigilante Zeni. (4*/1600/1200) He uses Zeni's effect, changing its ATK to 0 and Special Summoning Vigilante Gata (3*/800/800) from his hand. He uses Zeni and Gata to Synchro Summon Sniping Heiji - Type 0. (7*/2400/2000) He sends 1 card from his hand to the GY, destroying Superstar and inflicting 400 damage to Sawatari. [SS: 5000 - 400 = 4600LP] Heiji attacks Leading Lady, who is destroyed. Sawatari sets 1 "Abyss Script" Spell from his Deck to his field.
Turn 3: Security 2
He Normal Summons Vigilante Zeni, Special Summoning Vigilante Gata and Synchro Summoning Sniping Heiji - Type 0. Heiji attacks Sawatari directly. [SS: 4600 - 2400 = 2200LP] He ends his turn.
Turn 4: Shingo Sawatari
Sawatari draws. He activates Abyss Actors' Dress Rehearsal, adding a "Abyss Actor" monster and a "Abyss Script" Spell from his Deck to his hand. He Pendulum Summons Superstar and Leading Lady from the Extra Deck, and Abyss Actor - Wild Hope (4*/S2/1600/1200) from his hand in Attack Position. With Superstar's effect, he adds Abyss Script - Rise of the Abyss King from his Deck to his hand. He destroys both Heijis. Both Security members revive a Zeni and Gata to their fields in Defense Position. Sawatari Special Summons Abyss Actor - Extras from the Pendulum Scale. She activates Abyss Script - Fantasy Magic, giving Extras the ability to bounce Gata back to the hand when attacking it. Extras attacks Gata. [SS: 2200 - 700 = 1500LP] Gata returns to the hand. Leading Lady destroys Security 1's Zeni, Superstar and Wild Hope attack directly. [S1: 4000 - 1600 - 2500 = 0LP] Extras' effect lets Sawatari place it in the Pendulum Zone. He ends his turn.
Kyorin intrudes.
Turn 5: Kyorin Rinsoka
Kyorin draws a card. She discards Nekroz of Brionac to add Ariel, Priestess of the Nekroz (4*/1000/1800) to her hand and Normal Summon her. By revealing Nekroz Cycle and Nekroz Mirror in her hand, she increases Ariel's Level by 2. [APOTN: 4* + 2* = 6*] She activates Nekroz Cycle, tributing Ariel to Ritual Summon Nekroz of Brionac (6*/2300/1400) from the GY. She uses Ariel's effect to add Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz from her Deck to her hand. She activates Nekroz Mirror, tributing Shurit to Ritual Summon Nekroz of Gungnir. (7*/2500/1700) She then uses Shurit's effect to add a "Nekroz" Warrior Ritual Monster to her hand. She activates Preparation of Rites, adding Nekroz Mirror from her GY to her hand, and Nekroz of Unicore (4*/2300/1000) from her Deck to her hand. She activates Nekroz Mirror, banishing Shurit from the GY to Ritual Summon Nekroz of Unicore. She discards 1 "Nekroz" card to destroy Zeni. Unicore attacks and destroys Gata. Brionac and Gungnir attack directly. [S2: 4000 - 2300 - 2500 = 0LP] Kyorin and Sawatari win!
Duel 2 Summary: Dennis Mackfield vs Mukuro Enjo
Duel Format: Turbo Duel
Turn 1: Mukuro Enjo
Mukuro activates the Continuous Spell, Call of the Mummy, Special Summoning Skull Flame (8*/2600/2000) from his hand. He uses Skull Flame's effect to Special Summon Burning Skull Head (3*/1000/800) from his hand. Skull Head inflicts 1000 damage to Dennis. Dennis Special Summons Performage Flame Eater (4*/1200/1600) from his hand to negate the damage. Mukuro ends his turn.
Turn 2: Dennis Mackfield
Dennis draws. He sets the Scale 3 Performage Bonus Dealer and the Scale 5 Performapal Plushfire in the Pendulum Scales. He Pendulum Summons Performage Trick Clown (4*/1600/1200), Performage Ball Balancer (4*/S3/1000/1800) and Performage Damage Juggler (4*/1600/1200) from his hand. Bonus Dealer's Pendulum Effect lets him draw 2 cards. Dennis activates Polymerization, fusing Flame Eater and Damage Juggler to Fusion Summon Performage Trapeze Witch (7*/2400/1800) in Attack Position. He overlays Ball Balancer and Trick Clown to Xyz Summon Performage Trapeze Magician (R4/2500/2000/OU:2) in Attack Position. He detaches one of Trapeze Magician's Overlay Units to let it attack twice. (PTM: OU:2 - 1 = OU:1) Trapeze Magician attacks Burning Skull Head. Trapeze Witch lowers its ATK by 600. (BSH: 1000 - 600 = 400ATK) [ME: 4000 - 2100 = 1900LP] Trapeze Magician attacks Skull Flame. Skull Flame's ATK decreases by 600. (SF: 2600 - 600 = 2000ATK) [ME: 1900 - 500 = 1400LP] Trapeze Witch attacks directly. [ME: 1400 - 2400 = 0LP] Dennis wins!
Different Card Effects from TCG:
Abyss Actor - Extras - Anime effect. The limitations on the TCG effect make it difficult to use it in anime duels, where people are always borrowing each other's cards.
Abyss Actor - Superstar - Anime effect. Using its TCG effect makes it immune to Zarc's effects.
Abyss Actor - Leading Lady - TCG effect, but its ATK-lowering effect only lasts for one turn.
Abyss Actor - Wild Hope - Anime effect.
Performage Flame Eater - Anime effect.
Performage Bonus Dealer - Anime-only card.
Performage Trick Clown - Anime effect.
Performage Trapeze Witch - Anime-only card.
Performage Trapeze Magician - Anime effect.
End Notes:
As you can tell—the Lancers have been sorted into different groups this time, because it never really suited me that the Lancers didn't develop or have any meaningful conversations when they were split up. It was the perfect chance for the writers to push their characters out of their comfort zone and give them a reason to rely on each other as comrades in an unfamiliar land—and well, I don't intend to waste it.
*ahem* To me, Dennis never claiming that he just knew both Fusion and Xyz was a dumb move. If he's pretending to be from Standard, he can just claim to have learned both. Also, right now, Kurosaki actually has no suspicion about Dennis's character, because it was their original duel in the Underground that made Kurosaki suspicious, and that doesn't happen here. Kurosaki also isn't quite as paranoid, because once again, he still has his comrades, and he's even kind of friends with Yuya now. Will this change the Friendship Cup? Who knows? Also, I'm unnaturally enraged by the fact that Entermage Trapeze Force Witch became Performage Trapeze Witch—just doesn't roll off the tongue the same way. However, to keep things consistent, I'll keep the TCG name.
I swear I like Reiji's character. Having every group here roast him had more to do with humour than anything against his character.
Also, I just want to mention something about my outline that I find hilarious—I made this part of the outline at 2 in the morning, and so, my outline for this chapter is just garbled nonsense and spelling errors. So the part describing Yuya-Yuto-Kyorin-Sawatari against Security is just 'KYYS cimmita poice brutality? Crow flies (haha pun amirite) and rescues them'. I just needed people to witness that.
I gave Sawatari a chance to do well in this duel. I don't want him to just get FTKed—I get that it's comic relief, but I want him to be able to attain a victory with the Abyss Actors properly, since right now, they're his way to prove himself. So he managed to take out an opponent, even if he needed a bailout on the second one. He'll get better. I also gave most of his Abyss Actor the Lunalight treatment, aka granting them their additional effects from the TCG, except those that conflict with anime effects.
'I hate useless duels', I said last chapter. 'If a duel isn't pulling the plot forward, I'll cut it.' Meanwhile, cut to this chapter, where I write duels that I could technically have put off-screen, just because I feel bad about never writing a duel for Sawatari, and for not doing Dennis justice in the first arc. Let's get this right—I still really don't like Sawatari, but I still want to do his character justice. And I wish the anime did more with Dennis.
Also, despite what I said last arc, I have decided that Action Cards will stop existing right now. Any duels with Action Cards in the Friendship Cup will be rewritten, or we can just assume that they had similar results offscreen, if there's a duel that I really don't want to write. But yeah, big update to the general dueling rules in this story. Crossover doesn't exist. :) Honestly, at this point, it's not even just that I hate Action Cards. It's just that I wrote duel outlines all the way to Chapter 28 and genuinely forgot that Action Cards existed. Also, the whole idea of Action Cards being Lancers' bond in dueling kind of sucked to me. So we're just moving forward without Action Cards. *thumbs up* Great.
Turbo Duels. So in this story, like I said, Speed Spells don't exist. Nor does Speed World exist—these are just rules imposed on the duel. So each duelist gains a Speed Counter during the Standby Phase of each turn, or if they Normal or Synchro Summon a monster. They can remove 4 Speed Counters to inflict 800 damage to their opponent for each Spell they reveal in their hand, 7 to draw 1 card and 10 to destroy a card on the field. That's it. No other special rules. It'd be too difficult to write, and I don't like overcomplicating duels. I haven't explained it in story yet—purely because I wanted the duel to show off that Dennis was actually quite competent, so I let him show off. Plus, Dennis himself knows that Speed Counters are a weird gimmick, so he didn't want to give his opponent the chance to use them.
Anyway, with the introduction of Makoto Toyama and Chino Otobashi, we finally have our four antagonistic Security members along with Roget himself, serving as the immediate enemies to the Lancers in this dimension. Why am I introducing OCs to fight the Lancers when in canon, they were wrecked by normal Security members? Exactly because of that—I don't think that they should be defeated so easily by normal Security. Will Serena and Dennis lose this duel? Guess you'll have to wait and see.
Review responses!
To HunterHQ, I mainly used Martha because she already existed and I didn't want to make an OC if I didn't have to. Dark Synchro will not show up in this story, purely because while it's cool, there's no justification for it. No manga characters for now—the only interesting manga-exclusive character to me is Ren, but I don't have plans to use his character here. Reiji doesn't show up in this chapter, but I do intend to give him screentime soon. The Arcadia Movement is not an antagonistic entity here.
To phantomdragons, yeah, I happened to see your review right when I was logging on to update. Hope you enjoyed this chapter too.
To LHOCIN, hope you enjoy this chapter! It's quite a lot of small duels. I do agree that Yugo, Yuto and Yuri should have played a bigger role in their arcs—I definitely intend for all the Yu Boys to be 'kind of' protagonists of their arcs. I actually doubt that you'll like Kaname more than Shino, if only because by concept, Shino is a lot more likeable than her, but I guess we'll see. :)
To the Guest that commented on any possible kids, I don't ever plan on using Drytrons in a fic. That's basically one of the decks I refuse to use.
To naminexriku2468, no, it's not really a spoiler, so I don't mind saying it. Rin is technically the only Psychic Duelist among them. Even though they're all technically Ray, they all also have their own unique skills. In terms of legacy characters, I'm not confirming anyone's appearance yet. As for the length of the Synchro Arc… *sighs* I don't exactly know how to convert 'as long as normal Arc-V' into fic length rather than episodes. But I will say that for now, my outline for the Synchro Arc is around thirty chapters long, give or take. With my typical habits of adding in random duels and fusing chapters though, I don't know how long it'll actually be. I intend to cover most of the events of the canon Synchro Arc, but it'll be somewhat longer, just like how I intend on making the Xyz Arc longer. I also intend to ignore the canon ending of Arc-V.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a review, favourite or follow! :)